cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A semiquantitative culture technic for identifying infection due to steel needles used for intravenous therapy.

Using steel intravneous needles obtained from patients with hematologic malignancies, the authors evaluated the efficacy of a semiquantitative method for culturing vascular cannulas on solid medium, comparing it with conventional broth culture. Of 148 needles studied, 140 (95%) were negative on semiquantitative culture (less than 15 colonies on the plate) although 38 produced growth in broth or on the plate; none of these needles caused septicemia. Eight needles were positive on semiquantitative culture (greater than or equal to 15 colonies), and two of these caused septicemia (P = .002). Positive semiquantitative cultures were associated with local inflammation (P = .02). Semiquantitative culturing was equal to the broth method in sensitivity (100%) in the diagnosis of needle-related septicemia; specificity (96% vs. 92%) and the predictive value of a positive needle culture (25% vs. 14%) were both enhanced with the semiquantitative method. The semiquantitative technic differentiates infection from contamination and offers other major advantages compared with the broth method, and is recommended for culturing steel needles as well as plastic catheters.
Phase I adjuvant trial of multi-epitope p53 vaccine for patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN): A preliminary report

3012 Background: Alteration in the tumor suppressor protein, p53, is one of the most common events in human cancers. Since most mutations of p53 are associated with accumulation of p53, the nonmuta...
Different Clinical Manifestations of MELAS in a Single Family (P5.073)

Objective: We present three individuals in a family with a mitochondrial DNA 3243A>G mutation resulting in different clinical manifestations involving age of presentation and severity of symptoms of mitochondrial myopathy, encephalopathy, lactic acidosis, and stroke-like episodes (MELAS). Background: Approximately 80[percnt] of MELAS cases are caused by mutation in m.3242A>G of mitochondrial tRNA gene. The mutation’s frequency in the general population is approximately 1:15000. The phenotypic expression of this mutation varies. Methods: We encountered a single family with MELAS affecting three generations at different stages of life. We first diagnosed an 8-year old girl (proband), SH, who presented with developmental delay and secondary generalization of complex partial seizures. Her initial brain MRI showed bilateral parietal and temporal T2 hyperintensities involving multiple vascular territories consistent with MELAS. At that time, she was thought to have a novel mutation. Seventeen years later, the proband’s 5-year old niece, VG, presented with altered mental status, nausea, and vomiting. VG9s brain CT showed hypodensity in the right parietal and bilateral occipital lobes involving multiple vascular territories. A month later, the proband’s 53-year old mother, LH, presented to our emergency department with confusion and concern for seizure. Her EEG was negative, but brain MRI showed right temporal/occipital lobe T2 hyperintensities involving multiple vascular territories. Upon further history, it was revealed that LH had developed blindness and hearing loss nearly a decade prior. Results: All three patients carried the mitochondrial DNA 3243A>G mutation, but presented with MELAS symptoms in different stages of life. Conclusions: In 1992, diagnostic criteria for MELAS included symptom onset prior to 40-years of age. Numerous case reports have found patients presenting with MELAS after age 40 with genetic confirmation of the mutation. Today, the criteria have been eased and a diagnosis of MELAS should be considered in the appropriate clinical setting at any age. Disclosure: Dr. Koshy has nothing to disclose. Dr. Kamins has nothing to disclose. Dr. Mishra has nothing to disclose. Dr. Flippen has received personal compensation in an editorial capacity for the Journal of Graduate Medical Education and UpToDate. Dr. Singh has nothing to disclose.
Slow Wave Activity Related to Working Memory Maintenance in the N-Back Task

Abstract. Working memory supports our ability to maintain goal-relevant information that guides cognition in the face of distraction or competing tasks. The N-back task has been widely used in cognitive neuroscience to examine the functional neuroanatomy of working memory. Fewer studies have capitalized on the temporal resolution of event-related brain potentials (ERPs) to examine the time course of neural activity in the N-back task. The primary goal of the current study was to characterize slow wave activity observed in the response-to-stimulus interval in the N-back task that may be related to maintenance of information between trials in the task. In three experiments, we examined the effects of N-back load, interference, and response accuracy on the amplitude of the P3b following stimulus onset and slow wave activity elicited in the response-to-stimulus interval. Consistent with previous research, the amplitude of the P3b decreased as N-back load increased. Slow wave activity over the frontal and post...
Rapid discovery of peptide capture candidates with demonstrated specificity for structurally similar toxins

