cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Saccharomyces cerevisiae DNA Polymerase ε and Polymerase σ Interact Physically and Functionally, Suggesting a Role for Polymerase ε in Sister Chromatid Cohesion

The large subunit of Saccharomyces cerevisiae DNA polymerase e, Pol2, comprises two essential functions. The N terminus has essential DNA polymerase activity. The C terminus is also essential, but its function is unknown. We report here that the C-terminal domain of Pol2 interacts with polymerase σ (Pol σ), a recently identified, essential nuclear nucleotidyl transferase encoded by two redundant genes, TRF4 and TRF5. This interaction is functional, since Pol σ stimulates the polymerase activity of the Pol e holoenzyme significantly. Since Trf4 is required for sister chromatid cohesion as well as for completion of S phase and repair, the interaction suggested that Pol e, like Pol σ, might form a link between the replication apparatus and sister chromatid cohesion and/or repair machinery. We present evidence that pol2 mutants are defective in sister chromatid cohesion. In addition, Pol2 interacts with SMC1, a subunit of the cohesin complex, and with ECO1/CTF7, required for establishing sister chromatid cohesion; and pol2 mutations act synergistically with smc1 and scc1. We also show that trf5∆ mutants, like trf4∆ mutants, are defective in DNA repair and sister chromatid cohesion.
A Facile Synthesis of SmCo5 Magnets from Core/Shell Co/Sm2O3 Nanoparticles

The fabrication of SmCo-based nanomagnets exhibiting large coercivity and high magnetic moment has been a recent goal for materials research owing to the potential applications of these nanomagnets in high-performance permanent magnets and high-density data storage media. SmCo5 is one of the most important hard magnetic materials in the SmCo alloy system. This material adopts a hexagonal close-packed (hcp) structure with Co and Co + Sm present in alternating layers along the c-axis, as shown in Figure 1. The easy magnetization direction of SmCo5 is aligned along the c-direction of the lattice, and the magnetocrystalline anisotropy constant
Bridging the Gap in Neurotherapeutic Discovery and Development: The Role of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke in Translational Neuroscience.

The mission of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) is to seek fundamental knowledge about the brain and nervous system and to use that knowledge to reduce the burden of neurological disease. NINDS supports early- and late-stage therapy development funding programs to accelerate preclinical discovery and the development of new therapeutic interventions for neurological disorders. The NINDS Office of Translational Research facilitates and funds the movement of discoveries from the laboratory to patients. Its grantees include academics, often with partnerships with the private sector, as well as small businesses, which, by Congressional mandate, receive > 3 % of the NINDS budget for small business innovation research. This article provides an overview of NINDS-funded therapy development programs offered by the NINDS Office of Translational Research.
Fertility among ethnic groups in the USSR

Thirty-six ethnie groups in the USSR are analyzed as to fertility differentials. The analysis is based on data from the 1959 nationwide census. To explain the fertility differentials found, ethnographic and sociological features of these groups are traced as a possible contributing factor. One of the poignant observations of the study is the fact that almost all ethnic groups with fertility above the median are those belonging to Moslem and Buddhist traditions. They are primarily located in the Central Asian republics, the Caucasus, and some parts of southern Siberia. Low fertility levels are by and large associated with the Eastern Orthodox Slavs and the Protestant Balts.
Integration of ethical training into undergraduate senior design projects on wireless communications

Wireless communications engineers may face complex ethical dilemmas while designing products for consumers. At Florida International University's Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, we place great importance on training our students to address such ethical dilemmas, in alignment with ABET requirements. To this end, an ethical training framework is integrated into our two-semester senior design project course. In addition to the codes of ethics, our students use "The Theory Model" to make decisions based on ethical theories. For the solution of ethical dilemmas by means of ethical theories, they apply a modified version of the line drawing method. In this article we briefly explain the theories and methods that our students consider when facing ethical dilemmas. Then we present excerpts from four past senior design projects related to wireless communications. We also summarize the methodology the students use for identifying the best option to address ethical dilemmas.
A remark about the description of free products of groups

The free product A * B of groups A and B can be described in two ways. We can construct the set of reduced words in A and B . Define a binary operation on by concatenating two words and performing as many reductions as possible. Prove that is a group; the difficult step is the proof of associativity. Define A * B = .
Mixed-mode simulation for time-domain fault analysis

The issue of testing mixed-mode (analog-digital) ASICs (application-specific integrated circuits) is considered. The author describes a uniform mixed-mode simulation environment which allows a selection of the level of modeling for both analog and digital macros and includes and implementation involving the concurrent operation of hardware accelerators for both analog and digital simulation. In addition, methodology for mixed-mode-test generation is proposed based on time-domain simulation of faulted analog macros in situ, with surrounding macros being modeled at the device level or the behavioral level. This proposal includes suggested fault categories, transient-waveform generation techniques, and some suggestions pertaining to the controllability and observability of analog macros, including a proposal for an analog scan chain. An example is given in the form of a recording channel design, whose major control loop contains around 500 analog devices, as well as enough digital function to obviate an all-analog simulation. >
Improving memory for color

