cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Mobile Data Overlay (MDO): A Data Placement Paradigm for Mobile Applications

This paper addresses the issue of proxy-based data placement for mobile applications. The key idea is to use aggregated information about mobile users and their data request patterns to determine when, how frequently and how much data to be replicated on proxies. Specifically, we introduce a novel representation, mobile data overlay (MDO) that captures aggregated mobile data access patterns. The underlying representation of the MDO utilizes an interval tree-based data structure in supporting efficient spatio-temporal operations on mobile data access information. We develop intelligent MDO reconfiguration (ReC-MDO) techniques that help determine proper granularity of data replication operation (i.e. appropriate segmentation of each data object) by extracting spatio-temporal locality of mobile data access patterns. The ReC-MDO approach effectively balances tradeoffs between replication cost and data access cost in making mobile data placement decisions on proxies. Through extensive experimentation, we demonstrate the superiority of our techniques over several popular data placement strategies.
State Standards and Digital Primary Sources: A Divergence

The past decade has witnessed a proliferation of state standards and their associated tests in public schools in order to hold schools, teachers, and students accountable for learning outcomes and achievement. In this qualitative study of eight world history and world geography teachers, the degree to which the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOLs) influenced the use of digital primary source materials was examined. The SOLs had a negative influence on digital primary source use because of the large amount of material to be covered for the test, the focus of the test on fact-recall, and the intense pressure noted by the majority of teachers for their students to pass the test. Each finding, as well as its implications, is discussed.
Effects of Diabetes on Development of Small Intestinal Enzymes of Infant Rats

The effect of streptozotocin (SZ) on the development of small intestinal enzymes in postnatal rat pups was studied. SZ was injected ip on Day 10 and, if necessary, again on Day 12. On Days 15, 18, and 21, one pup from each group (including a vehicle-injected control (C) group) was decapitated under conditions which minimized stress. Plasma glucose, insulin (IRI), and corticosterone were measured, as were pancreatic IRI, liver glycogen, and liver membrane binding of IRI. Small intestinal segments were processed and analyzed for sucrase, lactase, maltase, and ileal acid P-galactosidase activities. Our results indicate that plasma glucocorticoid levels remained virtually constant in both SZ and C groups, while the ontogenic profiles of sucrase and maltase in SZ rats were shifted toward an earlier appearance and a precocious maturation. Circulating levels of IRI were not reduced significantly by SZ despite the fact that pancreatic IRI was decreased 95%. Jejunal lactase, unlike data reported for adult diabetic rats, was not affected by SZ diabetes. Also, acid p-galactosidase was unaltered in the SZ rat pups. It is concluded that possibly the: elevated disaccharidases seen in diabetic postnatal rat pups are the direct effect of elevated blood glucose. If so, the SZ rat pup model may be a useful tool with which to study effects of glucose on intestinal enzymes in the absence of changes in plasma insulin. 0 1988 Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine. The effects of diabetes on intestinal brush- border hydrolases in adult rodents are well documented. Both total and specific activi- ties of sucrase, maltase, and lactase increase several days after induction of diabetes with alloxan or streptozotocin ( 1-4). The effects are prevented or markedly diminished by in- sulin therapy, suggesting that they are the re- sult of insulin deficiency and not a direct ef- fect of the agent used to produce diabetes. Interestingly, exogenous insulin administra- tion also increases sucrase, lactase, and alka- line phosphatase activity in adult nondia- betic rats (5). Intestinal disaccharidase activi- ties are also elevated in genetically diabetic mice; however, lactase appea.rs to be a lone exception in this regard (6). In contrast to the many reports in adult rats, the effect of dia- betes in infant rats, especially on the develop- ment of small intestinal enzymes, has not been examined. Rat small intestinal enzymes which are in- volved in carbohydrate hydrolysis undergo major developmental changes accompany- ing the process of weaning (7). The develop- mental changes are characterized by two groups of enzymes. The first group of en- zymes, represented by sucrase and maltase, increases in activity during the third postna- tal week (8, 9). The second group of en- zymes, represented by lactase and acid P-ga- lactosidase, decreases in activity during the third postnatal week (8, 10). The hormones corticosterone and thyroxine have been im-
The effectiveness of public defenders in four Florida counties

The present study utilizes data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics to examine the effectiveness of public defenders in Florida to assess whether the case outcomes of defendants with public defenders are similar to the case outcomes of defendants with retained attorneys, controlling for legally-relevant variables. Methods: The present study utilizes both logistic and OLS regression analysis to examine differences between attorneys for seven different case outcomes. Results: Results indicate that defendants with public defenders are more likely to be detained pretrial, more likely to be convicted, and less likely to have their cases dismissed. The results dispute previous research which found few, if any, differences between public defenders and retained counsel. Conclusion: Results suggest that, at least in the counties examined, defendants with public defenders suffer from a lack of quality counsel.
Management Location Service - to Auto-Configure Network Nodes with Domain Managers

