cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
NEPTUNE Power System: Detection and Location of Switch Malfunctions and High Impedance Faults

NEPTUNE (North-East Pacific Time-series Undersea Networked Experiments) is an underwater power and communications network for scientific experiments. It is proposed for the ocean floor of the Juan de Fuca tectonic plate in the Northeast Pacific Ocean. The backbone of NEPTUNE network is composed of fiber optic/power cable sections connected by switches in branching units (BUs). Spur cables extend from BUs to science nodes, powering and communicating with various scientific instruments and underwater vehicles. The focus of this paper is the detection and location of possible switch malfunctions in the BUs or high impedance faults on the backbone cables. The challenges are the fact that the voltage and current measurements are not available in the BUs, therefore the current differential algorithm normally adopted in a terrestrial power system for solving similar problems is not applicable. In this paper, the configuration of the NEPTUNE power system is first introduced and the challenges to system design resulting from its location on the seafloor are addressed. The proposed algorithm, which is based on the voltage and current measurements collected at the science nodes, is then explained and analyzed. Since all measurements in reality contain errors, the impact of random errors on the fault detection and location is discussed. It is shown through computer simulations on a simplified NEPTUNE network model that the proposed algorithm is effective and accurate.
Modes of propagation in a bounded compressible plasma

The boundary condition which requires the vanishing of the normal component of electron velocity is shown to lead to results which are consistent with cold-plasma theory if the temperature is sufficiently low. This fact is demonstrated by examining the modes in a parallel-plate waveguide filled with compressible plasma.
Momentum transfer and total scattering cross sections for ions with polar molecules

The scattering of ions by polar molecules has been studied using numerical techniques. Because of the long range potential of interaction the scattering cross sections are very large. The total scattering cross section and rotational energy transfer cross section are of the order of thousands of A2 for the cases studied. The momentum transfer cross sections are 1.3 to 2.0 times the capture cross sections in contrast to the σm/σc=1.105 for Langevin collisions. However, the scattered intensity I(θ) at impact parameters less than 20A can be quite anisotropic because of the nature of single reflection collisions.
Successful Quadruplet Pregnancy Following Ovulation Induced with Human Menopausal Gonadotropin and Human Chorionic Gonadotropin

Induction of ovulation in anovulatory patients with gonadotropins has significantly increased the incidence of multiple gestations. A quadruplet gestation that occurred after induction of ovulation with human menopausal gonadotropin (HMG) and human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) is described. All infants have survived, and have developed normally. The management of multiple gestations creates special problems for the Obstetrician. Early diagnosis and correct management with complete bedrest and hospitalization of the patient are essential for a successful outcome. Control of the patient with urinary estriols, ultrasound and daily vital signs are most helpful. Organization of an alert perinatal staff composed of Obstetricians, Pediatricians, and Anesthesiologists contributes to fetal salvage. Problems during the antepartum and intrapartum care are discussed.
Policies to Protect Persons With Dementia in Assisted Living: Déjà Vu All Over Again?

Continued growth in the number of individuals with dementia residing in assisted living (AL) raises concerns about their safety and protection. In this Forum, we review current AL practices relevant to residents with dementia and present a rationale for examining the government role in protecting these individuals within this context. Since public oversight of AL is currently a state prerogative, we assess states’ regulatory activity across 3 domains closely related to safety and protection of persons with dementia: environmental features, staffing, and use of chemical restraints. We then step back to consider the state policymaking environment and assess the feasibility of developing a minimum standard of regulations from one state to the next. This Forum concludes with a historical comparison between the contemporary AL market and the nursing home care market prior to the Nursing Home Reform Act of 1987, and we discuss how an increased amount of federal interest could improve existing state efforts to protect persons with dementia residing in AL.
Endothelial cell pseudopods and angiogenesis of breast cancer tumors

Background A neoplastic tumor cannot grow beyond a millimeter or so in diameter without recruitment of endothelial cells and new blood vessels to supply nutrition and oxygen for tumor cell survival. This study was designed to investigate formation of new blood vessels within a human growing breast cancer tumor model (MDA MB231 in mammary fat pad of nude female mouse). Once the tumor grew to 35 mm3, it developed a well-vascularized capsule. Histological sections of tumors greater than 35 mm3 were stained with PAS, with CD-31 antibody (an endothelial cell maker), or with hypoxia inducible factor 1α antibody (HIF). The extent of blood vessel and endothelial cell pseudopod volume density was measured by ocular grid intercept counting in the PAS stained slides.
Rheology of a dilute emulsion of surfactant-covered spherical drops

Abstract The rheology of a diluted emulsion of surfactant-covered spherical drops has been investigated. A diluted film of insoluble surfactant is assumed. A matrix formulation of the problem is derived and analyzed by perturbation expansions for low- and high-shear rates, and for high-viscosity drops; the high-viscosity expansion converges rapidly for a wide range of parameters. Our theory provides a quantitative description of shear thinning and normal stress differences that occur as a result of surfactant redistribution.
New results on regulation of nonlinear systems in power chained form

