cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Learning to Teach Elementary Science Through Iterative Cycles of Enactment in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Contexts

Iterative cycles of enactment embedded in culturally and linguistically diverse contexts provide rich opportunities for preservice teachers (PSTs) to enact core practices of science. This study is situated in the larger Families Involved in Sociocultural Teaching and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (FIESTAS) project, which weaves together cycles of enactment, core practices in science education and culturally relevant pedagogies. The theoretical foundation draws upon situated learning theory and communities of practice. Using video analysis by PSTs and course artifacts, the authors studied how the iterative process of these cycles guided PSTs development as teachers of elementary science. Findings demonstrate how PSTs were drawing on resources to inform practice, purposefully noticing their practice, renegotiating their roles in teaching, and reconsidering “professional blindness” through cultural practice.
Effect of proteolytic enzymes on granuloma formation.

SummaryThe parenteral administration of trypsin and chymotrypsin to animals carrying subcutaneous implants of cotton pellets, significantly reduces the size of the gran-ulomas formed around these pellets. Heat inactivated enzyme does not manifest this property.
Fast photodriven electron spin coherence transfer: a quantum gate based on a spin exchange J-jump

Photoexcitation of the electron donor (D) within a linear, covalent donor–acceptor–acceptor molecule (D-A1-A2) in which A1 = A2 results in sub-nanosecond formation of a spin-coherent singlet radical ion pair state, 1(D+•-A1–•-A2), for which the spin–spin exchange interaction is large: 2J = 79 ± 1 mT. Subsequent laser excitation of A1–• during the lifetime of 1(D+•-A1–•-A2) rapidly produces 1(D+•-A1-A2–•), which abruptly decreases 2J 3600-fold. Subsequent coherent spin evolution mixes 1(D+•-A1-A2–•) with 3(D+•-A1-A2–•), resulting in mixed states which display transient spin-polarized EPR transitions characteristic of a spin-correlated radical ion pair. These photodriven J-jump experiments show that it is possible to use fast laser pulses to transfer electron spin coherence between organic radical ion pairs and observe the results using an essentially background-free time-resolved EPR experiment.
Relationships between Procurement Strategies and Geologic Provenience at the Dover Quarry Site Complex, Tennessee

The spatial distribution of prehistoric mining activities at the Dover Quarry site complex in Tennessee gives us insight not only into the behavioral systems of the people who utilized the resource but also on the geologic provenience of the chert deposits. Survey data is presented that emphasizes the relationship between quarrying activities and the variable geographic occurrence of Dover chert. Geologic research gives information regarding the stratigraphic position of Dover chert within the study area. Geologic information combined with a detailed survey of the quarry sites reveals the dynamic relationship that prehistoric miners had with the resource and its uneven distribution on the landscape.
Long term survival and complications after liver transplantation in patients with chronic hepatitis B.

BACKGROUND Following introduction of effective antiviral prophylaxis, recurrent hepatitis B after liver transplantation (LT) has become a rare event. MATERIAL/METHODS From 1998 to 2001, 402 patients underwent 467 LTs at our center including 24 individuals (28 LTs) with chronic hepatitis B. All patients received HBIg prophylaxis; 23 in combination with lamivudine and one (YMDD mutant) received adefovir. RESULTS Eleven patients (46%) had HCC (five outside the Milan criteria); only one died from tumor recurrence four years post LT. The one-year graft and patient survival were 87% and 92%, respectively. Currently 19 patients (79%) are alive with well functioning grafts (minimum follow up of >7 years). No patient developed recurrent hepatitis B; 12 currently receive lamivudine/HBIg, 3 lamivudine monotherapy, 3 discontinued antivirals. Follow up liver biopsies showed minimally active or no active hepatitis and negative HBV immunostains in all patients. Long term comorbid conditions included hypertension (77%), chronic renal failure (50%), diabetes mellitus (77%), hyperlipidemia (36%), obesity (55%), malignancies (37%) and neuropsychiatric disorders (55%). During the study period, 24 individuals (6%) were transplanted for chronic hepatitis B as opposed to only 38 individuals (3.3%) from 2002 to 6/2008 (1298 LTs in 1162 patients). CONCLUSIONS LT for chronic HBV produced excellent long term results despite inclusion of patients with HCC outside the Milan criteria. Long term medical complications must be considered. Indication for LT for chronic HBV is declining but long term development of resistance remains a matter of concern.
Associations Between Maternal Pregravid Obesity and Gestational Diabetes and the Timing of Pubarche in Daughters

