cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Good, the Worthwhile and the Obligatory: Practical Reason and Moral Universalism in R. S. Peters' Conception of Education

Peters' account of the moral life and the conception of practical reason that informed it reflects a sophisticated moral universalism. However, attempts to extend a similarly sophisticated universalism into our understanding of education are not as well received. Yet, such a project is of clear contemporary relevance given the pressure put on educational institutions to achieve certain ends. If we can show that education entails standards that are not entirely contingent upon current interests, we would have a framework that all institutions seriously claiming to be involved in the enterprise would have to acknowledge. In this paper I argue that a reconstruction of the relationship between Peters' work in philosophical ethics and his conceptual analysis may go some way in showing how one can speak of education in universalistic terms. Accordingly, although many of the criticisms laid at Peters' feet are of merit, they overshadow more potentially useful interpretive moves. Finally, I show how a change in the focus of Peters' account of education and practical reason more generally can provide important resources for engaging in a more plausible exploration of universalistic themes in education.
All routes to efficient datacenter fabrics

Performance optimized datacenters (PoDs) require efficient PoD interconnects to deal with the increasing volumes of inter-server (east-west) traffic. To cope with these stringent traffic patterns, datacenter networks are abandoning the oversubscribed topologies of the past, and move towards full-bisection fat-tree fabrics. However, these fabrics typically employ either single-path or coarse-grained (flow-level) multi-path routing. In this paper, we use computer simulations and analysis to characterize the waste of bandwidth that is due to routing inefficiencies. Our analysis suggests that, under a randomly selected permutation, the expected throughputs of d-mod-k routing and of flow-level multi-path routing are close to 63% and 47%, respectively. Furthermore, nearly 30% of the flows are expected to undergo an unnecessary 3-fold slowdown. By contrast, packet-level multi-path routing consistently delivers full throughput to all flows, and proactively avoids internal hotspots, thus serving better the growing demands of inter-server (east-west) traffic.
Visualization and mapping of late nuclear adenovirus RNA

Abstract Nuclei of KB cells harvested at late stages of productive infection with adenovirus type 2 (Ad2) harbor RNA molecules which measure up to 13 μm in length, as determined by electron microscopy of denatured RNA. While some of the molecules display features of secondary structure that are characteristic for precursor rRNA, our interest was in those showing almost no intramolecular folding. When hybridized to double-stranded viral DNA under conditions which favor RNA:DNA duplex formation, nuclear AD2 RNA displaces the homologous DNA region and generates R loop structures whose size is proportional to the length of the hybridizing RNA. Slowly sedimenting RNA forms small R loops, whereas RNA of high sedimentation velocity generates loops that span a large proportion of the DNA length. Using SV40 sequences within Ad2 + ND 4 hybrid DNA as a position marker, we oriented many of the R loops on the conventional Ad2 map. Our analysis was restricted to the most abundant sequences of late Ad2 nuclear RNA participating in R loop formation. A small but significant proportion of large RNA generates loops between map positions 0.3 and 0.9. The much more frequent RNA of intermediate size (although larger than mRNA) hybridizes with midpoints near map positions 0.55 and 0.88 — that is, near the gene locations for hexon and fiber. Our findings are compatible with the idea that the nuclear RNAs visualized in this study are intermediates in a processing pathway leading to mature forms of late Ad2 mRNA.
An Intestinal Epithelium-Specific Cytochrome P450 (P450) Reductase-Knockout Mouse Model: Direct Evidence for a Role of Intestinal P450s in First-Pass Clearance of Oral Nifedipine

To determine the in vivo function of intestinal cytochrome P450 (P450) enzymes, we have generated an intestinal epithelium (IE)-specific P450 reductase gene ( Cpr ) knockout mouse model (designated IE-Cpr-null). In the IE-Cpr-null mouse, CPR expression was abolished in IE cells; however, CPR expression was not altered in other tissues examined. The loss of CPR expression in the small intestine (SI) led to increased expression of several P450 proteins examined, including CYP1A1, CYP2B, CYP2C, and CYP3A. It is interesting to note that the expression of CYP1A1 was also increased in the liver, kidney, and lung of the IE-Cpr-null mice compared with wild-type (WT) littermates, a result strongly supporting the notion that SI metabolism of putative dietary CYP1A1 inducers can influence the systemic bioavailability of these inducers. The rates of SI microsomal metabolism of nifedipine (NFP) in the IE-Cpr-null mice were ∼10% of the rates in WT littermates, despite the compensatory expression of multiple P450 enzymes in the SI. Furthermore, the area under the concentration-time curve (AUC) values for blood NFP (dosed at 10 mg/kg) levels were 1.6-fold higher in IE-Cpr-null mice than in WT littermates when NFP was given orally; in contrast, the AUC values were comparable for the two strains when NFP was given intravenously. This result directly showed that P450-catalyzed NFP metabolism in the SI plays an important role in the first-pass clearance of oral NFP. Our findings indicate that the IE-Cpr-null mouse model can be used to study the in vivo function of intestinal P450 enzymes in the clearance of oral drugs and other xenobiotics.
Manufacturability analysis of assembled FT microspectrometer

