cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Thioredoxin Reduction Alters the Solubility of Proteins of Wheat Starchy Endosperm: An Early Event in Cereal Germination

A KCl-soluble, albumin/globulin fraction of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) starchy endosperm was further separated into a methanol-insoluble fraction that contained metabolic proteins and a methanol-soluble fraction that contained "chloroform-methanol" or CM-like proteins. Reduction of the disulfide bonds of the CM proteins with thioredoxin or dithiothreitol altered their properties so that, like the metabolic proteins, they were insoluble in methanol. Glutathione had little effect, indicating dithiol specificity. Proteomic analysis of the CM protein fraction revealed the presence of isoforms of low molecular weight disulfide proteins (alpha-amylase, alpha-amylase/trypsin and WCI proteinase inhibitors, lipid transfer proteins, gamma-thionins), stress enzymes (Cu-Zn superoxide dismutase and peroxidase), storage proteins (alpha-, gamma- and omega-gliadins, low molecular weight glutenin subunits and globulins of the avenin N9 type), and a component of protein degradation (polyubiquitin). These findings support the view that, in addition to modifying activity and increasing protease sensitivity, reduction by thioredoxin alters protein solubility, thereby promoting processes of the grain starchy endosperm, notably the mobilization of reserves during germination and seedling development.
Tumor in bladder reservoir after gastrocystoplasty.

Purpose: To our knowledge the risk of malignancy in patients with previous bladder augmentation with stomach is unknown. We report 3 cases of gastric adenocarcinoma and 1 of transitional cell carcinoma after augmentation cystoplasty with stomach with long-term followup.Materials and Methods: Between August 1989 and August 2002, 119 patients underwent augmentation cystoplasty with stomach at our 2 institutions (University of Miami School of Medicine, and Seattle Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center). Medical records, urodynamic studies, radiographic imaging and laboratory evaluations were reviewed retrospectively and cases of malignancy were analyzed in detail.Results: Four male patients had carcinoma after augmentation gastrocystoplasty. Preoperative diagnosis was neurogenic bladder in 3 patients and posterior urethral valve in 1. Three patients had gastric adenocarcinoma, while the other had poorly differentiated transitional cell carcinoma. Each case progressed to malignancy more than 10 year...
How NP got a new definition: a survey of probabilistically checkable proofs

We survey a collective achievement of a group of researchers: the PCP Theorems. They give new definitions of the class NP, and imply that com­ puting approximate solutions to many NP-hard problems is itself NP-hard. Techniques developed to prove them have had many other consequences. 2000 Mathematics Subject Classification: 68Q10, 68Q15, 68Q17, 68Q25.
The Optimal Utilization of Slaves

A Major theme in the historiography of American slavery is the analysis of the slave plantation as a capitalist market oriented enterprise. Much of the controversy surrounding the work of such scholars as Stanley Elkins, Kenneth Stampp and Eugene Genovese stems from differing views of the interaction of commercial capitalism with the ancient institution of slavery. A recurrent topic in this literature is the impact of the profit motive and competitive market conditions on the relationship between master and slave. A major concern is the extent these capitalist incentives may have motivated the master to either brutalize or ameliorate the conditions of the slave's existence. We wish to thank the following who read earlier drafts of this paper and made useful suggestions and criticisms: Professors Jerry Fastrup, George Jensen, Roger Ransom, Richard Roseman, and an anonymous referee. This study is part of a larger project, “The Optimal Accumulation and Utilization of Slaves” (forthcoming), which extends both static and dynamic neoclassical models of the firm to cases involving slavery.
Implementation of the ACR Dose Index Registry.

workflow for image data routing. The ACR recommends that Triad, which we installed in the virtual machine environment maintained by our hospital’s IT department, be a destination on all CT workstations and directly receives the radiation dose structured reports, dose sheets, and localizers, but a second acceptable option was that these data could be mirrored to the Triad host from the PACS. Sending directly from each workstation had the advantage that all dose data would be indexed, specifically series that were not sent to the PACS, but this was a minor advantage because those data would be in radiation dose structured reports and dose reports. Disadvantages regarding network operations included increasing bandwidth overhead at each workstation; if the Triad host was unreachable, errors would compound from workstation network queues; and the Triad destination would have to be maintained after workstation installations and upgrades. Additionally, to send image data, either technologists would have to manually send a subset of specific series or autosend rules would have to be managed for all protocols across workstations. None of those disadvantages were considered insurmountable, but because dose monitoring has not yet reached the status of “mission critical,” they would hinder use. Mirroring dose data from the PACS to the Triad host, which is the workflow we adopted, offered several advantages. The PACS is mission critical, has reliable connectivity, and will always be a destination on workstations, so network operations and workstation management by a dosemonitoring specialist would be mitigated. A potential disadvantage, which we discovered after initial use, was that all outside films imported into the PACS would also be relayed to the DIR through Triad. Currently in our facility’s DIR, there are 310 station names to sort through to find the 20 to 25 units that have belonged to our facility. Thus, in this workflow scheme, an additional DICOM router with filtering rules to avoid sending outside films to our institution’s registry is needed between the PACS mirror and Triad.
Diet-Induced Ketosis Improves Cognitive Performance in Aged Rats

