cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Reverse Transcription of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 is Blocked by Retroviral Zinc Finger Inhibitors

Summary The Cys-Xooy-Cys-Xooj-His-Xooj-Cys zinc fingers of retroviral nucleocapsid (NC) proteins are prime antivi­ ral targets due to conservation of the Cys and His chelating residues and the absolute requirement of these fingers in both early and late phases of retrovi­ ral replication. Certain 2,2'-dithiobisbenzamides (DIBAs) chemically modify the Cys residues of the fin­ gers, thereby inhibiting in vitro replication of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-l). We examined the consequences of DIBA interaction with cell-free virions and their subsequent ability to initiate new rounds of infection. The DIBAs entered intact virions and chemically modified the p7NC proteins, resulting in extensive disulphide cross-linkage among zinc fin­ gers of adjacent p7NC molecules. Likewise, treatment of Pr55g ag-laden pseudovirions, used as a model of virion particles, with DIBAs resulted in Pr55g ag cross­ linkage. In contrast, monomeric p7NC protein did not form cross-linkages after DIBA treatment, indicating that the retroviral zinc finger proteins must exist in close proximity for cross-linkage to occur. Cross-link­ age of p7NC in virions correlated with loss of infec­ tivity and decreased proviral DNA synthesis during acute infection, even though DIBAs did not inhibit virus attachment to host cells or reverse transcriptase enzymatic activity. Thus, DIBA-type molecules impair the ability of HIV-l virions to initiate reverse tran­ scription through their action on the retroviral zinc fin­ ger, thereby blocking further rounds of replication.
Pulsed laser ablation of low-density nanoporous metal oxides

Pulsed laser ablation has been employed to generate thin films of low density metal oxides, including nanoporous molecular sieves. An excimer laser (KrF*, 248 nm) was used to deposit molecular sieve films onto a variety of substrates including polished silicon, platinum, tantalum, titanium nitride, glass, indium-doped tin oxide, copper and Mylar. Recent results for the deposition of microporous UTD-1 and FeAPO-5 as well as mesoporous aluminosilicate MCM-41 and Nb-TMSI molecular sieve films are presented. The order (crystallinity) of the laser deposited films has been shown to be enhanced by a brief post hydrothermal treatment. A vapor phase treatment of the laser deposited FeAPO-5 films allows for increases in film crystallinity without an increase in film thickness. Hydrothermal treatment of laser deposited Nb-TMSI results in “worm hole” pore motif which is new for this composition. Silicate based molecular sieves such as UTD-1 and aluminosilicate MCM-41 require a UV-absorbing guest molecule for laser ablation giving rise to a phenomenon referred to as guest assisted laser ablation (GALA). The molecular sieve films were characterized by x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy.
Contributions of BrCl, Br2, BrOCl, Br2O, and HOBr to Regiospecific Bromination Rates of Anisole and Bromoanisoles in Aqueous Solution

When bromide-containing waters are chlorinated, conventional wisdom typically assumes HOBr is the only active brominating agent. Several additional and often-overlooked brominating agents (including BrCl, Br2, BrOCl, Br2O) can form in chlorinated waters, albeit at generally lower concentrations than HOBr. The extent to which these additional brominating agents influence bromination rates of disinfection byproduct precursors is, however, poorly understood. Herein, the influence of BrCl, Br2, BrOCl, Br2O, and HOBr toward rates of sequential bromination of anisole was quantified. Conditions affecting bromine speciation (e.g., pH, concentrations of chloride, bromide, and chlorine) were varied, and regiospecific second-order rate constants were calculated for reactions of each brominating agent with anisole, 2-bromoanisole, and 4-bromoanisole. The regioselectivity of anisole bromination changed with pH, consistent with the participation of more than one brominating agent. Under conditions representative of chlorinated drinking water, contributions to bromination rates decreased as BrCl > BrOCl > HOBr > Br2O (Br2 negligible). The second-order rate constant determined for net bromination of anisole by HOBr is up to 3000-times less than reported in previous studies (which assumed HOBr was the only active brominating agent). Accordingly, models that assume HOBr is the only kinetically relevant brominating agent in solutions of free bromine may be insufficient for reactions involving modestly nucleophilic organic compounds.
QM/MM study of photoinduced reduction of a tetrahedral ag20 + cluster by a ag atom

A hybrid quantum mechanics/classical mechanics (QM/MM) approach was developed to investigate photoinduced electron transfer (PIET) from a neutral Ag atom to an ionized tetrahedral Ag20+ cluster, both of which are solvated in water. In this approach, PIET was modeled as a coherent quantum process involving both vertical excitation and electron injection by our recently developed constrained real-time time-dependent density functional theory (C-RT-TDDFT) (J. Phys. Chem. C 2011, 115, 18810), whereas the aqueous solvation structure for the (Ag–Ag20)+ complex was determined by the empirical flexible simple point charge (SPC/Fw) force field (J. Chem. Phys. 2006, 124, 024503). An electrostatic embedding scheme was chosen to accurately represent the mutual polarization between the QM subsystem (the (Ag–Ag20)+ complex) and the MM subsystem (water molecules) in a self-adaptive manner that turns out to be critical to the relative stability of the electron transfer diabatic states in addition to their electronic coup...
Development of a Porous Silicon Product for Small Molecule Mass Spectrometry

