cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Relationships between fish assemblages, macrophytes and environmental gradients in the Amazon River floodplain

During the flood season of 1992-1993, 139 species of fishes were collected from a floodplain lake system in the central Amazon Basin. Fish species distribution was examined relative to abiotic variables in seven vegetation strata on Marchantaria Island, Solimoes River. Both environmental variables and species distributions were influenced by a river channel to flood-plain-interior gradient. Species diversity was significantly higher in vegetated areas than in unvegetated areas, with deeper water Paspalum repens stands harbouring the highest diversity. As a result, species richness and catches were positively related to habitat complexity, while catch was also negatively related to dissolved oxygen (DO) and water depth. Low DO and shallow waters appeared to act as a refuge from predation. Fish assemblages were related to water chemistry, but species richness was not. Canonical correspondence analysis provided evidence that floodplain fish assemblages formed by the 76 most common species were influenced by physical variables, macrophyte coverage and habitat complexity, which jointly accounted for 67% of the variance of fish species assemblages. Omnivores showed no pattern relative to the river channel to floodplain-interior gradient while detritivores were more likely to he found at interior floodplain sites and piscivores closer to the river. Piscivores could be further separated into three groups, one with seven species associated with free-floating macrophytes in deep water, a second with five species found in shallow waters with rooted grasses and a third with six open water orientated species. The results suggest that fish assemblages in the Amazon floodplain are not random associations of species.
Social Support and Employment Status Modify the Effect of Intimate Partner Violence on Depression Symptom Severity in Women: Results from the 2006 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey

BACKGROUND: Depression and intimate partner violence (IPV) are significant health issues for U.S. women. Interaction effects between IPV and other psychosocial factors on the severity of depressive symptoms have not been fully explored. This study assessed effect modification, that is, how IPV interacts with sociodemographics, psychosocial factors and health risk behaviors, on the severity of depressive symptoms in women. METHODS: We utilized cross-sectional data from female respondents (n = 16,106) of the 2006 Behavioral Risk Factors Surveillance Survey. Sociodemographics, psychosocial variables, and health risk behaviors determined to be significantly associated with depression were tested for interaction effects with IPV. Weighted ordinal logistic regression and predicted probabilities illustrated the effect of IPV status on depressive symptom severity, stratified by interaction effects. RESULTS: Recent and lifetime IPV exposure were associated with more severe depressive symptoms compared with no IPV exposure. IPV history interacted with employment status and social support on the severity of depressive symptoms in women. Overall, any IPV exposure was associated with more severe depressive symptoms among women with low social support and unemployment, although the effect of recent (versus lifetime) IPV was most pronounced among women with high social support or employed women. CONCLUSIONS: Social support and employment status interact with IPV on the severity of depressive symptoms in women. Therefore, social support or workplace interventions designed to improve depressive symptoms should examine IPV history. Language: en
Detection of Als proteins on the cell wall of Candida albicans in murine tissues

A murine model of disseminated candidiasis was utilized to determine whether Candida albicans Als proteins are produced in vivo. The kidneys, spleen, heart, liver, and lungs were collected from mice inoculated with one of three C. albicans strains (SC5314, B311, or WO-1). Immunohistochemical analysis of murine tissues by using a rabbit polyclonal anti-Als serum indicated that Als proteins were produced by each C. albicans cell in the tissues examined. Patterns of staining with the anti-Als serum were similar among the C. albicans strains tested. These data indicated that Als protein production was widespread in disseminated candidiasis and that, despite strain differences in ALS gene expression previously noted in vitro, Als protein production in vivo was similar among C. albicans strains. The extensive production of Als proteins in vivo and their presence on the C. albicans cell wall position these proteins well for a role in host-pathogen interaction.
Positron Imaging: Some Practical Considerations

Nuclear imaging techniques seek to unravel the pharmacokinetics governing the distribution of labeled compounds. These images detail how the body operates on the radiotracer and hold the promise of distinguishing the diseased state in a noninvasive clinical test. At the same time, these procedures offer the basic scientist a unique opportunity to study physiological phenomena in the intact species. This duality of diagnostic utility and research potential tends to stretch positron tomography today, as it will do to nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) imaging tomorrow. What is being displayed for sectional examination is something more subtle than radiographic opacity and requires a period of fundamental study to precede the establishment of clinical protocols. Both clinical and basic nuclear imaging studies, however, share the goal of determining organ function, revealed in the dynamics of tracer localization.
Precision vs. Realism on the Framing Continuum: Understanding the Underpinnings of Message Effects

