cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
COBALT UPTAKE BY NYSSA AQUATICA, N. SYLVATICA VAR. BIFLORA, AND TAXODIUM DISTICHUM SEEDLINGS

Cobalt is a minor contaminant in wetlands that has been linked to accumulation by Nyssa species for many years, though the evidence is largely anecdotal. We examined cobalt uptake characteristics from cobalt-enriched potting soil by Nyssa aquatica (water tupelo), N. sylvatica var. biflora (swamp tupelo), and Taxodium distichum (baldcypress), codominant canopy species of wetland forests of the southeastern United States. Seedlings were grown in 10 1 pots for two growing seasons. Cobalt additions (up to 100 mg/pot) did not affect biomass production of leaves, stems, or roots of the three species. Height was significantly different among treatments within a species, but no treatment was different from the control treatment with no added cobalt. Leaf cobalt concentrations were greater in N. sylvatica var. biflora than N. aquatica during the first year, but similar during the second year. Cobalt concentrations declined from the first to second years for T. distichum leaves. In the 100 mg/pot treatment, leaf cobalt concentrations of both Nyssa species during the second year were 150 times greater than that of T. distichum. Elevated cobalt uptake by Nyssa species is apparently a function of special mechanisms of the genera and not a habitat characteristic.
Problem based attending rounds.

Clinical clerkships are a vital link between basic cognitive information and its application in real patient care situations. However, studies have repeatedly shown deficiencies of attending physicians in promoting understanding of the application of basic science information to clinical problems, promoting the development of clinical skills and providing constructive feedback on student's clinical abilities. Problem based attending rounds (PBAR) is an educational process which attending physicians can follow to overcome these deficiencies despite the complexity of actual patients and time constraints of patient care activities. In PBAR, one student presents a short patient profile, a complete current problem list and then selects one problem to present. Then the student presents only those data pertinent to that problem in the SOAP format of the problem oriented medical record. After the patient profile and subjective data, students offer early diagnostic hunches and anticipate physical findings and poss...
The effect of melt carbon content on the grain growth behavior and induction of boron silicon-iron

Carbon is usually considered to be an unavoidable impurity rather than an alloying element in conventional grain oriented silicon-iron. In the laboratory, this alloy can be readily made from heats with very low initial carbon content, However, carbon has been found to serve a necessary function in high permeability boron silicon-iron, and may be necessary in high permeability silicon-iron alloys generally. Laboratory heats of boron silicon-iron were found to require, with 3.1% silicon, a melt carbon content of not less than about 0.02% in order for secondary recrystallization to occur in the final anneal. This minimum carbon content is the amount required to begin to form austenite at the hot rolling temperature. Only 0.010% carbon is required for complete secondary recrystallization if 1.1% nickel, also an austenite former, is present. In the absence of austenite during hot rolling, during the final anneal there is less restraint on the normal grain growth and fewer potential
On ego regression and prior time information effect in schizophrenia

Process schizophrenics, reactive schizophrenics, neurotics, and alcoholics (N = 80) estimated the duration of a dark dot that followed an auditory warning signal of variable duration. The duration of the warning signal constituted foreperiod (FP). The effect of FP duration on time estimation (TE) was an increasing one for all Ss, and schizophrenics were indistinguishable from nonschizophrenics. Similarly, there was no group difference with respect to the effect of preceding foreperiod (PFP). Prior time information (TI) in terms of the correlation between the pitch of the warning signal and FP duration eliminated the effects of FP and FP change for schizophrenics. As for neurotics, such prior TI accentuated the effect of decrease of FP duration and attenuated the effect of increase of FP duration. The multi-level conceptualization of time is proposed in order to establish the distinction between regression in time and regression of time. Neurosis is regarded as involving regression in time; schizophrenia is regarded as involving regression of time.
Advanced Exposure-Time Calculations: Undersampling, Dithering, Cosmic Rays, Astrometry, and Ellipticities

The familiar tools of Fourier analysis and Fisher matrices are applied to derive the uncertainties on photometric, astrometric, and weak-lensing measurements of stars and galaxies in real astronomical images. Many effects or functions that are ignored in basic exposure-time calculators can be included in this framework: pixels of size comparable to the stellar image; undersampled and dithered exposures; cosmic-ray hits; intrapixel sensitivity variations; positional and ellipticity errors as well as photometric errors. I present a formalism and a C++ implementation of these methods. As examples of their use, I answer some commonly arising questions about imaging strategies: What amount of dithering is ideal? What pixel size optimizes the productivity of a camera? Which is more efficient—space-based or ground-based observing? Subject headings: methods: data analysis—space vehicles: instruments
Multi-Join Continuous Query Optimization: Covering the Spectrum of Linear, Acyclic, and Cyclic Queries

