cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Oral activity of a methylenecyclopropane analog, cyclopropavir, in animal models for cytomegalovirus infections.

We reported previously that purine 2-(hydroxymethyl)methylenecyclopropane analogs have good activity against cytomegalovirus infection. A second-generation analog, ( Z )-9-{[2,2-bis-(hydroxymethyl)cyclopropylidene]methyl}guanine (ZSM-I-62, cyclopropavir [CPV]), has particularly good activity against murine and human cytomegaloviruses (MCMV and HCMV) in vitro. To determine the oral activity of this compound in vivo, BALB/c or severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) mice infected with MCMV and two models using SCID mice implanted with human fetal tissue and subsequently infected with HCMV were used. In MCMV-infected normal mice, CPV at 10 mg/kg of body weight was highly effective in preventing mortality when administered at 24, 48, or 72 h post-viral inoculation and reduced titers of virus in tissues of SCID mice by 2 to 5 log 10 . In one HCMV model, human fetal retinal tissue was implanted into the anterior chamber of the mouse eye and inoculated with the Toledo strain of HCMV, and in the second, human fetal thymus and liver tissues were implanted under the kidney capsule of mice and then inoculated with HCMV. In general, replication of HCMV in both types of implant tissue increased from 7 through 21 to 28 days and then gradually decreased to undetectable levels by 8 weeks postinfection. Oral treatment with 45 or 15 mg of CPV/kg initiated 24 h after infection was highly effective in reducing replication to undetectable levels in both models and was generally more effective than ganciclovir. These data indicate that the methylenecyclopropane analog, CPV, was highly efficacious in these four animal models and should be evaluated for use in HCMV infections in humans.
Pancreatic enzyme therapy and clinical outcomes in patients with cystic fibrosis.

Objective To assess the relationship between pancreatic enzyme therapy (PET) and the clinical outcomes of growth, abdominal pain, constipation, gassiness, and number of stools in cystic fibrosis (CF). Study design Patients (n = 1215) >4 weeks of age from 33 Cystic Fibrosis Foundation accredited sites who had a sweat chloride >60 mmol/L or two CF-causing mutations were enrolled using a proportionate sampling strategy in a nonblinded study. Patients submitted a stool sample and completed a questionnaire. The study coordinator also completed a questionnaire for each patient. Enzyme dosing and growth, abdominal pain, gassiness, constipation, and number of stools were compared. Results Of the 1215 enrolled patients, 1131 (93.1%) were prescribed PET. Only 14.9% had pancreatic function assessed before enrolling in this study. Stool elastase-1 analysis identified 1074 (89%) patients as pancreatic insufficient (PI). There was no association between PET and the outcomes: growth, abdominal pain, gassiness, constipation, and number of stools. Conclusion PET dose is not correlated with growth or gastrointestinal symptoms. More sensitive outcome measures of the effectiveness of PET in patients with CF are needed to guide treatment of PI.
Chronic Diarrhea in Children

1. Garrett C. Zella, MD* 2. Esther J. Israel, MD* 1. *Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA. * Abbreviations: CCD: : congenital chloride diarrhea CF: : cystic fibrosis CNSD: : chronic nonspecific diarrhea CSD: : congenital sodium diarrhea IBD: : inflammatory bowel disease IBS: : irritable bowel syndrome IDI: : intractable diarrhea of infancy TTG IgA: : tissue transglutaminase immune globulin A ZES: : Zollinger-Ellison syndrome It is estimated that diarrheal illnesses are responsible for ∼2 to 4 million childhood deaths worldwide each year, representing 13.2% of all childhood deaths worldwide. After completing this article, readers should be able to: 1. Understand the pathophysiologic mechanisms involved in chronic diarrhea. 2. Know how to evaluate a child who has chronic diarrhea, including appropriate elements of history, physical examination, stool analysis, and blood testing. 3. Be familiar with the many disorders that cause chronic diarrhea, both with and without failure to thrive. 4. Know the therapies for the many causes of chronic diarrhea. Chronic diarrhea is a common complaint in pediatric medicine and can pose a complex situation for practitioners and families. This complaint is both a symptom and a sign. (1) Although patients or their parents often assess the presence of diarrhea by reporting stool consistency and frequency, one can more scientifically define diarrhea as stool volume >10 g/kg per day in infants and toddlers, and >200 g/day in older children. (2) However, diarrhea should not be defined solely by stool weight. Some adolescents and adults may have up to 300 g of formed stool per day without any complaints. (3) The duration of symptoms necessary to define diarrhea as “chronic” also is not definitive. Most authors agree that 14 days of symptoms meets criteria, although others use a cutoff of 4 weeks. (4) An additional term, “persistent” diarrhea, acknowledges diarrhea lasting more than 14 days but implies a more abrupt onset compared with chronic diarrhea. Regardless of the specific term or number of days of symptoms, it should be understood that this definition should allow for the usual resolution of most …
Photonic Reporting of Electrochemical Reactions Using Light-Emitting Diodes

