cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Spatial variation in soil active-layer geochemistry across hydrologic margins in polar desert ecosystems

Abstract. Polar deserts are characterized by severe spatial-temporal limitations of liquid water. In soil active layers of the Antarctic Dry Valleys, liquid water is infrequently available over most of the arid terrestrial landscape. However, soils on the margins of glacial melt-water streams and lakes are visibly wet during the brief Austral summer when temperatures permit the existence of liquid water. We examined the role of these hydrologic margins as preferential zones for the transformation and transport of nutrient elements and solutes in an environment where geochemical weathering and biological activity is strictly limited by the dearth of liquid water. We report on hydropedological investigations of aquatic-terrestrial transition zones adjacent to 11 stream and lake systems in the Antarctic Dry Valleys. Our results show that wetted zones extended 1–11 m from the edges of lotic and lentic systems. While capillary demand and surface evaporation drive a one-way flux of water through these zones, the scale of these transition zones is determined by the topography and physical characteristics of the surrounding soils. Nutrient concentrations and fluxes appear to be influenced by both the hydrology and microbial-mediated biogeochemical processes. Salt concentrations are enriched near the distal boundary of the wetted fronts due to evapo-concentration of pore water in lake margin soils, while organic matter, ammonium and phosphate concentrations are highest in stream channel sediments where potential for biological activity is greatest. Thus, in the Antarctic Dry Valleys, intermittently wet soils on the margins of streams and lakes are important zones of both geochemical cycling and biological activity.
On political connectedness and the arrest of Ivan Boesky

The bombshell arrest of Ivan Boesky on November 14, 1986 signaled the intention of then-US attorney for the southern district of New York, Rudy Giuliani, to increase enforcement of laws against insider trading. Looking at concurrent stock price changes, we find that New York companies were affected especially. More interestingly, New York firms with active political arms fared better than those without them; and New York firms connected to Mr. Giuliani’s Republican Party fared better still. We find no such effects for non-New York firms. These findings suggest that political connectedness was valuable in the era of more rigorous legal enforcement associated with Mr. Giuliani’s attack on insider trading.
Micro-lens-coupled LED neural stimulator for optogenetics

Optogenetics is a fast growing neuromodulation method, which can remotely manipulate the specific activities of genetically-targeted neural cells and associated biological behaviors with millisecond temporal precision through light illumination. Application of optogenetics in neuroscience studies has created an increased need for the development of light sources and the instruments for light delivery. Currently, laser-coupled optical fibers have been most commonly used, but the tethered optical fibers can restrict the natural behavior of the subjects while performing optical stimulations with freely moving animals. Alternatively, micro-light-emitting diodes (μ-LEDs) are power-efficient, low-cost and suitable for integration with wireless electronics. However, the wide irradiation angle and low out-coupling efficiency of LEDs significantly weaken the emitted light intensity and limit their applications for optical stimulation in deep brain regions. In this paper, we present a micro-lens-coupled LED neural stimulator with improved light out-coupling efficiency for optogenetic neuromodulation. A backside reflector and a frontside microlens are integrated with the μ-LED chip for the light collection and collimation. Microfabrication techniques are developed to construct microlens arrays on mechanically flexible substrates. The functionality of the fabricated LED stimulators is demonstrated by both numerical simulation and measurement.
“Collective Undergraduate Research: A Teaching / Learning Tool For MSE Students”

A new experiment to implement and collectively publish undergraduate students’ research was started at the School of Technology, Eastern Illinois University in the Fall of 1998. A summary of the procedures followed in this experiment, its assessment and its progress are presented. Collective research publications, authored by undergraduate engineering students and edited by their faculty can be used as an effective teaching / learning tool that benefits students/authors, their peers, faculty/editors, local and other institutions, and industry at large, particularly when this research is interactively posted on the Internet. Through a research study format, undergraduates learn the subject matter much better, become familiar with research methods and techniques early in their careers, and polish their technical writing abilities. As the experiment also fosters teamwork and peer collaboration and evaluation, undergraduates sharpen their oral communication skills through group discussions and in-class presentations. The experiment provided an opportunity for students to independently select and research a particular topic and helped them discover the research resources and reference materials available on the subject matter. As one of the few creative opportunities offered in a class, this experiment presented a variety of learning environments to undergraduates and helped promote their creativity and self-directed learning. It was confirmed that most undergraduate students hold unlimited potential for success as researchers, and that enthusiasm, hard work, self-motivation, and dedication of students are likely to constitute better indicators of success than the conventional grades they earned in the past.
Acute Bilateral Exertional Lateral Leg Compartment Syndrome with Delayed Presentation: A Case Report.

