cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Regulation of MMP-1 by sex steroid hormones in fibroblasts derived from the female pelvic floor

Objective The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of sex steroid hormones on the overall expression profile of cellular matrix metalloproteinase–1 (MMP-1) in fibroblasts that are derived from arcus tendineus fasciae pelvis. Study Design Arcus tendineus fasciae pelvis fibroblasts that originated from a premenopausal woman and a postmenopausal woman who was undergoing a prolapse repair were treated with physiologic concentrations of 17-β-estradiol (E2), progesterone, E2 plus progesterone, and E2 plus ICI 182,780. Cellular expressions of the latent, active, and fragment forms of MMP-1 were analyzed quantitatively by Western immunoblotting. Results The latent and fragment forms of MMP-1 were increased by E2, progesterone, and E2 plus progesterone. The active form of MMP-1 was not changed by either E2 or progesterone alone but was decreased significantly when both hormones were added together. ICI 182,780 inhibited the stimulatory effect of E2. Conclusion Fragmentation is a site of regulation of MMP-1 expression by hormones. Only E2 combined with progesterone decreased the active form of MMP-1, which suggests that both hormones are necessary to maintain the integrity of female pelvic floor.
Anomaly detection in extremely crowded scenes using spatio-temporal motion pattern models

Extremely crowded scenes present unique challenges to video analysis that cannot be addressed with conventional approaches. We present a novel statistical framework for modeling the local spatio-temporal motion pattern behavior of extremely crowded scenes. Our key insight is to exploit the dense activity of the crowded scene by modeling the rich motion patterns in local areas, effectively capturing the underlying intrinsic structure they form in the video. In other words, we model the motion variation of local space-time volumes and their spatial-temporal statistical behaviors to characterize the overall behavior of the scene. We demonstrate that by capturing the steady-state motion behavior with these spatio-temporal motion pattern models, we can naturally detect unusual activity as statistical deviations. Our experiments show that local spatio-temporal motion pattern modeling offers promising results in real-world scenes with complex activities that are hard for even human observers to analyze.
Differences Between the Fourth and Fifth Korotkoff Phases Among Children and Adolescents

Although the onset of the fifth Korotkoff phase (K5, beginning of silence) is widely used among adults as the indicator of diastolic blood pressure (DBP), it is unclear whether K5 or the fourth Korotkoff phase (K4, muffling of sounds) should be used for children and adolescents. The most recent (2004) recommendation1 is to use K5 for all children and adolescents, but a 2008 meta-analysis found that adult DBP levels show a slightly stronger correlation with childhood levels of K4 than K5.2 Neither K4 nor K5 correlates strongly with the intra-arterial DBP of children.3–5 The recommendations for the assessment of DBP among children in the United States have changed considerably over time. In 1977, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Task Force Report on Blood Pressure Control in Children recommended that K4 be used for all children and adolescents,6 whereas the 1987 recommendation was to use K4 only for children aged <13 years.7 It was acknowledged that in some children, the K4 and K5 phases may occur together and that sounds can sometimes be heard even at 0mm Hg.7 Subsequent reports in 19968 and 20041 recommended that K5 be used as the indicator of DBP for all children and adolescents. Formulas have also been given for levels of systolic blood pressure (SBP) and K5, but not K4, that can be used to standardize a child’s blood pressure level for sex, age, and height.1 There is, however, little longitudinal data available to determine whether the K4 or K5 level, measured by the same observer, is more strongly related to adult hypertension.9 The purpose of these analyses is to describe, in a large population-based study, the distribution of K4 − K5 differences and the relation of these 2 phases to adult hypertension. We use data from 26,356 examinations of youth aged 5–17 years obtained from 11,525 children in the Bogalusa Heart Study. Of the 2,156 children who were re-examined after age 25 years, 401 were hypertensive.
Coping Strategies in 12-Step Recovery: More Evidence for Categorical Involvement

The present study examined 12-step involvement categorically and its relation to coping strategies and self-efficacy for abstinence among 42 members of Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous and 42 recovering addicts/alcoholics residing in democratically operated recovery homes (Oxford Houses). Participants who were categorically involved in a set of 12-step activities reported significantly lower levels of emotion-focused coping strategies and significantly higher levels of social-support coping strategies and self-efficacy for abstinence compared with those who were less involved. Twelve-step meeting attendance was not significantly related to outcomes. Findings suggest that categorical involvement in 12-step activities equips recovering alcoholics/addicts with active coping strategies for their ongoing recovery. Implications for future research are discussed.
Interdecadal Sea Level Fluctuations at Hawaii

