cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A Musculoskeletal Model of the Equine Forelimb for Determining Surface Stresses and Strains in the Humerus—Part I. Mathematical Modeling

Knowledge of the forces that act upon the equine humerus while the horse is standing and the resulting strains experienced by the bone is useful for the prevention and treatment of fractures and for assessing the proximolateral aspect of the bone as a site for obtaining autogenous bone graft material. The first objective was to develop a mathematical model to predict the loads on the proximal half of the humerus created by the surrounding musculature and ground reaction forces while the horse is standing. The second objective was to calculate surface bone stresses and strains at three cross sections on the humerus corresponding to the donor site for bone grafts, a site predisposed to stress fracture, and the middle of the diaphysis. A three-dimensional mathematical model employing optimization techniques and asymmetrical beam analysis was used to calculate shoulder muscle forces and surface strains on the proximal and mid-diaphyseal aspects of the humerus. The active shoulder muscles, which included the supraspinatus, infraspinatus, subscapularis, and short head of the deltoid, produced small forces while the horse is standing; all of which were limited to 4.3% of their corresponding maximum voluntary contraction. As a result, the strains calculated at the proximal cross sections of the humerus were small, with maximum compressive strains of 104 at the cranial aspect of the bone graft donor cross section. The middle of the diaphysis experienced larger strain magnitudes with compressive strains at the lateral and the caudal aspects and tensile strains at the medial and cranial aspects (377 and 258 maximum values, respectively) while the horse is standing. Small strains at the donor bone graft site do not rule out using this location to harvest bone graft tissue, although strains while rising to a standing position during recovery from anesthesia are unknown. At the site common to stress fractures, small strains imply that the stresses seen by this region while the horse is standing, although applied for long periods of time, are not a cause of fracture in this location. Knowing the specific regions of the middle of the diaphysis of the humerus that experience tensile and compressive strains is valuable in determining optimum placement of internal fixation devices for the treatment of complete fractures. DOI: 10.1115/1.2898726
No Coolidge Effect in Decorated Crickets

Female decorated crickets, Gryllodes sigillatus, obtain genetic benefits by mating with different males and, when given a choice, prefer novel males over previous mates. It is unknown, however, whether males exhibit a similar preference for novel females. Although female crickets control copulation, there are at least two ways in which males can exercise choice: (1) the amount of courtship directed towards prospective mates and (2) the size of the spermatophore transferred to the female at mating. To determine whether males devote more courtship effort to novel females while controlling for female behavioral cues, male courtship effort toward two dead females, one, a previous mate and the other, a novel female, was measured. To determine whether males manufacture larger spermatophores when paired with novel females, males were mated to novel or previous mates, and the different components of the spermatophore weighed. Males did not spend more time courting dead novel females than previous mates. There was no difference in the latency to remating of males confined with novel females and those paired with previous mates, and there was no difference in the mass of spermatophores transferred to novel and familiar females. Contrary to previous studies in other taxa, this study suggests that male crickets do not prefer novel mates and thus, are not subject to the Coolidge effect. Although mating with novel females may be beneficial to males, selection on males to identify and discriminate against previous mates may be relaxed because of a strong female preference for novel males.
GATA transcription factors as potentiators of gut endoderm differentiation

Gene inactivation studies have shown that members of the GATA family of transcription factors are critical for endoderm differentiation in mice, flies and worms, yet how these proteins function in such a conserved developmental context has not been understood. We use in vivo footprinting of mouse embryonic endoderm cells to show that a DNA-binding site for GATA factors is occupied on a liver-specific, transcriptional enhancer of the serum albumin gene. GATA site occupancy occurs in gut endoderm cells at their pluripotent stage: the cells have the potential to initiate tissue development but they have not yet been committed to express albumin or other tissue-specific genes. The GATA-4 isoform accounts for about half of the nuclear GATA-factor-binding activity in the endoderm. GATA site occupancy persists during hepatic development and is necessary for the activity of albumin gene enhancer. Thus, GATA factors in the endoderm are among the first to bind essential regulatory sites in chromatin. Binding occurs prior to activation of gene expression, changes in cell morphology or functional commitment that would indicate differentiation. We suggest that GATA factors at target sites in chromatin may generally help potentiate gene expression and tissue specification in metazoan endoderm development.
Intentional Kayaking: Awakening to Intimacy Within the Natural World

This article explores the notion of intimacy within the natural world. The author blends personal quest with scholarship from transpersonal psychology, spirituality, nature writing, and philosophy. It highlights the results of a thematic content analysis of journal entries made during a week of kayaking with the conscious intention of being in better relationship with a specific lake community. A thematic analysis of the journal entries that followed this experience revealed that that certain actions, attitudes, and ways of being increased intimacy and contributed to a greater sense of spirituality. She posits that we can all achieve greater spiritual connection and intimacy with the natural world by cultivating what Maslow refers to as the “plateau experience” and by incorporating the wisdom of nature writers whose craft is dependent on cultivating reciprocity, connection, and love within the natural world.
Rate of Growth of Local Times of Strongly Symmetric Markov Processes

