cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Making yeast tremble: yeast models as tools to study neurodegenerative disorders.

Genetic experiments in mice, which are indispensable for studying the molecular basis of neurological disorders, have certain limitations that include slow pace and high costs. It is therefore not surprising that in recent years numerous neurological diseases have been modeled in genetically tractable organisms, including Drosophila, Caenorhabditis elegans, and yeast. Yeast models in particular have a special advantage with respect to genome-wide experimental approaches as a result of the completed sequencing of the genome, the availability of a collection of precise deletion mutants of every gene in the genome, and the rapidly evolving databases of yeast protein-protein interactions and gene expression patterns. These large and easily accessible bodies of information, coupled with the ease with which yeast can be manipulated genetically, have led to dissection of novel mechanisms of neurodegenerative disorders. In this review, we discuss how studies in yeast models have already resulted in significant insights into the understanding of neurodegenerative disorders that include prion disease, Parkinson’s disease, polyglutamine expansion disorders, Friedreich’s ataxia, and Batten disease.
Development of Tumors in the Rat Ovary After Transplantation into the Spleen.

It has been shown by Golden and Sevring-haus1 that rats in which the ovaries have been transplanted to the mesentery remain anestrous, owing to inactivation in the liver (previously reported by Zondek2) of the estrogen thus secreted into the portal circulation. Thereafter for approximately 11 monthsThis phenomenon was more extensively studied by G. R. Biskind3, 4, 5, 6 using pellets of crystalline steroids implanted in another organ in the portal circulation, the spleen. Castrate rats on a complete diet with pellets of estrone or estradiol thus implanted likewise remained anestrous. During the course of an investigation on the effect of nutritional deficiency on the estrogen-inactivating function of the liver,7-9 M. S. Biskind and Shelensyak10 demonstrated that animals with one ovary removed and the other transplanted to the spleen showed no estrual reactions so long as the diet was adequate to maintain the functional integrity of the liver.This observation seemed to provide an excellent means of ascertai...
Clinical efficacy of double dosage of Tripterygium Wilf ordii with intermittent maintenance therapy in treatment of primary nephrotic syndrome

Objective To observe the clinic al effect and reliability of d ouble dosage of Tripterygium Wilfordii (TW) with intermittent maintenance therap y in treatment of primary nephrotic syndrome. Methods Sixty patients with primary nephrotic syndrome were treated with TW in a double dosage of 2 mg/ kg·d~(-1) for 4 weeks orally (and for 8 weeks if the results below the mark) . The remitted patients (39 cases altogether) then were randomly allocated to two grou ps: group A (n=20) and group B (n=19). Group A was treated with a double dosage of TW with intermittent maintenance therapy, treatment period alternated with re sting period every two weeks and the dosage was the same. After 4～6 months, the patients were treated in a reduced dosage of 1 mg/kg·d~(-1) with intermitten t the rapy as mentioned above for 18 months. Group B was treated with normal regime in a dosage of 1.5 mg/kg·d~(-1) with maintenance therapy. And after 4 weeks, t he dosage was reduced to 1 mg/kg·d~(-1) for 18 months. A comparison of the c linical ef ficacy and side effect between group A and group B had been done. Results 39 cases (then were assigned to two groups and trea ted with different regime a s mentioned above) obtained remission after reducing therapy (the remission rate was 65.00%). The mean time of reduction was 6 weeks. Another 11 cases improved, and 10 cases were ineffective. The recurrence rate in group A (15.00%) was lowe r than that in group B (47.38%). There was statistically significant difference, P=0.04070.05. Conclusion The short-term e fficacy of double dosa ge of TW is certain in treatment of primary nephrotic syndrome and is effective in partial cortex hormone-resistant patients. The long-term effect of intermitte nt maintenance therapy regime was well with a low recurrence rate and was effect ive in treatment of primary nephrotic syndrome.
Platelet-activating factor and related acetylated lipids as potent biologically active cellular mediators

