cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Malignant pleural mesothelioma: a clinicopathological study.

In this paper the results of a retrospective review of 58 patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma treated at our Institute are reported. There were 50 males and 8 females; the mean age was 56.3 years (range: 13–77). History of asbestos exposure was ascertained in 25 patients (43%). The most common finding in chest X-ray was pleural effusion which was seen in 47/58 patients on presentation. The cytological examination of pleural effusion was most of the time nondiagnostic. Pleural biopsy was needed for the correct diagnosis. Pathologically, 26 patients (44.8%) had epithelial type, 24 patients (41.4%) had mixed type, and 8 patients (13.8%) had fibrous or sarcomatous type of pleural mesothelioma. Most of the patients on presentation had Stage I disease by Butchart's classification. The overall survival time ranged from 1 month to as long as 17 years with a median of 12.5 months. The mean survival of patients who received nonsurgical therapies was 7–13.4 months. Thirteen patients were treated surgically: three patients survived over 5 years, but the median survival was 15 months. Six patients received no treatment, and the median survival was seven months. © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Algebraic Multigrid Preconditioning for Finite Element Solution of Inhomogeneous Elastic Inclusion Problems in Articular Cartilage

In studying biomechanical deformation in articular cartilage, the presence of cells (chondrocytes) necessitates the consideration of inhomogeneous elasticity problems in which cells are idealized as soft inclusions within a stiff extracellular matrix. An analytical solution of a soft inclusion problem is derived and used to evaluate iterative numerical solutions of the associated linear algebraic system based on discretization via the finite element method, and use of an iterative conjugate gradient method with algebraic multigrid preconditioning (AMG-PCG). Accuracy and efficiency of the AMG-PCG algorithm is compared to two other conjugate gradient algorithms with diagonal preconditioning (DS-PCG) or a modified incomplete LU decomposition (Euclid-PCG) based on comparison to the analytical solution. While all three algorithms are shown to be accurate, the AMG-PCG algorithm is demonstrated to provide significant savings in CPU time as the number of nodal unknowns is increased. In contrast to the other two algorithms, the AMG-PCG algorithm also exhibits little sensitivity of CPU time and number of iterations to variations in material properties that are known to significantly affect model variables. Results demonstrate the benefits of algebraic multigrid preconditioners for the iterative solution of assembled linear systems based on finite element modeling of soft elastic inclusion problems and may be particularly advantageous for large scale problems with many nodal unknowns.
Chromosome analysis of ectopic human conceptuses

Abstract Maternal factors (e.g., salpingitis) are known to be associated with ectopic gestations; however, few studies have considered the chromosomal complements or morphologic features of ectopic conceptuses. We studied 23 ectopic conceptuses removed from fallopian tubes during surgical resection. The chromosomal complements were normal (four with 46,XY; four with 46,XX) in all cases in which an intact embryo was identified, as well as in the single case charactarized by disorganized embryonic tissue. Ten of the 14 ectopic conceptuses in which only a gestational sac and placental villi were identified also showed normal chromosomal complements (seven with 46,XX; three with 46,XY); in the remaining four cases, variations from the normal chromosomal complement were found (46,XX/47,XX, +9; 45,X/46,XX; 46,XX/47,XX, +mar; and 92,XXXX). The former two probably signify underlying fetal abnormalities; however, the latter two could have reflected, respectively, in vitro aberrations or tetraploidy characteristic of normal amnion. Pooled data from this study and two previous reports indicate that ectopic conceptuses probably have no higher frequency of chromosomal abnormalities than inc utero conceptuses of comparable embryonic ages. (Am. J. Obstet. Gynecol. 141:698, 1981.)
Geodetic Engineering Education in West Germany

Considerable division of opinion surrounds the problem of improving the quality and scope of surveying education in the United States. Civil engineering curricula are requiring less and less formal instruction in this subject area. Five technischen hochschulen, or technical universities, in West Germany offer 4-yr professional programs in geodetic engineering leading to a diploma in surveying. The term, geodetic engineering, here embraces the entire spectrum of the geodetic sciences including geodetic surveying, photogrammetry, and geodesy itself. A typical curriculum, that at the University of Bonn, giving the number of class hours per week of instruction in both lecture and laboratory for each course, is presented. Brief comments are made on the curriculum, laboratory facilities, library holdings, and the staff. The registered surveyor in Germany enjoys a high level of professional prestige. He continues a tradition of excellence in geodetic engineering and geodesy that has spanned a century of distinguished achievement by leaders such as Helmert, Jordan, and Kneissl. There is need for expanding fundamental training at the professional level in all phases of geodetic engineering in the United States.
Political Insecurity and Oil

Ilham Aliyev in Azerbaijan faced greater within-regime opposition than did Nursultan Nazarbayev in Kazakhstan when their countries began to reap oil revenues. This difference affected the expected tenure in office of each president and helps account for Azerbaijan's lower foreign savings.
Creationism: New Dimensions of the Religion-Democracy Relation

