cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
On Neoliberalism and Other Social Diseases: The 2008 Sociocultural Anthropology Year in Review

ABSTRACT In this article, I consider a selection of the 129 articles of new research published in five of the leading Anglo-American peer-reviewed outlets for sociocultural anthropology in 2008, discerning two general, but related, trends. The first suggests an ongoing interest among sociocultural anthropologists in new forms and contexts of market capitalism and a deepening concern for the multiple, complex, and even contradictory orientations to those forms by social actors caught up in them. The second reveals a concern with the imbrications of political and scientific epistemologies, particularly as they emerge in state policies and actions around issues of public health, the environment, and agriculture. Where they come together is in the number of studies whose objects of inquiry reside at the nexus where science, politics, and markets meet in what they see as the creeping expansion of neoliberal logics and their implications for the state as a political formation. [Keywords: sociocultural anthropology, neoliberalism, science studies, public health, capitalism]
Postcard from America.: Why poverty is back in the spotlight

John Podesta, Director of the US think tank Center for American Progress Action Fund, finds that, in a country infamous for failing to stymie social inequity, the war on poverty has surfaced as a defining issue in the presidential campaigns. He argues that after eight years of Bush the time is finally right for a push to stamp out poverty in the US
Therapeutic targeting of the focal adhesion complex prevents oncogenic TGF-β signaling and metastasis

Introduction Mammary tumorigenesis is associated with the increased expression of several proteins in the focal adhesion complex, including focal adhesion kinase (FAK) and various integrins. Aberrant expression of these molecules occurs concomitant with the conversion of TGF-β function from a tumor suppressor to a tumor promoter. We previously showed that interaction between β3 integrin and TβR-II facilitates TGF-β-mediated oncogenic signaling, epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), and metastasis. However, the molecular mechanisms by which the focal adhesion complex contributes to β3 integrin:TβR-II signaling and the oncogenic conversion of TGF-β remain poorly understood.
Frequency response of non-linearly damped flexible structures

Abstract NASA experiments have indicated the need for non-linear damping models to describe the motion of large flexible space structures. In this work, energy type non-linear damping models in an infinite dimensional setting are studied. According to the geometry of the structures considered, energy type non-linear damping models are divided into two types. Their frequency response is found and compared with that given by linear models and non-linear stiffness models. It is concluded that non-linear damping models do not produce peculiar behaviours such as internal resonance, jump phenomenon or chaotic behaviour.
Self-association and Hebbian learning in linear neural networks

Studies Hebbian learning in linear neural networks with emphasis on the self-association information principle. This criterion, in one-layer networks, leads to the space of the principal components and can be generalized to arbitrary architectures. The self-association paradigm appears to be very promising because it accounts for the fundamental features of Hebbian synaptic learning and generalizes the various techniques proposed for adaptive principal component networks. The authors also include a set of simulations that compare various neural architectures and algorithms. >
Collective Intelligence Market Model

I provide a framework for organizing the equity markets estimating expected returns based on the collective intelligence of active equity mutual fund investment teams. Buy-side analysts, in particular, display considerable stock picking skill and by harnessing this skill, it is possible to intelligently organize the markets of both funds and individual stocks, as well as identify, by means of estimated expected returns, the best funds, the best idea stocks, and markets. The combination of these methodologies is referred to as the Collective Intelligence Market Model.
Abstract 250: 20-HETE is Increased and EETs are Decreased in the Renal Vasculature of a Rat Model of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the most common hormonal disorder among women during their reproductive years. Enlarged ovaries containing numerous small cysts, elevated circulating androgens, modest increases in blood pressure, and insulin resistance, are among the main symptoms of PCOS. However, the mechanisms responsible for higher blood pressure have not been elucidated. We have characterized a rat model of PCOS, the hyperandrogenemic female (HAF) rat that exhibits characteristics of PCOS in women. The present study was performed to test the hypothesis that 20-HETE and EET levels and expression of the cytochrome P450 (CYP) 4A ω-hydroxylases are different in HAF and placebo rats. Dihydrotestosterone (DHT) (7.5 mg/90 days) or placebo pellets were implanted subcutaneously in female SD rats (n = 6/group) at 4 weeks of age. Kidneys were removed at 12 weeks of age, preglomerular vessels isolated, and 20-HETE, EETs, and ω-hydroxylase activity were measured by liquid chromatography-mass spectroscopy; CYP 4A protein was measured by western blot. The basal renal microvascular level of 20-HETE (0.15± 0.02 vs. 0.81± 0.08 pmol/mg; p
The Diurnal Effects of Ultraviolet Light on Pycnidium Production in Phyllosticta Antirrhini

