cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Gender and Cooperation: Explaining Loan Repayment in Micro-Credit Groups*

Does gender affect cooperation? In this paper we analyze the effects of gender and group gender composition on prosocial behavior. We make two competing predictions: one based on literature suggesting that women are more cooperative than men, the other building on research regarding the effect of expectations on behavior. Using data drawn from micro-credit borrowing groups, we find that gender composition, not gender per se, is correlated with the likelihood that individuals will default on loan payments. The findings suggest that behavior which might appear to be a consequence of inherent gender differences more likely results from expectations associated with group gender composition. Are women more cooperative than men? Observation suggests that they may be. At a minimum, people expect to see differences, but the evidence is decidedly mixed. Some studies find that women cooperate more than men; others find that they cooperate less. Still other research suggests that it is not gender itself that affects behavior; rather, the composition of groups accounts for differences in cooperation levels. In the present study we provide new data regarding this issue, with a focus on cooperation in micro-credit borrowing groups. We distinguish between gender and the gender composition of these groups to evaluate their effects on one kind of cooperative behavior, the repayment of loans.
Video Strategy of Transnational Media Corporations: A Resource-Based Examination of Global Alliances and Patterns

AbstractSubscribing to the resource-based view (RBV) framework of analyzing strategy and employing a case study approach, this study investigates the most critical sectors for the U.S.-based TNMCS in a global media marketplace and discusses how their resources were aligned with their local counterparts’ resources in the marketing of video-related products. The alliances involving Time Warner, News Corporation, Disney, Viacom, and NBC Universal were examined. Cross-case analysis identified six alliance patterns, including the importance of content-distribution resource alignment, the acquisition of local knowledge resources, the strategic alliances between TNMCs, the decrease of equity-based alliances, the growing interest in emerging markets and the complementary role of property and knowledge resources in entering such markets, and the necessity of uniting resources that enable the “glocalization” of video-related products.
AngioJet ™ thrombolysis of SVC thrombosis after orthotopic heart transplantation: A case report

SVC obstruction is a rare acute complication after bicaval cardiac transplantation and can be catastrophic for the patient. Herein, we report the case of a child who developed SVC thrombosis causing acute SVC syndrome nine days after heart transplantation. Thrombolysis was successfully performed using the AngioJet™ system and subsequent balloon angioplasty with re-establishment of flow. This procedure allowed for revascularization without repeat sternotomy or stent implantation. The patient is well without recurrence at last follow-up.
GSK3B silencing in the NAc produces addiction- and depression-like phenotypes opposite of environmental enrichment and alters neuronal excitability

mechanisms. hSUD individuals have poorer IC and differential activation in some areas important for Cognitive Control when successful in inhibiting prepotent responses (rDLPFC), as well as less activation in areas important for emotion and more implicit aspects of control (rI/IFG), suggesting differential mechanisms of dysregulation.On theother hand,HChadgreater activation in areas implicated in error processing (rACC), indicating that this areamay be underactive in both SUD and MDD. Future studies will further explore these distinct and shared neural profiles and include individuals with active SUD, to better understand state and trait neural mechanisms of SUD and MDD. Financial support: Supported by F31DA038388 (NAC) and K23MH074459, NARSAD Young Investigator Award (SAL).
Surgical correction of Tetralogy of Fallot in the first year of life

Objective To review our experience of surgical treatment of Tetralogy of Fallot in the first year of life.Methods Between January 2000 and December 2005,we carried out 91 complete repairs of Tetralogy of Fallot in children under 12 months of age.The mean age at the time of repair was 7.92±0.4 months (range:17 days to 11.8 months).The mean body weight was 6.98±0.3kg (range:1.7～10.2 kg).There were 63 boys (69.2%) and 28 girls (30.8%).Eighty-eight patients were symptomatic (severe cyanosis or hypoxic spells).The diagnoses were made by two-dimensional and Doppler echocardiography and cardiac catheterization or spiral CT.The operations were carried out with moderate to deep hypothermic cardiopulmonary bypass.93.4% of the children required en- largement of outflow tract of right ventricle with transannular patch.Ventricular septal defect was re- paired through the incision of right ventricle or right atrium.The mean M ratio was 1.88.Results The hospital mortality rate was 7.7%.The mean aortic clamping time was 55.2minutes and the mean CPB time was 88.2 minutes.The incidence of mild pulmonary insufficiency was 71.4%.There was no 3~(rd) degree atrioventricular block.However,5 patients suffered from mild obstruction of right ventricu- lar outflow tract.Conclusions Complete repair of Tetralogy of Fallot in the first year of life is effec- tive with relatively lower hospital death rate.
Rehabilitation nursing of children with congenital torticollis

