cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Real Representation of Fictional Objects

Assuming there are fictional objects, what sorts of properties do they have? Intuitively, most of their properties involve being represented�appearing in works of fiction, being depicted as clever, being portrayed by actors, being admired or feared, and so on. But several philosophers, including Saul Kripke, Peter van Inwagen, Kendall Walton, and Amie Thomasson, argue that even if there are fictional objects, they are not really represented in some or all of these cases. I reconstruct four kinds of arguments for this unexpected conclusion; they concern the semantics of names, pragmatic force, creation, and representations� qualitative content. But I find all the arguments flawed. I then argue for the contrary, employing a new perspective: representation of fictional objects begins with the works of fiction that originate them. A work of fiction represents its �native� objects because our culture bestows that property on it (and on other works of fiction). I sketch conditions for such property bestowal and argue that they are satisfied in this case.
Municipal budget forecasting with multivariate ARMA models

In this paper multivariate ARMA models are applied to the problem of forecasting city budget variables. Unlike univariate time-series methods, multivariate models can use relationships among budget variables as well as relationships with economic and demographic indicators. Although available budget series are shorter than what is usually believed necessary for multivariate ARMA modelling, the forecasts seem to be of higher quality than those from univariate models.
INTERMITTENT STIMULATION BY LIGHT : II. THE MEASUREMENT OF CRITICAL FUSION FREQUENCY FOR THE HUMAN EYE.

An apparatus and a procedure are described to measure the critical frequency of flicker using different portions of the eye. The observer, looking through a pupil of fixed dimensions, views a field of 2° whose illumination is periodically interrupted and which is surrounded by a field of 10° whose illumination is continuous but otherwise identical with the interrupted field. Various parts of the apparatus are concerned with controlling and recording the retinal position of the field, its intensity, its spectral composition, and the frequency of interruption of its illumination. The procedure is so simplified and regulated that a complete set of readings over the whole intensity range of vision can be made at one sitting without fatigue or strain.
Simon Litman (1873-1965): Pioneer marketing scholar:

This article presents a biographical sketch of Simon Litman, whose academic career in marketing began in 1902 at the University of California - Berkeley and developed over several decades at the University of Illinois. Litman is known only for teaching one of the first university marketing courses, but he made several other important contributions to marketing thought which have gone unnoticed by marketing historians until now. Among other distinctions, Litman was a pioneer in the study of international marketing.
Calibration of sound forces in acoustic traps

A two-dimensional or transverse acoustic trapping and its capability to noninvasively manipulate micrometersized particles with focused sound beams were experimentally demonstrated in our previous work. To apply this technique, as in optical tweezers, for studying mechanical properties of and interactions among biological particles such as cells, the trapping forces must be calibrated against known forces, i.e., viscous drag forces exerted by fluid flows. The trapping forces and the trap stiffness were measured under various conditions and the results were reported in this paper. In the current experimental arrangement, because the trapped particles were positioned against an acoustically transparent mylar membrane, the ultrasound beam intensity distribution near the membrane must be carefully considered. The total intensity field (the sum of incident and scattering intensity fields) around the droplet was thus computed by finite element analysis (FEA) with the membrane included, and it was then used in the ray acoustics model to calculate the trapping forces. The membrane effect on trapping forces was discussed by comparing effective beam widths with and without the membrane. The FEA results found that the broader beam width, caused by the scattered beams from the neighboring membrane and the droplet, resulted in the lower intensity, or smaller force, on the droplet. The experimental results showed that the measured forces were as high as 64 nN. The trap stiffness, approximated as a linear spring, was estimated by linear regressions and found to be 1.3 to 4.4 nN/μm, which was on a larger scale than that of optical trapping estimated for red blood cells, a few tenths of piconewtons/nanometer. The experimental and theoretical results were in good agreement.
Phylogenetic Analysis of Mitochondrial and Nuclear Sequences Supports Inclusion of Acantholingua ohridana in the Genus Salmo

Abstract The mitochondrial cytochrome b gene was sequenced from Acantholingua ohridana from Lake Ohrid, Macedonia, and Salmo salar; and these sequences were compared to those previously obtained from S. trutta and five other salmonid species. In addition, a nuclear sequence, the first internal transcribed spacer (ITS1) of the ribosomal DNA, was obtained from A. ohridana, S. salar, and S. trutta and compared with sequences obtained from the same five salmonid species. Combination of these data with nuclear GH2C intron sequences for the same taxa yielded a combined dataset of approximately 2100 aligned bp for eight species. Phylogenetic analysis of all datasets supported the inclusion of A. ohridana in Salmo and a sister relationship between A. oridana and S. trutta.
Tumor-promoting phorbol esters induce angiogenesis in vivo

