cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Transient Stimulation of Myelin Basic Protein Gene Expression in Differentiating Cultured Oligodendrocytes: A Model for 3,5,3′-Triiodothyronine-Induced Brain Development

We compared the regulation of myelin basic protein (MBP) gene expression by T3 in differentiating oligodendrocytes in culture with that previously observed by us in the neonatal rat brain. As in intact brain, expression of the T3Rα gene preceded that of the T3Rβ gene. Although the absence of T3 retarded the rate of accumulation of MBP messenger RNA, the level ultimately attained was similar to that reached in the presence of T3. This relationship mirrored the pattern observed in the neonatal brain. Transient transfection experiments showed that T3 regulates MBP expression at the transcriptional level, but only for a limited period during differentiation. These observations imply that the early rise of MBP messenger RNA is T3 dependent, whereas the terminal levels are maintained independently of T3. Both the T3-dependent and, surprisingly, the T3-independent expression of MBP require the presence of an intact T3 response element. T3 receptor may regulate MBP expression in a ligand-independent manner, or a ...
Ca2+-ATPase protein expression in mammary tissue

Protein expression of plasma membrane Ca2+-ATPases (PMCAs) and the putative Golgi secretory pathway Ca2+-ATPase (SPCA) was examined in rat mammary tissue. As lactation started, PMCA protein express...
Constrained-storage quantization of multiple vector sources by codebook sharing

A codebook sharing technique, called constrained storage vector quantization (CSVQ), is introduced. This technique offers a convenient and optimal way of trading off performance against storage. The technique can be used in conjunction with tree-structured vector quantization (VQ) and other structured VQ techniques that alleviate the search complexity obstacle. The effectiveness of CSVQ is illustrated for coding transform coefficients of audio signals with multistage VQ. >
Teasing apart the child care conundrum: A factorial survey analysis of perceptions of child care quality, fair market price and willingness to pay by low-income, African American parents

Abstract Child care quality plays a crucial role in children's social and cognitive development. While child care quality is a critical issue for all children, it matters more for low-income children. Policy makers have increased the emphasis on allowing parents, not government, to make decisions about the type of care they want for their children. Yet most research on child care quality has focused on how child care professionals, not parents define high quality care. This study investigates how low-income families evaluate child care quality by examining the child care preferences of a sample of low-income African American parents. We employ the factorial survey method, a method used in sociological research to assess people's perceptions and rankings of individual attributes associated with complex multidimensional phenomena. The factorial survey method permits a simultaneous assessment of how respondents evaluate and make tradeoffs among multiple child care characteristics. We assess the impact of child care characteristics on respondents’ perceptions of child care desirability, fair market value, and willingness to pay. Findings indicate that parents’ definition of quality focused squarely on the care giving environment, specifically the qualifications, experience, training and behavior associated with the child care provider. The type of care facility—family, center, relative or neighbor care was largely irrelevant to this sample of parents. Parents believed that the characteristics they defined as desirable child care situations were worth more, and parents were willing to pay more for these characteristics. These parents also defined quality in terms of race and class, and they wanted racial and economic diversity. This research suggests parents may choose lower quality care, not because they do not know what quality is or because they define quality care differently, but because such care may be neither available nor affordable in their communities.
Anytime replanning using locality in agent architectures

Anytime planners seek to allow the system to exchange execution time for solution quality. We propose a new anytime planner which will devise new plans to accommodate plan failures. The first new plans to be considered will be relatively local to the plan that failed. Further new plans will be less and less local. We intend the concept of locality to relate the search space to be explored for a new plan to the degree to which a new plan disrupts the not-as-yet executed part of the running plan.
Upregulation of insulin receptor substrate-2 in pancreatic β cells prevents diabetes

The insulin receptor substrate-2 (Irs2) branch of the insulin/IGF signaling system coordinates peripheral insulin action and pancreatic beta cell function, so mice lacking Irs2 display similarities to humans with type 2 diabetes. Here we show that beta cell-specific expression of Irs2 at a low or a high level delivered a graded physiologic response that promoted beta cell growth, survival, and insulin secretion that prevented diabetes in Irs2-/- mice, obese mice, and streptozotocin-treated mice; and that upon transplantation, the transgenic islets cured diabetes more effectively than WT islets. Thus, pharmacological approaches that promote Irs2 expression in beta cells, especially specific cAMP agonists, could be rational treatments for beta cell failure and diabetes.
Does Economic Crisis Reduce Support for Markets and Democracy in Latin America? Some Evidence from Surveys of Public Opinion and Well Being

