cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
International Law as a Tool of Power Politics

The Limits of International Law. By Jack L. Goldsmith, Eric A. Posner. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. 272 pp., $29.95 (ISBN: 0-1951-6839-9). Most critical analyses of US policy argue that certain actions—such as the invasion of Iraq, the designation of enemy combatants, the Patriot Act, the refusal to sign the Kyoto Treaty, and the withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty—are either direct violations of international law or proof that the United States actively disrespects the legal obligations that bind the international community. The normative assumption behind these claims—informed by international law and international relations scholars (including liberal institutionalists and constructivists) along with activists in transnational advocacy networks—is that international law is inherently benign and progressive and, as such, should alter the presumably dangerous and divisive self-interested pursuit of state goals. In The Limits of International Law , however, Jack Goldsmith and Eric Posner cogently argue that international law only reflects the interests of states. As a result, interstate power relations and states' formulations of their interests actually set the parameters for international law. Thus, compliance with and participation in the international law regime is actually endogenous to international politics and relations rather than being some sort of external, normative “brake” or pressure on state actions. The introductory chapter of The Limits of International Law —indicative of the well organized, cohesive, and accessible style of the entire book—conceptually unpacks the link between international law and international relations. It employs rational choice theory to model how states pursue their interests through international law. Rational choice theory assumes that all complex social phenomena can be explained in terms of an elementary, individualistic cost-benefit analysis aimed at making utility-maximizing choices in pursuit of state interests. These interests are defined as state preferences (actually the preferences of political leaders) regarding possible outcomes in various issue areas. In order to examine how states behave vis-a-vis each other when pursuing their interests, The Limits of International Law uses four …
Low-Cost Depth and Radiological Sensor Fusion to Detect Moving Sources

Tracking radioactive sources in 3D can impact homeland security, airport/port surveillance and the military. Unfortunately, the radiological sensors with the highest SNR and the lowest price are unidirectional - i.e. They integrate radiation from a sphere of directions centered at the sensor. We combine such devices with commercially available depth sensors to break this directional ambiguity. We first introduce radiological sensing as an application area for the 3D vision community. Next, we propose a joint calibration algorithm for 3D sensors and unidirectional, or single cell, radiological sensors. Finally, we show applications for tracking people carrying radiological sources.
Effects of Alpha-Blockade on Ureteral Peristalsis and Intrapelvic Pressure in an In Vivo Stented Porcine Model.

Abstract Introduction: Clinical studies have shown beneficial role of oral alpha-blockers for ureteral stent-related morbidity. However, the in vivo effects of oral alpha-blockers on a stented ureter are unclear. We evaluated the effects of alpha-blockade on ureteral dynamics in a stented porcine ureter. Methods: Twenty-seven female pigs were used in this study. Fourteen pigs received oral alpha-blocker medication (silodosin, 8 mg daily), and 13 pigs received no medication. Under cystoscopic guidance, a 5F ureteral catheter was positioned in the renal pelvis and attached to a pressure monitor. A Foley catheter was placed in the bladder along with a bladder pressure transducer. A lumbotomy was performed, and the ureter was identified. A magnetic sensor was placed on the extraluminal surface of the ureter to monitor ureteral peristalsis. We measured renal pelvic and bladder pressures, urine output, and ureteral peristalsis every hour for 10 minutes for a total of 5 hours. The pigs were then euthanized. Resu...
Transforming the Spiritual Storehouse

The Christian camp experience has tremendous potential for faith formation and spiritual transformation. The confirmation camp program in Finland offers important lessons to the international community about camp’s role in perpetuating current church models and its potential to transform the church. This article builds on the rich quantitative findings of confirmation camp in Finland, offering new qualitative data from a foreign perspective seeking to understand, appreciate, and characterise the Finnish camp experience in order to benefit the church in Finland and Christian camping throughout the world.
The Tangent Space

By definition, the tangent space to a manifold at a point is the vector space of derivations at the point. A smooth map of manifolds induces a linear map, called its differential, of tangent spaces at corresponding points. In local coordinates, the differential is represented by the Jacobian matrix of partial derivatives of the map. In this sense, the differential of a map between manifolds is a generalization of the derivative of a map between Euclidean spaces.
Sentinel lymph node mapping with staging lymphadenectomy for patients with endometrial cancer increases the detection of metastasis

