cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Asymptomatic cervicovaginal leukocytosis in infertile women.

Cervicovaginal cells were obtained from 114 women undergoing intrauterine insemination and 21 women undergoing donor insemination. Monoclonal antibodies were used to identify leukocyte subpopulations in women with nonepithelial cell counts > 2 × 10 5 (termed asymptomatic cervicovaginal leukocytosis). Leukocyte counts exceeding this number were not found in any of the women undergoing donor insemination; however, >2 × 10 5 leukocytes were detected in 22% of the infertile women. Granulocytes predominated; lymphocytes and macrophages were detected in only 8 of 114 samples. Women with cervical factor infertility had a significantly higher incidence of asymptomatic cervicovaginal leukocytosis than women with either male factor or unexplained infertility. These data suggest that cervicovaginal leukocytes may play a role in cervical factor infertility since soluble products of activated leukocytes are known to adversely affect reproduction.
Determination of traces of phosphate in sea water automated by programmable flow injection: Surfactant enhancement of the phosphomolybdenum blue response.

Abstract An assay protocol, based on programmable Flow Injection (pFI), is optimized by tailoring flowrates appropriately to the individual steps of an assay, thus allowing sample and reagent metering, mixing, incubation, monitoring and washout to be carried out more efficiently and in different time frames. This novel approach to flow based methods is applied here to optimize the determination of orthophosphate at nanomolar levels. Programmable Flow Injection was also used to facilitate an investigation of the properties of the phosphomolybdenum blue (PMoB) formed during this assay, by using the stop flow technique – an approach that revealed for the first time the influence of surfactants on the kinetics of formation of PMoB and its spectral characteristics. It was discovered that the two most frequently used surfactants (SDS and Brij) have profound and different influences on the spectra and formation of PMoB and this finding was used to enhance the sensitivity of the phosphate assay at nanomolar levels. The method was applied to the assay of trace levels of phosphate in sea water.
Recurrent encephalopathy with spinal cord involvement: An atypical manifestation of Aicardi–Goutières syndrome

Aicardi-Goutieres syndrome (AGS) is a rare, genetic inflammatory disease due to mutations in any of the seven genes discovered to date (TREX1, RNASEH2A, RNASEH2B, RNASEH2C, SAMHD1, ADAR, and IFIH1). Clinical onset is seen most commonly in utero or in infancy; irritability, feeding difficulties, jitteriness, microcephaly, abnormal movements, seizures, bone marrow suppression, and liver dysfunction are seen either during the neonatal age group or within the first few months of life with abrupt onset of neurologic regression and slowing of head growth. Diffusely abnormal white matters with swelling of frontal or temporal lobes, cerebral atrophy, and intracranial calcification are typical neuroradiologic abnormalities. However, ADAR mutation, a recently discovered AGS gene, can cause late-onset acute or subacute onset of severe dystonia and features of bilateral striatal necrosis on neuroimaging, in the absence of other typical features of AGS. We report a detailed description of a 5-year-old boy who had a recurrent encephalopathic presentation in the setting of infection. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of brain revealed prominent and fairly symmetrical signal abnormalities in the cerebellar peduncles, thalamus, midbrain, and pons. His throat swab was positive for influenza B, and he was initially diagnosed with influenza encephalopathy. He had a recurrence after 18 months of his initial presentation, and his brain MRI showed extensive areas of signal abnormality similar to, but more extensive than, his previous scan. Extensive spinal cord swelling was also seen. His chronic skin finding was recognized as dyschromatosis symmetrica hereditaria (DSH), and genetic testing revealed compound heterozygous mutations of ADAR gene - causative for AGS. This is the first presentation of recurrent acute encephalopathy in the setting of documented ADAR mutation with the longest interval documented between two acute presentations. This is also the first documentation of extensive spinal cord involvement, which will expand its phenotype. This case also highlights the importance of early identification of DSH, a subtle but characteristic skin lesion of ADAR mutations, for prompt diagnosis of this rare condition.
Research Software Discovery: An Overview

Research software is an integral part of scientific investigations. The paper identifies challenges, risks and new opportunities in research software publication and discovery. The diverse code discovery landscape is mapped and agents with their business models identified. Examples for discovery tools and strategies are given to support the classification. Reproducibility of research and reuse of code may improve if software discovery was easier. Researchers conducting a search for existing software in the context of a state-of-the-art report or a software management plan could use this paper as a guideline for their information retrieval strategy.
Intrinsic High Aerobic Capacity in Male Rats Protects Against Diet-Induced Insulin Resistance

