cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Calmodulin-Mediated Signal Transduction Pathways in Arabidopsis Are Fine-Tuned by Methylation

Calmodulin N-methyltransferase (CaM KMT) is an evolutionarily conserved enzyme in eukaryotes that transfers three methyl groups to a highly conserved lysyl residue at position 115 in calmodulin (CaM). We sought to elucidate whether the methylation status of CaM plays a role in CaM-mediated signaling pathways by gene expression analyses of CaM KMT and phenotypic characterization of Arabidopsis thaliana lines wherein CaM KMT was overexpressed (OX), partially silenced, or knocked out. CaM KMT was expressed in discreet spatial and tissue-specific patterns, most notably in root tips, floral buds, stamens, apical meristems, and germinating seeds. Analysis of transgenic plants with genetic dysfunction in CaM KMT revealed a link between the methylation status of CaM and root length. Plants with suppressed CaM methylation had longer roots and CaM KMT OX lines had shorter roots than wild type (Columbia-0). CaM KMT was also found to influence the root radial developmental program. Protein microarray analyses revealed a number of proteins with specificity for methylated forms of CaM, providing candidate functional intermediates between the observed phenotypes and the target pathways. This work demonstrates that the functionality of the large CaM family in plants is fine-tuned by an overarching methylation mechanism.
Uncertainty reduction for improved mishap probability prediction: Application to level control of distillation unit

At all levels, the understanding of uncertainty associated with risk of major chemical industrial hazards should be enhanced. In this study, a quantitative risk assessment (QRA) was performed for a knockout drum in the distillation unit of a refinery process and then probabilistic uncertainty analysis was applied for this QRA. A fault tree was developed to analyze the probability distribution of flammable liquid released from the overfilling of a knockout drum. Bayesian theory was used to update failure rates of the equipment so that generic information from databases and plant equipment real life data are combined to gain all available knowledge on component reliability. Using Monte Carlo simulation, the distribution of top event probability was obtained to characterize the uncertainty of the result. It was found that the uncertainty of basic event probabilities has a significant impact on the top event probability distribution. The top event probability prediction uncertainty profile showed that the risk estimation is improved by reducing uncertainty through Bayesian updating on the basic event probability distributions. The whole distribution of top event probability replaces point value in a risk matrix to guide decisions employing all of the available information rather than only point mean values as in the conventional approach. The resulting uncertainty guides where more information or uncertainty reduction is needed to avoid overlap with intolerable risk levels.
Auditor Commitment to Privately Held Clients and its Effect on Value-Added Audit Service

SUMMARY: This study examines auditor commitment to clients and how it affects the level of value-added audit service (e.g., management letter comments) provided to the clients. Our research model ...
Prospective and In-Service Teachers' Perspectives about Launching a Problem.

Launching a problem is critical in a problem-based lesson. We investigated teachers’ perspectives on the use of a problem that was analogous to the one provided during a launch. Our goal was to identify teachers’ underlying assumptions regarding what should constitute a launch as elements of the practical rationality of mathematics teaching. We analyzed data from four focus groups that consisted of prospective (PST) and in-service (IST) teachers who viewed animated vignettes of classroom instruction. We applied Toulmin’s scheme to model the arguments that were evident in the transcriptions of the discussions. We identified nine claims and 13 justifications for those claims, the majority of which were offered by the ISTs. ISTs’ assumptions focused on reviewing, providing hints, and not confusing students, whereas PSTs’ assumptions focused on motivation and student engagement. Overall, the assumptions were contradictory and supported different strategies. The assumptions also illustrated different stances regarding how to consider students’ prior knowledge during a launch. We identified a tension between ensuring that students could begin a problem by relying on the launch and allowing them to struggle with the problem by limiting the information provided in the launch. This study has implications for teacher education because it identifies how teachers’ underlying assumptions may affect their decisions to enable students to engage in productive struggle and exercise conceptual agency.
Variations in worker compensation claims by company: the potential for achieving a significant reduction in claims.

Background The objective of our study was to examine the potential reduction in paid worker compensation claims if the rate of claims were as low as the rates of the top companies in that industry category. Methods Using Michigan data for the years 1999–2001, we first excluded companies who had no paid worker compensation claims for wage replacement and then calculated the top 10th, 25th, and 50th percentile rates of paid worker compensation claims for wage replacement of all the remaining companies combined and by 2 digit SIC. The percent reduction was calculated separately for small (<20 employees) and large companies based on the differences in observed minus expected if all companies did as well as the top companies in their industry grouping. Results Fifty-nine percent of large companies and 90% of small companies had no paid worker compensation claims for wage replacement over the 3-year period. Controlling for industry type there would have been 91,504 fewer paid workers' compensation claims if all companies with at least one claim did as well as the 10th percentile or better as the companies in their industry grouping. Reductions were found across all industries and for both small and large companies. Conclusion Variations in worker compensation claims between states are highlighted when legislators consider “reforms” to reduce workers' compensation costs. These reforms overlook the larger variation between companies within the same type of industry in the same state. Possible reasons for this variation between companies and its implication on reducing morbidity and health care costs are discussed. Am. J. Ind. Med. 50:415–420, 2007. © 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Some elementary statistical properties of a modulation noise limited detection system