Abstract Objectives To compare the performance of sentinel lymph node (SLN) mapping with staging lymphadenectomy versus staging lymphadenectomy alone for the detection of metastasis and the use of adjuvant therapies in patients with endometrial cancer. Methods All patients with apparent early-stage endometrial cancer ( n =780) who underwent robotic-assisted hysterectomy with pelvic±aortic lymphadenectomy from July-2006 to June-2013 were compared [pelvic±aortic lymphadenectomy ( n =661) versus SLN-mapped cases with pelvic±aortic lymphadenectomy ( n =119)]. Isosulfan-blue and indocyanine-green with near-infrared imaging were used for SLN mapping. Clinico-pathological data, FIGO stage, GOG risk category, and adjuvant therapies were compared. Results Non-mapped and mapped cases were comparable with respect to BMI, histology, depth-of-invasion, and lympho-vascular space invasion. The mapped group had more pelvic lymph node (LN) harvested compared to non-mapped group (26.4±10.5 vs. 18.8±8.5, p p p p =0.013), and received more chemotherapy+radiation (28.6% vs. 16.3%, p p Conclusions The performance of SLN mapping with staging lymphadenectomy increased the detection of lymph node metastasis and was associated with more use of adjuvant therapies.
The Value of Papanicolaou Tests in the Diagnosis of Endometrial Carcinoma: A Large Study Cohort From an Academic Medical Center.

Objectives: To determine on a large scale whether routine cervical Papanicolaou (Pap) tests play a role in endometrial carcinoma diagnosis. Methods: A retrospective search of an academic women’s hospital pathology archive for cases of surgically resected endometrial carcinoma with Pap smears within 36 months before the histologic diagnosis was performed. Demographic features, Pap test results, and tumor features were recorded. Results: We identified 554 (30.5%) of 1,817 cases of endometrial carcinoma with documented Pap test results within 36 months before histologic diagnosis. Among these 554 patients, 405 (73.0%) had Pap test results within 5 months before histologic diagnosis. In total, 154 (38%) cases demonstrated abnormal glandular cells, and 25 (6.2%) had only benign endometrial cells in women 40 years or older. The presence of glandular abnormality on the Pap test is significantly correlated with tumor size, tumor type, depth of invasion, presence of cervical involvement, and presence of lymphovascular invasion ( P < .05). The rate of detecting abnormal glandular cells was higher in cases with a high International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage than in cases with a low FIGO stage (47.5% vs 35.5%; P < .05). Conclusions: The Pap test may play a role in the detection of endometrial carcinoma, especially for those with cervical involvement, lymphovascular invasion, and/or advanced stage.
Expanding the Conversation on the Community-Organizational Interface in the Context of Diversity

Several years ago, Brief and colleagues (2005) emphasized: “It is time that researchers concerned with relationships among demographically different groups in organizations look outside the organiz...
Embedded Web Technology in Engineering Monitoring

A method for Web technology in the engineering monitoring is introduced.In the method,all kinds of functions in the engineering monitoring are designed as application programs of standard common gateway interface(CGI),accordingly each field monitoring device becomes a Web server.All the operations to the sever(the device) are carried out in the form of homepages so as to realize the mode of IE browser accessing to the server,that is,the client/server(C/S) mode.By means of this mode,the users can monitor the field situation of engineering safety through IE browser and the engineers can complete the field debugging without extra software setup.
An Evaluation of the Demand for Orphan Drugs as a Response to Promotional Expenditures

Orphan drugs describe a subset of medicines which aim to serve rare diseases and therefore do not have a sizeable demand. As the market for these drugs is small, pharmaceutical companies do not have an incentive to manufacture this genre of drugs. However, in the USA, the Orphan Drug Act provides various incentives to manufacturer of these drugs. The USA is also one of the few countries that allow drugs companies to advertise “prescription only” drugs. This gives the opportunity to disseminate information about rare diseases and its potential cures to people who would not otherwise have known about these options. In our paper, we examine how the demand for orphan drugs has been influenced by these promotional expenditures. We examine the demand in response to the promotional expenditures for different companies, both by examining orphan drugs as a sub-set of all prescription drugs, as well as differentiating between different types of orphan drugs themselves. The results have potential implications for public policy about this important sector of health and medicine.
Deep learning for digital pathology image analysis: A comprehensive tutorial with selected use cases.

