cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Auditory Input and Postural Control in Adults: A Narrative Review.

Importance An increase in the number of mechanistic studies targeting the association between sound and balance has been observed in recent years, but their results appear equivocal. Observations A search of PubMed and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews for English-language studies on auditory input and postural control published from database inception through October 31, 2019, yielded 28 articles for review. These articles included 18 (64%) studies of healthy adults, 1 (4%) of participants with Alzheimer disease, 2 (7%) of participants with congenital blindness, 3 (11%) of participants with vestibular loss, and 4 (14%) of participants with diverse levels of hearing loss. Studies varied by the type of audio stimuli (natural vs generated sounds), apparatus (speakers vs headphones), and movement of sounds (eg, stationary, rotational). Most balance measurements involved standing on the floor or foam with eyes open or closed during which sway amount or velocity was quantified. Stationary broadband sounds, including white or environmental noise, may improve balance, but the results regarding stationary pure tone were inconclusive. The implication of moving sounds varied by apparatus (typically destabilizing when headphones were used) and sensory loss (more destabilizing with vestibular or hearing loss but perhaps less with a unilateral cochlear implant). Conclusions and Relevance Findings from this review suggest that stationary broadband noise can serve as an auditory anchor for balance primarily when projected via speakers and when the balance task is challenging. More research is needed that includes individuals with sensory loss and that tests paradigms using dynamic, ecologically valid sounds; clinicians should also consider auditory cues and the presence of hearing loss in balance and fall-risk assessments.
Superimposed infections in inflammatory bowel diseases

Abstract Superimposed infections in the gastrointestinal tract from bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites are common in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The patients with poor nutrition or immunosuppression are at particular risk. The superimposed infection plays a key role in the disease relapse or refractory disease course to traditional medical therapy. Endoscopic evaluation is valuable to assess these infections, by the characterization of morphological mucosal features and obtainment of tissue and luminal fluid samples. Some distinctive endoscopic features of infectious esophagitis, gastritis, enteritis, colitis, or pouchitis in patients with underlying IBD exist.
Antibody targeting tumor-derived soluble NKG2D ligand sMIC reprograms NK cell homeostatic survival and function and enhances melanoma response to PDL1 blockade therapy.

Melanoma patients who have detectable serum soluble NKG2D ligands either at the baseline or post-treatment of PD1/PDL1 blockade exhibit poor overall survival. Among families of soluble human NKG2D ligands, the soluble human MHC I chain-related molecule (sMIC) was found to be elevated in melanoma patients and mostly associated with poor response to PD1/PDL1 blockade therapy. In this study, we aim to investigate whether co-targeting tumor-released sMIC enhances the therapeutic outcome of PD1/PDL1 blockade therapy for melanoma. We implanted sMIC-expressing B16F10 melanoma tumors into syngeneic host and evaluated therapeutic efficacy of anti-sMIC antibody and anti-PDL1 antibody combination therapy in comparison with monotherapy. We analyzed associated effector mechanism. We also assessed sMIC/MIC prevalence in metastatic human melanoma tumors. We found that the combination therapy of the anti-PDL1 antibody with an antibody targeting sMIC significantly improved animal survival as compared to monotherapies and that the effect of combination therapy depends significantly on NK cells. We show that combination therapy significantly increased IL-2Rα (CD25) on NK cells which sensitizes NK cells to low dose IL-2 for survival. We demonstrate that sMIC negatively reprograms gene expression related to NK cell homeostatic survival and proliferation and that antibody clearing sMIC reverses the effect of sMIC and reprograms NK cell for survival. We further show that sMIC/MIC is abundantly present in metastatic human melanoma tumors. Our findings provide a pre-clinical proof-of-concept and a new mechanistic understanding to underscore the significance of antibody targeting sMIC to improve therapeutic efficacy of anti-PD1/PDL1 antibody for MIC/sMIC+ metastatic melanoma patients.
Carbon nanotubes reinforced alumina matrix nanocomposites for conductive ceramics by additive manufacturing

Abstract Alumina has been extensively used due to its high toughness and hardness, low bulk density, and thermal stability without interaction with the matrix at high temperature. However, the non-conductivity at room temperature narrows its broader applications. Carbon nanotube (CNT) is a suitable candidate to adjust the electrical property of alumina matrix composites due to its high electrical conductivity. By using material extrusion 3D printing (ME3DP), we fabricated 3D CNT/alumina green bodies using inks with controlled rheological properties for high printability. The printed green bodies with CNT loading from 3 wt% to 10 wt% were thermally treated to remove binders and sinter the 3D parts at temperatures from 900 to 1400 °C. The sintered samples showed a good dispersion of CNT in the alumina matrix and improved electrical conductivity. The electrical conductivity of the composites measured up to 10-1 S/m at 7 wt.% CNT loading, compared to the electrical conductivity of 10-13 S/m of pure alumina.
IRF5 Signaling in Phagocytes Is Detrimental to Neonatal Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy

Immune responses to neonatal hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) exacerbate brain injury. Phagocytes, including microglia, play a central role in the immune response, but how the activation of phagocytes is regulated remains elusive. Previously, we have reported that interferon regulatory factor 5 (IRF5) signaling is closely correlated with a pro-inflammatory microglial phenotype in adult mice after stroke. The present study investigated IRF5’s regulatory role in post-HIE inflammation. Male IRF5 conditional knockout (CKO) and IRF5fl/fl postnatal day 10 (P10) pups were subjected to the Rice–Vannucci model (RVM) to induce HIE. Outcomes including morphological and neurobehavioral changes were evaluated at day 7 after HIE. Microglia/macrophage phenotypes and inflammatory responses were evaluated by flow cytometry (FC), RT-PCR, and multiplex cytokine assays. Lenti-IRF5 virus was administered in microglia-neuron co-cultures to evaluate the effects of microglial IRF5 upregulation in ischemic neurons exposed to oxygen–glucose deprivation (OGD). Deletion of phagocytic IRF5 resulted in significantly decreased IRF5 expression, attenuated pro-inflammatory and enhanced anti-inflammatory responses to HIE, and improved outcomes compared with IRF5fl/fl control pups. In vitro lentivirus transfection experiments revealed that overexpression of IRF5 in microglia amplified pro-inflammatory signals and exacerbated OGD-induced neuronal apoptosis and neurite fragmentation. IRF5 signaling mediates microglial pro-inflammatory activation and also affects anti-inflammatory responses. Phagocytic IRF5 signaling is detrimental in HIE and is a potential therapeutic target for post-ischemic inflammation.
A fleet manager that brings agents closer to resources: GIS Cup

The GISCUP 2020 problem is to write a fleet manager to manage a fleet of mobile agents/taxicabs to service resources/customers introduced in a road network. This paper describes a solution that uses a dynamic weighting system to send agents to locations where more resources may show up. It also tries to send agents to waiting resources and assign a resource to the best agent. Results show that the solution is effective at minimizing resource wait time and reducing agent search time.
A pilot evaluation of the Building Early Emotional Skills (BEES) curriculum in face‐to‐face and online formats

The Building Early Emotional Skills (BEES) parenting program is designed to promote parent-child relationships and more optimal social-emotional development by addressing four sequentially built skills in parenting infants/toddlers: (1) building parental awareness of emotions in self and child; (2) listening and interacting sensitively; (3) identifying and labeling emotions; and (4) intentionally supporting early self-regulation skills. BEES used an 8-session format delivered in online or face-to-face platforms (N = 264 female caregivers; n = 214 online, n = 50 face-to-face). Linear mixed modeling for pre-to-post changes showed significant increases in knowledge, emotion coaching beliefs, acceptance of negative emotions, and self-reported emotionally supportive responses to emotions; and, significant decreases in rejection of emotions, emotionally unsupportive responses, and parenting distress. Results suggested no differences in rate of change by program delivery type. Caregivers with more depressive symptoms showed greater improvement in their parenting distress. The BEES program may be a tool to support early positive parenting.
Efficiently Solving Partial Differential Equations in a Partially Reconfigurable Specialized Hardware

Scientific computations with a wide range of applications in domains such as developing vaccines, forecasting the weather, predicting natural disasters, simulating aerodynamics of spacecraft, and exploring oil resources, create the main workloads of supercomputers. The key integration of such scientific computations is modeling physical phenomena that are done with the aid of partial differential equations (PDEs). Solving PDEs on supercomputers, even with those equipped with GPUs, consumes a large amount of power and yet is not as fast as desired. The main reason behind such slow processing is data dependency. The key challenge is that software techniques cannot resolve these dependencies, therefore, such applications cannot benefit from the parallelism provided by processors such as GPUs. Our key insight to address this challenge is that although we cannot resolve the dependencies, we can reduce their negative impacts by using hardware/software co-optimization. To this end, we propose breaking down the data-dependent operations into two groups of operations: a majority of parallelizable and the minority of data-dependent operations. We execute these two groups in the desired order: first, we put together all parallelizable operations and execute them all, subsequently; then, we switch to execute the small data-dependent part. As long as the data-dependent part is small, we can accelerate them by using fast hardware mechanisms. Besides, our proposed hardware mechanisms guarantee quickly switching between the two groups of operations. To follow the same order of execution, dictated by our software mechanism, and implemented in hardware, we also propose a new low-overhead compression format – sparsity is another attribute of PDEs that require compression. Furthermore, the core generic architecture of our proposed hardware allows the execution of other applications including sparse matrix-vector multiplication (SpMV) and graph algorithms. The key feature of the proposed hardware is partial reconfigurability, which on one hand, facilitates the execution of data-dependent computations, and on the other hand, allows executing broad application without changing the entire configuration. Our evaluations show that compared to GPUs, we achieve an average speedup of 15.6× for scientific computations while consuming 14× less energy.
Characterization of basal forebrain glutamate neurons suggests a role in control of arousal and avoidance behavior

