cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Laser Capture Microdissection of Nematode Feeding Cells

Obligate plant-parasitic nematodes, such as cyst nematodes (Heterodera and Globodera spp.) and root-knot nematodes (Meloidogyne spp.), form specialized feeding cells in host plant roots. These feeding cells provide the sole source of nutrition for the growth and reproduction of the nematode to complete its life cycle. Feeding cell formation involves complex physiological and morphological changes to normal root cells and is accompanied by dramatic changes in plant gene expression. The distinct features of feeding cells suggest that their formation entails a unique gene expression profile, a better understanding of which will assist in building models to explain signaling pathways that modulate transcriptional changes in response to nematodes. Ultimately, this knowledge can be used to design strategies to develop resistance against nematodes in crop plants. Feeding cells comprise a small fraction of the total root cell population, and identification of plant gene expression changes specific to these cells is difficult. Until recently, the specific isolation of nematode feeding cells could be accomplished only by manual dissection or microaspiration. These approaches are limited in that only mature feeding cells can be isolated. These limitations in tissue accessibility for macromolecule isolation at different stages of feeding cell development can be overcome through the use of laser microdissection (LM), a technique that enables the specific isolation of feeding cells from early to late stages for RNA isolation, amplification, and downstream analysis.
Freelance Photojournalists and Photo Editors

Since 2005, journalism has experienced a series of seismic changes due to economic factors, technological changes, and shifting priorities and news values. Photojournalism has been particularly affected by technology and business model changes, leading more outlets to rely on often geographically remote freelancers at the expense of dedicated photo staffs. These remote working environments and the mediated communication they necessitate have profound impacts for photojournalists’ development, roles, and responsibilities. Through in-depth interviews with photo editors and freelancers at top media outlets in the United States and guided by professional socialization, mentoring, and learning theories, this study explores what happens when the photojournalist–editor relationship is strained, mediated, or severed. It also seeks to examine what impact mediated interactions have on photographers’ learning and the quality of the media they produce. The findings reveal that the post-digital freelance model is more...
The metaphor police: A case study of the role of metaphor in explanation

While many scholars have pointed to the role of metaphor in explanation, relatively little experimental research has examined whether and how metaphors are used and understood in everyday explanatory discourse. Across 3 experiments, we investigated the nature and function of metaphor in explanation by drawing on a real-world example where the terms guardian and warrior were used to metaphorically explain the role of police officers. We found, first, that the associations participants brought to mind for these concepts differed depending on whether they had previously answered questions about law enforcement (e.g., associations for warrior emphasized aggression and violence rather than strength and bravery when participants had previously answered questions about policing). Second, people were almost evenly split in their judgment of which metaphor was more appropriate to explain the role of law enforcement; this preference was highly predictive of beliefs related to policing and the criminal justice system. Third, and most important, using these metaphors to explain the job of policing causally influenced attitudes toward law enforcement in a metaphor-congruent manner (i.e., exposure to the guardian metaphor led to more positive attitudes), a finding that could not be accounted for by basic lexical priming. These studies complement existing work that has identified metaphor as a mechanism for representing abstract concepts, but also highlight the communicative and explanatory, rather than representational, functions of metaphor by showing that metaphors can encapsulate and convey an array of structured attitudes and beliefs.
Continuously Tunable 0.55–1.9-GHz Bandpass Filter With a Constant Bandwidth Using Switchable Varactor-Tuned Resonators

This paper reports on tunable 2- and 3-pole bandpass filters with a wide frequency tuning range (tuning ratio >3) and a constant bandwidth using switchable varactor-tuned resonators. The wide center frequency tuning range is obtained using p-i-n diodes to switch in and out quarter-wavelength ( $\lambda $ /4) or half-wavelength ( $\lambda $ /2) resonators for low-band or high-band modes, without increasing the tuning capacitance range of the varactors. A combination of electric and magnetic coupling is utilized to realize a near constant absolute bandwidth across the tuning range. A switchable feed line with a fixed matching capacitance is used to realize the external coupling. Two filters are designed and fabricated on a Duroid substrate with $\varepsilon _{r} = 2.2$ and $h =0.787$ mm. For the 2-pole filter, the center frequency is tuned from 550 to 1900 MHz while maintaining a 3-dB bandwidth of 92 ± 6 MHz, insertion loss of 3.2~4.4 dB, and return loss of better than 15 dB. For the 3-pole filter, the center frequency is tuned from 540 to 1800 MHz while maintaining a 3-dB bandwidth of 89 ± 4 MHz, insertion loss of 4~5.4 dB, and return loss of better than 12 dB. For both filter types, the third-order intercept point and 1-dB compression point ( $P_{\mathrm {1~dB}})$ are 11 and 7 dBm, respectively. The rejection level at 200-MHz offset frequency from the passband center frequency is better than 25 and 41 dB for 2- and 3-pole filters, respectively, across the entire tuning range. To the best of our knowledge, this planar bandpass filter exhibits the widest tuning range with a near-constant bandwidth.
Micro-Innovation Strategy: The Case of WeChat

Tencent was the third-largest Internet company in the world, behind Google and Amazon. Tencent’s primary product, WeChat, was the world’s four-largest mobile messaging apps. This case discusses how Tencent used micro-innovation strategy to develop and improve its product, WeChat, as well as manage its powerful competition. It also discusses Tencent’s innovative strategies such as functional additions through micro-innovation, reverse micro-innovation by subtraction, and strategic alliances for internationalization, among others.
Photoinitiated Polymerization of 4-Vinylpyridine on polyHIPE Foam Surface toward Improved Pu Separations.