The severe economic crisis facing several countries in the region over the last couple of years has led many observers to predict a backlash against market policies and even against democracy in the region. An economic crisis of such proportions should also, in theory, have negative effects on subjective well being. Our analysis, based on the Latinobarometro surveys from 2000–2002, finds some unexpected positive trends, as well as notable differences between those countries that suffered from crises and those that did not. Satisfaction with market policies and with the way democracy is working has decreased among all groups except the very wealthy. In contrast, support for democracy as a system of government has increased, suggesting that respondents are increasingly distinguishing between democracy as a system of government, and the manner in which particular governments are performing. We also find evidence of changing attitudes towards redistributive taxation among the wealthy.JEL Codes. D63 (welfare economics, equity, justice, inequality); D84 (information and uncertainty, expectations); I31 (general welfare; basic needs; quality of life); J62 (mobility, unemployment, intergenerational mobility)
A performance-aimed cell compactor with automatic jogs

To develop an efficient cell compactor for practical use, the authors take the one-dimensional compaction approach, but with a mixed symbolic and shape data model. A new algorithm of automatic jog generation is employed to create jogs, not only on critical paths but also on some noncritical paths. An optimum wire length minimization algorithm is used to tighten wires and polygon edges. These algorithms help reduce both the cell size and the parasitic, and hence produce high-quality layouts. The compactor has been used at IBM in the production of several standard cell libraries and macrocells,. >
CO2 greenhouse in the early martian atmosphere: SO2 inhibits condensation.

Many investigators of the early martian climate have suggested that a dense carbon dioxide atmosphere was present and warmed the surface above the melting point of water (J.B. Pollack, J.F. Kasting, S.M. Richardson, and K. Poliakoff 1987. Icarus 71, 203-224). However, J.F. Kasting (1991. Icarus 94, 1-13) pointed out that previous thermal models of the primitive martian atmosphere had not considered the condensation of CO2. When this effect was incorporated, Kasting found that CO2 by itself is inadequate to warm the surface. SO2 absorbs strongly in the near UV region of the solar spectrum. While a small amount of SO2 may have a negligible effect by itself on the surface temperature, it may have significantly warmed the middle atmosphere of early Mars, much as ozone warms the terrestrial stratosphere today. If this region is kept warm enough to inhibit the condensation of CO2, then CO2 remains a viable greenhouse gas. Our preliminary radiative modeling shows that the addition of 0.1 ppmv of SO2 in a 2 bar CO2 atmosphere raises the temperature of the middle atmosphere by approximately 10 degrees, so that the upper atmosphere in a 1 D model remains above the condensation temperature of CO2. In addition, this amount of SO2 in the atmosphere provides an effective UV shield for a hypothetical biosphere on the martian surface.
Epitaxial Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 Thin Films on Flexible Substrates

It is well known that the piezoelectric properties of a thin film can be influenced by crystallographic texture. At the extreme case, epitaxial thin films can be deposited on single crystal substrates (with appropriate lattice matching) to effectively achieve a single crystal thin film. Here, the maximum advantage of orientation dependence is found. Typically this has required small, expensive single crystalline substrates. In the past 10 years, however, the technique of ion beam assisted deposition has been developed for applying a biaxially textured template to an arbitrary smooth surface. This has opened up a new realm of materials integration possibilities, with the prime example being high-temperature superconducting wires. Here, the same template is utilized for deposition of epitaxial Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 thin films onto LaNiO3 and La0.7Sr0.3MnO3-coated flexible substrates. Chemical solution deposition (CSD) is used to produce PZT thin films with very high (00l) orientation and excellent in-plane orientation. Macroscopic ferroelectric measurements depict very square hysteresis behavior, with high remnant polarization of ~40 μC/cm2. Piezoresponse force microscopy and local hysteresis measurements were used to image the microscopic domain structure and to demonstrate the piezoelectric behavior in these materials.
SVM-based separation of unvoiced-voiced speech in cochannel conditions

Unvoiced-voiced portions of cochannel speech contain considerable amounts of both voiced and unvoiced speech and play a significant role in separation. Motivated by recent developments in separation of speech from nonspeech noise, we propose a classification-based approach for unvoiced-voiced speech separation. A new feature set consisting of pitch-based features and gammatone frequency cepstral coefficients is proposed to represent the characteristics of a time-frequency unit. The cepstral features do not rely on pitch and are thus more robust than the pitch-based features to pitch estimation errors. Speaker-independent support vector machines are trained for classification. Results based on the TIMIT corpus show that the proposed algorithm significantly improves unvoiced speech segregation compared to a recent algorithm.
A practical two-stage MMSE based MIMO detector for interference mitigation with non-cooperative interferers

Wireless Multiple Input Multiple Output systems provide system designers with additional degrees of freedom. These can be used to increase throughput, reliability, or even combat spatial interference. The classical Minimum Mean Squared Error (MMSE) solution is the optimal linear estimator for these systems. Its primary drawback is that it requires an estimate of the channel response. This is generally not an issue when interference is absent. However, in environments where interference power is stronger than the desired signal power, this can become difficult to estimate. The problem is even worse in packet-based systems, which rely on training data to estimate the channel before estimating the signal. A strong interference will hinder the receiver's ability to detect the presence of the packet. This makes it impossible to estimate the channel, a critical component for the classical MMSE estimator. For this reason, the classical solution is infeasible in real environments with stronger interferences. We propose a two-stage system that uses practically obtainable channel state information. We will show how this approach significantly improves packet detection, and how the overall solution approaches the performance of the classical MMSE estimator.
Neuroleptic, antimuscarinic, and antiadrenergic activity of chlorpromazine, thioridazine, and their metabolites

