bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Upregulation of HB‐EGF, Msx.1, and miRNA Let‐7a by administration of calcitonin through mTOR and ERK1/2 pathways during a window of implantation in mice
Authors: Shokrzadeh Naser , Alivand Mohammad Reza , Abedelahi Ali , Hessam Shariati Mohammad Bakhtiar , Niknafs Behrooz
Published: September 2018

Background

Successful implantation of embryos requires endometrial receptivity. Calcitonin is one of the factors influencing the implantation window. This study aimed to evaluate calcitonin effects on endometrial receptivity. To this end, the effects of calcitonin on the implantation window in the ovarian stimulation and the normal ovarian cycle were investigated by the morphological study of the endometrium as well as the expression of MSX.1, HB‐EGF, and micro‐RNA (miRNA) Let‐7a; then the mechanisms of calcitonin effects were studied through the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) and extracellular signal‐regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) signaling pathways.

Materials and Methods

A total of 64 Bulb/c mice were divided into two groups: Normal ovarian cycle and ovarian stimulation. Each group consisted of four subgroups: Ctrl, CT, PP242, and CT + PP242. Calcitonin and PP242 were injected on the fourth day of pregnancy and 24 hr later all the mice were killed. Uterine tissue samples were used for morphological analysis and the endometrial epithelial and the stromal cells were isolated from myometrium for evaluation of gene and protein expression.

Results

Ovarian stimulation increased the phosphorylation levels of mTOR and ERK1/2 and the expression of miRNA Let‐7a. Calcitonin injection increased the expression of HB‐EGF, Msx.1, and miRNA Let‐7a in a normal ovarian cycle and in ovarian‐stimulated mice. It also increased eukaryotic initiation factor 4E‐binding protein 1 and ERK1/2 phosphorylation in normal ovarian cycles.

Conclusion

Calcitonin improved the receptivity of the uterine endometrium by upregulation of the HB‐EGF, Msx.1, and miRNA Let‐7a likely through mTOR and ERK1/2 signaling pathway.
Are Hatchery-Reared Rainbow Trout and Brown Trout Effective Predators on Juvenile Native Fish?
Authors: Ward David L. , Morton-Starner Rylan , Vaage Ben
Published: September 2018

Hatchery-reared Rainbow Trout Oncorhynchus mykiss and Brown Trout Salmo trutta are typically fed exclusively on commercially prepared pelleted feeds and have no experience catching or consuming live fish at the time of stocking. Despite this lack of predation experience, it is commonly assumed that stocked Rainbow Trout and Brown Trout will adversely impact native fish populations by preying upon juvenile native fish. We evaluated the relative predation effectiveness of wild-caught Rainbow Trout (210–389 mm TL) and Brown Trout (185–313 mm TL) compared with hatchery-reared Rainbow Trout (198–321 mm TL) and Brown Trout (196–290 mm TL). We used Bonytail Gila elegans (60–85 mm TL), Humpback Chub Gila cypha (24–59 mm TL), and Roundtail Chub Gila robusta (40–65 mm TL) as prey in overnight predation trials conducted in the laboratory from 2013 to 2016. After 14 d in a captive setting, wild Rainbow Trout and Brown Trout consumed >70% of prey in trials with no cover, while hatchery-reared fish consumed <30% of prey. In addition, we evaluated if the predation ability of hatchery fish would improve over time by feeding them Fathead Minnows Pimephales promelas, rather than pelleted feed, for up to 30 d. Predation success of Rainbow Trout and Brown Trout increased by an average of 28% and 21%, respectively, after 14 d of eating exclusively fish. Rainbow Trout tested after 30 d of eating fish increased in their ability to catch and eat small prey by an average of 29%. The predation effectiveness of hatchery-reared fish appears to improve with experience eating live fish. Although stocking Rainbow Trout and Brown Trout does increase the number of predators present in natural systems, the relative predation threat posed by hatchery-reared fish may be less than that of wild fish, especially in locations where stocked fish do not persist. Lack of experience in catching fish and the effects of captive rearing practices and environments on both physiology and behavior all likely contribute to reduced predation effectiveness of hatchery Rainbow Trout and Brown Trout.
Improved surface hydrophilicity and antifouling property of nanofiltration membrane by grafting NH2‐functionalized silica nanoparticles
Authors: Huang Kai , Quan Xiao , Li Xipeng , Tezel F. Handan , Li Baoan
Published: September 2018

