cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Coherent Optical Detection of Highly Excited Rydberg States Using Electromagnetically Induced Transparency

We demonstrate coherent optical detection of highly excited Rydberg states (up to n=124) using electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT), providing a direct nondestructive probe of Rydberg energy levels. We show that the EIT spectra allow direct optical detection of electric field transients in the gas phase, and we extend measurements of the fine structure splitting of the nd series up to n=96. Coherent coupling of Rydberg states via EIT could also be used for cross-phase modulation and photon entanglement.
Breast fine-needle aspirates with scant cellularity are clinically useful

ObjectiveTo determine if breast fine-needle aspirates with scant cellularity yield clinically useful information.
Synthetic biology: advancing biological frontiers by building synthetic systems

Advances in synthetic biology are contributing to diverse research areas, from basic biology to biomanufacturing and disease therapy. We discuss the theoretical foundation, applications, and potential of this emerging field.
Towards musical query-by-semantic-description using the CAL500 data set

Query-by-semantic-description (QBSD)is a natural paradigm for retrieving content from large databases of music. A major impediment to the development of good QBSD systems for music information retrieval has been the lack of a cleanly-labeled, publicly-available, heterogeneous data set of songs and associated annotations. We have collected the Computer Audition Lab 500-song (CAL500) data set by having humans listen to and annotate songs using a survey designed to capture 'semantic associations' between music and words. We adapt the supervised multi-class labeling (SML) model, which has shown good performance on the task of image retrieval, and use the CAL500 data to learn a model for music retrieval. The model parameters are estimated using the weighted mixture hierarchies expectation-maximization algorithm which has been specifically designed to handle real-valued semantic association between words and songs, rather than binary class labels. The output of the SML model, a vector of class-conditional probabilities, can be interpreted as a semantic multinomial distribution over a vocabulary. By also representing a semantic query as a query multinomial distribution, we can quickly rank order the songs in a database based on the Kullback-Leibler divergence between the query multinomial and each song's semantic multinomial. Qualitative and quantitative results demonstrate that our SML model can both annotate a novel song with meaningful words and retrieve relevant songs given a multi-word, text-based query.
Surveillance for highly pathogenic avian influenza in wild birds in the USA

As part of the USA’s National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza, an Interagency Strategic Plan for the Early Detection of Highly Pathogenic H5N1 Avian Influenza in Wild Migratory Birds was developed and implemented. From 1 April 2006 through 31 March 2009, 261 946 samples from wild birds and 101 457 wild bird fecal samples were collected in the USA; no highly pathogenic avian influenza was detected. The United States Department of Agriculture, and state and tribal cooperators accounted for 213 115 (81%) of the wild bird samples collected; 31, 27, 21 and 21% of the samples were collected from the Atlantic, Pacific, Central and Mississippi flyways, respectively. More than 250 species of wild birds in all 50 states were sampled. The majority of wild birds (86%) were dabbling ducks, geese, swans and shorebirds. The apparent prevalence of low pathogenic avian influenza viruses during biological years 2007 and 2008 was 9.7 and 11.0%, respectively. The apparent prevalence of H5 and H7 subtypes across all species sampled were 0.5 and 0.06%, respectively. The pooled fecal samples (n = 101 539) positive for low pathogenic avian influenza were 4.0, 6.7 and 4.7% for biological years 2006, 2007 and 2008, respectively. The highly pathogenic early detection system for wild birds developed and implemented in the USA represents the largest coordinated wildlife disease surveillance system ever conducted. This effort provided evidence that wild birds in the USA were free of highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (given the expected minimum prevalence of 0.001%) at the 99.9% confidence level during the surveillance period.
H11/HspB8 and Its Herpes Simplex Virus Type 2 Homologue ICP10PK Share Functions That Regulate Cell Life/Death Decisions and Human Disease.

Small heat shock proteins (sHsp) also known as HspB are a large family of widely expressed proteins that contain a 90 residues domain known as α-crystallin. Here, we focus on the family member H11/HspB8 and its herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) homologue ICP10PK, and discuss the possible impact of this relationship on human disease. H11/HspB8 and ICP10PK are atypical protein kinases. They share multi-functional activity that encompasses signaling, unfolded protein response (UPR) and the regulation of life cycle potential. In melanocytes H11/HspB8 causes growth arrest. It is silenced in a high proportion of melanoma prostate cancer, Ewing’s sarcoma and hematologic malignancies through aberrant DNA methylation. Its restored expression induces cell death and inhibits tumor growth in xenograft models, identifying H11/HspB8 as a tumor suppressor. This function involves the activation of multiple and distinct death pathways, all of which initiate with H11/HspB8-mediated phosphorylation of transforming growth factor β-activated kinase 1 (TAK1). Both ICP10PK and H11/HspB8 were implicated in inflammatory processes that involve dendritic cells activation through Toll-like receptor-dependent pathways and may contribute to the onset of autoimmunity. The potential evolutionary relationship of H11/HspB8 to ICP10PK, its impact on human disorders and the development of therapeutic strategies are discussed.
Migration, Remittances and Educational Stratification among Blacks in Apartheid and Post-Apartheid South Africa