Abstract Chlorpromazine and thioridazine are widely used antipsychotic agents that are extensively metabolized. Parent compounds and metabolites have diverse pharmacologic activities, and differences in patterns of metabolism may explain differences in therapeutic and side effects from individual to individual. Radio-receptor assays were used to determine the neuroleptic, antimuscarinic, and anti-α- noradrenergic potency of chlorpromazine, thioridazine, and their metabolites. The results indicate that these metabolites show a wide range of potencies. The spectrum of activity of a metabolite may be quite different from that of its parent compound. The clinical relevance of these findings to individual differences in drug response is discussed. The combined use of radioreceptor assays and chemical assays in future clinical research is proposed.
Higher Education and the Federal Government

Abstract ONE of the most persistent social cliches here in America is that the support and organization of public education is basically a state and local responsibility. Perhaps because the Constitution failed to mention education specifically, it is generally believed that the Federal government does not have—and possibly should not have—any significant role to play in this area. You all know what a cliche is. It’s a phrase or statement that proves so helpful that we substitute it for facts or thought. When, for instance, you write in your reports that there are “other examples too numerous to mention,” you probably mean that you can think of no other illustrations and perhaps don’t have the time to do the legwork you ought to do. Henry Wriston, the retired president of Brown University, once said that “rules make decision easy but rob it of wisdom.” Well, cliches make statement easy …
Influence of Weak Brønsted Acids on Electrocatalytic CO2 Reduction by Manganese and Rhenium Bipyridine Catalysts

[Re(bpy)(CO)3]− and [Mn(bpy)(CO)3]− are homogeneous electrocatalysts for the reduction of CO2 to CO. Their turnover frequencies depend on the type of Bronsted acid used, with the Mn catalyst exhibiting no catalytic turnover without added Bronsted acid. In this work, we use density functional theory together with continuum solvation and microkinetics simulations to understand these differences. The computed turnover frequencies reproduce the experimental trends. In absolute numbers, the computed turnover frequencies differ from the experimental ones by about an order of magnitude. We find that some of the experimentally used acids are too weak to protonate CO2 or to stabilize CO2 binding. Catalysis with these acids requires more negative applied potentials or higher acid concentrations compared to catalysis with stronger acids. This trend is more pronounced for the Mn catalyst than for the Re catalyst, the latter working at maximum turnover with acids that produce submaximum turnover with the Mn catalyst. ...
Ubiquitin‐like domains can target to the proteasome but proteolysis requires a disordered region

Ubiquitin and some of its homologues target proteins to the proteasome for degradation. Other ubiquitin-like domains are involved in cellular processes unrelated to the proteasome, and proteins containing these domains remain stable in the cell. We find that the 10 yeast ubiquitin-like domains tested bind to the proteasome, and that all 11 identified domains can target proteins for degradation. Their apparent proteasome affinities are not directly related to their stabilities or functions. That is, ubiquitin-like domains in proteins not part of the ubiquitin proteasome system may bind the proteasome more tightly than domains in proteins that are bona fide components. We propose that proteins with ubiquitin-like domains have properties other than proteasome binding that confer stability. We show that one of these properties is the absence of accessible disordered regions that allow the proteasome to initiate degradation. In support of this model, we find that Mdy2 is degraded in yeast when a disordered region in the protein becomes exposed and that the attachment of a disordered region to Ubp6 leads to its degradation.
Experience with profound hypothermia and circulatory arrest in the treatment of aneurysms of the aortic arch. Aortic arch replacement for acute arch dissections.

In a series of 21 consecutive patients, the aortic arch, varying portions of the ascending and descending aorta, and in some the aortic valve were replaced with the aid of a standard method of profound total body hypothermia and circulatory arrest. Fourteen patients underwent elective and seven patients emergency arch replacement. A combination of surface cooling and cardiopulmonary bypass was used to produce total body hypothermia. Replacement of the aortic arch was performed during a single period of circulatory arrest. Cardiopulmonary bypass was utilized for core rewarming. The average cerebral ischemic time was 37 ± 14 minutes at an average core temperature of 13.7° ± 1.8° C. The average myocardial ischemic time was 79 ± 28 minutes with an average duration of cardiopulmonary bypass of 130 ± 32 minutes. Of the 14 patients undergoing elective operation, three died; of the seven patients undergoing emergency operations, three died (two with ruptured aneurysms and one with acute arch dissection). Fifteen patients are alive and well 2 months to 7 years following the operation. All are free of neurologic sequelae. One has an asymptomatic residual dissection in the descending aorta. This experience indicates that profound total body hypothermia with circulatory arrest is a safe and effective method for elective surgical treatment of enlarging aneurysms of the aortic arch and for emergency treatment of acute dissections if the intimal tear is located in the aortic arch. The technique is simple and produces results superior to those reported for methods which involve selective cerebral perfusion during arch replacement.
Lower tract urolithiasis after prostatectomy.

