cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
DNA binding, but not interaction with Bmal1, is responsible for DEC1-mediated transcription regulation of the circadian gene mPer1

DEC1 (differentially expressed in chondrocytes 1) and DEC2 are E-box-binding transcription factors and exhibit a circadian expression pattern. Recently, both proteins were found to repress the Clock/Bmal1-activated E-box promoters (e.g. mPer1). Yeast two-hybrid assay detected interactions between Bmal1 and DECs. It was hypothesized that DEC-mediated repression on the mPer1 promoter is achieved by binding to E-box elements and interacting with Bmal1. In the present study, we report that E-box binding rather than Bmal1 interaction is responsible for the observed repression. In the absence of Clock/Bmal1, both DEC1 and DEC2 markedly repressed the mPer1 promoter reporter; however, DNA-binding mutants showed no repressive activity. Similarly, DEC1, but not its DNA-binding mutants, repressed the Clock/Bmal1-induced activation. In addition, DEC1R58P, a DNA-binding mutant with Bmal1 interactivity, repressed neither the mPer1 reporter directly nor the Clock/Bmal1-induced activation, providing direct evidence that DNA binding, rather than Bmal1 interactions, is responsible for the repression on the mPer1 promoter. Furthermore, disruption of the Sp1 site in the proximal promoter of mPer1 increased the repression of DEC1 proteins. Previous studies with mouse DEC2 showed that this factor interacts with Sp1. These findings suggest that DEC proteins regulate the expression of mPer1 through E-box binding and Sp1 interaction. Alterations on circadian systems are increasingly recognized as important risk factors for disease initiation and progression, and the expression of Dec genes is rapidly induced by environmental stimuli and is highly increased in tumour tissues. Therefore de-regulated expression of DEC genes probably alters normal circadian rhythms and contributes significantly to the pathogenesis of many diseases including cancer.
The Place of “Others” in Hunter-Gatherer Intensification

Archaeologists are interested in understanding the conditions under which hunter-gatherer intensification occurs. Typically, most models assign primacy to population pressure or social relations and address intensification as it occurs among foragers inhabiting arid or temperate environments. In this article, I explore episodes of resource intensification and “deintensification” on the subarctic island of Newfoundland. Correlating periods of resource intensification and “deintensification” with changes in the social landscape, I argue that the presence or absence of “Others” played a significant role in informing hunter-gatherer subsistence strategies and settlement patterns.
Evaluation and Use of an Index of Oral Health Status

Objectives: The goals of this investigation were (1) to evaluate the Oral Health Status Index in relation to demographic characteristics, socioeconomic status, and preventive behaviors of an adult population; and (2) to understand how individual index components performed as indicators of oral health status com- pared to the composite index. Methods: The Oral Health Status Index (OHSI) was used on a probability sample of adults, aged 18-93 years, living in the Detroit tricounty area. Data were collected on 509 subjects via in-home dental examina- tions. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were used to compare the OHSl and its components, including decayed, missing, and replaced teeth, free ends, and moderate and severe periodontal disease measures. Results: The mean OHSI score for subjects was 77.3 (SE= 1.83) with a range of -8.0 to 700.0. In regression analyses, OHSl scores were positively correlated with subjects' education level, self-rated oral health scores, and frequency of dental checkups and negatively correlated with age, nonwhite race, and smoking. Of the index components, missing teeth performed well as an indicator of oral health status. Missing teeth were positively correlated with age, nonwhite race, and smoking and negatively correlated with education level, self-rated oral health, and use of Medicaid. About 53 percent of variance in OHSl scores was explained by the multivariate models, compared to 46 percent for missing teeth. Conclusions: Choosing an indicator of oral health status likely will depend upon the characteristics of the population to be studied. As a composite measure of oral health status, the OHSlperformed acceptably; however, missing teeth, an index component, also worked well. Continued evaluation of the OHSl is warranted. (J Public Health Dent 1 997;57(4):233-42)
An Analytical Study of Smooth Solutions of the Bløtekjær Hydrodynamic Model of Electron Transport

We study the Blotekjaer hydrodynamic model from the standpoint of local well-posedness. We employ analytical methods, originally introduced by T. Kato for complex systems, to obtain the existence of unique local smooth solutions of the Cauchy problem, with smooth initial data. The time interval is invariant with respect to vanishing heat flux. The model is self-consistent, and is developed for onevalley electron carriers only. A symmetrizer is introduced for the system, and regularization is employed to avoid the formation of singularities due to vacuum regions. In the regime studied, it is not possible for shocks to form.
Utility of Reverse Transcriptase PCR for Rapid Diagnosis of Influenza A Virus Infection and Detection of Amantadine-Resistant Influenza A Virus Isolates

A reverse transcriptase PCR was developed to detect 50 or 5,000 RNA copies of influenza A virus per ml in throat swab specimens. The assay was more sensitive than the Directigen Flu A test. The technique was also used to detect amantadine-resistant isolates.
Monte Carlo summation applied to multichain queueing networks

