cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Forespore Signaling Is Necessary for Pro-σK Processing during Bacillus subtilis Sporulation Despite the Loss of SpoIVFA upon Translational Arrest

The σK checkpoint coordinates gene expression in the mother cell with signaling from the forespore during Bacillus subtilis sporulation. The signaling pathway involves SpoIVB, a serine peptidase produced in the forespore, which is believed to cross the innermost membrane surrounding the forespore and activate a complex of proteins, including BofA, SpoIVFA, and SpoIVFB, located in the outermost membrane surrounding the forespore. Activation of the complex allows proteolytic processing of pro-σK, and the resulting σK RNA polymerase transcribes genes in the mother cell. To investigate activation of the pro-σK processing complex, the level of SpoIVFA in extracts of sporulating cells was examined by Western blot analysis. The SpoIVFA level decreased when pro-σK processing began during sporulation. In extracts of a spoIVB mutant defective in forespore signaling, the SpoIVFA level failed to decrease normally and no processing of pro-σK was observed. Although these results are consistent with a model in which SpoIVFA inhibits processing until the SpoIVB-mediated signal is received from the forespore, we discovered that loss of SpoIVFA was insufficient to allow processing under certain conditions, including static incubation of the culture and continued shaking after the addition of inhibitors of oxidative phosphorylation or translation. Under these conditions, loss of SpoIVFA was independent of spoIVB. The inability to process pro-σK under these conditions was not due to loss of SpoIVFB, the putative processing enzyme, or to a requirement for ongoing synthesis of pro-σK. Rather, it was found that the requirements for shaking of the culture, for oxidative phosphorylation, and for translation could be bypassed by mutations that uncouple processing from dependence on forespore signaling. This suggests that ongoing translation is normally required for efficient pro-σK processing because synthesis of the SpoIVB signal protein is needed to activate the processing complex. When translation is blocked, synthesis of SpoIVB ceases, and the processing complex remains inactive despite the loss of SpoIVFA. Taken together, the results suggest that SpoIVB signaling activates the processing complex by performing another function in addition to causing loss of SpoIVFA or by causing loss of SpoIVFA in a different way than when translation is blocked. The results also demonstrate that the processing machinery can function in the absence of translation or an electrochemical gradient across membranes.
A Resolution of the Stiffness Problem of Reactor Kinetics

The stiffness problem in reactor kinetics is overcome by the stiffness confinement method for solving the kinetic equations. The idea is based on the observation that the stiffness characteristic i...
Visualizing differentially expressed genes

Identification of significantly differentially expressed genes (marker genes) among sample groups is a central issue in microarray analysis. This identification is important to understand the molecular pathway of diseases. Many statistical methods have been proposed to locate marker genes. These methods depend on a cutoff value for selection. A tightfisted cutoff may omit some of the important marker genes, whereas a generous threshold increases the number of false positives. Although robust models for identifying marker genes more accurately is an area of intense research, effective tools for the evaluation of results is often ignored in the literature. Despite the robustness of many of these methods, there is always some probability of false positives. In this paper, we propose a novel approach that exploits parallel coordinates to visualize the gene expression patterns so that one can compare the expression level changes of the marker genes between sample groups and determine whether the selected marker genes are valid. Such visualization is useful to measure the validity of the marker gene selection process as well as to fine tune the parameters of a particular method. A prediction method based on the selected marker genes is used to measure the reliability of our process.
Evidence for an explanation advantage in naïve biological reasoning

Abstract The present studies compare young children’s explanations and predictions for the biological phenomenon of contamination. In Study 1, 36 preschoolers and 24 adults heard vignettes concerning contamination, and were asked either to make a prediction or to provide an explanation. Even 3-year-olds readily supplied contamination-based explanations, and most children mentioned an unseen mechanism (germs, contact through bodily fluids). Moreover, unlike adults who performed at ceiling across both explanation and prediction tasks, children were significantly more accurate with their explanations than their predictions. In Study 2, we varied the strength of cues regarding the desirability of the contaminated substance ( N = 24 preschoolers). Although desirability affected responses, for both levels of desirability participants were significantly more accurate on explanation than prediction questions. Altogether, these studies demonstrate a significant “explanation advantage” for children’s reasoning in the domain of everyday biology.
Query suggestion by constructing term-transition graphs

Query suggestion is an interactive approach for search engines to better understand users information need. In this paper, we propose a novel query suggestion framework which leverages user re-query feedbacks from search engine logs. Specifically, we mined user query reformulation activities where the user only modifies part of the query by (1) adding terms after the query, (2) deleting terms within the query, or (3) modifying terms to new terms. We build a term-transition graph based on the mined data. Two models are proposed which address topic-level and term-level query suggestions, respectively. In the first topic-based unsupervised Pagerank model, we perform random walk on each of the topic-based term-transition graph and calculate the Pagerank for each term within a topic. Given a new query, we suggest relevant queries based on its topic distribution and term-transition probability within each topic. Our second model resembles the supervised learning-to-rank (LTR) framework, in which term modifications are treated as documents so that each query reformulation is treated as a training instance. A rich set of features are constructed for each (query, document) pair from Pagerank, Wikipedia, N-gram, ODP and so on. This supervised model is capable of suggesting new queries on a term level which addresses the limitation of previous methods. Experiments are conducted on a large data set from a commercial search engine. By comparing the with state-of-the-art query suggestion methods [4, 2], our proposals exhibit significant performance increase for all categories of queries.
Localization of rat thyroid alkaline protease to mast cells.

