cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Transfer of the signaling properties of aversive CSs to an instrumental appetitive discrimination

Abstract Rats received Pavlovian conditioning in which, based on a shock US, white noise was established for different groups as an aversive CS+, CSo, or CS−. Then, half of each group received the CS contingent upon either the food-reinforced or nonreinforced response in an easy, choice discrimination. Correct responses, i.e., number of reinforcements, to criterion showed that a CS+ for the reinforced response facilitated learning, whereas a CS− retarded learning; conversely, a CS+ for the nonreinforced response retarded learning, whereas a CS− facilitated learning. The same contingency difference occurred with errors to criterion for CS− subjects but was obscured for CS+ subjects apparently by an avoidance-producing effect of the CS+. In support of the generality of the transfer effect, Z-score transforms of the correct-response data showed that the magnitude of transfer was comparable to that obtained in more difficult discriminations. Collectively, the findings indicate that an aversive CS can function as a transformed signal for the presence (CS+) or absence (CS−) of an appetitive reinforcer and that the signal's control of behavior is via a within-chain mediational process.
Generation of Functional Thymic Epithelium from Human Embryonic Stem Cells that Supports Host T Cell Development

Inducing immune tolerance to prevent rejection is a key step toward successful engraftment of stem-cell-derived tissue in a clinical setting. Using human pluripotent stem cells to generate thymic epithelial cells (TECs) capable of supporting T cell development represents a promising approach to reach this goal; however, progress toward generating functional TECs has been limited. Here, we describe a robust in vitro method to direct differentiation of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) into thymic epithelial progenitors (TEPs) by precise regulation of TGFβ, BMP4, RA, Wnt, Shh, and FGF signaling. The hESC-derived TEPs further mature into functional TECs that support T cell development upon transplantation into thymus-deficient mice. Importantly, the engrafted TEPs produce T cells capable of in vitro proliferation as well as in vivo immune responses. Thus, hESC-derived TEP grafts may have broad applications for enhancing engraftment in cell-based therapies as well as restoring age- and stress-related thymic decline.
Register in Haydn's String Quartets: Four Case Studies

This study argues that register – a neglected subject of music analysis – assumes the status of a primary parameter in Haydn's string quartets. The claim is substantiated with four case studies. The first movement of Op. 9 No. 4 exemplifies registral techniques that Haydn deployed and developed throughout his career as a quartet composer. Op. 20 No. 2 uses register as a main topic of compositional discourse, and as a means of establishing large-scale connections both within and between movements. The first movement of Op. 76 No. 5 employs register to create stability as well as instability, while the finale of Op. 74 No. 2 epitomises the paradox that registral destabilisation may help to create large-scale coherence.
Modelling nonlinear chemical oscillators with inhibitory coupling

We investigate the nonlinear, oscillatory Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction by constructing a computationally efficient Kuromoto-based model to predict its behavior. We treat each BZ droplet as a chemical oscillator that is coupled to its neighbors through diffusion and generate the coupling function used in our model. We then test our model with experimental data for a series of one-dimensional 60 micron diameter BZ droplets. The RMS error between the measured phases of the droplets and our simulation is 0.118 radians.
Frank Knight and the Productivity of Capital: Another Piece of the Puzzle

Through the 1930s, Frank H. Knight engaged the economic profession in a prodigious exchange over the nature and productivity of capital. Knight's efforts here were driven by three significant objectives: first, that capital theory had to be able to explain the broad fact of capital accumulation and growth as actually experienced by progressive societies; second, that existing doctrines had to be purged of the flawed vestiges of the classical-Ricardian theory of production if any progress was to be had in achieving the first objective; third, and last, that an alternative theory of capital needed to provide an explanation of the productivity of capital consistent with the fulfillment of the first two tasks. Knight failed in the third task or, at best, left the task incomplete.
The Local and Global State of Theater Education Research and Policy

The United States and much of the world is struggling with what “education” and being “educated” mean. Daily media are replete with debates on issues ranging from gender and class rights to the ideological and practical purpose of education. Prominent among these debates are discussions about whether education should be geared toward vocational purposes and employability or toward the creation of engaged, informed, and intellectually aware citizens. In this article we problematize the role and limitations of current research on drama and theater in and as education. To do this, we first share a sampling of the current state of research in this arts area. We then articulate the role this diverse range of research methodologies and foci play in shaping national and global educational policy.
Integrating genomics and proteomics-oriented biomarkers to comprehend lung cancer

Background: Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide. Recent years have brought tremendous progress in the development of genomic and proteomic platforms to study lung cancer progression and biomarker identification. Objective: To evaluate and integrate potential innovations of ‘omics’ (e.g., genomics and proteomics) technologies in dissecting biomarkers for lung cancer. Methods: Omics technologies permit simultaneous monitoring of many hundreds or thousands of macro and small molecules, as well as functional monitoring of multiple pivotal cellular pathways. Discussion follows to explore the principal challenges in the development of cancer biomarkers integrating genomics with proteomics data sets with their functional counterparts in conjunction with clinical data. Results/conclusion: Sets of genes and gene interactions affecting different subsets of cancers can be determined using genomics in lung cancer. Proteomic studies have generated numerous functional data sets of potential diag...
Effect of Music on Reading Comprehension of Junior High School Students

