cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Adherence of pilus- Opa+ gonococci to epithelial cells in vitro involves heparan sulfate.

Neisseria gonorrhoeae attaches to host epithelial cells via pili and opacity-associated (Opa) outer membrane proteins. Pilus- gonococci (Gc) of strain MS11 adhere to both human and nonhuman cells, but only when particular Opa proteins are expressed; OpaA+ variants adhere best, OpaC+ variants are next best, and the seven other Opa+ variants adhere poorly or not at all. The adherence of OpaA+ Gc to Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells is inhibited by heparin or heparan sulfate (HS), but not by chondroitin sulfate. OpaA+ Gc do not adhere to CHO cells devoid of HS proteoglycans; low concentrations of heparin restore OpaA+ Gc adherence to these HS-deficient CHO cells and high concentrations inhibit it. 3H-heparin binding to whole Gc parallels their adherence abilities (OpaA+ > OpaC+ > OpaH+ > Opas B, D, E, F, G, I = Opa- = 0). Opa proteins separated by SDS-PAGE also bind 3H-heparin. These data suggest that adherence of pilus-, Opa+ Gc involves HS-proteoglycan of eukaryotic cells.
Failure analysis of an e-commerce protocol using model checking

The rapid growth of electronic commerce (e-commerce) has necessitated the development of e-commerce protocols. These protocols ensure the confidentiality and integrity of information exchanged. In addition, researchers have identified other desirable properties, such as money atomicity, goods atomicity and validated receipt, that must be satisfied by e-commerce protocols. This paper shows how model checking can be used to obtain an assurance about the existence of these properties in an e-commerce protocol. It is essential that these desirable properties be satisfied even in the presence of site or communication failures. Using the model checker, we evaluate which failures cause the violation of one or more of the properties. The results of the analysis are then used to propose a mechanism that handles the failures to make the protocol failure-resilient.
“All They Understand Is Force”: Debating Culture in Operation Iraqi Freedom

ABSTRACT Drawing entirely on public, open sources, in this article I trace the recent development of U.S. military understandings and uses of cultural knowledge. Military education, training, and operations reveal complexity and diversity that demands empirical study. In particular, I locate in Operation Iraqi Freedom (2003–present) an internal, critical theoretical disagreement between a model of culture as a static, or slow-moving, property of a constructed “other,” embraced by mainstream thought in the U.S. Army, and a competing sense of cultural process as dynamic, interactive, and emergent, emphasized by Special Forces and the Marine Corps. This disagreement feeds off of and into longer-running debates within U.S. military circles, demonstrating that the U.S. military's engagement with the concept of “culture” is far from monolithic: different services’ approaches are shaped by their own histories, driving rival emphases on weaponizing culture and culturalizing warriors.
The Generation of Floor Plans with Circulation Spaces

Floor plans with interior courtyards, circulation spaces, and prespecified number of exterior rooms, are generated. The approach is graph theoretic, that is, underlying graphs are generated and, then, based on those graphs, the floor plans are constructed.
The coupled modeling and robust control design problem

A formulation of the coupled modeling and robust control design problem is presented. The distinguishing feature is the treatment of the control design model as a degree of design freedom. A simple example highlights the potential improvement in closed-loop performance under the coupled approach. Quantification of the strength of the coupling in terms of performance boundaries is also described. >
Cells derived from murine induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) by treatment with members of TGF-beta family give rise to osteoblasts differentiation and form bone in vivo

Background Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) are generated by reprogramming somatic cells into embryonic like state (ESC) using defined factors. There is great interest in these cells because of their potential for application in regenerative medicine.
PHYSICIANS’ KNOWLEDGE OF FUTURE VASCULAR DISEASE IN WOMEN WITH PREECLAMPSIA

Objective. Preeclampsia, a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy, affects 5–8% of women. Large studies demonstrate a strong association between preeclampsia and future cardiovascular disease (CVD). Despite CVD being the leading cause of mortality for women, there has been little education for internal medicine physicians or obstetrician-gynecologists (ob-gyns) about this association; published guidelines do not include preeclampsia as a risk factor for future CVD. Therefore, women with a history of preeclampsia may not receive adequate risk-reduction counseling for CVD. It is unclear whether primary care physicians are aware of the association; thus, we sought to determine whether primary care providers at our institution were aware of preeclampsia's association with future CVD and whether they were providing appropriate counseling. Methods. An anonymous online survey was sent to all internists and (ob-gyns) at our hospital. Results. Although most internists (95%) and (ob-gyns) (70%) provide routine cardiova...
Arginine Vasopressin for Refractory Distributive Shock in Two Adolescents

Arginine vasopressin is a nine amino acid peptide, most commonly known as antidiuretic hormone. Recent investigations in the areas of cardiopulmonary resuscitation and the treatment of distributive shock have suggested its possible therapeutic potential. Despite increasing experience in the adult population, there is limited experience with vasopressin administration in pediatric patients. The author reports the use of vasopressin in the treatment of refractory distributive shock in two adolescents. Previous reports of its use and potential therapeutic applications are reviewed.
Implementing Randomized Controlled Trials in Preschool Settings That Include Young Children With Disabilities Considering the Context of Strain and Bovey