Organic fouling has been a major impediment for the widespread application of nanofiltration membranes because it could degrade the performance and shorten the service life of such membranes. In this study, the NH2‐functionalized silica nanoparticles (NH2–SiO2 NPs) were grafted on the surface of commercial NF90 membrane to improve the hydrophilicity and antifouling property with the N‐(3‐dimethylaminopropyl)‐N‐ethylcarbodiimide hydrochloride coupled with the N‐hydroxysuccinimide (EDC/NHS) to activate carboxyl groups on the membrane surface. The surface roughness (Ra) of this modified membrane decreased from value of 47.4 nm of the pristine membrane to 43 nm. The water contact angle of the modified membrane decreased from 48.4° to 15°, indicating the high hydrophilicity of the surface. Moreover, the EDC/NHS membrane showed good stability when it was exposed to the ruinous physical stress (2‐min sonication). The optimized grafting conditions, including the SiO2 concentration (0.5 wt%), the activation time of EDC/NHS (20 min), and the reaction time of NH2–SiO2 NPs with membrane surface (12 h), were obtained by a series of experiments. Under the antifouling test of 36 hours with bovine serum albumin (BSA) and hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as foulants, the EDC/NHS membrane lost 42.1% and 49.6% of its initial flux, respectively, which is lower than that of the pristine membrane (52.2% and 68%, respectively). After cleaning with deionized water for 2 hours, the EDC/NHS membrane also showed significant improvement of flux recovery ratio (92% and 87%, respectively) than did the pristine membrane (70.3% and 60%, respectively).
Long non‐coding RNA CCAT1/miR‐148a/PKCζ prevents cell migration of prostate cancer by altering macrophage polarization
Authors: Liu Jie , Ding Degang , Jiang Zhaoqiang , Du Tao , Liu Jianjun , Kong Zhaohui
Published: September 2018

Background

Macrophage polarization plays an important role in tumor microenvironment, which regulated the prognosis of prostate cancer. However, the potential role of it is still need further identification.

Methods

The M1 Macrophages were inducted using 100 ng/mL LPS and 100 ng/mL IFN‐γ, the M1 Macrophages were inducted using 20 ng/mL IL‐4. TAMs were obtained by culturing monocytes for 7 days in RPMI 1640 10% FBS with 50% of conditioned medium from PC‐3 cells real‐time PCR was performed to determine the expression of miR‐148a, CCAT1, and PKCζ. Western blot was used to measure the level of PKCζ. The cytokine IL‐10 was determined using ELISA. Transwell chamber was carried out to determine cell migration. Luciferase reporter assay was used to determine the relationship between miR‐148a and PKCζ.

Results

The expression of miR‐148a was highest in TAMs, while CCAT1 and PKCζ were highest in M1 Macrophages. Overexpressed miR‐148a promoted the level of IL‐10 and cell migration. Down‐regulated CCAT1 promoted the level of IL‐10 and cell migration, while this effects were abolished by co‐transfection of si‐CCAT1 and miR‐148a inhibitor. PKCζ is the target gene of miR‐148a. The effects of overexpressed miR‐148a on the level of IL‐10, genes expression, and cell migration were abolished by miR‐148a mimic and pcDNA‐PKCζ. In vivo experiments verified the effects of CCAT1 and miR‐148a on tumor growth.

Conclusion

CCAT1 knockdown promoted M2 macrophages polarization by up‐regulating miR‐148a, while miR‐148a up‐regulation promoted M2 macrophages polarization by down‐regulating the expression of PKCζ.
Perspective: regulation of pest and disease control strategies and why (many) economists are concerned
Authors: Wesseler Justus
Published: September 2018

Pests and diseases are a continuous challenge in agriculture production. A wide range of control strategies have been and will continue to be developed. New control strategies are in almost all countries around the world assessed prior to approval for use in farmers' fields. This is rightly so to avoid and even reduce negative effects for human health and the environment. Over the past decades the approval processes have become increasingly politicized resulting in an increase in the direct approval costs and the length in approval time without increasing the safety of the final product. This reduces the development of control strategies and often has negative human health and environmental effects. Possibilities exist for improvements. They include reducing approval costs and approval time by streamlining the approval process and substituting approval requirements by strengthening ex‐post liability. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry
Efficiency of natural substances to protect Beauveria bassiana conidia from UV radiation
Authors: Kaiser Deborah , Bacher Sven , Mène‐Saffrané Laurent , Grabenweger Giselher
Published: September 2018

BACKGROUND

Solar radiation is assumed to be a major factor limiting the efficacy of entomopathogenic fungi used as biocontrol agents in open field applications. We evaluated 12 natural UV‐protective co‐formulants for their effect on the survival of UV‐exposed Beauveria bassiana spores on agar plates, colza leaf discs and in the field.

RESULTS

Colony‐forming unit (CFU) counts of unformulated conidia on agar plates and leaf discs dropped to ≤ 50% after exposure to UV radiation. The highest UV protection was achieved with humic acid, which provided > 90% protection of UV‐B‐exposed conidia in laboratory experiments. In the field, 10% humic acid increased spore persistence up to 87% at 7 days after application. Sesame and colza oil also provided high UV protection in both assays (> 73% and > 70%, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS

This study shows that it is possible to increase the persistence of B. bassiana spores under exposure to UV radiation by formulation with natural UV‐protective additives. UV protectants might, therefore, increase the efficacy of entomopathogenic fungi as biocontrol agents in open field applications. © 2018 The Authors. Pest Management Science published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.
A case study of an adaptive design for a clinical trial with 2 doses and 2 endpoints in a rare disease area
Authors: Quan Hui , Xu Yi , Chen Yixin , Gao Lei , Chen Xun
Published: September 2018