Aging is associated with increased susceptibility to hypoxic/ischemic insult and declines in behavioral function which may be due to attenuated adaptive/defense responses. We investigated if diet-induced ketosis would improve behavioral performance in the aged rats. Fischer 344 rats (3- and 22-month-old) were fed standard (STD) or ketogenic (KG) diet for 3 weeks and then exposed to hypobaric hypoxia. Cognitive function was measured using the T-maze and object recognition tests. Motor function was measured using the inclined-screen test. Results showed that KG diet significantly increased blood ketone levels in both young and old rats. In the aged rats, the KG diet improved cognitive performance under normoxic and hypoxic conditions; while motor performance remained unchanged. Capillary density and HIF-1α levels were elevated in the aged ketotic group independent of hypoxic challenge. These data suggest that diet-induced ketosis may be beneficial in the treatment of neurodegenerative conditions.
Effects of D2 or combined D1/D2 receptor antagonism on the methamphetamine-induced one-trial and multi-trial behavioral sensitization of preweanling rats

There is suggestive evidence that the neural mechanisms mediating one-trial and multi-trial behavioral sensitization differ, especially when the effects of various classes of dopamine (DA) agonists are examined. The purpose of the present study was to determine the role of the D2 receptor for the induction of one-trial and multi-trial methamphetamine sensitization in preweanling rats. In a series of experiments, rats were injected with saline or raclopride (a selective D2 receptor antagonist), either alone or in combination with SCH23390 (a selective D1 receptor antagonist), 15 min prior to treatment with the indirect DA agonist methamphetamine. Acute control groups were given two injections of saline. This pretreatment regimen occurred on either postnatal days (PD) 13–16 (multi-trial) or PD 16 (one-trial). On PD 17, rats were challenged with methamphetamine and locomotor sensitization was determined. Blockade of D2 or D1/D2 receptors reduced or prevented, respectively, the induction of multi-trial methamphetamine sensitization in young rats, while the same manipulations had minimal effects on one-trial behavioral sensitization. DA antagonist treatment differentially affected the methamphetamine-induced sensitized responding of preweanling rats depending on whether a one-trial or multi-trial procedure was used. The basis for this effect is uncertain, but there was some evidence that repeated DA antagonist treatment caused nonspecific changes that produced a weakened sensitized response. Importantly, DA antagonist treatment did not prevent the one-trial behavioral sensitization of preweanling rats. The latter result brings into question whether DA receptor stimulation is necessary for the induction of psychostimulant-induced behavioral sensitization during early ontogeny.
Spectral Analysis of Sand Waves

The techniques of autocorrelation and spectral density analysis of random processes were applied to the problem of describing and predicting bed profiles of a sequence of dunes in sand-bed channels. The data analyzed were from three sources, a 0.4-ft wide flume, an 8-ft wide flume, and a conveyance channel of the Rio Grande near Bernardo, New Mexico. From the computed covariance and spectral density functions, it was determined that the process could be represented approximately by a Markov second-order linear model. The first three values of the covariance functions, which were found sufficient for computing the approximate models and two other parameters which describe the goodness of fit of the models, are shown to be functions of the simple flow parameter, unit discharge.
Eu2+ concentration effects in KCa0.8Sr0.2I3:Eu2+: A novel high-performance scintillator

Abstract We report here the effect of Eu2+ concentration in KCa0.8Sr0.2I3:Eu2+ single crystal scintillators. KCa0.8Sr0.2I3:Eu2+ single crystals doped with 0.5, 1, 3, 5, and 7 mol% Eu2+ were grown by the Bridgman method. The effects of varying Eu2+concentration and crystal volume on the scintillation properties, including light yield, energy resolution, nonproportionality, scintillation decay time and afterglow level, were systematically investigated. For 5 mm×5 mm×5 mm samples, the best light yield of 86,000±4000 photons/MeV was achieved with a content of 5 mol% Eu2+; its energy resolution of 2.5% at 662 keV was comparable to that of LaBr3:Ce3+ and SrI2:Eu2+. With larger samples of about 2.2 cm3, the best performances achieved were for 3 mol% Eu2+ concentration, i.e. a light yield of 76,000±4000 photons/MeV and an energy resolution of 3% at 662 keV. A direct correlation between nonproportionality and Eu2+ concentration was found. A continuous lengthening of scintillation decay time and x-ray induced afterglow level with increasing Eu2+ concentration was observed. The self-absorption effect was evaluated by using the Stokes shift and the temperature dependence of the photoluminescence decay (PL) of the Eu2+ centers. The sample with the highest dopant concentration had more severe temperature quenching of the Eu2+5d-4f emission than the sample with the lowest dopant concentration, which could be ascribed to the thermally activated concentration quenching.
Electron Transport and Recombination in TiO2 Nanofiber Dye Sensitized Solar Cell

Dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), a new type of photo-electrochemical solar cells, are a promising alternative to the silicon based photovoltaic because they hold advantages of low cost, simple manufacturing processes and higher conversion efficiency compared with other types of excitonic solar cell. DSSCs with conversion efficiencies of up to 11% have been achieved with a highly stable electrolyte under AM1.5G conditions. Recently, one dimensional (1D) electrospun TiO2 nanofibers have been used as the DSSC photoanode to improve the electron transport efficiency and enhance the light harvest efficiency by scattering more light in the red part of the solar spectrum. In this paper, stepped light induced transient measurement of photocurrent and voltage (SLIM-PCV) has been employed to study electron transport and recombination in DSSCs. Electron diffusion coefficients and electron lifetimes were measured with differing light intensities. The electron diffusion coefficients and electron lifetimes strong correlate with intensity, which indicates the trap limited diffusion process for electrons in the TiO2 nanofiber DSSC.Copyright © 2011 by ASME
Structural and Electronic Properties of Carbon Nanotubes and Graphenes Functionalized with Cyclopentadienyl–Transition Metal Complexes: A DFT Study

In order to explore possible ways of using metallocene compounds in heterogeneous catalysis and in sensor applications, we present a theoretical characterization of cyclopentadienyl (Cp) + transition metal (TM) complexes adsorbed on boron-doped carbon nanotubes (B-CNTs) and boron-doped graphenes. Using spin-polarized density functional theory calculations, we present a systematic study of the geometries, energetics, and electronic properties of CpTM (where TM = Fe, Ni, Co, Cr, Cu) adsorbed on both pristine and boron-doped carbon supports. Our work reveals significant increases of the binding energies between CpTM and boron-doped CNTs and graphenes (versus pristine carbon supports), surpassing even the adsorption strength of the isolated metals atoms (by about 2 eV). According to our electronic structure analysis, both the delocalization of the TM-d state by the presence of the Cp ring and the interactions between the Cp ring and the carbon substrate are responsible for the enhancement of the binding energ...
Immunological Histamine Release from Rat Mast Cells in vitro: Effect of Age of Cell Donor∗

SummarySuspensions of rat peritoneal cells were sensitized for either anaphylactic or complement-dependent cytotoxic release of histamine. In both cases the reactivity of the mast cells in vitro appeared to be influenced by the coating of rat immunoglobulin previously acquired in vivo. Sensitization for the complement-dependent release of histamine resulted from the interaction of rabbit anti-rat immunoglobulin antiserum with host IgG on the mast cell. Mast cells from young rats failed to participate in this reaction presumably because of an insufficient coating of IgG. In contrast, cells from young or germ-free rats had a much greater capacity for in vitro passive sensitization by anaphylactic antibody than cells of older rats. In older rats the sensitization sites may have been preempted by anaphylactic antibody directed against indifferent, naturally occurring antigens, or another immunoglobulin may block access to sensitization sites by steric hindrance.
Monitoring PML-RARalpha in acute promyelocytic leukemia.

Acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) is characterized by a translocation between the promyelocytic leukemia gene (PML) on chromosome 15 and the retinoic acid receptor-α (RARα) gene on chromosome 17. Reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) amplification of PML-RARα messenger RNA can establish the diagnosis of APL, predict response to all-trans retinoic acid and arsenic trioxide, detect minimal residual disease, and predict relapse. Quantitative "real-time" RT-PCR techniques may improve residual disease assessment by facilitating more rapid and standardized results. APL provides a useful model in which therapy is targeted to an underlying genetic aberration and treatment is adapted based on monitoring of residual disease.
Design and Analysis of a High-Speed Spinning Test Platform for Solid Rocket Motor

The design and analysis of a high-speed spinning test platform of solid rocket motor is introduced in this paper.The purpose of high-speed spinning test platform is installing the solid rocket motor on it and driving the solid rocket motor to spin.The equipment can fit a group of test of different sizes of solid rocket motor.According to the condition of high-speed spinning,the integrated design and analysis were developed.With finite element analysis software,its structural part was analyzed in terms of mechanical performance and optimized.
Book Review: 'JP Madoff:The Unholy Alliance between America's Biggest Bank and America's Biggest Crook'

This is a review of a book that describes the complicity between America’s biggest bank, JP Morgan Chase and the major financial fraud by Bernard Madoff. It makes a compelling case that bank officials should have known that of Madoff’s illegal activity fraud. Bank officials however looked the other way because they profited substantially from their relationship with Madoff.
Automation of Data Acquisition in Electron Crystallography