Background: Deep learning (DL) is a representation learning approach ideally suited for image analysis challenges in digital pathology (DP). The variety of image analysis tasks in the context of DP includes detection and counting (e.g., mitotic events), segmentation (e.g., nuclei), and tissue classification (e.g., cancerous vs. non-cancerous). Unfortunately, issues with slide preparation, variations in staining and scanning across sites, and vendor platforms, as well as biological variance, such as the presentation of different grades of disease, make these image analysis tasks particularly challenging. Traditional approaches, wherein domain-specific cues are manually identified and developed into task-specific handcrafted features, can require extensive tuning to accommodate these variances. However, DL takes a more domain agnostic approach combining both feature discovery and implementation to maximally discriminate between the classes of interest. While DL approaches have performed well in a few DP related image analysis tasks, such as detection and tissue classification, the currently available open source tools and tutorials do not provide guidance on challenges such as (a) selecting appropriate magnification, (b) managing errors in annotations in the training (or learning) dataset, and (c) identifying a suitable training set containing information rich exemplars. These foundational concepts, which are needed to successfully translate the DL paradigm to DP tasks, are non-trivial for (i) DL experts with minimal digital histology experience, and (ii) DP and image processing experts with minimal DL experience, to derive on their own, thus meriting a dedicated tutorial. Aims: This paper investigates these concepts through seven unique DP tasks as use cases to elucidate techniques needed to produce comparable, and in many cases, superior to results from the state-of-the-art hand-crafted feature-based classification approaches. Results : Specifically, in this tutorial on DL for DP image analysis, we show how an open source framework (Caffe), with a singular network architecture, can be used to address: (a) nuclei segmentation ( F -score of 0.83 across 12,000 nuclei), (b) epithelium segmentation ( F -score of 0.84 across 1735 regions), (c) tubule segmentation ( F -score of 0.83 from 795 tubules), (d) lymphocyte detection ( F -score of 0.90 across 3064 lymphocytes), (e) mitosis detection ( F -score of 0.53 across 550 mitotic events), (f) invasive ductal carcinoma detection ( F -score of 0.7648 on 50 k testing patches), and (g) lymphoma classification (classification accuracy of 0.97 across 374 images). Conclusion: This paper represents the largest comprehensive study of DL approaches in DP to date, with over 1200 DP images used during evaluation. The supplemental online material that accompanies this paper consists of step-by-step instructions for the usage of the supplied source code, trained models, and input data.
First detection of Raspberry ringspot virus in mosaic diseased hybrid roses in Germany

Roses ( Rosa hybrida ) cultivated for several years at the Isle of Mainau, Lake Constance, Germany developed mosaic, leaf chlorosis, vein netting and stunting (Fig. 1a). Various diseased rose cultivars such as Escimo, Diamant, Leonardo da…
A mouse model of vitamin D insufficiency: is there a relationship between 25(OH) vitamin D levels and obesity?

Vitamin D insufficiency (serum 25-OH vitamin D > 10 ng/ml and 30 kg/m2), yet relationships between the two are poorly understood. Objectives of this study include identification of the impact of obesity on reducing serum 25-OH vitamin D concentration, particularly in response to altered vitamin D3 supplementation, and to elucidate the longitudinal impact of serum 25-OH vitamin D on body mass index. Twenty four-week-old lean and obese male C57BL/6 J mice were fed low, standard, or high levels of cholecalciferol supplementation and followed for 24 weeks. Longitudinal measurements include serum 25-OH and 1,25-(OH)2 vitamin D, intact PTH, and calcium concentrations, as well as BMI, bone density and body fat/lean mass. Baseline serum 25-OH concentrations were not different in lean and obese mice (lean 32.8 ± 4.4 ng/ml versus obese 30.9 ± 1.6 ng/ml p = 0.09). Lean mice receiving low supplementation exhibited rapid declines in serum 25-OH vitamin D concentrations, falling from 33.4 ± 5.4 ng/ml to 14.5 ± 3.4 ng/ml after 2 weeks, while obese mice declined at a lower rate, falling from 30.9 ± 1.5 to 19.0 ± 0.9 ng/ml within the same time period. Surprisingly, high vitamin D3 supplementation did not substantially increase serum vitamin D concentrations above standard supplementation, in either lean or obese mice. No differences in serum 1,25-(OH)2 vitamin D, intact parathyroid hormone (PTH) or serum calcium were observed between lean and obese mice within the same vitamin D supplementation group. Yet obese mice exhibited lower serum calcitriol, higher serum PTH, and lower bone mineral density (BMD) than did lean mice. Additionally, neither body mass index nor body fat % was significantly correlated with vitamin D concentrations. Interestingly, lean mice with high vitamin D supplementation consumed significantly more food than did lean mice with standard or low supplementation (14.6 ± 1.7 kcal/mouse/day versus 11.8 ± 1.4 and 12.3 ± 1.7 respectively, p < 0.0001 for both). Low cholecalciferol supplementation in both lean and obese mice significantly and sustainably reduces serum 25-OH vitamin D concentrations. Interestingly, obesity slowed the rate of decline. Over the period of the study, vitamin D insufficiency was not subsequently correlated with greater BMI/body fat, although lean mice with high supplementation consumed greater calories with no apparent BMI increase.
P08.46 Synergistic Therapeutic Efficacy via Immunomodulatory Platelet Rich Fibrin Patch (PRF-P) in Combination with Oncolytic Adenovirus for the Treatment of Glioma.

