cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Problem of Appeasement

An evaluation of British foreign policy towards Nazi Germany is still overlaid in England by political controversy. The two main political parties cannot deny their descent from the parties that confronted each other in the 1930's. The question of responsibility for that tragically unsuccessful foreign policy and for the ensuing war still produces heated reproaches in the political arena and equally heated debates among historians. The belief that, had Britain taken the “right line,” the war could have been prevented is still very strong. In the words of the Oxford historian, A. L. Rowse: “There was a hope then, and it did matter what line we took; during that last decade this country exercised a leading influence in Europe and still held a position of leadership in the English-speaking world. All that has changed: the real decisions are made elsewhere” (p. 4). Had Hitler been checked and the exhaustive blood-letting avoided, would the “real decisions” still be made in England? These nagging questions arise again and again on the rostrum, in the newspapers, in Senior Common Rooms. They have produced two sets of legends, of which various versions circulate. The Right asserts in Quintin Hogg's words that “the Left was never right,” and that by demagogically exploiting the public's pacifist temper it kept Britain from rearming so that the Conservative governments had no alternative to appeasement. The Left, on the other hand, developed the legend that Tories feared Soviet Russian communism more than Nazism and saw in Hitler the man who stemmed the Red tide from spreading westward. The Communist version of this goes further; it asserts that Neville Chamberlain, in true Machiavellian fashion, encouraged Hitler to expand towards the East in order to involve him in a serious conflict with Stalin.
Making Place, Making Race: Performances of Whiteness in the Jim Crow South

Abstract This article examines the process of racialization as an essential aspect of how everyday geographies are made, understood, and challenged. It begins from the premise that a primary root of modern American race relations can be found in the southern past, especially in how that past was imagined, articulated, and performed during a crucial period: the post-Reconstruction era known as “Jim Crow.” More than just a reaction to a turbulent world where Civil War defeat destabilized categories of power and authority, white cultural memory there became an active ingredient in defining life in the New South. The culture of segregation that mobilized such memories, and the forgetting that inevitably accompanied them, relied on performance, ritualized choreographies of race and place, and gender and class, in which participants knew their roles and acted them out for each other and for visitors. Among the displays of white southern memory most active during Jim Crow, the Natchez Pilgrimage stands out. Elit...
An Outbreak of Acute Febrile Illness Caused by Sandfly Fever Sicilian Virus in the Afar Region of Ethiopia, 2011

In malaria-endemic regions, many medical facilities have limited capacity to diagnose non-malarial etiologies of acute febrile illness (AFI). As a result, the etiology of AFI is seldom determined, although AFI remains a major cause of morbidity in developing countries. An outbreak of AFI was reported in the Afar region of Ethiopia in August of 2011. Retrospectively, 12,816 suspected AFI cases were identified by review of medical records. Symptoms were mild and self-limiting within 3 days after the date of onset; no fatalities were identified. All initial test results of AFI patient specimens were negative for selected pathogens using standard microbiological and molecular techniques. High-throughput sequencing of nucleic acid extracts of serum specimens from 29 AFI cases identified 17 (59%) of 29 samples as positive for Sandfly Fever Sicilian Virus (SFSV). These results were further confirmed by specific reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. This is the first study implicating SFSV as an etiological agent for AFI in Ethiopia.
Temperature-adaptive dynamic voltage scaling for high temperature energy efficiency in subthreshold memory banks

Static random access memory (SRAM) circuits optimized for minimum energy consumption typically operate in the subthreshold regime with ultra-low power-supply-voltages. Both the read and the write propagation delays of a subthreshold memory circuit are significantly reduced with an increase in the die temperature. The excessive timing slack observed in the clock period of constant-frequency subthreshold memory circuits at elevated temperatures provides new opportunities to lower the active mode energy consumption. Temperature-adaptive dynamic supply voltage tuning technique is proposed in this paper to reduce the high temperature energy consumption of ultra-low-voltage subthreshold SRAM arrays. Results with a 64-bit times 64-bit memory array in the TSMC 180 nm CMOS technology indicate that the energy consumption can be lowered by up to 32.8% by dynamically scaling the supply voltage at elevated temperatures.
Optimal syntheses for state constrained problems and optimization of cancer therapies

The use of combined therapies to treat cancer is common nowadays and some papers already addressed the relative optimization problems. In particular, it is natural to have state constraints, which usually correspond to bounds on the possible use of drugs. The application of Pontryagin Maximum Principle is particularly difficult in such case. Therefore, we resort to sufficient conditions for optimality to achieve results more easy to use. The approach is developed both for candidate value functions and optimal syntheses. Then it is shown at work on some specific problems in combined cancer therapy.
Reports of birthweight by adolescents and their mothers: comparing accuracy and identifying correlates.

