cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Pregnancy in the Time of Zika: Addressing Barriers for Developing Vaccines and Other Measures for Pregnant Women.

Three recent infectious disease outbreaks of global importance—H1N1 influenza, Ebola, and now Zika—have had specific implications for pregnant women. For the H1N1 pandemic, pregnant women and their infants were high-risk groups for severe complications and death. During the Ebola outbreak, there were concerns about worse outcomes among pregnant women and specific concerns regarding vertical transmission of infection to newborns. The current Zika outbreak, with its ostensible association with microcephaly, has direct and highly concerning implications for pregnant women and women of reproductive age.
The modeling of interfaces: Atoms or continua?

Interfaces are a central microstructural unit responsible for properties ranging from the capacity for void nucleation to enhanced diffusion rates. Demand for materials with specific properties makes the tailoring of interfaces a central goal in materials modeling. In the consideration of detailed defect geometries or nanoscale effects, atomistic modeling provides reliable insights. On the other hand, the response of materials to macroscopic loads is often best treated within a continuum framework. This overview reviews both atomistic and continuum models of interfaces with an eye to the possible relationships between them. The problems of void nucleation and grain boundary segregation are used as examples to elucidate the progress that can be made on both the continuum and atomistic fronts as well as the limitations of each. These approaches are further contrasted through consideration of the example of elastic wave propagation at interfaces. The treatment of waves localized at interfaces yields distinct predictions depending upon whether an atomistic or continuum analysis is made.
Going It Alone: New Survey Data on Economic Recovery Strategies in Local Government

To set the tone for the Special Issue, this article focuses on understanding the total impact of the Great Recession on local governments, predicting whether these impacts will be permanent, and pr...
Water relations of Agropyron smithii and Bouteloua gracilis and community evapotranspiration following long-term grazing by prairie dogs

-The influence of intensive grazing on canopy microclimate, grass leaf water relations and community evapotranspiration was investigated by comparing a grassland heavily grazed by a colony of black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus) with an adjacent lightly-grazed, uncolonized area in a northern-mixed prairie in South Dakota. Total aboveground plant biomass was lower on the colony through the growing season. Daytime leaf and air temperatures were higher on the colony. Although daytime air vapor pressure in the canopy was higher on the colony, higher leaf temperatures resulted in higher leaf-to-air vapor-pressure differences on the colony. Along with higher vapor-pressure differences, higher wind speeds within the canopy probably also contributed to higher evaporative demand. In spite of this, the dominant grasses, Agropyron smithii and Bouteloua gracilis, had consistently higher leaf conductances to water vapor and water potentials (4) on the colony, especially later in the day and growing season. Predawn leaf 'p were higher on the colony in July and August, suggesting available soil moisture in the rooting zone was higher there. At the community level, afternoon evapotranspiration rates were lower on the colony in June, but higher on the colony in July and August as soil water became more limiting. While intensive grazing by prairie dogs lead to a warmer canopy microclimate with higher evaporative demand, any detrimental effects on plant water status were apparently offset by greater available soil moisture, especially later in the day and season. Greater soil water availability on the colony was probably the result of smaller transpiring leaf mass (and area), although soil factors such as improved infiltration due to prairie dog burrows can not be ruled out as causative factors.
CYP17 inhibitors in prostate cancer: latest evidence and clinical potential

Since androgen signaling plays a pivotal role in the proliferation and metastasis of prostate cancer, androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) or castration therapy is considered the backbone of treatment for newly diagnosed metastatic prostate cancer. However, almost all men experience disease progression on ADT to a state known as metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC), which continues to be driven by intratumoral androgen synthesis or androgen receptor signaling. Hence, the extragonadal ablation of androgen synthesis from pregnane precursors holds much promise. An inhibitor of cytochrome P450 17α-hydroxy/17,20-lyase (CYP17) enzymes, abiraterone acetate, has already been approved for men with mCRPC. Newer CYP17 inhibitors continue to be developed which are either more selective or have concomitant inhibitory actions on AR signaling. These include VT-464, orteronel, and galeterone. Herein, we focus on the molecular mechanism of action, efficacy, latest evidence, and clinical potential of CYP17 inhibitors in prostate cancer.
O-7 Nationwide adoption of an ACP program by a large U.S. health provider (HMO)

