cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Functional Upregulation of the DNA Cytosine Deaminase APOBEC3B by Polyomaviruses

ABSTRACT The APOBEC3 family of DNA cytosine deaminases has important roles in innate immunity and cancer. It is unclear how DNA tumor viruses regulate these enzymes and how these interactions, in turn, impact the integrity of both the viral and cellular genomes. Polyomavirus (PyVs) are small DNA pathogens that contain oncogenic potentials. In this study, we examined the effects of PyV infection on APOBEC3 expression and activity. We demonstrate that APOBEC3B is specifically upregulated by BK polyomavirus (BKPyV) infection in primary kidney cells and that the upregulated enzyme is active. We further show that the BKPyV large T antigen, as well as large T antigens from related polyomaviruses, is alone capable of upregulating APOBEC3B expression and activity. Furthermore, we assessed the impact of A3B on productive BKPyV infection and viral genome evolution. Although the specific knockdown of APOBEC3B has little short-term effect on productive BKPyV infection, our informatics analyses indicate that the preferred target sequences of APOBEC3B are depleted in BKPyV genomes and that this motif underrepresentation is enriched on the nontranscribed stand of the viral genome, which is also the lagging strand during viral DNA replication. Our results suggest that PyV infection upregulates APOBEC3B activity to influence virus sequence composition over longer evolutionary periods. These findings also imply that the increased activity of APOBEC3B may contribute to PyV-mediated tumorigenesis. IMPORTANCE Polyomaviruses (PyVs) are a group of emerging pathogens that can cause severe diseases, including cancers in immunosuppressed individuals. Here we describe the finding that PyV infection specifically induces the innate immune DNA cytosine deaminase APOBEC3B. The induced APOBEC3B enzyme is fully functional and therefore may exert mutational effects on both viral and host cell DNA. We provide bioinformatic evidence that, consistent with this idea, BK polyomavirus genomes are depleted of APOBEC3B-preferred target motifs and enriched for the corresponding predicted reaction products. These data imply that the interplay between PyV infection and APOBEC proteins may have significant impact on both viral evolution and virus-induced tumorigenesis.
Analysis of the Pipe Burst Based on the Non-uniform Flow of the Z-type Superheater

To forestall pipe burst accidents happened in the heating surface in the superheater in a power plant boiler,the paper,taking No.4 boiler in Zhang-zhe power plant as example,collects the boiler's workinglogs,reads equipment blueprints,and analyses the broken pipe's metallic structure,furnace temperature and water deviation.This analysis is of multiple-aspect.It shows that the one-fourth part of the boiler——the heating surface in the superheater is distributed in Z-type.when the pipe operates under the condition of lower load in hot and long-time operation,the flow in the pipe is uneven,which causes the pipe burst.The paper finds that the improper operation of the desuperheating system also makes a difference on the pipes.After the counter-measure was taken,No 4 boiler avoided this accident.This technical innovation is meaningful to the stable operation of this type of boiler.
Effects of Weather on Stroke Incidence during Shanghai World Exposition

[Objective]To analyze the relationship between stroke occurrence and weather conditions during the period of the Shanghai World Exposition(EXPO).[Methods]Patients information from April to October 2010 were collected from the Shanghai Stroke Surveillance System,and weather data published by Shanghai Weather Bureau were also retrieved.Data analysis was performed with SPSS17.0.[Results]During the Shanghai EXPO,a total of 7629 stroke cases were recorded.The incidence number of cerebral infarction(CI),intracerebral hemorrhage(ICH),subarachnoid hemorrhage(SAH),and unspecified stroke were 6021(78.92%),1251(16.40%),118(1.55%),and 239(3.13%),respectively.From April(only 11 days data available) to October of 2010,the incident count of stroke occurred in each month was 460,1194,1185,1184,1175,1157,and 1274.In this period,the highest temperature was 39℃ and the lowest was 8℃.The correlation coefficients of CI occurrence with the lowest temperature,the highest temperature,and air pressure were-0.046,-0.044,and 0.048,respectively(P0.001).The correlation coefficients of ICH occurrence with the lowest temperature,the highest temperature,and air pressure were 0.048,0.047,and-0.046,respectively(P 0.001).[Conclusion]In the period of the Shanghai EXPO,CI cases were the highest occurred stroke,followed by ICH.The total amount of stroke incidents for each month didn't fluctuate apparently.However,CI incidents increased with temperature decreasing and air pressure increasing,and ICH incidents increased with temperature increasing and air pressure decreasing.
Reply to Dr. Weiskirchen.

to the editor: We would like to thank Dr. Weiskirchen ([5][1]) for his interest in our recent publication ([3][2]). As we mentioned in the discussion and as pointed out by Dr. Weiskirchen, the absence of protein data in our adenovirus model represents a limitation of our study. Regarding the RNA
Parenteral nutrition in infants and children

