cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A self-priming, roller-free, miniature, peristaltic pump operable with a single, reciprocating actuator

We present a design for a miniature self-priming peristaltic pump actuated with a single linear actuator, and which can be manufactured using conventional materials and methods. The pump is tolerant of bubbles and particles and can pump liquids, foams, and gases. We explore designs actuated by a motor (in depth) and a shape memory alloy (briefly); and briefly present a manually actuated version. The pump consists of a Delrin acetal plastic body with two integrated valves, a flexible silicone tube, and an actuator. Pumping is achieved as the forward motion of the actuator first closes the upstream valve, and then compresses a section of the tube. The increased internal pressure opens a downstream burst valve to expel the fluid. Reduced pressure in the pump tube allows the downstream valve to close, and removal of actuator force allows the upstream valve and pump tube to open, refilling the pump. The motor actuated design offers a linear dependence of flow rate on voltage in the range of 1.75-3 V. Flow rate decreases from 780 μl/min with increasing back pressure up to the maximum back pressure of 48 kPa. At 3 V and minimum back pressure, the pump consumes 90 mW. The shape memory alloy actuated design offers a 5-fold size and 4-fold weight reduction over the motor design, higher maximum back pressure, and substantial insensitivity of flow rate to back pressure at the cost of lower power efficiency and flow rate. The manually actuated version is simpler and appropriate for applications unconstrained by actuation distance.
An Efficient Data Structure for Maxplus Merge in Dynamic Programming

Dynamic programming is a useful technique to handle slicing floorplan, technology mapping, and buffering problems, where many maxplus merge operations of solution lists are needed. Shi proposed an efficient O(nlogn) time algorithm to speed up the merge operation. Based on balanced binary search trees, his algorithm showed superb performance with the most unbalanced sizes of merging solution lists. The authors propose in this paper a more efficient data structure for the merge operations. With parameters to adjust adaptively, their algorithm works better than Shi's under all cases, unbalanced, balanced, and mix sizes. Their data structure is also simpler
Enhancing service location protocol for efficiency, scalabiliy and advanced discovery

This paper presents three new mechanisms for the Service Location Protocol (SLP): mesh enhancement, preference filters and global attributes. The mesh enhancement simplifies Service Agent (SA) registrations and improves consistency among Directory Agents (DAs) by defining an interaction scheme for DAs and supporting automatic registration distribution among peer DAs. Preference filters facilitate processing of search results (e.g., finding the best match) in SLP servers (DAs and SAs) to reduce the amount of data transferred to the client for saving network bandwidth. Global attributes allow using a single query to search services across multiple types. These mechanisms can improve SLP efficiency and scalability and support advanced discovery such as discovering multi-access-point services and multi-function devices. We expect that these techniques can also be applied to other service discovery systems.
Evidence of balancing selection at the HLA-G promoter region

HLA-G is a class Ib HLA gene with unique tissue expression pattern and immunomodulatory properties. Polymorphisms in the HLA-G promoter region have been associated with miscarriage and asthma, whereas expression levels have been associated with a wide range of pathologic conditions as well as survival of embryos after in vitro fertilization and of organs after transplantation. Here, we characterize the sequence variation and haplotype structure of the HLA-G promoter and flanking sequences in 44 African Americans, 47 European Americans and 43 Han Chinese by haplotype-specific PCR and sequencing. In all three populations, we observed high levels of nucleotide variation, an excess of intermediate-frequency alleles, and a genealogy with two common haplotypes separated by deep branches, features that are suggestive of balancing selection acting in this region. Comparisons to HLA-A and a pseudogene, HLA-J, suggested that the observed pattern of sequence variation in the HLA-G promoter region is not likely due to other selected HLA genes. We suggest that the mechanism for this selection is related to the highly regulated expression pattern of HLA-G and that high- and low-expressing promoters may be favored under temporally and/or spatially varying selective pressures.
Interpreting Positive Studies

When examining the results of a positive research study, one needs to consider two issues of clinical relevance. First, is the outcome measure of direct interest to patients, or is it clearly linked to a measure of direct interest to patients? Second, is the difference large enough to lie outside the range of clinical indifference? Don't accept the findings of a positive research study without a careful consideration of clinical relevance.
Transforming Distributed Acyclic Systems into Equivalent Uniprocessors under Preemptive and Non-Preemptive Scheduling

Many scientific disciplines provide composition primitives whereby overall properties of systems are composed from those of their components. Examples include rules for block diagram reduction in control theory and laws for computing equivalent circuit impedance in circuit theory. No general composition rules exist for real-time systems whereby a distributed system is transformed to an equivalent single stage analyzable using traditional uniprocessor schedulability analysis techniques. Towards such a theory, in this paper, we extend our previous result on pipeline delay composition for preemptive and non-preemptive scheduling to the general case of distributed acyclic systems. Acyclic systems are defined as those where the superposition of all task flows gives rise to a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG). The new extended analysis provides a worst-case bound on the end-to-end delay of a job under both preemptive as well as non-preemptive scheduling, in the distributed system. A simple transformation is then shown of the distributed task system into an equivalent uniprocessor task-set analyzable using traditional uniprocessor schedulability analysis. Hence, using the transformation described in this paper, the wealth of theory available for uniprocessor schedulability analysis can be easily applied to a larger class of distributed systems.
The majorant Lyapunov equation: A nonnegative matrix equation for robust stability and performance of large scale systems