Although largely unrecognized, a close reading of extant experimental research on framing effects reveals that contrasting approaches mark the conceptualization and operationalization of message frames in much contemporary inquiry. One approach strives to maintain factual and logical equivalence while altering the vantage point taken in the story, while the other emphasizes different facts, changing the sources, subjects, and scope of a story as part of the frame shift. Exploring the continuum between precision and realism as approaches to framing—between more internally valid and more ecologically valid conceptions of frames—is the focus of this research. An online experimental study contrasted a precise equivalence framing of a social issue in gain and loss terms against a version that included frame-resonant facts, providing the news story more realism. These frames were embedded within a broadcast news report that was scripted, filmed, and produced in conjunction with working television journalists fr...
Particle Size Effect on the Crystal Structure of Y2O3 Particles Formed in a Flame Aerosol Process

Y2O3 is a material with wide applications. Its cubic and monoclinic polymorphs have significantly different mechanical and optical properties. The flame aerosol technique offers unique advantages in the synthesis of Y2O3 particles, but it also faces the challenge of phase control for Y2O3. One possible strategy for Y2O3 phase control is to utilize the particle size effect that causes the formation of the monoclinic phase at atmospheric pressure. In this study, the particle size effect on crystal structure was experimentally investigated for Y2O3 particles synthesized in a high-temperature flame aerosol process. A critical particle diameter of approximately 1.5 μm was found by single-particle electron diffraction. At the critical diameter, the probability is 50% for a particle to be either cubic or monoclinic. Particles significantly smaller than the critical diameter were all monoclinic, while those significantly larger were all cubic. The critical diameter was interpreted using an analysis that involves the free energy of a particle, which includes the bulk Gibbs free energy and the surface energy.
Mechanisms of Segmentation, Septation, and Remodeling of the Tubular Heart: Endocardial Cushion Fate and Cardiac Looping

Publisher Summary The formation and differentiation of the endocardial cushions and the process of heart looping are central events required for the reorganization of the single heart tube into a four-chambered structure. Both these events are regulated by the segmental restriction of gene expression along the anterior-posterior axis of the heart tube. Because of segmental restrictions, it is proposed that the endocardial cushions form in only two regions of the tube. The initial rightward bend of the tube separates the first two segments into the initial inlet and outlet of the primitive heart. The completion of looping, which accompanies remodeling, brings the inlet and outlet segments of the tube into their correct anatomical relationship and alignment. The endocardial cushions then have multiple functions: to divide the inlet into a right and left side; to form the valvular leaflets through the growth and differentiation of the cushion's luminal surface; and to induce myocardialization that removes the myocardium from the inner curvature of the heart, bringing the internal septa into alignment. Thus, any perturbations that restrict the growth and/or normal differentiation of the cushions could be expected to give rise to a common defective phenotype. This may explain why a wide variety of environmental insults and a diverse assortment of gene mutations can result in a similar spectrum of inlet and outlet heart defects.
Use of Polymer Surfaces for Molecular Ion Adsorption and Desorption

The desorption of molecules and molecular ions from surfaces as a consequence of excitation by an incident fast or slow particle is a classic example of a good news-bad news scenario. The good news is that organic mass spectrometry has experienced a revolution in development and application. The bad news is that the understanding of the processes involved is still in a state of chaos and there is no evidence that the atmosphere has improved to a level where an orderly evolution of concepts will emerge. Part of the problem is emotional, linked to the personalities and ambitions of those, like ourselves, who are actively promoting a particular variant and model, but another part is related to the complexity of the problem. Unlike studies of atomic and molecular ion emission using highly disciplined surfaces where theory and experiment are sharpened to elegant simplicity, the fragile and reactive nature of the organic molecule makes the study of the emission of their molecular ions a dirty business. One aspect of the high vacuum technology that has made possible a study of adsorbate-substrate interaction is the use of Langmuir adsorption at a solid-gas interface. By careful control of pressure and exposure time, it is possible to lay down adsorbate layers with varying degrees of surface coverage and to study the influence of surface concentration on the desorption-ionization process [1]. It is also possible to perform Langmuir adsorption experiments at a solid-liquid interface. In these studies, solution concentration plays the role of partial pressure in controlling the surface concentration of adsorbate. Rapid removal of the liquid phase after equilibrium has been reached leaves a surface containing adsorbate in a particular state dictated by the conditions of the thermodynamics of adsorption for that particular system.
Hierarchical Modeling for Synthetic Biology

One of the characteristics of synthetic biology is that it often combines mathematical modeling with experimental work. The link between modeling and experiments is carried out by human researchers who have a conceptual understanding of the underlying biological system. At present, there is no method for representing a conceptual description that can be used to connect mathematical models and experimental data, especially sequence annotations, pertaining to the same underlying biological system. One reason for this limitation is that there can exist different mathematical models of the same biological system. In such cases, the same annotation in a DNA sequence would map differently to different models of the same system. In order to enable software support for synthetic biology, a software framework is needed such that it is able to capture a conceptual description of a biological system, including quantitative values, without confining itself to one mathematical model. The novel use of hierarchical mode...
A four-step mechanism for the formation of supported-nanoparticle heterogenous catalysts in contact with solution: the conversion of Ir(1,5-COD)Cl/γ-Al2O3 to Ir(0)(∼170)/γ-Al2O3.

