cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Chipping Away at Financial Reporting Quality

Chief financial officers are responsible for managing the financial reporting process. We test whether the quality of a firm’s financial reports is a function of the effort expended by the CFO. Using golfing records to measure leisure consumption, we first show that CFOs consume more leisure when they have lower economic incentives. We show further that high levels of leisure consumption by CFOs are associated with lower financial reporting quality. These results hold when using firm fixed effects and when using weather quality as an instrument for the amount of golf play, suggesting that the relationship is causal. Higher levels of leisure consumption are also associated with shorter conference calls with a more uncertain tone, suggesting that the qualitative content of firms’ communications also suffers when CFOs consume high levels of leisure. Finally, the effects of lower quality reporting are demonstrated by results linking CFO leisure with greater analyst forecast dispersion and weaker earnings response coefficients.
The Toll of Vascular Insufficiency: Implications for the Management of Peripheral Arterial Disease

Peripheral artery disease (PAD) can result in limb loss within six months of diagnosis in a subset of patients who cannot undergo endovascular or surgical revascularization yet continues to maintain a marginal position in cardiovascular research. While a body of literature continues to grow describing the role of danger signaling and innate immunity in cardiac biology, the role of these pathways in the ischemic myopathy associated with PAD has not been extensively studied. The following report will review the current literature on the role of Toll-like receptor (TLR) signaling in cardiovascular biology as well as in nonischemic myopathy. While attenuation of TLR signaling has not been shown to be clinically useful in the treatment of infectious inflammation, it may show promise in the management of severe arterial insufficiency.
The effects of extrinsic rewards on "intrinsic motivation."

Abstract Recently a number of cognitive theorists have prescribed widely against the use of reinforcement procedures in organizations, citing as evidence those studies in which contingent extrinsic reinforcers seemed to impair intrinsically motivated behavior. However, a review of those studies reveals that (a) there is no acceptable evidence that extrinsic reinforcers inevitably disrupt behavior maintained by other, but perhaps less obvious, reinforcing events and (b) the meaning of “intrinsic motivation” remains obscure. Unfortunately, the postulation of autonomous central processes continues to produce studies that neither clarify those processes nor increase our knowledge of the manner in which human task performance is acquired and maintained. A reinforcement analysis is proposed as a more fruitful alternative.
Flow regime effects on mature Populus fremontii (Fremont cottonwood) productivity on two contrasting dryland river floodplains

Abstract I compared riparian cottonwood (Populus fremontii) productivity-discharge relationships in a relictual stand along the highly regulated Green River and in a naturally functioning stand along the unregulated Yampa River in semiarid northwest Colorado. I used multiple regression to model flow effects on annual basal area increment (BAI) from 1982 to 2011, after removing any autocorrelation present. Each BAI series was developed from 20 trees whose mean size (67 cm diameter at breast height [DBH]) was equivalent in the two stands. BAI was larger in the Yampa River stand except in 2 y when defoliating leaf beetles were present there. I found no evidence for a Yampa flood-magnitude threshold above which BAI declined. Flow variables explained ∼45% of residual BAI variability, with most explained by current-year maximum 90-d discharge (QM90) in the Yampa River stand and by a measure of the year-to-year change in QM90 in the Green River stand. The latter reflects a management-imposed ceiling on flood mag...
Control of Derobrachus brevicollis in Bahiagrass

Aldrin, isobenzan, and heptachlor afforded highly significant control of Derobrachus brevicollis Audinet-Serville (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) and sod protection in Bahiagrass when applied as granular formulations to the soil surface. Significant control and sod protection were obtained also with carbaryl and mirex bait treatments.
An analysis on results of serum methotrexate concentration monitoring in children acute lymphoblastic leukemia chemotherapy

Objective To inspect the individual difference of methotrexate(MTX)'s elimination in children acute lymphoblastic leukemia(ALL) chemotherapy,and to provide the reference for determining rational saving treatment regimen in clinic.Methods Eighty-one ALL children cases received HDMTX chemotherapy 339 case times.The MTX dosage was 3-5 g·m-2.The vein drop was persistence within 24 hours.The serum concentrations of MTX were determined concomitantly by SPE-HPLC at 24,48 and 72 h after starting MTX infusion.Concentrations of each time were put into data base and calculated their coefficient variations.The relationship of serum MTX concentrations between 48 and 72 h after starting MTX infusion was analyzed by Spearman correlation analysis method.Results There were large coefficient variations of serum MTX concentrations at 48 and 72 h after the administration,respectively.And there was positive correlation between the serum MTX concentrations at 48 and 72 h(rs=0.755,P0.05).Conclusion There is large individual difference of MTX elimination in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia,so it′s necessary to guide the use of calcium folinate with serum MTX concentration monitoring result.
Permutation Tests of Hierarchical Cluster Analyses of Carrion Communities and Their Potential Use in Forensic Entomology

