cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Generative models for ticket resolution in expert networks

Ticket resolution is a critical, yet challenging, aspect of the delivery of IT services. A large service provider needs to handle, on a daily basis, thousands of tickets that report various types of problems. Many of those tickets bounce among multiple expert groups before being transferred to the group with the right expertise to solve the problem. Finding a methodology that reduces such bouncing and hence shortens ticket resolution time is a long-standing challenge. In this paper, we present a unified generative model, the Optimized Network Model (ONM), that characterizes the lifecycle of a ticket, using both the content and the routing sequence of the ticket. ONM uses maximum likelihood estimation, to represent how the information contained in a ticket is used by human experts to make ticket routing decisions. Based on ONM, we develop a probabilistic algorithm to generate ticket routing recommendations for new tickets in a network of expert groups. Our algorithm calculates all possible routes to potential resolvers and makes globally optimal recommendations, in contrast to existing classification methods that make static and locally optimal recommendations. Experiments show that our method significantly outperforms existing solutions.
Decentralization in Tanzania : An Assessment of Local Government Discretion and Accountability

A large part of the decentralization literature is fragmented along political, fiscal, or administrative lines. In this article we employ a diagnostic framework to draw these dimensions together in a coherent manner to focus on analyzing local government discretion and accountability in Tanzania. Tanzania seems to have a deconcentrated local government system with central appointees having large powers at the local level. Centrally-funded mandates—such as constructing secondary schools—dominate local government plans and budgets. Central control over administrative functions has ensured that administrative decentralization is yet to occur. In the fiscal sphere, progress has been made in transparency and harmonization of transfers in the last 5 years but local governments still have some way to go in raising own revenues, being less reliant on transfers, and ensuring downward accountability. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Formation of macrocyclic polymers by intramolecular coupling of α,ω‐difunctional precursors. Numerical evaluations

The end-to-end cyclization reaction of living monodisperse α,ω-dianion precursors with difunctional electrophiles (EX 2 ) in the presence of partial anion termination is described. A computer simulation was developed to establish the relationship among the initial concentration, the molecular weight of the dianion precursor, the extent of anion termination, and the yield distribution for all of the cyclic and linear polymer species. A master curve is calculated allowing the determination of the macrocycle yield as a function of MW and concentration of the dianion precursor, and degree of anion termination.
Newton-Structured Numerical Iteration

Newton’s iteration rapidly refines a crude initial approximation to the inverse or the Moore—Penrose generalized inverse of a structured matrix. The algorithm can be applied to a general matrix but is dramatically accelerated and becomes superfast where the well conditioned matrix is structured. Newton's iteration is strongly stable numerically and is reduced essentially to performing matrix multiplication twice per an iterative step. Multiplication is inexpensive, easy to implement on computers, and effectively parallelizable for structured matrices represented in compressed form, but the structure rapidly deteriorates in the process of the iteration. In this chapter we cover the following main subjects.
Asia-Pacific Integration with China versus the United States: Examining Trade Patterns under Heterogeneous Agricultural Sectors

This article examines bilateral trade patterns in the Asia‐Pacific using a new model in which comparative advantage within the agricultural sector is linked to agro‐ecological characteristics, and trade costs are product‐specific. Bilateral market share is a function of productivity and trade costs. However, countries with similar land and climate characteristics systematically have high productivity in similar products making them disproportionately sensitive to changes in each other's trade costs. We use a random coefficients logit model to estimate a parametric distribution of comparative advantage and trade costs across products and calculate regional trade liberalization elasticities for each exporter in each import market. Unlike most existing models, the value of the elasticity depends on the degree to which liberalization includes competitors with similar comparative advantage within the agricultural sector. We find disproportionately larger trade elasticities under China‐led liberalization relative to U.S.‐led liberalization among close U.S. competitors compared to countries whose agricultural products are unlikely to compete head‐to‐head with U.S. exports. For the United States, we find that the “lost opportunity” cost of exclusion from regional liberalization is increasing in the extent to which its close competitors gain new access.
SINGLE BOOK REVIEWS

Africa's Legacies of Urbanization: Unfolding Saga of. Continent. Stefan Goodwin. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2006. 514 pp.
Abstract 1309: Fitness of T cells for use in cellular therapy of pediatric malignancies