AbstractNine cases of lower tract urolithiasis after prostatectomy are reported. In addition to these 9 cases 223 from the world literature and 10 from our previous experience also are reviewed. Stones may form after prostatectomy in various locations of the lower urinary tract, including the bladder, bladder diverticulum, prostatic fossa, simultaneously in the bladder and prostatic fossa, and, occasionally, in an iatrogenic pouch. They occur after all forms of prostatectomy, that is surgical or endoscopic, and after benign as well as malignant prostatic lesions.Calculi that form in the bladder most frequently are the result of stasis owing to bladder neck contracture or recurrence of prostatic enlargement. Calculi that form in the prostatic bed (or fossa) are caused by a ligature, infection or a chip of prostate left behind in the prostatic bed. Diagnosis is sometimes difficult because these stones are not always radiopaque and they are not always seen on endoscopy. The interesting theoretical considerat...
A water vapor scaling model for improved land surface temperature and emissivity separation of MODIS thermal infrared data

Abstract We present an improved water vapor scaling (WVS) model for atmospherically correcting MODIS thermal infrared (TIR) bands in the temperature emissivity separation (TES) algorithm. TES is used to retrieve the land surface temperature and emissivity (LST&E) from MODIS TIR bands 29, 31, and 32. The WVS model improves the accuracy of the atmospheric correction parameters in TES on a band-by-band and pixel-by-pixel basis. We used global atmospheric radiosondes profiles to generate view angle and day–night-dependent WVS coefficients that are valid for all MODIS scan angles up to 65°. We demonstrate the effects of applying the improved WVS model on the retrieval accuracy of MODIS-TES (MODTES) LST&E using a case study for a granule over the southwest USA during very warm and moist monsoonal atmospheric conditions. Furthermore, a comprehensive validation of the MODTES LST&E retrieval was performed over two sites at the quartz-rich Algodones Dunes in California and a grassland site in Texas, USA using three full years of MODIS Aqua data. Results from the case study showed that absolute errors in the emissivity retrieval for the three MODIS TIR bands were reduced on average from 1.4% to 0.4% when applying the WVS method. A Radiance-based method was used to validate the MODTES LST retrievals for and the results showed that application of the WVS method with the MODTES algorithm led to significant reduction in both bias and root mean square error (RMSE) of the LST retrievals at both sites. When the WVS model was applied, LST RMSE's were reduced on average from 1.3 K to 1.0 K at the Algodones Dunes site, and from 1.2 K to 0.7 K at the Texas Grassland site. This study demonstrated that the WVS atmospheric correction model is critical for retrieving MODTES LST with
Negotiating a Financial Package for Freeways How California's Collier-Burns Highway Act Helped Pave the Way for the Era of the American Interstate Highway

With the Collier–Burns Highway Act of 1947, California pioneered a new system of highway finance. In response to estimates of enormous highway needs in the postwar period, the state planned substantial increases in funding. The key debate was about who would pay what share. Legislators planned a significant increase in the motor fuel tax and a shift of more of the tax burden onto heavy vehicles, which inflicted most damage to roads. However, the proposal met with intense opposition from motorist groups, oil companies, and truckers. California eventually passed legislation that established the first-ever trust fund dedicating highway user tax revenue to roads, a law that was later copied widely, including by Congress in 1956, when the Interstate system was funded. The trucking industry in California defeated proposals to require it to shoulder more of the financial burden; this outcome too would be repeated elsewhere, including at the federal level. Finally, the inclusion of urban freeways eased the California legislation’s passage, and this provision also became a key element of the federal Interstate legislation. Thus, the legacy of Collier–Burns reaches well beyond California to influence transportation and public finance across the United States to the present day.
Automated dispensing cabinet alert improves compliance with obtaining blood cultures before antibiotic administration for patients admitted with pneumonia

Article-at-a-Glance Background A Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) pneumonia quality measures with particular impact on the emergency department (ED) is blood cultures prior to antibiotic administration for patients admitted with pneumonia. A study was conducted to measure the impact of an automated dispensing cabinet (ADC) alert on improving compliance with the quality measure of obtaining blood cultures prior to giving antibiotics for patients admitted with pneumonia and who have blood cultures ordered. Methods The pre-post study involved ED adult patients with an admitting diagnosis of pneumonia from October 2007 through September 2008. The intervention consisted of a series of questions in the ED medication ADC regarding blood culture orders and antibiotic administration. Patients with an admitting diagnosis of pneumonia were identified through a search of the ED electronic health record (EHR). The proportion of patients in whom blood cultures were obtained prior to antibiotic administration in the pre- (October 2007–March 2008) and postintervention (April 2008–September 2008) periods were compared. The chi-square test was used to test for statistical significance. Results Some 951 patients with pneumonia were identified during the study period, 426 pre- and 525 postintervention. Compliance with obtaining blood cultures prior to antibiotic administration was 84% (205/245, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 79%–88%) and 95% (275/291, 95% CI: 92%–97%) in the pre and postintervention periods, respectively (p Conclusions In this population of patients with pneumonia, a series of questions in an ADC improved compliance with the quality measure regarding the obtaining of blood cultures prior to administering antibiotics to patients in whom blood cultures are requested.
Reliability Tradeoffs in Design of Volatile and Nonvolatile Caches