Forensic entomologists can use carrion communities' ecological succession data to estimate the postmortem interval (PMI). Permutation tests of hierarchical cluster analyses of these data provide a conceptual method to estimate part of the PMI, the post-colonization interval (post-CI). This multivariate approach produces a baseline of statistically distinct clusters that reflect changes in the carrion community composition during the decomposition process. Carrion community samples of unknown post-CIs are compared with these baseline clusters to estimate the post-CI. In this short communication, I use data from previously published studies to demonstrate the conceptual feasibility of this multivariate approach. Analyses of these data produce series of significantly distinct clusters, which represent carrion communities during 1- to 20-day periods of the decomposition process. For 33 carrion community samples, collected over an 11-day period, this approach correctly estimated the post-CI within an average range of 3.1 days.
A two-stage-training support vector machine approach to predicting unintentional vehicle lane departure

ABSTRACTAdvanced driver assistance systems, such as unintentional lane departure warning systems, have recently drawn much attention and efforts. In this study, we explored utilizing the nonlinear binary support vector machine (SVM) technique to predict unintentional lane departure, which is innovative, as the SVM methodology has not previously been attempted for this purpose in the literature. Furthermore, we developed a two-stage training scheme to improve SVM's prediction performance in terms of minimization of the number of false positive prediction errors. Experiment data generated by VIRTTEX, a hydraulically powered, 6-degrees-of-freedom moving base driving simulator at Ford Motor Company, were used. All the vehicle variables were sampled at 50 Hz and there were 16 drowsy drivers (about 3 hours of driving per subject) and six control drivers (approximately 20 minutes f driving each). In total, 3,508 unintentional lane departures occurred for the drowsy drivers and 23 for the control drivers. Our stu...
Differential Expression of MicroRNAs in Tissues and Plasma Co-exists as a Biomarker for Pancreatic Cancer.

Objective: Pancreatic cancer (PC) is a lethal disease with disappointing results from current treatment modalities, suggesting that novel therapeutic strategies are urgently needed. Since microRNAs (miRNAs) are important player in biology, the clinical utility of miRNAs for designing novel therapeutics is an active area of research. The objective of the present study was to examine differentially expressed miRNAs between normal and tumor tissues, and in plasma samples obtained from PC patients, chronic pancreatitis (CP) patients and healthy subjects (HC). Material and methods: The miRNA expression profiling using formalin-fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) tissues from normal and tumor specimens was accomplished using miRBase version 19 (LC Sciences, Houston, TX, USA). Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) was subsequently performed in individual samples for 7 selected miRNAs. In addition, qRT-PCR was also performed for assessing the expression of 8 selected miRNAs in plasma samples. Results: A significant difference in the expressions of miR-21, miR-205, miR-155, miR-31, miR-203, miR-214 and miR-129-2 were found in tumor tissue samples. Lower expression of miR-214 was found to be associated with better overall survival. We also observed differential expression of 8 miRNAs in plasma samples of CP and PC patients compared to HC. Interestingly, over expression of miR-21, and miR-31 was noted in both tumor tissues and in the plasma. Conclusion: We found deregulated expression of miRNAs that could distinguish normal from PC in two different types of samples (tissues and plasma). Interestingly, lower expression of miR-214 was found to be associated with better overall survival. Although not statistically significant, we also observed higher expression of let-7a and lower expression of miR-508 to be associated with overall better survival. We conclude that our study nicely lays the foundation for detailed future investigations for assessing the role of these miRNAs in the pathology of pancreatic cancer.
The Biologic Basis of the Ichthyoses

The ichthyoses, a heterogeneous group of disorders characterized by scaling, have become an unexpectedly rich source of information on normal epidermal biology and cell cohesion and dishesion. In spite of recent success with systemic retinoid therapy, the ichthyoses remain a challenging problem concerning treatment. Nosology and classification are unfinished, and the analysis of biochemical abnormalities promises a refinement in diagnosis.
Localizing sites of disease in patients with rising serum prostate-specific antigen up to 1 ng/ml following prostatectomy: How much information can conventional imaging provide?

Abstract Purpose Accurate identification of the source of a detectable serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in the postprostatectomy setting is a major challenge among the urologic community. The aim of this study was to assess positivity rates of imaging examinations performed in patients with early PSA rise after prostatectomy and to summarize the management strategies adopted in this clinical scenario. Methods Institutional Review Board-approved retrospective study of 142 postprostatectomy patients with PSA rise up to 1 ng/ml who underwent evaluation with combination of multiparametric pelvic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)±whole-body or bone MRI, bone scintigraphy, computed tomography (CT) chest-abdomen-pelvis, 18 F-fludeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography (PET)/CT or 18 F-sodium fluoride-PET/CT at a single tertiary cancer center. Imaging results were summarized per modality and compared with pathology findings. Results Pelvic MRI was positive in 15/142 (11%) patients (14 patients with local recurrence in the surgical bed and 1 patient with pelvic osseous metastases). Of these 15, 10 patients underwent additional imaging examinations; none revealed positive findings. Of the 127 patients with negative pelvic MRI, 54 (43%) underwent additional imaging examinations; only 1/54 had positive findings (false-positive T8 lesion on bone scintigraphy and FDG-PET/CT; biopsy was negative for cancer). Overall, 12/16 patients with positive imaging findings and 75/126 (60%) patients with negative imaging received treatment (radiation, hormones or chemotherapy). Conclusion The conventional imaging identified sites of disease, almost always in the form of local recurrence, in a minority of patients with early PSA rise postprostatectomy.
New Trends and Challenges in Leaching Process

