cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Susceptibility of Differentiating Muscle Cells of the Fetal Mouse in Culture to Coxsackievirus A13

Abstract The interaction of coxsackievirus A13 with differentiating muscle cells, cultured from tissues of the fetal mouse, was studied. Cultures infected at that stage of myogenic differentiation characterized by the rapid formation of multinucleated myotubes produced maximum virus titers of over 107 plaque-forming units. Virus-induced cytopathic effect was characterized by a marked diminution in the number of multinucleated cells. The susceptibility of these cultures decreased appreciably when infection was initiated after the majority of the myotubes had formed. The demonstration of newly synthesized A13 virus antigen by immunofluorescence provided direct evidence that A13 virus replication occurred both in myoblasts and myotubes. The synthesis of A13 virus was markedly depressed in muscle cultures in which the formation of multinucleated cells was inhibited by BUDR or by fusion-inhibiting media. After reversal of this inhibition, the cultures acquired the increased susceptibility to A13 virus characteristic of cells undergoing myogenic differentiation. In contrast to the results obtained with coxsackievirus A13, the primary fetal mouse muscle cultures were resistant to poliovirus T1. It is suggested that changes in the surfaces of developing muscle cells may coincide with the formation and disappearance of specific virus receptors and thereby regulate the cell susceptibility to coxsackievirus A13.
Defective Signaling in a Subpopulation of CD4+ T Cells in the Absence of Ca2+/Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinase IV

Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase IV-deficient (CaMKIV−/−) mice have been used to investigate the role of this enzyme in CD4+ T cells. We identify a functional defect in a subpopulation of CD4+ T cells, characterized by a cell surface marker profile usually found on memory phenotype CD4+ T cells. Upon T-cell receptor engagement, the mutant cells produce diminished levels of interleukin-2 (IL-2), IL-4, and gamma interferon protein and mRNA. The defect is secondary to an inability to phosphorylate CREB and to induce CREB-dependent immediate-early genes, including c-jun, fosB, fra2, and junB, which are required for cytokine gene induction. In contrast, stimulated naive CD4+ T cells from CaMKIV−/− mice show normal CREB phosphorylation, induction of immediate-early genes, and cytokine production. Thus, in addition to defining an important signaling role for CaMKIV in a subpopulation of T cells, we identify differential signaling requirements for cytokine production between naive T cells and T cells that express cell surface markers characteristic of the memory phenotype.
Analysis of Human Postural Control during Spontaneous Sway Using an Optimal Control Model

Models of human postural control aid in understanding human capabilities and limitations, and may facilitate a reduction in injuries related to loss-of-balance. Such a model is presented here to simulate and interpret the postural control system during spontaneous sway. The human body was represented by a simple inverted pendulum, with the neural controller assumed to be an optimal controller that generates spontaneous sway according to a certain performance criterion. In order to accurately simulate existing experimental data, an optimization procedure was used to specify the set of model parameters. Ten independent simulations were performed for both young and older adults. Aging effects were then analyzed based on the simulation results. The results showed that this model was able to simulate some center-of-pressure measures reported in experimental studies, and indicated potential changes in postural control mechanisms caused by aging.
Life-threatening piperacillin-induced immune haemolysis in a patient with cystic fibrosis

We present a 24-year-old man with a history significant for cystic fibrosis and insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus who developed anaemia in the setting of piperacillin-induced immune haemolysis. This case provided a diagnostic challenge, a rare association of piperacillin-induced haemolysis in those suffering from cystic fibrosis.
Risperidone- and Quetiapine-Induced Cholestasis

Objective:To describe a case of a patient who developed drug-induced cholestasis after being on risperidone maintenance therapy for 8 years.Case Summary:A 30-year-old male with schizoaffective disorder, bipolar type, and insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus had been stable on risperidone 6 mg at night for 8 years. His other medications included lithium 900 mg twice daily and enalapril 5 mg daily, as well as regular insulin and NPH insulin as needed. The patient developed cholestasis that resolved once risperidone was discontinued. Over the next 11 months, he tolerated trials of ziprasidone and olanzapine. When quetiapine was initiated, the patient developed signs and symptoms of cholestasis within 3 weeks after starting this medication. The signs and symptoms of cholestasis resolved with removal of quetiapine. The Naranjo probability scale indicated that these atypical antipsychotics (risperidone and quetiapine) were the probable cause of cholestasis in this patient.Discussion:It is well known that atypica...
Applications of pyroelectric materials in array-based detectors

The development of low-cost, uncooled (room temperature operation) thermal detector arrays has been accelerating in recent years and now commercial products are becoming widely available. As costs come down and volumes rise, these devices are entering the consumer marketplace, providing everything from sophisticated security and people-monitoring devices to hand-held thermal imagers for preventative maintenance and building inspection. Two technologies have established significant market shares in uncooled thermal detector array products. These are resistive microbolometers and pyroelectric ceramics. To address the true mass market, the pyroelectric arrays offer significant cost advantage. In this paper, recent developments in a variety of products based on pyroelectric ceramic arrays are described and their performance and applicability are compared and contrasted with competing technologies. This includes the use of low-element-count arrays for applications in people counting and queue measurement, and the drive for cost-effective imaging arrays for mass-market thermal imaging. The technical challenges in materials production, device development, and low-cost manufacture are reviewed and future opportunities and challenges are outlined.
Variation in Ratio Factors for Age-Adjusting Part-Lactation Records

