cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Health and Academic Achievement: Cumulative Effects of Health Assets on Standardized Test Scores among Urban Youth in the United States.

BACKGROUND The Institute of Medicine (2012) concluded that we must “strengthen schools as the heart of health.” To intervene for better outcomes in both health and academic achievement, identifying factors that impact children is essential. Study objectives are to (1) document associations between health assets and academic achievement, and (2) examine cumulative effects of these assets on academic achievement. METHODS Participants include 940 students (grades 5 and 6) from 12 schools randomly selected from an urban district. Data include physical assessments, fitness testing, surveys, and district records. Fourteen health indicators were gathered including physical health (eg, body mass index [BMI]), health behaviors (eg, meeting recommendations for fruit/vegetable consumption), family environment (eg, family meals), and psychological well-being (eg, sleep quality). Data were collected 3-6 months prior to standardized testing. RESULTS On average, students reported 7.1 health assets out of 14. Those with more health assets were more likely to be at goal for standardized tests (reading/writing/mathematics), and students with the most health assets were 2.2 times more likely to achieve goal compared with students with the fewest health assets (both p < .001). CONCLUSIONS Schools that utilize nontraditional instructional strategies to improve student health may also improve academic achievement, closing equity gaps in both health and academic achievement.
Taste does not determine daily intake of dilute sugar solutions in mice

When a rodent licks a sweet-tasting solution, taste circuits in the central nervous system that facilitate stimulus identification, motivate intake, and prepare the body for digestion are activated. Here, we asked whether taste also determines daily intake of sugar solutions in C57BL/6 mice. We tested several dilute concentrations of glucose (167, 250, and 333 mM) and fructose (167, 250, and 333 mM). In addition, we tested saccharin (38 mM), alone and in binary mixture with each of the sugar concentrations, to manipulate sweet taste intensity while holding caloric value constant. In experiment 1, we measured taste responsiveness to the sweetener solutions in two ways: chorda tympani nerve responses and short-term lick tests. For both measures, the mice exhibited the following relative magnitude of responsiveness: binary mixtures > saccharin > individual sugars. In experiment 2, we asked whether the taste measures reliably predicted daily intake of the sweetener solutions. No such relationship was observed. The glucose solutions elicited weak taste responses but high daily intakes, whereas the fructose solutions elicited weak taste responses and low daily intakes. On the other hand, the saccharin + glucose solutions elicited strong taste responses and high daily intakes, while the saccharin + fructose solutions elicited strong taste responses but low daily intakes. Overall, we found that 1) daily intake of the sweetener solutions varied independently of the magnitude of the taste responses and 2) the solutions containing glucose stimulated substantially higher daily intakes than did the solutions containing isomolar concentrations of fructose. Given prior work demonstrating greater postoral stimulation of feeding by glucose than fructose, we propose that the magnitude of postoral nutritive stimulation plays a more important role than does taste in determining daily intake of dilute sugar solutions.
Baseband integrated acousto-optic frequency shifter/modulator module for fiber optic at 1.3 mu m

A baseband integrated acoustooptic (AO) frequency shifter/modulator module that consists of a pair of titanium-indiffused proton-exchanged (TIPE) waveguide lenses and a pair of cascaded guided-wave AO Bragg cells has been realized in a Y-cut LiNbO/sub 3/ waveguide substrate 0.1 cm*1.0 cm*2.0 cm in size. A device module operating at the optical wavelength of 1.3 mu m has provided a -3-dB tunable bandwidth of 120 MHz at baseband. The frequency-shifted or -modulated light propagates in a fixed direction, irrespective of the magnitude of frequency shift or modulation, and is focused into a spot (FWHM) of 6.2- mu m size on the output edge of the waveguide. Accordingly, this optical frequency shifter/module can be directly interfaced with single-mode optical fibers to facilitate applications in fiber optic systems. >
What's Her Face(book)? How many of their Facebook friends can college students actually identify?

An online game, titled What's Her Face(book), was created and students from an Ivy League campus (as well as adults from the general population) were invited to play as many times as they wished. Each game lasted around 90?s during which individual friends were randomly selected from the participant's Facebook page and their profile photo displayed alongside up to four additional tagged photos. The participant was prompted to either type in the friend's first name, last name or both names with single names allowing a Levenshtein distance of one letter and both names allowing a distance of up to three letters for accuracy (Levenshtein, 1966). Following a game, participants were shown the photos and names for those they correctly and incorrectly identified. More than 4000 participants played the game, with an aggregate 174,615 opportunities to name their Facebook friends. Playing the game an average (median) of 4 times, participants were able to name only 72.7% of their friends, with male participants naming male friends more accurately than their female friends and female participants naming their female friends more accurately than their male friends. Although playing the game more times resulted in higher accuracy, perhaps from correcting previous mistakes, the benefit was minimal with those in the top quartile of games played garnering only an additional 2% in accuracy on average. Results were discussed in terms of social capital theory alongside issues of privacy and security on social media sites. An online game to see if Facebook users knew the names of their "friends".Facebook users only identified 72% of their friends' names.Males named more male friends; females named more female friends.Results were discussed in terms of social capital theory.
Purposive Design of Nanocomposites: Entire Class of New Materials

