cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Accumulating Trouble: Complex Organization, a Culture of Silence, and a Secret Spill

Over a period of thirty-eight years, Unocal Corporation spilled as much as 20 million gallons of petroleum into Central California's Guadalupe/Nipomo Dunes fouling the ground water, the beach, and other habitat producing what may be the largest petroleum spill in United States' history. A whistleblower finally reported this spill in February of 1990, which led to the shutdown of their oilfield, fines, and criminal charges. Through the analysis of oilfield social and organizational dynamics, this article makes three interrelated contributions to current understandings of hazard creation and response and organizational deviance. First, it builds on and extends research on “man-made disasters.” I argue that commonplace social and organizational structures, combined with equally unremarkable, yet incrementally cumulative petroleum spillage to produce a remarkable outcome—millions of gallons of petroleum contamination. Second, in addressing the social dynamics at the oil field, I develop the theoretical concept of a culture of silence to capture the collective secrecy that surrounded the spill once the local workgroup recognized the danger it presented to their ongoing organizational viability. Finally, an understanding of these social and organizational dynamics suggests significant policy ramifications concerning the viability of current industrial self-regulation as a strategy for monitoring environmental compliance.
Behavioral self-control strategies for deliberately limiting drinking among college students

This study examined the use of behavioral self-control strategies, across specific procedures and sex, and the relationship between self-control and alcohol consumption and problem variables. A total of 456 randomly selected college students participated in a survey of campus substance use. Behavioral strategies most commonly used to deliberately limit drinking among college students were those related to limiting driving/riding when drinking, controlling time and food stimuli, and awareness of internal and external cues to control drinking. Strategies related to self-reinforcement and punishment, certain alternatives to alcohol use, and specific rate control techniques were least used by drinkers. Females were more likely than males to use all but one of the behavioral strategies. The degree of self-control practiced was associated with alcohol consumption, driving/riding after drinking, improvement in limiting drinking, health beliefs related to alcohol problems, and perceived effectiveness of behavioral strategies to limit drinking. Specific self-control strategies were found to significantly predict alcohol-related variables, with confining drinking to certain times of the week and refusing unwanted drinks the most consistent predictors.
The effect of audience design on labeling, organizing, and finding shared files

In an online experiment, I apply theory from psychology and communications to find out whether group information management tasks are governed by the same communication processes as conversation. This paper describes results that replicate previous research, and expand our knowledge about audience design and packaging for future reuse when communication is mediated by a co-constructed artifact like a file-and-folder hierarchy. Results indicate that it is easier for information consumers to search for files in hierarchies created by information producers who imagine their intended audience to be someone similar to them, independent of whether the producer and consumer actually share common ground. This research helps us better understand packaging choices made by information producers, and the direct implications of those choices for other users of group information systems.
INDEPENDENCE OF H-2K AND H-2D ANTIGENIC DETERMINANTS ON THE SURFACE OF MOUSE LYMPHOCYTES

At 37°C, fluorescein-conjugated anti- H-2 alloantibodies specifically induce, at the surface of living mouse lymphocytes, the redistribution of the corresponding H-2 antigens, which cluster as patches and sometimes single caps at one pole of the cell. This aggregation is inhibited at 0°C and the H-2 antigens, stained by fluorescent antibodies in the cold, appear evenly spread over the cell surface. This phenomenon was used to define the relationships between the membrane structures bearing the antigens coded by the H-2K and the H-2D genes of the H-2 region. Monospecific anti- H-2 antibodies coupled to either tetramethyl rhodamine isothiocyanate or fluorescein isothiocyanate were used to induce the redistribution of H-2D and H-2K antigens of the H-2 b and H-2 k haplotype at the surface of lymph node cells from homozygous and F1 hybrid mice. It was observed that the diffuse distribution of H-2K antigens labeled at 0°C was not affected by the prior antibody-induced aggregation of H-2D antigens and vice versa. The results were the same for H-2 antigens governed by genes located either in cis or in trans position. These data indicate that the H-2K and H-2D antigens migrate independently at the cell surface, and suggest that the gene products from the D and the K end of the H-2 region are expressed on independent molecules or structures at the cell membrane.
A new achievable rate for cooperative diversity based on generalized writing on dirty paper

In a cooperative diversity network users cooperate on transmitting each others' messages; to some extend nodes therefore collectively act as an an- tenna array. In this paper we derive upper and lower bounds for the information theoretic capacity of a 4 node ad-hoc network with two transmitters using co- operative diversity.
Functional outcomes can vary by dose: learning-based sensorimotor training for patients stable poststroke.