Although many closed multichain queuing networks give rise to a product-form solution for their equilibrium probabilities, evaluating performance measures remains nontrivial due to the presence of a normalization constant. The authors propose the application of Monte Carlo summation in order to determine the normalization constant, throughputs, and gradients of throughputs. The rough idea is to randomly sample the product-form solution over the state space and then average to obtain a consistent estimate. The Monte Carlo summation method has computational requirements that grow polynomially in the problem size, in some cases linearly, and can be adapted to arbitrary product-form networks. >
Inmate adjustment and change during shock incarceration: The impact of correctional boot camp programs

The prison adjustment, expectations, and attitudes of offenders participating in a shock incarceration program were compared to offenders who dropped out of the program and to a comparable group of offenders serving their sentence in a regular prison. There was some evidence that before beginning the program, dropouts from shock incarceration had less prosocial attitudes than those who continued in the program. Shock incarceration offenders differed from those in the regular prison in their adjustment to prison, in their attitudes, and in the changes in these over time. In comparison to regular prison inmates, they were more positive about their prison experience, about their ability to make positive changes in their lives, and in general prosocial attitudes. It was concluded that those who continued voluntarily in the program showed evidence of positive change during shock incarceration. Future research should examine whether these changes are related to performance during parole.
The Role of Baclofen in the Treatment of Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease

Objective. To describe the evidence for baclofen in the treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Data Sources. A search of PubMed and Google Scholar was performed using the terms baclofen, gastroesophageal reflux disease, and treatment. Study Selection and Data Extraction. Publications were reviewed manually for relevance, and studies that addressed the use of baclofen in the treatment of adult symptomatic GERD patients were included. Data Synthesis. Nine studies were evaluated. Baclofen was shown to significantly reduce transient lower esophageal sphincter relaxations (TLESRs), postprandial acid reflux events, and median number of acid-related symptoms in 6 studies evaluating either a single dose of baclofen or short courses of 2 days or less. Three studies followed patients over a slightly longer period of time. These studies confirmed the results of the shorter trials by finding a decrease in supine duodenal reflux episodes, decreased periods when the pH was less than 4, and improvements in symptom scores in patients refractory to proton pump inhibitors. Side effects most frequently reported included drowsiness and dizziness. Conclusions. Baclofen can be considered for the treatment of refractory GERD following diagnostic evaluation. It has been shown to reduce TLESRs, reflux episodes, and reflux-related symptoms with minimal side effects in short-term trials. Future studies demonstrating the long-term efficacy and tolerability of baclofen in the treatment of GERD would help solidify its place in therapy.
The effect of scent-station precipitation covers on visitations by mammalian carnivores and eastern cottontails

Abstract The distribution and abundance of mammalian predators are difficult to monitor because of their elusive nature. One tool used to monitor predators is strategically placed tracking stations. Precipitation often renders tracking stations unreadable by obscuring tracks and other sign. In our study we sought to evaluate the feasibility of placing covers over stations to protect tracking surfaces from precipitation. Survival of the cover structures was negatively correlated with wind speed and positively correlated with woodlands. This suggested that covers might be best used in areas with low wind speeds and/or in forests or other sites that provide shelter from wind. Covers appeared to negatively affect visitations by coyotes (Canis latrans), bobcats (Lynx rufus), and eastern cottontails (Sylvilagus floridanus), but not raccoons (Procyon lotor) or Virginia opossums (Didelphis virginiana). Track quality was not substantially different for covered stations during light rain or snow.
Hungry Wolves, Creepy Sheepies: The Gamification of the Programmer’s Classroom

The Wolves and Sheep game is an educational, multi-agent computer simulation for students of programming classes. Players move about in a two-dimensional landscape, aiming to reach targets or catch other players. Students write programs that control individual players in the game. The programs then participate in a tournament. Students practice basic programming and algorithmic thinking, object-orientation and the role of interfaces, and are even exposed to basic Artificial Intelligence. Gamification helps motivate students and creates positive, but challenging learning experiences.
Insulin-like growth factor binding protein-2 as a novel biomarker for disease activity and renal pathology changes in lupus nephritis.

Lupus nephritis (LN) is one of the most serious manifestations of systemic lupus erythematosus. Invasive renal biopsy remains the gold standard for the diagnosis and management of LN. The objective of this study is to validate serum insulin-like growth factor binding protein-2 (IGFBP-2) as a novel biomarker for clinical disease and renal pathology in LN. Eighty-five biopsy-proven lupus nephritis patients, 18 chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients and 20 healthy controls were recruited for enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) testing of serum IGFBP-2 levels. Compared to CKD patients of origins other than lupus or healthy controls, serum IGFBP-2 levels were elevated significantly in LN patients. Serum IGFBP-2 was able to discriminate LN patients from the other two groups of patients [area under the curve (AUC) = 0·65, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0·52-0·78; P = 0·043 for LN versus CKD; 0·97, 95% CI = 0·93-1·00; P < 0·0001 for LN versus healthy controls]. Serum IGFBP-2 was a potential indicator of both global disease activity and renal disease activity in LN patients, correlated with serum creatinine levels (r = 0·658, P < 0·001, n = 85) and urine protein-to-creatinine levels (r = 0·397, P < 0·001, n = 85). More importantly, in 19 concurrent patient samples, serum IGFBP-2 correlated with the chronicity index of renal pathology (r = 0·576, P = 0·01, n = 19) but not renal pathological classification. In conclusion, serum IGFBP-2 is a promising biomarker for lupus nephritis, reflective of disease activity and chronicity changes in renal pathology.
Current and Next Generation Portable Screening Devices for Diabetic Retinopathy