Over the past century, tide gauges in Hawaii have recorded interdecadal sea level variations that are coherent along the island chain. The generation of this signal and its relationship to other interdecadal variability are investigated, with a focus on the last decade. Hawaii sea level is correlated with sea surface height (SSH) over a significant portion of the North Pacific Ocean, and with the Pacific‐North America (PNA) index, which represents teleconnections between tropical and midlatitude atmospheric variations. Similar variations extend well below the thermocline in World Ocean Atlas temperature. Comparison with NCEP reanalysis wind and pressure shows that high (low) sea level phases around Hawaii are associated with an increase (decrease) in the strength of the Aleutian low. The associated wind stress curl pattern is dynamically consistent with observed sea level anomalies, suggesting that sea level at Hawaii represents large-scale changes that are directly windforced in concert with the PNA. Atmospheric modulation, as opposed to Rossby wave propagation, may explain the linkage of Hawaii sea level to North American sea level and ENSO events. A wind-forced, baroclinic Rossby wave model replicates some aspects of the interdecadal SSH variations and their spatial structure but fails to predict them in detail near Hawaii. The accuracy of wind products in this region and over this time period may be a limiting factor. Variations in mixed layer temperature due to surface heat flux anomalies may also contribute to the interdecadal sea level signal at Hawaii.
The Contemporary Use of Digoxin for the Treatment of Heart Failure

Received July 11, 2008; accepted July 14, 2008. The use of digitalis has been plagued by controversy since its initial use by Withering in 1775. We now have much more data,1 but it should be remembered that the Digitalis Investigator Group trial was executed when β-blockers were not widely used to treat heart failure. There are still many questions about where we currently stand with the use of digitalis. Specifically, when should one add digoxin to the medical regimen of a patient with heart failure symptoms? Another question that frequently arises is whether one should consider stopping digoxin in a patient referred for care who has chronic stable heart failure. I will briefly examine these 2 scenarios separately. ### Should One Add Digoxin to a Medical Regimen in Patients With Heart Failure? When faced with a patient demonstrating worsening symptoms of heart failure, we are trained to ask, “why is this patient worse?” Sometimes the answer is apparent, but often it is unclear. When heart failure worsens and patients begin to have more signs and symptoms, a remedial cause should be sought and corrected when possible. Often the cause is dietary indiscretion, noncompliance with medications, comorbid conditions, and unclear or misunderstood instructions about how to self-manage the condition of heart failure. However, complications directly related to the heart, such as myocardial ischemia, myocardial infarction, or arrhythmias, can occur. We know that paroxysmal and permanent atrial fibrillation (AF) occurs in a substantial proportion of patients with heart failure during the course of their illness, probably in the range of 20% …
Redesigning professional self-presentation: a model for electronic portfolios

Electronic portfolios are essential for communicators. Faculty members at Clarkson University have developed a model electronic portfolio for Technical Communications majors to emulate, in order for the students to best present to prospective employers the work they have accomplished in their academic careers. Other higher education institutions make use of electronic portfolios-largely for individual course requirements or for assessment purposes, and none for communication students. The TC department at Clarkson surveyed communication professionals and conducted research to develop the model electronic portfolio. Our resulting model is an HTML file that includes all the work the student has done to date, burned onto a CD-ROM, following organization guidelines that stem from survey responses. Screen captures of the model electronic portfolio appear at the end. The model is not final; it will continue to evolve with professional and technological trends.
The error statistical philosopher as normative naturalist

We argue for a naturalistic account for appraising scientific methods that carries non-trivial normative force. We develop our approach by comparison with Laudan’s (American Philosophical Quarterly 24:19–31, 1987, Philosophy of Science 57:20–33, 1990) “normative naturalism” based on correlating means (various scientific methods) with ends (e.g., reliability). We argue that such a meta-methodology based on means–ends correlations is unreliable and cannot achieve its normative goals. We suggest another approach for meta-methodology based on a conglomeration of tools and strategies (from statistical modeling, experimental design, and related fields) that affords forward looking procedures for learning from error and for controlling error. The resulting “error statistical” appraisal is empirical—methods are appraised by examining their capacities to control error. At the same time, this account is normative, in that the strategies that pass muster are claims about how actually to proceed in given contexts to reach reliable inferences from limited data.
Simone de Beauvoir and the beginnings of the feminine subject

Since de Beauvoir’s bold pronouncement that ‘One is not born a woman’ feminists have been struggling with the subject in feminist theory. Each new iteration of the subject has been advanced by its adherents as the ‘right’ definition, superseding the flawed definition that preceded it. This pattern aptly describes the reception of de Beauvoir’s subject. Feminist theorists since de Beauvoir have been disdainful of her subject, rejecting it as a tainted example of existentialism that has nothing to offer contemporary feminist theory. In this article I will challenge this judgement, arguing that de Beauvoir’s approach to the subject reveals a highly nuanced understanding of the interaction of the social, natural, and psychological. I argue that, far from rejecting de Beauvoir’s subject, we can learn much from her approach.
Meaningful and Meaningless Statements in Landscape Ecology and Environmental Sustainability

