cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Molecular mechanisms of end-organ resistance.

Hormone resistance is caused by mutations in hormone receptors or by functional desensitization of hormone signaling pathways. Mutations that cause hormone resistance have been described for most classes of hormones, including peptides like growth-hormone releasing hormone (GHRH); large proteins such as insulin and the glycoprotein hormones; steroid hormones; and even ions such as calcium. In the case of proteins, many of these receptors include seven transmembrane, G-protein-coupled receptors such as those for thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH), GHRH and vasopressin. However, other classes of membrane receptors can also be affected. For example, the insulin receptor is a tyrosine kinase receptor, the growth hormone (GH) and leptin receptors belong to the cytokine family of receptors, and the Mullerian inhibiting substance (MIS, also known as anti-Mullerian hormone [AMH]) receptor is related to the transforming growth factor beta (TGFbeta) serine kinase group of receptors. G-protein mutations cause Albright's hereditary osteodystrophy, and, as might be expected, there is resistance to many different hormones that act through G-protein-coupled receptors. A variety of resistance syndromes involve members of the nuclear receptor superfamily, including resistance to androgens, vitamin D, thyroid hormone, glucocorticoids and estrogen. Mutations in orphan nuclear receptors such as steroidogenic factor-1 (SF-1) or DAX-1 result in defective glandular development, thereby indirectly causing hormone resistance. Another form of resistance, sometimes referred to as "post-receptor" resistance, is typified by acquired forms of insulin or leptin resistance, and the pathophysiology remains elusive. Studies of naturally occurring mutations have provided important insights into the structure and function of receptors. By definition, the mutations that cause disease identify important functional domains in the proteins. Although therapy is straightforward in some disorders, it is challenging or incompletely studied in others.
Computed tomographic and magnetic resonance imaging features of canine segmental caudal vena cava aplasia.

Objective: To describe the computed tomographic and magnetic resonance imaging features of segmental caudal vena cava aplasia and associated vascular anomalies in dogs. Methods: A retrospective study was performed reviewing computed tomographic and magnetic resonance imaging archives of eight institutions for dogs with segmental caudal vena cava aplasia. Inclusion criteria included a computed tomographic or magnetic resonance imaging study and supportive diagnostic and follow-up information. Abdominal vessels were reviewed for size, shape, location and course (including tributaries and branches) and classified as normal, abnormal or shunt vessels. Results: Ten dogs with segmental caudal vena cava aplasia were identified. In all dogs, postrenal caval blood was shunted to either a right or a left azygos vein, with seven different angiographic patterns. Affected dogs were predominantly female (70 per cent) and young (mean 2·6 years). Additional portocaval and porto-azygos shunt vessels were identified in two cases each. Computed tomographic angiography and magnetic resonance angiography depicted details of abdominal vessels including thrombus formation in one dog. Clinical Significance: Segmental caudal vena cava aplasia is a vascular congenital anomaly in the dog that can be associated with thrombosis and portosystemic shunts. Computed tomographic angiography and magnetic resonance angiography are excellent tools to demonstrate the complex vascular anatomy and to guide treatment planning for portosystemic shunts and thrombolytic therapy.
Reduced respiratory neural activity elicits phrenic motor facilitation.

Abstract We hypothesized that reduced respiratory neural activity elicits compensatory mechanisms of plasticity that enhance respiratory motor output. In urethane-anesthetized and ventilated rats, we reversibly reduced respiratory neural activity for 25–30 min using: hypocapnia (end tidal CO2 = 30 mmHg), isoflurane (∼1%) or high frequency ventilation (HFV; ∼100 breaths/min). In all cases, increased phrenic burst amplitude was observed following restoration of respiratory neural activity (hypocapnia: 92 ± 22%; isoflurane: 65 ± 22%; HFV: 54 ± 13% baseline), which was significantly greater than time controls receiving the same surgery, but no interruptions in respiratory neural activity (3 ± 5% baseline, p
Discursive affordances : police, transfer, and the performance of identity.

This study examines the approaches to writing academic papers used by five mid-level police officers enrolled in the Southern Police Institute in order to understand how the performance of identities affects the ways in which students select and reject opportunities for the transfer of knowledge from previous writing situations. I draw from James Paul Gee’s methods of discourse analysis and the approaches of ethnographic writing studies, with the goal of identifying moments in which both the performance of identities and the anticipation of performance of identities lead to conflicting moments that sometimes prevent the transfer of knowledge and the recognition of that transfer. University of Louisville, Louisville KY. M.A. English. May 2008. Culminating Project: “Unmuting Urania: Literary Theory in the Creative Writing Classroom.” Director: Paul Griner University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas, TX. B.A. Literary Studies. Summa Cum Laude. December 2005. Honors Project: “Minimal Evolution: The Line of Lish, from Carver to Palahniuk.” Academic Positions Assistant Professor Armstrong Atlantic State University, Department of Languages, Literature, and Philosophy. 2013-current. Graduate Teaching Assistant. University of Louisville, English Department. 2006 – 2013. Assistant Director of Composition, Business Writing. University of Louisville, English Department. College of Business. 2011-2012.
Collaborative Advantage: Globalization of Innovation and Engineering