We address the problem of global asymptotic regulation (GAR) for a class of high-order nonholonomic systems in power chained form, which are a natural extension of the nonholonomic systems in chained form that has received considerable attention. The system under consideration is not necessarily affine in the control variables and therefore cannot be handled by most of the existing methods. In this paper, restrictive growth conditions imposed in our previous work are removed and a switching state feedback control law is explicitly constructed, using the addition of a power integrator technique proposed previously.
Indestructible Strong Compactness and Level by Level Equivalence with No Large Cardinal Restrictions

We construct a model for the level by level equivalence between strong compactness and supercompactness with an arbitrary large cardinal structure in which the least supercompact cardinal has its strong compactness indestructible under -directed closed forcing. This is in analogy to and generalizes [3, Theorem 1], but without the restriction that no cardinal is supercompact up to an inaccessible cardinal.
When Does Life Begin for Tax Purposes

I have written before about what I call "tax myopia" - the tax law's failure to consider insights from other areas of law that would inform the tax debate. (Tax Myopia, 13 Va. Tax Rev. 517 (1994); http://ssrn.com/abstract=799007). One illustration of this theme is how the tax law has ignored insights from other areas of law on perhaps the dominant social issue of our time: when does human life begin? The question was addressed in two tax cases decided over 55 years ago, and then revisited recently. Although Wilson v. Commissioner, 41 B.T.A. 456 (1940), refused to treat an unborn child as a person for purposes of the income tax dependency exemption, Faulkner v. Commissioner, 41 B.T.A. 875 (1940), treated as unborn child as a person for purposes of the gift tax annual exclusion. The Board of Tax Appeals justified the different results on the ground that the dependency exemption benefitted the parents while the annual exclusion benefitted the unborn child. In subsequent rulings, the Service has rejected this distinction and refused to treat unborn children as persons for both income tax and gift tax purposes. In Cassman v. United States, 31 Fed. Cl. 121 (1994), the Court of Federal Claims recently denied the dependency exemption for an unborn child but accepted the Board's facile distinction permitting unborn children to be treated as persons for tax purposes where they benefit from that treatment. Cassman thus perpetuates the schizophrenic state of the tax law in this area and ignores both basic tax principles and nontax considerations in addressing this pivotal issue.
Use of hierarchical decision modeling to select target markets for a new personal healthcare device

Abstract A new product is being developed by a multinational firm for personal asthma management that the patient can wear as an ambulatory device. This device will provide guidance and support for the prevention of exacerbations, the major cause of asthma attacks. However, introducing a device to the medical market is a long multistage and expensive process due to regulatory and reimbursement requirements. The firm desires to target initial niche markets for a subset of this product. This may be a better approach than bearing the high expense for the one time effort of only entering the medical market. Several initial niche markets appear attractive. These include: home care, asthma management, fitness/lifestyle, wellness, and hospital care. The question is, “Which one is more attractive?” By formulating this decision problem as a hierarchical decision model (HDM) with the different niche markets as the alternatives and selecting various levels of criteria we were able to address this question. An expert panel consisting of the firm׳s executive and operational management, subject matter experts, and external industry analysts was selected to obtain its collective judgments. The results representing the expert panel׳s judgment indicated that asthma management and home care markets were most attractive and the other three were given less relative importance. Intermediate results were also of interest, such as the relative importance of: market, financial, product, and corporate alignment objectives; regions within the market objectives; and decision elements that contributed to both financial and product objectives.
Exercise induces a transient increase in transcription of the GLUT-4 gene in skeletal muscle

Endurance exercise training elicits an increase in mitochondrial density as well as GLUT-4 glucose transporter protein content in skeletal muscle. Corresponding increases in mRNA for respiratory enzymes and GLUT-4 indicate that pretranslational control mechanisms are involved in this adaptive process. To directly test whether transcription of the GLUT-4 gene is activated in response to exercise training, nuclei were isolated from red hindlimb skeletal muscle of rats after 1 wk of exercise training (8% grade, 32 m/min, 40 min, twice/day). Rats were killed either 30 min, 3 h, or 24 h after the last training session. GLUT-4 transcription, determined by nuclear run-on analysis, was unaltered after 30 min, increased by 1.8-fold after 3 h, but was no longer different from controls 24 h after exercise. A similar transient increase in GLUT-4 transcription was evident, but less pronounced (1.4-fold), in untrained rats after a single bout of exercise, suggesting that the postexercise induction in GLUT-4 gene transcription is enhanced by exercise training. GLUT-4 protein content was increased 1.7-fold after 1 wk of training in the absence of any corresponding change in GLUT-4 mRNA, providing evidence that the initial increase in GLUT-4 expression involves translational and/or posttranslational control mechanisms. These findings demonstrate that muscle GLUT-4 expression in response to exercise training is subject to both transcriptional and posttranscriptional regulation. We propose that the increase in GLUT-4 mRNA evident with extended periods of training may result from a shift to pretranslational control and is the cumulative effect of repeated postexercise transient increases in GLUT-4 gene transcription.
Arm Motions in the Horizontal Plane

Abstract The principles of motion economy, “Motions of the arms should be made in opposite and symmetrical directions, and should be made simultaneously”, and, “Eye fixations should be as few and as close together as possible”, are evaluated. The two principles are replaced with five principles: 1. For one-hand motions, movements which pivot about the elbow are preferred to movements which pivot about the shoulder. 2. For one-hand motions, movements with the preferred hand are more desirable than movements with the non-preferred hand. 3. Two-hand motions are preferred to one-hand motions. 4. For two-hand motions, simultaneous motions are preferred to alternating motions. 5. For two-hand simultaneous motions, a pattern which minimizes eye fixations is preferred.
Improving alcohol screening for college students: Screening for alcohol misuse amongst college students with a simple modification to the CAGE questionnaire.

