cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Low-cost propellant launch to Earth orbit from a tethered balloon

Propellant will be more than 85% of the mass that needs to be lofted into low Earth orbit (LEO) in the planned program of exploration of the Moon, Mars, and beyond. This paper describes a possible means for launching thousands of tons of propellant per year into LEO at a cost 15 to 30 times less than the current launch cost per kilogram. The basic idea is to mass-produce very simple, small and relatively low-performance rockets at a cost per kilogram comparable to automobiles, instead of the /spl sim/>25/spl times/ greater cost that is customary for current launch vehicles that are produced in small quantities and which are manufactured with performance near the limits of what is possible. These small, simple rockets can reach orbit because they are launched above >95% of the atmosphere, where the drag losses even on a small rocket are acceptable, and because they can be launched nearly horizontally with very simple guidance based largely on spin-stabilization. Launching above most of the atmosphere is accomplished by winching the rocket up a tether to a balloon. A fuel depot in equatorial orbit passes over the launch site on every orbit (approximately every 90 minutes). One or more rockets can be launched each time the fuel depot passes overhead, so the launch rate can be any multiple of /spl sim/6000 small rockets per year, a number that is sufficient to reap the benefits of mass production.
Alignment and Structural Evolution of Cylinder-Forming Diblock Copolymer Thin Films in Patterned Tapered-Width Nanochannels

Control over the orientation of cylindrical block copolymer microdomains and the position of dislocations using tapered nanochannels is herein demonstrated. Dislocations are introduced periodically as the channels become progressively wider. Our high-temperature atomic force microscopy (AFM) enables us to probe real-time and real-space dislocation movement directly. Upon annealing, dislocations are observed to move to their equilibrium positions, where the average free energy of the polymer chains reaches a minimum. Smaller confinement widths impose a powerful guiding field for templating domain alignment, as the deviations of the dislocations at the narrower end of the channel from their equilibrium positions are minimal. Finally, the fluctuations of dislocations across the wedge are studied under different temperatures, and the perpendicular diffusion coefficients and activation energy are determined. These experiments demonstrate the ability to control the placement of periodically located dislocations...
UNDERREPORTING OF SUBSTANCE USE IN A NATIONAL LONGITUDINAL YOUTH COHORT INDIVIDUAL AND INTERVIEWER EFFECTS

The quality of drug data in the 1984 wave of the Na- tional Longitudinal Survey of Youth is explored. Comparisons with other national surveys indicate that underreporting of use of illicit drugs other than marijuana appears to have taken place, and that light users of these drugs are underrepresented among the self-acknowledged users. Comparison with marijuana use re- ported four years earlier indicates that experimental marijuana users are much less likely than extensive users to acknowledge involvement. Even after controlling for frequency of use, under- reporting is more common among terminal high school dropouts and minorities. Not only individual characteristics but field condi- tions also contribute to underreporting. Familiarity with the inter- viewer, as measured by number of prior interviewing contacts, depresses drug use reporting. We speculate that interviewer familiarity increases salience of normative standards and that par- ticipants respond not only in terms of their past familiarity but also in terms of their subjective expectations regarding the proba- bility of a future encounter with the interviewer.
Canaries In A Coal Mine: California Physician Groups And Competition

Health care organizations may compete by developing organized processes to improve quality and increase efficiency, or may focus on growing to increase negotiating leverage and on controlling costs through withholding appropriate care and avoiding sick patients. This paper describes key ways in which public and private policy decisions create incentives that influence the competitive focus of physician groups in California, a state in which physician groups and health maintenance organizations are prevalent. These policies do not manage competition in optimal ways: They reward groups for market leverage and controlling costs while failing to fully reward quality and efficiency.
Probing the energetics of dissociation of carbonic anhydrase-ligand complexes in the gas phase.

This paper describes the use of electrospray ionization-Fourier transform ion cyclotron mass spectrometry (ESI-FTICR-MS) to study the relative stabilities of noncovalent complexes of carbonic anhydrase II (CAII, EC 4.2.1.1) and benzenesulfonamide inhibitors in the gas phase. Sustained off-resonance irradiation collision-induced dissociation (SORI-CID) was used to determine the energetics of dissociation of these CAII-sulfonamide complexes in the gas phase. When two molecules of a benzenesulfonamide (1) were bound simultaneously to one molecule of CAII, one of them was found to exhibit significantly weaker binding (DeltaE50 = 0.4 V, where E50 is defined as the amplitude of sustained off-resonance irradiation when 50% of the protein-ligand complexes are dissociated). In solution, the benzenesulfonamide group coordinates as an anion to a Zn(II) ion bound at the active site of the enzyme. The gas phase stability of the complex with the weakly bound inhibitor was the same as that of the inhibitor complexed with apoCAII (i.e., CAII with the Zn(II) ion removed from the binding site). These results indicate that specific interactions between the sulfonamide group on the inhibitor and the Zn(II) ion on CAII were preserved in the gas phase. Experiments also showed a higher gas phase stability for the complex of para-NO2-benzenesulfonamide-CAII than that for ortho-NO2-benzenesulfonamide-CAII complex. This result further suggests that steric interactions of the inhibitors with the binding pocket of CAII parallel those in solution. Overall, these results are consistent with the hypothesis that CAII retains, at least partially, the structure of its binding pocket in the gas phase on the time scale (seconds to minutes) of the ESI-FTICR measurements.
Nonmyopic adaptive informative path planning for multiple robots

