cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Dynamic tensions in indigenous sovereignty and representation: A sampler

Blood Narrative: Indigenous Identity in American Indian and Maori Literary and Activist Texts. Chadwick Allen. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2002. + 308 pp., notes, bibliography, index. The Cunning of Recognition: Indigenous Alterities and the Making of Australian Multiculturalism. Elizabeth A. Povinelli. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2002. xi. 338 pp., photographs, figures, notes, bibliography, index. Wiping the War Paint off the Lens: Native American Film and Video. Beverly R. Singer. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2001. xvi +110 pp., foreword by Robert Warrior, photographs, notes, index.
Cepaea nemoralis (Gastropoda, Helicidae): The Invited Invader

ABSTRACT Marauding snails may not immediately come to mind when considering invasive species, but many non-native snails have successfully colonized the U.S. The wood snail, Cepaea nemoralis (L.), is one of the most striking of these introductions, due in part to its attractive shell coloration. This is one of the few snails that people have purposely introduced into their gardens. Several populations are now established in Kentucky, including a newly discovered population in Kenton County. The bright, striped or solid, yellow, pink, and brown shells of this species have long caught the eyes of natural historians and biologists. Populations of these snails are classic model systems for ecological genetics studies. While introduced populations of wood snails seem to have had only minor impact as agricultural pests, they may have the potential to competitively exclude some native species of snails.
Concentration-dependent dual effect of thrombin on impaired growth/apoptosis or mitogenesis in tumor cells.

Because thrombin-treated tumor cell-induced metastasis increases tumor nodule volume1 2 greater than nodule number, we studied the effect of thrombin on tumor cell growth in vitro and in vivo (murine B16F10 melanoma, human HCT8 colon carcinoma, DU145 prostate carcinoma). Tumor cell growth was measured after 3 to 7 days in 1% fetal calf serum (FCS) + RPMI 1640. We found that, whereas relatively low concentrations of thrombin, 0.1 to 0.5 U/mL (1-5 nmol/L) enhance tumor cell growth in vitro approximately 2- to 3-fold, higher concentrations, 0.5 to 1 U/mL (5-10 nmol/L) impaired cell growth approximately 2- to 4-fold. Impaired cell growth was associated with cell cycle arrest at G2M and increased pre-GoDNA, as well as apoptosis, measured by tumor cell binding to Annexin V and propidium iodide. Apoptosis was reversed with the general caspase inhibitor, FK-011. The enhancing and inhibiting effects were specific for thrombin (reversed with inactive diisopropyl-fluorophosphate [DFP]-thrombin) and mediated via the protease-activated receptor 1 (PAR-1). PAR-1 activation was demonstrated by (1) use of a cell line, B16F10, devoid of the 3 other thrombin receptors, PAR-3, PAR-4, and GPIb; and (2) greater sensitivity of PAR-1 transfected B16F10 and HCT8 cells to impaired cell growth/apoptosis, 3- and 14-fold, respectively. Thus, thrombin has a bimodal effect on PAR-1 in tumor cells: enhanced growth at low concentration, impaired growth/apoptosis at higher concentration.
Arthrofibrosis After Periarticular Fracture Fixation

Arthrofibrosis after periarticular fractures can create clinically significant impairments in both the upper and lower extremities. The shoulder, elbow, and knee are particularly susceptible to the condition. Many risk factors for the development of arthrofibrosis cannot be controlled by the patient or surgeon. Early postoperative motion should be promoted whenever possible. Manipulations under anesthesia are effective for a period of time in certain fracture patterns, and open or arthroscopic surgical debridements should be reserved for the patient for whom nonoperative modalities fail and who has a clinically significant deficit.
Force-Balance Capillary Rheometry at Low Shear Rates

Abstract The validity and accuracy of force-balance rheometry have been demonstrated by comparing data with readily available methods. At low speeds of extrusion the entrance pressure drop accounts for a very small portion of the overall pressure drop. This situation permitted us to show the equivalence between τwa and the true τw derived from equation (5) or the slopes in the Fe−Lb/D graph. Bagley plots confirmed that the effective τw and results from bottom-top dies yield comparable values over a decade of shear rate. Using flow birefringence techniques, Han and Drexler observed an exit effect at shear rates lower than 10 sec−1, but the data obtained with this thermoplastic elastomer indicated that the velocity profile rearranges only when the exit plane is reached. The wall shear stress was also shown to be independent of L/D.
The impact of taxes and regulations on firm births and deaths in state border counties

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of the institutional environment on firm birth and death rates. It is hypothesized that high taxation levels, large government size, high levels of unionization and high minimum wages will be associated with relatively low firm birth and death rates. Design/methodology/approach – This study makes use of a set of custom tabulations from the US Census Bureau that contain data on county-level firm births and deaths. To account for differences in state policies, matched contiguous counties located on state borders are used to calculate matched birth and death ratios. Findings – In the sample of eastern US state border counties, state taxation levels and minimum wages had no significant relationship with firm birth rates, but there was a negative relationship between state union densities and firm birth rates. Both state education and public welfare expenditures were marginally negatively related to firm birth rates. State public welfare expenditu...
Early operation is associated with a survival benefit for patients with adhesive bowel obstruction.

