cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Near-optimal private approximation protocols via a black box transformation

We show the following transformation: any two-party protocol for outputting a (1+e)-approximation to f(x,y) = ∑j=1n g(xj, yj) with probability at least 2/3, for any non-negative efficienty computable function g, can be transformed into a two-party private approximation protocol with only a polylogarithmic factor loss in communication, computation, and round complexity. In general it is insufficient to use secure function evaluation or fully homomorphic encryption on a standard, non-private protocol for approximating f. This is because the approximation may reveal information about x and y that does not follow from f(x,y). Applying our transformation and variations of it, we obtain near-optimal private approximation protocols for a wide range of problems in the data stream literature for which previously nothing was known. We give near-optimal private approximation protocols for the lp-distance for every p ≥ 0, for the heavy hitters and importance sampling problems with respect to any lp-norm, for the max-dominance and other dominant lp-norms, for the distinct summation problem, for entropy, for cascaded frequency moments, for subspace approximation and block sampling, and for measuring independence of datasets. Using a result for data streams, we obtain private approximation protocols with polylogarithmic communication for every non-decreasing and symmetric function g(xj,yj) = h(xj-yj) with at most quadratic growth. If the original (non-private) protocol is a simultaneous protocol, e.g., a sketching algorithm, then our only cryptographic assumption is efficient symmetric computationally-private information retrieval; otherwise it is fully homomorphic encryption. For all but one of these problems, the original protocol is a sketching algorithm. Our protocols generalize straightforwardly to more than two parties.
Baccalaureate Nursing Students' Information Technology Competence––Agency Perspectives

Baccalaureate nurses must meet information technology (IT) competencies expectations for employment and future professional development. Unfortunately, educational programs and accrediting groups have not identified specific outcomes, and IT is not integrated formally into many undergraduate program curricula. Meanwhile, nursing students and faculty are practicing in clinical agencies undergoing an informatics and technology revolution. Adding courses and content, hardware, software, and strategies such as distance learning and simulation have been recommended to improve competency development. However, little is known regarding nursing students' experiences with IT in clinical practica. Agencies used as sites for one undergraduate program were surveyed and asked to identify barriers and facilitators to students' IT competencies attainment. Ten agency, program, and policy factors affecting the quality of the learning experience in clinical agencies were identified. Results underscored that leadership to improve collaboration and communication between nursing practice, education, and policy groups is necessary to improve clinical environments for IT learning.
An introduction to competition-reachability of a graph

Let G be an undirected graph. A directed graph D obtained from G by assigning a direction to each edge in G is called an oriented graph. The reachability r(D) of a directed graph D is the number of ordered pairs of distinct vertices (x, y) with a directed path from x to y. Consider a graphical game associated with a graph G=(V, E) involving two players (maximizer and minimizer) who alternately select edges and orient them. The maximizer attempts to maximize the reachability, while the minimizer attempts to minimize the reachability, of the resulting digraph. If both players play optimally, then the reachability is fixed. Parameters that assign a value to each graph in this manner are called competitive parameters. We determine the competitive-reachability for special classes of graphs.
The ischemic cascade: Temporal sequence of hemodynamic, electrocardiographic and symptomatic expressions of ischemia

Abstract The development of an ischemic event, whether silent or painful, represents the cumulative impact of a sequence of pathophysiologic events. Each ischemic episode is initiated by an imbalance between myocardial oxygen supply and demand that may ultimately be manifested as angina pectoris. This sequence of events can be termed the ischemic cascade. The significance of this concept resides in the fact that it redirects the focus from the end result—angina—to the more fundamental, underlying pathophysiologic factors that precede it. Specifically, these events include diminished left ventricular compliance, decreased myocardial contractility, increased left ventricular end-diastolic pressure, ST-segment changes and, occasionally, angina pectoris.
Random characterization of design automation algorithms

Randomly generated Directed Acyclic Graphs (DAGs) can be used to generate various kinds of EDA test data. For example, they can be used to characterize channel routing algorithms. This paper uses such data to characterize the relative performance of a number of different channel routing algorithms, with the aim of determining those factors that have the most effect on routing performance. Our studies show very little difference in the algorithms studied Factors that have been considered to provide performance improvements are shown to be unimportant, and in some cases even detrimental to average routing performance. This study suggests that "well known" algorithms are not really well known at all, and that more extensive data is needed to characterize the algorithms that we use everyday.
Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumours of the maxillary sinus: A brief clinical report and review of the literature

Although inflammatory myofibroblastic tumours (IMTs) have been accepted as a clonal neoplasm, their pathology is poorly understood due to variable presentation. There is no identifiable cause and they are usually observed as tumour growth combined with inflammation. In the current WHO classification, IMTs are designated as intermediate malignancies. In terms of biological potential, IMTs are classified under 'rarely metastasizing'. IMTs are rare in the maxillary sinus but, when reported, can be locally aggressive or even destructive if they invade the orbit. The authors present a brief clinical report describing a five-year-old girl with a slow-growing mass in the right maxillary sinus extending into the lacrimal sac and its management.
Concordance of a point mutation 5' to the G gamma globin gene with G gamma beta +. Hereditary persistence of fetal hemoglobin in the black population

