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We research a combinatorial game based on the Cookie Monster problem called the Cookie Monster game that generalizes the games of Nim and Wythoff. We also propose several combinatorial games between this Cookie Monster game and Nim, and discuss the winning positions of these games.

Corn distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS) is mostly marketed as a livestock feed due to its high protein content of 30%. Recently, the proteins in DDGS have shown potential to act as binding agents along with melamine-urea-formaldehyde resin. However, it is unknown if DDGS can be chemically functionalized as a natural binder to replace synthetic resin in particleboard. In this study, several formulations were tested using various concentrations of acetic acid and sodium hydroxide treatments with combinations of temperature, DDGS concentrations, particle sizes, and wax. FTIR results indicated that DDGS proteins were decoupled through acid or alkali treatments, and acid treated DDGS in particleboards displayed higher improvements in internal bond strength as well as the moisture resistance of the particleboards. These results suggest that acid or alkali treated DDGS has potential to act as a natural binder for manufacturing medium-density particleboard.

We research a combinatorial game based on the Cookie Monster problem called the Cookie Monster game that generalizes the games of Nim and Wythoff. We also propose several combinatorial games that are in between the Cookie Monster game and Nim. We discuss properties of P-positions of all of these games. Each section consists of two parts. The first part is a story presented from the Cookie Monster's point of view, the second part is a more abstract discussion of the same ideas by the authors.

We enumerate P-positions in the game of Nim in two different ways. In one series of sequences we enumerate them by the maximum number of counters in a pile. In another series of sequences we enumerate them by the total number of counters. We show that the game of Nim can be viewed as a cellular automaton, where the total number of counters divided by 2 can be considered as a generation in which P-positions are born. We prove that the three-pile Nim sequence enumerated by the total number of counters is a famous toothpick sequence based on the Ulam-Warburton cellular automaton. We introduce 10 new sequences.

Conflicting reports regarding whether high tumor-associated neutrophils (TAN) are associated with outcomes in colorectal cancer (CRC) exist. Previous investigators have counted TAN using non-neutrophil-specific immunohistochemistry (IHC) stains. We examined whether TAN levels as determined by multi-field manual counting would predict prognosis. IRB approval was obtained and two pathologists, blinded to stage/outcome, counted TAN in 20 high power fields (HPF) per specimen. TAN score was defined as the mean of these counts. High TAN was defined as at or greater than the median score for that stage. Demographics, tumor characteristics, and overall survival (OS) were obtained from the records and examined for association with TAN score. IHC for arginase expression was performed in a subset of samples. 221 patients were included. Stage II patients with high TAN scores had an OS of 232 months as compared to those with low TAN (OS = 85 months, p = 0.03). The survival benefit persisted in multivariable analysis (HR 0.48, CI 0.25-0.91, p = 0.026) controlling for age and sex. Women had increased survival as compared to men, and there were no significant prognostic associations with TAN count in stage III/IV patients, although there were only 12 stage IV patients. Arginase staining did not provide additional information. Stage II colorectal cancer patients with high TAN live nearly 3 times longer than those with low TAN. Women with stage II disease and high TAN counts appear to be driving the survival benefit seen in the stage II patients and have increased overall survival in all stages.

Investigation of microbe-metabolite relationships in the gut is needed to understand and potentially reduce colorectal cancer (CRC) risk. Microbiota and metabolomics profiling were performed on lyophilized feces from 42 CRC cases and 89 matched controls. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify statistically independent associations with CRC. First principal coordinate-component pair (PCo1-PC1) and false discovery rate (0.05)-corrected P-values were calculated for 116,000 Pearson correlations between 530 metabolites and 220 microbes in a sex*case/control meta-analysis. Overall microbe-metabolite PCo1-PC1 was more strongly correlated in cases than in controls (Rho 0.606 vs 0.201, P = 0.01). CRC was independently associated with lower levels of Clostridia, Lachnospiraceae, p-aminobenzoate and conjugated linoleate, and with higher levels of Fusobacterium, Porphyromonas, p-hydroxy-benzaldehyde, and palmitoyl-sphingomyelin. Through postulated effects on cell shedding (palmitoyl-sphingomyelin), inflammation (conjugated linoleate), and innate immunity (p-aminobenzoate), metabolites mediated the CRC association with Fusobacterium and Porphyromonas by 29% and 34%, respectively. Overall, palmitoyl-sphingomyelin correlated directly with abundances of Enterobacteriaceae (Gammaproteobacteria), three Actinobacteria and five Firmicutes. Only Parabacteroides correlated inversely with palmitoyl-sphingomyelin. Other lipids correlated inversely with Alcaligenaceae (Betaproteobacteria). Six Bonferroni-significant correlations were found, including low indolepropionate and threnoylvaline with Actinobacteria and high erythronate and an uncharacterized metabolite with Enterobacteriaceae. Feces from CRC cases had very strong microbe-metabolite correlations that were predominated by Enterobacteriaceae and Actinobacteria. Metabolites mediated a direct CRC association with Fusobacterium and Porphyromonas, but not an inverse association with Clostridia and Lachnospiraceae. This study identifies complex microbe-metabolite networks that may provide insights on neoplasia and targets for intervention.

