cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Impact of Automated Inspection Technology on Unit Train Performance

Automated wayside inspection systems have been developed to monitor rolling stock condition and facilitate predictive maintenance strategies. Improving the effectiveness of railcar condition monitoring has the potential for significant cost savings as a result of reduced derailments and in-service failures. This paper presents an economic analysis of the costs associated with train accidents and mainline delay due to defective railcar components. We consider track and equipment damages as well as train delay costs. We use dispatch simulation software to determine the impact of in-service failures on mainline capacity at varying traffic levels. This analysis provides a basis for the comparison of current railcar inspection practices with new integrated practices incorporating automated inspection systems.© 2010 ASME
Joint Effects Of Serum 25(OH) D And C-Reactive Protein Concentration On Coronary Heart Disease And All-Cause Mortality In Patients With Diabetes Mellitus

The study aimed to examine the joint predicting effect of serum 25(OH) D (a biomarker of vitamin D level in blood) and C-reactive Protein (CRP) concentration on the risk of mortality from Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) and all-causes in patients with type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) using data from the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III). Of 14965 subjects aged ≥ 30 years who participated in the NHANESIII, 2146 patients with T2DM at baseline (1988-1994) were followed up through December 31 of 2006. The associations of baseline serum 25(OH) D and CRP with outcomes were examined prospectively using Cox’s hazard proportional regression models. The results show that during a median follow-up of 12.3 years, 1257 (58.6%) of the patients with T2DM died, and 370 deaths were from CHD. Multivariate adjusted Cox’s models indicate that decreased 25(OH) D level significantly predicted risk of death. The corresponding hazard ratios for the risk of CHD mortality among those with serum 25(OH) D levels 20-29.9, 10-19.9, and <10 ng/mL were 1.35, 1.38 and 2.19, as compared to those with 25(OH) D ≥ 30 ng/mL, respectively. Similar associations between decreased 25(OH) D and risk of all-cause mortality were observed. Furthermore, a joint effect of decreased 25(OH) D and increased CRP significantly predicted an increased risk of CHD and all-cause mortality. In conclusion, using data from a nationally representative and longitudinal survey, findings from the study suggest that decreased serum vitamin D and increased CRP concentrations significantly predicted the risk of CHD and all-cause mortality in patients withT2DM.
A Protease-Resistant Novel Hemagglutinin Purified from Type A Clostridium botulinum

Botulinum neurotoxin is a food poisoning agent produced by Clostridium botulinum. The neurotoxin is a 150-kDa protein that causes flaccid muscle paralysis by blocking neurotransmitter release at neuromuscular junctions. The neurotoxin is produced along with a group of neurotoxin associated proteins (NAPs), which protect it from the low pH and proteases of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. We have isolated, for the first time, one of the major components of NAPs in a pure form. The isolated protein is a 33-kDa single polypeptide (Hn-33) that exhibits hemagglutination activity. Specific polyclonal antibodies against the Hn-33 are able to block the hemagglutination activity of the neurotoxin complex, which indicates that perhaps Hn-33 is the only strong hemagglutinating protein in the complex. The Hn-33 was found be resistant to trypsin and other protease digestion, a feature that could play a role in the protection of the neurotoxin in the GI tract during its toxicoinfection.
Military Occupation in Haiti: Staging Pan-Whiteness in a World of Color

Crisis is used as a mechanism to put in motion a series of imperial performatives and performances. The sinking of the USS Maine, for example, was a prelude to the War of 1898, the revision of the Cuban constitution via the Platt Amendment, and the implementation of several short military occupations of the island over the next few decades. This approach to achieving the aims of empire is repeated in the case of the almost 20-year-long US military occupation of the Republic of Haiti (1915–34). The required crisis event that set imperial performativity in motion was the public execution of President Vilbrun Guillaume Sam on July 27, 1915. The incident had been witnessed by telescope from the USS Washington, which was docked off Port-au-Prince. Under the Roosevelt Corollary, crisis was again used to issue a script for military-imperial performance. But rather than delivering a declaration of war as had been the case in 1898, the USA implemented an armed infiltration of Haitian territory by Marines, seizure of the Haitian customs office, revision of its constitution, and harsh, prolonged military occupation. The crisis method of imperial takeover uses events such as the explosion of the USS Maine or the execution of a foreign President in order to simultaneously downplay and enact pre-existing imperial motives—in this context, the goal had been to secure control of the Canal Zone and the Windward Passage between Cuba and Haiti, which provided the deepest access for industrial and military shipping to and from the eastern seaboard of the United States and to minimize the possibility of future revolutions in the two countries. Crisis—perform—repeat.
Detection of Fast Transient Events in a Noisy Background