Let S be a locally compact metric space with a countable base and let X = (Ω, f t , X t , P x ), t ∈ R +,be a strongly symmetric standard Markov process with state space S. Let m be a σ-finite measure on S. What is actually meant by “strongly symmetric” is explained in [MR] but for our purposes it is enough to note that it is equivalent to X being a standard Markov process for which there exists a symmetric transition density function p t (x, y), (with respect to m). This implies that X has a symmetric 1-potential density $${u^1}\left( {x,y} \right) = \int_0^\infty {{e^{ - t}}{p_t}\left( {x,y} \right)dt} $$ (1) We assume that $${u^1}\left( {x,y} \right) > \infty \forall x,y \in S$$ (2) which implies that there exists a local time \(L = \left\{ {L_t^y,\left( {t,y} \right) \in {R^ + } \times S} \right\}\) for X which we normalize by setting $${E^x}\left( {\int_0^\infty {{e^{ - t}}dL_t^y} } \right) = {u^1}\left( {x,y} \right)$$ (3) It is easy to see, as is shown in [MR], that u 1(x, y) is positive definite on S × S. Therefore, we can define a mean zero Gaussian process G = {G(y), y ∈ S}, with covariance $$E\left( {G\left( x \right)G\left( y \right)} \right) = {u^1}\left( {x,y} \right)\forall x,y \in S$$ The processes X and G, which we take to be independent, are related through the 1-potential density u 1(x, y) and are referred to as associated processes.
Congruence, Responsiveness, and Representation in American State Legislatures

Two problems hinder the ability of scholars to assess the quality of representation of state-level public opinion by elected representatives. First, the main tool measuring ideology in public opinion has historically been self-reported, but this is now well known to be severely plagued by measurement error. Second, and far more binding, we lack a common scale on which to place both constituents and representatives. While the literature has addressed a number of methods estimating a common space for politicians' ideal points across political institutions, little work exists that incorporates citizens into this space. The unified methodology in this paper solves both problems in order to assess representation of constituents by their individual state legislators, the parties in the state legislatures, and the state legislature as a whole. Bridging is accomplished using policy preference questions from a state and congressional candidate survey administered since the early 1990s. I ask those questions in my own 2008 survey of over 4,200 citizen respondents, representative at the state and national levels. Thus, citizens and state legislators can be located on the same ideological scale. I employ multilevel regression with poststratification to model state-level public ideology and obtain aggregate opinion estimates for all 50 states and 1942 upper chamber state legislative districts. State legislators and chamber and party medians are responsive to public opinion, but they are very often incongruent to it. Democrats and Republicans diverge from district and state opinion, but in an asymmetric fashion, with Republicans considerably more distant.
Cathode Based on Molybdenum Disulfide Nanoflakes for Lithium–Oxygen Batteries

Lithium–oxygen (Li–O2) batteries have been recognized as an emerging technology for energy storage systems owing to their high theoretical specific energy. One challenge is to find an electrolyte/cathode system that is efficient, stable, and cost-effective. We present such a system based on molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) nanoflakes combined with an ionic liquid (IL) that work together as an effective cocatalyst for discharge and charge in a Li–O2 battery. Cyclic voltammetry results show superior catalytic performance for this cocatalyst for both oxygen reduction and evolution reactions compared to Au and Pt catalysts. It also performs remarkably well in the Li–O2 battery system with 85% round-trip efficiency and reversibility up to 50 cycles. Density functional calculations provide a mechanistic understanding of the MoS2 nanoflakes/IL system. The cocatalyst reported in this work could open the way for exploiting the unique properties of ionic liquids in Li–air batteries in combination with nanostructured MoS...
IDENTIFICATION OF Mo$sup 91$ AND MO$sup 91$m

The known 65-second activity in ${\mathrm{Mo}}^{91}$ is shown to have an intense 650\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}15 kev gamma ray. The 65-second activity is therefore assigned to a 650\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}15 kev isomeric level which decays by a gamma transition 70\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}10 percent of the time and by positron emission 30\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}10 percent of the time. There are at least two higher-energy gamma rays with energies 1.22\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.03 Mev and 1.55\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.03 Mev. Existent ($\ensuremath{\gamma}, n$) and ($n, 2n$) data are used to show that 65-sec., 650-kev ${\mathrm{Mo}}^{91m}$ is a ${p}_{\frac{1}{2}}$ state and that 15.5-min ${\mathrm{Mo}}^{91}$ is a ${g}_{\frac{9}{2}}$ state. This assignment implies that the neutron binding energy of ${\mathrm{Mo}}^{92}$ is 12.5 Mev.
PathophysioSogy of Myocardial Reperfusion

The feasibility of myocardial reperfusion is established. However,restoring patency to epicardial coronary arteries does not necessarily signify restoration of tissue perfusion or restoration of biochemical or mechanical function to the heart muscle previously supplied by the occluded vessel. This review examines the biochemical, functional, and histopathologic changes associated with myocardial reperfusion in an attempt to define the constraints within which repe1fusion may lead to optimal recovery of myocardium, and to explore future possibilities for maximizing benefits of reperfusion while minimizing potential reperfusion injury.
On the evaluation and implementation of efficient sampling algorithms for Monte Carlo based dose calculation

