cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Identification of a novel aminopeptidase P-like gene (OnAPP) possibly involved in Bt toxicity and resistance in a major corn pest (Ostrinia nubilalis).

Studies to understand the Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) resistance mechanism in European corn borer (ECB, Ostrinia nubilalis) suggest that resistance may be due to changes in the midgut-specific Bt toxin receptor. In this study, we identified 10 aminopeptidase-like genes, which have previously been identified as putative Bt toxin receptors in other insects and examined their expression in relation to Cry1Ab toxicity and resistance. Expression analysis for the 10 aminopeptidase-like genes revealed that most of these genes were expressed predominantly in the larval midgut, but there was no difference in the expression of these genes in Cry1Ab resistant and susceptible strains. This suggested that altered expression of these genes was unlikely to be responsible for resistance in these ECB strains. However, we found that there were changes in two amino acid residues of the aminopeptidase-P like gene (OnAPP) involving Glu 305 to Lys 305 and Arg 307 to Leu 307 in the two Cry1Ab-resistant strains as compared with three Cry1Ab-susceptible strains. The mature OnAPP contains 682 amino acid residues and has a putative signal peptide at the N-terminus, a predicted glycosylphosphatidyl-inositol (GPI)-anchor signal at the C-terminal, three predicted N-glycosylation sites at residues N178, N278 and N417, and an O-glycosylation site at residue T653. We used a feeding based-RNA interference assay to examine the role of the OnAPP gene in Cry1Ab toxicity and resistance. Bioassays of Cry1Ab in larvae fed diet containing OnAPP dsRNA resulted in a 38% reduction in the transcript level of OnAPP and a 25% reduction in the susceptibility to Cry1Ab as compared with larvae fed GFP dsRNA or water. These results strongly suggest that the OnAPP gene could be involved in binding the Cry1Ab toxin in the ECB larval midgut and that mutations in this gene may be associated with Bt resistance in these two ECB strains.
Blind Count Surveys of White‐Tailed Deer and Population Estimates Using Bowden's Estimators

Abstract Conducting surveys from blinds when supplemental feed (bait) has been provided has not been evaluated for estimating parameters of ungulate populations. We conducted blind count surveys of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in a 214-ha enclosure in central Texas, USA, in 2007 and 2008 to address 2 main objectives: 1) to evaluate a blind count survey protocol developed for use on small parcels of land, and 2) to use data collected from blind count surveys to conduct simulations to evaluate the reliability of abundance and sex ratio estimates obtained from Bowden's estimator. In each year population abundance (2007: 60; 2008: 48) and sex ratio (M:F, 2007: 0.58; 2008: 0.71) were known as were sighting frequencies of every animal. The enclosure had 5 blinds and we baited each blind with corn. We encountered many deer during surveys because there were only 2 deer in 2007 and 1 deer in 2008 that we did not view from blinds ≥1 time. To evaluate bias and precision of abundance and sex ratio estim...
Unifying Psychology and Experiential Education: Toward an Integrated Understanding of Why It Works

This article examines the significance of psychology to experiential education (EE) and critiques EE models that have developed in isolation from larger psychological theories and developments. Following a review of literature and current issues, select areas of psychology are explored with reference to experiential learning processes. The state of knowledge and emerging paradigms in positive psychology, self-determination theory, flow theory, and neuropsychology are explored in an effort to better understand the mechanisms underpinning experiential learning and program development. Implications for practitioners and future research directions are discussed in relation to these emerging bodies of knowledge.
Radiative feedback of polar stratospheric clouds on Antarctic temperatures

A one-dimensional time marching radiative transfer model has been used to investigate the potential effects of polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) on winter and spring temperatures in the Antarctic lower stratosphere. High, middle, and low PSC amounts were specified from lidar backscatter profiles and were chosen to represent the likely range of PSC amounts present in the Antarctic region. The computed effects of the PSCs on temperatures depend strongly on the surface temperature and on the extent of tropospheric cloudiness, and range from a maximum increase of 6 K for a high amount of PSCs over a warm surface and clear troposphere to a maximum decrease of 2 K for a high amount of PSCs over a cold surface and a troposphere with high clouds. The average effect is unlikely to be more than a 1 or 2 K temperature change.
Does Financial Globalization Induce Better Macroeconomic Policies

Monetary and fiscal policies around the world are in better shape today than two decades ago. This paper studies whether financial globalization has helped induce governments to pursue better macroeconomic policies (the "discipline effect"). The empirical tests have two innovations. First, we recognize potential endogeneity of the observed capital flows in a given country and employ an instrumental variable approach that relies on the autonomous (global) component of the capital flows. Second, we recognize inherent discreteness in defining good versus bad macroeconomic policies and use a transition matrix technique to determine whether capital flows are effective in inducing substantial qualitative policy shifts. Our results suggest that, in spite of the plausibility of the "discipline effect" in theory, it is not easy to find strong and robust causal evidence. There is some evidence that financial globalization may have induced countries to pursue low-inflation monetary policies. However, there is no evidence that it has encouraged low budget deficits.
A Study of Engineering Design Project Complexity and Risk Indicators