The separation of hazardous metals from contaminated sources is commonly achieved with ion-exchange resins. The resins have a high surface area decorated with many ion-exchange sites and thus a high sorption capacity for the analyte of interest. However, these sites are primarily accessed by diffusion which limits the throughput and quality of the separation. Reported herein is a study of monolithic polyHIPE foam columns surface-grafted with a brush of polymer containing ion-exchange functionality for the separation of Pu. It was found that the loading curves of the foam material are steeper than a similarly scaled resin-based column, and the elution profiles of the foams were narrower than the resin, generating more concentrated eluate relative to the amount of Pu loaded onto the foam columns. On a gravimetric basis, the foams had a similar or greater Pu capacity than the resin with fewer ion-exchange sites per unit mass. These characteristics are mainly due to the convective mass transport which dominat...
Letting-be: Dwelling, Peace and Violence in Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s Petals of Blood

It is dwelling that allows mortals to initiate themselves in time and space. As such, dwelling constitutes the event of being. In his essay “Building Dwelling Thinking,” Martin Heidegger stipulates that dwelling can only be achieved through harmonious relations among the constituents, earth, sky, mortals and gods (“divinities”), of the “fourfold.” Heidegger writes, “To preserve the fourfold, to save the earth, to receive the sky, to await the divinities, to initiate mortals – this fourfold preserving is the simple essence of dwelling.” Initiating themselves in time and space is the great difficulty that the residents of Ilmorog, the remote village in postcolonial Kenya in which Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s novel Petals of Blood is set, experience; in Petals of Blood , dwelling is what defines mortals’ being.
Application of electro-membrane separation for recovery of acetic acid in lignocellulosic bioethanol production

Abstract Acetic acid (HAc), one of the major inhibitory compounds present in all lignocellulosic biomass hydrolysate, can reduce the rate and yield of bioethanol production. Electrodialysis (ED) is an electrochemical non-solvent based separation process that can selectively separate ionic species from aqueous solutions through the use of ion selective membranes and electric field potential. Two ED cell configurations at three constant applied potentials (5, 10, and 15 V) were tested for removal and recovery of HAc from a model solution of corn stover hydrolysate. The uses of bipolar membrane (configuration 1) and cation-exchange membrane (configuration 2) in an ED stack demonstrated significantly different effects on system performance in terms of: demineralization rate, acetic acid removal rate, current efficiency, and energy consumption. The demineralization and mineralization of feed and recovery solutions, respectively, increased with increasing applied voltage for both configurations. Configuration 1 showed 1.5–2 times higher initial electrical resistance at lower applied voltages compared to configuration 2. The HAc flux and removal rate increased with increasing electric potential, and were significantly higher in configurations 2 than 1. The present work indicates that a cation exchange membrane operating at 10 V is optimal for recovering HAc from a model corn stover hydrolysate solution.
EMORY JOHNSON AND THE RISE OF ECONOMIC EXPERTISE IN THE PROGRESSIVE STATE, 1898–1913

Emory Johnson served in a series of executive-branch appointments pertaining to the Panama Canal. Like many other executive experts, he used his professional skills and reputation as political tools, promoting the canal and bringing its toll-making under his control. His activities diverged from what scholars have described as other experts’ practice of gaining influence by insulating themselves from the preceding era's partisan politics, however. An avowed Republican, he worked in collaboration with appointed officials and lobbied members of the public and Congress alike. Although he presented economic data as objective fact, his persuasive efforts drew heavily on an often-forgotten strand of the party's ideological tradition. It paradoxically promoted transportation projects simultaneously in associative terms, as using the market to secure the Union, and as benefiting the divergent interests of competing individual localities. Johnson's work reveals a professional in the federal government as a more multidimensional historical figure than that which appears in accounts describing experts as symbols of an undemocratic administrative state, illustrating a complex set of ties between the preceding period's political beliefs and practices and the rise of an administrative state.
Surgery for Esophageal Disorders: The Anesthesiologist’s View

The goal of this chapter is to discuss the preoperative evaluation, anesthesia concerns in special situations, and postoperative management of patients presenting for esophageal operations and procedures.
ORDERED TOPOLOGICAL SPACES