Hereditary persistence of fetal hemoglobin (HPFH) is a genetically heterogeneous and clinically benign condition characterized by persistent expression of fetal hemoglobin (Hb F) into adulthood. In the G gamma beta + type, no major deletions in the globin gene cluster occur; adult heterozygotes produce approximately 20% Hb F, which results from overproduction of G gamma chains, with no apparent increase in production from the adjacent A gamma gene. We have recently described a point mutation 202 base pairs 5′ to the cap site of the G gamma gene in an individual with G gamma beta + HPFH. This mutation abolishes a normal ApaI restriction endonuclease site, and thus can be detected by blotting of genomic DNA. We present here further data on the ApaI mutation: (1) It occurs in six of seven families with G gamma beta + HPFH. (2) In three families, detailed haplotype analysis using 11 polymorphic restriction sites in the beta globin cluster has been done. The two that carry the missing ApaI site are identical but the third, which has a normal ApaI pattern, differs from the other two in at least two sites, one of which is a new polymorphic Nco I site between the delta and beta globin genes. This suggests the possibility of a different HPFH mutation in the third family. (3) The haplotype of the G gamma beta + HPFH chromosome carrying the ApaI mutation is different from that of 108 beta A chromosomes of black individuals that have been tested. (4) The G gamma ApaI site is normal in 61 beta A and 109 beta S alleles from non-HPFH black individuals, including 22 who share the same haplotype for the intragenic G gamma, A gamma HindIII polymorphisms. These data add support to the possibility that the -202 mutation is actually causative of the G gamma beta + HPFH phenotype.
EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT NITROGEN DOSES ON YIELD AND QUALITY TRAITS OF COMMON SUNFLOWER (Helianthus annuus L.)

The present study was conducted to determine the effect of nitrogen doses (0, 3, 6, 9, 12 and 15 N kg da-1) on yield and quality traits of common sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) cultivars (Isera, C-70165 and Teknosol) with different growth periods under ecological conditions of Erzurum Province of Turkey in 2011 and 2012. Experiments were carried out in the Randomized Complete Blocks Design with three replications. Plant height, head diameter, kernel ratio, seed yield, thousand seed weight, oil yield, oil content, protein content and harvest index were investigated. The highest seed yield (341.1 kg da-1), thousand seed weight (65.2 g) and head diameter (17.4 cm) were obtained from 15 kg da-1 treatment of Isera (early) cultivar; the highest oil content (45.2%), oil yield (132.0 kg da-1 ) and plant height (147.7 cm) were respectively observed in 3 kg da-1 treatment of C-70165 (medium early), Isera and Teknosol (late) cultivars; the highest protein content (27.2%) was observed in 12 kg da-1 nitrogen treatment of Teknosol cultivar; the highest harvest index (38.5%) was obtained from 9 kg da-1 nitrogen treatment of Isera cultivar. While the effects of nitrogen doses on oil content were irregular, nitrogen doses had positive effects on seed yield. Keywords: Nitrogen, Harvest index, Helianthus annuus, Protein content, Seed yield, Oil content
Laboratory refugia preferences of the brown widow spider, Latrodectus geometricus (Araneae: Theridiidae)

During collecting episodes in urban southern California, brown widow spiders, Latrodectus geometricus C. L. Koch, 1841, were observed to reside most often in specific locations such as acute angles within patio furniture or on the underside of railings. In this laboratory study, we tested several variables to determine which factors brown widow females may use for web site selection. All tests were conducted with corrugated cardboard refugia in enclosed dome-shaped insect cages. Brown widows were found to significantly prefer: 1) 30o angles compared to 60o or 90o angles, 2) cavities of 75 and 100 mm depth compared to 25 or 50 mm depth, 3) cavities lined with single-faced corrugated cardboard compared to smooth surfaces, and 4) refuges that had previously housed a brown widow compared to similar but previously unoccupied refugia. These data provide unusually detailed information about microhabitat selection by an urban pest, with possible implications for the pest control industry for eradication or for home owners to avoid envenomations.
Sensitivity Analysis and Uncertainty Quantification for a Set of Hypersonic Shock Interaction Flows

Hypersonic gas flows around double cone and double wedge geometries tend to involve complex shock-shock and shock-boundary layer interactions, and are characterized by the formation of several flow structures which are highly sensitive to physical models and input parameter values utilized in flow simulation. This work is intended to clarify the influence of several modeling parameters and approximations on output quantities of interest by means of a more global and systemic approach than has previously been employed for these types of flows. A Monte Carlo approach for sensitivity analysis (SA) and uncertainty quantification (UQ) is integrated with a new direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) gas flow simulation code, and a large number of DSMC simulations are performed for a representative hypersonic flow over a double cone. Simulation results are analyzed to determine the relative sensitivity of local and global output quantities to several input uncertainties, and probability distributions are computed for these output quantities. Aleatory and epistemic uncertainties are considered independently with different sampling techniques, and both uncertainty types are included in UQ and SA calculations. In addition to DSMC-based SA/UQ calculations, double cone calculations are presented for a NavierStokes computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code. DSMC and CFD simulation results are compared with other computational and/or experimental data to ensure simulation accuracy under nominal flow conditions, and UQ results are employed to help explain discrepancies with published data.
Singing behavior, mating associations and reproductive success in a population of hybridizing lazuli and indigo buntings