Engineering design projects can be characterized by three dimensions: duration, budget, and scope. As projects grow in any of these three dimensions, there will be increased opportunity for uncertainty, and subsequently, increased risk. This study explored the relationship between the number of project activities and the presence of risk indicators. A risk indicator is a particular state of affairs that has potential predictive power about the likelihood of a risk occurring during the course of a project. This study was completed by examining eleven projects that were conducted within one division of a large engineering design firm. Projects were divided into groups according to the number of activities associated with each project, and interviews were conducted with employees, who worked in a variety of positions. A comparative analysis of risk indicators was then completed to identify potential “watch” areas and provide a basis for risk mitigation planning. The study provided conclusive evidence that the most frequently occurring risk indicators vary with the number of activities involved in a project. Project managers can use this information to create more specific risk management plans tailored to the types of risk indicators most frequently associated with the number of activities within a project.Copyright © 2013 by ASME
Cross-linguistic transfer of morphological awareness between Chinese and English

Substantial biliteracy research on two alphabetic languages has indicated that, once it is fostered in the first language (L1) literacy experience, morphological awareness can transfer and facilitate second language (L2) reading. It is still unclear, however, whether L1 metalinguistic awareness transfers in the same manner across typologically different languages, and to what extent and under what conditions transfer occurs. This paper synthesises eight studies on the transfer of morphological awareness between Chinese and English. Three questions guided this research: (1) how was morphological awareness defined and measured in prior work; (2) what are the patterns of transfer between the two languages; and (3) what are the factors that affect such transfer effects? The findings have shown a lack of consistency in measuring morphological awareness in existing studies; there were small-to-moderate correlations between L1 and L2 morphological awareness in Chinese–English bilingual reading development; and L...
The oxidative modification of lens proteins.

Many post-translational modifications of lens proteins occur during aging.1 Since the lens continues to grow throughout life and its cells and proteins are not turned over, these modifications accumulate in the older fiber cells.
Compliant Rebels: Rebel Groups and International Law in World Politics

Part I. Puzzle of Compliant Rebels: 1. Introduction 2. Background 3. A theory of rebel compliance Part II. Evidence of Compliant Rebels: 4. From theory to evidence 5. Civilian killing 6. Child soldiering 7. Access to detention centers Part III. Implications of Compliant Rebels: 8. Repertoires of rebel compliance 9. Conclusion.
“Delay-engendered avoidance” reconsidered

Forty-eight female rats received 120 rewarded trials in a 15-ft runway to further investigate the phenomenon of a slow decline in response vigor following the growth of response strength at the outset of training. Contrary to a previous assumption, delay of reward appeared unnecessary for the effect, since a zero-delay group also showed the decline. A delay imposed anterior to the goal did, however, depress response vigor approaching the delay, but the depression was constant over trials. Delay imposed in the goal box had little effect on performance.
Regulation of the Ca-independent phospholipase A2 in liver mitochondria by changes in the energetic state

The effect of electron transport chain redox status on activity of the mitochondrial Ca2+-independent phospholipase A2 (iPLA2) has been examined. When oxidizing NAD-linked substrates, the enzyme is not active unless deenergization occurs. Uncoupler, rotenone, antimycin A, and cyanide are equally effective at upregulating the enzyme, while oligomycin is ineffective. Thenoyltrifluoroacetone causes deenergization and activates the enzyme, but only if succinate is the respiratory substrate. These findings show that the mitochondrial iPLA2 responds to the energetic state overall, rather than to the redox status of individual electron transport chain complexes. With NAD-linked substrates, and using rotenone to deenergize, iPLA2 activation can be reversed by adding succinate to reestablish a membrane potential. For this purpose, ascorbate plus N,N,N′N′-tetramethyl-phenylenediamine can be used instead of succinate and is equally effective. With succinate as substrate, the membrane potential can be reduced in a graded and stable fashion by adding increasing concentrations of malonate, which is a competitive inhibitor of succinate utilization. A partial and stable activation of the iPLA2 accompanies partial deenergization. These findings suggest that in addition to the several functions that have been proposed, the mitochondrial iPLA2 may help to coordinate local capillary blood flow with changing energy demands.
The road to successful academic service learning projects: making the right choices