Despite its unparalleled accuracy for dose calculation in heterogeneous media, the Monte Carlo method is typically regarded as a “pie in the sky” approach for radiotherapy dosimetry studies. This opinion is fueled by the fact that a Monte Carlo treatment planning calculation may take up to several days to produce a statistically meaningful result. The availability of faster processor speeds and parallel processing, however, may soon make feasible the widespread implementation of Monte Carlo methods for clinical treatment planning. Several groups are currently actively pursuing the use of Monte Carlo methods for a wide variety of dosimetry studies. These include: the OMEGA/BEAM group at the NRCC, Stanford University Department of Radiation Oncology, Lawrence Livermore Peregrine Project, Memorial Sloan Kettering Department of Radiation Oncology and, the UCLA Department of Radiation Oncology. At the UCLA Department of Radiation Oncology, clinical treatment planning for research purposes is presently being conducted using an MCNP4B-based photon phase space source model that has been integrated with a commercially available treatment planning system [1,2].
Neuropsychological Effects of General Medical Disorders

Traditionally, neuropsychologists have been mainly concerned with the evaluation and study of neurological conditions creating impairment in intellectual functioning. They have tended to concentrate largely on the brain itself and have viewed most problems of concern to them as occurring within the cranium. However, neuropsychologists are becoming increasingly involved in the evaluation of patients who suffer from diseases that may affect any part of the body.
Primary Stroke Center Hospitalization for Elderly Patients With Stroke: Implications for Case Fatality and Travel Times

Importance Physicians often must decide whether to treat patients with acute stroke locally or refer them to a more distant Primary Stroke Center (PSC). There is little evidence on how much the increased risk of prolonged travel time offsets benefits of a specialized PSC care. Objectives To examine the association of case fatality with receiving care in PSCs vs other hospitals for patients with stroke and to identify whether prolonged travel time offsets the effect of PSCs. Design, Setting, and Participants Retrospective cohort study of Medicare beneficiaries with stroke admitted to a hospital between January 1, 2010, and December 31, 2013. Drive times were calculated based on zip code centroids and street-level road network data. We used an instrumental variable analysis based on the differential travel time to PSCs to control for unmeasured confounding. The setting was a 100% sample of Medicare fee-for-service claims. Exposures Admission to a PSC. Main Outcomes and Measures Seven-day and 30-day postadmission case-fatality rates. Results Among 865 184 elderly patients with stroke (mean age, 78.9 years; 55.5% female), 53.9% were treated in PSCs. We found that admission to PSCs was associated with 1.8% (95% CI, −2.1% to −1.4%) lower 7-day and 1.8% (95% CI, −2.3% to −1.4%) lower 30-day case fatality. Fifty-six patients with stroke needed to be treated in PSCs to save one life at 30 days. Receiving treatment in PSCs was associated with a 30-day survival benefit for patients traveling less than 90 minutes, but traveling at least 90 minutes offset any benefit of PSC care. Conclusions and Relevance Hospitalization of patients with stroke in PSCs was associated with decreased 7-day and 30-day case fatality compared with noncertified hospitals. Traveling at least 90 minutes to receive care offset the 30-day survival benefit of PSC admission.
Pindar's First Pythian: The Fire Within

‘If you speak at the right length, winding together the strands of many themes into one, the reproach of men will be less' (ll. 81-82). And in truth Pindar's First Pythian is filled with complex and conflicting elements twisted into a tightly knit pattern of myth, metaphor, advice, and historical allusion. The listener moves from celestial harmony to the volcano of Aitna, from the sack of Troy to the founding of a new city. He witnesses the battle of Cumae and the strivings of a tyrant for immortal fame. He is lulled to sleep by the lyre, startled awake by grim Typhon and the barbarians of Carthage, made to feel compassion for the sick Philoktetes, and confronted with the incarnate evil of a man who burned his enemies to death in a bronze bull. Yet at the same time, in counterpoint to this rapid succession of images, Pindar polarizes basic themes — music and discord, peace and pain, chaos and foundation — over the widest range his poetry will allow.
Effectiveness of Sampling Methods for Salmonella Detection on Processed Broilers

A total of 240 processed broiler carcasses (water-chilled and unfrozen) were each sampled by three methods (whole-carcass rinse, neck-skin rinse, and macerated neck skin) for detection of Salmonella. In addition to this, various procedures were compared: destructive (incubating the entire carcass with the rinse fluid) versus non-destructive (incubating the rinse water with concentrated lactose or selenite cystine broth added after removal of the carcass) sampling and pre-enrichment versus no pre-enrichment during Salmonella detection procedures. There was no significant difference (p < 0.05) between the percentage of Salmonella-positive carcasses obtained by destructive sampling and the percentage obtained by non-destructive samples of whole carcasses. There was also no significant difference (p < 0.05) in results obtained by rinsing and blending excised neck-skin samples. There was highly significant difference (p = 0.001), however, between whole carcass and neck-skin analyses. With whole-carcass samplin...
Exploring Adenosine Receptor Ligands: Potential Role in the Treatment of Cardiovascular Diseases

