cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Cleavage characteristics of mouse embryos inseminated and cultured after zona pellucida drilling

The effects of zona drilling on mouse embryo development in vitro were evaluated. Following insemination, sperm were immediately concentrated at the area of drilling, and in zona-drilled eggs, pronuclei appeared 30-50 min earlier than in zona-intact controls. Zona-drilled oocytes fertilized at significantly higher rates than undrilled controls and, consequently, a greater percentage of eggs inseminated after zona drilling reached the blastocyst stage. The attrition rates of zona-drilled embryos at each cleavage stage did not differ significantly from controls. Manipulated embryos exhibited unique cleavage patterns. Some embryos lost their zonae entirely, whereas others became partially extruded at early cleavage stages. These anomalies led to separation of blastomeres from the zygote proper, aggregation of embryos to form giant composite morulae and blastocysts, and occasionally to formation of miniature twin blastocysts. These characteristics of cleavage indicate that although zona drilling of a cohort of oocytes is likely to lead to an increased number of live births relative to controls, some developmental abnormalities can be encountered, and these may be associated with embryo loss, spontaneous chimerism, or possibly with conception of monozygotic twins.
Genomics and conservation genetics

In large part, the relevance of genetics to conservation rests on the premise that neutral marker variation in populations reflects levels of detrimental and adaptive genetic variation. Despite its prominence, this tenet has been difficult to evaluate, until now. As we discuss here, genome sequence information and new technological and bioinformatics platforms now enable comprehensive surveys of neutral variation and more direct inferences of detrimental and adaptive variation in species with sequenced genomes and in ‘genome-enabled’ endangered taxa. Moreover, conservation schemes could begin to consider specific pathological genetic variants. A new conservation genetic agenda would utilize data from enhanced surveys of genomic variation in endangered species to better manage functional genetic variation.
Business Failure, Judicial Intervention, and Financial Innovation: Restructuring U.S. Railroads in the Nineteenth Century

A paper describes the problems faced by reorganizers of distressed railroads in the late 19th century and how they were addressed by a combination of judicial intervention and financial innovations. In particular, the judicial innovations of supersenior financing, the equity receivership process, and the setting of upset values permitted firms to raise funds. The private financial innovations of deferred coupon debt, contingent charge securities, and voting trusts made subsequent default less likely. The private innovations can be interpreted as responses to both the distress of the railroads as well as the intervention by the courts that emasculated prior debt contracts.
Training a talking head

A Cyberware laser scan of DWM was made, Baldi's generic morphology was mapped into the form of DWM, this head was trained on real data recorded with Optotrak LED markers, and the quality of its speech was evaluated. Participants were asked to recognize auditory sentences presented alone in noise, aligned with the newly trained synthetic textured mapped target face, or the original natural face. There was a significant advantage when the noisy auditory sentence was paired with either head, with the synthetic textured mapped target face giving as much of an improvement as the original recordings of the natural face.
Serine-53 at the tip of the glycine-rich loop of cAMP-dependent protein kinase: role in catalysis, P-site specificity, and interaction with inhibitors.

The glycine-rich loop, one of the most important motifs in the conserved protein kinase catalytic core, embraces the entire nucleotide, is very mobile, and is exquisitely sensitive to what occupies the active site cleft. Of the three conserved glycines (G 50 TG 52 SFG 55 in cAMP-dependent protein kinase (cAPK)), Gly 52 is the most important for catalysis because it allows the backbone amide of Ser 53 at the tip of the loop to hydrogen bond to the A-phosphate of ATP (Grant, B. D. et al. (1998) Biochemistry 37, 7708). The structural model of the catalytic subunit:ATP:PKI(5-24) (heat-stable protein kinase inhibitor) ternary complex in the closed conformation suggests that Ser 53 also might be essential for stabilization of the peptide substrate-enzyme complex via a hydrogen bond between the P-site carbonyl in PKI and the Ser 53 side-chain hydroxyl (Bossemeyer, D. et al. (1993) EMBO J. 12, 849). To address the importance of the Ser 53 side chain in catalysis, inhibition, and P-site specificity, Ser 53 was replaced with threonine, glycine, and proline. Removal of the side chain (i.e., mutation to glycine) had no effect on the steady- state phosphorylation of a peptide substrate (LRRASLG) or on the interaction with physiological inhibitors, including the type-I and -II regulatory subunits and PKI. However, this mutation did affect the P-site specificity; the glycine mutant can more readily phosphorylate a P-site threonine in a peptide substrate (5-6-fold better than wild-type). The proline mutant is compromised catalytically with altered kcat and Km for both peptide and ATP and with altered sensitivity to both regulatory subunits and PKI. Steric constraints as well as restricted flexibility could account for these effects. These combined results demonstrate that while the backbone amide of Ser 53 may be required for efficient catalysis, the side chain is not.
Swelling and Gas Release in ZnO