This paper provides several thoughts and suggestions regarding the appropriate choices that need to be made in creating and managing an Academic Service Learning project through to a successful implementation. Success is defined as having a satisfied user who has received the designated deliverables of high quality on a timely basis and students who have gained by the experience. Choice is the key word here and appropriate matches must be made regarding: • which non-profit can be supported by what type of project? • which technologies will be utilized versus those available? • which tasks will actually be included? • what will be the timeframe? A semester or less? A full academic year? • how does the instructor select the most promising students? • who are the users who will be involved; at what levels and what will their responsibilities be? Making the correct choices will enhance the project's chance of success but not considering all of the choices that need to be made or making the wrong choices can doom the project to failure hurting the reputation of the school, negatively impacting the non-profit and confusing the student volunteers.
Two-Stage Load Control for Severe Under-Frequency Conditions

A two-stage load control scheme is presented to address severe under-frequency conditions. The first stage is event-based under-frequency load shedding that guarantees fast response to the detected high-consequence disturbances, for initial system protection. The control signals are obtained by solving mixed-integer programming problems. After the first stage, model predictive control is triggered in the second stage for step-by-step online closed-loop control of interruptible loads, the amount of which is identified via solving linear programming problems. Trajectory sensitivities are used in the optimization problems in both stages to facilitate the analysis. The proposed scheme has been tested on a 9-bus system and on the New England 39-bus system.
Roadmap for mHealth Research

mHealth research has been growing exponentially in recent years. But, without a clear definition of the mHealth domain, the research has been ad hoc and selective. A roadmap is necessary to guide the research and harness mHealthâs full potential. We present an ontology of mHealth to define its domain. We map the extent research on mHealth in 2014 onto the ontology and highlight the frequency of coverage of different topics. We discuss how (a) a frequently researched topic may be important, but may also be simply easy, convenient, and overemphasized; (b) an infrequently researched topic may be unimportant, but may also be simply difficult, inconvenient, and underemphasized; (c) and an unresearched topic may have been overlooked or simply infeasible. We then discuss how the emphases can be balanced in the roadmap for mHealth. Using ontological mapping the roadmap can be updated periodically to assess and guide mHealth research.
Evaluation of Camouflage Effectiveness Using Human Visual Attention Mechanism

In order to evaluate target camouflage effectiveness objectively,precisely and conveniently,we establish a model based on the human visual attention mechanism.A conspicuity map is obtained based on intensity of the input image,orientation characteristics and chromatic aberration.Shift of the focus of attention(FOA) is selected and measured with the mechanisms of winner-take-all(WTA) and inhibition of return.The relation between the FOA shift and target detection probability is obtained using a BP neural network.Target camouflage effectiveness can be measured precisely.Experiments are performed on 44 images of southern forest for training the BP neural network and validating the model.The results show that this model has advantages in precision,determinability and operability.
Integrating Routine HIV Testing into Family Planning Clinics That Treat Adolescents and Young Adults.

Objective.Adolescents and young adults remain at high risk for new HIV infections and for unknowingly transmitting the virus to others. Yet, they have demonstrated low rates of testing due to barri...
Association of a 3' untranslated region polymorphism in proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 with HIV viral load and CD4+ levels in HIV/hepatitis C virus coinfected women.

Objective:To assess variation in genes that regulate cholesterol metabolism in relation to the natural history of HIV infection.Design:Cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis of the Women's Interagency HIV Study.Methods:We examined 2050 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 19 genes known to r
Short-term dietary curcumin supplementation reduces gastrointestinal barrier damage and physiological strain responses during exertional heat stress.

Exercise-heat stress increases gastrointestinal barrier damage and risk of exertional heatstroke. Over the past decade at least eight different dietary supplements have been tested for potential im...
Tuning Parameter Selection in the LASSO with Unspecified Propensity

The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) is one of the most significant model selection methods introduced about two decades ago. Although it attracts numerous attentions in both theory and computation, we still encounter many difficulties in real applications. For instance, in a real data set, we may have various missing values. To correctly adopt the LASSO, we have to incorporate the missing data mechanism, or the propensity, in the penalized likelihood. Also, how to choose the tuning parameter is still an open problem, especially with a “messy” data set. Two distinct contributions make our work different from all the existing literature. First, we allow the data set to have missing values by imposing a very general and flexible propensity. Compared to the missing data methods with a concrete propensity, this assumption is relatively easier to satisfy in reality and it makes our methodology more robust. Many existing ignorable or nonignorable missing data situations, as well as some biased sampling problems, belong to a special case under our consideration. Second, to determine the tuning parameter, we examine four different methods including cross validation (CV), Bayesian information criterion (BIC) and two others focusing on estimation stability and variable selection stability. To illustrate our methods, we conduct comprehensive simulation studies and apply our methods to a real data for melanoma study.
Virtual Orientation Overrides Physical Orientation to Define a Reference Frame in Spatial Updating.

Previous studies showed that people could use either an egocentric or allocentric reference frame in spatial updating with body-based cues (i.e., physical body movements), but the adopted reference frame was anchored by the physical egocentric front when body-based cues were constrained. A recent study (He, McNamara, & Kelly, 2018) showed that even without body-based cues, the orientation participants initially faced in the virtual environment (initial heading) could be used to establish a reference frame, suggesting that the physical egocentric front could be overridden by a virtual orientation. In the current project, we aimed to (a) replicate He et al.’s finding, (b) examine when the reference frame defined by the virtual initial heading was established, and (c) investigate the cognitive processes in establishing the initial heading as a reference frame. In four experiments, we were able to replicate the previous findings and found that the reference frame defined by the initial heading was established during spatial updating. More importantly, the reference frame defined by the initial heading was egocentric and participants did not need to know the orientation of their initial heading at the beginning of spatial updating to be able to use it. We discuss the cognitive processes of reference frame selection in spatial updating when body-based cues are absent.
Spatial characteristics and frequency of citizen-observed pluvial flooding events in relation to storm size in Portland, Oregon

Abstract Pluvial flooding is caused by intense rainfall events that overwhelm drainage systems and do not allow excess water to be absorbed by soils or water infrastructure. We examined the spatial characteristics of pluvial flooding in Portland, OR (2010–2017) by using citizen-reported flooding data. We used a spatially dense network of 5-min interval rainfall measurement to examine the relationship between the size of 3-day storm events and the frequency of flooding reports that were normalized by the population density at the census block group scale. Seventy percent of flooding reports were generated at smaller storm sizes of 5 cm or less over a 3-day period due to these storm sizes occurring more frequently across the observed time period. The flood reports were mainly clustered in the hilly west side, lower far north, central, and southeast regions of the city regardless of the time of year reports were generated. The flood reports were highest at the beginning of the wet season and decreased throughout the wet season. Flood reports were negatively associated with elevation variables. We recommend future research to minimize the potential caveats of using citizen-reported flooding data by creating better methods for standardizing and categorizing them
Diverticulitis: Incidence and Initial Management

The understanding of and medical treatment for diverticulitis has evolved significantly in recent years. The progression from asymptomatic diverticulosis to diverticulitis is less than was previously thought. Emerging evidence suggests uncomplicated diverticulitis may not require antibiotics. Despite these changes, the central tenet in the treatment of sigmoid diverticulitis remains unchanged, with a focus on the patient’s clinical status. This is paramount as laboratory and radiographic findings may not predict clinical course. To this end, diverticulitis should be approached in an algorithmic manner and individualized based on the patient’s presentation.
Fast 3-D Volume Integral Equation Domain Decomposition Method for Electromagnetic Scattering by Complex Inhomogeneous Objects Traversing Multiple Layers

In many applications, electromagnetic scattering from inhomogeneous objects embedded in multiple layers needs to be simulated numerically. The straightforward solution by the method of moments (MoM) for the volume integral equation method is computationally expensive. Due to the shift-invariance and correlation properties of the layered-medium Green’s functions, the stabilized-biconjugate gradient fast Fourier transform (BCGS-FFT) has been developed to greatly reduce the computational complexity of the MoM, but so far this method is limited to objects located in a homogeneous background or in the same layer of a layered medium background. For those problems with objects located in different layers, FFT cannot be applied directly in the direction normal to the layer interfaces, thus the MoM solution requires huge computer memory and CPU time. To overcome these difficulties, the BCGS-FFT method combined with the domain decomposition method (DDM) is proposed in this article. With the BCGS-FFT-DDM, the objects or different parts of an object are first treated separately in several subdomains, each of which satisfies the 3-D shift-invariance and correlation properties; the couplings among the different objects/parts are then taken into account, where the coupling matrices can be built to satisfy the 2-D shift-invariance property if the objects/subdomains have the same mesh size on the $xy$ plane. Hence, 3-D FFT and 2-D FFT can respectively be applied to accelerate the self- and mutual-coupling matrix-vector multiplications. By doing so, the impedance matrix is explicitly formed as one including both the self- and mutual-coupling parts, and the solver converges well for problems with considerable conductivity contrasts. The computational complexity in memory and CPU time for self-coupling matrix-vector multiplication are $O(N_{{z}}^{q} N_{x} N_{y})$ and $O(N_{{z}} N_{x} N_{y} \log (N_{{z}} N_{x} N_{y}))$ respectively, and for mutual-coupling matrix-vector multiplication are $O(N_{{z}}^{p} N_{{z}}^{q} N_{x} N_{y})$ and $O(N_{{z}}^{p} N_{{z}}^{q} N_{x} N_{y} \log (N_{x} N_{y}))$ , respectively, for the proposed method, where $N_{x}$ and $N_{y}$ are the cell numbers of all the subdomains in the $x$ - and $y$ -directions, and $N_{{z}}^{p}$ and $N_{{z}}^{q}$ the cell numbers of different subdomains in the ${z}$ -direction. Several results of different subsurface sensing scenarios are presented to show the capabilities of this method.
Examining the Effectiveness of Indigent Defense Team Services: A Multisite Evaluation of Holistic Defense in Practice