Cardiovascular diseases remain the number one diseases affecting patients' morbidity and mortality. The adenosine receptors are G-protein coupled receptors which have been of interest for drugs target for the treatment of multiple diseases ranging from cardiovascular to neurological. Adenosine receptors have been connected to several biological pathways affecting the physiology and pathology of the cardiovascular system. In this review, we will cover the different adenosine receptor ligands that have been identified to interact with adenosine receptors and affect the vascular system. These ligands will be evaluated from clinical as well as medicinal chemistry perspectives with more emphasis on how structural changes in structure translate into ligand potency and efficacy. Adenosine receptors represent a novel therapeutic target for development of treatment options treating a wide variety of diseases, including vascular disease and obesity.
Intrauterine cleaning after placental delivery at cesarean section: a randomized controlled trial

Objective: The objective of this study is to evaluate whether omission of intrauterine cleaning increases intraoperative and postoperative complications among women who deliver via cesarean section...
Metabolism of Nucleosides and Nucleotides Prodrugs.

Background Modified nucleoside and nucleotide analogs are now the cornerstone of antiviral and anticancer chemotherapies. However, these compounds are not active on their own and need, after entering the cell, to be metabolized to their active 5'-triphosphate form. Method Limitations of these metabolic processes led to development of nucleoside/nucleotide prodrugs in which nucleosides are masked with different groups that can be intracellularly cleaved either chemically or enzymatically. Results Several prodrug approaches have been successfully developed in order to increase the efficacy, bioavailability, penetration in target organ, and selectivity of nucleoside/nucleotide analogs. Conclusion The concept of nucleoside/nucleotide prodrug is now a well-established approach that led to the approval of numerous drugs for the treatment of HIV, HBV, HCV, HSV and cancer.
Research Techniques Made Simple: Emerging Methods to Elucidate Protein Interactions through Spatial Proximity

Interactions between proteins are essential for fundamental cellular processes, and the diversity of such interactions enables the vast variety of functions essential for life. A persistent goal in biological research is to develop assays that can faithfully capture different types of protein interactions to allow their study. A major step forward in this direction came with a family of methods that delineates spatial proximity of proteins as an indirect measure of protein-protein interaction. A variety of enzyme- and DNA ligation-based methods measure protein co-localization in space, capturing novel interactions that were previously too transient or low affinity to be identified. Here we review some of the methods that have been successfully used to measure spatially proximal protein-protein interactions.
“The Door in the Wall”: H. G. Wells’s Paean to the Victorian Age

During a long and storied career in letters, H. G. Wells, “one of the most influential men of his generation” (Smith 1), authored close to a hundred short stories. Most of them were written in the ...
From Post-colonial to Post-9/11: A Study of the Contemporary Pakistani-American Fiction

Employing Giorgio Agamben's notion of “homo sacer,” I study the protagonists in Mohsin Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007), H.M. Naqvi's Home Boy (2009) and Shaila Abdullah's Saffron Dreams...
Voluntarily Disclosing Prosocial Behaviors in Korean Firms

Instrumental CSR perspectives suggest that selective investments in prosocial, voluntary behaviors are largely profit-driven, whereas institutional theory emphasizes legitimacy-seeking as a significant mechanism for explicit CSR disclosure. We test both profit-seeking and legitimacy-seeking mechanisms, derived from empirical findings of Western-oriented firms, in a unique setting to understand voluntary CSR disclosure in an Eastern context: South Korea. By examining voluntary disclosure of the 500 largest South Korean firms’ social contributions from 2006 to 2012, a time period purposefully encompassing the global financial crisis (GFC), we highlight the limitations of corporate social responsibility (CSR) theorizing when East meets West. Our findings suggest profitability is not significantly related to voluntary disclosure as predicted by Western, instrumental CSR literature. Overall, we found support for legitimacy-seeking mechanisms as the likelihood of disclosure increased for publicly listed firms and those employing a larger number of workers for all years between 2006 and 2012. Further, firms affiliated with chaebols (Korean business groups) are more likely to disclose prosocial behaviors prior to, and after, the GFC compared to firms that are not affiliated with chaebols regardless of profitability further suggesting that legitimacy-seeking mechanisms may underlie CSR reporting in Korean firms.
A new edge detection method of magnetic flux leakage image based on wavelet multi-scale registration and modulus maximum

In this paper, a new edge detection method based on wavelet multi-scale registration and modulus maximum is proposed to better detect the edge of the defect magnetic flux image. Firstly, the axial image A and the radial image B are respectively carried out with binary wavelet transform in the selected scale. The modulus and phase angles of each image point (x, y) are then calculated and combined into a new magnitude to represent the correlation of the image points (x, y). A new universal edge correlation criterion is defined as a measure of similarity in the registration process. Finally, wavelet edge and modulus maximum methods are used to register and fuse edges of images to reconstruct edges. The experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Invariance of Plurigenera and Torsion-Freeness of Direct Image Sheaves of Pluricanonial Bundles

