cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Abstract 2128: Influence of estrogen receptor status on acquisition of doxorubicin resistance in breast cancer cells

Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed invasive cancer in women. Doxorubicin is being the mainstay treatment for solid cancers including breast cancer. However, chemotherapy resistance, either innate or acquired, is a major limitation in breast cancer treatment. The mechanism of resistance as well as the role of estrogen receptor (ER) status in doxorubicin resistance in breast cancer is not clear. Therefore, objective of this study was to determine whether ER status influence the doxorubicin resistance, and to further identify the molecular mechanism in this process. To address this question, ER-positive MCF-7 and ER-negative MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cell lines were given continuous treatment of clinically relevant concentration of doxorubicin and the pattern of resistance was monitored. Resistance was evaluated using various parameters such as cell count, cell growth and cytotoxicity by MTT assay, cell cycle analysis using flow cytometer. Expression of genes and protein related to cell cycle and cell survival, drug transport, DNA damage repair, metastasis/invasion and epigenetic regulatory complex were measured by qRT- PCR and western blot respectively. Soft agar assay and wound healing assay were performed to determine the anchorage-independent growth and migration potential of resistance cells. Results of MTT assay, and cell cycle revealed that ER-positive MCF-7 cells developed relatively earlier and high level of resistance when compared to MDA-MB-231 cells. This was further confirmed by additional features such as, cancer stem cell markers, epithelial to mesenchymal transition, and increased tumorigenicity in MCF-7 cells than in MDA-MB-231 cells during resistance development. These changes were associated with alteration in drug transporters, cell cycle genes and epigenetic regulatory proteins such as HDAC1 and DNMT1. Pretreatment with demethylating agent 5-aza-deoxycytidine and HDAC inhibitor Trichostatin A significantly resensitized resistance MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells to doxorubicin in comparable to sensitive parental cells. However, this resenstitivty was higher in MCF-7 cells when compared to MDA-MB-231 cells. In summary, result of this study suggests that acquisition of doxorubicin resistance depends on status of estrogen receptor in breast cancer cell lines. Additionally, this differential resistance pattern could be due to differences in epigenetic changes in these two types of breast cancers, thus the acquired resistance could be potentially resensitized using epigenetic therapy Citation Format: Logeswari Ponnusamy, Prathap Kumar Salakatte Mahalingaiah, Kamaleshwar P. Singh. Influence of estrogen receptor status on acquisition of doxorubicin resistance in breast cancer cells. [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 2128.
Authoritarianism in an Age of Democratization: Elite Defections and Electoral Defeat

The previous chapter showed the impact of parties by examining how they affected elite behaviors: When disgruntled leaders seemed to be heading toward forming a separate public faction, the ruling party provided political influence, drawing dissidents back into the coalition by guaranteeing a role in national agenda setting. Historical analysis of elite cohesion and electoral control in Egypt and Malaysia thus provides one set of evidence that ruling parties account for the two countries' shared experience with durable authoritarianism. Reinforcing this account with cases of contrast, the present and following chapter examine the record of nonparty regimes and unbounded tactical alliances in Iran and the Philippines. Such partnerships can be potent vehicles for gaining power and eliminating common foes. They prove ineffective, however, for consolidating power and managing the conflicting interests of newly dominant leaders. Where elites lack reliable mechanisms for protecting their long-term influence, intraregime debates escalate, and distrust mushrooms. Catalyzed by the top leader's earlier abandonment of political parties, personal insecurity spreads in the ruling class. As erstwhile insiders find themselves adrift, they may seek new partners among the marginalized, moderate opposition. Thus, by eschewing any lasting institutional bonds between elites, leaders bent on monopolizing power may instead squander it, alienating the opportunists with whom they previously colluded. Conversely, these estranged elites buoy long-time activists and enable them to make new breakthroughs. During the 1990s, Iran lacked the institutional structure that protected rulers in Egypt and Malaysia from their opponents.
Die Entwicklung der Anaesthesie

Die Geschichte der Entwicklung der Anaesthesie ist, wie die vieler anderer nutzlicher Beitrage zur Zivilisation, reich an Hoffnungen und Enttauschungen, an Erfolgen und Fehlschlagen, an tragischen, aber auch an heiteren Geschehnissen. Die Erbitterung, in der Kontroverse um die Einfuhrung der Athernarkose und des Lachgases, wirkt noch ein Jahrhundert spater nach. Diese Auseinandersetzung ist enttauschend, da sie das Fehlen eines historischen Gesichtspunkts vermuten lassen, wie dies im Streit um Prioritaten so haufig ist.
Do You Have a First Amendment Right to Social Media

This article analyzes recent court decisions, and a pending case before the United States Supreme Court, concerning the degree to which individuals have a First Amendment right under the United States Constitution to use social media. More specifically, this article analyzes the constitutionality of state laws which criminalize social media usage amount convicted felons.
Influence of genetic background, salinity, and inoculum size on growth of the ichthyotoxic golden alga (Prymnesium parvum)

