cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Elimination or control of health and environmental problems associated with heavy metal stabilizers

The health, environmental, and economic problems associated with heavy metal stabilizers are readily controlled or eliminated by a new stabilizer manufacturing and product technology known as Poly-Checks®. The products are dustless, free-flowing, noncompactable powders carried on host resins. The impact of these unique physical properties on health, safety, and the environment will be discussed. Suggestions on the use of these products by compounders will be offered that, if put into operation in the user's plant, will open the door to substantial cost reductions in the manufacture of PVC dryblend compounds.
Adult Screwworms: Comparison of Captures in Wind Oriented and Electrocutor Grid Traps

Captures of male and female screwworm, Cochliomyia hominivorax (Coquerel), secondary screwworm, C. macellaria (F.), and other flies (mainly sarcophagid) were 1.7, 1.7, 6.3, and 6.2 times greater, respectively, in an electrocutor grid trap than in the newly developed wind oriented trap (WO). Higher captures by the grid trap than the WO traps in both types of habitats (windy and protected) indicate that design modifications of the WO trap are necessary for it to achieve its full potential of performance.
Active Vertical-Vane Control for Roll Motion of Floating Offshore Wind Turbine

Control of offshore floating wind turbines has emerged as a much more complicated problem compared to the land based units. Stabilization and load reduction control are both important for floating turbines, while such tasks are challenged by underactuation situation. In this paper, a novel idea is proposed to control the roll motion of floating wind turbines by actively controlled vertical vanes. The structural dynamics of the floating wind turbine with the vane actuator is simulated based on the Kane’s method through modifying software FAST. A proportional-integral (PI) controller is applied to the vane controller, and individual blade pitch controller are designed for floating offshore turbine with Hywind platform. Different measurements including side-to-side velocity and acceleration on tower top and different vane areas are used to test vane pitch controller. Simulation results show that damping of floating turbine in roll motion can be effectively increased and damage equivalent loads of side-side bending moment at tower base is reduced from 19% to 42% under turbulent wind.
Some Consequences of the Universal Chord Theorem

(1971). Some Consequences of the Universal Chord Theorem. The American Mathematical Monthly: Vol. 78, No. 5, pp. 509-513.
Analysis on the data of epidemic encephalitis B in Shiyan of Hubei Province,1995-2010

The case data of epidemic encephalitis B reported during 1995-2010 years in Shiyan City were analyzed with descriptive epidemiologic methods.In the results,909 cases of epidemic encephalitis B was reported with 31 cases of death in Shiyan from 1995 to 2010,the average annual reported incidence being 1.69/100 000 and mortality rates being 0.06/100 000.There were much more cases in the age group under 10 years old and July to August of the years in the reported cases of epidemic encephalitis B.The results show that the reported incidence and mortality rates of epidemic encephalitis B were comparatively high in Shiyan in the past 16 years,but there was a declining trend in the overall situation.Comprehensive measures should be taken by focusing in mosquito prevention,mosquito control and vaccination in the prevention of epidemic encephalitis B.
Rapid detection of vibrio cholerae in water

A chemical precipitator was used to precipitate vibro cholerae to the substrate of water.In the buffer solution,specific weak-alkali growth conditions were maintained to restrain the growth of other bacteria,so as to rapidly enhance the detectable rate for vibro cholerae.After the sample was centrifuged,sodium carbonate as the medium and ferrous sulfate as the precipitator were added at a certain ratio to it.After removing lucid water and adding carbonate as the buffer solution,the same amount of alkaline peptone was added at twice the concentration to proliferate,separate and identify vibro cholerae.Second proliferation was not necessary in this method,so the detection period was shortened by half compared with conventional methods.The cost of reagent was also reduced.Being simple,accurate and practical,the method was featured by its detection sensitivity that was higher than those of conventional methods.
Continuous User Verification via Mouse Activities

Behavioral biometrics such as mouse dynamics are gaining attention these days to address the limitations of conventional verification systems. In this paper we present a novel method to continuously verify a user via their mouse activities. Our method, based on comparing mouse activities against a simple statistical profile, was tested over 76,500 mouse activities collected from 45 users. A total of 354,375 genuine and impostor verification attempts have been performed by deploying 175 different verifier setups. In our experiments, we achieved an impressive low Equal Error Rate (EER) of 6.70 %. On average the EER was 13.42 %. We opine that, our method can complement regular verification systems and can better serve for continuous verification purpose because of its simplicity.
Altered Cerebellar Circuitry Following Thoracic Spinal Cord Injury in Adult Rats

Cerebellar function is critical for coordinating movement and motor learning. However, events occurring in the cerebellum following spinal cord injury (SCI) have not been investigated in detail. We provide evidence of SCI-induced cerebellar synaptic changes involving a loss of granule cell parallel fiber input to distal regions of the Purkinje cell dendritic tree. This is accompanied by an apparent increase in synaptic contacts to Purkinje cell proximal dendrites, presumably from climbing fibers originating in the inferior olive. We also observed an early stage injury-induced decrease in the levels of cerebellin-1, a synaptic organizing molecule that is critical for establishing and maintaining parallel fiber-Purkinje cell synaptic integrity. Interestingly, this transsynaptic reorganizational pattern is consistent with that reported during development and in certain transgenic mouse models. To our knowledge, such a reorganizational event has not been described in response to SCI in adult rats. Regardless, the novel results of this study are important for understanding SCI-induced synaptic changes in the cerebellum, which may prove critical for strategies focusing on promoting functional recovery.
A Survey of FPGA-Based Hardware Implementation of ANNs

