cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Oedipal Logic of Ecological Awareness

The Anthropocene is the radical intersection of human history and geological time. Humans have belatedly realised that they have become a geophysical force on a planetary scale. This creeping realisation has an Oedipal logic, that is to say, it is a strange loop in which one level of activity—industrial agriculture and the swiftly ensuing industrial revolution—crosses into an entirely new level of planetary force and, following from that, an uncanny recognition of this force. This essay argues that the Oedipal logic is embedded in the technical, logistical and philosophical framework of agriculture as such. Indeed, the Theban plays (of which Oedipus Tyrannus is one) dwell on the fact of agricultural society as a form of uncanny existence. This essay argues that the principal reason for the uncanniness is the reduction of being to non-contradiction. Exit strategies from this logic (and its concomitant logistics) cannot cleave to a view of beings that is reductionist in any sense. Thus the potential for using Deleuze and Guattari to exit modernity is limited. What is required is a deconstruction of existing (agri)cultures and logics, rather than an attempt to push past them or avoid them, since as in the story of Oedipus, the attempt to push past and avoid is precisely what brings about the cataclysm. In the later eighteenth century, humans began to deposit a thin layer of carbon in Earth's crust. This thin layer can now be detected deep in Arctic ice and at the bottoms of large lakes. These deposits marked the beginning of what atmospheric chemist Paul Crutzen calls the Anthropocene, a term that is now widely accepted. 1 By 1945, humans had begun to deposit a second layer, this time of radioactive materials, in Earth's crust. This moment, inaugurated by the Gadget exploded in the Trinity Test, then by Little Boy and Fat Man, marked the start of the Great Acceleration, a moment in the Anthropocene during which its basic forces were exponentially sped up. What is the Anthropocene? Quite simply, this is the period in which human history intersects decisively with geological time. History traditionally is thought as a purely human affair—moreover, history for many scholars is reserved for a tiny and recent segment of humanity. Hegel, for instance, viewed history as intrinsic to white Westerners. Africans and Asians suffered from a lack of history, and so must have it imposed upon them. 2 Heidegger
A Bayesian method for auditing elections

We propose an approach to post-election auditing based on Bayesian principles, and give experimental evidence for its efficiency and effectiveness. We call such an audit a "Bayes audit". It aims to control the probability of miscertification (certifying a wrong election outcome). The miscertification probability is computed using a Bayesian model based on information gathered by the audit so far. A Bayes audit is a single-ballot audit method applicable to any voting system (e.g. plurality, approval, IRV, Borda, Schulze, etc.) as long as the number of ballot types is not too large. The method requires only the ability to randomly sample single ballots and the ability to compute the election outcome for a profile of ballots. A Bayes audit does not require the computation of a "margin of victory" in order to get started. Bayes audits are applicable both to ballot-polling audits, which work just from the paper ballots, and to comparison audits, which work by comparing the paper ballots to their electronic representations. The procedure is quite simple and can be described on a single page. The Bayes audit uses an efficient method (which may be based on the use of gamma variates or on Polya's Urn) for simulating a Bayesian posterior distribution on the tally of a profile of ballots. A Bayes audit is very similar to single-ballot risk-limiting audits. However, since Bayes audits are based on different principles, the precise relationship between risk-limiting audits and Bayes audits remains open. We provide some initial experimental results indicating that Bayes audits are quite efficient, requiring few ballots to be examined, and that the miscertification rate is indeed kept small, even for very close elections.
Quantitative studies of embryogenesis in normal and 5-methyltryptophan-resistant cell lines of wild carrot : The effects of growth regulators.

The frequency of embryo formation was determined in normal and 5-methyltryptophan-resistant (5-MTr) cell lines of wild carrot (Daucus carota L.) grown in the presence or absence of 2-isopentenyladenine (2-ip) and 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D). 2-ip stimulated the intitation of embryo formation and also accelerated embryo development. 2.4-D inhibited embryo differentiation at several stages: at 0.1 mg/l, it stopped regeneration at the earliest stage, resulting in callus growth instead of embryo formation; at 0.04 mg/l 2,4-D, some globular embryos were produced, but they did not develop into more advanced embryos. Variant cell lines with higher levels of auxin (indole-3-acetic acid, IAA) were used to study the effect of an elevated endogenous concentration of auxin on embryogenesis. IAA at these concentrations suppressed regeneration in the same manner as the exogenous auxin, 2,4-D, did. This result confirms the hypothesis that high levels of IAA are responsible for the suppression of regeneration in the 5-MTr cell lines.
Electromigration in VlSI Metallization Test Structures Stressed Over a Range Of DC Pulse Conditions and Frequencies up to 133 MHz

Electrical resistance data were gathered from Al(Cu) VLSI metallization test structures during pulsed DC current stressing (15 mA peak) at elevated temperature (200 °C). Duty cycles of 50%, 67%, and 80%o were applied at a frequency (repetition rate) of 133 MHz. Also, a duty cycle of 50% was applied at frequencies of 100 KHz, 1 MHz, and 133 MHz. The resistance-to-starting resistance ratio, R/Ro, was logged over time, and the data were used to extract the median time dependence of the resistance change. This, in effect, reveals the dependence of the median “failure” time on the R/Ro (or AR/Ro) criterion. An “enhancement factor” was defined as the ratio of the median “failure” time from a given pulsed test to that from a DC test with the same peak current. A weak dependence of this enhancement factor on R/Ro was found in the range examined. The degree of enhancement corresponds more closely to the average current density prediction than to the on-time prediction, although there is some small variation according to duty cycle and frequency.
Loss of hemagglutinin on passage of vaccinia virus in L cells.

