cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Image demodulation using multidimensional energy separation

Locally narrow-band images can be modeled as two-dimensional (2D) spatial AM–FM signals with several applications in image texture analysis and computer vision. We formulate an image-demodulation problem and present a solution based on the multidimensional energy operator Φ(f) = ||∇f||2 − f∇2f. This nonlinear operator is a multidimensional extension of the one-dimensional (1D) energy-tracking operator Ψ(f) = (f′)2 − ff″, which has been found useful for demodulating 1D AM–FM and speech signals. We discuss some interesting properties of the multidimensional operator and develop a multidimensional energy-separation algorithm to estimate the amplitude envelope and instantaneous frequencies of 2D spatially varying AM–FM signals. Experiments are also presented on applying this 2D energy-demodulation algorithm to estimate the instantaneous amplitude contrast and spatial frequencies of image textures bandpass filtered by means of Gabor filters. The attractive features of the multidimensional energy operator and the 2D energy-separation algorithm are their simplicity, efficiency, and ability to track instantaneously varying spatial-modulation patterns.
Low temperature techniques applied for CTEM and STEM analysis of cellular components at a molecular level

SUMMARY One of the most important problems in tissue preparation for electron microscopic analysis at a molecular level involves the preservation of the tissue without introducing extensive denaturation of the proteins. Low temperature is a most efficient condition for the inhibition of protein denaturation and freeze-drying offers favourable conditions for transferring proteins to a dry state with minimal denaturation of the proteins. However, the embedding of the dried tissue in a plastic leads to extensive denaturation of the proteins when performed in the conventional way. This eliminates very efficiently the advantages of the method. The situation becomes even worse when subjecting the tissue to freeze-substitution. To eliminate as far as possible the denaturing effect of plastic embedding, freeze-drying can be combined with low temperature embedding in a plastic. Freeze-fracturing allows a most efficient use of low temperature to reduce conformation changes in proteins. The value of the freeze-fracturing technique depends entirely on a precise knowledge of the location of the fracture planes. Since this location is not known, it must be determined on the basis of a deduction. If this deduction is wrong, the method becomes misleading. Two methods which allow a certain testing of the correctness of the deduced location of the fracture planes are mentioned.
A Robust Approach to the UAV Task Assignment Problem

This paper presents a new formulation for the UAV task assignment problem for uncertain dynamic environments. Uncertainty in this time-varying information directly implies that the optimization data, such as target cost and target-UAV distances, will be uncertain. To mitigate the impact of this uncertainty, the new algorithm combines two key approaches that have been developed to handle the changes in the data of the assignment problem. One approach is to design task assignment plans that are robust to the uncertainty in the data, which reduces the sensitivity to errors in the situational awareness (SA), but can be overly conservative for long duration plans. An alternative strategy is to replan as the SA is updated, which results in the best plan given the current information, but can lead to churning if the updates are too rapid. This paper presents an alternative strategy that combines robust planning with the techniques developed to eliminate churning. The resulting Robust Filter Embedded Task Assignment (RFETA) uses both proactive and reactive techniques to handle the uncertainty in the information and is shown to improve worst-case behavior of the plans, while at the same time ensuring that limited churning behavior is exhibited by the vehicle responding to noisy measurements. Numerous simulations are shown that demonstrate the performance benefits of this new algorithm.
Waves over Soft Muds: A Two-Layer Fluid Model

Abstract The problem of water waves propagating over a mud bottom, characterized as a laminar viscous fluid, is treated in several ways. First, two complete models are present, each valid for different lower (mud) layer depths, and second, a boundary layer model is presented as an appendix for the case where the lower layer is thick with respect to the boundary layer. These models are compared to the shallow water model and experimental results of Gade (1957, 1958) and agree well. The results show that extremely high wave attenuation rates are possible when the thickness of the lower layer is the same order as the internal boundary layer thickness and when the lower layer is thick.
Glyphosate translocation in common lambsquarters (Chenopodium album) and velvetleaf (Abutilon theophrasti) in response to ammonium sulfate

Abstract Greenhouse studies were conducted to determine the response of common lambsquarters and velvetleaf to glyphosate applied alone or with 20 g L−1 of ammonium sulfate (AMS). Minimal response of common lambsquarters to glyphosate plus AMS was observed. The GR50 values for velvetleaf decreased dramatically from 451 to 92 g ha−1 for glyphosate applied alone and glyphosate plus AMS, respectively. The addition of AMS did not affect foliar absorption of 14C-glyphosate in common lambsquarters but increased absorption in velvetleaf. A twofold increase in translocation, as a percentage of total 14C-glyphosate absorbed, occurred in velvetleaf with the addition of AMS. Increased control of velvetleaf with glyphosate plus AMS may be partially explained by greater glyphosate absorption and translocation. Increased translocation of glyphosate applied with AMS in velvetleaf was an indirect effect of greater foliar uptake as well as greater partitioning of glyphosate out of the treated leaf. Nomenclature: Glyphosat...
Applied Osmotic Loading for Promoting Development of Engineered Cartilage