Patient recruitment is challenging in rare disease clinical trials. To save time and resources, an inferential seamless phase II/III clinical trial design is considered for a clinical trial in a rare disease area. In particular, 2 doses compared to a placebo control are evaluated at phase II (ie, stage I). Based on the results of a phase II intermediate endpoint, additional patients may be enrolled into the 2 doses and control, 1 selected dose and control, or none of the 3 treatment arms at stage II. All patients including those of unselected dose (s) will be followed for the measurements of the phase III (ie, stage II) primary and secondary endpoints and incorporated in the final analysis. Under a reasonable condition, the type I error rate will be controlled at the nominal level if the same nominal level is applied for testing a dose effect based on either only the data of patients of stage I (in case the dose is not selected for stage II) or data of patients of stages I and II combined. A graphical testing procedure is also introduced for multiplicity adjustments to account for the 2 doses and 2 endpoints for the overall type I error rate control. Moreover, an imputation approach is proposed for conditional power calculation at stage I for a sample size adaptive design. Simulations are carried out under different parameter configurations to compare the performances of various approaches. The trial example is further used to illustrate the applications of the methods.
Transient elevation of squamous cell carcinoma antigen levels with influenza virus infection
Authors: Sano Atsushi
Published: September 2018

We report a case of squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCCA) elevation due to influenza B infection. A 78‐year‐old male had undergone right middle lobectomy and lymphadenectomy for lung squamous cell carcinoma two years and four months previously. His SCCA level ranged from 0.8 ng/mL to 1.9 ng/mL after the surgery. He underwent blood testing, including SCCA, as part of a regular check‐up three days after the diagnosis of the influenza B infection. His SCCA level was 17.1 ng/mL; no recurrences were found on computed tomography. One month later, his SCCA level had decreased to 1.6 ng/mL. We should keep in mind that influenza infection may cause transient elevations in SCCA levels.
Persistent air leak successfully treated with endobronchial valves and digital drainage system
Authors: Altree Thomas James , Jersmann Hubertus , Nguyen Phan
Published: September 2018

A 62‐year old man with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease developed a persistent air leak from an iatrogenic pneumothorax following Computed Tomography‐guided core biopsy of a pulmonary nodule. The pneumothorax was treated with an 8.5F intercostal catheter, which was then replaced by a 28F thoracostomy tube after development of significant subcutaneous emphysema and a tension pneumothorax. The air leak showed no improvement until endobronchial valve (EBV) insertion guided by objective flow data from a digital drainage system (DDS). The air leak subsequently reduced with −20 cmH2O suction from the DDS, and the thoracostomy tube was removed once the objective measured flow rate had sufficiently diminished. The combination of EBV insertion and suction from the DDS successfully treated the persistent air leak, with timing of thoracostomy tube removal guided by DDS flow data.
Multi‐drug‐resistant tuberculosis with galaxy and cluster signs on high‐resolution computed tomography
Authors: Nakamoto Keitaro , Sasaki Yuka , Kokuto Hiroyuki , Okumura Masao , Yoshiyama Takashi , Goto Hajime
Published: September 2018

The galaxy sign and cluster sign were first reported in pulmonary sarcoidosis. From those reports, these two signs became known as one of the characteristic computed tomography (CT) findings of sarcoidosis. We report a patient with pulmonary tuberculosis who had these two signs. A 44‐year‐old man was referred to our hospital for general fatigue, cough, and low‐grade fever lasting about two months. Thoracic CT showed a large parenchymal nodule arising from coalescent small nodules (galaxy sign) and clusters composed of numerous small nodules (cluster sign) in the bilateral lungs. Three specimens of sputum acid‐fast smear were negative. However, we performed a bronchoscopy, and Mycobacterium tuberculosis was proven to be positive by the acid‐fast culture test of the obtained bronchoalveolar lavage fluid. Moreover, drug sensitivity testing revealed this to be a case of multi‐drug‐resistant tuberculosis. Patients with these signs must be examined carefully to differentiate tuberculosis from pulmonary sarcoidosis.
Mapping nanometer and micrometer‐scale structures at graphite surface by photoelectron diffraction
Authors: Fujita Yoshiki , Ota Hiroshi , Matsushita Tomohiro , Muro Takayuki , Senba Yasunori , Matsui Fumihiko
Published: September 2018

A series of C 1s photoelectron intensity angular distribution (PIAD) patterns from a crystalline graphite surface were mapped in two dimensions at intervals of 20 μm. Two kinds of PIAD patterns rotated by 30° from each other, corresponding to the two domains from the twinned crystal, were found. The standard deviation of the diffraction contrast was evaluated for each PIAD pattern from its intensity histogram. Surprisingly, we found that odd‐number‐ (most probably single‐) atom‐height steps on the flat terrace region and their local atomic arrangement can be identified by two‐dimensionally mapping the standard deviation values. Furthermore, we analyzed the photoelectron diffraction patterns and noticed that the normal direction of the sample surface at each point was slightly inclined differently. By connecting all the inclination angle data, the micrometer‐scale corrugation of the sample surface was successfully visualized. Scanning photoelectron diffraction microscopy has been shown to be useful for the nanometer‐ and micrometer‐scale structural imaging.
Synthesis of Novel Derivatives of 1,2,4‐Triazoles
Authors: Galstyan Armen S. , Ghochikyan Tariel V. , Frangyan Vardges R. , Tamazyan Rafael A. , Ayvazyan Armen G.
Published: September 2018

