cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Two-Person Relational Psychology for the Child and Adolescent Relational Psychotherapist

Attachment theory and infant developmental research have confirmed the ubiquitous nature of the innate bidirectional mode of communication that exists in everyday human interactions. From birth, the infant learns to make meaning of the experiences with its caregivers in order to develop internal working models of attachment that reflect implicit patterns of stable or unstable mental representations of self and others. When the internal working models of attachment are created in a secure and stable manner, it allows the child to understand and predict the intent of others in their environment, and it implicitly becomes a survival-promoting tool allowing for proximity with others, establishing a psychological sense of “felt” security. Further research has provided a better understanding of how cognitive and memory systems shape a person’s experiences when interacting with others in what are called moments of intersubjectivity —the dynamic interplay between two people’s subjective experiences (Chap. 5). Intersubjective experiences allow for “being with” and “getting” another person’s state of mind and their intentions. It is this dynamic interplay of subjectivity that, when things go well, lead to adaptive models of relating with others. These models are stored in nonconscious and nondeclarative memory systems in what is known as “implicit relational knowing ,” which begins to be represented before the availability of language. Intersubjectivity promotes a cohesive and more flexible way of reflective abilities to know what works for healthy social reciprocity with implicit aspects of morality. Rustin and Sekaer (2004) aptly state: “Experience, in an average expectable environment, enables genetic programs to unfold and puts the fine tuning on the genetic framework. From this new perspective the brain itself is relationally constructed.”
MicroRNA-425 and microRNA-155 cooperatively regulate atrial natriuretic peptide expression and cGMP production

Aims Atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP), secreted primarily by atrial cardiomyocytes, decreases blood pressure by raising cyclic 3’,5’-guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) levels and inducing vasorelaxation, natriuresis, and diuresis. Raising the level of ANP has been shown to be an effective treatment for hypertension. To advance the future development of an anti-microRNA (miR) approach to increasing expression of ANP, we investigated the regulation of NPPA expression by two miRs: miR-425 and miR-155. We examined whether miR-425 and miR-155 have an additive effect on the expression and function of ANP. Methods and results Human embryonic stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hESC-CMs) were transfected with miR-425, miR-155, or a combination of the two miRs. Two days later, NPPA expression was measured using real time qPCR. Each of the miRs decreased NPPA expression over a wide range of concentrations, with a significant reduction at concentrations as low as 1 nM. The combination of miR-425 and miR-155 reduced NPPA expression to a greater extent than either miR-425 or miR-155 alone. An in vitro assay was developed to study the potential biological significance of the miR-induced decrease in NPPA expression. The cooperative effect of miR-425 and miR-155 on NPPA expression was associated with a significant decrease in cGMP levels. Conclusions These data demonstrate that miR-425 and miR-155 regulate NPPA expression in a cooperative manner. Targeting both miRNAs with anti-miRs (possibly at submaximal concentrations) might prove to be a more effective strategy to modulate ANP levels, and thus blood pressure, than targeting either miRNA alone.
La fragmentation du genre dans l’Irak post-invasion

Cet article s’interesse a l’evolution des questions et des mobilisations liees aux femmes et au genre en Irak depuis l’instauration du Code du statut personnel en 1959 et explore l’actuelle fragmentation ethno-confessionnelle des droits des femmes. L’auteure propose de comprendre l’evolution des droits des femmes irakiennes et de leurs conditions de vie en insistant sur l’importance d’adopter une approche complexe, intersectionnelle et historique. Elle se situe ainsi en rupture avec une approche qui se limiterait a analyser la situation des femmes irakiennes a travers un islam indifferencie ou une violence genree supposee ancestrale. Dans cette perspective, l’article montre que les questions de genre sont imbriquees aux questions d’identite ethnique et confessionnelle, de nationalisme, de religion, a la nature des regimes politiques et aux developpements sociaux et economiques qui marquent le pays depuis l’etablissement de la Republique irakienne en 1958. L’auteure examine d’abord les debats et les mobilisations autour des droits juridiques des femmes en Irak. Elle propose ensuite une analyse de la violence politique, economique et militaire qui structure la violence genree et la definition des normes et des relations de genre depuis les annees 1980. Enfin, elle analyse la specificite de la fragmentation ethno-confessionnelle qui influe sur la vie et les mobilisations des femmes irakiennes depuis 2003.
The Aspirin/Migraines Software Package

This chapter describes the Aspirin/MIGRAINES 6.0 software package for simulating backpropagation-style neural networks, available for free from The MITRE Corporation. This software takes a user’s high-level description of a neural network and generates a high-performance C code implementation. The system also contains an interface to visualization tools, allowing the parameters and values of the resulting networks to be displayed graphically or processed by subsequent systems. In addition, a simple set of numerical analysis tools is included.
Theory of Mind in Settlement System Evolution