Abstract Introduction: Oncolytic virotherapy is an interesting approach for the treatment of cancer, including glioblastoma. Recent studies in this area suggest a synergistic approach to combine oncolytic virotherapy with immunomodulatory approaches. In this study, we have examined the role of platelet-rich fibrin patch (PRF-P) to enhance anti-tumoral immune response in immune-competent murine model C57/BL when used in conjunction with tumor specific oncolytic Ad5RGD-CMV-E1Δ24. This PRF-P is derived from blood, enriched with lymphocytes, platelets, macrophages (M1), and pro-inflammatory cytokines. Application of PRF-P has been shown to enhance immune cell migration and proliferation. HYPOTHESIS: We hypothesize that PRF-P provides local immunomodulation by supplying pro-inflammatory chemokines, as well as recruiting and enhancing proliferation of cytotoxic T cells, which may lead to an enhanced anti-tumoral immune response when combined with oncolytic virotherapy. METHODS: Blood from donor mice bearing GL261-OVA, a murine glioma cell line expressing ovalbumin (OVA), as a model antigen was collected into non-anticoagulant tubes and processed according to platelet-rich fibrin protocol. Five days after tumor implantation, a stereotactic intra-tumor injection of Ad5RGD-CMVΔ24 viral vector was performed. 48 hours post viral vector administration, a craniotomy was performed and the autologous PRF-P was applied over the tumor. For immunological flow and immunohistochemical analyses, mice were sacrificed five days post treatment. Results: We first performed a survival analysis in immuno-competent murine model. Mice injected with oncolytic virus alone had a significantly prolonged survival compared to PBS treated group (P<0.001). In addition, when used in combination with immunomodulatory PRF-P, this prolonged survival benefit was extended (P<0.001). Also, immunohistochemical analysis showed a decreased implanted tumor size in both virus alone and combinatory ­treatment groups. Most interestingly, we observed an increased number of tumor specific CD8+ cells and antigen cross-presenting and lymph node tropic dendritic cells (CD11b-/CD11C+/ CD103+) from therapeutic treatment groups. CONCLUSION: Our observation collectively represents a novel anti-glioma oncotherapy and immunomodulatory approach and provides a platform for the evaluation and translation of this promising anti-glioma strategy. We will further discuss additional immunomodulatory application: oncolytic virus expressing checkpoint inhibitor PD-1 along with the PRF-P treatment.
Short Paper: Towards Low-Cost Indoor Localization Using Edge Computing Resources

Emerging smart services, such as indoor smart parking or patient monitoring and tracking in hospitals, incur a significant technical roadblock stemming primarily from a lack of cost-effective and easily deployable localization framework that impedes their widespread deployment. To address this concern, in this paper we present a low-cost, indoor localization and navigation system, which performs continuous and real-time processing of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and IEEE 802.15.4a compliant Ultra-wideband (UWB) sensor data to localize and navigate the concerned entity to its desired location. Our approach depends upon fusing the two feature sets, using the UWB to calibrate the BLE localization mechanism.
The Intersection of Immune Responses, Microbiota, and Pathogenesis in Giardiasis

Giardia lamblia is one of the most common infectious protozoans in the world. Giardia rarely causes severe life-threatening diarrhea, and may even have a slight protective effect in this regard, but it is a major contributor to malnutrition and growth faltering in children in the developing world. Giardia infection also appears to be a significant risk factor for postinfectious irritable bowel and chronic fatigue syndromes. In this review we highlight recent work focused on the impact of giardiasis and the mechanisms that contribute to the various outcomes of this infection, including changes in the composition of the microbiota, activation of immune responses, and immunopathology.
How Many Observations are Needed to Assess a Surgical Trainee's State of Operative Competency?

Objective:To establish the number of operative performance observations needed for reproducible assessments of operative competency.Background:Surgical training is transitioning from a time-based to a competency-based approach, but the number of assessments needed to reliably establish operative com
Design, Development, and Evaluation of a Noninvasive Autonomous Robot-Mediated Joint Attention Intervention System for Young Children With ASD

Research indicates that human–robot interaction can help children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). While most early robot-mediated interaction studies were based on free interactions, recent studies have shown that robot-mediated interventions that focus on the core impairments of ASD such as joint attention deficit tend to produce better outcomes. Joint attention impairment is one of the core deficits in ASD that has an important impact in the neuropsychological development of these children. In this paper, we propose a novel joint attention intervention system for children with ASD that overcomes several existing limitations in this domain such as the need to use body-worn sensors, nonautonomous robot operation requiring human involvement and lack of a formal model for robot-mediated joint attention interaction. We present a fully autonomous robotic system, called noncontact-responsive robot-mediated intervention system, that can infer attention through a distributed noncontact gaze inference mechanism with an embedded least-to-most (LTM) robot-mediated interaction model to address the current limitations. The system was tested in a multisession user study with 14 young children with ASD. The results showed that participants’ joint attention skills improved significantly, their interest in the robot remained consistent throughout the sessions, and the LTM interaction model was effective in promoting the children's performance.
O “Madre Benícia” nas memórias de uma professora: o álbum de recordações de Cléris Becker