SummaryCell-free ascitic fluids obtained from mice bearing Ehrlich tumor contain an inhibitor which prevents vaccinia virus hemagglutination. Serial passage of the virus in tissue cultures of L cells in presence of the inhibitor favors appearance of virus which has lost ability to produce hemagglutinin. Serial passage of the virus under comparable conditions in the absence of inhibitor did not influence hemagglutinin-producing activity of the virus. These results support the assumption that the loss of hemagglutinin-producing ability by vaccinia virus, on passage through the Ehrlich tumor, results from action of the inhibitor.
Host Plant Species and Parasitism of Gypsy Moth (Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae) Egg Masses by Ooencyrtus kuvanae (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae)

Ooencyrtus kuvanae (Howard) parasitism of gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar (L.), egg masses (EMs) laid on different host species and substrates was studied in newly infested areas in Virginia. Parasitization rates of gypsy moth EMs by O. kuvanae were highest on red maple and inanimate objects and lowest on oaks. The effect of host plant species on parasitism was independent of the number of eggs per mass and may be due to the effects of bark texture on egg mass geometry and searching behavior of O. kuvanae . Percent parasitization was also inversely related to eggs per mass; the latter is a function of host suitability and gypsy moth population density. O. kuvanae appears to be incapable of maintaining gypsy moth populations at low densities but may be an additional factor mediating against the reproductive success of individuals feeding on nonpreferred host plant species.
Hybrid Atomistic and Coarse-Grained Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Polyethylene Glycol (PEG) in Explicit Water

In-silico design of polymeric biomaterials requires molecular dynamics (MD) simulations that retain essential atomistic/molecular details (e.g., explicit water around the biofunctional macromolecule) while simultaneously achieving large length and time scales pertinent to macroscale function. Such large-scale atomistically detailed macromolecular MD simulations with explicit solvent representation are computationally expensive. One way to overcome this limitation is to use an adaptive resolution scheme (AdResS) in which the explicit solvent molecules dynamically adopt either atomistic or coarse-grained resolution depending on their location (e.g., near or far from the macromolecule) in the system. In this study we present the feasibility and the limitations of AdResS methodology for studying polyethylene glycol (PEG) in adaptive resolution water, for varying PEG length and architecture. We first validate the AdResS methodology for such systems, by comparing PEG and solvent structure with that from all-ato...
Eating the Text: Shakespeare and Change

In this chapter, change through Shakespeare performance is related to Shakespeare’s own cultural moment, when transformation was both celebrated and demonized, nowhere more manifestly than in the Elizabethan actor. The SBB Mission Statement declares that it uses the healing powers of the arts to transform “inmate offenders from who they were when they committed their crimes, to who they are in the present moment, to who they wish to become.” Prison creative arts practitioner, Jonathan Shailor, deploys a religiously resonant language to describe how inmate consciousness can transform itself through theatrical performance. Shakespeare’s plays themselves are viewed as “sanctuary structures” that resolve the paradox of criminals enacting the stage roles of criminals. The chapter finds an example for resolving this paradox in inmate actor Jerry Guenthner’s triumph as Richard III. It concludes by describing how another SBB actor, Hal Cobb, courageously confronts his own past both on the SBB stage and in his own accomplished and published writing.
Analysis of Or-parallel Models for Logic Programs

Exploiting or-parallelism is an important way of speeding up the execution of logic programs. Although several methods have been proposed to realize or-parallelism in an actual implementation, not much has been done to analyze the subject in a systematic way. We offer a framework for studying or-parallel execution models of logic programs. We propose three criteria that an ideal or-parallel execution model for logic programs should satisfy: constant-time access to variables, constant-time task creation, and constant-time task switching. We then prove that all three criteria cannot be simultaneously satisfied by any execution model for or-parallelism based on a finite number of processors but unbounded memory. Based on this result, we proceed to categorize the various or-parallel methods proposed in the literature.
An Evaluation of the One-Sided Performance in Open MPI

Open MPI provides an implementation of the MPI-3.1 standard supporting native communication over a wide range of high-performance network interconnects. As of version 2.0.0 Open MPI provides two implementations of the MPI-3.1 Remote Memory Access (RMA) specification. One implementation uses point-to-point (Send/Recv) communication to emulate RMA operations. The other is a new optimized RMA implementation (osc/rdma) that makes use of native network Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) and Atomic Memory Operations (AMOs). The osc/rdma implementation required the extension and enhancement of the Byte Transport Layer (BTL) interface in Open MPI to provide true RMA support for both communication and synchronization. For this work, we present an overview and performance evaluation of the osc/rdma RMA implementation in Open MPI v2.0.0. We additionally present early performance numbers of additional optimizations for accumulate operations. We show that osc/rdma is comparable in performance to that of a tuned vendor supplied MPI, and in some cases can outperform the vendor MPI by as much as 2X.
Tissue microarray analysis for epithelial membrane protein-2 as a novel biomarker for gliomas.

