cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Finger-powered bead-in-droplet microfluidic system for point-of-care diagnostics

In this paper, we present a versatile ‘human-powered’ microfluidic system that encapsulates microbeads within droplets to perform a medical diagnostics assay. Point-of-care (POC) microfluidic devices hold great promise for medicinal applications throughout the world. In particular, portable, low-cost systems that can be operated by non-medical personnel without electrical supplies are desired. Here we present a PDMS microfluidic device (2.8 cm × 1.9 cm × 0.8 cm) to achieve four distinct accomplishments: (i) pressing force from a single human finger simultaneously actuates the flow for three distinct solutions/suspensions in parallel, (ii) functionalized “detection” microbeads (⊘ = 15 μ m) and biological reagents are simultaneously encapsulated together within microdroplets (⊘ ∼ 50 μm), and (iii) novel trapping architectures are utilized to ultimately immobilize the microbead-containing microdroplets for fluorescence detection. The presented system was employed to detect the inflammatory cytokine, interferon-gamma (IFN-γ), via aptamer beacons conjugated to microbeads — which represents the first time IFN-γ detection has been achieved using microbeads inside microdroplets.
IMPROVED METHOD FOR ISOLATING CELL-FREE DNA

After Mandel and Metais (1) had originally described the existence of free circulating nucleic acids in plasma/serum in humans, Stroun et al. (2)(3) demonstrated that part of the free circulating DNA in cancer patients is of tumor origin (4)(5)(6). The quantity of DNA that can be isolated from human plasma/serum is very low and is frequently the limiting factor when a larger marker panel is to be used for genetic characterization of the DNA. In most of the recently published studies, commercially available columns were used for isolation of cell-free plasma/serum DNA, which made DNA isolation fast and allowed it to be standardized. Mandel and Metais (1) found ∼5.4 μg/mL total nucleic acids in the plasma in 10 healthy controls, and Stroun et al. (3) isolated between 150 ng/mL and 12 μg/mL DNA from the plasma of cancer patients. Much less DNA can be isolated with the aforementioned columns, however; we therefore wondered whether there are ways …
Switching Gaussian Process Dynamic Models for simultaneous composite motion tracking and recognition

Traditional dynamical systems used for motion tracking cannot effectively handle high dimensionality of the motion states and composite dynamics. In this paper, to address both issues simultaneously, we propose the marriage of the switching dynamical system and recent Gaussian Process Dynamic Models (GPDM), yielding a new model called the switching GPDM (SGPDM). The proposed switching variables enable the SGPDM to capture diverse motion dynamics effectively, and also allow to identify the motion class (e.g. walk or run in the human motion tracking, smile or angry in the facial motion tracking), which naturally leads to the idea of simultaneous motion tracking and classification. Moreover, each of GPDMs in SGPDM can faithfully model its corresponding primitive motion, while performing tracking in the low-dimensional latent space, therefore significantly improving the tracking efficiency. The proposed SGPDM is then applied to human body motion tracking and classification, and facial motion tracking and recognition. We demonstrate the performance of our model on several composite body motion videos obtained from the CMU database, including exercises and salsa dance. We also demonstrate the robustness of our model in terms of both facial feature tracking and facial expression/pose recognition performance on real videos under diverse scenarios including pose change, low frame rate and low quality videos.
Serum biomarkers of treatment response within a randomized clinical trial for pulmonary tuberculosis.

Summary Rationale Biomarkers for monitoring response to anti-tuberculosis treatment are needed. We explored immune markers previously published as having predictive capability for 8 week culture status in 39 adults enrolled in a clinical trial in Kampala, Uganda. Methods We consecutively selected 20 HIV-negative pulmonary TB subjects with positive cultures, and 19 subjects with negative cultures at the end of intensive phase therapy. At baseline and after 8 weeks, serum was assayed for nine cytokines and soluble cytokine receptors using multiplexed platforms or ELISA. We evaluated their association with week 8 culture status first using single-variable logistic models, then using cross-validated estimates of the C-statistic, a measure of discrimination, of candidate models including 2 or 3 analytes in addition to age. Results All but one analyte decreased from baseline to week 8 (all p 0.2). Conclusion Exploratory post-hoc models including sTNF-R1, CRP, and age, classified 8 week culture status with promising accuracy.
Sell First, Fix Later: Impact of Patching on Software Quality

We present an economic model of fixing or patching a software problem after the product has been released in the market. Specifically, we model a software firm’s trade-off in releasing a buggy product early and investments in fixing it later. We first show that patching investments and time to enter the market are strategic complements such that higher investments in patching capability allow the firm to enter the market earlier. Just as the marginal cost of producing software can be effectively zero, so can be the marginal cost of repairing multiple copies of defective software by issuing patches. We show that due to the fixed cost nature of investments in patching, a vendor has incentives to release a buggier product early and patch it later in a larger market. We contrast this result with other physical good markets. Thus, we show that a monopolist releases a product with fewer bugs but later than what is socially optimal. We extend our model to incorporate duopoly competition and show that in competition, the high value firm always enters earlier than the monopolist. Ironically the firm offering greater value to customers releases a product that initially is of lower quality (more bugs), but provides the greater value by releasing early (so customers can use the product sooner) and by investing more in patching so it can provide better after-sale support to its customers.
Soft Song in Song Sparrows: Acoustic Structure and Implications for Signal Function

