cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Research of emergency DC power support strategies for large-scale power grid based on PSD-BPA

In allusion to the structural characteristics of UHAC/UHDC hybrid, the influence of emergency DC power support(EDCPS) on secure and stable operation of actual grid is studied. The effects of power upgrade strategy on system stability are analyzed based on PSD-BPA to obtain the proper starting-time, the proper amount and the proper duration of power support. The power backdown strategy is adopted during swing-back process to improve the results of emergency power support. Contraposing the active power modulation strategy, the selection principle of input signals for DC auxiliary controller is put forward. The effectiveness of active power modulation and power upgrade(or backdown) as emergency power support strategies is analyzed by comparison.Simulation results indicate that active power modulation improves the stability margin and damping of following-swing and has better results of emergency power support. Study results are available for reference in the drafting of additional stability function for actual AC/DC hybrid power grid.
Arrangement of Settlement Monitoring and Feedback of Tunnel Projects on Loess Foundation

Irredeemable losses are often caused when the building structure is damaged by extensive settlement of the collapsible loess foundation.Illustrated by the case of the Yellow River Diversion Project,the data of joint meter and inclinometer are synthetically calculated and the longitudinal distribution of displacement is analyzed.The differential settlement of the tunnel is monitored effectively and the stability of the tunnel is evaluated,providing some reference for monitoring design and implementation of similar projects.
Negative Influence of Network on College Students Moral Quality

The popularization and development of the network has a great negative impact on the moral quality of College students.Because of the imperfect network legislation,insufficient school education and management,immature of the students' physical and mental development and the others,college students have the problems of moral indifference,moral will weakness,and moral behavior improper.This requires joint efforts from society,school and college students,by means of purifying network environment,creating a good network atmosphere,developing new education field,and improving students' self-discipline,so as to help students strengthen their moral values and have a healthy moral and intellectual development.
The Application Effects of Rice Seed Coating Agent -"Celest"

The experiments were conducted to study on the application effects of"Celest",which is a rice seed coating agent.The results showed that: Celest could improve seedling quality,mainly reflected on the promotion of main root length of seedling and dry matter accumulation.The response discrepancy of Celest on different rice varieties was less,which indicated Celest was a wide adaptability seed coating agent.The treatment of 300 mg/kg had the better effect from different dosage of seeding coating agent.
A small peptide promotes EphA2 kinase-dependent signaling by stabilizing EphA2 dimers.

Abstract Background The EphA2 receptor tyrosine kinase is known to promote cancer cell malignancy in the absence of activation by ephrin ligands. This behavior depends on high EphA2 phosphorylation on Ser897 and low tyrosine phosphorylation, resulting in increased cell migration and invasiveness. We have previously shown that EphA2 forms dimers in the absence of ephrin ligand binding, and that dimerization of unliganded EphA2 can decrease EphA2 Ser897 phosphorylation. We have also identified a small peptide called YSA, which binds EphA2 and competes with the naturally occurring ephrin ligands. Methods Here, we investigate the effect of YSA on EphA2 dimer stability and EphA2 function using quantitative FRET techniques, Western blotting, and cell motility assays. Results We find that the YSA peptide stabilizes the EphA2 dimer, increases EphA2 Tyr phosphorylation, and decreases both Ser897 phosphorylation and cell migration. Conclusions The experiments demonstrate that the small peptide ligand YSA reduces EphA2 Ser897 pro-tumorigenic signaling by stabilizing the EphA2 dimer. General significance This work is a proof-of-principle demonstration that EphA2 homointeractions in the plasma membrane can be pharmacologically modulated to decrease the pro-tumorigenic signaling of the receptor.
Biochemical and Bioelectric Processes Related to Sleep, Paradoxical Sleep, and Arousal:

Experimental evidence has been summarized, validating the assumption that initiation and maintenance of the phases of the sleep-wakefulness cycle depend, at least in part, on the relative concentra...
The Jacobian Variety

Again in this chapter we will assume a certain vague familiarity with the cohomology of sheaves and the theory of line bundles. This material is readily accessible in the modern literature, and some of it can be guessed once one is familiar with Cech cohomology of topological spaces. Our goal in this chapter is to examine in detail the Jacobian variety which is associated in an intrinsic way with each compact complex manifold of dimension 1. It is the existence of this auxiliary variety that makes the theory of compact manifolds of dimension 1 so much more beautiful and complete than the theory of complex manifolds of higher dimensions. The higher-dimensional theory often still consists of a struggle to resurrect or replace in some special case or other the one-dimensional theory.
Age-Associated Perceptions of Physical Activity Facilitators and Barriers Among Women in Rural Southernmost Illinois.