A new robust stability and performance analysis technique is developed. The approach involves replacing the state covariance by its block-norm matrix, i.e., the nonnegative matrix whose elements are the norms of subblocks of the covariance matrix partitioned according to subsystem dynamics. A bound (i.e., majorant) for the block-norm matrix is given by the majorant Lyapunov equation, a Lyapunov-type nonnegative matrix equation. Existence, uniqueness, and computational tractability of solutions to the majorant Lyapunov equation are shown to be completely characterized in terms of M matrices. Two examples are considered. For a damped simple harmonic oscillator with uncertain but constant natural frequency, the majorant Lyapunov equation predicts unconditional stability. And, for a pair of nominally uncoupled oscillators with uncertain coupling, the majorant Lyapunov equation shows that the range of nondestabilizing couplings is proportional to the frequency separation between the oscillators, a result not predictable from quadratic or vector Lyapunov functions.
The networked home as a user-centric multimedia system

This is a position paper that frames a networked home as a situated, user-centric multimedia system. The problem is important for two reasons - (a) the emergence of high speed networked connections alter media consumption and interaction practices and (b) ordinary consumers currently communicate everyday experiences through limited means (e.g. e-mail attachments). We need new mechanisms for networked creation and consumption of media, as well as new interaction paradigms that will allow us to utilize the full potential of the networked, multimedia environment. We envision an augmented user-context adaptive home that enables the user to rest, reflect, interact and communicate everyday experiences through multimedia. A key insight is that the practice of consumption, communication and interaction with media, across different devices and interaction modalities, affect the user context, and in turn is affected by it. The result is a highly personalized media practice for each user. We discuss three focal areas of our current research - (a) models for user context, (b) communication of meaning and (c) situated interaction. Modeling user context is challenging, and we present a novel multimodal context framework. In media communication, we examine research issues in media acquisition, media presentation and networked sharing. Situated multimedia frameworks are physically grounded systems, that require new analytical models, interaction paradigms, and additionally require new real-time concerns. Our framework is promising, and we believe will lead to rich collection of multimedia problems that incorporate networked interaction.
Covenant, Crown, and Commons in Elizabethan Puritanism

Elizabethan puritanism, becoming programmatic, declared its intentions for the church inAn Admonition to the Parliament, by John Field and Thomas Wilcox, and in the Second Admonition to the Parliament, both in 1572. The first of those manifestos erected a "true platform of a church reformed" according to "the prescript of God's word" and the examples of the "best reformed churches throughout Christendom." The second took up what its author called "the hardest point," namely, to show how reform was to be accomplished-in effect, by persuading queen and parliament to become presbyterian. The admonishers appealed to the power of God's word, the threat of his wrath, and the promise of his reward, presenting the cause of reform as a national case of conscience for the civil authority.1 Two years earlier, in a bold sermon to the queen, another spokesman for the faction had set forth these same considerations but with a significant difference, for the preacher, Edward Dering, grounded his argument on a theopolitical principle-the principle of covenant-which Protestant extremists (including English and Scottish exiles of the Marian period) had already given a revolutionary twist. This article examines the role of ideas of covenant in the ideological address of sixteenth-century puritanism to crown and commons, prince and people. It finds in the reformers' changing conceptions and applications of covenant a key to the character of the puritan movement and the making of the puritan mind. Though puritans of the Elizabethan era made something of covenant doctrine in their theological writings, they rarely put it to political use, and when they did-when some hardy preacher proposed to constrain the civil magistracy by covenant to do God's will-such efforts boomeranged,
On calculating high throughputs in multi-hop slotted ALOHA packet radio networks

An investigation is conducted of the problem of determining routing assignments in slotted Aloha packet radio networks to maximize the end-to-end throughput. It is assumed that the networks have an arbitrary topology and that the relative traffic requirements matrix is arbitrary. The problem is formulated as a nonlinear programming problem. Unfortunately, the problem is not a convex program, which explains why the development of an algorithm to find global optimal solutions has been so elusive. A heuristic algorithm is developed based upon ideas from resource directive decomposition. The heuristic is applied to several standard problems. The numerical results show that the method compares favorably to other methods in the literature. >
Resonant cryogenic chopper

We describe the design, construction, and performance of a resonant cryogenic chopper that operates at 4.2 K. The chopper is mechanically and thermally robust; it can occult a 2.54-cm aperture at 4.5 Hz while dissipating ~1 mW. Both the stator and rotor magnetic fields are controllable to allow for performance optimization and to help in measuring any possible interference effects. Data on long-term amplitude stability are presented.
Rates, Associations, and Predictors of Psychopathology in a Convenience Sample of School-Aged Latino Youth: Identifying Areas for Mental Health Outreach

