cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
ETA-II beam brightness measurement

ETA-II resumed operation in the Fall of 1990 with the injector and first two ten-cell accelerating blocks and nominal electron beam parameters of 1500 A, 2.5 MeV, and 70-ns pulse width at 1 Hz PRF. The beam brightness diagnostics consisted of a Cerenkov foil view port and a pepper-pot emittance diagnostic. The Cerenkov foil experiment was used to determine the beam energy at the accelerator exit. The pepper-pot emittance diagnostic was used to determine the whole beam brightness. The brightness as a function of beam radius and time within the beam pulse was also measured. The brightness is defined as the ratio of the beam current within a given radius to the normalized four-dimensional volume occupied by particles within that radius. >
Genetic and segregation analysis of Escherichia coli strains containing a tandem duplication of the trpD-purB region of the chromosome.

Genetic and segregation analysis of Escherichia coli strains containing a partial duplication of the trp operon reveal that the 2.5-min-long region trpD-purB is duplicated in tandem in the chromosome. The adjacent loci cysB and fabD are not duplicated. Although one copy of the duplicated region is longer than the maximum size of bacteriophage P1kc transducing fragments, the frequency at which the duplicated segment trpDCBA is transferred by transduction to tonB-trp deletion strains is equal to that observed for transfer of the normal trp operon. This suggests that three-point recombination events believed to account for transduction of long duplications occur as frequently as two-point recombination events believed to account for normal transduction. Cotransduction frequencies of trpDCBA with the duplicated loci tonB, galU, tyrT, and hemA are very similar to those for the trp operon with the same loci. This indicates that normal genetic linkage is maintained during the three-point recombination event. However, purB, which is normally unlinked to trp by transduction, is closely linked to trpDCBA and thus must be near the repeat point of the duplication. Transduction tests with point mutations in the trp operon indicated that the repeat point occurs near the normal boundary between trpE and trpD. Segregation analysis of heterogenotes constructed from tonB-trp deletion strains shows that the frequency at which a marker is lost is approximately proportional to its distance from the repeat point. This finding is consistent with a random, singlesite crossover event during segregation. Several observations indicate that non-reciprocal genetic exchange also occurs between copies of the duplication. Analysis of heterogenotes containing dadR1 and dadR+ demonstrate that the mutant allele is transdominant.
Psychologists' Self-Perceptions of their Intellectual Aging

The major purpose of the present study was to extend the available information base on intellectual aging by collecting self-report data from a sample of 100 psychologists ranging in age from 45 to...
Role of environmental, historical and spatial processes in the structure of Neotropical primate communities: contrasting taxonomic and phylogenetic perspectives

Aim To evaluate relative importance of niche, historical and spatial processes on the taxonomic and phylogenetic structure of primate communities. Location Neotropics. Methods Data on community composition for 74 sites were gathered from the literature. Communities were characterized based on taxonomic and phylogenetic composition. Three predictive matrices were used as explanatory variables representing ecological (environmental), historical (riverine barriers and Pleistocene refugia) and dispersal-based spatial hypotheses (spatial principal coordinates of neighbour matrices vectors based on geographic coordinates).Variation partitioning analyses were used to decouple independent and shared effects. Permutation procedures based on redundancy analysis were used to determine if explained variation was statistically significant. Results Forty-nine per cent of variation in taxonomic structure and 66% of variation in phylogenetic structure was explained by selected predictor variables. Independent effects of spatial variables explained the largest portion of variation in both diversity metrics.Fractions representing shared effects of historical and spatial variables, and of all variables combined, were also large and significant. Independent effects of environmental and historical variables were small to non-existent (< 4%). When analysing each phylogenetic metric independently the relative contributions of shared fractions changed, although the independent spatial fraction remained the most important predictor. Main conclusions Our results show that purely spatial processes, such as dispersal limitation, may play a stronger role in structuring primate communities than niche mechanisms and historical events.Furthermore,we find that the influence of ecological and evolutionary mechanisms is conflated with spatial processes, suggesting that community structure is determined jointly by spatial mechanisms reflecting environmental gradients and biogeographical processes. Although the relative contributions of each predictor variable were similar between taxonomic and phylogenetic metrics, a deeper examination of phylogenetic metrics suggests that ecological, historical and spatial mechanisms interact in complex ways to determine current patterns of phylogenetic community structure.
The fractal nature of vacuum arc cathode spots

Cathode spot phenomena show many features of fractals, for example self-similar patterns in the emitted light and arc erosion traces. Although there have been hints on the fractal nature of cathode spots in the literature, the fractal approach to spot interpretation is underutilized. In this work, a brief review of spot properties is given, touching the differences between spot type 1 (on cathodes surfaces with dielectric layers) and spot type 2 (on metallic, clean surfaces), as well as the known spot fragment or cell structure. The basic properties of self-similarity, power laws, random colored noise, and fractals are introduced. Several points of evidence for the fractal nature of spots are provided. Specifically, power laws are identified as signature of fractal properties, such as spectral power of noisy arc parameters (ion current, arc voltage, etc.) obtained by fast Fourier transform. It is shown that fractal properties can be observed down to the cutoff by measurement resolution or occurrence of elementary steps in physical processes. Random walk models of cathode spot motion are well established: they go asymptotically to Brownian motion for infinitesimal step width. The power spectrum of the arc voltage noise falls as 1/f/sup 2/, where f is frequency, supporting a fractal spot model associated with Brownian motion.
EPA and the Challenges of Enforcing Future Greenhouse Gas Legislation