In this paper, the development of FPGA-based ANNs is presented. Field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) based artificial neural network (ANN) is now becoming a focus of ANN research. According to the parallelism and nature features of neural network (NN), the hardware implementation is superior comparing with software approach because it can take advantage of these characteristics. Furthermore, since FPGA is a digital device that owns reprogrammable properties and robust flexibility, many researchers have made great efforts on the realization of NN using FPGA technique. However, they encountered many problems during the process. Results of the researches are presented and discussed. The future development of FPGA implementation of ANN is also prospected. Firstly, the introduction of ANN and FPGA technique is briefly shown in this paper. Then ANN implementation with hardware, mainly FPGA, is presented and discussed
The Larger Urban Context

In this chapter, I briefly discuss the larger urban context of Lawrenceville’s artistic enclave (i.e., the City of Pittsburgh). I draw on secondary sources, and also utilize my field data and Art All Night Artist Survey data. I begin by presenting a brief overview of Pittsburgh’s transition from industrial to postindustrial city, and point out that it has not experienced widespread gentrification and astronomical increases in housing costs. I then discuss and evaluate Florida’s comments on its creative class, and proceed to assess some of the advantages and disadvantages of being a Pittsburgh artist.
Unwelcoming Classroom Climates: The Role of Gender Microaggressions in CTE.

This chapter reviews the literature, gender and CTE, classroom climate, and faculty–student interactions and presents results of a qualitative study on gender microaggressions in community college CTE classrooms.
Electrochemical Diagnostic Cycle Testing of Magnesium and Magnesium Oxide-Pigmented Primers on AA2024-T351

Intact Mg-rich and MgO-rich primer (MgRP and MgORP) coatings on aluminum alloy 2024-T351 substrate were evaluated for their ability to protect remote scratches (coating defects) as well as for coat...
Controlling tiny multi-scale robots for nerve repair

We designed and evaluated multiagent control for microscopic robots ("nanorobots") aiding the surgical repair of damaged nerve cells. This repair operates on both nerves as a whole, at scales of hundreds of microns, and individual nerve cell axons, at scales of about a micron. We match the robots to these sizes using a combination of microelectomechanical (MEMS) machines for the larger operations and nanorobots for operations on individual cells. Muitiagent control allows accurate and rapid repair with such robots, with only modest computational and communication requirements for the nanorobots, a significant benefit due to their physical limitations. Our simulations, using physical parameters dictated by nerve biology and plausible nanorobotic capabilities, show how specific control choices lead to trade-offs in clinical outcome. Beyond the specific example of nerve repair treated here, multi-scale robots could aid a variety of medical and biological tasks involving both the large scale of organs or tissues and the microscopic scale of individual cells.
Addressing Key Challenges in MK-PLC Blends at Early Ages: Workability, Slump Retention, and Heat of Hydration

Toward broadening utilization of higher fractions (i.e., >10% by mass) of metakaolin (MK) in concrete construction, several key technical challenges remain. Among these are those associated with differences in early age properties deriving from greater MK additions; these include reduced workability, more rapid slump loss, and increased heat of hydration compared to traditional concrete. Due to competing dilution and acceleration effects associated with the introduction of finely divided limestone (and potentially more fine cement), these effects can be potentially exacerbated or ameliorated when MK is combined with Portland-limestone cement (PLC). This paper examines each of these challenges and offers solutions, in the form of recommended admixtures to improve workability and slump retention and refined heat of hydration models which consider the contributions of MK.
The Development of Internal Auditing as a Profession in the U.S. During the Twentieth Century

ABSTRACT: This paper traces the development of internal auditing from the standpoint of its professional identity. The question of how internal auditors have historically seen themselves bears on how they function as integral parts of internal control systems, and may help researchers formulate future empirical studies of internal auditing. Over the years, the self-perception of the internal audit profession's function has varied greatly. Internal auditing has lived, to some extent, in the shadow of the public accounting profession, while struggling to achieve public recognition, status in the business world, and a defined role separate from that of an internal monitor, subsidiary to the external auditor. While there have been many changes in terms of the formation of a professional community, belief in the importance of the work, and the growth of a system of self-regulation, the demands of various constituents and the desires of internal auditors for professional status have led to a persistent struggle...
The relationship between belief in stable luck and a propensity for superstition: the influence of culturally conferred agency beliefs

Superstition is known to be positively associated with the belief in luck. However, prior research that has demonstrated the link between luck belief and superstition has not distinguished between ...
Disapproving But Invisible: College Student and Adult Views, Reasons, and Responses to On-Line Posts about Alcohol

