cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Quantitative trait loci affecting δ13C and response to differential water availibility in Arabidopsis thaliana

Abstract Phenotypic plasticity is an important response mechanism of plants to environmental heterogeneity. Here, we explored the genetic basis of plastic responses of Arabidopsis thaliana to water deficit by experimentally mapping quantitative trait loci (QTL) in two recombinant inbred populations (Cvi × Ler and Ler × Col). We detected genetic variation and significant genotype-by-environment interactions for many traits related to water use. We also mapped 26 QTL, including six for carbon isotope composition (δ13C). Negative genetic correlations between fruit length and fruit production as well as between flowering time and branch production were corroborated by QTL colocalization, suggesting these correlations are due to pleiotropy or physical linkage. Water-limited plants were more apically dominant with greater root:shoot ratios and higher δ13C (higher water-use efficiency) when compared to well-watered plants. Many of the QTL effects for these traits interacted significantly with the irrigation trea...
Algorithms for Scanned Probe Microscope Image Simulation, Surface Reconstruction , and Tip Estimation

To the extent that tips are not perfectly sharp, images produced by scanned probe microscopies (SPM) such as atomic force microscopy and scanning tunneling microscopy are only approximations of the specimen surface. Tip-induced distortions are significant whenever the specimen contains features with aspect ratios comparable to the tip’s. Treatment of the tip-surface interaction as a simple geometrical exclusion
Probable cigarette dependence, PTSD, and depression after an urban disaster: results from a population survey of New York City residents 4 months after September 11, 2001.

Disaster exposure may exacerbate psychopathology and substance–related disorders. Four months after September 11, 2001, using random–digit dialing to contact a representative sample of adults (N = 2001) living in New York City, we assessed cigarette smoking and symptoms of probable cigarette dependence using measures from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. A total of 36.8% of smokers reported increased cigarette use; 10.4% of respondents reported three or more symptoms of cigarette dependence and were considered cases of probable cigarette dependence based on DSM–IV criteria. Cases were more likely to report an increase in cigarette use since September 11 than non–cases (69.4% among cases vs. 2.2% among non–cases, p < 0.001). Cases were more likely to have probable posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression than non–cases (18.1% vs. 5.7% for PTSD, p < 0.001; 23.6% vs. 6.0% for depression, p < 0.001). Increased cigarette use since September 11 was associated with probable PTSD among cases (23.4% vs. 6.4%, p = 0.011) and non–cases (15.1% vs. 5.5%, p = 0.034) but was associated with probable depression only among cases of probable cigarette dependence (28.3% vs. 13.3%, p = 0.027). This study showed the co–occurrence of probable cigarette dependence with increased cigarette use and the co–occurrence of probable cigarette dependence with probable PTSD and depression after September 11.
The Shigella flexneri Type 3 Secretion System Is Required for Tyrosine Kinase-Dependent Protrusion Resolution, and Vacuole Escape during Bacterial Dissemination

Shigella flexneri is a human pathogen that triggers its own entry into intestinal cells and escapes primary vacuoles to gain access to the cytosolic compartment. As cytosolic and motile bacteria encounter the cell cortex, they spread from cell to cell through formation of membrane protrusions that resolve into secondary vacuoles in adjacent cells. Here, we examined the roles of the Type 3 Secretion System (T3SS) in S. flexneri dissemination in HT-29 intestinal cells infected with the serotype 2a strain 2457T. We generated a 2457T strain defective in the expression of MxiG, a central component of the T3SS needle apparatus. As expected, the ΔmxiG strain was severely affected in its ability to invade HT-29 cells, and expression of mxiG under the control of an arabinose inducible expression system (ΔmxiG/pmxiG) restored full infectivity. In this experimental system, removal of the inducer after the invasion steps (ΔmxiG/pmxiG (Ara withdrawal)) led to normal actin-based motility in the cytosol of HT-29 cells. However, the time spent in protrusions until vacuole formation was significantly increased. Moreover, the number of formed protrusions that failed to resolve into vacuoles was also increased. Accordingly, the ΔmxiG/pmxiG (Ara withdrawal) strain failed to trigger tyrosine phosphorylation in membrane protrusions, a signaling event that is required for the resolution of protrusions into vacuoles. Finally, the ΔmxiG/pmxiG (Ara withdrawal) strain failed to escape from the formed secondary vacuoles, as previously reported in non-intestinal cells. Thus, the T3SS system displays multiple roles in S. flexneri dissemination in intestinal cells, including the tyrosine kinase signaling-dependent resolution of membrane protrusions into secondary vacuoles, and the escape from the formed secondary vacuoles.
In-Line Measurement of Color and Total Phenolics during Red Wine Fermentations Using a Light-Emitting Diode Sensor