Abstract Salinity (5–30) effects on golden alga growth were determined at a standard laboratory temperature (22 °C) and one associated with natural blooms (13 °C). Inoculum-size effects were determined over a wide size range (100–100,000 cells ml −1 ). A strain widely distributed in the USA, UTEX-2797 was the primary study subject but another of limited distribution, UTEX-995 was used to evaluate growth responses in relation to genetic background. Variables examined were exponential growth rate ( r ), maximum cell density (max-D) and, when inoculum size was held constant (100 cells ml −1 ), density at onset of exponential growth (early-D). In UTEX-2797, max-D increased as salinity increased from 5 to ∼10–15 and declined thereafter regardless of temperature but r remained generally stable and only declined at salinity of 25–30. In addition, max-D correlated positively with r and early-D, the latter also being numerically highest at salinity of 15. In UTEX-995, max-D and r responded similarly to changes in salinity − they remained stable at salinity of 5–10 and 5–15, respectively, and declined at higher salinity. Also, max-D correlated with r but not early-D. Inoculum size positively and negatively influenced max-D and r , respectively, in both strains and these effects were significant even when the absolute size difference was small (100 versus 1000 cells ml −1 ). When cultured under similar conditions, UTEX-2797 grew faster and to much higher density than UTEX-995. In conclusion, (1) UTEX-2797’s superior growth performance may explain its relatively wide distribution in the USA, (2) the biphasic growth response of UTEX-2797 to salinity variation, with peak abundance at salinity of 10–15, generally mirrors golden alga abundance-salinity associations in US inland waters, and (3) early cell density – whether artificially manipulated or naturally attained – can influence UTEX-2797 bloom potential.
The Extracellular and Perivascular Spaces of the Brain

Abstract The central nervous system is an extraordinarily complex cellular and fluid environment. Much evidence exists to suggest that short-range, local distribution in the microenvironment of the neuropil is normally governed by diffusion in the narrow, tortuous brain extracellular space (ECS). Long-range distribution within the central compartment occurs via convection or bulk flow within the cerebrospinal fluid and cerebral perivascular fluid spaces and perhaps also within white matter. The ECS and perivascular spaces may be altered in neurological disease states, particularly those accompanied by brain edema (vasogenic, cytotoxic, hydrocephalic, and osmotic). Pathological production of excess fluid may be accompanied by ECS expansion in highly aligned white matter tracts and drainage into the CSF via bulk flow. Excess fluid may exit the brain by bulk flow into the CSF along the perivascular spaces of cerebral blood vessels, but the edema process itself may also disrupt bulk flow from occurring in the perivascular spaces.
Subphonemic and Suballophonic Consonant Variation: The Role of the Phoneme Inventory

Consonants exhibit more variation in their phonetic realization than is typically acknowledged, but that variation is linguistically constrained. Acoustic analysis of both read and spontaneous speech reveals that consonants are not necessarily realized with the manner of articulation they would have in careful citation form. Although the variation is wider than one would imagine, it is limited by the phoneme inventory. The phoneme inventory of the language restricts the range of variation to protect the system of phonemic contrast. That is, consonants may stray phonetically into unfilled areas of the language's sound space. Listeners are seldom consciously aware of the consonant variation, and perceive the consonants phonemically as in their citation forms. A better understanding of surface phonetic consonant variation can help make predictions in theoretical domains and advances in applied domains.
Classification of machine learning frameworks for data-driven thermal fluid models

Abstract Thermal fluid processes are inherently multi-physics and multi-scale, involving mass-momentum-energy transport phenomena at multiple scales. Thermal fluid simulation (TFS) is based on solving conservative equations, for which – except for “first-principles” direct numerical simulation – closure relations (CRs) are required to provide microscopic interactions or so-called sub-grid-scale physics. In practice, TFS is realized through reduced-order modeling, and its CRs as low-fidelity models can be informed by observations and data from relevant and adequately evaluated experiments and high-fidelity simulations. This paper is focused on data-driven TFS models, specifically on their development using machine learning (ML). Five ML frameworks are introduced including physics-separated ML (PSML or Type I ML), physics-evaluated ML (PEML or Type II ML), physics-integrated ML (PIML or Type III ML), physics-recovered (PRML or Type IV ML), and physics-discovered ML (PDML or Type V ML). The frameworks vary in their performance for different applications depending on the level of knowledge of governing physics, source, type, amount and quality of available data for training. Notably, outlined for the first time in this paper, Type III models present stringent requirements on modeling, substantial computing resources for training, and high potential in extracting value from “big data” in thermal fluid research. The current paper demonstrates and investigates ML frameworks in three examples. First, we utilize the heat diffusion equation with a nonlinear conductivity model formulated by convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and feedforward neural networks (FNNs) to illustrate the applications of Type I, Type II, Type III, and Type V ML. The results indicate a preference for Type II ML under deficient data support. Type III ML can effectively utilize field data, potentially generating more robust predictions than Type I and Type II ML. CNN-based closures exhibit more predictability than FNN-based closures, but CNN-based closures require more training data to obtain accurate predictions. Second, we illustrate how to employ Type I ML and Type II ML frameworks for data-driven turbulence modeling using reference works. Third, we demonstrate Type I ML by building a deep FNN-based slip closure for two-phase flow modeling. The results show that deep FNN-based closures exhibit a bounded error in the prediction domain.
Adaptive Neural Networks in Regulation of River Flows

