cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Examinee characteristics and score reliability: An empirical investigation

The literature on measurement reliability shows the general consensus that examinee group heterogeneity with regard to the trait being measured affects the score reliability. Potentially, the performance level of the examinee group may also affect score reliability because of its potential effect on the relative magnitude of error variance. This article empirically examines the effects of these two examinee sample characteristics on score reliability of optimal-performance measurement. Two large extant data sets (criterionand norm-referenced, respectively) were used in the investigation. The results suggest that both performance variability and group performance level affect score reliability, and measurement error tends to be smaller for high-performance groups than for low-performance groups.
Safer Custody Group

This paper describes the current levels of ‘self‐harm’, suicide and violence in prisons in England and Wales, outlines key high‐risk groups within the prison population and gives relevant national targets on self‐inflicted deaths and serious assaults ‐ now included in the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) national targets for 2005‐06. It outlines the case for Safer Custody Group to continue to provide on‐going services to tackle ‘self‐harm’, suicide and violence, as part of health and offender partnerships. The link with the ‘health agenda’ is explored, and concrete examples are given of successful collaborative work with the Department of Health and others. The delivery of services intended to promote and mainstream safety, health and well‐being in both public and private prisons is described, as are current and future projects aimed at delivering better services to prisoners, staff and bereaved families.
The times they are a changing: special olympics and the movement towards valued lives and inclusion.

Be a Fan. You see that on Special Olympics literature, websites, and paraphernalia. More than a mere slogan, Be a Fan is part of a belief system that values people with intellectual disability for their gifts and talents, their abilities and humanity. I am a Special Olympics volunteer. Like approximately 550,000 people in the United States and 850,000 internationally (Andrea Cahn, personal communication, October 14, 2010), I give a small bit of my time, talent, and treasure to Special Olympics as Senior Advisor to the Chairman and CEO. No, I am not out there coaching or training athletes or refereeing events, that is just not something where I have anything to offer. I am participating in discussions, reviewing or drafting the occasional document, and responding to ideas and issues impacting the inclusion and full citizenship of people with intellectual disability, something I have been doing for most of my adult life. I hope my very small contribution to Special Olympics is helping the movement towards the goals of full citizenship, community membership, and respect for all people with intellectual disability. Movements and organizations, like people, grow and change. I am writing this article because, as the world for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities continues to change and evolve, I think those who have advocated for community inclusion and participation have an ally, one we have failed to recognize, and with gifts and talents we have ignored, one we need to take seriously, and one who many of us shunned in the past. Special Olympics is a program we need now perhaps more than ever.
Radiosensitization of human breast cancer cells by a novel ErbB family receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor

Abstract Purpose: Overexpression of the ErbB family of growth factor receptors is present in a wide variety of human tumors and is correlated with poor prognosis. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a novel small molecule ErbB tyrosine kinase inhibitor, CI-1033, in combination with ionizing radiation on breast cancer cell growth and survival. Materials & Methods: Growth assays were performed on ErbB-overexpressing human breast cancer cells developed in our laboratory in the presence of 0.1–1.0 μM CI-1033 (Parke Davis). Clonogenic survival assays were performed in the presence of ionizing radiation with or without CI-1033. For some experiments, clonogen numbers, defined as the product of surviving fraction and total number of cells, were calculated at each time point during a course of multifraction radiation. Results: CI-1033 potently inhibited the growth of ErbB-overexpressing breast cancer cells. A single 48-h exposure of 1 μM CI-1033 resulted in growth inhibition for 7 days, whereas three times weekly administration resulted in sustained growth inhibition. Clonogenic survival was modestly decreased after a 7-day exposure to CI-1033. Exposure to both CI-1033 and radiation (6 Gy) yielded a 23-fold decrease in clonogenic survival compared to radiation alone. In a multifraction experiment, exposure to CI-1033 and three 5-Gy fractions of gamma radiation decreased the total number of clonogens in the population by 65-fold compared to radiation alone. Conclusion: CI-1033 results in potent growth inhibition and modest cytotoxicity of ErbB-overexpressing breast cancer cells, and has synergistic effects when combined with ionizing radiation. These data suggest that CI-1033 may have excellent clinical potential both alone and in combination with radiation therapy.
Soil Hydraulic Conductivities and their Spatial and Temporal Variations in a Vertisol

