cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Learning Information Literacy Across the Curriculum (LILAC) and its impacts on student digital literacies and learning across the humanities

College students need information literacy skills—they need the ability to locate and evaluate sources, and to extract and apply information from them—but research shows that most students lack these skills. A nation-wide research project entitled Learning Information Literacy Across the Curriculum (LILAC) is evaluating students' attitudes and research behaviors in hopes of understanding students' existing information literacy skills and developing pedagogical interventions to increase students' information-seeking and -using abilities. The research described in this article incorporates surveys and observations of students engaged in information-seeking tasks.
The work of shopping: Resellers and the informal economy at the goodwill bins

In this article, I examine the material and everyday practices of a community of thrift-shoppers at the Goodwill Bins. Their practices reveal that shopping in these cutthroat environments is anythi...
Quantitative Modeling of Phase Detection in Passive Inductively Coupled Resonant Sensors

We develop a model to quantify the signal strength in passive inductively coupled resonant sensor (PICRS) systems. We also explore the relationship between detectability and signal strength, which is critical for signal strength-sensitive applications. Either the phase or magnitude of the input impedance of a coupled reader can be used as a measurand; here, we focus on phase, but the model can be easily adapted to other measurands. The model employs dimensionless parameters, i.e., the quality factor ( $Q$ ) of the PICRS and coupling factor ( $k$ ) between the reader and PICRS. We experimentally verify the model using readers and sensors of different $Q$ and $k$ factors. The model incorporates the effect of the reader coil, which is essential for co-selection of readers and sensors. This model can find broader application as a tool for the design and detection of nonisochronous weakly coupled resonant sensors.
Menstrual Maze: A Toy Exploring Public Engagement in Menstrual Health Education

The purpose of this design is to both explore and address early body literacy education among communities of parents, children, and health educators. Both informed by and designed for community engagement, the Menstrual Maze is a digitally embedded educational toy that aims to engage these communities in menstrual health education. Through playful interaction, the toy steps through the menstrual process, triggering audio and visual feedback at each stage. Building off of early observations, the goal of the Menstrual Maze is to introduce children to concepts of menstruation at an early age and energize wider community support and engagement with such education. We present this project as a design-led effort to address menstrual taboo and explore early education as a public design space.
Development and validation of a prognostic score to predict tuberculosis mortality.

Abstract Objective To develop and validate a simple prognostic scoring system to predict the mortality risk during treatment in tuberculosis patients. Methods Using data from the CDC's Tuberculosis Genotyping Information Management System of TB patients in Texas reported from 01/2010 to 12/2016, age ≥ 15 years and having an outcome as "completed" or "died", we developed and validated a prognostic mortality scoring system-based logistic regression beta-coefficients. Results The developmental and validation cohorts consisted of 3378 and 3377 patients, respectively. The score used 9 demographic and clinical characteristics, which are usually available at the patient's initial visits to a healthcare facility. Prognostic scores were categorized into three groups that predicted mortality: low-risk ( 18 points). The model had excellent discrimination and calibration with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.82 and 0.80, and a non-significant Hosmer–Lemeshow test P = 0.514 and P = 0.613 in the developmental and validation cohorts, respectively. Conclusion Our validated TB prognostic scoring system, which used demographic and clinical characteristics available at the patient's initial visits, can be a practical tool for health care providers to identify TB patients with high mortality risk so that appropriate treatment, medical supports and follow-up resources could be appropriately allocated.
Quantitative analysis of cerebral blood flow patterns in epilepsy

The reproducibility and accuracy of interpretation were significantly higher using overlay images, processed by MIMneuro, than standard analysis. Overlay images demonstrate higher sensitivity, physician agreement and higher facility of interpretation than the standard analysis of the two scans alone. Therefore, such an image processing improves the ability to localize foci in children with intractable partial epilepsy. OBJECTIVES
The New Paradigm for Understanding, Teaching, and Testing Sonographic Principles:

Two alternative fundamental principles of operation are present in the array of sonographic equipment commercially available currently. Principle 1 has been the operating principle for over 50 year...
A Machine Learning Approach to Diesel Engine Health Prognostics using Engine Controller Data

