cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Multiplexed Microfluidic Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy

Over the past few decades, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) has garnered respect as an analytical technique with significant chemical and biological applications. SERS is important for the life sciences because it can provide trace level detection, a high level of structural information, and enhanced chemical detection. However, creating and successfully implementing a sensitive, reproducible, and robust SERS active substrate continues to be a challenging task. Herein, we report a novel method for SERS that is based upon using multiplexed microfluidics (MMFs) in a polydimethylsiloxane platform to perform parallel, high throughput, and sensitive detection/identification of single or various analytes under easily manipulated conditions. A facile passive pumping method is used to deliver Ag colloids and analytes into the channels where SERS measurements are done under nondestructive flowing conditions. With this approach, SERS signal reproducibility is found to be better than 7%. Utilizing a very high numerical aperture microscope objective with a confocal-based Raman spectrometer, high sensitivity is achieved. Moreover, the long working distance of this objective coupled with an appreciable channel depth obviates normal alignment issues expected with translational multiplexing. Rapid evaluation of the effects of anion activators and the type of colloid employed on SERS performance are used to demonstrate the efficiency and applicability of the MMF approach. SERS spectra of various pesticides were also obtained. Calibration curves of crystal violet (non-resonant enhanced) and Mitoxantrone (resonant enhanced) were generated, and the major SERS bands of these analytes were observable down to concentrations in the low nM and sub-pM ranges, respectively. While conventional random morphology colloids were used in most of these studies, unique cubic nanoparticles of silver were synthesized with different sizes and studied using visible wavelength optical extinction spectrometry, scanning electron microscopy, and the MMF-SERS approach.
Fatty acid composition of the red blood cell membrane in relation to menopausal status

PURPOSE: Menopausal status effects female anatomical functioning at a variety of system-wide and cellular levels, including cellular membrane composition. This study analyzed a nested case-control ORDET data set of 433 pre and post-menopausal breast cancer controls to examine the effects of menopausal status on the fatty acid composition of the red blood cell membrane.METHODS: ORDET is a prospective cohort study conducted in Italy to investigate the etiologic role of hormones and diet in breast cancer development. The fatty acid composition was measured and analyzed by gas chromotography, comparing retention time with standard measurement. Twenty-two individual fatty acids were measured, recorded, and categorized into four fatty acid groups: saturated, monounsaturated, polyunsaturated n-6 (PUFA n-6), and polyunsaturated (PUFA n-3) fatty acids.RESULTS: Post-menopausal women had consistently lower mean values for all four fatty acid categories and all individual fatty acids. Statistically significant mean differences, by menopausal status, were observed for three of the four fatty acid categories: saturated fatty acids (p = 0.006), PUFA n-6 acids (p = 0.001), and PUFA n-3 acids (p = 0.000). The biggest statistically significant differences in mean values among individual fatty acids for each category were observed for Palmitic acid (p = 0.009), Oleic acid (p = 0.040), Linoleic acid (p = 0.000), and Docosahexaenoic acid (p = 0.000). Individual fatty acids were also less highly correlated among post-menopausal women.CONCLUSIONS: There was an observed relationship between menopausal status and the fatty acid composition of the red blood cell membrane that warrants further study. This relationship may contribute to the physiological and psychological changes that occur during and after menopause, and may have far-reaching implications for women's health.
Mechanism of 2-hexyne hydrogenation on heterogeneous palladium

Abstract Relative rates of reaction, orders of reaction, barriers of activation and patterns of deuteration are used to study the mechanism of 2-hexyne hydrogenation in solution on selective and unselective bulk Pd. The selectivity of cis semihydrogenation of disubstituted alkynes is dominated by the difference in surface affinity of alkyne and alkenes. Trans-2-hexene and n-hexane form directly from the alkyne. The intrinsic selectivity for cis semihydrogenation of 95% is unaffected by added quinoline, indicating that quinoline only suppresses the hydrogenation of the product olefin. While there is no difference in intrinsic selectivity, the rate of hydrogenation of intermediate alkenes is much higher on defect-rich Pd surfaces, while the rate of 2-hexyne hydrogenation is not affected by surface structure. The Arrhenius plot shows a drastic change in the rate-determining step at temperatures above 30 °C.
Bacteria-immune system interactions. V. Escherichia coli cell-wall components involved in binding to lymphocytes.

Various bacterial cell-wall components were tested for their ability to inhibitEscherichia coli 2 binding to lymphocytes. The binding was inhibited by outer membrane extracts ofE. coli 2 but not by similar extracts fromE. coli 0. In addition, mannose-binding protein, inner membrane or lipopolysaccharide extracts ofE. coli 2 or lipoteichoic acid extracts ofBacillus globigii had no effect on lymphocyte-E. coli 2 interaction. The interaction did not appear to be mediated by fimbriae, since such structures could not be detected by electron microscopy. Comparison of the outer membrane proteins of a binder (E. coli 2) and a nonbinder (E. coli 0) bacteria revealed differences in their number and position.
Polymer chemistry: Proteins in a pill