The use of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) as photonic reporters of electrochemical reactions is examined and compared to an electron-to-photon conversion strategy involving electrogenerated chemiluminescence (ECL). The results indicate that it is possible to evaluate the rate of electrochemical reactions photonically without making direct current measurements. Compared to ECL, LED reporting has the following performance benefits: lower threshold current for photon emission, more efficient and stable electron-to-photon conversion, and larger dynamic range. Electrochemical reactions occurring in an array of ten thin-layer electrochemical cells are simultaneously evaluated using a corresponding array of LEDs.
Changes in the Mean Center of Balance During Balance Testing in Young Adults

Background and Purpose. The analysis of standing balance is now possible using commercially available force platforms. In order to establish appropriate testing and treatment protocols for patient populations, we contend data should be collected relative to the typical response of nonpatient groups. More importantly, we need to better understand response characteristics of persons with intact nervous systems. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the typical response of young adults without known musculoskeletal or neurological impairments to balance testing with the Balance System™. Subjects. Sixty-six subjects without known impairments (mean age=23.6 years, SD=4.5, range=21–47) were evaluated in a single testing session. Methods. Center of balance (COB), a vertical force measurement, was evaluated under each of 18 conditions: 2 visual conditions (eyes open, eyes closed), 3 platform conditions (stable, vertical tilt, linear translation), and 3 foot positions (apart, together, tandem). Results. An effect was found for average displacement to the left along the x axis under all testing conditions. The COB locus along the y axis was dependent on the foot position, platform condition, and visual condition. Conclusion and Discussion. Movement of the COB toward the center of the base of support accompanied closing of the eyes, narrowing of the base of support, and movement of the support surface. These findings are consistent with the need to move the center of gravity away from the limits of stability under more challenging stance conditions. This study contributes to the existing knowledge base related to standing balance function in young adults without musculoskeletal or neurological impairments and provides data that can be used for criterion-based comparisons of young adult patients.
Current State of Clostridium difficile Treatment Options

Recent reports of reduced response to standard therapies for Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) and the risk for recurrent CDI that is common with all currently available treatment agents have posed a significant challenge to clinicians. Current recommendations include metronidazole for treatment of mild to moderate CDI and vancomycin for severe CDI. Results from small clinical trials suggest that nitazoxanide and teicoplanin may be alternative options to standard therapies, whereas rifaximin has demonstrated success in uncontrolled trials for the management of multiple recurrences. Anecdotal reports have also suggested that tigecycline might be useful as an adjunctive agent for the treatment of severe complicated CDI. Reports of resistance will likely limit the clinical use of fusidic acid and bacitracin and, possibly, rifaximin if resistance to this agent becomes widespread. Treatment of patients with multiple CDI recurrences and those with severe complicated CDI is based on limited clinical evidence, and new treatments or strategies are needed.
Cervical spine evaluation in the pediatric trauma patient

Abstract Cervical spine injuries CSI are umcommon in children, but the consequences of failing to diagnose a CSI can be disastrous. The unique anatomic and developmental characteristics of the pediatric cervical spine may complicate the evaluation of the cervical spine in a pediatric patient. The emergency physician should be familiar with the differences between the pediatric and adult cervical spine because they impact the types of injuries sustained, the proper immobilization techniques, and the interpretation of radiographs. Evaluating the pediatric cervical spine in an age-appropriate manner will maximize the likelihood of detecting CSI, and minimize unnecessary testing in the majority of injured children who do not have a CSI.
Synchronous Optical CDMA Networks Capacity Increase Using Transposed Modified Prime Codes

A novel spreading code-set based on the prime code (PC) families, referred to as `transposed modified prime codes (T-MPC)', is proposed for synchronous optical code-division multiple-access (OCDMA) networks. The new code-set is constructed algorithmically to enhance and simplify its implementation. The proposed code-set performance is compared with existing spreading code families in terms of correlations, bit-error rate (BER) and cardinality. The proposed optical spreading code family doubles the cardinality as compared to existing PC families. This also implies that greater number of users can be accommodated in the network. Since there is no longer a time-shift feature in T-MPC like in conventional modified prime codes (MPC), the code is not predictable and thus even more secure. However, the code structure is similar to MPC, thus its employment in a system running MPC will be nondestructive. The code is also compatible with low-weight MPC. The results indicate that the proposed code-set has properties to enhance the OCDMA network capacity remarkably.
High efficiency RF power amplifier using band limited dynamic supply control method

This work describes a dynamic power supply method for improving power amplifier efficiency. The proposed band limited dynamic supply control (BLDSC) processes the envelope of transmitting signal into a bandwidth limited supply control signal. With the aid of a switching mode DC-DC convertor, the processed control signal can be reconstructed to the supply terminal of power amplifier (PA) for reducing supply voltage at low output level. The proposed configuration is hardware efficient and improves the efficiency of PA without sacrificing the input signal bandwidth. A power amplifier module is realized and tested using the 10MHz WiMAX standard. Experimental results show a maximum 50% DC power consumption reduction under 10MHz signal bandwidth.
Observations of the afternoon transition of the convective boundary layer