Product stoichiometry, particle-size defocusing, and kinetic evidence are reported consistent with and supportive of a four-step mechanism of supported transition-metal nanoparticle formation in contact with solution: slow continuous nucleation, A → B (rate constant k1), autocatalytic surface growth, A + B → 2B (rate constant k2), bimolecular agglomeration, B + B → C (rate constant k3), and secondary autocatalytic surface growth, A + C → 1.5C (rate constant k4), where A is nominally the Ir(1,5-COD)Cl/γ-Al2O3 precursor, B the growing Ir(0) particles, and C the larger, catalytically active nanoparticles. The significance of this work is at least 4-fold: first, this is the first documentation of a four-step mechanism for supported-nanoparticle formation in contact with solution. Second, the proposed four-step mechanism, which was obtained following the disproof of 18 alternative mechanisms, is a new four-step mechanism in which the new fourth step is A + C → 1.5C in the presence of the solid, γ-Al2O3 support...
Intense, Passionate, Romantic Love: A Natural Addiction? How the Fields That Investigate Romance and Substance Abuse Can Inform Each Other

Individuals in the early stage of intense romantic love show many symptoms of substance and non-substance or behavioral addictions, including euphoria, craving, tolerance, emotional and physical dependence, withdrawal and relapse. We have proposed that romantic love is a natural (and often positive) addiction that evolved from mammalian antecedents by 4 million years ago as a survival mechanism to encourage hominin pair-bonding and reproduction, seen cross-culturally today in Homo sapiens. Brain scanning studies using functional magnetic resonance imaging support this view: feelings of intense romantic love engage regions of the brain's "reward system," specifically dopamine-rich regions, including the ventral tegmental area, also activated during drug and/or behavioral addiction. Thus, because the experience of romantic love shares reward pathways with a range of substance and behavioral addictions, it may influence the drug and/or behavioral addiction response. Indeed, a study of overnight abstinent smokers has shown that feelings of intense romantic love attenuate brain activity associated with cigarette cue-reactivity. Could socially rewarding experiences be therapeutic for drug and/or behavioral addictions? We suggest that "self expanding" experiences like romance and expanding one's knowledge, experience and self-perception, may also affect drug and/or behavioral addiction behaviors. Further, because feelings of romantic love can progress into feelings of calm attachment, and because attachment engages more plastic forebrain regions, there is a rationale for therapies that may help substance and/or behavioral addiction by promoting activation of these forebrain systems through long-term, calm, positive attachments to others, including group therapies. Addiction is considered a negative (harmful) disorder that appears in a population subset; while romantic love is often a positive (as well as negative) state experienced by almost all humans. Thus, researchers have not categorized romantic love as a chemical or behavioral addiction. But by embracing data on romantic love, it's classification as an evolved, natural, often positive but also powerfully negative addiction, and its neural similarity to many substance and non-substance addictive states, clinicians may develop more effective therapeutic approaches to alleviate a range of the addictions, including heartbreak-an almost universal human experience that can trigger stalking, clinical depression, suicide, homicide, and other crimes of passion.
Endocrine influences on growth and pigmentation of embryonic down feather cells

Rawles (1960) and Hamilton (1952) have outlined the development of the down feather. Details of the development and interaction of the epidermal constituents and melanocytes of the down feather were reported by Watterson (1942) and Goff (1949) described the development of the mesodermal portions of the feather. There have been several reports that normal down feather development is dependent upon undisturbed endocrine balance. One of the techniques for alteration of normal endocrine patterns in the chick embryo is the complete extirpation of the rudiments of the pituitary gland (Fugo, 1940) and many developmental studies have been based upon this method of ‘hypophysectomy’ by partial decapitation (see Hinni & Watterson, 1963). Several of these studies have cited gross effects of this operation on down feather development. Fugo (1940) found pronounced differences between operated and control embryos in length and general pigmentation of down feathers along with a ‘tremendous increase’ in the number of pigment granules in individual barbule cells of decapitated embryos.
Perioperative Management of Patients with Compromised Left and Right Ventricular Function

Summary The management of perioperative ventricular dysfunction is a complex process and relies for its success on the identification, diagnosis, and treatment of the underlying pathophysiologic processes. With the increasing sophistication of methods for monitoring intraoperative cardiac performance and newer approaches to pharmacologic therapy, patient care should improve significantly.
Termites and flooding affect microbial communities in decomposing wood