As the U.S. loses its monopoly in high technology, policymakers are calling for increases in the number of science and technology graduates and in R&D investment. We believe these proposals fail to recognize what is distinctive about the emerging global economy. Our studies of engineering in multinational home countries and in emerging economies suggest that the U.S. cannot match the numbers of engineers being trained in India and China, and it is not clear how much benefits to U.S. firms will help the U.S. economy. Instead, the U.S. should seek collaborative advantage by developing a new role in the global technology system. We should train global engineers, support research where there is true comparative advantage, and develop mutual-gain partnerships.
(Neo)Liberalism, popular media, and the political struggle for the future of US public education

The idea that the US public school system is ‘broken’ and needs reform has become commonplace over the past three decades. The article argues that the quest to transform public education revolves a...
Trainer-Trainee Similarity: A Social Attribution Approach to Learning.

This study tests a process model in which instructor and learners’ traits are simultaneously used to explain learning outcomes. Drawing on a constructivist view of learning (Palincsar, 1998) and By...
Hydrogen Storage Properties of a Combined Li3AlH6-LiBH4 System

Lithium based complex hydrides, including lithium aluminum hydrides and lithium borohydride (LiAlH4, Li3AlH6 and LiBH4), are among the most promising materials due to their high hydrogen contents. In the present work, we investigated the hydrogen storage properties of a new combined system of Li3AlH6-LiBH4. The samples were made with small amounts of catalyst under low energy milling conditions. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) of a Ti-doped Li3AlH6/2LiBH4 indicated that the degree of hydrogen release reached 7.3 wt. % by the time the sample reached 450iAEc under a heating rate of 2iAEC/min. This increased to 8.8 wt. % when the sample was held at 450iAECfor additional 8 hours minutes under this condition. The dehydrogenation product was a mixture of LiH and AlB2. This product could be rehydrogenated up to 3.8 wt. % under 24.1 MPa hydrogen pressure and 450iAEC.
Mycetocyte inclusion in the oocytes of Bemisia argentifolii (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae).

This study investigates the process of transfer of endosymbiotic organisms from adult silverleaf whitefly, Bemisia argentifolii Bellows & Perring (Bellows et al. 1994) (also known as Bemisia tabaci B biotype), into the developing ova. In dissected females, individual mycetocyte cells containing microorganisms were scattered singly among developing oocytes. Oocytes with mycetocytes included were first observed in females 16 h after emergence. The mean number of oocytes >0.1 mm in length per female increased through the 4th d after adult eclosion then leveled off. The number of oocytes containing mycetocytes followed a similar pattern. Stages of mycetocyte inclusion followed a pattern based on the size of the oocyte. Oocytes became associated with a single mycetocyte cell when they were a mean of length of 0.135 ± 0.003 mm (minimum of 0.11 mm). All mature oocytes examined contained a mycetocyte. Mycetocytes were observed inside a common membrane with oocytes, at what becomes the pedicel end of the ova, when oocytes were an average of 0.147 ± 0.004 mm long. In the final stages of ovum development, the plasma of the oocyte completely surrounded the mycetocyte and the chorion was thickened. Mycetocytes included in oocytes had a mean length of 33 ± 0.4 µm and width of 27 ± 0.5 µm. Although the females that were dissected had the opportunity to oviposit, some retained several fully developed ova. Because inclusion of mycetocytes into oocytes is a continuous process, manipulations of endosymbionts before inclusion into the oocytes should be possible at any time during adult life; however, earlier treatment of an individual would probably affect a greater proportion of their offspring.
Development and Evaluation of Degree-Day Models for Acrolepiopsis assectella (Lepidoptera: Acrolepiidae) Based on Hosts and Flight Patterns

The leek moth, Acrolepiopsis assectella (Zeller), was first discovered in Ottawa, Canada, during the 1993 growing season, representing the first known occurrence of this species in North America. Since then, it has become a significant concern in Allium vegetable production including garlic, leeks, and onions. Acrolepiopsis assectella was first detected in the contiguous United States during the 2009 growing season in northern New York. In this study, we evaluated the development of the US A. assectella population in the laboratory and commercial onion fields. Our results showed that this population required 443.9 degree-days to complete its life cycle on onions in the laboratory. The development of A. assectella on onion did not significantly differ from populations reared on garlic or leeks. Field studies revealed three distinct flight periods for overwintered, first- and second-generation adult males in northern New York. Life cycle duration in the field ranged from 4 to 8 wk. The degree-day prediction model evaluated in this study provided accurate estimates of the occurrence of the following generation. We conclude that this model can help growers to implement appropriate management strategies for different life stages in a timely manner and lessen damage by this new invasive pest.
Fatal Seronegative Ehrlichiosis in a Patient with HIV Infection