Objective To investigate the methods of getting well and nursing for congenital torticollis.Methods From1997 to 2004,375 patients with congenital torticollis were analyzed retrospectively.They all were treated by operation as well as neck's traction and brace after operation.Results All patients were followed up for a period of 1 to 7 years, The effect after operation was satisfactory,but 4 case recurred and 4 case was not good enough.Conclusion It is propitious to rehabilitated for patients with congenital torticollis using delicate and effective nusing.
Neural Networks, Fuzzy Models and Dynamic Logic

The paper discusses possible relationships between computational intelligence, known mechanisms of the mind, semiotics, and computational linguistics. Mathematical mechanisms of concepts, emotions, and goals are described as a part of information processing in the mind and are related to language and thought processes in which an event (signals from surrounding world, text corpus, or inside the mind) is understood as a concept. Previous attempts in artificial intelligence at describing thought processes are briefly reviewed and their fundamental (mathematical) limitations are analyzed. The role of emotional signals in overcoming these past limitations is emphasized. The paper describes mathematical mechanisms of concepts applicable to sensory signals and linguistics; they are based on measures of similarities between models and signals. Linguistic similarities are discussed that can utilize various structures and rules proposed in computational linguistic literature. A hierarchical structure of the proposed method is capable of learning and recognizing concepts from textual data, from the level of words and up to sentences, groups of sentences, and towards large bodies of text. I briefly discuss a role of concepts as a mechanism unifying thinking and language and their possible role in language acquisition. A thought process is related to semiotic notions of signs and symbols. It is further related to understanding, imagination, intuition, and other processes in the mind. The paper briefly discusses relationships between the mind and brain and applications to understanding-based search engines.
Imaging and Probing Cell Mechanical Properties With the Atomic Force Microscope

This chapter describes the use of the atomic force microscope (AFM) to probe and map out regional variations in apparent elastic properties of living cells. The importance of mechanics in the field of cell biology is becoming more widely appreciated, and the AFM has unique advantages for cell mechanics applications. However, care must be taken in the acquisition, analysis, Band interpretation of AFM indentation data. To help make this powerful technique accessible to a broad range of investigators, detailed procedures are provided for all stages of the AFM experiment from sample preparation through data analysis and visualization.
PASTRY AND COOKIES

Pastry includes a wide variety of products made from doughs containing medium to large amounts of fat. The dough is folded and rolled many times, resulting in a multilayered product. The formation of steam during baking results in puffing with separation of layers. A pastry formula is simple containing flour, salt, shortening, and water; the shortening content is high and the water content is very low. The mixing of the ingredients and the handling of the dough are important to the properties of the product. Pastry is baked at a high temperature and is crisp because the low water concentration inhibits starch gelatinization. The high concentration of fat also contributes to Cookies usually, though not always, contain a chemical agent; the concentration is lower in cookies than in cakes. Cookie formulations are diverse, but the proportion of water in cookie dough is low, and sugar and fat concentrations are high. The sugar competes with both starch and gluten for the small amount of water that is present. Baked cookie is tender-crisp because little or no starch gelatinization occurs and the sugar and fat interfere with gluten development. When a formula contains a higher proportion of water, the product is softer and more cakelike because of starch gelatinization.
Electronic Properties of Electroactive Bilayer Lipid Membranes

The lipid bilayer postulated as the basic structural matrix of biological membranes is widely accepted. Experiments in the early 1960s have made direct studies of lipid bilayer possible. At present, the bilayer lipid membrane (BLM) upon suitable modification serves as a unique model for biological membranes. This paper, after a minireview, describes our recent experiments with BLMs containing TCNQ (7,7′,8,8′-tetracyano-p-quinodimethane) or TTF (tetrathiafulvalene). These doped BLMs have been investigated by a voltammetric technique which has shown that suitably modified bilayer lipid membranes can act as an electronic conductor partaking in redox reactions at membrane/solution interfaces.
Multispectral vegetation detection for improved SAR CCD

Synthetic Aperture Radar Coherent Change Detection's (SAR CCD) sensitivity to changes in ground surface height is coupled with sensitivity to other environmental changes such as minor movement in vegetation. The CCD Clutter Location, Estimation and Negation (CLEAN) algorithm decreases the false alarm rate in SAR CCD change pattern detection algorithms using intensity information in SAR images to discriminate false alarms from changes of interest. Unfortunately, CLEAN has difficulty identifying vegetation using only SAR imagery and vegetation is problematic in SAR CCD. In this paper, we propose an extension to CLEAN that fuses information from multispectral imagery with SAR intensity information for more robust vegetation classification. Experimental results show that our algorithm significantly improves change identification in SAR CCD.
Diamagnetism and Paramagnetism

This is a book concerning the magnetic properties of transition metal complexes. The subject has been of interest for a long time, for it was realized by Pauling as long ago as the 1930’s that there was a diagnostic criterion between magnetic properties and the bonding of metal ions in complexes. Indeed, over the years, magnetic properties have continued to be used in this fashion. With time and the influence of physicists working in this field, the emphasis has shifted so that chemists are becoming more interested in the magnetic phenomena themselves. The subject is no longer a subsidiary one. One result of this new emphasis is that chemists have continued to decrease the working temperature of their experiments, with measurements at liquid helium temperatures now being common.
Diet Composition, Feeding Periodicity, and Prey Selection of Slimy Sculpin During Winter