A long-wave ultraviolet-light source was used (Sylvania F 15T8BLB, self-filtering with peak emittance at 366 nm). The intensity of radiation was measured with a Black-Ray Ultraviolet Meter (Ultraviolet Products Inc., Model No. J221, San Gabriel, Calif.) The intensity chosen was 300 tkW/cm2 and is within the range of naturally occurring long-wave ultraviolet light (2). The isolate used in this study (#253.38) was obtained from the Centraalbureau voor Schimmelcultures, Baarn (Netherlands) and maintained on potato-dextrose agar (PDA). Agar discs of the fungus were transferred to the center of plastic Petri plates containing approximately 20 ml of PDA. All plates were immediately incubated in darkness until colony diam reached 30-35 mm. The fungus was then irradiated for one or three continuous h at daily intervals for 5 da. Cultures were grown an additional 4-5 da in darkness before making observations. The number of pycnidia in 20 different low power microscope fields (2.7 mm2) were counted for each exposure. Previous tests indicated no interaction between PDA and the light source employed. Plates were maintained at 22 C. . -. 1976. Nu rition of Pleurotus sapidu : effects of lipids. Mycologia 68: 184
Quantification of insect-induced foliage damage using a high-capacity laboratory bioassay

A high-capacity assay designed to evaluate insect-induced foliage damage was developed based on the optical density of dimethyl sulfoxide extracts of leaf tissue. The assay reliably indexed foliage damage induced by both chewing insects, Spodoptera eridania (Cramer), and piercing-sucking insects, Empoasca abrupta DeLong. Results from this assay correlated well with simulated damage levels, insect infestation levels, leaf dry-weight measurements, and visual leaf damage estimates. Results from dose-response tests with malathion using larvae of S. eridania indicate that this assay is useful for evaluating chemicals for their ability to protect plants from insect damage. The assay could be adapted to evaluate other types of plant damage such as those induced by herbicides, air pollutants, or disease.
Strong spin Hall effect in the antiferromagnet PtMn

Effectively manipulating magnetism in ferromagnet (FM) thin-film nanostructures with an in-plane current has become feasible since the determination of a ``giant'' spin Hall effect (SHE) in certain heavy metal/FM systems. Recently, both theoretical and experimental reports indicate that metallic antiferromagnet materials can have both a large anomalous Hall effect and a strong SHE. Here we report a systematic study of the SHE in PtMn with several PtMn/FM systems. By using interface engineering to reduce the ``spin memory loss'' we obtain, in the best instance, a spin-torque efficiency ${\ensuremath{\xi}}_{\mathrm{DL}}^{\mathrm{PtMn}}\ensuremath{\equiv}{T}_{\mathrm{int}}{\ensuremath{\theta}}_{\mathrm{SH}}^{\mathrm{PtMn}}\ensuremath{\simeq}0.24$, where ${T}_{\mathrm{int}}$ is the effective interface spin transparency. This is more than twice the previously reported spin-torque efficiency for PtMn. We also find that the apparent spin diffusion length in PtMn is surprisingly long, ${\ensuremath{\lambda}}_{s}^{\mathrm{PtMn}}\ensuremath{\approx}2.3\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}\mathrm{nm}$.
Environmental Modeling of Advanced Vehicles in NextGen

Aviation continues to face serious environmental challenges that impede its capacity to meet forecast growth in air travel. Despite the short-term outlook of the US economy, trends in air traffic are expected to resume their upward trajectory over the long term and environmental constraints are likely to continue putting pressure on overall system capacity. To address such challenges, the aviation industry must look for integrated approaches to assessing and mitigating environmental impacts while enhancing system efficiency and capacity. As the ongoing NextGen transformation begins to materialize, there is a need for the assessment of the overall environmental performance of advanced vehicles and their potential benefits to NAS modernization.
Long-term suppression of insect herbivores increases the production and growth of Solidago altissima rhizomes

Although insect herbivores have many well documented effects on plant performance, there are few studies that assess the impact of above-ground herbivory on below-ground plant growth. For a seven year period in which no large-scale herbivore outbreaks occurred, a broad spectrum insecticide was utilized to suppress herbivorous insects in a natural community dominated by Solidago altissima. Ramet heights, rhizome lengths, rhizome biomass, and the number of daughter rhizomes all were lower in the control plots than in the insecticidetreated plots. These effects should lead to a decrease in the fitness of genets in the control plots relative to the fitness of genets in the insecticide-treated plots. We also found that ramets in the control plots appear to have compensated for herbivory: the ratio of rhizome length to rhizome biomass was greatest in the control plots, which indicates that clones moved farther per unit biomass in these plots than in the insecticide-treated plots. Clonal growth models show that this shift in allocation patterns greatly reduced the magnitude of treatment differences in long-term clonal displacements. Previous work has shown, and this study verified, that clonal growth in S. altissima is well represented by random-walk and diffusion models. Therefore, we used these models to examine possible treatment differences in rates of clonal expansion. Although rhizome lengths were greater in the insecticide-treated plots, results from the models suggest that our treatments had little impact on the short- and long-term displacement of S. altissima ramets from a point of origin. This occurred because S. altissima ramets backtrack often, and thus, treatment differences in net displacements are less pronounced than treatment differences in rhizome lengths.
BK-Ca2+ Channel Coupling in the Mouse Circadian Clock