An in-line color and total phenolic sensor is described to track the color and total phenol evolution during red wine fermentations. The sensor uses multiple light-emitting diodes (LEDs) spanning the ultraviolet and visible spectrum, in particular 280 and 525 nm. The performance of phenolic sensor was evaluated by analyzing fermentation samples collected from multiple red wine fermentations performed during the 2012 season. The study confirmed that the LED phenolic sensor measurements strongly correlate with measurements performed with a reference UV-vis spectrophotometer and that in-line measurements can be made in a practical manner after removal of yeast and pulp with a 2.0 µm filter. The use of a 100 µm path-length flow cell avoids the need for dilution, making in-line measurements possible. The sensor provides in-line measurement on the evolution of the total phenolic content and color extraction patterns during red wine fermentations.
Comparison of a Self-Reported and a Performance-Based Assessment of Mobility in the Hispanic Established Population for Epidemiological Studies of the Elderly

In this study, the authors employ data from the Hispanic Established Population for Epidemiological Studies of the Elderly to examine the concordance between a self-reported measure of the ability to walk across a small room and a performance-based assessment of the respondent’s ability to perform the same task. The data reveal that although these two ways of assessing this particular aspect of functional capacity are roughly concordant, other psychological and social factors affect self-reports independent of actual physical ability. A large proportion of individuals who are unable to complete the performance-based task report that they are mobile. The analysis indicates that performance-based measures are better predictors of mortality than self-assessments, but when viewed in terms of the disablement process, it is clear that performance-based and self-reported measures tap something different. The authors conclude that each type of measure conveys useful information about functioning in complex daily ...
VERTICAL ORBIT-EXCURSION FIXED FIELD ALTERNATING GRADIENT ACCELERATORS (V-FFAGs) AND 3D CYCLOTRONS

FFAGs with vertical orbit excursion (VFFAGs) provide a promising alternative design for rings with fixed-field (e.g. superconducting) magnets. They have a vertical magnetic field component that increases with height in the vertical aperture, yielding a skew quadrupole focussing structure. Scaling type VFFAGs have fixed tunes and no intrinsic limitation on momentum range; they are also isochronous in the ultra-relativisticlimit. Extendingisochronismtolowervelocities requires a slanted orbit excursion: a three-dimensional analogue of a spiral sector cyclotron from 40 to 1500MeV is developed, which is flat at low energies and acquires a slope as the protons become relativistic. This provides more stable tunes than a comparable planar cyclotron. Such machines are promising future candidates for nuclear transmutation using high average power CW beams at∼GeV energies.
Huntingtin differentially regulates the axonal transport of a sub-set of Rab-containing vesicles in vivo

Loss of huntingtin (HTT), the Huntington's disease (HD) protein, was previously shown to cause axonal transport defects. Within axons, HTT can associate with kinesin-1 and dynein motors either directly or via accessory proteins for bi-directional movement. However, the composition of the vesicle-motor complex that contains HTT during axonal transport is unknown. Here we analyze the in vivo movement of 16 Rab GTPases within Drosophila larval axons and show that HTT differentially influences the movement of a particular sub-set of these Rab-containing vesicles. While reduction of HTT perturbed the bi-directional motility of Rab3 and Rab19-containing vesicles, only the retrograde motility of Rab7-containing vesicles was disrupted with reduction of HTT. Interestingly, reduction of HTT stimulated the anterograde motility of Rab2-containing vesicles. Simultaneous dual-view imaging revealed that HTT and Rab2, 7 or 19 move together during axonal transport. Collectively, our findings indicate that HTT likely influences the motility of different Rab-containing vesicles and Rab-mediated functions. These findings have important implications for our understanding of the complex role HTT plays within neurons normally, which when disrupted may lead to neuronal death and disease.
(Sn,Al)Ox Films Grown by Atomic Layer Deposition

(Sn,Al)Ox composite films with various aluminum (Al) to tin (Sn) ratios were deposited using an atomic layer deposition technique. The chemisorption behavior of cyclic amide of tin(II) and trimethy...
The Council of the City of Ladies: Finding Medieval Feminine Representation in the Writings of Christine de Pizan

Christine de Pizan's work on feminine virtue in the Book of the City of Ladies and the Book of the Three Virtues marks an important epoch in representation of the feminine in the world of medieval politics and culture. She was able to devise a means for replying to the moral denigration of women that she and others found in the Quarrel of the Romance of the Rose. Recent scholarship has explored Christine's ability to construct feminine alternatives to traditionally male roles and moral ascriptions. Perhaps less explored has been the scope and ambitious nature of Christine's feminine analogues. In particular, I find that Christine, between her work in the Book of the Body Politic and the two more famous books already listed, was willing to challenge even the most profound of bastion of medieval male exclusivity, the priestly hierarchy of the Catholic Church. I suggest that she constructed at least an implicit female version of the clerical soul of the Body Politic described by John of Salisbury, whose earlier work on the Body Politic strongly influenced Christine's conception of the same. Since some, such as Brian Tierney and others, have argued that modern ideas of representation emerged from medieval precursors, I find that these ideas of Christine can be used to suggest a medieval forerunner of the modern concept of feminine representation.
Child Labor Reforms and the National Child Labor Committee