It has been hypothesized that tumor growth is dependent on the concomitant growth of its vascular supply, and thus agents that stimulate angiogenesis may help support tumor growth. Phorbol esters are potent tumor promoters that induce a variety of biochemical effects in cells, including activation of protein kinase C. The specific mechanisms responsible for tumor promotion by phorbol esters are unknown. The objective of this study was to determine whether the tumor-promoting phorbol esters can induce vascular growth. Phorbol esters were tested for their ability to stimulate angiogenesis in vivo using the chick chorioallantoic membrane and rabbit cornea assays. The active tumor promoters 12-O-tetradecanoyl phorbol-13-acetate and phorbol 12,13-didecanoate, which activate protein kinase C, were found to stimulate angiogenesis in a dose-dependent manner. In contrast, 4 alpha-phorbol 12,13-didecanoate, which is inactive as a tumor promoter and does not activate protein kinase C, did not stimulate angiogenesis. Phorbol esters may be indirect angiogenic factors, since no mitogenic effect on bovine capillary endothelial cells in culture could be detected. The results demonstrate that the tumor-promoting activity of phorbol esters may, in part, be secondary to stimulation of neovascularization to support tumor growth and suggest a role for the activation of protein kinase C in this process.
A Systematic Approach to Thinning Silicon Wafers to the sub-40μm Thickness Range

The present trend in electronics packaging is the stacking of die at the wafer or chip level. However to ensure stacked chip packages maintain overall low height and weight package profile, silicon wafers have to undergo extensive wafer thinning processes. In this work, a systematic approach to thinning silicon wafers down to sub-40μm in thickness is presented. This paper will cover a detailed three stage wafer thinning method, which includes the mechanical back-lapping method for the bulk removal process and a combination of mechanical polishing and spin-spray wet chemical etch method for the fine removal wafer thinning process. The results will show that by just utilizing the mechanical back-lapping and mechanical polishing process the wafers can be easily thinned from 380μm to less than 50μm with ±2.5μm Total Thickness Variation (TTV). These back-lapped wafers are then further thinned by the spin-spray etching method to achieve final wafer thickness of less than 40μm. The paper will also show that by u...
Inducing tolerance one antigen at a time.

Autoimmune diseases are reversed in mice using nanoparticles that display disease-associated antigens bound to MHC class II molecules.
An Intervention to Increase Availability of Healthy Foods and Beverages in New York City Hospitals: The Healthy Hospital Food Initiative, 2010–2014

Background Hospitals serve millions of meals and snacks each year; however, hospital food is often unhealthy. Hospitals are ideal settings for modeling healthy eating, but few programs have sought to improve nutrition in all venues where food is served.
SU-F-I-28: CTQA: Clinically Relevant Testing

Purpose: to develop a CTQA program centered on Quantitative Image Quality and Patient Dose. Methods: Image Noise was selected as the Image Quality metric, defined as the standard deviation of an ROI, drawn within designated areas on clinical images of routine brain and abdomen scans. Patient Dose was defined as the dose to the particular “slice” used for the noise measurement. Baseline performance values were acquired for the scans, for each CT scanner in the system. For abdomens, the population was divided into four size categories. Upon completion of establishing baseline performance, quarterly sampling of each scanner population was initiated. Values outside the expected range are investigated, and, if indicated, interventions are made, and the results monitored. Results: In the two years since its inception, we have discovered numerous situations which required intervention, i.e. protocol adjustments to regain baseline performance. During the same period of time, no deficiencies were reported on any annual CT QA inspections. Conclusion: Monitoring Image Noise and Patient Dose for consistency are effective QA tools. They are easy to implement and imbue clinical relevance to the QA program.
Look before you move: Clitic Left Dislocation in combination with other elements in the Spanish left periphery

The present study examines whether, as proposed by the Interface Hypothesis (Sorace, 2011), the syntax-discourse interface is especially vulnerable to non-native optionality even at very advanced levels. I focus on the acquisition of Clitic Left Dislocation in Spanish (CLLD), a structure that involves both syntax and discourse, when it combines with other structures at the left periphery (iterative topics, Fronted Focus, and wh-constructions). CLLD is a realization of topicalization requiring the integration of syntactic and discourse knowledge. This study provides data from an audio-visual rating task completed by 120 learners of Spanish of different proficiency levels and 27 monolingual native speakers. Results showed evidence that the most advanced learners had acquired the restrictions of these structures in a native-like way and supports Lopez’s (2009) syntactic analysis of CLLD, whereby CLLD is generated through movement so that the pragmatic features [+anaphor]/[+contrast] can be assigned to the dislocated element.
The Supply Chain as a Nexus of Self-Enforcing Contracts

This paper proposes a framework for analyzing the legal issues raised by the growth of supply chains as systems for managing contracts. Although supply chains have been widely studied from technological, business and social science perspectives, this is the first sustained analysis of the legal issues they raise, and is based on a review of the literature analyzing supply chains in other disciplines as well as a pilot case study of a supply chain. The legal character of supply chains differs depending on whether they are based on adversarial, collaborative or integrated business models. Conventional contract law doctrine and theory can adequately represent the legal character of adversarial supply chains just as conventional corporate law can deal with integrated supply chains. Collaborative supply chains raise the most interesting theoretical issues, and can best be understood as a form of private ordering based on self-enforcing contracts. Developing a framework for analyzing the legal issues of collaborative supply chains is important because they may support the development of "innovation ecosystems" in which new technologies can be readily developed and commercialized. This paper also considers the significance of the marginalization of lawyers and legal institutions in supply chain operations.
Intraoperative NIR Diffuse Optical Tomography System Based On Spatially Modulated Illumination Using The DLP4500 Evaluation Module (Conference Presentation)

