cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
RiboVision suite for visualization and analysis of ribosomes

RiboVision is a visualization and analysis tool for the simultaneous display of multiple layers of diverse information on primary (1D), secondary (2D), and three-dimensional (3D) structures of ribosomes. The ribosome is a macromolecular complex containing ribosomal RNA and ribosomal proteins and is a key component of life responsible for the synthesis of proteins in all living organisms. RiboVision is intended for rapid retrieval, analysis, filtering, and display of a variety of ribosomal data. Preloaded information includes 1D, 2D, and 3D structures augmented by base-pairing, base-stacking, and other molecular interactions. RiboVision is preloaded with rRNA secondary structures, rRNA domains and helical structures, phylogeny, crystallographic thermal factors, etc. RiboVision contains structures of ribosomal proteins and a database of their molecular interactions with rRNA. RiboVision contains preloaded structures and data for two bacterial ribosomes (Thermus thermophilus and Escherichia coli), one archaeal ribosome (Haloarcula marismortui), and three eukaryotic ribosomes (Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Drosophila melanogaster, and Homo sapiens). RiboVision revealed several major discrepancies between the 2D and 3D structures of the rRNAs of the small and large subunits (SSU and LSU). Revised structures mapped with a variety of data are available in RiboVision as well as in a public gallery (http://apollo.chemistry.gatech.edu/RibosomeGallery). RiboVision is designed to allow users to distill complex data quickly and to easily generate publication-quality images of data mapped onto secondary structures. Users can readily import and analyze their own data in the context of other work. This package allows users to import and map data from CSV files directly onto 1D, 2D, and 3D levels of structure. RiboVision has features in rough analogy with web-based map services capable of seamlessly switching the type of data displayed and the resolution or magnification of the display. RiboVision is available at http://apollo.chemistry.gatech.edu/RiboVision.
Atmospheric turbulence effects on radar systems

Atmospheric turbulence has been shown to have measurable effects on several aspects of radar performance. In this paper we discuss the perturbation of the angle-of-arrival (AOA) of radar beams caused by the atmosphere, the effects of lognormal- and Weibull-distributed clutter on detection performance, and the detection probability of ultrawideband pulses propagated through the atmosphere in the presence of turbulence and Gaussian noise. We find that AOA effects are on the order of a few microradians, which is a negligible level for most applications, but that clutter and noise, when combined with turbulent fluctuations, give some surprising results when the ratio of signal to clutter and noise is calculated. The detection of ultrawideband pulses is analogous to the “needle in a haystack” problem. In this paper, we present theories describing each of these phenomena, together with calculated results. For AOA, we have made measurements for one-way propagation that agree well with this theory, but the other phenomena have yet to be measured.
Self-Assembly of PEG-Coated Ceria Nanoparticles Shows Dependence on PEG Molecular Weight and Ageing.

Cerium oxide (ceria) nanoparticles (CNPs) were synthesized in poly(ethylene glycol)s (PEGs) of different molecular weights (MWs; 300, 600, 1500, 3000, 4000, and 6000 Da) with water as a cosolvent, and changes in physicochemical properties, especially morphology and size, were monitored as a function of time. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) was performed for all solutions and revealed octahedral, star morphologies for CNPs coated with 1500 MW PEG. Raman and FTIR spectroscopy, HRTEM images, conductivity, and electrophoretic mobility imply the self-assembly of small spherical particles to octahedral, star-shaped particles by means of a fractal assembly method. Dynamic light scattering measures were used to create an empirical growth model of the observed octahedral self-assembly. It was also determined that PEG polymer chain lengths and age-dependent redox activities of CNPs limit or allow this assembly owing to molecular-weight-dependent physicochemical properties. This study highlights the significance of ageing on solution-based nanoparticles and its implications in the use of nanoparticles over long periods of time. As PEG-ylated nanoparticles have found extensive use in biomedical applications, we have tested the aged particles in vitro for toxicity.
The evolution of effective B-tree: page organization and techniques: a personal account

An under-appreciated facet of index search structures is the importance of high performance search within B-tree internal nodes. Much attention has been focused on improving node fanout, and hence minimizing the tree height [BU77, LL86]. [GG97, Lo98] have discussed the importance of B-tree page size. A recent article [GL2001] discusses internal node architecture, but the subject is buried in a single section of the paper.In this short note, I want to describe the long evolution of good internal node architecture and techniques, including an understanding of what problem was being solved during each of the incremental steps that have led to much improved node organizations.
The Organization and Funding of Social Science in the NSF

The legitimation of federal funding of social, economic, and behavioral science research faced a major challenge with the budget reductions of the Reagan Administration in 1981–1982. This article reviews the history of support and opposition to the social sciences in NSF and the collective response of the social science research community to the budget cutbacks. The consequences for research directions as a result of retrenchment and for the future of social science support in NSF are elaborated.
TEMPERATURE-SENSITIVE MUTANTS FOR THE REPLICATION OF PLASMIDS IN ESCHERICHIA COLI I. ISOLATION AND SPECIFICITY OF HOST AND PLASMID MUTATIONS