The growing population and increasing pressures for development lead to challenges to life on our planet. Increasingly, we are seeing how human activities affect the natural environment, including systems that sustain life: climate, healthy air and water, arable land to grow food, etc. There is growing interest (and urgency) in understanding how changes in human activities might lead to long-term sustainability of critical environmental systems. Of particular interest are large ecological systems that affect climate, air and water, etc. Landscape Ecology is concerned with such systems. Understanding the challenges facing our planet requires us to summarize data, understand claims, and investigate hypotheses. To be useful, these summaries, claims, and hypotheses are often stated using metrics of various kinds, using a variety of scales of measurement. The modern theory of measurement shows us that we have to be careful using scales of measurement and that sometimes statements using such scales can be meaningless—in a very precise sense. This paper summarizes the theory of meaningful and meaningless statements in measurement and applies it to statements in landscape ecology and environmental sustainability.
AOJ-1COMPREHENSIVE APPROACH FOR CLINICAL TRIALS IN ELDERLY CANCER PATIENTS IN AN AGING SOCIETY OF KOREA

Abstract Background: As the population of elderly cancer patients steadily increases, it is important to evaluate the feasibility of clinical trial in these patients to direct future care standard treatments and resource allocation. Elderly patients are very heterogeneous because the aging process is a highly individualized one and chronological age can't predict the changes involved in the aging process. The definition of elderly or fragile patients varies based on the different considerations such as disease-specific issue, risk of complications, estimation of life expectancy, and physician's view. With this heterogeneity, elderly patients have been underrepresented in both clinical trials and standard chemotherapy. Methods: Treatment of resectable colon cancer patients after age 70 of years were analyzed retrospectively focusing on clinical variables. The efficiency of adjuvant chemotherapy was evaluated in elderly colon cancer patients after a match by the propensity score method. Results: The elderly patients with resectable colon cancer received surgical treatment in more than 95% of cases regardless of their age or year of diagnosis. On the other hand, the proportion of patients who received adjuvant treatment increased among those who were diagnosed more recently, but it decreased abruptly with the increment of age. Recruitment of older patients into cancer clinical trial could be improved by (1) designing study grouped by age; (2) assessing patients to better distinguish the “well” older patients from the “frail” older patients. Conclusion: Currently, a comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA) of elderly cancer patient has been recommended for the selection of proper treatment by predicting functional age and defining fragility including comorbidities. More personalized risk stratification of patients may be useful to elderly patients for optimal cancer treatment.
Hepatic Enzymes of Glutamine and Ureagenesis in Metabolic Acidosis

The activities of key glutamine and urea cycle enzymes were assayed in liver homogenates from control and chronically acidotic rats and compared with citrulline and urea productions by isolated mitochondria and intact liver slices, respectively. Glutamine-dependent urea and citrulline synthesis were increased significantly in isolated mitochondria and in liver slices; the activities of carbamoyl phosphate synthetase and arginase were unchanged and increased, respectively. Glutamine was not a precursor in the carbamoyl phosphate synthetase system, suggesting that the glutamine effect is an indirect one and that glutamine requires prior hydrolysis. Increased mitochondrial citrulline synthesis was associated with enhanced oxygen consumption, suggesting glutamine acts both as a nitrogen and fuel source. Hepatic phosphate-dependent glutaminase was elevated by chronic acidosis. The results indicate that the acidosis-induced reduction in ureagenesis and reversal from glutamine uptake to release observed in vivo are not reflections of corresponding changes in the hepatic enzyme content. Rather, when available, glutamine readily supports ureagenesis, suggesting a close coupling of hepatic glutaminase flux with citrulline synthesis.
Torsional Relaxation and Volume Response During Physical Aging in Epoxy Glasses Subjected to Large Torsional Deformations

We present torsional dilatometry experiments to simultaneously measure torque relaxation and volume recovery in an epoxy glass quenched from above its glass transition temperature to below it. Two strain histories are employed: one with strains of equal sizes and a second where small strains follow a large one. The baseline for the thermally induced volume recovery is insensitive to intermittent torsional strains whose magnitude can be well into the non-linear regime. The torque relaxations from equal intermittent mechanical stimuli can be superposed by a time-aging time shift in a way that indicates fast changes cease to occur at ∼10 4 seconds after the quench, a “mechanical equilibration” time. Stimuli of different sizes can confound superposition via nonlinear effects, but do not affect the ultimate volume recovery of the glass or its mechanical equilibration time. Our results show the signature of rejuvenation; however, this may result from the nonlinear response of the material in a nonisochoric strain history. Our data firmly show that mechanical stimuli do not erase aging or rejuvenate this epoxy.
Development of a multispectral light-scatter sensor for bacterial colonies.

