cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Multi-Agent Service Description/Discovery Games

Agent description and discovery (ADD) is a critical infrastructure for open multi-agent services. As multi-agent systems grow larger and more diverse, it becomes harder to locate useful service partner agents without efficient, effective ADD infrastructure. ADD functions rest on ontological foundations. Agent services are described and sought using terms that represent their identity, function, offerings, resource requirements, access rights, etc. In a truly distributed system, common global semantics for these terms can’t be assumed, and there may be competition for using the same terms to describe different agent services; term choice matters. Descriptions clearly influence searchability, while search processes clearly favor some description regimes over others. In general, then, we need principles for describing agents and for structuring search processes based on clear principles of how description and discovery interact. This research aims at developing those principles. We study three specific questions: What equilibria exist in the space of service descriptions for populations of interacting ADD services; what rules for choosing descriptive terms yield the greatest social payoff (at equilibrium); and how close to optimum social payoff can an interacting ADD system get in principle? This research has many implications for understanding the collective properties of ADD processes and for the design of ADD systems.
Effect of corn germ protein on the quality characteristics of beef patties heated by microwave.

. Beef patties were extended at levels of 10, 20, and 30% of the uncooked weight with a slurry of defatted corn germ protein (CGP) and heated by microwave. Extended patties had lower heating losses and higher yields than control patties. Incorporation of CGP in beef patties lowered protein and fat contents, increased moisture contents, increased water and fat retention, decreased cohesiveness of beef patties, but did not affect hardness. Addition of CGP affected sensory characteristics: meaty aroma and flavor decreased with an increase from 10 to 30% CGP. Corn germ protein is recommended as an extender in coarsely ground meats.
Research of pre-estimating method on aircraft sudden fault

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to solve difficult estimation problem on aircraft sudden fault by proposing a new pre-estimating method according to the energy evolution degree of the sensitive parameters to estimate the sudden fault. The sudden fault affects seriously the flight safety of aircraft. Design/methodology/approach – It is based on the dissipative structure theory, and the evolution process of energy parameters is utilized. First, the evolution key points of sudden fault are determined by the time-varying entropy of sensitive parameters and the frequency band energy distribution. Then, we can obtain the evolution degree of sample while the evolution key points import the logistic regression (LR) model, and one can establish the pre-estimation model by means of relevance vector machine (RVM). While the evolution feature vector imports the RVM pre-estimation model, one can pre-estimate the sudden fault of aircraft. Findings – The simulation results showed that this method can not only tra...
Response to the Unthinkable: Collecting and Archiving Condolence and Temporary Memorial Materials following Public Tragedies

From Oklahoma City to Columbine to the Boston Marathon finish line, individuals around the world have responded to violent mass deaths publicized in mainstream media by creating ever-larger temporary memorials and sending expressions of sympathy—such as letters, flowers, tokens, and mementos—by the tens and even hundreds of thousands. Increasingly, there is an expectation that some, if not all, of the condolence and temporary memorial items will be kept or saved. This unusual and unexpected task of archiving so-called “spontaneous shrines” often falls to libraries and archives and few protocols, if any, exist for librarians and archivists in this role. This chapter aims to provide insight and guidance to librarians or archivists who must develop their own unique response to unanticipated and unthinkable tragedies. Response strategies are covered in both a discussion of the history and literature surrounding temporary memorials and three disaster case studies: the 1999 Texas A&M Bonfire Tragedy, the 2007 Virginia Tech Campus Shooting, and the 2012 Sandy Hook School Tragedy. We’ve all become a nation of hoarders. – Dr. Erika Doss, American University
Effectiveness of a multidisciplinary intervention to improve hypertension control in an urban underserved practice

Patient-centered, multidisciplinary interventions offer one of the most promising strategies to improve blood pressure (BP) control, yet effectiveness trials in underserved real-world settings are limited. We used a multidisciplinary strategy to improve hypertension control in an underserved urban practice. We collected 1007 surveys to monitor medication adherence and used weighted generalized estimating equations to examine trends in BP control. We examined 13,404 visits from patients with hypertension between August 2010 and February 2014. Overall, BP control rates increased from 51.0% to 67.4% (adjusted odds ratio, 1.58; 95% confidence interval, 1.44-1.74) by the end of the intervention phase and were maintained during the postintervention phase (adjusted odds ratio, 1.60; 95% confidence interval, 1.41-1.82). Medication adherence scores increased across the intervention (5.9-6.6; P < .001), but were not sustained at the conclusion of the study (5.9-6.2; P = .16). A multidisciplinary team approach involving registered nurses, pharmacists, and physicians resulted in substantial improvements in hypertension control in a real-world underserved setting.
Critical Visual Analysis