In many species of songbirds, males sometimes produce songs at distinctly lower amplitude than in normal singing. Depending on the species, these ‘soft songs’ may be sung in the context of female courtship, male–male aggression, or both. In song sparrows, males produce soft songs during aggressive interactions with other males, and the amount of soft song produced is the only singing behavior that can be used to reliably predict a subsequent attack by the singer. Although soft song is clearly an important signal in this species, little is known about the acoustic structure of soft song or about how that structure compares to the structure of normal ‘broadcast song’. We recorded a large sample of soft songs and broadcast songs from 10 male song sparrows, and measured song amplitudes in the field while controlling the subject’s distance to a calibrated microphone. We show that song sparrow males produce songs over a wide range of amplitudes, with soft songs in the range of 55–77 dB sound pressure level and broadcast songs in the range of 78–85 dB. We present evidence for two types of soft song: ‘crystallized’ soft songs that are broadcast repertoire song types sung at low amplitude, and ‘warbled’ soft songs that are not found in the broadcast repertoire. Although highly variable, warbled soft songs produced by individual birds could be grouped into song types based on spectrographic similarity. To our knowledge, a distinct repertoire of soft song types has not been previously reported for any songbird.
Decay of the IS10 antisense RNA by 3' exoribonucleases : evidence that RNase II stabilizes RNA-OUT against PNPase attack

Summary RNA-OUT, the 69-nucleotide antisense RNA that regulates Tn 10/IS 10 transposition folds into a simple stem-loop structure. The unusually high metabolic stability of RNA-OUT is dependent, in part, on the integrity of its stem-domain: mutations that disrupt stem-domain structure (Class II mutations) render RNA-OUT unstable, and restoration of structure restores stability. Indeed, there is a strong correlation between the thermodynamic and metabolic stabilities of RNA-OUT. We show here that stem-domain integrity determines RNA-OUT's resistance to 3’exoribonucleolytic attack: Class II mutations are almost completely suppressed in Escherichia coli cells lacking its principal 3′ exoribonucleases, ribonuclease II (RNase II) and polynucleotide phosphorylase (PNPase). RNase II and PNPase are individually able to degrade various RNA-OUT species, albeit with different efficiencies: RNA-OUT secondary structure provides greater resistance to RNase II than to PNPase. Surprisingly, RNA-OUT is threefold more stable in wild-type cells than in cells deficient for RNase II activity, suggesting that RNase II somehow lessens RNPase attack on RNA-OUT. We discuss how this might occur. We also show that wild-type RNA-OUT stability changes only twofold across the normal range of physiological growth temperatures (30–44°C) in wild-type cells, which has important implications for IS 10 biology.
A population-based analysis of endovascular versus open thoracic aortic aneurysm repair

Objective The perioperative outcomes of open surgical and endovascular repair of intact thoracic aortic aneurysms (TAAs) during the last 3 months of 2005 were compared using a national administrative database. Methods The Nationwide Inpatient Sample was used to identify patients undergoing open aneurysm repair (OAR) or endovascular TAA repair (TEVAR) from October 1 to December 31, 2005. Patient demographic data, length of stay, hospital charges, patient disposition, and mortality were examined. Where appropriate, univariate tests of association used the χ 2 test, and multiple logistic regression analysis was used to determine predictors of in-hospital mortality, complications, and discharge status. Results A total of 1030 patients underwent open TAA repair and 267 underwent TEVAR. There was no significant difference in mortality between OAR and TEVAR (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 1.2; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.73-2.12), although OAR patients were more likely to have cardiac, respiratory, and hemorrhagic complications. Patients undergoing TEVAR were more likely to be discharged to home (adjusted OR, 6.37; 95% CI, 2.93-13.70) and had a decreased length of stay (5.7 days vs 9.9 days; P = .0015). The differences in hospital charges and costs were not significant. Conclusion Although further study is warranted, this study of a national sample suggests that endovascular TAA repair is safe in the short-term, associated with fewer cardiac, respiratory, and hemorrhagic complications, and requires a shorter hospital stay.
From application requests to virtual IOPs: provisioned key-value storage with Libra

