cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Continued Eclipse of Heterogeneity in Gerontological Research

OBJECTIVES After a long history of neglect, diversity among older people and increasing heterogeneity with age are now familiar ideas in gerontological discourse. We take up the question of whether this increased attention is translating into the domain of empirical research. We replicate Nelson and Dannefer's (1992) review of the treatment of age-based variability in gerontological research, the most recent known assessment of the issue. METHOD A sample of empirical studies was drawn from six gerontological journals to determine (a) whether measures of within-age variability were reported and/or discussed and (b) if reported, the observed age-based pattern of variability in the outcome(s). RESULTS The majority of studies neither reported nor discussed age-based variability. Among those that did report, the great majority indicated either stability or increasing variability with age. Observed patterns varied by outcome type. Although a majority of analyses of psychological and social outcomes suggested that variability was stable across age, half of the analyses of biological/health outcomes indicated increasing variability. Overall, very few (3%) of studies suggested decreasing variability. DISCUSSION Consistent with earlier reports of studies, researchers continue to focus on average differences between age groups, yet key issues in social gerontology require attention to intra-age variability.
Behavior Genetics and a Horse's Show Performance

The purpose of this research was to assess whether it is possible to predict a Morgan horse's show performance on the basis of that of its sire. An examination of the show records of the 550 horses that had placed in the 1991 Grand National Morgan Horse Show yielded some support for prediction
A New Genus and Two New Species of Delphacine Fulgorids (Homoptera, Fulgoridae, Delphacinae)

Resembling Euidella but crown about one-third longer than basal width, narrowing toward apex and diaphragm with an avicephaliform brace just ventrad of aedeagal shaft.
How Are Standards Used, by Whom, and to What End?.

This special issue of the Journal of Research on Leadership Education presents the findings resulting from a set of studies focused on understanding how leadership preparation standards were used, ...
On the Meanings,Functions and Translations of -Ly Adverbs

Ly adverbs are widely used in up to date English.The essay discussed the meanings、functions and translations of -ly adverbs chosen from New Concept English.The discussion shows -ly adveds are changeable in meanings,functions and translations according to their uses.
Community-based Service Learning:The Platform for Applied Learning

The article identifies important issues about which human resources educators should be knowledgeable in order to equip their students with information to act in compliance with the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (“GINA” or the “Act”) and minimize the potential for employer liability. In 2008, Congress passed and President George W. Bush signed GINA into law. GINA prohibits disparate treatment discrimination in employment and the health insurance provision based on genetic information. Pursuant to its terms, GINA became effective in November 2009. In 2013, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”), one of the agencies charged with enforcement, brought its first cases seeking to enforce GINA. (LaCroix, 2014). In 2014, it is beginning to settle these initial cases. Likewise, federal courts are beginning to render decisions involving the Act. This article reviews the pertinent academic literature on GINA’s legislative history and material terms of the law. It discusses enforcement efforts to date. Finally, it suggests direction for future research.
Good memories of bad events in infancy.

If a helpless newborn infant does not form an attachment to its care-giver, even an abusive one, its chances of survival diminish, so evolution should strongly favour attachment by the infant, regardless of the quality of care-giving1. As a part of the brain called the amygdala is critical for learned fear in adult animals2,3,4, we investigated whether the development of learned avoidance behaviour could be delayed by late maturation of amygdala function. We found that very young rat pups exposed to various odours associated with shock treatment learn an approach response to that odour, whereas older pups learn odour avoidance. We show that the origin and development of learned odour-avoidance behaviour is associated with enhanced neural responses in the amygdala during odour-shock conditioning.
How HMOs assess medical groups and IPAs

California health maintenance organizations (HMOs) frequently capitate physician organizations--independent practice associations (IPAs) and multispecialty medical groups--to export their risk for professional and outpatient ancillary services. Physician organizations benefit when successful in managing the risk, and from having greater control over medical management decisions. HMOs carefully assess the physician organization's ability to manage capitated risk and provide high-quality care. HMOs gather information on the physician organization's finances, business relationships, physician compensation arrangements, credentialing, hospital relationships, ancillary contracts, procedures for 24-hour care, claims administration, member services, information systems for reporting and tracking utilization, and procedures for utilization/quality management. These data are analyzed to determine whether capitation contract negotiation should proceed.
Out of the Library and on to the Floors: Librarian Participation in Nursing Rounds

ABSTRACTPhysicians, nurses, residents, pharmacists and social workers are commonly thought to be part of the healthcare team. Incorporating medical librarians as part of this team is beneficial not only to the library patrons, but to the library as well. Nurses are often asked to respond immediately to clinical care questions. However, they do not always have the time or resources available. This article describes the successful implementation of a collaborative librarian rounding service provided by two librarians from separate institutions; an academic medical center library and a hospital library.
Three New Species of Boletina Staeger Fungus Gnats1 with Notes on the Nearctic Members of the Boletina nitida Grzegorzek Species Group