Publisher Summary This chapter presents a few topics from the theory of GO spaces. It highlights areas in which there has been recent progress and describes the way in which researchers in ordered spaces view the subject. The chapter also focuses on a LOTS or a GO space, which is a topological space already equipped with a compatible ordering. Over the years, some effort has been devoted to giving a characterization of those topological spaces for which some compatible ordering can be constructed. Results of that type are called orderability theorems. Characterizations of the arc, Cantor set, and space of irrationals might be viewed as orderability theorems. Every GO space is collectionwise normal so that, in the light of general theory, many well-known covering properties, for example sub-para-compactness, θ-refinability, and meta-compactness, are equivalent to para-compactness in a GO space.
Applications of POD studies and robust design to electromagnetic NDE

Numerical techniques, such as finite element methods (FEM), have been widely used in predicting defect signatures in nondestructive evaluation (NDE). The test conditions in the numerical models are deterministic in nature. However, signals generated by identical flaws are usually different under practical testing conditions. This affects the reliability of NDE methods. A considerable amount of attention has been focused towards quantifying the reliability of a variety of NDE methods, which has led to development of models for evaluating probability of detection (POD). Sources of variabilities that influence POD in NDE systems vary due to different testing modalities. POD models not only help in improving accuracy in flaw detection but also help in optimizing operational parameters. The Taguchi method, also called robust design in literature, is a well-established technique for optimizing the design parameters in an experiment. This dissertation presents a comprehensive POD model for quasi-static electromagnetic NDE. Applications of Taguchi methods as well as POD models in magnetic flux leakage (MFL) and magneto-optic/eddy current imaging inspections are investigated in this research.
Abstract TP114: Association of Inflammation With Intracranial Atherosclerotic Stenosis

Introduction and Hypothesis: Intracranial Atherosclerotic Stenosis (ICAS) is associated with 8-10% of all strokes in the U.S. Although there is evidence in the Asian population that inflammation pl...
Optical coherence tomography is highly sensitive in detecting prior optic neuritis

Objective To explore sensitivity of optical coherence tomography (OCT) in detecting prior unilateral optic neuritis. Methods This is a retrospective, observational clinical study of all patients who presented from January 1, 2014, to January 6, 2017, with unilateral optic neuritis and OCT available at least 3 months after the attack. We compared OCT retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) and ganglion cell inner plexiform layer (GCIPL) thicknesses between affected and unaffected contralateral eyes. We excluded patients with concomitant glaucoma or other optic neuropathies. Based on analysis of normal controls, thinning was considered significant if RNFL was at least 9 µm or GCIPL was at least 6 µm less in the affected eye compared to the unaffected eye. Results Fifty-one patients (18 male and 33 female) were included in the study. RNFL and GCIPL thicknesses were significantly lower in eyes with optic neuritis compared to unaffected eyes (p Conclusions OCT, especially with GCIPL analysis, is a highly sensitive modality in detecting prior optic neuritis, which is made more robust by using intereye differences to approximate change. Classification of evidence This study provides Class III evidence that OCT accurately identifies patients with prior unilateral optic neuritis.
System identification of lumped parameter models for weakly nonlinear systems

Abstract Experimental system identification through modal analysis is often conducted by assuming linear constitutive laws and kinematic relationships. Significant prediction errors from these identified models can occur when the amplitude dependent contribution of nonlinearities is ignored. In this paper, the impact of such nonlinearities on the parameter identification and accuracy of a linear model is shown to depend significantly on the experimental procedures. Using modal analysis techniques and focusing on vibration near the fundamental mode, a cantilevered beam is modeled as a single degree of freedom oscillator with parameters to be determined through experimental system identification. Various testing procedures are described in detail and used to demonstrate the impact of nonlinearities on the outcome of different system identification processes. The signal control methods compared are (1) open loop, (2) constant input, and (3) constant response excitation. Forcing types considered are single point and distributed. Nonlinearities in experimental response are shown for all procedures, and it is demonstrated that the observed character and degree of the nonlinearities vary depending on the testing procedure. The paper makes various recommendations for experimental system identification procedures using linear structural models, which include developing empirical models for parameter shifts due to nonlinearities and using constant response tests to minimize nonlinear effects in the measured system response. By implementing these identification methods, parameter variations can be included in the linear model to significantly reduce predicted response and parameter errors for weakly nonlinear second-order systems.
Ovarian cancer stem cells (OCSCs): Therapy for advanced chemoresistant ovarian cancer.

e16542 Background: Invasive and mesenchymal property of Ovarian Cancer Stem Cells (OCSCs)with CD44+/CD133+has made them promising target for targeted treatment. Chemotherapy treatment uses medicine...
How features in iOS App Store Reviews can Predict Developer Responses