Abstract Age factors for placing cumulative and noncumulative part-lactation yields on a mature-equivalent part-lactation basis were constructed from 39,328 lactations representing 27,538 Iowa Holstein cows. Variation in the age-production curves associated with season, test day, and yield trait (milk or fat) was investigated. Different sets of factors are required for each combination of test day, season, and yield trait. The later stages of the lactation exhibited a smaller increase in production with age than the earlier stages. Cows that calved in the summer months showed a smaller rate of increase with age than cows calving at other seasons of the year. The rate of increase in fat yield to maturity was less than that for milk production. The results provided further evidence that the extrapolation of cumulative part records to a 305-day basis should consider age at calving.
“True to Myself”: Transforming Secondary Mathematics Teachers’ Beliefs and Practices

Given the minimal impact in the classroom from the implementation of reform movements internationally, the question remains how researchers and teacher educators can address the learning needs of teachers. The goal was to implement research that was focused on providing an empowering space for the advancement of teachers’ beliefs and practices. The results showed that Fay’s three stages of empowerment provided a useful framework for describing the progress of a group of teachers engaged in processes designed to reveal self-knowledge of their beliefs and alternate practices. Participants were able to become aware of their beliefs and practices, negotiate barriers, become more grounded in their personal philosophical perspectives, and take action to implement novel pedagogies.
The racial factor in the interview

Alfred Kadushin, Ph.D., is Professor, School of Social Work, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin. This article is adapted from part of a chapter on cultural factors in the interview from The Social Work Interview, to be pub lished by Columbia University Press in August 1972. Ethnicity, broadly speaking, means mem bership in a group that is differentiated on the basis of some distinctive characteristic,
Fungal Infections: The Role of Prophylactic and Empiric Antifungal Therapy in ICU Patients

In 1990 National Nosocomial Infection Surveillance (NISS) Program data heightened the awareness of nosocomial fungal infections in the U.S. During the 1980s nosocomial fungal infection rates doubled andCandidaspecies(Candidasp.) emerged as the sixth most common nosocomial pathogen. Increases in fungal infection rates occurred regardless of hospital type or size and were primarily due to one genus,Candidasp, which caused nearly 80% of all nosocomial fungal infections (1,2).
Estimation of local modeling error and goal-oriented adaptive modeling of heterogeneous materials: I. Error estimates and adaptive algorithms

Abstract A theory of a posteriori estimation of modeling errors in local quantities of interest in the analysis of heterogeneous elastic solids is presented. These quantities may, for example, represent averaged stresses on the surface of inclusions or mollifications of pointwise stresses or displacements or, in general, local features of the “fine-scale” solution characterized by continuous linear functionals. These estimators are used to construct goal-oriented adaptive procedures in which models of the microstructure are adapted to deliver local features to a preset level of accuracy. Algorithms for implementing these procedures are discussed and preliminary numerical results are given. The analysis is restricted to linear, static, heterogeneous, elastic materials.
Constitutive Relations and Realizability of Single-Point Turbulence Closures

In turbulent computational fluid dynamics (CFD), the basic equations are the ensemble averaged Navier-Stokes equations, such as the mean velocity and mean scalar (e.g., temperature) equations, the Reynolds stress and turbulent scalar flux equations, etc. These transport equations are, in general, not closed because of the new unknown correlation terms created by the non-linearity of the Navier-Stokes equation in the statistical averaging process. These new unknown terms are onepoint (in time and space) turbulent correlations, for example, the Reynolds stress and the scalar flux in the mean velocity U i and mean scalar Θ equations, or the pressure-strain correlation and the pressure-scalar gradient correlation in the Reynolds stress and scalar flux transport equations. These terms and other unknown correlation terms (e.g., the triple correlations , and ) must be modeled in order to close the corresponding CFD equations and make them ready to be used for studying various turbulent flows. The task of one-point closures is to provide models or “constitutive” relationships for these new unknown one-point turbulent correlation terms. In this chapter we shall follow the ideas and approach of Lumley (1970) in deriving the possible general constitutive relationships for various one-point turbulent correlations. Then, we shall discuss the realizability concept introduced by Schumann (1977) Lumley (1978) and Reynolds (1987) and show its application in various levels of one-point turbulence closures for both velocity and scalar fields.
Amino Acid Composition and Nutritive Value of Goat Milk Casein.

