cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Development of a standardized protein immunomarking protocol for insect mark-capture dispersal research

A field study was conducted to test the marking efficiency of broadcast spray applications of protein marks on stationary (represented by cadavers) and free-roaming lady beetles Hippodamia convergens Gu�� ille that were strategically placed in blooming alfalfa plots. The marks tested included three different concentrations of egg albumin from chicken egg white, casein from bovine milk and trypsin inhibitor from soy milk. The cadaver and free-roaming beetle treatments served to measure the acquisition and retention of each protein treatment regime by direct contact with the spray solution and by residual contact with proteinmarked residue on alfalfa, respectively. In addition, the vertical distribution of marking efficacy was determined by sampling alfalfa plant tissue and beetle cadavers that were located on the upper and lower portion of the plant canopy. The data indicated that the backpack spray apparatus was very effective at uniformly administering the various protein marks, regardless of the concentration, throughout the entire plant canopy. Also, the free-roaming beetles readily self-marked by contact exposure to protein-treated plants. We also identified concentrations of each protein type that will mark about 90% of the resident beetle population. Moreover, if a mark–capture-type study only requires two unique protein marks, we determined that concentrations of 25% for egg white and 100% for bovine milk could be used to mark 98% of the population. Our results provide a significant step towards standardizing protein immunomarking protocols for insect mark–capture dispersal research. In addition, we identify several areas of research that are needed to further standardize the protein mark–capture procedure.
A hybrid genetic scatter search algorithm using genetic screening

This paper proposes a hybrid algorithm that combines the principles of a traditional genetic algorithm enhanced with genetic screening and the exploration process of a scatter search algorithm to produce a novel approach. After the algorithm is presented, the algorithm is tested on a classic image compression problem using vector quantization. The goal is to show that this hybrid algorithm can be applied to a large class of problems such as clustering, function approximation, and optimization.
Linear cylindrical taper as optical line source

We propose to use a linear cylindrical taper as an optical line illuminator for various light-emitting-diode-based emerging scanning and display applications. A simple model to explain the mechanism of this line illuminator is presented. Experimental verifications are performed, and main performance characteristics are discussed.
Novel receiver signal processing for interference cancellation and equalization in cellular TDMA communication

A space-time processing scheme is proposed for TDMA based cellular/PCS communications that cancels co-channel interference while simultaneously equalizing the desired signal. This is achieved through processing of a training signal designed from a PN code. At the receiver, the symbol waveform is built up above the noise and interference through correlation with a sampled waveform designed to exploit the PN code. From this built up signal, interference canceling beams are formed along with estimates of the initial equalizer coefficients. Then a decision directed algorithm is applied to track variations in the multipath channel. Simulations involving three-ray multipath are presented demonstrating the efficacy of the method.
Exact solution to the Seiberg-Witten equation of noncommutative gauge theory

We derive an exact expression for the Seiberg-Witten map of noncommutative gauge theory. It is found by studying the coupling of the gauge field to the Ramond-Ramond potentials in string theory. Our result also proves the earlier conjecture by Liu.
An observation about feedback from cognitive radio

While it is well known that feedback does not increase the capacity of discrete memoryless channels, this note examines a discrete memoryless channel with a cost constraint at the output. When that cost constraint has memory, i.e., depends on several past channel outputs, it is demonstrated that the gap between the feedback and non-feedback capacities can be unbounded. One motivation for such channel output constraints with memory comes from cognitive radio applications in which the constraints depend on how the cognitive radio activity interferes with the primary user.
Surgical Treatment of Small Bowel Neuroendocrine Tumors

Neuroendocrine tumors of the small bowel are rare, slow-growing malignancies that commonly metastasize to nodes at the root of the mesentery and the liver. Liver metastases are associated with carcinoid syndrome. Mesenteric nodal masses can cause bowel obstruction, intestinal angina, or variceal hemorrhage. Patients die of liver failure or bowel obstruction. Primary resection is associated with improved survival rates. Selected patients may benefit from liver debulking operations. Liver resection has excellent survival rates even in the event of an incomplete resection, as well as improvement in hormonal symptoms. Radiofrequency ablation can help to preserve hepatic parenchyma during resection.
Advising as Teaching

“Advising as Teaching” was delivered as the President's Address at the 1991 NACADA National Conference in Louisville, Kentucky. In her address Ryan identified characteristics of effective teaching ...
Percutaneous Stone Removal with the Patient in a Flank Position

AbstractWe report a case of percutaneous removal of a staghorn calculus that was accomplished in a morbidly obese patient while he was in a full flank position. In this position, the stone could be successfully accessed and fragmented without compromising the pulmonary status of the patient.
Electronic and structural properties of carbon nanohorns

We use a parametrized linear combination of atomic orbitals calculations to determine the stability, optimum geometry, and electronic properties of nanometer-sized capped graphitic cones, called ``nanohorns.'' Different nanohorn morphologies are considered, which differ in the relative location of the five terminating pentagons. Simulated scanning tunneling microscopy images of the various structures at different bias voltages reflect a net electron transfer towards the pentagon vertex sites. We find that the density of states at the tip, observable by scanning tunneling spectroscopy, can be used to discriminate between different tip structures.
Thinking Like a Rhetor