General considerations for using automation software for acquiring high-resolution images of 2D crystals under low-dose conditions are presented. Protocol modifications specific to this application in Leginon are provided.
The Integrated Field: An Alternative to the Behavior-Analytic Conceptualization of Behavioral Units

Behavior is a continuous process from prior to birth until death. For purposes of investigation, however, it becomes useful to analyze this “behavior stream” into behavioral units, the description and definition of which have concerned behavioral scientists for many years. The present paper extends this topic further by presenting the integrated field as an appropriate behavioral unit, especially in contrast to the behavior-analytic units of respondent and operant behavior. We begin by providing some historical background on behavioral units as addressed by B. F. Skinner and the behavior-analytic community, and then we propose the integrated field as a more suitable unit in the context of three long-standing false dichotomies—organism vs. response as the subject matter, internal vs. external causation, and explanatory vs. descriptive analysis. In these matters, the integrated field emphasizes, respectively, a holistic, as opposed to organism- or response-based, subject matter; a systemic, as opposed to internally or externally oriented, description of causation; and a purely descriptive, as opposed to reductive-explanatory, analysis of behavior. We conclude with related comments regarding the relationship between an integrated-field perspective on the problem of behavioral units and research methodology in psychology.
Modelling the chemical free neutralization of caustic peeled tomato slurry as a continuously stirred tank

Abstract The purpose of this investigation was to use membrane filtration to neutralize a waste stream from the chemical peeling of tomatoes and to model this process. The waste exiting the peeler/scrubber unit is decanted to separate skins and seeds from the aqueous portion of the waste stream. This aqueous suspension represents the inefficiency in over peeling of tomatoes. Recycling the slurry would reduce waste generated from the peeling operation thereby increasing process efficiency. A constant volume dilution (CVD) membrane filtration process was designed to perform a chemical-free neutralization of the tomato slurry. Through the CVD process, the active alkali of the slurry was reduced from 0.7 to less than 0.01 mol/L and electrical conductivity of the suspension decreased from 27 to less than 0.1 mS/cm. Additionally, electrical conductivity and active alkali were found to have a linear relationship ( r 2 = 0.9962) showing that one value can adequately predict the other in this system. All of the indicators of neutralization fit log-linear to the derived stirred tank processes model with significant correlation coefficients. This work shows that a CVD process using membrane technology has the potential to reclaim tomato waste from caustic peeling and that the filtration can be adequately modelled.
Querying on Federated Sensor Networks

A Federated Sensor Network (FSN) is a network of geographically distributed Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) called islands. For querying on an FSN, we introduce the Layered Federated Sensor Network (L-FSN) Protocol. For layered management, L-FSN provides communication among islands by its inter-island querying protocol by which a query packet routing path is determined according to some path selection policies. L-FSN allows autonomous management of each island by island-specific intra-island querying protocols that can be selected according to island properties. We evaluate the applicability of L-FSN and compare the L-FSN protocol with various querying protocols running on the flat federation model. Flat federation is a method to federate islands by running a single querying protocol on an entire FSN without distinguishing communication among and within islands. For flat federation, we select a querying protocol from geometrical, hierarchical cluster-based, hash-based, and tree-based WSN querying protocol categories. We found that a layered federation of islands by L-FSN increases the querying performance with respect to energy-efficiency, query resolving distance, and query resolving latency. Moreover, L-FSN’s flexibility of choosing intra-island querying protocols regarding the island size brings advantages on energy-efficiency and query resolving latency.
Adaptive penalized splines for data smoothing

Data driven adaptive penalized splines are considered via the principle of constrained regression. A locally penalized vector based on the local ranges of the data is generated and added into the penalty matrix of the classical penalized splines, which remarkably improves the local adaptivity of the model for data heterogeneity. The algorithm complexity and simulations are studied. The results show that the adaptive penalized splines outperform the smoothing splines, l1 trend filtering and classical penalized splines in estimating functions with inhomogeneous smoothness. An adaptive penalized splines model for data smoothing is proposed.The model is locally adaptive to the inhomogeneity of observations.Local penalization is constructed without complicated pre-estimation.
Profiles of Temperament among Youth with Specific Phobias: Implications for CBT Outcomes