This chapter presents qualitative methods for researching images, including advertising images, websites, film, and photographs. I draw on a theory of visual consumption to show how cultural codes and representational conventions inform contemporary marketing images, infusing them with visual, historical, and rhetorical presence and power. Critical visual analysis offers researchers an interdisciplinary method for understanding and contextualizing images - crucial concerns, given the cultural centrality of vision. If marketing depends upon images, including brand images, corporate images, product images, and images of identity, then research methods in marketing must be capable of addressing issues that such images signify. By connecting images to the cultural context of consumption, researchers gain a more thorough - yet never complete - understanding of how images embody and express cultural values and contradictions. To illustrate how theory informs critical visual methods, I invoke an analytical concept of consuming difference to describe a relational framework of contemporary branding campaigns. I discuss how marketing communication draws upon the ideology of the group portrait as a visual technique for representing identity. I treat advertising imagery much the way an art historian treats pictures as I analyze illustrative examples through the classic art historical techniques of formal analysis, compare and contrast, and interpretation - framed within representation understood as a cultural practice.
Androgen-receptor defect abolishes sex differences in nitric oxide and reactivity to vasopressin in rat aorta.

Contractions of rat thoracic aorta to vasopressin (VP) are threefold higher in females (F) than in males (M), primarily because nitric oxide (NO) attenuation of contraction is greater in M. To dete...
Salt Bridge Rearrangement (SaBRe) Explains the Dissociation Behavior of Noncovalent Complexes.

Native electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry, with gas-phase activation and solution compositions that partially release subcomplexes, can elucidate topologies of macromolecular assemblies. That so much complexity can be preserved in gas-phase assemblies is remarkable, although a long-standing conundrum has been the differences between their gas- and solution-phase decompositions. Collision-induced dissociation of multimeric noncovalent complexes typically distributes products asymmetrically (i.e., by ejecting a single subunit bearing a large percentage of the excess charge). That unexpected behavior has been rationalized as one subunit “unfolding” to depart with more charge. We present an alternative explanation based on heterolytic ion-pair scission and rearrangement, a mechanism that inherently partitions charge asymmetrically. Excessive barriers to dissociation are circumvented in this manner, when local charge rearrangements access a lower-barrier surface. An implication of this ion pair consideration is that stability differences between high- and low-charge state ions usually attributed to Coulomb repulsion may, alternatively, be conveyed by attractive forces from ion pairs (salt bridges) stabilizing low-charge state ions. Should the number of ion pairs be roughly inversely related to charge, symmetric dissociations would be favored from highly charged complexes, as observed. Correlations between a gas-phase protein’s size and charge reflect the quantity of restraining ion pairs. Collisionally-facilitated salt bridge rearrangement (SaBRe) may explain unusual size “contractions” seen for some activated, low charge state complexes. That some low-charged multimers preferentially cleave covalent bonds or shed small ions to disrupting noncovalent associations is also explained by greater ion pairing in low charge state complexes.
La coordination territoriale d’appui, rôle et compétences infirmières

Backup territorial coordination provides accompaniment and support for professionals who work with the fragile elderly people in an area. It aligns the sanitary, medical-social and social approaches, and mobilizes useful resources to optimize the treatment pathway. It has been implemented in the Nancy urban area by an operational team including nurses and a geriatric physician.
Renal Hypertension in Children

Preliminary results of this retrospective-prospective analysis of renal hypertension in 110 children indicate that hypertension may be secondary to a wide variety of acute progresive, and chronic renal diseases which may be either congenital or acquired. Affected children may be detected at any time from infancy through adolescence. Symptoms usually associated with acute glomerulonephritis (i.e., headache, swelling, nausea, vomiting, anorexia, fatigue, dizziness, and fever) occur in both acute and chronic renal diseases associated with hypertension. Headache and swelling are the most common symptoms in this series. Peripheral edema, rales, and increased heart size were found in between 10 and 25% of these children. Differential diagnosis may be approached by a consideration of causes of acute and chronic hypertension. The child with chronic renal disease usually presents with a long history of fatigability, poor growth, and pallor, and laboratory tests reveal elevation of the creatinine and BUN along with anemia, hypocalcemia, and hyperphosphatemia. In contrast, the child with acute renal disease and hypertension presents with a history of prior good health followed by the abrupt onset of signs and symptoms of renal disease; laboratory tests usually reveal modest elevations of creatinine and BUN, anemia is unusual, an abnormal urinalysis is common, and serum calcium and phosphorous levels are usually normal. Renovascular and asymmetric renal parenchymal disease represent uncommon but important conditions because surgery may be curative. Treatment may be surgical, medical, or combined. Surgical conditions include renal trauma, hydronephrosis, asymmetric renal disease, and renal arterial disease. Adequate blood pressure control without medication can be expected following surgery in instances of unilateral involvement with a normal contralateral kidney. Meticulous assessment of the contralateral kidney is needed to determine that it is normal. If surgery is unsuccessful or is not indicated, pharmacologic therapy is initiated with a stepwise regimen starting with the mildest agent (e.g., thiazides) and then adding additional antihypertensive drugs when adequate blood pressure control has not yet been achieved. The goal of therapy is the lowest, safest, tolerated blood pressure levels. Long-term, carefully designed studies of antihypertensive agents for children with renal hypertension are not available. The need for collection and critical analysis of data concerning the clinical course of children with renal hypertension is evident from a review of the literature and from the preliminary data presented in this series. The presentation of such information and a critique of outcome variables will provide a basis for program planning for affected children and improvement in patient care where indicated.
Treatment with the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, fluoxetine, attenuates the fish hypoxia response

The selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) fluoxetine (FLX), the active ingredient of the antidepressant drug Prozac, inhibits reuptake of the neurotransmitter, serotonin (5-HT; 5-hydroxytryptamine), into cells by the 5-HT transporter (SERT). Given the role of 5-HT in oxygen detection and the cardiovascular and ventilatory responses of fish to hypoxia, we hypothesized that treatment of the Gulf toadfish, Opsanus beta, with FLX would interfere with their response to hypoxia. Toadfish treated intra-arterially with 3.4 μg.g−1 FLX under normoxic conditions displayed a transient tachycardia and a biphasic caudal arterial blood pressure (PCA) response that are in direct conflict with the typical hypoxia response. Fish injected intraperitoneally with FLX under normoxia had resting cardiovascular and ventilatory parameters similar to controls. Upon exposure to hypoxia, control toadfish exhibit a significant bradycardia, reduction in PCA and an increase in ventilatory amplitude (VAMP) without any changes in ventilatory frequency (fV). Fish treated IP with 10 μg.g−1 FLX showed an interference in the cardiovascular and ventilatory response to hypoxia. Interestingly, when treated with 25 μg.g−1 FLX, the bradycardia and VAMP response to hypoxia were similar to control fish while the PCA response to hypoxia was further inhibited. These results suggest that SERT inhibition by FLX may hinder survival in hypoxia.
Influence of Domain Walls in the Incommensurate Charge Density Wave State of Cu Intercalated 1 T − TiSe 2

We report a low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy study of the charge density wave (CDW) order in 1T-TiSe_{2} and Cu_{0.08}TiSe_{2}. In pristine 1T-TiSe_{2} we observe a long-range coherent commensurate CDW (CCDW) order. In contrast, Cu_{0.08}TiSe_{2} displays an incommensurate CDW (ICDW) phase with localized CCDW domains separated by domain walls. Density of states measurements indicate that the domain walls host an extra population of fermions near the Fermi level which may play a role in the emergence of superconductivity in this system. Fourier transform scanning tunneling spectroscopy studies suggest that the dominant mechanism for CDW formation in the ICDW phase may be electron-phonon coupling.
Multiple Mechanisms Contribute to the PAC1 Modulation of Parasympathetic Cardiac Neuron Excitability

Pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) is a potent intercellular signaling molecule that regulates a variety of central and peripheral neuronal circuits important for behavior and physiological homeostasis. Although central neurons are not readily accessible for mechanistic studies, the ability for PACAP/PAC1 receptor signaling to increase neuronal excitability in guinea pig parasympathetic cardiac ganglia provides a unique means to establish intracellular PACAP mechanisms in neuronal function. The guinea pig cardiac neurons predominantly express a very short null PAC1 receptor isoform which is coupled to the adenylyl cyclase and MEK/ERK signaling cascades. PACAP/PAC1 receptor activation of adenylyl cyclase and the resulting rise in intracellular cAMP enhances the nonselective cationic current Ih; treatment with Ih inhibitors diminishes the PACAP-induced increase in excitability. Thus, a shift in the voltage-dependence of Ih activation is one ionic mechanism contributing to the PACAP-induced increase in cardiac neuron excitability. Low concentrations of nickel also blunt the peptide-induced increase in excitability, suggesting that a PACAP enhanced calcium influx through T-type voltage-dependent calcium channels contributes to the modulation of excitability. Reducing ambient temperature and treatments with endocytosis inhibitors Pitstop2 or dynasore efficaciously block PACAP modulation of excitability suggesting PACAP/PAC1 receptor internalization for endosomal MEK/ERK activation is requisite for the PACAP responses. In sum, the results presented in this review demonstrate that the PACAP/PAC1 receptor interactions can activate multiple intracellular signaling cascades to selectively modulate ionic conductances that gate neuronal excitability.
Positive Psychology, Existential Psychology, and the Presumption of Egoism

