cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
PCR-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry: the potential to change infectious disease diagnostics in clinical and public health laboratories

During the past 20 years, microbial detection methods that are genetically based, such as real-time PCR and peptide nucleic acid fluorescent hybridization, coexisted with traditional microbiological methods and were typically based on the identification of individual genetic targets. For these methods to be successful, a potential cause of infection must be suspected. More recently, multiplex PCR and multiplex RT-PCR were used to enable more broad-range testing based on panels of suspected pathogens. PCR–electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (PCR-ESI/MS) has emerged as a technology that is capable of identifying nearly all known human pathogens either from microbial isolates or directly from clinical specimens. Assay primers are strategically designed to target one or more of the broad pathogen categories: bacterial, mycobacterial, fungal, or viral. With broad-range amplification followed by detection of mixed amplicons, the method can identify genetic evidence of known and unknown pathogens. This unique approach supports a higher form of inquiry, asking the following question: What is the genetic evidence of known or unknown pathogens in the patient sample? This approach has advantages over traditional assays that commonly target the presence or absence of one or more pathogens with known genetic composition. This review considers the breadth of the published literature and explores the possibilities, advantages, and limitations for implementation of PCR-ESI/MS in diagnostic laboratories.
An update of the breeding population status of the critically endangered Mariana Crow Corvus kubaryi on Rota, Northern Mariana Islands 2013–2014

The critically endangered Mariana Crow now exists in a single population on the island of Rota, Northern Mariana Islands. Targeted management requires an accurate measure of the population status of this species. In Mariana Crows the breeding population is both the easiest cohort to accurately survey and the most important segment of the population in terms of population recovery. The total number of Mariana Crow territorial pairs was estimated on the island of Rota using a direct count method, and total population size was calculated using a Chapman estimate. From September 2013 to April 2014, 46 crow pairs were found and up to an additional eight pairs were estimated in unsearched areas. The total population was estimated to be 178 individuals. This represents a 10–23% decline in pairs in the six years since 2007 and a 46–53% decline since 1998. This number is also considerably lower than the minimum 75 pairs recommended to maintain a viable population on Rota.
Quantifying the effects of conservation practice implementation on predicted runoff and chemical losses under climate change.

Abstract The Soil and Water Assessment Tool with downscaled weather data generated using the MarkSim weather file generator was used to evaluate the impact of long-term conservation practice implementation on runoff, sediment, atrazine, nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) losses in an agricultural watershed located in northeastern Indiana. As part of the Conservation Effects Assessment Project, evaluation of these conservation practices is required to provide insight on how their implementation is benefiting the environment. The results indicate that individual conservation practices were effective in reducing a particular pollutant load, but combined practices were more effective in reducing multiple pollutant loads simultaneously. Of the individual best management practices (BMPs) assessed, no-till was the most effective in reducing multiple pollutant loads (reduced surface runoff by an average of 25%, sediment by 46%, atrazine by 46%, total N by 9%, soluble P by 16%, and total P by 29%). When BMPs were combined, pollutant load reductions were increased significantly (at α = 0.05) for all pollutants, both under baseline and future climate scenarios. The reductions in runoff and pollutant loads for each decade of future climate ranged from 15 to 25% for surface runoff, 32–68% for sediment loss, 37–60% for atrazine loss, 5–13% for soluble N loss, 12–35% for total N loss, 9–41% for soluble P loss, and 33–60% for total P loss.
Die Rolle von Netzwerken und Datenbanken in CIM-Systemen

Wahrend in den letzten Jahren immer noch die Rationalisierung durch den Einsatz von Informationssystemen in den einzelnen Anwendungsbereichen Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) in der Konstruktion (oft auch Computer Aided Design — CAD — genannt) Produktionsplanung und -Steuerung (PPS) betriebswirtschaftliche Anwendungen (Business Systems — BS —) Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM), das heist: Fertigung im engeren Sinne im Vordergrund stand, hat dieses Thema heute nicht mehr die erste Prioritat. Die Rationalisierungspotentiale in diesem Bereich sind bekannt und weitgehend adressiert.
High-resolution, high-throughput, CMOS-compatible electron-beam patterning

Two scanning electron beam lithography (SEBL) patterning processes have been developed, one positive and one negative tone. The processes feature nanometer-scale resolution, chemical amplification for faster throughput, long film life under vacuum, and sufficient etch resistance to enable patterning of a variety of materials with a metal-free (CMOS/MEMS compatible) tool set. These resist processes were developed to address two limitations of conventional SEBL resist processes: (1) low areal throughput and (2) limited compatibility with the traditional microfabrication infrastructure.
Parents’ Experiences Navigating Intervention Systems for Young Children With Mild Language Delays

