cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A theory-based preventive intervention program for bereaved parents whose children have died in accidents

Conflicting theoretical propositions regarding what type of support is most effective at what time during bereavement guided the development and initial testing of a preventive intervention program for bereaved parents. Parents whose adolescent or young adult children died within 4 days following a vehicle-related accident were assigned to early (2–6 months postloss) or later (7–13 months postloss) transition groups in which they received a two-dimensional preventive intervention: informational support and emotional support. A comparison group received no intervention. Weekly and summative evaluations completed by bereaved parents and group leaders showed therapeutic benefits of the preventive intervention for both treated groups. However, the two groups responded differently to the interventions, suggesting that timing and type of support might both be important factors to consider.
Plasma Concentrations Following Application of Whole versus Cut Transdermal Clonidine Patches To Critically Ill Children.

Clonidine is used for hypertension and narcotic withdrawal prophylaxis in adults and children. This study described plasma absorption of clonidine from whole and cut transdermal clonidine patches. This was a retrospective descriptive study in an 18 bed multidisciplinary pediatric intensive care unit, evaluating 15 critically ill children with a median age of 1.1 years (range 0.3-11 years) treated with transdermal clonidine for narcotic withdrawal prophylaxis, and who had plasma clonidine concentrations measured. An assessment of the relationship between clonidine dose and patch integrity (whole vs. cut) with plasma concentrations was performed, with further analysis by Spearman Correlation Coefficient. Clonidine doses averaged 7.5±4.2 μg/kg/day (range 2.3-20 μg/kg/day) for 9.8±4.3 days (range 4-20 days). There were 9 cut patches and 6 whole patches. The average prescribed dose delivered by cut patches was 6.4±3 μg/kg/day, resulting in a mean plasma concentration of 1±1.1 ng/ mL (range 2 ng/mL. However, a plasma concentration >2 ng/mL was achieved with a dose of 8.8 μg/kg/day delivered by a cut patch. In addition, the 2 samples that resulted in undetectable concentrations were taken from patients who were treated with cut patches. The results from this pilot study suggest that critically ill children absorb clonidine from transdermal patches, but the rate and extent of absorption appears to be more predictable with the use of whole patches compared to patches that have been cut.
Exploring flux representations of complex kinetics networks

To extract meaningful information from complex kinetic models involving a large number of species and reactions, advanced computational techniques are required. In this work, new approaches have been proposed based on element flux calculations for systematic kinetic analysis of complex reaction models. These approaches quantify element transformation flux between species to determine a metric that accurately captures the production and consumption of species. Furthermore, a graph searching procedure is employed to retrieve all possible reaction pathways from the highly complex reaction networks. Element fluxes involved in these pathways provide an indicator to quantitatively evaluate pathway activities. Based on pathway activities, a novel approach is proposed to project the totality of the information contained in pathway weights onto a single scalar, reactivity status indicator, which enables a compact representation of local chemistry. The proposed approaches are illustrated with highly complex kinetic mechanisms describing oxidation of n-pentane, n-heptane, and a biodiesel surrogate methyl-butanoate. © 2011 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2012
Conjugates of glucosamine in cockroach cuticle

Abstract Partial acid hydrolysis of sclerotized cuticle afforded fragments of mucoprotein with glycosyl, N-acetylglucosaminyl, and peptidyl residues refractory to digestion by peptidases and glycosylases. These fractions included: (1) a mannosylated chitodextrin; (2) a ketose-rich chitodextrin with the ketose moiety reducible by borohydride; and (3) a seryl- and threonyl-glycopeptide resistant to β-elimination of the oligosaccharide portion. A bound polyphenol was also present in this preparation with spectral characters resembling 3-4-dihydroxybenzoic acid.
A kinetic model for analyzing partial oxidation reforming of heavy hydrocarbon over a novel self-sustained electrochemical promotion catalyst

Abstract A kinetic model for analyzing catalytic partial oxidation reforming (POXR) of n-pentadecane over a novel self-sustained electrochemical promotion (SSEP) catalyst which accelerated the reaction rate at relatively lower temperatures below 650 °C was proposed. The SSEP-POXR model consists of two parts: a conventional Langmuir–Hinshelwood (L–H) model, describing normal partial oxidation reforming and a new model describing the SSEP mechanism. The kinetic parameters of L–H model were estimated by curve-fitting experimental results of POXR of n-pentadecane on a conventional Ni/NiO/Cu/CeO2 catalyst whereas those for the SSEP process were evaluated using typical geometric configurations of components of the SSEP catalyst and their electrochemical properties. The SSEP-POXR model was used to establish a relationship between input and output parameters and explain the trend of the experimental results in terms of the impact of temperature on the fuel conversion. The computational results agreed well with experimental results of the POXR of n-pentadecane on the SSEP catalyst in a temperature range of 450–650 °C. The maximum error of computational results of fuel conversion was 3.1% in the reaction temperature range. The SSEP-POXR model is capable of quantifying the enhancement of the fuel conversion attributed to the SSEP process.
Permanency of response to selection for quantitative characters in finite populations