Background Kaiser Permanente (KP) is America’s largest non-profit health plan and integrated healthcare delivery system serving nearly 10 million members across 8 states. Historically, KP has lacked a systematic approach to advance care planning (ACP). Aim KP’s Care Management Institute (CMI) serves to support identification and spread of national best practice. CMI is supporting widespread adoption of a proven, systematic approach to ACP across all KP regions. Methods In late 2013, KP Northern California commenced implementation of an evidence-based approach to ACP. CMI has since supported interregional spread by negotiating national training contracts, educating and engaging cross-regional leadership, coordinating interregional sharing and metrics, and constructing a best-practice implementation guide. Results Three of KP’s seven regions (serving 85% of all membership) have initiated implementation of systematic ACP. A fourth will start in 2016. Regions not yet participating cite insufficient resources and staff, and competing priorities. As of 1/2015, the organisation has trained 850 facilitators who have completed nearly 14,000 conversations. Early outcomes include high concordance between member wishes and care delivered. Discussion CMI and regional ACP leaders identify five key success factors for adoption and spread: upfront investment in critical infrastructure; organisation-wide inspiration of top-to-bottom stakeholders; proactive team engagement and support; elimination of barriers and silos; and incorporation of continuous quality improvement. Conclusion National adoption of an evidence-based, systematic ACP in a large integrated health system appears feasible. Speed of adoption and spread depend on organisational will to invest in critical infrastructure and a top-to-bottom, sustained commitment to change.
On-line EEG Denoising using correlated sparse recovery

We address the problem of structured sparse signal recovery when only certain statistical rather than exact properties describing the structure of the signal are available. Such problems arise in elimination of eye movement artifacts in waking EEG recordings; this task cannot be efficiently done using structured models that assume a common sparsity profile of fixed groups of components. We present an algorithm for learning structured sparse coefficients in a Bayesian paradigm. Using our algorithm, that we call Correlated Sparse Recovery (CSR), we have successfully removed eye movement artifact in real EEG recordings, with no data loss. Our method, which facilitates on-line application, outperforms ICA and standard sparse recovery algorithms in its ability to denoise EEG with minimal spectral distortion and maximal entropy preservation. As an artifact detection tool our method has 96% specificity and 97% sensitivity when compared with manual identification by an expert.
Groups, Committees, and Organisation Staffs

This chapter is reserved for group contributions to the history of thought on economic integration, following two chapters which reported on individual contributors and preceding one which will again report on individuals. But since joint authors of books or articles are also ‘groups’, I must qualify my declaration of intent by stating another criterion: joint authors whose names appear with the titles of their publications are considered as individual contributors; group authorship in the present context should be taken as referring to writers who remain unnamed or are named only in the text or in the prefaces or letters of transmittal of the publications included here.
Similar efficacy from specific and non-specific mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist treatment of muscular dystrophy mice.

Background: Combined treatment with an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor and a mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) antagonist improved cardiac and skeletal muscle function and pathology in a mouse model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy. MR is present in limb and respiratory skeletal muscles and functions as a steroid hormone receptor. Objective: The goals of the current study were to compare the efficacy of the specific MR antagonist eplerenone with the non-specific MR antagonist spironolactone, both in combination with the angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor lisinopril. Methods: Three groups of n = 18 dystrophin-deficient, utrophin-haploinsufficient male mice were given chow containing: lisinopril plus spironolactone, lisinopril plus eplerenone, or no drug, from four to 20 weeks-of-age. Eighteen C57BL/10 male mice were used as wild-type controls. In vivo measurements included cardiac magnetic resonance imaging, conscious electrocardiography, and grip strength. From each mouse in the study, diaphragm, extensor digitorum longus, and cardiac papillary muscle force was measured ex vivo, followed by histological quantification of muscle damage in heart, diaphragm, quadriceps, and abdominal muscles. MR protein levels were also verified in treated muscles. Results: Treatment with specific and non-specific MR antagonists did not result in any adverse effects to dystrophic skeletal muscles or heart. Both treatments resulted in similar functional and pathological improvements across a wide array of parameters. MR protein levels were not reduced by treatment. Conclusions: These data suggest that spironolactone and eplerenone show similar effects in dystrophic mice and support the clinical development of MR antagonists for treating skeletal muscles in Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
Emerging Role of the Mitochondrial Outer Membrane Translocator Protein (TSPO) in Heart Failure and Mitochondrai Quality Control

Introduction: Mitochondrial dysfunction is a hallmark of heart failure (HF), resulting in decreased energy production and impaired mitochondrial quality control (mitophagy) with resultant contractile dysfunction and cell death. The 18-kDa mitochondrial translocator protein (TSPO) has been considered a part of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore (mPTP) for a long time; however, its role in mPTP regulation is now debatable and the precise role of the TSPO in cardiac physiology and HF remains poorly understood.Objective: Determine the role of TSPO in a murine pressure-overload model of HF.Methods and Results: Conditional, cardiac-specific TSPO knockout (KO) mice were generated using the Cre-loxP system. Pressure overload by transverse aortic constriction (TAC) for 8 weeks significantly increased TSPO expression in wild type (WT) mice, but not in KO mice. While WT TAC mice showed a marked reduction in systolic function, KO TAC mice did not have a significant reduction in ejection fraction, and also exhibited fewer clinical HF signs (less cardiac dilation and fibrosis). TAC reduced mitochondrial calcium uptake and enhanced mPTP opening in permeabilized myocytes from WT animals. Calcium uptake was restored in TAC KO mice without significant effect on mPTP activity. The restoration of the mitochondrial calcium uptake coincided with reduced oxidative stress, improved oxygen consumption rate, and enhanced ATP generation and mitochondrial reserve capacity. In WT TAC, elevated mitochondrial accumulation of mCherry-Parkin1 was not coupled to the increase in LC3-autophagosomes formation indicating impaired mitophagy. In contrast, mitophagy was normalized in TSPO KO.Conclusions: These data suggest a novel mechanism to prevent HF at the cellular level via normalization of TSPO levels which leads to preservation of mitochondrial calcium uptake, oxidative phosphorylation, and mitochondrial mt-QC resulting in preservation of mitochondrial integrity and cell survival.
Observation of non-Fermi-liquid behavior in U0.2Y0.8Pd3.

