cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Assessment of old and new proteins: A novel methodology

Protein modifications and the accumulation of those proteins are implicated in a host of diseases from Parkinson's and Alzheimer's to both insulin independent and insulin dependent diabetes mellitus. Accumulation of irreversibly modified proteins occurs when the degradation rate of proteins is reduced or the rate of modification increases. Although the synthesis rates of individual proteins in vivo have been extensively studied the methodology to measure degradation rates of individual proteins in vivo remains to be well developed. However, the ability to measure the relative age of a particular protein pool in relation to the quality of the pool (amount of damage) is a recent advance. This brief review describes a novel methodology to simultaneously measure the synthesis rate of individual proteins along with the accumulation of oxidative damage to those proteins in vivo. The results of a recent investigation on individuals with type 1 diabetes mellitus are described. Accelerated damage to de novo synthesized ApoA-1 is shown during short-term insulin cessation, which has potential clinical implications. Future implications of the novel method in diabetes and aging are also discussed.
Urea-Treated Virus as a Vaccine against Rabies.∗:

SummaryRabbit brain rabies-fixed virus exhibited considerable resistance to the action of urea. This virus maintained its anti-genicity in 4 experiments and its infectivity in, at least, 2 tests in...
Lipocyte hyperplasia and sexual maturation of Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica)

1. Hyperplastic growth of adipose tissue in Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) was examined in relation to sexual maturity to determine whether fat cell number is fixed in mature individuals of this species. 2. Total DNA concentrations in the lipid (lipocyte) and non-lipid (stroma) fractions of collagenase (EC 3.4.24.3)-digested abdominal (retroperitoneal) fat depots were determined on a chronological-age basis from 28 to 240 d of age. The in vivo incorporation of [methyl-3H]thymidine into DNA of both the lipocyte and stroma fractions of abdominal fat from both ad lib. and restricted-fed (75% of ad lib.) females was also examined at ages before and subsequent to sexual maturity. 3. In both males and females, significant increases in abdominal fat weights at ages beyond sexual maturity were associated with increased lipocyte DNA. Regardless of the feeding regimen and stage of maturity, substantial radioactivity was recovered from both the stromal and lipocyte fractions of abdominal fat when female quail were examined 24 h after the administration of tritiated thymidine. When examined 5 d post-injection, the majority of the radioactivity was contained in the lipid fraction of collagenase-digested adipose tissue. 4. Both the total DNA content of adipose tissue and the incorporation of tritiated thymidine into adipose tissue indicated that lipocyte hyperplasia contributes to postmaturational increases in fat deposition.
Atherosclerosis Testing the Water

Acritical regulatory pathway of the blood coagulation cascade is provided by antithrombin, a serine protease inhibitor (serpin) that specifically shuts down the activity of factor Xa and thrombin.1 Much of what we know about the mechanisms of antithrombin function has come from studies using the cofactor heparin, that allosterically activates antithrombin for optimal presentation to the target protease.1,2 In the case of factor Xa, this activation is sufficient for neutralization of enzyme function.2 The heparin-assisted activation of antithrombin is of clinical relevance as heparinoids retain center stage in anticoagulant therapy.3 However, the extracellular environment in which antithrombin functions in vivo is populated by a variety of glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) like heparin sulfate, dermatan sulfate and chondroitin sulfate (CS). GAGs have anticoagulant activity, but they often lack the heparin pentasaccharide unit required for antithrombin activation, which has raised important questions about their precise mechanism of action. See page 1921 In the extracellular matrix, GAGs are anchored to proteoglycans and feature different degrees of sulfation that can affect both ion distribution and the water content of the environment. Versican is the most abundant proteoglycan present in the arteries and uses long chains of CS as GAG appendices. Because of the ionic nature of GAGs and their spatial arrangement in the extracellular matrix, several possible mechanisms may be at the basis of their anticoagulant activity. Electrostatic forces generated by the sulfated components of GAGs may steer antithrombin and target proteases to facilitate productive collision. Furthermore, the spatial arrangement of the long GAG chains may “crowd” the extracellular environment and facilitate protein-protein interactions by simply reducing the effective volume available for diffusion. Another possibility is that the variability in pattern of sulfation of GAGs may affect the water balance of …
Building a database and search engine for reuse of course materials

The authors have developed software for creating databases of course materials on the World-Wide Web. The goal is to allow instructors at different institutions to share materials and develop them jointly. Their first two databases, in computer architecture and object technology, comprise thousands of problems and lectures downloaded (with permission) from course Websites around the world. The database is searchable by classification or fulltext string. To populate the databases with up-to-date material, they started by building a list of course Websites. Using several sources, they came up with a list of 73 sites in computer architecture and 40 sites in object technology. However, only a minority of authors gave them permission to load their material. To provide access to a larger amount of material, they are extending their search capability to include material on the Web as well as in the database. The search engine that we have used finds course Websites by searching a filtered set of educational domains for sites containing keywords characteristic of course material in the target discipline. Finally, they report on their experience of building software using a combination of funded research assistants, students working on senior-design projects, and independent-study students.
Optimization of Two-Dimensional Scramjet Inlets

