cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Feasibility and Effects of Acupuncture in an Adolescent Nordic Ski Population.

Abstract Background Studies investigating the use and effectiveness of acupuncture in adults after exercise have been well documented. Fewer studies involving acupuncture have been completed in the adolescent athlete population. To our knowledge, there are no published studies that investigate the use of acupuncture in adolescent athletes within their field of play. Objective To primarily assess the feasibility of performing acupuncture in adolescent Nordic skiers within their athletic environment, and secondarily to measure the effect of acupuncture on muscle soreness and sense of well-being. Design Prospective feasibility study. Setting Local outdoor cross country ski trails and indoor lodge. Participants Fifteen healthy participants (80% female, 20% male; age 14-17 years) were involved on at least 1 of 5 treatment days. Intervention Fifteen-minute treatments were administered using traditional needle acupuncture following the first 5 consecutive Nordic Ski Team practices of the season in an attempt to capture the effect of acupuncture on delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS). Acupuncture points specific to muscle groups in the lower limbs that are commonly reported as painful during Nordic skiing were chosen. Pre- and posttreatment surveys included visual analogue scales (VAS) to track participant responses. Outcome Measures Time, cost, side effects, and participant to provider ratio was observed to determine feasibility. Effect on muscle soreness and sense of well-being was measured via pre- and posttreatment VAS (0-10) rating analyses. Results Total time required by research staff on treatment days was 90 minutes; total cost, $1500; temperature range, −13.9°C to −2.8°C, and largest participant to acupuncturist ratio, 7:1. No major side effects occurred. The majority (73%) of participants reported minimal side effects; most common was treatment site pain. The overall pre- to posttreatment effect on muscle soreness (average over 5 days) demonstrated significantly improved posttreatment scores ( P = .04). The effect of the day (average over pre- and posttreatment values) demonstrated significantly higher muscle soreness scores on day 3 versus day 1 ( P = .03). At study completion, all participants indicated that they would consider acupuncture in the future and would recommend treatments to friends or teammates. Conclusion Providing acupuncture to adolescent Nordic ski athletes in the practice field under extreme temperatures is feasible with the appropriate resources. Despite mild side effects, acupuncture was well received by the athletes. Lessons learned from this trial can provide a framework for delivering acupuncture to other athletes in their training environment. Level of Evidence IV
The role of signifier differences, associations, and combinations in creative digital video composing: making meaning with gestures, objects, actions, and speech

This article presents an analysis of a digital video created by a student (age 13) in a classroom setting. Since sign functioning is a key focus in theories of meaning making as it occurs through l...
Experimental measurements of phase difference and coupling level in an excited free shear layer

The phase and magnitude of the auto-bispectrum are used to locally measure the phase difference and coupling level between the fundamental and subharmonic components of a free shear layer. Two cases in which both modes are excited at different relative phases are examined. The results show that the subharmonic growth is continuous beyond the linear region when the coupling between the two modes is high and the phase difference is near zero. When the two modes are not coupled at the end of the linear region, the subharmonic growth is suppressed.
On Shape Optimization and Related Issues

The main goal of this article is to review, briefly, some of the issues associated with shape optimization for systems modeled by partial differential equations. The practical calculation of the objective function gradient is one of these issues and it clearly includes the use of Automatic Differentiation (AD) techniques for derivative computations. Also, we shall take advantage of this article to describe some recent results concerning the controllability of the Kuramoto-Sivashinsky equation since these results seem to justify the well-known claim that under certain conditions “chaos may enhance controllability.”
STUDIES ON THE OXIDATION OF SULPHIDE MINERALS (PYRITE) IN THE PRESENCE OF BACTERIA

A research study on the mechanism of oxidation of pyrite has demonstrated clearly that pyrite samples from various geological origins can be leached to completion in the presence of Thiobacillus ferrooxidans. The complete leaching of pyrite in the presence of bacteria, implicating the effect of a limiting pH value, provides a significant break-through in the mechanism of sulphide oxidation. This result demonstrates that previous speculation on the formation of a protective reaction layer on the surface of sulphide particles, which accounted for their incomplete oxidation (or the toxicity of metal in solution), is invalid for iron pyrite.
DEVELOPING MENTAL ABILITIES BY REPRESENTING INTENTIONALITY

Communication by shared meaning, themastery of word semantics,metarepresentation and metamentation aremental abilities, uniquely human, that share a sense ofintentionality or reference. The latteris developed by a naive psychology or interpretation – acompetence dedicated to representingintentional relations between conspecifics and the world. Theidea that interpretation builds new mentalabilities around a sense of reference is based on three linesof analysis – conceptual, psychological andevolutionary. The conceptual analysis reveals that a senseof reference is at the heart of the abilitiesin question. Psychological data track tight developmentalcorrelations between interpretation and theabilities it designs. Finally, an evolutionary hypothesislooks at why interpretation designed thosenew abilities around a sense of reference.
Discussion: the coalition for improving maternity services:.