Abstract Slimy Sculpin Cottus cognatus is an important component of the benthic ichthyofauna of many lakes and streams in the northern latitudes of North America. Although considerable information exists on the feeding ecology of this species, there is essentially no information available on winter feeding. Consequently, we examined the winter feeding ecology of Slimy Sculpins in a central New York stream. Ephemeropterans (37.8%) and trichopterans (31.2%) were the primary prey taxa consumed in January. There was evidence of diel variation in diet composition, with ephemeropterans making up 24.1% of the diet at 0400 hours and 46.7% at 1600 hours and trichopterans contributing 22.7% at 1200 hours and 43.8% at 2000 hours. During winter, Slimy Sculpins selected chironomids (0.46) and trichopterans (0.43) and avoided coleopterans (−0.84) and nonchironomid dipterans (−0.67). Peak food consumption of Slimy Sculpins occurred at night. Winter feeding patterns of Slimy Sculpins in Grout Brook, a second-order tribut...
The Albedo Problem and Chadrasekhar H-Function II

(1967). The Albedo Problem and Chadrasekhar H-Function II. Nuclear Science and Engineering: Vol. 27, No. 3, pp. 607-608.
Reasonable Default in Organ Donation Policy

Xiaoping Ren and Sergio Canavero (2017) argue that the academic community has failed to ethically evaluate the relevant moral issues associated with head transplantation, criticizing it for being t...
Phillips Lecture – Why Some Times Are Different: Macroeconomic Policy and the Aftermath of Financial Crises

Analysis based on a new measure of financial distress for 24 advanced economies in the postwar period shows substantial variation in the aftermath of financial crises. This paper examines the role that macroeconomic policy plays in explaining this variation. We find that the degree of monetary and fiscal policy space prior to financial distress—that is, whether the policy interest rate is above the zero lower bound and whether the debt-to-GDP ratio is relatively low—greatly affects the aftermath of crises. The decline in output following a crisis is less than 1% when a country possesses both types of policy space, but almost 10% when it has neither. The difference is highly statistically significant and robust to the measures of policy space and the sample. We also consider the mechanisms by which policy space matters. We find that monetary and fiscal policy are used more aggressively when policy space is ample. Financial distress itself is also less persistent when there is policy space. The findings may have implications for policy during both normal times and periods of acute financial distress.
States As Psychopaths; Theorists As Psychoanalysts: The Reason for War

This chapter will discuss state behavior as driven by the individual. States are locked into a structure of psychopathy which results in war. War is ultimately a form of mass murder which is of course justified by the psychopathic actor: the state. The environment of kill or be killed also expedites prestige seeking which is a form of narcissism. This chapter connects great power war making activity with the analysis of motivations to understand state behavior.
Localized Deformation in Ni-Mn-Ga Single Crystals

The magnetomechanical behavior of ferromagnetic shape memory alloys such as Ni-Mn-Ga, and hence the relationship between structure and nanoscale magnetomechanical properties, is of interest for their potential applications in actuators. Furthermore, due to its crystal structure, the behavior of Ni-Mn-Ga is anisotropic. Accordingly, nanoindentation and magnetic force microscopy were used to probe the nanoscale mechanical and magnetic properties of electropolished single crystalline 10M martensitic Ni-Mn-Ga as a function of the crystallographic c-axis (easy magnetization) direction relative to the indentation surface (i.e., c-axis in-plane versus out-of-plane). Load-displacement curves from 5–10 mN indentations on in-plane regions exhibited pop-in during loading, whereas this phenomenon was absent in out-of-plane regions. Additionally, the reduced elastic modulus measured for the c-axis out-of-plane orientation was ∼50% greater than for in-plane. Although heating above the transition temperature to the aust...
Communities of Practice: An International Learning Experience

Excerpt: Collaborative inquiry through communities of practice has long been recognized by SoTL scholars as a powerful way for teachers to improve the teaching and learning processes for their students. Communities of practice provide teachers the opportunity to share educational practices, the challenges...
Transforming Allied Health.