We investigated whether in utero exposure to maternal pregravid obesity and/or gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) was associated with early puberty in girls. We used data from a longitudinal study of 421 mother-daughter pairs enrolled in an integrated health services organization, Kaiser Permanente Northern California (2005-2012). Girls aged 6-8 years were followed annually through ages 12-14 years. Onset of puberty was assessed using study clinic-based Tanner staging. We examined associations of self-reported pregravid obesity and maternal GDM with timing of the daughter's transition to pubertal maturation stage 2 or above for development of breasts and pubic hair, using accelerated failure time regression models with interval censoring to estimate time ratios and hazard ratios and corresponding 95% confidence intervals. Maternal obesity (pregravid body mass index (BMI; weight (kg)/height (m)(2)) ≥30) was associated with a daughter's earlier transition to breast and pubic hair stage 2+ in comparison with girls whose mothers had pregravid BMI <25. These associations were attenuated and not statistically significant after adjustment for covariates. Girls whose mothers had both pregravid BMI ≥25 and GDM were at higher risk of an earlier transition to pubic hair stage 2+ than those whose mothers had neither condition (adjusted time ratio = 0.89, 95% confidence interval: 0.83, 0.96; hazard ratio = 2.97, 95% confidence interval: 1.52, 5.83). These findings suggest that exposure to maternal obesity and hyperglycemia places girls at higher risk of earlier pubarche.
Cytosolic inactivation of translocated neutrophil plasma membrane protein tyrosine phosphatase

Phosphotyrosine phosphatases (PTPases) regulate cellular metabolic activation by reversing the effects of tyrosine kinases activated earlier in intracellular signaling pathways. We coupled fluorescence-activated cell sorter analysis using anti-CD45 monoclonal antibody with direct measurements of enzyme activity in resolved subcellular fractions to define mechanisms that potentially regulate the availability and activity of CD45-PTPase on neutrophil plasma membranes. Neutrophils in freshly obtained blood as well as neutrophils freshly isolated from blood were found to possess detectable levels of plasma membrane CD45 as assessed by immunofluorescence. However, plasma membranes from these cells were essentially devoid of PTPase catalytic activity, which was largely confined to the specific granules. Granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) upregulated both the catalytic and antigenic components of CD45-PTPase on the plasma membrane of these cells. Upregulation was associated with a shift in the particulate subcellular PTPase catalytic activity from the specific granule fraction to the plasma membrane fraction. The tyrosine kinase inhibitor genistein abrogated GM-CSF-promoted upregulation of plasma membrane CD45 PTPase but did not prevent the GM-CSF-dependent decrease in specific granule catalytic activity. Anti-CD45 antibody immunoprecipitated PTPase activity from both specific granules of resting cells and plasma membranes of GM-CSF-treated cells. However, antiphosphotyrosine immunoprecipitated only activity that had translocated to the plasma membrane, suggesting a role for CD45 phosphorylation in translocation. Western analysis confirmed the tyrosine phosphorylation of CD45 in plasma membranes of GM-CSF-treated neutrophils. Preincubation of plasma membranes of GM-CSF-stimulated neutrophils with cytosol from resting cells resulted in a time- and temperature-dependent loss in membrane PTPase as a consequence of the effects of a cytosolic inactivator. Cytosol obtained from stimulated neutrophils possessed substantially reduced levels of this PTPase inactivator. We conclude that activity of the catalytic component of membrane PTPase in circulating neutrophils is regulated by a cytosolic inactivator. Upon stimulation, intact CD45 PTPase is incorporated into the plasma membrane by a process that requires tyrosine phosphorylation. As a result of inhibition of the cytosolic inactivator, the translocated PTPase expresses full activity, thereby amplifying the potential regulatory influence of the enzyme on the cells' functional response.
Domain Wall Configurations and Interactions in Nanowires With Perpendicular Magnetic Anisotropy

Magnetic thin film wires with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) containing domain walls (DWs) have been proposed for magnetic logic and memory devices. Using micromagnetic simulations, the magnetic configuration of a DW as a function of the magnitude of the PMA, wire width and thickness is described, showing the regimes of stability of Bloch and Neel walls. Stray field leads to repulsive interactions preventing the formation of 360 degree DWs, and promote uniform spacing between multiple DWs confined within a nanowire.
Reduced Aortic and Arteriolar Growth by Captopril in Normotensive and Renal Hypertensive Rats

The influence of angiotensin II (AII) on vascular structure has been widely studied. Much evidence from in vitro experiments indicate that AII stimulates DNA and protein synthesis in cardiovascular tissue and induces hypertrophy in rat and human vascular smooth muscle cells. In vivo experiments using converting enzyme inhibition in hypertensive rats have been confounded with pressure decreases which can also reduce vascular wall structure. This experiment was designed to evaluate the effect of the renin-angiotensin system on microvascular function and structure in normotension and renal hypertension, and to determine whether captopril alters cross-sectional area of the aortic and arteriolar wall. These are the first whole animal data to show effects on aortic and microvascular wall growth when the production of AII is blocked and the animals are still hypertensive.
Analytical Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy

In 1955 Walsh established the foundations of modern analytical atomic absorption spectroscopy. In the same year Alkemade and Milatz also published a paper suggesting similar procedures. The work of Walsh, however, was much more detailed, since he examined the theory of the method, the basic principles involved, the instrumentation requirements, and its advantages over flame emission.
Impedance control based on a multi-time-scale approach: Extended High-Gain Observers and dynamic inversion