Many robotic path planning applications, such as search and rescue, involve uncertain environments with complex dynamics that can be only partially observed. When selecting the best subset of observation locations subject to constrained resources (such as limited time or battery capacity) it is an important problem to trade off exploration (gathering information about the environment) and exploitation (using the current knowledge about the environment most effectively) for efficiently observing these environments. Even the nonadaptive setting, where paths are planned before observations are made, is NP-hard, and has been subject to much research. In this paper, we present a novel approach to adaptive informative path planning that addresses this exploration-exploitation tradeoff. Our approach is nonmyopic, i.e. it plans ahead for possible observations that can be made in the future. We quantify the benefit of exploration through the "adaptivity gap" between an adaptive and a nonadaptive algorithm in terms of the uncertainty in the environment. Exploiting the submodularity (a diminishing returns property) and locality properties of the objective function, we develop an algorithm that performs provably near-optimally in settings where the adaptivity gap is small. In case of large gap, we use an objective function that simultaneously optimizes paths for exploration and exploitation. We also provide an algorithm to extend any single robot algorithm for adaptive informative path planning to the multi robot setting while approximately preserving the theoretical guarantee of the single robot algorithm. We extensively evaluate our approach on a search and rescue domain and a scientific monitoring problem using a real robotic system.
Musée Gauguin Tahiti: Indigenous Places, Colonial Heritage

This essay discusses the Musee Gauguin Tahiti as a problematic counterpoint for contemporary developments in Oceanic museology. Considering Gauguin’s complex relationship to French colonial history, the tourism industry and Pacific Island history, the site raises a number of significant issues. It occupies an ambiguous place in the museum/cultural centre/heritage site taxonomy, and its undermining of standard museum display practices often results in obfuscation, rather than clarification, of viewer understanding of Gauguin’s artworks themselves, their art historical significance, or the artist’s relationship to Pacific social history. Still, it offers a unique experience for tourist‐visitors, and has the potential to include indigenous communities in its display practices, programming and management. This essay engages with emerging literature in the field of Oceanic museum studies to consider the role of this curious historical site in the contemporary, global Pacific, particularly how it might more eff...
The effect of filler particle‐size distribution in epoxy casting formulations

The selection of particle size distribution is based on a theoretical concept of the “close packing” of particles. The usefulness of this concept was investigated using silica as the filler in a single epoxy-hardener system. The viscosity and settling characteristics for several particle-size distributions and concentrations of silica fillers were studied. These studies show that significant decreases in the viscosities of casting formulations can be obtained using a two-component filler system which permits the use of higher filler loadigs. The increase in the ratio of coarse filler to fine filler reduced the flexural strength of the castings and increased the rate of settling in the formulations. The effect of parameters other than particle size is demonstrated by the use of non-silica fillers.
Complete treatment of CMB anisotropies in a FRW universe

We generalize the total angular momentum method for computing cosmic microwave background anisotropies to Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) spaces with arbitrary geometries. This unifies the treatment of temperature and polarization anisotropies generated by scalar, vector and tensor perturbations of the fluid, seed, or a scalar field, in a universe with constant comoving curvature. The resulting formalism generalizes and simplifies the calculation of anisotropies and, in its integral form, allows for a fast calculation of model predictions in linear theory for any FRW metric.
Computer-Aided Content Analysis of Digitally Enabled Movements

*With the emergence of the Arab Spring and the Occupy movements, interest in the study of movements that use the Internet and social networking sites has grown exponentially. However, our inability to easily and cheaply analyze the large amount of content these movements produce limits our study of them. This article attempts to address this methodological lacuna by detailing procedures for collecting data from Facebook and presenting a class of computer-aided content analysis methods. I apply one of these methods in the analysis of mobilization patterns of Egypt’s April 6 youth movement. I corroborate the method with indepth interviews from movement participants. I conclude by discussing the difficulties and pitfalls of using this type of data in content analysis and in using automated methods for coding textual data in multiple languages. Contemporary movements almost invariably incorporate online tools into their tactical repertoires. Although high-profile cases such as the 2011 Egyptian revolution and Occupy Wall Street have garnered the most attention, some of the fundamental work of movement activists—coordination, persuasion, and discussion—has been facilitated by the integration of social media and other information and communication technologies (ICTs). Accordingly, movement scholars are turning their focus to ICTs to better understand what is happening in these spaces and to incorporate them into the existing social movement literature. Social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter provide us with the ability to observe what an activist or a would-be activist is saying and doing as an instance of contention unfolds. Their profile characteristics display relevant information about them, their utterances suggest particular courses of action, and the connections they make with others highlight the networked nature of these sites. At the same time, the data available to researchers studying these movements have far surpassed the amount that had been previously available for analysis. The sheer scale of these data could give us unprecedented leverage in answering questions about social movement activity. While many studies of mobilization with ICTs have been studied in terms of network structure and message volume, most have neglected to focus on the content of messages at scale. These data can be better leveraged with computer-aided content analysis methods that can classify message content.
Trastornos del movimiento