We present a biomedical application of Digital Micro-mirror technologies by adapting the DLP4500 module for quasi real-time intraoperative tumor imaging. Fluorescence image guided surgery has been increasingly popular due to its ability to inform surgeons about tumor boundaries in real-time. We have extended this technique to provide 3D tomographic images of a tumor, by adapting a DLP4500 device to illuminate the surgical field with spatially modulated near-infrared (NIR) light. We combine the digital micro-mirror device (DMD) with two simultaneously triggered CMOS cameras to realize a spatial frequency domain imaging system. Spatial frequency domain imaging utilizes sinusoidally modulated illumination at different spatial frequencies and three different phases; corresponding signals are readily demodulated, and analyzed to derive a 3D fluorescence image. Our DMD device is commercially modified and equipped with high-power (5W) NIR diode laser. We present a brief discussion of data acquisition using DLP4500 module, and corrections for spatial inhomogeneity and gamma adjust in order to create linear/desired sinusoidal illumination of NIR light. We discuss results from a tissue phantom study and in-vivo experiments.
Abstract 639: Angiotensin 1-7 Contributes To Cardioprotective Effects Of Cardiac Overexpression Of Angiotensin II Type 2 Receptor In Mice Post-MI

Angiotensin II (Ang II) acting on AT1 receptor plays a pivotal role in the pathophysiology of cardiovascular disease, whereas AT2 has been considered cardioprotective, although the mechanisms are not fully understood. Recently studies suggest AT2 interacts with ACE2, an enzyme known to release Ang 1-7 from Ang II. Thus we hypothesize that Ang 1-7 contributes to cardioprotective effects of AT2, possibly via AT2/ACE2/Ang 1-7 cascade. Transgenic mice with AT2 specifically overexpressed in the heart (Tg-AT2) and their wild-type littermates (WT) were subjected to myocardial infarction (MI) or sham MI and divided into 1) sham MI; 2) MI + vehicle; and 3) MI + Mas receptor antagonist ([D-Ala7-Ang 1-7], A779, 0.5 mg/kg/day via osmotic mini pump). Treatments were started on the same day of MI and continued for 8 weeks. Our data show that AT2 and ACE2 protein expression in the heart was significantly increased in Tg-AT2 mice, whereas AT1 protein remained unchanged. Systolic blood pressure (SBP) and cardiac phenotypes did not differ between strains under basal conditions. MI increased myocyte cross-sectional area (MCSA), interstitial collagen fraction (ICF), left ventricular diastolic dimension (LVDd) and capillary density, and decreased LV ejection fraction (EF) in both strains; however, these pathological responses were diminished in Tg-AT2. Blockade of Mas receptor with A779 attenuated the cardioprotective effects observed in Tg-AT2 mice (Table). Infarct size (IS) did not differ among groups. Our findings suggest that overexpression/activation of AT2 protects against cardiac remodeling and dysfunction post MI, which is mediated in part through Ang 1-7 acting on the Mas receptor.
Venous Malformation of the Head and Neck and Extremities

Venous malformation [VM] presents with a wide spectrum of involvement, ranging from focal cyst-like, blood-filled lesions with minimal communication with the conducting veins to diffuse lesions involving all of the venous structures in multiple planes of an involved anatomic area. The genetic basis is fairly well understood. Clinical problems include pain, deformity, bleeding, and consumption coagulopathy. VMs are hyperintense on T2-weighted MRI sequences.
Effects of Sexual Arousal and Alcohol Cues on Acute Motivation for Alcohol

Reward-related stimuli can induce motivation to obtain rewards both within and across domains. We tested within- and cross-domain effects of environmental context (mock bar vs. laboratory) and sexually arousing stimuli (pornography vs. nature film) on acute motivation for alcohol as measured by a state-based alcohol purchase task in 109 male and female college students. Our results showed significant effects of both sexual arousal and environmental context on acute motivation for alcohol. A limited subsample analysis (N = 84) revealed significant effects of both sexual arousal and environmental context conditions on elasticity. Consistent with hypotheses, the presence of either sex- or alcohol-related cues increased acute motivation for alcohol and decreased sensitivity to costs of drinking. Furthermore, there was a significant video × laboratory condition interaction in the elasticity analysis. Our findings suggest that both sexually arousing stimuli and incidental environmental alcohol cues may significantly increase the effort one will expend to consume alcohol and thus the potential for risky drinking behavior. We believe this is the first experiment to use demand curves to present evidence of cross-domain effects of sexually arousing stimuli on acute motivation for alcohol.
Determinants of Matrices over the Integers Modulo m