One problem with remembering color is the absence of a precise verbal code. An experiment was performed in which one group taught such a code was more accurate and more consistent than a second group which was not taught this code.
Abstract 5313: Sustained hypercalcemia primes non-invasive breast cancer cells for metastasis to high calcium microenvironments

Breast cancer frequently spreads to calcium-rich organs/metastatic sites such as skeletal tissues but the role of hypercalcemia in breast cancer progression remains poorly understood. While patients with metastatic or end-stage cancer are likely to become hypercalcemic, up to 30% of breast cancer patients develop cancer-induced hypercalcemia (CIH) in the absence of metastases or bone diseases. The resulting high extracellular ionized calcium (Ca 2+ ) activates the calcium sensing receptor (CaSR) that not only promotes the proliferation of breast cancer cells but also the secretion of parathyroid hormone-related protein by the tumor cells. This suggests that CIH may promote both the vicious osteolytic cycle and breast cancer progression. In this study, we examined whether sustained hypercalcemia primes breast cancer cells for metastasis to high Ca 2+ microenvironments. We demonstrate that sustained hypercalcemia enables Ca 2+ -sensitive non invasive breast cancer cells such as MCF-7 to become high Ca 2+ -adapted and that this adaptation is accompanied by increased motility and more aggressive growth (increased proliferation). Consistent with this observation, invasive and metastatic breast cancer cells are high Ca 2+ -adapted cells that efficiently grow over a wide range of Ca 2+ concentrations (up to 10 mM). Interestingly, we also show that at high Ca 2+ (5 mM) breast cancer cells expressing the Q1011E CaSR variant that is common among African Americans proliferate faster than those expressing the A986S CaSR variant that is common among Caucasians. These data suggest that differences in the adaptation of breast cancer cells to hypercalcemia due in part to the expression of distinct CaSR variants underlie the distinct race-related breast cancer outcomes. This work is funded by the following grants made available to JO: DOD-W81XWH-07-1-0254 and 1SC1CA134018-01 Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 5313. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-5313
The N-terminal domain of the Drosophila retinoblastoma protein Rbf1 interacts with ORC and associates with chromatin in an E2F independent manner.

Background: The retinoblastoma (Rb) tumor suppressor protein can function as a DNA replication inhibitor as well as a transcription factor. Regulation of DNA replication may occur through interaction of Rb with the origin recognition complex (ORC). Principal Findings: We characterized the interaction of Drosophila Rb, Rbf1, with ORC. Using expression of proteins in Drosophila S2 cells, we found that an N-terminal Rbf1 fragment (amino acids 1–345) is sufficient for Rbf1 association with ORC but does not bind to dE2F1. We also found that the C-terminal half of Rbf1 (amino acids 345–845) interacts with ORC. We observed that the amino-terminal domain of Rbf1 localizes to chromatin in vivo and associates with chromosomal regions implicated in replication initiation, including colocalization with Orc2 and acetylated histone H4. Conclusions/Significance: Our results suggest that Rbf1 can associate with ORC and chromatin through domains independent of the E2F binding site. We infer that Rbf1 may play a role in regulating replication directly through its association with ORC and/or chromatin factors other than E2F. Our data suggest an important role for retinoblastoma family proteins in cell proliferation and tumor suppression through interaction with the replication initiation machinery.
An analysis of multiple intelligences theory and its use with the gifted and talented

Identifying and educating gifted and talented children has been a concern in education for many years. Gardner's (1983) Multiple Intelligences theory has been used in recent years to facilitate the identification and instruction of gifted and talented children. A review and synthesis of the literature is presented. The benefits as well as cautions in the use of the multiple intelligences approach with gifted and talented students are also discussed.
Surveillance After Treatment for Upper Tract Transitional Cell Carcinoma

With increasing use of minimally invasive, endoscopic treatment of upper tract urothelial carcinoma, the detection and treatment of the frequent recurrences is of critical importance. Much like the surveillance of patients following the transurethral resection of bladder cancer, endoscopic inspection is the most sensitive method for earlier detection of tumor and in our opinion the cornerstone of appropriate surveillance. Though there are no clinical trials comparing surveillance protocols, there are broad suggestions from the National Comprehensive Cancer Network and the European Association of Urology that we review. We propose a simple surveillance protocol for these patients, and review the key features of diagnostic ureteroscopy technique.
Extracellular volume fraction is more closely associated with altered regional left ventricular velocities than left ventricular ejection fraction in nonischemic cardiomyopathy.

