cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Determination of hydroxyproline in milk and dairy products by reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography with precolumn derivatization

Objective: To develop a method for the determination of hydroxyproline in dairy products using RP-HPLC.Methods: After hydrolysis with 6 mol/L HCl,the collagen in samples was decomposed into hydroxyproline which can be derivatized with PITC and separated by HPLC with a XBridge C18 column(150 mm×4.6 mm,5 μm) under gradient of methanol and 20 mmol/L ammonium acetate,and detected at PDA 254 nm,then quantified by external standard calibration.Results: Recoveries between 93.3% and 104.6% and RSDs ranged from 0.97% to 4.3% have been achieved.Conclusion: The method is accurate,precise,convenient and suitable for the determination of hydrolyzed animal collagen in milk and dairy products.
Analysis on the Finance Industry Development of Beijing CBD

One of the six emphasis function districts in Beijing,CBD function district develops rapidly in the six years.The finance develops rapidly but just contributes less than the underpinning industry in CBD.Based on the general situation,this paper brings out related analysis,and then gives the suggestion of expand finance indus- try.
Component Analysis of Fuels by Comprehensive Two-dimensional Gas Chromatography and Simultaneous Multi-channel Detection

A novel analysis method was presented to investigate the composition of fuels by integrating comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography(GC×GC)and simultaneous multi-channel detection. To apply GC×GC for fuels analysis,the flame ionization detector(FID)has no capability to identify components,whereas mass spectrometer(MS)needs complicated procedure to quantify analytes.To combine the advantages of these two detectors,this study proposed a way to split the column flow into both FID and MS.The consistent split ratio between two detectors relies on auxiliary pressure programming.In addition to multi-channel detection,the method also effectively prevents MS from air leaks.The experimental results from two detector channels are compatible.Together with the proper selection of column combination,the composition of diesel fuel was successfully revealed.
The Resusciatative Fluid You Chose May Potentiate Bleeding.

Abstract Trauma is the leading cause of death in the younger population in the United States, frequently from the development of hemorrhagic shock. Controversy exists over the type of volume resuscitation to be used (dilutions ranging up to 66%) in hemorrhagic shock for restoring hemodynamic stability. Trauma results in massive exposure of tissue factor to the circulation and explosive amounts of thrombin being generated. We studied the effect of various resuscitative formulas to blood coagulation, specifically thrombin generation and fibrin formation, in a controlled setting using corn trypsin inhibited whole blood initiated with a 5pM stimulus of tissue factor. Thrombin generation measured as its complex with antithrombin III (TAT) was evaluated periodically over a time course of 20 min. Fibrin clots were collected and weighed. We investigated four diluents (0.9% NaCl (NS), lactated Ringer's solution (LR), 6% hydroxyethyl starch (HES) and 3% NaCl (HS)) each at a 0,10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60% blood dilution. At a 10% dilution TAT generation was in the order of LR (−4%) 20% dilution. This in vitro study shows that: 1) LR has the least effect on thrombin generation and gave higher than anticipated clot weights; 2) HES reduced the fibrin clot mass at higher dilutions; 3) HS abolishes coagulation after a 20% dilution. Overall, both the extent and nature of hemodilution cause profound alterations in the hemostatic mechanism.
Gray Matters in the Growth of Markets

We explore the role of organizational origins and legal form for the subsequent growth and performance of firms in 18 sub-Saharan African countries and find that formalization at the start of operations contributed to both higher sales and greater employment among registered firms. At the same time, informality is associated with lower variance in firm performance. The size of the informal sector, perceptions of bureaucratic corruption, and general economic growth moderate these effects. While informality deters firm growth within countries, the relationship between the size of gray markets and larger economic growth across countries appears to be non- negative. We discuss some implications of these findings for firm growth in emerging markets.
Use of a small overpotential approximation to analyze Geobacter sulfurreducens biofilm impedance

Abstract The electrochemical impedance of Geobacter sulfurreducens biofilms reflects the extracellular electron transfer mechanisms determining the rate of current output. Binned into two characteristic parameters, conductance and capacitance, biofilm impedance has received significant attention. The goal of this study was to evaluate a small overpotential approximation for extracellular electron transfer in G. sulfurreducens biofilms. Our motivation was to determine whether conductance over biofilm growth behaved linearly with respect to limiting current. Biofilm impedance was tracked during growth using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance (eQCM). We showed that normalization of the biofilm impedance is useful for characterizing the changes during growth. When the conductance and capacitance were compared to the biofilm current, we found that: 1) conductance had a linear response and 2) constant phase elements (CPE) had a saturating response that coincided with the limiting current. We provided a framework using a simple iV relationship that predicted the conductance-current slope to be 9.57 V -1 . CPEs showed more variability across biofilm replicates than conductance values. Although G. sulfurreducens biofilms were used here, other electrochemically active biofilms exhibiting catalytic waves could be studied using the same methods.
Abstract A07: The RAD51 paralog complex SWS1-SWSAP1 is critical for homologous recombination in the mouse