This quantitative study was an investigation of the effect of lyrical music on reading comprehension by adolescents. Existing research has produced results that range from concluding such distraction may be detrimental to finding it could be helpful. The reading comprehension subtest of the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Tests, 4th edition (MacGinitie, MacGinitie, Maria, & Dryer, 2000) was administered to 334 7th- and 8th-grade students. Testing was conducted under two conditions: a nonmusic environment, and with accompanying music comprising Billboard Magazine’s (2006) top hit singles. Following the music portion of the test, students completed a survey to assess any preference for or against listening to music while studying. Results of an analysis of variance showed performance declined significantly when listening to music. A point biserial correlation illustrated a pronounced detrimental effect on comprehension for students exhibiting a stronger preference for listening to music while studying. Results are important for understanding influences on study habits, with the goal of helping educators and school psychologists design support systems tailored to the needs of adolescents.
Escitalopram and QTc prolongation.

One should not conclude from the discussion by Lam1 that escitalopram is free of cardiac risks. Citalopram and escitalopram differ marginally in terms of their risk of prolonging the QTc interval sufficient to link to torsade de pointes (TdP). Citalopram and escitalopram each demonstrate a dose-dependent QTc prolongation.1 Although the magnitude of QTc prolongation appears to be greater for citalopram than escitalopram, the dose–QTc correlation is similar for both drugs. While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Health Canada issued warnings only for citalopram, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency in the United Kingdom issued safety warnings for both citalopram and escitalopram.2 The threshold for clinical significance of the QTc interval is an absolute duration of 500 ms or longer or a change from baseline of 60 ms or more.3 The warnings did not specify whether any participants enrolled in the thorough QTc studies exceeded these thresholds for either drug. About 500 escitalopram overdoses and nearly 600 citalopram overdoses have been described, without serious cardiac sequelae or deaths due to either drug.4 Less than one-third of patients with citalopram overdoses presented with QTc interval prolongation. In 1 study, 14% of patients with escitalopram overdoses presented with QTc interval prolongation. In another study, the proportion of prolonged QTc intervals associated with escitalopram overdoses (1.7%) was not significantly different from that associated with citalopram overdoses (3.7%). These studies preclude a definitive assessment of the relative cardiotoxicity of citalopram versus escitalopram, but they do not demonstrate clinically meaningful differences in cardiotoxic effects. The mechanisms underlying drug-associated QTc interval prolongation are not well understood. Drug dosage is only 1 of several factors that increase the risk of QTc interval prolongation. In this regard it is notable that fewer than one-third of overdoses with citalopram or escitalopram are associated with QTc prolongation. If dose were a major factor with these drugs, you might expect that most overdoses would be associated with QTc prolongation. In our review,5 QTc interval prolongation or TdP due to citalopram occurred in the setting of citalopram overdose and/or in the presence of well-established risk factors, including advanced age, existing cardiac illness, multiple medical illnesses, electrolyte disturbances (hypokalemia, hypomagnesaemia) and concomitant use of QTc-prolonging drugs. These and other risk factors (baseline prolonged QTc, metabolic inhibition from other drugs, and hepatic impairment) have been emphasized in the regulatory warnings and would be particularly important for drugs like citalopram and escitalopram that prolong QTc interval marginally. Physicians should be mindful of these risk factors when prescribing these medications.
Bilateral relations between China and the United States: Policy prioritization with the ANP

Improving relations between the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the United States of America (US) and ensuring that they work together as allies rather than as competitors can serve as a stabilizing force against armed conflict, particularly with surrounding nations. The economic, social, and political relationships between the PRC and US have progressed along a hilly journey. As the second largest economy in the world, the PRC has continued to develop its military and is determined to climb the technological ladder. This growth has led the US and the PRC to be referred to as a G-2 of superpowers. As the US hegemony continues to weaken this G-2 relationship is becoming more important. With significant economic, political, and security issues at stake it is crucial that efforts to strengthen these relations are prioritized and implemented. A rigorous prioritization process, the Analytic Network Process (ANP) is used herein to prioritize the efforts and initiatives in the G-2 relationship. The model is presented with results and the extensive sensitivity analysis present additional insight into the suggested solutions.
Large-time behavior of discrete velocity boltzmann equations

We study the asymptotic behavior of equations representing one-dimensional motions in a fictitious gas with a discrete set of velocities. The solutions considered have finite mass but arbitrary amplitude. With certain assumptions, every solution approaches a state in which each component is a traveling wave without interaction. The techniques are similar to those in an earlier treatment of the Broadwell model [1].
Weak Christians, Backsliders, and Carnal Gospelers: Assurance of Salvation and the Pastoral Origins of Puritan Practical Divinity in the 1580s

