cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Solution-based synthesis and characterization of earth abundant Cu3(As,Sb)Se4 nanocrystal alloys: towards scalable room-temperature thermoelectric devices

A simple and scalable solution-based synthesis route for impurity free Cu3(As,Sb)Se4 nanocrystal alloys is reported. Additionally, a heat treatment process that eliminates many scalability limitations imposed by traditional sintering methods has been demonstrated to significantly improve both the grain structure and electronic properties of the Cu3(As,Sb)Se4 nanocrystal based thin films. The combination of a new synthetic pathway with a robust thin film processing methodology offers the promise of widespread application of these materials to many fields. We demonstrate the potential of this material system in a proof-of-concept energy conversion application. Here, the processed Cu3(As,Sb)Se4 nanocrystal thin films serve as room temperature thermoelectric materials demonstrating a large thermoelectric performance after heat treatment.
Constraining Lawyers and Judges: Reflections on the Civil Justice Reform Act, the Civil Jury, Rulemaking, and Congressional Control of the Federal Judiciary

In 1990, Congress enacted the Civil Justice Reform Act targeted at reducing cost and delay in the federal courts. In 1997, RAND released its report that the CJRA had relatively little impact, and further that efforts aimed at reducing time increased costs. Using the CJRA and the changing size of the civil jury as examples, this essay examines the process by which procedural rules have changed over the past five decades and the respective roles of the federal judiciary and of the Congress. Professor Resnik traces the history of judicial efforts to control civil pretrial processes and the interaction between local and national rules. She examines the growth of judicial discretion over civil processes and describes contemporary efforts by COngress to constrain judicial adjudicatory authority. Her analysis suggests that, while the federal judiciary has been mindful of its own powers in terms of doctrine or commentary supporting its constitutional charter to adjudicate.
Selecting Robust Strategies Based on Abstracted Game Models

Game theory is a tool for modeling multi-agent decision problems and has been used successfully in problems such as poker, security, and trading agents. However, many real games are extremely large[4]. One approach for solving large games is to use abstraction techniques to shrink the game to a form that can be solved by removing detail and translating a solution back to the original. However, abstraction introduces error into the model. We study ways to analyze games that are robust to errors in the model of the game, including abstracted games. We empirically evaluate several solution methods to evaluate how robust they are for abstracted games.
States of Cl-35 via the S-32 (alpha, p) Cl-35 Reaction

Protons from the $^{32}\mathrm{S}(\ensuremath{\alpha}, p)^{35}\mathrm{Cl}$ reaction were analyzed with broad-range magnetic spectrographs. Data were taken at nominal bombarding energies of 20.0 and 20.28 MeV and at observation angles ranging from 15 to 120\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}. 102 levels have been identified in $^{35}\mathrm{Cl}$ in the region of excitation from the ground state to 10.8 MeV. Uncertainties in excitation energies above 3.2 MeV have been reduced by as much as a factor of 5 from previous work and 57 previously unreported levels were observed.
Crossing Boundaries: the Art of Anjali Deshmukh and Rohini Devasher (In Collaboration with the Artists)

In this article I discuss the works of two artists of Indian background who, like many younger artists worldwide, are involved in the exploration of aspects of science and technology to expand their art practices. In spite of living in different environments, globalization, cosmopolitanism, the Internet, and other forms of crossing boundaries---between text and visual image as example---enables comparisons. This article also illustrates the potential for Internet viewing as a contemporary venue for exhibiting art works. During the process of developing this article, I corresponded via email with the two artists. I have indicated the date of our correspondence following each instance when they have added and elaborated material.
Structural computational modeling of RNA aptamers.

RNA aptamers represent an emerging class of biologics that can be easily adapted for personalized and precision medicine. Several therapeutic aptamers with desirable binding and functional properties have been developed and evaluated in preclinical studies over the past 25 years. However, for the majority of these aptamers, their clinical potential has yet to be realized. A significant hurdle to the clinical adoption of this novel class of biologicals is the limited information on their secondary and tertiary structure. Knowledge of the RNA’s structure would greatly facilitate and expedite the post-selection optimization steps required for translation, including truncation (to reduce costs of manufacturing), chemical modification (to enhance stability and improve safety) and chemical conjugation (to improve drug properties for combinatorial therapy). Here we describe a structural computational modeling methodology that when coupled to a standard functional assay, can be used to determine key sequence and structural motifs of an RNA aptamer. We applied this methodology to enable the truncation of an aptamer to prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA) with great potential for targeted therapy that had failed previous truncation attempts. This methodology can be easily applied to optimize other aptamers with therapeutic potential.
Functional outcomes following multiple acute rejections in experimental vascularized composite allotransplantation.