ABSTRACTObjective: To improve the CAGE (Cut down, Annoyed, Guilty, Eye opener) questionnaire's predictive accuracy in screening college students. Participants: The sample consisted of 219 midwestern university students who self-administered a confidential survey. Methods: Exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, receiver operating characteristics (ROC), and Cronbach's alpha were used to analyze factor structure, validity, and reliability. Results: The modified CAGE correctly classified students with alcohol abuse (“AA students”; area under the curve [AUC] = 0.7765) and students with alcohol dependency (“AD students”; AUC = 0.8392) more often than CAGE (AA students: AUC = 0.6977; AD students: AUC = 0.7437), and these differences are statistically significant (AA students: χ2(1) = 14.72, p < .001; AD students: χ2(1) = 7.71, p < .01). Using 2-point cut scores, CAGE correctly identified 59.38% of AD students as AD, whereas the modified CAGE correctly identified 87% of AD students as AD. Usin...
Slavery, Philosophy, and American Literature, 1830–1860: Melville and the state of war

Given a sufficient sense of purpose, it is possible to make all philosophy political – to embed even transcendental abstractions in temporal conditions, to evaluate the merits of theoretical speculation according to practical consequences, and to locate all intellectual efforts against a political horizon. Conversely, all politics can be made philosophical insofar as every ideological position implies an epistemology, and subjectivity describes both a way of knowing and a way of living in the world. Poe's metaphysics of slavery and race, Stowe's search for sentimental authority, Douglass's deployment of Scottish commonsense for emancipatory ends – all try to reconcile philosophy and politics, metaphysical theory and social practice, even if such reconciliation proves impossible to attain. That said, the writings treated thus far are not exactly political philosophy, at least not as the subject was typically pursued in the antebellum United States. Though disciplinary boundaries were to some degree fluid, political philosophers before the Civil War focused on sovereignty, representation, contract, and natural rights, even as they discovered that such traditional concepts could not mediate the slavery crisis. Part of the problem, according to the erstwhile socialist and lapsed transcendentalist Orestes Brownson, was that Americans were not good theoreticians, “Notwithstanding the very general and even absorbing interest which the great mass of American citizens take in political matters, … politics as a science is / body of future readersalmost entirely unknown and unheeded among us.”
Things No One Will Tell Fat Girls: A Handbook for Unapologetic Living, by Jes Baker

Jes Baker’s new book, Things No One Will Tell Fat Girls (2015), is “for all the fat girls who have no idea that they are absolutely perfect.” That’s exactly the audience for this book. Fat girls—an...
Introduction and Historical Background

Numbers have exerted a fascination on the human mind since the beginnings of recorded history. Among the treasures of Egyptian antiquity we find the famous Rhind papyrus [6], which tells us about the mathematics practiced in Egypt almost 2000 years B.c. Still older cuneiform tablets (see [5]) show us that arithmetic, at least, was already quite sophisticated in Mesopotamia at the end of the third millenium b.c.
Mercury Chalcohalide Semiconductor Hg3Se2Br2 for Hard Radiation Detection

Hg3Se2Br2 is a wide band gap semiconductor (2.22 eV) with high density (7.598 g/cm3) and crystallizes in the monoclinic space group C2/m with cell parameters of a = 17.496 (4) A, b = 9.3991 (19) A, c = 9.776(2) A, β = 90.46(3)°, V = 1607.6(6) A3. It melts congruently at a low temperature, 566 °C, which allows for an easy single crystal growth directly from the stoichiometric melt. Single crystals of Hg3Se2Br2 up to 1 cm long have been grown using the Bridgman method. Hg3Se2Br2 single crystals exhibit a strong photocurrent response when exposed to Ag X-ray and blue diode laser. The resistivity of Hg3Se2Br2 measured by the two probe method is on the order of 1011 Ω·cm, and the mobility-lifetime product (μτ) of the electron and hole carriers estimated from the energy spectroscopy under Ag X-ray radiation are (μτ)e ≈ 1.4 × 10–4 cm2/V and (μτ)h ≈ 9.2 × 10–5 cm2/V. Electronic structure calculations at the density functional theory level indicate a direct band gap and a relatively small effective mass for carrie...
Purification of 26S Proteasomes and Their Subcomplexes from Plants