This paper presents a new method that evaluates the manufacturability of microoptical systems. A statistical, kinematic link model is applied to compute the deviations of optical paths due to the positional and angular misalignments of optical components. The deviation of optical paths is a main source that deteriorates the performance of an optical system, hence it is very important to quantify how misalignments accumulate and propagate from one component to another. This method was applied to evaluate the optical performance of an assembled, chip-scale Fourier Transform (FT) microspectrometer. The microspectrometer was prototyped by using the microassembly of heterogeneous optical components. The statistical model computes the optical paths of two beams that travel through an input fiber, a beam splitter, moving and fixed mirrors, and a detector. Its results were used to determine the tolerance budgets for the fabrication and assembly processes of micro optical components.
Transmission Capacity of Wireless Ad Hoc Networks With Successive Interference Cancellation

The transmission capacity (TC) of a wireless ad hoc network is defined as the maximum spatial intensity of successful transmissions such that the outage probability does not exceed some specified threshold. This work studies the improvement in TC obtainable with successive interference cancellation (SIC), an important receiver technique that has been shown to achieve the capacity of several classes of multiuser channels, but has not been carefully evaluated in the context of ad hoc wireless networks. This paper develops closed-form upper bounds and easily computable lower bounds for the TC of ad hoc networks with SIC receivers, for both perfect and imperfect SIC. The analysis applies to any multiuser receiver that cancels the K strongest interfering signals by a factor z isin [0, 1]. In addition to providing the first closed-form capacity results for SIC in ad hoc networks, design-relevant insights are made possible. In particular, it is shown that SIC should be used with direct sequence spread spectrum. Also, any imperfections in the interference cancellation rapidly degrade its usefulness. More encouragingly, only a few - often just one - interfering nodes need to be canceled in order to get the vast majority of the available performance gain.
Earnings Guidance and Earnings Manipulation

This paper investigates the costs, benefits and frequency of management earnings guidance issued by firms manipulating earnings. We find that, when manipulations are detected, misstating firms issuing guidance and their managers incur additional legal costs, as reflected in the higher settlement amounts paid by these firms and a higher likelihood that their CEOs are banned from serving as officers, directors, or accountants of public companies in the future. Next, we provide evidence suggesting that earnings guidance benefits earnings manipulators by delaying the detection of misstatements. Finally, we find that firms manipulating earnings are significantly more likely to issue earnings guidance than matched control firms. Taken together, the above evidence suggests that firms manipulating earnings act as if they perceive the benefits of issuing earnings guidance to be greater than the costs, increasing their earnings guidance issuance during the misstatement period.
Selectively taming background android apps to improve battery lifetime

Background activities on mobile devices can cause significant battery drain with little visibility or recourse to the user. They can range from useful but sometimes overly aggressive tasks, such as polling for messages or updates from sensors and online services, to outright bugs that cause resources to be held unnecessarily. In this paper we instrument the Android OS to characterize background activities that prevent the device from sleeping. We present TAMER, an OS mechanism that interposes on events and signals that cause task wakeups, and allows for their detailed monitoring, filtering, and rate-limiting. We demonstrate how TAMER can help reduce battery drain in scenarios involving popular Android apps with background tasks. We also show how TAMER can mitigate the effects of well-known energy bugs while maintaining most of the apps' functionality. Finally, we elaborate on how developers and users can devise their own application-control policies for TAMER to maximize battery lifetime.
Twenty Years after “Meaningful Differences,” It's Time to Reframe the “Deficit” Debate about the Importance of Children's Early Language Experience

Fifty years of research have documented a sobering reality: There are substantial differences among parents in how they engage and communicate with their children, and these differences impact the development of a child’s language and cognitive skills. Studies initiated during the War on Poverty first explored how parents’ verbal engagement with young children varied among families differing in education and income, or socioeconomic status (SES) [e.g. Bee, Van Egeren, Pytkowicz Streissguth, Nyman, & Leckie, 1969; Hess & Shipman, 1965; Schachter, 1979]. In their 1995 monograph Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of Young American Children , Betty Hart and Todd Risley were the first to document huge disparities in the sheer amount of language that caregivers in different families directed to young children. Although they found substantial variability in child-directed speech within as well as between SES groups, the differences between children in advantaged and disadvantaged families were surprisingly large. They also found that those children who did not have the benefits of rich verbal engagement early in life were more likely to be behind in cognitive and language skills in kindergarten and elementary school. Hart and Risley’s [1995] discovery of a 30-million-word gap in language to children from higherand lower-SES backgrounds over the first three years of life is now widely cited in the popular press as well as in academic journals. But for more than a decade, this powerful study was essentially ignored. In the 1960s, claims that some learning difficulties in children from disadvantaged families could be linked to inadequate cognitive stimulation at home came to be known as the “cultural deficit” model [Riessman, 1962]. A fierce backlash emerged in the 1970s, rejecting this view as unsubstantiated by scientific evidence and as deeply disrespectful of minority parents in poverty whose use of language with children was grounded in cultural traditions of parenting different from those in more affluent mainstream families [Fernald & Weisleder, 2011]. Consistent with these criticisms, a dominant view in the field of language acquisition through the 1990s was that focusing on SES differences in speech
An instrument to aid tubal sterilization by laparoscopy.