Abstract Some of the basic statistical properties of the noise generated by a 1/f power spectral density function, introduced into a narrow band amplifier, are set forth. A noise process of this type is often the limiting factor in the sensitivity of an infrared detection system particularly when the uncooled PbS detector is employed.
Density and dimensionality in the attainment of conjunctive concepts

Twenty-eight Ss solved conjunctive concept attainment problems in which density, the information load carried per instance, was either very low or maximally high. A higher percentage of subjects attained the concept with the high density type of presentation; increasing the number of relevant dimensions per concept caused a monotonic decrement in performance for both densities but widened the relative advantage of high density over low.
Evaluation of equilibrium and non-equilibrium evaporation models for many-droplet gas-liquid flow simulations

A variety of liquid droplet evaporation models, including both classical equilibrium and non-equilibrium Langmuir–Knudsen formulations, are evaluated through comparisons with experiments with particular emphasis on computationally efficient procedures for gas–liquid flow simulations. The models considered are those used in droplet laden flow calculations such as direct numerical simulations for which large numbers of individual (isolated) droplet solutions are obtained. Diameter and temperature evolution predictions are made for single-component droplets of benzene, decane, heptane, hexane and water with relatively large initial sizes ∼1 mm vaporizing in convective air flows. All of the models perform nearly identically for low evaporation rates at gas temperatures significantly lower than the boiling temperature. For gas temperatures at and above the boiling point, large deviations are found between the various model predictions. The simulated results reveal that non-equilibrium effects become significant when the initial droplet diameter is <50 μm and that these effects are enhanced with increasing slip velocity. It is additionally observed that constant properties can be used throughout each simulation if both the gas and vapor values are calculated at either the wet-bulb or boiling temperature. The models based on the Langmuir–Knudsen law and a corrected (for evaporation effects) analytical heat transfer expression derived from the quasi-steady gas phase assumption are shown to agree most favorably with a wide variety of experimental results. Since the experimental droplet sizes are all much larger than the limit for non-equilibrium effects to be important, for these conditions the most crucial aspect of the current Langmuir–Knudsen models is the corrected analytical form for the heat transfer expression as compared to empirical relations used in the remaining models.
Consumer Acceptance of RFID Technology: An Exploratory Study

Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology is used in numerous applications and offers a plethora of interesting potential new applications. However, this potential raises issues that require addressing to achieve its widespread acceptance by consumers. This paper investigates the factors that affect consumer acceptance of RFID technology. The purpose of this effort is to develop and test a theoretical model that contextualizes the technology acceptance model (TAM) within the context of RFID technology. The research model proposes that convenience, culture, privacy, regulation, and security are the principal factors influencing the consumerspsila acceptance of RFID. However, the results show that convenience, culture, and security are significant predictors. This study is the first in the RFID literature to use the TAM for explaining consumer acceptance of RFID technology. The findings suggest that: (1) higher perceived convenience of RFID technology leads to greater acceptance of this technology; (2) societal beliefs, value systems, norms, and/or behaviors influence the extent of consumer acceptance of RFID technology; and (3) higher perceived importance of and less willingness to sacrifice personal information security lead to lower intention to use RFID technology. Contextualization of TAM to RFID technology makes this study relevant to practitioners because the results can provide insight to organizations using or exploring the use of RFID technology.
Kinship Support, Family Relations, and Psychological Adjustment Among Low-Income African American Mothers and Adolescents

The association of kin social support with mothers' adjustment and family relations was assessed among 204 African American mothers and adolescents who were on average 14.45 years of age. Also examined was the association of mothers' adjustment with family relations and adolescents' adjustment. Findings revealed that kin social and emotional support was positively associated with mothers' optimism. Poor relations with kin were positively associated with mothers' depression. Kin advice and counseling and kin social and emotional support were positively linked to family routine. Poor relations with kin were positively associated with parent/adolescent communication problems. Mothers' optimism was positively associated with family routine and mediated the association of kin social and emotional support with family routine. Parent/adolescent communication problems were positively associated with adolescents' depression. The findings were discussed in light of their support for theoretical and empirical work on family processes among poor African American families.
Early recurrence in standard-risk medulloblastoma patients with the common idic(17)(p11.2) rearrangement