Summary Birthweight is associated with health outcomes throughout the lifespan. Official birthweight records are not always available, and researchers must rely on self-reports for birthweight information. This study evaluates the accuracy of adolescent self-reports of birthweight, using medical records as a standard, and compares it with maternal reports. It also examines potential correlates of accuracy. Respondents are 17-year-old adolescents and their mothers, who participated in a follow-up study of randomly selected samples from newborn discharge lists (1983–85) of two major hospitals in south-east Michigan. Nearly one-quarter of the adolescents stated that they did not know their own birthweight, with males twice as likely as females to respond ‘don’t know’. In addition, self-reports of birthweight among the remaining adolescents were inaccurate, and accuracy was inversely related to birthweight. While maternal reports of offspring’s birthweight are highly accurate across diverse subgroups of the population, adolescent self-reports of birthweight are unlikely to be useful in medical research.
Classification of Underwater Objects Via Impulse Excitation

A technique for classifying objects based on modeling the transient characteristics of their impulse response is developed and tested. A set of targets identical in geometry and differing in shell and filler material were constructed. The targets were manually struck exciting an impulse response which was sampled and recorded. The impulse response of each target was decomposed via windowed short-time Fourier transform into a set of feature vectors. The feature vectors were quantized via the LBG VQ algorithm, and the sets of quantized vectors were used to estimate the parameters of a discrete-output hidden Markov model (HMM) for each class of object. A blind test set was evaluated against the trained HMMs and the results are presented along with a discussion of the generalization ability of the individual classifiers.
Mystics, Demoniacs, and the Physiology of Spirit Possession in Medieval Europe

In the late thirteenth century, Ida of Louvain scandalized her community. The daughter of a prosperous wine merchant, Ida already had refused marriage and become a recluse in a small cell within her parents' home. One day, however, it seemed that she went mad. Casting aside even the simple clothes she now wore, Ida wrapped herself in a dirty rag and draped a mat over her shoulders for warmth. Aggressively seeking out the most crowded plazas and market places, she preened and “strutted about if mad or a fool, offering a monstrous spectacle of herself to the people.”Vita Venerabilis Idae Virginis. In Acta Sanctorum. (Paris and Rome, 1865) vol. 11 (13 April): 163. Hereafter cited as AASS. Townspeople murmured that Ida was in a frenzy, out of her mind; eventually she was tied up to prevent her from harming herself or others.
Ontogeny of erythropoiesis

Purpose of reviewThe present study review examines the current understanding of the ontogeny of erythropoiesis with a focus on the emergence of the embryonic (primitive) erythroid lineage and on the similarities and differences between the primitive and the fetal/adult (definitive) forms of erythroi
Comparative Efficacy of Recombinant Modified Vaccinia Virus Ankara Expressing Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV) Gag-Pol and/or Env in Macaques Challenged with Pathogenic SIV

Prior studies demonstrated that immunization of macaques with simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) Gag-Pol and Env recombinants of the attenuated poxvirus modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA) provided protection from high levels of viremia and AIDS following challenge with a pathogenic strain of SIV (V. M. Hirsch et al., J. Virol. 70:3741-3752, 1996). This MVA-SIV recombinant expressed relatively low levels of the Gag-Pol portion of the vaccine. To optimize protection, second-generation recombinant MVAs that expressed high levels of either Gag-Pol (MVA-gag-pol) or Env (MVA-env), alone or in combination (MVA-gag-pol-env), were generated. A cohort of 24 macaques was immunized with recombinant or nonrecombinant MVA (four groups of six animals) and was challenged with 50 times the dose at which 50% of macaques are infected with uncloned pathogenic SIVsmE660. Although all animals became infected postchallenge, plasma viremia was significantly reduced in animals that received the MVA-SIV recombinant vaccines as compared with animals that received nonrecombinant MVA (P = 0.0011 by repeated-measures analysis of variance). The differences in the degree of virus suppression achieved by the three MVA-SIV vaccines were not significant. Most importantly, the reduction in levels of viremia resulted in a significant increase in median (P < 0.05 by Student's t test) and cumulative (P = 0.010 by log rank test) survival. These results suggest that recombinant MVA has considerable potential as a vaccine vector for human AIDS.
A Low TCR Nanocomposite Strain Gage for High Temperature Aerospace Applications

