cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Dismantling of Arabidopsis thaliana mesophyll cell chloroplasts during natural leaf senescence.

One of the earliest events in the process of leaf senescence is dismantling of chloroplasts. Mesophyll cell chloroplasts from rosette leaves were studied in Arabidopsis thaliana undergoing natural senescence. The number of chloroplasts decreased by only 17% in fully yellow leaves, and chloroplasts were found to undergo progressive photosynthetic and ultrastructural changes as senescence proceeded. In ultrastructural studies, an intact tonoplast could not be visualized, thus, a 35S-GFP::δ-TIP line with a GFP-labeled tonoplast was used to demonstrate that chloroplasts remain outside of the tonoplast even at late stages of senescence. Chloroplast DNA was measured by real-time PCR at four different chloroplast loci, and a fourfold decrease in chloroplast DNA per chloroplast was noted in yellow senescent leaves when compared to green leaves from plants of the same age. Although chloroplast DNA did decrease, the chloroplast/nuclear gene copy ratio was still 31:1 in yellow leaves. Interestingly, mRNA levels for the four loci differed: psbA and ndhB mRNAs remained abundant late into senescence, while rpoC1 and rbcL mRNAs decreased in parallel to chloroplast DNA. Together, these data demonstrate that, during senescence, chloroplasts remain outside of the vacuole as distinct organelles while the thylakoid membranes are dismantled internally. As thylakoids were dismantled, Rubisco large subunit, Lhcb1, and chloroplast DNA levels declined, but variable levels of mRNA persisted.
Finite element analysis of microwave heating of solid foods

Abstract Microwave heating of solid food with rectangular and cylindrical geometries were analysed using TWODEPEP, a two-dimensional commercial finite element software. Absorbed microwave power density at any location in the test material was derived as a function of dielectric properties and geometry of the material. The model was experimentally validated by using sodium alginate gel as a test material. The temperature predictions by finite element analysis and the experimental measurements were very similar in slab-shaped samples. In cylindrical samples, the experimental data and the finite element predicted values of temperatures were close to each other at all regions except at the central region. Sensitivity analyses showed that variation in thermal diffusivity, dielectric properties, and incident microwave power resulted in significant variation in the temperatures as predicted by the finite element method.
Office visits for otitis media: United States, 1975-90.

Data from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey show a steady increase in the number and rate of physician office visits for otitis media over the period from 1975 to 1990. The annual visit rate during this period more than doubled, and for children under age 15, increased 175 percent. Though the increase is greatest for males under age 2, there are substantial increases for males and females under age 15. Reasons for this dramatic increase are not readily apparent. Data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), however, suggest that the increased visit rate may reflect an increase in the incidence of ear infections. According to NHIS data, the incidence of acute ear infections among the U.S. population increased by about 40 percent between 1982 and 1990, from 6.1 to 8.6 conditions per 100 persons per year. This compares with an increase of about 52 percent in the physician office visit rate for otitis media, from 1980 to 1990. (Because of gaps in data collection, it is not possible to compare precisely concurrent time periods.) The under 15 age group, which accounts for about 80 percent of otitis media physician office visits, experienced a 60 percent increase in office visit rate from 1980 to 1990. This parallels data from the NHIS that show a 60 percent increase in the incidence of acute ear infections among the under 17 age group from 1982 to 1990. The reporting of an acute ear infection in the NHIS does not necessarily equate to an incidence of otitis media, but the parallel increases in ear infection incidence and otitis media physician visits are mutually supportive and likely to be related.
Exiting with Voice and Loyalty: The Politics of Diaspora Intervention in Sierra Leone

This study explores how and why members of the Sierra Leone diaspora intervene in political and socioeconomic processes in their homeland. Unlike the classic polemic established by Hirschmann, most Sierra Leoneans exit the system with both their voice and loyalty but there is significant variation between those who voice their dissent with the state of affairs they left behind and those who continue to express loyalty from a distance. I argue that appreciating this variation requires an understanding of the membership, goals and modus operandi of Sierra Leonean organizations in the diaspora because they are the primary vehicles of interaction and inter-communal exchanges between and among Sierra Leoneans away from home. Employing participant observation, I study several groups as they selectively intervene in diverse political and socioeconomic affairs back home such as condemning alleged human rights violations, undertaking development projects, and supporting constitutional amendments for dual citizenship, and report the findings in this paper. Contrary to expectations, dissenters who undertook development projects in their communities of origin are equally likely to voice their discontent with the government and political elites. Additionally, I discuss the implications of the findings for democratization and development in Sierra Leone over the long haul.
The extremal principle and its applications to optimization and economics

This paper is devoted to the extremal principle in variational analysis that can be viewed as a variational analog of the classical convex separation principle in nonconvex settings. We consider two basic versions of the extremal principle in Banach spaces formulated in terms of Frechet-like normals and their sequential limits. Then we discuss various applications of these results to the generalized differential calculus for nonsmooth and set-valued mappings, to necessary optimality and suboptimality conditions in problems of constrained optimization, and to the study of Pareto optimality in nonconvex models of welfare economics.
Renal calcium transport: mechanisms and regulation--an overview.