As with any important historical event, the elimination of child labor in the Pittsburgh glass bottle factories in the early twentieth century was the product of a complex of intersecting forces – social, political, cultural, and economic. Child labor had been the focus of legislative reform efforts from much of the progressive era and the nation’s glass factories had been a special concern of the reformers. But, while these reform efforts had been successful in many other regions, the Pittsburgh glass bottle plants were particularly resistant to change. In Pittsburgh the progressives had to contend with a group of glass manufacturers who were unusually well organized in opposition to reform and a political culture that was historically corrupt and conservative. In particular, however, the chief obstacle to reform was the men of the glass workers’ union in Pittsburgh, the Glass Bottle Blowers’ Association. Unlike virtually all other unions of the period, the skilled glass workers of Western Pennsylvania staunchly opposed child labor reform and fought desperately to keep the glass house boys hard at work, day and night, in the region’s glass bottle plants. As in other industrial areas, the glass manufacturers in Pittsburgh also opposed child labor reform, and, as in other areas the families of the child workers, needing the added wages to survive, actively worked to subvert many of the reform efforts. But in Western Pennsylvania the glass workers’ union was the key barrier to reform. As a result, child labor reform, and in particular the elimination of night work by children, was repeatedly thwarted in the state legislature and the Pittsburgh glass houses continued to exploit the labor of small children well beyond the time when it was successfully regulated in virtually every other glass-producing region in the country. The Glass House Boys of Pittsburgh recreates this singular story of reform held hostage and provides a fascinating study in the relationship between law, politics and social change.
Compliant deformable mirror approach for wavefront improvement

We describe a compliant static deformable mirror approach to reduce the wavefront concavity at the Navy Precision Optical Interferometer (NPOI). A single actuator pressing on the back surface of just one of the relay mirrors deforms the front surface in a correcting convex shape. Our design uses the mechanical advantage gained from a force actuator sandwiched between a rear flexure plate and the back surface of the mirror. We superimpose wavefront contour measurements with our finite element deformed mirror model. An example analysis showed improvement from 210-nm concave–concave wavefront to 51-nm concave–concave wavefront. With our present model, a 100-nm actuator increment displaces the mirror surface by 1.1 nm. We describe the need for wavefront improvement that arises from the NPOI reconfigurable array, offer a practical design approach, and analyze the support structure and compliant deformable mirror using the finite element method. We conclude that a 20.3-cm-diameter, 1.9-cm-thick Zerodur ® mirror shows that it is possible to deform the reflective surface and cancel out three-fourths of the wavefront deformation without overstressing the material.
Single-case design and evaluation in R: An introduction and tutorial for school psychologists

For the appraisal of single-case intervention data, school psychologists have been encouraged to focus most, if not all, of their interpretive weight on the visual inspection of graphed data. However, existing software programs provide practitioners with limited features for systematic visual inspection. R (R Development Core Team, 2014) is a free, open-source, statistical programming language that can be utilized to evaluate single-case data. This article reviews salient aspects of single-case evaluation and visual analysis and provides an introduction into the R programming environment. Strategies for incorporation of the platform into applied practice and school psychology research are also discussed.
Reflecting on the Ways Forward in Mali, Part 2

The past 18 months have been a tumultuous time in Mali. A coup d’etat was staged by disgruntled military personnel in March 2012, putting an end to nearly 20 years of procedural democracy. The weak state apparatus then lost control of the northern two-thirds of the country to a variety of rebel groups with different agendas, including Tuareg separatists, Islamists, drug traffickers, and al-Qaeda affiliates. With rebel groups pushing south in January 2013, the French military intervened, eventually reclaiming the major northern cities for the Malian state. While relative calm appears to have been restored as of the spring of 2013, the highly fluid nature of the situation, and a myriad of unresolved questions, makes the way forward extremely unclear. This roundtable assembles a variety of academics and policy makers working in different areas, and from different perspectives, in Mali. Among the many questions to consider include: the restoration of a legitimate government in Bamako, the future role and character of the Malian military, the prospect of race and ethnicity in Malian society, the level of autonomy or status of the northern provinces (regions), the potential for Malian civil society (including the arts), and the future of the Malian state’s relationships with other governments, including, France, the USA, Arab states, and West African neighbors. In sum, this roundtable is about building a durable peace, responsible government and vibrant civil society in Mali.
6β-N-Heterocyclic Substituted Naltrexamine Derivative BNAP: A Peripherally Selective Mixed MOR/KOR Ligand

