cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Specificity of larval settlement of the Caribbean Orange Icing Sponge, Mycale laevis

The Caribbean sponge Mycale laevis is often found growing in close proximity to living scleractinian corals. This commonly observed sponge–coral association has been considered a mutualism, with the coral providing substratum for the sponge, and the sponge protecting the coral skeleton from boring organisms. We examined the specificity of sponge recruitment to live corals, expecting a positive and specific settlement response if a mutualism exists. Benthic surveys conducted off Key Largo, Florida, and Bocas del Toro, Panama, revealed that individuals of M. laevis grew on substrata that included dead coral and other species of sponges. Selectivity analysis indicated that at three of the four survey sites, M. laevis was not randomly distributed, but associated with live corals more frequently than expected from proportional coral cover. However, settlement assays demonstrated that larvae of M. laevis did not preferentially respond to the presence of live coral. We have previously demonstrated that adults of M. laevis are chemically undefended and readily eaten by spongivorous fishes unless protected by adjacent substrata such as live corals. In overfished areas, where spongivore density is low, the sponge is not selectively distributed near corals. Initial results of settlement experiments with different substrata suggested that larvae of M. laevis responded positively to the presence of the chemically defended sponge Amphimedon compressa, perhaps indicating an associational defense. Further experiments revealed that larvae were reacting to artificially high concentrations of exudates from cut surfaces of Am. compressa; settlement was not enhanced in response to healed pieces of Am. compressa. In addition, the larvae of M. laevis did not selectively respond to live coral or to chemically defended heterospecifics. These results indicate that the commonly observed proximity of M. laevis to live corals is not driven by larval settlement behavior, but instead by post-settlement mortality due to predation.
The changing gender contract as the engine of work-and-family policies

Abstract This paper shifts the comparative analysis of gender and welfare states from a focus on differences to a search for common features. The rise in women's labor force participation and resulting tensions between time allocated to work and to caregiving have led to a search for policies to reconcile productive and reproductive roles and a quest for gender equality in work and family life. Two questions result: first, why are structural changes in postindustrial society associated with efforts to increase the compatibility of domestic and market roles? And second, how and why are work and family restructuring and related social policies linked to a more egalitarian gender contract? Parsons' AGIL paradigm of evolutionary change suggests four functional exigencies that pull the various components of work-and-family policy in the direction of gender equality: (1) working-time policies promote adaptation to new demands; (2) equal employment opportunity and provision of child and elderly care promote role...
The 1953 symposium on tropospheric wave propagation within the horizon at the U. S. Navy Electronics Laboratory

A symposium on "Tropospheric Wave Propagation Within the Horizon" was convened at the U. S. Navy Electronics Laboratory during March 30-April 2, 1953, under the chairmanship of Dr. Charles R. Burrows. There were three sessions, devoted respectively to the effects of rough terrain, to the effects of atmospheric refraction and to propagation phenomena arising from combination of these effects.
Geostatistical Analysis of the Small-Scale Distribution of European Corn Borer (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) Larvae and Damage in Whorl Stage Corn

The small-scale spatial distribution of European corn borer, Ostrinia nubilalis (Hub- ner), larvae and damage in whorl stage corn, Zea mays L., was characterized using geostatistics. Spatial distribution of O. nubilalis larval feeding damage was studied at Clay Center, North Platte, and Concord, NE, during JuneÐJuly 1992Ð1994, and spatial distribution of O. nubilalis larvae and damage was studied at Clay Center in June 1997. Semivariograms were calculated to model the change in spatial correlation with increasing distance between samples. Spatial distribution of larval damage during 1992Ð1994 was best described using a spherical model. Damage was spatially correlated among plants at distances up to 2.84 m apart. The spatial distribution of larvae in 1997 was best described using an exponential model for three of seven data sets, a spherical model for one of seven data sets and no model Þt three of seven data sets. Larvae were spatially correlated among plants at distances up to 3.05 m apart. These data have implications for developing sampling plans for management of O. nubilialis, and for site-speciÞc agriculture.
Improvement in B1+ Homogeneity and Average Flip Angle Using Dual-Source Parallel RF Excitation for Cardiac MRI in Swine Hearts