Human infection with Ehrlichia chaffeensis, a recently identified bacterium included in the family Rickettsiaceae,1,2 results in an acute, generally self-limited, febrile illness associated with cytopenia and hepatic-enzyme abnormalities. Several hundred cases of E. chaffeensis infection have been recognized since 1986, although ehrlichiosis has not been described in patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). We report the course of a fatal seronegative ehrlichial infection in a woman with advanced HIV infection. The infection was diagnosed by light and electron microscopy, immunohistochemical techniques, and the polymerase chain reaction. The potential for successful antimicrobial treatment, combined with the possible absence . . .
Analytical modeling of a simple passive electromagnetic eddy current friction damper

This paper presents analytical modeling of a novel type of passive friction damper for seismic hazard mitigation of structural systems. This seismic protective device, which is termed as Passive Electromagnetic Eddy Current Friction Damper (PEMECFD), utilizes a solid-friction mechanism in parallel with an eddy current damping system to dissipate a larger amount of input seismic energy than that by a device with based on solid friction only. In this passive damper, friction force is produced through a magnetic repulsive action between two permanent magnets (PMs) magnetized in the direction normal to the friction surface. The eddy current damping force in the damper is generated because of the motion of the PMS in the vicinity of a conductor. Friction and eddy current damping parts of the damper are able to produce ideal rectangular and elliptical hysteresis loops individually. Seismic hazard mitigation effectiveness of the proposed damper has been demonstrated through an implementation on a two-degree-of-freedom frame building structure. Numerical results show that the proposed damper is more efficient in dissipating input seismic energy than a Passive Linear Viscous Damper (PLVD) with same force capacity.
Paid and unpaid work: The impact of social policies on the gender division of labour:

The varieties of capitalism (VOC) literature has offered one of the most influential explanations for cross-national variation in the gender division of labour. It argues that labour markets, which...
Trauma and Hemorrhage

What is an acceptable hematocrit value after fluid resuscitation because of hemorrhage? A discussion of this question and the therapeutic problems posed by hemorrhage caused by gastritis, splenic hemorrhage, and retroperitoneal bleeding is contained in this article.
Shade and water misting effects on behavior, physiology, performance, and carcass traits of heat-stressed feedlot cattle.

One hundred twelve crossbred feedlot heifers were used in two experiments to assess the im- pact of heat stress and its relief by shade and(or) water misting on behavior, physiology, performance, and car- cass traits. Treatments were 1) no shading or misting (CONT); 2) only misting (MIST); 3) only shading (SHADE); and 4) shading plus misting (SHMI). Head in the feed bunk, head in or above the waterer, walking, standing, and lying behaviors were observed. Rectal temperature, respiration rate, and carcass traits were measured, as well as DMI, ADG, and feed:gain. Dietary NEm and NEg concentrations were calculated from per- formance data. In Exp. 1, (32 heifers; average BW 288 kg) the CONT heifers spent more time lying down than all others (P < 0.01). In addition, CONT heifers spent less time (P < 0.01) standing than SHADE and MIST heifers. Misting decreased (P < 0.01) rectal temperature and MIST as well as SHADE lowered (P < 0.05) respira- tion rates. In Exp. 2 (80 heifers; average BW = 336 kg), lying and walking behaviors did not differ among treatments, but shade increased (P < 0.01) standing behavior in heifers. The MIST cattle performed less (P < 0.05) head-above-waterer behavior than unmisted cattle. Rectal temperatures did not differ among treat- ments, but respiration rate was lower in shaded than in unshaded heifers (P < 0.05). Shaded compared with unshaded heifers had greater DMI (9.46 vs 8.80 ± 0.14 kg/d, P < 0.01) and ADG (1.6 vs 1.41 ± 0.1 kg/d, P < 0.01). Heifers provided with shade reached their target BW 20 d earlier than the unshaded heifers and differed in final BW (547 vs 520 ± 6 kg, P < 0.01). Feed:gain and calculated NEg and NEm concentrations did not differ among treatments, and carcass traits were gener- ally similar among treatments. In conclusion, cattle without shade had a physiological and behavioral stress response to heat that negatively affected productivity. Providing shade for beef cattle was a suitable solution to decrease heat stress and to lower the negative effects of heat on performance, whereas misting was largely in- effective.
Fertilization and Embryonic Survival in Ewes Synchronized with Exogenous Hormones during the Anestrous and Estrous Seasons