There are essentially three approaches to intravenous nutrition in infants and children (1) central infusion of hypertonic glucose solutions, (2) peripheral infusion of moderately hypertonic glucose along with a fat emulsion, and (3) peripheral infusion of moderately hypertonic glucose in large volumes. All three techniques may be required over time in a patient with difficult problems.
The Concept of the “Plebiscitary Mayoralty”

By bypassing the party organizations and strengthening the administrative power of the mayoralty in order to finish the New Deal project in New York, Mayor Robert Wagner established direct, programmatic connections with citizens and courted the government workers who supplied the services of the local welfare state. The literature about plebiscitary politics in the US context is reviewed with a focus on the presidency.
Money as Hidden Dependency in Women

This chapter explores and answers the question of why women earn less money than men. We shall explore social data, family upbringing messages and attitudes towards money, women’s priorities and work life situations. Though this is a feature of many countries, the empirical data which we shall use to address this question are drawn from studies performed in Spain.
Rate theory of solvent exchange and kinetics of Li(+) - BF4 (-)/PF6 (-) ion pairs in acetonitrile.

In this paper, we describe our efforts to apply rate theories in studies of solvent exchange around Li+ and the kinetics of ion pairings in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). We report one of the first computer simulations of the exchange dynamics around solvated Li+ in acetonitrile (ACN), which is a common solvent used in LIBs. We also provide details of the ion-pairing kinetics of Li+-[BF4] and Li+-[PF6] in ACN. Using our polarizable force-field models and employing classical rate theories of chemical reactions, we examine the ACN exchange process between the first and second solvation shells around Li+. We calculate exchange rates using transition state theory and weighted them with the transmission coefficients determined by the reactive flux, Impey, Madden, and McDonald approaches, and Grote-Hynes theory. We found the relaxation times changed from 180 ps to 4600 ps and from 30 ps to 280 ps for Li+-[BF4] and Li+-[PF6] ion pairs, respectively. These results confirm that the solvent response to the kinetics of ion pairing is significant. Our results also show that, in addition to affecting the free energy of solvation into ACN, the anion type also should significantly influence the kinetics of ion pairing. These results will increase our understanding of the thermodynamic and kinetic properties of LIB systems.
Mechanism of Action of Choleragen: Effect of Toxin on Binding of Guanyl Nucleotides

Choleragen (cholera toxin), the enterotoxin produced by Vibrio cholerae which is in large part responsible for the symptomatology of cholera, exerts its effects on cells through the activation of adenylate cyclase, resulting in an increase in intracellular cAMP(1–3). Adenylate cyclase, a membrane-bound, multisubunit system, consists of at least three components: a specific hormone receptor, a guanyl nucleotide-binding protein referred to as G/F, and a catalytic unit(4, 5). The hormone receptors are necessary for the binding of specific agonists to the cell membrane and are responsible, for example, for the effect of certain prostaglandins and peptide hormones on intracellular cAMP(4); the catalytic unit is responsible for the conversion of ATP to cAMP(6, 7), and G/F is necessary for the coupling of receptor and catalytic unit as well as for the activation of catalytic unit by guanyl nucleotides(4, 5).
Statin Therapy in Young Adults: Ready for Prime Time?

Young adults below 35 years of age who do not have an exceedingly rare genetic disorder such as familial hypercholesterolemia are at very low short-term (5- to 10-year) risk for coronary heart disease (CHD), and lipid-lowering treatment at this stage in life is unlikely to provide any short-term
The use of near-infrared fluorescence imaging in endocrine surgical procedures

Near-infrared fluorescence imaging in endocrine surgery is a new, yet highly investigated area. It involves indocyanine green use as well as parathyroid autofluorescence. Several groups have described their technique and reported on the observed utility. However, there is no consensus on technical details. Furthermore, the correlation between intraoperative findings and postoperative outcomes is unclear. With this study, we aim to review the current literature on fluorescence imaging and share our insights on technical details.
The Twilight of the New Politics

Jeffrey C. Goldfarb, Beyond Glasnot: The Post-Totalitarian Mind , Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989.
Classification-free threat detection based on material-science-informed clustering

X-ray diffraction (XRD) is well-known for yielding composition and structural information about a material. However, in some applications (such as threat detection in aviation security), the properties of a material are more relevant to the task than is a detailed material characterization. Furthermore, the requirement that one first identify a material before determining its class may be difficult or even impossible for a sufficiently large pool of potentially present materials. We therefore seek to learn relevant composition-structure-property relationships between materials to enable material-identification-free classification. We use an expert-informed, data-driven approach operating on a library of XRD spectra from a broad array of stream of commerce materials. We investigate unsupervised learning techniques in order to learn about naturally emergent groupings, and apply supervised learning techniques to determine how well XRD features can be used to separate user-specified classes in the presence of different types and degrees of signal degradation.
Regional patterns of increasing Swiss needle cast impacts on Douglas-fir growth with warming temperatures.