Hydrometallurgical ways of extracting metals are becoming an important technology in extractive metallurgy. In this paper, industrially successful leaching processes are reviewed. The strengths and weaknesses of leaching processes are discussed and the needs for future research in the leaching process are presented. Industrially successful processes considered in the current discussion include aluminum, uranium, cobalt, nickel, gold and silver extraction. It is noted that hydrometallurgical processes of secondary metal sources will become an important area in extractive metallurgy. High temperature and pressure autoclave leaching should be studied in more depth both from the points of fundamental aspects and practical applications.
Open property regimes

In the literature on the commons, open access is considered the absence of a property regime and equated with a tragedy of the commons. However, a longitudinal study of mobile pastoralists in the Far North Region of Cameroon shows that open access is not the absence of rules and does not lead to a tragedy of the commons. Current theoretical models cannot explain this phenomenon of management of common-pool grazing resources in a situation of open access. Here I propose a new property regime – an open property regime – that solves this paradox. First, I will explain how open property regimes function as complex adaptive systems using our study of mobile pastoralists in Cameroon. Second, I will describe four other cases of pastoral systems with similar open property regimes. Finally, I discuss the key characteristics that these pastoral systems have in common and outline a new theoretical model of open property regimes.
On a (Per)Mission: Building Privacy Into the App Marketplace

App-based systems are typically supported by marketplaces that provide easy discovery and installation of third-party apps. To mitigate risks to user privacy, many app systems use permissions to control apps' access to user data. It then falls to users to decide which apps to install and how to manage their permissions, which many users lack the expertise to do in a meaningful way. Marketplaces are ideally positioned to inform users about privacy, but they do not take advantage of this. This lack of privacy guidance makes it difficult for users to make informed privacy decisions. We present both an app marketplace and a permission management assistant that incorporate privacy information as a key element, in the form of permission ratings. We discuss gathering this rating information from both human and automated sources, presenting the ratings in a way that users can understand, and using this information to promote privacy-respecting apps and help users manage permissions.
Kinome analysis of chicken macrophages infected with Salmonella Enteritidis or S. Heidelberg

Macrophages are important innate immune cells that play a central role in the first line defense against microbial infection. Although, chicken macrophages are equipped with effective antimicrobial mechanisms that can be readily activated in response to microbial infection, many Salmonella strains are able to survival inside the macrophage. A previous study has shown that S. Enteritidis was better equipped to survive in the chicken macrophages than S. Heidelberg, in which S. Enteritidis , but not S. Heidelberg, was able to suppress the host’s nitric oxide response. The interaction between chicken macrophages and Salmonella as well as intracellular survival of Salmonella in chicken macrophages remains poorly understood. Here, we used a species-specific immunometabolism kinome peptide array to identify pathways that are involved in chicken macrophages’ response to Salmonella infection. The kinome assay was performed on chicken HD-11 macrophages collected at 0.5, 2, and 6 hr post-infection with either S. Heidelberg or S. Enteritidis . We observed significant changes of phosphorylation ( p ≤ 0.05) in a large number of peptides during the infection: 390, 449, and 575 peptides for S. Enteritidis and 185, 470, and 442 for S . Heidelberg at 0.5, 2, and 6 hr, respectively. Additionally, a relatively small number of peptides that showed infection-induced phosphorylation changes in opposite directions when comparing the two serovars: 142 peptides at 0.5 hr, 141 at 2 hr, and 82 at 6 hr. Analyzing phosphopeptides, we found that a number of pathways involved in immunity, signal transduction, cellular process, and metabolism were significantly altered, in some case differentially, during the infection with the two serovars.
Preserving nickel electrode conductivity during sintering process using lithium carbonate coatings

Abstract The resistance of nickel particles can be decreased by five orders of magnitude when coated with lithium carbonate during sintering in an oxidative atmosphere. The resistance is within a range, in which use is suitable for electrodes in the electroceramic devices. The coated powders have the potential to replace the precious metals (e.g. Pt and Ag) in multilayer electroceramic devices. A systematic study of the influence of sintering atmosphere and temperature on the morphology of Li 2 CO 3 -coated Ni particles was investigated via TEM (transmission electron microscopy), SEM-FIB (scanning electron microscopy - focused ion beam) imaging, and TGA (thermogravimetric analysis). The results suggested that the Li 2 CO 3 decomposes and produces CO in the presence of residual carbon; CO, as a reducing agent, decreases the amount of NiO phases formed during sintering. At the same time, the NiO phase was doped with Li + , resulting in a decrease in its resistivity. The combination of these two processes decreased the resistance of the final Ni electrodes from 140 kΩ to 1 Ω. The effect and role of these two mechanisms were separated, and it is shown that both of them are equally useful in the preservation of electrical conductivity.
Efficient neural network acceleration on GPGPU using content addressable memory