Medulloblastoma is diagnosed histologically; treatment depends on staging and age of onset. Whereas clinical factors identify a standard- and a high-risk population, these findings cannot differentiate which standard-risk patients will relapse and die. Outcome is thought to be influenced by tumor subtype and molecular alterations. Poor prognosis has been associated with isochromosome (i)17q in some but not all studies. In most instances, molecular investigations document that i17q is not a true isochromosome but rather an isodicentric chromosome, idic(17)(p11.2), with rearrangement breakpoints mapping within the REPA/REPB region on 17p11.2. This study explores the clinical utility of testing for idic(17)(p11.2) rearrangements using an assay based on fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH). This test was applied to 58 consecutive standard- and high-risk medulloblastomas with a 5-year minimum of clinical follow-up. The presence of i17q (ie, including cases not involving the common breakpoint), idic(17)(p11.2), and histologic subtype was correlated with clinical outcome. Overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) were consistent with literature reports. Fourteen patients (25%) had i17q, with 10 (18%) involving the common isodicentric rearrangement. The presence of i17q was associated with a poor prognosis. OS and DFS were poor in all cases with anaplasia (4), unresectable disease (7), and metastases at presentation (10); however, patients with standard-risk tumors fared better. Of these 44 cases, tumors with idic(17)(p11.2) were associated with significantly worse patient outcomes and shorter mean DFS. FISH detection of idic(17)(p11.2) may be useful for risk stratification in standard-risk patients. The presence of this abnormal chromosome is associated with early recurrence of medulloblastoma.
Practical Guide to Understanding Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER)

"Comparative effectiveness research" (CER) is not a new concept; however, recently it has been popularized as a method to develop scientifically sound actionable data by which patients, physicians, payers, and policymakers may make informed health care decisions. Fundamental to CER is that the comparative data are derived from large diverse populations of patients assembled from point-of-care general primary care practices and that measured outcomes include patient value judgments. The challenge is to obtain scientifically valid data to be acted upon by decision-making stakeholders with potentially quite diversely different agenda. The process requires very thoughtful research designs modulated by complex statistical and analytic methods. This article is composed of a guiding narrative with an extensive set of tables outlining many of the details required in performing and understanding CER. It ends with short discussions of three example papers, limitations of the method, and how a practicing physician may view such reports.
The Ethics of Nurse Migration: An Evolution of Community Change

International nursing migration, or the movement of people across international boundaries, has enormous implications for the discipline of nursing. This column focuses on ethical assumptions and possible implications for community change as individual or group. Discussion follows with the illumination of community change paradoxes, implications for policy development, nursing education, and nursing practice from the nursing theoretical perspective of the humanbecoming school of thought.
Improved ultrashort pulse-retrieval algorithm for frequency-resolved optical gating

We report on significant improvements in the pulse-retrieval algorithm used to reconstruct the amplitude and the phase of ultrashort optical pulses from the experimental frequency-resolved optical gating trace data in the polarization-gate geometry. These improvements involve the use of an intensity constraint, an overcorrection technique, and a multidimensional minimization scheme. While the previously published, basic algorithm converged for most common ultrashort pulses, it failed to retrieve pulses with significant intensity substructure. The improved composite algorithm successfully converges for such pulses. It can now retrieve essentially all pulses of practical interest. We present examples of complex waveforms that were retrieved by the improved algorithm.
Effect of package shape on spurious coupling among microstrip discontinuities

Effects of a metallic package on the performance of a microstrip circuit are attributed mainly to the modifications of spurious couplings among various discontinuities. This paper describes a method for computing the effect of the package shape on the interactions among discontinuities.
PhD Forum: A System Identification Approach to Monitoring Network Traffic Security

Network security is a growing area of interest for cyber systems, especially given the increasing number of attacks on companies each year. Though there are a vast amount of tools already available, System Identification (SI) complements intrusion detection systems to help manage network traffic stability. SI is the science of building mathematical models of dynamic systems. This paper introduces the use of SI for modeling network traffic and utilizes a linear time invariant model to analyze performance of real connections and attack instances. We generated several ARX models where each represented a different threat state in the network. We utilized the KDD CUP 1999's DARPA dataset to analyze the performance when dealing with different attacks. Results show that the average model fit was 84.14% when determining if the system was experiencing normal traffic. This value is promising because it shows how well the system is able to determine a network state in a given time when fed input.
Attempting to Make Place-Based Pedagogy on Environmental Sustainability Integral to Teaching and Learning in Middle School: An Instrumental Case Study

Local environmental topics can serve to motivate and empower students to change their behavior and take action for sustainable practices. In order to better support middle level teachers as they incorporate such topics into their professional practice, we sought to enhance our own understanding of their classroom-based experiences. In light of this, we conducted this study on a middle level teacher as she attempted to integrate place-based pedagogy on environmental sustainability into her science curriculum. The guiding questions of the study were: a) What student experiences emerged as a result of the teacher’s implementation of the curriculum?, and b) What practical understandings emerged for the teacher as a result of implementing a place-based unit on environmental sustainability? Data sources included interviews, observations and written documents. The findings revealed that the teacher’s efforts to connect the instruction to a local issue of water quality led to student engagement and an eagerness on the part of the students to share what they did with others. Unfortunately, several aspects of the teacher’s efforts did not successfully lead to greater student understanding of content and multiple viewpoints on local issues. The results extend current understandings of the how to support middle level teachers in the development, enactment and refinement of place-based pedagogy on environmental sustainability.
Long-term outcomes after reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome.