L os movimientos involuntarios suelen asociarse a anomalias de los nucleos de la base y de sus conexiones y ocurren en diferentes tipos de trastornos neurologicos. Los movimientos anormales pueden ser una caracteristica principal, o bien una manifestacion inicial o tardia de la enfermedad. En este capitulo se consideraran los primeros.
A Yeast Expression System of High Efficiency for Producing Recombinant Enzymes

Notwithstanding their structural and functional differences, cADPR and NAADP are synthesized by the same homologous enzymes. Three have so far been identified and they are the Aplysia ADP-ribosyl cyclase and the mammalian antigens, CD38 and CD157 (formerly called BST-1) [1–4]. The sequence homology among these three enzymes is shown in Figure 1. All three enzymes are widespread in occurrence and are localized in a variety of tissues [1, 5–8]. The novel multifunctionality of these enzymes calls for detailed structural studies of their catalytic properties by site-directed mutagenesis, enzyme kinetics and X-ray crystallography. Large quantities of proteins are needed for these kinds of studies, necessitating the development of an efficient expression system for producing the necessary recombinant proteins. In addition, the Aplysia cyclase is the most critical component of the recently developed cycling assay for cADPR [9]. CD38, on the other hand, is the only known enzyme that can hydrolyze cADPR and is used in its radioimmunoassay to verify that the signal is indeed due to cADPR [10].
Letter by Sardana Regarding Article, "Long-Term Outcomes of Secondary Atrial Fibrillation in the Community: The Framingham Heart Study".

I read with keen interest the study by Lubitz et al1 that clearly highlights the long-term outcomes in patients with secondary atrial fibrillation (AF). Increased risk of stroke, heart failure, and recurrent AF was observed, which is consistent with prior observations. Multiple large, randomized trials and meta-analyses2,3 have emphasized the role of prolonged ambulatory cardiac monitoring after cryptogenic stroke in detecting AF. The study by Lubitz et al suggests the potential role of similar monitoring strategies …
Using seas to assess GPS constellation resiliency in an urban canyon environment

Satellite constellation resiliency is an important consideration gaining momentum at the top levels of the Air Force and at Air Force Space Command (AFSPC). The increased availability of threats to satellite systems is challenging the capabilities provided by space assets. We use the System Effectiveness Analysis Simulation (SEAS) to model the Global Positioning System (GPS) constellation in an urban canyon environment. The GPS provides information to a special operation force (SOF) in their effort to recover a weapon of mass destruction (WMD). By varying the type of operations and the number of satellites lost in the simulation, insight is gained into the impact of degradation through the selected top level mission metrics. Statistical difference tests and a designed experiment reveal a resiliency threshold on the number of satellites removed from the constellation. As a result, we conclude that the GPS constellation is resilient even after the loss of several satellites.
Selective Mortality of Insects in Manure from Cattle Fed Rabon® and Dimilin®

Rabon® and the insect growth regulator, Dimilin®, were fed to pastured beef cattle in Tennessee. Manure pats were sampled bi-weekly from Apr.–Sept. Twenty-four species of insects were recovered. Of the 16 species that were analyzed, only 3 ( Musca autumnalis DeGeer, Ravinia sp. and Sphaeridium scarabaeoides (L.)) were reduced in manure from treated cattle. One species, Ataenius sp. increased in Rabon treated manure pats. Manure pats from Rabon and Dimilin treated cattle were slower to decompose than pats from untreated cattle, but all pats had decomposed after 8 wk. Tunneling by S. scarabaeoides was significantly reduced by both treatments.
Second harmonic generation of green light in a periodically poled lithium niobate waveguide

Frequency doubling in a lithium niobate optical waveguide is an attractive method for the generation of coherent visible radiation. To date, such devices have involved birefringent phase matching or the Cherenkov effect. We report quasiphase matched frequency doubling in a lithium niobate waveguide accomplished through the periodic reversal of the nonlinear coefficient.
Minimum-Time Continuous-Thrust Orbit Transfers