Abstract To study the permanency of response to selection for a quantitative character in finite populations and the nature of the genetic effects that contribute to this response, we have used the covariance between ancestors and descendents within populations. Effects and variances are defined for an initial equilibrium random mating monoecious population that gives rise to replicate finite populations. After a prescribed history of restricted population size, the replicate populations are expanded, and the covariance between ancestors and descendents is quantified in terms of descent measures and genetic components in the initial population as a means of determining the additive variance within populations. Several dominance components including joint dominance effects of loci contribute to the additive variance, some of which can be negative. There is always a positive contribution of additive by additive variance to the additive variance within populations, which can be large. With the new definitions of components of genetic variance within populations, selection response is formulated in the same manner as for the initial random mating population, but the components have been modified considerably by the restricted population size.
UNTHINKING RACIAL REALISM: A FUTURE FOR REPARATIONS? 1

Considered costly, divisive, and backward-looking, reparations for slavery and Jim Crow appear to have no place in the politics of the “postracial epoch.” This essay proposes that the dismissal of reparations concedes too much. First, I contend that the conjunction of postracial discourse, on the one hand, and deepening racial inequalities, on the other, demands a counter-language, one that ties the analysis of the present to the historical conditions out of which it was produced. I explore reparations as a political language that (1) situates political claims within the historical framework of slavery, reconstruction, and segregation; (2) links past to present to future in its demand for concrete forms of redress; and (3) has played an important role in African American political life and in contemporary democracies in transition. Second, in contrast to much of the reparations scholarship, I focus on the demands of democracy rather than justice. Doing so both helps to evade some of the technical questions that have prevented full consideration of the political work of reparations and provides a vehicle for redefining both governmental and civic responsibility in the shadow of slavery and Jim Crow.
Self-guided multimedia stress management and resilience training

Behavioral health intervention technology programs (e.g. computer, internet, or tablet) with a positive psychology focus (i.e. resilience training) can have a profound impact on behavioral and physical health. Such programs can increase access to evidence-based behavioral health training (e.g. stress management training) without the need to train clinicians in such approaches and can be confidentially used at a place and time of an individual’s choosing without a need to go to a clinician’s office, thus improving access to care of those who live remotely, are too busy, or may not want to seek care due to stigma. This paper describes the design considerations, features, and user-experience of a self-guided, computer-based multimedia stress management and resilience training program developed with support from NASA. Such a program may have significant relevance and implications for the broader population and the area of positive psychology.
A joint detection-decoding receiver with reduced complexity

A joint detection-decoding (JDD) receiver performs multiuser detection and channel decoding jointly, where information about channel codes is utilized for multiuser detection. The performance of such a receiver is improved, but its complexity is also increased. In this paper, we propose a JDD receiver with reduced complexity, where parallel interference cancellation and convolutional codes are employed. We show its excellent performance via simulation.
A systematic study of molecular vibrational anharmonicity and vibration-rotation interaction by self-consistent-field higher-derivative methods. Linear polyatomic molecules

The inclusion of the anharmonicity of molecular vibrations is an important aspect of the goal of making highly accurate theoreticalpredictions of the spectroscopic properties of molecules. Recently developed analytic third derivative methods for selfconsistent-field(SCF) wavefunctions have made it possible to determine the complete cubic and quartic force fields of polyatomic molecules, thus allowing the treatment of anharmonic effects. Here we continue our systematic evaluation of the performance of such theoretical methods by studying several linear molecules which are well characterized experimentally, viz., HCN, DCN, CO2, N2O, OCS, C2H2, and C2D2. A number of anharmonic molecular properties have been determined, including vibration-rotation interaction constants, vibrational anharmonic constants, fundamental vibrational frequencies, sextic centrifugal distortion constants, rotational constants which include zero-point vibrational corrections, and vibrational and rotational l-type doubling constants. These anharmonic molecular constants are not as well converged with respect to basis set enlargement as those which were previously determined for asymmetric top molecules, apparently because all the molecules considered here contain multiple bonds. However, the reported anharmonic constants at the SCF level of theory are still in reasonably good agreement with the corresponding experimental constants. Significant improvements in accuracy are achieved by incorporating electron correlation at the configuration interaction singles and doubles (CISD) level of theory. Standard spectroscopic perturbationtheory methods are used in this study, which are directly and immediately applicable to larger molecular systems than those studied here.
Statistical cue integration in DAG deformable models

