cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Causal Explanations of Historical Trends

Philosophers interested in historical explanation have tended to focus on causal explanations of particular events, states of affairs, or observable traces. Yet researchers working in fields ranging from paleontology and evolutionary biology to climate science and economics seek to document and explain the occurrence of historical, population-level trends, where a trend is a persistent, directional change in some state variable. Examples of such trends include everything from evolutionary size increase (Cope’s rule), to changes of gene frequencies in an evolving population, to global warming. This chapter explores the idea that explanations of historical trends are typically causal explanations. Woodward’s interventionist theory treats causation as a relation between variables and so lends itself readily to the idea that trends can be causes and effects. A small extension of Woodward’s theory can help illuminate cases in which scientists talk of one trend as being the cause of another. However, paleontologists often explain trends by claiming that they are passive, that is, that they involve a random walk away from a fixed boundary in the state space. This type of explanation of an historical trend does not invoke any causes in the interventionist sense, which suggests that some explanations of historical trends might not be causal explanations.
A Multivariate Causal Analysis of Teenage Child Rearing

Studies of teenage parenting have failed to demonstrate strong relationships between multivariate predictors of development and most measures of developmental outcome (Furstenburg, 1976; Quay, 1981; Roosa, Fitzgerald, & Carlson, 1982c, 1985). One reason for this failure is that most of the relationships investigated are confounded by other relationships with the independent and/or dependent variables used. For example, confounding often occurs with socioeconomic status (SES), race, marital status, or age of mother (cf. Blank, 1976; Sameroff, 1975; Social Research Group, 1977).
Delta Levees - Tort Immunity vs. Takings Liability

This Article examines the conflicting public policy arguments surrounding the vulnerable state of California's Delta levee system. While discussing the structural, financial, and political obstacles to rebuilding the Delta levee system, the Article focuses on the juxtaposition of the judicial evolution of liability under California's takings clause and the California Department of Water Resources proposals to increase state immunity as it relates to flood protection work. California's takings clause is modeled after the U.S. Constitution and its existing statutory tort immunity for failure of flood control projects is modeled after the Federal Flood Control Act of 1928. The argument presented in this Article may have persuasive force in other states that have similar legal foundations.
Cardiorespiratory effects of Pseudomonas and E. coli endotoxins in the awake dog

A comparison of the cardiovascular and respiratory effects of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli endotoxins was investigated in the unanesthetized dog. Animals were anesthetized with halothane for placement of cardiovascular catheters and then allowed to awaken prior to collection of control data and experimentation. One group of 12 animals was given E. coli endotoxin (5 mg/kg), another group of 13 received Pseudomonas endotoxin (8 mg/kg). Variables were collected for 6 h after endotoxin injection. A third group of 13 animals serving as sham animals received no endotoxin. When major cardiovascular variables, such as arterial blood pressure, cardiac output, right atrial pressure, and left ventricular pressure and dP/dt were monitored, it was seen that the basic patterns of response to endotoxins were quite similar, with differences between groups being primarily quantitative. Analysis of respiratory data showed that animals receiving Pseudomonas developed an earlier respiratory response. Nevertheless, blood gas data were similar in the two groups.
Solution field metrics in mesh optimization for Monte Carlo based optical tomography

Mesh Monte Carlo methods enhance the computational efficiency and accuracy versus voxel-based counterparts. We investigate optimization of the mesh discretization based on forward model characteristics to further improve computational efficiency.
A Normative Database of Thumb Circumduction in Vivo: Center of Rotation and Range of Motion:

This study aimed to explore the use of a contemporary motion capture system for measuring in vivo maximum thumb circumduction, and through biomechanical modeling and statistical analysis, to establish a normative database of three-dimensional functional thumb range of motion (ROM) and examine the effects of anthropometry and gender. Twenty-eight (14 males and 14 females) anthropometrically diversified subjects performed maximum voluntary thumb circumductions, as the trajectories of surface markers placed on their thumb landmarks were measured by an opto-electronic motion capture system. Aglobographic representation method determined the best fitting spheres, the center of rotation (COR) expressed in a local coordinate system, and reference axes of thumb circumduction. Thumb ROM was quantified using (1) the cone volume circumscribed by the thumb, and (2) the time-varying included angle with respect to a reference axis, expressed as the joint sinus. Statistical analyses suggest that gender is the most impor...
The Minister: Professional Man of the Church

A MEASURE of the position, the changing position, of the church is to be found in the status of the minister. Minister is here taken to include clergymen, priests, rabbis, and recognized leaders of worship in churches. It includes the recognized professional "men of the cloth" and such other church officiants as Christian Science readers, Spiritualist mediums (where there are no clergymen), and Salvation Army officers. Webster gives as his sixth and seventh meanings for minister: "One duly authorized to serve at the altar or conduct Christian worship; one who performs sacerdotal duties, etc.; one duly authorized or licensed to preach the gospel, administer the sacraments, etc., esp., a pastor; a clergyman." "One exercising sacerdotal functions in a nonChristian religion." In the days of colonial settlement the ministry was both functionally and by status a post of community leadership. Andrews describes the English experience of the founding clergy which served as training for their work in New Haven:1
Long Patch Base Excision Repair Compensates for DNA Polymerase β Inactivation by the C4′-Oxidized Abasic Site