Acute compartment syndrome is defined as an increased pressure within a closed fascial space leading to reduced capillary perfusion that is inadequate for tissue viability1. Compartment syndrome of the lower leg can be classified by location (lateral, anterior, deep posterior, or superficial posterior), chronicity (acute or chronic), and etiology (traumatic or exertional). Exertional compartment syndrome has been well described in the orthopaedic literature; it is usually chronic in nature and does not present emergently2,3. Typically, acute compartment syndrome of the lower leg affects the anterior compartment and is caused by trauma; it rarely occurs bilaterally4-8. We present a unique case of acute exertional compartment syndrome with a delayed presentation of four days after the inciting event. The patient was informed that data concerning this case would be submitted for publication, and he provided consent. A forty-three-year-old man presented to the emergency department (ED) with severe bilateral lower-extremity (BLE) pain, approximately twenty-four hours after a two-mile run. Midway through the run, he had experienced “shooting pains” along the lateral calves that radiated up the thighs to both buttocks, with resulting tightness, warmth, swelling, and erythema of both lower extremities. He denied any trauma, twisting, or falling. All of the symptoms were worse on the left side, but both legs were symptomatic. The treating ED physicians found that the patient had no pain with passive range of motion of either lower extremity at the foot, ankle, knee, and hip; had minimal paresthesias on the dorsum of the left foot; and had a positive bilateral straight leg raise test. The patient was diagnosed with sciatica and was discharged. The patient returned to the ED twenty-four hours later with worsening pain, increased bilateral foot swelling, and inability to walk. On examination, the blood pressure …
Research on on-line analysis of variances over data streams

It is important to analyze variances over data streams.In this paper, each of single data stream that is included in data streams has same attributes set as other,the unit of single data stream is tuple,and same attributes set is included in each of these tuples.Reservoir algorithm is used to sample from these single data stream respectively,then some multiple snapshot windows are constructed,the relationship between these single data stream and multiple snapshot windows is bijective mapping,the relationship between attributes that are included in tuple and snapshot windows that are included in relative multiple snapshot windows is bijective mapping,and the relationship between basic windows that belong to same snapshot window and the attribute values that come from different single data stream is bijective mapping as well,that is,these attribute values come from same attribute that is comprised by different single data stream.Variances are analyzed based on these independent sample values.Data of these multiple snapshot windows can be processed orderly.In a word,a serialization method is used to analyze parallel data streams.The analytical and experimental results show that this analytic method is logical and effective.
Control of Magnetic Coercivity in epitaxial Ni/VO2/YSZ/Si(001) heterostructures by manipulation of Ni thin film growth modes

The control of ferromagnetic properties by external stimuli is of great interest in the electronics community. One method of producing such a control is through proximity of a ferromagnetic film with a material that has a semiconductor-to-metal transition (SMT). In order for these magnetic heterostructures to be beneficial, they must consist of high-quality, crystalline films. Epitaxial films increase the reproducibility of both devices and properties. We have investigated the trend in magnetic coercivity in epitaxial nickel films on VO2. We show that not only does the interaction between the Ni and VO2 change the normal coercivity trend found in Ni M-H curves with no proximity to VO2, but that the crystalline growth mode of the Ni film also impacts the magnetic coercivity as a function of temperature.
Quantum Signatures of Anomalous Diffusion in Atom Optics

It is well established that classical chaotic motion is suppressed by quantum mechanics. The paradigm theoretical system has been the ?-kicked rotor, where the suppression manifests itself as dynamical localization. This effect is saturation of momentum growth after the quantum break time, with a resulting exponentially localized distribution. Classical analyses of this system have also identified regimes of anomalous diffusion, characterized by “Levy-type” flights in phase space [1]. This behavior is considerably more complex than simple diffusion and has attracted much interest in recent years. The quantum system was predicted to exhibit an increase in localization length near regions of anomalous diffusion [2], and recent theoretical work predicts very large growth of energy in this case, even for systems that are far from the semiclassical limit [3].
Polynomial approximation for the computation of electron concentration in semiconducting carbon nanotubes

Semiconducting carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have recently attracted much interest in the electronics community due to their potential applications in fast electronic devices, sensors, and high-mobility transistors. The numerical simulation of CNTs usually requires the computation of carrier densities inside the nanotubes as a function of the position of the Fermi level and physical properties of the CNT (e.g. chirality, diameter, length, etc.). This computation should be performed relatively fast because it needs to be done for many times during the device simulation (i.e. at each discretization meshpoint and at various bias conditions). Here, we present a polynomial approximation for the electron concentration in semiconducting single-walled CNTs, appropriate for device simulations. The approximation is based on Gauss-Laguerre quadratures.
Modeling and Optimization of the Drug Extraction Production Process

