cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Quantizer effects in RML-based ADPCM

Recently, we proposed a recursive maximum likelihood (RML) algorithm for the purpose of adaptive differential pulse code modulation (ADPCM). In this paper, the effects on the performance of this algorithm due to the quantization of the prediction error are studied.
Effect of fenoldopam mesylate in critically ill patients at risk for acute renal failure is dose dependent.

Background: Acute renal failure (ARF) is common and difficult to prevent, especially in intensive care unit (ICU) patients with cancer. Therapeutic trials with various agents have generally been ineffective in preventing ARF. We describe the effects of two different doses of the dopamine DA-1 receptor agonist fenoldopam mesylate on renal function in a series of critically ill cancer patients at risk of developing ARF. Methods: We performed a retrospective chart review of 100 consecutive patients who received fenoldopam mesylate for at least 72 h in the medical and surgical ICUs of The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center who were at risk of developing ARF. Eighteen patients received low-dose fenoldopam mesylate (≤ 0.05 µg/kg/min). The remaining 82 patients received high-dose fenoldopam mesylate (0.07–0.1 µg/kg/min). Data were collected relating to drug dosage, patient demographics, severity of illness, and indices of renal function. Results: Patients were moderately ill, with a mean APACHE II ...
Factors affecting the slope of head rice yield vs. degree of milling

ABSTRACT Milling data of four long-grain rice cultivars were analyzed to determine the uniformity in the slope of their curves for head rice yield (HRY) versus the corresponding degree of milling (DOM). The data set for each cultivar comprised samples that had been subjected to various drying air conditions and durations and milled over a range of moisture contents. All treatment combinations were split and milled for either 15, 30, 45, or 60 sec in a McGill no. 2 laboratory mill to obtain HRY versus DOM data. Linear relationships between HRY and DOM, as observed in past research, were confirmed. This implies that as rice is milled to greater extents (higher DOM), the HRY decreases linearly. Within the bounds of the experimental levels tested, neither the drying air condition nor drying duration affected the rate at which HRY changed with DOM. However, the cultivar and the moisture content at which the rice was milled significantly (P < 0.05) influenced this rate. At higher milling moisture contents, the ...
Earth-abundant iron oxysulfide (FeS x O y ) for bandgap optimization

Transition metal sulfides with small bandgap are attractive for solar cell applications since most transition metals are abundant and many can be deposited in solution. Pyrite FeS 2 , with a bandgap of 0.95 eV, is one of the most desirable for solar cell applications. The problem with FeS 2 is that its bandgap is ∼0.45 eV smaller than the optimum bandgap for maximum efficiency, which should be ∼1.4 eV. In this paper, we propose the concept of metal oxysulfide as the approach to a low-cost Earth-abundant semiconductor with a direct bandgap of ∼1.4 eV for terawatt-scale solar cells. This is because the bandgap of Fe 2 O 3 is 2.2 eV. By introducing O into FeS 2 , the bandgap should increase. In our experiments, we use oxidation of electrodeposited FeS x for this purpose. FeS x films were electrodeposited on FTO-coated glass. Post-deposition annealing was carried out in vacuum to make FeS x films denser and more stable in air. SEM and EDX confirm that the as-grown FeS x film is amorphous and the S/Fe ratio in the film is slightly above 1. Oxidation of the FeS x films was performed either in a tube furnace under air or electrochemically in an electrolyte. After oxidation, the bandgap in the resultant FeS x O y is ∼1.3 eV by electrochemical oxidation and ∼1.1 eV by thermal oxidation. Further optimization is expected to produce a FeS x O y with a ∼1.4 eV bandgap.
Family Systems Practice in Pediatric Psychology

Objective: To present a pediatric psychology consultation treatment framework based on family systems and developmental theories. Methods: After reviewing background relevant to family systems interventions, a five-step protocol (referral, assessment, collaboration, outcome) for consultation is presented, using case examples from our pediatric oncology service, to illustrate joining, focusing, promoting competence and collaboration with patients, families, and staff. Results: Using protocols based on family systems frameworks, pediatric psychologists can offer systemsoriented consultation to patients, families, and healthcare teams. Conclusions: Further development and evaluation of family systems protocols are necessary to understand the efficacy of these approaches and their role in training and practice.
A cross-cultural study of rape

Rape is often considered a crime and, as such. is subject to punishment. This paper reports a test of a “deterence theory” of rape with a cross-cultural study which uses a sample of societies drawn from the Human Relations Area Files. Fraternal interest group theory is also tested. This theory argues that the presence of fraternal interest groups, power groups of related males, predicts the occurrence of rape in a society. Although the results support both theories, a composite theory, using both deterrence and fraternal interest group theories, was found to provide a better explanation for the occurrence of rape than either theory alone.
A review of tools to assess the sustainability in building construction