In this chapter, Bowen and Gleeson consider the evolved ideational foundations of human settlements, illustrate their effects on features of the built environment, and describe how the mind has evolved to enable the use of artificial selection in giving shape to human settlements. Because the mind is what the brain does, both are products of evolution. The brain is the anatomical seat of human culture, and therefore it and its products are at the center of evolved human settlements. The human brain and the conscious human mind enable us to imagine ourselves and our world, to invent, and to act upon ideas that drive the evolution of human settlements.
Effects of core formation on the Hf-W isotopic composition of the Earth and dating of the Moon-forming impact

Abstract Earth's core formation set the initial compositions of the core and mantle. Various aspects of core formation, such as the degree of metal–silicate equilibration, oxygen fugacity, and depth of equilibration, have significant consequences for the resulting compositions, yet are poorly constrained. The Hf–W isotopic system can provide unique constraints on these aspects relative to other geochemical or geophysical methods. Here we model the Hf–W isotopic evolution of the Earth, improving over previous studies by combining a large number of N-body simulations of planetary accretion with a core formation model that includes self-consistent evolution of oxygen fugacity and a partition coefficient of tungsten that evolves with changing pressure, temperature, composition, and oxygen fugacity. The effective average fraction of equilibrating metal is constrained to be k > 0.2 for a range of equilibrating silicate masses (for canonical accretion scenarios), and is likely M ⊕ ) have no systematic effect on the 182W anomaly, or on fHf/W (except for fO2), when applying the constraint that the model must reproduce Earth's mantle W abundance. There are strong tradeoffs between the effects of k, equilibrating silicate mass, depth of equilibration, and timing of core formation, so the terrestrial Hf–W isotopic system should be interpreted with caution when used as a chronometer of Earth's core formation. Because of these strong tradeoffs, the Earth's tungsten anomaly can be reproduced for Moon-forming impact timescales spanning at least 10–175 Ma. Early Moon formation ages require a higher degree of metal–silicate equilibration to produce Earth's 182W anomaly.
PhamilyHealth: A Photo Sharing System for Intergenerational Family Collaboration on Health

Keeping in touch and staying aware of family members' health is an inherent desire among many families. Yet, conversations with family members about health can be challenging due to a number of reasons, such as: time, physical distance, and other concerns. Given that, it merits the development of tools that aim to facilitate sustainable health information sharing in the family context. In this paper, we present PhamilyHealth. PhamilyHealth is a web-based photo sharing system for family members to share health-related photos with one another and to encourage a family-wide, sustainable, healthy lifestyle.
HSPF-based watershed-scale water quality modeling and uncertainty analysis

This paper presents findings on uncertainties, introduced through digital elevation model (DEM) resolution and DEM resampling, in watershed-scale flow and water quality (NO3, P, and total suspended sediment) simulations. The simulations were performed using the Better Assessment Science Integrating Point and Nonpoint Sources/Hydrological Simulation Program Fortran watershed modeling system for two representative study watersheds delineated with both the original DEMs of four different resolutions (including 3.5, 10, 30, and 100 m) and the resampled DEMs of three different resolutions (including 10, 30, and 100 m), creating 14 simulation scenarios. Parameter uncertainties were quantified by means of the GLUE approach and compared to input data uncertainties. Results from the 14 simulation scenarios showed that there was a common increasing trend in errors of simulated flow and water quality parameters when the DEM resolution became coarser. The errors involved in the watershed with a mild slope were found to be substantially (up to 10 times) greater than those of the other watershed with a relatively steep slope. It was also found that sediment was the most sensitive and NO3 was the least sensitive parameters to the variation in DEM resolution, as evidenced by the maximum normalized root mean square error (NRMSE) of 250% in the simulated sediment concentration and 11% in the simulated NO3 concentration, respectively. Moreover, results achieved from the resampled (particularly coarser) DEMs were significantly different from corresponding ones from original DEMs. By comparing uncertainties from different sources, it was found that the parameter-induced uncertainties were higher than the resolution-induced uncertainties particularly in simulated NO3 and P concentrations for studied watersheds. The findings provide new insights into the sensitivity and uncertainty of water quality parameters and their simulation results, serving as the guidelines for developing and implementing water quality management and watershed restoration plans.
Assessing the Effect of Mansionization on Suburban Single-Family House Sales Prices:

Using observed single-family house sales in the inner-ring suburbs of Chicago from 2010 through 2017, this paper uses a multilevel mixed-effects model with crossed random effects to estimate the ef...
Real option in action: An example of flexible decision making at a mine operational level

