cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Impact of reduced glomerular filtration rate on outcomes in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction undergoing fibrinolysis: a CLARITY-TIMI 28 analysis

Reduced glomerular filtration rate (GFR) is associated with adverse outcomes in patients with cardiovascular disease. We explored the relationship between GFR and angiographic and clinical outcomes in ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients receiving pharamacologic reperfusion, with or without clopidogrel. Data were available to estimate GFR in 3,252 STEMI patients undergoing fibrinolysis, randomized to clopidogrel versus placebo in the CLARITY-TIMI 28 trial. Patients with a creatinine > 2.5 mg/dl were excluded from the trial. We compared outcomes between patients with no, mild or moderate reductions in baseline estimated GFR (ml/min/1.73 m²) of ≥ 90, 60-89, and <60, respectively. Compared to patients with no (n = 841) or mildly reduced GFR (n = 1897), those with moderately reduced GFR (n = 514) were older, more often female, and were more likely to have diabetes and hypertension (P ≤ 0.001 for all). The risk of the primary endpoint (an occluded infarct-related artery on angiography or death/myocardial infarction by day 8), 30 day cardiovascular events (death, myocardial infarction, or urgent revascularization for recurrent ischemia) and 30 day Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction (TIMI) major or minor bleeding increased as GFR declined (P for trend 0.003, <0.0001, and 0.0008 respectively). The adjusted risk of 30 day ischemic complications remained higher in patients with moderately reduced versus normal GFR (OR 1.5, 95% CI 1.0-2.1, P = 0.04). Treatment with clopidogrel tended to yield greater benefit in patients with normal or mildly reduced GFR versus in patients with moderately reduced GFR. In conclusion, STEMI patients with reduced GFR treated with medical reperfusion, including dual antiplatelet therapy, have higher rates of adverse clinical outcome. Further research on optimal STEMI therapy in this high-risk group is warranted.
Investigations of iron coordination and redox reactions in seawater using 59Fe radiometry and ion-pair solvent extraction of amphiphilic iron complexes

Hudson, R.J.M., Covault, D.T. and Morel, F.M.M., 1992. Investigations of iron coordination and redox reactions in seawater using 59Fe radiometry and ion-pair solvent extraction of amphiphilic iron complexes. Mar. Chem., 38: 209-235. Iron coordination and redox reactions in synthetic and coastal seawater were investigated at nanomolar concentrations using 59Fe radiometry and ion-pair solvent extraction of iron chelated by sulfoxine (8-hydroxyquinoline-5-sulfonate) and BPDS (bathophenanthroline disulfonate). Using sulfoxine, we determined the rate at which the monomeric Fe(IIl) hydroxide species present in seawater of pH 8 are complexed by the microbial siderophore deferriferrioxamine B and the synthetic chelator EDTA (ethylenediaminetetraacetie acid). Forward rate constants of 2 × 106M- m s - ~ and 20 M-ms-l, respectively, were obtained. The kinetics of these reactions have not been measured previously at pH values near that of seawater. Conditional equilibrium constants measured for the Fe (III)EDTA system are consistent with published stability constants for EDTA complexes and for Fe(llI) hydrolytic equilibria minus the neutral Fe(OH)~ species, suggesting it is not quantitatively significant near pH 8. Commercial humic acid was found to have sufficient affinity for iron to compete with Fe(IIl) hydrolysis in seawater, and limited evidence was obtained for an interaction with dissolved organic matter in coastal seawater. In our investigations of redox reactions using BPDS to trap Fe (II) produced in the medium, we observed enhanced photoreduction of Fe (III) by humic acid as well as reduction induced by solutes released from phytoplankton in seawater of pH 8. Although the method is sensitive enough to work at near-oceanic levels of iron, the difficulty in distinguishing Fe(II) generated by Fe(III)-BPDS interactions from Fe (II) produced by other means limits its utility. This analytical ambiguity may be generalizable to other methods which measure ferrous iron in seawater using Fe (II)-specific ligands.
Evolving to Divide the Fruits of Cooperation

Cooperation and the allocation of common resources are core features of social behavior. Games idealizing both interactions have been studied separately. But here, rather than examining the dynamics of the individual games, the interactions are combined so that players first choose whether to cooperate, and then, if they jointly cooperate, they bargain over the fruits of their cooperation. It is shown that the dynamics of the combined game cannot simply be reduced to the dynamics of the individual games and that both cooperation and fair division are more likely in the combined game than in the constituent games taken separately.
Transvaginal mesh in the media following the 2011 US food and drug administration public health notification update