The morning transition between the stable nocturnal situation and the daytime convective boundary layer (CBL) is of interest both for basic understanding and for initializing prognostic models. While the morning growth phase of the CBL has been studied in detail, relatively little has been published on the transition itself. In this paper, conventional observations of surface temperature, humidity, and turbulent fluxes,and data from a meteorological tower, are combined with measurements of the onset of convection by boundary-layer wind profilers to explore the timing and behaviour of the transition period. The transition is defined here as the period between sunrise and the time at which the depth ofconvection reaches about 200 m AGL. Diagnostic relationships based on surface heat flux, the temperature difference between 2 m and 200 m, and bulk Richardson number are explored. The transition is foundto be enabled by surface heating relaxing the surface stability, while the warming of the layerbetween 2 m and 200 m is in large part due to shear-driven entrainment.
Latin Sermon Collections from Later Medieval England: Cambridge, Pembroke College, MS 199 (P1)

In its present form this volume contains three items, each apparently written in a different hand: Jordan of Quedlinburg, OEA, Meditationes de passione Christi , here anonymous (ff. 1–36); a series of forty-three sermons (ff. 41–141); Wyclif's Sermones quadraginta , here anonymous and without title (ff. 142–221). Item (1) is a separate booklet; items (2) and (3) stand together in a second booklet, though they are written by different hands and the medieval quiring system distinguishes between them; the changeover occurs within a quire. I have discussed the volume, its composition, and Wyclif's sermons elsewhere and am here concerned only with item (2). The forty-three sermons of this anonymous collection form a partial de tempore cycle from Advent to Good Friday, with up to three sermons per Sunday or feast. About two thirds of them are addressed to Reuerendi , and the collection in general has a strong academic tone. Of its forty-three sermons, fourteen also occur in Cambridge, Pembroke College, MS 257. As the two collections have other significant features in common, they should be discussed together.
Properties and purification of a glucose-inducible human fatty acid synthase mRNA-binding protein

Glucose stabilizes the mRNA for human fatty acid synthase (FAS), an enzyme relevant to diverse human disorders, including hyperlipidemia, obesity, and malignancy. To determine the underlying mechan...
Scalable preference queries for high-dimensional data using map-reduce

Preference (top-k) queries play a key role in modern data analytics tasks. Top-k techniques rely on ranking functions in order to determine an overall score for each of the objects across all the relevant attributes being examined. This ranking function is provided by the user at query time, or generated for a particular user by a personalized search engine which prevents the pre-computation of the global scores. Executing this type of queries is particularly challenging for high-dimensional data. Recently, bit-sliced indices (BSI) were proposed to answer these preference queries efficiently in a non-distributed environment for data with hundreds of dimensions. As MapReduce and key-value stores proliferate as the preferred methods for analyzing big data, we set up to evaluate the performance of BSI in a distributed environment, in terms of index size, network traffic, and execution time of preference (top-k) queries, over data with thousands of dimensions. Indexing is implemented on top of Apache Spark for both column and row stores and shown to outperform Hive when running on Map-reduce, and Tez for top-k (preference) queries.
Temperature-sensitive properties of rat suprachiasmatic nucleus neurons

The hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) contains a heterogeneous population of neurons, some of which are temperature sensitive in their firing rate activity. Neuronal thermosensitivity may provide cues that synchronize the circadian clock. In addition, through synaptic inhibition on nearby cells, thermosensitive neurons may provide temperature compensation to other SCN neurons, enabling postsynaptic neurons to maintain a constant firing rate despite changes in temperature. To identify mechanisms of neuronal thermosensitivity, whole cell patch recordings monitored resting and transient potentials of SCN neurons in rat hypothalamic tissue slices during changes in temperature. Firing rate temperature sensitivity is not due to thermally dependent changes in the resting membrane potential, action potential threshold, or amplitude of the fast afterhyperpolarizing potential (AHP). The primary mechanism of neuronal thermosensitivity resides in the depolarizing prepotential, which is the slow depolarization that occurs prior to the membrane potential reaching threshold. In thermosensitive neurons, warming increases the prepotential's rate of depolarization, such that threshold is reached sooner. This shortens the interspike interval and increases the firing rate. In some SCN neurons, the slow component of the AHP provides an additional mechanism for thermosensitivity. In these neurons, warming causes the slow AHP to begin at a more depolarized level, and this, in turn, shortens the interspike interval to increase firing rate.
Space-time dynamics of the vacuum's polarization charge density