Traditional optimization algorithms that guarantee optimal plans have exponential time complexity and are thus not viable in streaming contexts. Continuous query optimizers commonly adopt heuristic techniques such as Adaptive Greedy to attain polynomial-time execution. However, these techniques are known to produce optimal plans only for linear and star shaped join queries. Motivated by the prevalence of acyclic, cyclic and even complete query shapes in stream applications, we conduct an extensive experimental study of the behavior of the state-of-the-art algorithms. This study has revealed that heuristic-based techniques tend to generate sub-standard plans even for simple acyclic join queries. For general acyclic join queries we extend the classical IK approach to the streaming context to define an algorithm TreeOpt that is guaranteed to find an optimal plan in polynomial time. For the case of cyclic queries, for which finding optimal plans is known to be NP-complete, we present an algorithm FAB which improves other heuristic-based techniques by (i) increasing the likelihood of finding an optimal plan and (ii) improving the effectiveness of finding a near-optimal plan when an optimal plan cannot be found in polynomial time. To handle the entire spectrum of query shapes from acyclic to cyclic we propose a Q-Aware approach that selects the optimization algorithm used for generating the join order, based on the shape of the query.
Labor‐Environmental Coalitions

Fred Rose, author of Coalitions Across the Class Divide, explores the dynamics of emerging partnerships between labor and environmental groups. His article begins with a theoretical model that reminds us that any coalition mix involves multiple possibilities. Labor may partner with community groups, but either may also build ties to employers at the expense of the other. Then Rose uses a wealth of examples to explore the forces promoting labor-environmental coalitions as well as the difficulties that keep the two sides apart.
Rac and Rho Mediate Opposing Hormonal Regulation of the Ether-A-Go-Go-Related Potassium Channel

Abstract Background: Previous studies of ion channel regulation by G proteins have focused on the larger, heterotrimeric GTPases, which are activated by heptahelical membrane receptors. In contrast, studies of the Rho family of smaller, monomeric, Ras-related GTPases, which are activated by cytoplasmic guanine nucleotide exchange factors, have focused on their role in cytoskeletal regulation. Results: Here we demonstrate novel functions for the Rho family GTPases Rac and Rho in the opposing hormonal regulation of voltage-activated, ether-a-go-go-related potassium channels (ERG) in a rat pituitary cell line, GH 4 C 1 . The hypothalamic neuropeptide, thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) inhibits ERG channel activity through a PKC-independent process that is blocked by RhoA(19N) and the Clostridium botulinum C3 toxin, which inhibit Rho signaling. The constitutively active, GTPase-deficient mutant of RhoA(63L) rapidly inhibits the channels when the protein is dialysed directly into the cell through the patch pipette, and inhibition persists when the protein is overexpressed. In contrast, GTPase-deficient Rac1(61L) stimulates ERG channel activity. The thyroid hormone triiodothyronine (T3), which antagonizes TRH action in the pituitary, also stimulates ERG channel activity through a rapid process that is blocked by Rac1(17N) and wortmannin but not by RhoA(19N). Conclusions: Rho stimulation by G 13 -coupled receptors and Rac stimulation by nuclear hormones through PI3-kinase may be general mechanisms for regulating ion channel activity in many cell types. Disruption of these novel signaling cascades is predicted to contribute to several specific human neurological diseases, including epilepsy and deafness.
The Influence of Water Coating on the Optical Scattering Properties of Fractal Soot Aggregates

The effect of water coating of constituent monomers on the optical single-scattering properties of fractal soot aggregates is investigated numerically using core-mantle theory and approximations involving two effective medium theories. A cluster–cluster aggregation algorithm is used to numerically generate fractal aggregates, and the core-mantle Generalized Multi-particle Mie (GMM) method is used to compute the exact single-scattering properties of soot aggregates with water-coated monomers. Comparisons are then made with results obtained using approximations that combine either the GMM method or the Rayleigh–Debye–Gans (RDG) method with either the Maxwell-Garnett or the Bruggeman effective medium approximation (a total of four approximation methods). The optical properties calculated are the extinction and absorption cross sections, the single-scattering albedo, and the phase matrix of water-coated fractal aggregates; these calculations are done for two wavelengths, 0.628 μm and 1.1 μm. Water coating of ...
Tailored rheology of a metallocene polyolefin through silane grafting and subsequent silane crosslinking