The fungal pathogen, Phaeocryptopus gaeumannii, causing Swiss needle cast (SNC) occurs wherever Douglas-fir is found but disease damage is believed to be limited in the U.S. Pacific Northwest (PNW) to the Coast Range of Oregon and Washington (Hansen et al., Plant Disease, 2000, 84, 773; Rosso & Hansen, Phytopathology, 2003, 93, 790; Shaw, et al., Journal of Forestry, 2011, 109, 109). However, knowledge remains limited on the history and spatial distribution of SNC impacts in the PNW. We reconstructed the history of SNC impacts on mature Douglas-fir trees based on tree-ring width chronologies from western Oregon. Our findings show that SNC impacts on growth occur wherever Douglas-fir is found and is not limited to the coastal fog zone. The spatiotemporal patterns of growth impact from SNC disease were synchronous across the region, displayed periodicities of 12-40 years, and strongly correlated with winter and summer temperatures and summer precipitation. The primary climatic factor limiting pathogen dynamics varied spatially by location, topography, and elevation. SNC impacts were least severe in the first half of the 20th century when climatic conditions during the warm phase of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (1924-1945) were less conducive to pathogen development. At low- to mid-elevations, SNC impacts were most severe in 1984-1986 following several decades of warmer winters and cooler, wetter summers including a high summer precipitation anomaly in 1983. At high elevations on the west slope of the Cascade Range, SNC impacts peaked several years later and were the greatest in the 1990s, a period of warmer winter temperatures. Climate change is predicted to result in warmer winters and will likely continue to increase SNC severity at higher elevations, north along the coast from northern Oregon to British Columbia, and inland where low winter temperatures currently limit growth of the pathogen. Our findings indicate that SNC may become a significant forest health problem in areas of the PNW beyond the coastal fog zone.
Euplotid: A quantized geometric model of the eukaryotic cell

Life continues to shock and amaze us, reminding us that truth is far stranger than fiction. Euplotid (http://dborgesr.github.io/Euplotid/) is a quantized geometric model of the eukaryotic cell, a first attempt at quantifying the incredible complexity that gives rise to a living cell by beginning from the smallest unit, a quanta. By beginning from the very bottom we are able to build the pieces, which when hierarchically and combinatorically combined, produce the emergent complex behavior that even a single celled organism can show. Euplotid is composed of a set of quantized geometric 3D building blocks and constantly evolving dockerized bioinformatic pipelines enabling a user to build and interact with the local regulatory architecture of every gene starting from DNA-interactions, chromatin accessibility, and RNA-sequencing. Reads are quantified using the latest computational tools and the results are normalized, quality-checked, and stored. The local regulatory architecture of each gene is built using a Louvain based graph partitioning algorithm parameterized by the chromatin extrusion model and CTCF-CTCF interactions. Cis-Regulatory Elements are defined using chromatin accessibility peaks which are mapped to Transcriptional Start Sites based on inclusion within the same neighborhood. Deep Neural Networks are trained in order to provide a statistical model mimicking transcription factor binding, giving the ability to identify all Transcription Factors within a given chromatin accessibility peak. By in-silico mutating and re-applying the neural network we are able to gauge the impact of a transition mutation on the binding of any transcription factor. The annotated output can be visualized in a variety of 1D, 2D, 3D and 4D ways overlaid with existing bodies of knowledge such as GWAS results or PDB structures. Once a particular CRE of interest has been identified a Base Editor mediated transition mutation can then be performed in a relevant model for further study.
Canary Analysis Service: Automated canarying quickens development, improves production safety, and helps prevent outages.

It is unreasonable to expect engineers working on product development or reliability to have statistical knowledge; removing this hurdle led to widespread CAS adoption. CAS has proven useful even for basic cases that don’t need configuration, and has significantly improved Google’s rollout reliability. Impact analysis shows that CAS has likely prevented hundreds of postmortem-worthy outages, and the rate of postmortems among groups that do not use CAS is noticeably higher.
Cetuximab ImClone/Merck/Bristol-Myers Squibb