A method for the preparation of methyl esters of β‐1,2,4‐triazole‐substituted alanines by condensation of methyl acrylate with 3,4‐disubstituted‐5‐mercapto‐1,2,4‐triazoles has been developed. The optimal conditions for the process of hydrazinolysis of N‐allyl derivatives of the obtained products were established. It is shown that to prevent the reduction of the allyl group, it is reasonable to carry out the process of hydrazinolysis in the presence of sodium sulfite. Based on hydrazides of β‐1,2,4‐triazole‐substituted alanines, biheterocyclic compounds of a new structure – 1,2,4‐triazole‐ and 1,3,4‐oxadiazole‐1,2,4‐triazoles were synthesized.
Studies of Graphdiyne‐ZnO Nanocomposite Material and Application in Polymer Solar Cells
Authors: Li Jiangsheng , Jian Hongmei , Chen Yanhuan , Liu Huibiao , Liu Le , Yao Quantong , Bi Fuzhen , Zhao Chengjie , Tan Xiaojian , Jiang Jun , Lu Fushen , Jiu Tonggang
Published: September 2018

Graphdiyne‐ZnO (GDZO) composite material is prepared via a simple method and studied in detail for the first time. The transmission electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analyses confirm the formation of an adduct between GD and ZnO. Then the interaction between ZnO and GD is further investigated by first‐principles calculations. It is found that the Zn and O atom can coordinate bonding with GD, thus forming the CZn bond and CO bond, respectively. Polymer solar cells are fabricated based on the nanocomposites for the first time and an enhanced power conversion efficiency of 11.2%, compared with the devices with ZnO‐only (10%), is obtained. Simultaneously, the resultant devices show better stability, whether in glove box or in atmosphere, with humidity of 90%. The investigation of exciton generation rate, ideal current‐voltage model, and impedance spectra verify that the introduction of GDZO not only accelerates electron transfer but also reduces charge recombination occurring at the interface. The results indicate that GDZO is a promising electron transport material to enhance solar cell performance and presents a large potential for optoelectronic applications as well.
Schools as Equitable Communities of Inquiry
Authors: Riordan Robert , Caillier Stacey
Published: September 2018

If education is to play a role in the transition to a sustainable well-being society, what issues of purpose and practice arise? How can schools achieve the agility, not only to adapt to a changing environment, but also to engage in transformative action? What roles must the teacher assume in such a setting, and what kinds of training and development will be necessary? In this reflective essay on practice, the authors maintain that the school of the future ignores the basic axioms of twentieth-century schooling, i.e., separate students into “tracks,” divide knowledge into “subjects,” and hold school apart from the world. Drawing from their experiences at High Tech High, a public charter school organization in California, the authors offer concrete examples from across the K-12 years, describing efforts at High Tech High and its embedded graduate school of education to create an equitable community of inquiry in which all students and staff engage in action research, improvement science, and other forms of inquiry focused on key questions of sustainability: who are we, what kind of community do we envision, and how do we move forward together?
Unraveling conformal gravity amplitudes
Authors: Johansson Henrik , Mogull Gustav , Teng Fei
Published: September 2018

Abstract

Conformal supergravity amplitudes are obtained from the double-copy construction using gauge-theory amplitudes, and compared to direct calculations starting from conformal supergravity Lagrangians. We consider several different theories: minimal$$ \mathcal{N}=4 $$N=4conformal supergravity, non-minimal$$ \mathcal{N}=4 $$N=4Berkovits-Witten conformal supergravity, mass-deformed versions of these theories, as well as supersymmetry truncations thereof. Coupling the theories to a Yang-Mills sector is also considered. For all cases we give the gravity Lagrangians that the double copy implicitly generates. The two main results are: we determine a Lagrangian for the non-minimal Berkovits-Witten theory, and we uncover the double-copy prescription for the minimal$$ \mathcal{N}=4 $$N=4conformal supergravity.
Intersectional Trauma-Informed Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) Services: Narrowing the Gap between IPV Service Delivery and Survivor Needs
Authors: Kulkarni Shanti
Published: September 2018

Over the past 50 years, programs serving intimate partner violence (IPV) survivors have expanded nationally. However, despite IPV program growth service gaps remain, particularly for the most marginalized and vulnerable survivor populations. Emerging practice models call for reimagining current IPV service delivery within an intersectional feminist, trauma-informed framework. An overview of intersectional (e.g. survivor-centered, full-frame, culturally specific) and trauma-informed IPV service approaches will be presented highlighting their shared emphasis on power sharing, authentic survivor-advocate relationships, individualized services, and robust systems advocacy. These approaches have the potential to transform IPV services and narrow service gaps if organizations can embed key elements into program design, implementation and evaluation processes. Recommendations for moving the IPV field forward include: 1) expanding survivors’ roles/input; 2) strengthening funding streams and organizational commitment to anti-oppressive, survivor-defined, trauma-informed services; 3) forging cross-sector advocacy relationships; and 4) building knowledge through research and evaluation.
Search for Symbol Sense Behavior: Students in Upper Secondary Education Solving Algebraic Physics Problems
Authors: Turşucu Süleyman , Spandaw Jeroen , de Vries Marc J.
Published: September 2018