Background— Nonischemic cardiomyopathy is a common cause of left ventricular (LV) dysfunction and myocardial fibrosis. The purpose of this study was to noninvasively evaluate changes in segmental LV extracellular volume (ECV) fraction, LV velocities, myocardial scar, and wall motion in nonischemic cardiomyopathy patients. Methods and Results— Cardiac MRI including pre- and postcontrast myocardial T1 mapping and velocity quantification (tissue phase mapping) of the LV (basal, midventricular, and apical short axis) was applied in 31 patients with nonischemic cardiomyopathy (50±18 years). Analysis based on the 16-segment American Heart Association model was used to evaluate the segmental distribution of ECV, peak systolic and diastolic myocardial velocities, scar determined by late gadolinium enhancement, and wall motion abnormalities. LV segments with scar or impaired wall motion were significantly associated with elevated ECV ( rs =0.26; P <0.001) and reduced peak systolic radial velocities ( r =−0.43; P <0.001). Regional myocardial velocities and ECV were similar for patients with reduced (n=12; ECV=0.28±0.06) and preserved left ventricular ejection fraction (n=19; ECV=0.30±0.09). Patients with preserved left ventricular ejection fraction showed significant relationships between increasing ECV and reduced systolic ( r =−0.19; r =−0.30) and diastolic ( r =0.34; r =0.26) radial and long-axis peak velocities ( P <0.001). Even after excluding myocardial segments with late gadolinium enhancement, significant relationships between ECV and segmental LV velocities were maintained indicating the potential of elevated ECV to identify regional diffuse fibrosis not visible by late gadolinium enhancement, which was associated with impaired regional LV function. Conclusions— Regionally elevated ECV negatively affected myocardial velocities. The association of elevated regional ECV with reduced myocardial velocities independent of left ventricular ejection fraction suggests a structure–function relationship between altered ECV and segmental myocardial function in nonischemic cardiomyopathy.
Unveiling the nature of the unidentified gamma-ray sources: blazar counterparts at low radio frequencies

About one third of the gamma-ray sources detected by Fermi have still no firmly established counterpart at lower energies. Here we propose a new approach to find candidate counterparts for the unidentified gamma-ray sources (UGSs) based on the 325 MHz radio survey performed with Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT) in the northern hemisphere. First we investigate the low-frequency radio properties of blazars, the largest known population of gamma-ray sources; then we search for sources with similar radio properties combining the information derived from the Westerbork Northern Sky Survey (WENSS) with those of the NRAO VLA Sky survey (NVSS). We present a list of candidate counterparts for 32 UGSs with at least one counterpart in the WENSS. We also performed an extensive research in literature to look for infrared and optical counterparts of the gamma-ray blazar candidates selected with the low-frequency radio observations to confirm their nature. On the basis of our multifrequency research we identify 23 new gamma-ray blazar candidates out of 32 UGSs investigated. I will also present the first analysis of very low frequency radio emission of blazars based on the recent Very Large Array Low-Frequency Sky Survey (VLSS) at 74 MHz. I show that blazars present radio flat spectra when evaluated at 74 MHz, about an order of magnitude in frequency lower than previous analyses. The implications of these findings in the contest of the blazars – radio galaxies connection will be discussed.
Gut Microbiota and Allergic Disease. New Insights

The rapid rise in childhood allergies (atopy) in Westernized nations has implicated associated environmental exposures and lifestyles as primary drivers of disease development. Culture-based microbiological studies indicate that atopy has demonstrable ties to altered gut microbial colonization in very early life. Infants who exhibit more severe multisensitization to food- or aero-allergens have a significantly higher risk of subsequently developing asthma in childhood. Hence an emerging hypothesis posits that environment- or lifestyle-driven aberrancies in the early-life gut microbiome composition and by extension, microbial function, represent a key mediator of childhood allergic asthma. Animal studies support this hypothesis. Environmental microbial exposures epidemiologically associated with allergy protection in humans confer protection against airway allergy in mice. In addition, gut microbiome-derived short-chain fatty acids produced from a high-fiber diet have been shown to protect against allergy via modulation of both local and remote mucosal immunity as well as hematopoietic antigen-presenting cell populations. Here we review key data supporting the concept of a gut-airway axis and its critical role in childhood atopy.
Men more likely to post online newspaper comments

A nationwide survey of Internet users of the comments section at the end of online news stories finds men are more likely to post comments than are women. Respondents said the ability to post comme...
The burned ear; possibilities and challenges in framework reconstruction and coverage