Optimized control of the drug extraction production process DEPP aims to reduce production costs and improve economic benefit while meeting quality requirements. However, optimization of DEPP is hampered by model uncertainty. Thus, in this paper, a strategy that considers model uncertainty is proposed. Mechanistic modeling of DEPP is first discussed in the context of previous work. The predictive model used for optimization is then developed by simplifying the mechanism. Optimization for a single extraction process is first implemented, but this is found to lead to serious wastage of herbs. Hence, the optimization of a multiextraction process is then conducted. To manage the uncertainty in the model, a data-driven iterative learning control method is introduced to improve the economic benefit by adjusting the operating variables. Finally, fuzzy parameter adjustment is adopted to enhance the convergence rate of the algorithm. The effectiveness of the proposed modeling and optimization strategy is validated through a series of simulations.
Everolimus TDM using Thermo Fisher QMS immunoassay on Indiko, Beckman DxC, AU680, and AU5800 analyzers

Abstract Objectives Everolimus (EVR), a mTOR inhibitor immunosuppressant approved for renal, liver and cardiac transplants. This study established the appropriate TDM performances of the Thermo Scientific QMS EVR Assay by using the Beckman DxC, followed by comparison to the Thermo Scientific Indiko and a previously published LC-MS/MS assay, and Beckman AU680 and AU5800 analyzers. Design and methods The study initially established acceptable linearity, precision and accuracy of the QMS EVR turbidimetric assay. Sample preparation was initiated by mixing patient whole blood with methanol and a precipitation reagent. Supernatant was transferred to sample cups. Drug in the supernatant and drug coated on microparticle compete for the limited number of antibody binding sites. If EVR is absent in the sample supernatant, EVR coated microparticles are agglutinated in the presence of antibody reagent. If EVR is present, agglutination is partially inhibited, depending on EVR concentration. Calibrators range was from 1.5 to 20 ng/mL. Comparison studies data were analyzed by Deming Regression and Bland-Altman plots. Results Precision studies showed the following mean concentrations 4.00–4.72, 7.70–8.20 and 14.80–15.56 ng/mL, and CVs of 3.1–8.7%, 3.4–8.9% and 2.6–4.4% respectively. Comparison of analyses of 107 de-identified transplant samples by three analyzers - Indiko, DxC and AU680 showed: EVR concentrations from Conclusions Based on the experience of the past 3.5 years, Thermo Scientific QMS EVR Immunoassay using four different analyzers offered adequate limit of detection and acceptable accuracy and precision, suitable for monitoring renal and liver transplant recipients.
Development of a nitrous oxide routine for the SWAT model to assess greenhouse gas emissions from agroecosystems

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from agroecosystems, particularly nitrous oxide (N2O), are an increasing concern. To quantify N2O emissions from agroecosystems, which occur as a result of nitrogen (N) cycling, a new physically-based routine was developed for the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model to predict N2O flux during denitrification and an existing nitrification routine was modified to capture N2O flux during this process. The new routines predict N2O emissions by coupling the carbon (C) and N cycles with soil moisture/temperature and pH in SWAT. The model uses reduction functions to predict total denitrification (N2+ N2O) and partitions N2 from N2O using a ratio method. The modified SWAT nitrification routine likewise predicts N2O emissions using reduction functions. The new denitrification routine and modified nitrification routine were tested using GRACEnet data at University Park, Pennsylvania, and West Lafayette, Indiana. Results showed strong correlations between plot measurements of N2O flux and the model predictions for both test sites and suggest that N2O emissions are particularly sensitive to soil pH and soil N, and moderately sensitive to soil temperature/moisture and total soil C levels. Nitrous oxide emissions are modeled with functional relationships between soil N, C, pH, temperature and moisture levels.The model is tested against high spatial and temporal resolution GRACEnet data at two sites.The model is particularly sensitive to soil pH and soil N levels.
(Re)Examining the Research on International Students: Where Are We Today?

A working definition of an international student, as Shapiro, Farrelly and Tomas (2014) acknowledged, is “a student who moves to another country (the host country) for the purpose of pursuing tertiary or higher education e.g., college or university” (p.2). The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) defines an international student as: “Anyone who is enrolled at an institution of higher education in the United States who is not a U.S. citizen, an immigrant (permanent resident) or a refugee” (2015, para 2).
Social perception of rape victims: The impact of legal reform.

Since 1975, 40 states have enacted “rape shield” statustes which limit the admissibility of a rape victim's prior sexual history in court. These reforms have assumed that jurors regard prior sexual history evidence as much too probative of a victim's credibility and moral character, and that such perceptions have a prejudicial impact on the outcome of the jury decision process. The present research adopted an attributional analysis in order to examine the extent to which the types of legal reform affect social perception of the victim as well as the conviction rate in a videotaped consent defense rape trial. A large-scale jury simulation experiment was conducted with qualified jurors from the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. Jurors either viewed an Improbable or Probable Likelihood of (victim) Consent version of the trial, with admission of prior sexual history evidence governed by one of three types of exclusionary rules. The results lend credence to the reformist contention that a rape victim is “on trial” along with the accused. Jurors were reluctant to convict when any testimony about prior sexual history was introduced. Moreover, jurors' close scrutiny of the victim's credibility and moral character was directly related to the conviction rate. Only the most restrictive evidentiary rule, when applied to an Improbable Consent case, curtailed the inference of victim consent, enhanced victim credibility, and increased the likelihood of conviction. Some of the legal and attributional implications of these findings were discussed.
Age Estimation of Burbot Using Pectoral Fin Rays, Branchiostegal Rays and Otoliths