The demand for water is growing as a result of population growth, competition from agricultural and industrial sectors, global warming, and pollution of water resources. Judicious utilization and conservation of the available water resources is of paramount importance in order to meet the growing demand for water. One of the ways to conserve water is to estimate the water demand accurately, and provide just the right quantity of water to the users, i.e. match supply with demand as closely as possible.
Collaborative study of a method for determining lead in plant and animal products.

A collaborative study of a method for determining lead in grain products, fruit juice, meat, and vegetables was conducted. Eight laboratories reported analytical data for twenty-four test samples. The method involved co-precipitation of lead with strontium sulfate, conversion to carbonate, dissolution in nitric acid, and determination by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Based on the collaborative data presented, it was recommended that the method be adopted as official first action for determination of lead in food products. 3 references, 2 tables.
Perceptions of Resilience and Physical Health Symptom Improvement Following Post Disaster Integrated Health Services

Objective Theorists and researchers have linked resilience with a host of positive psychological and physical health outcomes. This paper examines perceptions of resilience and physical health symptoms in a sample of individuals exposed to multiple community disasters following involvement in integrated mental health services. Methods A multiwave naturalistic design was used to follow 762 adult clinic patients (72% female; 28% minority status), ages 18-92 years (mean age=40 years), who were evaluated for resilience and physical health symptoms prior to receiving services and at 1, 3, and 6 months' follow-up. Results Data indicated increases in perceptions of resilience and decreased physical health symptoms reported over time. Results also indicated that resilience predicted physical health symptoms, such that resilience and physical health symptoms were negatively associated (ie, improved resilience was associated with decreases in physical health symptoms). These effects were primarily observed for those individuals with previous exposure to natural disasters. Conclusions Findings provide correlational evidence for behavioral health treatment provided as part of a stepped-care, collaborative model in reducing physical health symptoms and increasing resilience post-disaster. Controlled trials are warranted. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2019;13:223-229).
Streptococcal Cell Wall Antigens and Rheumatoid Arthritis

Although detailed mechanistic questions still remain, Group A streptococci are the established causative agents of rheumatic fever and poststreptococcal reactive arthritis [4, 14, 18]. The possibility exists that streptococcal or related bacterial antigens are the etiologic agents in some cases of adult or juvenile forms of rheumatoid arthritis. Indeed, a large body of data in support of this hypothesis demonstrates that cell walls from selected types of streptococci and other bacteria are potent inducers of experimental rheumatoid arthritis-like disease in certain strains of rats [11, 58, 59, 60, 62, 64]. Additional data link streptococcal cell wall proteins and related bacterial substances to rheumatoid factor production [9, 32, 42, 58]. Accordingly, this review will summarize some of the more recent information on these issues.
The Association of Hydrocarbon with Basement Rock of Pre-Phanerozoic Age

Until recently, the occurrence of oil and gas in rock of pre-Phanerozoic age was considered of insignificant importance, as demonstrated by published reports and the supposed lack of hydrocarbon source and reservoir rock of Precambrian age. Discoveries since 1956 of economic hydrocarbon deposits associated with Precambrian basement rocks have led to world-wide exploration for similar resources.
Critical thinking as an outcome measure in baccalaureate schools of nursing