Low aerobic capacity increases the risk for insulin resistance but the mechanisms are unknown. In this study, we tested susceptibility to acute (3-day) high-fat, high-sucrose diet (HFD)-induced insulin resistance in male rats selectively bred for divergent intrinsic aerobic capacity, that is, high-capacity running (HCR) and low-capacity running (LCR) rats. We employed hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamps, tracers, and transcriptome sequencing of skeletal muscle to test whether divergence in aerobic capacity impacted insulin resistance through systemic and tissue-specific metabolic adaptations. An HFD evoked decreased insulin sensitivity and insulin signaling in muscle and liver in LCR rats, whereas HCR rats were protected. An HFD led to increased glucose transport in skeletal muscle (twofold) of HCR rats while increasing glucose transport into adipose depots of the LCR rats (twofold). Skeletal muscle transcriptome revealed robust differences in the gene profile of HCR vs LCR on low-fat diet and HFD conditions, including robust differences in specific genes involved in lipid metabolism, adipogenesis, and differentiation. HCR transcriptional adaptations to an acute HFD were more robust than for LCR and included genes driving mitochondrial energy metabolism. In conclusion, intrinsic aerobic capacity robustly impacts systemic and skeletal muscle adaptations to HFD-induced alterations in insulin resistance, an effect that is likely driven by baseline differences in oxidative capacity, gene expression profile, and transcriptional adaptations to an HFD.
Ab initio study of phosphorus effect on vacancy-mediated process in nickel alloys – An insight into Ni2Cr ordering

Abstract The development of long range order in nickel-chromium alloys is of great technological interest but the kinetics and mechanisms of the transformation are poorly understood. The present research utilizes a combined computational and experimental approach to elucidate the mechanism by which phosphorus accelerates the ordering rate of stoichiometric Ni2Cr in Ni-Cr alloys. A series of Ni-33%Cr-x%P samples (in atomic percent) were fabricated with phosphorus concentrations, x =
Reply to Mislavsky et al.: Sometimes people really are averse to experiments

In response to our article (1), Mislavsky et al. (2) claim that “experiment aversion” does not exist because they found no evidence of it in their own research on low-stakes corporate experiments (3) and because our studies used between- rather than within-subjects designs. First, as we noted, we do not expect (and did not ourselves find) an A/B effect in every scenario, and we called for research on how the effect might vary across contexts. Second, we deliberately used a between-subjects design to maximize external validity: Universal implementation of policies usually occurs without mention of foregone alternatives, whereas A/B tests inherently acknowledge those alternatives. The belief that experiments deprive people of potentially beneficial interventions, but universally implemented policies do not, is not a “confound” to be avoided (2) but, rather, a key … [↵][1]1To whom correspondence may be addressed. Email: michellenmeyer{at}gmail.com. [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1
Legacies of Loss and Trauma, Healing and Redemption: Cape Town Live Art Festival

Performance, installation, and African-based ritual represent the body as a site of subversion, sexuality, and healing at the 2018 Cape Town Live Art Festival. Provocative performances are located ...
Constructing object-oriented discrete event simulation models using Java: tutorial presentation

This tutorial provides a short overview of object-oriented modeling and an introduction to the implementation of simulation models using Java and PsimJ. Object-oriented modeling and programming with Java are applied to construct discrete-event simulation models. The process interaction approach is used to model the major components of a system as active objects and the minor components as passive objects. PsimJ is a Java-based discrete-event simulation package that supports the process interaction approach to simulation. This tutorial paper presents insights of how this simulation tool can help improve the teaching of object-oriented simulation. The simulation tool can also be used to help to understand and visualize a modeling concept or a system. It can also be used to reinforce learned concepts through the design and development of a simulation model. Java threads are used to implement active objects. In most Computer Science programs, simulation is an important application area. It emphasizes and exploits object-oriented modeling and programming in the large of semi-complex systems. Several simulation models and simulation runs are demonstrated. The audience for this tutorial is: Faculty of Computer Science and related fields, advanced students. The minimum prerequisite are: basic knowledge of Java and object-oriented modeling.
Magnesium-based flux growth and structural relationships of a large family of tetrelide semimetals

Reactions of tetrels (Tt = Si, Ge, Sn) with divalent alkaline earth or rare earth metals (A = Ca, Sr, Ba, Yb, Eu) in magnesium-rich melts produce a large family of structurally related metal tetrel...
Stress and turnover intentions: the impact of boundary-spanning interaction activities

Workforce retention has become a major topic of concern for supply chain companies. Nevertheless, few academic studies have investigated retention issues surrounding the supply chain management profession. Taking into consideration that stressful working conditions is a major dissatisfying factor of supply chain managers, our study draws from the challenge stressor-hindrance stressor theoretical framework to identify activities that contribute to boundary-spanner stress and turnover intentions. Five theoretically grounded hypotheses are tested with survey data collected from 281 information technology professionals. Partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was the performed analysis technique. The results indicate that negotiation interactions, training interactions, and interaction frequency each contribute to boundary-spanner stress, and as a result, their turnover intentions. Information processing interactions fail to have a significant effect on boundary-spanner stress. This study contributes to the challenge/hindrance-stressor model and addresses managerial decisions affecting retention in supply chain companies.
Mitochondrial DNA segregation and replication restrict the transmission of detrimental mutation