Populations of Lazuli Buntings (Passerina amoena) and Indigo Buntings (P. cyanea) overlap in their distribution and hybridize in the Great Plains of North America. We conducted a 4-year field study of color-banded Indigo, Lazuli, and hybrid Buntings to address questions about mating behavior, male song and plumage traits, and reproductive success. From previous studies, we knew that males of these two taxa can learn one another's song traits and that song is important in eliciting sexual behavior in females. Here, we explore the possible role of intersexual vocal communication in explaining hybrid matings. We classified males and females as lazuli, indigo, or hybrid on the basis of plumage, and recorded male songs and described their acoustic features. We tested for associations between song traits and plumage phenotypes of the males, and between plumage phenotypes of females and the plumage and song traits of their mates. We found positive assortative mating between male and female plumage types, and between male song phrases and female plumage. Data on reproductive success of the different mating associations suggest lower fitness of pairings involving hybrids, especially those in which the female was hybrid. We conclude that there is selection against hybrids, but that between-species crosses are rela tively common because, at least to some degree, females use learned song traits of males in mate choice.
A Realistic Division of Downtown Retailing

Is the presently designated central business district retailing area of cities too narrowly defined?Yes, says the author of this article. He advances the concepts of the central business district “core” and “frame.” His analysis of downtown retailing might lead to more realistic divisions of downtown versus suburban retailing facilities.
An Endeavor to Adapt a Trypsin Susceptible Bacteriophage to the Action of Trypsin.

It is well known to students of the d'Herelle phenomenon that bacteriophages, with rare exceptions, resist the action of trypsin for indefinite periods of time. Recently, one of us1 described the trypsin susceptibility of 2 races of staphylococcus bacteriophages; one a monovalent, the other a polyvalent race. These 2 races were found to be highly susceptible to the action of trypsin, complete inactivation following an exposure to this enzyme within 48 hours at incubator temperature. In view of the difference of opinion entertained by various investigators on the question of whether bacteriophages actually possess powers of adaptation, a property indicative of life, it occurred to us that this susceptibility to tryptic activity might possibly serve as a basis for determining further the capacity of bacteriophages to adapt themselves to deleterious or inhibiting agents.Two methods of arriving at an answer were employed. In one series of experiments, the bacteriophage was exposed to the action of trypsin in ...
Application of the Maximum Pest Limit Concept to Quarantine Security Standards for the Mexican Fruit Fly (Diptera: Tephritidae)

A maximum pest limit approach is used to determine the probability of pest introduction into the United States when commodities are hosts to the Mexican fruit fly, Anastrepha ludens (Loew). Ecological parameters including proportion of fruit infested and the number of pests per infested fruit were collected under various pest management scenarios for mangoes and citrus in regions of Mexico that are infested with Mexican fruit fly. Various calculations were performed using techniques developed by statisticians in New Zealand and the United States to determine the probability of a single reproductive pair of Mexican fruit flies surviving in a shipment of fruit, or the required post-harvest insecticidal treatment of fruit that would be required to assure that a reproductive pair did not survive. Results indicated that Mexican fruit fly host infestation levels under conditions with no pest management will frequently allow survival levels exceeding this maximum pest level following a postharvest treatment that has been shown to be at least 99.9968% effective. Standard pest management practices such as insecticide application, sterile insect release, or the selective harvest of fruit reduced the predicted survival rate in treated fruit to levels below 2 flies per shipment. This approach suggests that the requirement for a postharvest quarantine treatment with demonstrated efficacy corresponding to at least 99.9968% (probit 9) mortality is effective in maintaining a predicted pest survival of <1 reproductive pair of flies per shipment only when combined with current pest management practices.
The Hidden History of Mestizo America

On a dank January evening in London in 1617, the audience was distracted from a performance of Ben Johnson's The Vision of Delight by the persons sitting next to King James I and Queen Anne: a dashing adventurer who had just returned from the outer edge of the fledgling English empire and his new wife, ten years his junior. The king's guests were John Rolfe and his wife Rebecca -a name newly invented to anglicize the daughter of another king who ruled over a domain as big and populous as a north English county. She was Pocahontas, the daughter of Powhatan.' The first recorded interracial marriage in American history had taken place because Rebecca's father and the English leaders in the colony of Virginia were eager to bring about a detente after a decade of abrasive and sometimes bloody European-Algonkian contact on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay. The Rolfe-Pocahontas marriage might have become the embryo of a mestizo United States.2 I use the term mestizo in the original sense referring to racial intermixture of all kinds. In the early seventeenth century, negative ideas about miscegenation had hardly formed; indeed, the word itself did not appear for another two and a half centuries. King James was not worried about interracial marriage. He fretted only about whether a commoner such as Rolfe was entitled
Elevated Levels of Smooth Muscle Autoantibodies in Patients with Acromegaly