ImClone, in collaboration with licensees, Merck KGaA and Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS), are developing cetuximab, a chimeric monoclonal antibody that blocks the epidermal growth factor receptor, for the potential treatment of various cancers, including colorectal, and head and neck tumors [179103]. The companies are evaluating the product both as a single agent, and in combination with radiation and a variety of chemotherapeutic agents. By January 2002, phase III trials had been initiated in head and neck cancer, and phase II trials were ongoing for colorectal and other cancers [427710], [437833]. In November 2001, ImClone completed the filing of a rolling BLA with the FDA for cetuximab in combination with irinotecan to treat irinotecan-refractory colorectal cancer. In December 2001, however, the FDA advised ImClone that its BLA was not acceptable for filing. In January 2002, it was reported that resubmission of the BLA was expected within 3 months [434999], and by February 2002, ImClone was expecting to use data from an ongoing phase II study in colorectal cancer patients conducted by Merck KGaA. In March 2002, Merck had anticipated European launch in 2003 [444653]; however, in April 2002, Merck reported that it was delaying its application to the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products from the last half of 2002 to the first half of 2003, so that it could primarily include its own colorectal cancer data rather than ImClone's data. European launch was thus expected in 2004 [449226]. In May 2002, Lehman Brothers predicted global peak sales of US $2 billion [454652], while in the same month, Bear Stearns estimated that sales for Merck KGaA would reach 285 million Euros in 2007 [453500].
Equivalent value filters in disturbance estimation and state observation

In this paper, the implementation of the equivalent value operators by first order, high bandwidth, low pass filters is considered. An ultimate boundedness proof for the estimation/observation errors when the filters are used sequentially in the equivalent control based disturbance estimator and state observer designs is provided. A rule of thumb for the selection of filter time constants is also given. Initial results on this selection suggest the creation of a multiple time scale behavior since each of the filter time constants is to be as small as possible.
Considering the mechanisms of cancer prevention by selenium.

Selenium (Se) was recognized as having nutritional importance fairly late in the development of nutrition knowledge (Schwarz and Foltz, 1957) and, for many years, the nature of its role in nutrition remained clouded by the lack of information about its biochemical mechanisms of action. First, it was regarded only as a factor that could somehow “spare” vitamin E in animal diets; and then it became clear that it was specifically required for the synthesis of a number of proteins, including some with antioxidant like functions (glutathione peroxidases [GPX], thioredoxin reductase), as well as others (iodothyronine 5’-deiodinases [DI]) with important metabolic significance of a different type, all of which contained Se in the form of the unusual amino acid, selenocysteine (SeCys). In fact, information about SeCys-proteins continues to emerge and, with it, understanding of the nutritional and health importance of the trace element continues to expand.
The Culture of Cultivation: Designing with Agriculture: Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania | November 17–18, 2017

At the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Design in November 2017, an important conference explored the array of intersections between agriculture and landscape architecture. Speakers discussed...
Program Profile: A Service-Learning Model for Intergenerational Conversation about Science and Current Events between Longterm Care Residents and University Students: Case Study

The population of the United States is aging rapidly, and older adults are transitioning to long-term care (LTC) with higher levels of education. Furthermore, projected workforce shortages reinforc...
The role of personality, age, and gender in tweeting about mental illness

Mental illnesses, such as depression and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), are highly underdiagnosed globally. Populations sharing similar demographics and personality traits are known to be more at risk than others. In this study, we characterise the language use of users disclosing their mental illness on Twitter. Language-derived personality and demographic estimates show surprisingly strong performance in distinguishing users that tweet a diagnosis of depression or PTSD from random controls, reaching an area under the receiveroperating characteristic curve ‐ AUC ‐ of around .8 in all our binary classification tasks. In fact, when distinguishing users disclosing depression from those disclosing PTSD, the single feature of estimated age shows nearly as strong performance (AUC = .806) as using thousands of topics (AUC = .819) or tens of thousands of n-grams (AUC = .812). We also find that differential language analyses, controlled for demographics, recover many symptoms associated with the mental illnesses in the clinical literature.
A Wavelet Analysis of Price Integration in Major Agricultural Markets

We use linear time series and wavelets approach to study the relationships between U.S. and international prices for corn, soybeans, and cotton. We then compare results obtained with each approach and verify that structural breaks discovered with wavelet analysis match those produced with subsequent partial-period cointegration analysis. We find little evidence that short-term fluctuations between domestic and international prices are stable, while long-term relationships for many price pairs experience distinct structural breaks. We further find that even though China is among the largest importers of U.S. agricultural products, its commodity prices share little or no relationship with those prevailing in U.S. markets.
Nonlinear Upper Hybrid Waves Generated in Ionospheric HF Heating Experiments at HAARP

Excitation of nonlinear upper hybrid waves by O-mode HF heater in the ionospheric heating experiments was explored via HAARP digisonde operated in a fast mode. The observations are manifested by a bump in the virtual spread, which expands the ionogram echoes upward as much as 140 km and is located below the upper hybrid resonance frequency. The bump is similar to that, occurring in daytime ionograms, caused by the cusp at the E-F2 layer transition, indicating that there is a small ledge in the density profile similar to E-F2 layer transitions. The ionograms also show that the virtual height spread, which exceeds 50 km over a significant frequency range below the upper hybrid resonance frequency, is downward, rather than upward as observed in a natural Spread-F situation. It indicates that density irregularities along the geomagnetic field, rather than field-aligned, were generated. Theory shows that the upper hybrid waves excited by the parametric instabilities evolve into nonlinear periodic and solitary waves that enhance downward virtual height spread and generate density cavity to explain the experimental observations.
Photon-assisted heat engines in the THz regime

