cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Extrasensory Perception: Research Findings

Although claims of psychic phenomena have been with us since antiquity, the beginning of organized research into the nature of these phenomena is usually associated with the founding in 1882 of the Society for Psychical Research in London. The S.P.R. was the brainchild of a group of distinguished scholars who were concerned primarily with the question of survival after death, and who believed that scientific research might provide a more satisfactory resolution of this problem than had the current religious dogma (Gauld, 1968). The S.P.R., as well as its sister society established a few years later in America, devoted its energies to two principal lines of ESP research. The first was a thorough investigation of reports of “real-life” psychic experiences (e.g., telepathy, apparitional experiences, hauntings) with the purpose of demonstrating that they could not be adequately explained by “normal” causes (e.g., Gumey, Myers, and Podmore, 1886/1970; Myers, 1903/1975). The second approach involved the investigation of spiritualist mediums who claimed the ability to communicate with the dead. Although some of these mediums proved to be fraudulent, others consistently were able to provide investigators with remarkably detailed information about deceased persons, information that it is difficult to conceive of their having acquired by normal means. Perhaps the most outstanding of these mediums were Leonore Piper (Hodgson, 1897–1898) and Gladys Leonard (Smith, 1964). Whether the information received by these mediums originated from the “other side” or simply reflected their own ESP is still an unresolved issue in parapsychology, although most parapsychologists today recoil from the spiritualistic interpretation.
Portrayals of Intimate Partner Violence in Music Videos: Effects on Perceptions of IPV Warning Signs

ABSTRACTThe present research examined the effects of viewing music videos containing intimate partner violence (IPV) on minimization of warning signs of IPV, that is, perceiving that psychologically controlling and demeaning behaviors are not abusive. One video portrayed overt IPV in a narrative form and the other contained overt IPV but no identifiable narrative. Lyrics for both included violent content, but the music was distinctly different—one song was rap interspersed with somber singing and the other had an upbeat pop sound. The video and audio channels were combined in a 2-×-2 factorial design with an external control group so that all combinations of narrative and non-narrative video with the rap and pop music were presented to college student participants (153 participants, 53% female) in a between-subjects design. Participants showed greater minimization, that is, they were less likely to perceive the psychologically controlling and demeaning behaviors as abusive to the extent that they were tra...
The impact of GC bias on phylogenetic accuracy using targeted enrichment phylogenomic data

The field of sequence based phylogenetic analyses is currently being transformed by novel hybrid-based targeted enrichment methods, such as the use of ultraconserved elements (UCEs). Rather than analyzing relationships among organisms using a small number of genes, these methods now allow us to evaluate relationships with many hundreds to thousands of individual gene loci. However, the inclusion of thousands of loci does not necessarily overcome the long-standing challenge of incongruence among phylogenetic trees derived from different genes or gene regions. One factor that impacts the level of incongruence in phylogenomic data sets is the level of GC bias. GC rich gene regions are prone to higher recombination rates than AT rich regions, driven by a process referred to as "GC biased gene conversion". As a result, high GC content can be negatively associated with phylogenetic accuracy, but the extent to which this impacts incongruence among UCEs is currently unstudied. We investigated the impact of GC content on phylogeny reconstruction using in silico captured UCE data for the corbiculate bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae). The phylogeny of this group has been the subject of extensive study, and incongruence among gene trees is thought to be a source of phylogenetic error. We conducted coalescent- and concatenation-based analyses of 810 individual gene loci from all 13 currently available bee genomes, including 8 corbiculate taxa. Both coalescent- and concatenation-based methods converged on a single topology for the corbiculate tribes. In contrast to concatenation, the coalescent-based methods revealed significant topological conflict at nodes involving the orchid bees (Euglossini) and honeybees (Apini). Partitioning the loci by GC content reveals decreasing support for the inferred topology with increasing GC bias. Based on the results of this study, we report the first evidence that GC biased gene conversion may contribute to topological incongruence in studies based on ultraconserved elements.
Bone Loss at the Hip and Subsequent Mortality in Older Men: The Osteoporotic Fractures in Men (MrOS) Study.

