cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Melatonin, sleep, and circadian rhythms: rationale for development of specific melatonin agonists

Abstract Circadian rhythm sleep disorders (CRSDs), whether chronic or transient, affect a broad range of individuals, including many elderly, those with severe visual impairments, shift workers, and jet travelers moving rapidly across many time zones. In addition, various forms of insomnia affect another large sector of the population. A feature common among CRSDs and some forms of insomnia is sensitivity to the hormone melatonin, which is secreted by the pineal gland. Accumulating evidence suggests that melatonin may regulate the circadian clock located in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) of the hypothalamus. Although the light–dark cycle is the primary signal that entrains the circadian clock to environmental cycles, exogenous melatonin has been shown to entrain the clock in individuals with no light perception and free-running circadian rhythms. Furthermore, studies have reported beneficial effects of melatonin for treatment of certain insomnias. Together, these studies suggest that melatonin may be useful for treating some insomnias and CRSDs. In these contexts, use of melatonin as a supplement has been popular in the United States. Unfortunately, the therapeutic potential of melatonin has been difficult to realize in clinical trials, possibly owing to non-specific actions of the agent and its unfavorable pharmacokinetic properties when administered orally. In an attempt to take advantage of the therapeutic opportunities available through the brain's melatonin system, researchers have developed several melatonin agonists with improved properties in comparison to melatonin. Some of these agents are now in clinical trials for treatment of insomnia or CRSDs.
Development of Alnus tenuifolia stands on an Alaskan floodplain: patterns of recruitment, disease and succession

Summary 1. We investigated the population dynamics of the keystone symbiotic N-fixing species Alnus tenuifolia (thinleaf alder) and the patterns of primary succession on the Tanana River floodplains of interior Alaska, USA. The goals of this study were to characterize (i) the variation in the population structure of thinleaf alder and its influence on ecosystem function; (ii) the role of a fungal disease outbreak in driving the population dynamics of thinleaf alder; (iii) the patterns of landscape-scale thinleaf alder recruitment; and (iv) the variation in successional pathways across the landscape. 2. Soil N concentrations and pools increased tenfold with thinleaf alder stand age due to the accumulation of N-rich organic material. Alder stem density varied threefold among early successional stands, and was directly related to soil N. 3. The current outbreak of a fungal disease caused widespread branch dieback and mortality of alder. Young stems were disproportionately susceptible to disease-induced mortality. Overall disease incidence and mortality of young stems were positively related to alder stem density. 4. Thinleaf alder age structures revealed that landscape-scale recruitment was pulsed over time. 5. Multiple pathways of primary succession were found using indirect gradient analysis and associated environmental characteristics were described. 6. Synthesis. The population dynamics of thinleaf alder and the inter-relationship with diseasedriven disturbance can strongly influence soil N accumulation and ecosystem function in primary succession on an active glacial floodplain. The temporal pattern of thinleaf alder recruitment across the landscape appears to reflect the influence of the hydrologic regime on silt bar development and alder dispersal limitation and population dynamics. Differential life history traits explain the predominant successional pathway, but an alternative successional pathway suggests this pattern can be altered by stochastic events, disturbance, environmental variation or other factors.
CSS Equation, etc, Follow from Structure of TMD Factorization

An accurate description of the Drell-Yan process and other similar processes requires an understanding in QCD of the Q dependence of the transverse-momentum dependence when qT ≪ Q. (Here, qT and Q are the transverse momentum and invariant mass of the Drell-Yan pair.) An often-used way of treating this issue was found by Collins and Soper (CS) [1, 2], and Collins, Soper and Sterman (CSS) [3], who used factorization with transversemomentum-dependent parton density functions (TMD pdfs). In contrast to ordinary “integrated pdfs”, the TMD pdfs of CS depend on an extra argument ζ. The phenomenological significance of ζ can seen in the basic factorization formula, Eq. (12) below, where the two instances of ζ obey ζAζB = Q 4 . CS obtained an equation for the ζ dependence. This equation implies a strong Q-dependence of the shape of the measured qT distribution, which is in agreement with data for the Drell-Yan and other processes — see, for example, Refs. [4–7]. However, there is a bewildering variety of treatments of TMD factorization in the literature, with what for the outsider appear to be contradictory claims about the need for and the use of the CS equation and other aspects of the CSS approach. This can be seen in work within an SCET framework by Becher and Neubert (BN) [8] and by Echevarr´oa, Idilbi, and Scimemi (EIS) [9]. Notably, the last authors state that their approach is “without the Collins-Soper like evolution equations”. In reality, however, the last authors do use an exact equivalent of the CS equation, but label it differently. To see this, one can merely compare Eq. (5.7) of Ref. [9] with the results in Sec. 13.13.1 of [10], which uses a modernized and improved version of the CSS method. One difference in the EIS treatment is the derivation of the results, which are shown to follow from more structural properties of TMD factorization, but within the particular approach of EIS. The strong Q-dependence of the transverse-momentum distribution is a property of QCD that cannot be avoided. The most that can be done is to change the method of derivation and the form of presentation of the results. (Another set of discrepancies between the treatments concerns the large-bT region, where bT is a variable Fourier-conjugate to transverse
Recurrent Burkholderia Infection in Patients with Chronic Granulomatous Disease: 11-Year Experience at a Large Referral Center