Many military assets such as surface ships and ground vehicles use diesel engines as their prime movers, and accurately estimating remaining useful life has a high value for enabling predictive maintenance and improving fleet logistics. Most of these diesel engines are already equipped with an array of sensors and digital data busses to support the function of the integrated electronic control module (ECM). There are cost advantages to developing predictive analytics and prognostics using existing embedded sensors. This paper describes a hybrid approach to predictive capabilities that utilizes multiple techniques for the implementation of embedded prognostics using existing sensors. One of the challenges is the fidelity of the data. This paper describes an automated approach to feature and classifier selection for hybrid prognostics. Maintenance records with associated diesel engine sensor data for several different engine classes were acquired, which enabled the training data sets to be organized by failure modes. To help prevent false positives, some filtering of the maintenance logs was required to only include those records likely to be associated with the selected failure mode sensor data sets. The classifier-based, datadriven approach essentially maps multiple channels of the sensor data into subspaces trained to classify multiple distinct failure modes. The intent of this step is to enable fault isolation by quantitatively determining which failure mode class the data best fits statistically. The remaining useful life estimate is provided by tracking the temporal path of the data from the healthy engine classification to one of the known failure mode classes using engine load-hours as the metric for the prognostics.
Discovering Transcriptional Regulatory Elements From Run-On and Sequencing Data Using the Web-Based dREG Gateway

Transcription is a chromatin mark that can be used effectively to identify the location of active enhancers and promoters, collectively known as transcriptional regulatory elements (TREs). We recently introduced dREG, a tool for the identification of TREs using run-on and sequencing (RO-seq) assays, including global run-on and sequencing (GRO-seq), precision run-on and sequencing (PRO-seq), and chromatin run-on and sequencing (ChRO-seq). In this protocol, we present step-by-step instructions for running dREG on an arbitrary run-on and sequencing dataset. Users provide dREG with bigWig files (in which each read is represented by a single base) representing the location of RNA polymerase in a cell or tissue sample of interest, and dREG returns a list of genomic regions that are predicted to be active TREs. Finally, we demonstrate the use of dREG regions in discovering transcription factors controlling response to a stimulus and predicting their target genes. Together, this protocol provides detailed instructions for running dREG on arbitrary run-on and sequencing data. © 2018 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Prescription opioid misuse among African-American adults: A rural-urban comparison of prevalence and risk.

Abstract Background: Prescription opioid misuse (POM) remains a public health concern in the United States. Although the problem has been studied extensively, little research attention is paid to POM among African-Americans (AAs), and even fewer studies consider rural status in their analysis. The goal of this study, therefore, was to identify and compare prevalence and predictors of POM among rural and urban AA adults using data from a nationally representative sample. Methods: Using pooled data across five years (2012–2016) of the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, multivariate logistic regression models were estimated to determine which factors were associated with POM among AA adults. Results: Findings show that urban and rural AAs have comparable prevalence rates of POM, which is somewhat surprising given that POM often varies based on rural status. A number of factors (e.g., receiving government assistance, religiosity, smoking tobacco or marijuana, misuse of other prescription medications) were significantly correlated with POM for urban and rural AAs, while others (e.g., being age 50+, graduating high school, visiting an emergency department, being arrested, binge drinking) varied by rural status. Conclusion: Results indicate that AA nonmedical prescription opioid users are not a monolith and have distinct demographic, clinical, and psychosocial profiles based on geographic region. Because AAs have been virtually ignored in the POM literature, our findings are an important step towards understanding POM among this understudied group. These results invite additional investigation into AA POM and encourage researchers to consider rural status in their analysis of POM among AAs.
Multidimensional Profiles of Religiosity Among Adolescents: Associations With Sexual Behaviors and Romantic Relationships.

Religiosity is associated with sexual behavior in adolescence; however, religiosity is a multidimensional construct, and it is not clear how different patterns of religiosity may differentially predict sexual behaviors and romantic relationships. We apply latent class analysis to nationally representative data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health; N = 10,149) to examine (1) what religiosity profiles exist among adolescents and (2) how they predict sexual behavior and romantic relationship status in adolescence and young adulthood. Religiosity in multiple domains was associated with lesser odds of sexual behavior compared to profiles marked by only affiliation, private, or public religiosity. Findings suggest that examining multiple facets of religiosity together is important for understanding how religiosity is associated with sexual behavior.
TCT-763 Valve in Valve Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement Versus Redo Surgical Aortic Valve Replacement: Real World Outcomes From the National Inpatient Sample (2013–2016)

A few small observational studies have evaluated the outcome of valve-in-valve (ViV) transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) versus redo surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) for failed bioprosthetic aortic valves. Our aim was to compare in-hospital outcomes for ViV TAVR versus redo SAVR.
Information Enhanced Model Selection for High-Dimensional Gaussian Graphical Model with Application to Metabolomic Data

