cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Preparation of phoenix tree leaves-based activated carbons

The phoenix tree leaves-based activated carbon was prepared through phosphoric acid chemical activation.The effects of operating factors such as microwave power,radiation time,liquid-solid ratio and H3PO4 solution concentration were systematically studied.When iodine adsorption capacity was regarded as evaluating index,the optimum preparation parameters were obtained as follows: microwave power of 800 W,radiation time of 8 min,H3PO4 solution concentration of 80% and liquid-solid ratio of 3 mL·g-1.Iodine adsorption capacity of prepared activated carbon is 618.78 mg·-1.The effects of various factors on properties of phoenix tree leaves-based activated carbon are in the following descending order: radiation time liquid-solid ratio microwave power H3PO4 solution concentration.
Diurnal salivary cortisol patterns prior to pregnancy predict infant birth weight.

OBJECTIVE Elevated maternal psychosocial stress during pregnancy and accompanying changes in stress hormones may contribute to risk of adverse birth outcomes such as low birth weight and preterm birth. Relatedly, research on fetal programming demonstrates intriguing associations between maternal stress processes during pregnancy and outcomes in offspring that extend into adulthood. The purpose of this study was to test whether hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) patterns in mothers during the period between 2 pregnancies (i.e., the interpregnancy interval) and during the subsequent pregnancy predict infant birth weight, a key birth outcome. METHOD This study sampled salivary cortisol before and during pregnancy in a diverse community sample of 142 women enrolled in the Community Child Health Network study. RESULTS Using multilevel modeling, we found that flatter diurnal cortisol slopes in mothers during the interval between one birth and a subsequent pregnancy predicted lower infant birth weight of the subsequent child. This interpregnancy cortisol pattern in mothers also correlated with significantly shorter interpregnancy intervals, such that women with flatter cortisol slopes had more closely spaced pregnancies. After adding demographic covariates of household income, cohabitation with partner, and maternal race to the model, these results were unchanged. For participants who provided both interpregnancy and pregnancy cortisol data (n = 73), we found that interpregnancy cortisol slopes predicted infant birth weight independent of pregnancy cortisol slopes. CONCLUSIONS These novel findings on interpregnancy HPA axis function and subsequent pregnancy outcomes strongly support life course health approaches and underscore the importance of maternal stress physiology between pregnancies. (PsycINFO Database Record
Are contemporary methods for somatic gene therapy suitable for clinical applications

Clinical trials involving the introduction of recombinant genes into human subjects began in 1989 after a decade of earnest debate concerning the technical, social, and ethical implications of somatic gene therapy. The initial trials involved the introduction of recombinant genes into peripheral blood lymphocytes to study the characteristics of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes, enhance immunotherapy for cancer, and treat severe combined immunodeficiency due to adenosine deaminase deficiency. Additional clinical trials involving the introduction of genes into bone marrow, hepatocytes, and tumor cells are underway. Are these clinical trials premature? This article reviews basic methods for somatic gene therapy and the clinical trials which have been proposed or performed to date. This clinical experience suggests that gene therapy can be performed in select clinical trials safely and with public acceptance. Clinical trials have provided essential data concerning the feasibility and safety of gene transfer in human subjects. These trials have also brought a clinical focus to the assessment of technologies currently being used in experimental models. While there will certainly be significant advances in somatic gene therapy in the future, existing methods may be employed fairly in clinical trials.
Background of social validity

The term “social validity” refers to the evaluation of the degree of acceptance for the immediate variables associated with a procedure or program designed to change behavior. This definition is derived from the definition provided by Wolf. He defines social validity as the social significance of the goals of treatment, the social appropriateness of the treatment procedures, and the social importance of the effects of treatments. The most frequent method for determining the degree of acceptance for a procedure or program has been to ask those receiving, implementing, or consenting to a treatment about their opinions of the treatment. These opinions are then used to make decisions about current or future uses of the treatment. The construct of social validity has been conceptualized in many different ways. Even the terminology associated with social validity has been used in various ways that make determining exactly what social validity consists of extremely confusing at times. While the literature within the field of behavior analysis coined the term “social validity,” the term has not been used consistently even within the field where it was first used.
Creating Disruptive Innovators: Serious Educational Game Design on the Technology and Engineering Spectrum

This chapter describes a history of design thinking and how design can play into the Next Generation Science Standards from a practical perspective. We discuss participatory learning and design in disruptive classrooms. Technology-engineering is not simply an applied science since often technologists and engineers develop innovations in which the underlying science is not understood (e.g. the keystone in arches was used before forces as vectors were understood), technological design is uniquely different from inquiry, the design-production cycle entails much more than just the science of the idea, and technological/engineering literacy involves fundamental literacy and understanding technological/engineering principles. We conclude with a practical example and model of Serious Educational Game design that has evolved and modified over 10 years.
INTRODUCTION TO ORE-FORMING PROCESSES,Laurence Robb, Blackwell Science Ltd., Malden, MA, 2004, 373 p. $74.95 (soft cover).