The C4′-oxidized abasic site (C4-AP), which is produced by a variety of damaging agents, has significant consequences for DNA. The lesion is highly mutagenic and reactive, resulting in interstrand cross-links. The base excision repair of DNA containing independently generated C4-AP was examined. C4-AP is incised by Ape1 ∼12-fold less efficiently than an apurinic/apyrimidinic lesion. DNA polymerase β induces the β-elimination of incised C4-AP in ternary complexes, duplexes, and single-stranded substrate. However, excision from a ternary complex is most rapid. In addition, the lesion inactivates the enzyme after approximately seven turnovers on average by reacting with one or more lysine residues in the lyase active site. Unlike 5′-(2-phosphoryl-1,4-dioxobutane), which very efficiently irreversibly inhibits DNA polymerase β, the lesion is readily removed by strand displacement synthesis conducted by the polymerase in conjunction with flap endonuclease 1. DNA repair inhibition by C4-AP may be a partial cause...
Housing the Worker: The Employment Linkage as a Force in Urban Structure

I NDUSTRIAL localization is a term widely employed by geographers and economists when they set out to explain the location in space of manufacturing activity. Observation of practice and assessment of census data have yielded certain generalizations as to where particular types of industry are found. From these generalizations several theories seeking to explain the causation of factory patterns have been devised. Without trying to catalogue or compare explanations we should note that the search for understanding began some 75 years ago and continues to the present time. During that period the quest has been for "organizing concepts" of industrial location that help us understand where plants will be located in terms of a generalized view of the geographical structure of manufacturing. Cooley' was the first to propose notions of transportation con-
Prostaglandin synthesis is independent of androgen levels in rat male genitalia

We examined the hypothesis that androgens influence prostaglandin (PG) biosynthesis in rat male genitalia. Prostaglandin synthesis was measured on the basis of the amount of prostaglandin released per unit weight of tissue over time. On this basis, castration increased the synthesis rate of radioimmunoassayable PGE2 from 1.3 +/- 2.5 to 7.4 +/- 2.5 ng/mg protein/180 min (P less than 0.01) in slices of prostate gland, and from 8.5 +/- 1.5 to 24.9 +/- 4.1 ng/mg protein/180 min (P less than 0.01) in slices of seminal vesicle, but decreased PGE2 formation from 27.8 +/- 2.0 to 14.3 +/- 1.2 ng/mg protein/180 min (P less than 0.01) in the vas deferens. Castration had no effect on synthesis of PGE2 in slices of renal cortex or liver. The peak effect of castration for each tissue was variable, ranging from 4 to 14 days. Treatment of castrated animals with testosterone reversed the effect of castration on prostatic prostaglandin biosynthesis: control 1.62 +/- 0.26 ng/mg protein/180 min, castrate 6.05 +/- 1.10 ng/mg protein/180 min, and castrate treated with testosterone T 1.72 +/- 0.16 ng/mg protein/180 min. Testosterone administration also decreased PGE2 formation in normal (noncastrate) animals from 1.62 +/- 0.26 to 0.91 +/- 0.23 ng/mg protein/180 min (P less than 0.04). Similar patterns of stimulation or reduction in biosynthesis of PGF2 alpha and 6-keto-PGF1 alpha were also observed. When considered for the whole gland and not per slice, all the differences disappeared. These results demonstrate that the androgenic effect on the male genitalia occurs in a component of the gland that is unrelated to the production of prostaglandins and that prostaglandin synthesis is maintained despite the occurrence of widespread atrophy.
Immune Activation Influences the Trade-off between Thermoregulation and Shelter Use

Animal behaviour is influenced by many environmental factors, including temperature and predation risk. Although many species utilize shelters to buffer ambient temperature and avoid predators, a trade-off can exist between thermoregulation and predator avoidance (e.g. an animal avoids a shelter that is too hot or cold at the expense of increased vulnerability to predators). Immune activation influences both thermoregulation and shelter use, yet its role in mediating a trade-off between these two important processes is unclear. Thus, we examined the dynamics of this thermoregulation–shelter use trade-off using the cornsnake, Pantherophis guttatus, and a repeated measures 2 × 2 factorial design in a thermal gradient where shelter availability and immune activation status were manipulated. Immune activation (injection of lipopolysaccharide, LPS, an endotoxin found in the cell walls of Gram-negative bacteria) did not elicit behavioural fever or change shelter use when shelter was available across the entire thermal gradient. Although snakes strongly prioritized shelter use (e.g. snakes injected with saline were observed under shelter 98% of the time), their prioritization shifted during immune challenge. Snakes injected with LPS that were forced to choose between preferred temperature and shelter use maintained thermoregulation, but they spent up to nine-fold more time exposed relative to when they were injected with saline. These results demonstrate the plasticity of the widespread trade-off between thermoregulation and shelter use. Our results also indicate that immune-challenged animals not exhibiting fever may still exhibit important shifts in the prioritization of thermoregulation; thus, we recommend a more nuanced assessment of the effects of immune activation on thermoregulatory behaviour.
PREVELENCE OF PRIMARY ALDOSTERONISM IN AN URBAN HYPERTENSIVE POPULATION