In light of the low signal-to-noise nature of many large biological data sets, we propose a novel method to identify the structure of association networks using a Gaussian graphical model combined with prior knowledge. Our algorithm includes the following two parts. In the first part we propose a model selection criterion called structural Bayesian information criterion (SBIC) in which the prior structure is modeled and incorporated into the Bayesian information criterion (BIC). It is shown that the popular extended BIC (EBIC) is a special case of SBIC. In second part we propose a two-step algorithm to construct the candidate model pool. The algorithm is data-driven and the prior structure is embedded into the candidate model automatically. Theoretical investigation shows that under some mild conditions SBIC is a consistent model selection criterion for the high-dimensional Gaussian graphical model. Simulation studies validate the superiority of the SBIC over the standard BIC and show the robustness to the model misspecification. Application to relative concentration data from infant feces collected from subjects enrolled in a large molecular epidemiologic cohort study validates that prior knowledge on metabolic pathway involvement is a statistically significant factor for the conditional dependence among metabolites. More importantly, new relationships among metabolites are identified through the proposed algorithm which can not be covered by conventional pathway analysis. Some of them have been widely recognized in the literature.
The population randomization observation process (PROP) assessment method: using systematic habitation observations of street segments to establish household-level epidemiologic population samples

Identifying and intervening on health disparities requires representative community public health data. For cities with high vacancy and transient populations, traditional methods of population estimation for refining random samples are not feasible. The aim of this project was to develop a novel method for systematic observations to establish community epidemiologic samples. We devised a four-step population randomization observation process for Flint, Michigan, USA: (1) Use recent total population data for community areas (i.e., neighborhoods) to establish the proportional sample size for each area, (2) Randomly select street segments of each community area, (3) Deploy raters to conduct observations about habitation for each randomly selected segment, and (4) Complete observations for second and third street segments, depending on vacancy levels. We implemented this systematic observation process on 400 randomly selected street segments. Of these, 130 (32.5%) required assessment of secondary segments due to high vacancy. Among the 130 primary segments, 28 (21.5%) required assessment of tertiary (or more) segments. For 71.5% of the 400 primary street segments, there was consensus among raters on whether the dwelling inhabited or uninhabited. Houses observed with this method could have easily been considered uninhabited via other methods. This could cause residents of ambiguous dwellings (likely to be the most marginalized residents with highest levels of unmet health needs) to be underrepresented in the resultant sample.
CANCER PREVALENCE AND THE ROLE OF MULTIMORBIDITY AMONG OLDER ADULTS: USING NHANES 2011-2016

Cancer risk increases as age, understanding the potential risk factors of cancer is essential for cancer prevention. Biological and epidemiologic studies suggest relationships between individual chronic conditions and increased cancer risk. However, limited researches have analyzed the association between multimorbidity (simultaneous presentation of two or more chronic diseases) and cancer. The current study is aimed to evaluate whether having multimorbidity is associated with increased all-site and site-specific cancer prevalence among older adults. Data of 5,200 older adults aged 55 years and older who participated in the 2011-2016 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) were included in the study. Single and multiple logistic regression models were used to evaluate the associations between multimorbidity and cancer. 3,623 (70%) individuals in our study were identified as having multimorbidity and 992 (19%) individuals were diagnosed with cancer. After adjusting for demographic covariates and smoking status, having multimorbidity was significantly associated with having all-site cancer (AOR: 1.57; 95% CI: 1.25 – 1.98) and lung cancer (AOR: 8.91; 95% CI: 1.51 - 52.73). Multimorbidity was associated with increased odds of having cancers among older adults. Our findings add to the evidence suggesting the potential relationships between multimorbidity and cancer. Future longitudinal studies are needed to examine the biological mechanisms and temporality of the association. If the association between multimorbidity and cancer is affirmed, it could have substantial implications in public health, as management of multiple chronic conditions could also advantage cancer prevention among older adults.
The Physics of Insect Impact and Residue Expansion

The phenomena of insect impacts on aircraft surfaces are complex; therefore, tailoring surface properties to minimize the adhesion of insect residues is particularly challenging. By using a first-level approximation model, where an insect impact can be approximated as a water droplet impact, information can be leveraged toward understanding insect residue accretion. However, an insect consists of an exoskeleton covering hemolymph, which is significantly more complex than water. Therefore, the energetic requirement for exoskeleton rupture will be briefly considered and the properties of the hemolymph will be discussed. Next, relevant phenomena from water droplet impact studies will be used to describe events that occur during an insect impact. A more detailed analysis of the particular water droplet impact phenomena needed to describe and model insect impact events will be reviewed. Based on this analysis, several conclusions can be drawn regarding the surface properties most likely to be beneficial for the prevention of insect residue adhesion. Among these are the requirements for moderate hydrophobicity and surface roughness, as well as recognition that the prevention of insect residue adhesion can be approached by targeting specific phases of the event itself.
An evaluation of Kentucky’s sexual assault investigator training: results from a randomized three-group experiment

