cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Anti-predator behaviour in response to conspecific chemical alarm cues in an esociform fish, Umbra limi (Kirtland 1840)

When a predators attack prey, damaged prey tissue releases chemical information that reliably indicates an actively foraging predator. Prey use these semiochemicals to cue anti-predator behaviour and reduce their probability of predation. Here, we test central mudminnows, Umbra limi (Kirtland 1840), for anti-predator behavioural responses to chemical cues in conspecific skin extract. In a field experiment, traps scented with mudminnow skin extract (alarm cue) caught fewer mudminnows than traps scented with water (control). Under controlled laboratory conditions, mudminnows showed a significant reduction in activity and movement to the bottom in response to alarm cues relative to water controls. Reduced activity and increased time on the bottom of the tank are both known components of an anti-predator response. Thus, based on field and lab data, mudminnows exhibited anti-predator behavioural responses to chemical alarm cues released by damaged epidermal tissue. Histological preparations of epidermal tissue did not reveal the presence of specialised “alarm substance” cells for the production of chemical alarm cues. This is the first report of an alarm reaction in an esociform, an order with a long evolutionary history of piscivory.
Social Movements and Deliberative Democratic Theory

Deliberative democrats are committed both to inclusion and to barring coercion in public discourse. Their commitment to democratic inclusion should make them sympathetic to the challenges faced by social movements. An adequate sociology of contentious public discourse, however, shows that social movements must often act coercively in order to be included. For example, they must often alter the terrain of conflict, create a crisis, pressure interlocutors to argue consistently, or compel other parties to enter social arenas of contention that they have avoided. Democratic theorists who are committed to inclusion should approve of such coercion. Under the actual circumstances movements face, there is a tension between non-coercion and democratic inclusion. This tension demonstrates the need for a democratic standard and a mode of democratic social analysis beyond those that deliberative theory offers.
Microcrystalline Cellulose in Tableting

The development of microcrystalline cellulose has made available to the pharmaceutical industry an extremely valuable tableting agent. It was found that tablets of plain microcrystalline cellulose will tend to soften and swell when exposed to humid conditions, but the effect is reversed upon the removal of increased humidities. Elevated temperatures have no effect on these tablets. Microcrystalline cellulose tablets will disintegrate very slowly in solvents of a relatively low polarity. It is postulated that tablets of this material are a special form of cellulose fibril in which the individual crystallites are held together largely by hydrogen bonding. Tablet disintegration is merely the breaking of the intercrystallite bonds by the disintegrating medium. No significant separation of components was found during the compression of a microcrystalline cellulose-containing formulation. The release of amphetamine sulfate and sodium phenobarbital from tablets containing micro-crystalline cellulose is excellent. Determinations after 10 weeks at various environments indicate that no release problems exist. When the cellulosic compound was used as a dry binder—disintegrator in the direct compression of formulations of ephedrine hydrochloride, quinine sulfate, and a low melting steroid, tablets of outstanding quality were produced.
B-Raf and the inhibitors: from bench to bedside

The B-Raf protein is a key signaling molecule in the mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway and has been implicated in the pathogenesis of a variety of cancers. An important V600E mutation has been identified and can cause constitutive B-Raf activation. Recent studies have evaluated a variety of small molecule inhibitors targeting B-Raf, including PLX4032/vemurafenib, dabrafenib, LGX818, GDC0879, XL281, ARQ736, PLX3603 (RO5212054), and RAF265. Therapeutic resistance has been identified and various mechanisms described. This review also discussed the current understanding of B-Raf signaling mechanism, methods of mutation detection, treatment strategies as well as potential methods of overcoming therapeutic resistance.
Leakage Current Degradation of Gallium Nitride Transistors Due to Heavy Ion Tests

Commercial gallium nitride high-electron mobility transistors are tested at Texas A&M University cyclotron. Degradation of gate and drain currents is characterized.
Decrease of estrogen receptors induced by 17β estradiol and progesterone in cultured rabbit endometrial cells