Objective: To determine the prevalence of primary aldosteronism (PA) in hypertensive patients presenting to the primary care clinic at The Mount Sinai Hospital, regardless of the degree of hyperten...
Translational Epidemiology: Entering a Brave New World of Team Science.

> The measure of greatness in a scientific idea is the extent to which it stimulates thought and opens up new lines of research. > > —Paul A.M. Dirac Translational epidemiology is the study of risk factors and diseases in large populations, harnessing the power of modern phenotyping, including large-scale omics approaches. In this review, we comment on the power and limitations of modern molecular translational epidemiology and suggest collaborative team science as a specific avenue to secure its existence in the next era of genomic research. In the past 15 years, the emergence of faster, cheaper high-throughput methods to quantify circulating biomolecules and genetic signatures has transformed the landscape of cardiovascular investigation. At the heart of this, Big Data revolution resides the longitudinal cohort study, a collection of individuals exquisitely phenotyped across various axes of cardiovascular health and prospectively followed for prognosis and disease development. Since the 1960s, cohort-based epidemiology has provided landmarks in cardiovascular medicine (eg, smoking as a risk factor for coronary heart disease1). More recently, a marriage between human cardiovascular epidemiology and high-throughput omics research has birthed translational epidemiology, based on the premise that the comprehensive integration of genetic, epigenetic, transcriptional, proteomic, and metabolic signatures with phenotypes informs disease and uncovers risk and prognostic factors, personalizing cardiovascular care. Because the initiative to grow prospective cohort studies from the thousands (Framingham, Jackson Heart Study, and Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis) to the hundreds of thousands (eg, UK Biobank and Million Veterans Project) expands, it is imperative to define the benefits and limitations of translational epidemiology to best use the ongoing and newer cohort studies to the benefit of our patients. Early work establishing a link between genetic variation and phenotype relied on defined, extreme phenotypes (eg, familial hypercholesterolemia and the low-density lipoprotein receptor; hypertension and the renin–angiotensin system; and Jervell …
Group Analysis Using Machine Learning Techniques

Analysis of performance of groups or teams is of a primary importance in field of social group studies. In this article we are targeting group performance analysis using computational techniques from machine learning. In order to understand the feature space, we make use of a combination of machine learning methods: decision trees, feature selection as well as correlation analysis. These models are chosen for their easy interpretability. Alongside we also propose methodology to build group level metrics from individual level data. This helps us interpret the feature space at group level and understand how things like attribute variety among group members affects performance. We propose a full methodology that employs machine learning models taking various group level metrics as input, finally providing a thorough analysis of the feature space. In this research we employ the NATO dataset collected using the game-based test-bed called SABRE. We give a hands-on experience by performing a four phase exhaustive group analysis on the SABRE dataset using Weka software, which is a user friendly GUI based machine learning tool.
An estimate of the producer cost of liability for oil spills

Governments often impose liability for environmental harms on firms when direct monitoring of operations is difficulty or costly. In the case of oil production, little is known about the private cost of liability. This article takes advantage of a natural experiment to estimate the loss in projected future profits of oil and gas production after the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, which imposed liability on some producers and was exogenously timed in response to the Exxon Valdez spill. I find no evidence of economically substantial firm costs of the Oil Pollution Act’s liability rule.
On transparent blindfolds: Comments on identifying maize in Neotropical sediments and soils using cob phytoliths

An extensive study of phytoliths in grasses from the Neotropics by Pearsall et al. (J. Archaeol. Sci. 30 (2003) 611), including a blind test, contending to support the identification of Zea at the genus level and distinguish maize and teosinte in archaeological sediments and soils, is examined. The results presented in that study provide evidence indicating a lack of methodological precision and accuracy, and involving inherent technical contradictions. Attempts to replicate the results of previous related studies strongly point to a problem in research design and in how the blind test was conducted. Rather than supporting the identification of Zea spp., this study provides evidence to indicate a lack of reliability and/or credibility of this method for maize identification in archaeological contexts and calls into question the procedures advocated by the author and her associates.
Health Volunteers Overseas: 30 Years of Leveraging International Partnerships to Strengthen Health Worker Capacity