Although mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is prone to accumulate mutations and lacks conventional DNA repair mechanisms, deleterious mutations are exceedingly rare. How the transmission of detrimental mtDNA mutations is restricted through the maternal lineage is debated. Here, we demonstrate that mitochondrial fission, together with the lack of mtDNA replication, segregate mtDNA into individual organelles in the Drosophila early germarium. After mtDNA segregation, mtDNA transcription begins, which activates respiration. Mitochondria harboring wild-type genomes have functional electron transport chains and propagate more vigorously than mitochondria containing deleterious mutations in hetreoplasmic cells. Therefore, mtDNA expression acts as a stress test for the integrity of mitochondrial genomes and sets the stage for replication competition. Our observations support selective inheritance at the organelle level through a series of developmentally orchestrated mitochondrial processes. We also show that the Balbiani body has a minor role in mtDNA selective inheritance by supplying healthy mitochondria to the pole plasm. These two mechanisms may act synergistically to secure the transmission of functional mtDNA through Drosophila oogenesis.
Laid Waste! The Culture of Exploitation in Early America: Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 312 pp., $5.91, ISBN 978-008122-5184-5, Publication Date: December 2019

The heroic narrative of American history holds that colonists came to the New World from England seeking religious freedom. They, and those who followed, found a largely uninhabited land, brimming ...
Pricing Hurricane Bonds Using a Physically Based Option Pricing Approach

Hurricane bonds are unique in that they are structured with a dual exercise condition: a physically based condition that the underlying hurricane makes landfall at a prespecified location, and a st...
Why most Chinese fans of American superhero movies are girls: A gendered local fandom of a global Hollywood icon

American superhero movies are generally perceived as primarily targeted at a male audience. In China, however, females far outnumber males in the genre’s fan community. This phenomenon suggests tha...
Significant Capacitance Enhancement via In Situ Exfoliation of Quasi-One-Dimensional Graphene Nanostripes in Supercapacitor Electrodes

Graphene has received much attention as a supercapacitor electrode material due to its chemical inertness in preventing reaction with electrolytes and the large surface area due to its two-dimensional nature. However, when graphene sheets are processed into electrodes, they tend to stack together and form a turbostratic graphite material with a much reduced surface area relative to the total surface area of individual graphene sheets. Separately, electrochemical exfoliation of graphite is one method of producing single-layer graphene, which is often used to produce graphene for supercapacitor electrodes, although such exfoliated graphene still leads to reduced surface areas due to stacking during electrode fabrication. To utilize the large surface area of graphene, graphene must be exfoliated in situ within a supercapacitor device after the device fabrication. However, graphitic electrodes are typically destroyed upon exfoliation, which is largely due to the loss of electrical connectivity among small exfoliated graphene flakes. Here, we report successful in situ exfoliation of graphene nanostripes, a type of quasi-one-dimensional graphene nanomaterial with large length-to-width aspect ratios, as the anode material in supercapacitors. We find that the in situ exfoliation leads to over 400% enhancement in capacitance as the result of retaining the electrical connectivity among exfoliated quasi-one-dimensional graphene nanostripes in addition to increasing the total surface area, paving ways to fully realizing the benefit of graphene electrodes in supercapacitor applications.
Statistical Delay and Error-Rate Bounded QoS Provisioning for 6G mURLLC Over AoI-Driven and UAV-Enabled Wireless Networks

Massive ultra-reliable and low latency communications (mURLLC) has been developed as a new and dominating 6G standard traffic service to support statistical delay and error-rate bounded quality-of-services (QoS) provisioning for real-time data-transmissions. Inspired by mURLLC, finite blocklength coding (FBC) has been proposed to upper-bound both delay and errorrate by using short-packet data communications. On the other hand, to solve the massive connectivity problem imposed by mURLLC, the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-enabled systems are developed by leveraging their deploying flexibility and high probability of establishing line-of-sight (LoS) wireless links while guaranteeing various QoS requirements. In addition, the age of information (AoI) has recently emerged as a new QoS performance metric in terms of information freshness. However, how to efficiently integrate and implement the above new techniques for statistical delay and error-rate bounded QoS provisioning over 6G standards has neither been well understood nor thoroughly studied. To overcome these challenges, we propose the statistical delay and error-rate bounded QoS provisioning schemes which leverage the AoI technique as a key QoS performance metric to efficiently support mURLLC over UAV-enabled 6G wireless networks in the finite blocklength regime. Specifically, first, we develop the UAV-enabled 3D wireless networking models with wireless-link channels using FBC. Second, we build up the AoI-metric based modeling frameworks in the finite blocklength regime. Third, taking into account the peak AoI violation probability, we formulate and solve the AoI-driven ϵ -effective capacity maximization problems to support statistical delay and error-rate bounded QoS provisioning. Finally, we conduct the extensive simulations to validate and evaluate our developed schemes.
Planning maintenance and rehabilitation activities for airport pavements: A combined supervised machine learning and reinforcement learning approach

Abstract Maintenance and Rehabilitation (M&R) of airport pavement assets involves considerable financial resources. As such, even modest improvement in M&R activity planning could lead to non-trivial savings. The state-of-the-practice for planning M&R activities mostly relies on condition thresholds and engineering rules, while the state-of-the-art often requires untested assumptions and relies critically on complete knowledge about pavement deterioration. This study proposes a machine learning (ML)-based approach that integrates pavement condition prediction using supervised ML with M&R activity planning empowered by reinforcement learning (RL), for which the Q-learning method is adopted. Supervised ML involves minimum a priori assumptions while characterizing the relationship between pavement deterioration and its influencing factors, and can yield higher-accuracy prediction of future pavement conditions than traditional methods. Similarly, RL learns the optimal action-value functions in a model-free environment. The integrated ML approach is implemented and demonstrated using real-world data from Chicago O’Hare International Airport. The results show the effectiveness of the proposed approach which can lead to reduced M&R cost compared to practice.
Perspectives of stuttering treatment: Children, adolescents, and parents.