We present data for the temperature and magnetic-field dependence of the specific heat, magnetic susceptibility, magnetization, and electrical resistivity of U{sub 0.2}Y{sub 0.8}Pd{sub 3}. The data demonstrate the scaling behavior of the thermodynamic quantities at temperatures up to 10 K and magnetic fields up to 14 T. The magnetic field scales as {ital T}{sup 1.3}. The zero-field specific heat varies with temperature as {minus}{ital T} ln{ital T}. The magnetic field strongly affects the thermodynamics, but the magnetoresistance is very small ({minus}2% at {ital T}=0.36 K and {ital H}=14 T). We argue that our data are inconsistent with any single-impurity interpretation. We suggest that the system has a second-order phase transition at {ital T}=0.
Genome-wide alterations in gene expression of prostate cancer (PC) cells surviving neoadjuvant androgen deprivation therapy (ADT).

88Background: Although androgen deprivation therapy initially decreases PC tumor burden, resistance to further androgen receptor (AR)-directed treatments or chemotherapy is inevitable once CRPC is ...
Survival of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157:H7 in water

Several recent Escherichia coli O157:H7 outbreaks associated with both drinking and recreational water raise concerns about waterborne illness caused by this pathogen. The survival characteristics of a mixture of five nalidixic acid-resistant E. coli O157:H7 strains (10(3) CFU/ml) in filtered and autoclaved municipal water, in reservoir water, and in water from two recreational lakes were determined for a period of 91 days at 8, 15 or 25 degrees C. Greatest survival was in filtered autoclaved municipal water and least in lake water. Regardless of the water source, survival was greatest at 8 degrees C and least at 25 degrees C. E. coli O157:H7 populations decreased by 1 to 2 log10 by 91 days at 8 degrees C, whereas the pathogen was not detectable (> or 3 = log10 decrease) within 49 to 84 days at 25 degrees C in three of the four water sources. SDS-PAGE of surface antigens of surviving cells revealed that there was no major alteration in lipopolysaccharide pattern, but outer membrane protein composition did change. These studies indicate that E. coli O157:H7 is a hardy pathogen that can survive for long periods of time in water, especially at cold temperatures. However, direct viable counts of E. coli O157:H7 determined by acridine orange staining remained essentially the same for 12 weeks at 25 degrees C, whereas viable counts on tryptic soy agar plates decreased to undetectable levels within 12 weeks. Results suggest that E. coli O157:H7 can enter a viable but nonculturable (VBNC) state in water.
Portraying and understanding large-scale distributed virtual environments: Experience and tentative conclusions

The Distributed Simulation Internet DSI provides users access to large-scale, complex, active, unpredictable virtual environments. If users are to effectively use these environments, they will require support for understanding and acting in these environments. Support is necessary because humans have a time and space limited span of attention. The Satellite Modeler, Omniview true 3D, and Synthetic BattleBridge projects were undertaken to develop and investigate the interfaces and autonomous agents required to effectively support users of the Distributed Simulation Internet. The Satellite Modeler emulates the near-Earth space environment and portrays models of satellites moving in their correct orbits around the Earth. The motion of the satellites is broadcast to users of the DSI. The Satellite Modeler is intended to function as a training and operational aid for orbital analysts and to help them understand key spatial relationships for satellites in near-Earth orbit. The Omniview project was undertaken to provide interactive control and manipulation of a true 3D image and to thereby assist the user in understanding the activity within the DSI-hosted virtual environment. That project developed an interface that provides the Omniview user with the ease of use that a window, icon, mouse, and pointer GUI interface provides to users of 2D displays. The Synthetic BattleBridge is a system that, like the Omniview, portrays a DSI-hosted virtual environment but does not act in it. The Synthetic BattleBridge is designed to support users in making accurate and timely decisions by providing several different types of cognitive support for understanding and analyzing the activity in a battlespace. In this paper, we briefly describe each project and present some observations and conclusions we have drawn based on our experience with them.
Proarrhythmic Effects of Intravenous Vasopressors