We propose a new impedance controller using a multi-time-scale structure. Extended High-Gain Observers in the fastest time scale are used to estimate unmeasured system states and uncertainties in systems. Dynamic inversion in the second fastest time scale is employed to deal with uncertain input coefficients. An implicit tracking for joint-space control of workspace trajectories is realized through the dynamic inversion. The performance of the proposed impedance control is quantified by control parameters. Using the singular perturbation method, the closed-loop system stability is analyzed. The proposed control method is verified through numerical simulation.
Age-Related Perturbation of Thymic Epithelial Cells (TEC) Homeostasis Is Caused by Increased TNFR/Fas-Mediated Apoptosis Coupled with Decreased Proliferation

Age-related thymic involution contributes to severe and clinically significant immune deficiency in the elderly. Proposed mechanisms of age-related thymic involution have focused on either intrinsic defects of lymphohematopoietic progenitors or primary defects of the thymic microenvironment with aging. Previously, we have demonstrated that keratinocyte growth factor (KGF) transiently reverses murine age-related thymic involution by regenerating the TEC compartment. We sought to understand the mechanisms of age-related loss of TECs and to evaluate a potential therapeutic strategy to durably regenerate the thymus. We found a significant increase in the frequency of apoptotic TECs (CD45- MHCII+) coupled with a decline in the frequency of S-phase TECs in young versus aged mice (11 vs 19% and 35% vs 17%, respectively). Telomere shortening was observed in both aged thymocytes and thymic stromal cells, indicating increased replicative senescence in both compartments. Previous studies have demonstrated lack of age-related thymic involution in Fas −/− mice. We found that the frequency of Fas + TECs was 3-fold higher in aged mice compared to young mice. A distinct TEC subpopulation expressed Fas, but there was no increase in Fas + CD45 + lymphoid cells. Although FasL was not expressed by thymocytes, expression of FasL by intrathymic mature T cells (ITMTs, CD4 + CD8 − CD44 high or CD4 − CD8 + CD44 high ) increased 2-fold in aged mice. In contrast, there was no change in the frequency of FasL + splenic memory T cells. To understand how Fas expression is induced in aged TEC, we examined the effects of two pro-inflammatory cytokines, TNF-α and IL-1β, which are known to induce Fas expression. Both TNF-α and IL-1β up-regulated Fas expression on K5 + K8 + (possible precursor), K5 − K8 + (cortical), or K5 + K8 − (medullary) TEC clones derived from young mice. RT-PCR and FACS analyses showed that the aged thymus had 4–5-fold higher levels of TNF-α, and TNF-α expression was increased in aged CD4+ and CD8+ ITMT, as well as all subsets of thymocytes. To elucidate the molecular mechanisms of apoptosis in the aged TEC, we analyzed levels of activated caspase-8, a key mediator of TNFR/Fas-induced apoptosis. Almost 50% of TECs in aged mice but only 25% in young mice had activated caspase-8. Furthermore, in vivo treatment (0.4mg/mouse, every 3 rd day for 1 month) of a caspase-8-specific inhibitor (z-IETD-fmk) increased the number of TECs, decreased TEC apoptosis, and enhanced thymopoiesis in aged mice. The data suggest that thymic aging is mediated by decreased regenerative potential of TEC coupled with increased expression of inflammatory cytokines by both ITMT and thymocytes that make TECs more susceptible to apoptosis by either inducing Fas expression on TECs or directly triggering TNFR-mediated apoptosis. The inflammatory effects of ITMT on TEC death provides a feed-forward mechanism by which peripheral memory T-cell generation and immune senescence is linked to thymic involution.
Going for Two: Optimizing between Extra Points and Two Point Conversions in the NFL

In 2015, to make extra point plays after touchdowns more uncertain, the NFL moved the extra point distance from the 2-yard line to the 15-yard line. Since the rule change, the expected points from an extra point attempt has fallen from 0.99 (averaging between the 2002 and 2014 NFL seasons) to 0.94 (averaging the 2015 and 2016 NFL seasons) while the expected points from the two point conversion remains 0.95 (averaging between 2002 and 2016 NFL seasons). While the total number of two point conversion attempts per season has almost doubled, most coaches still rarely attempt 2 point conversions when it would be point maximizing (and win maximizing under risk neutral or risk seeking preferences). Using dynamic programming, this paper argues that this result is evidence of a conservative bias and that teams could improve expected wins by attempting more two point conversions.
Levels of Best Practice Implementation in Classrooms for Mildly Handicapped Students in a Rural State

This study was designed to determine levels of implementation of identified best practices for mildly handicapped students in special education classrooms in Mississippi, a predominately rural stat...
Reduced Port Sigmoid and Left Colectomy

The left hemicolectomy or sigmoid resection is performed for a wide variety of indications, including malignant disease, such as colon and rectosigmoid junction cancer, and benign conditions, such as diverticulitis, Crohn’s disease, or as part of procedures for prolapse. When deciding between the two procedures for oncologic resections, a left hemicolectomy is appropriate for tumors in the distal transverse colon, descending colon, or proximal sigmoid colon, while a sigmoid colectomy is appropriate for proximal and distal sigmoid colon cancers. With the left hemicolectomy, the left branch of the middle colic vessels and the left colic vessels are included with the specimen in addition to the inferior mesenteric artery, while with the sigmoid colectomy, the inferior mesenteric artery and its terminal branches, as indicated, are included. The exact dissection, resection, and method of vascular ligation will differ, depending on the indication for operations, but in all cases, a minimally invasive approach is safe, feasible, and accelerates recovery. In our experience, the sigmoid colectomy is the ideal procedure for a reduced port laparoscopic approach, where one additional 5 mm umbilical port is used in addition to the single incision port, to overcome technical and ergonomic challenges. Per surgeon preference, the single port can be used alone without the additional port, but we present the “SILS + 1” approach for a sigmoid resection here.
A fully implicit, conservative, non-linear, electromagnetic hybrid particle-ion/fluid-electron algorithm

