cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A modular geometric mechanism for reorientation in children

Although disoriented young children reorient themselves in relation to the shape of the surrounding surface layout, cognitive accounts of this ability vary. The present paper tests three theories of reorientation: a snapshot theory based on visual image-matching computations, an adaptive combination theory proposing that diverse environmental cues to orientation are weighted according to their experienced reliability, and a modular theory centering on encapsulated computations of the shape of the extended surface layout. Seven experiments test these theories by manipulating four properties of objects placed within a cylindrical space: their size, motion, dimensionality, and distance from the space's borders. Their findings support the modular theory and suggest that disoriented search behavior centers on two processes: a reorientation process based on the geometry of the 3D surface layout, and a beacon-guidance process based on the local features of objects and surface markings.
The UMLS-CORE project: a study of the problem list terminologies used in large healthcare institutions

Objective To study existing problem list terminologies (PLTs), and to identify a subset of concepts based on standard terminologies that occur frequently in problem list data. Design Problem list terms and their usage frequencies were collected from large healthcare institutions. Measurement The pattern of usage of the terms was analyzed. The local terms were mapped to the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS). Based on the mapped UMLS concepts, the degree of overlap between the PLTs was analyzed. Results Six institutions submitted 76 237 terms and their usage frequencies in 14 million patients. The distribution of usage was highly skewed. On average, 21% of unique terms already covered 95% of usage. The most frequently used 14 395 terms, representing the union of terms that covered 95% of usage in each institution, were exhaustively mapped to the UMLS. 13 261 terms were successfully mapped to 6776 UMLS concepts. Less frequently used terms were generally less ‘mappable’ to the UMLS. The mean pairwise overlap of the PLTs was only 21% (median 19%). Concepts that were shared among institutions were used eight times more often than concepts unique to one institution. A SNOMED Problem List Subset of frequently used problem list concepts was identified. Conclusions Most of the frequently used problem list terms could be found in standard terminologies. The overlap between existing PLTs was low. The use of the SNOMED Problem List Subset will save developmental effort, reduce variability of PLTs, and enhance interoperability of problem list data.
Identifying a Central Nervous System Perturbation that Explains Peripheral Hypocortisolism by Modeling the HPA Axis

The hypothalamus- pituitary- adrenal is the bodys main stress management system, which responds to any threat to homeostasis or internal environmental balance of the body by controlling the bodys cortisol level. Dysregulation of the HPA axis is involved in numerous stress-related diseases including posttraumatic stress disorder and chronic fatigue syndrome. We present a new structured model that includes the glucocorticoid receptor that produces bistability in the HPA axis steady state. Small stresses do not perturb the system, but large stresses force the system to an alternate steady state. This bistable state can describe hypocortisolism, which is observed in these stress-related illnesses.
“To Do Justly”: The Integration of Women into the American Judiciary

In 1869, the state of Iowa admitted Arabella Mansfield to the Bar, making her the first woman to receive a license to practice law in the United States (Epstein 1993, 49). That same year, Myra Bradwell applied for an attorney's license in the state of Illinois. When the state refused her, she appealed her case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which denied her claim by an eight-to-one vote (Bradwell v. Illinois 83 U.S. 130 [1873]). In his concurring opinion, Justic Joseph Bradley argues that, “The paramount destiny and mission of woman are to fulfill the noble and benign offices of wife and mother. This is the law of the Creator” (83 U.S. 130 [1873]). Ironically, shortly before the Supreme Court announced its decision, another woman in Illinois, Adah Kepley, attained a license to practice law. The judge who granted this license believed that her admission to the Bar was “proper and in accord with the spirit of the age” (Berkson 1982, 288).See Bowman (1998/99) for a list of biographies of these early women lawyers.
Empty Citizenship: Protesting Politics in the Era of Globalization

Globalization is often indexed by the rise of a consumerist ethos and the expansion of the market economy at the expense of state-centric formulations of politics and citizenship. This article explores the politics and practices of gendered democratic citizenship in an educational setting when that setting is newly reconfigured as a commodity under neoliberal privatization efforts. This entails an attention to discourses of consumption as they intersect postcolonial cultural-ideological political fields. Focusing on the contemporary trajectory among politicized male college students of a historically important masculinist “political public” in Kerala, India, the article tracks an explicit discourse of “politics”(rashtriyam). This enables an exploration of a struggle over the meaning of democratic citizenship that opposes a political public rooted in a tradition of anticolonial struggle and postcolonial nationalist politics to that of a “civic public,” rooted in ideas about the freedom to consume through the logic of privatization.
A kinetic Monte Carlo simulation of film growth by physical vapor deposition on rotating substrates