Epithelial membrane protein-2 (EMP2) expression is noted in many human cancers. We evaluated EMP2 as a biomarker in gliomas. A large tissue microarray of lower grade glioma (WHO grades II–III, n = 19 patients) and glioblastoma (GBM) (WHO grade IV, n = 50 patients) was stained for EMP2. EMP2 expression was dichotomized to low or high expression scores and correlated with clinical data. The mean EMP2 expression was 1.68 in lower grade gliomas versus 2.20 in GBMs (P = 0.01). The percentage of samples with high EMP2 expression was greater in GBMs than lower grade gliomas (90.0 vs. 52.6%, P = 0.001). No significant difference was found between median survival among patients with GBM tumors exhibiting high EMP2 expression and survival of those with low EMP2 expression (8.38 vs. 10.98 months, P = 0.39). However, EMP2 expression ≥2 correlated with decreased survival (r = −0.39, P = 0.001). The EMP2 expression level also correlated with Ki-67 positivity (r = 0.34, P = 0.008). The mortality hazard ratio for GBM patients with EMP2 score of 3 or higher was 1.92 (CI 0.69–5.30). Our findings suggest that elevated EMP2 expression is associated with GBM. With other biomarkers, EMP2 may have use as a molecular target for the diagnosis and treatment of gliomas.
Successes and Failures in Building Learning Environments to Promote Deep Learning: The Value of Conversational Agents

This chapter describes some attempts to promote deep learning (as opposed to shallow learning) through conversational pedagogical agents. Learning environments with agents have been developed to serve as substitutes for humans who range in expertise from novices to experts. For example, AutoTutor helps students learn by holding a dialogue in natural language with the student, whereas trialogues have two agents interacting with the student in a three-way interaction. Agents can guide the interaction with the learner, instruct the learner what to do, and interact with other agents to model ideal behavior, strategies, reflections, and social interactions. Some agents generate speech, gestures, body movements, and facial expressions in ways similar to people. These agent-based systems have sometimes facilitated deep learning more than conventional learning environments. Agents have shown learning gains on a variety of subject matters and skills, including science, technology, engineering, mathematics, research methods, metacognition, and language comprehension. Learning environments are currently being developed to improve lifelong learning and collaborative problem solving.
Light and electron microscopy in microbial mat research: An overview

A variety of traditional techniques for light microscopy (e.g., differential interference contrast, phase contrast, fluorescence) and electron microscopy (transmission and scanning) have been used to obtain valuable information on the structure and species composition of microbial mat communities. Recent advances in techniques and instrumentation for microscopy are providing new tools for studying these communities in situ. Innovations in immunohistochemistry and molecular biology allow in situ labeling of specific microorganisms with fluorophores or gold particles which have been conjugated to antibodies or oligonucleotides. Digital image analysis software and confocal laser microscopy have made serial sections and 3-D reconstruction possible, providing structural data on biofilms, microbial mats, and microfossils in petrographic sections. This review will highlight a few examples of these new technologies with emphasis on those which have potential use in microbial mat studies.
Influence of Nonstoichiometry on Proton Conductivity in Thin-Film Yttrium-Doped Barium Zirconate.

Proton-conducting perovskites have been widely studied because of their potential application as solid electrolytes in intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cells. Structural and chemical heterogeneities can develop during synthesis, device fabrication, or service, which can profoundly affect proton transport. Here, we use time-resolved Kelvin probe force microscopy, scanning transmission electron microscopy, atom probe tomography, and density functional theory calculations to intentionally introduce Ba-deficient planar and spherical defects and link the resultant atomic structure with proton transport behavior in both stoichiometric and nonstoichiometric epitaxial, yttrium-doped barium zirconate thin films. The defects were intentionally induced through high-temperature annealing treatment, while maintaining the epitaxial single crystalline structure of the films, with an overall relaxation in the atomic structure. The annealed samples showed smaller magnitudes of local lattice distortions because of...
Nonuniform sampling by quantiles.