The 26S proteasome is a highly dynamic, multisubunit, ATP-dependent protease that plays a central role in cellular housekeeping and many aspects of plant growth and development by degrading aberrant polypeptides and key cellular regulators that are first modified by ubiquitin. Although the 26S proteasome was originally enriched from plants over 30 years ago, only recently have significant advances been made in our ability to isolate and study the plant particle. Here, we describe two robust methods for purifying the 26S proteasome and its subcomplexes from Arabidopsis thaliana; one that involves conventional chromatography techniques to isolate the complex from wild-type plants, and another that employs the genetic replacement of individual subunits with epitope-tagged variants combined with affinity purification. In addition to these purification protocols, we describe methods commonly used to analyze the activity and composition of the complex.
Assessing the performance of C-SPECT cardiac tomographer using GATE-based Monte Carlo simulations

We construct three-dimensional GATE-based models of the C-SPECT proposed cardiac tomographer and of a typical dual-head gamma camera. The models are used to compare the two systems performance in geometric efficiency and image reconstruction. A digital phantom that includes a cylindrical annulus that emulates the myocardium is used for imaging. The working example of C-SPECT is not representing the final optimized design. Maximizing the number of nonoverlapping projections coming from the C-SPECT slits, we confirm that C-SPECT demonstrates an improvement by a factor of 2.5 in system geometric efficiency compared to the dual-head camera. For statistics close to a clinical acquisition, and for a resolution in the center of the FOV close to 9.5 mm, C-SPECT's higher sensitivity results in better contrast in the center of FOV, but decreased uniformity (due to angular undersampling) in the cylindrical annulus for the given high spatial resolution. The artifacts are removed when we double the angular sampling by acquiring half the data after a 7-degree rotation of the phantom. The improvement in system geometric efficiency can eventually lead to faster imaging, lower patient dose, or improved quality of myocardium images. Our modeling and simulations infrastructure will be used for the final optimization of C-SPECT.
Curcumin promotes the oncoltyic capacity of vesicular stomatitis virus for the treatment of prostate cancers

Vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) matrix (M) protein mutants have been studied as oncolytic agents due to their capacity to effectively kill cancer cells while exhibiting low virulence in vivo. Despite encouraging results, many cancer cells maintain resistance to oncolytic VSV mutants in part due to residual antiviral responses. We sought to determine whether combination of VSV with natural agents with anti-tumor properties, such as curcumin, resveratrol, and flavokavain B, would enhance tumor cell killing in a prostate cancer model. Our results revealed that pretreatment with curcumin potentiated VSV-induced oncolysis of PC-3 prostate cancer cells in cell culture and in a mouse model of prostate cancer. The ability of curcumin to synergize with VSV in PC-3 cells correlated with a cumulative decrease in the expression of the anti-apoptotic protein, Bcl-xl, and in the phosphorylation of NF-κB. Although curcumin did not impact the expression of type I IFN in infected cells, it inhibited the phosphorylation and activation of STAT1, a key player in the IFN response pathway, leading to an overall increase in virus-infected cells. These results suggest that curcumin sensitizes prostate cancer cells to the oncolytic effects of VSV by modulating antiviral responses and components of the intrinsic apoptotic pathway.
Comparison of Cerebrospinal Fluid Opening Pressure in Children With Demyelinating Disease to Children With Primary Intracranial Hypertension.

The authors aimed to compare the opening pressures of children with demyelinating disease to children with primary intracranial hypertension. Medical records were reviewed for a primary diagnosis o...
Intensive Immunosuppression Plus T-Cell Depleted Autologous Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Transplantation for Systemic Sclerosis.

Autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (PBSCT) may be therapeutic in patients (pts) with severe autoimmune disorders. A pre-PBSCT regimen that optimizes immunosuppression without excessive myelotoxicity would potentially have favorable safety and efficacy profiles in these pts. To test this hypothesis we are conducting a phase I trial of cyclophosphamide (CY) dose escalation (initial CY dose 200 mg/m 2 /day x 5, days −7 to −3) plus fludarabine (25 mg/m 2 /day x 5, days −7 to −3) and rabbit anti-thymocyte globulin (ATG; 2.5 mg/kg/day x 3, days −5 to −3) followed by T-cell depleted (TCD) autologous PBSCT in adults with systemic sclerosis (SSc). To date, 5 pts (2 male, 3 female; median age, 44 yr; range, 39–59 yr) have undergone TCD PBSCT. Each pt had satisfactory PBSC collection with one 4-hr large-volume leukapheresis (LVL) after mobilization with CY (2.0 g/m 2 ) plus G-CSF. Mean yields of CD34+ and CD3+ cells by LVL were 18.8 (range, 10.5–33.0) x 10 6 /kg and 1.23 (range, 0.37–2.45) x 10 8 /kg, respectively. To deplete T cells in the PBSC product we used a combination of CD34+ selection (Isolex 300i v 2.5; Baxter Oncology) and ex vivo incubation with anti-CD3 antibody (OKT3; Ortho Biotech), which resulted in a mean 5.2-log reduction of T cells (range, 4.7–6.3 log). The final PBSC products contained a mean of 9.94 (range, 4.8–13.0) x 10 6 CD34+ cells/kg and 1.34 (range, 0.06–4.54) x 10 3 CD3+ cells/kg. The daily dose of CY was 200 mg/m 2 in the first 3 pts and 400 mg/m 2 in the next 2 pts. Using rare-event flow cytometry, we found that the mean half-life (t 1/2 ) of CD3+ cells in these pts was biphasic; t 1/2 was 0.8 days from day −7 to −5 and 0.2 days from −5 to −3 days, correlating with ATG administration. In contrast, the mean t 1/2 of CD3+ cells was 2.5 days in pts with hematologic malignancies receiving a myeloablative preparative regimen of CY, busulfan and etoposide. After PBSCT, the median nadir of WBC, neutrophil and platelet levels were 1.2 (range, 0.4–2.0), 0.9 (range, 0.1–1.7) and 135 (range, 114–185) x 10 9 /L, respectively. One pt at the second CY dose level developed pericardial effusion and tamponade at day +5 and required surgical intervention. No pts developed opportunistic infections. All pts are alive at a median of 6.5 + months (range, 4.9 + –15.5 + months) after PBSCT. Compared with pre-PBSCT levels, Rodnan total skin score (TSS) decreased by 10, 11 and 15 points, respectively, in 3 pts and increased by 5 and 8 points in 2 pts. One pt with worsening TSS at 12 months after PBSCT developed SSc renal crisis and requires hemodialysis. Of 3 pts with improved TSS, 1 has worsening polymyositis and 1 has recurrence of palpable tendon friction rubs. Even at the lowest CY dose, this immunosuppressive regimen provides significantly greater and more rapid T-cell kill than a conventional myeloablative regimen. The efficacy of this regimen and TCD-PBSCT in SSc is encouraging but requires longer followup and experience with a larger number of pts.
Volume-Outcome Relationship After 1 and 2 Level Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion

Objective To investigate the effects of surgeon volume on inpatient morbidity after 1- and 2-level anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF). Methods Data from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample from 2009 were extracted. All adult patients who underwent an elective 1- or 2-level ACDF for degenerative cervical spine disease were identified. Surgeon volume was analyzed as a continuous and categorical variable: very low ( Results Eleven thousand two hundred forty-nine admissions were analyzed. The overall complication rate was 4.7%, and the surgical complication rate was 1.2%. Following regression analysis, increasing surgeon volume (evaluated continuously) was independently associated with lower odds of overall complication (odds ratio [OR], 0.99; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.98–0.99; P P = 0.004). Surgeons with very high volume (performing 48 or more procedures per year; 4 or more per month) showed a significant decrease in overall complications (OR, 0.58; 95% CI, 0.41–0.84; P = 0.003) and surgical complications (OR, 0.52; 95% CI, 0.25–0.99; P = 0.041) when compared to surgeons with very low volume. Conclusion In this study, increasing surgeon volume was independently associated with significantly lower odds of perioperative complications following 1- and 2-level ACDF. Performing 4 or more procedures per month was associated with the lowest complication rate.
From Mineral Surfaces and Coreflood Experiments to Reservoir Implementations: Comprehensive Review of Low-Salinity Water Flooding (LSWF)

Low-salinity water flooding (LSWF) is an emerging and inexpensive enhanced oil recovery (EOR) method. The technique hinges on the following concept: as salinity of injected water reduces, additional oil is recovered. However, LSWF remains emerging because its underlying mechanisms have been largely elusive, and the identified ones have been controversial. If properly investigated, smart water injection may contribute to harnessing both heavy-oil reservoirs, which account for nearly 80% of world’s petroleum reserves, and conventional light-to-medium oil reservoirs. This report presents a comprehensive review of low-salinity water injection as an EOR method, with a specific focus on consistencies or lack of them, that occurs primarily due to inadequate understanding of oil–brine and rock–oil–brine interactions. In presenting well-documented scientific information, we expect to apprise industry and academic researchers that LSWF warrants more-advanced research based on interdisciplinary approach (bridging th...
The Interplay of Accretionary and Attritionary Tectonics along the California Margin

The North American Cordilleran orogen consists of a structurally complex mountainous region which runs along the western edge of the continent for over 5000 km between Alaska and Mexico. Recent syntheses of structural, stratigraphic, paleobiogeographic, and paleomagnetic data have demonstrated that much of the orogen was constructed in Jurassic through early Tertiary time by the tectonic accretion of an assortment of crustal fragments with length scales ranging up to 1000 km (Monger and Ross, 1971; Davis et al., 1978; Beck, 1980; Coney et al., 1980; Saleeby, 1983). The California segment of the orogen is unique in that the volume of accreted materials is significantly less than what is typically preserved to the north, and the western limits of Proterozoic North American crust extend nearly to the present continent edge. The limits of such ancient crust coincide with major structural breaks which represent a lineage of plate junctures. Such junctures include the modern transform system as well as ancient suture and truncation zones whose activity extends back into the Paleozoic.
Creating a taste for news: Historicizing Judeo-Spanish periodicals of the Ottoman Empire