Abstract Film growth by physical vapor deposition on rotating substrates is modeled via a kinetic Monte Carlo algorithm on a two-dimensional hexagonal lattice. The motivation is to provide insight on the evolution of porosity during the deposition of thermal barrier coatings (TBCs). The model is implemented on an atomic scale that incorporates the effect of surface diffusion as well as the interplay between surface topography and the changing vapor incidence angle. It is shown that substrate rotation generates voids with a periodicity dependent on the amount of material deposited per revolution. The onset of pore formation and morphology of the pores are linked to the presence of shadowing features on the surface, either in the form of stochastic or crystallographic peaks and valleys evolving during columnar growth, or pre-existing roughness typical of polycrystalline oxide substrates. In addition, various forms of anisotropy develop in the microstructure as a result of the “sunrise–sunset” pattern of vapor incidence characteristic of TBC deposition on, for example, turbine airfoils. Comparison with observations on actual TBCs reveals that the simulations, in spite of their simplicity, capture several key microstructural features characteristic of these complex films.
Study on Influence to Waste Water Treatment Plant’s Sludge by Low-carbon Catalytic Combustion Furnace of Natural Gas

There are two parts in this experiment. One of is about the concentration of Variation of exhaust gas while heating sludge of waste water treatment plant. The other one is about introduce the problems of the traditional incineration processes of sludge of waste water treatment as compared between the sludge heated by natural gas catalytic combustion furnace and the tradition’s. We can see that natural gas low-carbon catalytic combustion furnace realize the near-zero emission of contaminates.
Research and Policy on Disability Linking Special Education to Developmental Science

Bridging special education (SE) and developmental science recognizes their shared focus on individual adaptation, growth, and outcomes. Adaptation continuously aligns the proclivities of students a...
POINT OF IRREVERSIBILITY OF GALACTOSE CATARACTS IN THE RAT.

SummaryGalactose-fed rats with unilateral cataracts develop cataracts in the second eye even though they are placed on a normal diet. Rats fed a 35% galactose diet for 14 days, followed by a normal diet, develop cataracts in a median time of 18 days just as if they were continuously on a galactose diet. The cataractogenic process becomes irreversible after 10-14 days of galactose. Restoration of a normal diet during the irreversible period results in a return of lens hydration, dulcitol and ATP to normal levels. It is suggested that changes such as these may be placed in the early or late period of cataractogenesis depending on whether they tend to return to normal or to continue their abnormal trend. Thus, the vacuoles seen after 2-4 days of galactose which are reported to be due to fiber swelling and bursting develop parallel with but are not the cause of the later white opaque cataracts.
Addressing Modeling Uncertainties in Sensor Placement for Community Water Systems

We present a model for optimizing the placement of sensors in municipal water networks to detect contaminants that are maliciously or accidentally injected. An optimal sensor configuration is desirable to minimize the cost and maximize the information provided by the sensors. We formulate sensor placement problems as mixed-integer programs, for which the objective coefficients are not known with certainty. We present three robust optimization models that differ in how the coefficients in the objective vary. Under one set of assumptions there exists a sensor placement that is optimal for all realizations of the coefficients. Under other assumptions, we apply sorting to solve each worst-case realization. The most difficult case is where the objective parameters are bilinear, for which we propose a branch-and-bound method.
Pseudotetrahedral d0, d1, and d2 metal-Oxo cores within a Tris(alkoxide) platform

Low-coordinate first-row metal complexes of d0 [vanadium(V)], d1 [chromium(V)], and d2 [chromium(IV)] assume the unusual ligand field of a pseudotetrahedron when supported by a tripodal tBu2(Me)CO− alkoxide framework. Structural, spectroscopic, and reactivity studies, supported by density functional theory calculations, indicate that the d electrons in the chromium(V) and -(IV) oxo complexes reside in metal−oxygen antibonding orbitals, engendering disparate reactivity of the metal−oxo, depending on the number of d electrons present.
The posteromedial region of the default mode network shows attenuated task-induced deactivation in psychopathic prisoners

Objective: Psychopathy is a personality disorder with symptoms that include lack of empathy or remorse, antisocial behavior, and excessive self-focus. Previous neuroimaging studies have linked psychopathy to dysfunction in the default mode network (DMN), a brain network that deactivates during externally focused tasks and is more engaged during self-referential processing. Specifically, the DMN has been found to remain relatively active in individuals with psychopathic tendencies during externally focused tasks, suggesting a failure to properly deactivate. However, the exact extent and nature of task-induced DMN dysfunction is poorly understood, including (a) the degree to which specific DMN subregions are affected in criminal psychopaths, and (b) how activity in these subregions relates to affective/ interpersonal and antisocial/lifestyle traits of psychopathy. Method: We performed a group independent component analysis to assess DMN activation during a Go/NoGo task in a group of 22 high-psychopathy and 22 low-psychopathy prisoners. The identified group-level DMN was parcellated into 6 subregions, and group differences in task-induced activity were examined. Results: In general, DMN subregions failed to deactivate beneath baseline in the high-psychopathy group. A group comparison with the low-psychopathy group localized this attenuated task-induced deactivation to the posteromedial cortical (mPC) region of the DMN. Moreover, multiple regression analyses revealed that activity in the mPC was associated with affective/interpersonal traits of psychopathy. Conclusion: These findings suggest that attenuated deactivation of the mPC subregion of the DMN is intrinsic to psychopathy, and is a pattern that may be more associated with affective psychopathic traits, including lack of concern for others.
CONTRASTING THE UNDERLYING PATTERNS OF ACTIVE TRENDS IN MORPHOLOGIC EVOLUTION.