Legal education claims to teach students to think like lawyers; however, legal educators often fail to make this process either explicit or systematic. In this article, we return to the roots of law and underscore the relationship between law and rhetoric. We begin with the classical concept of stasis and then consider the modes of persuasion and the topoi. Our focus is on the invention of arguments, not on their arrangement or delivery. Next, we introduce the contemporary concept of the rhetorical situation and demonstrate how it can be combined with classical theory and used as a heuristic to analyze a legal dispute and generate arguments. Finally, we consider methods of reintegrating rhetoric into the law school curriculum.
The Influence of Programmed Instruction upon Learning in Educational Psychology

DURING THE PAST several years a number of automated teaching devices have been devel oped to aid classroom teachers in the teaching learning process. A number of investigations by Briggs (1), Evans (3), Ferster and Sapon (5), and Hough (7) indicate that these teaching de vices promote fast and efficient learning. Several studies have dealt with problems relat ing to individual differences in performance using programmed methods of instruction. Porter (8), working with sixth graders, noted that while the correlation between intelligence test scores and performance was positive and significant for sub jects taught by conventional classroom methods, an insignificant correlation was found for sub jects taught by programmed instruction. Detam bel and Stolurow (2) reported low correlations between ACE subtests and terminal preference following programmed instruction. Freeman j (6) found that lower ability students benefited j more from programmed instruction than higher ability students. Increased homogeneity of scores on the test following programmed instruction was reported by Evans, Glaser, and Homme (4). While these findings are important, it should be noted that the design of these studies was not intended to investigate these relationships. It would be more appropriate to label these factors as trends rather than research findings. The present study was undertaken to investi gate the influence of programmed instruction upon the learning of identified achievers and underachievers. While programmed instruction appears to have some advantages over conven tional methods of teaching, research is needed to determine if these advantages hold for all levels of achievement.
Gas Permeability of Hyperthin Polyelectrolyte Multilayers Having Matched and Mismatched Repeat Units

A series of polyelectrolyte multilayers (PEMs) has been fabricated using polyanions and polycations that have repeat units (i) similar in structure and composition (matched), (ii) partially similar in structure and composition (semimatched), and (iii) very different in structure and composition (mismatched). The primary aim of this investigation was to determine whether the matching of the polyelectrolytes can significantly influence the permeability properties of hyperthin PEMs. While matching, per se, was not found to be a key factor in defining membrane permeability, large differences in permeability were observed (the permeances of N2 varied by a factor of 20), which were correlated with the concentration of pendant aryl groups present, i.e., the greater the concentration of these groups, the higher the permeability. Analysis by AFM indentation measurements further revealed that high-permeability PEMs tend to be more compliant than low-permeability PEMs. These findings underscore the need for consider...
Does Donor Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Time Affect Heart Transplantation Outcomes and Survival

Background Donor heart availability has limited the number of heart transplants performed in the United States, while the number of patients waiting for a transplant continues to increase. Optimizing the use of all available donor hearts is important to reduce waiting list deaths and to increase the number of patients who can ultimately undergo a successful heart transplant. Donor cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) time has been proposed to be a selection criterion to consider in donor selection. This study examined whether the duration of donor CPR time affects recipient posttransplantation outcomes and survival. Methods The United Network of Organ Sharing database was retrospectively queried from January 2005 to December 2013 to identify adult patients who underwent heart transplantation. This population was divided into four groups: donors with no CPR, CPR of less than 20 minutes, CPR of 20 to 30 minutes, and CPR exceeding 30 minutes. Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to compare the recipient posttransplant survival between groups, and posttransplant outcomes were examined. Propensity matching was performed for comparison of posttransplant survival of recipients of donors who did and did not undergo CPR. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to examine individual independent variables for death after transplant. Results During this period, 17,022 patients underwent heart transplantation. Of those, 16,042 patients received hearts from a donor with no CPR, 639 patients with donor CPR of less than 20 minutes, 154 patients with donor CPR 20 to 30 minutes, and 187 patients with donor CPR exceeding 30 minutes. The posttransplant survival at 1 year for each group was 89% vs 90% vs 88% vs 89% and at 5 years was 75% vs 74% vs 74% vs 72%, respectively, which was not significantly different among the groups. Recipient primary graft failure and rejection rates were similar among the groups. The multivariable regression model showed CPR duration was not an independent risk factor for posttransplant death. Conclusions Donor CPR does not significantly affect outcomes and survival after transplant. In an effort to optimize donor heart use, donor CPR time alone should not be used to rule out the acceptance of a potential donor heart.
Online Information About Harmful Tobacco Constituents: A Content Analysis.