In January 1982, United States District Judge William R. Over ton ruled that Arkansas Act 590 of 1981, the "Balanced Treatment for Creation-Science and Evolution-Science Act," was unconstitu tional in that it violated the First Amendment's ban on any estab lishment of religion. This resolution of McLean v. Arkansas Board of Education1—the most publicized of recent church-state cases—was applauded by many as a "victory for science," for "academic free dom," and for "the free practice of religion in our society."2 Even while applauding, however, many observers have made it clear that "the struggle is not over in the courts; new and differendy nuanced versions of the Arkansas law, enacted or awaiting passage in other state legislatures, remain to be tested."3 There is, however, a more important reason for merely muted celebration of McLean: precisely because this case so easily and defin itively settled the relatively superficial question at its center (i.e., Is "creation-science" a science?), it may be understood—mistakenly—to have addressed and settled the much more profound and difficult questions underlying the creationism-evolution debate. Of these ques tions, the most important have to do with the meaning(s) of truth; the relation of scientific and religious truth; and the authority, both de jure and de facto, of science and religion in defining truth for this society. Langdon Gilkey, who testified at the McLean trial on behalf of the plaintiffs, develops this argument in his fine post-trial article, "Creationism: The Roots of the Conflict."
Pollen Wall Development of Xiphidium coeruleum (Haemodoraceae) and its Systematic Implications

Etudes ultrastructurales de parois de pollen d'Haemodoraceae et liens taxonomiques possibles avec les Pontederiaceae
Coupled Geomechanics and Fluid Flow Model for Production Optimization in Naturally Fractured Shale Reservoirs

The benefits of hydraulic fracturing horizontal wells in unconventional reservoirs for production enhancement are evident; however, the best methods to truly increase recovery efficiency through these stimulations are still under great examination. Analogous to how operators and service companies discovered that Barnett-style slickwater treatments were not successful in all reservoirs, companies are beginning to recognize the importance of engineered stimulations, specifically in regard to geomechanics. Rather than perforating for only production purposes, hydraulic fracturing design has now turned its focus to perforating for reservoir rock stimulation. Enhanced fracture network complexity through induced fractures greatly increases the contact area and reservoir drainage for maximum productivity. However, to accomplish the stimulation of both primary and secondary fracture networks, the coupled behaviors of geomechanics and fluid flow in response to the hydraulic fracturing operations must be considered. This paper details the development of a coupled geomechanics and fluid flow model for the purpose of hydraulic fracture design optimization through the evaluation of different stimulation patterns. The patterns under consideration include the Zipper, Texas Two-Step, and Modified Zipper designs. Furthermore within these patterns, the well locations and hydraulic fracture properties are analyzed to determine the most ideal design for a shale oil reservoir based on recovery efficiency and generated fracture complexity.
Dynamic comprehensive evaluation method and its application based on minimal variability

Data dimension is decreased by using time order weighted averaging operator(TOWA) and time order weighted geometric averaging operator(TOWGA),then the minimal variability weighting vector method is introduced,which determines the minimal variability weighting vector under the given level of time orness.An example is also discussed to compare numerical results with entropy-programming method and minimal variability weighting vector method,some conclusions are gained by comparison.
1090PDGENETIC DETERMINANTS OF IPILIMUMAB OUTCOMES FOR ADVANCED MELANOMA

ABSTRACT Aim: Ipilimumab has substantially increased survival for patients with advanced melanoma, however, the benefit is only observed in a small portion of treated patients. Clearly there are yet unknown factors that affect response. Unlike host immunity and tumor microenvironment, the underlying genetic factors, as putative markers of response, have been sparsely studied. To date, the role of germline genetic variants in the modulation of immunotherapy response has been almost completely unexplored. To this end, we have performed whole-exome sequencing (WES) to discover novel germline determinants of response to ipilimumab therapy for metastatic melanoma. Methods: Blood samples were collected from 80 metastatic melanoma patients treated with ipilimumab at the New York University Cancer Center. WES was performed on objective responders (OR) and non-responders (NR), defined by immune-related response criteria, using the Nextera platform (Illumina) at average 30x coverage. Patient and tumor characteristics were obtained from a well-annotated institutional database. A novel method for testing the association between OR and NR by variant and gene/molecular network enrichment was implemented. Gene-Set Enrichment Analysis and Pathway Studio were used to test the pathway associations. Results: The preliminary analysis evaluating the first 30 OR and 30 NR identified significant associations with ipilimumab response for several loci including RPS6KB1 (p = 0.001) and LNX2 (0.001). In addition, the pathway analysis showed significant associations for SMAD 3 (p = 0.04) and interleukin 1 (p = 0.04) related pathways. Conclusions: The preliminary findings on a subset of 60 patients provide promising evidence for the presence of germline genetic factors associated with response to ipilimumab therapy. While several novel genetic loci (RPS6KB1, LNX2) and molecular pathways (SMAD3, interleukin 1) have been identified in our preliminary scan, the study is currently undergoing a larger expansion involving >80 patients, anticipating the final analysis to be complete by September 2014. This expanded analysis will not only provide a validation of the current novel findings but, due to a substantial increase of power, will also have a greater ability to display the true effect of additional novel germline genetic factors modulating immunotherapy response. Disclosure: All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.
Tobacco and Lead Exposures and ADHD

