cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Variations in the catechol O-methyltransferase polymorphism and prefrontally guided behaviors in adolescents.

Background The catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene codes for an enzyme that degrades prefrontal cortex (PFC) synaptic dopamine. Of two identified alleles (Met and Val), the Met allele results in COMT activity that is up to 4 times less pronounced than that conferred by the Val allele, resulting in greater PFC dopamine concentrations. Met-Met homozygotes perform better than individuals who possess the Val allele on PFC-mediated cognitive tasks. These genotypic variations and their associations with executive functions have been described in adults and prepubescent children, but there is a paucity of research assessing these relations in adolescent samples. Methods In this study, 70 children aged 9–17 were genotyped for COMT and completed measures of working memory, attention, fine motor coordination, and motor speed. Results COMT genotype modulated all but the motor speed measures. The Val-Met genotype was optimal for performance in this adolescent sample. Conclusions Results are discussed within the context of developmental changes in the dopaminergic system during adolescence.
Expression of HLA ABC and DR antigens in thyroid neoplasia and correlation with mononuclear leukocyte infiltration.

The rejection of tumor cells by the immune system depends on the production of tumor-associated antigens and the expression of HLA antigens on these cells. We therefore studied the expression of HLA ABC and PR antigens in malignant and benign thyroid disorders and correlated it with the types and extent of mononuclear cell infiltration. In the normal thyroid, HLA ABC expression was weak and focal, while it was diffusely present in benign disorders and in most but not all malignancies. HLA DR antigens, while absent or infrequently expressed in normal thyroid, were strongly but often focally expressed in all cases of autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD), as well as in most cases of malignant tumors and benign epithelium surrounding these tumors, and colloid nodule diesase. There was a T cell predominance in all disorders, and the CD4VCD8+ ratio was > 1 in most benign and malignant specimens. There was a direct correlation between the high expression of HLA antigens and dense inflammatory infiltration in AITD but not in most tumor specimens. Lack of such correlation suggests that the expression of HLA antigens is an autonomous event in tumors, independent of cellular infiltrate.
The creation and inauguration of engineering leadership: UTEP and Olin College innovation project

The Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering (Olin College) and The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) are partnering in a project to create a new engineering program that educates career-ready engineering innovators while simultaneously increasing recruitment and retention among historically underrepresented students. Through the Olin-UTEP Partnership for Change: Adoption and Adaptation of Innovative Practices for 21st Century Engineering project, supported by the Department of Education and the Argosy Foundation, UTEP is pioneering a novel undergraduate engineering leadership program (E-Lead), focused on innovation, collaboration, communication, and human-centered engineering embedded in rigorous technical education. The program is being modeled on the curriculum and pedagogy of Olin College, a private, highly selective engineering college respected and nationally recognized for its premier innovative engineering education. The adaptation to UTEP is of national interest, since UTEP is a public, urban institution with a 21st-century demographic [1] and successful transformation of Olin approaches to UTEP can demonstrate scalable impact broadly pertinent to many other commuter campuses and public institutions. By conveying these approaches to UTEP, a minority institution serving a largely Hispanic population in the region of Texas with the lowest median income [2], we aim to demonstrably adapt and scale successful innovation-supportive pedagogies to meet important national needs for a diverse and empowered 21st century engineering sciences workforce.
Rebooting the Discourse on Causation in the Criminal Law: A Pragmatic (and Imperfect) Approach

Causation in the criminal law is an extremely complex issue for several reasons. Prime among those reasons is the fact that most scholars who have tackled the issue have done so by searching for a universal, comprehensive solution. This Article starts from the premise that such a solution is unattainable. Rather than embarking in extravagant philosophical inquiries, the Article offers a pragmatic solution to the issue of causation in the criminal law. Applying a methodology that finds validation in the philosophy of science, the Article argues that causation in the criminal law should be constructed in functional terms. Linking the concept of cause to its function within the criminal law, the Article maintains that “cause” should be informed to the idea of necessity, not sufficiency — nor any other idea of “cause,” no matter how strong or even better that idea might be from the perspective of metaphysics. The proposal advanced in this Article, while necessarily imperfect, gives coherence to a concept (that of but for cause) that, as of today, has been thought to be faulty and flawed to the point of inadequacy. Only by understanding causation within this framework it will be possible to move past the flawed dichotomy of “cause in fact” and “proximate cause” and focus on the more delicate policy issues that relate to culpability. While it is not the Article's goal to be the last word on the subject — indeed, the Article expressly aims to be an initial building block — the Article does clarify several basic (and yet, until now, somewhat obscure) concepts that relate to causation in the criminal law, thus raising the level of discourse and providing a stronger foundation for further debate on the subject.
Clinical Sedation Regimens

