cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Oyster reefs as processors of estuarine materials

Abstract Oyster reefs are dense concentrations of filter-feeding animals in estuarine ecosystems. A flow-through plastic tunnel is a feasible method of determining significant changes in material concentrations in tidal waters passing over an oyster reef. The oyster reef reduces the amplitude of the particulate organic carbon and chlorophyll a signals while increasing the amplitude, of the ammonia signal. The observations suggest that oyster reefs have one of the highest reported release rates of ammonia (1680–7250 μg at.·m −2 ·h −1 ), and thus are probably important in material cycles in marsh-estuarine ecosystems. The magnitude of particulate organic carbon removal by the oyster reef is many times greater than that expected from biofiltration alone, suggesting that removal due to physical factors may be important.
The Metaphysics of Terror: The Incoherent System of Contemporary Politics

The rapid growth of the Islamic State (IS) reminds us of the ongoing terrorist threat facing the individual, the state, and the international system. More than that, though, it illustrates the fail...
The Coming Shortage of Managerial Talent

An exploratory study which examines managerial and professional motivation and their relationship among business college students was undertaken. The Miner Sentence Completion Scales, hierarchical and professional, were adminstered to measure managerial and professional motivation, respectively, in a sample of business school seniors. Findings indicate a motivation pattern that is more professional than hierarchical in orientation among business students; thus, confirming Miner's concern for a coming shortage of managerial talent in hier archical organisations. The data also provides an initial norm of student's level of professional motivation. Suggestions for future research that impacts students and organisations is also mentioned.
Expression and reconstitution of the gH/gL/gO complex of human cytomegalovirus.

Background: All herpesviruses examined to date encode a heterodimeric envelope complex consisting of glycoprotein H (gH) and glycoprotein L (gL); however, co-expression of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) gH and gL is not sufficient to reconstitute the high molecular weight complex seen in infected cells. Previously, we showed that HCMV encodes a third glycoprotein, gO, which associates with gH and gL to form an unusual tripartite complex. Objectives: The objective of this study was to reconstitute the HCMV gH-containing complex by co-expression of the gH (UL75), gL (UL115), and gO (UL74) genes. We co-expressed gH, gL, and gO in insect cells using a recombinant baculovirus, and in a mammalian system using triple plasmid transfection. Recombinant complexes from both systems were compared with those expressed in HCMV infected cells by SDS-PAGE and immunoblot or immunoprecipitation with antibodies to gH, gL, or gO. Results: Insect cells infected with the triple gene baculovirus produced gH/gL heterodimers, gH/gL heteromultimers, and gO homomultimers, however, they did not produce detectable tripartite complex. In contrast, co-expression of gH, gL, and gO in mammalian cells produced high molecular weight complexes that closely resemble gH/gL/gO complexes formed in HCMV infected cells. Reduction of disulfide bonds resolved high molecular weight complexes into the three individual glycoproteins. Additionally, cell surface immunofluorescence proved that the complexes are expressed and displayed on the surface of transfected cells. Conclusions: Triple plasmid transfected cells produced high molecular weight complexes that co-migrated with endogenous HCMV gH/gL/gO complexes as analyzed by SDS-PAGE. In addition, several distinct, novel forms of the three glycoproteins were detected.
Dynamic Characteristics of Magnetically-Levitated Vehicle Systems

The dynamic response of magnetically levitated (maglev) ground transportation systems has important consequences for safety and ride quality, guideway design, and system costs. Ride quality is determined by vehicle response and by environmental factors such as humidity and noise. The dynamic response of the vehicles is the key element in determining ride quality, while vehicle stability is an important safety related element. To design a guideway that provides acceptable ride quality in the stable region, vehicle dynamics must be understood. Furthermore, the trade off between guideway smoothness and levitation and control systems must be considered if maglev systems are to be economically feasible. The link between the guideway and the other maglev components is vehicle dynamics. For a commercial maglev system, vehicle dynamics must be analyzed and tested in detail. This report, which reviews various aspects of the dynamic characteristics, experiments and analysis, and design guidelines for maglev systems, discusses vehicle stability, motion dependent magnetic force components, guideway characteristics, vehicle/ guideway interaction, ride quality, suspension control laws, aerodynamic loads and other excitations, and research needs.
Rural livelihood change? Household capital, community resources and livelihood transition

Abstract Using the sustainable livelihoods approach, this study examines the extent to which household human, natural and economic capital, socio-cultural background and physical resources contribute to livelihood change of farm household to non-farm activities in a rural agrarian setting of Nepal. A number of studies examine the influence of various macro-level, particularly economic factors on farm exit in developed countries. However, we know much less about micro-level household and community assets that contribute to decisions on livelihood transition by farm households in developing countries. I use the unique longitudinal panel data between 1996 and 2001 collected from 1180 farm households from a rapidly changing rural agrarian setting of Nepal. The findings reveal that the availability of household labor, particularly children, access to cultivated land, and livestock ownership hinder decision to livelihood transition net of other factors known to influence livelihood change. Moreover, proportion of non-farm households in the community significantly and positively influenced livelihood transition of farm households. These findings provide important insights on livelihood transition in a rapidly changing poor rural agrarian context.
Measurement of Multijet Ratios and a Determination of αs at the Tevatron