The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of parents of children with mild language delays who were referred to an Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) birth-to-3 or preschool program, were determined not eligible for services, and were referred on to a community-based program for short-term speech-language therapy. Interviews were conducted in the parents’ preferred language (10 Spanish, 10 English). A grounded theory approach was applied to identify emergent themes. Results indicated that the process of recognizing a developmental delay, receiving assessment results, and enrolling in services presents challenges that require parents to demonstrate engagement and advocacy throughout. This study highlights parents’ motivations for seeking out early intervention services and underscores the importance of understanding parents’ experiences navigating developmental service systems. Program planners can partner with parents to address barriers and also capitalize on successes to f...
Арумынский язык в Преспанском регионе (Республика Македония) сегодня

The aim of the paper is to describe the language situation and the main features of the Aromanian dialect in the Prespa region. The ethnolinguistic group of Aromanians is represented in this region only by one family. Nowadays, this linguistic situation is an example of language death, as the younger generation no longer speaks the Aromanian language whereas the senior generation uses it in limited contexts. The Aromanian speech abounds with multiple examples of interference of Macedonian, which is the dominant language in relation to Aromanian in this situation. The Aromanian language is still used on a daily basis; however, it is spoken only by the senior members of the language community. We suppose that in this situation, there is little chance for the Aromanian language to experience its renaissance in Prespa.
Dynamic Visual Sequence Prediction with Motion Flow Networks

We target the problem of synthesizing future motion sequences from a temporally ordered set of input images. Previous methods tackled this problem in two manners: predicting the future image pixel values and predicting the dense time-space trajectory of pixels. Towards this end, generative encoder-decoder networks have been widely adopted in both kinds of methods. However, pixel prediction with these networks has been shown to suffer from blurry outputs, since images are generated from scratch and there is no explicit enforcement of visual coherency. Alternately, crisp details can be achieved by transferring pixels from the input image through dense trajectory predictions, but this process requires pre-computed motion fields for training, which limit the learning ability for the neural networks. To synthesize realistic movement of objects under weak supervision (without pre-computed dense motion fields), we propose two novel network structures. Our first network encodes the input images as feature maps, and uses a decoder network to predict the future pixel correspondences for a series of subsequent time steps. The attained correspondence fields are then used to synthesize future views. Our second network focuses on human-centered capture by augmenting our framework to include sparse pose estimates [30] to guide our dense correspondence prediction. Compared with state-of-the-art pixel generating and dense trajectories predicting networks, our model performs better on synthetic as well as on real-world human body movement sequences.
Introduction of a Hybrid Monitor to Cyber-Physical Systems

Computing and technology have vastly changed since the introduction of firewall technology in 1988. The internet has grown from a simple network of networks to a cyber and physical entity that encompasses the entire planet. Cyber-physical systems(CPS) now control most of the day to day operations of human civilization from autonomous cars to nuclear energy plants. While phenomenal, this growth spurt has created new security threats. These are threats that cannot be blocked by a firewall for they are not only cyber but cyber-physical. In light of these new cyber-physical threats, this text proposes a security measure that promises to enhance the security of cyber-physical systems. Using theoretical cyber, physical, and cyber-physical attack scenarios, this text will highlight the need for some sort of monitor in cyber-physical systems as an extra security measure. Additionally, this text will illustrate the efficiency of said monitor using a Shannon entropy proof, and a multiple security domain nondeducibility(MSDND) proof.
ESSENTIAL NILPOTENCY IN NEAR-RINGS

In this paper we begin the development of a theory of essential nilpotence for near-rings. We show that the prime radical is essentially nilpotent and there exists a unique largest essentially nilpotent ideal EN(R) in any zerosymmetric near-ring R. Basic properties of EN(R) are determined and examples are provided to illustrate and delimit our theory.
αRby--An Embedding of Alloy in Ruby

We present αRby--an embedding of the Alloy language in Ruby--and demonstrate the benefits of having a declarative modeling language backed by an automated solver embedded in a traditional object-oriented imperative programming language. This approach aims to bring these two distinct paradigms imperative and declarative together in a novel way. We argue that having the other paradigm available within the same language is beneficial to both the modeling community of Alloy users and the object-oriented community of Ruby programmers. In this paper, we primarily focus on the benefits for the Alloy community, namely, how αRby provides elegant solutions to several well-known, outstanding problems: 1 mixed execution, 2 specifying partial instances, 3 staged model finding.
Irrigation in the Aral Sea Basin

Irrigation is highly developed in the Aral Sea basin. In 2010, irrigation networks covered 8.1 million ha here and accounted for 84 % of all water withdrawals. Irrigation as a highly consumptive user of water is the primary cause of the desiccation of the Aral Sea as it has severely diminished the inflow to the Aral from the Amu Darya and Syr Darya. Irrigation has a long history in the Aral Sea Basin dating back at least 3,000 years. During the Soviet era, irrigation was greatly expanded and water withdrawals for it increased considerably, primarily to grow more cotton. In the post-Soviet period, the area irrigated only increased slightly while water withdrawals for it declined somewhat. The latter has been primarily due to shrinkage of the area planted to high water use crops such as rice and cotton and not to the introduction of more efficient irrigation techniques on a substantial scale. Irrigation systems in the Aral Sea Basin since collapse of the USSR have badly deteriorated owing to lack of proper maintenance of them and insufficient investment in them. And the problems of soil salinization and water logging continue to worsen. There is certainly much that could be done to improve irrigation and use less water for it. This in turn could allow much more water to be supplied to the Aral Sea. But significant improvement of irrigation will require much greater effort and investment along with institutional reforms.
Verification of the Heska Element Point-of-Care blood gas instrument for use with venous blood from alpacas and llamas, with determination of reference intervals.