This study investigated the potential use of static osmotic loading as a cartilage tissue engineering strategy for growing clinically relevant grafts from either synovium-derived stem cells (SDSCs) or chondrocytes. Bovine SDSCs and chondrocytes were individually encapsulated in 2% w/v agarose and divided into chondrogenic media of osmolarities 300 (hypotonic), 330 (isotonic), and 400 (hypertonic, physiologic) mOsM for up to 7 weeks. The application of hypertonic media to constructs comprised of SDSCs or chondrocytes led to increased mechanical properties as compared to hypotonic (300 mOsM) or isotonic (330 mOsM) media (po0.05). Constant exposure of SDSC-seeded constructs to 400 mOsM media from day 0 to day 49 yielded a Young's modulus of 513789 kPa and GAG content of 7.3970.52% ww on day 49, well within the range of values of native, immature bovine cartilage. Primary chondrocyte-seeded constructs achieved almost as high a Young's modulus, reaching 4877187 kPa and 6.7770.54%ww (GAG) for the 400 mOsM condition (day 42). These findings suggest hypertonic loading as a straightforward strategy for 3D cultivation with significant benefits for cartilage tissue engineering strategies. In an effort to understand potential mechanisms responsible for the observed response, cell volume measurements in response to varying osmotic conditions were evaluated in relation to the Boyle–van't Hoff (BVH) law. Results confirmed that chondrocytes behave as perfect osmometers; however SDSCs deviated from the BVH relation.
Supercritical Flow Interaction within the Cape Blanco–Cape Mendocino Orographic Complex

Abstract Supercritical flow interaction occurring in the marine boundary layer between closely spaced coastal capes is investigated with a mesoscale numerical prediction model. As an extension of previous work, the U.S. Navy’s Coupled Ocean/Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System (COAMPS) is used to perform idealized model simulations with marine layers of varying upstream Froude number to elucidate the different flow responses for a single convex bend. The impact upon the supercritical flow of introducing a series of closely spaced coastal bends is then investigated. The expansion fan is significantly reduced in magnitude and size by the formation of a compression wave at a blocking, concave bend approximately 150 km downstream. Building upon the idealized marine layer response, real-data forecasts are then examined for several time periods of supercritical flow interaction between Cape Blanco, Oregon, and Cape Mendocino, California. Observations from the Coastal Waves 1996 (CW96) field program were colle...
Use of Platelet-Rich Plasma to Enhance Effectiveness of Autologous Fat Grafting

Autologous fat grafting meets all of the fundamental criteria of idea augmentation materials: availability, low antigenicity, minimal donor morbidity, reproducible, predictable results, and avoids non-autograft disease transmission or incompatibility. Standardization of consistent harvesting, graft manipulations, and transfer protocols is improving the ability to accurately predict volume enhancements, and realize long-term survival of the grafted tissues. The technique is described using very low speed centrifugation to further concentrate the graft materials from infranatant fluids. Autologous fat grafting offers a viable and safe alternative means of soft tissue augmentation in select patients. Long lasting, natural contouring and volume increases are attainable.
Automated Physical Design: A Combinatorial Optimization Approach.

One of the most challenging tasks for the database administrator is physically designing the database (by selecting design features such as indexes, materialized views, and partitions) to attain optimal performance for a given workload. These features, however, impose storage and maintenance overhead on the database, thus requiring precise selection to balance the performance and the overhead. As the space of the design features is vast, and their interactions hard to quantify, the DBAs spend enormous amount of resources to identify the optimal set of features. The difficulty of the problem has lead to several physical design tools to automatically decide the design given the data and a representative workload. The state- of-the-art design tools rely on the query optimizer for comparing between physical design alternatives, and search for the optimal set of features. Although it provides an appropriate cost model for physical design, query optimization is a computationally expensive process. Other than affecting the performance of the design tools, the overhead of optimization also limits the physical design tools from searching the space thoroughly – forcing them to prune away the search space to find solutions within a reasonable time. So far it has been impossible to remove query optimization overhead without sacrificing cost estimation precision. Inaccuracies in query cost estimation are detrimental to the quality of physical design algorithms, as they increase the chances of "missing" good designs and consequently selecting sub-optimal ones. Precision loss and the resulting reduction in solution quality is particularly undesirable and it is the reason the query optimizer is used in the first place. In this thesis, we claim that for the physical design problem, the costs returned by the optimizer contain an intuitive mathematical model. By utilizing this model, the physical design problem can be converted to a compact convex optimization problem with integer variables and solved efficiently to attain near-optimal solutions using mature off-the-shelf solvers. This approach eliminates the tradeoff between query cost estimation accuracy and performance. We invoke the optimizer a small number of times, and then reuse the results of the invocation to create an accurate model. We demonstrate the usefulness of the model by finding near-optimal physical design for workloads containing thousands of queries and thousands of candidate design alternatives. In a more complex online workload scenario, we devise several algorithms with guaranteed competitive bounds for the physical design problem. The proposed online algorithms provide significant speedups while imposing reasonable overhead on the system. This thesis, demonstrates that optimizer—the most complex component of the DBMS–can be modeled in a restricted (yet important) domain. The same approach can be extended to other domains to build accurate and efficient models for the optimization problems, and optimal solutions can be searched in a principled manner.
Serotonin3 antagonists block aversion to saccharin in an amino acid- imbalanced diet