Previous work has demonstrated the utility of desorption/ionization on silicon (DIOS) time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOFMS) in drug molecule and peptide detection[1–7]. In this work, the utility of DIOS for small molecule detection is established using commercially available porous silicon (por Si)-based target plates for MS. Since the morphology and handling of the substrates can have dramatic effects on the MS characteristics, the development of consistent manufacturing methods and characterization protocols has been central to the production of reproducible target plates[7]. Using sample substrates manufactured in-house, we show that 1) small molecules and protein digests were detected without matrix-related peaks, 2) por Si morphology was optimized for small molecule detection, 3) reproducible DIOS plates were produced, 4) although the target plates were shown to be sensitive to contamination, a consistent cleaning procedure was developed to remove contaminants, and 5) stability and shelf life were characterized as a function of surface derivatization. Dynamic range, sensitivity, quantitation, speed of analysis, solution composition, and automated deposition have also been evaluated and are described in related work[7–9]. Potential applications include high-throughput small molecule assays for drug discovery[10a] and high sensitivity (sub-femtomole) peptide identification for proteomics[10b].
Sequential versus concomitant surgery of glaucoma drainage implant and Boston keratoprosthesis type 1

Purpose To compare sequential versus concomitant surgery of glaucoma drainage implant (GDI) and Boston keratoprosthesis type 1 (KPro). Methods Patients who received GDI and KPro in the same eye were divided into 2 groups: GDI placement prior to KPro surgery (sequential group) or GDI placement concomitant with KPro surgery (concomitant group). Main outcome measures were GDI failure, defined as intraocular pressure (IOP) g21 mm Hg, less than a 20% IOP reduction from baseline, or IOP l5 mm Hg on 2 consecutive follow-up visits, any reoperation for glaucoma, or loss of light perception; best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA); and surgical complications. Results Thirty-five eyes were included in the study: 17 in the sequential group and 18 in the concomitant group. The cumulative incidence of failure after 5 years of follow-up was 23.5% in the sequential group and 27.8% in the concomitant group (p = 0.250). Mean BCVA was significantly better in the concomitant group after 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, and at the last follow-up (pl0.05). Both groups had similar rates of complications (p = 1.000). The most frequent complication was GDI erosion, which occurred in 23.5% (n = 4/17) in the sequential group and in 27.8% (n = 5/18) in the concomitant group (p = 1.000). Conclusions Glaucoma drainage implant placement at the time of KPro surgery had similar cumulative incidence of failure, but significantly favorable visual outcomes, compared to sequential surgeries. The most frequent complication was GDI erosion, occurring in approximately one fourth of the patients.
Addenda to the Preceding Paper

This work contains largely afterthoughts, relating to the paper immediately preceding it. We correlate and interpret our contributions in that paper, relative to those of an earlier publication by Aspley, He and McCuan. We propose specific laboratory experiments, suggested by formal predictions of those two papers.
Simulation and Experiment Research on the Second Order Oil-film Instability Fault in a Rotor System

Aiming at the oil-film instability problem of the sliding bearing at a high speed,a single span rotor system with two discs is studied.Considering the gyroscopic coupling effect,a lumped mass model of the rotor system is established where the left and the right bearings are simulated by a spring-damping model and a no-linear oil-film force model of the short bearing,respectively.Considering the eccentricities of two discs in opposite phases,the oil-film instability rule and the complicated nonlinear dynamic characteristics of the rotor system are analyzed by the rotor orbit,time domain waveform,amplitude spectrum and spectrum cascade.Experiments are performed by using a test rig to verity the simulation results.Theoretical analysis and experimental results all show that the first two oil whip will occur simultaneously at higher rotating speeds,oil-film instability can excite the complicated combination frequency components of the first and second oil-whip frequencies and the energy can be transformed between the first oil whip and the second one.
303 OXIDATION OF THE THIOL DISULFIDE CYSTEINE/CYSTINE REDOX COUPLE STIMULATES LUNG FIBROBLAST PROLIFERATION AND MATRIX EXPRESSION THROUGH REDOX SIGNALING.