Abstract A flexible strategy for choosing samples nonuniformly from a Nyquist grid using the concept of statistical quantiles is presented for broad classes of NMR experimentation. Quantile-directed scheduling is intuitive and flexible for any weighting function, promotes reproducibility and seed independence, and is generalizable to multiple dimensions. In brief, weighting functions are divided into regions of equal probability, which define the samples to be acquired. Quantile scheduling therefore achieves close adherence to a probability distribution function, thereby minimizing gaps for any given degree of subsampling of the Nyquist grid. A characteristic of quantile scheduling is that one-dimensional, weighted NUS schedules are deterministic, however higher dimensional schedules are similar within a user-specified jittering parameter. To develop unweighted sampling, we investigated the minimum jitter needed to disrupt subharmonic tracts, and show that this criterion can be met in many cases by jittering within 25–50% of the subharmonic gap. For nD-NUS, three supplemental components to choosing samples by quantiles are proposed in this work: (i) forcing the corner samples to ensure sampling to specified maximum values in indirect evolution times, (ii) providing an option to triangular backfill sampling schedules to promote dense/uniform tracts at the beginning of signal evolution periods, and (iii) providing an option to force the edges of nD-NUS schedules to be identical to the 1D quantiles. Quantile-directed scheduling meets the diverse needs of current NUS experimentation, but can also be used for future NUS implementations such as off-grid NUS and more. A computer program implementing these principles (a.k.a. QSched) in 1D- and 2D-NUS is available under the general public license.
Teachers’ Knowledge about and Views of the National Standards for Physical Education

This study investigated the current levels of teachers’ knowledge about and views of the National Standards for Physical Education (NASPE, 1995) and factors that influenced the teachers’ understandings of and interpretations of the standards. Twenty-five elementary and secondary physical education teachers voluntarily participated in this study. Data were collected primarily through 25 formal interviews and observing 78 lessons taught by the teachers. Data were analyzed using constant comparison techniques. Findings indicated that: a) personal commitment is a key factor contributing to teachers’ growing knowledge about the standards, b) active participation in professional development activities helps teachers stay current, and c) understanding of the standards is an influential determinant of the teachers’ attitude toward the standards.
Mass Transfer Effects in Coal Conversion Chemistry

In this chapter, the subject of mass transfer phenomena in coal conversion is presented to the reader in a manner that avoids unnecessary obfuscation with detailed mass transfer mathematics. Specifically, the fundamentals of mass transfer are presented in a manner designed to give non-engineering chemists the frame of reference needed to understand how mass transfer may affect their results. Observations of when and where mass transfer effects are important in coal conversion will be of interest to chemists and engineers alike.
Empirical Study: Initial Population Diversity and Genetic Algorithm Performance.

This article presents an empirical study regarding the hypothesis that higher diversity in initial populations for Genetic Algorithms can reduce the number of iterations required to reach an optimum and potentially increase solution quality. We develop the empirical study using some theoretical functions addressed by other researchers such that the input to the Genetic Algorithm is populations of differing diversity. It is expected that the effort in analyzing the initial population with a diversity measure is going to be compensated for by reducing the number of iterations required and perhaps improving solution quality.
Inhibition of folate-dependent enzymes by non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs

Many non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) (including sulphasalazine, sulindac, indomethacin, naproxen, salicylic acid, ibuprofen, piroxicam and mefenamic acid) were found to be competitive inhibitors (with respect to folate) of avian liver phosphoribosylaminoimidazolecarboxamide formyltransferase (AICAR transformylase, EC 2.1.2.3) and bovine liver dihydrofolate reductase (EC 1.5.1.3). In contrast, aspirin and the antipyretic-analgesic drugs acetaminophen and antipyrine were weak inhibitors of these enzymes. Structure-activity correlation suggests that an aromatic ring with a side chain containing a carboxylic acid is a requirement for competitive inhibition of the transformylase. The above-listed NSAIDs also inhibited the folate-coenzyme-mediated biosynthesis of serine from glycine and formate (i.e., the C1 index) by human blood mononuclear cells (BMCs) in experiments where the drug was added to a culture of BMCs. Acetaminophen had a weak inhibitory effect on the C1 index. Consistent with the results obtained in vitro is the observation that the C1 index of BMCs from rheumatoid-arthritis patients treated with drugs which possess little antifolate activity (e.g. acetaminophen) is higher than the C1 index of BMCs from rheumatoid-arthritis patients treated with NSAIDs possessing more potent antifolate activity (e.g. sulindac, sulphasalazine, naproxen and ibuprofen). The mean activity of the transformylase in BMCs taken from healthy humans was 1.98 nmol of product/h per 10(6) cells and the activity was positively correlated with BMC folate levels. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that (1) the antifolate activity of NSAIDs, and hence cytostatic consequences, are important factors in producing anti-inflammatory activity and (2) aspirin exerts its anti-inflammatory effects after its conversion into salicylic acid, which possesses greater antifolate activity than its parent compound.
Ghost heroes: Forgetting and remembering in national narratives of the past:

This article takes a sociological perspective on the phenomenon of national myth making in collective memory. It develops an original theoretical concept, the ghost hero. The ghost hero, we posit, ...
Increasing the power density and reducing the levelized cost of electricity of a reverse electrodialysis stack through blending

King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (Center for Clean Water and Clean Energy at MIT and KFUPM, project number R15-CW-11)
Concurrent RB1 and TP53 Alterations Define a Subset of EGFR-Mutant Lung Cancers at risk for Histologic Transformation and Inferior Clinical Outcomes

