cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Explaining the Western Response to the Arab Spring

This article examines the initial Western response to the Arab Spring. Traditional interests – oil, counterterrorism, containing Iran, and the security of Israel – offer only a limited explanation. Domestic politics and a humanitarian agenda explain some variation, but they too are insufficient. A number of leaders appeared to believe change would happen no matter what, so it was often better to embrace it than fight it. Others desired to showcase a new model, where the United States would not necessarily lead. Western powers also recognized the limits of their power and desired to maintain alliances with conservative countries like Saudi Arabia.
NDR1 Interaction with RIN4 Mediates the Differential Activation of Multiple Disease Resistance Pathways in Arabidopsis

Recognition of pathogens by plants involves the coordinated efforts of molecular chaperones, disease resistance (R) proteins, and components of disease resistance signaling pathways. Characterization of events associated with pathogen perception in Arabidopsis thaliana has advanced understanding of molecular genetic mechanisms associated with disease resistance and protein interactions critical for the activation of resistance signaling. Regulation of R protein–mediated signaling in response to the bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas syringae in Arabidopsis involves the physical association of at least two R proteins with the negative regulator RPM1 INTERACTING PROTEIN4 (RIN4). While the RIN4-RPS2 (for RESISTANCE TO P. SYRINGAE2) and RIN4-RPM1 (for RESISTANCE TO P. SYRINGAE PV MACULICOLA1) signaling pathways exhibit differential mechanisms of activation in terms of effector action, the requirement for NON-RACE-SPECIFIC DISEASE RESISTANCE1 (NDR1) is shared. Using a yeast two-hybrid screen, followed by a series of coimmunoprecipitation experiments, we demonstrate that the RIN4–NDR1 interaction occurs on the cytoplasmically localized N-terminal portion of NDR1 and that this interaction is required for the activation of resistance signaling following infection by P. syringae expressing the Cys protease Type III effector protein AvrRpt2. We demonstrate that like RPS2 and RPM1, NDR1 also associates with RIN4 in planta. We suggest that this interaction serves to further regulate activation of disease resistance signaling following recognition of P. syringae DC3000-AvrRpt2 by Arabidopsis.
Status and problems of geophysical chemistry

The subject-matter of geophysical chemistry was defined three years ago, upon the organization of this Section, as “the physical properties and chemical reactions of the substances and aggregates that make up the Earth.” The Section thus occupies the position of a kind of physico-chemical technical adviser to the other Sections of the Union. The members of Section (g) like to feel that their work is fundamental and necessary to the work of all the other Sections. They feel that if research on the physics and chemistry of Earth materials were abandoned entirely, the result would be that while progress in the other branches would by no means cease, it would be progress only of the kind that is easily foreseen, the kind of progress for which an Appropriations Committee can make detailed and specific appropriations covering several years ahead; this is desirable, but we must also strive for the kind of progress which stands out in the history of science when viewed from a distance of fifty or a hundred years, the kind which starts unexpectedly and goes in unforeseen directions. Such advances are dependent upon the development of new methods and instruments and the discovery of new facts in physics and chemistry.
Nicotine accelerates angiogenesis and wound healing in genetically diabetic mice.

Recently, we have discovered an endogenous cholinergic pathway for angiogenesis mediated by endothelial nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs). Since angiogenesis plays a major role in wound repair, we hypothesized that activation of nAChRs with nicotine would accelerate wound healing in a murine excisional wound model. In genetically diabetic and control mice full-thickness skin wounds (0.8 cm) were created on the dorsum and topically treated over 7 days with either vehicle (phosphate-buffered saline, PBS) or nicotine (10−8 mol/L, 10−9 mol/L; each, n = 5). Wound size was measured over 14 days followed by resection, histological analysis, and quantitation of vascularity. In diabetic animals an agonist (epibatidine, 10−10 mol/L) or antagonist (hexamethonium, 10−4 mol/L) of nAChRs as well as the positive control basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF, 25 μg/kg) were also tested. To further study the role of endothelial nAChRs in angiogenesis, we used an ex vivo vascular explant model. In diabetic mice wound healing was markedly impaired. Nicotine significantly accelerated wound healing as assessed by closure rate and histological score. The effects of nicotine were equal to bFGF and were mimicked by epibatidine and blocked by hexamethonium. Histomorphometry revealed increased neovascularization in animals treated with nicotine. Furthermore, capillary-like sprouting from vascular explants was significantly enhanced by nicotine. In conclusion, agonist-induced stimulation of nAChRs accelerates wound healing in diabetic mice by promoting angiogenesis. We have discovered a cholinergic pathway for angiogenesis that is involved in wound healing, and which is a potential target for therapeutic angiogenesis.
Differential Expression Analysis for RNA-Seq: An Overview of Statistical Methods and Computational Software