The generation of thermal currents in a miniaturized device modeled as a channel connected to reservoirs maintained at different temperatures and coupled to a periodic THz driving source is reported in this letter. Primarily, we show that while thermally activated electrons can be pumped from the hot reservoir into the cold side, the quantum of charge flow increases in the presence of the periodic source. We explain this phenomenon by taking recourse to the Floquet theory guided rearrangement of the energy levels under periodic driving, which, in turn, augments the electron injection into the channel. The calculations uncover a useful feature whereby the strength of such a thermally-pumped current is amenable through a joint control of the amplitude and frequency of the signal, offering an additional experimentally-adjustable set of tools to regulate their flow. In the final part, the Seebeck coefficient and the thermoelectric figure-of-merit for this setup are analytically determined. Results are shown for classes of materials defined by linear and quadratic dispersion.
Theatrical Evolution Through The Great War

Theatre has always been an avenue for social change and cultural development. In times of extreme human strife and hardship, the theatre can become a reflection for its populace. During World War I, the governments of Europe tried to utilize the theatre as a nationalist tool. As morale for the war began to break, the population of theatre-goers enforced a new policy on their art. This examination looks at why that cultural intersection took place in a country deeply impacted by The Great War with a specific look at Great Britain during the 1910s.
A century of intermittent eco-evolutionary feedbacks resulted in novel trait combinations in invasive Great Lakes alewives (Alosa pseudoharengus).

Species introductions provide opportunities to quantify rates and patterns of evolutionary change in response to novel environments. Alewives (Alosa pseudoharengus) are native to the East Coast of North America where they ascend coastal rivers to spawn in lakes and then return to the ocean. Some populations have become landlocked within the last 350 years and diverged phenotypically from their ancestral marine population. More recently, alewives were introduced to the Laurentian Great Lakes (~150 years ago), but these populations have not been compared to East Coast anadromous and landlocked populations. We quantified 95 years of evolution in foraging traits and overall body shape of Great Lakes alewives and compared patterns of phenotypic evolution of Great Lakes alewives to East Coast anadromous and landlocked populations. Our results suggest that gill raker spacing in Great Lakes alewives has evolved in a dynamic pattern that is consistent with responses to strong but intermittent eco-evolutionary feedbacks with zooplankton size. Following their initial colonization of Lakes Ontario and Michigan, dense alewife populations likely depleted large-bodied zooplankton, which drove a decrease in alewife gill raker spacing. However, the introduction of large, non-native zooplankton to the Great Lakes in later decades resulted in an increase in gill raker spacing, and present-day Great Lakes alewives have gill raker spacing patterns that are similar to the ancestral East Coast anadromous population. Conversely, contemporary Great Lakes alewife populations possess a gape width consistent with East Coast landlocked populations. Body shape showed remarkable parallel evolution with East Coast landlocked populations, likely due to a shared response to the loss of long-distance movement or migrations. Our results suggest the colonization of a new environment and cessation of migration can result in rapid parallel evolution in some traits, but contingency also plays a role, and a dynamic ecosystem can also yield novel trait combinations.
Is relative growth by the mammalian heart biphasic or monophasic

I re-examined data for relative growth by the heart in four species of mammal to reconcile divergent reports that appear in the literature. Raw data for heart and body mass for Horro sheep, humans, gray kangaroos, and tammar wallabies were studied by linear and nonlinear regression, thereby enabling me to avoid the confounding effects of logarithmic transformation and to evaluate multiple statistical models for describing pattern in each set of observations. My analyses indicate that relative growth by the heart is monophasic in all four species and either isometric or near isometric on the arithmetic scale. The heart in these mammals consequently grows in mass in approximate proportion to growth in mass by the body. The appearance of biphasic allometric growth in prior studies was an artifact resulting from logarithmic transformation. Although parturition in sheep and humans is accompanied by a change in the distribution of blood out of the heart and into pulmonary and systemic circuits, the challenge is met without marked increases in absolute or relative size of the heart.
Transient Neural Activation of Abstract Relations on an Incidental Analogy Task

Although a large proportion of the lexicon consists of abstract concepts, little is known about how they are represented by the brain. Here, we investigated how the mind represents relations shared...
Managing Gender Care in Precarity: Trans Communities Respond to COVID-19

Transgender (trans) people always already live with health care precarity, particularly concerning gender transition. During a pandemic, this precarity is heightened. Trans people find themselves without access to necessary cross-sex hormones or isolated with unaccepting or hostile family members. As a result, some engage in tactical technical communication, using the Internet to source knowledge and supplies to manage their transition. This article analyzes these do-it-yourself forms of tactical technical communication that support gender transition in the time of COVID-19.
Development and Preliminary Validation of the Patient-Reported Outcome Measure for Vascular Malformation Questionnaire: A Prospective Cohort Study.