Specific phobias (SPs) are characterized by excessive fear or anxiety regarding an object or situation. SPs often result in a host of negative outcomes in childhood and beyond. Children with SPs are broadly assumed to show dispositional over-regulation and fearfulness relative to children without SPs, but there are few attempts to distinguish dispositional patterns among children with SPs. In the present study, we examined trajectories of differing temperamental profiles for youth receiving a CBT-based treatment for their SP. Participants were 117 treatment seeking youth (M Age = 8.77 years, Age Range = 6–15 years; 54.7% girls) who met criteria for a SP and their mothers. Three temperament profiles emerged and were conceptually similar to previously supported profiles: well-adjusted; inhibited; and under-controlled. While all groups showed similarly robust reductions in SP severity following treatment, differences among the three groups emerged in terms of broader internalizing symptoms, externalizing symptoms, and global outlook. The well-adjusted group was higher in functioning initially than the other two groups. The inhibited group had initial disadvantages in initial internalizing symptoms. The under-controlled group showed greatest comorbidity risks and had initial disadvantages in both internalizing and externalizing symptoms. These distinct clusters represent considerable heterogeneity within a clinical sample of youth with SP who are often assumed to have homogenous behavior tendencies of inhibition and fearfulness. Findings suggest that considering patterns of temperament among children with phobias could assist treatment planning and inform ongoing refinements to improve treatment response.
Slow Intermuscular Oscillations are Associated with Cocontraction Steadiness.

ABSTRACTPurposeVoluntary muscle contraction often involves low-frequency correlated neural oscillations across muscles, which may degrade steady cocontraction between antagonistic muscles with distinct levels of activation per each muscle (unbalanced cocontraction). The purposes of the study were 1)
Effect of Digoxin Use Among Medicaid Enrollees With Atrial Fibrillation

Background— Recently published analysis of contemporary atrial fibrillation (AF) cohorts showed an association between digoxin and increased mortality and hospitalizations; however, other studies have demonstrated conflicting results. Many AF cohort studies did not or were unable to examine racial differences. Our goal was to examine risk factors for hospitalizations and mortality with digoxin use in a diverse real-world AF patient population and evaluate racial differences. Methods and Results— We performed a retrospective cohort analysis of claims data for Medicaid beneficiaries, aged 18 to 64 years, with incident diagnosis of AF in 2008 with follow-up until December 31, 2009. We created Kaplan–Meier curves and constructed multivariable Cox proportional hazard models for mortality and hospitalization. We identified 11 297 patients with an incident diagnosis of AF in 2008, of those, 1401 (12.4%) were on digoxin. Kaplan–Meier analysis demonstrated an increased risk of hospitalization with digoxin use overall and within race and heart failure groups. In adjusted models, digoxin was associated with an increased risk of hospitalization (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.54; 95% confidence interval, 1.39–1.70) and mortality (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.50; 95% confidence interval, 1.05–2.13). Overall, blacks had a higher risk of hospitalization but similar mortality when compared with whites regardless of digoxin use. We found no significant interaction between race and digoxin use for mortality ( P =0.4437) and hospitalization ( P =0.7122). Conclusions— Our study demonstrates an overall increased risk of hospitalizations and mortality with digoxin use but no racial/ethnic differences in outcomes were observed. Further studies including minority populations are needed to critically evaluate these associations.
Quantifying thermal extremes and biological variation to predict evolutionary responses to changing climate

Central ideas from thermal biology, including thermal performance curves and tolerances, have been widely used to evaluate how changes in environmental means and variances generate changes in fitness, selection and microevolution in response to climate change. We summarize the opportunities and challenges for extending this approach to understanding the consequences of extreme climatic events. Using statistical tools from extreme value theory, we show how distributions of thermal extremes vary with latitude, time scale and climate change. Second, we review how performance curves and tolerances have been used to predict the fitness and evolutionary responses to climate change and climate gradients. Performance curves and tolerances change with prior thermal history and with time scale, complicating their use for predicting responses to thermal extremes. Third, we describe several recent case studies showing how infrequent extreme events can have outsized effects on the evolution of performance curves and heat tolerance. A key issue is whether thermal extremes affect reproduction or survival, and how these combine to determine overall fitness. We argue that a greater focus on tails—in the distribution of environmental extremes, and in the upper ends of performance curves—is needed to understand the consequences of extreme events. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Behavioural, ecological and evolutionary responses to extreme climatic events’.
TARGETED GENE REPRESSION USING NOVEL BIFUNCTIONAL MOLECULES TO HARNESS ENDOGENOUS HISTONE DEACETYLATION ACTIVITY

Epigenome editing is a powerful method for life science research and could give rise to new therapies for diseases initiated or maintained by epigenetic dysregulation, including several types of cancers and autoimmune disorders. In addition, much is still unknown about the mechanisms by which histone-modifying proteins work in concert to properly regulate gene expression. To investigate and manipulate complex epigenetic interactions in live cells, we have developed a small molecule platform for specifically inducing gene repression and histone deacetylation at a reporter gene. We synthesized bifunctional ligands, or chemical epigenetic modifiers (CEMs), that contain two functional groups: a FK506 derivative capable of binding to a FKBP-Gal4 fusion transcription factor, and a histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor that recruits HDAC-containing corepressor complexes. In our reporter cell line, which contains a GFP reporter allele upstream of a Gal4 DNA binding array in the murine Oct4 locus, our lead CEM repr...
Biomaterials-Based Approaches to Tumor Spheroid and Organoid Modeling