BACKGROUND The Heska Element POC ("EPOC") is a blood gas instrument intended for use with canine, feline, and equine whole blood; no verification for use with camelid specimens has been reported. OBJECTIVES Using camelid specimens and commercial quality control materials (QCM), we investigatee EPOC analytical performance and establish EPOC camelid reference intervals (RIs). METHODS Camelid blood (n = 124) was analyzed using the EPOC (pH, pCO2 , pO2 , HCO3 , base excess, SO2 , sodium, potassium, chloride, ionized calcium, TCO2 , anion gap, HCT, HGB, glucose, lactate, and creatinine); plasma was analyzed using a Roche Cobas c501 (sodium, potassium, chloride, TCO2 , anion gap, glucose, and creatinine). Method comparison data were assessed using Pearson's correlation, Passing-Bablok regression, and Bland-Altman plots. EPOC precision was evaluated using QCM and camelid blood. RESULTS For all measurands except anion gap, the EPOC vs Cobas instrument correlation was r > .85. Except for pO2 and pCO2 , EPOC precision (QCM and blood) ranged from a repeatability CV <1%-6.3%. Mild constant bias for chloride, glucose, TCO2 , anion gap, and creatinine, and mild proportional bias for chloride, glucose, and anion gap were present. The total error (QCM data) for the EPOC instrument was below the ASVCP-recommended allowable total error. Alpacas had higher potassium and lactate, while llamas had higher creatinine, sodium, chloride, ionized calcium, pO2 , and SO2 . Statistical RIs based on alpaca (n = 74-96) and llama data (n = 12-17) are reported descriptively. CONCLUSIONS The EPOC analyzer shows good performance with camelid blood. A lack of complete agreement with automated chemistry analyzers highlights the importance of interpreting patient data using instrument-specific RIs.
OVERVIEW OF NATO CCMS PILOT STUDY ON ENVIRONMENTAL DECISION-MAKING FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN CENTRAL ASIA

An overview of the CCMS Pilot Study on "Environmental Decision-Making for Sustainable Development in Central Asia" is presented. This CCMS pilot study is focused on the following countries of the Central Asia (CA) region: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The presentation discusses the pilot study objectives, historical information concerning establishment of this pilot study, technical issues addressed, and overall approach focused on capacity building, as based on declared Central Asian needs for education; training; and technical assistance (involving decision-making tools such as risk assessment, cost-benefit analysis, landscape science tools, decision support software, structural/functional analysis, etc.). As a key accomplishment of this pilot study, the role of risk assessment in environmental decision-making process was addressed. This component of the pilot study was focused on risk assessment as a tool for water resources management decision-making in Central Asia. Water resources, both in terms of water quality and water quantity, are of critical importance for sustainable development in Central Asia, as well as in other parts of the world. Risk-based approaches can play an important role as part of the overall decision-making process related to sustainable resources use in the Central Asia region.
Requirements for Neurogenin2 during mouse postnatal retinal neurogenesis.

Abstract During embryonic retinal development, the bHLH factor Neurog2 regulates the temporal progression of neurogenesis, but no role has been assigned for this gene in the postnatal retina. Using Neurog2 conditional mutants, we found that Neurog2 is necessary for the development of an early, embryonic cohort of rod photoreceptors, but also required by both a subset of cone bipolar subtypes, and rod bipolars. Using transcriptomics, we identified a subset of downregulated genes in P2 Neurog2 mutants, which act during rod differentiation, outer segment morphogenesis or visual processing. We also uncovered defects in neuronal cell culling, which suggests that the rod and bipolar cell phenotypes may arise via more complex mechanisms rather than a simple cell fate shift. However, given an overall phenotypic resemblance between Neurog2 and Blimp1 mutants, we explored the relationship between these two factors. We found that Blimp1 is downregulated between E12-birth in Neurog2 mutants, which probably reflects a dependence on Neurog2 in embryonic progenitor cells. Overall, we conclude that the Neurog2 gene is expressed and active prior to birth, but also exerts an influence on postnatal retinal neuron differentiation.
Finding the beat: An ethnographic approach to beat perception