Ceramic strain gages are being developed to monitor the structural integrity of gas turbine engine components employed in aerospace propulsion and power generation systems. Specifically, ceramic thin film strain gages based on indium-tin-oxide (ITO) and refractory metal (Pt, W, Ni, NiCoCrAlY) nanocomposites were investigated to achieve very low TRC's in the active strain element. Nanocomposite sensor elements were prepared from a number of ITO/Pt combinatorial libraries by co-sputtering onto alumina substrates placed in between ITO and Pt sputtering targets. Temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) measurements of the resulting nanocomposites were made by thermally cycling the strain sensors from room temperature to 1000degC and measuring the piezoresistive response from room temperature to 1200degC at strain levels up to 1000 muepsiv. The chemical composition of the most promising combinatorial libraries was analyzed by EDS /SEM. Preliminary results indicated that a near zero TCR could be achieved over an extended temperature range in nanocomposite strain sensors containing less than 10% ITO. Even though EDS revealed that the bulk of the nanocomposite strain sensor was platinum, a relatively large gage factor (~26.0) and low drift rate (0.018%/hr) were realized with the nanocomposite. Based on these results, other combinatorial libraries employing ITO-refractory metal nanocomposites including ITO-W, ITO-Ni and ITO-NiCoCrAlY were investigated for high temperature strain gage applications. These combinations did not perform as well as ITO-Pt in terms of TCR and piezoresistive response when compared to those established for the ITO-Pt nanocomposite gages.
'I Will Survive': musical mappings of queer social space in a disco anthem

This essay reconsiders the constituencies of fans and detractors present at prime and bursting 1970s dicsos. It argues for a more gender-inclusive conception of discos multiracial ‘gay’ revellers and for a particular convoluted conception of ‘homophobia’ as this applies to the Middle-American youths who raged against disco in midsummer 1979. Their historic eruption at Chicago’s Comiskey Park came just weeks after the chart reign of Gloria Gaynor’s ‘I Will Survive’, today a classic emblem of gay culture in the post-Stonewall and AIDS eras and arguably disco’s greatest anthem. Disco inspired lovers and haters, too, among music critics. Critical adulation and vitriol are conjoined in the present reading of musical rhetoric, which explores disco’s celebrated power to induce rapture in devotees at the social margins while granting anti-disco critics’ charge of inexpressivity in its vocals. In ‘Survive’ musical expressivity is relocated in the high-production instrumentals, where troping of learned and vernacular, European and Pan-American, sacred and profane timbres and idioms defines a euphoric space of difference and transcendence. The use of minor mode for triumphant purposes is also a striking marker of difference in ‘Survive’ and is among the factors at work in the song’s prodigious afterlife.
Standing Crops of Brook Trout in Adirondack Waters before and after Removal of Non-trout Species

Abstract Ponds and lakes in the Adirondack Mountain region of New York State that contain brook trout Salvelinus fontinalis are generally infertile and trout production is low when brook trout have to compete with non-trout species. Standing crop estimates for seven waters with mixed-species associations ranged from 50 to 100 lb/acre; suckers Catostomus spp. were a major component of each assemblage, Brook trout standing crops were under 1 lb/acre in all but one water and were particularly low where yellow perch Perca flavescens were present. Following reclamation, during which major competing species were removed, brook trout were restocked. Subsequent estimates of brook trout standing crops ranged from 5 to 16 lb/acre, and good trout fishing prevailed where previously there had been little or none.
Conditioning the Spiral Aftereffect

In an attempt to condition the aftereffect of a rotating spiral a tone was paired, in a series of training trials, with the presentation of a spiral figure. Three types of pairing were explored: (a...
CoArt: coarticulation region analysis for control of 2D characters

A facial analysis-synthesis framework based on a concise set of local, independently actuated, coarticulation regions (CRs) is presented for the control of 2D animated characters. CRs are parameterized by muscle actuations and thereby provide a physically meaningful description of face state that is easily abstracted to higher-level descriptions of facial expression. An independent component analysis on a set of training images acquired from an actor is used to characterize the appearance space of each CR. Within this framework actor-independent face reconstruction databases can be created by an artist or extracted from video sequences. In addition, the muscle parameter values may be used to drive any similarly parameterized 3D facial model. The flexibility afforded by such a methodology is demonstrated with applications to 2D facial animation control and sample based video synthesis. The analysis runs in real-time on modest consumer hardware.
Osseointegration of dental implants and osteonecrosis of the jaw in patients treated with bisphosphonate therapy: a systematic review.

Bisphosphonate (BP) drugs are a commonly prescribed group of medications used in the treatment of metabolic and oncologic bone disorders. The aim of this study was to conduct a systematic review in order to evaluate whether patients on BP therapy are appropriate candidates for dental implants as compared to patients not taking BP drugs with respect to successful implant osseointegration and the risk of developing bisphosphonate-related osteonecrosis of the jaw. Based on the current literature, a history of oral or intravenous BP use is not an absolute contraindication for dental implant placement, and dental implants can osseointegrate successfully in this patient population. Importantly, the studies currently available on this topic are of moderate to weak strength of evidence with inherent bias and limitations, and hence results must be interpreted in this context. Well-controlled studies with higher strength of evidence and larger population sizes are required to address this topic more accurately in t...
Diffuse high-bandwidth optical communications