Platelet-activating factor (PAF or 1-alkyl-2-acetyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine) is the most potent lipid mediator yet discovered. It is known to stimulate a wide span of biological responses ranging from aggregation and degranulation of platelets and neutrophils to a variety of cellular effects involving the stimulation of chemotaxis; chemokinesis; superoxide formation; protein phosphorylation; activation of protein kinase C, arachidonic acid, and phosphoinositide metabolites; glycogenolysis; and tumor necrosis factor production. Obviously, with such a diversity of biological activities, it is not surprising that PAF has been considered to be a key component in numerous diseases related to hypersensitivity and inflammatory responses. Evidence has also been presented for the role of PAF in physiological processes, particularly those involving reproduction and fetal development. Furthermore, because of its potent hypotensive action, PAF has been implicated as a contributing factor in blood pressure regulation. PAF is produced by two independent enzymatic pathways. The remodeling route involves the structural modification of a membrane lipid (1-alkyl-2-acyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine) by replacement of the acyl moiety with an acetate group. An alternate route is the de novo synthesis of PAF from an O-alkyl analogue of a lysophosphatidic acid that requires a reaction sequence of acetylation, dephosphorylation, and phosphocholine addition steps. Hypersensitivity and other pathophysiological reactions are thought to be caused by activation of the remodeling pathway, whereas the de novo route is believed to be the source of endogenous levels of PAF required for physiological functions. Inactivation of PAF occurs when the acetate group is hydrolyzed by an acetylhydrolase that is present in both extra- and intracellular compartments, although the catalytic activity of the two forms of acetylhydrolase are identical, some of their properties differ. The control of PAF metabolism is very complex, but acetylhydrolase, Ca2+, phosphorylation/dephosphorylation of enzymes, and fatty acids (especially polyunsaturates) appear to be important regulatory factors. Specific PAF receptors have clearly been demonstrated on several different types of cells, and although the mechanism of PAF actions is poorly understood, it appears that the PAF/receptor-induced responses are closely associated with the signal transduction process; both G proteins and adenyl cyclase appear to be involved. Because significant quantities of PAF are often retained within certain cells, the possibility of PAF serving as an intracellular mediator has also been proposed.
Bacterial infections in HIV-infected patients

Although the original opportunistic pathogens described in AIDS were protozoal and fungal organisms, bacterial infections are now recognized with increased prevalence and altered expression in patients with HIV infection. Especially since populations outside of North America and populations of i.v. drug abusers have been studied, bacterial infections have been shown to cause substantially increased morbidity and mortality both early and late in the course of HIV infection. Just as strategies have been developed for primary and secondary prophylaxis of classical HIV-related opportunistic infections, prevention of bacterial complications should be a high priority. Good hygiene and avoidance of unsterile needles in illicit drug use, tattooing, ear-piercing, or other cosmetic or ritual activities should be emphasized in patient education. Patients should be counseled to avoid uncooked or poorly cooked eggs and poultry and to avoid unpasteurized milk products. Pneumococcal vaccine is recommended for all HIV-seropositive patients and should be given as early as possible after recognition of HIV infection for maximal efficacy. Influenza vaccine is also recommended. It may have a role in preventing bacterial pneumonia secondary to influenza. Patient management should include regular dental care and nutritional evaluation. The use of intravenous or central catheters should be limited to essential therapies. When patients present with new febrile illness, a high index of suspicion for invasive bacterial disease is appropriate. The signs of serious bacterial infection in HIV-positive patients are subtle. Diagnostic evaluation should include cultures of blood and other relevant clinical specimens. Empiric antimicrobial therapy based on the clinical presentation may be life saving in patients with invasive bacterial disease complicating HIV infection.
Designing Quality Online Education to Promote Cross-Cultural Understanding

This chapter focuses on four main areas: (1) the relationship between cultural value systems and education, (2) the influence of cultural values on assessment systems, (3) the use of technology to facilitate cross-cultural communication, and (4) online education promoting the development of social capital. It argues that in order to design an effective curriculum that can be applied in a cross-cultural learning environment, both instructors and students need to be aware of diverse cultural value systems and their characteristics. This cross-cultural understanding and the creation of social capital can be developed through effective communication with the assistance of technology. 701 E. Chocolate Avenue, Suite 200, Hershey PA 17033, USA Tel: 717/533-8845; Fax 717/533-8661; URL-http://www.idea-group.com ITB13336 INFORMATION SCIENCE PUBLISHING This chapter appears in the book, Globalizing E-Learning Cultural Challenges edited by Andrea Edmundson © 2007, Idea Group Inc.
Influenza B virus non-structural protein 1 counteracts ISG15 antiviral activity by sequestering ISGylated viral proteins

The ubiquitin-like protein ISG15 and its conjugation to proteins (ISGylation) are strongly induced by type I interferon. Influenza B virus encodes non-structural protein 1 (NS1B) that binds human ISG15 and provides an appropriate model for determining how ISGylation affects virus replication in human cells. Here using a recombinant virus encoding a NS1B protein defective in ISG15 binding, we show that NS1B counteracts ISGylation-mediated antiviral activity by binding and sequestering ISGylated viral proteins, primarily ISGylated viral nucleoprotein (NP), in infected cells. ISGylated NP that is not sequestered by mutant NS1B acts as a dominant-negative inhibitor of oligomerization of the more abundant unconjugated NP. Consequently formation of viral ribonucleoproteins that catalyse viral RNA synthesis is inhibited, causing decreased viral protein synthesis and virus replication. We verify that ISGylated NP is largely responsible for inhibition of viral RNA synthesis by generating recombinant viruses that lack known ISGylation sites in NP.
Derivation of new double-input DC-DC converters using H-Bridge cells as building blocks