Homologous recombination (HR), also termed homology-directed repair, is a major pathway for the repair of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) generated by DNA damaging agents, replication fork collapse and during meiosis. Failure to repair DSBs correctly causes genomic instability, leading to mutagenesis, and developmental defects. Moreover, defects in HR impact the response to many therapeutics. Components of the HR machinery include BRCA2 and five RAD51 paralogs, which are critical for RAD51 assembly onto single-stranded DNA, an important intermediate for homologous strand invasion. Disruption of these HR genes in mice results in embryonic lethality (pre-implantation to mid-gestation defects), developmental defects (e.g., sterility), and tumorigenesis. Recently, the Shu complex, composed of SWS1 and SWSAP1 subunits, was identified in human cells as a potential RAD51 paralog complex, since it functions with RAD51 to promote mitotic HR like its ortholog in yeast. Here, we show that the mouse Shu complex interacts with the ubiquitously expressed RAD51 recombinase and also with the meiosis-specific DMC1 recombinase. Knockout mice lacking one or both Shu complex subunits are viable and show no obvious developmental defects, except in gonads of both female and male mice, which are infertile. Analyses in males demonstrate that Shu complex is required for proper homologous synapsis and for the formation of RAD51 and DMC1 foci very early in meiotic prophase I. Our preliminary results indicate that the mouse Shu complex is also important for mitotic HR. Therefore, we propose that Shu complex ensures the assembly of RAD51 and DMC1 proteins into nucleoprotein filaments on resected DSBs to promote successful homology search and strand invasion, for completion of meiotic and mitotic recombination. Citation Format: Rohit Prakash, Carla Manuela Abreu, Scott Keeney, Maria Jasin. The RAD51 paralog complex SWS1-SWSAP1 is critical for homologous recombination in the mouse [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on DNA Repair: Tumor Development and Therapeutic Response; 2016 Nov 2-5; Montreal, QC, Canada. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Res 2017;15(4_Suppl):Abstract nr A07.
Updates on the pathophysiology and treatment of aplastic anemia: a comprehensive review

ABSTRACTIntroduction: The past decade or longer has witnessed an acceleration in our understanding of previously developed immune system and clonal evolution mechanisms, and the genesis of more novel concepts of telomere attrition. Many of these concepts are steadily finding their way into translation in various aspects of clinical practice, and provide prospects to improve AA management and inform therapeutic strategy development. In this review, we intend to discuss the pathophysiology and treatments with an emphasis on most recent developments to provide an update on our understanding of disease mechanisms.Areas covered: A literature search was undertaken addressing various aspects of pathophysiology with a focus on the role of immune system repertoire, telomeres and mutational events surrounding AA. We also reviewed upon the temporal evolution of treatment strategies in AA to the contemporary management of today and commented briefly upon the more recently investigated novel therapies and their expand...
Nutrient recycling in biofuel production systems: biomass ash pelleting, ethanol co-product allocation, and a beef-ethanol production system analysis

Biofuels are potentially carbon-neutral fuels because the carbon emitted during combustion of the fuel was recently absorbed from the atmosphere by the biomass feedstock as it grew. Relative to fossil fuels, biofuels help to close the carbon cycle; however other essential nutrient cycles remain open. When biomass is removed from the agricultural landscape essential plant nutrients such as nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) are also removed. These nutrients are not present in refined biofuel products. Instead they are concentrated in biorefinery waste streams and low value co-products. The economic and environmental sustainability of biofuel production systems can be enhanced by capturing these nutrients and returning them to the crop fields, thereby reducing the energetic and economic costs of fertilization. This thesis comprises three analyses related to nutrient cycles in the emerging bioeconomy. In the first, ash generated during the production of ethanol was pelleted and then evaluated as a potential fertilizer. It was found that binder type and level have a significant effect on the physical and chemical characteristics of the pellets, and that the degradability and durability of the pellets are inversely related. Preliminary data suggest ash pellets cost 86% less to produce than the cost of purchasing the potash and phosphate fertilizer the pellets would replace when used as a fertilizer. As a fertilizer, biorefinery ash becomes a valuable co-product of the biorefinery rather than a waste. Analysis of the environmental and energetic performance of biorefinery systems requires that the use of resources, such as energy used in processing, be allocated between the different products. In the second study in this thesis an energy co-product credit for corn dry grind ethanol production has been
Anti-CD30-lentiviral targeted gene therapy approach for Hodgkin's lymphoma