Objective:To review the electrophysiologic properties and the in vitro, ex vivo, animal, and human data regarding proarrhythmic effects of intravenous vasopressors.Data Sources:A comprehensive (MEDLINE) search (1960–1994) was conducted for dopamine, epinephrine, norepinephrine, phenylephrine, and methoxamine.Study Selection:In vitro and ex vivo studies and investigations performed in animals or humans reporting electrophysiologic and/or proarrhythmic effects of the above intravenous vasopressors were selected. A comprehensive search of all human studies involving these agents was conducted to reveal any proarrhythmic effects that may have been reported. In addition, case reports of proarrhythmic effects associated with these agents were reviewed.Data Extraction:Data regarding electrophysiologic and proarrhythmic effects of these agents were extracted from in vitro, ex vivo, animal, and human studies. Because few studies with the specific purpose of investigating proarrhythmic effects of vasopressors have ...
Beyond CMOS computing with spin and polarization

Spintronic and multiferroic systems are leading candidates for achieving attojoule-class logic gates for computing, thereby enabling the continuation of Moore’s law for transistor scaling. However, shifting the materials focus of computing towards oxides and topological materials requires a holistic approach addressing energy, stochasticity and complexity.
Characteristics associated with prolonged length of stay after hysterectomy for benign gynecologic conditions.

Background Length of stay after surgery has become an important quality measure for many common surgical procedures and is now also tied to reimbursement. Currently, little is known about the perioperative factors that contribute to prolonged hospital length of stay in women who undergo hysterectomy for benign conditions. Objective We performed a population-based analysis to investigate the association between perioperative factors and prolonged length of stay in women who undergo minimally invasive, abdominal, and vaginal hysterectomy. Study Design We used the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database to identify women from 2006–2015 who underwent benign hysterectomy. The primary outcome was length of stay >75th percentile. Demographic, preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative factors were analyzed to determine individual predictors of prolonged length of stay. Model fit statistics were used to assess the importance of each group of perioperative factors on prolonged length of stay. Results We identified a total of 157,589 women, including 83,172 (52.8%) of whom underwent minimally invasive hysterectomy, 45,149 (28.6%) of whom underwent abdominal hysterectomy, and 29,268 (18.6%) of whom underwent vaginal hysterectomy. The 75th percentile for length of stay was 1 day for minimally invasive, 3 days for abdominal, and 2 days for vaginal hysterectomy. The measured factors accounted for 11.0% of the ability to predict a prolonged length of stay for minimally invasive, 20.3% for abdominal, and 16.2% for vaginal hysterectomy. Intraoperative factors were the most important contributors to length of stay for minimally invasive and abdominal hysterectomy; demographic factors dominated for vaginal hysterectomy. Conclusion The most important perioperative factors that contributed to prolonged length of stay for hysterectomy were, in large part, not modifiable and suggest that targeted interventions to reduce length of stay will be challenging.
CLIP 4 Robotics: A Click-Based Programming Language

CLIP 4 Robotics is an icon-based Visual Programming Language (VPL) that is designed for the novice programmer. The VPL program is written as a series of icons that represent program instruction syntax. The images allow for a wide age range to use the VPL from children to adults. Icons allow for users to feel less intimated with programming than with text-based languages. CLIP 4 Robotics has a user-defined syntax that helps the novice comprehend the language especially children. Icons allow children that have let master reading to program. Example programs are shown that demonstrate the CLIP 4 Robotics language in two different scenarios.
Optimization of simultaneously propagating multiple fractures in hydraulic fracturing to achieve uniform growth using data-based model reduction

Abstract In multi-stage hydraulic fracturing treatments, simultaneously propagating multiple fractures with close spacing often induce non-uniform fracture development due to stress-shadow effects, resulting in one or two dominant fractures due to the uneven distribution of fracturing fluids. Motivated by this, first, we present a dynamic model of hydraulic fractures to describe stress-shadow effects in simultaneously propagating multiple fractures. Second, we develop a new model order-reduction technique for simultaneously propagating multiple fractures by integrating the analytical models to calculate the pressure drop due to perforation friction and wellbore friction, and a data-based reduced-order model (ROM) developed using the data generated from the high-fidelity process model to describe the pressure drop along the fractures due to stress-shadow effects. Lastly, we propose a model-based design technique by utilizing the integrated ROM and the limited entry design technique to compute the flow rate of fracturing fluids and the perforation conditions which will promote equal distribution of fracturing fluids to achieve uniform growth of multiple fractures while mitigating the undesired stress-shadow effects. We present a base case with the uneven development of multiple fractures and demonstrate that the proposed design technique is able to outperform the base case with respect to achieving uniform fracture growth, by explicitly handling stress-shadow effects.
Stray Dogs, Post-Humanism and Cosmopolitan Belongingness: Interspecies Hospitality in Times of War:

International Relations scholars have recently begun exploring the politics of human-animal relations in global affairs. Building on Jacques Derrida’s work on hospitality and animals, this article ...
“Balloon Uncrossable” CTOs

“Balloon uncrossable” chronic total occlusions (CTOs) are lesions that cannot be crossed with a balloon after successful guidewire crossing and confirmation of guidewire placement into the distal true lumen. Such lesions can be approached in an algorithmic fashion. First, several small balloons are used and inflated within the lesion. Second, various microcatheters (such as the Tornus and Corsair catheter) are advanced. Third, various techniques to increase guide catheter support (such as guide catheter extensions and anchor techniques) are employed. Fourth, small balloons are ruptured within the lesion to modify it. Fifth, laser is performed. Sixth, rotational atherectomy is done if a dedicated guidewire can be advanced through the lesion. Seventh, the lesion is re-crossed using various subintimal techniques.
Modeling Document Dynamics: an Evolutionary Approach.

News articles about the same event published over time have properties that challenge NLP and IR applications. A cluster of such texts typically exhibits instances of paraphrase and contradiction, as sources update the facts surrounding the story, often due to an ongoing investigation. The current hypothesis is that the stories evolve over time, beginning with the first text published on a given topic. This is tested using a phylogenetic approach as well as one based on language modeling. The fit of the evolutionary models is evaluated with respect to how well they facilitate the recovery of chronological relationships between the documents. Over all data clusters, the language modeling approach consistently outperforms the phylogenetics model. However, on manually collected clusters in which the documents are published within short time spans of one another, both have a similar performance, and produce statistically significant results on the document chronology recovery evaluation.
Modelling Non-Work Destination Choices with Choice Sets Defined by Travel-Time Constraints

In the general theory of choice behaviour generally, a common modelling approach postulates that individuals follow a two-stage decision process leading to the choice of one alternative over all other alternatives that could be picked at the time of decision. The universe of alternatives is reduced in the first stage to a smaller set called the choice set or consideration set whose construction hinges upon one’s knowledge and awareness of choice alternatives, the feasibility and accessibility of alternatives as well as their perceived saliency at decision time (Shocker et al. 1991). In the second stage, only the choice set alternatives are analyzed and a final selection is operated.1
Multifaceted Tunability of One-Dimensional Helicoidal Magnetophotonic Crystals

The photonic bandgaps (PBGs) of a 1D photonic crystal can be tailored in a variety of ways, depending on the types of mechanism incorporated in the design of that photonic crystal. These mechanisms can be structural, that is, frozen into the photonic crystal during fabrication, or dynamic, that is, they can be varied post-fabrication by manipulating, say, a low-frequency magnetic field. Interleaving magnetophotonic garnet layers with layers of a structurally chiral material (SCM) leads to a 1D helicoidal magnetophotonic crystal (HMPC), the interaction of whose overall period and the helicoidal period of the SCM layers leads to intra-Brillouin-zone PBGs which depend on the structural handedness of the SCM layers and whose gapwidths are tunable in a multifaceted fashion. Even as the overall period grows very large, one PBG remains unaffected as it is due to the helicoidal period. The gapwidths can be magnetically tuned by an externally impressed dc magnetic field.
Input to State Stabilizing Control Lyapunov Functions for Robust Bipedal Robotic Locomotion

This paper analyzes the input to state stability properties of controllers which stabilize hybrid periodic orbits. Systems that are input to state stable tend to be robust to modeling and sensing uncertainties. The main contribution of this paper is in the construction of control Lyapunov functions that do not just stabilize, but also input to state stabilize a given hybrid system. Bipedal robotic walking, which can be naturally modeled as a hybrid system, is analyzed under this class of controllers. Specifically, we will select a class of controllers via rapidly exponentially stabilizing control Lyapunov functions that stabilize bipedal robotic walking; typically modeled as hybrid periodic orbits. We will show with simulation results that given the control Lyapunov functions and the associated set of stabilizing controllers, there exist input to state stabilizing control Lyapunov functions and the associated set of controllers that input to state stabilize the given periodic orbit.
Polyelectrolyte layer-by-layer deposition on nanoporous supports for ion selective membranes

This work demonstrates that the ionic selectivity and ionic conductivity of nanoporous membranes can be controlled independently via layer-by-layer (LbL) deposition of polyelectrolytes and subsequent selective cross-linking of these polymer layers. LbL deposition offers a scalable, inexpensive method to tune the ion transport properties of nanoporous membranes by sequentially dip coating layers of cationic polyethyleneimine and anionic poly(acrylic acid) onto polycarbonate membranes. The cationic and anionic polymers are self-assembled through electrostatic and hydrogen bonding interactions and are chemically crosslinked to both change the charge distribution and improve the intermolecular integrity of the deposited films. Both the thickness of the deposited coating and the use of chemical cross-linking agents influence charge transport properties significantly. Increased polyelectrolyte thickness increases the selectivity for cationic transport through the membranes while adding polyelectrolyte films decreases the ionic conductivity compared to an uncoated membrane. Once the nanopores are filled, no additional decrease in conductivity is observed with increasing film thickness and, upon cross-linking, a portion of the lost conductivity is recovered. The cross-linking agent also influences the ionic selectivity of the resulting polyelectrolyte membranes. Increased selectivity for cationic transport occurs when using glutaraldehyde as the cross-linking agent, as expected due to the selective cross-linking of primary amines that decreases the net positive charge. Together, these results inform deposition of chemically robust, highly conductive, ion-selective membranes onto inexpensive porous supports for applications ranging from energy storage to water purification.
Multiple dimensions of adolescents’ reading attitudes and their relationship with reading comprehension