This paper extends previous work on family structure and children's education by conceptualizing migration as a distinct form of family disruption that reduces parental input but brings substantial economic benefits through remittances. It examines the multiple and countervailing effects of migration on schooling in the context of substantial migration and limited educational opportunities for Blacks in South Africa. The receipt of remittances substantially increases Black children's school attendance, but has no such effect for Whites. The effect for Blacks is in part attributable to improved household economic conditions that increase household educational spending and reduce the demand for child labor. We also find a negative effect of parental absence due to migration, but it is largely cushioned by inflows of remittances. Sensitivity analyses using propensity score methods and contextual fixed-effect modeling suggest that the beneficial effect of remittances is relatively robust. We find further that remittances help ameliorate inter-familial socioeconomic inequality in schooling. Finally, we evaluate possible temporal changes and show that the positive and equalizing effects of remittances persisted during and after the apartheid regime. We conclude that labor migration and remittances, as institutionalized family strategies adopted by many Blacks, help reconfigure structural opportunities in the educational stratification process in South Africa.
Role of Nucleolin in Human Parainfluenza Virus Type 3 Infection of Human Lung Epithelial Cells

Human parainfluenza virus type 3 (HPIV-3) is an airborne pathogen that infects human lung epithelial cells from the apical (luminal) plasma membrane domain. In the present study, we have identified cell surface-expressed nucleolin as a cellular cofactor required for the efficient cellular entry of HPIV-3 into human lung epithelial A549 cells. Nucleolin was enriched on the apical cell surface domain of A549 cells, and HPIV-3 interacted with nucleolin during entry. The importance of nucleolin during HPIV-3 replication was borne out by the observation that HPIV-3 replication was significantly inhibited following (i) pretreatment of cells with antinucleolin antibodies and (ii) preincubation of HPIV-3 with purified nucleolin prior to its addition to the cells. Moreover, HPIV-3 cellular internalization and attachment assays performed in the presence of antinucleolin antibodies and purified nucleolin revealed the requirement of nucleolin during HPIV-3 internalization but not during attachment. Thus, these results suggest that nucleolin expressed on the surfaces of human lung epithelial A549 cells plays an important role during HPIV-3 cellular entry.
Early Copper-Induced Leakage of K+ from Arabidopsis Seedlings Is Mediated by Ion Channels and Coupled to Citrate Efflux

Copper tolerance among Arabidopsis ecotypes is inversely correlated with long-term K(+) leakage and positively correlated with short-term K(+) leakage (A. Murphy, L. Taiz [1997] New Phytol 136: 211-222). To probe the mechanism of the early phase of K(+) efflux, we tested various channel blockers on copper and peroxide-induced K(+) efflux from seedling roots. The K(+) channel blockers tetraethyl ammonium chloride and 4-aminopyridine (4-AP) both inhibited short-term copper-induced K(+) efflux. In contrast, peroxide-induced K(+) efflux was insensitive to both tetraethyl ammonium chloride and 4-AP. Copper-induced lipid peroxidation exhibited a lag time of 4 h, while peroxide-induced lipid peroxidation began immediately. These results suggest that short-term copper-induced K(+) efflux is mediated by channels, while peroxide-induced K(+) efflux represents leakage through nonspecific lesions in the lipid bilayer. Tracer studies with (86)Rb(+) confirmed that copper promotes K(+) efflux rather than inhibiting K(+) uptake. Short-term K(+) release is electroneutral, since electrophysiological measurements indicated that copper does not cause membrane depolarization. Short-term K(+) efflux was accompanied by citrate release, and copper increased total citrate levels. Since citrate efflux was blocked by 4-AP, K(+) appears to serve as a counterion during copper-induced citrate efflux. As copper but not aluminum selectively induces citrate production and release, it is proposed that copper may inhibit a cytosolic form of aconitase.
A direct method for the construction of nonlinear discrete-time observer with linearizable error dynamics

We provide a direct method for the design of nonlinear discrete-time observers by a construction of a change of variables. An explicit expression of the change of variables is given. Some simulations for chaotic systems, such as Lozi system and He/spl acute/non system, are provided to illustrate the proposed method.
The ethics of pornography in the era of AIDS