BK K+ channels activate via membrane depolarization and increases in intracellular Ca2+ concentration. Across neurons and muscle, BK channels have been shown to differentially couple to voltage-gated Ca2+ channels of the L-, P-, Q-, and N-type, as well as to ryanodine (RyR) and IP3 receptor-mediated release from intracellular Ca2+ stores. In the suprachiastmatic nucleus (SCN) of the hypothalamus, the brain's circadian clock, voltage gated Ca2+ channel (VGCC) currents and intracellular Ca2+ are regulated in a circadian manner, with greater [Ca2+]i during the day. We used a pharmacological approach to identify the Ca2+ sources for BK current activation in day and night SCN neurons. We found an 82% reduction in BK current magnitude with nimodipine during the day, with a lesser effect at night (−15%), suggesting that L-type VGCCs are the primary Ca2+ source for BK activation during the day. Conversely at night, when VGCC currents are reduced, we found a significant decrease (−70%) in BK current magnitude using dantrolene, an RyR antagonist. Thapsigargin, which depletes Ca2+ from intracellular stores, caused a similar −75% reduction in current, demonstrating that nighttime BK activation is primarily driven by intracellular Ca2+ release through RyRs. Consistent with functional coupling, the voltage dependence of BK activation was shifted to more positive potentials with nimodipine during the day and both dantrolene and thapsigargin at night. Lastly, BK currents were reduced by ω-conotoxin MVIIC to a more similar extent between day and night (15% and 22%, respectively), suggesting that some fraction of BK channels maintain stable Ca2+ channel coupling over the circadian cycle. These data demonstrate diurnal regulation of the coupling between BK channels and their Ca2+ sources in SCN and suggest that circadian changes in Ca2+ coupling could contribute to BK current regulation and its role in circadian rhythmicity.
Chordee without Hypospadias: Complications and Management of the Hypoplastic Urethra

The surgical correction of chordee without hypospadias may be difficult and result in significant intraoperative and postoperative complications, especially when there is an associated hypoplastic type I urethra. Between 1981 and 1985 we treated 13 patients with this condition. Of the cases 9 had a type I urethra, 3 had type II and 1 had type III, according to the Devine-Horton classification. Postoperatively, glanular tilt persisted in 3 patients, ventral tethering was present in 2 and a fistula developed in 2, for a 54 per cent complication rate. Of the 7 complications 5 occurred in type I cases. Complications may arise from preserving or attempting to preserve a thin hypoplastic urethra. When the paper-thin type I urethra is associated with an abnormal meatus, the entire dysplastic urethra should be reconstructed. If the meatus is normal, clinical judgment must dictate which type I urethras may be preserved and which must be reconstructed.
KSHV-Mediated Regulation of Par3 and SNAIL Contributes to B-Cell Proliferation

Studies have suggested that Epithelial–Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) and transformation is an important step in progression to cancer. Par3 (partitioning-defective protein) is a crucial factor in regulating epithelial cell polarity. However, the mechanism by which the latency associated nuclear antigen (LANA) encoded by Kaposi's Sarcoma associated herpesvirus (KSHV) regulates Par3 and EMTs markers (Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition) during viral-mediated B-cell oncogenesis has not been fully explored. Moreover, several studies have demonstrated a crucial role for EMT markers during B-cell malignancies. In this study, we demonstrate that Par3 is significantly up-regulated in KSHV-infected primary B-cells. Further, Par3 interacted with LANA in KSHV positive and LANA expressing cells which led to translocation of Par3 from the cell periphery to a predominantly nuclear signal. Par3 knockdown led to reduced cell proliferation and increased apoptotic induction. Levels of SNAIL was elevated, and E-cadherin was reduced in the presence of LANA or Par3. Interestingly, KSHV infection in primary B-cells led to enhancement of SNAIL and down-regulation of E-cadherin in a temporal manner. Importantly, knockdown of SNAIL, a major EMT regulator, in KSHV cells resulted in reduced expression of LANA, Par3, and enhanced E-cadherin. Also, SNAIL bound to the promoter region of p21 and can regulate its activity. Further a SNAIL inhibitor diminished NF-kB signaling through upregulation of Caspase3 in KSHV positive cells in vitro. This was also supported by upregulation of SNAIL and Par3 in BC-3 transplanted NOD-SCID mice which has potential as a therapeutic target for KSHV-associated B-cell lymphomas.
ORGANIZATION OF ENTRIES

This chapter focuses on the organization of entries. Beneath each HW lies a sequence of entries which testifies to the occurrence of the concorded form at different places in the base text. The content of the entries and to a varying extent, their organization after the heading, are affected by homograph distinction and by the amalgamation of instances of variant spellings. A single entry consists of four readily identifiable fields, (1) the context for occurrence of the particular instance of the form in question, that is, a quotation from the base text in which the concorded word occurs; (2) the context includes the word itself, a distinction which becomes significant in relation to KWIC/KWOC concording; (3) the sigil which identifies the text which is the source of the context; and (4) the reference to the specific line/s or verse/s. Additionally some concordances supply a count of the number of instances of the concorded word in the entries beneath it and other information about the specific entry. Separate entries under each HW should occur in the order which allows quick access to the base text from which the entries were drawn. When the concordance is to a single literary work, entries should occur under the HW in text order. Entries in the first act are followed by entries in acts two to five sequentially.
Responses of Diadegma insulare (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) to Caterpillar Feeding in a Flight Tunnel