Transient signals accompanied by a high noise level pose both basic and practical detection challenges. Disciplines that range from communication and astronomy to molecular physics face a very similar detection problem. When phenomena of interest are repetitive, different averaging techniques can be applied in order to elevate the signal above the detection threshold. In contrast, nonrepetitive signals, commonly occurring in communication and astronomy, cannot be processed using averaging techniques. With the advent of near-noiseless replication techniques, single-instance signal separation from noise has become possible. Here, we demonstrate that a single-instance signal can be mapped to 300 optical carrier frequencies and detected with low-bandwidth receivers to generate detection gains of 24 dB with respect to a single integrating receiver with the same bandwidth. The spectral-replicating receiver was used to detect a single-instance signal with power that was four times lower than the accompanying noise level.
Self-replicating shuttle vectors based on pANS, a small endogenous plasmid of the unicellular cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942

To facilitate development of synthetic biology tools for genetic engineering of cyanobacterial strains, we constructed pANS-derived self-replicating shuttle vectors that are based on the minimal replication element of the Synechococcus elongatus strain PCC 7942 plasmid pANS. To remove the possibility of homologous recombination events between the shuttle plasmids and the native pANS plasmid, the endogenous pANS was cured through plasmid incompatibility-mediated spontaneous loss. A heterologous toxin-antitoxin cassette was incorporated into the shuttle vectors for stable plasmid maintenance in the absence of antibiotic selection. The pANS-based shuttle vectors were shown to be able to carry a large 20 kb DNA fragment containing a gene cluster for biosynthesis of the omega-3 fatty acid eicosapentaenoic acid. Based on quantitative PCR analysis, there are about 10 copies of pANS and 3 copies of the large native plasmid pANL per chromosome in S. elongatus. Fluorescence levels of GFP reporter genes in a pANS-based vector were about 2.5-fold higher than when in pANL or integrated into the chromosome. In addition to its native host, pANS-based shuttle vectors were also found to replicate stably in the filamentous cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120. There were about 27 copies of a pANS-based shuttle vector, 9 copies of a pDU1-based shuttle vector and 3 copies of an RSF1010-based shuttle vector per genome when these three plasmids co-existed in Anabaena cells. The endogenous pANS from our S. elongatus laboratory strain was cloned in Escherichia coli, re-sequenced and re-annotated to update previously published sequencing data.
Cues about Cues in Political Comments on Social Media: Effects of Commenters’ Attractiveness and Claims of Cognitive Effort

Humans strive for balance between their motivations for accurate judgments and their cognitive effort. Although heuristic cues provide cognitive shortcuts, heuristic-based processing does not guarantee quality judgments. Based on the heuristic-systematic model, this study investigates if social media users select cues to use for their judgments based on cue applicability and reliability, which can facilitate more effective heuristic processing. The present study examine if (1) commenters’ physical attractiveness and their claims of cognitive effort influence the effects of their comments about a political candidate on the viewer’s attitude toward and vote intention for the candidate, and (2) if the viewer’s political interest moderates the influences. The results indicate that vote intention is significantly influenced by the cognitive effort cue whereas attitude is significantly influenced only when the viewer is interested in politics. The attractiveness cue does not have a significant influence.
Sensory coding accuracy and perceptual performance are improved during the desynchronized cortical state.

Cortical activity changes continuously during the course of the day. At a global scale, population activity varies between the ‘synchronized’ state during sleep and ‘desynchronized’ state during waking. However, whether local fluctuations in population synchrony during wakefulness modulate the accuracy of sensory encoding and behavioral performance is poorly understood. Here, we show that populations of cells in monkey visual cortex exhibit rapid fluctuations in synchrony ranging from desynchronized responses, indicative of high alertness, to highly synchronized responses. These fluctuations are local and control the trial variability in population coding accuracy and behavioral performance in a discrimination task. When local population activity is desynchronized, the correlated variability between neurons is reduced, and network and behavioral performance are enhanced. These findings demonstrate that the structure of variability in local cortical populations is not noise but rather controls how sensory information is optimally integrated with ongoing processes to guide network coding and behavior. Changes in synchrony of cortical populations are observed across the sleep-wake cycle, however the effect of fluctuations in synchrony during wakefulness is not understood. Here the authors show that visual cortical neurons have improved sensory encoding accuracy as well as improved perceptual performance during periods of local population desynchrony.
The Role of the Medical Social Worker in a Pediatric Aero-Digestive Program

Families experience many psycho-social challenges when caring for a child with a tracheostomy in the home. The support of a Medical Social Worker in a Pediatric Aero-digestive Program is vitally important to help families navigate the multiple systems required to help manage the needs of medically complex child. The Medical Social Worker should strive to partner with families to provide resources and coordinate care to enhance coping and improve overall patient care and well-being.
From Payday Loans To Pawnshops: Fringe Banking, The Unbanked, And Health

The fringe banking industry, including payday lenders and check cashers, was nearly nonexistent three decades ago. Today it generates tens of billions of dollars in annual revenue. The industry’s growth accelerated in the 1980s with financial deregulation and the working class’s declining resources. With Current Population Survey data, we used propensity score matching to investigate the relationship between fringe loan use, unbanked status, and self-rated health, hypothesizing that the material and stress effects of exposure to these financial services would be harmful to health. We found that fringe loan use was associated with 38 percent higher prevalence of poor or fair health, while being unbanked (not having one’s own bank account) was associated with 17 percent higher prevalence. Although a variety of policies could mitigate the health consequences of these exposures, expanding social welfare programs and labor protections would address the root causes of the use of fringe services and advance heal...
"You Know if You Quit, That's Failure, Right?": Barriers to Professional Lactation Certification.