In most power electronic systems, the instantaneous input and output power vary by time and are not exactly identical with each other. Hence, providing a good match between them is a complicated task to deal with if not impossible. Furthermore, due to the wide variation range of the processed power, the overall efficiency of the system is not high. The solution is to hybridize the system using an energy storage unit like in hybrid electric vehicles, power factor correction systems, and photovoltaic systems. Multi-input converters play a key role in such hybridized systems, where it is required to have more than one power source. Utilizing multi-input converters is preferred to using several independent converters (multiple converters) from efficiency, components count and size, cost, and performance points of view. Several types of multi-input converters have been proposed in the literature. However, there havenpsilat been many systematic approaches to derive multi-input converter topologies. In this paper, several new double-input converters are proposed using H-bridge cells as building blocks. Different operating modes and the switch realization of the new converters are obtained and their corresponding voltage ratios are derived. All of the proposed converters in this paper consist of only one inductor; hence, the number of passive elements that are required is reduced. The operating characteristics of the new converters are verified using simulation and experimental results.
Sapovirus Gastroenteritis in Young Children Presenting as Distal Small Bowel Obstruction: A Report of 2 Cases and Literature Review

Abdominal pain and distention in children are commonly encountered problems in the pediatric emergency room. The majority of complaints are found to be due to benign entities such as gastroenteritis and constipation. What confounds these diagnoses is that young children often deliver a challenging and unreliable exam. Thus, it often becomes exceedingly problematic to differentiate these benign conditions from surgical conditions requiring prompt attention including small or large bowel obstruction, volvulus, and appendicitis. The cases highlight Sapovirus as a cause of severe abdominal distention and vomiting in children and this report is the first to describe and demonstrate the impressive radiologic findings that may be associated with this infection. Surgeons should heed this information and hesitate to emergently operate on similar children.
The Process and Meaning of Collecting Ethnographic Textiles.

Consumption is one way individuals effectively deal with their feelings of anomie, or social instability resulting from a breakdown of standards and values, in contemporary, postmodern society. Through the purchase and use of particular products, consumed objects create or produce personal identities. A specialized form of consumption, collecting, in this case ethnographic textile collecting, plays a key role in the quest for self-authentication and community in contemporary Western culture. In this paper, twelve collectors of ethnographic textiles were interviewed to better understand the manners and meanings of collecting as a specialized form of consumption. The collectors of ethnographic textiles used their collections as a way to both express their personal identity and become part of a larger community of textile collectors. Arnould and Price's (2000) theoretical model of authenticating acts and authoritative performances guided the analysis of the spoken word of the collectors interviewed.
Emerging technology for increasing glucosinolates in arugula and mustard greens.

Two plant species, arugula (Eruca sativa) and mustard (Brassica juncea) were field-grown under four soil management practices: soil mixed with municipal sewage sludge (SS), soil mixed with horse ma...
Mycoplasma membrane lipids. Chemical composition and transbilayer distribution.

The goals of the present review are to summarize the Lipid composition of mycoplasmas and to analyze the results obtained about the transbilayer distribution of lipids in mycoplasma and acholeplasma cell membranes. Previous review articles have summarized the lipid composition of mycoplasma membranes (Smith, 1971, 1979; Razin, 1973; Rottem, 1980; McElhaney, 1984). The transbilayer distribution of mycoplasma lipids has also been reviewed (for the most recent reviews, see Rottem and Davis, 1986; Bittman, 1988). The present review gives the structures of the principal lipid components of mycoplasma membranes, including the structures of newly discovered lipids, and discusses data obtained on transbilayer distribution and movement of lipids in mycoplasmas since this topic was last reviewed.
An integrated racetrack colliding-pulse mode-locked laser with pulse-picking modulator

We present a novel racetrack colliding-pulse mode-locked laser with external pulse-picking and optical amplification monolithically integrated on InP. Optical pulses with FWHM of 2.36 ps are observed under hybrid mode-locking at 10 GHz repetition rate.
Cancer bypasses the lymph nodes

“What did the lymph nodes show?” is the question whose answer is apprehensively awaited by every colon cancer patient. Even in the age of molecular medicine, the absence or presence of colon cancer spread to regional lymph nodes remains the strongest predictor of whether surgery has cured the cancer, or whether an individual may harbor occult metastatic disease and thus require adjuvant chemotherapy to reduce the risk of lethal cancer metastases recurring in distant organs ( 1 – 3 ). But is colon cancer spread to lymph nodes a precursor of spread to another organ (e.g., the liver) or rather an indicator of colon cancer cells' metastatic competence? On page 55 of this issue, Naxerova et al. ( 4 ) provide molecular evidence that, in many instances, colon cancer metastases in the liver (and possibly other distant organs), originate from distinct clone(s) that differ from the founder(s) of cancer deposits in the lymph nodes.
RemindMe: Plugging a Reminder Manager into Email for Enhancing Workplace Responsiveness

Reminding others to do something or bringing something to someone’s attention by sending reminders is common in the workplace. Our goal was to create a system to reduce the cognitive overhead for employees to manage their email, specifically the incoming and outgoing requests with their colleagues and others. We build on prior research on social request management, interruptions, and cognitive psychology in the design of such a system that includes an email reminder creation algorithm, with a built-in learning mechanism for improving such reminders over time, and a reminder delivery user interface. The system is delivered to users through a browser plugin, allowing it to be built on top of an existing web-based email system within an enterprise.
DNA Microviscosity Characterization with Particle Diffusometry for Downstream DNA Detection Applications.