A single-handled instrument developed by Siegler for his two-incision technique has broad biopsy capability. The shaft and handle are insulated to protect the operator from shock; the jaws rotate independently from the handle position; an O-ring seal in the cannula eliminates the need for external sealing devices for carbon dioxide maintenance; and either the cutting or coagulation power may be applied. The biopsy instrument can coagulate and biopsy both tubes without removing the forceps after treating one side since the jaws are large enough to accommodate both segments. The instrument is manufactured by the American Cystoscope Makers Inc. Pelham Manor New York.
Keep the Whole City in Mind

The authors focus on place-based initiatives (PBI) such as the Harlem Children's Zone (HCZ) to deal with complex economic, physical, and social challenges by working on the neighborhood scale. They mention on rapid gentrification of Harlem despite the HCZ's plan and accomplishments and consider why investments like HCZ could accelerate gentrification. They examine how PBI need to include plans for workforce development, housing for the poor, and protections for older people.
Strawberries: Effects of Modifying Irrigation Methods for Transplant Establishment

In 2009, the Cal Poly Irrigation Training and Research Center began a multi-year analysis of the current irrigation practices of strawberry growers on the Central Coast of California. Specifically, the project examines the impacts of salinity on young strawberry transplants and the current practice of sprinkler use during the establishment of transplants for salinity control in areas where drip irrigation is available. The overall goal of the project is to study current practices and determine any conditions where growers can minimize or eliminate sprinkler use on strawberries, thereby conserving water, saving pumping costs, and reducing runoff. Results from the first year of the study have suggested that, contrary to previous belief, using reduced sprinkler or only drip irrigation results in higher yields than conventional methods.
Research Update: The materials genome initiative: Data sharing and the impact of collaborative ab initio databases

Materials innovations enable new technological capabilities and drive major societal advancements but have historically required long and costly development cycles. The Materials Genome Initiative (MGI) aims to greatly reduce this time and cost. In this paper, we focus on data reuse in the MGI and, in particular, discuss the impact of three different computational databases based on density functional theory methods to the research community. We also discuss and provide recommendations on technical aspects of data reuse, outline remaining fundamental challenges, and present an outlook on the future of MGI’s vision of data sharing.
Opinion: The water footprint of biofuel production in the USA

The US mandates for increased use of domestically produced biofuels will help to reduce the dependence on imported oil, yet it will necessitate the increased use of our earth and ecosystem services, our ‘natural capital’. Biofuels can be sustainably produced if we recognize the limits of our soil, water and air resources to provide these services. Many of the dedicated crops used for biofuels have a significant water footprint. That is, they consume water for growth and evapotranspiration, and a fraction of the agrochemicals used to obtain higher yields are leached into surface water bodies. This opinion summarizes the extent of this water footprint and explores mechanisms for reducing the resulting impacts.
Review: Seven Structural Engineers: The Felix Candela Lectures by Guy Nordenson, editor

Guy Nordenson editor. Seven Structural Engineers: The Felix Candela Lectures . New York: Museum of Modern Art: 2008, 188 pp., 188 color and 66 b/w illus. $45, ISBN 978087070703 Historical surveys of modern architecture often begin with a celebration of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century structural engineering, citing works such as the iron bridge at Coalbrookdale and the frame of the Home Insurance Building. But as the narratives advance into the twentieth century, such illustrations become less frequent, leaving awkward thematic gaps and a view of architecture that accounts poorly for structure, construction, and materials. Efforts to reframe the story have been hampered by a lack of publications bridging the disciplines of architecture and engineering. Andrew Saint's recent Architect and Engineer: A Study in Sibling Rivalry makes a valuable contribution to this end.1 For its part, the Museum of Modern Art has published the Felix Candela Lectures, which were presented from 1998 to 2005 in conjunction with the schools of architecture at MIT and Princeton University and the Structural Engineers Association of New York. Organized by Guy Nordenson, professor of architecture and structural engineering at Princeton, the lecture series offered a forum for distinguished engineers and scholars to share their thinking with a general audience. This proved to be a challenge, and the speakers took a variety of approaches in presenting their work, ranging from straightforward, chronologically organized descriptions to thematic …
Effects of Temperature and Parental Age on the Life Cycle of the Body Louse, Pediculus humanus humanus