Objective To evaluate the effect of surgical delay on the outcomes of patients with adhesive small bowel obstruction (ASBO). Background It is generally accepted that patients with uncomplicated ASBO failing nonoperative management should be operated on within 5 days. However, the optimal time of operation within this 5-day period is unknown. Methods Patients requiring surgery for ASBO were identified from the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database. Linear regression was performed to evaluate the impact of incremental surgical delay in mortality and complications. The study population was stratified by time to intervention (24-hour intervals), and logistic regression was performed to adjust for premorbid conditions and presentation physiology. The outcomes included 30-day mortality and infectious complications. Results A total of 4163 patients underwent laparotomy for ASBO. Mortality and complications increased significantly with operative delay. Delay of 24 hours or more was associated with significantly higher mortality: 6.5% vs 3.0%; adjusted odds ratio (AOR) [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.58 (1.12-2.24)]; P = 0.009. The delayed operation group (≥24 hours) also had significantly higher rates of surgical site infections [12.9% vs 10.0%; AOR (95% CI), 1.33 (1.08-1.62); P = 0.007], pneumonia (7.9% vs 5.2%; AOR (95% CI), 1.36 (1.04-1.78); P = 0.025], sepsis [7.6% vs 5.1%; AOR (95% CI), 1.45 (1.10-1.90); P = 0.007], and septic shock [6.2% vs 3.5%; AOR (95% CI), 1.47 (1.07-2.02); P = 0.018]. Early operation was associated with significantly shorter hospital stay [8.4 ± 8.3 vs 14.4±13.5 days; adjusted mean difference (95% CI), -5.2 (-5.9 to -4.4); P Conclusions Early operative intervention for patients with ASBO is associated with a significant survival benefit, lower incidence of local and systemic complications, and shorter hospitalization.
Natural Properties and The Special Sciences: Nonreductive Physicalism Without Levels of Reality Or Multiple Realizability

In this paper, I investigate how different views about the vertical and horizontal structure of reality affect the debate between reductive and non-reductive physicalism. This debate is commonly assumed to hinge on whether there are high-level, special science properties that are distinct from low-level physical properties and whether the alleged multiple realizability of highlevel properties establishes this. I defend a metaphysical interpretation of non-reductive physicalism in the absence of both of these assumptions. Adopting an independently motivated, discipline-relative account of natural properties and appealing to a phenomenon I call “multiple determinativity,” in which a single physical property simultaneously realizes different kinds of special science properties, is sufficient to show that some special science properties are irreducible to physical properties and that non-reductive physicalism is not merely a terminological variant of reductive physicalism. For roughly the past forty years, discussions of reductive and non-reductive physicalism have centered on a number of related debates, including the nature and extent of multiple realizability (MR) and whether the MR of a property grounds its irreducibility (e.g., Putnam 1967; Lewis [1969] 1980; Fodor 1974; Kim 1998; Shapiro 2000; Gillett 2003). These debates have commonly been articulated against the background assumption that there is a “vertical” structure of reality. For instance, Jaegwon Kim writes: For much of [the 20th] century, a layered picture of the world . . . has formed a constant—tacitly assumed if not explicitly stated—backdrop for debates on a variety of issues in metaphysics and philosophy of science—for example, reduction and reductionism, the mind-body problem, emergence, the status of the special sciences, and the possibility of a unified science. (1998, 16) As Kim also notes, “sometimes the layered model is couched in terms of concepts and languages rather than entities and their properties” (ibid.). Indeed, some philosophers have voiced skepticism about the existence of metaphysical levels in nature. They argue that levels
Molecular and morphological evidence for hybridization between two ecologically distinct grasshoppers ( Melanoplus sanguinipes and M. devastator ) in California

This paper applies the biological species concept to two ecologically distinct species of grasshopper, Melanoplus sanguinipes and M. devastator, by testing for reproductive isolation in the field in California. Two independent techniques for assessing gene flow between species were employed. Firstly, we examined male genitalic morphology in populations from the foothills of the Sierra Nevada where the two species are parapatric. Two genetically based genitalic traits that differed between allopatric populations of each species formed a cline in this zone. Males captured in the field from the region of parapatry resembled offspring from interspecific laboratory hybridizations. Secondly, we surveyed electrophoretic variation of populations from across California and used F statistics to estimate levels of gene flow within and between species. Results from both morphology and F statistics suggested that these grasshoppers are not reproductively isolated in nature but that gene flow between species is reduced relative to within-species. These field results were consistent with a laboratory study that showed partial but not complete hybrid egg inviability. Because the hybrid zone is centred along an ecological transition, this system offers an opportunity to investigate whether adaptive changes across the zone contribute to reduced gene flow between species.
Polydopamine-Coated, Nitrogen-Doped, Hollow Carbon–Sulfur Double-Layered Core–Shell Structure for Improving Lithium–Sulfur Batteries