Abstract. Three new species of Boletina Staeger fungus gnats were discovered during the first collection season in a forest of jack pine (Pinus banksiana Lambert) and white pine (Pinus strobus L.) in the western Lower Peninsula of Michigan. None was observed during almost 10 years of trapping in a nearby swamp dominated by deciduous rather than evergreen trees despite separation of the habitats by less than 1 km. Boletina peninsula Taber belongs to the Boletina nitida Grzegorzek species group. The closest relatives of Boletina autumna Taber and Boletina ursa Taber have not been determined.
Generalized Stability of Motion and Vector Lyapunov Functions

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the generalized stability of motion and vector Lyapunov functions. The direct theory for stability of motion in terms of vector Lyapunov functions and the general comparison method is well-developed and effectively applied for large scale dynamical systems. A generalized space where the norm is vector valued offers a more flexible mechanism than the one that is normally used and is advantageous in certain situations. The chapter discusses generalized spaces that allow introducing the concepts of generalized stability of motion and also boundedness. It presents a sampling of definitions and theorems that can be obtained using generalized norms. The chapter presents the proofs of three theorems concerning different properties of certain subspaces of Rn. These properties can be exhibited using generalized norms but could easily be unobservable if an ordinary norm is employed in the investigation.
Chromosomal abnormalities and molecular landscape of metastasizing mucinous salivary adenocarcinoma.

Abstract Background Mucinous adenocarcinoma of the salivary gland (MAC) is a lethal cancer with unknown molecular etiology and a high propensity to lymph node metastasis. Mostly due to its orphan status, MAC remains one of the least explored cancers that lacks cell lines and mouse models that could help translational and pre-clinical studies. Surgery with or without radiation remains the only treatment modality but poor overall survival (10-year, 44%) underscores the urgent need for mechanism-based therapies. Methods We developed the first patient-derived xenograft (PDX) model for pre-clinical MAC studies and a cell line that produces aggressively growing tumors after subcutaneous injection into nude mice. We performed cytogenetic, exome, and proteomic profiling of MAC to identify driving mutations, therapeutic targets, and pathways involved in aggressive cancers based on TCGA database mining and GEO analysis. Results We identified in MAC KRAS (G13D) and TP53 (R213X) mutations that have been previously reported as drivers in a variety of highly aggressive cancers. Somatic mutations were also found in KDM6A, KMT2D, and other genes frequently mutated in colorectal and other cancers: FAT1, NBEA, RELN, RLP1B, and ZFHX3. Proteomic analysis of MAC implied epigenetic up-regulation of a genetic program involved in proliferation and cancer stem cell maintenance. Conclusion Genomic and proteomic analyses provided the first insight into potential molecular drivers of MAC metastases pointing at common mechanisms of CSC propagation in aggressive cancers. The in vitro/in vivo models that we created should aid in the development and validation of new treatment strategies against MAC.
Islam in America: Multicultural Blindspot

Major writers representing the dominant paradigm in the field of American Islamic Studies employ the waves of immigration theory (WOI) that has been skeptical of the survival of Islam in the Americas, especially among African-Americans. However, this study rejects this skeptical view by promoting the alternative claim of an enduring Islamic tradition in the Americas, primarily (although not exclusively) among the descendants of Africans in the Americas. Multicultural blindspots, or the failure of most scholars to recognize America's Islamic tradition, create the need for more accurate studies that re-examine widely accepted ways of viewing Islam in the Americas. This study seeks to fill this need by examining major weaknesses in WOI theory and by offering from a variety of scholarly sources new evidence designed to improve existing explanations for the survival and growth of global Islam in the Americas. This study also attempts to demarginalize the role of African-Americans in the survival and growth of ...
Trunk muscle activation patterns during walking among persons with lower limb loss: Influences of walking speed

Abstract Persons with lower limb amputation (LLA) walk with altered trunk-pelvic motions. The underlying trunk muscle activation patterns associated with these motions may provide insight into neuromuscular control strategies post LLA and the increased incidence of low back pain (LBP). Eight males with unilateral LLA and ten able-bodied controls (CTR) walked over ground at 1.0 m/s, 1.3 m/s, 1.6 m/s, and self-selected speeds. Trunk muscle onsets/offsets were determined from electromyographic activity of bilateral thoracic (TES) and lumbar (LES) erector spinae. Trunk-pelvic kinematics were simultaneously recorded. There were no differences in TES onset times between groups; however, LLA demonstrated a second TES onset during mid-to-terminal swing (not seen in CTR), and activation for a larger percentage of the gait cycle. LLA (vs. CTR) demonstrated an earlier onset of LES and activation for a larger percentage of the gait cycle at most speeds. LLA walked with increased frontal plane trunk ROM, and a more in-phase inter-segmental coordination at all speeds. These data collectively suggest that trunk neuromuscular control strategies secondary to LLA are driven by functional needs to generate torque proximally to advance the affected limb during gait, though this strategy may have unintended deleterious consequences such as increasing LBP risk over time.
Bariatric Surgery Improves Hyperandrogenism, Menstrual Irregularities, and Metabolic Dysfunction Among Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS)