Knowledge of soil hydraulic parameters and their spatiotemporal variation is crucial for estimating the water and solute fluxes across the land–atmosphere boundary and within the vadose zone at different scales. The objective of this study was to determine soil hydraulic conductivities [saturated hydraulic conductivity, Ksat, and unsaturated hydraulic conductivity, K(Y)] and their spatial and temporal variations in a clay-dominated biporous Vertisol near College Station, TX, using tension infiltrometers. The study was conducted within a 20- by 16-m plot across several seasons during a 21-mo period (May 2003–January 2005) to investigate the impact of varying disk sizes (measurement support) on K(Y), and the spatial and temporal variations of K(Y) under natural environmental conditions due to pore space evolution. Infiltration occurred in a bimodal fashion consisting of preferential flow (occurring at soil water pressure heads [Y] 52 0.05 to 0 m) and matrix flow (at Y 52 0.2 to 20.1 m). Biological and structural macropores present in the soil resulted in gravity-dominated flow near saturation (Y 52 0.05 to 0 m) for all experiments. The Student’s t-test of analysis of variance indicated that hydraulic conductivities were not affected by changes in the infiltration disk sizes. Although the K(Y) values at four different locations within the plot did not show significant spatial variability, they demonstrated strong temporal variation during the 21-mo period based on the evolution of natural environmental conditions due to seasonal precipitation, root growth and decay, and structural pore space dynamics. Temporal trends of K(Y) indicated that hydraulic conductivities close to saturation were positively correlated with antecedent moisture conditions reflecting liquid cohesion, water films bridging across cracking peds, and the activation of flow in biological and structural macroporosity in the biporous soil system.
The drug situation in Thailand: the role of government and the police

Thailand has long dealt with the drug problem and has used several strategies to control it, including promulgating and amending drug laws, implementing drug suppression and prevention policies, cooperating with international organizations and, more recently, developing treatment facilities. Although Thailand has recently received positive results regarding reducing the opium cultivation area in the Golden Triangle and in arresting some major drug-trafficking individuals, three important issues still remain: (1) the continuation of using Thailand's advanced transportation system for the movement of illicit drug activities, (2) the rapid increase of amphetamine use among teenagers and (3) the Thai police officers' lack of concern about the drug problem and insufficient knowledge about drug laws. The article concludes that the Thai government must emphasize drug prevention strategies and the interception of illicit transported drugs and motivate its police officers to more fully enforce drug laws. In additi...
Foil mounted thin-film solar cells for space and terrestrial applications

Abstract The developing photovoltaic market for civilian communications satellites has caused a reassessment of the traditional single-crystal cells used in space. Thin-film cells mounted on metal foil substrates offer considerable weight, manufacturing, and radiation resistance advantages. These same cells can solve the manufacturing problems of glass breakage and temperature uniformity in cells intended for terrestrial applications. This paper describes work on a backwall CdS/CdTe cell on molybdenum foils. Large grained adherent films of CdTe are formed. A thin interlayer of Cu and Te between the CdTe and the molybdenum formed a low resistance (less than 1 Ω cm2) ohmic contact. The cell is completed with a sputtered indium tin oxide top contact layer and a Voc of 580 mV was obtained.
Whole almonds and almond fractions reduce aberrant crypt foci in a rat model of colon carcinogenesis

Almonds and other nuts appear to confer health benefits despite their high fat content. To assess the effect of almonds on colon cancer, whole almond-, almond meal- or almond oil-containing diet effects on aberrant crypt foci (ACF) in azoxymethane-treated F344 male rats were investigated. Six-week-old male F344 rats were fed the various almond and control diets and given subcutaneous injections of azoxymethane (15 mg/kg body weight) twice 1 week apart. After 26 weeks animals were injected with bromodeoxyuridine 1 h prior to sacrifice, after which colons were evaluated for ACF and cell turnover (labeling index, LI). Whole almond ACF and LI were both significantly lower than wheat bran and cellulose diet groups (-30 and -40%, respectively), while almond meal and almond oil ACF and almond meal LI declines were only significant vs. cellulose (P<0.05). These results suggest that almond consumption may reduce colon cancer risk and does so via at least one almond lipid-associated component.
Analysis and interpretation of community-level physiological profiles in microbial ecology

A rapid, community-level approach for assessing patterns of sole carbon source utilization by mixed microbial samples has been used increasingly to study microbial community dynamics. The method involves direct inoculation of environmental samples into Biolog microtiter plates, and uses color formation from reduction of a tetrazolium dye to assess utilization of 95 separate sole carbon sources during a 2–7 day incubation period. This approach, called community-level physiological profiling, has been effective at distinguishing spatial and temporal changes in microbial communities. Effective analysis of the multivariate profiles of carbon source utilization requires separation of effects caused by differences in inoculum density (i.e. overall rate of color development) from effects caused by differences in the types or activities of organisms present (i.e. relative rates, or pattern, of carbon source utilization). Further experimental studies are required to better define what fraction of the original inoculum responds in the assay, and if the profiles provide structural and/or functional information.
The crystal state binding of dithionite to deoxy-hemoglobin

The crystal state binding of sodium dithionite to deoxyhemoglobin is reported. Dithionite has been used extensively to deoxygenate hemoglobin and myoglobin and there has been considerable interest among users of dithionite about its effect on protein structure and binding site(s). We have determined that dithionite binds to deoxygenated hemoglobin crystals at the interface of two molecules in the crystal lattice. Specific residues involved in hydrogen bonds or salt interactions with dithionite include His116 and His117 of the beta 2 subunit and Lys16 of the alpha 1 subunit of the adjacent hemoglobin molecule. No binding was observed at the symmetry related His116 and 117 beta 1 residues. We have shown that dithionite does not affect the native hemoglobin structure or the binding of several allosteric inhibitors to hemoglobin and can be used to mount T state crystals in the air.
Oil shale—-potential environmental impacts and control technologies