In this commentary, developments related to conducting randomized controlled trials in authentic preschool settings that include young children with disabilities are discussed in relation to the Strain and Bovey study.
STUDIES OF ANTIGENIC DIFFERENCES AMONG STRAINS OF INFLUENZA A BY MEANS OF RED CELL AGGLUTINATION

A study of cross inhibition tests among strains of influenza A virus and their antisera showed that the results obtained were subject to a certain amount of variation due to the red cells, the virus suspensions, and the ferret antisera employed. Methods have been demonstrated for handling the data obtained from such tests, so that these variables were corrected or avoided, making it possible to use the agglutination technique for antigenic comparisons. The antigenic pattern of eighteen strains of influenza A virus, obtained from the 1940–41 epidemic in the United States, has been compared by means of agglutination inhibition tests with ferret antisera. No significant antigenic differences were found among sixteen of these strains (all isolated from throat washings by the inoculation of chick embryos) although they were obtained from individuals in widely separated regions of the country. Two strains, from cases occurring early in the epidemic and isolated from throat washings by ferret and mouse passage, showed a slight but significant strain difference from the other strains and from each other. One of the 1940–41 strains on cross test resembled the PR8 strain more closely than any other stock strain tested.
Synthesis of CuInSe2 Nanocrystals with Trigonal Pyramidal Shape

The synthesis of monodisperse chalcopyrite (tetragonal) CuInSe2 nanocrystals is reported. The nanocrystals have trigonal pyramidal shape, and they exhibited a common crystallographic orientation when drop-cast onto carbon substrates. A crystallographic model for the nanocrystals was developed. The nanocrystals are bounded by one polar {112} surface facet and three nonpolar {114} surface facets.
Sources of Bias in Teenagers' College Expectations

Objective: Though many studies have found that teenagers over-estimate their chances of college completion, the sources of this bias are still not well understood. Methods: This paper compares individuals’ college expectations as teenagers with their subsequent college outcomes using data from the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY97). I analyze how a rich set of youth characteristics correlate with the discrepancy between expectations and realizations. Results: Teenagers’ expectations are highly predictive of future college completion, but they are also systematically positively biased (overly optimistic). I find that scholastic aptitude–as proxied by youths’ AFQT scores–is highly negatively correlated with expectation bias. Once test scores are accounted for, family income, parental education, race/ethnicity, and sex have little or no effect on bias in teenagers’ college expectations. Conclusions: The relationship between scholastic aptitude and college success may not be well understood by some youths, contributing to inflated expectations among those with lower test scores. JEL Codes: D84, I24
Activity and protein localization of multiple glutamate transporters in gestation day 14 vs. day 20 rat placenta

Concentrative absorption of glutamate by the developing placenta is critical for proper fetal development. The expression of GLAST1, GLT1, EAAC1, and EAAT4, known to be capable ofd-aspartate-inhibi...
Tricuspid and Pulmonic Valve Disease

In the adult, the tricuspid and pulmonic valves are in general less affected by disease states compared to left-sided cardiac valves. While right-sided valves are essential in maintaining hemodynamic balance and in dictating long-term prognosis, valvular disease is better tolerated compared to left-sided valves. With the common occurrence of trivial regurgitation in right-sided valves in normal individuals, noninvasive determination of pulmonary pressures using the Bernoulli principle is frequently feasible. In this chapter, we will present an overview of diseases that affect the tricuspid and pulmonic valves, discuss their echocardiographic characteristics and the methodology for evaluating the severity of valvular regurgitation and stenosis.
Modified Crutch for the Upper Extremity Amputee with Lower Extremity Involvement

The Prosthetics/Orthotics and Physical Therapy Departments were faced with the challenge of creating a modified crutch for an upper extremity amputee with lower extremity involvement. A 46-year-old man, with congenital absence of both fibulae and his left arm from above the elbow, underwent a left total hip replacement in March 1979. He then had a left supracondylar osteotomy for valgus deformity in July of the same year. The patient's left lower extremity was supported in a splint, and he was to ambulate nonweight bearing on the left. He had an upper extremity prosthesis but chose not to wear it because of extreme discomfort. After surgery, the patient's goals were to become independent in transfers and in ambulation both on level surfaces and stairs. Therefore, we needed to design a device whereby the patient could achieve these goals.…
Exceptional Terahertz Wave Modulation in Graphene Enhanced by Frequency Selective Surfaces

In this paper we theoretically and experimentally analyze the design trade-offs in terahertz metamaterial modulators consisting of hybrid graphene/metal stacked structures. In these devices graphene is used as the active medium, whereas a passive metallic frequency selective surface is employed to enhance the light–matter interaction in graphene. When altering the key geometrical structural parameters, we observe a close match between our experiments and theory, showing that it is possible to achieve an optimal trade-off between modulation depth, insertion loss, and speed in these devices. Moreover, a transmission line based compact mathematical model is introduced in order to explain our experimental observations and predict the performance limits in these structures.
Demyelinating disease: NMO spectrum disorders: clinical or molecular classification?