Recently, neural networks have been demonstrated to be effective models for image processing, video segmentation, speech recognition, computer vision and gaming. However, high energy computation and low performance are the primary bottlenecks of running the neural networks. In this paper, we propose an energy/performance-efficient network acceleration technique on General Purpose GPU (GPGPU) architecture which utilizes specialized resistive nearest content addressable memory blocks, called NNCAM, by exploiting computation locality of the learning algorithms. NNCAM stores highly frequent patterns corresponding to neural network operations and searches for the most similar patterns to reuse the computation results. To improve NNCAM computation efficiency and accuracy, we proposed layer-based associative update and selective approximation techniques. The layer-based update improves data locality of NNCAM blocks by filling NNCAM values based on the frequent computation patterns of each neural network layer. To guarantee the appropriate level of computation accuracy while providing maximum energy saving, our design adaptively allocates the neural network operations to either NNCAM or GPGPU floating point units (FPUs). The selective approximation relaxes computation on neural network layers by considering the impact on accuracy. In evaluation, we integrate NNCAM blocks with the modern AMD southern Island GPU architecture. Our experimental evaluation shows that the enhanced GPGPU can result in 68% energy savings and 40% speedup running on four popular convolutional neural networks (CNN), ensuring acceptable < 2% quality loss.
Targeting Deptor in Multiple Myeloma

Abstract 575 DEPTOR is an mTOR binding protein specifically over-expressed in some genetic subtypes of multiple myeloma (MM). DEPTOR binds mTOR in TORC1 and TORC2 complexes and inhibits their kinase activity. As a result, p70 and 4E-BP1 phosphorylation, substrates of TORC1, are decreased. However, TORC1/p70 down-regulation results in marked feedback activation of the PI3K/AKT pathway and AKT becomes activated even though DEPTOR restrains TORC2. Most importantly, DEPTOR knockdown is deleterious to over-expressing MM cell lines, resulting in apoptosis. We hypothesized that compounds preventing DEPTOR-mTOR association would have cytotoxic effects in these cell lines, comparable to DEPTOR knockdown. We, thus, developed a yeast two-hybrid assay where survival of yeast in histidine-depleted media depended upon an association between DEPTOR and mTOR in genetically engineered yeast. After demonstrating a robust yeast two-hybrid protein interaction, yeast were screened against the NCI small inhibitor library (>150,000 compounds) and six compounds were identified that inhibited the interaction. These compounds rapidly increased p70 phosphorylation in MM cell lines in a concentration-dependent fashion, consistent with an inhibition of DEPTOR9s inhibitory effect on mTORC1. Co-immunoprecipitation confirmed the compounds inhibited binding of DEPTOR to mTOR without effects on an mTOR-RICTOR interaction. The compounds also significantly inhibited cell survival of cell lines and they were at least 10 × fold more effective against DEPTOR over-expressing MM lines (8226, OPM-2, MM1.S) versus non-expressing lines (U266, FR4, delta 47). These results support a drug development strategy for myeloma that focuses on preventing DEPTOR binding to mTOR within TORC complexes for subsequent anti-myeloma cytotoxic effects. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
Impact of a Longitudinal Lecture Series on Pre-dental Student Recruitment

The expanding number of dental schools has not resulted in a rise in dental school applications; therefore, there is a need to identify and retain pre-dental students in the applicant pool. One way to do this is to introduce an outreach program by dental schools. A limited number of studies have been done on the impact of outreach programs on dental school recruitment. This study was done to examine the effectiveness of an outreach program initiated at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine (HSDM). Third- and fourth-year dental students provided 12 hours of lectures, two hours of case-based learning, and two hours of hands-on laboratory experience to pre-dental students over 12 weeks in a course called Introduction to Dentistry. The course was given in 2015 and 2016 and the participants were surveyed before and after the course to determine their interest in and knowledge of dentistry, and their attitude toward HSDM. After the course, pre-dental students had better understanding of the dental profession overall, were more comfortable conversing about dentistry, and were more likely to apply to HSDM in the future. Dental outreach programs can maintain or increase interest in applicants who were previously interested in applying to dental school; however, admissions committees must carefully consider an applicant’s entire academic and personal background. Participation in an outreach program is not an indication of an applicant’s overall suitability for dentistry in general or for a particular dental school’s program.
Analysis of Identity and Access Management alternatives for a multinational information-sharing environment

