cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A quantitative assay for reductive metabolism of a pesticide in fish using electrochemistry coupled with liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry

This is the first study to use electrochemistry to generate a nitro reduction metabolite as a standard for a liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry-based quantitative assay. This approach is further used to quantify 3-trifluoromethyl-4-nitrophenol (TFM) reductive metabolism. TFM is a widely used pesticide for the population control of sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus), an invasive species of the Laurentian Great Lakes. Three animal models, sea lamprey, lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens), and rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), were selected to evaluate TFM reductive metabolism because they have been known to show differential susceptibilities to TFM toxicity. Amino-TFM (aTFM; 3-trifluoromethyl-4-aminophenol) was the only reductive metabolite identified through liquid chromatography–high-resolution mass spectrometry screening of liver extracts incubated with TFM and was targeted for electrochemical synthesis. After synthesis and purification, aTFM was used to develop a quantitative assay of the reductiv...
Comparison of three-dimensional orthodontic load systems of different commercial archwires for space closure

Abstract Objective: To experimentally quantify the effects of the loop design on three-dimensional orthodontic load systems of two types of commercial closing loop archwires: Teardrop and Keyhole. Materials and Methods: An orthodontic force tester and custom-made dentoform were used to measure the load systems produced on two teeth during simulated space closure. The system included three force components along and three moment components about three clinically defined axes on two target teeth: the left maxillary canine and the lateral incisor. The archwires were attached to the dentoform and were activated following a standard clinical procedure. Results: The resulting six load components produced by the two archwires were reported and compared. The results were also compared with those of the T-loop archwire published previously. Conclusions: The three designs deliver similar loading patterns; however, the component magnitudes are dependent on the design. All of the designs result in lingual tipping of ...
Short syntheses of the indole alkaloids alocasin A, scalaridine A, and hyrtinadine A-B

Abstract Expedient syntheses of the indole alkaloids alocasin A, scalaridine A, and hyrtinadine A-B are presented. All four natural products contain one or two 5-hydroxyindolyl units. Three palladium catalyzed reactions, an alkyne hydrostannylation, a Kosugi-Migita-Stille cross coupling and a reductive N-heterocyclization are the key steps in the syntheses.
Omnidirectional excitation of sidewall gap-plasmons in a hybrid gold-nanoparticle/aluminum-nanopore structure

The gap-plasmon resonance of a gold nanoparticle inside a nanopore in an aluminum film is investigated in polarization dependent single particle microscopy and spectroscopy. Scattering and transmission measurements reveal that gap-plasmons of this structure can be excited and observed under normal incidence excitation and collection, in contrast to the more common particle-on-a-mirror structure. Correlation of numerical simulations with optical spectroscopy suggests that a local electric field enhancement factor in excess of 50 is achieved under normal incidence excitation, with a hot-spot located near the top surface of the structure. It is shown that the strong field enhancement from this sidewall gap-plasmon mode can be efficiently excited over a broad angular range. The presented plasmonic structure lends itself to implementation in low-cost, chemically stable, easily addressable biochemical sensor arrays providing large optical field enhancement factors.
Usability Testing of Two Ambulatory EHR Navigators

Background: Despite widespread electronic health record (EHR) adoption, poor EHR system usability continues to be a significant barrier to effective system use for end users. One key to addressing usability problems is to employ user testing and user-centered design. Objectives: To understand if redesigning an EHR-based navigation tool with clinician input improved user performance and satisfaction. Methods: A usability evaluation was conducted to compare two versions of a redesigned ambulatory navigator. Participants completed tasks for five patient cases using the navigators, while employing a think-aloud protocol. The tasks were based on Meaningful Use (MU) requirements. Results: The version of navigator did not affect perceived workload, and time to complete tasks was longer in the redesigned navigator. A relatively small portion of navigator content was used to complete the MU-related tasks, though navigation patterns were highly variable across participants for both navigators. Preferences for EHR navigation structures appeared to be individualized. Conclusions: This study demonstrates the importance of EHR usability assessments to evaluate group and individual performance of different interfaces and preferences for each design.
Rating Recruiting Sources at Simtec Instruments Corporation

This paper examines the use of multiple-criterion decision making in Human Resources Management by means of a case. Multiple-criterion decision making is useful when decisions have several different important aspects that must be simultaneously considered. The cost of recruiting is often one of the largest budgetary items for Human Resource Departments, and thus understanding how to minimize costs while maximizing other factors is important for Human Resource managers to know. This paper shows how the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) can be applied to a problem of which recruiting source to choose when performance, diversity, and cost are all considered in the decision process. We then explain how the case introduced here could be used in human resource management classes.
FeatureMiner: A Tool for Interactive Feature Selection