Abstract Flexibility and operational adaptability are essential for long term corporate success and real option (RO) appears suitable for analysing risky projects. Nevertheless, its application in engineering design has been slow-moving compared to financial uses. Therefore, there is a compelling argument for using visual, intuitive and transparent models, such as the binomial decision tree, which has the potential to eliminate decision maker apprehension and improve RO use in engineering design and decision making. This paper reviews RO applications in mining projects and proposes a new methodology to explore technical applications of RO in mine design and decision making at the mine operational level. The research will investigate the suitability of using the RO method at the mine operational level where production decisions are made frequently, rather than organisational strategies that are reviewed after several years. The proposed approach is applied to a case study. This will demonstrate how RO can be used in designing multiple pits in multi-zone ore deposits to create a switching option between pits regarding changing ore grades and fluctuating commodity prices. The main rationale of this option involves deferring waste materials by switching mining activities from a high to low strip ratio pit. This creates a choice between using new RO thinking and the traditional methodology. The option is analysed using the binomial decision tree. The results summarised in this paper׳s conclusion reveal that the project׳s value increased considerably when flexibility was included in the mine design. These increases in project value were between eight to 15 per cent, depending on the number of flexible options incorporated into the design.
Segmentation of Thermal Breast Images Using Convolutional and Deconvolutional Neural Networks

Breast cancer is the second leading cause of death for women in the U.S. Early detection of breast cancer has been shown to be the key to higher survival rates for breast cancer patients. We are investigating infrared thermography as a noninvasive adjunctive to mammography for breast screening. Thermal imaging is safe, radiation-free, pain-free, and non-contact. Segmentation of breast area from the acquired thermal images will help limit the area for tumor search and reduce the time and effort needed for manual hand segmentation. Autoencoder-like convolutional and deconvolutional neural networks (C-DCNN) are promising computational approaches to automatically segment breast areas in thermal images. In this study, we apply the C-DCNN to segment breast areas from our thermal breast images database, which we are collecting in our clinical trials by imaging breast cancer patients with our infrared camera (N2 Imager). For training the C-DCNN, the inputs are 132 gray-value thermal images and the corresponding manually-cropped breast area images (binary masks to designate the breast areas). For testing, we input thermal images to the trained C-DCNN and the output after post-processing are the binary breast-area images. Cross-validation and comparison with the ground-truth images show that the C-DCNN is a promising method to segment breast areas. The results demonstrate the capability of C-DCNN to learn essential features of breast regions and delineate them in thermal images.
Perspectives on Institutional Change

Institutions embrace rules of law and other norms governing human interaction. They help us to channel human behavior in certain ways and not in others. Necessarily, they also embrace the belief-systems that stand behind and animate the rules. They help to define social expectations and to set standards. The institutional weight of marriage, for most of the last two thousand years, has been in favor of seeing marriage as the appropriate vehicle in which to give birth to and to raise children. The procreative dimension of marriage has been the central core organizing principle of the institutional - that is, the legal - understanding of marriage from the time of pre-Christian Roman law to the present, although it is currently endangered by various shifts in legal norms and public philosophies. But, for most of its history, it can fairly be said that the legal order of the West has dedicated itself, through a variety of rules and understandings, incentives and disincentives, to preserving marriage as a principal means of bringing into being the next generation. To have made this sort of claim even as recently as two or three decades ago might have appeared as stating the obvious. But in light of recent arguments about the nature and function of marriage - recently accepted by courts in the United States and Canada - reviewing the history of the procreative dimension of marriage seems like a worthwhile undertaking. In this paper, the author considers four societies that have existed in the course of western history: pre-Christian classical Rome; the early medieval West of the sixth through eleventh centuries; the high middle ages of the twelfth through fifteenth centuries; and the English theologians and canon lawyers of the early modern period. In each of these societies a great emphasis is placed on marriage as the legitimate means of bringing into being the next generation. Indeed, the procreative dimension of marriage can be said, in each of these societies, to be the central organizing principle of legal analysis and social life.
Letters beautiful and harmful: print, education, and the issue of script in colonial North India

ABSTRACTThe question of script was paramount in the nineteenth-century debate over Hindi and Urdu, two closely related languages that are characterised by “extreme digraphia”. Rather than rehearsin...
Using immersive simulation to engage student learners in a nonsterile compounding skills laboratory course.

Abstract Background and purpose Although immersive simulation has been applied successfully in multiple pharmacy education settings, none have been used thus far in nonsterile compounding. The objective of this study was to increase student knowledge and confidence when compounding a natural nonsterile product during an immersive simulation. Educational activity and setting The immersive simulation activity was taught over two weeks in a third year advanced nonsterile compounding elective. The first week focused on the extraction of an active ingredient from yarrow, a natural product. The second week immersed the students into an apocalypse simulation to compound a product using the concentrated yarrow extract for a patient who developed a dental infection, using limited resources and supplies. Knowledge and confidence changes were assessed with a pre- and post-assessment. Students' compounded nonsterile products were assessed with the course rubric. Student feedback on the activity was obtained with two open-ended questions. Findings All 30 students extracted the active ingredient from yarrow leaves and created a unique mouthwash scoring an average (SD) of 8.1 (1) out of 10 points on their graded compounded product. There was a significant increase in the overall knowledge assessment score. All student confidence assessment questions increased on the post-assessment. Student feedback was overwhelmingly positive for the immersive simulation. Summary An immersive simulation improved students' overall knowledge and confidence in compounding a natural nonsterile product. Schools can utilize a similar approach to teach compounding skills for emergency preparedness.
A budding case of infectious endocarditis: Candida lusitaniae