Summary1. Casein from goat milk was prepared by isoelectric precipitation followed by ether extraction. Amino acid composition was determined by chromatography on Dow-ex 50 ion exchange resin. The nutritive value of goat milk casein was determined by a rat growth assay method. 2. Goat milk casein has a higher content of glycine and lower concentrations of arginine and methionine than the values reported for cow's milk casein. The earlier reports on goat milk casein did not include values for glycine, isoleucine, methionine or threonine. 3. The biological value of goat milk casein, as prepared in our laboratory, is similar to that of commercially available cow's milk casein. The cow's milk casein prepared in our laboratory, however, had a somewhat higher biological value than either of the other two samples. 4. These differences in amino acid composition may be the basis for the differences in biological value of caseins from goat and cow's milk.
Investigation on Growth and Development of Preschool Children in Sanmenxia

Objective To investigate the physical development of children in Sanmenxia,and to put forward some suggestions for the improvement. Methods The body weight and height of 826 preschool children(410 boys and 416 girls) aged 3 to 7 years in the 2 kindergartens of Sanmenxia City were measured by the national unified measurement method.The China Child Growth Standard was used to compute the Z-scores with SPSS16.0 software,and then the Z-scores were compared with the results of 2002 national nutrition survey. Results The rates of malnutrition,stunting,underweight and overweight which counted by the national standards were all lower than the average levels of the whole country,but the rate of obesity was similar to that of the whole country. Conclusions In general,the growth and development of the surveyed children are better than 2009 national growth standards,and the growth and development status of these children are good.
Bone Marrow CD11c + Cell–Derived Amphiregulin Promotes Pulmonary Fibrosis

Amphiregulin (AREG), an epidermal growth factor receptor ligand, is implicated in tissue repair and fibrosis, but its cellular source and role in regeneration versus fibrosis remain unclear. In this study, we hypothesize that AREG induced in bone marrow-derived CD11c(+) cells is essential for pulmonary fibrosis. Thus, the objectives were to evaluate the importance and role of AREG in pulmonary fibrosis, identify the cellular source of AREG induction, and analyze its regulation of fibroblast function and activation. The results showed that lung AREG expression was significantly induced in bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis. AREG deficiency in knockout mice significantly diminished pulmonary fibrosis. Analysis of AREG expression in major lung cell types revealed induction in fibrotic lungs predominantly occurred in CD11c(+) cells. Moreover, depletion of bone marrow-derived CD11c(+) cells suppressed both induction of lung AREG expression and pulmonary fibrosis. Conversely, adoptive transfer of bone marrow-derived CD11c(+) cells from bleomycin-treated donor mice exacerbated pulmonary fibrosis, but not if the donor cells were made AREG deficient prior to transfer. CD11c(+) cell-conditioned media or coculture stimulated fibroblast proliferation, activation, and myofibroblast differentiation in an AREG-dependent manner. Furthermore, recombinant AREG induced telomerase reverse transcriptase, which appeared to be essential for the proliferative effect. Finally, AREG significantly enhanced fibroblast motility, which was associated with increased expression of α6 integrin. These findings suggested that induced AREG specifically in recruited bone marrow-derived CD11c(+) cells promoted bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis by activation of fibroblast telomerase reverse transcriptase-dependent proliferation, motility, and indirectly, myofibroblast differentiation.
THE PHYSICIAN, THE BATTERED CHILD, AND THE LAW

THE PROBLEM of physical and mental injuries inflicted on infants and small children has increasingly attracted the attention of physicians and welfare workers within the past few years. A bibliography prepared by the Children9s Bureau in August of last year compiled a substantial number of scholarly articles in scientific journals dealing with abused children. Careful case studies reveal the seriousness of the problem, and several surveys, its extent. What informed persons have suspected and what many doctors and social workers have believed, has been demonstrated, viz., that parents too often are their children9s worst enemies. It may be because one or more parent is psychotic, of extremely low intelligence, of uncontrollable temper, or was himself an abused child with serious psychiatric after-effects. The assumption that, generally, a child is "better off" in the home, surrounded by the loving care of his parents is no doubt sound enough, but the exceptions are sufficiently numerous to warrant more attention by appropriate agencies and professional individuals, public and private, than they have received. The Children9s Bureau held two conferences devoted to this matter during the year 1962. Participants included well-qualified pediatricians, social workers, psychiatrists, lawyers, judges, juvenile court staff personnel, administrative and professional hospital staff members, and others concerned with child health and welfare. There was general agreement that the physician is perhaps the first person who will obtain knowledge of a situation involving inflicted injuries on a child, that he should report his findings to an appropriate investigating authority for further action, and that state legislation is necessary to impose a legal obligation on the physician in this regard.
Inhaled corticosteroid related adrenal suppression detected by poor growth and reversed with ciclesonide.