Aims Prompted by patients’ changing perceptions of transvaginal mesh, this study examines how mesh has been reported in the news following the 2011 US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) updated notification about the use of mesh in the treatment of pelvic organ prolapse. Methods Two national newspaper databases were queried for articles discussing transvaginal mesh published within 3 years of the FDA announcement. Content analysis included headline subjects, mesh-related complications, quoted sources, and the FDA recommendations. To determine whether more widely read sources publish higher quality reporting, a subgroup analysis was conducted based on newspaper circulation. Results Ninety-five articles met inclusion criteria. Mesh-related litigation was the most common headline subject (36 articles, 38%), and 54% of all articles referenced legal action. Fifty-seven articles (60%) cited at least one mesh-related complication. Only 18 articles (19%) quoted surgeons who use transvaginal mesh. For the FDA update, 40% of articles that first reported the announcement accurately specified that it applies to mesh for prolapse, not incontinence. This ambiguity persisted: half of all articles cited the warning, but only 23% distinguished between prolapse and incontinence. Higher newspaper circulation did not significantly improve the quality of reporting about the content or context of the FDA's recommendations. Conclusions Despite frequent media coverage of transvaginal mesh and its complications since 2011, very few news sources that cited the FDA warning distinguished between prolapse and incontinence. Given prevalent reporting of mesh-related litigation, the findings raise concern about how patients perceive the safety and efficacy of transvaginal mesh, regardless of indication. Neurourol. Urodynam. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Influenza antibody archaeology

An interesting aspect of immunity against influenza viruses lies in the influence that early exposures to different strains of the virus have on the antibodies generated over the course of one’s life. To understand this relationship between early exposures and current influenza antibody repertoire
US International Tax Policy: Is Significant Reform on the Way?

The Administration’s proposal for international tax policy reform is evaluated relative to another alternative, burden-neutral worldwide taxation, which also addresses the concerns that exist under the U.S. international tax policy. Both the Administration’s reform proposal and burden-neutral worldwide taxation address the concerns caused by the deferral provision, but the most notable difference between the two alternative international tax policies is the intended use for the government revenues generated from the proposals’ modification to the deferral provision. Under the Administration’s proposal the revenues generated from limiting deferral are retained by the government resulting in an effective tax increase on multinationals that currently benefit from the deferral provision. In contrast, burden-neutral worldwide taxation is revenue-neutral as it uses the tax revenues generated by the repeal of the deferral provision to reduce the top corporate tax rate for U.S. corporations from 35 percent to 28 percent. While maintaining government revenues at their current level, burden-neutral worldwide taxation would make the average U.S. corporation more competitive in the global economy, and it would also achieve horizontal equity for U.S. corporations. That is, U.S. corporations, both with and without foreign operations, would be taxed the same regardless of where the income is earned. The comparison of the reform proposals is important as the differences between the alternatives highlights the concerns of policymakers that are likely to be the main topics of upcoming debates to decide the future of the international tax policy. Based on the sentiments of policymakers, the United States may finally achieve significant reform of the international tax policy, but this study presents evidence to suggest that the primary caveat for significant reform to take place is policymakers’ ability to keep U.S. corporations competitive in the global economy.
Son of God, Seed of David: Paul's Messianic Exegesis in Romans 2:3-4

The opening of Paul's letter to Rome broadly follows the traditional Greco-Roman letter format: sender to receiver, Xaipatv; but within this framework, Paul inserts an unusual elaboration of the gospel under his selfcharacterization as the letter's author. Martin Hengel observed in 1975: "more has been written about [Rom 1:3-4] than about any other New Testament text."I Even if Hengel's statement no longer holds true statistically, this confessional fragment in Paul's letter to Rome continues to command and deserve scholarly attention. The state and terms of twentieth-century discussion of Rom 1:3-4 were canonically formulated by Rudolf Bultmann:
Determinants of Net Interest Margin (NIM) in Selected South Asian and South East Asian Countries

In the present paper we examine the determinants of net interest margin (NIM) in a handful of South Asian and South East Asian countries. We use the model to find empirical support for two major hypotheses: first, the structure-conduct-performance (SCP-approach); and second, the Efficiency hypothesis- EF-hypothesis. SCP is the traditional industrial organization based approach. We find support for the SCP-approach. Our findings also reveal that in the developing country context, banks charge higher interest rate to cover higher loan risk ( NIM is positively associated with the ratio of Loan to Total Assets).
Generalizing performance limitations of relay neurons: Application to Parkinson's disease

Relay cells are prevalent throughout sensory systems and receive two types of inputs: driving and modulating. The driving input contains receptive field properties that must be transmitted while the modulating input alters the specifics of transmission. Relay reliability of a relay cell is defined as the fraction of pulses in the driving input that generate action potentials at the neuron's output, and is in general a complicated function of the driving input, the modulating input and the cell's properties. In a recent study, we computed analytic bounds on the reliability of relay neurons for a class of Poisson driving inputs and sinusoidal modulating inputs. Here, we generalize our analysis and compute bounds on the relay reliability for any modulating input. Furthermore, we show that if the modulating input is generated by a colored Gaussian process, closed form expressions for bounds on relay reliability can be derived. We applied our analysis to investigate relay reliability of thalamic cells in health and in Parkinson's disease (PD). It is hypothesized that in health, neurons in the motor thalamus relay information only when needed and this capability is compromised in PD due to exaggerated beta-band oscillations in the modulating input from the basal ganglia (BG). To test this hypothesis, we used modulating and driving inputs simulated from a detailed computational model of the cortico-BG-thalamo-cortical motor loop and computed our theoretical bounds in both PD and healthy conditions. Our bounds match well with our empirically computed reliability and show that the relay reliability is larger in the healthy condition across the population of thalamic neurons. Furthermore, we show that the increase in power in the beta-band of the modulating input (output of BG) is causally related with the decrease in relay reliability in the PD condition.
Surgical management of traumatic avulsion of the ischial tuberosity in young athletes.

