cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Identification of kaempferol as an inhibitor of cigarette smoke-induced activation of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor and cell transformation

The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) is a cytosolic receptor which upon activation by its agonists, translocates into the nucleus and forms a dimer with ARNT (aryl hydrocarbon nuclear translocator). The AHR/ARNT dimer regulates the expression of its target genes by binding to DNA recognition elements termed dioxin responsive elements (DREs). Many AHR agonists, like the polyaromatic hydrocarbons and polyhalogenated hydrocarbons are known human carcinogens. Human exposure to these compounds is common due to their presence in air pollution and cigarette smoke. Interestingly, many dietary constituents that have chemo preventative properties have been found to also act as antagonists of the AHR pathway. Thus, a chemopreventive approach that may be effective in decreasing the incidences of many human cancers may involve a dietary regimen that includes a number of these naturally occurring AHR antagonists. With this idea in mind, we have assayed the ability of 15 flavonoids to inhibit AHR activated reporter activity and selected kaempferol for further analysis. Kaempferol proved to be capable of inhibiting binding of agonist and agonist-induced formation of the AHR/ARNT DNA-binding complex and upregulation of the AHR target gene, CYP1A1. Using an in vitro paradigm of events that are thought to occur during cigarette-smoke-induced lung cancer, we found that kaempferol also inhibited the ability of cigarette smoke condensate to induce growth of immortalized lung epithelial (BEAS-2B) cells in soft agar. Taken together, these results illustrate the promise associated with the use of flavonoids, that inhibit both AHR signaling and the carcinogenic actions of AHR agonists, for chemopreventive purposes.
Crop Choices in the Piedmont Before and After the Civil War

Census and tax data for three counties in the Georgia Piedmont in 1860 and 1880 are used to analyze changes in crop-choice decisions after the Civil War. Although changes in the lower and upper Piedmont were similar, the explanations for these changes in the two areas differ in important respects. In the upper Piedmont the use of fertilizer is a very important explanator, whereas race and tenure are of little significance. Fertilizer is also an important explanator in the lower Piedmont, but so are race, tenure, and poverty of farm operators. The increased concentration on cotton production by southern farmers after the Civil War has long been of interest to economic historians. Like many late nineteenth-century commentators, scholars have been concerned to understand the causes of the increased focus on cotton and its connections, if any, to the South's relative poverty (in comparison with the rest of the United States) during the postwar years. ' There is, however, no consensus on the basic causes of the growth in cotton production in the postwar South. Some investigators have argued that it was a normal response to market incentives that maximized southern incomes.2 Others have agreed with many contemporaries that southern farmers specialized in cotton to their long-term detriment, and some have argued that poverty-especially black poverty-was a major cause of this excessive concentration.3 This article brings to bear on these issues a set of data collected from the 1860 and 1880 manuscript census schedules for three counties in the eastern Georgia Piedmont. Peter Temin has shown that the rise in cotton-corn ratios was mainly confined to the southeast, so this area is ideal for exploring the issues related to the rise in cotton production and the decline in food crops.4 The three counties-Glascock, Hart, and
Experimental Effects of Nonnative Brown Trout on the Individual- and Population-Level Performance of Native Bonneville Cutthroat Trout

Abstract In western North America, nonnative trout invasions threaten the persistence of native cutthroat trout Oncorhynchus clarkii subspp. through competition, predation, and hybridization. While small-scale individual-level studies on nonnative–native fish interactions have helped elucidate mechanisms of impact, very few investigations have occurred at a scale consistent with that of species replacement. Thus, large-scale population-level studies are needed to understand the effects of nonnative fish as well as to more effectively conserve native fishes in the presence of nonnative fish. For this reason, we conducted an evaluation of the effects of nonnative brown trout Salmo trutta on the individual- and population-level performance of native cutthroat trout using a field-experimental approach. We studied local populations of cutthroat trout in the presence and absence of brown trout in long stream reaches and subsequently compared growth, condition, stable-isotope-based measures of dietary habits, mo...
Animal cytokinesis: from parts list to mechanisms

The mechanism underlying cytokinesis, the final step in cell division, remains one of the major unsolved questions in basic cell biology. Thanks to advances in functional genomics and proteomics, we are now able to assemble a “parts list” of proteins involved in cytokinesis. In this review, we discuss how to relate this parts list to biological mechanism. For easier analysis, we split cytokinesis into discrete steps: cleavage plane specification, rearrangement of microtubule structures, contractile ring assembly, ring ingression, and completion. We report on the advances that have been made to understand these steps and how they can be integrated into a global understanding of cytokinesis. We also discuss the extent to which classic questions have been answered and identify major outstanding questions.
Effect of gender on postoperative outcomes and hospital stays after coronary artery bypass grafting

