cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Experiences from specifying the TCAS II requirements using RSML

Discusses an approach to specifying system requirements for real-time, reactive systems, some criteria that should be used in designing a language for such requirements, and some lessons learned while writing a system requirements specification for an aircraft collision avoidance system. Since the completion of the project we have made advances in many areas, two of which are of particular interest to the practising engineer: (1) specification and traceability of intent and design rationale; and (2) an improved specification language and modeling methodology.
Saliva-binding protein (SsaB) from Streptococcus sanguis 12 is a lipoprotein.

Abstract Two lipoprotein consensus sequences (Leu-X-X-Cys) are found in the presumptive signal peptide region (positions 12 to 15 and 17 to 20) of saliva-binding protein (SsaB) from Streptococcus sanguis 12. Three analogs of SsaB containing Cys-->Gly mutations were constructed by site-directed mutagenesis of pSA2, the recombinant plasmid expressing SsaB. [3H]palmitate was incorporated into SsaB only when the native Cys-20 residue was present. These data show that SsaB is a lipoprotein and that Cys-20 is the critical site for acylation.
Production And Characterization Of A Plutonium-238 Loaded Ceramic Waste Form For The Study Of The Effects Of Alpha Decay Damage

Argonne National Laboratory has developed a glass-bonded sodalite ceramic waste form to immobilize fission products and plutonium that accumulate during the electrometallurgical conditioning of spent nuclear fuel. To investigate the effects of alpha decay damage on the structure and leaching characteristics of the ceramic material, 238 Pu has been incorporated into the ceramic waste form. The 238 pu,with its high specific activity, significantly increases the rate of alpha damage to the waste form. Long term studies have begun with periodic examination of the 238 Pu loaded ceramic material. A number of characterization techniques are used to study the alpha decay damage on the structure of the waste form. In addition, PCT type leachate studies will be performed to determine the effect of alpha decay damage on the durability of the ceramic waste form. Preliminary results from this study are presented.
Effect of Diethylenetriaminepentaacetic Acid and Procaine on Hemorrhage Induced by Rattlesnake Venom

Nineteen compounds and seven combinations of compounds were tested for their ability to neutralize the hemorrhagic activity of Crotalus atrox venom in vitro and in vivo. Two compounds and four combinations were effective in reducing hemorrhage in an in vivo test in which the venom was injected before injection of compounds. DTPA plus procaine HCl was the most effective combination and reduced hemorrhage when injected 1, 5, or 15 minutes after injection of venom. DTPA-procaine reduced hemorrhage induced by injection of C. atrox venom into dogs as well as mice. DTPA in combination with procaine did not reduce myonecrosis or lethality resulting from injection of venom into mice, but it could be used in conjunction with antivenin to treat local tissue damage resulting from rattlesnake venom poisoning.
Fostering democracy through social media: Evaluating diametrically opposed nonprofit advocacy organizations’ use of Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube

Nonprofit organizations contribute to a democratic society by allowing those with diverse opinions to assemble and voice these ideas. Social media has provided an extensive new marketplace in which such organizations can give voice to their ideas. Thus the purpose of this study was to explore and assess the use of social media (Facebook, Twitter, and You Tube) for advocacy by nonprofit organizations with diametrically opposed points-of-view on two social issues, the pro-gun/gun control issue and the pro-choice/pro-life issue. RESULTS of this study indicate that nonprofit advocacy organizations are using social media to ethically persuade people to their point of view, for the most part through use of one-way communication. Moreover, organizations are using the various social media for different purposes, providing thanks and recognition on Twitter, and soliciting feedback and other two-way communication with stakeholders on Facebook. Use of authority figures to communicate messages is generally reserved for YouTube. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Language: en
Family Ties and Marital Happiness: The Different Marital Experiences of Black and White Newlywed Couples

This paper explores the relationship of family ties to black and white couples' marital happiness over the first 3 years of their marriages. Respondents were 115 black and 136 white couples interviewed as part of the Early Years of Marriage study. Although there were many similarities in the way blacks and whites felt about and interacted with their families, black couples were less likely to argue over matters pertaining to family, visited their families more often but perceived fewer family members able to help if needed. Hierarchical panel regressions showed that close family ties had no effect on the marital happiness of whites but significantly predicted black couples' marital happiness, particularly the ties to the husband's family. Predictions of marital happiness further varied by low and high structural stress (low income combined with early family formation), such that low-stress blacks' increased closeness to their in-laws from year 1 to year 3 predicted marital happiness. For high-stress black...
Correlations of food distribution and patch size with agonistic interactions in female vervets (Chlorocebus aethiops) and patas monkeys (Erythrocebus patas) living in simple habitats