Ear reconstruction remains a challenging procedure, especially in burn victims. The ear is particularly vulnerable to thermal injury because of its location and the thin integument. The thermal injury could subsequently include skin and the deeper located auricular cartilage framework. This type of injury could have long lasting mutilating effect not only because the ear's morphology is mainly related to this framework but also because it will not recover or regenerate once injured. Grafts of costal cartilage or synthetic materials might replace missing cartilage. However, the poor quality of the adjacent skin and subcutaneous tissues makes the reconstruction of a burned ear an even more daunting procedure than congenital or many oncologic indications. As such, regeneration of the skin will be the next step in reconstruction of the burned ear. There is still much development and research to be done, but encouraging results have been shown in tissue engineering of skin and cartilage. Furthermore, 3D (bio)printing of cartilage to facilitate reproduction of the ear's complex shape certainly has potential and might find an interesting role in ear reconstruction. In this review, different clinical challenges and options for ear reconstruction in burn patients are described. Subsequently, although still far from large scale clinical application, state of the art developments in the field of tissue engineering and 3D (bio)printing are also discussed.
Repair of Thoracoabdominal Aortic Aneurysms

In the United States as the aging population grows the incidence of thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms (TAA) has gradually increased. The mean age of TAA patients is between 59 and 69 years with a male predominance, although the incidence of TAA in women has grown in recent years. Left untreated, the survival rate for patients with thoracic aortic aneurysms is dismal, estimated to be between 13% and 39% at 5 years. The most common cause of death in the untreated aneurysm patient is aortic rupture, the probability of which is between 75% and 80%. Moreover, patients who survive rupture to operation sustain significant morbidity, prolonged hospital course and, ultimately, a poor quality of life.
An introduction and overview to clinical applications of neuroSPECT in psychiatry.

This brief paper introduces the reader to the materials presented in other manuscripts of this issue of The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. Single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) is a dynamic brain imaging technique that grew out of the evolution of increasingly more sophisticated approaches to understanding the pathophysiology and biology of neurologic and psychiatric disorders over the past two decades. SPECT is a practical tool that is more available than positron emission tomography (PET), which is found primarily at academic centers
Genetics of Early Onset Restless Legs Syndrome

Linkage analysis was performed in a four-generational German family with restless legs syndrome (RLS) affecting 15 of 37 family members, in a study at the University of Lubeck, Germany.
Disulfide Stress Targets Modulators of Excitotoxicity in Otherwise Healthy Brains

Oxidative stress is a long-hypothesized cause of diverse neurological and psychiatric disorders but the pathways by which physiological redox perturbations may detour healthy brain development and aging are unknown. We reported recently (Foley et al., Neurochem Res 39:2030-2039, 2014) that two-electron oxidations, to disulfides, of protein vicinal thiols can vary markedly in association with more modest oxidations of the glutathione redox couple in brains from healthy adolescent rats whereas levels of protein S-glutathionylation were low and unchanged. Here, we demonstrate that the selective oxidations of protein vicinal thiols, occurring only in the more oxidized brains under study, were linked specifically to a peroxide stress as evidenced by increased oxidations, to disulfides, of the presumed catalytic vicinal thiols of peroxiredoxins 1 and 2. Moreover, we identify the catalytic subunit(s) of Na+, K+-ATPase, tubulins, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, and protein phosphatase 1, all of which can modulate glutamate neurotransmission and the vulnerability of neurons to excitotoxicity, as non-peroxidase proteins exhibiting prominent oxidations of vicinal thiols. The two-electron pathway, demonstrated here, linking physiological redox perturbations in otherwise healthy brains to protein determinants of excitotoxicity, suggests an alternative to free radical pathways by which oxidative stress may impact brain development and aging.
Prevalence of the Metabolic Syndrome in U.S. Youth

Publisher Summary This chapter summarizes the national prevalence estimates of metabolic syndrome in U.S. youth based on various definitions that employ either a clinical threshold value for each component or a percentile threshold based on some combination of age, sex, and ethnicity. The national estimates are followed by a summary of large, key regional studies. The possibility of becoming obese is greater than ever for U.S. children and adolescents. If current prevalence trends continue, our children will grow up to be the most obese generation of adults in U.S. history, faced at increasingly younger ages with the onset of chronic conditions, such as metabolic syndrome, which in turn will lead to chronic and costly outcomes, such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. However, even more troubling is that before reaching adulthood, large proportions of overweight and obese children are already experiencing substantial medical effects related to their overweight in the form of metabolic syndrome.
Introduction: The Life and Theatrical Career of Joe Orton

Lives of playwrights tend to resemble their plays in the sense that they are constructed, highly characterised and sharply delineated into scenes. The playwright is the villain-hero of his own life, and in his diaries, notebooks and letters, he speaks in the crisply significant dialogue of his plays. John Lahr’s Orton, in his splendid biography, Prick Up Your Ears (1978), is a thoroughly histrionic figure, so that it is difficult to separate the drab, asthmatic Leicester boy whose teachers complained ‘was semiliterate. He couldn’t spell. He couldn’t string a sentence together. He couldn’t express himself’1 from the brilliant London playwright of the 1960s, winner of prizes and sought after by television directors, theatrical producers and the Beatles. There is a myth of the writer as celebrity that Orton was eager to promote.
Red Rural, Blue Rural: The Geography of Presidential Voting in Rural America

Political commentators routinely treat rural America as an undiffereniated bastion of strength for Republicans. In fact, rural America is a deceptively simple term describing a remarkably diverse c...
Profiling Patient Characteristics Associated With the Intensity of Nurse Care Coordination.