Abstract Purpose Researchers investigated whether children who stutter (CWS), adolescents who stutter (ADWS), and their parents preferred treatment focused on changing speech or communicating regardless of stuttering. Methods Twenty-four parents and their CWS (n = 11, ages 8;0–12;11) or ADWS (n = 13, ages 13;0–17;11) answered questions about their preferences for stuttering treatment via an internet-based survey; an additional 11 surveys were filled in only by parents without responses by their child/adolescent. The researchers compared responses of the parents and their children, as well as between the two age groups and years in treatment (less than five years versus five or more years). Results Views tended to be mixed without any clear trends based on age. Just over half of the CWS, ADWS, and parents of CWS indicated a general tendency for therapy satisfaction; however, less years of treatment were associated with more satisfaction. When presented with a specific scenario, a higher proportion of parents expressed focus on their child saying what they want to say, regardless of stuttering. Otherwise, preferences were mixed on therapy goals of speaking freely vs. speaking more fluently. Conclusions Preferences for treatment goals do not predictably vary based on age or years in treatment; given the small sample size, these findings should be considered with caution. Given the variability in responses, it is evident that stuttering treatment for school-age children and adolescents should be individualized. These results also emphasize the importance of communication, education, and applying a person-centered approach when providing stuttering intervention to children, adolescents, and their parents.
Studying Children's Eating at Home: Using Synchronous Videoconference Sessions to Adapt to COVID-19 and Beyond

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted many facets of developmental research, including research that measures children's eating behavior. Here, children's food intake is often measured by weighing foods that children are offered before and after in-person testing sessions. Many studies also examine children's food ratings (the extent to which they like or dislike a food), assessed via picture categorization tasks or hedonic scales. This paper reviews existing research on different methods for characterizing children's eating behavior (with a focus on food intake, preferences, and concepts) and presents a feasibility study that examined whether children's eating behaviors at home (including their food intake and ratings) can be measured via live video-chat sessions. The feasibility analyses revealed that an observational feeding paradigm at home yielded a majority (more than 70%) of video-chat recordings that had a sufficient view of the child and adequate sound and picture quality required for observational coding for the majority of the session's duration. Such positioning would enable behavioral coding of child food intake, parent food talk, and meal characteristics. Moreover, children were able to answer questions to stories and express their preferences via researcher screen-share methods (which can assess children's self-reported food preferences and beliefs) with low rates of exclusion across studies. The article ends with a discussion on the opportunities and challenges of using online platforms to conduct studies on children's eating behaviors in their home environments during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.
Crop insurance premium subsidy and irrigation water withdrawals in the western United States

We estimate the effects of the federal crop insurance premium subsidy on freshwater withdrawals for irrigation among U.S. counties to the west of the 100th meridian. Our results indicate that a 1% increase in premium subsidy leads to a 0.446% (about 475,901 acre-feet/year) and 0.673% (about 474,026 acre-feet/year) increase in total freshwater withdrawals for irrigation and fresh surface water withdrawals for irrigation, respectively. The elasticity of total freshwater withdrawals for irrigation and fresh surface water withdrawals for irrigation with respect to revenue insurance premium subsidy is more than twice as large as those with respect to yield insurance premium subsidy. Groundwater withdrawals for irrigation are not found to be responsive to crop insurance premium subsidy. Because the elasticities are all non-negative, moral hazard should not be a dominant factor in the relationship between crop insurance subsidies and freshwater withdrawals for irrigation. Thus, exploring the causal relationship between crop insurance premium subsidy and agricultural input uses, this study underscores the unintended effect of the federal crop insurance programme on water resource sustainability in the U.S.
Population Differences in Growth: Environmental and Genetic Factors

There are differences among populations in body size and shape, and in rate of growth in children. These differences give rise to the population differences seen in adults. Even the casual observer will note that Japanese or Indian or Filipino children are smaller than their age peers in Europe or the United States. The more astute observer also perceives that the body shape of Japanese or Burmese children, for example, is different from the shape of West African or European children. School teachers and clinic workers may remark that American black adolescents seem to mature faster than their white peers.
Who Is It