Abstract The quasi-neutral hybrid model with kinetic ions and fluid electrons is a promising approach for bridging the inherent multi-scale nature of many problems in space and laboratory plasmas. Here, a novel, implicit, particle-in-cell based scheme for the hybrid model is derived for fully 3D electromagnetic problems with multiple ion species, which features global mass, momentum and energy conservation. The scheme includes sub-cycling and orbit-averaging for the ions, with cell-centered finite differences and implicit midpoint time advance. To reduce discrete particle noise, the scheme allows arbitrary-order shape functions for the particle-mesh interpolations and the application of conservative binomial smoothing. The algorithm is verified for a number of test problems to demonstrate the correctness of the implementation, the unique conservation properties, and the favorable stability properties of the new scheme. In particular, there is no indication of unstable growth of the finite-grid instability for a population of cold ions drifting through a uniform spatial mesh, in a set-up where several commonly used non-conservative schemes are highly unstable.
Preoperative Lund-Mackay computed tomography score is associated with preoperative symptom severity and predicts quality-of-life outcome trajectories after sinus surgery

Background Disagreement exists about the relationship between Lund-Mackay CT scores (LMCTS) and quality-of-life outcome (QoL) measures. We investigated whether preoperative LMCTS are associated with preoperative QoL, and whether LMCTS is predictive of postoperative QoL outcomes in chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) patients. Methods Adult patients with medically recalcitrant CRS (n = 665) were enrolled in a prospective, observational cohort study. Preoperative LMCTS and pre- and postoperative self-reported QoL outcomes (22-item Sino-Nasal Outcomes Test [SNOT-22]) were collected and evaluated over 12 months. Five hundred sixty-eight patients met the inclusion criteria. Longitudinal linear mixed-effects modeling was used to investigate the effect of LMCTS on QoL after functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS). Results Preoperative LMCTS were significantly associated with preoperative SNOT-22 scores (p Conclusion Our study demonstrates that preoperative LMCTS correlate with preoperative extranasal and rhinologic symptom severity and that the LMCTS is an indicator of postsurgical QoL outcomes for medically recalcitrant chronic rhinosinusitis patients in a large tertiary otolaryngology setting.
Central Nervous System Atypical Teratoid/Rhabdoid Tumors: Role of Insulin-Like Growth Factor I Receptor

Central nervous system (CNS) atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumors (AT/RT) are among the pediatric malignant tumors with the worst prognosis. Insulin-like growth factor I receptor (IGF-IR) protects cancer cells from apoptosis induced by a variety of anticancer drugs and radiation. IGF-IR is expressed in primary CNS AT/RT as detected by immunohistochemistry. Moreover, there is evidence for the potential presence of an autocrine/paracrine IGF-I/II/IGF-IR loop in CNS AT/RT. IGF-IR antisense oligonucleotide treatment of human CNS AT/RT cells results in significant down-regulation of IGF-IR mRNA and protein expression, induction of apoptosis, and chemosensitization to doxorubicin and cisplatin. These studies provide evidence for the influence of IGF-IR on cellular responses to chemotherapy and raise the possibility that curability of selected CNS AT/RT may be improved by pharmaceutical strategies directed toward the IGF-IR.
Causes and management of early colorectal cancer.

It is my great pleasure to invite you to read the contributions in this Special Issue of Chinese Clinical Oncology on the causes and management of early colorectal cancer. Our choice of topics was, in part, dependent on identifying topics of interest written by the best authors.
Genomic Landscape of Waldenström Macroglobulinemia.

Next-generation sequencing has revealed recurring somatic mutations in Waldenstrom macroglobulinemia (WM). Common mutations include MYD88 (95%-97%), as well as CXCR4 (30%-40%), ARID1A (17%), and CD79B (8%-15%), which are typically found in MYD88-mutated patients. The genomic findings provide important insights into the pathogenesis, prognostication, and treatment outcome in WM. We discuss the genomic landscape of WM, and the impact of underlying genomics on disease presentation, transcriptional changes, treatment outcome, and overall survival impact.
Understanding Barriers Preventing Those With Limited Mobility From Obtaining Equal Access and Opportunity To Exercise and Achieve Overall Health