Researchers have explored both volatile memories (e.g., SRAM and embedded DRAM) and nonvolatile memories (NVMs, such as resistive RAM) for design of on-chip caches. However, both volatile and nonvolatile memories present unique reliability challenges. NVMs are immune to radiation-induced soft errors, however, due to their limited write endurance, they are vulnerable to hard errors under nonuniform write distribution. By contrast, SRAM has high write endurance but is susceptible to soft errors due to cosmic radiation. SRAM–NVM hybrid caches and the management techniques for them aim to bring the best of SRAM and NVM together, however, the reliability implications of them have not been well understood. In this paper, we show that there are inherent tradeoffs in improving resilience to hard and soft errors in hybrid caches such that mitigating one may result in aggravating another. We confirm this by experiments with two recent hybrid cache management techniques. We also re-examine cache design trends in modern processors from reliability perspective. This paper provides valuable insights to system developers for making reliability-aware design decisions.
Informal Interpersonal Influence on Purchasing Agents’ Perceived Risk

Informal, interpersonal influence was found to have a significant influence on purchasing agents’ perceived risk. This impact was found to exist over the categories of perceived performance, social, and economic risk. “Influencers” were found to exist both within and without the purchasing agent’s organization. The primary implication of the results is a broadened view of the scope of perceived risk influence as it affects the industrial buyer.
Brain Trauma Foundation Guidelines for Intracranial Pressure Monitoring: Compliance and Effect on Outcome.

Brain Trauma Foundation (BTF) guidelines recommend intracranial pressure (ICP) monitoring in patients who sustained severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). Compliance to BTF guidelines is variable, and the effect of ICP monitoring on outcomes remains a controversial issue. The purpose of this study was to assess guidelines compliance in patients who sustain a severe TBI and to analyze the effect of ICP monitoring on outcomes. Trauma Quality Improvement Program database study, which included patients with isolated severe blunt head trauma (head Abbreviated Injury Scale ≥3 with Glasgow Coma Scale <9). Patients with severe extracranial injuries excluded. Analyzed variables were demographics, comorbidities, mechanism of injuries, head injury specifics, AIS for each body area, Injury Severity Score, admission vital signs, placement of ICP catheter and craniectomy. Multivariate analysis was used to identify independent predictors for outcomes, overall and in the groups of patients with head AIS 3, 4 or 5. During the study period 13,188 patients with isolated severe TBI met the BTF guidelines for ICP monitoring. An ICP catheter was placed in 1519 (11.5%) patients. Stepwise logistic regression analysis identified age ≥65 years, hypotension on admission, AIS 4 and AIS 5 as independent predictors for mortality. ICP monitoring was not an independent protective variable in terms of mortality (OR 1.12; 95% CI, 0.983–1.275; p = 0.088). Overall, ICP monitor placement was independently associated with increased overall complications (OR 2.089; 95% CI, 1.85–2.358; p < 0.001), infectious complications (OR 2.282; 95% CI, 2.015–2.584; p < 0.001) and poor functional independence (OR 1.889; 95% CI, 1.575–2.264; p < 0.001). Sub analysis of the groups of patients with head AIS 3, 4, and 5 failed to show any protective effect of ICP monitors against mortality. In the group of patients with head AIS 4, ICP placement was an independent predictor of mortality (OR 2206; 95% CI, 1652–2948; p < 0.001). Compliance with the BTF guidelines for ICP monitoring is poor. ICP monitoring does not have any survival benefit in patients with isolated severe blunt TBI and is associated with more complications and increased utilization of hospital resources.
Moral capitalism in the age of great dreams: the Grateful Dead’s struggle to craft right livelihoods

The Grateful Dead struggled to make their band a sustainable, economically successful enterprise while also maintaining the countercultural ethos that had set them on their path and given them thei...
First passage, looping, and direct transition in expanding and narrowing tubes: Effects of the entropy potential

We study transitions of diffusing particles between the left and right ends of expanding and narrowing conical tubes. In an expanding tube, such transitions occur faster than in the narrowing tube of the same length and radius variation rate. This happens because the entropy potential pushes the particle towards the wide tube end, thus accelerating the transitions in the expanding tube and slowing them down in the narrowing tube. To gain deeper insight into how the transitions occur, we divide each trajectory into the direct-transit and looping segments. The former is the final part of the trajectory, where the particle starting from the left tube end goes to the right end without returning to the left one. The rest of the trajectory is the looping segment, where the particle, starting from the left tube end, returns to this end again and again until the direct transition happens. Our focus is on the durations of the two segments and their sum, which is the duration of the particle first passage between t...
Integrating Metal-Enhanced Fluorescence and Surface Acoustic Waves for Sensitive and Rapid Quantification of Cancer Biomarkers from Real Matrices.