Health Volunteers Overseas (HVO) is a United States based non-profit that collaborates with over eighty universities and health institutions around the world to send volunteer health professionals to provide continuing education, train the trainer courses, professional support, and consultation on academic programs and curricula development. By establishing mutually beneficial partnerships, HVO is able to deliver effective models of collaborative education that contribute sustainable solutions to strengthen health workforce capacity in resource-scarce countries – ultimately improving health outcomes and the quality of life for millions throughout the world. This paper provides an overview of HVO, outlines the role of international partnerships within HVO’s structure, describes the processes used to select partners, and analyzes lessons learned around the key indicators of how to establish and maintain successful international partnerships in education and health worker capacity building.
Humanism About Abstract Objects

In fall 2015 and spring 2016, I was lucky enough to be on sabbatical. My project was to complete a manuscript generalizing my institutional account of mathematics to cover other paradigmatically abstract objects. Ten years earlier, while finishing my dissertation, I had read Reuben’s What is Mathematics, Really? At the time, I remember thinking I’m not really sure whether we agree about the nature of mathematical objects. On the one hand, Reuben’s book was the first one in which I encountered an explicit comparison between mathematical objects (e.g., numbers, circles, and ordered fields) and institutional objects (e.g., marriages, wars, corporations, and the US Supreme Court), a comparison that is central to my institutional account of mathematics. On the other hand, while Reuben seemed to be committed to there being mathematical and (other) institutional objects, many of the things that he said about them suggested that he viewed them more like fictions than genuine existents. I was intrigued, but didn’t really follow up on that intrigue until my sabbatical offered me the opportunity to visit some of the folks who I took to endorse similar accounts of mathematics to my own. Two such individuals were Reuben and Sol Feferman. For me, our meetings revealed something interesting: while we were all three natural allies in taking humans to be responsible for mathematics—we were humanists, to use Reuben’s terminology—we did not agree on the underlying nature of mathematical objects. At least as I interpreted them, Reuben and Sol held fairly similar views about the underlying nature of such objects: they are something like intersubjective mental objects. Sol—see (Feferman 2009, 2014)—expressed his view in this way, “the basic objects of mathematical thought exist only as mental conceptions,” where, according to Sol, these mental conceptions are highly constrained by social interactions concerning them. Reuben (2014, p. 13), on the other hand, expresses his view in this way: “A mathematical entity is a concept, a shared thought” and “The concept … is nothing other than the collection of the mutually congruent … ‘mental models’ … possessed by those participating in the mathematical culture.” To summarize Reuben’s view as he did in personal communications that followed our November 2015 meetings, “mathematical objects are ‘equivalence classes’ of mutually congruent ‘mental models’ of those objects.”
In vitro susceptibility of Propionibacterium acnes to simulated intrawound vancomycin concentrations

Background There is convincing evidence supporting the prophylactic use of intrawound vancomycin powder in spinal fusion surgery and mounting evidence in the arthroplasty literature suggesting that it can reduce surgical site infections. As a result, a number of shoulder arthroplasty surgeons have adopted this practice, despite a paucity of evidence and the presence of a pathogen that is, for the most part, unique to this area of the body— Propionibacterium acnes . The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of vancomycin against planktonic P. acnes in vitro, using time-dependent concentrations one would expect in vivo after intra-articular application. Methods Intrawound vancomycin concentrations were interpolated and extrapolated from existing in vivo data. Planktonic P. acnes was then subjected to a time-kill analysis during 96 hours. At each time point, the inoculum was centrifuged into pellet form and then reconstituted for serial drop counts onto blood agar plates. After anaerobic incubation, colony-forming units were counted, and log 10 colony-forming units per milliliter were determined. Results Early time points grew to confluence, and thus colony-forming units per milliliter were not calculated. However, at 12 hours of vancomycin treatment, distinct colonies were appreciated. Notably, there was a 3 × log 10 reduction in colony-forming units per milliliter between 12 and 48 hours, denoting bactericidal activity. In addition, P. acnes was completely eradicated after 3 days of treatment. Conclusion When administered in a fashion meant to simulate time-dependent in vivo intrawound concentrations, vancomycin exhibited bactericidal activity against P. acnes . This may lend credence to the prophylactic use of vancomycin in shoulder surgery.
The Nursing Dean Role: An Integrative Review.