INTRODUCTION Resource management has always been a priority for mankind. From the early ages, when it was a fight for survival, humans have learned the importance of resource conservation. Today, the focus of resource management has not just stopped at the conservation of food but has evolved and entails an even larger picture. Moreover, technological advancements and growing population have added an additional burden on Mother Nature and her resources [1]. For instance, the uncontrolled chopping of trees for human use has not only resulted in loss of forests but has also increased environmental pollution. Humankind now understands the consequences of its actions and has come to terms with the fact that the resources are limited and should be preserved and conserved for future generations. This concept of sustainability, and the development stemming from it, has been applied to a variety of actions that have been the foremost consumers of resources for years. The building industry is one of the largest consumers in terms of natural resources, and one of the largest producers of pollution thereafter, which has been a cause for concern for scientists. According to the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), in the United States [2] buildings account for:
Nonstandard Arithmetic and Generic Arithmetic1

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses nonstandard arithmetic and generic arithmetic. A structure M ɛ E is said to be existentially complete in Σ if every universal sentence which holds in M holds also in all extensions of M which are contained in Σ. The class of these structures will be denoted by E. If G is axiomatizable or if E is axiomatizable then G and E coincide. There are various other subclasses of Σ which can be attached to Σ in a natural way. The chapter focuses on the classes E and G for arithmetic, that is, when H is the set of all sentences true for the natural numbers, or for the ring of rational integers or for the field of rational numbers. The mutual relationship between the generic structures and the forcing companions of the several arithmetical theories are considered. The investigation of these structures and theories for arithmetic is warranted by the fact that they are obtained by a canonical derivation, which, for other cases, yields such important classes as the algebraically closed fields and the real closed fields.
The benefits of passion and absorption in activities: Engaged living in adolescents and its role in psychological well-being

Across five studies and three samples of early and late adolescents from suburban areas (N = 2198), this research provides a theoretical and empirical examination of a new construct, engaged living, which consists of social integration and absorption. Engaged living, as we define it, is having a passion to help others and be completely immersed in activities. The development and psychometric properties of The Engaged Living in Youth Scale (ELYS) are described. Cross-sectional and longitudinal data, including self and other reports, then show that the ELYS is related to a variety of attributes, well-being, and academic achievement outcomes. Overall, the pattern of associations indicates that youth high in engaged living tend to be more grateful, hopeful, happier (via self, peer, and teacher reports), prosocial, and report elevated life satisfaction, positive affect, and self-esteem and higher grade point averages. Higher scorers also tend to be less depressed, envious, antisocial, and delinquent.
Data-race exceptions have benefits beyond the memory model

Proposals to treat data races as exceptions provide simplified semantics for shared-memory multithreaded programming languages and memory models by guaranteeing that execution remains data-race-free and sequentially consistent or an exception is raised. However, the high cost of precise race detection has kept the cost-to-benefit ratio of data-race exceptions too high for widespread adoption. Most research to improve this ratio focuses on lowering performance cost.In this position paper, we argue that with small changes in how we view data races, data-race exceptions enable a broad class of benefits beyond the memory model, including performance and simplicity in applications at the runtime system level. When attempted (but exception-raising) racy accesses are treated as legal --- but exceptional --- behavior, applications can exploit the guarantees of the data-race exception mechanism by performing potentially racy accesses and guiding execution based on whether these potential races manifest as exceptions. We apply these insights to concurrent garbage collection, optimistic synchronization elision, and best-effort automatic recovery from exceptions due to sequential-consistency-violating races.
Design and Initial Results of a Multi-Phase Randomized Trial of Ceftriaxone in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Objectives Ceftriaxone increases expression of the astrocytic glutamate transporter, EAAT2, which might protect from glutamate-mediated excitotoxicity. A trial using a novel three stage nonstop design, incorporating Phases I-III, tested ceftriaxone in ALS. Stage 1 determined the cerebrospinal fluid pharmacokinetics of ceftriaxone in subjects with ALS. Stage 2 evaluated safety and tolerability for 20-weeks. Analysis of the pharmacokinetics, tolerability, and safety was used to determine the ceftriaxone dosage for Stage 3 efficacy testing.
THE ESTIMATION OF CATHEPSIN WITH HEMOGLOBIN AND THE PARTIAL PURIFICATION OF CATHEPSIN.

An account of previous work on cathepsin may be found in the monograph of Pozzi (1935). In the hemoglobin method for the estimation of protelnase, denatured hemoglobin is digested and the digestion products not precipitable by trichloracefic acid are estimated colorimetrically. Hemoglobin, unlike commercial casein, edestin, and gelatin, is a reproducible substrate, Only the very first stages of digestion are measured by the tfichloracetic acid method, for only a small amount of digestion is needed to make hemoglobin not precipitable by trichloracetic acid. Thus, only true proteinase is estimated by the hemoglobin method. Almost all the estimations of proteinase recorded in the literature have been made with substrates that are not reproducible. As a result, the values of proteinase activity obtained in different laboratories, or in the same laboratory with different batches of substrate, are not quantitatively comparable. Furthermore, most of the values of proteinase activity recorded, in particular those obtained by the Willst~tter school, were obtained by methods which estimate not proteinase activity alone but the activity of proteinase plus other proteolytic enzymes. As a result, the values obtained by different investigators are not even qualitatively comparable. The hemoglobin-trichloracetic acid method estimates proteinase alone, yields reproducible results, and has now been applied to the four known types of proteinase, pepsin (Anson and Mirsky (1932-33)), trypsin (Anson and Mirsky (1933-34)), papain (Anson (1936-37)), and cathepsin. It would seem desirable that if some other method is used, either independent evidence be given that the method estimates proteinase 565
Pancreatic cancer: are we moving forward yet? Highlights from the Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium. Orlando, FL, USA. January 20th, 2007.