Oxidant stress has been implicated in the pathogenesis of chronic fibrosing lung disorders like idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, and environmental and host factors capable of causing chronic oxidant stress have been identified. However, the mechanisms that link oxidant stress to fibrogenesis remain only partially elucidated. We hypothesize that extracellular oxidant stress affects lung fibroblasts directly by inducing intracellular pathways (ie, redox signaling) that stimulate their proliferation and matrix expression. In experiments designed to test this hypothesis, we showed that extracellular oxidant stress caused by oxidation of the thiol disulfide cysteine (Cys)/cystine (CySS) redox couple stimulates lung fibroblast proliferation. This is intriguing because most of the available research on oxidant stress has focused on intracellular oxidant stress and glutathione, the most abundant low-molecular-weight thiol in cells. However, evidence suggests that the extracellular thiol/disulfide redox environment may also be important. The Cys/CySS redox couple represents the predominant low-molecular-weight thiol/disulfide pool found in plasma, and it is sensitive to many host factors (eg, aging and smoking). Further work revealed that lung fibroblasts cultured in the setting of oxidized extracellular Cys/CySS redox (246 mV) showed increased expression of fibronectin, a matrix glycoprotein highly expressed in fibrotic lung disease and implicated in lung injury and repair. This stimulatory effect was related to increased fibronectin gene transcription, was enhanced by nicotine, and was blocked by inhibitors of protein kinase C activation. Fibroblasts cultured on normal medium (280 mV) or reduced medium (2130) medium showed no induction. Lung fibroblasts cultured in oxidized extracellular Cys/CySS redox also showed phosphorylation of CREB, a transcription factor known for its ability to stimulate fibronectin expression. Other transcription factors stimulated were NFkB and Smad3. Together, these studies suggest that extracellular oxidant stress, through oxidation of the thiol/disulfide couple Cys/CySS, activates redox-sensitive pathways that stimulate the differential expression of genes that enhance fibroblast proliferation and matrix deposition.
Deep Transfer Learning via Restricted Boltzmann Machine for Document Classification

Transfer learning aims to improve a targeted learning task using other related auxiliary learning tasks and data. Most current transfer-learning methods focus on scenarios where the auxiliary and the target learning tasks are very similar: either (some of) the auxiliary data can be directly used as training examples for the target task or the auxiliary and the target data share the same representation. However, in many cases the connection between the auxiliary and the target tasks can be remote. Only a few features derived from the auxiliary data may be helpful for the target learning. We call such scenario the deep transfer-learning scenario and we introduce a novel transfer-learning method for deep transfer. Our method uses restricted Boltzmann machine to discover a set of hierarchical features from the auxiliary data. We then select from these features a subset that are helpful for the target learning, using a selection criterion based on the concept of kernel-target alignment. Finally, the target data are augmented with the selected features before training. Our experiment results show that this transfer method is effective. It can improve classification accuracy by up to more than 10%, even when the connection between the auxiliary and the target tasks is not apparent.
Effect of different headspace concentrations of bornyl acetate on fecundity of green peach aphid and balsam woolly adelgid

ABSTRACTBalsam woolly adelgid (Adelges piceae) (Hemiptera: Adelgidae) (BWA) is an exotic pest introduced from Europe to North America in the early 1900s. Subsequent introductions and spread have enabled this pest to infest native Fraser fir stands in the Southern Appalachians and become a troublesome pest for the region’s Christmas tree industry. Means to study its fecundity and control it are consequently of high importance. Headspace solid phase micro-extraction coupled with gas chromatography and mass spectrometry were used to compare chemical differences in stem tissue between a resistant species, Veitch fir (Abies veitchii) and the susceptible Fraser fir (Abies fraseri). Comparisons demonstrated that bornyl acetate (BA), a terpenoid, was qualitatively more abundant in resistant Veitch fir than Fraser fir. Varying headspace concentrations of BA were tested to ascertain any biological impacts on egg eclosion of BWA, as well as fecundity of green peach aphid (Myzus persicae) (GPA), an insect serving as ...
Inflammatory Mediators Associated With Pressure Ulcer Development in Individuals With Pneumonia After Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury: A Pilot Study.

Abstract Objective To identify the inflammatory mediators around the time of pneumonia onset associated with concurrent or later onset of pressure ulcers (PUs). Design Retrospective. Setting Acute hospitalization and inpatient rehabilitation unit of a university medical center. Participants Individuals (N=86) with traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) were included in the initial analyses. Fifteen of the 86 developed pneumonia and had inflammatory mediator data available. Of these 15, 7 developed PUs and 8 did not. Interventions Not applicable. Main Outcome Measures Twenty-three inflammatory mediators in plasma and urine were assayed. The differences in concentrations of plasma and urine inflammatory mediators between the closest time point before and after the diagnosis of pneumonia were calculated. Results Initial chi-square analysis revealed a significant ( P =.02) association between pneumonia and PUs. Individuals with SCI and diagnosed pneumonia had nearly double the risk for developing PUs compared with those with no pneumonia. In individuals with pneumonia, Mann-Whitney U exact tests suggested an association ( P Conclusions These findings suggest that a relatively small increase in plasma TNF-α, and decreases in urine TNF-α, GM-CSF, and IL-15 from just before to just after the diagnosis of pneumonia could be markers for an increased risk of PUs in individuals with pneumonia after traumatic SCI.
Bortezomib, Thalidomide, and Dexamethasone as Induction Therapy for Patients with Symptomatic Multiple Myeloma.