The classical optimization of two-dimension al supersonic inlets for maximum total pressure recovery is extended to two-dimensional scramjet inlets. The result that optimal supersonic inlets have shock waves of equal strength is often applied to scramjets. However the typical flow turning constraint required for scramjets, along with the lack of a terminating normal shock, lead to a more involved optimization problem. Despite this, optimization by the method of Lagrange multipliers indicates that scramjet inlets with maximum total pressure recovery have external shocks with almost equal strength. The optimal total pressure recovery and turning angles for some typical scramjet inlet configurations with up to five shocks are presented.
Kant's Virtue Ethics

Among moral attributes true virtue alone is sublime. … [I]t is only by means of this idea [of virtue] that any judgment as to moral worth or its opposite is possible. … Everything good that is not based on a morally good disposition … is nothing but pretence and glittering misery.1
Silver-doped vanadium oxides as host materials for lithium intercalation

An improved cathodic material has been obtained by doping vanadium oxide hydrogel with silver. Silver-doped vanadium pentoxides with a silver molar fraction ranging from 0.01 to 1 were synthesized. With the successful doping, the electronic conductivity of V2O5 was increased by 2 to 3 orders of magnitude. The electrochemical performance of the silver doped materials is very high, up to 4 moles of lithium per mole of silver-doped V2O5 were found to be reversibly intercalated. In addition, the lithium diffusion coefficient is found to be high in the silver-doped material and with a smaller dependence on the lithium intercalation level. These enhancements resulted in high rates of insertion and delivered capacities.
A BICM Approach to Type-II Hybrid ARQ

We propose a low complexity H-ARQ utilizing Bit Interleaved Coded Modulation (BICM). Our aim is to improve the reliability and bandwidth efficiency of wireless communications using high rate H-ARQ enabled by the proposed BICM option. This type-II hybrid ARQ generates incremental redundancy and diversity by varying the bit-to-symbol mapping during retransmission without relying on FEC design. The joint detection at the receiver through maximum likelihood demapping before error correction is simple and effective. Using identical the interleaver and convolutional FEC encoder, this scheme is inexpensive and is largely independent of the outer code selection.
WITHIN-HOST POPULATION DYNAMICS AND THE EVOLUTION OF MICROPARASITES IN A HETEROGENEOUS HOST POPULATION

Why do parasites harm their hosts? The general understanding is that if the transmission rate and virulence of a parasite are linked, then the parasite must harm its host to maximize its transmission. The exact nature of such trade-offs remains largely unclear, but for vertebrate hosts it probably involves interactions between a microparasite and the host immune system. Previous results have suggested that in a homogeneous host population in the absence of super- or coinfection, within-host dynamics lead to selection of the parasite with an intermediate growth rate that is just being controlled by the immune system before it kills the host (Antia et al. 1994). In this paper, we examine how this result changes when heterogeneity is introduced to the host population. We incorporate the simplest form of heterogeneity—random heterogeneity in the parameters describing the size of the initial parasite inoculum, the immune response of the host, and the lethal density at which the parasite kills the host. We find that the general conclusion of the previous model holds: parasites evolve some intermediate growth rate. However, in contrast with the generally accepted view, we find that virulence (measured by the case mortality or the rate of parasite-induced host mortality) increases with heterogeneity. Finally, we link the within-host and between-host dynamics of parasites. We show how the parameters for epidemiological spread of the disease can be estimated from the within-host dynamics, and in doing so examine the way in which trade-offs between these epidemiological parameters arise as a consequence of the interaction of the parasite and the immune response of the host.
Determining Turbulent Vertical Velocity, and Fluxes of Heat and Salt with an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle

The authors show that vertical turbulent fluxes in the upper ocean can be measured directly with an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). A horizontal profile of vertical water velocity is obtained by applying a Kalman smoother to AUV motion data. The smoother uses a linearized model for vehicle motion and vehicle data such as depth, pitch, and pitch rate to produce an optimal estimate of the state of the system, which includes other vehicle variables and the vertical water velocity. Vertical water velocity estimated by applying the smoother to data from the autonomous microconductivity temperature vehicle (AMTV) is accurate at horizontal scales from three to several hundred meters, encompassing the energy-containing scales of most oceanic turbulence. The zero-lag covariances between vertical water velocity and concurrent measurements of temperature or salinity represent the heat and salt fluxes, respectively. The authors have measured horizontal profiles of turbulent fluxes with two different AUVs in three separate polar ocean experiments using this technique. Flux magnitudes and directions are reasonable and in general agreement with fixed turbulence sensors. With this technique, one can gather boundary layer data in inaccessible regions without disturbing or affecting the surface.
Prolonged Dormancy in Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae): A Ten-Year Field Study with Implications for Crop Rotation