Studies on the cellular localization of the alkaline protease of the rat thyroid are reported. Three lines of evidence indicate that the enzyme is located in mast cells and is not present in acinar cells. The first is that treatment of rats with compound 48/80, a drug which degranulates mast cells, abolishes the proteolytic activity. The second is that histochemical staining with a specific substrate for the enzyme shows it to be present only in mast cells. The third is that there is sufficient activity present in the number of mast cells which exist in the thyroid to account for all the proteolytic activity detected. Since histochemical evidence indicates that thyroglobulin hydrolysis in vivo occurs in acinar cells, it is concluded that the alkaline protease which hydrolyzes thyroglobulin in thyroid homogenates cannot do so in vivo. (Endocrinology 78: 361, 1966)
Tissue plasminogen activator combined with human recombinant deoxyribonuclease is effective therapy for empyema in a rabbit model.

Objectives There have been no controlled studies to test the efficacy of tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) or recombinant human deoxyribonuclease (rhDNase) in the treatment of empyema. In vitro studies show that streptokinase without rhDNase does not liquefy empyemic material from rabbits. However, the combination of streptokinase and streptodornase and rhDNase have been shown to liquefy pus in vitro . The aim of this study was to determine if tPA or rhDNase, or a combination of the two, is more effective than saline solution in the treatment of empyema in rabbits. Materials and methods Empyema was induced in rabbits using 10 9 Pasteurella multicoda organisms in infusion agar injected via a surgically placed chest tube. Once empyema was verified, a blinded investigator administered one of four treatments via the chest tube: 3 mL of saline solution; 4 mg of alteplase (recombinant tPA); 1 mg of rhDNase; or 4 mg of alteplase and 1 mg of rhDNase. The rabbits received a treatment every 12 h following the initial for a total of six treatments. The animals were killed at day 10, and the degree of empyema and pleural peel was scored macroscopically on a scale of 0 to 4. Results The combination group had a significantly lower mean empyema score (1.83 ± 0.75) than did the saline solution group (3.86 ± 0.38, p = 0.001), rhDNase group (3.17 ± 0.75, p = 0.012), and alteplase group (3.71 ± 0.49, p = 0.02) [± SD]. The total volume of pleural fluid was markedly higher in the alteplase and rhDNase combination group (142 ± 79.1 mL) or the alteplase group (231 ± 78.0 mL) compared to either the rhDNase group (0.8 ± 1.6 mL) or the saline solution group (5.8 ± 14.0 mL). Conclusion The combination of alteplase and rhDNase is more effective in the treatment of rabbit empyema than either agent alone. The intrapleural injection of alteplase alone or in combination with rhDNase leads to the production of large amounts of pleural fluid.
High-speed microwave thin-film transistors based on transferrable semiconductor nanomembranes

This paper covers the aspects of material preparation, device fabrication, and process integration using transferrable monocrystalline silicon (Si) nanomembranes (NM) for flexible electronics operating in high frequency domain. Methods of releasing Si NM from silicon-on-insulator (SOI) source substrates and transferring it to flexible substrates are briefly described. The evolvement of radio frequency (RF) flexible Si thin-film transistors (TFT) structures is described in detail. The continuous performance enhancement of TFTs owning to process and TFT structure innovations is analyzed. Due to the intrinsic similarity between flexible monocrystalline Si nanomembrane based devices and the commercial rigid Si devices, effectively adopting the mature techniques used in rigid semiconductor industry is promising to boost flexible device performance in the future.
Oxygen Configurations and their Effect on Charge Transfer in YBa2Cu3OZ

The relationship between oxygen structure, charge transfer (hole count), and oxygen content in the YBa 2 Cu 3 O z superconductor is studied by combining Monte-Carlo simulation with existing electronic structure calculations. The present model proposes an expansion of the hole count in terms of oxygen configuration variables for states of an arbitrary degree of order. Calculations of hole count as a function of oxygen content suggest that oxygen ordering is, at least in part, responsible for the observed plateau structure of T c vs. oxygen content z.
A case study of integrating knowledge management into the supply chain management process

To achieve success at supply chain management (SCM), an organization must possess- and share-knowledge about the different facets of the supply chain. Lack of information sharing between members of the supply chain has been shown to significantly affect total profitability. As such, we argue that knowledge management (KM) can enhance the degree of success of existing SCM efforts as well as increase the likelihood of success of new SCM undertakings. While many SCM projects have resulted in improved performance, we believe that additional improvement in performance is possible by coupling KM initiatives with SCM programs. We present a case study of the service parts department of a large automotive dealer that examines the effect of manufacturers' trade promotions on the coordination of decisions in the supply chain. The use of KM to enhance the ordering process for service parts is explored in this paper.
On the Problem of Legal Change

