cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Stabilisation of walking by intrinsic muscle properties revealed in a three-dimensional muscle-driven simulation

A fundamental question in movement science is how humans perform stable movements in the presence of disturbances such as contact with objects. It remains unclear how the nervous system, with delayed responses to disturbances, maintains the stability of complex movements. We hypothesised that intrinsic muscle properties (i.e. the force-length-velocity properties of muscle fibres and tendon elasticity) may help stabilise human walking by responding instantaneously to a disturbance and providing forces that help maintain the movement trajectory. To investigate this issue, we generated a 3D muscle-driven simulation of walking and analysed the changes in the simulation's motion when a disturbance was applied to models with and without intrinsic muscle properties. Removing the intrinsic properties reduced the stability; this was true when the disturbing force was applied at a variety of times and in different directions. Thus, intrinsic muscle properties play a unique role in stabilising walking, complementing the delayed response of the central nervous system.
Antenna beam patterns in MIMO radar

This paper deals with the development of an appropriate multistatic or multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) radar ambiguity function. Earlier work [1] analyzed the case of isotropic antennas; in this work, we show how to include antenna beam patterns into the model. We consider the case of fixed sensors and a general distribution of objects, each undergoing linear motion; thus the theory deals with imaging distributions in phase space. We outline the derivation for a model for the data that is appropriate for narrowband waveforms in the case when the targets are moving slowly relative to the speed of light. From this model, we develop a phase-space imaging formula that can be interpreted in terms of filtered backprojection or matched filtering. For this imaging approach, we derive the corresponding phase-space ambiguity function or point-spread function. We show plots of the phase-space ambiguity function for various geometries.
Rehabilitation robotics: adapting robot behavior to suit patient needs and abilities

Robotics offers one solution to the rising problem of rehabilitating victims of neurological injury and disease. Rehabilitation robots have proven successful in speeding recovery for recent stroke victims, and in reducing impairment and pain for chronic victims who were thought to have little opportunity for improvement. Such robots require high force capability with a closely controlled "feel", requiring low endpoint impedance. For complex robot configurations, a combination of backdrivable hardware design and impedance-reducing controller design may offer the best solution. A novel therapy algorithm that exploits similarities between motor recovery and motor learning adapts robot impedance to patients as they recover. Results of therapy using this algorithm are a substantial improvement over the original robot therapy.
The Effect of Low Versus Moderate Rearing Temperature on Broiler Performance

Abstract Rearing commercial broilers from 4 to 8 weeks of age in constant temperatures of 10° and 21.1° C. resulted in the same body weight gain at both 6 and 8 weeks of age. When a comparison is made between broilers reared under constant versus cyclic temperatures that were cycled in the moderate and low temperature range, more average body weight gain was obtained at 8 weeks of age for birds reared in the cyclic temperature regime. The amount of feed required to produce a unit of body weight was higher for the birds reared in the lower temperatures.
The New Taylorism: Hacking at the Philosophy of the University's End

This article looks at the critical writings of Mark C. Taylor. It suggests that Mark C. Taylor is rewriting a global imaginary devoid of the kind of citizenship that Henry Giroux claims as the basis for public education. Instead, Taylor wants to see the university take shape as profit-generating. According to Taylor, in lieu of learning to take positions in relation to the historical understanding that constitutes them, students are to be fitted into their identities as technology-users, directing their knowledge acquisition towards fulfilling contemporary corporate demand. This article places Taylor's op-ed positions on universities in the context of his writings in his fields of specialization, philosophy and religion, to show how he has manipulated the key terms of critical theory against critical theory's emphasis on critique and citizenship. Taylor twists the ideas of Kant, Kierkegaard, Hegel, and the Frankfurt School to show how the market must be thought of as God.
Exploring treatment strategies for type 2 diabetes

Perspectives on the News commentaries are now part of a new, free monthly CME activity. The Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, New York, is designating this activity for 2.0 AMA PRA Category 1 credits. If you wish to participate, review this article and visit www.diabetes.procampus.net to complete a posttest and receive a certificate. The Mount Sinai School of Medicine is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians . This is the second in a series of articles based on presentations at the American Diabetes Association's 67th Scientific Sessions in June 2007, in Chicago, discussing approaches to the treatment of type 2 diabetes, contrasting the use of older therapies with the use of new agents to lower blood glucose levels. At a symposium on the use of insulin in treatment of type 2 diabetes, Rury Holman (Oxford, U.K.) reviewed the findings of the UK Prospective Diabetes Study (UKPDS) and A Diabetes Outcome Progression Trial (ADOPT) in terms of the performance of metformin, sulfonylureas, thiazolidinediones, and insulin. Among the newly diagnosed diabetic individuals entering the UKPDS, mean A1C fell from 9 to 7% with diet modification. At 1 year, mean A1C was 6% with insulin, sulfonylurea, and metformin treatment. After 3, 6, and 9 years in UKPDS, however, only ∼40, 40, and 30% of individuals receiving insulin maintained A1C <7%. Among those on sulfonylurea monotherapy, 45% had A1C <7% at 3 years, but the proportions decreased to 30 and 20% at 6 and 9 years, respectively, with 45, 35, and 15% of those receiving metformin monotherapy maintaining A1C <7% at these times. Holman characterized this inexorable increase as one of the principal challenges of glycemic treatment of individuals with type 2 diabetes. Interestingly, the widely used sulfonylurea glyburide was less …
The Viscous Spreading of Plane and Axisymmetric Gravity Currents