Future U.S. legislation to curb the emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) seems likely to include enforcement provisions and to give the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and individual U.S. states significant roles in enforcing its provisions. Following an overview of U.S. environmental enforcement approaches and authorities, this paper considers the history and current state of EPA's organizational structure for enforcement. It assays the Agency's working relations with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and its dealings with state environmental agency enforcement programs. The paper also considers the nature and sources of resource shortfalls that have long impaired the effectiveness of EPA's enforcement work. It advances specific suggestions to redress the problems it identifies.
Minimum-time path-planning of robotic manipulators in Cartesian space with dynamics constraints

A numerical algorithm for computing the time-optimal straight-line motion of a robotic manipulator between two points in Cartesian space is proposed. The main contribution of this approach is that intermediate points need not lie on the line exactly, but only within a prespecified limit. This assumption is justified in many cases. A systematic approach is also proposed to find a feasible initial point. Since this approach does not use the inverse Jacobian matrix transformation between joint space and Cartesian space, it is not affected by singular points. Therefore, any singular point can be included in the path. Several examples illustrate the validity of this approach. >
Standing outside bleak house

This essay argues that Charles Dickens’s imaginative interest in barriers to knowledge and perception throughout Bleak House (1852–53) amplifies and attunes us to the reader’s position of exteriority with respect to the implied fictional world. Whereas novel readers readily describe the act of reading in terms of metaphoric transport to a fictional world, Dickens refuses to obscure the ever-present divide between readers and the absent objects of their sustained attention. In particular, he exposes the reader’s surprisingly limited ability to “fill in” components of the fictional world that the text leaves underspecified. While these areas of indeterminacy do not deter readers from claiming to enjoy intimate access to fictional persons and scenes, they nonetheless lay bare the underacknowledged constraints upon that access. By self-referentially dramatizing the reader’s position as an outsider even as he undertakes to draw readers into his story, Dickens brings us face-to-face with a more intricate phenomenology of reading.
Low Voltage Sen for Unique Surface Analysis of Prosthetic Devices

Surgical manipulation of plastic prostheses using metal instruments is likely to produce surface damage and surface roughness which may compromise biocompatibility of implants due to tissue irritation and increased cellular or bacterial adhesion. There are virtually no data in the literature concerning the clinical occurrence and consequences of manipulative surface damage to implants. We have found that conventional high voltage scanning electron microscopy techniques (HVSEM) obscure surface defects on plastics due in large measure to beam energy “healing” by local melting. This paper reports the use of low voltage SEM (LVSEN) at low beam voltages (<1.5keV) and without the need for conductive carbon or Au/Pd coatings for examination of plastic device surfaces before and after normal surgical manipulation. Results for intraocular lens implants, a major human prosthesis, clearly demonstrate that standard surgical procedures can produce significant implant surface damage which may not be observed by normal SEN analysis. LVSEN has been shown to readily visualize such previously unobserved surface defects in model surgical manipulation experiments. These results have important implications for more reliable polymer surface characterization and for development of improved prosthetic devices, instruments, and implant surgery.
Deference or Deception: Treaty Rights as Political Questions

The political question doctrine remains one of the most obscure and troublesome features of current constitutional litigation. But even less understood are the systematic means by which judges defer to the substantive preferences and outcomes proposed by the political branches, particularly the Executive. This is nowhere better illustrated in the foreign relations area, and even more particularly, in the litigation of individual rights claimed under international agreements or treaties. By closely examining the large number of treaty rights cases, the article concludes that judges are much more likely to create rules or presumptions of substantive deference to Executive branch positions than they are to simply abstain from adjudicating the controversies.
Blood-Feeding Patterns of Culiseta Melanura (Diptera: Culicidae) and Associated Sylvan Mosquitoes in Southeastern Massachusetts Eastern Equine Encephalitis Enzootic Foci

The capillary precipitin technique was used to examine the host utilization pattern of Culiseta melanura in southeastern Massachusetts EEE enzootic foci. Resting boxes were used to collect 1792 blood-engorged females in sites at the perimeters of historically enzootic swamps, and 1563 in upland areas near horse corrals and human dwellings. Avian (primarily passerine) blood was identified in 98.7% of the meals at the perimeter during 1977, and in 98.8% outside the swamps in 1978. Nonavian single blood meals included: dog (0.22%); rabbit (0.3%); cat (0.6%); snake (0.06%); other reptiles (0.06%); and amphibians (0.03%). During 1978, 11.5% of the meals from a single perimeter site were mixed, frequently including rabbits and passerine birds. The general trend in both areas was toward almost exclusive feeding on passerines early in the season, with a gradual increase in feeding on other birds and, to a much lesser extent, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians later in the summer. Preliminary experiments showing greater fecundity with blood meals from chickens rather than rabbits indicate physiological as well as behavioral adaptations directed toward a successful relationship with avian hosts. Lack of feeding on EEE-susceptible mammals suggests that the role of Cs. melanura in the disease is limited to the avian cycle. Identifications of blood meals from other mosquito species point to Coquillettidia perturbans , Aedes canadensis , and Ae. vexans as possible vectors of EEE to horses and humans.
Late Preceramic Peru

This paper presents a synthesis of current knowledge of Late Preceramic Peru (ca. 4450–3800 B.P.), a field of study that is less than 50 years old. A brief history of investigations and discussion of chronological systems are presented. A review of Late Preceramic achievements concentrating on subsistence economies and technology is followed by discussion of the social world of Late Preceramic Peru and current consensus and disputes regarding culture processes. Extensive long-distance exchange, farming, and social complexity are first clearly seen in the archaeological record during this time period. Nevertheless, the significance of this evidence with regard to the nature and intensity of the culture practices and processes that they represent is currently under investigation and in contention.
Why Darwin would have loved evolutionary game theory

Humans have marvelled at the fit of form and function, the way organisms' traits seem remarkably suited to their lifestyles and ecologies. While natural selection provides the scientific basis for the fit of form and function, Darwin found certain adaptations vexing or particularly intriguing: sex ratios, sexual selection and altruism. The logic behind these adaptations resides in frequency-dependent selection where the value of a given heritable phenotype (i.e. strategy) to an individual depends upon the strategies of others. Game theory is a branch of mathematics that is uniquely suited to solving such puzzles. While game theoretic thinking enters into Darwin's arguments and those of evolutionists through much of the twentieth century, the tools of evolutionary game theory were not available to Darwin or most evolutionists until the 1970s, and its full scope has only unfolded in the last three decades. As a consequence, game theory is applied and appreciated rather spottily. Game theory not only applies to matrix games and social games, it also applies to speciation, macroevolution and perhaps even to cancer. I assert that life and natural selection are a game, and that game theory is the appropriate logic for framing and understanding adaptations. Its scope can include behaviours within species, state-dependent strategies (such as male, female and so much more), speciation and coevolution, and expands beyond microevolution to macroevolution. Game theory clarifies aspects of ecological and evolutionary stability in ways useful to understanding eco-evolutionary dynamics, niche construction and ecosystem engineering. In short, I would like to think that Darwin would have found game theory uniquely useful for his theory of natural selection. Let us see why this is so.
Achilles Tendon Rupture

Various common injuries in the foot and ankle are investigated in this section. Significant attention is paid not only to proper diagnostic examination and imaging, but also to optimal nonoperative and operative treatment options to manage these conditions.
A Historiography of College Students 30 Years After Helen Horowitz’s Campus Life

This chapter examines the historical scholarship on college students in the United States, using Helen Horowitz’s (Campus life: Undergraduate cultures from the end of the eighteenth century to the present. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1987) Campus Life, now celebrating its 30th anniversary, as a scholarly divider. The chapter begins by considering the formative scholarship related to the history of college students that emerged in the nineteenth century and stretched well into the twentieth century. Next, it considers the growth of historical studies that were a scholarly response to the turbulence on campus in the 1960s and early 1970s, before highlighting the contributions of Helen Horowitz’s now classic Campus Life, the only work that has offered a broad history of college students. Campus Life paid particular attention to how students’ gender, race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic class shaped their experiences over time. The last half of the chapter considers the significant expansion of historical research in the subsequent three decades. Recent historians have largely chosen to provide focused studies of specific populations of students, including White, African America, Asian American, Latino, Native American and LGBT students and students with disabilities. Moving forward, historians must continue to study student populations underrepresented in the historical record while also synthesizing those areas well covered by recent historical scholarship.
Classification of Rest and Active Periods in Actigraphy Data Using PCA

Abstract In this paper we highlight a clustering algorithm for the purpose of identifying sleep and wake periods directly from actigraphy signals. The paper makes use of statistical Principal Component Analysis to identify periods of rest and activity. The aim of the proposed methodology is to develop a quick and efficient method to determine the sleep duration of an individual. In addition, a robust method that can identify sleep periods in the accelerometer data when duration, time of day varies by individual. A selected group of 10 individual’s sensor data consisting of actigraphy from an accelerometer (3-axis), near body temperature, and lux sensors from a single GENEActiv watch worn on the non-dominant hand. The actigraphy of each individual was collected 24 hours a day for a period spanning 80 days. We highlight that a simple data preprocessing stage followed with a 2 phase clustering method provides results that align with previously validated methodologies.
Detecting Bots on Russian Political Twitter.

Abstract Automated and semiautomated Twitter accounts, bots, have recently gained significant public attention due to their potential interference in the political realm. In this study, we develop a methodology for detecting bots on Twitter using an ensemble of classifiers and apply it to study bot activity within political discussions in the Russian Twittersphere. We focus on the interval from February 2014 to December 2015, an especially consequential period in Russian politics. Among accounts actively Tweeting about Russian politics, we find that on the majority of days, the proportion of Tweets produced by bots exceeds 50%. We reveal bot characteristics that distinguish them from humans in this corpus, and find that the software platform used for Tweeting is among the best predictors of bots. Finally, we find suggestive evidence that one prominent activity that bots were involved in on Russian political Twitter is the spread of news stories and promotion of media who produce them.
p11 Gene Therapy as a Novel Target for Treatment of Symptoms and Medication Complications in Parkinson’s Disease

Abstract Dopamine (DA) replacement therapy remains the most common treatment for symptomatic management of Parkinson’s disease (PD). Effective medications that enhance DA signaling often cause abnormal involuntary movements (AIMs), also called dyskinesias, which can be difficult to resolve without worsening PD symptoms. We recently reported that p11, a small protein necessary for neurotransmitter receptor function, is critical to DA responses in a mouse model of PD with dyskinesia. Here, we discuss these findings in view of the current understanding of mechanisms and circuit changes involved in AIMs. Blocking p11 production in the dorsal striatum, a brain region which responds to DA and regulates movement, can improve forced movements and normalize spontaneous movements in parkinsonian mice, while dramatically reducing AIMs following DA replacement therapy. Our data identify a potential target for the development of novel therapeutic approaches to both improving motor symptoms and reducing drug-related side effects in human PD.
Enzymes as therapeutic agents.

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the enzymes as therapeutic agents. Controlled enzymatic activation of fibrinolysis with streptokinase or urokinase is an exciting and important therapeutic advance in the management of thromboembolic vascular disease. The lysis of fibrin in vivo is controlled by an enzymatic process involving the conversion of plasminogen, an inactive precursor, into the proteolytic enzyme plasmin, which dissolves fibrin. This process, in turn, is under the control of a series of endogenous activators, comprising urokinase, as well as a poorly defined tissue activator and a red cell erythrokinase. Therapeutic fibrinolysis, therefore, may be accomplished either by the use of plasminogen activators, by the use of plasmin itself, or by some combination of the two. Streptokinase was the first activator of the fibrinolytic enzyme system to become available for investigative use. It was found that thrombi induced in the marginal ear vein of rabbits could be lysed by systemic streptokinase. The major problems associated with the clinical use of streptokinase include fever, hemorrhagic complications, antigenicity, and determination of appropriate pharmacological dose.
Elderly Psychiatric Emergency Patients

This chapter is devoted to the special problems of geriatric patients in crisis. Although traditional assessment and management techniques are generally applicable to elderly patients, the clinical problems unique to this population warrant separate treatment. This chapter presents general guidelines for working effectively with the elderly and their families in an emergency setting.
Discussion of Clinical Trials Relating to Peripheral Neuropathies

Two major types of peripheral neuropathy have been the subject of clinical trials. These are diabetic polyneuropathy and acquired demyelinating polyneuropathies, acute and chronic. The acute form is Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS), and the chronic form is known as chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (CIDP). Hughes has, quite rightly, emphasized only the controlled studies of these polyneuropathies.
Making Italian Jews: Family, Gender and the Nation, 1861–1918, edited by Carlotta Ferrara degli Uberti, New York, Palgrave McMillan, 2016, 254 pp., $109 (hardback), ISBN 9781137493873

At the core of recent historiography lies the debate concerning the Italian Jewish cultural participation. The Unification of Italy brought the Italian Jews to have the same legal rights as all Ita...
The Difference in Sibling Birthweight and Neonatal Death: A Population-Based Cohort Study.

Background There has been a call for customized rather than population-based birthweight standards that would classify smallness based on an infant's own growth potential. Thus, this study aimed to examine the association between the difference in sibling birthweight and the likelihood of neonatal death among second births in a U.S. population. Methods This was a population-based cohort study including 179,300 women who delivered their first two nonanomalous singleton live births in Missouri (1989–2005). We performed binary logistic regression to evaluate the association between being relatively smaller than the elder full- or half-sibling (i.e., smaller by at least 500 g) and neonatal death (i.e., deaths in the first 28 days of life) among second births after controlling for sociodemographic and pregnancy-related variables in the second pregnancy. Results The adjusted odds of neonatal death were 2.54-times higher among second births who were relatively smaller than their elder sibling. Among relatively small second births, every 100-g increase in the difference in sibling birthweight was associated with a 13% increase in the odds of neonatal death. Conclusion The deviation from the elder sibling's birthweight predicts neonatal death. Taking into consideration the elder sibling's birthweight may be warranted in clinical and research settings.
Effects of turbulent flow regime on perforated plate stabilized piloted lean premixed flames