Background:Vascularized composite allotransplantation has become a clinical reality. Patients undergoing vascularized composite allotransplantation have modest functional return. Most patients have had multiple acute rejections. The effect of multiple acute rejections influencing functional outcomes
Colossal Magnetoresistance in Thick La0.7Ca0.3MnO3 Films

Thick films (0.6 and 2.0 μm) of the colossal magnetoresistance (CMR) material, La0.7Ca0.3MnO3 (LCMO), have been grown by pulsed laser deposition (PLD). The films were grown from single-phase LCMO targets in 100 mTorr 02 pressures and the material deposited on (100) LaAlO3 substrates at deposition temperatures of 800°C. The deposited films were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), magnetic field-dependent resistivity, and Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS). The LCMO films were shown by XRD to adopt an orthorhombic structure. Brief post-deposition annealing led to ~50,000% and ~12,000% MR effect in the 0.6 μm and 2.0 μm films, respectively.
The volatile decomposition products and the organoleptic characteristics of the oxidative polymers of ethyl linoleate

The polymers formed during autoxidation of ethyl linoleate at 30°C. were isolated by a solvent extraction method using pentane-hexane and diethyl ether as solvents. These polymers were only partially decomposed by catalytic hydrogenation at temperatures ranging from 25 to 110°C. and pressures ranging from 60 to 1,800 p.s.i. with Raney Nickel as catalyst. Both the polymers and their hydrogenated products had a bitter rancid flavor and painty odor. However in a dilution up to 10 parts per million, the polymers as well as the hydrogenated polymers could not be detected organoleptically. Both the polymers and their hydrogenated products were reautoxidized at 30°C. and the volatile material obtained in each case characterized. The volatile material which was obtained from the polymers contained n-propionaldehyde, n-pentanal, and n-hexanal; and the volatile material from the hydrogenated polymers contained n-pentanal and 2-heptenal. Since n-hexanal was also identified in the volatile decomposition products from autoxidizing soybean oil and 2-heptenal from the reversion compounds of hydrogenated soybean oil and since both these aldehydes were absent in the volatile cleavage products from autoxidizing linolenate, it is therefore possible that these reversion compounds could have arisen from the oxidative polymers of linoleate.
STANLEY A. KOCHANEK

Stanley A. Kochanek, professor emeritus of political science at the Pennsylvania State University (University Park), died May 2 of complications following heart surgery.
When Life Imitates Art: The Arab Spring, the Middle East, and the Modern World

What was the intellectual vision that led to the Arab Spring and what are its roots This article investigates how that vision took shape in the years immediately before the Arab Spring through the work of poets and popular Arab singers like Hamza Namira and Maher Zain. It argues that the vision in art and politics mirrored the desire of many Arabs and Muslims to find new ways to solve the challenges plaguing their societies. The vision also reflected a) how the downturn in the global economy after 2008 combined with major environmental changes to galvanize millions to act in the Arab World b) how social media and new communications tools helped to mobilize dissent and to limit the ability of governments to effectively repress their populations. More than two years after the Arab Spring began in late 2010 the movements it spawned are radically reconstructing societies in the Middle East. They are also undermining some of the basic assumptions of the international system, many of which have been in place since the Peace of Westphalia in 1648
Impact of frailty on surgical outcomes: The right patient for the right procedure.

Background Measuring frailty may improve patient selection for high-risk procedures. Methods Data were obtained from the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program for patients who underwent elective high-risk operative procedures, and a frailty index was used to classify the patients. Results Our study analyzed 232,352 patients with a mean age of 65 years; the majority of patients were males (54%) and white (78%). The most common procedure was colectomy (41%), followed by lower extremity bypass (25%), gastrectomy (8%), endovascular abdominal aneurism repair (7%), pancreatectomy (7%), cardiac operation (6%), nephrectomy (3%), and pulmonary resection (2%). A majority of the patients were classified as mildly frail (34%), followed by nonfrail (29%), moderately frail (21%), and severely frail (15%). On univariate analysis, age, race, procedure, sex, and frailty scores were associated with complications, prolonged duration of stay, and 30-day mortality ( P P = .0001). A similar association between duration of stay and morbidity with frailty was noted. Conclusion Frailty has a significant impact on postoperative outcomes that varies with type of procedure.
Algorithmic Approach to Pediatric ECG Interpretation

This chapter provides an analytical approach to electrocardiogram (ECG) reading. The ECG findings of various lesions and disease processes are well described in the previous chapters of this book. This chapter provides a practical approach of how to analyze normal and abnormal findings of an ECG using a methodological approach through an algorithmic process which enables the formulation of a differential diagnosis.
The nonuse of free health-screening by rural elderly.