A pesquisa aborda aspectos da historia do atual Instituto Estadual Madre Benicia, situada no bairro rural Lomba Grande, municipio gaucho de Novo Hamburgo. A regiao e conhecida por ter acolhido, desde o inicio do seculo XIX os primeiros imigrantes alemaes que chegaram ao Rio Grande do Sul. Nesse sentido, o culto evangelico desses imigrantes contribuiu para instalacao da Igreja/escola neste lugar. E este aspecto contribuiu para as praticas de escolarizacao desenvolvidas na localidade. Sob a otica da historia cultural e valendo-se de documentos e a metodologia da historia oral, especialmente aquelas produzidas a partir da entrevista com a professora Cleris Allgayer Becker o objetivo deste trabalho foi conhecer e compreender elementos da constituicao desta instituicao, sobretudo evidenciando o processo de instalacao do Grupo Escolar neste lugar. Destaca-se a temporalidade de 1940, ocasiao em que e implantado o Grupo Escolar de Lomba Grande e 1969 por ocasiao da inaugurado do predio proprio. Os registros no album evidenciam o modo como produzimos memorias diante da realidade na qual os sujeitos estao inseridos e envolvidos com suas trajetorias de vida e profissional. Alem disso, a organizacao e mobilizacao dos professores e dos moradores do lugar demonstram que a escolarizacao fora um dos aspectos que sempre esteve entre as prioridades dessa comunidade.
The Process of Becoming: Identity Development of African American Female Science and Mathematics Preservice Teachers.

A group of 3 African American female preservice science and science teaching students majoring in a field of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) participated in a qualitative re...
Transparency Challenges in Reproductive Health Care

Few medical specialties in the United States are as opaque as assisted reproductive technology (ART). ART operates free of regulation about serious and preventable kinds of errors that might be called ART “never events”: the destruction, contamination, misdiagnosis, and switching of materials that cannot be chalked up to inevitable slips of hand or reasonable lapses in judgment. Elsewhere in health care delivery, these kinds of mistakes — surgery on the wrong body part or patient, for example — are publicly reported by mandate in 25 states and the District of Columbia. But no system exists to track similar such transgressions when they take place at fertility clinics, sperm banks, egg vendors, or surrogacy agencies. Crowd-sourcing can help enhance market transparency about ART never events in the absence of regulation or remedy under public law, private law, or professional associations. This chapter introduces a user-generated platform that solicits reflections from reproductive patients about the care they received. Aggregated and detailed never-event reporting enable patients to select providers who deliver the quality care that’s most relevant to their risks, needs, preferences. This system of patient reviews faces unique challenges, however, beyond the usual concerns about unrepresentative samples, distorted metrics, and the risk of misleading evaluations. It must also account for factors like the stigmatized care, intangible injuries, and out-of-pocket expenses that distinguish medical treatment within the reproductive context.
Optimal use of meningococcal serogroup B vaccines: moving beyond outbreak control:

Neisseria meningitidis is a major cause of meningitis and septicemia globally. Vaccines directed against N. meningitidis serogroup B (MenB) have been used to control sporadic and sustained disease ...
Sequentially Analyzing and Modeling Causal Mapping Processes that Support Causal Understanding and Systems Thinking

A growing body of research shows that deeper understanding of complex systems can be achieved when students construct causal maps to articulate, explore, and refine their understanding. However, to what extent is students’ maps an actual measure of their causal understanding versus the efficacy of different processes used by students to construct their map? To address this question, a set of methods was developed and implemented in this study to mine data from the causal mapping tool, jMAP; sequentially analyze the mined data; and construct transitional state diagrams to visualize, model, and compare students’ causal mapping behaviors to identify differences in action sequences performed by students that created maps of high versus low accuracy. The causal maps of 17 graduate students enrolled in an online course on collaborative learning at Florida State University (USA) were sequentially analyzed and used to illustrate how the proposed methods can be implemented to capture, analyze, model, and identify causal mapping and reasoning processes that produce deeper causal understanding. Identifying and validating the most effective processes will enable software developers to create causal mapping software that can standardize the map construction process, control for individual differences in mapping skills, enable students to produce causal maps that accurately reflect their causal understanding (and/or help students to produce more accurate causal maps), and thus enable instructors to use such mapping tools to conduct automated large-scale assessments of students’ causal understanding and systems thinking skills.
Diuretics and β-Adrenergic Blockers in the Management of Hypertension in the Elderly

In the mid-20th century, it was becoming clear from epidemiological studies that elevated blood pressure (BP) was associated with increased risk of cardiovascular events. However, it was not feasible to conduct long-term morbidity trials to test whether lowering BP with medications would lower cardiovascular events until a class of medications was available that was safe and effective in long-term use in lowering BP, either alone or with other medications, and that was well tolerated. Thiazide-type diuretics, which became available in 1960, were that breakthrough class. Therefore, a series of clinical trials, beginning with the Veterans Administration (VA) Cooperative Study on treatment of hypertension in the 1960s (1, 2, 3), was conducted with therapy based on thiazide-type diuretics and demonstrated that such antihypertensive therapy reduced strokes by 35–40%, myocardial infarction (MI) by 20–25%, and heart failure by more than 50% (4,5).
Salvage regimens for pediatric patients with relapsed nasopharyngeal carcinoma