Identifying legal change is an ordinary part of legal decision making, but participants in those decisions regularly focus on different objects and metrics. A version of the problem arises when one observer points to results while another observer points to processes for generating such results. Often change can be detected on one of those dimensions and not another. This article offers a way to think about legal change that captures process-result combinations. The article illustrates the combination with numerous examples from ordinary life, ordinary law, and constitutional law -- including particular controversies such as same-sex marriage benefits, as well as crosscutting debates over methods of interpretation. The article then suggests why people might want to link legal results with antecedent legal processes, estimates the seriousness of the problem this creates for measuring legal change, and evaluates responses in the form of excluding or aggregating dimensions of interest. Throughout, the article draws lessons from psychology, philosophy, politics, and empirical studies.
Contract-switching paradigm for internet value flows and risk management

The Internet's simple design resulted in huge success in basic telecommunication services. However, in terms of providing end-to-end QoS services, the Internet's architecture needs major shifts since it neither allows (i) users to indicate their value choices at sufficient granularity nor (ii) providers to manage risks involved in investment for new innovative QoS technologies and business relationships with other providers as well as users. Currently, users can only indicate their value choices at the access/link bandwidth level not at the routing level. Similarly, an enterprise that needs end-to-end capacity contracts between two arbitrary points on the Internet for a short period of time has no way of expressing its needs. To allow these much needed economic flexibilities, we introduce contract-switching as a new paradigm for the design of future Internet architecture. Just like packet-switching enabled flexible and efficient multiplexing of data, a contract-switched inter-network will enable flexible and economically efficient management of risks and value flows with many more tussle points.
Coblation tonsillectomy versus dissection tonsillectomy: postoperative hemorrhage.

Objectives/Hypothesis: Coblation tonsillectomy is a recently introduced surgical technique. To measure its benefits against traditional tonsillectomy techniques, it is necessary to compare their complication rates. The study aims to identify differences in reactionary and secondary hemorrhage proportions, comparing coblation with dissection tonsillectomy. Study Design: Prospective observational cohort study. Methods: Hates of reactionary and delayed postoperative hemorrhage were measured, comparing 844 coblation tonsillectomies with a control group of 743 tonsillectomies performed by blunt dissection with bipolar diathermy hemostasis. Results: The secondary hemorrhage rate with coblation-assisted tonsillectomy was 2.25% compared with 6.19% in the control group (P < .05). The rate of secondary hemorrhage in children following coblation tonsillectomy was 0.95% compared with 4.77% in the control group (P < .05). The difference was also significant (P < .05) in the adult population (4.40% vs. 8.81%, respectively). No difference was found in the reactionary hemorrhage proportions. Conclusion: In the study, coblation tonsillectomy was associated with a lesser incidence of delayed hemorrhage, more significantly in the pediatric population. The new technique using tissue coblation for tonsil dissection offers significant advantages in the postoperative period compared with dissection tonsillectomy with bipolar diathermy hemostasis. Coblation is associated with less postoperative pain and early return to daily activities. Also, there are fewer secondary infections of the tonsil bed and significantly lower rates of secondary hemorrhage with coblation. These results and the disposable nature of the coblation equipment promote coblation tonsillectomy as the authors' preferred dissection method.
Ionospheric correction for SEASAT altimeter height measurement

Descriptions are given of the Faraday rotation technique used by Seasat to measure the ionosphere and the scheme employed in mapping the measurements to the spacecraft location, exploiting the fact that the effect of the ionosphere on signal speed, and therefore on Seasat radar altimeter measurements, is directly proportional to the columnar electron content of the ionosphere. The altimeter ionosphere correction is evaluated through comparison with independent methods, and it is demonstrated that the correction, whose total value can be on the order of 20 cm, is accurate to the 3-5 cm level.
Autonomous navigation and mapping using monocular low-resolution grayscale vision

An algorithm is proposed to answer the challenges of autonomous corridor navigation and mapping by a mobile robot equipped with a single forward-facing camera. Using a combination of corridor ceiling lights, visual homing, and entropy, the robot is able to perform straight line navigation down the center of an unknown corridor. Turning at the end of a corridor is accomplished using Jeffrey divergence and time-to-collision, while deflection from dead ends and blank walls uses a scalar entropy measure of the entire image. When combined, these metrics allow the robot to navigate in both textured and untextured environments. The robot can autonomously explore an unknown indoor environment, recovering from difficult situations like corners, blank walls, and initial heading toward a wall. While exploring, the algorithm constructs a Voronoi-based topo-geometric map with nodes representing distinctive places like doors, water fountains, and other corridors. Because the algorithm is based entirely upon low-resolution (32 times 24) grayscale images, processing occurs at over 1000 frames per second.
Human Serum Dopamine-β-Hydroxylase: Relationship to Hypertension and Sympathetic Activity