Summary Survival for patients with pancreatic cancer remains abysmal. Standard treatment for resected and locally advanced disease usually consists of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU, either bolus or continuous infusion) and external beam radiation. However, recent studies have shown the role of gemcitabine either used alone or incorporated with 5-FU and external beam radiation in this setting. Gemcitabine and erlotinib (Tarceva ® ) are currently the only standard chemotherapeutic agents approved by FDA for the treatment of advanced pancreatic cancer. Combination chemotherapy trials incorporating gemcitabine with other agents such as 5-FU, oxaliplatin, or capecitabine generally show improved outcomes in objective response rates but with little or no improvement in survival in phase III trials. In this article, the author summarizes the key studies in pancreatic cancer presented at the 2007 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium (Orlando, FL, USA; January, 2007). The studies discussed here include preliminary results of the Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB) phase III trial of gemcitabine plus bevacizumab and activity of other targeted agents including sorafenib, cetuximab, retrospective and populationbased studies evaluating the role of chemoradiotherapy and radiotherapy, an analysis of 3,306 patients from the Surveillance,
Efficient Halfband FIR Filter Structures for RF and IF Data Converters

Halfband filters used in multi-gigasample-per-second radio frequency/intermediate frequency data converters to interpolate or decimate the signal are responsible for a considerable portion of the power consumption. We now know that the sensitivity of halfband filters to coefficient quantization can be systematically reduced. This can be exploited in the filter-design process to yield halfband filters with reduced hardware complexity, leading to lower power consumption and/or higher operating speeds. The general derivation of such desensitized halfband structures and the relationship between their coefficients and those of conventional halfband filters are presented. Cadence implementation results show significant improvements.
The Cost of Raising a Killer -- Parental Liability for Parents of Adult Mass Murderers

Recently, a federal government study acknowledged what we already knew — there has been a significant increase in mass shootings over the past six years. Because mass shootings have now become ubiquitous in America, this epidemic can no longer be downplayed or ignored. As the details of each shooting emerge, the shooter’s parents almost always knew their offspring were seriously mentally ill beforehand, prompting many to question whether the parents are partially to blame for their child’s mass murder. The quintessential example raising this issue is that of Nancy Lanza. Despite knowing her son was severely mentally unstable, Nancy left her son home unsupervised with unfettered access to her arsenal of weapons while she went on vacation. This provided her son with the perfect opportunity to make a practice run to Sandy Hook Elementary School, where he later used her firearms to shoot and kill kindergartners and first-graders. Using Nancy Lanza’s case and other notorious mass shooting cases as examples, this article is the first to explore in depth if, and under what circumstances, a parent can be held civilly liable for their adult child’s mass shooting pursuant to general common law negligence jurisprudence. Specifically, this Article attempts to evaluate, clarify, and expound upon parental negligence law. Part I will discuss the history of parental liability. Part II will address whether there can be parental liability for parents of adult mass shooters based upon a special relationship under current law. Part III provides an overview of negligence in general and its complexities, as well as explores whether a duty to protect or warn can be established in mass shooting cases. Part IV examines whether the parents in the real-life examples referenced above breached a duty to protect or warn. Part V analyzes whether those parents’ breach caused the shooting victims’ injury or death. Part VI concludes that in some circumstances parents can, and should, be held liable for their misfeasance or nonfeasance that leads to their child’s mass killing. It further posits that the mere possibility of parents being subjected to financial liability for their child’s mass shooting will not only incentivize parents to take more aggressive measures to keep firearms out of their mentally unstable child’s hands but to obtain the mental health assistance their child so desperately needs — measures that in the end will make everyone (including their child) safer. Finally, Part VI provides advice to parents for dealing with significantly mentally ill, adult offspring residing in their home.
Laser amplification without population inversion on the D 1 line of the Cs atom with semiconductor diode lasers

The importance of lasing without inversion (LWI) in comparison with the use of nonlinear optical techniques and techniques based on high-intensity femtosecond light pulses to generate high-frequency coherent radiation is outlined. The original development and utilization of an experimental facility based on semiconductor diode lasers to study the fundamental aspects of LWI on the D1 line of the Cs atom, which is rarely attempted, is described. This experimental facility is used to observe inversionless amplification on the D1 line of the Cs atom by use of a Λ atomic scheme. A combination of EIT and broadband pumping of atoms from the lower to the upper level of the probe transition allowed the observation of the inversionless gain. Justification for the absence of inversion in the probe transition is provided. We report a single-pass inversionless gain of ≈11% with relatively weak incoherent pumping. The results show improvement over the previously reported inversionless gain observed in Na, Rb, and Cs, illustrating the potential advantage of using the D1 line of Cs.
Controlled Multi‐functionalization Facilitates Targeted Delivery of Nanoparticles to Cancer Cells