Introduction Women living in rural areas in the United States experience disproportionately high rates of diseases such as obesity and heart disease and are less likely than women living in urban areas to meet daily physical activity (PA) recommendations. The purpose of our research was to understand age-specific perceptions of barriers and facilitators to rural women engaging in PA and to identify strategies to promote PA among these women. Methods As part of a community health assessment to learn about women's health issues, 110 adult women participated in 14 focus groups. The women were divided into 4 age groups, and focus groups were held in various community settings. We used qualitative analysis methods to explore themes in the women's narratives, including themes related to PA knowledge, PA behavior, and access to PA facilities. Results Participants described multiple and often conflicting individual, social, and environmental barriers and facilitators to PA. Several barriers and facilitators were shared across age groups (eg, competing priorities and inadequate knowledge about PA's role in disease prevention and disease management). Other barriers (eg, illness and injury) and facilitators (eg, PA as a social opportunity) differed by age group. Conclusion Rural women in southernmost Illinois have often contradictory barriers and facilitators to PA, and those barriers and facilitators are different at different points in a woman's life. Our findings suggest the need for multilevel, multisector approaches to promote PA. Additionally, this research supports the need for tailored PA promotion programs for rural women to address the barriers these women face across their lifespan.
Pruritus since childhood

The itchy rash had been previously diagnosed as psoriasis. But treatment provided minimal relief. So what was causing the itch?
Unraveling the mechanisms underlying pulse dynamics of soil respiration in tropical dry forests

Tropical dry forests are already undergoing changes in the quantity and timing of rainfall, but there is great uncertainty over how these shifts will affect belowground carbon (C) cycling. While it has long been known that dry soils quickly release carbon dioxide (CO2) upon rewetting, the mechanisms underlying the so-called 'Birch effect' are still debated. Here, we quantified soil respiration pulses and their biotic predictors in response to simulated precipitation events in a regenerating tropical dry forest in Costa Rica. We also simulated the observed rewetting CO2 pulses with two soil carbon models: a conventional model assuming first-order decay rates of soil organic matter, and an enzyme-catalyzed model with Michaelis–Menten kinetics. We found that rewetting of dry soils produced an immediate and dramatic pulse of CO2, accompanied by rapid immobilization of nitrogen into the microbial biomass. However, the magnitude of the rewetting CO2 pulse was highly variable at fine spatial scales, and was well correlated with the size of the dissolved organic C pool prior to rewetting. Both the enzyme-catalyzed and conventional models were able to reproduce the Birch effect when respiration was coupled directly to microbial C uptake, although models differed in their ability to yield realistic estimates of SOC and microbial biomass pool sizes and dynamics. Our results suggest that changes in the timing and intensity of rainfall events in tropical dry forests will exert strong influence on ecosystem C balance by affecting the dynamics of microbial biomass growth.
Color Optic Flow: A Computer Vision Approach for Object Detection on UAVs

Implementation of reliable object avoidance is crucial for the survival of autonomous vehicles intended to navigate in densely populated environments. Uninhabited Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) constitute a type of self guided platform which must rely on different types of sensors in order to navigate autonomously. The exploratory nature of UAVs has made vision systems a desirable option to solve the object avoidance problem by utilizing image data as a rich source of environmental information. The base of object detection and collision avoidance is motion estimation. Computer vision techniques have been developed throughout the years in order to estimate motion from two dimensional images. Most of these algorithms are computationally expensive, thus fail to meet the real time constraints imposed by UAV flight. However, recent developments in optic flow techniques using color imagery are giving vision systems the potential to solve certain navigation challenges on UAV platforms. In this paper a fixed wing UAV platform is described and constraining issues are presented and discussed. Different implementations of color optic flow algorithms are tested on actual flight video footage. Finally, the viability of optic flow as a desirable technique for real time motion estimation is evaluated.
Detecting Inter-domain Semantic Shift using Syntactic Similarity.

This poster is a preliminary report of our experiments for detecting semantically shifted terms between different domains for the purposes of new concept extraction. A given term in one domain may represent a different concept in another domain. In our approach, we quantify the degree of similarity of words between different domains by measuring the degree of overlap in their domain-specific semantic spaces. The domain-specific semantic spaces are defined by extracting families of syntactically similar words, i.e. words that occur in the same syntactic context. Our method does not rely on any external resources other than a syntactic parser. Yet it has the potential to extract semantically shifted terms between two different domains automatically while paying close attention to contextual information. The organization of the poster is as follows: Section 1 provides our motivation. Section 2 provides an overview of our NLP technology and explains how we extract syntactically similar words. Section 3 describes the design of our experiments and our method. Section 4 provides our observations and preliminary results. Section 5 presents some work to be done in the future and concluding remarks.
Flow, Liver, Flow: A Retrospective Analysis of the Interplay of Liver Disease and Coagulopathy in Chronic Subdural Hematoma.