Using numerical solutions to the quantum-field theoretical Dirac equation, we study the space-time evolution of the vacuum's polarization charge and current densities induced by an external electric force in one spatial dimension. We discuss a simple analytical model that can predict the dynamics of the polarization dynamics for arbitrary external force configurations. We then study the corrections to these predictions when the external force becomes supercritical and real electron-positron pairs can be created. By coupling the Dirac equation to the Maxwell equations, we examine how the dynamics of the polarization density is affected, if we allow the corresponding induced charges to interact with each other.
DESIGN STUDY OF AN ADAPTIVE, SPLIT-FLAP ACTUATOR

An adaptive materials driven actuator, designed to fit inside a realistic helicopter blade and capable of delivering high amplification factors, is being designed for future applications to aerodynamic control. The displacement of an piezoceramic stack is hydraulically amplified and the resulting output displacement is used to actuate a split-flap. The splitflap is intended to counteract the retreating rotor blade stall phenomena, encountered in a high speed, high thrust maneuver of a SA 349/2 Gazelle helicopter. The design requirements for the actuator authority are based both upon the experimental data and on the aerodynamic theory of thin airfoils. The actuator ability of the actuator to satisfy the requirements is investigated.
Polymerizable Self-Organized Membranes: A Novel Class of Organic Compounds

Molecular Self-assembly of amphiphilic phospholipid molecules (containing a hydrophobic acyl chain and a hydrophilic phosphate group attached to glycerol backbone) and other amphiphiles offers a versatile approach to form ordered structures. Stabilization of lipid microstructures by polymerization renders them useful for practical applications in the areas ranging from controlled release technology to template mediated synthesis of metals. Our efforts are focussed on the development and use of polymerizable diacetylenic phospholipids and their microstructures as template for chemical synthesis. The surface of vesicles and lipid microcylinders (0.5 µm dia.) is made reactive by chemically modifying the hydrophilic region of phospholipids. Lipids with chemically reactive sites were incorporated into lipid membranes predominantly formed from charge neutral lipids and used for binding metal ions and growing fine metal particles.
Using insights from behavioral economics to strengthen disaster preparedness and response

Behavioral economics is based on the idea that individuals' decisions are affected by systematic and predictable cognitive biases and that these same biases can be leveraged to change behavior and improve decision-making. Insights from behavioral economics have been used to encourage a range of desired behaviors but have rarely been used in disaster preparedness and response, though traditional efforts by public health practitioners have failed to increase adoption of key preparedness behaviors. In this work, we aim to show how some of the key concepts in the behavioral economics literature are applicable to behaviors related to disaster preparedness and response, and we present ideas for behavioral economics-based interventions that we vetted with public health officials. Two of the best-received interventions were applications of social norms approaches, which leverage social influence bias, and commitment devices, which leverage present bias and loss aversion. Although the current evidence base for the applications of concepts from behavioral economics in disaster preparedness and response is weak, behavioral economics has achieved positive results in similar decision-making contexts. The low cost and potentially high impact of behavioral economics-based interventions warrant further investigation and testing. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2016;page 1 of 7).
Measuring gender, development, and land: Data-driven analysis and land reform in Lesotho

Abstract Development agencies are increasingly making decisions and evaluating success on the basis of an ever-growing supply of data. Some argue that the proliferation of data improves development outcomes for states and people targeted by agencies' interventions, as well as the accountability of those agencies. Others argue that problems of selection bias, a lack of longitudinal records, and misuse of data can ignore or even exacerbate the problems that development agencies seek to mitigate. In this paper, I investigate the measurement, evaluation, and data usage of the U.S.'s Millennium Challenge Corporation [MCC] to argue that too short-term a measurement horizon can mask the true outcome of a development intervention. I use research data from an MCC-sponsored land reform in Lesotho to argue that the agency's short assessment timeframe obscured the reality of the reform. When the MCC's five-year project in Lesotho, which explicitly targeted women's land access, ended in 2013, the land reform appeared to have been a success. However, only a year later, the reality looked much different in one village. Rather than having their land access secured or enhanced by the law, women in the village were being dispossessed by real estate developers, with the assistance of government bureaucrats. MCC's short-term data and measurement of outcomes, instead of the structures, mechanisms, and vulnerabilities that determine those outcomes, concealed a significant problem with the project. This illustrates both a problem with data-driven development projects, and a possible way to improve them.
Statistical Approach to Antige Screening

Pretransfusion testing includes screening the serum of patients for clinically significant antibodies. When discovered, attempts are made to identify the antibody in the hopes of providing the patient with compatible blood that lacks the corresponding antigen. The statistical relationships among the probability of finding the desired number of units, the number of units screened, and the antigen frequency will be discussed. Graphic presentations highlight the relationships and provide a convenient method of assessing the likelihood of finding the desired number of units. A program to perform the necessary calculations on a microcomputer is discussed and is available upon request from the author.
Evaluation of HFC-245fa as an alternative blowing agent for extruded low-density polyethylene