The recent popularity of big data has brought immense quantities of high-dimensional data, which presents challenges to traditional data mining tasks due to curse of dimensionality. Feature selection has shown to be effective to prepare these high dimensional data for a variety of learning tasks. To provide easy access to feature selection algorithms, we provide an interactive feature selection tool FeatureMiner based on our recently released feature selection repository scikit-feature. FeatureMiner eases the process of performing feature selection for practitioners by providing an interactive user interface. Meanwhile, it also gives users some practical guidance in finding a suitable feature selection algorithm among many given a specific dataset. In this demonstration, we show (1) How to conduct data preprocessing after loading a dataset; (2) How to apply feature selection algorithms; (3) How to choose a suitable algorithm by visualized performance evaluation.
The influence of residual solvent and crystallinity on the dielectric relaxation of solvent-cast polymer films

Experimental samples of the polymer poly(2, 6-diphenyl-1, 4-phenylene ether) have been solvent-cast and the dielectric relaxation characteristics of the resulting film were measured experimentally as the level of residual solvent was reduced using a heated vacuum desiccator. Polar fluids were chosen for solvent casting so that the contributions of polymer and solvent to observed relaxations could be separated. In a preliminary investigation chloroform (CHCI3) was used, but it proved so difficult to remove sufficient of this solvent so that it did not dominate the losses, that methylene chloride (CH 2 Cl 2 ), with its smaller molecular volume, was preferred for a more detailed study.
Superior Acute Myeloid Leukemia-Specific T Cell Responses Using Dendritic Cells Pulsed with Apoptotic Bodies, vs.Tumor Lysates or mRNA.

Abstract Dendritic cells (DCs), which hold promise for cancer immunotherapy have two distinct functions. Immature DCs internalize antigens; while mature DCs trigger native T cell activation. To date, no consensus has been reached concerning the optimal source of tumor antigen nor the mode of antigen uptake for efficient cross-priming of tumor specific response. Reports have demonstrated that human DCs can acquire relevant antigens and stimulate MHC class I-restricted cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) by phagocytosing apoptotic tumor cells. Apoptosis was established to be the critical trigger of cross-priming in this process. Apoptotic bodies form when cells undergo programmed cell death. In this study, three acute myelogenous leukemia in (AML) antigen preparations were compared in an autologous setting. Apoptotic bodies, Tumor lysate Tumor mRNA Methods : DCs were generated by CD14 magnetic selection of peripheral blood progenitor cells (PBPCs) and six days of culture in GM-CSF and IL-4. Tumor lysate was made by repeated freezing and thawing of patient AML cells (leukodepletion product >95% blasts); mRNA was extracted using a kit (Qiagen); apoptotic bodies were generated with UVB irradiation of a fraction of the same AML product. The rate of apoptosis was detected using Annexin V FITC flow cytometry. The DCs were loaded with mRNA by electroporation. The DCs were loaded with lysate and apoptotic bodies by incubation. Autologous T cells stimulated with DCs loaded with the three differing antigen preparations were compared for interferon(INF)-g production in ELISPOT and proliferation assays. Results : The DCs pulsed with apoptotic bodies; lysate and mRNA expressed similar levels of the costimulatory molecules CD80, CD86, and theDC maturation marker CD83. The internalization rate of apoptotic bodies was about 20% detected by DAPI (label the apoptotic bodies) and DC83 double staining. The lysate pulsed DC and mRNA pulsed DCs were above 90% detected by flow of trace FITC- albumin and tracer GFP mRNA from previous experiments. Yet IFN-g secretion of T lymphocytes was statistically significant higher (P Conclusions : These preliminary data demonstrate that apoptotic body-loaded DCs induced better Th1 T cell responses than DCs loaded with AML lysate or mRNA. One potential advantage conferred by the use of apoptotic body loaded DCs is that presentation of intracellular proteins in tumor lysates and mRNA that are irrelevant to the induction of anti-tumor responses are eliminated, which may lead to better antigen presentation and consequently an improved Th1 response.
Reduced-Intesity Allogeneic HSCT in Hematologic Malignancies: Influence of Underlying Diagnosis and Prior Autograft on Outcome.