A whole cell technique to measure estradiol receptors in cultured rabbit endometrial cells is described. The estradiol receptors measured appear to be composed of at least two components: one component has high affinity but low capacity, while the other component has low affinity but high capacity. Using the assay, the effects of estradiol and progesterone pretreat-ment were examined on the estradiol receptor levels. It was found that both of the hormones decreased the number of estrogen receptors in the cultured cells. The finding that estradiol decreased its own receptors was unexpected and its possible relevance is discussed.
Diego(a) antigen frequency and anti-Diego(a) frequency in a South Texas community.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to determine the percent of the donor population in a South Texas community positive for the red cell antigen Diegoa (Dia) and to determine the percent of anti-Dia in previously transfused patients. DESIGN: Donor segments from 270 type A and type O donors were typed with anti-Dia and 305 previously transfused patients were screened for anti-Dia SETTING: The study was conducted using donor segments from units collected by the South Texas Blood Center and blood samples from patients in three hospitals in Corpus Christi TX. PATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS: The typing serum was from a type A donor, so only A and O donors were used for the antigen typing. The sera used for the antibody screens were from patients with previous transfusions in the local hospitals. Duplicate samples were eliminated. RESULTS: Of the 270 type A and O donors, seven (2.6%) were found to be Dia positive and four (1.3%) of the 305 previously transfused patients had anti-Dia. CONCLUSIONS: In 1985, red blood cell antigen typing of Mexican American blood donors in the Corpus Christi area revealed a Dia antigen frequency of 14.7% with eight percent in Mexican American blood donors from two other areas of Texas. With an Hispanic population of 50.4%, it was expected that four percent to seven percent of the donor population would be positive for the antigen. The finding of only 2.6% Dia positive donors demonstrates about a 20% Mexican American donor population. Anti-Dia was found in 1.3% of the plasma samples from previously transfused patients. These results would indicate a 0.03% to 0.05% transfusion incompatibility in patients with a negative antibody screen for the Corpus Christi area. Areas of the United States with a higher percent Mexican American donor population would expect a higher percent incompatibility. Since the Mexican American population is increasing in South Texas and several other areas in the United States, the antibody may become increasingly important in transfusion therapy and as a cause of hemolytic disease of the newborn. ABBREVIATIONS:Di = Diego; RPM = revolutions per minute.
SEPARATION METHODS, SURFACE MARKERS AND CYTOTOXIC CAPABILITIES OF HUMAN EOSINOPHILS

Publisher Summary This chapter highlights separation methods, surface markers, and cytotoxic capabilities of human eosinophils. The eosinophil has been difficult to study because of an inability to obtain pure cell populations. Density gradient centrifugation using sodium metrizoate or sodium diatrizoate can be successfully employed only with high initial eosinophil percentages. The sequence of steps involved in the purification method depends on the percentage of eosinophils in the blood differential. Eosinophils with surface of Fc receptors have been determined by rosetting with sheep erythrocytes coated with rabbit anti-SRBC IgG. Eosinophils with complement receptors also have been determined by rosetting with SRBC coated with IgM antibody and mouse complement. Eosinophils have similar though quantitatively less efficient cytotoxic capabilities against antibody coated human or chicken erythrocytes. An important functional characteristic of the eosinophil is the ability to mediate ADCC against human and chicken erythrocytes and an ability to mediate low levels of cytotoxicity against nucleated target cells.
Hormonal influences on epinephrine induced aortic sclerosis.

SummaryThyroxin and epinephrine treatment in rabbits was shown to produce aortic sclerosis in a greater percentage of cases, and a more severe grade of such sclerosis, than epinephrine alone. Desoxycorticosterone decreases the amount of sclerosis due to epinephrine alone but failed to influence the sclerosis due to the combined epinephrine-thyroxin treatment.
Non-transfer of trans fatty acids from mother to young.

SummaryLess than 0.5% of trans fatty acids were found in fat extracted from young born to mother rats which contained between 23.5 and 26.8% trans fatty acids in their carcass fats. The amount of trans fatty acids in the carcass fats of the young was markedly increased when they were allowed to suckle the maternal milk for 9 days.
The Development of Silicon Carbide Based Electrode Devices for Central Nervous System Biomedical Implants

Brain machine interface (BMI) technology has been demonstrated to be a therapeutic solution for assisting people suffering from damage to the central nervous system (CNS), but BMI devices using implantable neural prosthetics have experienced difficulties in that they are recognized by glial cells as being foreign material, which leads to an immune response cascade process called gliosis. One material, cubic silicon carbide (3C-SiC), may provide an excellent solution for the generation of an implantable neural prosthetic interface component of a BMI system. We have recently reported on the biocompatibility of 3C-SiC with immortalized cells, and have extended this work by demonstrating neural cell action potential instigation via an electrode type device. Biocompatibility assessment of 3C-SiC was accomplished using in vitro methodology. 96 hour MTT [3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide] assays were performed to determine neural cell viability. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) was used to quantify attached cell morphology and determine lamellipodia/ filopodia interaction with the surface of the semiconductor. It was seen that neurons show excellent viability, cell morphology, and good lamellipodia/ filopodia permissiveness when interacting with 3C-SiC. A neuronal activation device (NAD), based on the planar Michigan microelectrode probe, was constructed from 3C-SiC with the goal of activating an action potential within a neuron. In order to illicit an action potential, neurons were seeded on the NAD device and then they were subjected to a biphasic square pulse signal. Successful action potential activation was recorded through the use of Rhod-2, a Ca 2+ sensitive fluorescent dye. Based on these results, 3C-SiC may be an excellent material platform for neural prosthetics.
Defensive hostility and coronary heart disease: a preliminary investigation of male veterans.