Introduction Tobacco products and smoke contain more than 7000 chemicals (ie, constituents). Research shows that consumers have poor understanding of tobacco constituents and find communication about them to be confusing. The current content analysis describes how information is communicated about tobacco constituents online in terms of source, target audience, and message. Methods A search was conducted in September 2015 using tobacco constituent and tobacco terms and identified 226 relevant Web sites for coding. Web sites were coded for type, target audience, reading level, constituent information, type of tobacco product, health effects, and emotional valence by two coders who independently coded half of the sample. There was a 20% overlap to assess interrater reliability, which was high (κ = .83, p Results The mean reading grade level of information online was 8.2 (SD = 2.8) with 81.7% of Web sites above the sixth grade reading level. Nearly all Web sites presented information in a qualitative narrative format (93%) and almost half (48.2%) presented information in a quantitative format. Nicotine (59.3%) and nitrosamines (28.8%) were the mostly frequently mentioned tobacco constituents. Cancer was the most frequently mentioned health effect (51.3%). Nearly a quarter (23%) of the Web sites did not explicitly state that tobacco constituents or tobacco products are associated with health effects. Conclusion Large gaps exist in online information about tobacco constituents including incomplete information about tobacco constituent-related health effects and limited information about tobacco products other than cigarettes and smokeless tobacco. This study highlights opportunities to improve the content and presentation of information related to tobacco constituents. Implications The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is required to publicly display a list of tobacco constituents in tobacco products and tobacco smoke by brand. However, little is known about tobacco constituent information available to the public. This is the first systematic content analysis of online information about tobacco constituents. The analysis reveals that although information about tobacco constituents is available online, large information gaps exist, including incomplete information about tobacco constituent-related health effects. This study highlights opportunities to improve the content and presentation of public information related to tobacco constituents.
Mineralogy of the Granite Mountain Syenite

Within the last few years, several new occurrences of rare minerals have been documented from the syenite pegmatites of Granite Mountain.
Enzymatic and catalytic hybrid method for levulinic acid synthesis from biomass sugars

Abstract In this study, an enzymatic and catalytic integrated approach is presented for high yield levulinic acid (LA) production from saccharified biomass hydrolysate prepared from acid pretreatment of corn stover. In order to convert glucose from a biomass hydrolysate solution to fructose the simultaneous isomerization and reactive extraction (SIRE) and back-extraction (BE) method was implemented. The SIRE-BE process successfully overcomes unfavorable glucose to fructose equilibrium and produce fructose at 88% yield. Besides, fructose was transferred to an acidic ionic liquid (IL) and aqueous mixture reaction medium by this pathway. It was noticed that the aqueous mixture of the task specific IL, 1-(4-sulfobutyl)-3-methyl imidazolium hydrogen sulfate ([BMIM-SO 3 H]HSO 4 ), provides a uniquely suitable reaction medium. The mixtures are not only very effective in back-extracting ketose from the organic phase (following SIRE), but also able to effect the conversion of fructose to LA without the extra need for an acid catalyst in the medium. This highlights a significant advantage of the process since the issues with the extraneous acid catalyst recovery are eliminated. Besides, in the acidic [BMIM-SO 3 H]HSO 4 aqueous mixture, high LA yield of 70% was achieved at 95 °C for 1 h from 2.5 wt% fructose loading.
225: Developmental programming of adult disease: the role of DNA methylation in genes responsible for antioxidant enzymes

gain, fetal weights, placental weights or number of pups between the RV and control groups. Treatment with RV had no significant effect on baseline myometrial contractility nor on contractility after indomethacin or nifedipine treatment. CONCLUSION: Unlike its effect on vascular smooth muscle, resveratrol does not seem to affect myometrial contractility nor potentiate the effect of tocolytics in pregnant mice.
Influence of Antibiotics on the Detection of Bacteria by Culture-Based and Culture-Independent Diagnostic Tests in Patients Hospitalized With Community-Acquired Pneumonia.

BACKGROUND Specimens collected after antibiotic exposure may reduce culture-based bacterial detections. The impact on culture-independent diagnostic tests is unclear. We assessed the effect of antibiotic exposure on both of these test results among patients hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). METHODS Culture-based bacterial testing included blood cultures and high-quality sputum or endotracheal tube (ET) aspirates; culture-independent testing included urinary antigen testing (adults) for Streptococcus pneumoniae and Legionella pneumophila and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) on nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal (NP/OP) swabs for Mycoplasma pneumoniae and Chlamydia pneumoniae. The proportion of bacterial detections was compared between specimens collected before and after either any antibiotic exposure (prehospital and/or inpatient) or only prehospital antibiotics and increasing time after initiation of inpatient antibiotics. RESULTS Of 4678 CAP patients, 4383 (94%) received antibiotics: 3712 (85%) only inpatient, 642 (15%) both inpatient and prehospital, and 29 (<1%) only prehospital. There were more bacterial detections in specimens collected before antibiotics for blood cultures (5.2% vs 2.6%; P < .01) and sputum/ET cultures (50.0% vs 26.8%; P < .01) but not urine antigen (7.0% vs 5.7%; P = .53) or NP/OP PCR (6.7% vs 5.4%; P = .31). For all diagnostic testing, bacterial detections declined with increasing time between inpatient antibiotic administration and specimen collection. CONCLUSIONS Bacteria were less frequently detected in culture-based tests collected after antibiotics and in culture-independent tests that had longer intervals between antibiotic exposure and specimen collection. Bacterial yield could improve if specimens were collected promptly, preferably before antibiotics, providing data for improved antibiotic selection.
Ultra-deep next-generation sequencing of plasma cell-free (cf) DNA from patients with advanced cancers.