ABSTRACTIntroduction: This case series intends to highlight the association between decreased linear growth velocity and adrenal suppression in patients receiving inhaled corticosteroids for asthma. A potential treatment option is also discussed. Adrenal suppression secondary to inhaled corticosteroids has previously been reported and is often underrecognized. A decrease in linear height velocity has also been associated with inhaled corticosteroids. However, a decrease in height velocity has not been shown to predict adrenal suppression. Case study: This case series of 15 patients receiving inhaled corticosteroids for control of asthma were noted to have a decrease in linear growth velocity ultimately associated with adrenal suppression. A change in inhaled corticosteroid to ciclesonide led to recovery of adrenal function without impacting asthma control. Results: Chart review from a pediatric pulmonology clinic was performed. Growth parameters and laboratory studies were recorded and analyzed. A mean de...
Transfer of 14C-thiouracil during pregnancy.

Study of placental transfer of 14 C-thiouracil in pregnant rats from the tenth through the twentieth day of pregnancy showed a rapid and facile transfer of the compound throughout pregnancy. The latter stages of pregnancy displayed increasing radioactivity in the fetus with time, presumably indicating increasing incorporation into the fetal thyroid.
Distribution of asymmetrical and symmetrical sperm storage in the Eriophyoidea and its phylogenetic implications

The mode of sperm storage was determined for females of 18 species of Eriophyoidea, including three Phytoptidae, 14 Eriophyidae, and one Diptilomiopidae. Two of the Phytoptidae, both from dicot hosts, represent the first examined species of Phytoptinae and Sierraphytoptinae. All three phytoptids stored sperm symmetrically, the same as other phytoptids from gymnosperm and monocot hosts (a Nalepellinae and a Novophytoptinae, respectively) reported earlier. Only symmetrical storage is presently known for this family. The fourteen Eriophyidae studied here represent eight genera, four of which had not been examined previously, and include several species of Aceria from different monocot families that stored sperm symmetrically. All of the other Aceria and representatives of other genera from dicot hosts stored sperm asymmetrically, the same as dicot-infesting Eriophyidae reported earlier. The diptilomiopid species stored sperm asymmetrically, the same as two other diptilomiopids reported earlier. The mode of sperm storage is now known for 40 species of Eriophyoidea. Symmetrical storage is common to all examined members of the morphologically primitive family Phytoptidae and to all Aceria from monocot hosts. Asymmetrical storage is common to all other examined members of the more derived families Eriophyidae and Diptilomiopidae.
Jane Addams's Democratic Journey

It's now been a hundred years since the publication of Jane Addams's masterpiece, Twenty Years at Hull-House. By 1910, Addams's contemporaries already recognized her as America's most respected social reformer and saw Hull-House as the living symbol of the Progressive Era. Now the instantly popular book, one of eleven she authored, displayed Addams's distinctive gift of combining compelling story with insightful social analysis.
Autophagic targeting and avoidance in intracellular bacterial infections

Eukaryotic cells use autophagy to break down and recycle components such as aggregated proteins and damaged organelles. Research in the past decade, particularly using Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium as a model pathogen, has revealed that autophagy can also target invading intracellular bacterial pathogens for degradation. However, many bacterial pathogens have evolved mechanisms that allow for evasion of the autophagic pathway, such as motility or direct and irreversible cleavage of proteins that comprise the autophagic machinery. As a complete and detailed understanding of the autophagic pathway and its derivatives continues to develop, it is likely that other mechanisms of inhibition by bacterial pathogens will be discovered.
Clinical outcomes associated with INTERMACS-defined right heart failure after left ventricular assist device implantation.

Background: Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD) pump thrombosis (PT) is a devastating complication of mechanical circulatory support. The diagnosis of LVAD thrombus is difficult in vivo, often only suggested by markers of hemolysis and echocardiographic features, which lack sensitivity. We sought to test a probe with high avidity anti-fibrin 99mTc to localize and quantify thrombus within the high shear environment of titanium axial-flow pumps. Methods: Monomeric bifunctional ligands with a fibrin-specific peptide, a short spacer, and technetium chelating amino acid sequence (F1A) were covalently inter-coupled via a 4-arm-PEG2000 tetramer to form F4A. Each was radiolabeled with 99mTc using the IsoLink procedure. We collected 20 explanted HeartMate II LVADs, of which 9 were explanted for suspected pump thrombosis and 11 were explanted during heart transplant or exchange for other complications. Ex-vivo imaging of explanted pumps was conducted in plasma using a mock circulatory loop running at 9400 RPM for 30 minutes as has previously been described. After imaging the devices were sent to the manufacturer for disassembly and thorough inspection for thrombus. Results: The majority of patients were male (85%) with a mean age of 54.1 6 9.8 and a median INTERMACS profile of 2. The median time of LVAD support prior to explant was 7.6 6 7.2 months. Of the 9 patients exchanged for suspected pump thrombosis all had undetectable haptoglobin levels and mean LDH levels of 3520 6 2596. All 9 had CT scans prior to LVAD exchange without any visualized thrombus or kinking of the inflow or outflow cannulas. Two of the pumps have been disassembled and inspected by the manufacturer. Both pumps were in patients with suspected pump thrombosis and both the pumps had thrombus found on SPECT imaging and on visual inspection (Figure 1A and 1B). Conclusions: A novel, fibrin-specific 99mTc small tetrameric probe offers the potential to detect, localize, and quantify intra-LVAD thrombus noninvasively. Once verified in a large cohort this agent offers the opportunity to diagnose LVAD pump thrombosis at an earlier stage. Definite and early diagnosis may confer therapeutic options to avoid pump failure and/or costly and morbid LVAD exchange.
Theoretical Perspective on Quarkonia from SPS via RHIC to LHC