To better confine the sulfur/polysulfides in the electrode of lithium–sulfur (Li/S) batteries and improve the cycling stability, we developed a double-layered core–shell structure of polymer-coated carbon–sulfur. Carbon–sulfur was first prepared through the impregnation of sulfur into hollow carbon spheres under heat treatment, followed by a coating polymerization to give a double-layered core–shell structure. From the study of scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) images, we demonstrated that the sulfur not only successfully penetrated through the porous carbon shell but also aggregated along the inner wall of the carbon shell, which, for the first time, provided visible and convincing evidence that sulfur preferred diffusing into the hollow carbon rather than aggregating in/on the porous wall of the carbon. Taking advantage of this structure, a stable capacity of 900 mA h g–1 at 0.2 C after 150 cycles and 630 mA h g–1 at 0.6 C after 600 cycles could be obtained in Li/S batteries. We also demo...
Deep Tissue Infections Caused by Scopulariopsis brevicaulis: Report of a Case of Prosthetic Valve Endocarditis and Review

Scopulariopsis brevicaulis is a saprophytic fungus that commonly causes onychomycosis but rarely causes deep tissue infection. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported case of endocarditis caused by S. brevicaulis. The infection persisted despite two aortic valve replacements, debridement, and prolonged therapy with several antifungal agents. The patient eventually died due to an acute myocardial infarction caused by ongoing prosthetic valve endocarditis. We review case reports of deep tissue infections due to Scopulariopsis species.
Repeated mild traumatic brain injury causes focal response in lateral septum and hippocampus

Aim: To advance our understanding of regional and temporal cellular responses to repeated mild traumatic brain injury (rmTBI), we used a mouse model of rmTBI that incorporated acceleration, deceleration and rotational forces. Materials & methods: A modified weight-drop method was used to compare two inter-injury intervals, rmTBI-short (five hits delivered over 3 days) and rmTBI-long (five hits delivered over 15 days). Regional investigations of forebrain and midbrain histological alterations were performed at three post-injury time points (immediate, 2 weeks and 6 weeks). Results: The rmTBI-short protocol generated an immediate, localized microglial and astroglial response in the dorsolateral septum and hippocampus, with the astroglial response persisting in the dorsolateral septum. The rmTBI-long protocol showed only a transitory astroglial response in the dorsolateral septum. Conclusion: Our results indicate that the lateral septum and hippocampus are particularly vulnerable regions in rmTBI, possibly c...
Creating biomaterials with spatially organized functionality

Biomaterials for tissue engineering provide scaffolds to support cells and guide tissue regeneration. Despite significant advances in biomaterials design and fabrication techniques, engineered tissue constructs remain functionally inferior to native tissues. This is largely due to the inability to recreate the complex and dynamic hierarchical organization of the extracellular matrix components, which is intimately linked to a tissue’s biological function. This review discusses current state-of-the-art strategies to control the spatial presentation of physical and biochemical cues within a biomaterial to recapitulate native tissue organization and function.
VC-bots: a vehicular cloud computing testbed with mobile robots

Smart vehicles with computing, sensing, and communication capabilities are gaining popularity. With various vehicular applications equipped, these smart vehicles not only improve driving safety, but also facilitate data collection and information sharing for traffic optimization, insurance estimation, and infotainment. However, developing and testing such cloud based vehicular application is challenging due to the high cost of running the application on actual cars in various traffic scenarios. For the same reason it is also difficult to understand and model the network protocol behavior among multiple vehicles. In this paper we proposed VC-bots, a vehicular cloud testbed using mobile robot vehicles, which can emulate different types of vehicles for testing vehicular network protocols and vehicular cloud applications in various scenarios, which can be easily reconfigured without any infrastructure assistance. To facilitate software integration, we also developed a message based service framework for applications running on the robot vehicle and in the cloud.
Psychiatric inpatient suicide: A literature review.

Suicides that occur while a patient is hospitalized are tragic events causing immense distress to relatives, peers, and professional care-givers. The prevalence of this infrequent occurrence is between 0.1% and 0.4% of all psychiatric admissions. This article reviews the literature to see if such events can be predicted and prevented; attempts to identify high-risk patients through demographics, diagnoses, medication treatments, and patient social situations; and examines the care-delivery environment such as length of stay and physical surroundings. This article also examines the means patients used to end their lives and when in their hospital course they did so. The authors ask if standard predictors are applicable to hospitalized patients, speculate on potential preventive measures, examine the effect on care providers, and explore what might ease the aftermath. Affective disorders or schizophrenia are most frequently associated with inpatient suicide. Most occur while patients are off the psychiatric unit. Suicides onward are usually accomplished by hanging; off-ward suicides are also often violent. Most patients denied suicidal ideation prior to the act. Factors associated with suicide in the general population are not consistently associated with inpatient suicides. Patient monitoring is not always effective. The first week of hospitalization and the days immediately after discharge are when patients are most vulnerable to end their lives. The authors conclude that the potential for suicide may be present from the initiation of hospitalization, but the ability to determine individuals at risk is, at best, poor.
What’s Wrong with the Platonic Ideal of Space and Time?