Positive psychology and existential psychology are commonly thought to reflect radically different perspectives on the deep questions of human nature, what constitutes legitimate psychological inquiry, and the meaning of the good life. In this chapter, we identify and discuss three important ways in which positive psychology and existential psychology seem to differ. In particular, we examine positive psychology’s commitment to studying the conditions of happiness, its heavy reliance on traditional methods of empirical research, and its advocacy of a scientifically grounded “calculus of well-being,” whose prescriptive purpose is to actively bring about a greater measure of happiness and flourishing in people’s lives. By way of contrast, we also examine existential psychology’s notion that suffering has a central role in a life of genuine significance, its deep skepticism of the ability of traditional scientific approaches to adequately capture human subjectivity and meaning, and its rejection of any utopic vision of human flourishing that is grounded in hedonism and its ethical precepts. The main thrust of our analysis, however, is that beneath these significant conceptual and practical differences, both positive and existential psychologies share a thorough-going commitment to an egoistic depiction of human nature. That is, both approaches focus their conceptual efforts inward, looking to the self as the center of human action and relationships. In short, we argue that positive psychology and existential psychology have a crucial and often overlooked commonality at their core that is not merely a “papering-over” of essential differences, nor an attempt to superficially reconcile two radically different intellectual traditions. As such, both traditions are fundamentally inadequate for addressing human relationships in terms that do not reduce the relevance and value of others to an instrumental value to the self.
Racial Disparities in Menu-Labeling Usage: Analysis of the 2012 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) Sugar-Sweetened Beverage and Menu-Labeling Module

Race/ethnic disparities in obesity are widely reported and are often attributed to diet-related factors, such as menu-labeling usage. We aimed to determine whether racial difference exists in menu-labeling usage. Data from the 2012 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System were used. Menu labeling was measured from the Sugar-Sweetened Beverages and Menu Labeling module administered in 18 states. We stratified the population into four race/ethnic categories: non-Hispanic whites (reference, n = 66,019, 63%), non-Hispanic blacks (n = 13,623, 13%), Hispanics (n = 14,671, 14%), and others (n = 7336, 7%). Logistic regression was used to examine the racial/ethnic differences in menu-labeling usage. Analyses were conducted adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics, sugar-sweetened beverage intake, and exercise. The prevalence of menu-labeling usage was approximately 55% overall. Hispanics (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 1.35; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.14–1.60) and other race/ethnic groups (AOR, 1.39; 95% CI, 1.18–1.64) used menu labeling more compared to non-Hispanic whites. After stratification by race/ethnicity, menu-labeling usage was not associated with exercise or soda consumption among Hispanics, but significant associations were observed among the other three race/ethnic groups. The findings suggest that participation in healthy behaviors was associated with the higher usage of menu labeling across all racial/ethnic groups except Hispanics. Future studies are needed to explore this mechanism among individuals engaging in unhealthier behavior as well as how it affects Hispanics.
Advantages and challenges in using mobile apps for field experiments: A systematic review and a case study:

As smartphone’s computing power continues to grow and as mobile applications (apps) continue to dominate digital engagement, apps have become a new frontier for advancing field experiment methodology. Using apps may help researchers to scale up the reach, precisely control randomization and experiment materials, collect a variety of objective and self-reported data over time, and more conveniently replicate and adapt an experiment. We performed a systematic review on field experiments involving apps published between 2007 and 2017. Seven databases were scanned using a predefined search strategy. The database search retrieved 4,810 citations; 101 articles met the inclusion criteria. Our review suggests that scholars have only started to employ apps in field experiments in the last 4 years. Most studies only used apps as an experiment treatment instead of an experiment platform; therefore, researchers have yet to fully leverage the advantages. Almost all studies were from the health research domain and 77.2...
A mindfulness intervention to reduce maternal distress in neonatal intensive care: a mixed methods pilot study.

Mothers with an infant in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) are at risk for depression, anxiety, and trauma symptoms, with negative implications for maternal-infant bonding, maternal well-being, and infant development. Few interventions to promote NICU mothers’ mental health, however, have been developed or tested. This pre-post pilot study assessed feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary outcomes of a mindfulness intervention for NICU mothers. Twenty-seven mothers were recruited from a university NICU and offered a mindfulness intervention via introductory video and audio-recorded practices. Participants completed a baseline self-report survey. After 2 weeks of engaging with intervention materials, participants completed a second survey and in-depth interview. Quantitative data were analyzed using paired t tests; qualitative data were analyzed using thematic coding. Twenty-four women (89%) completed the study. Quantitative data indicated significant improvements in depressive, anxiety, and trauma symptoms, negative coping, NICU-related stress, and sleep (p < 0.05). Qualitative data identified themes of perceived improvements in psychological distress and stress symptoms, self-care, and relationships. Findings support the mindfulness intervention’s feasibility, acceptability, and potential promise for reducing maternal distress and promoting well-being. Use of video and audio modalities may facilitate program sustainability and scale up. Further research on the program is merited.
An Automated Charger for Large-Scale Adoption of Electric Vehicles