The basal forebrain (BF) is involved in arousal, attention, and reward processing but the role of individual BF neuronal subtypes is still being uncovered. Glutamatergic neurons are the least well-understood of the three main BF neurotransmitter phenotypes. Here we analyzed the distribution, size, calcium-binding protein content and projections of the major group of BF glutamatergic neurons expressing the vesicular glutamate transporter subtype 2 (vGluT2) and tested the functional effect of activating them. Mice expressing Cre recombinase under the control of the vGluT2 promoter were crossed with a reporter strain expressing the red fluorescent protein, tdTomato, to generate vGluT2-cre-tdTomato mice. Immunohistochemical staining for choline acetyltransferase and a cross with mice expressing green fluorescent protein selectively in GABAergic neurons confirmed that cholinergic, GABAergic and vGluT2+ neurons represent distinct BF subpopulations. Subsets of BF vGluT2+ neurons expressed the calcium-binding proteins calbindin or calretinin, suggesting that multiple subtypes of BF vGluT2+ neurons exist. Anterograde tracing using adeno-associated viral vectors expressing channelrhodopsin2-enhanced yellow fluorescent fusion proteins revealed major projections of BF vGluT2+ neurons to neighboring BF cholinergic and parvalbumin neurons, as well as to extra-BF areas involved in the control of arousal or aversive/rewarding behavior such as the lateral habenula and ventral tegmental area. Optogenetic activation of BF vGluT2+ neurons elicited a striking avoidance of the area where stimulation was given, whereas stimulation of BF parvalbumin or cholinergic neurons did not. Together with previous optogenetic findings suggesting an arousal-promoting role, our findings suggest that BF vGluT2 neurons play a dual role in promoting wakefulness and avoidance behavior.
Comparative incidence and outcomes of COVID-19 in kidney or kidney-pancreas transplant recipients versus kidney or kidney-pancreas waitlisted patients: A single-center study.

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 epidemiologic studies comparing immunosuppressed and immunocompetent patients may provide insight into the impact of immunosuppressants on outcomes. METHODS: In this retrospective cohort study, we assembled kidney or kidney-pancreas transplant recipients who underwent transplant from January 1, 2010, to June 30, 2020, and kidney or kidney-pancreas waitlisted patients who were ever on the waitlist from January 1, 2019, to June 30, 2020. We identified laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 until January 31, 2021, and tracked its outcomes by leveraging informatics infrastructure developed for an outcomes research network. RESULTS: COVID-19 was identified in 62 of 887 kidney or kidney-pancreas transplant recipients and 20 of 434 kidney or kidney-pancreas waitlisted patients (7.0% vs. 4.6%, p = .092). Of these patients with COVID-19, hospitalization occurred in 48 of 62 transplant recipients and 8 of 20 waitlisted patients (77% vs. 40%, p = .002); intensive care unit admission occurred in 18 of 62 transplant recipients and 2 of 20 waitlisted patients (29% vs. 10%, p = .085); and 7 transplant recipients were mechanically ventilated and died, whereas no waitlisted patients were mechanically ventilated or died (11% vs. 0%, p = .116). CONCLUSIONS: Our study provides single-center data and an informatics approach that can be used to inform the design of multicenter studies.
65 Survey regarding the perception of prebiotics/probiotics amongst North Carolina horse owners or leasers

A survey was conducted to evaluate how prebiotics and probiotics are used and perceived among horse owners or leasers in North Carolina. This survey was deemed exempt from full review by the NCSU Institutional Review Board. Qualtrics was used to develop the survey and it allowed for multiple horses to be represented by one owner. There were 14 questions in the survey and these included information about if the respondent resided in North Carolina and their county, number of horses owned, information about the feed offered to their horses and the owner's use and perception of supplemental prebiotics and probiotics. The survey was shared to 7 different Facebook groups representing horse owners and equestrians of North Carolina, potentially reaching up to 63,300 members, though it is likely that many horse owners were members of multiple groups or were inactive. Therefore, neither true reach nor the response rate could be accurately determined, though a total of 501 surveys were completed. Of these, 52.9% reported offering feeds containing prebiotics or probiotics while 22.0% were unsure if their feed contains them. In addition, 32.7% of respondents offered a supplemental prebiotic or probiotic. Gastric/hindgut ulcers (39.8%) and colic (28.1%) were the most common health concerns reported by the owners. The majority of responders (82.7%) believe prebiotics and/or probiotics benefit their horse's gut health. When respondents were asked to comment on their experience regarding the use of prebiotics and probiotics, common words used included “health,” “beneficial,” “difference,” “happy,” “ulcer” and “diarrhea,” implying that prebiotics and probiotics are perceived to be beneficial by these horse owners and may be helping manage some of their equine's conditions. Further, 68.2% of the respondents believe that horse owners should consider implementing prebiotics and/or probiotics into a horse's daily feeding program. In conclusion, the results of this survey indicate that these horse owners are frequently using prebiotics and/or probiotics and are seeing beneficial changes to their horse's gut health. Since most prebiotic/probiotic efficacy studies are conducted on research animals, more work is required to establish the use and effectiveness of prebiotics and probiotics in privately owned horses.
Genomic characterization of a comprehensive collection of esophagogastric cancer patient-derived xenografts.