How strange it is that our consumption of the world’s mineral resources continues to climb, while the number of universities around the world that offer courses on how, why, and where mineral deposits form and are to be found, continues to shrink. The situation is worse in some countries—for example the United States, where economic geology is declining rapidly—while in others, such as South Africa, the discipline in alive and well. How strange it is too, to contemplate this dichotomy when the scientific yields from the study ore-forming processes are ever more vibrant, and contribute more and more …
The Doors of the Church are Now Open: Black Clergy, Collective Efficacy, and Neighborhood Violence

Prior research has documented the historical significance of the black church beyond serving parishioners’ religious and spiritual needs. Specifically, several black churches are involved in commun...
CS1 laboratory: a software application

Traditional laboratory classes that accompany CS1 lecture courses provide a collection of short disjoint programming exercises designed to gain competence on a specific topic. This paper describes a CS1 lab curriculum that uses the labs to incrementally develop a functional software application while maintaining the development of the concepts and skills of traditional CS1 labs. The labs incorporate industry standards in software development. The results show that students develop better planning skills and development skills using this approach.
Yttrium-90 (90Y) ibritumomab tiuxetan for treatment of relapsed or refractory non-hodgkin’s lymphoma: The Western Pennsylvania Cancer Institute experience

12511 Background: Yttrium-90 (90Y) ibritumomab tiuxetan (Zevalin) radioimmunotherapy is an effective agent for treatment of CD20+ B-cell lymphoma (NHL).It is approved for treatment of relapsed or r...
Synchronization in a Direct Sequence Receiver Aided by LMS Adaptive Filtering

Least-mean-squared (LMS) adaptive filtering has been shown to be an effective technique for suppressing narrow-band jamming in a direct sequence spread spectrum receiver. Most investigations have assumed that perfect synchronization is available to the adaptive filter, i.e., synchronization is obtained prior to the jammer suppression. Unfortunately, this synchronization may be difficult or impossible to obtain due to the effects of the jamming. This paper presents a receiver structure which allows synchronization to be obtained after the adaptive jammer suppression and fed back to the suppression filter. Bit-error-rate results are shown which domonstrate the performance of a delay-lock loop in conjunction with the adaptive filter in tone jamming. These performance results are compared to those for the adaptive filter with perfect synchronization.
"Help Yourself!" What Can Toddlers' Helping Failures Tell Us About the Development of Prosocial Behavior?

Prosocial behavior emerges in the second year of life, yet it is typical for children in this period not to share, comfort, or help. We compared toddlers (18, 30 months) who helped with those who did not help on two tasks (instrumental helping; empathic helping). More than half of children failed to help on one or both tasks. Nonhelpers engaged in more hypothesis testing on the instrumental helping task, but more security-seeking, wariness, and playing on the empathic helping task. Across tasks, children who tended to engage in nonhelping behaviors associated with negative emotional arousal also tended to seek comfort from a parent. In contrast, children who tended to play instead of helping were less likely to exhibit negative emotional arousal or hypothesis testing, suggesting a focus on their own interests. Parents of 18-month-old nonhelpers on the instrumental task were less engaged in socializing prosocial behavior in their toddlers than were the parents of helpers. On the empathic helping task, 18-month-old nonhelpers had less mature self-other understanding than did helpers. By examining how the predominant reasons for failing to help vary with age and task, we gain a fuller perspective on the factors involved in the early development of prosocial behavior.
Progress Towards Full Stabilization of an Injection Locked 10GHz Chip-Scale Mode-Locked Laser on InP

Repetition rate stabilization of an injection locked chip-scale mode-locked laser and progress towards carrier envelope offset frequency stabilization using chalcogenide waveguides for supercontinuum generation and a bulk PPLN for second harmonic generation are presented.
Exploring the Relationships among the Dimensions of Fast Fashion Consumer-Based Brand Equity

Almost every marketing and management activity works, successfully or unsuccessfully, to build, manage, and exploit brand equity (Yoo & Donthu, 2001). A strong brand with positive brand equity has several advantages such as higher margins, brand extension opportunities, more powerful communication effectiveness, higher consumer preferences and purchase intentions (Buil, Chernatony, & Martinez, 2008). Fast fashion has experienced a decade of blistering growth and is fast becoming the way of the retail world as more and more brands move to the model and work on ways to improve operational strategies (Donaldson, 2013). Fast fashion provides the latest fashion trends along with agile response to consumer demand with reasonable prices (Jin, Chang, Matthews, & Gupta, 2012). Fast fashion’s target market is large population of mobile young people – the target for fashionable fast fashion clothes. This study aims to understand the nature of the relationships among the various dimensions of consumer-based brand equity in the fast fashion brands context.
Still quiet after all these years : revisiting "the silence of the bioethicists".