Until recently, communications regarding apps on the iOS App Store have been one-way from users to developers, with developers unable to respond to reviews directly. While studies have shown that responding to reviews improves an app's overall rating and user satisfaction, resource limitations make it so developers can usually only respond to some of the reviews. Although developers' response behavior has been studied, little is known about which features (aspects) of user reviews spur their responses. Motivated by these observations, we investigate a wide range of features that can be extracted from a user review and apply a random forest algorithm and the features it extracts to predict whether developers will respond to that review. We then determine the importance of these features in distinguishing reviews that receive a developer response from those that do not. Through a case study of three popular free-to-download iOS apps, we find that although features such as rating and review length are among the most important features for all apps, each app has its own individual feature importance ranking, indicating that developers assign different feature weights when prioritizing reviews. Our results may help guide research or the development of tools that are more in line with developers' actual response behavior.
Gender moderation and moderating gender: Sexual content policies in Twitch’s community guidelines:

With the rise in prominence of live-streaming as a cultural production, a form of socialization, and an economic marketplace, this article is concerned with the ways content moderation policies and...
The Mach-Zehnder interferometer and photon dualism

The Mach-Zehnder Interferometer (MZI) is used to illustrate the long-standing wave-particle duality problem. How can the photon divide at the first beam splitter and yet terminate on either arm with its undiminished energy? Why is which-way (welcher weg) information incompatible with wave interference? How do we explain Wheeler’s delayed choice experiment? The position adopted is that the photon has two identities, one supporting particle features and the other wave features. There is photon kinetic energy that never splits (on half-silvered mirrors) or diffracts (in pinholes or slits). Then there is photon probability waves that do diffract and can reinforce or cancel. Interpretations of these two identities are suggested.
Optimizing Medical Student Clerkship Schedules Using a Novel Application of the Hungarian Algorithm.

PROBLEM Medical students often have preferences regarding the order of their clinical rotations, but assigning rotations fairly and efficiently can be challenging. To achieve a solution that optimizes assignments (i.e., maximizes student satisfaction), the authors present a novel application of the Hungarian algorithm, designed at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UTSW), to assign student schedules. APPROACH Possible schedules were divided into distinct pathway options with k total number of seats. Each of n students submitted a ranked list of their top 5 pathway choices. An n × k matrix was formed, where the location (i, j) represented the cost associated with student i being placed in seat j. Progressively higher costs were assigned to students receiving less desired pathways. The Hungarian algorithm was then used to find the assignments that minimize total cost. The authors compared the performance of the Hungarian algorithm against 2 alternative algorithms (i.e., the rank and lottery algorithms). To evaluate the 3 algorithms, 4 simulations were conducted with different popularity weights for different pathways and were run across 1,000 trials. The algorithms were also compared using 3 years of UTSW student preference data for the classes of 2019, 2020, and 2021. OUTCOMES In all 4 computer simulations, the Hungarian algorithm resulted in more students receiving 1 of their top 3 choices and fewer students receiving none of their preferences. Similarly, for UTSW student preference data, the Hungarian algorithm resulted in more students receiving 1 of their top 3 preferences and fewer students receiving none of their ranked preferences. NEXT STEPS This approach may be broadly applied to scheduling challenges in undergraduate and graduate medical education. Furthermore, by manipulating cost values, additional constraints can be enforced (e.g., requiring certain seats to be filled, attempting to avoid schedules that begin with a student's desired specialty).
Extending the Limits of Blame

Erin Kelly’s The Limits of Blame offers a series of powerful arguments against retributivist accounts of punishment. Among these, I first focus on Kelly’s Inscrutability Argument, which casts doubt on our epistemic justification for making judgments of moral desert. I then discuss Kelly’s defense of the Just Harm Reduction account of punishment. I consider how retributivists might respond to and learn from these arguments.
Tele-ICUs for COVID-19: A Look at National Prevalence and Characteristics of Hospitals Providing Teleintensive Care.

PURPOSE: Amidst the COVID-19 outbreak, the use of intensive care unit telemedicine (tele-ICUs) may be one mechanism to provide patient care, particularly in rural parts of the United States. The purpose of this research was to inform hospital decision makers considering tele-ICUs, policy makers weighing immediate and longer-term funding and reimbursement decisions relative to tele-ICU care, and researchers conducting future work evaluating tele-ICUs. METHODS: We compared hospitals that reported providing teleintensive care to hospitals that reported not providing teleintensive care in the 2018 American Hospital Association Annual Survey (AHAAS). Differences between groups were tested using Pearson's chi-square (categorical variables) and t-tests (continuous variables) using 0.05 as the probability of Type 1 error. The study sample included all US short-term, acute care hospitals that responded to the AHAAS in 2018. Our key variable of interest was whether a hospital reported having any tele-ICU capabilities in the 2018 AHAAS. Other factors evaluated were ownership, region, beds, ICU beds, outpatient visits, emergency department visits, full-time employees, and whether a hospital was rural, a critical access hospital, a major teaching hospital, or part of a health system. FINDINGS: Larger, not-for-profit, nonrural, noncritical access, teaching hospitals that were part of a health system, particularly in the Midwest, were more likely to have tele-ICUs. Over one-third of hospital referral regions (HRRs) had zero hospitals with tele-ICUs, 4 had all hospitals with tele-ICU, and the median percent of hospitals with tele-ICU by HRR, weighted by outpatient visits, was 11.3%. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: We found wide variation in the prevalence of tele-ICUs across HRRs and states. Future work should continue the evaluation of tele-ICU effectiveness and, if favorable, explore the variation we identified for improved access to teleintensive care.
Interplay of phytohormones facilitate sorghum tolerance to aphids