Background Chronic subdural hematoma (cSDH) is a common neurosurgical ailment, particularly in elderly patients. A recent study uncovered an association between liver disease and recurrence in patients with cSDH. Here, we explored that relationship to identify recurrence predictors in at-risk patients. Objective We hypothesized that the association between liver disease and recurrence was attributable to coagulopathy secondary to liver disease. Methods We retrospectively reviewed all patients with cSDH treated with burr-hole drainage by 2 surgeons between 2007 and 2015. Comorbidities and laboratory findings for each patient were examined by Pearson χ 2 analysis or Mann-Whitney U tests. Results We identified 261 cSDH in 215 patients. Patients were a mean age of 65.6 years, and 72% were male. Sixteen patients with cSDH required repeat surgery (6.1%). There were 123 coagulopathic patients (47.1%), and 14 with liver disease (5.4%), all of whom were coagulopathic ( P P = 0.019). Patients with liver disease had significantly elevated prothrombin time ( P = 0.013) and reduced platelet counts ( P P = 0.002). Thrombocytopenia remained significant in a multivariate analysis ( P Conclusions Liver disease is significantly associated with the recurrence of cSDH. Although coagulopathy alone does not predict recurrence, patients with coagulopathy and liver disease are at greater risk for recurrence than those with coagulopathy alone. Liver disease effects are reflected in certain hematologic laboratory values.
Patterns of stress responses shift during seasonal life-history transitions: An analysis comparing baseline, maximal and integrated corticosterone in female red-sided garter snakes (Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis).

Abstract Glucocorticoids often rise and fall with a variety of external and internal cues and frequently vary among life-history stages. This suggests that changing glucocorticoids may coordinate life-history transitions. To explore this hypothesis, we asked if the time-course of stress-induced glucocorticoid levels differ between two life-history transitions (i.e., spring and fall migration) in female red-sided garter snakes ( Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis ). We collected non-migratory females from a communal den and migratory females from a road along the migration route and treated them with 4 h of capture stress; plasma corticosterone was measured before, during and after capture stress. During the spring, den-collected females exhibited a stress-induced peak in corticosterone at an earlier sampling time than migrating, road-collected females. Because the pattern of corticosterone responses varied with migratory state, negative feedback on and/or sensitivity of the hypothalamus-pituitaryadrenal (HPA) axis may be linked to spring migration. During the fall, capture stress elicited an increase in corticosterone in den-collected females but not in migrating, road-collected females. Baseline corticosterone was higher and both maximal and integrated corticosterone responses were lower during the fall compared to spring, indicating that stress responses are smaller when baseline corticosterone is elevated, perhaps due to a “ceiling effect”. These data suggest that HPA axis regulation changes during seasonal migration, possibly via altering negative feedback, HPA axis sensitivity, or some other mechanism. This study supports the hypothesis that glucocorticoids coordinate life-history events and suggests that examining a suite of stress response characteristics is most informative for understanding the function of HPA modulation.
Introduction to Family Therapy with Adolescents in Residential Settings: Intervention and Research

Despite the call for more community-based treatment options, each year a significant number of adolescents find themselves participating in some form of residential treatment. Therapists working with these adolescents need support to ensure they are delivering the best treatment possible and effectively integrating family therapy into the treatment process. Therefore, the purpose of this book is to provide therapists and researchers foundational information that will help increase the use of family therapy in residential work with adolescents. This particular chapter presents background information on residential treatment and the challenges associated with working in these settings, as well as a discussion of the costs of residential treatment and who pays for these services. General definitions and terminology are also presented to help orient the reader. This chapter serves as the introduction to the book and concludes with a rational for the organization of the chapters, as well as components of the chapters that are the same throughout the book.
Risk Factors Associated with Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy Lobar Hemorrhage: A Single Center Cohort Analysis (P6.056)

Background: Older age, superficial siderosis and genetic predilection (ApoE) are risk factors for cerebral amyloid intracerebral hemorrhage (CAA-ICH). Additional risk factors for CAA-ICH and comparative studies to non-CAA-ICH have not been readily described. In this study, a comprehensive set of risk factors for CAA-ICH compared to non-CAA-ICH was evaluated. Methods: Prospectively collected ICH data was evaluated for 400 patients between 2009-2015. Medical history, demographics, ICH severity (ICH score, admission Glasgow Coma Score, hemorrhage volume), hemorrhage etiology, complications and discharge outcomes were collected. CAA-ICH was identified using the Boston Criteria. Logistic regression determined risk factors associated with CAA-ICH. Results: 44 CAA-ICH were identified from 400 total ICH admissions (11[percnt]). Patients with CAA-ICH (80.2+/-7.2 years) were significantly older than non-CAA-ICH patients (60.19+/-17.19 years). Multivariable logistic regression revealed that older age (OR: 1.1 per year, 95[percnt] CI: 1-1.1, P<0.001), female sex (OR: 5.5, 95[percnt] CI: 2.4-12.6, P<0.001), prior ICH (OR: 7.7, 95[percnt] CI: 2.5-25, P<0.001), and history of cancer (OR: 3.46, 95[percnt] CI: 1.25-11, P=0.02) were significantly associated with CAA-ICH. There was a non-significant association between dyslipidemia and CAA-ICH (OR: 2.05, 95[percnt] CI: 0.94-4.45, P=0.067). Furthermore, CAA-ICH patients were less likely to be dead at discharge (OR: 0.149, 95[percnt] CI: 0.04-0.49, P<0.01) and had trends towards less surgical inteventions compared to non-CAA-ICH (univariate analysis for extraventricular drain placement: OR: 0.11, 95[percnt] CI: 0.02-0.47, P<0.01; surgical evacuation: OR: 0.3, 95[percnt] CI: 0.07-1.3, P=0.11). Conclusions: This cohort analysis is congruent with prior CAA-ICH studies revealing increased incidence with age, dementia and prior bleeding. However, female gender, dyslipidemia, and cancer have not previously been associated with CAA-ICH and may reflect a particular CAA patient phenotype at risk for ICH. Furthermore, CAA-ICH appears to pose less risk for death and may pose less risk for surgical intervention. However, given the small sample size, further investigation is warranted. Disclosure: Dr. Roh has nothing to disclose. Dr. Schmidt has nothing to disclose. Dr. Roth has nothing to disclose. Dr. Honig has received personal compensation for activities with Johnson & Johnson/Janssen and Eli Lilly as a consultant and/or a scientific advisory board member. Dr. Merkler has nothing to disclose. Dr. Park has nothing to disclose. Dr. Connolly has nothing to disclose. Dr. Kamel has received personal compensation from Genentech as a speaker. Dr. Kamel has received personal compensation in an editorial capacity for Journal Watch Neurology. Dr. Claassen has received personal compensation for activities with the JSMF Foundation, Actelion, and SAGE Pharmaceutical.
Neuropsychological Assessment in the Diagnosis of Nonepileptic Seizures

