cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Water ingestion during swimming activities in a pool: A pilot study

Chloroisocyanurates are commonly added to outdoor swimming pools to stabilize chlorine disinfectants. The chloroisocyanurates decompose slowly to release chlorine and cyanuric acid. Studies conducted to determine if the chloroisocyanurates might be toxic to swimmers showed that they were not and that ingested cyanuric acid passed through the body unmetabolized. This fact was used to determine the amount of water swallowed during swimming activity. Fifty-three recreational swimmers, using a community swimming pool disinfected with cyanuric acid stabilized chlorine, participated in the study. The participants did not swim on the day before or after the test swim. The swimmers were asked to actively swim for at least 45 minutes and to collect their urine for the next 24 hours. Cyanuric acid was measured in pool water using high performance liquid chromatography and porous graphitic carbon columns with UV detection. The urine sample assay required a clean-up procedure to remove urinary proteins and interfering substances. Results of the study indicate that non-adults ingest about twice as much water as adults during swimming activity. The average amount of water swallowed by non-adults and adults was 37 ml and 16 ml, respectively. The design for this study and the analytical methodology used to assay cyanuric acid in swimming pool water and human urine were effective for measuring the volume of water swallowed during swimming activity.
Transcription of Cloned Eukaryotic Ribosomal RNA Genes

A typical eukaryotic cell devotes about half of its transcriptional capacity to the synthesis of only one kind of RNA — this is the 40 to 47S ribosomal RNA (rRNA), precursor to the mature 18S, 28S and 5.8S RNAs of the ribosome. The transcription of ribosomal DNA (rDNA) is both very efficient and highly regulated, reflecting the cellular need to produce more than a million new ribosomes per generation which are required for protein synthesis.
Branch history table prediction of moving target branches due to subroutine returns

Ideally, a pipeline processor can run at a rate that is limited by its slowest stage. Branches in the instruction stream disrupt the pipeIine, and reduce processor performance to well below ideal. Since workloads contain a high percentage of taken branches, techniques are needed to reduce or eliminate thk degradation. A Branch History Table (BHT) stores past action and target for branches, and predicts that future behavior will repeat. Although past action is a good indicator of future action, the subroutine CALL/RETURN paradigm makes correct prediction of the branch target dlfflcult. We propose a new stack mechanism for reducing this type of mispredlction. Using traces of the SPEC benchmark suite running on an RS/6000, we provide an analysis of the performance enhancements possible using a BHT. We show that the proposed mechanism can reduce the number of branch wrong guesses by 18.2°/0 on average.
USING THE CAPM AS A GENERAL FRAMEWORK FOR ASSET PRICING ANALYSIS

In this paper a model of asset pricing is derived that relaxes the restrictive assumptions of standard theories. The model leads to a tractable capital asset pricing model framework that can be used to test empirical hypotheses and draw important insights on capital market equilibrium.
EFFECTS OF FLOTATION RESTRICTED ENVIRONMENTAL STIMULATION ON INTERCOLLEGIATE TENNIS PERFORMANCE

The study investigated the effects of flotation Restricted Environmental Stimulation (REST) with an imagery message on the competitive performance of intercollegiate tennis players (10 men, 10 women). Pre- and posttreatment athletic performance was measured during intercollegiate competition. Posttreatment results indicated that subjects exposed to flotation REST with an imagery message performed significantly better than subjects exposed to imagery only on a measure of first service accuracy. Findings suggest that flotation REST can be used to enhance the performance of a well learned skill by athletes of high ability.
Decentralised energy-based hybrid control for the multi-RTAC system

The concept of decentralised energy-based hybrid control involves hybrid dynamic subcontrollers with discontinuous states that individually control each subsystem of a large interconnected dynamical system. Specifically, each subcontroller accumulates the emulated energy and when the states of the subcontroller coincide with a high emulated energy level, then we can reset these states to remove the emulated energy so that the emulated energy is not returned to the subsystem. The real physical energy of each subsystem in this case is constantly dissipated through the motion of the actuators due to the subcontroller state resettings. In this article, we experimentally implement the decentralised energy-based hybrid control framework on the multi-rotational/translational proof mass actuator (RTAC) system. We discuss the hardware used and the experimental testbed involving three RTAC carts connected by the springs. This testbed presents a unique experimental platform for studying benchmark problems in decentr...
Spatial attention: effect of position uncertainty and number of distractor patterns on the threshold-versus-contrast function for contrast discrimination

Our goal is to integrate knowledge about contrast discrimination with knowledge about spatial attention effects. An experiment is described that measures the effects of position uncertainty, number of distractors, and contrast on the contrast discrimination threshold in a fully crossed factorial design. The threshold-versus-contrast function is nonmonotonic in all conditions, decreasing and then increasing as contrast increases. Increasing uncertainty and/or the number of distractors increases thresholds, and there are interactions among the three variables indicating that uncertainty and distractor number have different effects on detection as distractor contrast varies. The results are well accounted for by a model that combines a nonlinear excitation/divisive inhibition model of pattern mechanisms with a noise-limited model of the decision process.
The Cost-Benefit Analysis of Government Loams