A recent study that applied new criteria for diagnosing neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders in the absence of serum aquaporin 4 antibodies highlights difficulties with clinical application of these criteria. Classification on the basis of molecular markers might offer a more practical alternative.
A paradigm analysis related to spiritual experiences focused on Christian of patients with terminal cancer

PURPOSE: The main purpose of this study was to develop a substantive theory on the process of the spiritual experience in Christian terminal cancer patients in the context of Korean society and culture. The question for the study was "What is the spiritual process in Christian terminal cancer patients?" METHOD: The research method used was the Grounded Theory Method developed by Strauss and Corbin (1998). Participants for this study in total were 9 Christian terminal cancer patients. Data was collected using in-depth interviews during April 2003 to March. 2004. Data collection and analysis were carried out at the same time. RESULT: From the analysis 58 concepts and 20 categories emerged. The categories were presented into a paradigm, which consisted of condition-actions/interactions-consequences. The theoretical scheme was described by organizing categories. In total, 4 stages were developed from the condition-actions/interactions-consequences. Throughout these stages, the "overcoming process of unbalanced interconnectedness" was the core category discovered. CONCLUSION: This study provides a framework for the development of individualized care interventions in the "overcoming process of unbalanced interconnectedness" for Christian terminal cancer patients.
The Development and Validation of the Information Literacy Test

The Information Literacy Test (ILT) was developed to meet the need for a standardized instrument that measures student proficiency regarding the ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education. The Web-based, multiple-choice ILT measures both lower- and higher-order skills. Evidence is presented that the ILT scores provide reliable and valid measures of information literacy. In addition, a rigorous standard setting method was used to identify score values corresponding to various absolute levels of proficiency. The ILT can be used to help institutions measure student information literacy outcomes and determine the effectiveness of instruction programs.
Synthesis and Characterization of Organic/Inorganic Interpenetrating Polymer Networks

Interpenetrating polymer networks have been synthesized by performing sol-gel chemistry and conventional organic polymerizations in mixtures of the monomers. The organic polymers were acrylates, and the inorganic phase was SiO2 formed by hydrolysis of orthosilicates. Polymerizations were conducted at a variety of relative rates, and the chemistry was designed to allow different amounts of grafting between the components. The morphology was characterized by transmission electron microscopy and small angle neutron and x-ray scattering. Wide variations in morphology were observed depending on the polymerization conditions, ranging from grossly phase separated to dendritic to finely divided structures (at a 100A size scale). The phases ranged from mixtures of the two components to relatively pure phases. The interface between the phases ranged from very narrow to relatively broad.
Point-of-care Pathology with Miniature Microscopes for Cancer Detection and Surgical Guidance

A handheld MEMS-scanned line-scanned DAC microscope has recently been developed for oral cancer detection and for guiding brain tumor resections. Additional microscopes are being developed for rapid imaging of freshly excised tissue specimens.
Discussion on toughness calculation method of SFRC

In order to study the ability of crack arrest and toughness enhance of SFRC in theory,with the surrounded area of the stress-strain curve to define toughness of the material,and the damage constitutive equation founded under the composite theory of SFRC with action of crack arrest as the basis,the equation on toughness calculation of SFRC was derived theoretically,and the choosing of the parameters was discussed particularly.The C40 concrete and the steel cutting fiber with the enlarged end were chosen for calculation,thus a corresponding quantitative expression between toughness and steel fiber content of SFRC under the typical condition was given.A kind of evaluating method on toughness of SFRC is primarily founded as well.
Secularism and Religious Violence in Hinduism and Islam

This article underlines the need to move beyond the exhausted notion that all religions preach peace to studying the specific manner in which violence is legitimised in each religion. This articles examines the theological underpinnings of legitimate violence in Hinduism and Islam in order to demonstrate that neither of these religious traditions has inherent difficulties with violence per se: instead, both of these religious traditions have focused on the problem of legitimate violence. This article then moves on to examine what liberal responses in an Indian context to religious violence ought to be.
The prevalence characteristic and prevention strategy of Japanese B Encephalitis in Henan province