BackgroundLong-term outcomes of reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome (RCVS) have not been systematically investigated.MethodsThe following validated questionnaires were mailed to patients ...
Design Description of the Benson Space Company Spaceship

This paper describes the results of a Phase I design study completed for the Benson Space Company Spaceship. This Spaceship uses the wings, tail surfaces, hydraulic actuators, and landing gear from the Northrop T-38 Talon supersonic jet trainer and the fuselage shape from the German V-2 rocket. The off-the-shelf T-38 components have significant strength, maximum aerodynamic pressure, and aeroelastic flutter margins. The Spaceship takes off vertically, flies to a peak altitude of 105 kilometers, and glides horizontally to a runway for landing. Its flying handling qualities are such that a human pilot can fly the vehicle without using any stability augmentation systems. The Spaceship subjects the passengers to no more than 3 G's during reentry by spreading the deceleration over a wider range of altitude using a new patent-pending "Variable Ballistic Control g-brakes" concept.
Detailed analysis of amplified spontaneous four-wave mixing in a multimode fiber

Detailed theoretical and experimental analyses of the amplified spontaneous FWM in a multimode optical fiber hint at strong non-universality of the third order Kerr nonlinear tensor as a function of its frequency components.
Sensory Panel Evaluation of Pickled Eggs

Abstract A bimodal distribution was found for the like-dislike characteristic in preference testing of a pickled egg product. The characteristic was a simple choice between the preferences expressed for the vinegar ingredient as the major flavor component of the pickling medium.
Polarized X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy Observation of Electronic and Structural Changes of Chemical Vapor Deposition Graphene in Contact with Water

The interaction of chemical vapor deposition (CVD)-grown graphene films with water was studied by means of in situ angle-dependent X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS). We found that when the graphene layer is in contact with water there is a reduction in the π* peak intensity in the carbon K-edge absorption spectra, accompanied by an extension of the σ* peak to lower energies, which are indicative of chemical modifications of the graphene and a reduction in the number of unsaturated carbon bonds due to the covalent attachment of contaminant species. In addition to the chemical changes a decrease in the dichroic ratio measured by polarized XAS measurements was observed, which indicates an increase on the nanometer scale corrugation. These changes can strongly influence the electronic properties, mechanical robustness, and resistance to sloughing, as well as graphene reactivity.
Myofilaments from smooth muscle.

SummaryMyofilaments have been found in the smooth muscle of the gut of the turtleand chicken. They resemble closely the corresponding filaments of skeletal and cardiac muscle, revealing a repeating period of about 400 A, and ranging in diameter from 150 A to 230 A. Internlamentary material is also observed in smooth muscle; but is fairly evenly distributed, and not disposed in repeating bands, as in striated muscle.
Combined Effects of Ocean Acidification, Warming, and Hypoxia on Marine Organisms

A suite of parallel anthropogenic changes affects contemporary marine ecosystems. Excessive carbon dioxide (CO2) pollution results in warmer, more acidic oceans with lower dissolved oxygen (DO) levels, meanwhile the emission of reactive nitrogen/phosphorus results in eutrophication, excessive microbial degradation and thus metabolic hypoxia and acidification. Despite decades of empirical research how each individual stressor of the ‘climate-change syndrome’ (i.e., temperature, CO2, DO) affects the fitness of marine organisms, we still know little about the combined effects of these stressors. This lecture gives an overview over the nascent field of multi-stressor approaches evaluating the climate sensitivity of marine organisms across taxa. In most studied cases, combined effects of these stressors exceeded those observed individually. Effects of combined warming, acidification, and deoxygenation have mostly been additive (no stressor interaction) or synergistically negative (stressor interaction). The occurrence and strength of synergistic stressor interactions in some species, life history stages, and traits comprises a vexing challenge but hints at potentially greater sensitivities of organisms to marine climate change than previously recognized. This lecture is intended for post-secondary students, providing them with illustrated examples from the most resent literature, while aiding in communicating the urgent need for empirical data from multi-stressor approaches.
Comprehensibility and liveliness in nonnative student oral presentations before and after training: A mixed methods study