Background:Researchers have confirmed that breastfeeding disparities persist and that International Board Certified Lactation Consultants (IBCLCs) play a key role in reducing them. However, there c...
Update on the Development of a Flutter Analysis Capability for Unconventional Aircraft Concepts Using HCDstruct

Following years of development, the Higher-fidelity Conceptual Design and structural optimization (HCDstruct) tool is being extended to support dynamic aeroservoelastic analysis and structural optimization for advanced aircraft concepts. These required enhancements include: the development of an aerodynamic matching routine for correcting Nastran’s doublet-lattice method aerodynamics; the implementation of control surface structural models; and the implementation of support for Nastran’s flutter solution sequence (SOL 145). This paper presents an update on the implementation of generalized control surface structural models and support for Nastran SOL 145.
Beyond 2020 NextGen Compliance: Human Factors and Cognitive Loading Issues for Commercial and General Aviation Pilots

As previously identified by the authors, digitized flight decks have realigned SHELL model components and introduced cognitive overload concerns. Considering changes from implementing Next Generation air traffic management requirements in 2020, the authors assess digitized interfaces associated with cockpit displays of information integral to performance based navigation and similar operations. Focus is placed on Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast, digitized communications, and expanded electronic flight bags. The ADSB (In) cockpit display will enable pilots to have flight visual awareness on aircraft, terrain, weather and hazards to flight through live satellite updates every second. Increased optical demands and cognitive loading are anticipated for general aviation and commercial pilots, beyond operational levels for those currently using advanced technologies. With nearly continuous cognitive processing and embedded information in the enhanced SHELL model by the authors, potential overload and concerns of situational awareness become likely candidates for human factors problems. Addressing these concerns, areas of emphasis for transition to NextGen 2020 operations are delineated, potential risks among increased cognitive disparities identified, and suggested foci recommended.
Mechanism for the Amine-Catalyzed Formation of Polycarbonate Cyclics

The importance of cyclic precursors for the preparation of polyamides, aliphatic polyesters, silicones, and epoxide thermosets by ring opening polymerization has been well documented. 1 However, use of cyclic aromatic polyesters or polycarbonates has been limited not only by low-yielding procedures for their preparation, 2 but also by the high melting points of the individual cyclics produced in these reactions.3 Recently, we have reported several high yielding procedures for preparing oligomeric cyclic polycarbonates, polyarylates, and polyimides for use in ring opening polymerizations.4 The low melt viscosity of these oligomeric cyclics together with the very high molecular weights which are achievable upon polymerization promise to make these polymer intermediates very useful in a variety of applications. We report herein mechanistic and process studies which have led to the high yielding procedure for preparing bisphenol A cyclic polycarbonates under interracial reaction conditions. The role of the tertiary amine catalyst will be addressed in detail. Many of the concepts developed in this work are applicable to interracial polycarbonate forming reactions in general and should provide utility in both novel and traditional polycarbonate syntheses. Although several procedures already exist for preparing cyclic polycarbonates, the interracial process described herein is the only one known which selectively affords cyclics with almost total exclusion of low MW linear oligomers (< 0.1% of oligomers with molecular weights < 5000). The presence of linear oligomers must remain low to ensure the formation of high MW polymer upon ring opening polymerization.
IN VITRO AND IN VIVO PROPERTIES OF AN INFLUENZA A HOST RANGE VIRUS

Publisher Summary CR43-3 is an influenza A cold-adapted reassortant virus that has a limited host range when compared to either parent virus or to its congenic reassortant, CR31-10. It grows well in primary chick kidney (PCK) cells but very little, if at all, in Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells or in ferrets after intranasal inoculation. This host range virus has an aberrant NS gene that migrates differently from the NS gene of either parent on polyacrylamide and agarose gels used for genotyping the reassortants. Reassortants made with experiments using A/Cal/10/78 H1N1 virus and CR43-3 virus showed that the host range property and the aberrant NS gene co-segregated with one another. Sequence studies on this NS gene have demonstrated that the CR43-3 NS gene is a deletion mutant of the NS gene of the A/Alaska/6/77 wt parent. The deletion is 36 bases long and occurs from nucleotides 222–257 of the A/Alaska/6/77 NS gene in the region coding for NS1 protein.
Quality Assurance for Medical Imaging