There is no established salvage regimen for pediatric patients with relapsed nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and outcomes are dismal. We performed a multicenter retrospective review to determine outcomes after first salvage therapy for pediatric patients with relapsed NPC. Fourteen patients were treated with varied regimens. Two of the 14 patients received oxaliplatin-containing regimens and achieved a long-term complete response. Although definitive recommendations cannot be made based on outcomes for 14 patients who received varied regimens, we discuss justification for an oxaliplatin-containing regimen in combination with gemcitabine as a reasonable choice for first-line salvage therapy for pediatric patients with relapsed NPC.
Differential co-occurrence relationships shaping ecotype diversification within Thaumarchaeota populations in the coastal ocean water column

Ecological factors contributing to depth-related diversification of marine Thaumarchaeota populations remain largely unresolved. To investigate the role of potential microbial associations in shaping thaumarchaeal ecotype diversification, we examined co-occurrence relationships in a community composition dataset (16S rRNA V4-V5 region) collected as part of a 2-year time series in coastal Monterey Bay. Ecotype groups previously defined based on functional gene diversity-water column A (WCA), water column B (WCB) and Nitrosopumilus-like clusters-were recovered in the thaumarchaeal 16S rRNA gene phylogeny. Networks systematically reflected depth-related patterns in the abundances of ecotype populations, suggesting thaumarchaeal ecotypes as keystone members of the microbial community below the euphotic zone. Differential environmental controls on the ecotype populations were further evident in subnetwork modules showing preferential co-occurrence of OTUs belonging to the same ecotype cluster. Correlated abundances of Thaumarchaeota and heterotrophic bacteria (e.g., Bacteroidetes, Marinimicrobia and Gammaproteobacteria) indicated potential reciprocal interactions via dissolved organic matter transformations. Notably, the networks recovered ecotype-specific associations between thaumarchaeal and Nitrospina OTUs. Even at depths where WCB-like Thaumarchaeota dominated, Nitrospina OTUs were found to preferentially co-occur with WCA-like and Nitrosopumilus-like thaumarchaeal OTUs, highlighting the need to investigate the ecological implications of the composition of nitrifier assemblages in marine waters.
Regulation and actions of gastrointestinal somatostatin.

Somatostatin (SS), first isolated from ovine hypothalami (1), is also present in large amounts in the gut in several species including man (2–5), providing the second largest store of tissue SS in the body. In the gut the peptide is found in neural structures in the deep submucosa and muscularis and muscularis mucosae (6), as well as in endocrine cells located in the mucosal layer and the epithelia of gut segments (7, 8). The SS containing nerve terminals are spread diffusely along the gatrointestinal tract; the endocrine cells are found concentrated in the fundus and antrum of the stomach, the pancreas, and spread diffusely throughout the rest of gastrointestinal tract (2, 6, 7). The functional correlate of this distribution has not been established. It does appear that circulating SS originates predominantly from the stomach, which may prove to be the primary source for the systemic hormonal form of the peptide (9). Percutaneous transhepatic venous sampling in humans for estimation of SS-like immunoreactivity (SS-LI) levels reveals the highest concentrations in the gastroepiploic vein and the gastrocolic trunk without a positive gradient in the splenic or mesenteric veins (10). Thus, the stomach is likely to be the major source of circulating SS and it is unlikely that the pancreas, small, or large bowel contribute in any measure.
A systems genetics approach to deciphering the effect of dosage variation on leaf morphology in Populus

Gene copy number variation is frequent in plant genomes of various species, but the impact of such gene dosage variation on morphological traits is poorly understood. We used a large population of Populus carrying genomically characterized insertions and deletions across the genome to systematically assay the effect of gene dosage variation on a suite of leaf morphology traits. A systems genetics approach was used to integrate insertion and deletion locations, leaf morphology phenotypes, gene expression, and transcriptional network data, to provide an overview of how gene dosage influences morphology. Dosage-sensitive genomic regions were identified that influenced individual or pleiotropic morphological traits. We also identified cis-expression quantitative trait loci (QTL) within these dosage QTL regions, a subset of which modulated trans-expression QTL as well. Integration of data types within a gene co-expression framework identified co-expressed gene modules that are dosage sensitive, enriched for dosage expression QTL, and associated with morphological traits. Functional description of these modules linked dosage-sensitive morphological variation to specific cellular processes, as well as candidate regulatory genes. Together, these results show that gene dosage variation can influence morphological variation through complex changes in gene expression, and suggest that frequently occurring gene dosage variation has the potential to likewise influence quantitative traits in nature.
Middle School Students Learn Binary Counting Using Virtual Reality

Educational fields that are abstract in nature, such as computer science (CS) and other science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields may find alternative teaching methods useful to maximize student opportunities to internalize and process the curriculum. When designing alternative educational tools in virtual reality (VR) technologies, the objective is to expose an academically diverse population to CS in an engaging and immersive environment. With this objective in mind, we built and tested a CS educational VR experience, CSpresso, designed to teach students to count in a binary (base-2) number system. Testing confirmed that the student group who learned to count binary in VR were just as successful as those who learned from a certified CS instructor. This shows that VR educational experiences can be used as alternative teaching tools in CS education, which can supplement traditional teaching methods enabling new learning methods for students in the classroom and at home. We believe that this is evidence to support a larger effort in adapting the current CS education system to meet the needs of a more diverse student body that may find alternative teaching tools useful in internalizing abstract concepts.
Evaluating Proof Blocks Problems as Exam Questions