Some 14 years ago, I published an article in which I identified a prime site for bioethicists to ply their trade: medical responses to requests for hormonal and surgical interventions aimed at facilitating transgendered people’s transition to their desired genders. Deep issues about the impact of biotechnologies and health care practices on central aspects of our conceptual system, I argued, were raised by how doctors understood and responded to people seeking medical assistance in changing their gender, and there were obviously significant issues of regulation involved as well. Yet mainstream bioethics was conspicuous by its relative absence from the discussion. Here, I return to the matter and find that, while the conceptual issues are just as profound and their connection to health care practice and policy just as intimate, even as transgender issues have become much more socially visible, bioethical engagement with gender reassignment has increased only slightly. I set the little movement that has occurred against the backdrop of the situation as I saw it in 1998 and conclude, once again, by trying to make the bait for bioethicists inviting.
Organizing memory and keeping it organized

Maintaining good memory organization is important in large memory systems. This paper presents a scheme for automatically reorganizing event information in memory. The processes are implemented in a computer program called CYRUS.
Contemporary Technology: A Philosophic View

Scholarly treatment of technology has been neglected, resulting in inadequately developed language, conceptual models, and frameworks of technology. Lack of a common language and conceptual portrayals of technology has made the international sharing of efforts in technology education difficult. The inadequate conceptualization of technology has also made it difficult to identify relationships between technology education and other school subjects, notably the sciences, mathematics, and the social sciences. Finally, the inadequacy of such constructs makes it difficult to identify the essential knowledge and skills of technology and how these would apply to contemporary and advance technology programs.
Particulate Matter and Traffic-Related Exposures in Relation to Breast Cancer Survival.

Background: Although particulate matter (PM) has not been consistently associated with breast cancer risk, two studies have reported harmful associations for breast cancer survival. We examined PM exposures and breast cancer survival in two U.S.-based prospective cohort studies. Methods: The Nurses9 Health Study (NHS) and NHSII are cohorts with detailed data on medical history, lifestyle factors, and causes of death. Women with Stage I–III breast cancer (n = 8,936) were followed through June 2014. Residential PM was estimated using spatio-temporal models. We performed Cox regression to estimate hazard ratios (HR) of breast cancer–specific mortality and all-cause mortality for 10 μg/m3 increases in post-diagnosis PM. Results: There were 1,211 breast cancer–specific deaths. Overall, PM was not associated with breast cancer–specific mortality [PM2.5: HR, 1.09; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.87–1.36; PM2.5-10: HR, 1.03; 95% CI, 0.85–1.24; PM10: HR, 1.05; 95% CI, 0.89–1.24], but was associated with modest increases in all-cause mortality (PM2.5: HR, 1.12; 95% CI, 0.96–1.30; PM2.5-10: HR, 1.12; 95% CI, 1.00–1.24; PM10: HR, 1.09; 95% CI, 1.01–1.18). However, among participants with Stage I disease, PM2.5 was associated with higher breast cancer–specific mortality (HR, 1.64; 95% CI, 1.11–2.43). Conclusions: PM was not associated with breast cancer–specific death overall; however, higher PM was associated with all-cause mortality. Higher PM2.5 was associated with higher breast cancer–specific mortality among patients with Stage I breast cancer even after adjustment. Impact: Studies on ambient PM and breast cancer survival demonstrate that PM2.5 may have broader health effects than previously recognized and warrants further research on breast tumor progression.
Wortmannin and Wortmannine Analogues from an Undescribed Niesslia sp.

In the course of our studies of coprophilous fungi as sources of antifungal agents, a strain of an undescribed species in the genus Niesslia (TTI-0426) was isolated from horse dung collected in Texas. An extract from fermentation cultures of this strain afforded two new antifungal wortmannin derivatives, wortmannins C and D (1 and 2), as well as four additional new related compounds, wortmannines B1–B4 (3–6), containing an unusual ring system. The structures of these metabolites were established mainly by analysis of HRESIMS and 2D NMR data. Relative configurations were assigned using NOESY data, and the structure assignments were supported by NMR comparison with similar compounds. Wortmannins C and D showed activity against Cryptococcus neoformans and Candida albicans in disk assays, but low MIC potency observed for 1 was suggested to be due in part to efflux processes on the basis of assay results for a Schizosaccharomyces pombe efflux mutant in comparison to wild-type.
Connected cruise control with time-delayed vehicle-to-vehicle communication

Abstract This chapter introduces the design of connected cruise control (CCC) by exploiting vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication to monitor the motion of multiple vehicles ahead. Time delays in V2V communication are taken into account in the design of CCC. For analyzing the internal stability and the head-to-tail string stability of connected vehicle systems, both the frequency-domain approach and the time-domain approach are introduced. For nonlinear time-delayed systems, the frequency-domain stability analysis of the linearized dynamics only leads to necessary stability conditions, while the time-domain stability analysis of the original nonlinear dynamics typically yields sufficient stability conditions. Therefore, for a thorough analysis of the stability of the nonlinear time-delayed CCC, both the frequency-domain analysis and the time-domain analysis are needed. Effects of uncertainties of the dynamics of human-driven vehicles and the effects of switching connectivity topologies on the stability of time-delayed CCC are also discussed through case studies.
Changes in Educational Team Membership for Students who are Deaf-Blind in General Education Classes:

This study examined the changes in team membership for 18 students with deaf-blindness from 1994-95 to 1997–98. The findings highlight the many people who are involved in each student's education a...
Pediatric Intensive Care

Anesthetists will find themselves treating critically ill children as part of their responsibilities. This requires fundamental skills such as recognizing the child who is seriously ill or deteriorating, and then quickly intensifying treatment. Critically ill children are tachypneic, tachycardic and have signs of respiratory and cardiac failure. The critically ill infant may have an undiagnosed congenital disorder. Advice from on-call pediatric intensivists in specialized centers will help with escalation of therapy. Common problems during transfer to intensive care are hypoventilation and hypoxemia, hypotension, hypoglycemia, hypothermia, unrecognized seizures, and inadequate cerebral perfusion pressure. The decision to intubate and ventilate before transfer can be difficult, and depends on the likelihood of deterioration in transit. Well secured intravenous access and tracheal tube are basic to safe transfer, and a nasotracheal tube usually allows better fixation than oral. A frequent reason for ICU admission of infants is croup or bronchiolitis, with epiglottitis being rare now. Children with fulminant sepsis caused by streptococcus or meningococcus are often among the most ill in the intensive care, and children with these conditions can benefit the most from early recognition and aggressive resuscitation.
Adjusting a subject-specific time of event in longitudinal studies.

Biomedical studies often involve an event that occurs to individuals at different times and has a significant influence on individual trajectories of response variables over time. We propose a stat...
Arbiter: A Domain-Specific Language for Ethical Machine Learning

The widespread deployment of machine learning models in high- stakes decision making scenarios requires a code of ethics for machine learning practitioners. We identify four of the primary components required for the ethical practice of machine learn- ing: transparency, fairness, accountability, and reproducibility. We introduce Arbiter, a domain-specific programming language for machine learning practitioners that is designed for ethical machine learning. Arbiter provides a notation for recording how machine learning models will be trained, and we show how this notation can encourage the four described components of ethical machine learning.
Thawing permafrost: an overlooked source of seeds for Arctic cloud formation

As the Arctic warms at twice the global rate, radiative feedbacks from clouds will lead to compounding impacts on the surface energy budget that affect both regional and global weather, and climate. In a future warmer world, the Arctic is projected to become cloudier. However, the formation and evolution of Arctic clouds remain highly uncertain in part due to a limited understanding of current and future sources of ice nucleating particles (INPs). In particular, the sources and abundance of biologically-derived INPs are poorly characterized, yet they may be pivotal for cloud ice formation, especially at temperatures in which Arctic mixed-phase clouds (AMPCs) persist (i.e. >−15 °C). Here, we show for the first time that permafrost is a remarkably rich source of biologically-derived INPs, both heat labile (probably proteinaceous) and other organic INPs of biomolecular origin (41%–100% and 99%–100% of the total INPs, respectively). INP concentrations in 1000 to 30 000 year old permafrost were comparable to the most active of other Arctic and midlatitude soil sources (up to 1010 INPs per gram of soil). Thawing of permafrost—which promotes metabolic activity in microbes—and subsequent mobilization of those soils directly into the atmosphere or into lakes, rivers, and the ocean, suggests the intriguing possibility that increasing emissions of INPs from this hitherto overlooked reservoir could be widespread, and, in time, greatly impact Arctic cloud cloud glaciation and radiative properties. This discovery is timely given the rapidly-thawing permafrost in Alaska and across Earth's high latitudes. Since permafrost covers 15% of Northern Hemisphere land, this novel and prevalent INP source may become central to predictions of aerosol-cloud-precipitation interactions in AMPCs.
Bankruptcy reform in the Middle East and North Africa: Analyzing the new bankruptcy Laws in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Egypt, and Bahrain

For years, countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region have been trying to increase entrepreneurship rates and attract foreign investment, however, their bankruptcy statutes remained antiquated and punitive in nature Potential start-ups and foreign investors have been deterred from these markets due to a lack of alternative solutions to liquidation and a fear of punishment for business failure At least seven countries in the region have now taken steps to modernize their bankruptcy laws to provide restructuring mechanisms and other measures designed to incentivize risk-taking rather than to deter it With this year's crash in oil prices, an unprecedented global pandemic and an imminent recession, an effective bankruptcy system has become even more critical to avoid catastrophic results for the employment rates and economic value of the companies in the region However, despite these recent reforms, significant improvements are still needed to maximize the value and benefits of bankruptcy procedures in the face of these growing economic threats
Effect of Standing on a Standardized Measure of Upper Extremity Function