Protein drugs are important therapies for many different diseases, but very few can be administered orally. Now, a cationic dendronized polymer has been shown to stabilize a therapeutic protein for delivery to the gut.
Venus: Further Evidence of Vortex Circulation

A space-time composite of polar stereographic ultraviolet images of Venus from Mariner 10 shows a remarkable circumpolar vortex. The vortex is characterized by a cloud which appears similar to dense terrestrial stratus having an albedo that is 50 percent higher. Spiral streaks converge into it from low latitudes, akin to the spiral bands of a hurricane. The bright visible polar cloud is not axisymmetric but has roughly an elliptical shape. The high brightness of the polar cloud suggests that it has a different origin from the rest of the Venus cloud cover.
Protection of the Pulmonary Microvasculature by Fine Screen Blood Filtration

Particulate matter accumulates in stored blood and may be directly infused into the pulmonary microvasculature by blood transfusion, causing the respiratory distress syndrome (RDS). The protective effect of fine screen filtration by a 40-μ filter in massive blood transfusion was studied prospectively in 54 patients with trauma. Seventeen patients (control) received from 10 to 40 units (mean 18.8 units) of blood through the standard 170-μ blood filter and were compared to 27 patients (filter) who received from 10 to 63 units (mean 17.9 units) of blood through the 40-μ filter. Seven of the 17 control patients developed the clinical picture of RDS following treatment of their trauma. Despite the similarity in source of injury, anatomic area injured and surgical treatment, only two of the 27 patients with a filter developed the clinical signs of RDS. Three of the seven patients with RDS in the control group and both of the patients with RDS in the group in whom the filter was used had significant chest injury. Three patients in the control group without chest trauma died of intractable hypoxemia. Open lung biopsies and needle biopsies were performed in ten additional patients. Particulate matter in the precapillary arterioles was present in four patients receiving massive blood transfusion without the fine screen filter and in no patients with the fine screen filter. The fine screen filter is recommended to protect the pulmonary microvasculature in transfusions of stored blood.
Public Participation in Wildlife Management: What Do Stakeholders Want?

As public participation in environmental decisions has increased, natural resource management agencies have been challenged to involve stakeholders constructively in the resolution of a variety of contentious issues. This research examines how evaluative criteria, initially derived from theory and literature and then refined based on input from agency staff and stakeholders, can provide natural resource agencies with guidance for designing context-specific stakeholder involvement strategies. To provide illustrations, we conducted inquiries in two communities experiencing wildlife management conflicts. Results suggest that quality stakeholder involvement processes use scientific information, have genuine influence on decisions, treat citizens fairly, and promote informative communication and learning.
Graduated Density Zoning

The difficulty of assembling sites large enough to redevelop at higher density can impede regeneration in city centers and accelerate suburban sprawl onto large sites already in single ownership. O...
Alterations in Nitric Oxide and Cytokine Production with Airway Inflammation in the Absence of IL-10

IL-10 is an anti-inflammatory cytokine that suppresses NO synthase (NOS) and production of NO; its lack may promote NO production and alterations in cytokines modulated by NO with allergic airway inflammation (AI), such as IL-18 and IL-4. Therefore, we induced AI in IL-10 knockout ( −/− ) and IL-10-sufficient C57BL/6 (C57) mice with inhaled OVA and measured airway NO production, as exhaled NO (E NO ) and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid nitrite levels. E NO and nitrite levels were elevated significantly in naive IL-10 −/− mice as compared with C57 mice. With AI, E NO and nitrite levels increased in C57 mice and decreased in IL-10 −/− mice. IL-18 production fell with both AI and addition of S -nitroso- N -acetyl-d,l-penicillamine (a NO donor) but was not significantly increased by chemical NOS inhibition by l- N 5 -(1-iminoethyl)-ornithine. IL-4 AI was increased significantly (up to 10-fold greater) in the absence of IL-10 but was reduced significantly with chemical inhibition of NOS. Airway responsiveness was lower in IL-10 −/− mice and was associated with alteration in production of NO and IL-4. Thus, IL-4 production was increased, and likely decreased NO production, in a way not predicted by the absence of IL-10. Inhibition of IL-4 production, with inhibition of NOS in the absence of IL-10, demonstrated the importance of a NO and IL-4 feedback mechanism regulating this interaction.
Is the Shape of the Age-Crime Curve Invariant by Sex? Evidence from a National Sample with Flexible Non-parametric Modeling

Prior theoretical scholarship makes strong assumptions about the invariance of the age-crime relationship by sex. However, scant research has evaluated this assumption. This paper asks whether the age-crime curve from age 12–30 is invariant by sex using a contemporary, nationally representative sample of youth, the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 cohort (NLSY97). To address the limitations of the existing empirical literature, a novel localized modeling approach is used that does not require a priori assumptions about the shape of the age-crime curve. With a non-parametric method—B-spline regression, the study models self-report criminal behavior and arrest by sex using age as the independent variable, and its cubic spline terms to accommodate different slopes for different phases of the curve. The study shows that males and females have parallel age-crime curves when modeled with self-report criminal behavior variety score but they have unique age-crime in the frequency of self-report arrest. Group-based trajectory analysis is then used to provide a deeper understanding of heterogeneity underlying the average trends. The onset patterns by sex are quite similar but the post-peak analyses using the early onset sample reveal different patterns of desistance for arrest by sex. The study found evidence of relatively early and faster desistance of arrest among females but little difference exists for the variety of criminal behaviors. Implications and future directions are discussed.
Structure and Properties of A Dimer Complex: [Co2(Hdmg)2(dien)2](ClO4)24.5(H2O)