This study evaluated a 40-h statewide sexual assault investigations training program implemented in Kentucky in 2017. The study examined short- and long-term effects of training on police officers’ self-reported rape myth acceptance, knowledge of state laws, and knowledge of trauma-informed practices. Using a randomized design to control for pre-test sensitization, we assigned training courses to three groups: Group A (pre- and post-training assessment), Group B (post-training only assessment), and Group C (pre-training only assessment). Mean scores for rape myth acceptance, knowledge of state laws, and trauma-informed practices were compared using t tests to assess differences between Group A’s pre- and post-test scores, as well as differences between Groups B’s post-test and C’s pre-test scores. OLS models were estimated to assess the effects of training between treatment (Groups A and B) and control (Group C) groups. Follow-up assessments were sent to participants to examine long-term training effects on all outcome variables. Findings indicated that training was effective in reducing rape myth acceptance and increasing knowledge of state laws and knowledge of trauma-informed practices. These effects remained stable over time, evidenced by analyses of data from follow-up assessments. Finally, the pre-test did not have a priming effect on any outcome variables. This study found that sexual assault training can be effective at improving police perceptions of victims, and knowledge of laws and trauma-informed practices for sexual assault investigations. Additionally, this study provided evidence that three-group experimental designs are feasible for evaluating law enforcement training programs.
Endometriosis pathoetiology: The role of micrornas in the dysregulation of endometrial functions

Endometriosis is a common gynecological disorder characterized by pelvic pain, heavy menstruation, and infertility. The clinical diagnosis of endometriosis is often delayed 8–10 years after the onset of symptoms due to the lack of an effective and reliable noninvasive diagnostic method. In recent years, a number of research studies have reported using microRNAs (miRNAs) as potential noninvasive biomarkers for diagnosing endometriosis. Because miRNAs regulate gene expression, the differential expression of miRNAs in endometriosis patients also provides insight on dysregulated gene expressions in the pathogenesis of endometriosis. In this review, a number of global profiling studies (published through July 2019) that investigated the differential expression of miRNAs in endometriosis were identified. Based on these findings, the role of miRNAs in the pathogenesis of endometriosis, particularly with regard to the dysregulation of endometrial functions, cell cycle regulation, proliferation of endometrial stromal cells, and angiogenesis, was discussed. The potential of these miRNAs as noninvasive diagnostic biomarkers of endometriosis was also discussed.
The Two-Part Instrument in a Second-Best World

Abstract Standard Pigovian tax theory has been extended in two directions. First, many polluting activities are difficult to tax because they are not market transactions, and so recent papers have shown that the same effects can be achieved by use of a two-part instrument (2PI): a tax on output or income and a subsidy for clean alternatives to pollution. It is a generalization of a deposit–refund system (DRS). Second, a different literature concerns the second-best pollution tax in the presence of other tax distortions. Here, we combine the two extensions by looking at the second-best 2PI. When government needs revenue, is the deposit larger and the rebate smaller? We find explicit solutions for each tax and subsidy in a general equilibrium model with other tax distortions, and we compare these to the rates in a first-best model. The tax–subsidy combination is explained in terms of a tax effect, an environmental effect and a revenue effect. The model allows for flexible interpretation to show various applications of the 2PI. We also discuss important caveats.
Impact of missense mutations in the ALDH7A1 gene on enzyme structure and catalytic function.

Abstract Certain mutations in the ALDH7A1 gene cause pyridoxine-dependent epilepsy (PDE), an autosomal recessive metabolic disease characterized by seizures, and in some cases, intellectual disability. The mutational spectrum of PDE is vast and includes over 70 missense mutations. This review summarizes the current state of biochemical and biophysical research on the impact of PDE missense mutations on the structure and catalytic activity of ALDH7A1. Paradoxically, some mutations that target active site residues have a relatively modest impact on structure and function, while those remote from the active site can have profound effects. For example, missense mutations targeting remote residues in oligomer interfaces tend to strongly impact catalytic function by inhibiting formation of the active tetramer. These results shows that it remains very difficult to predict the impact of missense mutations, even when the structure of the wild-type enzyme is known. Additional biophysical analyses of many more disease-causing mutations are needed to develop the rules for predicting the impact of genetic mutations on enzyme structure and catalytic function.
Reconfigurable and Foldable Monolithic Reflectarray

In this paper, we propose a novel reconfigurable ReflectArray (RA) with multiple apertures for Cubesat applications. The design consists of a central RA with two or more folding panels connected using a surrogate hinge. Depending on the folding direction of these panels (forward or backward), a new RA aperture is formed. The proposed RA with the folding panels and corresponding hinges are printed on a single PCB board. A design of such an RA with two foldable panels is presented. This RA has two different single pencil beams pointing at $(\theta=30^{o},\phi=0^{o})$ and $(\theta=-30^{o},\ \phi=0^{o})$ , as well as a dual-beam pattern with beam peaks at $(\theta=\pm 30^{o},\ \phi=0^{o})$ operating in the Ku-band at 16 GHz. Key advantages of this RA for CubeSat applications include small stowed volume, low fabrication cost, and reduced complexity.
Using “management mosaics” to mitigate the impacts from extreme wildfires