DDT-resistant and nonresistant strains of the body louse, Pediculus humanus humanus L., were reared at 32.2°, 30.8°, or 29.4°C. The most favorable temperatures for the former and latter strains were 29.4° and 32.2° C, respectively. Lice of each strain lived longer and produced more eggs when reared at the lower temperature; however, the percentage of viable eggs was significantly lower in the nonresistant as compared to the resistant strain. Parental age had no effect on the duration of the preimaginal stages, or on the mean duration of the adult life of either strain. However, some individuals lived 4–6 days longer when eggs were selected from young as compared to those from old parents. The strains died during the 1st and 2nd generations when eggs were selected from the 1st and 2nd batches laid. Likewise, only 2–4 successive generations could be reared when eggs were selected from old parents (17th- and 18th-day batches). Offspring from resistant young parents reared at 29.4°C showed an initial increase in egg production. This increase did not occur in offspring from old parents. Parental age had no effect on the number of molts; however, molting was delayed 1 day in the offspring from old parents. Generally, all effects resulting from the age of parents were better demonstrated with lice reared at the lowest temperature.
Sex(Ed) the Movie: A Journey Through the Evolution of Sex Education in America

Goodman, B. (Producer and Director). (2014). Sex(Ed) the Movie [motion picture]. New York, NY: First Run Features. Price: $15.79Most of us have been there: some combination of sheepish and bored as...
CONTROLLING FACTORS OF FORMATION OF MA-2 FAULT BLOCK OIL RESERVOIR AND SUGGESTIONS FOR EXPLORATION

Based on analyzing the sedimentary faces, structures and oil reservoir types and referencing to the characters of reservoir rocks, dynamic feature of development and the result of numerical simulation of Ma?2 fault block oil reservoir, the controlling factors of oil reservoir forming have been studied in this paper and the point of view is definitely brought forward, which is that reservoir sands, fault fracture system development and characters of fault age are the min controlling factors of oil reservoir forming. In conclusion, the next suggestions for exploration of Ma?2 fault block oil reservoir is pointed out by combining the controlling factors of oil reservoir forming with the distribution of remaining oil of Ma?2 fault block oil reservoir.
Beyond infections: tumors and malformations of the diaper area.

BACKGROUND While most common diaper-related conditions are easily resolved, the diaper region may be the site of a variety of tumors (either benign or malignant) and other abnormalities that may require completely unique treatment approaches. OBJECTIVES This review sought to catalogue the various conditions and complications that may arise in the diaper area during the first few years of life. METHODS To identify studies included in this review, computerized searches were undertaken in the PubMed and Medline databases using the term tumors of the diaper region with the following terms: tumors, malformations, diaper region, and infant. Searches were limited to studies published between 1995 and 2014. RESULTS The most common types of tumor in the diaper region are called infantile hemangiomas, which vary in presentation between superficial, deep, segmental, and abortive or minimal. Vascular malformations may also occur in the diaper region, in either isolation or as part of a condition that affects the development of blood vessels, soft tissues, and bones. A range of soft tissue tumors and hamartomas may also occur in the diaper region. Other recently described rare conditions are plaque-like myofibroblastic tumor of infancy (PMTI), and dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans, which can manifest as congenital or acquired lesions. CONCLUSIONS A range of conditions may arise in the diaper area during the first years of life that may require attention. Vigilant monitoring by parents and pediatricians, appropriate identification, and diagnosis and treatment will help retain health for these young patients.
Exploring the Civilian-Military Divide and How My Role as Displaced Graduate Student Turned into a Search for Self

This essay follows an active duty Army officer from her first day in graduate school until a year after graduation, when she is able to situate her role as military student within the context of a civilian university. This essay argues that some of the boundaries surrounding those associated with the military can be of their own making and that a composition class, specifically, equips its military members and student veterans with the tools to recognize, name, and negotiate those boundaries.
Human transcriptome response to immunization with live-attenuated Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus vaccine (TC-83): Analysis of whole blood

Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (VEEV) is an important human and animal alphavirus pathogen transmitted by mosquitoes. The virus is endemic in Central and South America, but has also caused equine outbreaks in southwestern areas of the United States. In an effort to better understand the molecular mechanisms of the development of immunity to this important pathogen, we performed transcriptional analysis from whole, unfractionated human blood of patients who had been immunized with the live-attenuated vaccine strain of VEEV, TC-83. We compared changes in the transcriptome between naive individuals who were mock vaccinated with saline to responses of individuals who received TC-83. Significant transcriptional changes were noted at days 2, 7, and 14 following vaccination. The top canonical pathways revealed at early and intermediate time points (days 2 and 7) included the involvement of the classic interferon response, interferon-response factors, activation of pattern recognition receptors, and engagement of the inflammasome. By day 14, the top canonical pathways included oxidative phosphorylation, the protein ubiquitination pathway, natural killer cell signaling, and B-cell development. Biomarkers were identified that differentiate between vaccinees and control subjects, at early, intermediate, and late stages of the development of immunity as well as markers which were common to all 3 stages following vaccination but distinct from the sham-vaccinated control subjects. The study represents a novel examination of molecular processes that lead to the development of immunity against VEEV in humans and which may be of value as diagnostic targets, to enhance modern vaccine design, or molecular correlates of protection.
A Problem-Sorting Task Detects Changes in Undergraduate Biological Expertise over a Single Semester