Three wavelength-merged scatter pattern from E. coli. We report a multispectral elastic-light-scatter instrument that can simultaneously detect three-wavelength scatter patterns and associated optical densities from individual bacterial colonies, overcoming the limits of the single-wavelength predecessor. Absorption measurements on liquid bacterial samples revealed that the spectroscopic information can indeed contribute to sample differentiability. New optical components, including a pellicle beam splitter and an optical cage system, were utilized for robust acquisition of multispectral images. Four different genera and seven shiga toxin producing E. coli serovars were analyzed; the acquired images showed differences in scattering characteristics among the tested organisms. In addition, colony-based spectral optical-density information was also collected. The optical model, which was developed using diffraction theory, correctly predicted wavelength-related differences in scatter patterns, and was matched with the experimental results. Scatter-pattern classification was performed using pseudo-Zernike (GPZ) polynomials/moments by combining the features collected at all three wavelengths and selecting the best features via a random-forest method. The data demonstrate that the selected features provide better classification rates than the same number of features from any single wavelength.
The Impact of 9/11 on Stress, Health, and Health Risk Behaviors among Adolescents

When a morning alarm wakes us, we usually assume that we know how the day will unfold. Weekdays mean going to school or work for most of us, and weekends provide a chance to do errands, play sports, be with family, hang out with friends, and relax. Each day includes a largely predictable sequence of events that we often take for granted. The relative predictability of life events and perception of control provide a psychological calm that is healthful but which can become monotonous. So, it’s nice to mix things up a bit. Positive surprises (including compliments, positive social interactions, and humorous events) certainly bring a welcomed lift to life, but extreme thrills can be stressful. Negative surprises (including close calls in traffic, an argument with a significant other or coworker, bad news about health) clearly are stressful, but also can strengthen us and increase appreciation for the good times. Humans, like other mammals, deal well with short-term stressors and often are strengthened by the experiences and responses. However, when the stressors or stress responses persist, we suffer physically and psychologically. The nature of the stressor and our preparedness to meet the stressor both affect long-term stress reactions.
Data Integration for Quality Assurance in Computer Integrated Manufacturing

Abstract This paper presents the design concept of an intelligent information system for verification, validation, association, and conversion of test data which are gathered at various workcells in CIM environment. The technician at each workcell enters test data into a central database. Experience has told us that the database may be erroneous due to wrong entry, wrong unit, wrong format, wrong code, and wrong scale. Thus the database must be verified and validated before it becomes useful. The data in the validated database are then grouped and categorized for the well-defined hierarchical structure. To facilitate the use of the database, the data will be dynamically reorganized to meet the needs of various users.
Silica Sol–Gel Biocomposite Materials for Sensor Development

The performance of a silica sol–gel biosensor is intimately related to the characteristics of an encapsulated guest molecule. The effect of charge, size, and polarity on the behavior of the encapsulate was investigated using both ensemble measurements and single-molecule spectroscopy. Simply by monitoring the mobility of individual encapsulates, the heterogeneous microscopic environment within a silica sol–gel was directly revealed. Regardless of molecular charges, all small molecules are sufficiently immobilized in alcogels. On the other hand, a floppy, non-polar molecule can display surprisingly high rotational mobility inside an alcogel. Such behavior is attributed to the disruption of molecular templating by active conformation fluctuations during the gelation process. In a more porous hydrogel, however, Coulombic interactions dictate molecular mobility. For biosensor development, molecular templating continues to be a major concern in the synthesis of active silica biocomposite materials, where large enzyme molecules are routinely encapsulated. To circumvent this problem, liposomes are used to template the formation of large silica pores to maintain unimpaired conformational flexibility necessary for the normal functioning of an enzyme. The use of liposome also keeps an enzyme from hazardous chemical environments while a hydrogel is forming, making it less likely to become inactive. This strategy appears applicable to the encapsulation of both robust and fragile enzymes and produces active silica biocomposites for biosensor development. In a separate front, silica alcogel is embedded inside a polyelectrolyte multilayer scaffold to produce a hybrid film. The hybrid architecture allows one to vary the response time of a sensing device through the precision control of film thickness. This approach can be further exploited to strengthen a hydrogel thin film structure, which may eventually replace the slow monolithic hydrogel sensor by a faster and sturdier hybrid thin film sensor. This chapter illustrates the above concepts and techniques while providing the reader with a promising strategy for pH-sensor development.
Of Mothers and Madwomen: Mining the Emotional Terrain of Toni Collette’s Anti-Star Persona

Since her breakthrough role in Muriel’s Wedding in 1994, Toni Collette has forged a career spanning the Australian and American screen industries. Favoring emotionally and physically challenging parts rather than glamorous roles, Collette has crafted an anti-star persona by playing women living with mental illness or psychological trauma, or mothers caring for family members with mental health issues. Chapter 4 discusses key films that helped establish Collette’s anti-star persona and explores the thematic and cultural resonances across these films, which share an interest in mental health and complex portrayals of motherhood. Toni Collette’s career offers a case study of the role (and roles) that Australian actors play in global Hollywood cinema and how these performances influence and shape contemporary Australian film.
Can Turkish-Armenian music diplomacy emulate the Turkish-Greek example?: prospects and limitations