Objective Research and theory link an interpersonal conflict model to cardiovascular disease. Specifically, persons scoring high on cynical hostility and social defensiveness are thought to manifest a defensive need for approval while harboring basic distrust and hostility toward those who could provide such approval. The objective of this study was to assess whether angiographically determined coronary artery disease (CAD) was associated with this combination of high cynical hostility and high social defensiveness. Methods Fifty-nine male patients of a Veterans Administration Medical Center (86% white, mean age = 59.9 years) participated in the study on the day before their angiographic procedure; these men filled out the Cook-Medley Hostility Scale and the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (social defensiveness). They subsequently were categorized as having defensive hostility (DH), high hostility (HH), high social defensiveness (SD), or low psychosocial risk (LRisk; low on both scales). Results The four groups did not differ significantly on risk factor status or health status. As predicted, a preplanned contrast showed that the DH group’s mean number of arteries with at least 50% blockage (mean = 2.5) differed significantly from the combined means of the other groups. The HH and SD groups did not differ from the LRisk group. Conclusions When combined with other reports, the approach-avoidance interpersonal conflict model holds the promise of providing additional information about the psychosocial factors contributing to CAD development among men with high cynical hostility.
Global Change and the Food System in 2050

This chapter seeks to draw together many of the diverse threads developed in the preceding chapters and reach some general conclusions about land use change, associated greenhouse gas emissions, food prices and caloric malnutrition in 2050. We begin by validating the SIMPLE model over the historical period: 1961–2006. This involves comparing model predictions with observed outcomes. We also consider how alternative restrictions on the economic responses in the model affect these predictions. This provides us with a guide to uncovering the ‘error signatures’ of many commonly used models of global agriculture which abstract from one or more key economic responses to global scarcity. With this foundation, we move on to projections for the 2006–2050 period. Here, we decompose the drivers of global change, including population, income and productivity growth, and their impact on key sustainability metrics. Based on this work, we expect continuing, although perhaps slowing, cropland conversion, along with flat to declining crop prices given anticipated trends in agricultural productivity. Meanwhile, strong income growth is expected to lead to sharp reductions in malnutrition, which will be further facilitated by greater global integration in agricultural markets.
Developing an Assessment Process for a Master's of Science Degree in a Pharmaceutical Sciences Program.

Objective. To develop a program-level assessment process for a master’s of science degree in a pharmaceutical sciences (MSPS) program.Design. Program-level goals were created and mapped to course learning objectives. Embedded assessment tools were created by each course director and used to gather information related to program-level goals. Initial assessment iterations involved a subset of offered courses, and course directors met with the department assessment committee to review the quality of the assessment tools as well as the data collected with them. Insights from these discussions were used to improve the process. When all courses were used for collecting program-level assessment data, a modified system of guided reflection was used to reduce demands on committee members.Assessment. The first two iterations of collecting program-level assessment revealed problems with both the assessment tools and the program goals themselves. Course directors were inconsistent in the Bloom’s Taxonomy level at whi...
Root to Rise: Mindful Lawyering for Social Justice

This article presents a new lens through which lawyers and law students can engage with the ever-growing field of mindfulness and contemplative law practice. Since the early 2000s, mindfulness has moved from the margins to the center, gaining momentum across multiple areas of legal practice including conflict resolution, mediation, trial advocacy, and therapeutic jurisprudence, among others. But the dominant approach to contemplative practice and pedagogy has yet to meaningfully explore the connection between mindfulness and transformative social change. This article seeks to fill that void. Rather than continue to associate — and often isolate — mindfulness as individualized, this article decenters the identity of “mindfulness and law” from the individual and expands it into the collective. Specifically, this article re-envisions social justice lawyering through the lens of yogic practices. It seeks to reveal how the Eight Limbs of Yoga can expand the domains in which social justice lawyers act and how mindfulness can nurture the growth of both the individual and the collective. Rather than expound a “universal” theory, this article proposes one possibility for understanding mindful social justice lawyering aimed at redefining the contours and meaning of contemplative legal practice, with the goal of expanding the ontology of the contemplative law movement. Instead of simply looking at one layer, experience, or relationship, mindful lawyers and law students should develop a practice that is grounded in approaching others with dignity and respect — one which promotes equality and inclusion, resists subordination, and fosters self-expression and self-determination.
Does peripheral dislodgement contribute to heterozygote deficiencies in blue mussels

Differential loss of heterozygous individuals that move to the periphery of mussel aggregations, where they are at greater risk for dislodgement, has been proposed as an explanation for observed heterozygote deficiencies in blue mussels. To test the dislodgement hypothesis, correlations between heterozygosity and mussel motility, as well as characteristics of byssogenesis and byssal thread attachment strengths, were determined in a wild and a farmed population of blue mussels (Mytilus edulis) from New Hampshire, USA. Although both populations exhibited a heterozygote deficit as measured by three microsatellite loci, no relationship was found between heterozygosity and increased motility in either population. Similarly, no relationship was found between heterozygosity and byssogenesis or attachment strength. Hence, differential dislodgement is highly unlikely as a possible contributor to the loss of heterozygous individuals.
A Decision Maker-Centered End-of-Life Product Recovery System for Robot Task Sequencing