921 Combination chemotherapy for the treatment of Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) has a current success rate of over 85%, however, there still remains an unresolved problem of chemotherapy-resistant disease with most of these patients eventually dying due to progression. CD30 is a 120-kDa transmembrane glycoprotein belonging to the tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-receptor superfamily and is highly expressed on HL Reed-Sternberg cells; hence HL is an ideal disease for targeted therapy. We propose that specific, antibody-mediated, CD30-directed delivery of lentiviral vector constructs, encoding for a lethal cellular toxin, will be an effective anti-lymphoma strategy. However, gene delivery based therapy is limited by the transduction of non-target cells. The technology developed by Morizono et al. [Cell Cycle 2005(4); Nature Medicine 2005(11)] demonstrated that lentiviruses could be specifically and effectively directed to target cells by conjugation of an antibody to a modified ZZ Sindbis viral envelope (m168). For this study, we used HL cell lines (CD30+: L591, L428, Hs445, RPMI6666) and Burkitt lymphoma (BL) cell lines (CD20+/CD30-: Raji, Ramos). We show that conjugation of an anti-CD30 antibody to m168 (m168αCD30) results in specific targeting and transduction of CD30+ Hodgkin lymphoma cells while avoiding CD30- Raji and Ramos cells [range 11-83% for HL cells versus 1-4% for BL cells]. Similarly, targeting of CD20+ cells can be achieved. Several of our HL cell lines (L591, Hs445 and RPMI6666) are CD30+/CD20+ [range 11-25% by flow cytometry] and we demonstrate that we can equally transduce these cells with an anti-CD20 antibody (m168αCD20) conjugated to our lentivirus [range 11-30% for CD20+ HL cells; 3% for L428 cells; 40-47% for BL cells]. In addition, re-targeted viruses can transduce a greater percentage of L591 target cells than an unmodified virus (VSVG) [83% for m168αCD30 versus 43% for VSVG]. Our data clearly demonstrate that the efficacy and specificity of targeted therapy can be greatly enhanced, and lay the foundation for the development of more stable anti-CD30 directed lentiviral constructs expressing cellular toxins.
Effective colloidal interactions in rotating magnetic fields

Non-equilibrium, steady-state effective pair potentials of micron-sized superparamagnetic particles in rotating magnetic fields are obtained vs. field frequency and amplitude. Trajectories of center-to-center distance between particle pairs from Brownian dynamic simulations, which were previously matched to experimental measurements, are analyzed to obtain local drift and diffusion coefficients. These coefficients are used to obtain effective interaction potentials from solving a one-dimensional Fokker-Planck equation. Biased sampling of the effective energy landscape was implemented by intermittent switching between the field of interest and a repulsive field. Our findings show how the shape and attractive well-depth of pair interactions can be tuned by changing field frequency and amplitude.
Birth weight, early life weight gain and age at menarche: a systematic review of longitudinal studies.

SummaryBackground and objective Adiposity in pre- and postnatal life may influence menarcheal age. Existing evidence is primarily cross-sectional, failing to address temporality, for which the role of adiposity in early life remains unclear. The current study sought to systematically review longitudinal studies evaluating the associations between birth weight and infant/childhood weight status/weight gain in relation to menarcheal age. Methods PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, Global Health (Ovid) and CINAHL were systematically searched. Selected studies were limited to English-language articles presenting multi-variable analyses. Seventeen studies reporting risk estimates for birth weight (n = 3), infant/childhood weight gain/weight status (n = 4) or both (n = 10), in relation to menarcheal age were included. Results Lower vs. higher birth weight was associated with earlier menarche in nine studies and later menarche in one study, while three studies reported a null association. Greater BMI or weight gain over time and greater childhood weight were significantly associated with earlier menarche in nine of nine and six of seven studies, respectively. Conclusions Studies suggested that lower birth weight and higher body weight and weight gain in infancy and childhood may increase the risk of early menarche. The pre- and postnatal period may thus be an opportune time for weight control interventions to prevent early menarche, and its subsequent consequences.
'Unique' alleles in admixed populations: a strategy for determining 'hereditary' population differences of disease frequencies.

The genetic contribution of a parental population in an admixed population can be estimated from the frequencies of unique alleles that exist only in that parental population. In this work we show that although the estimated admixture component from a single such unique allele may be quite unstable, when multiple numbers of unique alleles are recognized, they together allow precise estimation of admixture components in an admixed population. We develop a statistical theory of linear regression incorporating estimation errors of frequencies of unique alleles in the parental and admixed populations. In addition, we show that the distribution of unique alleles detected in individuals can be used to measure the admixture component of an admixed individual. Applications of these theories to data on unique African alleles in an American black population show that such estimates are quite reliable. The distribution of unique alleles detected from the multiple-locus genotype of an admixed individual allows an opportunity to extend the studies on the "hereditary" basis of disease risk variation across populations to individuals from a single homogeneous admixed population.
Synthesis and the Nobel Prize in Chemistry