Conditioned taste aversion presumably plays a role in the anorectic responses to amino acid-imbalanced diets that induce acute amino acid deficiency. The serotonin3 (5-HT3) receptor antagonists, tropisetron (Trop), MDL-72222 (MDL), and ondansetron, increase intake of imbalanced amino acid diets. Therefore, we tested whether 5-HT3 receptor antagonists would block an aversion to powdered saccharin after it was included in an amino acid-imbalanced diet. Rats were given an intraperitoneal injection of Trop, MDL, or vehicle (Veh), just before introducing one of four diets: imbalanced amino acid diet +/- saccharin (Imb or ImbSac) or a balanced (corrected) diet +/- saccharin (Cor or CorSac). Subsequent aversion to saccharin was shown in preference tests using Cor and CorSac. Saccharin preference was significantly decreased (8.3% on test day 1) in the Veh/ImbSac group, but the Trop/ImbSac group's saccharin preference (57.8%) was similar to controls (49.6-70.3%); MDL also blocked the aversion to saccharin after ImbSac. This confirms previous reports of conditioned taste aversions with amino acid limitation and suggests a role for the 5-HT3 receptor in the development of these aversions.
Parsimony in Signature-Based Target Identification

In signature-based target identification [20] the scattering dyadic of each type of target is characterized by a set of functions based on a particular scattering model (e.g., complex exponentials for the late-time response, or delta, step, ramp, etc., for the early-time response). Each of the functions is characterized by a small number of parameters (e.g., complex natural frequencies ) including a scaling coefficient (scalar, dyadic) to adjust the amplitude (perhaps including vector orientation). Each of the targets is represented in a target library by an appropriate set of such functions with parameter values particular to the individual target types (e.g., a particular type of aircraft such as a 707). The approach is to associate these parameter values with the characteristics of the electromagnetic waves scattered (usually backscattered, but not necessarily so) from the target by some appropriate radar. The problem then is to distinguish one target from another by the differences in the parameters in the scattering model(s) inferred from the measured scattered fields. Given the presence of noise in any measurement there is some ambiguity in the declaration of a particular target type because of errors in the parameter estimation. Particularly as the parameter values for one target type approach those of another type the discrimination becomes increasingly difficult. Let us distinguish between two types of parameters. One type (fixed parameters) assumes particular values (scalar, vector, dyadic) for each target type. A second type, which we might call variable parameters is adjusted as part of the process of fitting the scattering model to the data. Such variable parameters are typically the coefficients of the fitting functions, which adjust the amplitudes (not necessarily scalars) of the fitting functions to best fit the data. Since we wish to discriminate between various targets we would like it to be difficult to fit the wrong target parameters to the data. So we would like to reduce the number of variable parameters (and the range of their variation) as much as we can. This is aided by constraining these scaling coefficients (e.g., pole residues) to values appropriate to the target type to the degree practical. This leads to a principle of parsimony as [25]: “Use as few feature variables as possible to provide consistent classification.” In the present context feature variables are interpreted as variable parameters, or parameter values that aapply to multiple target types (at least approximately).
Statistical approaches to multi-scale point cloud processing.

In recent years, 3D geometry has gained increasing popularity as the new form of digital media content. Due to advances in sensor technology, it is now feasible to acquire highly detailed 3D scans of complex scenes to obtain millions of data points at high sampling rates over large spatial extents. This ability to acquire high-resolution depth information brings with it the possibility of using 3D geometric data to construct detailed shape models and of perhaps combining 3D depth with visual appearance from images to address challenging problems in computer vision. However, geometric information represented as a 3D point cloud presents challenges uniquely different from other data modalities such as images or audio. Due to a combination of reasons such as the spatial irregularity of the data and the implicit nature of 3D observations, an easy substitution of traditional signal processing operators from images for processing unorganized 3D points is not possible. Furthermore, traditional estimators from classical statistics are not suitable for processing data in this domain, and new algorithms as well as different criteria for evaluating these algorithms are necessary. This dissertation contributes towards the development of two fundamental building blocks for processing point clouds. The first is of geometric model fitting, where we present a class of locally semi-parametric estimators that allows finite-sample analysis of accuracy and also explicitly addresses the problem of support-radius selection in local fitting. The second is of multi-scale filtering operators for point clouds that allow detection of interest regions whose locations as well as spatial extent are completely data-driven. The proposed approaches are distinguished from related work by operating directly in the input 3D space on unorganized points without assuming an available mesh or resorting to an intermediate global 2D parameterization. Results are presented for several applications including surface reconstruction, accurate shape descriptor computation and repeatable interest region detection, on synthetic data, as well as outdoor aerial and ground-based data obtained with a laser scanner.
Some Aspects of the Internal Anatomy of the Leafhopper Agallia constricta (Homoptera: Cicadellidae)