Throughout much of its native distribution, burbot (Lota lota) is a species of conservation concern. Understanding dynamic rate functions is critical for the effective management of sensitive burbot populations, which necessitates accurate and precise age estimates. Managing sensitive burbot populations requires an accurate and precise non-lethal alternative. In an effort to identify a non-lethal ageing structure, we compared the precision of age estimates obtained from otoliths, pectoral fin rays, dorsal fin rays and branchiostegal rays from 208 burbot collected from the Green River drainage, Wyoming. Additionally, we compared the accuracy of age estimates from pectoral fin rays, dorsal fin rays and branchiostegal rays to those of otoliths. Dorsal fin rays were immediately deemed a poor ageing structure and removed from further analysis. Age-bias plots of consensus ages derived from branchiostegal rays and pectoral fin rays were appreciably different from those obtained from otoliths. Exact agreement between readers and reader confidence was highest for otoliths and lowest for branchiostegal rays. Age-bias plots indicated that age estimates obtained from branchiostegal rays and pectoral fin rays were substantially different from age estimates obtained from otoliths. Our results indicate that otoliths provide the most precise age estimates for burbot.
Hitler: Ascent, 1889–1939

Volker Ullrich's latest biography of Adolf Hitler seeks to follow in the footsteps of four previous biographies that the author states “have stood the test of time” (2). These works, ranging from K...
Storage of ultra-broadband pulses in hot atomic barium vapor

We demonstrate the potential for an ultra-broadband quantum memory in hot atomic barium vapor using an off-resonance Raman interaction. It may enable storage of THz-bandwidth photons for high-speed quantum information processing in the telecom range.
HäirIÖ: Human Hair as Interactive Material

Human hair is a cultural material, with a rich history displaying individuality, cultural expression and group identity. It is malleable in length, color and style, highly visible, and embedded in a range of personal and group interactions. As wearable technologies move ever closer to the body, and embodied interactions become more common and desirable, hair presents a unique and little-explored site for novel interactions. In this paper, we present an exploration and working prototype of hair as a site for novel interaction, leveraging its position as something both public and private, social and personal, malleable and permanent. We develop applications and interactions around this new material in HairIO: a novel integration of hair-based technologies and braids that combine capacitive touch input and dynamic output through color and shape change. Finally, we evaluate this hair-based interactive technology with users, including the integration of HairIO within the landscape of existing wearable and mobile technologies.
Unusual NMR Phenomena in CFCl2-CFCl2

We report measurements of 19F NMR relaxation times T1, T1ρ, T1D and T2 in the plastic crystal CFCl2-CFCl2. From the data near the melting point, we obtain the jump time for self-diffusion. At lower temperatures, we observe on the cold side of the minima of T1 and T1ρ an unusual field dependence which is substantially less than the normal field-squared dependence. We also observe a reduction in T1 near 40 MHz due to cross relaxation between the 19F Zeeman and the 35Cl and 37Cl quadrupole interactions.
Resilient Information Architecture Platform for Distributed Linear State Estimation

Remedial Action Schemes (RAS) provide automatic control action with high impact on system performance. In order to improve the resilience of the RAS against any single node failure and to guarantee the secured and reliable operation of the power systems, distributed implementations of the RAS is researched upon. The input data to such a distributed RAS must be of high quality. In addition, RAS operation must be fast. Traditional centralized state estimation, which feeds data to RAS is slow and cannot meet the requirements of RAS. New approach needs to be developed to provide the fast and accurate data to RAS. In order to solve this problem, distributed state estimation is developed as an alternative strategy to feed data to the RAS. This paper discusses the implementation of Distributed Linear State Estimation (DLSE) in a decentralized platform called Resilient Information Architecture Platform for Smart Grid (RIAPS). The DLSE algorithm is fully implemented in RIAPS platform and validated on a real-time testbed consisting of Real Time Digital Simulator, Phasor Measurement Units and BeagleBones. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is validated through online simulations on IEEE 14-bus test system under various cyber failures.
Characterization of Methyl-Functionalized Silica Nanosprings for Superhydrophobic and Defrosting Coatings.