Deformable models are a useful modeling paradigm in computer vision. A deformable model is a curve, a surface, or a volume, whose shape, position, and orientation are controlled through a set of parameters. They can represent manufactured objects, human faces and skeletons, and even bodies of fluid. With low-level computer vision and image processing techniques, such as optical flow, we extract relevant information from images. Then, we use this information to change the parameters of the model iteratively until we find a good approximation of the object in the images. When we have multiple computer vision algorithms providing distinct sources of information (cues), we have to deal with the difficult problem of combining these, sometimes conflicting contributions in a sensible way. In this paper, we introduce the use of a directed acyclic graph (DAG) to describe the position and Jacobian of each point of deformable models. This representation is dynamic, flexible, and allows computational optimizations that would be difficult to do otherwise. We then describe a new method for statistical cue integration method for tracking deformable models that scales well with the dimension of the parameter space. We use affine forms and affine arithmetic to represent and propagate the cues and their regions of confidence. We show that we can apply the Lindeberg theorem to approximate each cue with a Gaussian distribution, and can use a maximum-likelihood estimator to integrate them. Finally, we demonstrate the technique at work in a 3D deformable face tracking system on monocular image sequences with thousands of frames.
Preventing false trips of zone 3 protection relays in Smart Grid

While remote zone 3 protection relays are essential to power systems, their false trips are also one of main causes related to cascading blackouts. Although many methods have been developed on traditional power systems to address this issue, the past cascading failure events showed the ineffectiveness of these methods. With the development of Smart Grid (SG), new agent-based methods have been proposed to address this issue by utilizing SG real-time communications. We found that these solutions simply assume ideal communication networks and do not consider the effect of practical network constraints and resource management. In this paper, we propose several solutions to address practical network resource management and constraints, and further improve the agent-based solutions in order to prevent the false tripping of zone 3 relays in various conditions. We also analyze the potential issues of these solutions, and point out the future investigation in this direction.
802.11g packet-loss behavior at high sustained bit rates in the home

802.11g is a popular way to transmit data throughout homes wirelessly. However, common broadcast-quality video bitrates, up to 20 Megabits per second, represent difficult challenges for wireless networks in terms of latency, packet loss, and packet jitter. An in-home network was sampled between 0.5 and 2 Megabits per second (Mbps) and analyzed with respect to packet loss. Our experimental results indicate that the distribution of the number of consecutive error bursts is a combination of the classical Gilbert-Elliot model and a long-tail model.
Dynamic Response of Micro-Electronic Structures to Shocks and Vibrations: Review and Extension

This paper contains a brief review of the literature on the dynamic response of micro-electronic systems to shocks and vibrations, as well as an extension, in which a criterion of a quality of a shock protection system is suggested. The concept is illustrated using an example of a nanowire "brush" as a possible means for shock protection of a portable device.
A facile means for the identification of indolic compounds from plant tissues.

Summary The bulk of indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) in plants is found in the form of conjugated molecules, yet past research on identifying these compounds has largely relied on methods that were both laborious and inefficient. Using recent advances in analytical instrumentation, we have developed a simple yet powerful liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS)-based method for the facile characterization of the small IAA conjugate profile of plants. The method uses the well-known quinolinium ion (m/z 130.0651) generated in MS processes as a signature with high mass accuracy that can be used to screen plant extracts for indolic compounds, including IAA conjugates. We reinvestigated Glycine max (soybean) for its indoles and found indole-3-acetyl-trytophan (IA-Trp) in addition to the already known indole-3-acetyl-aspartic acid (IA-Asp) and indole-3-acetyl-glutamic acid (IA-Glu) conjugates. Surprisingly, several organic acid conjugates of tryptophan were also discovered, many of which have not been reported in planta before. These compounds may have important physiological roles in tryptophan metabolism, which in turn can affect human nutrition. We also demonstrated the general applicability of this method by identifying indolic compounds in different plant tissues of diverse phylogenetic origins. It involves minimal sample preparation but can work in conjunction with sample enrichment techniques. This method enables quick screening of IAA conjugates in both previously characterized as well as uncharacterized species, and facilitates the identification of indolic compounds in general.
Building a Political Constituency for Urban School Reform

In this article, the author argues that urban school reform falters, in part, because of the lack of an organized political constituency among the stakeholders with the most direct interest in scho...
ABCDE in Clinical Encounters: Presentations of Self in Doctor-Patient Communication

Professional discussions about communication in medical settings often ignore the various personal identities that doctors and patients bring to their clinical encounters. From my 26 years as a family physician, and informed by literature from other professional disciplines, I propose an alternate understanding: to think of doctors and patients as a collection of individual identities, each formed by a discrete presentation of self. I describe how at least 5 important presentations of self arise in clinical encounters, including those relating to meaning, community, agency, anxiety, and organism. I frame these presentations of self with the mnemonic ABCDE, briefly review key dimensions of each, and suggest how physicians can reflect on these dimensions in order to find equilibrium in their interactions with patients. Lastly, I submit that finding this balance can reduce relational challenges with patients and enhance the therapeutic effectiveness of doctor-patient communication.
The texture of our business