Measurements of the spreading rates of gravity-driven currents at both the surface and the bottom of a fluid layer of different density are reported. For the case of a constant inflow rate the spreading relations are derived by estimating the order of magnitude of the forces involved. After an initial balance between gravity and inertia forces the final spreading phase is governed by the balance between gravity and viscous forces. For the latter flow regime, measurements in plane and axisymmetric flow geometries agree well with the spreading relations for gravity currents with a no-slip boundary. The proportionality factor, which is not predicted from this model, is then determined from the measurements and a good agreement is found with the theoretical value derived in the accompanying paper by Huppert (1982).
Effect of biphasic waveforms on transvenous defibrillation thresholds in patients with coronary artery disease

Abstract In summary, we compared monophasic and biphasic transvenous DFT in 19 patients and observed a 27% reduction of DFT with the biphasic waveform despite optimizing monophasic shock polarity. Biphasic shocks should continue to be the preferred waveform for transvenous defibrillation.
Overcoming the funding challenge: the cost of randomized controlled trials in the next decade.

Abstract: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) represent the gold standard of evidence-based medicine. However, over the last several decades, the cost associated with conducting RCTs has increased dramatically. Several factors contribute to higher costs associated with clinical trials. This paper describes important barriers to conducting surgical RCTs, identifies funding sources available to finance RCTs, and suggests strategies to maintain cost-efficient study practices as we move into the next decade.
Human-Ir genes: structure and function.

Publisher Summary The murine Ir region occupies a 0.2 cM region on the short arm of chromosome 17. Products of this region, termed “immune response associated” or “Ia molecules,” consist of a bimolecular complex that is noncovalently associated on the surface of B cells, macrophages, some T cells, dendritic cells, and Langerhan's cells. The structure of α chains from different strains of mice appears relatively constant, while the polymorphism among strains is carried on the β chains. The F1 progeny of inbred strains of mice have I-A and I-E molecules representative of those present in each parent as well as new Ia molecules created by associations between α and β chains inherited from each parent. There is a third type of molecule detected in immunoprecipitations of murine Ia molecules, the invarient chain Ii. This glycoprotein is common to all Ia immunoprecipitates, has a molecular weight of 31,000, and appears to be associated with Ia antigens during their cytoplasmic processing. The best characterized human Ia molecule (HLA-DR) is a product of genes in the HLA-D region. During their development within the thymus, T cells contact Ia bearing stromal cells. This contact reflects a selection process that results in the emigration of only T cells that can recognize self Ia molecules in conjunction with other conventional antigen. The activation of peripheral T cells requires that they not only recognize determinants inherent in conventional antigen but also determinants inherent in Ia molecules displayed by antigen presenting cells. The functional studies indicate that HLA-DR and HLA-DS molecules can function as restriction elements that determine reactivity to simple antigens as well as immunodominant determinants present in complex antigens.
Antisuit Injunctions and Preclusion Against Nonresident Class Members

In this article, Professor Monaghan addreses an issue of pressing concern in class action litigation today, namely, the extent to which a trial court's class judgement can bind -- either by preclusion or injunction -- unnamed nonresidnet class members, thus preventing them from raising due process challenges to the judgement in another court. After placing the antisuit injunction and preclusion issues in the context of recent class action and related developments, Professor Monaghan discusses the Supreme Court's 1985 decisions in Phillips Petroleum Co. v. Shutts and its applicability to these issues. In particular, Professor Monaghan criticizes reading Shutts' "implied consent" rationale as turning entirely on a class members' failure to opt out of the class action, and using that failure as a basis for an antisuit injunction against non-resident class members. Absent minimum contact, Shutts requires, inter alia, adequate representation at all times in order to establish in personam jurisdiction over nonresident class members. That issue can always be raised in another forum. In a class action universe that includes races to judgement and reverse auctions, this rule is desirable. In the absence of a legislative reform, Professor Monaghan concludes that non-party, non-resident class members must remain free to challenge, on due process grounds, otherwise preclusive judgments in a forum of their choosing.
Modeling and simulations of worms and mitigation techniques