Objective. This study aimed to determine whether the dose of learning-based sensorimotor training (LBSMT) significantly enhances gains in upper limb function in patients stable post stroke. Methods. A total of 45 subjects stable poststroke participated in a 6-8-week LBSMT program of varied dosage: group I (n = 18; 1×/week, 1.5 hours/visit); group II (n = 19, 3×/week, 0.75 hours/visit); and group III (n = 8; 4×/week, 3 hours/visit). All subjects reinforced their training with home-based practice. The primary outcome measures were functional independence, strength, sensory discrimination, and fine motor skills. Results. Across all individual subjects, significant gains were measured on the 4 dependent variables (improvement ranging from 9.0% to 38.9%; P < .001). Group III made greater gains than groups I and II on functional independence, sensory discrimination, and fine motor skills, with a significant linear trend by dose for functional independence (P < .001). Only 2-3 subjects in groups I and II, respec...
Vocal Cord Dysfunction, Paradoxic Vocal Fold Motion, or Laryngomalacia? Our Understanding Requires an Interdisciplinary Approach

This article presents disorders of periodic occurrence of laryngeal obstruction (POLO) resulting in noisy breathing and dyspnea and a variety of secondary symptoms. Included in this classification are glottic disorders, such as paradoxic vocal fold movement and vocal cord dysfunction. The supraglottic disorder, termed, intermittent arytenoid region prolapse or laryngomalacia, is also reviewed. Three categories of POLO are defined as irritant, exertional, and psychological.
Thermal, electrical and environmental reliability of InP HEMTs and GaAs PHEMTs

This paper reviews current understanding of reliability of InP HEMTs and GaAs PHEMTs. Operating temperature, bias point, and the environment are all known to affect the long-term stability of these devices. Identifying the dominant failure mechanism in a given situation is difficult because fundamental understanding is still insufficient, several mechanisms have a similar signature, and because often times, there are multiple mechanisms acting simultaneously. In spite of this, GaAs PHEMTs and InP HEMTs are already remarkably reliable and the prospect of further improvements are good.
High mobility solution-deposited chalcogenide films for flexible applications

The fabrication of solution-processed thin-film transistors (TFTs), which yield field-effect mobilities >10 cm/sup 2//V-sec, is a key challenge for the production of high-performance flexible electronics. This talk addresses a hydrazinium precursor approach for solution-processing metal chalcogenide films. Ultrathin n-type SnSe/sub 2-x/S/sub x/, In/sub 2/Se/sub 3/ and p-type CuInSe/sub 2-x/S/sub x/ TFT channels have been deposited by spin coating from hydrazine- and nonhydrazine-based solutions, yielding saturation regime field-effect mobilities and on-off ratios as high as 16 cm/sup 2//V-s and 10/sup 6/, respectively. The new deposition technique is expected to be extendable to a wider range of metal chalcogenides, offering opportunities for TFTs as well as other thin-film devices, including solar cells, memory and thermoelectric devices.
Molded Arrays of Microcavities and Channels in Polymer Structures: Ultraviolet Emitting Microplasma Sources for Biophotonics

Microplasma arrays and channels fabricated on plastic substrates by replica molding are well suited for biomolecule detection in liquid flow streams. Arrays of orthogonally oriented linear channels with cross-sectional areas of 100 times 100 mum2 have been operated in Ar/3% N2 gas mixtures at atmospheric pressure. Similar experiments with arrays of parallel linear channels having cross-sectional areas of 200 times 100 mum2 and lengths of 6 cm have also been conducted. Spatially uniform emission in the near ultraviolet (lambda ~300-400 nm) from the microcavity plasma sources and the photoluminescence of organic molecules in solution in adjoining channels have been observed.
Smartphone applications security: Survey of new vectors and solutions

The use of smartphones is becoming more pervasive with the launch of applications that can handle every aspect of life. These applications range from simple calender management to more sensitive on-line banking. As a result, the security of these applications is becoming more important day after day. In this paper, the new challenges and factors associated with mobile applications and their security will be highlighted. We focus on malware and phishing attacks, and argue how solutions for regular computers are, in many cases, inapplicable for smartphones. We survey the currently available solutions and conclude with a discussion on open problems and possible future work.
Pathology, Immunohistology, and Cytokine Responses in Early Phases of Human Granulocytic Ehrlichiosis in a Murine Model

Human granulocytic ehrlichiosis (HGE) results in fever, pancytopenia, and mild liver injury. We used a mouse model to examine immunity in the pathogenesis of HGE. HGE agent-infected C3H/HeJ mice were necropsied over 21 days. Histologic, immunohistologic, and serologic analyses, blood culture, tissue and blood polymerase chain reaction (PCR), cell counts, serum chemistries, and plasma cytokine ELISAs were performed. No clinical signs were detected. Ehrlichiae were identified in neutrophils in hematopoietic tissues maximally on day 7. Interleukin (IL)-10 levels were high throughout, whereas interferon (IFN)-gamma levels peaked on days 7 and 10 and dropped thereafter. Hepatic lymphohistiocytic aggregates with apoptoses were maximal at day 14. HGE-agent infection of mice induces pathologic changes similar to those in infected humans, despite differences in cytokine profile. The IFN-gamma peak prior to maximal pathologic change, when ehrlichiae are absent in tissues, suggests a role for host immunity in the pathogenesis of HGE.
Extensions to decision curve analysis, a novel method for evaluating diagnostic tests, prediction models and molecular markers