Cardiac MRI may benefit from increased polarization at high magnetic field strength of 3 Tesla but is challenged by increased field inhomogeneity. Initial human studies have shown that the radiofrequency (RF) excitation field (B1+) used for signal excitation in the heart is both inhomogeneous and significantly lower than desired, potentially leading to image artifacts and biased quantitative measures. Recently, multi-channel transmit systems have been introduced allowing localized patient specific RF shimming based on acquired calibration B1+ maps. Some prior human studies have shown lower than desired mean flip angles in the hearts of large patients even after RF shimming. Here, 100 cardiac B1+ map pairs before and after RF shimming were acquired in 55 swine. The mean flip angle and the coefficient of variation (CV) of the flip angle in the heart were determined before and after RF shimming. Mean flip angle, CV, and RF shim values (power ratio and phase difference between the two transmit channels) were tested for correlation with cross sectional body area and the Right-Left/Anterior-Posterior ratio. RF shimming significantly increased the mean flip angle in swine heart from 74.4±6.7% (mean ± standard deviation) to 94.7±4.8% of the desired flip angle and significantly reduced CV from 0.11±0.03 to 0.07±0.02 (p<<1e-10 for both). These results compare well with several previous human studies, except that the mean flip angle in the human heart only improved to 89% with RF shimming, possibly because the RF shimming routine does not consider safety constraints in very large patients. Additionally, mean flip angle decreased and CV increased with larger cross sectional body area, however, the RF shimming parameters did not correlate with cross sectional body area. RF shim power ratio correlated weakly with Right-Left/Anterior-Posterior ratio but phase difference did not, further substantiating the need for subject specific cardiac RF shimming.
Relating plaque morphology to respiratory syncytial virus subgroup, viral load, and disease severity in children

Relating plaque morphology to respiratory syncytial virus subgroup, viral load, and disease severity in children
History of Subsection Ce: Insect Pathology and Microbial Control

Insect Pathology and its associated areas have in the past been considered a portion of classical biological control within the Entomological Society of America. A majority of the submitted papers concerning insect pathology and microbial control were presented under Subsection Ca, Biological Control. In the early 1980s a few insect pathologists in Section C initiated a drive to develop a subsection called “Insect Pathology and Microbial Control.” The purpose of this effort was to provide the necessary and essential identity for the growing discipline. Section C considered this proposal for a number of years, and it was generally supported by its members. However, it was not seriously considered by the Governing Board until a petition was developed to elevate the area of insect pathology and microbial control to a subsectional status. The petition contained more than 400 member signatures, and in 1982 the Governing Board finally approved the addition of this subsection.
Analysis of irradiated U-7wt%Mo dispersion fuel microstructures using automated image processing

Abstract The High Performance Research Reactor Fuel Development (HPPRFD) program is responsible for developing low enriched uranium (LEU) fuel substitutes for high performance reactors fueled with highly enriched uranium (HEU) that have not yet been converted to LEU. The uranium-molybdenum (U-Mo) fuel system was selected for this effort. In this study, fission gas pore segmentation was performed on U-7wt%Mo dispersion fuel samples at three separate fission densities using an automated image processing interface developed in MATLAB. Pore size distributions were attained that showed both expected and unexpected fission gas behavior. In general, it proved challenging to identify any dominant trends when comparing fission bubble data across samples from different fuel plates due to varying compositions and fabrication techniques. The results exhibited fair agreement with the fission density vs. porosity correlation developed by the Russian reactor conversion program.
Strukturelle und antigenische Heterogenität von Lambda-Bence-Jones-Proteinen

Es existieren wenigstens vier, moglicherweise funf Klassen menschlicher Immunoglobuline (Ig): Gamma-G, Gamma-A, Gamma-M, Gamma-D und Gamma-E. Ig-Molekule setzen sich aus zwei Typen von Polypeptidketten zusammen. Der eine Typ, die L (leichte)-Kette, ist allen Ig gemein. Der andere, die H(schwere)-Kette, unterscheidet sich von Klasse zu Klasse und ist Trager der klassenspezifischen Eigenschaften. Die L-Ketten lassen sich in zwei grosere Gruppen unterteilen, bekannt als Kappa und Lambda (bzw. Typ K und Typ L). Die Population der Ig eines jeden normalen Individuums enthalt sowohl Kappa-als auch LambdaPolypeptidketten. Die bevorzugt beim Myelom und beim M. Waldenstrom im Harn ausgeschiedenen Bence-Jones-Proteine (BJP) sind mit den L-Ketten der korrespondierenden Serum-Paraproteine identisch und entweder vom Typ K (Kappa) oder Typ L (Lambda).
RBIR-based Physical Layer Abstraction

Physical layer abstraction is an important method to evaluate the instant wireless channel quality.Its performance directly influence the results of analysis and simulation of the wireless system.Traditional physical layer abstraction uses the mean signal to noise ratio as the indicator of wireless channel quality to evaluate channel quality.In this paper,RBIR-based physical layer abstraction is proposed to enhance physical layer abstraction with the help of the mean mutual information.Firstly we compute the mean mutual information for all sub-carriers in the wireless resource block,which is referred to RBIR;then we can obtain the instant channel quality from RBIR.Simulation results indicate that the proposed algorithm can evaluate channel quality more accurately for the mixed channel model of ITU PedA 3km·h-1-ITU PedB 3 km·h-1-ITU VA 30 km·h-1,various modulation and coding schemes and ML/MMSE detection under the conditions of the WiMax Ⅱ DL system.
The role of discrimination in alcohol-related problems in samples of heavy drinking HIV-negative and positive men who have sex with men (MSM)

Abstract Background Heavy drinking is a major public health concern among men who have sex with men (MSM), as it is in many other populations. However, the consequences of heavy drinking among MSM may be particularly severe, especially for sexual risk behavior, due to the relatively high prevalence of HIV. Minority stress models suggest that, among members of marginalized groups, discrimination may be associated with heavier alcohol use as these individuals increasingly drink to cope with such experiences. Past studies have provided some support for this association. However, they have not explored the role other drinking motives play, how these relationships might differ across MSM who are HIV-positive versus HIV-negative, or how this relationship extends to alcohol-related problems. Methods In this study, we used path modeling to explore associations between perceived discrimination experiences, drinking motives, alcohol use, and alcohol-related problems in samples of heavy drinking MSM with and without HIV. Results In both HIV-negative and positive MSM, perceived discrimination was significantly positively associated with alcohol problems. Drinking to cope appears to play an important role in this relationship in both samples. Reporting more discrimination experiences was associated with drinking more frequently for sexual reasons among both groups. While the total effect of drinking to facilitate sex was positively associated with alcohol-related problems, sex motives did not mediate associations between discrimination and either drinking outcome. Conclusion These results suggest that interventions addressing discrimination and specific drinking motivations may be useful in helping reduce alcohol use of heavy drinking MSM.
Structure-dependent vibrational dynamics of Mg(BH4)2 polymorphs probed with neutron vibrational spectroscopy and first-principles calculations

The structure-dependent vibrational properties of different Mg(BH4)2 polymorphs (α, β, γ, and δ phases) were investigated with a combination of neutron vibrational spectroscopy (NVS) measurements and density functional theory (DFT) calculations, with emphasis placed on the effects of the local structure and orientation of the BH4− anions. DFT simulations closely match the neutron vibrational spectra. The main bands in the low-energy region (20–80 meV) are associated with the BH4− librational modes. The features in the intermediate energy region (80–120 meV) are attributed to overtones and combination bands arising from the lower-energy modes. The features in the high-energy region (120–200 meV) correspond to the BH4− symmetric and asymmetric bending vibrations, of which four peaks located at 140, 142, 160, and 172 meV are especially intense. There are noticeable intensity distribution variations in the vibrational bands for different polymorphs. This is explained by the differences in the spatial distribution of BH4− anions within various structures. An example of the possible identification of products after the hydrogenation of MgB2, using NVS measurements, is presented. These results provide fundamental insights of benefit to researchers currently studying these promising hydrogen-storage materials.
Discovery of a proteinaceous cellular receptor for a norovirus

Noroviruses (NoVs) are a leading cause of gastroenteritis globally, yet the host factors required for NoV infection are poorly understood. We identified host molecules that are essential for murine NoV (MNoV)–induced cell death, including CD300lf as a proteinaceous receptor. We found that CD300lf is essential for MNoV binding and replication in cell lines and primary cells. Additionally, Cd300lf −/− mice are resistant to MNoV infection. Expression of CD300lf in human cells breaks the species barrier that would otherwise restrict MNoV replication. The crystal structure of the CD300lf ectodomain reveals a potential ligand-binding cleft composed of residues that are critical for MNoV infection. Therefore, the presence of a proteinaceous receptor is the primary determinant of MNoV species tropism, whereas other components of cellular machinery required for NoV replication are conserved between humans and mice.
Risk Management for Aseptic Processing

gxpandjvt.com/bios Welcome to “The Aseptic Core.” This column discusses scientific and regulatory aspects of aseptic processing, with an emphasis on aseptic formulation and filling. This column has been developed with the intention of providing practical advice to professionals involved in the qualification of aseptic processes and the myriad support processes involved. The primary objective for this column: Useful information. Aseptic processing is one of the most challenging of all pharmaceutical manufacturing processes. It is also one of the most difficult to qualify processes because of the risk factors involved. Without aseptic processing, however, many life-saving treatments would not be possible—from vaccines against childhood diseases to cancer therapies to treatments for Hemophilia. Aseptic processing is a risky but necessary process. With that in mind, it is appropriate that the first topic for this column is “Risk Management for Aseptic Processes.” Future topics will include: Aseptic process simulations, clean room certification, environmental monitoring, aseptic gowning and gowning qualification, lyophilization, container and closure qualification, and sterile filtration. Reader comments, questions, and suggestions are needed to help us meet our objective for this column. Please e-mail your suggestions to shaigney@advanstar.com. KEY POINTS The following key points are discussed in this article:
SOME ASPECTS OF THE REACTION OF CENTRAL AND PERIPHERAL NORADRENERGIC NEURONS TO INJURY

Noradrenergic neurons of the central and peripheral nervous systems respond to axonal injury in qualitatively comparable ways. The anterograde reaction in the severed axons consists of a loss of the neurotransmitter norepinephrine (NE) and associated biosynthetic enzyme including tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), dopa-decarboxylase (DDC), and dopamine-β-hydroxylase (DBH). This results in a loss of the capacity of the terminals to synthesize, store, release, or inactivate by reuptake NE. In CNS the fall-off of NE and enzymes is retarded possibly as a consequence of survival of vesicular contents in glia. The retrograde reaction, in neurons which recover, consists initially of an increase in NE content and a variable increase of TH and DBH activities over 1–2 days. This is followed by a second stage characterized by a rapid fall in the quantities of enzyme protein and a more gradual drop in NE. This stage persists for weeks and parallels the development of regenerative sprouts from the injured axons in brain and periphery. In peripheral ganglia the morphological characteristics of chromatolysis appear along with evidence of enhanced lysosomal activity, a possible mechanism for regulating intraneuronal quantities of the enzyme and transmitter. In brain NE neurons show biochemical changes and sprouting without evident chromatolysis. The biochemical events in the reactive cell body in central neurons are reflected in uninjured (sustaining) collaterals. After weeks the neurons may return to normal. These findings lead to three general conclusions. Firstly, the reversible retrograde reaction of central noradrenergic neurons shares the biochemical and regenerative but not the morphological (chromatolytic) events with peripheral ganglion cells. This suggests, contrary to the widely held view, that intrinsic neurons of CNS may undergo the reversible biochemical events of the retrograde reaction, and these are intimately related to sprouting. Secondly that during the retrograde reaction the cell reorders priorities for protein biosynthesis favoring the production of proteins required for reconstitution of the cell surface at the expense of those required for function of the neuron as an excitable cell. Finally, the biochemical events triggered in a nerve cell by injury of axons in one area of brain may be signaled to other remote areas through sustaining collaterals. The significance of this remote transfer of neuronal activity might relate to the processes of transfer of functional activity from one brain area to another after injury leading thereby to physiological compensation.
Selective Catalytic Reduction over Cu/SSZ-13: Linking Homo- and Heterogeneous Catalysis.

Active centers in Cu/SSZ-13 selective catalytic reduction (SCR) catalysts have been recently identified as isolated Cu2+ and [CuII(OH)]+ ions. A redox reaction mechanism has also been established, where Cu ions cycle between CuI and CuII oxidation states during SCR reaction. While the mechanism for the reduction half-cycle (CuII → CuI) is reasonably well-understood, that for the oxidation half-cycle (CuI → CuII) remains an unsettled debate. Herein we report detailed reaction kinetics on low-temperature standard NH3-SCR, supplemented by DFT calculations, as strong evidence that the low-temperature oxidation half-cycle occurs with the participation of two isolated CuI ions via formation of a transient [CuI(NH3)2]+–O2–[CuI(NH3)2]+ intermediate. The feasibility of this reaction mechanism is confirmed from DFT calculations, and the simulated energy barrier and rate constants are consistent with experimental findings. Significantly, the low-temperature standard SCR mechanism proposed here provides full consiste...
Evaluating changes in brain vasculature of murine embryos in utero due to maternal alcohol consumption using optical coherence tomography

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) refers to the broad spectrum of developmental and behavioral effects caused due to prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE). Wide range of abnormalities vary depending on the amount of alcohol consumed and the period of consumption during gestation. PAE during early stages of pregnancy is very common. However a large number of women continue to consume alcohol even during the second trimester, a critical period for fetal neurogenesis and angiogenesis. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) has shown to be extremely useful in embryonic imaging. Our previous work showed that OCT is capable of quantitative assessment of ventriculomegaly caused by maternal alcohol consumption. Although structural changes and changes in blood flow in the fetal brain after maternal alcohol consumption have been studied, acute vasculature changes are not well documented. Speckle variance OCT (SVOCT), is a functional extension of OCT that has been used to study vasculature development in embryos. We use SVOCT, to detect vasculature changes in the embryonic brain in utero, minutes after maternal alcohol consumption.
The Impact of Social Protection on Resettlement of Displaced Persons: Evidence from Post‐Conflict Northern Uganda

Social protection is an action taken to reduce vulnerability and deprivation of households in times of need or disasters such as displacement by wars. This study investigates the impact of formal and informal social protection in the process of resettlement of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Northern Uganda. The data for the study come from a survey of randomly selected households which were still in the IDP camps and those that had resettled in their original homes. The methods of estimation applied are ordinary least squares, probit, logistic regressions and propensity score matching. The results show that formal social protection reduces the likelihood of resettlement, while informal social protection encourages it. Thus, there is a need to coordinate the informal and formal support systems when households in distress are being assisted. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Controlling Reaction Selectivity through the Surface Termination of Perovskite Catalysts

Although perovskites have been widely used in catalysis, tuning of their surface termination to control reaction selectivity has not been well established. In this study, we employed multiple surface-sensitive techniques to characterize the surface termination (one aspect of surface reconstruction) of SrTiO3 (STO) after thermal pretreatment (Sr enrichment) and chemical etching (Ti enrichment). We show, by using the conversion of 2-propanol as a probe reaction, that the surface termination of STO can be controlled to greatly tune catalytic acid/base properties and consequently the reaction selectivity over a wide range, which is not possible with single-metal oxides, either SrO or TiO2 . Density functional theory (DFT) calculations explain well the selectivity tuning and reaction mechanism on STO with different surface termination. Similar catalytic tunability was also observed on BaZrO3 , thus highlighting the generality of the findings of this study.
Introduction to Part III: Markers to mHealth Predictors

Given the ability to extract physiological and behavioral markers from continuous streams of sensor data, a key challenge is to convert the resulting marker sequences into predictions of risk for adverse outcomes, that can be used to inform interventions. The four articles in this part cover visualization, models for temporal data, and a case study on predicting high-stress events.
Selective Attention in Inattentional Blindness: Selection is Specific but Suppression is Not

When we selectively attend to one set of objects and ignore another, we often fail to notice unexpected events. The likelihood of noticing varies depending on the similarity of an unexpected object to other items in the display, a process thought to be controlled by the attention set that we create for the attended and ignored objects. It remains unclear, though, how attention sets are formed and structured. Do they enhance features of attended objects (“white”) and suppress features of ignored objects (“black”), or do they distinguish objects based on relations or categories (“darker” versus “lighter,” or “dark objects” versus “light objects”)? In previous work, these explanations are confounded; the objects would be partitioned into the same groups regardless the structure of the attention set. In the present three experiments, the attended or ignored set of objects was a constant color while the other set was variable. When people attended white and ignored a multicolored set of objects (Experiment 1), novel colors were suppressed just as much as display colors, suggesting nonselective filtering of nonwhite objects. When the color of one set of objects varied across displays but was constant within them (Experiments 2 and 3), we again found as much suppression for task-irrelevant and novel colors as for actively ignored ones. Whenever people ignored a set of objects that varied in color, they suppressed unexpected objects that matched the ignored colors and that differed from the actively ignored items on the critical trial. In contrast, when people attended a varying set, noticing was enhanced only for unexpected objects that matched the currently attended color. In this task, attentional filtering is category-based and did not depend on the features of the individual objects.
Status and Emotional Expression: The Influence of “Others” in Hierarchical Work Settings

Publisher Summary Regardless of whether the focus is on emotional labor that occurs at work or emotion work that occurs in more private sectors, emotion management has, for the most part, been limited to the cognitive strategies that individuals direct at themselves in order to bring about a desired feeling state in another. Less attention is paid to the more direct roles that others play. Since the release of the General Social Survey's emotion module, a handful of survey studies of emotion have revealed that others in the workplace may play an important role in these processes. Although studies based on surveys have particular advantages over other methods, extant survey data are necessarily limited by what they ask and do not ask. This chapter addresses some of the questions raised by recent quantitative work by revisiting a set of in-depth interviews to illustrate the utility of a more multi-method approach to the study of emotion. The analysis examines more reciprocal forms of emotion management that recur among actors of same or similar status in backstage areas of workplaces
Symptoms Reported by Frail Elderly Adults Independently Predict 30-Day Hospital Readmission or Emergency Department Care.

Objectives To assess the degree to which self‐reported symptoms predict unplanned readmission or emergency department (ED) care within 30 days of high‐risk, elderly adults enrolled in a posthospitalization care transition program (CTP). Design Retrospective cohort study. Setting Posthospitalization CTP at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, from January 1, 2013, through March 3, 2015. Participants Frail, elderly adults (N = 230; mean age 83.5 ± 8.3, 46.5% male). Measurements Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) and self‐reported symptoms, measured using the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (ESAS), were ascertained upon CTP enrollment. Results Mean CCI was 3.9 ± 2.3. Of 51 participants returning to the hospital within 30 days of discharge, 13 had ED visits, and 38 were readmitted. Age, sex, and CCI were not significantly different between returning and nonreturning participants, but returning participants were significantly more likely to report shortness of breath (P = .004), anxiety (P = .02), depression (P = .02), and drowsiness (P = .01). Overall ESAS score was also a significant predictor of hospital return (P = .01). Conclusion Four self‐reported symptoms and overall ESAS score, but not CCI, ascertained after hospital discharge were strong predictors of hospital return within 30 days. Including symptoms in risk stratification of high‐risk elderly adults may help target interventions and reduce readmissions.
Case of late-onset, relapsing surgical site infection related to a venous coupler placed during free flap reconstruction for major head and neck cancer.

Background Venous coupling devices are widely used during reconstructive surgery involving microvascular anastomosis but have not served as foreign bodies in head and neck surgical site infections. Methods We conducted a case report. Results A patient underwent resection and free flap reconstruction for recurrent tongue squamous cell carcinoma. She developed a neck abscess due to Streptococcus intermedius 7 weeks postoperatively, days after starting chemoradiotherapy. The surgical site infection healed with drainage and antibiotics. Two surgical site infection relapses due to S. intermedius occurred 3 and 8 weeks after completing radiation, the second relapse after a prolonged course of i.v. antibiotics. Surgical exploration revealed a venous coupler within granulation tissue. The device was removed and no further surgical site infection relapses occurred. Conclusion To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of a delayed-onset head and neck surgical site infection in which a venous coupler served as a foreign body. An infected foreign body should be suspected in relapsing surgical site infections due to a single organism.
Citizen-Politician Linkages in the Informal Sector in Kenya: When are Politicians Most Likely to be Responsive to Citizens?

Do politicians prefer to establish dyadic clientelistic linkages with citizens who are in groups or citizens who are not in groups? How do these preferences play out in the informal sector? These are important issues that are still largely unknown. There is a scarcity of theories on the nexus between the informal sector and politics in Africa that would help us understand such linkages. The informal sector is an important political and economic arena yet not so much is known about the nature of citizen-politician linkages in it. This study attempts to fill this void. It tries to find out the clientelistic linkages politicians prefer to establish by comparing the likelihood of two types of business owners getting private benefits from politicians: business owners who are in groups and those who are not. The findings show that the nature of dyadic linkages that politicians prefer to have with citizens are more complex than existing studies on clientelism have shown. The study shows that politicians not only prefer to have dyadic clientelistic linkages with individuals that they have face-to-face relationships with, but with those that are also members of a group. These are the business owners that are most likely to get private benefits from politicians.
438. Targeting HSV-1 Virions for Specific Binding to Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor-VIII on Tumor Cells

Oncolytic HSV vectors have shown promise for cancer therapy in preclinical animal models of glioma. Early phase human clinical trials have demonstrated that the use of these vectors as a therapy for recurrent malignant glioblastoma is safe without treatment-related severe adverse events and with some indication of efficacy. The safety and efficacy of oncolytic vectors should be enhanced by increasing infectivity via targeting to tumor-specific receptors. In order to target HSV-1 vectors to glial tumor cells, which typically express a mutant form of the EGFR (EGFRvIII), the virus envelope glycoprotein C (gC) was modified so as to incorporate a single chain antibody (scFv), designated MR1-1, that binds with high affinity to a novel epitope created by deletion/rearrangement in EGFRvIII. MR1-1 coding sequences were used to replace the gC sequence that normally recognizes heparan sulfate in the initial step in the natural binding of the virus to the cell surface. Wild-type and engineered HSV-1 virions expressing only modified gC were evaluated for differential infection of human glioma U87 cells and ones modified to express EGFRvIII receptors (U87EGFR) in culture. Virions bearing MR1-1-modified gC showed over 5-fold increased binding to and infection of cells expressing the EGFRvIII receptor as compared to receptor-deficient cells. Further, this MR1-1/EGFRvIII mediated infection was more efficient than that of virions expressing wild-type gC for both EGFRvIII positive and negative cells. This increased susceptibility of EGFRvIII+ cells for infection by MR1-1+ virions, as compared to wild-type virions, was also shown in subcutaneous tumors in vivo using a firefly luciferase reporter of virus infection. These data demonstrate that HSV-1 tropism can be manipulated so that virions recognize a cell specific binding site, and that this, in turn, can increase the infectivity of the virions for a specific cell type expressing the appropriate surface moiety. The retargeting of HSV virions to tumor cells should allow the use of lower vector doses to achieve greater oncolytic activity while decreasing toxicity to normal cells.
Cell Distribution and Segregation Phenomena During Blood Flow

Blood is the archetype of a biological complex fluid. It is complex in the microstructural and mechanical sense, as a multiphase non-Newtonian viscoelastic fluid, and also in the biological sense, as a tissue that has a wide range of functions from delivery of oxygen and nutrients to response to injury and inflammation. These forms of complexity are interconnected, as the physical nature of blood as a multiphase fluid is intimately related to its biological functions. In the present chapter, we summarize basic features of the structure and biology of blood as well as observations of its dynamics during flow in the body. Emphasis will be put on flow at small scales, where the particulate nature of blood as a suspension of many different types of cells becomes important both physically and functionally. The first part of the chapter describes the nature and biological functions of the various components of blood, as well as the distribution of these components in blood vessels. In particular, it has long been observed that the various cellular components of blood are distributed very nonuniformly, a phenomenon that is physiologically important as well as fascinating from the fluid-dynamical point of flow. The second part of the chapter focuses on computational and theoretical approaches for predicting and understanding the distribution and segregation of blood cells in flow. Various numerical methods are described, with a focus on one of the most widely used for multiphase small-scale flows, the boundary integral method. Computational results for model suspensions are presented that allow careful study of the basic mechanisms underlying segregation phenomena and a model framework is introduced that incorporates these mechanisms in an idealized way. This framework is a stepping stone toward a unified understanding of these segregation phenomena that will hopefully be useful in aiding the development of therapies to modify and exploit blood flow phenomena for disorders as varied as cancer, sickle cell disease, and hemorrhage.
Effects of 2-Oxoglutarate and the PII Homologues NifI1 and NifI2 on Nitrogenase Activity in Cell Extracts of Methanococcus maripaludis

To better understand switch-off in M. maripaludis, we assayed nitrogenase activity in crude cell extracts. Similar levels of activity, approximately 0.4 nmol C2H2 reduced min -1 mg protein -1 , were obtained in extracts from nitrogen fixing and switched-off cells. To determine if the NifI proteins had an effect on in vitro nitrogenase activity, the same experiments were performed with extracts from a ® nifI1nifI2 strain. Activity in this switch-off deficient strain was approximately 5-fold higher than in extracts from wild type cells, suggesting that the NifI proteins have a negative effect on nitrogenase activity. Similar results were obtained with extracts from single nifI deletion mutant strains, and extracts from a strain where these nifI deletion mutations were complemented had activity similar to extracts from wild type strains. This indicates that switch-off deficiency is correlated with increased in vitro nitrogenase activity. To
Statistical Characteristics of Breaking Waves

The modification of the shape of the wave spectrum in the high-frequency range and the amount of energy loss, due to wave breaking are examined. The original waves are assumed to be Gaussian, stationary, and of finite bandwidth. Breaking is assumed to occur when the vertical acceleration at any point on the surface reaches g/2. Based on the wave breaking model, an approximate but accurate spectrum of breaking waves and an exact expression of the amount of energy loss due to wave breaking are derived. It is shown that the spectrum which corresponds to minimum rate of energy loss has an upper limit proportional to in the high-frequency range.
Low irradiance multiphoton imaging with alloyed lanthanide nanocrystals.

Multiphoton imaging techniques that convert low-energy excitation to higher energy emission are widely used to improve signal over background, reduce scatter, and limit photodamage. Lanthanide-doped upconverting nanoparticles (UCNPs) are among the most efficient multiphoton probes, but even UCNPs with optimized lanthanide dopant levels require laser intensities that may be problematic. Here, we develop protein-sized, alloyed UCNPs (aUCNPs) that can be imaged individually at laser intensities >300-fold lower than needed for comparably sized doped UCNPs. Using single UCNP characterization and kinetic modeling, we find that addition of inert shells changes optimal lanthanide content from Yb3+, Er3+-doped NaYF4 nanocrystals to fully alloyed compositions. At high levels, emitter Er3+ ions can adopt a second role to enhance aUCNP absorption cross-section by desaturating sensitizer Yb3+ or by absorbing photons directly. Core/shell aUCNPs 12 nm in total diameter can be imaged through deep tissue in live mice using a laser intensity of 0.1 W cm-2.
Multi-view Representation Learning via Canonical Correlation Analysis for Dysarthric Speech Recognition

Although automatic speech recognition (ASR) has been commercially used for general public, it still does not perform sufficiently well for people with speech disorders (e.g., dysarthria). Multimodal ASR, which involves multiple sources of signals, has recently shown potential to improve the performance of dysarthric speech recognition. When multiple views (sources) of data (e.g., acoustic and articulatory) are available for training while only one view (e.g., acoustic) is available for testing, a better representation can be learned by simultaneously analyzing multiple sources of data. Although multi-view representation learning has recently used in normal speech recognition, it has rarely been studied in dysarthric speech recognition. In this paper, we investigate the effectiveness of multi-view representation learning via canonical correlation analysis (CCA) for dysarthric speech recognition. A representation of acoustic data is learned using CCA from the multi-view data (acoustic and articulatory). The articulatory data was simultaneously recorded with acoustic data using electromagnetic articulograph. Experimental evaluation on a database collected from nine patients with dysarthria due to Lou Gehrig’s disease demonstrated the effectiveness of the multi-view representation learning via CCA on deep neural network-based speech recognition systems.
Review-Mathematical Formulations of Electrochemically Gas-Evolving Systems

Electrochemically gas-evolving systems are utilized in alkaline water electrolysis, hydrogen production, and many other applications. To design and optimize these systems, high-fidelity models must account for electron-transfer, chemical reactions, thermodynamics, electrode porosity, and hydrodynamics as well as the interconnectedness of these phenomena. Further complicating these models is the production and presence of bubbles. Bubble nucleation naturally occurs due to the chemical reactions and impacts the reaction rate. Modeling bubble growth requires an accurate accounting of interfacial mass transfer. When the bubble becomes large, detachment occurs and the system is modeled as a two-phase flow where the bubbles can then impact material transport in the bulk. In this paper, we review the governing mathematical models of the physicochemical life cycle of a bubble in an electrolytic medium from a multiscale, multiphysics viewpoint. For each phase of the bubble life cycle, the prevailing mathematical formulations are reviewed and compared with particular attention paid to physicochemical processes and the impact the bubble. Through the review of a broad range of models, we provide a compilation of the current state of bubble modeling in electrochemically gas-evolving systems.
Hiding your criteria will never work.

In this era of managed care, the message has been that the health care industry has provided inappropriate or inefficient care, causing the ruination of medicine and ultimately of the U.S. economy. Published research data on small area analysis have demonstrated marked differences in utilization rates for the same surgical procedure in various locations. Researchers and others have logically surmised that criteria used by providers in recommending these procedures have also varied from location to location. Correction, therefore, will require attention to the establishment of logical and defensible criteria.
Sociological Perspectives on Racial Discrimination

As in economics, racial discrimination has long been a focus of research in sociology. Yet the disciplines traditionally have differed in how they approach the topic. While some studies in recent years show signs of cross-disciplinary influence, exposing more economists to sociological perspectives on racial discrimination would benefit both fields. We offer six propositions from the sociology of racial discrimination that we believe economists should note. We argue that independent of taste and statistical discrimination, economists should study institutional discrimination; that institutional discrimination can take at least two forms, organizational and legal; that in both forms the decisions of a contemporary actor to discriminate can be immaterial; that institutional discrimination is a vehicle through which past discrimination has contemporary consequences; that minor forms of everyday interpersonal discrimination can be highly consequential; and that whether actors perceive they have experienced discrimination deserves attention in its own right.
Men and women’s self-objectification, objectification of women, and sexist beliefs

Many studies have examined the consequences of being objectified by others and of self-objectification, but less attention has been given to those who objectify others. We therefore examined the re...
Intraoperative Thrombolysis of Massive Pulmonary Embolus During Spine Surgery: Case Report of Survival Complicated by Massive Bleeding and Review of the Literature.

Background Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a known risk of lumbar spinal fusion surgery that can lead to sudden and unexpected death. Treatment often involves systemic anticoagulation when the risk of potentially fatal hemodynamic deterioration is judged to outweigh the risk of epidural hematoma and paralysis. Acute massive PE with obstruction of more than 50% of the pulmonary arterial tree causes right heart failure, hypotension, and often rapid death, and may require aggressive medical intervention with thrombolytic agents, such as alteplase, although in the postoperative period this entails an extremely high risk of bleeding and the associated potential neurologic morbidity. Case Description We report the first case, to our knowledge, of intraoperative thrombolytic therapy during spine surgery in a 68-year-old woman who developed a massive PE with cardiac arrest while undergoing lumbar instrumented fusion surgery in the prone position and detail the postoperative course that was complicated by severe bleeding. Conclusions Our experience is that chemical thrombolysis can be a lifesaving option to address pending circulatory arrest, but that severe bleeding is a likely consequence. If used to treat an intraoperative emergency, a smaller than standard dose of thrombolytic should be considered.
Dynamic protozoan abundance of Coptotermes kings and queens during the transition from biparental to alloparental care

An incipient termite colony initially functions as a biparental family unit. The emergence of the first workers initiates the transition from biparental to alloparental care within a colony. During this transition, the number of protozoa harbored by Reticulitermes speratus (Kolbe) kings and queens is dynamic. In Coptotermes gestroi (Wasmann), the transition to alloparental care is completed by 150 days after colony foundation. In the present study, we quantified the protozoan abundance of C. gestroi and Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki kings and queens at ten time points during the transition from biparental to alloparental care (0–400 days post colony foundation). The protozoan abundance of C. gestroi and C. formosanus kings and queens peaked on either day 35 or 60 during the biparental care period, and then progressively decreased during the remainder of the study. By day 400 the protozoan abundance of kings and queens was either similar to or less than the abundance observed within unmated dealates. Both C. gestroi and C. formosanus kings and queens still harbored protozoa at day 150 even though the transition to alloparental care was completed by this time. On days 250 and 400 for C. formosanus, and on day 400 for C. gestroi, the protozoan abundance of kings was greater than the abundance of queens. These results indicate that alloparental care can become set within a colony prior to the loss of protozoa within the royal pair, and that queens lose their protozoa earlier than kings during incipient colony development.
A homeostatic interferon-lambda response to bacterial microbiota stimulates preemptive antiviral defense within discrete pockets of intestinal epithelium

Abstract Interferon-lambda (IFN-λ) protects intestinal epithelial cells (IECs) from enteric viruses by inducing expression of antiviral IFN-stimulated genes (ISGs). Here, we find that bacterial microbiota stimulate a homeostatic ISG signature in the intestine of specific pathogen-free mice. This homeostatic ISG expression is restricted to IECs, depends on IEC-intrinsic expression of IFN-λ receptor (Ifnlr1), and is associated with IFN-λ production by leukocytes. Strikingly, imaging of these homeostatic ISGs reveals localization to pockets of the epithelium and concentration in mature IECs. Correspondingly, a minority of mature IECs express these ISGs in public single-cell RNA sequencing datasets from mice and humans. Furthermore, the bacterial component, lipopolysaccharide, partially restores localized ISGs in mice lacking bacterial microbiota. Lastly, IECs lacking Ifnlr1 are hyper-susceptible to initiation of murine rotavirus infection. These observations indicate that bacterial microbiota stimulate ISGs in localized regions of the intestinal epithelium at homeostasis, thereby preemptively activating antiviral defenses in vulnerable IECs to improve host defense against enteric viruses.