The 6β-N-heterocyclic naltrexamine derivative, NAP, has been demonstrated to be a peripherally selective mu opioid receptor modulator. To further improve peripheral selectivity of this highly potent ligand, its pyridal ring was quaterinized with benzyl bromide to produce BNAP. In radioligand binding assay, the Ki of BNAP for MOR was 0.76 ± 0.09 nM and was >900-fold more selective for MOR than DOR. The Ki for KOR was 3.46 ± 0.05 nM. In [(35)S]GTPγS ligand stimulated assay, BNAP showed low agonist efficacy with 14.6% of the maximum response of DAMGO with an EC50 of 4.84 ± 0.6 nM. However, unlike its parent compound NAP, BNAP displayed partial agonist activity at KOR with % maximum response at 45.9 ± 1.7% of U50,488H. BNAP did not reverse morphine-induced antinociception when administered subcutaneously but did antagonize when administered intracerebroventricularly. BNAP antagonized morphine-induced contractions of the circular muscle in mice colon. BNAP inhibition of field-stimulated contractions in longitudinal muscle strips for the guinea-pig ileum were also blocked by nor-BNI, a kappa opioid receptor antagonist. BNAP induced inhibition of acetic acid induced abdominal stretching in chronic morphine treated mice. These findings suggest that BNAP is a dual MOR antagonist/KOR agonist and may have functional use in irritable bowel patients.
Treatment of shock with nonpenetrating thoracoabdominal injuries.

While the full-blown picture of shock is easy to recognize, the more subtle changes are harder to detect. Nevertheless, elaborate equipment is not required to make the diagnosis. Priorities in treatment, correction of acidosis, ventilatory support in patients sustaining blunt trauma to the trunk, and indications for the use of pressor and vasodilatory drugs are discussed.
Neural Induction Embryonic Stem Cells

An early milestone in the development of the vertebrate central nervous system (CNS) occurs soon after gastrulation when the neural plate forms on the dorsal surface of the embryo. Appearance of the neural plate marks the generation of committed neural progenitors that proliferate and eventually gives rise to the cell types comprising the CNS. The importance of determining how a particular region of the embryo forms the neural plate led to the discovery of neural induction in the early part of the last century. We will first describe how the process of embryonic induction was defined experimentally, how the mechanisms involved are evolutionarily conserved, and how the molecular circuitry that underlies this process was unraveled more recently. In addition, as the neural plate forms, the cells within it are molecularly distinct according to their position along the body axis. Regionalization of the neural plate is the first step in neural patterning, the events that allow progenitors to form different types of neural tissue along the body axis. We describe how regionalization of the nervous system begins at the neural plate stage, focusing on how polarity along the anteroposterior axis is first established. Finally, understanding the mechanisms that allow neural tissue to form in the embryo and become regionalized has been influential in more recent attempts to guide the differentiation of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) in culture. We will describe how the mechanisms that determine early cell fate in embryos have been used to devise protocols for guiding ESC differentiation.
Lyme Disease and Facial Palsy Revisited

The frequency of abnormal CSF findings in 40 children, ages 3-19 years, with new onset facial palsy and Lyme disease was determined at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.
Online Entertainment| YouTube Nation: Precarity and Agency in India’s Online Video Scene

This article analyzes the emerging culture of online video production and distribution in India to make a case for a growing subculture that navigates the divide between the amateur and the professional. Yet in the early stages, this cultural scene encompassing a mix of professional and nonprofessionals creating videos across diverse genres seeks to negotiate the affordances of the social Web to chart new pathways and trajectories that showcase an agentic subjectivity. Through interviews with participants involved in this process of production, as well as engaging with the texts produced by them, this article locates this subculture within the binaries of precarity and creativity, the global and the local, as well as the professional and amateur. Evolving alongside the dominant cultural institutions of India, this milieu remains in a dialectical relationship with it, both borrowing from it and being appropriated in return.
Dopamine-containing neurons of the substantia nigra and their terminals in the neostriatum.

Publisher Summary This chapter reviews the ultrastructural and florescence histochemical characteristics of the mature rabbit substantia nigra and neostriatum, as a frame of reference for the developmental study. Biochemical investigations have been reported on neostriatal dopamine concentrations and the relative uptake and accumulation of 3H-dopamine by this tissue from fetal to adult stages, to provide quantitative data for correlation with the florescence information. The development of the neurons of the substantia nigra and their axons, which project to the neostriatum, can be witnessed from their appearance at day 14 of gestation to their maturation in early postnatal life. The chapter also discusses that a distinct substantia nigra, pars compacta, and reticulata, can be recognized by florescence microscopy by day 20 of gestation. Electron microscopy reveals that the young neurons are multipolar with numerous developing dendrites, some of which exhibit early synaptic junctions. Moreover, in an attempt to identify the dopamine-containing axon, the ultrastructure of adult neostriatum incubated in 5-hydroxydopamine has been reported. The chapter also discusses the possible significance of these findings as related to dopamine secretion.
Managers’ psychological diversity climate and fairness: The utility and importance of diversity management in the hospitality industry

ABSTRACTDespite corporate investments in diversity management programs, there is a dearth in the literature that examines managers' attitudes toward diversity management practices. This is a glaring gap in the literature because the success of diversity management programs is highly depend on managers. A survey was distributed to hotel managers from properties in the southern United States. The results showed that psychological diversity climate predicted the perceived utility and importance of diversity management, and these relationships were mediated by the fairness of diversity management. These results suggest that psychological diversity climate has an impact on attitudes toward diversity management practices.
Ultra-high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass-spectrometry for simple and simultaneous quantification of cannabinoids.