PURPOSE To develop and validate the Patient-Reported Outcome Measure for Vascular Malformation (PROVAM) questionnaire to assess the health-related quality of life in patients with vascular malformations. MATERIALS AND METHODS We developed and validated PROVAM using a mixed methods design during a prospective clinical trial at a vascular anomalies clinic. From July 2019 to February 2020, 108 consecutive patients completed 130 questionnaires. The 30-item instrument assessed the domains of pain, emotional/social well-being, functional impact, and treatment satisfaction. Two additional items assessed ease of understanding and relevance. The primary outcomes of instrument reliability and validity were evaluated across several indices. The secondary outcome of responsiveness evaluated total score changes for patients who completed questionnaires both before and after treatment. RESULTS Instrument reliability, as measured by Cronbach alpha, was ≥0.79 for pain, emotional/social well-being, and functional impact domains. Primary domain structure was confirmed by factor analysis (P <. 001) and convergent construct validity for all but 1 Likert scale item. In the subgroup analysis of 13 participants who completed PROVAM before and after treatment, instrument responsiveness, as measured by the total score, showed a significant decrease (median, -10 points; interquartile range [IQR], -3 to -16; P = .04). Participants found the questions easy to understand (median, 5 points; IQR, 4-5 on a 5-point scale) and relevant (median score, 4; IQR, 3-5). CONCLUSIONS Preliminary data support the reliability and validity of PROVAM in measuring the health-related quality of life in patients with vascular malformations.
NOAA/NCEI and University of Colorado candidate models for IGRF-13

The International Geomagnetic Reference Field (IGRF) is a set of parameters representing the large-scale internal part of Earth’s magnetic field. The 13th generation IGRF requested candidate models for a definitive main field for 2015.0, a provisional main field for 2020.0, and a predictive secular variation covering the period 2020.0–2025.0. The University of Colorado (CU) and the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), have produced these three candidate models for consideration in IGRF-13. In this paper, we present the methodology used to derive our candidate models. Our candidates were built primarily from Swarm satellite data, and also relied on geomagnetic indices derived from the ground observatory network. The ground observatories played a crucial role as independent data in validating our candidates. This paper also provides a retrospective assessment of the CU/NCEI candidate model to the previous IGRF (IGRF-12) and discusses the impact of differences between candidate and final IGRF models on global model errors.
Adiabatic Flip-Flop and SRAM Design for an Adiabatic Reversible Microprocessor

Adiabatic reversible computing is a well-developed implementation for future energy-efficient computing that reduces heat generation by introducing a tradeoff between energy and speed. By using reversible logic and switching the circuits slowly, relative to their RC time constants, energy can be recovered, and dissipation can be dramatically reduced. Adiabatic microprocessors contain a large number of sequential elements, such as flip-flops and SRAM cells, that generally do not lend themselves to energy recovery. In this paper we present the design of an adiabatic flip-flop and an adiabatic SRAM cell that perform energy recovery. The adiabatic flip-flop performs partial energy recovery by combining a reversible master latch and an irreversible follower latch. The adiabatic SRAM cell performs energy recovery before new data is written by adding select transistors into the power lines of the cell. These proposed sequential elements are designed in 90 nm technology and their simulations prove to have a lower energy dissipation than their CMOS counterpart. A 16-bit MIPS reversible microprocessor is presented demonstrating the large-scale integration both the adiabatic flip-flop and the adiabatic SRAM proposed in this work.
Energy harvesting of a heaving and forward pitching wing with a passively actuated trailing edge

This study experimentally investigates the energy harvesting capabilities of an oscillating wing with a passively actuated trailing edge. The oscillation kinematics are composed of a combined heaving and forward pitching motions, where the pitching axis is well behind the wing center of mass. Passive actuation is attained by connecting the trailing edge with the wing body using a torsion rod. The degree of flexibility of the trailing edge is represented by the Strouhal number based on the trailing edge natural frequency. The trailing edge passive response is studied for oscillation Strouhal numbers of 0.017, 0.025 and 0.033. Instantaneous aerodynamic forces are measured in a closed loop wind tunnel at a Reynolds number of 40 000, based on the free stream velocity and the wing chord length. Measured results include the effective angle of attack induced by the trailing edge actuation as well as the lift and moment during the oscillation cycle. For the imposed kinematics in this study, the pitching motion has a positive contribution to the mean power output whereas the heaving motion has a relatively small but negative contribution. Additionally, by decreasing the natural frequency of the trailing edge closer to that of the imposed oscillation frequency, the magnitude of the lift and moment forces and hence the mean power output, increases. It is found that there exists a strong correlation between mean power output and the effective angle of attack, shown through the passive trailing edge response, resulting in an increase in energy harvesting potential.
The Decomposer's Art: Ideas of Music in the Poetry of Wallace Stevens