Causes of reproductive loss in ewes synchronized and mated during the anestrous season and during the normal breeding season were compared with those for natural cyclic ewes mated in season. Synchronization of ewes in season and out of season with progestogen: pregnant mare serum gonadotropin (PMSG) increased ovulation rate, but the percentage of ewes ovulating did not differ from that noted for untreated ewes mated in season. However, synchronized ewes exhibited markedly higher total reproductive losses, both in season (49%) and out of season (58%), than did untreated ewes mated in season (25%). The two primary sources of the increased reproductive loss in synchronized ewes were increased fertilization failure and increased embryonic mortality, regardless of season. The increased fertilization failure was accompanied by a decrease in the number of accessory sperm per ovum and decreased tubal sperm numbers. The increased embryonic mortality among treated ewes was associated with increased variation in stage of embryo development within ewe and advanced stage of embryo development, which indicated that asynchronies of timing of onset of estrus, ovulation and fertilization may have occurred in synchronized ewes. The high reproductive losses for ewes treated out of season was characterized by a marked increase in fertilization failure, compared with that observed for ewes treated in season, in addition to the relatively high embryonic mortality associated with the synchronization treatment. Semen quality of rams was lower out of season than in season. It was concluded that the reduced and more variable lambing response often obtained for ewes treated with progestogen: PMSG during anestrus may be due to decreased semen quality of rams and increased asynchrony of events in the ewe reproductive tract.
Statistical Models for Tornado Climatology: Long and Short-Term Views.

This paper estimates regional tornado risk from records of past events using statistical models. First, a spatial model is fit to the tornado counts aggregated in counties with terms that control for changes in observational practices over time. Results provide a long-term view of risk that delineates the main tornado corridors in the United States where the expected annual rate exceeds two tornadoes per 10,000 square km. A few counties in the Texas Panhandle and central Kansas have annual rates that exceed four tornadoes per 10,000 square km. Refitting the model after removing the least damaging tornadoes from the data (EF0) produces a similar map but with the greatest tornado risk shifted south and eastward. Second, a space-time model is fit to the counts aggregated in raster cells with terms that control for changes in climate factors. Results provide a short-term view of risk. The short-term view identifies a shift of tornado activity away from the Ohio Valley under El Nino conditions and away from the Southeast under positive North Atlantic oscillation conditions. The combined predictor effects on the local rates is quantified by fitting the model after leaving out the year to be predicted from the data. The models provide state-of-the-art views of tornado risk that can be used by government agencies, the insurance industry, and the general public.
Auditing the Contract Partners: States Parties’ Connectivity with CEDAW

Assuming that connectivity between states and the treaty is a prerequisite for impact translation, this chapter introduces the concepts of principled and substantive connectivity. The first is comprised of ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), reservations, and ratification of the Optional Protocol (OP). The second is comprised of States Parties’ reporting habits and dialogue frequency with the Committee. This chapter asks if levels of connectivity depend on any of the following characteristics: belonging to a certain world region, regime type, and level of domestic de facto gender equality. The chapter reveals that many more states have reached a high level of principled connectivity than meaningful substantive connectivity. This is mostly due to the sub-optimal reporting discipline of the majority of States Parties.
Seismic analysis of paleotopography and stratigraphic controls on total organic carbon: Rich sweet spot distribution in the Woodford Shale, Oklahoma, USA

AbstractThe Devonian Woodford Shale is a prolific unconventional resource shale for oil and gas. Like many such shales, the Woodford sits atop an unconformity on the surface of underlying carbonate rocks (mainly the Hunton Group in this case). There is variable topographic relief on the unconformity surface due to incised valleys, cave collapse, and/or karst formation during periods of subaerial exposure resulting from eustatic sea-level fluctuations. Anomalously high thicknesses of the Woodford, with relatively high total organic carbon (TOC), can form within topographic depressions on the unconformity surface, giving rise to potential “sweet spots” as drilling targets. It is likely that the topographic relief that formed during subaerial exposure created areas of restricted marine circulation (or possibly hypersaline lakes) during an early fall in the sea level, and thus, localized anoxic depositional environments conducive to preservation of organic matter (TOC). Seismic analysis, calibrated with well ...
Chapter 64 – 1990 The Challenge Hypothesis

Testosterone levels show large variations over time and among individuals. Testosterone levels are determined by three factors: the physiological baseline, cyclical (often seasonal) reproductive patterns, and responses to social environment or challenges. Understanding the regulation of testosterone in this manner helps to explain its highly variable expression.
Re-imaging/Imagining Pew’s Portrait of Orthodoxy

This chapter examines the lack of data on gender differences in the Pew Report. Without knowing more about gender differences and the ways women practice Orthodoxy, then Orthodoxy becomes identified primarily with the lives that men lead. If women remain invisible in their own right within Orthodoxy, they may receive less attention from community leaders and policy analysts.
Weekly ixabepilone with or without concurrent bevacizumab in the treatment of recurrent endometrial cancer.