This essay explores the cultural impact of Judeo-Spanish periodicalspublished in the Ottoman capital in the late nineteenth century andsituates this literary milieu within the political landscape of lateimperial Ottoman Jewish culture. In particular, it examines El Amigode la Familiya, an instructional journal published from 1881 to1886 by David Fresco, editor of the Judeo-Spanish daily ElTiempo (1872–1933). El Amigo de la Familiya, likeEl Tiempo, supported the Alliance Israelite Universelleand, in the spirit of this educational organization, encouraged readersto adopt the language and habits of the French bourgeoisie. To this end,El Amigo de la Familiya translated instructional literaturefrom contemporary French periodicals: advice on the grooming ofthe body, on child rearing and nutrition, on proper gender roles. Bytranslating such articles into Judeo-Spanish, El Amigo de laFamiliya produced a cultural synthesis that was neither French,Ottoman, nor (at least in so far as it has traditionally been defined)Jewish. The journal reveals, instead, a cultural landscape that was theunique product of late imperial Ottoman Jewry: the expression of aform of Jewishness and a form of acculturation unparalleled in Europe.
CRISPR-Cas systems are present predominantly on mobile genetic elements in Vibrio species

Bacteria are prey for many viruses that hijack the bacterial cell in order to propagate, which can result in bacterial cell lysis and death. Bacteria have developed diverse strategies to counteract virus predation, one of which is the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR) and CRISPR associated (Cas) proteins immune defense system. Species within the bacterial family Vibrionaceae are marine organisms that encounter large numbers of phages. Our goal was to determine the significance of CRISPR-Cas systems as a mechanism of defense in this group by investigating their prevalence, phylogenetic distribution, and genome context. Herein, we describe all the CRISPR-Cas system types and their distribution within the family Vibrionaceae. In Vibrio cholerae genomes, we identified multiple variant type I-F systems, which were also present in 41 additional species. In a large number of Vibrio species, we identified a mini type I-F system comprised of tniQcas5cas7cas6f, which was always associated with Tn7-like transposons. The Tn7-like elements, in addition to the CRISPR-Cas system, also contained additional cargo genes such as restriction modification systems and type three secretion systems. A putative hybrid CRISPR-Cas system was identified containing type III-B genes followed by a type I-F cas6f and a type I-F CRISPR that was associated with a prophage in V. cholerae and V. metoecus strains. Our analysis identified CRISPR-Cas types I-C, I-E, I-F, II-B, III-A, III-B, III-D, and the rare type IV systems as well as cas loci architectural variants among 70 species. All systems described contained a CRISPR array that ranged in size from 3 to 179 spacers. The systems identified were present predominantly within mobile genetic elements (MGEs) such as genomic islands, plasmids, and transposon-like elements. Phylogenetic analysis of Cas proteins indicated that the CRISPR-Cas systems were acquired by horizontal gene transfer. Our data show that CRISPR-Cas systems are phylogenetically widespread but sporadic in occurrence, actively evolving, and present on MGEs within Vibrionaceae.
Addition-type alkoxysilyl-substituted polynorbornenes for post-combustion carbon dioxide separations

Abstract The separation of CO2 from N2 using polymeric membranes has proven a particularly challenging task. One promising class of polymers for this application is alkoxysilyl-substituted vinyl-added polynorbornenes (VAPNBs), which are high Tg materials that often exhibit notable CO2/N2 separation performance. This performance is believed to arise from their anomalous behavior in which they display high levels of solubility selectivity, a trait more commonly encountered in rubbery polymers than high Tg glassy materials. Though this trait has been documented in literature, no systematic investigations have been reported that probe the relationship between alkoxysilyl-substituted VAPNB structure and their resultant gas separation behavior. Therefore, we herein describe the synthesis and evaluation of three sets of alkoxysilyl-substituted VAPNBs that are designed to probe distinct facets of their structure-transport relationships. This includes investigations into the effect that alkoxysilyl branching, chain length, and carbon linker length have on CO2/N2 permeability, solubility, and diffusivity.
Mechanistic Investigation of Haloacetic Acid Reduction Using Carbon-Ti4O7 Composite Reactive Electrochemical Membranes.

Carbon-Ti4O7 composite reactive electrochemical membranes (REMs) were studied for adsorption and electrochemical reduction of haloacetic acids (HAAs). Powder activated carbon (PAC) or multiwalled c...
Does computed tomography scan add any diagnostic value to the evaluation of stab wounds of the anterior abdominal wall? A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to evaluate whether computed tomography (CT) scan adds any diagnostic value in the evaluation of stab wounds of the anterior abdominal wall as compared with serial clinical examination (SCE). Methods PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, and MEDLINE via Ovid were systematically searched for records published from 1980 to 2018 by two independent researchers (M.G., R.L.). Quality assessment, data extraction, and analysis were performed according to the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions. Mantel-Haenszel method with odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) as the measure of effect size was used for meta-analysis. Results Three studies (1 randomized controlled trial and 2 observational studies) totaling 319 patients were included in the meta-analysis. Overall laparotomy rate was 12.8% (22 of 172 patients) in SCE versus 19% (28 of 147 patients) in CT. This difference was not significant (OR [95% CI], 0.63 [0.34-1.16]; p = 0.14). Negative laparotomy rate was 3.5% (6 of 172 patients) in SCE versus 5.4% (8 of 147 patients) in CT. The difference was not significant (OR [95% CI], 0.61 [0.20-1.83]; p = 0.37). Conclusion This meta-analysis compared SCE with CT scan in patients presenting with stab wounds of the anterior abdominal wall and provided level II evidence showing no additional benefit in CT scan. Further observational and experimental clinical studies are needed to confirm the findings of this meta-analysis. Level of evidence Systematic review and meta-analysis, level II.
Impact of Healthcare Access Disparities on Initial Diagnosis of Breast Cancer in the Emergency Department