Abstract Background . Compared to men, women undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting appear to have a higher morbidity and mortality, particularly in the perioperative period. This study was designed to answer the questions of whether such differences in clinical outcomes between men and women still exist with improvements in surgical techniques and determine whether it is gender or associated comorbid conditions in women that lead to higher morbidity. Methods . An analysis of a single center's contemporary experience (1994 to 1997) of 1,743 consecutive patients undergoing primary coronary artery bypass grafting was performed. Only reoperations were excluded. Data were collected prospectively and presented as mean ± standard deviation ( p Results . Women represented 30.0% of patients. Compared with men, women were older (68.4 versus 63.8 years; p p p p 2 versus 2.03 ± 0.19 m 2 ; p p p p p p Conclusions . After accounting for differences in their risk variables, the incidences of death, perioperative myocardial infarction and cerebrovascular accident/transient ischemic attack after coronary artery bypass grafting in women and men were not statistically significant. Perioperative complications are related to comorbid risk factors but not to female gender itself. Further studies are warranted.
Automating the medication regimen complexity index

Objective To adapt and automate the medication regimen complexity index (MRCI) within the structure of a commercial medication database in the post-acute home care setting. Materials and Methods In phase 1, medication data from 89 645 electronic health records were abstracted to line up with the components of the MRCI: dosage form, dosing frequency, and additional administrative directions. A committee reviewed output to assign index weights and determine necessary adaptations. In phase 2 we examined the face validity of the modified MRCI through analysis of automatic tabulations and descriptive statistics. Results The mean number of medications per patient record was 7.6 (SD 3.8); mean MRCI score was 16.1 (SD 9.0). The number of medications and MRCI were highly associated, but there was a wide range of MRCI scores for each number of medications. Most patients (55%) were taking only oral medications in tablet/capsule form, although 16% had regimens with three or more medications with different routes/forms. The biggest contributor to the MRCI score was dosing frequency (mean 11.9). Over 36% of patients needed to remember two or more special instructions (eg, take on alternate days, dissolve). Discussion Medication complexity can be tabulated through an automated process with some adaptation for local organizational systems. The MRCI provides a more nuanced way of measuring and assessing complexity than a simple medication count. Conclusions An automated MRCI may help to identify patients who are at higher risk of adverse events, and could potentially be used in research and clinical decision support to improve medication management and patient outcomes.
Fast hyperspectral imaging using a mid-infrared tunable external cavity quantum cascade laser

A hyperspectral imaging system using an external cavity quantum cascade laser and a focal plane array acquiring images at 25 Hz from 985 cm-1 to 1075 cm-1 with a resolution of 0.3 cm-1 is demonstrated.
Governing Spirits: Religion, Miracles, and Spectacles in Cuba and Puerto Rico, 1898–1956. By Reinaldo Román. (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2007. Pp. 273. $25.95.)

This masterful and innovative study explores state policies and attitudes towards religious phenomena derided as superstition in Puerto Rico and Cuba in the early twentieth century. It is highly or...
A Survey of Assessment Professionals in the US Testing Children with Special Needs

A national survey of assessment professionals in the US was conducted to ascertain who was testing special education students, who were being tested and which tests were being used. Based on 1059 returned surveys, the following statements can be made. Four groups (teachers, specialists, psychologists and speech therapists) generally administer the tests. As an average, three-quarters of these individuals have at least a master's degree; two-thirds are over 35 years of age; they have taken five assessment courses; and assess about 67 children each year. Two out of three children tested are male, regardless of the handicapping category, and almost two out of three are between the ages of 6 and 14 years although there is a trend to test more preschool children. Psychologists and speech therapists use more different tests than teachers and specialists. Some widely used tests are utilized primarily by one of the four groups while others are shared by two or three groups. The most widely used tests are discusse...
Epidermal growth factor receptor kinase domain mutations in esophageal and pancreatic adenocarcinomas.

Purpose: Specific activating mutations within the epidermal growth factor receptor ( EGFR ) identify a subset of non–small cell lung cancers with dramatic sensitivity to the specific tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI), gefitinib and erlotinib. Despite the abundant expression of EGFR protein in a broad range of epithelial cancers, EGFR mutations have not been reported in a substantial fraction of other cancers. Given recent reports of TKI-responsive cases of esophageal and pancreatic cancer, this study was designed to determine the prevalence of EGFR mutations in these gastrointestinal cancers. Experimental Design: We sequenced exons 18 to 21 of EGFR from 21 cases of Barrett9s esophagus, 5 cases of high-grade esophageal dysplasia, 17 cases of esophageal adenocarcinoma, and 55 cases of pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Subsets of esophageal ( n = 7) and pancreatic cancer cases ( n = 5) were obtained from patients who were subsequently treated with gefitinib or erlotinib-capecitabine, respectively. Results: Mutations of EGFR were identified in two esophageal cancers (11.7%), three cases of Barrett9s esophagus (14.2%), and two pancreatic cancers (3.6%). The mutations consisted of the recurrent missense L858R and in-frame deletion delE746-A750, previously characterized as activating EGFR mutations in non–small cell lung cancer. We also identified the TKI drug resistance–associated EGFR T790M mutation in an untreated case of Barrett9s esophagus and the corresponding adenocarcinoma. Conclusion: The presence of activating mutations within EGFR in both esophageal and pancreatic adenocarcinomas defines a previously unrecognized subset of gastrointestinal tumors in which EGFR signaling may play an important biological role. EGFR mutations in premalignant lesions of Barrett9s esophagus also point to these as an early event in transformation of the esophageal epithelium. The role of genotype-directed TKI therapy should be tested in prospective clinical trials.
Robust control with structured perturbations