11537Background: Plasma cfDNA offers an easily obtainable source of DNA for molecular analysis, which provides an attractive alternative to tumor tissue testing. Novel ultrasensitive multiplex tech...
Active Touch and Self-Motion Encoding by Merkel Cell-Associated Afferents

Touch perception depends on integrating signals from multiple types of peripheral mechanoreceptors. Merkel-cell associated afferents are thought to play a major role in form perception by encoding surface features of touched objects. However, activity of Merkel afferents during active touch has not been directly measured. Here, we show that Merkel and unidentified slowly adapting afferents in the whisker system of behaving mice respond to both self-motion and active touch. Touch responses were dominated by sensitivity to bending moment (torque) at the base of the whisker and its rate of change and largely explained by a simple mechanical model. Self-motion responses encoded whisker position within a whisk cycle (phase), not absolute whisker angle, and arose from stresses reflecting whisker inertia and activity of specific muscles. Thus, Merkel afferents send to the brain multiplexed information about whisker position and surface features, suggesting that proprioception and touch converge at the earliest neural level.
A Genetic Marker Associated with Shoulder Dislocation

Shoulder dislocations are common shoulder injuries associated with athletic activity in contact sports, such as football, rugby, wrestling, and hockey. Identifying genetic loci associated with shoulder dislocation could shed light on underlying mechanisms for injury and identify predictive genetic markers. To identify DNA polymorphisms associated with shoulder dislocation, a genome-wide association screen was performed using publically available data from the Research Program in Genes, Environment and Health including 662 cases of shoulder dislocation and 82 602 controls from the European ancestry group. rs12913965 showed an association with shoulder dislocation at genome-wide significance (p=9.7×10−9; odds ratio=1.6) from the European ancestry group. Individuals carrying one copy of the risk allele (T) at rs12913965 showed a 69% increased risk for shoulder dislocation in our cohort. rs12913965 is located within an intron of the TICRR gene, which encodes TOPBP1 interacting checkpoint and replication regulator involved in the cell cycle. rs12913965 is also associated with changes in expression of the ISG20 gene, which encodes an antiviral nuclease induced by interferons. This genetic marker may one day be used to identify athletes with a higher genetic risk for shoulder dislocation. It will be important to replicate this finding in future studies.
Fighting Fire with Diversity and Human-Centered Design at the BLM

Wildland firefighting in America's wide-open spaces has traditionally been the province of white men. To encourage and retain the talents of women and minorities in that workforce, the Bureau of Land Management has turned to the lessons of design.
Psychogenic Pseudoseizures: Semiology and Differential Diagnosis

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses various aspects of psychogenic pseudoseizures (PPS). The clinical phenomena of convulsive-like PPS may be suggestive of generalized tonic-clonic, tonic, clonic, or myoclonic ES. In most patients, eyes are closed during convulsive-like PPS, and Bell's phenomena can be elicited when attempting to open the eyes. The absence of twitching movements of facial muscles, in the presence of generalized clonic-like activity, should be a helpful sign in suspecting the possibility of PPS. nonconvulsive PPS may also display bizarre automatisms that, when present, trigger the suspicion of a PPS diagnosis. In patients with rare and short recurrence of PPS, a history of somatoform disorders was significantly higher than in the other two groups, suggesting yet another potential pathogenic mechanism in these patients. The psychogenic mechanisms operant in patients in whom PPS stopped completely after their diagnosis is obviously different and remains to be established. The frequent occurrence of generalized clonic activity during the event coupled with the increment of prolactin serum concentrations after syncope has resulted in their frequent misdiagnosis as ES. The capture of a syncopal episode during a video-EEG monitoring study could easily clarify the diagnostic dilemma, as these events display high voltage generalized delta slowing, concurrent with electrocardiographic evidence of transient asystole. It is found that paroxysmal choreoathetosis is one of the movement disorders misdiagnosed as ES and PPS.
Conic relaxations of the unit commitment problem