Abstract An experimental study of the effects of turbulent flow regime on the flame structure is conducted by using perforated-plate-stabilized, hydrogen-piloted, lean premixed methane/air turbulent flames. The underlying turbulent flow field was investigated using two-dimensional three-component particle imaging velocimetry (2D3C-PIV) with two perforated plates of different blockage ratios. The flow data allowed a separation of the turbulent flow regime into axial velocity stream dominated and vortex dominated flows. A plate with 62% blockage ratio was used to establish the stream-dominated flow regime and another with 86% blockage ratio was used to establish the vortex-dominated flow regime. OH laser-induced fluorescence was used to study the effects of the turbulent flow regime on the mean progress variable, flame brush thickness, flame surface density, and global consumption speed. In comparison with the stream-dominated flow, the vortex-dominated flow makes a wider and shorter flame. Also, the vortex-dominated flow has a thicker horizontal flame brush and a thinner longitudinal flame brush. Especially, the spatial variation of the horizontal flame brush thickness for the vortex-dominated flow does not follow the turbulent diffusion theory. The vortex-dominated flow shows a relatively constant flame surface density and the stream-dominated flow shows a decreasing flame surface density along the streamwise direction. The flame surface density for the vortex-dominated flow is higher than the one for the stream-dominated flow. Lastly, the vortex-dominated turbulent flow shows a much higher consumption speed in comparison with that of the stream-dominated turbulent flow with identical velocity fluctuation levels.
Surrogate modelling the Baryonic Universe - I. The colour of star formation

The spectral energy distribution of a galaxy emerges from the complex interplay of many physical ingredients, including its star formation history (SFH), metallicity evolution, and dust properties. Using GALAXPY, a new galaxy spectral prediction tool, and SFHs predicted by the empirical model UNIVERSEMACHINE and the cosmological hydrodynamical simulation IllustrisTNG, we isolate the influence of SFH on optical and near-infrared colours from 3200 to 10800 \r{A} at z=0. By carrying out a principal component analysis, we show that physically-motivated SFH variations modify galaxy colours along a single direction in colour space: the SFH-direction. We find that the projection of a galaxy's present-day colours onto the SFH-direction is almost completely regulated by the fraction of stellar mass that the galaxy formed over the last billion years. Together with cosmic downsizing, this results in galaxies becoming redder as their host halo mass increases. We additionally study the change in galaxy colours due to variations in metallicity, dust attenuation, and nebular emission lines, finding that these properties vary broad-band colours along distinct directions in colour space relative to the SFH-direction. Finally, we show that the colours of low-redshift SDSS galaxies span an ellipsoid with significant extent along two independent dimensions, and that the SFH-direction is well-aligned with the major axis of this ellipsoid. Our analysis supports the conclusion that variations in star formation history are the dominant influence on present-day galaxy colours, and that the nature of this influence is strikingly simple.
Electronic-Medical-Record-Based Identification of Sepsis Patients in Emergency Department: A Machine Learning Perspective

Early identification of patients with sepsis is critical to reduce fatality and provide timely care. In this study, we compare the performance of several major machine learning (ML) techniques to identify emergency department (ED) sepsis patients during their first 6 hours of care. The ML techniques used are Decision Tree, Discriminant Analysis, Logistic Regression, k-Nearest Neighbors (KNN), Ensemble Classification, Support Vector Machine (SVM) and Neural Network (NN). We also included a novel genetic-algorithm-optimized rule-based system that we developed previously in a separate study. This comparative study uses 912 sepsis and 975 non-sepsis patients admitted to the ED of the Detroit Medical Center in Michigan, USA. The cases were individually adjudicated by expert physicians. The Fine Gaussian SVM showed the highest sensitivity (95.8%) but with only moderate 77.7% specificity and 80.1% positive predictive value (PPV). The Coarse KNN had the highest specificity (94.5%), but sensitivity was only at 84.9%. The rule-based system attained 90.9% sensitivity, 90.9% specificity and 90.3% PPV. The NN model achieved 92.08% sensitivity, 92.33% specificity, and 91.78% PPV, slightly better than the rest of the ML models and the rule-based system.
Tau PET imaging with 18F-PI-2620 in aging and neurodegenerative diseases

In vivo measurement of the spatial distribution of neurofibrillary tangle pathology is critical for early diagnosis and disease monitoring of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Forty-nine participants were scanned with 18F-PI-2620 PET to examine the distribution of this novel PET ligand throughout the course of AD: 36 older healthy controls (HC) (age range 61 to 86), 11 beta-amyloid+ (Aβ+) participants with cognitive impairment (CI; clinical diagnosis of either mild cognitive impairment or AD dementia, age range 57 to 86), and 2 participants with semantic variant primary progressive aphasia (svPPA, age 66 and 78). Group differences in brain regions relevant in AD (medial temporal lobe, posterior cingulate cortex, and lateral parietal cortex) were examined using standardized uptake value ratios (SUVRs) normalized to the inferior gray matter of the cerebellum. SUVRs in target regions were relatively stable 60 to 90 min post-injection, with the exception of very high binders who continued to show increases over time. Robust elevations in 18F-PI-2620 were observed between HC and Aβ+ CI across all AD regions. Within the HC group, older age was associated with subtle elevations in target regions. Mildly elevated focal uptake was observed in the anterior temporal pole in one svPPA patient. Preliminary results suggest strong differences in the medial temporal lobe and cortical regions known to be impacted in AD using 18F-PI-2620 in patients along the AD trajectory. This work confirms that 18F-PI-2620 holds promise as a tool to visualize tau aggregations in AD.
Weeding A Music Collection for the First Time: A Commonsense Approach

Music collections in academic libraries present a host of unique considerations when it comes to their management, particularly with regard to the weeding, or deselection, process. This article pre...
Spinal fusion in pediatric patients with marfan syndrome: a nationwide assessment on short-term outcomes and readmission risk

The purpose of this study was to utilize the National Readmission Database (NRD) to determine estimates for complication rates, 90-day readmission rates, and hospital costs associated with spinal fusion in pediatric patients with Marfan syndrome. The 2012–2015 NRD databases were queried for all pediatric (< 19 years old) patients diagnosed with Marfan syndrome undergoing spinal fusion surgery. The primary outcome variables in this study were index admission complications and 90-day readmissions. A total of 249 patients with Marfan syndrome underwent spinal fusion surgery between 2012 and 2015 (mean age ± standard deviation at the time of surgery: 14 ± 2.0, 132 (53%) female). 25 (10.1%) were readmitted within 90 days of the index hospital discharge date. Overall, 59.7% of patients experienced at least one complication during the index admission. Unplanned 90-day readmission could be predicted by older age (odds ratio 2.3, 95% confidence interval 1.3–4.2, p = 0.006), Medicaid insurance status (56.0, 3.8–820.0, p = 0.003), and experiencing an inpatient medical complication (42.9, 4.6–398.7, p = 0.001). Patients were readmitted for wound dehiscence (8 patients, 3.2%), nervous system related complications (3 patients, 1.2%), and postoperative infectious related complications (4 patients, 1.6%). This study is the first to demonstrate on a national level the complications and potential risk factors for 90-day hospital readmission for patients with Marfan syndrome undergoing spinal fusion. Patients with Marfan syndrome undergoing spinal fusion often present with multiple medical comorbidities that must be managed carefully perioperatively to reduce inpatient complications and early hospital readmissions.
Establishing Efficient Bisphenol A Degradation by Engineering Shewanella oneidensis

Bisphenol A (BPA) has been widely used as a plasticizer in the production of synthetic polymers, such as those used in food storage containers and bottles. However, BPA interferes with endocrine sy...
Teaching Teachers to Teach: Collaborating with a University Education Department to Teach Skills in Information Literacy Pedagogy

Abstract In June 2000, the Illinois State Board of Education adopted new state standards for all accredited teacher education programs. Professional certification programs must demonstrate compliance to the standards by July 2003. Library faculty at Illinois Wesleyan University partnered with the Educational Studies department to address the Core Technology Standards for information access, research, and information literacy through curriculum development. The program includes a combination of an information literacy pre-test, a self-paced, open source Web tutorial, traditional library instruction sessions, one-on-one student-librarian consultations with student teachers, and collaborative course design. The overall goal of the program is to improve librarian-teacher cooperation through instruction in the information literacy skills outlined in the Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education, and to mentor pre-service teachers in practical methods of integrating information literacy ins...
Potential Theory and Dynamics on the Berkovich Projective Line

The purpose of this book is to develop the foundations of potential theory and rational dynamics on the Berkovich projective line over an arbitrary complete, algebraically closed non-Archimedean field. In addition to providing a concrete and 'elementary' introduction to Berkovich analytic spaces and to potential theory and rational iteration on the Berkovich line, the book contains applications to arithmetic geometry and arithmetic dynamics. A number of results in the book are new, and most have not previously appeared in book form. Three appendices - on analysis, R-trees, and Berkovich's general theory of analytic spaces - are included to make the book as self-contained as possible. The authors first give a detailed description of the topological structure of the Berkovich projective line and then introduce the Hsia kernel, the fundamental kernel for potential theory. Using the theory of metrized graphs, they define a Laplacian operator on the Berkovich line and construct theories of capacities, harmonic and subharmonic functions, and Green's functions, all of which are strikingly similar to their classical complex counterparts. After developing a theory of multiplicities for rational functions, they give applications to non-Archimedean dynamics, including local and global equidistribution theorems, fixed point theorems, and Berkovich space analogues of many fundamental results from the classical Fatou-Julia theory of rational iteration. They illustrate the theory with concrete examples and exposit Rivera-Letelier's results concerning rational dynamics over the field of p-adic complex numbers. They also establish Berkovich space versions of arithmetic results such as the Fekete-Szego theorem and Bilu's equidistribution theorem.
Loss of N-Glycolylneuraminic Acid in Human Evolution IMPLICATIONS FOR SIALIC ACID RECOGNITION BY SIGLECS

