cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Reconfigurable contour beam generation using a smart subreflector antenna system

A novel way to design, synthesize and adjust the reconfigurable dual offset contour beam reflector antenna employing an adjustable subreflector is presented. The work also presents a graphical user interface based computer code that connects the electro-magnetic effects to the mechanical surface deflections. The subreflector surface is described by using the finite element method and the far-field radiation pattern is calculated by reflector diffraction synthesis. The reflector surface shape is adjusted using a set of linear piezoelectric point actuators attached to its back surface, from which the diffraction synthesis code calculates the radiation pattern. An example of this method applied to the contiguous US is also presented. As a future work, a software package will be built where the finite element code and the diffraction synthesis code are combined, and it will be used for advanced actuator placement and reflector design problem.
Time domain finite difference calculations using a variable step size

The authors describe a novel method of computational electromagnetics which uses a variable step size (calculation increment) in the finite-difference technique (VSSFDM). The step size is kept small around discontinuities and larger away from them, thereby using only about 1/3 of the memory required by a straight application of K.S. Yee's (1966) method. The results obtained by VSSFDM are very close to those obtained by the finite-difference method, but with a significant reduction in the required computer memory as well as CPU time. The numerical stability of the proposed approach is demonstrated, and the VSSDM is applied to a symmetric microstrip with a width to height ratio of one. >
Correspondence between youth report and census measures of neighborhood context

Many studies that have examined neighborhood factors as predictors of crime have used census data. Exclusive use of these data limits the range of neighborhood factors that can be assessed and the frequency with which assessments can be made. Surveys of neighborhood residents provide an alternative data source. However, survey data have been viewed as reflecting the individual perceptions of respondents rather than characteristics of neighborhoods themselves. This study sought to determine whether survey data could be used to measure neighborhood context and whether data from nonrepresentative samples of youth are adequate to do so. This was achieved by examining the consistency between measures of neighborhood disadvantage/disorganization developed from the 1990 national census and from surveys of youth given in the same year as part of the Seattle Social Development Project (SSDP). The study found strong correspondence between the contemporaneous measures. The results suggest that survey data can be used to measure neighborhood factors. Advantages of this method are discussed. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Production of monoclonal antibodies using recombinant baculovirus displaying gp64-fusion proteins.

Generation of protein immunogens is often a rate-limiting step in the production of monoclonal antibodies (Mabs). Expressing domains of proteins as fusions to the baculovirus surface glycoprotein gp64 displays foreign proteins on the surface of the virion. Antigen is produced by inserting a gene fragment in-frame between the signal sequence and the mature protein domain of the gp64 nucleotide sequence. This method allows immunization with whole virus, eliminating the need for purification of target antigens. Affinity-matured Mabs to the human nuclear receptors LXRβ and FXR have been produced using baculovirus particles displaying gp64/nuclear receptor fusion proteins as the immunizing agent. Immunizations were performed directly with pelleted virus using the Repetitive Immunization Multiple Sites (RIMMS) immunization strategy for rapid Mab production. All Mabs were identified using insect cells infected with the immunizing virus. Characterization of these antibodies shows them to be class-switched and specific for LXRβ or FXR. Additionally, high affinity antibodies that recognize gp64 and neutralize baculovirus infection of insect cells were isolated. Use of the recombinant baculovirus gp64 display system makes possible the production of Mabs once a partial DNA sequence is known. This allows the generation of antibodies prior to the isolation of purified protein, in turn providing antibodies to facilitate purification, characterization and immunolocalization of proteins.
Possible role of 6-hydroxymethylbenzo[a]pyrene as a proximate carcinogen of benzo[a]pyrene and 6-methylbenzo[a]pyrene†

Benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P) and 6-methylbenzo[a]pyrene ( 6-MeB[a]P) are metabolized by fortified rat-liver homogenates to a number of metabolites including one which is indistinguishable from 6-hydroxymethylbenzo[a]pyrene (6–OHMeB[a]P) by either thin-layer chromatography or ultra-violet absorption spectra. This compound is a potent carcinogen when administered by subcutaneous injection to rats. These observations are in accord with the hypothesis that methylation or hydroxymethylation is one of the first steps in metabolic activation of carcinogenic polycyclic hydrocarbons.
Optimization of balloon obstruction for simulating equivalent pressure drop in physiological stenoses