The question often arises as to who may have deserved a Nobel Prize but was not awarded one. Rarely is this discussion extended to who should have received more than one Nobel Prize, but in the field of organic synthesis there are some compelling candidates.
Perceptions of the medicinal value of hallucinogenic drugs among college students

BackgroundThis survey examined perceptions among college students about the potential medicinal benefits of hallucinogenic drugs. Current research and potential benefits include an ability to help anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and addiction with hallucinogen-assisted psychotherapy.MethodsWe devised and administered a survey on 124 students at two college campuses, one small private college in the mid-Atlantic and one medium-sized public university in the Midwest of the United States.ResultsResponses were similar across campuses, and in general, participants were reluctant to agree that hallucinogens can be therapeutic to the seven afflictions we questioned them about. However, the survey also revealed that a majority of participants believed there should be further research done exploring the medicinal benefits of such drugs.ConclusionThese findings shed light on perceptions of hallucinogens as their use is being applied to a host of afflictions.
Ferrocene-bis(phosphinimine) Nickel(II) and Palladium(II) Alkyl Complexes: Influence of the Fe–M (M = Ni and Pd) Interaction on Redox Activity and Olefin Coordination

The synthesis of several novel nickel(II) and palladium(II) ferrocene-bis(phosphinimine) alkyl complexes containing iron–nickel and iron–palladium interactions is reported. The redox behavior of all complexes was evaluated electrochemically and chemically; in addition, reactions with weak nucleophiles, such as acetonitrile and olefins, were also investigated. DFT calculations were performed to understand the electronic structure of the alkyl metal complexes.
Germany’s Zoological Collections: An International and Personal View on an Important Historical and Contemporary Scientific Resource

Germany’s zoological collections are among the oldest, most diverse, and historically most interesting natural history collections. From the perspective of three herpetologists with particular interest in taxonomy, we recount how invaluable visits to German collections have been to our own research efforts. Not only have we been able to use our findings in multiple publications, we also list examples of how we discovered new species and rediscovered specimens long thought lost, and we see in these experiences reasons to believe that many treasures in Germany’s herpetological collections remain to be discovered. We also provide a brief historical overview of how Central Europe’s and Germany’s political structures in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries led to a more diverse pattern for the formation of natural history collections than elsewhere, and we comment on the effects that the Second World War had on the well-being and continuity of collections. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, German zoological collections are a nexus for zoological research and a globally important scientific treasure.
Contemporary Management of Sigmoid Volvulus.

Sigmoid volvulus is an uncommon cause of bowel obstruction that is historically associated with high morbidity and mortality. The objective of this study was to evaluate contemporary management of sigmoid volvulus and the safety of primary anastomosis in patients with sigmoid volvulus. The National Surgical Quality Improvement Project from 2012 to 2015 was queried for patients with colonic volvulus who underwent left-sided colonic resection. A propensity score-matched analysis was performed to compare patients with sigmoid volvulus undergoing colectomy with primary anastomosis without proximal diversion to colectomy with end colostomy. Two thousand five hundred thirty-eight patients with sigmoid volvulus were included for analysis. Patients had a median age of 68 years (interquartile range, 55–80) and 79% were fully independent preoperatively. Fifty-one percent of operations were performed emergently. One thousand eight hundred thirteen (71%) patients underwent colectomy with anastomosis, 240 (10%) colectomy with anastomosis and proximal diversion, and 485 (19%) colectomy with end colostomy. Overall, 30-day mortality and morbidity were 5 and 40%, respectively. After propensity score matching, mortality, overall morbidity, and serious morbidity were similar between groups. Sigmoid volvulus occurs in elderly and debilitated patients with significant morbidity, mortality, and lifestyle implications. In selected patients, anastomosis without proximal diversion in patients with sigmoid volvulus results in similar outcomes to colectomy with end colostomy.
Erfolgsmuster «Prozessintelligenz» : Einleitung zu den Fallstudien

Was zeichnet Firmen mit Prozessintelligenz aus? Was machen sie besser oder anders als andere Unternehmen? Ziel des Praxisworkshops war es nicht, den Losungsraum fur Prozessintelligenz komplett zu erfassen, sondern ein moglichst breites Spektrum an fortgeschrittenen und praxisrelevanten Szenarien abzudecken sowie einen Austausch zwischen Experten aus Organisationen zu fordern, die Prozessmanagement auf einem vergleichbaren Niveau betreiben.
Human Cervical Mucus. I. Rheologic Characteristics