Abstract Introduction EGFR-mutant lung cancers are clinically and genomically heterogeneous with concurrent RB transcriptional corepressor 1 (RB1)/tumor protein p53 (TP53) alterations identifying a subset at increased risk for small cell transformation. The genomic alterations that induce lineage plasticity are unknown. Methods Patients with EGFR/RB1/TP53-mutant lung cancers, identified by next-generation sequencing from 2014 to 2018, were compared to patients with untreated, metastatic EGFR-mutant lung cancers without both RB1 and TP53 alterations. Time to EGFR–tyrosine kinase inhibitor discontinuation, overall survival, SCLC transformation rate, and genomic alterations were evaluated. Results Patients with EGFR/RB1/TP53-mutant lung cancers represented 5% (43 of 863) of EGFR-mutant lung cancers but were uniquely at risk for transformation (7 of 39, 18%), with no transformations in EGFR-mutant lung cancers without baseline TP53 and RB1 alterations. Irrespective of transformation, patients with EGFR/TP53/RB1-mutant lung cancers had a shorter time to discontinuation than EGFR/TP53- and EGFR-mutant –only cancers (9.5 versus 12.3 versus 36.6 months, respectively, p = 2 × 10-9). The triple-mutant population had a higher incidence of whole-genome doubling compared to NSCLC and SCLC at large (80% versus 34%, p Conclusions EGFR/TP53/RB1-mutant lung cancers are at unique risk of histologic transformation, with 25% presenting with de novo SCLC or eventual small cell transformation. Triple-mutant lung cancers are enriched in whole-genome doubling and Activation-induced cytidine deaminase/apolipoprotein B mRNA editing enzyme, catalytic polypeptide-like hypermutation which may represent early genomic determinants of lineage plasticity.
Fungal diversity from communities to genes

Abstract Fungi are hyperdiverse organisms and assemble in complex communities, characterized by high levels of species richness, turnover, and endemism. However, the origins and maintenance of such high diversity and the role environments play in fungal adaptation are still elusive. Traditionally, efforts to understand fungal diversity in their environment have been divided between studies at the species level and below species level, with separate disciplines such as community ecology and population genetics working independently and with little communication. Here I argue that linking these different approaches is required to fully document the diversity of fungi in nature. Understanding the patterns and mechanisms of fungal diversity and composition requires not only the study of species assemblies and ranges, but also relies on comprehending fungal intra-specific variation, dispersal and establishment, including identifying key traits influencing fitness. This implies better integration and cross-fertilization between disciplines addressing fungi at a multitude of biological levels, ranging from genes to whole communities. Such approach will yield direct links between variation, adaptation and environments and provide a much more comprehensive understanding of fungal diversity.
A CMOS 0.5-2.5GHz Full-Duplex MIMO Receiver with Self-Adaptive and Power-Scalable RF/Analog Wideband Interference Cancellation

A 65nm CMOS 0.5-2.5GHz full-duplex (FD) MIMO receiver (RX) with self-adaptive ≥24dB RF/analog interference cancellation across 20MHz BW is presented. An LMS adaptive circuitry is co-designed with and partially embedded in a wideband RF/analog interference canceller and a gain-boosted mixer-first RX. With the adaptive circuitry fully integrated and consuming 14mW, the cancellers adapt themselves to an unknown channel in 1µs. The FD MIMO RX is also power-scalable -- when used as a digital beamformer, the NF-power scalability of the FD RX enables a nearly constant canceller DC power per element, despite a quadratic increase of cancellers.
Tissue-Engineered Bone Tumor as a Reproducible Human in Vitro Model for Studies of Anticancer Drugs.

Studies of anticancer therapies in traditional cell culture models can demonstrate efficacy of direct-acting compounds but lack the 3-dimensional arrangement of the tumor cells and their tissue-specific microenvironments, both of which are important modulators of treatment effects in vivo. Bone cells reside in complex environments that regulate their fate and function. A bioengineered human bone-tumor model has been shown to provide a microphysiological niche for studies of cancer cell behavior. Here, we demonstrate successful transfer between 2 laboratories and utility of this model in efficacy studies using well-established chemotherapeutic agents. The bioengineered human bone-tumor model consisted of Ewing sarcoma (RD-ES) cancer cell aggregates infused into tissue-engineered bone that was grown from human mesenchymal stem cell-derived differentiated into osteoblasts within mineralized bone scaffolds. The tumor model was maintained in culture for over 5 weeks and subjected to clinically relevant doses of linsitinib, doxorubicin, cisplatin, methotrexate, vincristine, dexamethasone, or MAP (methotrexate, doxorubicin, and cisplatin combination). Drug administration cycles were designed to mimic clinical treatment regimens. The bioengineered tumors were evaluated days to weeks after the cessation of treatment to monitor the potential for relapse, using bioengineered bone and ES cell monolayers as controls. Drug binding to the scaffolds and media proteins and gene expression were also evaluated. We show that a bioengineered human bone tumor can be used as a microphysiological model for preclinical studies of anticancer drugs. We found that anticancer efficacy was achieved at concentrations approximating the human Cmax, in contrast to traditional ES cell monolayers. These studies show that the bone-tumor model can be successfully transferred between laboratories and has predictive power in preclinical studies. The effects of drugs on the bone tumors and healthy bone were studied in parallel, in support of the utility of this model for identification of new therapeutic targets.
Effects of recovery type on blood lactate and performance in repeated Wingate tests in females