We studied the population of noninstitutionalized elderly persons in Iowa County, Iowa, who had not used a well-elderly clinic offering free home or clinic assessments by a nurse. Questionnaires were administered by trained interviewers to a sample of the nonuser population, 60 years of age and over (n = 360). Fifty-five percent did not know that there was a well-elderly clinic in the county in spite of widespread advertising. Nonusers who had heard of the clinic were more highly educated and had more transportation problems than nonusers who were aware of the clinic. Sixty percent of those who saw no point in going to a doctor if they were feeling well were unaware of the clinic. Nonusers tended to be older, living on farms, mobile, long-time residents, and 54 percent had less than a high school education. The cost of health care was not a problem. The major reason given for not using the clinic was that the person was “under a doctor’s care.” Those who had no regular doctor did not plan to use the clinic because they felt healthy.
Bounded sparse photon-limited image recovery

In photon-limited image reconstruction, the behavior of noise at the detector end is more accurately modeled as a Poisson point process than the common choice of a Gaussian distribution. As such, to recover the original signal more accurately, a penalized negative Poisson log-likelihood function — and not a least-squares function — is minimized. In many applications, including medical imaging, additional information on the signal of interest is often available. Specifically, its maximum and minimum amplitudes might be known a priori. This paper describes an approach that incorporates this information into a sparse photon-limited recovery method by the inclusion of upper and lower bound constraints. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach on two different low-light deblurring examples.
Functional analysis of molecular interactions in synthetic auxin response circuits

Auxin-regulated transcription pivots on the interaction between the AUXIN/INDOLE-3-ACETIC ACID (Aux/IAA) repressor proteins and the AUXIN RESPONSE FACTOR (ARF) transcription factors. Recent structural analyses of ARFs and Aux/IAAs have raised questions about the functional complexes driving auxin transcriptional responses. To parse the nature and significance of ARF–DNA and ARF–Aux/IAA interactions, we analyzed structure-guided variants of synthetic auxin response circuits in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Our analysis revealed that promoter architecture could specify ARF activity and that ARF19 required dimerization at two distinct domains for full transcriptional activation. In addition, monomeric Aux/IAAs were able to repress ARF activity in both yeast and plants. This systematic, quantitative structure-function analysis identified a minimal complex—comprising a single Aux/IAA repressing a pair of dimerized ARFs—sufficient for auxin-induced transcription.
Truncated Multiplication with Symmetric Correction

In the design of digital signal processing systems, where single-precision results are required, the power dissipation and area of parallel multipliers can be significantly reduced by truncating the less significant columns and compensating to produce an approximate rounded product. This paper provides a new method for truncated multiplication, which yields less errors than the previous methods with only slightly more complexity by a specialized counter. An error pattern is exhaustively analyzed with all possible inputs to evaluate the errors by the proposed correction method. Error and hardware comparisons of the previous methods and the proposed correction method are presented. The proposed method is applied to both unsigned and two's complement multipliers.
Development of Restorative Justice in China: Theory and Practice

Restorative justice has become a global social movement for criminal justice reform, with over eighty countries adopting some form of restorative justice program to tackle their crime problems. The theory of restorative justice was introduced to the Chinese academia in 2002. So far, various restorative justice programs have been developed in China. This paper aims to systematically review the development of restorative justice in China by analyzing academic literature on restorative justice and key legislative documentations. Major debates in restorative justice among Chinese scholars and a review of the indigenous restorative justice practice, criminal reconciliation (Xingshi Hejie), are provided. The study also analyzes the impetus of this soaring popularity of restorative justice in China, considering the macro social, political and legal background. Last but not least, a review of the major evaluation studies of current programs reveals that little is known about the process of various restorative justice programs from the parties’ own perspective.
FCM interpretation and reporting

The previous chapters focus on analyzing FCM data by evaluating the location, shape, density, and size of the cell clusters observed on the various FCM graphics produced by light scatter signals and antigenic expression of the cells analyzed. In this chapter, the focus is on the last step of FCM analysis (i.e., FCM data interpretation and result reporting) which requires the integration of FCM results and other relevant laboratory and clinical information, including the correlation of the FCM and morphologic data.
An Update on Strong $W_L W_L$ Scattering at the LHC

I summarize an update on our previous study (J. Bagger et al. Phys. Rev. D49, 1246) for a strongly interacting electroweak symmetry breaking sector via longitudinal vector boson scattering at the 14 TeV Large Hadron Collider. In the update, the decay mode $ZZ\to \ell^+\ell^- \nu \bar \nu$ and a new vector-resonance signal via $q\bar q' \to V \to W^+W^-/ W^\pm Z$ are also included.
Some Unorthodox Thoughts about Showers

(1966). Some Unorthodox Thoughts about Showers. Journal of Health, Physical Education, Recreation: Vol. 37, No. 5, pp. 29-29.
Preemptive Caffeine Administration Blocks the Increase in Postoperative Pain Caused by Previous Sleep Loss in the Rat: A Potential Role for Preoptic Adenosine A2A Receptors in Sleep–Pain Interactions