Gastropod evolution during the early Paleozoic featured active trends (i.e., differential replacement of morphologies) for at least three shell characters. Selective sorting, either of individual organisms or of whole species, is an obvious mechanism for such active trends. Sorting of individuals should result in a disproportionate number of ancestor to descendant transitions being in the same direction as the trend, whereas sorting of species should result in species with particular morphologies producing more daughter species. Sorting of species can occur over long periods of time or it can be concentrated over a particular interval, such as an extinction event. Constraints on morphologic evolution also can drive trends, especially in cases where it is easier to produce a particular morphology than it is to change it. Finally, active trends can be artifacts of unrelated differential diversification within a clade (i.e., species hitchhiking), which might result from sorting of species based on phylogenetically associated characters or simply by chance. Unlike other active trends, trends attributable to species hitchhiking do not support hypotheses about selection or evolutionary constraints. From the latest Cambrian through the Silurian, gastropods show significant increases in the proportions of species with high shell torques (-high spire height), inclined apertures, and narrow sinuses. Ancestor-descendant contrasts indicate a significant bias towards daughter species with narrower sinuses than their ancestors. This is not true for shell torque or apertural inclination. However, species with high shell torques appear constrained to produce daughter species with high shell torques. Analogous constraints do not exist for sinus width or apertural inclination. To separate the predictions of species hitchhiking from those of differential speciation and differential extinction, a bootstrapping procedure was used to simulate the range of trends that phylogenetic effects alone could generate. The simulations indicate that the trend towards species with strongly inclined apertures is indistinguishable from a phylogenetic effect. However, the simulations indicate that differential clade evolution affected the evolution of both shell torque and sinus width. The deviations between observed and expected distributions are sudden and coincide with extinction events: species with low shell torques were significantly less likely to survive the Llandeilo/Caradoc (Middle Ordovician) turnover, and species with wide sinuses were significantly less likely to survive the end-Ordovician mass extinction. However, there is not a significant association between diversification and morphology for any of the characters studied here. These results suggest that selection on individuals, evolutionary constraints, and differential survivorship over extinction events all drove trends among early gastropods.
Sugar, Surveillance, and Citizenship: The Global Crisis of 1919–20 in Buenos Aires and New York

AbstractDuring the demobilization from the First World War in 1919, people around the world participated in mass protests over stagnant wages and the rising cost of living. With the Soviet revolution fresh in their minds, leaders used two strategies to contain dissent: xenophobic political repression on the one hand, and heavy-handed economic interventions to control the prices of basic foodstuffs on the other. In fact, the same law enforcement agency charged with repressing radicals, the US Justice Department, carried out sugar policies in 1919 and 1920. They created a cost of living bureau, which worked with New York sugar brokers to purchase cheap sugar on the world market. In the spring of 1920, they attempted to buy sugar in Argentina, which was neither a major sugar exporter nor one of the United States’ trading partners for sugar. This plan quickly ran into trouble, however, as protest in Argentina shaped politicians’ trade decisions. By the time the exports were approved, New York sugar prices had...
Legionella-contamination in warm potable water at hotels in Beijing

Objective To investigate Legionella contamination in warm potable water at hotels,find out its key links and explore its potential causes to provide scientific evidence for its prevention and control.Methods Five hotels of three-star class or above were selected from Dongcheng District,Beijing and their general information and warm potable water specimens were collected for measuring its temperature and isolating Legionella in laboratory.Results Legionella was isolated from five of 76 specimens of warm water collected from two of the five hotels investigated,with positive rate of Legionella pneumophila(Lp)6.58 percent,25.00 percent,33.33 percent and 4.35 percent inthe water mixingjar,water tank andterminal warmwater,respectively,but their difference did not reach a level of statistically significance.Positive rate of Lp was higher inthe water prior toits running out thanthat after running out.Conclusion There wasLegionellacontamination in warm potable water at hotels of Dongcheng District,either in water mixing jar,water tank or terminal water,which might be keylinks of the contamination andinfluenced by watertemperature,structure water supply systemand mode of water collection at hotels.It is suggested that management for those key links of water contamination should be strengthenedto eliminate hidden dangers forLegionella contamination.
Effects of recombinant DNA-derived somatotropin and dietary energy intake on development of beef heifers: II. Concentrations of hormones and metabolites in blood sera.