Peptides have emerged as viable alternatives to antibodies for molecular-based sensing due to their similarity in recognition ability despite their relative structural simplicity. Various methods for peptide capture reagent discovery exist, including phage display, yeast display, and bacterial display. One of the primary advantages of peptide discovery by bacterial display technology is the speed to candidate peptide capture agent, due to both rapid growth of bacteria and direct utilization of the sorted cells displaying each individual peptide for the subsequent round of biopanning. We have previously isolated peptide affinity reagents towards protective antigen of Bacillus anthracis using a commercially available automated magnetic sorting platform with improved enrichment as compared to manual magnetic sorting. In this work, we focus on adapting our automated biopanning method to a more challenging sort, to demonstrate the specificity possible with peptide capture agents. This was achieved using non-toxic, recombinant variants of ricin and abrin, RiVax and abrax, respectively, which are structurally similar Type II ribosomal inactivating proteins with significant sequence homology. After only two rounds of biopanning, enrichment of peptide capture candidates binding abrax but not RiVax was achieved as demonstrated by Fluorescence Activated Cell Sorting (FACS) studies. Further sorting optimization included negative sorting against RiVax, proper selection of autoMACS programs for specific sorting rounds, and using freshly made buffer and freshly thawed protein target for each round of biopanning for continued enrichment over all four rounds. Most of the resulting candidates from biopanning for abrax binding peptides were able to bind abrax but not RiVax, demonstrating that short peptide sequences can be highly specific even at this early discovery stage.
Expression of DNA Polymerase and Other Genes of Bacteriophage K5in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

The expression profile of Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteriophage K5 genes and the related factors were investigated.The expression level of the transcriptional fusion reporter genes dnaP-lacZ,capP-lacZ,bapP-lacZ,and rnr-lacZ of phage K5 were analyzed by evaluating the β-galactosidase activity.The result showed that these phage K5 genes had big differences among their expression levels.Gene dnaP had the highest expression level,and gene capP had the lowest expression level.In the presence of bacteriophage K5,all genes except gene rnr had their expression levels increased significantly,suggesting that unknown phage regulators might regulate the expression of some phage genes in the host cell.Moreover,the bacteriophage gene expression level in early exponential growth phase was significantly higher than those in the stationary growth phase.Meanwhile,the burst size of phage K5 determined in early exponential growth was about 12.8 PFU per infectious center,9.2 folds of the burst size obtained in stationary growth phase.The titer of phage K5 determined in early exponential growth was 4.7 × 108 PFU /mL.The titer obtained in stationary growth phase was 2.5 × 104 PFU /mL.The lysis of phage K5 was significantly reduced.Our results might help to elucidate the mechanism underlying the phage-host interaction.
Social Roles of Science and Technology Advocates

With the mobile network integrating into life,computers and the Internet are developing to a new stage.When the manufacturers of different hardware and software are engaged in research and sale,they are exploring new ways of life and introducing new life styles to consumers by selling products.Professional life philosophy improves people’s life quality,but some unreasonable ways of promotion produce some negative results.
Expression of Chemotactic Chemokines in CD4+T cells during Myocardial Ischemia Reperfusion Injury in Rats

Objective To investigate the expression of chemokines chemotactic for CD4+T cells in rat myocardium during ischemia reperfusion injury(IRI).Methods A rat IRI model was established by ligature of the descending anterior branch of left coronary artery for 45 min.The hearts were harvested at different reperfusion time points:0,2,6,9,12 h(4 rats in each group).Sham-operated hearts were also harvested at those time points as controls.The expression of chemokines chemotactic for CD4+T cells was determined by RT-PCR.The infiltrating CD4+ T cells were detected by immunohistolchemistry.The myocardiocyte injury was evaluated by histology.Result The expression of chemotactic chemokines for CD4+T cells increased rapidly as early as at 2 h after reperfusion,and then declined subsequently.CXCL-10 gene expression peaked at 2 h post-reperfusion whereas the other two members of the CXCR3 ligand family,CXCL9(Mig) and CXCL11(I-TAC),had delayed peaks at both 9 h and 12 h post-reperfusion.Alone with the chemokine expressions,both CD4+T cell infiltration was increased and myocardial injury was aggravated with reperfusion times.Conclusion The immune response against IR induces the expression of CD4-targeted chemokines which may play roles in the pathogenesis of heart infarction.
Steady and transient behavior of data centers with variations in thermal load and environmental conditions

Abstract Data centers are extensively used for the storage and retrieval of large amounts of data. Efficient removal of the energy dissipated by the electronic circuitry is a major concern since the temperature must not rise beyond acceptable levels that affect the performance and since the energy required for cooling is generally quite substantial, with typical data centers requiring hundreds for megawatts for heat removal. Though steady operation has been of interest in most studies on data center cooling, transient behavior is also of considerable interest since the load is generally not a constant but varies with time. Also, distribution of load between various data centers may be used effectively to reduce the overall power consumption. The environmental conditions may be used advantageously in the selection of a particular data center in order to reduce the cooling load. All these considerations make it imperative to study both the steady and time-dependent behavior of data centers and to obtain results that may be used to optimize the cooling systems and reduce the overall energy consumption. This paper presents an analytical and numerical study that focuses on load distribution, as well as data center location that determines the relevant environment, in order to obtain characteristic results on the resulting temperature distributions for a range of operating conditions. Such results could form the basis for optimizing the cooling strategy and the system.
Cross-lingual dataless classification for many languages