To our senses, space is smooth, 3-dimensional, and flat. We move in a continuum where all points are equal (space is “homogeneous”) and all directions are equal (“isotropic”, or “round”). If we head off in any direction, we keep on going, with no curving back on ourselves (“flat”). In short, we seem to live in a universe governed by Euclidean geometry.
Internet Collisions

The Internet was designed to function in a location-agnostic fashion, but there will always be legal considerations and jurisdictions trying to tether the Web to geographical rules and constraints. How will geography and intellectual property affect future Internet practices?
Nanocircuitry, Defect Tolerance and Quantum Computing: Architectural and Manufacturing Considerations

One of my titles is ‘Director of Basic Research’ for Hewlett Packard Laboratories: it’s my privilege to conjecture what long-term research will benefit Hewlett Packard. I hire people, obtain resources for them and set rather loose boundaries for their research areas. I am a big fan of quantum information; I think it’s going to be very important scientifically and technologically, but I don’t really know what specific area to invest in now. I haven’t hired anyone to work directly on quantum information in my lab, even though HP as a company has a roughly $3.1 billion R&D portfolio devoted primarily to information technologies.
Determining the gross biochemical composition of cells and tissue with Raman spectrosocpy

The biochemical composition of mammalian cells has been estimated by Raman spectroscopy and the results compared with other biochemical methods. The Raman spectroscopy estimates were performed by fitting measured Raman and infrared spectra of dense cell suspensions to a linear combination of basis components (RNA, DNA, protein, lipid, glycoen). The Raman spectroscopy results are compared to biochemical analyses performed by extraction and quantfication of the biochemical components. Both absolute and relative measurements of biochemical composition are compared. Both the Raman and biochemical results indicate that there are signficant differences in gross biochemical composition dependent on growth stage and tumorigneicity.
Exploring Protein–Nanoparticle Interactions with Coarse‐Grained Protein Folding Models

Understanding the fundamental biophysics behind protein-nanoparticle (NP) interactions is essential for the design and engineering bio-NP systems. The authors describe the development of a coarse-grained protein-NP model that utilizes a structure centric protein model. A key feature of the protein-NP model is the quantitative inclusion of the hydrophobic character of residues in the protein and their interactions with the NP surface. In addition, the curvature of the NP is taken into account, capturing the protein behavior on NPs of different size. The authors evaluate this model by comparison with experimental results for structure and adsorption of a model protein interacting with an NP. It is demonstrated that the simulation results recapitulate the structure of the small α/β protein GB1 on the NP for data from circular dichroism and fluorescence spectroscopy. In addition, the calculated protein adsorption free energy agrees well with the experimental value. The authors predict the dependence of protein folding on the NP size, surface chemistry, and temperature. The model has the potential to guide NP design efforts by predicting protein behavior on NP surfaces with various chemical properties and curvatures.
Local and global strong solutions for SQG in bounded domains

Abstract We prove local well-posedness for the inviscid surface quasigeostrophic (SQG) equation in bounded domains of R 2 . When fractional Dirichlet Laplacian dissipation is added, global existence of strong solutions is obtained for small data for critical and supercritical cases. Global existence of strong solutions with arbitrary data is obtained in the subcritical cases.
Mobilization of Neural Precursors in the Adult Central Nervous System

In spite of our increased knowledge of adult neurogenesis, Cajal’s dogma of no new neurons is still fundamentally correct when viewed in the context of the brain’s intrinsic repair mechanisms. In the embryo, neurogenesis operates with extraordinary dynamics to generate all of the basic brain structures and circuitry that will be used for the remainder of an individual’s life. At birth, all areas of the brain down-regulate neurogenesis and, in the adult, most areas have stopped producing neurons altogether (at least within the current limits of detection). The last 50 yr, however, have provided evidence for persistent neurogenesis within several anatomically distinct loci in the adult brain. In rodents, the unambiguous exceptions to Cajal’s rule are the hippocampus and olfactory bulb. Ongoing studies indicate that this process may extend to other areas of the primate forebrain (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) and injury may trigger an abortive neurogenesis in many brain regions (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13). In spite of this increasingly liberal view of neurogenesis in the adult, the paucity of neuron replacement following disease or injury leaves the dogma relatively intact. Looking forward, it seems clear that the successful therapeutic mobilization of neural progenitor cells will depend on the precise modulation of local signaling that spans from the recruitment of endogenous stem cells to the fine functional tuning of mature neurons and glia that are inserted into the preexisting circuitry of the adult brain.
Investigation of the effective density of arbitrarily shaped plate-type acoustic metamaterials without mass attached

Abstract The effective densities of arbitrarily shaped plate-type acoustic metamaterials (AMMs) without mass attached are studied in this paper. Acoustic impedances of three different shaped plates, i.e. circle, triangle, and hexagon, are calculated by the meshless boundary method and the effective densities are calculated using the lumped model. To validate the accuracy of this framework, the numerical results are compared with the analytical solution as well as the finite element method (FEM) for circular plates and are compared with FEM for the other two shapes. In general, good agreements can be found provided that a sufficient number of edge points and collocation points are used in the meshless boundary method. For the triangular shape, some discrepancies are found at the low-frequency region and this might have been because of the sharp corners of the triangle. The framework studied in this paper can provide an accurate and efficient method for designing plate-type AMMs with an arbitrary shape.
MicroRNA Pathways in Drosophila