(2007). Determinants of Matrices over the Integers Modulo m. Mathematics Magazine: Vol. 80, No. 3, pp. 207-214.
Anthropometry in the Appraisal of Lactation Performance Among Well-Nourished Women

The energy needed for milk production is provided by the maternal diet and the mobilization of tissue reserves. Anthropometric indices may be useful to identify women who are at risk of lactation insufficiency. In a study to evaluate milk production and milk composition, anthropometric indices of lactating women were monitored and related to lactation performance.
Interacting subsystems for depth perception and detour behavior

Where many models of depth perception focus on the processing of disparity cues alone, we here present two models of depth perception, the Cue Interaction model and the Prey-Localization Model, which involve cooperative computation using both disparity and accomodation as sources of depth information. We then introduce models of detour behavior in which such depth schemas can function as subsystems.
חינוך סביבתי הוא חינוך הומניסטי

מרבית הבעיות הסביבתיות בעולם אינן בעיות מדעיות טהורות, אלא בעיות המשלבות סוגיות מדעיות וחברתיות. שאלות אלו נוגעות לאורח חייו ולהתנהלותו של האדם, וליחסי הגומלין שבין האדם והעולם. בשאלות אלו יש מרכיב מוסרי מרכזי. מסיבות אלו החינוך הסביבתי שלא עוסק רק במדע, אלא, בעיקר, בבני האדם, הוא חינוך הומניסטי. חינוך זה ראוי שיהיה מורכב משלושה עמודים: עמוד אינטלקטואלי בינתחומי המתרכז בלימוד ובהבנה של הבעיות המורכבות וקשרי הגומלין המסובכים בין המערכות הטבעיות והאנושיות, עמוד מוסרי העוסק בשאלות הראוי ומחנך לאחריות, לרגישות, אנושית, לצניעות ולהתחשבות בזולת, ועמוד אזרחי של חינוך לאכפתיות, מעורבות ואמונה ביכולת לשנות.
On the hermitian structure of Galois modules in number fields and Adams operations

In this paper I will present a number of results which have been obtained by several authors on the hermitian structure of Galois modules in number fields, mainly on rings of integers equipped with the trace form. My aim is to give an organic presentation of results, which are scattered over a dozen of different papers, to show how these fit together and also to emphasize the salient features of the different contributions. I will only consider tamely ramified extensions and I will only focus on very recent results since there already exist surveys of related results which I do not include here (see [CN], [E2]). This is why the Main Theorem of this paper is the one between Theorems E and F below...
Clinical trial design for cutaneous neurofibromas.

Objective Several clinical trials targeting cutaneous neurofibromas (cNF) have been conducted; however, none has resulted in meaningful changes to care. The Clinical Trial Design and Development subgroup9s goals were to (1) define key considerations in the design of clinical trials for cNF, (2) summarize existing data in relation to these considerations, and (3) provide consensus recommendations about key elements of trial design to accelerate the clinical development of therapies for cNF. Methods The subgroup, with experts from genetics, dermatology, neurology, oncology, and basic science, spanning academia, government research, and regulatory programs, and industry, reviewed published and unpublished data on clinical trials for cNF and other diseases in the skin. Discussions of these data resulted in formulation of a list of priority issues to address in order to develop efficient and effective clinical trials for cNF. Results The subgroup identified 2 natural history studies of cNF, 4 priority outcome measures, and 6 patient-reported outcome tools for potential use in efficacy trials of cNF. Time to initiate intervention, patient eligibility, mechanism of action, route of administration, safety monitoring, and regulatory agency interactions were identified as key factors to consider when designing clinical trials for cNF. Conclusions Alignment on endpoints and methods for the measurement and quantification of cNF represent a priority for therapeutic development for cNF. Advances in technological methods and outcome tools utilized in other skin diseases may be applicable to cNF studies. Patient age is an important factor guiding trial design and clinical development path.
Catheter-associated Bacteriuria

Catheter-associated bacteriuria is the most common nosocomial infection in both acute and long-term care facilities. Complications include fever, bacteremia, acute pyelonephritis, urinary stones, chronic renal inflammation, and death. Catheter-associated bacteriuria can be postponed by maintaining the closed nature of the catheter system. Postponement may become prevention of bacteriuria if the catheter is removed as soon as possible.
CONTESTED TERRAIN: The Role of Preferential Policies in Opening Government and Corporate Procurement Markets to Black-Owned Businesses

Since 1969, the procurement powers of government have been used proactively to assist minority-owned businesses. Originating in the U.S. Small Business Administration, the practice of targeting procurement contracts to minority-owned business enterprises (MBEs) has expanded throughout government and corporate America. Compared to other minorities, Black-owned firms have been the most active participants. Preferential procurement has been controversial for decades, and its effectiveness for assisting bona fide MBEs has been repeatedly questioned. “Front-company” abuses have received abundant media attention; allegations of reverse discrimination have inspired legal challenges; the judiciary has often thrown out procurement preferences targeted to minorities. Less attention has focused on understanding whether racially targeted procurement preferences have assisted minority-owned businesses.As the multi-billion dollar government and corporate procurement market opened up, employment in Black-owned firms operating in the impacted industries soared. Growing access to procurement opportunities encouraged firm creation and expansion. Government entities operating successful programs actively screened out front firms, eased bonding requirements, downsized and unbundled contracts, and paid MBE vendor invoices promptly. In the process, they effectively lowered key barriers limiting MBE participation in mainstream procurement markets. Well-designed and administered programs succeeded because they created a less discriminatory environment, thus allowing talented entrepreneurs to build large firms. Problems notwithstanding, preferential procurement programs have been highly successful, and this success is a reflection of declining barriers unleashing the creativity of new generations of Black entrepreneurs.
Prediction of interfacial area concentration in a small diameter round pipe