A key theme in mobile communications research is the idea that people are suffering from communications overload. This essay remarks on what that term might mean and how it ought to be addressed when viewed from the perspective of mobile phone research. It will argue that its use in everyday life is rich and complex, and that this use ought to be a research topic in its own right. Some of the difficulties that will need to be addressed when this occurs are noted.
High Calorie Intake Is Associated With Worsening Insulin Resistance and β-Cell Function in Hispanic Women After Gestational Diabetes Mellitus

OBJECTIVE To assess associations between dietary intake and rates of change in insulin resistance and β-cell function in Hispanic women with prior gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Sixty-two nondiabetic Hispanic women with pregnancies complicated by GDM completed oral and intravenous glucose tolerance tests and bioelectrical impedance measurements of body fat every 12–15 months postpartum for up to 12 years. Self-reported dietary intake was collected at all visits by structured food frequency questionnaires developed for Hispanics. Mixed-effects models were used to assess the relationship between dietary intake and rates of change in metabolic outcomes during follow-up. RESULTS The median length of follow-up from the first postpartum evaluation was 8.0 years (interquartile range 4.5–10.8 years). At baseline, women were 32 ± 5.7 years old and had a median calorie intake of 2,091 kcal/day. Over the course of follow-up, dietary intake did not change significantly. Higher baseline calorie intake was associated with a faster decline in insulin sensitivity, measured by the insulin sensitivity index (SI) ( P = 0.029), and β-cell compensation, measured by the disposition index (DI) ( P = 0.027), over time. These associations remained after adjustment for baseline characteristics; changes in BMI, calorie intake, levels of physical activity; and additional pregnancies during the follow-up period. The median rates were −0.06 vs. −0.02 units/year for SI and −810 vs. −692 units/year for DI for women with baseline calorie intake above versus below the cohort median. CONCLUSIONS High calorie intake is associated with a faster decline in insulin sensitivity and β-cell compensation in Hispanic women who are at high risk for type 2 diabetes, independent of adiposity.
The Hybrid Permit Cum Price Ceiling Policy Proposal: Intuition From The Prices Versus Quantities Literature

The social value of choosing a marketable permit cum price ceiling mechanism over an unencumbered marketable permit scheme to limit the emission of greenhouse gases is explored. Insight from the prices versus quantities literature instructs that this relative valuation weighs the benefit of increased variability in emissions as economic conditions warrant against an increase in the expected cost of climate change. The value of the hybrid scheme is high and carries a low price ceiling when, ceteris paribus, the marginal benefit of emissions reduction is not very sensitive to changes in the regulatory environment, when the marginal cost of reducing emissions is sensitive to that environment, when the variance in marginal cost is high and/or when the distortion created by the initial allocation of permits is large. The value is correspondingly low and the ceiling high when the opposite conditions hold.
Intensive insulin therapy for patients in paediatric intensive care: a prospective, randomised controlled study

Summary Background Critically ill infants and children often develop hyperglycaemia, which is associated with adverse outcome; however, whether lowering blood glucose concentrations to age-adjusted normal fasting values improves outcome is unknown. We investigated the effect of targeting age-adjusted normoglycaemia with insulin infusion in critically ill infants and children on outcome. Methods In a prospective, randomised controlled study, we enrolled 700 critically ill patients, 317 infants (aged Findings Mean blood glucose concentrations were lower in the intensive group than in the conventional group (infants: 4·8 [SD 1·2] mmol/L vs 6·4 [1·2] mmol/L, p vs 8·2 [3·3] mmol/L, p vs 6·15 days [5·25–7·05], p=0·017). The inflammatory response was attenuated at day 5, as indicated by lower C-reactive protein in the intensive group compared with baseline (−9·75 mg/L [95% CI −19·93 to 0·43] vs 8·97 mg/L [−0·9 to 18·84], p=0·007). The number of patients with extended (>median) stay in PICU was 132 (38%) in the intensive group versus 165 (47%) in the conventional group (p=0·013). Nine (3%) patients died in the intensively treated group versus 20 (6%) in the conventional group (p=0·038). Interpretation Targeting of blood glucose concentrations to age-adjusted normal fasting concentrations improved short-term outcome of patients in PICU. The effect on long-term survival, morbidity, and neurocognitive development needs to be investigated. Funding Research Foundation (Belgium); Research Fund of the University of Leuven (Belgium) and the EU Information Society Technologies Integrated project "CLINICIP"; and Institute for Science and Technology (Belgium).
Interactive visual summarization of multidimensional data