Despite promising clinical trial results, many patients are ineligible to receive cellular therapy, either due to an inability to harvest sufficient lymphocytes, or that the harvested cells fail to yield a clinically viable product. The ideal time to harvest these cells remains unclear, and is of significant clinical relevance. We collected blood from pediatric patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) or non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHL) at time of diagnosis and after each cycle of chemotherapy. We plated these samples overnight to deplete adherent cells, quantified the CD3+ T cell population by flow cytometry, combined these T cells with CD3/CD28 stimulatory beads at a ratio of 3 beads/cell, and measured expansion over time. These studies (Table 1) revealed that ALL samples harvested earlier in therapeutic course demonstrated enhanced ex vivo expansion. We stratified our samples into standard (SR) and high-risk (HR+VHR) disease and found that SR patients have even more robust early expansion and that this expansion ability is maintained, while high-risk samples lose ex vivo expansion ability after consolidation. Broadening this analysis to lymphoma revealed that only a fraction of NHL diagnosis samples expand ex vivo, and nearly no expansion is observed after initiation of chemotherapy. We also examined T cell phenotype from our ALL samples, and found a correlation between expansion capability and presence of naive T cells, and that larger terminal effector pools correlate with poor expansion. These data represent the most detailed analysis of T cell number, function and phenotype during chemotherapy for pediatric B cell malignancies to date. They suggest that T cell fitness is considerably affected by type of chemotherapy as well as underlying malignancy, and that fitness may correlate with phenotype. These findings have direct clinical relevance, suggesting that T cells should be harvested as early as possible after diagnosis. This practice has the potential to significantly expand the pool of patients eligible for cellular therapy. Table 1. Percentage of samples with >5-fold ex vivo expansion Citation Format: Nathan Singh, Jessica Hulitt, Stephan A. Grupp, David M. Barrett. Fitness of T cells for use in cellular therapy of pediatric malignancies. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 1309. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-1309
Longevity: Is Everything Under Genetic Control? An Inquiry Into Non-genetic and Non-environmental Sources of Variation

In this essay, I inquire about little explored sources of non-genetic factors in individual life spans that are displayed between individuals with identical genotypes in controlled laboratory environments. The numbers of oocytes found in the ovaries of inbred mice, for example, show a > 5-fold range between individuals. Smaller, but still extensive variations are also indicated for hippocampal neurons. These variations in cell number can be attributed to stochastic processes during organogenesis, i.e. “developmental noise in cell fate determination.” They may be of general importance to functional changes during aging, as argued for reproductive senescence in females which is strongly linked to the time of oocyte depletion. More generally, I hypothesize that variations in cell numbers during development result in individual differences in the reserve cell numbers which, in turn, set critical thresholds for dysfunctions and sources of morbidity during aging. Thus, future studies on the nongenetic causes of variations in longevity could address developmental noise leading to variations in cell numbers, the external pre- and postnatal environments, and their interactions with the genome throughout the life span.
Ohio Hopewell Depictions of Composite Creatures

AbstractHopewellian peoples in southwestern, south-central, and north-central Ohio sculpted, engraved, and cut out six depictions of creatures that combine the bodily elements of different ordinary animals. Detailed zoological identification of the component animals documents that all were associated with the underwater-underground realms of historic Woodland and Plains Indian cosmoses, in contrast to some later Mississippian and Historic period composite creatures with both sky and water-earth associations. However, strong continuities are found in the kinds of underwater-underground creatures known to historic Woodland-Plains and prehistoric Ohio Hopewellian Indians. A survey of historic Woodland and Plains knowledge about underwater-underground creatures sheds light on both their helpful and harmful roles and the very wide spectrum of domains of life they affected, in contrast to some current Woodland ethnographic, ethnohistorical, and archaeological lines of interpretation that caricature the creature...
Production of C3 Hydrocarbons from Biomass via Hydrothermal Carboxylate Reforming

We demonstrate a route for the production of C3 hydrocarbons from renewable biomass by the hydrothermal conversion of well-known fermentation end-products. Specifically, the major commercial C3 hydrocarbons, propane and propylene, can be obtained from butyric acid and 3-hydroxybutyrate (3HB) in substantial yields and industrially relevant productivities by hydrothermal decarboxylation. Butyric acid decarboxylates in supercritical water to give propane as the major product at 454 °C and 25 MPa. 3HB undergoes joint dehydration and decarboxylation in subcritical water to yield propylene at 371 °C and 25 MPa with yields of up to 48 mol %. Although catalysts may be found that increase yields and selectivities, these processes were demonstrated without any added heterogeneous catalysts, and have the further advantage of requiring no external H2 source.
Sex Differentiation of the Spotted Cucumber Beetle

A prominent external character for determining the sex of the spotted cucumber beetle ( Diabrotica duodecimpunctata Fab.) is discussed.
Comparison of shock wave structures by solving Burnett and Boltzmann equations

Two new computer codes have been developed to solve the one-dimensional Burnett equations and the Boltzmann-BGK equation for the prediction of shock structure. For the Burnett equations, the numerical technique is based on a four-stage Runge-Kutta timeintegrating method. Second-order upwind flux differencing with Roe’s nonlinear flux limiter was adopted to discretize the convective terms. The Burnett stress and heat flux t e r m are discretized using central differencing and are treated explicitly as source terms. For the Boltzmann-BGK equation, the distribution function, f ( t , r , ( 1 , & ! , ( 3 ) , is transformed into two partial differential equations by integrating it with respect to molecular velocity space ((r,(s). These two equations are ithen solved using the same four-stage Runge-Kutta time integration method coupled with the Discrete-Ordinate method (DOM). Shock wave structures have been studied. Results are compared with available experimental data. It was found that the Burnett equations predict very accurate shock wave structure compared to Boltzmann and experimental data.
On predicting defection from psychotherapy.