Analytical characterization of DNA microviscosity provides critical biophysical insights into nuclear crowding, nucleic acid based pharmaceutical development, and nucleic acid based biosensor device design. However, most viscosity characterization methods require large sample volumes and destructive testing. In contrast, particle diffusometry permits in situ analysis of DNA microviscosity with short measurement times (8 s) using small volumes (<3 μL) which are compatible with DNA preparatory procedures. This unconventional biosensing approach involves measuring the change in sample viscosity using image processing and correlation-based algorithms. Particle diffusometry requires only a fluorescence microscope equipped with a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera and is a nondestructive measurement method. We use particle diffusometry to characterize the effect of DNA topology, length, and concentration on solution viscosity. In addition, we use particle diffusometry to detect the amplification of DNA from Sta...
Prefabricated Systems: A Suggested Course Outline

The rapid development of the prefabricated systems industry has created a need for college educated professionals. Prefabrication has developed to the point that today it is applied in the design and construction of such complex structures as nuclear power plants, airports, bridges, and many others. This paper contains a broad outline for an educational program that could be applied to many specialized institutions of higher education. Among those institutions, technology today occupies a very important role as it bridges the gap between the technician and the engineer.
Arms Trafficking: Small Arms and WMDs

There are 875 million small arms in the world, and the majority—650 million—are owned by civilians. Of the civilian stockpile, gangs have an estimated two to ten million arms. Moreover, non-state armed groups have between 1.1 and 1.8 million arms. Law enforcement has 26 million arms, while the armed forces have 200 million arms. This chapter is an effort to examine the trends in arms, particularly the trafficking in small weapons and WMDs.
Validation of the Dyslexic Reading Hypothesis: The Staten Island Study

According to the dyslexic reading hypothesis, dyslexic individuals scrambled letters and words because of the presence of a subclinical nystagmus and a related ocular fixation/sequential tracking dysfunction. As a result of this hypothesis, the author postulated that upon optokinetic testing, dyslexics would manifest a statistically significant reduction in tracking capacity when compared to normal controls. The purpose of this study was to measure the c-v-induced ocular fixation and sequential scanning functions in both c-v dyslexic and normal control groups—and thus test the validity of this reading hypothesis.
An Interpretive Critique of an Economic Analysis of Law

The interpretive critique is primarily focused on economics as a system for understanding markets as a dynamic process of human interactions and exchange. It does not equate economics with the market but instead understands economics as one of several ways of interpreting the market. The interpretive critique is not about the formal doctrines, theorems, and assumptions that define any of the various approaches to an economic analysis of law. It is focused on the way that each or any of these approaches may be used to influence and transform legal meaning when used to analyze legal relationships.
Tribological studies of amorphous hydrogenated carbon films in a vacuum, spacelike environment

Recent work on the adhesion and friction properties of plasma-deposited amorphous hydrogenated carbon films and their dependence on preparation conditions are reviewed. The results of the study indicate that plasma deposition enables one to deposit a variety of amorphous hydrogenated carbon (a-C:H) exhibiting diamondlike friction behavior. The plasma-deposited a-C:H films can be effectively used as hard lubricating films on ceramic materials such as silicon nitride in vacuum.
Toward an Understanding of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders: An Historical and Contemporary Perspective

This article traces the historical views that led to development of current scientific perspectives of the diagnostical concept post-traumatic stress disorder. Examples of the catastrophic precipitants of post-traumatic stress disorder, such as war, natural and man-made disasters, and rape are presented, and a description of the current clinical perspective is provided. Because post-traumatic stress disorder often involves all aspects of a person's life, the use of multimodal therapy soon after the trauma is experienced is recommended to prevent the symptoms from occurring.
Dress Rehearsals for Psychological Performance

Since Rivers’ early discussions regarding the role of environmental experience in focusing the “direction of attention” in perceptual inference habits, research has accumulated indicating that psychological activities are inextricably embedded in socially organized, ecocultural contexts. Increasingly, findings from cross-cultural psychology, ethnography, and ethology suggest that patterns of cognitive performance are more situationally sensitive than current theories of human development indicate. Indeed, a growing corpus of inter- and intracultural evidence points to the conclusion that data used to support notions of psychological universals may represent little more than indications of individual experience and skill with the social and physical resources comprising ecocultural domains. Drawing on four years field research among nomadic artisans and entertainers in Pakistan, my purpose in this paper is basically twofold: first, from my ethnographer’s perspective to point out some of the pitfalls of short-term investigations of psychological performance; secondly, to present a “native model” of psychological functioning and its utility for interpreting patterns of psychological performance. I conclude with the observation that while cross-cultural psychologists may lack a “workable theory of situations,” the informants that we study do! These native explanations may profitably be tapped in our efforts toward enhancing the ecocultural validity of cross-contextual research.
Ordinary Differential Equations of First Order