Proof Blocks is a novel software tool which enables students to write mathematical proofs by dragging and dropping prewritten lines into the correct order, rather than writing a proof completely from scratch. We used Proof Blocks problems as exam questions for a discrete mathematics course with hundreds of students, allowing us to collect thousands of student responses to Proof Blocks problems. Using this data, we provide statistical evidence that Proof Blocks are easier than written proofs, which are typically very difficult. We also show that Proof Blocks problems provide about as much information about student knowledge as written proofs. Survey results show that students believe that the Proof Blocks user interface is easy to use, and that the questions accurately represent their ability to write proofs.
In-Process Regressions and Adaptive Multi-Criteria Neural Networks for Monitoring and Supervising Machining Operations

The authors develop a monitoring and supervising system for machining operations using in-process regressions (for monitoring) and adaptive feedforward artificial neural networks (for supervising). The system is designed for: (1) in-process tool life measurement and prediction; (2) supervision of machining operations in terms of the best machining setup; and (3) catastrophic tool failure monitoring. The monitoring system predicts tool life by using different sensors for gathering information based on a regression model that allows for the variations between tools and different machine setups. The regression model makes its prediction by using the history of other tools and combining it with the information obtained about the tool under consideration. The supervision system identifies the best parameters for the machine setup problem within the framework of multiple criteria decision making. The decision maker (operator) considers several criteria, such as cutting quality, production rate and tool life. To make the optimal decision with several criteria, an adaptive feedforward artificial neural network is used to assess the decision maker's preferences. The authors' neural network approach learns from the decision maker's complex behavior and hence, in automatic mode, can make decisions for the decision maker. The approach is not computationally demanding, and experiments demonstrate that its predictions are accurate.
The Hierarchy of Law School Faculty Meetings: Who Votes?

For anyone who has been teaching at an American law school for a few years, the agenda for any given faculty meeting may elicit a sense of deja vu. From time to time the grading system or the honor system will be revisited, committees focusing on topics from admissions to graduation will give reports, and the dreaded curriculum reform or self-study will resurface. A less familiar topic, however, has appeared with increasing frequency on faculty meeting agendas in recent years: who should vote at these meetings, anyway? The general practice in law schools in the United States is for professors who have traditional tenure or are on the traditional tenure track to vote on all matters at faculty meetings. Non-tenure-track visitors and adjuncts generally do not attend faculty meetings and do not vote. Fellows who teach some classes while working on graduate law degrees and students who serve as teaching assistants also usually do not attend faculty meetings and do not vote. It is much more difficult, however, to generalize about full-time faculty who teach in the law school clinics, legal writing programs, and libraries. This article is intended to be a useful resource if the topic of faculty voting rights appears on the faculty meeting agenda at your law school. Even if most law schools do not visit this issue every year, or even every decade, there is one question you definitely can anticipate. Whether the discussion is calm or heated, someone is bound to ask, "Well, what do other schools do?" This article aims to answer that question. Part II explains why and how I gathered information about each American Bar Association ("ABA") accredited law school's faculty meeting voting practices for professors not on the traditional tenure track. Part III describes the results of this information gathering and explains the current state of faculty voting at American law schools. In Part IV, I suggest why this information about faculty voting rights is important to legal education in the United States. In Part V, I summarize my recommendations for the future. Finally, the Appendix in Part VI shows, for every ABA-approved law school for which information was available, whether the clinic, legal writing, and library faculty may vote at faculty meetings and, if so, on what matters they may vote.
3-Methylglutaconyl-CoA hydratase deficiency: a new patient with speech retardation as the leading sign.