As the network grows fast to large scale and heterogeneity, the distributed network management technologies do make management model flexible and scalable. However, to deal with the initial configuration of so large and complex the distributed system adds much more burden to network operators. Thus, Management Location Service (MLS) is proposed to make the configuration of network nodes with domain managers automatically. It employs mobile agent technology to implement the procedure of auto-configuration, which discovers new-added network nodes and makes the match between network nodes and domain managers through some strategy. Meanwhile, it is scalable in the distributed architecture the way of periodically exchanging the information of all the MLSs in a management system. Compared with the existing methods, it obviates the limitation of network division strategy, which is generally based on physical area, and makes domain generated by either logical area or network node type.
A Quality Assurance Framework for Network Attack Correlation

Traditional intrusion detection techniques cannot handle the uncertainty and complexity of network attack correlation tasks. They lack the capability to assure the quality of knowledge fusion especially in large distributed systems, which is the key to efficient cyber defense. We propose a systematic and process-oriented approach to engineer network attack correlation, which, based on a probabilistic model, focuses on reconfigurability and quality assurance of distributed intrusion detection systems in a well-controlled paradigm. We elaborate the conceptual framework in this exploratory study along with some preliminary evaluation results introduced and conclude with future directions..
Effect of Xylan and Lignin Removal by Batch and Flowthrough Pretreatment on the Enzymatic Digestibility of Corn Stover Cellulose

Compared with batch systems, flowthrough and countercurrent reactors have important potential advan- tages for pretreating cellulosic biomass, including higher hemicellulose sugar yields, enhanced cellulose digestibility, and reduced chemical additions. Unfortunately, they suffer from high water and energy use. To better understand these trade-offs, comparative data are reported on xylan and lignin removal and enzymatic digestibility of cellu- lose for corn stover pretreated in batch and flowthrough reactors over a range of flow rates between 160j and 220jC, with water only and also with 0.1 wt% sulfuric acid. Increasing flow with just water enhanced the xylan dissolution rate, more than doubled total lignin removal, and increased cellulose digestibility. Furthermore, adding dilute sulfuric acid increased the rate of xylan removal for both batch and flowthrough systems. Interestingly, adding acid also increased the lignin removal rate with flow, but less lignin was left in solution when acid was added in batch. Although the enzymatic hydrolysis of pretreated cellulose was related to xylan removal, as others have shown, the digestibility was much better for flowthrough compared with batch systems, for the same degree of xylan removal. Cellulose digestibility for flowthrough reactors was related to lignin removal as well. These results suggest that altering lignin also affects the enzymatic digestibility of corn stover. B 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Cloud Computing Providers

Cloud computing is popular today because of the reliable services provided by major companies such as Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Rackspace and Terremark. In order to provide reliable cloud computing service the provider must invest large sums in infrastructure. Their architecture includes several redundancies. Each of these global service providers have several data centers spread all over the world. These data centers help cloud consumers meet their governmental requirements that cloud data must reside within the country or in the region. Moreover, these distributed data centers facilitate storage redundancy and help with low latency response. Also, these providers offer some or all of the three types of cloud services—SaaS, PaaS and IaaS. Besides these cloud service providers (CSPs), there are also several niche cloud service providers such as Salesforce, Apple, VMware, Dropbox and SoftLayer. These companies focus on specific services such as Customer Relations Management (CRM), music distribution, virtualization, storage and bare metal servers. Another set of businesses focus on providing third party coordination of service for businesses needing cloud service. In this chapter we describe the services offered by the major cloud service providers, niche cloud service providers and highlight the important role that these third party facilitators provide and how small and medium sized businesses could benefit.
Paying-to-Play in Securities Class Actions: A Look at Lawyers' Campaign Contributions

Note: Updated data is now available on the N.Y.U. Law Review's online Dataverse.“Paying-to-play” describes the practice of lawyers making campaign contributions to public pension funds’ political leadership in order to gain favorable consideration by the funds for appointment as class counsel in securities class actions. Many reforms have been proposed and enacted in response to paying-to-play fears. Aside from a few anecdotal reports, however, no examination of campaign contributions from plaintiffs’ lawyers to elected officials exists in the legal literature. This Note presents the first comprehensive report on campaign contributions that serve as the basis for paying-to-play concerns. My data suggest that law firms do indeed contribute to the investment funds that select them as class counsel, ruling out one possible response to paying-to-play fears, namely, that these contributions are not being made in the first place. This Note also provides guidance for future research, and in doing so, touches upon issues such as the reasons that firms donate and how funds make counsel-selection decisions.
Abstract 4092: Aberrant miRNA methylation in tumors from surgically resected lung cancer patients and association with survival