The Latino youth population is rapidly growing and expected to comprise nearly 40% of the total youth population by 2060. Unfortunate disparities exist in the United States (U.S.), such that young Latinos are less likely than non-Hispanic Whites to receive and benefit from mental health services. In order to identify and prioritize specific areas of mental health outreach, the current study examined preliminary rates, associations, and predictors of child psychopathology in a convenience sample of Latino youth. 123 Spanish and English speaking Latino parents of school-aged children completed a series of questionnaires regarding child and family functioning. Latino youth in the current sample demonstrated comparable rates of psychopathology to non-referred, normative samples. Parental acculturation (particularly Separated parental acculturation status: high orientation to Latino culture and low orientation to U.S. mainstream culture) was associated with an increased prevalence of clinically significant psychopathology across several domains, and socioeconomic status was associated with an increased prevalence of thought problems. Additionally, Separated parental acculturation status significantly predicted the prevalence of clinically significant anxious/depressed problems, such that youth of parents displaying Separated acculturation status were significantly more represented in the clinically-elevated groups than the functional groups. These preliminary results suggest that prioritizing outreach to Latino youth of parents maintaining orientation to Latino culture but not U.S. mainstream culture may be necessary in order to begin addressing existing mental health disparities in the U.S.
New Copidosomopsis (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) from California, with comments on the genus

Copidosomopsis tanytmemus , sp. nov., is described. This polyembryonic encyrtid was reared out of larvae of the pyralid Anagasta kuehniella (Zeller) that were feeding on acorns of Quercus kelloggii Newb. in El Dorado County, Calif. A key to separate the females of C. tanytmemus from the other known species of Copidosomopsis is presented. The six known species can be segregated in two groups: four with female club entire, including C. arenicola (Trjapitzin) and C. bohemicus (Hoffer) from the Palearctic Region, and C. nacoleiae (Eady) and C. perminutus Girault from the Indo-Pacific Region, and two with female club three-segmented, including C. plethoricus (Caltagirone) from the Nearctic and northern Neotropical regions, and C. tanytmemus (Caltagirone) from the Nearctic Region.
Final Note on why Genetic Correlations are Not Squared

Jensen (1971) supports his estimation of heritability from unsquared MZ twin correlations on the assertion that heritability is analogous to reliability. This plausible argument is substantiated by a mathematical proof which expresses both heritability and reliability as coefficients of determination.
CHROMOSOME EVOLUTION IN WOODRATS, GENUS NEOTOMA (RODENTIA: CRICETIDAE).

The recent development of various techniques for chromosome banding and for the characterization of nucleic acids (primarily DNA) has ushered in a new age of cytogenetic exploration. With a comprehensive battery of these techniques, one can now characterize chromosome relationships with such accuracy that in most cases, there remains little or none of the doubt associated with interpretations based on previous techniques. In addition to resolving several old cytogenetic problems (Duffey, 1972; Pathak et al., 1973; Miller and Miller, 1972) and raising new questions about the function of certain portions of the genome (Bostock, 1971; Hsu, in press), these techniques have given rise to new concepts in mammalian chromosomal evolution (Duffey, 1972; Stock and Hsu, 1973). The purpose of the present work is to exploit such tools to identify chromosomal similarities that suggest phylogenetic relationships and to examine the modes and directions of chromosome evolution that have produced the extensive karyotypic variation found in woodrats (genus Neotoma). Six of the nine woodrat species examined by Baker and Mascarello (1969) displayed variation attributable to mechanisms other than fusions or fissions. Each of the six had a common diploid number of 52 and, conveniently, all six belonged to the subgenus Neotoma. In addition, Neotoma phenax and N. cinerea which belong to two other subgenera had diploid numbers of 38 and 54 respectively. The ninth species, N. fuscipes (2n = 56), is currently placed in the subgenus Neotoma although previously it too had been accorded subgeneric rank (Burt and Barkalow, 1942; Hall and Kelson, 1959). The non-Robertsonian variation found in N. floridana, N. micropus, N. albigula, N. lepida, N. stephensi and N. mexicana is reminiscent of that found in Peromyscus (Hsu and Arrighi, 1968) where much of the variation can be accounted for by the addition or deletion of heterochromatic second arms (Pathak et al., 1973). The same mechanism may also be invoked to account for some of the variation in hamsters (Hsu and Arrighi, 1971), kangaroo rats (Bostock et al., 1972), hedgehogs (Gropp and Natarajan, 1972) and primates (Stock and Hsu, 1973). As will be shown, the addition or deletion of heterochromatin does account for some chromosome variation in the woodrats but the effects of other mechanisms are also evident within the genus.
Pulsed Laser Deposition as a Novel Growth Technique of Multiferroic LuFe2O4 Thin Films