The epidemiology of Burkholderia infection in persons with chronic granulomatous disease is poorly understood. We used species-specific polymerase chain reaction-based assays and genotyping analyses to identify 32 strains representing 9 Burkholderia species among 50 isolates recovered from 18 patients with chronic granulomatous disease. We found that recurrent pulmonary infection with distinct Burkholderia strains is common in chronic granulomatous disease.
Improvement of the High Voltage Properties of the Fermilab Electrostatic Septa

In the Fermilab Tevatron Switchyard proton beam splits are initiated by a wire array electrostatic septum. At 1 TeV energy, and with fields limited to 50 kV/cm, and electrostatic septum more than 20 meters in length is required to produce the required angular separation between the beams for the Proton and Neutrino/Meson lines. New techniques have been investigated that will allow reliable operation at fields above 75 kV/cm with resultant beam line economy. Changes in construction and conditioning procedures have been studied using a short sample of an electrostatic septum.
First Principles Calculation of Oxygen Ordering in YBa2Cu3O7-y

We have performed a number of first principles electronic structure calculations for YBa 2Cu 3O7_y with different oxygen orderings and concentrations. The resulting total energies have been used to assess the applicability of some of the proposed models for oxygen ordering in this system. We find that the results are consistent with an Ising-like model with asymmetric next-neighbor interactions between oxygen sites. We determine effective interaction parameters from the first principles calculations and use them to compute the phase diagram for the system, which is in excellent agreement with experiment for the tetragonal-orthorhombic I transition.
MoSCoE: A Framework for Modeling Web Service Composition and Execution

Development of sound approaches and software tools for specification, assembly, and deployment of composite Web services from independently developed components promises to enhance collaborative software design and reuse. In this context, the proposed research introduces a new incremental approach to service composition, MoSCoE (Modeling Web Service Composition and Execution), based on the three steps of abstraction, composition and refinement. Abstraction refers to the high-level description of the service desired (goal) by the user, which drives the identification of an appropriate composition strategy. In the event that such a composition is not realizable, MoSCoE guides the user through successive refinements of the specification towards a realizable goal service that meets the user requirements.
Antiphospholipid antibodies before and after liver transplantation.

Abstract Objective The aim of this study was to determine whether liver transplantation of patients with antiphospholipid antibodies (APA) is 1) adversely affected with vascular thrombosis and 2) whether such antibodies persist post transplantation. Methods Twelve patients with APA awaiting transplant were identified and characterized biochemically and immunologically. Each had the level of APA determined using commercially available enzyme-linked immunoassay kits before, during, and after liver transplantation. Results No patient in this series experienced a transplant-related vascular thrombosis. The titer of APA fell to levels at or below those present in normals and remained low in two of 12 or undetectable in 10 of 12 patients 1 yr after liver transplantation. Conclusions We reached the following conclusions: 1) Antiphospholipid positivity does not identify patients at high risk for post-transplant vascular thrombosis. 2) The levels of antiphospholipid present in sera pretransplant fell during transplantation and remained low or undetectable 1 month and 1 yr post transplantation.
Coverage-directed test generation with model checkers: challenges and opportunities

When using tools to automatically generate tests-suites from a specification, the selection of coverage criterion that guides the generation process is of imperative importance. In a previous study that evaluated test generation with model checking, we observed that although a coverage criterion may seem reasonable when instrumenting a model or code to measure the adequacy of a test suite, it may be unsuitable when formalized and used to guide the model checker to generate a test suite; the generated tests technically provide adequate coverage according to the formalization, but do so in a way that exercises only small portions of the system under study and finds few faults. Based on those results, we concluded that fully automated test-suite generation techniques must be pursued with great caution and that coverage criteria specifically addressing test-suite generation from formal specifications are needed. In this report, we attempt to better understand these concerns by evaluating several coverage criteria that bring together aspects from condition and control based criteria. We evaluate the fault finding capability of the criteria on a close to production flight guidance system and discuss the opportunities and challenges that arise from the increased use of fully automated model-based testing.
Thematic review series: The Immune System and Atherogenesis. Cytokine regulation of macrophage functions in atherogenesis