Barriers to access impede availing oneself of opportunities to access exercise and achieve health, and a myriad of systemic factors contribute to the barriers that exist. The lack of access and opportunnities for exercise can lead in the development of secondary conditions that further adversely impact the overall health of individuals. In addition to the physical and logistical barriers, those with mobility limitations also face both overt barriers to access such as being made to feel unwelcome due to lack of effort made to make exercise facilities and opportunities accessible and covert barriers based on subpar customer service provided to them due to a lack of understanding of how to assist them much less the legal obligation in terms of doing so. Additional research needs to be conducted to assess the extent to which barriers impeed access and opportunity to exercise: with added data, patterns can be identified that will allow the identified issues to be remedied thereby allowing those with limited mobility to reap the benefits of exercise and avoid the secondary effects of limited mobility. Solutions to these problems involve greater societal, exercise, and health facility planning to address the complete social, personal, and environmental components that impact all aspects of individual health needs.
Revealing parallel scans and reductions in recurrences through function reconstruction

Many sequential loops are actually recurrences and can be parallelized across iterations as scans or reductions. Many efforts over the past 2+ decades have focused on parallelizing such loops by extracting and exploiting the hidden scan/reduction patterns. These approaches have largely been based on a heuristic search for closed-form composition of computations across loop iterations. While the search-based approaches are successful in parallelizing many recurrences, they have a large search overhead and need extensive program analysis. In this work, we propose a novel approach called sampling-and-reconstruction, which avoids the search for closed-form composition and has the potential to cover more recurrence loops. It is based on an observation that many recurrences can have a point-value representation. The loop iterations are divided across processors, and where the initial value(s) of the recurrence variable(s) are unknown, we execute with several chosen (sampling) initial values. Then, correct final result can be obtained by reconstructing the function from the outputs produced on the chosen initial values. Our approach is effective in parallelizing linear, rectified-linear, finite-state and multivariate recurrences, which cover all of the test cases in previous works. Our evaluation shows that our approach can parallelize a diverse set of sequential loops, including cases that cannot be parallelized by a state-of-the-art static parallelization tool, and achieves linear scalability across multiple cores.
Planetary science: Titan's exotic weather.

Titan is viewed as a sibling of Earth, as both bodies have rainy weather systems and landscapes formed by rivers. But as we study these similarities, Titan emerges as an intriguingly foreign world.
Pedestrian-level wind speed enhancement with void decks in three-dimensional urban street canyons

Abstract Cities suffer from low wind speeds due to the blockage effects of urban structures. Low wind speeds inhibit a city's ability to self-ventilate and reduce thermal comfort in tropical cities. Building porosity has been shown to be an effective architectural feature to channel winds into the pedestrian level. However, previous studies have focused on building porosity in single buildings or two-dimensional urban street canyons. We extended the investigations of building porosity to three-dimensional urban street canyons with computational fluid dynamics simulations. Validated numerical models were used to conduct parametric studies on void decks (empty spaces at the ground floors). By allowing winds to flow through them, void decks can enhance pedestrian-level wind speeds by more than twofold compared to the reference case without void decks. The wind enhancement effect is the strongest at the first canyon and decreases downstream. The effectiveness of a void deck is greatly improved by increasing the void deck height. The average wind speed in the first canyon increases from 13 percent to 59 percent (of the freestream wind speed) by increasing the void deck height from 2 m to 6 m. On the other hand, the building height and canyon (height-to-width) aspect ratio have a much smaller influence on void-deck effectiveness. Non-uniform building height in an array of buildings also has a minor influence on the effectiveness. Therefore, void decks are equally effective to enhance pedestrian-level wind speeds in urban areas with tall buildings and buildings with non-uniform height.
Effectiveness of straw bale check dams at reducing post-fire sediment yields from steep ephemeral channels

Abstract Post-fire flooding and elevated sediment loads in channels can pose hazards to people and structures within the wildland-urban interface. Mitigation of these hazards is essential to protect downstream resources. Straw bale check dams are one treatment designed to reduce sediment yields in small ephemeral catchments ( 60 Mg ha−1). 1- and 2-yr I30 return period rain events early in the study quickly filled the straw bale check dams indicating the treatment did not statistically reduce annual sediment yields. First year annual sediment yields across all catchments were 19.6 to 25.7 Mg ha−1. Once the check dams were full, they had limited storage capacity during the second post-fire year, allowing 3.8 to 13.1 Mg ha−1 of sediment to pass over the check dams. The mean mass of sediment trapped by individual straw bale check dams was 1.3 Mg, which allowed them to trap a mean of 5.9 Mg ha−1 of sediment at the given treatment rate. Straw bale check dams trapped
Stenotrophomonas maltophilia Differential Gene Expression in Synthetic Cystic Fibrosis Sputum Reveals Shared and Cystic Fibrosis Strain-Specific Responses to the Sputum Environment.