A neglected area of cost-benefit theory is the evaluation of federal government loans Abstract to finance private investment. This article builds on a model by Feldstein (1973) which disaggregated public investment decisions into two parts; one is the expenditure on the good to be purchased by the loan, and the other is the loan itself. The main new result is that distributional considerations can be divorced from economic efficiency in making the first (expenditure) decision. Distributional factors are used to help determine the second (financing) decision. The two-decision framework is applied to FmHA loans made in New York State.
Cervical ripening: Randomized comparison of intravaginal prostaglandin E2 gel with prostaglandin E2 gel plus laminaria tents

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of adding laminaria tents to sequential intravaginal prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) gel for cervical ripening. A prospective, randomized study was conducted from October 1994 to May 1995. Pregnant women with maternal or fetal indications for induction of labor at > or = 37 weeks gestation and a Bishop score of or = 5 was achieved. The groups were comparable with respect to maternal age, parity, gestational age, reason for induction, and initial Bishop score. The addition of laminaria tents to sequential PGE2 gel did not statistically improve the time to a favorable cervix (control group 12.7 +/- 8.5 hr (95% CI, 9.1-16.3) and study group 10.9 +/- 7.1 hr (95% CI, 7.5-14.3) (P = 0.59). The 6-hr difference from the time of the initial PGE2 gel placement to delivery was not detected (control group 22.4 +/- 11.2 hr, 95% CI 17-27 and study group 23.4 +/- 13.1 hr, 95% CI 17-29.6 (P = 0.79). The combination approach of laminaria tents and PGE2 gel did not have a significant impact on the vaginal delivery rate, with 28.0% of patients in the control group and 26.3% of patients in the study group undergoing cesarean section (P = 0.90). Maternal and neonatal complications were rare in both groups. We had insufficient evidence to show that the addition of laminaria tents to PGE2 gel improved cervical ripening, the induction to delivery interval, or the cesarean section rate in patients at term undergoing induction of labor.
A novel TFT-OLED integration for OLED-independent pixel programming in amorphous-Si AMOLED pixels

— The direct voltage programming of active-matrix organic light-emitting-diode (AMOLED) pixels with n-channel amorphous-Si (a-Si) TFTs requires a contact between the driving TFT and the OLED cathode. Current processing constraints only permit connecting the driving TFT to the OLED anode. Here, a new “inverted” integration technique which makes the direct programming possible by connecting the driver n-channel a-Si TFT to the OLED cathode is demonstrated. As a result, the pixel drive current increases by an order of magnitude for the same data voltages and the pixel data voltage for turn-on drops by several volts. In addition, the pixel drive current becomes independent of the OLED characteristics so that OLED aging does not affect the pixel current. Furthermore, the new integration technique is modified to allow substrate rotation during OLED evaporation to improve the pixel yield and uniformity. The new integration technique is important for realizing active-matrix OLED displays with a-Si technology and conventional bottom-anode OLEDs.
Predicting bycatch hotspots for endangered leatherback turtles on longlines in the Pacific Ocean

Fisheries bycatch is a critical source of mortality for rapidly declining populations of leatherback turtles, Dermochelys coriacea. We integrated use-intensity distributions for 135 satellite-tracked adult turtles with longline fishing effort to estimate predicted bycatch risk over space and time in the Pacific Ocean. Areas of predicted bycatch risk did not overlap for eastern and western Pacific nesting populations, warranting their consideration as distinct management units with respect to fisheries bycatch. For western Pacific nesting populations, we identified several areas of high risk in the north and central Pacific, but greatest risk was adjacent to primary nesting beaches in tropical seas of Indo-Pacific islands, largely confined to several exclusive economic zones under the jurisdiction of national authorities. For eastern Pacific nesting populations, we identified moderate risk associated with migrations to nesting beaches, but the greatest risk was in the South Pacific Gyre, a broad pelagic zone outside national waters where management is currently lacking and may prove difficult to implement. Efforts should focus on these predicted hotspots to develop more targeted management approaches to alleviate leatherback bycatch.
Hydrologic regulation of gross methyl chloride and methyl bromide uptake from Alaskan Arctic tundra

The Arctic tundra has been shown to be a potentially significant regional sink for methyl chloride (CH3Cl) and methyl bromide (CH3Br), although prior field studies were spatially and temporally limited, and did not include gross flux measurements. Here we compare net and gross CH3Cl and CH3Br fluxes in the northern coastal plain and continental interior. As expected, both regions were net sinks for CH3Cl and CH3Br. Gross uptake rates (−793 nmol CH3Cl m−2 day−1 and −20.3 nmol CH3Br m−2 day−1) were 20–240% greater than net fluxes, suggesting that the Arctic is an even greater sink than previously believed. Hydrology was the principal regulator of methyl halide flux, with an overall trend towards increasing methyl halide uptake with decreasing soil moisture. Water table depth was one of the best predictors of net and gross uptake, with uptake increasing proportionately with water table depth. In drier areas, gross uptake was very high, averaging −1201 nmol CH3Cl m−2 day−1 and −34.9 nmol CH3Br m−2 day−1; in flooded areas, gross uptake was significantly lower, averaging −61 nmol CH3Cl m−2 day−1 and −2.3 nmol CH3Br m−2 day−1. Net and gross uptake was greater in the continental interior than in the northern coastal plain, presumably due to drier inland conditions. Within certain microtopographic features (low- and high-centered polygons), uptake rates were positively correlated with soil temperature, indicating that temperature played a secondary role in methyl halide uptake. Incubations suggested that the inverse relationship between water content and methyl halide uptake was the result of mass transfer limitation in saturated soils, rather than because of reduced microbial activity under anaerobic conditions. These findings have potential regional significance, as the Arctic is expected to become warmer and drier due to anthropogenic climate forcing, potentially enhancing the Arctic sink for CH3Cl and CH3Br.
Multiple‐criteria approach to ranking medical tourism destinations