� VGPR rate (53% sCR/CR). Among all 44 patients, the median progression-free survival (PFS) was 27.4 months. The median overall survival (OS) was not reached after a median follow-up of 25 months, and the 2-year OS rate was 82%. There were no significant differences in PFS (27.4 months vs 23.5 months) or in 2-year survival (80% vs 90%) between patients who did and did not undergo ASCT, respectively. Twenty patients (45%) developed neuropathy, including 4 (9%) with grade 3 neuropathy episodes, and 1 patient developed deep vein thrombosis. CONCLUSIONS: BTD was highly effective and well tolerated as induction for MM patients who were eligible for ASCT. Long-term outcomes appeared to be similar with or without ASCT consolidation. Cancer 2010;116:3143–51. V C 2010 American Cancer
Ideology through sentiment analysis: A changing perspective on Russia and Islam in NYT:

This article continues the line of research that combines the paradigm of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) with quantitative methods. We propose that Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC), a so...
GENERATION TO GENERATION: LESSONS LEARNED FROM AN INTERGENERATIONAL COLLEGE SOCIAL CLUB

Traditional college-aged students have little opportunity to foster meaningful relationships with older adults. Coursework for gerontology students often focuses on difficulties in aging, including disease and decline. Students can easily miss getting to know older adults as vibrant individuals and may then treat them stereotypically in clinical settings. Generation to Generation, a gerontology elective at University of San Francisco (USF) for older (over age 55) and younger (18–30 year old) adults, promotes positive intergenerational contact. Results from the course suggest intergenerational interactions in a classroom setting increase younger adults’ positive attitudes toward older adults (Wagner, Dangerfield, & Rodriguez, 2014). When the course was not offered (instructor on sabbatical), previous students formed the Generation to Generation Club. The club held bi-monthly lunchtime discussions in which students from USF and the Fromm Institute for Lifelong Learning discussed topics ranging from dating to ballot propositions. In addition, a mentorship program matched 19 USF students with 19 Fromm students. Pairs communicated with the goal of getting to know someone outside their peer groups. Evaluation indicated that respondents enjoyed group discussions, the mentorship program, and wished to participate again. Challenges included coordinating times where members of both groups were available and encouraging continued attendance despite last-minute cancellations by individuals from both groups. The Generation to Generation social club model of discussion-based learning and personalized mentoring succeeded in stimulating intergenerational relationships and decreased stereotyping of each age group. Replication on college campuses with lifelong learning or at senior centers close to educational institutions is encouraged.
Hierarchical collaborative embedding for context-aware recommendations

In a variety of recommender systems, items, such as news or articles, are associated with text. Most of previous recommender systems learn item embeddings from the textual content by utilizing the bag-of-words technique. However, due to its limited ability to capture semantic meanings in the text, these methods lead to the shallow modeling of items. Recently proposed deep learning based methods try to overcome the limitation by leveraging Recurrent Neural Networks (RNN). Suffering from the problem of modeling long sequences for RNN, these methods are unable to effectively model items based on their textual content as well. In this paper, in order to overcome aforementioned limitations and accurately capture semantic meanings within the textual content, we propose Hierarchical Collaborative Embedding (HCE). HCE tightly couples a Hierarchical Recurrent Network (HRN) with Probabilistic Matrix Factorization (PMF) to provide top-N ranking lists of items for users. In the experiments, we show that HCE beats strong baselines by a wide margin on three real-world datasets.
Issues in Anti-infective Management

Early antimicrobial therapy to patients with hematologic malignancies has been shown to improve their survival and outcomes. Structured properly, an institution-wide anti-infective program can improve the efficient management of infections with minimized toxicities in a cost-effective manner. Program objectives should encompass standardized approaches to antimicrobial prescribing, systems that can predict potentially dangerous therapeutic toxicities, and monitoring to assess outcome successes. This is ever more critical with the emergence of antimicrobial resistant organisms, newer expensive antimicrobial agents, and the significant drug interactions between anti-infectives and chemotherapeutic agents. Patients with HIV-associated malignancies represent a special challenge because of the complexities involved in managing two concurrent diseases and the potential for drug interactions potentiating toxicities between highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) and many chemotherapy agents.
Food restriction modulates beta-adrenergic-sensitive adenylate cyclase in rat liver during aging

Adenylate cyclase activities were studied in rat liver during post-maturational aging of male Fischer 344 rats fed ad libitum or restricted to 60% of the ad libitum intake. Catecholamine (10(-5) M epinephrine, isoproterenol, or norepinephrine)-stimulated adenylate cyclase activity increased by 200-300% between 6 and 24-27 mo of age in ad libitum-fed rats, whereas in food-restricted rats catecholamine response increased by only 58-84% between 6 and 30 mo. In ad libitum-fed rats, glucagon (10(-5) M)-stimulated enzyme activity also increased by 40% between 6 and 12 mo and in restricted rats a similar age-related increase was delayed until 18 mo. beta-Adrenergic receptor density (Bmax, determined from saturation binding of the beta-adrenergic antagonist l-[125I]iodopindolol) increased by 50% between 6 and 24 mo in livers from ad libitum-fed but not food-restricted rats and showed a highly significant correlation with maximal isoproterenol-stimulated adenylate cyclase activity over the post-maturational life span. Age-related increases in unstimulated (basal) adenylate cyclase activity and nonreceptor-mediated enzyme activation (by guanine nucleotides, fluoride, and to a lesser extent forskolin) were retarded by food restriction. The results demonstrate that food restriction diminishes a marked age-related increase in beta-adrenergic-sensitive adenylate cyclase activity of rat liver. Alterations of adrenergic-responsive adenylate cyclase with age and the modulatory effects of food restriction appear to be mediated by changes in both receptor and nonreceptor components of adenylate cyclase.
Outcomes of Rotator Cuff Surgery: What Does the Evidence Tell Us?