A major objective of nanomedicine is to combine in a controlled manner multiple functional entities into a single nanoscale device to target particles with great spatial precision, thereby increasing the selectivity and potency of therapeutic drugs. A multifunctional nanoparticle is described for controlled conjugation of a cytotoxic drug, a cancer cell targeting ligand, and an imaging moiety. The approach is based on the chemical synthesis of polyethylene glycol that at one end is modified by a thioctic acid for controlled attachment to a gold core. The other end of the PEG polymers is modified by a hydrazine, amine, or dibenzocyclooctynol moiety for conjugation with functional entities having a ketone, activated ester, or azide moiety, respectively. The conjugation approach allowed the controlled attachment of doxorubicin through an acid-labile hydrazone linkage, an Alexa Fluor dye through an amide bond, and a glycan-based ligand for the cell surface receptor CD22 of B-cells using strain promoted azide-alkyne cycloaddition. The incorporation of the ligand for CD22 led to rapid entry of the nanoparticle by receptor-mediated endocytosis. Covalent attachment of doxorubicin via hydrazone linkage caused pH-responsive intracellular release of doxorubicin and significantly enhanced the cytotoxicity of nanoparticles. A remarkable 60-fold enhancement in cytotoxicity of CD22 (+) lymphoma cells was observed compared to non- targeted nanoparticles.
Pulsed Laser Deposition of High-Epsilon Dielectrics: PMN and PMN-PT

In this study we report on the KrF excimer laser deposition of crystalline films of lead magnesium niobium oxide (PMN) and solid solutions of PMN and lead titanate (PT) in a 65:35 ratio. These materials have potential microelectronic applications as thin film capacitors due to their high dielectric constants (ePMN(bulk) ≥ 10,000). Films were typically deposited in an oxygen background at elevated substrate temperatures(Ts = 525 °C) on substrates of Pt(111)/SiO2/Si or Pt(111)/glass. The deposited films were characterized by Rutherford Backscattering Spectroscopy (RBS), x-ray diffraction, and capacitance/loss measurements. Films prepared from a nearlystoichiometric commercial PMN target were low in Mg and Pb and yielded only the low-c pyrochlore phase (measured efilm ≃ 100), even after cx-situ annealing at temperatures up to 650°C. Films deposited from Pb,Mg-rich targets prepared by a sol-gel process (tailored to produce the desired film stoichiometry) contained mixtures of perovskite and pyrochlore, with typical r values of order 600–1200.
Influence of Light on Diapause in the Boll Weevil. II. Dependence of Diapause Response on Narrow Bands of Visible Radiation and a Broad Band of Infrared Radiation Used to Extend the Photoperiod

Regions of the visible and infrared spectrum that might be effective in suppressing diapause in Anthonomus grandis Boheman were investigated by daily exposure of immature weevils (from the 1-day-old egg through to eclosion) on artificial medium to 1 of 3 photoperiods: 11 hr of fluorescent light-time, 2 hr of irradiation with either narrow wavebands of monochromatic light or a broad band of infrared radiation, and 11 hr of dark-time (L 11 + 2: D 11); 11 hr of fluorescent light-time and 13 hr of dark-time (L 11: D 13) (this regimen induces diapause); 13 hr of fluorescent light-time and 11 hr of dark-time (L 13: D 11) (this regimen suppresses diapause). Violet light, red to far-red light, and near- to intermediate-infrared radiation were less effective than blue, green, yellow, and orange light in suppressing diapause. However, no significant differences were found in the suppressive effect of 3 energy levels (0.5, 0.1, 0.05 µw cm-2nm-1 of violet, blue, green, yellow, and orange light.
Breast-Density Legislation — Practical Considerations

A grassroots movement to inform women about their breast density has resulted in laws in 20 states mandating provision of that information. But the ability to detect breast cancer is affected by many factors, and evidence supporting supplemental screening is lacking.
Comparison of muscle tissue from normal and dystrophic chick at different stages of development.