In the 21st century, each country must make decisions on how to utilize modern technologies to maximize benefits and minimize repercussions. For example, the United States Department of Defense (DoD) needs to be able to share information efficiently with its allies while simultaneously preventing unwarranted access or attacks. These attacks pose a threat to the national security of the United States, but proper use of the cyberspace provides countless benefits. The aim of this paper is to explore Identity and Access Management (IdAM) technologies that the Department of Defense can use in joint operations with allies that will allow efficient information-sharing and enhance security. To this end, we have created a methodology and a model for evaluating Identity and Access Management technologies that the Department of Defense can use in joint operations with other nations, with a specific focus on Japan and Australia. To evaluate these systems, we employed an approach that incorporates Political, Operational, Economic and Technical (POET) factors. Governance protocols, technological solutions, and political factors were first thoroughly reviewed and then used to construct an evaluation model to formally assess Identity and Access Management alternatives. This model provides systematic guidance on how the Department of Defense can improve their use of Identity and Access Management systems in the future.
Visual Learning Strategies to Promote Independence and Appropriate Social Behavior

As noted in other chapters in this text, individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often present with behavioral challenges that make it difficult for them to interact effectively with the social world. They may also have difficulty completing multistep tasks and sustaining attention for extended periods of time. The interventions described in this chapter, photographic activity schedules (hereafter called, activity schedules) and social scripting/script fading, were specifically designed to help individuals with ASD overcome these challenges. In this chapter, we will introduce these two techniques, briefly review the research supporting their effectiveness, and then offer suggestions for how they can be used, both together and separately, to improve the lives of individuals with ASD and their families.
He said, she said, it said: Effects of robot group membership and human authority on people's willingness to follow their instructions

Research in HRI indicates that people follow a robot's instructions even when they are incorrect. However, when a robot's instructions or requests contradict those of a human (e.g. an authoritative experimenter), people obey the human instead. This might be due to the experimenter's perceived ingroup status, or to their higher presumed authority compared to the robot. This study manipulated experimenter authority (high, low) and robot group membership (ingroup, neutral) to test how they affected responses to conflicting orders from the two agents depending on the request's importance (big, small). While there was no main effect of group membership and authority on most participant behavior, when experimenter authority was low and the robot an ingroup member, participants defied the experimenter's instructions to turn off an ingroup robot at the end of the experiment, following the robot's instructions instead. Further, request importance affected participant behavior. Participants typically followed the robot's low-importance requests (e.g., moving from one chair to another), but not high-importance requests (e.g., how to perform a simulated task of diagnosing and talking to patients).
Human papillomavirus detection with genotyping by the cobas and Aptima assays: Significant differences in HPV 16 detection?

BACKGROUND The primary high-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) assays in the United States are the cobas (Roche) and the Aptima (Hologic). The cobas assay detects hrHPV by DNA analysis while the Aptima detects messenger RNA (mRNA) oncogenic transcripts. As the Aptima assay identifies oncogenic expression, it should have a lower rate of hrHPV and genotype detection. METHODS The Kaiser Permanente Regional Reference Laboratory in Denver, Colorado changed its hrHPV assay from the cobas to the Aptima assay. The rates of hrHPV detection and genotyping were compared over successive six-month periods. RESULTS The overall hrHPV detection rates by the two platforms were similar (9.5% versus 9.1%) and not statistically different. For genotyping, the HPV 16 rate by the cobas was 1.6% and by the Aptima it was 1.1%. These differences were statistically different with the Aptima detecting nearly one-third less HPV 16 infections. With the HPV 18 and HPV 18/45, there was a slightly higher detection rate of HPV 18/45 by the Aptima platform (0.5% versus 0.9%) and this was statistically significant. CONCLUSION While HPV 16 represents a low percentage of hrHPV infections, it was detected significantly less by the Aptima assay compared to the cobas assay. This has been previously reported, although not highlighted. Given the test methodologies, one would expect the Aptima to detect less HPV 16. This difference appears to be mainly due to a significantly increased number of non-oncogenic HPV 16 infections detected by the cobas test as there were no differences in HPV 16 detection rates in the high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions indicating that the two tests have similar sensitivities for oncogenic HPV 16.
Prostate Cancer Metastasis — Fueled by Fat?

Fueling Metastatic Prostate Cancer A recent study in mouse models of prostate cancer showed a link among high-fat diet, tumor-suppressor genes, adipogenesis, and metastatic prostate cancer.
Foot Problems and Their Conservative Treatment in Rheumatoid Arthritis

This article discusses the common foot problems seen in association with rheumatoid arthritis. The biomechanics of the foot and the pathogenic mechanisms of the problems seen in rheumatoid arthritis are briefly discussed. The article then turns to the conservative methods used to prevent or treat the common foot deformities associated with this disease.
Brandeis Lectures (1963)