Rotator cuff disease accounts for more than 4.5 million annual visits to a physician, and more than 75,000 surgical repairs are performed a year. Surgical techniques have evolved from all open repairs to all arthroscopic repairs being the most commonly used. The purpose of this article is to review the current evidence regarding the outcomes of surgical techniques in rotator cuff surgery. Reported outcomes have been favorable with open, mini-open, and arthroscopic repairs. Recently, a committee sponsored by the AAOS published a clinical practice guideline summary regarding the management of rotator cuff tears. The guidelines touched aspects of both nonoperative and operative repair. In regard to operative repair, the committee could not recommend a modality of surgical repair (eg, arthroscopic vs open) as a superior method, citing a lack of comparative studies. The theoretical advantage of arthroscopic surgery lies in smaller soft tissue dissection and the ability to evaluate and treat the glenohumeral joint. However, no study using patient-based outcomes has shown superiority compared with open or mini-open repairs. With the method of surgical repair not changing outcomes, investigation has recently focused on optimizing bone-tendon healing in rotator cuff repair. Double-row fixation allows for a more anatomic reapproximation of the rotator cuff footprint on the greater tuberosity versus single-row and has been shown to be biomechanically superior. Despite this, no clinical studies have shown superiority of one type of repair versus the other. The AAOS committee citing similar evidence gave a weak recommendation for the use of achieving tendon-to-bone healing with double-row fixation. Transosseous-equivalent repair, which provides a high compressive force on the tendon-to-bone interface of repair, is the newest fixation method under investigation to optimize healing. The use of collagen and biologic augmentation has gained interest as researchers are attempting to optimize rotator cuff healing. There is moderate evidence against the use of porcine small intestine submucosa xenograft patches. Other commercially available collagen augments have yet to be proven as either beneficial or detrimental. Other than PRP, which has not shown to have any benefit augmenting repair, no biologic augment has been investigated clinically. Overall, rotator cuff surgery portends a good outcome for appropriately selected patients. However, there is not much high-quality evidence-based research that can be used to conclude what surgical treatments are superior or appropriate for a given patient. Future research should be aimed at identifying whether and in whom rotator cuff healing is appropriate to better identify surgical candidates as well as to determine the best surgical repair strategy.
INFORMATION AS A NATIONAL ECONOMIC RESOURCE

This paper suggests that scientific and technical information (STI) naturally divides into two sets which must be treated differently for national policy purposes: fast-diffusing, which is a pure public good, and slow-diffusing, which is not, but which is the basis of competition in key high technology industries. It is argued that STI policy must be as mindful of the imbalances and bottlenecks which prevent STI from being transformed into national wealth as it is of the levels of STI produced. Skilled labor supply, capital availability, tariffs and patents as well as direct government subsidy for the production and dissemination of STI are discussed.
Four-Level Vertebrectomy for En Bloc Resection of a Cervical Chordoma.

Background Chordomas are locally aggressive tumors that can involve multiple levels of the spine and are difficult to resect. We present our technique for 4-level en bloc cervical spondylectomy for a locally aggressive chordoma. Case Description A 37-year-old woman presented with a 6-month history of dysphagia and a large indurated cervical mass. Imaging showed an enhancing lesion involving C3-6. Needle biopsy confirmed the diagnosis of chordoma. En bloc resection was chosen to maximize her chances of disease-free survival. A 360° approach was deemed necessary. We posteriorly disconnected the vertebral bodies and skeletonized the bilateral vertebral arteries and nerve roots. The interspinous and yellow ligaments and the spinous processes were spared to maintain a solid posterior tension band, as previously described approaches that had sacrificed these elements had a high rate of instrumentation failure. After posterior instrumentation, a wide anterior approach enabled us to resect the tumor attached to the vertebral bodies of C3-6 as 1 specimen. A 4-level corpectomy cage and plate were used for anterior instrumentation. The patient tolerated the surgery well. She needed a temporary gastrostomy, and she had a right C5 palsy that progressively recovered. Follow-up imaging showed no tumor recurrence and good bony fusion. Conclusions En bloc resection as part of a multidisciplinary team approach remains the mainstay of spinal chordoma treatment. Modern instrumentation and careful dissection can provide good results even in locally advanced cases.
#Handsupdontshoot: connective images and ethical witnessing