Aim The aim of this integrative review was to appraise research on the uniqueness of the nursing dean role. Background Deans of nursing are challenged with multiple expectations of their role, which is unlike that of other deans in academia. Investigation is needed to understand what is entailed in being a dean of nursing. Method This integrative review explores the role of the nurse dean utilizing a model described by Whittemore and Knafl. Their strategy uses a five-step process of problem identification, literature search, data evaluation, data analysis, and presentation. Results Nursing deans are expected to excel in areas of education, the health care system, and relationships with the community stakeholders while navigating challenges of limited funding and a nationwide faculty shortage. Conclusion This integrative literature review was an initial step toward the collective understanding of the nursing dean role.
British and American foundings of parliamentary science, 1774–1901

Part of the series on International Relations and the European and Atlantic World, 1660–1830, edited by Jeremy Black, this book focuses on the new American congress and its development of a body of...
The Littered City: Trash and Neoliberal Urban Space in El aire, Bariloche, and La villa

En este articulo, analizo el papel de la basura en la representacion del espacio urbano en tres novelas argentinas escritas durante un periodo de implementacion intensiva de politicas neoliberales en ese pais: El aire de Sergio Chejfec, Bariloche de Andres Neuman y La villa de Cesar Aira. Considero la manera en que los desechos sirven tanto para consolidar como para interrumpir la coherencia de los espacios representados en las novelas en cuestion. Propongo, ademas, que la presencia de la basura en estos textos funciona como un indicio del impasse temporal que genera el neoliberalismo.
Impact toughness of commercial and model FeCrAl alloys

Abstract FeCrAl alloys are under development as possible candidate materials of accident-tolerant fuel cladding in light water reactors. In this study, the cracking resistance of FeCrAl alloys was evaluated using half-size Charpy impact tests at temperatures ranging from room temperature to 600 °C. Ingot-metallurgy wrought FeCrAl alloys with base alloy compositions of Fe-(10–13)Cr-6Al-2Mo, in weight percent, and commercial powder-metallurgy FeCrAl alloys (Kanthal APMT) were investigated. All studied alloys showed almost zero absorbed impact energy at room temperature with brittle fracture behavior. The as-received APMT alloys exhibited poor impact toughness even at 600 °C. The ductile-brittle transition temperatures of the wrought FeCrAl alloys varied from 119 to 318 °C. The possible effects of microstructures, residual strain, materials preparation methods, process conditions, and chemical composition on the impact toughness of FeCrAl alloys were investigated by examining the Charpy impact data in combination with microstructural details of the alloys.
Learning Food Quality and Safety from Wireless Stickers

Can we sense food quality and safety using wireless signals? In this paper, we explore how we can discover properties of a container's contents without opening it and without any physical contact with its contents. Our idea is to exploit electromagnetic interactions between wireless stickers placed on the container and materials in their immediate vicinity (i.e., inside the container) to determine food quality and safety. We show how a preliminary prototype implementation of our technique enables us to answer questions like: Is a baby formula inside a container pure or tainted? Is the alcohol content of a bottle safe? These capabilities pave way for ubiquitous wireless sensing technologies that can inform their users about the health and safety of their food.
A unified, contemporary approach to teaching energy in introductory physics

Students in introductory physics courses frequently struggle with various aspects of energy analyses. We argue that inconsistencies and errors in the traditional treatment of energy contribute to these student confusions. As an alternative to creating multiple activities to ameliorate student difficulties, we describe a more coherent, contemporary approach to the teaching of energy that offers students a principled way to avoid confusions.Students in introductory physics courses frequently struggle with various aspects of energy analyses. We argue that inconsistencies and errors in the traditional treatment of energy contribute to these student confusions. As an alternative to creating multiple activities to ameliorate student difficulties, we describe a more coherent, contemporary approach to the teaching of energy that offers students a principled way to avoid confusions.
Deep Reinforcement Learning for Dynamic Treatment Regimes on Medical Registry Data

In this paper, we propose the first deep reinforce-ment learning framework to estimate the optimal Dynamic Treat-ment Regimes from observational medical data. This framework is more flexible and adaptive for high dimensional action and state spaces than existing reinforcement learning methods to model real life complexity in heterogeneous disease progression and treatment choices, with the goal to provide doctor and patients the data-driven personalized decision recommendations. The proposed deep reinforcement learning framework contains a supervised learning step to predict the most possible expert actions; and a deep reinforcement learning step to estimate the long term value function of Dynamic Treatment Regimes. We motivated and implemented the proposed framework on a data set from the Center for International Bone Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR) registry database, focusing on the sequence of prevention and treatments for acute and chronic graft versus host disease. We showed results of the initial implementation that demonstrates promising accuracy in predicting human expert decisions and initial implementation for the reinforcement learning step.
History, trends & ethical issues: the liberal arts and computer science: faculty poster abstract

To enable students majoring in a computer science or a closely related field gain a broader perspective of computing, the Computer Science & Information Technology at Chestnut Hill College requires their students to take a course titled: History, Trends and Ethical Issues in Computer Science. As a liberal arts college, Chestnut Hill College requires students to demonstrate proficiency in a number of general areas and at least one of the requirements can be completed through this course. In addition, the course provides the students with the opportunity to understand the events and developments that have brought the computing industry to where it is today. Students gain an historical perspective of the discipline; at the same time focusing on some prevalent ethical issues related to computing.
Science at Sundance 2020