Screening of sera from patients with central nervous system (CNS) tumors for serum antibodies to tumor and normal tissue antigens revealed that the sera from a significant percentage of patients with pituitary adenoma demonstrated reactivity for smooth muscle antibodies (SMA) at a serum titer (1/25) at which other CNS tumors are devoid of this reaction. The sera were assessed by an indirect immunofluorescent antibody assay on fresh cryostat sections of rat kidney, liver, diaphragm, and stomach tissue. Absorption of SMA-positive sera with extracts containing smooth muscle tissue abolished the reaction. The overall incidence of SMA among patients harboring pituitary tumors was 30% (12/40). Assessment of the functional types of the tumor revealed a distinct predilection for such findings among patients with clinical acromegaly. Among patients with hypersecretion of growth hormone (CA) 90% (9/10) have SMA (both IgG and IgM type) whereas SMA was positive in only 10% (3/30) of corresponding group of patients with pituitary tumors resulting in hypercortisolemia or those that did not result in a hyperfunctional endocrine state.
The Language of Love Through the Hebrew Language: Reading Amichai’s ‘Layla’

This article is a reading of "Layla" by Yehuda Amichai, a deceptively simple poem, which is built upon a systematic part with morphological qualities and possibilities of grammar of the Hebrew language. I say that, playing with suffixes in Hebrew and number and gender markers, and lead to estrangement and subverting the expectations of the average Hebrew reader/speaker, Amichai works in the sense that it provides as a "language of love".
Trauma symptoms, recovery, and participation in the Wellness Management and Recovery (WMR) program

ABSTRACTDespite the disproportionate prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among individuals with severe mental illness (SMI), and the emergence of effective trauma-specific treatments for comorbid PTSD/SMI, PTSD remains undertreated in this population. Literature points to two reasons for such: underdiagnosing of PTSD among individuals with SMI, and lack of clinician confidence/training in trauma-specific issues. A meta-analysis found non-trauma-specific groups reduced trauma symptoms in non-SMI populations. Against this backdrop, the purpose of this study was to determine whether individuals with SMI and trauma symptoms reported reduced trauma symptoms following completion of a non-trauma-specific, recovery-focused group treatment, the Wellness Management and Recovery (WMR) program. Pre- and post-WMR data were obtained from 54 participants via the Mental Health Recovery Measure and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist. Participants reported significant improvements in mental health recov...
Necessary conditions and a test for the stability of a system of two linear ordinary differential equations of the first order

We use the Riccati equation method for the derivation of necessary conditions and a test for the stability of a system of two linear first-order ordinary differential equations. We consider an example in which our results are compared with the results obtained by the Lyapunov and Bogdanov methods by estimating the norms of solutions via Lozinskii logarithmic norms, and by the freezing method.
Learning and Evolution in Games: ESS

According to John Maynard Smith in his influential book Evolution and the Theory of Games (1982, p. 10), an ESS (that is, an evolutionarily stable strategy) is ‘a strategy such that, if all members of the population adopt it, then no mutant strategy could invade the population under the influence of natural selection’. The ESS concept, based on static fitness comparisons, was originally introduced and developed in the biological literature (Maynard Smith and Price, 1973) as a means to predict the eventual outcome of evolution for individual behaviours in a single species. It avoids the complicated dynamics of the evolving population that may ultimately depend on spatial, genetic and population size effects.
Identification of polymorphic SVA retrotransposons using a mobile element scanning method for SVA (ME-Scan-SVA).

Mobile element insertions are a major source of human genomic variation. SVA (SINE-R/VNTR/Alu) is the youngest retrotransposon family in the human genome and a number of diseases are known to be caused by SVA insertions. However, inter-individual genomic variations generated by SVA insertions and their impacts have not been studied extensively due to the difficulty in identifying polymorphic SVA insertions. To systematically identify SVA insertions at the population level and assess their genomic impact, we developed a mobile element scanning (ME-Scan) protocol we called ME-Scan-SVA. Using a nested SVA-specific PCR enrichment method, ME-Scan-SVA selectively amplify the 5′ end of SVA elements and their flanking genomic regions. To demonstrate the utility of the protocol, we constructed and sequenced a ME-Scan-SVA library of 21 individuals and analyzed the data using a new analysis pipeline designed for the protocol. Overall, the method achieved high SVA-specificity and over >90 % of the sequenced reads are from SVA insertions. The method also had high sensitivity (>90 %) for fixed SVA insertions that contain the SVA-specific primer-binding sites in the reference genome. Using candidate locus selection criteria that are expected to have a 90 % sensitivity, we identified 151 and 29 novel polymorphic SVA candidates under relaxed and stringent cutoffs, respectively (average 12 and 2 per individual). For six polymorphic SVAs that we were able to validate by PCR, the average individual genotype accuracy is 92 %, demonstrating a high accuracy of the computational genotype calling pipeline. The new approach allows identifying novel SVA insertions using high-throughput sequencing. It is cost-effective and can be applied in large-scale population study. It also can be applied for detecting potential active SVA elements, and somatic SVA retrotransposition events in different tissues or developmental stages.
1975–81: Indo-Pakistani Rivalry and Indian Party Politics