The Ten Steps of Mother-Friendly Care developed by the Coalition for Improving Maternity Services (CIMS) provides guidelines for caregivers, hospitals, birth centers, and home birth services that are committed to ensuring their services are “mother-friendly.” The evidence basis compiled by the CIMS Expert Work Group for the Ten Steps of Mother-Friendly Care confirms that substantial support exists for the Ten Steps. Furthermore, the group's findings—along with the results from the Listening to Mothers II survey—support the relevance and continued importance of the Ten Steps, as well as the larger CIMS Mother-Friendly Childbirth Initiative, and suggest future direction for researchers, maternity caregivers, and childbearing women. Suggestions for ongoing research and effective advocacy on behalf of mother-friendly care practices are encouraged.
Reducing soil compaction after thinning work in agroforestry plantations

Afforestation of marginal farmland with fast-growing tree species is a cost-effective way to produce wood fiber for industrial and energy use. The final harvest is often performed with terrain chipping, in order achieve high productivity and minimum-cost supply. Several machine manufacturers have developed new chipper models, specifically designed for this practice in agroforestry plantations. Soil impacts, particularly soil compaction, represent a concern in such practice. This study evaluated the impact of terrain chipping work on soil compaction in agroforestry plantations. This study tested two different options for the chipper, and namely: a new all-road chipper specifically designed for agroforestry plantations (evaluated under two tire-pressure configurations) and capable of both cross-country and road traffic, and a high-mobility chipper truck. In contrast, one option was tested for the chip shuttle, which consisted in a farm tractor equipped with a two-axle trailer. The four treatments were tested on three different sites, representing the most common soil conditions encountered in the new agroforestry plantations. Soil texture ranged from loam to sandy loam. The occurrence of soil compaction in the upper 30 cm of the soil was evaluated with two different methods: bulk density determination and penetration resistance sampling. Measurements were conducted in the machine tracks after a single pass. The two methods seemed to give contradictory results, especially in two of the three test sites. In general bulk density seemed more sensitive to changes than penetration resistance after a single passage. Bulk density measurements showed that the all-road chipper at low tire pressure and the chipper truck caused soil compaction at almost all sites. In contrast, the all-road chipper at standard tire pressure and the chip shuttle were much gentler on the soil. The limited increments found in this study are likely dependant on a relatively high soil density before traffic. The higher impact of the all-road chipper after reducing tire pressure is contrary to expectations, probably due to the use of relatively stiff tires that may deny the benefits of deflation. This study indicates that wellorganized terrain chipping may not cause such high soil compaction levels as to jeopardize tree root development and growth, despite the heavy weight of the equipment used for this task. In that regard, the specially-designed all-road chipper performs better than the chipper truck.
Thermal desalination via supercritical CO2 Brayton cycle: Optimal system design and techno-economic analysis without reduction in cycle efficiency

Abstract The supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) Brayton cycle is an upcoming power cycle potentially providing higher energy efficiency and more compact turbomachinery compared to traditionally used Brayton and Rankine cycles. The heat rejected from the sCO2 Brayton cycle is quite hot (>70 °C) and must be cooled before flowing back to the compressor. However, this heat is ideal for producing fresh water with a thermal desalination system. This paper focuses on integrating multi-effect distillation (MED) with the sCO2 stream exiting the recuperator. A new methodology for integration of MED with the sCO2 Brayton cycle is proposed for simultaneous production of power and fresh water. The distillate produced does not affect the sCO2 cycle efficiency, i.e., distillate is produced without being a parasitic load to the power plant compared to conventional integration of MED with steam Rankine cycle. To maximize the energy recovery from the waste heat stream exiting the sCO2 cycle, a new methodology is formulated and discussed in the Appendix. Integration of MED with a 115 MWe sCO2 power plant (49.2% efficient) produces 2813 m3/day of distillate and the cost of distilled water is 1.1 $/m3. Further, to enhance the distillate production, an innovative MED configuration is proposed, and for the same cycle operating condition with an electrical output 115 MWe, the net distillate production increases by 59% to 4472 m3/day at 1 $/m3. The cost of desalinated water for the integrated system is 17.8% lower than that of a standalone reverse-osmosis plant having the same capacity. Parametric analysis is performed to calculate the optimal design parameters for the integrated MED-sCO2 system.
Oral S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) Administration Increases Whole Brain Concentrations of Dopamine and Norepinephrine in Rats

S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) is an over-the-counter supplement marketed at improving mood and overall mental health. Although well known for decades to be an antidepressant, very little data exists w...
SWIFT: mining representative patterns from large event streams