Visualization has become integral to the knowledge discovery process across various domains. However, challenges remain in the effective use of visualization techniques, especially when displaying, exploring and analyzing large, multidimensional datasets, such as weather and meteorological data. Direct visualizations of such datasets tend to produce images that are cluttered with excess detail and are ineffective at communicating information at higher levels of abstraction. To address this problem we provide a visual summarization framework to intuitively reduce the data to its important and relevant characteristics. Summarization is performed in three broad steps. First, high-relevance data elements and clusters of similar data attributes are identified to reduce a dataset's size and dimensionality. Next, patterns, relationships and outliers are extracted from the reduced data. Finally, the extracted summary characteristics are visualized to the user. Such visualizations reduce excess visual detail and are more suited to the rapid comprehension of complex data. Users can interactively guide the summarization process gaining insight into both how and why the summary results are produced. Our framework improves the benefits of mathematical analysis and interactive visualization by combining the strengths of the computer and the user to generate high-quality summaries. Initial results from applying our framework to large weather datasets have been positive, suggesting that our approach could be beneficial for a wide range of domains and applications.
Root and mycorrhizal endophyte development in a chronosequence of restored tallgrass prairie

SUMMARY The relationships between root and mycorrhizal development were investigated at the community level for a chronosequence consisting of restored tallgrass prairie (including plots in the second, fifth, eighth and eleventh growing season) and a virgin prairie remnant. Fibrous ( 1 mm diameter) root length increased across the chronosequence, with the greatest length occurring in the prairie remnant. After an initial increase between the second and fifth growing seasons, the percentage of fibrous roots colonized by vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi declined. However, this decline did not truly reflect the mycorrhizal association in this system because the length of fibrous roots colonized by mycorrhizal fungi did not decrease after the fifth growing season but instead remained essentially constant throughout the remainder of the chronosequence. Evaluation of the data by fibrous root size classes indicated that increases in root length and colonized root length occurred largely in the smaller size class (< 0.2mm diameter); in contrast, percentage colonization and the density of intraradical fungal structures was greater in the larger size class (0.2–1 mm diameter). The importance of thoroughly evaluating responses of mycorrhizal fungi relative to host responses was demonstrated in a field situation.
Lattice QCD: Commercial vs. Home-Grown Parallel Computers

Numerical simulations of Lattice QCD have been performed on practically every computer, since its inception almost twenty years ago. Lattice QCD is an ideal problem for parallel machines as it can be easily domain decomposed. In fact, the urge to simulate QCD has led to the development of several home-grown parallel “QCD machines” , in particular the Caltech Cosmic Cube, the Columbia Machine, IBM’s GF11, APE in Rome and the Fermilab Machine. These machines were built because, at the time, there were no commercial parallel computers fast enough. Today however the situation has changed with the advent of computers like the Connection Machine 2 and the Ncube 2. Herein, I shall explain why Lattice QCD is such a parallel problem and compare two large-scale simulations of it - one on the commercial Connection Machine and the other on the latest Caltech/JPL hypercube.
Regulatory T Cells Modulate Th17 Responses in Patients with Positive Tuberculin Skin Test Results

Although Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infects ∼ 2 billion people worldwide, 90% of Mtb-infected individuals can resist overt disease (active tuberculosis [TB]) development and manifest only latent infection [1,2,3]. Latent TB is defined as persistent presence of live Mtb within an infected host without causing disease. It is characterized by a delayed-type hypersensitivity response to purified protein derivative (PPD) mediated by mycobacteria-specific T cells [4] although, in areas of low Mtb transmission, quantiferon assay positivity has been suggested to be a better predictor of latency [5]. In South India, however, the tuberculin skin test (TST) has been conclusively shown to be an accurate diagnostic tool for latent TB [6]. Latent TB can be maintained for the lifetime of the individual unless the immunologic balance between host and pathogen is perturbed, resulting in reactivation of Mtb and active disease [7]. The host and environmental factors involved in compromising the ability to contain latent infection are human immunodeficiency virus coinfection, malnutrition, aging, stress, Type 2 diabetes, use of immunosuppressive agents, and other genetic factors [7]. On the pathogen side, latency is thought to reflect a transition from replicating to nonreplicating dormant bacilli, with this transition being influenced by a variety of factors including oxygen deprivation and nitric oxide [7,8]. In vitro and in vivo models of latency combined with genome-wide transcriptome profiling have led to identification of Mtb genes highly expressed during latency called dosR or devR (dormancy) genes [7,8]; however, each of the host- and pathogen-related factors controlling resistance and/or susceptibility to TB awaits complete elucidation. Based on murine models, immunity to Mtb requires Th1 responses and (to a lesser extent) Th17 responses. Thus, IL-12, IFN-γ, and TNF-α (and IL-17 and IL-23) all play important roles in induction and maintenance of protective immune responses against tuberculous disease [7,9,10,11]. Recently, a number of regulatory factors, including regulatory T cells (Treg), IL-10, TGFβ, CTLA-4, and PD-1, have been implicated in establishment of chronic viral, bacterial, and parasitic infections [12,13,14]. To study the roles of the major T cell subsets and potential regulatory factors, we examined Mtb antigen-specific induction of Th1, Th2, Th17, and Treg responses as well as expression of IL-10, TGFβ, CTLA-4, and PD-1 in TST positive or TST negative individuals. We observed that TST positivity is characterized by increased expression of Treg markers and coincident downregulation of Th17 cells, thus providing a novel mechanism by which Th17 responses are negatively regulated in human infection.
Large wireless systems with unknown fading