This review will focus on the role of cytokines in the behavior of macrophages, a prominent cell type of atherosclerotic lesions. Once these macrophages have immigrated into the vessel wall, they propagate the development of atherosclerosis by modifying lipoproteins, accumulating intracellular lipids, remodeling the extracellular environment, and promoting local coagulation. The numerous cytokines that have been detected in atherosclerosis, combined with the expression of large numbers of cytokine receptors on macrophages, are consistent with this axis being an important contributor to lesion development. Given the vast literature on cytokine-macrophage interactions, this review will be selective, with an emphasis on the major cytokines that have been detected in atherosclerotic lesions and their effects on properties that are relevant to lesion formation and maturation. There will be an emphasis on the role of cytokines in regulating lipid metabolism by macrophages. We will provide an overview of the major findings in cell culture and then put these in the context of in vivo studies.
Harsh Parenting As a Potential Mediator of the Association Between Intimate Partner Violence and Child Disruptive Behavior in Families With Young Children

Young children living with intimate partner violence (IPV) are often also exposed to harsh parenting. Both forms of violence increase children's risk for clinically significant disruptive behavior, which can place them on a developmental trajectory associated with serious psychological impairment later in life. Although it is hypothesized that IPV behaviors may spillover into harsh parenting, and thereby influence risk for disruptive behavior, relatively little is known about these processes in families with young children. The current study examines the overlap of the quality and frequency of psychological and physical forms of IPV and harsh parenting, and tests whether harsh parenting mediates the relationship between IPV and child disruptive behavior in a diverse cross-sectional sample of 81 children ages 4 to 6 years. Results suggest that mothers reporting a greater occurrence of psychologically aggressive IPV (e.g., yelling, name-calling) more often engage in psychological and physical aggression toward their children (odds ratios [ORs] = 4.6-9.9). Mothers reporting a greater occurrence of IPV in the form of physical assault more often engage in mild to more severe forms of physical punishment with potential harm to the child (ORs = 3.8-5.0). Psychological and physical forms of IPV and harsh parenting all significantly correlated with maternal reports of child disruptive behavior (r = .29-.40). Psychological harsh parenting partially mediated the association between psychological IPV and child disruptive behavior. However, a significant direct effect of psychological IPV on preschool children's disruptive behavior remained. Implications for child welfare policy and practice and intervention, including the need for increased awareness of the negative impact of psychological IPV on young children, are discussed.
Electron transfer through the quinone acceptor complex of Photosystem II after one or two actinic flashes in bicarbonate-depleted spinach thylakoid membranes

Abstract We report here the pH dependence of the kinetics of the decay of variable chlorophyll a fluorescence after one or two actinic flashes in the absence or the presence of DCMU (3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethyl-urea) in HCO2−-depleted or anion-inhibited spinach thylakoid membranes. All the reported effects of HCO3− removal are reversed by the addition of 5 mM HCO3−. The initial first-order component for the oxidation of QA− (the reduced primary plastoquinone acceptor of Photosystem II (PS II) by QB (the secondary plastoquinone acceptor) was reversibly inhibited in a pH-dependent manner in HCO3−-depleted membranes. After a single actinic flash, the half-time of QA− decay was 630 μs (amplitude, 29%) at pH 6.5 which changed to a value of 320 μs (amplitude, 66%) at pH 7.75. The rate and amplitude at pH 7.75 were approximately the same as found in the restored and control membranes which were pH independent over the same pH range. A similar observation was made after the second actinic flash. Thus, at alkaline pH HCO3−-depleted membranes behave as control membranes with respect to electron flow from QA to QB or to QB−. The time (t50) at which the [QA−] is 50% of the maximum [QA−] during the back reaction between QA− and the S2 state of the oxygen-evolving complex, in the presence of 5 μM DCMU, was increased from 1.3 s in control and restored samples to 5.3 s in HCO3−-depleted samples below pH 7.0, but was unaffected above pH 7.5 (2.3–2.9 s in all cases). Furthermore, a new pathway of QA− with a half-time of less than 100 μs was present at pH 8.0 in the presence of DCMU, in approx. one-third of the PS II centers in HCO3−-depleted membranes. The apparent equilibrium for the sharing of an electron between QA and QB is estimated to decrease by a factor of 4 at pH 6.0 in treated membranes (Kapp ≈ 16) as compared to the restored or control membranes (Kapp ≈ 62); there was no difference in Kapp at pH 7.75. Estimates of the operating redox potential for the QB/QB− couple from the results presented here indicated that the pH dependence of this parameter is greatly reduced in treated membranes (−60 mV at pH 6.0 to −72 mV at pH 7.75) as compared to restored or control membranes (−25 mV at pH 6.0 to −72 mV at pH 7.75). We iscuss our results in the context of a model that envisages HCO3− to act as a proton donor to the protein dissociable group believed to participate in the protonation of QB−. Finally, the possibility of HCO3− being a ligand to Fe2+ in the QA-Fe-QB complex of the PS II reaction center is also discussed.
Source-Code-Correlated Cache Coherence Characterization of OpenMP Benchmarks