Polymer modification through silane grafting and its subsequent crosslinking allows the rheological properties of a polymer to be tuned from those of a viscous melt to those of a crosslinked elastic network. In this study, a metallocene polyolefin resin is grafted with vinyl trimethoxy silane (VTMS) using dicumyl peroxide (DCP) as the initiator and is subsequently crosslinked in an oxidative environment. Dynamic rheological experiments are conducted to elucidate the effects of DCP and VTMS concentrations on the grafting and ensuing crosslinking processes. We find that the addition of VTMS alone to the polymer produces no grafting. In contrast, the presence of DCP by itself leads to direct crosslinking between polymer chains as suggested by an increase in elastic modulus and complex viscosity. Samples containing both DCP and VTMS undergo silane grafting, with the extent of grafting increasing with increasing DCP concentration. This conclusion is borne out by both rheological and Fourier transform infrared measurements. The grafted samples undergo silane crosslinking only in an oxidative environment and at temperatures equal to or greater than 190 °C. During crosslinking, the samples undergo a transition from a viscous melt with frequency-dependent moduli to a gel exhibiting frequency-independent moduli with the elastic modulus exceeding the viscous modulus. However, the kinetics of crosslinking and the extent of the modulus increase are a function of the DCP concentration, with both exhibiting a maximum at a specific DCP and VTMS combination.
Constant length wirebonding for microwave multichip modules

This paper examines a method to automatically make constant length wirebonds in microwave multichip modules. In general, the goal in microwave packaging is to have short interconnects for control of impedance and to insure low gain ripple, low noise figure, or low loss in transmitter power paths. At ever increasing frequencies, interconnects between different monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) chips or to substrate traces will behave as strong circuit discontinuities, which require a compensation network. Making the interconnect length constant allows the circuit designer to use the theoretical model of the wirebond as an element of a flexible compensation network. The technique of constant length wirebonding allows the actual wire length to remain the same even though the distance between the first bond pad and second bond pad changes due to tolerances in chip size and chip placement accuracy.
Bezout equalization for STBC-MIMO systems

Space-Time Blocking Coding (STBC) has become very popular as an efficient diversity creation technique. With extra transmission redundancies introduced, the receiver performance can be significantly improved via STBC. In this paper, we study the signal recovery problem for a physical Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (MIMO) channel via an inverse FIR filterbank together with STBC technique. It can be formulated within a multirate polyphase framework to reach an equivalent virtual MIMO system. It is shown that such a system enables equalization of ill conditioned MIMO channels and can offer performance superior to that with direct equalizations. Based on Generalized Bezout Identity theorems, the recoverability conditions are established. We also address the design problem for optimal noise resilience, which is critical from practical perspective. Furthermore, STBC can flexibly reduce the transmission rate to enhance the equalization SNR. The roles of different STBC and equalizer parameters are analyzed for the optimal tradeoff among transmission rate, diversity gain, and implementation complexity.
Three-dimensional analysis of transient thermal stresses in functionally graded plates

An analytical solution is presented for three-dimensional thermomechanical deformations of a simply supported functionally graded (FG) rectangular plate subjected to time-dependent thermal loads on its top and/or bottom surfaces. Material properties are taken to be analytical functions of the thickness coordinate. The uncoupled quasi-static linear thermoelasticity theory is adopted in which the change in temperature, if any, due to deformations is neglected. A temperature function that identically satisfies thermal boundary conditions at the edges and the Laplace transformation technique are used to reduce equations governing the transient heat conduction to an ordinary differential equation (ODE) in the thickness coordinate which is solved by the power series method. Next, the elasticity problem for the simply supported plate for each instantaneous temperature distribution is analyzed by using displacement functions that identically satisfy boundary conditions at the edges. The resulting coupled ODEs with variable coefficients are also solved by the power series method. The analytical solution is applicable to a plate of arbitrary thickness. Results are given for two-constituent metal-ceramic FG rectangular plates with a power-law through-the-thickness variation of the volume fraction of the constituents. The effective elastic moduli at a point are determined by either the Mori–Tanaka or the self-consistent scheme. The transient temperature, displacements, and thermal stresses at several critical locations are presented for plates subjected to either time-dependent temperature or heat flux prescribed on the top surface. Results are also given for various volume fractions of the two constituents, volume fraction profiles and the two homogenization schemes. 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Domain modeling for software reuse and evolution

This paper describes a prototype domain modeling environment used to demonstrate the concepts of reuse of software requirements and software architectures. The environment, which is application-domain independent, is used to support the development of domain models and to generate target system specifications from them. The prototype environment consists of an integrated set of commercial-off-the-shelf software tools and custom developed software tools. >
EMI/EMC Measurements and Simulations for Cables and PCBs Enclosed Within Metallic Structures

This paper presents a series of measurements to study various electromagnetic compatibility (EMC)/electromagnetic interference (EMI) coupling scenarios, frequently encountered in electronic systems. Specifically, field penetration through apertures and coupling of penetrating wires onto the printed circuit boards (PCBs) enclosed by resonant structures are considered. In contrast to other measurements, we focus on multi-cavity enclosures in the presence of cables and PCBs. The purpose of this experimental study is to provide accurate reference data for possible future validation of various computational tools and to test their accuracy and efficiency on realistic platforms. In particular, we validate a recently proposed hybrid scheme based on S-parameters for concurrent EMI/EMC analysis of large structures with enclosed linear/nonlinear circuit devices in active operating mode.
Witness Citizenship: The Place of Villa Grimaldi in Chilean Memory