The viscoelastic properties of human cervical mucus were subjected to detailed characterization by microrheometry. An introduced to the range of parameters that can be measured and the sensitivity of microroheometry to variations in mucus viscoelasticity was presented, along with an interpretation of results obtained by this approach. Fresh cervical mucus samples were shown to be rheologically heterogeneous, reflecting compositional differences in situ. Mucas viscoelasticity was stable for several hours when samples were stored at ambient temperature in the microrheometer sample holder. Mucus viscoelasticity was strongly dependent upon nondialyzable solids (NDS) concentration. In order to eliminate (NDS) as a variable in comparative studies of mucus, procedures were developed for reconstitution of mucus at identical (NDS) or for normalization of viscoelasticity data derived from fresh samples to 2.5% NDS. The validity of this approach was then examined by applying these procedures to mucus collected during the follicular, ovulatory, and luteal phases of the normal menstrual cycle.
History, Historicity, and the Alchemistry of Time

Suicide notes have a rather dubious status in the list of materials of the historian’s craft, but their intrinsic fascination can hardly be denied. In recent times the death of President Vargas of Brazil has presented the contemporary historian with a paradigm case of the suicide note whose content and purpose are historically defined, defined not by the annalist but by the actor on the historical scene, by Vargas himself. This is what he wrote to his people: I offer my life in the holocaust. I choose this means to be with you always. When they humiliate you, you will feel my soul suffering at your side. When hunger beats at your door, you will feel inside you the energy to fight for yourselves and your children. ... To hatred I respond with pardon. And to those who think they have defeated me I reply with victory. I was the slave of the people, and today I free myself for eternal life. But this people to which I was a slave will not longer be a slave to anyone. My sacrifice will remain forever in your soul, and my blood will be the price of your ransom. I fought against the looting of Brazil. I fought against the looting of the people. I have fought bare-breasted. The hatred, infamy and calumny did not beat down my spirit. I gave you my life. Now I offer my death. Nothing remains. Serenely I take the first step on the road to eternity, and I leave life to enter history.1
Mediation and Conflicts of Moralities

I am interested in the historical fact of disagreement among advocates of different systems of morality offered as fair and impartial schemes for adjudicating economic, status, and religious conflicts. The question is more than academic when moralists take the political turn, struggling to get the coercive power of the state behind the social order each considers fair. I am assuming that not all fairness and justice claims are guises for advancing self- or group-interest, although, certainly, many are. I am assuming that disputants over the morality of, say, abortion, nuclear deterrence strategies, or laissez-faire economic policy -- to mention only salient issues - can be sincere in their moral claim-making.
Prey-catching and predator avoidance 1: maps and schemas

We model the construction of motor actions through the interaction of different motor schemas via a process of competition and cooperation wherein there is no need for a unique schema to win the competition (although that might well be the result) since two or more schemas may simultaneously be active and cooperate to yield a more complicated motor pattern. Based on lesion data, our model is structured on the principles of segregation of coordinate systems and participation of maps intermediate between sensory and motor schemas. The motor schemas are driven by specific internal maps which between them constitute a distributed internal representation of the world. These maps collectively provide the transition from topographically-coded sensory information to frequency-coded inputs to the diverse motor schemas that drive muscle activity. As a challenge to further comparative analysis of the prey-catching and predator-avoidance systems, we argue that the Positional Heading Map hypothesis, (that the heading map codes the position of the object) should be rejected in favor of the Motor Heading Map hypothesis. This holds that each system has a separate projection pathway that converges in a different way onto the heading map, coding the required motor response, which has a single connection pattern to those motor schemas common to both systems.
Schwann Cell-Dependent Regulation of Peripheral Nerve Injury and Repair

Schwann cells play significant roles in multiple aspects of peripheral nerve structures and functions in both health and disease. Recent studies have uncovered how Schwann cells respond to peripheral nerve injury. Schwann cells trans-differentiate to distinct phenotypes after nerve injury and contribute to myelin debris clearance, attract macrophages into the lesions, protect injured neurons, promote axonal regrowth, and finally remyelinate and reform nodes of Ranvier along the regenerated axons. Understanding the molecular mechanisms behind the Schwann cell repair phenotype will provide important clues to establish specific treatment strategies to protect peripheral nerves from injury and facilitate functional recovery.
Development of multiplex PCR and multi-color fluorescent in situ hybridization (m-FISH) coupled protocol for detection and imaging of multi-pathogens involved in inflammatory bowel disease

Several pathogens have been debated to play a role in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) including Crohn’s disease (CD). None of these pathogens have been investigated together in same clinical samples. We developed a multiplex PCR and multi-color fluorescent in situ hybridization (m-FISH) protocols for simultaneous detection of CD-associated pathogens including Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP), Klebsiella pneumoniae, and adherent-invasive Escherichia coli strain LF82. The multiplex PCR is based on 1-h DNAzol® extraction protocol modified for rapid extraction of bacterial DNA from culture, blood, and intestinal biopsies. Oligonucleotide primers sequences unique to these pathogens were evaluated individually and in combinations using bioinformatics and experimental approaches. m-FISH was based on fluorescent-tagged oligonucleotides and confocal scanning laser microscopy (CSLM). Following several attempts, the concentration of the oligonucleotide primers and DNA templates and the PCR annealing temperatures were optimized. Multiplex PCR analyses revealed excellent amplification signal in trials where a single primer set and combinations of two and three primers sets were tested against a mixture of DNA from three different bacteria or a mixture of three bacterial cultures mixed in one tube before DNA extraction. Slides with individual and mixtures of bacterial cultures and intestinal tissue sections from IBD patients were tested by m-FISH and the CSLM images verified multiplex PCR results detected on 3% agarose gel. We developed a 4-h multiplex PCR protocol, which was validated by m-FISH images, capable of detecting up to four genes from major pathogens associated with CD. The new protocol should serve as an excellent tool to support efforts to study multi-pathogens involved in CD and other autoimmune disease.
Traffic Participants in the Loop: A Mixed Reality-Based Interaction Testbed for the Verification and Validation of Autonomous Vehicles