Since the inception of sexology as an academic discipline a century ago, the boundary between sexology, the science, and sexosophy, the philosophy of sex, has been poorly demarcated, especially with respect to the principles of sex-reform movements. Several early 20th centruy sexologists overtly espoused the principles of eugenics reform, which, in the 1930s, Hitler used against them. A large proportion of today's sex therapists, researchers, and educators are among "those who cannot remember the past" and are, therefore, according to Santayana, "condemned to repeat it." That is to say, they follow the example of eugenics reformers by adhering to explanatory principles as if they were apolictically indisputable; whereas, they are, in fact, dangerously political professional platitudes for the criminalization of sex. One such platitude is that pornography is dehumanizing and a socially contagious criminal offense. Social-contagion theory had its origin in Tissot's 18th century revival of semen-conservation theory. In America, Tissot's antisexual health-reform ideas were transmitted by Graham to Kellogg and Comstock. The Comstock Laws of 1873 are still extant and are the basis of contemporary judicial, academic, and public misconceptions regarding the social contagiousness of pornography. These misconceptions render the nation incapable of using pornography constructively in a program of sex-safety to prevent AIDS infection, especially among newly pubertal adolescents and young adults. The model to follow has already been provided by gay JACK and JO masturbation clubs.
The Status of Costas Arrays

The definition, the basic properties, and all the currently known systematic constructions for Costas arrays are presented, as well as a table of the number C(n) of Costas arrays of order n, for 2 les n les 26. It is proved that lim supnrarrinfin C(n) = infin, and the conjecture liminfnrarrinfin C(n) = 0 is discussed. A Costas array of order n is known to be equivalent to a permutation {1,2,...,n} for which the difference triangle contains no repeated elements in any row. A generalized Costas array of order n = q-1(or n=q -2) is defined as a permutation of the nonzero elements (or also excluding 1) of the q-element field for which the difference triangle contains no repeated elements in any row. Two new constructions for these generalized Costas arrays are described and illustrated.
A simplified approach to determine airspace complexity maps under automated conflict resolution

This paper presents a new methodology for rapidly generating complexity maps for various configurations taking into account the influence of some conflict avoidance algorithm at a pair-wise intersection level. The complexity maps are based on analytical expressions, validated through simulations, of the probability of conflict and the spatial distribution of aircraft. This “closed-loop” analysis explicitly considers the role of the conflict resolution algorithm, here the offset method. It gives therefore a more realistic image of the current and future health of the considered airspace as a function of the encounter and aircraft flows characteristics. Some results of the usual “open-loop” approach are also validated, while highlighting their limitations.
Becoming Black Women: Intimate Stories and Intersectional Identities

In this article, I argue that intimate stories are an important resource for the achievement of intersectional identities. Drawing on in-depth interviews with black college students at two predomin...
What do scientists think about the public and does it matter to their online engagement

A survey of a large, US-based science organization with members from a range of disciplines (n= 431) found relatively positive views about the public but such views were largely unrelated to past online engagement or willingness to engage in the future. Social norms, efficacy, and a desire to contribute to the public debate were the primary correlates of engagement. The research aims to provide quantitative evidence about how specific attitudes might limit scientists' willingness to communicate with the public online in the context of recent calls to scientists to take a more active role in public debates about policy involving scientific issues. It highlights substantial remaining uncertainty about the drivers of engagement and the attendant need for ongoing research.
What Price Gonzo Ethics

The American Psychological Association is under fire for what appears to be politically motivated ethics-skewing gone wild. To avoid the same shameful fate, professional societies are well advised to reexamine their own code of ethics.
Understanding the chemically-reactive proteome

The reactivity of amino acid residues in proteins is context-dependent and difficult to predict. Chemical biology can be used to understand the chemical modifications of proteins to help elucidate the nature of the reactive proteome. The resulting insights can be applied to pharmacoproteomics, target identification and molecular pathology.
Automatic Building Extraction in Aerial Scenes Using Convolutional Networks

Automatic building extraction from aerial and satellite imagery is highly challenging due to extremely large variations of building appearances. To attack this problem, we design a convolutional network with a final stage that integrates activations from multiple preceding stages for pixel-wise prediction, and introduce the signed distance function of building boundaries as the output representation, which has an enhanced representation power. We leverage abundant building footprint data available from geographic information systems (GIS) to compile training data. The trained network achieves superior performance on datasets that are significantly larger and more complex than those used in prior work, demonstrating that the proposed method provides a promising and scalable solution for automating this labor-intensive task.
Meningococcal Carriage in a Population of “Normal” Families

"Meningococcal meningitis follows a pattern that is indicative of neither the immunization of population groups or areas during years of prevalence, as in the immunizing infections of childhood, nor of any overall restriction of epidemic areas by persistence of chronic carriage, as in typhoid," concluded Ay cock and Mueller in 1950 [1]. Little more has been learned since then to explain the extraordinary epidemiology of meningococcal disease. The anticipation of additional epidemics and the emergence of sulfonamide-resistant strains lend some urgency to the elucidation of phenomena such as the approximate 10-year periodicity of epidemics, the infrequent but regular occurrence of cases in interepidemic years, the ratio of carriers to cases, the dynamic inter-
An Experimental Investigation on the Aeromechanics and Near Wake Characteristics of Dual-Rotor Wind Turbines (DRWTs)