The penetration of electric vehicles (EVs) is expected to increase in the future. With more EVs on the road, more loads will be added to power systems, which will impact the system voltage and loading. This paper studies the impact of the EVs on the distribution system and provides an automated controller that satisfies the customer requirements and mitigates the negative impacts of the charging of EVs on the system. The controller takes into consideration the system voltage, the customer requirements, and the state of charge of the battery. The controller is tested using a large-scale distribution system in MATLAB Simulink. It is also validated using a small-scale four-bus experimental system. To show the interaction between local distributed generations (DGs) with the EV charging, the controller is tested in the presence of DG units. The results showed the superior performance of the controller in charging the EVs smoothly and mitigating the negative impacts of the grid.
The Politics of Legal Ethics: Case Study of a Rule Change

This Article was prepared for the Ted Schneyer Ethics Symposium: Lawyer Regulation for the 21st Century held at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law in January 2011. Despite its obvious importance to the content and legitimacy of a state’s rules of legal ethics, the process by which these rules are made has received little scholarly attention. This Article undertakes a case study of the 2005 amendments to the Texas ethics rule governing referral fees and fee sharing among attorneys as a window through which to explore some larger questions about state supreme courts’ regulation of the legal profession: what are (and should be) the goals and purposes of the process by which states’ rules of legal ethics are made; and how might that rulemaking process be (re)structured in order best to achieve those goals and purposes?
Preclinical studies of the combination of angiogenic inhibitors with cytotoxic agents

TNP-740, minocycline, suramin and genistein have demonstrated antiangiogenic activity in various experimental systems. The effect of these agents alone and in two agent combinations on the number of intratumoral vessels and response to cytotoxic anticancer therapies was assessed in animals bearing the Lewis lung carcinoma. Treatment with each of the antiangiogenic agents alone and in two agent combinations decreased the number of intratumoral vessels visualized by CD31 or Factor VIII staining to 30% to 50% of the number in the untreated control tumors. In general, the antiangiogenic agents are more effective adjuvants to cytotoxic therapies when used as two agent combinations than as single agents. The most effective antiangiogenic combinations were: TNP-470/minocycline > TNP-470/genistein > TNP-470/suramin. The increases in the response of the primary tumor to cyclophosphamide, adriamycin, CDDP, BCNU, x-rays or 5-fluorouracil and the lung metastases occur to about the same level with the addition of antiangiogenic agents to the therapies. With the treatment combination TNP-470/minocycline/cyclophosphamide 40% of the animals were cured. The results of these studies indicate that antiangiogenic agents can be very useful additions to treatment regimens for solid tumors.
The economics behind the math gender gap: Colombian evidence on the role of sample selection

Abstract The literature that has previously shown that boys outperform girls in math tests has failed to explain the underlying causes of the phenomenon. This math gender gap has been documented to vary across countries, and shown to grow as students advance through school. In this paper I suggest that these patterns may be explained by sample selection caused by gender differences in schooling's opportunity costs, which lead lower-achieving males to drop out. I present and test the implications of a labor supply model that examines the opportunity cost of school attendance and, thereby, the observed math gender gap. Using an exogenous policy change, the launch of a conditional cash transfer program in Colombia, I estimate that sample selection explains between 50 percent and 60 percent of the gap. Estimates of non-parametric bounds show that selection in the lower quantiles of the male distribution explains a significant portion of the gap.
Psychedelic Moral Enhancement

The moral enhancement (or bioenhancement) debate seems stuck in a dilemma. On the one hand, the more radical proposals, while certainly novel and interesting, seem unlikely to be feasible in practice, or if technically feasible then most likely imprudent. But on the other hand, the more sensible proposals – sensible in the sense of being both practically achievable and more plausibly ethically justifiable – can be rather hard to distinguish from both traditional forms of moral enhancement, such as non-drug-mediated social or moral education, and non-moral forms of bioenhancement, such as smart-drug style cognitive enhancement. In this essay, I argue that bioethicists have paid insufficient attention to an alternative form of moral bioenhancement – or at least a likely candidate – that falls somewhere between these two extremes, namely the (appropriately qualified) use of certain psychedelic drugs.
The Op-ed Sociologists: The Matthew Effect in Op-ed Publication Patterns

Many sociologists have discussed the pros and cons of writing op-eds for major newspapers, but little is known about how many sociologists are actually involved in this activity, who these people are, or how this group has changed over time. Although some related studies exist, none consider the historical dynamics of op-ed writing or theorize about why some sociologists publish op-eds and others do not. This study examines op-ed publications in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post over a 32-year period (1980 to 2011). In addition to estimating the total number of publications by sociologists, it presents a descriptive portrait of the authors themselves. The study also shows that the length and number of op-eds published by sociologists depend on the authors’ sex, professional rank, university affiliation and other elements of social status. Finally, supporting Merton’s Matthew effect, the findings reveal in part how the gap between the upper and lower levels of the academic hierarchy – as it pertains to op-ed publication – has widened in the last decades.
Interpreting the Data on Father Involvement: Implications for Parenting Programs for Men:

The authors examined the relationship between parental attitudes toward and perceptions of father involvement in families according to the degree of paternal participation in child rearing. Subject...
Using Relevant Animations to Counter Stereotype Threat When Learning Science