Although many daily activities that require the upper extremity are performed in standing, arm motor function is generally measured in sitting. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of standing on a measure of upper extremity function, the Jebsen Hand Function Test (JHFT). Twelve nondisabled adults (26.3 ± 3.1 years) completed the JHFT with the right and left arms under two conditions: sitting and standing. Total time to complete the JHFT increased when performed in standing compared with sitting in both arms (p = .005); mean increase was 4.4% and 5.6% for the right and left arms, respectively. Checker stacking was the only subtest that showed a significant increase in completion time in standing for both arms (p = .001); card turning showed an increase for the left arm only (p = .002). Measurement of upper extremity function in standing may provide insight into arm motor capacity within the context of standing postural control demands.
Adjoint-Based Accelerated Adaptive Refinement in Frequency Domain 3-D Finite Element Method Scattering Problems

We present the application of adjoint analysis to 3-D finite-element method scattering problems for a posteriori error estimation and adaptive refinement. Adjoint-based methodologies, though underutilized in computational electromagnetics (CEM), enable significant improvements for both efficiency and accuracy. We first formulate the adjoint problem of the 3-D double-curl wave equation and the error estimates for the construction of novel accelerated adaptive refinement algorithms. We demonstrate adaptive error control for a customizable quantity of interest (QoI) resulting in targeted refinement and improved resource allocation through the application of automatic global and local error tolerance heuristics that accelerate the refinement process. The proposed refinement algorithms rapidly refine even extremely coarse initial discretizations to high accuracy, eliminating or substantially reducing manual intervention in the generation of computationally efficient and accurate simulations. Moreover, comparisons with analytical results validate our approach to accelerating automatic refinement to fine tolerances.
The Consequences of Reading: The Reading Brain

This chapter discusses the consequences of reading in terms of the reading brain. As a holistic view of the mind’s software, the ecosystem of reading is used as a theoretical framework, which includes microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, and macrosystem. The ecological system of reading particularly focuses on the reader’s mind as the microsystem and on language and script (i.e., oracy and literacy) as the mesosystem within the interrelated networks of the biological basis, cognitive characteristics, and the sociocultural dimensions of learning and reading. The discussion continues to cover the similarities and differences between oracy and literacy. Finally, the reading brain is discussed with respect to the cognitive impact of reading. The literate brain shows a stable cerebral architecture and neural networks specifically attuned to reading in the left occipito-temporal region.
Elastography imaging: the 30 year perspective.

From the development of X-ray imaging in the late 19th century, the field of medical imaging developed an impressive array of modalities. These can measure and image a variety of physical parameters from absorption coefficients to spin-spin relaxations. However, throughout most of the 20th century, the intrinsic biomechanical properties of tissues remained hidden from conventional radiology. This changed around 1990 when it was demonstrated that medical ultrasound systems with their fast pulse repetition rate and high sensitivity to motion could create images related to the stiffness of tissues and their shear wave properties. From there, vigorous development efforts towards imaging the elastic properties of tissues were launched across different modalities. These progressed from the research phase, through implementation on clinical scanners, through extensive clinical trials of selected diagnostic tasks, to government approvals, payer approvals, international standards statements, and into routine clinical practice around the globe. This review covers highlights of some major topics of the technical and clinical developments over the last 30 years with brief pointers to some of the remaining issues for the next decade of development.
Syllabus Mining for Information Literacy Instruction: A Scoping Review

Background - The course syllabus is a roadmap to curriculum development and student learning objectives providing valuable information to assist library instruction. This scoping review examines research that uses syllabus mining to track Information Literacy concepts and skills in academic settings. Objectives - The present study uses a scoping methodology to examine syllabus mining of Information Literacy with the focus of analysis on the methodologies employed in syllabus review and the recommendations from the studies. Design - Searches of databases of literature from librarianship and education, as well as a multidisciplinary database, yielded 325 journal articles. Inclusion criteria specified peer-reviewed articles from any year, and excluded grey literature. After removing duplicates, 2 reviewers screened titles and abstracts and reviewed full text, yielding 17 studies to analyze. Results - Characteristics of the included studies, methodology, and recommendations were charted by two reviewers. All studies reported retrieving information that increased opportunities for collaboration with instructors and targeted engagement with students, and seven themes were identified. Conclusions - Instructional librarians should be encouraged to conduct syllabus studies to increase collaboration with faculty to develop coursework, to meet student information needs in a strategic manner, and to identify discipline-specific Information Literacy concepts.
A pharmacokinetic and biomarker study of delayed-release dimethyl fumarate in subjects with secondary progressive multiple sclerosis: evaluation of cerebrospinal fluid penetration and the effects on exploratory biomarkers.