An experimental study was conducted to investigate the aeromechanic performance and near wake characterstics of dual-rotor wind turbine (DRWT) models with co-rotating or counter-rotating configurations in comparison to a conventional single rotor wind turbine (SRWT) model in order to elucidate the underlying physics to explore/optimize design of wind turbines for higher power yield and better durability. The experiments were performed in a large-scale Aerodynamic/Atmospheric Boundary Layer (AABL) wind tunnel under neutral stability conditions. In addition to measuring the power output performance of the SRWT and DRWT models, static and dynamic wind loads acting on the test models were also investigated. Furthermore, a high resolution PIV system was used for detailed near wake flow field measurements ( free-run and phase-locked ) to quantify the characteristics of the near wake flows and to reveal the transient behavior of the unsteady vortex structures in the wakes of SRWT and DRWT models. In the light of the promising experimental results on DRWTs, this study can be extended further to investigate the turbulent flow in the far wake of DRWTs and utilize multiple DRWTs in different wind farm operations.
Epidemiological characteristics of measles in Fengtai District of Beijing during 2005～2007

Objective To understand the epidemiological features of measles in Fengtai during 2005～2007 and to provide scientific evidence for policy making and modification for measles control and prevention.Methods Data of measles incidence in Fengtai District during 2005～2007 were used to describe and analyze it epidemiologically.Results A total of 1?600 cases of measles were notified during the past three years in Fengtai,with an average morbidity of 33.85 per hundred thousand and highly sporadic distribution,dominantly at groups of 0～7 years and 20～40 years of age,accounting for 37.82 percent and 41.06 percent of the total cases,respectively.The peak season of the disease was in March to June.Rate of diagnosis with laboratory test for measles was 45.68 percent in 1?600 cases.Conclusions Adequate age at first immunization with measles vaccine for the susceptible should be further discussed.Coverage of measles vaccine with two doses should be improved and immunized on time.Booster dose of measles vaccine should be immunized for the key areas and population.
Physical Activity and the Mediterranean Diet

The health benefits of physical activity (PA) are undisputed. Regular PA can mitigate or reverse risk factors common to chronic diseases including impaired glucose metabolism, dyslipidemia, and low-grade inflammation.
Decompression of the gasserian ganglion and its posterior root for trigeminal neuralgia.

Most patients with trigeminal neuralgia who have undergone decompression of the gasserian ganglion and posterior root have been helped. The operation should be offered to those who have trigeminal neuralgia requiring surgical intervention.
Weak-Wave Retardation and Phase-Conjugate Self-Defousing in Si

We describe and measure the effects of self-defocusing on the various coupling effects produced when two coherent, noncollinear, picosecond optical pulses (strong excitation and weak probe) are both spatially and temporally coincident in a thin silicon wafer. Specifically, we observe that the weak probe beam experiences considerably more defocusing than the excitation beam. We believe that this is the first direct confirmation of weak-wave retardation in light-by-light scattering experiments. We also observe the effects of this defocusing on the quality of the forward-traveling conjugate wave.
Molecular diagnostics and anaplastic thyroid carcinoma: the time has come to harvest the high hanging fruit

Targeted therapies have played a major role in cancer therapeutics, starting with the discovery of a drug against BCR–ABL rearrangements in chronic myelogenous leukemia. This led to the first approval of a targeted agent in cancer and since, many others have followed. Anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC) is an aggressive carcinoma with few curative options. Although previous cytotoxic chemotherapy and kinase inhibitor therapies have not proven efficacious in ATC, some of the newer drugs appear to be promising. A case report and a comprehensive review of the current standard of care, genetics, modern therapeutic drugs and clinical trials are presented, in order to outline where we currently stand and where the future lies in the quest for a cure for ATC.
Amaurosis Fugax and Migraine

Amaurosis fugax, a sudden, transient monocular loss of vision resolving in 5 to 10 minutes, is reported in five teenagers from the British Columbia’s Children’s Hospital, Vancouver, BC, and The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada.
Performance Characteristics of the Reverse Syphilis Screening Algorithm in a Population With a Moderately High Prevalence of Syphilis.

Objectives: With the recent introduction of automated treponemal tests, a new reverse syphilis algorithm has been proposed and now used by many clinical laboratories. We analyzed the impact of instituting the reverse screening syphilis algorithm in a laboratory that serves a geographic area with a moderately high prevalence of syphilis infection. Methods: Serum samples sent for syphilis testing were tested using a treponemal enzyme immunoassay (EIA) as the screening assay. EIA reactive samples were tested by rapid plasma reagin (RPR) and titered to end point if reactive. RPR nonreactive samples were analyzed by the Treponema pallidum particle agglutination test (TP-PA). Pertinent medical records were reviewed for false-reactive screens and samples with evidence of past syphilis infection. Results: Among 10,060 patients tested, 502 (5%) were reactive on the initial EIA screen. The RPR was reactive in 150 (1.5%). TP-PA testing determined that 103 (1.0%) were falsely reactive on initial EIA screen. The reverse screening algorithm, however, identified 242 (2.4%) with evidence of latent, secondary, or past syphilis, 21 of whom had no or unknown prior treatment with antibiotics. Conclusions: Despite a 1.0% false-reactive rate, the reverse syphilis algorithm detected 21 patients with possible latent syphilis that may have gone undetected by traditional syphilis screening.
A Formative Study Evaluating the Perception of Personality Traits for Planning-Based Narrative Generation