The diagnosis of epilepsy is often a rather straightforward matter. The clinical episodes are classic, the EEG is confirmatory, and the response to medications is positive. At other times the picture is murky. The spells are of an uncharacteristic type, EEG findings of uncertain clinical significance are obtained, and the neurologist subsequently struggles with issues of differential diagnosis, for example, are the spells caused by cardiac disease, cerebrovascular disease, migraine, or some other neurological or systemic process? Often, but not always, the etiology underlying these nonepileptic phenomena is identified and treated, and the patient subsequently improves. In both of these scenarios, the neurologist does not question the organic nature of the attacks, and consultation from the psychology service is neither mandatory nor asked for.
Allium vegetables and the potential for chemoprevention of cancer

A bewildering number of sulfur-containing chemical compounds and mixtures are generated when garlic and onion bulbs are cut and exposed to oxygen. The chemistry of garlic and onion has been the subject of several excellent reviews and the utility of these vegetables as herbal medicines is legendary.1,2 Nowadays some of these anecdotal reports are finding confirmation in modern research. Because of the highly interesting chemistry, yielding purified agents for screening, and the fact that garlic and onion are consumed world-wide, cancer researchers have been able to investigate the possible use of garlic and onion and their constituent organosulfur compounds as preventives and treatment for the disease.
Means-end problem solving in infancy: Development, emergence of intentionality, and transfer of knowledge.

Behaviors and performance of 23 typically developing infants were assessed longitudinally at 6, 9, 12, 18, and 24 months in two means-end tasks: pulling a towel or rotating a turntable to obtain a supported object. With age, infants performed more goal-directed behaviors, leading to increased problem-solving success. Intentionality emerged earlier in the towel task than in the turntable task (6.9 vs. 10.8 months). Potential knowledge transfer between the tasks was first observed at 9 months. This study provides insight into the development of means-end learning, the emergence of intentionality, and potential transfer of knowledge in tasks involving a similar concept (support) but requiring different modes of action for success (pulling vs. rotating).
Prospective instrumental evaluation of swallowing, tongue function, and QOL measures following transoral robotic surgery alone without adjuvant therapy.

Background Transoral robotic surgery (TORS) has been utilized to deintensify treatment. No studies have measured swallow safety and efficiency, nor assessed the functional impact of TORS alone. Methods This prospective cohort underwent baseline and 1-month postsurgery assessments including modified barium swallow evaluation, using the Dynamic Imaging Grade of Swallowing Toxicity (DIGEST) rating system, tongue range of motion assessment, the Performance Status Scale (PSS), and quality of life with the MD Anderson Dysphagia Inventory (MDADI). Results All DIGEST safety scores were 0 (normal) at both time points. DIGEST efficiency scores were mildly impaired in 2 of 10 patients postsurgery. PSS scores revealed all patients were on regular diets, were 100% understandable, and were eating in public at both time points. Tongue Range of Motion scores were 100 of 100 at both time points. MDADI scores were not significantly different across time points. Conclusions Careful identification of patients can result in excellent outcomes following TORS. Future studies will examine longer follow-up of speech, swallowing, and tongue function in patients undergoing TORS surgery.
Risky bismuth: Distinguishing between lead contamination sources in soils.