Achieving predictable performance in shared cloud storage services is hard. Tenants want reservations in terms of system-wide application-level throughput, but the provider must ultimately deal with low-level IO resources at each storage node where contention arises. Such a guarantee has thus proven elusive, due to the complexities inherent to modern storage stacks: non-uniform IO amplification, unpredictable IO interference, and non-linear IO performance.This paper presents Libra, a local IO scheduling framework designed for a shared SSD-backed key-value storage system. Libra guarantees per-tenant application-request throughput while achieving high utilization. To accomplish this, Libra leverages two techniques. First, Libra tracks the IO resource consumption of a tenant's application-level requests across complex storage stack interactions, down to low-level IO operations. This allows Libra to allocate per-tenant IO resources for achieving app-request reservations based on their dynamic IO usage profile. Second, Libra uses a disk-IO cost model based on virtual IO operations (VOP) that captures the non-linear relationship between SSD IO bandwidth and IO operation (IOP) throughput. Using VOPs, Libra can both account for the true cost of an IOP and determine the amount of provisionable IO resources available under IO interference.An evaluation shows that Libra, when applied to a LevelDB-based prototype with SSD-backed storage, satisfies tenant app-request reservations and achieves accurate low-level VOP allocations over a range of workloads, while still supporting high utilization.
Micro data flow processors

A design concept approach called the transition signaling framework is introduced. Based on this framework, micropipelines become a powerful implementation medium for data flow machines. Some important circuits of a data flow machine are implemented by micropipelines such as switch, arbiter, and instruction register. The design of individual blocks of this data flow machine has been successfully simulated using VIEWlogic Workview. >
Apparent multiple Delta m^2_32 in muon anti-neutrino and muon neutrino survival oscillations from non-standard interaction matter effect

Neutrinos propagating through matter may participate in forward coherent neutral-current--like scattering arising from nonstandard interactions as well as from the Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein matter potential ${V}_{e}$. We show that at fixed long baselines through matter of constant density, the nonstandard interaction potential ${ϵ}_{\ensuremath{\mu}\ensuremath{\tau}}{V}_{e}$ can contribute an additional term to the oscillation phase whose sign differs for ${\overline{\ensuremath{\nu}}}_{\ensuremath{\mu}}$ versus ${\ensuremath{\nu}}_{\ensuremath{\mu}}$ propagation in matter. Its presence can cause different apparent $\ensuremath{\Delta}{m}^{2}$ to be erroneously inferred on the basis of oscillations in vacuum, with values lying above (for ${\overline{\ensuremath{\nu}}}_{\ensuremath{\mu}}$) or below (for ${\ensuremath{\nu}}_{\ensuremath{\mu}}$) the actual $\ensuremath{\Delta}{m}_{32}^{2}$ for the case where ${ϵ}_{\ensuremath{\mu}\ensuremath{\tau}}$ is predominantly real-valued and of sign opposite to $\ensuremath{\Delta}{m}_{32}^{2}$. A nonstandard interaction scenario invoking only $\ensuremath{\mathfrak{R}}({ϵ}_{\ensuremath{\mu}\ensuremath{\tau}})$ is shown to be capable of accounting for a disparity recently reported between oscillation survival for ${\overline{\ensuremath{\nu}}}_{\ensuremath{\mu}}$ and ${\ensuremath{\nu}}_{\ensuremath{\mu}}$ fluxes measured at 735 km by the MINOS experiment. Implications for mantle traversal by atmospheric neutrinos are examined. The nonstandard interaction matter potential with nonmaximal mixing could evade conventional atmospheric neutrino analyses which do not distinguish ${\ensuremath{\nu}}_{\ensuremath{\mu}}$ from ${\overline{\ensuremath{\nu}}}_{\ensuremath{\mu}}$ on an event-by-event basis.
A Powerful Nudge? Presenting Calculable Consequences of Underpowered Research Shifts Incentives Toward Adequately Powered Designs

If psychologists have recognized the pitfalls of underpowered research for decades, why does it persist? Incentives, perhaps: underpowered research benefits researchers individually (increased prod...
Supporting a Simulation Environment with OpenSim

This paper presents the design, implemen tation, and usage of OpenSim. OpenSim provides new tools and integrates existing tools into an environment in order to establish a comprehensive facility for performing simulation work. First, OpenSim provides a graphical user interface for creating input files for simulations and for managing output files produced from simulations. Second, tools are provided to help a user easily generate plots from sets of output files associated with a simulation project. Third, OpenSim addresses a common problem for many simulation users, namely, lack of computing capacity to serve the jobs. In order to solve this problem, OpenSim integrates Condor, an existing system that clusters idle workstations into a processor bank, into its environment. Through Condor, users have access to a large amount of computing capacity without interfering with the local usage of workstations by their owners. Finally, since users often plan their schedules according to the deadlines required for th...
Machine sequencing: Disjunctive graphs and degree‐constrained subgraphs

In two earlier papers, we proposed algorithms for finding an optimal sequence of processing m items on q machines, by finding a minimaximal path in a disjunctive network. In a third paper, this latter model was generalized (from 2-state to 3-state disjunctive graphs) so as to accommodate project scheduling with resource constraints. In this paper, we discuss another algorithm for the (2-state) disjunctive network problem, closely related to those mentioned above. To make the paper self-contained, section 2 briefly describes the problem. Section 3 introduces a class of constraints which forms the basis of the algorithm discussed in section 4. The constraints have only 1, −1, or 0 as coefficients on the left-hand side, integers on the right-hand side. The whole procedure of generating these constraints and finding a feasible solution whenever a new constraint is added, can be interpreted (section 5) as a process of generating a graph with degree-constraints on its nodes, and then finding a subgraph satisfying the degree-constraints. The nodes of the graph are generated by solving a critical-path-problem, the feasible subgraphs are found by implicit enumeration.
Generating optimal look-up tables to achieve complex color space transformations