For 33 patients in a VA mental hygiene clinic followed over 1 yr., r between scores on Counseling-Readiness Scale and number of therapeutic interviews was .34, supporting the validity of the scale in predicting longevity of longer-term psychotherapy with non-college adults.
Winter Survival of the Boll worm at Stoneville, Mississippi

Only nondiapausing pupae developed from late 5th instars of Heliothis zea (Boddie) collected on or before August 22 from cars of corn and held in field-emergence cages in 1966-67, 1967-68, and 1969-70; both nondiapausing and diapausing pupae developed from larvae collected between August 30 and September 26; and the 1st diapausing pupae developed from larvae collected August 30. The peak percentages of diapausing pupae developed from larvae collected between September 13 and 23. Adult emergence in the spring occurred as early as April 26 and as late as June 15, but the date the diapausing pupae developed in the fall had little or no bearing no the date of adult emergence in the spring. Peak emergence of adults occurred between May 15 and May 25. Collections in light traps indicated that boll worm moths migrate into the Mississippi Delta before the local moths emerge.
Probing the Potential of Post-Anthropocentric 3D Printing

The growth of small scale manufacturing technologies associated with the "maker movement" has captured the attention of artists, innovators, educators, and policy makers. This paper critically examines how one core technology of the maker movement, a 3D printer, materializes assumptions about makers and their preferred ways of working with machines and materials. We describe how existing designs can be seen as anthropocentric, framing the human maker as visionary and commander of passive machines and materials. We then present an alternative system for 3D printing, called Redeform, which explores how a post-anthropocentric framing of makers as collaborators with machines and materials changes the design of 3D printers. We place our system within a lineage of performances that have explored relationships between humans and nonhumans since the 1950s. In doing so, we explore and speculate on the opportunities for operationalizing post-anthropocentric theories within the specific context of the maker movement.
Transient Quantum Phenomena in the Optical Region

The class of optical coherence effects which are now accessible by laser techniques permit new ways of studying dynamic interactions in atoms, molecules, and solids. Systems which are prepared by laser light may exhibit photon echoes, free induction decay (FID), coherent Raman beats and a variety of other optical transient effects which closely parallel the transients of pulsed NMR. Time-dependent interactions involving population and dipole dephasing can be examined in a selective manner and without the influence of Doppler broadening in the case of a gas, or crystalline strain broadening in the case of a solid.
Chemical Stressors and Ecological Risk

Risk assessment is a critical part of the regulatory aspect of ecotoxicology. Risk assessors use scientific findings and scientific wild-ass guess to estimate the risk to nontarget organisms and the environment due to contaminant exposures. Risk managers then consider the advice of the assessors and determine, along with other factors such as economics, human populations, etc., what steps need to be taken to remediate the risks or not.
An Algorithm to Improve Test Answer Copying Detection Using the Omega Statistic

The omega (ω) statistic is reputed to be one of the best indices for detecting answer copying on multiple choice tests, but its performance relies on the accurate estimation of copier ability, which is challenging because responses from the copiers may have been contaminated. We propose an algorithm that aims to identify and delete the suspected copied responses through probability sampling and bootstrapping. In doing so, the bias in copier ability estimation will be determined and used to update the ability estimate for calculating the modified omega (ωm), a new statistic based on the ω. The performance of ωm and ω were compared in a Monte Carlo simulation study under 40 typical testing conditions (2 test lengths x 4 sample sizes x 5 levels of copying). In almost all conditions, the ωm had the same or better controlled Type I error and higher power than ω. The increase in power was particularly eminent when the source's estimated ability was higher than the copier and when 20% or 30% of items were copied...
Ergonomics of Laparoscopy

Laparoscopy is a surgical field that has been active for several decades, but many of the harmful, long-term effects of laparoscopy on surgeons are only now being realized. Ergonomics is a field of science applied to work environments with the aim of minimizing risk of injury. In the setting of laparoscopy, ergonomics studies have elucidated some of the current drawbacks of laparoscopy. This chapter evaluates the risk factors, available instruments, and operating room setup for laparoscopic surgery. Additionally, potential solutions and methods of decreasing the risk of injury are examined. By possessing knowledge of the drawbacks of laparoscopy, surgeons may be able to protect themselves and prevent injuries.
Myb expression is critical for myeloid leukemia development induced by Setbp1 activation

// Nhu Nguyen 1 , Bandana A. Vishwakarma 1 , Kevin Oakley 1 , Yufen Han 1 , Bartlomiej Przychodzen 2 , Jaroslaw P. Maciejewski 2, * , Yang Du 1, * 1 Department of Pediatrics, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD, USA 2 Department of Translational Hematology and Oncology Research, Taussig Cancer Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA * These authors contributed equally to this work Correspondence to: Yang Du, email: yang.du@usuhs.edu Jaroslaw P. Maciejewski, email: maciejj@ccf.org Keywords: Setbp1, Myb, myeloid leukemia Received: July 28, 2016 Accepted: November 07, 2016 Published: November 16, 2016 ABSTRACT SETBP1 missense mutations have been frequently identified in multiple myeloid neoplasms; however, their oncogenic potential remains unclear. Here we show that expression of Setbp1 mutants carrying two such mutations in mouse bone marrow progenitors efficiently induced development of acute myeloid leukemias (AMLs) in irradiated recipient mice with significantly shorter latencies and greater penetrance than expression of wild-type Setbp1 , suggesting that these mutations are highly oncogenic. The increased oncogenicity of Setbp1 missense mutants could be due in part to their capability to drive significantly higher target gene transcription. We further identify Myb as a critical mediator of Setbp1 -induced self-renewal as its knockdown caused efficient differentiation of myeloid progenitors immortalized by wild-type Setbp1 and Setbp1 missense mutants. Interestingly, Myb is also a direct transcriptional target of Setbp1 and Setbp1 missense mutants as they directly bind to the Myb locus in immortalized cells and dramatically activate a critical enhancer/promoter region of Myb in luciferase reporter assays. Furthermore, Myb knockdown in Setbp1 and Setbp1 missense mutations-induced AML cells also efficiently induced their differentiation in culture and significantly prolonged the survival of their secondary recipient mice, suggesting that targeting MYB pathway could be a promising strategy for treating human myeloid neoplasms with SETBP1 activation.
Synthesis of Well-Defined Bifunctional Newkome-Type Dendrimers

Four bifunctional Newkome-type 1 → 3 branched polyamide-based dendrimers with different spatial arrangements of azido and alkenyl termini were synthesized. The dendrimer synthesis started with three building blocks containing two different ester protecting groups that can be deprotected in an orthogonal fashion. This orthogonal deprotection strategy allowed for the synthesis of three bifunctional dendrimers in a convergent fashion and one dendrimer via a divergent synthetic route. These four dendrimers have different spatial arrangements of termini capable of undergoing further functionalization using 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition and thiol–ene type click chemistries. The precise placement of the functional moieties along the dendrimer surface allows for dendrimer functionalization with a known ratio of cargo and exact placement on the periphery.
The making of a system of systems: Ontology reveals the true nature of emergence

A consistent, cohesive, and predictive framework that harbors the ontology and taxonomy of systems and system of systems is described that exposes the true nature of emergence as resulting from interactions that change physical objects. It is shown that the part-whole relationship is represented through the language syntax and semantics of integration and interoperability for systems and system of systems to build ontologies of objects and processes with primitives for objects of objects, functions, and behaviors; and for processes with primitives of cognitions, developing procedures, and modeling.
“Let's try and grapple all of this”: A snapshot of racial identity development and racial pedagogical decision making in an elective social studies course

Abstract This case study chronicles the pedagogical decision making of one high school teacher, Mr. Diego de la Vega, a pseudonym, as he teaches about race and racism in his elective social studies class, Race, Gender, and Ethnicity. De la Vega draws upon his own racial biography and experiences with race/ism to engage with high school students around racialized content. A conceptual framework grounded in racial identity development theory is used. This snapshot of racial pedagogical decision making, or RPDM, features a discussion of implications for social studies pedagogy to promote racial identity development in the classroom.
Regulation of CD20 in rituximab-resistant cell lines (RRCL) and B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas (NHL) (88.18)

Rituximab(R) resistance is associated with low CD20 expression in relapsed/refractory (r/r) lymphomas. Studies had shown a direct correlation between CD20 levels and R-induced complement cell lysis. CD20 up-regulation by IL-4 serves as a useful tool to study regulatory mechanisms of CD20 expression. We demonstrated that chronic exposure of B-cell to R leads to decrease CD20 at mRNA and protein levels. Our current work defines regulatory mechanisms of CD20 expression in RRCL and evaluates the role of CD20 in R activity. Differences in CD20 mRNA stability and promoter activity were determined between RSCL and RRCL by Northern blot and luciferase reporter assays. Levels of CD20 regulatory factors were determined by Western Blot. IL-4 effects in CD20 promoter activity, CD20 surface expression and R activity was studied in RSCL, RRCL and in tumor cells derived from r/r NHL. No difference in CD20 mRNA stability was noted between RSCL and RRCL. CD20 promoter activity was lower in RRCL. Detailed analysis of different CD20 promoter fragments indicated that low CD20 promoter activity occurred within the first 300 base pairs, suggesting lack of positive regulatory factors. Exposure to IL-4 increased CD20 promoter activity, CD20 expression and R activity. Our data suggest that CD20 promoter activity plays a role in CD20 down-regulation in RRCL. We are currently studying differences in PU.1 or Oct-1 binding to CD20 promoter in an attempt to define their role, if any, in R-resistance
Integration of Enhancer-Promoter Interactions with GWAS Summary Results Identifies Novel Schizophrenia-Associated Genes and Pathways

It remains challenging to boost statistical power of genome-wide association studies (GWASs) to identify more risk variants or loci that can account for “missing heritability.” Furthermore, since most identified variants are not in gene-coding regions, a biological interpretation of their function is largely lacking. On the other hand, recent biotechnological advances have made it feasible to experimentally measure the three-dimensional organization of the genome, including enhancer–promoter interactions in high resolutions. Due to the well-known critical roles of enhancer–promoter interactions in regulating gene expression programs, such data have been applied to link GWAS risk variants to their putative target genes, gaining insights into underlying biological mechanisms. However, their direct use in GWAS association testing is yet to be exploited. Here we propose integrating enhancer–promoter interactions into GWAS association analysis to both boost statistical power and enhance interpretability. We demonstrate that through an application to two large-scale schizophrenia (SCZ) GWAS summary data sets, the proposed method could identify some novel SCZ-associated genes and pathways (containing no significant SNPs). For example, after the Bonferroni correction, for the larger SCZ data set with 36,989 cases and 113,075 controls, our method applied to the gene body and enhancer regions identified 27 novel genes and 11 novel KEGG pathways to be significant, all missed by the transcriptome-wide association study (TWAS) approach. We conclude that our proposed method is potentially useful and is complementary to TWAS and other standard gene- and pathway-based methods.
Surface Charge Effects on Fe(II) Sorption and Oxidation at (110) Goethite Surfaces

Iron(III) oxides and oxyhydroxides are among the most reactive minerals in the environment, with surfaces that become charged when immersed in water. The governing role of surface charge over interfacial processes such as metal sorption is well understood. However, its role in interfacial redox reactions, such as when metal sorption is coupled to interfacial electron transfer (ET), is not. This is mainly because surface charge affects not only the types and densities of surface complexes formed but also their respective driving forces for ET. An important case is Fe(II)-catalyzed recrystallization of Fe(III)-oxyhydroxides, in which Fe(II) sorption and interfacial ET are closely linked. In this study, we used replica-exchange constant-pH molecular dynamics simulations (Zarzycki, P.; Smith, D. M.; Rosso, K. M. J. Chem. Theory Comput. 2015, 11, 1715–1724) to calculate the distance-dependent electrostatic potential at charged (110) surfaces of goethite particles, assessing its effect on previously computed Fe...
Hemophilic dog model for evaluating therapeutic effectiveness of plasma protein fractions

Therapeutic effectiveness of factor VIII inhibitor bypassing materials has been evaluated in dogs with hemophilia A. A standardized template gingival biopsy was performed using local anesthesia. Hemophilic dogs bled extensively from the biopsy site, whereas in normal dogs the wound was sealed within 5 + /- 2 min. If untreated, the hemophilic dogs frequently bled for several days. Factor VIII infusion stopped the bleeding promptly. Some experimental preparations of factor VIII inhibitor bypassing materials were shown to be therapeutically effective, whereas others were not. Intravascular thrombi could not be demonstrated histologically. The model should prove useful for evaluating factor VIII inhibitor bypassing materials and also for evaluating their mechanism of action.
Statistical tools for subset analysis in clinical trials.

The topic of subset analysis is complex, yet it has evoked simplistic solutions and strong feelings as a results of these simplistic solutions. There are some clinical investigators who ransack their data to find a subset of patients in which their new therapy looks effective. They report the findings in apparent ignorance of the problems of multiple comparisons, and their statistically significant finding looks good to the mass of statistically unsophisticated readers. Many of us react strongly to this, and the phrase “subset analysis” itself acquires a connotation of deception and sophistry. We hear individuals say that it is all right to look at subset results, but don’t believe them. We hear that subset analyses can only generate hypotheses to be tested in other clinical trials. Does this mean that one must entirely ignore subset results regardless of how strong they are? Is it practical to design future studies and treat future patients on this basis? Does this also hold for clinical trials of cardiovascular disease or cancer prevention which may involve enormous numbers of patients and cost tens of millions of dollars? Is this sensible statistically?
Multi-vehicle Target Tracking and Formation Control in Non-inertial Reference Frames

Formations of autonomous unmanned vehicles may one day provide the monitoring and environmental sampling data necessary for understanding important time-evolving processes. To capture these processes, new multi-vehicle control algorithms are needed that are capable of steering vehicles to formations relative to moving frames of reference. This paper presents a novel approach to multi-vehicle formation control by designing distributed formation controllers in translating and rotating reference frames. The desired relative frame control is mapped to inertial turn-rate and speed-rate commands necessary to produce the desired relative frame motion. This approach is exemplified by applications in multi-vehicle coordinated standoff tracking of a moving target and formation control to non-convex formations of autonomous vehicles. Experimental results using autonomous ground and air vehicles highlight the theoretical results.
Association between loop diuretic dose administered in first 24 hours of heart failure admissions and length of hospital stay.

Background: Heart failure remains one of the highest disease burdens in the USA and worldwide. Heart failure guidelines recommend starting with a higher or equal to home dose of loop diuretics in a...
Appendage and Scaffold Diverse Fully Functionalized Small-Molecule Probes via a Minimalist Terminal Alkyne-Aliphatic Diazirine Isocyanide

This paper highlights a bifunctional isocyanide that contains a photoreactive aliphatic diazirine for protein target capture and a terminal alkyne for click chemistry-based proteomics. Specifically, this isocyanide was employed in five different multicomponent reactions to produce 10 different fully functionalized small-molecule probes (FFSMPs) containing eight different chemical scaffolds. We anticipate this bifunctional isocyanide can be used to create FFSMP libraries of much greater chemical diversity toward identifying compounds with novel mechanisms of action via integrated phenotypic screening and target identification.
A qPCR approach to quantify the growth of basil downy mildew pathogen Peronospora belbahrii during infection

Abstract Sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum) is an economically important herb crop. Its production has been severely threatened by the downy mildew disease caused by the obligate biotrophic oomycete Peronospora belbahrii. Deployment of disease resistant cultivars would be the most cost effective, environmentally friendly control strategy. However, transferring resistance found only in wild Ocimum species to sweet basil via traditional breeding has been extremely challenging. To apply cutting-edge biotechnological approaches to breeding for basil downy mildew resistance, it is essential to better understand the molecular basis of basil-P. belbahrii interactions, for which a set of experimental tools, including a sensitive disease assessment method, are required. Here we described a quantitative PCR (qPCR) approach to quantify P. belbahrri growth during infection. The approach utilizes two pairs of primers that specifically and effectively amplify the internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) region of P. belbahrii and basil β-tubulin gene for pathogen detection, and normalization of pathogen DNA relative to plant biomass, respectively. This approach was shown to be able to detect increased pathogen growth during infection time course and differentiate disease levels of different sweet basil cultivars at an early infection stage. This qPCR approach is expected to facilitate the dissection of the molecular basis of basil-P. belbahrii interactions and it can also be used for pathogen detection in propagating materials to ensure the growth of disease-free materials and prevent disease spread.
International collaboration: A conversation on Baba Yaga

Danica Rosengren interviewed Shona Reppe and Christine Johnston in May of 2018 about Baba Yaga— a new performance developed by Christine, Shona, Windmill Theatre Company, and the Imaginate Festival...
Polymeric microfluidic continuous flow mixer combined with hyperspectral FT-IR imaging for studying rapid biomolecular events.

Early reaction intermediates in protein folding, such as those resulting in β-amyloid formation due to transient misfolding, emerge within a few hundred microseconds. Here, we report a method to obtain sub-millisecond temporal resolution and molecular structural information of protein (mis-)folding events by using a microfluidic continuous-flow mixer (MCFM) in combination with Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) imaging. The MCFMs are made out of cyclic olefin copolymer (COC) films, because this approach allows for rapid prototyping of different mixer designs. Furthermore, COC offers high IR transparency between 1500 and 2500 cm−1, thus maximizing the signal to noise ratio of the IR data obtained from a sample of interest. By combining narrow and wide channel widths in MCFM design, the platform provides fast mixing (460 μs) to induce protein (mis-)folding, and it maximizes the residence time in the observing area, so a wide range of reaction timescales can be captured in a single image. We validated the platform for its ability to induce and observe sub-millisecond processes by studying two systems: (i) the mixing of H2O and D2O and (ii) the mixing induced deprotonation of carboxylic acid. First, we observed excellent agreement between simulated and experimental data of the on-chip mixing of H2O and D2O, which verifies the distance–reaction time relationships based on simulation. Second, deprotonation of carboxylic acid by on-chip mixing with sodium hydroxide solution validates the ability of the platform to induce rapid pH jump that is needed for some biomolecular reactions. Finally, we studied the methanol-induced partial-unfolding of ubiquitin to show that our platform can be used to study biomolecular events ‘on-pathway’ using FT-IR imaging. We successfully extracted kinetic and structural details of the conformational changes along the channel. Our results are in agreement with prior studies that required more elaborate stopped flow approaches to acquire data for different time points. In summary, the reported method uses an easy-to-fabricate microfluidic mixer platform integrated with hyperspectral FT-IR imaging for rapid acquisition of structural details and kinetic parameters of biomolecular reactions. This approach does not need stopped flow or molecular imaging probes, as required respectively for alternative FT-IR spectroscopy and fluorescence approaches.
Energy group search engine based on surrogate models constructed with the RAVEN/NEWT/PHISICS sequence

Abstract Transient calculations with nodal neutronics codes entail few-group energy structures. In systems other than LWRs, significant efforts are devoted to obtain satisfying group structures. The energy cut-offs available in the literature do not always match the energy boundaries available in lattice codes. This paper demonstrates an automated sequence that searches for suitable coarse-group configurations. The sequence couples the lattice code T-XSEC/NEWT for cross section generation and collapsing, the nodal code PHISICS for core calculations and the software RAVEN for variable sampling and analytical purposes. T-XSEC/NEWT receives an energy group configuration from RAVEN to generate microscopic self-shielded cross sections in a coarse format. PHISICS provides the core solution using the microscopic libraries. The performances of the group structures in the core model are stored to train a Reduced Order Model (ROM) built on-the-fly. The ROM spares the necessity to survey the large input space of all possible energy group structures, or expert judgements. The solution provided by RAVEN is a Limit Surface of group structures fitting success criteria. The approach is tested on a simplified two-dimensional HTTR core model. The Limit Surface obtained by RAVEN derives a few six-group structures fitting the HTTR model.
How Lesbians and Gay Men Decide to Become Parents or Remain Childfree

This chapter examines the understudied question of how lesbians and gay men choose to become parents or remain childfree. The limited research suggests that several factors shape how lesbians and gay men decide to become parents or remain childfree, including personal considerations, support networks, work-related issues, and intimate partner relationships. Existing research also suggests that the role of these factors in parental decision making is shaped by race, class, gender, and sexuality. In general, those with greater race and class privilege tend to have greater access to material resources, to receive greater support from family members, and to intentionally decide to become parents. This chapter reviews past literature on lesbian and gay parenting decisions, suggests new questions for further research, and discusses how studying lesbian and gay men’s parenting decisions informs our understanding of families in general. Reviewing the literature shows how lesbian and gay men’s parenting decision-making processes are socially constructed. In addition, the chapter sheds light on why and how diverse family forms develop at particular historical moments in time. One of the most pressing questions for future research is how race, class, disability, nationality, and geographic location shape parenting decision-making processes.
Care Demands and Well-Being of Primary and Secondary Non-Spousal Caregivers of Aging Adults.

Compare care demands, strain, and health across 912 primary and secondary caregivers of parents, other family, and friends aged 50 and older. Data came from the nationally representative Caregiving...
The possibilities and intimacies of queer African screen cultures

This special issue addresses the way that queer African intimacies are lived on screens and through screens. When we sent our original call for papers, we invited authors to contribute articles not...
Too Many Managers: Strategic Use of Titles to Avoid Overtime Payments

We exploit a federal law that affords firms the ability to avoid paying overtime wages when an employee is classified as a manager and paid a salary above a pre-defined dollar threshold. We show that listings for salaried managerial positions exhibit an 89% increase around the regulatory threshold, including the listing of managerial positions such as "directors of first-impression", "lead reservationists", and "coffee cart managers". Overtime avoidance is more pronounced when firms have stronger bargaining power and employees have weaker rights. Moreover, it is more pronounced for firms with financial constraints, and when there are weaker labor outside options in the region. We find stronger results for occupations in industries that are penalized more often for overtime violations. Our results suggest broad usage of overtime avoidance using job titles across locations and over time, persisting through the present day.
A Game-Theoretic Framework to Regulate Freeriding in Inter-Provider Spectrum Sharing

Primary-secondary spectrum sharing is limited in terms of design space, and may not be sufficient to meet the ever-increasing demand of connectivity and high signal quality. The next step to increase spectrum sharing efficiency is to design markets where sharing takes place among primary providers rather than leaving it to the limited case where the primary licensee is idle. Attaining contractual spectrum sharing among primary providers, a.k.a. co-primary or inter-provider sharing, involves additional costs for the users, e.g., roaming fee. Co-primary spectrum sharing without additional charge to the users poses two major challenges: a) regulatory approaches must be introduced to incentivize providers to share spectrum resources, and b) small providers in co-primary spectrum sharing markets may freeride on large providers’ networks as the customers of the small providers may be using the spectrum and infrastructure resources of large providers. Such freeriding opportunities must be minimized to realize the benefits of primary-level sharing. We consider a subsidy-based spectrum sharing (SBSS) market to facilitate co-primary spectrum sharing where providers are explicitly incentivized to share spectrum resources. We focus on minimizing freeriding in SBSS markets and introduce a game-theoretic model to regulate the freeriding. We use the model to explore operational regimes with minimal freeriding.
Potential of Spatially Offset Raman Spectroscopy for Detection of Zebra Chip and Potato Virus Y Diseases of Potatoes (Solanum tuberosum)

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is a staple food crop and part of an industry valued at an estimated $3.77 billion in the United States. Many varieties of potato are susceptible to zebra chip disease...
Near Field Modeling for THz Wireless Channel in Nettop Size Metal Enclosures

This paper proposes a path loss model and a geometry-based statistical model for Terahertz (THz) chip-to-chip wireless communication in nettop size metal enclosures. The proposed path loss model captures the attenuation of traveling wave and the gain of the electromagnetic horn in near-field region, also the resonant modes in the metal enclosure. The proposed geometric channel model describes the propagation of the traveling wave and the wave generated from the excited walls as a superposition of line of sight (LoS) and multi-bounced (MB) rays. Measurements for LoS propagation in near-field region have been performed in the indoor environment and in a nettop size empty metal enclosure. A good agreement between the measured and model predicted results has been observed, which proves the validity of the proposed models.
The haplotype-based analysis of Aegilops tauschii introgression into hard red winter wheat and its impact on productivity traits

Introgression from wild relatives have a great potential to broaden beneficial allelic diversity available for crop improvement in breeding programs. Here, we assessed the impact of introgression from 21 diverse accessions of Aegilops tauschii, the diploid ancestor of the wheat D genome, into six hard red winter wheat cultivars on yield and yield component traits. We used 5.2 million imputed D genome SNPs identified by whole-genome sequencing of parental lines and the sequence-based genotyping of introgression population including 351 BC1F3:5 lines. Phenotyping data collected from the irrigated and non-irrigated field trials revealed that up to 23% of the introgression lines produce more grain than the parents and check cultivars. Based on sixteen yield stability statistics, the yield of twelve introgression lines (3.4%) was stable across treatments, years and locations; five of these lines were also high yielding, producing 9.8% more grain than the average yield of check cultivars. The most significant SNP-trait and haplotype-trait associations were identified on chromosome arms 2DS and 6DL for spikelet number per spike (SNS), on chromosome arms 2DS, 3DS, 5DS and 7DS for grain length and on chromosome arms 1DL, 2DS, 6DL and 7DS for grain width. Introgression of haplotypes from Ae. tauschii parents was associated with increase in SNS, which positively correlated with heading date, whereas haplotypes from hexaploid wheat parents were associated with increased grain width. While some introgressed haplotypes exhibited significant pleiotropic effects with the direction of effects on the yield component traits being largely consistent with the previously reported trade-offs, there were haplotype combinations associated with the positive trends in yield. The characterized repertoire of the introgressed haplotypes derived from Ae. tauschii accessions with the combined positive effects on yield and yield components traits in elite germplasm provides a valuable source of alleles for improving the productivity of winter wheat by optimizing the contribution of component traits to yield.
A Guide to Hosting a Doctoral Conference: How We (Ph.D. Students) Hosted a (Virtual) Conference During the Pandemic (preprint)

We organized a doctoral symposium in April 2021. This was a student-run program, which provided opportunities for Ph.D. students interested in studying business and institutions in China to present their work, collect feedback, and network with other students and faculty members who share similar interests. We accumulated some knowledge about how to organize a (virtual) academic conference. This article summarizes our experiences. We hope to achieve two goals. First, we hope that this guide provides some public good to the research community, especially Ph.D. students, informing them on how to design and organize small-scale academic conferences and workshops. We provide detailed procedures and include relevant materials, including the call for papers, email communications, and final agenda for readers’ reference. Second, as COVID-19 has significantly reduced travel frequency for academic researchers and suspended many in-person academic meetings, we hope that this guide will help encourage researchers to explore additional channels for academic exchanges and promote research collaboration in these challenging times.
Expected Collision Rates for Tracked Satellites

This analysis estimates collision risks between tracked satellites based on the statistically expected collision rate N˙c and number of collisions Nc, which are closely related to the collision pro...
Tunable Laser Heterodyne Spectrometer Measurements of Atmospheric Species

Spectroscopic measurements using tunable laser heterodyne spectrometers in the 3–30 micron range of the spectrum have the potential to measure the vertical profiles of tenuous gas molecules in the atmosphere with ultra high spectral resolution (∆υ ≤ 0.001 cm-1) and high sensitivity [1]. At the NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC), the technology and system level development for demonstrating the “technology readiness” of this technique has been pursued for some time, and a major activity has included technology development of reliable tunable semiconductor lasers [2], laboratory research in the fundamental noise sources of the heterodyne system [3], laboratory measurements of spectroscopic parameters with ultra high spectral resolution [4, 5], sensitivity analyses for potential applications [6] from space and balloon platforms, and development of a Laser Heterodyne Spectrometer (LHS) experiment to measure trace species in the atmosphere from the NASA CV-990 Airborne Laboratory [7]. The experimental flight demonstration is currently scheduled for implementation in the first quarter of fisical year 1983.
Negative Perceptions of Christian Tippers: How Widespread Are They?

An Internet survey of a large sample of restaurant waiters and waitresses found that many servers across the United States perceive Christians as bad tippers. This perception is too prevalent to simply ignore. Managers of tipped employees who must serve Christian customers and Christians concerned about the public image of their faith should both strive to learn whether the perceptions are accurate and, if they are accurate, which subset or subsets of Christians tip poorly and why. Such information would inform efforts to change inaccurate perceptions via corrective informational campaigns directed toward servers or to identify those subsets of Christians who tip poorly and encourage them to tip more generously.