Abstract This 10-yr field study examined prolonged dormancy (dormancy of more than 1 yr) in Colorado potato beetles, Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say), from Upstate New York. The research focused on whether the life cycle of the Colorado potato beetle could reduce the effectiveness of crop rotation as a pest management tactic. One set of experiments quantified variation in the occurrence and duration of prolonged dormancy in a natural population. A second set of experiments tested the effect of artificial selection for increased incidence of prolonged dormancy. Of the ≈12,600 unselected beetles in the field cages overall survival (= % emergence) averaged 56.5 ± 18.4% (mean ± SD, range = 23.5–84.3%, n = 19 cages). Most (97.7%) of the emerging beetles surfaced after one winter; the remainder (2.3%) emerged after more than one winter in dormancy. The range of variation in the incidence of prolonged dormancy among the experimental cages during the 10-yr period was 0–7.2%. The incidence of emergence from prolong...
Automated physics-based design of synthetic riboswitches from diverse RNA aptamers

Riboswitches are shape-changing regulatory RNAs that bind chemicals and regulate gene expression, directly coupling sensing to cellular actuation. However, it remains unclear how their sequence controls the physics of riboswitch switching and activation, particularly when changing the ligand-binding aptamer domain. We report the development of a statistical thermodynamic model that predicts the sequence-structure-function relationship for translation-regulating riboswitches that activate gene expression, characterized inside cells and within cell-free transcription-translation assays. Using the model, we carried out automated computational design of 62 synthetic riboswitches that used six different RNA aptamers to sense diverse chemicals (theophylline, tetramethylrosamine, fluoride, dopamine, thyroxine, 2,4-dinitrotoluene) and activated gene expression by up to 383-fold. The model explains how aptamer structure, ligand affinity, switching free energy and macromolecular crowding collectively control riboswitch activation. Our model-based approach for engineering riboswitches quantitatively confirms several physical mechanisms governing ligand-induced RNA shape-change and enables the development of cell-free and bacterial sensors for diverse applications.
Hospice Use, Hospitalization, and Medicare Spending at the End of Life

Objectives Prior studies associate hospice use with reduced hospitalization and spending at the end of life based on all Medicare hospice beneficiaries. In this study, we examine the impact of different lengths of hospice care and nursing home residency on hospital use and spending prior to death across 5 disease groups. Methods We compared inpatient hospital days and Medicare spending during the last 6 months of life using hospice versus propensity matched non-hospice beneficiaries who died in 2010, were enrolled in fee for service Medicare throughout the last 2 years of life, and were in at least 1 of 5 disease groups. Comparisons were based on length of hospice use and whether the decedent was in a nursing home during the seventh month prior to death. We regressed a categorical measure of hospice days on outcomes, controlling for observed patient characteristics. Results Hospice use over 2 weeks was associated with decreased hospital days (1-5 days overall, with greater decreases for longer hospice use) for all beneficiaries; spending was $900-$5,000 less for hospice use of 31-90 days for most beneficiaries not in nursing homes, except beneficiaries with Alzheimer's. Overall spending decreased with hospice use for beneficiaries in nursing homes with lung cancer only, with a $3,500 reduction. Discussion The Medicare hospice benefit is associated with reduced hospital care at the end of life and reduced Medicare expenditures for most enrollees. Policies that encourage timely initiation of hospice and discourage extremely short stays could increase these successes while maintaining program goals.
Fourier-Transform Infrared Absorption Spectroscopy in Binary Hydrocarbon-Alcohol Single Droplet Evaporation

Broadband absorption spectroscopy, by way of FTIR, was used to investigate the vapor cloud of a single millimeter sized liquid droplet suspended by a syringe as it evaporates at standard conditions. Single beam data were collected every 8 seconds resulting in a time-resolved record. Species concentrations were tracked using their resonant absorption peaks and correlated with a multidimensional numerical model. The numerical model combined a Gaussian beam transmission through a temporally changing spherical vapor cloud with radial concentration gradients, informed by the law and interpreted using the Abel transform. There was fair agreement with temporal evaporation trends for single component runs. Multicomponent experiments of ethanol and isooctane showed synergistic blending effects and preferential evaporation of ethanol. Droplets were also suspended by a thermocouple to track the droplet temperature over time as they were subject to evaporative cooling. This work is the foundation of a basic technique for collecting useful data to inform a complex transport problem.
Large-area free-standing ultrathin single-crystal silicon as processable materials.