Abstract Wood properties and microbial community characteristics were compared between loblolly pine ( Pinus taeda L.) logs protected or unprotected from termites (Blattodea: Rhinotermitidae: Reticulitermes spp.) and other arthropods for two years in seasonally flooded and unflooded forests in the southeastern United States. Significant compositional differences were observed between treatments and between flood patterns for both bacterial and fungal communities. Bacteria were 8–9-fold more abundant in unprotected logs compared to protected logs in both flooded and unflooded forests, with the greatest abundance seen in unprotected and unflooded logs. Wood nitrogen and lignin contents were unaffected by treatment, flood pattern or levels of termite damage visible in unprotected logs. We conclude that termites alter the composition of both bacterial and fungal communities and thus have the potential to indirectly affect wood decomposition and related processes through interactions with the microbial community.
Teaching Through Turmoil: Social Studies Teachers and Local Controversial Current Events

AbstractThe protests against the Budget Repair Bill in Wisconsin during the spring of 2011 provide a powerful moment in which to examine social studies teachers’ curricular, pedagogic, and personal political decisions in the context of a local, controversial current event. We engaged 7 middle and high school social studies teachers from small and large, liberal and conservative communities who participated in the protests in in-depth, semi-structured interviews using direct prompts rooted in critical incident scaffolding and open questions in keeping with oral history traditions. The teachers’ stories reveal the profound significance of that moment in their lives, the ways in which teaching through turmoil deepened their political awareness and activism, a range of factors influencing their decisions of whether or not to disclose their opinions to their students, the importance of the need for “balanced” teaching of controversial issues, and the ways in which they feel their voices have been silenced in t...
Racism and sociology

Racism and sociology collects a series of essays all concerned with the ways racism has shaped sociology as well as the ways sociology has helped to unpack issues of race, discrimination, identity,...
Online Learning Tools for Middle School Science: Lessons Learned from a Design-Based Research Project

This article reports on how design-based research methodology was used to guide a line of intervention research that developed, implemented, revised, and evaluated online learning science curricula for middle school students, including general education students and English language learners (primarily of Hispanic origin). The iterative, design-based research approach was carried out in two stages with multiple steps per stage: (a) stage 1, or informed exploration, identified and described the problem under investigation; and (b) stage 2, or enactment, redesigned previously developed online science units, implemented each unit in case studies, and completed a feasibility evaluation. The present paper focuses primarily on the second stage, demonstrating the process by which online science units were repeatedly refined with input from stakeholders, and then examined for their feasibility to implement, usefulness for helping teachers engage with students, and potential to effectively deepen science knowledge. Data were drawn from multiple sources, including teacher logs, student and teacher surveys, student notebooks, content assessments, and focus groups. Results indicate that the online science units were feasible to implement, usable, and helpful. The data-driven, design-based research methodology proved to be both practical and efficacious, and underscored the critical importance of involving all stakeholders in the process of curriculum creation and refinement. This work offers a model for the development of constructivist science instructional materials for English learners using online, multimedia technology.
Donor-Recipient Mismatches in MHC Class I Chain-Related Gene a (MICA) in Unrelated Donor (UD) Transplantation

MICA is a highly polymorphic locus located in the Class III region of the HLA system in the short arm of chromosome 6. The products of MICA can elicit humoral allo-recognition and are the ligands of the NKG2-D receptors of natural killer cells. MICA is involved in chronic and possibly acute graft rejection in kidney transplantation. The impact of mismatches in MICA has not been examined systematically in bone marrow transplantation. We hypothesized that donor-recipient MICA mismatches may influence graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and relapse rates after UD hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), and tested this hypothesis in a cohort comprised of all patients with myeloid leukemias transplanted in our institution from January, 2002 to December, 2007 (n=238). Methods: Typing of each of the classical human leukocyte antigen (HLA) and MICA loci was performed by amplification with locus-specific primers of genomic DNA by PCR followed by nucleotide sequencing. For the assignment of MICA alleles, the polymorphisms in exons 2, 3, 4, and 5 were evaluated. Matching grade is described in the GVH direction. Outcomes were acute (a) GVHD incidence, and aGVHD-free survival (time dependent variable, with development of aGVHD as the event), and relapse-free survival (RFS), both estimated by the Kaplan Meier method. Cox proportional hazards regression model was used to estimate the influence of HLA match degree, patient, disease, and transplant-related characteristics on outcomes. Median age was 50 years (range, 18–74; 24% over age 59). Diagnosis were AML/high-risk MDS in 82% (n=195) and CML in 18% (n=43). 42% (n=100) of the patients were in remission (CR) at HSCT. Preparative regimens were ablative in 59% (n=141), and contained ATG, fludarabine and IV busulfan in respectively 96%, 90% and 70% of the HSCT. GVHD prophylaxis was tacrolimus and mini-methotrexate-based in all HSCT. Stem cell source was bone marrow (BM) in 72% (n=172) and peripheral blood (PB) in 28% (n=66) of HSCT. 78 patients have relapsed (34%) and 133 have died (56%). Results. 169 pairs were matched in HLA A, B, C, DRB1, and DQB1 (10/10; 71%); 69 (29%) were Conclusion: MICA mismatches independently increased the incidence of grade II–IV aGVHD. Multivariate Models for grade II - IV acute GVHD and relapse-free survival (RFS)
Stress and Immunity