Interactions among phytohormones are essential for providing tolerance of sorghum plants to aphids. Plant’s encounter with insect herbivores trigger defense signaling networks that fine-tune plant resistance to insect pests. Although it is well established that phytohormones contribute to antixenotic- and antibiotic-mediated resistance to insect pests, their role in conditioning plant tolerance, the most durable and promising category of host plant resistance, is largely unknown. Here, we screened a panel of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) inbred lines to identify and characterize sorghum tolerance to sugarcane aphids (SCA; Melanaphis sacchari Zehntner), a relatively new and devastating pest of sorghum in the United States. Our results suggest that the sorghum genotype SC35, the aphid-tolerant line identified among the sorghum genotypes, displayed minimal plant biomass loss and a robust photosynthetic machinery, despite supporting higher aphid population. Phytohormone analysis revealed significantly higher basal levels of 12-oxo-phytodienoic acid, a precursor in the jasmonic acid biosynthesis pathway, in the sorghum SCA-tolerant SC35 plants. Salicylic acid accumulation appeared as a generalized plant response to aphids in sorghum plants, however, SCA feeding-induced salicylic acid levels were unaltered in the sorghum tolerant genotype. Conversely, basal levels of abscisic acid and aphid feeding-induced cytokinins were accumulated in the SCA-tolerant sorghum genotype. Our findings imply that the aphid-tolerant sorghum genotype tightly controls the relationship among phytohormones, as well as provide significant insights into the underlying mechanisms that contribute to plant tolerance to sap-sucking aphids.
Low-Noise Impedance Matching Technique for Small Antennas Based on a Parametric Amplifier

A low noise impedance matching technique for electrically small antennas is presented. To increase the bandwidth, the Bode-Fano theorem is applied to a magnetic electrically small antenna as a High-Q resonator. For prescribed bandwidth, the Bode-Fano theorem reveals the maximum received signal level leading to improve the overall noise figure. At the same time, an up-converter parametric amplifier as an active component is integrated into the structure to compensate for the mismatch loss introduced by the Bode-Fano theorem while maintaining a low-noise performance.
Microaggressions: Underrepresented Minority Physical Therapist Student Experiences While on Clinical Internships.

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to determine whether underrepresented minority (URM) students in the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison) Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) Program had experienced derogatory behavior while on clinical internships. METHODS Six URM students were surveyed while on clinical internships to ascertain whether they had encountered discrimination, racism, or microaggressions. RESULTS Four of the 6 URM students reported experiencing microaggressions while on their clinical internships. CONCLUSION Education and training in the recognition and management of incidents involving derogatory behavior are imperative to foster safe and inclusive clinical environments.
OMRT-5. Therapy-induced reprogramming drives glioma vascular transdifferentiation and recurrence

Therapy-resistant glioma cells elicit remarkable phenotypic plasticity leading to aggressive tumor recurrence. Here, we used single-cell and whole transcriptomic sequencing to uncover that radiation treatment induces a dynamic shift in functional states of glioma cells allowing for acquisition of either stem-like, mesenchymal-like or vascular-like phenotypes. The predominant phenotype switch induced by radiation in surviving tumor cells is the vascular-like cell state, resulting in transdifferentiation to endothelial-like and pericyte-like cells in distinct cell clusters. The transdifferentiated endothelial-like and pericyte-like cells secrete trophic factors to support proliferation of tumor cells, and their selective ablation results in reduced tumor growth and recurrence post-treatment. Mechanistically, the acquisition of vascular-like phenotype is driven by increased acetylation and chromatin accessibility in vascular genes and in regions for binding of vascular specification transcription factors. Blocking histone acetylation using a small molecule inhibitor targeting P300 histone acetyltransferase activity prior to radiation treatment inhibits the vascular-like transdifferentiation of glioma cells and tumor growth. Our findings indicate that radiation therapy-induces rewiring of glioma cells that promotes vascular cell-like transdifferentiation, tumor growth and recurrence.
Women in Neurosurgery Around the World: A Systematic Review and Discussion of Barriers, Training, Professional Development, and Solutions.