Silicon has been driving the great success of semiconductor industry, and emerging forms of silicon have generated new opportunities in electronics, biotechnology, and energy applications. Here we demonstrate large-area free-standing ultrathin single-crystalline Si at the wafer scale as new Si materials with processability. We fabricated them by KOH etching of the Si wafer and show their uniform thickness from 10 to sub-2 μm. These ultrathin Si exhibits excellent mechanical flexibility and bendability more than those with 20–30 μm thickness in previous study. Unexpectedly, these ultrathin Si materials can be cut with scissors like a piece of paper, and they are robust during various regular fabrication processings including tweezer handling, spin coating, patterning, doping, wet and dry etching, annealing, and metal deposition. We demonstrate the fabrication of planar and double-sided nanocone solar cells and highlight that the processability on both sides of surface together with the interesting property...
ADULT STILL’S DISEASE PRESENTING WITH PERICARDIAL TAMPONADE

Adult-Still’s Disease (ASD) is a rare condition characterized by fevers, pharyngitis, arthralgias, and evanescent rash; cardiac involvement is rare. : A 19-year-old man presented with two weeks of fever, sore throat, chest pain, arthralgias, and maculopapular rash during fever (Fig 1A).
Deterministic Reduced-Order Macromodels for Computing the Broadband Radiation-Field Pattern of Antenna Arrays in FDTD

The enhanced nodal-order reduction (ENOR) technique is used to perform model-order reduction (MOR) on a macromodel of a subgridded finite-difference time domain (FDTD) region which contains the deterministic fine structural features [1] of an aperture antenna array laying in a larger and relatively coarser FDTD grid, to solve the broadband time-varying electromagnetic fields emanating from the antenna array and to obtain the far-field radiation patterns. The far-field radiation pattern computed in FDTD is correlated against results computed through physical optics approximation . This work lays the foundation for a separate but related work to follow, in which we further develop the above deterministic macromodel into a stochastic macromodel that addresses the problem of uncertainty in fine features of structures with disparate spatial scales.
Gel Tube Scanning with the Beckman Analytrol

A carrier plate has been designed so that ¼ by 3 in. gel tubes for polyacrylamide electrophoresis can be scanned and integrated on the Beckman Analytrol-RB equipped with the Microzone Scanning Attachment. The tube carrier is interchangeable with the standard cellulose acetate carrier plate and the Analytrol itself does not have to be modified for the conversion.
Understanding the Gender Gap in Domestic Terrorism Through Criminal Participation

This research examines criminal participation of women within domestic terrorism while testing two beliefs. Those beliefs focus on the ruthlessness and lethality of female terrorists as described b...
Liquid chromatographic determination of tilmicosin in swine feed at 200-400 mg/kg level : Interlaboratory study

An analytical method for the determination of tilmicosin at 200-400 mg/kg, the intended use concentration range, was evaluated in an interlaboratory study involving 5 laboratories, including the sponsor. The interlaboratory study evaluated the intra- and interlaboratory precision and accuracy of a tilmicosin feed method. The method procedure involved extracting tilmicosin from feed by adding 200 mL extractant to 20 g feed and shaking for 1 h. The extract is filtered and analyzed by gradient liquid chromatography which separates tilmicosin from feed matrix in 30 min. Each laboratory assayed 5 replicates of fortified feed at concentrations of 0, 100, 200, 400, and 600 mg/kg. The mean recovery among fortified samples ranged from 81.4 to 98.8%, with a percent coefficient of variation (%CV) ranging from 0.3 to 4.0%. For all blank control feed samples no significant interferences were observed. In addition, each laboratory assayed 5 replicates of medicated feed samples prepared at 2 levels (200 and 400 mg/kg) with either a horizontal or vertical mixer. Along with the medicated feed samples were included 5 replicates of a blank control feed. The identities of the medicated and blank control feed samples were blinded to the analysts. The results for the medicated feed samples ranged from 95.8 to 106% of label claim, with a %CV ranging from 2.1 to 6.7%.
A new subgenus of neritid gastropod from the Upper Cretaceous of Baja California, Mexico

Numerous specimens of the neritid gastropod Nerita (Bajanerita) n. subgen. californiensis (White, 1885) are present in the Upper Cretaceous Rosario Formation at Punta Banda, Baja California, Mexico (Figure 1). Marincovich (1975) assigned these strata to a Late Campanian to Early Maastrichtian age. The strata contain extensive biostromal deposits of the caprinid rudistid bivalve Coralliochama orcutti White, 1885, that probably lived below mean wave base in a shallow-water, low-energy environment periodically affected by storm waves or currents (Marincovich, 1975). The nearby shoreline was apparently defined by steep wave-washed bedrock cliffs and local pocket beaches that formed along the margin of a forearc basin (Yeo, 1984). Scattered about in the sandstone matrix among the rudistid remains are the small-sized specimens of N. (B.) californiensis, which commonly weather out as resistant, complete shells on the surface of the rock. Saul (1970) concluded that the neritid and other shallow-water gastropods at Punta Banda accumulated in sediment-trapping depressions within the Coralliochama buildups. These gastropods had originally roamed over the algal pastures of these buildups. The color patterns preserved on many of the specimens of N. (B.) californiensis also provide evidence that the depth of water was shallow and within the photic zone. Furthermore, Sohl (1971) reported that Campanian and Maastrichtian gastropod assemblages of the Baja California region are mostly associated with rudist buildups, and warm-water rocky intertidal neritids are among the dominant faunal elements. Lowenstam and Epstein (1959), using oxygen-isotope studies of an ammonite, suggested that the Punta Banda rudistids lived at a marginally tropical temperature of about 19°C.
Green on the Screen: Types of Jealousy and Communicative Responses to Jealousy in Romantic Comedies