Contents: Chapter I: biographical basis for Stevens' use of music - II-IV: focuses on musical figures and compositional strategies - V: analyzes two contemporary musical settings of Stevens' poems. This work synthesizes preexisting commentary on Stevens and music and focuses on developing variation as the decomposer's method. To date, no large-scale study of Stevens has included music in its agenda.
Mechanical Properties and Failure of Biopolymers: Atomistic Reactions to Macroscale Response

The behavior of chemical bonding under various mechanical loadings is an intriguing mechanochemical property of biological materials, and the property plays a critical role in determining their deformation and failure mechanisms. Because of their astonishing mechanical properties and roles in constituting the basis of a variety of physiologically relevant materials, biological protein materials have been intensively studied. Understanding the relation between chemical bond networks (structures) and their mechanical properties offers great possibilities to enable new materials design in nanotechnology and new medical treatments for human diseases. Here we focus on how the chemical bonds in biological systems affect mechanical properties and how they change during mechanical deformation and failure. Three representative cases of biomaterials related to the human diseases are discussed in case studies, including: amyloids, intermediate filaments, and collagen, each describing mechanochemical features and how they relate to the pathological conditions at multiple scales.
On- and off-fault deformation associated with the September 2013 Mw 7.7 Balochistan earthquake: Implications for geologic slip rate measurements

Abstract The 24 September 2013 Mw7.7 Balochistan, Pakistan earthquake ruptured a ~ 200 km-long stretch of the Hoshab fault in southern Pakistan and produced the second-largest lateral surface displacement observed for a continental strike-slip earthquake. We remotely measured surface deformation associated with this event using high-resolution (0.5 m) pre- and post-event satellite optical imagery. We document left lateral, near-field, on-fault offsets (10 m from fault) using 309 laterally offset piercing points, such as streams, terrace risers, and roads. Peak near-field displacement is 13.6 + 2.5/− 3.4 m. We characterize off-fault deformation by measuring medium- ( 350 m from fault) displacement using manual (259 measurements) and automated image cross-correlation methods, respectively. Off-fault peak lateral displacement values are ~ 15 m and exceed on-fault displacement magnitudes for ~ 85% of the rupture length. Our observations suggest that for this rupture, coseismic surface displacement typically increases with distance away from the surface trace of the fault; however, nearly 100% of total surface displacement occurs within a few hundred meters of the primary fault trace. Furthermore, off-fault displacement accounts for, on average, 28% of the total displacement but exhibits a highly heterogeneous along-strike pattern. The best agreement between near-field and far-field displacements generally corresponds to the narrowest fault zone widths. Our analysis demonstrates significant and heterogeneous mismatches between on- and off-fault coseismic deformation, and we conclude that this phenomenon should be considered in hazard models based on geologically determined on-fault slip rates.
Challenges to Deflationary Theories of Truth

In this paper, I address some of the chief challenges, or problems, for Deflationary Theories of Truth, viz., the Generalization Problem, the Conservativeness Argument, and the Success Argument.
2-D and 3-D Image Registration for Medical, Remote Sensing, and Industrial Applications .

This PDF file contains the editorial “Book Review: 2-D and 3-D Image Registration for Medical, Remote Sensing, and Industrial Applications” for JEI Vol. 14 Issue 03
Compliance and ethics programmes and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations in the United States: implications for international HRD specialists

Organizations doing business domestically and internationally are under increasing scrutiny by federal regulatory agencies in the United States for compliance with statutory, regulatory, and ethical business practices. This is especially evident for banking and financial services firms, pharmaceutical and health care institutions, and businesses that harm the environment or commit fraudulent business crimes. Organizations accused of criminal activity and unethical business practices are prosecuted by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). The Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations provide incentives for organizations to mitigate penalties by self-reporting criminal activity to the DOJ, cooperating with investigators, not obstructing justice, and by developing and implementing compliance and ethics programme prior to disclosing criminal activity. The purpose of this review is to describe the structure of these guidelines for human resource development specialists in US domestic and interna...
Slopes as Factors: Characteristic Pure Plays

Returns to pure play strategies, estimated as Fama-MacBeth slope coefficients on standardized size, value and momentum characteristics, have positive and significant four factor alphas. The mispricing of these characteristics-based strategies by the four factor model is due in part, but not entirely, to (1) the effect of microcap stocks on the pure play returns and (2) the effect of stale book and market capitalization information on the SMB and HML factors. Adjusting for these issues, the value and momentum pure play strategies still have positive and significant four factor alphas. We examine thirteen reported anomalies and find that five have insignificant alphas when the pure play returns are used as factors. Eight are insignificant when an interaction between size and value characteristics is included as a factor.
Observations of Variability in the Radial Velocity of α Boo