These lectures, delivered at Brandeis University in July 1962, mark the end of an evolutionary phase in which, still misguided by the thinking of the past, I believed that the treatment of irreversible processes must be fundamentally different from equilibrium theory. But there is an advance in that the distinction between information entropy S I and experimental entropy S E , not yet clearly seen in the 1957 papers, is now recognized and stressed. Of course, this step was crucial for any rational discussion of irreversibility and the second law. The beginning of the next phase is recalled in ‘Where do we Stand?’ reprinted elsewhere in this volume.
Ty1 and Ty5 of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Ty1 and Ty5 of Saccharomyces cerevisiae are long terminal repeat (LTR) retrotransposons, members of a large and ubiquitous class of mobile genetic elements. Like the retroviruses, LTR retrotransposons replicate by reverse transcribing RNA into DNA and then integrating the DNA transposition intermediate into the genome of their host. This chapter begins with a description of Ty1 and Ty5, including their origins and genetic organization. Subsequent sections deal with four discrete steps in the LTR retrotransposon life cycle, namely, (i) transcription and transcriptional regulation; (ii) protein expression, processing, and virus-like particle assembly; (iii) reverse transcription; and (iv) integration. The study of activating mutations has unveiled a complex array of both positively and negatively acting factors responsible for Ty1’s transcriptional regulation. The discussion of reverse transcription in the remainder of the chapter focuses on the native Ty1 enzyme. Negative post transcriptional regulation of Ty1 was suggested by the paradoxical observation that Ty1 mRNA is very abundant, yet mature Ty1 proteins are scarce and transposition infrequent. In the postgenomics era, S. cerevisiae is the proving ground for new technologies that are beginning to offer unprecedented insights into the complex regulatory and metabolic networks that underlie cellular biology. The development of the research tools and the accumulated knowledge that results from their use will undoubtedly greatly facilitate Ty1 and Ty5 research in the coming years.
Oleosins and Endoplasmic Reticulum in Seeds and Anthers

Three types of related subcellular oil-rich particles are present in plants: storage oil bodies inseeds for gluconeogenesis during germination, storage oil bodies in pollen providing acyl moieties for membranesynthesis in the pollen tube, and tapetosomes in the anther tapetum for delivering lipids and proteins tothe maturing pollen surface. Each of these oil-rich particles has a basic structure of an oil body,which consists of a triacylglycerol matrix enclosed by a layer of phospholipids and the structuralprotein oleosins. All components of an oil body are synthesized and assembled in endoplasmic reticulum(ER), from which a budding oil body is released. An oleosin molecule has a highly conserved centraldomain of 72 uninterrupted hydrophobic residues flanked by variable amphipathic N-and C-terminal segments. Its unique central domain is presumed to haveevolved from a transmembrane segment of an ER protein. An oleosin molecule does not have an N-terminal ER-targeting signal and is targeted to the signal recognition particleand then ER via its central hydrophobic domain. Targeting studies of oleosin molecules that have been modifiedby adding a N-terminal ER-targeting signal, shortening the centralhydrophobic stretch and eliminating the N- or C-terminalamphipathic stretch, have provided a model delineating the mechanism of oleosin targeting to ER andoil bodies. A tapetosome possesses numerous oleosin-coated oil bodies associated ionically with abundantmembranous vesicles, both of which are assembled in and then detached from ER.
Application of a hybrid computational aeroacoustics method to an automotive blower

A hybrid method of aeroacoustic noise computation based on Lighthill's Acoustic Analogy is applied to investigate the noise radiated by an automotive blower. The two-steps hybrid simulation method relies on Lighthill's acoustic analogy. To account in the frequency domain for aeroacoustic sources linked to the fan rotation, a porous surface enclosing the fan is defined, allowing specifying surface source terms. In order to validate the simulation results, the experimental setup is reproduced in the numerical model. Therefore it is possible to draw a fair results' comparison in terms of aerodynamic mean flow quantities as well as acoustic power levels.
Identifying Bundles of Product Options using Mutual Information Clustering.

Mass-produced goods tend to be highly standardized in order to maximize manufacturing efficiencies. Some high-value goods with limited production quantities remain much less standardized and each sale can be configured to meet the specific requirements of the customer. In this work we suggest a novel methodology to reduce the number of options for complex product configurations by identifying meaningful sets of options that exhibit strong empirical dependencies in previous customer orders. Our approach explores different measures from statistics and information theory to capture the degree of interdependence between the choices for any pair of product components. We use hierarchical clustering to identify meaningful sets of components that can be combined to decrease the number of unique product specifications and increase production standardization. The focus of our analysis is on the influence of different similarity measure including chi-squared statistics and versions of mutual information on the ability of the clustering to find mean-
Measurements of 252Cf fission product energy loss through thin silicon nitride and carbon foils, and comparison with SRIM-2013 and MCNP6.2 simulations

Abstract Gas ionization detectors are very widely used for radiation detection and measurement, but for external sources an entrance window is used which can reduce particle energy. For heavy ions this energy loss can be significant enough to affect measurements and very thin windows, such as those composed of silicon nitride (SiN), may be utilized to minimize this effect. For fission spectroscopy, carbon conversion foils are also common in measurements. In the current work, energy losses were measured for 252Cf spontaneous fission products passing through thin foils of carbon and of silicon nitride. The foils ranged in from 22.5 to 131.0 µg/cm2 for C and from 56.4 to 402.2 μg/cm2 for SiN. For comparison, simulations were performed with the TRIM program in SRIM-2013 and with MCNP6.2. To understand calculation differences, effective charge from partial ionization was predicted by several methods and compared with results directly using the Bethe stopping power formula.
Physician Aid-in-Dying and Suicide Prevention in Psychiatry: A Moral Imperative Over a Crisis

Kious and Battin (2019) posit a moral dilemma created by clinicians not allowing physician aid-in-dying (PAD) for psychiatric suffering, while simultaneously allowing for the involuntary commitment...
Factors associated with long-term cardiac dysfunction in neonatal lupus.