Low bone mineral density (BMD) is associated with increased mortality risk, yet the impact of BMD loss on mortality is relatively unknown. We hypothesized that greater BMD loss is associated with increased mortality risk in older men. Change in femoral neck BMD was assessed in 4400 Osteoporotic Fractures in Men (MrOS) study participants with two to three repeat dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scans over an average of 4.6 ± 0.4 (mean ± SD) years. Change in femoral neck BMD was estimated using mixed effects models; men were grouped into three categories of BMD change: maintenance (n = 1087; change ≥ 0 g/cm2); expected loss (n = 2768; change between 0 g/cm2 and -0.034 g/cm2]); and accelerated loss (n = 545; change 1 SD below mean change or worse [≤-0.034 g/cm2]). Multivariate proportional hazards models adjusted for potential confounders estimated the risk of all-cause mortality over 8.1 ± 2.8 years following visit 2. Mortality was centrally adjudicated by physician review of death certificates. At visit 1, mean age was 72.9 ± 5.5 years. Men who maintained BMD were less likely to die during the subsequent follow-up period (33.7%) than men who had accelerated BMD loss (60.6%) (p < 0.001). Compared to men who had maintained BMD, those who had accelerated BMD loss had a 44% greater risk of mortality in multivariate-adjusted models (HR, 1.44; 95% CI, 1.23 to 1.68). Compared to men who had maintained BMD, there was no significant difference in mortality risk for men with expected loss of BMD (36.9% died) (multivariate HR, 1.00; 95% CI, 0.89 to 1.13). Further adjustment for visit 1 or visit 2 BMD measurement did not substantially alter these associations. Results for total hip BMD were similar. In conclusion, accelerated loss of BMD at the hip is a risk factor for mortality in men that is not explained by comorbidity burden, concurrent change in weight, or physical activity.
Content-Aware Non-Volatile Cache Replacement

Spin-Transfer Torque Magnetoresistive Random-Access Memory (STT-MRAM) is a promising memory technology, which has high density, fast read speed, low leakage power, and non-volatility, and is suitable for multi-core on-chip last-level caches. However, the high write energy and latency, as well as less-than-desirable write endurance of STT-MRAM remain challenges. This paper proposes a new encoded content-aware cache replacement policy to reduce the total switch bits for write, lower the write energy, and improve write endurance. Instead of replacing the LRU block under the conventional pseudo-LRU replacement policy, we select a replacement block near the LRU position, which has the most similar content to the missed block. The selected replacement block can reduce the switch bits without damaging the cache performance. To avoid fetching and comparing the entire block contents, we present a novel content encoding method to encode 64-byte block using just 8 bits, each bit represents 8-byte content. The encoded bit is determined by the presence of a dominant bit value in the 8 bytes. We measure the content similarity using the Hamming distance between the encoded bits of the missed block and the replaced block. Performance evaluation demonstrates that the proposed simple content encoding method is effective with an average of 20.5% reduction in total switch bits, which results in improvement on write endurance and less write energy consumption. These improvements are accomplished with low overhead and minimum impact on the cache performance.
Abstract 4767: Identifying CDCA7 as a novel regulator of tumor-initiating cells in triple-negative breast cancer

Tumor-initiating cells (TICs) are a small fraction of cancer cells that stands at the apex of the tumor hierarchy. Given their tumor-initiating ability and resistance to conventional chemotherapies, TICs are considered potential therapeutic targets for preventing the relapse and metastasis of malignancies. Our group has identified a novel gene, Cell division cycle associated 7 (CDCA7), as an important regulator of TICs in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). CDCA7 is a target gene of MYC and NOTCH. Ectopic expression of CDCA7 has been demonstrated to induce neoplastic transformation in vitro and tumorigenesis in vivo. Despite its potential tumor-initiating ability, CDCA7 has not yet been well-studied in breast cancer. We found that CDCA7 was highly expressed in TNBC compared to other subtypes of breast cancer according to the RNA-sequencing data from The Cancer Genome Atlas. Furthermore, our Kaplan-Meier analysis of multiple datasets demonstrated that higher expression of CDCA7 was associated with poor prognosis in breast cancer. When we knocked down CDCA7 by siRNA in TNBC cell lines including SUM149, HCC1937, MDA-MB-231, and MDA-MB-436, CD44+/CD24- stem-like cell population and primary and secondary mammosphere formation were significantly decreased. In addition to suppressing the stem-like properties, knockdown of CDCA7 also inhibited the invasion and migration of breast cancer cells. These phenotypes indicated the inhibition of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), which was in accordance with the up-regulation of E-Cadherin and down-regulation of Vimentin after CDCA7 knockdown in TNBC cell lines. In conclusion, our results have demonstrated that CDCA7 is an important regulator of TICs in TNBC. Loss-of-function of CDCA7 leads to the inhibition of EMT and stemness in TNBC cells. Citation Format: Chang-Ching Lin, Miao-Chia Lo, Rebecca Moody, Nicholas Stevers, Samantha Tinsley, Max Wicha, Duxin Sun. Identifying CDCA7 as a novel regulator of tumor-initiating cells in triple-negative breast cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 4767. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-4767
Influencing Public Perception of Sustainable Roadside Vegetation Management Strategies

Abstract Sustainably managed roadsides limit non-native turf grass and include meadows of native warm season grasses and flowering perennials, native shrubs, and trees. Implementation of sustainable strategies result in cost savings, better water quality and infiltration, increased diversity of insect life and benefits to the socioeconomic health of the state. Lacking an awareness of associated benefits, the public is often hesitant to accept sustainable, but less manicured roadsides, causing many Departments of Transportation to revert to traditional management regimes. This research assessed perception and determined that acceptance could be increased with an awareness of associated benefits. An Internet survey was administered to three groups of participants. A control group rated eleven roadside images from least to most desirable and completed a brief survey. An experimental group read a list of information about traditional and sustainable strategies of roadside vegetation management before rating t...
Emotional Self-Disclosure in Online Breast Cancer Support Groups: Examining Theme, Reciprocity, and Linguistic Style Matching