Temperature-sensitive mutants of Escherichia coli defective in the replication of the plasmid colicinogenic factor E1 (ColE1) were isolated following mutagenesis of E. coli K12 strain carrying the ColE1 factor. Following the mutagenic treatment an enrichment procedure utilizing the replacement of thymine with bromouracil in the ColE1 DNA duplicated at the restrictive temperature was used. The mutants isolated following this enrichment step were the result of a mutation event either in the host chromosome or in the ColE1 plasmid. The host mutants fell into three phenotypic classes based on the effect each mutation had on the maintenance of a variety of other extrachromosomal DNA elements. Phenotypic class I mutations affected all E. coli plasmids, both the I and F sex factor types as well as the ColE1 factor. Phenotypic class II mutations affected the maintenance of the ColE1 and the F sex factor type plasmids and not the I type, while phenotypic class III mutations affected only ColE1 replication. None of these mutations was found to have a significant effect on the replication of the E. coli chromosome. The plasmid-linked mutations fell into two phenotypic classes on the basis of the ability of the Flac episome to complement the mutation in the ColE1 plasmid.
Skeletons in Arrangements

We have seen in Chapters 7 and 8 that there are optimal algorithms known for constructing a complete arrangement of hyperplanes (Chapter 7) and for constructing a single cell in an arrangement provided the number of dimensions is even or equal to three (Chapter 8). Less satisfying methods are available if a structure in an arrangement is to be computed that is more complicated than a single cell. There are two obvious strategies for such computations, which are not without disadvantages, however.
Markov Model Based Power Management in Server Clusters

Many high-end computing systems use an extremely large number of power-hungry commercial components to achieve high performance. Power reduction and energy conservation are important in these systems for the reason of minimizing operating cost. Two main mechanisms are commonly applied to power reduction in these systems: Dynamic Voltage/ Frequency Scaling (DV/FS) and server number controlling: Vary-On Vary-Off (VOVF). Many previous work addressed the power management issue as an optimization problem and utilized these two mechanisms separately or together to reduce power consumption. In this paper, we construct a Constrained Markov Decision Process (CMDP) model for power management in web server clusters. Unlike previous optimization model which obtains the optimal power management solution on-line, our model provides an off-line power control policy that can greatly reduce online computation time. It also takes advantages of both DV/FS and VOVF mechanisms together for power reduction. The constructed CMDP model provides controllable and predictable quantitative control of power consumption with theoretically guaranteed service performance. It is further evaluated via extensive simulations and justified by the real workload data trace. The results prove the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed model.
Flow in the magnetosheath: the legacy of John Spreiter

Abstract We review the evolution of our understanding of the processes governing the flow in the magnetosheath from the earliest model of Spreiter to the current outstanding issues. The earlier models can be characterized as single-wave-mode monotonic processes, namely the gasdynamic model for the magnetosonic mode and the plasma depletion models for slow modes. In the 1990s, a slow shock was identified in the magnetosheath from observations and theoretical models were proposed to describe the processes. We are now in an exciting period of reconstructing both our theoretical and observational understanding of the magnetosheath processes.
Properties of Conducting Polymer Interconnects

The possibility of using conducting polymer dendrites as electrical connections has been explored. AC electropolymerization of dendritic conducting polymers can be used to connect two different platinum wires. The polymerization conditions were varied in order to improve morphology, strength, conductivity, and to shorten the time needed to make connections. The variables involved in this study include electrolyte and monomer concentrations and the type of conducting polymer used (3-methylthiophene and aniline). Another area of study has been the exploitation of the inherent doping and undoping properties associated with conducting polymers to store information in the connections in the form of a resistance value. To this end, the connections were doped to known conductivity values and the persistence of conductivity was monitored over time.
Generation of high bandwidth network traffic traces

High bandwidth network traffic traces are needed to understand the behavior of high speed networks (such as the Internet backbone). However, the implementation of a mechanism to collect such traces is difficult in practice. In the absence of real traces, tools to generate high bandwidth traces would aid the study of high speed network behavior. We describe three methods of generating high bandwidth network traces: scaling low bandwidth network traffic traces; merging multiple low bandwidth traces; generating traces through simulation by scaling a structural model of real world traces. We evaluate the generated traces and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each method. We also discuss some of the issues involved in generating traces by the structural model method.
Motional impedance analysis: Bridging the ‘Gap’ in dielectric transduction

This paper presents an analytical model to estimate the motional resistance for partial air gap capacitively-transduced MEMS resonators. This model serves as a link between the well formulated analytical models for conventional air gap and internal dielectric transduction schemes, thereby helping decide which scheme is optimal for a given design frequency. Using this model, we simulate and experimentally verify the motional resistance for a 303MHz polysilicon disk resonator within a 5% range of accuracy.
Collaborative Research in Childhood Cancer Survivorship: The Current Landscape