This is a case of recurrent Candida lusitaniae prosthetic valve endocarditis with budding yeast and pseudohyphae on the histopathology. This case illustrates the importance of keeping vigilant in recognizing some of the emerging drug resistant Candida species in our practice.
Binomial Coefficients Modulo Primes

We wordlessly demonstrate that the binomial coefficient (pk) is congruent to 0 modulo p for positive k less than p.
Management of Osteoporosis in the Inpatient Setting

Osteoporosis is extremely common, particularly in the elderly, with one in three women and one in five men over the age of 50 years experiencing a fragility fracture in their lifetime. Osteoporosis management principally takes place in the outpatient setting. However, acute fragility fractures frequently require inpatient care. Although the presence of a fragility fracture typically indicates underlying osteoporosis, this often goes unrecognized and the majority of patients never receive osteoporosis treatment. When presenting with fragility fractures, the hospital setting offers a unique opportunity for patients to be properly identified as having osteoporosis and put on the path to the necessary evaluation and treatment. Laboratory assessment can be performed, and multiple management interventions can be initiated as an inpatient. The safety of continuing osteoporosis therapies in the inpatient setting needs to be considered on an individual basis and has unique implications for each particular class of medications. Arrangement of proper outpatient follow-up is paramount.
Characterizing Transition Temperature Gas in the Galactic Corona

We present a study of the properties of the transition temperature (T~10^5 K) gas in the Milky Way corona, based on measurements of OVI, NV, CIV, SiIV and FeIII absorption lines seen in the far ultraviolet spectra of 58 sightlines to extragalactic targets, obtained with Far-Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) and Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph. In many sightlines the Galactic absorption profiles show multiple components, which are analyzed separately. We find that the highly-ionized atoms are distributed irregularly in a layer with a scaleheight of about 3 kpc, which rotates along with the gas in the disk, without an obvious gradient in the rotation velocity away from the Galactic plane. Within this layer the gas has randomly oriented velocities with a dispersion of 40-60 km/s. On average the integrated column densities are log N(OVI)=14.3, log N(NV)=13.5, log N(CIV)=14.2, log N(SiIV)=13.6 and log N(FeIII)=14.2, with a dispersion of just 0.2 dex in each case. In sightlines around the Galactic Center and Galactic North Pole all column densities are enhanced by a factor ~2, while at intermediate latitudes in the southern sky there is a deficit in N(OVI) of about a factor 2, but no deficit for the other ions. We compare the column densities and ionic ratios to a series of theoretical predictions: collisional ionization equilibrium, shock ionization, conductive interfaces, turbulent mixing, thick disk supernovae, static non-equilibrium ionization (NIE) radiative cooling and an NIE radiative cooling model in which the gas flows through the cooling zone. None of these models can fully reproduce the data, but it is clear that non-equilibrium ionization radiative cooling is important in generating the transition temperature gas.
Why Banks Are Slowing Lending to Business or ‘A Rolling Loan Gathers No Loss’: Has the Monetary Policy-Credit Channel Weakened?

Why is bank lending to business for their own portfolios slowing? This study analyzes six reasons for banks’ willingness or inability to lend to commercial and industrial and real estate businesses. Their willingness (or unwillingness) stems from a combination of bad loans on their books and fear on behalf of our bank regulators that lending to business in a slow and recovering economy is “too” risky. As we will show, banks are flush with funds and should be able to make loans in their respective markets. Since banks face low borrowing costs, in some recent cases at virtually zero, they have chosen to invest in U.S. Treasury securities with no default risk. In addition the interest payments to banks for their required and excess reserves has now increased to 2.20 percent as of September 27, 2018, 20 basis points above the lower range of the Fed Funds target rate. Normally the effective Fed Funds rate is very near the mid-point of the target range, between 2 to 2.25 percent. Banks have a decision: Why make risky loans to businesses when government regulators encourage banks to risklessly invest in reserves earning 2.20 percent? This is a particularly attractive alternative if deposit rates are very low. However, now that the Fed has abandoned its QE policy, rates on deposits are rising so that banks may be less satisfied with the 2.20 percent rate on bank reserves. Might we see bank lending to business increase as the Fed continues to raise rates? We make three solid recommendations based on our analysis of the 6 reasons bank lending is slowing: 1. Encourage regulators to be more lenient by allowing banks to amortize write downs of nonperforming loans over a 5 year period. 2. Congress should eliminate the prepayment penalty banks must pay the Federal Home Loan Banks on advances. 3. The Federal Reserve should phase out the interest payments on reserves to a level that will not encourage banks to choose investment in reserves over loans to business. And 4. Bank regulatory policy should move to ease the regulatory pressure to “play it safe.” These all mean that banks must use the resources they have accumulated to begin to make loans to small and medium size business to create jobs and contribute to economic growth. The study uses a data set that incorporates bank balance sheet and income statement data aggregated from the banks’ quarterly reports of Condition and Income from Q1 1984 to Q4 2017. These data have not been used in previous studies and, although aggregated, they provide a unique picture of the entire banking system. These data enhance the credibility of our results along with the considerable explanatory power of our interactive regression approach to analysis.
Immigration Policy Vulnerability Linked to Adverse Mental Health Among Latino Day Laborers