The independent and joint effects of prenatal tobacco and childhood lead exposures on ADHD in a national sample of US children were studied by researchers at Cincinnatti Children's Hospital, OH; British Columbia Children's Hospital, Vancouver, Canada; and University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC.
Are the Job Flow Responses to Oil Price Shocks Asymmetric

This paper investigates the dynamic responses of employment flows to oil price shocks for the U.S. Manufacturing sector in the post-1973 period. Using the latest available data and state-of-the-art econometric methods of estimation and inference, I formally test for asymmetries in responses of job flows to positive and negative oil price innovations --- an issue that has recently been brought into the spotlight of academic debate. In addition to the recently developed impulse response function (IRF) based Wald test, this paper suggests performing a nonparametric IRF-density-based test of asymmetry, which is unconditional of the magnitude of oil price shocks as well as able to account for their relative likelihood. This permits inference about a general tendency of asymmetries in impulse responses. I find strong evidence in favor of asymmetric responses of manufacturing job flows to oil price shocks both on the aggregate and industry group levels.
Conical shock wave for non-isentropic compressible Euler system of equations

Conical shock wave is generated when a sharp conical projectile flies supersonically in the air. We study the linear stability and existence of steady conical shock waves in supersonic flow for the equations of complete Euler system in 3D non-isentropic gas-dynamics.
Using Statistical Models to Improve the Reliability of Delay-Based PUFs

Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) use random physical variations to map input challenges to output responses in a way that is unique to each chip. PUFs are promising low cost security primitives but unreliability of outputs limits the practical applications of PUFs. This work addresses two causes of unreliability: environmental noise and device aging. To improve reliability, we constructively apply Machine Learning modeling, and use the models to predict and then discard challenge-response pairs (CRPs) that will be unreliable with respect to noise and aging on a given PUF instance. The proposed method provides flexibility to control error rate by deciding what percentage of challenges to discard. Our experiments find that a PUF with nominal reliability of 91% can be made fully reliable by discarding only 20% of challenges.
Expression of the cytoplasmic nucleolin for post-transcriptional regulation of macrophage colony-stimulating factor mRNA in ovarian and breast cancer cells.

Women's Cancers of the University of Arizona Cancer Center; University of Arizona Cancer Center [P30 CA023074]; Bobbi Olson Endowment Fund
Facilitating the Feedback Process on a Clinical Clerkship Using a Smartphone Application

This pilot study evaluated the effects of a smartphone-triggered method of feedback delivery on students’ perceptions of the feedback process. An interactive electronic feedback form was made available to students through a smartphone app. Students were asked to evaluate various aspects of the feedback process. Responses from a previous year served as control. In the first three quarters of academic year 2014–2015 (pre-implementation), only 65% of responders reported receiving oral feedback and 40% reported receiving written feedback. During the pilot phase (transition), these increased to 80% for both forms. Following full implementation in academic year 2015–2016 (post-implementation), 97% reported receiving oral feedback, and 92% reported receiving written feedback. A statistically significant difference was noted pre- to post-implementation for both oral and written feedback (p < 0.01). A significant increase from pre-implementation to transition was noted for written feedback (p < 0.01) and from transition to post-implementation for oral feedback (p < 0.01). Ninety-one and 94% of responders reported ease of access and timeliness of the feedback, 75% perceived the quality of the feedback to be good to excellent; 64% felt receiving feedback via the app improved their performance; 69% indicated the feedback method as better compared to other methods. Students acknowledged the facilitation of conversation with supervisors and the convenience of receiving feedback, as well as the promptness with which feedback was provided. The use of a drop-down menu was thought to limit the scope of conversation. These data point to the effectiveness of this method to cue supervisors to provide feedback to students.
Organic Acids and Carbonate Stability, the Key to Predicting Positive Porosity Anomalies

A systematic and sequential set of carbonate reactions characterizes many clastic source/reservoir rock systems during progressive burial. Typically, in its simplest form, this sequence of carbonate reactions with increasing thermal exposure is: (1) formation of early carbonate cements that preserve intergranular volume (IGV); (2) dissolution of early carbonate cements, enhancing porosity and resulting in positive porosity anomalies; (3) formation of late carbonate cements, again preserving IGV; and (4) if temperatures are high enough and if quartz cementation is inhibited, dissolution of late carbonate cements, again enhancing porosity.
A Dynamic Programming Based Solution to the Two-Dimensional Jump-It Problem

This paper introduces the two-dimensional Jump-It problem, which is a board playing optimization problem. We present a dynamic programming based solution that finds the optimal cost of playing the game in O(mn), where m and n are the dimensions of the playing board. We also show how the solution can be extended to find a path that leads to playing the game with the optimal cost.
Development of HPLC-MS/MS method for the simultaneous determination of metabolites of organophosphate pesticides, synthetic pyrethroids, herbicides and DEET in human urine