People commonly use words such as “find,” “hold,” “keep,” and “drop” to describe actions related to the musical beat. While such language implies that musical beats exist in an empirically observable, externalized way, musical beats exist only in our perception. This is most clearly evident when people of different cultures perceive different musical beats while listening to the same musical stimuli. At an early age, the ability to discriminate rhythms uncommon to one's surrounding culture declines steeply. However, it has also been shown that rhythmic training may slow or even reverse this decline. This paper explores this process from an ethnographic perspective, observing the way in which American schoolchildren engage with the different temporal dynamics and aesthetics they encounter as they participate in a multicultural music program across several inner-city schools in Southern California.People commonly use words such as “find,” “hold,” “keep,” and “drop” to describe actions related to the musical beat. While such language implies that musical beats exist in an empirically observable, externalized way, musical beats exist only in our perception. This is most clearly evident when people of different cultures perceive different musical beats while listening to the same musical stimuli. At an early age, the ability to discriminate rhythms uncommon to one's surrounding culture declines steeply. However, it has also been shown that rhythmic training may slow or even reverse this decline. This paper explores this process from an ethnographic perspective, observing the way in which American schoolchildren engage with the different temporal dynamics and aesthetics they encounter as they participate in a multicultural music program across several inner-city schools in Southern California.
Restricted access: media, disability, and the politics of participation

Elizabeth Ellcessor’s Restricted access: media, disability, and the politics of participation is an impressive manifesto on the state of accessibility in the age of digital media. Ellcessor integra...
Risk factors for subsequent urethral atrophy in patients undergoing artificial urinary sphincter placement.

Objective Artificial urinary sphincter (AUS) device failure or revision can be due to multiple etiologies including erosion, infection, mechanical malfunction, and urethral atrophy. However, few studies have evaluated factors that predispose patients to urethral atrophy. Here, we sought to identify preoperative and perioperative risk factors associated with urethral atrophy in men undergoing primary artificial urinary sphincter (AUS) placement for stress urinary incontinence. Material and methods From 1987 to 2013, 1829 AUS procedures were performed at our institution. A total of 1068 patients underwent primary AUS placement and were the focus of our study. Multiple clinical and surgical variables were evaluated for a potential association with revision for atrophy. Those found to be associated with atrophy and relevant competing risks were further evaluated on multivariable analysis. Results With a median follow-up of 4.2 years (IQR 1.3-8.1), 89 men (8.3%) had urethral atrophy requiring reoperation. Median time to revision was 4.5 years (IQR 1.9-7.6). On univariable analysis, only smaller cuff size (4.0-cm versus 4.5-cm; HR 3.1, p=0.04) was associated with an increased rate of urethral atrophy. Notably, patient age at the time of surgery (p=0.62), body mass index (0.22), and smoking status (p=1.00) were not associated with a risk of atrophy. On multivariable analysis smaller urethral cuff size remained significant (HR 2.8, 95% CI 1.1-7.1; p=0.01). Conclusion Revision surgery for urethral atrophy was performed in approximately 8% of men undergoing primary AUS placement. Utilization of a smaller AUS cuff size appears to be an independent factor associated with increased rate of urethral atrophy.
Wrist morphology reveals substantial locomotor diversity among early catarrhines: an analysis of capitates from the early Miocene of Tinderet (Kenya)

Considerable taxonomic diversity has been recognised among early Miocene catarrhines (apes, Old World monkeys, and their extinct relatives). However, locomotor diversity within this group has eluded characterization, bolstering a narrative that nearly all early catarrhines shared a primitive locomotor repertoire resembling that of the well-described arboreal quadruped Ekembo heseloni. Here we describe and analyse seven catarrhine capitates from the Tinderet Miocene sequence of Kenya, dated to ~20 Ma. 3D morphometrics derived from these specimens and a sample of extant and fossil capitates are subjected to a series of multivariate comparisons, with results suggesting a variety of locomotor repertoires were present in this early Miocene setting. One of the fossil specimens is uniquely derived among early and middle Miocene capitates, representing the earliest known instance of great ape-like wrist morphology and supporting the presence of a behaviourally advanced ape at Songhor. We suggest Rangwapithecus as this catarrhine’s identity, and posit expression of derived, ape-like features as a criterion for distinguishing this taxon from Proconsul africanus. We also introduce a procedure for quantitative estimation of locomotor diversity and find the Tinderet sample to equal or exceed large extant catarrhine groups in this metric, demonstrating greater functional diversity among early catarrhines than previously recognised.
Bottom-Up Approach to the Coarse-Grained Surface Model: Effective Solid-Fluid Potentials for Adsorption on Heterogeneous Surfaces.