For many years immunologists have considered an immune response to be a direct consequence of, and solely determined by, antigenic stimulation of an autonomous immune system. In the past decade, however, we have come to realize that the immune system is regulated by the central nervous system either directly, or by way of the neuroendocrine axis, i.e., the hypothalamic-hypophysial system, or the autonomic nervous system (Ader et al. 1990). The realization that the central nervous system has immunomodulatory potential is based on many different lines of evidence. For example, primary and secondary lymphoid organs are innervated by the sympathetic nervous system (Felten and Felten 1991), and lymphoid cells express cell-surface receptors for β-adrenergic transmitters, as well as receptors for a host of neurally and neuroendocrinologically active peptides (Blalock 1988; Weigent and Blalock, this volume). A large number of hormones and transmitters have been shown to exert immunomodulatory effects both in vivo and in vitro (see Khansari et al. 1990). These include: Glucocorticoids (Munck and Guyre 1991) Opioids — endorphins and enkephalins (Shavit 1991; Heijen et al. 1991) Catecholamines — dopamine, epinephrine, norepinephrine (Madden and Livnat 1991) Acetylcholine (Coffey and Hadden 1985) Benzodiazepines (Petitto et al. 1989) Gonadal hormones — testosterone, estrogen, progesterone (McCruden and Stimson 1991) Adrenocorticotropin (Heijen et al. 1991) Growth hormone (Ader et al. 1990; Kelley 1991) Prolactin (Bernton et al. 1991) Vasoactive intestinal peptide (Ottaway 1991) Somatostatin (Stanisz et al. 1986) Substance P (McGillis et al. 1991) Thymic hormones — thymopoetin, thymopentin (Hall et al. 1991) Thyroid hormones — thyrotropin, thyrotropin-releasing hormone (Carr and Blalock 1991) Melatonin (Maestroni and Conti 1991) Vasopressin (Johnson and Torres 1985) Oxytocin (Johnson and Torres 1985) Learning, as exemplified by classical conditioning, can enhance (Gorczynski 1991) or depress (Ader and Cohen 1991) immune responses. These effects are mediated largely, but not exclusively, by the hypothalamic-hypophysial-adrenal axis. Therefore, experiments with various types of stress are required to provide information on the roles played by neuropeptides in concert with various other signal molecules involved in neuroimmunomodulation.
Strategy to synthesize integrated solar energy coproduction processes with optimal process intensification. Case study: Efficient solar thermal hydrogen production

Abstract The development and implementation of alternative energy conversion techniques using renewable energy sources is critical for a sustainable economy. Among renewable energy sources, solar energy is prominent due to its abundance. Towards a sustainable economy, this paper presents a process design concept to synthesize Solar Electricity, Water, Food and Chemical (SEWFAC) processes. The proposed approach entails systematic synthesis of energy efficient, synergistic processes incorporating process intensification for optimal utilization of resources. The objective is the development of coproduction processes around the clock on an as-needed basis. A general strategy and detailed analysis to synthesize efficient solar thermal hydrogen production processes through solar thermal power cogeneration. Process simulations and optimizations are performed using an integrated MATLAB and Aspen Plus modeling environment. The proposed process designs are evaluated based on the various metrics introduced. Process designs are estimated to achieve 11% higher exergy efficiency compared to the traditional processes.
Synthetic Geomechanical Logs

In recent years, predicting reservoir’s behavior as a function of changes in field stresses has become a focus in the E&P industry, with an increased interest to unlock production from unconventional resources.
Cell fate decisions emerge as phages cooperate or compete inside their host

The system of the bacterium Escherichia coli and its virus, bacteriophage lambda, is paradigmatic for gene regulation in cell-fate development, yet insight about its mechanisms and complexities are limited due to insufficient resolution of study. Here we develop a 4-colour fluorescence reporter system at the single-virus level, combined with computational models to unravel both the interactions between phages and how individual phages determine cellular fates. We find that phages cooperate during lysogenization, compete among each other during lysis, and that confusion between the two pathways occasionally occurs. Additionally, we observe that phage DNAs have fluctuating cellular arrival times and vie for resources to replicate, enabling the interplay during different developmental paths, where each phage genome may make an individual decision. These varied strategies could separate the selection for replication-optimizing beneficial mutations during lysis from sequence diversification during lysogeny, allowing rapid adaptation of phage populations for various environments.
Chinese non-governmental organizations, media, and culture: communication perspectives, practices, and provocations