ABSTRACTRomantic jealousy is common within romantic relationships, yet there is a lack of research on media portrayals of romantic jealousy and subsequent communicative responses to jealousy. Motiv...
Disposable colorimetric geometric barcode sensor for food quality monitoring

In this work, we present a disposable paper-based optical sensor arranged as barcode for monitoring food spoilage. The color-changing barcode is embedded in the food packaging and monitored using smart phone. The color change of different optical sensing dyes that make up the barcode is due to the emission of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from food. Different geometric shapes are assigned to each sensing dye for identification. The sensor fabrication is low-tech and easy to perform. A smart phone quantifies the color change in the barcode food sensor, which provides a non-contact metric of food freshness/spoilage.
Abstract WMP84: Transferring Patients with Intracerebral Hemorrhages to Tertiary Stroke Centers

Background: As a tertiary stroke center, we have increased outreach efforts to hospitals in the greater metropolitan region, having a policy to accept all patients with ICH. Comprehensive Stroke Ce...
Tracking pollutant emissions

Progress in the post-combustion treatment of diesel vehicle exhaust has led to shifting proportions of the constituents of nitrogen oxides. Observations from 61 European cities suggest that the outlook on attaining NO2 standards is more optimistic than expected.
Acute Rehabilitation Care

Rehabilitation is a multidisciplinary approach to helping patients overcome disability and reach their highest possible degree of performance after an acute medical event or surgical procedure. Effective rehabilitation involves a multidisciplinary team of health-care professionals who work together in complimentary fashion and communicate regularly. Comprehensive rehabilitation involves selecting the right setting that takes into account the care needs of the patient, cognitive status, and support systems. Rehabilitation can be offered through inpatient or outpatient services. Inpatient services include hospital rehabilitation units, long-term care hospitals, and skilled nursing facilities. Outpatient rehabilitation is conducted at home or in an ambulatory care setting. For Medicare to cover rehabilitation services, the patient must have a hospital stay of at least 3 consecutive days for a related illness or injury, known as a “qualifying stay.” Durable medical equipment plays an important role in rehabilitation.
FEC-Free 60-Gb/s Silicon Photonic Link Using SiGe-Driver ICs Hybrid-Integrated with Photonics-Enabled CMOS

We report an error-free 60-Gb/s link driven by SiGe ICs using a segmented-electrode Mach Zehnder modulator with optical-domain feed-forward equalization and a high-bandwidth Ge photodetector, both integrated in a commercial photonics-enabled CMOS process.
Sexual Risk Outcomes of an Emotion Regulation Intervention for At-Risk Early Adolescents.

OBJECTIVE: With this study, we examined the efficacy of a health intervention program that was focused on emotion regulation (ER) skills in reducing sexual risk behaviors among early adolescents with suspected mental health symptoms. METHODS: Seventh grade adolescents with suspected mental health symptoms participated in a 6-week, after-school sexual risk prevention trial in which a counterbalanced, within-school design comparing an ER focused program to a time- and attention-matched comparison group was used. Adolescents completed a computer-based survey regarding their sexual behavior at 6-month intervals for 2.5 years. RESULTS: Adolescents who received ER skills training exhibited a delay in the transition to vaginal sex over 30 months compared with those in the comparison condition (adjusted hazard ratio = 0.61; 95% confidence interval [0.42 to 0.89]). They also reported fewer instances of condomless sex over the follow-up period (adjusted rate ratio = 0.36; 95% confidence interval [0.14 to 0.90]). Among those who were sexually active, those in the ER condition reported fewer instances of vaginal or anal sex (adjusted rate ratio = 0.57; 95% confidence interval [0.32 to 0.99]). CONCLUSIONS: An intervention used to teach ER skills for the context of health decision-making resulted in lower risk among young adolescents with suspected mental health symptoms by delaying the onset of vaginal sex as well as reducing penetrative acts without a condom. Incorporating emotion education into health education may have important health implications for this age group.
The enduring regulation of the poor

Some 41 million Americans, many of them children, currently live below the official poverty level. As a proportion of the population, the number has been stable for several decades. But what it mea...
The Influence of Mood on Thought and Behavior