RI-HSCT is now accepted practice in a number of clinical scenarios. However, two circumstances in which it is still often not covered by insurance carriers is a diagnosis of acute leukemia (AL) and relapse following an autograft. The aim of this analysis was to specifically study the influence of these 2 factors in the context of known prognostic variables in a series of 91 uniformly-treated patients with hematologic malignancies (19–71 years; median 53; 22% >60 years). 41 had relapsed after a prior autograft (6/29 AL, 20/38 lymphoma, 15/24 myeloma; P=0.005). 62% had refractory disease. Performance status (PS) was 0 in 31%, 1 in 47%, and 2/3 in 22%. Donors (55% >45 years) were HLA-matched siblings (n=51), 10/10 allele-matched unrelated (n=29), or 9/10 allele-matched (n=11). The conditioning comprised 100 mg/m 2 melphalan with (no prior auto) or without (prior auto) 50 mg/kg cyclophosphamide. GVHD prophylaxis comprised cyclosporine-mycophenolate (HLA-matched sibs) or tacrolimus-mycophenolate (others). G/GM-CSF were not given routinely. Supportive care was uniform. As the table below shows, the 2-year cumulative incidence of relapse and non-relapse mortality (NRM) and 2-year disease-free (DFS) and overall (OS) survival rates were not significantly influenced by the diagnosis or prior autograft. Next, diagnosis and prior autograft were entered into a Cox model with chemosensitivity, donor age, LDH and PS; variables known to influence outcome significantly in this group of patients. The 4 known variables retained their significance in influencing OS (LDH P=0.001, chemosensitivity P=0.003, PS P=0.003, donor age P=0.01) and DFS (chemosensitivity P=0.002, PS P=0.02, donor age P=0.02, LDH P=0.03). Prior autograft did not influence OS (P=0.77) or DFS (P=0.57) as shown in the figure below (derived from the Cox model; adjusted for the 4 significant variables). Diagnosis did not influence DFS (P=0.49). However, it did affect OS (overall P=0.04; AL vs myeloma P=0.23; AL vs lymphoma P=0.01; myeloma vs lymphoma P=0.25) as shown in the figure below (derived from the Cox model; adjusted for the 4 significant variables. The difference in OS likely reflects the fact that unlike for lymphoma and myeloma, salvage therapy is of limited benefit for AL relapsing after HSCT. However, comparable DFS suggests that the extent of benefit provided by the RI-HSCT procedure itself is independent of diagnosis. We conclude that prior autograft or the underlying diagnosis should not be used to determine eligibility for RI-HSCT.
User Demand Wireless Network Selection Using Game Theory

Next-generation wireless environment depends on the multiple networks supported by different operators for various applications. In this heterogeneous environment, users can connect to various radio access networks and have seamless connectivity. Network selection plays a vital role for the users to connect to the best access network available because each access network differs in bandwidth, cost, energy usage, and coverage area. In this paper, an access network selection method to select the best suitable network is proposed. Game theoretic approaches are used for the strategy between the user and network to form cooperation so that users can get better QoS at a reasonable cost and each access network can increase their revenue.
The genesis of classroom discursive practices as history-in-person processes

This article reports findings from an investigation into how novice teachers’ classroom discursive practices were influenced by history-in-person processes. Thought-based and practice-based data sources of two novice teachers were analysed to understand how history is brought to the present through the minds and bodies of individuals as they are addressed by external forces. Findings suggested that one’s history-in-person interacts in complex and unpredictable ways with external factors and can result in contentious local practice. Thus, attention to both personal history and to institutional constraints must figure into interpretations of how novice teachers perform and how changing practice is approached.
Comparing Outcomes and Cost of 3 Surgical Treatments for Sagittal Synostosis: A Retrospective Study Including Procedure-Related Cost Analysis

BACKGROUND Neurosurgical techniques for repair of sagittal synostosis include total cranial vault (TCV) reconstruction, open sagittal strip (OSS) craniectomy, and endoscopic strip (ES) craniectomy. OBJECTIVE To evaluate outcomes and cost associated with these 3 techniques. METHODS Via retrospective chart review with waiver of informed consent, the last consecutive 100 patients with sagittal synostosis who underwent each of the 3 surgical correction techniques before June 30, 2013, were identified. Clinical, operative, and process of care variables and their associated specific charges were analyzed along with overall charge. RESULTS The study included 300 total patients. ES patients had fewer transfusion requirements (13% vs 83%, P < .001) than TCV patients, fewer days in intensive care (0.3 vs 1.3, P < .001), and a shorter overall hospital stay (1.8 vs 4.2 d, P < .001), and they required fewer revisions (1% vs 6%, P = .05). The mean charge for the endoscopic procedure was $21 203, whereas the mean charge for the TCV reconstruction was $45 078 (P < .001). ES patients had more preoperative computed tomography scans (66% vs 44%, P = .003) than OSS patients, shorter operative times (68 vs 111 min, P < .001), and required fewer revision procedures (1% vs 8%, P < .001). The mean charge for the endoscopic procedure was $21 203 vs $20 535 for the OSS procedure (P = .62). CONCLUSION The ES craniectomy for sagittal synostosis appeared to have less morbidity and a potential cost savings compared with the TCV reconstruction. The charges were similar to those incurred with OSS craniectomy, but patients had a shorter length of stay and fewer revisions.
An investigation of soybean aphid ecology and management in the context of agricultural sustainability

vi Chapter 1. General introduction and literature review Thesis organization 1 Literature review 2 Impact of Aphis glycines on soybean yield and management 2 Aphis glycines biology and ecology 3 Taxonomy and biology of entomopathogenic fungi 6 Factors impacting successful infection by entomopathogenic fungi 7 Molecular detection of entomopathogenic fungi 10 Research objectives 12 Literature cited 13 Chapter 2. Comparison of combined foliar insecticides and fungicides on soybean aphid populations and soybean yield in Iowa Abstract 2
Is Halyomorpha halys (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) a threat to California rice?