Internet worm attacks have become increasingly more frequent and have had a major impact on the economy, making the detection and prevention of these attacks a top security concern. Several counter-measures have been proposed and evaluated in recent literature. However, the effect of these proposed defensive mechanisms on legitimate competing traffic has not been analyzed. The first contribution of this thesis is a comparative analysis of the effectiveness of several of these proposed mechanisms, including a measure of their effect on normal web browsing activities. In addition, we introduce a new defensive approach that can easily be implemented on existing hosts, and which significantly reduces the rate of spread of worms using TCP connections to perform the infiltration. Our approach has no measurable effect on legitimate traffic. The second contribution is presenting a variant of the flash worm that we term Compact Flash or CFlash that is capable of spreading even faster than its predecessor. We perform a comparative study between the flash worm and the CFlash worm using a full-detail packet-level simulator, and the results show the increase in propagation rate of the new worm given the same set of parameters. The third contribution is the study of the behavior of TCP based worms in MANETs. We develop an analytical model for the worm spread of TCP worms in the MANETs environment that accounts for payload-size, bandwidth-sharing, radio range, nodal density and several other parameters specific for MANET topologies. We also present numerical solutions for the model and verify the results using packet-level simulations. The results show that the analytical model developed here matches the results of the packet-level simulation in most cases.
Growth of hBN Using Metallic Boron: Isotopically Enriched h10BN and h11BN

Hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) crystals enriched in 10B and 11B isotopes were synthesized using a high temperature (1500° C) Ni-Cr-B reactive-precipitation growth under a N2 atmosphere. Two growth mechanisms were observed: conventional defect-facilitated bulk growth which produced crystals with a platelet-like habit with width and thickness of 20-30 μm and 5 μm, respectively, and vapor-liquid-solid interface growth of hBN whiskers with lengths and diameters as large as 70 μm and 5 μm, respectively. Similar growth mechanisms were seen for samples enriched in either isotope. Isotopic analysis via secondary-ion mass spectrometry showed boron concentrations of 84.4 at% and 93.0 at% for the majority isotopes in the 10B-rich and 11B-rich samples, respectively. Raman spectroscopy showed an increase in peak Raman shift for the 10B-rich sample, having two barely resolved peaks at 1393.5 and 1388.8 cm-1, and a decrease for the 11B-rich sample, having peak at 1359.5 cm-1 (FWHM of 9.4 cm-1), compared to that of natural hBN, with its peak at 1365.8 cm-1 (FWHM of 10.3 cm-1). Raman shift showed a linear trend with increasing 10B concentration allowing for a calibration curve to be developed to estimate 10B enrichment in hBN using non-destructive methods.
Including the Voices of Communities in Food Insecurity Research: An Empowerment-based Agenda for Food Scholarship

The disempowering manner in which "hungry people" are portrayed in public discourse and the dehumanizing way in which they are treated when they try to provision for themselves demand that scholars create counter frames to subvert the existing portrayal of those experiencing food insecurity. In this paper, we call for a program of research that uses participatory research methodologies to invite, recognize, and represent the voices of people experiencing food insecurity. We argue for an expanded program of food scholarship that places the experiences, needs, and voices of people experiencing food insecurity in the foreground. Such a program is needed in order to better understand the lived reality of food insecurity, how interventions can be designed for communities as partners in research rather than objects of investigation, and how communities can mobilize themselves for broader environmental change.
Multilevel thoracic pedicle aplasia causing congenital thoracic kyphosis: case report.

OBJECTIVE AND IMPORTANCE: Congenital thoracic kyphosis is a rare cause of treatable myelopathy. Multilevel thoracic pedicle aplasia as a cause of this deformity has not been previously reported in the literature. We report a case and describe the surgical management and outcome. CLINICAL PRESENTATION: A 14-year-old boy presented to us with a 4-month history of back pain and slowly progressive spastic paraparesis. Radiographic studies revealed thoracic kyphosis and bilateral aplasia of the pedicles of T4-T8. INTERVENTION: The patient underwent surgical treatment via a posterior approach for decompression of T4-T8, followed by arthrodesis from T2 to T12, using a hook claw construct with multiple points of fixation and autologous bone grafting. CONCLUSION: Congenital vertebral anomalies may be clinically occult, and delayed presentation may occur in adolescence or adulthood. Aplasia of multiple thoracic pedicles can produce kyphotic deformities with neurological compromise. A posterior approach with multiple points of segmental instrumentation can be effective in treating kyphotic deformities that are flexible and of moderate severity (<75 degrees).
Competition in Western Flower Thrips Males: Effects of Density on Behavior

Western flower thrips (WFT) male behavior was examined within aggregations of different male density. Behavior was analyzed through observations of video-taped scenes of male-male interactions. Most male-male encounters resulted in immediate parting by males. The encounter position that resulted in most aggressive behavior (i.e., flicking with abdomens, chasing of one male by another) was where one male contacted another’s thorax or abdomen with his legs and head. Escalated fighting included rounds of sparring by flicking abdomens followed by one male flicking and the opponent grabbing his opponent’s abdomen. Although male density within aggregations ranged from 16.0/cm2, escalated aggressive interactions occurred only at lower densities. Behavior of individuals within aggregations changed with increased encounter rates, turning rates and velocity as density increased. Within escalated fights between pairs of males, abdominal flicking occupied antagonists for longer than the grabbing/flicking phase. However, grabbing and flicking appeared to be the more important phase of the fight because the apparent “winner” was usually the male who initiated this phase by climbing on the back of his opponent.
‘Wipe the Dust off your Feet’: Glimpses of the Rejected Missionary in Literary Representations of Late Eighteenth-Century North America