Objective To analyze the prevalence trend, prevalence characteristics and influence factors of Japanese B Encephalitis (JE) in Henan province. Methods The data that of 64 401 JE patients in Henan from 1980 to 2008 were statistically analyzed by SPSS12. 0 and EXCEL2003 software. Luoshan, Xinan,Xihua, Deng county and Hua county were chosen as monitoring sites. The mosquito specimens were gathered with the artificial hour method and the mosquito curtain method ,the mosquito density was calculated one time each ten day period from May to July. At the same time, 30 -40 newborn pig blood samples were gathered each ten-day period and the pig serum JE IgG antibody was detected by ELISA method. Results The Cumulative incidence of JE was 64 401 cases in Henan province from 1998 to 2008, the range of incidence rate was from 0. 34/100 000 (315/93 599 969 ) to 6. 72/100 000 (5246/78 076 567) ; The average incidence of JE was 4. 39/100 000 (3530/80 381 469) from 1980 to 1994;The average incidence of JE was 0. 86/100 000 (811/94 217 549) from 1995 to 2008;In 2008,the incidence rate reached the lowest point for 0.34/100 000(315/93 599 969) ; The incidence occurred mainly in July-September,accounting for 89. 40% of the total eases (57 572/64 401 );the patients were concentrated mainly in 5 cities, which were Xinyang, Nanyang,Zhumadian, Zhoukou, Luoyang, accounting for 81.02% (52 175/64 401 ). The 0 - 14 years old age group was the dominant group (79.01% ,50 884/64 401). In Luoyang city,incidence of≥15 years old group was significantly increased (57. 83%, 2120/3666 ), the constitution of JE incidence were significantly different between 0 - 14 years old group and ≥15 years old age group (χ~2=2705. 32,P< 0.05) in Henan province and Luoyarlg city. The different density of the mosquitoes and the different positive -times for 50% of the antibodies of JE in piglets on the monitor sites showed the intensity of JE disease. Conclusion The incidence of JE showed a decreasing trend, seasonal, regional characteristics and age distribution difference in Henan province. The monitoring of host animal pig JE antibody level and the medium mosquito density may forecast the JE prevalence tendency. To control the incidence in the younger groups in Henan province, older age group in Luoyang city and high-incidence areas, it is important to strengthen the monitoring and forecasting measures to prevent JE in Henan province. Key words: Japanese B Encephalitis; Epidemiologic studies; Universal precautions
Experiences and Benefits of Running RDMA Hadoop and Spark on SDSC Comet

Big Data problems dealing with a variety of large data sets are now common in a wide range of domain science research areas such as bioinformatics, social science, astronomical image processing, weather and climate dynamics, and economics. In some cases, the data generation and computation is done on high performance computing (HPC) resources, thus presenting an incentive for developing/optimizing big data middleware and tools to take advantage of the existing HPC infrastructures. Data-intensive computing middleware (such as Hadoop, Spark) can potentially benefit greatly from the hardware already designed for high performance and scalability with advanced processor technology, large memory/core, and storage/filesystems. SDSC Comet represents such a resource with large numbers of compute nodes with fast node local SSD storage, and high performance Lustre filesystems. This paper discusses experiences and benefits of using optimized Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) Hadoop and Spark middleware on the XSEDE Comet HPC resource, including some performance results of Big Data benchmarks and applications. Comet is a general purpose HPC resource so some work is needed to integrate the middleware to run within the HPC scheduling framework. This aspect of the implementation is also discussed in detail.
Opposing Effects of Progranulin Deficiency on Amyloid and Tau Pathologies via Microglial TYROBP Network

Progranulin (PGRN) is implicated in Alzheimer's disease (AD) as well as frontotemporal lobar degeneration. Genetic studies demonstrate an association of the common GRN rs5848 variant that results in reduced PGRN levels with increased risk for AD. However, the mechanisms by which PGRN reduction from the GRN AD risk variant or mutation exacerbates AD pathophysiology remain ill defined. Here, we show that the GRN AD risk variant has no significant effects on florbetapir positron emission tomographic amyloid imaging and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) Aβ levels, whereas it is associated with increased CSF tau levels in human subjects of the Alzheimer's disease neuroimaging initiative studies. Consistent with the human data, subsequent analyses using the APPswe/PS1ΔE9 (APP/PS1) mouse model of cerebral amyloidosis show that PGRN deficiency has no exacerbating effects on Aβ pathology. In contrast and unexpectedly, PGRN deficiency significantly reduces diffuse Aβ plaque growth in these APP/PS1 mice. This protective effect is due, at least in part, to enhanced microglial Aβ phagocytosis caused by PGRN deficiency-induced expression of TYROBP network genes (TNG) including an AD risk factor Trem2. PGRN-deficient APP/PS1 mice also exhibit less severe axonal dystrophy and partially improved behavior phenotypes. While PGRN deficiency reduces these amyloidosis-related phenotypes, other neuronal injury mechanisms are increased by loss of PGRN, revealing a multidimensional interaction of GRN with AD. For example, C1q complement deposition at synapses is enhanced in APP/PS1 mice lacking PGRN. Moreover, PGRN deficiency increases tau AT8 and AT180 pathologies in human P301L tau-expressing mice. These human and rodent data suggest that global PGRN reduction induces microglial TNG expression and increases AD risk by exacerbating neuronal injury and tau pathology, rather than by accelerating Aβ pathology.
Understanding blended mentorship in Minecraft: Scaling computer science expertise across distances