This paper considers the problem of robustification of a given stabilizing controller to make the closed loop system remain stable for prescribed ranges of variations of a set of physical parameters in the plant. The problem is treated in the state space and transfer function domains. In the state space domain a stability hypersphere is determined in the parameter space using Lyapunov theory. The radius of this hypersphere is iteratively increased by adjusting the controller parameters until the prescribed perturbation ranges are contained in the stability hypersphere. In the transfer function domain a corresponding stability margin is defined and optimized based on the recently introduced concept of the largest stability hypersphere in the space of coefficients of the closed loop characteristic polynomial. The design algorithms are illustrated by examples.
Gap Junction Structure

The significance of gap junctions in intercellular communication was first demonstrated in parallel structural and electrophysiological studies of synapses between neurons forming the giant escape mechanism of crayfish (Furshpan and Potter, 1959; Robertson, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1960; Hama, 1961; Watanabe and Grundfest, 1961). Electron microscopic studies of these synapses showed regions of close axolemma contact characterized by a narrow extracellular space (Robertson, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1960, 1963). Electrophysiological studies of these synapses demonstrated that action potentials propagated across the synapse with small delays and in the synapse between the lateral giant axons equally well in both directions. Cell communication through gap junctions was later observed in nerve tissue of several fishes (Bennett et al., 1963, 1967; Furshpan, 1964), in smooth and cardiac muscles (Dewey and Barr, 1962, 1964), and between most epithelia and glands (Kanno and Loewenstein, 1966; Loewenstein and Kanno, 1964, 1967; Loewenstein et al., 1965; Loewenstein, 1966). In addition to the observation that gap junctions allow the passage of ions carrying electrical impulses, physiological studies demonstrated that gap junctions also allow low-molecular-weight molecules to spread into adjacent cells without leaking into the extracellular space (Loewenstein, 1966; Loewenstein and Kanno, 1967). These observations had profound structural implications because they suggested that gap junctions must be constructed of large hydrophilic channels. Subsequently, it became possible to resolve these gateways between adjacent cytoplasms by structural methods.
Information Theoretic Analysis of Proactive Routing Overhead in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

This paper considers basic bounds on the overhead of link-state protocols in mobile ad hoc networks. Hierarchical protocols are known for their good scalability properties, and hence this paper considers a two-level hierarchical protocol. In such protocols, nodes need to keep track of shortest path information, link states and cluster membership. Two types of overheads are considered; the memory needed to store routing-related information, including link-states and cluster membership, and the control messages that need to be exchanged to keep track of the changes in the network. Memory overhead is important practically for dimensioning network nodes, while message routing overhead is important since it reduces the effective capacity of the network to carry user data (vis-a-vis control data). The scalability properties of the message routing overhead are analyzed for different modes of network scaling. Practical implications, such as optimal cluster size, average/fixed memory requirement and routing protocol parameter selections are discussed.
Localization of Kv2.2 protein in Xenopus laevis embryos and tadpoles.

Voltage-gated potassium (Kv) channels sculpt neuronal excitability and play important developmental roles. Kv channels consist of pore-forming α- and auxiliary subunits. For many Kv α-subunits, existing mRNA probes and antibodies have allowed analysis of expression patterns, typically during adult stages. Here, we focus on the Kv2.2 α-subunit, for which the mRNA shows broad expression in the embryo and adult. A lack of suitable antibodies, however, has hindered detailed analysis of Kv2.2 protein localization, especially during development. We developed an antibody that specifically recognizes Kv2.2 protein in Xenopus laevis, a vertebrate well suited for study of early developmental stages. The Kv2.2 antibody recognized heterologously expressed Kv2.2 but not the closely related Kv2.1 protein. Immunodetection of the protein showed its presence at St 32 in ventrolateral regions of the hindbrain and spinal cord. At later stages, several sensory tissues (retina, otic, and olfactory epithelia) also expressed Kv2.2 protein. As development progressed in the central nervous system, Kv2.2 protein distribution expanded in close association with the cytoskeletal marker α-tubulin, consistent with growth of neuronal tracts. We analyzed the subcellular distribution of Kv2.2 protein within single cultured neurons. In addition to a surface membrane presence, Kv2.2 protein also resided intracellularly closely associated with α-tubulin, as in vivo. Furthermore, in contrast to Kv2.1, Kv2.2 protein localized to long, axonal-like processes, consistent with its in vivo location in tracts. Despite their primary sequence similarity, the contrasting localizations of Kv2.1 and Kv2.2 support different roles for the two during development and neuronal signaling. J. Comp. Neurol. 510:508–524, 2008. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
A device-centric approach to a safer internet of things