This article looks at the missionary – widely defined – as a character in late eighteenth-century literature. Specifically, it asks why authors would choose to include stories about failures in missionary endeavours. The paper argues that the answer lies in the pervasive influence of biblical stories on colonial religious discourse. The authors treated here view the failed missionary as a harbinger of the gospel's ultimate success because Jesus himself said as much to his apostles, warning of opposition and rejection prior to the kingdom's ultimate victory. Whether consciously or not, biblical precedents shape the expansionist, Christian rhetoric of these eighteenth and early nineteenth-century writers in such a way that they can accommodate both missionary successes and disappointments in their narratives, without doubting their religious superiority over the non-Christians they describe.
Pediatric Epilepsy Surgery: The Prognostic Value of Central Nervous System Comorbidities in Patients and Their Families

Central nervous system comorbidities have been identified in patients with epilepsy. Several of these comorbidities have been correlated with poor surgery outcomes in patient cohorts. The authors sought to determine if prevalence of comorbidities in pediatric epilepsy surgery patients and their families correlate with long-term seizure outcome in a cross-sectional analysis. Three-generation pedigrees were elicited to compare family history of epilepsy, ADHD, anxiety, autism, bipolar disorder, cognitive disability, depression, migraine, and motor disability to surgery outcomes in 52 patients. Proportions of affected patients and relatives were compared to general population comorbidity rates and the patients’ most recent seizure outcome classification. Patients and families had significantly higher rates of comorbidities than the general population. Poorer long-term seizure outcomes following resective surgery were associated with autism or cognitive disability in patients. Together these data support evid...
Postprocessing: Software and Technique Options

The process of three-dimensional (3D) printing involves the conversion of medical images into digital 3D model files that can be read by 3D printer software. Digital medical images are stored in Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) file format. Segmentation is the process of selecting the data within the image that will be used to make the 3D model. Pixels representing a particular tissue (e.g., blood pool or myocardium) are grouped together into masks and separated from non-relevant tissue. Once segmentation is complete, the final mask is exported as a 3D model file, most commonly in stereolithography (STL) format. STL models can be further edited and optimized using computer-aided design (CAD) software in preparation for printing or advanced visualization. In this chapter, we will discuss the process of segmentation and STL editing for the purpose of making 3D cardiac models. Generic medical image characteristics will be discussed, followed by a description of the various modalities used in cardiac imaging, software available for segmentation, and a description of segmentation and STL editing techniques.
An investigation into the influence of superabsorbent polymers on the properties of glass powder modified cement pastes

Abstract This study examines superabsorbent polymer (SAP) absorption, mechanical strength, hydration, and electrical resistivity of glass powder modified cement pastes. The absorption of SAP was monitored using optical microscopy and shown to be higher when glass powders were used. Addition of SAP was found to improve hydration due to internal curing. The cement pastes with SAP exhibited a decreased compressive strength due to macrovoid formation. The glass powder modified cement pastes experienced a large reduction in electrical resistivity as a result of SAP addition; increased pore connectivity in these cement pastes is suggested as a possible cause of the reduction in electrical resistivity.
Effect of Systemic Insecticides on the Citrus Mealybug (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) Feeding on Coleus

Abstract The citrus mealybug, Planococcus citri (Risso), is a major pest of greenhouse-grown horticultural crops. Systemic insecticides are often used by greenhouse producers in an attempt to prevent infestations or suppress citrus mealybug populations. However, minimal information is available on the efficacy of systemic insecticides against citrus mealybug populations when applied as a granule or water-soluble drench to the growing medium. We determined the efficacy of curative and preventative applications of six commercially available systemic insecticides against the citrus mealybug on coleus (Solenostemon scutellarioides [L.] Codd) plants. The systemic insecticides tested were imidacloprid, dinotefuran, thiamethoxam, azadirachtin, cyantraniliprole, and spirotetramat. The curative applications of dinotefuran, imidacloprid, and thiamethoxam resulted in citrus mealybug mortality that never exceeded 35%. Preventative applications of dinotefuran, imidacloprid, and thiamethoxam yielded only 50% citrus me...
Doing Gender Beyond the Binary: A Virtual Ethnography

This article advances the “doing gender” framework by highlighting some unique interactive challenges that nonbinary individuals encounter within the binary gender system. In order to access testimony about these experiences from a large group of people, this study turns to a genderqueer community on the social media site Reddit. Discourse analysis of discussion threads and content analysis of selfies reveal various symbolic mechanisms through which nonbinary people do, redo, and undo gender. These findings illuminate a range of strategies that people utilize to negotiate gender attribution within the gender binary system. A video abstract is available at http://tinyurl.com/y7odrxbd.
Perioperative Gabapentin Improves Patient-Centered Outcomes After Inguinal Hernia Repair