HFC-245fa was investigated as a blowing agent in low-density polyethylene (LDPE). Ultrasonic monitoring showed that this blowing agent has degassing pressures systematically lower in LDPE than those reported in polystyrene, in agreement with solubility measurements performed on other polymer-gas systems. Based on these results, HFC-245fa would have solubility properties similar to HCFC-22 both in polyolefins and in polystyrene. Foams were produced in extrusion using gas concentrations ranging from 3 to 7. 7 wt. %. Extrusion profiles show that foam growth in LDPE is very slow and that adding a nucleating agent is required to trigger the expansion process. Using an optimal concentration of gas and talc, it was possible to produce foam samples below 100 kg/m 3 .
Quantitative analysis of the mission impact for host-level cyber defensive mitigations

Network devices and user accounts often provide an initial entry point for attackers who wish to gain a foothold on a network, pivot to other hosts, and ultimately disrupt an organizational mission and/or steal valuable network resources. Several host-level cyber defensive measures have been proposed to mitigate this threat. Although these mitigations are intuitively appealing from a security perspective, there is a lack of quantitative analysis addressing their effectiveness with respect to the network as a whole and the mission that the network supports. Testing these mitigations in an operational setting is prohibitively expensive, and thus modeling and simulation approaches are sought, due to their relative low cost. Our goal is to investigate the network-scale effects of various host-level defensive mitigations both from the standpoint of cyber security and mission impact. Our approach utilizes a hierarchical framework to model a complex cyber system at multiple, appropriate scales. Experiments serve to provide quantitative assessment of host-level mitigations from a complete network system perspective.
X-Band Wave Radar for Coastal Upwelling Detection off the Southern Coast of Sicily

AbstractThe main aim of this work is to show the potentialities of an X-band radar system about the detection of the coastal upwelling phenomenon. This is made possible by means of the estimation of the sea surface current, which moves from the coastal areas toward the open sea for wind-induced upwelling events. The study presents the results of the X-band radar data processing for a system installed at Capo Granitola (southwestern Sicily). In particular, the radar data acquired in three different periods—namely, 5–6 November 2013, 8–9 February 2015, and 6 March 2015—indicated upwelling events. The occurrence of these events was confirmed by independent information derived from in situ wind data provided by a meteorological station and the analysis of the satellite-derived sea surface temperature (SST) and chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) concentration.
Uncovering circuit reliability effects using dedicated on-chip monitors

Summary form only given. Device aging mechanisms such as Negative Bias Temperature Instability (NBTI), Hot Carrier Injection (HCI) and Time Dependent Dielectric Breakdown (TDDB) have emerged as serious problems undermining the long term reliability of high performance systems. In this presentation, we will review a number of unique test chip designs pursued by circuit designers that demonstrate the benefits of utilizing on-chip logic and a simple test interface to automate circuit aging experiments. This new class of compact on-chip sensors, called “silicon odometers”, can reveal important aspects of circuit aging that would otherwise be impossible to measure, and can lead us down the path to realtime aging compensation in future processors.
Poster: Auracle: A Wearable Device for Detecting and Monitoring Eating Behavior

Chronic disease is one of the most pressing health challenges facing the United States (and an increasing set of other countries). The onset or progression of diseases like obesity, diabetes, and metabolic disorder are strongly related to eating behavior, and scientists are still trying to fully understand the complex mixture of diet, exercise, genetics, sociocultural context, and physical environment that lead to these diseases. Health science, however, has no effective means for automatically measuring eating behavior in free-living conditions. The Auracle aims to be a wearable earpiece that detects eating behavior, to be fielded by health-science researchers in their efforts to study eating behavior and ultimately to develop interventions useful to individuals striving to address chronic disease related to eating.
Charles Dale Beers: Pioneer Protozoologist and Teacher at the University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill

Abstract: This paper documents the life, scientific accomplishments, publications, and teaching career of protozoologist Charles Dale Beers (1901–1976), and thereby provides insight into the early years of zoology as an academic discipline at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Professor Beers's pioneering investigations elucidated encystment and excystment in ciliates, and his devotion to teaching was instrumental in preparing future professors of zoology.
The Law of the Iterated Logarithm over a Stationary Gaussian Sequence of Random Vectors

Let {Xj}j = 1∞ be a stationary Gaussian sequence of random vectors with mean zero. We give sufficient conditions for the compact law of the iterate logarithm of $$(n{\text{ 2 log log }}n{\text{)}}^{{\text{ - 1/2}}} \sum\limits_{j{\text{ }} = {\text{ }}1}^n {(G(X_j ) - E[{\text{ }}G} (X_j )])$$ where G is a real function defined on ℝd with finite second moment. Our result builds on Ho,(6) who proved an upper-half of the law of iterated logarithm for a sequence of random variables.
Children and Anthropological Research: An Overview