Proceedings: AACR 101st Annual Meeting 2010‐‐ Apr 17‐21, 2010; Washington, DC MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non coding RNAs of about 22 nucleotides in length, which regulate their target gene expression by binding to the 3′ UTR of mRNA. Recent studies have shown that some miRNAs are regulated by DNA methylation and aberrant miRNA gene methylation contributes to human tumorigenesis. In this study, we used real-time quantitative methylation-specific PCR to detect a panel of miRNA methylation in tumor and adjacent normal tissues from surgically resected lung cancer patients. We found significantly higher methylation levels of miR-124a family, miR-126, miR-193a, miR-9 family, and miR-34b/c in tumor tissues (N=107) than in normal tissues (N=19, P<0.05), but no significant difference was found for miRNA-137 and miRNA-148a. The methylation levels of four miRNAs (miRNA-124a3, miRNA-148a, miR-9-3, and miR-34b/c) were higher in tumors from older patients than those from younger patients. MiR-9-1 (29.56±29.51) and miR-9-3 (30.49±28.50) had higher methylation in tumors from current smokers than never smokers (15.77±15.28 and 10.71±11.32, P=0.036 and 0.021, respectively). There were no significant differences in methylation levels of these four miRNAs between tumors from men and women. Hypermethylation of miR-9-1, miR-9-3, miR-34b/c and miR-148a was associated with significantly better survival with hazard rations of 0.35 (95% CI, 0.17-0.72), 0.48 (95% CI, 0.25-0.91), 0.52 (95% CI, 0.27-0.99), and 0.52 (95% CI, 0.28-0.98), respectively. Our results demonstrated that selected miRNAs are hypermethylated in lung cancer and miRNA hypermethylation might be a useful biomarker in detection and prognosis of lung cancer. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 4092.
Binding Interactions in Dimers of Phenalenyl and Closed-Shell Analogues

Phenalenyl, an open-shell neutral radical that can form both π-stacked dimers and conducting molecular crystals, has gained attention for its interesting and potentially useful electrical and magnetic properties. The properties of this complex physical system are fairly well understood, making it an ideal testing ground for the newly developed van der Waals density functional (vdW-DF). We invoke a simple approximation, allowing the vdW-DF to be used within spin-polarized density functional theory and test this approximation on the π-stacked phenalenyl dimer. The results indicate that the vdW-DF is capable of qualitatively describing the interaction between two neutral radicals in the π-stacked configuration, producing, in line with experiment, binding distances that are significantly below the sum of the van der Waals radii. This is a nontypical distance range where most other theories fail. We then investigate two hypothetical closed-shell analogues of this dimer, one formed by replacing the central carb...
AUTOMOBILE RECYCLING : ENVIRONMENTAL POLICYMAKING IN A CONSTRAINED MARKETPLACE

Rising interest in legislated recycling initiatives has brought increased attention to the recyclability of the automobile. Recycling itself is one of a series of environmental initiatives that have gained momentum in recent years. However, recycling is also an industrial process, and as such is subject to technological realities and market pressures. In that light, this article presents an economic picture of the materials cycle in automobile recycling.
The Productivity of NHLBI-Funded Obesity Research, 1983-2013

Objective To describe and elucidate the time trends of the academic productivity of NHLBI's obesity-related research funding via bibliometric analysis of 30 years of NHLBI-supported obesity-related publications. Methods In total, 3,545 NHLBI-funded obesity-related publications were identified in the Thomson Reuters InCites™ database. Shared references in a community detection algorithm were used to identify publication topics. Characteristics of publications and topical communities were analyzed based on citation count and percentile rank. A percentile rank >90 was considered “highly cited.” Results Obesity-related publications increased more than 10-fold over 30 years, whereas NHLBI-funded publications only increased twofold NHLBI-funded obesity publications were cited a median of 23 times (IQR 8-55, range 0-2,047, mean 52). Thirty percent of these publications were highly cited compared to the expected ten percent. Six topical communities were present in 1983 compared to 16 in 2013. The most highly cited topical areas were sleep (n = 199 publications, 38% highly cited), cardiovascular morbidity and mortality (n = 277, 36%), obesity correlates and consequences (n = 588, 35%), and asthma and inflammation (n = 283, 35%). Conclusions NHLBI-funded obesity publications have contributed substantially to the obesity literature, with many highly cited. Publications grew in number and topical diversity over 30 years and grew at a faster rate than total NHLBI publications.
MJO INDEX FORECASTING BASED ON SSA-AR MODEL

Using both the Singular Spectrum Analysis(SSA) and Auto-regression(AR) model,this study presents a short-term forecast experiment on the vectors of the tropical atmospheric intraseasonal oscillation(MJO) index under the condition of an auto-adaptive filter.The results show that the SSA-AR model was very efficient to forecast the MJO index for a period of 1～20 days ahead.For a 20 day forecast,the correlation coefficient between the predicted and validated observations,when averaged for the two indices,was 0.5,which was better than the result of the AR model.Therefore,the forecast skills of this SSA-AR prediction scheme were steady and its independent sample tests and real forecasts were of high precision.If the SSA-AR scheme is further revised,it is possible that it becomes an efficient model for operational forecast of MJO.
Effects of straw addition on decomposition,transformation and composition of soil organic carbon pool