To characterize the impact of bariatric surgery on reproductive and metabolic features common to polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and to assess the relevance of preoperative evaluations in predicting likelihood of benefit from surgery. A retrospective chart review of records from 930 women who had undergone bariatric surgery at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation from 2009 to 2014 was completed. Cases of PCOS were identified from ICD coding and healthy women with pelvic ultrasound evaluations were identified using Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System coding. Pre- and postoperative anthropometric evaluations, menstrual cyclicity, ovarian volume (OV) as well as markers of hyperandrogenism, dyslipidemia, and dysglycemia were evaluated. Forty-four women with PCOS and 65 controls were evaluated. Both PCOS and non-PCOS had significant reductions in body mass index (BMI) and markers of dyslipidemia postoperatively (p < 0.05). PCOS had significant reductions in androgen levels (p < 0.05) and percent meeting criteria for hyperandrogenism and irregular menses (p < 0.05). OV did not significantly decline in either group postoperatively. Among PCOS, independent of preoperative BMI and age, preoperative OV associated with change in hemoglobin A1c (β 95% (confidence interval) 0.202 (0.011–0.393), p = 0.04) and change in triglycerides (6.681 (1.028–12.334), p = 0.03), and preoperative free testosterone associated with change in total cholesterol (3.744 (0.906–6.583), p = 0.02) and change in non-HDL-C (3.125 (0.453–5.796), p = 0.03). Bariatric surgery improves key diagnostic features seen in women with PCOS and ovarian volume, and free testosterone may have utility in predicting likelihood of metabolic benefit from surgery.
Bayesian optimization and attribute adjustment

Automatic design via Bayesian optimization holds great promise given the constant increase of available data across domains. However, it faces difficulties from high-dimensional, potentially discrete, search spaces. We propose to probabilistically embed inputs into a lower dimensional, continuous latent space, where we perform gradient-based optimization guided by a Gaussian process. Building on variational autoncoders, we use both labeled and unlabeled data to guide the encoding and increase its accuracy. In addition, we propose an adversarial extension to render the latent representation invariant with respect to specific design attributes, which allows us to transfer these attributes across structures. We apply the framework to a functional-protein dataset and are able to perform successful optimization of drag coefficients optimizing directly over high-dimensional shapes without incorporating domain knowledge or handcrafted features.
International Water Law for the 21st Century: The Contribution of the U.N. Convention

In May, 1997, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Law of the NonNavigational Uses of International Watercourses, a treaty that largely codifies the general principles of international water law. While not entirely free from controversy, the Convention has already been influential and will doubtless continue to be well into the 21 century. This paper provides an overview of the Convention, comments on some of its salient provisions, and considers its future influence.
Fast, Low-Frequency Plane-Wave Imaging for Ultrasound Contrast Imaging

Plane-wave ultrasound contrast imaging offers a faster, less destructive means for imaging microbubbles compared with traditional ultrasound imaging. Even though many of the most acoustically responsive microbubbles have resonant frequencies in the lower-megahertz range, higher frequencies (>3 MHz) have typically been employed to achieve high spatial resolution. In this work we implement and optimize low-frequency (1.5-4 MHz) plane-wave pulse inversion imaging on a commercial, phased-array imaging transducer in vitro and illustrate its use in vivo by imaging a mouse xenograft model. We found that the 1.8-MHz contrast signal was about four times that acquired at 3.1 MHz on matched probes and nine times greater than echoes received on a higher-frequency probe. Low-frequency imaging was also much more resilient to motion. In vivo, we could identify sub-millimeter vasculature inside a xenograft tumor model and easily assess microbubble half-life. Our results indicate that low-frequency imaging can provide better signal-to-noise because it generates stronger non-linear responses. Combined with high-speed plane-wave imaging, this method could open the door to super-resolution imaging at depth, while high power pulses could be used for image-guided therapeutics.
Primary Middle Ear Mucosal Melanoma: Case Report and Comprehensive Literature Review of 21 Cases of Primary Middle Ear and Eustachian Tube Melanoma.