Several agents and their combinations, administered orally, have been studied and used in practice. In reality, little substantial body of evidence derived from organized, randomized, well-controlled scientific studies is available to support any one agent or combination of agents over another for sedating children. Often, dentists use sedative regimens with which they are familiar from their training or what “works well in their hands.” In this chapter, common sedatives and their combinations that have been popularized in professional journals or through sharing of experiences with colleagues are overviewed. A more complete understanding of the success or failure of these agents is dependent on other key factors that will influence, to some degree, these outcomes. Child temperament, parental influence, and the amount of and required technical skills associated with procedures are some of these important factors. They will be discussed in the context of procedural sedation. The review is admittedly incomplete simply because of complexity of the situation and the limited evidence; however, it gives the reader a good perspective of the common challenge in pediatric dental practice.
Nisin Resistance of Foodborne Bacteria and the Specific Resistance Responses of Listeria monocytogenes Scott A.

Eight foodborne pathogenic and spoilage type gram-positive bacteria were evaluated for their spontaneous resistance frequencies to the peptide antimicrobial nisin. In brain heart infusion medium, spontaneous nisin resistance frequencies were in the range of 10−6 to 10−8 when exposed to nisin at concentrations 2 to 8 times the minimal inhibitory concentrations. A resistant mutant of Listeria monocytogenes Scott A (2000 U nisin per ml) was obtained by increasing stepwise exposure to nisin and was subsequently characterized. Nisin was not inactivated after exposure to mutant or parent cells growing in brain heart medium. Membrane fatty acid composition, phase transition temperature profiles (by differential scanning calorimetry), and specific growth rates of the resistant mutant and parent strain were compared. The resistant mutant had a higher phase transition temperature, higher percentage of straight-chain fatty acids, and a lower percentage of branched chain-fatty acids. The specific growth rate (k) of t...
Klebsiella pneumoniae Liver Abscess: An Emerging Disease

Most of the cases of Klebsiella pneumoniae liver abscess reported early on were from Asia, predominantly Taiwan, with a significant number of patients being middle aged diabetic men, and developing metastatic complications, especially endophthalmitis. The entity is now being increasingly recognized in the United States. In this article, the authors review those reported cases, and also the literature regarding the pathophysiology of this intriguing syndrome.
Consensus of the Millennium Conference on Teaching High Value Care.

AbstractIssue: Healthcare costs have spiraled out of control, yet students and residents may lack the knowledge and skills to provide high value care, which emphasizes the best possible care while reducing unnecessary costs. Evidence: Mainly national campaigns are aimed at physicians to reconsider their test ordering behaviors, identify overused diagnostics, and disseminate innovative practices. These efforts will fall short if principles of high value care are not incorporated across the spectrum of training for the next generation of physicians. Implications: Consensus findings of an invitational conference of 7 medical school teams consisting of academic leaders included strategies for institutions to meaningfully incorporate high value care into their medical school, residency, and faculty development curricula.
Review of fluorescence guided surgery visualization and overlay techniques

In fluorescence guided surgery, data visualization represents a critical step between signal capture and display needed for clinical decisions informed by that signal. The diversity of methods for displaying surgical images are reviewed, and a particular focus is placed on electronically detected and visualized signals, as required for near-infrared or low concentration tracers. Factors driving the choices such as human perception, the need for rapid decision making in a surgical environment, and biases induced by display choices are outlined. Five practical suggestions are outlined for optimal display orientation, color map, transparency/alpha function, dynamic range compression, and color perception check.
Effects of Varying Concentrations of Platelets and Their Lyophilized Derivatives on Generation of Thromboplastin.

SummaryHigh concentrations of fresh and lyophilized platelet materials inhibit the generation of plasma thromboplastin. Lyophilized platelet material, at the approximate equivalent of physiological concentrations, produces a normal level of plasma thromboplastic activity. Thromboplastin generation is not activated excessively at any concentration of these preparations.
New Managerialism in Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union

Significant changes are introduced in Czech and Russian Enterprise management as part of the economic reforms, particularly in enterprise goals and decentralization of managerial authority. This pa...
A Computational Study of Fracture in the Calcaneus Under Variable Impact Conditions