Abstract Background Biomarkers are a useful and reliable measure of disease activity in many fields of medicine. Axonal and glial biomarkers in multiple sclerosis (MS) are being applied more often as technology is improving and becoming increasingly reliable. Nonclinical studies have shown dimethyl fumarate (DMF) to have cytoprotective and anti-inflammatory effects. The purpose of this study is to explore the pharmacokinetics (PK) of DMF (by measuring MMF, the active compound) in serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) as well as relevant biomarker data for patients with secondary progressive MS (pwSPMS) and whether there is objective evidence for neuroprotection in pwSPMS treated with DMF. Methods Sixteen pwSPMS had serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) evaluation for PK studies levels of MMF at various time points after ingestion of DMF. The CSF biomarkers neurofilament light chain (NfL), glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), ubiquitin carboxyo-terminal hydrolase isozyme L1 (UCH-L1) and total tau (T-tau) were measured at baseline, week 6 and week 28 after initiating DMF with a starting dose of 120 mg twice daily for 4 weeks, followed by a maintenance dose of 240 mg twice daily. Clinical correlation of these patients with EDSS and MRI at these same time periods were made with the biomarkers. Four normal human volunteers had CSF studies for biomarkers at baseline. Results PK data showed CSF MMF concentration 11% of plasma with Tmax of plasma at 5 hr and Tmax of CSF at 7 hr. Biomarker data showed that CS NfL and to a lesser extent, GFAP, but not UCH-L1 nor T-tau showed relevant changes with clinical data. Some pwSPMS receiving DMF showed clinical improvements in Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS). Biomarker changes, but not MRI, correlated with clinical measures in this group of pwSPMS over the observation period. Conclusions PK data showed that the Tmax of CSF MMF peaked only 2 hours later than that of plasma with 11% measured in the CSF so that MMF readily crossed the blood brain barrier allowing potential direct penetration into the brain. NfL CSF levels, and to a lesser extent, GFAP CSF levels, showed correlation to disease activity in pwSPMS . These data suggest that DMF may have some benefit in reducing disease activity in pwSPMS if studied for a longer duration and larger well-controlled studies are warranted. DMF was reasonably well tolerated but 3 of the 16 patients did discontinue DMF at 6 weeks due to persistent side effects. NfL appeared to be more clinically relevant biomarker than brain MRI in this this group during the 28-week study period.
Absolute calibration of the Lyman-α measurement apparatus at DIII-D.

The LLAMA (Lyman-Alpha Measurement Apparatus) diagnostic was recently installed on the DIII-D tokamak [Rosenthal et al., Rev. Sci. Instrum. (submitted) (2020)]. LLAMA is a pinhole camera system with a narrow band Bragg mirror, a bandpass interference filter, and an absolute extreme ultraviolet photodiode detector array, which measures the Ly-α brightness in the toroidal direction on the inboard, high field side (HFS) and outboard, low field side (LFS). This contribution presents a setup and a procedure for an absolute calibration near the Ly-α line at 121.6 nm. The LLAMA in-vacuum components are designed as a compact, transferable setup that can be mounted in an ex situ vacuum enclosure that is equipped with an absolutely calibrated Ly-α source. The spectral purity and stability of the Ly-α source are characterized using a vacuum ultraviolet spectrometer, while the Ly-α source brightness is measured by a NIST-calibrated photodiode. The non-uniform nature of the Ly-α source emission was overcome by performing a calibration procedure that scans the Ly-α source position and employs a numerical optimization to determine the emission pattern. Nominal and measured calibration factors are determined and compared, showing agreement within their uncertainties. A first conversion of the measured signal obtained from DIII-D indicates that the Ly-α brightness on the HFS and LFS is on the order of 1020 Ph sr−1 m−2 s−1. The established calibration setup and procedure will be regularly used to re-calibrate the LLAMA during DIII-D vents to monitor possible degradation of optical components and detectors.
Spontaneous spinal epidural hematoma presenting with paraparesis: A case report and review of literature

Spontaneous spinal epidural hematoma (SSEH) is a rare and devastating clinical entity. The incidence is considered to be 1 in million/year. SSEH manifests due to accumulation of blood in the epidural space causing compression of the spinal cord and leading to acute neurological deficit. Although it is a rare condition, it must be considered in nontraumatic patients with sudden onset of neurological deficit. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) serves as the modality of choice in diagnosing spinal epidural hematoma. Decompressive laminectomy and hematoma evacuation is considered as the mainstay of treatment, although conservative treatment can be tried in limited cases. Here, we present the case of a 48-year-old male who presented with progressive neurologic deficit. MRI revealed spinal epidural hematoma at T10-L4 level with cord compression which was promptly evacuated. Functional recovery was achieved after the surgical intervention.
Implementing QDAS Throughout an Evaluation Project Using the Five-Level QDA Method:

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the Five-Level Qualitative Data Analysis (5LQDA) method for ATLAS.ti as a way to intentionally design methodological approaches applicable to the field of ...
A phosphorylation map of the bovine papillomavirus E1 helicase