The great pearl of Reformed piety, assurance of salvation, eluded Richard Rogers, Essex presbyterian activist, in theearly 1580s. Rogers “languished long” in “unsettledness in my life” “untill wofull experience” drove him to search out a more reliable method of obtaining a steady assurance. He decided that only a steady, highly reflective, and rigorous course of life could keep assurance constant. To that end, Rogers devised “a more certain manner of direction for me through the daie and the weeke.” His new method combined continual selfreminders of God's blessings with strict activities of piety and selfscrutiny, and through it, he found the settled peace he had been seeking.
The orbital tower: A spacecraft launcher using the Earth's rotational energy

Abstract The theoretical possibility is examined of constructing a tower to connect a geostationary satellite to the ground. The “orbital tower” could be built only by overcoming the three problems of buckling, strength, and dynamic stability. The buckling problem could be solved by building the tower outward from the geostationary point so that it remains balanced in tension and stabilized by the gravity gradient until the lower end touches the Earth and the upper end reaches 144,000 km altitude. The strength problem could be solved by tapering the cross-sectional area of the tower as an exponential function of the gravitational and inertial forces, from a maximum at the geostationary point to a minimum at the ends. The strength requirements are extremely demanding, but the required strength-to-weight ratio is theoretically available in perfect-crystal whiskers of graphite. The dynamic stability is investigated and the tower is found to stable under the vertical forces of lunar tidal excitations and under the lateral forces due to payloads moving along the tower. By recovering the excess energy of returning spacecraft, the tower would be able to launch other spacecraft into geostationary orbit with no power required other than frictional and conversion losses. By extracting energy from the Earth's rotation, the orbital tower would be able to launch spacecraft without rockets from the geostationary orbit to reach all the planets or to escape the solar system.
Anatomy of the Atrioventricular Conduction System

To the Editor: I am writing regarding the article by Racker and Kadish1 that appeared in a previous issue of Circulation . Their statement that “the atrioventricular (AV) node and AV bundle consist of myocardial fascicles, not myofibers”1 is inappropriate.2 Dorland’s Illustrated Medical Dictionary defines fascicle as “a small bundle or cluster, especially of nerve or muscle fibers.” The human conduction system has more collagenous connective tissue and elastic tissue than the surrounding myocardium, and this may be considered the hallmark of the conduction system histologically.2 Lev et al2 did not mention anything about nerves in their work cited by Racker and Kadish. Racker and Kadish’s interpretation of Figures 1 and 4 from the article by Lev et al2 needs further clarification.1 They state that “Lev et al’s Figure 1 partially overlooked the proximal AV bundle, as seen in schematic AV junction region tissue blocks.”1 This statement is inaccurate. Figure 1 …
You Are Who You Talk To: Detecting Roles in Usenet Newsgroups

Understanding the social roles of the members a group can help to understand the social context of the group. We present a method of applying social network analysis to support the task of characterizing authors in Usenet newsgroups. We compute and visualize networks created by patterns of replies for each author in selected newsgroups and find that second-degree ego-centric networks give us clear distinctions between different types of authors and newsgroups. Results show that newsgroups vary in terms of the populations of participants and the roles that they play. Newsgroups can be characterized by populations that include question and answer newsgroups, conversational newsgroups, social support newsgroups, and flame newsgroups. This approach has applications for both researchers seeking to characterize different types of social cyberspaces as well as participants seeking to distinguish interaction partners and content authors.
Big thinking for adjuvants.

Particles formed by polymeric adjuvants preferentially localize to the lymph node and elicit robust immunity.
Endogamy as a Basis for Ethnic Behavior

In this article I argue for endogamy as a fundamental cause of human behavior that is often classified as ethnic. Specifically, I show that it would make evolutionary sense for people to help possi...
Diamond turned high precision PIAA optics and four mirror PIAA system for high contrast imaging of exo-planets

Off-axis, high-sag PIAA optics for high contrast imaging present challenges in manufacturing and testing. With smaller form factors and consequently smaller surface deformations (< 80 microns), diamond turned fabrication of these mirrors becomes feasible. Though such a design reduces the system throughput, it still provides 2λ/D inner working angle. We report on the design, fabrication, measurements, and initial assessment of the novel PIAA optics in a coronagraph testbed. We also describe, for the first time, a four mirror PIAA coronagraph that relaxes apodizer requirements and significantly improves throughput while preserving the low-cost benefits.
Histologic observation of a human immature permanent tooth with irreversible pulpitis after revascularization/regeneration procedure.