Abstract In a broad environmental study in St. Joseph County, Indiana, elemental data from ∼2000 soil samples and ∼800 paint samples were collected with X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy. The observed lead concentrations were compared to other elemental concentrations in these data. A strong correlation between lead and bismuth concentrations was observed in a subset of the soil samples and in nearly all of the paint samples, with lead levels approximately 150 times higher than bismuth. However, some soil samples contained lead with no bismuth present. Since most lead sources likely contain bismuth as an impurity from refining of native lead ore, but leaded gasoline does not contain any bismuth impurities due to the manufacturing process of tetraethyl lead, it may be possible to distinguish environmental lead sources by XRF. To test if leaded gasoline could be the source of lead in the subset of soil samples containing no bismuth, leaded paint samples were analyzed with Inductively Coupled Plasma – Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES), which confirmed the presence of bismuth in leaded paint. Aviation gasoline, which contains tetraethyl lead, was also analyzed by ICP-OES to confirm the absence of bismuth in leaded gasoline. This discovery suggests that XRF can be used to rapidly distinguish different legacy lead contamination sources from one another. For low lead concentrations, elemental measurements of bismuth by ICP-OES can be used in environmental forensics to distinguish leaded gasoline contamination from other sources of lead.
Application of Thermal Analytical Methods in the Characterization of Carbonaceous Materials

Thermal analytical methods are applied to a study of the reactivities toward O/sub 2/ and CO/sub 2/ of three kinds of carbonaceous materials which give different rate expressions with respect to the fractional completion of the reaction. It is demonstrated that a pseudo-third-order reaction can give a bifurcated peak in the differential thermal analysis (DTA) curve and, therefore, the notion of the existence of two kinds of carbonaceous materials based on a bifurcated peak, as has often appeared in the literature, should be asserted with caution.
Assessing student pharmacist communication skills: Development and implementation of a communication rubric.

Abstract Problem description Communication between healthcare providers and those they serve has become increasingly important as the need to prevent and manage chronic conditions has increased. To adequately learn these skills, future healthcare providers must be trained and assessed prior to entry into practice. Quality improvement methods With the implementation of an integrated curriculum, the Harrison School of Pharmacy developed a communication rubric to assess student pharmacists' patient communication skills. Developed over five stages, the communication rubric contained seven criteria with three standards or performance levels. Prior to finalizing the rubric, faculty tested the rubric with 56 standardized persons (SPs) to determine its readability, functionality, and grader consistency, and also collected student perceptions of the rubric for feedback purposes. Results of CQI inquiry At the conclusion of the 2017/18 academic year, 66.5% of second- and third-professional year students (P2s and P3s) somewhat agreed to strongly agreed that reviewing the rubric helped improve their overall patient communication; 65% of students felt that feedback was more substantial than the previous checklist. Of the P3s surveyed, 73% indicated that they preferred the new rubric. Interpretation and discussion The integration of the new communication rubric allowed for richer, and more meaningful feedback. The addition of multiple performance levels allowed students to focus on specific areas for improvement. Conclusions The communication rubric was successfully integrated into the curriculum, particularly with objective structured clinical examinations. With its integration into other curriculum areas, the communication skills of student pharmacists may be further enhanced.
Stem cell transplantation impairs dendritic cell trafficking and herpesvirus immunity

Long-term survivors after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation are at high risk of infection, which accounts for one-third of all deaths related to stem cell transplantation. Little is known about the cause of inferior host defense after immune cell reconstitution. Here, we exploited a murine syngeneic BM transplantation (BMT) model of late infection with murine gammaherpesvirus 68 (MHV-68) to determine the role of conventional DC (cDC) trafficking in adaptive immunity in BMT mice. After infection, the expression of chemokine Ccl21 in the lung is reduced and the migration of cDCs into lung draining lymph nodes (dLNs) is impaired in BMT mice, limiting the opportunity for cDCs to prime Th cells in the dLNs. While cDC subsets are redundant in priming Th1 cells, Notch2 functions in cDC2s are required for priming increased Th17 responses in BMT mice, and cDC1s can lessen this activity. Importantly, Th17 cells can be primed both in the lungs and dLNs, allowing for increased Th17 responses without optimum cDC trafficking in BMT mice. Taken together, impaired cDC trafficking in BMT mice reduces protective Th1 responses and allows increased pathogenic Th17 responses. Thus, we have revealed a previously unknown mechanism for BMT procedures to cause long-term inferior immune responses to herpes viral infection.
Previremic Identification of Ebola or Marburg Virus Infection Using Integrated Host-Transcriptome and Viral Genome Detection.