High speed underwater optical communications has at least three distinct advantages over acoustic communications. The data rates achievable are high (1 to 10 Mbps), the latency from when data is sent to when data is received is low, and there is no acoustic noise associated with transmission. Of course one of the biggest limitations of an optical approach underwater is the rapid attenuation of optical signals due to spreading loss, scattering, and absorption. Nonetheless, communication signals have been broadcast, received, and decoded over distances of 100 to 200 meters. High data rates and low latency make optical communications an attractive human interface to underwater systems, such as wireless control of underwater vehicles. Underwater optical communications is generally well-suited to multiple platform environments, where acoustic silence and limited range avoids interference between platforms. High data rates are advantageous in data retrieval applications, where, for one example, wireless data retrieval would make deployment and recovery of certain systems more economical. Recent engineering developments and accompanying experimental data are put forth in this paper, and the implications for future development are discussed.
The Dentition of the Pygmy Chimpanzee, Pan paniscus

Prior to 1974 the only studies on the dentition of Pan paniscus involved very small samples. Remane (1960) presented measurements of teeth of 4–11 adult individuals and later (1962) measurements of deciduous teeth of two maxillas and 3–4 mandibles. Conroy (1972) published indices based on measurements of maxillary teeth in three specimens of Pan paniscus to show that relative reduction of incisors and canine of Ramapithecus (FT 1271–2) was greater than that in either species of chimpanzee. Vandebroek (1969) used Pan paniscus extensively to compare with other primates in his book on vertebrate evolution. He included several photos of teeth of P. paniscus: one a lingual view of a deciduous dentition (Vandebroek, 1969, p. 289), and lateral views of male and female permanent dentitions (pp. 388–389). He also presented a graph of average measurements of the three lower molars compared with those of other hominoids (p. 394), and a drawing of lingual views of the lower teeth showing morphological variation (p. 415). Almquist (1974) measured incisors and canines in 18 female and 14 male P. paniscus from Tervuren, and compared these measurements with other African pongids and cercopithecids. He found significant sexual dimorphism in the length, breadth, and height of both upper and lower permanent canines of P. paniscus.
Social representations of family members on the care provided by the emergency psychiatric sector: a descriptive study

Aim: To analyze the social representations of family members of patients who suffer from mental and behavioral problems regarding the care of emergency psychiatric disorders. Method: This is an exploratory and descriptive study, in which a qualitative approach based on Social Representations Theory (SRT) was used in addition to the use of multi-methods for data collection (semi-structured interviews and the free association of words technique). The software Analyse Lexicale par Contexte d’un Ensemble de Segments de Texte (ALCESTE) and thematic content analysis were used. The study scenario includes two mental health services in the municipality of Mossoro/RN involving the primary caregivers of the mental health patient and who have witnessed at least one situation characterized as being a crisis or involving a psychiatric emergency.
Swimming-Induced Pulmonary Edema: Pathophysiology and Risk Reduction With Sildenafil.

Background—Swimming-induced pulmonary edema (SIPE) occurs during swimming or scuba diving, often in young individuals with no predisposing conditions, and its pathophysiology is poorly understood. ...
Trends in alcohol use during moderate and severe traumatic brain injury: 18 years of neurotrauma in Pennsylvania.

AbstractPrimary objective: Alcohol is a known risk factor for TBI, yet little is known about how rates of alcohol use at time of injury differ across demographics and the stability of alcohol-related injury over time. Further, findings examining the relationship between alcohol and outcome are mixed. This study aimed to examine changes in alcohol-positive moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury (+aTBI) over two decades with focus on demographic factors, changes in +aTBI frequency over time, mortality and acute outcome.Methods: This retrospective study examined data collected from 1992–2009 by the Pennsylvania Trauma Outcome Study (PTOS).Results: Results reveal that the proportion of +aTBI has been generally stable across years. However, there is an interaction of +aTBI incidence with mechanism of injury and age, with a downward trend in +aTBI within MVA and fall and individuals 18–30 and 71+ years. Further, consistent with several findings in the literature, alcohol was associated with higher rates of s...
Bilateral external iliac artery injury from a single missile

Bilateral vascular injuries either from penetrating or blunt trauma are rare. This report of a patient with injury to both external iliac arteries stresses the need for early operation in abdominal vascular trauma, the occasional need for groin incisions to obtain distal vascular control and the advantages of prosthetic replacement when extensive injuries are present in large vessels.
Chromium: a stream-processing framework for interactive rendering on clusters

We describe Chromium, a system for manipulating streams of graphics API commands on clusters of workstations. Chromium's stream filters can be arranged to create sort-first and sort-last parallel graphics architectures that, in many cases, support the same applications while using only commodity graphics accelerators. In addition, these stream filters can be extended programmatically, allowing the user to customize the stream transformations performed by nodes in a cluster. Because our stream processing mechanism is completely general, any cluster-parallel rendering algorithm can be either implemented on top of or embedded in Chromium. In this paper, we give examples of real-world applications that use Chromium to achieve good scalability on clusters of workstations, and describe other potential uses of this stream processing technology. By completely abstracting the underlying graphics architecture, network topology, and API command processing semantics, we allow a variety of applications to run in different environments.
Use of Butane Lighter for Sterilization of Soil Sampling Instruments