The effects of somatotropin (STH) and energy intake on serum concentrations of glucose (GLU), insulin (INS), nonesterified fatty acids (NEFA), urea nitrogen (UN) and insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) were determined in 40 Angus heifers. At 7 mo (208 +/- 8 d) of age heifers were assigned to four treatment groups: 1) vehicle (V) + high energy (HE; 2.68 Mcal ME/kg DM), 2) recombinant DNA-derived STH (20.6 mg/d; s.c.) + HE, 3) V + low energy (LE; 2.22 Mcal ME/kg DM) or 4) STH + LE. Animals remained on treatments until an average of 15.5 mo of age. Blood samples were taken every 30 min for 4 h at 9, 11, 13 and 15 mo of age to determine circulating concentrations of metabolites and hormones. Serum IGF-I was increased (P less than .01) by STH injections, but this effect appeared to diminish with age (STH x age; P less than .01). Energy intake did not influence IGF-I levels. Somatotropin increased (P less than .01) serum GLU in heifers fed the HE diet but only tended (P = .08) to increase GLU in those fed the LE diet (STH x energy; P = .05). Although STH increased (P less than .01) serum INS in both energy groups, the response in heifers fed the HE diet was greater (P less than .02) than that in heifers fed the LE diet (STH x energy; P less than .05). Heifers fed LE had higher (P less than .01) concentrations of NEFA than heifers fed HE.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Frailty: A Vital Sign for Older Adults With Cardiovascular Disease

Mechanisms of aging predispose to cardiovascular disease (CVD), as well as to aggregate health challenges. For older adults, CVD is likely to exist in combination with comorbid conditions, disability, polypharmacy, falling risks, and body composition changes. These other dimensions of health result in cumulative weakening with greater clinical complexity that confound basic precepts of CVD presentation, prognosis, and treatments. A convenient operational tool is needed to gauge this age-related vulnerability such that it can be integrated in the evaluation and treatment of CVD. Frailty is a concept that is neither disease- nor age-specific, but is used to characterize the reserve that a person has available to tolerate stresses associated with aging, disease, and even therapy. Frailty arises from specific biological mechanisms in association with cumulative physiological decrements, psychosocial stresses, and physical impairments. Performance-based and survey tools have been developed and tested to measure frailty. Although different frailty tools vary in practicality, measured domains, and precise applications, all are useful in identifying risks that commonly accrue with age. Although comparisons between frailty tools are ongoing and sometimes even controversial, the rationale to integrate routine use of frailty screening as part of routine care is relatively straightforward and easy to envision. Frailty assessment applied as a vital sign (for standard maintenance and evaluation of new symptoms) enhances perspectives of risk, decision-making, and opportunities for tailored CVD management.
Light directed synthesis of oligonucleotide arrays

Photolithography has been combined with solid-phase chemical synthesis to fabricate high-density, spatially addressable arrays of oligonucleotides. Experiments with these .oligonucleotide arrays demonstrate that the arrays can be used to detect complementary DNA sequences.
Redefining the Self: Explorations of Aging in Michèle Sarde’s Constance et la cinquantaine and Nancy Huston’s Dolce agonia

In their chapter, Susan Ireland and Patrice Proulx offer a comparative analysis of Nancy Huston’s Dolce agonia and Michele Sarde’s Constance et la cinquantaine, two works that center on middle-aged and elderly characters and that address complex issues related to aging such as physical and mental decline. These novels offer nuanced depictions of the aging female body and juxtapose different types of “decline” and “progress” narratives. Examining the ways in which the female protagonists redefine their identity through shared reflections on the process of aging, Ireland and Proulx also highlight the important role played by women’s supportive and lasting friendships in contributing to this vital redefinition of the aging self.
THE FUTURE ENVIRONMENTAL AGENDA OF THE USSR

A set of contemporary and increasingly urgent environmental problems in the USSR are surveyed, emerging as a result of continued development and technological change and mandating, in effect, a new environmental agenda. Analysis of specific problems reveals ways in which the new agenda must differ from the old: it must be more ecologically based, more comprehensive, and more global in scope. A concluding section examines how this agenda appears to be evolving over time, and identifies components which will be essential in order for it to effectively address the environmental challenges of the next century.
Marrow-inspired matrix cues rapidly affect early fate decisions of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells

Hematopoiesis is the physiological process where hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) continuously generate the body's complement of blood and immune cells within unique regions of the bone marrow termed niches. Although previous investigations have revealed gradients in cellular and extracellular matrix (ECM) content across the marrow, and matrix elasticity and ligand type are believed to be strong regulators of stem cell fate, the impact of biophysical signals on HSC response is poorly understood. Using marrow-inspired ECM ligand-coated polyacrylamide substrates that present defined stiffness and matrix ligand cues, we demonstrate that the interplay between integrin engagement and myosin II activation processes affects the morphology, proliferation, and myeloid lineage specification of primary murine HSCs within 24 hours ex vivo. Notably, the impact of discrete biophysical signals on HSC fate decisions appears to be correlated to known microenvironmental transitions across the marrow. The combination of fibronectin and marrow matrix-associated stiffness was sufficient to maintain hematopoietic progenitor populations, whereas collagen and laminin enhanced proliferation and myeloid differentiation, respectively. Inhibiting myosin II-mediated contraction or adhesion to fibronectin via specific integrins (α5β1 and ανβ3) selectively abrogated the impact of the matrix environment on HSC fate decisions. Together, these findings indicate that adhesive interactions and matrix biophysical properties are critical design considerations in the development of biomaterials to direct HSC behavior in vitro.
Game Features and Individual Differences: What Makes a Spatial Skill Training Video Game Effective?