Coarse-grained surface models with a low-dimension positional dependence have great advantages in simplifying the theoretical adsorption model and speeding up molecular simulations. In this work, w...
Computing the Moments of Polling Models with Batch Poisson Arrivals by Transform Inversion

A polling model is defined as a queueing station with a single server serving multiple queues following a certain rule to determine when to stop serving one queue and which queue to serve next. The...
Correction to: A protocol for custom CRISPR Cas9 donor vector construction to truncate genes in mammalian cells using pcDNA3 backbone

The original article [1] contains three erroneous mentions of usage of a restriction enzyme-BstZ17I-in the Methods section as displayed in the following sentences.
Reduced cerebrovascular and cardioventilatory responses to intermittent hypoxia in elderly

Abstract Background The impact of aging on cerebrovascular function and tissue oxygenation during graded hypoxemia is incompletely known. This study compared the age effect on these variables during cyclic hypoxemia-reoxygenation. Methods Hypoxia-induced changes in arterial (SaO2) and cerebral tissue (ScO2) O2 saturation, middle cerebral arterial flow velocity (VMCA), estimated cerebral vascular conductance (CVC), heart rate (HR) and ventilation were compared between 12 elderly (71 ± 2 yr, 7 women) and 13 young (24 ± 3 yr, 5 women) adults during the first and fifth 5-min exposures to 10% O2. Results Although pre-hypoxia SaO2 did not differ between the groups, ScO2 was lower (P Conclusions The elderly adults safely tolerated cyclic, moderate hypoxemia which lowered SaO2 by 20–25%, despite dampening of cerebrovascular and cardiac responses to hypoxemia.
Biomimetic 3-Dimensional-Printed Posterior Cervical Laminectomy and Fusion Simulation: Advancements in Education Tools for Trainee Instruction.

Surgical proficiency is classically acquired through live experience in the operating room. Trainee exposure to cases and complex pathologies is highly variable between training programs. 1 Currently, there is no standard for neurosurgical skill assessment for specific operative techniques for trainees. Cadaveric simulation has been used to demonstrate surgical technique and assess resident skill but often presents a significant financial and facility burden. 2 , 3 , 4 Three-dimensional (3D) printing is an alternative to cadaveric tissue in providing high-quality representation of surgical anatomy; however, this technology has significant limitations in replicating conductive soft tissue structures for the use of cauterization devices and haptic learning for proper tissue manipulation. 5 , 6 , 7 Our team has combined novel synthesis methods of conductive thermoplastic polymerization and 3-dimensional−printed cervical spine models to produce a layered biomimetic simulation that provides cost-effective and anatomically accurate education for neurosurgical trainees ( Video 1 ). This is accomplished through virtual modeling and layered simulator construction methods by placing the individual polymer layers according to anatomic location of the simulated in vivo structures. The consistency of the thermoplastics can be tailored according to the desired soft tissue structures (skin, fat, fascia, muscle) according to the degree of polymerization. This cost-effective simulation was designed to represent the material and biomechanical properties of the cervical spine cortico-cancellous interface, as well as individual soft tissue components with specific anatomic details of muscle tendinous and ligamentous insertion. These features allow for representative start-to-finish surgical simulation that has not yet been made widely available to neurosurgical training programs.
Associations Between Risk Perceptions and Cigarette, E-cigarette, and Dual-Product Use Among Canadian Adolescents.

Introduction:The popularity of e-cigarettes has increased significantly in recent years. E-cigarettes are perceived as less harmful than cigarettes, and both dual-use of cigarette and e-cigarette u...
Endoscopic Third Ventriculostomy for Hydrocephalus Secondary to Extraventricular Obstruction in Thalamic Hemorrhage: A Case Series.

Background Intracranial hemorrhage carries significant morbidity and mortality, particularly if associated with hydrocephalus. Management of hydrocephalus includes temporary external ventricular drainage, with or without shunting. Thalamic location is an independent predictor of mortality and increases the likelihood of shunt dependence. Objective To determine whether endoscopic third ventriculostomy (ETV) can avoid the need for shunt placement and expedite recovery. Methods We prospectively identified thalamic intracranial hemorrhage patients who developed acute hydrocephalus requiring cerebrospinal fluid diversion by extraventricular drain placement from November 2017 to February 2019. Patients who failed an extraventricular drain clamping trial were then evaluated for eligibility for an ETV procedure. Patients who underwent ETV were then followed up for the development of hydrocephalus, need for shunting, and length of stay in the intensive care unit. Results Eight patients (7 males, 1 female) were prospectively enrolled. All patients underwent an ETV successfully. None of the patients required shunting. ETV was performed despite the presence of other factors that would have prevented shunt placement, including fever, leukocytosis, and gastrostomy tube placement. Seven patients who underwent ETV were evaluated at 3-mo follow-up and did not require shunting. Conclusion ETV is a safe and effective technique for the management of hydrocephalus resulting from an extraventricular obstruction in thalamic hemorrhage. It can avoid the need for permanent shunting in this patient population. Larger studies should be conducted to validate and further analyze this intervention.
Control of archetype BK polyomavirus miRNA expression