Metal-enhanced fluorescence (MEF) is utilized to lower the detection limit of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), a prognostic biomarker for colorectal cancer among others, in immunofluorescence assays. In addition, Rayleigh surface acoustic waves (SAWs) were utilized to remove nonspecifically bound proteins, improve mixing, and reduce incubation times. Fluorescence intensity was plasmonically enhanced by incubating silver nanocubes (AgNCs) of 50 nm edge-length on a SAW device. This increased sensor sensitivity by a factor of 6 and lowered the limit of detection to below 1 ng/mL in fluorescence detection of the antigen. Surface density of the AgNCs was optimized to produce the largest MEF, which increased the signal intensity by an order of magnitude. Acoustic streaming induced by Rayleigh SAWs was found to decrease antibody/antigen incubation times to 1/6th of the values without such micromixing, and to increase the fluorescence signal strength. Overall, the demonstrated results allow for construction of a s...
Interfacial boundary conditions and residual trapping: A pore-scale investigation of the effects of wetting phase flow rate and viscosity using micro-particle image velocimetry

Abstract We introduce a new two-phase and two-fields-of-view micro-Particle-Image-Velocimetry ( μ PIV) experimental apparatus that is used to conduct systematic studies of pore fluid occupancy and velocity fields under two-phase flow conditions in different micromodels. The apparatus allows simultaneous study of flow fields at the pore- and micromodel-scales. This system is utilized to develop a deeper insight into the distribution of fluids and shear stress at the interface of invading and defending fluids in two Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) micromodels: a pore-doublet configuration and a two-dimensional replica of Bentheimer sandstone. We investigate the effect of changes in invading wetting phase flow rate and viscosity and injection of a non-wetting droplet on pore fluid configuration and residual trapping. We discuss how the local perturbations of velocity fields impact displacement of non-wetting phase, the residual trapping, and distributions of the trapped non-wetting phase globules. Furthermore, we map the rotational velocity of the non-wetting fluid within a selected group of trapped globules and discuss how the flow rate of the passing wetting fluid and the momentum transfer across the fluid/fluid interface impacts the stability of the local pore occupancy of the non-wetting phase. The experimental observations provide direct evidence of slip boundary condition at the fluid/fluid interfaces. They show the mechanisms of momentum transfer across the interfaces and their impact on pore-scale displacements and fluid occupancy.
Influence of Na/K Pump Current on Action Potentials in Purkinje Fibers

Moderate changes in the size of the outward (hyperpolarizing) current that is generated directly by the electrogenic Na/K exchange pump in the surface membrane of cardiac Purkinje fibers can cause substantial alterations in the shape of the action potential, in the level of the diastolic potential, or of the resting potential of quiescent cells, or in the rate of firing of spontaneously active preparations. Transient increments in Na/K pump current, of suitable magnitude, can be elicited experimentally in small canine Purkinje fibers by causing a transient increase in their intracellular Na concentration, [Na]i, and, thereby, a transient increase in the rate of electrogenic Na extrusion. Two techniques were used to increase [Na]i: in the first, the rate of Na extrusion from the cells was temporarily reduced by omitting K ions from the bathing fluid for short periods of time, in the second, the rate of Na entry into the cells was temporarily increased by electrically stimulating the preparations rapidly (e.g., ≥ 2 Hz) for brief periods. After the extracellular K concentration was restored, or after electrical stimulation was stopped, respectively, use of a two-microelectrode voltage-clamp technique allowed the resulting increments in pump current to be measured directly, as changes in holding current. Increments in pump current elicited by these two methods in the same preparation decline with the same exponential time—course. In preparations stimulated electrically at a regular, low rate (e.g., ≤ 1 Hz) both methods of temporarily stimulating the Na/K pump cause a marked, transient reduction in the duration of the action potential. A closely similar reduction in action-potential duration to that observed during enhanced pump activity can be elicited by injecting, from an external source, a steady hyperpolarizing current of magnitude similar to that of the increment in pump current recorded in the same preparation under voltage clamp.
Russia Today’s strategy and effectiveness on YouTube

Many countries now operate state-funded international broadcasters, communicating directly with foreign publics to promote a variety of foreign policy goals. RT (formerly known as Russia Today) is ...
Simultaneous Recordings of Insect Visitors to Flowers Show Spatial and Temporal Heterogeneity