The historians of science (1,2) have established that technology leads to science much more frequently than the reverse, although the latter is widely accepted by scientists as gospel. Derek de Solla Price writes (1): It has often been supposed, on no real basis but assertion, that science can in some mysterious way be applied to make technology. Quite commonly it is said that there is a great chain of being that runs from basic science to applied science and thence to development in a natural and orderly progression that takes one from the core of science to technology…. …. The arrow of causality historically is largely from the technology to the science. Moreover, Price developed the thesis that very frequently it was the new instruments which technology provided which made possible much new science. One can cite the telescope-lenses which made Galileo’s work possible as well as the superconducting magnets which make possible today’s particle accelerators.
The Vesicular and Plasmalemmal Dopamine Transporters: Ultrastructural Localization in Nigrostriatal Dopaminergic Neurons

Dopaminergic neurotransmission is regulated by two distinct membrane-bound transporters: the vesicular monoamine transporter-2 (VMAT2), and the plasmalemmal dopamine transporter (DAT). These transporters play important roles in the initiation and termination of dopaminergic neurotransmission, respectively. In the present report, we review our recent electron microscopic studies showing the immunocytochemical localization of VMAT2 and DAT in rat brain. We have focused on the nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons, which are known to release dopamine both from their somata and/or dendrites in the substantia nigra (SN) and from their axonal processes in the dorsal striatum. Our studies show that VMAT2 is selectively localized to small synaptic vesicles (SSVs) and large dense core vesicles (DCVs) in dopaminergic axons and terminals in the striatum, and to tubulovesicular organelles and rare SSVs or DCVs within dopaminergic somata, dendrites, and dendritic spines in the SN. These findings support the proposal that the axonal storage and release of dopamine are primarily vesicle-mediated, but suggest that somatodendritic dopamine storage and release may also involve vesicle-independent mechanisms. The subcellular localization of DAT was strikingly different from that of VMAT2, with extensive labeling of extrasynaptic portions of the plasma membranes of dopaminergic axons and terminals in the striatum, and of dopaminergic dendrites and dendritic spines in the SN. Dopaminergic perikarya in the SN, however, almost never contained detectable plasmalemmal labeling for DAT, suggesting that extrasynaptic portions of the distal dendritic and axonal processes are the primary functional sites for DAT-mediated dopamine reuptake. Together, these studies have provided important new information regarding the potential sites for release and reuptake of dopamine within nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons.
Tensions of resilience: collective property, individual gain and the emergent conflicts of the quinoa boom

AbstractThis article examines the tensions between the individual and the collective within resilience thinking. San Juan de Rosario, a quinoa-producing village in southwestern Bolivia, provides an interesting case to examine these dynamics. As an indigenous community, land and other resources are managed collectively. Yet, as individuals expand production of quinoa for international markets, traditional collective management institutions have come under stress. Rising inequality, private accumulation, a clandestine land market and increasing environmental degradation are leading to conflicts within the community. This article documents two overlapping tensions between the individual and the collective in this context: first, the emergent discursive tensions as people talk about resilience, what threatens it and what resources are needed to build it; and second, the actual conflicts generated by individual uses of common resources and the efforts to mobilise collective governance institutions in response.
Optimal Energy Extraction During Dynamic Jet Stream Soaring

Dynamic soaring, a technique in which horizontal wind that varies in strength or direction is used to support flight, could potentially support perpetual flight of a high performance glider in the jet stream. However, the aircraft's control systems would still require electric power. This could be extracted for example using specially designed ram air turbines (RAT). The present paper focuses on developing flight trajectories that extract the maximum amount of power for a RAT equipped glider during dynamic soaring in high altitude jet streams. The physics are worked out, a numerical scheme developed, and preliminary results presented. Introduction Lord Rayleigh [1883] is usually accredited for first suggesting that soaring can be done in a horizontal but non-uniform wind field. Seabirds like albatrosses are known to travel hundreds of kilometers in a single day utilizing dynamic soaring (e.g., Cone [1964]). Save for an anecdote of a flight in Australia in 1974, attempts for sustained dynamic soaring of manned gliders appear to not have been fully successful as of yet. However, radio controlled hobby aircraft routinely dynamically soar in the steep wind gradients on the leeward side of mountain ridges and often reach speeds over 600 km/h. A number of papers have been devoted to optimizing flight trajectories of dynamically soaring aircraft, flying either in near-ground wind gradients or in wind gradients associated with high altitude jet streams; e.g. Boslough [2002], Zhao [2004], Sachs [2006], Gordon [2006]. In  Corresponding author, e-mail jog5@Lehigh.edu, tel. +1-610-758 4129. 2 (12) order to sustain flight over long periods of time, such as weeks, months or years, onboard systems including controls, navigation, transponders, etc, would need to be supplied with power. Power could be generated for example from solar cells or ram air turbines. The focus of the present paper is on the latter. Actuator Disk Theory Estimate of Ram Air Turbine Performance Classical actuator disk theory is often used for estimating performance of wind turbines and propellers. The theory can be used also for estimating power generation and drag additions of a ram air turbine (RAT). At present only the results are presented:                                                 2 2 2 2 2 3 2 2 2 2 1 1 3 1 , 2 1 , 4 V V c c A V D V V V V V V c c A V P
A multivariate model of conceptual change