This preliminary study aims to computationally model and study the fracture patterns in the human calcaneus during variable impact loading conditions. A finite element model of the foot and ankle is used to understand the effect of loading rates and orientation of the foot on fracture patterns. Simulations are carried out by applying varying impact velocities of steel plate to the foot & ankle model in accordance with data regarding underbody blasts. These impact velocities are applied to reach a peak in 1.5 ms. Fracture of bone is represented using the plastic kinematic constitutive model with element erosion method, where elements are removed from the simulation after an inelastic failure strain is exceeded. The simulations last for 5 ms to observe the extent of fracture in the calcaneus.Following simulations, the resulting fracture patterns are compared to available images from experimental impact tests to qualitatively assess the simufutions. A mesh convergence study is performed to determine the level of refinement of mesh necessary to represent this problem. The mesh appears to converge at the refinement level of the medium coarse mesh. The effect of impact velocities on fracture is studied on unjlexed and flexed foot models. At lower velocities, fracture is observed in the form of a single continuous crack, and a pronounced branched type of network is observed at higher velocities. Finally, variation in fracture networks due to variability in strength of the bone is studied. For lower values of failure strain, significantly larger and branched networks of fracture are observed.Copyright © 2015 by ASME
Measuring structural similarity in large online networks

Structural similarity based on bipartite graphs can be used to detect meaningful communities, but the networks have been tiny compared to massive online networks. Scalability is important in applications involving tens of millions of individuals with highly skewed degree distributions. Simulation analysis holding underlying similarity constant shows that two widely used measures - Jaccard index and cosine similarity - are biased by the distribution of out-degree in web-scale networks. However, an alternative measure, the Standardized Co-incident Ratio (SCR), is unbiased. We apply SCR to members of Congress, musical artists, and professional sports teams to show how massive co-following on Twitter can be used to map meaningful affiliations among cultural entities, even in the absence of direct connections to one another. Our results show how structural similarity can be used to map cultural alignments and demonstrate the potential usefulness of social media data in the study of culture, politics, and organizations across the social and behavioral sciences.
PEPFAR Funding and Reduction in HIV Infection Rates in 12 Focus Sub-Saharan African Countries: A Quantitative Analysis.

Background: HIV and AIDS continue to have a calamitous effect on individuals living on the continent of Africa. U.S. President George W. Bush implemented the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) with the objective of committing approximately $15 billion from 2004 through 2008 to assist with the reduction of the HIV pandemic worldwide. The majority of the PEPFAR policy and funding focused on 12 countries in sub-Saharan Africa: Botswana, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. The policy question this research paper seeks to analyze is whether the PEPFAR funding (as a % of Gross Domestic Product (GDP)) allocated to the 12 countries in Africa had any effect on the decrease of HIV infection rates of males and females between the ages of 15 and 49. Methods: A fixed-effects panel regression analysis was conducted to determine if this association exists. This study examined the 12 African countries that received PEPFAR funding over the years 2002 to 2010; even though PEPFAR was only active from 2004 through 2008, this research included two years prior and two years after this timeframe in order to better estimate the effect of PEPFAR funding on HIV reduction. Results: The results illustrate that on average, ceteris paribus, for every 1 percentage point increase in PEPFAR funding per GDP a country received, the country’s HIV infection rate decreased by 0.355 percentage points. Conclusions and Global Health Implications: While the empirical findings in this study suggested that the correlation between PEPFAR funding and HIV reduction is statistically significant, the practical significance is perhaps less obvious. Arguably, the reduction rate should be higher given the extent of funding targeted to this project. The conclusion of this research provides suggestions on future research and the policy implications of PEPFAR. Keywords: AIDS Africa • Disease Prevention • Global Health HIV • PEPFAR • President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief • PEPFAR Copyright © 2015 Chin et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Queering Colombia's Peace Process: A case study of LGBTI inclusion

In August 2016, Colombia's government announced that they had reached an agreement with the country's largest guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). This peace deal was...
Expanding the Lexicon for a Resource-Poor Language Using a Morphological Analyzer and a Web Crawler

Resource-poor languages may suffer from a lack of any of the basic resources that are fundamental to computational linguistics, including an adequate digital lexicon. Given the relatively small corpus of texts that exists for such languages, extending the lexicon presents a challenge. Languages with complex morphology present a special case, however, because individual words in these languages provide a great deal of information about the grammatical properties of the roots that they are based on. Given a morphological analyzer, it is even possible to extract novel roots from words. In this paper, we look at the case of Tigrinya, a Semitic language with limited lexical resources for which a morphological analyzer is available. It is shown that this analyzer applied to the list of more than 200,000 Tigrinya words that is extracted by a web crawler can extend the lexicon in two ways, by adding new roots and by inferring some of the derivational constraints that apply to known roots.
An Alternative Coarse Space Method for Overlapping Schwarz Preconditioners for Raviart-Thomas Vector Fields