The purpose of this study was to identify characteristics of chronically ill community-dwelling older adults that differentiate the intensity of care provided by nurse care coordinators. We performed data mining on electronic health records, nurses’ activity logs, and health status measures from 784 care episodes provided to 196 older adults. An inductively created decision tree identified nine groups from a combination of the six participant characteristics including medication regimen complexity, cognition, physical and mental health, hospital admission, and physical functioning. Overall there was a 5-hr difference in the intensity (or contact hours) per quarter of nurse care coordinators between individuals in the highest versus lowest intensity groups. The highest intensity group presented higher medication complexity and lower mental/physical health status. With caseloads of 30 to 35 participants, nurse care coordinators were able to provide care based on participant needs that were not influenced by...
An Interpretive-Phenomenological Critique of the Science of (New?) Public Management: A Polemic

Public Administration as a field of academic inquiry has faced numerous challenges. Public management scholars focus exclusively on the executive level of management in public organizations. Knowledge possessed by lower-level managers, workers, and/or the public is ignored and deemed to be irrelevant or unimportant in the decision-making process within agencies. In general, technical rationality, or what passes for traditional management practice and the new public management, has had some success for executives and managers in public organizations insofar as motivating individuals for instrumental purposes. (*) The success of public management as a social and political movement makes it difficult to overcome. The concentration of the “public management movement” on the executive level of management has supplanted traditional public administration and public service. It is the ideology of public management that is the primary focus of this paper. Alternatives including the New Public Service and the knowledge analytic will be presented briefly as a counterpoint to address the democratic shortcomings of the public management movement, both new and old. *See Guy B. Adams and V. Ingersoll’s “Culture, Technical Rationality, and Organizational Culture,” in American Review of Public Administration, December 1990, 20/4: 285 – 302, for an excellent elaboration of the concept. In general, technical rationality is an approach to thinking that “has stripped reason of any normative role in shaping human affairs” (Adams and Balfour 1998, xiii).
Balancing epistemic quality and equal participation in a system approach to deliberative democracy

AbstractIn this paper, I argue that the asymmetrical mediated communication of the broad democratic public sphere can profitably be understood through the lens of deliberative democracy only if we adopt a system approach to deliberation. A system approach, however, often introduces a division of labor between ordinary citizens and experts (knowledgeable elites). Although this division of labor is unavoidable and I believe compatible with a deliberative principle of legitimacy, it flirts with elitist theories of democracy: epistemic elites come up with the agendas, ideas, and policy positions and democratic publics ratify or repudiate the agendas but do not generate or really engage with them. This I argue would violate an essential defining feature of deliberative democracy, namely that epistemic quality and equal participation are tightly linked. I turn to Habermas and his idea of a feedback loop as a possible solution to this dilemma.
Squamous Cell Cancer of the Cervix, Immune Senescence and HPV: Is Cervical Cancer an Age-Related Neoplasm ?

Relationships between cancer and aging will assume greater scientific importance over the coming decades as the number and proportion of elderly increase. Contrary to popular belief, cervical cancer remains an important disease into old age. This paper will briefly review what is known about immune senescence, cervical cancer and immune function, and the relationship between human papilloma virus and immunity, to support the hypothesis that these factors may contribute to the continued occurrence of invasive cervical cancer in the elderly.
Unconditionally stable, second-order schemes for gradient-regularized, non-convex, finite-strain elasticity modeling martensitic phase transformations

Abstract In the setting of continuum elasticity martensitic phase transformations are characterized by a non-convex free energy density function that possesses multiple wells in strain space and includes higher-order gradient terms for regularization. Metastable martensitic microstructures, defined as solutions that are local minimizers of the total free energy, are of interest and are obtained as steady state solutions to the resulting transient formulation of Toupin’s gradient elasticity at finite strain. This type of problem poses several numerical challenges including stiffness, the need for fine discretization to resolve microstructures, and following solution branches. Accurate time-integration schemes are essential to obtain meaningful solutions at reasonable computational cost. In this work we introduce two classes of unconditionally stable second-order time-integration schemes for gradient elasticity, each having relative advantages over the other. Numerical examples are shown highlighting these features.
Confronting the Cadaver: The Denial of Death in Modern Medicine

A cultural hermeneutic interpretation of the cadaver in the history of medicine is examined in light of a body of evidence, including historical data on cadaver dissection, qualitative analyses of medical students working with cadavers, responses during a panel discussion on experiences in a gross anatomy course, and interviews with the creator of Body Worlds, Gunther von Hagens. The evidence is analyzed and found to support the conclusion that medical education works implicitly to manage death anxiety through a set of defenses which conceal the nothingness of death.
Using Physiological Synchrony as an Indicator of Collaboration Quality, Task Performance and Learning