The gross anatomy of the alimentary canal and malpighian tubules of Agallia constricta (Van Duzee) is described, as well as the histology of their various regions. Rickettsia-like microorganisms and carbonates were found in the midgut. Each salivary gland, consisting of a principal 4-lobed gland and an accessory gland, contains 5 different types of acini. In the male reproductive system there are a pair of testes, each with 6 follicles, a pair of vasa deferentia, and a median ejaculatory duct, plus a pair of accessory glands. Each ovary of the female system is made up of 6 ovarioles, each consisting of terminal filament, germarium, vitellarium, and pedicel. The calyx connects the ovarioles with the lateral oviducts and these open to a common oviduct leading to the genital chamber; 2 small accessory glands and a paragenital gland are present. The central nervous system comprises 4 ganglionic masses: the brain, the subesophageal ganglion, the prothoracic ganglion, and the fused ganglia of mesothorax, metathorax, and abdomen; nerves from these various ganglia innervate the different organs. The circulatory system consists of a dorsal vessel, formed by a 7-chambered heart in the abdomen and an aorta extending from the heart into the head. What appear to be accessory pulsatile organs occur in the dorsal part of the abdomen and in each tibia near the femur. Each of the 2 mycetomes is an isolated structure in the anterior part of the abdomen, appressed laterally to the integument. The fat-body, surrounding all organs, is present in the head, thorax, and abdomen, but is most plentiful in the abdomen.
Green Peach Aphid Populations on Desert Sugar Beets

The green peach aphid ( Myzus persicae (Sulzer)) has about nine generations on desert beets between October 15 and March 31. Alatae produced ranged from 15% in low to 99% in high populations. During the 1959-60 season the average production of alatae was more than 25 million per acre, mostly after February 15.
n-Type Transparent Conducting Films of Small Molecule and Polymer Amine Doped Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

In this report, we investigate the electrical and optical properties of thin conducting films of SWNTs after treatment with small molecule and polymeric amines. Among those tested, we find hydrazine to be the most effective n-type dopant. We use absorbance, Raman, X-ray photoelectron, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopies on thin conducting films and opaque buckypapers treated with hydrazine to study fundamental properties and spectroscopic signatures of n-type SWNTs and compare them to SWNTs treated with nitric acid, a well-characterized p-type dopant. We find that hydrazine physisorbs to the surface of semiconducting and metallic SWNTs and injects large electron concentrations, raising the Fermi level as much as 0.7 eV above that of intrinsic SWNTs. Hydrazine-treated transparent SWNT films display sheet resistances nearly as low as p-type nitric-acid-treated films at similar optical transmittances, demonstrating their potential for use in photovoltaic devices as low work function transparent electron-collecting electrodes.
Two new species of the genus Phaonia from sichuan Province, China(Diptera:Muscidae)

Two new species i. e. Phaonia liangshanica sp. nov. and Phaonia atritarsus sp. nov. belonging to Phaoniini of Phaoninae is described and figured in the present paper. The former of type specimen is kept in the Medical Entomological Collection, Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, AMMS, Beijin, China; the latter of ones is kept in the Institus of plant Physiology Ecology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200032 ,China.1. Phaonia liangshanica sp. nov. (Figs. 1-3)Male:Body length 6. 5MM. This new species belonging to Phaonia shaanxiensis-subgroup of Phaonia furcicoxa-group, similar to Phaonia shaanxiensis Xue et Cao, 1989, but can be distinguished from the latter by the following chara Cters: 1)Femora black, but the latter gellow; 2) basal half of median femur without pv seta, but the latter with ones; 3)3rd and 4th tergites of abdomen without shape like a "T" in handstand of spot, but the latter with ones; 4)anterior margin of distal part of cerci in male without a gap in right angle, but the latter with one.Female: UnknownHolotype ♂, Meigu(1200m; 28°17'N, 103°10'E), Sichuan Prov. China, 11 July 1975. Coll. by Ni Tao.2. Phaonia atritarsus sp. nov. (Figs. 4-5)Male:Body length 7. Omm. This new species belonging to Phaonia Palpata-group, similar to phaonia mimopalpata Ma et Cui, 1992, but can be distinguished from the latter by the following characters: 1)Femora yellow, but the latter black; 2)fore tibia with 1 P, but the latter without one; 3)flat-thin of abdomen in profile, 3rd and 4th tergites with a long mid spot respectively, but the latter cylinder-like of one, and that is with fine mid stripe.Female: Body length 6. Omm. frons covered with silver pollen, its width about one-third of that the head one;; width of interfrontalia about 5 times than the parafrontalia, and without in-terfrontal bristle; palpus bright black, broad of knife-like in profile, which widest point about one-third of its length, anterior margin on median part expandly in arc; abdomen black and flat;long triangle-like, it's dorsal with strong deform spots, without lateral spot; other characters as this male species.Holotype ♂ , Mingshan (Mt. Mengdingshan, 1450m, 30°03'N, 103°01'E),Sichuan Prov. , China. 17 Aug. 2004,coll. by Feng Yan. paratype 1 -♀ same as holotype.
Survey on height growth of primary and secondary school students in Shandan County of Gansu Province