Swelling and gas release in a model ceramic system, ZnO, were studied under known internal and external pressures, oxygen partial pressures, and temperatures. When gas was not released, the instantaneous swelling strain rate was: eα(DF exp-Q/RT) where DF is the instantaneous pressure driving force for swelling, Q= 141 ± 13 kcal/mol, and RT has its usual meaning. For a fixed initial driving force for swelling, the strain rate decreased as t−1/3 where t is time. Volumetric swelling strains of ≥ 11% were measured prior to gas release, indicating that swelling is not simply reversed sintering. Gas release was usually observed and occurred by the interconnection of inter-granular porosity. A resintering process immediately followed gas release, but at a slower rate than the initial sintering rate at the same density. Analysis of the swelling experiments yielded a surface energy of ∼0.3 J/m2 at 920°C for ZnO.
Generalized multicast congestion control

Efficient multicast congestion control (MCC) is one of the critical components required to enable the IP multicast deployment over the Internet. Previously proposed MCC schemes can be categorized in two: single-rate or multi-rate. Single-rate schemes make all recipients get data at a common rate allowed by the slowest receiver, but are relatively simple. Multi-rate schemes allow of heterogeneous receive rates and thus provide better scalability, but rely heavily on frequent updates to group membership state in the routers. A recent work by Kwon and Byers, combined these two methods and provided a multi-rate scheme by means of single-rate schemes with relatively low complexity. In this paper, we propose a new scheme called generalized multicast congestion control (GMCC). GMCC provides multi-rate features at low complexity by using a set of independent single-rate sub-sessions (a.k.a layers) as building blocks. The scheme is named GMCC because single-rate MCC is just one of its special cases. Unlike the earlier work by Kwon and Byers, GMCC does not have the drawback of static configuration of the source which may not match with the dynamic network situations. GMCC is fully adaptive in that (i) it does not statically set a particular range for the sending rates of layers, and (ii) it eliminates redundant layers when they are not needed. Receivers can subscribe to different subsets of the available layers and hence can always obtain different throughput. While no redundant layers are used, GMCC allows receivers to activate a new layer in case existing layers do not accommodate the needs of the actual receivers.
Sex differences in orbitofrontal gray as a partial explanation for sex differences in antisocial personality

Attention is increasingly being given to understanding sex difference in psychopathology to better understand the etiology of disorders. This study tests the hypothesis that sex differences in ventral and middle frontal gray volume contribute to sex differences in antisocial personality disorder (APD) and crime. Participants were recruited from temporary employment agencies, consisting of normal controls, substance/alcohol-dependent controls, axis I/II psychiatric controls and individuals with APD. An independent sample of female volunteers was also recruited. Magnetic resonance imaging volumes of superior frontal, middle frontal, inferior frontal, orbital frontal and rectal gyral frontal gray matter, and dimensional scores of APD and criminal behavior were assessed. APD males when compared with male controls showed an 8.7% reduction in orbitofrontal gray volume, a 17.3% reduction in middle frontal gray and a 16.1% reduction in right rectal gray. Reduced middle and orbitofrontal volumes were significantly associated with increased APD symptoms and criminal offending in both males and females. Males as a whole had reduced orbitofrontal and middle frontal gray volume when compared with females, and controlling for these brain differences reduced the gender difference in the antisocial personality/behavior by 77.3%. Findings were not a function of psychiatric comorbidity, psychosocial risk factors, head injury or trauma exposure. Findings implicate structural differences in the ventral and middle frontal gray as both a risk factor for APD and as a partial explanation for sex differences in APD.
A Common Criteria Based Approach for COTS Component Selection

Component-based software engineering (CBSE) endeavors to enable software developers to develop quality software systems with less time and resources than traditional development approaches. Software components must be identified and evaluated in order to determine if they provide required functionality for systems being developed. Consideration of security requirements for component selection is of interest. This research considers how the Common Criteria (CC), an internationally recognized standard for security requirements definition and security assessment of IT systems, can be applied towards the development of component-based systems. A CCbased COTS component selection process is proposed which integrates activities of the CC for security requirements specification and evaluation. Research questions are presented for the evaluation of the process to establish its value for COTS component selection as well as to identify areas for improvement.
Yersinia pestis targets neutrophils via complement receptor 3.