This is a descriptive study designed to describe critical thinking relevant to the discipline of nursing as viewed by nurse educators. Deans and Directors of 345 NLN accredited 4year baccalaureate schools of nursing were invited to select the faculty member best able to respond to a survey questionnaire on critical thinking in nursing. One hundred twenty-tv/o respondents participated in the study, providing their own expert beliefs and ideas about critical thinking, not necessarily those of other faculty and/or the nursing program. Content analysis methods were used to discover any areas of consensus among the nurse educators responding to the survey questionnaire. Ninety-one (76%) indicated that critical thinking should include both cognitive abilities and affective qualities, while 43% of the respondants listed needed abilities for critical thinking in both domains and 31% of critical thinking definitions included both domains. Little discrimination among activities such as clinical judgment, problem solving, and decision making as examples of 34 critical thinking was found. The significance of context or the complexity of the situation was identified by ?5% of the respondents as a factor influencing if an activity required critical thinking abilities. Introduction The ability to think critically has been identified as essential in nursing practice (Kemp, 1985; Tiessen, 1987; Burnard, 1989; Kramer, 1993; Case, 1994), and therefore, has become a central concern of nurse educators (White, Beardslee, Peters, & Supples, 1990; Jones & Brown, 1991; Bevis, 1993; Hartley & Aukamp, 1994). The establishment of a required outcome criterion for critical thinking as part of the accreditation process by the National League for Nursing (NLN) for baccalaureate nursing programs has further emphasized the need to foster the development of critical thinking abilities of nursing students. Yet, nurse educators struggle with the formidable tasks of defining critical thinking in nursing practice, designing learning experiences to provide opportunities for practicing critical thinking, and evaluating the outcome of those efforts for purposes of program evaluation. Pless and Clayton summarized this struggle, "Justifiably, nurses have jumped on the bandwagon of critical thinking...once on the bandwagon, however, the elusive butterfly of critical thinking has been difficult to net''
Decision Support Based on Time-Series Analytics: A Cluster Methodology

Web analytic techniques have become increasingly popular, particularly Google Analytics time-series dashboards. But interpretations of a website's visits traffic data may be oversimplified and limited by Google Analytics existing functionalities. This means website mangers have to make estimations rather than mathematically informed decisions. In order to gain a more precise view of longitudinal website visits traffic data, the researchers mathematically transformed the existing Goggle Analytics' log data allowing the vectors of website visits per each year to be considered simultaneously. The methodology groups the data of an example website gathered over an 'x' year period into 'y' clusters of data. The results show that the transformed data is richer, more accurate and informative, potentially allowing website managers to make more informed decisions concerning promoting, developing, and maintaining their websites rather than relying on estimations.
Prayer Is Prologue: The Impact of Town of Greece on the Constitutionality of Deliberative Public Body Prayer at the Start of School Board Meetings

In Town of Greece v. Galloway, the Supreme Court upheld a town board’s practice of opening each session with a prayer – often sectarian – delivered by visiting clergy. The Court drew upon the principles set forth twenty years earlier in Marsh v. Chambers, upholding the legislative prayer practice of the Nebraska state legislature. As the Article title suggests, prayer is prologue in these cases and is therefore permissible. The Court found in both Marsh and Town of Greece that religious invocations at the start of sessions of “legislative and other deliberative public bodies” do not violate the Establishment Clause. Rather, voluntary prayer givers direct these opening prayers toward the policymakers to encourage a spirit of cooperation prior to deliberation.The Town of Greece decision has prompted a number of school boards to revisit their own prayer practices. Since Marsh, circuit courts have positioned school boards at the intersection between the “legislative prayer” exception and the “prayer in schools” prohibition. Enter Town of Greece, which clarified that the concept of legislative prayer applies to even the most intimate of deliberative public bodies. Because school boards equate with town boards in deliberative function and design, the principles established in Town of Greece logically extend to school boards. This Article argues that the Court’s decision in Town of Greece lends a natural extension of its principles to school boards as deliberative public bodies. Part I examines the development of the deliberative public body doctrine leading up to Town of Greece, the avenues taken by school board circuit court precedent, and how some local school boards have reacted since the decision. Part II argues that a school board is nearly identical in nature to a town board, and therefore should have the discretion to open its meetings with an invocation in the same manner that town boards offer opening invocations. Part III explains that any structural distinctions between school boards and town boards are not constitutionally relevant for the limited purpose of solemnizing the meetings of adult school board members with a brief opening invocation. Part IV outlines the extent to which Town of Greece has eroded school board circuit court precedent. Part V examines the special case of student representatives to school boards. Finally, Part VI examines ways in which school districts may minimize potential Establishment Clause issues during opening invocations at school board meetings.
Replacement of pork fat in frankfurter-type sausages by soybean oil oleogels structured with rice bran wax

Abstract The objective of this study was to assess the impact of replacing pork backfat with rice bran wax oleogels on the organoleptic properties of frankfurter-type finely-comminuted sausages. Frankfurters were formulated using the following treatments as lipid replacement: 1) pork fat (PF); 2) soybean oil (SBO); 3) 2.5% rice bran wax oleogel (2.5 RBW); 4) 10% rice bran wax oleogel (10 RBW); and 5) 2.5% rice bran wax oleogel sheared less during frankfurter production (RBW/LS). In general, control PF was darker and redder than other treatments. TPA revealed oleogel treatments to be similar (P > .05) to pork fat treatment for firmness, chewiness, and springiness. Additionally, sensory evaluation revealed that replacing pork fat did not influence cured frankfurter aroma, but cured frankfurter flavor was significantly reduced (P
Repertoires of statecraft: instruments and logics of power politics:

Issues involving ‘statecraft’ lie at the heart of most major debates about world politics, yet scholars do not go far enough in analyzing how the processes of statecraft themselves can reshape the ...
Clinical and radiographic periodontal parameters: Comparison with software generated CBCT measurements

Periodontal diagnosis relies mainly on clinical assessment and radiographic images. The increasing accuracy of CBCT images and the corresponding advancement in computer software for data extraction can be of great help in periodontal diagnosis for bone loss and furcation defects. Thus, the aim of this study was to compare direct surgical measurements to data extracted from periapical radiographs and CBCT by means of software (coPeriodontix™ and Blue Sky Plan ® ) in order to assess the accuracy delivered by these software. Ten patients were included in the study, the number of teeth selected for measurements ranged from one to 10 per patient. Overall: i- 251 measures were included for comparison of linear measurements between surgical and CBCT, ii- 69 measures were compared between surgical and periapical radiographs, iii- 20 furcation defects were recorded peroperatively for comparison with CBCT and periapical radiographs data. All CBCT scans and X-rays were acquired within a maximum period of 1 month prior to surgery. Clinical linear measurements were performed at 6 sites for each tooth, from the cemento-enamel junction to the marginal bone level at the Buccal, Buccal-Mesial, Buccal-Distal, Lingual, Lingual-Mesial, and Lingual-distal side. Furcation defects were recorded according to the classification of Hamp in 1975. Differences between data acquired from these 3 modalities were analyzed. Intra-surgical measurements were considered as “gold standard”. Statistical significance was found between the three modalities concerning linear measurements. CBCT showed less bone loss while intra-surgical measurements showed more bone loss. Furcation defects were similar between CBCT and intra-surgical measurement (P value=1). Intra-oral radiographs showed 38.88% accuracy for furcation defects. The coPeriodontix™ tended to underestimate the real bone loss. The Blue Sky Plan ® accurately depicted the true furcation defect.
Pseudomonas fluorescens increases mycorrhization and modulates expression of antifungal defense response genes in roots of aspen seedlings

Plants, fungi, and bacteria form complex, mutually-beneficial communities within the soil environment. In return for photosynthetically derived sugars in the form of exudates from plant roots, the microbial symbionts in these rhizosphere communities provide their host plants access to otherwise inaccessible nutrients in soils and help defend the plant against biotic and abiotic stresses. One role that bacteria may play in these communities is that of Mycorrhizal Helper Bacteria (MHB). MHB are bacteria that facilitate the interactions between plant roots and symbiotic mycorrhizal fungi and, while the effects of MHB on the formation of plant-fungal symbiosis and on plant health have been well documented, the specific molecular mechanisms by which MHB drive gene regulation in plant roots leading to these benefits remain largely uncharacterized. Here, we investigate the effects of the bacterium Pseudomonas fluorescens SBW25 (SBW25) on aspen root transcriptome using a tripartite laboratory community comprised of Populus tremuloides (aspen) seedlings and the ectomycorrhizal fungus Laccaria bicolor (Laccaria). We show that SBW25 has MHB activity and promotes mycorrhization of aspen roots by Laccaria. Using transcriptomic analysis of aspen roots under multiple community compositions, we identify clusters of co-regulated genes associated with mycorrhization, the presence of SBW25, and MHB-associated functions, and we generate a combinatorial logic network that links causal relationships in observed patterns of gene expression in aspen seedling roots in a single Boolean circuit diagram. The predicted regulatory circuit is used to infer regulatory mechanisms associated with MHB activity. In our laboratory conditions, SBW25 increases the ability of Laccaria to form ectomycorrhizal interactions with aspen seedling roots through the suppression of aspen root antifungal defense responses. Analysis of transcriptomic data identifies that potential molecular mechanisms in aspen roots that respond to MHB activity are proteins with homology to pollen recognition sensors. Pollen recognition sensors integrate multiple environmental signals to down-regulate pollenization-associated gene clusters, making proteins with homology to this system an excellent fit for a predicted mechanism that integrates information from the rhizosphere to down-regulate antifungal defense response genes in the root. These results provide a deeper understanding of aspen gene regulation in response to MHB and suggest additional, hypothesis-driven biological experiments to validate putative molecular mechanisms of MHB activity in the aspen-Laccaria ectomycorrhizal symbiosis.
Differentiability properties of vector valued functions

The theme of this paper is to study the notions of analytic convexity (A-convexity) and the analytic Radon-Nikodyn Property (ARNP) in complex quasi-Banach spaces and produce some characterizations analogous to the known work concerning local convexity and the Radon-Nikodyn Property in the real case. The basic result on A-convexity is Theorem 3.5 which shows that in A-convex spaces there is a Mean-Value Theorem for certain types of Lipschitz functions (functions of analytic type). A similar Theorem for all Lipschitz functions is equivalent to local convexity. The analytic Radon-Nikodyn Property was first studied by Bukhvalov and Danilovich [2] and later, in a non-locally convex setting, by Dowling [4] (see [5]). We ~how here that (Theorem 5.7) ARNP is equivalent to the differentiability (a.e.) of Lipschitz functions of analytic type; again a similar property for all Lipschitz functions is equivalent to the RNP. We also characterize precisely those quasiBanach lattices with ARNP. In our final section we relate this work to recent work of Krotov [10] on the differentiability functions in H for 0 < p < i . We extend Krotov's results P to a wide range of spaces including locally bounded Hardy-Orlicz spaces, HardyLorentz spaces, etc. The point here is that these results are now seen as part of a general theory of vector-valued analytic functions.
Modeling Document Interactions for Learning to Rank with Regularized Self-Attention.