The following extracts from three South Asian analysts provide typical examples of a perspective commonly adopted regarding Indo-Bangladesh relations during Ziaur Rahman’s regime: Indo-Bangladesh relations in the post-Mujib era were more or less governed by the domestic compulsions of Bangladesh. At the domestic front, political instability and economic crisis dominated the scene. Trade between the two countries was on the path of decline. The political elites of Bangladesh tried to make political gains by raising the Muhuri char and New Moore island controversies. Their main purpose was to divert the attention of the people from domestic miseries. These irritants no doubt spoiled the relations of India and Bangladesh.1 The unstable [Indo-Bangladesh] relationship is rooted in past memories of Hindu domination and partition of India. Later the attitude and postures of successive governments of Bangladesh have influenced shaping of the relations.2 [T]he psychological need of the Bangladesh Government to distance itself from India and the requirement of external aid and foreign investments from Western and Islamic countries led to a perceptible loosening of Indo-Bangladesh bilateral ties.3
Focal impulse and rotor modulation: Acute procedural observations and extended clinical follow-up

Background Focal impulse and rotor modulation (FIRM) was based on the premise that atrial fibrillation (AF) is sustained by rotors that are sufficiently stable to be eliminated by targeted ablation. Early experience reported high success as compared to conventional strategies. Objective The purpose of this study was to report on a single-center experience with extended follow-up by using FIRM in a variety of patients with AF. Methods All FIRM-guided ablation procedures were included. During spontaneous or induced AF, FIRM software constructed phase maps to identify putative AF sources, then targeted for radiofrequency ablation, with adjunctive pulmonary vein isolation (PVI), if needed. All mapped rotors and/or sources were eliminated on the basis of repeated FIRM mapping. Results Of 47 patients, sustained AF was not present or induced in 4 patients who did not undergo FIRM ablation. Of the remaining 43 patients, prior AF was paroxysmal in 9 (21%) and 72% had a median of 1 prior PVI. Spontaneous AF (n = 22, 52%) and induced AF (n = 21, 49%) were mapped, and all patients had rotors identified (1.8 ± 0.8 per patient; 70% in the left atrium). AF termination occurred in 2 patients (5%) and none organized to atrial tachycardia. Touch-up redo PVI was also performed in 31 patients (72%). At 16.0 ± 10.7 months (range 1–34 months), only 9 patients (21%) were free of recurrent AF; and only 5 patients (12%) were free of AF and off antiarrhythmic drugs. Conclusion Long-term clinical results after FIRM ablation in this diverse challenging cohort showed poor efficacy. Randomized clinical trials are needed to evaluate the efficacy and clinical utility of the FIRM ablation approach for treating AF.
Annulus Formation and Growth of Atlantic Surfclam (Spisula solidissima) Along a Latitudinal Gradient in the Western North Atlantic Ocean

ABSTRACT Age data play an important role in the Atlantic surfclam [Spisula solidissima (Dillwyn, 1817)] stock assessment and their accuracy depends on understanding the periodicity and timing of annulus formation. In the United States, the surfclam stock area spans approximately 5° latitude in the northwest Atlantic. In recent years, surfclams at the southern end of this area have undergone changes in abundance, distribution, and growth, all likely due to increasing ocean temperature. To determine whether the periodicity or timing of annulus formation has also changed, shells from live surfclams were collected during every month of the year from three regions spanning 4° latitude: southern New England (northernmost), New Jersey (middle), and the Delmarva Peninsula (southernmost). Edge analysis and marginal increment analysis indicated a single annulus was formed each year in each region and by all age groups, verifying surfclams can still be aged reliably throughout the managed area. Some regional or ages...
Analysis of Functional Dynamics of Modular Multidomain Proteins by SAXS and NMR

Multiprotein machines drive virtually all primary cellular processes. Modular multidomain proteins are widely distributed within these dynamic complexes because they provide the flexibility needed to remodel structure as well as rapidly assemble and disassemble components of the machinery. Understanding the functional dynamics of modular multidomain proteins is a major challenge confronting structural biology today because their structure is not fixed in time. Small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy have proven particularly useful for the analysis of the structural dynamics of modular multidomain proteins because they provide highly complementary information for characterizing the architectural landscape accessible to these proteins. SAXS provides a global snapshot of all architectural space sampled by a molecule in solution. Furthermore, SAXS is sensitive to conformational changes, organization and oligomeric states of protein assemblies, and the existence of flexibility between globular domains in multiprotein complexes. The power of NMR to characterize dynamics provides uniquely complementary information to the global snapshot of the architectural ensemble provided by SAXS because it can directly measure domain motion. In particular, NMR parameters can be used to define the diffusion of domains within modular multidomain proteins, connecting the amplitude of interdomain motion to the architectural ensemble derived from SAXS. Our laboratory has been studying the roles of modular multidomain proteins involved in human DNA replication using SAXS and NMR. Here, we present the procedure for acquiring and analyzing SAXS and NMR data, using DNA primase and replication protein A as examples.
Immunological Functions of the Omentum