[Objective]To understand the height growth status and features of primary and secondary school students in Shandan County,to study the dynamic trend of growth and development of children and adolescents in Shandan County,as well as the Hexi Corridor region,and provide evidence and essential data for developing student physical health intervention strategies.[Methods]Based on the physical examination results of Shandan County students in 2010,the height data of 7-18 years old students was analyzed and compared with the national and Gansu average height of student.[Results] The average height of 7-18 years old male students in Shandan City was shorter than the national average level in 2005 by 30 cm,and shorter than the Gansu average level in 2005 by 35 cm;while for female students,the average height was shorter than national and Gansu level by 22 cm and 29 cm,respectively.Urban male and female students' height were both higher than rural ones by 43 cm.[Conclusion]The height growth of primary and secondary school students in Shandan County is in line with the national overall levels,but prepubertal height growth level is lower than national and provincial levels with urban-rural difference and obvious age and sex characteristics.It is necessary to develop comprehensive prevention and control strategies,and improve physical health level of primary and secondary students through integrated interventions such as quality education,healthy lifestyles promotion,implementation of the student nutrition improvement program.
Histochemical localization of the enkephalins

The opiate-like pentapeptides methionine-enkephalin and leucine-enkephalin (Hughes, 1975; Hughes et al., 1975; Simantov and Snyder, 1976) are found in the mammalian brain. In biochemical studies, their regional localization resembles that of opiate receptor binding (Hughes, 1975; Simantov et al., 1976a; Pasternak et al., 1975) and in subcellular fractionation studies, they are localized to the synaptosomal fractions that contain nerve terminals (Simantov et al., 1976b). Electrophysiologic studies indicate that the enkephalins can have potent effects on neuronal firing rates (Zieglgansberger et al., 1976; Duggan et al., 1976; Frederickson and Norris, 1976; Bradley et al., 1976; Young et al., 1977; Nicoll et al., 1977). Taken together, these findings suggest that the enkephalins may be neurotransmitters or neuromodulators in the mammalian brain.
Code reviews are not for finding defects—Even established tools need occasional evaluation

Abstract The process of code reviewing in software engineering is analogous to a plan review in civil engineering or a paper review in academia. In all these, there is the assumption that the quality of output increases by applying differing viewpoints to the subject being reviewed and allowing the author to consider and apply the resulting feedback before finalizing the work.
Freezing of Interacting Defects in Glasses

In glasses, the temperature range between 3 and 10 K is a crossover region characterized by a plateau in the thermal conductivity and a dramatic drop by a factor of 102 –103 in C/T with decreasing temperature T, where C is the specific heat [1]. In addition the ultrasonic attenuation at a fixed frequency decreases by roughly a factor of 30 as the temperature drops from 100 K to 1 K. Below 1 GHz this has been attributed to relaxation and structural rearrangement [1]. However, above 100 GHz, structural relaxation is too slow to contribute and another explanation is needed [2]. In this paper we explore the intriguing possibility that the crossover signals a phase transition in which degrees of freedom freeze out as the system is cooled [3].
Determination of modeled luminosity-based and pressure-based ignition delay times of turbulent spray combustion

Abstract Turbulent spray combustion of n-dodecane was studied computationally in a constant volume combustion chamber, with a special emphasis on determining an analogous definition of experimental luminosity-based ignition delay time for computational fluid dynamics simulations. This modeling study was conducted over a range of initial combustion chamber temperatures varying from 900 K to 1200 K and gas density of 22.8 kg/m3, using Large Eddy Simulation of turbulence, multizone combustion model, adaptive mesh refinement, and a skeletal n-dodecane chemical kinetic model. The spray and jet penetrations, combustion chamber pressure rise, fuel vapor mass fraction, and flame lift-off length were modeled and compared with the experimental data. Among all of the key species and spray characteristics studied, the modeled ignition delay times based on the n-dodecane vapor penetration, the hydroperoxyalkyl (QOOH) and hydroxyl (OH) mass history were shown to better match with the experimental results, and hence can be utilized in simulations to accurately determine the luminosity-based ignition delay times.
Semi-supervised Tensor Factorization for Brain Network Analysis