Abstract Cannabis is used widely in the United States, both recreationally and for medical purposes. Current methods for analysis of cannabinoids in human biological specimens rely on complex extraction process and lengthy analysis time. We established a rapid and simple assay for quantification of Δ 9 -tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), cannabidiol (CBD), 11-hydroxy Δ 9 -tetrahydrocannabinol (11-OH THC) and 11-nor-9-carboxy-Δ 9 -tetrahydrocannbinol (THC COOH) in human plasma by U-HPLC–MS/MS using Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol-D3 (THC-D3) as the internal standard. Chromatographic separation was achieved on an Acquity BEH C18 column using a gradient comprising of water (0.1% formic acid) and methanol (0.1% formic acid) over a 6 min run-time. Analytes from 200 μL plasma were extracted using acetonitrile (containing 1% formic acid and THC-D 3 ). Mass spectrometry was performed in positive ionization mode, and total ion chromatogram was used for quantification of analytes. The assay was validated according to guidelines set forth by Food and Drug Administration of the United States. An eight-point calibration curve was fitted with quadratic regression (r 2 > 0.99) from 1.56 to 100 ng mL −1 and a lower limit of quantification (LLOQ) of 1.56 ng mL −1 was achieved. Accuracy and precision calculated from six calibration curves was between 85–115% while the mean extraction recovery was >90% for all the analytes. Several plasma phospholipids eluted after the analytes thus did not interfere with the assay. Bench-top, freeze-thaw, auto-sampler and short-term stability ranged from 92.7 to 106.8% of nominal values. Application of the method was evaluated by quantification of analytes in human plasma from six subjects.
A retrospective study of dogs with atypical hypoadrenocorticism: a diagnostic cut-off or continuum?

Objectives To describe the clinicopathologic findings and outcome in dogs with atypical hypoadrenocorticism (Group 1) and dogs with suspected atypical hypoadrenocorticism whose post-adrenocorticotropic hormone stimulation cortisol concentrations were greater than 55 nmol/L but below the laboratory reference interval (Group 2). Methods Medical records were searched to identify dogs diagnosed with hypoadrenocorticism between January 2004 and June 2014. Dogs were excluded if their Na:K ratio was less than 27 or if they had received prior therapy that could interfere with adrenocorticotropic hormone stimulation testing. Results Forty dogs were included in Group 1 and nine dogs in Group 2. In Group 1, the most common biochemical abnormalities were hypoalbuminaemia (87%) and hypocholesterolaemia (76%). Of 35 dogs in Group 1 with follow-up biochemistry results, five (14%) developed electrolyte abnormalities at 2 to 51 months post diagnosis. Of seven dogs in Group 2 with follow-up, glucocorticoid therapy was discontinued in two dogs without return of clinical signs, four dogs were subsequently diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease and one dog continued to have clinical signs despite glucocorticoid treatment. Clinical Significance Dogs with gastrointestinal signs and hypoalbuminaemia and, or, hypocholesterolaemia should be evaluated for atypical hypoadrenocorticism. Follow-up electrolyte monitoring is recommended because some will develop electrolyte abnormalities. Although dogs in Group 2 had a clinical presentation compatible with atypical hypoadrenocorticism, the diagnosis appears unlikely based on review of follow-up data. Dogs with equivocal adrenocorticotropic hormone stimulation results should be evaluated for other underlying diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease. The use of endogenous adrenocorticotropic hormone measurements in these dogs warrants investigation.
Professional Renewability and Responsiveness of Library and Information Science in India

In the transforming roles of library in the milieu of the emerging information technology and its renewal, several prospects have arisen. For about four centuries and more dominantly in the twentieth century up to this decade, books have dominated the role. They engulfed the science and technology, humanities and social sciences for the last two centuries. They provided the educational settings and made the library a center for lifelong self-education, renewal, and recreation. But as the faster mechanism of new infotech products emerged for information transfer, books got pushed back. Producing a book costs time, energy, and enormous managerial processes.
Transradial PCI for Complex PCI: An Overview

As outlined in this textbook, radial approach for angiography and coronary intervention is rapidly growing worldwide. This adoption is being driven by improved safety over the traditional femoral approach and by studies demonstrating lower costs and patient preference for radial access. Details of these studies are reviewed elsewhere in this text and strongly support the use of radial approach to achieve the best outcomes, in terms of bleeding or vascular complications, at the lowest cost. An equally important issue is whether radial access can achieve similar efficacy to femoral approach – namely, can complex PCI be performed successfully via radial approach? In order to examine this issue appropriately, it is important to review the existing data comparing radial with femoral approach for procedure success, determine whether ad hoc PCI can be performed after transradial diagnostic angiography, and whether a “radial first” approach can be used for all lesion subset.
Clinically significant anatomical variation of the retropharyngeal internal carotid arteries