Breast cancer continues to be the second leading cause of cancer deaths in women in the United States. This is more noticeable in communities with pronounced healthcare disparities. The aim of this study was to investigate the different demographics that might play a role in the detection of breast cancer in a county hospital emergency department (ED). A retrospective study was conducted of female patients diagnosed with breast cancer over a five-year period (1/1/2015 to 12/31/2018). Patients with breast cancer as the primary or secondary diagnosis were identified. This study shows that 66 (73.3%) women diagnosed in the ED were Hispanic or African American. There was a significant delay (a median of 461 days) in the time between the diagnosis of suspected breast cancer in the ED to their follow-up visit with definitive diagnosis in a primary care clinic. These findings suggest that women with a suspected breast cancer diagnosis who are seen in a safety net hospital and have Medicaid funding may have significant delays before final diagnosis is made. Patient demographics could have an impact on the patients' access to screening and regular healthcare visits, hindering an early breast cancer diagnosis by a primary care provider.
The HabEx Observatory: A Coronagraph and a Starshade for Exoplanet Science

The National Academies' 2020 Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics will provide a broad vision for future science in these disciplines and the Habitable Exoplanet Observatory (HabEx) is one of four major observatory missions extensively studied in preparation for the survey. HabEx is a space telescope with a 4 m diameter primary mirror, carrying a complement of two general astrophysics camera/spectrographs with coverage from the far UV to the near infrared as well as two key instruments for exoplanet science. These exoplanet instruments consist of a high performance coronagraph (that places stringent demands on the overall observatory design and performance) and a remote (tens of megameters distant) formation flying occulter, consisting of a 52 m diameter starshade deployed from a second launch vehicle. This paper discusses the specific features of the observatory that permit high contrast coronagraphy at the 10−10 contrast level and the design considerations for the coronagraph itself. The starshade design is discussed in the context of the current technology development activities being undertaken by NASA to bring starshade readiness up to TRL5.
Analysis of microstructural properties of ultrafiltration cake layer during its early stage formation and growth

Abstract Understanding the development of microstructure of cake layer during filtration can help establish effective operating conditions and membrane cleaning cycles. In this work, dynamic behavior of cake layers formed during early stage of ultrafiltration (UF) of colloids was analyzed in terms of cake porosity, fractal structure and evolution of fouling mechanisms. Experimental data on membrane fouling by SiO2 colloids under different conditions were recorded to study the effect of pH (1.0–8.9), salinity (0–3.5 %wt. NaCl) and nanoparticle concentration (30–1000 ppm). The results show time dependent behavior of cake porosity with a steady state value lower at lower pH and at higher salinity of the continuous phase. Multiple fouling mechanisms were identified to occur sequentially with cake filtration as the dominant mechanism. High fractal dimension (2.45–2.94) was obtained in all conditions tested. Fractal dimension of a growing cake is shown to undergo a sharp transition to a higher value, pointing to cake restructuring during filtration.
Effect of interstitial impurities on the field dependent microwave surface resistance of niobium

Previous work has demonstrated that the radio frequency surface resistance of niobium resonators is dramatically reduced when nitrogen impurities are dissolved as interstitial in the material. This effect is attributed to the lowering of the Mattis-Bardeen surface resistance with increasing accelerating field; however, the microscopic origin of this phenomenon is poorly understood. Meanwhile, an enhancement of the sensitivity to trapped magnetic field is typically observed for such cavities. In this paper, we conduct a systematic study on these different components contributing to the total surface resistance as a function of different levels of dissolved nitrogen, in comparison with standard surface treatments for niobium resonators. Adding these results together, we are able to show which is the optimum surface treatment that maximizes the Q-factor of superconducting niobium resonators as a function of expected trapped magnetic field in the cavity walls. These results also provide insights on the physics behind the change in the field dependence of the Mattis-Bardeen surface resistance, and of the trapped magnetic vortex induced losses in superconducting niobium resonators.
An Intrasite Analysis of Agricultural Economy at Early Islamic Caesarea Maritima, Israel