Abstract Accurate prediction of interfacial area concentration (IAC) is of great importance in the two-fluid model. As a promising IAC prediction method, the interfacial area transport equation (IATE) was developed to dynamically predict the IAC and to eliminate the shortcomings of the flow regime-based IAC correlations, which is currently used in most thermal–hydraulic system codes. To extend the applicability of the IATE from bubbly flow to slug and churn-turbulent flow, the two-group IATE was developed by representing the IAC of sphere/distorted bubbles and cap/slug bubbles separately. Several studies have been performed in the past focusing on the constitutive modeling and experimental benchmark. However, few data are collected in small size pipes ( D H ⩽ 2 D c ), hence the applicability of the current two-group IATE models on small size pipes has not been well evaluated. In this study, a comprehensive database including bubbly, slug, churn-turbulent flow is established in a round pipe with a diameter of 25.4 mm (DH ≈ 2Dc), and the applicability of two-group IATE models for round pipe has been checked against the data. The measured IAC can be predicted by the two-group IATE with the constitutive models developed for moderate size pipe with errors less than 25% except at the bubbly to slug transition flow conditions. At the transition flow, drastic intergroup void fraction and IAC transport are observed along the flow direction. The model cannot predict this intergroup transfer and overestimates the IAC. Recent improvements on the original models focusing on the one-group to two-group transition flow in a moderate size pipe are also evaluated and the results are still not satisfying. The reasons for this discrepancy are analyzed in detail and improvements including re-deriving the coalescence terms using more accurate log-normal bubble size distribution and experimental coefficients optimizing have been performed. Using the newly derived models with optimized coefficients, the two-group IATE can predict the IAC axial development for all flow conditions with an error less than 25%. The averaged prediction error for the bubbly to slug transition flow conditions decreases from 47.19% to 8.03%.
Contribution of Inbred Singletons to Variance Component Estimation of Heritability and Linkage.

Objectives An interesting consequence of consanguinity is that the inbred singleton becomes informative for genetic variance. We determine the contribution of an inbred singleton to variance component analysis of heritability and linkage. Methods Statistical theory for the power of variance component analysis of quantitative traits is used to determine the expected contribution of an inbred singleton to likelihood-ratio tests of heritability and linkage. Results In variance component models, an inbred singleton contributes relatively little to a test of heritability but can contribute substantively to a test of linkage. For small-to-moderate quantitative trait locus (QTL) effects and a level of inbreeding comparable to matings between first cousins (the preferred form of union in many human populations), an inbred singleton can carry nearly 25% of the information of a non-inbred sib pair. In more highly inbred contexts available with experimental animal populations, nonhuman primate colonies, and some human subpopulations, the contribution of an inbred singleton relative to a sib pair can exceed 50%. Conclusions Inbred individuals, even in isolation from other members of a sample, can contribute to variance component estimation and tests of heritability and linkage. Under certain conditions, the informativeness of the inbred singleton can approach that of a non-inbred sib pair.
Testing the impact heating hypothesis for early Mars with a 3-D global climate model