(1973). Use of Butane Lighter for Sterilization of Soil Sampling Instruments. Mycologia: Vol. 65, No. 1, pp. 215-216.
Do Psychosocial Services Make the Starting Lineup? Providing Services to Student-Athletes

Participation in college athletics comes with inherent risks. Many of these risks relate to the psychosocial well-being of athletes. This study examined the availability of services that treat psychosocial needs. A web-based survey was used to gather information from both athletic directors ( N = 132) and athletes ( N = 349). The researcher used descriptive and multivariate tests to analyze the data and found both athletic directors and athletes found psychosocial services to be less available than academic and athletic services. Additionally, NCAA division level impacted the degree of service availability. More must be done to ensure the psychosocial well-being of college athletes. This includes exploring ideas for having services more readily available.
Price Leverage Effect of Domestic Relative Energy Price on Carbon Emission

As an important economic lever,energy price has multifaceted impacts on the economy. It affects not only energy consumption and carbon emission through variables such as the economic aggregate,the industrial structure,and energy efficiency etc.but also the price level. Thus,costs and benefits,especially the tolerance of the price system should be considered when guide energy conservation and emission reduction through price leverage. This paper gives full consideration to potential inflation caused by the change of energy price and calculates the total carbon emission in China based on the sample period 1978- 2013. And by constructing single variable model,the integrated variables model,and the simultaneous equations model,we find that when taking the regulatory effect of energy price into consideration,the pulling effect of the economic aggregate on carbon emission decreases from 0. 687 1 to0. 528 6,and energy price induces 0. 611 1 carbon depressing effect by industrial structure; however,it is hard for energy price to reduce carbon emission through energy efficiency. The integrated variables model further shows that pulling effect of integrated variables on carbon emission decreases significantly and the effect of price lever on carbon emission reduction improves greatly. When considering regulatory effect of price lever and the interaction among systematic variables,depression effect of industrial structure optimization on carbon emission is amplified to 0. 452 5. In addition,depressing effect of energy efficiency improvement on carbon emission is 0. 397 7 which is greater than 0. 070 6 when only price regulation is considered. In general,energy price leverage magnifies the emission reduction effect of related paths. However,the fact that the carbon depressing effect in the system is not big enough to offset the carbon pulling effect indicates that energy price hasn't fully played its role as a lever. Therefore,the government should gradually promote the market-oriented reform of energy price based on the tolerance of the economy while at the same time give consideration to both structural adjustment and technological progress. Moreover, the government should pay attention to the coordination not only between price and other paths but also between price policies and other regulatory instruments such as monetary and fiscal policies. The government should also take the economic and environmental benefits into account and fully consider the external cost when to reduce carbon emission through price leverage.
Epidemiological characteristics and principal component analysis of public health emergencies in Qingdao(2006-2013)

Objective To study the epidemiological characteristics,the response,and management level of emergent public health events in Qingdao,and improve the quality of emergency management.Methods Descriptive analysis was applied to describe epidemiological characteristics of public health events from 2006 to 2013,principal component analysis was employed to assess the response and control of public health events.Results A total of 704 public health events was confirmed and recorded over the past eight years,including 66.48% environmental events,32.67% infectious disease events and 0.85% poisoning events.The corresponding fatality rates were 16.45%,1.84% and 0.51%,respectively.56.52%infectious disease events occurred in the educational facilities,the average timeliness of surveillance,report and control was9.54 h,1.28 h and 0 d respectively.The rate of completeness of public health events reached 93.32%.57.39% of them were reported within 2 hours.The F values of comprehensive assessment were reported from-2.19 to 1.23 using the principal component analysis.Conclusions The environmental events referring to carbon monoxide poisoning was the major cause of public health events in Qingdao area.The infectious disease emergencies occurred mainly in the school settings.The emergency management has been greatly improved over the past eight years.
Intraarticular hylan was no better than hyaluronic acids for osteoarthritis of the knee.

Source Citation Juni P, Reichenbach S, Trelle S, et al. Efficacy and safety of intraarticular hylan or hyaluronic acids for osteoarthritis of the knee: a randomized controlled trial. Arthritis Rheu...
Social Determinants of HIV Disparities in the Southern United States and in Counties with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), 2013-2014