Background Women have been a minority in neurosurgery since the foundation of the specialty. Women who choose to pursue neurosurgery or advance in their career must overcome various obstacles. In this article, we discuss the proportion of women in neurosurgery globally and the obstacles they face, as well as the solutions being implemented. Methods A systematic review of studies concerning international women in neurosurgery was conducted. Article inclusion was assessed based on relevance to women of neurosurgery, geographic region, date, and classification (rates/data, barriers, or solutions). Results From the specified search, 127 articles were retrieved, and 27 met the inclusion criteria. Of the total, 25 countries were represented and discussed in the articles. Primary classification of articles resulted in 50 for data/rates, 22 for barriers, and 17 for possible solutions. Discussion Despite cultural differences among unique regions of the globe, women face similar challenges when pursuing neurosurgery, such as difficulty advancing their careers, balancing duties at work and at home, meeting social and cultural expectations, and finding support and mentorship. Encouragingly, measures are already being implemented worldwide to allow women to fulfill their multiple other roles through maternity leave policies, increasing their access to mentors, and enabling promotions throughout their careers. Conclusions With the shortage of neurosurgeons in many regions of the world, the recruitment of female neurosurgeons plays a vital role in meeting those demands. Our cultures and professional societies should celebrate their inclusion and promotion and accommodate the complex role of women as neurosurgeons, mothers, partners, scientists, and leaders.
Chapter 3 - Thermionic Refrigeration

Thermionic refrigeration is a solid-state refrigerator based on a different principle than thermoelectric refrigeration. The name arises from thermionic emission, which is the thermal excitation of hot electrons from a metal surface. The chapter discusses that metals have an energy difference between the chemical potential and the vacuum energy, which is called the “work function” eϕ . Richardson's equation describes the current from such a surface with a temperature T where k B is Boltzman's constant. An advantage of a vacuum gap refrigerator is that thermal losses are mainly because of radiation, which is a small but not negligible effect. Thermionic refrigeration is an example of evaporative cooling. Any system will cool if its most energetic particles are removed regularly. The development of the thermionic refrigerator is as an all-solid state device. At the interface between two different materials there is often an energy barrier to the flow of electrons. These “non-ohmic” contacts are usually a nuisance, but in this case they are potentially useful. The great liability of using solid-state barriers between the conducting electrodes is that the thermal conductivity of the barrier allows vibrational heat to flow from the hot to the cold side of the refrigerator. These thermal losses are much larger than those for radiative heat transfer and they completely change the modeling of the thermionic refrigerator.
Effective acoustic modeling for rate-of-speech variation in large vocabulary conversational speech recognition.

We investigate several variants of speech-rate-dependent acoustic models for large-vocabulary conversational speech recognition, in the framework of combining rate-specific models in decoding to compensate for speech rate variation. We study two basic approaches to combining rate-specific models: one combines models at the pronunciation level and the other at the HMM state level. Furthermore, we investigate the influence of different numbers of rate-of-speech classes and different parameter tying schemes. Experiments on the Switchboard database, using SRI’s DECIPHER recognition system, show that rate-dependent acoustic modeling resulted in a 2% relative word error rate reduction over a rateindependent baseline, and that the pronunciation-level constraint, Gaussian sharing between rate-specific models, and a well-chosen number of rate-of-speech classes are all important for best performance.
Murine and Canine Models of Appendicular Osteosarcoma

Appendicular osteosarcoma (OSA) is a primary bone sarcoma affecting humans during their second decade of life. Despite aggressive surgical and chemotherapeutic interventions, 30% of patients will experience progressive metastatic disease within 5 years of diagnosis. Understanding the biology of pediatric OSA and potential targets for therapeutic development remains an area of focus for both basic scientists and clinical oncologists. The identification and study of relevant comparative tumor models in mice and canines may allow for a better understanding of OSA biology, and permit the rapid investigation of novel therapeutic strategies for managing this metastatic bone sarcoma. This unit provides a protocol for using an orthotopic, syngeneic murine model of appendicular OSA as an investigative tool for the study of OSA biology. Additionally, the comparative relevance of spontaneously occurring appendicular OSA in canines for the study of pediatric bone sarcomas is discussed. Keywords: comparative tumor model; spontaneous disease; translational research; primary bone sarcoma; experimental therapeutics
Explaining Predicate Inversion with a Clause-Internal FocP

Specificational copular clauses, in one school of thought, are considered to be inverted predications from an underlying small clause (Moro 1997, Mikkelsen 2004, den Dikken 2006 etc). One aspect of specificational copualr clauses that is often neglected is the fact that such clauses have a unique information structure profile in requiring an obligatorily focused post-copular constituent. In this extended abstract, I argue that the reason for this does not lie in movement of the pre-copular phrase to a topic position (as argued by Mikkelsen 2004) but rather because of movment of the post-copular phrase to a clause internal FocP (a position argued for independently by Jayaseelan 1999 a.o). I provide data from Tamil scrambling facts in support of this.
Textual Analysis in Advertising Research: Construction and Deconstruction of Meanings