Survivors of childhood cancer carry a substantial burden of morbidity and are at increased risk for premature death. Furthermore, clear associations exist between specific therapeutic exposures and the risk for a variety of long-term complications. The entire landscape of health issues encountered for decades after successful completion of treatment is currently being explored in various collaborative research settings. These settings include large population-based or multi-institutional cohorts and single-institution studies. The ascertainment of outcomes has depended on self-reporting, linkage to registries, or clinical assessments. Survivorship research in the cooperative group setting, such as the Children's Oncology Group, has leveraged the clinical trials infrastructure to explore the molecular underpinnings of treatment-related adverse events, and to understand specific complications in the setting of randomized risk-reduction strategies. This review highlights the salient findings from these large collaborative initiatives, emphasizing the need for life-long follow-up of survivors of childhood cancer, and describing the development of several guidelines and efforts toward harmonization. Finally, the review reinforces the need to identify populations at highest risk, facilitating the development of risk prediction models that would allow for targeted interventions across the entire trajectory of survivorship.
Mysteries in the local control of blood flow: a physiological "whodunit" involving red cell release of ATP?

In mystery writings, the classification of a “whodunit” refers to a story in which the puzzle of who committed the crime is the main feature of interest. In a somewhat comparable manner, interrogations into the local control of blood flow can be construed as chapters of a physiological whodunit mystery—of course, with the hope that the science is nonfictional! For the physiological whodunit, the cast of characters consists of the myriad factors involved in the local control of blood flow, including adenosine, nitric oxide, hydrogen peroxide, and ATP, to name a few. Article, see p 220 The specific factors responsible for the local control of blood flow have eluded unequivocal identification. Perhaps this difficulty relates to the likely possibility that there are redundant local control mechanisms that regulate flow, so that when one system is blocked, another can assume control. Another complication is that local control of flow is related to many different conditions, including changes in tissue oxygen demands, ischemia, hypoxia, changes in intravascular pressure, and changes in shear stresses, and these myriad factors introduce a highly complicated system that likely follows nonlinear dynamics, at least in the heart.1 In this issue of Circulation Research , Kirby et al2 have added a chapter in the whodunit mystery by suggesting that the intravascular production of ATP contributes to dilation in skeletal muscle during systemic hypoxia and active (exercise-induced) hyperemia in humans. The authors further suggest that diminished ATP release by red cells in aged individuals contributes to the hampered vasodilatory responses to hypoxia and increased muscle metabolism observed in older persons. This clinical study appears to be well done, and there appear to be no issues with the results. However, …
The role of nitric oxide in prostaglandin biology; update

The biosynthesis of nitric oxide (NO) and prostaglandin share many similarities. Two major forms of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) and cyclooxygenase (COX) have been identified: constitutive versus inducible. In general, the constitutive form functions in housekeeping and physiologic roles whereas the inducible form is up-regulated by mitogenic or inflammatory stimuli and is responsible for pathophysiological responses. The cross talk between the COX and NOS pathways was initially reported in 1993 and since then, numerous studies have been undertaken to delineate the functional consequences of this interaction as well as the potential mechanism by which each pathway interacts. This review will focus in particular on recent advances in this field that extend our understanding of these two pathways under various systems.
STRAIN IDENTIFICATION OF SPODOPTERA FRUGIPERDA (LEPIDOPTERA: NOCTUIDAE) INSECTS AND CELL LINE: PCR-RFLP OF CYTOCHROME OXIDASE C SUBUNIT I GENE

A simple method was developed to analyze the two morphologically indistinguishable host-associated strains of the fall armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith). Total DNA extracted from the FAW corn and rice strains, as well as from the S. frugiperda cell line (SF9) was used to PCR amplify a 569 base pairs region of the mitochondrial gene cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI). The amplified DNA from the Spodoptera corn strain and the SF9 cell line contained a restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) marker, the MspI recognition site that was not present in the rice strain. This PCR-RFLP method does not require purification of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) or the use of radioactive isotopes, and differs from previous methods in that only a few nanograms of total DNA are needed to yield clear and accurate strain identification of individual insects.
Program Verification and Testing

Once a program is written, its correctness with respect to the specification has to be verified or validated. The theory of program verification stems from the desire to prove formally that a program is correct, based on written code and requirements specification. In general two approaches are proposed for formal program verification—one based on theorem proving and one based on symbolic execution.
Activating and optimizing MoS2 basal planes for hydrogen evolution through the formation of strained sulphur vacancies

Molybdenum disulphide is a promising non-precious catalyst for hydrogen evolution because it contains active edge sites and an inert basal plane. Introducing sulphur vacancies and strain now leads to activation and optimization of the basal plane. As a promising non-precious catalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER; refs 1,2,3,4,5), molybdenum disulphide (MoS2) is known to contain active edge sites and an inert basal plane1,6,7,8. Activating the MoS2 basal plane could further enhance its HER activity but is not often a strategy for doing so. Herein, we report the first activation and optimization of the basal plane of monolayer 2H-MoS2 for HER by introducing sulphur (S) vacancies and strain. Our theoretical and experimental results show that the S-vacancies are new catalytic sites in the basal plane, where gap states around the Fermi level allow hydrogen to bind directly to exposed Mo atoms. The hydrogen adsorption free energy (ΔGH) can be further manipulated by straining the surface with S-vacancies, which fine-tunes the catalytic activity. Proper combinations of S-vacancy and strain yield the optimal ΔGH = 0 eV, which allows us to achieve the highest intrinsic HER activity among molybdenum-sulphide-based catalysts.
18F FPPRGD2 PET as a Surrogate Biomarker of Integrin αvβ3 Expression Before and After Anti-angiogenesis Treatment

629 Objectives We report the biodistribution of 18F FPPRGD2 across a variety of cancer lesions and normal tissues, as well as the effect of anti-angiogenesis (AA) therapy on these values. We also compared the uptake in the lesions between 18F FPPRGD2 and 18F FDG. Methods Data from 29 patients (10 men, 19 women; mean age: 52.9 ± 10.7) who had 18F-FPPRGD2 PET/CT was retrospectively analyzed. The mean standardized uptake values (SUVmean) were recorded for 23 normal organs, as well as for all the identified malignant lesions. We compared the uptake values of the pre AA therapy scans with those from post AA therapy scans in 9 patients who received such treatment. The correlation between 18F-FPPRGD2 uptake and 18F FDG uptake was evaluated using a lesion-by-lesion analysis. Results The areas of high 18F FPPRGD2 uptake (range: 5.8 - 62.9) were in the bladder, kidneys and small intense while moderate uptake (range: 1.5 - 4.6) was noted in the choroid plexus and spleen, salivary glands, thyroid, liver, pancreas and bones. Compared to 18F FDG, 18F FPPRGD2 showed higher tumor-to-background ratios in brain lesions (12.3 ± 5.6 vs. 0.7 ± 0.4, P Conclusions We present in detail the biodistribution of 18F FPPRGD2 in normal tissues and cancer lesions. We found no correlation between 18F FPPRGD2 and 18F FDG uptake, confirming that each tracer provides different information regarding the lesions. 18F FPPRGD2 uptake in normal tissue is not affected by AA therapy, while brain lesions were significantly decreased. Research Support Ben and Catherine Ivy Foundation; Stanford Cancer Institute
The International Political Economy of Coffee: From Juan Valdez to Yank’s Diner

Coffee is of global importance, ranking second to petroleum in world commodity trade. Moreover, coffee is of particular importance as a major export commodity in many low-income countries in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. The primary purpose of The International Political Economy of Coffee is to integrate political science and economics in analyzing the five-fold increase in world coffee prices over an 18-month period in the mid-1970s. The effects of this price increase, resulting from a frost in Brazil in 1975, are traced from Yank’s Diner in Scranton, Pennsylvania through the world coffee market (and the international coffee agreements) to several countries in which coffee is the major export and a prime determinant of the level of economic activity.1 The effects of higher coffee prices on individual consumers in the United States and on coffee producers in Brazil, Columbia, and the Ivory Coast are analyzed. The individual coffee producer in Columbia is personified by “Juan Valdez,” the Columbian coffee industry’s fictional TV advertising spokesman. A stated concern of the book is to show how Juan Valdez and Yank’s Diner are mutually dependent upon each other.
Semantics influences speech perception: commentary on Gow and Olson (2015)

Figuring out how the brain processes language is not easy anymore. There was a time when a well-trained linguist could look out across the ocean, divine a theory on the spot, and be confident that ...
Does the heart fail in endotoxin shock

Evidence for a major participatory role of the myocardium in the hemodynamic response to endotoxemia and sepsis has been controversial. Early interpretations about in situ changes in cardiac performance during shock were confounded by the concomitant influence of uncontrolled pathophysiologic adjustments in cardioactive variables such as preload, afterload, sympathoadrenal discharge, left ventricular diastolic compliance (stiffness), and in some studies myocardial hypoperfusion/ischemia. Despite such complexities, many recent studies with intact subjects and isolated preparations consistently point toward a relatively early involvement of myocardial dysfunction in circulatory shock syndromes associated with gram-negative bacteria and sepsis. The cardiac dysfunction cannot be accounted for by a direct toxic effect of the endotoxin molecule itself on cardiac myocytes. Rather, evidence is compelling that endotoxin interacts first with other types of cellular or tissue elements. The latter evoke biologic reactions through some unknown pathway culminating in deleterious effects in the heart. Discovery of the casual mechanism(s) responsible for myocardial sequelae of endotoxemia and sepsis remains a key objective in experimental and clinical research in circulatory shock pathogenesis.
Untangling the Manganese-α-Synuclein Web

Neurodegenerative diseases affect a significant portion of the aging population. Several lines of evidence suggest a positive association between environmental exposures, which are common and cumulative in a lifetime, and development of neurodegenerative diseases. Environmental or occupational exposure to manganese (Mn) has been implicated in neurodegeneration due to its ability to induce mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress and α-synuclein (α-Syn) aggregation. The role of the α-Syn protein vis-a-vis Mn is controversial, as it seemingly plays a duplicitous role in neuroprotection and neurodegeneration. α-Syn has low affinity for Mn, however an indirect interaction cannot be ruled out. In this review we will examine the current knowledge surrounding the interaction of α-Syn and Mn in neurodegenerative process.
Testing Ststistical Hypothesis in Light of Mathematical Aspects in Analysis of Probability

The philosophy of testing statistical hypothesis is a natural consequence and functional extension of mathematical analysis of Probability. Along with the concept of recurrence when applied to random sequences and functions, it leads to the analysis of a priori and posterior which implies testing statistical hypothesis. Testing statistical hypothesis also involves algebraic, functional and dimensional considerations, which are found in the works of Laplace. Aspects of mathematical analysis such as universality of solutions, Laws of Large Numbers, Entropy, Information, and various functional dependencies are the main factors explained in the five properties that lead to implication of testing statistical hypothesis. Various interesting examples with modern scientific significance from genetics, astrophysics, and other areas give methodological access to answers of different problems and phenomena which are involved in the logic of testing statistical hypothesis.
Specialized UHV Systems

There are advantages in using aluminum UHV systems. For proton synchrotrons, the residual radioactivity produced in stainless systems may be reduced by one or two orders of magnitude, 100 h after machine shutdown, by employing Al instead of stainless steel. For electron synchrotron machines and electron storage rings, aluminum is preferred because of good thermal conductivity, ease of manufacture by extrusion, low residual radioactivity, nonmagnetic character, and low cost.
Synthesis of Device-Independent Noise Corpora for Realistic ASR Evaluation.

In order to effectively evaluate the accuracy of automatic speech recognition (ASR) with a novel capture device, it is important to create a realistic test data corpus that is representative of real-world noise conditions. Typically, this involves either recording the output of a device under test (DUT) in a noisy environment, or synthesizing an environment over loudspeakers in a way that simulates realistic signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs), reverberation times, and spatial noise distributions. Here we propose a method that aims at combining the realism of in-situ recordings with the convenience and repeatability of synthetic corpora. A device-independent spatial recording containing noise and speech is combined with the measured directivity pattern of a DUT to generate a synthetic test corpus for evaluating the performance of an ASR system. This is achieved by a spherical harmonic decomposition of both the sound field and the DUT’s directivity patterns. Experimental results suggest that the proposed method can be a viable alternative to costly and cumbersome device-dependent measurements. The proposed simulation method predicted the SNR of the DUT response to within about 3 dB and the word error rate (WER) to within about 20%, across a range of test SNRs, target source directions, and noise types.
Intracranial delivery of proteins and peptides as a therapy for neurodegenerative diseases

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is characterized by a progressive degeneration of the substantia nigra pars compacta dopamine neurons that innervate the striatum [1]. The loss of striatal dopamine and the consequent dysfunction of the nigrostriatal pathway lead to the cardinal symptoms of PD: resting tremor, cogwheel rigidity, bradykinesia (or difficulty to initiate movement) and loss of postural reflex. Current pharmacological treatment strategies for PD aim at replacing striatal dopamine using the dopamine precursor levodopa or dopamine receptor agonists, or both. Such treatments provide symptomatic relief, but do not slow or halt continued degeneration of nigral dopaminergic neurons. Therefore, interventions that could potentially slow or reverse the progression of neuronal degeneration would benefit PD patients. One such approach involves trophic factor administration. Trophic factors are proteins with enormous therapeutic potential in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. However, delivery of these proteins to the brain remains a challenge. Theoretically, a variety of different routes of administration could be used to deliver neurotrophic factors to the diseased brain, including intracranial (e.g. intraparenchymal), intranasal, intrathecal and parenteral (e.g. intravenous, subcutaneous or intramuscular) administration. Parenteral administration requires the drug to enter the brain from the systemic circulation by crossing the blood-brain barrier.
Difference in the abundance of scale insect parasitoids among four cardinal directions

Summary We conducted a study to assess the potential differences in the abundances of hymenopteran parasitoids among cardinal directions. Experiments were conducted on scale insect-infested willow oak trees in the urban landscapes of South Carolina and Virginia. The parasitoids captured on yellow sticky cards deployed at the cardinal directions of the trees were identified and counted. We found that there were no significant differences in scale insect and parasitoid abundances among cardinal directions, and parasitoid abundances were weakly correlated with scale insect densities. The results suggest that 1 yellow sticky card could be deployed per tree, regardless of tree quadrant, to sufficiently sample for parasitoid abundance.
Oppositional Cultural Practice™ Theory: A Phenomenal Intentionality Pedagogy for Healing Jurisprudence

Oppositional Cultural Practice™ (OCP) theory sets out to explain how individuals come to a system of rules and principles for the guidance of human conduct which, independently of enacted law or of the systems peculiar to any one people, leads them to a knowing and understanding of reality that vivifies their actions to engage in life decently. The theory is also pedagogy. OCP theory posits that when these individuals take those rules and principles for the guidance of human conduct out into the world, the effects have transformative healing impacts on self and community. Throughout time, women and men have thrown off the shackles of oppression and lived, albeit for brief periods of history, with greater freedom and flourishing. Yet, the world is reminded time and again of the relentless push by a few to live in the Id: that which knows no judgments of value, no morality, alongside the death instincts, the task of which is to lead organic life back into the inanimate state. This paper is a call to all peoples of the planet (“the society of the people”) to once again throw off the illusions of helplessness and restore a balance in power such that decisions and actions are in align with that which produces the greatest advantage to the community: that which is the society of the planet. Oppositional Cultural Practice™ theory is interdisciplinary and seeks the contributions of those in the fields and domains of psychology, sociology, law, political philosophy, world religions, geology, and others who will add their voices to this work so that the society of the planet can find the courage and knowledge to overcome learned helplessness, apathy, anxiety, anomie, et cetera as they regain survivability on the planet. Climate scientists say that the window on the Holocene age (the “Goldie Locks” era) is closing, if not closed, and the Anthropocene epoch is here. If humans hope to reside more than just a few additional generations on Earth, then now is the time to rally the energy and focus to live. And, if it is too late for longevity, then at least humans ought to choose to spend their remaining years in peace, community and harmony as they enjoy the waning days of their existence on planet Earth.
Accelerated atherosclerosis development in C57Bl6 mice by overexpressing AAV-mediated PCSK9 and partial carotid ligation.

Studying the role of a particular gene in atherosclerosis typically requires a time-consuming and often difficult process of generating double knockouts or transgenics on ApoE−/− or LDL receptor (LDLR)−/− background. Recently, it was reported that adeno-associated-virus-8 (AAV8)-mediated overexpression of PCSK9 (AAV8-PCSK9) rapidly induced hyperlipidemia. However, using this method in C57BL6 wild-type (C57) mice, it took ~3 months to develop atherosclerosis. Our partial carotid ligation model is used to rapidly develop atherosclerosis by inducing disturbed flow in the left common carotid artery within 2 weeks in ApoE−/− or LDLR−/− mice. Here, we combined these two approaches to develop an accelerated model of atherosclerosis in C57 mice. C57 mice were injected with AAV9-PCSK9 or AAV9-luciferase (control) and high-fat diet was initiated. A week later, partial ligation was performed. Compared to the control, AAV-PCSK9 led to elevated serum PCSK9, hypercholesterolemia, and rapid atherosclerosis development within 3 weeks as determined by gross plaque imaging, and staining with Oil-Red-O, Movat’s pentachrome, and CD45 antibody. These plaque lesions were comparable to the atherosclerotic lesions that have been previously observed in ApoE−/− or LDLR−/− mice that were subjected to partial carotid ligation and high-fat diet. Next, we tested whether our method can be utilized to rapidly determine the role of a particular gene in atherosclerosis. Using eNOS−/− and NOX1−/y mice on C57 background, we found that the eNOS−/− mice developed more advanced lesions, while the NOX1−/y mice developed less atherosclerotic lesions as compared to the C57 controls. These results are consistent with the previous findings using double knockouts (eNOS−/−_ApoE−/− and NOX1−/y_ApoE−/−). AAV9-PCSK9 injection followed by partial carotid ligation is an effective and time-saving approach to rapidly induce atherosclerosis. This accelerated model is well-suited to quickly determine the role of gene(s) interest without generating double or triple knockouts.
Minimally intrusive torsional vibration sensing on rotating shafts