I have identified moods in terms of (1) the breadth of their influence on thought and behavior, and (2) their capacity to cross the threshold of awareness such that they change from a ground-like context into an object in focal attention, that is, a figure. The claim of breadth pertains principally to the effects of mood in its manifestation as context or ground. Because mood in this form does not come to attention or interrupt ongoing behavior, theoretically it can influence whatever is happening at the time. On the other hand, when mood enters focal attention it must be dealt with so that we can get on with our lives. Thus, actions taken as a result of mood in its figural manifestation are most often self-regulatory and are therefore targeted or goal-directed.
Integrals* and Products

It will be convenient to extend the domain of an integral to include certain ℝ* valued functions, and to extend the integral to an ℝ* valued functional on the larger domain. We make this extension and subsequently phrase the Beppo Levi theorem and Fatou’s lemma in this context. A more serious use of the new construct is then made in the study of product integrals and product measures.
Recruitment and Retention in Clinical Research

Nothing is more important to a clinical research study than recruiting and then retaining subjects in a study. In addition, losses to follow-up can destroy a study. This chapter will address issues such as why people participate in clinical research, what strategies can be employed to recruit and then retain subjects in a study, issues involved with minority recruitment, and HIPAA; and, will include some real examples chosen to highlight the retention of potential drop-outs.
Knowledge and Attitudes of Georgia High School Economics Teachers

Using a unique large sample survey, the knowledge and attitudes of Georgia high school economics teachers towards economics is examined for the first time. Teachers are found to have a good knowledge of economics with perhaps more training needed in supply/demand analysis and monetary economics. A minority of teachers don't like economics and even the math that is needed to teach it. Teachers who recently took a university course or at least attended an economics education workshop are far more likely to like and be knowledgeable about economics.
Setting the Confocal Microscope Operating Parameters

The goal of this chapter is to systematically look at each decision made in obtaining images from a sample stained with single or multiple fluorochromes. While in this chapter most of the specific examples of choices made in setting instrument parameters are given by using images collected on a Leica SP8 confocal microscope equipped with the following lasers, 488 and 552 nm optically pumped semiconductor lasers (OPSLs), a 638 nm diode laser, and a Coherent tunable IR laser (680 to 1080 nm), for multiphoton and second harmonic generation imaging, the basic choices made are the same regardless of the manufacturer of the system being used and the available hardware. When operating various confocal instruments, it is often simply a matter of identifying the terminology used, for example, pinhole versus iris, the name of a specific lookup table (LUT), or finding where a particular software function is hidden in the multiple menus necessary to operate the system. Once the basic principles are understood, it is possible to quickly learn to operate any confocal microscope and to obtain publication quality images.
Military Use in Public Security Operations: Is it ever Advisable?

Los paises de toda la region de America Latina han introducido a las fuerzas armadas en operaciones de seguridad interna de un o otro tipo. Dado que los militares estan acostumbrados a utilizar niveles maximos de violencia para derrotar a los enemigos, tales intervenciones podrian representar una amenaza para los civiles. Sin embargo, puede ser que esos riesgos varien, dependiendo de la naturaleza de la intervencion. Los desafios de seguridad interna primero se deben desagregar para explorar las variedades de operaciones que realizan los militares. Los militares pueden adherirse a esta y otras normas internacionales de comportamiento de derechos humanos, cuando los requisitos de la mision son compatibles con sus habilidades preexistentes. Donde no esten, inevitablemente se produciran violaciones de derechos humanos. La evidencia de esto proviene de la investigacion sobre operaciones antinarcoticos en Mexico, donde las patrullas de la policia militar se diferencian de las operaciones dirigidas de alto valor.
Exhibitions in special collections, rare book libraries and archives: Questions to ask ourselves:

The author addresses key questions that librarians, archivists, curators and administrators face when producing physical exhibitions in special collections, rare book libraries and archives. The au...
The theophylline aptamer: 25 years as an important tool in cellular engineering research

The theophylline aptamer was isolated from an oligonucleotide library in 1994. Since that time, the aptamer has found wide utility, particularly in synthetic biology, cellular engineering, and diagnostic applications. The primary application of the theophylline aptamer is in the construction and characterization of synthetic riboswitches for regulation of gene expression. These riboswitches have been used to control cellular motility, regulate carbon metabolism, construct logic gates, screen for mutant enzymes, and control apoptosis. Other applications of the theophylline aptamer in cellular engineering include regulation of RNA interference and genome editing through CRISPR systems. Here we describe the uses of the theophylline aptamer for cellular engineering over the past 25 years. In so doing, we also highlight important synthetic biology applications to control gene expression in a ligand-dependent manner.
The disability-training needs of healthcare professionals: Scoping review and new initiatives