The prolific rise of Chinese non-governmental organizations (NGOs) for advancing social and political change has attracted considerable attention in recent years. Nonetheless, limited communication studies research has been conducted to further contemporary understanding of these emerging collectives, particularly beyond the popular hype of digital and social media-led “revolutions” in civic engagement or dystopian accounts of Chinese society. This paper reviews the key contours of communication scholarship on Chinese NGOs and highlights the major contributions of the articles in this special issue. We also propose three dialectical tensions to stimulate future research in mediated Chinese NGO organizing, and to help advance the communicative purposes, practices and prospects of Chinese NGOs.
Indigo Pine: Net Zero Performance in a Unique Package

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to explore the unique ways in which a group of Clemson University students and faculty achieved the design and construction of a net zero energy house for the 2015 U.S. Solar Decathlon competition. This paper will describe not only the role of the competition but also the foundation of the team's research and ultimate goal of realizing a holistic view of energy use. Furthermore, this paper will detail the unique materials, systems, and strategies successfully employed by the team in the Indigo Pine solar house, their measured performance, and their future applications.
Ultrasimple FROG device for measuring ultrashort pulses at ~ 1.5-micron wavelengths

We have developed an experimentally ultrasimple, few-element FROG device for measuring ~1-ps pulses at ~1.5-micron wavelengths. The key to this device is a highly dispersive nonlinear crystal, specifically, the all-but-forgotten crystal Proustite.
Fourteen polymorphic microsatellite markers for a widespread limestone endemic, Carex eburnea (Cyperaceae: Carex sect. Albae).

Premise of the study: Microsatellite primers were developed for a widespread limestone endemic sedge, Carex eburnea, to facilitate investigation of the genetic diversity and phylogeography of this taxon and its closest relative, C. mckittrickensis. Methods and Results: Forty-eight primer pairs were designed from Illumina sequence data and screened for suitability. Fourteen of these primer pairs were polymorphic and generated one to seven alleles per locus. Cross-species amplifications were conducted for all four members of Carex sect. Albae. Conclusions: These primer pairs can be used to assess the genetic diversity and population structure in future studies of C. eburnea and C. mckittrickensis, and likely in other members of Carex sect. Albae.
Paradigm Shift for Treatment of Atrial Fibrillation in Heart Failure

Congestive heart failure and atrial fibrillation often coexist. Up to 50% of patients who present with new-onset congestive heart failure have atrial fibrillation; conversely, among those patients ...
EVA (extended video application): developing tablet PC software for multi-disciplinary mobile e-learning

The use of video within clinical courses at Radford University (RU) is currently limited by labor-intensive, tape-based equipment for organizing and accessing specific scenes and events. Our faculty has successfully applied Tablet PCs and Microsoft OneNote® in courses to capture and analyze instructional sessions, but these existing systems have limited capabilities. For example, OneNote currently only supports synchronous live feeds of web cameras with moderate video fidelity. However, prerecorded asynchronous sessions fed from DVD players or saved digital movie files of sessions at remote locations are all primary sources of observation data. The overall goal of this project is to design, implement, and evaluate a Tablet PC-based software application called EVA (Extended Video Application) to overcome these limitations and substantially improve the effectiveness of specific clinical learning experiences in education, counseling, and social work courses. This paper gives the background, motivation, and an overview of the project, reports on project status, describes the software development environment, and discusses the technical difficulties and issues surrounding the design and implementation components. The paper also covers future work (which includes a rigorous evaluation component), expected outcomes, and conclusions.
Circulating Biomarkers for Tumor Angiogenesis: Where Are We?