Learning to rank is an important task that has been successfully deployed in many real-world information retrieval systems. Most existing methods compute relevance judgments of documents independently, without holistically considering the entire set of competing documents. In this paper, we explore modeling documents interactions with self-attention based neural networks. Although self-attention networks have achieved state-of-the-art results in many NLP tasks, we find empirically that self-attention provides little benefit over baseline neural learning to rank architecture. To improve the learning of self-attention weights, We propose simple yet effective regularization terms designed to model interactions between documents. Evaluations on publicly available Learning to Rank (LETOR) datasets show that training self-attention network with our proposed regularization terms can significantly outperform existing learning to rank methods.
Deep Learning for mmWave Beam and Blockage Prediction Using Sub-6 GHz Channels

Predicting the millimeter wave (mmWave) beams and blockages using sub-6 GHz channels has the potential of enabling mobility and reliability in scalable mmWave systems. Prior work has focused on extracting spatial channel characteristics at the sub-6 GHz band and then use them to reduce the mmWave beam training overhead. This approach still requires beam refinement at mmWave and does not normally account for the different dielectric properties at the different bands. In this paper, we first prove that under certain conditions, there exist mapping functions that can predict the optimal mmWave beam and blockage status directly from the sub-6 GHz channel. These mapping functions, however, are hard to characterize analytically which motivates exploiting deep neural network models to learn them. For that, we prove that a large enough neural network can predict mmWave beams and blockages with success probabilities that can be made arbitrarily close to one. Then, we develop a deep learning model and empirically evaluate its beam/blockage prediction performance using a publicly available dataset. The results show that the proposed solution can predict the mmWave blockages with more than 90% success probability and can predict the optimal mmWave beams to approach the upper bounds while requiring no beam training overhead.
It Had to Be a Matter of Public Concern: Expanding & Codifying the Connick Test for Private Matters

Public employees, as citizens in many other respects, may be compelled to testify on private matters unrelated to and outside the scope of their job duties. However, this distinction requires reconsideration of the threshold public concern standard, as explained in Connick v. Myers. By challenging how courts apply the factors through inclusion of express government interest statements in statutory and constitutional language, parties’ agency connections for context, and applying free speech time, manner, and place considerations to the form of the speech, courts should find that some private matters may actually relate to public concern and policy. Even where courts may be hesitant to adopt such analytics, Congress and state legislatures have incentives to codify protection of public employee testimony on private matters which touch public concern, due in large part to the significant state and federal public employee populations. Through flexible standards and case-by-case analyses, courts and legislatures can fairly protect employee speech where private matters and public concern converge.
Competency-based assessment in clinical neuropsychology at the post-doctoral level: Stages, milestones, and benchmarks as proposed by an APPCN work group.

In recent years, there has been considerable progress in developing competencies in Clinical Neuropsychology. The field also needs to work towards consistency in competency-based assessment of the ...
Trading costs of private debt

Abstract We use institutional trade and dealer quote data to estimate transaction costs in the over-the-counter leveraged loan market. In the time series, we find an asymmetric response of transaction costs to loan market returns: negative market returns increase costs much more than positive returns decrease them. In the cross-section, our results support the inventory holding costs and adverse selection paradigms of price formation. As expected for a market without the governance role of securities laws and any regulatory oversight, the level of informed trading is high. Finally, liquidity is marginally priced in secondary market loan spreads, as predicted by classic asset pricing theory.
The neonicotinoid imidacloprid alone alters the cognitive behavior in Apis mellifera L. and the combined exposure of imidacloprid and Varroa destructor mites synergistically contributes to trial attrition

Honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) populations have undergone a dramatic decline as an outcome of an increasing incidence of colony collapse disorder (CCD). The honey bee is a unique keystone species be...
A Two-Stage Authorship Attribution Method Using Text and Structured Data for De-Anonymizing User-Generated Content