Color space transformations are very common in digital imaging and display systems. Their complex mathematics requires hardware friendly implementations to make them practical. In this paper, look-up tables (LUT) are described for implementation of the color transformations. We show that this is possible because an analytical model of the transform is available for training and cross-validation. We identify parameters that affect the performance of a LUT-based system and then formulate the solution as an optimization problem.
Effect of cyclic thermal loading on the performance of steel H-piles in integral bridges with stub-abutments

Abstract In this paper, analytical equations are developed to estimate the lateral displacement capacity of steel-H piles in integral bridges with stub abutments subjected to cyclic thermal variations. First, steel H piles that are capable of sustaining large plastic deformations are identified based on their local buckling strength. The normalized moment–curvature relationships of these piles are then obtained for various axial load levels. Next, a low-cycle fatigue damage model is employed to determine the maximum cyclic curvatures that such piles can sustain. The obtained moment–curvature relationships and cyclic curvature limits are used in static pushover analyses of two steel H-piles driven in soil to obtain the maximum thermal-induced cyclic lateral displacements such piles can sustain. Using the pushover analyses results, the displacement capacity of steel H-piles are formulated as a function of pile’s properties, soil type and stiffness. Based on the obtained pile cyclic displacement capacities, the maximum length limits for integral bridges subjected to cyclic thermal variations are calculated. It is found that the maximum length limit for concrete integral bridges ranges between 150 and 265 m in cold climates and 180 and 320 m in moderate climates and that for steel integral bridges range between 80 and 145 m in cold climates and 125 and 220 m in moderate climates.
A New Proof of Uzawa's Steady-State Growth Theorem

Abstract This note revisits the proof of the steady-state growth theorem, first given by Uzawa in 1961.We provide a clear statement of the theorem, discuss intuition for why it holds, and present a new, elegant proof due to Schlicht (2006).
Minimum entropy regularization in frequency-wavenumber migration to localize subsurface objects

Optimized versions of frequency-wavenumber (F-K) migration methods are introduced to better focus ground-penetrating radar (GPR) data in applications of shallow subsurface object localization, e.g., landmine remediation. Migration methods are based on the wave equation and operate by backpropagating the received data into the earth so as to localize buried objects. Traditional F-K migration is based on an underlying assumption that the wavefields propagate in a homogeneous medium. The presence of a rough air-ground interface in the GPR case degrades the localization ability. To overcome this problem in the context of the F-K algorithm, we introduce lateral variations in the velocity of waves in the medium. An optimization approach is employed to choose that velocity function that results in a well-focused image where an entropy-like criterion is used to quantify the notion of focus. Extension of the basic method to lossy medium is also described. The utility of these techniques is demonstrated using field data from a number of GPR systems.
Status of the program for microwave detection of cosmic rays at the Pierre Auger observatory

Radiation in the microwave band from the passage of charged particles through air has been detected in the laboratory. This radiation could provide a novel technique for the detection of ultra-high energy cosmic rays over large areas, with 100% duty cycle and virtually no atmospheric attenuation. Detection of extensive air showers in the GHz band is being actively pursued at the Pierre Auger Observatory. The status and first results of the R&D activities on microwave detection at the Pierre Auger Observatory are presented. Recent results of a test beam experiment (5) have triggered a renewed interest in the use of the GHz band of the spectrum for the detection of UHECRs. These measurements with an electron beam at SLAC show a microwave signal emitted in coincidence with the passage of the beam inside an anechoic chamber. This signal is interpreted as molecular bremsstrahlung (MBR) emitted by the interaction of the low energy electrons in the plasma produced by the shower ionization with the molecules of the atmosphere. MBR is expected to be unpolarized and emitted isotropically. The measurements at SLAC show a time constant for the emission process of a few nanoseconds, and a signal level that scales quadratically with the particle content of the beam (5). These characteristics make MBR in the GHz band a very promising channel for the study of UHECRs, especially since the isotropic emission allows for the
Amplification of ribosomal RNA sequences

Emergence of the major outlines of bacterial phylogenetic relationships marks a defining advancement in the recent history of microbiology. This was made possible through the work of Woese and his colleagues who pioneered the comparison of rRNA sequences [30]. The ability to measure bacterial phylogenetic relationships, and those among microscopic eukaryotes, has had a direct impact on systematics that extends well into microbial ecology. While the driving force has been basic phylogenetic research, application of molecular techniques based on rRNA sequence comparisons to determinative and environmental microbiology is a blossoming area [9,26].
Vascular medicine: An alternative approach toarterial disease