End-of-life (EOL) disassembly focuses on regaining the value embodied in products which are considered to have completed their useful lives due to a variety of reasons such as lack of technical functionality and/or lack of demand. Disassembly is known to possess unique characteristics due to possible changes in the EOL product structure and hence, cannot be considered as the reverse of assembly operations. With similar reasoning, obtaining a near-optimal/optimal disassembly sequence requires intelligent decision making during the disassembly when the sequence needs to be regenerated to accommodate these unforeseeable changes. That is, if one or more components which were included in the original bill-of-material (BOM) of the product is missing or if one or more joint types are different than the ones that are listed in the original BOM, the sequence needs to be able to adapt and generate a new and accurate alternative for disassembly. These considerations require disassembly sequencing to be solved by more powerful and versatile methodologies justifying the utilization of image detection technologies for online real-time disassembly while imposing search techniques which would provide more efficient solutions than their exhaustive search counterparts. Therefore, EOL disassembly sequencing literature offers a variety of heuristic techniques. As with any data driven technique, the performance of the proposed methodologies is heavily reliant on the accuracy and the flexibility of the algorithms and their abilities to accommodate several special considerations such as preserving the precedence relationships during disassembly while obtaining near-optimal or optimal solutions. This study builds on previous disassembly sequencing research and introduces an automated robotic disassembly framework for EOL electronic products. The model incorporates decision makers’ (DMs’) preferences into the problem environment for efficient material and component recovery. A numerical example is provided to demonstrate the functionality of the proposed approach.
Mitochondrial DNA Analyses of Cercopithecus Monkeys Reveal a Localized Hybrid Origin for C. mitis doggetti in Gombe National Park, Tanzania

In recent years, hybridization has gained recognition as an important creative force in primate evolution. The exchange of genetic material between species provides genetic novelty on which evolutionary forces, such as natural selection, may act. The guenon radiation (Tribe Cercopithecini) is known for numerous cases of contemporary hybridization—in the wild and captivity—between broadly sympatric species. Interspecific hybrids are viable, and field studies report fertile hybrid females. Despite being a well-documented phenomenon, hybridization among wild guenons is relatively rare and sporadic. An exception is the long-standing hybridization between Cercopithecus mitis doggetti and C. ascanius schmidti in Gombe National Park, Tanzania, where hybrids comprise a significant proportion of the breeding population. Here, I used mitochondrial loci to conduct a genetic survey of the Gombe population and examine the extent and direction of gene flow between the parental species. I extracted DNA from noninvasive fecal samples of unhabituated individuals (N = 144 individuals) with known phenotype and provenance. All parental phenotypes and hybrid individuals were identified in the field based on species specific pelage colors and patterns. Phylogenetic analyses of DNA sequences from inside and outside the hybrid zone show Gombe’s population of C. mitis doggetti is distinct from neighboring conspecific populations in having mitochondrial DNA of C. ascanius schmidti. All animals surveyed from the hybrid zone have one of two haplotypes of C. ascanius schmidti unique to Gombe. These results provide evidence of asymmetric introgressive hybridization between sympatric guenon species, a likely consequence of colonization patterns of the parental species during range expansions. The spatial distribution patterns of the two haplotypes imply that Gombe is a site of both historic and contemporary hybridization between sympatric guenons. The discovery of gene flow and ongoing hybridization between clearly defined species, ecologically distinct enough to coexist in broad sympatry, provides an ideal system to investigate speciation mechanisms in primate adaptive radiations.
Introduction to Megaengineering: The Concept and a Research Frontier

We trace the concept of “Engineering Earth” to two major interdisciplinary volumes published in the last half century: Man’s Role in Changing the Face of the Earth (1956) edited by W. L. Thomas, Jr. and The Earth Transformed (1990) edited by Billie Lee Turner et al. Both volumes included timely and frequently cited chapters about human/nature and nature/society relations. We expand the foci of these books to include the contributions of social, environmental, and engineering scientists who study megaengineering projects and their impacts on cultures, economies, and regions. We introduce a conceptual framework for studying these projects at all scales (local to global) and suggest, with the contributions in this volume, the emergence of research frontiers in the engineering, environmental, social and policy sciences.
Two colorimetric fluorescent turn-on chemosensors for detection of Al3+ and N3- : Synthesis, photophysical and computational studies.