Objective:To present a case of primary middle ear mucosal melanoma and perform a comprehensive literature review of middle ear and eustachian tube mucosal melanoma.Patient:A 61-year-old female presented with no prior history of melanoma and 3 months of aural fullness. A middle ear mass demonstrated primary mucosal melanoma. The mass extended from mesotympanum into hypotympanum, epitympanum, protympanum, eustachian tube, and mastoid antrum. Additionally, a nonenhancing expansile lesion of the petrous apex was noted on magnetic resonance imaging.Intervention:Subtotal temporal bone resection with transotic approach to the petrous abnormality was performed. Postoperative adjuvant radiation and immunotherapy were given.Results:Five months postoperatively, the patient developed an isolated cutaneous metastatic focus treated with wide local excision and has had no further evidence of recurrence to date. Upon comprehensive literature review, patients with primary middle ear melanomas (n = 10) present with otorrhe...
Cloud-Based Disaster Management as a Service: A Microservice Approach for Hurricane Twitter Data Analysis

Disasters whether natural or man-made have great impact on countries and civilians. Proper information across the main disaster phases need to be delivered on time and to the right people to minimize the impact and provide needed resources. Social media and Twitter in particular, is an important mean of information sharing in real-time as part of a complete cyber-physical emergency management system during a disaster. Twitter can be used in any place in the world through smartphones or other mediums with an internet access connection. The vast and varied number of tweets produced during a disaster will benefit from the cloud scalable storage and processing resources. As a centralized processing system is more vulnerable when a disaster strikes, there is a need for a more resilient distributed system architecture that allows for the distribution of both processing and storage resources. The goal of our study is to develop and evaluate a prototype of a microservice architecture for twitter data analytics during a disaster that meets the requirements of disaster management. In this paper, we design a cloud-based microservices twitter analytics framework for disaster management and implement a basic prototype system. Our prototype system demonstrates that the microservices approach allows for a distributed, dynamic, reliable and scalable system architecture on cloud platform that goes in hand with disaster domain requirements.
The Effect of Disposition to Critical Thinking on Playing Serious Games

This research is a first attempt to investigate the relationship between students’ Disposition toward Critical Thinking (DCT) and their learning while engaging in the uManager serious game aimed at fostering the entrepreneurial mindset. Specifically, we will try to seek if the students’ DCT influences their game-playing. To this aim, the uManager game was renewed to directly include game mechanics able to support the processes that are at the base of critical thinking like clarifying meaning, analyzing arguments, evaluating evidence. This paper shows the results of a trial conducted with 92 students of the 12th grade.
Emaciation and Sporadic Mortality in Older Laying Hens Caused by Intussusception of the Proventriculus.

Laying hens (n = 2267) ranging in age from 2 to 4 yr in a study evaluating ovarian cancer prevention were necropsied. Those that died or were culled during the 2-yr study (n = 1591) were necropsied weekly to determine the most probable cause of death or culling and cancer status. Hens surviving until the end of the study (n = 676) were euthanized and necropsied. Hens necropsied before and after a hen with proventricular intussusception served as cohorts (n = 38). Nineteen hens (13 dead, 6 culled) had intussusceptions of the proventriculus into the ventriculus. Mean age of affected hens was 154 wk (range 110–204 wk). None of the hens in the study had an intestinal intussusception, and none of the hens euthanized at the end of the study had a proventricular intussusception. Hens with proventricular intussusceptions were severely emaciated; mean body weights were 1040 and 1736 g for affected and cohort hens, respectively. Necropsy findings included prominent keel, marked muscle atrophy, generalized serous atrophy of fat, no visible proventriculus, esophagus directly entering the ventriculus, and an enlarged, spherical, firm ventriculus, which contained an invaginated, swollen, diffusely ulcerated proventriculus. Eighteen affected hens were anovulatory (94.7%) compared to 27 cohorts (71.1%). Severe, diffuse necrosis and ulceration of the proventricular mucosa was confirmed microscopically, but no etiologic agent was identified. In conclusion, proventricular intussusception of undetermined etiology was identified as a cause of sporadic emaciation, culling, and mortality in older laying hens.
First- and Second-Order Piezoresistive Coefficients of CMOS FETs From Strong Into Weak Inversion

For many years, researchers have noted that the stress response of MOS transistors exhibits strong deviations from a pure mobility behavior as the devices exit strong inversion, but there has been no easily accessible stress model that sensor designers can use in the design of their devices. In this work, generalized piezoresistance coefficients are presented that provide continuous modeling of the stress dependencies of CMOS FETs from weak into strong inversion. The models presented here incorporate both standard mobility variations plus the additional impact of threshold voltage changes on the stress responses in all regions of operation. The theory predicts both first- and second-order longitudinal and traverse piezoresistive coefficients for PMOS and NMOS devices that are verified with experimental results. The threshold voltage variations represent common-mode terms, so orthogonal differential pairs of MOSFETs can still be utilized to directly measure the important mobility components of the overall stress response, and the impact of the threshold voltage terms on sensor circuits may be reduced with differential design.
Computer interconnection networks with virtual cut-through routing