Calls for undergraduate biology reform share similar goals: to produce people who can organize, use, connect, and communicate about biological knowledge. Achieving these goals requires students to gain disciplinary expertise. Experts organize, access, and apply disciplinary knowledge differently than novices, and expertise is measurable. By asking introductory biology students to sort biological problems, we investigated whether they changed how they organized and linked biological ideas over one semester of introductory biology. We administered the Biology Card Sorting Task to 751 students enrolled in their first or second introductory biology course focusing on either cellular-molecular or organismal-population topics, under structured or unstructured sorting conditions. Students used a combination of superficial, deep, and yet-uncharacterized ways of organizing and connecting biological knowledge. In some cases, this translated to more expert-like ways of organizing knowledge over a single semester, best predicted by whether students were enrolled in their first or second semester of biology and by the sorting condition completed. In addition to illuminating differences between novices and experts, our results show that card sorting is a robust way of detecting changes in novices' biological expertise-even in heterogeneous populations of novice biology students over the time span of a single semester.
Early American sunspot drawings from the “year without a summer”

A set of sunspot drawings from the early nineteenth century were discovered in the journals of the Reverend Jonathan Fisher. These drawings were made during a time when abnormally cold weather caused crops in New England to fail due to intermittent frost throughout the summer months of 1816, normally referred to as the “year without a summer.” Global changes in weather patterns were the result of the Mount Tambora volcano eruption. Since this association was unknown at the time, there was speculation that the Sun was the cause inspiring the Reverend Fisher to monitor changes in sunspots during the summer of 1816 and continuing into 1817. These sunspot drawings for the summer of 1816 overlap the solar observations of Sir William Hershel.
London and Llandough, 1953–1956

In London I found a cheap bed-sitter flat in Earls Court which was a favorite area for Australians. Remarkably I was able to become registered as a medical practitioner after one week which demonstrated one of the great advantages of being in the British Commonwealth at that time. For the first couple of months I did locums in various London hospitals. I bought a very small used car, an Austin Seven, and then spent 10 weeks touring Europe and staying in youth hostels, reaching as far south as Venice. A highlight was a week in Bayreuth where I heard Wagner’s Ring and also Parsifal. On return to London I attended some postgraduate courses and eventually was accepted as a house physician at Hammersmith Hospital, where the Postgraduate Medical School was located. One of the senior physicians there, Charles Fletcher, told me of an upcoming new program in pulmonary medicine at Hammersmith, and he recommended that I spend a year at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Pneumoconiosis Research Unit in South Wales. There I was exposed to modern respiratory physiology for the first time. I fell in love with it, and decided to concentrate on that area.
Visualization for Computational Accelerator Physics.

Computer simulations are used in the design of next-generation particle accelerators for modeling. To meet design requirements and to reduce cost and technological risk in the later stages of accelerator design, construction, and operations, very high-resolution modeling is essential. The scale and complexity of these computer simulations requires the use of powerful high-performance computing platforms using software and algorithms targeted to parallel and distributed environments as well as advanced data analysis and visualization tools that make it possible to understand the resulting terabytes of simulation data. This chapter illustrates the visualization challenges introduced by the most advanced particle accelerator simulations and describe visualization solutions derived to address these challenges. Two primary visualization problems are considered: first, the problem of visualizing very dense point data and second, visualizing very dense line data. While these two problems are specific to accelerator physics data, the techniques described in the chapter are also suited to any other applications concerned with the visualization of particle and field line data.
Adapting to the Evolving Information Landscape: A Case Study

Abstract Fontbonne University developed a general education online information literacy course in 2002 based on the ACRL Standards of Higher Education (2000). Over the years, the course has adapted to the changing nature of the information landscape with numerous revisions. The most recent revision aligned the course with the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy in Higher Education (2015). Revised content included the cultural impact of social media and threshold concepts from the framework. As a required course within the general education curriculum, outcomes are assessed on a regular basis and data are provided for accreditation. Each semester, course revisions based on assessment data improve student achievement. Currently, the online course, Information Literacy in Higher Education, enables students to acquire a grounding for lifelong learning.
Breaking the Cycle? Education and the Intergenerational Transmission of Violence

Abstract We estimate the causal effects of education on the intergenerational transmission of violence against children by exploiting an extension of compulsory schooling in Turkey. Using a regress...
Relational Autonomy, Paternalism, and Maternalism

The concept of paternalism is intricately tied to the concept of autonomy. It is commonly assumed that when paternalistic interventions are wrong, they are wrong because they impede individuals’ autonomy. Our aim in this paper is to show that the recent shift towards conceiving of autonomy relationally highlights a separate conceptual space for a nonpaternalistic kind of interpersonal intervention termed maternalism. We argue that maternalism makes a twofold contribution to the debate over the ethics of interpersonal action and decision-making. Descriptively, it captures common experiences that, while not unusual in everyday life, are largely absent from the present discussion. Normatively, it describes a type of intervention with justification conditions distinct from the standard framework of paternalism. We explicate these contributions by describing six key differences between maternalism and paternalism, and conclude by anticipating and responding to potential objections.
Aquatic processes and systems in perspective.