Background In recent years, several anti-angiogenic drugs have been developed and their addition to standard treatment has been associated with clinical benefits. However, the response to anti-angiogenic therapy is characterized by considerable variability. In this context, the development of dynamic non-invasive biomarkers would be helpful to elucidate the emergence of anti-angiogenic resistance as well as to correctly address the treatment. Objectives The purpose of this review is to describe current reports on circulating diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers related to angiogenesis. We further discuss how this non-invasive strategy could improve the monitoring of tumor treatment and help clinical strategy. Results We discuss the latest evidence in the literature regarding circulating anti-angiogenic markers. Besides growth factor proteins, different circulating miRNAs could exert a pro- or anti-angiogenic activity so as to represent suitable candidates for a non-invasive strategy. Recent reports indicate that tumor-derived exosomes, which are small membrane vesicles abundant in biological fluids, also have an impact on vascular remodeling. Conclusion Numerous circulating biomarkers related to angiogenesis have been recently identified. Their use will allow identifying patients who are more likely to benefit from a specific anti-angiogenic treatment, as well as detecting those who will develop resistance and/or adverse effects. Nonetheless, further studies are required to elucidate the role of these biomarkers in clinical settings.
ReCall: Crowdsourcing on Basic Phones to Financially Sustain Voice Forums

Although voice forums are widely used to enable marginalized communities to produce, consume, and share information, their financial sustainability is a key concern among HCI4D researchers and practitioners. We present ReCall, a crowdsourcing marketplace accessible via phone calls where low-income rural residents vocally transcribe audio files to gain free airtime to participate in voice forums as well as to earn money. We conducted a series of experimental and usability evaluations with 28 low-income people in rural India to examine the effect of phone types, channel types, and review modes on speech transcription performance. We then deployed ReCall for two weeks to 24 low-income rural residents who placed 5,879 phone calls, completed 29,000 micro tasks to yield transcriptions with 85% accuracy, and earned INR 20,500. Our mixed-methods analysis indicates that each minute of crowd work on ReCall gives users eight minutes of free airtime on another voice forum, and thus illustrates a way to address the financial sustainability of voice forums.
Finding the Sweet Spot in ERLIC Mobile Phase for Simultaneous Enrichment of N-Glyco and Phosphopeptides

Simultaneous enrichment of glyco- and phosphopeptides will benefit the studies of biological processes regulated by these posttranslational modifications (PTMs). It will also reveal potential crosstalk between these two ubiquitous PTMs. Unlike custom-designed multifunctional solid phase extraction (SPE) materials, operating strong anion exchange (SAX) resin in electrostatic repulsion-hydrophilic interaction chromatography (ERLIC) mode provides a readily available strategy to analytical labs for enrichment of these PTMs for subsequent mass spectrometry (MS)-based characterization. However, the choice of mobile phase has largely relied on empirical rules from hydrophilic interaction chromatography (HILIC) or ion-exchange chromatography (IEX) without further optimization and adjustments. In this study, ten mobile phase compositions of ERLIC were systematically compared; the impact of multiple factors including organic phase proportion, ion pairing reagent, pH, and salt on the retention of glycosylated and phosphorylated peptides was evaluated. This study demonstrated good enrichment of glyco- and phosphopeptides from the nonmodified peptides in a complex tryptic digest. Moreover, the enriched glyco- and phosphopeptides elute in different fractions by orthogonal retention mechanisms of hydrophilic interaction and electrostatic interaction in ERLIC, maximizing the LC-MS identification of each PTM. The optimized mobile phase can be adapted to the ERLIC HPLC system, where the high resolution in separating multiple PTMs will benefit large-scale MS-based PTM profiling and in-depth characterization.
Google Earth Mapping Exercises for Structural Geology Students--A Promising Intervention for Improving Penetrative Visualization Ability.

ABSTRACT Three-dimensional thinking skills are extremely useful for geoscientists, and at the undergraduate level, these skills are often emphasized in structural geology courses. Google Earth is a powerful tool for visualizing the three-dimensional nature of data collected on the surface of Earth. The results of a 5 y pre- and posttest study of the three-dimensional visualization abilities of undergraduate students (N = 75) enrolled in a structural geology class at a small, liberal arts college are presented. The data suggest students achieved statistically significant gains in three-dimensional visualization skills over the course of the semester. Mean pretest scores for female students tended to be lower than those of male students. This gender gap, however, was no longer statistically significant in the posttest scores, with female students showing higher average gains in spatial skills compared to their male counterparts. These data show a correlation between the introduction of Google Earth map inte...
Enabling High-Integrity Vehicular Satellite Navigation Operations via Automatic Gain Control

Automatic Gain Control (AGC) is a commonly found component in Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers. AGC's intended function is to dynamically adjust the gain of an input signal to mitigate quantization losses in the receiver. However, the AGC has also received attention as a possible method for incoming signal strength measurement via its dynamic gain adjustment metric. The purpose of this paper is to assess the validity of this measurement method by characterizing the AGC response of multiple COTS receivers to a variety of signals, to discuss the possible application of this hypothesized relationship to GNSS signal interference detection and mitigation, and to explore how AGC's use for interference detection can help to improve the reliability of satellite navigation operations for both human-driven and autonomous vehicles.
Government spending and heterogeneous consumption dynamics