233Background: Large-scale sequencing has identified multiple oncogenic drivers and molecularly defined subsets in esophagogastric cancer. However, besides therapies for HER2-positive and microsate...
Program Comprehension with Physical Computing: A Structure, Function, and Behavior Analysis of Think-Alouds with High School Students

Comprehending programs is key to learning programming. Previous studies highlight novices' naive approaches to comprehending the structural, functional, and behavioral aspects of programs. And yet, with the majority of them examining on-screen programming environments, we barely know about program comprehension within physical computing-a common K-12 programming context. In this study, we qualitatively analyzed think-aloud interview videos of 22 high school students individually comprehending a given text-based Arduino program while interacting with its corresponding functional physical artifact to answer two questions: 1) How do novices comprehend the given text-based Arduino program? And, 2) What role does the physical artifact play in program comprehension? We found that novices mostly approached the program bottom-up, initially comprehending structural and later functional aspects, along different granularities. The artifact provided two distinct modes of engagement, active and interactive, that supported the program's structural and functional comprehension. However, behavioral comprehension i.e. understanding program execution leading to the observed outcome was inaccessible to many. Our findings extend program comprehension literature in two ways: (a) it provides one of the very few accounts of high school students' code comprehension in a physical computing context, and, (b) it highlights the mediating role of physical artifacts in program comprehension. Further, they point directions for future pedagogical and tool designs within physical computing to better support students' distributed program comprehension.
Cultural Cleansing in Italian Music Criticism in the Early 1930s: Autarchy, Eugenics and Anti-Semitism

During the early 1930s, the Fascist regime released rules and laws in order to take full control of the press, enforcing restrictions to silence any dissent from journals and newspapers. Nonetheless, the regime barely intervened in repressing musical polemics and debates hosted in specialized musical journals. Despite the lack of explicit pressure, the writings of specialized music criticism would often go beyond what was required in order to conform with the rules of state politics. Its political essence proves eventually to be deeply rooted in a linguistic transformation of the narrative, strongly aligned with the Fascist rhetorical rationale and the political regimentation dictated by the Fascist ideological framework. Whether or not such an aligned political consistency was due to personal opportunistic reasons, a large part of critics did not avoid wearing a Fascist mask. If criticism of the late 1930s is characterized by a more evident expression of cultural violence, it seems clear that specialized music criticism, as well as the majority of the Italian press of the early 1930s, contributed strongly to creating the conditions for a conscious political self-fascistization.
Repeatability and sensitivity characterization of the far-field high-energy diffraction microscopy instrument at the Advanced Photon Source.

In the last two decades, far-field high-energy diffraction microscopy (FF-HEDM) and similar non-destructive techniques have been actively developed at synchrotron light sources around the world. As these techniques (and associated analysis tools) are becoming more available for the general users of these light sources, it is important and timely to characterize their performance and capabilities. In this work, the FF-HEDM instrument implemented at the 1-ID-E endstation of the Advanced Photon Source (APS) is summarized. The set of measurements conducted to characterize the instrument's repeatability and sensitivity to changes in grain orientation and position are also described. When an appropriate grain matching method is used, the FF-HEDM instrument's repeatability is approximately 5 µm in translation, 0.02° in rotation, and 2 × 10−4 in strain; the instrument sensitivity is approximately 5 µm in translation and 0.05° in rotation.
53. Pre-conditioning, epigenetics and other strategies

In recent years there has been an explosion in various emerging approaches to assess and manipulate genetic integrity of cells and tissues at the phenotypic, cytologic, biochemical, and molecular level. These approaches can now be exploited with respect to cryo-stability. A better understanding of the implications of epigenetics, combined with renewed interest in cell differentiation and de-differentiation has opened new philosophies of biological mechanisms that can be developed to the advantage of future cryobiologists as they become better understood. For instance, new understanding of induction of pluripotency in somatic cells (e.g. iPS cells) has led to a better understanding of some fundamental mechanisms of cellular repair and propagation. A deeper understanding of the epigenetic influences on cell phenotype also shows great promise to help yield improved cryopreservation outcomes of cells, tissues and organs. Cellular reprogramming through molecular or environmental cues may be able to modulate cell pathways, inducing a rejuvenated state capable of restoring primary energy metabolism while avoiding free radical production post thaw. Better understanding of how to manipulate these mechanisms could potentially allow and induction of cryotolerance in difficult to freeze models to avoid quiescence or apoptosis post thaw. By combining these tools with novel chemistry and physics systems can be developed which will allow for more stable preservation through “classic” cryopreservation (e.g. slow cooling approaches), vitrification and potentially lyophilization.
Sympodiomyces Fell & Statzell

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on Sympodiomyces genus and its member species. The streak culture of this genus on malt agar is dull cream, the surface is smooth, the texture soft but not mucoid. A conidiophore develops directly from a yeast cell, which produces a terminal conidium. Conidial formation is irregular, both in distance between conidia and location on the conidiophore. Branched true mycelium is inconspicuous and restricted in development. Conidia on the mycelium are single on a short peg or sympodial on an elongate conidiophore. The only member species of this genus is Sympodiomyces parvus. After undergoing growth in 5% malt extract for five days at 12° C, the single cells appear as polymorphic. The cells are single, in pairs, and short branched chains. The cells in chains are generally larger and ovoid in shape. After undergoing growth on 5% malt agar for one month at 12° C, the streak culture appear as dull cream, the surface is smooth, the texture is soft but not mucoid. The growth is convex and the periphery is entire, apart from tufts of non-aerial mycelium at the edges.
Intestinal secretion induced by volume expansion in the dog