Pollution de l'eau, de l'air et dechets solides dus a l'exploitation et au traitement des schistes bitumineux. Methodes d'epuration et de controle de la pollution
Electrophysiology of Attention

Advances in electrophysiology occurring in the middle of the twentieth century provided a nonintrusive means of studying the bioelectrical activity associated with behavior in humans and the first method for assessing the activity of the brain. Early psychophysiological research was typically crude and plagued with methodological problems related to various technical limitations (e.g., Angell and Thompson [1]). Nevertheless, a foundation was established for the investigation of the physiological manifestations of cognition. Although methodological complexities continue to present an interpretive problem in experiments, there is now abundant evidence that both central and peripheral bioelectrical activity reflect behavioral and cognitive processes. The observation of this physiological activity led to the concept of arousal, which became an important part of many theories of attention.
Survival of Pathogenic Bacteria Under Nutrient Starvation Conditions

The survival of opportunistic pathogenic microorganisms in water, under nutrient-limiting conditions, has been investigated in order to ascertain whether human pathogens can survive within a water-distribution system of the kind proposed for the NASA Space Station. Cultures of a strain of pseudomonas aeruginosa and two strains of staphylococcus aureus were incubated at 10, 25, or 37 C, and samples at 1 day, 1 week, 1 month, and six weeks. While neither of the staphylococcus strains tested were detected after 1 week of starvation, the pseudomonas strain can survive in deionized water at all three temperatures.
Equilibrium in discontinuous games without complete or transitive preferences

Reny (Econ Theory, 2015) is used here to prove the existence of equilibrium in discontinuous games in which the players’ preferences need be neither complete nor transitive. The proof adapts important ideas from Shafer and Sonnenschein (J Math Econ 2:345–348, 1975).
AEDC Strategic Plan: Capabilities Via Shared Functionality and Services

This paper proposes a solution to the problem of an increasing rate of loss of research, development, test, and evaluation (RDT&E) nontest and operational test capabilities. Presented is a strategic test center organizational and enterprise test capability plan designed to lead to increased capability levels in the presence of reduced resource availability. Included are an overview of the plan, the methods, approaches, and implementation means for realizing the plan’s improved future test center capability state. The ability of Air Force Test Centers to conduct leading-edge research to support a broad array of client needs has required a significant investment in expertise, facilities, plants, and electronic, communications, and computer hardware/software. These investments have typically been tactical – scoped, funded, and designed for specific instances of test capabilities without an enterprise-wide vision. The current approach has yielded an extremely complex and often single-mission facility with a facility-unique, “stove-pipe” infrastructure. Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC) has embarked on a strategic test enterprise plan. All testing facilities’ computer, communication, control, data acquisition, data analysis systems, instrumentation, hardware and software, personal computing and communications components, as well as the typical business systems, have all been organized into one Directorate – Information Technology and System (IT&S). Treating all test-required electronic and computer-related components as IT has led to the development of a Strategic IT Plan for the test, business, and communications systems enterprise based on the following principles and objectives: enterprise-wide, reduced life cycle cost, more flexibility/agility, and a reduced number and variety of hardware and software. The plan is to transform individual test facilities with hundreds of unique, expensive to maintain, closed systems to enterprise test capabilities provided via shared functional blocks, interfaced with one another and with all required unique functionality. By moving toward shared functionality and hardware/software expertise, the plan is designed to lead to increased capability levels in the presence of reduced resource availability.
The Structure of Grain Boundaries in Rocks Studied by High-Resolution Electron Microscopy

The structure of grain boundaries in rocks, which are composed mainly of fine-grained quartz and feldspar, was studied by high-resolution electron microscopy (HREM) . At most of the boundaries, not only between the same minerals but also between different minerals, lattice fringes in connected grains meet each other at interfaces with no other appreciable phases. In these boundaries, it has been found that some of the straight segments of the boundaries correspond to a low-index plane of one of the connected grains. Boundaries containing voids, with a spheroidal shape elongated along the boundaries, were observed. It is suggested that these boundaries were formed by healing of microcracks.
Bioinformatics analysis of unconventional prefoldin RPB5 interactor 1 and its expression in human tissues