Abstract This mixed methods study analyzes comprehensibility and liveliness in nonnative student oral presentations. The purpose of this study is threefold: to investigate the effectiveness of training nonnative students in prosody and oral presentations skills; to examine the relationship between accentedness and comprehensibility; and to examine whether speakers receive more positive comprehensibility ratings from listeners of the same L1 background as compared to listeners with different L1s. The study involved four Chinese speakers and 64 listeners from 14 different L1 backgrounds. Inferential statistics reveal different levels of improvement for the four speakers. An analysis of the ratings assigned to “accent” and “comprehensibility” shows that even when accent is perceived as strong, it does not hinder comprehensibility. As for the comparison between comprehensibility ratings from Chinese listeners and other L1 background listeners, results from eight independent two-sample t-tests show only two significant instances; in those two instances, the comprehensibility ratings assigned by listeners that share the speakers' L1 (Chinese) were more positive than the ratings assigned by listeners from other L1 backgrounds. The findings yielded in this study indicate that training in prosody and oral presentation skills is effective and may help the academic success of international students.
A silicon metamaterial chip-to-chip coupler for photonic flip-chip applications

We demonstrate a metamaterial converter with a highly elongated coupler mode optimized for direct optical chip-to-chip connections. We show a highly broadband converter response with <0.35dB penalty over the 120nm spectrum measured.
SEX DIFFERENCES IN THE USE OF INFERIOR VENA CAVA FILTERS IN PATIENTS WITH PROXIMAL LOWER EXTREMITY DEEP VEIN THROMBOSIS IN THE UNITED STATES

Background: Utilization of inferior vena cava (IVC) filters in the setting of deep venous thrombosis (DVT) is common in the United States. Despite the widespread use of IVC filters, sex-based differences in utilization and outcomes are unknown. Methods: Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) database
Photoelectron Spectroscopic and Computational Study of Pyridine-Ligated Gold Cluster Anions.

Pyridine-ligated gold cluster anions were studied through a combination of negative ion photoelectron spectroscopy and density functional theory calculations. Small gold cluster anions ligated by pyridine, Aun(py)− were generated with a ligation cell coupled to a laser vaporization source (LVS). We showed that pyridine is weakly bound (physisorbed) to the Au2– moiety of Au2(py)− by interactions between its gold atoms and either the hydrogen atoms or the π-ring of pyridine. We also found that pyridine’s lone electron pair strongly binds (chemisorbs) to both Au3(py)− and Au4(py)− through single gold atoms on each of these clusters. Bonding analysis of two isomers of Au4(py)− supported the presence of two different ligand binding motifs, these differing in terms of the gold atom to which pyridine binds.
Self-adaptive and resilient urban networking infrastructure for disasters and smart city services

When a disaster strikes a city, conventional information networking infrastructure can be damaged or completely lost, leading to suffering or loss of life. These consequences are avoidable with the introduction of an urban networking fabric for emergency services. We describe here an overall design for a Network for Urban Emergency Services (NUES) that provides essential communication services during disasters and post-disaster recovery. The core of NUES is a dense wireless networking fabric composed of low-cost wireless nodes. Because each node is autonomously powered, and NUES takes advantage of satellite networking services, the overall NUES architecture can be independent of all other (conventional) infrastructure, depending only on users' battery-powered devices (such as cell phones or tablets) and satellite data services. But it also has the ability to exploit conventional infrastructure (in particular cellular wireless) to reduce cost and provide greater bandwidth to users. Since some NUES nodes themselves may be damaged or lost, NUES is also designed for resilience, with redundant nodes connected by a self-healing network. Due to its dense coverage and modular node architecture, NUES also provides smart city sensing services the year around, greatly increasing its cost efficiency.
“Sweet Cement”: Occasioning Bathsheba Bowers’s An Alarm Sounded to Prepare the Inhabitants of the World to Meet the Lord in the Way of His Judgments

The eighteenth-century eccentric and Quaker writer Bathsheba Bowers persists, despite the obscurity and scarcity of her written work. Although she supposedly wrote many texts, only Bowers’s 1709 spiritual autobiography, An Alarm Sounded to Prepare the Inhabitants of the World to Meet the Lord in the Way of His Judgments survives. Bowers in her writing as in her life refused easy categorization and rejected traditional markers of social and religious status. This essay argues we might attribute Bowers’s endurance to the completeness with which she occupies a liminal position, writing in the space between public and private discourse, pride and piety, autobiography and prophecy, masculinity and femininity, poetry and prose. The author concludes An Alarm is useful in its anomaly as a record of a colonial American woman’s struggle to articulate a profound, idiosyncratic experience in a time and place where such experiences were not often given a voice.
Recovery of surface bacteria from and surface sanitization of cantaloupes.