The present study investigated emotional self-disclosure (ESD) patterns and their effects in online support groups specific to different stages of breast cancer. Linguistic features of messages posted to an online breast cancer support group were analyzed. ESD was common, and was consistent across four stage forums. Emotional talk was linked to a variety of themes, but most prominently in the context of discussions about social connections rather than health or death. Linguistic style matching mediated the relationship between ESD in posts and reciprocal ESD in comments, suggesting a key role for mutual understanding and engagement between posters and commenters. Implications for health communication theory and practice were discussed.
The Interpretation of Dreams

Dream interpretation during early psychoanalysis not only elicited associations from the patient but also involved authoritarian interpretations focused on whatever the analyst believed to be the key human drives – sex, power, transcendence, etc. Modern dream interpretation relies on nonleading questions to lead the dreamer through an associative process to discover their own meaning of the dream. Research finds that patients rate therapy sessions utilizing dreams more highly in terms of session quality, mastery, and insight gained.
Psychophysics of Attention

Attention is limited. Studies of enumeration, multiple-object tracking, and visual short-term memory suggest that attention may be limited to roughly four objects; experiments on visual search also show striking limits. When several tasks must be performed at once, the usual (although not inevitable) result is substantial impairment compared to single-task performance. Because of these limits, organisms must be selective in the extent to which they process information from various sources. This selectivity can be understood as the result of interaction between stimulus-driven and goal-directed processes.
Multivariate analysis in the computer age

Abstract Classical multivariate analysis included the most sophisticated mathematical computations in the statistical repertoire. A powerful machinery was assembled to calculate probability densities, likelihoods, posterior intervals, and confidence regions in extremely complicated situations. The mathematical tractability of the multivariate normal distribution played a key role in the theory. This was a matter of necessity given the limitations of mechanical calculators, the best computational aids available during the development period of multivariate analysis. Modern electronic computers free us from the limitations of slow and arduous computation. The goal of this paper is to show, by example, how much more information can now be gathered on a quite routine basis, without the need to always invoke the normal distribution. The paper pursues a single example: inferring the maximum eigenvalue θ of the underlying covariance matrix for a small set (n=22) of 5-dimensional vectors. Nonparametric and parametric bootstrap confidence intervals for θ are developed, with attention to their accuracy, and also to shortcut methods that reduce the computational burden. Later sections concern missing data and imputation, and also Bayes and likelihood results.
What Is Postformal Psychology? Toward a Theory of Critical Complexity

To understand the multiple ways, educational psychology has and continues to inform capitalist society, an approach to the discipline that goes beyond mechanical technicism is required. That is, an approach to psychology that does not exist beyond experiments and controlled responses fails to be cognizant of the interconnected ways economic and political structures, in fundamental ways, are responsible for setting the laboratory agenda.
Community Risk Perception: A Pilot Study

Hazard identification studies have tended to test only one explanatory model at a time. Preliminary results of a pilot study intended to compare the relative explanatory power of two personality, two bounded rationality, and three “social construction of risk” models of hazard perceptions are reported.
Fine-Grained Emotion Detection in Health-Related Online Posts

Detecting fine-grained emotions in online health communities provides insightful information about patients’ emotional states. However, current computational approaches to emotion detection from health-related posts focus only on identifying messages that contain emotions, with no emphasis on the emotion type, using a set of handcrafted features. In this paper, we take a step further and propose to detect fine-grained emotion types from health-related posts and show how high-level and abstract features derived from deep neural networks combined with lexicon-based features can be employed to detect emotions.
Factors mediating synergism between vancomycin and chlorhexidine in VanA-type vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium

Enterococci are Gram-positive gastrointestinal tract colonizers of humans and animals. Vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) are important nosocomial pathogens and can cause life-threatening infections. To control hospital-associated infections, skin antisepsis and bathing utilizing chlorhexidine is recommended for VRE patients in acute care hospitals. Previously, we reported that exposure to inhibitory chlorhexidine levels induced the expression of vancomycin resistance genes in VanA-type Enterococcus faecium. However, vancomycin susceptibility actually increased for VanA-type E. faecium in the presence of chlorhexidine. Hence, a synergistic effect of the two antimicrobials was observed. In this study, we tested various models to elucidate the mechanism(s) of synergism between chlorhexidine and vancomycin. We deleted each of the pbp genes from a model VanA-type VRE E. faecium strain. We found that deletion of ddcP, a membrane-bound carboxypeptidase, resulted in partial loss of synergism. Interestingly, addition of excess D-lactate, but not D-alanine, enhanced synergism. Furthermore, we isolated a synergy escaper mutant in E. faecium and utilized whole genome sequencing to determine that a mutation in a gene encoding an ATPase of phosphate-specific transporters (pstB) also resulted in loss of synergism. Our study is significant because understanding the mechanisms for chlorhexidine-induced vancomycin sensitization in VRE could lead to new combinatorial therapeutics to treat VRE infections.
Hearing Assessment in the Newborn Infant