ABSTRACT Introduction: Over 5,300 inguinal hernia repairs (IHR) were performed in the Military Health System in 2015. Chronic pain can be a debilitating complication, occurring in up to 34% of patients after IHR and impacts mission readiness. Gabapentin has been shown to be effective for postoperative analgesia in a variety of operations. We evaluated the effect of a short course of perioperative gabapentin on chronic pain after IHR. Methods: This was a double-blinded, randomized study involving male patients ≥18 years old with an initial inguinal hernia and no history of chronic pain or psychiatric disorder. Patients chose laparoscopic or open surgery and were then randomized to receive gabapentin 300 mg before surgery, then three times daily for 6 doses or placebo. There were 50 patients randomized to both the gabapentin and placebo groups for a total of 100 patients. Main outcomes were pain and health status, assessed with a visual analogue scale (VAS) and the Short Form-12v2 (SF-12v2). Assessments wer...
Combined Burst Wave Lithotripsy and Ultrasonic Propulsion for Improved Urinary Stone Fragmentation

Abstract Purpose: Burst wave lithotripsy (BWL) is a new technology in development to fragment urinary stones. Ultrasonic propulsion (UP) is a separate technology under investigation for displacing ...
Fault-Tolerant Network-Server Architecture for Time-Critical Web Applications

Parallel to recent evolution in web content, technologies such as WebSockets and WebRTC allow development of real-time web applications – something that has not been possible in RESTful HTTP platforms. Future IoT applications will also require real-time data retrieval as information travels through and is processed by web servers. For these reasons, we envision a demand for real-time web applications which require a high cost to service providers in case of service interruption. A time-critical real-time application is assumed to have the capability to handle failures in infrastructure, not with a service interruption, but with minor performance degradation. In this study, a fully-redundant system architecture for web server deployment, including the network and server, with fast failover capabilities is presented. Unlike interruptions that require applications to be re-initialized, this proposed system provides fail-over speeds for every component, such that, even the fast real-time applications can continue to operate. Experiments with application scenarios prove superior failover speeds under several test cases and reveal limitations in the latest technologies in supporting the aforementioned applications.
Kinetics of Central Nervous System Microglial and Macrophage Engraftment: Analysis Using a Transgenic Bone Marrow Transplantation Model

To determine the kinetics of tissue macrophage and microglial engraftment after bone marrow (BM) transplantation, we have developed a model using the ROSA 26 mouse. Transplanted ROSA 26 cells can be precisely identified in recipient animals because they constitutively express β-galactosidase (β-gal) and neomycin resistance. B6/129 F2 mice were irradiated and transplanted with BM from ROSA 26 donors and their tissues (spleen, marrow, brain, liver, and lung) examined at various time points to determine the kinetics of engraftment. Frozen sections from transplanted animals were stained histochemically for β-gal to identify donor cells. At 1, 2, 6, and 12 months posttransplantation, 98% to 100% of granulocyte-macrophage colonies were of donor (ROSA 26) origin determined by β-gal staining and by neomycin resistance. Splenic monocytes/macrophages were 89% donor origin by 1 month confirming quick and complete engraftment of hematopoietic tissues. At this time, only rare ROSA 26 tissue macrophages or microglia were observed. Alveolar macrophage engraftment was evident by 2 months and had increased to 61% of total tissue macrophages at 1 year posttransplantation. The kinetics of liver Kupffer cell engraftment were similar to those seen in the lung. However, donor microglial engraftment remained only 23% of total microglia at 6 months and increased to only 30% by 1 year. Also, donor microglia were predominantly seen at perivascular and leptomeningeal, and not parenchymal, sites. The data show that microglia derive from BM precursors but turn over at a significantly slower rate than other tissue macrophages. No clinical or histological graft-versus-host disease was observed in the recipients of ROSA 26 BM. These kinetics may impact strategies for the gene therapy of lysosomal storage diseases. Because individual donor cells can be identified in situ, the ROSA 26 model should have many applications in transplantation biology including studies of homing and differentiation.
The Evolution of Life History, Intelligence and Diet Among Chimpanzees and Human Foragers

Compared to those of other primates and mammals, human life histories exhibit at least four distinctive characteristics: (a) an exceptionally long lifespan, (b) an extended period of juvenile dependence, (c) support of reproduction by older, post-reproductive males and females, and (d) male support of reproduction through the provisioning of females and their off-spring. Another distinctive feature of our species is a large brain size and its associated psychological attributes: increased capacities for learning, cognition and insight. Humans and chimpanzees, compared to other primates, lie closely on a dietary continuum that emphasizes difficult-to-acquire foods. However, the extreme commitment of humans to such a diet has led to distinctive life history traits and age profiles of food production. What underlies these features is a qualitative difference in the role of males through their provisioning of meat to females and young. Meat is a preeminently provisionable resource of great value to growth and reproduction, but its acquisition comes at the cost of both skill and risk. The commitment of human males to specialize in this enterprise is the foundation of the four distinctive characteristics of human life histories. In this chapter, we propose a theory that unites and organizes these observations through comparisons of the behavior, biology, and life histories of chimpanzees and humans.
Biosynthesis and metabolism of glutathione in plants.