In this poster we present several recent results for the prod uction of multijet final states in p ¯ p colli- sions at a center of mass energy of 1.96 TeV, taken with the DO experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron collider.. These measurements, defined as ratios of three-jet to two-je t quantities, reduce the dependence of the results on Parton Distribution Functions (PDFs) and experimental systematic uncertainties. Based on one of these ratio measurements, a value ofs is determined and the running ofs tested over a wide range of jet transverse momenta. p collisions at a center of mass energy of 1.96 TeV which were recorded with the DO experiment (2) at the Fermilab Tevatron collider. The data analyzed were recorded using a sin- gle jet triggers at a variety of thresholds, correspond- ing to an integrated luminosity of 0.7 fb−1. The event selection, jet reconstruction, jet energy and momentum corrections in these measurements follow closely those used in our recent measurements of inclusive jet and di- jet distributions(3-5). Jets are defined by the Run II mid- point cone jet algorithm (6) with a cone radius (for most jet studies) of Rcone = p (�y) 2 + (��) 2 = 0.7.
Screening for adolescent psychopathy among at-risk youth - Initial validation of the survey of attitudes and life experiences

Psychopathic youth pose special challenges to clinicians in providing effective treatment and safe management. Because comprehensive assessments of psychopathy are time intensive and require specia...
Correlation of serum pseudocholinesterase and clinical course in two patients poisoned with organophosphate insecticides.

(1981). Correlation of Serum Pseudocholinesterase and Clinical Course in Two Patients Poisoned with Organophosphate Insecticides. Clinical Toxicology: Vol. 18, No. 4, pp. 401-406.
The need for microsimulation to evaluate osteoporosis interventions.

Simulations play an increasingly important role in the evaluation of osteoporosis interventions. Existing evaluations have been based on “reduced-form” cohort simulations that do not reflect the complexity and heterogeneity of osteoporosis and its outcomes. Such simplified models offer parsimony and ease of use, but they also are limited in their ability to explain and extrapolate outcomes in a way that is most useful for both clinical and health policy decision makers. Alternatively, evaluations could be based on “structural” microsimulations, which explicitly model the underlying biology of osteoporosis at the individual level. The structural approach presents technical challenges, including the need to obtain more-detailed data and the requirement that underlying biological models be validated. However, evaluations based on structural microsimulation may ultimately provide substantially more useful information, resulting in improved decision making.
Use of 17α‐methyltestosterone to sex inverse gynogenic female rainbow trout

Summary Oral administration of 17α-methyltestosterone (MT) was used in two experiments to sex inverse gynogenic rainbow trout. In both experiments MT was mixed into the feed in dosages of .5 mg, 1 mg, and 3 mg/kg. In Experiment 1 the treatment lasted for 300° days, 450° days, and 700° days, and in Experiment 2 for 600° days, 750° days and 938° days. Significant Chi-Square tests (P < 0.01, P < 0.001) regarding the number of phenotypic males in both experiments showed that MT dosage and treatment duration did not act independently. At about 1 year of age the highest numbers of phenotypic males were achieved when a lower dosage (.5 mg or 1 mg) was fed for a longer duration (750° days, 938° days); 100% males were found in the 1 mg-750° d and the .5 mg-938° d treatments. In the 1-year-old phenotypic males in Experiment 2, body weight and gonad weight were correlated with r = 0.60 (P < 0.001). The analyses of variance showed that body weight was affected by gonad weight group and MT dosage, while gonad weight was not affected by MT dosage or treatment duration. Data on sex distribution at maturity are available for Experiment 1. Here, too, the lower dosages of .5 mg and 1 mg/kg applied for the longer 700° day duration, as well as the 1 mg-450° day treatment, and achieved the best results of 60% phenotypic males.
Production test method for evaluating the effect of narrow-band interference on data errors in ultra-wide band (UWB) receivers

The recent demand in wireless standards capable of providing short-range, high-speed data transfer has accelerated the growth of the ultra-wide band (UWB). In this paper, we develop a low cost production test methodology that quantifies the effects of "in-band" interference from WLAN (802.11a) on the ability of UWB receivers to correctly decode received UWB signals. The analysis presented shows the effect of "in-band" interference on the probability of error for a received '0' bit and a received '1' bit. Using a RF signal generator in pulsed mode as the transmitter, we show that very low values of probability of error (at low interference levels) can be estimated with fewer number of bits transmitted compared to standard production test methods.
Systematic testing of generalization level during training in regression-type learning scenarios