In order to verify and validate autonomous vehicles, testbeds integrating the whole system from perception to actuation are necessary. Above all, this applies to the assessment of the autonomous vehicle's performance in the presence of vulnerable road users' behavior: While experiments for the interaction between autonomous vehicles and pedestrians in critical traffic scenarios are hardly conductable in reality, virtual experiments often suffer from plausibility. In order to solve this issue, we present a mixed reality testbed for the verification and validation of autonomous vehicles faced with realistic road user behavior in critical, worst case traffic scenarios. We achieve this by registering an immersed pedestrian and the automated driving function within a common environment model, providing challenging traffic scenarios. The testbed is applicable within different integration levels of the automated driving function and enables a high level of behavioral realism. The testbed is evaluated qualitatively and discussed within a concrete use case.
Analysis of DC-Link Voltage Ripple in Voltage Source Inverters without Electrolytic Capacitor

In this paper, the DC-link voltage ripple is analyzed for an inverter without electrolytic capacitor. As the capacitance density of non-electrolytic capacitors are significantly lower than electrolytic capacitors, for a non-electrolytic capacitor based three-phase inverter, the DC-link voltage ripple is much higher than traditional inverter, which will cause more THD on load current and originates voltage stability problems when cascaded with the front-end converter. To avoid these disadvantages, the DC-link voltage ripple must be fully analyzed for a non-electrolytic DC-link capacitor three-phase inverter. This paper presents the voltage ripple analysis of the voltage source inverter under the modulation methods of SPWM and SVPWM. The results show that the DC-link voltage ripple has special patterns which relate to switching frequency, modulation ratio, output current amplitude, load power factor, and reference voltage angle. According to these analysis, the minimized DC-link capacitance can be selected to satisfy voltage ripple requirement.
Let's Transfer Transformations of Shared Semantic Representations.

With a good image understanding capability, can we manipulate the images high level semantic representation? Such transformation operation can be used to generate or retrieve similar images but with a desired modification (for example changing beach background to street background); similar ability has been demonstrated in zero shot learning, attribute composition and attribute manipulation image search. In this work we show how one can learn transformations with no training examples by learning them on another domain and then transfer to the target domain. This is feasible if: first, transformation training data is more accessible in the other domain and second, both domains share similar semantics such that one can learn transformations in a shared embedding space. We demonstrate this on an image retrieval task where search query is an image, plus an additional transformation specification (for example: search for images similar to this one but background is a street instead of a beach). In one experiment, we transfer transformation from synthesized 2D blobs image to 3D rendered image, and in the other, we transfer from text domain to natural image domain.
“Who’s Gonna Take My Baby?”: Narratives of Creating Placement Plans Among Formerly Pregnant Inmates

Incarcerated pregnant women are nearly immediately separated from their babies after birth, which means they are forced to appoint a caregiver for their babies for the duration of their imprisonmen...
Solr-Plant: efficient extraction of plant names from text

The retrieval of plant-related information is a challenging task due to variations in species name mentions as well as spelling or typographical errors across data sources. Scalable solutions are needed for identifying plant name mentions from text and resolving them to accepted taxonomic names. An Apache Solr-based fuzzy matching system enhanced with the Smith-Waterman alignment algorithm (“Solr-Plant”) was developed for mapping and resolution to a plant name and synonym thesaurus. Evaluation of Solr-Plant suggests promising results in terms of both accuracy and processing efficiency on misspelled species names from two benchmark datasets: (1) SALVIAS and (2) National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) Taxonomy. Additional evaluation using S800 text corpus also reflects high precision and recall. The latest version of the source code is available at https://github.com/bcbi/SolrPlantAPI . A REST-compliant web interface and service for Solr-Plant is hosted at http://bcbi.brown.edu/solrplant . Automated techniques are needed for efficient and accurate identification of knowledge linked with biological scientific names. Solr-Plant complements the current state-of-the-art in terms of both efficiency and accuracy in identification of names restricted at species level. The approach can be extended to identify broader groups of organisms at different taxonomic levels. The results reflect potential utility of Solr-Plant as a data mining tool for extracting and correcting plant species names.
Foundations of Constructive Probability Theory