Although interpatient variations in the course and anatomy of extracranial internal carotid arteries (EICAs) have been described previously, intrapatient variability is rarely cited in the literature. Distance between EICAs and the pharyngeal wall is an important determinant of vascular injury risk. A retropharyngeal EICA has crucial implications in patients undergoing pharyngeal procedures, and important in otorhinolaryngology and emergency medicine. Surgical exploration without identification of anatomical landmarks, or emergent intubation in the emergency room poses high risk for EICA injury. Other critical clinical considerations include intra-arterial involvement of tonsillitis, peritonsillar abscesses, or parapharyngeal neoplasms due to close proximity to the EICA. We present 2 cases with short-term change in retropharyngeal course of EICA to highlight this further. Although no clear etiology for these changes has been identified, we hypothesize that embryology, weight alterations, atherosclerotic disease, and postradiation changes are contributory. Thus, one radiologic study does not exclude variation in vascular anatomy.
Occupational styrene exposure and acquired dyschromatopsia: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND Styrene is a chemical used in the manufacture of plastic-based products worldwide. We systematically reviewed eligible studies of occupational styrene-induced dyschromatopsia, qualitatively synthesizing their findings and estimating the exposure effect through meta-analysis. METHODS PubMed, EMBASE, and Web of Science databases were queried for eligible studies. Using a random effects model, we compared measures of dyschromatopsia between exposed and non-exposed workers to calculate the standardized mean difference (Hedges'g). We also assessed between-study heterogeneity and publication bias. RESULTS Styrene-exposed subjects demonstrated poorer color vision than did the non-exposed (Hedges' g = 0.56; 95%CI: 0.37, 0.76; P < 0.0001). A non-significant Cochran's Q test result (Q = 23.2; P = 0.171) and an I2 of 32.2% (0.0%, 69.9%) indicated low-to-moderate between-study heterogeneity. Funnel plot and trim-and-fill analyses suggested publication bias. CONCLUSIONS This review confirms the hypothesis of occupational styrene-induced dyschromatopsia, suggesting a modest effect size with mild heterogeneity between studies.
Defining the Prevalence and Prognostic Value of Perineural Invasion and Angiolymphatic Invasion in Human Papillomavirus-Positive Oropharyngeal Carcinoma.

Importance Recently, the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) updated its staging system for human papillomavirus (HPV)–positive oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC). The prognostic significance of perineural invasion (PNI) and angiolymphatic invasion (ALI) within this staging system is unknown. Objective To examine the prevalence and prognostic significance of PNI and ALI in HPV-positive OPSCC. Design, Setting, and Participants A retrospective review was performed of all patients with HPV-positive OPSCC treated surgically at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center from January 1, 1980, through December 31, 2015, with at least 1 year of follow-up or death within 1 year. Interventions Surgical treatment of HPV-positive OPSCC. Main Outcomes and Measures The prevalence of PNI and ALI was determined from review of pathologic data, and Kaplan-Meier curves were generated for overall survival and disease-free survival when stratified by the presence of PNI and ALI. Multivariate analysis was performed using a Cox proportional hazards regression model. Results A total of 201 patients met the inclusion criteria (mean [SD] age, 57.4 [9.0] years; 79.6% [3.0%] male, and 20.4% [3.0%] female). Perineural invasion was identified in 32 of 201 primary specimens (15.9%), whereas ALI was identified in 74 of 201 primary specimens (36.8%). Both were significantly associated with increasing T stage. On multivariate analysis, the presence of at least 1 risk factor was significantly associated with overall and disease-free survival (overall hazard ratio, 2.78; 95% CI, 1.15-6.76; disease-free survival hazard ratio, 3.10; 95% CI, 1.17-8.23). Among patients classified as having stage II disease according to the eighth edition of the AJCC manual, the presence of at least 1 risk factor was associated with worse overall survival (hazard ratio, 11.7; 95% CI, 1.2-111.7). Conclusions and Relevance Both PNI and ALI were commonly found in HPV-positive OPSCC, with increasing prevalence as T stage increased. The presence of at least 1 risk factor was associated with worse overall and disease-free survival. Specifically, among patients classified as having stage II disease according to the eighth edition of the AJCC manual, the presence of ALI or PNI may suggest a poorer prognosis.
Late Cretaceous climate in the Canadian Arctic: Multi-proxy constraints from Devon Island