Abstract The objective of this paper is to assess the current theoretical understanding of the extensive set of quarkonium observables (for both charmonia and bottomonia) that have been attained in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions over two orders of magnitude in center-of-mass energy. We briefly lay out and compare the currently employed theoretical frameworks and their underlying transport coefficients, and then analyze excitation functions of quarkonium yields to characterize the nature of the varying production mechanisms. We argue that an overall coherent picture of suppression and regeneration mechanisms emerges which enables to deduce insights on the properties of the in-medium QCD force from SPS via RHIC to LHC, and forms a basis for future quantitative studies.
Foveal scale space generation with the log-polar transform

Tracking deep-field objects across a wide field of view requires the use of high resolution image sensors. This imposes a burden on processing systems which must detect and extract features in an image. Deep-field objects have limited spatial support within a wide field of view image and accordingly much of the recorded scene contains superfluous information about the environment. This paper explores the generation of a foveal scale space using the log-polar transform. Foveal scale space is the scale space representation of an input scene where the spatial support of the image at each scale increases with scale and the number of pixels remains constant across each slice of scale space. This paper reports the formulation of a transformation consisting of a peripheral region defined by the log-polar transform and a foveal region where resolution is constant. A method for performing diffusion in this domain is shown and the generation of the foveal scale space is presented.
Iowa’s Medicaid Expansion Promoted Healthy Behaviors But Was Challenging To Implement And Attracted Few Participants

As part of Iowa’s Medicaid expansion, the Healthy Behaviors Program was designed to provide members with incentives to complete specified healthy activities in return for waiving monthly premiums. ...
Evaluating the Role of Extended Aromatase Inhibitor Therapy in Early Hormone-Positive Breast Cancer

As adjuvant therapy for early-stage, hormone receptor-positive breast cancer has improved, late recurrences have become a significant issue. Endocrine therapies such as tamoxifen and aromatase inhibitors play a central role in reducing the risk of recurrence of hormone-positive breast cancers. However, the continued risk of breast cancer recurrence even with 5 years of adjuvant AI therapy has led to interest in extended therapy. This review intends to discuss and analyze recent trials that have reported results with extending AI therapy beyond 5 years of treatment. The IDEAL, DATA, and NSABP B-42 were unable to demonstrate a significant benefit in disease-free survival for extending aromatase inhibitor therapy beyond 5 years. They collectively demonstrate a decreased risk for contralateral breast cancers, as well as an increased risk for bone-related and cardiovascular toxicity. There continues to be a lack of definitive evidence on the ideal length of adjuvant AI therapy. As certain subgroups may benefit more and experience less toxicity, selecting future patients based on clinicopathologic and genomic factors may maximize the benefit of extended adjuvant aromatase inhibitor therapy while minimizing harms.
CSP Hybrid Space Computing

Space is a hazardous environment for electronic systems; therefore, the traditional approach to space computing relies upon radiation-hardened electronics, which are characteristically more expensi...
Grammars as user models

This paper describes how grammars of native languages can be used is tutoring systems to facilitate instruction in a second language. The grammar functions as a user model, which enables the system to customise its responses by addressing problems that may be due to interference from the native language. Its correction strategy is based upoa comparison of the native language model with a model of the target language. The problems and solutions presented in this paper are related to the more general question of how modelling previous knowledge facilitates instruction in a new skill.
A Mixed-Method Approach: Design of a Novel Sensor System to Measure Cookstove Usage and Fuel Consumption

Stakeholders in the improved cookstove sector have called for better monitoring tools to quantify the adoption and technical performance of these devices. To meet this need. researchers at Oregon State University developed the Fuel, Usage and Emissions Logger (FUEL). an Integrated logging load cell and temperature sensor that measures household fuel consumption and cookstove usage, This paper outlines the design process of the FUEL system using a mixed-method ethnographic approach that combines qualitative and quantitative data to inform each step in the design process. The ethnographic methods used for field studies in Guatemala, Honduras, and Uganda included participant observation, semi-structured interviews, survevs, and focal follow. Triangulation of these results was used to validate or invalidate design hypotheses. Findings highlight general challenzes faced during the design process of humanitarian technologies, including product adaptability, symbolism of “everyday” objects, and pro-innovation bias. Overall, results contribute towards a framework of ethnographic design research for humanitarian technologies.
Complex depression: The treatment of major depression and severe personality pathology