The study of hemodynamics in an animal model simulating coronary stenosis has been limited due to the lack of a safe, accurate and reliable technique for creating an artificial stenosis. Creating artificial stenosis using occluders in an open-chest procedure has often caused myocardial infarction (MI) or severe injury to the vessel resulting in high failure rates. To minimize these issues, closed-chest procedures with internal balloon obstruction are often used to create an artificial stenosis. However, the hemodynamics in a blood vessel with internal balloon obstruction versus a physiological stenosis has not been compared. Hence, the aim of this research is to develop a relationship to predict the balloon obstruction equivalent to that of a physiological stenosis. The pressure drop in a balloon obstruction was evaluated and compared with that in a physiological stenosis. It was observed that the flow characteristics in balloon obstructions are more viscous dominated, whereas those in physiological stenoses are momentum dominated. Balloon radius was iteratively varied using a Design of Experiments (DOE) based optimization method to obtain a pressure drop equal to that of a physiological stenosis at mean hyperemic flow rates. A linear relation was obtained to predict equivalent balloon obstruction for a physiological stenosis. Further, the details were verified with our in vivo (animal) study data.
Surgical Pearl: The use of multiple different tissue specimens on the same glass slide to enhance the efficiency of frozen section preparation in Mohs micrographic surgery

Mohs micrographic surgery is a surgical modality for the removal of certain cutaneous neoplasms. The “fresh tissue technique,” 1 which is the method curently utilized by the vast majority of Mohs surgeons, involves the saucerization excision of a tumor followed by preparation of horizontal frozen sections, stepwise microscopic analysis of the frozen section tissue specimens, meticulous mapping of the excised tissue, and reexcision of residual neoplasm until tumor-free margins are obtained. After microscopically examining and mapping an excised layer of tissue, the Mohs surgeon may find it necessary to re-excise multiple, small pieces of tissue at the periphery of the defect (Fig. 1). This scenario commonly occurs during the treatment of certain tumors, such as superficial or recurrent basal cell carcinomas, which are often characterized by subclinical horizontal spread through the epidermis or papillary dermis. Embedding, horizontally sectioning, and mounting each piece of tissue separately on different glass slides can be time-consuming and wasteful of expensive slides. Alternatively, multiple small tissue specimens (usually two to four) may be embedded together in frozen section medium on the same cryostat chuck (Fig. 2), horizontally sectioned together, and final
Fuzzy typographical analysis for character preclassification

This paper presents a fuzzy-logic approach for analyzing typographical structures of textual blocks in order to be used for character preclassification. An efficient baseline detection method embedded with tolerance analysis is developed for locating precisely the baseline. Fuzzy logic is taken into account when the decision ambiguity of typographical categorization is occurred. The constraints on the fuzzy membership functions are formulated. Their boundary conditions are considered to preserve the continuity. An improved character recognition rate can be achieved by means of the typographical categorization. >
Beamforming Alternatives for Multi-Channel Transient Acoustic Event Classification

Signals acquired through a microphone array are typically beamformed to combine channels and improve the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). However, it has been previously shown that alternative methods for handling multi-channel systems can outperform beamforming for speech recognition applications. In this paper, we implemented a comprehensive set of classification tests using multiple classifiers and feature extraction techniques to determine whether the alternative methods generalize beyond speech recognition applications. We show that applying the alternative methods (in a slightly simpler form) outperforms beamforming when used for classifying transient acoustic projectile weapon signals. Furthermore, an additional technique is introduced which outperforms both beamforming and previously proposed alternatives in certain classification scenarios. For the majority of classification tests, the improvements seen through the use of these alternative methods are statistically significant.
Blood Product Replacement in the Perinatal Period

Objective In this article, we will describe some of the special compatibility testing procedures and blood component preparation and modification techniques used in intrauterine and neonatal transfusion medicine. We also will review the transfusion therapy used in hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn (HDFN) and fetal and neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia (FNAIT). Finding Transfusion therapy in the fetus and neonate requires blood typing and compatibility testing techniques not routinely used for adults. These include: cord blood testing, special attention to the volume and speed of infusion, cytomegalovirus risk reduction, and routine irradiation of cellular blood components. The treatment of HDFN and FNAIT involves phenotyping and/or genotyping of fetal and paternal red blood cells and platelets. In FNAIT, platelet products are chosen based on the absence of platelet-specific antigens. Conclusion Fetal and neonatal transfusion medicine require special attention to the unique anatomic and physiologic features of early human development.
Situating the geoweb in political economy

The geoweb represents a profound shift within regimes of the production, dissemination, and institutionalization of geographic information. Going beyond early geographic accounts of the geoweb that engage it as an extension of Web 2.0, this paper situates the emergence of the geoweb within the neoliberal political economic restructuring of the state. Drawing upon evidence of state, market, and citizen practices around Web-based spatial media and geoinformation, I argue that as the state is ‘rolling back’ from public aspects of the cartographic project, market regimes of governance are simultaneously ‘rolling out’, subsuming the mapping enterprise to the imperatives of technoscientific capitalism.
High rates of immunization in a nursing home.