Event streams generated by smart devices common in modern Internet of Things applications must be continuously mined to monitor the behavior of the underlying system. In this work, we propose a stream pattern mining system for supporting online IoT applications. First, to solve the pattern explosion problem of existing stream pattern mining strategies, we now design pattern semantics that continuously produce a compact set of patterns that max-imumly compresses the dynamic data streams, called MDL-based Representative Patterns (MRP). We then design a one-pass SWIFT approach that continuously mines the up-to-date MRP pattern set for each stream window upon the arrival or expiration of individual events. We show that SWIFT is guaranteed to select the update operation for each individual incoming event that leads to the most compact encoding of the sequence in the current window. We further enhance SWIFT to support batch updates, called B-SWIFT. B-SWIFT adopts a lazy update strategy that guarantees that only the minimal number of operations are conducted to process an incoming event batch for MRP pattern mining. Evaluation by our industry lighting lab collaborator demonstrates that SWIFT successfully solves their use cases and finds more representative patterns than the alternative approaches adapting the state-of-the-art static representative pattern mining methods. Our experimental study confirms that SWIFT outperforms the best existing method up to 50% in the compactness of produced pattern encodings, while providing a 4 orders of magnitude speedup.
Impact of Service Dogs on Family Members' Psychosocial Functioning.

Importance: A growing body of evidence supports service dogs’ positive psychosocial impact on people with a chronic condition, but very little is known about the effect of service dogs on the family members with whom they live. Objective: To measure the impact that a service dog may have on family member functioning. Design: Cross-sectional with a single time-point assessment. Setting: Data were collected via a self-report survey completed online, over the phone, or by mail. Participants: Potential participants were recruited from national service dog provider Canine Assistants. Participants were caregivers or spouses of a person with a disability or illness who either currently had a service dog (n = 51) or was on the waitlist to receive one (n = 77). Participants were 50 family members (46 parents–caregivers and 4 spouses–partners) living with a service dog and 76 family members (68 parents–caregivers and 8 spouses–partners) whose family member was on the waitlist to receive one. Outcomes and Measures: Participants completed standardized measures to quantify psychosocial health and functioning, health-related quality of life (HRQOL), and family functioning. Results: Living with a service dog was most closely associated with less health-related worry and better overall psychosocial health and emotional functioning, less total family impact from the chronic condition, and better emotional HRQOL. Conclusions and Relevance: These findings provide preliminary evidence that, in addition to having an impact on recipients, service dogs can affect several aspects of family members’ psychosocial health and functioning. What This Article Adds: This research demonstrates that the impact of a service dog may extend beyond the recipient and have positive impacts on family members’ psychosocial functioning as well. Occupational therapy practitioners should include family members in discussions regarding the integration of a service dog into the home and recognize the potential for family-wide effects from the service dog’s assistance.
B-SOiD: An Open Source Unsupervised Algorithm for Discovery of Spontaneous Behaviors

The motivation, control, and selection of actions comprising naturalistic behaviors remains a tantalizing but difficult field of study. Detailed and unbiased quantification is critical. Interpreting the positions of animals and their limbs can be useful in studying behavior, and significant recent advances have made this step straightforward (1, 2). However, body position alone does not provide a grasp of the dynamic range of naturalistic behaviors. Behavioral Segmentation of Open-field In DeepLabCut, or B-SOiD (“B-side”), is an unsupervised learning algorithm that serves to discover and classify behaviors that are not pre-defined by users. Our algorithm segregates statistically different, sub-second rodent behaviors with a single bottom-up perspective video camera. Upon DeepLabCut estimating the positions of 6 body parts (snout, the 4 paws, and the base of the tail), our software performs novel expectation maximization fitting of Gaussian mixture models on t-Distributed Stochastic Neighbor Embedding (t-SNE). The original features taken from dimensionally-reduced classes are then used build a multi-class support vector machine classifier that can decode millions of actions within seconds. We demonstrate that the highly reproducible, independently-classified behaviors can be used to extract kinematic parameters of individual actions as well as broader action sequences. This open-source platform enables the efficient study of the neural mechanisms of spontaneous behavior as well as the performance of disease-related behaviors that have been difficult to quantify, such as grooming and stride-length in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and stroke research.
Structure and Activity of the Thermophilic Tryptophan-6 Halogenase BorH

Flavin-dependent halogenases carry out regioselective aryl halide synthesis in aqueous solution at ambient temperature and neutral pH using benign halide salts, making them attractive catalysts for green chemistry. BorH and BorF, two proteins encoded by the biosynthetic gene cluster for the chlorinated bisindole alkaloid borregomycin A, are the halogenase and flavin reductase subunits of a tryptophan-6-halogenase. Quantitative conversion of l-tryptophan (Trp) to 6-chlorotryptophan could be achieved using 1.2 mol % BorH and 2 mol % BorF. The optimal reaction temperature for Trp chlorination is 45 °C, and the melting temperatures of BorH and BorF are 48 and 50 °C respectively, which are higher than the thermal parameters for most other halogenases previously studied. Steady-state kinetic analysis of Trp chlorination by BorH determined parameters of kcat =4.42 min-1 , and KM of 9.78 μm at 45 °C. BorH exhibits a broad substrate scope, chlorinating and brominating a variety of aromatic substrates with and without indole groups. Chlorination of Trp at a 100 mg scale with 52 % crude yield, using 0.2 mol % BorH indicates that industrial scale biotransformations using BorH/BorF are feasible. The X-ray crystal structure of BorH with bound Trp provides additional evidence for the model that regioselectivity is determined by substrate positioning in the active site, showing C6 of Trp juxtaposed with the catalytic Lys79 in the same binding pose previously observed in the structure of Thal.
The Plan Is That There Is No Plan (or, rather, several)