A new complex crystal [Co2(Hdmg)2(dien)2](ClO4)24.5(H2O) (H2dmg= dimethylglyoxime, dien = diethylenetriamine) had been synthesised in aqueous solution and was characterized by X-ray diffraction and IR spectrum. The complex crystallizes in monoclinic space group C2/c with cell constants =20.868(7)A, =11.408(4)A, =15.816(4)A, =90.00°, =116.97(2)°, =90.00°, =3355.8(17)A3, =4, (000)=1732. The cobalt atom lies in a distorted octahedron environment and coordinates with one oxygen atom from neighbour Hdmg and five nitrogen atoms from bidentate chelate Hdmg and tridentate chelate dien. The two Hdmgs bridge two cobalt atoms to form a six-number Co2O2N2 ring.
Wavelength-selective grating-assisted codirectional coupler tunable receiver on InP/InGaAsP

The authors demonstrate the first grating-assisted codirectional coupler (GACC) based tunable the InP/InGaAsP materials system. Initial results using reverse bias show a receiver full-width half-maximum of 4 nm and a tuning range of 3 nm. From numerical simulations the authors found the material uniformity played a very important role in the performance of GACC filters.
Requiem for a Heavyweight: The Demise of Scalp Blood pH Sampling

Fetal scalp blood pH sampling has played a valuable role in the development of our understanding of fetal welfare in labor and in the interpretation of electronic fetal heart rate patterns. There is question as to the feasibility of retaining this practice in modern obstetric care because of the advance of science, the general reliance on fetal monitoring criteria for ascertaining fetal well-being, the logistic difficulties involved in obtaining accurate and timely samples, the economic consequences of having to maintain analytic equipment in working order in times of very infrequent use, and the poor correlation between pH alterations and predictable neurologic consequences in the child. As it has all but vanished from use in most clinical care centers, and the principal argument for retaining it ultimately references the physician as the beneficiary, the author proposes that it should be removed from any possible association with purported “standards of care.” J. Matern.–Fetal Med. 6:298–300, 1997. © 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
The Influence of Plasma Defocusing in High Harmonic Generation

We numerically investigate the influence of plasma defocusing in high harmonic generation (HHG) by solving the first-order wave equation in an ionized medium and defining an enhancement factor to quantitatively analyze the influence of plasma defocusing. While degrading the driver pulse intensity, plasma also has a strong impact on HHG phase-matching. Combined with the HHG wavelength scaling law, our results give an estimate of HHG efficiencies with different driver wavelengths and show a limited HHG efficiency in high density media.
The AGS accelerator complex with the new fast extraction system

The delivery of a beam with characteristics appropriate for the g-2 muon storage ring and the filling of the RHIC heavy ion collider from the AGS main ring requires a new fast extracted beam (FEB) system. The new FEB system will be capable of performing both one-turn fast extraction and single bunch multiple extraction of either a heavy ion beam or a high intensity proton beam at a rate of 30 Hz up to 12 times per AGS cycle. The new system consists of a fast multi-pulsing kicker and an ejector septum magnet with local extraction orbit bumps.
Investigation of Ethylene Oxide on Clean and Oxygen-Covered Ag(110) Surfaces

Temperature-programmed desorption (TPD) and Density Functional Theory (DFT) were used to investigate the reactions of oxametallacycles derived from ethylene oxide on clean and oxygen-covered Ag(110) surfaces. Ethylene oxide ring-opens following adsorption at 250 K on both clean and O-covered Ag(110) to form a stable oxametallacycle. On the clean Ag(110) surface, the oxametallacycle reacts to reform the parent epoxide at 280 K during TPD, while the aldehyde isomer, acetaldehyde, is observed at higher oxametallacycle coverages. In the presence of coadsorbed oxygen atoms, a portion of the oxametallacycles dissociate to release ethylene. However, of those that react to form oxygen-containing products, the fraction forming ethylene oxide is similar to that on the clean surface. The acetaldehyde product of oxametallacycle reactions combusts via formation of acetate species; the acetates react to form CO2 at temperatures as low as 360 K on the O-covered surface. No evidence was observed for other combustion channels. This work provides experimental evidence for the connection of oxametallacycles to combustion via acetaldehyde formation as well as to ring-closure to form ethylene oxide.
Content-based peer-to-peer network overlay for full-text federated search

Peer-to-peer network overlays have mostly been designed to support search over document names, identifiers, or keywords from a small or controlled vocabulary. In this paper we propose a content-based P2P network overlay for full-text federated search over heterogeneous, open-domain contents. Local algorithms are developed to dynamically construct a network overlay with content-based locality and content-based small-world properties. Experimental results using P2P testbeds of real documents demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach.
CO oxidation over ruthenium: identification of the catalytically active phases at near-atmospheric pressures