Abstract The brown marmorated stink bug Halyomorpha halys (Stal), is an invasive pest in California that represents a potential threat to California rice (Oryza sativa L.) production. Populations of H. halys can be found in the rice production regions of California but have not been detected in rice fields. We conducted greenhouse trials to determine if H. halys injures and potentially reduces yields in rice. We observed a 42% reduction in kernel weights during the milk stage in cages with H. halys adults in 2014. We observed a 30% increase in empty kernels in rice infested with H. halys and a 10–20% increase in pecky rice across various rice maturation stages in 2016. The results suggest that yield reductions in rice could occur if H. halys establishes on rice as a host plant in the United States. This is the first reported case of H. halys being able to feed on rice in North America.
Wheelchair Breakdowns Are Associated With Pain, Pressure Injuries, Rehospitalization, and Self-Perceived Health in Full-Time Wheelchair Users With Spinal Cord Injury

Abstract Objectives To evaluate the relation between wheelchair breakdowns, their immediate consequences, and secondary health complications after spinal cord injury. “Immediate consequences” occur when part of a wheelchair breaks and leaves an individual stranded or injured, or causes him or her to miss medical appointments, work, or school. Design Survey, cross-sectional. Setting Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems Centers. Participants Full-time wheelchair users (N=771) with SCI from 9 Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems Centers, with data collected between 2011 and 2016. Interventions Not applicable. Main Outcome Measures Incidence of self-reported wheelchair breakdowns within the past 6 months that did or did not result in immediate consequences (ie, injury, being stranded, missing a medical appointment, or an inability to attend school/work); self-perceived health status scale; pain severity numerical rating scale; rehospitalizations; and self-reported pressure injury development within the past 12 months. Results A total of 610 participants with complete data sets were included in the analyses. When compared to those who reported no breakdowns, participants who reported 1 or more immediate consequences had worse secondary complications: higher self-perceived health status and pain scores (partial −η2=.009-.012, P Conclusions Wheelchair breakdowns that resulted in injury, being stranded, missing medical appointments, and/or an inability to attend work/school appear to have far-reaching impacts on health and secondary injury. Preventing wheelchair breakdowns, through either better maintenance or manufacturing, may be a means of decreasing secondary disability.
The nutrition status of special population living in the areas affected by Wenchuan Earthquake after 3 months

Objective To investigate and analyze the nutritional status of infants,preschool and primary school students, pregnant and lactating women in Wenchuan earthquake disaster area after 3 months. Methods In August 2008,the nutritional and health status information of special population were collected and evaluated using the questionnaires, anthropometric and hemoglobin concentration measurements from four settlements of villages and towns in Mao and Mianzhu Country of Sichuan and Kang Country and Wudu District in Gansu provinces. A total of 236 infants aged below 36 months,48 preschool children, 368 primary students,32 pregnant women and 72 lactating women were investigated. Principal investigator indexes included the low body weight, growth retardation, anemia prevalence, two-week prevalence of diarrhea and respiratory disease, food intake and nutrition-related diseases, the percentage of patients morbidity of 36 months infants, preschool and primary school students; the prevalence of anemia, the prevalence of nutritionrelated diseases of pregnant and lactating women. Results The stunting prevalence was 14. 6% (34/236) and the anemia prevalence was up to 40. 1% (61/236) among infants younger than 36 months. Besides,the percentages of infants and young children suffered from the respiratory-infected disease and diarrhea within recent two weeks were 40. 4% (95/236) and 30. 2% (71/236) respectively. The percentage of low body weight of preschool children was 14. 6% (7/48) and the growth retardation and anemia prevalence was 14. 6% (7/48) and 39.6% (19/48) ,respectively. Among primary students,6. 3% (23/368) showed growth retardation and 12. 2% (45/368) were anemia. The prevalence of anemia status of pregnant women and lactating mothers were 53.9% (17/32) and 24.4% (18/72) respectively. The main food composition of 45. 8% (33/72) lactating women were grain and vegetables,29 (40. 3 % ) ,32 (44. 4% ) ,28 ( 38.9% )and 53 (73.6%) lactating women did not have animal originated (including meat, aquatic,livestock and poultry products) food, eggs, beans and their products, milk and dairy products, respectively. Conclusion Special population lived in disaster area have suffered different degree of malnutrition. The main dietary pattern was vegetable food. The consumption of meat, eggs, milk and milk products was relatively insufficient. Key words: Infant; Child; Pregnant women; Growth; Anemia; Malnutrition; Natural disasters
Quantifying the effect of the grid's R/X impedance on droop control using DC/AC inverter models

This paper presents seven nonlinear mathematical models of a dc/ac droop controlled inverter connected to an infinite bus. These models are produced using the singular perturbation method to decompose a previously proposed 13th order nonlinear model. The models orders are 13th, 11th, 9th, 7th, 5th, 3rd and 1st. Each model ignores certain control or structural component of the full order model and allows researchers to choose the model order that meets their required accuracy and complexity. Moreover, the effect of grid (line) impedance on the accuracy of droop control is explored using the 5th order model. Simulation results show that traditional droop control is valid up to R/X line impedance value of 2. Furthermore, the 3rd order nonlinear model improves the currently available inverter-infinite bus models by accounting for grid impedance, active power-frequency droop and reactive power-voltage droop. Results show the 3rd order model's ability to account for voltage and reactive power changes during a transient event.
Recent advances in QM and QM/MM methods