Most research about alcohol on social media focuses on visible posts college students share, but not how others, including adults, view this information and what they do in response. An online survey of 572 students and 190 faculty/staff at a northeastern Pennsylvania university asked respondents to rate, explain, and react to two hypothetical Facebook posts about alcohol. One post was a bland statement of intoxication, while the other depicted the person as underage and mentioned vomiting. Findings reveal age similarities in the general views, reasons, and reactions to both posts. While more critical of the higher offense post, both students and adults felt that each post was generally inappropriate and their reasoning is similar. For the low offense post, respondents felt that it was socially unpopular and reflected poorly on the person; and, in the more offensive post, the illegal behavior was noted. However findings also reveal that both students and adults largely report that they would ignore or hide the post; therefore, the poster is not likely to see or be aware of the viewer’s disapproval. Theoretical and policy implications are discussed.
Sex Differences and the Incidence of Concussions among Collegiate Athletes

OBJECTIVE: To compare sex differences regarding the incidence of concussions among collegiate athletes during the 1997-1998, 1998-1999, and 1999-2000 seasons. DESIGN AND SETTING: A cohort study of collegiate athletes using the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Injury Surveillance System; certified athletic trainers recorded data during the 1997-2000 academic years. SUBJECTS: Collegiate athletes participating in men's and women's soccer, lacrosse, basketball, softball, baseball, and gymnastics. MEASUREMENTS: Certified athletic trainers from participating NCAA institutions recorded weekly injury and athlete-exposure data from the first day of preseason practice to the final postseason game. Injury rates and incidence density ratios were computed. Incidence density ratio is an estimate of the relative risk based on injury rates per 1000 athlete-exposures. RESULTS: Of 14 591 reported injuries, 5.9% were classified as concussions. During the 3-year study, female athletes sustained 167 (3.6%) concussions during practices and 304 (9.5%) concussions during games, compared with male athletes, who sustained 148 (5.2%) concussions during practices and 254 (6.4%) concussions during games. Chi-square analysis revealed significant differences between male and female soccer players (chi(2)(1) = 12.99, P =.05) and basketball players (chi(2)(1) = 5.14, P =.05). CONCLUSIONS: Female athletes sustained a higher percentage of concussions during games than male athletes. Of all the sports, women's soccer and men's lacrosse were found to have the highest injury rate of concussions. Incidence density ratio was greatest for male and female soccer players.
Reprint of: Combined endoscopic and laparoscopic surgery (CELS)

Abstract Patients who present with benign but difficult colon polyps that are not amenable for endoscopic removals will typically undergo colon resection. Although the laparoscopic approach has improved short-term outcomes, morbidities associated with bowel resection are still significant. A combined approach using both laparoscopy and colonoscopy [combined endoscopic laparoscopic surgery (CELS)] is a safe and effective alternative to bowel resection and may result in significantly improved short-term outcomes and cost savings over colon resection.
Real-time impact damage sensing and localization in composites through embedded aligned carbon nanotube sheets

Abstract Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have shown potential as a good candidate for performing strain and damage sensing in composites, however, the number of studies that have examined CNTs piezoresistive response under impact is limited. This paper investigates a novel technique for real-time damage sensing during and after impact strikes on composite laminates. In this technique, aligned CNT sheets layers are distributed through the thickness to monitor the developing damage in the host structure's impact side, mid-plane and non-impact side. This is accomplished through measuring the CNT sheets' in-plane electrical resistance changes simultaneously and linking them to the impact damage modes in the structure. The experimental results demonstrate the CNT layers' ability to detect, locate and quantify impact damage when the host structure undergoes different types of impacts. The results highlight the CNT sensing layers high sensitivity to damage accumulation.
Disconnecting to Connect: Developing Postconnectivist Tactics for Mobile and Networked Technical Communication

In a networked society, humans are connected through mobile devices to always-on networks, and these technologies merge with us in new ways. In this environment, studying human-networked interactio...
Tumor Ensemble-Based Modeling and Visualization of Emergent Angiogenic Heterogeneity in Breast Cancer.

There is a critical need for new tools to investigate the spatio-temporal heterogeneity and phenotypic alterations that arise in the tumor microenvironment. However, computational investigations of emergent inter- and intra-tumor angiogenic heterogeneity necessitate 3D microvascular data from ‘whole-tumors’ as well as “ensembles” of tumors. Until recently, technical limitations such as 3D imaging capabilities, computational power and cost precluded the incorporation of whole-tumor microvascular data in computational models. Here, we describe a novel computational approach based on multimodality, 3D whole-tumor imaging data acquired from eight orthotopic breast tumor xenografts (i.e. a tumor ‘ensemble’). We assessed the heterogeneous angiogenic landscape from the microvascular to tumor ensemble scale in terms of vascular morphology, emergent hemodynamics and intravascular oxygenation. We demonstrate how the abnormal organization and hemodynamics of the tumor microvasculature give rise to unique microvascular niches within the tumor and contribute to inter- and intra-tumor heterogeneity. These tumor ensemble-based simulations together with unique data visualization approaches establish the foundation of a novel ‘cancer atlas’ for investigators to develop their own in silico systems biology applications. We expect this hybrid image-based modeling framework to be adaptable for the study of other tissues (e.g. brain, heart) and other vasculature-dependent diseases (e.g. stroke, myocardial infarction).
SurfaceSight: A New Spin on Touch, User, and Object Sensing for IoT Experiences