CO oxidation was carried out over Ru(0001) and RuO2(110) thin film grown on Ru(0001) at various O2/CO ratios near atmospheric pressures. Reaction kinetics, coupled with in situ polarization modulation infrared reflection absorption spectroscopy (PM-IRAS) and post-reaction Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) measurements, were used to identify the catalytically relevant phases under different reaction conditions. Under stoichiometric and reducing conditions at all reaction temperatures, as well as net-oxidizing reaction conditions below ∼475 K, a reduced metallic phase with chemisorbed oxygen is the thermodynamically stable and catalytically active phase. On this surface CO oxidation occurs at surface defect sites, for example step edges. Only under net-oxidizing reaction conditions and above ∼475 K is the RuO2 thin film grown on metallic Ru stable and active. However, RuO2 is not active itself without the existence of the metal substrate, suggesting the importance of a strong metal–substrate interaction (SMSI).
Dopamine clearance in critically ill infants and children: effect of age and organ system dysfunction.

To learn if there are age-related differences in the pharmacokinetic behavior of dopamine, plasma dopamine clearance was determined in 27 acutely ill infants and children who were receiving a continuous intravenous infusion of the drug. Steady-state clearance was calculated from dopamine concentration in arterial blood. Dopamine clearance was 60.7 ± 28.1 ml/kg/min. The age of the patient exerted an effect on clearance of dopamine (r = − 0.63; p < 0.05), and dopamine clearance was nearly twice as rapid in children younger than 2 years as it was in older children (82.3 ± 27.7 ml/kg/min versus 45.9 ± 17.0 mg/kg/min). Conjugated bilirubin exerted an age-independent effect on clearance of dopamine; clearance was 44.8 ± 28.6 ml/kg/min in children with abnormal conjugated bilirubin (≥0.9 mg/dl) and 70.1 ± 2.56 ml/kg/min in children with normal conjugated bilirubin (<0.9 mg/dl). Clearance was lowest (29.8 ± 5.7 ml/kg/min) in the four children who had both hepatic and renal dysfunction. Age is an important determinant of dopamine clearance, explaining in part the clinical observation that infants and young children require higher infusion rates. Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (1990) 48, 138–147; doi:10.1038/clpt.1990.128
Identifying link farm spam pages

With the increasing importance of search in guiding today's web traffic, more and more effort has been spent to create search engine spam. Since link analysis is one of the most important factors in current commercial search engines' ranking systems, new kinds of spam aiming at links have appeared. Building link farms is one technique that can deteriorate link-based ranking algorithms. In this paper, we present algorithms for detecting these link farms automatically by first generating a seed set based on the common link set between incoming and outgoing links of Web pages and then expanding it. Links between identified pages are re-weighted, providing a modified web graph to use in ranking page importance. Experimental results show that we can identify most link farm spam pages and the final ranking results are improved for almost all tested queries.
Leukoplakia, lichen planus, and other oral keratoses in 23,616 white Americans over the age of 35 years

Abstract This investigation provides the first detailed population-based reporting of white keratotic lesions of the oral mucosa in a United States population. More than 21% of 3,783 oral mucosal and connective tissue lesions reported from 23,616 white Americans, usually over 35 years of age, were keratotic lesions, representing 3.4% of the entire group of examinees. Leukoplakia was the most common of all lesions diagnosed and was the most common of the keratotic lesions (85.5% of the latter). The prevalence rate for leukoplakia was 28.9 1,000 white Americans over 35 years of age and was twice as high for males as for females ( 43.2 1,000 males versus 20.9 1,000 females). Age-specific leukoplakia prevalence rates demonstrated a tenfold increase for males from the third to the eighth decade of life, and twofold increase for females from the fourth to the seventh decade. Sites of leukoplakia involvement, in decreasing order of frequency, were lip vermilion, buccal mucosa, mandibular gingiva, tongue, oral floor, hard palate, maxillary gingiva, lip mucosa, and soft palate. Almost 7% of leukoplakias demonstrated carcinoma or severe dysplasia microscopically. Prevalence rates for other white oral mucosal lesions were tobacco/snuff pouch keratosis, 1.6 1,000 ; chronic cheek bite, 1.2 1,000 ; lichen planus, 1.1 1,000 ; palatitis nicotina, 0.7 1,000 ; and leukoedema, 0.3 1,000 .
The Extended Schematic Protection Model