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the NationalInstitutes of Health (NIH) is leading a nationwide initiative to develop comprehensive programs that integrate clinical care, education, and research in vascular disease by developing vascular centers designed to provide comprehensive patient care through a multidisciplinary approach. Only a few medical centers have a dedicated vascular medicine specialty. To date, 11 centers nationwide have received NIH support devoted to creating vascular centers and promoting vascular medicine as a specialty. In June 1992, Northwestern University/Northwestern Memorial Hospital received one of these awards. The NIH recognizes the complex medical problems in patients with vascular disease. The resulting necessity for care by multiple physicians bas traditionally led to duplication and fragmentation of services. Until recently, vascular surgery programs have focused primarily on the surgical treatment of vascular disease. This approach does not address risk reduction and the diverse care needs of the population of patients with vascular disease.
Spatial Scale and Density Dependence in a Host Parasitoid System: An Arboreal Ant, Azteca instabilis, and Its Pseudacteon Phorid Parasitoid

Much literature is dedicated to the study of density dependence in host-parasitoid systems. The theoretical literature identifies two potential stabilization mechanisms relating the response of the parasitoid to host density. One is a behavioral response that occurs at a local level, and the other is a demographic response that occurs at a larger spatial scale with heterogeneous patches of host concentrations. In a series of field trials at the small spatial scale (tens of meters) and a 10-mo census at the large spatial scale (hundreds of meters), we examined the attack rates of Pseudacteon sp. phorid flies on Azteca instabilis F. Smith ant hosts. At the local scale, we examined phorid attack rates on ants placed at increasing distances from ant nests (0-12 m) and on different densities of ants (1-50 workers) placed near the nests. At the large scale, we placed whole body extracts of A. instabilis in areas with several A. instabilis nests and in areas >100 m from the nearest nest. For all observations, we recorded the time of the first phorid attack and the number of phorid attacks in a defined time period. We found clear density-dependent responses at both scales. Phorid attack rates were highest within 2 m of A. instabilis nests and at ant densities >25. At the larger scale, phorid attack rate was greater in areas with A. instabilis nests, although this result was obscured during the dry season when the population of parasitoids is dramatically reduced. We propose several behavioral and population-level responses that may contribute to the observed results and propose several testable hypotheses. We conclude that, in this system, density dependence does happen through a behavioral mechanism of the phorid actively seeking concentrations of ants, but also, a population level response is likely caused by the significant difference in phorid attack rates in areas far from ant nests compared with areas nearby to nests.
Beam deflection measurement of bound-electronic and rotational nonlinear refraction in molecular gases.

We provide an updated comparison of second hyperpolazability of carbon disulfide reported in [Opt. Express23(17), 22224 (2015)10.1364/OE.23.022224Optica3(6), 657 (2016)10.1364/OPTICA.3.000657].
Oocyte development: molecular biology of the zona pellucida

Publisher Summary This chapter describes the appearance of the female germ cells in the early mouse embryo, the formation of the gonads during in utero growth, and the development of oocytes in the adult ovary. The molecular genetics of the zone pellucida genes are also discussed. The study of mammalian oocytes offers insight into the complex mechanisms of developmental regulation that result in the transformation of gene expression from a maternal pattern to that of an embryo. The oocyte provides a unique experimental system for the elucidation of embryonic cell lineage allocations, cell migration in the growing embryo, sex determination, and mechanisms of tissue-specific gene expression. The characterization of the zona pellucida genes provides oocyte-specific markers that facilitate investigations of mechanisms that induce oocytes to grow and differentiate. The zona pellucida genes offer a powerful paradigm for the study of mechanisms that direct tissue-specific gene expression during mammalian oogenesis. The identification of regulatory regions upstream of the zona pellucida genes has provided a means for identifying the transcription factors that may coordinate the expression of oocyte-specific genes.
The neurobehavioral phenotype in mucopolysaccharidosis Type IIIB: An exploratory study

Objectives Our goal was to describe the neurobehavioral phenotype in mucopolysaccharidosis Type IIIB (MPS IIIB). Parents report that behavioral abnormalities are a major problem in MPS III posing serious challenges to parenting and quality-of-life for both patient and parent. Our previous research on MPS IIIA identified autistic symptoms, and a Kluver-Bucy-type syndrome as indicated by reduced startle and loss of fear associated with amygdala atrophy. We hypothesized that MPS IIIB would manifest similar attributes when assessed with the same neurobehavioral protocol.
Noise In the Processing And Application of Magnetic Gradients

The increased use of magnetic gradients brings about the need for reliable noise characterization in order to understand the assumptions made during data processing. We present a statistical approach to characterize noise in magnetic gradient data. We use an equivalent source technique and finite difference calculations coupled with statistical analysis to observe the distribution of noise within gradient measurements. Our methods are applied to real airborne magnetic data where by we compare measured and calculated gradients. The results show that noise in gradient measurements can be characterized by a skew-t distribution rather than the readily assumed exponential or normal distributions. A secondary consequence from the presented methodology indicates that inherent errors associated with gridding may be detrimental to the use of calculated gradients.
Solvothermal Synthesis, Development, and Performance of LiFePO4 Nanostructures