The optimal type of recovery to maximise performance and regain homeostasis after maximal exercise in sport has mixed results. There is a lack of research on the effect of active recovery protocols...
Heart Rate Variability, Cue-Evoked Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortical Response, and Problem Alcohol Use in Adult Drinkers.

Abstract Background Many studies employed cue exposure paradigms to investigate the neural processes underlying cue-elicited alcohol craving. Cue exposure elicits robust autonomic reactivity. However, whether or how cue-elicited autonomic response relates to the severity of alcohol misuse and the neural bases underlying the potential relationship remain unclear. Methods We examined cue-related brain activations in association with heart rate variability, as indexed by the root mean square of the successive differences (RMSSD), during alcohol versus neutral cue blocks in 50 adult alcohol drinkers (24 men). Imaging and heart rate variability data were collected and processed with published routines. Mediation analyses were conducted to examine the interrelationship between regional activities, cue-elicited changes in RMSSD, and the severity of problem alcohol use, as assessed with the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). Results The results showed higher RMSSD during alcohol than during neutral cue exposures, with alcohol (vs. neutral) cue-evoked RMSSD positively correlated with AUDIT score. Further, alcohol (vs. neutral) cue-elicited activity in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex was negatively correlated both with increases in RMSSD and with the AUDIT score. Mediation analyses suggested that the RMSSD mediated the relationship between ventromedial prefrontal cortex cue activity and the AUDIT score. Conclusions These findings substantiate the neural correlates of the presumably parasympathetic response during alcohol cue exposure and the interrelationship among ventromedial prefrontal cortex activity, autonomic response, and problem alcohol use.
Cultural Considerations When Treating Anxiety Disorders with Mindfulness-Based Interventions

Despite the development of effective evidence-based interventions for anxiety disorders, disparities in quality behavioral health care among ethnic, racial, and cultural minority groups exist. Much of the available research addressing this issue is limited to cognitive behavioral therapies (CBTs). Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs), although originally developed out of Buddhist meditation traditions, teach mindfulness meditation in a secular fashion to reduce one’s habitual reactivity to difficult thoughts, emotions, body sensations, and external stressors. This intervention approach appears promising for the alleviation of anxiety disorders in particular, but MBI outcome research targeting individuals diagnosed with anxiety disorders is largely limited to predominantly non-Hispanic White or mixed non-Hispanic White and Asian American participant samples. Preliminary data suggest that mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) was implemented in an acceptable and effective way within two diverse US inner-city communities, and specific protocol modifications to ensure culturally sensitive delivery were identified. Research examining the effectiveness of MBI protocols across diverse groups generally supports this clinical practice, but this area of research is still in its infancy. Furthermore, some cultural groups might benefit from culturally adapted MBI protocols, developed from within their specific cultural context with the input of community leaders.
Immigration, Law, and (In)Justice: Coronavirus and Its Impact on Immigration

This introduction to the International Criminal Justice Review provides a brief overview of the books reviewed in this special issue, which address multiple facets of the immigration system. Then, ...
A high-resolution coupled ice–ocean model of winter circulation on the Bering Sea Shelf. Part II: Polynyas and the shelf salinity distribution

Abstract The sea ice component of a regional high-resolution ocean model is improved, with particular attention to accurate representation of the salinity budget for the coupled system. The impact of this improvement is shown first using a one-dimensional test and then the realistic model simulation of the Eastern Bering Sea for the relatively high sea ice extent winter of 2009–10. Improvements to the model ice–ocean salt flux parameterization are demonstrated by comparison of model shelf salinity fields with observations from moorings and CTDs. As polynya regions can strongly influence winter salinity distributions on the Bering Sea shelf, model ice concentrations are compared to satellite estimates for several regions. Areas with a tendency to exhibit higher than average winter open water area include St. Lawrence Island and the southern coast of the Chukotka Peninsula. A new methodology is proposed analyzing the evolution of the salinity distribution with the aid of salt flux tracers that track occurrence of brine and meltwater separately. These demonstrate how cold winters on the Bering Sea shelf are characterized by a freshening and stratifying of the mid- to outer-shelf and an increase of salinity on the inner shelf. Use of an ice-age tracer in the model reveals an anticyclonic circulation of sea ice in mid-winter, as the Bering slope current and Anadyr current recirculate ice that has been transported south–southwestward by the predominant winds. The characteristics of coastal polynya regions are quantitatively compared and a model transect extending from the St. Lawrence polynya to the shelf break is analyzed to help illustrate the temporal and spatial variability of stratification and circulation occurring as the sea ice advances and retreats over the winter season.
LABOUR, FOLKLORE, AND ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS IN GERMAN MINING AROUND 1800