The recognition of the significant incidence of hearing loss in the newborn has resulted in the development of universal newborn hearing screening (UNHS) programs. The technologies utilized for UNHS include evoked otoacoustic emission (OAE) and automated auditory brain stem response (AABR). These screening technologies are noninvasive, easy to perform, relatively inexpensive, and portable. Once a hearing deficit is detected using these screening tools, the patient should be referred to an audiologist for further evaluation. OAE and/or AABR can be used to identify hearing loss in microtia, Down syndrome, Waardenburg syndrome, familial hearing loss, other genetic abnormalities, or hearing loss due to mechanical interference.
Tissue-specific differences in metabolites and transcripts contribute to the heterogeneity of ricinoleic acid accumulation in Ricinus communis L. (castor) seeds.

Castor (Ricinus communis L.) seeds are valued for their production of oils which can comprise up to 90% hydroxy-fatty acids (ricinoleic acid). Castor oil contains mono-, di- and tri- ricinoleic acid containing triacylglycerols (TAGs). Although the enzymatic synthesis of ricinoleic acid is well described, the differential compartmentalization of these TAG molecular species has remained undefined. To examine the distribution of hydroxy fatty acid accumulation within the endosperm and embryo tissues of castor seeds. Matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry imaging was used to map the distribution of triacylglycerols in tissue sections of castor seeds. In addition, the endosperm and embryo (cotyledons and embryonic axis) tissues were dissected and extracted for quantitative lipidomics analysis and Illumina-based RNA deep sequencing. This study revealed an unexpected heterogeneous tissue distribution of mono-, di- and tri- hydroxy-triacylglycerols in the embryo and endosperm tissues of castor seeds. Pathway analysis based on transcript abundance suggested that distinct embryo- and endosperm-specific mechanisms may exist for the shuttling of ricinoleic acid away from phosphatidylcholine (PC) and into hydroxy TAG production. The embryo-biased mechanism appears to favor removal of ricinoleic acid from PC through phophatidylcholine: diacylglycerol acyltransferase while the endosperm pathway appears to remove ricinoleic acid from the PC pool by preferences of phospholipase A (PLA2α) and/or phosphatidylcholine: diacylglycerol cholinephosphotransferase. Collectively, a combination of lipidomics and transcriptomics analyses revealed previously undefined spatial aspects of hydroxy fatty acid metabolism in castor seeds. These studies underscore a need for tissue-specific studies as a means to better understand the regulation of triacylglycerol accumulation in oilseeds.
Comparison of FEA and analytical methods for determining stability of a RAP supported MSE wall

Global stability is one of the failure modes that must be analysed for retaining walls. Limit equilibrium analysis of walls using slope stability software tends to result in a factor of safety that...
Fat Soluble Vitamin, B12 and Iron Deficiency in Patients with Coliform Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO)

Background and Hypothesis: Vitamin deficiency has been described as a clinical complication of SIBO. However, it is unclear if the type of bacterial colonization is an important determinant in vitamin and nutritional complications. Our aim was to characterize the prevalence of specific vitamin and mineral deficiencies (vitamins A, D, E, K, B12, and iron) in patients with and without coliform SIBO. We hypothesized that results would show a significant increase in the incidence of vitamin and/or mineral deficiency in patients with coliform SIBO. Methods: A prospective registry was formulated, consisting of patients presenting to our outpatient motility clinic with suspected SIBO. Serum levels of vitamins A, D, E, INR for K, B12 and iron studies were obtained. Upper enteroscopy-aspiration and quantitative aerobic-anaerobic cultures were performed. Primary study endpoints were prevalences of clinical vitamin/mineral deficiencies (A, D, E, K, B12, and iron) based on the final diagnosis: A) SIBO by coliform bacteria (>104 CFU/mL), B) SIBO by upper respiratory tract (URT) bacteria (>105 CFU/mL) and no SIBO. 2x3 chi square, univariate and multivariate analyses were utilized. Expected Results: 128 subjects were enrolled, and 96 subjects underwent aspiration. Final diagnoses were the following: coliform SIBO in 32 (33%) and no SIBO or URT SIBO in 64 (67%). The presence of any vitamin deficiency appears to be more prevalent in patients with coliform SIBO (46.7%) than those without (28.1%), but it is currently unclear if these differences reach statistical significance. Conclusions: 1) Fat-soluble vitamin deficiency may be more common in coliform SIBO, but its absence does not exclude the possibility of coliform SIBO being present. 2) Although a high folate and low B12 can be suggestive of SIBO, these derangements were not common in our heterogeneous group of patients. *Will send update following data analysis*
Adaptive Batch Training Rule-Based Detection Scheme for On-OFF-Keying Diffusion-Based Molecular Communications