Words drift in, whose I can't say. It's late. All yesterday the sun poured itself out over the yards and houses but it's cloudy now, a small rain dampens the street. Those words seem to fly around inside me, blue wings, blue tails, whizzing and flapping. Who is it trying to tell me about her grief? A darkness only the old can swallow begins. I taste the bitterness she tastes. Mine. April. Fuzzy green breasts everywhere. I sit under them on the steps in the stunned air, the lamps open their light and the stars grow visible and silence like a hand thrust over my mouth suddenly covers things human.
Model Reference Adaptive Control Systems: The Hybrid Approach

In this report, an algorithm for adaptive control of continuous time single-input single-output systems is presented. With the hybrid approach, the control structure involves a continuous as well as a discrete time part, instead of being totally discrete or totally continuous as in previous approaches. The system is sampled and the adaptive gains updated at a variable rate varying with the magnitude of the error itself.
Presence and Function of Sulfur-containing Transfer Ribonucleic Acid of Bacillus subtilis

Bacillus subtilis transfer ribonucleic acid (tRNA) was analyzed for the occurrence of thionucleotides by in vivo labeling with 35S and fractionation by methylated albumin kieselguhr column chromatography. Alkaline hydrolysates of tRNA were also examined by column chromatography and paper electrophoresis, and the amino acid-accepting ability of thionucleotide-containing tRNA was tested after iodine oxidation. The results showed that B. subtilis tRNA contains 4-thiouridylate, a second nucleotide with properties similar to 2-thiopyrimidine, and a third unidentified thionucleotide. The amino acid-accepting ability for serine, tyrosine, lysine, and glutamic acid was markedly inhibited after oxidation of the tRNA with iodine, suggesting the presence of thionucleotides in these tRNA species. This inhibition could be reversed by thiosulfate reduction. The iodine treatment totally inactivated all lysine tRNA species, partially inactivated the serine tRNA species, and did not affect the accepting ability for valine. A comparison of tRNA from cells in the log and stationary phases and from spores revealed similar iodine inactivation patterns in all cases. The thionucleotide content in B. subtilis tRNA differed from that in Escherichia coli, both in extent and in distribution. A possible function of the thionucleotides in tRNA is discussed.
Disulphide trapping of the GABAA receptor reveals the importance of the coupling interface in the action of benzodiazepines

BACKGROUND AND SIGNIFICANCE Although the functional effects of benzodiazepines (BZDs) on GABAA receptors have been well characterized, the structural mechanism by which these modulators alter activation of the receptor by GABA is still undefined. EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH We used disulphide trapping between engineered cysteines to probe BZD-induced conformational changes within the γ2 subunit and at the α1/γ2 coupling interface (Loops 2, 7 and 9) of α1β2γ2 GABAA receptors. KEY RESULTS Crosslinking γ2Loop 9 to γ2β-strand 9 (via γ2S195C/F203C and γ2S187C/L206C) significantly decreased maximum potentiation by flurazepam, suggesting that modulation of GABA-induced current (IGABA) by flurazepam involves movements of γ2Loop 9 relative to γ2β-strand 9. In contrast, tethering γ2β-strand 9 to the γ2 pre-M1 region (via γ2S202C/S230C) significantly enhanced potentiation by both flurazepam and zolpidem, indicating γ2S202C/S230C trapped the receptor in a more favourable conformation for positive modulation by BZDs. Intersubunit disulphide bonds formed at the α/γ coupling interface between α1Loop 2 and γ2Loop 9 (α1D56C/γ2L198C) prevented flurazepam and zolpidem from efficiently modulating IGABA. Disulphide trapping α1Loop 2 (α1D56C) to γ2β-strand 1 (γ2P64C) decreased maximal IGABA as well as flurazepam potentiation. None of the disulphide bonds affected the ability of the negative modulator, 3-carbomethoxy-4-ethyl-6,7-dimethoxy-β-carboline (DMCM), to inhibit IGABA. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS Positive modulation of GABAA receptors by BZDs requires reorganization of the loops in the α1/γ2 coupling interface. BZD-induced movements at the α/γ coupling interface likely synergize with rearrangements induced by GABA binding at the β/α subunit interfaces to enhance channel activation by GABA.
1,4-Thienodiazepine-2,5-diones via MCR (II): scaffold hopping by Gewald and Ugi-deprotection-cyclization strategy.

A second scaffold of 1,4-thienodiazepine-2,5-diones was discovered and is synthetically accessible from Gewald 2-aminothiophenes via Ugi-Deprotection-Cyclization (UDC) strategy. This approach yielded hybrid peptidomimetic diazepine structures with six points of diversity introduced from readily available starting materials. A virtual compound library (N = 50,000) was generated and evaluated for chemical space distribution and drug-like properties.
Evolution of Dimethylselenide from Soils

Alcohols, carbonyl compounds, and fatty acids were formed in two glucose-amended soils incubated under argon, but dimethylselenide was evolved under argon only from one, a selenium-rich clay, after the addition of selenite and glucose. Substantial quantities of dimethylselenide were released from the four soils tested when they were incubated with glucose and selenite in air. No dimethylselenide was produced in the selenium-rich clay soil in air if it received glucose but no selenite.
Probable case of Cephalotheca foveolata bloodstream infection