Abstract This paper considers a model of a toroidal computer interconnection network with the virtual cut-through routing. The interrelationships between network parameters, load and performance are analyzed. An exact analytical expression for the saturation point and expressions for the latency as a function of the message generation rate under the mean field theory approximation have been obtained. The theoretical results have been corroborated with the results of simulation experiments for various values of network parameters. The network behavior has been found not depending on the torus linear dimensions provided that they are at least twice as large as the message path length. The saturation point has been found to be inversely proportional to the message length in good agreement with the analytical results. A good agreement with Little’s theorem has been found if the network remains in the steady state during the experiment.
Differences in referral patterns for rural primary care physicians from 2005 to 2016

Objective To examine differences in referral patterns in a nationally representative sample between primary care physicians (PCP) practicing in rural vs nonrural areas and changes over time. Study design Using the 2005-2016 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey and multivariate logit regression models, I compare referral patterns of PCPs in rural vs nonrural areas. Data collection Multiple years of data were combined. Principal findings A PCP visit was 1.9 percentage points (95% confidence interval: 0.1 pp, 3.8 pp) more likely to result in a referral in nonrural areas than rural areas, controlling for physician and patient characteristics, a 17 percent increase. This difference is driven by a widening gap in referral rates between nonrural and rural areas over time, with large differences in later periods. The regression-adjusted predicted probability of a PCP visit resulting in a referral was 71 percent higher in nonrural than rural areas in 2013-2014 and 92 percent higher in 2015-2016. Conclusions Recognizing that the optimal PCP referral rate is unknown, referrals are less common in rural areas with a widening gap in recent years. This difference may reflect specialist availability, distance to care, or patient preferences. As changes occur to health care financing and delivery, continuing to monitor practice patterns is important to ensure patients are receiving appropriate levels of care across geographic regions.
A qualitative assessment of return to sport following ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction in baseball players.

Abstract Background The rate of ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) reconstruction has been increasing at all levels of play. With excellent outcomes, primary UCL reconstruction has allowed many overhead athletes to return to their pre-injury sport. However, the subjective factors influencing this decision to return to sport have yet to be studied. The aim of this study is to understand the factors influencing an athlete's decision to return to pre-injury level of sport after primary UCL reconstruction. Methods An experienced interviewer conducted qualitative, semi-structured interviews of patients aged 18–35 years who had undergone primary UCL reconstruction by one fellowship-trained, Major League Baseball (MLB) team orthopaedic surgeon. All subjects were throwing athletes prior to injury and had a minimum two-year follow-up without revisions. Qualitative analysis was then performed to derive codes, categories, and themes. Patients were surveyed to assess familiarity with UCL reconstruction as well as to obtain Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic (KJOC) Overhead Athlete Shoulder and Elbow score, American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons Shoulder (ASES) score, and Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) highlighting current activity and function levels along with sport participation. Results Twenty-two athletes were interviewed to elucidate four predominant themes influencing their return to sport: trust in surgeon and care team, innate drive and optimism, misconceptions regarding post-operative athletic ability, and life priorities. A significant difference was noted between patients that returned and those that did not in the KJOC survey and for the statement that UCL reconstruction surgery would improve throwing ability relative to patients’ peak performance three years prior to the surgery. Athletes who did not return to sport cited lifestyle changes and age as limiting factors. Conclusion Patients' decision to return to their pre-injury level of sport after primary UCL reconstruction was based on trust in their care team's reputation, intrinsic personality traits, anecdotal evidence about post-operative outcomes, and lifestyle. This study emphasizes the importance for health care providers to educate patients toward realistic expectations upon return to sport. On a larger scale, this study illustrates the effects the media and anecdotal experiences of a growing population of players undergoing UCL reconstruction have had on the game of baseball and players' decisions to return to sport. Level of evidence Level IV.
Research on Guangxi Multi-dimensional Visualization Platform Construction of Distribution Network Based on Big Data Architecture

It is urgent to build an effective big data management platform for power distribution network in view of the problems of massive power data being hard to be fully explored and managed integrally. Based on the big data architecture of power, this paper constructs the multidimensional visualization platform of distribution network, and realizes the multi-function architecture of the platform by integrating the production decision-making system and data analysis technology of multi-source distribution network. Based on the geographic information system, a large-screen visualization display platform of distribution network production business is established. Rich charts and geographic information are used to realize the comprehensive display of distribution network production business, providing users with smooth data visualization interaction and assisting in the decision-making of distribution network production business. The construction of multi-dimensional visualization platform of distribution network based on big data architecture has important research significance and application value to comprehensively improve the intelligent construction of distribution network.
Cyclodextrin Complexation for Enhanced Stability and Non-invasive Pulmonary Delivery of Resveratrol—Applications in Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Treatment