Objectives Cardiac manifestations of neonatal lupus (NL) have been associated with significant morbidity and mortality; however, there is minimal information on long-term outcomes of affected individuals. This study was initiated to evaluate the presence of and the risk factors associated with cardiac dysfunction in NL after birth in multiple age groups to improve counselling, to further understand pathogenesis and to provide potential preventative strategies. Methods Echocardiogram reports were evaluated in 239 individuals with cardiac NL: 143 from age 0–1 year, 176 from age >1–17 years and 64 from age >17 years. Logistic regression analyses evaluated associations of cardiac dysfunction at each age group with demographic, fetal and postnatal factors, using imputation to address missing data. Results Cardiac dysfunction was identified in 22.4% at age 0–1 year, 14.8% at age >1–17 years and 28.1% at age >17 years. Dysfunction in various age groups was significantly associated with male sex, black race, lower fetal heart rates, fetal extranodal cardiac disease and length of time paced. In 106 children with echocardiograms at ages 0–1 year and >1–17 years, 43.8% with dysfunction at age 0–1 year were also affected at age >1–17 years, while the others reverted to normal. Of children without dysfunction at age 0–1 year, 8.9% developed new dysfunction between ages >1 and 17 years. Among 34 with echocardiograms at ages >1–17 years and >17 years, 6.5% with normal function at age >1–17 years developed dysfunction in adulthood. Conclusions Risk factors in fetal life can influence cardiac morbidity into adulthood. Although limited by a small number of cases, cardiac dysfunction in the first year often normalises by later childhood. New-onset dysfunction, although rare, can occur de novo after the first year.
Linear Programming Bounds and Universal Optimality on the Sphere

This chapter is primarily devoted to linear programming methods for determining bounds and exact solutions for Riesz minimal energy, best-packing, and kissing number problems on the sphere \(S^d\subset \mathbb R^{d+1}\).
Oxidative stress pathogenically remodels the cardiac myocyte cytoskeleton via structural alterations to the microtubule lattice

In the failing heart, the cardiac myocyte microtubule network is remodeled, which increases cellular stiffness and disrupts contractility, contributing to heart failure and death. However, the origins of this deleterious cytoskeletal reorganization are unknown. We now find that oxidative stress, a condition characteristic of failing heart cells, leads to cysteine oxidation of microtubules. Further, our electron and fluorescence microscopy experiments revealed regions of structural damage within the oxidized microtubule lattice. These damaged regions led to the lengthening, realignment, and acetylation of dynamic microtubules within cardiac myocytes. Thus, we found that oxidative stress acts inside of cardiac myocytes to facilitate a dramatic, pathogenic shift from a dynamic, multifaceted microtubule network into a highly acetylated, longitudinally aligned, and static microtubule network. Our results demonstrate how a disease condition characterized by oxidative stress can trigger a molecular oxidation event, which propagates a toxic cellular-scale transformation of the cardiac myocyte microtubule network.
The role of plasma genotyping in ALK- and ROS1-rearranged lung cancer

Several subsets of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are defined by the presence of oncogenic rearrangements that result in constitutive activation of a chimeric fusion protein. In NSCLCs that harbor ALK or ROS1 rearrangements, aberrant signaling from these fusion proteins can be overcome by potent and selective tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs). These targeted therapies can induce durable responses and significantly improve prognostic outcomes. Historically, analysis of tissue biopsies was the primary approach to identifying key activating rearrangements. In recent years, non-invasive genotyping of tumor-derived nucleic acids in the circulation has gained ground as a strategy for determining the genetic composition of NSCLCs at diagnosis and throughout the disease course based on prospective and retrospective studies validating the utility of plasma analysis in heterogeneous populations of patients with metastatic NSCLC. Notably, these practice-changing studies predominantly included patients with NSCLCs with oncogenic mutations. Compared to other types of molecular alterations such as mutations and insertions/deletions, oncogenic rearrangements are more complex as they incorporate a variety of fusion partners and diverse breakpoints. Because of this structural complexity, detecting oncogenic rearrangements with plasma assays is more challenging than identifying disease-defining point mutations. In this review, we discuss technical aspects of plasma genotyping strategies and summarize findings from studies exploring plasma genotyping (including ctDNA analysis and profiling of nucleic acids contained in other plasma components) in two rearrangement-driven NSCLC subsets (ALK-rearranged and ROS1-rearranged).
Losing Track of Time

Ottessa Moshfegh's My Year of Rest and Relaxation tells a story of doing nothing; it is an antinovel whose heroine attempts to sleep for a year in order to lose track of time. This desire to lose t...
Mutiny, Mayhem, Mythology: Bounty’s Enigmatic Voyage: By Alan Frost. Sydney: Sydney University Press, 2018. 21+320pp., 4 maps, 7 colour plates, tables, notes, bibliography, and index. AUS $40 (PB). ISBN 978-1743325872.