The Internet of Things is a promising implementation approach to the vision of ubiquitous computing. However, "things" in the IoT are not always collaborative, cooperative or predictable. Things may interfere with each other or may be programmed erroneously. They may fail or cause other things to fail. This paper addresses issues of safety in the IoT with a special focus on a main source of concerns - devices. We analyze safety issues in IoT and propose a domain independent safety ontology to be used by all stake-holders of an IoT system to express their safety concerns in the form of knowledge. We also present a device description language intended for use by device manufacturers to describe device safety. Finally, we present a sensor domain ontology that assists in providing explicit hints to the IoT system about the relationships between sensors and actuators. Such hints help significantly in empowering the devices themselves to proactively participate in enhancing the overall system safety.
Use of Emergency Departments among Working Age Adults with Disabilities: A Problem of Access and Service Needs

Objective To examine the relationship between emergency department (ED) use and access to medical care and prescription medications among working age Americans with disabilities. Data Source Pooled data from the 2006–2008 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), a U.S. health survey representative of community-dwelling civilians. Study Design We compared the health and service utilization of two groups of people with disabilities to a contrast group without disability. We modeled ED visits on the basis of disability status, measures of health and health conditions, access to care, and sociodemographics. Data Extraction These variables were aggregated from the household component, the medical condition, and event files to provide average annual estimates for the period spanning 2006–2008. Principal Findings People with disabilities accounted for almost 40 percent of the annual visits made to U.S. EDs each year. Three key factors affect their ED use: access to regular medical care (including prescription medications), disability status, and the complexity of individuals’ health profiles. Conclusions Given the volume of health conditions among people with disabilities, the ED will always play a role in their care. However, some ED visits could potentially be avoided if ongoing care were optimized.
Neural Crest Cells Isolated from the Bone Marrow of Transgenic Mice Express JCV T-Antigen

JC virus (JCV), a common human polyomavirus, is the etiological agent of the demyelinating disease, progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML). In addition to its role in PML, studies have demonstrated the transforming ability of the JCV early protein, T-antigen, and its association with some human cancers. JCV infection occurs in childhood and latent virus is thought to be maintained within the bone marrow, which harbors cells of hematopoietic and non-hematopoietic lineages. Here we show that non-hematopoietic mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) isolated from the bone marrow of JCV T-antigen transgenic mice give rise to JCV T-antigen positive cells when cultured under neural conditions. JCV T-antigen positive cells exhibited neural crest characteristics and demonstrated p75, SOX-10 and nestin positivity. When cultured in conditions typical for mesenchymal cells, a population of T-antigen negative cells, which did not express neural crest markers arose from the MSCs. JCV T-antigen positive cells could be cultured long-term while maintaining their neural crest characteristics. When these cells were induced to differentiate into neural crest derivatives, JCV T-antigen was downregulated in cells differentiating into bone and maintained in glial cells expressing GFAP and S100. We conclude that JCV T-antigen can be stably expressed within a fraction of bone marrow cells differentiating along the neural crest/glial lineage when cultured in vitro. These findings identify a cell population within the bone marrow permissible for JCV early gene expression suggesting the possibility that these cells could support persistent viral infection and thus provide clues toward understanding the role of the bone marrow in JCV latency and reactivation. Further, our data provides an excellent experimental model system for studying the cell-type specificity of JCV T-antigen expression, the role of bone marrow-derived stem cells in the pathogenesis of JCV-related diseases and the opportunities for the use of this model in development of therapeutic strategies.
A scalable lightweight performance monitoring tool for storage clusters

Distributed infrastructures providing cloud services as well as compute- and storage clusters are notoriously difficult to administer and optimize. Management applications benefit from up-to-date data on system performance. This paper describes the Performance Monitoring and Management System (PMMS), a light-weight and versatile performance monitoring tool that collects hundreds of thousands of metrics per second and delivers this information as time-series in near real-time. At its core lies an in-memory database that scales through federation to large clusters of several hundreds of nodes. Data is collected using sensors which collect and periodically send their metric data to the PMMS collectors. Designed as a component that is embeddable into a larger system, PMMS is light-weight, with little impact on the system resources and it is easy to install and to configure.
Adaptive IFS image coding with proximity maps