Papillomaviruses undergo a complex life cycle requiring regulated DNA replication. The papillomavirus E1 helicase is essential for viral DNA replication and plays a key role in controlling viral genome copy number. The E1 helicase is regulated at least in part by protein phosphorylation, however no systematic approach to phosphate site mapping has been attempted. We have utilized mass spectrometry of purified bovine papillomavirus E1 protein to identify and characterize new sites of phosphorylation. Mass spectrometry and in silico sequence analysis were used to identify phosphate sites on the BPV E1 protein and kinases that may recognize these sites. Five new and two previously known phosphorylation sites were identified. A phosphate site map was created and used to develop a general model for the role of phosphorylation in E1 function. Mass spectrometric analysis identified seven phosphorylated amino acids on the BPV E1 protein. Taken with three previously identified sites, there are at least ten phosphoamino acids on BPV E1. A number of kinases were identified by sequence analysis that could potentially phosphorylate E1 at the identified positions. Several of these kinases have known roles in regulating cell cycle progression. A BPV E1 phosphate map and a discussion of the possible role of phosphorylation in E1 function are presented.
The Efficiency of Vague Contract Terms

The apparent willingness of commercial parties to agree to vague terms (e.g., reasonableness, good faith) is puzzling: contract economics scholarship predicts that parties will avoid the costly verification determinations and litigation uncertainty that vague terms invite. However, the literature treats verifiability as an exogenous, binary variable: a given state of the world or action is either verifiable or not. This paper analyzes verifiability as the product of the parties' investment decisions in evidence production and manipulation at two points in time: when a dispute arises and in anticipation of a dispute. In this analysis, parties may contract in order to optimize ex ante and ex post incentives along two parallel tracks: contract performance and evidence management during the course of the contract. This paper shows that, contrary to current theory, commercial parties may efficiently condition performance on vague terms whose interpretation is uncertain and which encompass factors that are costly to verify.
Increased Size of E-Book Collection Positively Impacts Usage but May Reach Critical Mass

Objective – To investigate the impact of collection size, student population, and faculty population on the use of an e-book collection. Design – Longitudinal quantitative analysis. Setting – Mid-sized public university located in Ontario, Canada. Subjects – Data from 79,821 e-books related to searches and viewings; data regarding number of e-books held, students enrolled, and faculty employed at institution. Methods – Numbers of e-books purchased individually and in packages were calculated, followed by the acquisition of annual student and faculty numbers through the University Institutional Planning Office. Searches for and viewings of e-books conducted via vendor websites were obtained directly from vendors. Data for all variables represent years 2002-2010. Main Results – Very high Pearson’s correlation coefficients of r = 0.96 for searches performed and r = 0.91 for viewings were found in relation to the number of e-books held. While the annual increase in number of viewings was at a rate similar to that of e-books available, a 7% decrease in searches and viewings occurred in 2010. In terms of user populations, doctoral students exhibited the strongest association with e-book collection size followed by undergraduate students and faculty. Conclusions – Based upon examination of correlation coefficients, the study concludes that the e-book collection size is closely associated with the level of e-book usage. The author notes that the data suggests use of the collection may possibly have leveled off, implying that additional large increases in the e-book collection could incur unnecessary expenditure. “Viewings per e-book” and “searches per e-book” ratios were highest when e-books were obtained on an individual title-by-title basis, though the author cautions that this does not necessarily prove that selective purchasing results in increased use. A deeper quantitative analysis into e-book usage and academic program size is considered for future research, as well as a comparison between electronic reference books and monographs. The author recommends that similar research be performed at other institutions of varying size to determine whether the study’s results would be replicated.
Facilitative and inhibitory effects of the tonic neck reflex upon grip strength of right- and left-handed children.

Abstract Twelve right-handed and 12 left-handed boys and girls were given grip strength tests for the preferred and nonpreferred hands in the right-, left-, and symmetro-tonic neck postures. Expectations were that right-handers would differ from left-handers in response to the tonic neck reflex in relation to preferred and nonpreferred grip strength. Results supported the conclusion that the left tonic neck reflex in the right-handers tested had more facilitative and inhibitory powers than the right tonic neck reflex and accounted for the difference between right-handers and left-handers in the manifestation of dominant strength of the preferred hand.
Hormonal regulation of DNA synthesis in primary cultures of adult rat hepatocytes: Action of glucagon

Abstract Primary cultures of adult rat hepatocytes, grown in modified minimal essential medium (Eagle's) containing 10% calf serum, could be induced into DNA replication by combinations of epidermal growth factor (EGF), insulin and glucagon. The three hormones acted synergistically, and cells began entering DNA synthesis 48 h after hormone addition. The ability of the hormones to stimulate DNA synthesis was enhanced by plating cells at high cell concentrations or by conditioned medium, and was diminished by daily medium change. The contribution of glucagon to DNA synthesis was replaced by cAMP plus 1-methyl, 3-isobutyl xanthine or by adrenergic agents. Evidence is presented which suggests that all three hormones are required on the first day of culture, and that EGF and insulin are also required after the first day. This appears to be a useful system for studies on the hormonal initiation of growth in quiescent cells.
Electrocatalytic Oxidation of Formate with Nickel Diphosphine Dipeptide Complexes: Effect of Ligands Modified with Amino Acids