Serum dopamine-β-hydroxylase activity varied from 3 to 581 units/ml in a group of 168 untreated adults (90 normals, 78 with borderline or overt hypertension). Levels did not correlate with blood pr...
Use of Cadaver Models in Point-of-care Emergency Ultrasound Education for Diagnostic Applications

Abstract Background As the use of bedside emergency ultrasound (US) increases, so does the need for effective US education. Objectives To determine 1) what pathology can be reliably simulated and identified by US in human cadavers, and 2) feasibility of using cadavers to improve the comfort of emergency medicine (EM) residents with specific US applications. Methods This descriptive, cross-sectional survey study assessed utility of cadaver simulation to train EM residents in diagnostic US. First, the following pathologies were simulated in a cadaver: orbital foreign body (FB), retrobulbar (RB) hematoma, bone fracture, joint effusion, and pleural effusion. Second, we assessed residents' change in comfort level with US after using this cadaver model. Residents were surveyed regarding their comfort level with various US applications. After brief didactic sessions on the study's US applications, participants attempted to identify the simulated pathology using US. A post-lab survey assessed for change in comfort level after the training. Results Orbital FB, RB hematoma, bone fracture, joint effusion, and pleural effusion were readily modeled in a cadaver in ways typical of a live patient. Twenty-two residents completed the pre- and post-lab surveys. After training with cadavers, residents' comfort improved significantly for orbital FB and RB hematoma (mean increase 1.6, p p p Conclusion Cadavers can simulate orbital FB, RB hematoma, bone fracture, joint effusion, and pleural effusion, and in our center improved the comfort of residents in identifying all but pleural effusion.
Flip-Chip Interconnections: Past, Present, and Future

Flip-chip interconnection technologies have been extensively used in many microelectronic applications for high performance systems as well as consumer electronics in recent years. There are several types of flip-chip interconnects being used today in the industry, which include high-Pb solder bumps joined to a ceramic substrate, high-Pb bumps on chip joined to eutectic PbSn on a laminate substrate, all eutectic PbSn bumps, Pb-free bumps, Cu pillar bumps, and Au-stud bumps. Steady improvements have been made in high performance packages, such as having interconnects greater than 10,000 I/O’s with a pitch less than 200 μm, migrating from ceramic to low-cost organic substrates, replacing high-Pb with Pb-free interconnects, and others. Fundamental reliability issues, especially with the Pb-free solder bumps, remain to be solved. As the expiration of European Union (EU) Reduction of Hazardous Substance (RoHS) exemption approaches soon, Pb-containing solder bumps for flip-chip interconnects are expected to be phased out in a few years. However, the recent introduction of fragile low-k, or very fragile ultra low-k interlayer dielectrics (ILD) into the back-end interconnect architectures in the advanced semiconductor devices has imposed serious technical challenges in integrating Pb-free technologies for high-performance systems. How to control the cracking of low-k ILD layers during chip joining has become an urgent issue to be resolved together by the semiconductor and packaging industries. Another reliability challenge associated with the implementation of Pb-free solder in flip-chip packages is the poor electromigration (EM) performance of Sn-rich solders. This is mainly due to the highly anisotropic crystal structure of Sn, causing the fast solute diffusion along its c-axis, combined with the aggressive interfacial reactions with under-bump metallurgy (UBM) and laminate pads.
Notes On The Life History Of Seven Species Of Anthonomus Occurring In Illinois (Curculionidae, Coleoptera)

This paper is part of an extended study on the bionomics of Curculionidae in East Central Illinois, chiefly in Champaign County. Particular reference to plant host associations are brought out for seven species of Anthonomus .[3][1] [1]: #fn-2
A Reverse Genetics Approach for the Design of Methyltransferase-Defective Live Attenuated Avian Metapneumovirus Vaccines

Avian metapneumovirus (aMPV), also known as avian pneumovirus or turkey rhinotracheitis virus, is the causative agent of turkey rhinotracheitis and is associated with swollen head syndrome in chickens. aMPV belongs to the family Paramyxoviridae which includes many important human pathogens such as human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), human metapneumovirus (hMPV), and human parainfluenza virus type 3 (PIV3). The family also includes highly lethal emerging pathogens such as Nipah virus and Hendra virus, as well as agriculturally important viruses such as Newcastle disease virus (NDV). For many of these viruses, there is no effective vaccine. Here, we describe a reverse genetics approach to develop live attenuated aMPV vaccines by inhibiting the viral mRNA cap methyltransferase. The viral mRNA cap methyltransferase is an excellent target for the attenuation of paramyxoviruses because it plays essential roles in mRNA stability, efficient viral protein translation and innate immunity. We have described in detail the materials and methods used to generate recombinant aMPVs that lack viral mRNA cap methyltransferase activity. We have also provided methods to evaluate the genetic stability, pathogenesis, and immunogenicity of live aMPV vaccine candidates in turkeys.
Epidemiological analysis of syphilis in Cangzhou City from 2008-2012