Practical, effective methods that could be implemented in a food service establishment (restaurant or delicatessen) for the surface sanitization of cantaloupes were microbiologically evaluated. Cantaloupes (Cucumis melo L. var. reticulates) were immersed in an inoculum containing Salmonella enterica serovar Poona or Pantoea agglomerans at ca. 104 to 105 CFU/ml. An efficient method for the recovery of bacteria from the cantaloupe surface was developed and validated. The method consisted of washing the entire melon with Butterfield's buffer containing 1% Tween 80 in a plastic bag placed inside a plastic pail affixed to an orbital shaker. Levels of S. enterica Poona recovered by washing the entire melon were significantly higher than those recovered by the more common laboratory method of blending the rind. P. agglomerans can be used as a non-pathogenic proxy for S. enterica Poona. A three-compartment surface sanitization method consisting of washing with an antimicrobial soap solution, scrubbing with a brus...
Use of Commercial Online Training to Augment Programming Language Education

This talk describes the motivation and utilization of commercial online training in programming languages to augment student learning. Student feedback indicated that the online training courses assisted them in achieving a basic understanding of the languages.
Gaussian-based Filters for Elementary Motion Detector Delay Element: Modeling Spatio-Temporal Information Pathways with Elementary Motion Detection

The Hassenstein-Reichardt elementary motion detection (HR-EMD) model has been demonstrated to show its validity for modeling insect vision and its usefulness for machine vision applications. The HR-EMD uses signals from adjacent receptors with a delayed sample of the same signals to determine simple left-to-right or right-to-left motion based on the polarity of the HR-EMD output. Variations of the HR-EMD have used low-pass filters (LPFs) for the delay elements. Additional LPFs and high-pass filters (HPFs) combined with various techniques have been added to the HR-EMD to address its inability to provide accurate image velocity estimation. Proposed here is using the delays inherent in natural Gaussian-based spatio-temporal information processing pathways for the required delay element. Since such pathways are known to exist in duality in natural systems, a combination of dual EMDs is proposed as an alternate approach for precision in image velocity estimation.
Association of Early Physical Therapy With Long-term Opioid Use Among Opioid-Naive Patients With Musculoskeletal Pain.

Importance Nonpharmacologic methods of reducing the risk of new chronic opioid use among patients with musculoskeletal pain are important given the burden of the opioid epidemic in the United States. Objective To determine the association between early physical therapy and subsequent opioid use in patients with new musculoskeletal pain diagnosis. Design, Setting, and Participants This cross-sectional analysis of health care insurance claims data between January 1, 2007, and December 31, 2015, included privately insured patients who presented with musculoskeletal pain to an outpatient physician office or an emergency department at various US facilities from January 1, 2008, to December 31, 2014. The sample comprised 88 985 opioid-naive patients aged 18 to 64 years with a new diagnosis of musculoskeletal shoulder, neck, knee, or low back pain. The data set (obtained from the IBM MarketScan Commercial database) included person-levelInternational Classification of Diseases, Ninth RevisionorTenth Revisiondiagnosis codes,Current Procedural Terminologycodes, and date of service as well as pharmaceutical information (National Drug Code, generic name, dose, and number of days supplied). Early physical therapy was defined as at least 1 session received within 90 days of the index date, the earliest date a relevant diagnosis was provided. Data analysis was conducted from March 1, 2018, to May 18, 2018. Main Outcomes and Measures Opioid use between 91 and 365 days after the index date. Results Of the 88 985 patients included, 51 351 (57.7%) were male and 37 634 (42.3%) were female with a mean (SD) age of 46 (11.0) years. Among these patients, 26 096 (29.3%) received early physical therapy. After adjusting for potential confounders, early physical therapy was associated with a statistically significant reduction in the incidence of any opioid use between 91 and 365 days after the index date for patients with shoulder pain (odds ratio [OR], 0.85; 95% CI, 0.77-0.95;P = .003), neck pain (OR, 0.92; 95% CI, 0.85-0.99;P = .03), knee pain (OR, 0.84; 95% CI, 0.77-0.91;P Conclusions and Relevance Early physical therapy appears to be associated with subsequent reductions in longer-term opioid use and lower-intensity opioid use for all of the musculoskeletal pain regions examined.
Global Change Impacts on the Future of Coastal Systems: Perverse Interactions Among Climate Change, Ecosystem Degradation, Energy Scarcity, and Population