Abstract Introduction Histological studies of immature human permanent necrotic teeth with or without apical periodontitis after revascularization have not been reported. This case report describes the histological findings of tissue formed in the canal space of an immature permanent tooth #9 with irreversible pulpitis without apical periodontitis after revascularization. Methods An immature human permanent tooth #9 was fractured 3.5 weeks after revascularization and could not be retained. The tooth was extracted and prepared for routine histological and immunohistochemical evaluation in order to examine the nature of tissue formed in the root canal following the revascularization procedure. Results At 3.5 weeks after revascularization, more than one half of the canal was filled with loose connective tissue similar to the pulp tissue. A layer of flattened odontoblast-like cells lined along the predentin. Layers of epithelial-like cells, similar to the Hertwig's epithelial root sheath, surrounded the root apex. No hard tissue was formed in the canal. Conclusions Based on the histological findings in the present case, regeneration of pulp-like tissue is possible after revascularization. In this case, both the apical papilla and the Hertwig's epithelial root sheath survived in an immature permanent tooth despite irreversible pulpitis but without apical periodontitis.
Endogenous thyrocalcitonin: effect on serum calcium in fed and fasted rats and in parathyroid transplanted rats.

Earlier work in this laboratory suggested that the decrease in serum calcium seen after thyroid cautery in rats might be due in part to an interference with parathyroid function and not solely to a release of thyrocalcitonin from the thyroid gland. To determine the validity of such a suggestion, experiments were performed on rats in which the parathyroid glands had been autotransplanted to the sternomastoid muscle in the neck. Approximately 14 days after transplantation, rats with functional transplants were subjected to bilateral cautery of either the thyroid gland or the sternohyoid muscle. Bilateral thyroid cautery in parathyroid transplanted rats caused a dramatic decrease in serum calcium 1 hr after cautery, with the maximum hypocalcemic response occurring 6 hr after the operation. Approximately 7 hr after initiation of the experiment, the calcium level began to rise and within 24 hr it had returned to normal. No significant change in serum calcium was seen after bilateral cautery of the sternohyoid ...
Growth Comparisons of Urban and Rural Children in Southern Mexico with Randomly Selected California Children

Growth studies which compare children from upper and lower socio-economic groups in the same population and geographic environment can offer an indication of optimal growth. Hence assessment of physical growth in children becomes an impor tant index of health and nutrition for a given population. But deviations from United States' standards should never be labeled as deviations from Normal, on the assumption that improved environmental factors would result in children from other countries reaching United States means for height and weight.
Inversion of winter wheat yellow rust serious degrees by hyperspectral data

This paper focused on developing the appropriate spectral index to monitor yellow rust disease, which is relatively insensitive to species, canopy structures (such as leaf area index and leaf distribution angles), foliar inner structures, and soil condition variations. Firstly, canopy spectra and canopy chlorophyll concentration were acquired during growth duration, and the relationship between SPAD value and measured chlorophyll concentration was established. It indicated that the logarithmic relationship exists between TCARI/OSAVI and SPAD value, with a coefficient of determination R2 = 0.7795 (n = 320). Therefore, the combined index (CCII) can be used to minimize the effects of LAI and no photosynthetic materials on the retrieval of chlorophyll concentration at canopy level. Secondly, The photochemical reflectance index (PRI) was chosen for disease index inversion by minimizing internal leaf structure effect, has and the linear negative relationship exists between the normalized photochemical reflectance index (NPRI) and disease index (DI), with a coefficient of determination R2 = 0.8477 (n = 63), so the normalized photochemical reflectance index (NPRI) can be used to monitor the disease index of yellow rust
Formalized timing diagrams

Traditionally, the timing behavior of digital circuits has been described using timing or waveform diagrams. These diagrams concisely represent the shape of the waveforms that are observed at the interface of a circuit and the temporal relationships between their edges. Timing information takes two principal forms: propagation delays that abstract the internal implementation of the circuit and timing constraints that specify how the circuit can be used by its environment. The author proposes a formalization of the concepts and notations used in timing diagrams that enable them to be used in conjunction with hardware description language specifications of the circuit's internal function. WAVES, an interactive timing diagram editor that was designed to embody these formalisms is also described. WAVES is unique in that it captures complex timing behaviour including concurrent, conditional, and iterative event sequences. >
Dynamic Fuzzy Wavelet Neural Network Model for Structural System Identification

A new dynamic time-delay fuzzy wavelet neural network model is presented for nonparametric identification of structures using the nonlinear autoregressive moving average with exogenous inputs approach. The model is based on the integration of four different computing concepts: dynamic time delay neural network, wavelet, fuzzy logic, and the reconstructed state space concept from the chaos theory. Noise in the signals is removed using the discrete wavelet packet transform method. In order to preserve the dynamics of time series, the reconstructed state space concept from the chaos theory is employed to construct the input vector. In addition to denoising, wavelets are employed in combination with two soft computing techniques, neural networks and fuzzy logic, to create a new pattern recognition model to capture the characteristics of the time series sensor data accurately and efficiently. The model balances the global and local influences of the training data and incorporates the imprecision existing in the sensor data effectively. Experimental results on a five-story steel frame are employed to validate the computational model and demonstrate its accuracy and efficiency.
Progress in the Development of Field Programmable Analog Arrays for Space Applications