Abstract What is the effect of government spending on consumption? Neoclassical and new Keynesian models deliver opposing predictions and empirical studies differ in their conclusions. This paper takes a data-driven approach and exploits information from over 200 variables via a Bayesian factor-augmented VAR model. I use sign restrictions for identifying effects that both classes of models agree upon. This approach imposes a minimal set of restrictions on the empirical model, leaving the sign and magnitude of the effect of government spending on consumption free to be determined by the data. I find that: (i) government spending increases aggregate consumption; (ii) the estimated spending multiplier is close to 2; (iii) there exists heterogeneity even within durable, nondurable, and service consumption variables which is undocumented in the literature. Finally, I show that my identified structural shocks are not predictable by economic agents and are uncorrelated with traditional monetary policy shocks, suggesting that these effects are not confounded by monetary policy.
Quantifying the concerns of Dimon and Buffett with data and computation

Abstract Despite considerable efforts, the determinants of firm growth and financial market volatility have not been definitively identified, yet sets of stylized facts – most notably power-law distributions – relating to firm size and market returns suggest both evolve as part of a complex system. This scenario implies that a positive feedback loop between firms and investors exists and may be responsible for prejudicing the way management allocates their resources, with firm, and economic, growth adversely affected. Further, there are growing real-world concerns that the management of publicly listed firms is becoming too concerned with the movement of their firm's share price, which is adversely influencing resource allocation decisions. A related concern is that agents, in general, within financial markets are placing a disproportionate focus on short-term factors. To investigate the ramifications of the proposed feedback loop on firm growth and market volatility, this paper implements a novel agent-based artificial stock market where management can consider the movements of their firm's endogenously determined share price when allocating resources between sales and margin growth. The results highlight an inferior outcome regarding firm growth, and various other financial metrics, if management is overly concerned with share price movements. The growth of the firms (and market) is also affected by the mixture of the investor classes initiated due to the divergent levels of volatility they create. Additionally, the model presents insights into how and why the extent to which agents consider past outcomes in their decision-making process becomes influential. Notably, the model's results emulate an extensive set of global micro-level firm data. By providing significant insights on the effects of the stock market on management decision-making and its ramifications for firm growth, this paper provides crucial insights into the mechanisms responsible for inefficient behavior by market participants.
Parent-reported childhood temperament and adolescent self-reported substance use initiation.

Abstract Children differ in their general temperament and these differences predict consequential outcomes, including mental health, peer relations, and academic performance. In adults, there is strong evidence that personality correlates with substance use, but the temporal direction of the relation is unclear, as substance use may alter personality. The present research uses data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (N = 5,362) to examine whether temperament assessed by parents in early childhood is associated with adolescent self-reported initiation of alcohol, cigarette, marijuana, or other drug use. Children rated higher on sociability at 4–5 years old were at higher risk of initiation for all types of substances in adolescence (age 12 to 17), controlling for SES, single-parent household, parent substance use, and other demographic variables. Additionally, children rated higher on reactivity were at higher risk of cigarette or marijuana use initiation, and children rated higher on persistence had a lower risk of cigarette use initiation. This multi-informant prospective study demonstrates that early individual differences in psychological functioning predict risk of future substance use initiation and highlights the importance of considering temperament and personality when assessing risk of future substance use initiation.
Sequence amplification via cell passaging creates spurious signals of positive adaptation in influenza H3N2 hemagglutinin

Clinical influenza A isolates are frequently not sequenced directly. Instead, a majority of these isolates (~70% in 2015) are first subjected to passaging for amplification, most commonly in non-human cell culture. Here, we find that this passaging leaves distinct signals of adaptation in the viral sequences, which can confound evolutionary analyses of the viral sequences. We find distinct patterns of adaptation to Madin-Darby (MDCK) and monkey cell culture absent from unpassaged hemagglutinin sequences. These patterns also dominate pooled datasets not separated by passaging type, and they increase in proportion to the number of passages performed. By contrast, MDCK-SIAT1 passaged sequences seem mostly (but not entirely) free of passaging adaptations. Contrary to previous studies, we find that using only internal branches of the influenza phylogenetic trees is insufficient to correct for passaging artifacts. These artifacts can only be safely avoided by excluding passaged sequences entirely from subsequent analysis. We conclude that future influenza evolutionary analyses should appropriately control for potentially confounding effects of passaging adaptations.
The association between HIV/AIDS and food insecurity at the US–Mexico border: Experiences of low-income patients in the Rio Grande Valley:

US–Mexico border communities are uniquely vulnerable to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission given the economic and social challenges these communities face. We surveyed low-income, pred...
The importance of immunoparesis in multiple myeloma.

In this issue of Leukemia and Lymphoma, Geng and colleagues demonstrate that suppression of the uninvolved immunoglobulins referred to as immunoparesis is associated with both a shorter overall sur...