A flight tunnel bioassay was used to evaluate attraction responses of female Diadegma insulare (Cresson), a host-specific parasitoid of the diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella (L.), to collard plants (Brassica oleracea var. acephala L.) infested with host and nonhost caterpillars. Adult female wasps showed increased responses to odors of the plant-host complex after a brief contact experience with host-infested collard leaves. Such an increase shows evidence of associative learning in this parasitoid to the odor released from the larval-plant complex. The same experimental design was also used to determine responses of the parasitoid to plants infested with nonhost larvae-cabbage looper, Trichoplusia ni (Hubner), and imported cabbageworm, Pieris rapae (L.). The female wasps conditioned to the plants infested with host larvae also showed increased responses to plants infested with larvae of cabbage looper or imported cabbageworm. These results indicate that plants damaged by host and nonhost caterpillars...
Two-Year Institution Part-Time Nurse Faculty Experiences During Role Transition and Identity Development: A Phenomenological Study.

Aim This study explored two-year institution part-time nurse faculty's perceptions of their experiences during their role transitions from nurses in clinical practice to part-time clinical instructors. Background Part-time nurse faculty enter academia as expert clinicians, but most have little or no training in the pedagogy of effective student learning. Method A phenomenological study was used to explore the faculty role transition experiences. Results Findings support the proposition that six participants transitioned from their expert clinician to instructor identities; however, two continue in the process. Critical to this process are relationships with individuals in their environments, past and present experiences, the incentive to learn to be better instructors, and the importance of support and training. Conclusion A model emerged, Process of Role Transition and Professional Identity Formation for Part-Time Clinical Instructors at Two-Year Institutions, that is potentially useful for administrators in developing individualized orientation and professional development programs.
Cluster analysis of longitudinal profiles with subgroups

In this paper, we cluster profiles of longitudinal data using a penalized regression method. Specifically, we allow heterogeneous variation of longitudinal patterns for each subject, and utilize a pairwise-grouping penalization on coefficients of the nonparametric B-spline models to form subgroups. Consequently, we identify clusters based on different patterns of the predicted longitudinal curves. One advantage of the proposed method is that there is no need to pre-specify the number of clusters; instead the number of clusters is selected automatically through a model selection criterion. Our method is also applicable for unbalanced data where different subjects could have measurements at different time points. To implement the proposed method, we develop an alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) algorithm which has the desirable convergence property. In theory, we establish the consistency properties for approximated nonparametric function estimation and subgrouping memberships. In addition, we show that our method outperforms the existing competitive approaches in our simulation studies and real data example.
Physiogenic Hearing Impairment in Adults

Expansion and development in the field of audiology during the last decade have been vast. The availability of improved diagnostic and remedial procedures has broadened the range of benefits and resources now employed for the auditorily impaired. Many of the advances in audiology are spinoffs from allied fields. From medicine, otologic surgeons developed middle ear reconstruction techniques that often restore hearing to normal acuity. Medical treatment using improved antibiotics and preventative otologic procedures have also resulted in notable contributions. Innovations in engineering and electronics are responsible for smaller, more efficient, and more flexible amplification devices worn as individual or group hearing aids. Computer technology has become the basis for several audiological procedures. The audiologist’s hearing test battery contains new diagnostic tests, many based on modern technological advances. Hence, in the past decade, significant improvements have occurred in hearing assessment, prevention, aural rehabilitation, and medical and surgical restoration. Furthermore, there have been noteworthy advances in educational management and federal legislation mandating rehabilitative services. This chapter will attempt to inform the reader of the current status of audiometry.
Frequency Analysis of an Annually Resolved, 700 Year Paleoclimate Record from the GISP2 Ice Core

One of the key questions in using paleoenvironmental records from ice cores for the last 2,000 years is how representative individual ice cores are of regional climates and conditions. Here we use isotope records from the GISP2 ice core to address this question, with emphasis on the spectral properties of the records. δD and deuterium excess values have been measured on this core at sub-annual resolution for the past 700 years. The δD record shows many significant oscillations, with periods similar to those found in a number of other paleoenvironmental records as well as historical climate records. Comparisons of oscillations in the δD record with those in ENSO records (both the Southern Oscillation Index and δ18O records from corals) show that while frequencies may match, the phasing and amplitude of the oscillations are not similar. A somewhat stronger, but nonetheless weak relationship was found between the dominant 11 year cycle in sunspots and the 11 year cycle in the δD record for the last 700 years, although a stronger relationship may appear when the entire Holocene is considered. A clear relationship was found between the 7.5 year oscillation in the North Atlantic Oscillation (both historical observations of pressure differences and reconstructed NAO indices from tree ring widths) and the δD record for the last 100 years, demonstrating that isotope records from ice cores do indeed follow regional climate forcings. Using the proxy records (tree rings and ice cores) te extend this comparison back to 1700 AD, however, shows that the 7.5 year oscillation in the NAO is not strongly related in the proxy records prior to the late 1800s. This result argues that the oscillations present in the proxy records and the climate forcing are not persistent, a conclusion reinforced by the evolutionary power spectrum of the ice core δD record. The deuterium excess spectrum shows a concentration of variance at high periods, a result consistent with the interpretation of excess as an indicator of sea surface conditions. In contrast, the δD spectrum shows most of the variance concentrated in the lower periods.
Overall- and Disease-Specific Survival in Prostata Cancer: Too Long to Wait?