We compared insect visitors to 10 different flower species filmed simultaneously at two sites to assess whether insect taxa visiting at the two locations differed on a fine scale (<400 m apart). Although each of the 10 flower species had some insect taxa that were shared between sites, each also had unique visitors that appeared at a single site. Both the flowers and their insect visitors were generalists. Flowers were visited by an average of 16 different insect taxa. Insect taxa were observed visiting an average of three to four different flower species. The heterogeneity of floral visitors between sites is consistent with our proposed neighborhood model of pollination where flowers draw on insects in their area for pollination services and insects forage for nectar and pollen from flower species in their home ranges. Temporal heterogeneity can be dramatic. We recorded an influx of painted lady butterflies, which arrived in abundance on 12 June and were absent prior to then. Painted ladies dominated visits to flowers with hidden nectar sources (e.g., pale corydalis, blueberry, and bearberry). Spatial and temporal differences in insect visitors suggest ecological flexibility in pollination systems and may be important in insuring the persistence of flowers and insect visitors. Heterogeneity of insect visitors on a fine scale may structure gene flow among flowers and set the stage for local speciation in the angiosperms. The variation in the visitor community between sites highlights the importance of preserving multiple sites to insure the conservation of flowers and their insect visitors.
Nonlocal entanglement and directional correlations of primordial perturbations on the inflationary horizon

Models are developed to estimate properties of relic cosmic perturbations with "spooky" nonlocal correlations on the inflationary horizon, analogous to those previously posited for information on black hole event horizons. Scalar curvature perturbations are estimated to emerge with a dimensionless power spectral density $\Delta_S^2\approx H t_P$, the product of inflationary expansion rate $H$ with Planck time $t_P$, larger than standard inflaton fluctuations. Current measurements of the spectrum are used to derive constraints on parameters of the effective potential in a slow-roll background. It is shown that spooky nonlocality can create statistically homogeneous and isotropic primordial curvature perturbations that are initially directionally antisymmetric. New statistical estimators are developed to study unique signatures in CMB anisotropy and large scale galaxy surveys.
Low-Rank Data Completion With Very Low Sampling Rate Using Newton's Method

Newton's method is a widely applicable and empirically efficient method for finding the solution to a set of equations. The recently developed algebraic geometry analyses provide information-theoretic bounds on the sampling rate to ensure the existence of a unique completion. A remained open question from these works is to retrieve the sampled data when the sampling rate is very close to the mentioned information-theoretic bounds. This paper is concerned with proposing algorithms to retrieve the sampled data when the sampling rate is too small and close to the mentioned information-theoretic bounds. Hence, we propose a new approach for recovering a partially sampled low-rank matrix or tensor when the number of samples is only slightly more than the dimension of the corresponding manifold, by solving a set of polynomial equations using Newton's method. In particular, we consider low-rank matrix completion, matrix sensing, and tensor completion. Each observed entry contributes one polynomial equation in terms of the factors in the rank factorization of the data. By exploiting the specific structures of the resulting set of polynomial equations, we analytically characterize the convergence regions of the Newton's method for matrix completion and matrix sensing. Through extensive numerical results, we show that the proposed approach outperforms the well-known methods such as nuclear norm minimization and alternating minimization in terms of the success rate of data recovery (noiseless case) and peak signal-to-noise ratio (noisy case), especially when the sampling rate is very low.
Contributions of MIR to soundscape ecology. Part I: Potential methodological synergies

Abstract We present here the potential synergies between a sub-discipline of music called computational musicology and its associated toolkit Music Information Retrieval (MIR) systems and the current needs of soundscape ecologists who use passive acoustic recorders to collect massive amounts of audio data. These cross-sub-disciplinary synergies fall into three broad methodological categories: (1) automated feature extraction, (2) sound classification and labeling using machine learning, and (3) data visualization. We argue that the use of the MIR toolkit by soundscape ecologists could represent the development of a second generation of soundscape metrics, which are more translatable to policy and natural resource management problems. Two companion articles in this special issue by the authors provide a more detailed examination of the potential for computational musicology's MIR toolkit as applied to questions common to the emerging field of soundscape ecology.
Modeling simultaneous coagulation and charging of nanoparticles at high temperatures using the method of moments

Abstract A large number of chemically and thermally ionized species are produced in flames. During flame synthesis of nanoparticles, these ions collide with the particles as do the particles amongst themselves. Both charging and particle-particle collisions decide the particle size distribution, but existing models in flame synthesis often do not consider the coupling of these two effects. In this work, a model simulating simultaneous charging and coagulation is developed using the method of moments (MoM), with the help of asymptotic methods and perturbation theory. This model considers different charged states, as well as the particle size distribution in each charged state and their interactions. To achieve this, first, a simplified polynomial expression for the charging coefficient is derived from Fuchs’ theory. This expression is found to be in good agreement with the complete Fuchs theory expression at high temperatures in the free molecular regime. Next, this expression is used in the general dynamic equation for simultaneous charging and coagulation to derive population balance equations of volume moments. A simplified modeling method, named the monodisperse model (MdM), was used to compare the simulation results. Both the MoM and MdM showed good agreement in different simulated cases. It was found that for constant bipolar ion environment, the collisional growth increases as the ion concentration increases, and flattens out for high ion concentration (>108 #/cm3). Simulated results also showed that for a unipolar ion environment, MoM predicted that the particle growth by collisions would be more suppressed, resulting in particles with a lower polydispersity index. The simplified expressions for the ion-attachment coefficient used in the MoM works well at high temperatures in the free molecular regime, and that MdM is able to capture the physics of the system well.
Hepatic abscesses due to Clostridium septicum infection and its association with colonic adenocarcinoma: a case report and literature review