IoT appliances are gaining consumer traction, from smart thermostats to smart speakers. These devices generally have limited user interfaces, most often small buttons and touchscreens, or rely on voice control. Further, these devices know little about their surroundings unaware of objects, people and activities happening around them. Consequently, interactions with these "smart" devices can be cumbersome and limited. We describe SurfaceSight, an approach that enriches IoT experiences with rich touch and object sensing, offering a complementary input channel and increased contextual awareness. For sensing, we incorporate LIDAR into the base of IoT devices, providing an expansive, ad hoc plane of sensing just above the surface on which devices rest. We can recognize and track a wide array of objects, including finger input and hand gestures. We can also track people and estimate which way they are facing. We evaluate the accuracy of these new capabilities and illustrate how they can be used to power novel and contextually-aware interactive experiences.
Failure of response to N 5 -methyltetrahydrofolate in combined folate and B 12 deficiency. Evidence in support of the "folate trap" hypothesis.

A patient with combined folate and B12 deficiency due to tropical sprue failed to respond to the administration of N5-methyltetrahydrofolate when given by mouth or intravenously. After the injection of 1 μg of B12 intravenously the patient became asymptomatic and laboratory tests returned to normal. Failure of response to N5-methyltetrahydrofolate in the presence of B12 deficiency is evidence in favor of the “folate trap” hypothesis.
Rigorous analytical approximation of tritronquée solution to Painlevé-I and the first singularity

We use a recently developed method [1] ; [2] to determine approximate expression for tritronquee solution for P-1: y ″ +6y 2 −x=0 y ″ + 6 y 2 − x = 0 in a domain D with rigorous bounds. In particular we rigorously confirm the location of the closest singularity from the origin to be at x = − 770766 323285 = − 2.3841687675 ⋯ to within 5×10 −6 5 × 10 − 6 accuracy, in agreement with previous numerical calculations [6] .
Sequence type-258 carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates in which ceftazidime-avibactam resistance emerged are not hypermutators.

Abstract Ceftazidime–avibactam resistance among carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae at our hospital has emerged in sequence type (ST)-258, clade II isolates. We investigated hypermutability of ST258, clade II (n = 6) and clade I K. pneumoniae (n = 8) using a standard rifampin assay. Mutational frequencies were ≤10–7.1, indicating that isolates were not hypermutators. Mutational frequencies did not differ between clade II and I isolates. Ceftazidime–avibactam resistance among ST258, clade II K. pneumoniae is most likely a reflection of our hospital's ecology.
Resorptive (obstructive) atelectasis.

We present a 71-year-old Caucasian woman with a history of tobacco dependence who was admitted for dyspnoea and cough. The patient was hypoxic on arrival, and physical examination demonstrated diminished breath sounds over the right hemithorax. Her chest radiograph ([figure 1][1]) revealed complete
Modified Dual-Path Allocation Algorithm in Elastic Optical Networks

Dual-path allocation problem is considered to be a case of multipath routing in Elastic Optical Networks. In this article, the optimization problem is formulated and a dual-path allocation algorithm that solves this problem proposed. In the considered problem all traffic for each request is broken into two equal parts, which are directed along two link-disjoint paths. After any link failure, half of the traffic for each affected request is realized. The proposed algorithm is based on the two weight matrices: the elements of the first one depend on the actual length of the links and their utilization, while the elements of the second one assume unit values if the links exist in the network. The proposed algorithm rejects smaller requests and provides a much lower bandwidth blocking probability than other analyzed algorithms.
Tracheotomy Timing and Outcomes in the Critically Ill: Complexity and Opportunities for Progress

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS To characterize the effects of tracheotomy timing at our institution on intensive care unit (ICU) length of stay (LOS) and overall hospital LOS. STUDY DESIGN Retrospective cohort study. METHODS A retrospective study was performed at a tertiary care medical center for patients undergoing tracheotomy over 2.5 years from January 1, 2016 through June 30, 2018. Demographics, survival, duration of endotracheal intubation, timing of tracheotomy, and ICU and overall hospital LOS were assessed. Tracheotomy was considered early (ET) if it was performed by day 7 of mechanical ventilation and late (LT) thereafter. Readmission, mortality, and costs were also tabulated for each aggregate group. Nonparametric statistics were used to compare results. RESULTS Of the 536 patients included in the analysis, 160 received tracheotomy early and 376 late. Differences between age and sex were not statistically significant. Duration of total ICU stay was shortened by 65% (12.84 ± 17.69 days vs. 38.49 ± 26.61 days; P < .0001), and length of overall hospital course was reduced by 54% (22.71 ± 26.65 days vs. 50.37 ± 34.20 days; P < .0001) in the early tracheotomy group. Observed/expected (O/E) values standardized results to case mix index and revealed LOS of 1.5 for ET and 2.5 for LT, and mortality of 0.76 for ET and 1.25 for LT, and comparable readmissions of both groups. CONCLUSIONS Early tracheotomy in ICU patients is associated with earlier ICU discharge, decreased length of overall hospital stay, and lower mortality when controlling for case mix index. Opportunities exist to optimize patient outcomes and O/E performance. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE 4 Laryngoscope, 131:282-287, 2021.
Beginning to read in Vietnamese: kindergarten precursors to first grade fluency and reading comprehension