To solve the minimum-time orbital transfer problem under continuous thrust, initial values of the Lagrange costates are required in the calculus of variations formulation. Assuming circle-to-circle transfer, expressions are developed for the approximate values of the optimal initial costates, which are then used as starting guesses for the associated two-point boundary value problem. The optimal initial costates are modeled as functions of the thrust and final radius in canonical units. These approximations work for noncircular destination orbits, as well as for noncoplanar transfers. Examples are provided for coplanar and noncoplanar orbital transfers. A dynamic step limiter is also presented which improves convergence in the shooting method.
Fidelity of implementation for an early-literacy intervention: Dimensionality and contribution to children’s intervention outcomes

Abstract This study examined fidelity of implementation (FOI) in the context of an early-literacy intervention involving 83 early childhood special education (ECSE) teachers and 291 three- to five-year old children with disabilities in their classrooms. Adherence, dosage, participant responsiveness, and program differentiation were assessed as multiple dimensions of FOI. Results demonstrated that a three-factor model of adherence and dosage, participant responsiveness, and program differentiation offered the best fit to the data to represent FOI. Further, program differentiation significantly related to children’s early-literacy gains, and the effects of the intervention on children’s gains in early literacy were fully mediated by program differentiation. Findings have implications for the design of effective early-literacy interventions and also for theorizing the construct of FOI.
Effects of Allosteric Ligands on the Gating of Single Channel Currents in BC3H-1 Cells

The effects of three allosteric ligands of the acetylcholine receptor (tetracaine, (-)N-allylnormetazocine [ANMC, SKF-10047], and phencyclidine [PCP]) on the single channel currents of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (AChR) of BC3H-1 cells obtained from the American Type Culture Association were examined. At micromolar concentrations these agents acted as noncompetitive blockers of acetylcholine (ACh) activated currents. In the presence of ACh alone, the distributions of apparent open times and burst durations were fit by double exponential functions: τ1=.46 ±.03 ms, τ2 = 14.4 ±.9 ms for the open time distributions, and τ1=.45 ±.02 ms, τ2 = 15.5 ± 1.2 ms for burst durations. The relative area of the distributions represented by the short duration events decreased as a function of the concentration of ACh, representing 71 ± 3% of the area at 20 nM ACh and only 26 ± 8% at 2 µM ACh for the open time distributions. In the presence of 100 nM ACh, tetracaine, PCP, and ANMC decreased apparent mean channel open times with IC50 ’s of 2.5 ±.5 µM, 5.0 ±.5µM, and 3.0 ±.5µM, respectively. The effects of tetracaine were inconsistent with a model for sequential block of open channels. The number of fast closures decreased in the presence of increasing concentrations of tetracaine, and the ratio of long and short events remained constant at all concentrations of tetracaine. This suggests that, in the presence of tetracaine, events were more likely to occur in isolation and that, at concentrations which more effectively blocked long duration events, the channel was not required to pass through the same open state repeatedly in order to return to the normal closed state. In addition, tetracaine acted as an agonist at concentration greater than 75 µM. In the presence of ANMC, in the range of concentration near the IC50 for the block of long events, the ratio of long to short events increased substantially. ANMC also introduced a new component into the distribution of closed times, τ=13 ms. The area represented by this component increased with the concentration of ANMC and may represent the time that the channel is blocked by ANMC. The effects of ANMC seem more consistent with a mechanism of sequential block. Block by PCP also influenced the ratios of long and short events. A new component of the closed time distributions appeared that was several seconds long and increased with increasing concentration of PCP. In conclusion, we distinguish two types of channel block with these ligands: one consistent with sequential block of open channels and another which may allow the channel to pass into other state during the block.
Tau Prion Strains Dictate Patterns of Cell Pathology, Progression Rate, and Regional Vulnerability In Vivo.

Tauopathies are neurodegenerative disorders that affect distinct brain regions, progress at different rates, and exhibit specific patterns of tau accumulation. The source of this diversity is unknown. We previously characterized two tau strains that stably maintain unique conformations in vitro and in vivo, but did not determine the relationship of each strain to parameters that discriminate between tauopathies such as regional vulnerability or rate of spread. We have now isolated and characterized 18 tau strains in cells based on detailed biochemical and biological criteria. Inoculation of PS19 transgenic tau (P301S) mice with these strains causes strain-specific intracellular pathology in distinct cell types and brain regions, and induces different rates of network propagation. In this system, strains alone are sufficient to account for diverse neuropathological presentations, similar to those that define human tauopathies. Further study of these strains can thus establish a structural logic that governs these biological effects.
Fusion imaging as an alternative to SPECT- CT to improve diagnostic accuracy of Functional Nuclear Imaging