Food distribution is hypothesized to be impor- tant in determining the nature of female relationships within social groups of primates. When food limits fe- male reproductive success, spatially clumped foods are expected to produce strong, linear dominance hierarchies within groups, whereas more spatially dispersed foods are expected to produce weaker or non-existent domi- nance hierarchies. The association between food distri- bution and competitive relationships presumably occurs because clumped foods are usurpable but dispersed foods are not. We examined the spatial distribution of food patches (trees) and patch size relative to feeding be- havior and agonistic interactions in vervets and patas monkeys, two closely related and sympatric species that nonetheless differ in the strength of the female domi- nance hierarchy. Food patches of both patas monkeys and vervets were small in size and randomly distributed in Acacia drepanolobium habitat. In contrast, in A. xanthophloea woodland, the habitat type that was exclu- sively used by vervets, food patches were larger and more spatially clumped. These similarities and differ- ences between and within species were correlated with similarities and differences in the strength and linearity of their dominance hierarchies. Patas monkeys and ver- vets in A. drepanolobium habitat had dominance hierar- chies that were weakly defined because there were rela- tively few agonistic interactions between females. By contrast, in A. xanthophloea habitat, vervets had a stronger, linear dominance hierarchy characterized by a higher rate of agonistic interactions over food. The co- variation of agonistic interactions with patch size is dis- cussed in relation to depletion time, another characteris- tic that may covary with food distribution, and resource renewal rate, an important determinant of agonistic inter- actions in insectivorous birds, fishes, insects, and mam- mals.
Packet-dropping adversary identification for data plane security

Until recently, the design of packet dropping adversary identification protocols that are robust to both benign packet loss and malicious behavior has proven to be surprisingly elusive. In this paper, we propose a secure and practical packet-dropping adversary localization scheme that is robust and achieves a high detection rate and low communication and storage overhead -- the three key performance metrics for such protocols in realistic settings. Other recent work just optimizes either the detection rate or the communication overhead.In this paper, we systematically explore the design space of acknowledgment-based protocols to identify a packet dropping adversary on a forwarding path. In particular, we investigate a set of basic protocols, each exemplifying a design dimension, and examine the underlying tradeoff between the performance metrics. For each basic protocol, we present both upper and lower performance bounds via theoretical analysis, and average-case results via simulations. We conclude that the proposed PAAI-1 protocol outperforms other related schemes.
POPULATION GROWTH, DENSITY AND THE COSTS OF PROVIDING PUBLIC SERVICES

Recent policy interest in managing local population growth has drawn attention to the fiscal pressures that population growth imposes on local governments. This paper uses 1985 data for 247 large c...
A Level-Encoded Transition Signaling Protocol for High-Throughput Asynchronous Global Communication

A new delay-insensitive data encoding scheme for global communication, level-encoded transition signaling (LETS), is introduced. LETS is a generalization of level-encoded dual rail (LEDR), an earlier non-return-to-zero encoding scheme where one of two wires changes value per data bit per transaction. In LETS, only one of N = 2n (1-of-N) wire changes value per n data bits per transaction. Compared to most common return-to-zero encoding schemes, LETS has potential power and throughput advantages, since fewer rails switch and no return-to-zero phase is required. Compared to existing nonreturn-to-zero schemes (i.e., LEDR), higher-dimension LETS codes have a potential power advantage, with significantly reduced switching activity per data bit.Two alternative 1-of-4 LETS codes are proposed, and efficient hardware for completion detection and conversion to return-to-zero protocols is introduced. Finally, a general theoretical framework is presented which characterizes the properties of arbitrary 1-of-N LETS codes, as well as a simple procedure to generate such codes.
Energy-efficient pipelines

We discuss the design of energy-efficient pipelines for asynchronous VLSI architectures. To maximize throughput in asynchronous pipelines it is often necessary to insert buffer stages, increasing the energy overhead Instead of optimizing pipelines for minimum energy or maximum throughput, we consider a joint energy-time metric of the form E/spl tau//sup /spl alpha// where E is the energy per operation and /spl tau/ is the time per operation. We show that pipelines optimized for the E/spl tau//sup /spl alpha// energy-time metric may need fewer buffer stages and we give bounds when such stages can be removed. We present several common asynchronous pipeline structures and their energy-time optimized solutions.
The Fidelity of Microstructural Drilling Predation Traces to Gastropod Radula Morphology: Paleoecological Applications

ABSTRACT A major caveat of using gastropod drill holes to assess predator-prey interactions in modern and ancient ecosystems is identification of holes produced by predation versus other means. A recent method to confirm the predatory origin of holes uses Radulichnus-like microtraces left within the drill hole from the physical rasping of prey shell material, but the utility of these microtraces to assess biological information from the drilling predator has not been investigated. Generating artificial rasp marks using extracted radulae and producing drill holes by artificial means offered insights into the mechanical factors influencing microtrace morphology. Controlled laboratory feeding trials provided prey shells with drill holes of known origins, and corresponding gastropod predator radulae (Nucella lamellosa, Muricidae). These prey shell–predator radula pairs were analyzed under environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM) to comparatively assess spacing of radula intercusps and drilling microt...
Metritis, Valvular Endocarditis, and Septicemia by Actinobacillus equuli in a Gilt in the United States