Brain networks characterize the temporal and/or spectral connections between brain regions and are inherently represented by multi-way arrays tensors. In order to discover the underlying factors driving such connections, we need to derive compact representations from brain network data. Such representations should be discriminative so as to facilitate the identification of subjects performing different cognitive tasks or with different neurological disorders. In this paper, we propose semiBAT, a novel semi-supervised Brain network Analysis approach based on constrained Tensor factorization. semiBAT 1 leverages unlabeled resting-state brain networks for task recognition, 2 explores the temporal dimension to capture the progress, 3 incorporates classifier learning procedure to introduce supervision from labeled data, and 4 selects discriminative latent factors for different tasks. The Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers ADMM framework is utilized to solve the optimization objective. Experimental results on EEG brain networks illustrate the superior performance of the proposed semiBAT model on graph classification with a significant improvement $$31.60\,\%$$ over plain vanilla tensor factorization. Moreover, the data-driven factors can be readily visualized which should be informative for investigating cognitive mechanisms. The software related to this paper is available at https://www.cs.uic.edu/~bcao1/code/semibat.zip.
Mitigation of low-order atmospheric turbulent effects using sensorless adaptive optics in terrestrial free space optical communication

Tip-Tilt and wavefront distortion in the Free Space Optical Communication (FSOC) can be mitigated with Conventional Adaptive Optics (AO) which is widely used in many optical systems to improve the quality of an optical system by manipulating the optical wavefronts using suitable techniques thereby improving BER. This paper describes Sensorless Adaptive optics (SLAO) technique which replaces the high cost wavefront sensor and corrects aberrated optical wavefront by comparing a test wavefront to a perfect, reference wavefront, and then modifying the test wavefront in order to reach the reference wavefront. Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) based reconstruction technique is proposed. The neural network is designed to use the information of tilt in the wave-front acquired by the science camera by extracting the parameters as inputs and estimate the turbulence in terms of Zernike coefficients. Multi-Layer feed forward Neural Network is used to train the inputs and to find actuator control voltages which are applied to DM. In this paper we present a practical implementation of Adaptive Optics system at 850 nm based on a wave-front sensorless architecture. Proposed experimental set-up reduces the complexity and the cost of the conventional adaptive optics system. SLAO provides fast and effective wave-front correction. When compared with the conventional AO systems, the sensorless technique offers the advantage of not requiring the high cost wavefront sensor.
Optofluidic Lasers with Monolayer Gain at the Liquid–Liquid Interface

We report optofluidic lasers with a monolayer gain material that self-assembles at the two-phase liquid–liquid interface. The self-assembly process deterministically introduces the gain at the surface of a microdroplet optical cavity, where the lasing mode has maximal interaction with the gain medium. A complete monolayer gain can be achieved in this surface-gain geometry, giving a surface density on the order of 1014 cm–2, which proves to be difficult, if not impossible, to achieve in the monolayer gain created at the solid–liquid interface via the surface immobilization method. We demonstrated that the lasing characteristics are drastically different between the gain material that is confined to the liquid–liquid interface and that homogeneously distributed in the bulk liquid solution. Our study reveals the unique capabilities of the surface-gain geometry optofluidic laser, which can be developed into a novel sensing platform to study biophysical and biochemical processes at the molecular level and has ...
Cost effectiveness of a targeted age-based West Nile virus vaccination program

Abstract Background West Nile virus (WNV) is the leading cause of domestically-acquired arboviral disease in the United States. Several WNV vaccines are in various stages of development. We estimate the cost-effectiveness of WNV vaccination programs targeting groups at increased risk for severe WNV disease. Methods We used a mathematical model to estimate costs and health outcomes of vaccination with WNV vaccine compared to no vaccination among seven cohorts, spaced at 10 year intervals from ages 10 to 70 years, each followed until 90-years-old. U.S. surveillance data were used to estimate WNV neuroinvasive disease incidence. Data for WNV seroprevalence, acute and long-term care costs of WNV disease patients, quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs), and vaccine characteristics were obtained from published reports. We assumed vaccine efficacy to either last lifelong or for 10 years with booster doses given every 10 years. Results There was a statistically significant difference in cost-effectiveness ratios across cohorts in both models and all outcomes assessed (Kruskal-Wallis test p Conclusions Age-based WNV vaccination program targeting those at higher risk for severe disease is more cost-effective than universal vaccination. Annual variation in WNV disease incidence, QALY weights, and vaccine costs impact the cost effectiveness ratios.
Tough Enough for the Job? How Masculinity Predicts Recruitment of City Council Members:

Does an individual’s gender help to explain if he or she is more or less likely to be recruited to run for political office? While the effects of sex differences on the candidate emergence process ...
Progress Toward the Tertiary Structure of (Class 3) Aldehyde Dehydrogenase

We chose to pursue crystallography of the class 3 aldehyde dehydrogenase since, with subunits some 10% shorter than classes 1 and 2, and a dimeric rather than tetrameric quaternary structure, it presented a simpler molecule to solve. Further, despite a primary structure only some 30% identical to class 1 or 2 structures, secondary structural predictions suggested generally comparable tertiary structures (Hempel et al., 1989). The pTALDH expression system (Harper et al., 1988) provided a ready source of material. Subsequently, the observed low solubility of the enzyme (ca. lmg/ml in the presence of NAD) was probably a further advantage aiding crystallization.
Cell biology of mRNA decay