Emerging evidence indicates that inflammation regulates cardiac remodeling and heart failure (HF). IL12β is a subunit for proinflammatory cytokines IL12 and IL23. However, the effect of IL12β inhibition on HF development and the underlying mechanism is not understood. We determined the effect of pharmacological inhibition of IL12β using IL12β blocking antibody on transverse aortic constriction (TAC)-induced left ventricular (LV) inflammation and HF development. IL12β blocking antibody significantly attenuated TAC-induced LV immune cell infiltration, hypertrophy, fibrosis, dysfunction, and the consequent pulmonary inflammation and remodeling. More specifically, we found that IL12β blocking antibody significantly attenuated TAC-induced LV and pulmonary infiltration of neutrophils, macrophages, CD11c dendritic cells, CD8 T cells, and CD4 T cells. Moreover, IL12β blocking antibody significantly suppressed the production of pro-inflammatory cytokine pro-IL1β and IFNγ by macrophages and IFNγ by CD8 T cells and/or CD4 T cells. These findings indicate that pharmacological inhibition of IL12β effectively protected the heart from systolic overload-induced inflammation, remodeling, and dysfunction by reducing the proinflammatory signaling from both innate and adaptive immune responses.

The auditory striatum, the tail portion of dorsal striatum in basal ganglia, is implicated in perceptual decision-making, transforming auditory stimuli to action outcomes. Despite its known connections to diverse neurological conditions, the dopaminergic modulation of sensory striatal neuronal activity and its behavioral influences remain unknown. We demonstrated that the optogenetic inhibition of dopaminergic projections from the substantia nigra pars compacta to the auditory striatum specifically impairs mouse choice performance but not movement in an auditory frequency discrimination task. In vivo dopamine and calcium imaging in freely behaving mice revealed that this dopaminergic projection modulates striatal tone representations, and tone-evoked striatal dopamine release inversely correlated with the evidence strength of tones. Optogenetic inhibition of D1-receptor expressing neurons and pharmacological inhibition of D1 receptors in the auditory striatum dampened choice performance accuracy. Our study uncovers a phasic mechanism within the nigrostriatal system that regulates auditory decisions by modulating ongoing auditory perception. The auditory striatum, the tail portion of dorsal striatum, is implicated in decision-making. This study uncovers a phasic mechanism within the nigrostriatal system that regulates auditory decisions by modulating ongoing auditory perception.

Point defects in two-dimensional materials are of key interest for quantum information science. However, the parameter space of possible defects is immense, making the identification of high-performance quantum defects very challenging. Here, we perform high-throughput (HT) first-principles computational screening to search for promising quantum defects within WS 2 , which present localized levels in the band gap that can lead to bright optical transitions in the visible or telecom regime. Our computed database spans more than 700 charged defects formed through substitution on the tungsten or sulfur site. We found that sulfur substitutions enable the most promising quantum defects. We computationally identify the neutral cobalt substitution to sulfur ( Co S 0 ) and fabricate it with scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). The Co S 0 electronic structure measured by STM agrees with first principles and showcases an attractive quantum defect. Our work shows how HT computational screening and nanoscale synthesis routes can be combined to design promising quantum defects. Point defects in 2D semiconductors have potential for quantum computing applications, but their controlled design and synthesis remains challenging. Here, the authors identify and fabricate a promising quantum defect in 2D WS 2 via high-throughput computational screening and scanning tunnelling microscopy.

Methane emissions from oil/gas fields originate from a large number of relatively small and densely clustered point sources. A small fraction of high-mode emitters can make a large contribution to the total methane emission. Here we conduct observation system simulation experiments (OSSEs) to examine the potential of recently launched or planned satellites to detect and locate these high-mode emitters through measurements of atmospheric methane columns. We simulate atmospheric methane over a generic oil/gas field (20–500 production sites of different size categories in a 50×50 km2 domain) for a 1-week period using the WRF-STILT meteorological model with 1.3×1.3 km2 horizontal resolution. The simulations consider many random realizations for the occurrence and distribution of high-mode emitters in the field by sampling bimodal probability density functions (PDFs) of emissions from individual sites. The atmospheric methane fields for each realization are observed virtually with different satellite and surface observing configurations. Column methane enhancements observed from satellites are small relative to instrument precision, even for high-mode emitters, so an inverse analysis is necessary. We compare L1 and L2 regularizations and show that L1 regularization effectively provides sparse solutions for a bimodally distributed variable and enables the retrieval of high-mode emitters. We find that the recently launched TROPOMI instrument (low Earth orbit, 7×7 km2 nadir pixels, daily return time) and the planned GeoCARB instrument (geostationary orbit, 2.7×3.0 km2 pixels, 2 times or 4 times per day return times) are successful (> 80 % detection rate, < 20 % false alarm rate) at locating high-emitting sources for fields of 20–50 emitters within the 50×50 km2 domain as long as skies are clear. They are unsuccessful for denser fields. GeoCARB does not benefit significantly from more frequent observations (4 times per day vs. 2 times per day) because of a temporal error correlation in the inversion, unless under partly cloudy conditions where more frequent observation increases the probability of clear sky. It becomes marginally successful when allowing a 5 km error tolerance for localization. A next-generation geostationary satellite instrument with 1.3×1.3 km2 pixels, hourly return time, and 1 ppb precision can successfully detect and locate the high-mode emitters for a dense field with up to 500 sites in the 50×50 km2 domain. The capabilities of TROPOMI and GeoCARB can be usefully augmented with a surface air observation network of 5–20 sites, and in turn the satellite instruments increase the detection capability that can be achieved from the surface sites alone.