Dataless text classification [Chang et al., 2008] is a classification paradigm which maps documents into a given label space without requiring any annotated training data. This paper explores a crosslingual variant of this paradigm, where documents in multiple languages are classified into an English label space. We use CLESA (cross-lingual explicit semantic analysis) to embed both foreign language documents and an English label space into a shared semantic space, and select the best label(s) for a document using the similarity between the corresponding semantic representations. We illustrate our approach by experimenting with classifying documents in 88 different languages into the same English label space. In particular, we show that CLESA is better than using a monolingual ESA on the target foreign language and translating the English labels into that language. Moreover, the evaluation on two benchmarks, TED and RCV2, showed that cross-lingual dataless classification outperforms supervised learning methods when a large collection of annotated documents is not available.
The influence of medium conductivity on cells exposed to nsPEF

Nanosecond pulsed electric fields (nsPEF) have proven useful for transporting cargo across cell membranes and selectively activating cellular pathways. The chemistry and biophysics governing this cellular response, however, are complex and not well understood. Recent studies have shown that the conductivity of the solution cells are exposed in could play a significant role in plasma membrane permeabilization and, thus, the overall cellular response. Unfortunately, the means of detecting this membrane perturbation has traditionally been limited to analyzing one possible consequence of the exposure – diffusion of molecules across the membrane. This method has led to contradictory results with respect to the relationship between permeabilization and conductivity. Diffusion experiments also suffer from “saturation conditions” making multi-pulse experiments difficult. As a result, this method has been identified as a key stumbling block to understanding the effects of nsPEF exposure. To overcome these limitations, we recently developed a nonlinear optical imaging technique based on second harmonic generation (SHG) that allows us to identify nanoporation in live cells during the pulse in a wide array of conditions. As a result, we are able to explore and fully test whether lower conductivity extracellular solutions could induce more efficient nanoporation. This hypothesis is based on membrane charging and the relative difference between the extracellular solution and the cytoplasm. The experiments also allow us to test the noise floor of our methodology against the effects of ion leakage. The results emphasize that the electric field, not ionic phenomenon, are the driving force behind nsPEF-induced membrane nanoporation.
Blocked Elements in 1-D and 2-D Arrays—Part I: Detection and Basic Compensation on Simulated and In Vivo Targets

During a transcostal ultrasound scan, ribs and other highly attenuating and/or reflective tissue structures can block parts of the array. Blocked elements tend to limit the acoustic window and impede visualization of structures of interest. Here, we demonstrate a method to detect blocked elements and we measure the loss of image quality they introduce in simulation and in vivo . We utilize a fullwave simulation tool and a clinical ultrasound scanner to obtain element signals from fully sampled matrix arrays during simulated and in vivo transcostal liver scans, respectively. The elements that were blocked by a rib showed lower average signal amplitude and lower average nearest-neighbor cross correlation than the elements in the remainder of the 2-D aperture. The growing receive-aperture B-mode images created from the element data indicate that the signals on blocked elements are dominated by noise and that turning them OFF has a potential to improve visibility of liver vasculature. Adding blocked elements to the growing receive apertures for five in vivo transcostal acquisitions resulted in average decrease in vessel contrast and contrast to noise ratio of 19% and 10%, respectively.
Use of allogeneic apheresis stem cell products as an interlaboratory proficiency challenge.

Background AABB Standards requires that laboratories participate in a proficiency test (PT) program for critical analytes. Institutions can purchase commercial PT materials; however, PT can also be performed through interlaboratory exchange. We investigated the utility of allogeneic hematopoietic progenitor cell apheresis (HPC-A) products as an interlaboratory PT challenge for total nucleated cell count (TNC) and CD34 assessment. Study design and methods Three-year retrospective and comparative review of unrelated allogeneic HPC-A products received by the University of Michigan between January 2011 and December 2013. Internal TNC and CD34 count were compared to the external collecting facility by paired t test and linear regression. The absolute and percent difference between external and internal counts and 95% limits of agreeability (95% LA) were determined. Results were analyzed relative to donor center location (international, domestic), time zone (domestic), and calendar year. Results There was a strong correlation between internal and external TNC, regardless of donor center location or year. For CD34, there was a good correlation between centers (R = 0.88-0.91; slope = 0.95-0.98x) with a median difference of -1% (95% LA, -50%, +47%). This was considerably better than commercial PT challenges, which showed a persistent negative bias for absolute CD34 and CD3 counts. Conclusion Allogeneic HPC-A products represent an interlaboratory PT exchange for all critical analytes, including TNC and CD34 count, cell viability, and sterility. Allogeneic HPC-A products, which are fresh and transported under validated conditions, are less subject to preanalytical variables that may impact commercial PT samples such as aliquoting and sample homogeneity, commercial additives, and sample stability during manufacturing and transport.
Online resistance spot weld NDE using infrared thermography