e15526 Background: Ixabepilone for endometrial cancer has only been evaluated in phase II studies administered at 30-40 mg/m2 q21 days (GOG 129P, GOG 86P). The objective of this study is to describe the institutional experience using a weekly dosing strategy of ixabepilone ± bevacizumab in the treatment of paclitaxel/platinum-resistant recurrent endometrial cancer. Methods: Patients who received weekly ixabepilone (16-20 mg/m2 on days 1, 8, 15 of a 28-day cycle) ± bevacizumab (10 mg/kg on days 1, 15 of a 28-day cycle) off-protocol were identified retrospectively. Results: Thirteen patients were included. Demographic/disease characteristics are provided in Table 1. Median time to first recurrence was 15.9 months (IQR: 9.5-21.66). Patients received a mean of 4.8 ± 1.9 cycles of ixabepilone; treatment is ongoing in 4 patients. A total of 46% of patients demonstrated either a partial response (PR, 8%) or disease stabilization (SD, 38%). PR/SD was associated with a mean decline in CA-125 of 56%. Approximately ...
Electronic Coupling for Donor-Bridge-Acceptor Systems with a Bridge-Overlap Approach

Understanding the modulation of the electronic coupling in donor–acceptor systems connected through an aliphatic bridge is crucial from a fundamental point of view as well as for the development of organic electronics. In this work, we present a first-principles approach for the calculation of the electronic coupling (or transfer integrals) in such systems via a block-diagonalization of the Fock/Kohn–Sham matrix of the supersystem, followed by a projection on the basis of the fragment orbitals of the donor and acceptor groups. The strength of the approach is that the bridge is shared by the donor and acceptor blocks in the diagonalization step, so that through-space and through-bond couplings are obtained simultaneously. The method is applied to two test sets: a series of fused-ring bridged systems and G(T)nG DNA oligomers. The results for the first set are compared to experiment and show an average error lower than 10%. For the DNA set, we show that the coupling may be significantly larger (and the decay...
The Update of Active Surveillance Around the World: Utilization and Outcomes

Active surveillance (AS) of prostate cancer was first proposed in the mid 1990s as a method to reduce overtreatment of low-risk cancers detected by widespread PSA-based screening. In light of concerns that delayed or deferred treatment could sacrifice the opportunity to cure the disease, adoption of AS was initially quite limited, particularly in North America. In recent years, however, the maturation of a number of institutional AS cohorts has allowed for better understanding of the risks associated with the approach. Furthermore, drastic shifts in policy have shed light on the prevalence of unnecessary treatment and the associated harms. For these reasons and others, the use of AS has increased considerably throughout the world. As such, there has been a substantial increase in body of literature describing AS. We have herein summarized contemporary trends of AS utilization and outcomes associated with this increasingly popular approach.
Powerful, Proximate and Potentially Threatening: Explaining Why States Arm and Project Power

States balance against potential threats, not power. Evaluating this claim requires measuring potential threat, yet we lack valid measures of this concept. Existing measures suffer from measurement error because they purposely exclude the impact of states that are not contiguous or major powers. We address this problem by developing a measure that considers the impact of all states on the level of potential threat that each country faces. The more economically powerful, geographic proximate, and incompatible other states’ interests are, the more potentially threatening they will be to a given country. We test the construct validity of our measure by evaluating its ability to identify the set of states a given country should find the most potentially threatening. We assess the measure’s predictive validity using new data that extend the estimates of military spending as a percentage of GDP back to 1816. We find our measure strongly predicts arming.
Reliability assessment and comparison between centralized and distributed energy management system in islanding microgrid

As the number of DER in the microgrid increases, the electrical interfaces and communication interactions are more sophisticated and frequent than ever, which poses a great challenge for microgrid Energy Management System (EMS). Efforts has been made to address this challenge. The solutions generally fall into two categories: centralized and distributed solution. Comparing with centralized EMS, distributed EMS is commonly considered as a more promising and reliable approach. Nonetheless, the current microgrid reliability research are focused on the physical layer of microgrid, such as overhead lines, transformers, circuit breakers and the DER device itself. The reliability analysis that considers controller failure and EMS framework are not reported in current publications. In this paper, a general reliability assessment methodology based on Monte Carlo simulation is presented to assess the reliability of both centralized EMS and distributed EMS in islanding microgrid. Different performance metrics such as system-average-interruption-frequency-index (SAIFI) and expected-energy-not-supplied (EENS) are used to quantify and evaluate the reliability. Simulation results indicates that using the same controller, the microgrid with distributed EMS is able to achieve better reliability indices, and the distributed EMS can achieve same level of reliability using less reliable controllers.
Voice quality: Speaker identification across age, gender, and ethnicity