Most studies on straw decomposition in soil have been conducted with straw additions in the range of 0-100 g of straw per kilogram of soil.Actually,straw could be unevenly incorporated into soil resulting in very high local straw addition amounts,higher than 100 g per kilogram of soil under field conditions.There have been contradictory research results about straw decomposition in soil with straw addition of less than 100 g per kilogram of soil.In this study,the effects of straw addition amounts on organic carbon decomposition,composition and liability of yellow fluvo-aquic soils and lime concretion black soils were studied to develop a theoretical basis for straw decomposition in soils,and improvements in soil carbon cycle and soil fertility for high-harvest cultivation.After one year of indoor soil incubation with straw addition amounts of 0-400 g per kilogram of soil at(35±1) and℃ 80%-95% field water capacity,the decomposition rates and humification coefficients of soil organic matter,soil C/N ratio,active soil organic carbon(AOC),inactive organic carbon(IOC),total organic carbon(TOC),AOC/TOC ratio and carbon lability(soil AOC/IOC ratio,L%) were determined.The results showed that humification coefficients of total soil organic matter were 20%-35%.With increasing straw dose,humification coefficient decreased while organic matter decomposition rate,AOC,IOC,TOC and L increased.These variables were significantly(P 0.01) and positively correlated with straw addition amount.Also while a significant(P 0.01) and positive correlation was noted between AOC and TOC,the correlation between the humification coefficient and L was significant(P 0.01) but negative.The contents of clay particles smaller than 0.002 mm in yellow fluvo-aquic soils and lime concretion black soils were 33% and 41%,respectively.Straw was more likely to break down in yellow fluvo-aquic soils than in lime concretion black soils.Higher clay content in lime concretion black soils highly favored soil carbon storage.After one year of indoor incubation,soil AOC/TOC ratio and L in yellow fluvo-aquic soils were on average 7.6 and 12.3 percentage points higher than those in lime concretion black soils,respectively.Humification coefficient and soil C/N ratio in lime concretion black soils were on average 3.2 and 2.3 percentage points higher than those in yellow fluvo-aquic soils,respectively.In conclusion,the higher the soil carbon lability,the more beneficial was to increasing decomposition rate and reducing humification coefficient of soil organic matter.Then the higher the soil clay content,the lower the decomposition rate and the higher the humificatin coefficient of soil organic matter.This was in accordance with the results of previous studies conducted with straw addition amount less than 100 g per kilogram of soil.There was the need for further studies under field conditions under different soil types and different straw addition amounts.
Partial Laryngeal Procedures

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on the organ-preservation surgery approach used for managing laryngeal cancer. While advancements have been made over the past two decades in nonsurgical approaches to avoid total laryngectomy, synchronous developments in the area of organ preservation surgery have decreased the percentage of patients requiring total laryngectomy when surgery is the primary modality. The second major development in surgical approaches for organ preservation over the past two decades was the introduction of endoscopic resection of laryngeal carcinoma. Endoscopic approaches, utilizing both laser and standard techniques, have been shown to have high local control rates for early lesions. Contrary to popular belief among patients and clinicians, the voice outcome following endoscopic resection of selected glottic and supraglottic lesions has been shown to be equivalent to that after radiation therapy. The addition of supracricoid partial laryngectomies on one end of the surgical spectrum and endoscopic approaches on the other has fueled a renaissance in the surgical management of laryngeal carcinoma. The first concept of the organ preservation surgery paradigm is that there are nonsurgical as well as surgical approaches for organ preservation and that both have a place in the management of laryngeal cancer. Functions like speech, swallowing, and respiration without a permanent tracheostomy are possible if the organ preservation surgery approach spares at least one functional cricoarytenoid unit. Local control in this approach is also critical as local failure following either surgical or nonsurgical organ preservation approaches has been associated with a decrease in survival, and the patient has to undergo total laryngectomy.
Integra-based Reconstruction of Large Scalp Wounds: A Case Report and Systematic Review of the Literature.

Background:Large complex scalp wounds that have traditionally required free vascularized tissue transfer have been successfully reconstructed with skin substitutes such as Integra. Although there are multiple reports of Integra-based reconstructions of scalp wounds, there has not been a comprehensiv
Securing acoustics-based short-range communication systems: an overview

Mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets have continued to grow in recent years. Nowadays, people rely on these ubiquitous smart devices and carry them everywhere in their daily lives. Acoustic signal, as a simple and prevalent transmitting vector for end-to-end communication, shows unique characteristics comparing with another popular communication method, i.e., optical signal, especially on the applications performed over smart devices. Acoustic signal does not require line-of-sight when transmission, the computational power of most smart devices are sufficient to modulate/demodulate acoustic signal using software acoustic modem only, which can be easily deployed on current off-the-shelf smart devices. Therefore, many acoustics-based short range communication systems have been developed and are used in sensitive applications such as building access control and mobile payment system. However, past work shows that an acoustic eavesdropper snooping on the communication between a transmitter and its legitimate receiver can easily break their communication protocol and decode the transmitted information. To solve this problem, many solutions have been proposed to protect the acoustic signal against eavesdroppers. In this overview, we explore the designs of existing solutions, the corresponding implementations, and their methodologies to protect acoustic signal communication. For each dependable and secure acoustics-based short range communication system, we present the major technical hurdles to be overcome, the state-of-the-art, and also offer a vision of the future research issues on this promising technology.
Cardioprotective Role of Tumor Necrosis Factor Receptor-Associated Factor 2 by Suppressing Apoptosis and Necroptosis

Background:Programmed cell death, including apoptosis, mitochondria-mediated necrosis, and necroptosis, is critically involved in ischemic cardiac injury, pathological cardiac remodeling, and heart...
What goes up, must come down? The asymmetric effects of economic growth and international threat on military spending:

Do considerations that cause military spending increases symmetrically cause spending cuts? Models of military spending that estimate a single effect for major independent variables implicitly assu...
Cognitive benefits of walking in natural versus built environments

Leisure time physical activity can be a robust preventer of physical and mental illness. The health benefits of exercise have been well-documented, including decreased risk for obesity, diabetes, a...
Melanocortin 1 Receptor Targeted Imaging of Melanoma With Gold Nanocages and Positron Emission Tomography.

Purpose:Melanoma is a lethal skin cancer with unmet clinical needs for targeted imaging and therapy. Nanoscale materials conjugated with targeting components have shown great potential to improve t...
Use of pulmonary arterial hypertension-specific therapy in non-WHO group I pulmonary hypertension.

Objectives The development of pulmonary hypertension (PH) in non-World Health Organization group I PH adversely affects exercise capacity. It is unclear whether pulmonary artery hypertension (PAH)-specific drugs improve pulmonary hemodynamics and exercise capacity in such patients. Methods We performed a retrospective chart review of consecutive patients with non-World Health Organization group I PH treated with PAH-specific therapy. Results We identified 24 patients. The mean (standard deviation) age was 48 (14.8) years. Seventeen (71%) patients were women. The 6-minute walk distance improved significantly for the whole group in an initial follow-up period of 4.6 (2.3) months; however, the improvement was seen only in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) or severe PH and it was not sustained during a longer follow-up period of 11.5 (4.1) months, except in patients with OSA. PH was treated with a variety of PAH-specific drugs, including combination therapy in five patients. Conclusions The use of PAH-specific therapy in selected patients with PH secondary to lung diseases, OSA, or sarcoidosis may result in significant improvement in 6-minute walk distance, particularly in patients with OSA or severe PH.
New Materials From Reactions in Intermediate Temperature Molten Salts. Synthetic Methodologies for Multinary Solid State Chalcogenides

The critical role solid state chemistry and physics play in modern technology is in little doubt. Solid state compounds have been the foundation of the entire electronics industry for many years, and many emerging technologies such as nonlinear optics, high-Tc superconductors, high energy density storage batteries, and photovoltaics, to name just a few, will hinge on developments in the economical processing of existing solid state materials and the discovery of new materials with new or enhanced properties. In this context, the importance of exploratory solid state synthesis is obvious. The bulk of exploratory synthesis in solid state chemistry traditionally has relied on high temperatures (>600 °C) to defeat the problem of solid state diffusion. These high temperatures give rise to two important synthetic limitations. First, the reactions almost always proceed to the most thermodynamically stable products; the high energies involved often leave little room for kinetic control. These thermodynamically stable products are typically the simplest of binary or ternary compounds, and because of their high lattice stability, they become synthetic road blocks which often take a considerable investment of effort to circumvent, if they can be circumvented at all. Second, the high reaction temperatures also dictate that only the simplest chemical building blocks can be used; that is, elements on the atomic level. Attempts to synthesize using molecules of known structure are doomed because the high temperatures used disrupt most bonds and reduce the system to atoms rushing to a thermodynamic minimum. Hence, multinary compounds are more difficult to form, the preference lying with the more stable binary and ternary compounds.
Ecomorphological diet predictions : an assessment using inland silverside (Menidia beryllina) and longear sunfish (Lepomis megalotis) from Lake Texoma