The goal of quality assurance (QA) is to maximize the efficiency of the imaging operation. Beyond the desire for efficient utilization of resources, QA is mandated in radiology by the American College of Radiology (ACR). Of course, compliance with standards of practice should not be the sole motivation for QA. Instead, QA should be a vehicle for providing the highest quality medical care. The totally digital radiology department offers a wonderful opportunity to exploit the features of automation toward that end.
Effects of Larval Schistosomes on Biomphalaria Snails

The aim of this chapter is to provide a clearer understanding of the complex relationship between Biomphalaria snails and larval schistosome parasites. This chapter describes the numerous changes in host physiology, biochemistry, and behavior brought about by infection. Specifically, the effects of larval schistosomes on host mortality, growth, metabolism, reproduction, organic and inorganic elements, and behavior are focused on. The chapter concentrates on three Biomphalaria species; B. glabrata, B. alexandrina, and B. pfeifferi and one species of schistosome, Schistosoma mansoni.
Intrusiveness of Online Video Advertising and Its Effects on Marketing Outcomes

Web developers have several decisions to make about presenting content and paying for that content with advertisements. In the video domain, many developers opt for video “pre-rolls” that present a brief 7 to 30 second advertisement that precedes longer video content that is of interest. Many characteristics of those ads will affect their intrusiveness; three main antecedents to intrusiveness will be manipulated: the length of the pre-roll, amount of information in the content, and amount of humor in that content. In turn, immediate consequences of intrusiveness, abandonment and ad recall will be investigated. Finally, attitude toward the ad and attitude toward the website will be assessed, along with their logical consequences, intention to purchase the product and intention to revisit the website. A panel of 1,200 adult web users will be consulted and results will be presented at ICIS.
In Two Different Worlds: How Malawian Girls Experience Schooling

This paper reports on a qualitative case study of how Malawian girls experience schooling in single-sex versus coeducational institutions. It is a qualitative narrative depicting the socializing and learning processes which affect girls potential to succeed in mathematics and science subjects and careers. Further I use critical reflection to describe my own experiences as a student teacher and researcher at one of the single-sex boarding schools. The results confirm other research findings that single-sex school environments are effective in building high expectations and aspirations for higher education among girls. In single-sex schools girls held higher educational expectations and occupational aspirations for non traditional careers than girls in coeducational schools. In coeducational schools girls abilities were marginalized by school administrators teachers and boys. Girls were seen as a distraction to the boys and faced sexual abuse and pressure to attend to their physical appearance. The paper advocates for the expansion of single-sex boarding schools for girls group cohesion among girls in coeducational schools gender streaming of math and science classes gender equity training for teachers and the increased practice of gender fair teaching. (authors)
Surveillance for melanoma (MEL): Results of a database study of stage I-III MEL.

9586Background: Optimal surveillance for MEL recurrence is elusive. While consensus guidelines agree on surveillance imaging for high-risk MEL, there is no consensus regarding optimal modality for ...
Braggs, R. K. (2016). Jazz Diasporas: Race, music, and migration in Post-World War II Paris. University of California Press, 280 pp.

Twice during the 1940s, the American Federation of Musicians succeeding in banning almost all recordings in the United States. The bans attempted to compensate for the changing role of live music i...
impact of therapy dog visits on outpatient nurse welfare and job satisfaction

Interaction with a therapy dog can decrease blood pressure, heart rate, and improve heart rate variability; due to these responses, it suggests that human-animal interaction can alleviate the stress response. This study aims to observe if the effects of therapy dog visits could alleviate nursing burnout and increase work satisfaction in an outpatient setting. In addition, this study will observe at what visit frequency of therapy dog visits nurses benefited from most. This study is a two-part study, which also observed the salivary cortisol concentrations of the therapy dogs post therapy visit interaction. The study design was a randomized block design with five treatments over the course of four weeks: TRT A, two therapy dog visits a week; TRT B, one visit a week; TRT C, two visits; TRT D, one visit; and TRT E, no visits. Four out-patient nursing units were selected and asked to complete a demographic survey, the Pet Attitude Scale-Modified, and Lexington Attachment to Pet Scale. Pre- and post-treatments, participants completed the Human Services Survey, Nursing Workplace Satisfaction Questionnaire, Nursing Work Index (Revised), and a visual analog scale. TRT A was able to significantly increase the feeling of happiness. In addition TRT B, a therapy dog visit once a week, was able to significantly reduce self-reported responses of depression and improve emotional wellbeing. Consequently, TRT E, control/no therapy dog visits, had the least amount of improvement in the nursing units’ visual analog scale. This study supports the hypothesis that therapy dog visits can help alleviate stress, frustration, feeling drained, and the overwhelming sensation that can come from working in the nursing field.
Fatigue life prediction for AlSi10Mg components produced by selective laser melting