Much research has supported the notion that adding relevant animations to science text can positively impact learning. Can relevant animations also provide an opportunity to address other issues that affect learning, specifically situations when learners are explicitly placed under stereotype threat? The current study extends work on both animations and stereotype threat by examining whether relevant imagery can positively address issues of stereotype threat. Participants were placed under threat or not, and then read a science text that was either illustrated or not. Results replicated the broad effects of both stereotype threat and animations, but also found that these factors interact. Specifically, the presence of animations seemed to negate the negative effects of primed maladaptive stereotypes. This suggests that relevant animations do have an insulating effect on learners relative to stereotype threat and may protect them from salient assaults on their perceived ability to learn science material.
DI/LC-MS/MS-Based Metabolome Analysis of Plasma Reveals the Effects of Sequestering Agents on the Metabolic Status of Dairy Cows Challenged with Aflatoxin B1.

The study applied a targeted metabolomics approach that uses a direct injection and tandem mass spectrometry (DI–MS/MS) coupled with a liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS)-based metabolomics of plasma to evaluate the effects of supplementing clay with or without Saccharomyces cerevisiae fermentation product (SCFP) on the metabolic status of dairy cows challenged with aflatoxin B1. Eight healthy, lactating, multiparous Holstein cows in early lactation (64 ± 11 DIM) were randomly assigned to one of four treatments in a balanced 4 × 4 duplicated Latin square design with four 33 d periods. Treatments were control, toxin (T; 1725 µg aflatoxin B1 (AFB1)/head/day), T with clay (CL; 200 g/head/day), and CL with SCFP (YEA; 35 g of SCFP/head/day). Cows in T, CL, and YEA were dosed with aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) from days 26 to 30. The sequestering agents were top-dressed from day 1 to 33. On day 30 of each period, 15 mL of blood was taken from the coccygeal vessels and plasma samples were obtained from blood by centrifugation and analyzed for metabolites using a kit that combines DI–MS/MS with LC–MS/MS-based metabolomics. The data were analyzed using the GLIMMIX procedure of SAS. The model included the effects of treatment, period, and random effects of cow and square. Significance was declared at p ≤ 0.05. Biomarker profiles for aflatoxin ingestion in dairy cows fed no sequestering agents were determined using receiver–operator characteristic (ROC) curves, as calculated by the ROCCET web server. A total of 127 metabolites such as amino acids, biogenic amines, acylcarnitines, glycerophospholipids, and organic acids were quantified. Compared with the control, T decreased (p < 0.05) plasma concentrations of alanine, leucine, and arginine and tended to decrease that of citrulline. Treatment with CL had no effects on any of the metabolites relative to the control but increased (p ≤ 0.05) concentrations of alanine, leucine, arginine, and that of citrulline (p = 0.07) relative to T. Treatment with YEA resulted in greater (p ≤ 0.05) concentrations of aspartic acid and lysine relative to the control and the highest (p ≤ 0.05) plasma concentrations of alanine, valine, proline, threonine, leucine, isoleucine, glutamic acid, phenylalanine, and arginine compared with other treatments. The results of ROC analysis between C and T groups revealed that the combination of arginine, alanine, methylhistidine, and citrulline had sufficient specificity and sensitivity (area under the curve = 0.986) to be excellent potential biomarkers of aflatoxin ingestion in dairy cows fed no sequestering agents. This study confirmed the protective effects of sequestering agents in dairy cows challenged with aflatoxin B1.
A Time Scales Approach for Modeling Intermittent Hormone Therapy for Prostate Cancer

Prostate cancer is a common cancer among males in the USA and is often treated by intermittent androgen deprivation therapy. This therapy requires a patient to alternate between periods of androgen suppression treatment and no treatment. Prostate-specific antigen levels are used to track relative changes in tumor volume of prostate cancer patients undergoing intermittent androgen deprivation therapy. During this therapy, there is a pause between treatment cycles. Traditionally, continuous ordinary differential equations are used to estimate prostate-specific antigen levels. In this paper, we use dynamic equations to estimate prostate-specific antigen levels and construct a novel time scale model to account for both continuous and discrete time simultaneously. This allows us to account for breaks between treatment cycles. Using empirical data sets of prostate-specific antigen levels, a known bio-marker of prostate cancer, across multiple patients, we fit our model and use least squares to estimate two parameter values. We then compare our model to the data and find a resemblance on treatment intervals similar to our time scale.
Current Approaches for Integrating Responsible and Ethical Conduct of Research (RECR) Education into Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences: A National Assessment.

Incorporation of responsible and ethical conduct of research (RECR) education into course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) remains largely unexplored despite the importance of RECR ...
Marginal structural models for life-course theories and social epidemiology: Definitions, sources of bias, and simulated illustrations.