[Objective]To understand the epidemiological features and trend of syphilis in Cangzhou City from 2008-2012,provide scientific basis for formulating the prevention and control strategies of syphilis.[Methods]By the National information system for disease control and prevention,the data of syphilis were collected from medical institutions in Cangzhou City from 2008-2012.[Results]A total of 2023 syphilis cases were reported in Cangzhou City from 2008-2012,and the incidence rate increased from 2.61 / lakh in 2008 to 9.87 / lakh in 2012,with the average annual increment of 39.45%.The latent syphilis cases were dominant among total cases,accounting for 47.06%,but the constituent ratio decreased year by year.More cases occurred in males than in females,with the male-to-female ratio of 1.09 ∶ 1.Most of cases were sexually active people aged 20-49 years old.The cases in the top 5 county with most number of reported cases accounted for 53.49% of the total cases,and the high risk group was farmers.[Conclusion]The incidence rate of syphilis has increased continuously in Cangzhou City in recent years.It is necessary to carry out specific prevention and control measures according to the epidemiological features of syphilis,to control the syphilis spread.Due to the closest connection between syphilis and AIDS,the control of syphilis transmission has an important implication for the control of AIDS.
Research Progress in Rice Blast Resistant Genes in Rice and Their Molecular Marker Assisted Selection Breeding

This article summarized the research progress in the mapping and cloning of rice blast-resistant genes in rice,introduced the application of some resistant genes with good value in use,and discussed the developmental prospects and problems of these resistant genes.
Chebyshev Mappings of Finite Fields

For a fixed prime p, we consider the set of maps ℤ⁄pℤ → ℤ⁄pℤ of the form a ↦ Tn(a), where Tn(x) is the degree-n Chebyshev polynomial of the first kind. We observe that these maps form a semigroup, ...
Therapy language analysis using automatically generated psycholinguistic norms.

Lexical norms, normative and usually numeric, ratings of word meaning are popular tools in research domains relating to human expression and perception of language, especially with regards to emotion. In this paper we are proposing an algorithm of psycholinguistic norm expansion capable of generating high quality norms representing aspects of language beyond emotion, including language concreteness and indicators of age and gender association. Starting from small manually annotated norm lexica, continuous norms for new words are estimated using semantic similarity and a simple linear model along eleven expression-related dimensions. The model is shown to achieve state of the art level performance of word norm estimation. To investigate the potential of these norms as analysis tools of more complex phenomena we use them to investigate the differences in therapist speech in sessions conducted by practitioners adhering to the psychoanalytic and client-centered schools of therapy.
Representing Italian Complex Nominals: A Pilot Study.

A corpus-based investigation of Italian Complex Nominals (CNs), of the form N+PP, which aims at clarifying their syntactic and semantic constitution, is presented. The main goal is to find out useful parameters for their representation in a computational lexicon. As a reference model we have taken an implementation of Pustejovsky’s Generative Lexicon Theory (1995), the SIMPLE Italian Lexicon, and in particular the Extended Qualia Structure. Italian CN formation mainly exploits post-modification; of particular interest here are CNs of the kind N+PP since this syntactic pattern is highly productive in Italian and such CNs very often translate compound nouns of other languages. One of the major problems posed by CNs for interpretation is the retrieval or identification of the semantic relation linking their components, which is (at least partially) implicit on the surface. Studying a small sample, we observed some interesting facts that could be useful when setting up a larger experiment to identify semantic relations and/or automatically learn the syntactic peculiarities of given semantic paradigms. Finally, a set of representational features exploiting the results from our corpus is proposed.
Physical and dielectric properties of Bi4−xRxSr3Ca3Cu2O10 glasses (x = 0.5 and R = Ag, Ni)

The reflectivity spectra of semiconducting Bi4Sr3Ca3Cu2O10 glasses were measured over the frequency range between 100 and 4000 cm−1, and were analysed using Kramer-Kronig routines. It is observed that the static and high frequency dielectric constant varies as the bismuth is partially replaced by silver and nickel. The X-ray diffraction and the dc resisitivity measurements shows a semiconducting behaviour for all the samples. The measured values of the activation energy and other physical parameters based on infrared reflectance measurements are consistent with published work on the similar materials, the activation energy W, hopping energy WH and other physical parameters vary with the nickel and silver substitutions. It is shown that the hopping in these materials occurs in non-adiabatic regime, unlike other transition metal oxide glasses.
The endogenous money supply

One of the enigmas of our time is why the quantity theory of money, in one form of another, has survived as long as it has. Nicholas Kaldor regards its current “monetarist” guise as a “terrible curse” and “a visitation of evil spirits” which has caused misery and agony in the form of mass unemployment in the major countries of the West. It is decadent in the Nietzschean sense of going intuitively “for the bad solutions for getting out of difficult situations” while failing “to pick out the good ones.’1 For Kaldor, the rise of monetarism is not due to its “scientific” merits, for it has none. It was the use of monetarism to justify the reactionary shift in the balance of power from labor to capital—at least in Britain and the United States in recent times, and in Chile one might add—that explains its current success in the field of reigning ideas.
Super-resolution imaging for monitoring cytoskeleton dynamics