In training a learning machine (LM) with unlimited data samples available in the training set, it is important to be able to determine when the LM has attained an adequate level of generalization in order to stop the training process. While this is a problem that has not yet achieved a satisfactory solution, aiding the determination of the generalization level is the observation that as the LM becomes consistent and reaches an acceptable generalization threshold, finding samples from the training set that would make the system fail and trigger a new cycle of the training algorithm to be implemented becomes more infrequent. In a statistical sense, the number of samples that can be tested as having no new information (i.e. information not already learnt from training cycles already completed) between two successive triggers of training events asymptotically displays a faster than exponential growth behavior, which in turn provides a telltale sign of a LM reaching consistency and thus attaining a desired generalization level. This work employs some ideas taken from statistical learning theory to conjecture the existence of such exponential behavior and designs a new approach to implementing the training steps that can exploit this behavior in order to systematically test the generalization level during the training process. Examples of nonlinear regression problems are included to illustrate the ideas and to validate the methods. The obtained results are general and are independent of the configuration of the LM, its architecture, and the specific training algorithm used; hence, they are applicable to a broad class of supervised learning problems.
Simultaneous Adjustment of LIDAR Strips

AbstractLight detection and ranging (LIDAR)-based mapping systems are a well-established technology for the acquisition of three-dimensional (3D) point clouds. Although the results have generally been promising, uncompensated systematic errors in overlapping LIDAR strips cause horizontal and vertical shifts relative to each other. These LIDAR systematic errors are caused by the LIDAR system mounting parameters (boresight misalignment), mirror angles, and range biases. Global positional system/inertial measurement unit (GPS/IMU) drift in position and orientation can also contribute to these systematic errors if a low performance or improperly aligned GPS/IMU system is used. The proposed work demonstrates a 3D simultaneous multiswath block adjustment of overlapping LIDAR strips using elevation and intensity data to remove the LIDAR systematic errors without reference to the original navigational data. This can be achieved using ground control or LIDAR strips flown in different directions (parallel and ortho...
High-efficiency somatic embryogenesis and plant regeneration from suspension cultures of grapevine

Embryogenic suspensions of grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) were initiated from somatic embryos of `Thompson Seedless' and `Chardonnay'. Suspension cultures consisted of proembryonic masses (PEM) that proliferated without differentiation in a medium containing 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D). `Chardonnay' somatic embryos developed fully from PEMs following subculture in medium without 2,4-D; however, somatic embryo development did not advance beyond the heart stage in `Thompson Seedless' suspension cultures. Highly synchronized development of somatic embryos was obtained by inoculating <960-μm PEMs into liquid medium without 2,4-D. Somatic embryos were also produced in large numbers from suspension-derived PEMs of both cultivars on semisolid medium lacking 2,4-D. Somatic embryos matured and regenerated into plants in MS basal medium containing 3% sucrose. Using this method more than 60% of the somatic embryos regenerated plants. More than 90% of the regenerated plants were successfully transferred to the greenhouse.
Mucosal Inflammatory Response to Salmonella typhimurium Infection.

The human intestinal epithelium consists of a single layer of epithelial cells that forms a barrier against food antigens and the resident microbiota within the lumen. This delicately balanced organ functions in a highly sophisticated manner to uphold the fidelity of the intestinal epithelium and to eliminate disease-causing microorganisms. On the luminal side, this barrier is fortified by a thick mucus layer, and on the serosal side exists the lamina propria containing a resident population of immune cells. Pathogens that are able to breach this barrier disrupt the healthy epithelial lining by interfering with the regulatory mechanisms that govern the normal balance of intestinal architecture and function. This disruption results in a coordinated innate immune response deployed to eliminate the intruder that includes the release of antimicrobial peptides, activation of pattern recognition receptors, and recruitment of a variety of immune cells. In the case of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium) infection, induction of an inflammatory response has been linked to its virulence mechanism, the type III secretion system (T3SS). The T3SS secretes protein effectors that exploit the host’s cell biology to facilitate bacterial entry and intracellular survival, and to modulate the host immune response. As the role of the intestinal epithelium in initiating an immune response has been increasingly realized, this review will highlight recent research that details progress made in understanding mechanisms underlying the mucosal inflammatory response to Salmonella infection, and how such inflammatory responses impact pathogenic fitness of this organism.
Drainage of a horizontal Boussinesq aquifer with a power law hydraulic conductivity profile