Sleep and pain are reciprocally related, but the precise mechanisms underlying this relationship are poorly understood. This study used a rat model of surgical pain to examine the effect of previous sleep loss on postoperative pain and tested the hypothesis that preoptic adenosinergic mechanisms regulate sleep-pain interactions. Relative to ad libitum sleep, 6 hours of total sleep deprivation prior to a surgical incision significantly enhanced postoperative mechanical hypersensitivity in the affected paw and prolonged the time to recovery from surgery. There were no sex-specific differences in these measures. There were also no changes in adrenocorticotropic hormone and corticosterone levels after sleep deprivation, suggesting that this effect was not mediated by the stress associated with the sleep perturbation. Systemic administration of the nonselective adenosine receptor antagonist caffeine at the onset of sleep deprivation prevented the sleep deprivation-induced increase in postoperative hypersensitivity. Microinjection of the adenosine A2A receptor antagonist ZM 241385 into the median preoptic nucleus (MnPO) blocked the increase in surgical pain levels and duration caused by prior sleep deprivation and eliminated the thermal hyperalgesia induced by sleep deprivation in a group of nonoperated (i.e., without surgical incision) rats. These data show that even a brief sleep disturbance prior to surgery worsens postoperative pain and are consistent with our hypothesis that adenosine A2A receptors in the MnPO contribute to regulate these sleep-pain interactions.
Reports from the Program for Cooperative Cataloging Task Groups on URIs in MARC & BIBFRAME

The Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC) is an international cataloging community that seeks to create trusted, high quality metadata to meet user needs. Part of that mission includes developing best practices for emerging information systems as well as maintaining current standards. This paper sheds light on the works of the PCC task groups involved with developing best practices for linked data in the last couple of years, Task Group on URIs in MARC and BIBFRAME. The Task Group on URIs conducted a pilot test, compiled findings and comments that served the foundation of several MARC proposals at the 2016 and 2017 American Library Association Annual and Midwinter meetings. The goal of the proposed refinements and expansion of usage of these MARC subfields, e.g. $0, $4, is to prepare and extend the richness of library data to the wider information world with little programmatic intervention. The BIBFRAME Task Group’s charge is to develop community standards and practice for linked data, focusing on BIBFRAME. The group's initial efforts focus on mapping elements from the CONSER Standard Record (CSR) and BIBCO Standard Record (BSR) BIBFRAME version 2 ontology. Both Task Groups’ efforts are to benefit and assist information professionals and researchers conducting their work utilizing Web as a service (WaaS) beyond the traditional library data silos.
Spoken word as public pedagogy: Conceptualizing a prophetic public

Glenn Savage (2014) poses a serious issue to the field of public pedagogy: to articulate what form of public is being evoked in and by the research. In this article, I will conceptualize the format...
Regulatory T Cells and Kidney Transplantation

The ability of the immune system to differentiate self from nonself is critical in determining the immune response to antigens expressed on transplanted tissue. Even with conventional immunosuppression, acceptance of the allograft is an active process often determined by the presence of regulatory T cells (Tregs). Tregs classically are CD4+ cells that constitutively express high levels of the IL-2 receptor α chain CD25, along with the transcription factor Foxp3. The use of Tregs in the field of solid organ transplantation is related specifically to the objective of achieving tolerance, with the goal of reducing or eliminating immunosuppressive drugs as well as maintaining tissue repair and managing acute rejection. A key issue in clinical use of Tregs is how to effectively expand the number of Tregs, either through increasing numbers of endogenous Tregs or by the direct infusion of exogenously expanded Tregs. In order to realize the benefits of Treg therapy in solid organ transplantation, a number of outstanding challenges need to be overcome, including assuring an effective expansion of Tregs, improving long-term Treg stability and reduction of risk-related to off-target, nonspecific, immunosuppressive effects related specially to cancer.
Translation of Encephalomyocarditis Virus RNA by Internal Ribosomal Entry

The positive-sense genomic RNAs of picornaviruses such as encephalomyocarditis virus (EMCV) have been widely used in studies of translation, resulting in significant advances, such as identification of mammalian Met-tRNA (Smith and Marcker 1970) and recognition of the initiation factor elF-4A (Wigle and Smith 1973; Blair etal. 1977). Analysis of picornavirus translation also revealed a fundamental difference between eukaryotic and prokaryotic mRNAs: initiation of translation is limited to a single 5’ proximal site (Jacobson and Baltimore 1968; Smith 1973), indicating that picornavirus genomes, and by implication all other eukaryotic mRNAs, are monocistronic. The EMCV genome does indeed contain a single large open reading frame, but further studies of picornavirus mRNAs revealed fundamental differences from standard eukaryotic mRNAs (such as the absence of a 5’ terminal capping group, and the presence of multiple AUG triplets and stable secondary structure upstream of the initiation codon) that proved incompatible with conventional models for the initiation of eukaryotic translation (Kozak 1991). The discovery that EMCV initiation results from entry of ribosomes into an internal segment of the 5’NCR (Jang et al. 1988) has revitalized studies of EMCV translation, and its internal ribosome entry site (IRES) is now used both as a model for analysis of this novel mechanism of eukaryotic gene expression, and as a genetic element, for example in expression vectors, to promote cap-independent internal initiation of translation.This review shall focus on EMCV translation, but will also consider translation of other cardioviruses and of the related aphtho-viruses and hepatoviruses.
Resource allocation in wimax relay networks