MicroRNAs belong to a class of 20–25 nucleotide noncoding RNAs that posttranscriptionally regulate gene expression in a sequence-specific manner. Members of the microRNA family play roles in the normal physiology and development of diverse organisms. In this review, we focus on the recent progress made in understanding the roles of microRNAs in Drosophila biology. The topics discussed include biogenesis, discovery, mechanism of action, and function of microRNAs in diverse aspects of fly development.
Control, temporal orientation, and the cross-linguistic grammar of trying

The verb try plays a starring role in many example sentences in the control literature. But one of its most basic properties has eluded satisfying explanation: for many speakers of English, try rejects non-control infinitival complements, as in %I tried for John to notice me or %John tried for there to be food on the table. A number of scholars have hypothesized that this fact about try has a semantic basis, but this hypothesis has yet to be fully reconciled with the problem of cross-dialectal and cross-linguistic variation and with existing formal semantic approaches to try-sentences. In this paper, based in part on a novel observation from Spanish and Hebrew about how try’s complement type interacts with its temporal orientation, I aim to further substantiate the semantic approach to try’s behavior. The proposal is couched in an explicit compositional treatment of the formal semantics of try-sentences, whereby non-control try-sentences induce a presupposition failure which can be repaired in some languages via a coercion mechanism that is independently detectable in that in some languages it enables a future orientation for the complement. The implication is that cross-linguistic variation in the inventory of coercion mechanisms obscures an underlyingly principled semantic basis for try’s behavior.
Management of Malocclusion after Maxillofacial Trauma.

Efficacious management of malocclusion following maxillofacial trauma requires understanding of the interaction between teeth and alveolar bone, facial skeleton, temporomandibular joints, and facial neuromusculature. Success is best achieved with a multidisciplinary approach. This article describes the management of malocclusion after primary repair by highlighting important clinical features and offering guidelines for secondary repair through revision surgical reduction, prosthodontic rehabilitation, orthodontic therapy, restorative dentistry, and orthognathic surgery.
Toward a Geometric Approach for the Stability Analysis of Multivariable Systems Affected by Phase Perturbations

Abstract In the study of robustness for multivariable systems with respect to phase perturbations, the manifold of uncertainty is taken to be the set of unitary matrices. It has been shown that if an appropriate basis for C n is used, then the phase perturbations can be represented as a direct sum of an Su(2,C) matrix and an (n-2) identity matrix. Thus, the manifold of uncertainty for phase analysis can be naturally identified with the three sphere, S 3 . As these perturbations result in either a stable or an unstable closed loop system, they have the affect of dividing S 3 into regions of stability and instability. This paper focuses on two—dimensional systems and uses stereographic projection of S 3 \{I} → R 3 to visualize these regions. It is shown that each closed, connected component in the gain crossover region (the collection of frequencies where phase perturbations exist) generates a closed, connected surface on S 3 that separates a stability and instability region. Three specific examples are examined and it is seen that for each case the boundary between the stability and instability region is a closed, continuous surface that is, in general, not smooth.
From Chaos to Turbulence in an Helium Experiment

Libchaber described an experiment in which a sample of Helium at 4K is made to range, by pressure changes, through ten orders of magnitude in the Reynold’s number (or, better, Rayleigh number). By heat conduction measurements, the Nusselt number could be measured, and a plot of Nusselt vs. Rayleigh numbers isolated regions of heat diffusion, convection, liquid oscillation, chaos, transition to turbulence and “soft” and “hard” turbulence. He also discussed some models of turbulence developed by Kadanoff and co-workers, and expressed hope that we are beginning to obtain at least a primitive understanding of this phenomenon. He also described the measurement of wave fronts between two fluids (for example, the interface between two fluids of different viscosities, such as oil and water). He presented beautiful pictures of instabilities developing and, indeed, fully developed, and conjectured that flat fronts are always unstable, while curvature tends to lead to stability.
Solid Phase Microextraction Application in GC/Olfactometry Dilution Analysis

Aroma chemicals, perceived on the olfactory epithelium, impart an odor character to food. Among the hundreds of volatile compounds in natural foods, only a small fraction contribute to the perceived aroma because aroma compounds must be present above their detection threshold to impart a sensation. Additionally, aromas are volatiles, but not all volatiles cause aroma sensation. Over 500 compounds that cause an aroma sensation have been identified as described on the Flavornet (http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/fst/faculty/acree/flavornet/index.html) and the characteristic flavor of a particular food comes from the pattern of aroma compounds volatilizing from food.
EX-SITU AND IN-SITU SAMPLE-AND-DETECTOR CHAMBERS FOR THE STUDY OF PASSIVE FILMS USING SURFACE EXAFS