Abstract Arctic climate in the Late Cretaceous has long been recognized to have been warm and wet relative to the present, but quantitative assessments of paleoclimate have been challenging due, in part, to disagreements between proxies in marine and terrestrial environments. This study provides a first multiproxy evaluation of Late Cretaceous (~93–90 Ma to 73–72 Ma) paleoclimate and paleohydrology from Devon Island in the Canadian High Arctic (modern location: 76°17′N, 91°12′W; Late Cretaceous location: ~71°30′N, ~24°30′W). Surface temperatures are reconstructed at ~12.6 to 20.6 °C for the ocean and 11.7 to 16.9 °C over land, using glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraether (GDGT) based proxies measured from marine (TEX86) and terrestrial samples (MBT′5ME). These proxies are likely skewed toward warm month temperatures, based on novel analysis and interpretation of biomarkers in sediment and co-occurring marine vertebrate coprolites. The hydrogen isotopic composition (δ2H) of precipitation is constrained to have varied from −123‰ to −82‰ (VSMOW) using evidence from n-alkanes likely derived from higher plants. δ18O of shelfal marine surface water is constrained to have been between −10.5‰ to −3.4‰, using phosphate oxygen isotopes of marine vertebrate teeth and coprolites. From these, marine salinity is modeled to have varied from 10 PSU and 30 PSU, indicative of periodic freshwater influx. These estimates indicate that large marine vertebrates lived and fed, at least intermittently, in near-shore brackish waters. Finally, the Arctic was similarly warm in both the Late Cretaceous and Paleocene/Eocene, but the Late Cretaceous isotopic composition of precipitation at Devon Island was enriched in the heavy isotope of hydrogen by up to +60 to +70‰ relative to Arctic Eocene sites. The combination of techniques used here reduces uncertainties related to the application of proxies to an environment without a modern analogue, providing novel paleoclimatic constraints on the Late Cretaceous Arctic region.
Analyzing massive social networks using multicore and multithreaded architectures

Emerging real-world graph problems include detecting community structure in large social networks, improving the resilience of the electric power grid, and detecting and preventing disease in human populations. Unlike traditional applications in computational science and engineering, solving these problems at scale often raises new challenges because of sparsity and the lack of locality in the data, the need for additional research on scalable algorithms and development of frameworks for solving these problems on high performance computers, and the need for improved models that also capture the noise and bias inherent in the torrential data streams. The explosion of real-world graph data poses a substantial challenge: How can we analyze constantly changing graphs with billions of vertices? Our approach leverages the Cray XMT's fine-grained parallelism and flat memory model to scale to massive graphs. On the Cray XMT, our static graph characterization package GraphCT summarizes such massive graphs, and our ongoing STINGER streaming work updates clustering coefficients on massive graphs at a rate of tens of thousands updates per second.
Environmental Therapy in Hypothyroid and Other Disadvantaged Animal Populations

Bluntly stated, our ultimate concern in this chapter is whether mental deficiency can be alleviated by environmental Stimulation. But since we will restrict our attention to subhuman studies bearing on this question, let us change the language at once from “mental deficiency” to “behavioral deficits,” and let the implications of these studies for the understanding and treatment of human behavioral dysfunctions emerge under their own power. Our focus will be on the question of whether the environmental stimulation conditions which have produced many kinds of brain changes in rodent studies (e.g., Rosensweig et al 1972; Greenough 1975) also result in improved behavioral capacities, particularly those reflected by performance in learning situations. We will examine this question in normal animals of both rodent and primate species, but our major concern will be with animal populations which are disadvantaged in their neural development and adult learning capacities by hormonal abnormalities, undernutrition, genetic factors, or other detrimental conditions in early life.
Vulnerability of phenological progressions over season and elevation to climate change: Rhododendrons of Mt. Yulong.

Abstract Seasonal timing (phenology) of reproduction is a critical dimension of life-history, affecting ecological and evolutionary processes including individual fitness, community interactions, species boundaries and climate change adaptation. Staggered phenological sequences, or progressions, of flowering in plants have long been a topic of interest. Less well studied are multi-dimensional progressions across seasonal time and elevational space, which may be especially vital to understanding montane and alpine environments that are among the ecosystems most vulnerable to climate change. To further our understanding of how phenological progressions are structured and to predict how they may respond to climate change, we collected data from an assemblage of ten co-occurring Himalayan Rhododendron species on Mt. Yulong, China, through two years of phenology monitoring in transects spanning a 1400 m elevation gradient, greenhouse experiments, and in comparison with the results of long-term models of species phenological responses to temperature derived from herbarium specimens. We asked whether we could quantitatively support flowering as a multi-dimensional progression in Mt. Yulong Rhododendron species, whether species that are part of this progression show differential phenological responses to changes in temperature, and how these responses impact reproductive success. We found evidence for a progression of flowering, with Rhododendron species significantly overdispersed in elevation and flowering time and showing significantly less inter-species overlap in flowering time-space niche (2.9%) than expected by chance (8.5%). As a whole, the progression responded to changes in weather (−2.4 days / °C) and to experimentally increased greenhouse temperatures (−9.3 days / °C). However, individual species responses varied in their response (from −26 – 2 days / °C). Models derived from historical herbarium specimens predicted contemporary observed flowering well (>95% of plants flowering within prediction intervals) and showed corresponding species differences. Reproductive output was affected by phenology, with the quantities of flowers and fruits greater in plants which flowered slightly earlier than their population mean (flowers p The elaborately sequenced progression of flowering over season and elevation in Himalayan Rhododendron highlights the intricacy of species assemblages in time and space. Varying phenological responses among species and the associated reproductive impacts make this progression, like other staggered phenological sequences, vulnerable to disruption with ongoing climate change.
Controlling sintering and grain growth of nanoceramics