The omentum is a visceral adipose tissue with unique immune functions. Although it is primarily an adipose tissue, the omentum also contains lymphoid aggregates, called milky spots (MSs), that contribute to peritoneal immunity by collecting antigens, particulates, and pathogens from the peritoneal cavity and, depending on the stimuli, promoting a variety of immune responses, including inflammation, tolerance, or even fibrosis. Reciprocal interactions between cells in the MS and adipocytes regulate their immune and metabolic functions. Importantly, the omentum collects metastasizing tumor cells and supports tumor growth by immunological and metabolic mechanisms. Here we summarize our current knowledge about the development, organization, and function of the omentum in peritoneal immunity.
Mixed linear modeling techniques for predicting fatalities in vehicle crashes

Motor vehicle crashes cause loss of life, property, and finances. It remains a focus of traffic safety research, uncovering useful information that can be directly applied to reduce these losses. Traditionally, modeling crash fatalities has been done using machine learning techniques, considering crash level variables such as roadway characteristics, lighting conditions, weather conditions, and the prevalence of drugs or alcohol. This research moves in a new direction by incorporating heterogeneous data sources, including both police crash report data and demographic data, potentially leading to a heightened understanding of the relationship between crash location and the likelihood of a fatality. In order to utilize multiple data sources, we propose using a mixed linear modeling technique that enables data fusion in a principled way to build a better predictive model. We integrate these data sources to analyze the natural clustering of events in space by different geographic levels. Our findings indicate that using mixed effect logistic regression, incorporating both fixed and random effects, outperforms a traditional classification model in its ability to predict crash fatalities across the state of Virginia, United States of America Additionally, results from model comparison over 20 trials, using a paired-t test, indicate that adding the jurisdiction as a random effect improves the predictive performance.
Ceramics in Biology and Medicine

A comprehensive definition of a biomaterial was provided at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Consensus Development Conference on the Clinical Applications of Biomaterials in the United States.
Richardson constant and electrostatics in transfer-free CVD grown few-layer MoS2/graphene barristor with Schottky barrier modulation >0.6eV

We demonstrate a large area MoS2/graphene barristor, using a transfer-free method for producing 3–5 monolayer (ML) thick MoS2. The gate-controlled diodes show good rectification, with an ON/OFF ratio of ∼103. The temperature dependent back-gated study reveals Richardson's coefficient to be 80.3 ± 18.4 A/cm2/K and a mean electron effective mass of (0.66 ± 0.15)m0. Capacitance and current based measurements show the effective barrier height to vary over a large range of 0.24–0.91 eV due to incomplete field screening through the thin MoS2. Finally, we show that this barristor shows significant visible photoresponse, scaling with the Schottky barrier height. A response time of ∼10 s suggests that photoconductive gain is present in this device, resulting in high external quantum efficiency.
MMaJIC, an Experimental Chamber for Investigating Soldering and Brazing in Microgravity

An E-1 payload, the Microgravity Materials Joining Investigative Chamber (MMaJIC), was designed and built for use aboard the International Space Station to investigate soldering and brazing phenomena in a microgravity environment. MMaJIC is a self-contained unit employing a microcontroller that runs a pre-programed experiment, monitors safety sensors, and supports temperature and video recording. MMaJIC uses individual experiment trays that can be easily modified for a specific investigation. The trays, which include a temperature/video data acquisition card, can be easily changed out and returned to Earth for evaluation. Simple operation of MMaJIC minimizes astronaut time while ensuring maximum sample throughput. It is expected that the results will shed considerable light on soldering and brazing in low-gravity environments, information that is important for NASA in conducting comprehensive repair and/or fabrication operations during long duration space missions.
The Healthy Nevada Project: rapid recruitment for population health study

Background: Nevada ranks in the bottom half of overall health rankings in the United States. The majority of residents of Northern Nevada live in Washoe County, which is confounded with high age-adjusted death rates for heart disease, cancer and chronic lower respiratory disease. Methods: Saliva as a source of DNA was collected from adults in Northern Nevada as the first phase of a much larger (100,000 participants) effort to contribute to comprehensive population health studies in Nevada. The personal genetics company 23andMe was used to genotype the first 10,250 participants and deliver their custom ancestry, traits, wellness, and carrier status reports. Results: The study was announced by Governor Brian Sandoval on September 15, 2016 and within two days the registration of 9,700 volunteers for an appointment was complete. Processing of 9,344 participants was achieved in 3 months, with a no-show rate of just over 11%. The participant population was skewed to female and was less racially diverse than the population. Conclusion: DNA genotyping was administered free-of-charge and the patient population was representative of the socio-economic diversity in northern Nevada - indicating that free genetic testing is of interest to a broad swath of the population and a powerful motivator for comprehensive population health study research.
Prophylactic antibiotics and the insertion of permanent transvenous cardiac pacemakers.