Human activities and global change have resulted in more severe and destructive megafires in forest ecosystems worldwide. Here, I introduce and discuss the concept of “management mosaics” and how to use it over both space and time to mitigate the growing impacts of extreme wildfires.
Collagenase Tenotomy for Dupuytren Boutonniere

Summary Treatment of boutonniere Dupuytren disease is rare and is resistant to treatment because of altered tendon dynamics. The authors used a small dose of collagenase clostridium histolyticum for an enzymatic tenotomy of the distal interphalangeal joint and showed that hyperextension at the distal interphalangeal joint improved significantly. Fifteen patients with boutonniere Dupuytren disease with severe proximal interphalangeal joint contractures averaging -69 degrees of extension were included in the study. Ten patients had at least one previous intervention, including surgical fasciectomy, Digit Widget treatment, and needle aponeurotomy. Collagenase clostridium histolyticum enzymatic tenotomy was performed in-office as a wide-awake procedure. All patients received varying doses of collagenase clostridium histolyticum for volar Dupuytren disease enzymatic fasciotomy and 0.1 mg of collagenase clostridium histolyticum into the distal extensor tendon for tenotomy to treat boutonniere deformity at the same time. Collagenase clostridium histolyticum enzymatic tenotomy significantly improved total active motion of the finger by 41.0 degrees (p = 0.001). Loss of extension at both the metacarpophalangeal joint and the proximal interphalangeal joint also improved with gains of 11.7 (p = 0.04) and 20.7 degrees (p = 0.0005) of extension, respectively. The average distal interphalangeal joint hyperextension was improved from 29.7 degrees to 14.0 degrees (p = 0.002). The authors show that collagenase injection led to significant average improvement in joint contracture at all finger joints and significantly increased the arc of motion at the proximal interphalangeal joint and metacarpophalangeal joint. Although collagenase has been previously used for flexion contractures in Dupuytren disease, we believe it has a role in treating the distal interphalangeal joint hyperextension deformity associated with boutonniere deformity in Dupuytren disease as well. Clinical question/level of evidence Therapeutic, IV.
Trends in Environment Law Scholarship 2008-2013

This comment provides a brief empirical snapshot of the environmental law scholarship published in top general law reviews and environmental law journals for academic years 2008-2009, 2009-2010, 2010-2011, and 2011-2012. The analysis suggests that over 400 environmental law articles were published each year in these journals. The articles included for each year are identified on lists available on the Environmental Law and Policy Review websites of Vanderbilt University Law School and the Environmental Law Institute.
Association of the myocilin mt.1 promoter variant with the worsening of glaucomatous disease over time

A major variant of myocilin (MYOC) [TIGR/MYOC mt.1 (-1000 C/G)], present in the gene's promoter, is found to be associated with more rapid progression of the glaucoma disease state. Time-to-event analyses using the Cox proportional hazards model produced substantial statistical evidence that this TIGR/MYOC mt.1(+) variant accelerates worsening for both optic disc and visual field measures of disease progression. These analyses were based on evaluations of 147 patients with primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) over 35 years of age with an average follow-up of approximately 15 years. Our analyses showed that there are independent effects of the variant on disease progression, taking into account other relevant disease-related baseline risk factors, including age, family history, initial drug treatment, initial surgical treatment, diabetes, gender, myopia, and initial disease severity. The finding that a TIGR/MYOC mt.1(+) determination provided a strong marker for glaucoma progression, above and beyond the other baseline risk factors, suggests a clinical utility in testing for this promoter genotype.
Extrapolating from the Laboratory to the Field: How Uncertain Are You?

A methodology for assessing toxic effects of chemicals on fish should be able to begin with an emission rate, an LC/sub 50/, and a description of the receiving system and generate an estimate of the likelihood of reductions in fish populations. This process is a series of extrapolations, each with an associated variance. The LC/sub 50/ must be extrapolated from the test species to the species of interest, to life-cycle toxicity, to long-term toxicity in the field, to changes in population size due to direct toxic effects and, finally, to the combined direct and indirect toxic effects. Similarly, the emission rate must be converted into an effective environmental concentration in an imperfectly known hydrologic, chemical, physical, and biological system. In this paper the authors summarize some data and methods for making these extrapolations and indicate sources of uncertainty in each stage of the analysis.
A Numerical Study of the Exact Evolution Equations for Surface Waves in Water of Finite Depth