The characteristics of the medical tourism industry are described. Multiple criteria are used to evaluate several popular medical tourism destinations. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is shown to be the appropriate methodology for evaluating and ranking medical tourism destinations because it can incorporate input from multiple decision makers as well as handle both tangible and intangible criteria. The ranking of medical tourism destinations will enable administrators at companies that specialize in arranging the logistics of obtaining medical care at foreign facilities to better advise patients regarding their choice of medical tourism destinations. This will result in patients who are more satisfied with their choice of a foreign medical facility. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
The Couette–Poiseuille flow of a suspension modeled as a modified third-grade fluid

In this paper, we modify the thermodynamically compatible third-grade fluid model by introducing a shear-rate- and volume-fraction-dependent viscosity into the equation. With this new model, it is possible to predict not only the normal stress differences, but also the variable viscosity observed in many suspensions. We study the Couette–Poiseuille flow of such a fluid between two horizontal flat plates. The steady fully developed flow equations are made dimensionless and are solved numerically; the effects of different dimensionless numbers are discussed.
Investigating the Influence of Anthropogenic Forcing and Natural Variability on the 2014 Hawaiian Hurricane Season

Introduction. Three hurricanes approached the Hawaiian Islands during the 2014 hurricane season (Fig. 24.1a), which is the third largest number since 1949 (black bars in Fig. 24.1b). Previous studies suggest that the frequency of tropical cyclones (TCs) around Hawaii will increase under global warming (Li et al. 2010; Murakami et al. 2013). The projected increase is primarily associated with a northwestward shifting of TC tracks in the open ocean southeast of the islands, where climate models robustly predict greater warming than the other open oceans. Natural variability, such as that associated with the El Nino–Southern Oscillation (ENSO), also has a significant influence on TC activity near Hawaii (Chu and Wang 1997; Jin et al. 2014). In fact, moderate El Nino conditions were observed during the 2014 hurricane season that might have been favorable for TC activity near Hawaii. In this study, we use a suite of climate experiments to explore whether the unusually large number of Hawaiian TCs in 2014 was made more likely by anthropogenic forcing or natural variability.
A Conversation with Mark Singleton, PhD

Mark Singleton is the author of Yoga Body: The Origins of Modern Posture Practice (Oxford University Press, 2010) and the editor, along with Jean Marie Byrne, of Yoga in the Modern World: Contemporary Perspectives (Routledge 2008). Singleton has a PhD in South Asian Religions from Cambridge University (UK) and currently teaches at St. John's College in Santa Fe, New Mexico. His work explores the modern history of Yoga in India, Europe, and America, shedding light on the cultural and political influences on the development of Yoga and challenging assumptions about the origins of modern asana practice. He is also a Yoga teacher in the Iyengar and Satyananda traditions. In this interview, Mark Singleton (MS) and IJYT Editor-in-Chief Kelly McGonigal (KM) discuss why Yoga therapists should care about the modern history of Yoga, what Yoga therapists should understand about the relationship between modern Yoga and science, and the commoditization of Yoga in the West.
Better Biomarkers for Pancreatic Diseases.

Physicians struggle to evaluate the human pancreas – an organ tucked in the retroperitoneal space behind the stomach and intestines where it is inaccessible to physical examination. Pancreatic disorders remain difficult to detect at early stages and have complex and highly variable clinical courses.
Systems approach to personalized molecular medicine.

CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium: 2008 Abstracts Abstract #MS2-1 The realization of the promise of personalized molecular medicine will require the efficient development and implementation of novel targeted therapeutics. The overall likelihood of response to particular drugs represents the interaction between predictors of sensitivity with predictors of resistance. The phosphatidylinositol 3'kinase (PI3K) pathway is aberrant at multiple levels across a wide variety of tumors making it the most common activating aberration in cancer. This has led to the development and now early clinical testing of drugs targeting multiple components of the pathway. The efficient utilization of these drugs will require the ability to accurately determine mutation and activation status in tumors as well as determining the interaction between the PI3K pathway and other pathways in driving tumor pathophysiology. The PI3K pathway is critically important to cellular function and is thus under exquisite homeostatic control. The feedforward and feedback loops in the pathway determine the response to perturbation of the pathway by mutation or therapeutic intervention. Strikingly inhibition of the pathway at the level of mTOR or AKT results in the activation of potent feedback loops resulting in activation of multiple cell surface tyrosine kinases, PI3K itself and AKT. This may contribute to the observation that mTOR inhibitors appear to make some patient tumors grow more rapidly an unexpected and disappointing consequence. Our preliminary systems biology-based mathematical and experimental models of the PI3K signaling network accurately predict these consequences as well as the biochemical processes involved. Further, the models suggest combinations of targeted therapeutics likely to reverse the negative effects of the mTOR inhibitors converting the outcome from negative to positive in terms of tumor growth. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2009;69(2 Suppl):Abstract nr MS2-1.
Increased Survival and Function of Mesenchymal Stem Cell Spheroids Entrapped in Instructive Alginate Hydrogels