We report the synthesis and nanostructural development of polycrystalline and single crystalline LiFePO4 (LFP) nanostructures using a solvothermal media (i.e., water–tri(ethylene glycol) mixture). Crystal phase and growth behavior were monitored by powder and synchrotron X-ray diffraction, as well as transmission electron microscopy (TEM), while particle morphologies were examined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Initially, thin (100 nm) platelets of Fe3(PO4)2·8H2O (vivianite, VTE) formed at short reaction times followed by the nucleation of LFP (20 nm particles) on the metastable VTE surfaces. Upon decrease in pH, primary LFP nanocrystals subsequently aggregated into polycrystalline diamond-like particles via an oriented attachment (OA). With increasing reaction time, the solution pH further decreased, leading to a dissolution–recrystallization process (i.e., Ostwald ripening, OR) of the oriented polycrystalline LFP particles to yield evenly sized, single crystalline LiFePO4. Samples prepared at...
Inviscid Analysis of Horizontal-Axis Wind Turbines Using Distributed Vorticity Elements

������������������� ������������������������� �������������� The primary tool currently used for wind turbine preliminary design is the blade element momentum method, which lacks a detailed wake model and relies on an assumption of noninteracting streamtubes. These simplifications limit the designer’s ability to tailor the blade shape to minimize the induced power loss of the rotor. Improved prediction of the induced velocity distribution on the blades can be achieved through the use of potential flow models at a computational cost low enough for use in design processes requiring many iterations. This paper presents the implementation of a potential flow, lifting-surface methodology using elements of distributed vorticity. The use of such elements provides higher resolution than filament-based methods without the need for vortex core modeling. Because the wake has a strong influence on the flow at the rotor, the accurate prediction of its geometry is highly important for wind turbine analysis. To this end, a force-free relaxed-wake model is presented, as well as less numerically intensive fixed wake and hybrid wake models. Comparison is made to Goldstein’s theoretical solution for the ideal lightly loaded rotor, as well as to the blade element momentum method.
Reducing achievement gaps in academic writing for Latinos and English learners in Grades 7–12.

This study reports 2 years of findings from a randomized controlled trial designed to replicate and demonstrate the efficacy of an existing, successful professional development program, the Pathway Project, that uses a cognitive strategies approach to text-based analytical writing. Building on an earlier randomized field trial in a large, urban, low socioeconomic status (SES) district in which 98% of the students were Latino and 88% were mainstreamed English learners (ELs) at the intermediate level of fluency, the project aimed to help secondary school students, specifically Latinos and mainstreamed ELs, in another large, urban, low-SES district to develop the academic writing skills called for in the rigorous Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts. The Pathway Project draws on well-documented instructional frameworks that support approaches that incorporate strategy instruction to enhance students’ academic literacy. Ninety-five teachers in 16 secondary schools were stratified by school and grade and then randomly assigned to the Pathway or control group. Pathway teachers participated in 46 hr of training to help students write analytical essays. Difference-in-differences and regression analyses revealed significant effects on student writing outcomes in both years of the intervention (Year 1, d = 0.48; Year 2, d = 0.60). Additionally, Pathway students had higher odds than control students of passing the California High School Exit Exam in both years. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved)
Cloning and Sequence Analysis of the VP2 Gene of Porcine Parvovirus HN-2011 Strain

According to the VP2 gene sequence of porcine parvovirus(PPV) published in GenBank database,a pair of specific primers was designed and synthesized.The full length VP2 gene of ppv HN-2011 isolate was amplified by PCR and then cloned into pMDl8-T vector.As expectedly,the complete nucleotide sequence of VP2 gene was 1 740 nt and coded 580 amino acids.The phylogenetic tree showed that PPV isolates were divided into four groups,and the Chinese isolates were clustered in groups A and B,except for the JY strain in group C.Mapping polymorphic sites of protein data onto the three-dimensional(3D) structure of PPV VP2 revealed that almost all substitutions were located on the external surface of the viral capsid.According to the phylogenetic relationship of the VP2 gene,the isolate HN-2011 was a prevalent PPV strain in China.
Cardiovascular differences between cold-acclimatized and heat-acclimatized chickens.

SUMMARY Rectal temperatures, respiratory rates, cardiac outputs, heart rates, blood pressures and pulse pressures were measured in groups of male and female adult chickens acclimatized to environments of 0°C. and 31°C. Measurements were made in the environment to which the birds were acclimatized. In the female birds, rectal temperatures and respiratory rates were significantly higher, while body-weight, cardiac output, calculated left ventricular work, mean blood pressure and pulse pressure were significantly lower in the heat-acclimatized birds than in the cold-acclimatized birds. The rectal temperatures of the male birds were significantly lower in the cold room than in the hot room. The cardiac outputs and left ventricular work were significantly higher in the cold-acclimatized birds. Evidence was obtained that the differences of mean blood pressure and pulse pressure between heat-acclimatized and cold-acclimatized female chickens persisted for at least 90 min. after they had been removed to a control environment (22°C).
Design and Learning of Output Representations for Speech Recognition