We have made precise radial velocity observations of α Boo (K1 III) which raise the possibility that giant stars redward of the Cepheid instability strip can pulsate. Our first measurements, made in early 1986 (Smith, McMillan and Merline 1987, Ap.J., 317 , L79) revealed a systematic, apparently periodic, variation in radial velocity having a “sawtooth” waveform with a full amplitude of 160 m·sec −1 and period of 1.84 or 2.18 days. This discovery was qualitatively confirmed by Cochran (1987, B.A.A.S., 19 , 1052). Additional data show that large night-to-night velocity variations of magnitude about 80 m·sec −1 persist over a 192 day baseline. A sharp velocity transition has been monitored on at least one night, which covers a range of 100 m·sec −1 with an acceleration of 19m·sec −1 ·hr −1 . The positive slope during this transition argues for a 2.18 day rather than the 1.84 day period. Furthermore, the amplitude and shape of the variation may be changing, perhaps suggesting multiple periods. To test the likelihood that radial pulsation could be responsible for the observed variations, stellar pulsation models are being conducted with Dr. Arthur Cox at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Using a structure model based on our best estimates for the stellar parameters, we have found that the 2 day period would require the third or fourth radial overtone, which are driven (unstable) with relatively high growth rates.
Child Labour Use in a Small Developing Country: Is it Luxury, Distributional or Substitution Axiom?

Child labour use in developing countries has been increasing over the years. In general, it’s characterized by low wages and long hours of work under dangerous, hazardous, unhealthy and unhygienic conditions, which could lead to poor physical and mental development. It deprives a child of education and natural development. In this paper, we examined the use of child labour in Fiji. The study utilized primary data collected using a structured survey to examine the determinants of child labour. The results from this study demonstrate that the variables such as household size, household income, and the gender of children significantly affect child labour supply. Furthermore, absence of adults from households is also a causal factor contributing towards child labour. Using these results, we make a case for “luxury” and “substitution” axioms for Fiji’s Child labour market.
Beaver (1968) Revisited: Has the Information Content of Annual Earnings Announcements Declined in the Past Three Decades?

In 1968, Beaver published his seminal paper on the information content of earnings announcements, establishing that both trading volume and return volatility increase at the time of earnings announcements. Thirty-some years after Beaver's study, concerns have been raised about a perceived degradation in the informativeness of earnings because of the increasing availability of timely non-accounting information and the increasing rate of technological innovation and change not reflected in the accounting system in a timely manner. In this paper we examine changes over the past thirty years in the information content of earnings using the two metrics from Beaver (1968): abnormal trading volume and volatility. In contrast to the conventional wisdom, we find no evidence of a decline in the informativeness of accounting information over the past thirty years, as measured by both abnormal trading volume and return volatility around quarterly earnings announcements. If anything, our results suggest an increase over time in the informativeness of quarterly earnings announcements. Variables reflecting changes in firm-specific factors account for a portion of the observed increase.
Suprachiasmatic and paraventricular control of photoperiodism in Siberian hamsters

The effects of lesions of the suprachiasmatic (SCN) and paraventricular nuclei (PVN) of the hypothalamus on photoperiodic responses were examined in adult Siberian hamsters. SCN lesions reduced nocturnal water intake in long days, whereas PVN lesions increased body weight and food intake in both short and long days. SCN or PVN lesions blocked short-day-induced decreases in body, fat pad, and testes weights and in food intake. Serum prolactin (PRL), but not follicle-stimulating hormone, levels were increased. The distribution of immunostained neurons and fibers for gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH), beta-endorphin, arginine vasopressin (AVP), and vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) resembled that of other rodent species. Short-day exposure reduced AVP staining in lateral septum, medial amygdala, and bed nucleus of the stria terminalis but not in the PVN of the thalamus or the SCN. Short-day-exposed hamsters had fewer beta-endorphin-positive arcuate nucleus cells and tended to have fewer GnRH-positive preoptic cells than long-day controls. VIP staining was unaffected by photoperiod. Most day length effects on immunostaining were eliminated by either lesion. These results establish the importance of the SCN and PVN in the photoperiodic control of several seasonal responses in Siberian hamsters.
Constructing Courts: Architecture, the Ideology of Judging, and the Public Sphere

In several countries, governments have embarked on major building expansion programs for their judiciaries. The new buildings posit the courtroom as their center and the judge as that room’s pivot. These contemporary projects follow the didactic path laid out in Medieval and Renaissance town halls, which repeatedly deployed symbolism in efforts to shape norms. Dramatic depictions then reminded judges to be loyal subjects of the state. In contrast, modern buildings narrate not only the independence of judges but also the dominion of judges, insulated from the state. The significant allocation of public funds reflects the prestige accorded to courts by governments that dispatch world-renowned architects to design these icons of the state.