Access control models provide a formalism and framework for specifying control over access to information and other resources in multi-user computer systems. Useful access control models must balance expressive power with the decidability and complexity of safety analysis (i.e. the determination of whether or not a given subject can ever acquire access to a given object). The access matrix model as formalized by Harrison, Ruzzo, and Ullman (HRU) has very broad expressive power. Unfortunately, HRU also has extremely weak safety properties. Safety is undecidable for most policies of practical interest, even in the monotonic version of HRU (which only allows revocation which is itself reversible). Remarkably, an alternate formulation of monotonic HRU yields strong safety properties. This alternate formulation is called the Extended Schematic Protection Model (ESPM). ESPM is derived from the Schematic Protection Model (SPM) by extending the creation operation to allow multiple parents for a child, as opposed to the conventional create operation of SPM which has a single parent for a child. Despite its equivalence to monotonic HRU, ESPM retains tractable safety analysis for a large class of protection schemes that are of practical interest. In this paper we first show that ESPM is formally equivalent in expressive power to monotonic HRU. Then we give a complete analysis of the safety properties of ESPM for acyclic can-create relations with attenuating loops (i.e., can-create relations which are acyclic except for certain cycles of length one).
Is There a Role for Albumin Administration in Nutrition Support

OBJECTIVE:To review the administration of exogenous albumin in patients receiving nutritional support and determine if the use of albumin is supported by controlled trials.DATA SOURCES:MEDLINE search of English-language literature using the key terms albumin, parenteral nutrition, and enteral nutrition. The references of articles identified were also searched.STUDY SELECTION:Studies examining the administration of exogenous albumin to hypoalbuminemic patients receiving nutrition support.DATA EXTRACTION:Results from prospective randomized trials are presented in detail. Data from noncontrolled and animal studies are presented in areas where human controlled trials are limited.DATA SYNTHESIS:Albumin is a marker of malnutrition and numerous studies have demonstrated that a low serum albumin concentration is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Investigators have attempted to improve outcome through the administration of exogenous albumin. The results of controlled trials examining exogenous alb...
Estimating the life cycle cost of the space exploration initiative

Abstract The Space Exploration Initiative (SEI) will take mankind back to the Moon and then to Mars. Preliminary estimates of SEI life cycle cost (LCC) are central to assessing programme alternatives. SEI LCC should be estimated by identifying the additional cost to accomplish the initiative over and above the cost to sustain a ‘base’ of space activities. Results of a study of four SEI alternatives provided SEI LCC cost estimates ranging from $91 billion to $308 billion (constant 1989 US dollars) from 1992 through 2020, depending upon programme philosophy. SEI LCC will be driven by the philosophy and goals of the programme, and, given the goal of ‘permanence’, essentially indeterminate because of the open-ended time horizon.
Medical therapy of acute myocardial infarction: Part I. Role of thrombolytic and antithrombotic therapy.

Thrombolytic therapy has been established as a safe and effective therapeutic strategy in acute myocardial infarction (MD. Its efficacy is improved with early administration, although modest benefits can be demonstrated for up to 12 hours. Tissue plasminogen activator (TPA) appears to offer benefits over streptokinase when administered to patients who present within 4 hours, those with an anterior MI, and who are less than 75 years old. Age alone is not a contraindication for thrombolysis because the risk of bleeding complications in the elderly is outweighed by a significant improvement in mortality. One of the major limitations of thrombolytic therapy in acute MI is reocclusion. Use of adjunctive antithrombotic therapy can reduce the rate of reocclusion following successful thrombolysis. The beneficial role of aspirin is well established. Use of intravenous heparin in conjunction with streptokinase offers no clinical benefit. The efficacy of heparin when administered with other thrombolytic agents remai...
Pulsatile dynamics in the yeast proteome.

The activation of transcription factors in response to environmental conditions is fundamental to cellular regulation. Recent work has revealed that some transcription factors are activated in stochastic pulses of nuclear localization, rather than at a constant level, even in a constant environment. In such cases, signals control the mean activity of the transcription factor by modulating the frequency, duration, or amplitude of these pulses. Although specific pulsatile transcription factors have been identified in diverse cell types, it has remained unclear how prevalent pulsing is within the cell, how variable pulsing behaviors are between genes, and whether pulsing is specific to transcriptional regulators or is employed more broadly. To address these issues, we performed a proteome-wide movie-based screen to systematically identify localization-based pulsing behaviors in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The screen examined all genes in a previously developed fluorescent protein fusion library of 4,159 strains in multiple media conditions. This approach revealed stochastic pulsing in ten proteins, all transcription factors. In each case, pulse dynamics were heterogeneous and unsynchronized among cells in clonal populations. Pulsing is the only dynamic localization behavior that we observed, and it tends to occur in pairs of paralogous and redundant proteins. Taken together, these results suggest that pulsatile dynamics play a pervasive role in yeast and may be similarly prevalent in other eukaryotic species.
Modeling the West, Returning to Asia: Shifting Politics of Representation in Japanese Colonial Expositions in Korea

The world exposition stemmed from the specific context of nineteenth-century Europe, but by the end of that century, its practice had already spread to the colonies as the imperial powers organized a number of colonial expositions. The colonial exposition was meant to represent colonialism as fundamental to the progress of both the metropole and the colony. The ideas of “progress” and “modernity” were represented in such a way that colonial subjects would acknowledge the benevolent contribution of imperial rule to the development of the colony. This historical practice attracted not only nations that had already achieved imperial status, but also nations such as Japan that were aspiring to become an imperial power.
Motion of a Circular Particle in Wall Driven Flow at Low Reynolds Numbers