Cache coherence in shared-memory multiprocessor systems has been studied mostly from an architecture viewpoint, often by means of aggregating metrics. In many cases, aggregate events provide insufficient information for programmers to understand and optimize the coherence behavior of their applications. A better understanding would be given by source code correlations of not only aggregate events, but also finer granularity metrics directly linked to high-level source code constructs, such as source lines and data structures. In this paper, we explore a novel application-centric approach to studying coherence traffic. We develop a coherence analysis framework based on incremental coherence simulation of actual reference traces. We provide tool support to extract these reference traces and synchronization information from OpenMP threads at runtime using dynamic binary rewriting of the application executable. These traces are fed to ccSIM, our cache-coherence simulator. The novelty of ccSIM lies in its ability to relate low-level cache coherence metrics (such as coherence misses and their causative invalidations) to high-level source code constructs including source code locations and data structures. We explore the degree of freedom in interleaving data traces from different processors and assess simulation accuracy in comparison to metrics obtained from hardware performance counters. Our quantitative results show that: 1) Cache coherence traffic can be simulated with a considerable degree of accuracy for SPMD programs, as the invalidation traffic closely matches the corresponding hardware performance counters. 2) Detailed, high-level coherence statistics are very useful in detecting, isolating, and understanding coherence bottlenecks. We use ccSIM with several well-known benchmarks and find coherence optimization opportunities leading to significant reductions in coherence traffic and savings in wall-clock execution time
Chromium(iii) oxidation by biogenic manganese oxides with varying structural ripening.

Manganese (Mn) oxides, which are generally considered biogenic in origin within natural systems, are the only oxidants of Cr(III) under typical environmental conditions. Yet the influence of Mn biooxide mineral structural evolution on Cr(III) oxidation under varying geochemical conditions is unknown. In this study we examined the role of light, organic carbon, pH, and the structure of biogenic Mn oxides on Cr(III) oxidation. Aging of Mn oxides produced by a marine bacterium within the widespread Roseobacter clade resulted in structural ripening from a colloidal hexagonal to a particulate triclinic birnessite phase. The structurally diverse Mn oxides were then reacted with aqueous Cr(III) within artificial seawater in the presence or absence of carbon and light. Here we found that Cr(III) oxidation capacity was highest at near neutral pH and in the combined presence of carbon and light. Mn oxide ripening from a hexagonal to a triclinic birnessite phase led to decreased Cr(III) oxidation in the presence of carbon and light, whereas no change in reactivity was observed in the absence of carbon and/or in the dark. As only minimal Cr(III) oxidation was observed in the absence of Mn oxides, these results strongly point to coupled Mn oxide- and photo-induced generation of organic and/or oxygen radicals involved in Cr(III) oxidation. Based on Mn oxide concentration and structural trends, we postulate that Mn(II) produced from the oxidation of Cr(III) by the primary Mn oxide is recycled in the presence of organics and light conditions, (re)generating secondary hexagonal birnessite and thereby allowing for continuous oxidation of Cr(III). In the absence of this Mn oxide regeneration, Cr(III) induced structural ripening of the hexagonal birnessite precludes further Cr(III) oxidation. These results highlight the complexity of reactions involved in Mn oxide mediated Cr(III) oxidation and suggest that photochemical carbon reactions are requisite for sustained Cr(III) oxidation and persistence of reactive Mn oxides.
Growth in spending on substance use disorder treatment services for the privately insured population.

Abstract Background Approximately 8% of individuals with private health insurance in the United States have substance use disorders (SUDs), but in 2009 only 0.4% of all private insurance spending was on SUDs. The objective of this study was to determine if changes that occurred between 2009 and 2012 – such as more generous SUD benefits, an epidemic of opioid use disorders, and slow recovery from a recession – were associated with greater use of SUD treatment. Methods Data were from the 2004–2012 Truven Health Analytics MarketScan® Commercial Claims and Encounters Database. This database is representative of individuals with private insurance in the United States. Per enrollee use of and spending on SUD treatment was determined and compared with spending on all health care services. Trends were examined for inpatient care, outpatient care, and prescription medications. Results During the 2009–2012 time period, use of and spending on SUD services increased compared with all diagnoses. Two-thirds of the increase was driven by higher growth rates in outpatient use and prices. Despite the high growth rates, SUD treatment penetration rates remained low. As of 2012, only 0.6% of individuals with private insurance used SUD outpatient services, 0.2% filled SUD medication prescriptions, and 0.1% used inpatient SUD services. In 2012, SUD services accounted for less than 0.7% of all private insurance spending. Conclusions Despite recent coverage improvements, individuals with private health insurance still may not receive adequate levels of treatment for SUDs, as evidenced by the small proportion of individuals who access treatment.
An unusual presentation of leishmaniasis in a human immunodeficiency virus-positive individual.