This chapter takes up a major theme of this text: differential equations and their applications in science and engineering. Differential equations were discovered by Isaac Newton some time before 1666. Newton was so convinced of the importance of his discovery that he revealed it only in an anagram, one of the scientific puzzles that scholars of his time set for one another. The anagram, when resolved into Latin and then translated into modern English, states, “It is useful to solve differential equations.” The soundness of Newton’s judgment is confirmed by the many textbooks and journals of modern science and engineering that are filled with examples of differential equations and their solutions.
Effects of Solar-Glass Coatings on the Adhesion Forces Related to Soiling

We report on the impact that different coatings on solar glass have on the adhesion forces with SiO 2 spheres, which are used to emulate real dust particles. We measured the forces in an atomic force microscope, using force versus distance measurements, and performed the investigation at different values of relative humidity, from 15% to 80%. We will show that, in general, bare solar glass has the largest adhesive forces, with a strong influence of RH. In contrast, some coatings result in much lower adhesion forces and little influence of humidity, which suggests that these coatings may help reduce soiling, and have an impact on soiling associated with dew formation and some cementation processes.
An Unusual Late Presentation of Swelling over the Head.

A 44-day-old full-term female infant presents to the emergency department (ED) with head swelling (Fig 1). Figure 1. Magnetic resonance imaging of the head shows a right parietal subgaleal collection crossing the midline and measuring approximately 4.7×3.7×0.8 cm and appears hypointense on the T1-weighted sequence (A) and hyperintense on the T2-weighted sequence (B). ### Prenatal and Birth Histories ### Presentation The infant was asymptomatic until 41 days of age when the parents noted swelling over the head while changing her diaper. Parents denied head trauma, change in her activity level, fussiness, vomiting, diarrhea, or other symptoms. Because the patient had no other symptoms, the parents did not seek medical attention until 3 days later when they noticed that the swelling did not resolve. The infant was then evaluated in the ED and admitted at 44 days of age. Cranial ultrasonography was performed (Fig 2). Figure 2. Head ultrasound scan, with the arrow demonstrating …
Enhancing Productivity for IC-substrate manufacturing by using a novel Copper Electrolyte for Semi Additive Plating

The Semi Additive Process (SAP) has gained more attraction over the past years because it enables very fine lines and spaces for the production of IC-Substrates. When operating with lines and spaces (L/S) of $10/10 \mu \mathrm {m}$ and less the copper thickness variation is one of the critical parameters which has to be controlled within a tight range in order to avoid reliability problems in assembly or during the lifetime as described in several papers [1], [2]. The key process parameter here is called the copper thickness within-unit distribution (WUD) or copper thickness within-panel-distribution (WPD). Another important parameter is the current density used for the copper plating process. Higher current density operating range of an electrolyte results in in better productivity. But both parameters are usually influencing each other. The existing POR might operate at a current density at 1.5 A/dm2 but increasing the current density in order to improve the productivity means the copper thickness variation within the panel will increase. This is not beneficial for the quality of the product, as the market is looking for a tight control of the copper thickness variation on a IC substrate.Already in 2013 a SAP Electrolyte was introduced to the market which is established meanwhile as a POR at IC-substrate manufacturers. Now in 2017 an upgraded electrolyte was developed in order to overcome this conflict of productivity and copper thickness variation. The novel SAP Copper electrolyte was optimized in its formulation so that higher current densities may be applied while still keeping very good copper thickness within unit distribution (WUD) results. Continuity of innovation and invention as expected by Moore’s Law are needed to reduce cost and increase capability. Challenges like within-unit distribution become a critical factor for the subsequent processing steps.The technical paper will contain results of copper thickness and the copper thickness variation (WUD), microsection pictures, DOE Results, dimple results, filling performance and further data. The novel electrolyte shows capabilities to operate at > 3A/dm2 which brings almost an improvement of the productivity by a factor of 2! The new electrolyte also brings further improvement regarding the Cu thickness variation as tighter tolerances may be realized. This is important for the later process steps during package manufacturing. Other Parameters of the new electrolyte will be shown as well like ductility and copper crystal structures of the new electrolyte.
Tobacco product use and smoking frequency among US adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities

Background People with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) have been overlooked in tobacco use research although they are likely to experience tobacco-related health disparities. This study examined tobacco product use and smoking frequency and amount among a sample of US Special Olympics athletes with IDD. Methods Multiple regression analysis was used to test whether age, gender, body mass index, blood pressure, bone density, eating fruits and vegetables and family member tobacco use were correlated with the number of cigarettes smoked per day. Results The sample of people with IDD who used tobacco (n = 501) were aged 18-75 (M = 33.37) and 76.4% were male. About 73.6% reported cigarette use only, 10.6% reported dual or poly use of cigarettes and other tobacco products (cigars, pipe, and chewing tobacco) and 15.8% reported using only tobacco products other than cigarettes. Men were more likely than women to use tobacco products other than cigarettes. Of the cigarette smokers, 79.6% were daily smokers, and their mean cigarettes per day was 10.08 (SD = 9.50). Special Olympics athletes who did not have low bone density and those who consumed fruits and vegetables less than daily reported higher numbers of cigarettes per day. Conclusions Although people with IDD are less likely to use tobacco than the general population, study results suggest that people with IDD who smoke cigarettes are just as likely as smokers in the general US population to smoke daily. Improving overall health behaviours may be important in helping smokers with IDD to reduce their tobacco use. Research is needed to understand longitudinal patterns of tobacco use and how to prevent tobacco use among people with IDD.
Myopic Control of Systems with Unknown Dynamics

This paper introduces a strategy for satisfying basic control objectives for systems whose dynamics are almost entirely unknown. This setting is motivated by a scenario where a system undergoes a critical failure, thus significantly changing its dynamics. In such a case, retaining the ability to satisfy basic control objectives such as reach-avoid is imperative. To deal with significant restrictions on our knowledge of system dynamics, we develop a theory of myopic control. The primary goal of myopic control is to, at any given time, optimize the current direction of the system trajectory, given solely the limited information obtained about the system until that time. Building upon this notion, we propose a control algorithm which simultaneously uses small perturbations in the control effort to learn local system dynamics while moving in the direction which seems to be optimal based on previously obtained knowledge. We show that the algorithm results in a trajectory that is nearly optimal in the myopic sense, i.e., it is moving in a direction that seems to be nearly the best at the given time, and provide formal bounds for suboptimality. We demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed algorithm on a high-fidelity simulation of a damaged Boeing 747 seeking to remain in level flight.
Coded Caching with Full Heterogeneity: Exact Capacity of The Two-User/Two-File Case

The most commonly used setting in the coded caching literature consists of the following five elements: (i) homogeneous file sizes, (ii) homogeneous cache sizes, (iii) user-independent homogeneous file popularity (i.e., all users share the same file preference), and (iv) worst-case rate analysis. While recent results have relaxed some of these assumptions, deeper understanding of the full heterogeneity setting is still much needed since traditional caching schemes place little assumptions on file/cache sizes and almost always allow each user to have his/her own file preference through individualized file request prediction. Taking a microscopic approach, this paper characterizes the exact capacity of the smallest 2-user/2-file (N = K = 2) problem but under the most general setting that simultaneously allows for (i) heterogeneous files sizes, (ii) heterogeneous cache size, (iii) user-dependent file popularity, and (iv) average-rate analysis. Solving completely the case of N = K = 2, the results would shed further insights on the performance and complexity of optimal coded caching with full heterogeneity for arbitrary N and K.
Screening for cardiovascular comorbidity in United States outpatients with psoriasis, hidradenitis, and atopic dermatitis.

Psoriasis, hidradenitis, and atopic dermatitis (AD) are associated with increased cardiometabolic comorbidities. Yet, little is known about screening rates for cardiometabolic comorbidities in patients with these disorders. The objective of this study is to determine rates and predictors of cardiovascular screening among patients with psoriasis, AD, and hidradenitis in the United States. Data from the 2006–2015 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey were analyzed, including 67,581 pediatric and 322,957 adult outpatient visits. Overall, blood pressure screening was performed less commonly in psoriasis (36.4% [31.0–42.2%]) and AD (41.9% [39.3–44.7%] of visits) compared to other visits (62.5% [61.5–63.6%]) (P < 0.0001). Cholesterol screening was performed more often (adjusted odds ratio [95% confidence interval]) in psoriasis (1.82 [1.20–2.76], P = 0.005) but less often in hidradenitis (0.03 [0.00–0.23], P = 0.001) and AD (0.72 [0.55–0.94], P = 0.02). Obesity screening increased from 2006–2007 to 2014–2015 in AD (31.1% [25.8–36.4%]–44.5% [37.0–81.5%], P = 0.01), psoriasis (19.0% [9.4–28.6%] to 42.8% [30.5–73.3%], P = 0.01), and hidradenitis (28.6% [1.7–55.6%] to 74.2% [55.3–100.0%], P = 0.001), but screening for blood pressure, cholesterol, or diabetes did not. Screening rates for cardiometabolic comorbidities are suboptimal. Future interventions are needed to improve screening rates for cardiometabolic comorbidities.
Global use of asbestos - legitimate and illegitimate issues.