Despite a growing research base that explores motivational constructs in reading and their relationship to achievement, nuanced questions remain. The present study examines the complex relationships among attitudes, proficiency, grade, and gender. Attitudes were differentiated by purpose (recreational vs. academic) and medium (digital vs. print), and a survey comprising those four subscales was administered to 586 Korean adolescents. Results showed that attitudes toward Recreational Print, Academic Print, and Academic Digital reading are positively associated while attitudes toward Recreational Digital reading are negatively associated with the other three attitudes. We also found that reading attitudes significantly predicted reading comprehension scores. We discuss these results and suggest implications for adolescent literacy instruction.
Incentivized methods to generate electronic word-of-mouth: implications for the resort industry.

Abstract Electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) via social media and the internet is a popular channel through which consumers are communicating with other consumers. To increase eWOM effectiveness, some resorts have developed alternative methods to incentivize consumers to generate eWOM. These methods include: hiring reviewers, providing social currency to acquire products at a later date, or providing free product (stays at their resort). Under the theoretical framework of the Persuasion Knowledge Model (Friestad and Wright, 1994), the impact of these methods on consumers’ perception of the resort’s image, moral judgments regarding the methods, and attitudes toward the resort was studied through an experiment. We found that the different methods to incentivize eWOM yielded significantly different moral judgments, which then predicted consumers’ attitudes toward the resort and the resort’s image. Additionally, different levels of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and consumers’ perception of industry practice norms also had effects on consumers’ moral judgments.
Fuels, vegetation, and prescribed fire dynamics influence ash production and characteristics in a diverse landscape under active pine barrens restoration

An important consequence of wildland fire is the production of ash, defined as a continuum of mineral to charred organic residues formed by the burning of wildland fuels. Ash may impact soil health depending on its elemental composition and other factors, which are influenced by fuel quantity and quality, and by combustion completeness. To investigate how ash properties relate to variation in fuels and fire, we collected and analyzed ash samples following prescribed fires in a pine barrens landscape spanning grassland, shrubland, conifer woodland, and deciduous forest. At some plots, mechanical brush cutting was applied, and woody fuels were added or removed to experimentally manipulate fuel loads. Ash load averaged 2 Mg ha−1, or approximately 12.5% of fuel consumption, and was positively related to maximum temperatures estimated by temperature-sensitive paint tags. Ash load also increased in cut brush and fuel addition treatments. Fuel consumption in grasslands, estimated from maximum paint tag temperatures by calibration, was increased by woody fuel addition. Total nutrient stocks in ash was greatest at conifer sites (i.e., nitrogen, N; phosphorus, P; potassium, K; magnesium, Mg; and iron, Fe) and lowest at grassland sites (P; K; calcium, Ca; Mg; and manganese, Mn). Concentrations of leachable nutrients in ash were high for cations Ca (>20 g kg−1), K (>4 g kg−1), and Mg (>5 g kg−1), which resulted in high ash pH (mean ± standard error = 8.4 ± 0.1). Leachable cations were positively related to total ash cation concentrations, but leachable metal concentrations (Fe; Mn; copper, Cu) were low despite their high content in ash. We observed differences in ash production and composition that corresponded to variation in vegetation cover, fuel loads, and paint tag temperatures. High concentrations of leachable cations in ash suggested that repeated prescribed fire may act to decrease cation availability in soils if cations are leached through sandy soils over time. In the case of pine barrens, prescribed fires, which decrease carbon (C) stocks while producing high concentrations of leachable nutrients in ash, may contribute to decreased soil nutrient stocks, and more limited tree growth, thus helping to maintain and restore critically endangered barrens ecosystems.
No association between variations in extracranial venous anatomy and clinical outcomes in multiple sclerosis patients over 5 years