2 In deep learning research, often the focus has been on the input 3 feature representation while the output representation tends to 4 receive much less attention. In this paper, three largely separate case 5 studies are provided to argue for the importance of learning output 6 representations. In these studies, three ways of designing and/or 7 learning output representations for the deep-learning approach to 8 speech recognition are discussed and analyzed. First, the very large 9 number of output units in the current context-dependent (CD) deep 10 neural net (DNN) based speech recognizers can be effectively 11 reduced, without lowering recognition accuracy while improving 12 decoding efficiency, by performing dimensionality reduction using 13 low-rank approximation to large DNN output matrices. Second, the 14 currently popular CD-DNN that uses “beads-on-a-string” or linear15 sequence representations for linguistic speech units in the DNN 16 output layer can be generalized to structured multi-linear or graph 17 representations. Temporally overlapping linguistic “features” or 18 symbols are used as a basis for such phonological design. Third, when a 19 special type of deep networks, the deep convex network (DCN), is 20 used as a representational model for speech acoustic patterns, the 21 output units in each of the DCN modules are designed to be linear, 22 enabling drastic simplification in learning the parameters of the 23 entire network. 24
Weighted tardiness for the single machine scheduling problem

Earlier research by Kanet 11] has provided a number of new theorems for deciding precedence between pairs of jobs for 1??ΣwjTj. The theorems supplant those of Rinnooy Kan, Lageweg, and Lenstra 16]. Presented here are the results of an analysis of the marginal benefit these new theorems provide over the earlier versions of Rinnooy Kan et al. Results show that the new theorems can provide noteworthy improvements in the ability to discover precedence relations between job pairs. For a large set of problem instances the new theorems uncovered up to 8% more precedence relations than the original theorems of Rinnooy Kan et al. The improvement in the productivity in discovering precedence relations shows to be dependent on the coefficient of variation of the distribution of job weights. Logical application of the theorems is to include them in search procedures and/or heuristic approaches to 1||ΣwjTj. One such heuristic based on the theorems is provided here in which the solutions to a large set of sample problems are within 8-12% of the optimum.
Deficiency in the Heat Stress Response Could Underlie Susceptibility to Metabolic Disease.

Heat treatment (HT) effectively prevents insulin resistance and glucose intolerance in rats fed a high-fat diet (HFD). The positive metabolic actions of heat shock protein 72 (HSP72), which include increased oxidative capacity and enhanced mitochondrial function, underlie the protective effects of HT. The purpose of this study was to test the ability of HSP72 induction to mitigate the effects of consumption of a short-term 3-day HFD in rats selectively bred to be low-capacity runners (LCRs) and high-capacity runners (HCRs)—selective breeding that results in disparate differences in intrinsic aerobic capacity. HCR and LCR rats were fed a chow or HFD for 3 days and received a single in vivo HT (41°C, for 20 min) or sham treatment (ST). Blood, skeletal muscles, liver, and adipose tissues were harvested 24 h after HT/ST. HT decreased blood glucose levels, adipocyte size, and triglyceride accumulation in liver and muscle and restored insulin sensitivity in glycolytic muscles from LCR rats. As expected, HCR rats were protected from the HFD. Importantly, HSP72 induction was decreased in LCR rats after only 3 days of eating the HFD. Deficiency in the highly conserved stress response mediated by HSPs could underlie susceptibility to metabolic disease with low aerobic capacity.
Identifying Engagement from Joint Kinematics Data for Robot Therapy Prompt Interventions for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Prompts are used by therapists to help children with autism spectrum disorder learn and acquire desirable skills and behaviors. As social robots are more regularly translated into similar therapy settings, a critical part of ensuring effectiveness of these robot therapy system is providing them with the ability to detect engagement/disengagement states of the child in order to provide prompts at the right time. In this paper, we examine the various features related to body movement that can be utilized to define engagement levels and develop a model using these features for identifying engagement/disengagement states. The model was validated in a pilot study with child participants. Results show that our engagement model can achieve a recognition rate of 97 %.
Dimensionality of genomic information and performance of the Algorithm for Proven and Young for different livestock species