Mesenchymal stem cell (MSC)-based therapies are under broad investigation for applications in tissue repair but suffer from poor cell persistence and engraftment upon transplantation. MSC spheroids exhibit improved survival, anti-inflammatory, and angiogenic potential in vitro, while also promoting vascularization when implanted in vivo. However, these benefits are lost once cells engage the tissue extracellular matrix and migrate from the aggregate. The efficacy of cell therapy is consistently improved when using engineered materials, motivating the need to investigate the role of biomaterials to instruct spheroid function. In order to assess the contribution of adhesivity on spheroid activity in engineered materials and promote the bone-forming potential of MSCs, we compared the function of MSC spheroids when entrapped in Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD)-modified alginate hydrogels to nonfouling unmodified alginate. Regardless of material, MSC spheroids exhibited reduced caspase activity and greater vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) secretion compared with equal numbers of dissociated cells. MSC spheroids in RGD-modified hydrogels demonstrated significantly greater cell survival than spheroids in unmodified alginate. After 5 days in culture, spheroids in RGD-modified gels had similar levels of apoptosis, but more than a twofold increase in VEGF secretion compared with spheroids in unmodified gels. All gels contained mineralized tissue 8 weeks after subcutaneous implantation, and cells entrapped in RGD-modified alginate exhibited greater mineralization versus cells in unmodified gels. Immunohistochemistry confirmed more diffuse osteocalcin staining in gels containing spheroids compared with dissociated controls. This study demonstrates the promise of cell-instructive biomaterials to direct survival and function of MSC spheroids for bone tissue engineering applications. Significance Mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) spheroids exhibit improved therapeutic potential in vitro compared with dissociated MSCs, yet spheroids are directly injected into tissues, ceding control of cell function to the extracellular matrix and potentially limiting the duration of improvement. Cell delivery using adhesive biomaterials promotes cell retention and function. These studies explored the role of adhesion to the surrounding matrix on spheroid function. When entrapped in an adhesive biomaterial, MSC spheroids exhibited improved survival and proangiogenic growth factor secretion in vitro and bone formation in vivo compared with cells in nonadhesive hydrogels. These findings demonstrate the value of deploying MSC spheroids in instructive biomaterials to improve cell function.
RESEARCH ON OLD STALAGMITES BY ICP-MS ~(230)Th DATING AND PALEOCLIMATE RECONSTRUCTION IN DONGGE CAVE,LIBO,GUIZHOU

Advances in the research of stalagmites keep pace with the development of dating techniques,because new dating techniques aid paleoclimate reconstruction.Therefore,a precise chronology is the key for paleoclimate reconstruction based on stalagmites.Our study on old stalagmites(250ka) using the ICP-MS 230 Th dating method shows that stalagmite D6,D7,D9 of the Dongge Cave contain continuous and high resolution paleoclimate since 400ka ago.The 230 Th data serve as a standard for paleoclimate study in southwestern China for the last 500ka.This paper focuses on the relationship between stalagmite growth rate and paleoclimate reconstruction based on 135 precise ICP-MS 230 Th analyses of three big stalagmites in the Dongge Cave in southwestern China.The growth rate of stalagmites is negatively correlated with the δ 18 O record of SPECMAP and positively correlated with summer insolation at 25°N.Stalagmite growth rate was high in interglacial intervals,low in glacial periods,and more variable in transitional periods.Based on these results,we suggest that stalagmite growth rate may record changes in abrupt cold and warm events and thus could provide a useful proxy for long term records of paleoprecipitation and paleoclimate.
Good (Native) Governance

American Indian nations are largely unconstrained by the U.S. Constitution and are only bound to follow provisions similar to those contained in the Bill of Rights by statute. Even then, the Supreme Court has affirmed that tribes are not required to apply or interpret civil rights protections directly in line with state and federal governments. Accordingly, they may, in a sense, utilize their tribal sovereignty to preserve their differentness -- even when tribal laws are seemingly inapposite to American civli rights norms. Building on arguments presented in a companion piece, (Tribal) Sovereignty and Illiberalism, this Article undertakes a critical examination of tribal governance in light of changing international norms regarding good governance, which increasingly define the parameters of the obligations governments owe to their citizens. Even in light of the emergence of good governance and a rapidly evolving human rights landscape, this Article posits that Indian nations ought to reject conventional notions of good governance. It proposes, instead, good (Native) governance, which does not require that Indian nations either fully depart from or emulate the West. Rather, this piece contends that good Native governance mandates that tribal nations utilize Native principles of government -- drawn from tribal culture and tradition -- that allow for the evolution of tribal government in ways that restore and maintain fairness, balance, and inclusion in tribal communities. It concludes that good Native governance is the best way for tribes to facilitate self-governance, protect tribal sovereignty, and ensure their continued cultural and political existence.
PrEP on Twitter: Information, Barriers, and Stigma.