Objective To investigate the properties,structure,isoforms of unconventional prefoldin RPB5 interactor 1(URI1) and its expression in human tissues for further analysis on the functions and regulatory mechanisms of this protein.Methods Multiple webbased analytical tools were used to predict and analyze the structure and properties of URI1 protein.URI1 expressions in multiple human tissues and cells were analyzed by using tissue microarray(TMA) and immunohistochemical(IHC) approaches.Results Based on the NCBI database,URI1 gene encodes a unstable and non-secreted protein containing 535 amino acids in length without notable transmembrane structure.No signal peptide was found at the N-terminus of URI1 protein.UbPred analysis suggested that URI1 contained 11 potential ubiquitination sites among which 6 were highly confident and 5 were moderately confident,and 48 potential phosphorylation sites among which 35 were at serine residues,11 were at threonine and 2 were at tyrosine residues.A glycosylation site was found at the position 287 of amino acid sequence of URI1 and possibly also occurred at the positions of 291 and 371 respectively.No acetylation site was detectable.The predictive alpha-helix accounted for 39.3% of the protein structure.A prefoldin functional domain was found at the N-terminus of URI1 protein.The analysis of TMA and IHC demonstrated that URI1 was ubiquitously but distinctly differentially expressed in multiple human tissues and cells.These results corresponded with the expression spectrum of URI1 mRNA predicted by high density microarray analysis using BioGPS.Conclusion Bioinformatics analysis provided basic structural and functional information of URI1.The characterization of URI1 obtained by using proteomic and genomic approaches may provide novel insights for functional investigation on URI1.
Glucose production, recycling, and gluconeogenesis in normals and diabetics: a mass isotopomer [U-13C]glucose study

Eight normal controls and nine non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus diabetics were, after an overnight fast, infused for 3 h with [6-3H]- and with [U-13C]glucose with six 13C carbons at rates from 0.03 to 0.15 mg.kg-1.min-1. Plasma glucose and lactate were assayed by gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy. Several parameters of glucose metabolism were calculated from the mass isotopomer distribution. Glucose production (GP) determined with [6-3H]- and [U-13C]glucose agreed closely. GP was 1.9 +/- 0.16 (range 1.3-2.5) mg.kg-1.min-1 in controls and 2.8 +/- 0.29 (1.7-4.5) mg.kg-1.min-1 in diabetics (P < 0.05). The correlation in diabetes between plasma glucose and GP (r = 0.911, P < 0.01) was close. Recycling of carbon (8 vs 7%) dilution by unlabeled carbon (2- vs 2.3-fold), and dilution via the tricarboxylic acid cycle (1.5-fold) were similar in controls and diabetics. Gluconeogenesis was 0.90 +/- 0.08 (0.5-1.3) mg.kg-1.min-1 in controls and 1.30 +/- 0.13 (0.8-1.9) mg.kg-1.min-1 in diabetics (P < 0.05). Gluconeogenesis contributions to GP were 46.6 +/- 4.0% (26-61%) in the controls and 48.8 +/- 5.7% (32-83%) in diabetics. We show that, using [U-13C]glucose infusion of 2-5% of glucose turnover (0.03-0.10 mg.kg-1.min-1), a large number of parameters of glucose metabolism may be determined in humans.
Management of infections in children with cancer.

Infectious complications continue to be the major obstacle to survival for children with cancer. This article reviews the diagnostic and therapeutic approach to the febrile granulocytopenic cancer patient. Specific infectious complications are presented with special attention paid to the therapy of these conditions and a variety of specific microorganisms responsible for infections in the immunocompromised host. Also, a section dealing with prevention of infection in this population is included.
The Volume and Anatomical Location of Residual Tumor in Radical Prostatectomy Specimens Removed for Stage A1 Prostate Cancer

AbstractA detailed histological analysis of 21 prostatectomy specimens for stage Al disease was performed. Three cases (14 per cent) demonstrated no tumor, although all had foci of severe dysplasia. Of the prostates 18 (86 per cent) contained residual tumor: 13 (62 per cent) had minimal residual tumor and 5 (24 per cent) had substantial tumor. The residual carcinoma in the prostates with minimal tumor was predominantly in the apex of the gland or peripherally adjacent to the capsule such that complete removal by repeat transurethral resection would have been unlikely. Of the 5 specimens with substantial tumor, although some would have been upstaged by repeat transurethral resection, others would have remained stage Al because of the peripheral location of the residual tumor. Within the definition of stage Al, using either the percentage of tumor involvement, weight of tumor or number of tumor foci in the transurethral resection specimen, one could not predict whether the prostatectomy specimen would have ...
ChIP- seq Analysis of Human Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Cells

Many transcription factors, chromatin-associated proteins and regulatory DNA elements are genetically and/or epigenetically altered in cancer, including Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML). This leads to deregulation of transcription that is often causally linked to the tumorigenic state. Chromatin-immunoprecipitation coupled with massively parallel DNA sequencing (ChIP-seq) is the key technology to study transcription as it allows in vivo whole-genome mapping of epigenetic modifications and interactions of proteins with DNA or chromatin. However, numerous DNA/chromatin-binding proteins, including EZH2, remain difficult to "ChIP," thus yielding genome-wide binding maps of only suboptimal quality. Here, we describe a ChIP-seq protocol optimized for high-quality protein-genome binding maps that have proven especially useful for studying difficult to 'ChIP' transcription regulatory factors in Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML) and related malignancies.
Democratic and Republican physicians provide different care on politicized health issues