ABSTRACT Outbreaks of filoviruses, such as those caused by the Ebola (EBOV) and Marburg (MARV) virus, are difficult to detect and control. The initial clinical symptoms of these diseases are nonspecific and can mimic other endemic pathogens. This makes confident diagnosis based on clinical symptoms alone impossible. Molecular diagnostics for these diseases that rely on the detection of viral RNA in the blood are only effective after significant disease progression. As an approach to identify these infections earlier in the disease course, we tested the effectiveness of viral RNA detection combined with an assessment of sentinel host mRNAs that are upregulated following filovirus infection. RNAseq analysis of EBOV-infected nonhuman primates identified host RNAs that are upregulated at early stages of infection. NanoString probes that recognized these host-response RNAs were combined with probes that recognized viral RNA and were used to classify viral infection both prior to viremia and postviremia. This approach was highly successful at identifying samples from nonhuman primate subjects and correctly distinguished the causative agent in a previremic stage in 10 EBOV and 5 MARV samples. This work suggests that unified host response/viral fingerprint assays can enable diagnosis of disease earlier than testing for viral nucleic acid alone, which could decrease transmission events and increase therapeutic effectiveness. IMPORTANCE Current molecular tests that identify infection with high-consequence viruses such as Ebola virus and Marburg virus are based on the detection of virus material in the blood. These viruses do not undergo significant early replication in the blood and, instead, replicate in organs such as the liver and spleen. Thus, virus begins to accumulate in the blood only after significant replication has already occurred in those organs, making viremia an indicator of infection only after initial stages have become established. Here, we show that a multianalyte assay can correctly identify the infectious agent in nonhuman primates (NHPs) prior to viremia through tracking host infection response transcripts. This illustrates that a single-tube, sample-to-answer format assay could be used to advance the time at which the type of infection can be determined and thereby improve outcomes.
Causal learning in CTC: Adaptive and collaborative

Osiurak and Reynaud highlight the critical role of technical-reasoning skills in the emergence of human cumulative technological culture (CTC), in contrast to previous accounts foregrounding social-reasoning skills as key to CTC. We question their analysis of the available evidence, yet for other reasons applaud the emphasis on causal understanding as central to the adaptive and collaborative dynamics of CTC.
Immune-Mediated Encephalopathy in the Setting of Legionnaires Disease: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

Legionnaires disease is the systemic manifestation of an infection by the gram-negative bacterium Legionella pneumophila. It most commonly presents with pneumonia, but can also cause extrapulmonary manifestations like cardiac, renal, gastrointestinal as well as neurologic symptoms like encephalopathy. It tends to occur in people who are elderly, immunocompromised and those with impaired respiratory (smokers) or cardiac (advanced heart failure) functions. The Legionella Urinary antigen is commonly used to diagnose Legionella infection. Almost half of the patients diagnosed with Legionnaires disease exhibit neurologic signs and symptoms. These neurologic abnormalities are usually not evident on neuroimaging, laboratory findings, and neuropathology.
The Development and Preliminary Validation of a New Measure of Scrupulosity: The Scrupulous Thoughts and Behaviours Questionnaire

The purpose of this study was to develop and provide a preliminary validation of a new measure of scrupulosity, the Scrupulous Thoughts and Behaviours Questionnaire (STBQ). More specifically, the STBQ was designed to assess a range of scrupulosity-related thoughts/obsessions and behaviours/compulsions. Following item development, a sample of non-referred college students completed the STBQ along with numerous validation measures. Based on factor analyses, a two-factor solution was retained. The first factor consisted of items that measure scrupulosity-themed obsessions and thoughts, and the second factor consisted of items that measure scrupulosity-themed compulsions and related behaviours. Support was found for the validity of STBQ, as both subscales were significantly and positively associated with measures of relevant constructs, including the Pennsylvania Inventory of Scrupulosity-Revised, the only other self-report measure of scrupulosity, thought–action fusion, religiosity, and obsessive–compulsive disorder symptoms. As the first known self-report measure to assess scrupulosity obsessions and compulsions, the STBQ has a potential utility in clinical practice and research.
Generalizing Dynamic Mode Decomposition: Balancing Accuracy and Expressiveness in Koopman Approximations.

This paper tackles the data-driven approximation of unknown dynamical systems using Koopman-operator methods. Given a dictionary of functions, these methods approximate the projection of the action of the operator on the finite-dimensional subspace spanned by the dictionary. We propose the Tunable Symmetric Subspace Decomposition algorithm to refine the dictionary, balancing its expressiveness and accuracy. Expressiveness corresponds to the ability of the dictionary to describe the evolution of as many observables as possible and accuracy corresponds to the ability to correctly predict their evolution. Based on the observation that Koopman-invariant subspaces give rise to exact predictions, we reason that prediction accuracy is a function of the degree of invariance of the subspace generated by the dictionary and provide a data-driven measure to measure invariance proximity. The proposed algorithm iteratively prunes the initial functional space to identify a refined dictionary of functions that satisfies the desired level of accuracy while retaining as much of the original expressiveness as possible. We provide a full characterization of the algorithm properties and show that it generalizes both Extended Dynamic Mode Decomposition and Symmetric Subspace Decomposition. Simulations on planar systems show the effectiveness of the proposed methods in producing Koopman approximations of tunable accuracy that capture relevant information about the dynamical system.
Defeasible Deontic Reasoning

This paper combines a system of deontic logic with a system for default reasoning to analyze a notorious philosophical problem: Chisholm's Paradox. The basic approach is to write deontic rules with explicit exceptions, but we also consider the extent to which a set of implicit exceptions can be derived from the underlying deontic semantics.
Dual Financial Systems and Inequalities in Economic Development