Abstract The nature of the early Martian climate has been the subject of debate for decades, with geologic evidence suggesting an environment with prolonged precipitation and flowing liquid water on the surface, while climate models have struggled to reproduce such conditions. In this paper, we test the impact heating hypothesis for warming early Mars as presented in Segura et al. (2008) using a new early Mars version of the NASA Ames Research Center 3-D Mars Global Climate Model. We simulate impacts of asteroids 30-, 50-, and 100- km in diameter into atmospheres possessing 150-mbar, 1-bar, and 2-bar surface pressure conditions, accounting for both radiatively active and radiatively inert water clouds. Based on the scenarios simulated here, we find that the evolution of post-impact initially hot and moist conditions can be characterized in four phases: 1) a rapid radiative cooling phase, 2) a latent heat phase in which cloud formation and the radiative effects of water vapor induce a temporary warm period with significant precipitation, 3) a transition phase in which cooling accelerates due to sublimation at the surface and the lack of available water in the atmosphere for greenhouse warming and in which water vapor begins to contribute less to surface warming than water clouds, and 4) a steady state phase with mean annual surface temperatures below freezing and minimal precipitation. In these post-impact climate scenarios, global average surface temperatures remain above freezing for only 0.043 to 6.25 Mars years, accompanied by 0.23 to 5.8 m of cumulative precipitation (global equivalent) falls during 10 simulated Mars years. Ultimately, periods of warm temperatures and significant precipitation are short-lived and even in the warmest cases, do not support sustained conditions in which valley networks are likely to form in the long run either by liquid precipitation or by seasonal melting of surface ice. Scenarios with high surface pressures and radiatively active clouds experience the longest periods of above-freezing post-impact temperatures and result in the highest mean annual temperatures during the fourth phase (272.8 K in our warmest scenario), highlighting the potential significance of water clouds in the early Martian climate and the importance of their careful physical treatment in models. Future studies addressing sustained warm and wet early Mars conditions should investigate the potential effects of obliquity, initial surface ice distribution, and possible delivery of reducing greenhouse gases on these post-impact climates.
Illuminating biological pathways for drug targeting in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) remains a morbid disease with poor prognosis and treatment that typically leaves patients with permanent damage to critical functions such as eating and talking. Currently only three targeted therapies are FDA approved for use in HNSCC, two of which are recently approved immunotherapies. In this work, we identify biological pathways involved with this disease that could potentially be targeted by current FDA approved cancer drugs and thereby expand the pool of potential therapies for use in HNSCC treatment. We analyzed 508 HNSCC patients with sequencing information from the Genomic Data Commons (GDC) database and assessed which biological pathways were significantly enriched for somatic mutations or copy number alterations. We then further classified pathways as either “light” or “dark” to the current reach of FDA-approved cancer drugs using the Cancer Targetome, a compendium of drug-target information. Light pathways are statistically enriched with somatic mutations (or copy number alterations) and contain one or more targets of current FDA-approved cancer drugs, while dark pathways are enriched with somatic mutations (or copy number alterations) but not currently targeted by FDA-approved cancer drugs. Our analyses indicated that approximately 35–38% of disease-specific pathways are in scope for repurposing of current cancer drugs. We further assess light and dark pathways for subgroups of patient tumor samples according to HPV status. The framework of light and dark pathways for HNSCC-enriched biological pathways allows us to better prioritize targeted therapies for further research in HNSCC based on the HNSCC genetic landscape and FDA-approved cancer drug information. We also highlight the importance in the identification of sub-pathways where targeting and cross targeting of other pathways may be most beneficial to predict positive or negative synergy with potential clinical significance. This framework is ideal for precision drug panel development, as well as identification of highly aberrant, untargeted candidates for future drug development.
Threshold investment and firm viability: Evidence from commercial poultry farms in Nigeria

Rapidly increasing demand for animal protein in many countries in the Global South has generated an expansion of the poultry subsector. This sector is typically diverse, ranging from small backyard farms to commercial farms of varying sizes. As the subsector expands, little is known about the performance or viability of different sizes of operation. Is there a minimum investment required to establish a viable commercial farm? Focusing on Nigeria, Africa's largest economy and most populous country, this study uses nonparametric statistics, transition matrices, and parametric estimations to identify the equilibrium poultry farm size. We find consistent evidence of multiple equilibria, particularly a high‐ and low‐stable equilibrium separated by a threshold between small and large farms. Farms are highly likely to remain in the size category in which they begin; small poultry farms are unlikely to cross the threshold and transition to large ones. We also find that larger farms are better able to withstand a price shock than smaller farms, which are more likely to cease operations in the event of a shock. These underlying dynamics should be given due consideration by governments, donors and private sector as they enter the industry or encourage others to engage in it [EconLit citations: O12‐Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development, L11‐Production, Pricing, and Market Structure • Size Distribution of Firms, Q12‐Micro Analysis of Farm Firms, Farm Households, and Farm Input Markets].
Diabetes, glycated hemoglobin and risk of cancer in the UK Biobank Study

Background: Evidence suggest that diabetes and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels are associated with cancer risk. However, previous studies have been limited variably by failure to adjust for cancer-specific risk factors (e.g., body mass index), inattention to diabetes duration and use of antidiabetic medications, and failure to stratify by obesity. Methods: We examined the association between diabetes, HbA1c, and cancer risk in the UK Biobank, using data from 476,517 participants (54% women), followed for an average period of 7.1 years. Diabetes was defined on the basis of baseline self-reported diagnosis of diabetes and/or use of diabetes medication, while HbA1c measured at baseline was categorized as low ( Results: Diabetes was associated with increased risk of cancers of the stomach, liver, bladder, endometrium, and lung among smokers, and with decreased risk of prostate cancer. Compared with the normal HbA1c category, the increased risk category was positively associated with risk of cancers of the colon, liver, bladder, and lung among smokers, and the high-risk category was associated with increased risk of cancers of the esophagus, liver, pancreas, and bladder, and with decreased risk of prostate cancer. Conclusions: These results suggest that both diabetes and/or elevated HbA1c are associated with risk of cancer at several anatomic sites. Impact: The associations of diabetes and HbA1c levels with cancer suggest their importance in cancer prevention.
Effect of e-cigarette advertisement themes on hypothetical e-cigarette purchasing in price-responsive adolescents.