Growth of polycrystalline Lutetium Iron Oxide via pulsed laser deposition in thin film form is reported for the first time herein, and the multiferroic LuFe2O4 phase is stabilized. Fluence and pressure dependent phase growth is demonstrated, along with crystalline structure in vacuum (~10−5 torr) conditions. Thermodynamic considerations at the laser-target interaction were investigated, as well as at the plume-substrate interface, which reveal that the necessary Gibbs free energy is available in the optimized growth environment to allow formation of the LuFe2O4 polycrystalline phase. The resulting growth rate is found to be related to the Gibbs free energy and concentration of nucleation sites on the substrate. Characterization of the multiferroic aspect of LuFe2O4 entailed direct measurement of the ferroelectricity in the thin film, as well as magnetic behavior, both at various temperatures. In particular, the ferroelectric polarization vs. voltage data yield values of 0.61 µC/cm2 at 300 K to 3.29 µC/cm2 at 183 K; moreover, these data are in agreement with those reported in the literature. Magnetization vs. applied field data shows the magnetization at 300 K to be 180 emu/cm3 and increasing to 200 emu/cm3 at 10 K.
Activity of Glutathione S-transferase in Blattella germanica at different developmental stages and from different field strains

Objective To study the activity of Glutathione S-transferase(GSTs) of German cockroaches(Blattella germanica) at different developmental stages(from nymph to adult) and different field strains in Beijing.Methods The specific activity of GSTs and resistance levels of B.germanica were determined by spectrophotometry and contact biossay.Results The specific activity of GSTs increased gradually during the nymph period and reached the highest by week 4,which then decreased to the lowest value during eclosion.The specific activity of GSTs in susceptible strains of B.germanica was 2.70 nmol/(min·mg) with Km of 2.26 mmol/L and Vmax of 0.33 nmol/(min·mg);the specific activity of GSTs in nine field strains ranged from 2.76-8.69 nmol/(min·mg) with Km of 0.65-2.37 mmol/L and Vmax of 0.33-0.54 nmol/(min·mg) Vmax.Compared with susceptible strains,field strains had higher specific activity and Vmax yet lower Km values.Field strains also demonstrated different degrees of resistance to two commonly used pesticides(cypermethrin 1.50-8.37 fold;propoxur 1.04-3.34 fold).Conclusion GST activity varied in the developmental stages from nymph to adult,which may be involved in the development of insecticide resistance in the field strains of B.germanica.
The recent history of myocutaneous flaps.

From Tansini’s remarkable but unheralded contribution in 1906 to the author’s own serendipitous entry into the field and involvement with the first island myocutaneous flap, the development of myocutaneous flaps continues to be revolutionized by new creative efforts.
Bioinformatic Identification of Plant Peptides

Plant peptides play a number of important roles in defence, development and many other aspects of plant physiology. Identifying additional peptide sequences provides the starting point to investigate their function using molecular, genetic or biochemical techniques. Due to their small size, identifying peptide sequences may not succeed using the default bioinformatic approaches that work well for average-sized proteins. There are two general scenarios related to bioinformatic identification of peptides to be discussed in this paper. In the first scenario, one already has the sequence of a plant peptide and is trying to find more plant peptides with some sequence similarity to the starting peptide. To do this, the Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) is employed, with the parameters adjusted to be more favourable for identifying potential peptide matches. A second scenario involves trying to identify plant peptides without using sequence similarity searches to known plant peptides. In this approach, features such as protein size and the presence of a cleavable amino-terminal signal peptide are used to screen annotated proteins. A variation of this method can be used to screen for unannotated peptides from genomic sequences. Bioinformatic resources related to Arabidopsis thaliana will be used to illustrate these approaches.
An evaluation of ' revenue at risk' from urban bus service changes.

Les methodes de cout en vue de determiner les influences des variations de service a des instants determines de la journee sont tres sophistiquees. Cependant aucune evaluation comparable n'a ete faite par rapport aux revenus et c'est ce que l'on cherche a faire ici
The Syrian Crisis Rights of Refugees in a Visa Regulated World

The Syrian conflict has been raging for more than five years and it is now the world’s largest humanitarian crisis since World War II. The Syrian refugees are now the largest group of refugees from a single conflict. Millions of Syrians, who managed to survive the deadly conflict, have either been internally displaced or have sought asylum abroad. Also, much of the infrastructure has been devastated during this crisis. Many schools, hospitals, and industries have either been destroyed or are out of service. This fighting, destruction, and death inside Syria continues to explode and shift while the suffering of the people worsens. Those who wish to flee the violence and persecution must seek refuge in other countries. The international community is obligated to protect and assist refugees. Turkey has accepted more Syrian refugees than any other country, but it is failing to protect and ensure the human rights of these refugees. There are simply too many people fleeing Syria for Turkey to be able to properly protect and provide for all of them. Therefore, many refugees seek passage into Europe. By not having strict observations on the borders, Turkey has allowed smugglers to endanger the lives of these refugees. Many of these smugglers send them across the sea to Greece on dangerous inflatable boats and precarious barges. The main reason that Syrians are forced to seek refuge by the unsafe sea route is the strict visa policies of the European countries. These policies usually lead to entire groups of people being denied travel visas when they apply through the legal route. Because the neighboring and European countries are unwilling to deal with this crisis, there is no other way for people to leave Syria and Turkey. This paper’s purpose is to open the eyes of the reader to the largest humanitarian crisis since WWII. It will expose the failure of the international community to protect and ensure the rights of refugees. It will also call on Turkey and the international community to care for the refugees and provide them with the full measure of their rights. This paper will also propose an amendment protocol to the 1951 Convention for the Protection of Refugees.
The relationship between individual life events and preterm delivery