The purpose of this paper is to introduce an overlapping Schwarz method for vector field problems discretized with the lowest order Raviart-Thomas finite elements. The coarse component of the preconditioner is based on energy-minimizing discrete harmonic extensions and the local components consist of traditional solvers on overlapping subdomains. The approach has a couple of benefits compared to the previous methods. The algorithm can be implemented in an algebraic manner. Moreover, the method leads to a condition number independent of the values and jumps of the coefficients across the interface between the substructures. Supporting numerical examples to demonstrate the effectiveness are also presented.
Bioprinting of Dynamic Human Organs-on-Chips: Enabling Technologies for Rapid Drug Development and Personalized Medicine

Dynamic human organs-on-chips are microfluidic devices capable of reproducing the physiology of human organs, accurately simulating both normal and disease states. These microphysiological systems offer more predictive and ethical alternatives both to animal-based preclinical drug studies and to cell-based in vitro diagnostics. But multiple organs-on-chips must be connected together in order to emulate the full human body. Therefore, new and more complex organs-on-chips that are more representative and versatile need to be designed and developed. The most salient challenge lies in their fabrication. Current prototypes rely on traditional microfluidic and microelectromechanical system methods that are too time-consuming for rapid prototyping, troubleshooting, and customization. Newer three-dimensional bioprinting technologies can help facilitate fabrication and deployment of next generation organs-on-chips. This review of the literature provides background on the clinical utility of dynamic human organs-on-chips. It lays out their design and fabrication requirements in the context of state of the art bioprinting technologies. It also proposes development pathways for bioprinted organs-on-chips to engineer more predictive designs. Finally, regulatory considerations and the impact of future bioprinting approaches on organ-on-chips are discussed with emphasis on enabling an era of personalized medicine.
Fault zone characteristics and basin complexity in the southern Salton Trough, California

Ongoing oblique slip at the Pacific–North America plate boundary in the Salton Trough produced the Imperial Valley (California, USA), a seismically active area with deformation distributed across a complex network of exposed and buried faults. To better understand the shallow crustal structure in this region and the connectivity of faults and seismicity lineaments, we used data primarily from the Salton Seismic Imaging Project to construct a three-dimensional P-wave velocity model down to 8 km depth and a velocity profile to 15 km depth, both at 1 km grid spacing. A VP = 5.65–5.85 km/s layer of possibly metamorphosed sediments within, and crystalline basement outside, the valley is locally as thick as 5 km, but is thickest and deepest in fault zones and near seismicity lineaments, suggesting a causative relationship between the low velocities and faulting. Both seismicity lineaments and surface faults control the structural architecture of the western part of the larger wedge-shaped basin, where two deep subbasins are located. We estimate basement depths, and show that high velocities at shallow depths and possible basement highs characterize the geothermal areas.
Do Cognitive Patterns of Strengths and Weaknesses Differentially Predict Errors on Reading, Writing, and Spelling?:

This study investigated the relationship between specific cognitive patterns of strengths and weaknesses (PSWs) and the errors children make in reading, writing, and spelling tests from the Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement–Third Edition (KTEA-3). Participants were selected from the KTEA-3 standardization sample based on five cognitive profiles: High Crystallized Ability paired with Low Processing Speed and Long-Term Retrieval (High Gc), Low Crystallized Ability paired with High Processing Speed and Long-Term Retrieval (High Gs/Glr), Low Orthographic Processing (Low OP), Low Phonological Processing (Low PP), and Low Phonological Processing paired with Low Orthographic Processing (Low PP_OP). Error factor scores for all five groups were compared on Reading Comprehension and Written Expression; the first four groups were compared on Letter & Word Recognition, Nonsense Word Decoding, and Spelling, and the first three groups were compared on Phonological Processing. Significant differences were noted am...
Analysis of copy number variants in 11 pairs of monozygotic twins with neurofibromatosis type 1

Phenotypic variability among individuals with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) has long been a challenge for clinicians and an enigma for researchers. Members of the same family and even identical twins with NF1 often demonstrate variable disease expression. Many mechanisms for this variability have been proposed. We have performed an exploratory study of copy number variants (CNVs) as a possible source of phenotypic variability in NF1. We enrolled 11 pairs of monozygotic (MZ) twins with NF1 and their parents, catalogued their clinical characteristics, and utilized a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) microarray to identify CNVs in blood and saliva. The 11 twin pairs showed high concordance for presence and number of cafe-au-lait spots, cutaneous neurofibromas, IQ, and ADHD. They were more likely to be discordant for optic pathway glioma, plexiform neurofibromas, skeletal manifestations, and malignancy. Microarray analysis identified a total of 81 CNVs meeting our conservative criteria, 37 of which overlap known genes. Of interest, three CNVs were previously unreported. Microarray analysis failed to ascertain any CNV differences within twin pairs, between twins and parents, or between tissues in any one individual. Results of this small pilot study did not demonstrate any de novo CNV events in our MZ twin pairs, nor were de novo CNVs overrepresented in these individuals with NF1. A much larger sample size would be needed to form any conclusions about the role of CNVs in NF1 variable expressivity. Alternative explanations for discordant phenotypes include epigenetic changes, smaller genetic alterations, or environmental factors. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
An air stable radical-bridged dysprosium single molecule magnet and its neutral counterpart: redox switching of magnetic relaxation dynamics