WiMAX is a promising wireless technology to provide high-speed, reliable communications in large areas. Relay stations can be deployed in a WiMAX network to extend its coverage and improve its capacity. Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing Access (OFDMA) enables better channel utilization and exploits the benefits of channel diversity and user diversity. A smart adaptive antenna provides multiple Degrees of Freedom (DOFs) for intended communications and interference suppression, which results in more efficient spatial reuse and higher throughput. In this dissertation, we discuss how to combine those aforementioned technologies in a WiMAX relay network (WRN), and study the routing, scheduling, channel assignment, and antenna DOF assignment problems. It has been shown by previous research that the performance of wireless scheduling algorithms usually depends on the interference degree. Therefore, we study the interference degree in WiMAX networks and show that it is at most 4 in any 2-hop WRN and at most 14 in any general WiMAX network. Next, we consider routing and scheduling in WRN with smart antennas. We formally define the Interference-aware Tree Construction Problem (ITCP) for routing, which offers full consideration for interference impact and DOF availability. We then present an algorithm to optimally solve it in polynomial time. As for scheduling, we first present a polynomial-time, optimal algorithm for a special case in which the number of DOFs in each node is large enough to suppress all potential secondary interference. An effective algorithm is then presented for the general case. We also study a scheduling problem for throughput maximization in OFDMA-based WRN with consideration for multi-user diversity, channel diversity and spacial reuse. We present a Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) formulation to provide optimum solutions. Furthermore, we show that both the simple greedy algorithm and our proposed weighted-degree based greedy algorithm have approximation ratio of 15 for 2-hop WRN and 115 for any WiMAX networks. In addition, we present 3 other efficient algorithms, namely, the maximum weighted independent set (MWIS) algorithm, the sequential knapsack algorithm and the LP rounding algorithm. Extensive simulations are conducted to evaluate the performance of all proposed algorithms.
Coaching Parents of Young Children with Autism

Parents face many questions, uncertainties, and fears at the time children are diagnosed with autism. At the heart of this process is the relationship with early interventionists who work early on and intimately with families to help children with autism learn, connect, and engage. This chapter describes a series of early intervention strategies to promote a coaching (versus expert-driven) relationship between interventionists and families. The approach, procedures, and examples come from our own line of research and work coaching families with the Early Start Denver Model (Rogers, Dawson, & Vismara, 2012) as we talk about how to define and address child learning goals inside everyday routine-based activities and how to increase parents’ motivation when it comes to making the change necessary to address goals. The outcome is a stronger working alliance to guide, support, and ultimately empower parents toward active learning and child-family engagement.
Lower mineralizability of soil carbon with higher legacy soil moisture

Abstract The effect of long-term versus short-term water content on soil organic carbon (SOC) mineralizability was evaluated in a six-week incubation trial. Soils were sampled from field sites in upstate New York used for rain-fed bioenergy crop production: nitrogen (N)- fertilized reed canarygrass, switchgrass, switchgrass + N, as well as a broadleaf-grass fallow. Within each cropping system, natural moisture gradients due to topography and subsoil structure allowed us to sample across regions with high (0.5 g g−1), mid (0.4 g g−1) and low (0.3 g g−1) water content. Moisture of the laboratory incubations was adjusted mimicking the three average field moisture levels in a full factorial design. Increasing laboratory moisture in the incubations increased cumulative carbon mineralization per unit soil (C mineralization) and cumulative C mineralization per unit SOC (C mineralizability) (main effect p 0.05) and root biomass marginally influenced (p = 0.05) C mineralizability after correcting for soil texture variations. Additionally, after correcting for soil texture variations and biomass inputs, C mineralizability significantly decreased with higher field moisture (p = 0.02), indicating possible stabilization mechanisms through mineral interactions of SOC under high water content. Bulk contents of pedogenic iron and aluminum determined by oxalate extraction did not clearly explain differences in mineralizability. However, exchangeable calcium and magnesium contents were significantly (p
Racial/ethnic differences in reporting versus rating of healthcare experiences