Students in upper secondary education encounter difficulties in applying mathematics in physics. To improve our understanding of these difficulties, we examined symbol sense behavior of six grade 10 physics students solving algebraic physic problems. Our data confirmed that students did indeed struggle to apply algebra to physics, mainly because they lacked both sufficient symbol sense behavior and basic algebraic skills. They used ad hoc strategies instead of correct, systematic rule-based procedures involving insight. These ad hoc strategies included the cross-multiplication, the numbering, and the permutation strategy. They worked only for basic formulas containing few variables. In problems with more variables, students got stuck. The latter two strategies substitute numbers for variables. The permutation strategy randomly checks several permutations to guess which one is correct. The numbering strategy substitutes numbers to check algebraic manipulations. Our results indicate insufficient focus on conceptual understanding of algebra in some mathematics textbooks, leading to reliance on poorly understood ad hoc strategies. Effective teaching of algebraic skills should not focus on either basic algebraic skills or on symbol sense behavior. Instead, both aspects should be taught in an integrated manner. Our operationalization of symbol sense behavior turned out to be very useful for analysis. In contrast to earlier qualitative studies, it provided us the opportunity to measure symbol sense behavior quantitatively. This operationalization should also be applicable to other science subjects. Furthermore, we discussed some implications of our results for curricula, teachers, science teacher educators, and textbook publishers aiming at successful application of mathematics in physics.
Perception is not all-purpose
Authors: Nanay Bence
Published: September 2018

I aim to show that perception depends counterfactually on the action we want to perform. Perception is not all-purpose: what we want to do does influence what we see. After clarifying how this claim is different from the one at stake in the cognitive penetrability debate and what counterfactual dependence means in my claim, I will give a two-step argument: (a) one’s perceptual attention depends counterfactually on one’s intention to perform an action (everything else being equal) and (b) one’s perceptual processing depends counterfactually on one’s perceptual attention (everything else being equal). If we put these claims together, what we get is that one’s perceptual processing depends counterfactually on one’s intention to perform an action (everything else being equal).
Destroyed by Slavery? Slavery and African American Family Formation Following Emancipation
Authors: Miller Melinda C.
Published: September 2018

This study introduces a new sample that links people and families across 1860, 1880, and 1900 census data to explore the intergenerational impact of slavery on black families in the United States. Slaveholding—the number of slaves owned by a single farmer or planter—is used as a proxy for experiences during slavery. Slave family structures varied systematically with slaveholding sizes. Enslaved children on smaller holdings were more likely to be members of single-parent or divided families. On larger holdings, however, children tended to reside in nuclear families. In 1880, a child whose mother had been on a farm with five slaves was 49 % more likely to live in a single-parent household than a child whose mother had been on a farm with 15 slaves. By 1900, slaveholding no longer had an impact. However, children whose parents lived in single-parent households were themselves more likely to live in single-parent households and to have been born outside marriage.
Hijacking the rule of law in postconflict environments
Authors: Sesay Mohamed
Published: September 2018

The positive effects of rule of law norms and institutions are often assumed in the peacebuilding literature, with empirical work focusing more on processes of compliance with international standards in war-torn countries. Yet, this article contends that purportedly ‘good’ rule of law norms do not always deliver benign benefits but rather often have negative consequences that harm the very local constituents that peacebuilders promise to help. Specifically, the article argues that rule of law promotion in war-torn countries disproportionately favours actors who have been historically privileged by unequal socio-legal and economic structures at the expense of those whom peacebuilders claim to emancipate. By entrenching an inequitable state system which benefits those with wealth, education, and influence, rule of law institutions have reinforced structural, social, and cost-related barriers to justice. These negative effects explain why war-torn societies avoid the formal courts and law enforcement agencies despite substantial international efforts to professionalise and strengthen these institutions to meet global rule of law standards. The argument is drawn from an historical, comparative, and empirical analysis of the UK-funded justice sector development programme in Sierra Leone and US-supported rule of law reforms in Liberia – two postwar countries often cited as prototypes of successful peacebuilding.
Racialized Preferences in Context: The Geography of White Opposition to Welfare
Authors: Yancy Nina M.
Published: September 2018

Research has shown that white Americans oppose welfare spending in part due to their racial prejudices. Yet, this conventional wisdom ignores the importance of local geography in determining whether whites are likely to view welfare in racialized terms. This article demonstrates that the effect of prejudice on whites’ welfare preferences depends on the salience of welfare's racialized image in a given geographic context. I present a novel application of the racial threat hypothesis—conceptualizing both prejudice and place as multidimensional—to argue that the racial geography of an area amplifies the effect of traditional racial stereotypes on welfare preferences, whereas economic geography amplifies the effect of symbolically racist attitudes. I test these propositions using geocoded data from the years following the 1996 U.S. welfare policy reforms. My analysis reveals that racial attitudes are more predictive of welfare preferences not simply where the stigmas of welfare are salient due to a large black population or high poverty rate, but more specifically where residential segregation makes black or poor households more visible from the viewpoint of whites. These findings highlight the subjectivity of the white perspective, and call for more scholarship theorizing whites’ agency in seeing racialized issues as threatening to white interests.
Who Polices the Administrative State?
Authors: LOWANDE KENNETH
Published: September 2018