Studying single mRNA molecules has added new dimensions to our understanding of gene expression and the life cycle of mRNA in cells. Advances in microscopes and detection technology have opened access to single molecule research to most researchers interested in molecular biology. Here we provide an overview technique for single molecule studies of RNA in either fixed samples or in living cells. As part of a volume on mRNA turnover, it is increasingly relevant, because many of the recent advances in studies of mRNA turnover have suggested that there is non-homogeneous distribution of turnover factors in the cell. For this reason, understanding of spatial relationships between mRNA and mRNA turnover factors should enrich our understanding of this process.
High-cost sharing policies and non-urgent emergency department visits.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine whether high-cost-sharing ambulatory care policies affect non-urgent emergency department (ED) care utilization differently among individuals with and without chronic conditions. Design/methodology/approach This retrospective cohort study used 2010–2011 US Medical Expenditure Panel Survey data. Difference-in-difference methods, multivariate logit model and survey procedures were employed. Time lag effect was used to address endogeneity concerns. Findings The sample included 4,347 individuals. Difference in non-urgent ED visits log odds between high- and low-cost-sharing policies was not significantly different between chronically ill and non-chronically ill individuals (β=−0.48, p=0.42). Sensitivity analysis with 15 and 25 percent cost-sharing levels also generated consistent insignificant results (p=0.33 and p=0.31, respectively). Ambulatory care incidence rates were not significantly different between high- and low-cost-sharing groups among chronically ill people (incidence rate ratio=0.849, p=0.069). Practical implications High-cost-sharing ambulatory care policies were not associated with increased non-urgent ED care utilization among chronically ill and healthy people. The chronically ill patients may have retained sizable ambulatory care that was necessary to maintain their health. Health plans or employers may consider low-level cost-sharing policies for ambulatory care among chronically ill enrollees or employees. Originality/value Findings contribute to insurance benefit design; i.e., whether high-cost-sharing ambulatory care policies should be implemented among chronically ill enrollees to maintain their health and save costs for health plans.
Glial ensheathment of the somatodendritic compartment regulates sensory neuron structure and activity

Sensory neurons perceive environmental cues and are important of organismal survival. Peripheral sensory neurons interact intimately with glial cells. While the function of axonal ensheathment by glia is well studied, less is known about the functional significance of glial interaction with the somatodendritic compartment of neurons. Herein, we show that three distinct glia cell types differentially wrap around the axonal and somatodendritic surface of the polymodal dendritic arborization (da) neuron of the Drosophila peripheral nervous system for detection of thermal, mechanical, and light stimuli. We find that glial cell-specific loss of the chromatin modifier gene dATRX in the subperineurial glial layer leads to selective elimination of somatodendritic glial ensheathment, thus allowing us to investigate the function of such ensheathment. We find that somatodendritic glial ensheathment regulates the morphology of the dendritic arbor, as well as the activity of the sensory neuron, in response to sensory stimuli. Additionally, glial ensheathment of the neuronal soma influences dendritic regeneration after injury.
Gene Therapy for Tortoises

Most companies become incremental in their thinking as they get big. They get risk-averse and hierarchical. But in an era when investors insist on fast growth, such companies have to re-learn the t...
Copper-Catalyzed N-tert-Butylation of Aromatic Amines under Mild Condi­tions Using tert-Butyl 2,2,2-Trichloroacetimidate

A variety of aromatic amines have been found to expediently undergo copper-catalyzed N-tert-butylation in the presence of tert-butyl 2,2,2-trichloroactimidate at room temperature.
Racial differences in attitudes toward molecular testing for personalized cancer therapy.

6566 Background: We assessed attitudes of breast cancer patients regarding molecular testing for personalized therapy and research. Methods: Female breast cancer patients presenting to a cancer cen...
Lyme Arthritis and Clinical Judgment

* Abbreviation: EIA — : enzyme-linked immunoassay When a child presents with acute arthritis, the immediate question is whether it is “septic” (acute bacterial) arthritis, which, in addition to antimicrobial treatment, may need surgical washout to prevent permanent damage to the joint. This can be problematic in areas in which Lyme disease is endemic because Lyme arthritis, which does not require surgical washout and typically is subacute, can at times present like septic arthritis.1 In this issue of Pediatrics , Nigrovic et al2 address the question of whether invasive procedures (diagnostic arthrocentesis and surgical washout) can be avoided in patients who have Lyme arthritis by relying on the result of a C6 enzyme-linked immunoassay (EIA) for serum antibodies against Borrelia burgdorferi . The standard approach to diagnose Lyme arthritis is a 2-tier test for serum antibodies. The first-tier test typically is an EIA that uses antigens of sonicated whole B burgdorferi organisms to measure the quantity of the patient’s antibodies (immunoglobulin M and immunoglobulin G combined) against B burgdorferi . However, an EIA result may be positive from cross-reactive antibodies. Consequently, if the EIA … Address correspondence to Eugene D. Shapiro, MD, Department of Pediatrics, Yale School of Medicine, PO Box 208064, 333 Cedar St, New Haven, CT 06520-8064. E-mail: eugene.shapiro{at}yale.edu
Life-Sustaining Treatment Decisions Initiative: Early Implementation Results of a National Veterans Affairs Program to Honor Veterans' Care Preferences.