A new online resistance spot weld non-destructive evaluation (NDE) technique based on infrared (IR) thermography has been developed. It is capable of both real-time online (during welding) and post-weld online/offline (after welding) inspections. The system mainly consists of an IR camera and a computer program with proprietary thermal imaging analysis algorithms integrated into existing production lines. For real-time inspection, the heat flow generated from the welding process (with temperature exceeding 1000°C) is monitored by the IR camera. For post-weld inspection, a novel auxiliary heating device is applied to locally heat the weld region, resulting in temperature changes on the order of 10°C, and the transmitted heat flow is monitored. Unlike the conventional IR NDE method that requires surface coating to reduce the influence of unknown emissivity, the new method can be applied on as-is bare metal surface thanks to the unique “thermal signatures” extracted from infrared thermal images, which positively correlates to weld quality with a high degree of confidence. The new method can be used to reliably detect weld size, surface indents and defects such as cold weld with sufficient accuracy for welds made from various combinations of materials, thickness, stack-up configuration, surface coating conditions and welding conditions.
Utilizing CX3CR1GFP/PGRPdsRed reporter mice to monitor myeloid and granulocyte responses during helminth infection (MPF6P.652)

CX3CR1 GFP /PGRP dsRed reporter mice have previously been used to monitor trafficking of monocytes and neutrophils, respectively. With this new tool, we examined myeloid cell and neutrophil behavior during murine infection with the helminth, Nippostrongylus brasiliensis ( Nb ). Nb acutely infects the lungs leading to significant infiltration of PGRP dsRed neutrophils and CX3CR1 GFP monocytes compared to naive mice. Using ex vivo time-lapse confocal microscopy, we discovered that Nb infection increased chemotaxis of CX3CR1 GFP monocytes and PGRP dsRed neutrophils. Because CX3CR1 GFP expression is a loss of function knock-in mutation, we tested the function of CX3CR1 in the immune response to Nb . After inoculation with infective larvae, CX3CR1 GFP mice were less susceptible to infection compared to wild-type mice and had lower worm counts and parasite eggs in the feces. Additionally, ATP cell viability assay revealed that worms recovered from reporter mice were less viable than worms isolated from wild-type mice. Taken together, CX3CR1 GFP /PGRP dsRed mice make it possible to monitor myeloid cell and neutrophil behavior, and reveal a previously unrecognized role for CX3CR1 in impairing Nb expulsion.
Factors influencing peripheral venous pressure in an experimental model.

Abstract Background Peripheral venous hypertension and microvascular injury have merged as central features of chronic venous disease. Peripheral venous pressure in the lower limb is controlled by central and peripheral mechanisms. In the current manuscript, we examine the role of peripheral factors, particularly conduit capacitance compliance, focal stenosis, and arterial inflow into the calf. Methods An experimental venous model using Penrose tubing as a venous analogue was used where the aforementioned parameters could be manipulated. Volume-pressure curves were derived in the static mode. The dynamic model attempted to simulate key pressure parameters of lower limb venous flow. Results Decreasing compliance resulted in progressive reduction of conduit capacitance affecting both bending and stretching regimens and the relative distribution between the two, rotating the volume-pressure curve toward the x-axis. Increased postcapillary (arterial) inflow increased conduit pressure. For a given inflow, pressures varied inversely to conduit caliber. Decreased compliance led to a smaller functional caliber at working pressures. Sideline capacitance with stagnant flow connected to the flow channel (simulating calf vein network) did not influence conduit pressure. Focal stenosis increased “venous pressure” if it was narrower than “optimum outflow caliber,” defined as the minimum outflow conduit caliber required to balance inflow. Percentage stenosis as traditionally calculated using adjacent lumen as denominator was uncorrelated to pressure increase. Conclusions Conduit pressure is increased with smaller native or functional (poor compliance) caliber, focal stenosis, and increased postcapillary inflow. Many of these features appear to be present in limbs clinically suspected of chronic venous disease. The importance of the geometric factor of Poiseuille equation in pressure effects of caliber reduction and collateralization is discussed.
A Joint Probability Density–Based Decomposition of Turbulence in the Atmospheric Boundary Layer