Scholarship on oversight of the bureaucracy typically conceives of legislatures as unitary actors. But most oversight is conducted by individual legislators who contact agencies directly. I acquire the correspondence logs of 16 bureaucratic agencies and re-evaluate the conventional proposition that ideological disagreement drives oversight. I identify the effect of this disagreement by exploiting the transition from George Bush to Barack Obama, which shifted the ideological orientation of agencies through turnover in agency personnel. Contrary to existing research, I find ideological conflict has a negligible effect on oversight, whereas committee roles and narrow district interests are primary drivers. The findings may indicate that absent incentives induced by public auditing, legislator behavior is driven by policy valence concerns rather than ideology. The results further suggest collective action in Congress may pose greater obstacles to bureaucratic oversight than previously thought.
An efficient classification algorithm for NGS data based on text similarity
Authors: Liao Xiangyu , Liao Xingyu , Zhu Wufei , Fang Lu , Chen Xing
Published: September 2018

With the advancement of high-throughput sequencing technologies, the amount of available sequencing data is growing at a pace that has now begun to greatly challenge the data processing and storage capacities of modern computer systems. Removing redundancy from such data by clustering could be crucial for reducing memory, disk space and running time consumption. In addition, it also has good performance on reducing dataset noise in some analysis applications. In this study, we propose a high-performance short sequence classification algorithm (HSC) for next generation sequencing (NGS) data based on efficient hash function and text similarity. First, HSC converts all reads intok-mers, then it forms a uniquek-merset by merging the duplicated and reverse complementary elements. Second, all uniquek-mersare stored in a hash table, where thek-merstring is stored in the key field, and the ID of the reads containing thek-merare stored in the value field. Third, each hash unit is transformed into a short text consisting of reads. Fourth, texts that satisfy the similarity threshold are combined into a long text, the merge operation is executed iteratively until there is no text that satisfies the merge condition. Finally, the long text is transformed into a cluster consisting of reads. We tested HSC using five real datasets. The experimental results showed that HSC cluster 100 million short reads within 2 hours, and it has excellent performance in reducing memory consumption. Compared to existing methods, HSC is much faster than other tools, it can easily handle tens of millions of sequences. In addition, when HSC is used as a preprocessing tool to produce assembly data, the memory and time consumption of the assembler is greatly reduced. It can help the assembler to achieve better assemblies in terms of N50, NA50 and genome fraction.
EARLY RESPONSES TO VIRGIL'S FOURTHECLOGUE
Authors: Houghton L. B. T.
Published: September 2018

The fourthEcloguepresents itself explicitly as a political poem, a loftier intervention in the humble world of pastoral poetry (4.1–3). This grander type of pastoral, moreover, is singled out as possessing a specifically Roman political significance: these ‘woods’ are to be ‘worthy of a consul’ (silvae sint consule dignae, 3), and the coming Golden Age is set within a precisely identifiable political context, the consulship of C. Asinius Pollio in 40bc(te consule, 4.11). Beyond that, however, the details of the relationship between the miraculous child, whose growth to maturity will be accompanied by the fabulous portents of the new era, and the contemporary political setting at Rome are left tantalizingly, perhaps prudently, vague. It was no doubt with a view to promoting his own political interests that Pollio's son, ‘the rash and ambitious Asinius Gallus’, claimed to have been the originalpuerof Virgil's poem. If so, he was very far from being the last public figure to appropriate the resounding cadences of the fourthEclogueto endorse his own position: it was not long before (in Harry Levin's words) ‘The Pollio eclogue had virtually created a minor genre, a means for the court poet to flatter his sovereign, as well as a device for balancing the moderns against the ancients.’ But even before the opportunistic assertions of Pollio's son, the poem's prophecies of a new age had already been re-appropriated to tie down the oracular generalities of the eclogue to a particular individual and a definite set of political circumstances, in a move that was to have significant repercussions for the later fortunes of Virgil's essay in pastoral panegyric.
La Visita: Prisons and Survival in Guatemala
Authors: Fontes Anthony W. , O'Neill Kevin L.
Published: September 2018

Based largely on research completed in the North American context, scholars of prisons detail the multiple ways in which carceral practices extend beyond prison walls to transform a wide variety of spaces, ultimately assessing how carceral imaginaries inhabit the most intimate aspects of everyday life. In Latin America, this division between the inside and the outside of prison breaks down even further when read from the perspective of survival. Drawing on ethnographic research across Guatemala's penitentiary system, this article explores how the deep interdependencies that develop between male prisoners and female visitors sustain not just these prisoners and their visitors but also the prison system itself.
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and clinically diagnosed obesity in adolescence and young adulthood: a register-based study in Sweden
Authors: Chen Qi , Hartman Catharina A. , Kuja-Halkola Ralf , Faraone Stephen V. , Almqvist Catarina , Larsson Henrik
Published: September 2018

Background

A recent family study of young adult males suggests a shared familial liability between attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and high body mass index (BMI), and a genome-wide meta-analysis reported a genetic correlation of 0.26 between ADHD and BMI. To date, it is unclear whether these findings generalize to the relationship between ADHD and clinically diagnosed obesity.