Introduction: Cephalotheca foveolata is a saprobic fungus recently described among clinical isolates. Case presentation: A 59-year-old man presented with fevers, upper back pain and shortness of breath after gastric tube removal following an oesophagectomy, oesophagojejunostomy and gastrostomy for management of oesophogeal adenocarcinoma. He had a suspected oesophageal leak and polymicrobial empyema. Blood cultures grew only C. foveolata. He improved clinically on empiric antifungal and broad-spectrum antibacterial therapy. Conclusion: We report a probable case of C. foveolata bloodstream infection. This is a newly recognized pathogen requiring molecular diagnostic methods to make an accurate diagnosis.
Differential suppression of upper airway motor activity during carbachol-induced, REM sleep-like atonia

Microinjections of carbachol into the pontine tegmentum of decerebrate cats have been used to study the mechanisms underlying the suppression of postural and respiratory motoneuronal activity during the resulting rapid eye movement (REM) sleep-like atonia. During REM sleep, distinct respiratory muscles are differentially affected; e.g., the activity of the diaphragm shows little suppression, whereas the activity of some upper airway muscles is quite strong. To determine the pattern of the carbachol-induced changes in the activity of different groups of upper airway motoneurons, we simultaneously recorded the efferent activity of the recurrent laryngeal nerve (RL), pharyngeal branch of the vagus nerve (Phar), and genioglossal branch of the hypoglossal (XII) and phrenic (Phr) nerves in 12 decerebrate, paralyzed, vagotomized, and artificially ventilated cats. Pontine carbachol caused a stereotyped suppression of the spontaneous activity that was significantly larger in Phar expiratory (to 8.3% of control) and XII inspiratory motoneurons (to 15%) than in Phr inspiratory (to 87%), RL inspiratory (to 79%), or RL expiratory motoneurons (to 72%). The suppression in upper airway motor output was significantly greater than the depression caused by a level of hypocapnia that reduced Phr activity as much as carbachol. We conclude that pontine carbachol evokes a stereotyped pattern of suppression of upper airway motor activity. Because carbachol evokes a state having many neurophysiological characteristics similar to those of REM sleep, it is likely that pontine cholinoceptive neurons have similar effects on the activity of upper airway motoneurons during both states.
Tools for evaluating ubiquitin (UbC) gene expression: characterization of the rat UbC promoter and use of an unique 3' mRNA sequence.

UbC is one of three members of the ubiquitin gene family. We have cloned the rat UbC promoter and used primer extension analysis to map the UbC site of transcription initiation to 63 bp upstream of the putative first intron. We used a rat UbC promoter-luciferase reporter minigene to transfect H9c2 cardiomyocytes, HepG2 hepatocytes, CaCo2 colon cells, NIH3T3 fibroblasts or L6 myocytes and found the rat UbC promoter has constitutive activity. We also showed that dexamethasone stimulated the UbC promoter in L6 myocytes. Finally, we showed that a UbC-specific sequence at the 3' end of the rat UbC mRNA transcript can be used to selectively and quantitatively measure UbC: (1) mRNA using a RNase protection assay, and (2) transcription using a nuclear run-off assay to measure the rate of transcription of the UbC gene. These findings will be useful in studying the regulation of the UbC gene.
Introduction of the 2007 American Pediatric Society John Howland Award Recipient, Ralph D. Feigin, M.D. Tales of a modern day super hero.

Introduction of the 2007 American Pediatric Society John Howland Award Recipient, Ralph D. Feigin, M.D. Tales of a Modern Day Super Hero
Three-dimensional phototransistors in 3D silicon-on-insulator technology

Measurement results of phototransistors designed in a three-dimensional (3D) 0.18 mum silicon-on-insulator technology are presented. The phototransistors respond to light intensities of 5-200 000 lux with currents from 50 fA to 2.3 muA. The novelty of this phototransistor is that its photocurrent is proportional to the square of the incident light intensity. The device measurements reported show that the photodetectors can be used for the design of high-density imaging arrays in three-dimensional SOI CMOS fabrication processes
Kinetics of strain relaxation in semiconductor films grown on borosilicate glass-bonded substrates

Changes in the strain relaxation of semiconductor films due to growth on a thin epitaxial template bonded via a borosilicate glass to a mechanical handle wafer have been observed. Akinetic analysis of the mechanical decoupling between the film/template heterostructure and the handle wafer is developed in order to estimate and evaluate the contribution of glass viscous deformation to the observed strain relaxation. The thickness and elastic constants of the template and film, the thickness and viscosity of the bonding media, and the lateral dimension of the bonded structure are included in this model. Based on this model, the viscous flow of the glass is unlikely to have played a role in previous observations of changes in film strain relaxation due to growth on glass-bonded substrates. The calculations are used in conjunction with simple expressions for the temperature and composition dependence of borosilicate glass viscosity to result in design guidelines for substrate structures and annealing schedules in which the viscous flow of a borosilicate glass will contribute to the strain relaxation of a lattice-mismatched film.
Consequences of XBRL Standardization on Financial Statement Data