Social epidemiology aims to identify social structural risk factors thus informing targets and timing of interventions. Ascertaining which interventions will be most effective and when they should be implemented is challenging because social conditions vary across the life-course and are subject to time-varying confounding. Marginal Structural Models (MSMs) methods may be useful but can present unique challenges when studying social epidemiologic exposures over the life-course. We describe selected MSMs corresponding with common theoretical life-course models and identify key issues for consideration, related to time-varying confounding and late-study enrollment. Using simulated data mimicking a cohort study evaluating the effects of depression in early-, mid-, and late-life on late-life stroke risk, we examined whether and when specific study characteristics and analytic strategies may induce bias. In the context of time-varying confounding, inverse probability weighted estimation of correctly specified MSMs accurately estimated the target causal effects, while conventional regression models showed significant bias. When no measure of early-life depression is available, neither MSMs nor conventional models were unbiased, due to confounding by early-life depression. To inform interventions, researchers need to identify timing of effects and consider if missing data regarding exposures earlier in life may lead to biased estimates.
Progressive adult spinal deformity following placement of intrathecal opioid pump: a report of four cases.

Introduction Placement of intrathecal opioid pumps (ITOP) for chronic pain is a rare, but described cause of progressive spinal deformity. Over the last two decades there has been several suspected cases at our institution. In this case series, we described the apparent association between placement of an intrathecal opioid pump and progression of spinal deformity.
Human Approach to Process Control and the Role of Digital Technology

The application of digital technology to the process control industry is examined. The feasibility of the technology is demonstrated by presenting results from on-line trials in which the concepts of fault-tolerance and system reconfiguration were applied to the operation of the 5 MWt MIT Research Reactor. The effectiveness of digital technology as an aid to the human operator is then discussed in the context of the human approach to process control. Based on a study of licensed MIT Reactor operators, it was noted that the essential skill that humans must master if they are to exercise effective control is the ability to model and thereby predict the future state of the process in question. Accordingly, it is suggested that `faster than real-time' plant models be employed as an operator aid. This approach might be of particular use during plant up-sets when human experience and therefore human predictive capability is likely to be limited.
Inter‐organizational relationship strategies and management styles in SMEs: The US‐China‐Russia study

Purpose – The paper seeks to investigate and conceptualize differences in managerial styles and inter‐organizational relationship (IOR) strategies of small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) in the international environment, and make managerial implications useful for business practitioners and educators.Design/methodology/approach – The study applies comparative management research methodology. The management style dimensions analyzed in the paper are supervision, decision making, information‐sharing styles, and paternalistic orientation. The types of IOR strategies considered are conjugate, confederate, agglomeratic, and organic. Data were collected through surveying managers of entrepreneurial firms from the USA, China, and Russia, operating in the same industry. Factor analysis was applied for scale validation, and regression models were used for hypotheses testing.Findings – The relationship between managerial styles and types of IOR strategies pursued by SMEs was documented. The cross‐cultural diff...
Observations of Interstellar Lyman-α Absorption

Absorption at the Lyman-α transition from interstellar neutral hydrogen has been observed in the ultraviolet spectra of 18 nearby O and B stars. Radiation damping is the dominant cause of line broadening, which makes the derived line-of-sight column densities proportional to the square of the observed equivalent widths. An average hydrogen density on the order of 0.1 atom cm-3 has been found for most of the stars observed so far. This is in contrast to the findings from surveys of 21-cm radio emission, which suggest 0.7 atom cm-3 exists in the local region of the Galaxy. Several effects which might introduce uncertainties into the Lyman-α measurements are considered, but none seems to be able to produce enough error to explain the disagreement with the 21-cm data. The possibility that small-scale irregularities in the interstellar gas could give significantly lower values at Lyman-α is explored. However, a quantitative treatment of the factor often discrepancy in Orion indicates the only reasonable explanation requires the 21-cm flux to come primarily from small, dense, hot clouds which are well separated from each other. The existence of such clouds, however, poses serious theoretical difficulties.
An Iterated, Multipoint Differential Transform Method for Numerically Evolving PDE IVPs

This paper makes three novel contributions: First, a concept for constructing veriably-self-co nsistent numerical evolution schemes for partialdierential-equat ion (PDE) initial-value problems (IVPs) is presented. Second, an iterated, multipoint dierential transform method (IMDTM) for numerically evolving PDE IVPs is presented. The IMDTM can be used to eciently implement veriably-self-co nsistent PDE evolution. Lastly, in order to eciently implement the IMDTM scheme, a generalized nitedierence stencil formula is derived which can take advantage of multiple higher-order spatial derivatives when computing even-higher-order derivatives. As is demonstrated, the performance of these techniques compares favorably to other explicit evolution schemes in terms of speed, memory footprint and accuracy.
Urinary Excretion of Calcium Following an Oral Calcium Loading Test in Healthy Children