Summary Yersinia species display a tropism for lymphoid tissues during infection, and the bacteria select innate immune cells for delivery of cytotoxic effec- tors by the type III secretion system. Yet, the mechanism for target cell selection remains a mystery. Here we investigate the interaction of Yersinia pestis with murine splenocytes to identify factors that participate in the targeting process. We find that interactions with primary immune cells rely on multiple factors. First, the bacterial adhesin Ail is required for efficient targeting of neutrophils in vivo. However, Ail does not appear to directly mediate binding to a specific cell type. Instead, we find that host serum factors direct Y. pestis to specific innate immune cells, particu- larly neutrophils. Importantly, specificity towards neutrophils was increased in the absence of bac- terial adhesins because of reduced targeting of other cell types, but this phenotype was only visible in the presence of mouse serum. Addition of antibodies against complement receptor 3 and CD14 blocked target cell selection, suggesting that a combination of host factors participate in steer- ing bacteria towards neutrophils during plague infection.
Mindfulness Effects on Symptoms of Distress in Women with Cancer

AbstractThe effects of an eight-week mindfulness-based program (MBSR) were investigated on psychological and physical symptoms in women with cancer. Specifically, state anxiety and depression, pain and distress symptoms were investigated in forty women with breast cancer. A focus of this study was to expand the use of instruments in this area by administering the following measures: the Centre for Epidemiologie Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), the short form of the McGill Pain Questionnaire (SF-MPQ), and the Symptom Distress Scale for cancer (SDS). Results showed positive and significant changes in pre-to-post scores on the above factors including state anxiety. Future studies that expand on factors and instruments are needed to fully determine the effectiveness of MBSR programs in alleviating distress and suffering in individuals with cancer.
RESPONSES OF GREATER ROADRUNNERS DURING ATTACKS ON SYMPATRIC VENOMOUS AND NONVENOMOUS SNAKES

Innate avoidance responses by potential predators to color patterns of snakes have been reported. Predation that is nonrandom with respect to the phenotype of the prey species is a well-characterized mechanism of natural selection, the driving force of adaptive evolution. Using both model and live snakes, we investigated the responses of 11 naive roadrunners, Geococcyx californianus, to 3 sympatric species of venomous and nonvenomous snake (Micruroides euryxanthus, Pituophis catenifer, and Crotalus atrox). Neither model nor live coral snakes elicited overt avoidance responses from the birds. Models elicited fewer pecks than moving live snakes. A gopher snake and a rattlesnake also failed to elicit overt avoidance behaviors. However, in contrast to the coral snakes, both snakes elicited a significantly higher number of leaps and wing flips, behaviors used by roadrunners when subduing dangerous prey. We conclude that roadrunners have no overt innate reactive behaviors to color patterns of coral snakes. Roadrunners do display such behaviors to rattlesnakes and gopher snakes as if both were dangerous prey, suggesting either Batesian or Mullerian mimicry.
Multi-Year Survey of Physical Activity among College Students, their Families, and Friends

The 1996 U.S. Surgeon General’s report on Physical Activity and Health revealed disturbingly low rates of physical activity among Americans. The report publicized the already well-documented link between inadequate exercise and chronic disease and its authors urged the nation to become more physically active. More than a decade has passed since the report was released, but most U.S. adults still do not engage in regular physical activity. Annually since 1996, undergraduate students at Saint Mary’s College of California have surveyed the exercise behaviors of their adult peers, family and friends. The results of this time series study have revealed important statistical trends in exercise behaviors, and allowed comparisons with national physical activity data. Since 1996, both the Saint Mary’s subjects and the general population reported less physical inactivity and higher rates of exercise that meet or exceed what is generally recommended for maintaining or improving health. The Saint Mary’s subjects were, by percentage, more likely to be physically active than the national population. Despite this good news, the study also revealed that a disturbingly high percentage of the Saint Mary’s subjects and the national population were physically inactive or only engaged in limited physical activity.
Cyclic AMP levels and cellular kinetics during maturation of human promyelocytic leukemia cells.

Differentiation of human promyelocytic leukemia cells (HL-60) in response to several classes of inducing agents is characterized by the sequential appearance of granulocytic or monocytic markers. Compounds that increase intracellular cAMP in HL-60 cells induce a program of maturation in which cells demonstrate early functional phagocytic properties. Cyclic nucleotide metabolism was studied during monocytic and granulocytic differentiation of the HL-60 cell line. In synchronous and nonsynchronous cell cultures, cyclic AMP levels were raised 300-fold or 25-fold in response to N6, 02-dibutyryl adenosine 3’:S’-cyclic monophosphate or the combination of prostaglandin E2 and theophylline, respectively. No reproducible changes in intracellular adenosine 3’:5’-cyclic monophosphate levels occurred in response to retinoic acid or dimethyl sulfoxide, suggesting that changes in adenosine 3’:S’-cyclic monophosphate levels alone do not mediate cell maturation induced by these compounds. Agents that increased intracellular cyclic AMP in HL-60 cells slowed the progress through the S and G2-M phase of the cell cycle, whereas other agents such as dimethyl sulfoxide stimulated cells through this same period.
Wrapping Aluminum at the Reynolds Metals Company