Intractable conflicts and rooted enmity can hardly be eradicated through top-down policy changes unless the policy involves people to people interactions, which lie at the heart of citizen diplomac...
Electrochemical aspects of copper atmospheric corrosion in the presence of sodium chloride

Abstract This study describes the evolving state of electrolyte and corrosion processes associated with sodium chloride on copper at the initial stage of corrosion and the critical implications of this behavior on controlling kinetics and damage distributions. Sodium chloride droplets were placed on copper in humid conditions and the resulting electrolyte properties, corrosion products and damage were characterized over time using time-lapse imaging, micro Raman spectroscopy, TOF-SIMS and optical profilometry. Within minutes of NaCl droplet placement, NaOH-rich films resultant from oxygen reduction advanced stepwise from the droplets, leaving behind concentric trenching attack patterns suggestive of moving anode-cathode pairs at the alkaline film front. Corrosion attack under these spreading alkaline films was up to 10x greater than under the original NaCl drops. Furthermore, solid Cu2Cl(OH)3 shells formed over the surface of the NaCl drops within hours of exposure. Thermodynamic modeling along with immersed electrochemical experiments in simulated droplet and films electrolytes were used to rationalize this behavior and build a description of the rapidly evolving corroding system.
Microwave-Assisted Solvent-Free or Aqueous-Based Synthesis of Biodegradable Polymers

Microwave radiation was used as the energy source for various types of chemical derivatizations of polysaccharides and for the synthesis of biodegradable polyesters in solvent-free or aqueous-based reaction systems. A medium to high degree of substitution was obtained for starch acetates, starch succinates, carboxymethyl konjac, aminated starch, and aminated chitosan. Ring-opening polymerization of lactide and e-caprolactone proceeded rapidly even at low power output in the presence of tin octanoate catalyst. Complete monomer conversion and high molecular weight were achieved in less than 6 minutes under nonisothermal conditions. The yield rapidly increased with increasing power output and showed no significant change in a wide range of batch sizes. Polycaprolactone was successfully grafted from starch and konjac acetate in 3 minutes, yielding as high as 24% grafting efficiency and 25% grafting degree.
Ecology, Concept and Theories in

Ecology is the study of the distribution and abundance of organisms. Ecologists attempt to understand the factors that both promote and limit biodiversity. In practice, the science of ecology blends observation of natural systems, manipulation of environmental and biotic factors in the field, more highly controlled laboratory or microcosm studies, and both qualitative and mathematical theory. The major concepts and theories of ecology concern the dynamics of populations as well as the patterns and processes of communities and ecosystems.
Reinventing an Old Material: Venice and the New Glass

In the fourth century CE, the stability of the Roman Empire began to rapidly diminish. As the central cohesion of the Empire was lost, glassmaking centers began to more greatly reflect their regional influences and many of the more sophisticated techniques became less widespread. Shortly before 300 CE, Diocletian became Emperor and tried to stabilize the Empire by dividing it into Western and Eastern halves. Each half of the former Empire had its own capital (Rome in West and Constantinople in the East) and Emperor, although the Emperor of the West was subservient to that of the East. The fragmentation of the empire, first into East and West, and later into isolated regions conquered by outside forces, meant the end of centralized glass production. Glassmaking shifted from urban centers to rural locations closer to sources of fuel. As a result, glassmakers within the two halves of the empire became isolated and eastern and western glassware gradually acquired distinct characteristics. Still, glassmaking was able to survive the end of the unified Roman system and adapted to the needs of the new political framework. The primary result of this changing framework was the loss of more specialized and sophisticated decoration techniques, such as cutting, polishing, and enameling. Critical techniques such as glassblowing were simplified to their basic essentials and simple procedures like mold blowing essentially disappeared.
Liquid crystal polymer receiver modules for electron cyclotron emission imaging on the DIII-D tokamak

A new generation of millimeter-wave heterodyne imaging receiver arrays has been developed and demonstrated on the DIII-D electron cyclotron emission imaging (ECEI) system. Improved circuit integration, improved noise performance, and enhanced shielding from out-of-band emission are made possible by using advanced liquid crystal polymer (LCP) substrates and monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) receiver chips. This array exhibits ∼15 dB additional gain and >30× reduction in noise temperature compared to previous generation ECEI arrays. Each LCP horn-waveguide module houses a 3 × 3 mm GaAs MMIC receiver chip, which consists of a low noise millimeter-wave preamplifier, balanced mixer, and IF amplifier together with a local oscillator multiplier chain driven at ∼12 GHz. A proof-of-principle partial LCP instrument with 5 poloidal channels was installed on DIII-D in 2017, with a full proof-of-principle system (20 poloidal × 8 radial channels) installed and commissioned in early 2018. The enhanced shielding of the LCP modules is seen to greatly reduce the sensitivity of ECEI signals to out-of-band microwave noise which has plagued previous ECEI studies on DIII-D. The LCP ECEI system is expected to be a valuable diagnostic tool for pedestal region measurements, focusing particularly on electron temperature evolution during edge localized mode bursting.
Comparison of HOG, LBP and Haar-Like Features for On-Road Vehicle Detection