AbstractOn May 14, 2014 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) endorsed the drug Truvada as an HIV preventative, called pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). PrEP has been shown to dramatically reduce the risk of HIV infection, but its rate of adoption has been slow, and discourse surrounding it has been marked by stigma and uncertainty. The purpose of this study was to investigate how PrEP was discussed on Twitter. Our analysis focused on barriers to PrEP adoption and stigmatization of PrEP users. We analyzed a random sample of 1,093 top tweets about PrEP posted to Twitter a year before and a year after the CDC’s endorsement. Our results showed that tweets likely reinforced uncertainty about barriers to PrEP adoption and that users employed Twitter’s functionality to counter stigmatizing narratives about PrEP. We suggest that our findings illuminate both the limitations and strengths of Twitter as a mechanism for health promotion.
Feedback Dynamics Are Critical to Improving Performance Management Systems

Colquitt, Murphy, and Ollander-Krane (Adler et al., 2016) argue that performance ratings are problematic in part because of the problems associated with feedback: Ratees dislike and dismiss performance feedback, raters are reluctant to provide tough feedback, and organizations do not enact research findings about improving feedback processes (Adler et al.). Discarding performance ratings on these grounds is effectively “throwing out the baby with the bath water,” given that we know quite a lot about how to improve the delivery and receptivity of feedback. Our commentary is intended to briefly illustrate ways to leverage research on feedback receptivity to improve performance management systems. Specifically, we focus on (a) cultivating supportive feedback environments, (b) integrating employee coaching into performance management systems, and (c) attending to the characteristics of feedback recipients to understand how they process feedback.
Laparoscopic re-sleeve gastrectomy for weight regain after modified laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy: first case report and surgery in South America

and was fired on the NG tube while creating the sleeve (Figure 2). But the most important part was to check, how the NG tube reached the stomach during the stapling? We have a protocol of inserting a NG tube at the time of induction of anaesthesia to decompress the stomach which is taken out completely after all the ports are inserted and check laparoscopy done. Unfortunately on that day the anaesthetist had withdrawn the NG tube partially and kept it hanging in the oesophagus for a probable later use. When he pushed the gastric calibration tube before firing the staplers, the larger size gastric calibration tube dragged the NG tube into the stomach. Unknowingly we concentrated on the larger gastric tube and fired over the NG tube only to see this unsual complication. How to prevent? Is NG tube necessary?Prevention of such unusual complication is of paramount importance; hence awareness among surgeons that the NG tube can be severed without any pressure by the modern day stapler makes it even more necessary for its careful application during the procedure. The absolute answer to it would be to completely taking out the NG tube before inserting the calibration tube and all leak tests to be done with the calibration tube itself. Further the role and necessity of the NG tube before the procedure to achieve gastric decompression and prevention of leak needs to be evaluated
Literacy and health literacy - why they matter to health professionals

Low literacy and low health literacy affect people in all demographic strata and interfere with patients’ abilities to understand and act on information provided by health care providers. Many print health education materials are written at reading levels well above those recommended. Thus, compliance to health messages is compromised, and health costs are increased. As medicine moves into new fields such as precision medicine, effective communication between patients and health care professionals becomes even more challenging and important.
Dendritic Cell Therapies for Hematologic Malignancies

Dendritic cells (DCs) are potent antigen-presenting cells that constitute a major component of the immune system's role in the recognition, elimination, and tolerance of cancer. The unique immunologic capabilities of DCs have recently been harnessed for therapeutic use with the creation of DC-based anti-tumor vaccines, several of which have moved into testing in clinical trials for hematologic malignancies. This review summarizes how treatment strategies using DC-based anti-tumor vaccines are advancing immunotherapeutic options for these diseases.
Cavitation problem in heavy duty diesel engines: a literature review

This paper reviews the existing knowledge on cavitation in general and its effect on diesel engine cylinder liners. A brief definition of cavitation and various cavitation numbers are presented. Various effects involved in the formation, growth and collapse of bubbles are also characterized. The effects of pressure, temperature, and dissolved gas on bubble behaviour are mentioned. An attempt is made to study the various types of damage caused by cavitation on fluid flow machinery. The discussion highlights the amount of damage caused to diesel engine cylinder liners, and lists remedies suggested by numerous experts in the field.
An Instruction Manual for Trust in the Presence of Conflicts of Interests.