Renal calcium transport is described as the result of two processes, a paracellular, gradient-dependent process that predominates in most segments of the nephron and a transcellular, energy-dependent step that characterizes calcium transport in the distal convoluted tubule (DCT). Transcellular calcium transport involves entry into the DCT cell, possibly via channels, intracellular movement which appears to be facilitated by the presence of the vitamin D-dependent, cytosolic calcium-binding protein (CaBPr, calbindin D28k, mol mass approximately 28 kDa), and extrusion via the Ca-ATPase. Although much is known about calcium channels, their presence in renal tissue has only been demonstrated by preliminary studies. Quantitative data on CaBPr content of rat DCT are also unavailable, but theoretical analysis and early experimental values of intracellular self-diffusion of calcium have confirmed the need for an intracellular calcium "ferry," i.e., a molecule like CaBPr to amplify intracellular calcium movement. Available data on the plasma membrane Ca-ATPase are consistent with the extrusion kinetics attributed to the renal Ca-ATPase, but it has not been isolated, nor has its gene been cloned. Regulation and disorders of renal calcium transport are likely to involve one of the three transcellular steps, but indirect regulation by modification of the cell walls and molecules constituting the paracellular pathway cannot be excluded.
Preferred Tempo of Motor Performance

The magnitude of individual differences in within-subject variability in performance of repetitive movements at a self-paced tempo was investigated. Subjects (N = 150) performed an accuracy task involving consecutive arm swings at an individually chosen tempo. Odd-even and serial half reliability coefficients for within-subject variances (r =.72, .66) were significant at the .01 level. Also, statistically significant correlation coefficients ranging from .70 to .76 were found between subjects’ mean response times and within-subject variances. With the effect of mean response times partialled out, the reliability coefficients for within-subject variances were reduced (r = .41, .30) but were still statistically significant (p<.01). The findings indicated that individual differences in within-subject variance were present to a moderate degree.
Quantification and Kinetic Modeling of 123I-mIBG using Dynamic SPECT for Cardiac Innervation

408 Objectives Current 2D planar or SPECT methods for 123I-mIBG are not sensitive, quantitative, and reproducible. We used a stationary CZT SPECT to estimate kinetic parameters of 123I-mIBG kinetics using quantitative dynamic SPECT. Scan duration and protocol were studied to achieve optimal and clinically feasible protocols for 123I-mIBG. Methods 4D-SPECT dynamic 123I-mIBG imaging was performed over 3 or 4 hours using a GE Discovery 570c SPECT/CT in 2 healthy dogs (3 separate scan sessions per dog) and 5 humans (1 normal subject and 4 heart failure patients). Test-retest and blocking studies of dog studies using desmethylimipramine (DMI) were performed and corrected for plasma metabolites. All images were reconstructed using MLEM algorithm with or without attenuation correction (AC) and and a recently developed scatter correction (SC) for CZT. Kinetic analysis was performed with one-tissue (1T), two-tissue (2T), and two-tissue irreversible (2Ti) models. Various combinations of scan duration and acquisition protocol were investigated. Results Plasma parent fractions in dog studies were Conclusions Dynamic 123I-mIBG SPECT can be used to derive kinetic parameters of sympathetic activity, although plasma metabolites correction is critical in 123I-mIBG kinetic modeling. Quantitative 123I-mIBG SPECT imaging is feasible using early 30 min dynamic imaging and a delayed acquisition 2 to 3 hrs post injection.
Investigating metacognition, cognition, and behavioral deficits of college students with acute traumatic brain injuries

ABSTRACTObjective: Executive dysfunction in college students who have had an acute traumatic brain injury (TBI) was investigated. The cognitive, behavioral, and metacognitive effects on college students who endorsed experiencing a brain injury were specifically explored. Participants: Participants were 121 college students who endorsed a mild TBI, and 121 college students with no history of a TBI were matched on sex and ethnicity to examine potential differences between groups. Methods: Participants completed the Dysexecutive Questionnaire (DEX). Results: A Rasch analysis indicated that the TBI group had significantly higher total scores on the DEX than the control group. Moreover, when compared with the control group, the students with a TBI had higher scores on all 3 subcomponents of the DEX. Conclusion: These findings suggest that students who endorse brain injuries may experience more difficulty with specific facets of college. Thus, the importance of academic and personal resources available for stud...
Hypoglycemia and Brain Damage