We describe a pseudo-spectral numerical method to solve the systems of one-dimensional evolution equations for free surface waves in a homogeneous layer of an ideal fluid. We use the method to solve a system of one-dimensional integro-differential equations, first proposed by Ovsjannikov and later derived by Dyachenko, Zakharov, and Kuznetsov, to simulate the exact evolution of nonlinear free surface waves governed by the two-dimensional Euler equations. These equations are written in the transformed plane where the free surface is mapped onto a flat surface and do not require the common assumption that the waves have small amplitude used in deriving the weakly nonlinear Korteweg-de Vries and Boussinesq long-wave equations. We compare the solution of the exact reduced equations with these weakly nonlinear long-wave models and with the nonlinear long-wave equations of Su and Gardner that do not assume the waves have small amplitude. The Su and Gardner solutions are in remarkably close agreement with the exact Euler solutions for large amplitude solitary wave interactions while the interactions of low-amplitude solitary waves of all four models agree. The simulations demonstrate that our method is an efficient and accurate approach to integrate all of these equations and conserves the mass, momentum, and energy of the Euler equations over very long simulations.
Investigation of Natural Frequencies and Mode Shapes of Buckled Beams

The linear modes of vibration of buckled beams are investigated analytically and experimentally. Assuming a static buckled shape corresponding to the nth buckling mode, an exact solution is obtained for the linear modes and associated frequencies of initially buckled beams with fixed-fixed, fixed-hinged, and hinged-hinged boundary conditions. The analytical solution for a first-mode buckled beam is validated experimentally for the fixed-fixed case. The analytically obtained natural frequencies are in excellent agreement with those obtained experimentally. These exact linear modes provide a basis from which to study the nonlinear vibrations of buckled beams.
Endonuclease I of Proteus mirabilis I. PURIFICATION AND DEMONSTRATION OF LIMITED ENDONUCLEASE ACTIVITY

Abstract Endonuclease I was purified from a lysate of Proteus mirabilis by dihydrostreptomycin sulfate precipitation, ammonium sulfate precipitation, ion exchange chromatography on diethylaminoethyl Sephadex, and isoelectric density gradient electrophoresis. Purified endonuclease I sediments as a 3 S molecule and degrades double stranded P. mirabilis chromosomal DNA to acid-soluble products. In the presence of Escherichia coli tRNA the enzyme sediments as 7.2 and 6 S molecular forms and degrades double stranded chromosomal DNA to fragments that sediment as 8 S DNA molecules. The 7.2 and 6 S forms of endonuclease I that can be generated by the addition of tRNA to the purified enzyme also are observed in the dihydrostreptomycin sulfate precipitate of the crude extract of the bacteria. The limited digestion of DNA in vitro to the 8 S fragments is not caused by insufficient enzyme or end product inhibition by the 8 S DNA products. The 8 S DNA fragments also can be extracted from intact P. mirabilis cells grown under certain conditions.
1,4,5,8‐Tetra­methoxy­anthracene

The structure of the title compound, C18H18O4, consists of separate centrosymmetric planar mol­ecules arranged in columns parallel to the monoclinic unique axis. The normal to the mean molecular plane lies at 55.4° to the unique axis, giving adjacent columns with alternating stacking directions. The mean deviation of all non-H atoms from the least-squares molecular plane is 0.064 A. Bond lengths in the aromatic rings range from 1.347 (2) to 1.440 (2) A and the two unique Me—O bond distances are 1.418 (2) and 1.419 (2) A.
An epidemiological serosurvey of hepatitis B virus shows evidence of declining prevalence due to hepatitis B vaccination in central China.

Summary Objective The hepatitis B vaccine was first introduced into the routine immunization program in Henan Province, China in 1992. In 2012, a survey was conducted to evaluate the protective effects of hepatitis B vaccination for the populations born during the preceding 15 years. Methods A multistage stratified random cluster sampling method was used to collect samples. The participants were interviewed and relevant information was obtained for the population aged 1 to 14 years using a standardized questionnaire; a 2- or 3-ml serum sample was taken from each participant to measure hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and hepatitis B core antibody (anti-HBc). Association and logistic regression analyses were conducted to determine relationships between these parameters. Results A total of 13 207 residents aged 1 to 14 years residing in 60 villages or communities in Henan, China were surveyed and had their blood collected. Serological analysis revealed that the HBsAg and anti-HBc prevalences were 0.8% and 2.6%, respectively. The HBsAg prevalence among children under 5 years of age was 0.5%, showing a decline of 96% compared to the average national HBsAg prevalence in 1992. Children had a higher likelihood of HBsAg positivity if they had an HBsAg-positive family member (odds ratio (OR) 4.26), no history of vaccination (OR 2.06), were born in a smaller township hospital or at home (OR 1.61), were aged 10–14 years (OR 2.07), or were living in a rural area (OR 2.01). Conclusions The HBsAg prevalence rate in persons under 15 years of age has dropped significantly in Henan Province after two decades of vaccination. Thus millions of chronic HBV infections have been prevented.
The Nature of Noncholinergic Membrane Potential Responses to Transmural Stimulation in Guinea Pig Ileum