ABSTRACT Stenotrophomonas maltophilia is a Gram-negative opportunistic pathogen that can infect the lungs of people with cystic fibrosis (CF). The highly viscous mucus in the CF lung, expectorated as sputum, serves as the primary nutrient source for microbes colonizing this site and induces virulence-associated phenotypes and gene expression in several CF pathogens. Here, we characterized the transcriptional responses of three S. maltophilia strains during exposure to synthetic CF sputum medium (SCFM2) to gain insight into how this organism interacts with the host in the CF lung. These efforts led to the identification of 881 transcripts differentially expressed by all three strains, many of which reflect the metabolic pathways used by S. maltophilia in sputum, as well as altered stress responses. The latter correlated with increased resistance to peroxide exposure after pregrowth in SCFM2 for two of the strains. We also compared the SCFM2 transcriptomes of two S. maltophilia CF isolates to that of the acute infection strain, S. maltophilia K279a, allowing us to identify CF isolate-specific signatures in differential gene expression. The expression of genes from the accessory genomes was also differentially altered in response to SCFM2. Finally, a number of biofilm-associated genes were differentially induced in SCFM2, particularly in K279a, which corresponded to increased aggregation and biofilm formation in this strain relative to both CF strains. Collectively, this work details the response of S. maltophilia to an environment that mimics important aspects of the CF lung, identifying potential survival strategies and metabolic pathways used by S. maltophilia during infections. IMPORTANCEStenotrophomonas maltophilia is an important infecting bacterium in the airways of people with cystic fibrosis (CF). However, compared to the other CF pathogens, S. maltophilia has been relatively understudied. The significance of our research is to provide insight into the global transcriptomic changes of S. maltophilia in response to a medium that was designed to mimic important aspects of the CF lung. This study elucidates the overall metabolic changes that occur when S. maltophilia encounters the CF lung and generates a road map of candidate genes to test using in vitro and in vivo models of CF.
Evaluation of neurobehavioral abnormalities and immunotoxicity in response to oral imidacloprid exposure in domestic chickens ( Gallus gallus domesticus ).

Domestic chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus) were exposed to imidacloprid by gavage once daily for 7 consecutive days at 0, 0.03, 0.34, 3.42, 10.25, and 15.5 mg/kg/day (n = 20 per group; 5 6-week-o...
Unenforceable Portfolio Contracts

A “portfolio” is a bundled set of contracts. In the most commercially important example – which is our subject – an “originating bank” finances the home purchases of individual borrowers. The bank bundles the consequent mortgage backed securities (“the mbs”) into a portfolio, which it then sells to a firm – an “originator” –, which buys portfolios from several originating banks. The originator next sells its portfolios to a major bank, which markets the portfolios to public investment vehicles, such as a trust. “Portfolio contracts” govern each of these sales. We show that these contracts could not be enforced against the portfolio sellers for two reasons. First, in contrast to goods sellers, who warrant that the goods perform, the originating bank warrants that each of the underlying mbs that constitute the portfolio was created in accordance with good underwriting practice. Hence, breach is observable to the goods buyer – the goods do not perform – but breach is not observable to the portfolio buyer -- efficiently and inefficiently created mbs are facially identical. It proved too costly for a portfolio buyer to “get behind” a nonperforming mbs – that is, to reconstruct how the originating bank made that particular loan. Second, the goods in a bundle usually are homogenous so the buyer can prove damages by extrapolating the loss on sampled goods to the whole. In contrast, the mbs in a portfolio usually are heterogeneous: the loans have different face values and the individual obligors usually pay different sums before defaulting. Hence, the portfolio buyer must prove damages contract by contract. This is very costly because portfolios commonly contain thousands of mbs. Because the originators remade the unenforceable originating bank warranties made to them to their sellers, who remade them to the public investment vehicles, no one could – and no one did – enforce the portfolio contracts. Anticipating this result, the originating banks reduced pre-loan screening of potential borrowers. This increased the number of marginal borrowers with two results: (i) many borrowers defaulted because they could not pay; (ii) some borrowers who could pay defaulted strategically because they believed that the large number of defaulters overwhelmed a portfolio buyer’s capacity to pursue them. Anecdotal data indicates that market agents today continue to sell mbs portfolios under unenforceable contracts. A material fall in housing prices thus could yield consequences similar to those that obtained in the Great Recession.
Head movement to specifier positions

Syntactic movement of phrases, modeled in terms of Internal Merge, has traditionally been distinguished on empirical grounds from syntactic movement of heads, modeled by other means. I demonstrate that, once the class of head movements implicated in word formation is excluded from consideration (assumed to be, for example, post-syntactic, following Harizanov & Gribanova 2019), the residue of head movements, which are purely syntactic in nature, and phrasal movement can receive a unified treatment. Both phrasal and syntactic head movement are implemented here as instances of Internal Merge (following, for example, Fukui & Takano 1998; Toyoshima 2001; Matushansky 2006; Vicente 2007; 2009). This treatment of syntactic head movement renders long-standing stipulations about structure building such as the Chain Uniformity Condition superfluous. It also makes sense of the properties of syntactic head movement, as demonstrated in a case study of participle fronting in Bulgarian, which targets a specifier position, violates the Head Movement Constraint, can cross finite clause boundaries, and can have discourse effects.
A Monte Carlo framework for probabilistic analysis and variance decomposition with distribution parameter uncertainty