Abstract Residual defects in additively manufactured metal parts are known to degrade fatigue performance. In this work, pores and oxide particles in AlSi10Mg parts produced by selective laser melting were characterized and quantified by automated scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The fracture surfaces were examined after fatigue tests to identify the critical role of defects in fatigue failure. A correlation between the crack-initiating pore on the fracture surface and fatigue life was established. The pore size distribution measured on a 2D section by scanning electron microscope was used to predict fatigue life using extreme-value theory; good agreement was achieved.
MENYEMAI PENDIDIKAN KARAKTER DI MADRASAH; TELAAH ATAS FUNGSIONALISASI MADRASAH DALAM PENGUATAN KARAKTER PESETA DIDIK

The paper is outlining the relationship and position of the madrasah in strengthening the education of characters, begins with a description of the school, and educational character, and concludes with an explanation of the madrasa and educational character. The conclusions of this paper are; First, the Madrasah as a sub- system National education is also involved in the strengthening of character education in Indonesia. So give the contribution potential in producing men who love to God and the universe and its contents, entirely responsible, disciplined and independent, honest, respectful and polite, love affection, care, and employment together, trust yourself, creative, work hard and abstinence surrender, justice and leadership, good and low heart, and tolerance, love peace and unity. Second, Madrasah had a concern that is highly and seriousness in doing strengthening educational character. Forming human beingswho can be trusted, have a sense of respect and atten-tion, care, understand the spirit of citizenship, particularly a sincere, courageous, diligence and integrity. Third, character education in madrasas can be seen from various aspects including; aspects of the curriculum objectives and charac-teristics madrasas, competency formulations, material characteristics and graduate competencies. Keyword : Madrasah, Character Education
Locating Scattering Centers Using Compressive PSD Estimation

This paper concerns stepped frequency radar with the focus on using multi-coset sampling thus reducing the number of frequencies needed to get the target impulse response, and then estimating the location of scattering centers. This processes is accomplished using compressive power spectrum estimation techniques. The extracted scattering centers can then be used for target identification. Scattering centers are extracted from both synthetic and real backscatter of commercial aircraft.
Positive psychology is value-laden—It’s time to embrace it

Evaluative claims and assumptions are ubiquitous in positive psychology. Some will deny this. But such disavowals are belied by the literature. Some will consider the presence of evaluative claims ...
Higher integration scores are associated with facial emotion perception differences in dissociative identity disorder.

Abstract Background Recovery from dissociative identity disorder (DID) is associated with the process of integration, which includes an increasing sense of self-cohesion and ownership over one's own emotions. Emotion perception is a construction based on interplay between stored knowledge (past experience), and incoming sensory inputs, suggesting changes in emotion perception might occur at different levels of integration – but this remains unexplored. Therefore, we examined the association between integration, psychiatric symptoms, and facial emotion perception. We hypothesized higher integration would be associated with fewer psychiatric symptoms, and differences in the perception of emotions. Methods Participants were 82 respondents to a cross-sectional web-based study. All participants met self-report cutoff scores for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and DID using the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 and Multiscale Dissociation Inventory, respectively. Participants completed a psychometrically-matched test of facial emotion perception for anger, fear, and happiness called the Belmont Emotion Sensitivity Test. Participants also completed the Beck Depression Inventory II, Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, and Integration Measure, a validated measure of self-cohesion. Results Higher integration scores were associated with lower depression, PTSD, and autobiographical memory disturbance scores. Repeated-measures ANCOVA confirmed integration significantly interacted with emotion category on the facial emotion perception task. Specifically, higher integration scores were associated with greater accuracy to fearful and angry faces. Conclusions While acknowledging the limitations of a cross-sectional design, our results suggest that the process of integration is associated with fewer psychiatric symptoms, and more accurate facial emotion perception. This supports treatment guidelines regarding integration as a therapeutic goal for DID.
A Bayesian lower bound for parameters with bounded support priors

In this paper, we derive a Bayesian lower bound on the estimation of a scalar parameter whose prior distribution is assumed to have a bounded support. For such truncated prior distributions it is well known that the Bayesian Cramer-Rao bound (BCRB) does not hold. We also analyze the tightness of this bound for maximum a-posteriori estimators (MAP) in the case of conditionally Gaussian observations and highlight some interesting properties. Numerical results illustrate the tightness of this bound. We also study the utility of this bound in an application to a real-world system of fault detection in solar panels.
Clinicopathologic profile of extramedullary plasmacytoma in Central Valley.

e20551Background: Extramedullary Plasmacytoma (EMP) occurs when neoplastic plasma cells cross the bone cortex to the surrounding soft tissue or spread hematogenously to other organs. The incidence ...
Sexuality and Gender: Locked in, and Out

The extant literature on sexuality and gender among women incarcerated in prison often explores sexual deviances and behaviors while confined, but there is little information about how preexisting sexuality and gender identify impact the incarcerated experience. However, the importance of sexuality and gender for females incarcerated in prison and the challenges that they face need to be defined and explored by scholars. This chapter gives an overview and introduces the concept of sexuality and gender in prison for women.
Strategies to Better Target Fungal Squalene Monooxygenase.