Summary1. Evidence is presented to support the view that dystrophic muscle is retarded in its post-hatching maturation. DNA, PN, and incorporation levels were determined in developing chick normal and dystrophic pectoralis. By 11 days post-hatching, dystrophic muscle has a higher DNA content, greater incorporation of glycine-1-C14 into protein, and a lower PN content corresponding to the levels found in younger normal muscle. 2. After 5 days in vitro, normal and dystrophic muscle explants from 11-day hatched chick lost DNA and PN. In addition, the rate of protein synthesis was increased. Again, in explants the dystrophic muscle showed properties similar to those of normal muscle of a younger age.
Adopted children in their adoptive families

The adoptive process can produce unusual stresses on the child, and biologic and adoptive parents, from prenatal to postnatal life, and through the various phases of physical and pscyhological development. Because of the possibility of these children and their families falling into the "at risk" category with greater potential for psychological and social problems, the pediatrician is of primary importance in diagnosis and counseling. The pediatrician can be of major help in properly diagnosing emotional, behavioral and/or learning problems occurring in adopted children. There must be a thorough evaluation of the child and his family to understand and properly treat symptomatic behavior. The pediatrician can give advice regarding developmental milestones, and especially help the adoptive parents in appreciating their conscious and unconscious attitudes so as to enhance attachment behaviors. Pediatricians are the consultants to whom parents turn for advice regarding the timing of telling about adoption. This advice needs to be individualized according to the specific child's needs. Using a developmental conceptual framework, the pediatrician is in the best position to help the parents and their adopted children with their feelings about societal attitudes and how these can most appropriately be handled. Along this line, the pediatrician can give help and advice when and if the adoptee decides to search for his biologic parents. There is a need to clarify laws which seal the original birth certificate permitting those adoptees who wish to attain a knowledge of potentially related disease processes and an identity with his own genealogical past to do so. This would also allow the adoptee to offer his own children information about their own genetic pool and an awareness of adoption as one of the most valuable and historically significant child rearing practices.
Electrical stimulation of acupuncture points enhances gastric myoelectrical activity in humans.

Objective: Acupuncture is known to enhance gastric motility. Electrical acustimulation has been shown to reduce gastric tachyarrhymia in vection-induced motion sickness. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of electrical stimulation of acupuncture points on gastric myoelectrical activity in healthy humans. Methods : Nine healthy native Chinese were studied. Gastric myoelectrical activity was recorded using surface electrogastrography (EGG). The EGG recording was made in the fasting state, in a study period during which acupuncture points were electrically stimulated continuously, and in a recovery period after stimulation. The percentage of regular slow waves was assessed by computing the percentage of 2 to 4 cycles per minute slow waves in the EGG. Results: Electrical stimulation significantly increased the percentage of regular slow waves, which was sustained in the recovery period. The increase of the regular slow wave activity resulted from the normalization of arrhythmia. Conclusion: Electrical stimulation of acupuncture points may enhance the regularity of gastric myoelectrical activity and may be an option for treatment of gastric dysrhythmia.
SU-G-BRA-06: Quantification of Tracking Performance of a Multi-Layer Electronic Portal Imaging Device

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to quantify the improvement in tumor tracking, with and without fiducial markers, afforded by employing a multi-layer (MLI) electronic portal imaging device (EPID) over the current state-of-the-art, single-layer, digital megavolt imager (DMI) architecture. Methods: An ideal observer signal-to-noise ratio (d’) approach was used to quantify the ability of an MLI EPID and a current, state-of-the-art DMI EPID to track lung tumors from the treatment beam's-eye-view. Using each detector modulation transfer function (MTF) and noise power spectrum (NPS) as inputs, a detection task was employed with object functions describing simple three-dimensional Cartesian shapes (spheres and cylinders). Marker-less tumor tracking algorithms often use texture discrimination to differentiate benign and malignant tissue. The performance of such algorithms is simulated by employing a discrimination task for the ideal observer, which measures the ability of a system to differentiate two image quantities. These were defined as the measured textures for benign and malignant lung tissue. Results: The NNPS of the MLI ∼25% of that of the DMI at the expense of decreased MTF at intermediate frequencies (0.25≤<f≤<0.5 cycles/mm). Lung tissue textures were found to follow a power-law trend in the frequency domain. It was found that for both fiducial marker tracking and lung tissue texture differentiation, the signal power of each task is retained at low frequencies. Thus, little difference may be observed in signal power when DMI and MLI are compared. In all cases, improvements in tracking were greater than a factor of 2. Conclusion: MLI performance in tumor tracking is greatly improved by the additional imager layers. This implies that further improvements in tracking may be gained through increasing the thickness of each MLI layer. For tracking, the MLI performance is limited by noise response. Losses in MTF result in negligible differences in d’. The project was partially supported by a grant from Varian Medical Systems, Inc. and grant No. R01CA188446-01 from the National Cancer Institute.
Types of Learning Objects

There are numerous types of learning objects, each serving a specific purpose. One person who has contributed much to the development of learning objects is Dr. David A. Wiley of Brigham Young University. Dr. Wiley has created a taxonomy (classification system) of learning objects in 2000 called “Preliminary Taxonomy of Learning Object Types” (Wiley 2000, p 24). In this taxonomy, he developed five types of learning objects listed below with an example of each:
Changes in Bacillus Spore Small Molecules, rRNA, Germination, and Outgrowth after Extended Sublethal Exposure to Various Temperatures: Evidence that Protein Synthesis Is Not Essential for Spore Germination