Abstract The effect of plasma volume expansion on jejunal transmucosal volume flows, sodium, chloride, potassium, and osmolality fluxes, and mucosal permeability was examined in 15 mongrel dogs. During continuous intravenous infusion of Tyrode's solution (2.5 ml per min per kg) net volume absorption was decreased or reverted to net secretion, whereas mucosal permeability (measured by a [ 3 H]mannitol recovery method) increased. Termination of the infusion resulted in a decreased net volume secretion or reversion to net absorption, whereas mucosal permeability returned to control. A quantitative relationship was established between net transmucosal volume flow and plasma protein concentration. Analysis of the net transmucosal Na + , K + , and osmolality fluxes at various volume secretion rates suggest a convective flow of mucosal interstitial fluid into the jejunal lumen. However, significantly greater Cl + concentrations were observed in the secreted fluid than plasma at low volume secretion rates ( + behaved similar to Na + and K + . The results of this study suggest that the diarrheagenic effect of volume expansion is readily reversible and is mediated, for the most part, by an alteration in plasma oncotic pressure and thus transcapillary fluid exchange in the jejunal mucosa.
Red blood cell transfusion practices in two surgical intensive care units: a mixed methods assessment of barriers to evidence‐based practice

BACKGROUND Despite evidence supporting the restrictive red blood cell (RBC) transfusion thresholds and associated clinical practice guidelines, clinical practice has been slow to change in the ICU. Our aim was to identify barriers to conservative transfusion practice adherence.
Information Retrieved from a Database and the Augmentation of Personal Knowledge

OBJECTIVE To assess the degree to which information retrieved from a biomedical database can augment personal knowledge in addressing novel problems, and how the ability to retrieve information evolves over time. DESIGN This longitudinal study comprised three assessments of two cohorts of medical students. The first assessment occurred just before student course experience in bacteriology, the second occurred just after the course, and the third occurred five months later. At each assessment, the students were initially given a set of bacteriology problems to solve using their personal knowledge only. Each student was then reassigned a sample of problems he or she had answered incorrectly, to work again with assistance from a database containing information about bacteria and bacteriologic concepts. The initial pass through the problems generated a "personal knowledge" score; the second pass generated a "database-assisted" score for each student at each assessment. RESULTS Over two cohorts, students' personal knowledge scores were very low (approximately 12%) at the first assessment. They rose substantially at the second assessment (approximately 48%) but decreased six months later (approximately 25%). By contrast, database-assisted scores rose linearly: from approximately 44% at the first assessment to approximately 57% at the second assessment, to approximately 75% at the third assessment. CONCLUSION The persistent increase in database-assisted scores, even when personal knowledge had attenuated, was the most remarkable finding of this study. While some of the increase may be attributed to artifacts of the design, the pattern seems to result from the retained ability to recognize problem-relevant information in a database even when it cannot be recalled.
Stripes, Electron-Like and Polaron-Like Carriers, and High- T c in the Cuprates

Both “large-U” and “small-U” orbitals are used to study the electronic structure of the high-Tc cuprates. A striped structure, with three types of carriers is induced, polaron-like “stripons,” which carry charge, “quasi-electrons,” which carry both charge and spin; and “svivons,” which carry spin and lattice distortion. Anomalous physical properties of the cuprates are derived, and specifically the systematic behavior of the resistivity. Hall constant, and thermoelectric power. Transitions between pair states of quasielectrons and stripons drive high-temperature superconductivity.
Repaving the one-way street: self-reflection in speech-language pathology.

As a clinical supervisor in the Department of SpeechLanguage Pathology and Audiology at Ithaca College, I have the honor every year of working with dedicated graduate students pursuing a career in speech-language pathology. Typically driven by the desire to help people, these students have recognized the critical need for effective communication in daily interactions, and how devastating a disruption of such skills can be to a client’s life. Hence, the initial focus of speech-language pathology, and most likely other clinical fields, naturally is on the client. It is no wonder then that this focus remains during much of graduate coursework and clinical practica. That said, an effective treatment is only as effective as the clinician administering it. It seems therefore that the focus of intervention must also be on the clinician. Students admitted to the graduate speech-language pathology program at Ithaca College primarily receive their training at our on-campus clinic, the Sir Alexander Ewing-Speech and Hearing Clinic. Clinical practica initiates in a very sensible manner: observation. As required by our governing body, the American SpeechLanguage-Hearing Association, students must obtain 25 hours observing speech-language therapy sessions before practicing as student clinicians themselves. As can be expected, students experience the gamut of emotions when preparing for their first client: anxiety, stress, and a fear that their client may not make progress. It is this last emotion, perhaps,which restrains students’ foci to his/her clients without sufficient reflection of their own contributions to a client’s progress. Fortunately, there is a simple and helpful exercise to correct this error in thinking: self-reflection. Self-reflection in a clinical setting entails the ability to analyze a therapy session for both its strengths and weaknesses, as well as to identify contributions from both the client and clinician that may be influencing the intervention process. Requiring students to engage in this powerful activity can be done as occasionally as once a month or as frequently as every session, depending on the level of the learner. The first step in a selfreflection exercise involves identifying areas of strength observed in a given session. Students should list activities that worked well, intervention techniques/cues that successfully elicited target behaviors, and/or the types of feedback delivered to the client following correct and incorrect productions.Beginning on such a positive note is a nice way to commence this somewhat intimidating exercise, especially if the student knows his/her supervisor may be reading it. (As an alternative, have students complete regular self-reflection logs privately and submit one or two to demonstrate completion.) As easy as it may seem, students often struggle with identifying their strengths. Habituated by their super-
Influence of non-crop plants on stink bug (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) and natural enemy abundance in tomatoes