Objective:Complete traumatic avulsion of the ischial tuberosity in young athletes is rare, and the optimal treatment is unclear. The purpose of this article is to present our experience and the efficacy of surgical repair of avulsions of the ischial tuberosity with bony dislocation of more than 2 cm
A study on PFGE molecular typing and antimicrobial resistance of Salmonella separated from food poisoning

Objective:To study the molecular typing and antimicrobial resistance of Salmonella separated from food poisoning of Zhaoqing.Methods:Strain isolation,biochemical and serotype identification were done according to GB/T4789.4-2003 methods.Use PFGE to identify the molecular type,use antimicrobial-susceptibility card and instrument to survey antimicrobial resitance.Results:8 strains of S.taksony were found in 12 specimens from patient and food.The belt-line types of the eight S.taksony strains were the same by PFGE molecular typing,that′s indicated that the 8 taksony came from the same sources.The result of antimicrobial test for 21 kinds of antibiotics indicated that the strains were susceptible to most of the cephalosporins and quinolones.Conclusion:PFGE is an effective molecular method for typing.It is important to establish PFGE fingerprinting database and PulseNet for preventing the outbreaks of foodborne disease.
Urolithogenesis of Mixed Foreign Body Stones

Urine of male Sprague-Dawley rats was supersaturated for struvite and often contained struvite crystals. Ethylene glycol administration to these rats resulted in elevation of urinary oxalate and calcium oxalate supersaturation, and induced calcium oxalate crystalluria. Implantation of foreign bodies in their urinary bladders and changing their urinary ambient conditions by administering ethylene glycol for two weeks at two week intervals resulted in the formation of urinary stones of mixed composition containing calcium oxalate and struvite. Crystal-onto-crystal epitaxy did not appear to play any role in the development of these stones.
Solar Mandates for Real Estate Development: A Guide and Model Ordinance

Solar energy development is an increasingly cost-effective way for communities to diversify their energy portfolios, promote local economic growth, and help to protect the nation’s natural resources. Recognizing the potential benefits of solar power, state and local governments across the United States have introduced tax credits, subsidies, rebates, and other policies in recent years to promote solar energy within their boundaries. Most of these policies seek to encourage solar energy development by offsetting the real cost to landowners of installing solar energy systems on their properties. Although these valuable programs clearly increase voluntarily solar energy installations within a jurisdiction, many of them can also require substantial government funding. Because of widespread state and municipal budget pressures, such policies are increasingly difficult to enact and maintain at the local level. Fortunately, there exists a way for local governments to significantly increase solar energy installations within their boundaries without bearing the cost: through policies that require citizens to install onsite solar energy systems or contribute funds toward offsite solar energy facilities as a condition to receiving building or subdivision approvals. Because developers and the purchasers of homes or spaces within their new projects bear most of the costs under these “solar mandate” policies, such policies can significantly increase local solar energy development activity with minimal government funding. This Guide describes how local governments can use solar mandates to increase solar energy development and seeks to assist local government officials in adopting such policies in their respective jurisdictions. Built upon the inventive policy efforts of a small handful of cities and counties throughout the country, and consistent with a scope of local building regulation that has existed for decades, the model code provisions accompanying this Guide can be a low-cost and politically feasible way for local governments to accelerate the growth of solar energy development within their communities.
To log, or not to log: using heuristics to identify mandatory log events – a controlled experiment