rRNAs of dormant spores of Bacillus subtilis were >95% degraded during extended incubation at 50°C, as reported previously (E. Segev, Y. Smith, and S. Ben-Yehuda, Cell 148:139-114, 2012, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2011.11.059), and this was also true of spores of Bacillus megaterium Incubation of spores of these two species for ∼20 h at 75 to 80°C also resulted in the degradation of all or the great majority of the 23S and 16S rRNAs, although this rRNA degradation was slower than nonenzymatic hydrolysis of purified rRNAs at these temperatures. This rRNA degradation at high temperature generated almost exclusively oligonucleotides with minimal levels of mononucleotides. RNase Y, suggested to be involved in rRNA hydrolysis during B. subtilis spore incubation at 50°C, did not play a role in B. subtilis spore rRNA breakdown at 80°C. Twenty hours of incubation of Bacillus spores at 70°C also decreased the already minimal levels of ATP in dormant spores 10- to 30-fold, to ≤0.01% of the total free adenine nucleotide levels. Spores depleted of rRNA were viable and germinated relatively normally, often even faster than starting spores. Their return to vegetative growth was also similar to that of untreated spores for B. megaterium spores and slower for heat-treated B. subtilis spores; accumulation of rRNA took place only after completion of spore germination. These findings thus strongly suggest that protein synthesis is not essential for Bacillus spore germination.IMPORTANCE A recent report (L. Sinai, A. Rosenberg, Y. Smith, E. Segev, and S. Ben-Yehuda, Mol Cell 57:3486-3495, 2015, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.molcel.2014.12.019) suggested that protein synthesis is essential for early steps in the germination of dormant spores of Bacillus subtilis If true, this would be a paradigm shift in our understanding of spore germination. We now show that essentially all of the rRNA can be eliminated from spores of Bacillus megaterium or B. subtilis, and these rRNA-depleted spores are viable and germinate as well as or better than spores with normal rRNA levels. Thus, protein synthesis is not required in the process of spore germination.
A sociologist learns to study religion

It took a very long time before I encountered the systematic study of religious processes and dynamics as a distinctive and expansive area of scholarship. Using an autobiographical account, I trace the development of my scholarship in the social scientific study of religion. I have now experienced a great diversity of approaches to the study of religion. Driven by insatiable curiosity and knowing that no one can capture religion comprehensively, I now am committed to stimulating imaginative, rigorous, and wide-ranging developments in religious scholarship. We require new, inventive, and even incompatible approaches to our study of religion if we ever hope to try adequately grasping the richness of religion.
High harmonic generation in ZnO with a high-power mid-IR OPA

We generate high-order harmonics in a-cut (11–20) ZnO at a high repetition rate of 50 kHz, using the tunable mid-infrared pulses (3–4 μm wavelength) from a high-power optical parametric amplifier. For driving laser pulses with 3.8 μm central wavelength, we observe nonperturbative harmonic spectra that well exceed the material band gap. The harmonic spectra depend strongly on the orientation of the crystal with respect to the laser polarization, with odd harmonics exhibiting periodicities of π/2 for a polarization within the (11–20) crystal plane. Energy conversion efficiencies of ∼10−6 per harmonic are measured for the 9th–13th harmonics, yielding an average power of more than 0.2 μW for the 13th harmonic.
On the Right Side of History: Community-Based Participatory Research and People with Developmental Disabilities

Community-based participatory research fosters more socially just and higher quality science. Strong collaborations between scientists and community members with developmental disabilities throughout all phases of research allows scientists to draw on insights into lived experiences to create research that is increasingly innovative, holistic, accurate, and accessible. These dynamics engender greater feelings of respect among research populations thereby encouraging their research participation; they also promote research better able to lead to knowledge translation. Equally as important, community-based participatory research helps scientists avoid pursuing research that is harmful to people with disabilities.
S-Curves Ahead: Examining Market Sensemaking Using Latent Growth Modeling

The novelty of new products creates uncertainty for market participants, causing them to engage in sensemaking to evaluate the meaning and usefulness of new products relative to existing offerings....
Synthesis of Iron Hydride Complexes Relevant to Hydrogen Isotope Exchange in Pharmaceuticals

Addition of H2 gas to the bis(arylimidazolin-2-ylidene)pyridine iron bis(dinitrogen) complex (H4-iPrCNC)Fe(N2)2 resulted in facile oxidative addition of the H–H bond to yield a mixture of (H4-iPrCNC)FeH4 and trans-(H4-iPrCNC)FeH2(N2), depending on the partial pressures of H2 and N2. Both iron hydride complexes were characterized by X-ray diffraction and proved relevant to the catalytic hydrogen isotope exchange of arene C(sp2)–H bonds. Activation of the benzene-d6 solvent at ambient temperature produced deuterated isotologues of both compounds that exhibit large isotopic perturbation of resonances in the hydride signals.
Brand Luther: How an Unheralded Monk Turned His Small Town into a Center of Publishing, Made Himself the Most Famous Man in Europe—and Started the Protestant Reformation. By Andrew Pettegree. (New York, NY: Penguin Press, 2015. Pp. xvi, 383. $29.95.)