In the fieldwork literature of the past twenty-five years there are approximately two dozen published references to children accompanying their researcher parents. Several generalizations can be made from these often quite brief accounts. Over time these accounts have become somewhat less apologetic about discussing the personal aspects of field-work, as the authors increasingly scrutinize the use of participant-observation as a research tool. All but one of the accounts conclude that the experience was a positive one on balance, and many claim it to have been overwhelmingly so. Nonetheless, over the years more candor about the negative aspects of fieldwork with children, such as limitations on time for research and concern about the children’s well-being, become evident. What deserves note is that almost all parent-anthropologists mention, however briefly, at least one major crisis of physical health for their child due to the field situation. That they have successfully weathered the crisis signifies that the parent-anthropologist has demonstrated substantial prowess in this important professional rite de passage. It is significant that the only account which gives no such positive evaluation of the experience of fieldwork with children (nor a negative one) is written by someone whose child died in the field. The most negative evaluation is given, however, by Margaret Mead, who never took her daughter along for research -- “…children of any age add tremendous hazards to field work” (1970,p.254). We will return to this question of why the experiences are judged in retrospect to have been positive after reviewing the accounts themselves.
Match Fixing in Soccer: Organization, Structure and Policing. A Russian Perspective

Fixing soccer games is a thriving business which will continue in the near and far future, unless some extreme mechanisms of control are put in place and implemented. All these illegal activities are derived from a social nature of human being, mercantile ambition, and thirst for glory and, of course, struggle for power. Every fixed match has its own character and goal. We will examine this phenomenon in three categories. First is aimed at receiving illegal profit. Second one is usually organized by club presidents and owners. Many of them are politicians, tycoons or “Russian Oligarchs” whose living credo is “victory by all costs”. The third one is splitting game scores. Soccer in Russia is not a sport competition but rather a business to make big money; buying and selling players, millions of dollars in advertisement contracts, television and the internet shows. This chapter attempts to investigate the nature and depth of match fixing in the Russian football and offer possible solutions to curb its growth.
Marine nitrogen: Phosphorus stoichiometry and the global N:P cycle

Nitrogen supply is often assumed to limit marine primary production. A global analysis of total nitrogen (N) to phosphorus (P) molar ratios shows that total N:P is low (<16:1) in some estuarine and coastal ecosystems, but up to 100:1 in open oceans. This implies that elements other than N may limit marine production, except in human impacted, estuarine or coastal ecosystems. This pattern may reconcile conflicting enrichment studies, because N addition frequently increases phytoplankton growth where total N:P is expected to be low, but P, Fe, or Si augment phytoplankton growth in waters where total N:P is high. Comparison of total N:P stoichiometry between marine and freshwaters yields a model of the form of the aquatic N:P cycle.
ON THE COMMITMENT OF LYMPHOCYTES TO DNA REPLICATION: A POSSIBLE ROLE FOR TRANSGLUTAMINASE

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the possible role of transglutaminase in lymphocytes to DNA replication. In one of the studies described in the chapter, it was reported that cells treated with suboptimal but still mitogenic concentrations of Con A were not committed to DNA replication at 24 h. Thymidine incorporation was measured in cells treated with different concentrations of Con A and in replicate cultures to which αMM to a final concentration of 0.1M was added after 24 h. Human peripheral lymphocytes from which adherent cells had been removed by incubation with G-10 sephadex were used for these studies. It was found that at optimal Con A concentrations, there is little effect of αMM compatible with earlier observations that suggested that cells are committed at 24 h and that blastogenesis of cells treated with high concentrations of Con A depends on the addition of αMM. However, lymphocyte responses to low concentrations of Con A, concentrations that are quite mitogenic, are virtually eliminated by addition of αMM at 24 h.
Functions of Random Variables

A random variable X is a function defined on the basic space Ω. If the outcome of the experiment is ω, the corresponding number is t = X(ω). Frequently, if value t is observed, we are interested in a corresponding value υ = g(t) obtained by applying the rule for the function g to the observed value. If we make the assignment υ = g(X(ω)) for all ω, we have a new function Z = g(X) defined on the basic space. Similarly, we may be interested in Z = h(X, Y). If X(ω) — t and Y(ω) = u, then Z(ω) = h(t, u). Elementary mapping properties show that if g is a Borel function, then Z = g(X) is a random variable; similarly, if h is a Borel function of two variables, then Z = h(X, Y) is a random variable. In this chapter, we address the basic problem: Given the distribution for X, or the joint distribution for (X, Y), how can we assign probabilities to events determined by the new random variable Z?
A cryodamage model for studying corneal nerve regeneration.