With more than 3,000 books and articles already written about the 1789 mutiny on the Bounty as well as feature films, novels, and plays, a reader might be forgiven for overlooking yet another. That...
Estimation of Crystalline Cellulose Content of Plant Biomass using the Updegraff Method

Cellulose is the most abundant polymer on Earth generated by photosynthesis and the main load-bearing component of cell walls. The cell wall plays a significant role in plant growth and development by providing strength, rigidity, rate and direction of cell growth, cell shape maintenance, and protection from biotic and abiotic stressors. The cell wall is primarily composed of cellulose, lignin, hemicellulose and pectin. Recently plant cell walls have been targeted for the second-generation biofuel and bioenergy production. Specifically, the cellulose component of the plant cell wall is used for the production of cellulosic ethanol. Estimation of cellulose content of biomass is critical for fundamental and applied cell wall research. The Updegraff method is simple, robust, and the most widely used method for the estimation of crystalline cellulose content of plant biomass. The alcohol insoluble crude cell wall fraction upon treatment with Updegraff reagent eliminates the hemicellulose and lignin fractions. Later, the Updegraff reagent resistant cellulose fraction is subjected to sulfuric acid treatment to hydrolyze the cellulose homopolymer into monomeric glucose units. A regression line is developed using various concentrations of glucose and used to estimate the amount of the glucose released upon cellulose hydrolysis in the experimental samples. Finally, the cellulose content is estimated based on the amount of glucose monomers by colorimetric anthrone assay.
School Choice and the Distributional Effects of Ability Tracking: Does Separation Increase Inequality?☆

Abstract Tracking programs have been criticized on the grounds that they harm disadvantaged children. The bulk of empirical research supports this view, but existing studies compare outcomes across students placed in different tracks. Track placement is likely to be endogenous with respect to student outcomes. We use a new strategy for overcoming the endogeneity of track placement and find no evidence that tracking hurts low-ability children. Previous studies have also been based on the assumption that students' enrollment decisions are unrelated to whether or not the school tracks. When we account for the possibility that tracking programs affect school choice, we find evidence that they may help low-ability children.
Leadership with and for Undocumented and Unaccompanied Minor Students: Resiliency, Resistance, and School Change for Racial Equity:

This chapter will examine the role of leadership for institutional change and racial equity as it relates to supporting undocumented and unaccompanied minor students in PK–1-12 schools. By utilizin...
Inhaled nitric oxide in adults with in-hospital cardiac arrest: A feasibility study.

Abstract Background While inhaled nitric oxide (iNO) has revealed benefit in cardiac arrest in an animal model, no published data has yet demonstrated the impact of iNO in humans with cardiac arrest. Methods In this pilot study, we administered iNO, along with standard post-resuscitative care, in adults with in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA) following achievement of return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) at an academic tertiary medical center. Patients receiving iNO were compared to age-matched controls with IHCA receiving standard care from an institutional registry. The primary outcome was survival to discharge; secondary outcome was favorable neurologic outcome, defined by a Glasgow Outcome Score of 4 or 5. Propensity-score (PS) matching analysis was performed between patients receiving iNO versus controls. Results Twenty adults with IHCA receiving iNO were compared to 199 controls with IHCA. Similar age, Charlson comorbidity index, and initial rhythm were noted in both groups. Patients receiving iNO had higher rates of survival to discharge compared to controls (35% vs 11%, p Conclusions In this pilot study, iNO was associated with significantly higher rates of survival to discharge but not favorable neurologic outcome among patients with IHCA compared to controls. This benefit was also observed in the PS-matched analysis. A large scale randomized controlled trial comparing standard of care supplemented with iNO to standard of care alone is warranted in patients with cardiac arrest (Funded by Stony Brook University Renaissance School of Medicine, ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT04134078).
Variation in Viremic Concentration among Cattle Persistently Infected with Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus

Cattle persistently infected (Pl) with bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) are the main viral reservoir of the disease. Despite associations between BVDV and negative health and performance effects, previous research suggests that PI cattle have minimal impact on non-PI cattle. This discrepancy is likely multi-faceted but may suggest that all PI cattle are not equally effective in transmitting BVDV. The objectives of this study were two-fold: (1) to assess differences in BVDV viremia concentrations among multiple PI cattle at one time point, and (2) to determine if BVDV viremia changed over time among PI cattle.