Students will not have only a single career. Our task is education for agility, fluidity, critical and creative thinking, and engaged citizenship for a series of careers. My working life’s series of careers has had no pattern discernible to anyone else. Here I describe history, influences, and insights—my journey, destinations, and evolving leadership perspective.
Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography Changes in Choroidal Vasculature following Treatment in Punctate Inner Choroidopathy

Purpose: To describe the changes seen on optical coherence tomography angiography [OCTA] in patients with PIC following immunosuppressive therapy.Methods: We reviewed serial OCTA scans from five consecutive PIC patients (5 eyes) with at least 3 months of follow-up, who underwent imaging before and after immunosuppressive therapy. Using ImageJ, superficial and deep retinal vasculature were analyzed for vessel area and foveal avascular zone. Choriocapillaris layer was analyzed for flow signal loss.Results: Five out of five patients received an orbital floor triamcinolone acetonide injection as the initial treatment for periods of activity. Mean choriocapillaris (CC) flow void area obtained after immunosuppressive therapy was significantly lower than the mean CC flow void area obtained prior to treatment (Pre-treatment: 0.270 vs Post-treatment: 0.144; p = .0068). In 2 out of 2 patients with longitudinal visual field testing, CC flow voids were spatially associated with visual field defects, and immunosuppressive therapy was associated with reduced CC flow void area and improved visual function.Conclusion: OCTA can detect alterations in choriocapillaris flow. Longitudinal follow-up demonstrates a centripetal restoration of choriocapillaris flow in response to immunosuppressive therapy. OCTA may be a useful adjunct for monitoring and evaluating treatment of PIC.
Therapeutical strategies in hypertensive patients presenting heart failure symptoms

Im letzten Jahrzehnt ist die Zahl der Patienten mit Herzinsuffizienz deutlich angestiegen und stellt heute eines der grosten Probleme in den zivilisierten Landern dar. Wahrend fruher die arterielle Hypertonie ursachlich fur die Entwicklung einer Herzinsuffizienz war, so ist es heute vorwiegend die koronare Herzkrankheit. Die arterielle Hypertonie ist aber weiterhin neben Diabetes mellitus und Hyperlipidamie ein zusatzlicher Hauptrisikofaktor fur die KHK. Neben konservativen Therapieansatzen wie reduzierte Flussigkeitszufuhr und regelmasige korperliche Bewegung, insbesondere bei stabiler Herzinsuffizienz, konnten in den letzten Jahrzehnten einzelne Praparategruppen in grosen doppelblind randomisierten Studien eine deutliche Mortalitatsreduktion bewirken. ACE-Hemmer und β-Blocker stellen die unverzichtbaren Saulen jeder Basistherapie der Herzinsuffizienz dar. AT1-Rezeptorblocker sind bei ACE-Hemmer und/oder β-Blockerunvertraglichkeit indiziert. Dass auch der kombinierte Einsatz aller drei Praparategruppen Vorteile in Bezug auf die Mortalitat bringt, konnte in der vor kurzem prasentierten CHARM-Studie gezeigt werden. Der Einsatz von Diuretika ist besonders bei fortgeschrittener Herzinsuffizienz mit Flussigkeitseinlagerung notwendig und effektiv. Da die unbehandelte Herzinsuffizienz eine hohe Mortalitat hat, ist die adaquate und konsequente Behandlung der arteriellen Hypertonie somit ein wichtiger und unabdingbarer Ansatz zur Verhinderung einer Herzinsuffizienz.
Characterization of the Dorsal Ulnar Corner in Distal Radius Fractures in Postmenopausal Females: Implications for Surgical Decision Making

Purpose To characterize the dorsal ulnar corner fragment with regard to size and morphology using 3-dimensional software and computed tomography (CT) scans, as it presents in low-energy intra-articular distal radius fractures occurring in the female postmenopausal population. Methods A multicenter retrospective review was conducted to identify postmenopausal females with low-energy distal radius fractures treated surgically at level-1 trauma centers. Patients with low-energy injuries with preoperative CT scans were included. The Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) data from CT scans were used to reconstruct intra-articular fracture patterns. The dorsal ulnar fragment was isolated in each CT scan and measured, then normalized based on lunate depth. Results Eighty patients met the inclusion criteria. The mean dimension measurements of the dorsal ulnar corner were dorsal surface height, 9.82 ± 5.02 mm (95% confidence interval [95% CI], 8.72–10.92); dorsal surface width, 9.06 ± 3.72 mm (95% CI, 8.25–9.88); articular surface width, 7.44 ± 3.92 mm (95% CI, 6.58–8.30); articular surface depth, 4.14 ± 2.39 mm (95% CI, 3.62–4.67). The mean lunate depth measurement (17.52 ± 1.48 mm) was used to normalize articular surface depth demonstrating that, on average, the dorsal ulnar corner comprises 23.6% of the articular surface ± 13.6% (95% CI, 20.7–26.6). Conclusions The mean articular surface depth of the dorsal ulnar corner fragment in this study was less than 5 mm, accounting for approximately 24% of the volar-dorsal width of the distal radius at the lunate facet. Clinical relevance These data expand current understanding of the morphology and size of the dorsal ulnar corner fracture fragment. If fixation of this fragment is a goal, surgeons may need to use longer screws that penetrate closer to the dorsal cortex than those required for extra-articular fractures or to consider alternative methods of fragment-specific fixation for adequate capture of this fragment.
Artificial Intelligence and Robotics in Spine Surgery.