Discussions of conflicts of interests and their regulation often encourage misunderstandings and mistakes. Contrary to a common belief, conflicts of interests are not morally wrong in and of themse...
Ethical Considerations of Doing Research at Scale

Research computing has taken on new life with the rise of user-friendly clusters, clouds, and grids. These range from infrastructure-as-a-service platforms like Amazon EC2, to campus-scale HTCondor pools, to national infrastructure machines like those found in XSEDE. I present the ethical considerations of doing research at scale by posing three questions from the perspective of a researcher: Who can see my data? Who can use my data? Who can take my data? These questions deal with data privacy and intellectual property concerns. I use the IEEE Code of Ethics and the ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct as ethical guides in addressing these three questions as they pertain to developers of research tools such as workflow management systems. The purpose of asking these questions is two-fold: first to ensure that ethical issues are being discussed during software design, and second to start a conversation about rising concerns with data security and privacy on large-scale computing systems. I seek to address issues which users, system administrators, and software developers can work together to solve. I motivate the need for this conversation with a case study of scientific workflow applications which demonstrates potential pitfalls in the high performance computing ecosystem.
Implications of ocean acidification in the Pacific Arctic: Experimental responses of three Arctic bivalves to decreased pH and food availability

Abstract Recent sea ice retreat and seawater warming in the Pacific Arctic are physical changes that are impacting arctic biological communities. Recently, ocean acidification from increases in anthropogenic CO 2 has been identified as an additional stressor, particularly to calcifying organisms like bivalves. These bivalves are common prey items for benthivorous predators such as Pacific walruses ( Odobenus rosmarus divergens ), bearded seals ( Erignathus barbatus ), and diving seaducks, such as Spectacled Eiders ( Somateria fischeri ). We investigated the effects of decreased pH and food availability on growth (% change in length and wet weight and allometric growth characterizations) and oxygen consumption (mg/L/hour) of three common Arctic bivalves, Macoma calcarea, Astarte montagui, and Astarte borealis. Two sets of experiments were run for seven and eleven weeks, exposing the bivalves to control (8.05 ± 0.02 and 8.19 ± 0.003, respectively) and acidified (7.76 ± 0.01 and 7.86 ± 0.01, respectively) pH treatments. Length, weight, and oxygen consumption were not significantly different among the varying treatments after the seven-week exposure and only one significant effect of decreased pH and one significant effect of decreased food availability were observed after the end of the eleven-week exposure. Specifically, shells of A. borealis displayed a decrease in length in response to decreased pH and M. calcarea showed a decrease in length in response to limited food. The negative effects of pH observed in the experiments on growth and oxygen consumption were small, suggesting that at least two of these species are generally resilient to decreasing pH.
Rethinking Images of Disability through Laura Swanson’s “Anti-Self-Portrait”

This article aims to explore visual artist Laura Swanson's "anti self-portrait" as a response to the visual rhetorics of popular photography that founding disability studies scholar Rosemarie Garland-Thomson defines in her essay “The Politics of Staring: Visual Rhetorics of Disability in Popular Photography”. In responding to these visual rhetorics in her “anti-self-portrait” called Peggy Lee , Swanson resists a traditional reading of a disabled body and reclaims her identity through self-representation.
Das Agile (Organisations-)Paradigma

Agil steht gemas Duden fur von groser Beweglichkeit zeugend, regsam und wendig (vgl. http://www.duden.de/suchen/dudenonline/agil). Das agile Organisationsparadigma verspricht genau diese Beweglichkeit und Flexibilitat um den heutigen komplexen und sich schnell andernden Marktanforderungen begegnen zu konnen. Dabei unterscheidet es sich in gewissen Teilen grundsatzlich vom traditionellen, hierarchischen Organisationsparadigma. Die Unterschiede betreffen nicht nur die Strukturen sondern auch die Denkhaltungen. Selbstorganisation wird zu einem zentralen Punkt und stellt ganz neue Anforderungen an die Menschen in solchen Organisationen und Teams.
Worth the Wait? The Consequences of Abstinence-Only Sex Education for Marginalized Students

“Abstinence-only” sex education, which is still widely used across the United States, does not prepare students to engage in healthy adult relationships. Prior research evidence indicates that abst...
A Trauma-Informed Model for Supporting Pre-adoptive Placements

Providers and caregivers within the child serving system of care are often inadequately educated, trained, or supported. Within the child serving system of care, there is a clear need for interdisciplinary system intervention models that support the child and family by providing trauma-informed and trauma-responsive training, coaching, and related services to (a) foster and pre-adoptive caregivers, (b) the child welfare workforce, and (c) the mental health workforce. This chapter describes an initiative being implemented in one state to improve the likelihood for trauma consolidation and well-being and increase the prospects for healthy adjustment and stable, successful adoption.
Simulating the Impact of Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Warning Labels in Three Cities.