We investigated the effects of weed hosts on stink bug density and damage (Euschistus conspersus Uhler and Thyanta pallidovirens Stal), and a nectar bearing plant on natural enemies of stink bugs in the Sacramento Valley of California. Stink bug density and fruit damage were evaluated in processing tomatoes adjacent to weedy and cultivated borders. The density of E. conspersus was significantly greater in tomatoes adjacent to weedy borders in July but not during August/September. Thyanta pallid-ovirens was less abundant overall (19%), but was found in significantly greater densities adjacent to cultivated borders in July but not in August/September. Mean percent fruit damage by stink bugs was greater adjacent to the weedy border than the cultivated border, but this difference was not significant. Stink bug egg parasitism and generalist predator density were evaluated in fresh market tomatoes adjacent to a sweet alyssum (Lobularia maritima L.) border and an unplanted control border at three sites. Egg parasitism was significantly greater in the alyssum treatment for the 9―12 September sampling period. Jalysus wickhami VanDuzee (Hemiptera: Berytidae) density was significantly greater in the alyssum treatment in mid-June. No other significant differences in predator populations were detected. Results of these two studies show that habitat manipulations have the potential to reduce densities of E. conspersus in tomato, the first step in developing a farmscape management plan for stink bug control.
Ca2+ influx through L-type Ca2+ channels and Ca2+-induced Ca2+ release regulate cAMP accumulation and Epac1-dependent ERK 1/2 activation in INS-1 cells

We previously reported that INS-1 cells expressing the intracellular II-III loop of the L-type Ca(2+) channel Cav1.2 (Cav1.2/II-III cells) are deficient in Ca(2+)-induced Ca(2+) release (CICR). Here we show that glucose-stimulated ERK 1/2 phosphorylation (GSEP) is slowed and reduced in Cav1.2/II-III cells compared to INS-1 cells. This parallels a decrease in glucose-stimulated cAMP accumulation (GS-cAMP) in Cav1.2/II-III cells. Influx of Ca(2+) via L-type Ca(2+) channels and CICR play roles in both GSEP and GS-cAMP in INS-1 cells since both are inhibited by nicardipine or ryanodine. Further, the Epac1-selective inhibitor CE3F4 abolishes glucose-stimulated ERK activation in INS-1 cells, as measured using the FRET-based sensor EKAR. The non-selective Epac antagonist ESI-09 but not the Epac2-selective antagonist ESI-05 nor the PKA antagonist Rp-cAMPs inhibits GSEP in both INS-1 and Cav1.2/II-III cells. We conclude that L-type Ca(2+) channel-dependent cAMP accumulation, that's amplified by CICR, activates Epac1 and drives GSEP in INS-1 cells.
Anatomic dead space cannot be predicted by body weight.

BACKGROUND: Anatomic dead space (also called airway or tracheal dead space) is the part of the tidal volume that does not participate in gas exchange. Some contemporary ventilation protocols, such as the Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome Network protocol, call for smaller tidal volumes than were traditionally delivered. With smaller tidal volumes, the percentage of each delivered breath that is wasted in the anatomic dead space is greater than it is with larger tidal volumes. Many respiratory and medical textbooks state that anatomic dead space can be estimated from the patient9s weight by assuming there is approximately 1 mL of dead space for every pound of body weight. With a volumetric capnography monitor that measures on-airway flow and CO2, the anatomic dead space can be automatically and directly measured with the Fowler method, in which dead space equals the exhaled volume up to the point when CO2 rises above a threshold. METHODS: We analyzed data from 58 patients (43 male, 15 female) to assess the accuracy of 5 anatomic dead space estimation methods. Anatomic dead space was measured during the first 10 min of monitoring and compared to the estimates. RESULTS: The coefficient of determination (r2) between the anatomic dead space estimate based on body weight and the measured anatomic dead space was r2 = 0.0002. The mean ± SD error between the body weight estimate and the measured dead space was 60 ± 54 mL. CONCLUSIONS: It appears that the anatomic dead space estimate methods were sufficient when used (as originally intended) together with other assumptions to identify a starting point in a ventilation algorithm, but the poor agreement between an individual patient9s measured and estimated anatomic dead space contradicts the assumption that dead space can be predicted from actual or ideal weight alone.
Business With China: A Critical Evaluation Of Lure And Challenges