Decision curve analysis is a novel method for evaluating diagnostic tests, prediction models and molecular markers. It combines the mathematical simplicity of accuracy measures, such as sensitivity and specificity, with the clinical applicability of decision analytic approaches. Most critically, decision curve analysis can be applied directly to a data set, and does not require the sort of external data on costs, benefits and preferences typically required by traditional decision analytic techniques. In this paper we present several extensions to decision curve analysis including correction for overfit, confidence intervals, application to censored data (including competing risk) and calculation of decision curves directly from predicted probabilities. All of these extensions are based on straightforward methods that have previously been described in the literature for application to analogous statistical techniques. Simulation studies showed that repeated 10-fold crossvalidation provided the best method for correcting a decision curve for overfit. The method for applying decision curves to censored data had little bias and coverage was excellent; for competing risk, decision curves were appropriately affected by the incidence of the competing risk and the association between the competing risk and the predictor of interest. Calculation of decision curves directly from predicted probabilities led to a smoothing of the decision curve. Decision curve analysis can be easily extended to many of the applications common to performance measures for prediction models. Software to implement decision curve analysis is provided.
An OFDM based MAC protocol for underwater acoustic networks

In this paper, we investigate OFDM based MAC protocols for underwater acoustic networks. Due to the severe multi-path effects of underwater acoustic channels, the guard time between OFDM blocks becomes significant, which greatly degrades the system rate. In addition, the highly dynamic nature of underwater acoustic channels makes it hard to choose the optimal transmitting power and modulation mode. Furthermore, the bandwidth of most current OFDM modems is only around tens of kHz, which is much less than the available bandwidth in a network with short range communication links. All these challenges make existing OFDM based MAC protocols for designed terrestrial wireless networks unsuitable. In this work, we propose a new MAC protocol called TDM with FDM over OFDM MAC protocol (TFO-MAC), which smoothly couples TDM with FDM/OFDM for the uplink traffic in a cellular like underwater acoustic network. In TFO-MAC, the acoustic channel is divided into multiple sub-channels in frequency via FDM technology, and OFDM modulation is used in every sub-channel. In addition, time is partitioned into slots and every node can use different channels in different slots. Powerful base stations in the network are responsible for the dynamic channel assignment, power optimization and modulation method selection for all nodes in every slot. We formulate the problem as a mixed integer programming problem and propose an efficient greedy algorithm to solve it. Simulation results show that TFO-MAC can achieve high throughput with good fairness.
Response to Letter Regarding Article, “Cardiac Sodium Channel (SCN5A) Variants Associated with Atrial Fibrillation”

We welcome the salient comments by Hong and colleagues pertaining to our work on cardiac sodium channel variants associated with atrial fibrillation (AF).1 We agree that besides mutations in the α-subunit of SCN5A , variants in cardiac sodium channel–related genes may also increase the risk of developing AF. Indeed, our group has recently shown that mutations in the sodium channel β-subunits are also associated with AF.2 Furthermore, recent work implicates ion channels as participants in macromolecular signaling complexes …
Diffusive Boltzmann equation, its fluid dynamics, Couette flow and Knudsen layers

Abstract In the current work we construct a multimolecule random process which leads to the Boltzmann equation in the appropriate limit, and which is different from the deterministic real gas dynamics process. We approximate the statistical difference between the two processes via a suitable diffusion process, which is obtained in the multiscale homogenization limit. The resulting Boltzmann equation acquires a new spatially diffusive term, which subsequently manifests in the corresponding fluid dynamics equations. We test the Navier–Stokes and Grad closures of the diffusive fluid dynamics equations in the numerical experiments with the Couette flow for argon and nitrogen, and compare the results with the corresponding Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) computations. We discover that the full-fledged Knudsen velocity boundary layers develop with all tested closures when the viscosity and diffusivity are appropriately scaled in the vicinity of the walls. Additionally, we find that the component of the heat flux parallel to the direction of the flow is comparable in magnitude to its transversal component near the walls, and that the nonequilibrium Grad closure approximates this parallel heat flux with good accuracy.
Functional Encryption for Regular Languages

We provide a functional encryption system that supports functionality for regular languages. In our system a secret key is associated with a Deterministic Finite Automata (DFA) M. A ciphertext \(\text {CT}\) encrypts a message m and is associated with an arbitrary length string w. A user is able to decrypt the ciphertext \(\text {CT}\) if and only if the DFA M associated with his private key accepts the string w.
Removal of Molecular Adsorbates on Gold Nanoparticles Using Sodium Borohydride in Water

The mechanism of sodium borohydride removal of organothiols from gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) was studied using an experimental investigation and computational modeling. Organothiols and other AuNP surface adsorbates such as thiophene, adenine, rhodamine, small anions (Br– and I–), and a polymer (PVP, poly(N-vinylpyrrolidone)) can all be rapidly and completely removed from the AuNP surfaces. A computational study showed that hydride derived from sodium borohydride has a higher binding affinity to AuNPs than organothiols. Thus, it can displace organothiols and all the other adsorbates tested from AuNPs. Sodium borohydride may be used as a hazard-free, general-purpose detergent that should find utility in a variety of AuNP applications including catalysis, biosensing, surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy, and AuNP recycle and reuse.
Smoothing the transition from pediatric to adult care: lessons learned.