Synthetic musk fragrances are found in virtually every environmental compartment. They are a clear indicator of human impact in natural systems. In air, their concentrations are directly proportional to the human population nearby. In water, the frequency of their detection and the magnitude of their concentrations are a function of inputs of human wastewater. Several of the most widely used fragrances are nonbiodegradable and are accumulating in the environment. This is evident in lake cores that show historical inputs, and in mammals that retain them in their fat stores. Does this widespread exposure cause environmental degradation or harm? It is not clear, although there is strong evidence to suggest that they cause subtle effects in aquatic organisms.
Transgenic Animals and the Modelling of Asthma

The exact cellular and molecular events leading to airways obstruction and physiological dysregulation in asthma have not been fully defined through human experimentation in vivo. Significant genetic, pathophysiological and clinical variation in the presentation and natural history of asthma complicates this experimentation. Obvious economic and ethical concerns also limit the investigation of asthma in human subjects. Nevertheless, direct examination of specimens from asthmatics has led to an important shift in our concept of the pathogenesis of this disorder. It is now widely held that asthma is a chronic inflammatory disorder and that the obstruction and airways hyperresponsiveness (AHR) that are characteristic of asthma are largely the result of this inflammatory response and its fibrotic and tissue-damaging sequellae. As a result, anti-inflammatory interventions are now the cornerstone of asthma therapy and the inflammatory mechanisms of asthma are now the major focus of research activities in this field. In spite of this insight, the role that individual mediators play in asthmatic inflammation, the fundamental molecular mechanisms leading to the chronicity of asthmatic inflamation, and the events linking inflammation, bronchoconstriction and bronchial reactivity remain important, inadequately addressed areas in the pathogenesis of this disorders.
Fertilizer Nitrogen Practices and Nitrate Levels in Surface Water within an Illinois Watershed

Proper nitrogen (N) management as it relates to crop yield has become a critical concern due to the environmental impacts of excessive N fertilizer application. This study monitored 36 sites within the Lake Bloomington, Illinois, watershed on a weekly basis to determine nitrate-N concentrations from various surface water sources. Average nitrate-N concentrations for the period 1993 to 2002 revealed the following: agricultural production drainage tiles, 17.0 mg/L; creek water (Money Creek tributary), 12.0 mg/L; organic agriculture drainage tiles, 11.4 mg/L; surface water runoff, 6.6 mg/L; wooded pasture drainage tiles, 1.6 mg/L; and rainwater, 1.2 mg/L. In addition, as creek water passed through a small municipality ("urban effect"), its concentration of nitrate-N dropped by an average of 0.6 mg/L. An initial watershed resident survey and an annual N fertilizer use survey were conducted to ascertain common N management practices of agricultural producers within the watershed. The mean expected corn grain yield was 9845 kg/ha and the median N fertilizer application rate was between 169 and 202 kg N/ha. On average, 54.5% of the N fertilizer in the watershed was applied in the fall, 32.5% was applied in the spring before planting, and 12.7% was applied after planting. Within the watershed, 64% nonfarming residents perceived agricultural crop production as having the greatest negative impact on water quality compared with only 15.6% of those actively engaged in farming. Knowledge from this study can be used to develop recommendations for sound N management practices within sensitive watershed regions.
African-American Health over the Life Course

This chapter outlines a multidimensional life-course framework to help clarify the psychological mechanisms that may contribute to poor physical and psychological health outcomes among African-Americans. We suggest how the framework clarifies major health issues at each life stage and how it might help in designing programs that promote health among African-Americans.
Deep Learning to Distinguish Recalled but Benign Mammography Images in Breast Cancer Screening.