A counterculture commune seeking a more sustainable lifestyle moves inside an airtight dome. Parents yearning to connect with their autistic children find hope in a Japanese author9s profound testimony. The climate crisis hits home as a tight-knit California community attempts to move forward after a devastating wildfire. From a meandering love letter to an imperiled African ecosystem, to a warning about the motives that underlie social media, the science and technology stories told at this year9s Sundance Film Festival were urgent, insightful, and well suited for the event9s 2020 theme of "imagined futures." Read on to see what our reviewers thought of six of the festival9s featured films.
Improved sample preparation procedure for gross alpha counting on gas-flow proportional counter

Sample residue uniformity is crucial for accurate gross alpha counting using a gas-flow proportional counter, however this can be difficult to achieve using conventional procedures. An evaporation method using a 1:1 mixture of deionized water and 2-propanol yielded uniform 230Th and 241Am nitrate salt residues on metal planchets for gross alpha counting. The gross alpha efficiency and alpha:beta crosstalk behavior were studied using the evaporation procedure and a separate barium sulfate/ferric hydroxide coprecipitation method. The gross alpha efficiency data were fitted with empirical power law functions. The alpha:beta crosstalk behavior was different for the two radionuclides studied.
I Love My Hair: The Weaponizing of Black Girls Hair by Educators in Early Childhood Education

The study explored the experiences and perceptions of Black girls as conveyed through the narratives of their parents. In particular, this study focused on racial microaggressions in early childhood education (preschool through third grade). The study employed narratives written by 44 parents of Black children. Ultimately, their narratives demonstrated that Black hair was viewed as a marker of second-class citizenship and as an indicator of defilement. The individuals communicating these microaggressions ranged from educators to other children in the classroom. Negative messages about Black hair are particularly concerning in early childhood education, especially given the important role early learning has on children’s formative development. Implications for early childhood educators are extended.
Validity and the art of rhetorical criticism

Rhetoric, rhetorical theory, and rhetorical criticism from their earliest days as a scholarly endeavor in ancient Greece and the Roman Republic developed as an art. In fact, rhetoric, along with gr...
Rcn3 is Involved in Postnatal Tendon Development by Regulating Collagen Modification and Fibrillogenesis

Abstract Tendon plays a critical role in the joint movement by transmitting force from muscle to bone. This transmission of force is facilitated by its structure, which consists of an aligned and organized type I collagen. Despite the importance of collagen structure, the biological mechanisms regulating fibrillogenesis are not well understood. Here we examine the function of Rcn3 in postnatal tendon development and collagen fibrillogenesis using a genetic mouse model. Loss of Rcn3 in tendon caused decreased tendon thickness, abnormal tendon cellular maturation, and decreased mechanical properties. Interestingly, Rcn3 deficient mice exhibited a relatively smaller distribution of collagen fibril and over-hydroxylation in C-telopeptide cross-linking lysine from α1(1) chain. Besides, the proline 3-hydroxylation sites in type I collagen were also over-hydroxylated in Rcn3 deficient mice. Our data collectively suggest that Rcn3 is required for proper postnatal tendon development via regulation of collagen modification and fibrillogenesis.
SequelQC: Analyzing PacBio Sequel Raw Sequence Quality

Abstract Summary PacBio sequencing is an incredibly valuable third-generation DNA sequencing method due to very long read lengths, ability to detect methylated bases, and its real-time sequencing methodology. Yet hitherto no tractable program exists for analyzing the quality of PacBio Sequel raw sequence data. Here we present SequelQC, a bash tool that quickly processes PacBio Sequel raw sequence data from multiple SMRTcells producing multiple statistics and publication-quality plots describing the quality of the data including N50, read length and count statistics, PSR, and ZOR. Availability and implementation SequelQC is implemented in bash, R, and Python and is freely available at https://github.com/ISUgenomics/SequelQC Contact: davehuf@iastate.edu or arnstrm@iastate.edu Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at BioRxiv online.
Quantitative Medical Physics National Job Data Distribution Analysis

Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate the contemporary distribution of medical physics (MP) employment opportunities across the United States. Methods and Materials An annual record (2018-2019) of advertised full-time MP jobs was created using publicly available information from the American Association of Physicists in Medicine and Indeed websites. Listed jobs were categorized based on position name, work experience, job function, and geographic region. To account for regional population differences, a preponderance of employment opportunities per 10 million people was computed. Using Commission on Accreditation of Medical Physics Education Programs residency accreditation data, the nationwide locations of the MP training centers and the number of residency positions per annum were identified. A chi-square goodness-of-fit test was used for statistical analysis. Results A total of 441 unique MP jobs were identified nationwide per annum (2018-2019). The highest percentage of MP jobs was reported from the South region (33.6%), and the lowest (17.2%) was from the West. Analysis revealed that 148 jobs (33.6%) were academic and 293 (66.4%) were nonacademic. The South had the most academic jobs overall (31.8%), whereas the West had the fewest (13.5%). Regionally, the highest percentage of academic jobs (46.9%) was reported from the Northeast, whereas the West had the lowest percentage (26.3%). The analysis of academic versus nonacademic job comparison by regions showed statistically significant differences (P = .0133). The Midwest and the West regions, respectively, showed the highest (18.2) and lowest (10.24) number of jobs per unit population, measured in 10 million. Conclusions To our knowledge, this is one of the first national quantitative job data analyses of MP job distributions. This study revealed the level of demand for qualified candidates in 2018 to 2019, showing an imbalance between academic and nonacademic positions across the regions of the United States. Moreover, the geographic distribution of job listings deviated significantly from expectation given the relative population of each region.
Radiation-Induced Error Mitigation by Read-Retry Technique for MLC 3-D NAND Flash Memory