Abstract As individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are now living longer, attention has increased on various aspects of their health status and healthcare. On a host of measures, persons with IDD show higher rates of morbidity and mortality, as well as lower levels of care. At the same time, healthcare professionals are often inadequately trained to treat these individuals, but little understanding exists of specific training needs, differences across healthcare professions, or the types or timing of needed training. After documenting the so-called cascade of health disparities in the IDD population, we then used the scoping review methodology to identify 16 disability-related training publications across seven healthcare disciplines. Most articles were U.S.-based, utilized surveys, and focused about equally on pre- and post-service general practitioner physicians. Five reliably-coded themes emerged from the 16 publications: the healthcare providers' lack of knowledge, or knowledge gained through targeted interventions; positive attitudes toward caring for persons with IDD; improved healthcare professionals' self-efficacy in response to intervention; persistent difficulties communicating with or about individuals with IDD; and the sense that few IDD-specific health resources existed. To address this perception of a lack of disability-related health resources, we conclude by highlighting several new practical and policy initiatives designed to train and support healthcare providers as they treat individuals with IDD.
Integration of FMECA and statistical snalysis for predictive maintenance

The estimation of time-to-failure of machines is of utmost importance in the Manufacturing Industry. As the world is moving towards Industry 4.0, it is high time that we progress from the traditional methods, where we wait for a breakdown to occur, to the prognostics based methods. It is the need of the era to be aware of any incident before it occurs. This study provides application of Statistical-based Predictive maintenance. A BOPP Production line has been considered as a case study for this research. Since the inception of the line in 2013, it is evident that 60% of breakdowns are due to lack of maintenance and timely replacement of bearings. Therefore, the research is based on the application of FMECA (Failure Modes, Effects and Criticality Analysis) to determine which bearing in the production line is most prone to failure and determination of which statistical model best fits the failure data of the most critical bearing. The result provides the best distribution fit for the failure data and the fit can be utilized for further study on RUL (Remaining Useful Life) of the bearing through Bayesian Inference.
Novel Mutation in CACNA1A Associated with Activity-Induced Dystonia, Cervical Dystonia, and Mild Ataxia

CACNA1A encodes the pore-forming α1 subunit of the neuronal voltage-gated Cav2.1 (P/Q-type) channels, which are predominantly localized at the presynaptic terminals of the brain and cerebellar neurons and play an important role in controlling neurotransmitter release. Mutations in CACNA1A have been associated with several autosomal dominant neurologic disorders, including familial hemiplegic migraine type 1, episodic ataxia type 2 (EA2), and spinocerebellar ataxia type 6. A 37-year-old woman presented with a history of slowly progressive, activity-induced stiffness, and pain in her right leg since age 15 and cervical dystonia since age 20. She denied any right leg stiffness or pain at rest, but when she began to walk, her right foot turned in and her right leg stiffened up. She also had neck pain, stiffness, and spams. There was no family history of similar symptoms. On physical exam, her strength, tone, and reflexes were normal in all extremities at rest. There was mild head titubation and very mild past pointing on finger-to-nose testing. MRI of the brain and spinal cord was unremarkable. This patient's clinical picture was felt to be most consistent with paroxysmal kinesigenic dyskinesia, as she has attacks of dystonia that are triggered by voluntary movement, last from a few seconds to a minute, and are relieved with rest. She was trialed on carbidopa/levodopa without improvement. A dystonia panel showed two potentially pathologic mutations, one in CACNA1A and the other in PNKP, along with a variant of unknown significance in ATP7B. The mutation in CACNA1A is C2324 G < A. It is heterozygous, autosomal dominant, and computer modeling suggests pathogenicity. This mutation has not been reported previously and is likely the cause of her paroxysmal dystonia; dystonia is sometimes seen during episodes of ataxia in EA2, and CACNA1A knockout mice exhibit dystonia and cerebellar atrophy. After receiving her genetic diagnosis, the patient was trialed on acetazolamide without improvement in her dystonia symptoms. This is the second case report of a patient with cervical dystonia and cerebellar ataxia associated with a mutation in CACNA1A.
Georgic marvel: agriculture and affect

How do humans respond, emotionally and psychologically, to georgic spaces and places? What do we think and feel when we encounter “working landscapes”—those rural places (primarily farms, but also mines and working forests) where labor produces goods that meet our material and metabolic needs? Despite increasing attention to the georgic literary tradition, these questions remain unsettled. In fact, much of the growing body of georgic scholarship disagrees about the kinds of responses generated by georgic landscapes. One task that remains, then, is to map the current scholarly terrain and synthesize, if possible, a theory of georgic affect. A related, equally important task is to ground such a theory as much as possible in the realities of soil and sun and water. Without attention to such fundamentals, the georgic mode will likely remain solely the property of academics or, equally unfortunate, become as steeped in myth and therefore as untethered from the material world as the pastoral mode. Thus, in “Georgic Marvel” I derive from scholarship and experience a nuanced but intelligible concept describing the human response to georgic places. In short, my intention is to begin to do for working landscapes what the concept of the sublime has done for wilderness. I argue that the experience of georgic places generates marvel and humility. At least two different kinds of catalysts initiate this reaction: encounters with either an epic past or with some kind of biotic mystery trigger marvel—a kind of negative hubris that tears down anthropocentrism by reminding us of the past and of other actors and agents. In its challenge to our self-centeredness, georgic marvel approximates the sublime, but relates to a different land use category and represents a distinct response. Whereas terror is integral to the experience of the sublime, georgic marvel creates intrigue and curiosity rather than fear. Marvel leads us deeper. The article concludes with an exploration of the ways in which a theory of georgic affect rooted in marvel would productively reorient our understanding of the human place in the world.
A new formulation of Bernstein-Bezier based smoothness conditions forpp functions