Evolving understanding of structural and biological complexity of tumors has stimulated development of physiologically relevant tumor models for cancer research and drug discovery. A major motivation for developing new tumor models is to recreate the 3D environment of tumors and context-mediated functional regulation of cancer cells. Such models overcome many limitations of standard monolayer cancer cell cultures. Under defined culture conditions, cancer cells self-assemble into 3D constructs known as spheroids. Additionally, cancer cells may recapitulate steps in embryonic development to self-organize into 3D cultures known as organoids. Importantly, spheroids and organoids reproduce morphology and biologic properties of tumors, providing valuable new tools for research, drug discovery, and precision medicine in cancer. This Progress Report discusses uses of both natural and synthetic biomaterials to culture cancer cells as spheroids or organoids, specifically highlighting studies that demonstrate how these models recapitulate key properties of native tumors. The report concludes with the perspectives on the utility of these models and areas of need for future developments to more closely mimic pathologic events in tumors.
Personalized search with editable profiles

Search personalization is an important technique for improving search performance. Existing approaches work in a black box, where users have no clue how it works and how to customize it. This lack of user control and flexibility can often be inconvenient and counter-productive. In this paper, we propose PEEPLER, a transparent search personalization framework that enables full user control and manipulation. In PEEPLER, a user can own multiple profiles and each can be modified arbitrarily. Profile terms can be automatically generated, manually entered, and expanded by adding their semantically related ones. In addition, negative terms are allowed for specification of negative preferences, which can be very useful in filtering undesirable results. The selected profile will help re-rank search results based on how consistent they are with respect to the profile. We implement PEEPLER in the context of Web search using Google Web search API, demonstrating the promise and potential of the approach.
Development and verification of a 2-link flexible serial arm testbed for 3D spatial movements

For several decades, researchers have known that flexible serial robot arms have several benefits over rigid arms, such as lower costs, increased throughput, and improved safety. However, industry has been reluctant to move towards using flexible robots. There are numerous modeling techniques and controller approaches for flexible robots that have never been validated on hardware. There have been several single link or planar multi-link testbeds created over the years, but only a handful of multi-link spatial serial flexible arm testbeds. This paper presents the development of a 2-link flexible robot testbed. The robot arm is actuated by 3 servo motors and is movable in 3D space. The robot has two accelerometers and three encoders as the sensors. The arm is validated by two sets of experiments: frequency measurements at static positions, and motions along two trajectories.
Discharge prescription patterns of opioid and nonopioid analgesics after common surgical procedures.

Introduction Recent literature has shown a wide variation in the prescribing patterns of opioids after elective surgery. We conducted an evaluation of discharge opioid prescribing after elective surgical procedures to determine whether opioid-prescribing patterns varied at our institution. Method A single academic medical center retrospective review of patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy, laparoscopic appendectomy, open umbilical hernia repair, simple mastectomy, or thyroidectomy between July 2015 and July 2016. Results Among a total of 615 unique surgical cases, we found a wide variation in the number of pills and morphine milligram equivalents prescribed for each procedure evaluated. In addition, 94.8% of all patients discharged received a prescription for opioids, whereas only 15.6% of patients received a prescription for a nonopioid analgesic. Conclusion The number and strength of opioids prescribed after surgery can vary widely at a single institution. Further research is needed to elucidate variations in prescribing.
Enhancing Facelift With Simultaneous Submalar Implant Augmentation

Background The midface is particularly prone to the senescent changes of soft tissue ptosis and volume loss, which in individuals with aging or low adiposity can manifest as submalar hollowing. Facelift alone in those with submalar hollowing inadequately addresses the volume loss and may result in a gaunt appearance postoperatively. Submalar implant augmentation is a powerful tool for permanent midface volume restoration for a more youthful and natural contour, as opposed to soft tissue fillers that diminish over time. When performed together, submalar augmentation and facelift synergistically enhance facial rejuvenation results. Objectives Determine the long-term safety and efficacy of submalar implant augmentation as an adjunct to facelift. Methods Retrospective review evaluating results and complications in all consecutive patients who had submalar implant augmentation with SMAS-plication facelift in a single surgeon private practice setting from January 1, 1991, to December 31, 2017. Results Forty-eight patients underwent submalar augmentation with simultaneous facelift with an overall satisfaction rate of 95.7%. Complications included 2.1%transient infraorbital hypoesthesia, 1.1% prolonged swelling, and 1.1% capsular contraction that required a minor adjustment under local anesthesia. No infection, implant migration, or extrusion or facial nerve injury occurred. Conclusions Submalar implant augmentation is a safe and effective means of enhancing facelift results through midface volume restoration, subperiosteal release, and improved soft tissue suspension in a more favorable vector. Submalar implant augmentation performed simultaneously with facelift may be an attractive alternative to repeated soft tissue filler or fat injections for patients with submalar hollowing who are interested in facial rejuvenation surgery.
Writing Code in the Field: Implications for Robot Software Development