The common sialic acids of mammalian cells areN-acetylneuraminic acid (Neu5Ac) andN-glycolylneuraminic acid (Neu5Gc). Humans are an exception, because of a mutation in CMP-sialic acid hydroxylase, which occurred after our common ancestor with great apes. We asked if the resulting loss of Neu5Gc and increase in Neu5Ac in humans alters the biology of the siglecs, which are Ig superfamily members that recognize sialic acids. Human siglec-1 (sialoadhesin) strongly prefers Neu5Ac over Neu5Gc. Thus, humans have a higher density of siglec-1 ligands than great apes. Siglec-1-positive macrophages in humans are found primarily in the perifollicular zone, whereas in chimpanzees they also occur in the marginal zone and surrounding the periarteriolar lymphocyte sheaths. Although only a subset of chimpanzee macrophages express siglec-1, most human macrophages are positive. A known evolutionary difference is the strong preference of mouse siglec-2 (CD22) for Neu5Gc, contrasting with human siglec-2, which binds Neu5Ac equally well. To ask when the preference for Neu5Gc was adjusted in the human lineage, we cloned the first three extracellular domains of siglec-2 from all of the great apes and examined their preference. In fact, siglec-2 had evolved a higher degree of recognition flexibility before Neu5Gc was lost in humans. Human siglec-3 (CD33) and siglec-6 (obesity-binding protein 1) also recognize both Neu5Ac and Neu5Gc, and siglec-5 may have some preference for Neu5Gc. Others showed that siglec-4a (myelin-associated glycoprotein) prefers Neu5Ac over Neu5Gc. Thus, the human loss of Neu5Gc may alter biological processes involving siglec-1, and possibly, siglec-4a or -5.
Pharmacophore Modelling: Methods,Experimental Verification and Applications

1. The Concept of the Pharmacophore and its Validity The essential functionalities of a molecule necessary for its pharmacological activity are called pharmacophores. Although the idea of pharmacophores existed for a long time, Ehrlich [1] first introduced this terminology following the term chromophorewhich was used to describe the groups responsible for the color of a compound. The interest in the idea of pharmacophores has grown tremendously in the last few decades due to the availability of computer graphics [2], a number of computational methods to determine the pharmacophoric geometry [3‐7] and various software for 3D database mining using the concept of a pharmacophore pattern match [8]. However, the validity of a pharmacophore hypothesis came more from direct medicinal chemistry structure‐activity relationships (SAR) studies rather than from any theoretical calculations. Such calculations may be possible in the near future with the availability of an ever increasing number of ligand‐protein complex structures, better molecular mechanics force fields and better understanding of solvation factors. In such an approach, we have to show that the pharmacophoric groups provide the major contribution in binding affinity to the protein compared to the rest of the molecule. The main objective here is to discuss the various computational methods for pharmacophore identification and its geometry determination, a number of ways to validate the pharmacophore models and their applications in medicinal chemistry to identify novel active compounds. There are several excellent reviews and papers on pharmacophore modelling [3‐7]. 2. The Medicinal Chemistry Approach for Pharmacophore Determination and its use in Computational Chemistry
FeRh/FePt antiferromagnet/ferromagnet exchange spring media for thermally assisted magnetic recording

In this paper, we present a novel media structure consisting of two exchange coupled films: a first layer consisting of a ferromagnetic high anisotropy alloy like, e.g., FePt, and a second layer consisting of FeRh.
Empirical Likelihood Ratio Based Goodness-of-Fit Test for Generalized Lambda Distribution

In this paper, we propose a goodness-of-fit test based on the empirical likelihood method for the generalized lambda distribution (GLD) family. Such a nonparametric test approximates the optimal Neyman-Pearson likelihood ratio test under the unknown alternative distribution scenario. The p-value of the test is approximated through the simulations due to the dependency of the test statistic on the data. The test is applied to the roller data set and the pollen data set to illustrate the testing procedure for the sufficiency of the GLD fittings.
Mycobacterium tuberculosis early secreted antigenic target of 6 kDa (ESAT-6) induces IL-6 production by macrophages via STAT3 (MPF3P.820)

Early secreted antigenic target of 6 kDa (ESAT-6) of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) is a major virulence factor. Mtb-induced proinflammatory cytokine IL-6 inhibits macrophage responses to IFN-γ and contributes to the survival of Mtb. To explore the role of ESAT-6 in Mtb infection, we studied if ESAT-6 induces IL-6 production by macrophages. Incubation of mouse bone marrow-derived monocytes (BMDM) with ESAT-6 induced IL-6 production in dose and time dependent manner. However, culture filtrate protein of 10 kDa (CFP10) and antigen 85A (Ag85A) of Mtb did not induce IL-6 production, suggesting a specific effect of ESAT-6 on IL-6 production. Likewise, ESAT-6 but not CFP10 and Ag85A induced IL-6 secretion by human peripheral blood derived monocytes. Polymyxin B inhibited LPS but not ESAT-6 induced IL-6 secretion by macrophages refuting the possible role of LPS contamination in ESAT-6. ESAT-6 but not Pam3CSK4, a TLR2 agonist, stimulated IL-6 production by TLR2 knockout BMDM, indicating that this effect of ESAT-6 is TLR2 independent. To explore the signaling pathway of this, we examined the role of STAT3 since ESAT-6 induced activation of STAT3 in BMDM. Preincubation of cells with Stattic and S31-201, STAT3 inhibitors, but not rapamycin and DMSO (vehicle) inhibited ESAT-6 induced IL-6 expression by BMDM both at mRNA and protein level in a dose dependent manner without affecting cell viability. Thus, our results suggest that ESAT-6 induces IL-6 production in macrophages via STAT3.
The Changing Context of Critical Quantitative Inquiry