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is the leading cause of legal blindness in the United States, and with the growing epidemic of diabetes, a global increase in the incidence of DR is inevitable, so it is of utmost importance to identify the most cost-effective tools for DR screening. Emerging technology may provide advancements to offset the burden of care, simplify the process, and provide financially responsible methods to safely and effectively optimize care for patients with diabetes mellitus (DM). We review here currently available technology, both in production and under development, for DR screening. Preliminary results of smartphone-based devices, "all-in-one" devices, and alternative technologies are encouraging, but are largely pending verification of utility when used by nonophthalmic personnel. Further research comparing these devices to current nonportable telemedicine strategies and clinical fundus examination is necessary to validate these techniques and to potentially overcome the poor compliance around the globe of current strategies for DR screening.
Heat flux correlation for high-speed flow in the transitional regime

An analytical correlation is developed for stagnation-point heat flux on spherical objects travelling at high velocity which is accurate for conditions ranging from the continuum to the free-molecular flow regime. Theoretical analysis of the Burnett and super-Burnett equations is performed using simplifications from shock-wave and boundary-layer theory to determine the relative contribution of higher-order heat flux terms compared with the Fourier heat flux (assumed in the Navier–Stokes equations). A rarefaction parameter ( ), based on the free-stream Mach number ( ), the Reynolds number ( ) and the viscosity–temperature index ( ), is identified as a better correlating parameter than the Knudsen number in the transition regime. By studying both the Burnett and super-Burnett equations, a general form for the entire series of higher-order heat flux contributions is obtained. The resulting heat flux expression includes terms with dependence on gas properties, stagnation to wall-temperature ratio and a main dependence on powers of the rarefaction parameter . The expression is applied as a correction to the Fourier heat flux and therefore can be combined with any continuum-based correlation of choice. In the free-molecular limit, a bridging function is used to ensure consistency with well-established free-molecular flow theory. The correlation is then fitted to direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) solutions for stagnation-point heat flux in high-speed nitrogen flows. The correlation is shown to accurately capture the variation in heat flux predicted by the DSMC method in the transition flow regime, while limiting to both continuum and free-molecular values.
Interest, Ideology, and Culture: From the Protocols of Peace to Schlesinger v. Quinto

On August 10, 1910, in a decision the New York Times called "the strongest decision ever handed down against labor (cit. in Lorwin 1924: 193)," the New York County Division of the Supreme Court of New York enjoined the International Ladies' Garment Workers Union from picketing and other strike actions against businesses affiliated with the Cloak, Suit and Skirt Manufacturers' Protective Association (Schwarcz v. ILGWU 1910) . Almost twelve years later, in contrast, the same court granted the union an injunction against the association, "the first important appeal by a union for equity's help in a trade controversy (Frankfurter and Greene 1930: 109)," enabling the ILGWU to win a strike provoked by the employers' unilateral abrogation of a collective agreement (Schlesinger v. Quinto 1922a, 1922b). An inference of progressive development between these two points is mistaken, whether it assumes a steady shift in public policy, a reversal in organizational power, or a transmutation of the union from rebellious autonomy to juridified conformity. Both legal actions are incidents in a multi-dimensional history of regime formation and reformation, and the judicial determinations gain meaning only from the respective conflictual contexts in which they intervene.
Combined surgery for valve and coronary artery disease.

Patients with valvular heart disease often have coexisting coronary artery disease. Studies of the first 500 patients undergoing aortic valve replacement (AVR) combined with coronary bypass grafting (1967-1981) and the first 300 patients undergoing mitral valve replacement (MVR) combined with coronary bypass grafting (1970-1983) at the Cleveland Clinic documented overall in-hospital mortality at 5.9% and 7.3%, respectively. Late survival of patients after AVR and bypass grafting exceeded that for patients after MVR and bypass grafting. In both groups, patients who received bioprostheses and who did not take warfarin had superior survival.
The Racialized State of Exception