User activity logs should capture evidence to help answer who, what, when, where, why, and how a security or privacy breach occurred. However, software engineers often implement logging mechanisms that inadequately record mandatory log events (MLEs), user activities that must be logged to enable forensics. The objective of this study is to support security analysts in performing forensic analysis by evaluating the use of a heuristics-driven method for identifying mandatory log events. We conducted a controlled experiment with 103 computer science students enrolled in a graduate-level software security course. All subjects were first asked to identify MLEs described in a set of requirements statements during the pre-period task. In the post-period task, subjects were randomly assigned statements from one type of software artifact (traditional requirements, use-case-based requirements, or user manual), one readability score (simple or complex), and one method (standards-, resource-, or heuristics-driven). We evaluated subject performance using three metrics: statement classification correctness (values from 0 to 1), MLE identification correctness (values from 0 to 1), and response time (seconds). We test the effect of the three factors on the three metrics using generalized linear models. Classification correctness for statements that did not contain MLEs increased 0.31 from pre- to post-period task. MLE identification correctness was inconsistent across treatment groups. For simple user manual statements, MLE identification correctness decreased 0.17 and 0.12 for the standards- and heuristics-driven methods, respectively. For simple traditional requirements statements, MLE identification correctness increased 0.16 and 0.17 for the standards- and heuristics-driven methods, respectively. Average response time decreased 41.7 s from the pre- to post-period task. We expected the performance of subjects using the heuristics-driven method to improve from pre- to post-task and to consistently demonstrate higher MLE identification correctness than the standards-driven and resource-driven methods across domains and readability levels. However, neither method consistently helped subjects more correctly identify MLEs at a statistically significant level. Our results indicate additional training and enforcement may be necessary to ensure subjects understand and consistently apply the assigned methods for identifying MLEs.
Stereolithographic 3D Bioprinting for Biomedical Applications

Abstract In recent years, stereolithographic fabrication has advanced greatly in the quality, resolution, and accuracy of manufactured parts. The concurrent development of photocurable resins that are biocompatible, biodegradable, and bioactive has enabled a vast array of biomedical and translation medical applications of stereolithography-based fabrication technologies. Stereolithographic techniques have been readily integrated with medical imaging technologies in order to improve disease diagnosis, preoperative planning, quality and morphology of prosthetics and implants, and functional success of complex surgeries. Furthermore, stereolithography has established itself as one of the primary enabling tools that will be useful for regenerative medicine applications in the coming years. As a whole, the versatility in design, scale, resolution, and broad applicability of stereolithographic technologies render them the ideal enabling technology for biomedical and translational medical applications.
Overview of Neural and Symbolic Systems

Expert system and neural network technologies have developed to the point that the advantages of each can be combined into more powerful systems. In some cases, neural computing systems are replacing expert systems and other AI solutions. In other applications, neural networks provide features not possible with conventional AI systems, and they could provide aspects of intelligent behavior that have thus far eluded the AI symbolic/logical approach.
Archiving Wimmen: Collectives, Networks, and Comix

ABSTRACTWimmen’s Comix, an underground comix series, featured the contributions of roughly 100 women in its two decades of existence: 1972–1992. Its preservation in physical and digital archives often prioritises prolific creators, effectively erasing the contributions of a majority of the women, nearly half of whom contributed just once to the series. Through an analysis of this series and its status in archives, this essay examines how archival practices bury visual media. Through studying how this series is organised across a number of archives, I suggest better ways to archive these works that echo their collective politics and honour women’s hybrid media forms. In critiquing physical and digital archives, I argue that a feminist politic must govern the structuring of such spaces. To represent this media better, I propose that we embrace the idea of the network as a method for organising these materials in archives.
Peer Review—Past, Present, and Future

This chapter focuses on peer review of manuscripts on original research submitted for consideration for publication in scientific and medical journals. Editors of journals use external experts in the manuscript topic to scrutinize new manuscripts to ensure certain standards of quality are met before they can be accepted for publication. Topics covered include the past, present, and future of peer review, how to find reviewers, how to review manuscripts, and a potpourri of related peer review issues. These range from types of peer review systems, comparison of quality of reports from different systems, improvement of manuscripts after peer review, conflicts of interest of reviewers, manipulation of peer review by fake reviewers, what happens to rejected manuscripts, time spent in, and the sustainability of peer review.
Crimmigration, Deportability and the Social Exclusion of Noncitizen Immigrants

The spread of crimmigration policies, practices, and rhetoric represents an "economically rational" strategy and has significant implications for the lived experience of noncitizen immigrants. This study draws up in-depth interviews of immigrants with a range of legal statuses to describe the mechanics through which immigrants internalize and respond to the fear of deportation, upon which crimmigration strategies rely. The fear of deportation and its behavioral effects extend beyond undocumented or criminally convicted immigrants, encompassing lawful permanent residents and naturalized citizens alike. This fear causes immigrants to refuse to use public services, endure labor exploitation, and avoid public spaces, resulting in social exclusion and interrupted integration, which is detrimental to US society as a whole.
Mao and the Chinese Revolutionary Civil War

Many scholars make the mistake of confusing Mao’s teachings about insurgency with his actual actions in the Chinese Revolutionary Civil War of 1917 to 1949. Drawing upon both primary and secondary source accounts, this chapter shows how the actions that Mao and his followers took during the war actually stood markedly at odds with Mao’s teachings on insurgency. This chapter highlights, for example, how Mao provided confusing and often conflicting political goals for his followers, prioritized the welfare of his military forces over the well-being of civilians, obtained most of his arms and equipment from the Soviet Union rather than by building a self-sustaining economic infrastructure, and acted in multiple other ways that contrasted with his own teachings on insurgency.
Butorphanol tartrate acts to decrease sow activity, which could lead to reduced pig crushing.