ABSTRACT: XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) has become an important element of the financial reporting landscape. This paper provides a discussion of the effects of XBRL on the usefulness of financial data. Using the theoretical framework of the technology acceptance model (TAM), we examine XBRL's potential to improve the usefulness of reported financial information. As XBRL gains wider acceptance, we examine five axes along which XBRL standardization will propagate: current data, disclosure format, historical data, data fidelity and assurance, and third-party data. We also call attention to new research opportunities that may arise as XBRL and related technologies mature.
SPECIFICATION OF TEMPERATURE AND PRECIPITATION IN TERMS OF CIRCULATION PATTERNS

Abstract High-speed calculation techniques using Whirlwind I, the digital computer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, make practical the use of an objective approach to the classification of climatic data based on the atmospheric circulation. Circulation patterns over the region bounded by 30°N, 60°N, 65°W and 125°W are approximated by a linear combination of Tschebyscheff orthogonal polynomials. The coefficients of the polynomials are used as circulation indices and are related to the weather through the use of a linear operator. The usefulness of this new method is illustrated by the comparison of a classification of temperature and precipitation data for January 1948 to 1952 at a number of localities with a classification of the same data based on previous methods. Nearly twice as much information is available for the specification of the weather data with use of the new method. In addition, a measure is obtained of the relative amounts of information available in the sea-level and 700-mb ci...
Role of Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging in the Detection of Cardiac Amyloidosis

Objectives Our aim was to evaluate the role and mechanism of late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) in identifying cardiac amyloidosis (CA) and to investigate associations between LGE and clinical, morphologic, functional, and biochemical features. Background CA can be challenging to diagnose by echocardiography. Recent studies have demonstrated an emerging role for LGE-CMR. Methods LGE-CMR was performed in 120 patients with amyloidosis. Cardiac histology was available in 35 patients. The remaining 85 patients were divided into those with and without echocardiographic evidence of CA. Results Of the 35 patients with histologically verified CA, abnormal LGE was present in 34 (97%) patients and increased echocardiographic left ventricular wall thickness in 32 (91%) patients. Global transmural or subendocardial LGE (83%) was most common and was associated with greater interstitial amyloid deposition (p = 0.03). Suboptimal myocardial nulling (8%) and patchy focal LGE (6%) were also observed. LGE distribution matched the deposition pattern of interstitial amyloid. Among patients without cardiac histology, LGE was present in 86% of those with evidence of CA by echocardiography and in 47% of those without evidence of CA by echocardiography. In patients without echocardiographic evidence of CA, the presence of LGE was associated with worse clinical, electrocardiographic (ECG), and cardiac biomarker profiles. In all patients, LGE presence and pattern was associated with New York Heart Association functional class, ECG voltage, left ventricular mass index, right ventricular wall thickness, troponin-T, and B-type natriuretic peptide levels. Conclusions LGE is common in CA and detects interstitial expansion from amyloid deposition. Global transmural or subendocardial LGE is most common, but suboptimal myocardial nulling and focal patchy LGE are also observed. LGE-CMR may detect early cardiac abnormalities in patients with amyloidosis with normal left ventricular thickness. The presence and pattern of LGE is strongly associated with clinical, morphologic, functional, and biochemical markers of prognosis.
The effect of reconstituted collagen gels on the healing of experimental bony defects: a preliminary report.

Abstract Sterile proctase-treated collagen gels were implanted into surgically created defects in the ribs of rabbits. Ribs were studied radiographically, grossly and microscopically, and by Evans blue dye studies. (1) Inflammatory response to the collagen implant was absent; (2) the collagen implant aided in the healing of resected ribs by radiographic criteria; (3) the collagen implant was shown microscopically to be included into the callus and granulation tissue and to be cellularly repopulated. (4) By uptake of Evans blue dye, the collagen implant was shown to be revascularized. (5) The results indicate that antigenically altered collagen aids bone reconstitution and further studies are warranted.
A nation betrayed: Nigeria and the Minorities Commission of 1957; Placebo as medicine: the poverty of development intervention and conflict resolution strategies in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria

A nation betrayed: Nigeria and the Minorities Commission of 1957, by Michael Vickers, Trenton and Asmara, Africa World Press, Inc., 2010, xxi + 346 pp., (paperback) ISBN 1-59221-733-8, (hardback) I...
The Daily Brew: The Structural Evolution of the Coffee Party on Facebook during the 2010 United States Midterm Election Season

ABSTRACT The activity of the Facebook Group, “Join the Coffee Party Movement” (Coffee Party), is studied during a seven-month period leading up to and following the 2010 United States Midterm election. During this time period, the Coffee Party Facebook Group Administrator account posted 872 parent posts, which received 152,762 comments from participants. We examine the resulting electronic trace data utilizing a method for analyzing weighted social networks of discourse (Mascaro & Goggins, 2011). Our findings explore the network centralization and total post activity across three units of analysis: (a) time, (b) parent post category, and (c) specific parent posts. We report three key findings. First, the structure, centralization, and leadership within the network differ in four key time periods: the time preceding the midterm election, the week of the midterm election, the time following the midterm election, and the time period when the new Congress was sworn in. Second, the Coffee Party Administrators ...
Host-guest study of left-handed polyproline II helix formation.