Using Bishop's work on constructive analysis as a framework, this monograph gives a systematic, detailed and general constructive theory of probability theory and stochastic processes. It is the first extended account of this theory: almost all of the constructive existence and continuity theorems that permeate the book are original. It also contains results and methods hitherto unknown in the constructive and nonconstructive settings. The text features logic only in the common sense and, beyond a certain mathematical maturity, requires no prior training in either constructive mathematics or probability theory. It will thus be accessible and of interest, both to probabilists interested in the foundations of their speciality and to constructive mathematicians who wish to see Bishop's theory applied to a particular field.
A study of electronic effects on the kinetics of thermal deamination of N-nitrosoamides.

N-4-R-Benzyl-N-nitrosopivalamides (1a−d; R = MeO, Me, H, NO2) were allowed to decompose at 18 °C in C6D12, CDCl3, CD3CN, and d6-DMSO, and the rates of decomposition were followed by 1H NMR spectroscopy. The half-lives of the nitrosoamides were found to vary in a systematic way with the nature of the R group on the aromatic nucleus. Electron-releasing groups were found to decrease the stability of the starting nitrosoamide, whereas electron-withdrawing ones increased the nitrosoamides' thermal stability. A Hammett-type plot of log(rate constants of deamination) vs σp was linear (R2 = 0.986) with a ρ-type value of −0.90 indicating development of significant positive charge at the benzylic position in the transition state of the rate-determining step. The thermal stability of the nitrosoamides was also found to be systematically affected by the polarity of the solvent: as the solvent polarity increased, so did the lability of the nitrosoamides. This observation of intra- and intermolecular electronic pertur...
Information Extraction from Free Text in Clinical Trials with Knowledge-Based Distant Supervision

Structuring free text such as eligibility criteria and summary of results and conclusions in clinical trials would better support computer-based eligibility query formulation and electronic patient screening. Previous research has focused on extracting information from eligibility criteria, with usually a single pair of medical entity and attribute, but seldom considering other kinds of free text with multiple entities, attributes and relations that are more complex for parsing. In this paper, we propose a distant supervision method with an automatically generated knowledge base as training corpus and word dependency relations as context information to transfer free text into formal, computer-interpretable representations. Experimental results show that our method can achieve overall high precision and recall, demonstrating the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed method.
Perceptions of risk and reward in BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers choosing salpingectomy for ovarian cancer prevention.

Salpingectomy with interval oophorectomy has gained traction as an ovarian cancer prevention strategy, but is not currently recommended for high risk women. Nevertheless, some choose this approach. We aimed to understand risk perception and plans for oophorectomy in BRCA1 and BRCA2 (BRCA) mutation carriers choosing salpingectomy for ovarian cancer prevention. This was a longitudinal survey study of BRCA mutation carriers who underwent bilateral salpingectomy to reduce ovarian cancer risk. An initial written questionnaire and telephone interview was followed by annual phone interviews. 22 women with BRCA mutations were enrolled. Median follow-up was three years. The median age at salpingectomy was 39.5 years (range 27–49). Perceived lifetime ovarian cancer risk decreased by half after salpingectomy (median risk reduction 25%, range 0–40%). At final follow-up, five (22.7%) had undergone oophorectomy and five women (22.7%) were not planning to undergo completion oophorectomy. BRCA mutation carriers who had salpingectomy after the recommended age of prophylactic surgery (vs. before the recommended age) were less likely to plan for future oophorectomy (28.6% vs. 66.7%, p = 0.037). All women were satisfied with their decision to undergo salpingectomy with eighteen (81.8%) expressing decreased cancer-related worry. There were no diagnoses of ovarian cancer during our study period. In conclusion, most BRCA mutation carriers undergoing risk-reducing salpingectomy are satisfied with their decision and have lower risk perception after salpingectomy, though some older mutation carriers did not plan on future oophorectomy. Salpingectomy with delayed oophorectomy in BRCA mutation carriers remains investigational and should preferably be performed within a clinical trial to prevent introduction of an innovation before safety has been proven.
“A Single Prayer for Single Payer”: Opportunity and Narrative Practice in the Single Payer Movement

In this chapter, I briefly describe what a single-payer healthcare system is and how it differs from other types of systems around the world. I use three forms of data (archival, interview, and participant observation) to conduct a thematic analysis that examines the reasons why activists support single-payer. I also introduce the Single Payer Movement by explaining the types of organizations that are involved in the movement. Finally, I develop an analytical framework—the Environment of Opportunity Model—that explicates how activists work to create social change.
Remarks on Selection of Stresses to Suppress Zero Energy Deformation Modes in Hybrid Element Formulations