In this article, we have evaluated the Read-Retry (RR) functionality of the 3-D NAND chip of multilevel-cell (MLC) configuration after total ionization dose (TID) exposure. The RR function is typically offered in the high-density state-of-the-art NAND memory chips to recover data once the default memory read method fails to correct data with error correction codes (ECCs). In this work, we have applied the RR method on the irradiated 3-D NAND chip that was exposed with a Co-60 gamma-ray source for TID up to 50 krad (Si). Based on our experimental evaluation results, we have proposed an algorithm to efficiently implement the RR method to extend the radiation tolerance of the NAND memory chip. Our experimental evaluation shows that the RR method coupled with ECC can ensure data integrity of MLC 3-D NAND for TID up to 50 krad (Si).
Current Landscape in Clinical Pretargeted Radioimmunoimaging and Therapy.

The principle of pretargeted radioimmunoimaging and therapy has been investigated over the past 30 years in preclinical and clinical settings with the aim of reducing the radiation burden of healthy tissue for antibody based nuclear medicine techniques. In the past few decades, four pretargeting methodologies have been proposed, and two of them, the bispecific antibody-hapten and the streptavidin-biotin platforms, have been evaluated in humans in phase 1 and 2 studies. With this review article, we aim to survey clinical pretargeting studies in order to understand the challenges that these platforms have faced in human studies and to provide an overview of how the clinical approval of the pretargeting system has proceeded in the past several decades. Additionally, we will discuss the successes of the pretargeting human studies and compare and highlight the pretargeting approaches and conditions that will advance clinical translation of the pretargeting platform in the future.
Effect of Prepartum Crude Protein Level on Performance of Multiparous Holstein Cows

Recent studies have shown that increasing dietary crude protein (CP) prepartum above National Research Council (NRC) (1989) recommendations does not influence multiparous dairy cow performance. To evaluate the effect of prepartum dietary CP level on performance during early lactation, 64 multiparous Holstein cows were utilized in a randomized complete block design
Circadian rhythms and pain.

Abstract The goal of this review is to provide a perspective on the nature and importance of the relationship between the circadian and pain systems. We provide: 1) An overview of the circadian and pain systems, 2) a review of direct and correlative evidence that demonstrates diurnal and circadian rhythms within the pain system; 3) a perspective highlighting the need to consider the role of a proposed feedback loop of circadian rhythm disruption and maladaptive pain; 4) a perspective on the nature of the relationship between circadian rhythms and pain. In summary, we propose that there is no single locus responsible for producing the circadian rhythms of the pain system. Instead, circadian rhythms of pain are a complex result of the distributed rhythms present throughout the pain system, especially those of the descending pain modulatory system, and the rhythms of the systems with which it interacts, including the opioid, endocrine, and immune systems.
Archaeology, Faunal Analysis and Interpretation: Lessons from Maya Studies

This article presents a non-zooarchaeological viewpoint, as a response to many of the themes presented in this special journal issue, and based on discussions that occurred dur- ing the 2003 Society for American Archaeology Forum, Zooarchaeology in the Humid Ameri- can Tropics: Making the Most of the Data. Our experience in the Maya region shows many areas in which zooarchaeology can provide valuable contributions to better understanding the past. A fundamental need is better collaboration between field directors and faunal specialists. We highlight both the importance of expanding the contributions that faunal specialists make in understanding larger societal questions, and the need for more training in zooarchaeology as well as more in-country comparative collections and specialists. Finally, we emphasize the need for funding to support this research, including the post-field analysis. RESUMEN: Como respuesta a muchas de las cuestiones presentadas en este volumen monogra- fico, basadas a su vez en discusiones que se produjeron en el foro de la Society for American Archaeology "Zooarchaeology in the Humid American Tropics: Making the Most of the Data " celebrado en el ano 2003, este articulo presenta un punto de vista no zooarqueologico sobre las mismas. Nuestra experiencia en el area maya enfatiza las muchas areas en donde la zooarqueolo- gia puede proporcionar valiosas ayudas en la mejor comprension del pasado. Una necesidad fun- damental es una mejor colaboracion entre los directores de excavacion y los analistas de fauna. Enfatizamos aqui tanto la importancia de diversificar las contribuciones que dichos analistas pue- den llevar a cabo para comprender las cuestiones sociales de mayor importancia asi como la nece- sidad para profundizar en el desarrollo de mas especialistas y mas colecciones de referencia entre paises. Por ultimo, enfatizamos la necesidad de la financiacion como base de apoyo de toda esta investigacion incluyendo los trabajos de laboratorio posteriores a la excavacion.
Growth Factor-Induced Transcription of GluR1 Increases Functional AMPA Receptor Density in Glial Progenitor Cells