Running robots on a deployment in the “real world” is very different from running them in a laboratory setting. Environmental conditions, such as lighting, are often completely beyond your control. There is often a limited amount of time on-site to test and tune the robot system, and deadlines are generally very inflexible. Finally, the public is notoriously unforgiving of failure. In this chapter, we identify some key design issues that can affect real world robot deployments. We discuss these issues and propose some solutions, based on our own experiences, designed to ease the pain of sending a robot out into the real world.
Control of Storminess over the Pacific and North America by Circulation Regimes

Circulation regimes are identified from a cluster analysis applied to 5-day means of the combined anomalies of 500 hPa geopotential height and the 250 hPa zonal wind over the extended Pacific-North America region obtained from ERA-Interim reanalyses. Five regimes are identified: the Arctic Low (AL), Pacific wavetrain (WT), Alaskan Ridge (AR) and Pacific Trough (PT) and Arctic High (AH). Regime dependent anomalies of the frequency of atmospheric rivers and measures of the storm tracks (850 hPa covariance between high pass filtered meridional wind and temperature and 300 hPa variance of high pass filtered meridional wind) are shown to be significant. The circulation regimes provide statistically significant modulation of observed precipitation (obtained from the Multi-Source Weighted-Ensemble data set). We examine regime-specific anomalies, normalized anomalies and the occurrence of extreme values of precipitation. We identify regions in which the ratio of frequency of occurrence of extremes (5th and 95th percentile) to the climatological frequency in each regime is significantly high. Precipitation is decreased over the Pacific Northwest in the AL regime, but is increased over the central and Eastern US, with a large increase in the probability of extreme precipitation, enhanced atmospheric river occurrence and stronger storm tracks. In the WT regime, Pacific atmospheric rivers are shifted towards Alaska, accompanied by a decrease in storm track magnitude over the Eastern North Pacific. The AR regime is characterized by an increase in moisture flux into the Southwest, increases in extreme precipitation and atmospheric rivers and storm track related heat transport. Increases in precipitation, and atmospheric rivers along the Southwest coast are noted in the PT regime, along with increased precipitation over Texas and Florida. The Northeastern region experiences increases in extremely dry conditions. Significant drought conditions occur over the Midwest US. Significant increases in precipitation over a broad region of the Northwest occur during the AH regime.
SPEjs: a symbolic partial evaluator for JavaScript

Partial evaluation is widely performed statically, to perform a source to source transformation on a source program that yields a specialized source program. A key observation is that current partial evaluation schemes perform fast but relatively shallow static analyses. In this paper we propose to deepen the reach of such partial evaluation schemes by selectively adding local symbolic execution. Concretely, we describe the SPEjs symbolic partial evaluator for JavaScript that is built on Babel and the SMT solver Z3. To gauge the promise of this approach we compared SPEjs with Facebook's state-of-the-art partial evaluator Prepack. Our results on a set of micro benchmarks and Prepack's test suite indicate that, within Prepack's runtime budget, SPEjs was able to simplify additional expressions and therefore remove dead code branches that Prepack failed to remove, yielding smaller residual programs.
Comparison of ion transport determinants between a TMEM16 chloride channel and phospholipid scramblase

Two TMEM16 family members, TMEM16A and TMEM16F, have different ion transport properties. Upon activation by intracellular Ca2+, TMEM16A-a Ca2+-activated Cl- channel-is more selective for anions than cations, whereas TMEM16F-a phospholipid scramblase-appears to transport both cations and anions. Under saturating Ca2+ conditions, the current-voltage (I-V) relationships of these two proteins also differ; the I-V curve of TMEM16A is linear, while that of TMEM16F is outwardly rectifying. We previously found that mutating a positively charged lysine residue (K584) in the ion transport pathway to glutamine converted the linear I-V curve of TMEM16A to an outwardly rectifying curve. Interestingly, the corresponding residue in the outwardly rectifying TMEM16F is also a glutamine (Q559). Here, we examine the ion transport functions of TMEM16 molecules and compare the roles of K584 of TMEM16A and Q559 of TMEM16F in controlling the rectification of their respective I-V curves. We find that rectification of TMEM16A is regulated electrostatically by the side-chain charge on the residue at position 584, whereas the charge on residue 559 in TMEM16F has little effect. Unexpectedly, mutation of Q559 to aromatic amino acid residues significantly alters outward rectification in TMEM16F. These same mutants show reduced Ca2+-induced current rundown (or desensitization) compared with wild-type TMEM16F. A mutant that removes the rundown of TMEM16F could facilitate the study of ion transport mechanisms in this phospholipid scramblase in the same way that a CLC-0 mutant in which inactivation (or closure of the slow gate) is suppressed was used in our previous studies.
Retail marketing for chewing tobacco in Los Angeles, California.