Abstract A postmodern literary method of textual analysis is presented as a systematic approach to understanding the meaning of an advertising text. The method has three steps: identification of textual elements (the parts or literary attributes), construction of meaning (the whole, a sum of parts), and deconstruction (the unsaid assumptions that challenge singular meaning). The steps are demonstrated in a workbench analysis of a single advertisement. The author proposes that the addition of deconstruction to literary analysis of advertising text contributes to behavioral and cultural research on advertising by enabling researchers to “read” advertisements as expressions of contemporary consumer culture. Traditional language devices long thought to influence affective responses and memory are reexamined and future research directions suggested.
Tissue Culture Studies of Schwann Cell Proliferation and Differentiation

Neonatal rat sciatic nerve Schwann cells in monolayer culture are stimulated to proliferate and to express a lipid and a protein characteristic of myelin by agents which raise intracellular cyclic ade
Peripherally and centrally administered bombesin induce Fos-like immunoreactivity in different brain regions in rats.

Abstract Bombesin (BBS) suppresses food intake when administered either peripherally or centrally to rats, but the brain systems involved in the anorectic action remain unclear. We addressed this question by examining Fos-like immunoreactivity (Fos-IR), a marker of neuronal activation, in rat brain following either intraperitoneal (i.p.) or 4th cerebroventricular (4V) administration of BBS. It was found that the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus showed strong Fos-IR following either i.p. BBS in the dose range 20–80 μg/kg, or 4V BBS at a dose of 60 ng/rat. Additionally, different effects of i.p. and 4V BBS were observed in the following regions: (1) a strong Fos-IR was seen in the area postrema (caudal part) only following i.p. but not 4V BBS; (2) while i.p. BBS-induced Fos-IR was almost evenly distributed throughout the medial subdivision of the nucleus of the solitary tract, 4V BBS-induced Fos-IR was much stronger in the rostral part than in the caudal part of this region; (3) although the lateral parabrachial nucleus, the central nucleus of the amygdala and the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis showed strong Fos-IR following both i.p. and 4V BBS, subregional distribution of the Fos-IR was not the same. These sites were previously found to show strong Fos-IR after administration of either cholecystokinin (CCK) or dexfenfluramine (DF), but with different subregional distribution. The Fos-IR pattern induced by i.p. BBS was similar to that induced by CCK, and the Fos-IR pattern induced by 4V BBS was similar to that induced by DF.
A methodology for strategic sourcing

Abstract Strategic sourcing is critical for firms practicing the principles of supply chain management. It specifically deals with managing the supply base in an effective manner by identifying and selecting suppliers for strategic long-term partnerships, involving in supplier development initiatives by effectively allocating resources to enhance supplier performance, providing benchmarks and continuous feedback to suppliers, and in some cases involving in supplier pruning activities. Currently, the methodologies in practice for strategic sourcing have mostly been subjective in nature with few objective decision models focused at supplier evaluation, which are also not devoid of limitations. This paper proposes an objective framework for effective supplier sourcing, which considers multiple strategic and operational factors in the evaluation process. Suppliers are categorized into groups based on performance, which assists managers in identifying candidates for strategic long-term partnerships, supplier development programs, and pruning. In addition, this research investigates the differences among supplier groups in proposing possible improvement strategies for ineffectively performing suppliers. Also, we demonstrate the methodological richness of our framework when compared to some of the traditional methods proposed and utilized for supplier evaluation purposes. The supplier data utilized in the study is obtained from a large multinational corporation in the telecommunications industry.
Recovery of skeletal muscle function following injury is not augmented by acute resveratrol supplementation

Background and Aim: Skeletal muscle function is significantly reduced following traumatic muscle injury and complete recovery can take several weeks. Pharmacological agents like nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs have been used to minimize pain and inflammation associated with muscle injury. However, their safety and efficacy to improve muscle repair have been challenged. To that end, safer and more effective treatment options remain to be identified. Accordingly, resveratrol use has numerous health benefits in clinical population. Further, resveratrol has been shown to promote myoblast differentiation in 0 vitro , which suggests it could be used to improve skeletal muscle regeneration in vivo. Methods: Experimental mice received resveratrol supplementation (0.05% wt/wt) 4 weeks prior to injury, which persisted throughout recovery. Muscle injury was induced by injecting a diluted barium chloride solution into the tibialis anterior (TA). Isometric tetanic and twitch torque of the anterior crural muscles were measured prior to the injury and 7, 14, or 21 days postinjury. Results: Resveratrol supplementation had no effect on preinjury isometric tetanic and twitch torque of the anterior crural muscles. Seven days after injury, tetanic torque production was reduced by 80% compared to preinjury values. Functional and structural recovery steadily improved at 14 days and was completed 21 days after injury. However, resveratrol treatment had no beneficial effects on isometric torque or regenerated fiber area. Conclusion: Acute, low-dose resveratrol supplementation did not improve functional or structural recovery of regenerating mouse TA after injury. Further research is likely required that explores alternate resveratrol dosing strategies and their effects on skeletal muscle repair processes.
Sparse Recovery Using Sparse Matrices

In this paper, we survey algorithms for sparse recovery problems that are based on sparse random matrices. Such matrices has several attractive properties: they support algorithms with low computational complexity, and make it easy to perform incremental updates to signals. We discuss applications to several areas, including compressive sensing, data stream computing, and group testing.
Sister chromatid exchanges and dementia of the Alzheimer type.