Abstract BK polyomavirus (BKPyV) is a ubiquitous human pathogen, with over 80% of adults worldwide persistently infected. BKPyV infection is usually asymptomatic in healthy people; however, it causes polyomavirus-associated nephropathy in renal transplant patients and hemorrhagic cystitis in bone marrow transplant patients. BKPyV has a circular, double-stranded DNA genome that is divided genetically into three parts: an early region, a late region, and a non-coding control region (NCCR). The NCCR contains the viral DNA replication origin and cis-acting elements regulating viral early and late gene expression. It was previously shown that a BKPyV miRNA expressed from the late strand regulates viral large T antigen expression and limits the replication capacity of archetype BKPyV. A major unanswered question in the field is how expression of the viral miRNA is regulated. Typically, miRNA is expressed from introns in cellular genes but there is no intron readily apparent in the BKPyV from which the miRNA could derive. Here we provide evidence for primary RNA transcripts that circle the genome more than once and include the NCCR. We identified splice junctions resulting from splicing of primary transcripts circling the genome more than once, and Sanger sequencing of RT-PCR products indicates that there are viral transcripts that circle the genome up to four times. Our data suggest that the miRNA is expressed from the intron of these greater-than-genome size primary transcripts.
The influences of inter music therapy on music therapists who experience it

To date, there is sparse literature addressing analytical music therapists’ experiences in analytical music therapy (AMT) training.This study incorporated transcendental phenomenological research m...
Portraying the Structure and Evolution of Polycentricity via Policymaking Venues

This paper portrays a polycentric governance system by exploring the evolution of its structure and the interdependencies of its policymaking venues. It utilizes a semi-automated approach developed from the institutional grammar to analyze four policymaking venues by their 55 public policies adopted from 2007 through 2019 in the context of oil and gas development in Colorado, USA. The results show that this governance system continuously evolves through the adoption of public policies, which modifies its constellation of actors, issues, rules, and deontics (i.e., imperatives). In analyzing the content of these policies, we show how the four policymaking venues display interdependencies as well as distinct emphases. The conclusion summarizes the contributions and raises challenges for advancing knowledge about polycentricity.
‘None of my providers have the slightest clue what to do with me’: Transmasculine individuals’ experiences with gynecological healthcare providers

Background: Transgender individuals experience barriers to accessing healthcare including financial difficulties, lack of insurance, and discrimination and victimization by medical providers. Trans...
Microsatellite Markers Reveal Unprecedented High Frequencies of Hybridization among Typha Species in the Midwestern US

In North American wetlands, two cattail species -native Typha latifolia and exotic T. angustifolia- hybridize generating T. x glauca. Typha angustifolia and the hybrid spread invasively, negatively affecting wetlands. Due to high trait variability and hybridization, Typha species are difficult to identify morphologically. Building on previous work that relied on microsatellite markers to differentiate Typha species (including hybrids, parental backcrosses, and advanced-generation hybrids) in southern Canada and in the US upper Midwest and northeast, our goals were to 1) estimate relative frequencies of parental species in additional Midwestern cattail populations, and 2) quantify their hybridization. We also assessed level of agreement between morphological identification based on leaf width and gap between inflorescences and molecular identification. Using 6 microsatellites markers (4 used previously in other populations and 2 novel ones), we identified ~25% of the samples as native T. latifolia, while ~6% were exotic T. angustifolia. Furthermore, 19% of the samples were first-generation hybrids (T. x glauca) and 50% were advanced-generation hybrids, with backcrosses to native T. latifolia being almost twice as high as those to exotic T. angustifolia, rates that are much larger than previously reported. Agreement between morphological and molecular identification was lower than expected highlighting the fact that these morphological traits can be misleading when used alone in cattail identification. We caution that the seemingly asymmetric hybridization towards the native Typha latifolia could potentially lead to its extinction in the Midwest. Cattail management may thus require efforts to preserve the native cattail through seed banking and/or other approaches.
Generalized SAV approaches for gradient systems

Abstract We propose in this paper three generalized auxiliary scalar variable (G-SAV) approaches for developing, efficient energy stable numerical schemes for gradient systems. The first two G-SAV approaches allow a range of functions in the definition of the SAV variable, furthermore, the second G-SAV approach only requires the total free energy to be bounded from below as opposed to the requirement that the nonlinear part of the free energy to be bounded from below. On the other hand, the third G-SAV approach is unconditionally energy stable with respect to the original free energy as opposed to a modified energy. Ample numerical results for various gradient systems are presented to validate the effectiveness and accuracy of the proposed G-SAV approaches.
Do Effects of Arrest on Recidivism Vary by Neighborhood? A Contextual Analysis of the Milwaukee Domestic Violence Experiment

Does the effect of arrest for misdemeanor domestic assault on suspect recidivism vary by characteristics of the neighborhood in which the individual suspect resides? This analysis combined 1990 Census data for Milwaukee with data on 1133 domestic assault suspects randomly assigned in 1987–1988 to arrest vs. warning in the Milwaukee Domestic Violence Experiment (Sherman 1992). Outcomes were measured by the prevalence of one or more new arrest for misdemeanor domestic assault in the 6 months after the randomly assigned response to the presenting incident. The analysis compared models using only individual-level suspect characteristics to models that combined individual data with Census tract characteristics relevant to community stakes in conformity and social disorganization. The models show substantial effects of structural characteristics of community context that moderate arrest effects on recidivism. Arrested suspects with medium individual stakes in conformity show an 18% reduction in the prevalence of repeat domestic assault, but arrestees who live in Census tracts with medium levels of community stakes in conformity show a one-third (32%) greater likelihood to repeat domestic assault than suspects in those medium stakes Census tracts who were not arrested. For all suspects with high levels of individual stakes, arrest decreased recidivism within 6 months by 39.7% compared to not making an arrest. In contrast, for individuals who live in communities with high stakes, arrest decreased recidivism within 6 months by 50%. The effects of arrests on offending in this experiment were highly dependent on the social strength of community characteristics where suspects resided. Police strategies for safeguarding victims may be vulnerable to backfiring in areas of greatest social vulnerability. Only more randomized experiments can show whether mandatory arrest policies help or hurt domestic abuse victims in different kinds of communities.
Rapid in-season mapping of corn and soybeans using machine-learned trusted pixels from Cropland Data Layer

Abstract A timely and detailed crop-specific land cover map can support many agricultural applications and decision makings. However, in-season crop mapping over a large area is still challenging due to the insufficiency of ground truth in the early stage of a growing season. To address this issue, this paper presents an efficient machine-learning workflow for the rapid in-season mapping of corn and soybeans fields without ground truth data for the current year. We use trusted pixels, a set of pixels that are predicted from the historical Cropland Data Layer (CDL) data with high confidence in the current year’s crop type, to label training samples on multi-temporal satellite images for crop type classification. The entire mapping process only involves a limited number of satellite images acquired within the growing season (normally 3–4 images per scene) and no field data needs to be collected. According to the investigation on 12 states of the U.S. Corn Belt, it is found that a considerable number of trusted pixels can be identified from the historical CDL data by the trusted pixel prediction model based on artificial neural network. According to the experiment on 49 Landsat-8 scenes and 31 Sentinel-2 tiles, the in-season maps of corn and soybeans are expected to reach 85%–95% agreement with CDL as well as field data by mid-July. Once the in-season satellite imagery becomes available, the crop cover map can be rapidly created even with limited computational resources. This study provides a new perspective and detailed guidance for rapid in-season mapping of corn and soybeans, which can be potentially applied to identify more diverse crop types and scaled up to the entire United States.
Palliative care service utilization and advance care planning issues for adult glioblastoma patients: A systematic review.

2036Background: Glioblastoma (GBM) is a devastating disease with a median survival under 2 years and a 10-year survival rate of 0.71%. As patients with GBM suffer simultaneously from both a termina...
Roles of homologous recombination in response to ionizing radiation-induced DNA damage.

PURPOSE Ionizing radiation induces a vast array of DNA lesions including base damage, and single- and double-strand breaks (SSB, DSB). DSBs are among the most cytotoxic lesions, and mis-repair causes small- and large-scale genome alterations that can contribute to carcinogenesis. Indeed, ionizing radiation is a 'complete' carcinogen. DSBs arise immediately after irradiation, termed 'frank DSBs,' as well as several hours later in a replication-dependent manner, termed 'secondary' or 'replication-dependent DSBs. DSBs resulting from replication fork collapse are single-ended and thus pose a distinct problem from two-ended, frank DSBs. DSBs are repaired by error-prone nonhomologous end-joining (NHEJ), or generally error-free homologous recombination (HR), each with sub-pathways. Clarifying how these pathways operate in normal and tumor cells is critical to increasing tumor control and minimizing side effects during radiotherapy. CONCLUSIONS The choice between NHEJ and HR is regulated during the cell cycle and by other factors. DSB repair pathways are major contributors to cell survival after ionizing radiation, including tumor-resistance to radiotherapy. Several nucleases are important for HR-mediated repair of replication-dependent DSBs and thus replication fork restart. These include three structure-specific nucleases, the 3' MUS81 nuclease, and two 5' nucleases, EEPD1 and Metnase, as well as three end-resection nucleases, MRE11, EXO1, and DNA2. The three structure-specific nucleases evolved at very different times, suggesting incremental acceleration of replication fork restart to limit toxic HR intermediates and genome instability as genomes increased in size during evolution, including the gain of large numbers of HR-prone repetitive elements. Ionizing radiation also induces delayed effects, observed days to weeks after exposure, including delayed cell death and delayed HR. In this review we highlight the roles of HR in cellular responses to ionizing radiation, and discuss the importance of HR as an exploitable target for cancer radiotherapy.
Testimony at 'Hearings on the Strategic Benefits of a Multilateral Approach to Trade Policy in the Asia-Pacific Region' by the US Senate Committee on Finance, Subcommittee on International Trade, Customs, and Global Competition