ABSTRACTA bright future for aluminum was envisioned in the 1950s, as the Reynolds Metals Company boldly set out to reinvent the material from military applications to domestic use in the American “good life.” The company literally wrapped a number of new products for the American lifestyle with aluminum, prompting comparisons today with Roland Barthes's theory of wrapping the empty center. However, after a generation's use, aluminum wrapping was discarded. The consequences of rampant consumerism became apparent in the next decades, revealing a legacy of mounting aluminum waste and the company's 1960s and 1970s recycling efforts appeared to be nothing more than a greenwashed front. Aluminum's contemporary status as a sustainable material is considered within the complexity of this history.
A Changing Perspective: Heliothis in Short-Season Cottons in Texas

To describe the “management” of the Heliothis complex in short-season cottons in Texas is to reaffirm observations of entomologists made a number of years ago that established the cropping conditions and fruiting habit of cottons unsuited for outbreaks of these insects. While we may perceive less than a perfect understanding and interpretation in some of what these men wrote, they nevertheless assembled the collective elements that are regarded today as the important underpinnings of a production scheme that diminishes the threat of the Heliothis complex and other insects. Imbued of historical and empirical experience, trials and errors, living with Heliolhis is held in a kind of philosophical perspective by the large majority of growers: Farmers have embraced those production schemes that are textured of more comfortable probabilities for Heliothis attack. They have, to a large degree, rejected practices of the past that were associated with or had intensified Heliothis risk. Shortening the growing season of cotton, it happens, through red union in inputs, by management, and via the acquisition of genotypes developed for rapid fruit set, deflates the Heliothis problem in Texas.
Effect of Paredrine on Blood Specific Gravity and Blood Volume

ConclusionThe administration of paredrine in doses sufficient to produce a definite and prolonged rise in blood pressure has no influence on the specific gravity of the blood and blood volume in normal individuals.
Can Clinical Parameters Predict Bone Marrow Involvement In DLBCL

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most common non-Hodgkin lymphoma, accounting for about 1/3rd cases of NHL. At diagnosis, DLBCL involves the bone marrow in approximately 15-25% of cases. However, the bone marrow may reveal discordant morphology from the lymph node, usually an indolent lymphoma. Bone marrow biopsy is routinely used in the staging evaluation of patients with DLBCL. The aim of this study was to determine if clinical variables could predict bone marrow involvement by DLBCL. Methods Retrospective chart review of all patients with a diagnosis of DLBCL at University of Missouri-Columbia/Ellis Fischel Cancer Center from 1993-2013. The following parameters were reviewed: bone marrow biopsy reports, anemia (Hb<10g/dl), leukopenia (wbc<4000), thrombocytopenia (<150,000), lactate dehydrogenase level and clinical stage. Statistical analysis was performed by Fischer Exact test and logistic regression analysis. Results 80 charts were available for review and 7 patients had bone marrow involvement by DLBCL. Univariate analysis for cytopenias (p=0.459), elevated LDH (p=0.442), anemia (p=0.436), leukopenia (p=1.0) and thrombocytopenia (p=0.434) and bone marrow involvement by DLBCL showed no statistical significance (Fischer Exact test). Multivariate analysis comparing anemia, leukopenia, thrombocytopenia, elevated LDH and clinical stage with respect to bone marrow involvement revealed p=0.789, p=0.134, p=0.062, p=0.827 and p=0.521 respectively, and disclosed no statistical significance (logistic regression analysis). Univariate (Fisher exact tests and Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel statistics) and multivariate (logistic regression) analyses were used to test for the relationship of these parameters with bone marrow involvement. View this table: Table 1 Univariate and multivariate analysis of the relationship of parameters to bone marrow involvement in 80 DLBCL patients Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
Continuous adjoint based error estimation and r-refinement for the active-flux method

This paper explores the possibility of using continuous adjoints to estimate errors in scalar outputs and to drive mesh adaptation for the active-flux method. Compared to a discrete adjoint approach, the continuous adjoint offers a few attractive advantages for the active-flux method, such as a naturally fully-discrete, explicit implementation that parallels the simplicity of the primal system evolution and error estimates obtained from integrals over the space-time control volumes. The latter point is important because the active flux method does not possess a variational formulation. In addition, we present novel unsteady adaptation mechanics that rely on dynamically moving mesh nodes, i.e. r-refinement, in order to minimize the output error.
Better is better than more: investigations into qualitative growth

This paper attempts to offer new insights into the concept of qualitative growth in an economic regime made sustainable, in part, by restrictions on industrial resource consumption as proposed by Herman Daly and other ecological economists. We argue that product, service, and experience quality is more than an outlying variable in the formula for sustainable growth, and we question whether 'quality' is adequately addressed by studies in product differentiation, consumer preference, and technological innovation in mainstream neoclassical economics. Our core hypothesis is that a general increase in the quality of goods produced by a country can be more sustainable than, and can in large measure substitute for, a general increase in the quantity of goods produced. We propose alternative ways to promote an economy-wide shift from quantitative to qualitative growth, but also to limn what 'quality' consists of at a usefully abstract level. We suggest, finally, a strategy that looks to modest regulatory interventions together with early education in quality discrimination, improved information about quality in the marketplace, and more effective persuasion as to the economic benefits of qualitative growth.
Parotitis as the initial sign of juvenile Sjögren's syndrome.