ABSTRACTWe developed an isotopic dilution high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)/tandem mass spectrometer (MS/MS) method to rapidly and accurately quantify nine metabolites of several classes of pesticide in 1 mL human urine specimens. The analytes covered in the method are two organophosphate (OP) pesticide metabolites: 3,5,6-trichloro-2-pyridinol (TCPy), 2-isopropyl-6-methyl-4-pyrimidinol (IMPY); three synthetic pyrethroid metabolites: 3-phenoxy benzoic acid (3-PBA), 4-fluoro-3-phenoxybenzoic acid (4-F-3-PBA) and trans-3-(2,2-dichlorovinyl)-2,2-dimethyl-1(1-cyclopropane) carboxylic acid (t-DCCA); three herbicide metabolites: 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (DCPAA), 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid (TCPAA) and atrazine mercapturate; and one insect repellent: N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide (DEET). The analytes are first deconjugated by incubating with acetate/β-glucuronidase buffer at 37°C for 17 h. The deconjugated analytes are extracted and concentrated from the urine matrix using solid-phase extract...
Seasonal Assessment of Duration of Prolactin Suppression Following Cabergoline Treatment in Mares: Unstimulated Versus Sulpiride and Thyrotropin-Releasing Hormone-Stimulated Responses

Abstract Experiments 1 through 4 were performed to test the hypothesis that season affects the duration of prolactin suppression by a single injection of the dopaminergic agonist, cabergoline. In each, six mares received cabergoline intramuscularly and four received the vehicle. The protocol was repeated around the vernal equinox, summer solstice, autumnal equinox, and winter solstice. In all experiments, cabergoline suppressed (P 50% at 11 days after treatment. In the last experiment, treatment with cabergoline or oil (n = 6 mares each) in October followed by thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) challenges resulted in similar responses to those in experiment 5; TRH-induced prolactin responses were still suppressed (P
AVERMECTINS: EFFECT OF SUBLETHAL DOSES ON OOCYTE DEGENERATION IN FEMALE CADRA CAUTELLA WALKER (LEPIDOPTERA: PYRALIDAE)

Oocyte degeneration in Cadra cautella was reduced by 40 to 70% following injection with sublethal doses of avermectin B1a and ivermectin. When the reproductive tract was dissected following treatme...
Toward a New Approach to Authentic Leadership: The Practice of Embodied Dialogical “Thinking” and the Promise of Shared Power:

The ProblemTraditional descriptions of authentic leadership are highly individualistic and based on rational processes. Unfortunately, this view of authentic leadership reproduces the power and pri...
The Coding Regions of Germline mRNAs Confer Sensitivity to Argonaute Regulation in C. elegans

Summary Protein-coding genes undergo a wide array of regulatory interactions with factors that engage non-coding regions. Open reading frames (ORFs), in contrast, are thought to be constrained by coding function, precluding a major role in gene regulation. Here, we explore Piwi-interacting (pi)RNA-mediated transgene silencing in C. elegans and show that marked differences in the sensitivity to piRNA silencing map to the endogenous sequences within transgene ORFs. Artificially increasing piRNA targeting within the ORF of a resistant transgene can lead to a partial yet stable reduction in expression, revealing that piRNAs not only silence but can also "tune" gene expression. Our findings support a model that involves a temporal element to mRNA regulation by germline Argonautes, likely prior to translation, and suggest that piRNAs afford incremental control of germline mRNA expression by targeting the body of the mRNA, including the coding region.
Thermal stability of Li films on polycrystalline molybdenum substrates

Abstract Lithium (Li) coatings on plasma facing components (PFCs) have been proposed as potential solutions to first wall and divertor challenges in tokamak fusion reactors. We report on the thermal behavior of ultrathin pure Li films deposited on polycrystalline substrates of molybdenum (Mo) and a molybdenum alloy (titanium zirconium molybdenum, TZM). These Li films were studied under controlled ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) conditions and thermal stabilities were primarily compared via temperature programmed desorption (TPD) measurements. In addition, on TZM, which is of particular interest, we obtained additional spectroscopic data using Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) and low energy ion scattering (LEIS) to further characterize the film structure and composition. The monolayer of Li in these films in contact with the substrate is bound much stronger than in bulk Li films, and thermally desorbs at much higher temperatures. Interfacial Li on Mo(poly) has a higher thermal stability than that on TZM(poly), where the limiting values for the desorption activation energies, Ed, are 3.56 and 2.84 eV, respectively, in the low coverage, high temperature desorption tail. LEIS indicates some clustering or interdiffusion of the Li films on the TZM substrate at 500 K. No appreciable irreversible absorption of Li occurs on Mo or TZM under the conditions of these experiments.
Flipping the College Classroom by Reflective Practice