Exposure to asbestos causes non-malignant and malignant diseases including asbestosis, lung cancer, and mesothelioma. The modern history of such diseases goes back more than a century. While much is known about the ability of asbestos to cause disease, the carcinogenic mechanism is not yet understood. Continuing legitimate scientific questions include such issues as potential differential toxicity and carcinogenicity of different fiber types. Illegitimate issues include the supposed “safe” use of asbestos, and the chrysotile hypothesis. Asbestos disease issues are highly politicized and vested economic interests perpetuate false issues regarding the hazards of asbestos.
Temporal covariance structure of multi-spectral phenotypes and their predictive ability for end-of-season traits in maize

Heritable variation in phenotypes extracted from multi-spectral images (MSIs) and strong genetic correlations with end-of-season traits indicates the value of MSIs for crop improvement and modeling of plant growth curve. Vegetation indices (VIs) derived from multi-spectral imaging (MSI) platforms can be used to study properties of crop canopy, providing non-destructive phenotypes that could be used to better understand growth curves throughout the growing season. To investigate the amount of variation present in several VIs and their relationship with important end-of-season traits, genetic and residual (co)variances for VIs, grain yield and moisture were estimated using data collected from maize hybrid trials. The VIs considered were Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Green NDVI, Red Edge NDVI, Soil-Adjusted Vegetation Index, Enhanced Vegetation Index and simple Ratio of Near Infrared to Red (Red) reflectance. Genetic correlations of VIs with grain yield and moisture were used to fit multi-trait models for prediction of end-of-season traits and evaluated using within site/year cross-validation. To explore alternatives to fitting multiple phenotypes from MSI, random regression models with linear splines were fit using data collected in 2016 and 2017. Heritability estimates ranging from (0.10 to 0.82) were observed, indicating that there exists considerable amount of genetic variation in these VIs. Furthermore, strong genetic and residual correlations of the VIs, NDVI and NDRE, with grain yield and moisture were found. Considerable increases in prediction accuracy were observed from the multi-trait model when using NDVI and NDRE as a secondary trait. Finally, random regression with a linear spline function shows potential to be used as an alternative to mixed models to fit VIs from multiple time points.
Epilepsy genetics—considerations for clinical practice today and for the future

Abstract Genetic dissection of the epilepsies is revealing the extraordinary biological diversity of molecular pathways leading to these common neuronal synchronization disorders. Collectively, hundreds of genes have now been identified and are rapidly transforming the approach to epilepsy diagnosis and management. Due to the extensive comorbidity of seizures with cognitive and neurobehavioral deficits, genetic testing can help distinguish between neurodevelopmental encephalopathies and drive precision phenotyping efforts to better define unclear clinical borderlands. Inescapable obstacles, including the growing genetic heterogeneity of classified epilepsy syndromes, the complexity of individual variant profiles, and somatic mosaicism, remain significant confounders. Nevertheless, clear progress in the functional analysis of human gene variants, particularly ion channel subunit genes, is delivering gene-guided therapeutic decisions and directing new drug development. Despite the steep increase in our understanding, much research stands before us to improve our ability to predict and correctly treat these genetic brain disorders at different stages of the disease.
Early versus Late Modality Fusion of Deep Wearable Sensor Features for Personalized Prediction of Tomorrow’s Mood, Health, and Stress *

Predicting mood, health, and stress can sound an early alarm against mental illness. Multi-modal data from wearable sensors provide rigorous and rich insights into one’s internal states. Recently, deep learning-based features on continuous high-resolution sensor data have outperformed statistical features in several ubiquitous and affective computing applications including sleep detection and depression diagnosis. Motivated by this, we investigate multi-modal data fusion strategies featuring deep representation learning of skin conductance, skin temperature, and acceleration data to predict self-reported mood, health, and stress scores (0 - 100) of college students (N = 239). Our cross-validated results from the early fusion framework exhibit a significantly higher (p < 0.05) prediction precision over the late fusion for unseen users. Therefore, our findings call attention to the benefits of fusing physiological data modalities at a low level and corroborate the predictive efficacy of the deeply learned features.Clinical relevance— This establishes that with automatically extracted features from multiple sensor modalities, choosing the proper scheme of fusion can reduce the errors of predicting new users’ future wellbeing by as much as 13.2%.
LI-RADS Imaging Criteria for HCC Diagnosis and Treatment: Emerging Evidence

The purpose of this study is to review the recent literature analyzing the performance of Liver Imaging Reporting and Data System (LI-RADS) v2018 diagnostic and treatment response algorithm (TRA) for initial diagnosis and assessment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) following locoregional therapy (LRT). LI-RADS is a comprehensive tool for assessment and reporting of observations in patients at risk of developing HCC. Since HCC is predominantly an imaging diagnosis, it is important to achieve a high sensitivity and specificity for each LR category. Therefore, a multitude of studies have been published over the recent years illustrating the diagnostic yield of both the diagnostic and treatment response algorithms. In addition, the role of abbreviated MRI for screening has also been studied recently. LI-RADS diagnostic algorithm has been validated by a number of recent studies that have provided a high diagnostic reliability for categorizing each observation, when using major as well as combination of major and ancillary features. In addition, LI-RADS TRA is being validated by the emerging literature providing promising results for treatment of HCC following ablation and nonradiation-based arterial therapies. However, further insight and in depth research is required to validate the imaging appearance of radiation-based therapies as well as utilization of ancillary features for response assessment after locoregional therapy.
Mechanisms of improvements and maintenance in online relationship programs for distressed low-income couples.