A 1-year-old pregnant Yorkshire gilt was found dead with no previous clinical signs. Gross findings included metritis, splenomegaly, and valvular endocarditis. Bacterial endocarditis (in the mitral and tricuspid valves) and metritis with dissemination to multiple organs was diagnosed by using histologic examination. Gram-negative coccobacillary organisms present in the valvular lesions were characterized as Actinobacillus equuli by using polymerase chain reaction examination on formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues (FFPE). A. equuli is rarely reported as a cause of septicemia in pigs in Europe. A. equuli in pigs in the United States has been reported only twice and not, to our knowledge, in the last 30 years. This is the first time that molecular techniques have been used to characterize this organism in FFPE porcine tissues.
“The German, the Sclave, and the Semite”Eastern Europe in the Imagination of George Eliot

This essay contributes to George Eliot scholarship by examining the author’s interest in Eastern Europe, which spanned the length of her literary career, and its portrayal in her fiction. It situates Eliot’s Eastern European characters—from the minor ones, such as Countess Czerlaski’s late husband in “The Sad Fortunes of the Rev. Amos Barton” (1857), to major protagonists, such as Will Ladislaw of Middlemarch (1871–72)—in the context of England’s policy toward Poland vis-a-vis Russia during the course of the nineteenth century. The international political backdrop is especially useful in illuminating the Polish aspect of Middlemarch , whose publication date and the time period the novel covers (1829–32) happen to coincide with or shortly follow the two major insurrections Poland launched against Russia. Drawing on Eliot’s interactions with Slavic Jews in Germany, the essay shows how the creation of Will Ladislaw and his reprisal in the character of Herr Klesmer in Daniel Deronda (1876) serves the purposes of Eliot’s imagined cure for English insularity.
Reforming Complicity Law: Trivial Assistance as a Lesser Offense?

American accomplice law is a disgrace. It treats the accomplice in terms of guilt and, potentially, punishment, as if she were the perpetrator, even when her culpability is often less than that of the perpetrator and/or her involvement in the crime is tangential. The subject of accomplice liability has received little scholarly attention in the United States except, coincidentally, for a flurry of intellectual activity in the mid-1980s. One of these articles, my own, proposed reform of complicity law in the form of what may be characterized as the "causation approach." The thesis of that article was that the criminal law fails to adequately distinguish between accomplices who are critical parties in a crime and those whose involvement is trivial. To alleviate this problem, the article recommended a statutory distinction between "causal" and "non-causal" accomplices: causal accomplices (persons but for whose assistance the offense would not have occurred) could continue to be convicted of the offense committed by the principal; non-causal accomplices would be convicted of a lesser offense and punished accordingly. In this article I consider Professor Kadish's approach to complicity, which sees no place for causation in the analysis, and other criticisms directed at the causation approach. I argue here that, notwithstanding the criticisms, the causation approach to accomplice liability is conceptually justifiable and would still make for good legislative reform. However, the causation approach, although preferable to current law, does not go far enough to distinguish between parties and does not express community sentiment as well as it could. Therefore, I now suggest variations on the causation approach, which would also result in a more just system than the present one.
Core Deformation of Sandwich Composites under Blast Loading

During blast loading, the core of a sandwich composite demonstrates complicated stress/strain behavior. The shear stress/strain in the core is the primary consideration. Though the shear strain profile is non-linear, the transverse strain in the core is generally modeled with a linear or constant profile in numerical simulation. However, recent numerical studies have found that the transverse strain in the core also has a highly non-linear profile through the thickness. This is important in understanding the mechanism of pulse mitigation in sandwich composites. To date, no experimental investigations have been done to visualize the strain profile in the core of sandwich composites subjected to blast loading. In this paper, the high-speed 3-D Digital Image Correlation (DIC) technique was utilized to characterize such strain profiles. The real-time deformation images of the core material in a sandwich panel were captured by a high-speed photography system. The strain profiles and histories were calculated from these real-time images using DIC technique. These results were carefully analyzed and discussed.
Photoionization of propylene, cyclopropane, and ethylene. The effect of internal energy on the bimolecular reactions of C2H+4 and C3H+6