HIV infection disproportionately affects Blacks in the southern United States (U.S.), a region where legal policies that may unintentionally impede earlier HIV detection and treatment are prevalent. Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have historically facilitated social change in communities of color and have been underexplored as partners for HIV prevention. We describe geographic and social determinants of health (SDH) in the southern U.S. to inform potential HBCU-public health partnerships that might improve HIV health equity. We evaluated the relationship between county-level HIV prevalences (2013), HBCU geographic coordinates, and SDH variables in the southern counties with HBCUs. U.S. Census-derived SDH variables included race/ethnicity (i.e., Black, White, Hispanic), unemployment, female head of household, poverty, percent owner-occupied housing units, urbanicity, and primary care provider rates. Associations were assessed using bivariate and multivariable linear regression. Of 104 HBCUs in the contiguous U.S., 100 (96%) were located in 69 southern counties with average Black populations of 40% and an average HIV prevalence of 615. 5 per 100,000, over two times the national rate (295.1 per 100,000). In bivariable analyses, higher HIV rates in these counties were associated with higher percent Black population, unemployment, female head of household, poverty, fewer owner-occupied housing units, and greater urbanicity (p < 0.05). In multivariable analyses, counties with higher HIV rates had higher percentages of Blacks, greater urbanicity, fewer owner-occupied housing units, and more female heads of households (p < 0.05). The southern U.S. is disproportionately affected by HIV, and many HBCUs are located in affected southern counties. HBCUs may be important public health partners for helping to develop structural interventions that strengthen HIV policies in support of health equity in these southern, mostly urban counties.
DNA Synthesis During Microsporogenesis

Meiosis is a major and critical event in microsporogenesis. In the course of that event, the processes of pairing and crossing-over activate elements of chromosome organization that are probably not required for vegetative growth and reproduction. Even where mitotic crossing over does occur, its frequency is rare presumably because a supportive organization is lacking. An apparently loose form of pairing between homologous chromosomes has been reported for somatic cells of various plant species (4), but such “somatic association” is both morphologically and functionally distinct from meiotic pairing and its accompanying exchange. The latter are virtually unique to meiocytes. Although the regulation of chromosome reproduction and transcription imposes broad requirements on chromosome organization, it is doubtful that such organization encompasses the special needs of chromosomes in meiosis. The major thrust of this presentation is to demonstrate that there are indeed components of chromosome organization which, thus far at least, have been revealed only during meiosis. Two of these components are expressed in the sequence organization of DNA and thus are fixed characteristics of the linear differentiation of the chromosome (4).
Relationships Among Microbial Communities, Maternal Cells, Oligosaccharides, and Macronutrients in Human Milk.

Background:Human milk provides all essential nutrients necessary for early life and is rich in nonnutrients, maternally derived (host) cells, and bacteria, but almost nothing is known about the interplay among these components.Research aim:The primary objective of this research was to characterize relationships among macronutrients, maternal cells, and bacteria in milk.Methods:Milk samples were collected from 16 women and analyzed for protein, lipid, fatty acid, lactose, and human milk oligosaccharide concentrations. Concentrations of maternal cells were determined using microscopy, and somatic cell counts were enumerated. Microbial ecologies were characterized using culture-independent methods.Results:Absolute and relative concentrations of maternal cells were mostly consistent within each woman as were relative abundances of bacterial genera, and there were many apparent relationships between these factors. For instance, relative abundance of Serratia was negatively associated with somatic cell counts (...
Bilingual Teacher Beliefs and Practice: Do They Line Up?.

A qualitative study used observation and collection of artifacts to examine the pedagogical strategies of six teachers; four taught in a two-way bilingual education school, while the other two were first-year teachers in a school setting with large numbers of English language learners. Informal interviews were conducted throughout the time of the study; semi-structured interviews were conducted at the end of a semester of observation and recording of field notes. Some interviews attempted to uncover the beliefs teachers had about student learning, and in particular, that of culturally and linguistically diverse students. Teachers were asked about the influences and sources of their beliefs. Other interviews explored teacher identities as educators of culturally and linguistically diverse students and how these identities fit in school settings that were or were not welcoming of such students. Transcripts of taped interviews were compared with field notes and collected artifacts in order to determine the degree to which teachers used strategies related to what they said they believed to be important for culturally and linguistically diverse students. It was determined that there were numerous cases where teacher practice confirmed statements made in interviews.
The Practice of Forest Insect Management

Throughout this book I have attempted to develop a general framework for understanding and managing forest insect pest populations—general in the sense that the principles and methods should be applicable to any insect pest problem anywhere in the world. I had originally planned to end the book at Chapter 10 but, on reaching that point, I became concerned that the reader would not have grasped how these principles and methods could be applied in practice. Even though the exercises at the end of each section, particularly the special project, were designed to provide experience in solving forest insect problems, nowhere is the practical side of forest management consolidated into a unifying whole.
Rare urogenital anomaly causing discharge and pain. A case report.