User-generated content (UGC) is an important source of information on products and services for consumers and firms. Although incentivizing high-quality UGC is an important business objective for any content platform, we show that it is also possible to identify anonymous posters by exploiting the characteristics of posted content. We present a novel two-stage authorship attribution methodology that combines structured and text data by identifying an author first by the amount and granularity of structured data (e.g., location, first name) posted with the UGC and second by the author’s writing style. As a case study, we show that 75% of the 1.3 million users in data publicly released by Yelp are uniquely identified by three structured variable combinations. For the remaining 25%, when the number of potential authors with (nearly) identically structured data ranges from 100 to 5 and sufficient training data exists for text analysis, the average probabilities of identification range from 40 to 81%. Our findings suggest that UGC platforms concerned with the potential negative effects of privacy-related incidents should limit or generalize their posters’ structured data when it is adjoined with textual content or mentioned in the text itself. We also show that although protection policies that focus on structured data remove the most predictive elements of authorship, they also have a small negative effect on the usefulness of content.
Study on Students’ Motivation for Taking a Foreign Language Course

We estimate that foreign language learners in tertiary institutions have individual objectives for studying a particular language. These objectives become a major motivation for these learners to take a foreign language course. It is therefore our major preoccupation in this research to study in detail students’ individual motives for taking a French language course especially at the University level. We believe that having knowledge about students’ individual motivation is beneficial in meeting learning and teaching objectives.
Religiosity and risk taking: Is there a demand-side effect?

Abstract Religiosity may impact firm risk taking via its risk averse employees or through risk-sensitive demand. Using detailed financial statements of property-liability insurance companies, we find that both religiosity at firms' headquarters and the religiosity of firms' largest geographic market are negatively related to firm risk taking. For firms with one salient market, the impact of market religiosity is approximately the same order of magnitude as headquarter religiosity. Our evidence suggests that firm risk taking is influenced by customer demand.
Regional Differences in Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid and Glutamate Concentrations in the Healthy Newborn Brain.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Gamma-aminobutyric acid and glutamate system disruptions may underlie neonatal brain injury. However, in vivo investigations are challenged by the need for special 1H-MR spectroscopy sequences for the reliable measurement of the neurotransmitters in this population. We used J-edited 1H-MR spectroscopy (Mescher-Garwood point-resolved spectroscopy) to quantify regional in vivo gamma-aminobutyric acid and glutamate concentrations during the early postnatal period in healthy neonates. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We prospectively enrolled healthy neonates and acquired Mescher-Garwood point-resolved spectroscopy spectra on a 3T MR imaging scanner from voxels located in the cerebellum, the right basal ganglia, and the right frontal lobe. CSF-corrected metabolite concentrations were compared for regional variations and cross-sectional temporal trends with advancing age. RESULTS: Fifty-eight neonates with acceptable spectra acquired at postmenstrual age of 39.1 (SD, 1.3) weeks were included for analysis. Gamma-aminobutyric acid (+ macromolecule) (2.56 [SD, 0.1]) i.u., glutamate (3.80 [SD, 0.2]), Cho, and mIns concentrations were highest in the cerebellum, whereas NAA (6.72 [SD, 0.2]), NAA/Cho, Cr/Cho, and Glx/Cho were highest in the basal ganglia. Frontal gamma-aminobutyric acid (1.63 [SD, 0.1]), Glx (4.33 [SD, 0.3]), Cr (3.64 [SD, 0.2]), and Cho concentrations were the lowest among the ROIs. Glx, NAA, and Cr demonstrated a significant adjusted increase with postmenstrual age (β = 0.2–0.35), whereas gamma-aminobutyric acid and Cho did not. CONCLUSIONS: We report normative regional variations and temporal trends of in vivo gamma-aminobutyric acid and glutamate concentrations reflecting the functional and maturational status of 3 distinct brain regions of the neonate. These measures will serve as important normative values to allow early detection of subtle neurometabolic alterations in high-risk neonates.
A multi-site array for combined local electrochemistry and electrophysiology in the non-human primate brain

Abstract Background Currently, the primary technique employed in circuit-level study of the brain is electrophysiology, recording local field or action potentials (LFPs or APs). However most communication between neurons is chemical and the relationship between electrical activity within neurons and chemical signaling between them is not well understood in vivo , particularly for molecules that signal at least in part by non-synaptic transmission. New method We describe a multi-contact array and accompanying head stage circuit that together enable concurrent electrophysiological and electrochemical recording. The array is small ( in vivo model systems in neuroscience, including non-human primates where the large brain and need for daily insertion and removal of recording devices places particularly strict demands on design. Results We present a protocol for array fabrication. We then show that a device built in the manner described can record LFPs and perform enzyme-based amperometric detection of choline in the awake macaque monkey. Comparison with existing methods Existing methods allow single mode (electrophysiology or electrochemistry) recording. This system is designed for concurrent, dual-mode recording. It is also the only system designed explicitly to meet the challenges of recording in non-human primates. Conclusions Our system offers the possibility for conducting in vivo studies in a range of species that examine the relationship between the electrical activity of neurons and their chemical environment, with exquisite spatial and temporal precision.
Non-human Primate Models of Parkinson's Disease and Experimental Therapeutics