Latino day laborers in the United States are socially and economically vulnerable due to exclusionary immigration policies. Using data from a multi-mode survey, we examine the relationship between immigration policy legal vulnerability and mental health outcomes among 138 Latino, male day laborers (mean age = 45.65, SD = 12.05). Multivariable linear and logistic regression models separately estimated the effect of legal vulnerability, as measured by the Perceived Immigration Policy Effects Scale, on anxiety and depression symptoms and a positive depression and anxiety screening, respectively. Approximately 26.1% and 27.9% of day laborers reported depression and anxiety symptoms, respectively. In each adjusted model, we find a positive relationship between legal vulnerability and adverse mental health. Immigration policy legal vulnerability is associated with more depression and anxiety symptoms among Latino day laborers. Policies to reduce legal vulnerability, such as pathways to citizenship and employment authorization, may support Latino day laborers' mental health outcomes.
Gradient descent training expert system

Abstract This software is used to build, train and present data for evaluation by a gradient descent training expert system (GDES). A GDES uses a machine learning training method, gradient descent, in a manner similar to a neural network; however, instead of a multi-layer network of densely connected nodes, it uses a known-meaning rule-fact network. Thus, the logical relationships (rules) between nodes (facts) are human (or, potentially in the future, autonomously) defined and can have an identified meaning; however, their weightings are optimized using machine learning techniques. This provides the explainability of an expert system with the optimization of a neural network.
Characteristics of people with dementia lost to follow-up from a dementia care center.

Objective To identify the prevalence and characteristics of people living with dementia (PLWD) lost to follow-up (LTFU) from a specialized dementia care clinic and to understand factors influencing patient follow-up status. Methods We conducted a retrospective chart review of PLWD seen at a dementia care clinic 2012-2017 who were deceased as of 2018 (n = 746). Participants were evaluated for follow-up status at the time of death. Generalized linear regression was used to analyze demographic and diagnostic characteristics by follow-up status. Text extracted from participant medical records was analyzed using qualitative content analysis to identify reasons patients became LTFU. Results Among PLWD seen at a dementia care clinic, 42% became LTFU before death, 39% of whom had chart documentation describing reasons for loss to follow-up. Increased rates of LTFU were associated with female sex (risk ratio 1.27, [95% confidence interval 1.09-1.49]; p = 0.003), educational attainment of high school or less (1.34, [1.13-1.61]; p = 0.001), and death in a long-term care facility (1.46, [1.19-1.80]; p = 0.003). Commonly documented reasons for not returning for care at the clinic included switching care to another provider (42%), logistical difficulty accessing care (26%), patient-family decision to discontinue care (24%), and functional challenges in accessing care (23%). Conclusions PLWD are LTFU from specialized memory care at high rates. Attention to care coordination, patient-provider communication, and integrated use of alternative care models such as telehealth are potential strategies to improve care.
Channel dependent tree pruning for the sphere decoder

We reduce the complexity of sphere decoding for space-time transmission by "guessing" the first few levels of the search tree a priori. These guesses are based on a simplified channel model. The resulting complexity is only a fraction of the original complexity while performance remains close to optimal.
Ibn Sina's Canon of Medicine: Aspects of Holistic Medicine

Ibn Sina describes the purpose of medicine as being to "preserve health and to eradicate disease." This paper explores Ibn Sina's work, the Canon of Medicine , and concludes that his concepts of health and diseases have allowed him to develop an integrated and holistic view of the patient from an authentically Islamic tradition. Ibn Sina considered health to be a dynamic balance between an individual and his/her environment. He describes three levels of health that interact with each other: structural, functional, and spiritual. By focusing on ways to maintain an equilibrium in each of these three interacting levels of health, Ibn Sina formulates a system of medicine that attempts to treat patients in a far more encompassing manner than is traditionally practiced today. These and other works demonstrate that the tradition of Islamic medicine can enrich our own practice of medicine.
An Unfolding-Based Loop Optimization Technique