Measures of decoding and oral language have been shown to predict early reading comprehension across a wide variety of languages, though the timeframe and strength of the predictions vary by orthographic depth. This study is the first to examine predictors of early reading in Vietnamese, a transparent orthography of Romanized letters and diacritics. Eighty-two children in Hanoi, Vietnam, completed measures of decoding and oral language in kindergarten (phonological awareness, PA; rapid automatized naming, RAN; receptive and expressive vocabulary) and measures of decoding and reading comprehension in first grade. Average performance at the end of first grade, after just 1 year of formal instruction, was near ceiling on word reading but more variable on nonword and text reading. Kindergarten PA and RAN (but not vocabulary) predicted first-grade decoding after controlling for maternal education and kindergarten decoding, and PA was a stronger predictor than RAN (10% vs. 4% of unique variance). The best predictors of first grade reading comprehension were first-grade decoding (47% of unique variance) and kindergarten expressive vocabulary (4% of unique variance) after controlling for maternal education. Overall, Vietnamese children became accurate and efficient decoders after 1 year of instruction. Findings from RAN and PA suggest their utility in guiding differentiated instruction on decoding. Kindergarten vocabulary, which differed as a function of maternal education, significantly predicted first-grade comprehension.
Child Neurology: Intractable Epilepsy and Transient Deficits in a Patient With a History of Herpes Simplex Virus Encephalitis.

Herpes simplex virus (HSV) is a neurotropic pathogen that can invade, replicate, establish latency, and reactivate within the CNS.1 Potential triggers of reactivation include immunosuppression, fever, and direct insult.1–3 HSV reactivation may cause recurrence of an infectious process, herpes simplex encephalitis (HSE), or recurrence of a relatively benign condition, Mollaret meningitis. Here we report the case of a patient with intractable epilepsy following a febrile illness at age 2 thought to be secondary to HSV. She ultimately underwent an anterior corpus callosotomy 2 decades later with a postoperative course complicated by HSV reactivation. Whereas the majority of cases of HSV reactivation occur within the first year of illness, it is important to recognize that this virus may remain dormant for years and later reactivate in the setting of physiologic stress.
"Can the subaltern speak?": critical making in design

The Bandari women from the southern coast of Iran are famous for their intriguing masks, known as Niqab masks. Legend has it that the practice started during Portuguese colonial rule as a way of protecting the wearer, not only from the harsh sun of the Persian Gulf, but also from slave masters looking for pretty women. Viewed from a contemporary perspective, these masks can be seen as a means of protecting women from patriarchal and colonial oppression.
Non-liver mRNA Delivery.

ConspectusmRNA drugs can preempt infectious disease and treat Mendelian disorders, such as sickle cell anemia, muscular dystrophy, and cystic fibrosis, as well as autoimmunity and cancer. The three major therapeutic areas for which mRNA delivery is currently being explored are antigen production, including the COVID-19 vaccine, protein replacement therapy, and genome engineering. It was demonstrated 30 years ago that introducing in vitro transcribed mRNA intramuscularly results in detectable protein expression for specific antigens protecting against the likes of influenza and cancer. Utilizing mRNA as a therapeutic modality, however, is challenging. mRNA is large and anionic and, as a result, cannot passively diffuse across the negatively charged plasma membrane. In addition, RNases present in the bloodstream and tissues rapidly degrade mRNA, and its administration induces the innate immune response. In consequence, lipid-, polymer-, dendrimer-, and natural membrane-based mRNA drug delivery systems have been developed to deliver mRNA to target cells. Significant efforts and investments have been made to translate some of these systems into the clinic. Specifically, systemically administered lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) have delivered mRNA to the liver, and intramuscularly administered LNPs have delivered mRNA to immune cells to protect against coronavirus disease of 2019. However, clinically relevant delivery in non-liver tissues such as the spleen, lungs, heart, eye, central nervous system, and lymphatics requires improved drug delivery systems.In this Account, we provide an overview of key advances that have led us to Food and Drug Administration approval for the Pfizer/BioNTech mRNA-based vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 and Emergency Use Authorization for the Moderna mRNA-based vaccine against the same disease, and we explain how these developments will contribute to the clinical translation of mRNA therapeutics targeted outside of the liver. We first focus on the chemical modifications and sequence optimization that can improve the potency of mRNA, resulting in greatly improved pharmacokinetics. After detailing what makes an ideal mRNA payload, we review drug delivery systems used to deliver the payload into target cells. We describe efforts to reduce clearance by the liver, a key obstacle to the development of non-liver therapies. We then consider recent examples of nanoparticles that have delivered mRNA to non-liver tissues. Finally, we discuss current clinical mRNA programs, focusing on the COVID vaccines and highlighting lessons that may be applied to future mRNA drugs.
Model Predictive Control for Current Sharing and Voltage Balancing in DC Microgrids