The functions of an organism‘s morphological structures indicatethe organism‘s potential resource use (fundamental niche). Whilethis information often is also used to predict differences inactual resource use (realized niche) among individuals or species,such predictions may not be accurate because the maximum abilitiesmay not be useful to the organism under specific conditions or inspecific environments. We investigated the importance of sixpreviously studied morphologically based performanceabilities/constraints in structuring the diet of Menidiaberyllina (inland silverside) and Lepomis megalotis (longearsunfish) in Lake Texoma, a reservoir in the Red River basin(Oklahoma-Texas, USA). Of the six morphological characteristicsmeasured (number of gill rakers, length of gill rakers, spacebetween gill rakers, eye lens diameter, mouth size, mouthprotrusibility), only one characteristic for M. beryllina(mouth size) and three for L. megalotis (space betweenrakers, mouth size, and raker length) correlated with the gutcontents as predicted by previous functional morphology studies.This indicates that caution should be exercised when makinguntested predictions about the ecology of an organism based on itsfunctional morphology.
Computational study of the impact of ancillary ligands upon a tungsten (IV) imide complex for catalytic methane functionalization

Abstract A DFT study is reported of the effects of various ancillary ligands upon a tungsten imide complex (W(OSiH3)2( NMe)), as it reacts with a methane C H bond. The ancillary ligands (NMe3, PMe3, BMe3) are used to modulate steric and electronic effects for catalytic alkane functionalization. Oxidative addition (OA) was the preferred mechanism of C H activation via the Lewis bases NMe3 and PMe3, leading to formation of octahedral WVI products. However, the Lewis acid BMe3 reacted differently, as it experienced a coordination change from tungsten to nitrogen during methane activation, following an alternative C H activation pathway: [2 + 2] addition across the W B bond. NMe3 has the most favorable activation free energy among the three ancillary ligands studied (NMe3 = 33.2 kcal/mol, PMe3 = 39.9 kcal/mol, BMe3 = 40.0 kcal/mol). However, in contrast to a recent study of tethered ancillary ligands, the absence of an ancillary ligand proved to be even more energy favored as it was calculated to have a lower energy barrier (31.8 kcal/mol) than NMe3. This difference is interesting and implies too strong metal-ancillary ligand interactions will quench reactivity even for Lewis bases that donate more electron density to the metal.
Predictors of Short-term Morbidity and Mortality in Open Anterior Skull Base Surgery.

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS To describe rates of complications and mortality within 30 days of open anterior skull base surgery using a large, multi-institutional outcomes database. STUDY DESIGN Retrospective cohort study. METHODS The study included patients who underwent open anterior skull base surgery as listed in the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Project database from 2007 through 2014. RESULTS A total of 336 open anterior skull base surgeries were identified. One hundred nine (32.4%) patients experienced a complication, reoperation, or mortality. The most common events were postoperative transfusion (15.8%), reoperation (10.1%), and readmission (8.0%). Significant independent predictors of any adverse event included higher American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score and increased total operative time (both P 24 hours (P < .001), lower preoperative hematocrit (P = .02), higher ASA score (P = .04), and increased total operative time (P < .001). CONCLUSIONS Open anterior skull base surgery is understandably complex, and is thus associated with a relatively high adverse event rate. Knowledge of factors associated with adverse events has the potential to improve preoperative optimization of controllable variables and translate into improved surgical outcomes for patients. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE NA Laryngoscope, 129:1407-1412, 2019.
Sense-making of Federal Education Policy: Social Network Analysis of Social Media Discourse around the Every Student Succeeds Act:

Grounded in the sense-making literature, this study explores the discourse around and sentiment toward the newly passed Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) as discussed on the social media platform T...
Comparative Accuracy of Diagnosis by Collective Intelligence of Multiple Physicians vs Individual Physicians.

Importance The traditional approach of diagnosis by individual physicians has a high rate of misdiagnosis. Pooling multiple physicians’ diagnoses (collective intelligence) is a promising approach to reducing misdiagnoses, but its accuracy in clinical cases is unknown to date. Objective To assess how the diagnostic accuracy of groups of physicians and trainees compares with the diagnostic accuracy of individual physicians. Design, Setting, and Participants Cross-sectional study using data from the Human Diagnosis Project (Human Dx), a multicountry data set of ranked differential diagnoses by individual physicians, graduate trainees, and medical students (users) solving user-submitted, structured clinical cases. From May 7, 2014, to October 5, 2016, groups of 2 to 9 randomly selected physicians solved individual cases. Data analysis was performed from March 16, 2017, to July 30, 2018. Main Outcomes and Measures The primary outcome was diagnostic accuracy, assessed as a correct diagnosis in the top 3 ranked diagnoses for an individual; for groups, the top 3 diagnoses were a collective differential generated using a weighted combination of user diagnoses with a variety of approaches. A version of the McNemar test was used to account for clustering across repeated solvers to compare diagnostic accuracy. Results Of the 2069 users solving 1572 cases from the Human Dx data set, 1228 (59.4%) were residents or fellows, 431 (20.8%) were attending physicians, and 410 (19.8%) were medical students. Collective intelligence was associated with increasing diagnostic accuracy, from 62.5% (95% CI, 60.1%-64.9%) for individual physicians up to 85.6% (95% CI, 83.9%-87.4%) for groups of 9 (23.0% difference; 95% CI, 14.9%-31.2%;P Conclusions and Relevance A collective intelligence approach was associated with higher diagnostic accuracy compared with individuals, including individual specialists whose expertise matched the case diagnosis, across a range of medical cases. Given the few proven strategies to address misdiagnosis, this technique merits further study in clinical settings.
Nitrogen sourcing during viral infection of marine cyanobacteria