Method

By linking the Swedish national registers, we identified 25 38 127 individuals born between 1973 and 2000, together with their siblings and cousins. The risk of clinical obesity in individuals with ADHD was compared with the risk in those without ADHD. The relative contributions of genetic and environmental factors to the association between ADHD and clinical obesity were examined via assessment of the familial co-aggregation of the two conditions and quantitative genetic analysis.

Results

Individuals with ADHD were at an increased risk of clinical obesity compared with those without (risk difference 3.73%, 95% confidence interval (CI) 3.55–3.90%; risk ratio 3.05, 95% CI 2.95–3.15). Familial co-aggregation of ADHD and clinical obesity was detected and the strength of the co-aggregation decreased by decreasing genetic relatedness. The correlation between the liabilities to ADHD and clinical obesity can be entirely attributed to their genetic correlation (rg 0.30, 95% CI 0.17–0.44).

Conclusion

The association between ADHD and clinical obesity in adolescence and young adulthood can be entirely attributed to genetic underpinnings shared by the two conditions. Children with ADHD should be monitored for weight gain so that preventive measures can be taken for those on a suboptimal trajectory.
After a Revolution
Authors: Molnar Thomas
Published: September 2018

In Paris today almost everybody is discovering his attachment to de Gaulle. Some say they have never ceased to trust the General, others claim to have predicted.long ago his return to power. Many have told me—among them Jean-Marie Domenach, editor of the leftist Catholic Esprit— that there still exists a kind of “network of the Resistance” inherited from wartime, now consisting of sentimental attachment of the earlier members to each other and of loyalty to de Gaulle. It was also Domenach who told me of a conversation he had had with the General two years ago. On that occasion de Gaulle expressed his lack of respect for those who paraded, for years, in the'name of his Movement, and called himself the “only true revolutionist” in France, a man deserted and misunderstood by the pseudo-revolutionists who claimed to be bis followers.
Misplaced Morality
Authors: Miller William Lee
Published: September 2018

At a recent conference on "ethics and nuclear weapons" a moral theologian established succinctly and precisely, on the basis of Catholic teachings, that nuclear weapons are immoral. Though he granted that it is often necessary to do evil in order to do good, and though he alluded to the historic teaching. that, in the course of a just- war, it may be necessary incidentally to cause the death of innocent persons, he did not find in these rules sufficient justification for the use of major nuclear weapons;
Europe Between Two Giants
Authors: Farrell James T.
Published: September 2018

In the 1930s, it was predicted that in modern warfare there -would be no victor. The prediction was not really vindicated by the second World War. There were two major victors in that war, the United States and the Soviet Union. They won, not only at the expense of their enemies, but also of their allies and of neutrals. Alexis de Tocqueville's great prophecy, that Russia and America seem "marked out by the will of Heaven to sway the destinies of half the globe," was over-fulfilled. The world, for most practical purposes, is divided into two opposed systems.
American Approaches to Moral Choice
Authors: Thompson Kenneth W.
Published: September 2018

Americans, for a substantial part of their history, have tried to come to terms with the moral problem by espousing one of two approaches. The first approach seeks to deal with the realities of world affairs with steady realism and tough-mindedness. It has its roots in historical experiences still fresh in the minds of many who were caught unprepared by the events of the period between World War I and II and who carry a sense of guilt for this failure. They alone for this guilt with strident affirmations about the facts of power. For the most part, power is seen as a comparatively simple phenomenon of which the military is overwhelmingly the most important part. Both of the recent American Secretaries of State have viewed power, not as the endlessly complicated relationship of two living organisms with goals and objectives both comparable and fundamentally unique, but as men might approach a problem in physics to be weighed on the simple scales of relative military preparedness and forces potentially in being.
Religion and International Responsibility
Authors: Gordis Robert
Published: September 2018

It is of the essence of Biblical religion that no aspect of life, including the areas of national and international affairs, is isolated from the governance of God or exempt from the judgment of moral conscience. To relate international responsibilities to religious concerns means, therefore, to walk in the authentic Biblical tradition, and what is at least equally important, to utilize its insights for meeting the crisis of our times: such an approach would prove more successful than the immoral or amoral procedures which govern international affairs today.

Historical analogies are notoriously misleading, but the Biblical experience affords a striking instance of die relevance of ethical standards for a practical national policy. The Hebrew prophets, who were uncompromising in demanding adherence to the ethical principle everywhere in human life, were far more realistic in their understanding of the international scene in their day than all the practical leaders of their time, the kings, the nobility, the military leaders, the international merchants and the statesmen, let alone the common people.
Politics and Utopia
Authors: Molnar Thomas
Published: September 2018

The question of the Chinese off-shore islands is not, for the time being, a central issue. But this situation is not likely to last; the theatre of operations is quickly shifting from the Mediterranean to the Pacific and back, from Formosa to North Africa. Is this still the Cold War, is it the Third World War asjkmes Burnham calls it, or a new era of permanent conflicts, taking place in One World where three billion people are just too jnany to coexist?