The cytoskeleton is a key cellular structure that is important in the control of cellular movement, structure, and sensing. To successfully image the individual cytoskeleton components, high resolution and super-resolution fluorescence imaging methods are needed. This review covers the three basic cytoskeletal elements and the relative benefits and drawbacks of fixed versus live cell imaging before moving on to recent studies using high resolution and super-resolution techniques. The techniques covered include the near-diffraction limited imaging methods of confocal microscopy and TIRF microscopy and the super-resolution fluorescence imaging methods of STORM, PALM, and STED.
Perceived risk of heroin use among nonmedical prescription opioid users

Abstract Aims The prevalence of heroin use among nonmedical prescription opioid (NMPO) users has increased in recent years. Identifying characteristics associated with heroin use in this population can help inform efforts to prevent heroin initiation and maintenance. The aim of this study was to evaluate differences in perceived risk of heroin among NMPO users with and without histories of heroin use, and to examine temporal trends in perceived risk of heroin among this population. Methods Data are from the 2002–2013 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, and included all past-year NMPO users ( N = 49,045). Participants reported perceived risk of trying heroin once or twice and regular heroin use. Responses were coded dichotomously (great risk vs. other risk) and logistic regression analyses were used to evaluate the association between lifetime heroin use and perceived risk of heroin, and to determine temporal changes in perceived risk. Results Results indicated a significant association between lifetime heroin use and lower likelihood of reporting great risk of trying heroin (OR = 0.38, 95% CI: 0.33, 0.44, p Conclusions Findings from this analysis of nationally representative data indicate that NMPO users with a history of heroin use perceive heroin to be less risky than those without heroin use. Perception of risk has decreased from 2002 to 2013 in this population, consistent with increasing rates of heroin initiation.
Immune-Mediated Muscle Diseases of the Horse:

In horses, immune-mediated muscle disorders can arise from an overzealous immune response to concurrent infections or potentially from an inherent immune response to host muscle antigens. Streptococcus equi ss. equi infection or vaccination can result in infarctive purpura hemorrhagica (IPH) in which vascular deposition of IgA-streptococcal M protein complexes produces ischemia and complete focal infarction of skeletal muscle and internal organs. In Quarter Horse-related breeds with immune-mediated myositis, an apparent abnormal immune response to muscle antigens results in upregulation of major histocompatibility complex class (MHC) I and II on muscle cell membranes, lymphocytic infiltration of lumbar and gluteal myofibers, and subsequent gross muscle atrophy. Rarely, an inflammatory event results in myositis with subsequent systemic calcinosis characterized by a pathognomonic hyperphosphatemia and high fatality rate. This review presents an overview of these immune-mediated myopathies and highlights clinical and pathological features as well as the suspected pathophysiology.
A Matched Cohort Analysis Comparing Stand-Alone Cages and Anterior Cervical Plates Used for Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion.

Study Design:Retrospective cohort study.Objective:To compare perioperative characteristics of stand-alone cages and anterior cervical plates used for anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF)....
A Decoupled Optimal Power Flow Approach Using Fletcher's Quadratic Programming Method

Abstract In this paper a decoupled OPF approach using Fletcher's QP metnod is proposed. A Compact, decoupled model with active ana reactive optimization is derived. In p-model, a very sparse scheme is used as the equality constraints. In Q-model, transmission losses are expressed as deviation of swing generation. Consequently botn tne memory requirement and computation time can be significantly reduced. 5 test systems have been used to test tne effectiveness of this approach. It has been snown by test results that tnis UPF approach is faster and requires less memory that NLP method and other QP methods.
Clinical Ethics Consultation After God: Implications for Advocacy and Neutrality

In After God: Morality and Bioethics in a Secular Age, H. Tristram Engelhardt, Jr. explores the broad implications for moral reasoning once a culture has lost a God’s-eye perspective. In this paper, I focus on the implications of Engelhardt’s views for clinical ethics consultation. I begin by examining the question of whether clinical ethics consultants (CECs) should advocate a particular viewpoint and/or process during consultations or adopt a neutral stance. I then examine the implications of Engelhardt’s views for this question. Finally, I discuss some of Engelhardt’s foundational ontological, metaphysical, meta-ethical, and epistemological commitments and how these commitments connect to his views on clinical ethics consultation.
Exploring Elementary Teachers' Perceptions and Characterizations of Model-Oriented Issue-Based Teaching.