The presence of interesting and compelling characters is an essential component of effective narrative. Well-developed characters have features that enable them to significantly enhance the believability and quality of a story. We present an experiment designed to gauge an audience’s perception of specific aspects of character personality traits expressed through the characters’ choices for action. The experiment served as a formative evaluation for work on the development of the Mask system for the automatic generation of narratives that express character traits through choice. Results from our study evaluate the hypothesis that the relationship between choices and the actions they lead to can be used in narrative to produce the perception of specific personality traits in an audience.
Objectively Measured Light Exposure in Emmetropic and Myopic Adults

PURPOSE Light exposure has a close link with numerous aspects of human physiology including circadian rhythm, mood disorders, metabolism, and eye growth. Here, a lightweight wrist-worn device was employed to continuously measure light exposure and activity across seasons and between refractive error groups to assess objectively measured differences and compare with subjectively reported data. METHODS Subjects, aged 21-65 years (n = 55), wore an actigraph device (Actiwatch Spectrum) continuously for 14 days to quantify light exposure, activity, and sleep. Subjects were classified as emmetropic (n = 18) or myopic (n = 37), and answered an activity questionnaire. Additionally, devices were calibrated against a lux meter and UV sensor for indoor and outdoor settings, and used to measure ambient illumination in various environmental conditions. RESULTS Subjects spent 1:52 ± 0:56 hours outside per day, as measured objectively. Subjectively reported measures overestimated objective measures by 0:25 ± 1:19 hours per day (range -1:49 to +4:29 hours, P < .05). Subjects spent 1:04 hours more outdoors in summer and received an increased cumulative light dose compared to winter (P < .005). There were no significant differences in objective measurements of time outdoors between myopic and emmetropic subjects. Ambient illumination measures from the Actiwatch correlated with a lux meter for all locations tested (R = 0.99, P < .001). Ambient illumination was highest in the summer at 176,497 ± 20,310 lux and lowest for indoor artificial light at 142 ± 150 lux. CONCLUSIONS Subjects spent more time outdoors and received an increased light dose in summer, with no differences between refractive error groups in this adult population. Various environmental and seasonal measurements revealed significantly different available light in winter versus summer and indoors versus outdoors. Objective devices such as the Actiwatch can be valuable in studies where quantification of environmental factors is critical.
Dyadic effects of depressive symptoms on medical morbidity in middle-aged and older couples.

OBJECTIVE Depressive symptoms in middle and later life are associated with an increased risk of greater medical morbidity (i.e., number of chronic health conditions). Yet little is known about mutual influences that may occur within married couples. This study examined the effects of wives' and husbands' depressive symptoms on their own and their partner's number of chronic health conditions over an 8-year period. It was also determined whether these effects varied by gender. METHOD The U.S. sample included 992 heterosexual couples (M = 63.58 years at baseline) drawn from 5 waves of the Health and Retirement Study (2006-2014). Dyadic growth curve models were estimated to evaluate the effects of own and partner baseline depressive symptoms on medical morbidity across time. Models controlled for baseline marital duration and negative marital quality along with age, education, minority status, health-related self-efficacy, body mass index, disability status, alcohol use, smoking, and moderate and vigorous physical activity. RESULTS Husbands' higher baseline depressive symptoms were significantly linked to their own higher number of chronic conditions. When wives had higher depressive symptoms at baseline, husbands showed significantly greater increases in their number of chronic conditions over time. Own and partner depressive symptoms were not significantly associated with baseline levels or changes in wives' number of chronic conditions. CONCLUSIONS This study demonstrates that depressive symptoms within middle-aged and older couples may have long-term associations with medical morbidity. Findings underscore the value of considering the implications of depressive symptoms for chronic health conditions among individuals and couples. (PsycINFO Database Record
DetReduce: minimizing Android GUI test suites for regression testing

In recent years, several automated GUI testing techniques for Android apps have been proposed. These tools have been shown to be effective in achieving good test coverage and in finding bugs without human intervention. Being automated, these tools typically run for a long time (say, for several hours), either until they saturate test coverage or until a testing time budget expires. Thus, these automated tools are not good at generating concise regression test suites that could be used for testing in incremental development of the apps and in regression testing. We propose a heuristic technique that helps create a small regression test suite for an Android app from a large test suite generated by an automated Android GUI testing tool. The key insight behind our technique is that if we can identify and remove some common forms of redundancies introduced by existing automated GUI testing tools, then we can drastically lower the time required to minimize a GUI test suite. We have implemented our algorithm in a prototype tool called DetReduce. We applied DetReduce to several Android apps and found that DetReduce reduces a test-suite by an average factor of 16.9× in size and 14.7× in running time. We also found that for a test suite generated by running SwiftHand and a randomized test generation algorithm for 8 hours, DetReduce minimizes the test suite in an average of 14.6 hours.
Normal Cervical Effacement in Term Labor.