Introduction: Leishmaniasis is a neglected tropical disease caused by vector-borne protozoa of the genus Leishmania. Cutaneous and mucocutaneous forms result in disfiguration or mutilation, whilst visceral leishmaniasis (VL) affects multiple organs and is fatal if untreated. Notably, Leishmania are capable of establishing a chronic infection, which may reactivate years after initial infection when the host becomes immune-suppressed. Case Presentation: A 24-year-old human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive male presented for excision of anal condylomas. At the time of his current condyloma excision, the patient had no additional symptoms or cutaneous findings, but was noted to have been only intermittently compliant with his antiretroviral therapy. Microscopic examination of the haematoxylin and eosin-stained anal condyloma tissue revealed koilocytic change, ulceration and brisk histiocytic inflammation containing numerous small intracellular bodies suggestive of Leishmania amastigotes. A bone marrow biopsy was performed and demonstrated similar intracellular forms. Anal condyloma tissue and bone marrow aspirate were sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Parasitic Diseases Branch for confirmation of Leishmania and speciation. Specific immunohistochemical staining for Leishmania in the tissue section was positive and the species was confirmed as Leishmania donovani by PCR. Subsequently, the patient resumed highly active antiretroviral therapy and received anti-Leishmania therapy. Conclusion: Whilst the presentation of VL in HIV-positive patients is often similar to those without HIV, here we describe an unusual initial presentation of leishmaniasis in an HIV-positive patient where the parasite was found in an anal condyloma. VL is a critical diagnosis that should be considered and pursued when leishmaniasis is encountered in seemingly illogical clinical settings.
Networks: An Introduction by M. E. J. Newman

Network science, since its very beginning, has been vastly interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary. Computer science, for example, with its technology sophistication, is interested in the fast algor...
Response of Carbon Black-in-Oil to Low-Amplitude Dynamic Stress at Audiofrequencies

Abstract The results reported here demonstrate the feasibility of investigating the dynamic mechanical properties of carbon black-agglomeration networks over wide ranges of temperature and frequency by measurements on carbon black mixed with oil. From the data displayed in Figures 3, 4, 5, and 6, it is evident that the general levels of audiofrequency elastic compliance and modulus, J′ and G′, change more than two orders of magnitude as the temperature is varied between − 12.2 and 50.6°C; the general levels of loss compliance and loss modulus, J″ and G″, change almost as much. A comparison of measurements at 25.2°C made at the beginning and after the conclusion of the measurements at various temperatures (Figure 7) shows little change except for an increase in low frequency values of J″ which are tentatively ascribed to water absorption due to condensation within the sealed measurement apparatus at low temperatures. From this close agreement of before and after compliance values, it is concluded that the ...
Arquitecturas sin hogar: ascética y ornamento (José Moreno Villa y las ambivalencias de vanguardia en la residencia de estudiantes, 1927)

Two years before Lorca’s visit to New York, Jose Moreno Villa, his friend and mate at the Residencia de Estudiantes undertakes the same trip. Villa’s extraordinarily multifaceted character (as poet, painter, art and architecture critic) allows us to consider his New York experience as a privileged point of departure to analyze the Spanish cultural crossroads at the end of the 20s. The very particular circumstances of Villa’s trip take us to look at those crossroads as a dialogue between an ascetic tendency in Avant-Garde formalism and the latent threat of an ornamental drift. Simultaneously, his thoughts about aesthetics and architecture are formulated, as we will see, in terms of gender: his personal project, getting married to his American girlfriend and establishing a home is intertwined with his search for an aesthetic position in the Avant-garde crossroads.
Insecticide Susceptibility of Cat Flea (Siphonaptera: Publicidae) Pupae

Studies were conducted to investigate what protective nature the cocoon and nylon carpeting has against the performance of insecticides directed at cat flea, Ctenocephalides delis (Vouche), pupae developing in carpet. The following 5 combinations of life stages and substrates were used in these tests were: (1) larvae that pupated in carpet, (2) cocoons placed in carpet, (3) naked pupae placed in carpet, (4) cocoons placed on filter paper, and (5) naked pupae placed on filter paper. These studies evaluated the performance of chlorpyrifos, micro encapsulated chlorpyrifos, propetamphos, permethrin, and lina look. When averaged over all insecticides, the mean controls of cocooned pupae placed in carpet and cocooned pupae placed on filter paper were 37.2 and 26.7%, respectively, whereas that of naked pupae placed in carpet was only 13.7%. Additional tests conducted using chlorpyrifos revealed that mortality was 2.1 and 42% higher, respectively, whenever pupae in cocoons and naked pupae were treated in glass dishes without filter paper. These studies demonstrate that the debris coated cocoon is not a barrier to insecticide penetration, and that pupae appeared to be protected inside the carpet matrix. Additional studies demonstrated that control of pupae developing in carped was maximized at lower application pressures. The mean control of pupae with chlorpyrifos at 0.7 kg/cm2 pressure was 77.2%, yet applications at 1.7 kg/cm2 resulted in only 23.3% control.
Photochemical Reactivity of Titania Films on BaTiO3 Substrates: Influence of Titania Phase and Orientation