Study Design:Narrative review.Objectives:Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) have emerged as disruptive technologies with the potential to drastically affect clinical decision ma...
Mexico’s housing crisis: vacancy, limited access & Deaf policy responses

During the 2000s, millions of Mexicans acquired mortgages to buy homes in the fringes of cities throughout the country. Many such households have faced limited access to services, infrastructure an...
Wellness and Disability

In this chapter we outline the current prevalence of depression, anxiety, burnout, and suicidality. We review current definitions of wellness and resilience, distinguish when mental health symptomology rises to the level of a disability, and outline how a student’s disability and the interaction with the environment lead to the determination of accommodations. We articulate the known mechanisms for facilitating full access of students with psychological disabilities, and we discuss methods of mitigating environmental and programmatic barriers in our learning environments. Standard clinical and proactive accommodations to mitigate the effects of psychological disability are offered as well as advice on creating policies regarding leaves of absence.
Exploring Chapel Productivity Using Some Graph Algorithms.

A broad set of data science and engineering questions may be organized as graphs, providing a powerful means for describing relational data. Although experts now routinely compute graph algorithms on huge, unstructured graphs using high performance computing (HPC) or cloud resources, this practice hasn't yet broken into the mainstream. Such computations require great expertise, yet users often need rapid prototyping and development to quickly customize existing code. Toward that end, we are exploring the use of the Chapel programming language as a means of making some important graph analytics more accessible, examining the breadth of characteristics that would make for a productive programming environment, one that is expressive, performant, portable, and robust.
The relationship between integrated pediatric psychology and primary care visit length, revenue, content over 24 months.

Introduction: Integrating behavioral health providers into pediatric primary care to provide behavioral health (BH) services is both effective and efficient; however, the impact of pediatric integrated services on the operational and financial outcomes of primary care provider (PCP) visits has not been thoroughly investigated. The present study examined whether length of practice integration predicts the relationship between BH content addressed in a PCP visit, visit length, and revenue generation. Method: A total of 1,209 pediatric encounters with 25 PCPs across 7 primary care offices in a predominantly rural health system were abstracted for the presence or absence of BH content, visit length, duration of integration, and revenue. χ2 analyses and the generalized linear model framework were used to address the study objectives. Results: Integration was associated with more PCP visits with a BH topic discussed at 6-11 months of integration but not at 14-24 months. Visits with a BH topic were longer than medical-only visits and shorter when a practice was integrated for 6-11 months but not at 14-24 months of integration. Public insurance and integration were associated with lower revenue generation per minute. Visit content was not associated with PCP revenue. Discussion: Results suggest a relationship between integration and the operational and financial outcomes of PCP visits. This study shows that initial efficiencies or improvements (e.g., time, cost, content) associated with integrating BH may be lost over time. Future studies should evaluate sustainability in relation to program impact. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
Evaluating outcomes for robotic-assisted inguinal hernia repair in males with prior urologic surgery: a propensity-matched analysis from a national database.

Controversy exists regarding the safety and effectiveness of minimally invasive inguinal hernia repairs in patients with a history of prior urologic pelvic operations (PUPO), such as a prostatectomy, which causes scarring and disruption of the retropubic tissue planes. Our study sought to examine whether a history of PUPO impacts surgical outcomes in males undergoing robotic-assisted inguinal hernia repair. The Americas Hernia Society Quality Collaborative (AHSQC) database was queried to identify male patients who underwent a robotic inguinal hernia repair with 30-day follow-up. A sub-query was performed to identify subjects within the cohort with a documented history of PUPO. Propensity score matching was subsequently utilized to evaluate for differences in intra-operative complications and short-term post-operative outcomes. In total, 1664 male patients underwent robotic-assisted inguinal hernia repair, of whom 65 (3.9%) had a PUPO. After a 3:1 propensity score matching with hernia repair patients who did not have prior procedures, 195 (11.7%) males were included in the comparison cohort. There were no documented vascular, bladder, or spermatic cord injuries in either group. There was no difference in 30-day readmission rate (5% vs. 3%, respectively, p = 0.41). No hernia recurrences were recorded within the 30-day follow-up period in either group. There was no statistical difference in post-operative complications (including seroma formation, hematoma, and surgical site occurrences) between the two groups (14% vs. 8%, p = 0.18). In an experienced surgeon’s hands, robotic-assisted minimally invasive inguinal hernia repair may be an alternative to open repair in patients with PUPO who were previously thought to be poor minimally invasive surgical candidates.
New species of Hambletonia Compere (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) in Dominican amber