Glutathione (GSH) is the tripeptide y-glutamyl-cysteinyl-glycine (Figure 1). It has been identified in all eukaryotic organisms thus far examined and in many prokaryotes. In most it is the major nonprotein thiol. Some plants synthesize both GSH and a homologue, which has the C-tenninal glycine replaced with another amino acid. Examples include many legumes that synthesize in addition to GSH, homoglutathione with the structure y-glutamyl-cysteinyl-s-alanine (1), rice and wheat in the family Poaceae that synthesize a tripeptide with the structure yglutamyl-cysteinyl-serine (2), and maize that synthesizes y-glutamyl-cysteinyl-glutamate (3,4). Many aerobic prokaryotes synthesize GSH or a homologue such as glutathionyl-spermidine (5). By contrast, anaerobic bacteria generally do not synthesize GSH (6).
T.H. White: The Poet Behind the Fiction

One of T.H. White's answers to the question of how to deal with the pain of his own early life (one particularly vivid memory cited by his biographer, Sylvia Townsend Warner, involves a vision of his father and mother standing on either side of his crib while his father threatens to shoot him in the head, while another whole set of memories relates to his difficult public school experience) seems to have come from a recognition that giving that pain form through skillful use of words could assert a measure of control. One of his strategies seems to have been to use words in ways partly determined by conscious, or unconscious, adherence to convention. By means of this strategy, White developed an imaginative capability that could transcend the limitations of human experience and learned to go beyond the limitations of present human experience, to look deep into the past, or in other words, as Merlyn put it, "to learn something."
Soft Computing Applications in Thermal Energy Systems

Soft computing methodologies, of which artificial neural networks (ANNs), genetic algorithms (GAs), fuzzy logic (FL), and cluster analysis (CA) are elements, have gained much attention in recent years as practical tools to analyze complex problems in real-world applications. This chapter presents a review of SC applications in energy systems that belong to the field of thermal engineering. Special attention is devoted to the analysis, design and control of heat exchangers. For each methodology considered, the principles of operation are briefly described and discussed. Various applications to other energy systems are also mentioned.
Experimental observations of electromagnetic probes of high density matter

Photons and dileptons are considered to be among the best {open_quotes}penetrating probes{close_quotes} with which to study the early high density phase of nuclear collisions and from which to deduce whether or not a transition to a quark-gluon plasma phase has occurred. Electromagnetic signals are being studied in several experiments at CERN with photon measurements in WA80 and NA45, e{sup +}e{sup {minus}} measurements in NA45, and {mu}{sup +}{mu}{sup {minus}} measurements in NA34/3 and NA38. Preliminary results from these experiments have indicated an excess of photons and lepton pairs above that which can be accounted for in terms of the decay of long-lived mesons. These may very well have their origin in the early high energy density stage of the collision. The current status of the various preliminary experimental results will be discussed.
Influence of a scheduled-waiting task on EMG reactivity and oral habits among facial pain patients and no-pain controls.

Recent research has strongly implicated the role of psychological stress in the development of temporomandibular disorders (TMD). It is widely reported that oral habits (e.g., teeth grinding) probably provide a behavioral link between stress and the development of TMD symptomatology. Extrapolation of research in the field of adjunctive behavior to the TMD disorders suggests that oral behaviors may develop conjointly with fixed-time (FT) stimulus presentation. The current experiment extended previous research examining this possibility by assessing the influence of experimental stress on masseter EMG and oral habits among persons who met broadband criteria for TMD and no-pain controls. Oral habit activity was assessed via self-report questionnaire whereas masseter muscle activity was measured continuously via electromyography across four phases (Adaptation, Free-Play, Scheduled-Play, Recovery). The Scheduled-Play phase was designed as a stress-reactivity task that included an FT schedule. Results indicated that, consistent with the stress-reactivity model, the Scheduled-Play phase resulted in a significant increase in masseter EMG levels relative to Free-Play and Adaptation, and that this effect was significantly larger for the TMD group relative to controls. The results suggest an adjunctive behavior effect although the effect was not specific to those with facial pain. Oral habit data showed a significant phase effect with oral habits that was significantly higher during the Scheduled-Play phase relative to Adaptation. The findings are the impetus for further study regarding the mechanisms whereby oral habits are developed and maintained despite their painful consequences.
Polarization measurements of unusual cases of medium frequency burst emissions extending below 1.5 MHz