INTRODUCTION Retail marketing for chewing tobacco may be different across racial/ethnic neighborhoods, possibly leading to diverging patterns of use and disparate health risks relating to consumption. This study aimed to compare the frequencies of available chewing tobacco, available flavored chewing tobacco, price promotions, and exterior advertisements in tobacco retail stores in Los Angeles, California. METHODS In-person observational audits from tobacco retail stores (n=679) located in predominantly non-Hispanic White (n=196), non-Hispanic Black/African American (n=194), Hispanic/Latino (n=189), or Korean American (n=100) neighborhoods were conducted between January 2016 and April 2017. RESULTS There were statistically significant associations (p<0.001) between racial/ethnic neighborhood and chewing tobacco marketing, where retailers located in non-Hispanic White neighborhoods sold and advertised chewing tobacco and flavored chewing tobacco, used price promotions, and displayed exterior advertisements more frequently than retailers located in African American, Korean American, and Hispanic/Latino neighborhoods. CONCLUSIONS Stronger restrictions on chewing tobacco, price promotions and flavored versions could mitigate exposure and access to these products in the retail environment.
School Vouchers, Segregation, and Consumer Sovereignty

While the primary focus of ethical discussions involving school voucher programs has been on the relationship—and possible disconnect—between educational outcomes and profit motivations, recently t...
Worlds of natural history

In 1996, James Secord, Nicholas Jardine and Emma Spary published Cultures of Natural History, one of the first systematic collections of scholarship in the history of natural history. Over twenty y...
Educating healthcare providers to increase Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination rates: A Qualitative Systematic Review.

Abstract Objectives HPV vaccination rates in the United States lag behind other developed countries. Educational interventions are primarily directed at patients and parents rather than healthcare providers (HCPs), despite evidence that provider recommendation is a key determinant of vaccine uptake. The objectives for this review are to synthesize the available evidence related to the knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs of HCPs surrounding HPV vaccination, to summarize provider-specific educational interventions which have been evaluated, and to review existing provider-specific educational resources from national organizations and whether they align with the gaps identified. Methods A systematic search was performed using PubMed, Web of Science, CINAHL, and ERIC with MeSH terms human papillomavirus, vaccine, education, workshop, training, knowledge, attitude, belief, intention, and healthcare provider. Full text articles were obtained for studies that described the knowledge and attitudes of providers and/or impact of educational interventions. Data extraction was performed by four independent reviewers. Websites of American organizations with an interest in HPV vaccination were manually searched for provider resources. Results 1066 publications were identified, and 98 articles were fully reviewed with 40 ultimately included. Providers’ knowledge on HPV was generally low with a correspondingly low vaccine recommendation rate. Provider-specific education (e.g., didactic session and communication training) with complimentary interventions demonstrated increased knowledge and vaccine series initiation and completion. Themes identified in descriptive studies highlighted providers’ lack of general HPV and vaccine knowledge, low self-confidence in counselling and addressing parental concerns, and discomfort in discussing sexual issues related to vaccination. Many American organizations have provider-specific resources; however, the effectiveness of these materials has not been established. Conclusions HPV knowledge among providers remains low. Educational interventions to improve knowledge and communication appear to be effective. A breadth of resources from national organizations are available but their efficacy and level of utilization is largely unknown. Coordinated efforts are needed to evaluate provider-specific educational resources to improve vaccine uptake in the US.
Reconfigurable Metamaterials Formed Through a Combination of Nanowire Assemblies with Top-Down Fabricated Nanoantennas

In this paper we show that reconfigurable metamaterials can be achieved through a combination of nanowire assemblies with top-down lithographically fabricated nanoantennas. Simulation results show that the proposed metamaterials, which consist of assembled nanowire lattices and lithographically fabricated nanoantennas, exhibit strong chiral response in the near-infrared region. More importantly, chiroptical properties including the circular dichroism and handedness of the metamaterials can be controlled by varying the orientation of the assembled lattices. Our study reveals that directed self-assembly of nanoparticles in conjunction with nanostructures obtained from top-down fabrication approaches may open up new avenues for reconfigurable metadevices.
Gender differences in vegetarian identity: How men and women construe meatless dieting

Abstract Meat is deeply associated with masculine identity. As such, it is unsurprising that women are more likely than men are to become vegetarian. Given the gendered nature of vegetarianism, might men and women who become vegetarian express distinct identities around their diets? Through two highly powered preregistered studies (Ns = 890 and 1775) of self-identified vegetarians, combining both frequentist and Bayesian approaches, I found that men and women differ along two dimensions of vegetarian identity: (1) dietary motivation and (2) dietary adherence. Compared to vegetarian men, vegetarian women reported that they are more prosocially motivated to follow their diet and adhere to their diet more strictly (i.e., are less likely to cheat and eat meat). By considering differences in how men and women construe vegetarian dieting, investigators can generate deeper insights into the gendered nature of eating behavior.