Mathematical basis for the existence and stability of numerical solutions of multifield finite element methods has been studied by many authors [1 – 4]. For problems in elasticity it is well recognized that such stability problem is associated with the zero energy deformation modes. For example, for the formulation of hybrid elements a procedure has been proposed for the selection of assumed stresses to suppress such modes [5]. Examples in Reference [5] are plane stress, 3-D solid and axisymmetric solid elements. Reference [4] applies the same approach and includes an example of plate bending element with transverse shear effect. These examples are all concerning problems that involve homogeneous solids and also require only C 0 continuity conditions for the assumed displacements. The present paper is to extend this appoach to two problems of different nature. The first one is the Kirchhoff plate bending problem for which the displacements are required to be C 1 continuous. The second one is an element which contains two layers of different materials with assumed stresses that satisfy the interface equilibrium conditions.
Uniform Points of Agreement in Diverse Viewpoints on Giftedness and Talent

This chapter reviews the previous chapters in the book and identifies points of agreement and disagreement among authors. The greatest point of agreement is that those wishing to identify and develop giftedness in young people need to go beyond IQ in their conception of what it means to be gifted.
Open universes, inflation, and the anthropic principle

Models of open inflation with a variable density parameter $\Omega$ provide the most natural way to reconcile an open universe with inflation. The use of anthropic principle is essential to derive observational predictions of such models. I discuss how this principle can be used in a quantitative way to determine the most probable value of $\Omega$. I also comment on recent work by Hawking and Turok on quantum creation of open universes from nothing.
SoIS- An Ultra Large Size Integrated Substrate Technology Platform for HPC Applications

An Innovative SoIS (System on Integrated Substrate) technology is proposed to satisfy higher performance applications cost effectively. SoIS technology leverages wafer process and new materials. This innovative integrated substrate presented significantly higher yield than conventional substrate solutions on the TVs with 91x91mm2 substrate size. The electrical TV showed that the insertion loss is 25% lower than that of the most updated GL102 organic substrate at 28GHz for 112Gbps SerDes application. The mechanical/electrical TV has passed package-level reliability tests including MSL4+ (TCG2000, uHAST360) and HTS1500. Microstructure sanity check after reliability torture tests was also proven to pass quality & reliability criteria. Furthermore, by leveraging wafer fab process, SoIS also could provide powerful yet flexible combinations in interconnect and dielectric layer with more aggressive design rule than conventional organic substrate did. Especially, for high bandwidth routing density applications, SoIS can enhance 2∼5 times rout-ability than conventional organic substrates to save not just layer counts but also keep the same impedance matching performance without adding extra cost, which have been proven by simulation and Si data successfully.
Intolerance of Uncertainty, Looming Cognitive Style, and Avoidant Coping as Predictors of Anxiety and Depression During COVID-19: a Longitudinal Study

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in increased distress and uncertainty. Understanding the progression of mental health and factors underlying the perpetuation of distress during the pandemic is pivotal in informing interventions and public health messaging. This current study examined longitudinal effects of two cognitive vulnerabilities, looming cognitive style, and intolerance of uncertainty, as well as coping styles on anxiety and depression through online questionnaires at two time points in the pandemic, May 2020 (N = 1520) and August 2020 (N = 545). Depression, but not anxiety, significantly increased across time, which was moderated by coping style. Serial mediation modeling using path analysis demonstrated a significant pathway illustrating increased looming cognitive style in the beginning of the pandemic leads to increased intolerance of uncertainty, avoidant coping, and anxiety later in the pandemic. Results suggest a novel model in conceptualizing anxiety during the pandemic, namely highlighting looming cognitive style as an underlying cognitive vulnerability factor and antecedent of intolerance of uncertainty and illuminating the temporal directionality between looming cognitive style and intolerance of uncertainty. These findings provide important implications regarding intervention and public health messaging with modifiable behavioral and cognitive factors to improve mental health during a pandemic.
Words of Wisdom, For Now ...The Constructivist Credo

In The Constructivist Credo, Yvonna S. Lincoln and Egon G. Guba present 133 conjectures they believe should guide researchers who use a constructivist approach. In addition, several chapters from a recent dissertation are included and annotated to show how the conjectures might be used in practice.
Technical tips - Electromagnetic fields in the operating room

ABSTRACT.Stray electromagnetic activity can disrupt evoked potential recordings in the operating room. With an instrument called a gaussometer, a hand-held device that detects electromagnetic fields, the relative electromagnetic contribution of different fields can be quantified. This paper discusses the use of a gaussometer and explores the electromagnetic energy leaked from eleven anesthesia machines and electromagnetic energy around the vertex of the patient's head in three different hospitals. Significant electromagnetic leakage from the anesthesia machines was detected, but little electromagnetic leakage was found close to the area around the patient's head. Placement of the evoked potential preamplifier near the patient's head and increasing its distance from the anesthesia machine will help avoid increased electromagnetic fields.