The ion-molecule chemistry occurring in photoionized ethylene, propylene and cyclopropane has been investigated in the NBS high pressure mass spectrometer. Emphasis has been placed on determining the overall effect of internal excitation on the absolute rate coefficients for the various reactions. This was accomplished by comparing the behavior found when ionization was induced by photon absorption at the ionization threshold with that found at higher photon energies. The values for the absolute rate coefficients for the formation of excited compound ions at various photon energies were as follows (units of 10-10 cm3/molecule · s); C2H4+ , 9.6 (10.6 eV photons); 8.5 (11.7 eV photons);. C3H6+ , 8.4 (10.0 eV photons); 6.8 (11.7 eV photons); C3H6+ , 7.8 (10.0 eV photons), 6.1 (11.7 eV photons); c-C3H6+ and c-C3H6+ , 2.2 (10.0 eV photons); 2.2 (11.7 eV photons). The distributions of product ions obtained from the unimolecular decomposition of the compound ion in each system have also been determined at various photon energies, and considerable variation has been observed. In general, the variations are similar to those found elsewhere when the kinetic energy of the reactant ion is increased. The bimolecular reactions of the C6H12+ compound ion obtained from C3H6+ > have been investigated at higher pressures, and separate experiments involving isotopically labeled ethylenes have provided new information concerning the nature of the compound ion in that system. Results obtained from other laboratories are discussed in some detail, and in most cases the differences found for the same system are explicable in terms of the energy content (internal and/or kinetic) of the reactant ion.
Computer-Assisted Interpretive Reporting of Tumor Markers

We developed a program for a central laboratory computer that provides comprehensive reporting and interpretation of serially determined tumor markers (TMs). The program uses a combination of database searches and algorithmic logic to analyze series of up to five TM results. The algorithm is based on extensive literature references and yields narrative comments selected from a file of statements. The program summarizes the results of the present and four most recent TM determinations, interprets the present TM value, and comments on the change from the previous TM value. An easily interpretable graph displays the serially determined TM results and permits immediate recognition of trend changes.
Sparse-Reduced Computation

Machine learning techniques that rely on pairwise similarities have proven to be leading algorithms for classification. Despite their good and robust performance, similarity-based techniques are rarely chosen for largescale data mining because the time required to compute all pairwise similarities grows quadratically with the size of the data set. To address this issue of scalability, we introduced a method called sparse computation, which efficiently generates a sparse similarity matrix that contains only significant similarities. Sparse computation achieves significant reductions in running time with minimal and often no loss in accuracy. However, for massively-large data sets even such a sparse similarity matrix may lead to considerable running times. In this paper, we propose an extension of sparse computation called sparse-reduced computation that not only avoids computing very low similarities but also avoids computing similarities between highly-similar or identical objects by compressing them to a single object. Our computational results show that sparse-reduced computation allows highly-accurate classification of data sets with millions of objects in seconds.
Evaluation and Analysis of Cited Papers in Chinese Journal of Rice Science

Based on the data developed from CNKI, cited papers of Chinese Journal of Rice Science were evaluated and analyzed from author condition, journal distribution, domain distribution and year distribution. It was suggested that Chinese Journal of Rice Science has possessed his own authors and readers, as well as special characteristics.
Epidemiology of hand foot and mouth disease in Inner Mongolia,2008-2011

Objective To understand the epidemiological characteristics of hand foot and mouth disease( HFMD) in Inner Mongolia from 2008 to 2011 and provide evidence for the prevention and control of HFMD. Methods Descriptive epidemiological analysis was conducted on the incidence data of HFMD in Inner Mongolia during this period. Results A total of 82 161 HFMD cases were reported,including 616 severe cases and 22 deaths. The incidence varied with years,seasons and areas. The cases were reported all the year round. The incidence peak was during June-August, which was a 1-2 months delay compared with southern China. The cases were mainly children aged 5 years( 82. 33%),and the incidence in males was higher than that in females,the male to female ratio of the cases was 1. 46∶ 1,the incidence in urban area was higher then that in rural area. Conclusion In Inner Mongolia HFMD has obvious time,place and population distribution characteristics and the incidence in urban area is higher than that in rural area. There is the risk of HFMD outbreak in the near future,so it is necessary to conduct effective surveillance,health education and emergency response preparedness to prevent HFMD.
Ureteral Injuries During Vascular Surgery

AbstractThe rapid increase in the number of vascular surgical procedures done has led to a new class of iatrogenic ureteral injuries. Vena caval ligation, bilateral lumbar sympathectomy, bypass procedures and abdominal aortic aneurysmectomy produce the majority of these injuries. Established principles useful in the repair of iatrogenic injuries following a gynecologic or colonic operation often are inapplicable.
America on Record: High fidelity at last