Stressful life events have been associated with preterm delivery in some studies but not in others. One cause of this inconsistency may be that different life events have different effects. The author used data collected by the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System, a survey of American women with a recent live birth, for 1990–1995 to examine the relationship between individual life events and the risk of preterm delivery overall and by levels of severity. Four events of the 18 examined were associated with an increased risk of at least one category of preterm delivery: being in debt, being injured by a partner, having someone close attempt suicide, and being divorced. Women who reported being in debt had an increased risk of preterm delivery overall and for each level of severity. One event, having a partner who lost his (or her) job, was associated with a decreased risk of preterm delivery. These results provide some support for the theory that increased stress from life events causes preterm delivery. The lack of a pattern by type of stress, expected stressfulness, or severity of prematurity are hard to reconcile with those theories, however.
Recovery of IgG Production Following Rituximab Therapy after Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation

Rituximab is a monoclonal antibody to the CD20 antigen expressed on B lymphocytes. Several recent reports suggest that rituximab may be used to treat complications of SCT including GVHD and EBV reactivation. The long term consequences on IgG recovery aren’t well studied. This is a retrospective analysis of allogeneic pediatric SCT patients treated with rituximab at Loma Linda University from 2004 to 2013. We treated 23 patients with rituximab following allogeneic SCT (11 MUD, 7 MSD, 3 Cord) for post-transplant EBV reactivation alone (4), cGVHD alone (4), cGVHD in combination with thrombocytopenia (9), plus hemolysis (4) and EBV reactivation (2). Most patients required IVIG monthly (18) or more frequently (4) to maintain serum IgG levels >500mg/dl. We examined the length of time from end of rituximab therapy to recovery of endogenous IgG production. The effect on recovery of IgG production of cGVHD therapy, EBV infection, age, type of stem cell graft, and number of doses of rituximab were evaluated. Those treated for cGVHD plus any other indication (n=19) received a median of 11 doses of rituximab (range 4 to >30). Among these patients 11 of 14 whose cGVHD resolved and came off immune suppression recovered the ability to produce IgG completely (9) or partially (2, defined as decreasing frequency of IVIG infusions to maintain IgG>500mg/dl). Median time to recovery was 14 months (range 1-50 months) after last dose of rituximab. For patients who continued to require immune suppression for cGVHD only 1 of 5 recovered IgG production 13 months after last dose of rituximab. The remaining 4 patients required monthly or greater IVIG for >3 years after the last dose of rituximab (all still requiring IVIG). There were 4 patients treated with 2-4 doses of rituximab for EBV reactivation early after SCT, and 1 treated with 11 doses for cGVHD and EBV. Only 1 of these 5 has completely recovered IgG production. The 4 other patients remain dependent on IVIG a median of >39 months since end of rituximab therapy. We found no relationship between age of patient or duration of rituximab therapy on the time interval between end of rituximab therapy and onset of endogenous IgG production. Recipients of MUD grafts had a non-significant increase in failure to recover endogenous IgG production, but when the impact of therapy for cGVHD was taken into account the type of stem cell graft lost significance. Ability to recover endogenous IgG production following treatment with rituximab after SCT depends on successful treatment of cGVHD and in this group of patients requires about 1 year from end of therapy. Among those treated with rituximab whose cGVHD does not resolve and in those with early EBV reactivation, loss of IgG production persists at least several years, and this may be unrelated to rituximab therapy. Disclosures Off Label Use: rituximab for cGVHD.
Regulation of high glucose-induced apoptosis of brain pericytes by mitochondrial CA VA: A specific target for prevention of diabetic cerebrovascular pathology

Events responsible for cerebrovascular disease in diabetes are not fully understood. Pericyte loss is an early event that leads to endothelial cell death, microaneurysms, and cognitive impairment. A biochemical mechanism underlying pericyte loss is rapid respiration (oxidative metabolism of glucose). This escalation in respiration results from free influx of glucose into insulin-insensitive tissues in the face of high glucose levels in the blood. Rapid respiration generates superoxide, the precursor to all reactive oxygen species (ROS), and results in pericyte death. Respiration is regulated by carbonic anhydrases (CAs) VA and VB, the two isozymes expressed in mitochondria, and their pharmacologic inhibition with topiramate reduces respiration, ROS, and pericyte death. Topiramate inhibits both isozymes; therefore, in the earlier studies, their individual roles were not discerned. In a recent genetic study, we showed that mitochondrial CA VA plays a significant role in regulation of reactive oxygen species and pericyte death. The role of CA VB was not addressed. In this report, genetic knockdown and overexpression studies confirm that mitochondrial CA VA regulates respiration in pericytes, whereas mitochondrial CA VB does not contribute significantly. Identification of mitochondrial CA VA as a sole regulator of respiration provides a specific target to develop new drugs with fewer side effects that may be better tolerated and can protect the brain from diabetic injury. Since similar events occur in the capillary beds of other insulin-insensitive tissues such as the eye and kidney, these drugs may also slow the onset and progression of diabetic disease in these tissues.
Killing Minimally Responsible Threats