There is a substantial body of evidence supporting the efficacy of primary radiotherapy in men with prostate cancer. Unfortuantely, and especially men with prognostic high risk prostate cancer will experience undertreatment with fatal consequences in this population. On the other hand, low risk patients should benefit from diagnostic breakthroughs achieved by modern staging techniques and optimised treatment developments, sparing these men for unnecessary side effects and harms. It is up to the uro-oncologic community to encourage clinical randomised trials comparing radiotherapy with surgery to improve the disease-specific survival and overall outcome in these patients.
Structure-Property Relations in Flexible Thermotropic Mesophase Polymers: I. Phase Transitions in Polyesters Based on the Azoxybenzene Mesogen

Phase transitions in thermotropic nematic and cholesteric main chain polyesters were investigated by polarizing microscopy and differential scanning calorimetry. The polymers were formed by condensation of 4, 4′-dihydroxybenzene and 2, 2′-dimethy1–4, 4′dihydroxyazoxybenzene with various diacid chlorides acting as flexible spacer groups. Polydisperse homopolymers and copolymers, sharp fractions of homopolymers and mixtures of polydisperse polymers with a low mass mesogen were investigated. Supercooling at the mesophase-isotropic and solid-mesophase transitions, sharpness of the nematic-isotropic transition (range of N+I biphase), polymer crystallization from the mesophase melt, and enhancement of crystallinity upon addition of a low mass nematic, were studied.
Increasing the precision of gene editing in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo

New gene editing tools like CRISPR-Cas9 enable precision genome engineering within cell lines, primary cells, and model organisms, with some formulations now entering the clinic. "Precision" applies to various aspects of gene editing, and can be tailored for each application. Here we review recent advances in four types of precision in gene editing: 1) increased DNA cutting precision (e.g., on-target:off-target nuclease specificity), 2) increased on-target knock-in of sequence variants and transgenes (e.g., increased homology-directed repair), 3) increased transcriptional control of edited genes, and 4) increased specificity in delivery to a specific cell or tissue. Design of next-generation gene and cell therapies will likely exploit a combination of these advances.
DNA methylation controls metastasis-suppressive 14q32-encoded miRNAs

Expression of 14q32-encoded miRNAs is a favorable prognostic factor in patients with metastatic cancer. In this study, we used genomic inhibition of DNA methylation through disruption of DNA methyltransferases DNMT1 and DNMT3B and pharmacologic inhibition with 5-Aza-2'-deoxycytidine (5-Aza-dC, decitabine) to demonstrate that DNA methylation predominantly regulates expression of metastasis-suppressive miRNAs in the 14q32 cluster. DNA demethylation facilitated CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF) recruitment to the maternally expressed gene 3 differentially methylated region (MEG3-DMR), which acts as a cis-regulatory element for 14q32 miRNA expression. 5-Aza-dC activated demethylation of the MEG3-DMR and expression of 14q32 miRNAs, which suppressed adhesion, invasion, and migration (AIM) properties of metastatic tumor cells. Cancer cells with MEG3-DMR hypomethylation exhibited constitutive expression of 14q32 miRNAs and resistance to 5-Aza-dC-induced suppression of AIM. Expression of methylation-dependent 14q32 miRNAs suppressed metastatic colonization in preclinical models of lung and liver metastasis and correlated with improved clinical outcomes in patients with metastatic cancer. These findings implicate epigenetic modification via DNA methylation in the regulation of metastatic propensity through miRNA networks and identify a previously unrecognized action of decitabine on the activation of metastasis-suppressive miRNAs. SIGNIFICANCE: This study investigates epigenetic regulation of metastasis-suppressive miRNAs and the effect on metastasis.
A $2 Bill or Two $1 Bills: An Experiment That Challenges Standard Protocol.

The $2 bill is commonly used as a prepaid incentive in survey administration. Despite the widespread use of this incentive, there is no peer-reviewed research into how providing a single $2 bill ra...
Arachnid: Generalized Visual Data Cleaning

Data cleaning is an inherently exploratory and visual process. Visualizations help analysts spot errors or surprising patterns/relationships that would otherwise go unnoticed. Once identified, the user will want to execute transformations in an attempt to correct these errors. However, alternating between the contexts of transforming and visualizing the data can be tedious. As a result, there is a need for data to be visualized and cleaned on the fly. Current solutions address this issue by allowing users to specify data cleaning transformations through a limited set of interactions that can directly manipulate visualizations pre-defined by the cleaning system itself. These visualizations are either generated as a table (OpenRefine, Wrangler, Microsoft Excel), or as bar graphs (Tableau Prep). By mapping a narrow set of mouse-based interactions to data cleaning specifications, these systems allow users to intuitively and quickly transform data within a constrained set of use cases. However, in order to gain a comprehensive visual understanding of the data and to quickly clean it for additional use cases, analysts often need to generate multiple visualizations from a set of common types and interactively execute data transformations beyond those supported by current cleaning software. Thus, we propose Arachnid as a novel system that builds upon existing work in generalized selection and direct manipulation to introduce a model for translating mouse-based interactions on common types of user-defined visualizations into an enhanced set of data cleaning transformations.
Evaluation of SCEC CyberShake Ground Motions for Engineering Practice