3-Methylglutaconyl (3-MG)-CoA hydratase (EC 4.2.1.18) catalyses the fourth step in leucine catabolism by converting 3-MG-CoA into 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl (3-HMG)-CoA. Deficiency of 3-MG-CoA hydratase has been defined as 3-methylglutaconic (3-MGC) aciduria type I (McKusick 250950) presenting with increased urinary excretion of 3-MGC, 3-methylglutaric (3-MGR) acid and 3-hydroxyisovaleric (3-HIV) acid and with normal amounts of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaric (3-HMG) acid. Additional types of 3-MGC aciduria with normal activities of 3-MG-CoA hydratase have been classified (Gibson et al 1993): type II seems to be of X-linked inheritance and is associated with cardiomyopathy, growth retardation and neutropenia (Kelley et al 1989). Type III has been described as the Costeff Iraqi-Jewish optic atrophy syndrome (Costeff et al 1989). Another type (type IV, unclassified) comprises a heterogeneous group of patients with progressive neurological symptoms. In contrast to 3-MGC aciduria type I, the origin of the specific organic aciduria in these entities is unknown. Since 3-HIV acid seems to be excreted only in patients with deficient 3-MG-CoA hydratase activity, it is an important parameter for differentiation between type I and the other types. Owing to the variability of the clinical picture of the nine patients with deficiency of 3-MG-CoA hydratase reported so far, a specific phenotype of 3-MGC aciduria type I has not yet been established. There seem to be a benign and a more severe form: in several patients the only symptoms were delayed speech development, mild psychomotor retardation and attention deficits (Duran et al 1982; Gibson et al 1992; Sewell et al 1999). Three of the reported patients, however, presented with severe neurological symptoms including spastic quadriplegia, dystonic movements, hypotonia and marked psychomotor retardation in two patients as well as coma and seizures during an episode of Reye syndrome in another patient with speech retardation (Gibson et al 1998; Hou and Wang 1995; Shoji et al 1999). We report on a new patient with a mild clinical presentation of 3-MGC aciduria type I.
Nonunion Employee Grievance Procedures

Nonunion employee grievance procedures, defined as the procedural requirements with respect to the processing of employees' complaints in nonunion companies, are a form of employee voice, alternative dispute resolution procedures, and industrial justice systems. Keywords: Distributive Justice
Biomineralization in Coccolithophores

Unicellular marine algae known as coccolithophores are potentially important organisms for the study of gravitational effects on biomineralization. The cells are easily cultured under low maintenance conditions and produce intricately sculpted calcite scales known as coccoliths in specialized Golgi-derived vesicles. Many mutants are available with different types of mineral defects ranging from the complete absence of mineral to the presence of mineral with orientational, morphological, number, and size defects. This short review summarizes what is currently known about the three phases of coccolith mineralization — mineral ion transport, mineral nucleation, and crystal growth — in Pleurochrysis carterae and Endliania huxleyi in the earth's normal gravitational field.
Insight‐Oriented Psychotherapy

Insight-oriented psychotherapy is not a single method of psychotherapy; rather, it represents a category of psychotherapeutic approaches that share a common assumption about psychopathology and its treatment. These forms of therapy assume that an individual's behavior is disturbed in some way due to a lack of awareness of his or her motivations underlying it. Psychotherapy, then, involves the elucidation of a person's internal motivations and the development of a better sense of awareness and self-understanding, in order to facilitate more adaptive behavior and courses of action in his or her life. Keywords: insight; psychotherapy; psychodynamic; client-centered; existential; interpersonal; narrative; behavior change
An Improved Version of the Naval Surface Warfare Center Aeroprediction Code (AP93)

A new and improved version of the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division aeroprediction code has been developed. The new code, AP93, contains new technology that allows planar aerodynamics (4> = 0 roll and in plus fin orientation) of axisymmetric solid-rocket-type weapons to be computed over the entire Mach-number range that weapons fly and for angles of attack (AOAs) up to 30 deg. New technology developed and contained in the AP93 includes a new engineering method to compute aeroheating information at high Mach number; extension of the second-order shock-expansion theory to incorporate real-gas effects, including several new pressure prediction techniques; an improved body-alone nonlinear normal-force method; new methods for computing the nonlinear aerodynamics of wing-alone, wing-body, and body-whig effects due to AOA, and wing-body effects due to control deflection; and a new base-drag database and improved empirical base-drag estimation technique. Comparisons of the new AP93 code with the AP81 and experimental data have been made on many different configurations. In general, the comparisons show the AP93 on average reduces the normal force and center-of-pressure errors of the AP81 code about hi half and gives a slight improvement in axial force errors.
Linear V1-vascular vasopressin antagonists suitable for radioiodination, biotinylation, and fluorescent labeling

We modified several linear V1-vascular arginine vasopressin (AVP) antagonists to obtain compounds suitable for radioiodination, biotinylation, and fluorescent labeling. In binding competition exper...
An analysis of esophagectomy and other techniques in the management of high-grade dysplasia of Barrett's esophagus

Barrett's esophageal (BE) metaplasia is a premalignant condition of the distal esophagus that develops as a consequence of gastroesophageal reflux disease. The progression to carcinogenesis results from progressive dysplastic changes of the metaplastic epithelium through low-grade and then high-grade dysplasia (HGD) to eventually adenocarcinoma of the esophagus. The management of HGD is controversial with proponents for each of the three major management strategies: endoscopic surveillance, endoscopic ablative therapies, and esophagectomy. The aim of the study was to define and discuss the various management strategies of HGD arising from BE metaplasia. There is a paucity of randomized controlled data from which to draw definitive conclusions. All strategies for the management of HGD are reasonable options and are complimentary. BE with HGD is a malignant lesion. A multidisciplinary approach individualizing therapy should be undertaken when possible. Esophageal resection should be reserved for otherwise healthy patients. Endoscopic techniques are viable alternatives to surgery.