Abstract The importance of the left-handed polyproline II (PPII) helical conformation has recently become apparent. This conformation generally is involved in two important functions: protein-protein interactions and structural integrity. PPII helices play vital roles in a variety of processes including signal transduction, transcription, and cell motility. Proline-rich regions of sequence are often assumed to adopt this structure. Remarkably, little is known about the physical determinants of this secondary structure type. In this study, we have explored the formation of PPII helices by a short poly(proline) peptide. In addition, the results from experiments used to determine the propensities for apolar residues, plus glycine, asparagine, and glutamine, to adopt this structure in a poly(proline)-based host peptide are reported here. Proline possesses the highest intrinsic propensity, with glutamine, alanine, and glycine having surprisingly high propensities. beta-Branched residues possess the lowest propensities of the residues examined. It is postulated that propensities possessed by apolar residues are due in part to peptide-solvent interactions, and that the remarkably high propensity possessed by glutamine may be due to a side chain to backbone hydrogen bond. These data are the first step toward a molecular understanding of the formation of this important, and yet little studied, secondary structure.
Lesson Study as a Framework for Preservice Teachers’ Early Field-Based Experiences

Initial field-based experience for preservice teachers often takes the form of observation of a classroom or tutoring a student. Later experiences may include assisting a teacher in the classroom, culminating in student teaching where the preservice teacher is in complete control of a group of students. Some have questioned the significance of field-based experiences as nothing more than an enculturation into the existing socio-cultural norms of the teaching profession (Zeichner 1981). As suggested in this volume (Murata and Pothen; Fernandez and Zilliox), one way to fold the myriad of preservice teaching activity into a meaningful field-based experience is to give preservice teachers an opportunity to conduct lesson study (Stafford-Plummer 2002).
An addendum to the paper 'Dynamic response of an infinite plate subjected to a steadily moving transverse force'

The dynamic response of an infinite, elastic plate to a steadily moving transverse force is studied under the so-called improved plate theory. Analytic solutions for the subsonic and the intersonic cases are obtained using the method of integral transforms. The usual difficulty of the nonuniqueness of the steady-state solutions is circumvented by formulating the problems as initial value problems and then seeking the large time limits of the solutions of such initial value problems. The subsonic and intersonic solutions obtained here are similar to that obtained previously for the supersonic case. However, in contrast with the supersonic solution, which contains two families of Mach lines, the subsonic solution contains no Mach lines and the intersonic solution contains only one family of Mach lines.
AGU Leadership Transition Begins

The election is over, and now we begin AGU's leadership transition! Newly elected leaders will take office on 1 January 2015 and about half of the current Board and Council members will rotate off. In addition, new volunteers will join AGU committees and task forces (http://sites.agu.org/leadership/committees/).
EarthEnv-DEM90: A nearly-global, void-free, multi-scale smoothed, 90m digital elevation model from fused ASTER and SRTM data

A variety of DEM products are available to the public at no cost, though all are characterized by trade-offs in spatial coverage, data resolution, and quality. The absence of a high-resolution, high-quality, well-described and vetted, free, global consensus product was the impetus for the creation of a new DEM product described here, ‘EarthEnv-DEM90’. This new DEM is a compilation dataset constructed via rigorous techniques by which ASTER GDEM2 and CGIAR-CSI v4.1 products were fused into a quality-enhanced, consistent grid of elevation estimates that spans ∼91% of the globe. EarthEnv-DEM90 was assembled using methods for seamlessly merging input datasets, thoroughly filling voids, and smoothing data irregularities (e.g. those caused by DEM noise) from the approximated surface. The result is a DEM product in which elevational artifacts are strongly mitigated from the input data fusion zone, substantial voids are filled in the northern-most regions of the globe, and the entire DEM exhibits reduced terrain noise. As important as the final product is a well defined methodology, along with new processing techniques and careful attention to final outputs, that extends the value and usability of the work beyond just this single product. Finally, we outline EarthEnv-DEM90 acquisition instructions and metadata availability, so that researchers can obtain this high-resolution, high-quality, nearly-global new DEM product for the study of wide-ranging global phenomena.
Universal compact T1 spaces

Abstract It is shown that the class F of compact T1 spaces is the union of classes F μ, one for each initial ordinal ωμ, where each subclass F μ is generated by a single element Wμ; the class F μ consists of the extension closed subspaces of products of Wμ, where a subspace is extension closed if every open cover of it extends to an open cover of the containing space. The space Wμ have the property that every descending chain of closed subsets is finite. Certain useful subspaces of the Wμ's are considered. The properties of various classes of spaces related to the universal spaces Wμ are considered, and certain cardinal invariants that can be attached to a space are examined.
On the complexity of two-machine flowshop problems with due date related objectives

The complexity of two-machine flowshop problems with due date related criteria is investigated. It is shown that when certain restrictions are imposed on the job processing times and their due dates these problems become polynomially solvable while when these restrictions are slightly weakened the problems remain NP-complete.