A series of nickel bis-diphosphine complexes with dipeptides appended to the ligands were investigated for the catalytic oxidation of formate. Typical rates of ~7 s-1 were found, similar to the parent complex (~8 s-1), with amino acid size and positioning contributing very little to rate or operating potential. Hydroxyl functionalities did result in lower rates, which were recovered by protecting the hydroxyl group. The results suggest that the overall dielectric introduced by the dipeptides does not play an important role in catalysis, but free hydroxyl groups do influence activity suggesting contributions from intra- or intermolecular interactions. These observations are important in developing a fundamental understanding of the affect that an enzyme-like outer coordination sphere can have upon molecular catalysts. This work was funded by the US DOE Basic Energy Sciences, Chemical Sciences, Geoscience and Biosciences Division (BRG, AJ, AMA, WJS), the US DOE Basic Energy Sciences, Physical Bioscience program (MLR). Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is operated by Battelle for the U.S. Department of Energy.
Rat Serum Carboxylesterase CLONING, EXPRESSION, REGULATION, AND EVIDENCE OF SECRETION FROM LIVER

Multiple forms of carboxylesterase have been identified in rat liver, and five carboxylesterases (designated hydrolases A, B, C, S, and egasyn) have been cloned. Hydrolases A, B, C and egasyn all have a C-terminal consensus sequence (HXEL) for retaining proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum, and these carboxylesterases are found in rat liver microsomes. In contrast, hydrolase S lacks this C-terminal consensus sequence and is presumed to be secreted. In order to test this hypothesis, a polyclonal antibody was raised against recombinant hydrolase S from cDNA-directed expression in Escherichia coli. In addition to hydrolases A, B, and C (57-59 kDa), this antibody recognized a 67-kDa protein in rat liver microsomes and a 71-kDa protein in rat serum. The 71-kDa protein detected in rat serum was also detected in the extracellular medium from primary cultures of rat hepatocytes. Non-denaturing gel electrophoresis with staining for esterase activity showed that a serum carboxylesterase comigrated with the 71-kDa protein. Immunoprecipitation of the 71-kDa enzyme from rat serum decreased esterase activity toward 1-naphthylacetate and para-nitrophenylacetate. The 71-kDa protein immunoprecipitated from rat serum had an N-terminal amino acid sequence identical to that predicted from the cDNA encoding hydrolase S, providing further evidence that hydrolase S is synthesized in and secreted by the liver. The levels of the 67-kDa protein in rat liver microsomes and the levels of the 71-kDa protein in rat serum were co-regulated. Deglycosylation of microsomes and serum converted the 67- and 71-kDa proteins to a 58-kDa peptide, which matches the molecular mass calculated from the cDNA for hydrolase S. These results suggest that the 67-kDa protein in liver microsomes is a precursor form of hydrolase S that undergoes further glycosylation before being secreted into serum. In rats, liver appears to be the only source of hydrolase S because no mRNA encoding hydrolase S could be detected in several extrahepatic tissues. Serum carboxylesterases have been found to play an important role in lipid metabolism and detoxication of organophosphates, therefore, the secretion of hydrolase S and the modulation of its expression by xenobiotics may have physiological as well as toxicological significance.
Nona Fernández's Mapocho: Spirits in a Material Wasteland

This analysis of Mapocho (2002), a novel by Chilean writer and performer Nona Fernandez, explores the significance of the author’s environmentalist representation of Chilean history as the accumulation of spiritual and material contaminants—ghosts and trash—that the victorious from throughout the country’s history have attempted to erase to further various economic and political agendas, particularly the neoliberal model installed during the Pinochet dictatorship. Fernandez’s depiction of Chile as an ecological and spiritual wasteland in which the female protagonist (re)collects, recycles and reuses the specters and detritus of past conflicts represents the author’s own literary project of advocating for human rights and environmental justice during the Chilean transition while modeling a way to counter the collective amnesia promoted under the newly established democracy.
Limitations of RNAi of α6 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subunits for assessing the in vivo sensitivity to spinosad

Spinosad is a widely used insecticide that exerts its toxic effect primarily through interactions with the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor. The α6 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subunit is involved in spinosad toxicity as demonstrated by the high levels of resistance observed in strains lacking α6. RNAi was performed against the Dα6 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subunit in Drosophila melanogaster using the Gal4-UAS system to examine if RNAi would yield results similar to those of Dα6 null mutants. These Dα6-deficient flies were subject to spinosad contact bioassays to evaluate the role of the Dα6 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subunit on spinosad sensitivity. The expression of Dα6 was reduced 60%-75% as verified by quantitative polymerase chain reaction. However, there was no change in spinosad sensitivity in D. melanogaster. We repeated RNAi experiments in Tribolium castaneum using injection of dsRNA for Tcasα6. RNAi of Tcasα6 did not result in changes in spinosad sensitivity, similar to results obtained with D. melanogaster. The lack of change in spinosad sensitivity in both D. melanogaster and T. castaneum using two routes of dsRNA administration shows that RNAi may not provide adequate conditions to study the role of nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subunits on insecticide sensitivity due to the inability to completely eliminate expression of the α6 subunit in both species. Potential causes for the lack of change in spinosad sensitivity are discussed.