The author of this book has written an excellent new study of Martin Luther. Brand Luther explains Luther's life and achievements by placing the great man in several important contexts. The first i...
Southern chinch bug (Hemiptera: Lygaeidae) survival on St. Augustinegrass selections.

The survival of female vs male adults of southern chinch bugs (Blissus insularis Barber) was determined on five selections of St. Augustinegrass (Stenotaphrum secundatum (Walt.) Kuntze) of which th...
Optimal mass transport based brain morphometry for patients with congenital hand deformities

Congenital hand deformities (CHD) have attracted increasing research attention in the past few decades. The impacts of CHD on the brain structure, however, are not fully studied to date. In this work, we propose a novel framework to study brain morphometry in CHD patients using Wasserstein distance based on optimal mass transport (OMT) theory. We first employ conformal mapping to map the left and right surface-based functional brain areas to planar rectangles, which pushes the area element on the brain surface to the planar rectangle and incurs the area distortion. A measure is then determined by this area distortion. We further propose a new rectangle domain-based OMT map algorithm. Given two measures on two surfaces, we employ the proposed algorithm to compute a unique OMT map between the two measures encoding the geometric information of left and right surface-based functional brain areas. The transportation cost of this OMT map gives the Wasserstein distance between two surfaces, which intrinsically measures the dissimilarities between two surface-based shapes. Our method is theoretically rigorous and computationally efficient and stable. We finally evaluate the proposed Wasserstein distance-based method on the left and right post-central gyri from the CHD patients and healthy control subjects for analyzing brain cortical morphometry. Experimental results demonstrate the efficiency and efficacy of our method, and shed insightful lights on the study of the brain morphometry for those subjects with CHD.
Clinical Correlation of Cytomegalovirus Infection With CMV-specific CD8+ T-cell Immune Competence Score and Lymphocyte Subsets in Solid Organ Transplant Recipients.

BACKGROUND Control of cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection after solid organ transplantation (SOT) requires a functional immune system. We assessed the association between quantitation and function of CMV-specific CD8+ T cells and CMV infection in SOT recipients. METHODS During a 10-year period, selected kidney, heart, lung, pancreas, liver, and composite tissue recipients were tested for CMV-specific CD8+ T cells immune competence (CMV-CD8+), as measured by enumeration, interferon-gamma production, and CD107a/b degranulation. Quantitative and functional data were used to assemble T-cell immune competence (TIC) score. CMV infection was diagnosed by polymerase chain reaction in blood and other samples or histopathology. RESULTS Of 130 patients tested, 59 had CMV infection or disease. The median onset to CMV infection was 10.5 months (interquartile range [IQR], 5.5-18.7). Gastrointestinal disease (28.8%), pneumonia (20.3%), and CMV syndrome (17%) were most common presentation. An impaired nonspecific or CMV-CD8+ TIC score was associated with tissue-invasive disease (hazard risk, 2.84, 95% confidence interval, 1.03-11.81; P = 0.04). Patients with impaired CMV-CD8+ TIC score had longer viremia duration (42.4 days vs 18.8 d; P < 0.001). Patients with impaired nonspecific or CMV-CD8+ TIC score had higher risk of relapse (68.8% vs 27.9%; hazard risk, 2.56; 95% confidence interval, 1.09-5.89; P = 0.03). Patients with CMV infection or disease had lower median absolute lymphocyte count (380 [IQR, 240-540] vs 940 [IQR, 551-1210] cells/mm; P < 0.0001) and CD4+ T cell count (29 cells/mm [IQR, 1.3-116.0] vs 325.5 cells/mm [IQR, 151.5-589.8]; P < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS Nonspecific and CMV-specific CD8+ T-cell function correlated with the course of CMV after SOT, and measuring these has the potential to assist in its clinical management.
Four-Dimensional Coherent Spectroscopy of Complex Molecular Systems in Solution

An understanding of microscopic interactions in solution is of fundamental importance in chemistry. However, the structure and dynamics of complex systems in the condensed phase, especially far from thermal equilibrium, are masked by broad and often featureless absorption and emission spectra. Nonlinear optical spectroscopy has proven to be a powerful and general approach to disentangling congested spectra by spreading information across multiple dimensions, revealing features oftentimes hidden in lower-order projections. As the dimensionality of the measurement is increased, the better the microscopic interactions are revealed, as spectral bands disperse in the large hyper-spectral volume. This capability, however, comes at a steep price, as the signal decreases exponentially at higher orders of optical response, and added experimental complexity increases noise. We discuss a 4D coherent spectroscopy known as gradient-assisted multidimensional electronic–Raman spectroscopy (GAMERS) that reveals coupling ...
Prognostic significance of CD73 expression in localized renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

4582Background: CD73 or ecto-5'-nucleotidase mediates the de-phosphorylation of adenosine monophosphate to adenosine which promotes immunosuppression in the tumor microenvironment. Its prognostic s...
Read It and Weep: Affective and Literate Engagement in Richard Rolle’s Meditations and The Book of Margery Kempe