The past 50 years has witnessed the ongoing development by public defenders of what it means to “provide the effective assistance of counsel” through strong legal advocacy. More recently, many prac...
A exploration and application of a quality control method for urinary fluoride detection

Objective To analyze the quality control measures on urinary fluoride testing in the implementation, and to provide experience in quality control for testing activities. Method According to the "Determination of Fluoride in Urine-Ion Selective Electrode Method "(WS/T 89-1996), focusing on ways to complete testing all the samples in a short time, implementing internal quality control measures in the testing before, during and after the implementation by different ways as blank experiment, standard substance detection, personnel parallel experiment, paralleled detection, instrument comparison and sample test repeat, were carried out. Results The test results of blank experiment were lower than the lowest detection limit; the test results of standard material were within the scope of the standard reference, there was no significant difference between the mean value and the reference value (t = 0.01, 0.00, 0.02, all P > 0.05), │Z│ values were all less than 1; the results of personnel parallel experiment, paralleled detection, instrument comparison test results and sample test repeat were not significantly different statistically (all P > 0.05); the results of instrument comparison and sample test repeat were not significantly different statistically (t = 0.129, 0.034, all P > 0.05). A total of 9 123 urine samples were tested, the geometric mean of urinery fluoride was 0.58 mg/L. Conclusion Different quality control measures should be implemented through all the testing, control personnel errors, instruments, and reagents, etc, to ensure the quality of the entire test results. Key words: Urine; Fluoride; Quality control; Application
Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children related to COVID-19: A New York City experience.

In December 2019, the 2019, a novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) first emerged in Wuhan, China. This has now spread worldwide and was declared a pandemic by March 2020. Initially, the pediatric population was described as a low risk for severe COVID-19. However, reports have emerged recently of cases of COVID-19 in children with a systemic inflammatory disease, with features that overlap with Kawasaki disease (KD). We describe the first 15 cases with the multi-systeminflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), temporally related to COVID-19, who presented for care to a tertiary pediatric referral center in New York City. We discuss the disproportionate burden of disease among Hispanic/Latino and Black/African American ancestry, the distinct cytokine signature across the disease spectrum (IL-1/IL-6), and the potential role and pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2 in this new clinical entity.
A Pressure-Robust Weak Galerkin Finite Element Method for Navier-Stokes Equations.

In this paper, we develop and analyze a novel numerical scheme for the steady incompressible Navier-Stokes equations by the weak Galerkin methods. The divergence-preserving velocity reconstruction operator is employed in the discretization of momentum equation. By employing the velocity construction operator, our algorithm can achieve pressure-robust, which means, the velocity error is independent of the pressure and the irrotational body force. Error analysis is established to show the optimal rate of convergence. Numerical experiments are presented to validate the theoretical conclusions.
Automating Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Culture and Differentiation of iPSC-Derived Retinal Pigment Epithelium for Personalized Drug Testing

Derivation and differentiation of human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) provide the opportunity to generate medically important cell types from individual patients and patient populations for research and the development of potential cell therapies. This technology allows disease modeling and drug screening to be carried out using diverse population cohorts and with more relevant cell phenotypes than can be accommodated using traditional immortalized cell lines. However, technical complexities in the culture and differentiation of hiPSCs, including lack of scale and standardization and prolonged experimental timelines, limit the adoption of this technology for many large-scale studies, including personalized drug screening. The entry of reproducible end-to-end automated workflows for hiPSC culture and differentiation, demonstrated on commercially available platforms, provides enhanced accessibility of this technology for both research laboratories and commercial pharmaceutical testing. Here we have utilized TECAN Fluent automated cell culture workstations to perform hiPSC culture and differentiation in a reproducible and scalable process to generate patient-derived retinal pigment epithelial cells for downstream use, including drug testing. hiPSCs derived from multiple donors with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) were introduced into our automated workflow, and cell lines were cultured and differentiated into retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). Donor hiPSC-RPE lines were subsequently entered in an automated drug testing workflow to measure mitochondrial function after exposure to "mitoactive" compounds. This work demonstrates scalable, reproducible culture and differentiation of hiPSC lines from individuals on the TECAN Fluent platform and illustrates the potential for end-to-end automation of hiPSC-based personalized drug testing.
Recent progress in approximate quantum dynamics methods for the study of proton-coupled electron transfer reactions

Proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) reactions are ubiquitous natural processes at the heart of energy conversion reactions in photosynthesis and respiration, DNA repair, and diverse enzymatic reactions. Theoretical formulation and computational method developments have eyed modeling of thermal and photoinduced PCET for the last three decades. The accumulation of these studies, collected in dozens of reviews, accounts, and perspectives, has firmly established the influence of quantum effects, including non-adiabatic electronic transitions, vibrational relaxation, zero-point energy, and proton tunneling, on the rate and mechanism of PCET reactions. Here, we focus on some recently-developed methods, spanning the last eight years, that can quantitatively capture these effects in the PCET context and provide efficient means for their qualitative description in complex systems. The theoretical background of each method and their accuracy with respect to exact results are discussed and the results of relevant PCET simulations based on each method are presented.
Rotation of Spherical Magnet Falling Through a Slit Copper Pipe

The stately fall of magnets through conducting pipes is a favorite classroom and laboratory activity used in teaching electromagnetic induction, Lenz’s law, eddy currents, electromagnetic braking, and even Newton’s third law.
The 'x' factor: Exploring COVID-19 viral shedding in x-linked agammaglobulinemia. can pcr cell cycle threshold play a role?

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is known to have severe outcomes in patients with underlying comorbidities. Particularly, patients with compromised humoral immunity may face an increased risk for severe illness, as antibodies are essential for antiviral responses. Here, we present a COVID-19 patient with Bruton's X-linked agammaglobulinemia (XLA). A 46-year-old male with XLA receiving immunoglobulin replacement (IVIG) every three weeks, who contracted COVID-19 1-month ago, was admitted for 10-days of severe diarrhea and 3-days of exertional dyspnea. Repeat SARS-Co-V-2 PCR on admission was positive. Workup showed leukopenia and negative blood cultures. CT Chest Angiogram, performed for elevated D-dimer, revealed patchy bilateral ground-glass opacities, suggestive of viral/atypical pneumonia without pulmonary embolism. He received a 7-day course of Ceftriaxone and Azithromycin for community-acquired pneumonia and IVIG for low immunoglobulin levels. CT Abdomen and Pelvis, as well as a workup for infectious causes of diarrhea, were unremarkable. Colonoscopy ruled out microscopic and inflammatory colitis. Two stool SARS-Co-V-2 PCRs were negative. COVID IgG was negative, so he received COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma (CCP). Given his persistent fever spikes, bronchoscopy was performed, which was unremarkable;however, the bronchoalveolar lavage sample was positive for SARS-Co-V-2 PCR. The patient was hypoxemic and was started on Dexamethasone 6mg for 10-days. He was not a candidate for Remdesivir due to his delayed presentation. Tagged white blood cell (WBC) nuclear scan revealed mild pneumonia and mild sigmoid colonic WBC accumulation. The patient underwent prolonged hospitalization before improvement. As per the CDC's current recommendation to discontinue isolation 10-days from symptom onset, his isolation precautions were discontinued on the 16th day of hospitalization, 42 days after the first SARS-CoV-2 positive test. Given his underlying immunodeficiency, there was high suspicion that the patient was still infectious, putting frontline healthcare workers at risk. This was confirmed when an RT-PCR cell cycle threshold value (Ct) of 10.03 was obtained, which correlates to a highly culturable viral load and a highly infectious state. Isolation precautions were reinstated, and he was later discharged after another dose of CCP. Strict self-isolation for an additional ten days was advised. In summary, this patient with XLA had a lengthy hospital stay and prolonged viral shedding, likely due to an insufficient antibody response. In such patients, caution must be exercised when following the CDC recommendations for removing isolation precautions. RT-PCR Ct could be a valuable proxy in evaluating the state of infection and implementing appropriate infection control measures.
Understanding Across Differences in Patrick Chamoiseau’s Les neuf consciences du Malfini and in Dany Laferrière’s Autoportrait de Paris avec Chat

The connection between the social and the environmental comes through Donna Haraway’s words: “Right now, the earth is full of refugees, human and not, without refuge” (Anthropocene, Capitalocene 160). Amidst the push to strengthen walls, two Franco-Caribbean writers provide refuge from boundary thinking because the way they write animals broadens the eco-social landscape. In Patrick Chamoiseau’s Les neuf consciences du Malfini and Dany Laferriere’s Autoportrait de Paris, animals are positioned meaningfully together with humans, illustrating the reality of our interconnected world. In this way, the authors perform co-constitutive power. The message is clear: to redefine material-discursive terrain, we must understand each other across our differences. Chamoiseau’s updated animal fable highlights the links between climate change and social conflicts. His characters Foufou (a hummingbird) and Malfini (a hawk) lead us toward a material practice that is both ecologically and socially viable. Laferriere co-constitutes a portrait of Paris, in Paris, with Chat. Chat is a cat who plays the role of intermediary and recuperates the multiple artistic voices who have inhabited Parisian spaces. Paris’ legacy is drawn while it provides refuge for the artists. The authors’ renderings of displacements, movements and intellectual exchange align with Edouard Glissant’s poetics of relation. In performing new ways of relating to others and to our environments, their work is emblematic of a contemporary French-language counter-aesthetic to dominating and totalizing discourse. The novel-forms of both writers open up the field of vision and comprehension about the world we live in and our place in it.
Sexism in Facebook discourse about clergy misconduct