Purpose of reviewAs the expected survival improves for patients with cystic fibrosis (CF), there is a growing population of adults with CF. There has long been widespread acceptance by key medical societies of the need to provide age-appropriate care for patients with chronic health conditions, such
Engineering Micrometer and Nanometer Scale Features in Polydimethylsiloxane Elastomers for Controlled Cell Function

Cell movement, differentiation and metabolic function must be controlled in precise ways to produce both regenerated tissues such as bone and functional tissue equivalents such as immuno-isolated islet cells. Close examination of extracellular matrix (ECM) reveals structures on the micron and nanometer scale that are shown to influence these factors and therefore we hypothesize that cells will move based on topographical cues in the scaffold. We have engineered siloxane elastomer surfaces that mimic the ECM by combining micron and nanometer scale topographic features. Micron scale pillars and ridges ranging in height from 1.5 to 5 microns and separated by 5, 10 and 20 microns were fabricated in a silicon wafer using micro- processing techniques and replicated in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) elastomer. Nanometer scale pillars, ridges and more complex shapes ranging in height from 12 to 300 nanometers were superimposed on the micron scale features using nanolithography. This was achieved by using a tapping mode tip in the atomic force microscope (AFM) to plastically deform the substrate surface. The AFM enabled nano-features to be placed on sloped surfaces and added directly to the PDMS elastomer surface. Surface topography was examined using scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy and white light interference profilometry to verify surface modifications and fidelity of the replication process. Results indicate that it is possible to create spatially engineered surface textures from 10 -5 m to 10 -8 m in size, in specified patterns, by using a combination of microprocessing and nanolithography techniques. As better understanding of ECM function and design is gained, the processing methods outlined here will assist in fabricating tissue engineering scaffolds optimized at the nanometer and micron scale.
Acceptance test technology of communication network in digitalized substation

The necessity of communication network testing in digitalized substation is analyzed.By referring to the acceptance test specification for LAN systems GB/T 21671-2008,communication network testing items and testing methods in digital substation are proposed.Two testing examples are given,including optical power testing and the switch latency and frame lost testing.The testing results are analyzed too.At last the prospect of test technology of communication network is analyzed.
Recent Marijuana Use and Associations With Exhaled Nitric Oxide and Pulmonary Function in Adults in the United States

Background The medical and recreational use of marijuana is now legal in some parts of the United States; the health effects are unknown. We aimed to evaluate associations between recent marijuana use and exhaled nitric oxide (eNO) and pulmonary function. Methods We performed a cross-sectional study of 10,327 US adults participating in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in the years 2007 to 2012. We examined associations between marijuana use and eNO, FEV 1 , FVC, the FEV 1 /FVC ratio, and forced expiratory flow (midexpiratory phase) (FEF 25%-75% ) by weighted linear regression. Results In the study population, there were 4,797 never users, 4,084 past marijuana users, 555 participants who used marijuana 5 to 30 days before the examination, and 891 participants who used marijuana 0 to 4 days before the examination. Current marijuana use in the past 4 days was associated with 13% lower eNO (95% CI, –18% to 8%). FVC was higher in past users (75 mL; 95% CI, 38-112) and current users in the past 5 to 30 days (159 mL; 95% CI, 80-237) and in users within 0 to 4 days of the examination (204 mL; 95% CI, 139-270) compared with never users. All associations remained unchanged and statistically significant in sensitivity analyses excluding current and past tobacco users. Conclusions Current marijuana use was associated with lower levels of eNO and higher FVC. The lower eNO in marijuana smokers suggests that short-term exposure to marijuana may, like tobacco, acutely affect the pulmonary vascular endothelium and impair airflow through the small airways.
Does Organizational Structure influence IT investment and its effects on Operational Capability

The effects of IT (Information Technology) have been examined extensively through various theoretical foundations and distinct disciplines. Most of these studies suggest that IS (Information Systems) plays a critical role in operational activities and performance, whereas IT facilitates a firm’s capability to deal with large amounts of information within and between organizations. It has been widely believed that IT enables an organization to improve its information capability, which in turn, enhances its operational efficiency and effectiveness. Prior research has assessed the effects of IT on operational performance. In order to provide an overview of how IT effects improve operational performance, we reviewed prior studies within the field of operations management including organizational factors such as organizational structure (centralization vs. decentralization) and business process. However, few studies have focused on the role of organizational structure in the relationship between IT investment and operational performance. Since organizational structure has been recognized as one of the key factors affecting operational improvement, this present research seeks to explore how organizational structure influences the relationship of IT investment on operational performance throughout IT capability at the organizational level.
Abstract 4826: Maternal high butter fat intake heightens mammary cancer risk in offsprings gestationally exposed to bisphenol A at environmentally relevant dose