[1] Solutions to the Boussinesq equation describing drainage into a fully penetrating channel have been used for aquifer characterization. Two analytical solutions exist for early- and late-time drainage from a saturated,homogeneous, and horizontal aquifer following instantaneous drawdown. The solutions for discharge Q can be expressed as dQ/dt = -aQ b , where a is constant and b takes on the value 3 and 3/2 for early and late time, respectively. Though many factors can contribute to departures from the two predictions, we explore the effect of having permeability decrease with depth, as it is known that many natural soils exhibit this characteristic. We derive a new set of analytical solutions to the Boussinesq equation for k oc z n , where k is the saturated hydraulic conductivity, z is the height above an impermeable base, and n is a constant. The solutions reveal that in early time, b retains the value of 3 regardless of the value of n, while in late time, b ranges from 3/2 to 2 as n varies from 0 to oo. Similar to discharge, water table height h in late time can be expressed as dh/dt = -ch d , where d = 2 for constant k and d → oo as n → ∞. In theory, inclusion of a power law k profile does not complicate aquifer parameter estimation because n can be solved for when fitting b to the late-time data, whereas previously b was assumed to be 3/2. However, if either early- or late-time data are missing, there is an additional unknown. Under appropriate conditions, water table height measurements can be used to solve for an unknown parameter.
On the Optimal Petri Net Representation for Service Composition

Service composition has received significant attention in the research community, and the focus has been on service semantics and composition algorithms. Surprisingly, the problem of representation of the composition outcome has been largely ignored. Ad-hoc workflows are often employed, which typically sacrifice alternative paths and parallelism for the sake of simple representation. In this paper, we show how theory of regions, which was originally developed to derive Petri nets from finite state automata, can be applied to find the optimal representation of composition. To apply the theory, we first propose an automaton-based composition framework that incorporates most existing composition techniques without changing the service semantics or its description language. Then based on the special requirements of the composition representation, we develop our own Petri net synthesis algorithm that combines the benefits of two well known algorithms from the theory of regions. We demonstrate that AND/OR workflow nets can limit the concurrency even for simple input/output based service composition, while our Petri net representation is optimal in terms of flexibility and parallelism. Our experimental evaluations include a case study on composing Google Checkout Service, and the study on Oracle BPEL samples, for which our algorithm obtains better concurrent representations for almost all non-trivial cases.
The dataflow time and space complexity of FFTs

Abstract In this paper we analyze the performance of a recursive and an iterative fast Fourier transform algorithm, written in Id and run on MINT, a simulator for the Monsoon dataflow machine. Our complexity measures are: the number of instructions executed, the critical path length of the dataflow graph, and the storage occupancy. Using a set of simple functions, we calibrate loop and divide-and-conquer behavior of Monsoon and compare it with the "tagged token dataflow architecture." We discuss the issues in explicit resource management in a functional language, introduce the language features required for this, and show results of our resource managed FFT programs.
The devil in the details

Despite challenges on minimum necessary competence, intentionality, reliability, and context, the example of cognitive archaeology presented in the target article holds up well. The commentaries also present perspectives on cognition and symmetry that suggest an alternative to the target article's characterization of the cognitive abilities of early Homo erectus. However, the major conclusion of the initial argument – that the human ability to coordinate shape recognition and spatial cognition evolved hundreds of thousands of year ago in conditions unlike those of the modern world – remains intact.
Libet's research on the timing of conscious intention to act: A commentary

S. Pockett (Consciousness and Cognition, this issue) and G. Gomes (Consciousness and Cognition, this issue) discuss a possible bias in the method by which Libet's subjects estimated the time at which they became aware of their intent to move their hands. The bias, caused by sensory delay processing the clock information, would be sufficient to alter Trevena and Miller's (Consciousness and Cognition, this issue) conclusions regarding the timing of the lateralized readiness potential. I show that the flash-lag effect would compensate for that bias. In the last part of my commentary I note that the other target articles do not examine the most interesting aspect of Libet's unfashionable views on free will. I point out that Libet's views are less strange than they at first appear to be.
Lysophosphatidic acid as a novel cell survival/apoptotic factor.

Abstract Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) activates its cognate G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) LPA 1–3 to exert diverse cellular effects, including cell survival and apoptosis. The potent survival effect of LPA on Schwann cells (SCs) is mediated through the pertussis toxin (PTX)-sensitive G i/o /phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt signaling pathways and possibly enhanced by the activation of PTX-insensitive Rho-dependent pathways. LPA promotes survival of many other cell types mainly through PTX-sensitive G i/o proteins. Paradoxically, LPA also induces apoptosis in certain cells, such as myeloid progenitor cells, hippocampal neurons, and PC12 cells, in which the activation of the Rho-dependent pathways and caspase cascades has been implicated. The effects of LPA on both cell survival and apoptosis underscore important roles for this lipid in normal development and pathological processes.
Understanding the space for co-design in riders' interactions with a transit service

The recent advances in web 2.0 technologies and the rapid adoption of smart phones raises many opportunities for public services to improve their services by engaging their users (who are also owners of the service) in co-design: a dialog where users help design the services they use. To investigate this opportunity, we began a service design project investigating how to create repeated information exchanges between riders and a transit agency in order to create a virtual "place" from which the dialog on services could take place. Through interviews with riders, a workshop with a transit agency, and speed dating of design concepts, we have developed a design direction. Specifically, we propose a service that combines vehicle location and "fullness" ratings provided by riders with dynamic route change information from the transit agency as a foundation for a dialog around riders conveying input for continuous service improvement.
Discussing treatment options and risks with medical patients who have psychiatric problems.