This study used a transcorneal freezing technique to produce a 2-mm circular, central wound in the rabbit cornea for investigating corneal nerve regeneration. AH the corneal cells, nerves, and associated Schwann cells were dead inside the wound, but the extracellular matrix components remained intact. The destroyed epithelium and endothelium were replaced in 1 and 5-7 days, respectively. The necrotic keratocytes and stromal and subepithelial nerves were removed completely in 1-3 days by invading macrophage-like cells. The wounded stroma was repopulated centripetally by migrating keratocytes between days 1-5. Two types of nerve growth were identified in the stroma. The first type was novel sprouting of straight, long neurites between days 2-21, initially from the undamaged, peri wound nerves and later from regenerated stromal nerves inside the wound. These small-caliber neurites proliferated in a random and disorderly pattern both inside and outside the wound and sometimes terminated on stationary, stellate keratocytes. The second type was genuine regrowth of stromal and subepithelial nerves in a centripetal direction between days 3-7. Schwann cells appeared on the newly formed nerves starting on day 4 or 5. A near-normal pattern and size of the nerves were established in the wound as early as day 10. In the epithelium, transient, wound-oriented neurites (days 1-3), single nerves, and semileashes (days 4-10) appeared. A near-normal leash pattern was restored between days 10-21 only at the wound periphery. Thus, in this model, the major groundwork of nerve regeneration occurred between days 3-10, simultaneously, at all three levels of nerve organization. These data suggest that nerve-Schwann cell interaction contributes to the restoration of stromal and subepithelial nerves, whereas a reparative epithelium deficient in trophic activity may account for the incomplete regrowth of epithelial nerves. The cryodamage model offers an efficient and multifaceted system for the experimental study of corneal nerve regeneration. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 31:2008-2021,1990 The innervation of the mammalian cornea consists of three levels of organization: 1 stromal, subepithelial, and epithelial nerves. Damage to corneal nerves may result from various disease processes (eg, herpetic keratitis), chemical or mechanical injuries, and ocular surgery (eg, penetrating keratoplasty). Numerous clinical studies based on corneal sensitivity measurement or postmortem examination of grafted corneas have shown that nerve regeneration in the human cornea is a slow process which can take months or years. 2 " 4 The rate of recovery of tactile sensitivity in various diseased corneas was measured to average 0.029 mm/month. 4 The pattern and density of the regenerated nerves are seldom restored completely. 3 In the past, animal studies of corneal nerve regeneration used mechanical or surgical wounding tech
Redistributional Externalities and the Ethics of Rent Seeking and Coasean Bargains

Tullock identified resources invested in acquiring rents as socially wasteful. Several authors have argued that this identification is value-laden and normative, resting on interpersonal comparisons of utility, measurement of subjective opportunity costs, and presumptions concerning the legitimate scope of government and the ideal structure of property rights. This paper suggests a constructive way to assimilate this normative criticism into positive, value-free economics, using the concept of "redistributional externalities" developed by Buchanan and Tullock. Buchanan and Tullock argue that individuals will seek that constitution which reduces redistributional externalities. We suggest that the costs of rent seeking are a type of redistributional externality which constitutional political economists must consider in their positive study of constitutional choice. In addition, we challenge the claim that redistributional consequences of policy can be ignored because the government can always reverse its own redistribution. The endogenization of the political process by Public Choice renders this argument untenable.
Deciphering Latent Uncertainty Sources with Principal Component Analysis for Adaptive Robust Optimization

Abstract This paper proposes a novel data-driven robust optimization framework that leverages the power of machine learning for decision-making under uncertainty. By performing principal component analysis on uncertainty data, the correlations among uncertain parameters are effectively captured, and latent uncertainty sources are identified. Uncertainty data are then projected onto each principal component to facilitate extracting distributional information of latent uncertainties with kernel density estimation technique. To explicitly account for asymmetric uncertainties, we introduce forward and backward deviation vectors in an uncertainty set. The resulting data-driven uncertainty set is general enough to be employed in adaptive robust optimization model. The proposed framework not only significantly ameliorates the conservatism of robust optimization but also enjoys computational efficiency and wide applicability. An application of optimization under uncertainty on batch process scheduling is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed general framework. We also investigate a data-driven uncertainty set in a low-dimensional subspace and derive a theoretical bound on the performance gap between ARO solutions due to the dimension reduction of uncertainties.
A Survey of Multidimensional Generalizations of Cantor’s Uniqueness Theorem for Trigonometric Series

Georg Cantor’s pointwise uniqueness theorem for one-dimensional trigonometric series says that if, for each x in [0,2π), ∑c n e inx =0, then all c n =0. In dimension d, d≥2, we begin by assuming that for each x in [0,2π) d , ∑c n e inx =0 where \(n = ({n}_{1},\ldots,{n}_{d})\) and \(nx = {n}_{1}{x}_{1} + \cdots+ {n}_{d}{x}_{d}\). It is quite natural to group together all terms whose indices differ only by signs. But here there are still several different natural interpretations of the infinite multiple sum, and, correspondingly, several different potential generalizations of Cantor’s theorem. For example, in two dimensions, two natural methods of convergence are circular convergence and square convergence. In the former case, the generalization is true, and this has been known since 1971. In the latter case, this is still an open question. In this historical survey, I will discuss these two cases as well as the cases of iterated convergence, unrestricted rectangular convergence, restricted rectangular convergence, and simplex convergence.
Gene-level, but not chromosome-wide, divergence between a very young house fly Y chromosome and its homologous X chromosome