Abstract The unit commitment (UC) problem aims to find an optimal schedule of generating units subject to demand and operating constraints for an electricity grid. The majority of existing algorithms for the UC problem rely on solving a series of convex relaxations by means of branch-and-bound and cutting-planning methods. The objective of this paper is to obtain a convex model of polynomial size for practical instances of the UC problem. To this end, we develop a convex conic relaxation of the UC problem, referred to as a strengthened semidefinite program (SDP) relaxation. This approach is based on first deriving certain valid quadratic constraints and then relaxing them to linear matrix inequalities. These valid inequalities are obtained by the multiplication of the linear constraints of the UC problem, such as the flow constraints of two different lines. The performance of the proposed convex relaxation is evaluated on several hard instances of the UC problem. For most of the instances, globally optimal integer solutions are obtained by solving a single convex problem. For the cases where the strengthened SDP does not give rise to a global integer solution, we incorporate other valid inequalities. The major benefit of the proposed method compared to the existing techniques is threefold: (i) the proposed formulation is a single convex model with polynomial size and, hence, its global minimum can be found efficiently using well-established first-and second-order methods by starting from any arbitrary initial state, (ii) unlike heuristic methods and local-search algorithms that return local minima whose closeness to a global solution cannot be measured efficiently, the proposed formulation aims at obtaining global minima, (iii) the proposed convex model can be used in convex-hull pricing to minimize uplift payments made to generating units in energy markets. The proposed technique is extensively tested on IEEE 9-bus, IEEE 14-bus, IEEE 30-bus, IEEE 57-bus, IEEE 118-bus, and IEEE 300-bus systems with different settings and over various time horizons.
What Does Race Have to Do with It

Lorick-Wilmot examines contemporary race relations in terms of post-Civil Rights era policies, ethnicity, education, employment, residential patterns, language choice and treatment by law enforcement, and as it relates to the American Dream trope of middle class success. She presents the national demographic profile of Middle Class Second Generation Caribbean Immigrants to show their social import, both in numbers and their place at the intersection of several social strata, by pointing to the ways this cohort of English, French, Dutch and particularly Spanish-speaking people are identified and counted in the US Census. Lorick-Wilmot argues these census counts reveal the intersectional and complex ways legacies of colonialism and colorism influence this generation’s racial and ethnic self-identification and their identification by the government, which have direct implications for the communities they reside in.
Using the early childhood environment rating scale-Revised in high stakes contexts: Does evidence warrant the practice?

Increasingly, states establish different thresholds on the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised (ECERS-R), and use these thresholds to inform high-stakes decisions. However, the validity of the ECERS-R for these purposes is not well established. The objective of this study is to identify thresholds on the ECERS-R that are associated with preschool-aged children's social and cognitive development. Applying non-parametric modeling to the nationally-representative Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Birth Cohort (ECLS-B) dataset, we found that once classrooms achieved a score of 3.4 on the overall ECERS-R composite score, there was a leveling-off effect, such that no additional improvements to children's social, cognitive, or language outcomes were observed. Additional analyses found that ECERS-R subscales that focused on teaching and caregiving processes, as opposed to the physical environment, did not show leveling-off effects. The findings suggest that the usefulness of the ECERS-R for discerning associations with children's outcome may be limited to certain score ranges or subscales.
Interleukin (IL)-15 superagonist mediates immunotoxicity by inducing hyperproliferation of activated NK cells and production of IFNγ

Interleukin (IL)-15 is currently undergoing clinical trials to assess its anti-tumor efficacy. IL-15 is essential for the generation, function and survival of natural killer (NK), natural killer T (NKT) and memory phenotype (MP) CD8 + T cells. The combination of IL-15 with its soluble IL-15 receptor α (IL-15Rα) generates a complex termed IL-15 superagonist (IL-15 SA) that exhibits more profound biological activities on NK, NKT and MP CD8 + T cells than IL-15 alone. Thus, IL-15 SA is a potentially more attractive therapeutic agent for use against advanced tumors. However, the safety of IL-15 SA administration in vivo is not clearly elucidated. This study was designed to evaluate toxic consequences of IL-15 SA in mice. Administration of 2 μg IL-15 SA for 4 days caused a time- and dose-dependent immune-toxicity, characterized by hypothermia, weight loss, liver damage and death. At 2ug, IL-15 SA expanded NK cells in spleens and livers compared to vehicle and significantly increased NK cell expression of CD69, NKG2D and NKp46 as well as production of IFNγ, granzyme B and perforin. IL-15 SA also prompted NK cell maturity with a preferential expansion of the pro-inflammatory (CD27 + CD11b + ) NK subset. Mice depleted of NK cells by anti-asialoGM1or anti-NK1.1 were resistant to IL-15 SA-induced toxicity, whereas adoptive transfer of wild type NK cells to Rag2 −/− γc −/− mice re-established IL-15 SA toxicity. While IL-15 SA expanded NKT and mCD8 + T cells, mice depleted of NKT or CD8 + T cells remained sensitive to IL-15 SA-mediated toxicity. In addition, IFNγ KO, but not TNF-α KO or perforin KO, mice were resistant to IL-15 SA-induced toxicity. In conclusion, high-dose IL-15 SA causes systemic immunotoxicity via induction of NK cell proliferation and activation.
Production as a service: A centralized framework for small batch manufacturing