The rebuilding of democracy on the former site of a bloody dictatorship continues to be a work in progress in contemporary Chile. Since 1990, the importance of Villa Grimaldi, and other key cultural sites like it, cannot be dismissed as mere sideshows to the "real business" of democratic state-making. The conversion of a former torture complex to a peace park raises a provocative question both around the function of cultural memory and memorialization: What is the role of a former concentration camp turned memorial park in Chile's process of democratization? I argue that public memorials like Villa Grimaldi Peace Park can be important complements to the incomplete process of transitional justice in nations that have experienced grave human rights violations. Such sites provide significant forms of sociability , which I call "witness citizenship" (human rights participation, generational transmission, and other forms of civic action) that deepen the reach of democracy, especially in the social spaces where truth commissions and institutional processes have not been able to reach.
Between Beneficence and Justice: The Ethics of Stewardship in Medicine

In an era of rapidly rising health care costs, physicians and policymakers are searching for new and effective ways to contain health care spending without sacrificing the quality of services provided. These proposals are increasingly articulated in terms of an ethical duty of stewardship. The duty of stewardship in medicine, however, is not at present well understood, and it is frequently conflated with other duties. This article presents a critical analysis of the notion of stewardship, which shows that it has an important and distinctive place in medical ethics. It claims that stewardship in medicine concerns the responsible use of a society's medical resources and it discusses the extent to which medical professionals are the proper stewards of these resources. The article argues that the duty of stewardship is best understood as a duty that applies in a space between the obligations of health care providers to provide beneficent care to their patients on the one hand and the obligations of citizens to bring about and support a just health care system on the other. Seen with clear eyes, stewardship in medicine is neither a consequence of beneficent medical care nor a substitute for justice.
Evaluating Titanium SPMD Programs on the Tera MTA

While the common trend in building large-scale multiprocessors is to use commodity compute nodes that are increasingly powerful and have deep memory hierarchies, the Tera MTA uses a different design point, with a relatively flat memory system, no processor caches, and hardware support for light-weight multithreading, which is used to mask memory latency. In this paper we explore the implementation of Titanium, a language with coarse-grained SPMD parallelism, onto the MTA. The major concerns in obtaining high performance on the MTA are sufficient degrees of parallelism, good load balance, and low synchronization overhead. We show that by adding loop level parallelism, Titanium applications have sufficient parallelism for the MTA, and as expected, application writers do not need to orchestrate data layout. We evaluate multiple implementations of the Titanium synchronization constructs, which include barriers and monitors. We then explore several scheduling strategies, and find that the distinction between SPMD and loop level parallelism proves to be surprisingly useful. The two-level parallelism structure can be used to throttle thread migration, which lowers thread creation overhead and synchronization. We use a combination of micro-benchmarks and applications to demonstrate these results.
Enhanced recognition of keystroke dynamics using Gaussian mixture models

Keystroke dynamics is a form of behavioral biometrics that can be used for continuous authentication of computer users. Many classifiers have been proposed for the analysis of acquired user patterns and verification of users at computer terminals. The underlying machine learning methods that use Gaussian density estimator for outlier detection typically assume that the digraph patterns in keystroke data are generated from a single Gaussian distribution. In this paper, we relax this assumption by allowing digraphs to fit more than one distribution via the Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM). We have conducted an experiment with a public data set collected in a controlled environment. Out of 30 users with dynamic text, we obtain 0.08% Equal Error Rate (EER) with 2 components by using GMM, while pure Gaussian yields 1.3% EER for the same data set (an improvement of EER by 93.8%). Our results show that GMM can recognize keystroke dynamics more precisely and authenticate users with higher confidence level.
Management of secondary cicatricial esophageal stenosis

ABSTRACT: The following study was undertaken by the authors at the Beijing Children's Hospital, to assess the efficacy of retrograde dilatation in the treatment of secondary cicatricial esophageal stenosis (CES). Between 1958 and 2000, 348 cases of CES were admitted to the Beijing Children's Hospital. Of the 348 cases, 212 (Corrosive Strictures) were cured by retrograde dilation and 7 (Anastomotic Strictures) by oral bouginage. Among the remaining cases, 47 cases needed operative reconstruction and 82 cases continue to undergo retrograde dilatation till end of 2000. The standard of cure was ability `to take solid food' without difficulty. In the authors' view, retrograde dilatation should be the treatment of choice for corrosive strictures, while oral bouginage is good for anastomotic strictures. Subcutaneous placement of esophagus is better than retrosternal placement in those patients requiring colonic transposition.
Influence of muscle mass on sympathetic neural activation during isometric exercise