Abstract Global change will impact coastal systems in a number of ways. Climate change will result in higher temperatures, accelerated sea-level rise, changed freshwater discharge, more intense precipitation events and droughts, and changes in the frequency and intensity of tropical storms as well as winter storms. Increasing temperature will shift the tropical-temperate interface toward higher latitudes. Sea level will likely rise from 1.0 to 1.5 m by 2100. In general, precipitation will increase near the equator and at higher latitudes and decrease in the outer tropics and lower temperate zone. Accelerated sea-level rise will threaten coastal wetlands and other lowland environments. Fresh water discharge will increase to some coastal areas and decrease for others with potential impacts on severe floods, wetland vegetation, and coastal productivity. Climate change will interact with other global change forcings such as environmental degradation, population pressure, and energy costs to exacerbate climate impacts. Resource scarcity, especially energy, will make energy intensive restoration and adaptation projects more expensive. Some coastal systems such as arid systems, areas with large expanses near mean sea level like deltas, and those with high human impact will be less sustainable. Management of coastal systems should be based on system functioning that uses natural energies to the greatest extent possible. It is important to understand that there are biophysical limits that need to be understood and taken into consideration for sustainable management and restoration to take place.
Towards a Rancièrean Critical Theory

While Jacques Ranciere has never been affiliated in any way with the Institute for Social Research, this article examines the extent to which his work could be considered “Critical Theory” in the sense most closely associated with the Frankfurt School tradition. I argue that Ranciere’s work is not critical theory in this narrow sense; I further lay out a kind of “Rancierean” criticism of the very project of Frankfurt School Critical Theory. This in turn allows me to sketch out a version of Critical Theory that might survive a Rancierean critique. Even by this renewed conception, however, I argue that Ranciere’s own work still cannot be considered a project of Critical Theory; but I finish the essay by laying out what a possible “Rancierean” Critical Theory might look like, and why I think such a project would be valuable.
Chemical control of suckers in hazelnut orchards of western Oregon

Hazelnut naturally grows as a multi-stemmed tree. The basal sprouts, known as suckers, grow throughout the season. Suckers are removed to promote a single trunk that facilitates production mechanization and increased yield. In western Oregon, herbicides are the most common method of sucker control, and at least four applications per season are performed in the spring and summer seasons. This study evaluated the efficacy of foliar-applied herbicides currently registered for sucker control in hazelnuts. Season-long and short-term field studies were conducted to assess the efficacy of herbicides to control hazelnut suckers. In the season-long studies, four consecutive applications of treatments that contained 2,4-D, glufosinate, or paraquat provided 50% to 80% control, maintained sucker height at 50 cm or less as compared to 155 cm for the nontreated control, and reduced sucker biomass by 87% as compared to the nontreated control. The short-term study results confirmed the efficacy of 2,4-D, glufosinate, and paraquat for sucker control, and in this study, carfentrazone and saflufenacil reduced sucker biomass to a level comparable to 2,4-D or glufosinate treatment. These results confirm that 2,4-D, glufosinate, paraquat, carfentrazone, and saflufenacil can be used for sucker control in hazelnut and emphasize the necessity of multiple applications during the growing season to control suckers in hazelnut. Proper herbicide selection is important to control suckers with success.
Demo Abstract: Social Media-Driven UAV Sensing Frameworks in Disaster Response Applications

UAV-based physical sensing has become a reliable sensing instrument that utilizes physical sensors installed on drones. However, various limitations (e.g. requiring manual input and finite battery life) hinder their mass adoption in disaster response applications. In contrast, social sensing is protruding as a new sensing paradigm that leverages “human sensors” to collectively obtain information about the physical world. In this demo, we compare and contrast several UAV-based sensing solutions, social sensing solutions, and hybrid solutions utilizing both social sensing and UAVs in disaster response applications. We evaluate the systems on a real-world disaster response case study which exhibits the detection effectiveness and swiftness of the integrated social and drone based framework, namely Social-Drone. The demonstrated framework highlights the importance of a closed-loop integrated social-physical sensing system and presents significant performance gains in terms of accuracy and deadline hit rate.
Polyelectrolyte Complex Coacervates: Recent Developments and New Frontiers

Polyelectrolyte complex coacervates represent a wide class of materials with applications ranging from coatings and adhesives to pharmaceutical technologies. They also underpin multiple biological ...
The Humpty Dumpty blues: Disaggregation bias in the evaluation of tax systems

Abstract Three experiments carried out on the World Wide Web assessed the consistency of attitudes toward various tax regimes that differed in their overall levels and degrees of tax rate graduation in the presence of framing manipulations. The regimes had two components: an income and a payroll tax. One frame involved aggregation. Subjects were asked either to design a single, global tax system or to vary one component of a tax system (payroll or income tax) with the other component held constant. The idea was to replicate the effects of income tax reform given a constant payroll tax system. Consistent with the experimental hypothesis—though not with “rational” decision making—subjects focused on the component they were asked to manipulate and did not respond fully to changes in the other component, across conditions, reflecting an under-adjustment bias as well as a framing effect. The results are akin to Thaler’s “mental account” model for personal financial behavior. A second manipulation involved a “metric” frame: whether putative tax burdens were given in dollars or percent terms. Once again consistent with the experimental hypothesis, subjects preferred higher rates of graduation when matters were stated in percent terms. The results point to the lability of public opinion about important questions of public finance, and they illustrate a specific category of biases concerning disaggregation.
Parametric Flat Lenses for Near-Field Imaging and Electronic Beam Scanning