Listeners can perceptually identify speaker gender and ethnicity at better than chance guessing for adult speakers (Lass et al., 1978; Thomas & Reaser, 2004; Trent-Brown et al., 2012). These findings are supported across varying levels of phonetic complexity and across temporal manipulations that impact perceptual processing. There is less evidence regarding the extent to which these patterns hold for child speakers and whether listener gender/ethnic background and experience influence accuracy of identification. African American and European American male and female adult speakers were recorded producing passage-, sentence-, and word-length (/hVd/) stimuli including 11 General American English vowels. African American and European American male and female child speakers, ages 8–12, were recorded producing sentence and word stimuli. A temporal manipulation introduced to distort perceptual expectations presented stimuli to listeners in both forward and reversed conditions. Listeners were male and female African American and European American undergraduate students. Significant outcomes were observed for accuracy across speaker gender, speaker ethnicity, phonetic complexity, and temporal condition. In addition to accuracy of identification, listener confidence ratings, identification reaction times, and confidence reaction times also showed differential outcomes with respect to speaker age, gender, and ethnicity.Listeners can perceptually identify speaker gender and ethnicity at better than chance guessing for adult speakers (Lass et al., 1978; Thomas & Reaser, 2004; Trent-Brown et al., 2012). These findings are supported across varying levels of phonetic complexity and across temporal manipulations that impact perceptual processing. There is less evidence regarding the extent to which these patterns hold for child speakers and whether listener gender/ethnic background and experience influence accuracy of identification. African American and European American male and female adult speakers were recorded producing passage-, sentence-, and word-length (/hVd/) stimuli including 11 General American English vowels. African American and European American male and female child speakers, ages 8–12, were recorded producing sentence and word stimuli. A temporal manipulation introduced to distort perceptual expectations presented stimuli to listeners in both forward and reversed conditions. Listeners were male and female Af...
Essential Diagnostics for the Use of World Health Organization Essential Medicines

BACKGROUND: There are numerous barriers to achieving high-quality laboratory diagnostic testing in resource-limited countries. These include inconsistent supply chains, variable quality of diagnostic devices, lack of human and financial resources, the ever-growing list of available tests, and a historical reliance on syndromic treatment algorithms. A list of essential diagnostics based on an accepted standard like the WHO Essential Medicines List (EML) could coordinate stakeholders in the strengthening of laboratory capacity globally. METHODS: To aid in the creation of an essential diagnostics list (EDL), we identified laboratory test indications from expert databases for the safe and effective use of WHO EML medicines. In all, 446 EML medicines were included in the study. We identified 279 conditions targeted by these medicines, spanning communicable and noncommunicable diseases (e.g., HIV, diabetes mellitus). RESULTS: We found 325 unique diagnostic tests, across 2717 indications, associated with the identified conditions or their associated medicines. The indications were divided into 10 categories: toxicity (865), diagnosis (591), monitoring (379), dosing/safety (325), complications (217), pathophysiology (154), differential diagnosis (97), comorbidities (53), drug-susceptibility testing (22), and companion diagnostic testing (14). We also created a sublist of 74 higher-priority tests to help define the core of the EDL. CONCLUSIONS: An EDL such as we describe here could align the global health community to solve the problems impeding equitable access to high-quality diagnostic testing in support of the global health agenda.
Objective and subjective measures of visual aesthetics of website interface design: the two sides of the coin

The main purpose of this study is to compare objective layout-based measures of visual aesthetics with subjective questionnaire-based measures. Correlation analysis was used to carry out the comparison. Values for the tested objective measures were calculated for forty-two web pages already used in a previous study, for which subjective questionnaire scores (classical/expressive and VisA WI) were already available. Results showed significant correlations between many of the tested objective screen layout-based measures and subjective questionnaire-based measures related to order and layout of the screen. These findings suggest that the objective layout-based measures tested in this study can be used for overall assessments of visual aesthetics of websites and particularly for assessing aesthetic aspects related to the classical and the simplicity dimensions of website aesthetics.
Nature-Inspired Search Methods

There are several search methods that try to emulate some processes observed in nature. The methods in this class have been given different names, such as stochastic programming methods, evolutionary algorithms, metaheuristic methods, and so on. The methods also fall into the class of direct search methods that do not require use of derivatives of functions in their search. In this chapter, four methods are presented and explained: genetic algorithms, differential evolution (DE) (can be considered as a variation of the genetic algorithm), ant colony optimization (ACO) and particle swarm optimization (PSO). The basic ideas of the methods are described and a step-by-step algorithm for each is presented. The methods are usually discussed for the unconstrained optimization problem, assuming that the constraints can be included via a penalty function approach. The methods tend to converge into a global minimum point, although there is no guarantee. There is no precise stopping criterion for such algorithms; most compute function values at several thousand points and thus are computationally quite extensive. They can be implemented for parallel computations to speed up the search for an acceptable solution. Some examples are presented to illustrate use of some of the methods.
Solutions by Variational Method