In 1995, the Division of Allied Health at the Women's and Children's Hospital Adelaide (WCH) began a process ofcritical review of its service delivery models and organisational structure in order better to meet the vision and valuesof the WCH and the needs of consumers. This paper describes the change management process. Barriers to andfacilitators of change are highlighted. The outcomes of the change process are described, including the newmultidisciplinary team and program-based organisational structure and culture.
Predictive Turbulence Modeling by Variational Closure

We show that a variational implementation of probability density function (PDF) closures has the potential to make predictions of general turbulence mean statistics for which a priori knowledge of the incorrectness is possible. This possibility exists because of realizability conditions on “effective potential” functions for general turbulence statistics. These potentials measure the cost for fluctuations to occur away from the ensemble-mean value in empirical time-averages of the given variable, and their existence is a consequence of a refined ergodic hypothesis for the governing dynamical system (Navier–Stokes dynamics). Approximations of the effective potentials can be calculated within PDF closures by an efficient Rayleigh–Ritz algorithm. The failure of realizability within a closure for the approximate potential of any chosen statistic implies a priori that the closure prediction for that statistic is not converged. The systematic use of these novel realizability conditions within PDF closures is shown in a simple 3-mode system of Lorenz to result in a statistically improved predictive ability. In certain cases the variational method allows an a priori optimum choice of free parameters in the closure to be made.
Preoperative cardiac risk management.

The safe surgical treatment of patients with peripheral vascular disease mandates cost effective yet purposeful assessment of cardiac risk in the preoperative period, as well as skillful perioperative management. This article reviews both the sensitivity and specificity of commonly used diagnostic tests and relates these data to the outcome from various types of vascular reconstructions.
Hedgehog Signaling in Growth Plate and Bone Development

Genetic studies in Drosophila melanogaster first published in 1980 revealed mutations called “hedgehog” and “patched”, named for the odd appearance of mutant fly embryos [89]. Since then, work from numerous groups studying many model organisms has come together to reveal what is currently called the Hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathway. Largely, though not completely, conserved from Drosophila to human, this pathway has been shown to be a master ­regulator of cell proliferation and differentiation, influencing many critical processes that range from early embryonic pattern formation to tissue homeostasis in adulthood. As might be expected for a network of such importance, dysregulation of this pathway has also been implicated in a broad spectrum of human diseases, including many varieties of neoplasia and a number of congenital malformations [41, 86].
Support for situation awareness in trustworthy ubiquitous computing application software: Papers from COMPSAC 2004

Due to the dynamic and ephemeral nature of ubiquitous computing (ubicomp) environments, it is especially important that the application software in ubicomp environments is trustworthy. In order to have trustworthy application software in ubicomp environments, situation-awareness (SAW) in the application software is needed to enforce flexible security policies and detect violations of security policies. In this paper, an approach is presented to provide development and runtime support to incorporate SAW in trustworthy ubicomp application software. The development support is to provide SAW requirement specification and automated code generation to achieve SAW in trustworthy ubicomp application software, and the runtime support is for context acquisition, situation analysis and situation-aware communication. To realize our approach, the improved Reconfigurable Context-Sensitive Middleware (RCSM) is developed to provide the above development and runtime support. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.A selected paper from COMPSAC 2004, edited by Eric Wong and Karama Kanoun
Failed States and the Lack of Good Governance: A Causal Explanation

The phenomenon of failed states has attracted many researchers in recent times because of the far reaching consequences of the problem. A failed state may cause enormous sufferings to its people directly.
Reducing the Radiation Therapy Dose Prescription for Elective Treatment Areas in Human Papillomavirus-Associated Oropharyngeal Carcinoma Being Treated With Primary Chemoradiotherapy at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

Abstract Data on the biology and radiosensitivity of human papillomavirus–related cancers have led many expert radiation oncologists to decrease the radiation dose to target areas in selected situations. At Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, we have altered our radiation guidelines to allow substantial dose reduction to elective treatment regions and to omit radiation completely in other regions that have historically been included in the elective treatment volume. Here we summarize our current dose prescriptions and briefly explain the rationale behind these choices, which we anticipate will change when additional data mature. These recommendations are based on the American Joint Committee on Cancer seventh edition TNM Staging System and applicable only to patients who receive concurrent platinum-based chemotherapy and in whom both p16 immunohistochemistry and human papillomavirus RNA in situ hybridization tests are positive.
Role of Alpha-2-Microglobulin in the Treatment of Osteoarthritic Knee Pain: a Brief Review of the Literature

Chronic knee pain remains a debilitating condition that remains difficult to manage. The purpose of this review, therefore, is to summarize current understanding of alpha-2-microglobulin in the treatment of osteoarthritic knee pain. Furthermore, we investigate its role in the anti-inflammatory properties of platelet-rich plasma (PRP). Alpha-2-microglobulin, a 720-kD protein complex, is an active protease inhibitor with tremendous anti-inflammatory properties in animal models. A growing body of evidence suggests that this complex is the most instrumental factor for cartilage preservation in PRP injections. As an active component of platelet-rich plasma’s anti-inflammatory properties, alpha-2-microglobulin has been shown to be an active inhibitor of joint degeneration, cartilage preservation, and improvement in quality of life for patients with knee osteoarthritis compared with a multitude of other modalities.
How predictable is extinction? Forecasting species survival at million-year timescales.