Recent advances in advanced quantum chemistry and quantum chemistry interfaced with model potentials are discussed, with the primary focus on new scalable implementations in the GAMESS electronic structure suite of programs. Applications to solvent effects and surface science are discussed.
The 4R-SUCCESS program: promoting children’s social and scholastic skills in dyadic classroom activities

Research on peer mediated learning shows that students learn through interactions with classmates, but little is known about the skills that children need to be productive learning partners, and educators lack programs for teaching children how to collaborate effectively with classmates. Described in this article is a program of research that was undertaken to address these needs by: (1) empirically creating a collaborative skills curriculum for grade school children, and (2) developing, refining, and implementing a class-wide program for improving grade school children’s social and scholastic skills for collaborative learning activities (i.e., the 4R-SUCCESS program).
Expanding the Molecular Characterization of Thoracic Inflammatory Myofibroblastic Tumors beyond ALK Gene Rearrangements

Abstract Introduction Half of inflammatory myofibroblastic tumors (IMTs) regardless of anatomic location harbor anaplastic lymphoma kinase gene (ALK) rearrangements and overexpress anaplastic lymphoma kinase protein. The wide application of next-generation sequencing and the clinical benefit to tyrosine kinase inhibitors have opened new opportunities for investigation of ALK-negative IMTs. Methods In this study, we have investigated a series of pediatric and adult thoracic IMTs for abnormalities in a wide spectrum of actionable kinases by applying a variety of molecular and next-generation sequencing techniques, including fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), targeted RNA sequencing, and NanoString assay. Results There were 33 patients with thoracic IMTs, including five children; their mean age was 37. The tumors showed a monomorphic spindle cell phenotype, except for one with an epithelioid morphologic pattern and moderate to severe atypia. By immunohistochemistry, 24 tumors were ALK positive, and 19 of the 24 showed ALK rearrangements and one ret proto-oncogene gene (RET) rearrangement by FISH. RNA sequencing was performed in the remaining four cases lacking ALK abnormalities by FISH, revealing ALK fusions involving tropomyosin 4 gene (TMP4) and echinoderm microtubule associated protein like 4 gene (EML4) as partner in three cases. NanoString assay was performed in the remaining case, revealing ALK alternative transcription initiation (ALKATI). Nine cases lacking ALK abnormalities were further tested by FISH or targeted RNA sequencing, revealing ROS1 rearrangement in six cases and ETS variant 6 gene (ETV6)–neurotrophic receptor tyrosine kinase 3 gene (NTRK3) fusion in three cases, respectively. Conclusions By using a battery of complementary molecular techniques, we have shown that all the thoracic IMTs harbored a tyrosine kinase abnormality, with 30% involving a kinase gene other than ALK, including ROS1, NTRK3, and RET gene fusions. We have also described for the first time ALKATI-induced ALK oncogenic activation in IMTs.
Screens in the back: Medical student perspective on curriculum engagement

Medical students in the United States are engaging less with formal classroom curricula. This shift in decreased attendance and participation is largely driven by an incentive structure in medical education focused on standardized test scores, research and letters of recommendation. In this essay, the authors describe the student experience of a preclinical lecture, struggling to balance learning about a patient with Alcohol Use Disorder with the demands of extracurricular expectations.
Gabapentin prescribed during substance abuse treatment: The perspective of treatment providers

Abstract Background Gabapentin, a prescription medication approved for the treatment of seizures and neuralgia, is often prescribed off-label for substance use treatment, mental health problems, and pain. Emerging reports also suggest it is misused for the purpose of getting high. The present study examines substance abuse treatment provider key informants' experiences with gabapentin prescribed to clients in treatment. The focus of this exploratory study is to ascertain how gabapentin is used in these settings and the benefits and risks for clients. Methods Key informants from South Florida participated in confidential, in-depth interviews (N = 12). Data analyses included descriptive and in vivo coding schemes and employed a descriptive qualitative approach. Results All key informants recognized the benefits of prescribing gabapentin to clients in treatment for problems related to withdrawal symptoms, mental distress and pain. At the same time, half of participants described gabapentin misuse among clients and four key informants described such misuse as a first marker of relapse. Key informants also stated that more research must be done about how to use gabapentin effectively in treatment settings. Conclusions These findings illustrate the lack of clarity about the efficacy of administration of gabapentin in treatment settings. Additional research about how to best use gabapentin, for whom it may be beneficial, and the effect of prescribed gabapentin on addiction recovery is needed.
Learning to mirror speaking styles incrementally.