Parotid swelling may be associated with a variety of glandular disorders in children. This case report describes the characteristic features of juvenile Sjogren's syndrome in an adolescent girl who presented with recurrent and bilateral parotid gland enlargement. Special emphasis is placed on an age-specific differential diagnosis for major salivary gland enlargements.
Religion and Ethics: Toward Integration

The principles of conscience defended in the last chapter may, in spite of all I have said in interpreting them, still appear to require more of religious citizens than an optimally liberal society should. Although the principles are consistent with both moral and legal rights to act otherwise, they nonetheless express prima facie obligations whose non-fulfillment is a basis for criticism from the point of view of the ethics of citizenship. A sound ethics may at once prohibit coercing people to meet a certain standard and provide for criticism of them if they do not adhere to it. This is how I have represented the principles of secular rationale, secular motivation, and ecclesiastical political neutrality. This chapter will show that these principles can be viewed in a plausible framework of combined theological and ethical standards which, taken together, indicate that the principles do not ask more of religious citizens than a free and democractic society should. Since my concern is largely to show the compatibility between the principles and the religious obligations of conscientious believers and to establish that the principles should be acceptable to a great many believers, it is appropriate to begin by considering sources of religious obligation. THE DIVERSE SOURCES OF RELIGIOUS OBLIGATION Religious obligation has at least five kinds of sources and of corresponding evidential grounds. In describing these sources, and indeed in discussing religious obligation in relation to the ethics of citizenship, I am thinking above all of the Hebraic-Christian tradition; but the points that emerge will apply, to varying degrees, to other traditions, including certain non-theistic religious traditions.
An information-driven and disturbance-aware planning method for long-term ocean monitoring

We propose an efficient path planning method for an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) used for the long-range and long-term ocean monitoring. We consider both the spatio-temporal variations of ocean phenomena and the disturbances caused by ocean currents, and design an approach integrating the information-theoretic and decision-theoretic planning frameworks. Specifically, the information-theoretic component employs a hierarchical structure and plans the most informative observation way-points for reducing the uncertainty of ocean phenomena modeling and prediction; whereas the decision-theoretic component plans local motions by taking into account the non-stationary ocean current disturbances. We validated the method through simulations with real ocean data.
The Impact of Early Social Interactions on Later Language Development in Spanish-English Bilingual Infants.

This study tested the impact of child-directed language input on language development in Spanish–English bilingual infants (N = 25, 11- and 14-month-olds from the Seattle metropolitan area), across languages and independently for each language, controlling for socioeconomic status. Language input was characterized by social interaction variables, defined in terms of speech style (“parentese” vs. standard speech) and social context (one-on-one vs. group). Correlations between parentese one-on-one and productive vocabulary at 24 months (n = 18) were found across languages and in each language independently. Differences are highlighted between previously published monolingual samples, which used the same methods as the current study of bilingual infants. The results also suggest cultural effects on language input and language development in bilingual and bicultural infants.
Is there a hole in the topside, equatorial ionosphere?

Abstract A paper in 2000 (Huba, 2000) found a depression in electron density in the topside ionosphere near the magnetic equator, based on the SAMI-2 physical ionospheric model. The model showed, for the first time, the formation of a hole in electron density in the altitude range 1500–2500 km at geomagnetic equatorial latitudes. The model produced the hole because of transhemispheric O+ flows that collisionally couple to H+, transporting it to lower altitudes, and thereby reducing the electron density at high altitudes. At that time and until now, no published observations have been reported to confirm or refute this numerical result. Recent, new analysis of Dynamics Explorer 1 Retarding Ion Mass Spectrometer measurements provides the first tentative experimental support for this model result.
D1 and D2 specific dopamine antagonist modulate the caudate nucleus neuronal responses to chronic methylphenidate exposure

The psychostimulant, methylphenidate (MPD), is the first line treatment as a pharmacotherapy to treat behavioral disorders such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). MPD is commonly misused in non-ADHD (normal) youth and young adults both as a recreational drug and for cognitive enhancing effects to improve their grades. MPD is known to act on the reward circuit; including the caudate nucleus (CN). The CN is comprised of medium spiny neurons containing largely dopamine (DA) D1 and D2 receptors. It has been widely shown that the DA system plays an important role in the response to MPD exposure. We investigated the role of both D1 and D2 DA receptors in the CN response to chronic MPD administration using specific D1 and D2 DA antagonist. Four groups of young adult, male SD rats were used: a saline (control) and three MPD dose groups (0.6, 2.5, and 10.0 mg/kg). The experiment lasted 11 consecutive days. Each MPD dose group was randomly divided into two subgroups to receive either a 0.4 mg/kg SCH-23390 selective D1 DA antagonist or a 0.3 mg/kg raclopride selective D2 DA antagonist prior to their final (repetitive) MPD rechallenge administration. It was observed that selective D1 DA antagonist (SCH-23390) given 30 min prior to the last MPD exposure at ED11 partially reduced or prevented the effect induced by MPD exposure in CN neuronal firing rates across all MPD doses. Selective D2 DA antagonist (raclopride) resulted in less obvious trends; some CN neuronal firing rates exhibited a slight increase in all MPD doses.
A pragmatic examination of active and passive recruitment methods to improve the reach of community lifestyle programs: The Talking Health Trial