A critical barrier in providing computer science learning opportunities to all is the dearth of professionals who have the expertise to teach computer science. Blended learning approaches have the potential to reduce this barrier by facilitating the distribution of expertise across distances. In this poster we present our approach to understanding how to design blended learning models for the informal space that take advantage of the expertise of adult mentors and computer science experts. Our theoretical framing is based on Nacu et al. (2014) adult mentor roles, which suggest that adults play different roles (e.g., encourager, monitor, broker) to support students learning. We use Minecraft, a popular, 3D, online, multiplayer game, as our study context. The poster presents two studies that investigate ways of facilitating mentorship in a blended learning environment to teach computational thinking. Study 1 focuses on documenting the roles mentors play while facilitating a computer science-related Minecraft workshop with middle school students. Study 2 focuses on understanding how these roles are modified when online and in person mentors work together to facilitate a computational learning opportunity. Our initial findings suggest that defining a scalable model to support blended learning models in informal spaces requires a variety of mentor roles. Additionally, when coordinating mentorship across mediums, gaps in student support can arise when there is a lack of (a) explicit strategies of communication in place between in-person and online mentors; and (b) clearly defined roles assigned to mentors.
The sedoheptulose 7-phosphate cyclases and their emerging roles in biology and ecology

Covering up to: 1999-2016This highlight covers a family of enzymes of growing importance, the sedoheptulose 7-phosphate cyclases, initially of interest due to their involvement in the biosynthesis of pharmaceutically relevant secondary metabolites. More recently, these enzymes have been found throughout Prokarya and Eukarya, suggesting their broad potential biological roles in nature.
On the optimality of threshold type strategies in single and recursive optimal stopping under Lévy models

Abstract In the spirit of Surya (2007), we develop an average problem approach to prove the optimality of threshold type strategies for optimal stopping of Levy models with a continuous additive functional (CAF) discounting. Under spectrally negative models, we specialize this in terms of conditions on the reward function and random discounting, where we present two examples of local time and occupation time discounting. We then apply this approach to recursive optimal stopping problems, and present simpler and neater proofs for a number of important results on qualitative properties of the optimal thresholds, which are only known under a few special cases Carmona and Touzi (2008), Leung et al. (2015) and Surya (2007).
Political Effects – Real and Imagined – In Low Fertility Societies

The political effects of low fertility rates warrant thoughtful attention, especially in countries such as South Korea that are classified among those with “lowest-low” fertility. Some of the effects of low fertility are real, others imagined. There is a long history of alarms about low fertility that proved to be excessive, yet “lowest-low” fertility rates are unprecedented and do pose substantial challenges for important public policies relating to marriage, childbearing, immigration, healthcare, housing, labor markets, and retirement. The South Korean government has been seeking to address such issues systematically, even as some Korean voices issue dire warnings that echo excessive alarms of the past. This chapter offers cautious assessments of current Government policies, and suggests additional approaches that might also be considered.
Foreign policy priorities and ethnic return migration policies: group-level variation in Greece and Serbia

ABSTRACTWhy do ethnoculturally defined states pursue favourable policies to integrate some returnees from their historical diasporas while neglecting or excluding others? We study this question by looking at members of two historical diasporas that, in the 1990s, returned to their respective ethnic homelands, Greece and Serbia, but were not treated uniformly by their respective governments. Utilising a wide range of primary sources, we consider evidence for a number of plausible explanations for such policy variation, including the economic profile of an ethnic returnee group, its status in internal ethnic hierarchies, its lobbying power, and dynamics of party politics. We find, instead, that the observed variation is best explained by the role that each particular group played in the ruling elites’ ex ante foreign policy objectives. Elites discouraged the repatriation of co-ethnics from parts of the world they still had claims over, by pursuing unfavourable repatriation policies. Conversely, absent a rev...
Clinical evidence for washing and cleansers in acne vulgaris: a systematic review.

Purpose: Washing and over-the-counter cleansers are common interventions in acne vulgaris (AV), but the clinical evidence for their benefit is poorly understood. This systematic review presents cli...
Democracy Without Ideology

Ockham’s razor or the principle of parsimony has come down to us as the claim of the fourteenth century philosopher, William of Ockham, that theoretical entities must not be multiplied unnecessarily. Less famous but similarly parsimonious is the claim by Antonio Gramsci that ideological elements are usefully minimized in social scientific theory. In what follows I will apply Gramsci’s razor to democratic theory considered as a central tenet of educational theory. I will identify what might reasonably be meant by ideological elements in a social scientific theory and contrast them to nonideological elements. Then I will describe how democracy functions ideologically in educational theory and, following John Dewey, will offer a nonideological democratic theory of education. Finally, I will discuss in Gramscian terms an advantage that nonideological theory exercises over ideological theory.
Chapter 13 – Integration of Molecular and Cellular Pathogenesis: A Bioinformatics Approach

