cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A diagnostic test for the mixing distribution in a generalised linear mixed model

SUMMARY We introduce a diagnostic test for the mixing distribution in a generalised linear mixed model. The test is based on the difference between the marginal maximum likelihood and conditional maximum likelihood estimators of a subset of the fixed effects in the model. We derive the asymptotic variance of this difference, and propose a test statistic that has a limiting chi-squared distribution under the null hypothesis that the mixing distribution is correctly specified. This strategy uses an idea presented by Hausman (1978), who considered analogous tests for the linear mixed model. An important advantage of the methods outlined here is that the resulting diagnostic test is easily implemented in commercial software. We illustrate the method by applying it to data from a clinical trial investigating the effect of hormonal contraceptives in women.
Low-Level African Easterly Wave Activity and Its Relation to Atlantic Tropical Cyclogenesis in 2001

Abstract This paper provides new information on the low-level (850 hPa) structure and behavior of African easterly waves (AEWs) and relates this information to previous studies. Individual AEWs that occurred during June–September of 2001 are studied by a synoptic approach that employs Hovmoller diagrams, wave track maps, and case studies. The focus is on two AEW regimes in the lower troposphere over North Africa: a dry regime to the north of the African easterly jet (AEJ) coincident with the surface position of the monsoon trough near 20°N, and a wet regime to the south of the jet coincident with the near-equatorial rainbelt near 10°N. The following issues are addressed: the origin of the waves seen in the two wave regimes, relation of the wave activity to the mean positions of the surface monsoon trough and the 600–700-hPa AEJ, collocation of the tracks of the two wave regimes off the African coast, and diversity in low-level wave behavior that includes merging, splitting, and dissipation of the cyclonic...
Apples and Oranges? Interpretations of Risk Adjustment and Instrumental Variable Estimates of Intended Treatment Effects Using Observational Data

Instrumental variable (IV) and risk adjustment (RA) estimators, including propensity score adjustments, are both used to alleviate confounding problems in nonexperimental studies on treatment effects, but it is not clear how estimates based on these 2 approaches compare. Methodological considerations have shown that IV and RA estimators yield estimates of distinct types of causal treatment effects regardless of confounding problems. Many investigators have neglected these distinctions. In this paper, the authors use 3 schematic models to explain visually the relations between IV and RA estimates of intended treatment effects as demonstrated in the methodological studies. When treatment effects are homogeneous across a study population or when treatment effects are heterogeneous across the study population but treatment decisions are unrelated to the treatment effects, RA and IV estimates should be equivalent when the respective assumptions are met. In contrast, when treatment effects are heterogeneous and treatment decisions are related to the treatment effects, RA estimates of treatment effect can asymptotically differ from IV estimates, but both are correct even when the respective assumptions are met. Appropriate interpretations of IV or RA estimates can be facilitated by developing conceptual models related to treatment choice and treatment effect heterogeneity prior to analyses.
Developmental course(s) of lifetime cigarette use and panic attack comorbidity: an equifinal phenomenon?

The present investigation examined the developmental course(s) of lifetime cigarette use and panic attack comorbidity. Participants included 4,409 adults, ages 15 to 54 years of age (MAge = 33.1, SD = 10.7, N (females) = 2,221) from the National Comorbidity Survey (NCS). The primary objective of the present investigation was to better understand the developmental course(s) of lifetime cigarette use and panic attacks. A second objective of the investigation was to evaluate the developmental features of smokingpanic comorbidity in relation to other comorbid psychiatric and substance outcomes. Results demonstrated two distinct and novel operative developmental patterns of smoking-panic attack co-occurrence. The theoretical and clinical implications of delineating course-related factors underlying smokingpanic attack comorbidity are discussed.
A linear Class AB single-ended to differential transconverter suitable for RF circuits

A novel circuit topology is presented which converts a single-ended signal into differential output currents with improved linearity. This cell operates in Class AB, allowing an output current greater than the quiescent current. A configuration which allows for the nulling of the third order distortion is derived and the implications of third order nulling on third order intermodulation is explained. Measured results of this cell implemented in 0.4 /spl mu/m silicon-bipolar technology are presented.
PUC to J2ME interface generator

Today people need to control many disparate devices. The frustration of learning many different device interfaces has also become a substantial challenge. Even learning to master a universal remote for a specific device is troublesome. Individually programming universal remote interfaces for all of these devices is also very costly. This paper presents a generator to create common interfaces for a universal remote to control numerous devices with a single controller. A full implementation not only saves money, but also saves the time needed to learn how to use different controllers.
Giant bent-core mesogens in the thread forming process of marine mussels.

In marine mussels (Mytilus), byssal threads are made in minutes from prefabricated smectic polymer liquid crystals by a process resembling reaction injection molding. The mesogens in these arrays are known to be natural block copolymers with rodlike collagen cores. Using atomic force microscopy, it was shown that these collagenous mesogens are bent-core or banana-shaped in a manner that is consistent with and predictable from their amino acid sequence. The overall bend angle in preCOL-NG in Mytilus galloproVincialis is about 130°. The mesogens have a center-to-center separation of approximately 22 nm and a length of 200 nm. It is evident that the smectic structure of the prefabricated mesophases remains largely intact over 1 -3 Im distances in the molded fibers and is presumably locked in place during molding by cross-linking. Like the smectic liquid crystals of many synthetic banana mesogens, the collagenous mesogens of the byssal threads exhibit SmC2 symmetry with a characteristic tilt of 24.6°. At about 100% extension, this tilt is considerably reduced and the globular end domains are no longer visible presumably because they have been unraveled.
Manifold Learning by Graduated Optimization

We present an algorithm for manifold learning called manifold sculpting , which utilizes graduated optimization to seek an accurate manifold embedding. An empirical analysis across a wide range of manifold problems indicates that manifold sculpting yields more accurate results than a number of existing algorithms, including Isomap, locally linear embedding (LLE), Hessian LLE (HLLE), and landmark maximum variance unfolding (L-MVU), and is significantly more efficient than HLLE and L-MVU. Manifold sculpting also has the ability to benefit from prior knowledge about expected results.
The right to food and politics of knowledge

This article concerns a particular struggle over the right to food, as played out recently in the Committee on World Food Security (CFS), within the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO). As a relatively new participant in the CFS, the Civil Society Mechanism (CSM), representing land-using social movement organizations and progressive non-governmental organizations (NGOs), was successful in 2010 in convincing the CFS to reject investor-driven Principles of Responsible Agriculture Investment (PRAI)2formulated under World Bank leadership. Instead the CFS would consider a producer rights-driven reformulation of “responsible agricultural investment” (rai) (CFS, 2014). In its initial drafting, the rai was framed as a rights-based initiative through which all states could implement domestic forms of food security and nutrition. Over the two years of development of the rai principles, it became increasingly clear that the “right to food” concept informed quite different visions of how to stimulate “food security”.
Quantitative analysis of the transcription control mechanism

Gene transcription requires a sequence of promoter state transitions, including chromatin remodeling, assembly of the transcription machinery, and clearance of the promoter by RNA polymerase. The rate-limiting steps in this sequence are regulated by transcriptional activators that bind at specific promoter elements. As the transition kinetics of individual promoters cannot be observed, the identity of the activator-controlled steps has remained a matter of speculation. In this study, we investigated promoter chromatin structure, and the intrinsic noise of expression over a wide range of expression values for the PHO5 gene of yeast. Interpretation of our results with regard to a stochastic model of promoter chromatin remodeling and gene expression suggests that the regulatory architecture of the gene expression process is measurably reflected in its intrinsic noise profile. Our chromatin structure and noise analyses indicate that the activator of PHO5 transcription stimulates the rates of promoter nucleosome disassembly, and assembly of the transcription machinery after nucleosome removal, but no other rates of the expression process.
Paleomagnetism of Lonar impact crater, India

article i nfo Lonar crater, India, is the best preserved terrestrial impact crater formed in basalt and is a unique terrestrial analogue for small, simple craters on terrestrial planets and the Moon. We investigated the paleomagnetic and rock-magnetic properties of the 1.88 km diameter crater in order to understand the effect of impacts on magnetization in target rocks. The magnetization in the Lonar basalts consists of an original 65 Ma Deccan magnetization and a recent overprint. We constrained the timing of magnetization acquisition at Lonar using a combination of conglomerate tests on ejecta deposit clasts and fold tests on the overturned and jumbled rim fold. In some areas, the recumbent rim fold is preserved and can be approximated as a horizontal cylindrical fold. In other areas, substantial vertical axis rotation may have occurred where tear zones developed during folding. We observed only subtle effects from the impact on the rock-magnetic properties of Lonar materials, which include a slightly elevated coercivity in shocked ejecta blocks. We show that paleomagnetism can provide a constraint on shock heating in the absence of petrographic evidence of shock (in this case, b187±15 °C). At Lonar, viscous (and/or chemical) remanent magnetization acquired in the b50 kyr subsequent to crater formation has obscured any evidence of shock remanent magnetization. We also find no evidence of shock demagnetization or the presence of intense impact-induced or impact- amplified transient magnetic fields that have been proposed around larger impact structures.
Nerve growth factor is required for early follicular development in the mammalian ovary.

Nerve growth factor (NGF) epitomizes a family of proteins known as the neurotrophins (NTs), which are required for the survival and differentiation of neurons within both the central and peripheral nervous system. Synthesis of NGF in tissues innervated by the peripheral nervous system is consistent with its function as a target-derived trophic factor. However, the presence of low- and high-affinity NGF receptors in the gonads suggests another function for the NTs within the reproductive endocrine system. We now report that NGF is required for the growth of primordial ovarian follicles, a process known to occur independently of pituitary gonadotropins. Both the NT receptor p75NTR and the NGF tyrosine kinase receptor trkA were found to be expressed in the ovaries of infantile normal mice and mice carrying a null mutation of the NGF gene. The ovaries from homozygote NGF-null (−/−) mutant animals, analyzed after completion of ovarian histogenesis, exhibited a markedly reduced population of primary and seconda...
The effect of temperature variation on the performance of metallic mesh reflector surfaces

Recent studies of gold-plated materials exposed to the plasma discharge around a space vehicle in low earth orbit have shown that oxidation takes place which dramatically alters the electrical properties of the material. The oxidation causes a change in the surface impedance of the plated material. In addition, if the material is a woven wire mesh with gold-plated wires, it is predicted that the wire-to-wire contact points of the mesh will be transformed from perfectly conducting contacts to Schottky barrier junctions. The impedance of the Schottky barrier junction varies widely and nonlinearly with temperature. The authors investigated how temperature variation affects the reflection, transmission, and ohmic losses of woven wire mesh surfaces. Reflection and transmission coefficients and ohmic losses were calculated over a range of temperatures and angles of incidence and for both polarizations. >
Alcohol in suicide and homicide.

Suicide is one of the most common causes of death among alcoholics, and drinking is often associated with homicide. The role of drinking in suicide, however, is not clear; and alcoholics apparently...
Generation of serotonin neurons from human pluripotent stem cells

Serotonin neurons located in the raphe nucleus of the hindbrain have crucial roles in regulating brain functions and have been implicated in various psychiatric disorders. Yet functional human serotonin neurons are not available for in vitro studies. Through manipulation of the WNT pathway, we demonstrate efficient differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) to cells resembling central serotonin neurons, primarily those located in the rhombomeric segments 2-3 of the rostral raphe, which participate in high-order brain functions. The serotonin neurons express a series of molecules essential for serotonergic development, including tryptophan hydroxylase 2, exhibit typical electrophysiological properties and release serotonin in an activity-dependent manner. When treated with the FDA-approved drugs tramadol and escitalopram oxalate, they release or uptake serotonin in a dose- and time-dependent manner, suggesting the utility of these cells for the evaluation of drug candidates.
Extremum Seeking Based Control Strategy for a Chilled-Water Plant With Parallel Chillers

Chilled-water plants with multiple chillers are the backbone of ventilation and air conditioning (VAC) systems for commercial buildings. A penalty function based multivariate extremum seeking control (ESC) strategy is proposed in this paper for maximizing the energy efficiency in real time for a variable primary flow (VPF) chilled-water plant with parallel chillers. The proposed ESC algorithm takes the total power consumption (chiller compressors + cooling tower fan + condenser water pumps + penalty terms if inputs saturation occurs) as feedback, and tower fan air flow, condenser water flows and evaporator leaving chilled-water temperature setpoint as plant inputs (ESC outputs). A band-pass filter array is used in place of the conventional high-pass filter at the plant output so as to reduce the cross-channel interference. Chiller sequencing is also enabled with input saturation related signals. A Modelica based dynamic simulation model is developed for a chilled-water plant with two parallel chillers, one cooling tower, one air-handling unit and one zone. Simulation results under several testing conditions validate the effectiveness of the proposed model-free control strategy, as well as the significant energy saving.Copyright © 2015 by ASME
Tubal Occlusion via Laparoscopy in Latin America: An Evaluation of 8186 Cases

Safety effectiveness and ease of performance of laparoscopic sterilization techniques are evaluated for 8186 procedures (6995 interval 680 postabortion and 511 postpartum) performed from June 1972-February 1978 in Latin America. Tubes were occluded via electrocoagulation or application of the spring-loaded clip or the tubal ring. Less than 1% of procedures were technical failures. They were not completed as planned. Interval patients had the lowest rate of surgical complications for electrocoagulation technique. The complications rates were as follows for interval patients: tubal ring 8.7; electrocoagulation 6.9; and spring-loaded clip 14.5. The rates for postabortion patients were 1.3 tubal ring and 10.3 electrocoagulation. 1.9 tubal ring patients and 13.6 electrocoagulation patients had complications postpartum. Pregnancy rates were low for electrocoagulation and the tubal ring techniques. Higher pregnancy rates occurred in patients sterilized by the spring-loaded clip. After 24 months of follow-up the pregnancy rates for the interval patients were .8-.6 tubal ring; .4+/-.2 electrocoagulation; and 2.2+/-1.0 spring-loaded clip.
Neoconocephalus Lyristes (Rehn and Hebard) in the Middle West (Tettigoniidae, Orthopt.)

On October 6, 1929, the writer collected three specimens of Neoconcephalus lyristes (Rehn and Hebard)[1][1] in a marl bog known as Cedar Swamp, in Champaign County, Ohio. The species had not then been recorded west of the Atlantic coastal plain. [1]: #fn-1
Formation of Active Sites on WO3 Catalysts: A Density Functional Theory Study of Olefin Metathesis

Industrial demand for poly(propene) has spurred research on improved catalysts and mechanisms for propene production. Recently, tungsten trioxide (WO3) was reported to exhibit high activity for the metathesis of ethene and 2-butene to form propene. The whole process is divided into two stages: (1) Initiation (i.e., formation of W-carbene active sites on WO3 surfaces), and (2) Propagation (i.e., metathesis reaction on these active sites to yield propene). This study investigates the mechanism of W-carbene active site formation, using first-principles calculations based on density functional theory. For the WO3 orthorhombic crystal, the (001) surface has been found to be the most stable, since it contains four chemically distinguishable types of surface atoms: 5-fold coordinate W5c, 6-fold coordinate W6c, 2-fold bridging oxygen O2c, and singly coordinated oxygen O1c. Because of the different energies of adsorption for ethene and 2-butene at these four types of active sites, we find that 2-butene forms W-car...
The Pill: Now and Tomorrow

So far all the evidence indicates that being pregnant is more dangerous than using the Pill. If the alternative is pregnancy, the safer choice seems obvious. A key factor may be the unacceptability to the patient of another form of contraception. The statistical data have yielded some clues to susceptibility to serious complications, and high-risk categories are emerging.
Rotation in a Normed Plane

(2007). Rotation in a Normed Plane. The American Mathematical Monthly: Vol. 114, No. 7, pp. 628-632.
Role of CO2 in Mass Transfer, Reaction Kinetics, and Interphase Partitioning for the Transesterification of Triolein in an Expanded Methanol System with Heterogeneous Acid Catalyst

Fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) production via transesterification of triglycerides (TGs) over a heterogeneous acid catalyst is mediated by carbon dioxide in an expanded methanol system. A representative TG, triolein, is used to determine the mechanisms and interactions responsible for the improved yields over Nafion-NR50 in these system conditions. Namely, the system mass transfer limitations, reaction kinetics, and interphase partitioning behavior are explored by varying mixing conditions and catalyst characteristics over a time series of 4 h. It is found that CO2 enhances mass transfer leading to improved reaction yields and product profiles due to increased substrate transport to and from the catalyst surface. CO2 also contributes to catalyst expansion, leading to greater exposure of active sites and faster reaction kinetics. Initial reaction rate constants using methanol-soaked Nafion reflect pseudo-first-order kinetics. Finally, the substrate-reagent mediating properties of CO2 are discussed in refer...
The effects of early positive parenting and developmental delay status on child emotion dysregulation.

Background Emotion regulation has been identified as a robust predictor of adaptive functioning across a variety of domains (Aldao et al. 2010). Furthermore, research examining early predictors of competence and deficits in ER suggests that factors internal to the individual (e.g. neuroregulatory reactivity, behavioural traits and cognitive ability) and external to the individual (e.g. caregiving styles and explicit ER training) contribute to the development of ER (Calkins 1994). Many studies have focused on internal sources or external sources; however, few have studied them simultaneously within one model, especially in studies examining children with developmental delays (DD). Here, we addressed this specific research gap and examined the contributions of one internal factor and one external factor on emotion dysregulation outcomes in middle childhood. Specifically, our current study used structural equation modelling (SEM) to examine prospective, predictive relationships between DD status, positive parenting at age 4 years and child emotion dysregulation at age 7 years. Method Participants were 151 families in the Collaborative Family Study, a longitudinal study of young children with and without DD. A positive parenting factor was composed of sensitivity and scaffolding scores from mother–child interactions at home and in the research centre at child age 4 years. A child dysregulation factor was composed of a dysregulation code from mother–child interactions and a parent-report measure of ER and lability/negativity at age 7 years. Finally, we tested the hypothesis that positive parenting would mediate the relationship between DD and child dysregulation. Results Mothers of children with DD exhibited fewer sensitive and scaffolding behaviours compared with mothers of typically developing children, and children with DD were more dysregulated on all measures of ER. SEM revealed that both DD status and early positive parenting predicted emotion dysregulation in middle childhood. Furthermore, findings provided support for our hypothesis that early positive parenting mediated the relationship between DD and dysregulation. Conclusions This work enhances our understanding of the development of ER across childhood and how endogenous child factors (DD status) and exogenous family factors (positive parenting) affect this process. Our findings provide clear implications for early intervention programmes for children with DD. Because of the predictive relationships between (a) developmental status and ER and (b) parenting and ER, the results imply that sensitive parenting behaviours should be specifically targeted in parent interventions for children with DD.
History of the Prosthetic Treatment of Impotence

Early records of observations of the os penis or baculum in mammals go back to Aristotle. These heritable cartilaginous supports were noted to help the penis during copulation. Prosthetic surgery for treatment of impotence was born from the initial experience with the use of the "artificial os penis" (rib cartilage) in post-traumatic reconstruction in 1936. Slow progress was made with the use of extracavernosal acrylic stents, followed by intracavernosal polypropylene rods, and finally the silicone prosthesis over the next 20 years. The introduction in 1973 of the inert silicone semirigid prosthesis and inflatable prosthesis met with great successes. Most recently (1985), there has been development of self-contained prostheses that are technically more simple to insert. Today, much more is known about specific organic causes of impotence that are amenable to many successful nonprosthetic alternative therapies, adding more stimuli to continued innovations in prosthetic surgery for erectile dysfunction.
Sleep Disorders in the Elderly

This chapter addresses sleep complaints and sleep disorders commonly seen in the elderly preceded by a short discussion about neurology of aging, particularly changes in central nervous system (CNS) physiology and morphology in normal healthy elderly. The text also summarizes age-related changes in EEG and sleep architecture, common sleep problems in old age, and principles of treatment of sleep disturbances in the elderly.
Thermodynamic Processes in Fluids

Here a body B is a smooth manifold, of material points X, imbedded in a fixed Euclidean space C and possessing an intrinsic mass-measure m. Of course, a thermodynamic process of B a collection g of functions, of X and the time t, compatible with the laws of balance of momentum and energy. At the present level of generality, each thermodynamic process consists of six functions: (1) the motion , with ; (2) the temperature θ, (3) the stress tensor , (4) the specific internal energy є, (5) the specific entropy η, and (6) the heat flux vector . It is here assumed that gravitational body forces are absent and that there is no heat transfer by radiation, (such was not the case in Section 2), and hence the laws of balance of momentum and balance of energy take the forms [cf. (2.1) and (2.2)], (6.1) (6.2) and must hold at all times t and in all parts P of B.
Marvin Chirelstein: A Tribute

These remarks, delivered by Professor Pomp at the Connecticut Law Review luncheon in honor of Professor Marvin Chirelstein, provide a brief overview of Chirelstein’s greatest accomplishments as a renowned scholar. As soon as Chirelstein finished law school he was selected by Stanley Surrey and Ollie Oldman, two tax legends, to work on the U.S. volume of Harvard’s World Tax Series. The scope of the project was enormous; Pomp notes that some at the International Tax Program even doubted the feasibility of producing such a volume. Years later, however, the 1400 word volume was complete and a source of guidance for many developing countries. In addition to producing some of the most cited law review articles on taxation, Chirelstein authored Federal Income Taxation: A Guide to the Leading Cases and Concepts. The text draws from his vast experience—in the public sector, private sector, and in academia—to render the complexities of federal income tax accessible to all. Students, in particular, have sung its praises. Chirelstein later produced a similar primer on contracts which was also met with enthusiastic approval.
Further tales of the vasco

As the inlet pipe was ceremoniously opened, filling the long awaited reservoir for the very first time, the Vasco Adobe disappeared beneath the waters of the Los Vaqueros Reservoir. Built in the 1850s by a group of rough Basque cattle ranchers, the adobe had been the scene of tragedies, feuds, fights, failures, and betrayals. Its occupants made and lost fortunes for themselves, and for their lawyers. Only when the cascading series of lawsuits was settled was the adobe abandoned and its residents moved into a plain, wooden house. Melted by rain and buried by flood silts, the adobe remarkably survived the ownership of Oscar Starr, inventor of the Caterpillar tractor, who test-drove his bulldozers on the ranch. It also survived the tenure of gun-toting San Francisco socialite and party-girl, Edith Ordway, who buried her toothless pet raccoon next to the old building’s remains. Archaeologists, historians, architects, and folklorists studied the Vasco Adobe so that its stories would not be lost beneath the waters of Los Vaqueros Reservoir.
Max Lüthi, Das europäische Volksmärchen: Form und Wesen: Bern: A. Francke AG. Verlag, 1947. Pp. 127. S.Fr. 7.80.

(1950). Max Luthi, Das europaische Volksmarchen: Form und Wesen. The Germanic Review: Literature, Culture, Theory: Vol. 25, No. 4, pp. 310-312.
Pragmatic trials may help to identify effective strategies to reduce nursing home antipsychotic medication use.

Despite widespread agreement that nursing homes’ use of antipsychotic medications for residents without specific psychiatric diagnoses is a marker of poor quality of care, prevalence remains high. Additionally, variation suggests continued opportunity to improve care even in countries, like the United States, that have long-standing policies designed to decrease antipsychotic medication use. In a recent Israel Journal of Health Policy Research article, Frankenthal et al. presented results linking increased antipsychotic medication use prevalence in Tel Aviv nursing homes with facility characteristics, including some that “undermine quality of care,” and called for increased national focus on this area. While we agree with the authors that government focus can help to decrease antipsychotic medication use, experience in the United States shows that such efforts may not be sufficient: we present data showing significant variation among United States nursing homes’ antipsychotic medication use prevalence after more than ten years of national warnings and programs. This suggests that United States nursing home clinicians and caregivers continue to need effective non-pharmacologic interventions to substitute for antipsychotic medications. We suggest expanded use of cluster-randomized trials to test strategies to withdraw residents from antipsychotic medications and to implement alternate, non-pharmacological approaches for addressing the behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia.
Interactions of Renal-Clearable Gold Nanoparticles with Tumor Microenvironments: Vasculature and Acidity Effects

The success of nanomedicines in the clinic depends on our comprehensive understanding of nano-bio interactions in tumor microenvironments, which are characterized by dense leaky microvasculature and acidic extracellular pH (pHe ) values. Herein, we investigated the accumulation of ultrasmall renal-clearable gold NPs (AuNPs) with and without acidity targeting in xenograft mouse models of two prostate cancer types, PC-3 and LNCaP, with distinct microenvironments. Our results show that both sets of AuNPs could easily penetrate into the tumors but their uptake and retention were mainly dictated by the tumor microvasculature and the enhanced permeability and retention effect over the entire targeting process. On the other hand, increased tumor acidity indeed enhanced the uptake of AuNPs with acidity targeting, but only for a limited period of time. By making use of simple surface chemistry, these two effects can be synchronized in time for high tumor targeting, opening new possibilities to further improve the targeting efficiencies of nanomedicines.
Definitive surgical salvage treatment for recurrent colon cancer.

e14704 Background: Approximately 10 to 50% of patients who undergo curative resection of colon cancer will develop recurrent disease. Post-treatment surveillance may improve the early detection of ...
Trajectory of systolic blood pressure in a low‐income, racial‐ethnic minority cohort with diabetes and baseline uncontrolled hypertension

In two primary care clinics in Texas serving low-income patients, systolic blood pressure (SBP) trajectory was examined during 2 years in patients with diabetes mellitus (mean SBP ≥140 mm Hg: 152 mm Hg±11.2 in the baseline year). Among 860 eligible patients, 62.0% were women, 78.8% were Hispanic, and 41.2% were uninsured. Overall, SBP dropped 0.56 mm Hg per month or 13.4 mm Hg by 24 months. For patients with mean glycated hemoglobin ≥9% in year 1, SBP declined 4.8 mm Hg less by 24 months vs those with glycated hemoglobin <7% (P=.03). Compared with white women, SPB declined 7.2 mm Hg less by 24 months in Hispanic women (P=.03) and 9.6 mm Hg less by 24 months in black men (P=.04). SBP also declined 9.1 mm Hg less by 24 months for patients taking four or more blood pressure drug classes at baseline vs one drug class. In this low-income cohort, clinically complex patients and racial-ethnic minorities had clinically significantly smaller declines in SBP.
Trust and Reciprocity Drive Common Goods Allocation Norms

In the emergent field of tax psychology, the focus on regulating tax evasion recently shifted towards searching for situational cues that elicit common goals compliance. Trust and reciprocity are a...
The interconnected role of strength of brand and interpersonal relationships and user comment valence on brand video sharing behaviour

This study addresses gaps in our understanding of viral advertising by examining the following questions: (1) how do brand relationships, interpersonal relationships, and user comment valence influ...
Prevalence, Incidence, and Associated Conditions

This chapter explores the prevalence and incidence of Early Onset Schizophrenia (EOS, onset of symptoms prior to age 18 years). Additionally, EOS’s association with other conditions will be examined, with special attention given to issues associated with comorbidity. Typical adjustment and outcomes are also briefly ­summarized to further describe associated conditions.
Genetic Syndromes Associated with Intellectual Disabilities

Intellectual disability, formerly referred to as mental retardation, is defined by significant limitations in cognitive functioning and the ability to adapt to the demands of daily life and an onset before the age of 18 years [1].
Effects of light-sources and photoperiod on hemato-physiological indices of broilers grown to heavy weights.

ABSTRACT We evaluated the influence of light sources and photoperiod on blood physiological variables in four trials. In each trial, 720 1-d-old Ross × Ross 708 chicks were randomly distributed into 12 environmentally controlled rooms (30 males/30 females/room). The experimental design was a 4 × 3 factorial treatments consisting of four light sources [incandescent (ICD, standard), compact fluorescent, neutral light emitting diode, and cool poultry-specific-filtered LED] and three photoperiods [long/continuous (23L:1D), regular/intermittent (2L:2D), and short/non-intermittent (8L:16D)] from d8-d56 at 50% relative humidity. Birds were fed the same diet, while feed and water were provided ad libitum. Blood samples were collected from the brachial wing vein on d 14, 28, 42, and 56 of age and analyzed immediately. Light sources had significant (P≤ 0.05) effects on body weight (BW), and some of the selected blood physiological indices except Hb, Hct, Ca2+angap, glucose, and corticosterone. Also, the photoperiods had significant (P≤ 0.05) effects on BW and most of the selected blood physiological indices except HCO3−, angap, glucose, corticosterone, and T4. However, all these changes were still within the normal acid–base homeostasis and physiological ranges of this species. Acid-base regulation during the short photoperiod exposure had not deteriorated despite higher pCO2that consequently decreased blood pH, due to a respiratory acidosis. Plasma corticosterone and glucose concentrations were not affected by treatments, suggesting an absence of physiological stress. It was concluded that the three LED light bulbs evaluated could be suitable for replacement of ICD along with the regular/intermittent photoperiod. Commercial poultry facilities can thereby reduce energy costs and optimize production efficiency without compromising the welfare of broilers grown to heavy weights (>3 kg).
Downward Causation and the Autonomy of Weak Emergence

Weak emergence has been offered as an explicatzon of the ubiquztous notum of emergence used m complexity science After outinung the problem of emergence and comparmg weak emergence with the two other nuun objecuvist approaches to emergence, the paper explams a vetsion of weak emergence and illustrcues at with cellular automata Then it explcans the sart of downward causattan and explanatory auumomy mvolved m weak ernergence.
Sources of Variance in End-of-Course Student Evaluations.

AbstractEvaluation of college instructors often centers on course ratings; however, there is little evidence that these ratings only reflect teaching. The purpose of this study was to assess the re...
Development of a National Caregiver Health Survey for Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant: Qualitative Study of Cognitive Interviews and Verbal Probing.

Background: Roadmap 1.0 is a mobile health app that was previously developed for caregivers of patients who have undergone hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Formative research targeted toward its end users (caregivers) can help inform app design and development, allowing additional components to be incorporated into the app, which can then be tested in a future randomized controlled trial. Objective: This study aimed to create a methodologically rigorous national survey that would help inform the development of Roadmap 2.0. Methods: We conducted a prospective, qualitative research study that took place between November 18, 2018, and February 7, 2019, in a blood and marrow transplant unit within a large academic medical institution in the midwestern part of the United States. Cognitive interviews, including think-aloud and verbal probing techniques, were conducted in 10 adult caregivers (≥18 years) of patients who had undergone HSCT. Results: Most participants were female (9/10, 90%), white (9/10, 90%), married (9/10, 90%), employed at least part time (6/10, 60%), caregivers of adult patients (7/10, 70%), and had some college education (9/10, 90%) and an annual household income of $60,000 or higher (6/10, 60%). All but one interview was audio-recorded, with permission. Overall, participants were engaged in the cognitive interview process of the draft survey, which included 7 topics. The interviews highlighted areas wherein survey items could be further refined, such as offering more response choices (eg, “NA”) or clarifying the type of transplant (eg, autologous or allogeneic) or context of transplant care (eg, pre-HSCT, during HSCT, post-HSCT, inpatient, and outpatient). Apart from these findings, the items in demographics, caregiving experiences, technology, positive activities, and mood were generally interpreted as intended. On the basis of the transcript data and field notes by the interviewer, items within self-efficacy (Caregiver Self-Efficacy Scale) and coping (Brief Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced inventory) questionnaires generated more confusion among interviewer and participants, reflecting difficulties in interpreting the meaning of some survey items. Conclusions: This study incorporated the four cognitive aspects of survey methodology that describe the question-answering process—(1) comprehension, (2) information retrieval, (3) judgment and decision making, and (4) responding—by using the think-aloud and probing techniques in cognitive interviews. We conclude that this methodologically rigorous process informed revisions and improved our final questionnaire design.
FOCUS: Fog Computing in UAS Software-Defined Mesh Networks

Unmanned aerial systems (UASs) allow easy deployment, three-dimensional maneuverability and high reconfigurability, as they sustain communication network in the absence of pre-installed infrastructure. The proposed FOg Computing in UAS Software-defined mesh network (FOCUS) paradigm aims to realize an implementable network design that considers practical issues of aerial connectivity and computation. It allocates UASs to the tasks of data forwarding and in-network fog computing while maximizing number of ground-users in UAS coverage. FOCUS improves efficient utilization of network resources by introducing on-board computation and innovates on top of software-defined networking stack by integrating the capabilities of network and ground controllers to enable simultaneous orchestration of both UASs and communication flows. There are three main contributions of the paper: First, a SDN-based architecture is designed enabling autonomous configuration of computation and communication as well as managing multi-hop aerial links. Second, a global optimization problem to achieve optimal forwarding and computational allocation is formulated using Open Jackson Network model and solved via a heuristic approach with well defined complexity. Third, FOCUS framework is implemented on a small-scale testbed of Intel® Aero UASs performing image analysis with a full software stack. Experiments reveal at least 32% latency improvement in computation service time compared to traditional centralized computation at the end-server or greedy task allocation schemes within the network.
Participatory Sensing or Sensing of Participation: Awareness and Privacy Concerns With Smart Device Applications

Smart devices have become a basic necessity in this technically advanced era. Many smart device applications, when installed, collect personal data and track users' online behavior for marketing or other purposes. This study aims to explore whether users are aware of related privacy issues and whether their knowledge influences the usage of their apps. Cognate-based views of privacy indicate that privacy concern is dynamic and varies depending on an individual's characteristics and the context. Adopting this view creates the attempt to understand the effect of privacy awareness on user's behavior, considering the moderating effects of individual characteristics and application categories. The study was conducted by surveying smart devices' users and analyzing their responses to the privacy awareness treatment across eight groups of applications. Results indicate that privacy awareness impacts smart device user preferences for app usage. This influence varies depending on individual user characteristics and different application categories.
High accuracy in-situ direct gas analysis of Li-ion batteries

Abstract Cycling of lithium-ion batteries containing Ni-rich NMC cathodes at high voltage involves intense gas generation. From a safety standpoint, it is critical to understand how different gas species respond to changes in upper cut-off voltages. In this manuscript, we introduce a novel experimental set up for real-time analysis of gas generation in prismatic pouch cells. In a typical experiment, a lithium-ion pouch cell is directly connected to a quadruple mass spectrometer using a glass capillary. Pressure difference helps move the generated gases to the mass spectrometer column for full analysis. The gaseous species are probed during both formation cycle and aging cycles in Li-ion pouch cells comprising NMC811 cathodes and graphite anodes. The gases are generated upon the creation of the solid electrolyte interphase on graphite during the first formation charge. Ethylene (C2H4) is the major gas generated during formation cycle due to the decomposition of ethylene carbonate. H2, CH4, C2H6, O2, CO and CO2 are also monitored during formation cycle. For the aging cycles, three upper cut-off voltages 4.2, 4.4 and 4.6 V are selected to investigate the impact of upper cut-off voltages on gas generation. Higher upper cut-off voltages do not significantly affect the amount of O2 measured, as a part of the generated oxygen could have reacted with electrolytes. On the other hand, the generation of CO2 is found to be very sensitive to upper cut-off voltage. During similar aging cycles, 6167 nmol g N M C − 1 of CO2 is generated in 4.6 V cycle, versus 1650 nmol g N M C − 1 in 4.4 V cycle, versus 91 nmol g N M C − 1 in 4.2 V cycle.
Improving accuracy of myasthenia gravis autoantibody testing by reflex algorithm.

Objective: To improve myasthenia gravis (MG) autoantibody testing. Methods: MG serological tests with confirmatory or refuting clinical-electrodiagnostic (EDX) testing and cancer evaluations were reviewed over 4-years (2012-2015). All patients had acetylcholine-receptor-binding (AChR-Bi), modulating (AChR-Mo) and striational (STR) autoantibody testing, and negatives reflexed to muscle-specific-kinase (MuSK). Thymoma and cancer occurrences were correlated with STR and reflexed glutamic-acid-decarboxylase-65 (GAD65), ganglionic-acetylcholine-receptor (alpha-3), collapsin-response-mediating-protein-5 (CRMP5), and voltage-gated-potassium-channel-complex (VGKC) autoantibodies. Results: Of 433 tested, 133 (31%) met clinical-EDX criteria for MG. Best sensitivity (90%) occurred at AChR-Bi>0.02nmol/L, leaving 14 negative (6-ocular-MG, 7-generalized-MG, 1-MuSK-MG) with specificity 90% (31 false-positives). Using AChR-Mo antibodies (>20% loss) specificity was better (92%, 24 false-positives), however sensitivity dropped (85%). Specificity improved (95%) by testing AChR-Mo when AChR-Bi are positives, resulting in 45% reduction of false-positives (31 to 17), maintaining AChR-Bi 90% sensitivity. Cut-off values recommended by area-under-curve analysis did not outperform this approach. AChR-Bi and AChR-Mo values were significantly higher in true-positives. Computed tomography (CT) evaluations in 121 MG revealed 16 thymomas. Historical or subsequent cancers occurred in 22. STR and reflexed autoantibodies were not more common in MG with thymoma or other cancers. Full-body CT (n=34) was performed in those with STR and reflex autoantibody positivity, but without additional cancers found. Conclusion: Accuracy of MG serological testing is improved by reflexing AChR-Bi positive cases to AChR-Mo. STR and other reflexed cancer evaluation autoantibodies did not provide value beyond standard CT-chest imaging at the time of MG diagnosis. Diagnostic certainty is informed by AChR-Bi and AChR-Mo with higher values increasing specificity.
The Impact of Globalization and the New World Order on African Languages and Linguistics: A Systematic Analysis Using the Theorem of Accelerated Language Deaths

Abdul Karim Bangura in this chapter makes the case that it is not farfetched to assert that one area globalization (i.e. the process of going to a more interconnected world by diminishing the world’s social dimension and expansion of overall global consciousness) which has affected Africa’s socioeconomic and political development the most has to do with African languages and linguistics. In this chapter, he analyzes how globalization has impacted African languages and linguistics, with a focus on the state of language deaths across the continent. Employing his theorem of accelerated language deaths, he postulates that since the significance of accelerated language deaths in African countries is doubly contextual in being both context shaped (its contribution to ongoing sequence of linguistic actions cannot adequately be understood except by reference to the context in which it occurs) and context renewing (the character of linguistic actions is directly related to the fact that they are context shaped—the context of a next linguistic activity is repeatedly renewed with every current action), context then helps an analyst to rule out unintended activities and suppress misunderstandings of certain activities that take place in a linguistic community.
Examining the effect of salesperson service behavior in a competitive context

While few scholars debate the importance of doing things to improve the quality of the buyer–seller relationship, little is known about what salespeople can do after the point of the initial sale to enhance customer satisfaction and trust. On the basis of extensive exploratory interviews across professional selling domains, this research develops a set of behaviors, referred to here as “salesperson service behaviors.” Using data gathered from 358 customers, the authors empirically demonstrate the effect of these behaviors on customer satisfaction and trust and, ultimately, on an objective measure of customer share of market. The authors develop a competitive model that uniquely features customer evaluations of competing sales representatives. The results indicate that these salesperson service behaviors are important in building trust and customer satisfaction, which in turn lead to increases in customer share of market.