AIMS To examine the effect on adolescents of exposure to different e-cigarette advertisement themes on reported likelihood of purchasing e-cigarettes in a hypothetical scenario. DESIGN Between-subjects design of four randomly assigned thematic conditions derived from a content analysis of 350 e-cigarette advertisements: general, flavor- and taste-themed, people- and product use-themed or control advertisements for bottled water. SETTING Virginia, USA. PARTICIPANTS Of 1360 adolescents (13-18 years old) participating, 1063 had complete data (519 current cigarette smokers, 544 tobacco-susceptible non-smokers). MEASUREMENTS Participants completed an e-cigarette purchase task, reporting the likelihood of buying an e-cigarette at various prices. Indices of abuse liability included price responsiveness (whether likelihood of purchase decreased with increasing prices) and, among price-responsive adolescents, breakpoint (highest price before definitely would not buy), maximum probability-weighted expenditure (Omax ) and price elasticity (how quickly willingness to purchase decreases as prices increase). Regressions controlled for demographics, prior tobacco ad exposure, tobacco/substance use and sensation-seeking. FINDINGS Prior advertisement exposure was positively associated with being price-responsive [odds ratio (OR) = 1.12, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.03, 1.22; P < 0.05]. Among price-responsive adolescents (n = 579), breakpoints were 58% higher in the flavor- and taste-themed condition (β = 0.46, 95% CI = <0.01, 0.92) and 75% higher in the people- and product use-themed condition (β = 0.56, 95% CI = 0.10, 1.03) compared with control (Ps < 0.05). Exposure to people- and product use-themed advertisements was associated with a 60% higher Omax (β = 0.47, 95% CI = 0.01, 0.93; P < 0.05). The general and people- and product use-themed conditions were associated with 19% (β = -0.21, 95% CI = -0.38, -0.04) and 21% (β = -0.24, 95% CI = -0.42, -0.06) lower elasticity, respectively (Ps < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS E-cigarette advertising exposure may increase reported likelihood of purchasing e-cigarettes, with effects differing by advertisement content. People- and product use-themed e-cigarette advertisements increased reported likelihood of purchasing in price-responsive adolescents.
Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation for Facial Pain

Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) has been used for its analgesic effects for chronic pain, including facial pain. Here, we summarize how the electrical stimulation of branches of the trigeminal nerve via TENS has been utilized to reduce pain resulting from trigeminal neuralgia, temporomandibular joint disorder, migraine and other headache types, and ocular pain sensations. TENS has been used for both short-term (one session) and long-term (multiple sessions) pain control with little to no adverse effects reported by subjects. The results of the summarized studies suggest TENS is an effective non-invasive, non-pharmacologic means of pain control for patients with facial pain conditions.
Improving education outcomes for students who have experienced trauma and/or adversity

All children experience some level of stress in their lives. If stress is persistent and accumulative, it may have detrimental effects on the social, emotional, and physical well-being of the individual child and long-term economic and health impacts on our societies. Understanding the causes, effects, and mitigating and exacerbating factors of adversity and trauma is critical to promote practices and policies for better lives. The purpose of this working paper is to help education policymakers and education leaders and practitioners know how to better support students who have experienced adversity and/or trauma and build their resilience. In this working paper we synthesise the best available evidence for the causes and effects of adversity and/or trauma in children, specify the factors that exacerbate poor educational experiences and outcomes as well as mitigating factors that support resilience, and draw together evidence on effective practices in education systems to improve supports and outcomes for students who have experienced trauma and/or adversity. We also feature five case studies of these effective practices. We conclude with considerations for education stakeholders. This includes, strengthening linkages between schools and services and supports in other sectors; using learner-centred pedagogies for social and emotional learning (SEL) and resilience building; prioritising teacher training and support to understand and respond to adversity and trauma of learners and to promote their own well-being; employing frameworks, such as multi-tiered approaches, to identify and meet the needs of learners; and using technical assistance centres and networks to share evidence-based practices and provide guidance to education stakeholders about how to meet the specific needs of sub-populations of students. Together, these approaches should provide better learning experiences for all learners, especially for those who have experienced adversity and/or trauma.
Dolly Parton, gender, and country music: by Leigh H. Edwards, Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 2018, 265 pp., £16.99 (paperback), ISBN: 978-0253031556

Twice in Dolly Parton, Gender, and Country Music, author Leigh H. Edwards notes how rarely Dolly Parton has been the subject of thorough analysis, occasionally treated as only a ‘shorthand referenc...
Reproducible but dynamic positioning of DNA in chromosomes during mitosis.