Minimal responsibility threateners (MRTs) are epistemically justified but mistaken in thinking that imposing a non-negligible risk on others is permissible. On standard accounts, an MRT forfeits her right not to be defensively killed. I propose an alternative account: an MRT is liable only to the degree of harm equivalent to what she risks causing multiplied by her degree of responsibility. Harm imposed on the MRT above that amount is justified as a lesser evil, relative to allowing the MRT to kill her victim. This hybrid account, which generalizes to those are who are more than minimally responsible, has considerable advantages.
The Longitudinal Relation Between Community Violence Exposure and Academic Engagement During Adolescence: Exploring Families' Protective Role.

Few published studies have examined the interaction between community violence exposure, academic engagement, and parental involvement, despite theory suggesting that these three domains of develop...
Cytologic Features of Mediastinal Lesions

The mediastinum contains a variety of anatomical structures that can give rise to benign or malignant neoplastic processes. Lesions of the mediastinum can be explored by fine-needle aspiration biopsy, under radiographic guidance, through a transthoracic or bronchoscopic approach. The reported diagnostic accuracy is approximately 85%. Although, thymomas and lymphomas are the most common primary lesions of the mediastinum, the site can be affected by a heterogeneous group of disease that can cause significant diagnostic difficulties. The pathologist must be aware of the diagnostic cytologic features, differential diagnosis, potential pitfalls, and the use of ancillary studies in rendering the accurate diagnosis. Here, we will discuss a pattern recognition approach to the lesions of the mediastinum obtained by aspiration biopsy. Emphasis will be placed on the differential diagnosis. In this approach, we will identify lesions that have spindle cell, epithelioid, lymphocyte-rich, small blue cells, inflammatory, and cystic components.
Aggressive necrotizing pseudomonal sinonasal infections

Background Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a gram-negative bacterium frequently implicated in recalcitrant sinonasal infections, especially in immunocompromised hosts. We report 6 cases of rapidly progressive pseudomonal acute rhinosinusitis producing tissue necrosis and, in certain cases, cranial nerve palsies. Methods Retrospective review of 6 patients with aggressive necrotizing sinonasal infections treated at 4 tertiary academic medical centers with sinonasal cultures growing P. aeruginosa in the absence of other pathology. Results A total of 6 patients were identified. In all cases, there was tissue necrosis that appeared to mimic an invasive process such as mucormycosis, prompting urgent surgical intervention. Pathologic analysis revealed fibropurulent exudates in backgrounds of positive P. aeruginosa cultures without evidence of invasive fungal organisms or malignancy. Four of the 6 patients presented with cranial nerve palsies, with 3 patients having vision changes and 3 complaining of trigeminal neuropathy. Four of 6 patients improved clinically over time after surgery and antibiotic therapy; 1 remains in follow-up without complete improvement and 1 has succumbed to other causes. Conclusion P. aeruginosa is a tenacious organism that is frequently associated with severe, recalcitrant sinonasal infections. We report the first case series of necrotizing sinonasal infections caused by this organism, and illustrate that, in rare cases, P. aeruginosa may mimic and behave like life-threatening conditions such as fulminant invasive fungal sinusitis or malignancy.
Evaluation of the impact of banking umbilical cord blood units with high cell dose for ethnically diverse patients.

Background Umbilical cord blood units provide an important stem cell source for transplantation, particularly for patients of ethnic diversity who may not have suitably matched available, adult-unrelated donors. However, with the cost of cord blood unit acquisition from public banks significantly higher than that for adult-unrelated donors, attention is focused on decreasing cost yet still providing cord blood units to patients in need. Historical practices of banking units with low total nucleated cell counts, including units with approximately 90 × 107 total nucleated cells, indicates that most banked cord blood units have much lower total nucleated cell counts than are required for transplant. Study design and methods The objective of this study was to determine the impact on the ability to identify suitable cord blood units for transplantation if the minimum total nucleated cell count for banking were increased from 90 × 107 to 124 or 149 × 107 . We analyzed ethnically diverse patients (median age, 3 years) who underwent transplantation of a single cord blood unit in 2005 to 2016. A cord blood unit search was evaluated to identify units with equal or greater human leukocyte antigen matching and a greater total nucleated cell count than that of the transplanted cord blood unit (the replacement cord blood unit). Results If the minimum total nucleated cell count for banking increased to 124 or 149 × 107 , then from 75 to 80% of patients would still have at least 1 replacement cord blood unit in the current (2016) cord blood unit inventory. The best replacement cord blood units were often found among cords with the same ethnic background as the patient. Conclusion The current data suggest that, if the minimum total nucleated cell count were increased for banking, then it would likely lead to an inventory of more desirable cord blood units while having minimal impact on the identification of suitable cord blood units for transplantation.
TIME-DEPENDENT NEUTRON FLUX IN PULSED MULTIPLYING ASSEMBLIES.