Autonomous vehicles may be the most significant innovation in transportation since automobiles were first invented. Environmental perception plays a pivotal role in the development of self-driving vehicles which need to navigate in a complex environment of static and dynamic objects. It is required to extract dynamic objects like vehicles and pedestrians more precisely and robustly to estimate the current position, motion and predict its future position. In this article, the performance of three commonly used object detection approaches, Histogram of Oriented Gradients (HOG), Haar-like features and Local Binary Pattern (LBP) is investigated and analyzed using a public dataset of camera images. The detection results show that for the same dataset, LBP features perform better than the other two feature types with a higher detection rate. Finally, a unique and robust detection algorithm using a combination of all the three different feature descriptors and AdaBoost cascade classification is proposed.
Using Instagram to Engage with (Potential) Consumers: A study of Forbes Most Valuable Brands’ Use of Instagram

With over 800 million monthly users, Instagram has become one of the most popular social networking sites utilized by individuals and businesses alike. Guided by interactivity theory, the current study identifies connections between the posting behaviour of popular brands on Instagram and audience engagement. Instagram posts (N = 710) from brands on the Forbes Most Valuable Brands list were coded for image type and the presence of brand-related and social content. Using an individualized engagement score for each post, results found audiences were most responsive when images featured products and logos together and when social content appears in captions. Findings of this study are useful to marketing strategists aiming to capitalize on this platform.
THU0341 Low vitamin d is associated with thrombosis in systemic lupus erythematosus

Background Low vitamin D is common in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). It is also found in antiphospholipid syndrome. Vitamin D has effects on tissue factor, PAI-1, thrombomodulin and platelet aggregation that suggest it has an anti-thrombotic role. We asked whether low vitamin D was associated with thrombosis in SLE, adjusting for lupus anticoagulant. Objectives We asked whether low vitamin D was associated with thrombosis in SLE, adjusting for lupus anticoagulant. Methods A total of 1,392 SLE patients were included in the analysis. At the first visit when vitamin D was measured, 76.7% had levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D Results Vitamin D, measured either as a continuous variable or as “low” ( Conclusions Low vitamin D was significantly associated with any thrombosis and with DVT (even after adjustment for lupus anticoagulant). In prospective models it remained significantly associated with any thrombosis. As supplementation with vitamin D was proven to reduce thrombosis in an oncology randomised clinical trial, vitamin D replacement should become routine in SLE patients at risk for thrombosis. Disclosure of Interest None declared
Oxygen and Hydrogen Isotopes in Human Hair and Tap Water: Modeling Relationships in a Modern Mexican Population

This study investigated the relationship between 18O and 2H isotopes in samples of Mexican hair and drinking water. The purpose of this study was twofold: to quantify the relationship between isotopes in Mexican hair and tap water, in order to understand the impact of water stress and differing socioeconomic status on accurate predictions of drinking water; and to determine whether currently existing semimechanistic models can accurately represent the relationship between hair and tap water. This study used a subset of paired samples of human hair (n = 62) and tap water (n = 76). Isotope values in tap water ranged from –11.4‰ to –4.3‰ and –79.1‰ to –22.5‰, and in hair from +9.5‰ to +16.1‰ and –90.8‰ to –53.7‰, for δ18O and δ2H, respectively. The most depleted δ18O and δ2H hair values came from individuals in the state of Morelos. For modern Mexican populations, positive correlations between isotopes in hair and water were not significant, with correlation coefficients r = 0.61 (p = 0.05) and r = 0.60 (p = 0.06) for 18O and 2H, respectively. Error-in-variables regression yielded linear fits that were somewhat better for 2H relative to 18O: δ18Oh = 0.183 [±0.132] δ18Otw + 15.7 [±0.9]‰ (r2 = 0.23); δ2Hh = 0.181 [±0.076] δ2Htw – 64.0 [±3.0]‰ (r2 = 0.34). In short, data from this Mexican population did not exhibit the strong relationships between isotope values of 18O and 2H in tap water and hair that have been characteristic of other populations studied to date. Given the economic stratification of this region and the poor correlation between hair and water samples, the authors considered the possibility that l, the fraction of the diet derived from local sources, and fs, the fraction of nonexchangeable H in keratin that was fixed in vivo, are local rather than global parameters for this population. The authors estimated different values of l and fs for each location. Given the anticipated importance of the nonlocal dietary contribution, they treated the isotopic content of nonlocal food and the offset parameters for predicting isotopes in locally derived food as tuning parameters and compared the results with parameters based on the American supermarket diet. They found that, although O and H isotopes in water and hair maintained similar geographic distributions, O and H isotopes in tap water explained only a small part of the variation observed in hair samples. Compared to the standard American supermarket diet, the Mexican estimates for nonlocal diet and local diet offsets predicted regional distributions of l and fs that cleanly segregated urban areas from rural towns.
Stabilizing a NiII-aqua complex via intramolecular hydrogen bonds: synthesis, structure, and redox properties.