As the field of molecular pathology moves forward in the genomics age with big data and challenging analytical questions about disease processes, bioinformatics is playing an increasingly important role. The interdisciplinary field of bioinformatics blends computer science and biostatistics with biomedical sciences such as epidemiology, genetics, genomics, and proteomics. In combination, these approaches facilitate the management, analysis, and interpretation of data from biological experiments and observational studies. The goal of this chapter is to introduce some of the important concepts in bioinformatics that must be considered when planning and executing a modern molecular pathology study. This article reviews database resources as well as data mining software tools.
Stress, Alcohol, and Hippocampal Genes

Abstract Alcohol dependence is a complex disorder which is influenced by factors such as stress and genotype. The complex relationship between stress and alcohol and its role in alcohol-use has yet to be elucidated. Both exposure to stress and alcohol-use cause gene expression changes in multiple brain regions including the hippocampus—an area vulnerable to alcohol and involved in the stress response. Most earlier studies have assessed gene expression changes in the hippocampus after exposure to these factors individually and found overlapping altered molecular pathways. In contrast, recent research examining differential gene expression in the hippocampus after exposure to the combination of ethanol and stress have found genetic networks distinct from those identified after exposure to each factor separately. This chapter aims to review gene expression differences in the hippocampus after stress or ethanol, and discusses bioinformatic methodology in the context of further analyzing a gene that is differentially expressed only after the combination of stress and alcohol exposure. This methodology has previously been used in microarray studies to identify genetic networks involved in the interaction of stress and ethanol.
The Bearing of Philosophy on the History of the Special Theory of Relativity

In what precise ways is philosophy instrumental in illuminating the genesis of the conceptual innovations wrought by a particular physical theory? In the first edition (1963) of this book and in some still earlier papers, I have used the unraveling of the history of the special theory of relativity to argue concretely that philosophy does have far-reaching relevance to the attainment of the following cardinal objectives of the historian of science: (i) the very posing of well-conceived, searching historical questions and (ii) the avoidance of serious historical blunders of certain kinds, and their discernment as such when they have been committed by those lacking the requisite philosophical mastery ([1], chap. 12; [2]). Specifically, I maintained in the context of the special theory of relativity that there is a symbiosis of the philosophy and the history of science as follows: no historically correct, let alone illuminating account of the development of that theory can be furnished without a prior rigorous comprehension of the philosophical conceptions underlying it and distinguishing it from its ancestors. At the same time, I recognized that the history of the theory, in its turn, may indeed contribute to the philosophical analysis of the theory by disclosing the vicissitudes in Einstein’s own philosophical outlook.
Teaching Power in Ways That Influence Student' Career Success: Some Fundamental Ideas

Forty-five years ago, power as a topic was mostly absent from management textbooks and courses, including executive education teaching, in the fields of business and public administration. This was the case notwithstanding the fact that power dynamics are invariably present in most public and private sector workplaces. Research demonstrates that power affects resource allocations among departments and other sub-units as well as decisions on strategic direction in organizations of all types. Research also shows that power affects people´s career trajectories, including their salaries and the hierarchical levels they attain.
Challenges and Peculiarities in Developing New Standards for SiC

In recent years, the power electronics conversion semiconductor community has been calling for the development of guidelines and standards for SiC-based devices. While some of the existing silicon-based guidelines and standards are directly applicable to SiC devices, some may not adequately address the special properties of SiC. In this paper, I will review the current state of the published and released guidelines and standards and the technical and other challenges on their continuing development.
Before NBER: Warren Nutter's Soviet Research at the CIA

Warren Nutter’s work as director of the National Bureau of Economic Research’s (NBER’s) Soviet growth project is his best-known contribution to economics and public affairs. Many histories of Sovietology note the oddity of Nutter’s selection as project director, given his apparent lack of prior experience studying the Soviet Union. This paper provides new context for Nutter’s selection to lead the NBER effort. From 1951 to 1952 Warren Nutter was the Acting Chief of the Economic Capabilities Branch of the CIA’s Office of Research and Reports (ORR), and Chairman of the Economic Analysis Subcommittee of the inter-agency Economic Intelligence Committee. In this capacity he managed at least three major research efforts, including an input-output analysis of the Soviet Union and contributions to two national intelligence estimates. Nutter may have been proposed as a director of the NBER project by Robert Amory, the Deputy Director of Intelligence, in 1953. Nutter’s research for the CIA cultivated new analytic capacities for the agency and provided a foundation for Nutter’s future work on the Soviet Union.
Projected Changes to Cool-Season Storm Tides in the 21st Century along the Northeastern United States Coast

This study investigates changes and uncertainties to cool-season (November-March) storm tides along the U.S. northeast coast in the 21st century under the high RCP8.5 emission scenario compared to ...
Effect of probe geometry during measurement of >100 A Ga2O3 vertical rectifiers