The objective of this study was to determine whether administration of an analgesic to sows immediately after farrowing would allow them to lie more restfully. Sows lying on their pigs, causing them to be "crushed," is a major cause of pig mortality. Most deaths due to crushing occur during the first 3 d postpartum. For modern, lean-type sows, farrowing crates are relatively hard and unforgiving, even though they may be equipped with plastic-coated, expanded metal flooring. Indeed, many sows develop pressure sores on their shoulders, and this may contribute to the sows' discomfort. These sores may cause a sow to change position frequently to alleviate pain, thus increasing its chances of crushing pigs. Sixteen production sows were assigned to either a control group (C, n = 8) with litter size 11.71+/-.78 or an experimental group (B, n = 8) with litter size 11.63+/-1.22. Pigs born to C and B sows weighed 1.60+/-.04 and 1.37+/-.04 kg, respectively. The C sows were given no treatment, whereas the B sows were administered an i.m. injection of butorphanol tartrate at a dose of .15 mg/kg BW every 6 h until 3 d after farrowing. Data were collected on all sows using time-lapse photography (1 frame/.4 s) for a 3-d duration upon the initiation of farrowing. To assess the degree of comfort of each sow, body position changes were recorded when sows switched between lying, sitting, and standing. Data were analyzed by 12-h periods using Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney equations. During the 72-h period, B sows tended to perform fewer position changes than C sows (P = .10). Specifically, position changes were fewer for B sows from 48 to 72 h postpartum (P .50). There was no difference in the rate of crushing between treatments (C = 5, B = 5). The butorphanol did not seem to affect pig activity or normal behaviors or to create adverse effects, such as diarrhea. Although the sows given butorphanol showed a reduced number of position changes, the dose was intermediate, and a higher dose may have a greater effect. If pig mortality can be decreased, an analgesic protocol that is simple to administer and readily available to producers can be developed. Alternatively, using of more pliable flooring or an increase in sow body fat may allow sows to lie more stationary.
Technological innovation and ethical response in neurosurgery.

The authors describe a historical pattern in which a set of enabling technologies facilitates rapid advances in medical practice, resulting in recognition of new ethical challenges and a decades-long struggle to resolve them.
DYNAMICAL COMPLEXITY OF MAPS OF THE INTERVAL

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses dynamical complexity of maps of the interval. The Sarkovskii stratification provides one measure of the dynamical complexity of a map of the interval. A quantitative measure of dynamical complexity is given by the topological entropy. The chapter describes sharp relations between topological entropy and the Sarkovskii stratification. Homoclinic orbits provide a fourth measure of dynamical complexity. For any continuous one parameter family of C 1 maps, having zero entropy for some parameter value and positive entropy for some larger parameter value, there are infinitely many parameters where homoclinic orbits of new periods are created. For quadratic-like maps, the turbulence stratification is the same as the homoclinic stratification.
Investigations on the Timing of Fruit Infection by Fungal Pathogens Causing Fruit Rot of Deciduous Holly

Fruit rot of deciduous holly is an emerging fungal disease that is affecting plant production across midwestern and eastern U.S. nurseries. To determine the growth stage(s) of host susceptibility to infection by the major pathogens associated with the disease, Alternaria alternata and Diaporthe ilicicola, and minor pathogens such as Colletotrichum fioriniae and Epicoccum nigrum, we conducted two sets of experiments over two consecutive seasons. In the first case we monitored the presence of the pathogens as well as disease progression in a commercial nursery under natural conditions by collecting plant tissues from the flower bud stage until fruit maturity. The target pathogens were consistently isolated from asymptomatic samples at all stages of fruit development and from symptomatic samples at fruit maturity across the 2 years of collection. A significant increase in fungal isolation frequency, primarily species of Alternaria and Colletotrichum, was observed right after flowering, but fruit rot symptoms only developed on mature fruit. In the second case we artificially inoculated containerized plants maintained outdoor at our research farm with individual or combined pathogens at different fruit developmental stages, and we assessed disease incidence on mature fruit to determine the time of host susceptibility to infection and, indirectly, whether pathogens in the fungal complex carry out latent infections. D. ilicicola could cause latent infection on deciduous holly fruit when inoculated at the full bloom and petal fall stages, and all inoculations made on wounded mature fruit resulted in fruit rot. These findings suggest that flowering represents a critical period to manage D. ilicicola infections and that mature fruit should be protected from any injury to avoid disease. In both experiments a negative correlation between disease incidence and temperature was found; however, the decrease in temperature also coincided with fruit ripening. The effects of temperature and changes in physiological properties of the fruit during maturation on disease development should be further investigated to fully interpret these findings.
3D graphics to virtual reality in medicine: Opportunities and prospective