The authors propose and evaluate a method for image coding using an iterated function system (IFS) which adaptively sets the map block size for the data being coded. In addition, the domain blocks are restricted to the neighborhood of their respective range, which greatly reduces the coding time and the map storage requirements. The resulting algorithm provides a higher SNR at a lower computational cost than previous methods. >
Lis1 controls dynamics of neuronal filopodia and spines to impact synaptogenesis and social behaviour

LIS1 (PAFAH1B1) mutation can impair neuronal migration, causing lissencephaly in humans. LIS1 loss is associated with dynein protein motor dysfunction, and disrupts the actin cytoskeleton through disregulated RhoGTPases. Recently, LIS1 was implicated as an important protein-network interaction node with high-risk autism spectrum disorder genes expressed in the synapse. How LIS1 might participate in this disorder has not been investigated. We examined the role of LIS1 in synaptogenesis of post-migrational neurons and social behaviour in mice. Two-photon imaging of actin-rich dendritic filopodia and spines in vivo showed significant reductions in elimination and turnover rates of dendritic protrusions of layer V pyramidal neurons in adolescent Lis1+/− mice. Lis1+/− filopodia on immature hippocampal neurons in vitro exhibited reduced density, length and RhoA dependent impaired dynamics compared to Lis1+/+. Moreover, Lis1+/− adolescent mice exhibited deficits in social interaction. Lis1 inactivation restricted to the postnatal hippocampus resulted in similar deficits in dendritic protrusion density and social interactions. Thus, LIS1 plays prominently in dendritic filopodia dynamics and spine turnover implicating reduced dendritic spine plasticity as contributing to developmental autistic-like behaviour.
The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control: opportunities and issues

The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), a World Health Organization sponsored global tobacco control treaty, constitutes the first major international tool with the potential to significantly reduce the global pandemic of tobacco-produced disease and death. After providing background on the prevalence of cigarette smoking and smoking attributable mortality, both at present and projected for the future, the paper then describes the FCTC and discusses its development, the barriers it has confronted, and the opportunities it offers for improving global health. Successful implementation of the provisions in the treaty could avoid literally tens of millions of premature tobacco-produced deaths over the next few decades.
Challenges to the rapid identification of children who have been trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation

Child trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation (CSE) is a complex phenomenon, requiring multifaceted programs and policies by various stakeholders. A number of publications have focused on preventing this heinous crime. Less attention, however, has been paid to the recovery and rehabilitation of children who have been traumatized as a result of being trafficked for CSE. This article focuses on the first step in the protection and recovery process, which is to ensure that procedures are in place for their identification, so that they might access timely and appropriate assistance. It highlights three situational and two child-related challenges to identification. In addition, it describes the additional victimization experienced by children who are wrongly arrested for crimes associated with prostitution or illegal border crossings, rather than being identified as victims. An extensive literature review was conducted, and included academic publications, as well as governmental and non-governmental reports. In addition, field-based qualitative research was undertaken in South and Southeast Asia, and involved interviews with representatives from United Nations and governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and aftercare recovery programs.
Why Process Complaints? Then and Now

The creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) established the first comprehensive federal forum for processing consumer complaints about financial products and services. The CFPB not only handles consumers complaints; it also publishes a database that includes most complaints and their initial resolutions. For a symposium honoring the scholarship of Professor William C. Whitford, I analyze the CFPB’s complaint system and database using a framework he developed to explore the reasons why government agencies process consumer complaints and whether these reasons justify the resources that complaint processing entails. Whitford and his co-author proposed three “obvious” reasons to process consumer complaints: to settle consumer disputes; to inform the agency’s regulatory activities; and to generate good will for the agency among constituencies such as consumers, government actors, and the companies the CFPB regulates.I find that the CFPB has mixed success in providing an alternative dispute resolution forum for consumers. I am, however, missing key information for this evaluation. The CFPB Consumer Complaint Database contains the financial institutions’ responses to consumer complaints but there is almost no information available about any follow up actions the CFPB takes. The CFPB is particularly strong on the regulatory function. It makes significant use of complaint data in its regulatory roles and evinces a commitment to ensuring that companies are handling complaints well. Last comes good will. With respect to public good will, I was unable to find much evidence one way or the other. As for good will among government actors, the CFPB appropriately appears not to apply different treatment to complaints referred by government entities or officials. Finally, the CFPB’s complaint data reveal an intriguing possibility that the process may provide some legitimization of financial institutions' complaint resolutions. But given that consumer financial companies are pushing for the CFPB’s elimination, working to generate good will among financial institutions in this way may be entirely reasonable on the CFPB’s part. This is especially true because the CFPB has made important complaints decisions – such as publishing the database without redacting company names – despite financial companies’ vociferous objections.
Optofluidic microscopy

This research aims to integrate optical microscopy with microfluidic systems and create a device which is potentially capable of achieving sub wavelength resolution. This paper reports on our initial results of this optofluidic microscope (OFM).
Flow-induced instability of wind turbine blades