Development of analog electronic solutions for space avionics is expensive and lengthy. Lack of flexible analog devices, counterparts to digital field programmable gate arrays (FPGA), prevents analog designers from benefits of rapid prototyping. This forces them to expensive and lengthy custom design, fabrication, and qualification of application specific integrated circuits (ASIC). The limitations come from two directions: first, commercial field programmable analog arrays (FPAA) have very limited variability in the components offered on-chip (practically one type of operational amplifiers/comparator per chip); and second, these are only qualified for best case scenarios for military grade (-55degC to +125degC). However, analog circuitry required for sensing and control involves a larger variability. Moreover, in order to avoid huge overheads in mass, energy and wiring, there is a growing trend towards avoiding thermal and radiation protection by developing extreme environment electronics. This means electronics that maintain correct operation while exposed to temperature extremes e.g., on Moon (-180degC to +125degC). This paper describes a recent FPAA design, the self-reconfigurable analog array (SRAA) that was developed at JPL. It overcomes both limitations, offering a variety of analog cells inside the array together with the possibility of self-correction at extreme temperatures.
Code-Switching and Symbolic Power in a Second-Grade Two-Way Classroom: A Teacher's Motivation System Gone Awry

Code-switching is a natural part of being bilingual. Yet two-way immersion programs are known to insist upon separation of languages, discouraging both teachers and students from drawing on both linguistic codes at once. Drawing on Bourdieu's concept of symbolic power, I examine one second-grade classroom in which the teacher instituted a motivation system to discourage code-switching. The children continue to code-switch as they find ways to draw upon all their linguistic resources. However, the system offers them a tool for manipulating symbolic power in the classroom. The conclusion agrees with recent research in encouraging teachers to allow conversational code-switches while expecting students to produce monolingual spoken and written texts where appropriate.
Borderline Personality Disorder and Age of Onset in Major Depression

In the present report from the Rhode Island Methods to Improve Diagnostic Assessment and Services (MIDAS) project, we tested the hypothesis that borderline personality disorder (BPD) accounts for the observed differences between early and late onset major depressive disorder (MDD). A total of 440 depressed outpatients were evaluated with semistructured interviews. Patients were subdivided by age of onset and the presence or absence of comorbid BPD. The overall pattern of clinical and demographic variables differed and two separate, multiple, logistic regression analyses addressed the association between age of onset and BPD in MDD patients. Comorbid BPD was not significant in the multivariable age of onset equation and the results of the multivariable analyses support the idea of difference between subtypes. It is concluded that although early age of onset is predictive of BPD, BPD is not a universal feature of early-onset MDD.
The nature of structural defects associated with velamentous and marginal insertion of the umbilical cord

Previous studies have documented an increased incidence of structural defects in association with velamentous and marginal insertion of the umbilical cord. Evaluation of 4,677 consecutive placentas at the University of California (San Diego) Medical Center revealed 454 marginal insertions and 72 velamentous insertions. An increased incidence of structural defects was found only in association with a velamentous cord insertion. Delineation of the structural defects according to their developmental pathogenesis revealed that the majority were due to deformation of a normally formed part. These data and the finding of a disproportionate number of twins with a velamentous insertion suggest that competition for space at the implantation site leads to both the velamentous insertion of the cord and the associated structural defects.
Ancestors in Borneo Societies: Death, Transformation, and Social Immortality, edited by Pascal Couderc and Kenneth Sillander

The deathways of Borneo's indigenous Dayak peoples have been immortalised in the ethnological record. Among some Dayaks, death evokes lengthy ritual cycles that may outlast even many of the deceden...
Are We To Be A Nation?: Federal Power vs. 'States? Rights' In Foreign Affairs

In recent years, a number of scholars have sought to extend the Supreme Court?s recent ?states? rights? holdings to establish a ?new? foreign affairs law. This attempt has matters exactly backwards. Not only are older, more nationalist precedents well-settled, they better comport with standard techniques of constitutional interpretation. One especially telling example involves the novel prohibition against the Federal government ?commandeering? the states and state officials as set out in New York v. United States and Printz v. United States. These cases attempt to sidestep Garcia v. United States by casting the prohibition as a limit on Federal power rather than a shield created by state sovereignty. They also represent a new species of judicial activism since they lack any convincing basis in text, structure, or original understanding. Moreover, precisely the tack these cases take to avoid domestic precedent leave open the possibility that the Federal government could augment its power to include commandeering through a treaty under Missouri v. Holland. Notwithstanding the delphic opinion by Justice Holmes, the result in Missouri finds finds far greater support in constitutional text, structure and history than do the recent states? rights cases on which the new foreign affairs law would rely.
Lipopeptide-Coated Iron Oxide Nanoparticles as Potential Glycoconjugate-Based Synthetic Anticancer Vaccines.