The deformational invariance of plurigenera proved recently by the author is a special case of the torsion-free property of the first direct image sheaf of the pluricanonical line bundle when the target space of the proper surjective holomorphic map is the open unit 1-disk with nonsingular fibers. This article discusses the adaptation of the techniques used in the proof of the deformational invariance of plurigenera to the general problem of proving the torsion-free property of the first direct image sheaf of the pluricanonical line bundle. The discussion covers also the more general case of the torsion-free property of the first direct image of the pluricanonical line bundle after twisting by a Hermitian holomorphic line bundle with semipositive curvature current and by its multiplier ideal sheaf. A number of results are obtained for the torsion-free problems by the adaptation of the techniques of the proof of the deformational invariance of plurigenera.
Autologous Fat Transplantation for Acne Scars

Lipofilling is not frequently used for acne scars but in particular subsets of acne scars autologous fat may be the optimal choice. Typically acne scars require more than one treatment modality, such as lasers and lipofilling injections. Frequently several autologous fat injection sessions are needed. As with many scar revision procedures, results are commonly imperfect that may conflict with patient expectations. The author reviews the nature and types of acne scars and briefly outlines the integration of other treatment modalities into an overall program. Subcision is elucidated as an important adjunctive approach to autologous fat injection for acne scars.
Visual acuity after cataract surgery in patients with optic neuropathies.

PURPOSE To compare visual acuity outcomes of cataract surgery between patients with and without non-glaucomatous optic neuropathies. METHODS Retrospective case-control study of patients with and without optic neuropathies who underwent cataract surgery from 2010 to 2017. For all eyes, the last preoperative best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and first BCVA greater than 1 month postoperatively (to ensure sustained refractive stabilization) were recorded in logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (logMAR) units. RESULTS Thirty patients (42 eyes) with optic neuropathies and 30 control patients (42 eyes) underwent uncomplicated cataract surgery. The mean age at surgery was significantly younger in the optic neuropathy group (64 versus 71.2 years, p < 0.01). The mean improvement in visual acuity in the optic neuropathy group was 0.4 ± 0.6 logMAR units (roughly 4 Snellen lines) from 0.7 ± 0.8 units preoperatively to 0.3 ± 0.5 postoperatively. Between the cases and controls, there was no significant difference in preoperative BCVA (p = 0.48), postoperative BCVA (p = 0.42), or the mean improvement in BCVA (p = 0.82). When stratified by optic neuropathy subtype, patients with optic neuropathies secondary to multiple sclerosis (n = 12) or non-arteritic ischaemic optic neuropathy (n = 11) had significant improvement in BCVA postoperatively (p < 0.01 and p = 0.03, respectively). CONCLUSION Contrary to what may be expected from such a severe ocular comorbidity, our data suggest that the mean BCVA improvement after cataract surgery in patients with non-glaucomatous optic neuropathies was comparable to that of control patients. Cataract surgery may be performed in patients with both optic neuropathies and advanced cataracts with a reasonable preoperative expectation that visual acuity improvement can be significant.
Trauma Room: “A Minute Man” Operating Room – Managing the Chaos Using Technologies

Trauma is the leading cause of mortality and years of life lost in the United States. Trauma victims require emergent evaluation and definitive care of their injuries in the trauma room. Every 3 min delay in management can increase the mortality of trauma patient by 1%. Over the recent years, latest advances in technology and their successful integration in healthcare sector led to the development of state-of-the-art diagnostic and treatment modalities. It has improved the organizational efficiency of hospitals and the standard of care for time-sensitive ailments especially trauma. In this chapter, we’ll discuss evidence-based guidelines to manage patients in the trauma bay using latest therapeutic modalities.
HuManIC: human machine interpretive control

Machine learning methods have made significant progress across many application areas. However, the power to utilize these methods has remained out of reach for many domain experts due to the background knowledge required to tune parameters and debug errors. Our HuManIC tool eases this requirement for relational models by 1) providing three different ways of meaningfully displaying the model and 2) by allowing the user to intuitively edit the model.
The Growth Machine across the United States: Business Actors’ Influence on Communities’ Economic Development and Limited–Government Austerity Policies:

The growth machine (GM) perspective has long guided urban research. Our study provides a new extension of this perspective, focusing on local business actors’ influence on communities across the Un...
Apoptotic Caspases: A Double-Edged Sword in Radiation-Induced Immunogenicity.