Physicians frequently interact with patients about politically salient health issues, such as drug use, firearm safety, and sexual behavior. We investigate whether physicians’ own political views affect their treatment decisions on these issues. We linked the records of over 20,000 primary care physicians in 29 US states to a voter registration database, obtaining the physicians’ political party affiliations. We then surveyed a sample of Democratic and Republican primary care physicians. Respondents evaluated nine patient vignettes, three of which addressed especially politicized health issues (marijuana, abortion, and firearm storage). Physicians rated the seriousness of the issue presented in each vignette and their likelihood of engaging in specific management options. On the politicized health issues—and only on such issues—Democratic and Republican physicians differed substantially in their expressed concern and their recommended treatment plan. We control for physician demographics (like age, gender, and religiosity), patient population, and geography. Physician partisan bias can lead to unwarranted variation in patient care. Awareness of how a physician’s political attitudes might affect patient care is important to physicians and patients alike.
Interorganizational Resilience: Networked Collaborations in Communities After Superstorm Sandy

Abstract Disaster recovery and response moves in increasingly predictable patterns from immediate after-crisis emergency response to long-term organizational and community recovery. Networked collaborations crossing multiple geographic and organizational boundaries are key parts of social resilience processes that enable effective response and recovery activities. Interorganizational resilience builds upon these networked collaborations and helps create the social infrastructure within communities necessary for response and recovery after disaster. This study analyzes the interorganizational relationships of a small New Jersey coastal community in the three- month period immediately after Superstorm Sandy made landfall. We find two organizations, a municipal agency and an emergent voluntary organization, emerge as key contributors to interorganizational resilience in this community by connecting disparate parts of the local stakeholder network. We place this community stakeholder network within the context of the National Response Framework and suggest that community stakeholder networks should be more fully accounted for in emergency planning and operations.
The Anatomy, Paleobiology, and Phylogenetic Relationships of the Hippopotamidae (Mammalia, Artiodactyla) from the Manonga Valley, Tanzania

Hippopotamids are well represented in the Manonga Valley fauna, composing 23.4% of all large mammals, and they are second in importance only to bovids. Several species of hippopotamids are represented. The material from the Ibole and Tinde Members, with the exception of a single postcranial specimen, can be assigned to Hexaprotodon harvardi, a large hexaprotodont hippopotamid, which is relatively common at late Miocene and early Pliocene sites in East Africa (Harrison, 1993). The remaining specimen from the Tinde Member, an isolated phalanx, apparently belongs to a smaller species of Hexaprotodon. The taxo-nomic affinities of the hippopotamids from the overlying Kiloleli Member are more difficult to ascertain because so few specimens have been recovered. Even though they are most reasonably referred to Hex. harvardi, they differ in some minor details from the type material, and it is conceivable that they may represent a somewhat more progressive form. In addition to Neogene hippopotamids, several isolated teeth and some postcranial remains of Hippopotamus have been recovered from late Quaternary horizons. Apart from a brief discussion of their biochronological implications, these latter specimens are not included in the following analysis.
Elementary School Practices

The authors deal with elementary school practices (children ages 5–10) and discuss classroom-related research that mathematics educators have carried out in the last three decades. Here, two important branches are identified and a section is devoted to each of them: At first research is mentioned that focuses on analyzing teaching/learning processes; the subsections deal with children’s informal mathematics, classroom interaction, teaching/learning aids and calculators & computers. Subsequently, research is reported that focuses on developing and testing instructional theories and gives practical suggestions for teaching; here four projects that are paradigmatic examples are presented, the Japanese ‘Open Approach’, the U.S. ‘Comprehensive School Mathematics Project’, the Dutch ‘Realistic Mathematics Education’ and the German project ‘mathe 2000’. The chapter then presents a perspective on elementary mathematics education that may provide an orientation for the year 2000 and beyond, stressing the active role of the learner. It concludes by identifying important conditions for change that the discipline of mathematics education needs to tackle: Alternative forms of assessment, a different kind of teacher education and more school-related research. A comprehensive literature review is reflected in the chapter References.
Sparse Compositional Local Metric Learning

Mahalanobis distance metric learning becomes an especially challenging problem as the dimension of the feature space p is scaled upwards. The number of parameters to optimize grows with space complexity of order O (p 2), making storage infeasible, interpretability poor, and causing the model to have a high tendency to overfit. Additionally, optimization while maintaining feasibility of the solution becomes prohibitively expensive, requiring a projection onto the positive semi-definite cone after every iteration. In addition to the obvious space and computational challenges, vanilla distance metric learning is unable to model complex and multi-modal trends in the data. Inspired by the recent resurgence of Frank-Wolfe style optimization, we propose a new method for sparse compositional local Mahalanobis distance metric learning. Our proposed technique learns a set of distance metrics which are composed of local and global components. We capture local interactions in the feature space, while ensuring that all metrics share a global component, which may act as a regularizer. We optimize our model using an alternating pairwise Frank-Wolfe style algorithm. This serves a dual purpose, we can control the sparsity of our solution, and altogether avoid any expensive projection operations. Finally, we conduct an empirical evaluation of our method with the current state of the art and present the results on five datasets from varying domains.
Immigrant Education Against the Backdrop of “Make America Great Again”