Thin non-perfluoroalkoxy superhydrophobic coatings are desirable for heat exchangers because of their lower thermal resistance and reduced environmental concerns. Coatings requirements must also include robustness and longevity and facilitate high defrosting rates in refrigeration applications to warrant their adoption and use. Methyl-functionalized silica nanosprings (SN) possess water droplet static contact angles above 160° with contact angle hysteresis values as low as 6.9° for a sub-micrometer-thick coating. The methyl functional groups render the silica surface hydrophobic, whereas the geometrical and topographical characteristics of the nanosprings make it super-hydrophobic. Results show that SN are capable of removing 95% of the frost from the surface at a lower temperature than the base aluminum substrate. The sub-micrometer SN coating also decreases the time to defrost by ≈1.5 times and can withstand more than 20 frosting–defrosting cycles in a high humidity environment akin to real working cond...
Anubis: ultra-low overhead and recovery time for secure non-volatile memories

Implementing secure Non-Volatile Memories (NVMs) is challenging, mainly due to the necessity to persist security metadata along with data. Unlike conventional secure memories, NVM-equipped systems are expected to recover data after crashes and hence security metadata must be recoverable as well. While prior work explored recovery of encryption counters, fewer efforts have been focused on recovering integrity-protected systems. In particular, how to recover Merkle Tree. We observe two major challenges for this. First, recovering parallelizable integrity trees, e.g., Intel's SGX trees, requires very special handling due to inter-level dependency. Second, the recovery time of practical NVM sizes (terabytes are expected) would take hours. Most data centers, cloud systems, intermittent-power devices and even personal computers, are anticipated to recover almost instantly after power restoration. In fact, this is one of the major promises of NVMs. In this paper, we propose Anubis, a novel hardware-only solution that speeds up recovery time by almost 107 times (from 8 hours to only 0.03 seconds). Moreover, we propose a novel and elegant way to recover inter-level dependent trees, as in Intel's SGX. Most importantly, while ensuring recoverability of one of the most challenging integrity-protection schemes among others, Anubis incurs performance overhead that is only 2% higher than the state-of-the-art scheme, Osiris, which takes hours to recover systems with general Merkle Tree and fails to recover SGX-style trees.
How Do Observers Assess Resolve

Despite a plethora of theoretical frameworks, IR scholars have struggled with the question of how observers assess resolve. We make two important contributions in this direction. Conceptually, we develop an integrative framework that unites otherwise disconnected theories, viewing them as a set of heuristics actors use to simplify information-rich environments. Methodologically, we employ a conjoint experiment that provides empirical traction impossible to obtain using alternative research designs. We find that ordinary citizens are ‘intuitive deterrence theorists’ who focus to a great extent on capabilities, stakes, signals and past actions in judging resolve. We also find that observers see democracies as less resolved than autocracies (not more), casting doubt on key propositions of democratic credibility theory. Finally, a conceptual replication shows that a group of elite decision makers converge with the US public in how they interpret costly signals, and in viewing democracies as less resolved than autocracies.
System Restore in a Multi-cloud Data Pipeline Platform

Data pipeline platforms hosting big data analytics can span multiple clouds. Backup and restore service is typically applied to deal with data corruptions in such platforms. This paper proposes a novel approach to providing consistency to the restored state of a multi-cloud data pipeline platform from its backups, and also presents the performance of the approach demonstrated in a dry run test.
Narrative and the Moving Image

This chapter applies a rhetorical-functionalist approach to several problems in the philosophy of narrative in the moving image. Drawing on the work of Meir Sternberg, the first section defines narrative in terms of three temporal effects: prospection, retrospection, and re-cognition. The second section argues that this orientation highlights the modality of narrative, asking us to look beyond the causal chain to consider events that might happen but do not. The third section expands the focus beyond film to include television, where many narratives are told in serial form, and the fourth section addresses the problem of the narrator. While offering tentative support for the “implied author” concept, the essay argues against the concept of the cinematic narrator.
Enhanced Two-Phase Heat Transfer by Direct-Contact Condensation Using Directional Acoustic Actuation

While two-phase heat transfer using direct-contact condensation in a liquid pool can accommodate the heat fluxes associated with cooling high-powered electronic hardware, its coupling to system-level heat transfer may be hampered by marginally-subcooled liquid and slow conductive heat transport at the liquid-vapor interface. The condensation and thereby the performance of thermal management systems that utilize two-phase heat transfer can be significantly enhanced by deliberate intensification of the condensation that is effected using nonintrusive, low-power acoustic actuation that exploits the interfacial acoustic impedance mismatch at the liquid-vapor interface. The present investigations focus on the mechanisms of acoustic enhancement in two-phase heat transfer at actuation wavelengths of O(1 mm). It is shown that the actuation enhances direct contact condensation by bulk deformations at vapor-liquid interface and injection of subcooled liquid into the vapor volume. This effect is harnessed at several actuator orientations relative to the vapor flow and actuation duty cycles, demonstrating the robustness of the heat transfer enhancement.
Establishment in an introduced range: Dispersal capacity and winter survival of Trissolcus japonicus, an adventive egg parasitoid