In this paper, I argue that contemporary configurations of white supremacy are inherently married to the state of exception as a defining technique for perpetuating whiteness in supposedly democratic contexts. Giorgio Agamben states, “The normative aspect of law can thus be obliterated and contradicted with impunity by a governmental violence that — while ignoring international law externally and producing a permanent state of exception internally — nevertheless still claims to be applying the law.” With the proclaimed end of de jure white supremacy, in order to perpetuate whiteness as a dominant identity formation, the state of exception becomes a vital technology. In the U.S. context, the formal extension of the equal protection of the law to racialized others triggers a continual mobilization and re-mobilization of the state of exception in dealings with non-white subjects and communities. In discussing factors that “produced” the Holocaust, Zygmunt Bauman includes a “state of emergency — an extraordinary, wartime condition, which allowed that government and the bureaucracy it controlled to get away with things which could, possibly, face more serious obstacles in time of peace.” Continual violations and rationalizations for violations of equal protection rely upon some configuration of a state of emergency, that places white citizens in a perpetual state of war and/or posture of war with non-white subjects. The “war on drugs,” the “war on crime,” the “war on terror,” racial profiling, etc. are all manifestations of the use of the state of exception to maintain white privilege. Ultimately, the racialized state of exception is not exceptional after all — it maintains white ruled polities via what Bauman calls a “gardening state” that excludes and exterminates those deemed unworthy. Bauman states, “Man is before he acts; nothing he does may change what he is. This is, roughly, the philosophical essence of racism.” The racialized state of exception is a technology of white supremacy that uses the mask of exception and emergency and necessity to render non-white others permanently othered, and therefore unable to be part of the social contract and the rule of law. Charles Mills’ racial contract converges with Bauman’s gardening state and Agamben’s theorizing of the state of exception to present a devastating reality of contemporary white supremacy, something far from “post racial.”
Density of mice and mosquitoes of medical and health units in Liuzhou city

Objective To know the mice and mosquitoes growth and decay trend of medical and health units in administrative district of Liuzhou city and provide reference for preventing and controlling the harmfulness of mouse and mosquito.Methods Power tracking was applied to investigate the density of mice,while the index of container methods was applied to investigate the density of mosquitoes.Results The average density of mice in medical and health units in Liuzhou was 17.9%,the highest density of mice was 34.8% in Long Tan Hospital of Guangxi Province.There were different density of mice in different level medical and health units,the province level units had the higher density.The average density of mosquitoes was 39.2%(index of container),and the Liuzhou Worker's Hospital had the highest density of mosquitoes which was 66.0%.Conclusion There are many problems in the job of eliminate the four-pests in the medical and health units of Liuzhou city,the density of mice and mosquitoes are higher,and integrated measures should be taken to reduce the density of mice and mosquitoes in the lower range.
Abstract B18: A simple method to prepare oligonucleotide-conjugated antibodies for multiplex protein detection

With rapid advances in nucleic acid detection technologies, genomics studies are being conducted in highly multiplexed formats. However, multiplex analysis is still a daunting task in the proteomics field; it would be of great interest to use genomics tools for protein detection. One way to accomplish this is to use oligonucleotide-conjugated antibodies to bind to specific protein targets, and to monitor conjugated-oligonucleotide levels rather than to measure protein levels directly. In this report we describe a simple method for preparing oligonucleotide-conjugated antibodies and discuss this method’s application in oligo extension reaction (OER) for multiplex protein detection. Conjugation is based on strain-promoted alkyne-azide cycloaddition (the Cu-free click reaction), in which the antibody is activated with a dibenzocyclooctyne (DBCO) moiety and linked covalently with an azide-modified oligonucleotide. The reaction condition and purification process were optimized to achieve maximum yield and best performance in the functional test. The OER assay employs a pair of antibody binders (two antibodies, each conjugated with its own oligonucleotide) developed for each protein target. The two oligonucleotides contain a six-base complementary region at their 3′ prime ends to allow annealing and extension by DNA synthesis enzymes to form a DNA template. The template is then detected by qPCR on the Biomark HD system. Distinct oligonucleotide sequences are assigned to different antibody binders to enable multiplex protein detection. When tested using recombinant proteins, some antibody binders, such as those specific to CSTB, MET, EpCAM and CASP3, had an estimated limit of detection (LOD) of about 0.06 pg/mL and a dynamic range of ≥5 logs. These antibody binders were used in multiplex protein detection in single cells using the C1™ system. The results in individual cells showed the expression of similar protein levels for CSTB and CASP3, but highly varied protein levels for EpCAM, CCNB1 and MUC1. This simple method for the preparation of oligonucleotide-conjugated antibodies is essential for the development of affordable multiplex protein assays, which has the potential to accelerate proteomics research. Citation Format: Haibiao Gong, Ilona Holcomb, Aik Ooi, Xiaohui Wang, Daniel Majonis, Marc Unger, Ramesh Ramakrishnan. A simple method to prepare oligonucleotide-conjugated antibodies for multiplex protein detection. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Fourth AACR International Conference on Frontiers in Basic Cancer Research; 2015 Oct 23-26; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(3 Suppl):Abstract nr B18.
Neotropical African Bees