AbstractIn convective flows, vertical turbulent fluxes, covariances between vertical velocity and scalar thermodynamic variables, include contributions from local mixing and large-scale coherent motions, such as updrafts and downdrafts. The relative contribution of these motions to the covariance is important in turbulence parameterizations. However, the flux partition is challenging, especially in regions without convective cloud. A method to decompose the vertical flux based on the corresponding joint probability density function (JPD) is introduced. The JPD-based method partitions the full JPD into a joint Gaussian part and the complement, which represent the local mixing and the large-scale coherent motions, respectively. The coherent part can be further divided into updraft and downdraft parts based on the sign of vertical velocity. The flow decomposition is independent of water condensate (cloud) and can be applied in cloud-free convection, the subcloud layer, and stratiform cloud regions. The metho...
The Coming Revolution in (Higher) Education: Process, Time, and Singularity

The ideas of process philosophy in general, and Alfred North Whitehead in particular, will soon come into greater use and wider familiarity. This emergence of his ideas into wider use will be a great aid to education and to the reforming of our institutions and practices around the very different educational (and scientific) requirements of the sort of world that sits just beyond the horizon of our present vision. There will be discontinuities in the world to come (huge ones), but there will also be continuities. Whitehead’s ideas about time and possibility, and their practical applications, place us in a position to do better than guess and conjecture about what is coming.
Memory-induced nonlinear dynamics of excitation in cardiac diseases

Excitable cells, such as cardiac myocytes, exhibit short-term memory, i.e., the state of the cell depends on its history of excitation. Memory can originate from slow recovery of membrane ion channels or from accumulation of intracellular ion concentrations, such as calcium ion or sodium ion concentration accumulation. Here we examine the effects of memory on excitation dynamics in cardiac myocytes under two diseased conditions, early repolarization and reduced repolarization reserve, each with memory from two different sources: slow recovery of a potassium ion channel and slow accumulation of the intracellular calcium ion concentration. We first carry out computer simulations of action potential models described by differential equations to demonstrate complex excitation dynamics, such as chaos. We then develop iterated map models that incorporate memory, which accurately capture the complex excitation dynamics and bifurcations of the action potential models. Finally, we carry out theoretical analyses of the iterated map models to reveal the underlying mechanisms of memory-induced nonlinear dynamics. Our study demonstrates that the memory effect can be unmasked or greatly exacerbated under certain diseased conditions, which promotes complex excitation dynamics, such as chaos. The iterated map models reveal that memory converts a monotonic iterated map function into a nonmonotonic one to promote the bifurcations leading to high periodicity and chaos.
A software framework for individualized agent behavior

Inter-agent interactions play an important part in virtual simulations of social behavior. Such interactions help visualize and analyze theoretical findings and assumptions in key sociological domains. However, most computer applications that simulate agent behavior lack the flexibility and adaptability researchers need to visualize theoretical concepts. This shortcoming can also be observed in modern computer games. For example, while most online games allow the player to customize his or her character, this customization is only aesthetical, such as hair color or outfit. These games do not allow the customization of the way the player’s character behaves, for example how it gazes, how fast it gesticulates or what position it will take during an interaction. Strong and intelligent parametrization of the virtual agents is a solution to this problem. Each agent can have its own set of preferred gazing techniques, positions during an interaction and execute gestures in a specific way. Placing these custom agents together in a scene would then create a realistic and diverse virtual environment.
Structure and Randomness in the Prime Numbers

We give a quick tour through some topics in analytic prime number theory, focusing in particular on the strange mixture of order and chaos in the primes. For instance, while primes do obey some obvious patterns (e.g. they are almost all odd), and have a very regular asymptotic distribution (the prime number theorem), we still do not know a deterministic formula to quickly generate large numbers guaranteed to be prime, or to count even very simple patterns in the primes, such as twin primes p,p+2. Nevertheless, it is still possible in some cases to understand enough of the structure and randomness of the primes to obtain some quite nontrivial results.
Simulation-Based Multiple Comparisons: Background, Philosophy, and Extensions to the Multivariate General Linear Model

The most widely-used version of the multivariate general linear model (MGLM) supposes that p measurements are made on subject i, denoted here Yi′ = (Yi1,…, Yip), i = 1,.., n. If Y is the nxp matrix whose ith row is Yi′, it is hypothesized that Y = Xβ + e, where X is an nxq matrix of known constants, β is a qxp matrix of unknown constants, and e is an nxp matrix of random variables whose rows ei′, i = 1,…,n are independent, each with mean 0 and positive definite covariance matrix Σ. For exact inference, it is assumed that each ei′ has a multivariate normal distribution, but the methods described here will be robust to moderate departures from this assumption for moderate to large n. It is also assumed without loss of generality that X is of full rank q.
Endocrine complications of celiac disease: a case report and review of the literature.