Mirroring is the behavior in which one person subconsciously imitates the gesture, speech pattern, or attitude of another. In conversations, mirroring often signals the speakers enjoyment and engagement in their communication. In chatbots, methods have been proposed to add personas to the chatbots and to train them to speak or to shift their dialogue style to that of the personas. However, they often require a large dataset consisting of dialogues of the target personalities to train. In this work, we explore a method that can learn to mirror the speaking styles of a person incrementally. Our method extracts ngrams that capture a persons speaking styles and uses the ngrams to create patterns for transforming sentences to the persons speaking styles. Our experiments show that our method is able to capture patterns of speaking style that can be used to transform regular sentences into sentences with the target style.
Antimicrobial properties of silver nanoparticles may interfere with fecal indicator bacteria detection in pathogen impaired streams.

Abstract Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are expected to enter aquatic systems, but there are limited data on how they might affect microbial communities in pathogen impaired streams. We examined microbial community responses to citrate-AgNP (10.9 ± 0.7 nm) and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP)–AgNP (11.0 ± 0.7 nm) based on microbial concentration and enzyme activity in sediment from a pathogen impaired stream. Addition of each nanoparticle to sediment caused at least a 69% decrease in microbial concentration (1,264 ± 93.6 to 127 ± 29.5 CFU/g) and a 62% decrease in β-glucosidase activity (11.7 ± 2.1 to 1.3 ± 0.3 μg/g/h). Each AgNP reduced alkaline phosphatase activity but their effects were not statistically significant. Sediment exposed to 0.108 mg Ag/kg of AgNO3 resulted in a 92% decrease in microbial concentration and a reduced enzyme activity which was not statistically significant. Measured total silver in sediments treated with AgNPs which exhibited significant inhibition effects on the microbial community ranged from 0.19 ± 0.02 to 0.39 ± 0.13 mg Ag/kg. These concentrations tested in this study are much lower than the expected concentrations (2–14 mg Ag/kg) in freshwater sediments. The results of this study demonstrate that AgNPs can alter microbial community activity and population size, which may lead to false negative fecal indicator bacteria detection and enumeration using methods that rely on β-glucosidase activity. We conclude that the presence of AgNPs in impaired streams and recreational waters can influence pathogen detection methods, potentially affecting public health risk estimates.
Identification of Partially Resolved Objects in Space Imagery with Convolutional Neural Networks

The identification of partially resolved space objects in an image and matching it to a database of known objects is useful for many scenarios. Machine learning can identify objects at various distances, relative attitudes, and phase angles. In this study, a convolutional neural network is constructed and evaluated. Performance as a function of phase angle is used to evaluate the capabilities of the neural network. The network’s ability to correctly identify objects blurred to various degrees is also assessed. A method for novelty detection is explored. Numerical results suggest that the use of deep learning may be a viable option for the identification of partially resolved objects.
Operational Evaluation of Effectiveness of Connected Vehicle Smartphone Technology on a Signalized Corridor

Various connected vehicle (CV) technology applications reported in current literature have the potential to solve the challenges faced by the transportation sector. Over the last decade, extensive ...
In vitro efficacy of ganciclovir against feline herpesvirus type 1 and assessment of ocular tolerability in healthy cats

ObjectivesFeline herpesvirus-1 (FHV-1) is a prevalent cause of ocular disease in cats and limited topical options for treatment currently exist. The first objective of this study was to confirm the...
Factor analysis in high dimensional biological data with dependent observations

Factor analysis is a critical component of high dimensional biological data analysis. However, modern biological data contain two key features that irrevocably corrupt existing methods. First, these data, which include longitudinal, multi-treatment and multi-tissue data, contain samples that break critical independence requirements necessary for the utilization of prevailing methods. Second, biological data contain factors with large, moderate and small signal strengths, and therefore violate the ubiquitous "pervasive factor" assumption essential to the performance of many methods. In this work, I develop a novel statistical framework to perform factor analysis and interpret its results in data with dependent observations and factors whose signal strengths span several orders of magnitude. I then prove that my methodology can be used to solve many important and previously unsolved problems that routinely arise when analyzing dependent biological data, including high dimensional covariance estimation, subspace recovery, latent factor interpretation and data denoising. Additionally, I show that my estimator for the number of factors overcomes both the notorious "eigenvalue shadowing" problem, as well as the biases due to the pervasive factor assumption that plague existing estimators. Simulated and real data demonstrate the superior performance of my methodology in practice.
T cell factor 1: A master regulator of the T cell response in disease

Recent advances have redefined a role for T cell factor 1 (TCF1) that goes beyond T cell development and T memory formation and encompasses new functions in the regulation of T cell biology. Here, we discuss the multifaceted and context-dependent role of TCF1 in peripheral T cells, particularly during disease-induced inflammatory states such as autoimmunity, cancer, and chronic infections. Understanding how TCF1 fine-tunes peripheral T cell biology holds the potential to tailor improved immune-targeted therapies.
Echocardiographic Evaluation of Diastolic Function Can Accurately Predict Simultaneous Cardiac Catheterization Derived Gold Standard Measurements of Diastolic Function After Fluid Bolus

Background: Pediatric echocardiographic studies attempting to predict gold standard cardiac catheterization measures of left ventricular diastolic function (LVDFx) (pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PCWP) or left ventricular end diastolic pressure (LVEDP)) are often retrospective, evaluated under variable hemodynamic and hydration conditions, and have demonstrated inconsistent results. We are unaware of any pediatric studies comparing echocardiographic measures of LVDFx with PCWP or LVEDP under the same loading conditions. We hypothesize, standard echocardiographic measurements of LVDFx can predict abnormal cardiac catheterization derived LVEDP or PCWP, when obtained under similar loading conditions and following …
Kartagener's Syndrome.