ABSTRACTIn the years since Michael Brown’s death, the hashtag #HandsUpDontShoot has been criticized for supposedly misrepresenting forensic evidence as framed by the Department of Justice. However, an expressive pull has kept alive both the hashtag and the sentiment behind it. The images of #HandsUpDontShoot are compelling in that they offer a glimpse into lived experiences that are often dismissed, ignored, or refuted. In this essay, I trace the aesthetic features of the #HandsUpDontShoot images, which foreground shocking juxtapositions between nonviolent protesters and militarized police forces, to the hashtag’s historical analogue: antilynching photography. Antilynching photography often utilized the aesthetic techniques of remediation, recontextualization, and juxtaposition—aesthetic features used prominently in today’s digital and remix cultures. By noting #HandsUpDontShoot’s use of these same techniques, I illuminate the ways in which Twitter’s connective affordances shape the viewer’s encounter wit...
Disagreement-based Active Learning in Online Settings.

We study online active learning for classifying streaming instances within the framework of statistical learning theory. At each time, the learner either queries the label of the current instance or predicts the label based on past seen examples. The objective is to minimize the number of queries while constraining the number of prediction errors over a horizon of length $T$. We develop a disagreement-based online learning algorithm for a general hypothesis space and under the Tsybakov noise. We show that the proposed algorithm has a label complexity of $O(dT^{\frac{2-2\alpha}{2-\alpha}}\log^2 T)$ under a constraint of bounded regret in terms of classification errors, where $d$ is the VC dimension of the hypothesis space and $\alpha$ is the Tsybakov noise parameter. We further establish a matching (up to a poly-logarithmic factor) lower bound, demonstrating the order optimality of the proposed algorithm. We address the tradeoff between label complexity and regret and show that the algorithm can be modified to operate at a different point on the tradeoff curve.
Lysozymes as Alternatives to β-lactams Antibiotics Acting on the Bacterial Wall

For a bacterium to enlarge its sacculus, there are many specialized steps that are not part of the growth strategies of plant or animal cells. Any of the biochemical steps unique to bacteria are potential targets that could be attacked by higher organisms and interfere or kill bacteria without harm to themselves. Such attacking agents would have no affect on non-bacterial organisms that produce the antibiotic substance. So antagonists have been developed over the last two billion years and are abundant in animals, plants, fungi, protozoa, and even a few bacteria. Here we briefly review the β-lactams, and then consider the lysozymes and their biology and compare the two.
Rethinking neoliberalism, rethinking social movements

Social movement scholars have not satisfactorily engaged with the concept and reality of neoliberalism. The growing academic consensus is that neoliberalism is a waning analytical category devoid o...
A systematic review of infection rates and associated antibiotic duration in acellular dermal matrix breast reconstruction.

In 2013, more than 95,000 breast reconstructions were performed in the United States, with nearly 79% being tissue expander- and/or implant-based surgical procedures.1 It has been reported that up to 56% of these cases use acellular dermal matrix (ADM).2 In contrast to total submuscular coverage, ADM-assisted breast reconstruction has several reported benefits including additional lower pole implant coverage, allowing the possibility of direct to implant reconstruction, increased tissue expander fill volumes at time of initial operation, and fewer expansions potentially decreasing the time to second-stage reconstruction. These potential benefits have been called into question in the recent literature,2,3 and new guidelines/protocols have been established to better define which patients are ideal candidates.4,5 Although ADM reconstruction may provide significant benefits, extensive controversy exists as to whether ADM itself increases overall complication risks. Multiple systematic reviews and meta-analyses have perpetuated the controversy of whether ADM increases overall complications when used in breast reconstruction.2,6-14 Surgical site infection remains a significant complication, with overall breast reconstruction rates ranging from 0% to 29%, with an average of 5.8% in a recent systematic review.15 Infection rates in ADM reconstruction have a similar broad range between 0% and 31%.16,17 This is significantly higher than the expected surgical site infection rate of a clean elective operation as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.18 The surgical placement of an implant under a nonvascularized dermal construct and poorly perfused mastectomy skin flaps has definite potential for increased complication rates. One non–evidence-based approach to this increased complication has been the use of postoperative antibiotics by up to 72% of surgeons.19 Prolonged antibiotics have been associated with systemic side effects, drug-resistant bacteria, and Clostridium difficile colitis and, in general, should not be used longer than 24 hours postoperatively.20 Many antibiotic protocols are described in the plastic surgery literature without a general consensus on terminology or duration, and frequently antibiotics are given longer than the recommended 24 hours. The purpose of this study was to perform a systematic review of the literature, examining the surgical site infection rates and associated antibiotic protocols in ADM-assisted breast reconstruction.
Engineering lattice metamaterials for extreme property, programmability, and multifunctionality