In a recent study in Oncoimmunology, Rodriguez-Ruiz et al. demonstrate that the apoptotic executioner caspase 3 (CASP3) attenuates antitumor immune responses induced by radiation therapy (RT) by inhibiting the release of cytosolic DNA. CASP3 stands out as a promising target for the development of novel strategies to improve anticancer responses driven by RT.
Online preschool teacher training to promote physical activity in young children: A pilot cluster randomized controlled trial

This study tested the Wellness Enhancing Physical Activity in Young Children (WE PLAY) program, a 4-week online preschool teacher training, on children's moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). In this cluster RCT, six Head Start preschools were randomized to an intervention and comparison group. Children's MVPA was measured using accelerometers at pre- and posttest. The magnitude of the difference in MVPA between groups at posttest was small, but in the expected direction: Δ min/hour = 1.60, 95% CI [-0.97, 4.18], p = .22, Cohen's d = 0.32. We observed a pre/post within group increase in average minutes per hour of MVPA in school with a medium effect size for the intervention group: Δ mean min/hour = 2.09, 95% CI [0.51, 3.67], p = .0096, Cohen's d = 0.42. An increase was not seen for the comparison group: Δ mean min/hour = 0.44, 95% CI [-0.70, 1.59], p = .45, Cohen's d = 0.07. WE PLAY children in 6 hr/day programs gained 63 min of MVPA per week in school, providing preliminary evidence of the benefits of WE PLAY on children's physical activity levels. WE PLAY deserves further testing with larger groups of children and teachers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
Special Issue on Machine Learning, Data Science, and Artificial Intelligence in Plasma Research

This Special Issue of the IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science (TPS) follows the first American Physical Society Division of Plasma Physics (APS-DPP) mini-conference on Machine Learning, Data Science, and Artificial Intelligence in Plasma Research held during the 60th APS-DPP Meeting in Portland, OR, USA (November 5–9, 2018). It contains selected highlights from not only the mini-conference but also the broader plasma physics community. Although data science has a long and rich history in plasma physics, dating back at least three decades, it is experiencing a renaissance, thanks in large part to the advances outside of plasma physics. Novel algorithms, hardware, and analytic techniques (buoyed by the open source software ecosystem) have led plasma scientists to explore ways in which the data revolution could accelerate and inform scientific discovery. Emerging data-driven methods could have a transformative effect across the full spectrum of plasma research. For fusion energy research, some areas of opportunities [item 1) in the Appendix] include using machine learning (ML) or data methods for scientific discoveries, augmented instrumentation, accelerated model development and simulations, data-informed intelligent controls of the experiment, and data-enhanced predictions. The DPP mini-conference and the articles herein represent only a tiny cross section of contemporary research on data-driven plasma science. The 3rd International Conference on Data-Driven Plasma Science (ICDDPS-3) will be held in Okinawa, Japan, in April 2020 [item 2) in the Appendix], with expected presentations on fusion plasmas and low-temperature plasmas and beyond. Furthermore, Plasma Science is not unique in its exploration of Scientific Machine Learning: the Second Workshop on Machine Learning and the Physical Sciences (NeurIPS 2019, Vancouver, BC, Canada, December 2019) and it illustrates a trend in cross disciplinary collaboration with contributions from plasma research.
Though Miles Apart: An Interactive Art Installation that Evokes Nostalgia

Though Miles Apart is an interactive installation that encourages people to join together through a soft tangible interface, to reminisce on their personal experiences. Based on a traditional Chinese melody, Shuidiao Getou, the installation embodies the idea of separation but, though apart, "we are still able to share the beauty of the moon together". Initially, as people enter the area, they are invited to sit around the pond-like surface, near glowing points. When a viewer grasps a glowing, soft conductive unit in their hands, it will trigger videos in response to their touch. Viewers will listen and watch stories from people of different cultures and backgrounds, as they recollect on their memories. It creates a meditative, immersive environment, where the collective is allowed to sit and experience nostalgia.
A Modular Plugin Architecture for Literate Programming Editors

The CodeChat plugin transforms source code into a web page, allowing the programmer to view their source code as a descriptive document by adding headings, formatting, hyperlinks, diagrams, and images. However, this plugin requires the use of a little-known text editor, Enki. To broaden CodeChat’s impact, this project presents the creation of a modular plug-in architecture for CodeChat, enabling its use with a Visual Studio Code. This approach bridges the services CodeChat provides, which are written in the Python programming language, to the variety of programming languages which various text editors require. To accomplish this, this project employs Apache Thrift, which provides scalable cross-language service development; develops a CodeChat server to provide the needed services; and creates a JavaScript plugin client for Visual Studio Code, a free and popular cross-platform text editor.
Investigating class rarity in big data