Fungal pathogens present a challenge in medicine and agriculture. They also harm ecosystems and threaten biodiversity. The allylamine class of antimycotics targets the enzyme squalene monooxygenase. This enzyme occupies a key position in the sterol biosynthesis pathway in eukaryotes, catalyzing the rate-limiting reaction by introducing an oxygen atom to the squalene substrate converting it to 2,3-oxidosqualene. Currently, terbinafine—the most widely used allylamine—is mostly used for treating superficial fungal infections. The ability to better target this enzyme will have significant implications for human health in the treatment of fungal infections. The human orthologue can also be targeted for cholesterol-lowering therapeutics and in cancer therapies. This review will focus on the structural basis for improving the current therapeutics for fungal squalene monooxygenase.
Co-occurring tobacco and cannabis use in adolescents: Dissociable relationships with mediofrontal electrocortical activity during reward feedback processing

Abstract Differences in corticostriatal neural activity during feedback processing of rewards and losses have been separately related to cannabis and tobacco use but remain understudied relative to co-use in adolescents. Using high-density EEG (128 electrode system, 1000 Hz sampling), we examined event-related potentials (ERPs) elicited by monetary reward, neutral, and loss feedback during performance on a non-learning four-choice guessing task in a sample of non-deprived daily-cigarette-smoking adolescents (n = 36) who used tobacco and cannabis regularly (TC adolescents), and non-smoking healthy control adolescents (HCs) (n = 29). Peak amplitudes and latencies of mediofrontal ERPs indexing feedback-related negativities (FRNs) were used as outcomes in repeated-measures ANOVAs. No differences in FRNs were observed between TC and HC adolescents. Within TC adolescents, cannabis-use and tobacco-use variables had distinct relationships with the FRN, with cannabis-related problem severity being positively correlated with FRN amplitude during reward feedback and tobacco-related problem severity being negatively correlated with FRN latency during non-loss feedback (i.e., reward and neutral). These findings suggest that co-occurring cannabis and tobacco use may have dissociable relationships with feedback processing relating to each drug and support an incentive salience model of addiction severity related to cannabis use in adolescents.
On integer programming models for the maximum 2-club problem and its robust generalizations in sparse graphs

Abstract We consider the maximum 2-club problem, which aims at finding an induced subgraph of maximum cardinality with the diameter at most two. Such subgraphs arise from a popular diameter-based clique relaxation concept, as a subgraph is a clique if and only if its diameter is one. In a 2-club every pair of non-adjacent vertices has a common neighbor; this “2-hop” property naturally arises in a variety of applications. In this paper, by exploiting a somewhat different interpretation of the problem, we provide two new mixed-integer programming (MIP) models for finding maximum 2-clubs. Our MIPs provide much tighter linear programming (LP) relaxations for sufficiently sparse graphs and have fewer constraints than the standard integer programming (IP) model at the expense of having slightly more continuous variables. We also consider feasibility versions of our MIPs that verify whether there exists a 2-club of some specified size. Then we incorporate them into a simple-to-implement “feasibility-check” algorithm that iteratively solves one of the feasibility MIPs for each possible 2-club size within some known lower and upper bounds. The upper bound is obtained from an LP relaxation of our new MIPs and is shown to be sharp. Furthermore, we show how to extend our approaches for solving some “robust” (attack- and failure-tolerant) generalizations of the maximum 2-club problem. Finally, we perform an extensive computational study with randomly generated and real-life graphs to support our theoretical results and to provide some empirical observations and insights.
Inclusion body myositis: correlation of clinical outcomes with histopathology, electromyography and laboratory findings.

OBJECTIVE To determine whether histopathological, electromyographic and laboratory markers correlate with clinical measures in Inclusion Body Myositis (IBM). METHODS We reviewed our electronic medical records to identify patients with IBM according to ENMC 2011 criteria, seen between 2015 and 2020. We only included patients who had a muscle biopsy and needle electromyography (EMG) performed on the same muscle (opposite or same side). We used a detailed grading system (0- normal to 4- severe) to score histopathological and EMG findings. Clinical severity was assessed by the modified Rankin scale (mRS), muscle strength sum score (SSS), quadriceps strength and severity of dysphagia on swallow evaluation. Serum markers of interest were creatine kinase level, and cN-1A antibodies. RESULTS We included 50 IBM patients, with a median age of 69 years; 64% were males. Median disease duration at diagnosis was 51 months. On muscle biopsy, endomysial inflammation mainly correlated with dysphagia, and inversely correlated with mRS. Vacuoles and congophilic inclusions did not correlate with any of the clinical measures. On EMG, the shortness of motor unit potential (MUP) duration correlated with all clinical measures. Myotonic discharges, and not fibrillation potentials, correlated with the severity of inflammation. Serum markers did not have a statistically-significant correlation with any of the clinical measures. CONCLUSIONS Dysphagia was the main clinical feature of IBM correlating with endomysial inflammation. Otherwise, inclusion body myositis clinical measures had limited correlation with histopathological features in this study. The shortness of MUP duration correlated with all clinical measures.
Social Media Use and Political Mobilization