Abstract Today, in medicine, performing a procedure on a human requires complex anatomical and physiological knowledge, including 3D relational and physical properties. All commonly employed imaging modalities attempt to recapitulate this information in some useable form. Each technique, however, can only retrieve a small slice of spatial, temporal, or conceptual knowledge of the body area of interest. Furthermore, in some cases like computed tomography, a large amount of information is gathered without a clear strategy for manual or automated analysis. Current software developments are slowly realizing a convergence of medical imaging methodologies toward one of greater realism. For the purposes of this chapter, this “coming together” of disciplines will be delineated as the field of 3D graphics. Although this is a simplification, 3D graphics will be the primary foundation for a much larger hybridized field whose aim will be the creation of informative and accurate medical spatial representations. To understand how this will affect the clinical fields, we will need to first explore 3D graphics more holistically, delving into areas of physical simulation, 3D movie rendering, video game development, and the expansion of 3D visualization hardware. As we explore these fields, we will relate each of these subdomains to analogous examples in the medical field, also documenting opportunities for commercialization and innovation.
Smoke Emission Factors from Medium-Scale Fires: Part 1

The concept of “nuclear winter” has been postulated with a number of assumptions regarding the smoke produced by post-nuclear-exchange fires. Whether nuclear winter would occur in the aftermath of a nuclear exchange depends largely on the quantity and character of smoke generated, its distribution in the atmosphere, and its optical characteristics. Since most of the current information is derived from small-scale experiments with little or no correlating data for larger scales on the order of actual buildings, a series of 11 medium-scale experiments with representative urban fuels, such as wood and asphalt roofing shingles, have been conducted. The effects of different combustion conditions resulting from differences in fuel composition, geometry, and ventilation have been investigated. The present state of knowledge regarding smoke production from building fires is briefly reviewed and placed into the nuclear winter framework. Plywood sheets were burned in a parallel plate configuration, a geometry in wh...
The TLR5 agonist flagellin modifies phenotypical and enhances functional activation of lung mucosal antigen presenting cells in neonatal mice

Intranasal mucosal vaccines are of interest in that they may induce protective mucosal immune responses. Activation of lung antigen presenting cells (APCs), a phenotyoically and functionally heterogeneous cell population located at distinct mucosal sites, may be key to the immunogenicity of such vaccines. Characterizing responsiveness of newborn lung APCs to adjuvants may inform design of efficacious intranasal vaccines for early life, when most infections occur. We characterized APCs from neonatal (<7 days of life) and adult (6-8 weeks of age) mice. Neonatal mice displayed a relatively high abundance of alveolar macrophages (AMs), with lower percentages of plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs), CD103+ (cDC1) and CD11b+ (cDC2) DCs. Furthermore, neonatal CD103+ and CD11b+ DC subsets demonstrated an inverse expression of maturation markers as compared to adult mice. Upon stimulation of lung APC subsets with a panel of pattern recognition receptor (PRR), including TLR and STING, agonists, CD11c+ enriched cells from neonatal and adult mice lungs demonstrated distinct maturation profiles. The TLR5 ligand, flagellin, was most effective at activating neonatal lung APCs, inducing significantly higher expression of maturation markers on CD103+ (cDC1) and CD11b+ (cDC2) subsets. Intranasal administration of flagellin induced a distinct migration of CD103+ and CD11b+ DC subsets to the mediastinal lymph nodes (mLNs) of neonatal mice. Overall, these findings highlight age specific differences in the maturation and responsiveness of lung APC subsets to different PRR agonists. The unique efficacy of flagellin in enhancing lung APC activity suggests that it may serve as an effective adjuvant for early life mucosal vaccines.
Synthesis of 6h-pyrido[4,3-b]carbazoles

Abstract A few 6H-pyrido[4,3-b]carbazoles were prepared for cytotoxicity testing in cultures of human lung cancer cells. Methyl 6-methoxyindoleacetate 13 , prepared by reduction of methyl 4-(2-nitro-5-methoxyphenyl)-3-oxobutyrate 11 , was condensed with 3-acetylpyridine to give the vinyl indole 14 which was quarternized with p-nitrobenzyl bromide. Cyclization of this salt with the aid of sodium methoxide and ethyl nicotinate methiodide gave the 6H-pyrido[4,3-b]carbazole 16 . Brief treatment with tributyl phosphine in boiling DMF gave the ester 17 which, after reduction with LilH4 followed by treatment with methyl isocyanate, gave 5-hydroxymethyl-9-methoxy-11-methyl-6H-pyrido[4,3-b] carbazole N-methylcarbamate 4 9-Methoxyolivacine 19 was oxidized to the aldehyde 22 with seO2. Reduction to the carbinol 24 . proceeded smoothly with NaCNBH3 in acid medium. Treatment with methyl isocyanate gave the carbamate 6 and the acetate 7 was prepared by acetylation of the carbinol 24 .
The Cycle of Living and Dead Particulate Organic Matter in the Pelagic Environment in Relation to Trace Metals