The neurochemical effects, patterns of cerebral blood flow derangement, time course and distribution of brain tissue damage, and selective neuronal necrosis resulting from hypoglycemia are compared to the biological effects of ischemia and epilepsy in a neurological progress report from the Departments of Pathology and Clinical Neurosciences, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and the Laboratory for Experimental Brain Research, University Hospital, Lund, Sweden.
Knowledge Discovery in Clinical Data

There has been a recent surge in the implementation of electronic health care records. These patient records contain valuable medical information including patient demographic data, diagnosis, therapeutic approach, and patient outcomes. It is important to analyze patterns within these records in order to more effectively treat individuals. In this paper, a method is presented for identifying these themes and patterns within patient data. This methodology includes extraction of the main themes or patterns in the data and linking those themes back to the corpus from which they were generated. In our research, we partitioned graphs from terms gathered from electronic medical records. We used two sets of data including eight charts and ten case studies for this study from primary disease categories. The Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) and case studies were modeled as networks of interacting terms where the interactions were captured by their co-occurrences in the documents. A greedy algorithm was used to find communities with high modularity. Finally, we compared our method with probabilistic topic modeling algorithms and evaluated the efficacy of our method by using recall and precision measures.
Nonlinear burn control using in-vessel coils and isotopic fueling in ITER

Abstract In future burning tokamaks, active control of the plasma temperature and density will be necessary to produce a determined amount of fusion power. Conventional actuation methods, such as auxiliary power modulation and fueling rate modulation, are usually employed to tackle this so-called burn control problem. Fueling rate modulation can be used not only to directly control the plasma density but also to indirectly control the plasma energy by means of isotopic fuel tailoring. Moreover, based on recent experiments, the in-vessel coil system arises as a possible actuation method to decrease the plasma energy by generating non-axisymmetric fields in the plasma that may reduce the energy confinement time. In this work, a nonlinear burn controller that integrates the three mentioned actuators is proposed. The controller performance is tested via simulations for an ITER-like scenario.
Application of the transtheoretical model to sedentary behaviors and its association with physical activity status.

Background The Transtheoretical Model (TTM) is a successful framework for guiding behavior change programs for several health behaviors, yet its application to reduce of sedentary behavior has been neglected. In addition, no data exist regarding the association between determinants of sedentary behaviors based on the TTM and physical activity behavior. The purpose of this study was to investigate college students' stages of motivational readiness to avoid sedentary behaviors and relevant psychological determinants using newly developed TTM questionnaires and to identify the association between current physical activity and sedentary behaviors based on TTM constructs. Methods Data were obtained from 225 college students enrolled in health education and physical education courses. Participants completed a package of questionnaires including validated TTM, physical activity and sitting time questionnaires. Participants also wore an accelerometer for seven consecutive days. MANOVAs were conducted to determine mean differences in psychological constructs across the TTM stages, and Chi-square tests and Spearman correlation were used to evaluate the associations between current physical activity and sedentary behavior. Results A majority of the participants were in the sedentary stages, and men and women differed in proportion of individuals in the stages (78.0% vs. 68.1%, respectively). The gender difference was also found in use of the processes of change. In general, the mean scores of the TTM constructs increased as the stages progressed. No significant associations were found between the TTM constructs for sedentary behavior and current physical activity levels (p>0.05). Conclusions A high proportion of college students were in sedentary stages regardless of physical activity levels, but different distributions in men and women. Participants in earlier stages were less likely to utilize the TTM constructs to reduce sedentary behaviors than those in later stages. A lack of association between physical activity and the psychological determinants of sedentary behavior was found.
Learning structural properties of wireless ad-hoc networks non-parametrically from spectral activity samples

In this paper we apply a Bayesian non-parametric model to segmenting time series of observed wireless node transmission activity in order to learn routing patterns in an unknown ad-hoc network, as well as its topology. This emulates cognition of a spectrum sensing radio network capable of geolocating transmitting nodes of another network and detecting starting and stopping times of their packet transmissions with various degree of accuracy. Each wireless node of the monitored network is described by a Hidden Semi-Markov model (HSMM), where the states, state durations and emissions, and transition probabilities between states are uncovered based solely on RF spectrum observations. State durations are random variables that correspond to node's activity segments. The learning of the HSMM model is non-parametric and derived from the Hierarchical Dirichlet Process (HDP) prior. We demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach using an NS-3 simulated 802.11 wireless network whose nodes are placed on a grid such that one node's grid neighbors are the only nodes in its range. In this network relaying with routing is necessary to reach other network nodes. The quality of learning for the proposed approach is analyzed based on simulated and synthetic data.
The Kanuri associative postposition: a case for subordination