We analyzed the effects of two growth factors that regulate oligodendrocyte progenitor (O-2A) development on the expression of glutamate receptor (GluR) subunits in cortical O-2A cells. In the absence of growth factors, GluR1 was the AMPA subunit mRNA expressed at the lowest relative level. Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) caused an increase in GluR1 and GluR3 steady-state mRNA levels. Platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) did not modify the mRNA levels for any of the AMPA subunits but selectively potentiated the effects of bFGF on GluR1 mRNA (4.5-fold increase). The kainate-preferring subunits GluR7, KA1, and KA2 mRNAs were increased by bFGF, but these effects were not modified by cotreatment with PDGF. Nuclear run-on assays demonstrated that PDGF+bFGF selectively increased the rate of GluR1 gene transcription (2.5-fold over control). Western blot analysis showed that GluR1 protein levels were increased selectively (sixfold over control) by PDGF+bFGF. Functional expression was assessed by rapid application of AMPA to cultured cells. AMPA receptor current densities (pA/pF) were increased nearly fivefold in cells treated with PDGF+bFGF, as compared with untreated cells. Further, AMPA receptor channels in cells treated with PDGF+bFGF were more sensitive to voltage-dependent block by intracellular polyamines, as expected from the robust and selective enhancement of GluR1 expression. Our combined molecular and electrophysiological findings indicate that AMPA receptor function can be regulated by growth factor-induced changes in the rate of gene transcription.
Threshold Estimate for Fault Tolerant Quantum Computation

I make a rough estimate of the accuracy threshold for fault tolerant quantum computing with concatenated codes. First I consider only gate errors and use the depolarizing channel error model. I will follow P.Shor (quant-ph/9505011) for fault tolerant error correction (FTEC) and the fault tolerant implementation of elementary operations on states encoded by the 7-qubit code. A simple computer simulation suggests a threshold for gate errors of the order \epsilon \approx 10^{-3} or better. I also give a simple argument that the threshold for memory errors is about 10 times smaller, thus \epsilon \approx 10^{-4}.
Nicotinic receptors and lurasidone-mediated reversal of phencyclidine-induced deficit in novel object recognition.

Abstract Background Enhancement of cholinergic function via nicotinic acetylcholine (ACh) receptor (nAChR) agonism is a potential approach for the treatment of cognitive impairment associated with schizophrenia (CIAS). Some atypical antipsychotic drugs (AAPDs) enhance ACh release in rodent brain, indirectly stimulating these receptors. Here, we elucidate which nAChR subtypes mediate novel object recognition (NOR) in normal rats and contribute to the ability of the AAPD, lurasidone, to improve the NOR deficit in sub-chronic (sc) phencyclidine (PCP)-treated rats, a model for CIAS. Methods The ability of lurasidone and nAChR ligands to reverse the scPCP-induced deficit in NOR was assessed in female, Long-Evans rats. Results The broad acting nAChR antagonist, mecamylamine (MEC), induced a NOR deficit in normal rats. The NOR deficit secondary to scPCP was reversed by either selective α 4 β 2 * nAChR agonism (A-85380) or α 7 nAChRs agonism (PNU-282987); these effects were blocked by DHβE and MLA, selective antagonists of α 4 β 2 * and α 7 nAChR, respectively. The ability of lurasidone to reverse the scPCP-induced NOR deficit was blocked by MEC, but not MLA or DHβE. However, sub-effective doses (SED) of either A-85380 or PNU-282987 potentiated the ability of SED lurasidone to reverse the scPCP-induced NOR deficit. Conclusions These results identify both α 4 β 2 * and α 7 nAChRs as candidates for enhancing the ability of lurasidone and other AAPDs, which increase the release of ACh, to improve CIAS.
A unified Markov random field/marked point process image model and its application to computational materials

Markov random field (MRF) models have become extremely popular for regularization in image segmentation. They are useful for imposing local constraints, but they have limited capability for imposing global constraints. Marked Point Process (MPP) models incorporate global information, such as shape, as a prior, but local constraints, such as pixel-wise interaction, are not easily modeled. In this paper, we propose a combined MRF and MPP model and demonstrate its usefulness for micrograph analysis. Our hybrid model imposes both local and global constraints, at the pixel level as well as the object level. A multiple birth and death algorithm is then used to approximate the MAP segmentation using the hybrid model. We present experimental results to show the advantage of our model over the MPP for object identification and the MRF for segmentation.