BACKGROUND: Patients with mullerian anomalies usually seek help because of poor reproductive performance. CASE: A 16-year-old, white woman presented with a persistent, brown vaginal discharge and right lower quadrant pain. Because of voluntary guarding, the uterus could not be palpated on bimanual examination. However, transvaginal sonography showed a right cystic mass and a slightly binodular contour of the uterus. Laparoscopic evaluation revealed the presence of a bicornuate uterus. A hysterosalpingogram showed a double uterine cavity and cervical canal below the right uterine cavity, leading to a cystic, paravaginal mass. Incision of the mass and drainage of its chocolate-brown fluid content revealed a small, blind vagina leading to a second cervix. Using a wire probe, an isthmic communication was demonstrated between the two uterine cavities, leading to the final diagnosis of bicornuate uterus, laterally communicating, with a double cervix and vagina, unilaterally blind. CONCLUSION: Awareness of the possibility of this clinically puzzling anomaly will avoid delayed or unnecessary surgical treatment.
Responses as phrasing cues in serial pattern learning with rats and humans

Abstract Researchers investigating how organisms learn patterns of information have dedicated much attention to determining how sequences that can be meaningfully organized are parsed during learning. Results have indicated that cues, often termed phrasing cues, from many domains, including visual, auditory, temporal, and spatial, can influence how patterns of information are interpreted and learned. For example, the sequence of numbers 123234345456 is made easier to learn when the cues imposed by experimenters (here, spaces) match the transitions between groups of related elements (i.e., chunks) in the sequence (i.e., 123 234 345 456). When such cues do not match the natural transitions of the pattern between chunks (i.e., 12 323 43 45 456), performance is not facilitated and instead is often hindered. Additionally, the placement of such cues can affect how the same sequence is encoded (i.e., runs: …234 345 456… vs. trills: …232 343 454…). Through four experiments, we explored the effect of incorporating responses as spatial phrasing cues on humans’ and rats’ pattern production. The results indicated that the spatial phrasing cues were interpreted as phrasing cues rather than as part of the structure of the pattern and that they facilitated performance when placed congruent to the natural structure of the sequence. Additionally, rats and humans appeared to use their own responses as phrasing cues.
Case 47: Zone I/II Open Globe Repair with Post-Operative Elevated Intraocular Pressure

A 58-year-old man presented with a Zone I-II open globe injury of the left eye with associated lens dislocation from blunt trauma from a screwdriver. The patient underwent repair of his open globe injury followed by a subsequent pars plana lensectomy and vitrectomy for a posteriorly dislocated lens. His post-operative course was complicated by elevated intraocular pressure from mixed mechanism glaucoma. He was medically managed with a good response. It is important to monitor intraocular pressure (IOP) post-operatively after open globe repair since there are a number of different mechanisms that increase a patient’s risk of glaucoma after ocular trauma.
Improved electrochemical cycling stability of intercalation battery electrodes via control of material morphology

Using a model tunnel manganese oxide with the todorokite crystal structure (T-MnO2), we demonstrate that controlling the morphology of the active material can improve the cycling stability of intercalation battery electrodes. The T-MnO2 structure is built from tunnels that provide spacious 1D diffusion channels for charge-carrying ions. Taking advantage of the unique ability to synthesize T-MnO2 in the form of both highly crystalline two-dimensional (2D) nanoplatelets and one-dimensional (1D) nanowires through a facile hydrothermal growth method, we investigated the effect of nanoscale particle dimensions on reversible battery cycling. Insertion of ions into the tunnels results in anisotropic expansion of the structure, making T-MnO2 with different morphologies an excellent model platform to understand how intercalation-induced volume change, typically leading to the deterioration of the electrode performance over extended cycling, can be controlled through synthesis of targeted morphologies. T-MnO2 nanowires showed not only significantly improved capacity retention but also substantially higher specific capacity than the T-MnO2 nanoplatelets. The enhanced electrochemical properties of the nanowire electrodes could be attributed to the larger surface-to-volume ratio than that of nanoplatelets, resulting in higher contact area with electrolyte for the nanowires. Moreover, due to the smaller cross-sectional area of the nanowires, volume expansion and contraction perpendicular to the structural tunnels induced by reversible ion intercalation occurs in a more facile fashion. This work shows that chemically controlling morphology and producing particles with nanostructure dimensionality replicating that of atomic structure (i.e., 1D morphology and 1D structure) makes it possible to enhance material performance.
Powerful and efficient SNP-set association tests across multiple phenotypes using GWAS summary data