The variational method is used to reduce the general time-dependent Boltzmann equation to a multigroup (with overlapping or nonoverlapping) form. The variation of the fundamental decay rate with ma...
CENTRIFUGATION | Analytical Ultracentrifugation

Analytical ultracentrifugation (AUC) is a versatile and powerful method for the quantitative analysis of macromolecules in solution. AUC involves the measurement of the radial concentration gradients of molecules created by centrifugal force. Three optical systems are available for the analytical ultracentrifuge (absorbance, interference and fluorescence) that permit precise and selective observation of sedimentation in real time. In sedimentation velocity, the transport of solutes is interpreted using hydrodynamic theory to define the size, shape and interactions of macromolecules. Sedimentation equilibrium is a thermodynamic method where equilibrium concentration gradients at lower centrifugal fields are analyzed to measure macromolecular masses and interactions.
Evaluation of an intergenerational program for pregnant and parenting adolescents.

This study evaluates the Teenage Mothers-Grandmothers (TAM-GM) Program which operated during 1988-91 at a large inner-city hospital in the Bronx New York. Pregnant adolescents who received prenatal care were expected to attend classes on labor and delivery changes in pregnancy AIDS and sexually transmitted disease prevention teen concerns sexuality and family planning the physical care of the newborn the emotional needs of the newborn and older infant and nutrition. Grandmothers attended the classes with their pregnant daughters. Postpartum care in the clinic for the same mothers included check-ups monthly during the first year bimonthly during the second year and then every 3-6 months. Children were followed-up until the age of 3 years or until the mother turned age 19. The aim of the TAM-GM was to reduce repeat pregnancy. Grandmothers participated in counseling sessions with a social worker during their daughters pregnancy and in the first months postpartum. 59 grandmothers or 39% of those eligible attended at least one session of the TAM-GM Program; 34 attended 4-12 sessions; and 26 attended 1-3 sessions. Adolescent study participants completed questionnaires (demographic survey the Moos Family Environment Scale the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale the Brief Symptoms Inventory and the Arizona Social Support Interview) at Time 1 at the onset of TAM-GM Program and at Time 2 when the index children were aged 2-5 years. Of the 65 adolescent participants (38% of the original 171) 32 had mothers who attended at least one TAM-GM session. Open-ended interviews revealed seven categories of concern. Findings indicate that teens whose mothers participated in TAM-GM were significantly less likely to have dropped out of school and had significantly higher self-esteem scores. Teens credited the program with helping them feel better about the pregnancy and with improving relations with their mothers. Findings suggest that all benefitted in numerous ways from TAM-GM.
Conforming and nonconforming harmonic finite elements

ABSTRACTInstead of using the full polynomial space, a conforming and a nonconforming finite element methods are designed where only harmonic polynomials (a much smaller space) are employed in the c...
Advanced Glycation End Products Stimulate Angiotensinogen Production in Renal Proximal Tubular Cells.

ABSTRACT Background Elevated advanced glycation end products (AGE) in diabetes mellitus (DM) are implicated in the progression of DM-associated tissue injury, including diabetic nephropathy. The intrarenal renin-angiotensin system, in particular augmentation of angiotensinogen (AGT) in proximal tubular cells (PTC), plays a crucial role in the development of diabetic nephropathy. This study investigated hypothesis that AGE stimulates AGT production in PTC. Materials and Methods Urinary AGT and AGE levels in streptozotocin-induced DM mice were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. AGT expression and secretion were evaluated in cultured rat PTC receiving 0-200 µg/ml AGE-BSA treatments for 24 hours. Furthermore, intracellular signaling pathways activated by AGE were elucidated. Results DM mice exhibited greater urinary AGT and AGE levels compared to control mice (AGT: 21.6 ± 5.5 ng/day vs. 190.1 ± 57.8 ng/day, AGE: 139.1 ± 21.6 μg/day vs. 332.8 ± 102.7 μg/day). In cultured PTC, treatment with AGE-BSA enhanced AGT mRNA expression (3.43 ± 0.11-fold compared to control), intracellular AGT protein levels (3.60 ± 0.38-fold), and secreted AGT levels (2.11 ± 0.18-fold). On the other hand, AGT levels were not altered in PTC receiving nonglycated BSA. Recombinant soluble AGE receptor, which competes with endogenous AGE receptor, diminished the AGE-induced AGT upregulation, suggesting that AGE-BSA stimulates AGT expression via activation of the AGE receptor. Enhanced phosphorylation of ERK1/2 and c-Jun, but not p38 MAP kinase, were observed in AGE-BSA-treated PTC. AGE-induced AGT augmentation was attenuated by an ERK inhibitor. Conclusions The findings indicate that AGE enhances proximal tubular AGT expression via ERK1/2, which can exacerbate the development of diabetic related kidney injury.
Foreign trade and economic growth in South Africa