An innovation in the college classroom can be as simple as flipping the room. Can college students tell the professor what to lecture on in class? The flipped college classroom can help to motivate and to engage students to improve in reading, and to build prior knowledge. The flipped classroom begins with students reflecting on their reading assignments by summarizing what they comprehended and what information is still unclear to them before class. The information helps the professor to fine tune lecture and classroom activities by focusing on the muddiest points students have in their reading assignments. Flipping the classroom can encourage students to be more independent and self-directive in their learning. Success of the flipped classroom can be measured by quiz scores based on reading assignments. When students have a flipped classroom reflection assignment from the reading their quiz scores are higher than without the reflection assignment. Also, the lecture and classroom are more engaging with the flipped classroom assignment because students are taking on more ownership of terminology from the reading material. Reading
Formulation hypotheses revisited: A reply to Stemberger

In his article in this volume, Stemberger (1983) offers a rival explanation for the results of a couple of our studies on laboratory-induced spoonerisms. His claims are perhaps reasonable if we stay within the confines of the particular studies he selected (i.e., Motley, Baars, & Camden, 1981; Motley & Baars, 1975), but even a slightly more thorough review of our research program would require a reexamination of those claims. The studies critiqued are part of a series we have performed to examine laboratory-induced slips of the tongue--most often spoonerisms. Typically, our method has involved having subjects silently read a word-pair list on which certain stimuli are cued as targets for vocalization, and with the two or three stimuli immediately preceding those targets being specially constructed to contain biasing phonological characteristics of the potential spoonerism errors. We call this method SLIP (see Motley & Baars, 1976, for details). Many of these studies have looked at spoonerism frequency as the dependent variable, with an independent variable being the relative linguistic legitimacy (on various criteria) of the error. Consistently, we have found that linguistically legitimate, or normal, errors (e.g., darn bore ~ barn door) outnumber matched but anomalous ones (dart board ~ *bart doard). Our explana-
Thermal-Power Delivery Network Co-Analysis for Multi-Die Integration

In this paper, we present a thermal-power delivery network (PDN) co-analysis framework to analyze various multi-die integration schemes. In the proposed approach, we capture the interdependencies between temperature distribution of the dice in a package and the supply voltage noise. We use standalone thermal and PDN analyses as references to compare our co-analysis results. Using a multi-die package and a bridge-based 2.5-D package case studies, our analysis shows a 10-12% overestimation in steady-state temperature and power supply noise.
Ccl5 Mediates Proper Wiring of Feedforward and Lateral Inhibition Pathways in the Inner Retina.

The β-chemokine Ccl5 and its receptors are constitutively expressed in neurons of the murine inner retina. Here, we examined the functional and structural significance of this constitutive Ccl5 signaling on retinal development. We compared outcomes of electrophysiology, ocular imaging and retinal morphology in wild-type mice (WT) and mice with Ccl5 deficiency (Ccl5-/- ). Assessment of retinal structure by ocular coherence tomography and histology revealed slight thinning of the inner plexiform layer (IPL) and inner nuclear layer (INL) in Ccl5-/- mice, compared to WT (p < 0.01). Assessment of postnatal timepoints important for development of the INL (P7 and P10) revealed Ccl5-dependent alterations in the pattern and timing of apoptotic pruning. Morphological analyses of major inner retinal cell types in WT, Ccl5-/- , gustducingfp and gustducingfp/Ccl5-/- mice revealed Ccl5-dependent reduction in GNAT3 expression in rod bipolar cells as well as a displacement of their terminals from the IPL into the GCL. RGC dendritic organization and amacrine cell morphology in the IPL was similarly disorganized in Ccl5-/- mice. Examination of the intrinsic electrophysiological properties of RGCs revealed higher spontaneous activity in Ccl5-/- mice that was characterized by higher spiking frequency and a more depolarized resting potential. This hyperactive phenotype could be negated by current clamp and correlated with both membrane resistance and soma area. Overall, our findings identify Ccl5 signaling as a mediator of inner retinal circuitry during development of the murine retina. The apparent role of Ccl5 in retinal development further supports chemokines as trophic modulators of CNS development and function that extends far beyond the inflammatory contexts in which they were first characterized.
TP53 mutations in circulating tumor DNA in men with metastastic castration-resistant prostate cancer mCRPC.