Clostridium septicum is an uncommon cause of pyogenic liver abscess but has been reported in the literature, most commonly in the setting of underlying colorectal or hematologic malignancies. Herein, we present a case of a patient with C. septicum bacteremia resulting in innumerable necrotic liver abscesses in the presence of metastatic colonic adenocarcinoma and also review the literature about previous reports of C. septicum as the etiology of hepatic abscess.
Ivabradine in children with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome: a retrospective study.

Background:Ivabradine is a unique medication that reduces the intrinsic heart rate by specifically blocking the inward funny current that controls the pacemaker activity of the sinus node. We conducted a retrospective cohort study to assess the efficacy of ivabradine in children suffering from postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome.Methods:A chart review was conducted of patients less than 18 years of age who were diagnosed with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome who had received ivabradine as treatment from January 2015 to February 2019 at our institution. Twenty-seven patients (25 females, 92.5%) were identified for the study. The outcomes which were assessed included a change in the severity and frequency of symptoms, heart rate, and blood pressure before and after starting ivabradine.Results:There was an improvement in the symptoms of 18 (67%) out of 27 patients. The most notable symptom affected was syncope/presyncope with a reduction in 90%, followed by lightheadedness (85%) and fatigue (81%). The vital signs of the patients showed an overall significant lowering of the heart rate during sitting (89.7 ± 17.9 versus 73.2 ± 12.1; p-value <0.05) and standing (100.5 ± 18.1 versus 80.9 ± 10.1; p-value <0.05) without a significant change in the blood pressure. Two patients had visual disturbances (luminous phenomena). Severe bradycardia and excessive flushing were seen in two patients, respectively. Another one patient reported joint pain and fatigue.Conclusion:This study indicates that 67% of children treated with ivabradine report an improvement in symptoms.
mTOR Overcomes Multiple Metabolic Restrictions to Enable HIV-1 Reverse Transcription and Intracellular Transport.

Cellular metabolism governs the susceptibility of CD4 T cells to HIV-1 infection. Multiple early post-fusion steps of HIV-1 replication are restricted in resting peripheral blood CD4 T cells; however, molecular mechanisms that underlie metabolic control of these steps remain undefined. Here, we show that mTOR activity following T cell stimulatory signals overcomes metabolic restrictions in these cells by enabling the expansion of dNTPs to fuel HIV-1 reverse transcription (RT), as well as increasing acetyl-CoA to stabilize microtubules that transport RT products. We find that catalytic mTOR inhibition diminishes the expansion of pools of both of these metabolites by limiting glucose and glutamine utilization in several pathways, thereby suppressing HIV-1 infection. We demonstrate how mTOR-coordinated biosyntheses enable the early steps of HIV-1 replication, add metabolic mechanisms by which mTOR inhibitors block HIV-1, and identify some metabolic modules downstream of mTOR as druggable targets for HIV-1 inhibition.
Efficient Processing of Sparse Tensor Decomposition via Unified Abstraction and PE-interactive Architecture

We propose a novel architecture to efficiently perform sparse tensor decomposition (SpTD). As the generalization of vectors and matrices, tensors are widely used to process high-dimensional data. SpTD is not only an emerging tensor analysis technique but also an effective tool to reduce the storage and computation costs of tensors. However, conventional general-purpose processors are inefficient to perform SpTD, mainly due to: i) variable sparsity degree and flexible buffer size requirement; ii) difficulties of fusing multiple execution kernels to pursue better performance. For domain-specific accelerator designers on the other hand, the diversity of decomposition algorithms is also an important problem that must be considered. We propose a unified abstraction for SpTD algorithms and design a specialized accelerator. First, we formulate two types of core kernels (SpLrMM and LrSampling) that serve as a standard form to fit a broad range of SpTD algorithms. Second, we design a sparse tensor engine (STE) to efficiently perform SpTD. STE uses a processing element (PE)-interactive architecture where PEs can be flexibly grouped together via Network-on-Chip to share the buffer capacity, bandwidth, and compute resources. We evaluate our accelerator with extensive experiments, and it achieves an average speedup of 45x over CPU and 29x over GPU.
Management Education in a “Post-Truth” World: Critical Theory’s Contribution to Addressing Disruptions to Learning and Communication:

Post-truth poses deep challenges for educators and learners as classrooms are disrupted by the erosion of the status of facts, technologically driven information sourcing, and increasing incivility...