Pulmonary drug delivery is a noninvasive therapeutic approach that offers many advantages including localized drug delivery and higher patient compliance. As with all formulations, the low aqueous solubility of a drug often poses a challenge in the formulation development. Thus, strategies such as cyclodextrin (CD) complexation have been utilized to overcome this challenge. Resveratrol (RES), a natural stilbene, has shown abundant anti-cancer properties. Due to many drawbacks of conventional chemotherapeutics, RES has been proposed as an emerging alternative with promising pharmacological effects. However, RES has limited therapeutic applications due to low water solubility, chemical stability, and bioavailability. This study was aimed at developing an inhalable therapy that would increase the aqueous solubility and stability of RES by complexation with sulfobutylether-β-cyclodextrin (SBECD). Phase solubility profiles indicated an optimal stoichiometric inclusion complex at 1:1 (SBECD:RES) ratio for formulation considerations. Physiochemical characterizations were performed to analyze CD-RES. Stability studies at pH 7.4 and in plasma indicated significant improvement in RES stability after complexation, with a much longer half-life. The mass median aerodynamic diameter (MMAD) of CD-RES was 2.6 ± 0.7 μm and fine particle fraction (FPF) of 83.4 ± 3.0% are suitable for pulmonary delivery and efficient deposition. Lung cancer was selected as the respiratory model disease, owing to its high relevance as the major cause of cancer deaths worldwide. Cell viability studies in 5 non-small-cell-lung-cancer (NSCLC) cell lines suggest CD-RES retained significant cytotoxic potential of RES. Taken together, CD-RES proves to be a promising inhalation treatment for NSCLC.
A note on the estimation and inference with quadratic inference functions for correlated outcomes

The quadratic inference function approach is a popular method in the analysis of correlated data. The quadratic inference function is formulated based on multiple sets of score equations (or extend...
Westbrook's Molecular Gun: Discovery of Near-Infrared Microstructures in AFGL 618

We present high-sensitivity near-IR images of a carbon-rich proto-planetary nebula, AFGL 618, obtained with the Subaru Telescope. These images have revealed "bullets" and "horns" extending farther out from the edges of the previously known bipolar lobes. The spatial coincidence between these near-IR microstructures and the optical collimated outflow structure, together with the detection of shock-excited, forbidden IR lines of atomic species, strongly suggests that these bullets and horns represent the locations from which [Fe II] IR lines arise. We have also discovered CO clumps moving at greater than 200 km s-1 at the positions of the near-IR bullets by reanalyzing the existing 12CO J = 1-0 interferometry data. These findings indicate that the near-IR microstructures represent the positions of shocked surfaces at which fast-moving molecular clumps interface with the ambient circumstellar shell.
The Excitement of Current & Future Space Exploration

This chapter is an overview of the changing nature of international space exploration and what drives countries to explore space in the post-Space Race environment, as well as which countries have entered the Space Age. Additionally, the chapter outlines the overreaching concept that space exploration is largely determined by political goals within an international framework. NASA’s current and future goals are identified along with some international space program ambitions and accomplishments.
Reliability-based design optimisation of geotechnical systems using a decoupled approach based on adaptive metamodels

Geotechnical engineering analysis and design involves considerable uncertainties. Reliability-based design optimisation (RBDO) intends to minimise an objective function such as material quantity or...
Oral corrective feedback and learner uptake in L2 classrooms: Non-formulaic vs. formulaic errors:

An extensive number of corrective feedback (CF) studies have examined learners’ errors with grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and spelling (non-formulaic forms) and established an association bet...
Virtual metrology modeling of reactive ion etching based on statistics-based and dynamics-inspired spectral features

Due to increasing demand on the fabrication yield and throughput in micro/nanoscale manufacturing, virtual metrology (VM) has emerged as an effective data-based approach for real-time process monitoring. In this work, a novel automated methodology, without the need for domain knowledge and experience, for extracting useful features from raw optical emission spectroscopy (OES) data is presented. Newly proposed OES features are combined with other types of data, which include tool settings, sensor readings, physical measurements, non-numerical data, and process control parameters. Using partial least squares and support vector regression, VM models for predicting the critical dimension after reactive ion etching are built. The results from the VM model indicate that the coefficient of determination of up to 0.65 and the root mean square Error of 0.08 can be achieved. Compared to the traditional features obtained by the current solution in industry, the performances of VM models via the proposed methodology can enhance the coefficient of determination by 62.5% and reduce the root mean square error by 23.1%.
Prevention and Intervention in Primary Care