Engaging learners in modeling practices can promote substantial science learning, and anchoring science teaching in societal issues can promote student motivation to learn and make learning experie...
The model-theoretic content of Lang’s conjecture

The rest of this volume is dedicated to explaining Hrushovski’s model-theoretic approach [Hr 96] to the geometric case of a conjecture of Lang. See [Hi] for a presentation of the conjecture and [Bous] for the proof. The purpose of this note is to point out that the use of model-theoretic and stability-theoretic methods should not be so surprising, as the full Lang conjecture itself is equivalent to a purely model-theoretic statement. The structure (ℚ, +,.) is wild (undecidable, definable sets have no “structure” etc.), as is the structure (ℂ, +,.) with a predicate for the rationals. What comes out of the diophantine-type conjectures on the other hand is that certain enrichments of the structure (ℂ, +,.) (more specifically expansions obtained by adding a predicate, not for ℚ itself, but rather for the ℚ-points of certain algebraic groups) are not wild, in particular are stable.
Flight Planning with a Digital Computer

Safety, passenger comfort, and operating economy require that commercial airline flights be preflight planned. There are many route and altitude combinations between origination and destination. Manual selection of the best is tedious, costly in man-hours, and never perfect. A digital computer can do the job quickly, using few man-hours, with a higher order of perfection. American Airlines contracted with IBM to develop jointly a flight planning program for a 60,000 digit IBM 1620 computer. The program was placed into operation on 4 February 1962 and quickly expanded to produce 5000 lines of flight plans for over 200 trips daily. Operating cost savings are on the order of several million dollars annually. The program continuously surrounds an aircraft with a set of prognostic temperatures and winds valid by the craft's clocks at the plane's altitude. The program also selects the optimum route and the optimum altitude profile on the selected route. Flight plans on the optimum route at the optimum altitude ...
Light-Matter Interactions Within Extreme Dimensions: Strategies to Surpassing Conventional Nanophotonics

We will present an overview of new strategies to boost the light-matter interaction within extremely small dimensions. ©2018 Optical Society of America
An Energy Storage Cost Comparison: Li-ion Batteries vs Distributed Load Control

In 2017, San Diego Gas & Electric installed a 30 MW, 120 MWh lithium-ion battery storage facility–the world’s largest at the time. But, recent work demonstrates that local control can enable flexible loads to provide equivalent battery-like services to the grid. Our cost comparison shows that it is much cheaper to acquire 30 MW, 120 MWh of capacity by retro-fitting 120,000 water heaters with control hardware and telecommunications. Surprisingly, it may even be cheaper to give away 120,000 ‘smart’ water heaters!
Seeking Emergence Through Temporal Analysis of Collaborative-Group Discourse: A Complex-Systems Approach

Research around problem solving in collaborative groups has made progress, but several conceptual and methodological issues remain. These issues include the appropriate choices of units of analysis...
Marketing Plans in Action: A Step-by-Step Guide for Libraries, Archives, and Cultural Organizations

Outreach and marketing are new skill sets for many librarians and libraries in this new digital environment. With so many places to go for information, it is essential that there is a focused marke...
Extended SWIR InGaAs/GaAsSb type-II superlattice photodetector on InP

An InGaAs/GaAsSb Type-II superlattice is explored as an absorber material for extended short-wave infrared detection. A 10.5 nm period was grown with an InGaAs/GaAsSb thickness ratio of 2 with a target In composition of 46% and target Sb composition of 62%. Cutoff wavelengths near 2.8 μm were achieved with responsivity beyond 3 μm. Demonstrated dark current densities were as low as 1.4 mA/cm2 at 295K and 13 μA/cm2 at 235K at -1V bias. A significant barrier to hole extraction was identified in the detector design that severely limited the external quantum efficiency (EQE) of the detectors. A redesign of the detector that removes that barrier could make InGaAs/GaAsSb very competitive with current commercial HgCdTe and extended InGaAs technology.
Cardiovascular Calcification in Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria and Correlation with Age-Related Degenerative Calcification

Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS) and other progeroid (premature aging) syndromes are attributable to lamin A processing defects; these result in aberrant nuclear architectures that impact normal transcription and translation, resulting in a premature aging phenotype at the cellular, tissue, and organismal levels. Patients with HGPS are characterized by severe accelerated cardiovascular disease, including valvular calcification and vessel wall stiffening and calcification as well as atherosclerosis, typically culminating in premature death due to myocardial infarction or stroke. Understanding the mechanisms of the early and aggressive vascular and valvular calcification (and vascular atherosclerosis) in the progeroid syndromes may cast important light on the pathways (and therapies) relevant for physiologic aging and senescence.
The Evolution of A Transgender Male’s Relationship with Food and Exercise: A Narrative Inquiry

Eating disorders are a clinically relevant concern for the transgender population, though existing research has not addressed the role of diet and nutrition beyond a pathologized approach. This nar...
Associations between Statin/Omega3 Usage and MRI-Based Radiomics Signatures in Prostate Cancer

Prostate cancer is the most common noncutaneous cancer and the second leading cause of cancer deaths among American men. Statins and omega-3 are two medications recently found to correlate with prostate cancer risk and aggressiveness, but the observed associations are complex and controversial. We therefore explore the novel application of radiomics in studying statin and omega-3 usage in prostate cancer patients. On MRIs of 91 prostate cancer patients, two regions of interest (ROIs), the whole prostate and the peripheral region of the prostate, were manually segmented. From each ROI, 944 radiomic features were extracted after field bias correction and normalization. Heatmaps were generated to study the radiomic feature patterns against statin or omega-3 usage. Radiomics models were trained on selected features and evaluated with 500-round threefold cross-validation for each drug/ROI combination. On the 1500 validation datasets, the radiomics model achieved average AUCs of 0.70, 0.74, 0.78, and 0.72 for omega-3/prostate, omega-3/peripheral, statin/prostate, and statin/peripheral, respectively. As the first study to analyze radiomics in relation to statin and omega-3 uses in prostate cancer patients, our study preliminarily established the existence of imaging-identifiable tissue-level changes in the prostate and illustrated the potential usefulness of radiomics for further exploring these medications' effects and mechanisms in prostate cancer.
Italy and Europe: from competence to Solidarity to competence