This paper evaluates CyberShake (version 15.12) ground motions for potential application to high-rise building design in the Los Angeles region by comparing them against recordings from past earthq...
The platform and the bricoleur—Improvisation and smart city initiatives in Indonesia

This article investigates the design and evolution of smart city platforms in the global south using the Indonesian cities of Jakarta and Surabaya as case studies. While smart city projects are oft...
Biogeography-Based Optimization and Support Vector Regression for Freeway Travel Time Prediction and Feature Selection

As travelers make their choices based on travel time, its prior information can be helpful for them in making more informed travel decisions. To achieve this goal, travel time prediction models have been proposed in literature, but identification of important predictors has not received much attention. Identification of important predictors reduces dimensions of input data, which not only lessens computational load, but also provides better understanding of underlying relationship between important predictors and travel time. Moreover, collection of only important predictors can lead to a significant equipment savings in data collection. Therefore, this study proposes a hybrid approach for feature selection (identifying important predictors) along with developing a robust freeway travel time prediction model. A framework integrating biogeography-based optimization (BBO) and support vector regression (SVR) has been developed. It was validated by predicting travel time at 36.1 km long segment of National Taiwan Freeway No. 1. The proposed hybrid approach is able to develop a prediction model with only six predictors, which is found to have accuracy equivalent to a stand-alone SVR prediction model developed with all forty three predictors.
Seasonal Influenza: The challenges of vaccine strain selection

New measures of influenza virus fitness could improve vaccine strain selection through more accurate forecasts of the evolution of the virus.
Scalable Deep-Learning-Accelerated Topology Optimization for Additively Manufactured Materials.

Topology optimization (TO) is a popular and powerful computational approach for designing novel structures, materials, and devices. Two computational challenges have limited the applicability of TO to a variety of industrial applications. First, a TO problem often involves a large number of design variables to guarantee sufficient expressive power. Second, many TO problems require a large number of expensive physical model simulations, and those simulations cannot be parallelized. To address these issues, we propose a general scalable deep-learning (DL) based TO framework, referred to as SDL-TO, which utilizes parallel schemes in high performance computing (HPC) to accelerate the TO process for designing additively manufactured (AM) materials. Unlike the existing studies of DL for TO, our framework accelerates TO by learning the iterative history data and simultaneously training on the mapping between the given design and its gradient. The surrogate gradient is learned by utilizing parallel computing on multiple CPUs incorporated with a distributed DL training on multiple GPUs. The learned TO gradient enables a fast online update scheme instead of an expensive update based on the physical simulator or solver. Using a local sampling strategy, we achieve to reduce the intrinsic high dimensionality of the design space and improve the training accuracy and the scalability of the SDL-TO framework. The method is demonstrated by benchmark examples and AM materials design for heat conduction. The proposed SDL-TO framework shows competitive performance compared to the baseline methods but significantly reduces the computational cost by a speed up of around 8.6x over the standard TO implementation.
Conserved proline residues in the coiled coil-OB domain linkers of Rpt proteins facilitate eukaryotic proteasome base assembly.

The proteasome is a large protease complex that degrades many different cellular proteins. In eukaryotes, the 26S proteasome contains six different subunits of the ATPases associated with diverse cellular activities family, Rpt1–Rpt6, which form a hexameric ring as part of the base subcomplex that drives unfolding and translocation of substrates into the proteasome core. Archaeal proteasomes contain only a single Rpt-like ATPases associated with diverse cellular activities ATPase, the proteasome-activating nucleotidase, which forms a trimer of dimers. A key proteasome-activating nucleotidase proline residue (P91) forms cis- and trans-peptide bonds in successive subunits around the ring, allowing efficient dimerization through upstream coiled coils. However, the importance of the equivalent Rpt prolines for eukaryotic proteasome assembly was unknown. Here we showed that the equivalent proline is highly conserved in Rpt2, Rpt3, and Rpt5, and loosely conserved in Rpt1, in deeply divergent eukaryotes. Although in no case was a single Pro-to-Ala substitution in budding yeast strongly deleterious to growth, the rpt5–P76A mutation decreased levels of the protein and induced a mild proteasome assembly defect. Moreover, the rpt2–P103A, rpt3–P93A, and rpt5–P76A mutations all caused synthetic defects when combined with deletions of specific proteasome base assembly chaperones. The rpt2–P103A rpt5–P76A double mutant had uniquely strong growth defects attributable to defects in proteasome base formation. Several Rpt subunits in this mutant formed aggregates that were cleared, at least in part, by Hsp42 chaperone-mediated protein quality control. We propose that the conserved Rpt linker prolines promote efficient 26S proteasome base assembly by facilitating specific ATPase heterodimerization.
TV Ad Viewability: How Viewer Tuning, Presence and Attention Respond to Ad Content