ABSTRACTPurpose: The purpose of this article is to review recent literature regarding endocrine disorders related to celiac disease (CD).Methods: We describe a case report and review existing literature on the endocrine manifestations of CD.Results: CD is an autoimmune disorder characterized by intestinal inflammation in response to gluten. CD can cause a wide range of extra-intestinal complications, including endocrine manifestations. Metabolic bone disease including osteoporosis and osteopenia, vitamin D deficiency, secondary hyperparathyroidism and less frequently osteomalacia can be seen. In CD, fracture risk is increased by 30–40%, while risk for hip fracture is approximately doubled. The risk for other endocrine disorders, particularly autoimmune endocrinopathies, is also increased in those with CD compared to the general population. Epidemiologic data indicate the risk for hypothyroidism is 3–4 times higher among those with CD, while risk of type 1 diabetes is greater than double. Risk for primary ...
The ORMDL3 Asthma Gene Regulates ICAM1 and Has Multiple Effects on Cellular Inflammation.

Rationale: Polymorphisms on chromosome 17q21 confer the major genetic susceptibility to childhood-onset asthma. Risk alleles positively correlate with ORMDL3 (orosomucoid-like 3) expression. The lo...
Ethics in Agriculture: Where Are We and Where Should We Be Going?

Agriculture’s dominant focus is feeding the human population. From an ethical perspective, this is clearly very positive, but it does not absolve agriculture from critical, ethical examination of the totality of agriculture’s effects. To earn the public’s ongoing support, agriculture must be trusted to vigilantly examine its full range of effects and be sure they align with the highest ethical values. Agriculture’s record is enviable in the science and technology associated with its primary ethical concern, but we need to do more to address the broader ethical issues that are the public’s increasing concern. The entire agricultural community needs to become engaged in the discussion. The classroom offers an effective starting place. Yet, curricular offerings (focusing on ethical principles, agricultural applications, and expectations of agricultural professionals) are rarely available at public universities. Opportunity for ethics study should become a key component of agricultural education.
Relaxing the No Liars Assumption in List Experiment Analyses

The analysis of list experiments depends on two assumptions, known as “no design effect” and “no liars”. The no liars assumption is strong and may fail in many list experiments. I relax the no liars assumption in this paper, and develop a method to provide bounds for the prevalence of sensitive behaviors or attitudes under a weaker behavioral assumption about respondents’ truthfulness toward the sensitive item. I apply the method to a list experiment on the anti-immigration attitudes of California residents and on a broad set of existing list experiment datasets. The prevalence of different items and the correlation structure among items on the list jointly determine the width of the bound estimates. In particular, the bounds tend to be narrower when the list consists of items of the same category, such as multiple groups or organizations, different corporate activities, and various considerations for politician decision-making. My paper illustrates when the full power of the no liars assumption is most needed to pin down the prevalence of the sensitive behavior or attitude, and facilitates estimation of the prevalence robust to violations of the no liars assumption for many list experiment applications.
Developing a Deep Learning-Based Affect Recognition System for Young Children

Affective interaction in tutoring environments has been of great interest among several researchers in this community, which has spurred the development of various systems to capture learners’ emotional states. Young children are one of the biggest learner groups in digital learning environments, but these studies have rarely targeted them. Our current study leverages computer vision and deep learning to analyze young childrens’ learning-related affective states. We developed an effective recognition system to compute the probability for a child to present neutral or positive affective state. Our results showed that the prototype was able to achieve an average affective state prediction accuracy of 93.05%.
Crystal structure of 4,4'-bis-(4-bromo-phen-yl)-1,1',3,3'-tetra-thia-fulvalene.

The mol­ecule of the title compound, C18H10Br2S4, has a C-shape, with Cs mol­ecular symmetry. The dihedral angle between the planes of the di­thiol and phenyl rings is 8.35 (9)°. In the crystal, mol­ecules form helical chains along [001], the shortest inter­actions being π⋯S contacts within the helices. The inter­molecular inter­actions were investigated by Hirshfeld surface analysis. Density functional theory (DFT) was used to calculate HOMO–LUMO energy levels of the title compound and its trans isomer.
Assessing water management alternatives in a multipurpose reservoir cascade system in Sri Lanka

Abstract Study region The Mahaweli multipurpose water resources system of Sri Lanka, spread across 25,500 km2, incorporates the Mahaweli, Kala Oya, Malwatu Oya, Kantale Oya and Maduru Oya river basins. Study focus We developed a model that can be used to assess water resources management alternatives of reservoir cascade operation to fulfill diverse and often conflicting water demands. The Mahaweli project is mainly operated for hydropower generation and irrigated agriculture. This study quantifies performances of water management alternatives considering trade-offs between hydropower and agricultural yield. Reliability, resilience, and vulnerability are other considerations that we explore. New hydrological insights for the region In the Mahaweli reservoir system, water is used primarily for paddy irrigation and hydropower generation. Increasing water diversions for paddy irrigation leads to decreases in hydropower so in times of limited water availability, decisions about trade-offs are required. In addition to diversions, decisions about how much arable land to cultivate during times of water shortage affect measures of risk related to paddy yield. Our results show that existing infrastructure places a constraint on how much water diverted for irrigation can be used productively and also leads to spatial variability in improvements in risk measures at the expense of reductions in expected yield across the basin.
After the “At-Risk” Label: Reorienting Educational Policy and Practice

One could argue that the prevention of educational risk can be a noble cause. Many educators have devoted a good part of their careers to the careful design of pedagogical interventions with the ho...
Thermo-acoustic ultrasound for noninvasive temperature monitoring at lead tips during MRI.