The distribution and cycling of many trace elements in the pelagic environment appear to be tightly coupled to biological processes. Therefore, the elucidation of these processes is essential if we are to understand the various interactions between biogenic particles and trace elements. Using particle traps, we have been studying the cycling of total organic material, “living” biomass (as measured by adenosine triphosphate) and various particulate components such as fecal pellets, which represent important potential carriers of many macro-nutrients and trace elements. Our results indicate that most of the macro-nutrients (i.e., C, N and P) are cycled in the upper 200 m of the water column; trace elements such as Cd follow the same pathways. Surface-produced fecal pellets, long thought to be important trace element carriers, appear to be recycled in tilt upper 1000 m of the water column. However, we have found evidence suggesting that significant amounts of fresh pellets are produced from in situ activity leading to variable fluxes of many elements throughout the water column. The distribution of living organic material as measured in “suspended” particulates (i.e., those collected with conventional water bottles) present the usual classical picture, ranging from > 30% of the total suspended organic carbon at the surface to 1000 m), the living fraction represents > 400 times more biomass than the suspended material.
Demolition of a Distinctive Chinese Habitus: Controversies of Urban Sustainability in Shanghai

China's recent rapid rise to the world's second-largest economy is often associated with its equally rapid urbanization. Its urbanization rate increased from 17.92% in 1978 to 58.52% in 2017, which...
Label-Consistent Backdoor Attacks

Deep neural networks have been demonstrated to be vulnerable to backdoor attacks. Specifically, by injecting a small number of maliciously constructed inputs into the training set, an adversary is able to plant a backdoor into the trained model. This backdoor can then be activated during inference by a backdoor trigger to fully control the model's behavior. While such attacks are very effective, they crucially rely on the adversary injecting arbitrary inputs that are---often blatantly---mislabeled. Such samples would raise suspicion upon human inspection, potentially revealing the attack. Thus, for backdoor attacks to remain undetected, it is crucial that they maintain label-consistency---the condition that injected inputs are consistent with their labels. In this work, we leverage adversarial perturbations and generative models to execute efficient, yet label-consistent, backdoor attacks. Our approach is based on injecting inputs that appear plausible, yet are hard to classify, hence causing the model to rely on the (easier-to-learn) backdoor trigger.
Exploring the roles of students’ home resources and attitudes towards science in science achievement: a comparison of South Korea, Turkey, and the United States in TIMSS 2015

Educational opportunities in the home, at school, and within the community differ across countries and affect students’ achievement and future success in science fields. Bandura’s Social (Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory, 1986) and Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological System Theory (Ecological models of human development. In International Encyclopedia of Education, 1994) both support the notion that students’ attitudes towards science and home resources can be associated with their academic achievement. In order to examine the possible home and student level factors in science achievement, we examined fourth graders’ home resources and attitudes towards science in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2015 in South Korea, Turkey, and the United States where students’ science achievement scores varied. Findings from multiple linear regression analyses indicated that having a positive attitude toward science and more home resources positively related to fourth grade students’ science scores. Among different home resources, the number of books owned at home appeared to better predict students’ science scores. Providing students with science books in early grades may increase their interest in science and contribute to their science achievement in the future. Longitudinal studies of science achievement in these three countries and other countries may be included in further research.
Interrater reliability of the Eating Disorder Examination among postbariatric patients

Abstract Background Clinical assessment of eating behaviors with patients who undergo bariatric surgery is challenging because of the complexity of symptom presentation postoperatively. The Eating Disorder Examination (EDE) is a widely-used semistructured clinical interview of eating-disorder psychopathology, yet no studies have examined the interrater reliability among postoperative bariatric surgery patients. Objectives The present study aimed to examine the interrater reliability of the EDE, and an alternative classification of size-specific thresholds of binge-eating episodes in a postoperative bariatric surgery sample. Setting University School of Medicine, United States. Methods Participants interviewed were a randomly selected subset (n = 20) from a consecutive series of adults seeking treatment for eating concerns after bariatric surgery. Audio-taped interviews were rated independently by 1 of 4 expert raters. Interrater reliability was assessed using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) and kappa statistic. Results ICCs for the original 4 EDE subscales were excellent, ranging from .88 to .98. ICCs for the alternative brief 3 subscales were also excellent, with a range of .78 to .97. ICCs for bariatric loss-of-control eating episodes were in the good to excellent range, with a range of .66 to .99. Kappa agreement for bariatric overeating episodes was moderate (.60). Conclusions These findings, based on 4 expert raters, suggest that complex eating-disorder psychopathology, as well as the newly proposed eating behavior with size thresholds relevant to bariatric patients, can be reliably assessed. To our knowledge, this is the first study to provide initial evaluation and support for the interrater reliability of the original EDE with additional modified eating categories developed for postbariatric surgery patients.
Why is Data on Disability so Hard to Collect and Understand