1878 Learning Objectives To demonstrate the role of fusion imaging as an alternative to SPECT-CT to improve the diagnostic accuracy of nuclear imaging. To learn SPECT studies where fusion will be helpful How to use fusion software Show Image Examples How it Improves diagnostic accuracy with fusing anatomy and function SPECT studies lack anatomic detail. SPECT- CT is ideal for anatomic localization. However, it is expensive and is not available at all institutions, especially in teaching hospitals. Fusion using fusion software is an alternative. We demonstrate with case examples and show that it is simple, economical and improves the diagnostic accuracy. The fused color images are beautiful and the refenning physicians and tumor board participants love the images. We show two examples of its use demonstrating Carcinoid and Epilepsy foci. We will discuss and show: 1. Different fusion software systems 2. Technique: How to fuse on our system? 3. Discuss improving anatomic localization with confidence 4. Show fused Case examples with pathologic diagnosis Conclusion:SPECT- CT imaging is proven to be very helpful in the anatomic localization of abnormal nuclear scintigraphy findings. However, SPECT- CT camera is expensive and is not readily available at all institutions. Fusing SPECT images with CT images using Mim fusion software is an alternative. The fusion is simple, less expensive and accurate, improving diagnostic confidence of the anatomic location with no additional radiation from CT. The fused images are beautiful in color and refering physicians and tumor board participants love the images. Most importantly it is a great teaching tool to the residents. Research Support None
Biological effects and epidemiological consequences of arsenic exposure, and reagents that can ameliorate arsenic damage in vivo

Through contaminated diet, water, and other forms of environmental exposure, arsenic affects human health. There are many U.S. and worldwide "hot spots" where the arsenic level in public water exceeds the maximum exposure limit. The biological effects of chronic arsenic exposure include generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), leading to oxidative stress and DNA damage, epigenetic DNA modification, induction of genomic instability, and inflammation and immunomodulation, all of which can initiate carcinogenesis. High arsenic exposure is epidemiologically associated with skin, lung, bladder, liver, kidney and pancreatic cancer, and cardiovascular, neuronal, and other diseases. This review briefly summarizes the biological effects of arsenic exposure and epidemiological cancer studies worldwide, and provides an overview for emerging rodent-based studies of reagents that can ameliorate the effects of arsenic exposure in vivo. These reagents may be translated to human populations for disease prevention. We propose the importance of developing a biomarker-based precision prevention approach for the health issues associated with arsenic exposure that affects millions of people worldwide.
Sputtered ZnTe:N and ZnO:Al for Solar Cell Electrodes and Recombination Junctions

We have used sputtered ZnTe:N and ZnO:Al as transparent electrodes for CdTe based solar cells. ZnTe:N is reactively sputtered with 3% N 2 in the sputter gas. The ZnTe:N films typically have transmission near 85% above 750 nm and resistivity as low as 10 ohm-cm with fine grains of approximately 30 nm diameter. ZnO:Al is sputtered from a ZnO:Al 2 O 3 (2%) target. The ZnO:Al films have resistivity as low as 4 × 10 -4 ohm-cm with 80-95% transmission over the visible spectrum. To test the stability of the films, ZnTe:N films were annealed in argon, dry air and nitrogen at a range of temperatures from 200°C to 500°C. Annealing decreased the resistivity for temperatures up to 350°C and increased for temperatures greater than 350°C. ZnO:Al films were annealed in dry air at temperatures from 300°C to 550°C. Though the resistivity increased at higher annealing temperatures, there was no change in the transmission. Important to the function of a tandem solar cell is a transparent contact, like ZnTe:N/ZnO:Al, to replace the traditional metal contact to the CdS/CdTe solar cell. We investigate the ZnTe:N/ ZnO:Al bilayer as a possible recombination junction. The rf sputtered ZnTe:N and ZnO:Al films were characterized by AFM, STM, XRD, transmission, 4-point probe, and Hall measurements.
Most unfavorable deductibles and coverage limits for multiple random risks with Archimedean copulas

This paper has a further study on the insurer’s most unfavorable deductibles and coverage limits for interdependent random losses in the context of the zero-utility premium. For multiple random losses equipped with Archimedean copulas, we conduct stochastic comparison on the insurer’s most unfavorable deductibles and most unfavorable coverage limits, respectively. Also, we build the most unfavorable deductibles for risk-averse insurers. The main results extend and complement those related ones in the literature.
Comparative analysis of tag estimation algorithms on RFID EPC Gen-2 performance

In a passive radio-frequency identification (RFID) system the reader communicates with the tags using the EPC Global UHF Class 1 Generation 2 protocol with dynamic frameslotted ALOHA. Due to the unique challenges presented by a low-power, random link, the channel efficiency of even the most modern passive RFID system is less than 40%. Hence, a variety of methods have been proposed to estimate the number of tags in the environment and set the optimal frame size. The objective of this study is to analyze the gains in efficiency when tag estimation algorithms are used in conjunction with the Gen2 standard at different points in the protocol. In this article, we demonstrate with verifiable simulations that unless an algorithm has close to perfect accuracy, efficiency improvements over Gen2 are mostly insignificant.
Carbonate system parameters of an algal-dominated reef along West Maui