A tenet of conservation palaeobiology is that knowledge of past extinction patterns can help us to better predict future extinctions. Although the future is unobservable, we can test the strength o...
Phase Inversion in a Two-phase, BCC+B2, Refractory High Entropy Alloy

Abstract A phenomenon of “phase inversion”, presumably the first ever experimental evidence in metallic alloys, is shown in a refractory high entropy alloy (RHEA), Al0.5NbTa0.8Ti1.5V0.2Zr. Phase inversion in crystalline solid systems is driven by the differences in elastic modulus of the two phases. Quenching from a high temperature single phase field, the RHEA exhibits a co-continuous mixture of a disordered BCC and an ordered B2 phase, that upon isothermal annealing at 600 °C develops via spinodal decomposition into a continuous B2 matrix with discrete cuboidal BCC precipitates aligned along the 〈001〉 directions. Longer term annealing at 600 °C results in the development of necking constrictions along the B2 channels, eventually pinching-off these channels and making the BCC phase continuous with discrete B2 precipitates. This inversion process can be related to the simultaneous operation of two processes: (i) spheroidization of the initially discrete cuboidal BCC precipitates driven by a reduction in the total interface energy and (ii) an increase in the stiffness of the B2 phase, relative to the BCC phase, due to chemical composition changes during annealing, forcing the B2 regions to become discrete driven by the reduction in the total elastic strain energy.
Cyprus' External Competitiveness Assessment †

Cyprus’ persistent current account deficits over the last decade point to potential competitiveness problems. This note reviews price and non-price indicators to assess the existence of a competitiveness gap in Cyprus and the factors underlying it. Results show that, while productivity growth has been higher in Cyprus than in the euro area, wages growth outstripped productivity gains. As a result, unit labor costs grew more rapidly than in peer countries, implying a steady loss of competitiveness vis-a-vis Cyprus' trading partners. A solid labor market and a dynamic service sector provide some reassurance, but action to restore a healthy competitive business environment is needed. Structural measures to enhance efficiency and labor market flexibility, and a revision of the current wage indexation system would increase the capacity of the economy to adjust to external shocks and curb unit labor cost growth; while curtailing government consumption expenditure would increase national saving thereby reducing the current account deficit.
Simple Control Strategies for dv/dt Reduction in SiC MOSFET based Modular Multilevel Converters

This paper proposes a simple control strategy for the dv/dt reduction in the modular multilevel converters (MMCs) based motor drives. In particular, the control strategy aims at the reduction of the MMC output voltage slew rate by coordinating the switching transients of several submodules. It is realized via utilizing extra submodules or simply applying a delay time to the switching transients. Both methods are implemented without affecting the switching speed of the power devices. Thus, the methods could mitigate the drawbacks caused by the high dv/dt while maintaining the advantages brought about by the fast switching speed of the silicon carbide (SiC) devices. The simulation results and test results based on a SiC MMC are provided. It is shown that the proposed control methods bring down the output dv/dt by around 50 %.
C 2 RC: Channel Congestion-based Re-transmission Control for 3GPP-based V2X Technologies

The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is actively designing New Radio Vehicle-to-Everything (NR V2X)—a 5G NR-based technology for V2X communications. NR V2X, along with its predecessor Cellular V2X (C-V2X), is set to enable low-latency and high-reliability communications in high-speed and dense vehicular environments. A key reliability-enhancing mechanism that is available in C-V2X and is likely to be re-used in NR V2X is packet re-transmissions. In this paper, using a systematic and extensive simulation study, we investigate the impact of this feature on the system performance of C-V2X. We show that statically configuring vehicles to always disable or enable packet re-transmissions either fails to extract the full potential of this feature or leads to performance degradation due to increased channel congestion. Motivated by this, we propose and evaluate Channel Congestion-based Re-transmission Control (C2 RC), which, based on the observed channel congestion, allows vehicles to autonomously decide whether or not to use packet re-transmissions without any role of the cellular infrastructure. Using our proposed mechanism, C-V2X-capable vehicles can boost their performance in lightly-loaded environments, while not compromising on performance in denser conditions.
Low light intensity delays vegetative phase change in Arabidopsis thaliana

Plants that develop under low intensity light (LL) often display a phenotype known as the "shade tolerance syndrome (STS)". This syndrome is similar to the phenotype of plants in the juvenile phase of shoot development, but the basis for this similarity is unknown. We tested the hypothesis that the STS is regulated by the same mechanism that regulates the juvenile vegetative phase by examining the effect of LL on rosette development in Arabidopsis thaliana. We found that LL prolonged the juvenile vegetative phase and that this was associated with an increase the expression of the master regulators of vegetative phase change, miR156 and miR157, and a decrease in the expression of their SPL targets. Exogenous sucrose partially corrected the effect of LL on seedling development and miR156 expression. Our results suggest that the response of Arabidopsis to LL is mediated by an increase in miR156/miR157 expression and by factors that repress SPL gene expression independently of miR156/miR157, and is caused in part by a decrease in carbohydrate production. The effect of LL on vegetative phase change does not require the photoreceptors and transcription factors responsible for the shade avoidance syndrome, implying that light intensity and light quality regulate rosette development by different pathways.
$\epsilon$-Arithmetics for Real Vectors