Prophylactic antibiotics are prescribed frequently for patients requiring permanent transvenous cardiac pacemakers, despite a paucity of data indicating effectiveness. A 10 year retrospective analysis was performed of 298 pacemaker insertion procedures involving 204 patients. On the basis of prestudy criteria relating to timing and dosage of antibiotics, the use of prophylactic antibiotics was judged as adequate or inadequate. There were no postoperative infections in the 108 battery pack replacement procedures despite no or inadequate use of antibiotics in 49 procedures. There were nine infections in the 190 battery pack plus pacing wire procedures for an infection rate of 5 percent. There was no significant difference in infection rate between the group given prophylactic antibiotics and the group given no or inadequate prophylactic antibiotics. Of the 190 battery pack plus pacing wire procedures, no infections occurred in the 50 procedures in which surgical drains were not used (p
Compound heterozygosity in PKLR gene for a previously unrecognized intronic polymorphism and a rare missense mutation as a novel cause of severe pyruvate kinase deficiency

Pyruvate kinase deficiency (PKD) is the most common glycolytic enzyme deficiency causing congenital nonspherocytic hemolytic anemia with a variable clinical severity.[1][1] Approximately 200 mutational variants have been described in the PKLR gene with most being in the coding sequence but also in
Philosophy and the Integrity of the Person: The Phenomenology of Robert Sokolowski

This chapter offers an overview of the philosophy of Robert S. Sokolowski with a focus on his account of what philosophy is, how philosophy arises out of pre-philosophical life, and how it is related back to pre-philosophical life. It also situates Sokolowsk’s achievements in articulating the relationship between Husserlian phenomenology and modern and pre-modern styles of philosophizing.
Therapeutic use of caffeine in dermatology: A literature review

Introduction: Caffeine is a naturally occurring methylxanthine alkaloid, with numerous molecular properties that make its application to the field of dermatology promising. Purpose: This review aims to describe the dermatological implications and applications of caffeine. Methods: PubMed was searched for literature related to caffeine use in dermatology using the search terms “caffeine and dermatology.” Results: Caffeine may stimulate the hair growth in androgenetic alopecia and may prevent the risks of incident rosacea and both nonmelanoma and melanoma skin cancers. Numerous limitations exist for caffeine's application in dermatology, including few well-designed, clinically based trials in the treatment of hair loss, blurring of caffeine's potential therapeutic effects through combination with other active ingredients, potential for recall bias in prospective questionnaire-based studies, and lack of reporting on absolute effects in data analysis. Conclusion: Caffeine's numerous effects at the cellular level have potential application in the treatment of disorders related to the skin and hair. Caffeine may be beneficial in the treatment of hair loss and prevention of rosacea and skin cancer, but numerous limitations restrict the practical application of these findings.
Teledentistry-Assisted Affiliated Practice Dental Hygiene

The 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) calls for midlevel dental healthcare providers to work in underserved areas with underserved populations. In 2004, Arizona passed legislation allowing qualified dental hygienists to enter into an affiliated practice relationship with a dentist to provide oral healthcare services for underserved populations without general or direct supervision in public health settings. The Northern Arizona University (NAU) Dental Hygiene Department has developed a teledentistry-assisted affiliated practice dental hygiene model that places a dental hygienist in the role of the midlevel practitioner as part of a digitally-linked oral healthcare team. Utilizing current technologies, affiliated practice dental hygienists can digitally acquire and transmit diagnostic data to a distant dentist for triage, diagnosis, and patient referral in addition to providing preventive services permitted within the dental hygiene scope of practice.
Evaluation of Nucleoside Analogs as Antimicrobials Targeting Unique Enzymes in Borrelia burgdorferi

The first line therapy for Lyme disease is treatment with doxycycline, amoxicillin, or cefuroxime. In endemic regions, the persistence of symptoms in many patients after completion of antibiotic treatment remains a major healthcare concern. The causative agent of Lyme disease is a spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi, an extreme auxotroph that cannot exist under free-living conditions and depends upon the tick vector and mammalian hosts to fulfill its nutritional needs. Despite lacking all major biosynthetic pathways, B. burgdorferi uniquely possesses three homologous and functional methylthioadenosine/S-adenosylhomocysteine nucleosidases (MTANs: Bgp, MtnN, and Pfs) involved in methionine and purine salvage, underscoring the critical role these enzymes play in the life cycle of the spirochete. At least one MTAN, Bgp, is exceptional in its presence on the surface of Lyme spirochetes and its dual functionality in nutrient salvage and glycosaminoglycan binding involved in host-cell adherence. Thus, MTANs offer highly promising targets for discovery of new antimicrobials. Here we report on our studies to evaluate five nucleoside analogs for MTAN inhibitory activity, and cytotoxic or cytostatic effects on a bioluminescently engineered strain of B. burgdorferi. All five compounds were either alternate substrates and/or inhibitors of MTAN activity, and reduced B. burgdorferi growth. Two inhibitors: 5′-deoxy-5′-iodoadenosine (IADO) and 5′-deoxy-5′-ethyl-immucillin A (dEt-ImmA) showed bactericidal activity. Thus, these inhibitors exhibit high promise and form the foundation for development of novel and effective antimicrobials to treat Lyme disease.
Fiji-FIN: A Fault Injection Framework on Quantized Neural Network Inference Accelerator