OBJECTIVE Web-based relationship interventions have been shown to improve relationship functioning for low-income couples, with gains maintained up through 12 months (Doss et al., 2020; Roddy et al., 2020). However, little is known about mechanisms of improvements and maintenance for these programs. METHOD A sample of 742 low-income couples (Mage = 33; 55% non-Hispanic White; 52% married; Mdn annual household income = $27,000) were randomly assigned to the OurRelationship (OR) program, the ePREP program, or a waitlist control group. Couples were repeatedly assessed over 6 months on two relationship outcomes (satisfaction and breakup potential) and five relationship mechanisms (positive and negative communication, relationship problem intensity and confidence, and emotional support) with self-report measures. RESULTS Intervention couples, compared with the control couples, experienced significantly greater improvements in all mechanisms by the end of the program (Mean |d| = 0.58). Those with greater improvements in mechanisms also reported greater improvements in both relationship outcomes. From post- to 4-months follow-up, only prepost improvements in negative communication significantly predicted maintenance of gains in satisfaction. In contrast, prepost improvements in all mechanisms significantly predicted maintenance of reductions in breakup potential, with the largest effect via improvements in emotional support. CONCLUSIONS These results indicate that both programs improve targeted mechanisms during the intervention period and support the role of these constructs as mechanisms of improvements in broader relationship functioning. Moreover, findings on mechanisms of maintenance highlighted the importance of including an emphasis on communication and emotional support to better maintain program gains. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
Han, Lori Cox. Advising Nixon: The White House Memos of Patrick J. Buchanan : Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2019. 368 Pages. $39.95 (Hardcover)

Advising Nixon is a welcome addition to the literature on the American presidency. Patrick J. Buchanan started working for Nixon in 1966 as the latter began to ramp up his 1968 campaign for preside...
The early origin of a birdlike inner ear and the evolution of dinosaurian movement and vocalization

Reptiles, including birds, exhibit a range of behaviorally relevant adaptations that are reflected in changes to the structure of the inner ear. These adaptations include the capacity for flight an...
Reactions of winter wheat, spring wheat, and barley cultivars to mechanical inoculation with wheat streak mosaic virus

Wheat streak mosaic virus (WSMV) causes sporadic epidemics in Montana which can threaten profitability of the state’s small grains production. One challenge for WSMV management in Montana is that m...
Gestion des dépendances et des interactions entre Ontologies et Règles métier

Vu la rapidite de l'evolution des connaissances des domaines, la maintenance des systemes d'information est devenue de plus en plus difficile a gerer. Afin d'assurer une flexibilite de ces systemes, nous proposons une approche qui permet de representer les connaissances des domaines dans des modeles de representation des connaissances plutot que de les coder, dans un langage de programmation informatique, dans l'application du domaine. Ceci assurerait une meilleure flexibilite des systemes d'information, faciliterait leur maintenance et permettrait aux experts metier de gerer eux meme l'evolution des connaissances de leur domaine. Pour cela, nous proposons une approche qui permet d'integrer des ontolo- gies et des regles metier. Les ontologies permettent de modeliser les connais- sances d'un domaine. Les regles permettent aux experts metier de definir et d'automatiser, dans un langage naturel controle, des decisions du metier en se fondant sur les connaissances representees dans l'ontologie. Ainsi, les regles dependent des entites modelisees dans l'ontologie. Vu cette dependance, il est necessaire d'etudier l'impact de l'evolution des ontologies sur les regles. Pour cela, nous proposons l'approche MDR (Modeliser - Detecter - Reparer) qui permet de modeliser des changements d'ontologies, de detecter les problemes de coherence qu'ils peuvent causer sur les regles metier et de proposer des solutions pour reparer ces problemes. L'approche proposee est une approche orientee experts metier et est fondee sur les systemes de gestion des regles metier.
Church Membership in America: Trends and Explanations

The received wisdom is that religion will recede as modernity arises (Wilson, 1982). Classic sociological theories argue that this religious recession will occur at all levels, from the behaviors and beliefs of individuals to the vitality of religious organizations. Indeed, to the extent that religious groups and their assertions about powerful supernatural forces do survive, the inherited model suggests that such groups will be restricted to small backwater groups protesting the advance of modernity (Berger, 1968, Berger, 1969). The remaining churches will gradually acquiesce to modernity and the once powerful supernatural forces will give way to more rational explanations and beliefs.