Loops in programs are the source of many optimizations for improving program performance, particularly on modern high-performance architectures as well as vector and multithreaded systems. Techniques such as loop invariant code motion, loop unrolling and loop peeling have demonstrated their utility in compiler optimizations. However, many of these techniques can only be used in very limited cases when the loops are ”well-structured” and easy to analyze. For instance, loop invariant code motion works only when invariant code is inside loops; loop unrolling and loop peeling work effectively when the array references are either constants or affine functions of index variable. It is our contention that there are many opportunities overlooked by limiting the optimizations to well structured loops. In many cases, even ”badly-structured” loops may be transformed into well structured loops. As a case in point, we show how some loop-dependent code can be transformed into loop-invariant code by transforming the loops. Our technique described in this paper relies on unfolding the loop for several initial iterations such that more opportunities may be exposed for many other existing compiler optimization techniques such as loop invariant code motion, loop peeling, loop unrolling, and so on.
Mass extinction probed

The boundary between the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods, some 65 million years ago, is marked by a mass extinction. This is thought to have resulted from the impact of a large meteorite or comet, coupled with longer term climatic changes. But how did this impact cause the extinction? By delving into the sea-urchin fossil record, one group has shown that, for sea urchins at least, extinction was probably driven by a nutrient crisis which affected the adult life stage more severely than the larval stages.
Cloning, expression and characterization of a family 48 exocellulase, Cel48A, from Thermobifida fusca.

The gene for a 104-kDa exocellulase, Cel48A, formerly E6, was cloned from Thermobifida fusca into Escherichia coli and Streptomyces lividans. The DNA sequence revealed a type II cellulose-binding domain at the N-terminus, followed by a FNIII-like domain and ending with a glycosyl hydrolase Family 48 catalytic domain. The enzyme and catalytic domain alone were each expressed in and purified from S. lividans and had very low catalytic activity on swollen cellulose, carboxymethyl cellulose, bacterial microcrystalline cellulose and filter paper. However, in synergistic assays on filter paper, the addition of Cel48A to a balanced mixture of T. fusca endocellulase and exocellulase increased the specific activity from 7.9 to 11.7 µmol cellobiose·min−1·mL−1, more than 15-fold higher than any single enzyme alone. Cel48A retained > 50% of its maximum activity from pH 5 to 9 and from 40 to 60 °C. Using swissmodel, the amino-acid sequence of the Cel48Acd was modeled to the known structure of Clostridium cellulolyticum CelF. Family 48 enzymes are remarkably homologous at 35% identity for all their catalytic domains and some of the properties of the 10 members are discussed.
The War on Poverty Must Be Won: Educators Can Make a Difference

According to reports, almost one billion children worldwide live in poverty, many of whom find it difficult to attend school on a regular basis.Moreover, when they are able to attend, they too often find themselves unable to succeed, falling farther and farther behind their more affluent peers. By attending to a number of relevantresearch findings, educators can reverse this situation. First, it is important to understand and address both generational and situational poverty by challenging and eliminating deficit thinking. We must understand the difference between a child’s prior opportunity to learn and his or her ability to learn; hold high expectations of every child and provide them with a rich and engaging learning environment. To accomplish this, it is important to ensure our curricula, our pedagogies, and our policies are inclusive, that they acknowledge the lived realities of every child, and that they openly address the social and societal inequities that marginalize some and privilege others. Educators must become advocates, when necessary, for those who desperately need the advice and encouragement of a caring adult. Only then can we change despair into hope.
Assay for Secondary Structure in Ribonucleic Acid

A chromatographic procedure is described which can discriminate among single-stranded ribonucleic acid (RNA) molecules in solution on the basis of the extent of their secondary structure. The assay is effected through chromatography at different temperatures with columns of cellulose CF-11. When Sindbis virus RNA is chromatographed in this system, the ratio of the amounts of RNA eluting in the single-stranded peak to those eluting in the double-stranded peak increases at higher temperatures, presumably a measure of the relative amounts of Sindbis virus RNA secondary structure at different temperatures. With this assay, Sindbis virus RNA, phage f2 RNA, and polyuridylate have been found to have different amounts of secondary structure.
Quantitative first-principles theory of interface absorption in multilayer heterostructures

The unique chemical bonds and electronic states of interfaces result in optical properties that are different from those of the constituting bulk materials. In the nanoscale regime, the interface effects can be dominant and impact the optical response of devices. Using density functional theory (DFT), the interface effects can be calculated, but DFT is computationally limited to small systems. We describe a method to combine DFT with macroscopic methodologies to extract the interface effect on absorption in a consistent and quantifiable manner. The extracted interface effects are an independent parameter and can be applied to more complicated systems. We demonstrate, using NiSi2/Si heterostructures, that by varying the relative volume fractions of interface and bulk, we can tune the spectral range of the heterostructure absorption.
Numerical and Experimental Investigations on Hood Capture and Protection Efficiencies