The high breakdown voltage and low on-state resistance of Schottky rectifiers fabricated on β-Ga2O3 leads to low switching losses, making them attractive for power inverters. One of the main goals is to achieve high forward currents, requiring the fabrication of large area (>1 cm2) devices in order to keep the current density below the threshold for thermally driven failure. A problem encountered during the measurement of these larger area devices is the dependence of current spreading on the probe size, resistance, number, and geometry, which leads to lower currents than expected. We demonstrate how a multiprobe array (6 × 8 mm2) provides a means of mitigating this effect and measure a single sweep forward current up to 135 A on a 1.15 cm2 rectifier fabricated on a vertical Ga2O3 structure. Technology computer-aided design simulations using the floods code, a self-consistent partial differential equation solver, provide a systematic insight into the role of probe placement, size (40–4120 μm), number (1–5), and the sheet resistance of the metal contact on the resultant current-voltage characteristics of the rectifiers.
Evaluation of Escherichia coli and coliforms in aquaponic water for produce irrigation

Abstract The FDA Produce Safety Rule states that water used for irrigation purposes, likely to come into contact with the edible portion of fruit and vegetables, must not exceed a defined limit of Escherichia coli populations. Although aquaponics has not been included in this guideline, it is worth investigating to establish a baseline for facilities to reference in produce production. Two microbial assays were performed, one a decoupled media-based aquaponics system over one year and another on a decoupled nutrient film technique (NFT) aquaponics system over 16 days. Water was sampled from each system over time to analyze changes of E. coli and coliforms. The geometric mean (GM) and statistical threshold variable (STV) were calculated based on E. coli populations from the irrigation source in each system. From the first experiment, it was determined, based on the FDA Produce Safety Rule, that E. coli must be monitored more closely from June to January as they were above the advised limit. The second experiment determined that E. coli and coliforms in the water significantly decreased over 16 days. Water should be held for 8 d and up to 16 d to reduce the likelihood of foodborne pathogens to contaminate produce.
Racial/Ethnic Inequities in Adverse Childhood Experiences and Selected Health-Related Behaviors and Problems Among Maryland Adolescents.

We examined racial/ethnic inequities in the prevalence of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and examined the association between ACEs and selected health-related behaviors and problems. Data for...
Thailand: The Evolution of Law, the Legal Profession and Political Authority

This article describes the origin and development of the modern Thai legal profession. Intimately linked in origin to the development of the modern Thai state, the legal profession increasingly resembles the profession in economically developed democracies. Paralleling other regional developments, Thailand’s rapid economic development, constitutional reforms, and expanding judicialization drives many of the most important changes in the education and function of lawyers. Significant differences continue to exist between the profession in Thailand and legal professions in developed democracies, reflecting the profession’s origins and the continuing influence of consciousness and class structure as well as Thailand’s peculiarly semi-democratic and monarchical state.
Mcc1229, an Stx2a-amplifying microcin, is produced in vivo and requires CirA for activity

Enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) strains, including the foodborne pathogen E. coli O157:H7, are responsible for thousands of hospitalizations each year. Various environmental triggers can modulate pathogenicity in EHEC by inducing expression of Shiga toxin (Stx), which is encoded on a lambdoid prophage and transcribed together with phage late genes. Cell-free supernatants of the sequence type (ST) 73 E. coli strain 0.1229 are potent inducers of Stx2a production in EHEC, suggesting that 0.1229 secretes a factor that activates the SOS response and leads to phage lysis. We previously demonstrated that this factor, designated microcin (Mcc) 1229, was proteinaceous and plasmid-encoded. To further characterize Mcc1229 and support its classification as a microcin, we investigated its regulation, determined its receptor, and identified loci providing immunity. Production of Mcc1229 was increased upon iron limitation, as determined by ELISA, lacZ fusions, and qRT-PCR. Spontaneous Mcc1229-resistant mutants and targeted gene deletion revealed that CirA was the Mcc1229 receptor. TonB, which interacts with CirA in the periplasm, was also essential for Mcc1229 import. Subcloning of the Mcc1229 plasmid indicated that Mcc activity was neutralized by two ORFs, each predicted to encode a domain of unknown function (DUF)-containing protein. In a germfree mouse model of infection, colonization with 0.1229 suppressed subsequent colonization of EHEC. Although Mcc1229 was produced in vivo, it was dispensable for colonization suppression. The regulation, import, and immunity determinants identified here are consistent with features of other Mccs, suggesting that Mcc1229 be included in this class of small molecules.
Risk, Crisis, and Emergency Communication in Developing Countries: Identifying the Needs of Urban Populations

Media images of recent events such as war and genocide in sub-Saharan Africa, earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, and the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean have made salient the devastating potential of natural disasters in the developing world, as well as the difficulties inherent in alerting people of impending crises and responding to their needs in the aftermath. Numerous government agencies and NGOs alike have argued that devastating events such as these are occurring with greater frequency, and that this increase in frequency and severity will continue for years to come. The developing world is especially vulnerable to incidents of this type, due to increasing population density, settlements in high-risk areas, increased technological risks, greater international travel, and an international upturn in war and terrorism, to name a few (Auf der Heide, Emerg Med Clin N Am, 14(2), 453–480, 1996).
Cities: Capital, Global, and World