This report explores why data on disability is so hard to collect and understand. There is a reluctance to collect data by the broadening participation in computing (BPC) community even though disability is a recognized demographic in broadening participation. As a result, much less is known about the participation of people with disabilities in computing education and careers than some other groups. The reasons for this reluctance are multi-faceted. Data about disability can vary significantly depending on how you ask the question, making it difficult to understand what the data is actually indicating. Questions about functional limitations may overinflate the numbers of some populations with disabilities while undercounting other groups. This report will help the BPC community move towards collecting and reporting data on disability. Advice is given on how to ask about disability status and resources are provided to find existing data sources about disability.
Pvr and downstream signaling factors are required for spreading of Drosophila hemocytes at larval wound sites

Abstract Tissue injury is typically accompanied by inflammation. In Drosophila melanogaster, wound-induced inflammation involves adhesive capture of hemocytes at the wound surface followed by hemocyte spreading to assume a flat, lamellar morphology. The factors that mediate this cell spreading at the wound site are not known. Here, we discover a role for the Platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF)/ Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-related receptor (Pvr) and its ligand, Pvf1, in blood cell spreading at the wound site. Pvr and Pvf1 are required for spreading in vivo and in an in vitro spreading assay where spreading can be directly induced by Pvf1 application or by constitutive Pvr activation. In an effort to identify factors that act downstream of Pvr, we performed a genetic screen in which select candidates were tested to determine if they could suppress the lethality of Pvr overexpression in the larval epidermis. Some of the suppressors identified are required for epidermal wound closure, another Pvr-mediated wound response, some are required for hemocyte spreading in vitro, and some are required for both. One of the downstream factors, Mask, is also required for efficient wound-induced hemocyte spreading in vivo. Our data reveals that Pvr signaling is required for wound responses in hemocytes (cell spreading) and defines distinct downstream signaling factors that are required for either epidermal wound closure or hemocyte spreading.
Reflection on the Impact of Distance Project-Based Learning Experiences on Students' Engagement and Regional Cultural Sensitivity on STEM Education

The contentious immigration issues through generations at the US-Mexico border are not only beneficial to the United States economy but, also, this immigrant population of unaccompanied children and families from South America and Mexico contributes to the American culture by sharing their cultural traditions, family values, religious beliefs, language (Spanish), etc. and agricultural expertise as well (Norman, 2018). The National Center for Farmworker Health (NCFH) (2020) reported that there are at least 2.5 to 3 million agricultural workers in the United States, and these workers travel and work throughout the country, serving as the backbone for the vast farming industry in which 19% identify as migratory, while 81% are seasonal agricultural workers. This agency stated that 75% of these workers were born in Mexico, Central America, 83% self-identified as Hispanic, and 77% were most comfortable conversing in Spanish in which 30% could not speak English "at all," 41% could speak "a little" or "somewhat" English, and 29% said they could speak English "well" (NCFH, 2020, p. 1). As an ESL science and math teacher to this immigrant student population starting in the early 80s, 90s, and early 2003, I included their regional cultural differences, traditions, family values, rituals, etc. in developing my science and math curriculum & materials; and used the inquiry project-based learning approach in teaching them Integrated Science and Math courses in the classroom settings by guiding the students in designing and building their scientific models from scrap which they built together in the classroom as group projects. Misher (2014) defined Project-Based Learning (PBL) as an instructional approach designed to encourage more engaged learning, and this learning approach is based upon realistic learning activities that stimulate student interest and motivation. In this perspective, this reflection seeks to highlight the effect of project-based learning on STEM students' engagement and regional cross-cultural sensitivity development in public school and higher education. In doing so, (A) I define and explain the following constructs: (1) distance learning, (2) project-based learning, (3) STEM education, (4) transformational learning and teaching, (5) regional cultural differences, (6) regionalism in Latin America, (7) regionalism and globalization; (B) describe scientific model building activity as cross-cultural transformational learning; (C) review pertinent literature on the topic; and lastly, (D) draw my conclusion on the topic.
Cleaning Water Contaminated with Heavy Metal Ions Using Pyrolyzed Biochar Adsorbents

The extraction of pollutants from water using activated biochar materials is a low cost, sustainable approach for providing safe water in developing countries. The adsorption of copper ions, Cu(II), onto pyrolyzed and activated dried banana peel was studied and compared with the adsorption of copper ions onto a commercial activated carbon, F-400. Both the physical and chemical properties of the banana peel and activated carbon were measured. Pyrolysis of dried banana peels resulted in the formation of a large, porous surface area adsorbent with strongly negative surface charges.Screening studies, which were designed to evaluate the effect of the mass of the adsorbent, pH of the solution, tumbling time, and initial Cu(II) concentration were conducted for each adsorbent. Equilibrium adsorption data were also analyzed, and the Freundlich isotherm resulted in a better fit than the Langmuir isotherm. The degree of favorability of adsorption of Cu(II) ions and adsorption capacity were 1.25 and 351.1 mg/g for py...