249Background: Genes involved in mCRPC, including the tumor suppressor gene TP53, can be monitored with ctDNA but implications are unclear. Methods: Between 8/6/15 to 9/19/18, patients with mCRPC w...
Large scale data analysis

As data sets grow in size and complexity, global analysis methods do not necessarily characterize the phenomena of interest, and scientists are increasingly reliant on feature-based analysis methods to study the results of large-scale simulations. This chapter presents a framework that efficiently encodes the set of all possible features in a hierarchy that is augmented with attributes, such as statistical moments of various scalar fields. The resulting meta-data generated by the framework is orders of magnitude smaller than the original simulation data, yet it is sufficient to support a fully flexible and interactive analysis of the features, allowing for arbitrary thresholds, providing per-feature statistics, and creating various global diagnostics such as Cumulative Density Functions (CDFs), histograms, or time-series. The analysis is combined with a rendering of the features in a linked-view browser that enables scientists to interactively explore, visualize, and analyze data resulting from petascale simulations. While there exist a number of potential feature hierarchies that can be used to segment the simulation domain, we provide a detailed description of two: the merge tree and the Morse-Smale (MS) complex, and demonstrate the utility of this new framework in practical settings.
The Response of the Northwest Atlantic Ocean to Climate Change

AbstractROMS, a high-resolution regional ocean model, was used to study how climate change may affect the northwestern Atlantic Ocean. A control (CTRL) simulation was conducted for the recent past ...
Malaria parasite plasmepsins: More than just plain old degradative pepsins

Plasmepsins are a group of diverse aspartic proteases in the malaria parasite Plasmodium. Their functions are strikingly multifaceted, ranging from hemoglobin degradation to secretory organelle protein processing for egress, invasion, and effector export. Some, particularly the digestive vacuole plasmepsins, have been extensively characterized, whereas others, such as the transmission-stage plasmepsins, are minimally understood. Some (e.g. plasmepsin V) have exquisite cleavage sequence specificity; others are fairly promiscuous. Some have canonical pepsin-like aspartic protease features, whereas others have unusual attributes, including the nepenthesin loop of plasmepsin V and a histidine in place of a catalytic aspartate in plasmepsin III. We have learned much about the functioning of these enzymes, but more remains to be discovered about their cellular roles and even their mechanisms of action. Their importance in many key aspects of parasite biology makes them intriguing targets for antimalarial chemotherapy. Further consideration of their characteristics suggests that some are more viable drug targets than others. Indeed, inhibitors of invasion and egress offer hope for a desperately needed new drug to combat this nefarious organism.
Biochemical Validation of a Fourth Guanidine Riboswitch Class in Bacteria

An intriguing consequence of ongoing riboswitch discovery efforts is the occasional identification of metabolic or toxicity response pathways for unusual ligands. Recently, we reported the experimental validation of three distinct bacterial riboswitch classes that regulate gene expression in response to the selective binding of a guanidinium ion. These riboswitch classes, called guanidine-I, -II and -III, regulate numerous genes whose protein products include previously misannotated guanidine exporters and enzymes that degrade guanidine via an initial carboxylation reaction. Guanidine is now recognized as the primal substrate of many multidrug efflux pumps that are important for bacterial resistance to certain antibiotics. Guanidine carboxylase enzymes had long been annotated as urea carboxylase enzymes but are now understood to participate in guanidine degradation. Herein we report the existence of a fourth riboswitch class for this ligand, called "guanidine-IV". Members of this class use a novel aptamer to selectively bind guanidine and use an unusual expression platform arrangement that is predicted to activate gene expression when ligand is present. The wide distribution of this abundant riboswitch class, coupled with the striking diversity of other guanidine-sensing RNAs, demonstrates that many bacterial species maintain sophisticated sensory and genetic mechanisms to avoid guanidine toxicity. This finding further highlights the mystery regarding the natural source of this nitrogen-rich chemical moiety.
Spatializing Student Learning to Reimagine the “Place” of Inclusion:

Background/ContextThe goal of inclusive education is universally recognized as the fundamental restructuring of schools to engage hospitably with all forms of difference, including ability. However...
Reconceptualizing the Classroom: An Immersive Digital Primary Source Exercise During COVID-19

The Nabb Research Center for Delmarva History and Culture is part of the Libraries at Salisbury University and serves as a campus humanities research laboratory. With the closure of the University campus in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, staff and faculty quickly transitioned to online instruction. In response, Nabb Center staff initiated several activities including virtual classroom projects, online exhibits, and the creation of a COVID-19 collection. These activities unexpectedly presented our organization with new opportunities to expand our engagement within the University and broader community and will have a lasting impact on our instruction and outreach beyond the pandemic.
The New Judicial Hostility to Arbitration: Federal Preemption, Contract Unconscionability, and Agreements to Arbitrate

Since 2000, many courts have been holding agreements to arbitrate in consumer and employment contracts unconscionable and therefore unenforceable. Professor Burton makes two arguments in relation to these cases. First, many of the reasons on which these courts rely are pre-empted under the Supreme Court's arbitration law jurisprudence, which endorses a strong federal policy favoring arbitration. Second, and related, many of the courts' reasonings do not justify findings of unconscionability as the doctrine exists in general contract law.
On a conjecture on the variety of lines on Fano complete intersections

The Debarre-de Jong conjecture predicts that the Fano variety of lines on a smooth Fano hypersurface in $$\mathbb {P}^n$$ is always of the expected dimension. We generalize this conjecture to the case of smooth Fano complete intersections and prove that for a smooth Fano complete intersection $$X\subset \mathbb {P}^n$$ of hypersurfaces whose degrees sum to at most 7, the Fano variety of lines on X has the expected dimension.
Pecan-enriched diets increase energy expenditure and fat oxidation in adults at-risk for cardiovascular disease in a randomised, controlled trial.