Conventional flat lenses are based on delay compensation which suffers from Ohmic loss. In this paper, the concept of the parametric flat lens is proposed and demonstrated with theoretical analyses and simulations. Based on the phase characteristics of parametric mixing, the parametric lens can diffract the near-field to form a focused image or steer the far-field electronically toward a focal point. The parametric mixing circuitry contained in each antenna element of the lens can achieve a moderate amount of conversion gain which can be applied to compensate for the loss of radiation efficiency or aperture efficiency. The design of a double-balanced parametric mixer is presented based on commercially off the shelf varactor diodes, which demonstrated the practicality of this approach.
The truth about SARS-CoV-2 cycle threshold values is rarely pure and never simple.

Nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) are the reference standard methods for SARS-CoV-2 detection because of their high analytical sensitivity and specificity. Many NAATs, which use reverse-transcription real-time PCR (RT-PCR), are clinically validated, technically validated, and authorized by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) to be interpreted qualitatively as "detected" (positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA) or "not detected" (negative for SARS-CoV-2 RNA). As of this writing there are over 250 SARS-CoV-2 molecular diagnostic tests that have obtained emergency use authorization from the FDA. The primary results generated by RT-PCR are fluorescent light emissions; serial detection of this fluorescence is plotted and the amplification curves visualized. Positive or negative interpretation depends on whether or not the curve exceeds a specified signal threshold. Part of the resulting process includes determination of the number of cycles needed before the fluorescent signal crosses this threshold (Ct value). In general, the more viral RNA in the initial specimen, the fewer the number of amplification cycles required to generate a positive signal; thus, the lower the Ct value, the higher the viral burden in the primary sample. Though all current SARS-CoV-2 NAATs are authorized only for qualitative interpretation, as of 10 December 2020, the FDA explicitly states that the Ct value results may be reported by the clinical laboratory in addition to the qualitative interpretation. Throughout the pandemic, many scientists, physicians, politicians, and public citizens have attempted to emphasize the importance (or unimportance) of certain pandemic-related interventions, mitigation strategies, the disease itself, and testing approaches. Some have advocated that a specific variable is most important in a testing approach and should be maximized to the potential detriment of the others: analytical sensitivity and specificity, cost, turnaround time, sample type, or accessibility of collection. If the truth was obvious, then there would be little debate, but the debate has been important and earnest. As Oscar Wilde wrote, "The truth is rarely pure and never simple." We suggest that this quote describes the current situation on the debate over the relevance of Ct values, and we will explore the clinical utility of quantitative SARS-CoV-2 testing here.
Adaptive monitoring for multiscale land management: Lessons learned from the Assessment, Inventory, and Monitoring (AIM) principles

On the Ground • The BLM Assessment, Inventory, and Monitoring (AIM) strategy recommends five principles for building multiscale monitoring programs: standardized methods and indicators; data management and stewardship; appropriate sample designs; remote sensing integration; and structured implementation. These principles guide monitoring across public lands. • We find the AIM principles are sound and worthy of consideration for design and adaptation of rangeland monitoring programs worldwide. • An emergent principle, standard workflows and analysis frameworks for using data, connects data to land management decision-making and empowers land managers. • The AIM principles inspire and provide opportunities for the rangeland management community to implement adaptive management.
Shortage of aspartate in mitochondria fuels arthritis.

In patients with rheumatoid arthritis, a short supply of aspartate in the mitochondria can force the endoplasmic reticulum of T cells to generate transmembrane TNF, which in turn contributes to synovial inflammation.
A simple replica-plating and cloning procedure for mammalian cells using nylon cloth.

Publisher Summary The chapter describes a method of replica plating, which is based on a cell's ability to attach to Nitex nylon cloth. Two other methods are also described in the chapter. The Nitex method is mechanically simpler than the use of 96-well plates and a replicator; however, only one copy of a culture plate can be made rather than several. Nitex replica plating is a simple, rapid method useful for screening large numbers of cells for a single characteristic. Because this procedure is simpler, many more cells can be rapidly screened for a given trait. Also, the colonies to be replicated grow on standard culture plates, eliminating the need for special agar growth conditions. Cells that attach to Nitex are also cloned in a way that is again simpler than those described previously. This method is used to isolate mutants deficient in glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase and lactate dehydrogenase from Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells and to clone temperature-sensitive CHO cells. Other cells have also shown the ability to be replicated and cloned.