The archaeological site of Caesarea Maritima in modern-day Israel was an important coastal town in the Early Islamic period (c. 636–1100 CE). In this article, I analyze 15 samples of carbonized wood and non-wood macrobotanical remains recovered from two residential neighborhoods to investigate the production and consumption of agricultural plant products. The identified crop and wood taxa are typical for the Mediterranean coast. Wild seeds point to crop cultivation in the vicinity of the site. Plant remains were collected from discrete contexts and are interpreted with associated features and artifacts, revealing cereal processing debris across a series of rooms in a former warehouse. Such a socioeconomic shift in this building, from a storage area to a crop processing space, is detectable by combining this intrasite analysis with the diachronic research previously conducted at the site.
Spatiotemporal development of coexisting wave domains of Rho activity in the cell cortex

The Rho family GTPases are molecular switches that regulate cytoskeletal dynamics and cell movement through a complex spatiotemporal organization of their activity. In Patiria miniata (starfish) oocytes under in vitro experimental conditions (with overexpressed Ect2, induced expression of Δ90 cyclin B, and roscovitine treatment), such activity generates multiple co-existing regions of coherent propagation of actin waves. Here we use computational modeling to investigate the development and properties of such wave domains. The model reveals that the formation of wave domains requires a balance between the activation and inhibition in the Rho signaling motif. Intriguingly, the development of the wave domains is preceded by a stage of low-activity quasi-static patterns, which may not be readily observed in experiments. Spatiotemporal patterns of this stage and the different paths of their destabilization define the behavior of the system in the later high-activity (observable) stage. Accounting for a strong intrinsic noise allowed us to achieve good quantitative agreement between simulated dynamics in different parameter regimes of the model and different wave dynamics in Patiria miniata and wild type Xenopus laevis (frog) data. For quantitative comparison of simulated and experimental results, we developed an automated method of wave domain detection, which revealed a sharp reversal in the process of pattern formation in starfish oocytes. Overall, our findings provide an insight into spatiotemporal regulation of complex and diverse but still computationally reproducible cell-level actin dynamics.
Heatwave implications for the future of longleaf pine savanna understory restoration

The longleaf pine (LLP) savanna ecosystem once covered ~ 92 million acres of the Southeast USA, but due to anthropogenic activities such as logging and fire suppression, only 3% of its once widespread historic range remains. While many restoration efforts are underway to conserve this biodiverse ecosystem, restoration must be done in the context of climate change. In the last few decades, heatwaves have increased in frequency and intensity across the Southeastern USA with further increases predicted. To expand our understanding of LLP savanna restoration in light of these changes, we ran a series of three simulated heatwave greenhouse experiments through a Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) incorporating ~ 150 undergraduate researchers per experiment. We measured plant growth metrics for four understory grasses commonly used in LLP savanna restoration efforts. We found that while most grass plug individuals survived heatwave conditions, aboveground production was reduced due to heatwaves. This productivity decrease could result in less biomass available for the essential vegetation fire feedback loop, where fire increases grass biomass, and in turn, more grass provides more fuel for fire. These results imply that land managers can proactively compensate for biomass loss due to heatwaves by planting more grass plugs during initial restoration.
Basic Electronics for Scientists and Engineers

Ideal for a one-semester course, this concise textbook covers basic electronics for undergraduate students in science and engineering. Beginning with the basics of general circuit laws and resistor circuits to ease students into the subject, the textbook then covers a wide range of topics, from passive circuits through to semiconductor-based analog circuits and basic digital circuits. Using a balance of thorough analysis and insight, readers are shown how to work with electronic circuits and apply the techniques they have learnt. The textbook's structure makes it useful as a self-study introduction to the subject. All mathematics is kept to a suitable level, and there are several exercises throughout the book. Password-protected solutions for instructors, together with eight laboratory exercises that parallel the text, are available online at www.cambridge.org/Eggleston.
A narrow heritability evaluation of gestational age at birth

model of Haley et al. (1981) where genetic influences on a quantitative trait stem from two possible sources: the direct effect of the fetal genotype on the GA of the fetus and the indirect environmental effect of the maternal genotype on their offspring GA. Neither does the current paper allude to this long-established notion, to the possible genetic covariance between fetal and maternal effects [see (Eaves et al. 2014)], nor do they refer to the possibility of their resolution by inclusion of parental GA in addition to those of a limited set of collateral relatives. The authors dismiss the twin method as incapable of providing the necessary statistical contrasts to estimate these effects when twin mothers are used as the index case. The problem with this interpretation is that it is questionable whether the mother really is the index case since it is not her GA that is being measured in these studies. The method used is better viewed as extended twin design since it is the GA of the children of twins (COT) that is being measured. Following the work of Nance and Corey (1976), the biometrical genetic COT model has already been implemented sufficiently to estimate the separate influence of the fetal and maternal genetic contributions to GA (York et al. 2009). Lynch and Walsh (1998) describe several advantages of the COT method over the classical twin design. Despite criticism of the twin method, Wu et al. do not provide their own solution for estimating the separate effects of the genetic and environmental components. Although the multigenerational UPDB has an array of both ancestral and collateral relationships, they restrict their estimation of variance components to only fulland halfsibships. Under this design, they recognize their maternal genetic effect is confounded with that of the familial environment. Lunde et al. (2007) have previously described a similar method to separate these effects using parent–offspring, full siblings and maternal half-sibling correlations. To the Editors,