BACKGROUND Research indicates that diets enriched with unsaturated fatty acids improve energy metabolism, although studies on tree nuts, which are a rich source of those fats, are limited. The present study aimed to examine the impact of daily pecan consumption for 8 weeks on energy metabolism in adults with hypercholesterolaemia or at higher risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) (body mass index ≥ 28 kg m-2 ). METHODS For this randomised, controlled trial, 56 sedentary adults were randomised into one of three treatments for an 8-week intervention: two pecan groups and a nut-free control group (n = 18). The ADD group (n = 16) consumed pecans as part of a free-living diet, whereas the SUB group (n = 18) substituted the pecans for isocaloric foods from their habitual diet. At baseline and 8 weeks, a high saturated fat meal was consumed along with indirect calorimetry measurements at fasting and for 4 h postprandially to determine changes in resting metabolic rate (RMR), diet induced thermogenesis (DIT) and substrate utilisation (primary outcomes). Forty-seven participants completed the trial and were included in analyses. RESULTS In the SUB group, there was an increase in fasting RMR (1607 ± 117 to 1701 ± 114 kcal day-1 ; p = 0.01) and fasting fat oxidation (0.83 ± 0.08 to 0.99 ± 0.08 g/15 min; p = 0.009) and a decrease in fasting respiratory exchange ratio (0.85 ± 0.01 to 0.83 ± 0.01; p = 0.05) from pre- to post-intervention. In the ADD group, there was an increase in postprandial DIT (p < 0.001). There were no changes within the control group or between groups for any outcome measure. CONCLUSIONS Daily consumption of pecans may increase select measures of energy expenditure and fat oxidation in adults at-risk for CVD.
Segmentation of Lungs with Interstitial Lung Disease in CT Scans: A TV-L1 Based Texture Analysis Approach

Lung segmentation methods are important for automated lung image analysis tasks such as quantification of lung diseases. In this paper, we describe a method for segmentation of lungs with interstitial lung disease (ILD). In thoracic CT scans, such lungs are characterized by the presence of texture patterns like honeycombing, which makes lung segmentation difficult. We employ a 3D total variation L1 (TV-L1) based texture analysis approach to extract these patterns and attenuate the density of the corresponding voxels in the CT scan. The modified CT scan is then utilized as input to an existing 3D robust active shape model based lung segmentation method. The proposed method was evaluated on 77 CT scans of lungs with and without ILD. On cases with ILD, our method obtained an average volumetric overlap of 0.95±0.02, which was statistically significantly better than two other approaches. The TV-L1 texture analysis utilizes GPUs, making our method fast.
Reducing Responsibility: An Evidentialist Account of Epistemic Blame

Abstract: This paper argues that instances of what are typically called ‘epistemic irresponsibility’ are better understood as instances of moral or prudenial failure. This hypothesis covers the data and is simpler than postulating a new sui generis form of normativitiy. The irresponsibility alleged is that embeded in charges of ‘You should have known better!’ However, I argue, either there is some interest at stake in knowing or there is not. If there is not, then there is no irresponsibility. If there is, it is either the inquirer's interests—in which case it is a prudential shortcoming—or someone else's interests are at stake—in which case it is a moral shortcoming. In no case, I argue, is there any need to postulate a form of normativity in epistemology other than the traditional epistemological norm that one's attitudes should fit the evidence one has.
Analytical elastic-plastic analyses of a spherical shell subjected to hydrostatic tension based on a strain gradient model for plastic metals

The problem of a spherical shell made of an elastic-plastic second gradient model for plastic materials and subjected to hydrostatic tension is considered. The elastic-plastic second gradient model is a simplified version (porosity neglected) of a second gradient model for plastic porous metals developed, some years ago, by Gologanu, Leblond, Perrin and Devaux, so-called GLPD model. The expressions of the velocity field as well as the ordinary and double stress components are determined for the cases where the spherical shell is modeled by a purely elastic, purely plastic, and elastic-plastic GLPD models. As expected, the solution developed in each case (elastic, ideal-plastic, and elastic-plastic) reduces to that of the first gradient as a special case when the characteristic length scale the GLPD model involves is negligible. Our results allow comparisons between the newly developed solution and the classical elastic-plastic solution for the same model problem; they also provide insights into the influence of the characteristic length scale on the newly developed solution.
Rapid-scanning miniature endoscope for real-time forward-imaging optical coherence tomography

We developed a 2.4-mm diameter PZT-actuated endoscope capable of rapid lateral scanning at 1.2 kHz. A new lateral-priority image acquisition sequence enabled by the endoscope was demonstrated to achieve forward OCT imaging in real time.
Use of a thermal pulse decay system to assess avian renal blood flow during reduced renal arterial perfusion pressure