Over the last decade, there has been a renewed interest in capturing 21st century skills using new data collection tools. In this paper, we leverage an existing dataset where multimodal sensors (mobile eye- trackers, motion sensors, galvanic skin response wristbands) were used to identify markers of productive collaborations. The data came from 42 pairs (N = 84) of participants who had no coding experience. They were asked to program a robot to solve a variety of mazes. We explored four different measures of physiological synchrony: Signal Matching (SM), Instantaneous Derivative Matching (IDM), Directional Agreement (DA) and Pearson’s Correlation (PC). Overall, we found PC to be positively associated with learning gains and DA with collaboration quality. We compare those results with prior studies and discuss implications for measuring collaborative process through physiological sensors.
Predictions for the total solar eclipse of 1988

A total eclipse of the sun will be widely visible from the East Indies on March 18, 1988. Detailed predictions for this event are presented which include tables of geographic coordinates for the northern limit, center line and southern limit of the path of totality, local circumstances for 40 cities within the total and partial eclipse paths, the lunar-limb profile, and maps depicting the path of totality. The author discusses the general characteristics of the eclipse, local circumstances from various points along the central path and the Saros-series history.
Prehistoric Extinctions on Islands and Continents

Geological extinction of a continental megafauna of Holarctic mammoths, American ground sloths, and Australian diprotodonts, to name a few mammalian examples, rivals pulsing ice sheets and fluctuating sea levels in being a hallmark of the Quaternary. To these more familiar examples of late Quaternary extinction (LQE), younger fossils recently recovered from oceanic islands, including bird and land snail taxa from the Pacific and various endemic terrestrial vertebrates from the Caribbean, add many thousands of species and endemic populations to the extinction list. Apart from loss of a few pinnipeds and sirenians (large coastal or estuarine mammals), the LQE was strictly a terrestrial accident. Unlike the case on islands, on the continents virtually all small vertebrates (other than commensals or parasites of the large mammals) escaped extinction. Looking toward the continents from deep-water islands promises to aid in our understanding of what happened, when it did, and what forced the change.
Tracing Function Dependencies across Clouds

In this paper, we present Lowgo, a crosscloud tracing tool for capturing causal relationships in serverless applications. To do so, Lowgo records dependencies between functions, through cloud services, and across regions to facilitate debugging and reasoning about highly concurrent, multi-cloud applications. We empirically evaluate Lowgo using microbenchmarks and multi-function and multi-cloud applications. We find that Lowgo is able to capture causal dependencies with overhead that ranges from 2-12%, which is less than half that of the best-performing, cloud-specific approach.
An Interdisciplinary Approach to Reducing Opioid Prescriptions to Patients with Chronic Pain in a Spinal Cord Injury Center

Abstract Background The increasing use of prescription opioids has contributed to the epidemic of opioid abuse in the United States. Efforts to reduce opioid prescriptions and offer alternatives for pain management are needed. Objective To determine the success of a multidisciplinary project to manage chronic pain while reducing reliance on opioids in a population of patients with spinal cord injury. Design Retrospective analysis. Setting This study was conducted in an SCI system of care in northeast Ohio. Participants Individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) receiving outpatient care were included. Interventions Clinicians in SCI and pain management specialties developed a plan to manage individuals with spinal cord injury, particularly for individuals using opioids, including physical, occupational, recreational, and vocational therapy. These services worked closely with the SCI physicians when chronic pain was identified to help better medically manage their pathology and support efforts to decrease opioid use in a multipronged approach. Main Outcomes The primary outcome measures from opioid prescription data from 2008 to 2016 were the percent of outpatients receiving opioids, opioid prescription rates, and opioid prescription doses over time. Results The percent of outpatients receiving opioids and the number of opioid prescriptions through the outpatient service significantly decreased, from 39% to 16% and from 2.5 to 1.5 prescriptions per patient per quarter, respectively, correlating with the introduction of the multidisciplinary interventions. The total morphine equivalent quantities of prescription medications, particularly non-methadone opioids, also decreased significantly. Conclusions The multidisciplinary interventional approach was associated with marked decreases in the percent of patients receiving opioids and the amounts of opioids being prescribed. This reduction could have a significant impact on the opioid crisis. Level of Evidence III
Does a Firm's Competitive Context Affect its Stakeholder Relations?