In recent years, the big data booming has boosted the development of highly accurate prediction models driven from machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) algorithms. These models can be orchestrated on the customized hardware in the safety-critical missions to accelerate the inference process in ML/DL -powered IoT. However, the radiation-induced transient faults and black/white -box attacks can potentially impact the individual parameters in ML/DL models which may result in generating noisy data/labels or compromising the pre-trained model. In this paper, we propose Fiji-FIN 1, a suitable framework for evaluating the resiliency of IoT devices during the ML/DL model execution with respect to the major security challenges such as bit perturbation attacks and soft errors. Fiji-FIN is capable of injecting both single bit/event flip/upset and multi-bit flip/upset faults on the architectural ML/DL accelerator embedded in ML/DL -powered IoT. Fiji-FIN is significantly more accurate compared to the existing software-level fault injections paradigms on ML/DL -driven IoT devices.
A novel representation of biological nitrogen fixation and competitive dynamics between nitrogen-fixing and non-fixing plants in a land model (GFDL LM4.1-BNF)

Abstract. Representing biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) is an important challenge for coupled carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) land models. Initial representations of BNF in land models applied simplified phenomenological relationships. More recent representations of BNF are mechanistic and include the dynamic response of symbiotic BNF to N limitation of plant growth. However, they generally do not include the competitive dynamics between N-fixing and non-fixing plants, which is a key ecological mechanism that determines ecosystem-scale symbiotic BNF. Furthermore, asymbiotic BNF is generally not included in land models. Here, we present LM4.1-BNF, a novel representation of BNF (asymbiotic and symbiotic) and an updated representation of N cycling in the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory Land Model 4.1 (LM4.1). LM4.1-BNF incorporates a mechanistic representation of asymbiotic BNF by soil microbes, a representation of the competitive dynamics between N-fixing and non-fixing plants, and distinct asymbiotic and symbiotic BNF temperature responses derived from corresponding observations. LM4.1-BNF makes reasonable estimations of major carbon (C) and N pools and fluxes and their temporal dynamics, in comparison to the previous version of LM4.1 with N cycling (LM3-SNAP) and to previous representations of BNF in land models generally (phenomenological representations and those without competitive dynamics between N-fixing and non-fixing plants and/or asymbiotic BNF) at a temperate forest site. LM4.1-BNF effectively reproduces asymbiotic BNF rate (13 kg N ha - 1 yr - 1 ) in comparison to observations (11 kg N ha - 1 yr - 1 ). LM4.1-BNF effectively reproduces the temporal dynamics of symbiotic BNF rate: LM4.1-BNF simulates a symbiotic BNF pulse in early succession that reaches 73 kg N ha - 1 yr - 1 at 15 years and then declines to ∼0 kg N ha - 1 yr - 1 at 300 years, similarly to observed symbiotic BNF, which reaches 75 kg N ha - 1 yr - 1 at 17 years and then declines to ∼0 kg N ha - 1 yr - 1 in late successional forests. As such, LM4.1-BNF can be applied to project the dynamic response of vegetation to N limitation of plant growth and the degree to which this will constrain the terrestrial C sink under elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration and other global change factors.
The Regulation of Schwann-Cell Function in Degenerative Disorders of the Nervous System

Schwann cells are involved in all types of degenerative disorders of the peripheral nervous system, whether the primary lesion involves demyelination and remyelination, axonal degeneration and regeneration, or neuronal loss. The sequence of cellular changes in PNS disorders has been studied by examining the response of Schwann cells to loss and acquisition of axonal contact during Wallerian degeneration and nerve-fiber regeneration in the distal stumps of transected cat tibial nerves. Myelinating Schwann cells in distal stumps respond to axon degeneration by discarding and/or degrading their myelin sheaths, undergoing mitosis and adopting a quiescent state in which myelin-specific protein synthesis is suppressed. Myelin repair is activated by reassociation with regenerating axons destined to become myelinated: Schwann cells respond by undergoing cell division, expressing myelin-specific protein synthesis and elaborating a myelin sheath within a newly formed tube of basal lamina. The nature of the signalling mechanism from neuron to Schwann cell is unknown, although the interaction of specific ligands on the external surfaces of axon and Schwann cell is an attractive hypothesis. Since generally available methods have been developed to obtain fractions enriched in either the axolemma of myelinated fibers or the plasmalemma of quiescent Schwann cells free of neuronal regulation, the putative interactive properties of these surface membranes can now be explored.