Although iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles (NPs) have been widely utilized in molecular imaging and drug delivery studies, they have not been evaluated as carriers for glycoconjugate-based anticancer vaccines. Tumor-associated carbohydrate antigens (TACAs) are attractive targets for the development of anticancer vaccines. Due to the weak immunogenicity of these antigens, it is highly challenging to elicit strong anti-TACA immune responses. With their high biocompatibilities and large surface areas, magnetic NPs were synthesized for TACA delivery. The magnetic NPs were coated with phospholipid-functionalized TACA glycopeptides through hydrophobic–hydrophobic interactions without the need for any covalent linkages. Multiple copies of glycopeptides were presented on NPs, potentially leading to enhanced interactions with antibody-secreting B cells through multivalent binding. Mice immunized with the NPs generated strong antibody responses, and the glycopeptide structures important for high antibody titers wer...
A Unified Neural Network Model for the Self-Organization of TopographicReceptive Fields and Lateral Interaction

A self-organizing neural network model for the simultaneous development of topographic receptive fields and lateral interactions in cortical maps is presented. Both afferent and lateral connections adapt by the same Hebbian mechanism in a purely local and unsupervised learning process. Afferent input weights of each neuron self-organize into hill-shaped profiles, receptive fields organize topographically across the network, and unique lateral interaction profiles develop for each neuron. The resulting self-organized structure remains in a dynamic and continuously-adapting equilibrium with the input. The model can be seen as a generalization of previous self-organizing models of the visual cortex, and provides a general computational framework for experiments on receptive field development and cortical plasticity. The model also serves to point out general limits on activity-dependent self-organization: when multiple inputs are presented simultaneously, the receptive field centers need to be initially ordered for stable self-organization to occur.
Oral Chemotherapy Education: Using Innovation to Ensure Broad Access.

The purpose of this article is to share one institution's intervention to improve oral chemotherapy patient education. The overall aim was to provide clinicians with a single source of educational materials that would meet a diverse group of patients' educational needs and be consistent with published guidelines. .
Granular Materials Used in Implanting Boll Weevil Eggs on Artificial Diet

Granular materials were used to cover the artificial diet and the eggs of Anthonomus grandis Boheman after the eggs were sprayed on the diet surface as a substitute for the usual diet scarifyiug and drying operation, The number of adult weevils produced from the petri dishes when the diet and eggs were covered with mortar sand. Vermiculite, fine mineral granules, and corncob grit was as great as or greater than that produced from the regular egg implanting method. By use of the granular material covering, the scarifying and drying operations of the regular egg planting method can be eliminated.
Heuristic Modeling of Diffusion Flamelets

*† This paper describes a new heuristic analysis of diffusion flamelets that predicts most of the flame properties, e.g., flame location and thickness and dependence of the flame temperature without specifying a reaction rate model. The model’s predictions together with a one step, global reaction rate model are then used to determine the stability of the solutions as well as the diffusion flamelets extinction and ignition limits. It is shown that the heuristic model predictions are in good agreement with “exact” solutions obtained by integrating the conservation equations of the problem using a one step global reaction rate. Further analysis that uses the developed heuristic approach and the average Damkohler number shows that the classical asymptotic solution of Burk Schumann problem corresponds to the case when the average Damkohler number is approximately one. Significantly, this study also shows that BurkeSchumann flames with an assumed “infinitely fast chemistry” (i.e., an infinite frequency factor) can have a finite thickness and a finite reaction rate.
Quantum emitters in optical nanocavities: physics and applications

Strong light-matter interaction between InAs/GaAs quantum dots and optical nanoresonators (photonic crystals or nanometallic) is studied, with applications ranging from quantum technologies to optical switches. Alternative platforms such as impurities in SiC are considered.
Input and Language Development in Bilingually Developing Children

Language skills in young bilingual children are highly varied as a result of the variability in their language experiences, making it difficult for speech-language pathologists to differentiate language disorder from language difference in bilingual children. Understanding the sources of variability in bilingual contexts and the resulting variability in children's skills will help improve language assessment practices by speech-language pathologists. In this article, we review literature on bilingual first language development for children under 5 years of age. We describe the rate of development in single and total language growth, we describe effects of quantity of input and quality of input on growth, and we describe effects of family composition on language input and language growth in bilingual children. We provide recommendations for language assessment of young bilingual children and consider implications for optimizing children's dual language development.
Ovipositional Rate, Fecundity, and Longevity of Bathyplectes anurus, a Parasite of the Alfalfa Weevil

The ovipositional rate, fecundity, and longevity of B. anurus in H. postica larvae was determined under constant 70°F (21.1°C) and fluctuating 44°/65°F (6.7°/18.3°C) temperatures, while a 12:12 h photophase:scotophase was maintained under both temperature regimes. The daily ovipositional rate was higher at a constant 70°F, but the mean fecundities per female of 1022.8 eggs at 70°F constant and 865.2 eggs at 44°/65°F were not significantly different (P > .10). The lower daily ovipositional rates under the fluctuating temperatures were offset by increased longevity under the same conditions. The mean longevity of 35.1 days at 44°/65°F was Significantly greater than the 22.1 days observed at constant 70°F. Analysis of the distribution pattern of the eggs among the host larvae showed that more than 50% of the data sets conformed to the Poisson distribution, while 99.2% of the remaining cases indicated a uniform dispersion pattern.
Sex-Specific Changes in Renal Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme and Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2 Gene Expression and Enzyme Activity at Birth and Over the First Year of Life.