The author provides a framework to help scholars in the field of higher education to be critical. Additionally, the author reflects and comments on the chapters included in this special volume. Finally, this chapter ends with a discussion of the opportunities and challenges of critical quantitative inquiry.
Effects of locus coeruleus activation on electroencephalographic activity in neocortex and hippocampus

Experiments were conducted to examine the hypothesis that increased neuronal discharge activity of noradrenergic neurons of the locus coeruleus (LC) above resting discharge rates can alter forebrain electroencephalographic (EEG) activity. Small infusions (70-135 nl) of the cholinergic agonist bethanechol within 500 microns of the LC were used to activate this nucleus reversibly in halothane-anesthetized rats. A combined recording-infusion probe allowed verification of this electrophysiological activation. Simultaneously, EEG activity was recorded from sites in the frontal cortex and hippocampus and subjected to power-spectrum analyses. The findings were (1) LC activation was consistently followed, within 5 to 30 sec, by a shift from low- frequency, high-amplitude to high-frequency, low-amplitude EEG activity in frontal neocortex and by the appearance of intense theta-rhythm in the hippocampus; (2) forebrain EEG changes followed LC activation with similar latencies whether infusions were made lateral or medial to the LC; (3) infusions placed outside the immediate vicinity of the LC were not followed by these forebrain EEG effects; (4) following infusion- induced activation, forebrain EEG returned to preinfusion patterns with about the same time course as the recovery of LC activity (10-20 min for complete recovery). These infusion-induced effects on EEG activity were blocked or severely attenuated by pretreatment with the alpha 2- agonist clonidine, which inhibits LC discharge and norepinephrine release, or the beta-antagonist propranolol. These observations indicate that enhanced LC discharge activity is the crucial mediating event for the infusion-induced changes in forebrain EEG activity observed under these conditions and suggest that LC activation may be sufficient to induce EEG signs of cortical and hippocampal activation.
Rapid cell death induced by methyl mercury in suspension of cerebellar granule neurons.

We have further investigated the cytotoxicity of methyl mercury (MeHg) in cerebellar granule neurons isolated from 5-12-day-old rats. At 20 µM MeHg adenosine triphosphate (ATP) levels were reduced to 30% of control within 15 minutes and 1% of control at three hours (h), while cell viability assayed by trypan blue exclusion was reduced to ~80% and 20% of control, respectively. When potassium cyanide (KCN) was used to reduce ATP levels>95%, virtually no change in cell viability was observed during three h incubation. Potassium cyanide combined with cycloheximide and actinomycin D to inhibit ATP and macromolecule synthesis simultaneously caused substantially less cell death than that produced by MeHg. Comparable rates of cell death were obtained when the free-radical generating system, hypoxanthine plus xanthine oxidase, was included with KCN in the incubation. Murine hybridoma MHY206 cells, representing a non-neuronal cell type, were less sensitive to cell killing by MeHg compared to granule neurons at equivalent cell protein concentrations. A three h exposure to 20 µM MeHg resulted in the death of 96% of the granule neurons while only 27% of the hybridoma cells were permeable to trypan blue. The results suggest that additional cytotoxic mechanisms beyond perturbations of the main metabolic pathways are involved in the neurotoxic mechanism of action of MeHg in cerebellar granule neurons. The results also indicate that oxidative or free-radical-generating systems are capable of reproducing the temporal pattern of neuronal cell destruction manifested by MeHg.
Cell population density and phenotypic expression of tissue culture fibroblasts from heterozygotes of Lesch-Nyhan's disease (inosinate pyrophosphorylase deficiency).

Radioautographic examination of skin fibroblasts grown in tissue culture from normal donors revealed heavy labeling of almost all cells following incubation with tritiated hypoxanthine. Cells from patients with Lesch-Nyhan's disease, lacking inosinate pyrophosphorylase, had only 10 grains or less per cell. When normal and abnormal cells were mixed prior to culture, there was a progressive increase, with culture time, in the percentage of heavily labeled cells so that by 96 hr, when the cells were confluent, over 95% of the cells were heavily labeled. Reduction of cell density by subculture produced a reversion to original values. Cultures from three obligatory heterozygotes revealed the expected mixed population of cells. This appears to be a practical approach to the identification of the heterozygote.
The nitration of pivalophenone with nitronium tetrafluoroborate in sulfolane

Abstract The nitration of pivalophenone (2,2-dimethyl-1-phenyl-propan-1-one) with NO2BF4 gives o-, m-, and p-nitropivalophenones in the percentage ratio of 26:45:29. Competition experiments showed that pivalophenone is ten to twenty times less reactive than benzene but two to five times more reactive than acetophenone. No evidence for ipso attack could be found.