MOTIVATION Many GWAS conducted in the past decade have identified tens of thousands of disease related variants, which in total explained only part of the heritability for most traits. There remain many more genetics variants with small effect sizes to be discovered. This has motivated the development of sequencing studies with larger sample sizes and increased resolution of genotyped variants, e.g., the ongoing NHLBI Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) whole genome sequencing project. An alternative approach is the development of novel and more powerful statistical methods. The current dominating approach in the field of GWAS analysis is the "single trait single variant" association test, despite the fact that most GWAS are conducted in deeply-phenotyped cohorts with many correlated traits measured. In this paper, we aim to develop rigorous methods that integrate multiple correlated traits and multiple variants to improve the power to detect novel variants. In recognition of the difficulty of accessing raw genotype and phenotype data due to privacy and logistic concerns, we develop methods that are applicable to publicly available GWAS summary data. RESULTS We build rigorous statistical models for GWAS summary statistics to motivate novel multi-trait SNP-set association tests, including variance component test, burden test and their adaptive test, and develop efficient numerical algorithms to quickly compute their analytical P-values. We implement the proposed methods in an open source R package. We conduct thorough simulation studies to verify the proposed methods rigorously control type I errors at the genome-wide significance level, and further demonstrate their utility via comprehensive analysis of GWAS summary data for multiple lipids traits and glycemic traits. We identified many novel loci that were not detected by the individual trait based GWAS analysis. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION We have implemented the proposed methods in an R package freely available at http://www.github.com/baolinwu/MSKAT. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
An Organizational Consultation Framework for School-Based Prevention of Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children

The commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) is a form of childhood sexual abuse involving the sexual exploitation of youth for economic gain. School-based CSEC prevention efforts have inc...
3D high-resolution subsurface fingerprint imaging using superresolution optical coherence tomography

We report a multi-frame superresolution enhanced spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) for fast and high quality in vivo 3D imaging of subsurface fingerprint. After acquiring several sets of low resolution C-scans 3D fingerprint images with lateral sub-spot-spacing shifts, a high lateral resolution and high quality 3D image is reconstructed by multi-frame superresolution processing. In experiment, about 3 times lateral resolution improvement has been achieved from 25 to 7.81 μm with sample arm optics of 0.015 numerical aperture, as well as doubling the image quality. For in vivo 3D SD-OCT imaging, high quality 3D subsurface live fingerprint images have been obtained within a short scan time, showing beautiful and clear distribution of eccrine sweat glands that could be an effective indictor to SD-OCT lateral resolution. Without using any complex segment algorithm, our high quality 3D fingerprint image could be easily separated into three layers: the external fingerprint patterns, the distribution of eccrine sweat glands, and the internal fingerprint pattern. The latter two subsurface layers will benefit high security biometry applications against spoofing attacks.
The Influence of Hypokinesia on Synapsoarchitectonical Features of Rat’s Lymbic and Extrapyramidal Structures

It has long been suspected that various forms of hypokinesia do not have the same influence on the structure of CNS regions. Morphological changes will depend on the degree and duration of hypokinesia as well as on the way in which the animals live. In this paper ultrastructural alterations in the synapsoarchitecture of the lymbic and extrapyrami-dal zones of rats: n. caudatus and n.centralis of amygdala are described. The alterations are provided by 40,90 or 120 days of a severe degree of hypokinesia (hypokinetic stress) and 90 dyas of “non-stress hypokinesia”.
New Insights into the Relationship between tRNA Processing and Polyadenylation in Escherichia coli.

Recent studies suggest that poly(A) polymerase I (PAP I)-mediated polyadenylation in Escherichia coli is highly prevalent among mRNAs as well as tRNA precursors. Primary tRNA transcripts are initially processed endonucleolytically to generate pre-tRNA species, which undergo 5′-end maturation by the ribozyme RNase P. Subsequently, a group of 3′ → 5′ exonucleases mature the 3′ ends of the majority of tRNAs with few exceptions. PAP I competes with the 3′ → 5′ exonucleases for pre-tRNA substrates adding short poly(A) tails, which not only modulate the stability of the pre-tRNAs, but also regulate the availability of functional tRNAs. In this review, we discuss the recent discoveries of new tRNA processing pathways and the implications of polyadenylation in tRNA metabolism in E. coli.
The relation between fatigue severity and anxious arousal, negative affect, and emotion dysregulation among adult e-cigarette users

Background: Electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use has risen dramatically in the United States. Research on combustible cigarette use has indicated that mental health symptoms and disorders are amo...
Toward agile control of a flexible-spine model for quadruped bounding

Legged systems should exploit non-steady gaits both for improved recovery from unexpected perturbations and also to enlarge the set of reachable states toward negotiating a range of known upcoming terrain obstacles. We present a 4-link planar, bounding, quadruped model with compliance in its legs and spine and describe design of an intuitive and effective low-level gait controller. We extend our previous work on meshing hybrid dynamic systems and demonstrate that our control strategy results in stable gaits with meshable, low-dimension step- to-step variability. This meshability is a first step toward enabling switching control, to increase stability after perturbations compared with any single gait control, and we describe how this framework can also be used to find the set of n-step reachable states. Finally, we propose new guidelines for quantifying "agility" for legged robots, providing a preliminary framework for quantifying and improving performance of legged systems.
A comparative study of newly developed Kansas-specific safety performance functions with HSM models for rural four-lane divided highway segments

For increased accuracy of the results of the procedures in the Highway Safety Manual (HSM), states are encouraged to develop jurisdiction-specific safety performance functions (SPF), if necessary. ...