The paper deals with the associative postposition in the Saharan SOV language, Kanuri. A unified analysis of all of the environments in the language in which this morpheme (or its homophone) occurs is presented. An explanation is provided for the uses of the associative in existential predicates, phrases of accompaniment, noun phrase conjunction, etc. It is proposed that the same postposition occurs as a topic marker and as a subordinating conjunction for a wide range of adverbial clauses. Its use to mark direct object pronouns is related to its function as a topic marker, and thus it is argued that Kanuri has no accusative case marker. The paper ends by underlining the significance of the proposed relation between topic constructions and certain adverbial clause constructions (including conditionals) in Kanuri, since similar relations have recently been documented for other languages.
Genetic Testing: Challenges and Changes in Testing for Hereditary Cancer Syndromes

BACKGROUND The practice of genetic testing for hereditary cancer syndromes has changed dramatically in recent years, and patients often approach oncology nurses requesting information about genetic testing. . OBJECTIVES This article aims to explore changes in cancer genetics, the role of genetics professionals in providing comprehensive genetic care, and the implications of these new developments in genetics for oncology nurses. . METHODS A literature review was conducted and focused on articles about the updating of genetic tests with panel testing, insurance changes, alternative genetic counseling strategies, and direct-to-consumer genetic testing. . FINDINGS Oncology nurses play an important role in identifying and referring patients, including those who have tested negative for hereditary susceptibility genes, to genetics professionals. Genetics professionals can assist with insurance issues, interpretation of test results, clarification when a variant of unknown clinical significance is detected, and recommendations for care based on personal and family history and testing results. Oncology nurses can assist families with understanding the limitations of direct-to-consumer genetic testing.
Associations, Professional and Scholarly

Communication associations can be classified by their scholarly and/or professional nature as well as the local to global constituencies that they serve. This entry provides an overview of associations, noting that their implementations of missions shift as membership changes and requires new services. Keywords: professional associations; publications
Iron Chloride Flocculation of Bacteriophages from Seawater

Viruses influence ecosystem dynamics by modulating microbial host population dynamics, evolutionary trajectories and metabolic outputs. While they are ecologically important across diverse ecosystems, viruses are challenging to study due to minimal biomass often obtained when sampling natural communities. Here we describe a technique using chemical flocculation, filtration and resuspension to recover bacteriophages from seawater and other natural waters. The method uses iron to precipitate viruses which are recovered by filtration onto large-pore size membranes and then resuspended using a buffer containing magnesium and a reductant (ascorbic acid or oxalic acid) at slightly acid pH (6-6.5). The recovery of bacteriophages using iron flocculation is efficient (>90%), inexpensive and reliable, resulting in preparations that are amenable to downstream analysis by next generation DNA sequencing, proteomics and, in some cases, can be used to study virus-host interactions.
Dental Annuli Age Determination on White-Tailed Deer From Archaeological Sites1

Systematic, inexpensive, nonlaborious aging techniques have been perfected by wildlife biologists which are applicable for archaeologically obtained white-tailed deer remains. The techniques not on...
Electrophysiological and Electrochemical Background

In this chapter we present some selected elementary knowledge concerning both the electro-physiology and electro-chemistry of the heart (for details see [1, 2, 3, 4]). This information covers the structures and properties of cardiac cells and tissues, required for understanding the formulation of the mathematical models of action potential (AP) generation and propagation. The basic terminology and definitions are introduced as is required by the discussed topics. Additional physiological information and definitions will be introduced in the following chapters as soon as they become necessary.
The effect of corticosteroids on aqueous humor formation rate and outflow facility.

The effect of corticosteroids on aqueous humor (AH) formation rate and outflow facility was measured in the cat eye. AH formation rate was determined by continuous posteroanterior chamber perfusion with an AH-like buffer containing inulin-C 1 *. It was found that the total quantity of inulin-C Ji recovered through the anterior chamber outflow cannula could be used to estimate changes in outflow facility. Intravenous hydrocortisone in doses from 1 to 100 mg. per kilogram caused a dose-related decrease in AH formation rate. At the same doses and at 0.1 mg. per kilogram, there was a decrease in outflow facility averaging about 23 per cent. When various doses of hydrocortisone were perfused through the eye chambers or injected into the vitreous, there was no change in AH formation rate or outflow facility. When hydro- cortisone or dexamethasone was dropped onto the cornea, there was again a slight reduction in AH formation rate and a significant decrease in outflow facility. Particularly with dex- amethasone, the effect on the outflow facility seemed to predominate over the effect on AH formation rate. Data suggest that the rise in intraocular pressure reported after topical or systemic corticosteroids is mediated by a direct effect of these hormones on the outflow facility. The outflow facility appears to be more sensitive to corticosteroids than the mechanism con- trolling AH secretion.
History of the Development of Sleep Medicine in the United States

Sleep Medicine has only recently been recognized as a specialty of medicine. Its development is based on an increasing amount of knowledge concerning the physiology of sleep, circadian biology and the pathophysiology of sleep disorders. This review chronicles the major advances in sleep science over the past 70 years and the development of the primary organizations responsible for the emergence of Sleep Medicine as a specialty, sleep disorders as a public health concern and sleep science as an important area of research.
Transformation Electromagnetics Inspired Lens Designs and Associated Metamaterial Implementations for Highly Directive Radiation