Titania films were grown on BaTiO3 (BTO) substrates by pulsed laser deposition to create (001)Anatase||(100)BTO, (100)Rutile||(111)BTO, and (110)Rutile||(110)BTO heterostructures. The photochemical...
The Effect of Cortisol on Viability and Glucose Uptake in Rat Thymocytes in Vitro

SummaryCortisol decreased cell viability and inhibited glucose uptake by cultured rat thymocytes. The survival of human blood lymphocytes was also affected adversely by cortisol. The effects of the steroid on rat thymocytes occurred under anaerobic as well as under aerobic conditions although toxicity to the cell was more profound when oxygen was present. These results are consistent with the idea that a block in glucose uptake is an important link in the chain of events which results eventually in irreversible cellular injury in lymphocytes which have been exposed to pharmacological doses of the glucocorticoids.
Assessing the natural performance of felsic tuffs using the Rb-Sr and Sm-Nd systems-A study of the altered zone in the Topopah Spring Member, Paintbrush Tuff, Yucca Mountain, Nevada

Core samples of the Topopah Spring Member of the Paintbrush Tuff from drill hole UE25A#1 were analyzed for Sr and Nd isotopes and selected minor and trace elements to constrain the origin of a zcolitized zone associated with the lower vitrophyre. The Sm-Nd radiogenic isotope system was unperturbed by the alteration, but the Rb-Sr system was severely disturbed in the altered zone. The thick, densely welded high-silica rhyolite is remarkably uniform in composition with only a slight decrease in initial 87Sr/86Sr ratios with depth (0.7129–0.7125). Quartz latite in the upper part of the Topopah Spring has significantly lower initial Sr isotope ratios (0.7095–0.7114). Locally in the altered zone, Sr and Ca were gained in substantial amounts, and K, Rb, and Y were removed. Ti, Zr, Nb, Ba, La, Ce, Sm, and Nd were relatively immobile during the alteration. Sr added to the altered zone had an isotopic composition of 0.7119 ± 0.0002 and was probably derived from dissolution of glass in the bulk Topopah Spring (high silica rhyolite + quartz latite) and transported downward by infiltration.
Climate Change and Health: A Position Paper of the American College of Physicians

Climate change could have a devastating effect on human and environmental health. Potential effects of climate change on human health include higher rates of respiratory and heat-related illness, increased prevalence of vector-borne and waterborne diseases, food and water insecurity, and malnutrition. Persons who are elderly, sick, or poor are especially vulnerable to these potential consequences. Addressing climate change could have substantial benefits to human health. In this position paper, the American College of Physicians (ACP) recommends that physicians and the broader health care community throughout the world engage in environmentally sustainable practices that reduce carbon emissions; support efforts to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change; and educate the public, their colleagues, their community, and lawmakers about the health risks posed by climate change. Tackling climate change is an opportunity to dramatically improve human health and avert dire environmental outcomes, and ACP believes that physicians can play a role in achieving this goal.
LONGSHORE CURRENTS IN ONE AND MULTI-BAR PROFILES RELATION TO LITTORAL DRIFT

This paper deals with longshore current theories. Introductorily it gives a brief review of wave theories for breaking waves including theoretical, laboratory as well as field results. Next the longshore current theory based on the momentum inflow over a uniformly sloping beach and bottom (Putnam, Munk and Traylor, 1949) is discussed with special reference to its friction factor. The following chapters deal with two new longshore current theories - both based on the continuity principle. One of them called the rip current approach assumes that all water thrown in by wave breaking runs out in rip currents and will probably be valid for profiles with well developed bars and waves approaching the shore almost perpendicularly. The other theory considers the fact that water from a wave breaking under an angle with the bar flows in with a certain phase difference in time longshore and this will create a longshore slope of the average water table, therefore also a longshore current. The water may return to sea uniformly as undertow or in rip currents or by a combination of both. This theory is particularly valid for waves breaking under a certain, not too small, angle with the bar. In both cases the momentum in the breaking waves is ignored because field observations show that in a well developed bar profile most of the momentum has disappeared inside the bar after wave breaking. Examples of computation of current velocities for one bar as well as multi-bar profiles are given. Next the possible relation between longshore currents and littoral drift is discussed.
Improving biobank consent comprehension: a national randomized survey to assess the effect of a simplified form and review/retest intervention

Improving biobank consent comprehension: a national randomized survey to assess the effect of a simplified form and review/retest intervention
A city-level analysis of property crime clearance rates

AbstractTheft, burglary, and vehicle theft are among the most frequently committed and least commonly cleared Part I offenses in the United States, but have received disproportionately little attention in the clearance literature. This study contributes to recent efforts to remedy this shortage by presenting offense-specific analyses of burglary, larceny, and vehicle theft clearance rates in a sample of 110 large US cities. Data were gathered from the Uniform Crime Report, the Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics survey, and the American Community Survey. Independent variables comprised social disorganization measures (e.g. residential instability, poverty, etc.) and policing variables, including the use of broken windows policing. Although broken windows policing is related to higher clearance rates in a few prior studies, that effect was not observed in the present work. Racial diversity and police spending per capita (which were negatively associated with clearance rates) were the o...
A Test to Determine Microquantities of Milkfat in Cleaning Solutions by Surface Film Displacement1