Purpose: False positives in digital mammography screening lead to high recall rates, resulting in unnecessary medical procedures to patients and health care costs. This study aimed to investigate the revolutionary deep learning methods to distinguish recalled but benign mammography images from negative exams and those with malignancy. Experimental Design: Deep learning convolutional neural network (CNN) models were constructed to classify mammography images into malignant (breast cancer), negative (breast cancer free), and recalled-benign categories. A total of 14,860 images of 3,715 patients from two independent mammography datasets: Full-Field Digital Mammography Dataset (FFDM) and a digitized film dataset, Digital Dataset of Screening Mammography (DDSM), were used in various settings for training and testing the CNN models. The ROC curve was generated and the AUC was calculated as a metric of the classification accuracy. Results: Training and testing using only the FFDM dataset resulted in AUC ranging from 0.70 to 0.81. When the DDSM dataset was used, AUC ranged from 0.77 to 0.96. When datasets were combined for training and testing, AUC ranged from 0.76 to 0.91. When pretrained on a large nonmedical dataset and DDSM, the models showed consistent improvements in AUC ranging from 0.02 to 0.05 (all P > 0.05), compared with pretraining only on the nonmedical dataset. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that automatic deep learning CNN methods can identify nuanced mammographic imaging features to distinguish recalled-benign images from malignant and negative cases, which may lead to a computerized clinical toolkit to help reduce false recalls. Clin Cancer Res; 1–8. ©2018 AACR.
Grasping neither war nor peace: the folly of cosmopolitan preventive war

Some liberal-cosmopolitan theorists have sought to justify preventive war by proposing new institutions meant to ensure the accurate evaluation of non-imminent threats, and also make any war agains...
Slave to the Bottle and the Plough: The Inner and Outer Worlds of Freedom in George Moses Horton’s Poetry1

AbstractGeorge Moses Horton was the first enslaved poet to publish a book of poetry in the South. Although stereotypically depicted as a drunkard, he interacted with antebellum temperance discourse...
EFFECT OF ANAKINRA ON COLCHICINE RESISTANT AND STEROID DEPENDENT RECURRENT PERICARDITIS: A SYSTEMIC REVIEW AND META-ANALYSIS

Recurrent pericarditis affects up to 30% patients after the first episode of acute pericarditis. A probable autoinflammatory etiology has triggered the use of Anakinra (IL1 receptor antagonist) for idiopathic recurrent pericarditis particularly in patients with colchicine resistance and
Pulmonary Function and Systolic Blood Pressure in Very Low Birth Weight Infants at 34 - 36 Weeks of Corrected Age.

Purpose Preterm infants are at increased risk of systemic hypertension compared to term infants. Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) has been shown to be associated with hypertension in preterm infants albeit with no causation reported. BPD is characterized by abnormal pulmonary function tests (PFTs), specifically elevated passive respiratory resistance (Rrs), decreased passive respiratory compliance (Crs) and decreased functional residual capacity (FRC). There have been no studies comparing PFTs in very low birth weight (VLBW) infants with and without hypertension. We hypothesized that stable VLBW infants with hypertension will have altered PFTs. Patients and Methods Retrospective cohort study of infants < 1500 grams at birth (VLBW) who had PFTs performed near 34-36 weeks of corrected gestational age (CGA). We excluded infants with congenital anomalies, known hypertensive disorders or those at risk of medication-induced hypertension. Data obtained included PFT parameters (Rrs, Crs, FRC) and mean systolic blood pressure (SBP). Results 59 VLBW infants were identified for analysis, 14 with and 45 without hypertension. Hypertensive and normotensive patients were similar in terms of mean gestational age (26.6 vs 27.4 weeks), mean CGA at PFTs (36.1 vs 34.6 weeks) and proportion of BPD (36% vs 36%). The Rrs was significantly higher in hypertensive versus normotensive patients [median Rrs of 0.080 (0.069, 0.090) versus 0.066 (0.054, 0.083) cmH2O/mL/sec; p = 0.04]. There was no difference in systolic blood pressure in the infants with and without BPD. Conclusion In this cohort of contemporary VLBW infants, those with hypertension had increased Rrs. This finding warrants a prospective study with a larger sample size and long-term follow-up.
The Industrial Organization of the Syrian Civil War1

The Syrian Civil War represents an extreme outlier in terms of the number of insurgent groups which have been engaged in the fighting. These groups have also been remarkably persistent over time, p...
Prospecting whole cancer genomes

A new suite of studies from the Pan Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium provides the most detailed resolution of cancer genomes to date, extending our knowledge of driver genes, mutational features, structural alterations and more. Kreisberg, Ideker, Mills and Meric-Bernstam discuss the foundational and translational insights gained from this project.
Sensory bias and signal detection trade-offs maintain intersexual floral mimicry.

Mimicry is common in interspecies interactions, yet conditions maintaining Batesian mimicry have been primarily tested in predator–prey interactions. In pollination mutualisms, floral mimetic signa...
Comparing Physical Fitness in Career vs. Volunteer Firefighters.