One-time pneumococcal’ and annual influenza vaccination2 are recommended for elderly nursing home residents. Elderly persons fall victim to 90% of influenza-related deaths duringepidemics?Unfortunately,influenzavaccination will not induce a substantial antibody response in many elderly persons.3-5 Despite this shortcoming, the vaccine is still efficacious in reducing the incidence of pneumonia and influenza-related hospitalizations and the mortality rate in both high-risk noninstitutionalized6 and institutionalized’ elderly populations. One nursing home study showed that residents were not protected from contracting pneumonia; however, findings indicated a threefold protection from pneumonia-related deaths.8 Work currently is under way in our nursing home to enhance the immune response to influenza vaccination with the use of standard influenza antigens coupled to diphtheria toxoid and injections of the thymic hormone thymosin . The mortality rate of bacteremic pneumococcal pneumonia in the elderly is 17% to 40%.g The efficacy of the pneumococcal vaccine in this group has been demonstrated in vaccinated
Parainfluenza Type 3 Meningitis Report of Two Cases and Review of the Literature

The authors present two immunocompetent children with parainfluenza type 3 meningitis. In each case, the outcome was favorable without detectable complications. The authors reviewed the literature, showing that central nervous system (CNS) involvement by parainfluenza viruses has rarely been described but may present with a variety of neurologic syndromes. Pediatricians and laboratory personnel should recognize that these viruses, commonly known to produce respiratory syndromes, can also be a cause of CNS infections. If additional studies confirm these observations, clinicians and virology laboratories may consider whether early hemadsorption testing to detect myxoviruses is warranted.
Gender bias in employment contexts: A closer examination of the role incongruity principle☆

article i nfo This research extends the role incongruity analysis of employment-related gender bias by investigating the role of dispositional and situational antecedents, specifically political ideology and the salience of cues to the traditional female gender role. The prediction that conservatives would show an anti-female candidate bias and liberals would show a pro-female bias when the traditional female gender role is salient was tested across three experimental studies. In Study 1, 126 participants evaluated a male or a female job applicant with thoughts of the traditional female gender role activated or not. Results showed that when the gender role is salient, political ideology moderates evaluations of the female candidates such that conservatives evaluate her negatively and liberals evaluate her positively. Study 2 (89 participants) replicated this effect and showed that this political ideology-based bias does not occur when the non-traditional female gender role is made salient. Study 2 also demonstrated that the observed effects are not driven by liberals' and conservatives' differing perceptions regarding the female applicant's qualifications for the job. Finally, Study 3 (159 participants) both replicated the political ideology-based evaluation bias for female candidates and demonstrated that this bias is mediated by conservatives' and liberals' attitudes toward the roles of women in society.
Technology validation of the autonomous formation flying sensor for precision formation flying

A Radio Frequency (RF) based sensor, called the Autonomous Formation Flying (AFF) sensor, has been developed to enable deep space precision formation flying by measuring the relative range and bearing angles between multiple spacecraft. The AFF sensor operates at Ka-band and uses signal-processing schemes inherited from the Global Positioning System (GPS). The key features of the AFF sensor are: (a) it operates autonomously without the aid of spacecraft or ground control, (b) it simultaneously provides a wide field of view and accurate angle and bearing angle measurements and it provides accuracy better than 2 cm and 1 arcmin (1-/spl sigma/) near the bore-sight of the antenna, and (c) it provides telemetry among the constellation elements. In this paper we describe the key technology challenges, the approach to resolving them through analysis and testbed activities, and the results of the testbed activities.
Large-scale localization from wireless signal strength

Knowledge of the physical locations of mobile devices such as laptops or PDA's is becoming increasingly important with the rise of location-based services such as specialized web search, navigation and social network applications; furthermore, location information is a key foundation for high-level activity inferencing. In this paper we propose a novel technique for accurately estimating the locations of mobile devices and their wearers from wireless signal strengths. Our technique estimates time-varying device locations on a spatial connectivity graph whose outdoor edges correspond to streets and whose indoor edges represent hallways. staircases, elevators. etc. Use of a hierarchical Bayesian framework for learning a signal strength sensor model allows us not only to achieve higher accuracy than existing approaches. but to overcome many of their limitations. In particular, our technique is able to (1) seamlessly integrate new access points into the model, (2) make use of negative information (not detecting an access point), and (3) bootstrap a sensor model from sparse training data. Experiments demonstrate various properties of our system.
Using Expert Systems for Simulation Modeling of Patient Scheduling

Modeling the scheduling of patient appointments is an important issue in simulating a health care delivery facility. A simulation model must in clude the control logic of appointment scheduling software and the explicit and implicit decision rules used by the human scheduler in selecting an appointment time. Expert systems provide one way of modeling such control logic and decision rules. We describe a structure for an expert sys tem that models patient appointment scheduling and the integration of such an expert system within a simulation model. An example expert system for a small animal veterinary clinic is presented.
CURRENT STATUS OF XENOTRANSPLANTATION