This document gives an overview of my current research project investigating how children develop spatial reasoning skills through video game training. I describe the motivation and goals of the project and the progress made so far.
Investigations on the surface well cement integrity induced by thermal cycles considering an improved overall transfer coefficient

Abstract Wellbore cement is used as a mechanical and hydraulic barrier in order to support casing and to prevent vertical and horizontal fluid migration, making wellbore cementing jobs one of the most important operations in thermal recovery projects. Drilling high quality wells requires the use of high-performance drilling muds that can support and protect the wellbore during the drilling process. Drilling mud will create an internal and external filter cake to protect the well during drilling. Although the external filter cake is usually removed before or during cementing jobs, the internal filter cake remains in the near-wellbore formation throughout the life of the well. This directly influences the wellbore overall heat transfer coefficient. As thermal well design relies on maximizing the heat delivered to the reservoir, minimizing heat losses to top formations while also protecting casing and cement layers is mandatory. This paper presents a unique experimental investigation of thermal cycle behavior of cement with focus on surface casing cementing. A more accurate assessment of overall heat transfer coefficients, directing efforts towards increasing the efficiency and understanding of thermal well design has been also performed in order to better understand the induced thermal loads on cements under complex scenarios. Thermal mixing laws have been used to determine the approximate impact of drilling fluid invasion and filter cake formation within rocks’ pores on overall heat transfer coefficients. In an experimental approach it was noticed that applying temperature cycles to fresh cements (curing time less than 21 days) will lead to mechanical strengthening of the casing-cement-system, enhancing well integrity, whereas old cemented wells will lose strength.
Liquid chromatography with room temperature ionic liquids

Room temperature ionic liquids are a new class of solvents of potential interest for liquid chromatography. Ionic liquids possess a combination of physical and solvation properties that are complementary to conventional organic solvents. Applications in liquid chromatography are currently limited by their unfavorable viscosity and low-wavelength absorption in the ultraviolet (UV) region. In addition, for planar chromatography, the absence of a vapor pressure does not allow evaporation of ionic liquid solvents after development. The room temperature ionic liquids are good solvents for nonionic compounds with a different blend of intermolecular interactions compared with conventional organic solvents as indicated by solvatochromic measurements and the system constants of the solvation parameter model. Current applications in column and planar chromatography are reviewed to demonstrate the potential of room temperature ionic liquids as mobile phases or mobile phase additives in separation science. A real breakthrough in their use, however, requires the identification of new room temperature ionic liquids with viscosity closer to those of conventional organic solvents as well as addressing other minor issues described in the text.
Altered feto-placental vascularization, feto-placental malperfusion and fetal growth restriction in mice with Egfl7 loss of function

EGFL7 is a secreted angiogenic factor produced by embryonic endothelial cells. To understand its role in placental development, we established a novel Egfl7 knockout mouse. The mutant mice have gross defects in chorioallantoic branching morphogenesis and placental vascular patterning. Microangiography and 3D imaging revealed patchy perfusion of Egfl7 −/− placentas marked by impeded blood conductance through sites of narrowed vessels. Consistent with poor feto-placental perfusion, Egfl7 knockout resulted in reduced placental weight and fetal growth restriction. The placentas also showed abnormal fetal vessel patterning and over 50% reduction in fetal blood space. In vitro , placental endothelial cells were deficient in migration, cord formation and sprouting. Expression of genes involved in branching morphogenesis, Gcm1 , Syna and Synb , and in patterning of the extracellular matrix, Mmrn1 , were temporally dysregulated in the placentas. Egfl7 knockout did not affect expression of the microRNA embedded within intron 7. Collectively, these data reveal that Egfl7 is crucial for placental vascularization and embryonic growth, and may provide insight into etiological factors underlying placental pathologies associated with intrauterine growth restriction, which is a significant cause of infant morbidity and mortality.
Self-administration of methamphetamine alters gut biomarkers of toxicity.