Deep sequencing has recently emerged as a powerful alternative to microarrays for the high-throughput profiling of gene expression. In order to account for the discrete nature of RNA sequencing data, new statistical methods and computational tools have been developed for the analysis of differential expression to identify genes that are relevant to a disease such as cancer. In this paper, it is thus timely to provide an overview of these analysis methods and tools. For readers with statistical background, we also review the parameter estimation algorithms and hypothesis testing strategies used in these methods.
University Students' Attitude to the Environment: An Australian/USA Comparison and the Effects of An Educational Program

Significant differences were found between a pretest measurement of environmental attitudes of a sample of tertiary students from the USA and that of a similar sample of Australian students; the latter scored higher on the total scale used to measure attitudes, and on all but one of the subscales. After an educational program USA students showed significant increases in scores for the total scale and for all the subscales so that they scored significantly higher on two subscales than Australian students. Discussion of these changes in measured attitudes refers to the institutional processes of education, to changes in environmentalism and to notions of dependence on science and technology for the resolution of environmental issues.
Myxomavirus (MYXV) therapy for small cell lung cancer (SCLC) using patient samples and a genetically engineered SCLC mouse model

between benign and cancerous nodules, and ii) quantitatively predict risk of lung cancer incidence. Methods: Using data and images from the NLST, we performed post hoc nested case-control analyses. The first analysis was conducted to identify diagnostic quantitative imaging features that differentiate between malignant tumors and benign nodules. This study included 88 incidence lung cancer cases diagnosed at the first follow-up interval (T1) and 172 “controls” that had a noduleþ scan at T1 that was not lung cancer. The second analysis was conducted to identify predictive quantitative imaging features that are predictive of lung cancer risk. This study utilized baseline scans (T0) from 74 subjects who developed an incidence lung cancer in follow-up intervals and 125 “controls” that had a noduleþ result in follow-up intervals that was not lung cancer. The LDCT scans were subjected to an in-house “Radiomic Pipeline” that converts images to mineable data (>400 quantitative features). Two classes of features were extracted: semantic and agnostic. Semantic features are commonly used in the radiology lexicon to describe regions of interest. Agnostic features are mathematically extracted quantitative descriptors that capture lesion heterogeneity. Separate statistical analyses were performed for the diagnostic and predictive features. Univariable analyses and false discovery rate (FDR) were utilized to identify which were features were statistically significant. To generate a parsimonious model, we performed a backward elimination process using a 0.1 threshold for inclusion. Results: Although nodule size has diagnostic utility, especially among the largest nodules, >80% of cases and controls had nodules <15 cm. For size alone, we found a modest AUC of 0.79 when nodules were <15 cm. We sought to improve the diagnostic capability of size by adding imaging features. Univariable analyses revealed that 17 of the features were significantly different between cases and controls. Backward elimination process revealed a model with 3 imaging features (radius of smallest enclosing ellipse, radius of largest enclosed ellipse, and tumor thickness-pixel) that yielded an AUC of 0.88; and a model with those 3 features, size, and demographics yields an AUC of 0.89. For the risk prediction analysis, univariable analyses revealed that 10 of the features were significantly associated with lung cancer risk which remained significant when included in a single model including demographics/risk factors. Backward elimination process identified a model with six imaging features (concavity, border definition, attachment to vessel, perinodule emphysema, perinodule fibrosis, nodules in both lungs) and demographics yielding an AUC of 0.87 compared to 0.58 for demographics alone. Conclusions: These results demonstrate that we can improve the diagnostic utility of size alone by including additional imaging features. Moreover, these data provide strong and compelling evidence for the utility of imaging features for risk prediction.
LOS ESPACIOS DE LA ESCUELA PRIMARIA INCLUSIVA: CONEXIONES Y DESARMONÍAS ENTRE LA NORMATIVA DE CONSTRUCCIONES ESCOLARES Y LAS FINALIDADES DEL SISTEMA EDUCATIVO

INTRODUCTION . Policy development, which aims to physical construction of a school, is the combination of different fields of knowledge and interest. When a new state law that regulates the education system under different parameters that were being following is promulgated, development regulations applied to the field of school buildings appear. This dynamic occurs in the knowledge that the configuration of space implies a certain type of school and an organization of this type. In this paper we propose to discover whether the basic rules governing school construction in Spain are the most appropriate to achieve an inclusive school, and which are the specific rules being applied in the Autonomous Community of Galicia. METHOD . We have made a general review of the Royal Decree 132, considering the idea of getting an inclusive school set out in the State Education Law, applying the criteria for assessing the contributions of different working fields, studying the relationship between environment and person. We have also consulted two experts from the Department of Education of the Galician regional government to investigate the use of regulations in the region. RESULTS . We have found that the legislation does not fit as it could to create an inclusive school. DISCUSSION . The regulation is underlying the idea of a traditional school, which does not take into account the contributions of some relevant research and that in the Galician Community a repealed legislation is being used as an instrument to concrete the actions concerning to school buildings.
Global Sensitivity Estimates for Neural Network Classifiers

Artificial neural networks (ANNs) have traditionally been seen as black-box models, because, although they are able to find “hidden” relations between inputs and outputs with a high approximation capacity, their structure seldom provides any insights on the structure of the functions being approximated. Several research papers have tried to debunk the black-box nature of ANNs, since it limits the potential use of ANNs in many research areas. This paper is framed in this context and proposes a methodology to determine the individual and collective effects of the input variables on the outputs for classification problems based on the ANOVA-functional decomposition. The method is applied after the training phase of the ANN and allows researchers to rank the input variables according to their importance in the variance of the ANN output. The computation of the sensitivity indices for product unit neural networks is straightforward as those indices can be calculated analytically by evaluating the integrals in the ANOVA decomposition. Unfortunately, the sensitivity indices associated with ANNs based on sigmoidal basis functions or radial basis functions cannot be calculated analytically. In this paper, the indices for those kinds of ANNs are proposed to be estimated by the (quasi-) Monte Carlo method.
Engineering aspects of ion exchange in hydrometallurgy

The first application of ion exchange to extractive hydrometallurgy is the use of a strong base anion exchange resin for selective recovery of uranium from sulfate leach liquors. The influence of the major variables on column operation is described, plant performance data are summarized, cost factors are enumerated, and the probable application of this operation to metals at least as valuable as copper is predicted.
Clinical Indications and Impact on Management: Fourth and Subsequent Posttherapy Follow-up 18F-FDG PET/CT Scans in Oncology Patients

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services coverage includes 3 posttherapy 18F-FDG PET/CT scans per patient and per tumor type. Any additional follow-up 18F-FDG PET/CT scans will be reimbursed at the discretion of a local Medicare administrator, if deemed medically necessary. This study aimed to investigate common clinical indications for performing a fourth or additional follow-up 18F-FDG PET/CT scans that could affect the management of patients. Methods: This was a retrospective institutional review of 433 oncology patients (203 men; mean age, 55 y), including a total of 1,659 fourth or subsequent follow-up PET/CT scans after completion of primary treatment. Twelve indications for performing a fourth or subsequent follow-up PET/CT scan were determined, and the impact of each of the 12 indications on patients' management was evaluated. Results: The primary tumors were breast cancer (92 patients, 426 scans), non-Hodgkin lymphoma (77 patients, 208 scans), Hodgkin disease (41 patients, 182 scans), colorectal cancer (70 patients, 286 scans), melanoma (69 patients, 271 scans), and lung cancer (84 patients, 286 scans). The indications were categorized in 4 groups: PET/CT for diagnosis of tumor recurrence (303/1,659, 18.3%), PET/CT before starting therapy for tumor recurrence (64/1,659, 3.9%), PET/CT to assess therapy response for tumor recurrence (507/1,659, 30.6%), and follow-up PET/CT after completion of treatment for tumor recurrence (785/1,659, 47.3%). Overall, fourth and subsequent follow-up 18F-FDG PET/CT scans resulted in change in management in 31.6% of the scans (356 of 1,128) when the scans were obtained for medical necessities (indications 1-11), and in 5.6% of the scans (30/531) when the scans were obtained without any medical necessity (indication 12). Conclusion: The fourth and subsequent PET/CT scans obtained after completion of primary treatment led to a change in management in 31.6% of the scans when acquired for appropriate clinical reasons. Performing follow-up PET/CT without appropriate medical reason had a low impact on patients' management and should be avoided.
Egypt in American Primary and Secondary School Literature: A Summary of the Final Report Submitted to the United States Office of Education

The social studies teacher in today’s elementary and secondary school is faced with a serious problem in attempting to determine the curriculum for a geography, cultures or history course: does one discuss each of the 145 or so independent states in the world, allowing only one hour of class period per country, or should particular attention be directed to certain nations? Of course, the latter is the only logical alternative. The problem remains, however, of how to select those states that will be examined in detail.
Calcium Signaling and Cardiac Arrhythmias.

There has been a significant progress in our understanding of the molecular mechanisms by which calcium (Ca 2+ ) ions mediate various types of cardiac arrhythmias. A growing list of inherited gene defects can cause potentially lethal cardiac arrhythmia syndromes, including catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia, congenital long QT syndrome, and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. In addition, acquired deficits of multiple Ca 2+ -handling proteins can contribute to the pathogenesis of arrhythmias in patients with various types of heart disease. In this review article, we will first review the key role of Ca 2+ in normal cardiac function—in particular, excitation–contraction coupling and normal electric rhythms. The functional involvement of Ca 2+ in distinct arrhythmia mechanisms will be discussed, followed by various inherited arrhythmia syndromes caused by mutations in Ca 2+ -handling proteins. Finally, we will discuss how changes in the expression of regulation of Ca 2+ channels and transporters can cause acquired arrhythmias, and how these mechanisms might be targeted for therapeutic purposes.
Species circumscription of the Caltha leptosepala polyploid complex (Ranunculaceae) based on molecular and morphological data

The Caltha leptosepala species complex (Ranunculaceae) is taxonomically unresolved, with authors of various regional floras recognizing different names and numbers of species. Integrating molecular, morphological, cytological, and geographic data, we describe three species in the complex, restoring two species names, C. biflora and C. chionophila , in addition to recognizing C. leptosepala . Based on chloroplast and nuclear ribosomal phylogenies, we illustrate key morphological synapomorphies for the three Caltha species, assess the usefulness of previously used morphological characters, and provide a dichotomous key for their field identification. A neotype is designated for C. leptosepala var. howellii because the originals were lost or destroyed.
Multiscale Characterization and Domain Partitioning for Multiscale Analysis of Heterogeneous Materials

This chapter discusses the development of a multiscale characterization methodology leading to microstructural morphology-based domain partitioning MDP methodology for materials with nonuniform heterogeneous microstructure. The comprehensive set of methods is intended to provide a concurrent multiscale analysis model with the initial computational domain that delineates regions of statistical homogeneity and inhomogeneity. The MDP methodology is intended as a preprocessor to multiscale analysis of mechanical behavior and damage of heterogeneous materials, e.g., cast aluminum alloys. It introduces a systematic three-step process that is based on geometric features of morphology. The first step simulates high-resolution microstructural information from low-resolution micrographs of the material and a limited number of high-resolution optical or scanning electron microscopy micrographs. The second step is quantitative characterization of the high-resolution images to create effective metrics that can relate microstructural descriptors to material behavior. The third step invokes a partitioning method to demarcate regions belonging to different length scales in a concurrent multiscale model. Partitioning criteria for domain partitioning are defined in terms of microstructural descriptors and their functions. The effectiveness of these metrics in differentiating microstructures of a 319-type cast aluminum alloy with different secondary dendrite arm spacings SDAS is demonstrated. The MDP method establishes intrinsic material length scales and consequently subdivides the computational domain for concurrently coupling macro- and micromechanical analyses in the multiscale model. Finally, a multiscale analysis of ductile fracture is conducted using a differentiated scale structure that has been laid out by the MDP algorithm. The chapter emphasizes the need for coupling multiscale characterization and domain decomposition with multiscale analysis of heterogeneous materials.
Pore Size Distribution in Granular Material Microstructure.

Pore scale modeling plays a key role in fluid flow through porous media and associated macroscale constitutive relationships. The polyhedral shape and effective local pore size within granular material microstructure are computed in this study by means of the Euclidean Distance Transform (EDT), a local maxima search (non-maximum suppression), and a segmentation process. Various synthetic packed particles are simulated and employed as comparative models during the computation of pore size distribution (PSD). Reconstructed un-sheared and sheared Ottawa 20–30 sand samples are used to compute PSD for non-trivial and non-spherical models.
Thermodynamic modeling of the K-KCl and Mg-MgCl2 binary systems using the CALPHAD method

Abstract The Calculation of Phase Diagrams (CALPHAD) method uses models that reproduce and predict phase equilibria and thermochemical behavior. To date, the CALPHAD approach has been applied to the KCl-MgCl2 psuedobinary only. The two-sublattice modified quasi chemical (MQM) model, already developed for the KCl-MgCl2 melt and used extensively within the CALPHAD community to represent molten salts, is extended in this work to include excess K and Mg. Phase relations calculated using the MQM is compared to experimentally observed behavior for the K-KCl binary system. Gaps in the experimental data are identified and recommendations are given for better understanding the thermochemistry and phase equilibria.
IN VITRO MEASUREMENT OF POLYCHLORINATED BIPHENYL TOXICITY

ABSTRACT The relative cytotoxicity of Aroclor 1260; 2,4,5,2′,4′,5′-hexachlorobiphenyl (HCBa); and 2,3,6,2′,3′,6′-hexachlorobiphenyl (HCBb) was determined in vitro using the C3H10T1/2 mouse embryo cell line. As measured by plating efficiency and growth rates, HCBb was the most toxic followed by Aroclor 1260 and HCBa. The in vitro toxicity observed for the pure isomers paralleled the results of long-term, whole-animal studies using the rat and the susceptibility of the isomers to metabolism. The use of mammalian cell culture for quantifying toxicity and the characteristics of the C3H10T1/2 line are reviewed.
Winter camelina seed yield and quality responses to harvest time

Abstract Winter camelina [Camelina sativa (L.) Crantz] is an winter-annual oilseed crop that offers the potential for producing a second crop in the Upper Midwest. However, little is known about changes in oil, fatty acid (FA) composition and protein content as seeds mature in the field, nor the best harvest time to maximize winter camelina seed yield and quality. Therefore, a study was conducted in 2016–2017 at two locations Morris and Rosemount, Minnesota, to determine the changes in seed yield and quality from the beginning of seed-set to full maturity in winter camelina. Plant growth, seed yield and seed quality traits were evaluated over eight harvest dates ranging from early June through early July. Seed yield and oil content at both locations did not change significantly after mid-June corresponding to 1200–1300 °C d cumulative growing degree days, which resemble closely with maximum seed carbon and protein content. As the harvest date progresses, contents of seed linoleic, oleic and palmitic acids declined, while that of linolenic and eicosenoic acids increased, reaching their stable levels by physiological maturity. At maximum seed mass (i.e., physiological maturity), moisture content was estimated to be 410 g kg−1, which could be used as an indicator of when to swath or desiccate to hasten harvest. Results indicated that seed yield and oil content of winter camelina maximized by mid-June, before the crop reached physiological maturity in Minnesota. However, an additional 150–250 °C d was required to dry seed enough for ease of harvesting.
The RFID Connection: RFID Technology for Sensing and the Internet of Things

Everything must be connected, monitored, and networked: this is the core tenet of the Internet of Things (IoT). This popular idea is most commonly achieved through the use of wireless systems, a term that could reference any of the following: active or passive RF identification (RFID) tags, wireless medical implant devices, wireless sensor networks, and other low-power IoT solutions. The plethora of terms used is due to the large application space and rapid pace of development in this field. We will mainly use the term RFID when describing these wireless systems.
Lipopolysaccharide Alters Thermogenic and Inflammatory Genes in White Adipose Tissue in Mice Fed Diets with Distinct 18-Carbon Fatty-Acid Composition.

Fatty acids are involved in the regulation of inflammatory responses in obesity. However, despite being the largest dietary fatty-acid class, effects of 18-carbon fatty acids with different degrees of saturation on inflammatory, metabolic, and thermogenic markers have not been well studied. Therefore, the objective of this study was to test if diets with different 18-carbon fatty-acid profiles differentially regulate inflammatory and metabolic genes. Male C57BL/6 mice were fed one of the four different diets: a control diet (CON) containing 5.6% kcal fat from lard and 4.4% kcal fat from soybean oil (CON) or three high-fat diets (HFD) containing 25% kcal fat from lard and 20% kcal fat from either shea butter oil (saturated fatty-acid-rich fat; shea butter [SHB]), olive oil (monounsaturated fatty-acid-rich fat; olive oil [OO]), or soybean oil (polyunsaturated fatty-acid-rich fat; soybean oil [SBO]) ad libitum for 4 weeks with or without a terminal 4-h lipopolysaccharide (LPS) treatment. Compared to CON, HFD-fed mice had higher weight gain and fat accumulation. The OO group had the highest brown adipose tissue (BAT) mass while the SBO group had higher Il6 and lower Cpt1a expression in white adipose tissue (WAT) than other HFD groups. Treatment with LPS upregulated expression of proinflammatory cytokines, and this was associated with downregulation of thermogenic gene expression. However, the diets did not have differential effects on inflammatory response to LPS. These data indicate that the saturation degree of 18-C fatty acids is not an important factor on response to LPS with regard to metabolic and inflammatory indicators.
Walking with my Mother: the World Perceived with an Elderly

This article recounts the experiences of walking and traveling in a city with an elderly person, my mother, and the ways those transform my perceptions of the everyday environment. This article further explores environmental and social features that serve as potential enablers or disablers for the moving through the environment for an elderly person and highlights how ability is contingent on the person-environment relationship. These explorations are particular relevant for many industrialized nations facing a rapidly aging population.
Palladium-catalyzed syntheses of tetrahydrocarbazolones as advanced intermediates to carbazole alkaloids

Two sequential palladium-catalyzed reactions, an intermolecular Stille cross-coupling followed by a recently developed palladium-catalyzed reductive N-heteroannulation, have been employed as the key synthetic steps toward six tetrahydrocarbazolones. The products are advanced intermediates toward a number of naturally occurring carbazole alkaloids.
Genetic diversity and population structure in Cary’s Beardtongue Penstemon caryi (Plantaginaceae), a rare plant endemic to the eastern Rocky Mountains of Wyoming and Montana

Penstemon caryi is a narrow-range endemic angiosperm found primarily on sparsely vegetated limestone outcrops in the Bighorn and Pryor Mountains of north-central Wyoming and south-central Montana. A former candidate for listing under the Endangered Species Act, and currently a species of concern in these states, P. caryi is potentially threatened by habitat loss due to encroaching anthropogenic activities, such as limestone quarrying and road construction. In an effort to assess the capacity of P. caryi to withstand habitat loss and degradation, we used simple sequence repeats (SSRs) and amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers to examine genetic diversity and differentiation of P. caryi populations from the Pryor Mountains of Montana and the southern Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming. Our analyses revealed overall moderate to high levels of genetic diversity in P. caryi, but with relatively lower levels of diversity in populations from the Pryor Mountains. There are fewer known individuals of Penstemon caryi in Montana, and because the examined populations from Montana exhibited less genetic diversity than those from Wyoming, populations from Montana may face an increased risk of population decline and extirpation. Both the AFLP and SSR data sets found population structure between different regions (Montana vs. Wyoming), while AFLP markers identified further subdivision between Wyoming populations. Despite moderate to high levels of genetic diversity, P. caryi is still a species at risk due to impending environmental stresses such as global climate change and human encroachment, which may be especially troublesome given its narrow distribution and the specificity of its habitat preferences.
Electric Circuit Realizations of Fracton Physics

We design a set of classical macroscopic electric circuits in which charge exhibits the mobility restrictions of fracton quasiparticles. The crucial ingredient in these circuits is a transformer, which induces currents between pairs of adjacent wires. For an appropriately designed geometry, this induction serves to enforce conservation of the dipole moment. We show that a network of capacitors connected via ideal transformers will forever remember the dipole moment of its initial charge configuration. Relaxation of the dipole moment in realistic systems can only occur via flux leakage in the transformers, which will lead to violations of fracton physics at the longest times. We propose a concrete diagnostic for these ``fractolectric'' circuits in the form of their characteristic equilibrium charge configurations, which we verify using simple circuit simulation software. These circuits not only provide an experimental testing ground for fracton physics, but also serve as DC filters. We outline extensions of these ideas to circuits featuring other types of higher moment conservation laws, as well as to higher-dimensional circuits which act as fracton ``current ice.'' While our focus is on classical circuits, we discuss how these ideas can be straightforwardly extended to realize quantized fractons in superconducting circuits.
Deep Learning for High-Order Drug-Drug Interaction Prediction

Drug-drug interactions (DDIs) and their associated adverse drug reactions (ADRs) represent a significant detriment to the public health. Existing research on DDIs is primarily focused on pairwise DDI detection and prediction. It is highly needed to develop effective computational tools for high-order DDI prediction. Here we show that deep learning can be effectively utilized to predict ADRs induced from high-order DDIs. In this manuscript, we present a deep learning model D3I for cardinality-invariant and order-invariant high-order DDI prediction. The D3I models achieve 0.740 F1 value and 0.847 AUC value on balanced high-order DDI prediction, and outperform other models on order-2 DDI prediction. These results demonstrate the strong potential of D3I and deep learning models in tackling the prediction problems of high-order DDIs and their induced ADRs. In addition, D3I is able to derive single drug representations, which conform to our current knowledge on single drugs, from their behaviors in drug combinations. D3I can also correctly predict ADRs for drug combinations in which no single drugs on their own induce ADRs, and improve ADR prediction on drug pairs by learning from all drug combinations. To the best of our knowledge, D3I is the first deep model for high-order DDI prediction.
A Sensor-based Framework for Real-time Detection and Alleviation of Public Speaking Anxiety

Oral presentations are important and challenging tasks that most people struggle with due to public speaking anxiety. To date, there are fewer research interventions that are designed to assist presenters manage their anxiety in real-time during presentations. This research attempts to fill this gap by exploring ways in which sensor-driven technologies can help reduce anxiety during presentations. To help presenters manage their anxiety, I will design and evaluate an automated real-time framework for detecting public speaking anxiety and explore behavioral just-in-time techniques that presenters can use while presenting. The automated framework will be guided by a physiological detection model, use a virtual agent as the user interface, and will assist presenters during their presentation.
The Rhetorical Biopower of Eugenics: Understanding the Influence of British Eugenics on the Nazi Program

The relationship between the British and Nazi eugenics movements has been underexamined, largely because of the more obvious ties between the American and Nazi programs and the lack of a state-sponsored program in Britain. This article revisits this gap to reinsert the British eugenics movement into the historiography of the Nazi program by way of their shared rhetoric. To do this, I employ Foucault’s concepts of biopower and power/knowledge, arguing that biopower exists in rhetorical constructions of power and identity, which the eugenics movements employed at national and individual levels to garner support and participation, particularly from women. The article is not an exhaustive account of the rhetorical overlaps between the two movements, but rather serves as a model of how one might understand eugenics as a rhetoric of biopower.
Design of an FPGA/SoC Hardware Accelerator for MIT Coffee Can Radar Systems

For an autonomous vehicle running at highway speeds, processing and response time of radar sensors are of extreme importance. In this paper, we present hardware accelerators for MIT Coffee Can Radar systems [1] using commercial off-the-shelf FPGA/SoC boards [5], [6]. There are multiple advantages of this proposed system architecture, but the ability to process/average more chirp cycles without slowing down the radar sensor output rate is probably the most important one. Averaging over multiple chirps is a known technique which can be used to reduce measurement errors, suppress noise, and improve multi-target detection performance. However, to be able to do more averaging without slowing down the radar sensor output rate, the frequency of the ramp signal driving the VCO must be increased. This will result increased frequency IF signals, and hence will require faster ADC converters. On a multitasking system, this will also increase the size of the data transferred between kernel and user spaces, and will also require handling/averaging over larger arrays stored in the dynamic RAM. These are all known performance bottlenecks both for delay as well as for throughput [7]. We propose the use of a Zynq SoC based system for implementing the signal processing chain. Basically, there will be an application specific hardware accelerator which does averaging of the received signal over multiple chirps inside the FPGA fabric using static block RAMs with deterministic timing. This greatly reduces the computational load on the ARM side of the Zynq, and AXI bus data traffic. Overall, the proposed system will have reduced delays, improved performance, and better real-time characteristics. A preliminary version of the hardware accelerator is synthesized for an entry level Zynq board [5] for I MSPS ADC speed, 100MHz AXI bus speed, and without any pipelining technique. Total resource usage on the FPGA fabric was less than 10%, worst setup slack was 1.090 ns, and worst hold slack was 0.088 ns. All of these show the feasibility of the proposed proposed hardware accelerator.
Obesity and Multiple Myeloma

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a plasma B-cell malignancy that is characterized by the presence of clonal proliferation of malignant plasma cells in the bone marrow, monoclonal protein in blood or urine, and organ dysfunction. It accounts for 10% of hematological malignancies and approximately 1% of all cancers in the USA. Several etiologic agents are associated with its development. Notably, obesity is consistently associated with increased risk and drives mechanistic pathways important in its development. In addition to age, black or African American heritage is a consistent risk factor as is male gender. Epidemiologic evidence on causes and biologic pathways supporting the obesity relation are presented. Diagnosis and treatment of MM patients are considered in the context of obesity as a cause with potential impact on treatment and outcomes among those with disease.
Skin remodeling and wound healing in the Gottingen minipig following exposure to sulfur mustard.

Abstract Sulfur mustard (SM), a dermal vesicant that has been used in chemical warfare, causes inflammation, edema and epidermal erosions depending on the dose and time following exposure. Herein, a minipig model was used to characterize wound healing following dermal exposure to SM. Saturated SM vapor caps were placed on the dorsal flanks of 3-month-old male Gottingen minipigs for 30 min. After 48 h the control and SM wounded sites were debrided daily for 7 days with wet to wet saline gauze soaks. Animals were then euthanized, and full thickness skin biopsies prepared for histology and immunohistochemistry. Control skin contained a well differentiated epidermis with a prominent stratum corneum. A well-developed eschar covered the skin of SM treated animals, however, the epidermis beneath the eschar displayed significant wound healing with a hyperplastic epidermis. Stratum corneum shedding and a multilayered basal epithelium consisting of cuboidal and columnar cells were also evident in the neoepidermis. Nuclear expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) was contiguous in cells along the basal epidermal layer of control and SM exposed skin; SM caused a significant increase in PCNA expression in basal and suprabasal cells. SM exposure was also associated with marked changes in expression of markers of wound healing including increases in keratin 10, keratin 17 and loricrin and decreases in E-cadherin. Trichrome staining of control skin showed a well-developed collagen network with no delineation between the papillary and reticular dermis. Conversely, a major delineation was observed in SM-exposed skin including a web-like papillary dermis composed of filamentous extracellular matrix, and compact collagen fibrils in the lower reticular dermis. Although the dermis below the wound site was disrupted, there was substantive epidermal regeneration following SM-induced injury. Further studies analyzing the wound healing process in minipig skin will be important to provide a model to evaluate potential vesicant countermeasures.
Aging-resilient SRAM design: an end-to-end framework

The performance of transistors degrades due to aging. Bias temperature instability (BTI) is the most prominent aging mechanism in nano-scale CMOS technologies. Aging degradation causes lifetime failures and lowers the quality of shipped chips. We have developed an end-to-end SRAM design framework to maximize the aging resilience under the given constraints. Specifically, we analyze the impact of aging in SRAM peripheral circuits, including address decoder, precharge, write circuit and sense amplifiers (SAs). We explore the efficiency of error-correcting codes (ECC) to combat aging by quantifying the area and delay overheads of ECC and estimating the lifetime yield and DPPM of SRAMs with ECC, respectively. We also calculate the soft error resilience when ECC is used to repair aging failures. After comparing approaches based on cell sizing and ECC in terms of overheads, lifetime yield and DPPM, we can choose either one or a combination of these approaches to identify the optimal design against aging under the given constraints. We integrate our methods into an existing SRAM compiler, CACTI [1], to provide the end-to-end capability to designers.
Serum immunoglobulin E responses to aeroallergens in cats with naturally occurring airway eosinophilia compared to unaffected control cats.

Author(s): Buller, Maggie C; Johnson, Lynelle R; Outerbridge, Catherine A; Vernau, William; White, Stephen D | Abstract: BackgroundEosinophilic airway disease in cats is sometimes described as allergic in origin, but controversy exists in the documentation of allergy in cats and the utility of allergy testing for respiratory tract diseases.ObjectiveTo examine serum immunoglobulin E (IgE) response to aeroallergens in cats with airway eosinophilia.AnimalsFifteen cats with idiopathic eosinophilic airway inflammation and 9 control cats.MethodsProspective, case-control study. Surplus serum from cats with airway eosinophilia documented by bronchoscopic bronchoalveolar lavage was submitted for IgE measurement using ELISA polyclonal antibody methodology. Responses for regional allergens (fungal organisms, weeds, grasses, trees, mites, insects) were assessed. Results were reported as ELISA absorbance units with scores 0 to 79 considered negative, scores between 80 and 300 considered intermediate, and scores g300 considered positive.ResultsCats with airway eosinophilia had significantly more positive serum IgE responses (25/720) than did healthy controls (5/432, P = .02); however, the number of cats with positive IgE responses (5/15) did not differ from controls (1/9, P = .35). The allergen that most commonly resulted in positive serum IgE response in cats with airway eosinophilia was dust mite (n = 4) followed by 2 types of storage mites (n = 3 each). No control cat tested positive for these allergens.Conclusions and clinical importanceSerum IgE production against aeroallergens was found in some cats with eosinophilic airway inflammation, but the number of affected cats with positive results did not differ from controls. Further investigation in cats with eosinophilic, mixed, and neutrophilic airway disease in comparison to control cats is warranted.
Mode Transition Gratings for Improved Slow-Light Transmission in Photonic Integrated Circuits

The coupling into the slow mode of an integrated photonic grating is improved by a Mode Transition Grating. Antagonistic perturbations to the grating parameters create a controllable band edge shift of only a few nanometers.
Mathematics and Its Logics: Philosophical Essays

In these essays Geoffrey Hellman presents a strong case for a healthy pluralism in mathematics and its logics, supporting peaceful coexistence despite what appear to be contradictions between different systems, and positing different frameworks serving different legitimate purposes. The essays refine and extend Hellman's modal-structuralist account of mathematics, developing a height-potentialist view of higher set theory which recognizes indefinite extendability of models and stages at which sets occur. In the first of three new essays written for this volume, Hellman shows how extendability can be deployed to derive the axiom of Infinity and that of Replacement, improving on earlier accounts; he also shows how extendability leads to attractive, novel resolutions of the set-theoretic paradoxes. Other essays explore advantages and limitations of restrictive systems - nominalist, predicativist, and constructivist. Also included are two essays, with Solomon Feferman, on predicative foundations of arithmetic.
Electro-Optic Devices in Dielectric Waveguide

In recent years, integrated circuit techniques have become increasingly important in implementing components and subsystems at millimeter wavelengths. One common waveguide structure in this spectral region is dielectric image line, formed by placing half-height rectangular dielectric waveguide on a metal ground plane. A number of passive and active devices have been demonstrated using image guide, including directional couplers, filters, phase shifters, scanning antennas, detectors and sources. In most cases, the active devices studied required careful mounting of a discrete electrical device in close proximity to the waveguide structure in a way which optimizes coupling to the waveguide. In this review we describe active devices in dielectric waveguide which can be realized by direct electrical control of the bulk dielectric properties of the transmission medium. These devices have intrinsic high speed, and are directly compatible with common waveguide structures.
How to make while loops iterative: an introduction for first-year CS students

The design of while loops is among the hardest lessons for beginners in programming. Their design is difficult because students must do more than solve a problem. They must also, for example, correctly sequence mutations, define loop invariants, and avoid infinite loops. Another difficulty students face is making while loops iterative. This issue is commonly ignored in programming textbooks for beginners despite being relevant to future courses such as Computer Architecture, Programming Languages, and Algorithms. The difficulty with making while loops iterative revolves around the elimination of delayed operations. This requires introducing beginners to the concept of control. This article presents a novel transformation recipe for beginners to make while loops iterative. The transformation recipe guides students on how to accumulate control information on a stack to eliminate delayed operations in the body of loops. In addition, this article presents descriptive statistics obtained from students on the maiden voyage of the new design recipe. The empirical data suggests that students feel that writing iterative while loops is hard, but enlightening. In addition, the empirical data suggests that students have a very favorable opinion about designing while loops.
The Roles of Privacy and Trust in Children's Evaluations and Explanations of Digital Tracking.

A "digital revolution" has introduced new privacy violations concerning access to information stored on electronic devices. The present two studies assessed how U.S. children ages 5-17 and adults (N = 416; 55% female; 67% white) evaluated those accessing digital information belonging to someone else, either location data (Study 1) or digital photos (Study 2). The trustworthiness of the tracker (Studies 1 and 2) and the privacy of the information (Study 2) were manipulated. At all ages, evaluations were more negative when the tracker was less trustworthy, and when information was private. However, younger children were substantially more positive overall about digital tracking than older participants. These results, yielding primarily medium-to-large effect sizes, suggest that with age, children increasingly appreciate digital privacy considerations.