Discussing medical treatment options and risks becomes a more complicated task when patients have psychiatric problems. Such patients may perceive risk and judge options differently from usual, they may raise special issues about informed consent and competency, and they may present special needs and stresses in the physicianpatient relationship. This article addresses how to approach such treatment discussions within the framework of 3 content areas of the medical interview (medical decision making, informed consent, and the physician-patient relationship) and 2 formal techniques of the interview (exploration and assertion). Clinical research regarding how psychiatric problems may affect each of these areas of concern is reviewed. Ultimately, the goal of understanding such variations—and of possessing methods to address them in discussing treatment options and risks—is to help the patient be as free as possible from the burden of biases or distortions in making his or her decisions and to promote the best fit between the patient’s wishes and the physician’s medical judgment. She smiled again, raised her eyes to the doctor, and looked at him so sorrowfully, so intelligently; and it seemed to him that she trusted him, and that she wanted to speak frankly to him ....B ut she wassilent, perhaps waiting for him to speak.
Cutaneous burn increases apoptosis in the gut epithelium of mice.

Abstract Background: Gut mucosal homeostasis depends on a balance between cell proliferation and cell death. After cutaneous burn injury, gut mucosal weight has been shown to decrease. This decrease in weight was paradoxically associated with an increase in gut proliferative factors. For mucosal weight to decrease in the presence of increased proliferation, there must be an even greater increase in cell death. We postulate that cutaneous burn injury causes an increase in gut epithelial cell death primarily by apoptosis. Study Design: We produced a 30% full-thickness scald burn in the dorsum of anesthetized male C57BL6 mice and collected the proximal small bowel at 12, 24, 36, 48, and 60 hours after injury. Sham burned animals served as controls. Apoptosis and proliferation were measured by immunohistochemical assays (terminal deoxyuridine nick-end labeling for apoptosis and proliferative cell nuclear antigen assay for proliferation). Apoptosis was also measured by ELISA for cytoplasmic histone-associated DNA fragments. Mucosal height was determined on histologic sections. The two groups were compared at each time point using Wilcoxon two-sample test and t -test with Bonferroni's correction where appropriate. Results: The percentage of apoptotic cells (number of cells stained by terminal deoxyuridine nick-end labeling per 100 villus cells) was significantly higher at 12, 24, and 48 hours after injury. This increase was corroborated by an increase in the ELISA at 12 hours. Proliferation as measured by immunostaining for proliferative cell nuclear antigen significantly increased at 12, 24, 48, and 60 hours. Mucosal height as a gross measure of mucosal atrophy was not different between the groups. Conclusions: We have shown an increase in apoptosis coupled with an increase in proliferation after a burn injury. These results imply an increase in cell turnover in the gut epithelial cells after a burn. Impaired bowel function has been demonstrated repeatedly after burn injury, and this increase in cell turnover may be related.
Active microwave measurements of snow cover progress in polarimetric SAR

In hydrological investigations, modeling and forecasting of snow melt runoff requires information about snowpack properties and their spatial variability. In particular, timely measurement of snow parameters is needed for operational hydrology. This paper reports the authors' recent progress on deriving snow covered area and snow wetness by using the NASA/JPL airborne and SIR-C/X-SAR spaceborne polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery. Mapping areas covered by wet snow in remote alpine regions by using single polarization SAR imagery requires topographic information to obtain correct radiometric measurements and to reduce angular dependence for discrimination. However, the mapping of wet snow by using measurements of the polarization properties from the polarimetric SAR does not require topographic information. The authors have developed and tested an algorithm for snow wetness retrieval using C-band polarimetric SAR imagery. Test results using JPL AIRSAR and SIR-C data show that the authors' algorithms can be used to provide quantitative estimates of liquid water content in the top layer of a snowpack. >
Skulls of the Eocene perissodactyls (Mammalia) Homogalax and Isectolophus

Abstract We describe skulls of the Wasatchian perissodactyl Homogalax and the Bridgerian–Uintan perissodactyl Isectolophus from North America for the first time. These skulls provide information on cranial evolution in tapiromorph perissodactyls as well as on primitive character states for Perissodactyla as a whole. They confirm the retention of a primitive rostrum in these taxa, as Radinsky had previously stated without reference to particular specimens. Characters from skull morphology suggest that Homogalax and Isectolophus should not be included in the same family.
BM3D-AMP: A new image recovery algorithm based on BM3D denoising