The primary purpose of this study was to determine whether the sympathetic neural activation induced by isometric exercise is influenced by the size of the contracting muscle mass. To address this, in nine healthy subjects (aged 19-27 yr) we measured heart rate, systolic arterial blood pressure, and muscle sympathetic nerve activity in the leg (MSNA; peroneal nerve) before (control) and during 2.5 min of isometric handgrip exercise (30% of maximal voluntary force). Exercise was performed with the right and left arms separately and with both arms simultaneously (random order). During exercise, heart rate, systolic pressure, and MSNA increased above control under all conditions (P less than 0.05). For each variable, the magnitudes of the increases from control to the end of exercise were significantly greater when exercise was performed with two arms compared with either arm alone (P less than 0.05). In general, the increases in heart rate, systolic pressure, and MSNA elicited during two-arm exercise were significantly less than the simple sums of the responses evoked during exercise of each arm separately. These findings indicate that the magnitude of the sympathetic neural activation evoked during isometric exercise in humans is determined in part by the size of the active muscle mass. In addition, our results suggest that the sympathetic cardiovascular adjustments elicited during exercise of separate limbs are not simply additive but instead exhibit an inhibitory interaction (i.e., neural occlusion).
Multi-Body Dynamics by the Finite Element Method in Time Domain

This paper is an extension of [l], to the case of multiple rigid bodies undergoing large overall motion. The emphasis here, as in [l], is on direct formulation of weak solutions, consistent linearizations, and appropriate tangent matrices for multiple rigid body systems.
Stereoselective total synthesis of (-)-kumausallene.

A stereoselective total synthesis of (−)-kumausallene was completed in 12 steps from acetylacetone. The hidden symmetry of (−)-kumausallene was recognized, and its skeleton was constructed efficiently from a C2-symmetric diol by a palladium-catalyzed cascade reaction. High diastereoselectivity was observed for the DMF-promoted biomimetic 1,4-bromocyclization of a conjugated enyne.
Multivessel Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection Treated With Staged Percutanous Coronary Intervention in a Non-Postpartum Female

We present a case of a 43-year-old woman who presented with a non-ST elevation myocardial infarction. During her first cardiac catheterisation, she was diagnosed with a chronic total occlusion of the right coronary artery and a flow limiting dissection of her middle left anterior descending artery. The dissection of the left anterior descending artery was stented with two overlapping everolimus-eluting stents. There were no complications from this percutaneous coronary intervention. On the following day, the patient continued to have persistent chest pain and returned to the catheterisation laboratory. It was then found that the patient had a total occlusion of the right coronary artery secondary to dissection. This was also stented with three everolimus-eluting stents with excellent clinical and angiographic results. It is important to consider spontaneous multivessel coronary dissections which can be treated successfully with percutaneous coronary intervention.
Life Cycle of a Terrestrial Caddisfly, Philocasca demita (Trichoptera: Limnephilidae), in North America

All larval instars of Philocasca demita Ross were collected in pitfall traps or in leaf-litter samples processed through Berlese funnels. This is the first caddisfly in North America known to be entirely terrestrial. Adults emerge in September or October. Larval occurs over the winter and the mature larvae aestivate from June to September in unsealed cases. Larvae and pupae are similar to typical aquatic caddisflies, and have few morphological adaptations for the terrestrial environment.
Securing Ground Data System Applications for Space Operations

The increasing prevalence and sophistication of cyber attacks has prompted the Multimission Ground Systems and Services (MGSS) Program Office at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to initiate the Common Access Manager (CAM) effort to protect software applications used in Ground Data Systems (GDSs) at JPL and other NASA Centers. The CAM software provides centralized services and software components used by GDS subsystems to meet access control requirements and ensure data integrity, confidentiality, and availability. In this paper we describe the CAM software; examples of its integration with spacecraft commanding software applications and an information management service; and measurements of its performance and reliability.
Predictors of Child Abuse Charges Within the Context of Domestic Violence Arrests

This article investigates how different factors of a domestic violence incident impact the likelihood of a child abuse charge within the context of domestic violence arrests. Data from 5,148 domestic violence arrests were used to test whether domestic violence-, incident-, and child-based predictors increased the likelihood of a child abuse charge. Logistic regression models of gender-stratified samples were employed to test for gender differences among domestic violence arrestees. The results demonstrated predictors affected men’s odds of a child abuse charge when compared with women. For men and women, children witnessing the domestic violence incident had the largest impact on a child abuse charge. These results contribute to the underdeveloped area of police response to child abuse in domestic violence cases.
Toddler learning from video: Effect of matched pedagogical cues