This paper examines the significant historical and socio economic development in China over the past quarter century and summarizes the main features of the pre-reform economy and the main strategies adopted by china as it began its quest for economic progress. The paper also evaluates the consequences of China’s market reform and the challenges to this new economic power. The objective of the paper is to discuss both opportunities and risks in doing business in China and to provide and understanding of what compels so many firms to so boldly seek to establish a presence in China while taking substantial risks in doing so. The research concludes that, investment and business opportunities in China would outweigh the risk and challenges faced by potential investors. The paper examines the elements contributing to China’s reform, including pro market reform, economic growth, and the rate and significance of FDI in china. Investment challenges include: corruption, mostly “unfree” economy, low ranking in ease of doing business, undervalued Yuan, and lack of proper intellectual property rights. The research points to positive indicators such as: China’s economic development growth (i.e. GDP growth at 9.9% in mainland and 12.4% in Zhejiang); China’s entry in WTO – relaxing foreign investment restrictions; infrastructure development – transit, energy, telecommunications, etc.; and the impact of the market reform - China’s economic growth rate among the highest recorded during the past three decades. The examination of risks and challenges, reveals (1) the “Driving Forces” for business investment in China which include: rapidly expanding economy; growth in Chinese consumer purchasing power; and economic Power & other Indicators; and (2) the issues of concern such as: excess capacity in industrial sector, export dependence economy, problem with banking sector, and potential unemployment problem. The paper concludes that – despite potential and clear risks – there are good and legitimate business and investment potential in China and among many factors to consider are: many incentives to consider business opportunities and potential benefits; rising personal income and spending power in China; and increase in per capita income at steady rate of 8% since 1980, currently estimated at $3000.
Phases of bosons or fermions in confined optical lattices

Phases of Bose or Fermi atoms in optical lattices confined in harmonic traps are studied within the Thomas-Fermi approximation. Critical radii and particle numbers for the onset of Mott insulator states are calculated and phase diagrams are shown in one dimension, and estimated for two and three dimensions. Methods to observe these and phases such as $d$-wave superconductivity are discussed. Specifically, the collective modes are calculated.
Effect of reserpine on N-methylthiobenzamide-induced pulmonary edema: role of lung norepinephrine and hypothermia.

Abstract N -Methylthiobenzamide (NMTB) is a pneumotoxin which causes pulmonary edema and hydrothorax in rodents. Reserpine has been shown to attenuate the pneumotoxicity induced by NMTB [1]. Some of that evidence suggests that the protection afforded by reserpine occurs independently of its capacity to reduce peripheral 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT). We therefore investigated 2 other pharmacologic properties of reserpine, namely: (1) its capacity to reduce lung norepinephrine (NE); and (2) its capacity to induce hypothermia, in order to more fully understand its mechanism of protection. Pretreatment of mice or rats with 6-hydroxydopamine at a dose which reduced lung NE by approximately 80% did not affect the pneumotoxic response to NMTB. Thus a decrease in lung NE probably does not account for reserpine's protective effect. An investigation of reserpine's effects on core temperature revealed that mice dosed with a combination of reserpine + NMTB presented with core temperatures lower than mice treated with either compound alone. Mice placed in a cold environment (2°C) and dosed with NMTB presented with hypothermia and an attenuated toxic response to NMTB. Thus a reserpine-induced hypothermia could be allowing for a reduction of NMTB metabolism and consequent diminution of toxicity. These observations suggest that reserpine's capacity to protect animals against NMTB-induced pulmonary edema may in part be due to its capacity to induce hypothermia.
Murine strain differences in taste responsivity and organization of the rostral nucleus of the solitary tract.

Abstract Taste responsivity and organization of fungiform papillae, geniculate ganglion neurons and gustatory recipient zones of the nucleus of the solitary tract (NST) were examined in C57BL/6NCrlBR (C57) mice, BALB/c6NCrlBR (BALB/c) mice and CB6Fl/CrlBr (CB6) mice, an F1 hybrid cross between BALB/c and C57 mice. Results from behavioral studies confirm that C57 and CB6 mice exhibit higher preferences to sucrose and lower preferences to NaCl, as compared to BALB/c mice. No strain differences were confirmed for aversion responses to citric acid or quinine HC1 taste stimuli. Anatomical analyses show that the number and organization of fungiform papillae do not reliably differ between C57, BALB/c, and CB6 mice, nor do volumes of glossopharyngeal terminal fields in the NST. However, strain-specific differences exist in the number of neurons contained in the geniculate ganglion, volume of chorda tympani (CT) terminal fields in the rostral NST, and number of NST neurons contained in CT terminal fields. BALB/c and CB6 mice possess a greater number of geniculate ganglion neurons and larger CT terminal fields, as compared to C57 mice. However, strain differences in the number of geniculate ganglion neurons and terminal field volume are not obviously correlated with strain differences in gustatory responsivity. The only reliable relationship confirmed between taste responsivity and neuroanatomical organization of the rostral NST relates to the absolute number of neurons contained in CT terminal fields, and corresponding neuronal density within CT terminal fields. Chorda tympani terminal fields of C57 and CB6 mice contain an average of 379 neurons, whereas CT terminal fields of BALB/c mice contain an average of 531 neurons. Chorda tympani terminal fields of C57 and CB6 mice contain an average of 1.14 neurons/10 4 cubic microns, whereas CT terminal fields of BALB/c mice contain an average of 1.679 neurons/10 4 cubic microns. These results confirm that genetic factors contribute to a wide range of anatomical differences at the level of the geniculate ganglion and rostral gustatory NST, and suggest that murine strain differences in taste responsivity may at least partially relate to strain differences in populations of NST neurons contained in CT terminal fields.
USHER: An Intelligent Tour Companion