A denoising algorithm seeks to remove perturbations or errors from a signal. The last three decades have seen extensive research devoted to this arena, and as a result, today's denoisers are highly optimized algorithms that effectively remove large amounts of additive white Gaussian noise. A compressive sensing (CS) reconstruction algorithm seeks to recover a structured signal acquired from a small number of randomized measurements. Typical CS reconstruction algorithms can be cast as iteratively estimating a signal from a perturbed observation. This paper answers a natural question: How can one effectively employ a generic denoiser in a CS reconstruction algorithm? In response, we develop a denoising-based approximate message passing (D-AMP) algorithm that is capable of high-performance reconstruction. We demonstrate using the high performance BM3D denoiser that D-AMP offers state-of-the-art CS recovery performance for natural images (on average 9dB better than sparsity-based algorithms), while operating tens of times faster than the only competitive method. A critical insight in our approach is the use of an appropriate Onsager correction term in the D-AMP iterations, which coerces the signal perturbation at each iteration to be very close to the white Gaussian noise that denoisers are typically designed to remove. On the analytical side, we develop a new state evolution framework for deterministic signals that accurately predicts the performance of D-AMP and enables us to derive several useful theoretical features.
Self-Determination Theory and Computer-Mediated Support: Modeling Effects on Breast Cancer Patient’s Quality-of-Life

ABSTRACTA breast cancer diagnosis typically results in dramatic and negative effects on an individual’s quality of life. Web-based interactive support systems such as the Comprehensive Health Enhancement Support System (CHESS) offer one avenue for mitigating these negative effects. While evidence supports the efficacy of such systems, evaluations typically fail to provide a true test of the theorized model of effects, treating self-determination theory’s constructs of competence, relatedness, and autonomy as outcomes rather than mediators. Using path analysis, this study tests the nature of the proposed mediated relationship between system engagement and quality-of-life indicators utilizing data collected from women (N = 90) who participated in the treatment condition of a CHESS randomized controlled trial. Findings support a latent model, indicating that system effects are mediated through an intertwined measure of autonomy, competence, and relatedness.
Biologically Inspired Monocular Vision Based Navigation and Mapping in GPS-Denied Environments

This paper presents an in-depth theoretical study of bio-vision inspired feature extraction and depth perception method integrated with vision-based simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM). We incorporate the key functions of developed visual cortex in several advanced species, including humans, for depth perception and pattern recognition. Our navigation strategy assumes GPS-denied manmade environment consisting of orthogonal walls, corridors and doors. By exploiting the architectural features of the indoors, we introduce a method for gathering useful landmarks from a monocular camera for SLAM use, with absolute range information without using active ranging sensors. Experimental results show that the system is only limited by the capabilities of the camera and the availability of good corners. The proposed methods are experimentally validated by our self-contained MAV inside a conventional building.
Abstract A90: Anthropometry, cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, and the risk of thyroid cancer in the U.S. Radiologic Technologists Study

Abstracts: Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research 2008 A90 Several case-control studies suggest that BMI may increase and cigarette smoking may reduce the risk of thyroid cancer, but results from prospective studies are limited. We investigated the associations between anthropometric factors, cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption and thyroid cancer risk by following a cohort of 67,055 female and 20,557 male radiologic technologists in the United States from 1983 through 2006. Hazards ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using proportional hazards models adjusted for age, sex, smoking status, and benign thyroid conditions, and where appropriate, height or BMI. After a mean follow-up of 15.8 years, 268 (229 female and 39 male) incident thyroid cancer cases were ascertained. Obesity (BMI ≥30.0 kg/m2) was associated with an increased risk of thyroid cancer (HR for women= 1.74, 95% CI 1.22, 2.49; HR for men= 2.27, 95% CI 1.00, 5.13) compared to BMI in the normal range (18.5-24.9 kg/m2). Compared to never smokers, current but not former smokers had a reduced risk of thyroid cancer (HR for women= 0.52, 95% CI 0.34, 0.79; HR for men= 0.28, 95% CI 0.08, 0.94). Alcohol consumption and smoking duration and intensity were not associated with thyroid cancer after adjustment for current smoking. The results were similar after restricting to confirmed (N=223, 83%) or papillary (N=191, 86%) thyroid cancers. We estimate that obesity may account for 9% of thyroid cancers in this cohort and 22% of incident thyroid cancers in the United States currently. In this prospective study, obesity increases and current cigarette smoking decreases the risk of thyroid cancer in both women and men. Citation Information: Cancer Prev Res 2008;1(7 Suppl):A90.
Self-organization of river channels as a critical filter on climate signals

Spatial and temporal variations in rainfall are hypothesized to influence landscape evolution through erosion and sediment transport by rivers. However, determining the relation between rainfall and river dynamics requires a greater understanding of the feedbacks between flooding and a river’s capacity to transport sediment. We analyzed channel geometry and stream-flow records from 186 coarse-grained rivers across the United States. We found that channels adjust their shape so that floods slightly exceed the critical shear velocity needed to transport bed sediment, independently of climatic, tectonic, and bedrock controls. The distribution of fluid shear velocity associated with floods is universal, indicating that self-organization of near-critical channels filters the climate signal evident in discharge. This effect blunts the impact of extreme rainfall events on landscape evolution.
The North Star Concert