In this chapter, the transformation electromagnetics (TE) approach for achieving highly directive radiation is introduced and demonstrated by both numerical simulations and experimental results obtained from laboratory prototypes. In addition to conventional approaches for designing directive antennas, the recently developed metamaterial-related techniques, such as the electromagnetic bandgap (EBG) structures, zero-index metamaterials, and transformation optics (TO), are reviewed. In particular, several coordinate transformations which can provide simplified material parameters are proposed, including the conformal mapping, quasi-conformal (QC) mapping, geometry-similar transformation, and the uniaxial media simplification method. All of these techniques are capable of achieving a certain degree of simplification in the transformed material parameters without sacrificing the device performance. The design and demonstration of various beam collimating devices illustrate their unique properties and suitability for different applications such as in compact wireless systems. In all, these TE-enabled lenses with simple material parameters are expected to find widespread applications in the fields of microwave antennas as well as optical nanoantennas.
Insulation for Wind and React High Temperature Superconducting Coils

A thin, thermally stable, well-adhered insulation is needed for the fabrication of High Temperature Superconducting (HTS) coils. Due to the brittle nature of HTS materials the Wind and React (W & R) approach is employed. Therefore one has to use high temperature compatible insulating material for providing the turn to turn electrical insulation in the W&R HTS coils. A sol-gel ceramic based insulation coating process has been developed at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (NHMFL) for providing such insulation. Optical microscopy, Environmental Scanning Electron Microscopy (ESEM), and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) were used to study the microstructure and phase composition of insulation coatings obtained. A stack of six double pancakes which was fabricated using this sol-gel insulation coating for turn-to-turn electrical insulation produced 1.2 T in a background field of 17.5 T at 4.2K.
Parthenogenetic Embryonic Stem Cells in Nonhuman Primates

Parthenogenesis is a naturally occurring process where an oocyte is activated without sperm contribution. In mammals, parthenogenetic (PG) embryos cannot develop to term. The most commonly used method of artificially making diploid PG embryos is using via chemical activation of the egg and by preventing extrusion of the second polar body. Parthenogenetic embryonic stem (PGES) cells are derived from the inner cell mass of PG embryo at the blastocyst stage. They are pluripotent, i.e., they can differentiate into all three germ layers: ecto-, meso-, and endoderm, and can be propagated as stem cells in culture for prolonged periods of time. PGES cells offer an easily obtainable pool of stem cells that can be used as a source for derivation of autologous tissues, albeit limited to females in reproductive age. PGES cells derivation does not require destruction of a viable embryo and therefore bypasses the ethical debates surrounding the use of naturally fertilized embryos. Nonhuman primates are the closest species to human in the tree of evolution and therefore are excellent models for studying human development and diseases. PGES cells from nonhuman primate and human parthenogenetically activated oocyte have recently been derived (1, 2, 3). These cells offer a valuable tool for studying the developmental, differentiation, and functional potential of the PGES cells in the context of their clinical application in organ and tissue transplantations in humans.
New Finite Difference Time Domain (νFDTD) Electromagnetic Field Solver

With the advent of sub-micron technologies and increasing awareness of Electromagnetic Interference and Compatibility (EMI/EMC) issues, designers are often interested in full-wave simulations of complete systems, and of their possible environments. Such simulations can be very complex, especially when the problems of interest involve multi-scale geometries with very fine features. Under these circumstances, even the well-established methods either in the time or frequency domains, such as the Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD), Finite Element Method (FEM), or the Method of Moments (MoM), are often challenged to the limits of their capabilities. The nu (use symbol for nu) FDTD solver is an approach which is being proposed to handle such challenges. The nu (use Symbol for nu) FDTD is a hybridized version of the conformal FDTD (CFDTD) and a novel frequency domain technique called the Dipole Moment Approach (DM Approach). We show that this blend of time domain and frequency domain techniques empowers the solver to solve a wide variety of problems in a numerically efficient way.
On the Errors Associated with Two-Dimensional Stochastic Solute Transport Models

Many subsurface solute transport studies employ numerical modeling techniques to estimate solute arrival times. Simplifying assumptions must be made to define the modeling domain within a mathematical framework. One common assumption is that the vertical flow is negligible such that the flow field can be simulated with a two-dimensional model. Reducing the vertical dimension reduces the number of flow paths that a solute can take. In a heterogenous medium, artificially removing the 3rd dimension may lead to erroneous results. We investigate the error in the simulated solute breakthrough associated with a two-dimensional model. We also use a stochastic solution of solute arrival time to derive a transform of a two-dimensional ln (k) field so that solute transport more closely resembles three-dimensional transport behavior. The moment equations for two- and three-dimensional domains were solved simultaneously to calculate this transform. The results indicate that the removal of the vertical variability (3D → 2D) introduces a 5–10% error in the predicted solute breakthrough. The error tends to increase with increased hydraulic conductivity variance. Numerical experiments confirm that the transform developed herein decreases the relative error of particle breakthrough curves.
Constitutive Equations for Soil Media