Notions of American exceptionalism and the American Dream claim that the United States is the home of liberty, equality, and opportunity, where hardworking individuals have unlimited opportunity fo...
Curing the Vampire Disease with Transfusion: The Narrative Structure of Bram Stoker’s Dracula

Blood transfusion in Bram Stoker’s Dracula serves as a vital component to life for characters who have been bitten by vampires. But blood transfusion can mean much more when comparing it to the narrative’s structure. While characters contribute to the narrative, parallels between blood transfusion and narrative assembly emerge, which thus grants characters within the novel immortality as their writing lives on while they slowly die from the vampire disease. Although transitioning into a vampire can also grant these characters immortality, vampires and other supernatural creatures during the Victorian Era were frowned upon by nineteenth century values and religious beliefs. Therefore, seeking immortality through narration allows these characters to abide to Victorian values while also living eternally.
Aggressive blood pressure treatment of hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage may lead to global cerebral hypoperfusion: Case report and imaging perspective

Aggressive blood pressure treatment of hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage may lead to global cerebral hypoperfusion: Case report and imaging perspective
Engineering Citric Acid-Based Porous Scaffolds for Bone Regeneration

Tissue engineering aims to develop scaffolds that are biocompatible and mimic the mechanical and biological properties of the target tissue as closely as possible. Here, we describe the fabrication and characterization of a biodegradable, elastomeric porous scaffold: poly(1,8-octanediol-co-citric acid) (POC) incorporated with nanoscale hydroxyapatite (HA). While this chapter focuses on the scaffold's potential for bone regeneration, POC can also be used in other tissue engineering applications requiring an elastomeric implant. Because of the relative ease with which POC can be synthesized, its mechanical properties can be tailored to mimic the structure and function of the target elastomeric tissue for enhanced tissue regeneration.
Comte and the Possibility of a Hermeneutics of Science

One surprising feature of Comte’s positivism is that it does not support the sort of “rational reconstruction” of the scientific method promoted by 20th Century positivism. Still more surprising is what one might call the “pragmatist” character of his arguments against such reconstructions. Of course later positivists, too, sometimes claim to be heirs to pragmatism; but Comte’s pragmatism is of a different order. Later positivists speak of pragmatism within their context of a purely internalist, epistemic analysis of scientific reasoning — a task they sharply distinguish from what they see as the “extraneous” and non-philosophical study of the psychological, social, political, and historical factors that impinge upon actual scientific practice. In contrast, Comte’s pragmatism does not yet even recognize such a distinction. Indeed, in this respect, and certainly most surprising of all, his treatment of science has less in common with later positivism than with the views of some contemporary postpositivists. For in both Comte and postpositivism, philosophy is charged with thinking about science — i.e., with reflecting on scientific practice understood as one human activity among others, not just analyzing and/or idealizing its cognitive structure from within.
How non-bonding domains affect the active assembly of microtubule spools.

Structural defects can determine and influence various properties of materials, and many technologies rely on the manipulation of defects (e.g., semiconductor industries). In biological systems, management of defects/errors (e.g. DNA repair) is critical to an organism's survival, which has inspired the design of artificial nanomachines that mimic nature's ability to detect defects and repair damage. Biological motors have captured considerable attention in developing such capabilities due to their ability to convert energy into directed motion in response to environmental stimuli, which maximizes their ability for detection and repair. The objective of the present study was to develop an understanding of how the presence of non-bonding domains, here considered as a “defect”, in microtubule (MT) building blocks affect the kinesin-driven, active assembly of MT spools. The assembly/joining of micron-scale bonding (i.e., biotin-containing) and non-bonding (i.e., no biotin) MTs resulted in segmented MT building blocks consisting of alternating bonding and non-bonding domains. Here, the introduction of these MT building blocks into a kinesin gliding motility assay along with streptavidin-coated quantum dots resulted in the active assembly of spools with altered morphology but retained functionality. Moreover, it was noted that non-bonding domains were autonomously and preferentially released from the spools over time, representing a mechanism by which defects may be removed from these structures. Overall, our findings demonstrate that this active assembly system has an intrinsic ability for quality control, which can be potentially expanded to a wide range of applications such as self-regulation and healing of active materials.
Times-series data augmentation and deep learning for construction equipment activity recognition