This study investigates the effects of foreign trade (economic openness) on South African economic growth. We control for the role of human capital accumulation, physical capital and foreign direct...
Quasi-Cyclic Protograph-Based Raptor-Like LDPC Codes for Short Block-Lengths

Protograph-based Raptor-like low-density parity-check codes (PBRL codes) are a family of easily encodable rate-compatible low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes. PBRL codes have an excellent performance across all design rates. Quasi-cyclic (QC) PBRL code families permit high-speed decoder implementations. PBRL codes designed thus far, for both long and short block-lengths, have been based on optimizing the iterative decoding threshold of the protograph of the PBRL family at various design rates. This paper introduces a design method to obtain better QC PBRL code families at short block-lengths (of a few hundred bits) for low frame error rate (FER) requirements. We first select a protomatrix for the highest design rate. To add a new row to lower the rate, we keep all the previously obtained rows of the PBRL protomatrix fixed and select the new row that maximizes an upper bound on the minimum distance of any QC-LDPC code that can be obtained from the protomatrix. The new QC PBRL code families outperform the original PBRL codes at short block-lengths by providing a significantly better low-FER performance. The standard approach to computing the aforementioned upper bounds requires complexity that grows exponentially with the size of the protomatrix. However, we show that the structure of the PBRL protomatrix lets us obtain the upper bounds with complexity that grows only linearly with the size of the PBRL protomatrix. Using the complexity reduction results, we also establish an equivalence between the exhaustive search to design a new row for the PBRL protomatrix according to the new design method and an integer linear program.
Enabling biodegradable functional biomaterials for the management of neurological disorders

An increasing number of patients are being diagnosed with neurological diseases, but are rarely cured because of the lack of curative therapeutic approaches. This situation creates an urgent clinical need to develop effective diagnosis and treatment strategies for repair and regeneration of injured or diseased neural tissues. In this regard, biodegradable functional biomaterials provide promising solutions to meet this demand owing to their unique responsiveness to external stimulation fields, which enable neuro-imaging, neuro-sensing, specific targeting, hyperthermia treatment, controlled drug delivery, and nerve regeneration. This review discusses recent progress in the research and development of biodegradable functional biomaterials including electroactive biomaterials, magnetic materials and photoactive biomaterials for the management of neurological disorders with emphasis on their applications in bioimaging (photoacoustic imaging, MRI and fluorescence imaging), biosensing (electrochemical sensing, magnetic sensing and opical sensing), and therapy strategies (drug delivery, hyperthermia treatment, and tissue engineering). It is expected that this review will provide an insightful discussion on the roles of biodegradable functional biomaterials in the diagnosis and treatment of neurological diseases, and lead to innovations for the design and development of the next generation biodegradable functional biomaterials.
The Use of Echocardiography and Advanced Cardiac Ultrasonography During Pregnancy

Pregnancy is a time of significant cardiovascular change. Echocardiography is the primary imaging modality used to assess cardiovascular anatomy and physiology during pregnancy. Both two-dimensional (2D) echocardiography and advanced cardiac ultrasound modalities play pivotal roles in identifying and monitoring these changes, especially in women with preexisting or new cardiac disease. This paper reviews the role of echocardiography and advanced cardiac ultrasound during normal pregnancy and pregnancy complicated by hypertensive disorders, valvular disorders, and cardiomyopathy. It also examines the role of echocardiography in guiding decisions about delivery. The data establishing normal echo parameters during pregnancy are inconsistent. In addition, there is limited research exploring the role of advanced cardiac ultrasound modalities, such as tissue Doppler imaging or speckle tracking echocardiography, in assessing cardiac function during pregnancy. What data there are suggest that these advanced modalities can be used to identify subclinical changes before traditional echocardiography can, and thus have clear utility in identifying early abnormal cardiac responses to pregnancy. Echocardiography is the modality of choice for imaging the heart in pregnant women. Advanced ultrasound modalities increasingly play a role in identifying abnormal adaptations to pregnancy and detecting subclinical changes. This, in turn, can help promote a healthy pregnancy for both mother and fetus.
Constitutional Delay of Puberty

Constitutional delay of puberty is the single most common cause of delayed puberty in females, occurring in 30 % of cases. Patients will eventually progress spontaneously through puberty, however, constitutional delay is a diagnosis of exclusion. In many cases it is difficult to make a distinction between constitutional delay and GnRH deficiency. Only observation with eventual spontaneous progression of puberty can make the diagnosis of constitutional delay. Final height is usually appropriate for their genetic potential, but is commonly in the low normal range. Treatment options include observation or short-term estrogen therapy if psychosocial concerns are significant.
UPLC-MS/MS method for the determination of acrylic acid in tap water

A simple and rapid method employing ultra-high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry has been developed for the direct determination of acrylic acid in tap water for the first ...