Making materials lightweight while attaining a desirable combination of mechanical, thermal, and other physical properties is the “holy grail” of material science. Lattice materials, because of their porous structures and well-defined unit cell geometries, are suitable candidates to achieve lightweight with precisely tailored material properties. Aided by additive manufacturing techniques, a variety of lattice metamaterials with exceptional and unusual properties have been fabricated recently, yet, the rational designs of lattice metamaterials with programmability and multifunctionality are still challenging topics. In this perspective, we identify three emerging directions for lattice metamaterials: (1) developing architected lattice metamaterials with extreme and unusual properties that are non-typical in bulk materials, (2) designing lattice metamaterials with programmable mechanical properties that respond differently at different environments, loading paths, or controls, and (3) exploiting lattice metamaterials with multifunction, including tailorable thermal, mechanical, optical, piezoelectric, and negative-index material properties. These emergent directions portend the transitioning of lattice metamaterials from the stage of conventional materials to smart, adaptive, and versatile materials, which provide solutions to realistic problems in transport systems, wearable devices, and robotics, and continue to push the boundary of possibilities of architected metamaterials.
Landing in the Post Qualitative

This essay considers the field of postqualitative inquiry alongside Bruno Latour’s arguments for a new political landscape in his book Down to Earth. The postqualitative movement and Latour provide...
Hallucinogens and Psychedelics

Hallucinogens are drugs that alter perception of reality. In high-enough doses, these psychedelic or psychomimetic drugs can induce illusions, hallucinations, or delusions. The hallucinogenic state is characterized by heightened awareness of sensory input, a sense of a divided self, and feelings not experienced outside of dreams or religious experiences. Most hallucinogens are plant alkaloids and function as 5-HT2A receptor agonists. Hallucinogens can be divided into indolylalkylamines and phenylalkylamines. This chapter encompasses the history, synthesis, drug abuse patterns, pharmacology, metabolism, detection and analysis, and toxicological interpretation of classic hallucinogenic compounds, including phencyclidine (PCP), lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), mescaline, psilocybin, and ketamine. More recently, synthetic analogs have also emerged in the illicit drug market as novel psychoactive substances, including analogs of PCP, mescaline (2C and NBOMe types), and ketamine. While PCP may be considered a dissociative anesthetic and ketamine is used as another anesthetic, they are abused for their hallucinogenic properties and are therefore discussed in detail in this chapter.
Finite-Range Calculations of the j Dependence of ( 12 C, 11 B) and ( 16 O, 15 N) on 62 Ni

Full finite-range calculations, including recoil effects exactly, have been performed for single-proton-transfer reactions on $^{62}\mathrm{Ni}$. Projectiles of $^{16}\mathrm{O}$ and $^{12}\mathrm{C}$ are considered. It is found that the ratios of cross sections leading to the ground and first excited states in $^{63}\mathrm{Cu}$ are in good agreement with experiment. This is not true when recoil is neglected.
Risk Factors for SARS-CoV-2 Seropositivity in a Health Care Worker Population

Abstract Background Protecting health care workers (HCWs) during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is essential. Serologic testing can identify HCWs who had minimally symptomatic severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections that were missed by occupational screening based on daily symptom and temperature checks. Recent studies report conflicting results regarding the impact of occupational factors on SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity amongst HCWs. Methods The study population included all hospital workers at an academic medical center in Orange County, California. SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity was assessed from a fingerstick blood specimen using a coronavirus antigen microarray, which compares IgM and IgG antibodies against a panel of SARS-CoV-2 antigens with positive and negative controls to identify prior SARS-CoV-2 infection with 98% specificity and 93% sensitivity. Demographic, occupational, and clinical factors were surveyed and their effect on seropositivity estimated using multivariable logistic regression analysis. Results Amongst 1,557 HCWs with complete data, SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity was 10.8%. Risk factors for increased seropositivity included male gender, exposure to COVID-19 outside of work, working in food or environmental services, and working in COVID-19 units. Amongst the 1,103 HCW who were seropositive but missed by occupational screening, additional risk factors included younger age and working in administration. Conclusions SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity is significantly higher than reported case counts even amongst HCWs who are meticulously screened. Seropositive HCWs missed by occupational screening were more likely to be younger, work roles without direct patient care, or have COVID-19 exposure outside of work. Key Points SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity risk factors amongst health care workers included male gender, nonoccupational exposure, food or environmental services role, and COVID-19 unit location. Those missed by occupational screening were younger, in roles without direct patient care, or exposed outside of work.
Social media information and peer-to-peer accommodation during an infectious disease outbreak

Abstract Although social media information significantly affects tourists and the tourism industry, the relationships between these factors in times of crisis remain unexplored. This exploratory study measured the impact of social media posts on the supply and demand aspects of peer-to-peer accommodation during the Zika virus epidemic in Miami‒a major tourism hub in the southeastern U.S. Three information models considering the types of and user reactions to social media posts were proposed. The results showed that public posts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention significantly affected Airbnb bookings and the average daily rate for bookings. Specifically, Airbnb bookings were strongly negatively associated with the frequency of photo posts, while the average daily rate was strongly negatively associated with the frequency of video posts. Furthermore, there were changes in the social media impacts on the supply of and demand for Airbnb rentals over time. The findings of this study can help tourism practitioners and policymakers develop effective information-based tourism crisis management strategies during infectious disease outbreaks.
Citizen Preferences and Public Goods: Comparing Preferences for Foreign Aid and Government Programs in Uganda1