Abstract Probabilistic methods are used with modeling and simulation to predict variation in system performance and assess risk due to randomness in model inputs such as material properties, loads, and boundary conditions. It is common practice to assume that the input distributions are known. However, this discounts the epistemic uncertainty in the values of the distribution parameters, which can be attributed to the availability of limited data to define the input distributions. This paper proposes a Monte Carlo framework for unified treatment of both aleatory and epistemic uncertainty types when assessing system performance and risk. A Bayesian philosophy is adopted, whereby epistemic uncertainty is characterized using probability theory. Several computational approaches are outlined for propagation and sensitivity analysis with distribution parameter uncertainty. As a result of the outlined framework, the overall influence of epistemic uncertainties can be quantified in terms of confidence bounds on statistical quantities such as failure probability, and the relative influence of each source of epistemic uncertainty is quantified using variance decomposition. The proposed methods are demonstrated using both an analytical example and a fatigue crack growth analysis.
Urban Rooftop Agriculture: Challenges to Science and Practice

Urban green infrastructure includes both natural inputs and artificial supplements, including irrigation, synthetic soil, and drainage layers. Green infrastructure aims to make cities more resilient and less dependent on outside resource inputs through more efficient use. Over the past 2 decades, these constructed ecosystems have expanded to include green roofs, elevated urban parks, and rooftop vegetable farms. This paper outlines opportunities and challenges for advancing the science of these constructed ecosystems with particular emphasis on rooftop agriculture. Although in concept rooftop agriculture could contribute to urban food security, water management, and biodiversity, research comparing design and management strategies across climate zones and regional economies is necessary to fully integrate ecological understanding into urban planning policy.
A pragmatic approach to the comparison of wrist-based cutpoints of physical activity intensity for the MotionWatch8 accelerometer in children.

Background A variety of wearable monitors are available for objectively assessing physical activity but there is a lack of established values for the activity intensity of MotionWatch8 (MW8) and a similar lack of studies on comparability across devices. Our study aimed to establish activity intensity cutpoints for the MW8 accelerometer in children, which are necessary to determine whether they are meeting physical activity guidelines. Methods Children (n = 39, ages 9–13 years) were asked to wear two different accelerometers (MW8 and ActiGraph) simultaneously on the same dominant wrist as they performed different activities designed to mimic activities of variable intensity that a child might perform in a free-living environment. Linear regression and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were performed to assess sensitivity and specificity of the identified MW8 intensity cutpoints compared to established ActiGraph cutpoints. Results Mean values for each activity were positively correlated using the MW8 and ActiGraph monitors (r = 0.85, p<0.001). The optimal cutpoints for differentiating sedentary from light physical activity, light from moderate, and moderate from vigorous activity were ≤32 counts, ≥ 371.5 counts, and ≥ 859.5 counts per 30 seconds, respectively. Conclusions Our study demonstrated the ability of MW8 to discriminate different intensity activities and provided the first cutoff values for researchers using the MW8 to measure physical activity patterns among children.
Nanoelectronic Characterization: Using Near-Field Microwave Microscopy for Nanotechnological Research

The optical characterization of nanoscale objects is challenging due to the Abbe diffraction limit. This limit constrains the achievable spatial resolution of a conventional microscope using visible light to a 200 nm . 200 nm. The current era of nanotechnological research has been enabled by a host of experimental techniques that circumvent the diffraction limit. Since the Abbe limit scales proportional to the wavelength of electromagnetic radiation, the diffraction limit acts even more unfavorably on longer wavelengths. At 10 GHz (l = 30 mm), the best achievable resolution is around 15 mm. Thus, while traditional microwave metrology enables precision broadband measurements, conventional measurement methods are insufficient to address the host of novel and exciting phenomena that arise in nanoscale systems.
Compact DC Josephson Voltage Standard

This paper presents precision measurements with a prototype cryogen-liquid-free DC Josephson voltage standard that produces a 1 V maximum output. Its cryostat is sufficiently compact that it can be operated on a bench close to devices under test. Compared to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) programmable Josephson voltage standard (PJVS), this bench-top Josephson voltage standard (BJVS) has a smaller cryostat (only 25 % of the volume), the Josephson junction array circuit is less complex and has only 10 % as many junctions, simpler bias electronics, and reduced mechanical cooling requirements. Direct voltage comparison between the BJVS and the PJVS achieved a relative agreement of $5\times 10^{-10}$ at 1 V. With the recent redefinition of the International System of Units (SI), the BJVS becomes a primary realization the unit volt, requiring only access to a standard single-phase power outlet and a GPS signal (SI second).
Ex vivo and in vivo validation of the murine inner retinal cellular morphology visualized by in-vivo temporal speckle averaging optical coherence tomography (TSA-OCT)

It has been recently demonstrated that structures corresponding to the cell bodies of highly transparent cells in the retinal ganglion cell layer could be visualized noninvasively both in the living human and mouse eyes by optical coherence tomography (OCT) via temporal averaging. Here, we further explored the application of volumetric temporal averaging in mice, with a focus on correlating the in vivo results with the ex vivo histology, on the same retinas, to verify the structures seen in the in vivo images, which will help to better understand the pathophysiology of these cells.
From Chinese Exclusion to Contemporary Systemic Racism in the Immigration Laws