Abstract. Constraining coral reef metabolism and carbon chemistry dynamics are fundamental for understanding and predicting reef vulnerability to rising coastal CO 2 concentrations and decreasing seawater pH. However, few studies exist along reefs occupying densely inhabited shorelines with known input from land-based sources of pollution. The shallow coral reefs off Kahekili, West Maui, are exposed to nutrient-enriched, low-pH submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) and are particularly vulnerable to the compounding stressors from land-based sources of pollution and lower seawater pH. To constrain the carbonate chemistry system, nutrients and carbonate chemistry were measured along the Kahekili reef flat every 4 h over a 6-day sampling period in March 2016. Abiotic process – primarily SGD fluxes – controlled the carbonate chemistry adjacent to the primary SGD vent site, with nutrient-laden freshwater decreasing pH levels and favoring undersaturated aragonite saturation ( Ωarag ) conditions. In contrast, diurnal variability in the carbonate chemistry at other sites along the reef flat was driven by reef community metabolism. Superimposed on the diurnal signal was a transition during the second sampling period to a surplus of total alkalinity (TA) and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) compared to ocean endmember TA and DIC measurements. A shift from positive net community production and positive net community calcification to negative net community production and negative net community calcification was identified. This transition occurred during a period of increased SGD-driven nutrient loading, lower wave height, and reduced current speeds. This detailed study of carbon chemistry dynamics highlights the need to incorporate local effects of nearshore oceanographic processes into predictions of coral reef vulnerability and resilience.
Chronological Time Versus Physiological Time

If one were to ask a number of people what physiological rhythm they most closely associate with the passage of time, most would probably choose the heart rate. We are consciously aware of this pacemaker in quiet moments just prior to sleep, and we become acutely aware of it during exertion or when frightened or angry. Most students have probably estimated the number of times the heart will beat during a lifetime, and some people morbidly reflect on how many heartbeats have passed and how few remain.
Parental Behavior and the Perinatal Programming of Infant Development

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the biological basis of parental behavior and the diversity of mechanisms that shape the parental brain. Parental behavior, like other aspects of reproduction, can be induced by changes in the level of circulating hormones. In mammals, females experience dramatic changes in estrogen, progesterone and prolactin during pregnancy that prime the maternal brain. Correlations between circulating hormones and behavioral changes can be informative regarding the neuroendocrine pathways that are critical for the onset or maintenance of parental behavior. Environmental conditions, including photoperiod, timing of reproduction, and temperature can also lead to altered parental behavior. Amongst seasonal breeders, photoperiod is associated with fluctuations in gonadal hormones, with consequences for the transition to sexual receptivity and parenthood. The parental brain is influenced by multiple genetic, hormonal and environmental factors that converge on specific neurendocrine circuits, leading to variations in parental care. There is increasing evidence that DNA methylation of target genes is associated with exposure to prenatal famine or disruptions of parent–offspring interactions.
Feasibility of left ventricular endocardial lead pacing for cardiac resynchronization therapy

Abstract Biventricular resynchronization therapy is recommended for patients presenting with left ventricular (LV) dysfunction and ventricular dyssynchrony. Implantation of a left ventricular (LV) lead fails in 5%–10% of patients in whom cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) is attempted. Conventional approach is not feasible due to anatomic abnormalities in coronary sinus (CS) and its branches or due to high pacing thresholds or phrenic nerve stimulation. We present a case of a 62 year old male in which, LV lead implantation through CS was failed and LV lead implantation was done via transseptal approach. We described that LV endocardial pacing is an alternative to CS pacing and needs a long-term follow up.
Maternal buprenorphine treatment during pregnancy and maternal physiology.

Abstract Background Buprenorphine, used for opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment during pregnancy, provides unknown effects on maternal physiological activity. The primary aim of this report is to document acute effects of buprenorphine administration on indicators of maternal autonomic functioning. Effects of maternal buprenorphine dose and other substance exposures on maternal measures were examined, as were neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) outcomes. Methods Forty-nine pregnant, buprenorphine-maintained women yielded maternal physiologic information (heart rate and variability, electrodermal activity, and respiratory rate) at 24, 28, 32 and 36 weeks gestation. Monitoring at trough and peak maternal medication levels was implemented to ascertain acute physiologic effects of buprenorphine administration. Results Buprenorphine administration accelerated maternal heart rate and reduced variability at two gestational ages (24 and 36 weeks) and suppressed sympathetic (electrodermal) activation at 24, 28 and 32 weeks at times of peak maternal medication levels. Maternal autonomic parameters were unrelated to polysubstance exposure with the exception of cigarette smoking. Heavier smoking dampened maternal heart rate variability across gestation and potentiated reactivity to buprenorphine at 24 and 36 weeks. Heavier smoking was also associated with reduced electrodermal activity at 36 weeks. Buprenorphine dose was unrelated to observed effects. Larger degree of maternal heart rate reactivity to buprenorphine administration was related to more severe NAS expression. Conclusions These findings detail the maternal autonomic response to buprenorphine administration but also illustrate the significant effect of concurrent cigarette use on maternal autonomic regulation. This suggests the importance of smoking-reduction strategies in the comprehensive, medication-assisted treatment of women with OUD.
Neuroprotective roles of neurotrophic factors in depression