Sexism and sexist ideology have significant negative consequences for female victims of sexual assault and other crimes. Thus, uncovering how language is used as a discursive tool for maintaining u...
Improvement in use of photometric methods for measurement of birefringence - Indeterminacy in measurement of fractional isochromatic order by goniometric compensation and light sensors may be reduced through a simple procedure

Visual or graphical determination of isochromatic order in photoelastic models is not sufficiently accurate for many photoelastic observations. This is especially true in the long-wavelength spectral region where fringe orders are low and photometric devices must be used for observation. In such cases, some method of fractional-fringe measurement is required. The Tardy and Senarmont methods are often chosen for convenience, with preference given to the Senarmont method because of smaller system error. These methods are based on detection of the analyzer angle at which the light transmitted through the given point in the model is minimum. The experimental problem is poorly conditioned, and the procedure is incompatible with nonideal light-sensing apparatus. The equations of the Senarmont technique show that the intensity of radiation is an even function of the rotation of the analyzer from the position which produces minimum intensity. The indeterminacy in the measurement of minimum-intensity angle may be reduced by observing the angles at which the intensity reaches arbitrary values greater than minimum. The average of two such readings on both sides of the minimum-intensity angle provides an improved measurement of this angle. Best results are obtained if observations are made where the intensity reaches half its maximum value. For a signal-to-noise ratio of 1000, this procedure improves results by a factor of 16. Improvement is greater asS/N is increased.
Early Achievement Gains and Poverty-Linked Social Distress: The Case of Post-Head Start Transition.

Public policymakers in West Virginia have an intense interest in early and continuing educational intervention for the poor. In this view, interventions such as Head Start are a good idea, but they start too late and end too soon. Properly executed, early and continuing intervention is expected to provide a basis for later achievement-driven improvements in occupational and income attainments. Rural poverty and its correlates, which manifest and cause social distress in a variety of forms, is then diminished. We report on an evaluation of the West Virginia site of a federally-funded program intended to maintain early achievement gains viewed as crucial in alleviating poverty-linked social distress. Results of the evaluation of Post-Head Start Transition show no achievement gains. This undercuts the rationale for the program. Furthermore, it provides no support for a general policy of early and continuing educational intervention to foster achievement-driven diminution of poverty. It seems reasonable to consider the possibility that achievement rises and falls in response to the prevalence and intensity of social distress. Context determines educational outcomes, not the other way around. Reasons are suggested for this.
Impossibility of a Competitive Equilibrium in the Real Estate Brokerage Industry

This note shows that the presence of fixed costs (e.g., licence fees, fees for local, state and national realtor associations, continuing education expenses, some of the office expenses, etc.) in t...
Locate More Sensors with Fewer Anchors in Wireless Sensor Networks

In this paper, we propose to integrate Out-of-Range information with the multi-lateration scheme to resolve location ambiguities of unknown sensor nodes, which can not gain sufficient reference nodes information due to an insufficient number of reference nodes or low level of network density. The proposed scheme is based on the observation that, if a node, N1, is out of the transmission range of another node, N2, the distance between N1 and N2 must be larger than a given threshold value. This information, referred as "Out-of-Range" can then be used to eliminate location ambiguities of some unknown nodes in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). The simulation results show that the proposed scheme can significantly increase the number of resolved sensor nodes, compared with multi-lateration schemes when the network connectivity is low. In contrast, when node density is high, the proposed scheme can discover the same number of nodes with a smaller number of anchor nodes.
Reliability of High Temperature Lightweight Valve Train Components in a Total Probabilistic Design Environment

Designing brittle material components to sustain transient structural loads without failing requires the use of a probabilistic design methodology. In the standard probabilistic treatment for ceramics, strength is assumed to be the sole stochastic parameter. However, variation in other parameters such as geometric dimensions, materials, and service load histories also exist and should be considered when evaluating the total probability of failure. Each of these parameter variations can cause changes in the stress state, which will in turn affect the probability of failure. The NASA CARES/Life code has been updated to interface with the ANSYS finite element analysis (FEA) Probabilistic Design System (PDS) in order to assess the total probability of failure for a given system. Hence the objectives of this work are: 1) Perform time dependent reliability analysis for a silicon nitride ceramic valve subjected to an actual diesel engine cyclic thermomechanical load history, and 2) demonstrate the capability and value of the total probabilistic design approach in designing ceramic structures. Results indicate that the silicon nitride valves are extremely reliable even after very long service lives. Results of the PDS analysis illustrate that the probability of failure is not a single value, as defined by the traditional probabilistic analysis for ceramics, but a range spanning several orders of magnitude. In addition, the PDS sensitivity analysis is demonstrated to identify which parameters have the maximum effect on the valves' probability of failure (sensitivity plots) for efficient focus of resources.
Automatic Quantitative Radiometric Assay of Bacterial Metabolism