SUMMARY 1. The transplantation of organs and tissues from animals into humans (i.e. xenotransplantation) has been a long sought objective to allow xenotransplantation to achieve its full impact in the clinical practice of medicine. 2. The main hurdles to the application of xenotransplantation are the immunological reaction of the recipient against the transplant, the functional limitations of tissues and organs in biogenetically disparate recipients and the possibility of transferring infectious organisms from the graft into the recipient. 3. Advances in a variety of fields have shed new light on these hurdles and have given rise to potential solutions and prospects for the clinical application of xenotransplant and are summar-ized in the report that follows.
Rodents balancing a variety of risks: invasive fire ants and indirect and direct indicators of predation risk.

We used foraging trays to compare how oldfield mice, Peromyscus polionotus, altered foraging in response to the presence of fire ants, Solenopsis invicta, and in the presence of direct (predator urine) and indirect (sheltered or exposed microhabitat, moonlight, and precipitation) indicators of predation risk. Foraging reductions elicited by S. invicta were greater than reductions in response to well-documented indicators of risk (i.e., moonlit nights) and the presence of predator urine. The presence of S. invicta always led to reduced foraging, but the overall impact of S. invicta was dependent upon microhabitat and precipitation. When S. invicta was not present, foraging was greater in sheltered microhabitats compared to exposed microhabitats. S. invicta made sheltered microhabitats equivalent to more risky exposed microhabitats, and this effect was especially pronounced on nights without precipitation. The effect of S. invicta suggests that interactions with S. invicta may entail a potentially heavy cost or that presence of S. invicta may represent a more reliable indicator of imminent competition or predation compared to indirect cues of risk and predator urine. The presence of S. invicta led to reduced foraging under situations when foraging activity would otherwise be greatest (i.e., under vegetative cover), potentially reducing habitat quality for P. polionotus and the distribution of seeds consumed by rodents.
Emotional Intelligence: Toward Clarification of a Concept

There has been much confusion and controversy concerning the concept of emotional intelligence (EI). Three issues have been particularly bothersome. The first concerns the many conflicting definitions and models of EI. To address this issue, I propose that we distinguish between definitions and models and then adopt a single definition on which the major theorists already seem to agree. I further propose that we more clearly distinguish between EI and the related concept of emotional and social competence (ESC). The second issue that has generated concern is the question of how valid existing measures are. After reviewing the research on the psychometric properties of several popular tests, I conclude that although there is some support for many of them, they all have inherent limitations. We need to rely more on alternative measurement strategies that have been available for some time and also develop new measures that are more sensitive to context. The third area of contention concerns the significance of EI for outcomes such as job performance or leadership effectiveness. Recent research, not available to earlier critics, suggests that EI is positively associated with performance. However, certain ESCs are likely to be stronger predictors of performance than EI in many situations. Also, EI is likely to be more important in certain kinds of situations, such as those involving social interaction or significant levels of stress. Context makes a difference.
Childhood obesity prevention: a review of school nurse perceptions and practices.

Purpose The purpose of this review is to examine key school nurse perceptions that may promote or deter school nurse involvement in childhood obesity prevention (COP) practices. Conclusions Ten research articles were identified through a systematic review of the literature. School nurse participation in COP is inconsistent, and this variation is not well understood. Some variations in COP practices may be explained by differences in self-efficacy, perceived benefits, and perceived barriers. Practice Implications Efforts are needed to develop and implement interventions and policies to modify those perceptions that may promote school nurse active engagement in COP practices.
The Bomb that Keeps on Ticking …And Keeps Us Safe

The United States Air Force has returned from its nuclear modernization and intellectual holidays. The B61 Life Extension Program and nuclear capability for the F-35 fighter are at the leading edge of a flight plan that vectors the institution to rebuild the nation's extended deterrent; its two legs of our strategic triad; and nearly all nuclear command, control, and communications infrastructure, to deter emerging nuclear threats and assure allies new and old. This flight plan is framed by new efforts across the cognitive domain of war so that all airmen understand how vastly different twenty-first century deterrence is from the Cold War.
Imperative Values of a Logical Forgiveness

This article deals with the nuances of the concept of ‘forgiveness’ and its role in shaping law and societal institutions. In the background of Aurel Kolnai’s notions on the act of forgiveness, the author analyses the different conceptualizations of forgiveness. The logical paradox of forgiveness as formulated by Kolnai is considered. The article argues that the notion of ‘divine forgiveness’ is not vulnerable to this paradox. Hence there is a need for interpersonal forgiveness to adopt some of the premises on which divine forgiveness is based on. The critical interrelations between the concepts of forgiveness, patience and trust and their role in approximating interpersonal forgiveness with divine forgiveness are discussed.
Signs at Odds? The Semiotics of Law, Legitimacy, and Authenticity in Tribal Contexts