In Machine Learning, if one class has a significantly larger number of instances (majority) than the other (minority), this condition is defined as class imbalance. With regard to datasets, class imbalance can bias the predictive capabilities of Machine Learning algorithms towards the majority (negative) class, and in situations where false negatives incur a greater penalty than false positives, this imbalance may lead to adverse consequences. Our paper incorporates two case studies, each utilizing a unique approach of three learners (gradient-boosted trees, logistic regression, random forest) and three performance metrics (Area Under the Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve, Area Under the Precision-Recall Curve, Geometric Mean) to investigate class rarity in big data. Class rarity, a notably extreme degree of class imbalance, was effected in our experiments by randomly removing minority (positive) instances to artificially generate eight subsets of gradually decreasing positive class instances. All model evaluations were performed through Cross-Validation. In the first case study, which uses a Medicare Part B dataset, performance scores for the learners generally improve with the Area Under the Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve metric as the rarity level decreases, while corresponding scores with the Area Under the Precision-Recall Curve and Geometric Mean metrics show no improvement. In the second case study, which uses a dataset built from Distributed Denial of Service attack attack data (POSTSlowloris Combined), the Area Under the Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve metric produces very high-performance scores for the learners, with all subsets of positive class instances. For the second study, scores for the learners generally improve with the Area Under the Precision-Recall Curve and Geometric Mean metrics as the rarity level decreases. Overall, with regard to both case studies, the Gradient-Boosted Trees (GBT) learner performs the best.
Musical hallucinations with a right frontotemporal stroke

have been reported in association with psychiatric diseases, brain stem strokes, deafness, degenerative diseases, intoxications, pharmacologic agents, and epilepsy. We present a patient who in the ...
Reflecting on 2020 and Planning for Pediatrics in 2021: Finding Opportunity in the Midst of Difficulty.

* Abbreviations: AAP — : American Academy of Pediatrics COVID-19 — : coronavirus disease 2019 Each year we share a commentary with our readers, reflecting on the previous year and sharing our plans to improve the journal for the coming year. We are writing this in the waning months of 2020, a year marked by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and greater awareness of the insidious impact of racism in the United States. We have all been affected professionally and personally by the events of this past year. However, we are both humbled and inspired by the work that was submitted to be considered for publication during this challenging time. Since the start of the pandemic, there has been a doubling of the number of submissions monthly to Pediatrics . Pediatricians and others invested in improving child health outcomes have somehow been able to balance challenging work and personal demands to share with us their studies and insights about how to meet the needs of children and families across the many difficult issues that have confronted us in 2020. Our goal with Pediatrics is to keep the child and family at the center of all we do by disseminating high-quality peer-reviewed clinically and policy-relevant research studies, reviews, and commentaries to improve child health. Like everyone else, we have had to adapt our “usual approach to business,” and by doing so have developed improvements that will carry us forward into the new year and beyond. One of the most visible changes is the reduction of our time to publication. Previously, we … Address correspondence to Lewis R. First, MD, MSc, Department of Pediatrics, Given Courtyard S-250, Burlington, VT 05405. E-mail: lewis.first{at}med.uvm.edu
Funding Shortages, Expectations, and Forward Rate Risk Premium

This paper estimates term risk premium and expected future spot rates embedded in Treasury forward rates to study the impact of short-term funding shortages on these quantities. Our approach is consistent with dynamic equilibrium models and avoids the arbitrage-free dynamic inconsistency problems exhibited by traditional methods. We find that short-term funding shortages in money markets affect both expectations of spot rates and forward rate risk premium for all maturity forward rates. The leverage ratio of intermediaries (primary dealers) significantly affects term risk premium but not expectations of future spot rates. Yield curve inversion has no impact on the forward rate curve’s evolution.
Crispin Thurlow, Christa Dürscheid, & Federica Diémoz (eds.), Visualizing digital discourse: Interactional, institutional and ideological perspectives. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 2020. Pp. 270. Hb. €100.

The authors discuss the impact of using emojis (e.g. Crispin Thurlow & Vanessa Jaroski view emojis as threats to words, thus ‘language endangerment’), positioning emojis in terms of communicative mode (e.g. Georg Albert's question on emojis functioning like words or images or somewhere between), and the actual utilization of emojis in a larger context (e.g. Panckhurst & Frontini's study on uses of emojis in SMS messages). The types of data vary widely and interestingly, including ‘homing blogs’ (Leppanen) that revisualize motherhood and index ‘particularly social, cultural and gendered identities’ (112), game commenters on YouTube (‘Let's Plays’) where the audience is absent (Axel Schmidt & Konstanze Marx), virtual tours through video chats (Dorottya Cserző), and photo sharing among romantic partners and close friends (Rebecca Venema & Katharina Lobinger). [...]communications through digital media both in interpersonal and institutional settings have rapidly increased, and this state of affairs may last for the foreseeable future.
Postoperative hemorrhage

The mechanism of clotting and its concomitant anticoagulant reaction is considered. Tests for the detection of bleeding tendencies are recommended. Coagulation defects in disease conditions of interest to the proctologist are discussed.
Vitrification preserves murine ovarian follicular cell transcriptome in a 3D encapsulated in vitro follicle growth system.