This article describes how political participation is a central component of democracy. Past research has found that a variety of factors drive individual decisions about participation, including the media that citizens use to gain political information. Social media offers the possibility of engaging citizens in a new way and potentially increasing various forms of participation. In this article, the role that social media use has in fostering a variety for forms of political participation is examined. This article finds that social media use can be a driver of participation, but that this impact is largely contingent on the political predispositions of the user.
The Dangers of Automobile Travel: A Reconsideration

America's reliance on automobile transportation has attracted the scorn of academics for decades. Automobiles, it is said, are dangerous to life and limb, environmentally unfriendly, and wasteful of space and resources. Moreover, say the critics, automobiles produce inefficient individualistic social behavior that Balkanizes communities and shatters the otherwise cohesive nature of American life. This article examines the costs and benefits of U.S. automobile travel from a historic perspective. First, it compares the safety of automobile travel with the horse and steam-powered travel that preceded it. It then briefly addresses the changes wrought by American automobiles in terms of their impact on American life, economics, social mobility, and ecology. It concludes that the dangers of automobile use are substantially lower than the dangers posed by early horse-driven and steam-driven transportation methods, especially in terms of fatalities per mile. It finds that on a per-mile or per-trip basis, automobile travel is safer than virtually any other means of travel used popularly in U.S. history, and that the other contributions of automobile transportation have been seriously overlooked by transportation scholars.
On state feedback controller design

In this paper, a technique for designing state feedback controller is presented. The design is done on a generalized system model, which is obtained from its standard form via the Householder transformation. The resulting feedback matrix is the controller for both the original and the transformed system. The computational efficiency of this technique is also discussed.
The Dual Impact of Trade: Measuring Its Impact on Imitation and Growth

Imports of goods that embody foreign technology raise a country's output directly as inputs into production and indirectly through reverse-engineering of these goods, which contributes to domestic imitation and innovation. This paper first quantifies spillovers from high-technology imports from developed countries to domestic imitation and innovation in both developed and developing countries. It then considers the contribution of foreign and domestic innovation to real per capita GDP growth. International patent data for forty countries from 1970 to 1985 are used to create proxies for imitation and innovation. High-technology imports, as well as quality-adjusted research and the size of the economy, positively affect both domestic imitation and innovation. Transportation and communication infrastructure positively affects imitation, but does not appear to play a role in innovation. Interestingly, foreign direct investment, often considered an important mechanism for technological diffusion to developing nations, does not significantly affect either domestic innovation or imitation. Finally, while both foreign and domestic innovation contribute positively to real per capita GDP growth, foreign technology from developed countries appears to play a far greater role in growth than domestic technology.
Utility of complement fixation and microimmunofluorescence assays for detecting serologic responses in patients with clinically diagnosed psittacosis

The serodiagnosis of human psittacosis was considerably improved by a microimmunofluorescence (MIF) assay that uses selected strains of Chlamydia psittaci, C. pneumoniae, and C. trachomatis as antigens. The 78 patients examined in the study were clinically diagnosed as having psittacosis on the basis of compatible clinical symptoms following exposure to sick birds. The conventional complement fixation (CF) test identified 36 patients, or 46% (36 of 78) of the total, as positive. Antibody responses to C. psittaci were demonstrated by the MIF test in all 36 CF-positive patients. The MIF test also detected antibody responses to C. psittaci in 12 patients (15% of the total) whose sera were negative or anticomplementary in the CF test. Seven patients, or 9% (7 of 78) of the total, were identified by the MIF test as having C. pneumoniae infections. About 30% of the study patients (23 of 78) showed no serologic evidence of either C. psittaci or C. pneumoniae infection by both the CF and the MIF tests. Four distinctive serologic reaction patterns were observed in the study patients. Recognition of these reaction patterns and judicious corroboration of serologic responses to the chlamydial species by the MIF test with epidemiologic and clinical information will increase the efficiency and accuracy of serodiagnosis for human psittacosis.
Time-resolved contrast-enhanced MRA (TWIST) with gadofosveset trisodium in the classification of soft-tissue vascular anomalies in the head and neck in children following updated 2014 ISSVA classification: First report on systematic evaluation of MRI and TWIST in a cohort of 47 children