Abstract Hydrogen bonds within the secondary coordination sphere are effective in controlling the chemistry of synthetic metal complexes. Coupling the capacity of hydrogen bonds with those of redox-active ligands offers a promising approach to enhance the functional properties of transition metal complexes. These qualities were successfully illustrated with the [NNN]3− pincer ligand N,N'-(azanediylbis(2,1-phenylene))bis(2,4,6-triisopropyl-benzene-sulfonamido ([ibaps]3−) through the preparation of the NiII–OH2 complex, [NiII(ibaps)(OH2)]−. The [ibaps]3− ligand contains two appended sulfonamido groups that support the formation of intramolecular hydrogen bonds. The bulky 2,4,6-triisopropylphenyl rings are necessary to ensure that only one ligand binds to a single metal ion. The molecular structure of the complex shows a square planar N3O primary coordination sphere and two intramolecular hydrogen bonds involving the aqua ligand. Electrochemical measurements in acetonitrile revealed two oxidation events at potentials below that of the ferrocenium/ferrocene couple. Oxidation with 1 equiv of ferrocenium produced the one-electron oxidized species, [Ni(ibaps)(OH2)]. Experimental and computational studies support this assignment.
Assessment of protein solution versus crystal structure determination using spin-diffusion-suppressed NOE and heteronuclear relaxation data

A spin-diffusion-suppressed NOE buildup series has been measured for E. coli thioredoxin.The extensive 13C and 15N relaxation data previously reported for this protein allow fordirect interpretation of dynamical contributions to the 1H-1H cross-relaxation rates for a largeproportion of the NOE cross peaks. Estimates of the average accuracy for these derived NOEdistances are bounded by 4% and 10%, based on a comparison to the corresponding X-raydistances. An independent fluctuation model is proposed for prediction of the dynamicalcorrections to 1H-1H cross-relaxation rates, based solely on experimental structural andheteronuclear relaxation data. This analysis is aided by the demonstration that heteronuclearorder parameters greater than 0.6 depend only on the variance of the H-X bond orientation,independent of the motional model in either one- or two-dimensional diffusion (i.e., 1− S2 = 3/4 sin2 2 θσ). The combination of spin-diffusion-suppressed NOEdata and analysis of dynamical corrections to 1H-1H cross-relaxation rates based onheteronuclear relaxation data has allowed for a detailed interpretation of various discrepanciesbetween the reported solution and crystal structures.
Adaptive Krylov-Type Time Integration Methods.

The Rosenbrock-Krylov family of time integration schemes is an extension of Rosenbrock-W methods that employs a specific Krylov based approximation of the linear system solutions arising within each stage of the integrator. This work proposes an extension of Rosenbrock-Krylov methods to address stability questions which arise for methods making use of inexact linear system solution strategies. Two approaches for improving the stability and efficiency of Rosenbrock-Krylov methods are proposed, one through direct control of linear system residuals and the second through a novel extension of the underlying Krylov space to include stage right hand side vectors. Rosenbrock-Krylov methods employing the new approaches show a substantial improvement in computational efficiency relative to prior implementations.
Alcohol misuse among adolescents with BPD symptoms: exploring the moderating role of reasons for drinking and perceived coping skills in a clinical adolescent sample

Background Adolescents who experience symptoms of borderline personality disorder (BPD) are at high risk for alcohol misuse, yet little is known about why these adolescents drink and what factors heighten or mitigate this risk. The current study explores factors that may impact risk for alcohol misuse among youth with BPD symptoms: using alcohol to self-medicate or to rebel and perceived coping skills. Method A sample of 181 psychiatrically hospitalized adolescents (Mage = 15.04 years, SD = 1.31 years; 71.8% female, 83.4% White) was recruited as part of a larger study from the northeastern United States. Assessments and diagnostic interviews were administered to adolescents. Results Use of alcohol for self-medication and perceived coping skills, but not using alcohol for rebellion, moderated the relationship between BPD symptoms and alcohol misuse. A significant positive relationship between BPD symptoms and alcohol frequency and/or problems was only found among adolescents who reported lower use of alcohol for self-medication purposes or higher perceived coping skills. Conclusions Youth with more BPD symptoms are at high risk for alcohol misuse. Moderation effects for self-medication motives and perceived coping skills were counter to hypotheses; lower levels of self-medication motives contributed to greater alcohol problems, as did higher levels of perceived coping skills. Results suggest the importance of assessing how much youth are drinking or experiencing consequences, as well as why they are using alcohol. It is possible adolescents with more BPD symptoms may be reporting more coping skills, but actually exhibiting the phenomenon of apparent competence (i.e., present as 'in control', but actually experiencing extreme distress and lacking sufficient coping skills); collateral reports of adolescents' coping skills may provide a more objective measure of actual skill level. Key practitioner message What is known? Adolescents who experience symptoms of borderline personality disorder (BPD) are at high risk for alcohol misuse, yet little is known about why these adolescents drink and what factors heighten or mitigate this risk. What is new? Adolescents who use alcohol to self-medicate or rebel are at high risk for alcohol problems, regardless of presence of BPD symptoms. Contrary to expectations, higher perceived coping skills strengthened the relation between BPD and alcohol misuse. Apparent competence (i.e., present as 'in control' but lack sufficient skills) may be at play. What is significant for clinical practice? Clinicians are encouraged to assess why adolescents are using alcohol and teach alternative coping strategies when self-medication and/or rebellion is an identified use. Clinicians are encouraged to collect collateral reports of adolescent's coping abilities rather than relying solely on self-report.
Dynamic Optical Localization of a Mobile Robot Using Kalman Filtering-Based Position Prediction