Auroral medium frequency burst (MFB) is a radio emission of natural auroral origin associated with substorm expansion phase and observable at ground level. The emission usually occurs at frequencies above 1500 kHz, but occasionally it extends to a sharp lower cutoff frequency at 1300–1500 kHz depending on the observing site, with a frequency gap below the cutoff and sporadic emission below the gap extending to frequencies as low as 1000 kHz. These low-frequency MFB components lie below the electron gyrofrequency and hence could represent either whistler or LO-modes. Recently, using crossed antennas and a two-channel receiver at Toolik Lake, Alaska, polarization of these low-frequency MFB components was measured for the first time and found to be left-hand. This observation eliminates whistler mode as a possibility and requires the low-frequency components be LO-mode in the ionosphere, which constrains their source location since it requires that the frequency exceeds the L-cutoff frequency. In these occasional events marked by a cutoff and low-frequency MFB components, the latter probably originate at high altitudes ( $$>\,800$$ km) and reach the ground through extraordinary low-density polar cap ionosphere.
CT Fluoroscopic-Guided Coil Localization of Lung Nodules prior to Video-Assisted Thoracoscopic Surgical Resection Reduces Complications Compared to Hook Wire Localization.

PURPOSE To compare the safety and efficacy of hook wire versus microcoil localization of pulmonary nodules prior to video-assisted thoracoscopic resection (VATS). MATERIALS AND METHODS A retrospective comparative review was conducted of 46 patients (26 hook wire and 20 microcoil) who underwent computed tomography fluoroscopic-guided nodule localizations prior to VATS in a single center between January 2012 and August 2016. Nodule characteristics, procedural details, clinical outcomes, and pathologic findings were collected. Baseline characteristics and lung nodule distribution were not significantly different between the 2 groups. Nodule sizes ranged from 2 mm to 28 mm and were similar between groups. Twenty-nine patients (63%) were male, with mean (standard deviation) age of 61 (11) years. Adverse events were classified using standard criteria. Patients were followed for up to 90 days, and the clinical outcomes were compared. RESULTS Successful resection of nodules was achieved in all patients. Twelve cases of displacement of the hook wire were observed compared to only 1 in the coil group (P < .01). The total complication rate was lower in the coil group (25% vs 54%, P = .04). Two patients required transition to thoracotomy in the hook wire group, compared to none in the coil group. Median blood loss was similar in both groups (median loss, 20-22 mL). One patient had positive margins in the hook wire group. There was a nonsignificant trend toward longer hospital stay and higher major complication rates after hook wire localization (P = .4). CONCLUSIONS Pulmonary nodule localization with coils prior to VATS resection demonstrated fewer displacements and fewer perioperative complications compared to hook wires.
Seismic Damage Assessment of Instrumented Wood-frame Buildings: A Case-study of NEESWood Full-scale Shake Table Tests.

The authors propose a methodology to perform seismic damage assessment of instrumented wood-frame buildings using response measurements. The proposed methodology employs a nonlinear model-based state observer that combines sparse acceleration measurements and a nonlinear structural model of a building to estimate the complete seismic response including displacements, velocity, acceleration and internal forces in all structural members. From the estimated seismic response and structural characteristics of each shear wall of the building, element-by-element seismic damage indices are computed and remaining useful life (pertaining to seismic effects) is predicted. The methodology is illustrated using measured data from the 2009 NEESWood Capstone full-scale shake table tests at the E-Defense facility in Japan.
The Gold-Hope Tang, MD 2016 Humanism in Medicine Essay Contest: Second Place: The Power of Walking.

I met Mr. C on a Friday morning on the inpatient ward. He’d been transferred from the ICU overnight after battling sepsis for two weeks.He was thin like a bird, folded up in the hospital bed. His eyes were sunken but bright. “I have multiple myeloma, cancer of the bones,” he told me. His chart said
“What Else about Our Reality Is Actually a Disorder?” Mental Illness as Crisis of Reality in FX’s Legion:

This essay examines the ways in which the FX TV series Legion uses mental illness as a metaphor through which to consider the nature of reality. It suggests that, in doing so, Legion not only repro...
Gamification in a Physical Rehabilitation Setting: Developing a Proprioceptive Training Exercise for a Wrist Robot

Proprioception or body awareness is an essential sense that aids in the neural control of movement. Proprioceptive impairments are commonly found in people with neurological conditions such as stroke and Parkinson’s disease. Such impairments are known to impact the patient’s quality of life. Robot-aided proprioceptive training has been proposed and tested to improve sensorimotor performance. However, such robot-aided exercises are implemented similar to many physical rehabilitation exercises, requiring task-specific and repetitive movements from patients. Monotonous nature of such repetitive exercises can result in reduced patient motivation, thereby, impacting treatment adherence and therapy gains. Gamification of exercises can make physical rehabilitation more engaging and rewarding. In this work, we discuss our ongoing efforts to develop a game that can accompany a robot-aided wrist proprioceptive training exercise.
Advances in additive manufacturing of metal-based functionally graded materials