The intensive treatment of a patient presenting with major depression, chronic suicidal ideation, and a borderline personality disorder with narcissistic features is described as it developed over an 18-month treatment. The treatment approach is a transdiagnostic one with an emphasis on change in the patient's representation of self and others, identity and interpersonal functioning. The intended change is not only in the reduction of depression and suicidal ideation but also an improvement in interactions with others at work and intimate relations. The combination of rich clinical information from the therapist and independent research ratings of patient progress provide a complex picture of the treatment.
Laboratory adaptation of a native North American parasitoid to an exotic wood-boring beetle: implications for biological control of invasive pests

Numerous researchers have observed native parasitic Hymenoptera attacking exotic pest species, yet few have documented their potential to adapt to novel hosts. Host-adapted parasitoids may be particularly important in new-association biocontrol programs, especially if their behaviors and physiologies can be affected in such a way as to enhance their virulence on novel hosts. Here, we investigated the potential of the native parasitoid, Ontsira mellipes, to adapt to a novel, invasive cerambycid host, Anoplophora glabripennis, under laboratory conditions. Although not significantly different, there is an apparent increase in parasitism of A. glabripennis larvae (from 45.5 to 65.7%) and in the percentage of pupae eclosing to adults (from 65.1 to 82.9%) between the F1–2 and F68–71 generation parasitoids. Moreover, later generation (F41–44 and F68–71) parasitoids produced significantly more progeny on average than did first-generation (F1–2) parasitoids, and parasitoid generation had no significant effect on the secondary sex ratio or ovipositor length. Results indicate that older generation parasitoids have an increased efficacy in parasitizing and utilizing this novel host. This study demonstrates that continuously rearing of a generalist parasitoid on a newly acquired novel host can enhance host parasitism rates, parasitoid development, and fitness and thus may improve the efficacy of new-association biocontrol.
Children’s Experiences of Trauma and Human Rights Violations Around the World

Children around the globe experience neglect, emotional, physical and sexual abuse, and economic exploitation. These violations of children’s rights occur within homes, at school, at work, in communal spaces, and over the Internet. Societal crises such as armed conflicts or natural disasters and their aftermath can further precipitate direct and vicarious exposure to violence. These overwhelming and intolerable life experiences can have profound immediate and long-term negative impacts on the brains, minds, and bodies of children. Traumatized children require a trauma-specific approach to ameliorate their trauma symptoms. At the same time, trauma-informed approaches in policies and settings could organically uphold the core principles of children’s rights.
Invasive grasses increase fire occurrence and frequency across US ecoregions.

Fire-prone invasive grasses create novel ecosystem threats by increasing fine-fuel loads and continuity, which can alter fire regimes. While the existence of an invasive grass-fire cycle is well known, evidence of altered fire regimes is typically based on local-scale studies or expert knowledge. Here, we quantify the effects of 12 nonnative, invasive grasses on fire occurrence, size, and frequency across 29 US ecoregions encompassing more than one third of the conterminous United States. These 12 grass species promote fire locally and have extensive spatial records of abundant infestations. We combined agency and satellite fire data with records of abundant grass invasion to test for differences in fire regimes between invaded and nearby “uninvaded” habitat. Additionally, we assessed whether invasive grass presence is a significant predictor of altered fire by modeling fire occurrence, size, and frequency as a function of grass invasion, in addition to anthropogenic and ecological covariates relevant to fire. Eight species showed significantly higher fire-occurrence rates, which more than tripled for Schismus barbatus and Pennisetum ciliare. Six species demonstrated significantly higher mean fire frequency, which more than doubled for Neyraudia reynaudiana and Pennisetum ciliare. Grass invasion was significant in fire occurrence and frequency models, but not in fire-size models. The significant differences in fire regimes, coupled with the importance of grass invasion in modeling these differences, suggest that invasive grasses alter US fire regimes at regional scales. As concern about US wildfires grows, accounting for fire-promoting invasive grasses will be imperative for effectively managing ecosystems.
Effects of Lightweight Sand and Steel Fiber Contents on the Corrosion Performance of Steel Rebar Embedded in UHPC

Abstract Ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC) is able to provide better protection for embedded steel rebar from corrosion due to its superior impermeability characteristics. Lightweight sand (LWS) and steel fibers are utilized in mixing UHPC to promote internal curing and improve flexural strength, respectively. But the effects of different contents of LWS and steel fibers on the corrosion performance of steel rebar and resistance of UHPC matrix are rarely investigated. In this study, steel bar reinforced UHPC specimens with different LWS and steel fiber contents were prepared for electrochemical tests, involving open circuit potential (OCP), Tafel polarization, linear polarization resistance (LPR), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The experiment results indicated OCPs values based on ASTM C876 could not be applied to decide the corrosion state of steel rebar since lower content of oxygen in UHPC reduced the cathodic reaction, which led to lower OCP values. Chloride ions did not penetrate into UHPC matrix and steel rebar were in passive state in the whole test period of 147 days (d). Corrosion resistance of steel rebar, and resistance of UHPC matrix and passive film displayed an increasing trend with time. Generally, the resistance decreased when the LWS and steel fiber contents were increased. This is because LWS increased the permeability of UHPC and steel fibers led to shortcut of current. For better electrical resistance and compressive strength of UHPC, it is recommended to limit the LWS replacement ratio to 25%. It is also concluded that, steel fiber with the volume content up to 3% will not lead to corrosion of steel rebar and can be safely used in UHPC.
Subfield-Compatible Polynomials over Finite Fields