Particle motion in oscillatory flow is observed in particle sedimentation at the bottom of the ocean floor, in microfluidic devices that manipulate particle motion for biomedical purposes, the vibration of containers, crystal growth, and other industrial applications of interest. In the present study, a direct numerical simulation is conducted in two dimensions for a free moving circular particle in a wall driven flow. The wall oscillates a fluid horizontally in a semi-infinite domain. The suspended circular particle translates and rotates freely under the stresses acting upon it. The Navier Stokes equations are solved using the Marker-and-Cell (MAC) method for incompressible flow. The equations for the velocity and pressure field are coupled and solved on a staggered grid arrangement. An overlapping grid method is used to track the motion of the circular particle. As the particle approaches the wall, lubrication theory is applied in the small gap region before contact. The results of the numerical simulations show that an increase in the wall oscillation frequency and the wall velocity reduces particle settling. The role of the inertial lift is unclear since the convective effects are combined with the wall effects and the local acceleration.
Nonselfadjoint Schrödinger operators with singular first-order coefficients

Schrodinger operators of the form T = (i grad + b(x))2 + a(x) · grad + q(x) in Rm are considered, where a, b ate real vector-valued functions and q is a scalar complex-valued function. It is shown that T is essentially quasi-m-accretive in L2(Rm) if (1 + #x2223;∣)−1a ∈ L4 + L∞, div a ∈ L∞, , and Re q ≧ 0. The proof is elementary.
Effects of Visual Accessibility and Hand Restraint on Fluency of Gesticulator and Effectiveness of Message

The role of hand gestures in human communication was examined in an experiment that manipulated communicator-receiver visual accessibility and freedom of the communicator's hand movements. While gesturing occurred primarily during periods of speech rather than silence, the visual availability of 10 speakers' hand gestures did not significantly enhance receivers' ability to decode and act upon task-related messages. Hand restraint did not significantly affect speakers' verbal fluency or total verbal output. The mere visual presence of an interactant had a greater impact on speech disfluency than did hand restraint.
Primary cilia are present on human blood and bone marrow cells and mediate Hedgehog signaling

Primary cilia are nonmotile, microtubule-based organelles that are present on the cellular membrane of all eukaryotic cells. Functional cilia are required for the response to developmental signaling pathways such as Hedgehog (Hh) and Wnt/β-catenin. Although the Hh pathway has been shown to be active in leukemia and other blood cancers, there have been no reports describing the presence of primary cilia in human blood or leukemia cells. In the present study, we show that nearly all human blood and bone marrow cells have primary cilia (97–99%). In contrast, primary cilia on AML cell lines (KG1, KG1a, and K562) were less frequent (10–36% of cells) and were often shorter and dysmorphic, with less well-defined basal bodies. Finally, we show that treatment of blood cells with the Hh pathway ligand Sonic Hedgehog (SHh) causes translocation of Smoothened (SMO) to the primary cilia and activation of Hh target genes, demonstrating that primary cilia in blood cells are functional and participate in Hh signaling. Loss of primary cilia on leukemia cells may have important implications for aberrant pathway activation and response to SMO inhibitors currently in clinical development.
Relapse of HCV Genotype 1b Infection After Sofosbuvir/Ledipasvir Treatment Presenting as De Novo Cryoglobulinemic Vasculitis

Relapse of hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 1 infection after combination therapy with sofosbuvir and ledipasvir is unusual. We report a treatment-naive, non-cirrhotic patient in whom the relapse of genotype 1b HCV infection was accompanied by de novo cryoglobulinemic vasculitis and glomerulonephritis, requiring hemodialysis for acute renal failure. Sequence analysis revealed several resistance-associated variants in the HCV NS5a gene but not in NS3/4A. The patient's vasculitis was successfully treated with immunosuppression and plasmapheresis, followed by retreatment of HCV with a combination of sofosbuvir, simeprevir, and ribavirin. The patient achieved sustained virological response, recovered his renal function, and remains in remission from cryoglobulinemia.
The Complex Systems Approach to Policy Analysis

In this chapter, I reflect on the complex systems approach to policy analysis and discuss how to develop useful, credible agent-based models for policy analysis. The chapter concludes the book with a conjecture about sustainability of complex adaptive systems in general.
The zone of proximal development as an overarching concept: A framework for synthesizing Vygotsky’s theories

AbstractThe zone of proximal development (ZPD) is defined as an overarching concept that integrates the main tenets of Vygotsky’s theory of human development. The conceptualization of the ZPD begins with its social, cultural, and historical context and traces its development as a spatial and temporal metaphor that reflects the sociogenetic root of all human mental functioning. Beyond the explication of sociogenesis, the ZPD is reconceptualized to include the notions of voice and dialogicality. The insights gained from the fields of semiotics and discourse studies allow a broader understanding of the ZPD by bringing to light participant structures and institutional and historical forces that may not have been included in the dominant interpretations of the ZPD.
Ion beams in multi-species plasmas