Two new rhodamine derivative L1 and L2 bearing 2-methoxy-1-naphthaldehyde and 5-bromo-3-methoxy salicylaldehyde units were designed and synthesized using microwave-assisted organic synthesis and utilized towards sequential fluorescence detection of aluminum ion (Al3+ ) and azide (N3- ) in aqueous acetonitrile solution. Aluminum ion (Al3+ ) triggers the formation of highly fluorescent ring-open spirolactam. The fluorescence and colorimetric response of the L1 -Al3+ and L2 -Al3+ complexes were quenched by the addition of N3- , which extracting the Al3+ from the complexes and turn-off the sensors, confirming that the recognition process is reversible. The recognition ability of the sensors was investigated by fluorescence titration, Job's plot, 1 H-NMR spectroscopy and density functional theory (DFT) calculations.
The Role of Wearable Technology in Children's Creativity

In primary and high school settings across the world, wearable technologies are becoming more and more common. Augmented reality, is another increasingly common technology, which when combined with wearables, has the potential to benefit student learning in different settings. This combination can potentially be used to support problem-solving and creativity for children, a relatively unexplored area. In this work, an initial expiration is described about the contextual variables that can impact the levels of low to high creativity moments. Our goal is to use wearables and sensors to further minimize the gap between the topic of children's creativity by measuring moments of creative fixation and providing feedback in moments of low creativity to encourage creativity. The primary contributions of this work, are a preliminary pilot study with ten primary-school students (K-6), a presentation of our initial results and finally, an examination and discussion of how creativity in children can be supported or enhanced by combining wearable technology and augmented reality.
Study of Interaction of Group of Robots Upon Early Fire Detection

The article approaches the issues of application of a group of robots consisting of unmanned aerial systems (UAS), on board of which mobile gas analyzers (MGA) are installed, and a ground-based robotic platform (GRP), on board of which fire extinguishing appliances are located. A method of planning the trajectory of motion of a flying complex to the source of combustion, and modeling its modes of motion associated with the early detection of sources of combustion based on the space sensing and determining the concentration of CO, are proposed. Flight algorithms to the source of combustion have been developed, combining both motions along straight lines and circles, as well as joint interaction of a group of robots, realizing the calculation of control voltages during the movement of a robotic platform depending on the deviation from a given trajectory. The regularities of the guided motion controlled by various methods along a given s-shaped trajectory are revealed; the analysis of the latter showed that fuzzy control under the signal of an optocoupler matrix in comparison with the “deterministic” control in response to a signal of an optocoupler provides an increase in the quality of motion by the criterion “action speed-accuracy”.
Negotiating Racialized Sexuality Through Online Stancetaking in Text-Based Communication

Sexuality is a social construct, and one that has had increasing prominence in online contexts. Examining comments written in reply to an opinion column on “sexual racism” on gay dating apps, this chapter explores commenters’ evaluation of app users’ expressions of racial preferences. Using discourse markers, tokens of agreement for example, commenters take similar or different stances, thereby creating either a convergent or a divergent alignment that contributes to the negotiation of sexuality in computer-mediated communication (CMC). It adds to the literature of stancetaking in CMC and proposes a discursive approach to the research on racialized sexuality. The analysis draws on Du Bois’ (The stance triangle. In: Englebretson R Stancetaking in discourse: Subjectivity, evaluation, interaction. John Benjamins Publishing Company, Amsterdam, pp 139–182, 2007) concept of the stance triangle, in which stancetakers position themselves and align with others as they evaluate objects, and focuses on an ideological debate: whether it is a preference or racism to exclude potential partners based on race on gay dating apps. The analysis shows how two technological affordances, tagging and quoting, create connections for negotiating users’ sexual practices online. The study shows how digital affordances facilitate dialogic interaction that frames racialized desires as two diverging social realities.
Print exposure explains individual differences in using syntactic but not semantic cues for pronoun comprehension.

Abstract Comprehenders have been shown to use both syntactic and semantic cues to understand pronouns like he and she. In Ana threw the ball to Liz. She…, there is a syntactic bias to assign “she” to the previous subject (Ana), and a semantic bias to assign it to the goal referent (Liz). How do people learn these biases? We tested how sensitivity to these cues is modulated by linguistic experience, measured with an Author Recognition Task ( Stanovich & West, 1989 ). In two experiments, we found both the subject and goal biases overall, but higher print exposure only predicted use of the subject bias, not the goal bias. Our results suggest that the subject bias, and not the goal bias, may be learned from exposure.
Perceiving transparency from opaque surface materials.