Historians have recently shown how the concept of ‘sustainability’ (Nachhaltigkeit) first emerged through statist ambitions to enfold nature into political economy in eighteenth-century Germany. Shifting the focus from forestry to mining, this article draws upon the case of Prussian mining official Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859) and the ‘Mining School’ he founded in Bad Steben to argue that sustainable resource management also entailed the strict discipline of labour relations and a programme of ‘psychological policy’. Humboldt's Mining School sought to address administrative concerns about ‘Raubbau’ – the rash exploitation of mineral resources ‘without consideration for the future’ – by cultivating a new generation of mine foremen loyal to the state and schooled in its protocol. Ostensibly, Humboldt wished to purge the industry of ‘superstitious’ folk knowledge that undermined the state's commitment to long-term exploitation. Yet analysis of mining songs and sagas suggests a striking analogy between official and vernacular understandings of resource extraction as an ethical matter. Thus, the environmental alarms sounded by German miners around 1800 were triggered by transgressions of a social nature; and political concerns about social order in the ‘mining state’ were constitutive of material concerns about natural resources.
Good for you or good for us? A field experiment on motivating citizen behavior change

In recent years, public sector agencies have increasingly been moving citizen services online to reduce administrative burdens for citizens and costs for governments. However, motivating citizens to make the transition to online services can be difficult. In this paper, I report on a randomized control trial with the Philadelphia Licenses and Inspections Department, testing a letter intervention with 11,579 rental license holders designed to encourage them to register for an account and renew online. Subjects were randomly assigned to either a control group that did not receive a letter or one of three treatment groups: 1) Standard (a simple reminder letter); 2) Personal Benefits (a letter with added language emphasizing the reduced burden for citizens from online renewal); and 3) City Benefits (a letter with added language emphasizing the benefits to the city from online renewal). I find a statistically significant, positive effect of letter receipt on both online registration and renewal; for example, the treatment letters increased the probability of renewing at least one license online from 12.3% in the control to 20.4% for the treatments pooled together. Furthermore, the City Benefits letter was the least effective treatment, though there were only small differences between treatments. Finally, the letters were generally more effective for subjects not residing in Philadelphia, suggesting that “nudge” campaigns to reduce administrative burden may be most effective for those facing the highest burdens from in-person public service delivery.
Bilateral microscopic Leydig cell ovarian tumors in the postmenopausal woman

A 64-year-old postmenopausal female patient presented with approximately 5 years of intermittent spotting, progressive hirsutism and significantly increased libido and clitoral hypersensitivity with spontaneous orgasms multiple times a day beginning a few months prior. Initial hormone work-up revealed elevated total serum testosterone, androstenedione and 17-hydroxyprogesterone. Luteinising hormone, follicle stimulating hormone, estradiol, dehydroepiandrosterone-sulfate, thyroid stimulating hormone and prolactin were all within normal limits. Initial suspicions suggested an androgen-secreting tumour, likely in the ovary. The lesion was undetectable on transvaginal ultrasound and abdominal-pelvic CT scan. Laparoscopic bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy was performed to remove the likely source of excess androgens. Visible gross lesions were not observed intraoperatively; however, bilateral Leydig (hilus cell) tumours were confirmed by histopathology. Serum testosterone, androstenedione and 17-hydroxyprogesterone levels were normalised postoperatively within 2 weeks and 1 month, respectively.
Brain monitoring using near-infrared spectroscopy to predict outcome after cardiac arrest: a novel phenotype in a rat model of cardiac arrest

Improving neurological outcomes after cardiac arrest (CA) is the most important patient-oriented outcome for CA research. Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) enables a non-invasive, real-time measurement of regional cerebral oxygen saturation. Here, we demonstrate a novel, non-invasive measurement using NIRS, termed modified cerebral oximetry index (mCOx), to distinguish the severity of brain injury after CA. We aimed to test the feasibility of this method to predict neurological outcome after asphyxial CA in rats. Our results suggest that mCOx is feasible shortly after resuscitation and can provide a surrogate measure for the severity of brain injury in a rat asphyxia CA model.
Built environment and agricultural value at risk from Hurricane Irma flooding in Florida (USA)