The variational method for solving stochastic partial differential equations (SPDE’s) of evolutionary type involves recasting them as SDE’s in a Gelfand triplet of Hilbert or Banach spaces V↪H↪V ∗, where the embeddings are dense and continuous. We discuss only the case of separable Hilbert spaces. In order to construct a weak solution, we assume that the embeddings are compact, and use the “method of compact embedding” introduced in Chap. 3, together with the stochastic analogue of Lions’ theorem from Chap. 1. The solution is an H-valued stochastic process with continuous sample paths. Under the assumption of monotonicity, we obtain unique strong solution using pathwise uniqueness.
‘Unclothe me of sin’s gay trappings’: Foreign ornaments and plain English in Philip Massinger’s The Renegado

This article demonstrates the ways in which The Renegado is relentlessly rhetorical. Early modern preoccupation with rhetorical theory and practice informs depictions of the material exchanges, ero...
Data Validation and Correction for Resiliency in Mobile Cyber-Physical Systems

Traffic congestion and accidents are increasing exponentially worldwide. More vehicles are sold every year which leads to more traffic fatalities and congestion. There have been several efforts worldwide for mobile Cyber Physical Systems (CPS) to address a range of problems including traffic congestion, accidents, unnecessary time spent in traffic jams, and overall infotainment by using onboard communicating and computing technologies. However, when we use peer-to-peer network-based communication for mobile CPS, malicious users/vehicles could mislead the mobile CPS by not reporting their true periodic status data to their neighbors on the road. In this paper, we study a data validation and correction approach for resiliency in mobile CPS that uses a diverse set of data for reducing false information. Numerical results obtained from Monte Carlo simulation are used to evaluate the proposed approach. Results show that the proposed approach minimizes the false data in the mobile CPS to enhance the resiliency.
Impact of the Temperature on the Phenology of Diaphorina citri (Hemiptera: Liviidae) and on the Establishment of Tamarixia radiata (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) in Urban Areas in the Lower Colorado Desert in Arizona

The invasive pest Diaphorina citri Kuwayama was first detected in Arizona in 2009. Since late 2013, the parasitoid Tamarixia radiata (Waterson), the main biocontrol agent of D. citri, has been released as part of a biological control program on citrus grown in urban areas of two western Arizona counties in the lower Colorado desert environment. Here we report a 3-yr survey aimed at evaluation of T. radiata releases on D. citri populations and assess the impact of the climate conditions on the phenology of D. citri and on the establishment success of T. radiata. We also monitored the phenology of D. citri as part of this assessment on different citrus host species. We show that the high summer temperatures in the Arizona desert halt the development of D. citri for about 3 mo every year which appears to have limited the establishment and impact of T. radiata. At survey sites distant from release areas the parasitism rates over the season ranged from 0 to 75% and on average peaked around 50% in 2016 but it was low or absent in 2015 and 2017, respectively. We discuss the consequences of this phenology of D. citri in the desert areas for the prospects of long-term establishment of T. radiata and the management of this key citrus pest.
Social Justice, Neoliberalism, and Labor Standards at the International Labour Organization

This chapter examines the clash between neoliberalism and social justice at the International Labour Organization (ILO). Since its founding in 1919, employer, worker and government representatives, as “tripartite” social partners, have created and supervised a wide array of labor standards based on a shared ideology of social justice. In this context, many of its labor standards and monitoring have aimed to shield workers from market forces by, for example, regulating work time and ensuring adequate living wages. These standards fundamentally conflict with the tenets of neoliberalism as it has been increasingly embraced by many of the ILO’s employer and government representatives. The chapter examines three illustrative cases of such conflict: the 1998 initiative to establish Core Labor Standards (CLS), the ongoing conflict at the ILO over the right to strike, and the ILO full employment policy convention. The purpose is to explore whether social justice labor standards are (1) pushed aside (2) remain intact, (3) are flexible enough to accommodate neoliberal interpretations, or (4) unresolved. The results indicate persistent threats and pressures on labor standards from neoliberal labor policy logics. Yet, examination also shows surprising resilience of the ILO’s architecture and values to prevail or at least resist neoliberalism.
The Geography of Polarization, 1950 to 2015

In this article, we ask where affluent and economically insecure households reside. We examine the economic conditions of the tails of wage distributions in local areas to make sense of trends in geographical residence. Using census and American Community Survey data covering 1950 to 2015, we draw two main conclusions. From 2000 onward, economic polarization coincided with two kinds of geographic residential patterns: polarized and poor labor markets. We also find divergence in the link between geographical location and wages across the wage distribution. We question whether the concentration of affluent and poor households in polarized places signify moves to better economic opportunity by low-wage workers. Our results illustrate the geographical consequences of low-wage rent destruction and highlight implications for future work addressing geographical stratification.
Aberrant calcium channel splicing drives defects in cortical differentiation in Timothy syndrome