Sister chromatid exchange (SCE) analysis was carried out on ten patients with the clinical diagnosis of dementia of the Alzheimer type (DAT) and I I cognitively-intact controls of a comparable age. There was no significant difference between patient and control groups in either the mean baseline SCE frequency or the SCE frequency following in vitro exposure to mitomycin-C. The present results, based on the largest sample (n=21) published to date, fail to confirm the single positive report in the literature of an increased baseline SCE frequency in DAT patients compared to controls.
When patients and families feel abandoned

Patients with serious illness derive a sense of security by forming strong, healing relationships with their providers. These bonds are particularly strong in life-threatening illnesses, such as cancer, which carry the stigma of death and suffering. These strong relationships create expectations in patients that are not necessarily shared by their clinicians. Providers often focus on treating disease and emphasize technically excellent, “evidence-based” practice while failing to fully appreciate the power of the patient–provider relationship. In contrast, vulnerable patients expect much more than technical competence, including open and clear communication, security, continuity, and access. Patients are often left feeling abandoned when their providers do not meet their expectations, even when their care is technically sound. In this paper, we describe scenarios that can lead to feelings of abandonment and discuss strategies to avoid and respond to them. These strategies can help us maintain healing relationships with our patients by maintaining their trust, confidence, and satisfaction. Cultivating relational aspects of medical practice requires an interchange and takes time. Experienced doctors know this and continue to do so because being present and staying with the patient during difficult times is a pillar of moral and ethical training and a fundamental attribute of a good physician.
Dyon-fermion dynamics

We continue our study of the effect of light fermions on the charge degree of freedom of magnetic monopoles. Even though the gauge coupling is weak, the Fermi vacuum is strongly perturbed by its coupling to the charge degree of freedom of the monopole. To obtain a correct picture of the vacuum we concentrate on the lowest partial wave of the Fermi field about the monopole core. We find that this simplified system can be transformed to an equivalent one-dimensional scalar field theory in which the original fermions appear as sine-Gordon solitons and the monopole charge is determined by the expectation value of the scalar field at spatial infinity. The scalar theory, though not soluble, is sufficiently transparent for us to extract the qualitative physics of monopole charge in the presence of light fermions: the Witten formula for the dependence of monopole charge on vacuum angle, ${Q}_{n}=e(n\ensuremath{-}\frac{\ensuremath{\theta}}{2\ensuremath{\pi}})$, is true no matter how small the Fermi mass $m$; the fractional charge is spread through the Fermi vacuum over a region size ${m}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$ and the excitation energy of a charged state is of order $m$; the existence of vacuum structure on such a small energy scale means that certain exotic fermion-monopole scattering processes have very large cross sections. In particular it appears that in grand unification theories monopoles will catalyze baryon decay at typical strong-interaction rates.
Protein-arginine Methyltransferase I, the Predominant Protein-arginine Methyltransferase in Cells, Interacts with and Is Regulated by Interleukin Enhancer-binding Factor 3

Arginine methylation is a common post-translation modification found in many proteins. Protein-arginine methyltransferase I (PRMT1) contributes >90% of type I protein-arginine methyltransferase activity in cells and tissues. To expand our knowledge on the regulation and role of PRMT1 in cells, we used the yeast two-hybrid system to identify proteins that interact with PRMT1. One of the interacting proteins we cloned is interleukin enhancer-binding factor 3 (ILF3), also known as M phase phosphoprotein 4. ILF3 is closely related to nuclear factor 90 (NF90). Using an immunofluorescence analysis, we determined that ILF3 and PRMT1 co-localize in the nucleus. Moreover, PRMT1 and ILF3 co-precipitate in immunoprecipitation assays and can be isolated together in "pull-down" experiments using recombinant fusion proteins. ILF3 is a robust substrate for methylation by PRMT1 and can modulate PRMT1 activity in in vitro methylation assays. Deletion studies demonstrated that the COOH-terminal region of ILF3, which is rich in arginine, glycine, and serine, is responsible for the strong interaction between PRMT1 and ILF3 and is the site of ILF3 methylation by PRMT1. Although ILF3 and NF90 are highly similar, they differ in their carboxyl-terminal regions. Because of this difference, NF90 does not interact with PRMT1, is a much poorer substrate than ILF3 for PRMT1-dependent methylation, and does not modulate PRMT1 enzyme activity.