Objective To estimate the natural history of cervical effacement in labor. Study Design This is a retrospective cohort study of term, vertex, singletons who reached 10 cm of cervical dilation from 2010 to 2014. Interval-censored regression was used to estimate the median number of hours between changes in effacement (measured in centimeters of the residual cervix) and to estimate the median effacement at a given cervical dilation. Analysis was stratified by parity and labor type. Results In total, 7,319 patients were included. Multiparas had faster effacement from 1 cm to complete effacement than nulliparas, but nulliparas were significantly more effaced at each cervical dilation. Patients in spontaneous labor had faster effacement and were significantly more effaced at each centimeter of cervical dilation than those who were induced or augmented. Once active labor was established (>6 cm of cervical dilation), 95% of patients had an effacement of 1 cm or less. By 8 cm of cervical dilation, 50% of all patients were completely effaced. Conclusion There is a wide range in the normal length of time for the progression of cervical effacement. However, once a patient is in active labor, 95% of patients have effaced to 1 cm or less.
The quality of psychiatric residency : the assessment of programs and options for distributing psychiatric residents in the service of health care reform.

Recent health care reform initiatives proposed training fewer medical specialists, including psychiatrists, and determining the size and location of training programs via centralized regulatory mechanisms. Facing such potential future developments, the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training appointed a Task Force on the Quality of Residency Programs to develop informed recommendations for the field. This paper describes the Task Force's considerations and recommendations concerning how the least damaging and most effective decisions could be made regarding the distribution of residency positions, program size, and the future funding of training stipends. The recommendations emphasize voluntary decisions, feedback from local and regional stakeholders regarding perceived needs and demands for psychiatrists, and Federal or regional funding of postgraduate training stipends that are not primarily tied to providing clinical services.
Vicariance and Dispersalist Biogeography

Historical biogeography is the study of factors governing the geographical distribution of organisms. Two principal forces governing distributional patterns of organisms are dispersal (movement of organisms from place to place) and vicariance (the splitting of the range of organisms following dispersal). Distribution patterns may also be influenced by short-term ecological factors. Organisms restricted to terrestrial subterranean habitats (troglobites) and aquatic subterranean habitats (stygobites) are especially interesting biogeographically because of their restriction to areas lacking light and limited food supplies. A number of important physical factors that may influence the geographic distribution of a troglobite or stygobite include the extent of a contiguous karst area or the size and extent of a groundwater aquifer.
Impact of Religiosity on Auditors' Behavior and Audit Fees

Extending the existing literature on the impact of religiosity on human behavior, we argue that religiosity also has a significant impact on auditors’ risk and trust behavior, which is reflected in lower audit fees. Higher religiosity values are expected to motivate auditors to provide higher reliability to information and they would achieve this by reducing audit risk and audit effort. Auditors operating in high religiosity areas are expected to readjust their client portfolio in a way that their overall risk exposure is lower. Additionally, high religiosity would enhance mutual trust among auditors and managers which will encourage auditors to recognize higher reliability of information prepared by managers operating in high religiosity areas. The higher reliability of information generated by managers will in turn result in lower audit risk and lower audit effort. The joint effect of lower risk and lower audit effort will translate into lower audit fees for auditors operating in high religiosity areas, especially when the client firms are also located in high religiosity areas. The results confirm that overall firm risk as well as audit fees are lower for the client firms of auditors operating in high religiosity areas compared to the client firms of auditors operating in lower religiosity areas. The findings also show that the negative association is stronger when auditors are located in rural high religiosity areas and also when the client firms have comparatively lower complexity, reflected by a lower number of firm segments, because lower complexity reduces audit risk and audit effort.
Predictors of Responsiveness Among American Indian Adolescents to a Community-Based HIV-Risk Reduction Intervention Over 12 Months

This analysis explored predictors of responsiveness to the Respecting the Circle of Life (RCL) intervention, a sexual and reproductive health program for American Indian (AI) youth. Data were collected over 12-month follow-up with 267 AI youth aged 13-19. We used mixed effects regression models to examine: (1) whether trajectory patterns of HIV/AIDS knowledge, condom beliefs, condom use self-efficacy, condom use intention and partner negotiation skills differed by baseline levels categorized into low, medium, and high scorers, and (2) the characteristics of youth who made no improvement over the post-intervention period. Results indicate the RCL intervention had greater longitudinal impact among subgroups with low and medium initial scores. High initial scores in knowledge, beliefs, efficacy, intention and skills predicted unresponsiveness to the RCL intervention. Youth differences in age, gender and school truancy (skipping/suspension) did not predict responsiveness to RCL. Results have important prevention science implications: (1) AI youth at greater risk (i.e., those with low initial levels of knowledge, beliefs, self-efficacy, intention and skills) are likely to respond to RCL and should be the target of replication and dissemination efforts. (2) Responsiveness analyses can guide adaptation of RCL and other sexual and reproductive health programs for AI youth to improve efficacy among unresponsive subgroups (i.e., high initial scorers). (3) RCL is equally likely to impact AI youth across different ages, genders and school status, thus validating population-wide implementation strategies.
OC5 ‘Up, away and out of sight’ – how childproof are childproof medications?

Aims Despite numerous campaigns re storing medication safely away from children there are still many incidents of accidental poisoning each year. Parents often feel ‘childproof’ caps are 100% safe, even with inadequate storage. This study aims to assess how safe ‘childproof’ caps on medication are by determining if children of various ages can open these medication containers and if so, how quickly they can achieve this. Methods Children aged up to 16 years old without severe physical or intellectual disabilities were included in this study. Data collection was obtained in the outpatient department while patients awaited their OPD appointment. The time taken for a child to open each ‘childproof’ medication container was recorded up to a maximum of two minutes. The age of the child and any relevant diagnosis was also recorded. Information on safe storage of medication was provided to parents. Results Seventy-six children were included in this study to date. Ages ranged from 1 year to 16 years and were from a wide range of speciality clinics. Fourteen (18%) children were able to open at least one container within 2 minutes (age range 4 to 16 years). All children 11 years and older were successful. All children aged 7 years and younger were unable to open the container, except one child who had been taught how to open his medications. Twenty-five percent of females were able to open at least one medication bottle versus 14% of males, however there was a preponderance of females in the older age group. Of the children who were successful, the majority were able to open the container in less than 5 seconds. An incidental finding of this study was that in cases where the medication cap was not properly closed, most children were able to quickly open the container without difficulty. Conclusion This study shows that the almost all children 7 years and younger were unable to open a childproof medication bottle in 2 minutes, however real-life data shows the majority of paracetamol and ibuprofen poisonings occur in children under 10 years old. Parents of young children often overestimate how safe ‘childproof’ medication containers are and underestimate what a child can do in a brief unsupervised period. Public awareness needs to be increased of the importance of proper closing and the safe storage of ‘childproof’ medications in order to minimize the risk of accidental poisoning.
Adversarial Training for Large Neural Language Models

Generalization and robustness are both key desiderata for designing machine learning methods. Adversarial training can enhance robustness, but past work often finds it hurts generalization. In natural language processing (NLP), pre-training large neural language models such as BERT have demonstrated impressive gain in generalization for a variety of tasks, with further improvement from adversarial fine-tuning. However, these models are still vulnerable to adversarial attacks. In this paper, we show that adversarial pre-training can improve both generalization and robustness. We propose a general algorithm ALUM (Adversarial training for large neural LangUage Models), which regularizes the training objective by applying perturbations in the embedding space that maximizes the adversarial loss. We present the first comprehensive study of adversarial training in all stages, including pre-training from scratch, continual pre-training on a well-trained model, and task-specific fine-tuning. ALUM obtains substantial gains over BERT on a wide range of NLP tasks, in both regular and adversarial scenarios. Even for models that have been well trained on extremely large text corpora, such as RoBERTa, ALUM can still produce significant gains from continual pre-training, whereas conventional non-adversarial methods can not. ALUM can be further combined with task-specific fine-tuning to attain additional gains. The ALUM code is publicly available at this https URL.
Implications of future risk of fusiform rust on optimal forest management of even-aged slash pine plantations

Abstract We simulate the impacts of future reductions of risk of fusiform rust, increases in forest productivity and seedling costs on the optimal forest management of an even-aged slash pine stand using a generalised economic model. Our numerical findings show that future land values are increased with future reductions of fusiform rust risk, ranging approximately between $2919 ha−1 and $4962 ha−1. Compared to the base-case ($1106 ha−1), the current land values are increased ($1468 ha−1 – $2601 ha−1) with future reductions of fusiform rust risk. Landowners are encouraged to replant earlier (reduced harvest ages) given higher economic revenues associated with future reductions of fusiform rust risk. Our approach could serve as a tool to rank efficient tree breeding programs given the level of resistance of slash pine to fusiform rust with different level of increases in forest growth.
Donald J. Trump and the Politics of Democratic Dysfunction

The United States has entered a profound crisis of governance and governability following the impeachment of Donald Trump by the House of Representatives and, after a parody of a Senate trial, was acquitted - to remain in office by the Senate controlled by a Republican majority. This essay seeks to analyze both the origins and context of the contemporary conundrum where one of the world’s oldest representative systems of government has entered a phase of democratic dysfunction. Donald Trump is an elected President – on the basis of a minority of the popular vote cast in 2016 – who has sought to redefine both the power of the Presidency as the supreme authority in a system originally designed to create checks and balances among the three branches of government – the Presidency, the House and the Senate as the legislative branch, and, the Judiciary with powers of adjudication and resolution of disputes. The Trump administration and the Republican party are seeking to redesign the structures and principles of governance – at considerable variance with the design of the Founders who sought to prevent the emergence of authoritarian/monarchical rule in the American Republic.
Use of Rabbit Anti-thymocyte Globulin as a Renal Sparing Strategy: Outcomes from a Single Center