X and Y chromosomes are derived from a pair of homologous autosomes, which then diverge from each other over time. Although Y-specific features have been characterized in sex chromosomes of various ages, the earliest stages of Y chromosome evolution are poorly understood. In particular, we do not know whether early stages of Y chromosome evolution consist of changes to individual genes or happen via chromosome-scale divergence from the X. To address this question, we used house fly, Musca domestica, as a model because it has very young sex chromosomes that are still segregating as polymorphisms within natural populations. To identify early differentiation between the very young X and Y chromosomes, we compared genotypic (XY) and sex-reversed (XX) males in gene sequence and gene expression using RNA-seq and Oxford Nanopore sequencing data. There is an excess of genes with divergent expression between the X and Y copies, but the number of genes is small. This suggests that individual Y genes, but not the entire Y chromosome, have diverged from their homologous X-linked alleles. We identified one gene, encoding an axonemal dynein assembly factor (which functions in sperm motility), that has higher expression in the abdomens of XY males than XX males because of a disproportionate contribution of the Y allele to gene expression. The up-regulation of the Y-linked copy of this gene may be favored in males because of its function in spermatogenesis, consistent with sexually antagonistic selection affecting the expression evolution of individual genes during early Y chromosome evolution.
An Unmediated Consortia Interlibrary Loan Service: The Data and Discovery of CSU+

In July 2017 the California State University system of twenty-four libraries started an unmediated interlibrary loan service for print materials, known as CSU+. This paper examines four years of in...
From Philosophical Theology to Democratic Theory

This paper examines the early intellectual development of John Rawls, paying special attention to the transition from his work in moral epistemology to his work in political philosophy and democratic theory. It appears in the recently published Blackwell Companion to Rawls, which I edited with Jon Mandle.
Adult plant leaf rust resistance in AC taber wheat maps to chromosomes 2BS and 3BS

AC Taber is a hard red spring wheat cultivar that has had long-lasting resistance to the leaf rust fungus Puccinia triticina. The objective of this study was to determine the chromosome location of the leaf rust resistance genes in AC Taber. The leaf rust-susceptible cultivar Thatcher was crossed with AC Taber to develop an F6 recombinant inbred line (RIL) population. The RILs and parents were evaluated for segregation of leaf rust resistance in five field plot tests and in two seedling tests to race BBBDB of P. triticina. A genetic map of the RIL population was developed using 90,000 single nucleotide polymorphism markers with the Illumina Infinium iSelect 90K wheat bead array. Quantitative trait loci (QTLs) with significant effects for lower leaf rust severity in the field plot tests were found on chromosomes 2BS and 3BS. The same QTLs also had significant effects for lower infection type in seedlings to leaf rust race BBBDB. The gene on 2BS was the adult plant resistance gene Lr13, and the gene on 3BS mapped to the same region as the adult plant resistance gene Lr74 and other QTLs for leaf rust resistance. Kompetitive allele-specific PCR assay markers linked to the 2BS and 3BS regions were developed and should be useful for marker-based selection of these genes.
Palliative Care Consultation Affects How and Where Heart Failure Patients Die

Objective:Determine the role of palliative care on terminal code status and setting of death for those with heart failure.Background:Although palliative care consultation (PCC) has increased for ma...
The TGF-β superfamily cytokine Activin-A is induced during autoimmune neuroinflammation and drives pathogenic Th17 cell differentiation.

Summary Th17 cells are known to exert pathogenic and non-pathogenic functions. Although the cytokine transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1) is instrumental for Th17 cell differentiation, it is dispensable for generation of pathogenic Th17 cells. Here, we examined the T cell-intrinsic role of Activin-A, a TGF-β superfamily member closely related to TGF-β1, in pathogenic Th17 cell differentiation. Activin-A expression was increased in individuals with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis and in mice with experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. Stimulation with interleukin-6 and Activin-A induced a molecular program that mirrored that of pathogenic Th17 cells and was inhibited by blocking Activin-A signaling. Genetic disruption of Activin-A and its receptor ALK4 in T cells impaired pathogenic Th17 cell differentiation in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, extracellular-signal-regulated kinase (ERK) phosphorylation, which was essential for pathogenic Th17 cell differentiation, was suppressed by TGF-β1-ALK5 but not Activin-A-ALK4 signaling. Thus, Activin-A drives pathogenic Th17 cell differentiation, implicating the Activin-A-ALK4-ERK axis as a therapeutic target for Th17 cell-related diseases.
Understanding the Afro-Ecuadorian Educational Experience: Anti-Blackness, Schooling, and the Nation

The present moment represents a high point in the efforts of Afro-Ecuadorians to challenge their systematic exclusion from mainstream institutions and resources. This article examines anti-blacknes...