We present a Production as a Service (PaaS) framework that connects users (product developers) who have small batch production needs, with existing manufacturing facilities that have underutilized resources. PaaS is a web-based framework based on the service oriented architecture (SOA) design that breaks down the manufacturing of a product into several steps, or services, to incorporate various manufacturers with available capability in fulfilling the production request. Preservation of intellectual property (IP) is a major concern with SOA based manufacturing systems. Presented work aims to address this issue by using abstracted features to describe a product design, which enables manufacturers to provide quotations for the manufacturing steps without the need for the detailed technical data of the product. The paper also presents the optimization approaches employed to find feasible solutions based on the collected quotations for a production request by relaxing the precedence constraints on the manufacturing processes or the components. A case study is provided to illustrate the functionalities of the proposed framework. A detailed description of the PaaS architecture and the required APIs for its implementation are also provided.
Pessimistic futurism: Survival and reproduction in Octavia Butler’s Dawn:

This article examines the critical work of Octavia Butler’s speculative fiction novel Dawn, which follows Lilith Ayapo, a black American woman who is rescued by an alien species after a nuclear war...
The Effectiveness of a Family-Centered Childhood Obesity Intervention at the YMCA: A Pilot Study.

Objective: Community-based, family-centered obesity prevention/treatment initiatives have been shown to be effective in reducing body mass index (BMI) and improving healthy habits in children if implemented with high intensity and sufficient duration. Let's Go! 5-2-1-0 Program (5-2-1-0) was incorporated into family-centered, monthly physical activity classes and cooking classes over six months delivered by Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) staff. We hypothesized that implementation of this intervention would improve 5-2-1-0 knowledge attainment, increase healthy behavior (based on 5- 2-1-0 curriculum), and improve BMI and waist circumference measurements in children. Methods: Children attending YMCA summer camps in Rochester, MN, during 2016 were recruited via study packets mailed to their families. Height, weight, and waist circumference measurements as well as the results of the Modified Healthy Habits Survey and the 5-2-1-0 Knowledge Acquisition Survey were recorded for each participating child at baseline and 6-month follow-up. The intervention group received monthly healthy habit reminder emails, and was invited to monthly evening cooking and physical activity classes for 7 sessions over a 6-month period. Results: Fifteen families in the intervention group attended classes. Of those, 13 families regularly participated in (attended at least 5 out of 7) both the monthly physical activity and cooking classes. The children in the intervention group had a significant improvement in the number of Knowledge Acquisition Survey questions answered correctly (p<0.001), while there was no improvement in the control group. As compared to children in the control group, there was no significant change in BMI or waist circumference or healthy habits in the intervention group. Conclusion: Our study findings indicate that our intervention resulted in improved knowledge about healthy habits, but did not significantly impact healthy habits or BMI. Potential reasons for this were the small sample size and the attenuated length and/or intensity of the intervention.
Tuberculosis of the gastrointestinal tract and associated viscera

Tuberculosis involvement of the gastrointestinal tract, peritoneum, and associated viscera is an uncommon but well described entity. While peritoneal tuberculosis and tuberculous enteritis are more common, involvement of the esophagus, stomach, colon, rectum, anus, liver, bile ducts, gallbladder, and pancreas can occur. Diagnosis is challenging as cases often mimic neoplasm or inflammatory bowel disease. In this review we outline the pathogenesis, clinical presentation, diagnostic testing, and treatment strategies pertaining to such cases.
El suplemento de la imaginación en la narración. O de cómo Husserl aporta un complemento a la perspectiva de Ricoeur

I apply Edmund Husserl’s notion of “phantasma”, which he sees as the support for pure imagination, to Ricoeur’s understanding of a narrative of real facts or events. I argue, first, that the phantasma, which plays in pure imagination the same role as sensations in perception, allows us to visualize and experience what is recounted in a narrative; and, second, that this phantasma is analogous to the sensations of perceptions that observers had of these facts and events. This component of imagination in a narrative is precisely what allows a narrative to render facts and events “as they really happened.”
What Is AARP and Other Nonprofit Organizations that Can Help Older Adults

This chapter discusses AARP (formerly known as the American Association of Retired Persons), the largest nonprofit organization dedicated to tackling common challenges of aging individuals. As the number of individuals over the age of 65 steadily increases, the demand for more resources and services compatible with aging adults increases as well. Issues including health, hunger, income, housing, and social isolation are all barriers older adults may face. Within the contents of this chapter lie the efforts of AARP, the AARP Foundation, and their affiliates used to knock down these barriers and improve the quality of life for aging adults. The AARP Foundation is one of the four nonprofit charitable affiliates of AARP, specifically focusing to provide the basic standards of living for those older adults in need. Additional services and initiatives provided by AARP are legal aid, employment resources, and Disrupt Aging, a book helping older adults understand the aging process. Many other nonprofit organizations and their specific focuses in helping aging individuals are discussed, including the Alzheimer’s Association, the American Geriatric Society, and more. While there are many organizations dedicated to improving the quality of life of aging individuals, there will continue to be new challenges that arise.
The Honors Project Takes Shape: One Student’s Reflections on Being Gifted