PURPOSE We explore the use of thermo-acoustic ultrasound (TAUS) to monitor temperature at the tips of conductive device leads during MRI. THEORY In TAUS, rapid radiofrequency (RF) power deposition excites an acoustic signal via thermoelastic expansion. Coupling of the MRI RF transmit to device leads causes SAR amplification at lead tips, allowing MRI RF transmitters to excite significant lead tip TAUS signals. Because the amplitude of the TAUS signal depends on temperature, it becomes feasible to monitor the lead tip temperature during MRI by tracking the TAUS amplitude. METHODS The TAUS temperature dependence was characterized in a phantom and in tissue. To perform TAUS acquisitions in an MRI scanner, amplitude modulated RF chirps were transmitted by the body coil, and the lead tip TAUS signal was detected by an ultrasonic transducer. The TAUS signal level was correlated with the RF current induced on the lead and the associated B1 artifacts in MRI. TAUS signals acquired during RF-induced heating were used to estimate the lead tip temperature. RESULTS The TAUS signal exhibited strong dependence on temperature, increasing over 30% with 10∘ C of heating both in the phantom and in tissue. A lead tip TAUS signal was observed for a 100 mA rms current induced on a lead. During RF-induced heating, the TAUS signal appeared to accurately approximate the peak lead tip temperature. CONCLUSIONS TAUS allows for noninvasive monitoring of lead tip temperature in an MRI environment. With further development, TAUS opens new avenues to improve RF device safety during MRI scans.
Quantification of Uncoupled Spin Domains in Spin-Abundant Disordered Solids

Materials often contain minor heterogeneous phases that are difficult to characterize yet nonetheless significantly influence important properties. Here we describe a solid-state NMR strategy for quantifying minor heterogenous sample regions containing dilute, essentially uncoupled nuclei in materials where the remaining nuclei experience heteronuclear dipolar couplings. NMR signals from the coupled nuclei are dephased while NMR signals from the uncoupled nuclei can be amplified by one or two orders of magnitude using Carr-Meiboom-Purcell-Gill (CPMG) acquisition. The signal amplification by CPMG can be estimated allowing the concentration of the uncoupled spin regions to be determined even when direct observation of the uncoupled spin NMR signal in a single pulse experiment would require an impractically long duration of signal averaging. We use this method to quantify residual graphitic carbon using 13 C CPMG NMR in poly(carbon monofluoride) samples synthesized by direct fluorination of carbon from various sources. Our detection limit for graphitic carbon in these materials is better than 0.05 mol%. The accuracy of the method is discussed and comparisons to other methods are drawn.
Quantum confinement of coherent acoustic phonons in transferred single-crystalline bismuth nanofilms

Coherent acoustic phonon dynamics in single-crystalline bismuth nanofilms transferred to a glass substrate were investigated with ultrafast pump–probe spectroscopy. Coherent phonon signals were substantially enhanced by more than four times when compared with as-grown films on Si (111) substrates. Furthermore, more than 10% reduction of the acoustic phonon velocity was observed when the film thickness decreases to 22 nm, which is attributed to the modified phonon dispersion in extremely thin films from quantum confinement effects.
BEAUTY Powered BEAST

We study inference about the uniform distribution with the proposed binary expansion approximation of uniformity (BEAUTY) approach. Through an extension of the celebrated Euler's formula, we approximate the characteristic function of any copula distribution with a linear combination of means of binary interactions from marginal binary expansions. This novel characterization enables a unification of many important existing tests through an approximation from some quadratic form of symmetry statistics, where the deterministic weight matrix characterizes the power properties of each test. To achieve a uniformly high power, we study test statistics with data-adaptive weights through an oracle approach, referred to as the binary expansion adaptive symmetry test (BEAST). By utilizing the properties of the binary expansion filtration, we show that the Neyman-Pearson test of uniformity can be approximated by an oracle weighted sum of symmetry statistics. The BEAST with this oracle leads all existing tests we considered in empirical power against all complex forms of alternatives. This oracle therefore sheds light on the potential of substantial improvements in power and on the form of optimal weights under each alternative. By approximating this oracle with data-adaptive weights, we develop the BEAST that improves the empirical power of many existing tests against a wide spectrum of common alternatives while providing clear interpretation of the form of non-uniformity upon rejection. We illustrate the BEAST with a study of the relationship between the location and brightness of stars.
Art or Forgery? The Strange Case of Han Van Meegeren