Introduction A number of locations have been considering sugar-sweetened beverage point-of-purchase warning label policies to help address rising adolescent overweight and obesity prevalence. Methods To explore the impact of such policies, in 2016 detailed agent-based models of Baltimore, Philadelphia, and San Francisco were developed, representing their populations, school locations, and food sources, using data from various sources collected between 2005 and 2014. The model simulated, over a 7-year period, the mean change in BMI and obesity prevalence in each of the cities from sugar-sweetened beverage warning label policies. Results Data analysis conducted between 2016 and 2017 found that implementing sugar-sweetened beverage warning labels at all sugar-sweetened beverage retailers lowered obesity prevalence among adolescents in all three cities. Point-of-purchase labels with 8% efficacy (i.e., labels reducing probability of sugar-sweetened beverage consumption by 8%) resulted in the following percentage changes in obesity prevalence: Baltimore: −1.69% (95% CI= −2.75%, −0.97%, p Conclusions Agent-based simulations showed how warning labels may decrease overweight and obesity prevalence in a variety of circumstances with label efficacy and literacy rate identified as potential drivers. Implementing a warning label policy may lead to a reduction in obesity prevalence. Focusing on warning label design and store compliance, especially at supermarkets, may further increase the health impact.
Preparing for Fertilization: Intercellular Signals for Oocyte Maturation

In the hours preceding fertilization, oocytes prepare to begin development in a process known as maturation. This includes progression of the meiotic cell cycle and development of the ability to undergo the release of calcium that activates development at fertilization. In many species, the signal for oocyte maturation acts initially on somatic cells surrounding the oocyte, rather than on the oocyte itself. This chapter concerns the intercellular signaling events by which the maturation-inducing signal travels from the somatic cells to the oocyte. We first discuss how meiotic prophase arrest is maintained in mammalian oocytes, and how luteinizing hormone (LH) action on receptors in the cells of the surrounding follicle causes meiosis to resume. The LH receptors are located exclusively in the outer granulosa cells of the follicle and signal through a Gs-linked receptor to cause a decrease in cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP). The LH-induced signal propagates inwards to the oocyte by way of cGMP diffusion out of the oocyte through gap junctions. We then briefly discuss the similarities and differences in mechanisms controlling oocyte maturation in animals other than mammals, focusing on hydrozoan jellyfish to emphasize the early evolutionary origin of these regulatory processes. G-protein-coupled receptors and cyclic nucleotides are common regulators in many animals. However, the assembly of these components into a regulatory system differs among species.
An Ecological Model of STEM Education: Operationalizing STEM for all

This article describes a framework for how to provide more accessible, relevant, and effective instruction in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education to all students. The...
Qualities of Instructional Leadership among Principals in High-Performing Christian Schools.

The 2011 Cardus Report found that Christian schools are developing students’ faith but are not developing students’ academic opportunities at any greater rate than are their public school counterpa...
Rabbit corneal epithelial cells adhere to two distinct heparin-binding synthetic peptides derived from fibronectin

Fibronectin plays an important role in corneal reepithelialization during corneal wound healing. In this study, rabbit corneal epithelial (RCE) cell adhesion to fibronectin was further defined using proteolytic fragments of fibronectin and chemically synthesized peptides derived from the amino acid sequence of fibronectin. RCE cells adhere to intact fibronectin, the 75 kD fragment containing the RGDS (Arg-GlyAsp-Ser) cell adhesion-promoting sequence, and the 33/66 kD cell adhesion promoting/heparin-binding fragments of fibronectin. The 75 kD fragment and the 33/66 kD fragments partially inhibited RCE cell adhesion to intact fibronectin, suggesting that these fragments represent distinct sites used by RCE cells to adhere to intact fibronectin. Two chemically synthesized peptides derived from the amino acid sequence of the 33/66 kD fragments of fibronectin, FN-C/H-I (YEKPGSPPREWPRPRPGV) and FN-C/H-III (YRVRVTPKEKTGPMKE), directly promoted the adhesion of RCE cells. As further evidence that FN-C/H-I and FN-C/H-III play a role in the adhesion of RCE cells to the 33/66 kD fragments of fibronectin, we have shown that soluble FN-C/H-I and FN-C/H-III inhibited RCE cell adhesion on surfaces coated with the 33/66 kD fragments. In addition, polyclonal IgG against FN-C/ H-I and FN-C/H-III partially blocked RCE cell adhesion to the 33/66 kD fragments, confirming that these sequences represent adhesion-promoting sites within these fragments. In contrast, two previously described peptides from the 33/66 kD fragments of fibronectin, which promoted the adhesion of a variety of cell types, FN-C/H-II (KNNQKSEPLIGRKKT) and CS-1 (DELPQLVTLPHPNLHGPEILDVPST), did not support RCE cell adhesion. These data suggest that RCE cell adhesion to fibronectin has a complex molecular basis and is mediated by multiple domains, at least two of which are located within the car boxy 1-terminal heparin-binding/cell adhesion-promoting domains of fibronectin. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 33:3034-3040,1992
Neocuproine as a Redox-Active Ligand Platform on Iron and Cobalt.

A family of bis(neocuproine) complexes of Fe2+ and Co2+ have been investigated for neocuproine redox noninnocence. A series of redox isomers of M(neocuproine)2n+ (where n = 2, 1, 0 for Co and n = 2, 0 for Fe) have been synthesized and thoroughly characterized. The electronic structure of these complexes has been rigorously investigated using a variety of techniques, including X-ray absorption spectroscopy, Mossbauer spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy, and magnetic measurements. All of these techniques are consistent with ligand-based reduction events to generate radical neocuproine complexes. Thus, neocuproine adds to a growing family of chelating N-donor type ligands that participate in redox noninnocence and may be useful for future catalyst and reaction design.
Stroke risk following implantation of current generation centrifugal flow left ventricular assist devices.