With the increasing size of offshore wind turbine rotors, the design criteria used for the blades may also evolve. Current offshore technology utilizes three relatively stiff blades in an upwind configuration. With the goal of minimizing mass, there is an interest in lightweight rotors that instead utilize two flexible blades oriented downwind. These design possibilities necessitate a better understating of the fundamental behavior of such flexible blades. In the current work, the dynamic instability of flexible wind turbine blades is studied using experimental studies and supported by numerical stability analysis. For the experimental component of the work, the blades are designed using relatively thin, low Reynolds number airfoils and built using rapid-prototyping methods with a flexible material. A numerical model is also derived to predict the onset of dynamic flow-induced instability for the designed blades. The experimental and numerical findings are then compared.
Near-infrared absorption of monodisperse silver telluride (Ag 2Te) nanocrystals and photoconductive response of their self-assembled superlattices

Monodisperse 3.1 nm Ag2Te NCs show a sharp optical absorption feature at 1154 nm with a large linear temperature dependence and the photoconductive response consistent with semiconducting character in Ag2Te NCs. The wavelength of the resonance is within the window of transparency for biological tissue making it a potential in vivo temperature marker or transducer for in situ heating with deep-penetrating near-infrared radiation.
Ochotona hyperborea (Japanese pika)

The autosomes can be divided into the following groups: 4 pairs of large metacentrics, 3 pairs of large submetacentrics, 3 pairs of submetacentrics with highly unequal arms, 4 pairs of small metacentrics, 3 pairs of small submetacentrics (or subtelocentrics), one pair of submetacentrics with satellites, and one pair of acrocentrics.
The Influence of the Pinyin and Zhuyin Writing Systems on the Acquisition of Mandarin Word Forms by Native English Speakers.

The role of written input in second language (L2) phonological and lexical acquisition has received increased attention in recent years. Here we investigated the influence of two factors that may moderate the influence of orthography on L2 word form learning: (i) whether the writing system is shared by the native language and the L2, and (ii) if the writing system is shared, whether the relevant grapheme-phoneme correspondences are also shared. The acquisition of Mandarin via the Pinyin and Zhuyin writing systems provides an ecologically valid opportunity to explore these factors. We first asked whether there is a difference in native English speakers’ ability to learn Pinyin and Zhuyin grapheme-phoneme correspondences. In Experiment 1, native English speakers assigned to either Pinyin or Zhuyin groups were exposed to Mandarin words belonging to one of two conditions: in the ‘congruent’ condition, the Pinyin forms are possible English spellings for the auditory words (e.g., for [nai]); in the ‘incongruent’ condition, the Pinyin forms involve a familiar grapheme representing a novel phoneme (e.g., for [ɕiou]). At test, participants were asked to indicate whether auditory and written forms matched; in the crucial trials, the written forms from training (e.g., 'xiu') were paired with possible English pronunciations of the Pinyin written forms (e.g., [ziou]). Experiment 2 was identical to Experiment 1 except that participants additionally saw pictures depicting word meanings during the exposure phase, and at test were asked to match auditory forms with the pictures. In both experiments the Zhuyin group outperformed the Pinyin group due to the Pinyin group’s difficulty with ‘incongruent’ items. A third experiment confirmed that the groups did not differ in their ability to perceptually distinguish the relevant Mandarin consonants (e.g., [ɕ]) from the foils (e.g., [z]), suggesting that the findings of Experiments 1 and 2 can be attributed to the effects of orthographic input. We thus conclude that despite the familiarity of Pinyin graphemes to native English speakers, the need to suppress native language grapheme-phoneme correspondences in favor of new ones can lead to less target-like knowledge of newly learned words’ forms than does learning Zhuyin’s entirely novel graphemes.
Development of a Comprehensive Monitoring System Based on Cloud Computing and XMPP

According to the actual situation of the coexistence of multi-sensor and multi-protocol in Mine Monitoring System, a comprehensive monitoring system of network based on XMPP protocol was carried out in this paper. The characteristics of the network system structure and the scheme of virtual sensor gateway were described in detail. Moreover, a session protocol based on the XMPP protocol was proposed and the definition of API was given. Functional structure and software structure of the whole system were designed based on Zend Framework. By using the virtual server cloud technology of VMware, as well as the centralized storage method of SAN, the background monitoring server group was built. After testing, the system greatly met the requirements of safety monitoring, which also possessed the advantage of easy implement, simple operation and maintenance, and great expansibility.
The impact of adolescent exposure to medical marijuana laws on high school completion, college enrollment and college degree completion