On July 1, 2018, the Veterans Health Administration (VA) National Center for Ethics in Health Care implemented the Life-Sustaining Treatment Decisions Initiative (LSTDI). Its goal is to identify, document, and honor LST decisions of seriously ill veterans. Providers document veterans’ goals and decisions using a standardized LST template and order set. Evaluate the first 7 months of LSTDI implementation and identify predictors of LST template completion. Retrospective observational study of clinical and administrative data. We identified all completed LST templates, defined as completion of four required template fields. Templates also include four non-required fields. Results were stratified by risk of hospitalization or death as estimated by the Care Assessment Need (CAN) score. All veterans with VA utilization between July 1, 2018, and January 31, 2019. Completed LST templates, goals and LST preferences, and predictors of documentation. LST templates were documented for 108,145 veterans, and 85% had one or more of the non-required fields completed in addition to the required fields. Approximately half documented a preference for cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Among those who documented specific goals, half wanted to improve or maintain function, independence, and quality of life while 28% had a goal of life prolongation irrespective of risk of hospitalization/death and 45% expressed a goal of comfort. Only 7% expressed a goal of being cured. Predictors of documentation included VA nursing home residence, older age, frailty, and comorbidity, while non-Caucasian race, rural residence, and receipt of care in a lower complexity medical center were predictive of no documentation. LST decisions were documented for veterans at high risk of hospitalization or death. While few expressed a preference for cure, half desire, cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Predictors of documentation were generally consistent with existing literature. Opportunities to reduce observed disparities exist by leveraging available VA resources and programs.
Prior and novel coronaviruses, Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), and human reproduction: what is known?

Objective To summarize current understanding of the effects of novel and prior coronaviruses on human reproduction, specifically male and female gametes, and in pregnancy. Design Review of English publications in PubMed and Embase to April 6, 2020. Method(s) Articles were screened for reports including coronavirus, reproduction, pathophysiology, and pregnancy. Intervention(s) None. Main Outcome Measure(s) Reproductive outcomes, effects on gametes, pregnancy outcomes, and neonatal complications. Result(s) Seventy-nine reports formed the basis of the review. Coronavirus binding to cells involves the S1 domain of the spike protein to receptors present in reproductive tissues, including angiotensin-converting enzyme-2 (ACE2), CD26, Ezrin, and cyclophilins. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 1 (SARS–CoV-1) may cause severe orchitis leading to germ cell destruction in males. Reports indicate decreased sperm concentration and motility for 72–90 days following Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection. Gonadotropin-dependent expression of ACE2 was found in human ovaries, but it is unclear whether SARS–Coronavirus 2 (CoV-2) adversely affects female gametogenesis. Evidence suggests that COVID-19 infection has a lower maternal case fatality rate than SARS or Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), but anecdotal reports suggest that infected, asymptomatic women may develop respiratory symptoms postpartum. Coronavirus Disease 2019 infections in pregnancy are associated with preterm delivery. Postpartum neonatal transmission from mother to child has been reported. Conclusion(s) Coronavirus Disease 2019 infection may affect adversely some pregnant women and their offspring. Additional studies are needed to assess effects of SARS–CoV-2 infection on male and female fertility.
Untargeted metabolomics reveal dysregulations in sugar, methionine, and tyrosine pathways in the prodromal state of AD.

Introduction Altered metabolism may occur years before clinical manifestations of Alzheimer's disease (AD). We used untargeted metabolomics on the cerebrospinal fluid of patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to uncover metabolomic derangements. Methods CSF from 92 normal controls and 93 MCI underwent untargeted metabolomics using high-resolution mass spectrometry with liquid chromatography. Partial least squares discriminant analysis was used followed by metabolite annotation and pathway enrichment analysis (PES). Significant features were correlated with disease phenotypes. Results We identified 294 features differentially expressed between the two groups and 94 were annotated. PES showed that sugar regulation (N-glycan, P = .0007; sialic acid, P = .0014; aminosugars, P = .0042; galactose, P = .0054), methionine regulation (P = .0081), and tyrosine metabolism (P = .019) pathways were differentially activated and significant features within these pathways correlated with multiple disease phenotypes. Conclusion There is a metabolic signature characterized by impairments in sugars, methionine, and tyrosine regulation in MCI. Targeting these pathways may offer new therapeutic approaches to AD.