Effective hoods are critical for the protection of workers from airborne contaminants. The aim of this study is to determine the effects of cross-draft and presence of a worker on the effectiveness of the bench-top enclosing hoods, which, unlike laboratory fume hoods have no sash and have a constant cross-sectional area. The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software, FLUENT, with shear-stress transport (SST) k-ω turbulence model was used to investigate the effect of orientation of the manikin and hood with respect to cross-draft on the flow and contaminant concentration field. Experiments were conducted using a manikin and a fume hood in a wind tunnel and the flow around the manikin and inside the hood was investigated via particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements. The correlation of contaminant leakage with the turbulent intensity and recirculating vortices at the hood face were observed. The hood and manikin orientation was found to change the exposure level significantly. Maximum contaminant leakage from the hood to the working environment has been found when the hood and manikin were placed 30 degrees to the cross draft. Maximum containment was observed when the manikin and hood were oriented in the same direction as the cross draft and perpendicular to the cross draft.Copyright © 2008 by ASME
Affective and cognitive control of persons and behaviours

Three studies assessed the relative contribution of affect and cognition to determining behavioural intentions for a variety of behaviours using both between-participants and within-participants analyses. The between-participants analyses showed that affect tends to make more of a contribution than does cognition for more behaviours. However, the within-participants analyses indicated that there are strong individual differences among people. Some people are more under affective control, across behaviours, whereas other people are more under cognitive control. The most interesting finding was that, despite the potential independence of between-participants and within-participants analyses (Mischela, 1990), between-participants analyses on subsamples created from the within-participants analyses showed significant dependence. The predictive validity of affect vs. cognition depended upon whether participants were affectively or cognitively controlled.
Thermodynamics of Water–Solid Interactions in Crystalline and Amorphous Pharmaceutical Materials

Pharmaceutical materials, crystalline and amorphous, sorb water from the atmosphere, which affects critical factors in the development of drugs, such as the selection of drug substance crystal form, compatibility with excipients, dosage form selection, packaging, and product shelf-life. It is common practice to quantify the amount of water that a material sorbs at a given relative humidity (RH), but the results alone provide minimal to no physicochemical insight into water–solid interactions, without which pharmaceutical scientists cannot develop an understanding of their materials, so as to anticipate and circumvent potential problems. This research was conducted to advance the science of pharmaceutical materials by examining the thermodynamics of solids with sorbed water. The compounds studied include nonhygroscopic drugs, a channel hydrate drug, a stoichiometric hydrate excipient, and an amorphous excipient. The water sorption isotherms were measured over a range of temperature to extract the partial molar enthalpy and entropy of sorbed water as well as the same quantities for some of the solids. It was found that water–solid interactions spanned a range of energy and entropy as a function of RH, which was unique to the solid, and which could be valuable in identifying batch-to-batch differences and effects of processing in material performance. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. and the American Pharmacists Association J Pharm Sci 103:2772–2783, 2014
Modeling predicts that parameters shaping action potentials and synaptic responses differ in pyramidal neurons of the visual and prefrontal cortices

Pyramidal neurons in the prefrontal cortex integrate inputs that are greater in number and diversity than pyramidal neurons of the primary visual cortex [1]. We have recently characterized the morphology and physiology of layer 3 neurons from area 46 of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and from visual area V1 in the rhesus monkey. Ultra-high resolution confocal imaging and 3D reconstruction revealed that the dendritic arbors of V1 neurons are much smaller and less complex than those of the dlPFC, and possess far fewer dendritic spines. Physiologically, whole cell patch clamp recordings demonstrated that V1 neurons have twice as high mean input resistance and significantly increased action potential firing rates compared to dlPFC neurons. Further, AMPAR-mediated spontaneous excitatory postsynaptic currents (sEPSCs) exhibit significantly faster kinetics and smaller mean amplitudes in V1 compared to dlPFC neurons. We have used compartment modeling with the NEURON simulation environment [2] to investigate the extent to which morphology accounts for the observed physiological differences. We first applied a relatively simple model, including only Hodgkin-Huxley sodium and potassium currents [3], to representative 3D reconstructions of neurons from dlPFC and V1. This model predicts that morphology alone leads to major differences in the attenuation of electrical signals coming into, and leaving, the soma in neurons from the two brain areas. It also predicts that morphology largely accounts for the increased excitability of V1 cells, but not the differences in kinetics and amplitudes of sEPSCs. The model predicts that parameters controlling passive voltage spread, the density of Hodgkin-Huxley channels, and synaptic inputs likely differ between dlPFC and V1 neurons. Yet, the simple model on which these predictions are based reproduces neither the H-current dependent ‘sag’ response during hyperpolarization, nor spike frequency adaptation, both of which are observed in dlPFC and V1 neurons. We have extended the model to include the H current [4], plus a calcium-dependent potassium channel with an associated one-pool source of intracellular calcium [5]. We have tuned the model with a combination of manual and automatic optimization techniques to match the resting potential, input resistance, and overall firing rates of the recorded dlPFC and V1 neurons. As in the simpler model, we find that morphology alone cannot account for observed physiological differences. Therefore, we predict that parameters shaping action potentials and synaptic input differ between dlPFC and V1.
191 CAN WE PREDICT CORONARY ARTERY ANEUEYSMS IN KAWASAKI DISEASE