Abstract Background There is concern that medical marijuana laws (MMLs) could negatively affect adolescents. To better understand these policies, we assess how adolescent exposure to MMLs is related to educational attainment. Methods Data from the 2000 Census and 2001–2014 American Community Surveys were restricted to individuals who were of high school age (14–18) between 1990 and 2012 (n = 5,483,715). MML exposure was coded as: (i) a dichotomous “any MML” indicator, and (ii) number of years of high school age exposure. We used logistic regression to model whether MMLs affected: (a) completing high school by age 19; (b) beginning college, irrespective of completion; and (c) obtaining any degree after beginning college. A similar dataset based on the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) was also constructed for confirmatory analyses assessing marijuana use. Results MMLs were associated with a 0.40 percentage point increase in the probability of not earning a high school diploma or GED after completing the 12th grade (from 3.99% to 4.39%). High school MML exposure was also associated with a 1.84 and 0.85 percentage point increase in the probability of college non-enrollment and degree non-completion, respectively (from 31.12% to 32.96% and 45.30% to 46.15%, respectively). Years of MML exposure exhibited a consistent dose response relationship for all outcomes. MMLs were also associated with 0.85 percentage point increase in daily marijuana use among 12th graders (up from 1.26%). Conclusions Medical marijuana law exposure between age 14 to 18 likely has a delayed effect on use and education that persists over time.
She Was Born in a Small Town: The Advantages and Disadvantages in Political Knowledge and Efficacy for Rural Girls

ABSTRACTRecent work suggests that girls learn more about politics and are more efficacious in places with less conflict and greater homogeneity. Given that rural communities are often more homogeneous than metropolitan areas across several dimensions, this article asks whether young girls growing up in rural communities have higher levels of political knowledge and efficacy than those in more urban, diverse communities. It argues that the average girl benefits from the stronger social bonds between residents in smaller places, but young women who hold minority views about the importance of equality are likely to suffer in their levels of knowledge and efficacy. Being in the minority seems to be particularly difficult for girls in smaller places. This article raises questions about the ways in which gender gaps vary across different places and the varying effects of minority status.
Soy isoflavone intake and breast cancer recurrence

B55 The role of soy isoflavones in preventing recurrent breast cancer is not well understood. Soy isoflavones are similar in structure to endogenous estrogens and have been demonstrated in vitro to have weak estrogenic, anti-estrogenic, antioxidant and anti-proliferative properties. Breast cancer survivors sometimes increase their soy intake post-diagnosis, through diet and supplement use, to prevent cancer recurrence or to alleviate post-menopausal symptoms when used as an alternative to hormone replacement therapy. Therefore, we sought to characterize soy isoflavone intake and assess its role in breast cancer recurrence among a cohort of 1,971 female breast cancer survivors enrolled in the Life After Cancer Epidemiology (LACE) study who completed a soy food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Genistein and daidzein intakes, the primary soy isoflavones, were assessed through a self-administered modified Block FFQ and a supplemental soy FFQ, on average 23 months post-diagnosis. The use of soy supplements was also recorded. Delayed entry Cox proportional hazards models were used to generate hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) to describe the effect of soy intake on the time to recurrence, adjusted for (yes/no) soy supplement use, body mass index (BMI) 1 year before diagnosis, menopausal status, tobacco pack-years, tumor stage, hormone receptor status, age, and race. The mean (+ standard deviation) genistein and daidzein intakes among the LACE cohort were 2.4 (+ 7.1) and 1.7 (+ 4.9) milligrams per day, respectively, and were collinear (r = 0.997). 53 women reported soy supplement use. Women in the highest category of genistein intake (> 13 mg/day) had a suggested decreased risk of recurrence when compared to those who had no genistein intake (HR = 0.88; 95%CI: 0.45-1.74; p for trend = 0.20). This effect was modified by estrogen (ER) and progesterone (PR) receptor status (p for interaction = 0.04) but not significantly by menopausal status (p for interaction = 0.80). However, there was suggestion of a protective effect of high genistein intake among postmenopausal women (n = 1,211) (HR = 0.75, 95%CI: 0.29-1.90, p for trend = 0.07) and among women with ER or PR positive tumors (HR = 0.47, 95%CI: 0.17-1.32, p for trend = 0.15). The results were similar when modeling daidzein intake. One suggested mechanism for the selective effect of soy in hormone receptor positive tumors is that soy isoflavones may bind to hormone receptor positive tumors to exert their anti-estrogenic effect, thereby decreasing the risk of recurrence. We conclude that high genistein intake, comparable to levels consumed in Asian populations, may reduce the risk of recurrence in women who have hormone receptor positive tumors.
Series Resonator Mode Switching for Area-Efficient Octave Tuning-Range CMOS $LC$ Oscillators