The building blocks of a virus derived from de novo biosynthesis during infection and/or catabolism of preexisting host cell biomass, and the relative contribution of these 2 sources has important consequences for understanding viral biogeochemistry. We determined the uptake of extracellular nitrogen (N) and its biosynthetic incorporation into both virus and host proteins using an isotope-labeling proteomics approach in a model marine cyanobacterium Synechococcus WH8102 infected by a lytic cyanophage S-SM1. By supplying dissolved N as 15N postinfection, we found that proteins in progeny phage particles were composed of up to 41% extracellularly derived N, while proteins of the infected host cell showed almost no isotope incorporation, demonstrating that de novo amino acid synthesis continues during infection and contributes specifically and substantially to phage replication. The source of N for phage protein synthesis shifted over the course of infection from mostly host derived in the early stages to more medium derived later on. We show that the photosystem II reaction center proteins D1 and D2, which are auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs) in the S-SM1 genome, are made de novo during infection in an apparently light-dependent manner. We also identified a small set of host proteins that continue to be produced during infection; the majority are homologs of AMGs in S-SM1 or other viruses, suggesting selective continuation of host protein production during infection. The continued acquisition of nutrients by the infected cell and their utilization for phage replication are significant for both evolution and biogeochemical impact of viruses.
Use of MRI and CT image indexing to assess cerebral injuries in neonates with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy.

BACKGROUND The aim of this study is to explore the application of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) image indexing in the assessment of cerebral injury of hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) neonate. METHODS The clinical data of 100 HIE children, who were admitted to the Department of Radiology, Xuzhou Children's Hospital, Jiangsu, from June 2013 to June 2014, were statistically analyzed. RESULTS Among the imaging data of 100 HIE children, the detection rate and false negative rate were 91.4% and 8.6%, respectively. The MRI detection rate was 100%. There was significant correlation between clinical indexing and CT indexing and MRI indexing (coefficient of contingency 0.731 and 0.723, P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS MRI and CT image indexing could be used as important diagnostic indications in the assessment of cerebral injury of HIE neonate. MRI had a higher detection rate for abnormality than CT, it could detect the basal ganglia damage earlier, and CT could identify subarachnoid hemorrhage, both methods were valuable in clinical applications.
Magnetic Field Optimization of an In-Vacuum Undulator at NSLS-II Transactions on Applied Superconductivity

A 3.0 m long In-Vacuum Undulator (IVU) is employed at the National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II) for the Hard X-ray Nanoprobe (HXN) beamline providing structural and X-ray fluorescence imaging with world-leading spatial resolution. On July 1 st 2018 a gearbox shaft in the gap drive train assembly sheared due to corrosion fatigue caused by stress due to mechanical misalignment. The device was extracted from the storage ring and measured. The magnetic field measurements detected a degradation of the magnetic performance as well as a localized demagnetization of the magnetic modules of the first 3 upstream periods. This paper describes the mechanical repairs and the magnetic phase shimming optimization implemented to restore the spectral performance of the device.
The theory and practice of developing intercultural competence with pre-service teachers on-campus and abroad

This article describes the theory and practice of three education courses focusing on critical multicultural education. Two versions of the course take place on the campus of a small liberal arts u...
Recreational Value of the Pigeon Island National Park, Sri Lanka

Coastal resources are crucial and important to support life in the planet. Benefits derived from coastal resources are well known and widely recognized. Pigeon Island National Park is one of the best remaining coral reefs with high live coral cover in Sri Lanka and is an ideal location for scuba diving and snorkelling. The objective of this research was to explore the recreational value of the Pigeon Island. A sample of hundred participants including both foreigners and locals were selected using systematic sampling and every fifth person who passes the entry point was interviewed. Contingent valuation method was used in the analysis in the study. The result revealed that majority (92%) of foreigners who visited the island were non- Asians. Almost all the foreign visitors participated in Scenic visit, diving visit, whale watching and Sunbath. Both locals and foreigners ranked diving as the most preferred activity. Average cost for boating was Rs. 1,300 per hour for foreign visitors, average cost for diving was Rs. 3470 per person per hour which were nearly twice the value that of local visitors. Foreign visitors’ mean willingness to pay for diving was Rs.3670 and, for whale watching was Rs.1510. But for local visitor’s willingness to pay for diving visit was Rs.1240, for whale watching was Rs.919.00. Average willingness to pay of the foreign visitors for entrance fee was Rs.1560 and the average willingness to pay of the local visitors for the entrance fee was Rs 644.00. Results of the T test presented that significant difference between foreign visitors and local visitors for total and entrance fee willingness to pay, hours of spending, costs for boating, for diving and for whale watching. Chi square analysis showed that there was a high significant association between the total willingness to pay by the local visitors and the education level of the respondent (X2=76.75, p < 0.01). A significant association was observed between the total willingness to pay by the local visitors and the cost for boating in the Pigeon Island (X2=36.52, p < 0.01). In addition, total willingness to pay was significantly affected by age, hours of spending, number of the group members and expenses for meals. The study revealed that the current entrance fees do not capture the economic value of the Pigeon Island.
The Biased Ligands NGF and NT-3 Differentially Stabilize Trk-A Dimers.