Abstract The effect of substance P antagonism on membrane potential responses to transmural nerve stimulation in the presence of atropine was examined in circular smooth muscle of the guinea pig ileum. Intracellular recordings of membrane potential responses recorded 3–5 mm oral to the transmural stimulus consisted of an inhibitory junction potential followed by two distinct depolarizations referred to as early and late excitatory junction potentials. Substance P antagonism was achieved by desensitization with high doses of substance P or use of the antagonist Spantide (Sigma Chemical Co., St. Louis, MO). Substance P antagonism had no effect on the amplitude of the inhibitory junction potential, caused an increase in the latter portion of the early excitatory junction potential, and abolished the late excitatory junction potential. The excitatory junction potential potentiated by substance P receptor antagonism was associated with a decrease in membrane resistance, increased in amplitude with conditioning hyperpolarizations to the estimated equilibrium potential for K + , and was blocked by the Cl−HCO3− exchange inhibitor DIDS or prolonged perfusion with low-chloride solution. These studies suggest that a noncholinergic, non-substance P neurotransmitter is released from enteric motoneurons that produces excitation through an increase in smooth muscle chloride conductance.
Central limit theorems for urn models

Abstract We consider central limit theory for urn models in which balls are not necessarily replaced after being drawn, giving rise to negative diagonal entries in the generating matrix. Under conditions on the eigenvalues and eigenvectors, we give results both for the contents of the urn and the number of times balls of each type are drawn.
A 12-b 5-Msample/s two-step CMOS A/D converter

Two-step flash architectures are an effective means of realizing high-speed high-resolution analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) because they can be implemented without the need for operational amplifiers having either high gain or a large output swing. Moreover, with conversion rates approaching half those of fully parallel designs, such half-flash architectures provide both a relatively small input capacitance and low power dissipation. The authors describe the design of a 12-b 5-Msample/s A/D converter that is based on a two-step flash topology and has been integrated in a 1- mu m CMOS technology. Configured as a fully differential circuit, the converter performs a 7-b coarse flash conversion followed by a 6-b fine flash conversion. Both analog and digital error correction are used to achieve a resolution of 12 b. The converter dissipates only 200 mW from a single 5-V supply and occupies an area of 2.5 mm * 3.7 mm. >
Serial concatenation schemes for PSK waveforms vs. turbo codes

For radio communication systems, powerful error correction codes are necessary to operate in noisy and fading channel conditions. Iterative forward error correction schemes like Turbo codes can achieve near Shannon capacity performance on memory-less channels and also perform well on correlated fading channels. The key to the excellent decoding performance of the Turbo coding systems is the BCJR algorithm in conjunction with the iterative processing of soft information. A very popular modulation technique is Differential Phase Shift Key (DPSK) which is not only a simple non-coherent modulation and demodulation technique; it is also a recursive rate one code. Combining DPSK with a single convolutional code structure as an iterative inner outer forward error correction system can provide excellent Turbo like performance. Bit Interleaved Coded Modulation with Iterative Demodulation (BICM-ID), another powerful iterative technique achieves near Turbo code performance with significantly less mips. We will also introduce and compare with the latter systems yet another novel iterative scheme that utilizes coherent demodulation in conjunction with convolutional codes. This new system can easily be extended to higher order modulations such as 16 and 64 Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) while only requiring modest amounts of processing power. Monte Carlo simulation results will be shown for the Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN) channels.
Previous experience and the learning of computer programming: The computer helps those who help themselves.

Recent developments in mathematics education indicate that previous experience is the best predictor of high school math achievement scores. Given this information we hypothesized that previous experience with computers would serve as a predictor of performance in college computer science courses. Also of interest was the possible interaction of gender, prior computing experience and computer science course performance. To examine these issues, we designed and administered a questionnaire to students across two semesters of the first year Pascal programming course at the university level. Roughly one-quarter of the students enrolled across the two semesters were female. Results show that males have more prior experience, especially in advanced computer science topics, than females, and that much of this prior experience is gained outside of school through “hacking” and unguided exploration. Amount of prior computing experience was found to predict course performance for males. For females very little prio...
Distributed microflow sensor arrays and networks: design of architectures and communication protocols

Distributed microflow sensor arrays and networks are built from collections of spatially scattered, intelligent microflow sensor nodes. They can enhance the reliability and fault tolerance of the system. A new cluster network architecture and two original alternatives of fault-tolerant time-out communication protocol are described. Teamwork integration evaluator/micro-electromechanical system, a micro-electromechanical system sensor network simulation tool, was developed to evaluate the effectiveness of the network architectures and communication protocols.
A study of intermittent turbulence with cases-99 tower measurments