Two sample-and-detector chambers for the study of surface films on metals using x-ray absorption spectroscopy are described. Results have been obtained using both a high intensity rotating anode x-ray generator and using the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS).
The Fourth Presence in the Fire

I frame as an allegorical window the Hebrew story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and their journey into and through the fiery furnace. The landscape viewed through this window centers around a teaching experience in which we found ourselves almost consumed but ultimately refined.
Acoustic Methods for Pulmonary Diagnosis

Recent developments in sensor technology and computational analysis methods enable new strategies to measure and interpret lung acoustic signals that originate internally, such as breathing or vocal sounds, or are externally introduced, such as in chest percussion or airway insonification. A better understanding of these sounds has resulted in a new instrumentation that allows for highly accurate as well as portable options for measurement in the hospital, in the clinic, and even at home. This review outlines the instrumentation for acoustic stimulation and measurement of the lungs. We first review the fundamentals of acoustic lung signals and the pathophysiology of the diseases that these signals are used to detect. Then, we focus on different methods of measuring and creating signals that have been used in recent research for pulmonary disease diagnosis. These new methods, combined with signal processing and modeling techniques, lead to a reduction in noise and allow improved feature extraction and signal classification. We conclude by presenting the results of human subject studies taking advantage of both the instrumentation and signal processing tools to accurately diagnose common lung diseases. This paper emphasizes the active areas of research within modern lung acoustics and encourages the standardization of future work in this field.
Effect of nanoformulated copper/zinc superoxide dismutase on chronic ethanol-induced alterations in liver and adipose tissue.

Abstract Background We previously reported that nanoformulated copper/zinc superoxide dismutase (Nano) attenuates non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and adipose tissue (AT) inflammation in obese animals. Here, we sought to determine whether Nano treatment attenuates alcohol-associated liver disease (AALD) and AT inflammation in alcohol-fed mice. Methods We pre-treated E-47 cells (HepG2 cells that over-express CYP2E1) with native- or nano-superoxide dismutase (SOD) for 6 h, followed by treatment with ethanol and/or linoleic acid (LA), a free fatty acid. For in vivo studies, male C57BL/6 mice were fed the Lieber-DeCarli control or ethanol liquid diet for 4 weeks. The mice received Nano once every 2 days during the last 2 weeks of ethanol feeding. Results Our in vitro studies revealed that Nano pretreatment reduced LA + ethanol-induced oxidative stress in E-47 cells. Our in vivo experiments showed that ethanol-fed Nano-treated mice had 22% lower hepatic triglyceride levels than mice fed ethanol alone. Nano-treated ethanol-fed mice also had 2-fold lower levels of Cd68 and similarly reduced levels of Ccl2 and Mmp12 mRNAs, than in untreated ethanol-fed mice. We also noted that ethanol feeding caused a remarkable increase in hepatic and/or plasma MCP-1 and CCR2 protein, which was blunted in ethanol + Nano-treated animals. The hepatic content of SREBP-1c, a transcription factor that promotes lipogenesis, was higher in ethanol-fed mice than controls but was attenuated in ethanol + Nano-treated animals. Further, livers of ethanol + Nano-treated mice had significantly higher levels of phosphorylated adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) than both control and ethanol-fed mice. In AT, the levels of Il6 mRNA, a hepatoprotective cytokine, and that of Arg1, a marker of anti-inflammatory macrophages, were significantly increased in ethanol + Nano-treated mice compared with control mice. Conclusion Our data indicate that Nano treatment attenuates ethanol-induced steatohepatitis and that this effect is associated with an apparent activation of AMPK signaling. Our data also suggest that Nano induces Arg1 and Il6 expression in AT, suggesting anti-inflammatory effects in this tissue.
PIGQ glycosylphosphatidylinositol‐anchored protein deficiency: Characterizing the phenotype

PIGQ (OMIM *605754) encodes phosphatidylinositol glycan biosynthesis class Q (PIGQ) and is required for proper functioning of an N-acetylglucosamine transferase complex in a similar manner to the more established PIGA, PIGC, and PIGH. There are two previous patients reported with homozygous and apparently deleterious PIGQ mutations. Here, we provide the first detailed clinical report of a patient with heterozygous deleterious mutations associated with glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored protein (GPI-AP) biosynthesis deficiency. Our patient died at 10 months of age. The rare skeletal findings in this disorder expand the differential diagnosis of long bone radiolucent lesions and sphenoid wing dysplasia. This clinical report describes a new and rare disorder-PIGQ GPI-AP biosynthesis deficiency syndrome.
Correlates of general wellbeing among Bhutanese youths

There are growing rates of international refugees being displaced worldwide, but there is limited understanding of how new waves of refugee youths are adjusting and adapting upon resettlement. The ...
Neoadjuvant treatment strategies for resectable pancreas cancer: A propensity-matched analysis of the National Cancer Database