Determining microquantities of soil is a major challenge in evaluating cleaning systems. A highly sensitive test was therefore developed to determine trace quantities of milkfat in cleaning solutions. It involved extraction of cleaning solution with organic solvents and subsequent determination of surface film displacement. The area displaced was directly related to the quantity of milkfat in the test solution with a correlation coefficient of 0.99. Usefulness of the test in evaluating cleaning systems has been shown in other research.
An analysis of generated fractal and measured rough surfaces

This work studies the fractal dimensions of rough surfaces as calculated by several existing methods on measured and generated surface profiles. Two methods for generating rough surfaces are used in this work. The first one is to reconstruct the rough surface through the inverse Fourier transform based on a prescribed Power Spectrum Density (PSD) and the other one is using the Weierstrass-Mandelbrot (W-M) function. The fractal dimension values of all the rough surfaces are calculated by four different methods, namely, (1) the box-counting method, (2) the roughness-length method, (3) the power spectral density method and (4) the variogram method. Then the results from these four methods are compared. Since fractal surfaces are always clarified either as self-similar (the scaling ratio is the same in all directions) or as self-affine (scaling ratio varies in prescribed fashion over scales), it can be found that the fractal dimension values are not the same after analyzing the generated self-similar rough surfaces by these two methods. The fractal dimension values for real rough surfaces, as well as other parameters, are also calculated by four different methods. The analysis indicates that real rough surfaces are not easily represented as perfect fractals as researchers and engineers often assume.
Dynamic Regulation via Contingent Capital

Contingent capital securities are a largely overlooked dynamic regulatory mechanism. This essay evaluates the use of contingent capital securities in a dynamic regulatory context, including the use of feedback effects for optimized timing and information for regulation and anticipatory regulation.
Mass deployment of sustainable transportation: evaluation of factors that influence electric vehicle adoption

Mass penetration of electric vehicles into the market will have a number of impacts and benefits, including the ability to substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector. Therefore, it is expected that in coming years this technology will progressively penetrate the market. This research presents an analysis of factors that influence electric vehicle adoption by modeling the conditions under which an individual, particularly one with an engineering or technical background, is more or less likely to adopt an electric vehicle. This model is developed by considering demographic determinants as well as behavioral and attitudinal measures that affect individual adoption of the technology. The methodology involves applying logistic regression to provide a good fit and predict the response given explanatory variables. Analyzing these outcomes generates empirical findings that better inform electric vehicle technology and policy development. This study takes into account preferences of potential customers and analyzes how individuals with engineering and technology background differ in electric vehicle adoption considerations compared to the general population. Therefore, this research provides both engineers and policy makers with critical information for developing future electric vehicle technology. The model results show that several factors including willingness to pay for new appealing technology, distance driven, perceptions of electric vehicles as good for the environment, perception of EV speed are statistically significant in influencing willingness to purchase an electric vehicle.
Exploring Types of Family Environments in Youth with Eating Disorders.

While many studies have explored the relationship between different eating disorder diagnoses and the familial social environment, current evidence does not support associations between distinct family interaction patterns (e.g. high enmeshment) and particular diagnoses (e.g. anorexia nervosa). The current study seeks to move beyond the current literature to explore whether empirically derived subtypes of family environment are associated with clinical features within a transdiagnostic sample of youth seeking treatment for eating disorders (n = 123). Latent class modelling of the Family Environment Scale identified three classes (i.e. different Family Environment Scale profiles): (1) Control-Oriented; (2) System Maintenance-Oriented; and (3) Conflict-Oriented. Data are presented to characterize the classes (e.g. age, gender, rates of different eating disorders, severity of eating disorder pathology and rates of comorbid disorders). These preliminary results suggest that family interaction types may help personalize treatment for eating disorders and encourage future research to guide such efforts. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association.
Pulsed-Laser Deposited 35 Bi(Mg 1/2 Ti 1/2 ) O 3 -65 PbTiO 3 Thin Films—Part I: Influence of Processing on Composition, Microstructure, and Ferroelectric Hysteresis