Abstract Automated, real-time, and reliable equipment activity recognition on construction sites can help to minimize idle time, improve operational efficiency, and reduce emissions. Previous efforts in activity recognition of construction equipment have explored different classification algorithms anm accelerometers and gyroscopes. These studies utilized pattern recognition approaches such as statistical models (e.g., hidden-Markov models); shallow neural networks (e.g., Artificial Neural Networks); and distance algorithms (e.g., K-nearest neighbor) to classify the time-series data collected from sensors mounted on the equipment. Such methods necessitate the segmentation of continuous operational data with fixed or dynamic windows to extract statistical features. This heuristic and manual feature extraction process is limited by human knowledge and can only extract human-specified shallow features. However, recent developments in deep neural networks, specifically recurrent neural network (RNN), presents new opportunities to classify sequential time-series data with recurrent lateral connections. RNN can automatically learn high-level representative features through the network instead of being manually designed, making it more suitable for complex activity recognition. However, the application of RNN requires a large training dataset which poses a practical challenge to obtain from real construction sites. Thus, this study presents a data-augmentation framework for generating synthetic time-series training data for an RNN-based deep learning network to accurately and reliably recognize equipment activities. The proposed methodology is validated by generating synthetic data from sample datasets, that were collected from two earthmoving operations in the real world. The synthetic data along with the collected data were used to train a long short-term memory (LSTM)-based RNN. The trained model was evaluated by comparing its performance with traditionally used classification algorithms for construction equipment activity recognition. The deep learning framework presented in this study outperformed the traditionally used machine learning classification algorithms for activity recognition regarding model accuracy and generalization.
From Nairobi to Baden-Baden: African Politics, the International Olympic Committee, and Early Efforts to Censure Apartheid South Africa

AbstractIn July 1963, some three months before sports administrators from around the world were to descend on Nairobi for the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) annual session, the meeting was...
Sequence Specificity in the Interaction of Actinomycin D with Deoxydinucleotides as a Model for the Binding of the Drug to DNA

Actinomycin D (Figure 1) is an important antibiotic that binds to double stranded DNA and selectivily inhibits RNA synthesis [1–3]. The interaction between actinomycin D and DNA has been widely studied by a variety of techniques (e.g. see the reviews by Reich and Goldberg [4], Goldberg and Friedman [5], and Sobell [6]).
Inhibition of Calcineurin Phosphatase Activity in Adult Bone Marrow Transplant Patients Treated With Cyclosporine A

In vitro studies have demonstrated that cyclosporine A (CsA) acts by inhibiting the phosphatase activity of calcineurin, an important mediator of T-cell activation. The relationship of CsA administration in vivo, calcineurin activity, and graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) has yet to be studied. The calcineurin activities of mononuclear cells isolated from 62 bone marrow transplant recipients and 12 normal volunteers were determined and analyzed with respect to administration of CsA, presence or absence of CsA in plasma, and presence or absence of GVHD. Of 62 patients, 33 were taking CsA and 29 were not. Early posttransplant ( 100 days), the calcineurin activity of patients taking CsA was inhibited compared with normal volunteers (P <s .05). The calcineurin activity of patients with acute GVHD who were taking CsA was lower than that of patients on CsA without acute GVHD matched for time posttransplant (P = .02). Calcineurin activity in patients on CsA with chronic GVHD was similar to those without chronic GVHD on drug. In conclusion, calcineurin activity is significantly suppressed by in vivo administration of CsA. The lower calcineurin activity of patients on CsA with acute GVHD suggests that CsA-resistant GVHD is not the result of inadequate suppression of calcineurin activity. These data suggest that if inhibition of calcineurin is the only physiologic target of CsA administration, simply increasing doses of CsA or treatment with other inhibitors of calcineurin, such as FK506, would not be expected to ameliorate GVHD.
Experimental Determination of Velocity-Field Characteristic of Holes in GaN

This study presents a photo-assisted method to measure the drift velocity of carriers in semiconductors, and successfully used to determine the drift velocity of holes in GaN. A p-i-n diode with a buried p-type layer was designed and fabricated on a free-standing GaN substrate. By reverse-biasing the p-i-n diode and illuminating the cathode layer using an ultraviolet light simultaneously, photo-generated holes were injected into the depletion region and accelerated by the electric field to reach the saturation velocity. The drift velocity ( $\text{v}_{\text {d}}$ )–electric field (E) characteristic can be obtained from the photocurrent induced by photo-generated holes. The measured hole drift velocity can be written as $v_{\text {d}}=\mu _{\text {LF}}E /[1+(\mu _{\text {LF}}E/v_{{\mathrm {sat}}})^{{\beta }}]^{{1}/\beta }$ , where $\mu _{\text {LF}}\,\,=17$ cm2/Vs is the low-field hole mobility, $v_{\text {sat}}= 6.63\times 10^{{6}}$ cm/s is the saturation velocity, $\beta =1.75$ is the fitting parameter. The method presented in this study is a unique way of determining the saturation drift velocity of holes in GaN.
Red-headed Woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus) winter roost-site selection in a burned forest stand