A creator of special-event T-shirts has to decide how many shirts to order for an upcoming rock concert. Although she has a best guess and maximum and minimum estimates of attendance at the concert, her decision is complicated by this particular group's history of canceling at the last minute, in which case she would be stuck with all the T-shirts.
Abstract LB-286: Dynamic alternative splicing correlates with drug synergy and induces novel gene regulatory networks in MCF7

Drug combination therapies in the cancer setting often succeed where mono-therapies fail, facilitating durable and robust responses that may curtail metastases and even be accompanied by milder side-effects. Here we incorporate transcriptional splicing dynamics with a gene level expression analysis to assess the transcriptional landscape of MCF-7 (ER+) cell-lines across mono or combination therapies in a time course short-read RNA-seq experiment. We leverage the most comprehensive known splicing database of MCF7 to assess the sensitivity and specificity our short-read splicing inference by interrogating the long-read PacBio isoform sequencing (IsoSeq) MCF7 database. We infer robust isoforms which are strongly associated with phenotypic synergy and demonstrate their novel functional role by computing gene-gene coexpression networks which are sensitive to their expression. Briefly, we use RNA-seq to study the transcriptional response over time (0, 3, 6, 9, 12, and 24 h) for three drugs (A, B and C) and their combinations (AB, AC and BC) in MCF-7 (ER+) breast cancer cells lines. Cell viability measurements show that one of the combinations (AB) is strongly synergistic, whereas the other two (AC and BC) are merely additive. We show that in addition to a novel transcriptional signature driven by differential expression, the combination AB transcriptional landscape is characterized by persistent alternative splicing signatures mostly comprised of genes which are not differentially expressed with respect to A or B, but whose functional role has been dramatically changed by the addition (deletion) of a key regulatory protein domain encoded by the extra(missing) exon. We integrate this synergistic splicing signal into a gene regulatory network (GRN) via adaptive network refinement to show that it strongly contributes to the emergence of extensive transcriptional cascades by creating and removing key gene-gene correlations and altering the modular structure of the network. Using this approach we show that a key (heretofor poorly understood) isoform of Protein beta-arrestin-1 (ARBB1), which participates in the desensitization of G-protein coupled receptors through intracellular response to Estrogen, becomes enriched in the calcium ion-dependent exocytosis coexpression module for synergistic therapies only, despite being absent in the baseline MCF-7 long-read PacBio IsoSeq data. Our results directly show that alternative splicing is crucial in any molecular characterization of phenotypic drug synergy in drug-tumor interactions. Citation Format: Xintong Chen, Ali Bashir, Gustavo Stolovitzky, Bojan Losic. Dynamic alternative splicing correlates with drug synergy and induces novel gene regulatory networks in MCF7. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr LB-286.
Free French Africa in World War II. The African Resistance

The French edition of this book, which appeared in 2014, captures the argument precisely: La France Libre fut africaine. Among the first territories to swing to the Free French side of General de G...
Transnational social movements and changing organizational fields in the late twentieth and early twenty‐first centuries

© 2016 The Author(s) Global Networks © 2016 Global Networks Partnership & John Wiley & Sons Ltd Recent decades have seen dramatic changes in the global political arena, including shifts in geopolitical arrangements, increases in popular mobilization and contestation over the direction of globalization, and efforts by elites to channel or curb popular opposition. We explore how these factors affect changes in global politics. Organizational populations are shaped by ongoing interactions among civil-society, corporate and governmental actors operating at multiple levels. During the 1990s and 2000s, corporate and government actors promoted the ‘neoliberalization of civil society’ and the appropriation of movement concepts and practices to support elite interests. Not all movement actors have been passive witnesses to this process: they have engaged in intense internal debates, and they have adapted their organizational strategies to advance social transformation. This article draws from quantitative research on the population of transnational social movement organizations (TSMOs) and on qualitative research on contemporary transnational activism to describe changes in transnational organizing at a time of growing contention in world politics. We show how interactions among global actors have shaped new, hybrid organizational forms and spaces that include actors other than states in influential roles.
Maternal Authority and the Conflicts It Generates in Early Modern Dramatic Plots

This chapter is the historical center of Plotting Motherhood. Dead and living mother plots precede and succeed these centuries, yet they telescope the process in which the western family begins to take a recognizably modern form. Motherhood begins to embody a new significance in early modern texts; it becomes an open and consistent source of conflict, particularly centering on maternal authority and knowledge. Rose argues that Shakespeare’s response to conflictual conceptions of maternal authority is to eliminate mothers entirely from his romantic comedies; in Shakespearean tragedies motherhood is dramatized as a problem. Either maternal will manifests itself in opposition to the hero, serving as prologue to his doom (Coriolanus), or maternal authority and knowledge are represented as opaque and illogical, disturbing and excessive to the plot (Hamlet).
Craniometric analysis of the nasal skeleton and midface in Caucasian population