Publisher Summary This chapter illustrates the genesis of neotropical African bees by intentional introduction of bees from South Africa into Brazil. The introduction from South Africa into Brazil of a subspecies of the common honey bee, Apis mellifera , resulted in a spectacular biological invasion that has had profound effects on agriculture, beekeeping, and human and animal health. Establishment of the African bees led to hybridization with bees of European subspecies maintained by beekeepers for honey production and pollination. The resulting apiary bees became extremely defensive, and honey production declined as beekeepers abandoned beekeeping. Stinging incidents that resulted in human and animal deaths soon led the press and the public to refer to these invaders as “killer bees.” Gene flow between neotropical African honey bee (AHBs) and European honey bee (EHBs) seems to be strongly asymmetrical. AHBs have maintained their genetic integrity, in spite of hybridizing with EHBs, as they have expanded their distribution. Even after 45 years of interaction with EHBs, these bees are indistinguishable in behavior and so similar genetically to bees in the Transvaal of South Africa that it is more appropriate to refer to them as Neotropical African bees or as African-derived bees rather than Africanized bees. Low acquisition of EHB traits into the AHB population can be attributed to pre- and postzygotic isolating mechanisms, i.e., mate selection, queen developmental time, and hybrid dysfunction.
Comment on "Management of Atrial Fibrillation in Critically Ill Patients".

I wish to report a significant misstatement in an article titled “Management of Atrial Fibrillation in Critically Ill Patients” [1].
Mineral Collecting in North Carolina

(1941). Mineral Collecting in North Carolina. Rocks & Minerals: Vol. 16, No. 8, pp. 288-290.
Nanocellulose electrodes for interfacing plant electrochemistry

The study of plant bioelectricity has provided a unique perspective to understand how plants sense their environment and adjust their morphology, physiology, and phenotype accordingly. In this study, we present nanocellulose based novel dry electrodes suitable for use as non-invasive bioelectrical plant interfaces. These electrodes were specifically designed to monitor plant electrochemistry without significantly disturbing their physiology. Using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy enabled us to construct an equivalent circuit model to evaluate the performance of the electrodes. The preliminary characterization of the electrodes in vitro and in vivo using Arabidopsis thaliana provided promising results.
Structural Concerns for MSM Health in Revising the Precautionary Principle.

Value judgments are central to creating good policies in both medicine and public health. At the forefront may be values of protection, such as the protection principle that Kramer, Zaaijer, and Ve...
Higher CD3 cell counts in apheresis collection in relation to superior survival in patients with multiple myeloma.

11085 Background: High dose chemotherapy (HDT) and autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) remain a standard of care for patients with multiple myeloma (MM). While the impact of transplant is p...
An Emergent Threat: Christian Clergy Perceptions of the Emerging Church Movement

Although there have been several attempts to study the dimensions of the Emerging Church movement (ECM) through close observation and survey data, we know little about its diffusion into American religious cultures. We undertook this project by attempting to capture whether Christian clergy thought about the movement and how consistently they considered it. Our analysis of survey data from several denominations suggests that the ECM is less well known among the clergy they are reacting against (evangelicals). Opinions turn not on partisan identity, but on religious authority, which is precisely the ground on which the ECM presents its challenge to evangelicalism. In this way, the ECM appears to be following a path paved by the decline of denominationalism.
Total and free circulating vitamin D and vitamin D binding protein in relation to colorectal cancer risk in a prospective study of African Americans

Background: Previous studies rarely evaluated the associations between vitamin D-binding protein and free vitamin D with colorectal cancer risk. We assessed these biomarkers and total 25-hydroxyvitamin D in relation to colorectal cancer risk in a sample of African Americans.Methods: Cases comprised 224 African American participants of the Southern Community Cohort Study diagnosed with incident colorectal cancer. Controls (N = 440) were selected through incidence density sampling and matched to cases on age, sex, and race. Conditional logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for associations between biomarker levels and colorectal cancer risk.Results: Vitamin D was inversely associated with colorectal cancer risk where the OR per-SD increase in total and free 25-hydroxyvitamin D were 0.82 (95% CI, 0.66-1.02) and 0.82 (95% CI, 0.66-1.01), respectively. Associations were most apparent among cases diagnosed >3 years after blood draw: ORs for the highest tertile versus the lowest were 0.69 (95% CI, 0.21-0.93) for total 25-hydroxyvitamin D and 0.71 (95% CI, 0.53-0.97) for free 25-hydroxyvitamin D. Inverse associations were seen in strata defined by sex, BMI, and anatomic site, although not all findings were statistically significant. Vitamin D-binding protein was not associated with colorectal cancer risk.Conclusions: Our findings suggest that total and free 25-hydroxyvitamin D may be inversely associated with colorectal cancer risk among African Americans.Impact: These findings highlight a potential role for vitamin D in colorectal cancer prevention in African Americans. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 26(8); 1242-7. ©2017 AACR.
Crime, housing tenure, and economic deprivation: Evidence from Milwaukee, Wisconsin

This study examines the determinants of 6 types of crime in Milwaukee, a Rust Belt city that has experienced significant deindustrialization in recent decades. Inner-city areas, as well as a unique...
Mobile app for human-interaction with sitter robots