Characteristics of intermittent turbulence events in the stably stratified nocturnal boundary layer are investigated with data collected in the CASES-99 tower array of 300-m radius. The array consists of a central 60-m tower with eddy covariance measurements at eight levels and six satellite towers with eddy covariance measurements at 5 m. A significant increase in the magnitude of vertical wind velocity (σ) and spectral information are used to define the onset of an intermittent turbulence event. Normally, only a subset of 5 m-levels in the tower network experience an intermittent turbulence event concurrent with one at the 5 m-level on the main tower. This behaviour reveals the small horizontal extent of most events. Intermittent turbulence events at the main tower 5-m level are normally confined to a layer much thinner than the 60-m tower height. The turbulent kinetic energy budget is evaluated for intermittent turbulence events observed at the 5-m level on the main tower. Generally, the onset of an intermittent turbulence event is not closely related to the reduction of the gradient Richardson number below 0.25, the critical Richardson number of turbulence generation for linear instability. Possible explanations including the influence of advected turbulence patches are discussed.
Efficient impact milling method to make porous graphitic materials for electric double layer capacitors

Impact milling is investigated as a rapid, one-step, solvent free, ambient temperature method to make high capacitance porous graphitic materials from natural flake graphite. The effects of impact milling-induced structural and chemical changes on the capacitance of the graphitic material are evaluated in aqueous electrolyte (1 M H2SO4). Gas adsorption analysis shows that the surface area of the graphite increases from 8 to 350 m2g−1 after 6 hours of milling. The increase in surface area is accompanied by an increase in pore volume to 0.36 cm3g−1. Mesopores account for 75 % of the pore volume. Scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy show that impact milling creates fractured material with fewer layers and less sp2 hybridized carbon than natural flake graphite. In cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, the impact-milled porous graphitic material displays near ideal capacitive behavior and low resistance. Galvanostatic charge/discharge shows that the milled porous graphite has gravimetric and area normalized capacitances of 55 Fg−1 and 16 μFcm−2, respectively. Taken together, the electrochemical and structural data show that solvent free, ambient temperature impact milling is a viable single-step method to create cost competitive porous graphitic material with high capacitance.
Strengthening of E-glass fibers by surface stress relaxation

Abstract Earlier, a new glass strengthening method was demonstrated using silica glass fiber. The method involved heat-treatment of a glass while held under a sub-critical tensile stress. The added strength was attributed to the formation of a compressive stress layer on the surface created by a surface stress relaxation process. This new glass strengthening method does not require glass of finite thickness, as in tempering, or glass containing alkali ions, as in ion-exchange. The same method was applied to E-glass fibers by treating the fibers under 1 and 2 GPa stresses at 200 °C for 60 s in air and a strength increase of ~ 0.6 GPa was achieved. The extent of the surface residual stress formation was estimated from the permanent bending kinetics of glass fibers heated under bending stresses and released. In the present work, the origin of the strengthening is attributed to the surface compressive stress rather than an anisotropic structure of the glass. The stability of the residual surface stress produced was estimated by measuring the kinetics of unbending of bent fibers at 325–425 °C in air. The relaxation time of the surface stress release at room temperature in air was estimated to be at least 1 to 3 years.
Predicting severity of Parkinson's disease from speech

Parkinson's disease is known to cause mild to profound communication impairments depending on the stage of progression of the disease. There is a growing interest in home-based assessment tools for measuring severity of Parkinson's disease and speech is an appealing source of evidence. This paper reports tasks to elicit a versatile sample of voice production, algorithms to extract useful information from speech and models to predict the severity of the disease. Apart from standard features from time domain (e.g., energy, speaking rate), spectral domain (e.g., pitch, spectral entropy) and cepstral domain (e.g, mel-frequency warped cepstral coefficients), we also estimate harmonic-to-noise ratio, shimmer and jitter using our recently developed algorithms. In a preliminary study, we evaluate the proposed paradigm on data collected through 2 clinics from 82 subjects in 116 assessment sessions. Our results show that the information extracted from speech, elicited through 3 tasks, can predict the severity of the disease to within a mean absolute error of 5.7 with respect to the clinical assessment using the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale; the range of target motor sub-scale is 0 to 108. Our analysis shows that elicitation of speech through less constrained task provides useful information not captured in widely employed phonation task. While still preliminary, our results demonstrate that the proposed computational approach has promising real-world applications such as in home-based assessment or in telemonitoring of Parkinson's disease.
Generational differences and job satisfaction in leisure services

Generational differences in the workplace have been studied in a wide variety of settings, yet not in recreation settings. Currently, there are three generations ensconced in the workplace (i.e. Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Generation Y), with the leading edge of Boomers on the cusp of retirement and a second wave of Generation Yers attempting to find jobs. This study investigated attitudes toward job satisfaction of different generational cohorts in campus recreational sports settings. The results showed attitude differences toward job satisfaction in three areas: (1) working conditions; (2) work and environment; and (3) resources and employee benefits. Overall, Baby Boomer subjects were more satisfied with their jobs than the two younger generations, and there were no statistically significant differences in overall job satisfaction between Generations X and Y. Management implications of the study results are discussed.