It is easy to marvel at the abilities of master painters and sculptors to depict draped cloth, especially in comparison with lesser artists whose depictions of cloth may often appear not quite right. Draped cloth is difficult to represent because its visible appearance is influenced by many factors, including the properties of the cloth itself (e.g., its thickness and stiffness) and also the shape of the object over which it is draped. The depiction of transparent cloth is even more difficult, because the artist must convey the impression of two distinct surfaces (Fig. 1, Left ). Painters are able to manipulate color and shading to achieve that effect, and the perceptual consequences of those manipulations have been studied extensively (1⇓⇓–4). However, those tools are not available to sculptors. The appearance of transparency in a sculpture must be based entirely on the three-dimensional (3D) shape of the sculpted object. The article by Phillips and Fleming (5) on “The Veiled Virgin illustrates visual segmentation of shape by cause” is a scientific investigation of how human observers are able to interpret the presence of transparency in solid shapes composed entirely of opaque materials. Fig. 1. Images of objects with draped cloth. ( Left ) A sculpture of The Veiled Virgin by Giovanni Strazza, which appears as a human face with a transparent veil draped over it. ( Right ) A computer simulation of a sphere with an opaque cloth draped over it. Note, in both cases, that it is possible to determine which regions are in contact with the underlying object and which ones are not. One of the central hypotheses that guided this research is that the shape of an object can provide information about the morphogenic processes with which it was created. This idea was first proposed over a century ago by the … [↵][1]1Email: todd.44{at}osu.edu. [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1
Topology Checking Method for Low Voltage Distribution Network Based on Fuzzy C-Means Clustering Algorithm

In view of the difficulty of management and high cost caused by manually checking the topology relationship of the low-voltage distribution network, a method for checking the topology of low-voltage distribution networks based on Fuzzy C-Means clustering algorithm is proposed. First, the smart meter voltage sequence data of the users in the station area to be verified in the most recent period is extracted by the electricity information collection system. Then, the similarity of user voltage sequence curves is judged by using Pearson correlation coefficients. User sample set is based on GIS system. The user sample set generated by the clip is analyzed by using Fuzzy C-Means clustering algorithm, and the users who have identified the wrong identification of the station area are detected. Finally, according to the results of manual field verification, the correctness of the verification by the algorithm is judged.
Oil field microorganisms cause highly localized corrosion on chemically inhibited carbon steel

Carbon steel pipelines, a means for crude oil transportation, occasionally experience highly localized perforation caused by microorganisms. While microorganisms grown in laboratory culture tend to corrode steel specimens unevenly, they rarely inflict a corrosion morphology consistent with that of pipelines, where centimetre-sized corrosion features are randomly distributed within vast stretches of otherwise pristine metal surface. In this study, we observed that corrosion inhibitors (CIs), widely used for the control of acid gas (H2 S, CO2 ) corrosion in oil fields, also affect microbial growth and activity. Inhibited carbon steel resisted biofilm formation and underwent negligible corrosion (< 0.002 mm Fe0 year-1 ), despite 15 months of exposure to oil field waters harbouring a diverse microbiome. In contrast, physical scavenging of CI in these waters led to severe and highly localized corrosion (up to 0.93 mm Fe0 year-1 ) underneath biofilms dominated by methanogenic archaea and sulfate-reducing bacteria. A sharp decline in CI concentration, as well as its active components, quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs), correlated with microbial sulfidogenesis. CIs are ubiquitously present in oil field waters and play an underappreciated role in microbial corrosion mitigation. Physical and biological scavenging of CIs may create local differences in steel inhibition effectiveness and thus result in highly localized corrosion.
Oral reading fluency of Chinese second language learners

The present study examined the components of oral reading fluency (ORF) via various indices and their relationships with comprehension and learner-perceived difficulty of oral reading among Chinese second language (L2) learners. One hundred participants read aloud paragraphs, completed the comprehension test, and rated the difficulty of the oral reading task. Nine indices were generated to measure ORF: the percentage of omissions, substitutions, repetitions, insertions, self-corrections, and segmental problems out of the total produced characters, the number of pauses per minute, the number of actually produced characters per minute, and the number of correctly read characters per minute. The results showed that the nine indices tapped the accuracy, speed, chunking, and monitoring components of the ORF construct. The accuracy, speed, and chunking dimensions effectively predicted comprehension and the accuracy and speed dimension was closely related to learner-perceived difficulty. These findings suggested that ORF is a multi-faceted construct and can be used to assess comprehension and detect learner difficulty in Chinese L2 reading.
Emperors, admirals and giants, zebras, tigers and woolly bears: casting a broader net in exploring heparin effects on Lepidoptera wing patterns