Abstract Toddlers learn about their social world by following visual and verbal cues from adults, but they have difficulty transferring what they see in one context to another (e.g., from a screen to real life). Therefore, it is important to understand how the use of matched pedagogical cues, specifically adult eye gaze and language, influence toddlers’ imitation from live and digital presentations. Fifteen- and 18-month-old toddlers (N = 123) were randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions or a baseline control condition. The four experimental conditions differed as a function of the interactive cues (audience gaze with interactive language or object gaze with non-interactive language) and presentation type (live or video). Results indicate that toddlers’ successfully imitate a task when eye gaze was directed at the object or at the audience and equally well when the task was demonstrated live or via video. All four experimental conditions performed significantly better than the baseline control, indicating learned behavior. Additionally, results demonstrate that girls attended more to the demonstrations and outperformed the boys on the imitation task. In sum, this study demonstrates that young toddlers can learn from video when the models use matched eye gaze and verbal cues, providing additional evidence for ways in which the transfer deficit effect can be ameliorated.
Promoting Resilience During the Transition to Adolescence in Chronically Ill Children and Their Families

This chapter explores resilience during the transition to adolescence in chronically ill children and their families from the perspective of pediatric psychology. Specifically, we aim to identify resilience factors and how medical practitioners can target these factors as a way to promote an optimal response to pediatric chronic illness during the transition to adolescence. We discuss how pediatric chronic illness presents families with numerous challenges, particularly during the transition from childhood to adolescence. We review the impact of pediatric chronic illness on children and families during the transition to adolescence, including its impact on children’s biological, cognitive, psychological, and social functioning, as well as its impact on parenting and family functioning. We identify potential individual, family, and community resilience factors that can serve as targets for interventions. We discuss how implementing interventions through a strengths-based perspective can encourage optimal outcomes and conclude with implications for medical practitioners who work with families of chronically ill children, and recommendations for future research.
Ancient Chinese Bronze Casting Methods: The Dilemma of Choice

The history of the manufacture of the magnificent bronze castings produced in ancient China has been reinterpreted a number of times during the past hundred years or so. These bronzes were first believed to be fabricated by lost wax (cire perdue) casting, but this gave way to a belief that piece mold casting was the dominant, if not the sole method of manufacture from the Shang (1700-1100 BCE) until possibly as late as the Tang dynasty (618-907 CE). This has been reinforced by the finding, a number of years ago, of the Houma piece mold foundry, as well a number of more recent similar finds. However, this stance was challenged by the discovery of openwork bronze objects as early as in the 1920s, and more strongly challenged in the late 1970s by finds of intricately cast interwoven openwork bronze objects at the Tomb of the Marquis of Yi, dated to the Warring States Period (475-221 BCE). Since then many other similar bronze objects have been found. Questions exist concerning the very existence of the lost-wax process as early as the Spring and Autumn Period (771 to 476 BCE), and was it independently developed in China, or was it introduced from the outside.
Munc18a Clusters SNARE-Bearing Liposomes Prior to Trans -SNARE Zippering

Sec1-Munc18 (SM) proteins co-operate with SNAREs {SNAP [soluble NSF (N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor) attachment protein] receptors} to mediate membrane fusion in eukaryotic cells. Studies of Munc18a/Munc18-1/Stxbp1 in neurotransmission suggest that SM proteins accelerate fusion kinetics primarily by activating the partially zippered trans-SNARE complex. However, accumulating evidence has argued for additional roles for SM proteins in earlier steps in the fusion cascade. Here, we investigate the function of Munc18a in reconstituted exocytic reactions mediated by neuronal and non-neuronal SNAREs. We show that Munc18a plays a direct role in promoting proteoliposome clustering, underlying vesicle docking during exocytosis. In the three different fusion reactions examined, Munc18a-dependent clustering requires an intact N-terminal peptide (N-peptide) motif in syntaxin that mediates the binary interaction between syntaxin and Munc18a. Importantly, clustering is preserved under inhibitory conditions that abolish both trans-SNARE complex formation and lipid mixing, indicating that Munc18a promotes membrane clustering in a step that is independent of trans-SNARE zippering and activation.
Preparation of cytoskeletal fractions from Tetrahymena thermophila.

Publisher Summary This chapter presents the methods used for isolating and fractionating Tetrahymena thermophila ( T. thermophila ) cilia and cortical cytoskeletons. The chapter describes a method for the isolation of highly purified tetrin filaments from T. thermophila . The procedure includes the isolation and fractionation of cortical cytoskeletons from this species as preliminary operations. The tetrin isolation procedure consists of three parts. The first part is a scaled-up version of the method of isolating Tetrahymena cortical cytoskeletons. The second part of the procedure involves extracting the isolated cortical cytoskeletons with 0.6 M KI. The proteins remaining after this extraction are visualized following gel electrophoresis. The remainder of the procedure is concerned with the differential solubilization and reprecipitation of purified tetrin polypeptides. The apparent molecular weights of the four tetrins from T. thermophila span the range from 79 to 89 kDa. The Tetrahymena oral apparatus is a sturdy assemblage of basal bodies and associated microtubule and filament systems. Oral apparatuses can be freed from isolated cortical cytoskeletons by pumping the latter through a Logeman homogenizer and then recovered by centrifugation.
Duration and pronunciation conditioned lexical modeling for speaker verification.