Can TV ads effectively "cut through the clutter?" New measurement technology quantifies TV viewer tuning, presence and attention, enabling new distinctions between TV ads that are viewable and TV ads that are actually viewed. We use broadcast networks' verifiably quasi-random ordering of ads within commercial breaks to identify causal effects of ads on viewing behaviors among 4.26 million advertising exposures. We supplement ad metadata with three sets of machine-coded ad content features for 6,650 frequent ads. Recreational product ads preserve audience tuning and presence. Prescription drug advertisements decrease tuning and presence, with larger audience losses during drug ads treating more prevalent and severe conditions. Viewer attention decreases with ad duration and during the first three slots in the break. Effects of ad content on viewer attention are near zero, calling into question whether advertisers can use ad content to attract audience attention.
Invasive Plant Management Creates Ecological Traps for Snakes

Exotic plant management often begins only after introduced taxa become widespread and problematic. Control efforts at this stage have a higher potential to lead to unintended outcomes in native systems. We explored the impacts of ongoing invasive plant management on a native ectotherm, the copperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix), in a landscape heavily impacted by multiple nonnative plant species. We found that habitats undergoing invasive plant control are preferred by snakes over other available habitats, but these individuals are at greater risk of injury and mortality owing to policy-driven methods of control. At the same time, we show that management can reverse invader impacts, notably reclaiming thermoregulatory opportunities for ectotherms, thus offering benefits as well as challenges for such animals. This introduces a key dilemma for conservation as invasive plant management can reclaim critical resources while policy-driven control methods can undermine the success of these efforts. We outline several simple and direct solutions that may easily be incorporated into management plans.
The Contribution of Colour to Motion

Anstis (1970) and Ramachandran and Gregory (1978) showed that the motion normally visible in random dot kinematograms could not be seen when the dots were presented in equiluminous colours. Based on this evidence, Ramachandran and Gregory suggested that colour and motion analyses were functionally independent and that the motion pathway responded only to luminance information. However, more recent studies (Cavanagh, Tyler & Favreau, 1984; Cavanagh, Boeglin & Favreau, 1985; Cavanagh & Favreau, 1985; Derrington & Badcock, 1985; Gorea & Pappathomas, 1989; Mullen & Baker, 1985) have shown that this may not be the case. There is a motion response, although somewhat degraded, to equiluminous coloured stimuli. In this chapter, I shall review several experiments that have examined the contribution of colour to motion in an attempt to identify whether the contribution is mediated through the magnocellular (M) or parvocellular (P) stream.
HMGA proteins: multifaceted players in nuclear function

Publisher Summary This chapter reviews the high mobility group (HMG) proteins that are the most abundant of the chromatin proteins. The HMGA subfamily is best understood in terms of the multiple roles these proteins play in the nucleus. Members of the HMGA group of proteins and the genes that code for them possess a unique constellation of biochemical, biophysical, and biological attributes that enables them to participate in a diverse variety of activities not normally accessible to more specialized components of the nucleus. A constellation of three characteristics distinguishes HMGA proteins from almost all other cellular proteins: (1) the AT-hook DNA-binding motif that recognizes the structure rather than the nucleotide sequence of substrates; (2) an unusually high degree of intrinsic flexibility that allows the proteins to undergo disordered-to-ordered structural transitions as part of their biological function; and (3) complex patterns of secondary modifications that appear to function as a biochemical code to precisely regulate the biological activity of the protein in vivo . The chapter discusses the way these features enable proteins to participate in diverse processes such as chromosome dynamics during the cell cycle, the transcriptional regulation of genes, and both global and localized chromatin remodeling events.
Hydrogen sulfide activates Ca2+ sparks to induce cerebral arteriole dilatation

Hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) is a gaseous vasodilator produced by endothelial cells. Mechanisms by which H₂S induces vasodilatation are unclear. We tested the hypothesis that H₂S dilates cerebral arterioles by modulating local and global intracellular Ca²⁺ signals in smooth muscle cells. High-speed confocal imaging revealed that Na₂S, an H₂S donor, increased Ca²⁺ spark frequency ∼1.43-fold and decreased global intracellular Ca²⁺ concentration ([Ca²⁺]i) by ∼37 nM in smooth muscle cells of intact piglet cerebral arterioles. In contrast, H₂S did not alter Ca²⁺ wave frequency. In voltage-clamped (-40 mV) cells, H₂S increased the frequency of iberiotoxin-sensitive, Ca²⁺ spark-induced transient Ca²⁺-activated K⁺ (KCa) currents ∼1.83-fold, but did not alter the amplitude of these events. H₂S did not alter the activity of single KCa channels recorded in the absence of Ca²⁺ sparks in arteriole smooth muscle cells. H₂S increased SR Ca²⁺ load ([Ca²⁺]SR), measured as caffeine (10 and 20mM)-induced [Ca²⁺]i transients, ∼1.5-fold. H₂S hyperpolarized (by ∼18 mV) and dilated pressurized (40 mmHg) cerebral arterioles. Iberiotoxin, a KCa channel blocker, reduced H₂S-induced hyperpolarization by ∼51%. Iberiotoxin and ryanodine, a ryanodine receptor channel inhibitor, reduced H₂S-induced vasodilatation by ∼38 and ∼37%, respectively. In summary, our data indicate that H₂S elevates [Ca²⁺]SR, leading to Ca²⁺ spark activation in cerebral arteriole smooth muscle cells. The subsequent elevation in transient KCa current frequency leads to membrane hyperpolarization, a reduction in global [Ca²⁺]i and vasodilatation.
Risk assessment for transmission of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease by transfusion of red blood cells in the United States.