Methamphetamine (METH) is a highly abused psychostimulant that is associated with an increased risk for developing Parkinson's disease (PD). This enhanced vulnerability likely relates to the toxic effects of METH that overlap with PD pathology, for example, aberrant functioning of α-synuclein and parkin. In PD, peripheral factors are thought to contribute to central nervous system (CNS) degeneration. For example, α-synuclein levels in the enteric nervous system (ENS) are elevated, and this precedes the onset of motor symptoms. It remains unclear whether neurons of the ENS, particularly catecholaminergic neurons, exhibit signs of METH-induced toxicity as seen in the CNS. The aim of this study was to determine whether self-administered METH altered the levels of α-synuclein, parkin, tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), and dopamine-β-hydroxylase (DβH) in the myenteric plexus of the distal colon ENS. Young adult male Sprague-Dawley rats self-administered METH for 3 h per day for 14 days and controls were saline-yoked. Distal colon tissue was collected at 1, 14, or 56 days after the last operant session. Levels of α-synuclein were increased, while levels of parkin, TH, and DβH were decreased in the myenteric plexus in the METH-exposed rats at 1 day following the last operant session and returned to the control levels after 14 or 56 days of forced abstinence. The changes were not confined to neurofilament-positive neurons. These results suggest that colon biomarkers may provide early indications of METH-induced neurotoxicity, particularly in young chronic METH users who may be more susceptible to progression to PD later in life.
DMDs for multi-object near-infrared spectrographs in astronomy

The Digital Micromirror Device (DMD), typically used in projection screen technology, has utility in instrumentation for astronomy as a digitally programmable slit in a spectrograph. When placed at an imaging focal plane the device can be used to selectively direct light from astronomical targets into the optical path of a spectrograph, while at the same time directing the remaining light into an imaging camera, which can be used for slit alignment, science imaging, or both. To date the use of DMDs in astronomy has been limited, especially for instruments that operate in the near infrared (1 - 2.5 μm). This limitation is due in part to a host of technical challenges with respect to DMDs that, to date, have not been thoroughly explored. Those challenges include operation at cryogenic temperature, control electronics that facilitate DMD use at these temperatures, window coatings properly coated for the near infrared bandpass, and scattered light. This paper discusses these technical challenges and presents progress towards understanding and mitigating them.
The Use of Psychotropic Medication in Preschoolers: Indications, Safety, and Efficacy:

Objective:To review the indications, safety, and efficacy of psychotropic medications used in preschoolers.Methods:Proprietary prescription-use databases indicate that practitioners are prescribing...
High-throughput analytical method for 265 pesticides and environmental contaminants in meats and poultry by fast low pressure gas chromatography and ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry

Abstract A high throughput method for simultaneous determination of 200 pesticides and 65 environmental contaminants: polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and other flame retardants, was developed and validated in cattle, swine and poultry muscle tissues. The method was based on sample preparation with QuEChERS extraction followed by an automated robotic sample cleanup with solid phase extraction (SPE) mini-columns using Instrument Top Sample Preparation (ITSP). The automated robotic ITSP was integrated with instrumental analysis (low pressure (LP)GC–MS/MS) to conduct sample cleanup and analysis in parallel. Another aliquot of the initial QuEChERS extract was subjected to UHPLC-MS/MS analysis, and 53 overlapping pesticides were analyzed by both LPGC- and UHPLC-MS/MS (10 min each). Fit-for-purpose LOQs
Resistance to temptation in toddlers at genetic risk for autism spectrum disorder.

Children with autism spectrum disorder often demonstrate difficulties with self-regulation, although studies of this construct in young children with autism spectrum disorder are limited. In this s...
First-principles bulk-layer model for dielectric and piezoelectric responses in superlattices

In the first-principles bulk-layer model the superlattice structure and polarization are determined by first-principles computation of the bulk responses of the constituents to the electrical and mechanical boundary conditions in an insulating superlattice. In this work the model is extended to predict functional properties, specifically dielectric permittivity and piezoelectric response. A detailed comparison between the bulk-layer model and full first-principles calculations for three sets of perovskite oxide superlattices, ${\mathrm{PbTiO}}_{3}/{\mathrm{BaTiO}}_{3}$, ${\mathrm{BaTiO}}_{3}/{\mathrm{SrTiO}}_{3}$, and ${\mathrm{PbTiO}}_{3}/{\mathrm{SrTiO}}_{3}$, is presented. The bulk-layer model is shown to give an excellent first approximation to these important functional properties and to allow for the identification and investigation of additional physics, including interface reconstruction and finite-size effects. Technical issues in the generation of the necessary data for constituent compounds are addressed. These results form the foundation for a powerful data-driven method to facilitate discovery and design of superlattice systems with enhanced and tunable polarization, dielectric permittivity, and piezoelectric response.
Abstract P4-06-17: Investigating trastuzumab-induced myeloid cell alterations for improving combination therapy in HER2+ breast cancer

Introduction: The purpose of this study is to identify temporal changes in the identity and cellularity of myeloid cells infiltrating human epidermal growth factor receptor type 2 positive (HER2+) breast cancer following trastuzumab therapy. Trastuzumab is a targeted therapy used in combination with cytotoxic therapies to treat HER2+ breast cancer. Previous data shows that in HER2+ tumors, trastuzumab increases vascular maturation and decreases hypoxia, both of which can sensitize tumors to cytotoxic therapies. Preliminary immunofluorescent data reveals a significant increase in the amount of myeloid cell infiltrates in trastuzumab treated tumors during the same temporal window as vascular and hypoxia alterations. The balance of myeloid cells in the tumor microenvironment (TME) can impact neovascularization, hypoxia, and tumor progression. Thus, we hypothesize that quantifying immune modulation following trastuzumab treatment will identify mechanistic properties of trastuzumab induced vascular alterations in the TME. We present results identifying an increase in various myeloid infiltrates between control and trastuzumab treated tumors in HER2+ breast cancer. Experimental Design: BT474 HER2+ breast cancer cells were implanted subcutaneously into athymic nude mice. After reaching 250 mm3, tumors were treated with trastuzumab (10 mg/kg) or saline for one week and were excised for analysis on days 0, 4, and 7. Each tumor was cut at the largest cross-section; half was fixed in 10% neutral buffered formalin for immunohistochemistry staining of TME markers (pimonidazole, CD11c, F4/80, CD31, and alpha-SMA), and half was digested for single cell analysis using flow cytometry. Data was analyzed with FlowJo software. Distinct populations of myeloid cells have been quantified in day 4 control (n = 6) and trastuzumab treated (n = 4) tumors. A non-parametric Wilcoxon rank sum test was used to determine statistical differences. Results and Discussion: Flow analysis revealed a significant (p Conclusion: Quantifying trastuzumab induced immune-modulation will provide mechanistic insight into how trastuzumab alters the TME and improves tumor sensitivity to treatment. This information will be of great importance to identifying optimal windows to administer combination therapies as well as in the development of novel immunotherapies in breast cancer. We acknowledge the support of CPRIT RR160005, NCI R01CA186193, and ACS RSG-18-006-01-CCE. Citation Format: Bloom MJ, Jarrett AM, Triplett TA, Syed AK, Yankeelov TE, Sorace AG. Investigating trastuzumab-induced myeloid cell alterations for improving combination therapy in HER2+ breast cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2018 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2018 Dec 4-8; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P4-06-17.
Zero-Cost Closed-Loop Discharging Method for Modular Multilevel Converter Submodules Without External Circuits

A novel submodule capacitor discharging control strategy is proposed and implemented for modular multilevel converters (MMCs). By sequentially controlling the arm currents of an MMC, all submodule capacitors are discharged rapidly through internal arm resistors without additional devices and circuits, resulting in improved performance and reduced cost. A closed-loop control method is investigated for the effectiveness of the new control strategy. A comparison study is evaluated between the proposed method and the traditional methods using bleeding resistors, auxiliary resistors, and load resistors. Validated by the simulation and experiment, the proposed method has the maximum benefits including zero hardware cost, fast discharging time, and negligible load current impact.
Neuroqueerness as Fugitive Practice: Reading Against the Grain of Applied Behavioral Analysis Scholarship

In its relatively short lifespan, applied behavioral analysis—the shaping of human behavior through operant conditioning—has risen to a state of eminence in the teaching and treatment of autistic c...
Difficult Airway and OMG, There’s Blood Everywhere: Navigating the Difficult Airway

Airway management is an essential skill required of every emergency physician. The difficult airway, especially the “can’t intubate, can’t oxygenate” scenario, can be a terrifying experience for even a seasoned emergency physician. One of the most important skills available to the emergency physician is the ability to predict a potentially difficult airway and to have a well thought out backup plan available in case a patient with a difficult airway presents to the emergency department. Complicating the situation is that, in some cases, a difficult airway is not able to be anticipated and the provider can find him/herself suddenly needing to change strategies. This may include using supraglottic airways, video laryngoscopy, endotracheal introducers (bougie), and a myriad of other airway tools. In the event of a “can’t intubate, can’t oxygenate” scenario, the physician must be ready to perform a cricothyrotomy. Proper preoxygenation, preparation with a backup plan, and proper positioning can help to make a potentially disastrous scenario survivable.
Table Structure Extraction with Bi-Directional Gated Recurrent Unit Networks

Tables present summarized and structured information to the reader, which makes table's structure extraction an important part of document understanding applications. However, table structure identification is a hard problem not only because of the large variation in the table layouts and styles, but also owing to the variations in the page layouts and the noise contamination levels. A lot of research has been done to identify table structure, most of which is based on applying heuristics with the aid of optical character recognition (OCR) to hand pick layout features of the tables. These methods fail to generalize well because of the variations in the table layouts and the errors generated by OCR. In this paper, we have proposed a robust deep learning based approach to extract rows and columns from a detected table in document images with a high precision. In the proposed solution, the table images are first pre-processed and then fed to a bi-directional Recurrent Neural Network with Gated Recurrent Units (GRU) followed by a fully-connected layer with softmax activation. The network scans the images from top-to-bottom as well as left-to-right and classifies each input as either a row-separator or a column-separator. We have benchmarked our system on publicly available UNLV as well as ICDAR 2013 datasets on which it outperformed the state-of-theart table structure extraction systems by a significant margin.
Thermal photons at PHENIX experiment