In this note, we establish a new formulation of smoothness conditions for piecewise polynomial (: =pp) functions in terms of the B-net representation in the general n-dimensional setting. It plays an important role for 2-dimensional setting in the constructive proof of the fact that the spaces of polynomial splines with smoothness r and total degree k≥3r+2 over arbitrary triangulations achieve the optimal approximation order with the approximation constant depending only on k and the smallest angle of the partition in [5].
Building the Experimental Setup

This chapter discusses some of the general principles involved in building experimental setups, such as deliberated appropriateness, simplicity, compactness, and safety. The chapter restricts the discussion only to those aspects that are somewhat common to most research equipment in diverse subject areas. Experimental setups are often put together or fabricated by researchers. The combination of a research project and a researcher most often tends to be anything but standard; individual differences prevail. Guided by the hypothesis, one may visualize the kind of arrangement among several pieces of equipment to constitute the setup. It is worth one's while to review each conceived piece of equipment individually, asking oneself crucial questions. There are very few experiments in science and technology, even when only an object or a phenomenon is to be observed, in which no measuring instruments are involved. When the change in a measurable quantity constitutes the effect (sometimes referred to as “outcome” or “quality characteristic”) part of the hypothesis, the need for measuring instruments is all too obvious.
On the capacity of data dependent autoregressive noise channels

Summary form only given. A magnetic recording channel can be very accurately modeled as a data dependent finite-state machine. Recently, Monte Carlo methods have been proposed to optimize Markov source inputs and compute tight capacity lower bounds. In this work, we fit data dependent autoregressive noise models (with window sizes I and D, and noise memory length L) to perpendicular recording channels and evaluate the capacities of the models. For each model size, we optimize the Markov source distribution using the iterative algorithm proposed by Kavcic (2001), and compute the information rate to lower bound the capacity.
Is thinking aloud reactive when writing in the heritage language

Critics argue that requiring subjects to verbalize their thoughts while completing certain language tasks increases the participants’ cognitive load and impairs their final performance (e.g., Jourdenais, 2001). Despite the importance of this claim for language instructors, few studies have produced contradicting evidence after an empirical study (e.g., Goo, 2010). This study investigates whether thinking aloud in either English or Spanish hindered performance during a semi-guided writing task completed by 37 college students whose heritage language (HL) is Spanish. This study also explores the validity of implementing think-alouds to investigate HL writing, an area which requires more research. Results indicate that thinking aloud while writing in the HL benefits fluency and accuracy. These results support studies that found positive reactivity and those concluding that concurrent verbalizations should be employed with caution.
The social organization of the common vampire bat

Variability at seven polymorphic allozyme loci and observations of dispersal and mating provide evidence for nonrandom genetic structure among adult female groups of the highly social bat, Desmodus rotundus. The average degree of relatedness, estimated by allelic correlations at each locus, within three and six groups of females is 0.018 (SE=0.013) and 0.032 (SE=0.023), respectively. Even though these estimates do not differ significantly from zero, a multivariate analysis of variance of individual allele frequencies reveals that three of six pairwise comparisons of groups reach significance. This genetic heterogeneity within a population does not lead to increased genetic subdivision between populations. Mean classificatory ability of the discriminant functions drops from 84% for assignment to group to 56% for assignment to population. This pattern of genetic variability is due to recruitment of female offspring into their natal groups and forced male dispersal. Occasional movements of unrelated females between groups lead to the formation of multiple matrilines within groups. Although males fight viciously for access to the top of preferred female roosting sites and top males mate preferentially with females in that roost, mean maximum paternity for top males is only 46%. Consequently, male mating success is sufficiently random to maintain gametic equilibria among all pairs of loci. Given an infant mortality of 54%, mean male tenure of 17 months, and a birth interval of 10 months, females are unlikely to be related through common male ancestors. In one group, the average degree of relatedness, derived from matrilineal pedigrees, is 0.11 (SD=0.17). Computer simulations of the growth of a group of female D. routundus show that the low level of relatedness within groups is expected even if the proportion of unrelated females allowed into a group decreases. This pattern holds for any animal which recruits one sex into its social group and has relatively high juvenile mortality followed by low adult mortality.