This paper analyzes the emergence and the evolution of a modern banking system, in a developing economy where banks coexist with informal credit institutions. Banks have a superior ability in mobilizing savings while informal lenders enjoy a superior information on borrowers. More specifically, banks cannot observe perfectly the behavior of borrowers; therefore the latter need to provide collateral assets in order to obtain bank loans. Physical collateral is not needed to borrow in the informal credit market: informal lenders can rely on social networks to obtain information on borrowers' behavior and invoke social sanctions to enforce repayment. The sustained growth path is associated with the successful development of the banking system that gathers savings on a large scale. However, informal lenders and other traditional credit institutions are necessary in the first stage of development when collateral is scarce. In this economy, the development of modern financial intermediaries is closely associated with the accumulation of collateral assets by entrepreneurs. This implies that the initial level of development as well as the initial distribution of wealth will determine the joint evolution of the real side of the economy and the financial system. Under certain conditions, two long-run steady-state equilibria exist: in the first one the economy stops growing and the banking system never successfully develops; in the second one the economy reaches a sustained growth rate and the informal sector asymptotically vanishes. The impact of the following policies is discussed: financial repression, micro-credit institutions and redistribution of assets.
Germ-cell hub position in a heteropteran testis correlates with the sequence and location of spermatogenesis and production of elaborate sperm bundles

SUMMARY In insects, spermatogonial cells undergo several mitotic divisions with incomplete cytokinesis, and then proceed through meiosis and spermatogenesis in synchrony. The cells derived from a single spermatogonial cell are referred to as a cyst. In the water strider Aquarius remigis, spermiogenesis occurs within two bi-lobed testes. In contrast to most insects, in which the germ-cell hub is located apically and sequential stages of spermatogenesis can be seen moving toward the base of the testis, each lobe of the water strider testis contains a single germ-cell hub located medially opposite to the efferent duct of the lobe; the developing cysts are displaced toward the distal ends of the lobe as spermiogenesis proceeds. Water strider sperm have both a long flagellum and an unusually long acrosome. The water strider spermatids elongate most of the flagellum prior to morphogenesis of the acrosome, and exhibit several stages of nuclear remodeling before the final, mature sperm nucleus is formed. The maturing sperm are aligned in register in the cyst, and the flagella fold into a coiled bundle while their acrosomes form a rigid helical process that extends from the cyst toward the efferent duct. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 82: 295–304, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Maximization of the Channel-Based Key Establishment Rate in MIMO Systems

Keys for symmetric encryption can be established by generating key bits from the mutually-observed randomness present within estimates of a reciprocal wireless channel. We consider this approach for key establishment in multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems and provide a channel estimation strategy that increases the key rate, or the mutual information between the channel estimates at the two nodes. The technique applies MIMO transmit and receive beamformers derived from the eigenvectors of the covariance matrix and then iteratively optimizes the power allocated to each transmit beamformer. Simulation results demonstrate the iterative behavior and the achieved performance of the proposed algorithm.
“Kicking the Leaves” Donald Hall and Jane Kenyon at Eagle Pond Farm

He called this poem "Without." Three years into their marriage, in 1975, they settled where he'd always wanted to be, on a central New Hampshire farm his moth er's grandparents bought in 1865. At first, Kenyon would "move from room to room, / a little dazed," but soon she "fit in with the furniture / and the landscape." On a shelf in the root cellar, after moving in, the poets found a quart of maple syrup made by Hall's grandfather decades before. They used it but poured the last drops
Michael Psellos on friendship and love: erotic discourse in eleventh-century Constantinople

This paper examines representations of friendship and desire in the writings of the Constantinopolitan author Michael Psellos (1018–c.1078). Within the Byzantine context of strict Christian constraints regarding expressions of sexual desire, Psellos reconfigures the dominant late antique image of friendship as unity, inspired by divine authority, with the subversive model of eros as the pursuit of bodily pleasures. Therewith, Psellian discourse may be regarded as representative of novel trends in eleventh-century Byzantium that anticipate the re-appearance of romantic fiction. As is argued here, such novel trends are to be understood within the context of Byzantium's continuous dialogue with its past, rather than as part of linear historiographical narratives.
Solutions and evaluations for fitting of concentric circles

Many practical applications involve the basic problem of fitting a number of data points to a pair of concentric circles, including coordinate metrology, petroleum engineering and image processing. In this paper, two versions of the Levenberg-Marquardt (LM) are applied to obtain the maximum likelihood estimator of the common center and the radii for the concentric circles. In addition, two numerical schemes for conic fitting are extended to the concentric circles fitting problem, as well as several algebraic fits are proposed. This paper shows analytically that the MLE and the numerical schemes are statistically optimal in the sense of reaching the Kanatani-Cramer-Rao (KCR) lower bound, while the other algebraic fits are suboptimal. Our results are confirmed by several numerical experiments. HighlightsTwo numerical versions for efficient implementation of the MLE are developed.Two iterative methods in conic fitting are extended to concentric circles fitting.Several non-iterative algebraic fitting methods for concentric circles are derived.The statistically optimal methods are the MLE, methods GRAF and renormalization.The performances of the methods are compared through numerical experiments.
On a View of Zadeh’s Z-Numbers