California today is widely considered to be a staunchly pro-immigrant state. That, however, has not always been the case. In fact, the Golden State in the late 1800s experienced widespread anti-Chinese agitation and frequent violence directed at Chinese immigrants and businesses. Political pressure ultimately pushed Congress to enact the first comprehensive federal immigration laws, the Chinese exclusion laws. This Essay argues that, surprisingly enough, those laws continue to reverberate through U.S. immigration law and its enforcement and allow systemic racism to flourish in the contemporary immigration system. This Essay specifically analyzes how anti-Chinese activism in a small California mountain town at the tail-end of the nineteenth century led to state-wide, and ultimately national, discriminatory immigration laws. Responding to sustained political pressure from the West, Congress in 1882 passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, an infamous piece of legislation that began in earnest the process of excluding Chinese immigrants—and later immigrants from all of Asia—from the United States. In upholding the Act, the Supreme Court in an extraordinary decision declared that, because Congress possessed “plenary power”—absolute authority—over immigration, the immigration laws were completely immune from review of their constitutionality. Well more than a century later, the plenary power doctrine lives on. Surviving the revolution of constitutional rights of the twentieth century, the doctrine enabled President Trump, a zealous advocate of tough-on-immigration measures, to pursue the most extreme approach to immigration of any modern president. As the nation attempts to understand how the Trump administration was able to no less than brutally treat immigrants, it is an especially important moment to consider the evolution of the plenary power doctrine, which today permits the treatment of immigrants in ways completely inconsistent with modern constitutional law. Ultimately, the national commitment to remove systemic racism from the nation’s social fabric requires the end of the plenary power doctrine.
Examining impairment and distress from food addiction across demographic and weight groups.

Abstract Rates of food addiction (FA) vary across weight and demographic groups. Factors influencing discrepant prevalence rates are largely unknown. Rates of clinically significant distress or impairment also vary across demographic groups, yet prior studies have overlooked the diagnostic significance of distress/impairment in heterogenous groups. We tested if weight and demographic groups differed in their likelihood of endorsing distress/impairment from FA. Participants (N = 1832) recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk completed the modified Yale Food Addiction Scale 2.0 (mYFAS). The mYFAS includes 11 dichotomous symptom indicators and one dichotomous distress/impairment indicator. Differences in distress/impairment were tested across weight, sex, racial/ethnic, and educational groups using logistic regression. FA severity was controlled for using FA symptom count. There were no differences among racial/ethnic and educational groups (p > 0.05). Compared to men, women were more likely to report distress/impairment (aOR = 1.96, 95% CI = 1.28–3.03). People with obesity were more likely to report distress/impairment compared to people with overweight (aOR = 2.20, 95% CI = 1.39–3.49) or normal weight (aOR = 1.99, 95% CI = 1.26–3.13). Individual characteristics (i.e., sex, weight) may influence reporting of distress/impairment from FA. Further inquiry may be appropriate for men and people with normal weight or overweight presenting with FA symptoms who otherwise deny distress/impairment.
Mathematical Connections: A Capstone Course

This book illustrates connections between various courses taken by undergraduate mathematics majors. As such it can be used as a text for a capstone course. The chapters are essentially independent, and the instructor can choose the topics that will form the course and thus tailor the syllabus to suit the backgrounds and abilities of the students. At the end of such a course the graduating seniors should glimpse mathematics not as a series of independent courses but as something more like an integrated body of knowledge. The book has numerous exercises and examples so that the student has many opportunities to see the material illustrated and fleshed out.
Expectation Enhances the Regional Brain Metabolic and the Reinforcing Effects of Stimulants in Cocaine Abusers

The reinforcing effects of drugs of abuse result from the complex interaction between pharmacological effects and conditioned responses. Here we evaluate how expectation affects the response to the stimulant drug methylphenidate in 25 cocaine abusers. The effects of methylphenidate (0.5 mg/kg, i.v.) on brain glucose metabolism (measured by [18F]deoxyglucose-positron emission tomography) and on its reinforcing effects (self-reports of drug effects) were evaluated in four conditions: (1) expecting placebo and receiving placebo; (2) expecting placebo and receiving methylphenidate; (3) expecting methylphenidate and receiving methylphenidate; (4) expecting methylphenidate and receiving placebo. Methylphenidate increased brain glucose metabolism, and the largest changes were in cerebellum, occipital cortex, and thalamus. The increases in metabolism were approximately 50% larger when methylphenidate was expected than when it was not, and these differences were significant in cerebellum (vermis) and thalamus. In contrast, unexpected methylphenidate induced greater increases in left lateral orbitofrontal cortex than when it was expected. Methylphenidate-induced increases in self-reports of "high" were also approximately 50% greater when subjects expected to receive it than when they did not and were significantly correlated with the metabolic increases in thalamus but not in cerebellum. These findings provide evidence that expectation amplifies the effects of methylphenidate in brain and its reinforcing effects. They also suggest that the thalamus, a region involved with conditioned responses, may mediate the enhancement of the reinforcing effects of methylphenidate by expectation and that the orbitofrontal cortex mediates the response to unexpected reinforcement. The enhanced cerebellar activation with expectation may reflect conditioned responses that are not linked to conscious responses.