In this paper, a Model Predictive Control (MPC) technique is presented for the control of energy sources in a dc microgrid. Proportional current sharing is achieved, where the current of each source is shared appropriately by the weight terms. Similarly, a cost function is presented to achieve average voltage of all the source nodes in the network. In addition, a Luenberger observer is designed to estimate the unknown states and disturbances. The centralized MPC optimization problem is then placed in quadratic programming form and solved using the mpcqp solver, which allows for code generation and real time implementation using an embedded system. A four node dc microgrid model is used as a case study. Real-time simulation using Opal RT is shown demonstrating the feasibility of online implementation of the controller.
Kulturrelevante Pädagogik in der Bildungskooperation – Einzelfallanalyse an einer brasilianischen Universität

Am 25. Mai 2011 wurde in Brasilien die Universitat der Internationalen Integration Afro-Brasilianischer Lusophonie, auch UNILAB genannt, gegrundet. Der Begriff „Lusophonie“ im Namen der Universitat weist darauf hin, dass diese u. a. aus der Gemeinschaft Portugiesisch-Sprachiger Lander (Communidade dos Paises de Lingua Portuguesa, CPLP) hervorging. UNILABs erster Campus, der Campus der Freiheit, offnete seine Turen in Redencao, einer Kleinstadt mit 20.000 Einwohnern im Landesinneren von Ceara im Nordosten Brasiliens. Die Stadt liegt etwa eine Stunde Busfahrt von der Millionenstadt Fortaleza und der Atlantischen Kuste entfernt.
Psychotherapy and Spirituality

Abstract THE SOUL OF PSYCHOTHERAPY: RECAPTURING THE SPIRITUAL DIMENSION IN THE THERAPEUTIC ENCOUNTER. Cornett, Carlton. New York, NY: The Free Press, 1998, 176 pages, $29.95. Reviewed by Fred Casale.
Assessing the Effects of Website Control Button Differentiation on User Attitudes and Performance

While much research in HCI has examined control design and layout on keyboards and other user devices such as personal digital assistants (PDA) not much research has been identified that looks at web-page button (control) design used in single-step navigation. This research proposes the development of differentiation characteristics to be used on web page control tools and seeks to test the effects of color and shape on users’ attitudes and performance.
A Simple Method for Measuring Tearing Energy of Nicked Rubber Strips

A convenient test configuration for measuring critical tearing energy of rubber is to pull thin nicked strips of the rubber in extension. In the past, methods of measurements employed for this configuration are based on concepts which obtain "tearing energy" through differentiation with respect to the crack length. As a consequence, measurements have to be made on several identical specimens having different crack lengths. This paper describes a simple method based on the J-integral which requires no differentiation and calculates the tearing energy from measurements made on one specimen only. This allows an efficient use of test material and reduces the complexity of critical tearing energy measurement. Implementation of the J-integral method is illustrated on the uniaxial stretching of a nicked rubber strip. The accuracy of results obtained is found to be comparable to that obtained by existing methods.
Reliable control for systems with transients

This paper develops some new reliable controller design methods for finite and infinite horizon cases with nonzero initial conditions using an H/sub /spl infin//-like performance measure with weightings on initial and final states. For the state-feedback case, it gives necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of the reliable controller for outages in a prespecified subset of actuators. For the output-feedback case, it gives sufficient conditions for reliable controller design for outages in preselected subsets of actuators or sensors. >
Performance Evaluation and Benchmarking of Native Signal Processing

DSP processor growth is phenomenal and continues to grow rapidly, but general-purpose microprocessors have entered the multimedia and signal processing oriented stream by adding DSP functionality to the instruction set and also providing optimized assembly libraries. In this paper, we compare the performance of a general-purpose processor (Pentium II with MMX) versus a DSP processor (TI's C62xx) by evaluating the effectiveness of VLIW style parallelism in the C62xx versus the SIMD parallelism in MMX on the Intel P6 microarchitecture. We also compare the execution speed of reliable, standard, and efficient C code with respect to the signal processing library (from Intel) by benchmarking a suite of DSP algorithms. We observed that the C62xx exhibited a speedup (ratio of execution clock cycles) ranging from 1.3 up to 4.0 over the Pentium II, and the NSP libraries had a speedup ranging from 0.8 to over 10 over the C code.
Evidence for an interdomain flavin binding site in Steap (six-transmembrane epithelial antigen of the prostate) family metalloreductases associated with iron homeostasis and insulin resistance (996.4)

Steap family enzymes are integral membrane NADPH oxidases capable of reducing both Fe3+ and Cu2+ at the cell surface. While Steap3 has previously been identified as the ferrireductase in the transf...
Alpha 2A adrenergic receptors inhibit cAMP accumulation in embryonic stem cells which lack Gi alpha 2.