International appreciation of the tremendous burden placed on individuals, families, and societies as a result of mental disorders increased greatly in the last decade. This appreciation extends to the heavy burden that pediatric emotional disorders comprise as well. Unfortunately, specialty mental health services will never be adequate to address the pandemic of pediatric mental disorders even in countries with the greatest healthcare resources. This is in large part because of the global shortage of pediatric mental health clinicians (Mechanic 1996; Deva 1981). In addition, many if not most cultures do not have a history of using specialty mental health services. Such services may be associated with negative stereotypes and stigma. In addition, mental health care may be paid almost completely out of pocket (Maingay 2002).
An approach to improve battery run-time in mobile applications with supercapacitors

In this paper an approach to improve battery run-time in mobile applications with supercapacitors is explored. The performance of a battery-supercapacitor combination is analytically described using simplified equivalent circuit models. It is shown that there is an overall reduction in the internal losses and this translates into increased run-time. Three possible approaches are explored: (a) supercapacitors connected directly across the battery; (b) battery-inductor-supercapacitor connection; and (c) supercapacitor, and battery connected via a DC-DC converter. Analytical models, simulation and experimental results on a typical laptop computer are presented. These results show an increase in runtime of 4-12% is achievable. Also from these results it is shown that the use of a DC-DC converter appears to be a cost effective option, since it allows the use of reduced number of capacitors while maintaining a comparable performance.
Chapter 9 Thyroid neoplasms in children and adolescents

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the thyroid neoplasms in children and adolescents. Occurrence of thyroid carcinomas in the pediatric age group is rare. Well-differentiated thyroid carcinoma (WDTC), papillary, and follicular carcinomas comprised only 1.3% of all the newly diagnosed childhood carcinomas in the United States reported from 1973 to 1987, as determined from data collected by the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health. Survival rates for patients with many pediatric malignancies have improved, but therapeutic radiation and chemotherapy have been implicated in the development of secondary thyroid carcinomas in some patients. Genetic factors are considered as etiologic factors in reports of thyroid carcinomas in familial syndromes such as Pendred syndrome, Gardner syndrome, Cowden syndrome, and Familial polyposis. Medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) is also discussed. It originates in calcitonin-producing cells (C-cells) of the thyroid. C-cells are of neuroectodermal origin and do not accumulate iodine.
Multi-agent system for formation flying missions

Concerns use of spacecraft as autonomous coordinated teams. Generalized reasoning capability offered by advanced distributed software technology and AI can cope with unexpected events and uncertainty, and so close the loop of perception, decision and eventually deliberation. The team members play interchangeable roles and negotiate about the task. We present a multi-agent system to provide a high degree of autonomy and support for coordination among team members. We use JPL formation flying mission initial architectures as benchmark. Our target is to avoid inconsistencies/disagreements between two or more participants in a collaborative context, increase the system's fault tolerance in cases such as loss of a member while the system still operates reliably. We address cooperation between collaborating independent autonomous agents. In a top-down organization agents are coordinated hierarchically, where the agents at the top of the hierarchy make the majority of the intelligent group decisions. In a more structured but still hierarchical organization, lower-level agents exercise more intelligence. A lower-level agent can advance a plan for the others to follow, and a higher-rank agent decides on the best plans. Although more rigid, the centralized intelligence organization allows for less communication among agents, so is more straightforward to implement. The decentralized approach requires more communication, but the intelligence is truly distributed, which makes for a more flexible, adaptive and efficient organization.
The rhodopsin-porphyropsin system in freshwater fishes—2: Turnover and interconversion of visual pigment prosthetic groups in light and darkness: Role of the pigment epithelium

Abstract The freshwater fish Scardinius erythrophthalmus L. has a mixture of rhodopsin and porphyropsin in its retina. In the light, the porphyropsin is converted into rhodopsin, which is reconverted into porphyropsin in the dark. The mechanism of this effect is investigated in the present paper. Experiments in which fish were injected with retinyl-11,12- 3 H 2 acetate showed that there is continual turnover of visual pigment prosthetic groups in fish kept in the dark. Therefore in darkness there exists a mechanism for exchanging the retinol-based group of rhodopsin with the 3-dehydroretinol-based prosthetic group of porphyropsin. Hitherto, the switch to porphyropsin had been puzzling, because it was supposed that, unless exposed to light, visual pigment molecules were stable entities in the living retina. Both retinol and 3dehydroretinol are stored in the pigment epithelium of Scardinius, amounting to at least three equivalents of the retinal visual pigments. It was found that the change to a porphyropsindominated retina in darkness was accompanied by a parallel change to a 3-dehydroretinoldominated pigment epithelium. In the light, the reverse process took place: while rhodopsin replaced porphyropsin in the retina, retinol replaced 3-dehydroretinol in the pigment epithelium. No changes were observed in the composition of “vitamins A” in the liver. Large injections of retinyl acetate did not prevent the conversion of rhodopsin into porphyropsin in the dark or under conditions of subdued lighting. It is concluded that the pigment epithelium determines the composition of retinal visual pigments by regulating the composition of its supplies of retinol and 3-dehyroretinol available for pigment synthesis. The possible basis of this regulatory process is discussed.
Characterization of a novel 8-oxoguanine-DNA glycosylase activity in Escherichia coli and identification of the enzyme as endonuclease VIII.