In utero exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) at 250ug/kg BW was shown to augment mammary cancer risk in rodent models. High fat diet is widely believed to be a major risk of breast cancer (BCa). It is therefore important to investigate whether maternal high fat intake could potentially heighten mammary cancer risk associated to gestational BPA exposure. In this study, we exposed Sprague Dawley rats with different doses of BPA (2.5-2500ug/kg BW) mixed with high butter-based diet (HBF) in the period from preconception to birth. DMBA-PND50 protocol was followed. In the presence of HBF, we observed non-monotonic effects of BPA in cancer incidence as well as in the number of terminal end buds of PND21 mammary glands. Both results were peaked at a dosage of 25ug/kg BW BPA and the effects were significant when compared with HBF alone group. We further analyzed transcriptomic data of microdissected epithelia of PND21 mammary glands from BPA (25ug/kg BW) group as well as HBF group and revealed that two specific cancer networks involving ERK and androgen receptor signaling were dysregulated. DNA methylation is one of the key mechanisms to dysregulate and impair the transcription of two selected top genes, Car7 and Kcnv2, as supported by our bisulfite-sequencing data. These data suggest that in utero BPA exposure could epigenetically modify gene expression and predispose cancer risk during early development. More importantly, some BPA genes are of high human relevance because seven selected BPA genes could dichotomize patients into two groups with significant difference in overall survival in a TCGA cancer cohort. The prognostic power of the genes was further enhanced in the survival analysis of Caucasian with ER positive patients. In conclusion, our data strongly suggest that BPA predisposes higher cancer risk by dysregulating gene expression during early mammary gland development in the presence of HBF, which could facilitate cancer development later in life. Citation Format: Yuet-Kin Leung, Vinothini Govindarajah, Ana Cheong, Dan Song, Xuegong Zhu, Jun Ying, Ady Kendler, Mario Medvedovic, Scott Belcher, Shuk-Mei Ho. Maternal high butter fat intake heightens mammary cancer risk in offsprings gestationally exposed to bisphenol A at environmentally relevant dose [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 4826. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-4826
Willingness to Pay for Hurricane-Resistant Home Improvement Programs: a Choice Experiment in Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic United States

We conducted a choice experiment to investigate household preferences for a home improvement program that would make housing structures more resistant to hurricanes in Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic United States. The experimental design included four attributes with varying levels: certified home inspection, matching grant for home improvements, conditional insurance premium discount, and program fee. Respondents’ choices were analyzed using scale-heterogeneity multinomial logit models in order to control for respondents’ behavioral heterogeneity. Findings indicate that households would value a program that provides incentives in the form of matching grants for hurricane-resistant home improvements and conditional insurance discounts. Policy implications are discussed.
Process Development for the Synthesis of Monocyclic β-Lactam Core 17

Process development and multikilogram synthesis of the monocyclic β-lactam core 17 for a novel pyridone-conjugated monobactam antibiotic is described. Starting with commercially available 2-(2,2-diethoxyethyl)isoindoline-1,3-dione, the five-step synthesis features several telescoped operations and direct isolations to provide significant improvement in throughput and reduced solvent usage over initial scale-up campaigns. A particular highlight in this effort includes the development of an efficient Staudinger ketene–imine [2 + 2] cycloaddition reaction of N-Boc-glycine ketene 12 and imine 9 to form racemic β-lactam 13 in good isolated yield (66%) and purity (97%). Another key feature in the synthesis involves a classical resolution of racemic amine 15 to afford single enantiomer salt 17 in excellent isolated yield (45%) with high enantiomeric excess (98%).
Case Study: Building Trust Among American Indian/Alaska Native Communities—Respect and Focus on Strengths

Maria, a community health registered nurse, was living in rural Northwestern USA. She was seeking a position in an Indian Health Services (IHS) clinic. Maria knew that Native Americans suffered some of the worst health disparities in the USA, as did most indigenous peoples around the world (Katz et al. 2016), and she wanted to help. Maria had met several Native American nurses when she was in school but had never talked to them about their communities. She would later see this as a great missed opportunity.
Roles of Long Non-coding RNAs in Genomic Imprinting

The first long noncoding RNA identified was the product of a gene subject to regulation by genomic imprinting. It is now known that lncRNAs are associated with almost every imprinted cluster in mammalian genomes. These lncRNAs are imprinted themselves and play major roles in the regulation of surrounding imprinted genes. Here we discuss what is known about the function of several imprinted lncRNAs. Two themes emerge: first, imprinted lncRNAs can recruit repressive histone modification complexes to silenced alleles, and secondly, the act of transcription of these lncRNAs may also play important regulatory roles.
Ions, Membrane Potentials, and Myelin