We propose a method to improve speaker recognition lexical model performance using acoustic-prosodic information. More specifically, the lexical model is trained using durationand pronunciation-conditioned word N-grams, simultaneously modeling lexical information along with their acoustic and prosodic characteristics. Support vector machines are used for modeling and scoring, with N-gram frequency vectors serving as features. Experimental results using NIST Speaker Recognition Evaluation data sets show that this method outperforms the regular word N-gram-based lexical models. Furthermore, our approach gives additional information when combined with a high-accuracy acoustic speaker model. We believe that this is a promising step toward integrated speaker recognition models that combine multiple types of high-level features.
ELASTO-PLASTIC DEFLECTION OF TUBULAR BEAMS

A method of analysis is presented along with charts and tables for simplified computations of elasto-plastic deflections of beams of tubular cross sections at different stages of yield conditions. The analysis for variable segments under arbitrary loadings and various boundary conditions is described. This generalization is achieved by normalizing the moment-curvature and load-displacement relationships and other parametric variables. Examples are presented to demonstrate the usefulness and simplicity of the method. The tables and charts are developed specifically for application in the straightening process of crooked members in cannon manufacturing. The structural behavior of the straightening process on the initially bent, heavy high strength beams, of tubular sections, is thus critically examined in the proposed elasto-plastic analysis. The limit of initial crookedness is estimated for any chosen failure criterion. The load-displacement curves for single and double point load are compared.
Are There Social Objects

The fundamental unit of analysis in social ontology is not social objects but Social Facts, specifically Institutional Facts. In spite of the incredible variety of human civilization, all of the specific features of human institutional life are created by a single operation repeated over and over (representations that have the logical form of) the Status Function Declarations. Such representations create institutional reality by declaring Institutional Facts to exist. All Institutional Facts are Status Functions. Status Functions create Deontic Powers, and Deontic Powers provide desire-independent reasons for action. A consequence of this analysis is that the basic unit of social ontology is not the social object but the Institutional Fact. Because Institutional Facts have a propositional structure, they and their representations can function in human rationality in a way that objects cannot. Am I a social object? The question lacks a clear sense. But if you consider such facts as that I am a professor, a citizen of the United States, a property owner, and a licensed driver, all of these are constitutive of institutional reality, and they are all matters of Deontic Power relationships.
Molecular imaging of the cytoskeleton using GFP-actin fluorescence microscopy

Our studies about transform tobacco plant with winter founder antifreeze protein (AFP) cDNA and Huang Yongfen et al.^s report on transform tomato plant with the same gene were re-evaluated and the fact that increasing cold-tolerance abilities must be correlated with expression level of AFP gene was critical problem in the transgenic plant researches. Because of extremely similarity conformation between AFP and the cold acclimation protein, and both capable of forming amphipathic #alpha#-helices, might contribute directly to freezing tolerance by protecting cells against the potentially damaging effects of dehydration associated with freezing. New idea that using the control sequences of cis-acting element and trans-acting factors of the cold acclimation protein, to regulate AFP genes, aimed to acquire freezing-tolerance in transgenic plants.
Exploring the experiences of adult learners in a transition program

Transition programs have emerged as a support for adult learners seeking college education. Adult learners’ perspectives are missing in the literature on transition programs. To better support adul...
Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer

Anaplastic thyroid cancer is perhaps the most aggressive of all malignancies, with a median survival of 4–5 months. Time is critical, so the evaluation and treatment plan must be accomplished within a few days. The correct diagnosis is essential, so an adequate tissue sample (often from a core biopsy) must be obtained. Clinical evaluation includes examination of the airway, which is frequently compromised, and extensive imaging (preferably with a PET/CT scan) to accurately stage the patient. Those with Stage IVA disease (limited to the thyroid) have the most favorable outcomes and should have thyroidectomy with adjuvant radiation and chemotherapy. Stage IVB patients have locoregional extension and should be considered for surgery (if resectable) and chemo/radiation. Stage IVC patients have systemic metastases and a poor response rate to current therapies. Patients should be apprised of the risks/benefits of therapy and their values and preferences should be discussed. Palliative/hospice care should be part of the conversation when establishing goals of therapy.
Effect of Reissner's Parameter on Strain Energies of Spherical Sandwich Shells

With the objective of identifying dominant deformation modes for clamped spherical sandwich shells of different geometries and materials, and especially that of Reissner’s parameter for a shell (RP...
Causes of Dimensional Changes in Estar Base Aerial Film Under Simulated Service Conditions

Dimensional changes were studied in five rolls of Estar base film exposed in both routine and simulated survey operations in a Wild RC8 camera. The simulated operations, with ambient conditions con...
Introduction to the special issue Biology and Technology Reframed: historiographical reflections and opportunities