No longitudinal, long-term, follow-up studies have explored the association between presence and severity of variations in extracranial venous anatomy, and clinical outcomes in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). This prospective 5-year follow-up study assessed the relationship of variations in extracranial venous anatomy, indicative of chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency (CCSVI) on Doppler sonography, according to the International Society for Neurovascular Disease (ISNVD) proposed consensus criteria, with clinical outcomes and disease progression in MS patients. 90 MS patients (52 relapsing-remitting, RRMS and 38 secondary-progressive, SPMS) and 38 age- and sex-matched HIs were prospectively followed for 5.5 years. Extracranial and transcranial Doppler-based venous hemodynamic assessment was conducted at baseline and follow-up to determine the extent of variations in extracranial venous anatomy. Change in Expanded Disability Status Scale (∆EDSS), development of disability progression (DP) and annualized relapse rate (ARR) were assessed. No significant differences were observed in MS patients, based on their presence of variations in extracranial venous anatomy at baseline or at the follow-up, in ∆EDSS, development of DP or ARR. While more MS patients had ISNVD CCSVI criteria fulfilled at baseline compared to HIs (58% vs. 37%, p = 0.03), no differences were found at the 5-year follow-up (61% vs. 56%, p = 0.486). This is the longest follow-up study assessing the longitudinal relationship between the presence of variations in extracranial venous anatomy and clinical outcomes in MS patients. Conclusion: The presence of variations in extracranial venous anatomy does not influence clinical outcomes over the 5-year follow-up in MS patients.
Mapping Connections and Cooperation between Terrorist and Criminal Entities

In recent years, terrorist groups intensified their cooperation with criminal entities or their independent engagement in criminal activities. But why and how, exactly, is cooperation with criminal...
Maternal stress in relation to sex-specific expression of placental genes involved in nutrient transport, oxygen tension, immune response, and the glucocorticoid barrier.

Abstract Introduction Murine models provide evidence that maternal stress during pregnancy can influence placenta morphology and function, including altered expression of genes involved in the maintenance and progression of pregnancy and fetal development. Corresponding research evaluating the impact of maternal stress on placental gene expression in humans is limited. We examined maternal stress in relation to placental expression of 17 candidate genes in a community-based sample. Methods Participants included 60 mother-newborn pairs enrolled in the PRogramming of Intergenerational Stress Mechanisms pregnancy cohort based at the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. Placentas were collected immediately following delivery and gene expression was measured using a qPCR-based platform. Maternal experiences of traumatic and non-traumatic stress were measured using the Life Stressor Checklist-Revised (LSC-R) administered during a mid-pregnancy interview. We used multivariable linear regression to examine associations between LSC-R scores and expression of each gene in separate models in the sample overall and stratified by fetal sex. Results Higher maternal stress was associated with significantly increased placental expression of the nutrient sensor gene OGT, the glucose transporter gene GLUT1, and the hypoxia sensor gene HIF3A. In models stratified by fetal sex, significant associations remained only among males. Discussion This study represents one of the most comprehensive examinations of maternal lifetime traumatic and non-traumatic stress in relation to placental gene expression in human tissue. Our findings support that maternal stress may alter sex-specific placental expression of genes involved in critical developmental processes.
Transition Economies: Transformation, Development, and Society in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union: by Aleksandr V. Gevorkyan, New York, Routledge, 2018, 292 pp., $48.95 (paperback), ISBN 978-1-138-83113-1

If there’s any overarching lesson to be learned from Aleksandr Gevorkyan’s important study of ‘transition economies’ (a descriptive but an infelicitous concept), it is that nothing has driven and d...
The Uncertainty of Consciousness and Why It Is Important

How should we treat patients diagnosed with disorders of consciousness, such as patients diagnosed as being minimally conscious or vegetative (yet who very well may be conscious)? David Fischer and...
Pandemic Pluralism: Legislator Championing of Organized Interests in Response to COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has induced a system-wide economic downturn disrupting virtually every conceivable economic interest. Which interests do legislators publicly champion during such crises? Here, we examine mentions of particular industries across thousands of press releases issued by members of Congress during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic (January to June 2020). We show that members consistently emphasized interests significant to their constituency and party network, but less so their direct campaign contributors or ideological allies. This suggests that members believe that they must be seen as good district representatives and party stewards even when national crises could justifiably induce them to favor any number of interests.
Project Management in Enterprise Risk Management

Product designing is initiated by proper planning, designing, building, testing and launching; this is the development life cycle for any product or project, most of the manufacturing organizations have adopted stage-gate process for their new products, and this gives structure and discipline to workflow while allowing the stakeholders to make decisions throughout. Every article clearly gives us the view on how teamwork and creative work would be in a Company. Always any design of a product or equipment starts with a brainstorming session. It involves how well the design is planned and on how well the sketch is drawn. For every product to be developed there would be a series of brainstorming sessions where the outline of the product design is sketched out before giving a final call. Once the brainstorming session is done then it would go for the design process, first a preliminary design is done and then later modified to a perfect shape. This gives me a clear view on how systematic ways are followed in developing a new product. The concept step sets basic direction and boundaries for the entire development process by clarifying the type of product, the problem the product solves and the financial and technical goals to be achieved by the product. By designing the product it would be the best way to create and construct the product. The methods of saving the design are also interesting, like saving the images, taking snapshots of the design, keep track of the modifications of both part and BOM revisions so we won’t need a second guess on the changes that occurred. It would be saved accurately and won’t have any disturbances in it at all.
Adaptive overlapped block motion compensation