Kawasaki disease (KD) may cause coronary artery aneurysms (CAA) in 20% of affected children. To evaluate the relative usefulness of two-dimensional echocardiography (2DE) and an established clinical scoring system in predicting the presence of CAA, 50 consecutive patients (pts.) with KD were studied prospectively. 2DE's were analyzed for CA abnormalities. Selective coronary arteriography (SCA) was then performed in a) 4 pts. with suspicious or definitely abnormal 2DE, b) 3 pts. with high clinical score only, and c) 1 pt. each with heart failure and myocardial infarction. The left main, and proximal segments of the anterior descending, circumflex, and right CAs were visualized in 79%, 37%, 5%, and 77% of 137 studies, respectively. Suspicious or definite lesions were identified in 38% of visualized left CA studies and 11% of right CA studies. CAA were demonstrated by SCA in 4/4 pts. with abnormal 2DE and in one pt. with myocardial infarction. However, none of the 4 pts. without definite 2DE lesions but with high clinical score or heart failure had proven CAA. The mean clinical score of 5 pts. with abnormal SCA was not significantly different from 4 pts. with normal SCA (p > .1). In conclusion, the proximal CAs, excluding the circumflex artery, often can be seen by 2DE in children. 2DE appears more reliable than clinical scoring in identifying pts. with proximal CAA. SCA should be performed in all pts. with persistently abnormal 2DE or evidence of myocardial infarction.
An Inquiry into the Efficiency of Water Projects Under WRDA'86

The aim of this paper is to check whether intergovernmental transfers for water projects accepted in 1986 in the U.S. can be rationalized by a simple efficiency criterion. The empirical findings support this conjecture only partially.
Seismic evidence of effects of water on melt transport in the Lau back-arc mantle

Processes of melt generation and transport beneath back-arc spreading centres are controlled by two endmember mechanisms: decompression melting similar to that at mid-ocean ridges and flux melting resembling that beneath arcs. The Lau Basin, with an abundance of spreading ridges at different distances from the subduction zone, provides an opportunity to distinguish the effects of these two different melting processes on magma production and crust formation. Here we present constraints on the three-dimensional distribution of partial melt inferred from seismic velocities obtained from Rayleigh wave tomography using land and ocean-bottom seismographs. Low seismic velocities beneath the Central Lau Spreading Centre and the northern Eastern Lau Spreading Centre extend deeper and westwards into the back-arc, suggesting that these spreading centres are fed by melting along upwelling zones from the west, and helping to explain geochemical differences with the Valu Fa Ridge to the south, which has no distinct deep low-seismic-velocity anomalies. A region of low S-wave velocity, interpreted as resulting from high melt content, is imaged in the mantle wedge beneath the Central Lau Spreading Centre and the northeastern Lau Basin, even where no active spreading centre currently exists. This low-seismic-velocity anomaly becomes weaker with distance southward along the Eastern Lau Spreading Centre and the Valu Fa Ridge, in contrast to the inferred increase in magmatic productivity. We propose that the anomaly variations result from changes in the efficiency of melt extraction, with the decrease in melt to the south correlating with increased fractional melting and higher water content in the magma. Water released from the slab may greatly reduce the melt viscosity or increase grain size, or both, thereby facilitating melt transport.
The Arts, Midrash, and Biblical Teaching.

. Biblical texts have been handed on to us through a long history of interpretation. Awareness of this rich but complex process is one of the goals of biblical teaching. Since the earliest centuries of the church there has been a parallel history of artistic interaction with the biblical text. These artistic treatments of biblical subjects have had a great cultural impact and have deeply influenced public perceptions and understandings of the Bible. Unfortunately, seldom does this history of artistic interpretation become a part of Bible courses. In this paper, I reflect on learnings from a serious effort to take artistic resources and methodologies into account in teaching Hebrew Bible in a theological school. My most successful efforts have employed the ancient Jewish interpretive method of midrash. Use of midrash opens new, imaginative possibilities that can enliven and extend our usual exegesis of texts. More specifically, midrash provides the ideal category for understanding artistic interactions with biblical texts. Through midrash students can understand artists to be both profound respecters of the power and integrity of biblical texts, while at the same time extending and entering into imaginative encounter with those texts. This article will appear as a chapter in the forthcoming book Arts, Theology, and the Church: New Intersections.