Argon and xenon ion velocity distribution functions are measured in Ar-He, Ar-Xe, and Xe-He expanding helicon plasmas to determine if ion beam velocity is enhanced by the presence of lighter ions. Contrary to observations in mixed gas sheath experiments, we find that adding a lighter ion does not increase the ion beam speed. The predominant effect is a reduction of ion beam velocity consistent with increased drag arising from increased gas pressure under all conditions: constant total gas pressure, equal plasma densities of different ions, and very different plasma densities of different ions. These results suggest that the physics responsible for the acceleration of multiple ion species in simple sheaths is not responsible for the ion acceleration observed in expanding helicon plasmas.
The Primary Open-Angle African American Glaucoma Genetics Study: Baseline Demographics

Purpose To describe the baseline characteristics of the Primary Open-Angle African American Glaucoma Genetics (POAAGG) study cohort, the largest African American population with primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) recruited at a single institution (University of Pennsylvania [UPenn], Department of Ophthalmology, Scheie Eye Institute) to date. Design Population-based, cross-sectional, case-control study. Participants A total of 2520 African American subjects aged 35 years or more who were recruited from the greater Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area. Methods Each subject underwent a detailed interview and eye examination. The interview assessed demographic, behavioral, medical, and ocular risk factors. Current ZIP codes surrounding UPenn were recorded and US census data were queried to infer socioeconomic status. The eye examination included measurement of visual acuity (VA) and intraocular pressure, and a detailed anterior and posterior segment examination, including gonioscopy, dilated fundus and optic disc examination, visual fields, stereo disc photography, optical coherence tomography, and measurement of central corneal thickness. Main Outcome Measures The baseline characteristics of gender, age, and glaucoma diagnosis were collected. Body mass index (BMI), hypertension, diabetes, alcohol and tobacco use, ocular conditions (including blindness, cataract, nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy, and age-related macular degeneration), and use of ocular medication and surgery were examined. Median population density, income, education level, and other socioeconomic measures were determined for the study cohort. Results Of the 2520 African Americans recruited to the POAAGG study to date, 2067 (82.0%), including 807 controls and 1260 POAG cases, met all inclusion criteria and completed the detailed clinical ocular examination. Cases were more likely to have a lower BMI ( P P P P = 0.02), and be female ( P Conclusions The POAAGG study has currently recruited more than 2000 African Americans eligible for a POAG genetics study. Blindness and low BMI were significantly associated with POAG. This population was predominantly recruited from neighborhoods whose population income exists at or near the federal poverty level.
Toward An Eco-Egalitarian University

This article argues for a political transformation and reorganization of the university so that it is capable of challenging the "hierarchy of power in a neoliberal society." Faculty democracy, administrative accountability to faculty, and the education of students to become critical, thinking citizens would be a major part of this reorganization. This article first appeared in The Contemporary Condition: http://contemporarycondition.blogspot.com/2014/07/toward-eco-egalitarian-university.html
Use of Dipstick Assay and Rapid PCR-DNA Analysis of Nasal Secretions for Diagnosis of Bacterial Sinusitis in Children With Chronic Cough:

BackgroundChronic cough in children is a diagnostic challenge.ObjectiveTo discover the utility of nasal dipsticks and polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-DNA analysis in differentiating bacterial sinus...
Development of a Community-Engaged Classroom for Teaching Health Communications: Lessons Learned From Nine Semesters of Implementation:

Community-engaged classrooms (CECs) offer many advantages to both students and community-based organizations by creating an environment that enriches student learning and contributes to meeting nee...
Russia’s use of semi-state security forces: the case of the Wagner Group

This article provides a definitive, in-depth case-study, using primarily Russian sources, of Russia’s use of the informal “Wagner Group” private military company (PMC) and its antecedents (from 201...
Evaluating Realistic Volume Scattering Functions on Underwater Imaging System Performance

Abstract : The Navy has a continuing and pressing need to improve its ability to visually detect and identify underwater objects. As far as imaging environments go, this is one of the worst: absorption and scattering by the water and the dissolved and particulate within rob a system of its signal and blur the resulting image. Sophisticated systems like the Laser Line Scanner (LLS) and the Streak-Tube Imaging LIDAR (STIL) have been designed and engineered to address some of these difficulties. But while engineering properties of an imaging system can be decided upon and controlled to a certain extent, it is most often the variable environmental conditions that are the limiting factors to system performance and, ultimately, utility. Our goal is to evaluate the effects of these environmental conditions on the performance of underwater imaging systems.
Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis associated with the use of lamotrigine

Objective To describe adverse event reports of hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) reported in association with lamotrigine. Methods The Food and Drug Administration Adverse Event Reporting System database of spontaneous adverse event reports and medical literature databases were searched for cases of HLH reported in association with lamotrigine. Cases were included if they met the case definition of suspected or confirmed HLH and if causal association was assessed as robust or supportive. Results Eight cases met the case definition for HLH and were deemed causally associated with lamotrigine. These 8 cases of HLH had a plausible temporal relationship because they occurred within a 24-day interval from lamotrigine initiation. The doses ranged from 25 mg every other day to 250 mg once daily in the 6 cases that reported this information. Seven patients improved with drug discontinuation and one patient died after drug discontinuation and receiving an unspecified chemotherapy. Conclusions Lamotrigine is associated with immune-related adverse reactions including HLH. HLH is a potentially fatal event; prompt recognition and early therapeutic intervention to mitigate the event is important in improving patient outcomes.
Concavity and Initialization for Unsupervised Dependency Parsing