The herbivorous brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys, has spread globally, and one of its key parasitoids, Trissolcus japonicus, has recently been detected in the pest's introduced range. For an exotic natural enemy to impact its targeted host in a novel environment, it must disperse, locate hosts, and potentially be redistributed to susceptible sites. Through intentionally releasing T. japonicus across four Oregon eco-regions, we investigated an introduced parasitoid's dispersal capacity in urban sites and in two perennial crops, hazelnut and raspberry. In a second paired field and laboratory study, we investigated T. japonicus survival in different plant materials. Within three days of release, adult T. japonicus located host egg masses at 45% of sites and, one year later, were detected at 40% of release sites. Areas where released wasps survived winter were mostly urban or semi-natural. In commercial crop release experiments, we recovered the highest percentage of wasps in raspberry within 5 m of the release site but found no statistical difference in dispersal distance with some wasps dispersing up to 50 m. Adult parasitoids survived up to 16 weeks outdoors in the winter, with greater survival over time in bark compared to leaf litter. Wasp survival remained above 50% over the course of a simulated winter environment without precipitation. Our work affirms the continuation of H. halys parasitism by T. japonicus in novel environments and provides insight into the high population sizes necessary to survive winter and locate host egg masses the following season.
Common mistakes made in submissions to leading advertising journals

I recently acquired a book edited by David W. Stewart and Daniel M. Ladik titled, “How to Get Published in the Best Marketing Journals.” While I would very much enjoy seeing a similar book (or arti...
Boosting Nitric Oxide in Stress and Respiratory Infection: Potential Relevance for Asthma and COVID-19.

Nitric oxide (NO) is a ubiquitous signaling molecule that is critical for supporting a plethora of processes in biological organisms. Among these, its role in the innate immune system as a first line of defense against pathogens has received less attention. In asthma, levels of exhaled NO have been utilized as a window into airway inflammation caused by allergic processes. However, respiratory infections count among the most important triggers of disease exacerbations. Among the multitude of factors that affect NO levels are psychological processes. In particular, longer lasting states of psychological stress and depression have been shown to attenuate NO production. The novel SARS-CoV-2 virus, which has caused a pandemic, and with that, sustained levels of psychological stress globally, also adversely affects NO signaling. We review evidence on the role of NO in respiratory infection, including COVID-19, and stress, and argue that boosting NO bioavailability may be beneficial in protection from infections, thus benefitting individuals who suffer from stress in asthma or SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Antibacterial Clays: Scientific Investigations of Their Practical Applications in Medicine

The use of natural clays in wound healing is a practice used by many cultures since prehistoric times. Many minerals beneficial to human health have been used in drug designs. However, the last decade has seen a renewed interest in the use of natural resources that exhibit antibacterial effects, and in understanding the natural antibacterial mechanism as an alternative to antibiotics, to which bacteria have become resistant. Empirical observations of infections healed by application of hydrated reduced iron-bearing clays have led to evaluation of their practical applications in medicine. Mechanistic studies have been conducted in vitro, showing that some clays are effective against planktonic and biofilm forms of mono-microbial colonies, including antibiotic-resistant pathogens. This chapter reviews our current knowledge of what makes clays antibacterial, documenting evidence of the effectiveness of these minerals in killing common hospital-acquired bacterial infections, and explores the potential for modern medicinal applications of clays in the topical treatment of infections.
Protective transfer: Maternal passive immunization with a rotavirus-neutralizing dimeric IgA protects against rotavirus disease in suckling neonates

Breast milk secretory IgA antibodies provide a first line of defense against enteric infections. Despite this and an effective vaccine, human rotaviruses (RVs) remain the leading cause of severe infectious diarrhea in children in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) where vaccine efficacy is lower than that of developed nations. Therapeutic strategies that deliver potently neutralizing antibodies into milk could provide protection against enteric pathogens such as RVs. We developed a murine model of maternal protective-transfer using systemic administration of a dimeric IgA (dIgA) monoclonal antibody. We confirmed that systemically-administered dIgA passively transferred into milk and stomach of suckling pups in a dose-dependent manner. We then demonstrated that systemic administration of an engineered potent RV-neutralizing dIgA (mAb41) in lactating dams protected suckling pups from RV-induced diarrhea. This maternal protective-transfer immunization platform could be an effective strategy to improve infant mortality against enteric infections, particularly in LMIC with high rates of breastfeeding. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT O_FIG O_LINKSMALLFIG WIDTH=200 HEIGHT=98 SRC="FIGDIR/small/461116v1_ufig1.gif" ALT="Figure 1"> View larger version (25K): org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@aac024org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@2c8b36org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@67b580org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@bd2027_HPS_FORMAT_FIGEXP M_FIG C_FIG
University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) in-house COVID-19 testing program