Human environments are often unstructured and unpredictable, thus making the autonomous operation of robots in such environments is very difficult. Despite many remaining challenges in perception, learning, and manipulation, more and more studies involving assistive robots have been carried out in recent years. In hospital environments, and in particular in patient rooms, there are well-established practices with respect to the type of furniture, patient services, and schedule of interventions. As a result, adding a robot into semi-structured hospital environments is an easier problem to tackle, with results that could have positive benefits to the quality of patient care and the help that robots can offer to nursing staff. When working in a healthcare facility, robots need to interact with patients and nurses through Human-Machine Interfaces (HMIs) that are intuitive to use, they should maintain awareness of surroundings, and offer safety guarantees for humans. While fully autonomous operation for robots is not yet technically feasible, direct teleoperation control of the robot would also be extremely cumbersome, as it requires expert user skills, and levels of concentration not available to many patients. Therefore, in our current study we present a traded control scheme, in which the robot and human both perform expert tasks. The human-robot communication and control scheme is realized through a mobile tablet app that can be customized for robot sitters in hospital environments. The role of the mobile app is to augment the verbal commands given to a robot through natural speech, camera and other native interfaces, while providing failure mode recovery options for users. Our app can access video feed and sensor data from robots, assist the user with decision making during pick and place operations, monitor the user health over time, and provides conversational dialogue during sitting sessions. In this paper, we present the software and hardware framework that enable a patient sitter HMI, and we include experimental results with a small number of users that demonstrate that the concept is sound and scalable.
Use of the Bootstrap in a High Energy Physics Experiment

This note describes the use of the Bootstrap in a High Energy Physics experiment. A typical experiment [1] in this field might involve collection of 100 million “events”, (collisions of subnuclear particles) each described by 1K-500K Bytes of information. Each of these events must be analyzed to deduce the kinds of particles involved. One step in this analysis is discussed here; this particular example involves the identification of high energy γ rays (photons), which produce narrow “showers” in one of our detector. The problem is to distinguish these from another particle, called a π°, which decays into two photons and thus produces a slightly wider shower in our detectors.
Using MACSyma to calculate the extrinsic geometry of a tube in a Riemannian manifold

In this paper we present a MACSyma batch file that calculates the second fundamental form of a tubal hypersurface of a Riemannian manifold. This program is currently being used to investigate the extrinsic geometry of tubes about totally umbillic submanifolds in a complex space form and is implemented on a Sun 3/60.
“Everybody Wants to Work with Me”: Collaborative Labor in Hip Hop

In this article, we consider the production of hip hop as a form of collaborative labor. Drawing on an analysis of 228 hip-hop groups, we find that collaboration among artists has increased...
Deployment of Traps in a Barrier Strategy to Reduce Populations of the European Elm Bark Beetle, and the Incidence of Dutch Elm Disease

Dutch elm disease (DED) is caused by a fungus, Ceratocystis ulmi (Buisman) C. Moreau, that infests the vascular systems of elms and forms sticky masses of conidial spores (coremia) in cavities under the bark of the diseased portions of the tree. These spores have been detected on many arthropods that are found beneath the bark of diseased elms, but only bark beetles are an efficient vector because only they frequently visit or inflict wounds in healthy elms deposition of spores in wounds is necessary for infection.
Potential Theory, Replacement, and Compensation

The potential for a transient chain Nk governed by transition matrix a is the matrix \( g = \sum\limits_0^{\infty } {{a^k}} \). The corresponding potential for transient chains in continuous time is \( g(t) = \int_0^{\infty } {p(t)} \) p(t) dt where p(t) is the transition matrix.† These potentials appear as entities in the answers to many-important questions associated with a particular chain, ergocic or transient. For example, certain replacement processes N* (t) arise from a chain N(t) when samples reaching a bad set B are replaced at a particular “replacement state”. The ergodic distribution for the replacement process involves a potential obtained from N(t) in a simple way. Directly related to the idea of replacement is a method of compensation which treats a modified process as the original process altered by the insertion of positive and negative mass at “boundary states” in such a way as to generate the modified process. In this way structural simplicity of the original process due to spatial homogeneity or independence can be retained in the treatment of the modified process. A variety of examples are given.
Medicaid Expenditures Among Children With Noncomplex Chronic Diseases

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Expenditures for children with noncomplex chronic diseases (NC-CDs) are related to disease chronicity and resource use. The degree to which specific conditions contribute to high health care expenditures among children with NC-CDs is unknown. We sought to describe patient characteristics, expenditures, and use patterns of children with NC-CDs with the lowest (≤80th percentile), moderate (81–95th percentile), high (96–99th percentile), and the highest (≥99th percentile) expenditures. METHODS: In this retrospective cross-sectional study, we used the 2014 Truven Medicaid MarketScan Database for claims from 11 states. We included continuously enrolled children (age RESULTS: Medicaid PMPY spending ranged from $1466 (lowest expenditures) to $57 300 (highest expenditures; P CONCLUSIONS: One percent of children with the highest expenditures accounted for 20% of Medicaid expenditures in children with NC-CDs; mental health conditions account for a large proportion of aggregate Medicaid spending in children with NC-CDs.
Seroprevalence of Dengue and Zika Virus in Blood Donations: A Systematic Review.