Time Interval Measurement System (TIMS) is a common torsional vibration sensing method used for rotating equipment. The technique uses high-speed counters to detect “zero crossings” in a carrier signal that is generated by a multiple pulse per revolution encoder on the shaft. The “zero crossings” are based on the passage timing of discrete intervals from an incremental geometric encoder (i.e., gear, optical encoder) on a rotating shaft. A variety of transducers have been used to sense the encoder interval passages, including Hall effect and reflective light intensity transducers. The encoder and sensor require physical attachment to the rotating shaft and surrounding hardware. Furthermore, the combinations must work in concert with each other. Usually the sensing transducer requires precise positioning with respect to the shaft encoder. The physical attachment and installation of the encoding and sensing devices can range from problematic to extremely difficult depending on the application. To make sensing of torsional vibration on a rotating shaft easier and minimally intrusive a combination of an adhesive backed “zebra” tape and a specially modified laser tachometer is used. The laser tachometer is considerably easier as permits a greater range of standoff, targeting and mounting options. Tests are performed a on mechanical diagnostics test bed with a 30 hp electrical drive connected to a 70 hp load motor by a shaft and couplers to demonstrate the issues. Torsional vibration measurements are acquired with the laser tachometer-“zebra” tape, Hall effect-gear and a precision optical encoder. Results are presented and discussed from the various torsional vibration sensing systems. The application illustrates the ease of set up for the laser tachometer-“zebra tape” combination and the high data quality that can be obtained.
Health Insurance Status and Clinical Cancer Screenings Among U.S. Adults.

Introduction Health insurance coverage is linked to clinical preventive service use. This study examined cancer screenings among U.S. adults by health insurance status. Methods The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System collected data on healthcare access and cancer screenings from 42 states and the District of Columbia in 2014. Data analyses were conducted in 2016. Participants’ health insurance status during the preceding 12 months was categorized as adequately insured, underinsured, or never insured. Primary type of insurance coverage was categorized as employer-based or Medicare (aged ≥65 years), self-purchased plan, Medicaid/Medicare (aged Results Compared with adequately insured adults, underinsured and never insured women were 6% (p Conclusions Disparities in cancer screenings by health insurance status and type of insurance exist among U.S. adults. Greater efforts to increase screening rates and to reduce disparities in cancer screenings are an important strategy to help improve overall population health.
Active Friending in Online Social Networks

We study the problem of active friending in online social networks. Given an initiator who want to friend a target person on a social network, we propose a strategy to support active friending through a series of recommendation lists. The lists serve as a step-to-step guidance for the initiator. We formulate an optimization problem, Constrained Active Friending CAF), for configuring the recommendation lists in the active friending process. Our goal is to maximize the acceptance probability of the invitation from the initiator to the friending target, by recommending selective intermediate friends to approach the target. We prove that CAF problem is NP-hard under the linear threshold model. We propose an algorithm based on discrete super-differentials that derives a guaranteed approximation for this problem. Extensive evaluation results on benchmark social network datasets validate the effectiveness and efficiency of our algorithms.
The influence of dispersion on journal impact measures

A family of measures of a journal’s impact is considered that takes account of the dispersion, as well as the mean, of the number of citations in a journal. These measures, called the Mean Dispersion Indices (MDI), generalize the stabilized-JIF recently introduced by Lando and Bertoli-Barsotti (J Informetr 11(3):689–703, 2017). The MDI use a geometric weighted average of the number of citations and the Gini coefficient to measure the dispersion of the number of citations. Journal rankings based on these measures are compared with those obtained from the Journal Impact Factor, the Scimago Journal Rank, the h-index measure, and the Eigenfactor rankings, four of the most well-known current impact measures. This comparison suggests that the different rankings may implicitly place different weights on dispersion and the average number of citations and some appear to show little correlation with dispersion.
Parachute Deaths in Southern Arizona

Introduction Parachuting is said to be a relatively safe activity. We sought to undertake a study to assess parachute-related deaths in our jurisdiction. Methods A retrospective study of parachute-related deaths in Southern Arizona was conducted by searching the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner database between 2001 and 2016. This search revealed 24 deaths. Results The decedents ranged from 19 to 61 years of age, with a median age of 36 years. Twenty-two of the decedents were male. The racial breakdown was 22 white, one Asian, and one not recorded. The manner of death in all cases was classified as an accident. All deaths were due to multiple blunt force injuries and only one case was found to have no injuries to the head or neck. The most common circumstances were failure of chute deployment (seven), mid-air collisions (three), and becoming entangled with other parachutists (three). Six deaths occurred during military training. Four of the nonmilitary decedents were described as "experienced" parachutists and one case involved a tandem jump team with a survivor. Natural disease was found in four cases with three having moderate coronary artery atherosclerosis. Toxicology was performed in 21 of the deaths with three positive for cannabinoids, one positive for 7-aminoclonazepam, and one positive for 3, 4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA). Discussion Parachuting is a relatively safe activity, with very few deaths. Investigation of these deaths should include a complete autopsy with toxicology as well as a thorough scene investigation and evaluation of the jumper's equipment.
How well does advertising work on restaurant performance? A dynamic and quadratic approach.