The testimony argues that the United States has recently disengaged from formal economic cooperation with the Asia-Pacific region, an important historical partner and the world’s fastest-growing economy. Meanwhile, the region has moved ahead with its own agreements, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). Estimates of the economic effects of these agreements suggest that they will roughly offset the losses from the US-China trade war for the world, but not for the United States. In fact, these agreements will magnify the effects of the trade war as they disadvantage US trade relative to intra-East Asian trade, at the expense of American businesses and workers. The testimony concludes that the United States should reengage with East Asia quickly through its summit-level consultative mechanisms, and more systematically through a new, inclusive, national strategy for formal relations, such as joining the CPTPP agreement or similar region-wide initiatives.
A Force Explosion Condition for Spherically Symmetric Core-collapse Supernovae

Understanding which stars explode leaving behind neutron stars and which stars collapse forming black holes remains a fundamental astrophysical problem. We derive an analytic explosion condition for spherically symmetric core-collapse supernovae. The derivation starts with the exact governing equations, considers the balance of integral forces, includes the important dimensionless parameters, and includes an explicit set of self-consistent approximations. The force explosion condition is $\tilde{L}_\nu\tau_g - 0.06 \tilde{\kappa} > 0.38$, and only depends upon two dimensionless parameters. The first compares the neutrino power deposited in the gain region with the accretion power, $\tilde{L}_\nu \tau_g = L_{\nu} \tau_g R_{\rm NS}/ ( G \dot{M} M_{\rm NS})$. The second, $\tilde{\kappa} = \kappa \dot{M} / \sqrt{G M_{\rm NS} R_{\rm NS}}$, parameterizes the neutrino optical depth in the accreted matter near the neutron-star surface. Over the years, many have proposed approximate explosion conditions: the critical neutrino-luminosity, ante-sonic, and timescale conditions. We are able to derive these other conditions from the force explosion condition, which unifies them all. Using numerical, steady-state and fully hydrodynamic solutions, we test the explosion condition. The success of these tests is promising in two ways. One, the force explosion condition helps to illuminate the underlying physics of explosions. Two, this condition may be a useful explosion diagnostic for more realistic, three-dimensional radiation hydrodynamic core-collapse simulations.
Logical reasoning with diagrams

Keywords: Mathematiques ; logique ; methode ; sciences cognitives ; cognition Reference Record created on 2005-06-20, modified on 2016-08-08
A Framework for QoS Guarantees for Multimedia Applications within an Endsystem

We describe a framework for providing quality-of-service guarantees within the endsystem for networked multimedia applications. Our framework integrates four components namely, QoS specification, QoS mapping, QoS enforcement, and a protocol implementation model. The framework allows QoS specifications to be at a high level so that an application can easily specify its requirements using a small number of parameters. The second component of the framework is QoS mapping. The mapping operations derive resource requirements for each end-to-end session from the QoS parameters specified by the application. Important resources considered are the CPU and the network connection. The third component of the framework is QoS enforcement. An important enforcement issue is providing processing guarantees for protocol code. An efficient real-time signal facility (RTSig) has been implemented to achieve this. The last component is an application level protocol implementation model. Protocol code structured according to this model can take advantage of the QoS support facilities in our framework. We also review related work in these areas and show how they fit into the general framework.
Experiences with host-to-host IPsec

This paper recounts some lessons that we learned from the deployment of host-to-host IPsec in a large corporate network. Several security issues arise from mismatches between the different identifier spaces used by applications, by the IPsec security policy database, and by the security infrastructure (X.509 certificates or Kerberos). Mobile hosts encounter additional problems because private IP addresses are not globally unique, and because they rely on an untrusted DNS server at the visited network. We also discuss a feature interaction in an enhanced IPsec firewall mechanism. The potential solutions are to relax the transparency of IPsec protection, to put applications directly in charge of their security and, in the long term, to redesign the security protocols not to use IP addresses as host identifiers.
Rotationally resolved spectrum of the Ã(060) X̃(000) band of HCBr

Abstract The rotationally resolved spectrum of the (0 6 0)0–(0 0 0) band in the A ˜ 1 A ″ – X ˜ 1 A ′ system of HCBr has been recorded in absorption using a frequency-modulated c.w. tunable dye laser. Both 79Br and 81Br isotopomer spectra were rotationally assigned and effective rotational constants determined. The spectrum contains both perpendicular and parallel rotational sub-band structures. The latter are partially due to axis-switching in the transition and Coriolis coupling in the excited state, but are relatively more intense and show a different J-dependence to that expected on the basis of these mechanisms. Intensity borrowing from a predicted but unobserved shorter wavelength B ˜ – X ˜ transition explains the observations. We have calculated the energy and structure of HCBr in the B ˜ state at the MRCI/cc-pVTZ level and find T e ( B ˜ – X ˜ ) = 20908 cm - 1 . The B ˜ – X ˜ band system should be experimentally observable.