The present paper describes a new species of encyrtid wasp, Hambletonia dominicana sp. nov. (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) from Dominican amber. Diagnostic characters include long antennae that are almost twice the length of the head, the absence of long, coarse, flattened setae on the dorsal apical margin of the pedicel, and an elliptical club subequal in length to that of the funicle. This first described fossil species of Hambletonia provides views of new and possible unique morphological features of encyrtid wasps that existed in the Neotropics during the mid-Tertiary.
Novel Regenerative Hybrid Composite Adsorbent with Improved Removal Capacity for Lead Ions in Water

Lead is one of the most toxic heavy metals in water systems which poses critical effects on human health. To meet the 10 ppb limit in drinking water recommended by the World Health Organization, a ...
Using Rock Climbing for Recreation among Youth with Type 1 Diabetes: Evaluating the REACH Program.

This study examined the impact of a rock climbing program on youth with type 1 diabetes. The study utilized a mixed-methods quasi-experimental research design to measure subscales of the American Camp Association Youth Outcomes Battery on independence, perceived competence, and friendship skill. Pre- and posttest instruments were utilized over a 4-month period. The small sample size revealed significance for friendship skills, but also showed improvements after participants attended three sessions perceived competence and independence. This pilot study provides evidence-based practice of a new type of program that can be used for future studies to build upon. Subscribe to JOREL
The nonlinear Schrödinger equation on the half-line with a Robin boundary condition

The initial-boundary value problem for the nonlinear Schrodinger equation on the half-line with initial data in Sobolev spaces $$H^s(0, \infty )$$ , $$1/2< s\leqslant 5/2$$ , $$s\ne 3/2$$ , and Robin boundary data of appropriate regularity is shown to be locally well-posed in the sense of Hadamard. The proof is through a contraction mapping argument and hence relies crucially on certain estimates for the forced linear counterpart of the nonlinear problem. In particular, the essence of the analysis lies in the pure linear initial-boundary value problem, which corresponds to the case of zero forcing, zero initial data, and nonzero boundary data. This problem, which is studied by taking advantage of the solution formula derived via the unified transform of Fokas, holds an instrumental role in the overall analysis as it reveals the correct function space for the Robin boundary data.
The cost-effectiveness of pharmacist-physician collaborative care models vs usual care on time in target systolic blood pressure range in patients with hypertension: a payer perspective

BACKGROUND: Hypertension is highly prevalent in the United States, affecting nearly half of all adults (43%). Studies have shown that pharmacist-physician collaborative care models (PPCCMs) for hyp...
The Many Facets of Economic Mobility

The famed economist Joseph Schumpeter likened income distributions to the rooms in a hotel.1 The rooms at the top are luxurious, those in the middle are ordinary, and those in the basement are substandard. On any given night, the occupants of the hotel experience quite unequal accommodations. Later, though, the same people are found to be in different rooms (or, equivalently, the same rooms are found to have different people in them). The difference in the quality of the hotel rooms at each point in time is what we call inequality. The constant quality of each room means that there is no growth, positive or negative. The movement of hotel guests among different quality rooms constitutes mobility, which is the topic of this chapter.
Random waves in a classical nonlinear Grassmann field: II. Scattering by zero point noise and the transition to Fermi statistics

Abstract The classical kinetic equations (ref. 1) governing waves interacting according to Grassmann algebra are supplemented by terms representing a zero-point motion in all channels that does not lose energy to the thermal waves in any scattering process. It is shown that Fermi statistics result. When the thermal action is positive the only stable configuration has negative zero-point action. For coupled Grassmann and commuting fields, the solution of the classical equations with added stable zero-point action develops into a Planck distribution for the commuting field, and a Fermi distribution for the Grassmann field. The magnitude of the separate zero-point actions is shown to be equal.
High-Performance Communication Networks

Communication Networks--The center of the information revolution High performance networks are revolutionizing our lives in ways we cannot yet fully perceive. Meet your evolving needs with this in-depth presentation of emerging technologies used to build high speed, high performance communication networks. Authoritatively written, it explains how the converging telephone, data, and CATV technologies are combined into high performance networks, and how to plan, manage, and control these networks. An essential guide for networking professionals This book is well suited for a variety of networking needs. It enables network specialists and system administrators to make informed decisions for implementing and maintaining their companies' networks. It supplies network hardware and software developers with the tools to develop networking solutions, and it provides students in electrical engineering, computer science, operations research, and industry courses with a substantial introduction to networking principles. Features Explains the principles of network design and operation, and their implementation in state-of-the-art technologies such as Internet, high speed LANs and WANs, ISDN, ATM, BISDN, and SONET. Combines the perspectives of the communications engineer, the computer scientist and the economist to provide a system-level understanding of the core networking principles and technologies. Presents essential tools for analyzing, designing, and managing high performance networks. Provides unique coverage of economic issues including cost recovery and pricing schemes. Includes up-to-date coverage of delays, losses, admission control, routing, flow control, switching, networkplanning, pricing, and billing.
Solar energy and the national energy dilemma: A model for policy evaluation