In this article, an honors college student reflects on being gifted. In reflecting on her giftedness, she expresses her conceptions of various characteristics of giftedness that she has experienced...
The Ornstein–Uhlenbeck Operator and the Ornstein–Uhlenbeck Semigroup

In this chapter we are going to define and study the Ornstein–Uhlenbeck operator and the Ornstein–Uhlenbeck semigroup. They are analogous, in the Gaussian harmonic analysis, to the Laplacian and the heat semigroup in the classical case. Then, we study an important property of the Ornstein–Uhlenbeck semigroup, the hypercontractivity property, and some of its applications.
LCM--Let's Put It in Its Place.

of finding LCMs that is the method I learned in England fifty years ago and that I have taught to U.S. college students for the last twenty years; and Doyle gives a computer program for generating LCMs (Doyle 1984). This discussion is very good, but when all is said and done, why is this rather cumbersome skill taught at all? I suggest it is a leftover from the skill-anddrill pencil-and-paper curriculum of our grandparents. The rationale for learning LCM is that it is a prerequisite to the adding of fractions, but this is only partly true. Any fractions can be added without a knowledge of LCM; it is a useful convenience for the addition of several fractions or complicated ones. Granted, it is necessary to have a common denominator (CD) for adding fractions, but not necessarily the least common denominator (LCD). Figure 1 shows some examples of fractions that could be added by the average fifth grader using a CD given by the product of the denominators.
Proliferating Transitory T Cells with an Effector-like Transcriptional Signature Emerge from PD-1+ Stem-like CD8+ T Cells during Chronic Infection.

Summary T cell dysfunction is a characteristic feature of chronic viral infection and cancer. Recent studies in chronic lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) infection have defined a PD-1+ Tcf-1+ CD8+ T cell subset capable of self-renewal and differentiation into more terminally differentiated cells that downregulate Tcf-1 and express additional inhibitory molecules such as Tim3. Here, we demonstrated that expression of the glycoprotein CD101 divides this terminally differentiated population into two subsets. Stem-like Tcf-1+ CD8+ T cells initially differentiated into a transitory population of CD101−Tim3+ cells that later converted into CD101+ Tim3+ cells. Recently generated CD101−Tim3+ cells proliferated in vivo, contributed to viral control, and were marked by an effector-like transcriptional signature including expression of the chemokine receptor CX3CR1, pro-inflammatory cytokines, and granzyme B. PD-1 pathway blockade increased the numbers of CD101−Tim3+ CD8+ T cells, suggesting that these newly generated transitional cells play a critical role in PD-1-based immunotherapy.
Improving Transition to Insulin Through Clinical Conversations.

Recent work suggests that how we talk to people with diabetes can play a role in their level of engagement and how they conceptualize diabetes management and affect both their treatment outcomes and their motivation and behavior (1,2). As we apply these concepts to transitioning to insulin therapy, clinicians may need to examine how they characterize insulin and discuss it with patients with type 2 diabetes. Patients who perceive diabetes-related stigma are more likely to have a negative orientation to insulin (3). Thus, it is important to avoid using stigmatizing language and vilifying insulin (4). Insulin is not the “bad guy” and should not be used as a threat to reinforce the need to change behavior …
Laparoscopic treatment in lower pole ureteropelvic junction obstruction with duplex kidneys in 6 children

目的 探讨儿童重复肾下位肾盂输尿管连接部梗阻腹腔镜的治疗效果。 方法 回顾性分析2015年4月至2016年5月郑州儿童医院收治的6例重复肾下位肾盂输尿管连接部梗阻致下位肾积水患儿的病例资料。 结果 6例中男2例，女4例；年龄3～8岁，平均5.2岁；右侧4例，左侧2例；有腰部胀痛3例，其中1例可触及腹部包块，1例伴肉眼血尿；发热性泌尿系感染1例；无症状2例。5例行保留肾单位的手术，其中4例为下位肾盂输尿管连接部狭窄致下肾积水，根据术中狭窄段长度及具体解剖特点，2例行腹腔镜下位离断式肾盂成形术，另2例行下肾肾盂-上肾输尿管成形术；1例异位血管压迫，亦行腹腔镜下位离断式肾盂成形术，5例均留置输尿管内支架管6～8周，另1例下位肾几乎无功能，行切除肾单位手术，即经腹腔镜下位肾切除术。6例平均随访13(6～21)个月，围手术期腹胀及发热持续时间短，术后症状均消失，泌尿系B超及静脉肾盂造影(IVP)影像学评估肾积水明显缓解，肾功能无恶化；1例下位肾切除术后上位肾功能正常。 结论 经腹腔镜治疗儿童重复肾下位肾积水具有可行性和有效性，术中应根据狭窄段长度及具体解剖特点制定合理的个体化的手术方案，术中注意避免损伤肾蒂，肾盂成形后需留置一输尿管内支架管作引流，对下肾功能恶化或积水加重的患者，宜尽早采取手术治疗。
Abstract TP321: Performance of R 2 Cha 2 Ds 2 Vasc, Cha 2 Ds 2 Vasc, R 2 Chads 2 , and Chads 2 Scores for Predicting Stroke One Year After Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement

Introduction: Stroke after transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. It increases the risk of mortality threefold, within one year of TAVR. It...
Reconstruction of the Neopulmonary Root After Coronary Button Harvest for Arterial Switch Operation Using 2-ply Extracellular Matrix (Tyke): A Post-Implant Histology.