Debate over the effectiveness of foreign aid has raged on despite a paucity of information about recipients’ actual views of development assistance, especially as citizens compare aid to domestic government programs. We argue that citizens may see foreign aid as an escape from clientelism because aid is less politicized than government programs, citizens trust donors more, and they support aid conditionality. They may also favor multilateral donors over bilateral donors for similar reasons. We test the argument with a randomized experiment on a subject pool of roughly 3,600 Ugandan citizens – to our knowledge the first nationally representative, large-n study of aid recipients. We randomly assigned the project funders – multilateral banks, bilateral donors, and a control implying the domestic government – for actual co-financed “pipeline” projects and invited citizens to sign a petition and send a text message in support. We find that citizens are significantly more willing to sign a petition or send a text message in favor of foreign aid projects compared to government programs. A companion survey to the experiment reveals evidence that citizens perceive aid as less prone to politicization. Some evidence suggests that Ugandans also see multilateral donors as superior to bilaterals. The findings suggest that recipients view foreign aid as relatively effective compared to domestic government programs.
A Next Generation Ultra Short Pulse Reflectometer Plasma Diagnostic

Ultrashort Pulse Reflectometry (USPR) is a plasma diagnostic technique involving the propagation of a number of ultrashort duration (~few nsec) chirps. A next generation USPR system is under development, spanning 28 to 75 GHz, for use on compact, short duration, magnetically-confined fusion devices.
Migrant-health inequity as a consequence of poor Siracusa Principles implementation in the COVID-19 era

The Siracusa Principles dictate that restrictions on the rights of individuals or a group of individuals in the name of public health safety should be strictly necessary and be least intrusive to reach their objective. While social distancing measures have proven to abide by the Siracusa Principles to a larger extent, they have failed to meet the laws of distributive justice, which requires limiting unfair or inequitably personal and economic burdens on the nation’s inhabitants. While employing social distancing measures, the principle of reciprocity also obliges governments to provide the people living within their borders with the necessities of life. Although asylum-seekers, refugees, and undocumented migrants already disproportionately bear the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic, poor application of the Siracusa Principles in social distancing measures seems to intensify their vulnerabilities. We argue that while implementing public health measures that could potentially impact the lives and livelihoods of the people living within the nation, considerations should also be paid to minority groups such as asylum-seekers, refugees, and undocumented migrants. We propose that the application of the social distancing measures should be ‘migration-aware’, adopting interventions, policies, and setting systems that embed migration as a central concern in their design.
Wasted Food: U.S. Consumers' Reported Awareness, Attitudes, and Behaviors.

The U.S. wastes 31 to 40% of its post-harvest food supply, with a substantial portion of this waste occurring at the consumer level. Globally, interventions to address wasted food have proliferated, but efforts are in their infancy in the U.S. To inform these efforts and provide baseline data to track change, we performed a survey of U.S. consumer awareness, attitudes and behaviors related to wasted food. The survey was administered online to members of a nationally representative panel (N=1010), and post-survey weights were applied. The survey found widespread (self-reported) awareness of wasted food as an issue, efforts to reduce it, and knowledge about how to do so, plus moderately frequent performance of waste-reducing behaviors. Three-quarters of respondents said they discard less food than the average American. The leading motivations for waste reduction were saving money and setting an example for children, with environmental concerns ranked last. The most common reasons given for discarding food were concern about foodborne illness and a desire to eat only the freshest food. In some cases there were modest differences based on age, parental status, and income, but no differences were found by race, education, rural/urban residence or other demographic factors. Respondents recommended ways retailers and restaurants could help reduce waste. This is the first nationally representative consumer survey focused on wasted food in the U.S. It provides insight into U.S. consumers’ perceptions related to wasted food, and comparisons to existing literature. The findings suggest approaches including recognizing that many consumers perceive themselves as being already-knowledgeable and engaged, framing messages to focus on budgets, and modifying existing messages about food freshness and aesthetics. This research also suggests opportunities to shift retail and restaurant practice, and identifies critical research gaps.
Fracture Behavior of a 3-D Braid Graphite/Epoxy Composite:

An exploratory study of the fracture behavior and notch sensitivity of a 4-step, 3-D braid-reinforced graphite/epoxy composite has been made. Test methods based on the Mode I compact tension specimen were developed and lower bounds for the damage initiating force and the work of fracture were determined for certain notch-to-braid axis orientations. These values are higher than for laminate composites but showed severe anisotropy. Complementary in-situ and post-mortem optical and scanning electron microscopy were used to identify microstructural failure controlling features and to develop a volume-to-surface structural mapping strategy useful in accounting for some of the observed features of the failure process.