AbstractAsians are reported to have poorer healthcare experience than non-Hispanic Whites (NHWs), but the sources of the differences are not understood. One explanation is Asian's reluctance to choose extreme responses in survey. We thus sought to compare NHW-Asian differences in responses to health
HH Coming of Age Rite (HH CAR)

Convincing a large number of Hualish to accept and practice HH is not a trivial task. It is probably most effective to start with the younger generation by implementing simple and fun activities that instill the fundamentals of HH. Based on this line of thinking, I recommend popularizing the Coming of Age Rite (CAR) as a first step in establishing HH. In this chapter, I provide a specific blueprint for the HH CAR.
BiomeSeq: A Tool for the Characterization of Animal Microbiomes from Metagenomic Data

Abstract The complete characterization of a microbiome is critical in elucidating the complex ecology of the microbial composition within healthy and diseased animals. Many microbiome studies characterize only the bacterial component, for which there are several well-developed sequencing methods, bioinformatics tools and databases available. The lack of comprehensive bioinformatics workflows and databases have limited efforts to characterize the other components existing in a microbiome. BiomeSeq is a tool for the analysis of the complete animal microbiome using metagenomic sequencing data. With its comprehensive workflow, customizable parameters and microbial databases, BiomeSeq can rapidly quantify the viral, fungal, bacteriophage and bacterial components of a sample and produce informative tables for analysis. BiomeSeq was employed in detecting and quantifying the respiratory microbiome of a commercial poultry broiler flock throughout its grow-out cycle from hatching to processing. It successfully processed 780 million reads, of which 5,163 aligned to avian DNA viral genomes, 71,936 aligned to avian RNA viral genomes, 469,937 aligned to bacterial genomes, 504,682 aligned to bacteriophage genomes and 1,964 aligned to fungal genomes. For each microbial species detected, BiomeSeq calculated the normalized abundance, percent relative abundance, and coverage as well as the diversity for each sample. BiomeSeq provides for the detection and quantification of the microbiome from next-generation metagenomic sequencing data. This tool is implemented into a user-friendly container that requires one command and generates a table consisting of taxonomical information for each microbe detected as well as normalized abundance, percent relative abundance, coverage and diversity calculations.
The $A_m^{(1)}$ Q-system

We propose a Q-system for the $A_m^{(1)}$ quantum integrable spin chain. We also find compact determinant expressions for all the Q-functions, both for the rational and trigonometric cases.
New CRM Topology for Zero Voltage Switching in Quadratic High Gain Boost Converter

This paper proposes a new critical conduction mode (CRM) DC-DC topology based on quadratic high gain boost converter (QHGBC). Quadratic converter is a high gain topology, which has the drawbacks of high conduction loss in the input diodes and high switching loss in the main switch. A direct implementation of CRM scheme for QHGBC does not result in soft switching, as the switch voltage is clamped to the intermediate level by the input diodes. Adding a small auxiliary inductor in series with one of the input diode as proposed here, together with suitable design considerations for output side inductor and resonant time, results in complete zero voltage switching (ZVS) for both the MOSFETs. Additionally, input diode transitions undergo zero current switching (ZCS) without reverse recovery, which reduces the overall electromagnetic interference (EMI) issues. The main advantage of CRM approach for QHGBC is that the input current ripple can be very small and only the output side inductor which carries significantly lower current needs to have a high ripple. PLECS based extensive simulations and results obtained from hardware prototype corresponding to the DC-DC stage of a PV microinverter validate the performance of the proposed converter. A peak efficiency of 96.4%, and efficiencies above 94.7% under all operating conditions are achieved.
America the beautiful and violent: Black youth and neighborhood trauma in Chicago, by Dexter R. Voisin: New York, Columbia University Press, 2019

The recent national uprising, led by the Black Lives Matter movement, calls for defunding the police, structural change, an end to racial antagonism, and greater social justice. All of this makes A...
Comparison of Intravenous and Subcutaneous Secretin in Dogs

Summary In unanesthetized dogs with a pancreatic fistula, a highly purified secretin (Gastro intestinal Hormone Laboratory, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden) was given intravenously and subcutaneously. After subcutaneous injections, the peak response per 15 min was smaller than after intravenous injections, but the total response lasted very much longer. The significant difference between the slopes of the dose-response curves for the two routes indicates that, in the range of doses chosen, subcutaneously injected secretin stimulates the secretion of more pancreatic juice than intravenously injected secretin. Pure secretin is a highly effective stimulant of pancreatic secretion by the subcutaneous route.
Abstract 5591: Simultaneous isolation and quantification of circulating exosomes for cancer biomarker discovery