alpha 2A adrenergic receptors are thought to inhibit adenylyl cyclase primarily through Gi alpha 2. We tested the requirement for Gi alpha 2 to inhibit cAMP accumulation by stable expression of alpha 2A adrenergic receptors in mouse embryonic stem cells. Host lines consisted of wild-type CCE cells, and CCE cells with targeted disruption of the Gi alpha 2 gene by two-stage homologous recombination (Mortensen, R. M., Zubiuar, M., Neer, E. J., and Seidman, J. G. (1991) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 88, 7036-7040; Mortensen, R. M., Conner, D. A., Chao, S., Geisterfer-Lowrance, A. A., and Seidman, J. G. (1992) Mol. Cell. Biol. 12, 2391-2395). Knockouts were confirmed by Northern blot and immunoblot. We studied three clones derived from wild-type CCE cells (2, 6, and 8) expressing 450 +/- 50, 3000 +/- 120, and 150 +/- 20 fmol of receptor/mg of protein, respectively, and two Gi alpha 2-null clones (7 and 18) expressing 2100 +/- 250 and 300 +/- 40 fmol of receptor/mg of protein. The specific agonist UK14304 caused an inhibition of cAMP accumulation in clones 2, 6 and 8 (58 +/- 16%, 62 +/- 7%, and 52 +/- 12%) and in clones 7 (47 +/- 3%) and 18 (40 +/- 5%), but not in nontransfected CCE cells. IC50 values were similar for all clones (approximately 200 nM). The effect was attenuated by pertussis toxin and the antagonist rauwolscine. These studies show that expression of Gi alpha 2 is not required for alpha 2A adrenergic receptors to inhibit cAMP accumulation.
Arrays in Blitz

The Blitz++ library provides numeric arrays for C++ with efficiency that rivals Fortran, without any language extensions. Blitz++ has features unavailable in Fortran 90/95, such as arbitrary transpose operations, array renaming, tensor notation, partial reductions, multi-component arrays and stencil operators. The library handles parsing and analysis of array expressions on its own using the expression templates technique, and performs optimizations (such as loop transformations) which have until now been the responsibility of compilers.
Design of a two-course sequence in web programming and e-commerce

Web programming and e-commerce are exciting topics to explore in the classroom. Needing a replacement for an aging COBOL course sequence, we undertook the design and implementation of a web programming course sequence. At the most general level we wanted our students to be able to competently design and implement n-tier web-based business applications. Our solution involved the use of popular open source software including Linux, Apache, Perl, PHP, JavaScript, and MySQL. To support the teaching of this software, we set up our own Internet accessible Linux server, becoming a small-scale web hosting operation. Each student was provided with their own Linux account complete with a private home directory, private database account, and public web page area. This paper will discuss details of these courses. In addition, we look at some of the configuration and system administration issues involved in supporting web programming courses.
Houses and Apartments: Similar Assets, Different Financials

The demand for investment for any asset including houses and apartments depends on a relative yield-price ratio. In an equilibrium structure, the yield-price ratio is shown to depend explicitly on ...
Matrilineal motives: kinship, witchcraft, and repatriation among Congolese refugees

This article explores the significance of matrilineal descent among Congolese refugees in camp Kala, Zambia. Matriliny mattered in Kala, I argue, because it motivated repatriation, generating witchcraft accusations stemming from variations of the matrilineal puzzle. On the surface, Kala did not ‘look’ particularly matrilineal, given the ad hoc domestic arrangements of surviving refugees. But when placed against the backdrop of matrilineal descent – expressed in broader kinship networks between refugee households, and as an evaluative discourse of illegitimate accumulation – witchcraft-driven repatriation makes sense as an ‘extreme’ form of lineage fission. Within the confines of the refugee camp, a Central African model of matriliny was effectively reduced to its core dynamics, highlighting a bio-social economy of the womb and its witchcraft conversions of blood into money. After examining three social dramas of witchcraft and repatriation in Kala, I engage broader considerations of gender and history to recast descent as a regenerative scheme. Resume L’auteur explore l’importance de la descendance matrilineaire parmi les refugies congolais du camp de Kala, en Zambie. Il avance que la matrilinearite a eu une importance a Kala parce que c’est elle qui motivait le rapatriement, suscitant des accusations de sorcellerie liees a des ecarts dans l’echeveau matrilineaire. Superficiellement, Kala « n’avait pas l’air » particulierement matrilineaire, compte tenu des dispositions domestiques ad hoc prises par les refugies survivants. Pourtant, lorsqu’il est replace dans le contexte de la matrilinearite, exprimee dans des reseaux de parenteelargis entre les foyers des refugies et au travers d’un discours evaluatif sur l’accumulation illegitime, le rapatriement pour motif de sorcellerie s’explique comme une forme « extreme » de fission lignagere. De fait, aux confins du camp de refugies, un modele de matrilinearite centrafricain a ete reduit a sa dynamique fondamentale, mettant en evidence une economie bio-sociale de la matrice et ses conversions sorcellaires du sang en argent. Apres avoir examine trois episodes dramatiques de sorcellerie et de rapatriement a Kala, l’auteur s’engage dans des reflexions plus larges sur le genre et l’histoire, afin de recadrer la filiation comme un mode de regeneration.
Hinged molecular capsules: synthesis and conformational control via temperature, pH, or solvent composition.