This paper presents results on the capacity of large wireless systems with unknown fading. The system model consists of many independent transmitters who have to communicate with a large number of receivers via wireless links. The receivers in the system are connected to a wired backbone. The paper presents an upper bound on the per user capacity of the large network which allows for full cooperation among the receivers. The paper also presents constructive lower bounds on per user capacity which meet the upper bounds. Sometimes, the lower bounds require no receiver cooperation and sometimes they require medium distance receiver cooperation. The results of this paper are fundamental and result from the randomness of the fading present in the network rather than any peculiarities in the system model.
Kinetics of aqueous lubrication in the hydrophilic hydrogel Gemini interface

The exquisite sliding interfaces in the human body share the common feature of hydrated dilute polymer mesh networks. These networks, especially when they constitute a sliding interface such as the pre-corneal tear film on the ocular interface, are described by the molecular weight of the polymer chains and a characteristic size of a minimum structural unit, the mesh size, ξ. In a Gemini interface where hydrophilic hydrogels are slid against each other, the aqueous lubrication behavior has been shown to be a function of sliding velocity, introducing a sliding timescale competing against the time scales of polymer fluctuation and relaxation at the surface. In this work, we examine two recent studies and postulate that when the Gemini interface slips faster than the single-chain relaxation time, chains must relax, suppressing the amplitude of the polymer chain thermal fluctuations.
A PROPOSED RAPID METHOD FOR MEASURING AREA METHANE EMISSIONS: AN EXPLORATORY APPLICATION IN MANHATTAN, NEW YORK, USA

Methane is an important greenhouse gas, but methane emissions are poorly understood, in large part due to limited atmospheric methane data on local scales. Local and regional scale methane emissions data are urgently needed to improve modeling of future climate change, and support energy plans and policies to minimize future climate impacts of socio-economically needed energy utilization. There have been numerous recent reports on local ground-level ambient air methane surveys that have provided more thorough data on methane sources in some urban areas. Such surveys generate substantial amounts of high quality ground-level methane concentration data, usually with reliable time and geo-referenced location data. We examined the potential usefulness of such data sets for generation of estimates of methane emissions for surveyed areas. Our efforts focused on development of a generally applicable, relatively simple mass-balance approach to estimate area methane emissions from mobile, ground level ambient air methane concentration and local weather data. The data examined were collected in Manhattan, New York, USA over 5 days in late 2012. Using the ratio of methane emissions (μg m-2s-1) to natural gas usage (μg m-2s-1), the resulting methane emissions estimates for Manhattan were compared to 5 other cities (emissions reported by other investigators using other methods). The emissions estimates for Manhattan derived from ground-level mobile methane surveys were within the range of the estimates for the other cities. In addition, the emissions rates reported for the cities indicate natural gas should not be considered more climate-beneficial than other fossil fuels.
Urogenital Structure and Integration

In most vertebrates, the urinary1 and genital2 systems are very closely linked in terms of their structure and function, primarily because these two systems arose from adjacent mesodermal elements that became functionally integrated during evolution. Their historical association is reflected in their developmental interdependence and makes it difficult to describe the functional anatomy and evolution of one system without referring to the other. This is why vertebrate urinary and genital systems are commonly treated as a single and integrated urogenital system that is specialized for the production, transport, storage, and release of such fundamentally different things as excretory products and gametes. In addition to these functions, the female urogenital system may also serve as a site of fertilization and subsequent development of retained embryos.
BRISTLE BLAST SURFACE TREATMENT OF WELDED JOINTS FABRICATED FROM COMMERCIAL SHIP CONSTRUCTION STEEL