A primary challenge for behavior change strategies is ensuring that interventions can be effective while also attracting a broad and representative sample of the target population. The purpose of this case-study was to report on (1) the reach of a randomized controlled trial targeting reduced sugary beverages, (2) potential participant characteristic differences based on active versus passive recruitment strategies, and (3) recruitment strategy cost. Demographic and recruitment information was obtained for 8 counties and for individuals screened for participation. Personnel activities and time were tracked. Costs were calculated and compared by active versus passive recruitment. Six-hundred and twenty, of 1,056 screened, individuals were eligible and 301enrolled (77% women; 90% white; mean income $21,981 ± 16,443). Eighty-two and 44% of those responding to passive and active methods, respectively, enrolled in the trial. However, active recruitment strategies yielded considerably more enrolled (active = 199; passive = 102) individuals. Passive recruitment strategies yielded a less representative sample in terms of gender (more women), education (higher), and income (higher; p’s <0.05). The average cost of an actively recruited and enrolled participant was $278 compared to $117 for a passively recruited and enrolled participant. Though passive recruitment is more cost efficient it may reduce the reach of sugary drink reduction strategies in lower educated and economic residents in rural communities. Clinicaltrials.gov; ID: NCT02193009 , July 2014, retrospectively registered.
QTCP: Adaptive Congestion Control with Reinforcement Learning

Next generation network access technologies and Internet applications have increased the challenge of providing satisfactory quality of experience for users with traditional congestion control protocols. Efforts on optimizing the performance of TCP by modifying the core congestion control method depending on specific network architectures or apps do not generalize well under a wide range of network scenarios. This limitation arises from the rule-based design principle, where the performance is linked to a pre-decided mapping between the observed state of the network to the corresponding actions. Therefore, these protocols are unable to adapt their behavior in new environments or learn from experience for better performance. We address this problem by integrating a reinforcement-based Q-learning framework with TCP design in our approach called QTCP. QTCP enables senders to gradually learn the optimal congestion control policy in an on-line manner. QTCP does not need hard-coded rules, and can therefore generalize to a variety of different networking scenarios. Moreover, we develop a generalized Kanerva coding function approximation algorithm, which reduces the computation complexity of value functions and the searchable size of the state space. We show that QTCP outperforms the traditional rule-based TCP by providing 59.5 percent higher throughput while maintaining low transmission latency.
A Class of High-rate, Low-complexity, Well- structured LDPC Codes from Combinatorial Designs and their Applications on ISI Channels.

We present a systematic construction of a class of highrate, well-structured low density parity check (LDPC) codes based on combinatorial designs. We show that the proposed -design results in a class of -regular LDPC codes, which are systematic, quasicyclic, free of length-4 and length-6 cycles, linear-time encodable and decodable, and which have high code rates of . Analysis from the maximum likelihood perspective shows that the distance spectrum of the proposed LDPC codes are better than that of the Gallager ensemble codes for the same code length and rate. The proposed codes are then applied to several inter-symbol interference channels, where 2 high code rates and 3 block sizes from short to mediumn are evaluated. For best performance gain, the i.i.d. capacity is computed to choose the best precoder and iterative decoding and equalization is performed The proposed LDPC codes demonstrate performance that is slightly (but noticeably) better than an average random LDPC code of column weight 3. Unlike random codes, well-structured LDPC codes can lend themselves to a very low-complexity implementation for highspeed applications.
1.15 – Use of Enzymatic Aldol Reactions in Synthesis

The development of methods for the stereoselective formation of carbon-carbon bonds using the aldol reaction is a current topic of interest in organic synthesis.1–6 Many successful strategies rely on chiral auxiliaries7–15 and a few employ nonbiological catalysts.16 Zinc(II) complexes of amino acid esters, for example, catalyze the reaction of p-nitrobenzaldehyde with acetone.17 Eu(DPPM)3 catalyzes the condensation of ketene silyl acetals with benzaldehyde.18 A chirotopic ferrocenyl phosphine-gold(I) complex catalyzes the reaction of isocyanoacetate with a number of simple aldehydes such as benzaldehyde, acetaldehyde and pivaldehyde.19 These latter reactions show fair to good enantiofacial and diastereofacial selectivity, with the chiral gold complex giving the best results: 72–97% diastereomeric and enantiomeric excess.
A Biobehavioral Perspective on Developmental Psychopathology