We first recall the concept of Z-numbers introduced by Zadeh. These objects consist of an ordered pair (A, B) of fuzzy numbers. We then use these Z-numbers to provide information about an uncertain variable V in the form of a Z-valuation, which expresses the knowledge that the probability that V is A is equal to B. We show that these Z-valuations essentially induce a possibility distribution over probability distributions associated with V. We provide a simple illustration of a Z-valuation. We show how we can use this representation to make decisions and answer questions. We show how to manipulate and combine multiple Z-valuations. We show the relationship between Z-numbers and linguistic summaries. Finally we provide for a representation of Z-valuations in terms of Dempster-Shafer belief structures, which makes use of type-2 fuzzy sets.
SORPTION OF A NONIONIC POLYOXYETHYLENE LAURYL ETHER SURFACTANT BY 2:1 LAYER SILICATES

To better predict the fate and mobility of surfactants in the environment, sorption and desorption of a nonionic polyoxyethylene lauryl ether surfactant (Brij 35) by two smectites (Wyoming montmorillonite and Panther Creek smectite) and two interstratified mica-vermiculites (IMVs) were investigated by batch techniques, X-ray diffraction, and infrared spectroscopy. Maximum surfactant sorption by smectites ranged from 196 to 256 g kg−1, whereas the maximum sorption by the IMVs was indeterminate over the range of concentrations employed. Sorption by smectites was best described by the Langmuir model, but sorption by the IMVs showed an S-shaped isotherm, suggesting that cooperative sorption occurred. The surfactant was more readily desorbed from the IMVs than from the smectites in an initial wash with water. After two water washes, 65–75% of the initially sorbed surfactant was retained by the smectite, and 44–51% of the surfactant sorbed to the IMVs remained with the solid phase. In this study, basal spacing of the smectites increased to ≈17.5 A near the sorption maximum, suggesting intercalation of surfactant molecules in the interlamellar regions of the clay. X-ray data also suggested that the surfactant molecules were oriented horizontally in the interlayer spaces. Greater surfactant sorption by the Casmectites gradually diminished the intensity of the 1630 cm−1 infrared band dues to hydration water, indicating that some water had been displaced by the surfactant. The surfactant was also sorbed by the IMV clays, but only on external surfaces and probably via interactions of micelles with the solid phase.
Empirical tests of a theory of human acquisition of concepts for sequential patterns

Abstract The paper examines a body of empirical data on S's performing the Thurstone Letter Series Completion task, in order to test the theory proposed by the authors in 1963 for explaining behavior on this task. The data confirm the theory in its main aspects, while indicating the need for some minor extensions and modifications. In particular the data show that subjects first discover the periodicity of the letter series, then construct a description of the pattern, and finally use the pattern description to make an extrapolation. Most of the pattern descriptions used by Ss fall within the pattern language defined in the earlier paper.
Consequences of fixed soliton confinement width for molecular ‘switching’: α,ω-diarylpolyenyl anions

Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy has been used to determine the ‘excess π-charge density’ at carbon for odd-alternant anions of the general formula Ph(CH)nPh−, n = 1, 3, 5…17. This charge density maps that predicted by theory, with charge localizing at the center of the polyene chain over a fixed confinement width of ∼ 30 atoms. When electron-widthdrawing aryl groups, e.g., pyridinium, are used instead of the electron-donating phenyl groups, theory predicts localization at the ends. For sufficiently long chains, a degenerate system results, in which charge is localized at one end or the other, causing bond localization and a potentially ‘switchable’ polyene.
Two-dimensional electrophoretic microlens alignment

An adaptive alignment technique is presented that provides precise control and active positioning of sub-millimeter-sized spherical lenses in two-dimensions through the application of electrophoretic forces in a microfluidic well. The device is comprised of a lithographically patterned microfluidic well and electrodes that can be addressed to position or align the spherical microlens to the corresponding beam source. The motion of the microlens is controlled using CMOS compatible voltages (3V - 1 (mu) A) that are applied to opposite electrodes in the microfluidic well, creating an electrical field in the solution. By applying voltages to opposite electrode pairs, we have demonstrated the movement of spherical microlenses with sizes ranging from 0.87 micrometers to 40 micrometers in directions parallel to the electrode surface. Under a bias of 3 volts, the microspheres had an experimentally measured electrophoretic velocities ranging from 13 to 16 micrometers /s. Optical alignment of the spherical or ball microlens can be accomplished using feedback from a photodetector to position the lens for maximum efficiency. Using this device, it is possible to actively align microlenses to optical fibers, VCSELs, LEDs, photodetectors, etc.