This paper proposes an artificial neural network (ANN) technique, using an adaptive batch training rule-based principle with weight and bias, to estimate and predict the adaptive threshold-based detection of the received molecular signals based on the current cumulative concentrations. The proposed technique considers a single transmitter (Tx Bio-NM) and a single receiver (Rx Bio-NM) biological nanomachines to exchange the molecular packets through diffusion-based molecular communication (DMC) channel. This scheme is suitable for binary On-OFF keying (BOOK signaling); where the Rx Bio-NM adapts the 1/0-bit detection threshold based on all previous received bits to alleviate the inter-symbol interference (ISI) problem and reception noise. We evaluate the proposed technique in term of the bit error rate (BER), complexity cost and molecular throughput. The performance evaluation in various noisy channel sources shows a promising improvement in the un-coded BER and a slight number of molecules in transmission can be achieved extremely massive throughput of the DMC system compared to the other threshold detection schemes in the literature.
Perspectives on substance use among youth with chronic medical conditions and implications for clinical guidance and prevention: A qualitative study.

Increasing numbers of youth globally live with a chronic illness. These youth use alcohol and marijuana at levels equal to or greater than their healthy peers and, when using, are at elevated risk for regular or problem use and adverse consequences to their condition. Little is known about whether behavioral theories commonly invoked to explain adolescent substance use apply to this group, limiting our ability to develop, tailor and target preventive interventions. We interviewed youth ages 16–19 years in care for a chronic disease to gain knowledge of this group’s perspectives on substance use risk, decision-making, and preferences for clinical guidance. Interviews were transcribed and thematically analyzed. Three principal themes emerged: first, having a chronic disease frames understanding of and commitment to health protecting behaviors and impacts decisions to avoid behaviors that carry risks for disease complications and flares; second, developmental impulses typical of adolescence can amplify an adolescent’s propensity to take risks despite medical vulnerability and direct youth toward maladaptive choices to mitigate risk; and third, poor knowledge about effects of substance use on specific features of a disease shapes perceived risk and undermines health protecting decisions. Youth navigate these issues variously including by avoiding substance use at a specific time or entirely, using while cognitively discounting risks and/or adjusting treatment outside of medical advice. Their perceptions about substance use are complex and reveal tension among choices reflecting a chronic illness frame, developmental impulses, and knowledge gaps. Delivery of targeted guidance in healthcare settings may help youth navigate this complexity and connect patient-centered goals to optimize health with health protecting behavioral decisions.
Shifting the safety rules paradigm: Introducing doctrine to US wildland firefighting operations

Abstract Safety rules have long been associated with a rationalist or compliance/violation logic, meaning that workers must comply with rules, and can expect disciplinary action if they violate them. In recent years, scholars have begun to introduce an adaptation safety paradigm, proposing that rules should be used as “tools” for flexible action. This text analysis examines organizational policy, safety, and training documents associated with US wildland firefighter Doctrine, a policy that aligns with an adaptation safety paradigm because it formally allows firefighters to bend and disregard safety rules according to their judgment. The study tracks how Doctrine-related documents redefined how safety rules and other documents were used on scene and within accountability processes. The analysis also proposes a new technical documentation cycle associated with an adaptation paradigm, which illustrates how documents are linked with each other in policy texts, training manuals, and accident investigation processes and reports. Recommendations for safety scholars and managers include articulating how an adaptation paradigm for safety rules might address concerns related to: (1) how rules are incorporated into “normal” safety practice, (2) when rules enter/inform decision processes, and (3) and how organizations investigate accidents and determine accountability.
Exploring the Social Context of Instrumental and Expressive Homicides: An Application of Qualitative Comparative Analysis

Using data from the UCR's Supplementary Homicide Reports, the methodof qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) is used to examine whetherinstrumental and expressive homicides are similar or unique in their socialcontext (i.e., combinations of offender, victim, and situationalcharacteristics). Instrumental and expressive homicides are found to haveboth common and unique social contexts, but the vast majority of homicideincidents involve combinations of individual and situational factors thatare common in both general types of homicides. Among subtypes ofinstrumental (like rape, prostitution, robbery murders) and expressivehomicides (like lovers' triangles, brawls, and arguments), there iswide variability in their prevalence of unique and common components. Afterdiscussing these results, the paper concludes with illustrations of how QCAmay be used in other areas within criminology.
Surgical management of post-traumatic transvaginal herniation of small intestine in a third-world country

We present a case of a 26-year-old woman with a small bowel herniating from her vagina following traumatic injury from a road traffic accident. The patient was taken immediately to operating theatre for repair of her uterine defect and small bowel resection. The patient required eventual return to theatre for subtotal hysterectomy and recovered well after her surgeries. She was discharged home without any further complications and in good condition.
Metallic air pollutants and breast cancer heterogeneity.