Abstract The presence of antibodies to Zika virus (ZIKV) and dengue virus (DENV) can be detected in blood donations. Donation-based surveillance provides an alternative strategy to estimate population prevalence by detecting antibodies that are circulating. To estimate population prevalence, we conducted a systematic review of literature on the seroprevalence of ZIKV and DENV antibodies in blood donations. We searched PubMed and Web of Science for studies that reported the seroprevalence of ZIKV and DENV in blood donations. The title and abstract of each study were screened by 2 reviewers simultaneously for possible inclusion, and the full text of selected studies was reviewed to ensure that they met inclusion criteria (used primary data collection, reported evidence of immunoglobulin M (IgM) or immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies in the blood supply, and included a representative sample of the total population). Immunoglobin test measuring levels of antibodies to IgM and IgG and number of positive cases were extracted from each study. No exclusions were made based on language or country. Our initial search identified 1890 studies after excluding duplicates, of which 76 were assessed for full text eligibility to ensure that they met our final inclusion criteria. There were 14 studies included in our review; 11 examined the seroprevalence of DENV, and 3 examined ZIKV. The highest seroprevalence by IgM was 2.82% for DENV and 0.53% for ZIKV. Our results indicate that the seroprevalence of ZIKV and DENV antibody presence in countries with active transmission is higher than reports by traditional surveillance in some countries. This finding is expected due to the large percentage of asymptomatic cases. The highest seroprevalence was observed for IgG, which can persist over long periods of time compared to IgM. Screening of blood donations may help supplement traditional surveillance measures, especially during outbreak settings.
X-Ray Signatures of Axion Conversion in Magnetic White Dwarf Stars

White dwarf (WD) stars may radiate keV-energy axions produced in their stellar cores. This has been extensively studied as an extra channel by which WDs may cool, with some analyses even suggesting that axions can help explain the observed WD luminosity function. We show that the radiated axions may convert into x rays in the strong magnetic fields surrounding the WDs, leading to observable x-ray signatures. We use Suzaku observations of the WD RE J0317-853 to set the strongest constraints to date on the combination of the axion-electron (${g}_{aee}$) times axion-photon (${g}_{a\ensuremath{\gamma}\ensuremath{\gamma}}$) couplings, and we show that dedicated observations of magnetic WDs by telescopes such as Chandra, XMM-Newton, and NuSTAR could increase the sensitivity to $|{g}_{aee}{g}_{a\ensuremath{\gamma}\ensuremath{\gamma}}|$ by over an order of magnitude, allowing for a definitive test of the axionlike-particle explanation of the stellar cooling anomalies.
Saving Europe in Spain: José Ortega y Gasset’s Meditations on Quixote and the politics of self, nation and Europe:

This article examines the Spanish and German contexts of philosopher Jose Ortega y Gasset’s Europeanizing cultural mission before the First World War, culminating in his first published book Medita...
READING JONAH BACKWARDS: RECONSIDERING A PROPHET’S REPENTANCE

ABSTRACT: The Portrait Of The Angry, Bitter Prophet That Concludes The Book Of Jonah Has Long Proved Difficult To Reconcile With The Seemingly Repentant And Obedient Prophet Who Earlier Had Praised God From The Belly Of The Great Fish Before Fulfilling His Divine Commission To Bring The Word Of God To Nineveh. This Article Considers The Rhetorical Purpose Of These Disparate Portraits By Interpreting Jonah’s Acts Of Piety Through The Lens Of The Concluding Depiction Of The Prophet Entrenched In His Hardhearted Rebellion. There Is An Irreducibly Prophetic Purpose To This Ironic Portrayal Of A Wayward Israelite Prophet Who Gives Praise To God With His Lips Only Later To Reveal That His Heart Is Far From Him. KEYWORDS:
Measurements of $Z^0$ to Heavy-quark couplings at SLD

We present measurements of $Z^0$ to heavy-quark coupling electroweak parameters, $R_b$, $R_c$, and parity-violation parameter $A_c$, from SLD. The measurements are based on approximately 550k hadronic $Z^0$ events collected in 1993-98. Obtained preliminary results of $R_b$ and $R_c$ measurements are $R_b = 0.2159 \pm 0.0014 \pm 0.0014$ and $R_c = 0.1685 \pm 0.0047 \pm 0.0043$. In the $A_c$ measurement, we use four methods to determine the initial-quark charge: combined Kaon charge and Vertex charge, lepton, exclusively reconstructed D*, D-mesons, and a new method using inclusive soft-pion from D*. The preliminary results of these four methods were combined to give $A_c = 0.634 \pm 0.027$.
Age Differences in Negative, but Not Positive, Rumination.

Objectives The main objective of this study was to determine whether there are age differences in positive and negative repetitive thought (ie, rumination). Method Young adults (ages 19-39; n = 114) and older adults (ages 60-85; n = 88) completed measures of negative and positive rumination. Bayesian analyses were used to determine whether age differences were present for both negative (young > old) and positive (old > young) rumination. Results There was extremely strong evidence for age differences in negative rumination, with lower scores in older adults. In contrast, the evidence was in favor of the null hypothesis for positive rumination. Discussion Age-related positivity is better characterized as decreased dwelling on the meaning of negative moods, rather than increased attention to positive ones.
Dupilumab-associated blepharoconjunctivitis.