ABSTRACT In temperate regions, winter is characterized by high thermoregulatory demands and low food availability. For woodpeckers, winter survival depends on selecting habitat that provides both s...
An improved three-dimensional concentration measurement technique using magnetic resonance imaging

Magnetic resonance concentration (MRC) was introduced by Benson et al. (Exp Fluids 49:43–55, 2010) to obtain three-dimensional, time-averaged concentration fields in complex turbulent flows without the need for optical access using magnetic resonance imaging. It has since been applied to a wide variety of flows including jet engine film cooling configurations, mixing layers, and urban dispersion cases. However, the measurement uncertainty is currently limited to about 5% of the injected concentration, irrespective of the local concentration. This work presents an advanced MRC technique to greatly reduce the uncertainty at low concentration. Best practices for conducting MRC experiments are described to establish a baseline methodology. These include the choice of scan settings and fluids, calibration procedure, mixing experiment details, and method for computing concentration fields from scan data. An advanced technique is developed to reduce the uncertainty at low concentration by combining data from multiple experiments at increasing molarity of injected fluid, using Fourier-space averaging to reduce noise, and by minimizing fluid property differences using a low flip angle to reduce the maximum injected molarity without degrading the signal-to-noise ratio. The method is flexible and can be optimized to meet the uncertainty requirements of specific applications. Experiments are performed on the turbulent mixing downstream of an isolated, rectangular building as a test case. The advanced technique is validated against the baseline method and maps of spatially dependent experimental uncertainty are presented. Less than 1% uncertainty based on a 95% confidence interval is achieved near the plume boundaries. Results from the new technique reveal dilute but non-zero concentration regions near the wall which could not be resolved using the baseline method.
Towards an Integration of Information Gleaned from Neuroimaging in Schizophrenia

Neuroimaging has been central to the study of schizophrenia since the introduction of computerized-tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the 1970s (CT) and 1980s (MRI). Over the last few decades, the field has generated a wealth of information across an array of modalities to interrogate, in vivo, brain structure and function, neurochemistry, neurophysiology, neural connectivity, and neurodevelopment. However, despite the advances made possible by neuroimaging in the field of schizophrenia, the scientific community has yet to produce a “clinical biomarker of schizophrenia” that would provide psychiatry with more objective measures of diagnosis, prognosis, and patient care outcomes. In this chapter, we first integrate information from the imaging modalities presented in Neuroimaging of Schizophrenia followed by an overview of the state of the field. We then cite several conceptual and methodological shortcomings that have hindering progress to date in understanding the underpinnings of schizophrenia. For each of these shortcomings, we recommend approaches that we believe will be most effective in future studies in moving the field forward.
Synthesis, Characterization, and Enthalpies of Formation of Uranium Substituted Zirconolites

Uranium substituted zirconolite samples based on CaZrTi2O7 have been synthesized by a conventional solid-state method in air and structurally characterized by powder X-ray diffraction. The uranium ...
Corticosterone Is Essential for Survival Through Frog Metamorphosis.

Thyroid hormone (TH) is required for frog metamorphosis, and corticosterone (CORT) increases TH signaling to accelerate metamorphic progression. However, a requirement for CORT in metamorphosis has been difficult to assess prior to the recent development of gene-editing technologies. We addressed this long-standing question using transcription activator-like effector nuclease (TALEN) gene disruption to knock out proopiomelanocortin (pomc) and disrupt CORT production in Xenopus tropicalis. As expected, mutant tadpoles had a reduced peak of plasma CORT at metamorphosis with correspondingly reduced expression of the CORT-response gene Usher syndrome type-1G (ush1g). Mutants had reduced rates of growth and development and exhibited lower expression levels of 2 TH response genes, Kruppel-like factor 9 (klf9) and TH receptor β (thrb). In response to exogenous TH, mutants had reduced TH response gene induction and slower morphological change. Importantly, death invariably occurred during tail resorption, unless rescued by exogenous CORT and, remarkably, by exogenous TH. The ability of exogenous TH by itself to overcome death in pomc mutants indicates that the CORT-dependent increase in TH signaling may ensure functional organ transformation required for survival through metamorphosis and/or may shorten the nonfeeding metamorphic transition to avoid lethal inanition.
Choreographic techniques for human bodies in weightlessness

Abstract Microgravity environments present unique movement and perceptual challenges which are most appropriately explored by movement professional. The high cost of microgravity and space endeavors place utilization of the time in those environments at a premium. We have identified techniques which can be practiced on Earth to increase competence of motion and develop a deeper understanding of reorientation of the human body in microgravity. This research has focused on understanding strategies for planning and executing specific movements, which can be explored in precise and low cost ways. A simulator was coded to explore the dynamics of the human body, which allows for visual and numeric calculations of the body’s moment of inertia eigenvectors and center of mass in a variety of positions. The maneuvers were explored with dance, circus, and parkour artists through the use of parabolic flights, pools, and aerial harnesses.