Membrane bound extracellular vesicles, including microvesicles and exosomes, are secreted by both normal and cancerous cells into the extracellular space and in blood circulation. These circulating extracellular vesicles (cirEVs) and exosomes in particular, are recognized as a potential source of disease biomarkers and also carry signature molecules for early stage cancer detection. However, to exploit the use of circulatory exosomes as a new diagnostic tool, a rapid, high-throughput and reproducible method is required for their isolation and to allow their molecular analysis. We have developed a simple and a low cost microfluidic-based platform to analyze cirEVs enriched in exosomes directly from blood serum in a single step allowing simultaneous capture and quantification of exosomes. To capture exosomes with specificity, we employed a microfluidic device “ExoChip” functionalized with antibodies against exosomes to capture cirEVs. Subsequent staining with a fluorescent dye that specifically labels the exosomes, we quantitated exosomes using a standard plate-reader. Ten independent ExoChip experiments performed using serum obtained from five pancreatic cancer patients and five healthy individuals revealed a statistically significant increase (2.34±0.31 fold, p Citation Format: Shailender S. Kanwar, Christopher J. Dunlay, Diane M. Simeone, Sunitha Nagrath. Simultaneous isolation and quantification of circulating exosomes for cancer biomarker discovery. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 5591. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-5591
On holomorphic families of holomorphic maps

Let D be the unit disk {z: | z | < l} in the complex plane C with boundary ∂D and closure and denote by R the image of the canonical embedding r → r + iO of the real line into C. The symbol e will be used throughout to denote a complex parameter; the unit disk in the complex e-plane will be denoted by Dp .
Preoperative Patient Counseling for Cosmetic Blepharoplasty

Cosmetic blepharoplasty is one of the most popular forms of aesthetic surgery of the face. The surgical outcome is intimately related to the interaction of the upper eyelids with the forehead and brows, as well as the lower eyelids, lateral canthi, and the midface and cheek’s topography. Therefore, in any discussion and examination of a patient with regard to this form of surgery, an astute clinician should be attentive to the entire face and not confine his or her attention to the superficial upper and lower eyelid skin layers.
Resource-bounded information gathering for correlation clustering

We present a new class of problems, called resource-bounded information gathering for correlation clustering. Our goal is to perform correlation clustering under circumstances in which accuracy may be improved by augmenting the given graph with additional information. This information is obtained by querying an external source under resource constraints. The problem is to develop the most effective query selection strategy to minimize some loss function on the resulting partitioning. We motivate the problem using an entity resolution task.
The Mairan domes: silicic volcanic constructs on the Moon

[1] The Mairan domes are four features located in northern Oceanus Procellarum at ∼312.3E, 41.4N on the Moon. High resolution visible imagery, visible-to-mid-IR spectra, and Lunar Prospector Th abundance data all indicate that these four domes have a composition that is consistent with derivation from a Si-rich, highly evolved magma.
The Palmore Facts on Aging Quiz: Are We Using It Correctly?

Abstract This study assessed geriatric medical educators on the Facts on Aging Quiz (Version 2) (FAQ2) and the relationship of personal or professional characteristics to these scores. A survey with FAQ2 and demographics was administered to attendees at a national geriatric conference. Data from 79 respondents revealed 44% female, mean age of 44 years old, 8.9 years working in geriatrics, and 82% of patient populations 65 years of age or older. The mean and median FAQ2 score was 15 out of 25, with no observable pattern of missed items and no personal or professional characteristics significantly related to FAQ2. Our survey suggests that geriatric medical educators may have knowledge deficits in areas addressed by FAQ2 and that this instrument may not be suited for evaluative use in medical education.
The Impact of Color Coding in Program Debugging

The potential of using color as a program debugging aid was investigated in this research. The study assessed program debugging performance of eighteen subjects in three different color coding conditions: black and white, color-grouping that arranged loops and nested structures in five shades of green, and color-flagging that highlighted potential error areas in orange. Completion time, accuracy, and types of error detected, subjective preferences, and rate of visual comfort for each condition was recorded. This research suggested that color coding substantially improved error detections in C programms.
Systematic Errors of MiniBooNE

Modern neutrino oscillation experiments use a ‘near to far’ ratio to observe oscillation; many systematic errors cancel in a ratio between the near detector's unoscillated event sample and the far detector's oscillated one. Similarly, MiniBooNE uses a νe to νμ ratio, which reduces any common uncertainty in both samples. Here, we discuss the systematic errors of MiniBooNE and how the νμ sample constrains the νe signal sample.
Morphological Stability during Electrodeposition II. Additive Effects