In children with Transposition of the Great Arteries (TGA), the pulmonary artery and aorta are connected to the heart abnormally resulting in blue blood (deoxygenated) recirculating to the body and red blood (oxygenated) recirculating to the lungs. The arterial switch operation (ASO) is the standard of care for transposition of the great arteries (TGA), and given the low risk of early mortality and satisfactory long-term outcomes, focus is now on managing longer term complications such as neo-aortic root dilatation, and pulmonary artery stenosis. Since May 2016, we have used 2-ply extracellular matrix (ECM; Tyke) for reconstruction of the coronary button defects using a pantaloon patch. We present histology of implanted 2-ply ECM (Tyke) from a patient who went back to surgery for development of subaortic stenosis approximately 12 months after ASO.
Effect of Benralizumab in Patients With Severe Eosinophilic Asthma and Chronic Rhinosinusitis With Nasal Polyps: A Case Series.

ObjectiveTo analyze the effect of benralizumab in severe eosinophilic asthma (SA) and chronic rhinosinusitis with polyps (CRSwP).MethodsRetrospective review of patients with both SA and CRSwP that ...
Variability of essential and non-essential trace elements in the follicular fluid of women undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF).

Abstract Both essential and non-essential elements have been associated with female reproductive function in epidemiologic investigations, including among IVF populations. To date, most investigators have used blood or urine to assess biomarkers of exposure, with few employing ovarian follicular fluid (FF). FF may offer a more direct “snapshot” of the oocyte microenvironment than blood or urine, however previous studies report follicle-to-follicle variability in FF constituents that may contribute to exposure misclassification. Our objectives were to investigate sources of trace element variability, to estimate FF biomarker reliability among women undergoing IVF (n = 34), and to determine the minimum number of follicles required to estimate subject-specific mean concentrations. We measured As, Hg, Cd, Pb, Cu, Mn, Se, and Zn in FF samples using inductively coupled plasma tandem mass spectrometry. Inter-subject (between-women) variability contributed most of the variability in FF element concentrations, with ovarian, follicular, and analytical as smaller sources of variability. The proportion of variability attributable to sources between-follicles differed by age, body mass index (BMI), race, and cigarette smoking for Cu, Se, and Zn, by BMI and cigarette smoking for As, by primary infertility diagnosis for Hg, Cu, Se, and Zn, and by ovarian stimulation protocol for Mn and Se. Four to five individual follicles were sufficient to estimate subject-specific mean Cu, Se, and Zn concentrations, while >14 were necessary for As, Hg, Cd, Pb, and Mn. Overall, our results suggest that FF is a suitable source of biomarkers of As and Hg exposure in ovarian follicles. Although limited in size, our study offers the most comprehensive exploration of biological variation in FF trace elements to date and may provide guidance for future studies of ovarian trace element exposures.
Malaria-induced ptosis

Abstract Purpose This study reports two cases of malaria-induced ptosis with surgical resolution. Observations Case 1 is a 27-year-old female with a past medical history of bilateral ptosis following childhood malaria. Case 2 is a 63-year-old male with left-side ptosis following adult-onset malaria. Both patients required revision surgery but ultimately did well after surgical correction. Conclusions and importance Malaria-induced ptosis is a rare entity that should be suspected in patients presenting with ptosis following infection and treatment of malaria. It is unknown if the patients’ malaria results from malarial infection, antimalarial treatment, or a combination of both. Surgical correction is the mainstay of treatment.
Vascular Lesion-Specific Drug Delivery Systems: JACC State-of-the-Art Review.

Drug delivery is central to modern cardiovascular care, where drug-eluting stents, bioresorbable scaffolds, and drug-coated balloons all aim to restore perfusion while inhibiting exuberant healing. The promise and enthusiasm of these devices has in some cases exceeded demonstration of efficacy and even understanding of driving mechanisms. The authors review the means of drug delivery in each device, outlining how the technologies affect vascular behavior. They focus on how drug retention and response are governed by lesion morphology: lipid displacing drug-specific binding sites, calcium inhibiting diffusion, blocking thrombi or promoting luminal washout, and vascular healing steering hyperplastic developments. In this regard, the authors outline the fundamental impact of vascular structure on drug delivery and review the development of contemporary and future devices for coronary and peripheral intervention. They look toward a future where incorporating information on lesion distribution is central to therapeutic success and envision a transition toward lesion-specific treatment for improved interventional outcomes.