Despite the depressed economic environment of the 1930s, the technology of the electrical era was continually improved. The concerted attention of well-financed corporate laboratories, the exchange of ideas between the three business endeavors employing recorded-sound technology (talking machines, radio, and talking pictures), and the international diffusion of technology across the Atlantic were the forces of this endeavor. The film industry led the way in improving the electrical recording system devised in Western Electric's laboratories. One element of this system which benefitted from the diffusion of ideas from one business enterprise to another was the dynamic loudspeaker. The great movie palaces built in the late 1920s contained thousands of seats, and very large loudspeakers were required to fill these auditoriums with sound. The loudspeakers also needed to catch every note played by large orchestras and to convincingly re-create the sound of gun shots or melodramatic screams. Consequently the leading edge of loudspeaker design was in film theaters. Research carried out in Western Electric's laboratories was supplemented by the more practical work of the engineering departments of film companies. Western Electric staff found themselves working for film producers, making up loudspeakers in studio workshops. They experimented with various configurations of transducers and with the baffles and sound insulation of the cabinet. In 1931 the first three-way speaker systems were introduced in which sound was divided up into high, middle, and low frequencies, and each band was sent to three different transducers in the loudspeaker, each one designed to work best with that part of the sound spectrum: the large “woofer” for the bass, a mid-range driver, and the tiny “tweeter” for the treble. This technology eventually diffused to the talking-machine industry and by the 1960s was incorporated into the loudspeakers used in home stereos. The Western Electric system was exported to film producers and record companies in Europe, where it was eagerly examined. European operators had every incentive to improve it; the license fee paid to Western Electric was motivation enough to develop their own electrical recorders based on Maxfield and Harrison's pioneering work but without infringing on their valuable patents.
TEMPORAL SEQUENCE OF ATHLETE'S HEART REGRESSION DURING PRESCRIBED EXERCISE DETRAINING: DIAGNOSTIC IMPLICATIONS

Background: Deliberate exercise abstinence, “prescribed detraining”, has been proposed as means to differentiate the athlete's heart from occult cardiomyopathy. At present, data defining the myocardial response to detraining among healthy athletes are sparse. Methods: Marathon runners
Feather-Footed Impresario: The Scandals of George White

A producer, director, and dancer whose career began in vaudeville, George White (1890–1968) was fired from Ziegfeld’s Follies when he told Ziegfeld that the quality of the dances could be improved. White then produced his own series of revues, George White’s Scandals (1919–1939), which often featured the music of George Gershwin.
Ecological distribution of cellular slime molds in forest soils of Germany

Cavender J. C., Cavender-Bares J., and Hohl H. R. 1995. Ecological distribution of cellular slime molds in forest soils of Germany. Bot. Helv. 105: 199-219. Surface soils were collected from deciduous, coniferous and mixed coniferous-deciduous forest of Germany during the latter half of July 1993 and were plated out for cellular slime molds at Ohio University during the first half of August, 1993. Twenty-four sites were sampled from different geographical regions in southern, central and western Germany. Germany has a fairly diverse cellular slime mold flora/fauna similar to that of the cool temperate zone of Japan and to the North American bi-state region of Ohio and West Virginia. Eighteen morphological species were isolated which match those described in the literature. Three entities were isolated only once, hence are considered to be rare: Acytostelium leptosomum, Dictyostelium capitatum, and a new species, Dictyostelium germanicum. Four species originally described from Japan were isolated for the first time from Europe: Dictyostelium microsporum, D. capitatum, D. implicatum and Polysphondylium candidum. The most commonly isolated were Dictyostelium mucoroides, S-type and Polysphondylium violaceum. Cellular slime mold populations of deciduous and coni(erous forests have distinct differences. Numbers of clones per gram and species richness were higher in soils of deciduous forests than in coniferous forests.
Research Techniques Made Simple: Cost-Effectiveness Analysis.

Cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) is a research method used to determine the clinical benefit-to-cost ratio of a given intervention. CEA offers a standardized means of comparing cost-effectiveness among interventions. Changes in quality-adjusted life-years, disability-adjusted life-years, or survival and mortality are some of the common clinical benefit measures incorporated into CEA. Because accounting for all associated costs and benefits of an intervention is complex and potentially introduces uncertainty into the analysis, sensitivity analyses can be performed to test the analytic model under varying conditions. CEA informs the identification of high-value clinical practices and can be used to evaluate preventative, diagnostic, and therapeutic interventions in dermatology.
Gathering Information in Sensor Networks for Synchronized Freshness

Sensor networks and the Internet of Things motivate novel classes of job scheduling problems where each "job" corresponds to downloading some data object from the sensor network, i.e., querying the network for some portion of its current state. The purpose of scheduling a set of jobs may be to support decision tasks, where the user will make a choice, prior to a deadline, informed by all the data obtained about the current situation or state. Because different aspects of the state will tend to change over time, rendering previously downloaded measurements of them "stale", we want all the data jobs to be still fresh when the last one completes. This leads to scheduling constraints much more complex than simply meeting a deadline. We investigate such freshness scheduling problems under several scenarios. We give a polynomial-time optimal algorithm for the problem of maximizing the (weighted) number of jobs scheduled via a single download channel, and an O(log n)- approximation algorithm for the (NP-hard) problem of scheduling all jobs via a minimum number of channels. The optimal algorithm exploits a shared structure between (single-deadline) freshness scheduling and ordinary scheduling with jobs-specific deadlines. Finally, we compare our approximation algorithm with natural heuristics in simulation.
Structural integrity and developmental potential of spermatozoa following microwave-assisted drying in the domestic cat model