It can be persuasively argued that few topics of scientific inquiry pose more formidable challenges—theoretical, empirical, or applied—than the development of behavioral abnormalities, especially in organisms whose nervous systems remain relatively plastic throughout ontogeny. Researchers and clinical workers in this area are frequently faced with decisions as to whether the phenomenon under investigation or treatment truly represents a pathology or is merely unusual or extreme in the statistical sense—or perhaps simply reflects a phase of development that eventually will be outgrown. In addition, those who study psychopathological disorders in children and adolescents must routinely deal with behavioral and biological systems that often express themselves in diverse (and sometimes seemingly independent) fashions not only at different ages but also at different levels of analysis. For this population, obvious changes in behavior are not always reflected by systematic changes in physiology—or vice versa. Moreover, profound complications accompany rigorous study of any developing systems or individuals, relative to those that are already stable or mature, be they normal or anomalous. As stated by Sackett, Sameroff, Cairns, and Suomi (1981): The study of development poses a major paradox for students of behavior. The problem arises from the fact that change is an essential property of development. Virtually all features of the organism undergo modification during its life span. On the other hand, continuity over time seems essential for individual uniqueness, organization, and the maintenance of integrated patterns of behavior. The paradox is simply this: How can continuity and persistence be achieved in an organismic system that necessarily undergoes maturational, interactional, and social-cultural change? (p. 23)
Palliative inpatient radiation therapy: The challenge of treatment non-completion.

106Background: By virtue of their disease acuity and symptom burden, inpatients are good candidates for radiation therapy but may also be at risk of not benefitting from treatment due to premature ...
Assessment of Distal Radius Fracture Complications Among Adults 60 Years or Older: A Secondary Analysis of the WRIST Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance Complications affect treatment outcomes and quality of life in addition to increasing treatment costs. Objectives To evaluate complication rates after the treatment of a distal radius fracture, to determine whether the rate or complication type is associated with treatment method, and to determine predictors of complications. Design, Setting, and Participants The multicenter Wrist and Radius Injury Surgical Trial (WRIST), a randomized clinical trial, enrolled participants from April 10, 2012, to December 31, 2016. The study included 304 adults 60 years or older with isolated unstable distal radius fractures; 187 were randomized and 117 opted for casting. The study was conducted at 24 health systems in the United States, Canada, and Singapore. Data for this secondary analysis were collected from April 24, 2012, to February 28, 2018. Interventions Participants opting for surgery were randomized to receive the volar locking plate system (n = 65), percutaneous pinning (n = 58), or bridging external fixation with or without supplemental pinning (n = 64). Patients who chose not to have surgery (n = 117) were not randomized and were enrolled for casting. Main Outcomes and Measures Complication rate. Results The WRIST enrolled a total of 304 participants, of whom 8 casting group participants were later found to be ineligible and were excluded from the analysis, leaving 296 participants. Randomized participants’ mean (SD) age was 68 (7.2) years, 163 (87%) were female, and 165 (88%) were white. Casting participants’ mean (SD) age was 75.6 (9.6) years, 93 (84%) were female, and 85 (85%) were white. The most common type of complications varied by treatment. Twelve of 65 participants (18.5%) in the internal fixation group reported a median nerve compression, while 16 of 26 participants (25.8%) who received external fixation and 13 of 56 participants (23.2%) who received pinning sustained pin site infections. Compared with the internal fixation group, complication rate for any severity complication was higher in participants who initially received casting (adjusted rate ratio, 1.88; 95% CI, 1.22-2.88), whereas the rate for moderate complications was higher in the external fixation group (adjusted rate ratio, 2.52; 95% CI, 1.25-5.09). Conclusions and Relevance The distal radius fracture treatment decision-making process for older patients should incorporate a complication profile for each treatment type. For example, external fixation and pinning could be used for patients after apprising them of pin site infection risk. Internal fixation can be done in patients with high functional demands who are willing to receive surgery. Internal fixation use should be substantiated owing to the time and cost involved. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:NCT01589692
Comparing Educational Outcomes of Online Module-Based Technology with and without Simulation on Attitudes Toward Care of the Dying in Second Semester BSN Students

Background:Opportunities to provide competent and compassionate End-of Life (EOL) care to patients and families are limited for nursing students.Method:A mixed methods approach was used to explore ...
Impact of spatial variability and masker fringe on detectability of brief signal