In this paper, we introduce a new concept, namely $\epsilon$-arithmetics, for real vectors of any fixed dimension. The basic idea is to use vectors of rational values (called rational vectors) to approximate vectors of real values of the same dimension within $\epsilon$ range. For rational vectors of a fixed dimension $m$, they can form a field that is an $m$th order extension $\mathbf{Q}(\alpha)$ of the rational field $\mathbf{Q}$ where $\alpha$ has its minimum polynomial of degree $m$ over $\mathbf{Q}$. Then, the arithmetics, such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, of real vectors can be defined by using that of their approximated rational vectors within $\epsilon$ range. We also define complex conjugate of a real vector and then inner products for two real vectors and two real vector sequences of the same length.
Assessment of label-free quantification and missing value imputation for proteomics in non-human primates

Introduction: Reliable and effective label-free quantification (LFQ) analyses are dependent not only on the method of data acquisition in the mass spectrometer, but also on the downstream data processing, including software tools, query database, data normalization and imputation. In non-human primates (NHP), LFQ is challenging because the query databases for NHP are limited since the genomes of these species are not comprehensively annotated. This invariably results in limited discovery of proteins and associated Post Translational Modifications (PTMs) and a higher fraction of missing data points. While identification of fewer proteins and PTMs due to database limitations can negatively impact uncovering important and meaningful biological information, missing data also limits downstream analyses (e.g., multivariate analyses), decreases statistical power, biases statistical inference, and makes biological interpretation of the data more challenging. In this study we attempted to address both issues: first, we used the MetaMorphues proteomics search engine to counter the limits of NHP query databases and maximize the discovery of proteins and associated PTMs, and second, we evaluated different imputation methods for accurate data inference. Results: Using the MetaMorpheus proteomics search engine we obtained quantitative data for 1,622 proteins and 10,634 peptides including 58 different PTMs (biological, metal and artifacts) across a diverse age range of NHP brain frontal cortex. However, among the 1,622 proteins identified, only 293 proteins were quantified across all samples with no missing values, emphasizing the importance of implementing an accurate and statically valid imputation method to fill in missing data. In our imputation analysis we demonstrate that Single Imputation methods that borrow information from correlated proteins such as Generalized Ridge Regression (GRR), Random Forest (RF), local least squares (LLS), and a Bayesian Principal Component Analysis methods (BPCA), are able to estimate missing protein abundance values with great accuracy. Conclusions: Overall, this study offers a detailed comparative analysis of LFQ data generated in NHP and proposes strategies for improved LFQ in NHP proteomics data.
Review of Empirical Quantitative Data Use in Lifeline Infrastructure Restoration Modeling

AbstractDisaster recovery is considered one of the less-understood phases of the disaster cycle. In particular, the literature on lifeline infrastructure restoration modeling frequently mentions th...
Information and Democracy: Public Policy in the News

Around the world, there are increasing concerns about the accuracy of media coverage. It is vital in representative democracies that citizens have access to reliable information about what is happening in government policy, so that they can form meaningful preferences and hold politicians accountable. Yet much research and conventional wisdom questions whether the necessary information is available, consumed, and understood. This study is the first large-scale empirical investigation into the frequency and reliability of media coverage in five policy domains, and it provides tools that can be exported to other areas, in the US and elsewhere. Examining decades of government spending, media coverage, and public opinion in the US, this book assesses the accuracy of media coverage, and measures its direct impact on citizens' preferences for policy. This innovative study has far-reaching implications for those studying and teaching politics as well as for reporters and citizens.
Educating Girls in Early Twentieth‐Century Iran: A Study of a Baha'i School

In the first decades of the twentieth century, the Baha'is of Iran were actively engaged in establishing schools for girls. This article provides a case study of one such school in a provincial town: Sa‘adat-i banat in Najafabad. The study sheds light on how the Baha'i community and the wider public responded to the school and on the nature of its impact. The case highlights the challenges that surrounded schooling of girls and illustrates the greater readiness of the Baha'is to support female education compared with the majority Muslim population. What made the crucial difference was not their material and human resources but rather the values that they espoused. The study also shows that in spite of their status as a stigmatized community, the Baha'is were able to make an important contribution to promoting girls' schooling. Among the Baha'is, the experience with the school contributed to their commitment to female education.
Assessing the Legality of Invading Iraq

The recent invasion of Iraq challenges a cornerstone of contemporary international law: the prohibition on the use of force by one state against another state. The conventional wisdom is that the United States embarked on the invasion with little regard for international law or for the attitudes reflected by other nations, including the other members of the UN Security Council. This article disputes that conventional wisdom. First, the Bush administration could have ignored international law and the Security Council, but in fact deployed a fairly sophisticated legal theory as to why U.S. actions were permissible under international law, a theory that entailed the use of prior Security Council resolutions in combination with the concept of material breach. The article examines that theory in detail and finds that the Bush administration theory is plausible but unpersuasive. Second, given that the United States invaded Iraq using an unpersuasive legal theory, this article considers whether international law can be said to have had any real influence on the United States at all. In other words, did the United States deploy its legal theory simply as a cover for action it intended to take all along, or did international law play a role in the decision-making process? The article suggests that international law played a role at various points in the decision-making process: within the executive branch, within the congress and public opinion, and in the attitudes of foreign states that were important to the success of the U.S. action. The article concludes that international law is not well-placed to prevent a major power, such as the United States, from embarking on action deemed central to its national security, but contends that - in the case of the invasion of Iraq - international law played a central role in setting the terms of the discourse within and among states and providing a key forum for the development of global community expectations.
Thermal Fatigue Testing of Simulated Turbine Blades

Burner rig tests on simulated turbine blades, with and without internal cooling, to predict thermal fatigue performance
Transmitter-based channel equalization and MUI suppression for UWB systems

In ultra-wide bandwidth (UWB) communication systems, dense multipath and severe multiuser interference (MUI) make the receiver high in hardware complexity and power consumption. It is desirable to shift the computation-demanding work to users with plentiful power and computational resources. We propose two prefiltering schemes which combat the MUI and multipath effects in the transmitter, so that the receivers of users without sufficient resources can be simplified to just fixed correlators.
Political Institutions, Political Careers and Environmental Policy

High party discipline and high party strength induce legislators to stay committed to the party's promised policies after their election. This is because party leaders are able to punish deviations and reward behavior that is in the party's interest. Higher political stability induces party leaders to take a longer‐term perspective. We investigate the following interrelated hypotheses: (i) the effects of party discipline and party strength on environmental policy are conditional on the degree of political stability; and (ii) the effect of political stability is conditional on the levels of party discipline and party strength. Our empirical findings support these hypotheses.
Occurrence of Lysophosphatides in Bacteriophage T4rII-Infected Escherichia coli S/6

Hydrolysis of phospholipids was observed to start about 15 min after Escherichia coli S/6 cells were infected with T4rII bacteriophage mutants. Hydrolysis continued through the latent period and well past the time when cell lysis occurs. The hydrolytic products that accumulated were free fatty acids, 2-acyl lysophosphatidylethanolamine, and various lysocardiolipins. These products indicated the action of phospholipase A1. From 15 to 22 min after infection, there were equivalent amounts of fatty acids and lysophosphatides in extracts of cellular lipids. Thereafter, free fatty acids were produced in excess. This suggests that lysophospholipase was active at the later time. We also observed a stoichiometric relation between loss of phosphatidylglycerol and increase of cardiolipin plus lysocardiolipins. This continued well past the normal lysis time (25 min). The appearance of lipase activities during the latent period seems to be specific to infection with rII mutants. Neither the wild-type bacteriophage nor rI mutants produced similar activities by 22 min after infection.
Burst and latency requirements drive EDO and BEDO DRAM standards

The standard "commodity" DRAM functionality has recently evolved from fast page mode (FPM) into extended data out (EDO) and burst extended data out (BEDO). These functional changes are the response to the need for improved burst rates with low lead-off latencies. EDO and BEDO meet these requirements and retain the same low manufacturing cost.
Priming of courageous behavior: contrast effects in spider fearful women.

Objective Recently, researchers have called for therapeutic applications of behavioral primes (Shalev & Bargh, 2011). We evaluated whether courageous approach behavior might be facilitated through priming in a sample of spider fearful women. Method Undergraduate student women reporting elevated spider fear (N = 33, Age mean = 18.88) were recruited for this study. Participants completed self-report measures of spider fear and dispositional courage. They then completed either a courage or neutral word search prime, which was followed by a behavioral approach task involving a tarantula. Results Consistent with predictions, among those reporting lower dispositional courage, the courage prime led to reduced approach behavior relative to the neutral prime. However, no group differences were found among those high in dispositional courage. Conclusions These findings point to the importance of self-perceptions in moderating the effects of behavioral primes and suggest limitations to the use of such interventions with individuals with psychological dysfunction.
Effects of tree mortality caused by a bark beetle outbreak on the ant community in the San Bernardino National Forest

A severe bark beetle outbreak caused very high levels of tree mortality in the San Bernardino National Forest in southern California in 2003. In 2009, the impact of the outbreak on the ant community was examined by pitfall-trapping ants in 15 sites that saw high tree mortality (‘red’ sites) and 15 sites that suffered little or no tree mortality (‘green’ sites) during the outbreak. Ant species turnover between green and red sites was low, and no invasive species were observed. However, changes in the abundances of various species resulted in a significant alteration of the ant community. If the ant community is an accurate bioindicator of other taxa in this forest, the effects of the bark beetle outbreak may be described as dramatic but not catastrophic or irreversible. The changes in the ant community are consistent with the hypothesis that this community is structured by nest site limitation rather than inter-specific competition or thermal limitation.
Roles of hyaluronan in bone resorption

Hyaluronan, an unsulfated glycosaminoglycan, while being closely linked to osteoclast function several years ago, has received little attention lately. Given recent new knowledge of hyaluronan's possible cell binding abilities, it is important to re-examine the role of this polysaccharide in bone homeostasis. Previously published data demonstrating a linkage between induction of hyaluronan synthesis and osteoclast-mediated bone resorption are reviewed. Suggestions are made involving the cell binding ability of hyaluronan and its potential to mediate osteoclast binding to bone surfaces and its potential to serve as a diffusion barrier and participate in the sealing zone required for osteoclast-mediated bone resorption. This brief article summarizes previous studies linking HA to bone resorption and suggests roles for hyaluronan in the process of bone resorption.
COMPARISON OF CULTURED TRICHODESMIUM (CYANOPHYCEAE) WITH SPECIES CHARACTERIZED FROM THE FIELD(1)

The filamentous, colonial cyanobacterium Trichodesmium has six well-described species, but many more names. Traditional classification was based on field samples using morphological characteristics such as cell width and length, gas vesicle distribution, and colony morphology. We used the Woods Hole Trichodesmium culture collection to identify 21 cultured strains to species using cell morphology; phycobiliprotein absorption spectra; and sequences of the 16S rRNA gene, the 16S-23S internal transcribed spacer (ITS), and the heterocyst differentiation gene hetR. We compared our results to previous studies of field specimens and found similar clades, though not all phylogenetic groups were represented in culture. Our culture collection represented two of the four major clades of Trichodesmium: clade I, made up of Trichodesmium thiebautii Gomont, Trichodesmium tenue Wille, Katagnymene spiralis Lemmerm., and Trichodesmium hildebrandtii Gomont; and clade III, consisting of Trichodesmium erythraeum Ehrenb. and Trichodesmium contortum Wille. These clades were genetically coherent with similar phycobiliprotein composition, but morphologically diverse. In the continual revision of cyanobacterial taxonomy, genetic and biochemical information is useful and informative complements to morphology for the development of a functional classification scheme.
Parent and Progeny Compounds in Exhaled Breath, Determination of

Breath analysis is the sampling and analysis of an analyte in the exhaled breath of living animals, and the subsequent interpretation of the results.1 Breath sampling is noninvasive of the body as is urine sampling, unlike blood sampling. All three modes of biological monitoring can be very useful and often are necessary. Breath sampling is especially useful for chemically inert volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The related branches of scientific endeavor include: Pulmonary function testing is the measurement of pulmonary parameters to diagnose pulmonary disorders.2 Pulmonary toxicology is the study of adverse effects of inspired toxicants on the respiratory system. Inhalation toxicology is the study of adverse effects of inspired toxicants on body target organs and tissues. Pulmonary toxicology is thus a subset of inhalation toxicology. The health consequences of “sniffing” chemicals and “poppers” are included. Many scientists use inhalation toxicology as a term to describe animal experimentation. Anesthesiology is the intentional exposure of anesthetics in nonadverse doses to humans to aid medical operations where pain would be excessive. Taste and odor science is the investigation of taste and odor in inspired breath and oral ingestion from natural sources (decaying vegetation, decomposing bodies, and environmental odors) and synthetic sources (food, drink, drugs, cosmetics, perfumes, toiletries, wine tasting and bouquet, beer taste and odor, sewer headspaces and emissions, pesticide applications, garbage and waste sites, natural and potable waters), and environmental and indoor air quality situations. Often taste and odor panels are a part of the evaluation of such phenomena. When used for risk assessment purposes, taste, odor, and other aesthetic considerations are called organoleptic criteria. This article will focus on human exhaled breath analysis, except where specified otherwise.
Human erythrocyte membrane bound enzyme acetylcholinesterase

1. 1. The activating effects of Na+ and Ca2+ on human erythrocyte membrane-bound acetylcholinesterase are largely independent of acetylcholine concentration. However, the optimal concentration of Mg2+ is dependent upon substrate concentration. 2. 2. Solubilization of 10–45 % of erythrocyte membrane protein by hypertonic solutions of NaCl, CaCl2, sucrose or 1 mM EDTA + 50 mM mercaptoethanol was accompanied by loss of only 10–20% of acetylcholinesterase activity. 3. 3. The nonionic detergent Triton X-100 causes a 50 % decrease in absorbance of turbid membrane suspensions at a detergent concentration c(μM) = 0.76 ± 0.08 (mg protein per ml.). This clearing is taken as an indication of membrane solubilization and is not strongly dependent upon pH. The anionic detergent sodium dodecyl sulfate causes a similar decrease at concentration c(μM) = 0.56 ± 0.06 (mg protein per ml) at pH 7.5–8. This concentration increases with increasing pH. Acetylcholinesterase is irreversibly inactivated by sodium dodecyl sulfate.