Objective:Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) and angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) are key enzymes of the renin–angiotensin system. We investigated developmental changes in renal ACE and ACE2 gene expression and activity in both male and female sheep.Methods:Three groups of sheep (fetus, newborn, and adult) were used. Renal ACE and ACE2 activities, messenger RNA (mRNA), and protein expression were studied.Results:Renal ACE and ACE2 activities increased at 1 year in males, while there were no changes throughout development in females. Renal ACE and ACE2 mRNA and protein showed no sex differences but increased by 1 year of age.Conclusion:There are sex-related differences in the development of renal-converting enzyme activities that may have functional implications in terms of the regulation of blood pressure and renal function in men and women. The difference in the patterns of gene expression and enzyme activity indicates that changes in gene expression may not accurately reflect changes in activity.
Development and Application of Colloidal Gold Immunochromatographic Strip for Rapid Detection of Mycoplsma gallisepticum

This study aimed to develop a colloidal gold immunochromatographic strip specific for Mycoplsma gallisepticum(MG)detection.a 20nm-diameter colloidal gold was selected to mark the purified MG anbibody,which was then wrapped with nitrocellulose membrane.Another purified MG antibody and rabbitanti-chicken IgG antibody was also connected to nitrocellulose membrane as test line and control line respectively.Two red reaction stripes both on the test and control line showed up when the finished strip was justified with the standard MG antigen;while only one red line appeared on the control line in the negative samples.The strips can detect the diluted MG antigens up to 1∶1 280(8×104 CCU/mL),indicating a satisfied sensitivity.We also justified the qualified specificity of the strip by testing Chlamydia,Mycoplsma synoviae,Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae,chicken Escherichia coli and Salmonella,all of which presented negative results.To evaluate the accuracy of the strip,we verified the 70 positive samples and 60 negative samples tested with strips using laboratory MG cultivation and plat agglutination methods.Results showed that the strip had a total coincidence of 98.92% with laboratory MG cultivation way,and96.97% with the plat agglutination method.In conclusion,the developed colloidal gold immunochromatographic strip had qualified requirements of specificity,sensitivity and accuracy,and was recommended to extensively apply in the clinic MG disease diagnosis.
Hidden Markov Model and Its Applications in Motif Findings

Hidden Markov models have wide applications in pattern recognition. In genome sequence analysis, hidden Markov models (HMMs) have been applied to the identification of regions of the genome that contain regulatory information, i.e., binding sites. In higher eukaryotes, the regulatory information is organized into modular units called cis-regulatory modules. Each module contains multiple binding sites for a specific combination of several transcription factors. In this chapter, we gave a brief review of hidden Markov models, standard algorithms from HMM, and their applications to motif findings. We then introduce the application of HMM to a complex system in which an HMM is combined with Bayesian inference to identify transcription factor binding sites and cis-regulatory modules.
High-speed error resilient stereoscopic video coder

Many methods have already been proposed for stereoscopic video coding; however, its transmission problem has not yet been discussed and the codecs are still not suitable for real-time applications. In this paper, approaches for high speed and error resilient designs of stereoscopic video hardware codec are discussed. First, a speed improved joint 3D motion / disparity estimation scheme with good error resilient property is proposed. Then some 3D error concealment schemes are also proposed. An existing unequal error protection method is incorporated for depth map and image estimation residue transmission. The simulation result shows that the proposed method maintains good video quality in the packet loss environment.
A rejoinder to the critique of “Costs and Benefits of a Road Diet Conversion”

This is a rejoinder to a critique by Le Vine (2017) of an evaluation of the costs and benefits of a road diet (Noland et al., 2015), previously published in Case Studies on Transport Policy. I respond to the six points made by Le Vine and conclude with a brief critique of existing practice.
Biofilm Formation by Uropathogenic Escherichia coli Is Favored under Oxygen Conditions That Mimic the Bladder Environment