Abstract Depression is a mood disorder associated with consistent feelings of sadness, worthlessness, and guilt, as well as the loss of interest and pleasure. Genetic and environmental factors, such as adverse early-life events, are believed to contribute to depression, but the underlying mechanisms are not fully understood. Increasing evidence suggests that impaired neurotrophic factor expression or signaling may be a shared pathological mechanism of depression and a potential treatment target. Altered neurotrophic signaling may also contribute to comorbid depression in neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. This chapter will provide a concise overview of impaired neurotrophic factor signaling in depression and comment on how impaired neuroprotection may contribute to depressive disorders in neurodegenerative diseases. We will discuss some of the ongoing efforts to target these defects in neurotrophic factor signaling for therapeutic treatment and explain what is needed to fully exploit altered neurotrophic factor signaling as a treatment target in depression and neurodegenerative disorders associated with depression.
Risk of bird predation and defoliating insect abundance are greater in urban forest fragments than street trees

Predation by natural enemies is important for regulating herbivore abundance and herbivory. Theory predicts that complex habitats support more natural enemies, which exert top-down control over arthropods and therefore can reduce herbivory. However, it is unclear if theory developed in other more natural systems similarly apply to predation by vertebrate and invertebrate natural enemies across urban habitats of varying complexity. We used plasticine caterpillar models to assess risk of predation by birds and insects, collected leaf-feeding arthropods, and measured herbivory in willow oak trees (Quercus phellos) in two seasons to determine how predation influenced herbivory across urban forest fragments, street trees planted near forest fragments, and downtown street trees. Predation attempts by birds and abundance of chewing folivores were greater on trees growing in urban forest fragments than downtown street trees. Bird predation attempts and herbivory levels were inconsistent for near-forest trees. Predation attempts by arthropods did not statistically vary among the three urban tree habitats. Contrary to expectations based on theory, chewing folivore abundance and herbivory were generally highest on trees growing in urban forests, the most complex habitat we studied, and the habitat where risk of bird predation was greatest. We suggest that urban forest fragments provide better habitat than other urban landscapes for both urban birds and chewing folivores by having greater habitat complexity. Therefore, basal resources, such as availability of suitable habitat, mediate top-down effects on herbivores in cities.
Simultaneous Estimation of Euclidean Distances to a Stationary Object's Features and the Euclidean Trajectory of a Monocular Camera

Data-based, exponentially converging observers are developed for a monocular camera to estimate the Euclidean distance (and hence accurately scaled coordinates) to features on a stationary object and to estimate the Euclidean trajectory taken by the camera while tracking the object, without requiring the typical positive depth constraint. A Lyapunov-based stability analysis shows that the developed observers are exponentially converging without requiring persistence of excitation through the use of a data-based learning method. An experimental study is presented, which compares the developed Euclidean distance observer to previous observers demonstrating the effectiveness of this result.
An Effective Hybrid Anomaly Detection System Based on Mixture Models

Detecting a wide variety of malicious activities in the cyber domain has become increasingly crucial, and thus numerous intrusion detection systems (IDS) have been developed over the past years. Recently, lightweight ADS has been proposed based on a Dirichlet mixture model which is integrated with a decision-making method based on a lower-upper Interquartile range. However, the high-dimensional network data presents a challenge in such systems, as irrelevant features may decline the model performance. This work proposes a hybrid anomaly detection system that uses combinations of different feature selection techniques with a suitable mixture model to provide high accuracy in detecting each attack type. The performance of the proposed framework is evaluated on two well-known datasets, namely, the NSL-KDD and UNSW-NB15. The results have shown the efficiency of the proposed ADS demonstrated by archiving high accuracy and low false-positive rates in all attack types.
Prácticas Territoriales en el IUNMa: una propuesta integral para hacer (y ser) la Universidad que deseamos

Planning and reflecting on the integration of functions from the annual and mandatory curriculum of Territorial Practices, of the degree in Communication of the National University Institute of Human Rights Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo (IUNMa), places us in the exercise of the systematization of our teaching and pedagogical practices, focusing on the importance of students as active subjects in the teaching and learning process but above all, on the need for an open university that rescues its history, revalues ​​and builds from its own identity, from their contexts and social actors of the territory that inhabit it, to form a university by and for the People.
APPLES-2: Faster and More Accurate Distance-based Phylogenetic Placement using Divide and Conquer