Abstract Trk-A is a receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) that plays an essential role in the development and functioning of the nervous system. Trk-A is expressed in neurons and signals in response to two ligands, NGF and neurotrophin-3 (NT-3), with very different functional consequences. Thus, NGF and NT-3 are “biased” ligands for Trk-A. Because it has been hypothesized that biased RTK ligands induce differential stabilization of RTK dimers, here, we seek to test this hypothesis for NGF and NT-3. In particular, we use Forster resonance energy transfer (FRET) and fluorescence intensity fluctuation spectroscopy to assess the strength of Trk-A interactions and Trk-A oligomer size in the presence of the two ligands. Although the difference in Trk-A behavior in response to the two ligands has been previously attributed to differences in their binding to Trk-A in the endosomes at low pH, here, we further show differences in the stabilities of the NGF- and NT-3-bound Trk-A dimers in the plasma membrane and at neutral pH. We discuss the biological significance of these new findings and their implications for the design of Trk-A ligands with novel functionalities.
A Targeted Needs Assessment for the Development of a Surgical Sub-internship Curriculum.

OBJECTIVE Medical students often feel inadequately prepared for the responsibilities of surgical internship because of insufficient exposure to resident responsibilities prior to starting residency. This lack of preparation may contribute to burnout and attrition early in residency. Sub-internships should provide these experiences. Significant variation, however, exists in the structure of these rotations. We conducted a targeted needs assessment to inform the development of a didactic curriculum to address gaps in the surgical sub-internship experience and better prepare students for general surgery residency. DESIGN A 25-item needs assessment survey was developed and distributed to senior medical students in their surgical sub-internship, current junior residents, and prior students (alumni) from the past 4 years who matched into general surgery residencies at other institutions. SETTING Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth/Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, a tertiary-care academic medical center. PARTICIPANTS Nine senior medical students; 12 current residents and 14 alumni, including 9 PGY-1, 13 PGY-2, and 4 PGY-3 residents. RESULTS The topics rated most important by medical students were floor management topics, specifically lines, tubes, and drains, hypotension, post-operative fever, chest pain, oliguria, and post-operative pain. In contrast, there was a wider variety of topics rated highly by residents. Residents emphasized non-technical communication and documentation skills. Residents at every training level rated presenting patients on rounds as the most important skill for incoming interns to acquire, whereas only one-third of medical students considered this to be an essential topic. CONCLUSIONS Medical students rank management of common clinical problems as the most critical aspect in their preparation for residency. Residents recognized these topics as important, but also placed high emphasis on non-technical communication and documentation skills. The findings from this need's assessment can be used to guide content structure for a sub-intern curriculum.
Inositol hexakisphosphate is a critical regulator of Integrator assembly and function

Integrator has critical roles in noncoding RNA 39-end processing as well as transcription attenuation of selected mRNAs. IntS11 is the endonuclease for RNA cleavage, as a part of the IntS4-IntS9-IntS11 complex (Integrator cleavage module, ICM). Our structure of the Drosophila ICM, determined by cryo-electron microscopy at 2.74 A resolution, unexpectedly revealed the stable association of an inositol hexakisphosphate (IP6) molecule. The binding site is located in a highly electropositive pocket at an interface among all three subunits of ICM, 55 A away from the IntS11 active site and generally conserved in other ICMs. IP6 binding is also confirmed in human ICM. Mutations of residues in this binding site or disruption of IP6 biosynthesis significantly reduced Integrator assembly and activity in snRNA 39-end processing. Our structural and functional studies reveal that Integrator is subject to intricate cellular control and IP6 is a critical regulator of Integrator assembly and function in Drosophila, humans, and likely other organisms.
Improvements on Low Cost CT Systems

Computed tomography (CT) is a radiographic method that provides an ideal examination technique whenever the goal is to locate and size volumetric detail in three dimensions. Because of the relatively good penetrability of X-rays, as well as the sensitivity of absorption to density and atomic number of matter, CT permits the nondestructive physical and, to a limited extent, chemical characterization of the internal structure of materials. Also, since the method is X-ray based, it applies both to metallic and nonmetallic specimens, solid and fibrous materials, and smooth and irregularly surfaced objects. X-ray CT provides quantitative, readily interpretable data and enables the inspections of structures that are not amenable to any other nondestructive evaluation technique. As a result CT has become well established as an inspection, evaluation, and analysis tool[1].