Background: Studies of heparin effects on Lepidoptera wing patterns have been restricted to a small number of species. I report observations from experiments on a broader range of taxa, including first results from swallowtails, tiger moths and microlepidoptera. Methods: Heparin injections were made in prepupae and pupae of Junonia coenia (common buckeyes), Agraulis vanillae (gulf fritillaries), Heliconius charithonia (zebra longwings), Asterocampa clyton (tawny emperors) , Danaus plexippus (monarchs), Vanessa atalanta (red admirals); Heraclides cresphontes (giant swallowtails), Pterourus troilus (spicebush swallowtails), Protographium marcellus (zebra swallowtails), Battus polydamas (polydamas swallowtails); Hypercompe scribonia (giant leopard moths), Estigmene acrea (acrea moths), Hyphantria cunea (fall webworm moths) , Utetheisa ornatrix (ornate bella moths); Glyphodes sibillalis (mulberry leaftier). Results: Heparin sometimes altered the entire pattern in a dramatic way, sometimes caused changes locally. In buckeyes, the previous heparin study conducted on pupae was compared to injections made at a prepupal stage. In gulf fritillaries, zebra longwings and tawny emperors, the dramatic changes occurred throughout their wings, while in monarchs, changes were restricted to wing margins. Changes achieved in red admirals, show that heparin action is unrelated to the original color. In swallowtails, transformations were restricted to border system, indicating higher levels of stability and compartmentalization of wing patterns. In mulberry leaftier, changes were restricted to the marginal bands. In tiger moths, elongation of black markings led to merging of spots; in the ornate bella moth, it was accompanied by an expansion of the surrounding white bands, and results were compared to the effects of colder temperatures. Conclusions: Using pharmaceutical intervention demonstrates that there are many similarities and some very significant differences in the ways wing patterns are formed in different Lepidoptera lineages. By creating a range of variation one can demonstrate how one pattern can easily evolve into another, aiding in understanding of speciation and adaptation processes.
Cost-Benefit Analysis without Analyzing Costs or Benefits: Reasonable Accommodation, Balancing, and Stigmatic Harms

Is an accommodation “reasonable,” under the Americans with Disabilities Act, if and only if the benefits are roughly proportional to the costs? How should benefits and costs be assessed? Should courts asks about how much disabled employees are willing to pay to obtain the accommodation, or instead how much they would have to be paid not to have the accommodation? How should stigmatic or expressive harms be valued? This essay, written for a symposium on the work of Judge Richard A. Posner, engages these questions in a discussion of an important opinion in which Judge Posner denied accommodations involving the lowering of a sink in a kitchenette and a request for telecommuting. The problem with the analysis in that opinion is that it does not seriously analyze either costs or benefits. A general lesson is that while cost-benefit balancing can helpfully discipline unreliable intuitions about the effects of requested accommodations, it can also incorporate those intuitions. Another lesson is that stigmatic harms and daily humiliations deserve serious attention as part of the inquiry into which accommodations are reasonable, and that the removal of those harms and humiliations can create real benefits. Adequate cost-benefit analyses must attempt to measure and include those benefits. Richard Posner has been a colleague and a friend for over a quarter-century. Over the years, I have learned that there is one thing he isn’t: Sentimental. A celebration of his years on the bench inevitably invites not only sentimentality but also a lot of applause; and we should certainly pause for some. (A terrible secret: Those of us who know Posner well like him. Actually we like him a lot.) But for this particular judge, I think, the best * Karl N. Llewellyn Distinguished Service Professor, Law School and Department of Political Science, University of Chicago. Thanks to Christine Jolls, with whom I taught the case discussed here on two occasions; I have learned a great deal from her emphasis on expressive harms in particular. Thanks too to Robert Hahn, Jolls, Elizabeth Emens, and Sarah Lawsky for valuable comments on a previous draft. 1 A small story: In my first year at the University of Chicago Law School, I was invited to a little dinner party at the house of Frank Easterbrook (not yet a federal judge). The party was dominated by George Stigler, a Nobel Prize winner-to-be and a major figure at the university at the time. Stigler asked me what I taught, and I responded that I taught Social Security and Welfare Law, at which point Stigler began to cast cheerful, contemptuous ridicule on the subject. In Stigler’s view, no one in America was poor, because even a little money ($7 a week, if memory serves) could go a very long way. This position seemed to me not only preposterous but also offensive, and I tried to respond; but Stigler was of course Stigler, and in addition to being a terrific debater, he wasn’t always a nice man. Seeing my distress, Posner came to the
Human muscle production in vitro from pluripotent stem cells: Basic and clinical applications

Human pluripotent stem cells (PSCs), which have the capacity to self-renew and differentiate into multiple cell types, offer tremendous therapeutic potential and invaluable flexibility as research tools. Recently, remarkable progress has been made in directing myogenic differentiation of human PSCs. The differentiation strategies, which were inspired by our knowledge of myogenesis in vivo, have provided an important platform for the study of human muscle development and modeling of muscular diseases, as well as a promising source of cells for cell therapy to treat muscular dystrophies. In this review, we summarize the current state of skeletal muscle generation from human PSCs, including transgene-based and transgene-free differentiation protocols, and 3D muscle tissue production through bioengineering approaches. We also highlight their basic and clinical applications, which facilitate the study of human muscle biology and deliver new hope for muscular disease treatment.
Estimation of Respiration Rate using an Inertial Measurement Unit Placed on Thorax-Abdomen