Abstract Background Emerging evidence suggests airborne metals may be associated with breast cancer risk. However, breast cancer is heterogenous and associations with heavy metals vary by subtype. Heavy metals possess both carcinogenic and xenoestrogenic properties which may be related to different tumor etiologies. Therefore, we tested for etiologic heterogeneity, using a case-series approach, to determine whether associations between residential airborne metal concentrations and breast cancer differed by tumor subtype. Methods Between 2005 and 2008, we enrolled incident breast cancer cases into the Breast Cancer Care in Chicago study. Tumor estrogen and progesterone receptors status was determined by medical record abstraction and confirmed immunohistochemically (N = 696; 147 ER/PR-negative). The 2002 USEPA's National Air Toxics Assessment census-tract estimates of metal concentrations (antimony, arsenic, beryllium, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, lead, manganese, mercury, nickel and selenium) were matched to participants' residences of the same year. Adjusted logistic regression models were used to examine whether the airborne heavy metal associations differed by tumor ER/PR status. Principal component analysis was performed to assess associations by metal co-exposures. Results Comparing the highest and lowest quintiles, higher concentrations of antimony (odds ratio[OR]: 1.8, 95% confidence interval[CI]: 0.9, 3.7, P-trend: 0.05), cadmium (OR: 2.3, 95% CI: 1.2, 4.4, P-trend: 0.04) and cobalt (OR: 2.0, 95% CI: 0.9, 4.4, P-trend: 0.04) were associated with ER/PR-negative breast cancer. Mixture analysis using principal components suggested co-exposures to multiple airborne heavy metals may drive associations with tumor receptor status. Conclusions Among women diagnosed with breast cancer, metallic air pollutants were associated with increased odds of developing ER/PR-negative breast cancer.
Visual Impairment and Frailty: Examining an Understudied Relationship

Background Older adults with visual impairments are at increased risk of negative health outcomes. Here, we investigate the association between visual impairment and frailty. Methods Cross-sectional and longitudinal relationships between visual impairment (distance visual acuity) and frailty (frailty phenotype criteria) were examined using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES, 1999-2002, ≥60 years) and the Women's Health and Aging Studies (WHAS III). Imbalance of potential confounders, particularly age, was addressed using propensity score-based adjustment. Multinomial logistic regression determined the odds of prefrailty and frailty at baseline in NHANES and ordinal logistic regression examined the odds of baseline and incident frailty over 3 years in WHAS III after adjustment for confounders and probability weighting (survey weights × inverse propensity scores). Results In NHANES (n = 2,639, 9% vision impairment), participants with visual impairment were more likely to be prefrail (odds ratio [OR] = 3.2; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.9-5.3) and frail (OR = 3.7; 95% CI: 1.5-9.2) than those without visual impairment. In WHAS III (n = 796, 26% mild, 37% moderate/severe vision impairment), participants with mild and moderate/severe vision impairment were more likely to be frail (OR = 2.0; 95% CI: 1.5-2.5; OR = 5.5; 95% CI: 4.2-7.2, respectively). A one-line worse visual acuity (0.1 logMAR increase) was associated with greater odds of frailty (OR = 1.5; 95% CI: 1.4-1.7). Of those non-frail at baseline (n = 549), moderate/severe visual impairment and one-line worse visual acuity was associated with greater odds of incident frailty (OR = 3.5; 95% CI: 1.4-8.4; OR = 1.3; 95% CI: 1.1-1.5, respectively) over 3 years. Conclusions Visual impairment may be an important, yet understudied risk factor for frailty.
Parkinsonism and neurosarcoidosis: Cause and effect or coincidence?

Abstract Movement disorders in demyelinating diseases can be coincidental or secondary to a demyelinating lesion. We here report the first case of coincidental association of neurosarcoidosis and idiopathic Parkinson's disease.
Neonate with red diaper.

A 5-day-old boy presented to the ED with 1 day of red tinted diapers (figure 1). The child was born at 39 weeks without major complications, received all medications/vaccinations after birth and had passed meconium normally. He was eating well and acting normally according to his mother. She expressed concern that he may have blood in his diaper, because she saw redness that she had not ever seen before. Physical …
Respiratory Volume Monitoring in the Perioperative Setting Across Multiple Centers