The appreciation or historical study of visual art depends crucially on assumptions or claims that given art works can be attributed to given artists in given periods; both the appreciation and history of art presuppose a methodology of attribution and a theory of evidence; and these are open to philosophic question and analysis. Apparently straighforward, deceptively prosaic empirical questions of attribution (By whom was a given work created and when? ) are themselves often influenced by judgments of aesthetic value (as when features reflecting the artistry or artfulness of a work are themselves taken as evidence for attributing the work to a given master). Philosophy begins in wonder, and our wonder about What is art? o r why we value it, wonder about what makes any artifact a work of art, wonder about the source and nature of aesthetic value is best catalyzed when our assumptions about the attribution of a presumed art work are cast in doubt or violated. For this reason, the study of forgery and issues of artistic attribution is a powerful motivation to philosophic wonder and aesthetic inquiry. Of all the realms of arguable human values, aesthetics perhaps purports the most mystifying questions. Aesthetic inquiry can therefore provide paradigmatic insights into very generic issues of human valuing and inquiry. But the student requires special means, motive, and opportunity for the study.
A Unified Framework of Constrained Robust Submodular Optimization with Applications

Robust optimization is becoming increasingly important in machine learning applications. In this paper, we study a unified framework of robust submodular optimization. We study this problem both from a minimization and maximization perspective (previous work has only focused on variants of robust submodular maximization). We do this under a broad range of combinatorial constraints including cardinality, knapsack, matroid as well as graph-based constraints such as cuts, paths, matchings and trees. Furthermore, we also study robust submodular minimization and maximization under multiple submodular upper and lower bound constraints. We show that all these problems are motivated by important machine learning applications including robust data subset selection, robust co-operative cuts and robust co-operative matchings. In each case, we provide scalable approximation algorithms and also study hardness bounds. Finally, we empirically demonstrate the utility of our algorithms on synthetic data, and real-world applications of robust cooperative matchings for image correspondence, robust data subset selection for speech recognition, and image collection summarization with multiple queries.
Nuclear compartmentalization as a mechanism of quantitative control of gene expression

Gene regulation requires the dynamic coordination of hundreds of regulatory factors at precise genomic and RNA targets. Although many regulatory factors have specific affinity for their nucleic acid targets, molecular diffusion and affinity models alone cannot explain many of the quantitative features of gene regulation in the nucleus. One emerging explanation for these quantitative properties is that DNA, RNA and proteins organize within precise, 3D compartments in the nucleus to concentrate groups of functionally related molecules. Recently, nucleic acids and proteins involved in many important nuclear processes have been shown to engage in cooperative interactions, which lead to the formation of condensates that partition the nucleus. In this Review, we discuss an emerging perspective of gene regulation, which moves away from classic models of stoichiometric interactions towards an understanding of how spatial compartmentalization can lead to non-stoichiometric molecular interactions and non-linear regulatory behaviours. We describe key mechanisms of nuclear compartment formation, including emerging roles for non-coding RNAs in facilitating their formation, and discuss the functional role of nuclear compartments in transcription regulation, co-transcriptional and post-transcriptional RNA processing, and higher-order chromatin regulation. More generally, we discuss how compartmentalization may explain important quantitative aspects of gene regulation.
How Biologics Cos. Disparage Biosimilars And How To Stop It

Biologics offer pathbreaking advances, but at a high price. Competitors known as biosimilars promise lower prices. But they will not be adopted if biologic manufacturers disparage them, raising safety concerns. This short piece highlights the four types of deceptive statements and omissions biologic companies have leveled, which rely on fearmongering as well as claims that the biosimilar acts differently from the reference product, is not identical, and does not satisfy the standard of interchangeability. The piece concludes by highlighting the FTC's and FDA's analysis of the issue as well as how disparagement can violate antitrust law. Action in this area would prevent biologic manufacturers from stifling more affordable biosimilars in their cradle by ominously implying false safety concerns. And in the process, it would help U.S. consumers afford life-saving medicines.
Normal Skin Findings and Cultural Practices in Pediatric Patients with Skin of Color

The understanding of melanocytes is fundamental to the study of dermatology. These dendritic cells underly the most feared primary cutaneous malignancy, fuel escalating progress in immunotherapy strategies, and invariably underlie entire socioeconomic constructs consciously or unconsciously based on skin tone. Various ethno-genotypes combine with increasing frequency over time, increasing the diversity of skin types that may present with dermatologic diagnoses. Understanding the biology of a variety of skin tones and ethnic practices congruent with distribution of skin tone is invaluable to any physician who wishes to practice efficient and expert care, especially to pediatric patients of this category.