Over the 2010s technological improvements allowed metal additive manufacturing to graduate from a prototyping tool to a widespread, full-scale manufacturing process. Among the capabilities still un...
TLR5 Activation Exacerbates Airway Inflammation in Asthma

Innate immune activation through exposure to indoor and outdoor pollutants is emerging as an important determinant of asthma severity. For example, household levels of the bacterial product lipopolysaccharide (LPS) are associated with increased asthma severity. We hypothesized that activation of the innate immune receptor TLR5 by its bacterial ligand flagellin will exacerbate airway inflammation and asthma symptoms. We determined the effect of flagellin co-exposure with ovalbumin in a murine model of allergic asthma. We evaluated the presence of flagellin activity in house dust of asthma patients. Finally, we analyzed the association of a dominant-negative polymorphism in TLR5 (rs5744168) with asthma symptoms in patients with asthma. We showed that bacterial flagellin can be found in the house dust of patients with asthma and that this bacterial product exacerbates allergic airway inflammation in an allergen-specific mouse model of asthma. Furthermore, a dominant-negative genetic polymorphism in TLR5, the receptor for flagellin, is associated with decreased symptoms in patients with asthma. Together, our results reveal a novel genetic protective factor (TLR5 deficiency) and a novel environmental pollutant (microbial flagellin) that influence asthma severity. (Clinical trials NCT01688986 and NCT01087307).
LONG-TERM PREDICTION OF CARDIAC EVENTS IN ASYMPTOMATIC SUBJECTS BY INTEGRATING NOVEL CIRCULATING AND IMAGING BIOMARKERS USING MACHINE LEARNING

We assessed the performance of a machine learning (ML) model integrating novel circulating biomarkers and cardiac computed tomography (CT) measures for long-term prediction of hard cardiac events in asymptomatic subjects. 1,069 subjects (58±8 years, 52% males) from the prospective EISNER trial
The Fiscal Vulnerability of Public Social Expenditures: Is Latin America Different?

An unbalanced panel data of around fifty countries between 1985 and 2003 is used to estimate the vulnerability of public social expenditures (health and education) to other fiscal variables. The database allows comparisons between Latin America and the rest of developing countries. Public social expenditure is significantly lower in Latin America as share of GDP, although it has a higher share in primary expenditure. Public social expenditures in Latin America are more vulnerable to debt service, but are less sensible to changes in other types of public expenditure. As in other regions in the developing world, public social expenditure in Latin America shrinks when public debt stock increases. This effect is higher with multilateral debt obligations. In Latin America, debt defaults reduce the share of public social expenditures in total primary public expenditure.
Quality Improvement Amid a Global Pandemic: A Virtual Curriculum for Medical Students in the Time of COVID-19.

Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic in March of 2020 necessitated the removal of medical students from direct patient care activities to prevent disease spread and to conserve personal protective eq...
Challenges in the use of social media data for the next generation analyst

This paper discusses the opportunities and challenges present for the next generation analyst in the use of social media data. Focusing particularly on the detection of deception and misinformation within the latter, a review of current approaches is followed by the elaboration of a theoretical model for social media analysis premised on activity based intelligence. Considering this model with regard to latent challenges to analytical performance and potential opportunities for analytical calibration, this discussion articulates an approach for open-source, next generation intelligence analysis.
Hypotensive Resuscitation in Penetrating Trauma: Rules of the Game

Adaptation to a changing world and the need to revisit our philosophy of fluid resuscitation grew out of a practical necessity as studies have repetitively demonstrated that early and aggressive crystalloid resuscitation is not without consequence. Trauma surgeons were faced with the very real fact of the detrimental results of fluid overload, including ARDS; SIRS and MSOF have, for many, become the end product of over-resuscitation. An overwhelming amount of supportive studies have demonstrated that hypotensive resuscitation is likely beneficial in penetrating mechanisms of trauma. Thus, resuscitative efforts begin after surgical hemostasis, or temporizing methods, have been achieved. Once operative control of bleeding has been obtained, resuscitation to endpoints of adequate tissue perfusion should be achieved.
Islamic Political Thought: An Introduction

Introduction, Gerhard Bowering 1 Authority, Roy Jackson 25 Caliphate, Wadad Kadi and Aram A. Shahin 37 Fundamentalism, Roxanne Euben 48 Government, Emad El-Din Shahin 68 Jihad, John Kelsay 86 Knowledge, Paul L. Heck 105 Minorities, Yohanan Friedmann 123 Modernity, Armando Salvatore 135 Muhammad, Gerhard Bowering 152 Pluralism and Tolerance, Gudrun Kramer 169 Qur'an, Gerhard Bowering 185 Revival and Reform, Ebrahim Moosa and SherAli Tareen 202 Shari'a, Devin J. Stewart 219 Traditional Political Thought, Patricia Crone 238 'Ulama', Muhammad Qasim Zaman 252 Women, Ayesha S. Chaudhry 263 Contributors 273 Index 275