This is a review of how a new field of inquiry took shape. The article first examines the key features of this new field of inquiry, one that seeks to understand and document the multiple interactions of cities and the global economy in the current period. Next it examines the evolution of the scholarship on the subject, showing how in the early 1980s a large number of scholars began to explore these types of issues independently of each other, typically with very particular questions in mind rather than the more general subject of cities and the global economy. The rest of the article examines the critiques, several of the key hypotheses in this literature, and some of the themes that are emerging as an agenda for research and theory.
Metformin: Potential Analgesic?

Objective To determine the association of self-report use of metformin and pain intensity. Design Survey-based cross sectional. Setting Primary care in an academic medical center. Subjects Three hundred and twenty nine participants with diabetes. Methods A total of 329 men and women, aged 18–65, completed a phone-based survey. We utilized the Brief Pain Inventory to assess for pain intensity ratings; Leeds Assessment of Neuropathic Symptoms and Signs to screen for neuropathy; and the Personal Health Questionnaire (PHQ8) Depression Scale to assess for depression. Results Three hundred and twenty nine diabetics (mean age 54- ± 8-year old) completed the study (162 metformin users, 167 nonusers). Compared with non-users, metformin users were used more often [38% vs 20%, P = 0.001]; had lower mean depression scores [6.8 vs 8.3; P = 0.026] and fewer comorbidities [1.5 vs 1.8, P = 0.022]. Adjusting for those three variables, pain scores were not significantly different between groups. In a subset analyses of those with neuropathic pain (n = 156), there were no differences in pain scores found between groups. Conclusions In a clinic sample of patients with diabetes, the use of metformin at an average dose of 1,432 mg (SD = 596 mg) was not associated with lower pain scores. Given the anti-nociceptive effects of metformin in the animal models of pain, and the relative safety of metformin, future research should evaluate the effect of the higher dose of metformin as a potential analgesic.
Wind-driven response of the Hudson River Plume and its effect on dissolved oxygen concentrations

The Lagrangian Transport and Transformation Experiment (LaTTE) study of the Hudson River Plume has now completed 2 of its 3 field seasons. The interdisciplinary study is being conducted in a sustained coastal research observatory that provides a spatial and temporal context for adaptive shipboard sampling. Observations from the second LaTTE field season are used here to describe the processes responsible for a previously unexplained recurrent hypoxia region along the New Jersey coast.
External compression as initial management of giant omphaloceles

The authors describe a noninvasive technique for the management of giant omphaloceles. Two patients with giant omphaloceles were managed with external compression. Dry sterile dressings were used, buttressed by an Ace bandage in the first case and by a handcrafted Velcro abdominal binder in the second. The binder was tightened every 2 or 3 days. Renal, cardiovascular, respiratory, and gastrointestinal parameters were measured regularly to determine whether the binder was too tight. The first patient had only occasional emesis, and the defect was repaired after 40 days of compression. The second patient experienced intermittent hypertension, occasional emesis, and mild oxygen desaturation, which resolved when the binder was loosened slightly. The fascia muscle and skin were closed after 30 days of external compression. Both patients are currently living at home and doing well. This form of external compression is an effective, inexpensive, and low-risk method for the gradual reduction of giant omphaloceles, and should be considered for patients born with this problem.
Energy-efficient rate-adaptive GPS-based positioning for smartphones

Many emerging smartphone applications require position information to provide location-based or context-aware services. In these applications, GPS is often preferred over its alternatives such as GSM/WiFi based positioning systems because it is known to be more accurate. However, GPS is extremely power hungry. Hence a common approach is to periodically duty-cycle GPS. However, GPS duty-cycling trades-off positioning accuracy for lower energy. A key requirement for such applications, then, is a positioning system that provides accurate position information while spending minimal energy.In this paper, we present RAPS, rate-adaptive positioning system for smartphone applications. It is based on the observation that GPS is generally less accurate in urban areas, so it suffices to turn on GPS only as often as necessary to achieve this accuracy. RAPS uses a collection of techniques to cleverly determine when to turn on GPS. It uses the location-time history of the user to estimate user velocity and adaptively turn on GPS only if the estimated uncertainty in position exceeds the accuracy threshold. It also efficiently estimates user movement using a duty-cycled accelerometer, and utilizes Bluetooth communication to reduce position uncertainty among neighboring devices. Finally, it employs celltower-RSS blacklisting to detect GPS unavailability (e.g., indoors) and avoid turning on GPS in these cases. We evaluate RAPS through real-world experiments using a prototype implementation on a modern smartphone and show that it can increase phone lifetimes by more than a factor of 3.8 over an approach where GPS is always on.