Abstract This study investigated the dynamic and quadratic relationships between advertising and restaurant performance. For this investigation, three stage least squares estimation was adopted to analyze the advertising effects of 137 U.S. public restaurant firms from 1991 to 2016. Stock value, sales, and profitability were used as measures of restaurant performance. The findings showed the quadratic effect of advertising spending on all three performance measures, indicating that advertising effects change according to the level of firms’ advertising spending. The effect of sales and profitability on advertising spending was also significant, which supports their dynamic relationships in the restaurant context. Restaurant managers are advised to plan their advertising budget by taking into account their different performance goals and changing advertising effectiveness.
Characterizing the Anthropocene. Ecological degradation in Italian twenty-first century literary writing

While I was pondering this book review, 13 U.S. federal agencies delivered the second volume of their Fourth National Climate Assessment to Congress and the President. Different from the first volu...
Strong Szegő Asymptotics and Zeros of the Zeta‐Function

Assuming the Riemann hypothesis, we prove the weak convergence of linear statistics of the zeros of the Riemann ζ-function to a Gaussian field, with covariance structure corresponding to the H1/2-norm of the test functions. For this purpose, we obtain an approximate form of the explicit formula, relying on Selberg's smoothed expression for ζ'/ζ and the Helffer-Sjostrand functional calculus. Our main result is an analogue of the strong Szegő theorem, known for Toeplitz operators and random matrix theory. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
GPipe: Efficient Training of Giant Neural Networks using Pipeline Parallelism

Scaling up deep neural network capacity has been known as an effective approach to improving model quality for several different machine learning tasks. In many cases, increasing model capacity beyond the memory limit of a single accelerator has required developing special algorithms or infrastructure. These solutions are often architecture-specific and do not transfer to other machine learning tasks. To address the need for efficient and task-independent model parallelism, we introduce TensorPipe, a pipeline parallelism library that allows scaling any network that can be expressed as a sequence of layers. By pipelining different sub-sequences of layers on separate accelerators, TensorPipe provides the flexibility of scaling a variety of different networks to gigantic sizes efficiently. Moreover, TensorPipe utilizes a novel batch-splitting pipelining algorithm, resulting in almost linear speedup when a model is partitioned across multiple accelerators. We demonstrate the advantages of TensorPipe by training large-scale neural networks on two different tasks with distinct network architectures: (i)Image Classification: We train a 557-million-parameter AmoebaNet model and attain a top-1 accuracy of 84.4% on ImageNet-2012, (ii)Multilingual Neural Machine Translation: We train a single 6-billion-parameter, 128-layer Transformer model on a corpus spanning over 100 languages and achieve better quality than all bilingual models.
The Design Process

Everything which has been designed has been subject to some design process. The simplest process involves several steps: defining a need or conceiving an idea for something useful; defining the design criteria, what exactly the design is intended to achieve; formulating possible solutions; testing those solutions; and then reaching a final design. This simple process can be made more realistic by accounting for the trial and error which is always involved, by the interactions between various specialists, and by the different time points when new ideas can emerge. This has been termed controlled convergence by Stuart Pugh Ph.D. Testing the ideas in a more in-depth way as the process proceeds is critical and is necessary for ensuring the safety and efficacy of the final design. The design processes of the early artificial knee designs of Gunston, Freeman and Swanson, Townley, and Kodama and Yamamoto were analyzed, to determine their effectiveness. From today, future advances can be achieved by setting more stringent and demanding design criteria to achieve yet greater reliability, functionality, and low cost.
Age of peak performance of elite men in middle- and long-distance running in the Czech Republic between 1945–2019

Background: A peak performance age depends on several variables. Objective: The aim of our study was to identify the peak performance age of athletes in the Czech Republic in terms of middle- and long-distance running and to find out whether it has changed over the years that is between 1945 and 2019. Methods: We determined the peak performance age of top fifty, twenty and five runners each year. 22,350 available performances were analysed. Sources of our data were the yearbooks of the Czech Athletic Federation. We have also analysed the differences in peak performance ages across individual disciplines. To determine the statistical significance of the age difference of runners competing on individual tracks, we used the t-test, and through Cohen's d we determined the practical significance of these differences. Results: The peak performance age is significantly higher ( p = .0015 and less) for longer tracks as each shorter track demonstrated lower peak performance age . The age of the best runners in Czech Republic: 800 m: 23.92±1.77 years, 1500 m: 24.97±1.65, 3000 m steeple: 26.07±2.26 years, 5000 m: 26.51±2.30 years, 10000 m: 27.91±4.03 years, marathon: 30.88±2.42 years. We have observed the lowest age of runners during the period starting in the late 1960s to the mid-1980s. Conclusions: The longer the track is, the higher the age of peak performance. This agrees with the physiological requirements of each disciplines, and it also corresponds with the maturity level of European athletes.
Workplace Bullying Laws in Australia and New Zealand

This chapter reviews the legal laws which directly or indirectly cover workplace bullying in the countries of Australia and New Zealand. Australia, despite lacking a comprehensive legal anti-bullying stature, protects employees from bullying and harassment under its varying labor laws. While New Zealand still needs to take adequate measures to safeguard the interests and rights of its employees while at work. Current legal laws only mention sexual harassment, employee safety, and health in the context of occupational hazards and harmful impacts of digital communications and social media.