Abstract This study presents solar-enhanced energy scenarios for the future together with the policy considerations they imply. The methodology known as system dynamics is employed, and the work reported here builds on an earlier model developed by Sasser. Policy-related implications include the following. First, after-tax costs of solar technology must be competitive with the costs for coal as well as those for oil and gas to achieve a substantial market penetration. Second, the collapse predicted by the original Sasser model used in this study can be postponed by solar technology alone but not avoided. If solar technology is allowed to supply nearly 100% of the energy needs of each energy consumption sector, then each sector is allowed 100 years more growth before the inevitable collapse occurs. Third, the amount of imported crude oil that can be displayed by solar energy in the next two decades of this century is modest.
Liquid dispersion in gas—liquid fluidized beds

Abstract Dispersion in the liquid phase of cocurrent, liquid-supported, gas—liquid fluidized beds, expressed in terms of axial and radial dispersion coefficients, has been evaluated from radial concentration profiles downstream of a point-source, steady state tracer injector. Radial dispersion coefficients were estimated from the profiles by employing the infinite space model of Klinkenberg, Krajenbrink and Lauwerier. A method has been developed to estimate both radial and axial coefficients from Klinkenberg et al.'s solution to the dispersed plug-flow model. The results are in satisfactory agreement with those obtained from simpler models. The radial dispersion coefficients were one order of magnitude lower than the axial dispersion coefficients.
Fighting Poverty One Experiment at a Time: Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty : Review Essay

Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo offer a coherent vision for an economics of poverty and antipoverty policy. Their economics is grounded in an effort to understand the economic and psychological complexities in the lives of poor people, informed by social experiments and field observations. Their preferred policies entail small reforms at the margin, also informed by experiments—specifically randomized control trials. While the book provides some interesting insights, I question how far its approach will get us in fighting global poverty. (JEL I32, I38, O15, P36)
Missing Data and Multiple Imputation in the Context of Multivariate Analysis of Variance.

Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) is widely used in educational research to compare means on multiple dependent variables across groups. Researchers faced with the problem of missing data often use multiple imputation of values in place of the missing observations. This study compares the performance of 2 methods for combining p values in the context of a MANOVA, with the typical default for dealing with missing data: listwise deletion. When data are missing at random, the new methods maintained the nominal Type I error rate and had power comparable to the complete data condition. When 40% of the data were missing completely at random, the Type I error rates for the new methods were inflated, but not for lower percents.
SPOP Mutations or ERG Rearrangements Result in Enhanced Levels of ERG to Promote Cell Invasion in Prostate Cancer

In this issue, An et al. (2015) and Gan et al. (2015) reveal that the CRL3SPOP ubiquitin ligase mediates the degradation of the transcription factor ERG and that translocations of ERG or mutations in SPOP prevent CRL3SPOP-dependent degradation of ERG in prostate cancer cells.
Competitive antagonism of the mouse 5-hydroxytryptamine3 receptor by bisindolylmaleimide I, a "selective" protein kinase C inhibitor.

We examined the effects of several protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitors on the murine 5-hydroxytryptamine3 (5-HT3) receptor to determine whether they acted directly on the receptor. The 5-HT-evoked currents in Xenopus laevis oocytes expressing the recombinant 5-HT3 receptor were measured with the two-electrode voltage-clamp technique. The PKC inhibitors bisindolylmaleimide I (BIM, GF109203x) and staurosporine, but not calphostin C or chelerythrine, decreased the 5-HT3receptor-mediated currents when coapplied with 5-HT. BIM blocked 0.5 μM 5-HT-elicited currents with an IC50 value of 7 nM, whereas in the presence of 5 μM staurosporine, 42% inhibition of 0.5 μM 5-HT-mediated currents was observed. Increasing concentrations of BIM resulted in a rightward shift of the 5-HT concentration-response curve, without altering efficacy. A Schild plot was generated, which had a slope of −1.01, suggesting competitive antagonism. The K i value of BIM was determined to be 29 nM. To confirm competitive antagonism, a competitive binding assay was performed on Sf21 insect cells infected with the mouse 5-HT3 receptor cDNA in a baculovirus expression vector. BIM completely displaced binding of the selective 5-HT3receptor antagonist [3H]GR65630. BIM bound to the 5-HT3 receptor with a K i value of 61 nM, which was slightly less potent than that of the selective 5-HT3 receptor antagonist MDL72222 (27 nM). The PKC inhibitor BIM is a potent competitive antagonist at the 5-HT3 receptor.
Hypothermic and antipyretic effects of ACTH (1-24) and alpha-melanotropin in guinea-pigs.

