cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
SAVING TROPICAL FORESTS AS A GLOBAL WARMING COUNTERMEASURE: AN ISSUE THAT DIVIDES THE ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT

Abstract Saving tropical forests as a global warming countermeasure has become one of the environmental movement's most divisive issues. Divisions are just as sharp as the better-known ones between government positions. While the debate is often couched in scientific terms and with appeals to high universal principles, the positions of the different partisans to the debate are better understood in terms of hidden agendas, conscious or not. In the case of European governments, which oppose inclusion of forests in the Kyoto Protocol's clean development mechanism, the exclusion of forests would lead to improvement of industrial competitiveness as compared to the US. In the case of Brazil, opposition to including avoided deforestation fits with conspiracy theories regarding internationalization of the Amazon. For European and European-dominated non-governmental organizations (NGOs), opposition to forests is best explained as an opportunistic blow at US consumption culture, which is reviled for reasons largely unrelated to climate change. From the point of view of Brazilian NGOs concerned with maintaining Amazonian forest, these alternative agendas are side issues that, attractive as they might be, do not merit throwing away a major opportunity for obtaining monetary flows for forest maintenance. More carbon can be maintained in the forests than the amount of carbon credit granted. In this way, even if the carbon in the forests is temporary, at some point a net benefit exists for the climate from having the forest project instead of a smaller reduction in fossil-fuel emissions. Proposals for ton–year accounting and for temporary credits effectively deal with issues, such as carbon permanence to make the climatic benefits of avoided deforestation real, allowing both a gain for climate and the maintenance of biodiversity and other values through carbon mitigation activities. The importance of tropical deforestation in global greenhouse gas emissions means that agreement will eventually have to be reached on how to account for the benefits of avoided deforestation and incorporate them into mitigation activities. This will continue to be the case regardless of the course of negotiations in the coming months in the wake of the March 2001 announcement by US president George W. Bush of his desire to renege on US commitments under the Protocol.
Further transition states of the Baja California upwelling ecosystem1,2

Measurements were made of wind, surface circulation, hydrography, nutrients, and phytoplankton and zooplankton rate processes in a time series at 27/sup 0/N during April 1973. A string of current meters and a towed acoustic body were also used to assess the distribution of subsurface currents and red crabs. The seasonal onset of upwelling had already occurred. Diatoms were initially the dominant primary producers. Two perturbations of the upwelling state were observed in response to relaxation of the winds. A comparison of this study with a preceding one in March 1972 indicates that the rate of upwelling, the nutrient content, and the phytoplankton specific growth rate were about the same in both years. The total productivity and biomass of the phytoplankton were less in 1973, implying that greater grazing stress was associated with a switch from smaller dinoflagellates to larger diatoms. Local temporal variability of upwelling off Baja California is postulated to have led to the replacement of clupeids by the red crab, Pleuroncodes planipes, as a facultative herbivore.
Rate-dependent Ca2+ signalling underlying the force-frequency response in rat ventricular myocytes: a coupled electromechanical modeling study.

Background Rate-dependent effects on the Ca2+ sub-system in a rat ventricular myocyte are investigated. Here, we employ a deterministic mathematical model describing various Ca2+ signalling pathways under voltage clamp (VC) conditions, to better understand the important role of calmodulin (CaM) in modulating the key control variables Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase-II (CaMKII), calcineurin (CaN), and cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) as they affect various intracellular targets. In particular, we study the frequency dependence of the peak force generated by the myofilaments, the force-frequency response (FFR).
Chemoradiotherapy in Gastrointestinal Malignancies

Over the past 30 years, significant advances have been made in the integration of radiation therapy and chemotherapy in the treatment of patients with localised gastrointestinal malignancies. The therapeutic goal of chemoradiotherapy is to enhance local control resulting in improved survival and outcome of these patients. To define the optimal sequence, agents and efficacy of these modalities, an array of randomised studies have been conducted in malignancies of the oesophagus, stomach, pancreas, colon, rectum and anus. In oesophageal cancer, recent studies from Germany and France indicate that patients treated with ‘definitive’ chemoradiotherapy have similar survival to patients undergoing neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy followed by surgery. For patients with locally advanced rectal cancer undergoing surgery, a phase III trial from Germany showed higher rates of local control with less acute and late morbidity for patients receiving neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy vs adjuvant chemoradiotherapy. In contrast, the role of chemoradiotherapy in pancreatic cancer patients remains unclear and contentious. This overview highlights current results, controversies and potential future directions in the chemoradiotherapeutic treatment of selected gastrointestinal malignancies.
Bypass trading and market quality in electronic securities exchanges

Electronic financial markets use information technology to disseminate prices, quantities, and buyer and supplier identities. Increased visibility and market transparency have recognized benefits, but may introduce imperfections, and create profitable opportunities to “bypass”; established exchanges. In the U.S., dissemination of real‐time securities market information has equipped several firms to develop competing, off‐exchange trading mechanisms that rely on central market price data, but whose transactions bypass the established market. Significant trading away from the principal market may reduce market quality and increase transactions costs. A simulation model of trading in a continuous auction market (similar to the market structure of the New York Stock Exchange) is used to examine the effects of increasing levels of trading activity through an off‐exchange dealer. The results indicate competition from an alternative trading venue has mixed effects on the trading costs borne by investors—raising ...
Surface markers on bovine fetal lymphocytes and immunoglobulin synthesis in a congenital infection related to epizootic bovine abortion

Abstract Immunological parameters were studied among 23 late-term bovine fetuses. Epizootic bovine abortion ( EBA ) disease was induced in fetuses by feeding Ornithodoros coriaceus ticks on pregnant heifers. A spirochaete-like microorganism was detected in the blood of diseased fetuses and in inapparent natural infections in some abattoir-collected fetuses. Fetuses were classified according to stages of disease: EBA diseased (n =10), EBA infected (n = 7) and normal (n = 6). Using flow cytometry, the presence of surface immunoglobulins (sIg) and peanut agglutinin ( PNA ) receptors were used to detect B and T lymphocytes, respectively. In peripheral blood of normal fetuses, most lymphocytes were identified as T or B cells, whereas about 20 per cent of lymphocytes in EBA diseased fetuses did not reveal the sIg or PNA receptor markers (null cells). Size and shape analyses by flow cytometry detected a population of enlarged lymphocytes in the EBA diseased fetuses. The numbers of cells bearing determinants reactive with monoclonal antibodies specific for bovine T cells (B26A and B29A) and B cells (TH21A) were considerably less than those expressing the PNA receptor and sIg. These results suggested that the monoclonal antibodies were binding to differentiation antigens which were not consistently expressed on the fetal cells. Radioimmunodiffusion was used to measure bovine IgM, IgG 1 and IgG 2 in fetal serum. The quantities of immunoglobulins were markedly increased in animals infected with the spirochaete-like organism (groups 1 and 2) and were assumed to result from fetal antibody synthesis.
Translational control of puf operon expression in Rhodobacter sphaeroides 2.4.1.

The puf operon of Rhodobacter sphaeroides 2.4.1 encodes the s-and α-polypeptides of the B875 complex, the L and M polypeptides of the reaction centre and the pufX gene product. A previous report from the authors’ laboratory indicated the potential existence of a 20-codon open reading frame (orfK, now designated pufK) located immediately upstream of the pufB structural gene. It is now demonstrated that pufK is translated in vivo and that the specific levels or nature of the rare codons within pufK affect the expression of pufK. Using a series of pufK-specific mutations, both in trans as IacZ translational fusions and incorporated into the genome in single copy, evidence has been obtained that translation initiation through pufK may be essential to translation of pufB. Further, the abundance, quality and distribution of rare codons within pufK may serve to ‘gate’ the entry of ribosomes at pufB. The data also suggest that translation of pufB is uncoupled from that of pufA, with the latter capable of being produced in excess of the former. It is also revealed that the secondary structure at the 5′ end of the large and small puf transcripts may play a role in mRNA stability and that stability of the small puf transcript is independent of translation.
Using spoken text to aid debugging: An empirical study

Comprehending and debugging computer programs are inherently difficult tasks. The current approach to building program execution and debugging environments is to use exclusively visual stimuli. We present an alternative: the Sonified Omniscient Debugger (SOD), a program execution and debugging environment designed to output carefully chosen spoken auditory cues to supplement visual stimuli. Originally designed for the blind, earlier work suggested that SOD may benefit sighted programmers as well. We evaluate the SOD environment in a formal debugging experiment comparing 1) a visual debugger, 2) an auditory debugger, and 3) a multimedia debugger, which includes both the visual and auditory stimuli. Our results indicate that while auditory debuggers on their own are significantly less effective for sighted users when compared with visual and multimedia debuggers, multimedia debuggers might benefit sighted programmers under certain circumstances. Specifically, we found that while multimedia debuggers do not provide instant usability, once programmers have some practice, their performance improves under certain metrics.
Environmental and Genotypic Effects on Russian-Hybrid and Italian Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) (Hymenoptera: Apidae) Foraging Behavior

Both environment and genotype have a signiÞcant insuence on the foraging behavior of honey bees (Apis mellifera). We compared the colony-level foraging behaviors of two honey bee stocks at three different sites by sampling 50 foragers each from 16 Russian-hybrid and 16 Italian colonies distributed among the Coastal Plain, Piedmont, and Mountain regions of North Carolina. We detected highly signiÞcant differences in foraging behavior among the different sites, but we found very few differences between the stocks. Moreover, there were very few environmentÐ genotype interactions on foraging behavior, suggesting that the effect of genotype does not vary signiÞcantly depending on the environment in which it is located. These Þndings suggest that, while there are some notable differences between Russian-hybrid and Italian honey bees, the environment has a relatively larger impact on honey bee foraging behavior for these two stocks.
Shape memory alloys in seismic resistant design and retrofit: A critical review of their potential and limitations

Shape memory alloys (SMAs) are a class of materials that have unique properties, including Young's modulus-temperature relations, shape memory effects, superelastic effects, and high damping characteristics. These unique properties, which have led to numerous applications in the biomedical and aerospace industries, are currently being evaluated for applications in the area of seismic resistant design and retrofit. This paper provides a critical review of the state-of-the-art in the use of shape memory alloys for applications in seismic resistant design. The paper reviews the general characteristics of shape memory alloys and highlights the factors affecting their properties. A review of current studies show that the superelastic and high-damping characteristics of SMAs result in applications in bridges and buildings that show significant promise. The barriers to the expanded use of SMAs include the high cost, lack of clear understanding of thermo-mechanical processing, dependency of properties on temperat...
Thermodynamics of the glass transition

A thermodynamic analysis of the glass transition in polymers is presented, which predicts, with a minimum of assumptions, three of the four inequalities which have consistently been observed experimentally: i.e., that specific heat and isothermal compressibility of the glass are lower than those of the rubber, and that the Prigogine-Defay ratio is larger than unity. The analysis cannot predict the fact that the thermal expansion coefficient of the glass is also lower than that of the rubber, and indeed the converse situation is not a thermodynamic impossibility.
Polytene chromosomes of Drosophila

In this review we discuss several aspects of the structure and ontogeny of Drosophila polytene chromosomes. Although most DNA sequences in euchromatic arms are uniformly replicated, there are exceptions that provide insights into chromosome structure. We discuss three exceptional sequences that are under-replicated and whose cytogenetic locations correspond to constrictions and ectopic fibers at their respective sites, which have been described previously as sites of “intercalary heterochromatin.” These observations support the suggestion that “intercalary heterochromatin” is DNA with altered replication patterns rather than with the properties of sequence repetition or transcriptional inactivity that usually characterize centromeric heterochromatin.
Analogs of natural lipids. IV. Synthesis and properties of cyclopentanoid analogs of phosphatidic acid

A new series of phosphatidic acid analogs has been synthesized in which the glycerol moiety of diacylglycerophosphoric acid is replaced by each of the three isomeric cyclopentane-1,2,3-triols (1,3/2, DL-1,2/3, and 1,2,3/0). Of the seven possible configurational and positional phosphatidic acid analogs of this series, five isomers have been obtained and characterized by spectroscopic methods and microanalysis. Four of the five isomers are 1-(or 3-)phosphoryl derivatives, while the fifth is a 2-phosphate. The analogs were prepared in configurationally pure form by unequivocal synthetic procedures involving selectively blocked intermediates: acyl migration was avoided by the use of mild deblocking procedures. The anhydrous lipid products, all of which are dipalmitoyl esters, are solids indefinitely stable at room temperature in the free acid or potassium salt form; they have chromographic mobility and melting points similar to dipalmitoyl glycerophosphoric acid the dipotassium salts bind water of hydration tenaciously, remaining hydrated after drying in vacuo at 100 degrees C. NMR spectra of dimethyl esters of some of the analogs show nonequivalence of the two methyl groups, consistent with the diastereotopic nature of those groups. In addition to their intrinsic interest as conformationally restricted acidic lipids, the analogs are now available as starting materials for the synthesis of the more complex acidic and amphoteric lipids required for our exploitation of these cyclopentanoid analogs as unique probes for the study of lipid-lipid and protein-lipid interactions.
Tailoring the emissive properties of photocathodes through materials engineering: Ultra-thin multilayers

Abstract We report on an experimental verification that emission properties of photocathodes can be manipulated through the engineering of the surface electronic structure. Ultrathin multilayered MgO/Ag(0 0 1)/MgO films were grown by pulsed laser deposition, tuning the thickness n of the flanking MgO layers to 0, 2, 3, and 4 monolayers. We observed an increase in quantum efficiency and simultaneous decrease in work function with layer thickness. The scale and trend direction of measurements are in good but not excellent agreement with theory. Angle resolved photoemission data for the multilayered sample n = 3 showed that the emission profile has a metallic-like momentum dispersion. Deviations from theoretical predictions [K. Nemeth et al., PRL 104, 046801 (2010)] are attributed to imperfections of real surfaces in contrast with the ideal surfaces of the calculation. Photoemissive properties of cathodes are critical for electron beam applications such as photoinjectors for Free Electron Lasers (FEL) and Energy Recovery Linacs (ERL). An ideal photoemitter has a high quantum efficiency, low work function, low intrinsic emittance and long lifetime. It has been demonstrated here that emission properties may be systematically tailored by control of layer thickness in ultrathin multilayered structures. The reproducibility of the emission parameters under specific growth conditions is excellent, even though the interfaces themselves have varying degrees of roughness.
Reply: BAG3 protein in advanced-stage heart failure.

We appreciate the interest of Dr. De Marco and colleagues in our report [(1)][1] and their interesting observations on the potential use of serum BAG3, possibly in combination with other tests, in monitoring progression of heart failure. We agree that a multiple biomarker approach may add unique
Post-Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting Stroke: Where Is It Coming From?

In this issue of the Journal , Lee et al. ([1][1]) report findings from 1,367 consecutive cases of coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) performed between 2004 and 2007 at the Asan Medical Center in Seoul, South Korea, all of whom underwent pre-operative magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) of the
The Asymptotic Behaviour of the Maximum Likelihood Estimates for Univariate Extremes

Let F be in the domain of attraction of the type I extreme value distribution. The behaviour of the maximum likelihood estimates when fitting the incorrect model Λ(ax+b) to the distribution of the maximum Fn(x) is investigated. The main result is that under widely applicable conditions, the estimated distribution function is consistent for an optimal type I distribution in the sense of [3] and that the parameter estimates of a and b are asymptotically normal. Some of the implications for statistical inference problems are discussed. Finally, similar results for the case where three-parameter extreme-value approximations are fitted are hypothesized. On this basis we give some general conclusions on the problem of choice of extrema model for Fn(x).
Semiconductor Bridge Cable Test

The semiconductor bridge (SCB) is an electroexplosive device used to initiate detonators. A C cable is commonly used to connect the SCB to a firing set. A series of tests were performed to identify smaller, lighter cables for firing single and multiple SCBs. This report provides a description of these tests and their results. It was demonstrated that lower threshold voltages and faster firing times can be achieved by increasing the wire size, which reduces ohmic losses. The RF 100 appears to be a reasonable substitute for C cable when firing single SCBs. This would reduce the cable volume by 68% and the weight by 67% while increasing the threshold voltage by only 22%. In general, RG 58 outperforms twisted pair when firing multiple SCBs in parallel. The RG 58's superior performance is attributed to its larger conductor size.
Local-Mode Approach to Modeling Multidimensional Infrared Spectra of Metal Carbonyls

We present a general approach for modeling multidimensional infrared spectra based on a combination of phenomenological fitting and ab initio electronic structure calculations. The vibrational Hamiltonian is written in terms of bilinearly coupled Morse oscillators that represent local carbonyl stretches. This should be contrasted with the previous approach, where the anharmonic Hamiltonian was given in terms of normal-mode coordinates (Baiz et al. J. Phys. Chem. A 2009, 113, 9617). The bilinearly coupled Morse oscillator Hamiltonian is parametrized such that the frequencies and couplings are consistent with experiment, and the anharmoni- cities are computed by density functional theory. The advan- tagesofthelocal-modeversusnormal-modeapproachesarediscussed,aswellastheabilityofdifferentdensityfunctionalstoprovide accurateestimatesofthemodelparameters.Theapplicabilityandusefulnessofthenewapproacharedemonstratedinthecontextof the recently measured multidimensional infrared spectra of dimanganese decacarbonyl. The shifts in local site frequencies, couplings, and anharmonicities due to hydrogen bonding to the individual carbonyls are explored. It is found that, even though the effect of hydrogen bonding is nonlocal, it is additive.
The Prevention of HIV among Adolescents: A Leisure Education Intervention

Abstract This article examines using leisure education as an innovative method to HIV prevention among adolescents. Included is a description of leisure education and how leisure education is similar to health education. The method revolves around the teaching of alternate activities for adolescents to engage in during non-school hours. Currently, alternate behaviors are included during some prevention programs, but only very briefly. Instead, this method addresses all the reasons that go into a successful substitution, such as choice, self-esteem, decision making, and other life skills learned in adolescence. These skills will assist the adolescent to substitute new leisure activities which can lead to less free and unsupervised time. This free and unsupervised time is when adolescents are most likely to engage in risky sexual behaviors, many of which can lead to HIV infection. Additionally, the increase in self-esteem that is often found during leisure activity participation can have a positive effect o...
Convergent links of social capital, sustainable practices, and support for cost-specified climate policy in two Vermont and Arizona Counties

This study uses survey data collected in Chittenden County, Vermont and Maricopa County, Arizona to examine the relationship of self-reported measures of social capital with sustainable practices and support for cost-specified fossil fuel reduction policies. Despite obvious geographic, demographic, and political contrasts between the two regions, behavioral and policy support outcomes for Arizona and Vermont residents were remarkably similar. Among the social capital variables, social engagement with neighbors was significantly tied to supporting subsidies for renewable energy, while social engagement with friends outside the neighborhood was tied to the purchase of locally grown produce. Volunteer work, participation in online neighborhood forums, and trust in neighbors were good predictors of recycling, while trust in government was a key predictor of support for all three fossil-fuel reduction policies.
Selected Experience With Surgery and Combination Chemotherapy in the Treatment of Nonseminomatous Testis Tumors

Abstract We treated 208 patients with newly diagnosed nonseminomatous germ cell tumors of the testis between January 1975 and March 1978. Patients with stages I and II disease underwent retroperitoneal lymph node dissection, and the majority of patients with stage II neoplasm received adjuvant chemotherapy afterwards. Patients with stage HI and palpable stage II neoplasm had initial chemotherapy with or without subsequent surgery. The over-all cure rates were 96 per cent (76 of 79) for patients with stage A, 94 per cent (31 of 33) with stage HA, 83 per cent (35 of 42) with stage HB and 35 per cent (15 of 43) with stage III disease. The stage of disease at the time of diagnosis, local extent of the primary tumor, nodal category in stages I and II cancer, and chemotherapy were factors influencing relapse rate and over-all survival.
Origin and dynamic lineage characteristics of the developing Drosophila midgut stem cells

Proliferating intestinal stem cells (ISCs) generate all cell types of the Drosophila midgut, including enterocytes, endocrine cells, and gland cells (e.g., copper cells), throughout the lifetime of the animal. Among the signaling mechanisms controlling the balance between ISC self-renewal and the production of different cell types, Notch (N) plays a pivotal role. In this paper we investigated the emergence of ISCs during metamorphosis and the role of N in this process. Precursors of the Drosophila adult intestinal stem cells (pISCs) can be first detected within the pupal midgut during the first hours after onset of metamorphosis as motile mesenchymal cells. pISCs perform 2-3 rounds of parasynchronous divisions. The first mitosis yields only an increase in pISC number. During the following rounds of mitosis, dividing pISCs give rise to more pISCs, as well as the endocrine cells that populate the midgut of the eclosing fly. Enterocytes do not appear among the pISC progeny until around the time of eclosion. The "proendocrine" gene prospero (pros), expressed from mid-pupal stages onward in pISCs, is responsible to advance the endocrine fate in these cells; following removal of pros, pISCs continue to proliferate, but endocrine cells do not form. Conversely, the onset of N activity that occurs around the stage when pros comes on restricts pros expression among pISCs. Loss of N abrogates proliferation and switches on an endocrine fate among all pISCs. Our results suggest that a switch depending on the activity of N and pros acts at the level of the pISC to decide between continued proliferation and endocrine differentiation.
Fabrication, Characterization, and Modeling of Comixed Films for NXS Calibration Targets

In 2014/2015 at the Omega laser facility, several experiments took place to calibrate the National Ignition Facility (NIF) X-ray spectrometer (NXS), which is used for high-resolution time-resolved ...
Probabilistic diagram for designing chemicals with reduced potency to incur cytotoxicity

Toxicity is a concern with many chemicals currently in commerce, and with new chemicals that are introduced each year. The standard approach to testing chemicals is to run studies in laboratory animals (e.g. rats, mice, dogs), but because of the expense of these studies and concerns for animal welfare, few chemicals besides pharmaceuticals and pesticides are fully tested. Over the last decade there have been significant developments in the field of computational toxicology which combines in vitro tests and computational models. The ultimate goal of this field is to test all chemicals in a rapid, cost effective manner with minimal use of animals. One of the simplest measures of toxicity is provided by high-throughput in vitro cytotoxicity assays, which measure the concentration of a chemical that kills particular types of cells. Chemicals that are cytotoxic at low concentrations tend to be more toxic to animals than chemicals that are less cytotoxic. We employed molecular characteristics derived from density functional theory (DFT) and predicted values of log(octanol–water partition coefficient) (log P) to construct a design variable space, and built a predictive model for cytotoxicity based on U.S. EPA Toxicity ForeCaster (ToxCast) data tested up to 100 μM using a Naive Bayesian algorithm. External evaluation showed that the area under the curve (AUC) for the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) of the model to be 0.81. Using this model, we provide probabilistic design rules to help synthetic chemists minimize the chance that a newly synthesized chemical will be cytotoxic.
Child Maltreatment and Developmental Psychopathology: A Multilevel Perspective

In this chapter, we provide an overview of the historical issues accompanying the study of child maltreatment and address advances and challenges that have emerged over decades of research in this area. A developmental psychopathology perspective provides a framework for discussing etiological models, psychological and biological sequelae, and methodological considerations, as well as for highlighting implications for intervention and social policy. The utilization of a multilevel perspective that integrates socioemotional, cognitive, psychophysiological, neurobiological, and genetic levels of analysis infused throughout our discussion of research. We conclude by proffering recommendations for research initiatives that will continue to advance the field and ultimately improve the lives of children who have been victimized by abuse and neglect. Keywords: abuse and neglect; child maltreatment; developmental psychopathology; intervention; multilevel perspective; prevention; social policy
Africans and the Bible

The Bible has affected the lives of Africans and their descendants in the Diaspora possibly more than any other document in human history. This phenomenon can be divided into at least two spheres: The first features the roles and experiences of Africans in the Bible, while the second concerns the ways in which these roles and experiences have influenced Africans living in post-Biblical times. Because the Biblical account is seen by many as prescriptive, the interpretation of African roles in the narrative is critical, as it has often determined how post-Biblical Africans were treated. In particular, the Bible has been crucial to slavery, with both benefactors and detractors of the institution taking solace in its pages. Egypt and Nubia in the Bible Pharaohs of the twenty-fifth dynasty appear in the Old Testament as allies against the Assyrians, and Taharka (690–664 BCE) is mentioned by name (Isaiah 37:9; 2 Kings 19:9). Egypt and Nubia's union under this dynasty is demonstrated by the prophet Isaiah's conjoined messages to each (Isaiah 18–20). In language corresponding to Herodotus, Isaiah (18:2,7) writes this of Nubia: Go, swift messengers to a nation tall and smooth, To a people feared far and wide, A powerful and oppressive nation Whose land the rivers divide. Such esteem for Nubia is consistent with the view of states along the Nile as powerful neighbors of Israel, ever present in regional affairs. Indeed, the very formation of the Hebrew people is intimately associated with Egypt and Nubia.
Validation of an algorithm to determine the primary care treatability of emergency department visits

Objectives We propose a new claims-computable measure of the primary care treatability of emergency department (ED) visits and validate it using a nationally representative sample of Medicare data. Study design and setting This is a validation study using 2011–2012 Medicare claims data for a nationally representative 5% sample of fee-for-service beneficiaries to compare the new measure9s performance to the Ballard variant of the Billings algorithm in predicting hospitalisation and death following an ED visit. Outcomes Hospitalisation within 1 day or 1 week of an ED visit; death within 1 week or 1 month of an ED visit. Results The Minnesota algorithm is a strong predictor of hospitalisations and deaths, with performance similar to or better than the most commonly used existing algorithm to assess the severity of ED visits. The Billings/Ballard algorithm is a better predictor of death within 1 week of an ED visit; this finding is entirely driven by a small number of ED visits where patients appear to have been dead on arrival. Conclusions The procedure-based approach of the Minnesota algorithm allows researchers to use the clinical judgement of the ED physician, who saw the patient to determine the likely severity of each visit. The Minnesota algorithm may thus provide a useful tool for investigating ED use in Medicare beneficiaries.
Implications of monte carlo statistical errors in criticality safety assessments

Most criticality safety calculations are performed using Monte Carlo techniques because of Monte Carlo’s ability to handle complex three-dimensional geometries. For Monte Carlo calculations, the mo...
An Improved Meta-analysis for Analyzing Cylindrical-type Time Series Data with Applications to Forecasting Problem in Environmental Study

In this paper, we propose an improved generalized least square (GLS) meta-analysis in a linear-circular regression, and show its utility in the analysis of a certain environmental issue. The existing GLS meta-analysis proposed in Becker and Wu has a serious flaw since information about the covariance among coefficients across studies is not utilized. In our proposed meta-analysis, we take the correlations between adjacent studies into account, and improve the existing GLS meta-analysis. We provide numerical examples to compare the proposed method with several other existing methods by using Akaike's Information Criterion, Bayesian Information Criterion and mean square prediction errors with applications to forecasting problem in Environmental study.
The Effect of the Hospital Readmission Reduction Program on the Duration of Observation Stays: Using Regression Discontinuity to Estimate Causal Effects.

Research Objective: Determine whether hospitals are increasing the duration of observation stays following index admission for heart failure to avoid potential payment penalties from the Hospital Readmission Reduction Program. Study Design: The Hospital Readmission Reduction Program applies a 30-day cutoff after which readmissions are no longer penalized. Given this seemingly arbitrary cutoff, we use regression discontinuity design, a quasi-experimental research design that can be used to make causal inferences. Population Studied: The High Value Healthcare Collaborative includes member healthcare systems covering 57% of the nation’s hospital referral regions. We used Medicare claims data including all patients residing within these regions. The study included patients with index admissions for heart failure from January 1, 2012 to June 30, 2015 and a subsequent observation stay within 60 days. We excluded hospitals with fewer than 25 heart failure readmissions in a year or fewer than 5 observation stays in a year and patients with subsequent observation stays at a different hospital. Principal Findings: Overall, there was no discontinuity at the 30-day cutoff in the duration of observation stays, the percent of observation stays over 12 hours, or the percent of observation stays over 24 hours. In the sub-analysis, the discontinuity was significant for non-penalized. Conclusion: The findings reveal evidence that the HRRP has resulted in an increase in the duration of observation stays for some non-penalized hospitals.
Privacy Aware Stochastic Games for Distributed End-User Energy Storage Sharing

Deregulated electricity markets with time-varying electricity prices and opportunities for consumer cost mitigation makes energy storage, such as a battery, an attractive proposition. Sharing a large capacity battery across a group of homes in a community can not only alleviate the economic deterrents but also exploit the fact that users’ activity patterns do not necessarily overlap. However, battery sharing induces competition for battery capacity between the users in general as they may want to maximize their own cost savings by occupying more battery capacity when the electricity price is low. Importantly, users might have privacy concerns when they communicate with the shared battery controller. The privacy aware management of such a shared battery is the focus of this paper. A game theoretical framework is proposed to capture the competitive behaviors of users sending messages through a communication network to an independent battery controller with an infinite horizon limiting average signaling game formulation. The privacy requirement serves as a constraint on messaging behaviors. The battery controller manages the charging and discharging based on the received, albeit incomplete, information transmission. With such a framework, we study the battery sharing when users are cooperative and completely private. When the privacy requirement is relaxed, the competitive behaviors of users sending messages to the battery controller is studied. A credit-based battery management strategy is designed for the battery controller to ensure an equilibrium of the game and achieves the social optimality. However, the credit-based battery management requires long time established observations and may also “coerce” users to share their energy demands accurately with the controller. We, therefore, propose a class of stationary suboptimal privacy preserving battery management strategy in which the message set being restricted to be completely private or partially private. In addition, we demonstrate that by changing the size of the message set, different pairs of preserved privacy and cost savings can be achieved. Through numerical simulations on real electricity pricing and usage data, we demonstrate the cost effectiveness of battery capacity sharing and the tradeoff between privacy and cost mitigation.
Using circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) to predict surgical outcome after neoadjuvant chemoradiation for locally advanced pancreatic cancer (LAPC).

272Background: Curative resection is possible following neoadjuvant treatment for LAPC, yet there is no method to identify patients beforehand who will have a favorable surgical outcome. This study...
Enhancer RNAs are necessary and sufficient for activity-dependent neuronal gene transcription

Distal enhancer elements in DNA enable higher-order chromatin interactions that facilitate gene expression programs and thus contribute to cellular phenotype and function. In the brain, enhancer-promoter interactions help to ensure cell- and tissue-specific gene expression profiles, defining which genes are active during neuronal specification and which genes remain accessible in adult neurons. In addition to their close links to gene activation, enhancer elements themselves are subject to widespread, bidirectional transcription that yield non-coding enhancer RNA (eRNA). However, although eRNAs are correlated with overall enhancer activity, the precise function of eRNAs remains controversial. Here, we examined the function of eRNAs arising from multiple enhancers near the well-characterized immediate early gene Fos (also known as c-Fos). We show that eRNA transcription from Fos enhancers is dynamically modulated by various forms of neuronal activity, requires RNA polymerase II, and precedes activity-dependent induction of Fos mRNA. Visualization of Fos eRNA transcripts on a single cell level using single molecule fluorescent in situ hybridization revealed localization within the cell nucleus. Anti-sense based Fos eRNA knockdown decreased Fos mRNA expression, whereas mRNA knockdown did not affect eRNA levels. Targeted stimulation of eRNA synthesis from Fos enhancers using CRISPR-dCas9 fusion proteins produced corresponding increases in Fos mRNA expression, with limited cross-talk between enhancers. Similarly, CRISPR-targeted delivery of eRNA to a Fos enhancer elevated mRNA induction following neuronal depolarization. Finally, we show that anti-sense based knockdown of a single Fos eRNA is sufficient to alter neuronal physiology. Together, these results suggest that RNAs transcribed from neuronal enhancers are important regulators of enhancer-driven gene regulatory programs and neuronal function.
Model Checking of a Flapping-Wing Mirco-Air-Vehicle Trajectory Tracking Controller Subject to Disturbances

This paper proposes a model checking method for a trajectory tracking controller for a flapping wing micro-air-vehicle (MAV) under disturbance. Due to the coupling of the continuous vehicle dynamics and the discrete guidance laws, the system is a hybrid system. Existing hybrid model checkers approximate the model by partitioning the continuous state space into invariant regions (flow pipes) through the use of reachable set computations. There are currently no efficient methods for accounting for unknown disturbances to the system. Neglecting disturbances for the trajectory tracking problem underestimates the reachable set and can fail to detect when the system would reach an unsafe condition. For linear systems, we propose the use of the H-infinity norm to augment the flow pipes and account for disturbances. We show that dynamic inversion can be coupled with our method to address the nonlinearities in the flapping-wing control system.
A 22-Year Follow-Up (Range 16 to 23) of Original Subjects with Baseline Alcohol Use Disorders from the Collaborative Study on Genetics of Alcoholism.

Author(s): Schuckit, Marc A; Smith, Tom L; Danko, George; Kramer, John; Bucholz, Kathleen K; McCutcheon, Vivia; Chan, Grace; Kuperman, Samuel; Hesselbrock, Victor; Dick, Danielle M; Hesselbrock, Michie; Porjesz, Bernice; Edenberg, Howard J; Nureberger, John I; Gregg, Marcy; Schoen, Lara; Kawamura, Mari; Mendoza, Lee Anne | Abstract: BackgroundRecent reports indicate higher-than-expected problematic drinking in older populations. However, few data describe how to predict which older individuals are most likely to demonstrate alcohol-related problems, including those with earlier alcohol use disorders (AUDs). These analyses evaluate predictors of alcohol outcomes in individuals with earlier AUDs in the Collaborative Study on Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA).MethodsOriginal COGA participants with baseline AUDs at about age 40 were interviewed 13 to 26 years later and placed into clinically derived outcome categories. Chi-square and analysis of variance evaluated baseline differences across 4 outcome groups, with significant items entered into binary logistic regression backwards elimination analyses predicting outcomes.ResultsLow-Risk Drinkers (N = 100) at follow-up were predicted by baseline higher levels of response to alcohol (high LRs), lower histories of alcohol treatment, experience with fewer types of illicit drugs, and were more likely to have been widowed. At follow-up, Problem Drinkers (N = 192) differed from High-Risk Drinkers (N = 93) who denied multiple alcohol problems by exhibiting baseline lower LRs, higher Sensation Seeking, and a higher proportion who were widowed. Abstinent (N = 278) outcomes were predicted by a history of higher baseline AUD treatments, higher alcohol problems, lower usual drinks, as well as older age and European American heritage. Thirty-four subjects (4.9%) could not be classified and were not included in these analyses.ConclusionsThese results generated from AUD individuals from both treatment and nontreatment settings reinforce low probabilities of recent Low-Risk Drinking in individuals with AUDs, but also suggest many individuals with AUDs demonstrate good outcomes 2 decades later.
Sometimes Bad Things Happen to Good Trust Companies: A Reexamination of the Trust Company Panic of 1907

The runs on trust companies during the Panic of 1907 have been blamed on unregulated financial innovation. New York trust companies are said to have taken advantage of gaps in regulation to engage in risky behavior, ultimately causing depositors to lose confidence in trust companies. This paper shows that there was not a general loss of confidence in trust companies. Runs were concentrated on a specific group of trust companies: the uptown trust companies. But there is no evidence of mismanagement or unusually risky asset allocation among these companies. Instead, it was the nature of their deposits that made them more susceptible to runs. While traditional trust companies focused on small numbers of large deposits from businesses, the uptown trust companies had large numbers of household deposits.
Using Open Educational Resources and Open Educational Practices in PLA and Competency-Based Education.

In 2001, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced that it would make nearly all of its course content available for free via the Internet. Known then as OpenCourseWare, or OCW, these mat...
Paternal Support and Involvement in Unmarried Fragile Families: Impacts on Long-Term Maternal Mental Health.

Fragile families are defined as those that include unmarried or romantically unstable parents who have children and are socioeconomically disadvantaged. Mothers in fragile families may experience risk factors that lead to increased depressive symptoms that inhibit their ability to bounce back after stressful events. Risk factors for poorer maternal mental health may include declines in father involvement and a lack of coparenting support. This study examined the connected nature of coparenting and father involvement over time among continuously unmarried mothers from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study. A bidirectional latent growth curve analysis demonstrated that early father involvement was associated with a more gradual decline in coparenting support over the child's first 5 years, while early coparenting support also predicted a slower decline in father involvement over time. Steeper declines in coparenting support and father involvement over time were linked with more maternal depression and lower maternal life satisfaction when their child was nine. Results demonstrate a clear need for targeted intervention with both parents in fragile families to promote involved fathering behavior and enhance coparental relationships.
Efficient Learning with Exponentially-Many Conjunctive Precursors for Interpretable Spatial Event Forecasting

Forecasting spatial societal events in social media is significant and challenging. Most existing methods consider the frequencies of keywords or n-grams to be features, but have not explored the exponentially large space of the conjunctions of those features, such as keyword co-occurrence in messages, which can serve as crucial precursor rules. Due to the inherent exponential complexity of ensemble rule learning, existing work typically adopts greedy/heuristic strategies. This means that they cannot guarantee the solution's optimality, which would require a considerably more sophisticated model for spatial event forecasting, while still suffering from major challenges: 1) Exponentially-dimensional feature learning with distant supervision, 2) Numerical values of conjunctive features, and 3) Spatially heterogeneous conjunction patterns. To concurrently address all these challenges with a theoretical guarantee, we propose a novel spatial event forecasting model which learns numerical conjunctive features efficiently. Specifically, to consider their magnitude, traditional Boolean rules are innovatively generalized to deal with numerical conjunctive features with amenable computational properties. To handle the geographical similarity and heterogeneity in numerical conjunctive feature learning, we propose a new model that implements through a new bi-space hierarchical sparsity regularization for locations and features. Moreover, we propose a new algorithm to optimize the model parameters and prove that it enjoys theoretical guarantees for both the error bounds and time efficiency. Extensive experiments on multiple datasets demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed method.
The autophagic protein LC3 translocates to the nucleus and localizes in the nucleolus associated to NUFIP1 in response to cyclic mechanical stress.

The trabecular meshwork (TM) is a key regulatory tissue of intraocular pressure (IOP) in the anterior chamber of eye. Dysfunction of the TM causes resistance to outflow of aqueous humor, which in t...