The neuron is uniquely suited for the transmission of electrical impulses. The neuronal membrane itself allows for charge separation; depending on the permeability of the membrane to a given type of ion, that ion will distribute across the membrane, producing a resting membrane potential, described by the Nernst equation. However, via the sodium-potassium (Na-K) pump, an active electrochemical gradient is maintained across the cell membrane, the magnitude of which can be calculated by knowing the relative concentrations of all the relevant ions, both in the intracellular fluid (ICF) and extracellular fluid (ECF), via the Goldman-Hodgkin-Katz equation. The development of action potentials are dependent on the presence of voltage-gated sodium channels, which open when the membrane itself is partially depolarized through mechanical, electrical, or chemical means. The initiation of an action potential creates a spreading area of voltage change, causing additional nearby channels to open, ultimately leading to the propagation of the action potential down the entire length of the axon. Myelin dramatically speeds the process of neuronal depolarization by producing salutatory conduction. Together, with the complex set of processes at the neuromuscular junction, neural transmission is effectively achieved.
Exploring the Relationship Between Student Engagement and New Pedagogical Approaches

Flipped classroom is a pedagogical approach that with the help of technology moves the traditional lecture from a group space to individual space, and the group space is used to create an interacti...
PREEMPT: PReempting Malware by Examining Embedded Processor Traces

Anti-virus software (AVS) tools are used to detect Malware in a system. However, software-based AVS are vulnerable to attacks. A malicious entity can exploit these vulnerabilities to subvert the AVS. Recently, hardware components such as Hardware Performance Counters (HPC) have been used for Malware detection. In this paper, we propose PREEMPT, a zero overhead, high-accuracy and low-latency technique to detect Malware by re-purposing the embedded trace buffer (ETB), a debug hardware component available in most modern processors. The ETB is used for post-silicon validation and debug and allows us to control and monitor the internal activities of a chip, beyond what is provided by the Input/Output pins. PREEMPT combines these hardware-level observations with machine learning-based classifiers to preempt Malware before it can cause damage. There are many benefits of re-using the ETB for Malware detection. It is difficult to hack into hardware compared to software, and hence, PREEMPT is more robust against attacks than AVS. PREEMPT does not incur performance penalties. Finally, PREEMPT has a high True Positive value of 94% and maintains a low False Positive value of 2%.
Optimization of enzymatic analytical method for poultry meat.

Abstract Chilling and freezing are essential for poultry meat preservation. Fresh poultry, visually indistinguishable from frozen-thawed poultry, presents an attractive target for adulteration. Activity levels of the mitochondrial enzyme β-hydroxyacyl-CoA-dehydrogenase (HADH) can indicate previous freezing. This study aims to optimize the analysis method and determine a more sensitive cut-off limit distinguishing fresh from frozen poultry. 125 chicken breasts were sampled from the Lebanese market. Two sets of chilled breasts were analyzed before and after freezing at −22 °C for 5 days, with/without defrosting at 4 °C for 24 h. Frozen breasts samples were studied before and after refreezing at −22 °C. HADH activity was measured by spectrophotometry and found to be significantly higher for frozen samples. Using a cut off limit of 0.3, resulted in the correct identification of all frozen poultry samples instead of 93%. Greater control over incorrectly labelled poultry meat and increased consumer protection can be achieved using the modified thermal identification method.
Proteomics: techniques and applications in neuroscience

This Preface introduces the articles of the special issue on 'Proteomics' where we survey these powerful techniques specifically in the context of applications in neurosciences. Proteomics as used here is a catch-all term for approaches where a broad survey of all protein content of a cell or tissue is performed in parallel. In the special issue, various experts outline applications as diverse as finding disease biomarkers in human samples, including living participants or post-mortem brain, as well as application of protein technologies to model systems such as animals and cells. Collectively, these articles outline the utility of current technologies for proteome interrogation and identify enhancements that will shape applications to future studies. This is the Preface for the special issue "Proteomics". Cover Image for this issue: doi: 10.1111/jnc.14530.
Multigene panel testing results in patients with multiple breast cancer primaries.