A genomic relationship matrix (GRM) can be inverted efficiently with the Algorithm for Proven and Young (APY) through recursion on a small number of core animals. The number of core animals is theoretically linked to effective population size (N e ). In a simulation study, the optimal number of core animals was equal to the number of largest eigenvalues of GRM that explained 98% of its variation. The purpose of this study was to find the optimal number of core animals and estimate N e for different species. Datasets included phenotypes, pedigrees, and genotypes for populations of Holstein, Jersey, and Angus cattle, pigs, and broiler chickens. The number of genotyped animals varied from 15,000 for broiler chickens to 77,000 for Holsteins, and the number of single-nucleotide polymorphisms used for genomic prediction varied from 37,000 to 61,000. Eigenvalue decomposition of the GRM for each population determined numbers of largest eigenvalues corresponding to 90, 95, 98, and 99% of variation. The number of eigenvalues corresponding to 90% (98%) of variation was 4527 (14,026) for Holstein, 3325 (11,500) for Jersey, 3654 (10,605) for Angus, 1239 (4103) for pig, and 1655 (4171) for broiler chicken. Each trait in each species was analyzed using the APY inverse of the GRM with randomly selected core animals, and their number was equal to the number of largest eigenvalues. Realized accuracies peaked with the number of core animals corresponding to 98% of variation for Holstein and Jersey and closer to 99% for other breed/species. N e was estimated based on comparisons of eigenvalue decomposition in a simulation study. Assuming a genome length of 30 Morgan, N e was equal to 149 for Holsteins, 101 for Jerseys, 113 for Angus, 32 for pigs, and 44 for broilers. Eigenvalue profiles of GRM for common species are similar to those in simulation studies although they are affected by number of genotyped animals and genotyping quality. For all investigated species, the APY required less than 15,000 core animals. Realized accuracies were equal or greater with the APY inverse than with regular inversion. Eigenvalue analysis of GRM can provide a realistic estimate of N e .
miRNAs differentially expressed by next-generation sequencing in cord blood buffy coat samples of boys and girls.

Aim: Differences in children's development and susceptibility to diseases and exposures have been observed by sex, yet human studies of sex differences in miRNAs are limited. Materials & methods: The genome-wide miRNA expression was characterized by sequencing-based EdgeSeq assay in cord blood buffy coats from 89 newborns, and 564 miRNAs were further analyzed. Results: Differential expression of most miRNAs was higher in boys. Neurodevelopment, RNA metabolism and metabolic ontology terms were enriched among miRNA targets. The majority of upregulated miRNAs (86%) validated by nCounter maintained positive-fold change values; however, only 21% reached statistical significance by false discovery rate. Conclusion: Accounting for host factors like sex may improve the sensitivity of epigenetic analyses for epidemiological studies in early childhood.
The effect of the housing crisis on the finances of central cities

Abstract In 2015, eight years after the start of the Great Recession, average per capita revenue in the nation's largest central cities was 7% below pre-recession levels, a decline that in both depth and duration is the most severe in the post-war period. In this paper, we address the role of the housing market in this decline. We analyze the impact of the boom and subsequent collapse in housing prices and the unprecedented surge in mortgage foreclosures on the finances of central cities. To link city finances to housing conditions, we draw on a specially created data base that takes account of the revenues and spending of all the local governments that provide services to city residents. Our regression analysis, which employs data from 2000 through 2014 for 90 large central cities, finds statistically and economically significant effects of both housing price changes and foreclosure rate changes on property tax revenues. We also find that property tax levy limits dampened the fiscal response to the housing bubble and bust. During the housing bubble period, property tax revenues and capital expenditures rose significantly faster in non-levy limit cities than in cities subject to levy limits, but then fell more sharply during the housing bust period. We estimate that the direct effect of the housing bust was responsible for 21% of the decline in the general revenue of large central cities from 2009 to 2011.
Simulations of terrestrial carbon metabolism and atmospheric CO2 in a general circulation model: Part 2: Simulated CO2 concentrations

The effects of terrestrial photosynthesis and respiration on the mixing ratio of atmospheric CO 2 have been simulated using surface fluxes calculated using a new version of the simple biosphere model (SiB2) coupled to the Colorado State University (CSU) general circulation model (GCM). The model was integrated for 5 years from an initial condition of uniform CO 2 , with surface fluxes and atmospheric transport calculated on a 6-min time step. Subgrid-scale vertical transport includes the effects of cumulus and dry convection and boundary layer turbulence, with diurnal cycles of all processes well resolved. The amplitude and phase of the diurnal cycle of simulated CO 2 concentration during the growing season agreed very well with observations made in Brazil, the southeastern United States, and central Canada, and the vertical structure of the simulated diurnal variations of CO 2 in the lower troposphere appears to be fairly realistic. By contrast, when the model was driven with surface fluxes of CO 2 derived from monthly means saved from the on-line simulation, the diurnal cycle was much weaker than observed at all three locations and was nearly 180° out of phase with the observations. The amplitude and phase of the seasonal cycle of simulated concentration show good agreement with data collected in remote marine areas by the flask sampling network. Vertical attenuation of the seasonal amplitude in the model is stronger than observed, at least over the western Pacific ocean where seasonal data have been collected by aircraft. In the annual mean, correlations between the carbon fluxes and vertical atmospheric transport produce very strong concentration maxima over the tropical rain forests, but covariance of fluxes and transport on the seasonal time scale are more important in the middle latitudes. The effect of these correlations is to impose a vertical gradient of several parts per million on the zonal mean atmospheric CO 2 concentration over biologically active regions, with the seasonal cycle contributing about 75% of the effect and the diurnal cycle contributing about 25%. The simulated annual mean meridional gradient in concentration at the flask stations is much stronger than has been simulated with off-line tracer transport models, accounting for more than half of the observed north-south gradient.