The pandemic caused by the spread of the virus SARS-CoV-2 threatened to severely disrupt the activities of student-athletes. (REF) In order to provide a safe environment for athletic competition, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) mandated testing of student-athletes. The goal was to rapidly identify student-athletes and the athletic staff member who either tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 or were in contact with individuals who tested positive. Rapid identification of infected individuals and their contacts allowed the University to implement quarantine standards and quarantine facilities quickly as needed. The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) developed an in-house testing program and was quickly able to meet the NCAA requirements, allowing UTA to continue its athletic participation with minimal forfeiture of scheduled games. The purpose of this paper is to report the implementation UTAs COVID prevention program for the universitys athletic program. This program will provide valuable information to other universities planning for the management of COVID prevention in their athletic programs. Challenges and solutions are identified.
Linearity of Geographic Range and Its Possible Effect on the Population Structure of Andean Birds

-Geographic ranges of widespread Andean forest bird species are linear, averaging over 300 times longer than they are wide. Among congeneric species, geographic variation in plumage was negatively correlated to the width (W) of their elevational distributions, presumably because narrower distributions are more easily fragmented by barriers to gene flow. The amplitude of a species' elevational distribution may be limited by zonation of resources and by genetic factors that prevent populations from adapting to local environments. Minimum amplitudes may be dictated by demographic consequences. Received 13 April 1987, accepted 28 August 1987. ANDEAN forest birds have sinuous, narrow geographic ranges that correspond to narrow elevational bands of habitat. Most species are believed to be sedentary and to have short dispersal distances (Graves 1985). The pattern of range linearity in Andean birds seems to exemplify a one-dimensional case of population distribution. There have been few attempts to identify linear communities in nature (e.g. Pielou 1977) and, surprisingly, no explicit examination of the consequences of linearity on the population structure of species. Theoretical and simulation studies (Wright 1943, Kimura and Weiss 1964, Rohlf and Schnell 1971) have predicted that populations in two-dimensional arrays will exhibit less geographic variation than those in linear or one-dimensional sequences, when migration between adjacent demes is fixed, and the number of generations is finite. Previously, I examined relationships between elevational distribution and geographic variation in plumage among 280 species and superspecies of Andean forest birds (Graves 1985). Geographic variation was correlated positively with elevation and length of geographic range. I was unable to reject the null hypothesis of no relationship between variation and the amplitude of a species' elevational distribution. Here I pursue this hypothesis with a refined analysis. Specifically, I transform elevational range data to a direct measure of the surface distance occupied by a species (width of distribution) along an elevational gradient, estimate the degree of linearity (length-to-width ratio of geographic range) of ranges of Andean forest birds, test the hypothesis that patterns of geographic variation in congeneric species are related to range linearity, and discuss factors that may regulate elevational distributions of Andean forest birds.
Color Codes: Modern Theories of Color in Philosophy, Painting and Architecture, Literature, Music, and Psychology

Color is an endlessly fascinating and controversial topic. "The first thing to realize about the study of color in our time is its uncanny ability to evade all attempts to systematically codify it, " writes Charles A. Riley in this series of interconnected essays on the uses and meanings of color. Color Codes draws heavily on interviews with many of today's leading artists - Roy Lichtenstein, Frank Stella, Peter Halley, Lukas Foss, A. S. Byatt, and others - as well as seminal texts by a wide range of thinkers including Wittgenstein, Derrida, Barthes, Schoenberg, Kandinsky, Albers, Joyce, Pynchon, and Jung. Although Riley finds remarkable parallels among the theories and techniques of various disciplines, his emphasis is on the individual nature of the color sense. This resistance to a unified color theory gives the current aesthetic debate tremendous energy. "Because it is largely an unknown force, color remains one of the most vital sources of new styles and ideas, ready to be tapped by creative minds in the coming decades." In the studios of artists and composers, and in the recent writings of philosophers, psychologists, poets, and novelists, evidence of this emerging power is abundant. Creators, critics, and lay readers will find Color Codes accessible and stimulating.
Inhibition of ICE slows ALS in mice

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive age-dependent disease involving degeneration of motor neurons in the brain, brainstem and spinal cord. ALS is universally fatal, with the median survival of patients being five years from diagnosis. In a transgenic mouse model of ALS, we now show that a dominant negative inhibitor of a cell-death gene, the interleukin-1β-converting enzyme (ICE), significantly slows the symptomatic progression of ALS.
Metabolic regulation of gene transcription

The impact of nutrients on gene expression has become an area of considerable interest as the number of genes coding for key regulatory proteins in metabolic pathways are studied in detail. This has been greatly aided by a number of new techniques developed to study gene transcription in animals. We will use as an example studies on the regulation of transcription of the gene coding for P-enolpyruvate carboxykinase, a key enzyme in hepatic and renal gluconeogenesis. The promoter for P-enolpyruvate carboxykinase contains a number of regulatory elements within 500 bp of the start-site of gene transcription that are required for the response of the gene to metabolic signals. These elements bind tissue-specific transcription factors in complex patterns of interactions, which result in the coordinate control of P-enolpyruvate carboxykinase gene expression. An analysis of the regulation of transcription of this gene involves the use of a number of techniques ranging from gene transfection into cells in culture to the introduction of chimeric genes containing the P-enolpyruvate carboxykinase promoter into transgenic mice. This review presents a progress report on the current status of research on the nutritional and hormonal regulation of transcription of the P-enolpyruvate carboxykinase gene.
Detecting Dirty Queries during Iterative Development of OWL Based Applications