Currently, the NCCN guidelines recommend testing of BRCA1 and BRCA2 for females with multiple breast primaries, if her first diagnosis was ≤50 years old. With the increase in uptake of multigene panels, testing for genes outside of BRCA1 and BRCA2 has become more prevalent. This study looked at a single institution's cohort of women with multiple primary breast cancers that underwent panel testing to determine the rates of pathogenic mutations in non-BRCA genes. The genetic testing results for each individual were reviewed, along with patient characteristics. Descriptive analysis and two-tailed Z tests were used to analyze the data. Out of 85 eligible women, 33 (38.8%) tested positive for a pathogenic mutation in a cancer predisposition gene: 9 BRCA1, 5 BRCA2, 5 ATM, 1 BARD1, 4 CHEK2, 1 MSH2, 1 MSH6, 2 PALB2, 1 PMS2, 1 PTEN and 3 TP53. Overall, 17.6% tested positive for a non-BRCA breast cancer predisposition gene. There was no difference in the age of first or second breast cancer diagnosis in comparison with genetic testing outcomes. This study found a high positive rate for all individuals with multiple breast cancers, regardless of age, for both BRCA1 and BRCA2 and non-BRCA genes. Future studies should investigate whether individuals with multiple breast cancer primaries that do not meet BRCA1 and BRCA2 testing criteria should undergo genetic testing, regardless of the age of diagnosis.
Computational Approaches for Drug Design: A Focus on Drug Repurposing

With the continuous advancements of biomedical instruments and the associated ability to collect diverse types of valuable biological data, numerous recent research studies have been focusing on how to best extract useful information from the Big Biomedical Data currently available. While drug design has been one of the most essential areas of biomedical research, the drug design process for the most part has not fully benefited from the recent explosive growth of biological data and bioinformatics tools. With the significant overhead associated with the traditional drug design process in terms of time and cost, new alternative methods, possibly based on computational approaches, are very much needed to propose innovative ways to propose effective drugs and new treatment options. Employing advanced computational tools for drug design and precision treatments has been the focus of many research studies in recent years. For example, drug repurposing has gained significant attention from biomedical researchers and pharmaceutical companies as an exciting new alternative for drug discovery that benefits from the computational approaches. Molecular profiling of diseases can be used to design customised treatments and more effective approaches can be explored based on the individuals’ genotype. With the newly developed Bioinformatics tools, researchers and clinicians can repurpose existing drugs and propose innovative therapies and precision treatment options. This new development also promises to transform healthcare to focus more on individualized treatments, precision medicine and lower risks of harmful side effects. In particular, this potential new era in healthcare presents transformative opportunities to advance treatments for chronic and rare diseases.
Chapter 30 – Class Ostracoda

Ostracodes are microscopic crustaceans common to almost all aquatic and (semi-) terrestrial habitats. Their biogeography, biology, ecology, and shell geochemistry can provide a range of useful information to scientists in many disciplines of the life and earth sciences. With a fossil record that extends into the Paleozoic, the Order Podocopida contains the superfamilies Cypridoidea, Darwinuloidea and Cytheroidea, which in turn contain the extant nonmarine ostracode taxa. An overview of the nonmarine ostracodes is presented here, with information on collecting and analyzing species from a variety of aquatic habitats.
Space Resources Commodities Exchange

In recent years, a new opportunity has evolved with the discovery of water on the Moon and a new vibrant entrepreneurial approach to space exploration. The development of space will require signifi...
Stay-at-Home Orders and the Common Good

COVID-19, also known as SARS-CoV-2, began in Wuhan, China, late November or early December, 2019 and has since spread rapidly throughout the globe, being declared a health emergency of international concern a month later and a pandemic on March 11, 2020. It is highly contagious with a death rate up to twelve times that of the flu, even higher where the healthcare systems have been strained. To reduce the spread, states have implemented stay-at-home declarations, limiting social gatherings, and closing churches. However, some have argued that churches are an "essential service" and should be reopened in order that the faithful to be able to receive the sacraments, in particular the Eucharist. I will argue that this goes against the Catholic doctrine of the common good and care for the poor and vulnerable. Summary: COVID-19 has caused a pandemic strained health care resources. In response, the US instituted stay-at-home orders which included the closing of places of worship. Within reason, this falls under the Catholic doctrine of the common good and caring for the poor and vulnerable.
Multi-Set Testing Strategies Show Good Behavior When Applied to Very Large Sets of Rare Variants

Gene-based tests of association (e.g., variance components and burden tests) are now common practice for analyses attempting to elucidate the contribution of rare genetic variants on common disease. As sequencing datasets continue to grow in size, the number of variants within each set (e.g., gene) being tested is also continuing to grow. Pathway-based methods have been used to allow for the initial aggregation of gene-based statistical evidence and then the subsequent aggregation of evidence across the pathway. This "multi-set" approach (first gene-based test, followed by pathway-based) lacks thorough exploration in regard to evaluating genotype-phenotype associations in the age of large, sequenced datasets. In particular, we wonder whether there are statistical and biological characteristics that make the multi-set approach optimal vs. simply doing all gene-based tests? In this paper, we provide an intuitive framework for evaluating these questions and use simulated data to affirm us this intuition. A real data application is provided demonstrating how our insights manifest themselves in practice. Ultimately, we find that when initial subsets are biologically informative (e.g., tending to aggregate causal genetic variants within one or more subsets, often genes), multi-set strategies can improve statistical power, with particular gains in cases where causal variants are aggregated in subsets with less variants overall (high proportion of causal variants in the subset). However, we find that there is little advantage when the sets are non-informative (similar proportion of causal variants in the subsets). Our application to real data further demonstrates this intuition. In practice, we recommend wider use of pathway-based methods and further exploration of optimal ways of aggregating variants into subsets based on emerging biological evidence of the genetic architecture of complex disease.
Conservative Therapy for Peyronie’s Disease: a Contemporary Review of the Literature