Three new covalently linked molecular capsules were synthesized from their resorcinarene cavitand precursors in good yields. The capsules undergo reversible conformational switching between the closed “vase” form and the open “kite” form upon temperature or pH variation. The kite conformation obtained via either method in CDCl3 switches to vase conformation upon addition of polar solvents such as acetone-d6 or THF-d8.
Local dislocation creep accommodation of a zirconium diboride silicon carbide composite

Abstract A grain boundary sliding creep mechanism, accommodated by “mantle” dislocation activities, is shown to allow for large strain ( e > 0.08) during the creep of a ZrB 2 –20% SiC composite at 1800 °C. We characterized the local grain deformation behavior using high-resolution electron backscatter diffraction microscopy and an indentation deformation mapping technique. Deformation gradients near grain boundaries (“mantle”) produced geometrically necessary dislocation (GND) densities of 1 × 10 11 –1 × 10 12 cm −2 , about two orders of magnitude above that of the grain interiors (“core”). A deviation from single-crystal grain core deformation defines the mantle where excess GNDs accommodate the grain deformation gradient. Evidence supporting grain boundary sliding as the primary contribution to the creep strain appears in our earlier publication, but we show here the role of dislocations in the deformation of the grain mantle as the rate-controlling accommodation step.
Quantitative sensory testing in gulf war veterans with chronic fatigue syndrome

The study assessed peripheral sensory function and its relation to self-reported wartime exposures to potentially neurotoxic substances in Gulf War veterans with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Male Gulf veterans fulfilling the 1994 CDC diagnostic criteria for CFS were compared with matched controls. Quantitative sensory testing was performed to establish thresholds of perception for the sense of light touch and radiant heat. The Devens survey was used to collect data on self-reported exposures to by-products of combustion and organophosphate compounds. Gulf veterans with CFS had elevated tactile but normal thermal thresholds compared with their controls. Sick veterans had greater rates of self-reported exposures and/or noxious side effects for all assessed toxicants. Interestingly, both Gulf veteran groups, including those reporting no symptoms, had impaired perception of light touch when compared with age-matched samples of non-Gulf war veteran men. The results of this study are consistent with a hypothesis that Gulf veterans with CFS have a subtle neurological deficit that might reflect underlying peripheral neuropathy. The association between this deficit and self-report of multiple potentially neurotoxic exposures suggests that war zone pollutants may be possible contributing factors. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Type III tracheal agenesis with familial tetralogy of Fallot and absent pulmonary value syndrome

We describe a female infant born at 33 weeks gestation diagnosed postnatally with a previously unreported phenotype consisting of Type III tracheal agenesis plus tetralogy of Fallot with absent pulmonary valve. She was delivered to a mother who had the same congenital heart malformation, but no detectable tracheal abnormality. We discuss possible etiologies of these malformations.
Pharmacoeconomic Impact of Thiotepa-Containing Conditioning Regimens in a Pediatric Hematopoetic Stem Cell Transplant Center

s / Biol Blood Marrow Transplant 21 (2015) S355eS373 S368 cefpodoxime in allogeneic HCT recipients. Secondary objectives include comparing and characterizing number and type of infections, mortality at day 100 post-transplant, and hospitalizations for infectious causes in the first 100 days of transplant. Additionally, the emergence of resistance with quinolone and cephalosporin resistant isolates and number of multi-drug resistant (MDR) infections are characterized. Results: A total of 80 patients were evaluated (40 levofloxacin, 40 cefpodoxime). Both levofloxacin and cefpodoxime groups had similar median age, underlying malignancy, stem cell source and transplant type. In the levofloxacin group, 70% of patients received myeloablative conditioning versus 83% in the cefpodoxime group. Median antimicrobial prophylaxis days were 10 versus 12 days for levofloxacin and cefpodoxime respectively. For levofloxacin and cefpodoxime groups respectively, neutropenic fever occurred in 27 patients (68%) vs. 22 patients (55%), with antibiotic escalation occurring in 93% and 92% of patients with neutropenic fever. In those patients requiring antibiotic escalation, 60% and 52% of patients had positive cultures in levofloxacin versus cefpodoxime groups, respectively. There were similar incidences of C. difficile and MDR infections among both levofloxacin and cefpodoxime groups. However, higher rates of extended spectrum beta-lactamase-producing E. coli infections were observed in the cefpodoxime group and higher rates of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections were noted in the levofloxacin group. Rates of infections, hospitalizations, and mortality in the first 100 days were similar among both groups. Conclusion: Though this chart reviewwas limited by a small sample size, similar rates of antibiotic prophylaxis failure were demonstrated with the levofloxacin and cefpodoxime groups. Cefpodoxime can be considered as an alternative to levofloxacin for antibiotic prophylaxis in allogeneic stem cell transplant patients.
Survival of Largemouth Bass Embryos at Low Dissolved Oxygen Concentrations

Abstract We identified the low oxygen concentrations that significantly decreased survival of largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) embryos incubated at three temperatures in both stationary and moving containers. Embryos developed and hatched at oxygen concentrations as low as 1.0, 1.1, and 1.3 mg/liter at temperatures of 15, 20, and 25 C, respectively, but concentrations below 2.0, 2.1, and 2.8 mg/liter significantly lowered survival. Most mortality at these oxygen concentrations occurred during hatching. At oxygen concentrations below 1.0 mg/liter, survival during the prehatching period was higher among those groups of embryos that were moved slowly up and down during incubation than among unmoved embryos; however, moved embryos suffered nearly complete mortality during hatching at all oxygen concentrations.