Abstract Background and purpose The optimal neoadjuvant approach in patients with resectable pancreas cancer is unclear. We investigated outcomes after preoperative chemotherapy alone, chemotherapy with conventionally-fractionated radiation (CFRT), or chemotherapy with stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT). Materials and methods The NCDB was queried for patients with resectable pancreatic adenocarcinoma (pretreatment stage T1-3, N0-1, M0) who received preoperative, multiagent chemotherapy and definitive surgery from 2010 to 2015. CFRT was 40–60 Gy in 20–35 fractions. SBRT was 20–25 Gy in 1 fraction or 30–50 Gy using at least 5 Gy per fraction. Multivariable regression and propensity score matching were used to adjust for potential confounders, including age, comorbidity score, and pretreatment extent of disease. The primary outcome was overall survival measured from surgery. Results In total, 1355 patients received preoperative chemotherapy alone, 552 patients received preoperative chemotherapy with CFRT, and 175 patients received preoperative chemotherapy with SBRT. Receipt of SBRT was associated with significantly improved overall survival compared to chemotherapy alone (median 30 vs 21 months, p = 0.02; adjusted hazard ratio [HR] 0.65, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.47–0.90, p = 0.01). Similarly, SBRT was associated with significantly improved overall survival compared to CFRT (median 29 vs 16 months, p = 0.002; adjusted HR 0.53, 95% CI 0.37–0.76, p = 0.001). Additionally, SBRT was associated with significantly increased rates of pathological complete response and margin-negative resection. Rates of postoperative readmissions and mortality were comparable. Conclusions Neoadjuvant chemotherapy with SBRT is associated with favorable survival and pathological outcomes, warranting consideration for prospective validation.
Barley Yellow Dwarf Viruses (Luteoviridae)

Abstract Barley yellow dwarf disease, one of the most widespread and economically important virus diseases of cereals, is by caused a group of viruses that are persistently transmitted by aphids and induce yellowing and stunting symptoms. Initially, the viruses were considered strains of Barley yellow dwarf virus but later were split into distinct species in two genera, Luteovirus and Polerovirus, within the family Luteoviridae based on molecular properties. The viruses have non-enveloped icosahedral particles composed of one major and one minor capsid protein that encapsidate a single molecule of positive-sense single-stranded RNA of about 5.6 kb.
Using machine learning to predict ICU transfer in hospitalized COVID-19 patients

Objectives: Approximately 20–30% of patients with COVID-19 require hospitalization, and 5–12% may require critical care in an intensive care unit (ICU). A rapid surge in cases of severe COVID-19 will lead to a corresponding surge in demand for ICU care. Because of constraints on resources, frontline healthcare workers may be unable to provide the frequent monitoring and assessment required for all patients at high risk of clinical deterioration. We developed a machine learning-based risk prioritization tool that predicts ICU transfer within 24 h, seeking to facilitate efficient use of care providers’ efforts and help hospitals plan their flow of operations. Methods: A retrospective cohort was comprised of non-ICU COVID-19 admissions at a large acute care health system between 26 February and 18 April 2020. Time series data, including vital signs, nursing assessments, laboratory data, and electrocardiograms, were used as input variables for training a random forest (RF) model. The cohort was randomly split (70:30) into training and test sets. The RF model was trained using 10-fold cross-validation on the training set, and its predictive performance on the test set was then evaluated. Results: The cohort consisted of 1987 unique patients diagnosed with COVID-19 and admitted to non-ICU units of the hospital. The median time to ICU transfer was 2.45 days from the time of admission. Compared to actual admissions, the tool had 72.8% (95% CI: 63.2–81.1%) sensitivity, 76.3% (95% CI: 74.7–77.9%) specificity, 76.2% (95% CI: 74.6–77.7%) accuracy, and 79.9% (95% CI: 75.2–84.6%) area under the receiver operating characteristics curve. Conclusions: A ML-based prediction model can be used as a screening tool to identify patients at risk of imminent ICU transfer within 24 h. This tool could improve the management of hospital resources and patient-throughput planning, thus delivering more effective care to patients hospitalized with COVID-19.
Testing Pediatric Emergency Telemedicine Implementation Strategies Using Quality Improvement Methods

Background: Despite the recognized benefits of telemedicine use for pediatric emergency consultations, there are barriers to the widespread uptake of this technology. Quality improvement methods can be used to rapidly test implementation strategies. Our objective was to test telemedicine implementation strategies in real-world application using quality improvement methods. Our quality improvement aim was to achieve high rates of telemedicine use for pediatric transfer consultations. Methods: A multidisciplinary multisite improvement team identified that key drivers of increasing telemedicine use included telemedicine resource awareness, streamlined telemedicine workflow, provider buy-in, and data transparency. Interventions focused on telemedicine trainings, disseminating telemedicine uptake data, telemedicine reminders, telemedicine test calls, and preparing for telemedicine use for every transfer consultation. The outcome measure was percentage of pediatric emergency transfer consultations that used telemedicine. The balancing measure was time (minutes) from the initial transfer center call to completion of the consultation. Results: Multiple plan-do-study-act cycles were associated with special cause variation, with an upward shift in mean percentage of telemedicine use from 5% to 22%. Time from initial call to consultation completion remained unchanged. Conclusion: Our study supports the use of quality improvement methods to test telemedicine implementation strategies for pediatric telemedicine emergency consultations.
Benefits of Flipped Learning for Developmental Mathematics