Phylogenetic placement of query samples on an existing phylogeny is increasingly used in microbiome analyses and other biological studies. As the size of available reference trees used in microbiome analyses continues to grow, there is a growing need for methods that place sequences on ultra-large trees with high accuracy.In this paper, we build on our previous work and introduce APPLES-2, a distance-based phylogenetic placement method. In extensive studies, we show that APPLES-2 is more accurate and much more scalable than APPLES and even some of the leading maximum likelihood methods. This scalability is owed to a divide-and-conquer technique that limits distance calculation and phylogenetic placement to parts of the tree most relevant to each query. The increased scalability and accuracy enables us to study the effectiveness of APPLES-2 for placing microbial genomes on a dataset of 10,575 microbial species using subsets of 381 marker genes. APPLES-2 has very high accuracy in this setting, placing 97% of query genomes within three branches of the optimal position in the species tree using 50 marker genes. As a proof of concept, we also tested APPLES-2 for placing scaffolds produced by metagenomic assembly. It was able to place 3318 scaffolds on the backbone tree with 10575 taxa in less than 3 hours. The accuracy of these placement was high as long as a scaffold included tens of marker genes.
A portable three-component displacement measurement technique using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and computer vision: A proof of concept

Abstract This study proposes a new remote sensing technique to measure three-component (3C) dynamic displacement of three-dimensional (3D) structures. A sensing system with a UAV platform and contact-free sensors (e.g., optical and infrared (IR) cameras) is employed to provide a portable and convenient alternative to conventional approaches that require sensor installation on a structure. The original contributions of this study include (1) integrating both optical and IR cameras with a UAV platform to measure dynamic structural response, and (2) developing new data post-processing algorithms (based on target identification, Direct Linear Transformation, and active stereo vision) to simultaneously extract the 3C displacement of a 3D structure from optical and IR videos, which presents a unique advantage compared to the existing UAV-based displacement measurement techniques that allow the measurements in only one or two directions using optical cameras or laser sensors. The efficacy of the proposed technique is validated through laboratory experiments.
Sleep disturbance and memory dysfunction in early multiple sclerosis

Objective Sleep-dependent memory processing occurs in animals including humans, and disturbed sleep negatively affects memory. Sleep disturbance and memory dysfunction are common in multiple sclerosis (MS), but little is known about the contributions of sleep disturbance to memory in MS. We investigated whether subjective sleep disturbance is linked to worse memory in early MS independently of potential confounders. Methods Persons with early MS (n = 185; ≤5.0 years diagnosed) and demographically matched healthy controls (n = 50) completed four memory tests to derive a memory composite, and four speeded tests to derive a cognitive efficiency composite. Z-scores were calculated relative to healthy controls. Sleep disturbance was defined by the Insomnia Severity Index score ≥ 10. ANCOVAs examined differences in memory and cognitive efficiency between patients with and without sleep disturbance controlling for potential confounds (e.g., mood, fatigue, disability, T2 lesion volume, gray matter volume). Comparisons were made to healthy controls. Results Seventy-four (40%) patients reported sleep disturbance. Controlling for all covariates, patients with sleep disturbance had worse memory (z = -0.617; 95% CI: -0.886, -0.348) than patients without disturbance (z = -0.171, -0.425, 0.082, P = .003). Cognitive efficiency did not differ between groups. Relative to healthy controls, memory was worse among patients with sleep disturbance, but not among patients without sleep disturbance. Interpretation Sleep disturbance contributes to MS memory dysfunction, which may help explain differential risk for memory dysfunction in persons with MS, especially since sleep disturbance is common in MS. Potential mechanisms linking sleep disturbance and memory are discussed, as well as recommendations for further mechanistic and interventional research.
What did I just say? An individualized behavior skills training for listening behaviors of adult participants in romantic relationships

The current study investigated the effects of a behavior skills training on listening behaviors of adults in romantic relationships. Participants’ partners selected desired criteria ranges for six ...
Emotion Expression in Context: Full Body Postures of Christian Prayer Orientations Compared to Specific Emotions

For many people, emotions are frequently expressed in the context of communication with their God. The practice of prayer is clearly embodied and affords the study of full body expressions of emotions in a relevant context. Surprisingly uncharacterized in empirical scientific research, we document full body postures representing prayers in different emotional registers (i.e., prayer, worship, praise, thanksgiving, repentance, confession, anger toward God) and compare them to postures representing specific emotions varying on two basic affective dimensions (valence and dominance), and to specific relevant emotions (gratitude for thanksgiving, guilt for confession and repentance). US community participants with knowledge of Christianity (n = 93) were asked to show how they would express these feelings in the full body by positioning a small mannequin. Postures were analyzed to derive objective measurements of the body’s vertical, horizontal, and total space, and subjective perceptions of the same dimensions from a separate sample. An observational coding system was also developed to code for components of the body, such as head and arm positions. Results show distinct differences between postures representing the overarching categories of prayer versus worship. Further, postures representing praise and to a lesser extent those of thanksgiving were found to be expansive and oriented upward, slightly smaller than postures of positive valence but bigger than dominance. Postures representing repentance and confession were found to be constrictive and oriented downward, even smaller than postures of negative valence and similar to submission. These results add to our limited knowledge of postural expressions of emotions and particularly that of positive emotions. Implications for the psychology of religion are also discussed.