Seemingly, there should be a close relationship between spatial release from masking and sound localization, but this is not always the case. For example, in binaural detection, randomizing the spatial parameters of the target or masker from trial to trial has little impact on threshold. In contrast, Simpson (Ph.D. dissertation, 2011) found that left/right localization judgments for a 60-ms target masked by a simultaneous 60-ms noise were considerably less accurate (equivalent to 10-dB reduction in SNR) when the location of the masker varied randomly from trial to trial than when the masker location was fixed. However, when a forward masker fringe was added, so that the noise was turned on 500 ms before the target, the impact of location variability was very small (about 1 dB, comparable to the detection literature). To determine if the presence of masker fringe could have limited the impact of spatial variability in previous detection experiments, the current study examines the effect of masker fringe and both target and masker spatial variability on detectability in conditions comparable to those of Simpson. The results will be compared to previous findings and models reported in the binaural detection and sound localization literature.
DISPATCHES FROM A COLONIAL OUTPOST: Puerto Rico as Schema in the Black Popular Press, 1942–19511

Over the last few decades social movements and race scholars have begun to uncover and critically examine the social, economic, and political linkages shared between Puerto Ricans and African Americans. Much of this literature has focused exclusively on the period of the Civil Rights Movement with particular emphasis on the Young Lords and Black Panthers. Despite this rich and informative literature, we know very little of the connective social histories and relationships between African Americans and Puerto Ricans that preceded these later social movements. This article traces the historically contingent and multifaceted ways in which African American journalists, between 1942 and 1951, found new political meanings in Puerto Rico as the island underwent a massive economic and social transformation, and how they used that knowledge to reconceptualize challenges to Black personhood in the United States. Examining the Black popular press in Puerto Rico during this period reveals that Black journalists took an active interest in the island because it represented a useful point of comparison for understanding the internal colonial model of social inequality hampering the U.S. African American community during the first half of the twentieth century. The racialized nature of U.S. colonialism experienced by the island, the sociopolitical and economic effects of its monocultural sugar economy, and the second-class citizenship of Puerto Ricans were among the most salient factors that led African American journalists to a broader anti-imperialist understanding of racism, illuminating the lack of civil and economic rights Blacks experienced within the United States.
"TEACHING TABLES II:" Contemplative Inquiry as a Teaching Tool

Learn what is happening at other colleges and universities about bringing reflective practices, mindfulness, and contemplative inquiry into courses across a wide spectrum of disciplines.Â Explore ways that Mason faculty can find collegial support and access to resources for beginning to include these pedagogical methods.
Clinicopathological correlation of immune response in human cancers.

// Yuexin Liu 1 1 Department of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, USA Correspondence to: Yuexin Liu, email: yliu8@mdanderson.org Keywords: clinicopathological characteristics; immune response; immunogenicity; cancer Received: August 01, 2019 Accepted: September 24, 2019 Published: October 08, 2019 ABSTRACT Background: The clinicopathologic association of tumor immune response is largely unknown. We systematically investigated this matter in human cancers. Results: Different cancer types exhibited distinct immune gene profiling. Four cancer types exhibited a significant and positive correlation of immune response with patient age. Significant but inconsistent correlation of immune response was observed with gender, surgical stage, and TNM stage in a small number of cancer types. In contrast, the histological grade appears to have much stronger and more consistent association with immune response as compared to the other clinicopathologic factors. Specifically, patients with high grade had significantly higher immune responses than those with low grade in 5 out of 12 analyzed cancer types. In addition, both histological and molecular classifications had a significant and strong association with tumor immune response. Methods: t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding was used to assess similarity of immune gene profiling in human cancers. The Mann-Whitney or Kruskal-Wallis test was, respectively, used to compare the tumor immune response in two or more groups that were stratified by patient clinicopathological characteristics, such as gender, grade, stage (including surgical and TNM stage), histology, and molecular subtypes. Spearman correlation with student’s t -test was used to examine the association of patient age with immune response. Multiple tests with the Benjamini-Hochberg correction also were performed. Conclusions: Tumor grade should be taken into account in selection of patient candidates for immunotherapy. Prospective verification is needed before use of the findings for clinical practice.
Leveraging Graph Models to Design Acute Kidney Injury Disease Research Data Warehouse

The increased adoption of electronic medical records (EMR) systems and emergence of clinical data warehouses to integrate data from disparate data sources energized clinical research and prompted the biomedical informatics community to envision and implement efficient and effective tools to facilitate conduct of research. Data warehousing, traditionally built using relational database technology, provides a valuable platform to provide clinical data for secondary use. Though relational models proved solid in data management applications across industries, the complexity and variety of clinical data require an agile technical environment that can respond to evolving research data needs. A property graph model's data connectedness, data exploration, and visualization capabilities make it a strong candidate to store and manage clinical facts. As a proof of concept, the paper uses acute kidney injury (AKI) disease, an important and often overlooked disease process, to model AKI clinical data extracted from institutional data warehouse in a property graph model, represented by nodes (entities) and edges (relationships). The resulting graph model provides a powerful tool to visualize and explore AKI entities and relationships, and allows clinical researchers to answer clinically-relevant questions in an agile, data-driven, horizontally scalable environment.