Polynomial functions over finite fields are important in computer science and electrical engineering in that they present a mathematical representation of arithmetic circuits. This paper establishes necessary and sufficient conditions for polynomial functions with coefficients in a finite field and naturally restricted degrees to be compatible with given subfields. Most importantly, this is done for the case where the domain and codomain fields have differing cardinalities. These conditions, which are presented for polynomial rings in one and several variables, are developed via a universal permutation that depends only on the cardinalities of the given fields. Acknowledgements: The author would like to thank Florian Enescu, whose skill as an instructor is surpassed only by his dedication to the development of his students. The author would also like to thank the anonymous referee for providing excellent guidance toward improving this paper. This project was undertaken as a part of the Research Initiations in Mathematics, Mathematics Education, and Statistics (RIMMES) program at Georgia State University. Page 116 RHIT Undergrad. Math. J., Vol. 14, no. 2
Finding Stable Clustering for Noisy Data via Structure-Aware Representation

Clustering is one of the most prominent topics in machine learning. A multitude of clustering methods have been proposed, among which the spectral clustering has attracted much attention. However, in practice, spectral clustering is highly sensitive to noise data and a post-processing step (e.g., k-means for eigenvectors) is often required to obtain clustering indicators, which may be not optimal. Also, it does not scale well to large-scale data due to its eigen-decomposition procedures.Here we propose a structure-aware clustering model to address those issues. To achieve our goal, a high-quality affinity matrix is extracted from the original noisy data by a sparse additive decomposition, which is used to approximate the ideal clustering structure. We then jointly learn the high-quality affinity matrix as well as the spectral embedding in a unified model— thus, being robust to noise and obtaining the optimal clustering indicators without any post-processing steps. We further improve the clustering stability by considering the Laplacian eigengap of the affinity matrix. We show that the larger the Laplacian eigengap, the more stable the clustering results. We introduce a speedup strategy to effectively compute eigenvectors of large matrices. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed model outperforms existing approaches for noisy data.
Attempted self-managed abortion among a national population searching for abortion care online

Introduction We sought to assess the frequency of attempted self-managed abortion among pregnant people considering an abortion and searching for a provider on the internet. Method We conducted a national prospective cohort study using a novel recruitment method—recruiting people searching for abortion care on Google. Advertisements for the study were displayed in search results. We utilized a stratified sampling design recruiting by state to assure representation from all states. Participants were eligible if they reported being pregnant and considering abortion. They completed an online baseline survey and another 4 weeks later. Attempted self-managed abortion was assessed with the question: “Did you take or try to do any of the following to try to end this pregnancy?” with a closed-ended list of methods and an open-ended “other” option. Multiple checks for fraudulent responses were conducted and any suspected cases were removed. We modeled the odds of attempting self-managed abortion using multivariable logistic regression with random effects for state of residence. Results Among 856 participants with follow-up data, 23% (95% CI: 20%-25%) reported taking or trying something to end this pregnancy, some reported multiple methods. 10% reported using misoprostol, 5% reported using emergency contraception after confirming pregnancy, 19% reported using another medicine or herb, 4% reported hurting themselves, 2% reported using illegal drugs or alcohol, and 4% reported another method. In a separate question, 2% of respondents (n=20, or 5% of all participants who had abortions) reported buying pills online and successfully self-managing their abortions. Participants who were pregnant and still seeking abortion at 4 weeks were more likely to have attempted self-management (26%) than those still pregnant and planning to carry to term (13%, p = 0.003). In an adjusted model, younger age and college education were associated with higher rates of attempts and black race was associated with lower rates. Conclusions Rates of attempted self-managed abortion are high among people searching online for abortion, especially those facing barriers to abortion care. Many are using more subtle attempts at ending pregnancy, and such attempts may be underreported in previous estimates on self-managed abortion. There is clear demand for ways to end pregnancy without a clinic visit.
Is idiopathic central sleep apnea a separate entity

Citation:Diaz S, Brown LK. Is idiopathic central sleep apnea a separate entity? J Clin Sleep Med. 2020;16(12):1999–2001.
Video-Based Intervention for Improving Maternal Retention and Adherence to HIV Treatment: Patient Perspectives and Experiences.