Whichever it is, die West must fight it on two fronts: on the wide world scene and, simultaneously, against those whose Utopian frame of mind, and consequent blindness to the realities of power, block the way of elementary realism.
The Tools of Diplomacy : The Relation between Ends and Means is the Central Problem in Foreign Policy
Authors: Bloomfield Lincoln P.
Published: September 2018

In the field of foreign policy, one of the most intriguing differences between the practitioner and the theoretician lies in the realm of doctrinal controversy. The prime controversy that has agitated academicians in recent years is one that is now very familiar. It is the alleged conflict between Realism and Idealism.

At its heart this argument has to do with the connection between personal ethics and international politics. In its most explicit form this argument involves appraisals of the institutions of collective intergovernmental action our age has erected in profusion, particularly the global variety of political international organization that has taken shape in the League and the UN. It is here above all that our intellectuals have sometimes tended to become a trifle unscholarly as they hurled at each other the epithets of “Cynic” or “Utopian Dreamer”. Our diplomatic tools in the form of inter-governmental institutions have in this sense been made to carry a heavy supercargo of freight bearing on ends and means, the nature of man, and the general residuum of the eighteenth and nineteenth century debates about the perfectibility of man and the inevitability of social progress.
Some Strategies of Non–Violence
Authors: Karol Gottwald Norman
Published: September 2018

In the present heated debate over the justice and sanity of thermonuclear defense—a debate already well advanced in Great Britain and gaining headway in the United States—it often appears that nuclear realists and nuclear pacifists deliberately misunderstand one another. There is a disturbing tendency to bypass concrete discussion and to scatter energy in personal acrimony and repetition of cliches.

Apparently the problem is simply that each position sees its opposite as an absolute antithesis. The nuclear pacifist tends to regard nuclear realism as a reckless and wanton invitation to the total destruction of civilization. The nuclear realist tends to look upon nuclear pacifism as a sentimental and foolhardy summons to total capitulation to Communism. As a matter of fact, search as we will, there do not seem to be any serious advocates of either extreme. The opponents so conceived are caricatures. No one aspires to total destruction or to total surrender. Each side believes precisely in the feasibility of its strategy for avoiding both catastrophes. There are, of course, important differences in the weight given to the two extreme possibilities and the question as to which is the worse fate, total destruction or total surrender, is an urgent subject for debate.
War and the Absolutists
Authors: Thompson Kenneth W.
Published: September 2018

No problem facing contemporary world leaders tests political intelligence and moral imagination more severely than the issue of nuclear weapons. The awesome question of what is a viable armaments policy perplexes men no less in 1960 than it did in 1945. What are responsible governments to do with instruments of lethal destruction? What programs can international institutions devise that will broaden the narrow spectrum of security that nations have enjoyed since World War II? Who is prepared to gamble on another's restraint with the growing stockpiles of ever more deadly weapons that nations possess?

If there is no security in national weakness can states find safety in national strength? If so, what has happened to criteria of national power when thermonuclear devices can in fatal strikes wipe out whole populations, armies and industrial potentials?
The Recovery of Ethics
Authors: Nitze Paul H.
Published: September 2018

There are a host of issues facing us today which pose an ethical problem in the field of foreign policy. What kind of international order will prevail in the future? Will it be one compatible with ideas, principles, and political structures such as those we enjoy in the United States while offering a place within that structure to Communist states? Or will it be an international structure designed by and compatible with the objectives of the Communist states while offering a possibility of coexistence to us and to other states similarly organized?

Under what types of circumstances, if any, should we continue nuclear tests? Under what circumstances, if any, should we actually use nuclear weapons? Under what circumstances, if any, should we use nuclear weapons to enforce our views of what is just and equitable in the relations between nations? Under what circumstances, if any, should we use firm measures to keep our allies from engaging“ in unjust or imprudent actions?
Guardini's View of Power
Authors: Geyer Alan
Published: September 2018

The highest task given to political ethics is the interpretation of the meaning of power. But to acknowledge that power is the fundamental category of political understanding is only to utter what has been the platitude of “realists” since Machiavelli. To define power is simple enough: it is the capacity to realize goals. But to grasp the configuration of components in any person's or organization's or nation's capacity to realize goals is a task of transcendent difficulty: it is to approach something like theological understanding itself. Moreover, to prescribe norms for the management of power is not simply a “political” assignment: it is ethics.
Christian Ethics and Political Decision
Authors: Bennett John C.
Published: September 2018

One of the most debated issues among students of Christian ethics today concerns the relation of the universal or at least broadly based criteria in an ethical judgment to the unique elements in the concrete situation. It is far from being simply an academic debate, for it has immediate relevance to our most pressing contemporary problems. It impinges directly upon any serious discussion concerning issues such as, e.g., desegregation, the morality of modern warfare, the cost of maintaining a free society or preventing the extension of Communism.