The syndromic autism spectrum disorder (ASD) Timothy syndrome (TS) is caused by a point mutation in the alternatively spliced exon 8A of the calcium channel Cav1.2. Using mouse brain and human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), we provide evidence that the TS mutation prevents a normal developmental switch in Cav1.2 exon utilization, resulting in persistent expression of gain-of-function mutant channels during neuronal differentiation. In iPSC models, the TS mutation reduces the abundance of SATB2-expressing cortical projection neurons, leading to excess CTIP2+ neurons. We show that expression of TS-Cav1.2 channels in the embryonic mouse cortex recapitulates these differentiation defects in a calcium-dependent manner and that in utero Cav1.2 gain-and-loss of function reciprocally regulates the abundance of these neuronal populations. Our findings support the idea that disruption of developmentally regulated calcium channel splicing patterns instructively alters differentiation in the developing cortex, providing important in vivo insights into the pathophysiology of a syndromic ASD.
IMpower, CASPIAN, and more: exploring the optimal first-line immunotherapy for extensive-stage small cell lung cancer.

The life expectancy of extensive-stage small cell lung (ES-SCLC) cancer patients has not improved in the last 2–3 decades until two recent trials (CASPIAN and IMpower133) showing the addition of anti-programmed death ligand (PD-L1) therapy to chemotherapy has survival benefit over chemotherapy alone. However, such benefit is relatively small and was not even observed in some other trials using immunotherapy, raising the question of optimal chemoimmunotherapy combination in the 1st-line setting for ES-SCLC. Here, we discussed several thought-provoking questions with the focus on IMpower133 and CASPIAN trials.
The need to balance basic and clinical research with the safety of the research environment and personnel in the time of COVID-19 in the United States.

To limit the potential of medical surges overwhelming hospital systems in the United States during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, most states implemented stay-at-home orders 1 , ...
Parental Psychosocial Factors Moderate Opioid Administration Following Children's Surgery.

BACKGROUND This investigation aimed to examine the impact of parental psychosocial variables on the administration of opioids to young children experiencing postoperative pain. METHODS Participants in this longitudinal analysis were children ages 2-12 undergoing tonsillectomy with or without adenoidectomy and their parents. Parents completed validated instruments assessing trait anxiety, perceived stress, and coping style before surgery, and children and parents completed instruments assessing pain and administration of opioids and acetaminophen on days 1, 2, 3, and 7 at home after surgery. The structure of the data was such that parents and children completed multiple data assessments making the data multilevel (ie, days of data within dyads). To address this issue of data structure, multilevel modeling was used to analyze the dataset. RESULTS Participants included 173 parent-child dyads (mean child age = 5.99 ± 2.51) recruited between 2012 and 2017. We found that parent-related psychosocial variables, such as trait anxiety, stress, and coping style, moderated the relationship between the child's pain and postoperative medication administration. Specifically, when predicting hydrocodone, the interactions between anxiety and pain and stress and pain were significant; when child pain was high, high-anxiety and high-stressed parents gave their children 19% and 12% more hydrocodone, respectively, compared to low-anxiety and low-stressed parents. When predicting acetaminophen, the interactions between anxiety and pain, a blunting coping style and pain, and a monitoring coping style and pain were significant. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest the need to identify parents who experience high levels of perceived stress and trait anxiety and use appropriate interventions to manage stress and anxiety. This may ensure children receive optimal amounts of pain medication following surgery.
The price of doing business: Why replaceable foreign firms get worse government treatment

We argue that a host government treats foreign firms better if those foreign firms have fewer replacements. We identify a key structural determinant of replaceability: the startup costs that foreign firms must incur to begin production. Since the host government can only take from foreign firms that actually produce in its market, it must treat foreign firms better when their startup costs are high, lest the government drive all foreign firms out. Our theoretical model applies contemporary trade theory to foreign direct investment and provides insights about the understudied relationship between foreign and domestic firms. Most importantly, it endogenizes market entry and exit, establishing the importance of entry despite scholars' long‐time focus on exit. Our analysis uses cross‐national firm‐level data on taxes and production outcomes, and we provide a new industry‐level measure of government treatment of foreign firms.
Results of a Nationwide Descriptive Survey on Simulation Center Operations

Abstract Background The adoption of simulation-based education is growing in the health care sector. There is a paucity of cataloged descriptive data on simulation center (SC) operations and demographics. This study aims to build on previous efforts by systematically collecting, analyzing, and disseminating US-based SCs' descriptive data focused on center operations and demographics. Method A total of 424 SCs were identified within the United States and sent a 29-question online survey. Results A total of 159 SCs responded from 38 states. Data were organized in themes of demographics, staffing, governance, funding, and usage. Conclusions This study found (1) simulation is broadly adopted throughout many health care professions; (2) center sizes vary, but trends exist based on location, with centers located in hospitals being the smallest; (3) staffing numbers and roles vary, but technicians are the most common; (4) funding sources vary greatly, but most centers are not profitable; and (5) just less than half of centers had a governing body.