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of nuisance (technical) alarms is the leading cause of alarm fatigue resulting in decreased awareness and a reduction in effective care. The Joint Commission identified in their National Patient Safety goals alarm fatigue as a major safety issue. The introduction of noninvasive respiratory volume monitoring (RVM) has implications for effective perioperative respiratory status management. We evaluated this within the Kaiser Permanente health system. METHODS: This observational study was conducted at 4 hospitals in the Kaiser Permanente system. Standard data from RVM, pulse oximetry, and capnography were collected postoperatively in the post-anesthesia care unit (PACU) and/or on the general hospital floor. Device-specific alarm types, rates, and respective actions were recorded and analyzed by non-study staff. RESULTS: RVM was applied to 247 subjects (143 females, body mass index 32.3 ± 8.7 kg/m2, age 60.9 ± 13.9 y) providing 2,321 h. RVM alarms occurred 605 times (0.25 alarms/h); 64% were actionable and addressed, 17% were not addressed, 13% were self-resolved, and only 6% were nuisance. In a subgroup, RVM completed all 127 h of monitoring, whereas oximetry with capnography only completed 51 h with 12.9 alarms/h (73% nuisance). The overall RVM alarm rate was significantly lower than with either pulse oximeters or capnography monitors. We saw a nearly 1,000-fold reduction in nuisance alarms compared to capnography and a 20–50-fold reduction in nuisance alarms compared to pulse oximetry. CONCLUSIONS: Our study indicates that alarm fatigue due to nuisance alarms continues to be a clinical challenge in perioperative settings. Among the 3 common technologies for respiratory function monitoring, RVM had the lowest rate of overall technical alarms and the highest rate of compliance. Furthermore, with early interventions, none of the subjects monitored with RVM suffered any negative outcomes.
Investigating Scientific Data Change with User Research Methods

Author(s): Paine, Drew; Ghoshal, Devarshi; Ramakrishnan, Lavanya | Abstract: Scientific datasets are continually expanding and changing due to fluctuations with instruments, quality assessment and quality control processes, and modifications to software pipelines. Datasets include minimal information about these changes or their effects requiring scientists manually assess modifications through a number of labor intensive and ad-hoc steps. The Deduce project is investigating data change to develop metrics, methods, and tools that will help scientists systematically identify and make decisions around data changes. Currently, there is a lack of understanding, and common practices, for identifying and evaluating changes in datasets since systematically measuring and managing data change is under explored in scientific work. We are conducting user research to address this need by exploring scientist's conceptualizations, behaviors, needs, and motivations when dealing with changing datasets. Our user research utilizes multiple methods to produce foundational, generative insights and evaluate research products produced by our team. In this paper, we detail our user research process and outline our findings about data change that emerge from our studies. Our work illustrates how scientific software teams can push beyond just usability testing user interfaces or tools to better probe the underlying ideas they are developing solutions to address.
Abstract algebra students’ evoked concept images for functions and homomorphisms

Abstract Homomorphism is a critical variety of function in undergraduate Abstract Algebra (AA) courses and function is one of the unifying concepts across many mathematical subject areas. However, despite homomorphism’s important place in the curriculum and its existence as a particular type of function, little is known of a student’s concept image of functions at advanced levels and the role this concept image may play in a students’ homomorphism-related activities. In this paper, we share cases that explore students’ concept image and treatment of functions at the undergraduate AA level. In particular, we focus on coherence of prior function understanding and functions in AA (homomorphisms), and how this coherence may account for student activity in tasks related to homomorphism. Our results reflect that even at the AA level, students may have limited concept images of functions and their understanding of function (and coherence with homomorphism) can serve as a support or obstacle to task performance in AA. We suggest that both instructors and researchers explicitly attend to the role of function and function understanding in student activity at advanced levels.
Greasing the Wheels of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Regime: The Political Economy of Nuclear Suppliers Group Rules

Within the nuclear nonproliferation regime, the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) is an important, but relatively underexplored, topic. Given the voluntary limitations member states have agreed to acce...
My Sister's Keeper: Survivors Disclosing Sexual Violence to a Sibling.

Siblings are often cited as a source of support throughout life, but they have not been included in studies of sexual violence disclosure. Survivors of sexual violence often delay or do not disclos...
Machine-Learning Based Quantum Cascade Laser Design

Conventional methods for QCL design rely on optimization of the active-core layer thicknesses and compositions to achieve desired electron wavefunctions and associated lifetimes. Device performance metrics, such as threshold-current density and overall efficiency, can then be evaluated. This is an iterative and time-consuming process. Human intervention is required to identify relevant electron states, remove wavefunction hybridization, and impose structural constraints. This process often takes hundreds of iterations, and many weeks, before a reasonable design is achieved. The human intervention aspect of this process can be replaced by a data-driven methodology and deep neural networks, which can ultimately be used for inverse device design. Datasets of existing designs and corresponding performance metrics are needed to train the neural network, so that the network can develop intuitive connections between QCL designs and their performances. After training, the network is expected to accomplish a design goal in hours instead of weeks as in the conventional approach.
Chapter 2 Crash and Energy Management Systems

This book is focused on the use of plastics in automobiles for traditional applications, as well as for more advanced uses such as under-the-hood components. Engineering thermoplastics offer the ability to tailor-make components from polymers, and to design parts for enhanced performance, new functionality, part integration, and elimination of secondary operations. Parts made from engineering thermoplastics can be manufactured within specified cost constraints, and using manufacturing methods that offer a wide range of production flexibility. A decade of research and real-world applications is presented by the authors on application technology development for various aspects of automotive design – concept design, CAD modeling, predictive engineering methods through CAE, manufacturing method simulation, and prototype and tool making. Additional advantages of plastics are covered and include greater styling, improved energy absorption, and enhanced performance over traditional materials, all while fostering environmental sustainability and reducing overall vehicle weight for next generation automobiles.
Nonlocal Van Der Waals Density Functionals Based on Local Response Models