Publisher Summary This chapter provides an overview of the nonhuman primate models of Parkinson's disease and experimental therapeutics. The nonhuman primate model serves as an important model for understanding the pathophysiology of the basal ganglia, evaluating new treatment modalities for neurodegenerative disorders affecting this region, especially Parkinson's disease (PD). It provides a valuable tool for discovery of new therapeutic targets that may lead to a cure for PD. The nonhuman primate model generated through either neurotoxicant or surgical lesioning has been most commonly used for experimental therapeutic studies in PD, in particular for identifying new symptomatic strategies primarily targeting the dopaminergic system, as well as those neurotransmitter systems known to modulate dopamine. The model is extremely valuable in providing important insights into the pathophysiology and treatment of levodopa-induced dyskinesia, a disabling complication of long-term levodopa use in PD. This chapter begins with a discussion on assessment of motor behavior in nonhuman primate models of PD. It explains nonmotor features in MPTP-leasioned nonhuman primates in detail. The MPTP-lesioned nonhuman primate model is also reviewed in the chapter. The chapter concludes with a discussion on electrophysiological studies of basal ganglia function in the nonhuman primate model of PD.
Dark matter and hierarchies from electroweak symmetry breaking

A simple and well-motivated explanation for the origin of dark matter is that it consists of thermal relic particles that get their mass entirely through electroweak symmetry breaking. Furthermore, this possibility suggests an environmental explanation of the hierarchy between the weak and Planck scales and of the small value of the cosmological constant relative to the weak scale. In simple models with these features, the dark matter is a mixture of two Dirac neutrinos with opposite isospin, and so has suppressed coupling to the $Z$. Other minimal models of this form are also consistent with gauge coupling unification. We predict a dark matter (DM) mass of ${m}_{\mathrm{DM}}\ensuremath{\approx}45\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{GeV}$ or ${m}_{\mathrm{DM}}\ensuremath{\approx}90\char21{}95\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{GeV}$ and DM-neutron spin-independent cross sections ${\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{\mathrm{DM}\mathrm{\text{\ensuremath{-}}}n}\ensuremath{\sim}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}6}\char21{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}8}\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{pb}$. An enhancement of the galactic halo gamma ray and positron flux coming from annihilations of these particles is also expected across the $\ensuremath{\sim}1\char21{}100\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{GeV}$ range.
An empirical analysis of advanced technology. New product development issues

During 1996 and 1997, two empirical investigations into the importance of management-of-technology (MOT) issues (unresolved MOT problems) were completed. In these studies, more than 150 academic and industry participants from 17 countries evaluated the importance of each MOT issue relative to the others of its study. Each study used a DELPHI issues questionnaire methodology, which involved multiple questionnaires in sequence, which enables an initial evaluation of each issue and then subsequent re-evaluations of the same issue. The first study ranks 24 MOT issues and identifies "strategic planning for technology products" as the "number 1 MOT issue". The second study delves more deeply into this number 1 issue, placing 21 "strategic planning for technology Products" sub-issues into rank order of importance, identifying the improper linkages of technology strategic planning with other strategic planning aspects as the most critical technology product planning problem. Discussants provide insights into their reasoning. This article briefly describes each completed DELPHI study's findings (including differences among different countries' participants) and their implications for the MOT field.
Will reducing sugar-sweetened beverage consumption reduce obesity? Evidence supporting conjecture is strong, but evidence when testing effect is weak

Summary We provide arguments to the debate question and update a previous meta-analysis with recently published studies on effects of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) on body weight/composition indices (BWIs). We abstracted data from randomized controlled trials examining effects of consumption of SSBs on BWIs. Six new studies met these criteria: (i) human trials, (ii) 3 weeks duration, (iii) random assignment to conditions differing only in consumption of SSBs and (iv) including a BWI outcome. Updated meta-analysis of a total of seven studies that added SSBs to persons’ diets showed dose-dependent increases in weight. Updated metaanalysis of eight studies attempting to reduce SSB consumption showed an equivocal effect on BWIs in all randomized subjects. When limited to subjects overweight at baseline, meta-analysis showed a significant effect of roughly 0.25 standard deviations (more weight loss/less weight gain) relative to controls. Evidence to date is equivocal in showing that decreasing SSB consumption will reduce the prevalence of obesity. Although new evidence suggests that an effect may yet be demonstrable in some populations, the integrated effect size estimate remains very small and of equivocal statistical significance. Problems in this research area and suggestions for future research are highlighted.
Charmed meson production in quark exchange model

Abstract Dynamical calculations of charmed meson production rates (via quark exchange) are presented, replacing previous kinematic predictions. Agreement with recent data on the ratio of production rates for different two-charmed-meson final states is reached, and other features of the calculated rates are also discussed.