Background Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) is transmitted by blood transfusion. To mitigate the risk of transfusion-transmitted vCJD (TTvCJD), the US Food and Drug Administration has recommended deferral of potential at-risk blood donors, but some risk remains. We describe a quantitative risk assessment to estimate residual, postdeferral TTvCJD risk in the United States. Study Design and Methods We assumed that certain US donors may have acquired vCJD infection through dietary exposure to the agent of bovine spongiform encephalopathy during time spent in the United Kingdom, France, and other countries in Europe. Because of uncertainties regarding the prevalence of vCJD in the United Kingdom, we used both low and high UK prevalence estimates as model inputs. The model estimated the risk of infection from a transfusion in year 2011 and the cumulative risk from 1980 through 2011. The model was validated by comparing the model predictions with reported cases of vCJD. Results Using the low UK prevalence estimate, the model predicted a mean risk of 1 in 134 million transfusions, zero TTvCJD infections acquired in the year 2011, and zero cumulative clinical TTvCJD cases for the period spanning 1980 to 2011. With the high UK prevalence estimate, the model predicted a mean risk of 1 in 480,000 transfusions, six infections for 2011, and nine cumulative clinical cases from 1980 to 2011. Conclusions Model validation exercises indicated that predictions based on the low prevalence estimate are more consistent with clinical cases actually observed to date, implying that the risk, while highly uncertain, is likely very small.
Multiwall carbon nanotubes enhance the fatigue performance of physiologically maintained methyl methacrylate–styrene copolymer

Abstract The introduction of multiwall carbon nanotube (MWCNT)–polymer composites ushered in fresh opportunities for engineering new materials with high performance capabilities. The nanoscale dimensions and extraordinary properties of MWCNTs directly address the sub-micron damage mechanisms (such as crazing) that culminate during the fatigue failure of most polymers. The large traditional graphite fibers commonly used in composite materials do little to address these microscopic mechanisms of cyclic deformation; thus, MWCNTs offer new promise for improving the fatigue performance of polymer systems where the previous successes of traditional graphite fibers were limited. To test this theory, small amounts (0–10 wt%) of MWCNTs were added to methyl methacrylate–styrene copolymer (MMA-co-Sty), a chief component of commercial bone cement. The resulting nanocomposites were tested to failure in fully reversed tension–compression fatigue in a 37 °C saline environment. Testing at 20 MPa peak stress showed that adding 2 wt% and 5 wt% MWCNTs enhanced the fatigue performance of MMA-co-Sty by 565% and 592%, respectively. These results clearly demonstrate that MWCNTs can substantially enhance the fatigue performance of this polymer. Furthermore, a comparison of these results with the literature shows that MWCNTs are better candidates than traditional graphite fibers for improving the fatigue performance of polymer systems.
Paradigm lost: A perspective on the design and interpretation of regenerative endodontic research

Regenerative endodontic procedures are rapidly gaining the attention of clinicians and investigators alike. However, it is often challenging to understand various regenerative studies and to interpret their results. The present review addresses this problem by focusing on recent strategies for developing standardized clinical protocols, understanding the full spectrum of clinical and translational research and its relationship to selection of proper outcome measures, as well as reviewing the fundamental role of paradigms in designing and interpreting regenerative studies.
Insect metabolism of a phenyl epoxygeranyl ether juvenoid and related compounds

Abstract 1-(4′-Ethylphenoxy)-3,7-dimethyl-6,7-epoxy- trans -2-octene (the ethyl-epoxide), a potent insect morphogenetic agent, is converted to 6,7-diol and other derivatives in living cockroaches and mealworms. Enzyme preparations of these organisms, and of houseflies and several other insect species, also carry out these hydration and/or oxidation reactions. In addition, housefly microsomes epoxidize the ethyl-epoxide to a diepoxide. The diepoxide and diol are then converted by microsomes to at least six cyclic diols, probably via an epoxy-diol intermediate, the major ones being the cis - and trans -tetrahydrofurandiol derivatives. The metabolites formed by these reactions have little or no morphogenetic activity in Tenebrio assays. Attempts to find potent inhibitors for housefly epoxide hydratases were unsuccessful. The corresponding ethylphenyl geranyl ether is epoxidized by housefly microsomes, forming the more morphogenetically active ethyl-epoxide, but the major reaction is oxidation on the geranyl moiety to an unidentified olefinic carboxylic acid. The chemical modifications needed for improved stability and morphogenetic activity in this juvenoid series depend on the insect species and strain and the relative activities of their enzymes involved in various inactivation pathways.