Audio Guides have been the prevalent mode of information delivery in public spaces such as Museums and Art Galleries. These devices are programmed to render static information to their users about the collections and artworks present and require human input to operate. The inability to automatically deliver contextual messages and the lack of interactivity are major hurdles to ensuring a rich and seamless user experience. Ubiquitous smartphones can be leveraged to create pervasive audio guides that provide rich and personalized user experience. In this paper, we present the design and implementation of "Usher", an intelligent tour companion. Usher provides three distinct advantages over traditional audio guides. First, Usher uses smartphone sensors to infer user context such as his physical location, locomotive state and orientation to deliver relevant information to the user. Second, Usher also provides interface to a cognitive Question Answer(QA) service for the inquisitive users and answers contextual queries. Finally, Usher notifies users if any of their social media friends are present in the vicinity. The ability to seamlessly track user context to provide rich semantic information and the cognitive capability to answer contextual queries means that Usher can enhance the user experience in a museum by multitudes.
Banding nitrogen fertilizer influence on inorganic nitrogen distribution

Abstract Banding nitrogen (N) fertilizer increases inorganic N variability in areas between the corn rows for one or two years. Fertilizer recommendations may be improved by developing sampling systems that account for this variability. If soil samples are routinely taken from one location relative to another, then fertilizer recommendations may be biased. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of banding N fertilizer on N distribution in soil. Urea ammonium nitrate was applied to a Brandt silty clay loam (Fine‐silty, mixed Udic Haploboroll) at the six leaf growth stage in 1992. Soil samples were collected from grid points (0, 8,22, and >35 cm from fertilizer band) between the corn (Zea mays L.) rows in the fall of 1992. Soil samples were analyzed for inorganic N. In unfertilized plots, inorganic N distribution at all of the sampling locations followed lognormal distributions. However, in band fertilized plots inorganic N distributions were influenced by sampling location. Inorganic N esti...
Early incorporation of carbon-labeled carbon tetrachloride into rat liver particulate lipids and proteins

Abstract After intragastric administration to rats of 14C-labeled carbon tetrachloride in mineral oil, the lipids of the liver microsome fraction become labeled very rapidly. The process of microsomal lipid labeling is complete within 5 minutes. There is a slight decline in the degree of labeling of microsomal lipids from 5 to 15 minutes, after which the level of radioactivity remains constant up to 90 minutes when measurements were terminated. Labeling of mitochondrial lipids was one-fourth to one-seventh that of microsomal lipids. Also, labeling of microsomal proteins was much less than labeling of microsomal lipids. The rapid incorporation into microsomal lipids of 14C from intragastrically administered 14CCl4, and the rapid progress of microsomal lipid peroxidation known to accompany the labeling of the microsomal lipids, fit the expectations of the lipoperoxidation hypothesis. To our knowledge, these two events occur with an explosive rapidity far beyond any other known consequences of the reaction of carbon tetrachloride with the liver. The experimental results offer strong presumptive evidence that cleavage of the carbon-chlorine bond and consequent microsomal lipid peroxidation are the keys to carbon tetrachloride hepatotoxicity.
RE(AuAl2)nAl2(AuxSi1-x)2: a new homologous series of quaternary intermetallics grown from aluminum flux.

The combination of early rare earth metals (La– to Gd and Yb), gold, and silicon in molten aluminum results in the formation of intermetallic compounds with four related structures, forming a new homologous series: RE[AuAl2]nAl2(AuxSi1−x)2, with x ≈ 0.5 for most of the compound and n = 0, 1, 2, and 3. Because of the highly reducing nature of the Al flux, rare earth oxides instead of metals can also be used in these reactions. These compounds grow as large plate-like crystals and have tetragonal structure types that can be viewed as intergrowths of the BaAl4 structure and antifluorite-type AuAl2 layers. REAuAl2Si materials form with the BaAl4 structure type in space group I4/mmm (cell parameters for the La analogue are a = 4.322(2) A, c = 10.750(4) A, and Z = 2). REAu2Al4Si forms in a new ordered superstructure of the KCu4S3 structure type, with space group P4/nmm and cell parameters of the La analogue of a = 6.0973(6) A, c = 8.206(1) A, and Z = 2. REAu3Al6Si forms in a new I4/mmm symmetry structure type w...