Current research shows community college students face numerous obstacles that limit their success in developmental mathematics courses. This study surveyed students to determine whether flipped le...
Microbiological Controls on Dimethylsulfide Emissions from Wetlands and the Ocean

Interest in the biogeochemistry of dimethyl sulfide [CH3SCH3; DMS) has grown substantially in recent years because it is now recognized that DMS is the principal form of volatile sulfur which is emitted from natural ecosystems to the atmosphere (Andreae, 1990). The emissions of DMS from the ocean in particular have received a great deal of attention because the oceanic flux contributes nearly half of the global biogenic sulfur emission to the atmosphere (Andreae, 1990). Furthermore, it has been proposed that oceanic DMS emissions may play a role in modulating global climate through the generation of sulfate aerosols which scatter sunlight and contribute to cloud formation (Bates et al. , 1987; Charlson et al. , 1987; Malin et al. , 1992). Wetland DMS emissions, on the other hand, have little effect on global fluxes but may be important with respect to regional atmospheric chemistry and to sulfur cycling within sulfur-poor freshwater ecosystams (Nriagu et al., 1987). Recent investigations by Hines and co-workers (de Mello and Hines, 1994; Hines, In Press) have found that Sphagnum-dominated wetlands, in particular, have areal DMS flux rates which are comparable to those observed from the oceans.
On the Generalizability of Conservation: Context and Transformation

I will begin by briefly describing three studies of conservation of number in young children. I will then use these studies, as well as much other recent work on conservation, to make some general points with respect to both young children’s abilities and cognitive assessment.
Transverse-plane topography of long-chain acyl-CoA synthetase in the mitochondrial outer membrane.

Transverse-plane topography of mitochondrial outer-membrane long-chain acyl-CoA synthetase was investigated using proteases as probes for exposure of crucial domains, i.e. domains containing the active site or otherwise required for enzymatic activity. Incubation of intact mitochondria with the nonspecific proteases proteinase K and subtilisin resulted in a time-dependent loss of 90% or more of the long-chain acyl-CoA synthetase activity compared to control incubations. The integrity of the outer membrane before and during this treatment was shown by cytochrome c oxidase latency as well as the stability of adenylate kinase activity in the presence of protease. After a 15-min incubation in these conditions, site-specific proteases such as trypsin and chymotrypsin had only a limited inhibitory effect (29 and 58% loss of activity, respectively); however, treatment of hypotonically disrupted mitochondria with these proteases resulted in increased (71 and 77%, respectively) loss of activity. Exposure of trypsin-sensitive crucial domains on the inner surface of the membrane was directly demonstrated by incubation of trypsin-loaded outer-membrane vesicles. Together, these results suggest that mitochondrial long-chain acyl-CoA synthetase is a transmembrane enzyme, possessing crucial domains on both sides of the outer membrane. However, the cytosolic exposure of the enzyme does not appear to be affected by a change in the medium ionic strength as seen previously for other outer-membrane enzymes. In an experiment investigating the topography of the active site of the enzyme, an immobilized substrate analog, desulfo-CoA-agarose, was preincubated with intact mitochondria. This resulted in up to a 42% loss of the activity of long-chain acyl-CoA synthetase, consistent with a cytosolic exposure for at least the CoA-binding domain of the active site.
Compilation and Runtime-Optimizations for Software Distributed Shared Memory

We present two novel optimizations for compiling High Performance Fortran (HPF) to page-based software distributed shared memory systems (SDSM). One technique, compiler-managed restricted consistency, uses compiler-derived knowledge to delay the application of memory consistency operations to data that is provably not shared in the current synchronization interval, thus reducing false sharing. The other technique, compiler-managed shared buffers, when combined with the previous optimization, eliminates fragmentation. Together, the two techniques permit compiler-generated code to efficiently apply multi-dimensional computation partitioning and wavefront parallelism to execute efficiently on SDSM systems.
The Stress Controlled Cyclic Fatigue and Fracture Behavior of Alloy Steel 300M

In this manuscript the results of a study aimed at understanding the extrinsic influence of test specimen orientation, with respect to wrought alloy steel plate, on high cycle fatigue properties and fracture behavior is highlighted. The alloy steel chosen was 300 M. Samples of this alloy steel prepared from both the longitudinal and transverse orientation were cyclically deformed over a range of maximum stress and the corresponding number of cycles to failure (NF) was recorded. The influence of test specimen orientation and intrinsic microstructural effects on cyclic fatigue life is presented. At the chosen test temperature, the macroscopic fracture mode was essentially identical regardless of the orientation of the test specimen with respect to the wrought plate. The microscopic mechanisms governing cyclic deformation, fatigue life and final fracture behavior is presented in light of the mutually interactive influences of magnitude of applied stress, intrinsic microstructural effects, orientation of test specimen, and deformation characteristics of the constituents in the microstructure of this alloy steel.