Intracerebroventricular administration of adrenocorticotropin (ACTH 1-24) and alpha-melanotropin (alpha-MSH), peptides which occur naturally in brain induced dose-related hypothermia in guinea-pigs at room temperature (21 C) and also produced greater hypothermia at low (10 C) ambient temperature. However, when the experiments were repeated in a warm (30 C) environment, no effect on body temperature was observed. These results indicate that the peptides did not reduce the central set-point of temperature control. The hypothermia induced by ACTH and alpha-MSH was not mediated via histamine H1- or H2-receptors and serotonin since the H1-receptor antagonist, mepyramine, the H2-receptor antagonist, cimetidine, and the serotonin antagonist, methysergide, had no antagonistic effects. The peptides were antipyretic since they reduced pyrogen-induced-fever and hyperthermia due to prostaglandin E2, norepinephrine and dibutyryl cAMP, at a dose which did not affect normal body temperature. The powerful central effects of these peptides on normal body temperature, fever and hyperthermia, together with their presence of the brain regions important to temperature control, suggest that they participate in thermoregulation.
Spectroscopic investigations of intermediates in the reaction of cytochrome P450BM3–F87G with surrogate oxygen atom donors

Rapid mixing of substrate-free ferric cytochrome P450BM3–F87G with m-chloroperoxybenzoic acid (mCPBA) resulted in the sequential formation of two high-valent intermediates. The first was spectrally similar to compound I species reported previously for P450CAM and CYP 119 using mCPBA as an oxidant, and it featured a low intensity Soret absorption band characterized by shoulder at 370 nm. This is the first direct observation of a P450 compound I intermediate in a type II P450 enzyme. The second intermediate, which was much more stable at pH values below 7.0, was characterized by an intense Soret absorption peak at 406 nm, similar to that seen with P450CAM [T. Spolitak, J.H. Dawson, D.P. Ballou, J. Biol. Chem. 280 (2005) 20300–20309]. Double mixing experiments in which NADPH was added to the transient 406 nm-absorbing intermediate resulted in rapid regeneration of the resting ferric state, with the flavins of the flavoprotein domain in their reduced state. EPR results were consistent with this stable intermediate species being a cytochrome c peroxidase compound ES-like species containing a protein-based radical, likely localized on a nearby Trp or Tyr residue in the active site. Iodosobenzene, peracetic acid, and sodium m-periodate also generated the intermediate at 406 nm, but not the 370 nm intermediate, indicating a probable kinetic barrier to accumulating compound I in reactions with these oxidants. The P450 ES intermediate has not been previously reported using iodosobenzene or m-periodate as the oxygen donor.
Midline and temporal lobe MLRs in the guinea pig originate from different generator systems: a conceptual framework for new and existing data☆

Abstract In the guinea pig and gerbil, individual components within the MLR time frame differ in optimal recording location. Specifically, MLR components obtained from the midline differ from those obtained over the temporal lobe. In the present paper midline and temporal lobe components were shown to differ not only in scalp topography but also in response to the following experimental manipulations: intracortical injection of neural inactivating agents (lidocaine and kainic acid), temporal lobe ablation, electrolytic lesions, systemic anesthesia, stimulation rate and course of development. Since midline and temporal lobe components respond differently to experimental manipulations, it can be concluded that the midline and temporal lobe responses are mediated by different generator sources. The particular orientation of the generators responsible for the MLR in the guinea pig and gerbil facilitates the identification of individual components. Results from simultaneous recordings of these components during experimental manipulations support the hypothesis of multiple MLR generators in laboratory animals and provide insight into the generators and developmental aspects of the MLR in humans.
Locating America: Revisiting Disney's Lady and the Tramp

By studying the diegesis and music of the film Lady and the Tramp, the authors describe a specific form of American social membership that continues to define social politics today. In the film, dogs, cats and rats represent human archetypes, their needs, desires and activities, and provide a narrative that secures an American ideal about the place of race and nation. The argument is put forth that this representation defines a politics of whiteness that not only uses the threat of formal exclusion and elimination from society to define ethnicity and race, but also seeks to eliminate the likelihood of a successful radicalization of the border. This is a nation where even the idea of difference is defeated and domestication is total. Against this narrative, the authors contend that the absence of an adequate description in the film of the class politics and racial practices that support this vision raises serious questions as to the social coherence of Disney's America.
Parallelizing Information Set Generation for Game Tree Search Applications

Information Set Generation (ISG) is the identification of the set of paths in an imperfect information game tree that are consistent with a player's observations. The ability to reason about the possible a history is critical to the performance of game-playing agents. ISG represents a class of combinatorial search problems which is computationally intensive but challenging to efficiently parallelize. In this paper, we address the parallelization of information set generation in the context of Kriegspiel (partially observable chess). We implement the algorithm on top of a general purpose combinatorial search engine and discuss its performance using datasets from real game instances in addition to benchmarks. Further, we demonstrate the effect of load balancing strategies, problem sizes and computational granularity (grain size parameters) on performance. We achieve speedups of over 500 on 1,024 processors, far exceeding previous scalability results for game tree search applications.