Italy’s relationship with the rest of Europe began 2020 under a watchful eye. Although Giuseppe Conte’s second government was more pro-European than his first, European institutions (and bond marke...
Relationship between Mental Health Diagnoses and COVID-19 Test Positivity, Hospitalization, and Mortality in Southeast Wisconsin.

BACKGROUND: There is a paucity of literature on the relationship between pre-existing mental health conditions and coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) outcomes. The aim was to examine the association between pre-existing mental health diagnosis and COVID-19 outcomes (positive screen, hospitalization, mortality). METHODS: Electronic medical record data for 30 976 adults tested for COVID-19 between March 2020 and 10th July 2020 was analyzed. COVID-19 outcomes included positive screen, hospitalization among screened positive, and mortality among screened positive and hospitalized. Primary independent variable, mental health disorders, was based on ICD-10 codes categorized as bipolar, internalizing, externalizing, and psychoses. Descriptive statistics were calculated, unadjusted and adjusted logistic regression and Cox proportional hazard models were used to investigate the relationship between each mental health disorder and COVID-19 outcomes. RESULTS: Adults with externalizing (odds ratio (OR) 0.67, 95%CI 0.57-0.79) and internalizing disorders (OR 0.78, 95% CI 0.70-0.88) had lower odds of having a positive COVID-19 test in fully adjusted models. Adults with bipolar disorder had significantly higher odds of hospitalization in fully adjusted models (OR 4.27, 95% CI 2.06-8.86), and odds of hospitalization were significantly higher among those with externalizing disorders after adjusting for demographics (OR 1.71, 95% CI 1.23-2.38). Mortality was significantly higher in the fully adjusted model for patients with bipolar disorder (hazard ratio 2.67, 95% CI 1.07-6.67). CONCLUSIONS: Adults with mental health disorders, while less likely to test positive for COVID-19, were more likely to be hospitalized and to die in the hospital. Study results suggest the importance of developing interventions that incorporate elements designed to address smoking cessation, nutrition and physical activity counseling and other needs specific to this population to improve COVID-19 outcomes.
Do Macrocyclic Peptide Drugs Interact with Bile Salts under Simulated Gastrointestinal Conditions

Peptide drugs face several barriers to oral delivery, including enzymatic degradation in the gastrointestinal tract and low membrane permeability. Importantly, the direct interaction between various biorelevant colloids (i.e., bile salt micelles and bile salt-phospholipid mixed micelles) present in the aqueous gastrointestinal environment and peptide drug molecules has not been studied. In this work, we systematically characterized interactions between a water-soluble model peptide drug, octreotide, and a range of physiologically relevant bile salts in solution. Octreotide membrane flux in pure bile salt solutions and commercially available biorelevant media, i.e., fasted state simulated intestinal fluid (FaSSIF) and fed state simulated intestinal fluid (FeSSIF), was evaluated using a side-by-side diffusion cell equipped with a cellulose dialysis membrane. All seven micellar bile salt solutions as well as FaSSIF and FeSSIF decreased octreotide membrane flux, and dihydroxy bile salts were found to have a much larger effect than trihydroxy bile salts. An inverse relationship between octreotide membrane flux and pancreatic enzymatic stability was also observed; bile salt micelles and bile salt-phospholipid mixed micelles provided a protective effect toward enzymatic degradation and prolonged octreotide half-life in vitro. Diffusion ordered nuclear magnetic resonance (DOSY NMR) spectroscopy and dynamic light scattering (DLS) were used as complementary experimental techniques to confirm peptide-micelle interactions in solution. Experiments were also performed using desmopressin as a second model peptide drug; desmopressin interacted with bile salts in solution, albeit to a lower extent relative to octreotide. The findings described herein demonstrate that amphiphilic, water-soluble peptide drugs do interact with bile salts and phospholipids in solution, with an effect on peptide membrane flux and enzymatic stability. Correspondingly, oral peptide drug absorption and bioavailability may be impacted.
Using Computer Assisted Instruction with Counseling Students

AbstractTwo groups of 12 counseling students were presented two units on psychotropic drugs. One group received the first unit via computer assisted instruction (CAI) and the other group received the unit via traditional instruction (TI). The process was reversed for the second unit. In both cases the group receiving the CAI performed significantly better on the posttest of achievement than the group receiving TI. The combined achievement of both groups following CAI was also significantly greater than the combined achievement for both groups following TI. The results support CAI as an effective tool for presenting didactic material to counseling students.