An adaptive overlapped block motion compensation (OBMC) scheme, which takes the rate, distortion and complexity factors into account, is proposed in this research. With this scheme, the encoder uses the classification information to determine which blocks could be distorted after OBMC. Then, the BMC search rather than the OBMC search is applied to these blocks. Depending on the allowed computational complexity of the decoder, the encoder chooses the best set of OBMC macroblocks which requires a higher complexity. Other macroblocks simply adopt BMC. Furthermore, the motion bit rat can be reduced by soothing the motion field of BMC blocks during motion search in the encoder. An effective group OBMC motion search scheme is applied to this new adaptive OBMC motion scheme. Experimental results show that the complexity of both the encoder and the decoder is reduced while the visual quality remains the same due to ten improvement in the oversmooth region.
Drones That Deliver: Pheromone-Based Mating Disruption Deployed via Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles in U.S. Cranberries

Cranberry fruitworm (Acrobasis vaccinii Riley (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae)) and blackheaded fireworm (Rhopobota naevana Hubner (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae)) threaten cranberry production annually by causing significant fruit damage. Up to four pesticide applications are made each year to control these insects, which are costly to producers and elevate pesticide residues in fruit. Pheromone-based mating disruption technology can provide control of these pests in cranberry production, with the potential to minimize, or eliminate, pesticide applications. In 2016, an uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) was investigated to apply a thick paraffin emulsion containing insect sex pheromones. Traditional agricultural equipment is not capable of applying the paraffin emulsion to cranberry beds due to the product's viscous, paste-like consistency. The first objective of this study was to retrofit an UAV (octocopter) with a novel extrusion device that had been engineered to deliver the pheromone-loaded paraffin at regular intervals during flight. The second objective was to confirm adequate distribution of the pheromones by measuring the mating disruption efficacy by monitoring male moth trap catches. The UAV was able to fly autonomously along a prescribed itinerary, deploying the paraffin product uniformly; however, the increased mass of the retrofitted UAV limited flight times to ∼12 min. The number of male cranberry fruitworm and blackheaded fireworm moths caught in lure-baited traps were reduced in the paraffin-treated beds compared with untreated beds, indicating adequate distribution of the pheromones. The UAV-applied pheromones concept could be developed into a production scale application method in the future, although issues of battery life and lifting capacity will need to be resolved.
In reply: 'automating patient outcomes: next frontier?'

To the Editor We wish to thank Drs Pai and Lai for their thoughtful comments[1][1] on our recent report describing the use of an automated text messaging system for routine postoperative follow-up of patients who receive peripheral nerve blocks.[2][2] The high patient response rate to our text
Fast and Efficient Generation of Isogenic Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Lines Using Adenine Base Editing

Isogenic induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) lines are currently mostly created by homology directed repair evoked by a double-strand break (DSB) generated by CRISPR-Cas9. However, this process is in general lengthy and inefficient. This problem can be overcome, specifically for correction or insertion of transition mutations, by using base editing (BE). BE does not require DSB formation, hence avoiding creation of genomic off-target breaks and insertions and deletions, and as it is highly efficient, it also does not require integration of selection cassettes in the genome to enrich for edited cells. BE has been successfully used in many cell types as well as in some in vivo settings to correct or insert mutations, but very few studies have reported generation of isogenic iPSC lines using BE. Here, we describe a simple and fast workflow to generate isogenic iPSCs efficiently with a compound heterozygous or a homozygous Wolfram syndrome 1 (WFS1) mutation using adenine BE, without the need to include a genomic selection cassette and without off-target modifications. We demonstrated that correctly base-edited clones can be generated by screening only five cell clones in less than a month, provided that the mutation is positioned in a correct place with regards to the protospacer adjacent motif sequence and no putative bystander bases exist.
Austrian Business Cycle Theory Redux: Integrating Sticky Consumption and Sequestered Capital

F.A. Hayek’s trade cycle theory was triumphant in the early 1930s, but withered within a decade as critics went unanswered. Hayek challenged others to “prove” theoretically, what he “knew” intuitively about business cycles. In the late 1990s, Roger Garrison responded with a logically sound and pedagogically persuasive model that answered most of Hayek’s critics. In recent years, the Garrison model has been confronted over its conflict with empirical evidence that consumption is sticky, lack of insight into the timing of either booms or busts, and inconsistency with rational expectations. To address these, we first modify Garrison’s model to identify not just the capital usages in the stages of production, but also sequestered pre-production (R&D) capital. With sequestered capital in play, sticky consumption can be logically accommodated, providing answers all three criticisms of Garrison — addressing Hayek’s challenge.