In a two-compartment scintillation vial, suspensions of bacteria were cultured with 1 µCi of [U-14C] glucose and the released 14CO2 was measured continuosly, cumulatively, and automatically in a liquid-scintillation counter modified to maintain sample temprature at 37 °C. We could follow the metabolism of bacterial populations through their early phase of exponential growth with good precision. The data were obtained conveniently, with use of conventional regents, glassware, and counting equipment. From analysis of the exponential portion of the curves for cumulative activity vs. time, we could measure cell replication rate precisely in units of time. The resulting values were demonstrably independent of some common experimental variables, including the number of bacteria in the inoculum and counting system sensitivity. Sensitivity of the bacteria to antibiotics was measured to within a few percent by noting the relative prolongation of replication time in the presence of those inhibitors. The digital data from the scintillation counter are susceptible to on- or off-line computer analysis, thus providing the prospect for a totaly-automated analytical system. The method shows promise for the mechanized quantitative analysis of bacterial growth, and its inhibition.
Mathematical models used for adaptive control of machine tools

Many adaptive control (AC) systems have been developed in the laboratory, but despite this research effort, few AC systems have been applied in industrial settings in the past 25 years. The failure of AC systems for machine tools has been at an enormous cost to automated factories. There are a number of flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) in the United States that are in operation less than 10 percent of the time. Such systems are sometimes said to be ''controlled by computers and operated by humans.'' One of the reasons for the failures of machine tool AC is the lack of appropriate mathematical models of the metal cutting processes. Metal cutting processes are stochastic, nonlinear and ill-defined. This paper presents a review of the literature spanning the past 25 years which discusses the mathematical models used for the most common metal cutting processes used in machine tool AC systems. It is well recognized that modeling is a critical problem, and this paper imparts the evolution of the modeling approaches taken. Models used to implement the control are discussed as well. The paper will begin with a brief explanation of adaptive control; this is necessary since the term is used one way by control engineers and another way by manufacturing engineers. Classification of AC systems into adaptive control constraint (ACC) and adaptive control optimization (ACO) categories is explained. However, this paper defines categories consistent with control theoretic definitions and the literature is reviewed within this context. Two categorizations for the type of metal cutting model used are defined. Early research efforts are presented, followed by the attempts for industrial application. Problems encountered in the mechanics and methodology are discussed. After the review, the authors present their two unique approaches to adaptive control of machine tools. One approach is to develop a state space model. The model presented is for semi-orthogonal metal cutting on a lathe. The second approach is a model which includes characteristics of an actual human operator. This approach is based on fuzzy logic control and artificial intelligence to simulate the human operator.
Glucagon-like immunoreactivity in insect corpus cardiacum.

SINCE Steele attributed hyperglycaemic activity to the corpus cardiacum of the cockroach neurosecretory system1–3, it has been demonstrated in other species of Orthoptera4–10 and in Diptera11,12 and Hymenoptera13. Although extracts of corpora cardiaca from the blowflies Phormia11 and Calliphora14 and the silk moth Cecropia15 seem to be inactive, the hyperglycaemic hormone is liberated from the Calliphora gland by electrical12 or mechanical14 stimulation in situ. Similarly, extracts from Locusta6,16 and Phormia11 are poorly active intraspecifically, but are hyperglycaemic when injected into the cockroach. The nutritional state of the recipient is apparently crucial in determining the extent of the response11.
Processable Cyclic Peptide Nanotubes with Tunable Interiors

A facile route to generate cyclic peptide nanotubes with tunable interiors is presented. By incorporating 3-amino-2-methylbenzoic acid in the d,l-alternating primary sequence of a cyclic peptide, a functional group can be presented in the interior of the nanotubes without compromising the formation of high aspect ratio nanotubes. The new design of such a cyclic peptide also enables one to modulate the nanotube growth process to be compatible with the polymer processing window without compromising the formation of high aspect ratio nanotubes, thus opening a viable approach toward molecularly defined porous membranes.
Activity, weight and oxygen consumption of hyperthyroid mice bearing sarcoma 180

Abstract Hyperthyroidism induced by the feeding of 5000 ppm of desiccated thyroid powder USP to young adult mice results in a profound increase in oxygen consumption which peaks out after about one week at around +45%. This increase continues despite the implanting of Sarcoma 180 for almost a week after which a gradual decline is noted Control tumor bearing animals begin an immediate decline following implantation in contrast to the hyperthyroids. Activity measurements in the two groups of mice bearing Sarcoma 180 indicate no significant differences after implantation for up to +14 days though early changes may occur. Body weight comparisons show phenomenal hyperthyroid increase beginning at day +10, over control, but no explanation may be advanced at this time