Respiration rate is one of the important measures of any physiological changes in human body. In this paper, an inertial measurement unit (IMU) is used to detect the chest movement and estimate the respiration rate from the real-time signal. A commercial inertial motion sensor chip used in this study that produces linear motion vector as streaming data. The signal from the motion sensor was sampled at 10 Hz. Signal processing was applied to denoise respiration signals from the values of linear motion vectors. Then, an algorithm of calculating respiration rate, was used to estimate breath per minute (BPM). The results were compared with a commercial respiration monitor belt logger sensor as the ground truth. The IMU sensor was tested at 5 different BPMs (12, 15, 20, 24, and 30) to validate the data from the IMU sensor and from the commercial respiration belt using a protocol where different BPM was maintained. The results show high accuracy of the proposed system which is simpler to use, cheaper to protype, and can be integrated with a wearable device and a custom smartphone app using edge computing technique.
Dynamics of the meromorphic families $f_\lambda=\lambda \tan^pz^q$

This paper continues our investigation of the dynamics of families of transcendental meromorphic functions with finitely many singular values all of which are finite. Here we look at a generalization of the family of polynomials $P_a(z)=z^{d-1}(z- \frac{da}{(d-1)})$, the family $f_{\lambda}=\lambda \tan^p z^q$. These functions have a super-attractive fixed point, and, depending on $p$, one or two asymptotic values. Although many of the dynamical properties generalize, the existence of an essential singularity and of poles of multiplicity greater than one implies that significantly different techniques are required here. Adding transcendental methods to standard ones, we give a description of the dynamical properties; in particular we prove the Julia set of a hyperbolic map is either connected and locally connected or a Cantor set. We also give a description of the parameter plane of the family $f_{\lambda}$. Again there are similarities to and differences from the parameter plane of the family $P_a$ and again there are new techniques. In particular, we prove there is dense set of points on the boundaries of the hyperbolic components that are accessible along curves and we characterize these points.
Between the local and the global in the Age of the Anthropocene: the case for the “regional” in Environmental Studies and Sciences

This article notes that two analytical lenses, one focused on the Blocal^ and the other on the Bglobal,^ have influencedtheEnvironmentalStudies and Sciences(ESS) cur- riculum from its earliest days. It argues that, while vitally important, in the Age of the Anthropocene, the local/global paradigm is not enough. A necessary corrective is the incor- poration of a regional analytical perspective. Such a perspec- tive is needed to provide students with meaningful knowledge of peoples, their livelihoods, and their relationship to ecosys- tems in parts of the world between the local and the global. Revealing the networked relationships between places in con- crete human terms sensitizes students to the complex reasons for ecological destruction and better prepares them to contrib- ute tomorejustandsustainableoutcomes.The paper definesa regional perspective; demonstrates the value of a regional lens to ESS using a case study of one region (Asia) and one envi- ronmental issue (land use changes due to commodity crop expansion); reviews empirical information on how the Asian region is presently incorporated in the undergraduate ESS curriculum; and, based on these findings, concludes by ad- dressing how a regional lens might be more fully incorporated in undergraduate ESS teaching.
Rhythmic grouping biases constrain infant statistical learning.

Linguistic stress and sequential statistical cues to word boundaries interact during speech segmentation in infancy. However, little is known about how the different acoustic components of stress constrain statistical learning. The current studies were designed to investigate whether intensity and duration each function independently as cues to initial prominence (trochaic-based hypothesis) or whether, as predicted by the Iambic-Trochaic Law (ITL), intensity and duration have characteristic and separable effects on rhythmic grouping (ITL-based hypothesis) in a statistical learning task. Infants were familiarized with an artificial language (Experiments 1 and 3) or a tone stream (Experiment 2) in which there was an alternation in either intensity or duration. In addition to potential acoustic cues, the familiarization sequences also contained statistical cues to word boundaries. In speech (Experiment 1) and nonspeech (Experiment 2) conditions, 9-month-old infants demonstrated discrimination patterns consistent with an ITL-based hypothesis: intensity signaled initial prominence and duration signaled final prominence. The results of Experiment 3, in which 6.5-month-old infants were familiarized with the speech streams from Experiment 1, suggest that there is a developmental change in infants’ willingness to treat increased duration as a cue to word offsets in fluent speech. Infants’ perceptual systems interact with linguistic experience to constrain how infants learn from their auditory environment.
The Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program (CTEP) at the National Cancer Institute

The mission of the Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program (CTEP), a clinical research program of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), is to reduce the burden of cancer. CTEP plans, reviews, and coordinates clinical trials for investigational anticancer agents, from the inception of protocols through the preparation and submission of Investigational New Drug Applications (INDs) to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). CTEP also serves as a liaison to the FDA for the extramural clinical research community and industry collaborators. Other CTEP functions include managing, tracking, and reviewing clinical protocols as well as monitoring, planning, and maintaining regulatory compliance of the clinical trials. In addition, CTEP coordinates the distribution of the investigational agents from industry collaborators for use in all NCI-sponsored clinical trials. The advantages of collaborating with CTEP are described as well as details about the contractual framework, either a Clinical Trials Agreement (CTA) or a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA), for such a collaboration. Many of the concerns raised by industry collaborators with respect to intellectual property, data access, and publications are also addressed.