How DNA is folded into chromosomes is unknown. Mitotic chromosome banding shows reproducibility in longitudinal compaction at a resolution of several megabase pairs, but it is less clear whether DNA sequences are targeted laterally to specific locations. The in vitro chromosome assembly of prokaryotic DNA1 suggests that there is a lack of sequence requirements for chromosome condensation, implying an absence of DNA targeting. Protein extraction experiments indicate, however, that specific DNA sequences may bind to a chromosome scaffold2,3. Chromosome banding patterns, using dyes with differential sequence specificity, have been interpreted to result from the alignment of AT-rich sequences in a partially helically folded chromosome scaffold4. But fluorescence in situ hybridization experiments, perhaps owing to technical limitations, have shown at best only slight deviation from a random, lateral sequence distribution5. Here we show that there is highly reproducible targeting of specific chromosome segments to the metaphase chromatid axis, but that these segments localize to the periphery of prophase and telophase chromosomes. Unfolding intermediates during anaphase and telophase suggest that sequence repositioning occurs through the global uncoiling of an underlying chromatid structure.
Short Wavelength Laser Design

The field of EUV and soft X-ray lasers has suffered from a shortage of working laboratory laser sources to study ever since the conception of the field in the mid to late 1960’s [1]. Admittedly, a great deal of work has been done over the last decade and a half [2]; nonetheless, the scientific world still awaits the researcher who, in his laboratory, will push back the frontier and claim the EUV and soft X-ray spectral regions as conquered domains for the laser physicists of the quantum electronics community. It is not yet obvious to what uses scientists shall put these territories once they have been won. To push the analogy further, these new lands appear not to be overly laden with scientific gold and jewels; however, in time workers should reap the fruits of their labor in the areas of holography, spectroscopy, non-LTE kinetics, plasma diagnostics, and perhaps some day in the area of photo-lithography [3].
Experiência Regulamentada e Experiência Espontânea: Os Individualismos e as Individualidades para Aperceber-Se Devoto do Movimento Hare Krishna

A presente analise propoe-se realizar uma breve reflexao sobre o ideal de pregacao da proposta institucional da tradicao do movimento Hare Krishna (ISKCON) verificado na relacao entre os discursos da tradicao, ditos como globais, com a experiencia da consciencia de Krishna observada localmente. Os discursos globais e a experiencia local foram assumidos, aqui, sobre duas vertentes: a primeira iguala, enquanto que, a segunda, gera alteridade
Duplication of U3 Sequences in the Long Terminal Repeat of Mink Cell Focus-Inducing Viruses Generates Redundancies of Transcription Factor Binding Sites Important for the Induction of Thymomas

The ability of mink cell focus-inducing (MCF) viruses to induce thymomas is determined, in part, by transcriptional enhancers in the U3 region of their long terminal repeats (LTRs). To elucidate sequence motifs important for enhancer function in vivo, we injected newborn mice with MCF 1dr (supF), a weakly pathogenic, molecularly tagged (supF) MCF virus containing only one copy of a sequence that is present as two copies (known as the directly repeated [DR] sequence) in the U3 region of MCF 247 and analyzed LTRs from supF-tagged proviruses in two resulting thymomas. Tagged proviruses integrated upstream and in the reverse transcriptional orientation relative to c-myc provided the focus of our studies. These proviruses are thought to contribute to thymoma induction by enhancer-mediated deregulation of c-myc expression. The U3 region in a tagged LTR in one thymoma was cloned and sequenced. Relative to MCF 1dr (supF), the cloned U3 region contained an insertion of 140 bp derived predominantly from the DR sequence of the injected virus. The inserted sequence contains predicted binding sites for transcription factors known to regulate the U3 regions of various murine leukemia viruses. Similar constellations of binding sites were duplicated in two proviral LTRs integrated upstream from c-myc in a second thymoma. We replaced the U3 sequences in an infectious molecular clone of MCF 247 with the cloned proviral U3 sequences from the first thymoma and generated an infectious chimeric virus, MCF ProEn. When injected into neonatal AKR mice, MCF ProEn was more pathogenic than the parental virus, MCF 1dr (supF), as evidenced by the more rapid onset and higher incidence of thymomas. Molecular analyses of the resultant thymomas indicated that the U3 region of MCF ProEn was genetically stable. These data suggest that the arrangement and/or redundancy of transcription factor binding sites generated by specific U3 sequence duplications are important to the biological events mediated by MCF proviruses integrated near c-myc that contribute to transformation.
Spectral-domain optical coherence tomography measurements of central foveal thickness before and after cataract surgery in children

Purpose To compare macular thickness before and after cataract surgery and intraocular lens (IOL) implantation in pediatric eyes. Design Retrospective cohort study. Setting University Eye Clinic, San Giuseppe Hospital, University of Milan, Milan, Italy. Methods The study analyzed spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) images of the macula in pediatric eyes in which cataract surgery had been performed and that were examined preoperatively and 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months postoperatively. Results The mean age of the 11 patients (11 eyes) was 5.8 years ± 2.2 (SD) (range 3 to 14 years). The mean macular thickness at 1 month and 3 months was significantly higher than at baseline (273.7 ± 26.8 μm and 266.0 ± 22.8 μm, respectively, versus 244.8 ± 19.5 μm; P P > .05 versus baseline). Conclusions Spectral-domain OCT was useful in evaluating the macular changes in the eyes of a cohort of pediatric patients 3 years and older. Cystoid macular edema was not observed during the 12-month follow-up. Financial Disclosure No author has a financial or proprietary interest in any material or method mentioned.