A general analytical model which describes the nonlinear, anisotropic, elastoplastic, stress-strain-strength properties of the soil skeleton when subjected to complicated three-dimensional loading paths is presented. A brief summary of the model’s basic principle is included and the constitutive equations are provided. It is shown that the model parameters required to characterize the behavior of any given soil can be derived entirely from the results of conventional soil tests. The procedure can be easily programmed. The model’s accuracy is evaluated by applying it to represent the behavior of a cohesive soil under undrained loading conditions for nonproportional stress paths. Implementation of the proposed formulation for solution of boundary value problems is discussed.
The impact of pH and ion exchange on 133cs adsorption on vermiculite.

Many studies have shown that the adsorption of ions like K and Cs on 2:1 clay minerals can prompt the collapse of their interlayers and render the adsorbing ions nonexchangeable. This study sought to better understand this unique adsorption mechanism through the generation of an adsorption envelope for Cs adsorption on vermiculite and the exploration of the kinetics of interlayer collapse. The collapse of the vermiculite interlayer was confirmed via X-ray diffraction (XRD), and the timing of interlayer collapse was determined by placing Cs in competition with K at different time intervals. The adsorption envelope for Cs on vermiculite showed that although H competition does affect the adsorption of Cs on vermiculite, the effect of this competition is quite limited, even at very low pH values. This hypothesis is supported by the fact that XRD demonstrated a significant decrease in interlayer dimension after Cs adsorption. Finally, kinetics experiments showed that the irreversible adsorption of K and the collapse of the interlayer may take place on a much longer time scale than previously considered.
Integrated Multiscale Design, Market Participation, and Replacement Strategies for Battery Energy Storage Systems

Increased dependence on non-dispatchable energy sources has created a need for flexible energy storage systems capable of providing peak shaving and ancillary services. This work develops a computational framework to optimize sizing, replacement, and market participation strategies for battery energy storage systems. A multiscale linear programming formulation is proposed that spans real-time market decisions (minutes) to sizing and replacement decisions (years) while explicitly considering capacity loss due to degradation. These optimization problems include millions of variables and constraints, but can be efficiently solved using modern algorithms. Several case studies explore tradeoffs between market participation, degradation, power-to-energy ratio, and replacement strategies using historical energy and ancillary service price data from CAISO. Findings emphasize that simultaneously transacting both energy and ancillary services in day-ahead and real-time markets can provide a four to five fold increase in net present value compared to only buying/selling energy in the day-ahead market. Optimization also reveals market participation strategies that effectively manage degradation leading to an optimal energy-to-power ratio of less than 1 MWh/MW for NaS batteries. Results also show that developing ideal degradation-free batteries would improve net present value by 20%. This emphasizes that judicious management of degradation, sizing, and markets is critical.
Pre-Operative Cardiovascular Testing and Post-Renal Transplant Clinical Outcomes.

Abstract Background Cardiovascular disease, a major contributor to morbidity and mortality in chronic kidney disease and kidney transplant patients, is closely evaluated before kidney transplant. We aimed to characterize pre-transplant cardiac testing practices and post-transplant cardiac outcomes at a single academic center. Methods This was a retrospective, single-center analysis of consecutive adults receiving first renal transplant from 1/1/2016 to 6/31/2017. Data included demographics, medical history, and medications. Pre-transplant workup included echocardiograms , cardiac stress testing, coronary computed tomography , left heart catheterization (LHC), and any revascularization . Outcomes included all-cause mortality, cardiac mortality, myocardial infarction (MI), and myocardial injury . Results Our analysis included 235 patients with mean follow-up of 1.6 ± 0.53 years. Of these, 219 (93%) patients had non-invasive functional testing before transplant, with 198 normal and 21 abnormal. The most common modalities were dobutamine stress echocardiogram (88) and pharmacological myocardial perfusion imaging (60). Twenty-four (10%) patients had an LHC, including 14 abnormal studies, and 10 who subsequently underwent successful revascularization. There were 3 deaths, 2 that were cardiac-specific. There were no ST-elevation MIs and 1 Type I non-ST-elevation MI (NSTEMI), occurring 2 days after transplant. Of those patients with a 30-day post-operative troponin , 30 (13%) patients had an elevation due to a type II NSTEMI or myocardial injury. Conclusions Non-invasive functional testing is common prior to renal transplantation , with most being normal. Few patients are revascularized before transplantation. Perioperative death and acute coronary syndrome are rare, but troponin elevations due to type II NSTEMI and myocardial injury are common.
Audiovisual Media Content Preferences of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Insights from Parental Interviews