VITAL Start is a video-based intervention aimed to improve maternal retention in HIV care and adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) in Malawi. We explored the experiences of pregnant women living with HIV (PWLHIV) not yet on ART who received VITAL Start before ART initiation to assess the intervention’s acceptability, feasibility, fidelity of delivery, and perceived impact. Between February and September 2019, we conducted semi-structured interviews with a convenience sample of 34 PWLHIV within one month of receiving VITAL Start. The participants reported that VITAL Start was acceptable and feasible and had good fidelity of delivery. They also reported that the video had a positive impact on their lives, encouraging them to disclose their HIV status to their sexual partners who, in turn, supported them to adhere to ART. The participants suggested using a similar intervention to provide health-related education/counseling to people with long term conditions. Our findings suggest that video-based interventions may be an acceptable, feasible approach to optimizing ART retention and adherence amongst PWLHIV, and they can be delivered with high fidelity. Further exploration of the utility of low cost, scalable, video-based interventions to address health counseling gaps in sub-Saharan Africa is warranted.
Mueller matrix BRDF measurements using random sampling and fiber-coupled detectors

The bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) of surfaces has deleterious effects on optical measurements. Collecting Mueller matrix BRDF (mmBRDF) measurements of a surface by conventional goniometric techniques can be time-consuming. We present a system for collecting mmBRDF measurements using optical fiber detectors that sample the hemisphere surrounding an object. The entrance to each fiber contains a polarization state analyzer (PSA) configuration which allows for the simultaneous acquisition of the Stokes vector at many altitudinal and azimuthal viewing positions. We describe the setup, calibration, and data processing for this system and present its performance as applied to mmBRDF measurements of maize leaves.
‘What do YOU think?’: Children's questions, teacher's responses and children's follow-up across diverse preschool settings

Abstract Studies have shown differences in how parents respond to children's questions across diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. Differences in these interaction patterns have the potential to set the stage for a mismatch between children's approach to asking questions and behaviors privileged in formal school settings. In the current study, we explored question, response follow-up language interactions in socioeconomically diverse preschools. We compared interaction patterns across 20 preschool classrooms (10 low-SES; 10 mid-SES). Results indicated that children across both settings asked a similar proportion of information seeking questions. There were no differences in the number of explanatory responses children received, however, teachers from low-SES classrooms were significantly less likely to turn the question back than teachers serving children from mid-SES background — resulting in differences in children's follow-up. Children from low-SES classrooms were more likely to repeat their original question than any other type of follow up; whereas children from mid-SES classrooms were more likely to generate their own explanation. These findings have important implications for understanding how children across diverse preschool settings navigate the types of interactions they will likely be expected to engage in and learn from during formal schooling.
Variational Principles of Continuum Mechanics

Let V be a linear vector space over the complex numbers, such that for any pair of vectors f, g, ɛ V there exists a complex number and the maps VxV→C called the inner (or scalar) product ·{f,g} → satisfies the following axioms i) \( \left\langle {f,g} \right\rangle = \left\langle {\overline {g,f} } \right. \) (bar denotes complex conjugate) ii) for any \( {{a}_{1}},{{a}_{2}} \in C,{{f}_{1}},{{f}_{2}},g \in V \). iii) 〈f,f〉 is a nonnegative real number (for any f ∈ V) and 〈f,f〉 \( = \Leftrightarrow f = \emptyset . \). iv) It follows from i) and iii) that \( \left\langle {af,g} \right\rangle = a\left\langle {f,g} \right\rangle = \left\langle {f,\bar{a}g} \right\rangle . \).
Differences in End-of-Life Preferences Between Congestive Heart Failure and Dementia in a Medical House Calls Program

Objectives: To compare end-of-life preferences in elderly individuals with dementia and congestive heart failure (CHF). Design: Retrospective case-control study. Setting: Geriatrician-led interdisciplinary house-call program using an electronic medical record. Participants: Homebound individuals who died while under the care of the house-call program from October 1996 to April 2001. Measurements: Medical records review for demographics, functional status, advance medical planning, hospice use, and place of death. Results: Of 172 patients who died in the program, 29 had CHF, 79 had dementia, 34 had both, and 30 had neither. Patients with CHF were younger (82.6 vs 87.0, P=.011) and less functionally dependent (activities of daily living score 9.1 vs 11.5, P=.001). Time from enrollment to death was not significantly different (mean±standard deviation=444±375 days for CHF vs 325±330 days for dementia, P=.113). A do-not-resuscitate (DNR) directive was given in 62% of patients with CHF and 91% with dementia (P<.001). Advance medical planning discussions were not significantly different (2.10 in CHF vs 1.65 in dementia, P=.100). More patients with CHF participated in their advance medical planning than those with dementia (86% vs 17%, P<.001). Hospice was used in 24% of CHF and 61% of dementia cases (P<.001). Finally, 45% of patients with CHF and 18% of patients with dementia died in the acute hospital (P=.006). Multivariate analysis showed that the fact that more patients with CHF were involved in their medical planning was not significant in predicting end-of-life preferences. Alternatively, Caucasian ethnicity was an independent predictor of having a documented DNR and death outside of the acute hospital. Conclusion: In the months before death, patients with CHF were more likely to have care plans directed at disease modification and treatment, whereas dementia patients were more likely to have care plans that focused on symptom relief and anticipation of dying. Several factors may contribute to this difference.