The ratio of urinary calcium (UCa)/urinary creatinine (UCr) concentrations (mg/mg) during calcium loading has been used to diagnose hypercalciuric states in adults. The UCa/UCr ratios have been examined before and after an oral dose of calcium in 48 healthy children following five days of abstinence from dietary milk products. No differences in UCa/UCr ratios were observed between sexes, races, or age groups. UCa/UCr ratio before the calcium dose was 0.09 +/- 0.12 (mean +/- 2 SD) and increased to 0.12 +/- 0.15 in urine samples collected for four hours after the calcium load. A direct relationship between UCa/UCr ratio and urinary sodium (UNa)/UCr ratio was observed (r = .57, P less than .01). In six children, calcium loading studies were repeated without prior restriction of dietary calcium. Dietary calcium intake before the calcium loading had little effect upon UCa/UCr ratio before the calcium in these six children (0.068 vs 0.08); however, UCa/UCr values after the calcium load were significantly lower (0.08 vs 0.15) when no dietary calcium restriction preceded the calcium-loading study. These data may allow characterization of renal hypercalciuria and gastrointestinal hyperabsorption of calcium in children with urolithiasis.
Cyber-physical systems for personalized and precise medicine

This paper describes a few fundamental challenges that biological complexity imposes on the design of NoC-based multicore platforms as enablers for a cyber-physical system approach to precise personalized medicine. To demonstrate this CPS paradigm for precise and personalized medicine we consider two examples: i) an efficient NoC-based multicore platform that exploits a self-organizing mapping and routing strategy for achieving higher performance when analyzing the protein folding; ii) a precise and personalized control algorithm for regulating biological processes that display non-Gaussian and multi-fractal dynamics. The paper highlights a series of challenges and advocates for a new breed of design and optimization methodologies for NoC-based multicores.
Effect of Homozygous Deletions at 22q13.1 on Alcohol Dependence Severity and Cue-Elicited BOLD Response in the Precuneus

Copy number variations (CNVs) can alter the DNA sequence in blocks ranging from kilobases to megabases, involving more total nucleotides than single nucleotide polymorphisms. Yet, its impact in humans is far from fully understood. In this study, we investigate the relationship of genome-wide CNVs with brain function elicited by an alcohol cue in 300 participants with alcohol use disorders. First, we extracted refined neurobiological phenotypes, the brain responses to an alcohol cue versus a juice cue in the precuneus, thalamus and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Then, we correlated the CNVs with incidence frequency > 1% to the neurobiological phenotypes. One CNV region at 22q13.1 was identified to be associated with alcohol dependence severity and the brain response to alcohol cues. Specifically, the 22k base-pair homozygous deletion at 22q13.1 affects genes APOBEC3a and APOBEC3b. Carriers of this homozygous deletion show a significantly higher score in the alcohol dependence severity (P < 0.05) and increased response to alcohol cues in the precuneus (P < 10(-12) ) than other participants. Tests of a mediation model indicate that the precuneus mediates the association between the homozygous deletions and alcohol dependence severity. Interestingly, the precuneus is not only anatomically and functionally connected to the ACC and thalamus (the main active regions to the alcohol cue), but also has the most predictive power to the alcohol dependence severity. These findings suggest that the homozygous deletion at 22q13.1 may have an important impact on the function of the precuneus with downstream implications for alcohol dependence.
Monstrous Philosophy: Charlotte Dacre’s Zofloya, or the Moor and John Milton’s Paradise Lost

Charlotte Dacre’s novel Zofloya, or the Moor: A Romance of the 15th Century (1806) scandalized its contemporary reviewers, offended not only by its many references to erotic activity, often adulterous, or its extended scenes of violence, but also by its representation of the title character as an avatar of Satan. Critics of Gothic literature have offered varied interpretations of the moral issues presented in the novel, and the narrator makes numerous contradictory statements about morality, reason, and temptation. Dacre’s narrator often warns her readers (and her characters) to adhere to conventional moral principles in order to avoid evil for themselves and others, but her repeated references to Paradise Lost are similar to other Romantic era re-visions that reveal much more interest in representations of rebellion against – rather than submission to – moralistic authority. In the novel, renaissance Venice becomes a type of anti-Eden as Zofloya and Victoria debate the meaning of ‘right reason’ in alternate versions of the philosophy of Paradise Lost as they rationalize their sensual desires and crimes of power.
Peripheral skin temperature effects on muscle oxygen levels

Abstract In both hot and cold environments, tissue oxygen saturation levels may affect muscle performance. Using near-infrared spectroscopy, muscle oxygen saturation (StO2) and total hemoglobin levels were measured during exercise. Lowering skin temperature caused a greater StO2 and total hemoglobin decrease by 16% and 15.9%, respectively, compared to controls. Increasing skin temperature resulted in a smaller decrease in both StO2 and total hemoglobin by 12.2% and 8.2%, respectively, compared to controls. These data indicate that warming the skin will cause less of decrease in StO2 and total hemoglobin, while cooling the skin has the opposite effect.