Abstract Purpose To report a case of dupilumab-associated blepharoconjunctivitis. Observations A 48 year-old Caucasian male presented with bilateral blepharitis, multiple chalazia, dry eye disease and significant papillary conjunctivitis. The past medical history included fourteen years of severe atopic dermatitis. After failed attempts to treat atopic dermatitis with topical corticosteroids, the patient enrolled into a four-year clinical trial of biweekly dupilumab injections. Four to six weeks after initiation of dupilumab, the patient reported blurred vision, ocular irritation and redness. Slit lamp examination demonstrated bilateral meibomian gland dysfunction, edematous eyelids with multiple chalazia and significant papillary conjunctivitis. Meibography by Lipiscan revealed significant truncation, atrophy and bifurcation of meibomian glands bilaterally. The patient's multiple chalazia were excised and eyelid hygiene was closely followed. Cliradex wipes and Avenova were added to the patient's regime and one session of Lipiflow treatment was administered. The patient continued this eyelid hygiene regimen along with neomycin/polymyxin B/dexamethasone ophthalmic ointment after each dupilumab infusion. Conclusions and Importance Five weeks after Lipiflow treatment with concomitant use of Cliradex and Avenova, visual acuity and ocular discomfort improved. Current treatment includes Cliradex eyelid wipes along with neomycin/polymyxin B/dexamethasone ophthalmic ointment for a week after each dupilumab infusion. Topical steroids and antibiotics with eyelid hygiene are effective ways to treat atopic dermatitis patients exhibiting dupilumab's ocular side effects. Lipiflow therapy may also help in treatment.
Crustal Deformation and Fractals, a Review

The frequency—magnitude statistics of earthquakes have long been known to satisfy the Gutenberg—Richter relation; it is easy to show that this relation is fractal with D=1.8–2. Since it is generally accepted that individual faults have characteristic earthquakes, it follows that the number—size statistics of faults are also fractal. Limited field studies indicate that the surface exposures have a two—dimensional fractal dimension of D ~ 1.6. (The seismic and fault fractal dimensions need not be equal since the repeat time of earthquakes can also have a power—law dependence on scale.) Fragments have a fractal number—size relation with D ~ 2.5 under a wide range of conditions. One model for tectonic deformation is comminution; such a scale—invariant model appears to be consistent with the fractal correlations discussed above. Seismicity has many of the characteristic features of “self—organized criticality”. Energy (strain) is continuously added to the crust and is lost in discrete events (earthquakes) that have a fractal frequency—size distribution. It appears reasonable to hypothesize that the continental crust is everywhere in this critical state (similar to the critical stress associated with perfect plasticity). Evidence for this comes from the distribution of intraplate earthquake and from the occurrence of induced seismicity almost anywhere an artificial reservoir is filled.
Changing panorama of cerebral palsy in Sweden. VIII. Prevalence and origin in the birth year period 1991-94.

UNLABELLED This 8th Swedish population-based cerebral palsy (CP) report comprises 241 children born 1991-94. The live birth prevalence was 2.12 per 1000. Excluding 7 postnatally-derived cases, the gestational age-specific prevalences were 86 for extremely preterm children, 60 for very preterm and 6 for moderately preterm, and 1.3 for term children per 1000. Spastic hemiplegic, diplegic and tetraplegic subtypes accounted for 33%, 44% and 6%, dyskinetic CP for 12% and simple ataxia for 4%. Neuroimaging had been performed in 90%. Probable aetiology was identified in 73% of preterm and 86% of term children. Among preterm children it was considered prenatal in 12%, peri/neonatal in 61% and unclassifiable in 27%, while it was 51%, 36% and 14% among term children. CONCLUSION The live birth prevalence for CP in the birth year period 1991-94 continued to decrease slightly. Gestational age-specific prevalences increased marginally in extremely and very preterm births, continued to decrease in moderately preterm births and decreased slightly in term births. Probable aetiology and timing of the brain insult could be revealed in 81%, birth asphyxia being the likely cause in 28% of term children.
Culture, PTSD, and emotion regulation: An anthropological perspective

Abstract This chapter investigates culture, PTSD, and emotion regulation from an anthropological perspective. Such an approach is particularly relevant to this topic given how little empirical research has been conducted to date concerning the specific intersection of culture, PTSD, and emotion regulation. Moreover, we believe that the types of qualitative and ethnographic research described in the present chapter are complementary to traditional quantitative approaches to the study of emotion regulation and have the potential to greatly enhance the validity of findings from such approaches, as there is considerable evidence that cultural background and social expectations significantly impact expression, regulation, and interpretation of emotions. The present work focuses on ethnographic accounts that have the potential to shed light on how these elements come together in the lived experiences of individuals across diverse sociocultural settings.