Abstract Sintering and grain growth are fundamental processes affecting microstructural evolution of ceramics. The phenomenological models describing these processes as found in textbooks are simplifications of the very dynamic set of system’s parameters, which lead to limited predictability and the need for extensive empirical analyses for process optimization. One such simplification is the underestimation of interfacial energies and their relationships with diffusion paths and growth control. The goal of this paper is to clarify how thermodynamics of interfaces can provide opportunities for a more refined control of ceramic processing. On the first part of this paper we discuss the relevance of grain boundary energies in grain growth, showing that although grain boundary mobility is the preferred parameter choice for designing of grain growth inhibition, recent studies demonstrate dopants can be selected to annihilate the process driving force and enable thermally (meta)stable nanoceramics. In the second part of the paper, we point out shortcomings from the current sintering theory and discuss that both surface and grain boundary energies with their associated rates of interfacial area evolution represent a more comprehensive sintering description. This perspective offers tunable parameters that may set a new foundation for the design of sintering aids for optimal densification.
Adipose Stem Cells Enhance Nerve Regeneration and Muscle Function in a Peroneal Nerve Ablation Model.

Severe peripheral nerve injuries have devastating consequences on the quality of life in affected patients, and they represent a significant unmet medical need. Destruction of nerve fibers results ...
Assessing Bias in the Statecraft IR Simulation

The Statecraft IR simulation has received a significant amount of attention in the pedagogical literature. Some instructors have asserted that Statecraft is biased toward the behavior and learning ...
Updating Accounting Systems: Longitudinal Evidence from the Healthcare Sector

This paper provides evidence on the determinants and economic outcomes of updates of accounting systems (AS) over a 24-year timespan in a large sample of U.S. hospitals. We provide evidence that ho...
Exploring How Affinity toward Engineering Increases in Underserved Youth After Summer Physical Computing Workshop

This Innovative Practice Work in Progress Paper describes a summer physical computing workshop for underserved and under-exposed students. This study performs a novel collaborative art-based engineering project for 5th-8th grade students in Sacramento to introduce engineering design principles. Our goal in providing this workshop is to explore the following question: Does exposure to engineering design through a collaborative workshop which utilizes art and physical computing increase affinity toward engineering professional practice among 5th-8th graders in an under-served community? Physical computing projects encourage students to imagine, design, and build in the intersection of creative exploration and engineering. Such involvement with physical computing increases motivation and self-efficacy in primary school students. Utilizing familiar craft-based materials such as paper with coding and circuits can bridge the gap between the known world of arts and crafts and the unknown world of engineering-based design. Since students enroll into the workshop to create a collaborative digital art display versus enrolling into a strictly “coding” workshop, their unfamiliar or intimidating feelings towards engineering may be alleviated. Developing self-efficacy in engineering activities can play a vital role in developing engineering affinity for youth. Likewise, the development of engineering affinity is a crucial first step toward developing engineering identity. During the summer workshop, students utilize arts and crafts with Arduino, sensors, LEDs, and servos. They are tasked with incorporating agile engineering principles to code, apply electronic fundamentals, and basic craft designs to create the final art display. Through this process, students develop a greater understanding of engineering design process. The cumulative resulting art installation is an immersive, interactive pixel light show display. We examine the students’ development of self-efficacy and engineering affinity by surveying the students before and after the workshop. We perform analytics to see if their responses to the survey questions and prompts increase in using engineering terms and principles and how their confidence rating changes in various categories. We brainstorm how under-served students’ interests can be captured, maintained and expanded to include engineering. We present our current progress including our basis for survey design and methodology to examine our driving questions.
Securing Network-on-Chip Using Incremental Cryptography

Network-on-chip (NoC) has become the standard communication fabric for on-chip components in modern System-on-chip (SoC) designs. Since NoC has visibility to all communications in the SoC, it has been one of the primary targets for security attacks. While packet encryption can provide secure communication, it can introduce unacceptable energy and performance overhead due to the resource-constrained nature of SoC designs. In this paper, we propose a lightweight encryption scheme that is implemented on the network interface. Our approach improves the performance of encryption without compromising security using incremental cryptography, which exploits the unique NoC traffic characteristics. Experimental results demonstrate that our proposed approach significantly (up to 57%, 30% on average) reduces the encryption time compared to traditional approaches with negligible (less than 2%) impact on area overhead.