Most research on the media use of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) focuses on media device use and less on content preferences of these children. We interviewed parents (N = 31) of children with ASD to examine parental observations of their children’s audiovisual media content preferences. Thematic analysis of the in-depth interviews found children with ASD preferred media content with features aimed at younger audiences. Parents also reported that content that fostered imitation was appealing to their children, occasionally with observable benefits (e.g., verbalizing words of favorite characters). Additionally, parents indicated that ease of control (e.g., content repetition) and ease of use (e.g., accessibility) made mainstream appealing to their children. Parents reported limited awareness of apps designed specifically for children with ASD.
Latino Studies, Latino/a/X futures: Provocations toward a prospectus:

Is there a future for Latino/a/X Studies? This question – alternately anxious or ambitious – seems to have been haunting the field for many years. If it can be affirmed with reasonable confidence t...
EHR-Linked Registries for Studies of Populations

Registries are a type of database routinely used to collect a standardized set of information on a defined cohort of patients. They are used in many different areas, from monitoring drug and device safety to comparative effectiveness research to quality improvement efforts looking to standardize care practices for patients with chronic disease. For many different types of research, particularly comparative effectiveness research or research involving children, no single institution has a large enough patient population to perform a proper study. This, coupled with the growing digitization of medical records, has led to an increased effort to create distributed research networks. The widespread adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) has resulted in a strong push to use them as the primary method of collection for registry data, capturing the necessary elements as part of routine clinical care. This would achieve the long-hoped for goal of “data in once,” moving clinical and translational research away from the common practice of populating registries through double data entry. This is illustrated by a discussion of the registry infrastructure utilized by the ImproveCareNow network, a collaborative of clinicians focused on improving the care of children with Inflammatory Bowel Disease.
Building upon current knowledge and techniques of indoor microbiology to construct the next era of theory into microorganisms, health, and the built environment

In the constructed habitat in which we spend up to 90% of our time, architectural design influences occupants' behavioral patterns, interactions with objects, surfaces, rituals, the outside environment, and each other. Within this built environment, human behavior and building design contribute to the accrual and dispersal of microorganisms; it is a collection of fomites that transfer microorganisms; reservoirs that collect biomass; structures that induce human or air movement patterns; and space types that encourage proximity or isolation between humans whose personal microbial clouds disperse cells into buildings. There have been recent calls to incorporate building microbiology into occupant health and exposure research and standards, yet the built environment is largely viewed as a repository for microorganisms which are to be eliminated, instead of a habitat which is inexorably linked to the microbial influences of building inhabitants. Health sectors have re-evaluated the role of microorganisms in health, incorporating microorganisms into prevention and treatment protocols, yet no paradigm shift has occurred with respect to microbiology of the built environment, despite calls to do so. Technological and logistical constraints often preclude our ability to link health outcomes to indoor microbiology, yet sufficient study exists to inform the theory and implementation of the next era of research and intervention in the built environment. This review presents built environment characteristics in relation to human health and disease, explores some of the current experimental strategies and interventions which explore health in the built environment, and discusses an emerging model for fostering indoor microbiology rather than fearing it.
Prevalence and factors associated with diagnosed depression among hospitalized cancer patients with metastatic disease

This study aimed to examine the factors associated with diagnosed depression among patients with a metastatic cancer. We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of 39,223 hospital records from 2008 to 2013 National Inpatient Sample for patients with metastatic cancer. Diagnosed depression was defined using ICD-9-CM for major depression. Weighted, multivariable hierarchical regression model was used to examine the association between sociodemographic and clinical factors and depression among patients with a metastatic cancer. The prevalence of clinically diagnosed depression in patients with a metastatic cancer in our study sample was 7.3% (5.9% for males and 8.6% for females). The prevalence rate of diagnosed depression increased from 5.3 to 9.4% between 2008 and 2013. In multivariable analysis, patients were more likely to be diagnosed with depression if they were females (aOR = 1.44; 95% CI 1.25–1.66) compared to males; and had higher number of comorbidities (aOR = 1.11 per 1-unit increase in Elixhauser comorbidity score, 95% CI 1.07–1.15). In contrast, patients were less likely to be diagnosed with depression if they were blacks (aOR = 0.59; 95% CI 0.47–0.74) or other race (aOR = 0.58; 95% CI 0.47–0.72) compared with white patients. Women and individuals with more comorbidities were diagnosed with depression more frequently, whereas black patients were diagnosed less. Our findings could help providers to identify hospitalized patients with the higher risk of depression and screened patients with signs and symptoms of clinical depression.
High-Speed Digital Bus Testing using Automatic Test- Markup Language (ATML)