Introduction Acute kidney injury (AKI) complicates up to 25% of patients undergoing orthotopic heart transplant (OHT) and can be exacerbated by the introduction of calcineurin inhibition (CNI). Induction with rabbit anti-thymocyte globulin (ATG) can provide immunosuppression to prevent early rejection until CNI therapy is introduced. However, current data regarding ATG use to allow delayed CNI initiation is limited. Hypothesis ATG induction with delayed initiation of tacrolimus as a renal sparing strategy will result in less renal failure without a significant increase in infection and rejection. Methods From January 2014 to December 2019, 143 patients underwent OHT. Dual organ transplantation, those requiring ATG for non-renal sparing reasons, and patients without 1 -year follow-up were excluded. Using standard statistical analysis, we compared in-hospital and post discharge outcomes at 1, 6, and 12 months between patients with and without ATG administration. Results ATG was given to 26/71 (36.6%) patients as a renal sparing strategy. Compared to the no ATG group, the ATG group had higher pre-transplant creatinine (1.5 vs 1.2 mg/dL, p=0.001) and lower glomerular filtration rate (GFR) (58.6 vs 76.4 ml/min, p=0.002), but no other significant differences in baseline characteristics. Tacrolimus was started later in the ATG group (3.6 vs 0.9 days, p=0.0001). The ATG group had lower GFR at 1 month (64.1 vs 82.5 ml/min, p = 0.009) and 6 months (44.2 vs 58.1 ml/min, p= 0.028) with a non-significant difference at 1 year (50.1 vs 62.4 ml/min, p=0.08). The ATG group was more likely to require renal replacement therapy (RRT) during the index admission (34.6 vs 4.4%, p=0.01). This difference persisted at discharge (19.2% vs 2.2%, p= 0.022) and 1 year (15.4% vs 0%, p= 0.015). No significant difference between the two groups in the rate of worsening chronic kidney disease at 1, 6 and 12 months. Freedom from readmission for infection was lower in the ATG group (53.8 % vs 80%, p= 0.03). There were no significant differences in in-hospital (p=1.00), 1 year mortality (p=0.19), and 1 year freedom from rejection (p=0.80) between groups. Conclusions ATG use as a renal sparing strategy in OHT recipients with renal dysfunction at baseline was associated with a high rate of early RRT but overall change in renal function over one year was similar. Freedom from readmission for infection was lower in the ATG group and freedom from rejection was equal in both groups. Thus, it appears in this retrospective analysis, that a strategy of induction therapy for renal sparing was not beneficial and increased the risk of infection.
Neuropeptide VF neurons promote sleep via the serotonergic raphe

Although several sleep-regulating neurons have been identified, little is known about how they interact with each other for sleep/wake control. We previous identified neuropeptide VF (NPVF) and the hypothalamic neurons that produce it as a sleep-promoting system (Lee et al., 2017). Here we use zebrafish to describe a neural circuit in which neuropeptide VF (npvf)-expressing neurons controls sleep via the serotonergic raphe nuclei (RN), a hindbrain structure that promotes sleep in both diurnal zebrafish and nocturnal mice. Using genetic labeling and calcium imaging, we show that npvf-expressing neurons innervate and activate serotonergic RN neurons. We additionally demonstrate that optogenetic stimulation of npvf-expressing neurons induces sleep in a manner that requires NPVF and is abolished when the RN are ablated or lack serotonin. Finally, genetic epistasis demonstrates that NPVF acts upstream of serotonin in the RN to maintain normal sleep levels. These findings reveal a novel hypothalamic-hindbrain circuit for sleep/wake control.
Structural Challenges of Precision Medicine

Precision medicine has three defining characteristics: (1) patient centered; (2) information intensive; and (3) resource dependent. Each of these elements present significant policy challenges for the successful integration of precision medicine into broad clinical practice. First, patient centered refers to precision medicine's greater emphasis on patient-derived data, such as from wearable devices and patient health apps, as well as greater patient involvement in their own health matters, such as through the use of patient portals and access to more granular health information. Second, information intensive refers to precisions medicine's embrace of big data concepts, besides genomics, to include geo-location information, consumer data, government records, and numerous other sources. The obvious concern is for the privacy of this information in light of the weakness of U.S privacy laws, such as the HIPAA Privacy Rule. Third, resource dependent highlights the higher costs associated with pharmacogenomics and other new products and services, as well as the likely limited access to more expensive technologies by vulnerable patients. In many ways, precision medicine highlights the structural problems of the U.S. health care system.