To analyze the literature on current conservative treatment options for Peyronie’s disease (PD). Conservative therapy with intralesional collagenase clostridium histolyticum (CCH) is safe and efficacious in either the acute or chronic phases of PD. Combination treatment with penile traction therapy (PTT) can produce even better results. While most PTT devices require extended periods of therapy up to 8 h per day, the RestoreX® device can be effective at 30–90 min per day. A variety of conservative therapies are available for treatment of PD. The available literature does not reveal any treatment benefit of oral therapies. Intralesional therapy is the mainstay conservative treatment of PD. Intralesional CCH therapy is the first Food and Drug Administration-approved intralesional therapy and represents the authors’ preference for medical therapy. The most effective conservative management of PD likely requires a combination of therapies.
AdS 3 gravity and random CFT

We compute the path integral of three-dimensional gravity with negative cosmological constant on spaces which are topologically a torus times an interval. These are Euclidean wormholes, which smoothly interpolate between two asymptotically Euclidean AdS3 regions with torus boundary. From our results we obtain the spectral correlations between BTZ black hole microstates near threshold, as well as extract the spectral form factor at fixed momentum, which has linear growth in time with small fluctuations around it. The low-energy limit of these correlations is precisely that of a double-scaled random matrix ensemble with Virasoro symmetry. Our findings suggest that if pure three-dimensional gravity has a holographic dual, then the dual is an ensemble which generalizes random matrix theory.
Reciprocal regulation of RIG-I and XRCC4 connects DNA repair with RIG-I immune signaling.

The RNA-sensing pathway contributes to type I interferon (IFN) production induced by DNA damaging agents. However, the potential involvement of RNA sensors in DNA repair is unknown. Here, we found that retinoic acid-inducible gene I (RIG-I), a key cytosolic RNA sensor that recognizes RNA virus and initiates the MAVS-IRF3-type I IFN signaling cascade, is recruited to double-stranded breaks (DSBs) and suppresses non-homologous end joining (NHEJ). Mechanistically, RIG-I interacts with XRCC4, and the RIG-I/XRCC4 interaction impedes the formation of XRCC4/LIG4/XLF complex at DSBs. High expression of RIG-I compromises DNA repair and sensitizes cancer cells to irradiation treatment. In contrast, depletion of RIG-I renders cells resistant to irradiation in vitro and in vivo. In addition, this mechanism suggests a protective role of RIG-I in hindering retrovirus integration into the host genome by suppressing the NHEJ pathway. Reciprocally, XRCC4, while suppressed for its DNA repair function, has a critical role in RIG-I immune signaling through RIG-I interaction. XRCC4 promotes RIG-I signaling by enhancing oligomerization and ubiquitination of RIG-I, thereby suppressing RNA virus replication in host cells. In vivo, silencing XRCC4 in mouse lung promotes influenza virus replication in mice and these mice display faster body weight loss, poorer survival, and a greater degree of lung injury caused by influenza virus infection. This reciprocal regulation of RIG-I and XRCC4 reveals a new function of RIG-I in suppressing DNA repair and virus integration into the host genome, and meanwhile endues XRCC4 with a crucial role in potentiating innate immune response, thereby helping host to prevail in the battle against virus. The RNA-sensing pathway has been associated with type I interferon (IFN) production induced by DNA damaging agents. Here the authors reveal that RIG-I, a cytosolic RNA sensor that recognizes RNA virus and initiates IFN signaling, is recruited to double-stranded breaks and suppresses non-homologous end joining.
Functionality and Performance Evaluation of Gate Drivers under Cryogenic Temperature

Cryogenic power electronics is critical in aerospace applications to achieve high efficiency and high power density operation. As the most critical component in power electronics systems, the semiconductors performance is worth to be explore. To operate the switches properly and efficiently, gate drivers should be designed carefully. In this article, the functionality and performance of gate drivers under cryogenic temperature are investigated. The performance of the key components in a gate driver is analyzed. It was found out that the investigated gate driver chips consumes more power initially with the temperature decreases, while the consumed power is decreasing with the further decrease of temperature. The voltage clamped by the Zener diode is decreasing with the decrease of temperature. The turn-on and turn-off driving signal delays are slightly decreased with the decrease of temperature. A relatively large power rating auxiliary power supply is recommended when designing the cryogenic gate driver and the driver chip should be selected carefully since their performances are quite different under cryogenic operation.
Humanizing relationships, practices, and research: using photo-elicitation narratives to humanize Black fathers and boys

The constant dehumanization of Black fathers and boys in the media, education, politics, pop culture, and society is traumatic. Deficit perspectives and a racialized political climate often negativ...