Morris, CE, Arnett, SW, and Winchester, LJ. Comparing physical fitness in career vs. volunteer firefighters. J Strength Cond Res XX(X): 000-000, 2020-The purpose of this study was to assess the potential similarities and differences in health and physical fitness profiles between career firefighters (CFF) and volunteer firefighters (VFF). The research protocol consisted of a health and physical fitness assessment, testing the 5 components of health-related fitness using previously published and accepted protocols. The subject population consisted of a total of 138 firefighters, including 119 CFF and 19 VFF. Statistical significance was defined as a p level less than 0.05. An independent t test showed evidence of CFF having a significantly higher value/score for the following variables: height (p = 0.034), V[Combining Dot Above]O2max (p = 0.006), push-ups completed (p = 0.024), and plank time (p < 0.001). Volunteer firefighters had a significantly higher value for the following variables: fat mass (p = 0.002), body fat percentage (p < 0.001), and absolute grip strength (p = 0.029). There were no significant differences between groups for the following variables: age (p = 0.299), body mass (p = 0.166), fat-free mass (p = 0.281), body mass index (p = 0.057), flexibility (p = 0.106), or relative grip strength (p = 0.887). With regard to physical fitness testing, the VFF had a significantly worse fitness profile across a number of variables than the CFF. Practical applications: Despite the financial and commitment status of volunteer firefighting departments, their members perform an equally dangerous and important job as do firefighters of professional/career firefighting departments, and more attention should be directed toward developing the fitness and performance of these firefighters.
Two Bacillus isolates recovered from a radiation therapy facility differ greatly in their ability to attach to four immobilization masks.

Abstract Background Thermoplastic immobilization masks used during radiation therapy treatment have been shown to harbor several different types of bacteria. Recovered bacteria included Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus species, Gram-negative rods, coagulase-negative staphylococci, and several different Bacillus species. Two of the recovered Bacillus bacteria were examined for their ability to attach to and survive over time on patient head-only masks from four different manufacturers. B. halosaccharovorans was recovered from a treatment facility's water bath while B. cereus was recovered from a patient mask in the same facility. Bacillus bacteria were chosen for this study due to their capability to form dormant spores. Methods Inoculums containing either B. halosaccharovorans or B. cereus bacteria were seeded onto predesignated areas of each test mask. Masks were subsequently sampled at intervals of 1-h, 1 week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks, and 4 weeks. Recovered bacterial numbers at each sampling interval were determined using the direct plate count method. Spore stains were made of both bacterial isolates and number of detected spores were enumerated. Results B. halosaccharovorans attached to each mask type after a 1-h contact time at a number 3X greater than B. cereus. B. halosaccharovorans was also recovered at a number 8.5X greater than B. cereus after 4 weeks. Variation was seen in the attachment capability of each bacterium on tested mask types. Both bacilli were recovered from all 4 masks at each sampling interval including week 4. Examination of spore stains of each bacteria demonstrated nearly a 25:1 ratio of B. halosaccharovorans spores over B. cereus. Discussion The large variation seen between B. halosaccharovorans and B. cereus capability to attach to each of the four tested masks is revealing, especially when it is combined with determined spore numbers. It suggests that spores play a role in mediating their attachment to mask surfaces. Moreover, the recovery of both bacteria from stored masks after 4 weeks indicates a continued presence of dormant spores since growth-supportive nutrients are lacking. It also implies the potential for their transfer to a patient wearing a contaminated mask during a treatment session. Conclusion The demonstrated ability of these two Bacillus bacteria to attach to and reside on patient masks presents a dilemma. Routine cleaning with approved disinfectants may not be sufficient to eliminate dormant spores on masks surfaces. This matter requires further investigation. For now, a small modification to the routine mask cleaning procedure before its application may help to reduce the possibility of spore transfer.
Evolving Roles of Long Noncoding RNAs

The advancement of genomic research has allowed the large-scale discovery of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs). lncRNAs are defined as large and diverse class RNA transcripts longer than 200 bp with no protein-coding capacity. lncRNAs can be categorized based on their cellular location, structures, and mechanisms of function. lncRNAs are involved in many important biological processes such as gene transcription, epigenetic regulation and development. Although lncRNAs are not as well-conserved as protein-coding genes in sequence, it was reported that their structures are more conserved and are important for their functions. lncRNAs are highly cell type-specific and their expressions are dysregulated during disease pathogenesis. Characterization of lncRNAs may provide better solutions for diagnosis, prognosis, and targeted therapies. In this book chapter, we summarize the classification, localization, and structural studies of lncRNA. We will also review various mechanisms and physiological functions of lncRNAs, and biomarker potential of lncRNAs in neurological disorders. Finally, we will discuss the recent advancements in antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) chemistry for targeted delivery and other methods in targeting lncRNAs for potential disease treatment.
On Efficiency and Performance Improvement of Three-Phase Induction Motors in Refrigeration and HVAC Applications

This paper describes the method for improving efficiency and performance of three phase induction motors used in refrigeration and HVAC applications. With stricter regulations for green energy, there is strong push to improve motor efficiencies, reliability and durability for building equipment and appliances, which often entail a compromise or trade-offs on costs, product functionality features and system redundancies. In this paper, a simplified loss segregation approach is applied to fixed-speed small horsepower evaporator and condenser motors to show its usefulness and relevance as an effective tool for performance benchmarking and design evaluation. Experimental results are presented to validate the approach, and to show its application to variable-speed chiller systems.