Background Our goal was to obtain nasal bone and nasal pyramid morphometric measurements in Caucasian skulls and analyze variation in different age groups and gender.
Continuous Time Identification of a Helicopter Rotor Blade System

Abstract An off-line scheme is used to identify the parameters of a two-dimensional, aerodynamic airfoil model of a helicopter rotor blade system. The continuous time dynamic equations are initially replaced by equivalent integral equations. These integral equations are then approximated as algebraic equations by using orthonormal Walsh Functions (WF) and a least-squares method (via a Frobenius norm) is used to identify the model parameters. Simulation results indicate that this scheme is effective.
New Media, Development and Globalization: Making Connections in the Global South

The title of Don Slater’s New Media, Development and Globalization is potentially misleading, as Slater himself admits. It showcases the text’s topics, certainly: three readily recognizable concept...
Redo rotator cuff repair

The shoulder that has undergone multiple operations for rotator cuff pathology represents a challenge for the patient and the clinician. Often, these patients present with painful shoulders, stiffness, and limited function. They typically present after several attempts at rotator cuff repair, supplemental rotator cuff grafting, or even tendon transfers have failed. Significant rotator cuff muscle atrophy on examination and on magnetic resonance imaging suggests that regardless of the treatment, the rotator cuff muscles and tendons will have deteriorated to the extent that complete repair is unlikely. In these patients, the evaluation should include ruling out infection, determining the cause of stiffness and loss of motion, evaluating the possible causes of continued pain and dysfunction, and determining whether arthroplasty will be needed for resolution of the symptoms.
Terry M. Moe, The Comparative Politics of Education: Teachers Unions and Education Systems around the World

Editor: John A. Hird University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, USAIt will surprise few people who follow Terry M. Moe’s work that this volume, edited with Susanne Wiborg, portrays teachers’ unions ...
Noncoding RNAs: Novel Targets in Anticancer Drug Development

Abstract Noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) have long been known to play important roles in gene regulation and have attracted attention for their use in medicine. In particular, the utility of ncRNAs for cancer-targeted therapies is being tested in a large number of preclinical and clinical studies. Here, we describe the role of specific ncRNAs, including microRNAs (miRNAs), long noncoding RNAs, small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), PIWI-interacting RNAs, small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs), and sno-derived RNAs. Although a majority of contemporary literature on the topic of ncRNAs in cancer is on miRNAs and siRNAs, the variety of other types are also likely to play major roles in cancer. Many recent studies on the other types of ncRNAs have shown promise in their potential application for treating cancer. The role that these ncRNAs play in various types of cancers and how they can be manipulated to benefit and optimize anticancer drug development will be discussed in this chapter.
Some effects of horizontal discretization on linear baroclinic and symmetric instabilities

Abstract The effects of horizontal discretization on linear baroclinic and symmetric instabilities are investigated by analyzing the behavior of the hydrostatic Eady problem in ocean models on the B and C grids. On the C grid a spurious baroclinic instability appears at small wavelengths. This instability does not disappear as the grid scale decreases; instead, it simply moves to smaller horizontal scales. The peak growth rate of the spurious instability is independent of the grid scale as the latter decreases. It is equal to c f / Ri where Ri is the balanced Richardson number, f is the Coriolis parameter, and c is a nondimensional constant that depends on the Richardson number. As the Richardson number increases c increases towards an upper bound of approximately 1/2; for large Richardson numbers the spurious instability is faster than the Eady instability. To suppress the spurious instability it is recommended to use fourth-order centered tracer advection along with biharmonic viscosity and diffusion with coefficients ( Δ x ) 4 f / ( 32 Ri ) or larger where Δx is the grid scale. On the B grid, the growth rates of baroclinic and symmetric instabilities are too small, and converge upwards towards the correct values as the grid scale decreases; no spurious instabilities are observed. In B grid models at eddy-permitting resolution, the reduced growth rate of baroclinic instability may contribute to partially-resolved eddies being too weak. On the C grid the growth rate of symmetric instability is better (larger) than on the B grid, and converges upwards towards the correct value as the grid scale decreases.
Using Arduino for introductory programming courses

The Arduino board and programming language is an inexpensive way for faculty to teach embedded system design in introductory courses. In this tutorial, the Arduino board, programming language, and development environment will be introduced. Additionally, simple "real-world" electronic interfaces for Arduino systems, such as LED's, switches, and sensors, will be presented.
Digital Social Entrepreneurs as Bridges in Public–Private Partnerships

Developing innovative projects towards the achievement of the socio-economic impact of a technology is a challenge for the researchers, industry, and policymakers. This research develops a new mode...