Tribal sovereignty in the United States is consolidated and enacted in a plethora of physical spaces, within which tribes must establish both legitimacy and legality for their governance. In tension with this need, at times, is the need to simultaneously establish authenticity of tribal practices, perceptions of which may rest in an unreflecting view of these practices as premodern, prelegal, and historical – rather than mobile, adaptable, and contemporary engagements with contemporary life. However, the supposed binaries of modernity and tradition are much more complexly constructed and understood by tribal practitioners, than they have been by non-Indian observers. This essay examines the creative ways that tribal buildings and signs reflect and resolve the tensions perceived between modernity and indigeneity. Tribal semiotic practices construct legitimacy in ways that creatively avoid the false dichotomy between authenticity and modernity, and deploy multiple visual components to reassure a number of constituencies of their authentic claims to western legality and legitimacy, as well as distinctive tribal authority.
Internuclear separation dependent ionization of the valence orbitals of I2 by strong laser fields.

Using a pump-dump-probe technique and Fourier-transform spectroscopy, we study the internuclear separation $R$ dependence and relative strength of the ionization rates of the $\ensuremath{\pi}$ and $\ensuremath{\sigma}$ electrons of ${\mathrm{I}}_{2}$, whose valence orbitals are ${\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{g}^{2}{\ensuremath{\pi}}_{u}^{4}{\ensuremath{\pi}}_{g}^{4}{\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{u}^{0}$. We find that ionization of the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO)-2 (${\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{g}$) has a strong dependence on $R$ while the HOMO and HOMO-1 do not. Surprisingly, the ionization rate of the HOMO-2 exceeds the combined ionization rate of the less bound orbitals and this branching ratio increases with $R$. Since our technique produces target molecules that are highly aligned with the laser polarization, the $\ensuremath{\sigma}$ orbitals will be preferentially ionized and undergo enhanced ionization at larger $R$ compared to the $\ensuremath{\pi}$ orbitals. Nevertheless, it is highly unusual that an inner orbital provides the dominant strong field ionization pathway in a small molecule.
Alpha-methyl-DOPA induced mydriasis in the cat. Relationship between pupillary response and the oculomotor perfusate concentration of methyldopa and its metabolites.

In pentobarbital anaesthetized cats, intravenous administration of 30 mg/kg, alpha-methyl-DOPA produced mydriasis that reached a maximum plateau in 2–2.5 h. The oculomotor nucleus was perfused with saline using a pushpull cannula system chronically implanted over the nucleus. Perfusate samples were collected and subsequently analyzed by liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection (LC-EC). Alpha-methyl-DOPA administration resulted in a gradual build up of alpha-methyl-noradrenaline to approximately 32 μmoles over the 3 h sampling period. In contrast, the concentration of alpha-methyl-dopamine was below the detection level for the first 90 min with peak leves of less than 6 μmoles after 3 h. A linear regression analysis demonstrated a negative correlation (R=0.90) between the pupil size and the perfusate concentration of alpha-methyl-DOPA and a positive correlation for both alpha-methyl-dopamine and alpha-methyl-noradrenaline (R=0.88 and 0.94 respectively). Pretreatment with the DOPA-decarboxylase inhibitor, 3-hydroxy-benzyl-hydrazine (NSD-1015; 25 mg/kg, i.p.) completely blocked the mydriatic response to alpha-methyl-DOPA, with neither alpha-methyl-dopamine nor alpha-methyl-noradrenaline reaching detectable levels in the oculomotor perfusate. After pretreatment with the dopamine-beta-hydroxylase inhibitor, bis (4-methyl-homopiperazinyl thiocarbonyl) disulfide (FLA-63; 2.5 mg/kg, i.p.) there was a significant accumulation of alpha-methyl-dopamine when compared to that obtained in the alpha-methyl-DOPA controls but with no apparent alpha-methyl-dopamine related pupillary dilation. However, the correlation between alpha-methyl-noradrenaline concentration and the increase in the diameter of the pupil was maintained. The results of the pupillary response-neurochemical correlation studies conclusively show that pupillary responses to alpha-methyl-DOPA administration are not correlated with alterations of endogenous amine concentration, nor to the CNS levels of alpha-methyl-DOPA or alpha-methyl-dopamine. There is however, a very high and consistent correlation between alpha-methyl-noradrenaline oculomotor nucleus perfusate concentration and pupil size. As the correlation was maintained after three different doses of alpha-methyl-DOPA as well as after the administration of selective blockers of the enzymes involved in catecholamine biosynthesis, these results suggest that alpha-methyl-noradrenaline is the active metabolite responsible for the mydriatic effect of alpha-methyl-DOPA in the cat.
Untersuchungen zur sattelförmigen Kennlinien-Instabilität von Kreiselpumpen

Auf Grund von Messungen werden Modellvorstellungen uber Ursachen und Behebung sattelformiger Kennlinien-Instabilitaten entwickelt. Solche Instabilitaten entstehen durch plotzliche Anderungen in der Stromungsverteilung am Laufradaustritt, die den Druckruckgewinn im Leitrad beeintrachtigen. Zahlreiche Messungen zeigen, das im Bereich des Kennliniensattels die Rezirkulation am Laufradaustritt sich von der Trag-zur Deckscheibe (oder umgekehrt) verlagert, wobei das relative Minimum der Forderhohe durch ein Minimum an Rezirkulation gekennzeichnet ist. Aus diesem Befund lassen sich Regeln fur die Laufradauslegung ableiten, die einen Stromungsum-schlag dieser Art vermeiden.
Valuing differences among nursing students

Across the United States, discussions and decisions are occurring in schools of nursing as nurse educators attempt to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. This article examines the ethos behind these decisions and the Act. The old paradigm of tolerating differences among people and students with disabilities is contrasted with the emerging paradigm of valuing these differences. The author supports the viewpoint that people with disabilities should be welcomed, even recruited, into nursing.
RNA Degradation, Gene Expression and Antibiotic Synthesis in Streptomyces

RNA degradation in bacteria, once thought to be a pathway whose only function was to scavenge nucleotides for the re-synthesis of RNA’s, is now known to be a complex, carefully regulated pathway that involves a number of key enzymes acting in concert. In Escherichia coli some of those enzymes are organized into a supramolecular complex that participates in the degradation of cellular RNA’s and it is now clear that RNA degradation represents an important intracellular mechanism for the regulation of gene expression in bacteria. In what follows, I will briefly review what is known about RNA degradation in E. coli and Bacillus subtilis and then discuss the relationships between RNA degradation, gene expression and antibiotic synthesis in the genus Streptomyces.
Fast axonal transport: recent developments.

Publisher Summary Fast axonal transport carries membranous organelles inside axons, both away from (anterograde transport) and toward (retrograde transport) the cell body. This chapter describes recent progress made in understanding the molecular mechanisms of fast axonal transport. It also discusses some properties of fast axonal transport that have received relatively little attention, but that may be important for fully understanding the mechanisms of transport. There are at least five waves of materials that move by axonal transport in the anterograde direction. These waves differ in their velocity and have different protein compositions. They apparently reflect the movement of different types of organelles. Whereas cytoplasmic materials move in the slowest components of transport, membranous organelles all move in the fastest two components. The very fastest component contains vesicular precursors of plasma membrane, synaptic vesicles, and smooth endoplasmic reticulum and moves with a maximum velocity of 410 mm/day. In most radiolabeling experiments, this component has been studied as fast axonal transport. Fast axonal transport can be detected by radioactively labeling the transported materials, by observing the accumulation of transported materials at an injury, or by trapping endogenous materials at a cold block and then observing their movement upon rewarming.
PAWP: a power aware Web proxy for wireless LAN clients

The relative power consumed in the WLAN interface of a mobile device is rising due to significant improvements in the energy efficiency of the other device components. The unpredictability of the incoming WLAN traffic limit the effectiveness of existing power saving techniques. This paper introduces a power aware Web proxy (PAWP) architecture designed to schedule incoming Web traffic into intervals of high and no communication. This traffic pattern allows WLAN interfaces to switch to a low power state after very short idle intervals. PAWP uses a collection of HTTP-level techniques to compensate any negative impact that traffic scheduling may have. PAWP does not require any client or Web server modifications. In this paper, we describe our initial experiences with a PAWP implementation for 802.11b WLANs. Our experiments show savings of more than 50% in the energy consumed by the WLAN interface. Finally, our experiences give us insights into possible browser improvements when power consumption is taken into account.
Grammar came later: Triality of patterning and the gradual evolution of language

Abstract This paper argues that language is primarily a tool for communication, not primarily a means of thought expression. It makes the case that language has its roots in intentional iconicity of Australopithecines and probably had reached the level of a G1 grammar (linear ordering of symbols + gestures) some 2.5 million years ago. Other forms of language, e.g. hierarchical, recursive grammars, are later embellishments that are neither necessary nor sufficient to have human language. The paper looks in detail at the evolution of culture among early hominins and how gap between indexes and icons to symbols might have been bridged. It then discusses the basic composition of phonology, morphology and syntax. The paper rejects the idea of a proto-language, as it also rejects the “X-men” view of language evolution/mutation proposed in Berwick and Chomsky (2016).
Quantitative approaches for investigating the spatial context of gene expression

The spatial information associated with gene expression is important for elucidating the context-dependent transcriptional regulation during development. Recently, high-resolution sampling approaches, such as RNA tomography or single-cell RNA-seq combined with fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), have provided indirect ways to view global gene expression patterns in three dimensions. Now in situ sequencing technologies, such as fluorescent in situ sequencing (FISSEQ), are attempting to visualize the genetic signature directly in microscope images. This article will examine the basic principle of modern in situ and single-cell genetic methods, hurdles in quantifying intrinsic and extrinsic forces that influence cell decision-making, and technological requirements for making a visual map of gene regulation, form, and function. Successfully addressing these challenges will be essential for investigating the functional evolution of regulatory sequences during growth, development, and cancer progression. WIREs Syst Biol Med 2017, 9:e1369. doi: 10.1002/wsbm.1369 For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website.
Ternura y tenacidad: Testimonios of Latina School Leaders

This study utilized testimonio as method to unearth the voices of four Latina school leaders from the southern region of the U.S. to shed light on their experiences, including triumphs and struggles, in navigating their career trajectories. The testimonios revealed distinctions as well as commonalities among the Latina administrators related to how they drew on their experiential knowledge and various forms of cultural capital in the process of their leadership development and roles. How they enacted agency, demonstrated signs of resistance and/or a commitment to social justice, and serving Latinx communities also emerged.
ActivityAware: An app for real-time daily activity level monitoring on the Amulet wrist-worn device

Physical activity helps reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, hypertension and obesity. The ability to monitor a person's daily activity level can inform self-management of physical activity and related interventions. For older adults with obesity, the importance of regular, physical activity is critical to reduce the risk of long-term disability. In this work, we present ActivityAware, an application on the Amulet wrist-worn device that measures daily activity levels (sedentary, moderate and vigorous) of individuals, continuously and in real-time. The app implements an activity-level detection model, continuously collects acceleration data on the Amulet, classifies the current activity level, updates the day's accumulated time spent at that activity level, logs the data for later analysis, and displays the results on the screen. We developed an activity-level detection model using a Support Vector Machine (SVM). We trained our classifiers using data from a user study, where subjects performed the following physical activities: sit, stand, lay down, walk and run. With 10-fold cross validation and leave-one-subject-out (LOSO) cross validation, we obtained preliminary results that suggest accuracies up to 98%, for n=14 subjects. Testing the ActivityAware app revealed a projected battery life of up to 4 weeks before needing to recharge. The results are promising, indicating that the app may be used for activity-level monitoring, and eventually for the development of interventions that could improve the health of individuals.
How Does International Intervention Work? Mechanisms for Securing Peace Settlements in Civil Conflicts

There is emerging consensus that international intervention can secure peace by helping combatants resolve commitment problems following civil wars. But how do interveners accomplish this? Conventional wisdom suggests that intervention primarily works through force. We theorize instead that interveners commonly condition political, economic, and legal incentives on compliance with peace processes. Despite a rich literature on intervention, little effort has been made to systematically test the underlying mechanisms. This paper takes a first step toward this end, using United Nations peacekeeping data from 1989-2012. Contrary to conventional wisdom, we show that military coercion is not frequently employed. Moreover, peacekeeping that employs conditional incentives is consistently correlated with a reduced risk of conflict recurrence, even when controlling for potential selection effects, and regardless of whether peacekeepers are also authorized to use force. These findings have important implications for international efforts to secure peace in civil conflicts worldwide.
Empirical effects of short-term export bans: The case of African maize

Abstract Temporary export restrictions have been widely used in recent years in an attempt to stabilize domestic prices of staple grains. I use monthly, market-level price data to investigate the empirical effects of 13 short-term export bans on maize implemented by 5 countries in East and Southern Africa. I find no statistically significant effect of export bans on the price gaps between pairs of affected cross-border markets. My results for price gaps match those from a model simulation in which export bans are not implemented. However, prices and price volatility in the implementing country are significantly higher during export ban periods in the data than in the model simulation with no bans. Export bans in the region are imperfectly enforced, divert trade into the informal sector, and appear to destabilize domestic markets rather than stabilizing them.
Information and communications technology in Africa: enabling big data, to enable development

In 2009, United Nations (UN) established The Global Pulse, an innovation lab where big data from around the globe is analyzed. The Global Pulse works with universities, corporations, and other UN programs including the World Health Organization, the United Nations Development Program, (UNDP), the World Food Program (WFP), The United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).
Obesity and Insulin Resistance Promote Atherosclerosis through an IFNγ-Regulated Macrophage Protein Network.

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is associated with increased risk for atherosclerosis; however, the mechanisms underlying this relationship are poorly understood. Macrophages, which are activated in T2D and causatively linked to atherogenesis, are an attractive mechanistic link. Here, we use proteomics to show that diet-induced obesity and insulin resistance (obesity/IR) modulate a pro-atherogenic "macrophage-sterol-responsive-network" (MSRN), which, in turn, predisposes macrophages to cholesterol accumulation. We identify IFNγ as the mediator of obesity/IR-induced MSRN dysregulation and increased macrophage cholesterol accumulation and show that obesity/IR primes T cells to increase IFNγ production. Accordingly, myeloid cell-specific deletion of the IFNγ receptor (Ifngr1-/-) restores MSRN proteins, attenuates macrophage cholesterol accumulation and atherogenesis, and uncouples the strong relationship between hyperinsulinemia and aortic root lesion size in hypercholesterolemic Ldlr-/- mice with obesity/IR, but does not affect these parameters in Ldlr-/- mice without obesity/IR. Collectively, our findings identify an IFNγ-macrophage pathway as a mechanistic link between obesity/IR and accelerated atherogenesis.
Increasing collaborative, pro-environmental activism: The roles of Motivational Interviewing, self-determined motivation, and self-efficacy

Abstract We investigated factors that promote successfully pursuing collaborative activist pro-environmental goals. Undergraduate students were randomly assigned to undergo a single session of Motivational Interviewing or a directive, control intervention; immediately afterwards, they set two collaborative, activist pro-environmental goals and rated how self-determined and self-efficacious they felt about those goals. Approximately 7 weeks later, they reported their progress on the goals and re-rated how self-determined and self-efficacious they had felt about the goals while they were pursuing them. Self-determined motivation both prospectively and concurrently predicted goal progress. Motivational Interviewing helped the goal progress of those participants who, at pre-screening, reported engaging in many individual pro-environmental behaviors, but the more directive approach worked better for those participants who were less ready to change. These results suggest the importance of attending to motivational variables if one hopes to increase people's engagement in collaborative, activist pro-environmental behaviors.
Hydrogen-Powered Fuel Cell and Hybrid Automobiles of the Near Future

Currently, providers of energy utilities are presented with the challenges of increased energy demand and the need to immediately address environmental concerns such as climate change and decreasing the pollution produced by transportation vehicles burning gasoline, for example. Due to population and economic growth, the global demand for energy is expected to increase by 50% over the next 25 years. This significant demand increase along with the dwindling supply of fossil fuels has raised concerns over the security of the energy supply. In view of the increased energy demand and environmental pollution, different approaches such as distributed generation and demand-side management have been proposed and are widely being put into practice. However, optimal utilization of the existing energy infrastructure is an issue that also needs to be addressed properly to deal with the major challenges that energy utilities are facing. A hydrogen vehicle is a vehicle that uses hydrogen as its onboard fuel for motive power. Hydrogen vehicles include hydrogen-fueled space rockets as well as automobiles and other transportation vehicles. The power plants of such vehicles convert the chemical energy of hydrogen to mechanical energy either by burning hydrogen in an internal combustion engine or by reacting hydrogen with oxygen in a fuel cell to run electric motors. Widespread use of hydrogen to fuel transportation is a key element of a proposed hydrogen economy.
Understanding individual differences in vulnerability to cigarette smoking is enhanced by attention to the intersection of common risk factors.

Abstract While smoking prevalence in the U.S. and other industrialized countries has decreased substantially, this change has been unevenly distributed, with dramatic decreases in certain subpopulations but little change or even increases in others. Accordingly, considerable attention has been fruitfully devoted to identifying important risk factors for smoking (e.g., mental illness, other substance use disorders). However, there has been little research on the intersection of these risk factors. As risk factors rarely occur in isolation, it is important to examine risk-factor profiles as is commonly done in studying other chronic conditions (e.g., cardiovascular disease). The purpose of this Commentary is to encourage greater interest in the intersection of multiple risk factors using cigarette smoking as an exemplar. We focus on the intersection of eight well-established risk factors for smoking (age, gender, race/ethnicity, educational attainment, poverty, drug abuse/dependence, alcohol abuse/dependence, mental illness). Studying the intersection of risk factors is likely to require use of innovative data-analytic methods. We illustrate, using years 2011–2016 of the US National Household Survey on Drug Use and Health, how Classification and Regression Tree (CART) analysis can be an effective tool for identifying risk profiles for smoking. Examination of the intersection of these risk factors elucidates a series of risk profiles with associated, orderly gradations in vulnerability to current smoking, including the striking and reliable strength of a college education as a stand-alone profile predicting low risk for current smoking, and illustrating the potentially increasing importance of drug abuse/dependence as a risk factor.