A pair of related dinuclear lanthanide compounds, viz., [Dy(tmhd)3]2(bptz) (1) and {Cp2Co}{[Dy(tmhd)3]2(bptz)} (2) (tmhd = 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-3,5-heptane dionate; bptz = 3,6-bis(2-pyridyl)-1,2,4,5-tetrazine) are reported. These molecules represent the first study of rare earth ions in which an organic ligand bridged species is isolated in both the neutral and radical anion forms. Both compounds exhibit out-of-phase signals below 4 K. The radical compound is highly air stable, with minimal changes in magnetic behavior after exposure to the atmosphere for two weeks.
Lymphangioleiomyomatosis: A Monogenic Model of Malignancy

Lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM) is a rare, low-grade, metastasizing neoplasm that arises from an unknown source, spreads via the lymphatics, and targets the lungs. All pulmonary structures become infiltrated with benign-appearing spindle and epithelioid cells (LAM cells) that express smooth-muscle and melanocyte-lineage markers, harbor mTOR-activating mutations in tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) genes, and recruit abundant stromal cells. Elaboration of lymphangiogenic growth factors and matrix remodeling enzymes by LAM cells enables their access to lymphatic channels and likely drives the cystic lung remodeling that often culminates in respiratory failure. Dysregulated cellular signaling results in a shift from oxidative phosphorylation to glycolysis as the preferred mode of energy generation, to allow for the accumulation of biomass required for cell growth and tolerance of nutrient-poor, anaerobic environments. Symptomatic LAM occurs almost exclusively in females after menarche, highlighting the central but as yet poorly understood role for sex-restricted anatomical structures and/or hormones in disease pathogenesis. LAM is an elegant model of malignancy because biallelic mutations at a single genetic locus confer all features that define cancer upon the LAM cell-metabolic reprogramming and proliferative signals that drive uncontrolled growth and inappropriate migration and invasion, the capacity to exploit the lymphatic circulation as a vehicle for metastasis and access to the lungs, and destruction of remote tissues. The direct benefit of the study of this rare disease has been the rapid identification of an effective FDA-approved therapy, and the collateral benefits have included elucidation of the pivotal roles of mTOR signaling in the regulation of cellular metabolism and the pathogenesis of cancer.
Badger Ballistics Participation in WSGC Collegiate Rocket Launch 2016

This paper is a report of Badger Ballistics’ participation in the Collegiate Rocket Launch competition hosted by the Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium. The objective of this competition is to build a high power rocket depicting an accurate scale model of a launch vehicle used by private industry or government, and predict its launch apogee with minimal error. The vehicle’s target apogee must fall between 2500 and 3500 feet. The team chose to create a rocket replicating the German V-2 look. Most unique to our design is our use of 3D printing for body components. At competition day, the team submitted an apogee prediction of 3300 feet and recorded an unofficial launch apogee of 2940 feet. Badger Ballistics achieved the third closest apogee prediction and placed fifth overall in competition.
Personalized Assistant for Health-Conscious Grocery Shoppers

As the healthy eating trend gains momentum and the number of product choices explode, grocery shoppers face a distinctive challenge in making effective decisions. This article summarizes our efforts to improve consumer’s ability to choose healthier food product choices. Through the framework of Health-Belief Model, we constructed a survey for shoppers and; based on the findings, designed a solution that adapts to each user’s unique cocktail of preferences.
Neanderthals and Denisovans as biological invaders.

Humans stand out among our close primate relatives as effective biological invaders. Our recent history has included range expansions into remote and harsh geographic regions, and invasions by some populations into areas long occupied by others. Historians tend to frame these events as a story of technological and economic progress, while admitting that disease sometimes plays a central part—a triad made memorable by Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies (1). Ancient DNA is revealing a deeper prehistory of human dispersals, however, showing continuity with invasions as understood by biologists, not just historians. Now, in PNAS, Rogers et al. (2) find that not only modern humans but also Neanderthals and Denisovans may share a surprisingly invasive origin. The story of Neanderthal and Denisovan origins has developed rapidly during the past 7 y. Two high-coverage genomes, and more fragmentary genome data from a handful of other individuals, have yielded powerful insights about the diversity of these ancient groups and their legacy of genetic introgression into recent humans (3). These archaic populations share a deep common history, and individual genomes record a history of high inbreeding and low gene flow across their ancient geographic ranges (4, 5). In their new study, Rogers et al. (2) find that the common ancestral population of the Denisovans and Neanderthals underwent a tight bottleneck, immediately after this population diverged from the African ancestors of modern humans. This bottleneck was rapid, maybe only 300 generations, and the Neanderthal and Denisovan populations separated quickly thereafter. This archaic human dispersal, which unfolded more than 600 ka, bears a striking parallel to the much later dispersal of modern humans from Africa into Eurasia after 100 ka. In both cases, the small bottleneck is etched into the genomes of all their descendants, and in both cases, this founder … [↵][1]1Email: jhawks{at}wisc.edu. [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1
Beach Rats (2017)

Eliza Wittman, writer-director, created a film about a drug-addicted teenager's exploration of his sexuality, experimenting with a young woman and various gay hookups, mostly with men older than Fr...
Sources of Economic Efficiency

In recent times competition has been most intense in the modern high-tech industries in Silicon Valley in US, such as semiconductors, microelectronics and personal computers. Product and process innovations, economies of scale and learning by doing have intensified the competitive pressure leading to declining prices and unit costs. Thus Norsworthy and Jang (1992) in their measurement of technological change in these industries over the last decade noted the high degree of cost efficiency due to learning by doing and R&D investment. More recently the empirical study by Jorgenson and Stiroh (2000) noted two significant impacts of the growth of computer power on the overall US economy. First, as the production of computers improves and becomes more efficient, more computing power is being produced from the same inputs, i.e., learning by doing. This increases the overall economic growth. Secondly, the computer using industries are now using skilled labor working with better computer equipment, thus increasing labor productivity in these industries. Thus the average industry productivity growth (i.e., total factor productivity growth in a specific industry) has achieved a rate of 2.0 percent per year over the period 1958–96 for electronic equipment, which include semiconductors and communications equipment.
Open Archives Initiative protocol development and implementation at arXiv

I outline the involvement of the Los Alamos e-print archive (arXiv) within the Open Archives Initiative (OAI) and describe the implementation of the data provider side of the OAI protocol v1.0. I highlight the ways in which we map the existing structure of arXiv onto elements of the protocol.
A Simplicial Tutte "5"-flow Conjecture

This paper concerns a generalization of nowhere-zero modular q-flows from graphs to simplicial complexes of dimension d greater than 1. A modular q-flow of a simplicial complex is an element of the kernel of the dth boundary map with coefficients inZq; it is called nowhere-zero if it is not zero restricted to any of the facets of the complex. Briefly noting connections to other invariants of simplicial complexes, this paper provides a generalization of Tutte’s 5-flow conjecture, which claims the universal existence of a 5-flow for all bridgeless graphs. Once phrased, this paper concludes with bounds on what “5” ought to be for simplicial complexes of dimension d: proving a lower bound linear in d and a partial upper bound exponential in d.
Gender alters impact of hypobaric hypoxia on adductor pollicis muscle performance.

Recently, we reported that, at similar voluntary force development during static submaximal intermittent contractions of the adductor pollicis muscle, fatigue developed more slowly in women than in...
Advances in flap monitoring and impact of enhanced recovery protocols

Recent advances in technology have shown promise in improving outcomes in microsurgery. Although vascular compromise and flap loss represent major complications, flap monitoring techniques have evolved to improve rates of salvage. Enhanced recovery protocols have also been adapted to expedite patient recovery and length of stay. Early studies have shown benefits such as decreased complications and costs and improved patient outcomes. This review examines the current literature on these topics in the setting of microsurgery.
Disorders of Carbohydrate Metabolism

Abstract Inborn errors of carbohydrate metabolism covered in this chapter include disaccharidase deficiencies, disorders of monosaccharide metabolism, glycogen storage diseases, and gluconeogenic disorders. This chapter focuses mainly on clinical aspects, genetics and current treatments for these disorders. The defective digestion of dietary disaccharides starch, lactose and sucrose is due to deficiencies of congenital lactase, adult-type lactase, or sucrase-isomaltase. Disorders of monosaccharide metabolism include defects in transport (glucose-galactose malabsorption), enzymes of galactose metabolism (galactokinase, galactose-1-phosphate uridyl transferase, and uridine diphosphate galactose-4-epimerase deficiency), enzymes of fructose metabolism (liver fructose-1-phosphate aldolase), and dehydrogenases of pentose metabolism (fructose-6-phosphate and glucose-6-phosphate). To date, there are over 12 glycogenoses, or glycogen metabolism disorders, that have been cataloged. Glycogen storage diseases (GSD), a major category of glycogenoses, are categorized by the type of tissue involved: liver, muscle, and/or cardiac. Gluconeogenic disorders entail deficiencies of fructose-1,6-diphosphatase, pyruvate carboxylase, phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase, and pyruvate dehydrogenase complex.
Identification and measurement of chiro-inositol in the American cockroach, Periplaneta americana L.

Abstract chiro -Inositol has been identified as a fat body and hemolymph constituent in the cockroach Periplaneta americana L. by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. This is the first time this inositol has been observed in animal tissues. chiro -Inositol was measured along with myo- and scyllo -inositols in the cockroach fat body and hemolymph by the mass spectrometric selective ion detection technique.
Exploring the Feature Space to Aid Learning in Design Space Exploration

In this paper, we introduce the concept of exploring the feature space to aid learning in the context of design space exploration. The feature space is defined as a possible set of features mapped in a 2D plane with each axis representing different interestingness measures, such as precision or recall. Similar to how a designer explores the design space, one can explore the feature space by observing how different features vary in their ability to explain a set of design solutions. We hypothesize that such process helps designers gain a better understanding of the design space. To test this hypothesis, we conduct a controlled experiment with human subjects. The result suggests that exploring the feature space has the potential to enhance the user’s ability to identify important features and predict the performance of a design. However, such observation is limited only to the participants with some previous experience with design space exploration.
Case Study: How Horses Helped a Teenager with Autism Make Friends and Learn How to Work

I was born in 1947 and had autism with speech delay until age four. I am now a college professor of animal science. Horse activities enabled me to make friends through a shared interest in horses. This paper describes the benefits that I experienced from working with horses and my friendships and work skills. A close friendship developed with another student through both riding and horse craft projects. Keeping employment is a serious problem for many people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The responsibility of caring for horses and cleaning stalls every day taught me good work skills. My experiences suggest that there were valuable outcomes from working with horses. This may be a beneficial intervention to include in programming for youth with ASD.
Physiology of Ovarian Function

The two functions of the ovaries are synthesis of estrogens and provision of mature ova for fertilization. There are several similarities between the ovaries and the testes, which also possess dual functions in terms of secreting androgens and spermatogenesis. The testes and ovaries originate from the same primitive bipotential gonad. The Leydig cells, seminiferous tubules, and the interstitium of the testes are represented by their counterparts in the ovary—the granulosa cells, primordial follicles, and the stroma, respectively. Both gonads depend on the pituitary gland for trophic control by the gonadotropins LH and FSH.
Modeling MEK4 Kinase Inhibitors through Perturbed Electrostatic Potential Charges.

MEK4, mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase 4, is overexpressed and induces metastasis in advanced prostate cancer lesions. However, the value of MEK4 as an oncology target has not been pharmacol...
Congenital Heart Disease and Autism: A Case-Control Study

OBJECTIVES: There has long been an association between congenital heart disease (CHD) and general neurodevelopmental delays. However, the association between CHD and autism spectrum disorders (AuSDs) is less well understood. Using administrative data, we sought to determine the association between CHD and AuSD and identify specific CHD lesions with higher odds of developing AuSD. METHODS: We performed a 1:3 case-control study of children enrolled in the US Military Health System from 2001 to 2013. Children with International Classification of Disease, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification codes for AuSD were identified as cases and matched with controls on the basis of date of birth, sex, and enrollment time frame. Each child’s records were reviewed for CHD lesions and associated procedures. Conditional logistic regression determined odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for comparative associations. RESULTS: There were 8760 cases with AuSD and 26 280 controls included in the study. After adjustment for genetic syndrome, maternal age, gestational diabetes, short gestation, newborn epilepsy, birth asphyxia, and low birth weight, there were increased odds of AuSD in patients with CHD (OR 1.32; 95% CI 1.10–1.59). Specific lesions with significant OR included atrial septal defects (n = 82; OR 1.72; 95% CI 1.07–2.74) and ventricular septal defects (n = 193; OR 1.65; 95% CI 1.21–2.25). CONCLUSIONS: Children with CHD have increased odds of developing AuSD. Specific lesions associated with increased risk include atrial septal defects and ventricular septal defects. These findings will be useful for counseling parents of children with CHD.
Annual Research Review: Universal and targeted strategies for assigning interventions to achieve population impact

This article proposes that universal and targeted preventive interventions should be compared and evaluated in terms of their benefit-cost ratio in achieving population-wide impact on mental disorders and related outcomes. Universal approaches attempt to affect every individual in a population, whereas targeted approaches select candidates for intervention based on screening of demographic or behavioral characteristics. Unique assets and challenges of each approach in achieving population impact in a cost-efficient way are discussed, along with spillover effects, sensitivity and specificity, developmental processes, timing of intervention, and the relation between severity of risk and plasticity. A general targeted-efficiency framework is proposed as a heuristic to evaluate the collective merits of universal and targeted approaches in specific cases. A tiered approach that combines universal and targeted identification strategies is proposed, and examples are described. Issues for high-priority research are identified.
Anti-Oppressive Composition Pedagogies

The project of creating an anti-oppressive composition issue began with multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional collaboration between Julia Havard, Erica Cardwell, Anandi Rao, Juliet Kunkle and Rosalind Diaz, who crafted a call for community-building and community-transformation: to build tools, resources, and spaces for transforming our classrooms, specifically our writing classrooms; and to approach the teaching of composition in community, with accountability, and with urgency. This collaboration started as a working group at the University of California Berkeley, Radical Decolonial Queer Pedagogies of Composition, as a number of instructors at multiple levels of the academic heirarchy struggled with the differences between our writing classrooms and our research. Following Condon and Young (2016), Inoe (2015), and Gumbs (2012), our editing team wanted to create a context and process for rich unraveling of un-teaching oppressive systems through composition.
Chapter 9 – Keeping Track of Viruses

Publisher Summary This chapter reviews methods of isolating, identifying, and tracking viruses with potential applications to microbial forensic investigations. Viruses are the most abundant biological entities on earth. These obligate parasites infect every form of life, from archaea and eubacteria to fungi, plants, and animals. Viruses play key roles in global ecology—they form a vast reservoir of genetic diversity, influence the composition and evolution of host populations, and affect the cycling of chemical compounds through the environment. Research has focused on the tiny fraction that causes disease in humans, domestic animals, and crops; sequencing surveys have suggested that the majority of viruses are completely unknown. The ability of viruses to jump species barriers, move between habitats, and circle the globe rapidly underscores the importance of continued vigilance for naturally emerging or deliberately engineered outbreaks. Viruses are extremely simple “life” forms without metabolic capacity, organelles, translational machinery, or autonomous replicative potential. Virus particles constitute a minimal set of components, primarily those required to deliver the genome to the target cell and initiate replication. Consequently, virus particles (or virions) are extremely small, most in the range of 20 to 200 nm in diameter. Virions are diverse not only in size but also in composition, morphology, and genome characteristics. Virus particles may be irregular in shape or possess a distinct symmetry, such as helical or icosahedral. Particles may be surrounded by a host-derived membrane, termed “enveloped,” or a tight protein shell, termed “nonenveloped.”
Electron microscopic characterization of exhaust particles containing lead dibromide beads expelled from aircraft burning leaded gasoline.

Abstract Piston powered aircraft burning leaded gasoline contribute ~70% of the lead in the atmosphere in the US. The physical size, composition, and structure of aircraft exhaust particles containing lead dibromide are poorly understood and heretofore have not been examined directly by electron microscopy (EM), in particular when captured from an aircraft in flight. To accomplish this, exhaust samples were trapped on EM supports within 10–15 ms of exiting the aircraft exhaust pipe. High angle annular detector dark field scanning EM revealed irregular particles with a mean diameter of 13 nm consisting of a 4 nm microcrystal of lead dibromide surrounded by a halo of hydrocarbons. In contrast, exhaust particles from an automobile burning leaded fuel averaged 35 nm in diameter and contained 5–10, 4 nm lead beads. Of significant concern, the smaller aircraft particles could penetrate mucosal barriers in the lung and be readily taken up by epithelial cells.
Real Time Receiver Baseband Processing Platform for Sub 6 GHz PHY Layer Experiments

Wireless communication is rapidly evolving to fulfill diverse requirements in a number of application areas. Researchers are experimenting with novel ideas to improve different aspects of communication systems and performance metrics. While computer simulation is the first step to validating these approaches, testing platforms are needed to transform them to implementations for further validation and experimentation. Software Defined Radios (SDR) and System on Chip (SoC) offer a great deal of flexibility and versatility allowing researchers to experiment with wireless algorithms. However there are challenges; noise, channel effects, and synchronization errors have to be dealt with, and measures to mitigate their effects on received symbols should be implemented. Existing research using state of the art SDR platforms has not leveraged the powerful processing capabilities of Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) in SoCs for receiver backend operations. In this work, we use high level tools to describe hardware, and automatically synthesize and implement receiver baseband wireless signal processing algorithms for FPGA targets. We demonstrate the ability to use such platforms for real world applications using over the air waveforms. We use Xilinx ZC706, Zedboard, ADI's FMComms3, and NXP's BGA7210 variable gain amplifier (VGA) for the experiments presented in this paper. Use cases considered include testing the performance of higher order modulation schemes, adjacent channel interference, power amplifier (PA) gain compression and effects on the bit error rate (BER) performance.