Much medieval devotional and visionary literature is concerned with directing its audience’s meditative practices toward gaining a deeper understanding of Christ’s suffering and salvation history as a whole. Some such texts, however, make use of the text’s materiality—as book and as language—to generate knowledge of God. This chapter argues that Rolle’s Meditations and The Book of Margery Kempe strove to bring their readers to deeper knowledge of God through the reading experience itself. Rolle employs a poetics of presence that both models and generates an affective response, whereas Kempe’s references to books model a literate response for her readers. Both works thus present the text in itself as a means of producing experience. The centrality of the text’s materiality in these reading practices—not only as a vehicle for devotion but as an object that manifests devotion in its own right—indicates the importance of the act of reading in emerging spiritual praxes, which is particularly significant in an era of growing vernacular textual production and broader access to works of spiritual guidance.
Ramucirumab and docetaxel in patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma harboring fibroblast growth factor receptor alterations: A case series and literature review

Metastatic urothelial carcinoma (mUC) has a poor prognosis with a 5-year survival probability of 4.8%. The mainstay of first-line treatment is platinum-based chemotherapy. Second-line therapy involves immune checkpoint inhibitors or a fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) inhibitor, erdafitinib, for patients harboring selected FGFR alterations. Several additional agents are under development for the treatment of mUC. Recent studies demonstrate that ramucirumab and docetaxel have clinical activity in mUC. We report two patients with metastatic upper tract urothelial cancer (mUTUC) with FGFR alterations who were heavily pretreated with FGFR inhibitors that later showed response to ramucirumab and docetaxel. Preclinical studies indicate that FGF and VEGF pathways work synergistically, which could explain the observations in our patients. Our findings may represent another treatment option for patients with mUC and FGFR alterations who have progressed on multiple lines of therapy.
Supporting aging in place: A policymaking blueprint for addressing U.S. older adults’ unmet home modification needs

Older adults wish to remain in their homes as long as they are able, but little research has evaluated what role housing plays in the decision to age in place. Qualitative interviews of aging servi...
Effects of horizontal muscle augmentation combined with inferior oblique muscle cutting in the treatment of strabismus in children

Objective To analyze the effect of inferior oblique muscle cutting combined with horizontal muscle strengthening and weakening in the treatment of children with strabismus. Methods A total of 50 children with strabismus treated in Children’s Hospital Affiliated to Zhengzhou University from July 2017 to June 2019 were enrolled and divided into two groups. Twenty-five patients in the control group were treated with horizontal muscle augmentation; 25 patients in the observation group were treated with combined inferior oblique muscle surgery. Results The total effective rate of the observation group and the control group were 100% and 84%, respectively, and the difference was significant (P<0.05). The normal proportion of the inferior oblique muscle function was 92% in the observation group and 68% in the control group, and the differences were significant (P<0.05). The cognitive function, physical function, emotional function, role function and social function score of the observation group were significantly higher than those of the control group (P<0.05). Conclusions The combination of inferior oblique muscle cutting and horizontal muscle augmentation can improve the therapeutic effect and the quality of life of children, which has higher clinical value. Key words: Pediatric strabismus; Inferior oblique muscle cutting; Horizontal muscle augmentation
Microstructure Evolution During Binder Jet Additive Manufacturing of H13 Tool Steel

Abstract H13 is one of the most used tool steels for both hot and cold work tooling applications. Binder jet additive manufacturing offers the potential to deposit complex tools at scale due to larger powder bed sizes and faster deposition rates. However, to date there is no published literature on the sintering of H13 to full densification. In this paper, we discuss the pressureless sintering of binder jet AM H13 steel to full densification via supersolidus liquid phase sintering (SLPS) while presenting appropriate process windows (1360 °C – 1380 °C) for densification without distortion. The process windows have been rationalized based on thermodynamic calculations of liquid volume fractions with temperature. We show that higher binder saturation results in higher carbon retention and subsequently early liquid formation that can initiate the sintering process at lower temperatures. We report abnormal grain growth during sintering and found that the solidification phase transformations play a critical role on microstructural evolution and must be considered to accurately model the kinetics of SLPS.
ringl + pit and the Queer Art of Failure∗

In 1929, in the midst of the artistic and political ferment that was Weimar Berlin, the young photographers Ellen Auerbach and Grete Stern formalized their personal and creative affinities to creat...
Open data and software for microscopy image analysis

Abstract In this era of deep learning-based data driven approaches to computer vision and microcopy image analysis, having access to curated data of both high quality and high quantity is essential to developing state-of-the-art techniques, quantitatively evaluating them, and meaningfully comparing them. There have been commendable efforts in building and open-sourcing thoughtfully constructed diverse microcopy image datasets, as well as developing and open-sourcing image analysis software that both enables biologists to process microscopy images and advances the field by creating a platform for community sharing, engagement, and contribution. In this chapter, we present a few representative open-source datasets and software for microscopy image analysis. This is not intended to be exhaustive as new datasets and software are being made publicly available time and again—this is meant to enable the reader to jump start their investigation by having readily accessible data and analysis software, so they can bring about further progress in this important area.