One of the most common urologic problems afflicting millions of people worldwide is urinary tract infection (UTI). The severity of UTIs ranges from asymptomatic bacteriuria to acute cystitis, and in severe cases, pyelonephritis and urosepsis. The primary cause of UTIs is uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC), for which current antibiotic therapies often fail. UPEC forms multicellular communities known as biofilms on urinary catheters, as well as on and within bladder epithelial cells. Biofilm formation protects UPEC from environmental conditions, antimicrobial therapy, and the host immune system. Previous studies have investigated UPEC biofilm formation in aerobic conditions (21% oxygen); however, urine oxygen tension is reduced (4–6%), and urine contains molecules that can be used by UPEC as alternative terminal electron acceptors (ATEAs) for respiration. This study was designed to determine whether these different terminal electron acceptors utilized by E. coli influence biofilm formation. A panel of 50 urine-associated E. coli isolates was tested for the ability to form biofilm under anaerobic conditions and in the presence of ATEAs. Biofilm production was reduced under all tested sub-atmospheric levels of oxygen, with the notable exception of 4% oxygen, the reported concentration of oxygen within the bladder.
The “Caddie Question”: Why the Golf Caddies of Bangalore Reject Formal Employment:

The mainly poor and lower-caste caddies who carry the golf sets of wealthy members at exclusive golf clubs in Bangalore, India, are not employees. Still, they must hand over personal identification...
Solving scaffolding problem with repeats

One of the most important steps in genome assembly is scaffolding. Increasing the length of sequencing reads allows assembling short genomes but the assembly of long repeat-rich genomes remains one of the most interesting and challenging problems in bioinformatics. There is a high demand in developing computational approaches for repeat aware scaffolding. In this paper, we propose a novel repeat-aware scaffolder BATISCAF based on the optimization formulation for filtering out repeated and short contigs. Our experiments with five benchmarking datasets show that the proposed tool BATISCAF outperforms state-of-the-art tools. BATISCAF is freely available on GitHub: https://github.com/mandricigor/batiscaf.
Management of pediatric patients with DSD and ambiguous genitalia: Balancing the child's moral claims to self-determination with parental values and preferences

Summary Introduction A central ethical dilemma in management of the patient with a disorder of sex development (DSD) is the potential conflict between respect for the fundamental right of the child for physical and emotional integrity and self-determination, and the right of parents to serve as surrogate decision-makers and act in their child's best interest. Methods Over the past 2 years we have encountered three complex DSD cases on the spectrum of mixed gonadal dysgenesis to ovotesticular DSD in which gender assignment and therefore optimal surgical management was uncertain. All patients had mosaic karyotypes with Y chromosome, dysgenetic ovary and dysgenetic testis, a urogenital sinus, and prominent phallus. In all three cases a team approach was taken to assess functional potential and risks along either gender pathway and to develop a spectrum of treatment options for parental consideration, including: 1. masculinization with removal of dysgenetic ovary; 2. initial vaginoplasty but with retention of the phallus (±bilateral gonadectomy); 3. initial vaginoplasty with “burial” of corporal bodies (Pippi Salle procedure) (±bilateral gonadectomy); 4. full feminization: vaginoplasty and clitoroplasty (with bilateral gonadectomy); 5. no surgical intervention. Results In all three cases, after consideration of risks and benefits of all options, parents selected option 2: gonadectomy to eliminate tumor risk and vaginoplasty, taking advantage of the child's young age to exteriorize urinary and reproductive tracts to avoid incontinence and infection and supporting parental bias toward female gender, but preservation of phallic structures to ensure a male option should the patient later declare a male gender identity. Parents of the three patients were contacted post-operatively (at 7, 17, and 22 months) for follow-up. All (3/3) regarded their child's development and wellbeing positively, and their own decisions regarding gender assignment and surgical plan favorably. All (3/3) regarded the team advisory process as balanced and supportive. Conclusion In the setting of exposure of the neonatal brain to testosterone, vaginoplasty and phallic preservation afforded a balance between parental preferences and preservation of anatomic options, allowing potential reconstruction of male or female phenotype as gender identity is ascertained thereby respecting both parent and patient rights. Parents valued a spectrum of options, transparency, and the team decision-making process. Table . Patient characteristics. A B C Age at referral 14 months 23 months 6 weeks Karyotype 45,X/46,XY/47,XYY 45,X/46,XY 46XX/47XXY Gonads L Dysgenetic testis R Dysgenetic ovary L Dysgenetic testis R Dysgenetic ovary L Dysgenetic ovary R Dysgenetic testis Ductal structures Uterus R Fallopian tube Uterus L Fallopian tube Uterus UG sinus Mid confluence Low confluence Low confluence Phallus 4 × 1.5 cm 3 × 1 cm 2.7 × 1.3 cm Gender assignment Female Female Neutral
Burnout in crisisline volunteers.

This article identifies factors that may contribute to, prevent and/or manage burnout in crisisline volunteers. These factors were assessed through a “Burnout Questionnaire.” Benefits form the volunteer work was the factor most often chosen as preventing/managing burnout; volunteer turnover was most frequently seen as contributing to it. Recommendations for reducing buurnout and increasing overall satisfaction in crisisline volunteers are presented.