Autonomous mobile robots operating in areas with poor GPS and wireless coverage (e.g., underwater) must rely on alternative localization and communication approaches. In this article, we present an light-emitting diode (LED) based system that achieves simultaneous localization and communication (SLAC), where the line-of-sight (LOS) requirement for communication is exploited to extract the relative bearing of the communicating parties for localization. By using Kalman filtering to obtain the mobile robot's predicted position, the system is able to reduce the overhead of establishing the LOS and, therefore, significantly improve on the quality of the localization. The proposed design of the optical localization system is presented and its effectiveness is demonstrated with extensive simulation and experimentation in a two-dimensional setting, consisting of a mobile robot and two stationary base nodes.
Platelet-Rich Plasma Is an Equal Alternative to Surgery in the Treatment of Type 1 Medial Epicondylitis.

Background:Medial epicondylitis (ME) is characterized as an overuse injury resulting in pathological alterations of the common flexor tendon at the elbow. Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) has recently be...
Teaching Civic Engagement Through Student Philanthropy: Theories and Best Practices for Transformative Learning

Student philanthropy courses are designed to teach students to ethically contribute financially to their communities. Students explore the role of values in philanthropy while actively allocating, distributing, and evaluating financial giving. Although studies have indicated positive outcomes from such courses, little is known about the processes and best practices that inform these outcomes. This mixed-methods case study reconfirms positive civic engagement outcomes while using qualitative data to inform classroom practices. Results show positive increases in civic engagement attitudes (+9%) and civic behaviors (+6%) with the greatest changes in measures related to the importance of philanthropic giving (+26%) and feeling responsible for the community (+27%). Qualitative results show the significant impacts of inclusive teaching, developing learning communities, and connecting with nonprofits on student growth and civic engagement. Students also developed transferable skills, learning to communicate, make decisions, and compromise in a dynamic group setting. Recommendations for best practices in designing student philanthropy courses are provided. Subscribe to JNEL
Law's Wars, Law's Trials

The rule of law is a foundation of the liberal state. The US ‘War on Terror’ under Presidents Bush and Obama threatened and violated the rule of law in multiple ways. This article surveys those challenges and analyses how US institutions responded in order to assess the capacity of the legal system to resist political pressure in moments of crisis.
SUPER: SUb-Graph Parallelism for TransformERs

Transformer models have revolutionized the field of Natural Language Processing (NLP) and they achieve state-of-the-art performance in applications like machine translation, question answering, regression, and summarization. However, training Transformers is challenging because of their large memory and compute requirements. The literature contains several approaches to parallelize training, like layer parallelism and pipeline parallelism, but they are optimized to benefit out-of-core models and they don’t exploit the inherent parallelism in Transformer models. Other work uses model parallelism to achieve weak scaling by increasing the model size. In this paper, we propose sub-graph parallelism that provides a significant performance improvement over pure data parallelism with a fixed number of resources, and as an additional technique for strong- and weak-scaling without increasing model capacity. Our technique accelerates the training of Transformer models and we generalize the concept to any neural network with multiple branches. We optimize the communication for sub-graph parallelism and combine it with data parallelism to scale performance up to 1024 GPUs. To decrease communication overheads, we propose a topology-aware scheme that limits inter-node communication. Finally, we empirically compare sub-graph parallelism with pure data parallelism and demonstrate its performance benefits in end-to-end training.
Open, engage, bind, translocate: The multi-level dynamics of bacterial protein translocation.

The bacterial Sec translocase transports unfolded proteins across membranes. In this issue of Structure, Krishnamurthy et al. (2021) report a nexus of conformational dynamics in the translocase motor protein, SecA. Their findings shed light on the Sec activation mechanism and suggest a general role for multi-level dynamics in protein functions.