8-Oxoguanine (G*), induced by reactive oxygen species, is mutagenic because it mispairs with A. The major G*-DNA glycosylase (OGG), namely, OGG1 in eukaryotes, or MutM in Escherichia coli, excises G* when paired in DNA with C, G, and T, but not A, presumably because removal of G* from a G*.A pair would be mutagenic. However, repair of G* will prevent mutation when it is incorporated in the nascent strand opposite A. This could be carried out by a second OGG, OGG2, identified in yeast and human cells. We have characterized a new OGG activity in E. coli and then identified it to be endonuclease VIII (Nei), discovered as a damaged pyrimidine-specific DNA glycosylase. Nei shares sequence homology and reaction mechanism with MutM and is similar to human OGG2 in being able to excise G* when paired with A (or G). Kinetic analysis of wild type Nei showed that it has significant activity for excising G* relative to dihydrouracil. The presence of OGG2 type enzyme in both E. coli and eukaryotes, which is at least as efficient in excising G* from a G*.A (or G) pair as from a G*.C pair, supports the possibility of G* repair in the nascent DNA strand.
Bajtín freire. Lo popular: novelización, concientización, alfabetización crítica.

Resumen es: Se desarrolla una interesante propuesta de llevar la cultura popular a la investigacion academica y a la pedagogia con base en los fundamentos de las obr...
Trait Means and Desirabilities as Artifactual and Real Sources of Differential Stability of Personality Traits

Using data from 3 personality trait inventories and 7 samples, we show that trait items that have means near the scale midpoint and that vary more in their perceived desirability (e.g., items related to dominance, creativity, traditionalism, and organization) tend to be more stable over time, whereas items with means near the scale maximum or minimum and that vary less in their perceived desirability (e.g., items related to agreeableness, intellect, and reliability) tend to be less stable. Our findings indicate that items with means near the scale maximum or minimum have lower stabilities primarily due to having lower measurement dependability (i.e., short-term stabilities unlikely to reflect true change). However, items varying more in their desirability are more stable even after accounting for measurement dependability, consistent with the view that trait stability is facilitated in part by individuals actively working to develop in the direction they find desirable.
Predicting censored survival data based on the interactions between meta-dimensional omics data in breast cancer

Display Omitted We proposed a new integrative framework designed to perform these three functions: (1) Predicting censored survival data. (2) Integrating meta-dimensional omics data. (3) Identifying interactions within/between multi-omic genomic features.Martingale residuals performed properly as a new continuous outcome. Evaluation of survival models to predict cancer patient prognosis is one of the most important areas of emphasis in cancer research. A binary classification approach has difficulty directly predicting survival due to the characteristics of censored observations and the fact that the predictive power depends on the threshold used to set two classes. In contrast, the traditional Cox regression approach has some drawbacks in the sense that it does not allow for the identification of interactions between genomic features, which could have key roles associated with cancer prognosis. In addition, data integration is regarded as one of the important issues in improving the predictive power of survival models since cancer could be caused by multiple alterations through meta-dimensional genomic data including genome, epigenome, transcriptome, and proteome. Here we have proposed a new integrative framework designed to perform these three functions simultaneously: (1) predicting censored survival data; (2) integrating meta-dimensional omics data; (3) identifying interactions within/between meta-dimensional genomic features associated with survival. In order to predict censored survival time, martingale residuals were calculated as a new continuous outcome and a new fitness function used by the grammatical evolution neural network (GENN) based on mean absolute difference of martingale residuals was implemented. To test the utility of the proposed framework, a simulation study was conducted, followed by an analysis of meta-dimensional omics data including copy number, gene expression, DNA methylation, and protein expression data in breast cancer retrieved from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). On the basis of the results from breast cancer dataset, we were able to identify interactions not only within a single dimension of genomic data but also between meta-dimensional omics data that are associated with survival. Notably, the predictive power of our best meta-dimensional model was 73% which outperformed all of the other models conducted based on a single dimension of genomic data. Breast cancer is an extremely heterogeneous disease and the high levels of genomic diversity within/between breast tumors could affect the risk of therapeutic responses and disease progression. Thus, identifying interactions within/between meta-dimensional omics data associated with survival in breast cancer is expected to deliver direction for improved meta-dimensional prognostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets.