cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Minimum distance estimation of the distribution functions of stochastically ordered random variables

Summary. Stochastic ordering of distributions can be a natural and minimal restriction in an estimation problem. Such restrictions occur naturally in several settings in medical research. The standard estimator in such settings is the nonparametric maximum likelihood estimator (NPMLE). The NPMLE is known to be biased, and, even when the empirical cumulative distribution functions nearly satisfy the stochastic orderings, the NPMLE and the empirical cumulative distribution functions may differ substantially. In many settings, this can make the NPMLE seem to be an unappealing estimator. As an alternative to the NPMLE, we propose a minimum distance estimator of distribution functions subject to stochastic ordering constraints. Consistency of the minimum distance estimator is proved, and superior performance is demonstrated through a simulation study. We demonstrate the use of the methodology to assess the reproducibility of gradings of nuclear sclerosis from fundus photographs.
Raman and Fluorescence Spectra of Size-Selected, Matrix-Isolated C14 and C18 Neutral Carbon Clusters

The surface plasmon polariton-enhanced Raman spectra of size-selected, matrix-isolated C14 neutral clusters are presented along with the calculated vibrational frequencies for the ring and linear chain isomers. The Raman spectra show resonance enhancement over a range of excitation wavelengths from 457.9 to 514.5 nm. The measured vibrational spectra are most consistent with the linear chain isomer. In addition, fluorescence spectra of neutral, mass-selected Cn (n = 14 and 18) clusters are presented. The isolated C14 clusters display strong fluorescence with vibrational structure between 520 and 700 nm. The origins of the observed fluorescence for both C14 and C18 are investigated using the ZINDO/S, CIS, and TD-B3LYP methods.
Domains of the Rsp5 Ubiquitin-Protein Ligase Required for Receptor-mediated and Fluid-Phase Endocytosis

Yeast Rsp5p and its mammalian homologue, Nedd4, are hect domain ubiquitin-protein ligases (E3s) required for the ubiquitin-dependent endocytosis of plasma membrane proteins. Because ubiquitination is sufficient to induce internalization, E3-mediated ubiquitination is a key regulatory event in plasma membrane protein endocytosis. Rsp5p is an essential, multidomain protein containing an amino-terminal C2 domain, three WW protein-protein interaction domains, and a carboxy-terminal hect domain that carries E3 activity. In this study, we demonstrate that Rsp5p is peripherally associated with membranes and provide evidence that Rsp5p functions as part of a multimeric protein complex. We define the function of Rsp5p and its domains in the ubiquitin-dependent internalization of the yeast alpha-factor receptor, Ste2p. Temperature-sensitive rsp5 mutants were unable to ubiquitinate or to internalize Ste2p at the nonpermissive temperature. Deletion of the entire C2 domain had no effect on alpha-factor internalization; however, point mutations in any of the three WW domains impaired both receptor ubiquitination and internalization. These observations indicate that the WW domains play a role in the important regulatory event of selecting phosphorylated proteins as endocytic cargo. In addition, mutations in the C2 and WW1 domains had more severe defects on transport of fluid-phase markers to the vacuole than on receptor internalization, suggesting that Rsp5p functions at multiple steps in the endocytic pathway.
Valuing Water with Gratitude and Restraint: A Catholic Theological Imperative

Water . . . Evolving life-forms crawled out of it hundreds of millions of years ago: • It enveloped our fetal state, like other mammals. • It suffuses every tissue of our bodies, constituting 70 percent of our total weight. • It quenches the thirst of humans, other animals, and plants. • It serves as a means through which we cook our food and cleanse our bodies. • It surrounds our drifting continents and forms streams, rivers, lakes, and seas. • It rises into the atmosphere and falls back to the land and seas, moderating the global climate and providing invaluable services to the diverse ecological systems that comprise our planet.
"Touching Triton": Building Student Understanding of Complex Disease Risk.

Life science classrooms often emphasize the exception to the rule when it comes to teaching genetics, focusing heavily on rare single-gene and Mendelian traits. By contrast, the vast majority of human traits and diseases are caused by more complicated interactions between genetic and environmental factors. Research indicates that students have a deterministic view of genetics, generalize Mendelian inheritance patterns to all traits, and have unrealistic expectations of genetic technologies. The challenge lies in how to help students analyze complex disease risk with a lack of curriculum materials. Providing open access to both content resources and an engaging storyline can be achieved using a “serious game” model. “Touching Triton” was developed as a serious game in which students are asked to analyze data from a medical record, family history, and genomic report in order to develop an overall lifetime risk estimate of six common, complex diseases. Evaluation of student performance shows significant learning gains in key content areas along with a high level of engagement.
Dyadic Dynamics in a Randomized Weight Loss Intervention

Despite health and economic burdens associated with overweight and obesity, long-term weight loss intervention efforts have been largely unsuccessful. Observations that weight status tends to cluster in social groups, and findings showing “ripple” effects of weight change within social clusters, raise questions about the impact of social relationships on weight loss. Through a reanalysis of data from a randomized weight loss intervention, this study compared dyadic dynamics in intervention participants and in-home partners. Over the course of 18 months, data was collected from 201 pairs enrolled in either behavioral weight loss treatment (BWL) or treatment including partners and providing items to facilitate healthy choices at home (BWL + H). Using a dyadic growth curve model, covariance between baseline BMI, BMI change trajectories, and starting BMI and BMI trajectory for both the self and the other were examined. There were strong indicators of dependence in the data. Baseline BMI was positively correlated for both treatment groups. In the BWL + H condition, BMI change trajectories were positively correlated. In the BWL condition, this reversed: Change trajectories were negatively correlated. Additionally, partner BMI and primary participant BMI change were positively correlated, indicating that a heavier partner at baseline related to less weight loss. Social relationships exert a significant influence on weight loss outcomes. Depending on the intervention group, these influences may help (BWL + H) or hinder (BWL). It may be that home intervention changed social support and interaction in important ways and that these effects could be effectively harnessed to implement more effective interventions (NCT00200330).
Early Intervention in Schizophrenia: A Literature Review

Schizophrenia is a debilitating psychiatric disorder seen across the world. Recently, investigators have witnessed an upsurge in research on the potential benefits of early intervention during the prodromal stage: the sooner people start the treatment at their first psychotic episode, the better outcome on symptom relief and better functioning. This paper aims to critically review and synthesize empirical evidence published between 2005 and 2015 regarding the effectiveness of preemptive interventions on transition rate, symptom severity, depression, anxiety, and function level. Randomized controlled trials were identified in seven different electronic databases and twelve studies were included in this review. Findings indicated that intervention was designed not only for help-seeking individuals, but also for their family members. Also, the applications for psychiatric nursing are discussed.
Catastrophic versus noncatastrophic extinction of the dinosaurs: testing, falsifiability, and the burden of proof

In the dozen years since Alvarez et al. (1980) proposed their argument for dinosaur (and other) extinctions, lengthy debate has provided no consensus and the issue remains strongly polarized. The only test that has been proposed, that of additional fieldwork that sought to fill in the “gap” at the top of the Hell Creek Formation, recently has been conducted by Sheehan et al. (1991). Although the analysis found no indication of a gradual decline through the bulk of the formation, it did not produce the distribution Alvarez sought, a random distribution of remains clear through to the iridium. A second test based on the differing taphonomic predictions of catastrophic and noncatastrophic extinctions, and a comparison with the distribution of remains in the uppermost part of the formation, gives some credence to the latter and places considerable doubt on the former.
Nonlinear scale separation and misfit configuration of envelope inversion

Summary We first show the scale separation property of envelope inversion. The nonlinear envelope extraction provides a nonlinear scale separation of the information contained in the waveform data, which can reduce the local minima in the misfit function and can be used to recover the largescale component of the model. The misfit configuration tests show that the misfit for envelope data has no local minima. Also, we further show the noise resistant property of this method. Numerical examples show that envelope inversion is to some extent resistant to seismic interference
AN ANALYSIS OF SELECTIONAL RESPONSE IN RELATION TO A POPULATION BOTTLENECK.

Selection for increased morphometric shape (ratio of wing length to thorax width) was compared between control (nonbottlenecked) populations and bottlenecked populations founded with two male-female pairs of flies. Contrary to neutral expectation, selectional response was not reduced in bottlenecked populations, and the mean realized heritabilities and additive genetic variances were higher for the bottlenecked lines than for the nonbottlenecked lines. Additive genetic variances based on these realized heritabilities were consistent with independent estimates of genetic variances based on parent-offspring covariances. Joint scaling tests applied to the crosses between selected lines and their controls revealed significant nonadditive components of genetic variance in the ancestor, which were not detected in the crosses involving bottlenecked lines. The nonbottlenecked lines responded principally by changes in one trait or the other (wing length or thorax width) but not in both, and regardless of which trait responded, larger trait size was dominant and epistatic to smaller size. Stabilizing selection for morphometric shape in the ancestor likely molded the genetic architecture to include nonadditive genetic effects.
Freedom lessons: black mothers asserting smartness of their children

AbstractIt is imperative to explore multiple approaches to intelligence and public education that fundamentally integrate the ideas and lived experiences of students – with particular interest to those who are most disenfranchised. Within various black communities, the oral traditions transmitted at home are life-affirming freedom lessons, engendered by lived experiences, which must be considered when teaching black children in the classroom environment. With consideration to black women, the freedom lessons they teach, and how they collectively shape smartness for black children, this article is organized in three sections. The first examines cultural constructions of history, knowledge and black women. The second explores the freedom lessons of three black mothers that were collected during a 2011–2012 ethnographic study and are presented as three sets of narratives: community smartness, world smartness, and individual smartness. The final section concludes with an analysis of smartness as a social crit...
Survey on hygienic status of rural centralized water supply projects in Dalian city 2010

Objective The study was performed in order to investigate the health status of centralized rural water supply projects in Dalian, and provide scientific basis for improving drinking water hygiene and safety in rural areas. Methods Surveys on the centralized water supply projects were carried out, and water quality test for rural centralized water supply projects was performed. Results The survey indicated that there were 2 110 rural centralized water supply projects associated with 1 004 943 people in Dalian. Water supply pattern was mainly the continuous water supply and the major water source was ground water from countryside concentrated supply water. Among the 520 samples tested, the qualification rate was 70.77 percent, water supply projects that had four qualified water samples accounted for 48.47 percent. The microbes and nitrate concentrations exceeded the national standard remarkably. The qualification rates for coli strains, nitrate concentration, heat resistant coli strains, and the total number of colony were 85.77%, 91.15%, 93.08%, and 94.62%, respectively. Conclusion The water disinfection facilities for rural central water supply projects were not adequate in Dalian. The qualification rate of water was low. The safety of drinking water has potential problems.
Clinical Neurotoxic Concerns on Antineoplastic Agents

Publisher Summary This chapter explores the wide spectrum of neurological complications of chemotherapy. Certain chemotherapeutic agents are commonly associated with particular neurological syndromes. Neurotoxicity of chemotherapy can produce disability and, at times, death. Neurotoxicity of these agents is common and occasionally is the dose-limiting toxicity. Chemotherapeutic agents may cause toxicity, which is indistinguishable from that of metastatic disease. Methotrexate is a folic acid analog that inhibits dihydrofolate reductase resulting in the depletion of intracellular pools of reduced folate, which are necessary for thymidylate and purine metabolism. Fludarabine phosphate is a purine nucleoside antineoplastic agent, which has been used in the past for hematological malignancies and solid tumors also. Central nervous system toxicity with fludarabine phosphate is subacute and presents as a diffuse white matter disease. If the drug is not discontinued coma and death may occur. The 5-fluorouracil is an antiprimidine, which is a fluorinated primidine, and is used to treat breast cancer, colorectal cancer, and other solid tumors. The primary toxicity of 5-fluorouracil is to oral mucosa, intestine, and bone marrow. Stomatitis and diarrhea are common systemic toxicities and may be dose limiting.
Actions, Emotions and Beliefs, Part II

In Chapters 1, 6, and 7, we discussed reasons for thinking that a very standard model of mental representations should be separated frommuch of what is going on today in building a science of the mind. To be sure, there may be heuristic reasons to talk about what a neural signal is saying or to regard a burst of neural activity as about some episode in the environment. Nonetheless, such talk has a price to pay to be legitimate in a science of the mind. The price is high, and we have seen good reasons to think that current theories of content cannot pay it.
Restaurants’ healthy eating initiatives for children increase parents’ perceptions of CSR, empowerment, and visit intentions

Abstract In this study, we examine how healthy eating initiatives (i.e., providing healthful foods and nutrition information on children’s menus) affect parents’ intentions to visit restaurants. We test the mediating roles of perceived corporate social responsibility (CSR) and empowerment and examine whether mediating effects are contingent on the level of parents’ concerns about children’s eating. The results of a scenario-based experimental design show that both initiatives increase parents’ visit intentions through increased CSR perceptions. The indirect effect of nutrition information on visit intentions through perceived CSR is pronounced only among parents with moderate to high concerns about children’s eating. The provision of healthful foods has an indirect effect on parents’ visit intentions through perceived CSR, regardless of concern level. Our findings suggest that providing healthful items and nutrition information on children’s menus increases parents’ perceptions of CSR and visit intentions.
Immigration and wages: new evidence from the African American Great Migration

During the African American Great Migration, millions of blacks left the Southern USA in favor of cities in the North. Despite the social and economic consequences of this migration, the question of its impacts on labor markets in the North has largely been overlooked in the literature. In this paper, I use both local wage comparisons and structural simulations of the aggregate Northern labor market to provide new evidence on the effects of the Great Migration on wages in the North, redoubling the evidence that it caused large declines in wages for blacks, with little effect for whites. The agreement between my local and aggregate wage effect estimates has implications for our general understanding of how immigration and wages are related and how that relationship can be measured.
Towards a countertopography of intimate war: contouring violence and resistance in a South Sudanese diaspora

AbstractRecent feminist geographic scholarship insists we rethink domestic violence as ‘intimate war’. Using this concept I analyze narratives of violence and resistance articulated by U.S.-resettled South Sudanese women and collected in the wake of a fatal incidence of domestic violence in 2005. One of a spate of intimate partner murders that shook the community at this time, this tragic event spurred debates about shifting gender norms, the stresses and opportunities of life in the diaspora, and the irradicable legacies of war. Bringing Pain and Staeheli's ‘intimacy-geopolitics’ to bear on this particularly violent, momentary and publicized aggression, I situate it within a more complex, quotidian, and dynamic terrain of power. In line with feminist political geography, this analysis complicates scalar distinctions of body, home and nation-state, demonstrating the common foundations of ‘private’, domestic and ‘public’, state-sanctioned violences. Inspired by Katz’s countertopographical approach, I exten...
A CLASSIFICATION OF E-BUSINESS APPLICATIONS: PRELIMINARY RESULTS

Predictions that SMEs would be the primary beneficiaries of e-business have not materialized. One of the main reasons is the failure to understand the value of e-business in the SME environment. Researchers have argued that a classification of the myriad of possible e-business applications is a necessary first step in understanding this value. Some classifications exist, but few are based on established conceptual frameworks, are not comprehensive and do not permit useful comparisons. We propose a classification scheme based on the value chain model, consisting of 102 applications within nine categories. We apply the model to assess the current state of e-business among SMEs. The classification scheme and knowledge of the current state of e-business is expected to be of use to researchers, to SMEs and service providers and government agencies on whom SMEs are dependent, given limited internal resources.
Temnothorax rugatulus ant colonies consistently vary in nest structure across time and context.

University of Arizona Postdoctoral Excellence in Research and Teaching Fellowship (National Institute of Health) [5K12GM000708-17]
Online Built-In Self-Test of High Switching Frequency DC–DC Converters Using Model Reference Based System Identification Techniques

A built-in self-test (BIST) technique that enables tracking of loop parameters of integrated DC–DC converters without affecting the normal mode of operation is presented. A digital pseudo-noise based stimulus and a mixed signal cross-correlation based analysis technique is used to derive on-chip impulse response, with minimum computational requirements in comparison to a digital correlator approach. Using measured impulse response, open-loop phase margin and closed-loop unity-gain frequency are estimated within 5.2% and 4.1% error, respectively, for the load current range of 30 mA to 200 mA. Converter parameters, such as natural frequency, $Q$ -factor, and center frequency are estimated within 3.6%, 4.7%, and 3.8% error, respectively, over load inductance of 4.7 $\mu \text{H}$ to 10.3 $\mu \text{H}$ , and filter capacitance of 200 nF to 400 nF. A 5 MHz switching frequency, 5 V to 8.125 V input voltage range, voltage-mode controlled DC-DC buck converter is designed for the proposed model reference based parametric and non-parametric BIST analysis. The converter output voltage range is 3.3 V to 5 V and supported maximum load current is 450 mA with a peak efficiency of 87.93%. The proposed converter is fabricated on a 0.6 $\mu \text{m}$ 6 layer-metal SOI technology with a die area of 9 mm2. The system identification circuitry occupies 3.8% of the converter area with 530 $\mu \text{A}$ quiescent current during operation.
Optimization of antimicrobial therapy in vancomycin-resistant enterococcal bacteraemia using a rapid detection Gram-positive blood culture assay.

Summary Rapid molecular blood culture Gram-positive (BC-GP) assay can promptly identify vancomycin-resistant enterococcal (VRE) bloodstream infections (BSIs). We sought to evaluate patients with VRE BSI following the pre (N = 44) and post (N = 20) implementation of Verigene BC-GP assay. The average time to detection of VRE was 25.9 ± 4.1 h (95% confidence interval (CI): 17.6–34.1; P
Review: Voices of Counterculture in the Southwest, edited by Jack Loeffler and Meredith Davidson, Irwin Klein and the New Settlers: Photographs of Counterculture in New Mexico, edited by Benjamin Klein

Jack Loeffler and Meredith Davidson, eds. Voices of Counterculture in the Southwest Santa Fe: Museum of New Mexico Press, 2017, 208 pp., 44 color and 44 b/w illus. $34.95 (cloth), ISBN 9780890136232 Benjamin Klein, ed. Irwin Klein and the New Settlers: Photographs of Counterculture in New Mexico Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2016, 192 pp., 92 b/w illus. $29.95, ISBN 9780803285101 The fiftieth anniversary of the 1967 Summer of Love launched a wave of retrospection in former epicenters of counterculture activity. Dozens of exhibitions and public events reexamined hippie cultural history in the San Francisco Bay Area, including On the Road to the Summer of Love at the California Historical Society, Lavender-Tinted Glasses at the LGBT History Museum, the Psychedelic Soul encounter series at the Museum of the African Diaspora, and Flower Power at the Asian Art Museum, just to mention a few. Scholars mined the Day-Glo past at “Revisiting the Summer of Love,” a conference sponsored by Northwestern University's San Francisco–based Center for Civic Engagement. These enterprises reassessed critiques of the counterculture from left, right, and center—whether portrayed, respectively, as a craven trailblazer of niche consumption; the defiler of red-white-and-blue values; or a dopey purveyor of tie-dyed buffoonery. Recent scholarship and public memory increasingly regard the Summer of Love as a pivot linking rebellious Beat-era cultural innovation with contemporary Bay Area ventures in social, technological, and economic disruption. Easily overlooked in the celebration of California hippiedom is New Mexico's role as a proving ground for counterculture ideologies and practices. The “Great Hippie Invasion” crested between 1967 and 1971, bringing novel philosophies and habitats to the Taos altiplano. Census figures put New Mexico's hippie population at 3,314 in 1970; a third of those identified as hippies lived in communes such as Hog Farm, Lama Foundation, Morningstar East, Manera Nueva, and Reality Construction Company. While the number of newcomers may have been small, their presence challenged a taut social equilibrium established among Anglo, Hispano, and Native American residents. From afar, Taos may have seemed “a leading candidate for [the] hippie capital of America,” as declared by Parade magazine, but in reality it was riven by resentment and violence.1 With most communards …
Maize avoidance? Colonial French attitudes towards Native American foods in the Pays des Illinois (17th–18th century)

ABSTRACTFrench colonists in seventeenth century New France were introduced to maize, the staple of the Native American diet. In the eighteenth century, when French agriculturalists settled along the Mississippi River, they grew maize but preferred not to eat it themselves, as fur traders and soldiers had previously done. Maize avoidance reflected the changing socio-economic framework of French settlement. Fur traders were concerned with integrating themselves into Native American kin networks, while farmers elaborated distinctions between “French” and “Indian” in the domains of housing, clothing, and food, symbolized by the opposition of wheat bread to maize mush, while readily adopting other native foods – game, pumpkins, maple sugar, even bear oil. Maize was shipped down the Mississippi to Louisiana, but also used to feed the sizeable slave population as well as landless French laborers. Food choices reflected race and class differences, rather than set cultural preferences.
Synthetic fluid inclusions XXI. Partitioning of Na and K between liquid and vapor in the H2O-NaCl-KCl system at 600–800 °C and 500–1000 bars

Abstract The synthetic fluid inclusion technique was used to determine the partitioning behavior (distribution constant) of Na and K between coexisting liquid and vapor phases in the H2O-NaCl-KCl system at 500–1000 bars, 600–800 °C, and for fluids with initial Na/K molar ratios of 3:1, 2:1, 1:1, 1:2 and 1:3. Compositions of coexisting liquid and vapor phases in the binary H2O-KCl system were also determined. Distribution constants for sodium ( D Na L / V ) and potassium ( D K L / V ) were calculated from salinities of the synthetic fluid inclusions determined by microthermometry. For a given temperature, pressure and molar Na/K ratio, the distribution constants for Na and K between liquid and vapor are essentially equal, with only a slight preference for Na to partition into the vapor phase and for K to partition into the liquid phase. As such, fluid phase immiscibility and the subsequent physical separation of the liquid and vapor phases owing to buoyancy differences are unlikely to lead to fluids with variable Na/K in different parts of magmatic-hydrothermal systems. The liquid–vapor partitioning behavior obtained here is consistent with previously determined Na/K partitioning between granitic melts and exsolved magmatic aqueous fluids, and with compositions of hydrothermal fluids and associated feldspars in potassic alteration zones of porphyry copper deposits.
DuPont: Gaining the Benefits of Global Networks — from the Science Base to the Market Place

DuPont is one of the world’s leading chemical companies, and a major producer of oil, gasoline, and natural gas. As a manufacturing and industrial marketing company based on technologies derived from the chemical, material, and biological sciences DuPont applies these to the development of high performance materials, specialty chemicals, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology-based products (Fig. III.1.1). The company operates some 17 strategic business units from Agricultural Products, Automotive Products, and Conoco, to Nylon, „Dacron“, non-wovens, Specialty Chemicals and White Pigments with a portfolio of more than 2000 registered brands and trademarks (such as Teflon, Silverstone, Lycra, Stainmaster, Kevlar, Tyvek, Conoco, and Corian to name but a few).With 97,000 employees the company operates in every major market of the world. Sales in 1996 were US$43 billion; net income was more than US$3.6 billion. Market capitalization Is now in excess of US$60 billion and is expected to be US$80 billion by 2002 — the two hundredth anniversary of the founding of DuPont as a gunpowder and explosives company on the banks of the Brandywine Creek in Wilmington Delaware.
Zufällige und systematische Fehler

The results of a study can be a real effect, random or systematic error. A random error is when the study result is deviated from the true value caused by random factors. The results are not precise, however, large numbers of sample size can correct the random error. A systematic error is an error that happens in study designing or in the process of conducting a study. The results are not valid and cannot be corrected with large numbers of sample size. Additionally, confounders and effect modification should be taken into account when interpreting the results of a study. A confounder describes an association that is true but misleading. A confounder is when a result has a connection with the exposure, without being a result of exposure. In addition, there must be a connection with the outcome independent of an exposure. An effect modification occurs when the effect of an exposure is different in the sub-groups. Effect modification is not a bias, but an important piece of additional information.
Crystal structure of tetra-kis-(μ2-(E)-2,4-di-bromo-6-{[2-(pyridin-2-yl)eth-yl]imino-meth-yl}phen-olato)trizinc bis-(perchlorate) aceto-nitrile disolvate.

The title compound, [Zn3(C14H11Br2N2O)4](ClO4)2·2CH3CN, crystallizes as a symmetrical trinuclear cation with all three metal atoms being located on a twofold rotation axis. It contains a tetra­hedral ZnII atom that bridges two six-coordinate ZnII atoms. The complex contains N- and O-donor atoms of four tridentate 2,4-di­bromo-6-{[2-(pyridin-2-yl)eth­yl]imino­meth­yl}phenolate ligands. The ratio of ZnII atoms to ligands is 3:4. The two terminal ZnII cations adopt distorted octa­hedral geometries and the central ZnII cation adopts a distorted tetra­hedral geometry. In the cation there are π–π inter­actions between the di­bromo­phenyl rings, as well as halogen-bonding inter­actions between the di­bromo­phenyl rings in the cation, which stabilize its conformation. In addition, there are C—H⋯O inter­actions between the anions and both the cations and solvent mol­ecules as well as C—H⋯N inter­actions between the cation and solvent mol­ecules. These inter­species inter­actions link the cations, anions and solvent mol­ecules into a complex three-dimensional array
A Continuous Directional Solvent Extraction Desalination Process Realized with the Aid of Electro-coalescence

The recently demonstrated non-membrane, low-temperature directional solvent extraction (DSE) is promising toreduce desalination cost by eliminating the need of membranes and utilizing low-temperature energy sources fromsolar energy or waste heat. This paper investigates the technical feasibility of a continuous DSE water desalinationprocess using decanoic and octanoic acid as directional solvents (DS). A continuous lab-scale DSE prototype isrealized with the aid of electro-coalescence (EC) with a capacity of producing 28 ml/h of freshwater. A preliminaryeconomic analysis shows that the operational cost of DSE desalination is estimated to be ~$3.03/m3. Our resultsreveal two critical technological aspects that need further research to push DSE closer to deployment. These include(1) identifying more effective DSs with higher water yield; (2) optimizing the EC to improve the separation efficiencyand effectiveness. Both aspects will be critical to increase water production rate and decrease energy cost of DSEdesalination. Our cost analysis indicates that the desalination cost of DSE can reach ~$0.25/m3, if the DSperformance can be improved by four-folds and the EC efficiency is increased to 90%. In summary, the current worklays a framework upon which further research on the continuous DSE desalination process can be based. Once it ismature and widely deployed, DSE is promising to lower the desalination cost by utilizing low-temperature wasteheat, which will contribute significantly to ameliorating the global water scarcity problem.
Active Forms of the Cytokinins

In recent years there has been a steady stream of reports linking the biological activity of the cytokinins with transfer RNA (see the review by Key, 1969). Not only are molecules with cytokinin activity found in the transfer RNA of plants, animals and microorganisms, but also where the structure has been investigated they are found adjacent to the anti-codon. The possibilities for an exceedingly delicate control of protein synthesis offered by such a site have convinced many that the biological activities of the cytokinins were very near to being explained. In recent months, however, Chen and Hall (1969) published data which indicate that the situation may be more complex than previously suspected. They discovered that even cytokinin-dependent tissues, i.e. those which will require an exogenous cytokinin in the medium in order to grow, already possess as part of the structure of their transfer RNA, molecules with potent cytokinin activity; furthermore the cytokinin provided in the medium is not the metabolic precursor of the cytokinin in the transfer RNA. This observation argues that the role of the exogenous cytokinin is distinct in at least some important way from that of the cytokinin in situ in transfer RNA.
Grey zones of sexual selection: why is finding a modern definition so hard?

Sexual selection has long been acknowledged as an important evolutionary force, capable of shaping phenotypes ranging from fascinating and unusual displays to cryptic traits whose function is only ...
Statistical bounds for entropic optimal transport: Sample complexity and the central limit theorem

We prove several fundamental statistical bounds for entropic OT with the squared Euclidean cost between subgaussian probability measures in arbitrary dimension. First, through a new sample complexity result we establish the rate of convergence of entropic OT for empirical measures. Our analysis improves exponentially on the bound of Genevay et al.~(2019) and extends their work to unbounded measures. Second, we establish a central limit theorem for entropic OT, based on techniques developed by Del Barrio and Loubes~(2019). Previously, such a result was only known for finite metric spaces. As an application of our results, we develop and analyze a new technique for estimating the entropy of a random variable corrupted by gaussian noise.
Performance of reinforced concrete columns under bi-axial lateral force/displacement and axial load

Abstract Accurate and realistic assessment of the performance of columns in general and those in critical locations that may cause progressive failure of the entire structure, in particular, is significantly important. This performance is affected by the load history, pattern and intensity. Current design code does not consider the effect of load pattern on the load and displacement capacity of columns. In the study reported here, monotonic material models, cyclic rule, and plastic hinge models have been utilized in a fiber-based analytical procedure, validated against experimental data. Comparison of the analytical predictions and experimental data, through moment–curvature and force–deflection analyses, confirmed the accuracy and validity of the analytical algorithm and models. The analytical model was then used in a parametric study considering the effects of axial load variation and lateral force/displacement paths on the flexural strength and energy dissipation capacity of reinforced concrete columns.
Elastic fiber ultrastructure and assembly.

Abstract Studies over the years have described a filamentous structure to mature elastin that suggests a complicated packing arrangement of tropoelastin subunits. The currently accepted mechanism for tropoelastin assembly requires microfibrils to serve as a physical extracellular scaffold for alignment of tropoelastin monomers during and before crosslinking. However, recent evidence suggests that the initial stages of tropoelastin assembly occur within the cell or at unique assembly sites on the plasma membrane where tropoelastin self assembles to form elastin aggregates. Outside the cell, elastin aggregates transfer to growing elastic fibers in the extracellular matrix where tensional forces on microfibrils generated through cell movement help shape the growing fiber. Overall, these observations challenge the widely held idea that interaction between monomeric tropoelastin and microfibrils is a requirement for elastin assembly, and point to self-assembly of tropoelastin as a driving force in elastin maturation.
Characterization of Zirconium Oxides Part I: Raman Mapping and Spectral Feature Analysis

Abstract Raman mapping of sectioned zirconium cladding oxides was performed to analyze different spectral features before and after breakaway, as well as between zirconium and its alloys Zr-2.65Nb, Zry-3, and Zry-4. Oxide phase composition, or percent tetragonality, was defined to compare tetragonal to monoclinic zirconia. Percent tetragonality was spatially mapped to support distinction of zirconia phase distribution. A tetragonal-rich layer was seen at the metal/oxide interface, while post-breakaway samples exhibited increased amount of tetragonal phase in the bulk of their oxides. Spatial mapping of spectral peak location and half-width at half-maximum was accomplished to distinguish differences in stability mechanisms of tetragonal-rich zirconia phase. Shifts in monoclinic peak positions provided mapping of relative stress state, supporting the differences in stabilization of tetragonal phase near the metal/oxide interface and tetragonal phase in the bulk of the oxide. Tetragonal phase near the metal/oxide interface is stabilized through support of oxygen sub-stoichiometry and compressive stress. Tetragonal phase observed in the bulk of the oxide is stabilized through oxygen sub-stoichiometry, void of compressive stress. A linear trend between percent tetragonality and stress state was determined. This resulted in a connection between mechanism of tetragonal to monoclinic phase transformation and a cladding's ability to resist oxidation and breakaway. Poor performing samples displayed greater stress gradients, driven by lattice mismatch at the metal/oxide interface, as well as between tetragonal and monoclinic phase boundaries. Tetragonal phase at the metal/oxide interface for superior performing samples have reduced epitaxial growth of tetragonal grains, lowering compressive stress gradients and provided more resistant inner-oxide layers. With increased utility of Raman spectroscopy for characterizing zirconium cladding materials, different degradation mechanisms can be further understood.
Prologue to Morice: Anglo-African Trade Under the Royal African Company Monopoly

Laying a baseline for the study of Humphry Morice’s method of trading, Mitchell studies the methods used by the Royal African Company (RAC) between its chartering in 1672 and the loss of its monopoly in 1698. This chapter establishes that the main problem facing any European trader in Africa was the problem of discovering what African merchants wanted to buy in exchange for the commodities and enslaved persons they offered. By maintaining and staffing permanent trading posts on the coast, the Royal African Company built a strong position in this market; however, the heavy cost of this strategy consumed most of the trade’s potential profits. It also left room for new market entrants to innovate cheaper methods of solving the basic informational problem.
PHARMACOGENETICS AND DRUG DISCOVERY FOR ANTHRACYCLINE-INDUCED CARDIOTOXICITY ENABLED BY SINOATRIAL NODE-LIKE CELLS DERIVED FROM HUMAN PLURIPOTENT STEM CELLS

The sinoatrial node (SAN) is the primary pacemaker of the heart. The human SAN is poorly understood due to limited primary tissue access and lack of robust in vitro derivation methods. We developed an efficient strategy, using a dual SHOX2:GFP; MYH6:mCherry knock-in reporter line, to generate and
KryptoJelly: a jellyfish robot with confined, adjustable pre-stress, and easily replaceable shape memory alloy NiTi actuators

Exploring the world beneath the ocean has been a difficult task, especially in depths that are unsafe for humans. Studying underwater creatures can be very sensitive due to disturbances resulting from typical remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) currently used. Soft robots consist of elastomeric materials, compliant actuators, sensors and other supporting structures, which enable them to be used for numerous applications due to their flexibility, light weight, low noise, and many degrees of freedom. Mechanical actuators, such as pneumatic actuators and servomotors, introduce design constraints related to their size, weight, and cost. Moreover, vibration and noise are undesired attributes that preclude the use of robots developed with such technologies and might disturb the test environment. This paper presents a robust design of a jellyfish-like robot with eight bell segments, named KryptoJelly. The presented robot can perform multidirectional swimming by NiTi shape memory alloys (SMA) actuators confined in a conduit and activated by electrical current stimulation. KryptoJelly is constructed from a 3D printed rigid structure and a soft silicone bell that closely mimics the biological locomotion and appearance of a jellyfish found in nature; the Chrysaora colorata species. Four 127 μm diameter SMA wires (of mass 14 mg each) were used per channel to deform the silicone bell margin. The robot can operate up to 1608 cycles continuously for 1.5 h underwater at high power input (3 times higher than the standard) and sustain its own total body mass of 650 g (~6000 times the weight of the actuators used). KryptoJelly is able to maneuver in both vertical and horizontal directions during bell contraction-expansion cycles. A study on the effect of multistage-power-time input sequence of NiTi SMA actuators and bell design, which results in swimming, is presented. This work has shown the great potential of employing smart materials in biomimetic soft robots, that can be deployed for eco-friendly underwater exploration or other applications.
Examining protocol compliance and self-report congruence between daily diaries and event-contingent ecological momentary assessments of college student drinking.

Abstract Background Daily diaries and ecological momentary assessments (EMA) are frequently used to assess event-level college student drinking. While both methods have advantages, they also raise questions about data validity, particularly in regard to alcohol’s impact on protocol compliance. The current study examined congruence in drinking behaviors reported via retrospective daily diaries and event-contingent drinking logs, protocol compliance with each method, and the extent to which alcohol consumption impacted compliance. Methods Participants were first-semester college women (n = 69) who reported 4+ drinks during an occasion at least once in the past month. Participants reported the number of drinks consumed and subjective intoxication using a 14-day EMA protocol. Event-contingent drinking logs (via self-initiated EMA) assessed behavior immediately after each drinking event; daily diaries assessed behaviors from the previous day. Pairwise correlations examined congruence between drinking logs and corresponding daily dairies; protocol compliance was examined through descriptive analysis of data missingness; and multilevel regression models assessed the associations between protocol compliance, alcohol consumption, and subjective intoxication. Results Drinking log and daily diary reports were highly correlated (r’s = 0.70 to 0.93). On drinking days, diary reports had higher protocol compliance (96.0%) compared to momentary drinking logs (41.4%). Drinking log missingness was associated with greater alcohol use and subjective intoxication reported in the corresponding daily diary (p’s Conclusions Similarities in reports of alcohol consumption and subjective intoxication, coupled with higher missingness of momentary assessments suggest daily diaries may have methodological advantages and unique utility in supplementing momentary assessments.
Research progress on case management of high-risk newborn infants

At present, case management is widely used in the management of chronic diseases and special diseases, but the case management of the special group of high-risk infant needs to be further discussed. This paper summarizes the definition of high-risk infants, the necessity of developing case management, the present situation of implementation of case management of high-risk infants at home and abroad, and probes into the challenges faced when developing case management of high-risk infants in China, in order to promote the application of case management. Key words: Review; Infants, newborn; High-risk; Case management
Computation of intermolecular forces that carry sound across vacuum gaps

A recently understood ability of sound to cross narrow vacuum gaps between material bodies has numerous implications in modern technology, where it opens additional channels for the transfer of heat and acoustic signals between narrowly separated objects. Acoustic vibrations in a body are characterized by perturbations of its surface and of its material density, which affect molecules of another body via intermolecular forces. Methods of continuum mechanics allow the description of the acoustic waves initiated by external body forces, including van der Waals forces. The expressions for such forces have been known for many years, but their applications to configurations relevant to sound transmission are often based on restrictive approximations and asymptotic expansions, which are rarely satisfied in practical situations, where amplitudes of molecular displacements may be in a picometer range. This paper develops a method of accurate computations of van der Waals forces caused by such perturbations with scales comparable with intermolecular distances in a material. The accuracy of the developed approach is limited only by calculation errors, and the scope of its applications is not only limited to acoustic perturbations but also includes the description of van der Waals forces caused by arbitrary molecular density perturbations, by corrugated surfaces, contaminated materials, etc.
K-Cipher: A Low Latency, Bit Length Parameterizable Cipher

We present the design of a novel low latency, bit length parameterizable cipher, called the "K-Cipher". K-Cipher is particularly useful to applications that need to support ultra low latency encryption at arbitrary ciphertext lengths. We can think of a range of networking, gaming and computing applications that may require encrypting data at unusual block lengths for many different reasons, such as to make space for other unencrypted state values. Furthermore, in modern applications, encryption is typically required to complete inside stringent time frames in order not to affect performance. K-Cipher has been designed to meet these requirements. In the paper we present the K-Cipher design and discuss its rationale. We also present results from our ongoing security analysis which suggest that only 2 to 4 rounds are sufficient to make the cipher operate securely. Finally, we present synthesis results from 2-round 32-bit and 64-bit K-Cipher encrypt datapaths, produced using Intel’s ® 10 nm process technology. Our results show that the encrypt datapaths can complete in no more than 767 psec, or 3 clocks in 3.9-4.9 GHz frequencies, and are associated with a maximum area requirement of 1875 m2.