My first book, Making Mice,1 chronicled the development of the genetically standardized mouse – and in its title, the use of the word ‘making’ was deliberate. Not only did it fulfill my publisher’s...
Chinese Telecommunications Companies in Ethiopia: The Influences of Host Government Intervention and Inter-firm Competition

This article examines Chinese engagement in Ethiopia's telecommunications sector. It argues that while theories of developmental state and global production networks contribute important insights on the roles of state agency and inter-firm relations in the rise of global lead firms from East Asia, they are insufficient to interpret the recent overseas ventures of Chinese companies in Africa. A case study of one flagship Chinese telecommunications company in Ethiopia advances the existing literature by highlighting the influences of host government intervention and inter-firm competition in shaping firms’ local operations. Specifically, this article analyses a myriad of changes in the case company's organizational structure and business practices in response to increased market competition administered by the Ethiopian government. Findings reveal that despite benefiting from official inter-state cooperation, Chinese overseas companies are neither static nor merely state-driven players but are flexible in adjusting strategies to improve their competitiveness in the local market.
What Do We Need to Know to Improve Diagnostic Testing Methods for the 2019 Novel Coronavirus

There is widespread agreement that reliable, fast, and easy-to-produce diagnostic testing methods that have high sensitivity and specificity are essential for guiding appropriate responses to the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) outbreak At the present time, there are important unanswered questions about testing methods for SARS-CoV-2 This review article interprets recent findings related to the principal testing methods used to diagnose SARS-CoV-2, including reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), chest imaging, and immunoassay We discuss the value and limitations of these approaches and suggest directions for future research that can advance the understanding of diagnostic methods Addressing areas of uncertainty will improve clinical outcomes and allow more effective policies to be implemented to control the disease
Association of Compensation and Educational Debt with Burnout and Perceived Impact of Debt on Women Physicians' Career and Lifestyle Choices

Purpose: This study investigated the magnitude and consequences of educational debt for women physicians. Methods: Participants in a women's leadership course were surveyed. Results: Of the 185 U.S...
JSE's First Retraction

This issue of the JSE includes a retraction of a paper by Alejandro Parra that we published in 2017. As far as I can determine, it’s the journal’s first official retraction of a published paper. The reason for this action is the author’s extensive plagiarism, both in that paper and in other published work (including a recent book whose publisher has since recalled all copies). It’s a sad state of affairs, of course—and perhaps the first of its kind in this particular and admittedly minor scientific domain. But it reminds me that six years ago, in Volume 29(2), we published a paper on retractions in science, and in that issue I seized the opportunity to editorialize further on the subject. I recycle that Editorial below. But before that, I must note that careful examination has found no additional evidence of plagiarism in the one other research article (in 2018) and the one book review we’ve published by Parra. I must also mention that, henceforth, the JSE will run routine plagiarism tests on papers accepted for publication. I thought this was a chore I’d left behind when I retired from teaching. However, I don’t want the JSE to emulate the person who said “I’ve learned from my mistakes, and I’m certain I can repeat them exactly.” EDITORIAL FROM JSE VOLUME 29(2), 189–192
Quantitative multi-factor characterization of eco-environmental vulnerability in the Mount Elgon ecosystem

The Mount Elgon ecosystem (MEE), an important hydrological and socio-economic area in East Africa, has exhibited significant landscape changes. These are driven by both natural factors and human ac...
Impact of Variant Histology on Occult Nodal Metastasis after Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy for Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer: A Review of the National Cancer Database

Abstract Introduction : Up to 33% of bladder urothelial carcinoma has variant histology (VH), which is associated with a higher incidence occult regional lymph node metastasis. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) is the gold-standard for resectable cT2-4 disease as it achieves pathologic complete response (pCR) in select patients at the time of radical cystectomy (RC). A landmark trial demonstrated chemosensitivity and pT0 status in the setting of VH. pT0N+ pathology in patients undergoing subsequent RC has prompted concerns about post-chemotherapy bladder preservation. We investigate how VH impacts pathologic primary site and nodal downstaging post-NAC. Materials and Methods : We queried the National Cancer Database (NCDB) for cT2-4N0M0 patients who underwent NAC and RC between 2004 and 2016. These patients were stratified into pure urothelial cell carcinoma (UCC) and VH. The rate of downstaging to ≤pT1 was analyzed, along with pN+ status. Overall survival was analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier method and multivariable Cox proportional hazards model. Multivariable models were adjusted for demographic and clinicopathologic variables. Results : Of 5,335 patients, 92.1% were UCC and 7.9% VH. UCC was associated with better unadjusted survival and lower adjusted odds of being pN+ (aOR=0.60, p Conclusions : Patients with VH were more likely to harbor occult regional lymph node metastasis in the setting of intravesical pCR. NE had the highest pT0N0 rate, with potential implications on post-NAC bladder preservation. These findings reinforce the role of RC after NAC especially for VH.