BACKGROUND AND AIM Stroke remains a significant complication of left ventricular assist device (LVAD) therapy. We performed a single-center retrospective study evaluating patients undergoing first-time HeartWare HVAD (Medtronic Inc) or HeartMate 3 (Abbott Inc) implantation from September 2009-February 2018. METHODS Exclusion criteria were age 24 hours with corresponding radiographic evidence. Risk factors evaluated included demographics, medical comorbidities, heart failure etiology, LVAD indication, INTERMACS profile, and device type. Univariate predictors (P < .15) and variables clinically suspected to raise stroke risk were entered in a multivariate hazard regression model, specified using backward selection of covariates and accounting for competing risks of transplant/LVAD exchange. RESULTS A total of 163 HVAD and 84 HM3 patients were analyzed. Median follow up (until death, censoring for transplant/LVAD removal, or end of follow up) was 1.2 years in HVAD patients and 1.4 years in HM3 patients. Stroke occurred in 24 HVAD patients (15 ischemic, 9 hemorrhagic) and 6 HM3 patients (4 ischemic, 2 hemorrhagic). One-year stroke-free survival was 76.8% for HVAD and 84.3% for HM3. Thirty-day mortality following stroke was 41.7% for HVAD and 66.7% for HM3; 54.2% of HVAD strokes were disabling compared to 83.3% of HM3 strokes. Age, LVAD indication, and device type were associated (P < .15) with stroke on univariate analysis. On multivariate analysis, the HVAD was associated with significantly higher stroke risk (hazard ratio, 2.57; 95% confidence interval, 1.02-6.44; P = .045). CONCLUSIONS Different LVAD models appear to be associated with significantly different stroke risks.
Heatmap Template Generation for COVID-19 Biomarker Detection in Chest X-rays

Detecting and identifying patterns in chest X-ray images of Covid-19 patients are important tasks for understanding the disease and for making differential diagnosis. Given the relatively small number of available Covid-19 X-ray images and the need to make progress in understanding the disease, we propose a transfer learning technique applied to a pretrained VGG19 neural network to build a deep convolutional model capable of detecting four possible conditions: normal (healthy), bacteria, virus (not Covid-19), and Covid-19. The transformation of the multi-class deep learning output into binary outputs and the detection of Covid-19 image patterns using Grad-CAM technique show promising results. The discovered patterns are consistent across images from a given class of disease and constitute explanations of how the deep learning model makes classification decisions. In the long run, the identified patterns can serve as biomarkers for a given disease in chest X-ray images.
The Power of Class; the Gender of Power

Historians of the United States who turned to women’s history in the early 1970s found themselves mired in a debate about the centrality of class. Absent a governing theoretical apparatus in the discipline, many feminist historians turned to Marxian ideas to explain the kinds of changes taking place in family lives, female labor market participation, and women’s consciousness. This essay traces the emergence of these ideas in the life of a single historian; it follows the subsequent turn to shifting, and racialized, gender relations to explain social and political change. Reconciling gender and class provided the impetus for historians of late twentieth-century womanhood to develop new understandings of family and work.
Organized Crime as Financial Crime: The Nature of Organized Crime as Reflected in Prosecutions and Research

Organized crime is a financial crime because its objective is profit or other material gain. The provision of illicit goods and services dominates organized crime profit making. Sometimes an organi...
Empirical Bayes Counterfactuals in Poisson Regression

This paper uses an Empirical Bayes approach to estimate the conditional mean function of a Poisson regression model, evaluated at counterfactual values of unobserved covariates. The application that motivates and illustrates the methods developed herein is the use of deadly force by police officers in the United States. We construct a new yearly panel of lethal encounters covering the period 2013-2018, focusing on law enforcement agencies, rather than cities or states. We report counterfactuals for the nation's ten largest police departments by population served. We show that there is potential for a significant reduction in lethal encounters if certain unobserved characteristics---which we take to include selection practices, training, promotion standards, disciplinary procedures, and organizational culture---were transferable across agencies.
“Religion's Engine”: Theorizing Religion and Modernity in Jon Butler's God in Gotham

After reading Jon Butler's richly documented history of religion in Manhattan, I thought again of one of my favorite images: a 1939 watercolor by Ben Shahn called Self-Portrait among the Churchgoers, in which a photographer stands near a church on Sunday but points his camera toward the street and seems to ignore the gathering worshippers. Some U.S. historians might be relieved they do not need to learn more about those pious pedestrians, or what happens inside, but specialists in religious history might think the photographer has missed all the action. Has he? Well, in one sense, sure. Historians of religion must attend to churches and adherents, as Butler does, but, like Shahn's photographer, Butler also looks out to the wider cityscape. And that approach pays off as he asks how religion confronted “the challenge of modernity” in Manhattan, “the capital of American secularism.” More specifically, he hopes to explain why religion “didn't collapse in modernity's grasp,” as religion theorists like Max Weber and William James predicted.