We investigate models for unsupervised learning with concave log-likelihood functions. We begin with the most well-known example, IBM Model 1 for word alignment (Brown et al., 1993) and analyze its properties, discussing why other models for unsupervised learning are so seldom concave. We then present concave models for dependency grammar induction and validate them experimentally. We find our concave models to be effective initializers for the dependency model of Klein and Manning (2004) and show that we can encode linguistic knowledge in them for improved performance.
Clearance of Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) Is Associated With Improved Outcomes in HCV-Associated Lymphoma.

Abstract Background Improved hepatitis C virus (HCV) clearance due to directly acting antiviral agents has led to remarkably improved outcomes of indolent HCV-associated non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). The impact of directly acting antivirals on the outcomes of aggressive NHL is still under investigation. Characteristics of HCV-associated NHL in black patients are not well characterized. We report outcomes of HCV-associated NHL compared to their HCV-negative counterparts in a predominantly black population. Patients and Methods Patients with lymphoma between January 2007 and December 2017 were retrospectively studied. Depending on presence or absence of HCV RNA, patients were grouped into HCV positive (HCV+) and HCV negative (HCV−) cohorts. Depending on virologic clearance (VC), HCV+ were classified into HCV+ with VC and HCV+ without VC. Overall response rate (ORR), complete response, overall survival (OS), and progression-free survival (PFS) of HCV+ patients with and without VC were compared to HCV− patients. Results Of 397 patients with lymphoma, 40 had HCV. Black comprised 90% of HCV+ patients. Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma was most frequent (47%) in the HCV+ group. HCV+ patients without VC had significantly worse OS and PFS compared to HCV− patients. There were no differences in ORR, complete response, PFS, and OS of HCV+ patients with VC and HCV− patients. These results were consistent in subgroups of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and aggressive lymphoma. Conclusion HCV clearance is positively associated with lymphoma outcomes in black patients. Patients who clear HCV have noninferior outcomes to HCV− patients, while those who fail to clear HCV have significantly worse outcomes.
Probes of phase decomposition in high-energy nuclear collisions

High-energy nuclear collisions produce quark-gluon plasmas that expand and hadronize. If the associated phase transition is of first order then the hadronization should proceed through a spinodal phase separation. We explore here the possibility of identifying the associated clumping by analysis of suitable N-particle momentum correlations.
iPSC-Derived Microglia for Modeling Human-Specific DAMP and PAMP Responses in the Context of Alzheimer's Disease.

Neuroinflammation in Alzheimer's disease (AD) has been the focus for identifying targetable pathways for drug development. The role of amyloid beta (Aβ), a prototype of damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs), has been implicated in triggering an inflammatory response. As alpha7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (α7 nAChR) binds Aβ with high affinity, α7 nAChR may play a role in Aβ-induced neuroinflammation. The conundrum of how α7 nAChR as the mediator of the cholinergic anti-inflammatory response may trigger an inflammatory response has not been resolved. CHRFAM7A, the uniquely human fusion gene between ULK4 and CHRNA7, is a negative regulator of α7 nAChR ionotropic function. To provide the human context, isogenic induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) lines were developed from CHRFAM7A null and carrier individuals by genome-editing the null line using TALENs to knock-in CHRFAM7A. In iPSC-derived microglia-like cells, CHRFAM7A mitigated Aβ uptake through the α7 nAChR. Despite the lower Aβ uptake, the presence of CHRFAM7A was associated with an innate immune response that was characterized by NF-κB activation and NF-κB target transcription (TNFA, IL6, and IL1B). LPS, a prototype PAMP, induced a heightened immune response in CHRFAM7A carriers. CHRFAM7A modified the dynamics of NF-κB translocation by prolonging its nuclear presence. CHRFAM7A modified the α7 nAChR metabotropic function, resulting in a human-specific innate immune response. This iPSC model provided an opportunity to elucidate the mechanism and establish high throughput screens.
Oliver E. Williamson: A Personal Appreciation

By virtually any measure, Oliver Williamson has been one of the most influential scholars in the economic organization and institutions. He is widely credited (including by Ronald Coase himself) with rescuing transaction cost economics from its tautological origins by showing how the advantages and liabilities of alternative organizational arrangements could be related to features of transactions in a way that allowed refutable hypotheses to be generated and tested. In doing so, Williamson opened the door to the systematic investigation of a host of organizational problems that had previously resisted economic analysis. Though firmly rooted in economics, Williamson’s scholarship drew on and had a tremendous influence on law, political science, and organization theory. Indeed, there is hardly a niche in the social sciences that has not been affected in some way by Williamson’s writings. In this essay, I try to convey some of the personal and professional qualities of Oliver Williamson drawn from recollections of my relationship with him over the years.