Integrated oscillators with octave frequency tuning range (FTR) are desirable for wireless transceivers supporting multiple frequency bands. In this paper, we describe a wide-FTR CMOS voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) based on a novel area-efficient series resonator mode-switching scheme that preserves resonator quality factor $Q$ across the entire octave tuning range. This allows the CMOS VCO to simultaneously achieving wide FTR, area efficiency, and low phase noise, demonstrating state-of-the-art figure of merit (FoM) for > 10-GHz octave-tuning range VCOs. We also analyze the relationship between $Q$ and FTR across common resonator band-switching schemes, quantifying performance limits and highlighting the benefits of using mode-switching for wide-FTR VCOs. The proposed approach is demonstrated through a 6.4–14-GHz (74.6% FTR) VCO implemented in 65-nm CMOS that achieves 186–188-dB VCO FoM, demonstrating good FoM across the entire FTR. The scalability of this approach toward achieving even larger FTR is also demonstrated by a triple-mode 2.2–8.7-GHz (119% FTR) CMOS VCO. Area efficiency of the proposed mode-switching scheme is demonstrated by the state-of-the-art 197-dB FoM area achieved by the 14-GHz VCO.
A translational study to investigate the association between smoking-induced lung inflammation and lung metastases (LM) from breast cancer (BC).

10514 Background: Retrospective and preclinical studies suggest that smokers are at increased risk for LM from BC, possibly mediated by lung inflammation and the bioactive lipid, PGE2. To investigate this link in pts, we examined urinary PGE-M, a stable end metabolite of PGE2. Methods: A translational study was conducted, consisting of pts with LM (n=100), pts with mets but no known lung mets (NKL, n=100) and controls (CTRLS) with a history of BC (n=200). Pts receiving steroids and radiotherapy were excluded. Pts gave urine (PGE-M), blood (biomarkers), had BMI measured, and completed a validated questionnaire (smoking, NSAIDs, confounders). PGE-M was measured by mass spectrometry, normalized to urinary creatinine and compared between grps in both univariate and multivariate models, correcting for covariates. Results: From 09/2010 to 06/2011, 400 pts, med age 58 yrs (range 24-88) enrolled. There were no significant differences between grps in smoking and NSAID exposure (table). PGE-M (med; range) was highe...
Developing a Word Associates Test to Assess L2 Chinese Learners’ Vocabulary Depth

This chapter reports on our development and initial validation of a Word Associates Test (WAT) for assessing the depth of vocabulary knowledge of Chinese as Second/Foreign Language learners. The validation study revealed the Chinese WAT (WAT-C) to be a reliable and valid test. Specifically, the WAT-C’s medium-sized correlations with a vocabulary size measure and its unique predictive effect on reading comprehension suggested that the test, as intended, assessed a distinct aspect of vocabulary knowledge (i.e., depth). Learners’ performance on the WAT-C was significantly better when they were informed on the number of associates (informed condition) than when they were not (uninformed condition). The scores of the WAT-C produced by three different scoring methods consistently predicted reading comprehension significantly in the informed condition as opposed to the uninformed condition. Taken together, these findings suggest that the informed condition may be preferred for administering the WAT-C. Finally, in both conditions, the All-or-Nothing scoring method, which awards a point only if all associates but no distractors are selected, consistently predicted reading comprehension significantly and uniquely, and it also tended to explain more variance in reading comprehension than the One-Point method (i.e., one point awarded for each associate without considering distractor selection) and the Correct-Wrong (i.e., one point awarded for selecting an associate as well as non-selection of a distractor). With consideration of both the strength of predictive validity and the complexity of scoring, the All-or-Nothing method was evaluated to be the best for scoring the WAT-C. Some remaining issues for the future and the implications of the reported work for instruction and classroom assessment of Chinese L2 learners are discussed.
EEG-based brain-computer interface to a virtual walking avatar engages cortical adaptation

Recent advances in brain-computer interface (BCI) technologies have shown the feasibility of neural decoding for both users' gait intent and continuous kinematics. However, the cortical adaptation and the dynamics of cortical involvement in human upright walking with a closed-loop BCI in virtual environment (VE) have yet to be demonstrated. To address explore this possibility, we designed a closed-loop BCI to allow users to control a virtual avatar to walk using their encephalography (EEG). Delta band EEG (0.1–3 Hz) was used as the main feature in prediction. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of using a closed-loop BCI to learn to control a walking avatar. The average decoding accuracies (Pearson's r values) across all subjects increased from (Hip: 0.18 ± 0.31; Knee: 0.23 ± 0.33; Ankle: 0.14 ± 0.22) on Day 1 to (Hip: 0.40 ± 0.24; Knee: 0.55 ± 0.20; Ankle: 0.29 ± 0.22) on Day 8. Source localization revealed significant differences in cortical network activity between walking with and without closed-loop BCI control of the virtual avatar. This current study demonstrates the feasibility of using a closed-loop EEG-based BCI-VR to trigger cortical adaptation, promoting cortical involvement, and monitoring cortical activity from non-invasive EEG. Our system may be relevant for neurological gait rehabilitation as a clinical tool for post-stroke physical training and clinical assessment.