Flooding is the most costly type of natural disaster, as well as the most frequent. To provide risk-based flood insurance, providers must be able to accurately determine an asset’s risk of flooding. Additionally, after a flooding event, providers need to quickly determine the direct damages that occurred to verify insurance claims and assist affected communities. Many current approaches to flood risk and flood damage estimation use data or statistical extrapolation that add various sources of uncertainty into the final damage estimate. To reduce uncertainties in flood risk analyses, the objective of this research is to outline an approach to flood damage estimation conducted on a statewide scale while still estimating flood risk and damage on a structure-by-structure basis. This approach uses the observed flooding extent during and after Hurricane Irma in Florida, extracted from a collection of satellite images over the course of 8 days. The results show that residential structures had the largest exposure to flooding during Hurricane Irma, with estimates ranging from $300 million to $2 billion per county, for the three counties that were studied in depth. For agriculture, fruit crops were estimated to have a potential at-risk revenue of $38.2 million, and vegetables were estimated to have a value at risk of $940 million across all crops. With improvements in the data used, this approach can offer a quick and accurate assessment of flood damages directly after a flood hazard, which could reduce the recovery time and economic impacts to the affected communities.
Airport use agreements and cost efficiency of U.S. airports

Abstract In this study, we examined the impact of airport use agreements on the cost efficiency of large and medium U.S. hub airports in the years between 2009 and 2019 using a stochastic cost frontier model. We found that residual airports were less cost-efficient than compensatory and hybrid airports. The cost inefficiency in turn may translate into higher user fees for the signatory airlines. The result suggests that the residual rate-setting method may exert a moral hazard problem of airport management, because under such method, any cost deficit incurred by the airport will be covered by the signatory airlines, and this arrangement effectively shifts the risk of airport budget shortfall away from airport management.
Career advice from my father: “Go where you are loved”

I am honored to receive the E. E. Just Award. I applaud ASCB's commitment to recognizing the contributions of researchers from historically excluded racial and ethnic groups and appreciate my inclusion on a long list of accomplished peers. I also thank Barney Graham, who not only had a profound impact on my own career, but has a deep commitment to advancing unrepresented groups in the sciences. Finally, I thank my parents, for encouraging me to use my scholarship to excite change, for reminding me that anything is possible, and for advising me with tenderness along the way. As I recently went through a career transition, I found myself returning to much of my father's sage advice. In this essay, I discuss one important piece of advice that I received from my father in hopes that it will help others navigate their own career choices.
A Simple Algorithm for Computing the Zone of a Line in an Arrangement of Lines.

Let $L$ be a set of $n$ lines in the plane. The zone $Z(\ell)$ of a line $\ell$ in the arrangement $\mathcal{A}(L)$ of $L$ is the set of faces of $\mathcal{A}(L)$ whose closure intersects $\ell$. It is known that the combinatorial size of $Z(\ell)$ is $O(n)$. Given $L$ and $\ell$, computing $Z(\ell)$ is a fundamental problem. Linear-time algorithms exist for computing $Z(\ell)$ if $\mathcal{A}(L)$ has already been built, but building $\mathcal{A}(L)$ takes $O(n^2)$ time. On the other hand, $O(n\log n)$-time algorithms are also known for computing $Z(\ell)$ without relying on $\mathcal{A}(L)$, but these algorithms are relatively complicated. In this paper, we present a simple algorithm that can compute $Z(\ell)$ in $O(n\log n)$ time. More specifically, once the sorted list of the intersections between $\ell$ and the lines of $L$ is known, the algorithm runs in $O(n)$ time. A big advantage of our algorithm, which mainly involves a Graham's scan style procedure, is its simplicity.
Increasing Fairness in Predictions Using Bias Parity Score Based Loss Function Regularization.

Increasing utilization of machine learning based decision support systems emphasizes the need for resulting predictions to be both accurate and fair to all stakeholders. In this work we present a novel approach to increase a Neural Network model's fairness during training. We introduce a family of fairness enhancing regularization components that we use in conjunction with the traditional binary-cross-entropy based accuracy loss. These loss functions are based on Bias Parity Score (BPS), a score that helps quantify bias in the models with a single number. In the current work we investigate the behavior and effect of these regularization components on bias. We deploy them in the context of a recidivism prediction task as well as on a census-based adult income dataset. The results demonstrate that with a good choice of fairness loss function we can reduce the trained model's bias without deteriorating accuracy even in unbalanced dataset.
Remarks on Some Nonparametric Estimates of a Density Function

This note discusses some aspects of the estimation of the density function of a univariate probability distribution. All estimates of the density function satisfying relatively mild conditions are shown to be biased. The asymptotic mean square error of a particular class of estimates is evaluated.
Duality for generalized vertex operator algebras

This chapter is patterned after Section 3 of [FHL]. We shall present three important properties of a generalized vertex operator algebra — generalized rationality, generalized commutativity and generalized associativity — and we shall show that they may be used in place of the generalized Jacobi identity in the definition of generalized vertex operator algebra. These properties are aspects of “duality,” in the terminology of conformal field theory. At the end of this chapter, we comment that most of the discussion also applies to modules. In the next chapter, we shall also show how generalized commutativity leads to one-dimensional representations of braid groups.
About linearization of broadband amplifier by feedback (new opportunity of well known method)

With a view to increasing linearity of an amplifier it is proposed to implement separately two different loops of the negative feedback for the odd and even order components of the signal. It is shown that in this case linearization factors for the third order nonlinear components of these two loops complement (in dB) each other. As a result the amplifier dynamic range can be increased many times.