Department of Defense (DoD) military systems designed to attack, protect, and provide tactical advantages to the warfighter increasingly push technological advances. Systems and subsystems share data at high rates to make quick decisions. Because of the rapid advancements in technology, the DoD Family of Testers (FoT) are unable to validate units under test (UUT) that use high-speed digital buses. Current and developing solutions to solve this problem are done in a closed architecture designed specifically for one DoD automatic test system (ATS). Technology Service Corporation's Automatic Test System (TSCATS) is being developed as a high-speed digital bus augmentation capability to the DoD FoTs leveraging IEEE standards to provide an open architecture framework. The discrete system can be remotely triggered and applicable to a wide range of DoD FoTs. The TSCATS utilizes a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) PXIe hardware platform and a software Test Executive (TE) capable of parsing an automatic test mark-up language (ATML IEEE Std. 1671) test description (TD) document and using synthetic instruments to deliver and test high-speed communication protocols. Benefits to this approach include reduced life-cycle, TPS development, and re-host costs while providing DoD an augmented test capability for their ATS environment. The DoD is increasingly incorporating ATML as its standard language in describing all aspects of automated test systems and automatic testing. The sub-standard for IEEE Std. 1671, IEEE Std. 1671.1 - Standard for Automatic Test Markup Language Test Description, identifies and documents the necessary components for describing the testing procedure for a UUT. For a Test Program Set (TPS) developer, the test description provides important test information in developing software to validate a DoD UUT. The TSCATS hardware platform TE, Test Forge, provides test sequencing, parameter validation, data reporting, error handling, and UUT and ATE monitoring solutions. Test Forge is designed independently of specific underlying requirements of UUTs or test station capabilities. It is designed to provide a flexible architecture that allows developers to add or extend functionality. The Test Forge ATML TD tools provide an interface for test developers to load ATML test descriptions and automatically generate software test shells for development, parameter files, test sequences, and executable build specifications for the TPS software. The TSCATS hardware platform will incorporate a synthetic high-speed instrumentation module capable of exchanging test signals with the UUT controlled by Test Forge and can be connected to any ATE, DoD or commercial. The reconfigurable instrumentation module currently provides speeds up to 12.5 Gbps data rates, meeting signal requirements for high-speed communication protocols such as 10 GbE, SATA, USB, and Serial RapidIO. The platform uses COTS hardware based on industry standard practices for low-cost and easier upgrades. The TSCATS is designed to provide DoD a low-cost, open architecture, high-speed bus tester with ease of UUT re-hosting.
Application of corn zein as an anchoring molecule in a carbon nanotube enhanced electrochemical sensor for the detection of gliadin

Abstract This research focused on the fabrication of an electrochemical sensor capable of detecting the protein ‘gliadin’, which is responsible for serious autoimmune disorder causing chronic diarrhea, fatigue, weight loss and anemia in people having celiac disease. The fabrication process involves the replacement of toxic synthetic chemicals that are used for anchoring of the capture antibody in the working electrode, by the natural polymer zein coupled with several nanoparticles including, carbon nanotubes, graphene oxide and Laponite®. Novel biodegradable coatings made from zein nanocomposites: zein-graphene oxide (Z-GO), zein-Laponite® (Z-LAP) and zein-multiwalled carbon nanotubes (Z-CNT) using drop casting nanocomposite technique were tested for fabricating the electrochemical sensors using cyclic voltammetry (CV), square wave voltammetry (SWV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Pristine zein coated electrode did not generate any oxidation/reduction peaks in the cyclic voltammograms and showed high degree of impedance in the EIS curves. While addition of the three nanoparticles (CNT, LAP, GO) considerably improved the electrical signal, Z-CNT gave the highest and strongest signals compared to other nanomaterials. The active tip of the electrochemical sensor was functionalized through a sequence of layer by layer deposition of Z-CNT nanocomposite, and other linker molecules, where Z-CNT acts as a natural linker molecule with large number of functional groups that offers immobilization of capture antibody and target and ensures high performance. Both CV curves and SWV curves indicated successful sequential immobilization of gliadin antibody onto the Z-CNT coated electrode. The Z-CNT biosensor was successfully able to give CV signals for gliadin allergens for as low as 0.5 ppm, and was highly selective for gliadin, when tested against other food toxins like acrylamide and formamide, and the Z-CNT nanocomposite remained stable over a 30-day period.
Poesía y política en el México republicano: una lectura de Ignacio Ramírez en Don Simplicio, 1845-1847

This article examines the ideas of Ignacio Ramirez and his fellow contemporaries regarding the political use of poetry. It focuses on the time-period in which Ramirez and Guillermo Prieto wrote the satyrical newspaper Don Simplicio, in opposition to the government of Mariano Paredes y Arrillaga and the monarchist project. Despite the imminence of the Mexico-United States war, Ramirez criticized both nationalism and the poetry of his own epoch. His aim was to establish the foundations for a renewed and democratic public language in which poetry would play a very important role.