Kartagener’s Syndrome A 46-year-old woman presented with cough, shortness of breath, and fevers. Imaging showed bronchiectasis, situs inversus totalis, and sinusitis, findings consistent with Karta...
Grandmothers' endocrine disruption during pregnancy, low birth weight, and preterm birth in third generation.

Background Diethylstilbestrol (DES) is an endocrine-disrupting pharmaceutical prescribed to pregnant women to prevent pregnancy complications between the 1940s and 1970s. Although DES has been shown in animal studies to have multigenerational effects, only two studies have investigated potential multigenerational effects in humans on preterm birth (PTB), and none on low birthweight (LBW)-major determinants of later life health. Methods Nurses' Health Study (NHS) II participants (G1; born 1946-64) reported their mothers' (G0) use of DES while pregnant with them. We used cluster-weighted generalized estimating equations to estimate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for risk of LBW and PTB among the grandchildren by grandmother use of DES. G1 birthweight and gestational age were considered to explore confounding by indication. Results Among 54 334 G0-G1/grandmother-mother pairs, 973 (1.8%) G0 used DES during pregnancy with G1. Of the 128 275 G2 children, 4369 (3.4%) were LBW and 7976 (6.2%) premature. Grandmother (G0) use of DES during pregnancy was associated with an increased risk of G2 LBW [adjusted OR (aOR) = 3.09; 95% CI: 2.57, 3.72], that was reduced when restricted to term births (aOR = 1.59; 95% CI: 1.08, 2.36). The aOR for PTB was 2.88 (95% CI: 2.46, 3.37). Results were essentially unchanged when G1 birthweight and gestational age were included in the model, as well as after adjusting for other potential intermediate variables, such as G2 pregnancy-related factors. Conclusions Grandmother use of DES during pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of LBW, predominantly through an increased risk of PTB. Results when considering G1 birth outcomes suggest this does not result from confounding by indication.
Passive exposure to cannabidiol oil does not cause microbiome dysbiosis in larval zebrafish.

The use of cannabidiol oil derived products has dramatically increased in popularity and is predicted to grow steadily over the next decade. Given its relative stability, cannabidiol is likely to accumulate in the environment and affect aquatic animals and their host-associated microbiomes. Here, using zebrafish larvae, a model system in environmental toxicology, we show that passive exposure to a concentration as high as 200 µg/L cannabidiol oil did not affect larvae survival and had limited effects on their host-associated microbial communities. We found that the changes in community structure were limited to a decrease in two sequence variants identified as Methylobacterium-Methylorubrum sp. and one ASV identified as Staphylococcus sp., as well as the increase of one sequence variant identified as Chryseobacterium sp., a bacterium commensal to zebrafish. More importantly, we found that cannabidiol oil did not affect the overall richness and diversity of the exposed fish microbiomes. These results suggest that passive exposure to cannabidiol oil is unlikely to impact aquatic organisms in significant ways.
Bsh coordinates neuronal fate specification with synaptic connectivity

Abstract It is widely accepted that neuronal fate is initially determined by spatial and temporal cues acting in progenitors, followed by transcription factors (TFs) that act in post-mitotic neurons to specify their functional identity (e.g. ion channels, cell surface molecules, and neurotransmitters). It remains unclear, however, whether a single TF can coordinately regulate both steps. The five lamina neurons (L1-L5) in the Drosophila visual system, are an ideal model for addressing this question. Here we show that the homeodomain TF Brain-specific homeobox (Bsh) is expressed in a subset of lamina precursor cells (LPCs) where it specifies L4 and L5 fate, and suppresses homeodomain TF Zfh1 to prevent L1 and L3 fate. Subsequently, in L4 neurons, Bsh initiates a feed forward loop with another homeodomain TF Apterous (Ap) to drive recognition molecule DIP-β expression, which is required for precise L4 synaptic connectivity. We conclude that a single homeodomain TF expressed in both precursors and neurons can coordinately generate neuronal fate and synaptic connectivity, thereby linking these two developmental events. Furthermore, our results suggest that acquiring LPC expression of a single TF, Bsh, may be sufficient to drive the evolution of increased brain complexity.
Utilizing various test methods to study the stress corrosion behavior of Al-Li-Cu alloys