Abstract Characterizing the resilience of mammalian cells to non-physiological conditions is necessary to develop preservation and long-term storage strategies at low or ambient temperatures. Using the domestic cat model, the objective of the study was to characterize structural integrity (morphology and DNA damage) as well as functional properties (sperm aster formation and embryo formation after sperm injection) of spermatozoa after microwave-assisted drying to a moisture content compatible with storage in a glassy state at supra-zero temperatures. In Experiment 1, cat epididymal spermatozoa were porated with hemolysin and dried (using a commercial microwave oven set to 20% power) in the presence of trehalose for up to 50 min in a low humidity environment (11%) before measuring moisture content and sample temperature. In Experiment 2, morphology and DNA integrity were evaluated in sperm dried for up to 30 min (using the same method as above) versus fresh spermatozoa. In Experiment 3, the functionality of sperm dried for 30 min versus fresh sperm cells was evaluated after injection into oocytes based on sperm aster formation (5 h post-injection) and embryo development in vitro over 7 days. Moisture contents compatible with dry state storage were reached after 30 min of microwave-assisted drying. After rehydration, sperm morphology was not affected and the percentages of cells with damaged DNA (∼6.5%) was similar to the fresh controls. Sperm aster diameters appeared to be generally smaller for dried-rehydrated cells compared to the fresh controls. This observation was consistent with a lower proportion of blastocyst formation after injection with dried spermatozoa (6.5%) compared to fresh spermatozoa (15%). However, the blastocyst quality based on the total blastomere number was not affected by the sperm treatment. This is the first and encouraging report in any species so far demonstrating that spermatozoa can be dried using microwaves without causing irreversible damage to the cellular structure and function.
Use of vascular clips to approximate skin grafts on the burned hand

Abstract Background Burns of the hands are common and can lead to significant functional and aesthetic impairment. Traditionally, sutures or staples are used to approximate adjacent skin grafts on the hand; however, we have found that vascular clips are a suitable alternative. We report a series of three patients in which vascular clips were used to approximate adjacent skin grafts autografted to treat full-thickness burns. Methods Three patients presented with full-thickness burns involving their hands. Vascular clips were used to adhere adjacent skin grafts to the dorsal surfaces of the hands. Two patients sustained bilateral burns to the hands; vascular clips were used on one hand while sutures or staples were used on the other hand. In another patient, vascular clips were used. Results Satisfactory functional and aesthetic outcomes were observed in all three patients 1–2 months post-reconstruction. One patient had hypertrophic scarring at multiple graft sites including his hands. Similar functional and aesthetic outcomes were achieved in both hands of the patients who had skin grafts approximated with vascular clips and traditional methods. Conclusion Use of vascular clips to approximate skin grafts on the hands is a simple and effective method resulting in satisfactory functional and aesthetic outcomes.
Aberrant Activation of a Gastrointestinal Transcriptional Circuit in Prostate Cancer Mediates Castration Resistance

Prostate cancer exhibits a lineage-specific dependence on androgen signaling. Castration resistance involves reactivation of androgen signaling or activation of alternative lineage programs to bypass androgen requirement. We describe an aberrant gastrointestinal-lineage transcriptome expressed in ∼5% of primary prostate cancer that is characterized by abbreviated response to androgen-deprivation therapy and in ∼30% of castration-resistant prostate cancer. This program is governed by a transcriptional circuit consisting of HNF4G and HNF1A. Cistrome and chromatin analyses revealed that HNF4G is a pioneer factor that generates and maintains enhancer landscape at gastrointestinal-lineage genes, independent of androgen-receptor signaling. In HNF4G/HNF1A-double-negative prostate cancer, exogenous expression of HNF4G at physiologic levels recapitulates the gastrointestinal transcriptome, chromatin landscape, and leads to relative castration resistance.
Posterior Sternoclavicular Joint Dislocation in a Wrestler

ABSTRACT Injury to the sternoclavicular joint is uncommon but may be a life-threatening injury if the diagnosis is not made acutely. Posterior sternoclavicular joint dislocation is associated with a number of complications including tracheal tear or trauma to the great vessels. Diagnosis by conventional radiography is difficult. Even experienced examiners may miss the diagnosis unless a high level of suspicion exists and the appropriate imaging studies are ordered. Computed tomography is the imaging modality of choice, and prompt diagnosis is essential for early, successful reduction of the joint.
Evaluating behavioral responses of nesting lesser snow geese to unmanned aircraft surveys

Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) are relatively new technologies gaining popularity among wildlife biologists. As with any new tool in wildlife science, operating protocols must be developed through rigorous protocol testing. Few studies have been conducted that quantify the impacts UAS may have on unhabituated individuals in the wild using standard aerial survey protocols. We evaluated impacts of unmanned surveys by measuring UAS-induced behavioral responses during the nesting phase of lesser snow geese (Anser caerulescens caerulescens) in Wapusk National Park, Manitoba, Canada. We conducted surveys with a fixed-wing Trimble UX5 and monitored behavioral changes via discreet surveillance cameras at 25 nests. Days with UAS surveys resulted in decreased resting and increased nest maintenance, low scanning, high scanning, head-cocking and off-nest behaviors when compared to days without UAS surveys. In the group of birds flown over, head-cocking for overhead vigilance was rarely seen prior to launch or after landing (mean estimates 0.03% and 0.02%, respectively) but increased to 0.56% of the time when the aircraft was flying overhead suggesting that birds were able to detect the aircraft during flight. Neither UAS survey altitude nor launch distance alone in this study was strong predictors of nesting behaviors, although our flight altitudes (≥75 m above ground level) were much higher than previously published behavioral studies. Synthesis and applications: The diversity of UAS models makes generalizations on behavioral impacts difficult, and we caution that researchers should design UAS studies with knowledge that some minimal disturbance is likely to occur. We recommend flight designs take potential behavioral impacts into account by increasing survey altitude where data quality requirements permit. Such flight designs should consider a priori knowledge of focal species' behavioral characteristics. Research is needed to determine whether any such disturbance is a result of visual or auditory stimuli.
(Des)colonialidad del poder en 13 pueblos en defensa del agua, el aire y la tierra

This article analyzes Francesco Taboada’s 13 pueblos en defensa del agua, el aire y la tierra documentary (2008) from the perspective of the “coloniality of power.” This concept, in accordance with Walter Mignolo, refers to the subordination of the knowledge and culture of subaltern and excluded groups that is a feature of Western modernity. Taboada highlights the epic struggle of the 13 Villages in the State of Morelos Movement to defend not only natural resources (water, land, forests) but also the full rights of indigeous communities. This film is an obligatory reference for documenting indigeneous people’s movements and the social struggles that are being waged in today’s neoliberal Mexico.
An Ecologically Valid System for Classifying Severity of Traumatic Brain Injury in Children

The Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) has been extremely helpful in classifying severity of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in adults [1]. While it also has been applied to children, investigators have noted its limitations, particularly when classifying “mild” to “moderate” brain injuries [2, 3, 4]. Levin et al [4] also noted that the systematic assessment of the period of post-traumatic amnesia following pediatric TBI was more strongly related to postacute memory impairment than GCS scores per se.
Single Beam Interferometry of a Thermal Bump: II --Theory

Kuo and Munidasa [1] have reported a method by which a time-dependent optical intensity pattern is produced by the interference of laser light diffracted from a thermally induced bump with the light of the same laser reflected from the plane of the sample on which the bump was induced. In their experiment the thermal bump was induced by a second laser beam which was optically incoherent with the interfering light, but which was intensity modulated at frequencies ranging from the audio to the ultrasonic range. The resulting time-dependent patterns carry information about the thermal and elastic properties of the sample. The purpose of this work is to provide a first-principles calculation of those patterns so that those material properties can be measured with this technique. The starting point of the calculation is the solution to the coupled thermoelastic equations developed by Favro et al. [2–4]. That solution is expressed in terms of the three eigenmodes of the coupled equations: (1) a longitudinal acoustic wave consisting of propagating particle displacements and associated temperature variations arising from the compression and rarefaction of the material; (2) a transverse (shear) wave which consists only of propagating particle displacements and which does not cause any temperature variation as it propagates; and (3) a heavily-damped thermal wave which consists of propagating temperature variations and associated particle displacements arising from the thermal expansion it causes. The combination of surface displacements (i.e. “thermal bump”) resulting from these three kinds of waves when a modulated laser beam is incident on the surface of an opaque solid can be calculated in a straight forward fashion from expressions given in [4].
Exposures: Toddlers and Younger Children, 1.5–4.5 Years of Age

This chapter explores the experiences of childhood for toddlers and younger children through historical records and skeletal evidence. In particular, this chapter focuses on expanding structures of social interaction, including education opportunities at the church and elsewhere in the city. This chapter also begins to track how changing experiences influence changing skeletal markers of health and activity. Skeletal trauma is introduced. Changes in dental health and evidence for scurvy are discussed. Examples are drawn from published accounts by children in this age cohort. In order to illustrate experience, this chapter also provides brief biographies from the death records associated with the church and osteobiographies from the skeletal data.
Mean-Field Stabilization of Robotic Swarms to Probability Distributions with Disconnected Supports

We consider the problem of stabilizing a swarm of agents to a target probability distribution among a set of states, given that the agents' states evolve according to an interacting system of continuous time Markov chains (CTMCs). We construct a class of density-feedback laws, i.e., control laws that are functions of the swarm population density, that achieve this objective provided that the graph associated with the CTMCs is strongly connected. To execute these control laws, each agent only requires information on the population fraction of agents that are in its current state. Additionally, the control laws ensure that there are no state transitions by agents at equilibrium, which is a known drawback of stabilization using time- and density-independent control laws. We guarantee global asymptotic stability of the equilibrium distribution by analyzing the corresponding mean-field model. The fact that any probability distribution can be globally stabilized is a significant extension of previous mean-field based approaches that control swarms of agents using time-invariant control laws, which require the equilibrium distribution to have a strongly connected support. To admit feedback laws that take values only on a discrete set, we consider control laws that can be discontinuous functions of the agent densities. We validate the control laws using stochastic simulations of the CTMC model and numerical simulations of the mean-field model.
Camina Groups, Camina Pairs, and Generalizations

We survey the results regarding Camina groups and Camina pairs. We look at related topics such as Gagola characters, homogeneous induction, anti-central elements, the vanishing-off subgroup, and Camina triples. We also present several of the problems where these results have been applied.
Tumour lysis syndrome: a rare side effect of imatinib therapy for GIST.