As described in Chapter 22, dispersion interactions, also known as van der Waals interactions, arise from long-range correlated fluctuations of the electron charge density. The dispersion energy is thus a nonlocal component of the correlation energy. In practical applications of Kohn–Sham DFT, the correlation energy is usually approximated as a local or a semilocal density functional. (Semi)local functionals cannot in principle include the proper physics of long-range dispersion interactions. Empirical dispersion corrections are quite popular and reasonably successful , but they typically entail a departure from pure DFT into the realm of classical force fields, and hence they fall outside the scope of this book. The rigorous description of long-range van der Waals interactions requires fully nonlocal treatment of correlation.
Breaking the /spl Theta/(nlog/sup 2/ n) barrier for sorting with faults

We study the problem of constructing a sorting circuit, network, or PRAM algorithm that is tolerant to faults. For the most part, we focus on fault patterns that are random, e.g., where the result of each comparison is independently faulty with probability upper-bounded by some constant. All previous fault-tolerant sorting circuits, networks, and parallel algorithms require /spl Omega/(log/sup 2/ n) depth (time) and/or /spl Omega/(nlog/sup 2/ n) comparisons to sort n items. In this paper, we construct a passive-fault-tolerant sorting circuit with O(nlog nloglog n) comparators, a reversal-fault-tolerant sorting network with O(n log/sup log(2)/ /sup 3/ n) comparators, and a deterministic O(log n)-step O(n)-processor EREW PRAM fault-tolerant sorting algorithm. The results are based on a new analysis of the AKS circuit, which uses a much weaker notion of expansion that can be preserved in the presence of faults. Previously, the AKS circuit was not believed to be fault-tolerant because the expansion properties that were believed to be crucial for the performance of the circuit are destroyed by random faults. Extensions of our results for worst-case faults are also presented. >
Glyceride-Glycerol Synthesis from Pyruvate ADAPTIVE CHANGES IN PHOSPHOENOLPYRUVATE CARBOXYKINASE AND PYRUVATE CARBOXYLASE IN ADIPOSE TISSUE AND LIVER

Abstract The dicarboxylic acid shuttle in adipose tissue and its role in the conversion of pyruvate to glyceride-glycerol has been studied in rat epididymal fat pads in vitro. Phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase and pyruvate carboxylase have also been measured in rat liver and the adaptive response of these enzymes to alterations in diet has been compared to alterations of these enzymes in adipose tissue from the same animals. Fasting for 24 hours caused a 5-fold increase in the activity of P-enolpyruvate carboxykinase in adipose tissue and a 3-fold increase in the activity of the enzyme in liver. Fasting for periods longer then 24 hours reduced the increase in P-enolpyruvate carboxykinase in adipose tissue. Actinomycin D blocked this increase in activity in adipose tissue but had no effect in liver. Refeeding the animals for 24 hours after fasting for 24 hours reduced the activity of P-enolpyruvate carboxykinase to levels below those of normal fed rats. The stimulatory effect of fasting on P-enolpyruvate carboxykinase activity in adipose tissue but not liver was markedly age-dependent, being reduced in older rats. Pyruvate carboxylase, unlike P-enolpyruvate carboxykinase, was found in both the mitochondria and cytosol of liver and adipose tissue. Fasting, and fasting followed by refeeding, had no effect on pyruvate carboxylase activity in adipose tissue but fasting caused a 2-fold increase in the activity of the enzyme in rat liver cytosol without affecting the mitochondrial enzyme. The conversion of pyruvate-3-14C (25 mm) to glyceride-glycerol by rat epididymal fat pads in vitro was increased by fasting. Actinomycin D blocked this increase, and refeeding the animals after fasting reduced the incorporation to levels below those found in adipose tissue from normal fed rats. At a pyruvate concentration of 25 mm, fatty acid synthesis was not significantly different in adipose tissue from normal and 24-hour-fasted rats. At lower pyruvate concentrations (0.25 mm) relatively more pyruvate was incorporated into glyceride-glycerol than into fatty acids in adipose tissue from fasted rats. In an attempt to measure the relative contribution of pyruvate and glucose carbon to the synthesis of glyceride-glycerol and fatty acid, adipose tissue was incubated with both substrates together at varying concentrations with only one of the substrates labeled and with insulin present. These experiments showed that glucose was more effective than pyruvate as a precursor of glyceride-glycerol while the converse was found for fatty acid synthesis. On the basis of these results it is suggested that P-enolpyruvate carboxykinase and pyruvate carboxylase are important catalytically for the formation of glyceride-glycerol from pyruvate in adipose tissue, and that this pathway may have physiological importance during fasting.