Aim To evaluate the relative accuracy of contrast-enhanced time-resolved angiography with interleaved stochastic trajectories versus conventional contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) following International Society for the Study of Vascular Anomalies updated 2014-based classification of soft-tissue vascular anomalies in the head and neck in children. Materials and methods Time-resolved angiography with interleaved stochastic trajectories versus conventional contrast-enhanced MRI of children with diagnosis of soft-tissue vascular anomalies in the head and neck referred for MRI between 2008 and 2014 were retrospectively reviewed. Forty-seven children (0–18 years) were evaluated. Two paediatric neuroradiologists evaluated time-resolved MRA and conventional MRI in two different sessions (30 days apart). Blood-pool endovascular MRI contrast agent gadofosveset trisodium was used. Results The present cohort had the following diagnoses: infantile haemangioma ( n= 6), venous malformation (VM; n= 23), lymphatic malformation (LM; n= 16), arteriovenous malformation (AVM; n= 2). Time-resolved MRA alone accurately classified 38/47 (81%) and conventional MRI 42/47 (89%), respectively. Although time-resolved MRA alone is slightly superior to conventional MRI alone for diagnosis of infantile haemangioma, conventional MRI is slightly better for diagnosis of venous and LMs. Neither time-resolved MRA nor conventional MRI was sufficient for accurate diagnosis of AVM in this cohort. Conventional MRI combined with time-resolved MRA accurately classified 44/47 cases (94%). Conclusion Time-resolved MRA using gadofosveset trisodium can accurately classify soft-tissue vascular anomalies in the head and neck in children. The addition of time-resolved MRA to existing conventional MRI protocols provides haemodynamic information, assisting the diagnosis of vascular anomalies in the paediatric population at one-third of the dose of other MRI contrast agents.
Organizaciones: características duraderas y cambiantes

Resumen en: Mientras entramos en un nuevo siglo de hecho, un nuevo milenio, casi todos los participantes y observadores bien informados de la escena contemporanea...
Gender related differences in ATP-dependent transport of dinitrophenyl-glutathione conjugate across murine canalicular liver plasma membrane

Abstract The present study reports gender related differences in ATP-dependent transport of dinitrophenyl-glutathione (GSH) conjugate (DNP-SG), a model GSH xenobiotic conjugate, across murine canalicular liver plasma membrane (cLPM). ATP-dependent transport of DNP-SG across female A/J mouse cLPM was mediated by two components, a high-affinity and a low-affinity component, with corresponding Km of 18 μM (Vmax 0.02 nmol/min·mg) and 500 μM (Vmax 0.23 nmol/min·mg), respectively. On the other hand, only one component for the ATP-dependent transport of DNP-SG was observed in male mouse cLPM (Km 130 μM; Vmax 0.18 nmol/min·mg). Moreover, the rate of ATP-dependent transport of DNP-SG was markedly higher in the cLPM fraction of male mouse compared with that of the female. Presence of two transport components in female mouse cLPM, but only one system in the cLPM fraction of male mouse, was confirmed by measuring DNP-SG mediated stimulation of ATP hydrolysis (DNP-SG ATPase activity). To the best of our knowledge, the present study is the first report on gender related differences in ATP-dependent murine canalicular transport of GSH conjugates.
Synthesis of nucleosomal histone variants during wheat grain development.

Abstract The synthesis and distribution of histone subfractions (variants) were investigated during early grain development and in mature tissues of wheat ( Tritium aestivum L.). Histones were extracted from purified chromatin and separated by two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. There were no detectable differences in the patterns of histone variants from immature grain (3–16 days after fertilization), from mature embryos, from coleoptiles and roots of 4-day-old, etiolated seedlings and from leaves of 10-day-old, light-grown seedlings. Wheat H2 histones are composed of families of closely related variants. H2A consists of three major variants, and H2B consists of two major and four minor variants. The synthesis of these variants during early grain formation was determined by calculating the specific activities of the [ 3 H]lysinelabeled proteins synthesized between 3 and 10 days after fertilization. The rate of synthesis of the nucleosomal histones closely parallels the declining rate of cell division in developing grains. Our results indicate that all the recognized wheat histone variants are present in developing wheat grains from the earliest time investigated (3 days after fertilization) and persist with no detectable changes in relative quantities throughout grain development and in several mature tissues.
Conductivity in transparent anatase TiO2 films epitaxially grown by reactive sputtering deposition

Abstract The synthesis of semiconducting TiO 2 thin films deposited by reactive sputtering is discussed. In particular, defect doping of the anatase polymorph that is epitaxial stabilized on (0 0 1) LaAlO 3 was explored using either oxygen or water vapor as the oxidizing species. For films grown in oxygen, a transition from insulating to metallic conductivity of the films is observed as the O 2 pressure is reduced. X-ray diffraction measurements show the presence of the Ti n O 2 n −1 phase when the oxygen pressure is reduced sufficiently to induce conductive behavior. Hall measurements indicate that these materials are p-type. In contrast, the use of water vapor as the oxidizing species enabled the formation of n-type semiconducting TiO 2 with carrier density on the order of 10 18 cm −3 and mobility of 10–15 cm 2 /V s.