Tumour lysis syndrome (TLS) is a life-threatening complication wherein massive tumour cell lysis results in severe metabolic abnormalities. TLS generally follows chemotherapy of rapidly proliferating haematological malignancies; spontaneous TLS and TLS from treatment of solid tumours are infrequently reported. We present a rare case of TLS following treatment of a large gastrointestinal stromal tumour (GIST) in a 63- year-old man. Imatinib was started for tumour size reduction prior to surgical intervention and in 5 days the patient developed metabolic derangements consistent with TLS. Imatinib was held and fluids, allopurinol and rasburicase were started. All metabolic abnormalities resolved in 3 days. Imatinib was restarted, and he eventually underwent surgical intervention. This is the second case demonstrating successful reinitiation of imatinib following TLS when treating GIST. We highlight the importance of risk factor assessment and need for pre-emptive therapy to prevent TLS when using tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy.
Store Choice, Store Location and Market Analysis (Routledge Revivals)

This book, first published in 1988, brings together leading researchers from both the retailing business and the academic world to discuss the latest techniques of analysis and forecasting in the fields of store choice, store location, and market analysis. Its rationale is the major restructuring of the UK retailing industry which has taken place over the past twenty years, and the profound implications of that restructuring for the type of research necessary to understand, maintain and enhance corporate responsibility. The contributors present accounts of the development of new and original methods for retail analysis and forecasting purposes. They lay stress upon practical methods which are accurate and robust, and which can operate with the type of data typically available to retailers. The book will provide a major work of reference for retailers, market researchers, retail analysts, estate managers, urban planners and geographers in many countries.
Bone and the Immune System (Osteoimmunology)

Abstract Osteoimmunology is defined as the study of interactions between the immune and skeletal systems. The relationship between these systems has been clear for some time given that osteoclasts are derived from immune cells, and that much of the immune system develops within the bone marrow. However, interest in the field was catalyzed by the near simultaneous discovery of the role of the RANK/RANKL system in osteoclastogenesis by both immunologists and bone biologists. Since then, numerous studies have defined molecular interactions between immune and skeletal cells that have demonstrated bidirectional influences between cells from the two systems that regulate development and function of bone and immune responses.
Cytochrome c-poly(acrylic acid) conjugates with improved peroxidase turnover number

Cytochrome c-poly(acrylic acid) (cyt c-PAA) conjugates with 34-fold enchancement in peroxidase turnover number (kcat) are reported. Cyt c-PAA conjugates were prepared by carbodiimide coupling. PAA with molecular weight (Mw) ranging from 1.8k to 250k g mol-1 were employed, and the effect of PAA Mw on peroxiodase kinetics was assessed. The kcat value increased with increased Mw of PAA, ranging from 0.077(±0.002) s-1 in the absence of PAA to 2.66(±0.08) s-1 for the conjugate of cyt c with 250k PAA. Enzymatic activity studies over pH 6-8 indicated improved activity for cyt c-PAA conjugates at neutral or slightly alkaline pH. Examination of the cyt c heme spectroscopy in the presence of H2O2 revealed that formation of compound III, a reactive intermediate that leads to enzyme inactivation, was supressed in cyt c-PAA conjugates. Thus, we suggest the kcat enhancement can be attributed to acidification of the pH microenvironment and inhibition of the formation of a reactive intermediate that deactivates cyt c during the catalytic cycle.
Patterns of DNA methylation as an indicator of biological aging: State of the science and future directions in precision health promotion.

Abstract Background A rapidly expanding literature suggests that individuals of the same chronological age show significant variation in biological age. Purpose The purpose of this article is to review the literature surrounding epigenetic age as estimated by DNA methylation, involving the addition or removal of methyl groups to DNA that can alter gene expression without changing the DNA sequence. Methods This state of the science literature review summarizes current approaches in epigenetic age determination and applications of aging algorithms. Findings A number of algorithms estimate epigenetic age using DNA methylation markers, primarily among adults. Algorithm application has focused on determining predictive value for risk of disease and death and identifying antecedents to age acceleration. Several studies have incorporated epigenetic age to evaluate intervention effectiveness. Discussion As the research community continues to refine aging algorithms, there may be opportunity to promote health from a precision health perspective.