35 Bi(Mg1/2Ti1/2)O3 - 65 PbTiO3 (35 BiMT-65 PT) is a potential candidate material for a high-temperature nonvolatile ferroelectric memory. For pulsed-laser deposited 35 BiMT-65 PT films with the perovskite structure, it was found that as the chamber pressure during deposition decreased, the Mg and Pb contents in as-deposited films drop, while the concentration of Bi increases. Concurrently with the change in composition, the remanent polarization $P_{r}$ increases 64% to $\approx 21~\mu \text{C}$ /cm2 and the polarization–electric field loops rotated counterclockwise as the deposition pressure increases. Decreasing the seed layer thickness from 36 to 16 nm led to a decrease in $P_{r}$ to $\approx 14~\mu \text{C}$ /cm2. Adjusting the target composition allowed the deposition of films which had near-stoichiometric Bi and Mg concentrations, but in all cases, the grown films were lead deficient. These films had remanent polarizations of 18– $20~\mu \text{C}$ /cm2. If the lead content of the target was increased too far, the remanent polarization decreased, possibly due to the need to evolve more PbO from defective growth layers. Finally, the deposition rate showed no substantial effect on the film composition, but did have a significant impact on the ferroelectric properties. As the deposition rate decreased, the $P_{r}$ increased to $\approx 22~\mu \text{C}$ /cm2 due to enhanced crystalline quality. At laser frequencies of 5 Hz, a Mg-rich pyrochlore phase begins to form and films showed a maximum $P_{r} \approx 22~\mu \text{C}$ /cm2. The processing-composition behavior is explained via preferential adsorption of Bi on the A-site, which results in lead vacancies.
Religion, “the Religious,” and Language Education into the Anthropocene: A Response to Huamei Han's “Studying Religion and Language Teaching and Learning: Building a Subfield”.

The article offers a response to and discussion of the article "Studying Religion and Language Teaching and Learning: Building a Subfield" by Huamei Han in the current issue. The author says that both spirituality in a general sense and specific religions should be addressed in the research agenda Han's article proposes. The author also discusses the close relationship between Buddhism and education in Japanese culture and the how language education in relation to religion can contribute to a response to the challenges that nature faces in the Anthropocene.
Clinical Neurophysiology of the Pelvic Floor

Electrodiagnostic testing of the pelvic floor is becoming increasingly common in clinical pelvic medicine and pelvic floor research. Clinically, it can be used with history, physical examination, and urodynamic testing to aid in the diagnosis of certain pelvic floor disorders and to determine if a central or peripheral neurologic problems exists. Electrodiagnostic testing is also emerging in studies investigating the etiology of pelvic floor disorders. A basic understanding of the principles and techniques used in electrodiagnostic medicine is essential for reconstructive pelvic surgeons. However, most pelvic surgeons will never have the skills or expertise to perform pelvic floor neurophysiologic testing. Multidisciplinary teams including urogynecologic, urologic, and colorectal surgeons, physiatrists, neurologists, and physical therapists are imperative if we are going to improve our understanding of pelvic floor disorders and improve treatment outcomes.
Anomalous diffusion, spatial coherence, and viscoelasticity from the energy landscape of human chromosomes

The nucleus of a eukaryotic cell is a nonequilibrium system where chromatin is subjected to active processes that continuously rearrange it over the cell's life cycle. Tracking the motion of chromosomal loci provides information about the organization of the genome and the physical processes shaping that organization. Optical experiments report that loci move with subdiffusive dynamics and that there is spatially coherent motion of the chromatin. We recently showed that it is possible to predict the 3D architecture of genomes through a physical model for chromosomes that accounts for the biochemical interactions mediated by proteins and regulated by epigenetic markers through a transferable energy landscape. Here, we study the temporal dynamics generated by this quasi-equilibrium energy landscape assuming Langevin dynamics at an effective temperature. Using molecular dynamics simulations of two interacting human chromosomes, we show that the very same interactions that account for genome architecture naturally reproduce the spatial coherence, viscoelasticity, and the subdiffusive behavior of the motion in interphase chromosomes as observed in numerous experiments. The agreement between theory and experiments suggests that even if active processes are involved, an effective quasi-equilibrium landscape model can largely mimic their dynamical effects.
Solutions of an Allen-Cahn Model Equation

The goal of this note is to describe some ongoing work of the authors on an Allen-Cahn type model equation. The equation serves as a model for phase transitions in a binary metallic alloy. Consider the partial differential equation
Electrical manipulation of the fine-structure splitting of WSe 2 quantum emitters

We report on the modulation of the fine-structure splitting of quantum-confined excitons in localized quantum emitters hosted by a monolayer transition metal dichalcogenide (TMDC). The monolayer TMDC, tungsten diselenide (${\mathrm{WSe}}_{2}$), is encapsulated in a van der Waals heterostructure which enables the application of an external electric field on the quantum-dot-like emitters hosted by the monolayer flake. The emitters exhibit quantum-confined Stark effect and a modulation in the fine-structure splitting (FSS) as a function of electric field. A maximum modulation of $1500\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{eV}$ is observed in the FSS from the studied emitters. Finally, we measure the polarization response of the localized exciton emission as a function of electric field exhibiting strong circular polarization with decreasing fine-structure splitting, further confirming the suppression of the anisotropic electron-hole exchange interaction thats causes the FSS.