Vitrification is a method for long-term biological sample cryopreservation without causing intra- and extra-cellular ice formation. We recently established a novel closed vitrification system to cryopreserve mouse ovarian follicles. Using the 3D alginate hydrogel encapsulated in vitro follicle growth (eIVFG) method, we demonstrated that compared to freshly-harvested follicles, vitrified follicles had normal follicle and oocyte reproductive outcomes. However, it is unknown whether vitrification preserves molecular signatures of folliculogenesis, which is the primary research focus in this study. Six fresh and six vitrified antral follicles grown from eIVFG were collected on day 8 for the whole single-follicle RNA sequencing. Principal component analysis (PCA) and Pearson's correlation analysis revealed that vitrified follicles had similar transcriptomic profiles to fresh follicles. There were 35 differentially expressed genes between vitrified and fresh follicles, however, none of those genes have been shown to be critical to folliculogenesis and oogenesis. Meanwhile, gene ontology (GO) and KEGG pathway analysis revealed that no GO terms or signaling pathways were significantly enriched. Furthermore, the expression of genes essential for the gonadotropin-dependent folliculogenesis and oogenesis were comparable between vitrified and fresh follicles. Taken together, these results demonstrate that vitrification preserves follicular cell transcriptome and molecular signatures of gonadotropin-dependent folliculogenesis in the eIVFG system, providing a robust model for fertility preservation, conservation of endangered species, and also establishing a high-content ovarian follicle biobank for studying ovarian biology and female reproductive toxicology.
Computational Parametric Study on Full-Scale Ultimate Tested Dynamic Message Sign with Welded Connections

AbstractTransportation industries have commonly used welded connections in the production of dynamic message signs (DMSs) for several years. Even though with numerous alternatives such as bolt/rive...
The Ecology of Microbial Corrosion

Corrosion reactions may be induced or enhanced by microbial activity. The classic corrosion reaction is electrochemical, resulting in the dissolution of metal from anodic sites with subsequent electron acceptance at cathodic sites. Consumption of electrons varies, depending on the redox potential of the surface. In an aerobic environment, oxygen is the electron acceptor, forming metal oxides and hydroxides. At low redox potentials, protons become the electron acceptors, yielding hydrogen gas and other highly reduced products. The process of corrosion is accelerated by removal of the end products of the chemical reactions.
Video Games in Education

Computer and video games are a maturing medium and industry and have caught the attention of scholars across a variety of disciplines. By and large, computer and video games have been ignored by educators. When educators have discussed games, they have focused on the social consequences of game play, ignoring important educational potentials of gaming. This paper examines the history of games in educational research, and argues that the cognitive potential of games have been largely ignored by educators. Contemporary developments in gaming, particularly interactive stories, digital authoring tools, and collaborative worlds, suggest powerful new opportunities for educational media.
A pseudopeptide platform with side chains addressable for combinatorial applications

Abstract A synthetic pathway is presented to new, functionalized, pseudopeptide molecular platforms with selectively removable protecting groups on their side chains. The platforms are available in gram quantities and are used as core molecules for combinatorial chemistry.
Modulation of tumor promotion in mouse skin by the food additive citral (3,7-dimethyl-2,6-octadienal).

Abstract Citral inhibits the formation of retinoic acid from retinol in mouse epidermis. Since skincarcinogenesis is sensitive to retinoid status, and retinoic acid may be the active form of vitamin A in the epidermis, citral was tested for its ability to modulate tumor promotion in a two-stage skin-carcinogenesis study in hairless mice. The dorsal skins of female skh hr1 mice were initiated with 0.1 μmol dimethylbenzanthracene, and tumors were promoted by twice-weekly application of 10 nmol of tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) for 20 weeks. Prior to each TPA application groups were dosed with 0, 1 μmol, or 10 μmol citral. Citral had a dose-dependent inhibitory effect on tumor-production in the TPA promoted groups. At 10 weeks of promotion the percentage of mice with tumors were 88%, 72% and 60%, for the 0, 1 and 10 μmol citral treated groups, and the numbers (mean ± S.D.) of tumors per affected animal were 7.3 ± 6.6, 3.9 ± 4.2, and 3.7 ± 3.5, respectively. At 15 weeks of promotion the tumor incidence was 96%, 96% and 84%, respectively, and the number of tumors per affected animal were 9.5 ± 6.8, 7.2 ± 4.6 and 4.5 ± 3.3, respectively. Again the affected mice in the high dose citral group had significantly fewer tumors. When the study was terminated at 20 weeks of promotion all mice had at least one tumor, but the number of tumors per affected mouse were lower in the citral treated groups. These findings concur with the proposal that there is a retinoid requirement for skin tumor promotion, and establishes that anti-retinoids have potential uses as modulators of carcinogenesis.
The Confrontation of Diversity within the Black Community

While in recent years Blacks have tended to become more unified at one level, there are indications that there are polarizing influences operating at another level. This influence may be felt in the differential use of the terms Negro and Black by certain of the more verbal segments of the population. The former is utilized to denote the "Uncle Toms," or integrationist individuals of African descent, while the latter term is used to denote those who have undergone a "rebirth" in terms of Black pride. The "Toms" are often derogatorily referred to as "middle class," and in contrast there is a glorification of "our roots," which by implication means the lower classes and the folk families. Implicit in this new usage is the accompanying idea that all persons of African descent were unaware of their history and sought escape from any form of "Negro" connection. As a result, the stage is being set for a confrontation of diversity among persons of African descent within the United States.