Direct photons are a unique probe to study the properties of the medium created in heavy ion collisions. In particular low pT direct photons are of great importance since one expects that they are predominantly of thermal origin. In A+A systems PHENIX has observed a large yield of low pT direct photon that are emitted with a significant azimuthal anisotropy with respect to the reaction plane (v2). The mechanism responsible for the large yield and large v2 is not understood yet. Following recent evidence for collective behavior of charged particle production from small systems like p+A, d+Au, and 3He+Au, PHENIX has made systematic measurements of direct pho- tons with different collision energies and system configurations. It has been found that the low pT direct photon yield dNγ /dη is proportional to (dNch /dη )α . This behavior holds for beam energies measured both at RHIC and at the LHC in large-on-large systems, while data from small systems suggest an onset of QGP formation at low dNch /dα . In this talk, I will report recent measurements of thermal photon and related observables.
Obesity: An Independent Predictor of Morbidity and Graft Loss after Kidney Transplantation.

Background There is conflicting information on current medical and surgical complications associated with high body mass index (BMI) after kidney transplantation. Methods In a single-center observational study, we analyzed the 5-year outcomes of all consecutive primary kidney transplant recipients between 2010 and 2015 based on BMI at the time of transplant. Results There were 1,467 patients included in this study, distributed in the following groups based on BMI: underweight (n = 32, 2.2%), normal (n = 407, 27.7%), overweight (n = 477, 32.5%), grade I obesity (n = 387, 26.4%), grade II obesity (n = 155, 10.6%), and grade III obesity (n = 9, 0.6%). Obesity was associated with an increased incidence of delayed graft function (p = 0.008), length of stay (LOS, p = 0.03), 30-day surgical re-exploration (p = 0.02), and hospital readmission (p 4 days (HR = 1.94, 95% CI: 1.19-3.18, p = 0.008), hospital readmission (HR = 2.25, 95% CI: 1.20-4.22, p = 0.01), 1-year serum creatinine >1.5 (HR = 1.95, 95% CI: 1.20-3.18, p = 0.007), and proteinuria (UPC) >1 g/g (HR = 1.85, 95% CI: 1.06-3.24, p = 0.03) as independent predictors of death-censored graft failure. Conclusion In the current era of renal transplant care, obesity is common, and high BMI remains associated with significant medical and surgical complications after transplant.
Comparing cross-classified mixed effects and Bayesian structural equations modeling for stimulus sampling designs: A simulation study

Abstract Researchers examining a wide range of psychological phenomena, including interpersonal perception, attitude formation, and stereotype activation, apply stimulus sampling designs (SSD). The standard SSD study requires participant raters to provide evaluations of a series of target stimuli (e.g., photographs, media clips, vignettes), and the constituent responses are simultaneously nested within participants and stimuli, yielding a cross-classified data structure. Prior methodological work has illustrated the application of both cross-classified mixed effects, and cross-classified structural equation modeling to accommodate the corresponding dependency structure. Despite their widespread application, little is known about how sample size for both participants and stimuli is associated with inferential power and coverage in SSDs. Even less is known about the feasibility of random slopes, or whether the frequentist (maximum likelihood) and Bayesian (MCMC) estimators differ in accuracy or efficiency under the design conditions typically observed in SSD studies. We conducted a Monte Carlo simulation study to better understand parameter bias, statistical power, and confidence or credible interval coverage, as a function of the number of participant raters and target stimuli, effect size, as well as the presence of random slopes, and modeling framework. Recommendations for future research are provided.
ELP-dependent expression of MCL1 promotes resistance to EGFR inhibition in triple-negative breast cancer cells

Targeted therapeutics for cancer generally exploit "oncogene addiction," a phenomenon in which the growth and survival of tumor cells depend on the activity of a particular protein. However, the efficacy of oncogene-targeted therapies varies substantially. For instance, targeting epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling is effective in some non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) but not in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), although these cancers show a similar degree of increase in EGFR activity. Using a genome-wide CRISPR-Cas9 genetic knockout screen, we found that the Elongator (ELP) complex mediates insensitivity to the EGFR inhibitor erlotinib in TNBC cells by promoting the synthesis of the antiapoptotic protein Mcl-1. Depleting ELP proteins promoted apoptotic cell death in an EGFR inhibition-dependent manner. Pharmacological inhibition of Mcl-1 synergized with EGFR inhibition in a panel of genetically diverse TNBC cells. The findings indicate that TNBC "addiction" to EGFR signaling is masked by the ELP complex and that resistance to EGFR inhibitors in TNBC might be overcome by cotargeting Mcl-1.