The fabrication, repair and maintenance of steel structures are ongoing concerns that must be regularly addressed in order to sustain a world-wide infrastructure that relies on marine vessels for both commercial transportation and national security needs. To this end, great care is exercised in producing and protecting welded joints because the integrity of these seams provides a cornerstone for ensuring their structural longevity. At the same time, maintenance engineers in the ship building industry are faced with the continual need for deploying new methods for surface preparation that will not compromise the surface cleanliness and anchor profile requirements that are necessary for proper adhesion of paints and coatings. In this paper, the recently developed bristle blasting process is used for cleaning and preparing welded joints fabricated from both ABS-A and AH-36 steel, which are commonly used in the commercial ship building industry. Overall principles of the process are briefly reviewed and details concerning the mechanical function of the tool are examined. Performance of the bristle blasting process is examined within the context of both cleaning and simultaneously generating a receptive anchor profile along the seam of welded joints. The aggressiveness/material removal capacity of the tool is measured and reported using standard tool operating conditions, and the texture and surface morphology generated by the bristle blasting process is examined along the crown and toe of the weld. Finally, the overall cleanliness of surfaces generated by bristle blasting is assessed by a direct comparison with visual standards that are commonly used for training and certification purposes in the surface preparation community.
Direct interactions between pre-mRNA and six U2 small nuclear ribonucleoproteins during spliceosome assembly.

Abstract Highly purified mammalian spliceosomal complex B contains more than 30 specific protein components. We have carried out UV cross-linking studies to determine which of these components directly contacts pre-mRNA in purified prespliceosomal and spliceosomal complexes. We show that heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoproteins cross-link in the nonspecific complex H but not in the B complex. U2AF65, which binds to the 3' splice site, is the only splicing factor that cross-links in purified prespliceosomal complex E. U2AF65 and the U1 small nuclear ribonucleoprotein particle (snRNP) are subsequently destabilized, and a set of six spliceosome-associated proteins (SAPs) cross-links to the pre-mRNA in the prespliceosomal complex A. These proteins require the 3' splice site for binding and cross-link to an RNA containing only the branch site and 3' splice site. Significantly, all six of these SAPs are specifically associated with U2 snRNP. These proteins and a U5 snRNP component cross-link in the fully assembled B complex. Previous work detected an ATP-dependent, U2 snRNP-associated factor that protects a 30- to 40-nucleotide region surrounding the branchpoint sequence from RNase digestion. Our data indicate that the six U2 snRNP-associated SAPs correspond to this branchpoint protection factor. Four of the snRNP proteins that are in intimate contact with the pre-mRNA are conserved between Saccharomyces cerevisiae and humans, consistent with the possibility that these factors play key roles in mediating snRNA-pre-mRNA interactions during the splicing reaction.
Immunologic Autograft Engineering and Survival in Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma

Abstract Retrospective studies have reported that the collected and infused autograft absolute lymphocyte count (A-ALC) affects clinical outcomes after autologous peripheral hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (APHSCT). We hypothesized that manipulation of the apheresis machine to target a higher A-ALC dose would translate into prolonged progression-free survival (PFS) in patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) undergoing APHSCT. Between December 2007 and October 2010, we performed a double-blind, phase III, randomized study randomly assigning 122 patients with NHL to undergo collection with the Fenwal Amicus Apheresis system with our standard settings (mononuclear cells offset of 1.5 and RBC offset of 5.0) or at modified settings (mononuclear cells offset of 1.5 and RBC of 6.0). The primary endpoint was PFS. Neither PFS (hazard ratio [HR] of modified to standard, 1.13; 95% confidence interval [CI], .62 to 2.08; P = .70) nor overall survival (OS) (HR modified to standard, .85; 95% CI, .39 to 1.86; P = .68) were found to differ by collection method. Collection of A-ALC between both methods was similar. Both PFS (P = .0025; HR, 2.77; 95% CI, 1.39 to 5.52) and OS (P = .004; HR, 3.38; 95% CI, 1.27 to 9.01) were inferior in patients infused with an A-ALC
Fragility-Confinement Effects: Apparent Universality as a Function of Scaled Thickness in Films of Freely Deposited, Linear Polymer and Its Absence in Densely Grafted Brushes

Ellipsometry measurements as a function of cooling rate are used to study nanoscale confinement effects on dynamic fragility (kinetic fragility), m, in supported films of freely deposited, linear polymer. Polymers include neat polystyrene (PS), neat polycarbonate (PC), and PS + 2 wt % 1,10-bis(1-pyrene)decane (BPD) as small-molecule diluent; in each case, the substrate/polymer interface lacks significant attractive interactions. In terms of both the length scale at which confinement effects become evident and the percentage reduction in m from its bulk value, the magnitude of the m-confinement effect increases with increasing bulk polymer system m. Additionally, for films of linear polymer lacking significant attractive interactions with the substrate surface, m-confinement effects are evident at larger onset thicknesses than those commonly reported in the literature for the glass transition temperature (Tg)-confinement effect. Evans et al. [Macromolecules 2013, 46, 6091] found that the Tg-confinement eff...
A New Species of Harmandia (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) Damaging Leaves of Allegheny Chinkapin in Eastern United States and a Redescription of the Genus