This article explores the competitive context of a firm's behavior towards various stakeholders. Using insights from competitive strategy and stakeholder research we define competitive context in t...
Proceedings of the 1st ACM SIGMM international workshop on Media studies and implementations that help improving access to disabled users

It is our great pleasure to welcome you to the 1st ACM SIGMM International Workshop on Media Studies and Implementations that help Improving Access to Disabled Users (MSIADU'09). This year's event seeks original and highly innovative research documents in the area of Multimedia (studies and implementations) in order to improve accessibility to real and virtual scenarios that might be applied to all kinds of users with disabilities or difficulties when implementing concrete actions (navigation or interaction with a particular medium). As a major topic, this invited proposal seeks to discuss about Multimedia (in general) and Usability (in particular), helping to increase the current levels of Accessibility regarding virtual and real interactive environments where the disabled community can participate. Participants will be able to observe many different works of accessibility and projects from a multicultural perspective. All those materials will relate to multimedia technologies. The selected proposals will aim to be developed cooperatively from a multidisciplinary and multicultural view, to search for possible global solutions to the problems related to creating adaptable and accessible interfaces. The call for papers attracted 14 submissions and the program committee accepted 11 of them, covering a variety of topics, including the design of accessible web pages, virtual reality technologies applied to rapid development, ambient assisted environments, face gesture detection, music communication, learning support platforms, wearable cameras, and digital agendas for the elderly, among others. We hope that these proceedings will serve as a valuable reference for Multimedia professionals and researchers.
Immigrant integration and receptivity policy formation in welcoming cities

Amid a broader context of immigration federalism and debates over immigration policy in the United States at the national level, states and municipalities in recent years have been pursuing their o...
All-Dielectric Metalens Integrated with Dispersive Grism for High Spectral Resolution at Mid-Infrared Regime

We present a proof-of-concept beam steering device which resolves the wavelength differences at mid-infrared regime by utilizing an all-dielectric metalens structure integrated with a grism structure. © 2019 The Author(s)
Melanocyte stimulating activities of the o̲-nitrophenyl sulfenyl derivatives of adrenocorticotropin and [5-glutamine] -α-melanotropin

Abstract The o -nitrophenyl sulfenyl derivative of adrenocorticotropin in which the single tryptophan residue of the molecule is modified, is found to be fully active in stimulating amphibian melanophores. The melanophore stimulating activity of [5-glutamine] -α-melanotropin, a synthetic analog of α-melanotropin, is also found to be undiminished by chemical modification of the tryptophan residue.
The Need for Entertainment Scale

Measuring individual differences in social-psychological variables has proved fruitful in consumer psychology.Well-knownmeasures assess cognitive styles and motivations toward having various types of personal and social experiences. For example, the past 20 years of research have produced the development of scales measuring self-monitoring (Snyder, 1987), the need for cognition (Cacioppo & Petty, 1982), dispositional transportation into stories (Green & Brock, 2000; Green, Garst, & Brock, this volume), and the need for affect (Maio & Esses, 2001). Such individual-difference measures have served moderating functions that facilitate explanation in a variety of domains in persuasion and interpersonal relationships.
The interplay between microglial states and major risk factors in Alzheimer’s disease through the eyes of single-cell RNA-sequencing: beyond black and white

Microglia constitute ~10–20% of glial cells in the adult human brain. They are the resident phagocytic immune cells of the central nervous system and play an integral role as first responders durin...
The impact of parental involvement and education on academic achievement in elementary school

The academic achievement of students in schools is subject to a variety of factors, many of which are beyond the control of the student. Factors such as parental involvement, parental level of education, and disability all influence the academic achievement and learning of students. The study analyzed nation-wide survey data on students in elementary school and investigates the relationship between student achievement and multiple variables. The variables were parental involvement, and the existence of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) or other disability. Results indicated that students, both ASD and typically developing, have lower parent involvement if they are successful in school.
Nonattachment predicts empathy, rejection sensitivity, and symptom reduction after a mindfulness-based intervention among young adults with a history of childhood maltreatment

Individuals with a childhood maltreatment history tend to have various psychological symptoms and impaired social functioning. This study aimed to investigate the related therapeutic effects of a mindfulness-based intervention in this population. We analyzed self-report questionnaire scores of the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS), Non-Attachment Scale (NAS), Adult Rejection Sensitivity Questionnaire (A-RSQ), Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), PTSD Checklist (PCL), and Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI), from 16 (3 males) young adults (age range 22–29) with mild to moderate childhood maltreatment, compared with 18 matched participants (6 males) on a waiting list, during both pre- and post-intervention/waiting periods. Analyses were conducted with linear mixed effects models, partial correlation analyses, and t tests. There were group by time interaction effects with the scores of MAAS, NAS, PCL, IRI-Fantasy, and A-RSQ (p < 0.05). The mindfulness group had significant increase in MAAS (17.325%) and NAS (8.957%) scores, as well as reduction in PCL (15.599%) and A-RSQ (23.189%) scores (p < 0.05). Changes in nonattachment, but not mindfulness, had significant contributions to the score changes of PCL (16.375%), ASI (36.244%), IRI-Personal Distress (24.141%), IRI-Empathic Concern (16.830%), and A-RSQ (10.826%) (p < 0.05). The number of intervention sessions attended was correlated with score changes of NAS (r = 0.955, p < 0.001) and ASI (r = − 0.887, p < 0.001), suggesting a dose-dependent effect. Findings from this pilot study suggest that the mindfulness-based intervention improved mindfulness, nonattachment, and empathy, which contributed to reduced interpersonal distress, rejection sensitivity, and other psychological symptoms.
Lumbar intervertebral disc characterization through quantitative MRI analysis: An automatic voxel-based relaxometry approach.

Author(s): Iriondo, Claudia; Pedoia, Valentina; Majumdar, Sharmila | Abstract: PurposeTo develop an automated pipeline based on convolutional neural networks to segment lumbar intervertebral discs and characterize their biochemical composition using voxel-based relaxometry, and establish local associations with clinical measures of disability, muscle changes, and other symptoms of lower back pain.MethodsThis work proposes a new methodology using MRI (n = 31, across the spectrum of disc degeneration) that combines deep learning-based segmentation, atlas-based registration, and statistical parametric mapping for voxel-based analysis of T1ρ and T2 relaxation time maps to characterize disc degeneration and its associated disability.ResultsAcross degenerative grades, the segmentation algorithm produced accurate, high-confidence segmentations of the lumbar discs in two independent data sets. Manually and automatically extracted mean disc T1ρ and T2 relaxation times were in high agreement for all discs with minimal bias. On a voxel-by-voxel basis, imaging-based degenerative grades were strongly negatively correlated with T1ρ and T2 , particularly in the nucleus. Stratifying patients by disability grades revealed significant differences in the relaxation maps between minimal/moderate versus severe disability: The average T1ρ relaxation maps from the minimal/moderate disability group showed clear annulus nucleus distinction with a visible midline, whereas the severe disability group had lower average T1ρ values with a homogeneous distribution.ConclusionThis work presented a scalable pipeline for fast, automated assessment of disc relaxation times, and voxel-based relaxometry that overcomes limitations of current region of interest-based analysis methods and may enable greater insights and associations between disc degeneration, disability, and lower back pain.
Petrodollar Politics and Confrontations with the West

This chapter begins with description of the strategic importance of the Persian Gulf region, followed by an inquiry into the Shah’s role in supporting the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to raise oil prices in response to the U.S. delinking of the dollar value from gold in the early 1970s, and the politics of the petrodollar as oil is traded in the U.S. dollar. The chapter further explains the role of oil politics in overthrowing the Shah, Washington’s reaction to the 1978–1979 uprisings in Iran, the U.S. plan for replacing the Shah’s government, and the emergence of the Islamic Republic in Iran. It then describes the Islamic Republic’s confrontation with the United States and Britain, the American hostage crisis, the fate of Iran’s first president, and the roles played by the U.S. during the Iran-Iraq War.
A Contaminant Impurity, Not Rigosertib, Is a Tubulin Binding Agent

Rigosertib is a styryl benzyl sulfone that inhibits growth of tumor cells and acts as a RAS mimetic by binding to Ras binding domains of RAS effectors. A recent study attributed rigosertib's mechanism of action to microtubule binding. In that study, rigosertib was obtained from a commercial vendor. We compared the purity of clinical-grade and commercially sourced rigosertib and found that commercially sourced rigosertib contains approximately 5% ON01500, a potent inhibitor of tubulin polymerization. Clinical-grade rigosertib, which is free of this impurity, does not exhibit tubulin-binding activity. Cell lines expressing mutant β-tubulin have also been reported to be resistant to rigosertib. However, our study showed that these cells failed to proliferate in the presence of rigosertib at concentrations that are lethal to wild-type cells. Rigosertib induced a senescence-like phenotype in the small percentage of surviving cells, which could be incorrectly scored as resistant using short-term cultures.
Automated Volumetric Breast Density Derived by Statistical Model Approach

Interest is growing in the developing automated breast density measures because of its strong association with breast cancer risk. Although a number of automated methods to quantify mammographic and volumetric density appeared, they still have issues with accuracy and reproducibility; there is demand for developing new accurate and automated breast density estimation techniques. The purpose of this paper is to design and to test a new approach for automatically quantifying true volumetric fibroglandular tissue volumes from clinical screening full-field digital mammograms.
Safety, Friendship, and Dreams

This Symposium Essay argues that the unfinished work of the Civil Rights Movement is observable through state failure to respect and protect three intertwined social entitlements — safety, friendship, and dreams — in many high-poverty African-American communities. One might envision these entitlements as part of a bundle of rights and privileges that constitute full membership in the American community. The Essay also discusses the challenges of viscerally understanding the depths of these failures and the need for new conceptions of legal and social change to recognize and respond to them. To build these arguments, I weave together "empirical poetry," sociological theory, and analysis of case law. The goal of these techniques is to help stimulate creative thinking about what the United States government owes to people living within the country, especially people who are members of historically marginalized communities, why the government owes these entitlements, and how to ensure their fulfillment.