Incremental/iterative development is often considered to be the best approach to develop large scale information management applications. In an application using an ontology as a central component at design and/or runtime (ontology based system) that is built using this approach, the ontology itself might be constantly modified to satisfy new and changing requirements. Since many other artifacts, e.g., queries, inter-component message formats, code, in the application are dependent on the ontology definition, changes to it necessitate changes to other artifacts and thus might prove to be very expensive. To alleviate this, we address the specific problem of detecting the SPARQL queries that need to be modified due to changes to an OWL ontology (T-Box). Our approach is based on a novel evaluation function for SPARQL queries, which maps a query to the extensions of T-Box elements. This evaluation is used to match the query with the semantics of the changes made to the ontology to determine if the query is dirty - i.e., needs to be modified. We present an implementation of the technique, integrated with a popular ontology development environment and provide an evaluation of our technique on a real-life as well as benchmark applications.
Implementing a Public Health Approach to Addressing Mental Health Needs in a University Setting: Lessons and Challenges

The mental health needs of college students are placing increasing demands on counseling center resources, and traditional outreach efforts may be outdated or incomplete. The public health model provides an approach for reaching more students, decreasing stigma, and addressing mental health concerns before they reach crisis levels. Implementing a public health model within a college counseling center can require a shift in perspective and the acquisition of new skills for staff. This article describes the benefits and challenges of implementing such a model, details a case example, and provides suggestions and considerations for other institutions.
Trajectory stabilization for a planar carangiform robot fish

Considers the task of trajectory stabilization for a fish-like robot by means of feedback. We use oscillatory control inputs and apply correction signals at the endpoints of each periodic input signal. Such a strategy can be proven to cause the system to converge to a desired trajectory. We present a specific model of a planar carangiform fish, and verify the stabilization results with simulations and with experiment on a planar robotic fish system that is propelled using carangiform-like movements.
Preventing Infections in the ICU One Size Does Not Fit All

role. Although this is a matter of speculation, errors with the ascertainment of baseline VRE colonization are one possibility. Given the established relationship between antimicrobial exposure and the density of VRE colonization in the gastrointestinal tract, some patients with low levels of VRE may have been misclassified due to a false-negative baseline culture. 7 Compared with rates of MRSA, rates of VRE acquisition were approximately 2-fold higher in both groups, lending additional support to the possibility that some of the VRE “acquisitions” simply reflect false-negative screening tests. The investigators did not measure the effect of gloves and gowns on
Study of the output spectra of ruby laser

The frequency separation between transverse modes of a ruby laser is measured using a Fabry-Perot interferometer and a high-speed camera. The results are compared with the theoretical predictions based on the curved-reflector theory. Satisfactory agreement is obtained. The measurements are verified by studying the output of the laser after application of transverse mode selection. The mode selection technique is based on the control of the reflector size, and results in single-transverse-mode operation at high pumping levels. Time dependence of the longitudinal mode spectrum of a single-transverse mode laser is studied. Particularly orderly mode-hopping sequences from shorter to longer wavelengths are observed. The spectrum of a relatively high-output laser which shows regular pulsations is similarly examined. The spectrum shows some interesting features, which include a near continuum during regular pulsations and repetitive shifts of the high intensity portion of the spectrum from short to long wavelengths.
Compression of Polymer-Coated Laser-Fusion Targets to Ten Times Liquid DT Density

Polymer-coated glass microspheres filled with DT fuel and argon seed gas were irradiated on the SHIVA 1.06-..mu..m laser using 4-kJ 200 ps (full width at half maximum), Gaussian pulses. Measured light absorption, x-ray spectrum, neutron yields, and x-ray continuum images compare favorably with detailed computer simulations. Pusher neutron activation and argon line imaging diagnostics were utilized to measure fuel density. Fuel densities of 1-3 g/cm/sup 3/ or 5-15 times liquid DT density were inferred.
Thallium-201 technetium-99m HMPAO single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging for guiding stereotactic craniotomies in heavily irradiated malignant glioma patients.

SPECT scanning with TI-201 and Tc-99m offers a unique, inexpensive functional imaging modality to combine with CT stereotactic craniotomy for guiding resection of necrosis and/or tumour in patients treated with escalated doses of radiation (>6000 cGy) by either brachytherapy or radiosurgery. Thirty-two cases were analyzed, with a detailed description of the imaging and operative techniques.