Recently, much attention has been given to aluminum-lithium alloys because of rather substantial specific-strength and specific-stiffness advantages offered over commercial 2000and 7000-series aluminum alloys. An obstacle to Al-Li alloy development has been inherent limited ductility. In order to obtain a more refined microstructure, powder metallurgy (P/M) has been employed in alloy development programs. As stress corrosion (SC) of high-strength aluminum alloys has been a major problem in the aircraft industry, the possibility of an employment of Al-Li alloys has been considered, taking into account a use of Al-Li-Cu alloys. Attention is given to a research program concerned with the evaluation of the relative SC resistance of two P/M processed Al-Li-Cu alloys. The behavior of the alloys, with and without an addition of magnesium, was studied with the aid of three test methods. The susceptibility to SC was found to depend on the microstructure of the alloys.
The Metamorphosis of Arthropodin

Some modern elementary biology texts inform their readers that arthropod cuticles are composed exclusively of the polysaccharide, chitin. But it has been known since 1823 that there is another major nitrogenous component which we now know to be protein. The first to measure the amount of protein in the cuticle was Gottfried Fraenkel. His publication with Rudall in 1940 alerted the scientific community to the fact that about 40% of the dry weight of fly larval cuticle is protein, much of which is soluble in boiling water. They also discovered that less than 10% of the dry weight remained soluble in boiling water after the puparium was tanned, but that protein could still be extracted with 5% KOH, leaving the chitin behind.
Capitalising on Institutional Co-Investment Platforms

The term ‘co-investment’ is often perceived as referring to institutional investors investing alongside their external asset managers in companies. However, co-investment increasingly refers to investment responsibilities being shared among peer investment organizations. Indeed, in the competitive arena of institutional investment, long-term institutional investors are forming co-investment partnerships with the specific objective of deploying capital collaboratively into attractive investment opportunities. These collaborative partnerships seem to be an important means of capitalising on an investor’s network. This paper thus identifies and analyses examples of the new collaborative investment vehicles being employed by institutional investors to access private market assets. In so doing, this paper tracks the initial development of a growing trend amongst institutional investors towards more efficient ways of long-term capital deployment.
Developments in System Architecting

Systems Architecting is an approach to complex and multi-disciplinary system development inspired by the insights of civil and naval architecting. The architect is responsible for establishing a satisfactory and feasible system concept at the earliest stage of system development, for maintaining the integrity of that concept throughout development, and for certifying the fitness of the resulting system for use by the client or customer. The twentieth century history of unprecedented system development indicates that gifted individuals, following an architectural approach, were at the center of successful systems developments. As this paradigm has gained attention, new developments have taken place. Among them are an emerging formalization of architecting methods, identification of research needs, and new education programs.
Schools and Inequality: A Multilevel Analysis of Coleman's Equality of Educational Opportunity Data.

Background/ContextThe Equality of Educational Opportunity study is widely recognized as one of the most important studies on schooling ever performed. The findings from the report have shaped the f...
Internet computing of tasks with dependencies using unreliable workers

This paper studies the problem of improving the effectiveness of computing dependent tasks over the Internet. The distributed system is composed of a reliable server that coordinates the computation of a massive number of unreliable workers. It is known that the server cannot always ensure that the result of a task is correct without computing the task itself. This fact has significant impact on computing interdependent tasks. Since the computational capacity of the server may be restricted and so may be the time to complete the computation, the server may be able to compute only selected tasks, without knowing whether the remaining tasks were computed by workers correctly. But an incorrectly computed task may render the results of all dependent tasks incorrect. Thus it may become important for the server to compute judiciously selected tasks, so as to maximize the number of correct results. In this work we assume that any worker computes correctly with probability p<1. Any incorrectly computed task corrupts all dependent tasks. The goal is to determine which tasks should be computed by the (reliable) server and which by the (unreliable) workers, and when, so as to maximize the expected number of correct results, under a constraint d on the computation time. We show that this optimization problem is NP-hard. Then we study optimal scheduling algorithms for the mesh with the tightest deadline. We present combinatorial arguments that completely describe optimal solutions for two ranges of values of worker reliability p, when p is close to zero and when p is close to one.
The place of ‘codes’ in nonlinear neurodynamics

Abstract A key problem in cognitive science is to explain the neural mechanisms of the rapid transposition between stimulus energy and abstract concept — between the specific and the generic — in both material and conceptual aspects, not between neural and psychic aspects. Three approaches by researchers to a solution in terms of neural codes are considered. Materialists seek rate and frequency codes in the interspike intervals of trains of action potentials induced by stimuli and carried by topologically organized axonal lines. Cognitivists refer to the symbol grounding problem and search for symbolic codes in firings of hierarchically organized feature-detector neurons of phonemes, lines, odorants, pressures, etc., that object-detector neurons bind into representations of probabilities of stimulus occurrence. Dynamicists seek neural correlates of stimuli and associated behaviors in spatial patterns of oscillatory fields of dendritic activity that self-organize and evolve as trajectories through high-dimensional brain state space; the codes are landscapes of chaotic attractors. Unlike codes in DNA and the periodic table, these codes have neither alphabet nor syntax. They are epistemological metaphors required by experimentalists to measure neural activity and by engineers to model brain functions. Here I review the central neural mechanisms of olfaction as a paradigm for use of codes to explain how brains create cortical activities that mediate sensation, perception, comprehension, prediction, decision, and action or inaction.