A new species of gall midge, Harmandia amisae (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae), is described and illustrated. It infests leaves of Allegheny chinkapin, Castanea pumila (L.) Mill. (Fagaceae), in eastern Nor...
Site-Specific Integrated Pest Management for High-Value Crops: Impact on Potato Pest Management

Site-specific agriculture optimizes agricultural inputs by varying application rates to match within-field requirements. Two years of trials were conducted in rotated commercial potato fields to compare traditional whole-field integrated pest management with site-specific management for Colorado potato beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say), green peach aphid, Myzus persicae (Sulzer), and potato leafllopper, Empoasca fabae (Harris). Additionally, the spatial dynamics of Colorado potato beetle populations subjected to whole-field integrated pest management were studied. Colorado potato beetle infestations mostly remained near field edges throughout the season. Highest densities for each life stage remained near the locations of the initial colonizing adults. Even if management thresholds were as low as the 3rd density decile, between 60 and 95% of the field area could be left untreated when the mean density exceeded the threshold. Site-specific management reduced insecticide inputs for the green peach aphid but not for potato leafhopper. Initial Colorado potato beetle colonization pressure, measured as egg mass density ≈7 d after crop emergence, was a significant covariable in determining season-long insecticide requirements. Analysis of covariance demonstrated that after accounting for this variable, site-specific management significantly reduced insecticide inputs compared with whole-field integrated pest management. Cumulative season-long Colorado potato beetle insecticide savings of 30-40% across a broad range of colonization pressures were observed.
Preschool language interventions for latino dual language learners with language disorders: what, in what language, and how.

About a quarter of young children in the United States are dual language learners. The large majority are Latino children who are exposed to Spanish in their homes. The language needs of Latino dual language preschoolers are different from the needs of monolingual English-speaking children. As a group, they are likely to live in environments that put them at risk of delays in language development. This situation is direr for dual language preschoolers with language impairment. Recent findings from studies on interventions for Spanish–English preschoolers with language impairment suggest that a bilingual approach does not delay English vocabulary and oral language learning and promotes Spanish maintenance. Targets and strategies for different language domains are described. The effects of pullout versus push-in interventions for this population are preliminarily explored.
The nonlinear effect of lattice mismatch parameter on morphological and compositional instabilities of epitaxial layers

The misfit deformation in a film-substrate system is mostly concentrated in the film when the stiffness of the system is dominated by that of the substrate. Such is generally the case in microelectronics applications. For many semiconductor materials with electronic properties suitable for device applications, the associated mismatch parameter routinely falls in the range, say, from −5% to +5%. Elastic strains of such magnitude provide a source of free energy for configurational modifications. To examine the configurational stability of such a uniformly strained film, the elastic deformation associated with a perturbation in configuration is first obtained. This elastic deformation and the misfit deformation are then used to calculate the film elastic energy. For a strictly linear analysis, the resulting stability condition is either a function of the mismatch strain energy density, for the case of a morphological perturbation, or completely unrelated to the underlying mismatch, for the case of a compositional perturbation. In either situation, the sign of the mismatch is totally immaterial. In this paer, the elastic deformation brought about by a perturbation in the configuration is taken as a small deformation superimposed on the large mismatch deformation in a nonlinear setting. The role of the mismatch is thus more fully explored and uncovered.
The wearables revolution and Big Data: the textile lineage

John Kay’s invention of the flying shuttle in 1733 sparked off the first Industrial Revolution, which led to the transformation of industry and subsequently of civilization itself. While Basile Bouchon’s work led to the concept of a stored program, it was Joseph-Marie Jacquard’s automated punched card system that made it a viable industrial reality. The Jacquard loom proved to be the inspiration for Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine and then Hollerith’s punched card. Thus, an invention in the textile industry was instrumental in bringing about one of the most profound technological advancements known to humans, viz., the second Industrial Revolution also known as the Information Processing Revolution or the Computer Revolution. In the late 1990s, the successful development of the wearable motherboard gave birth to the new paradigm of an interactive fabric-based wearable information infrastructure, which has played a key role in today’s emerging wearables revolution, further illustrating the textile line...
Vasectomy: benefits versus risks.

Vasectomy has developed in the U.S. as a highly effective permanent simple procedure requiring a 1-time motivation. The benefits of vasectomy as a method of birth control are listed. New techniques for improving the process are mentioned. There is a discussion of precautions and contraindications. The main contraindications would be local infection and systemic blood maladies. Skin discoloration pain and swelling occurs in 50% of all vasectomies but is not long-lasting. Other complications which are discussed are: 1) hematoma; 2) infection; and 3) sperm granuloma. Counseling should prevent most psychological sequelae. As practitioners gain skill and experience and as vasectomy techniques are revised procedure failure should occur less and less often.