Using a simplified avian kidney model, renal arterial perfusion pressure (RAPP) was reduced from 120 (control) to 70 mmHg (near the glomerular filtration rate autoregulatory limit) and then to 46 mmHg (below the glomerular filtration rate autoregulatory range) in kidneys with ambient or partially restricted renal portal flow. Renal blood flow (RBF) was measured with a thermal pulse decay (TPD) system, using TPD thermistor probes inserted at three locations to evaluate regional differences in RBF. The clearance (CPAH) and extraction of p-aminohippuric acid were used to calculate renal plasma flow (RPF). CPAH, RPF, and RBF values were consistently lower for kidneys with restricted portal flow than for kidneys with ambient portal flow. Reducing RAPP to 46 mmHg did not significantly reduce CPAH, RPF, or RBF in the ambient group but did significantly reduce CPAH and RPF (regressed on RAPP) in the restricted group. RBF was not significantly affected when RAPP was reduced in the restricted group, although significant regional differences in blood flow were recorded. Renal vascular resistance decreased significantly as RAPP was reduced to 46 mmHg in the ambient group, confirming the renal autoregulatory response. In separate validation studies, significant reductions in RBF were detected by the TPD system during acute obstructions of portal and/or arterial flow. Overall, the results support previous evidence that avian RBF remains constant over a wide range of RAPPs. Observations of nonuniform intrarenal distributions of portal blood flow suggest that the portal system maintains the constancy of RBF in regions with proportionately high portal-to-arterial flow ratios.
Grain Refinement of a Cu–Al–Ni Shape Memory Alloy by Ti and Zr Additions

Etude par microscopie optique, microscopie electronique et spectrometrie Auger de l'influence de l'addition des dopants Ti et Zr a l'alliage Cu-15%Al-4%Ni sur l'affinement des grains, la vitesse de croissance des grains et le mode de rupture
Electrochemical Techniques for Study of Phenolic Natural Products and Drugs in Microliter Volumes

Abstract A simple semimicro carbon paste electrode is described for use in several electrochemical cells designed to accommodate between 1 and 300 μ1 of sample solution. Using this apparatus it is possible to study the electrochemical properties of phenolic compounds when the total sample available is on the microgram level or below. Quantitative work is possible for samples eluted from paper or thin-layer chromatograms. A semiautomatic device for serial assay of over 60 samples/hour is described.
The Impact of Personal Loss on the Experience of Health Professions: Graduate Students in End-of-Life and Bereavement Care.

This study explored the impact of prior personal experience with grief on self-reported personal and professional development of graduate students in nursing, social work, counseling, pastoral care, and genetic counseling involved as cofacilitators in bereavement support groups, and of medical students observing interdisciplinary inpatient palliative care. Personal experience with death of a family member or close friend was reported in 80% of the 35 participating students. Findings suggest that grief and the students' construction of the meaning of their loss can mediate the students' developing sense of self as a professional helper. Active engagement with suffering persons, the opportunity for self-disclosure and reflection, and teacher-facilitator provision of emotional guidance and modeling contributed positively to learning.
Optical system for an astrometric survey from space

We present an optical design for a spaceborne instrument, of about half m aperture, to perform a combined astrometic and photometric survey via a scan similar to that of Hipparcos. A CCD detector array with time delayed integration will permit an astrometic mission accuracy better than 50 microarcseconds for stars brighter than 10th magnitude. 1 1/2 orders better than Hipparcos. The passband is nominally 0.4 to 0.9 microns. For the instrument to have both high measurements rate and high accuracy, the optical system just satisfy several requirements. It should have aberration well under diffraction, for high precision in centroiding and as a means of keeping unmolded shifts of the image centroids small. The system should have a wide field of view so that there is a large overlap of successive scans, have a large field of view for scientific throughput, and have low image distortion so that the stellar images moved at constant rate along columns of detector pixels. The design presented meets these requirements using aspheric surfaces that are manufacturable. We have demonstrated that the instrument will determine the temperature of an observed star without requiring a dispersive element or color filters. The design is thus free of transmissive elements, and protected from the systematic errors that they might have induced, e.g., due to thermal variation variation and to chromatic effects. This study was inspired by our previous consideration of scientific throughput. Our study of data reduction from a scanning astrometic survey mission demonstrated that there is a substantial gain in mission accuracy if the spacecraft precesses without discontinuities such as those that result from gas jet firings. Our study of methods of processing the spacecraft showed that smooth rotation would be possible using solar radiation pressure, but only if the spacecraft rotation rate were increased. Maintaining the integration time for each object would require an optical design of shorter focal length. Meanwhile, our study of mission accuracy as a function of focal length showed that another increase of accuracy would result from shorter focal length, via the greater number of lower-accuracy measurements. Therefore we performed this optical study to find a design with shorter focal length, having a proportionate increase in infield of view. We conceived and investigated a family of short focal length, wide-field designs, and developed a methodology to facilitate selection from among them. The new baseline design achieves diffraction-limited images over a 2.2 degree FOV with a 1.1 degree square central blockage, and has a 7.5 m focal length.