Common experience shows that electrodeposited (ED) metallic films exhibit rough surfaces unless the electrochemical bath contains small quantities of molecular additives. We develop a formalism for describing the effects of additives on surface morphology evolution, which builds on that in a companion paper for the additive-free case. We demonstrate that the additives suppress the morphological instability that leads to roughening by preferentially accumulating near surface protrusions and blocking growth sites. Our chemically based model shows that additives which readily adsorb onto the surface and have a strong tendency to complex with the metal cations reduce the driving force for the instability and thus enhance leveling. Furthermore, polar additives provide an additional stabilizing effect, in accord with experimental observations. It is also shown that linearly stable growth can be achieved over a wide range of deposition flux at sufficiently large additive bulk concentrations. We predict the ED conditions necessary for growing flat films and demonstrate that these are in good agreement with experimental observations. © 2003 The Electrochemical Society. All rights reserved.
Directorships as Certifications: How Board Service Affects Executive Career Outcomes

In this study, we examine the question: What do executives gain from serving on boards? We propose that board service acts as a certification mechanism in the executive labor market that can positively influence executive careers outside of the boardroom, particularly for non-CEO executives serving on their first boards. We argue that non-CEO executives who gain directorships will be more likely to be promoted to CEO, will achieve these promotions more quickly, and will receive higher pay from their home firms. To test our ideas, we employ propensity score matching to construct a longitudinal sample of 1,336 top executives of large, publicly traded companies in the United States over the period 1996 to 2011. Results provide consistent support for our theory.
The Biologic Action of Single-chain Choriogonadotropin Is Not Dependent on the Individual Disulfide Bonds of the β Subunit

Abstract Disrupting disulfide loops in the human chorionic gonadotropin β subunit (CGβ) inhibits combination with the α subunit. Because the bioactivity requires a heterodimer, studies on the role of disulfide bonds on receptor binding/signal transduction have previously been precluded. To address this problem, we bypassed the assembly step and genetically fused CGβ subunits bearing paired cysteine mutations to a wild-type α (WTα) subunit. The changes altered secretion of the single-chain mutants which parallel that seen for the CGβ monomeric subunit. Despite conformational changes in CG disulfide bond mutants (assayed by gel electrophoresis and conformationally sensitive monoclonal antibodies), the variants bind to the lutropin/CG receptor and activated adenylate cyclase in vitro The data show that the structural requirements for secretion and bioactivity are not the same. The results also suggest that the extensive native subunit interactions determined by the cystine bonds are not required for signal transduction. Moreover, these studies demonstrate that the single-chain model is an effective approach to structure-activity relationships of residues and structural domains associated with assembly of multisubunit ligands.
Experimental results from the early measurements at RHIC; hunting for the quark–gluon plasma

Abstract This is a short survey of key measurements that have driven the exciting new physics results from the first years of RHIC operation. The focus is on those data that relate to the question of whether new forms of matter, e.g., the quark–gluon plasma, can be explored with heavy ion collisions at RHIC. Only published, publicly available data are considered.
The effect of membrane preparation and cellular maturation on human erythrocyte adenylate cyclase.

Abstract We found that adenylate cyclase activity of human erythrocytes is potentially labile during isolation of their plasmalemma. Addition of 1 mM EGTA to solution used to remove hemoglobin from lysed cells protected activity. Human erythrocyte adenylate cyclase is minimally activated by catecholamines, in the absence or presence of exogenous guanyl nucleotide, but substantially by 5′-guanylyl imidodiphosphate or sodium fluoride and concentration-dependently by Mg 2+ or Mn 2+ . Basal catalytic activity is an age-dependent component of the human erythrocyte; 5′-guanylyl imidodiphosphate- or fluoride-activated activities decline with cellular maturation proportionally to the decrease in basal activity.
Pituitary-adrenocortical responses to persistent noxious stimuli in the awake rat: Endogenous corticosterone does not reduce nociception in the formalin test

Although glucocorticoids inhibit inflammation and are used to treat painful inflammatory rheumatic diseases, the contribution, if any, of endogenous pituitary-adrenocortical activity to the control of pain remains unclear. We report that injection of dilute formalin into the hindpaw not only evokes inflammation and pain-related behavior, but it also increases ACTH and corticosterone to a greater extent than restraint and saline injection alone. This difference was particularly robust during the final periods of pain-related behavior in the formalin test, when the ACTH and corticosterone (B) levels in the restraint/saline control group had returned to normal. These results indicate that formalin-evoked increases in ACTH and B reflect nociceptive input, rather than the stress associated with handling. To test the hypothesis that the formalin-induced increase in corticosterone reduces pain and inflammation, we next evaluated the effect of adrenalectomy (to prevent activation of glucocorticoid receptors) or high-dose dexamethasone (to saturate glucocorticoid receptors) on nociceptive processing in the formalin test. Neither adrenalectomy nor dexamethasone changed behavioral or cardiovascular nociceptive responses. Furthermore, the increases in blood pressure and heart rate produced by formalin may not be mediated by adrenomedullary catecholamine release. In addition, we conclude that the nociceptive component of the formalin stimulus is sufficient to activate the pituitary-adrenocortical system in the awake rat, but that the resulting release of corticosterone does not feed back and reduce nociceptive processing.