The present study used the Cognitive Reconstruction of Knowledge Model (CRKM) model of conceptual change as a framework for developing and testing how key cognitive, motivational, and emotional variables are linked to conceptual change in physics. This study extends an earlier study developed by Taasoobshirazi and Sinatra (J Res Sci Teach 48:901–918, 2011) by providing a more comprehensive test of the CRKM. The variables included in the model tested in this study included emotions: boredom, enjoyment and anxiety; approach goals, need for cognition, motivation, deep cognitive engagement, course grade, and conceptual change. Results of a path analysis conducted on 117 introductory-level college physics students indicated that enjoyment was linked to students’ motivation, deep cognitive engagement, course grade, and conceptual change. Motivational variables were linked to cognitive engagement, course grade, and conceptual change. Finally, students’ course grade was linked to their conceptual change. Need for cognition, boredom, and anxiety played no role in the model. An alternative, revised model was presented excluding these three variables. Theoretical and practical implications of the study are discussed.
Traceability and Stability of 1000 kV Series Standard TV

In order to study the error performance of 1000 kV series standard voltage transformer(SSTV) to meet the needs of the voltage measurement traceability and transfer in the construction of ultra-high voltage power grid,a traceability method of semi-insulating transformer voltage summation is proposed by analyzing the structural features of 1000 kV SSTV and error principle.Test results show that the consistency is higher than 3×10-5 by adopting the measurement of traceability methods with semi-insulating transformer voltage summation and traditional voltage coefficient on the same prototype of 1000 kV SSTV.Moreover,the influence of stray capacitance on error performance of 1000 kV SSTV is analyzed based on mathematical models and experimental data.The results show that the influence quantity of stray capacitance on the error performance is lower than 4×10-6.
The Dual Characteristics of Light-Induced Cryptochrome 2, Homo-oligomerization and Heterodimerization, for Optogenetic Manipulation in Mammalian Cells

The photoreceptor cryptochrome 2 (CRY2) has become a powerful optogenetic tool that allows light-inducible manipulation of various signaling pathways and cellular processes in mammalian cells with high spatiotemporal precision and ease of application. However, it has also been shown that the behavior of CRY2 under blue light is complex, as the photoexcited CRY2 can both undergo homo-oligomerization and heterodimerization by binding to its dimerization partner CIB1. To better understand the light-induced CRY2 activities in mammalian cells, this article systematically characterizes CRY2 homo-oligomerization in different cellular compartments, as well as how CRY2 homo-oligomerization and heterodimerization activities affect each other. Quantitative analysis reveals that membrane-bound CRY2 has drastically enhanced oligomerization activity compared to that of its cytoplasmic form. While CRY2 homo-oligomerization and CRY2-CIB1 heterodimerization could happen concomitantly, the presence of certain CIB1 fusion p...
'Home was Congo': Refugees and Durable Displacement in the Borderlands of 1,000 Hills

‘HOME WAS CONGO’: REFUGEES AND DURABLE DISPLACEMENT IN THE BORDERLANDS OF 1,000 HILLS Erika Frydenlund Old Dominion University, 2015 Director: Dr. Jennifer N. Fish As forced migrants linger at the borders of the world’s conflicts, refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo in Rwanda remain in camps where they have waited for ‘durable solutions’ to their geographic and political existence for nearly two decades. Protracted displacement such as this results from processes at the local, state, regional, and international levels, with consequences reverberating each of these levels, including insecurity, expenditure of already limited resources, and strained interstate political relationships. As refugees’ stays extend to increasingly long periods of time, situations once assumed to be temporary take on a semblance of permanence. Forced displacement increasingly transitions to relatively durable living instances of conflict spillover, articulating the wider human impacts of such patterns of vital, and often understudied, outcomes of conflict and power struggles. Using a qualitative approach within a specific site of displacement in the Great Lakes Region of Africa, this study engages in dialog with notions of sovereignty, post-colonialism, social constructivism, burden-sharing, and social stratification to uncover the possible motivations for making refugee situations permanent. Home to approximately 16,000 Congolese refugees, Kiziba Camp in western Rwanda serves as a microcosm through which one can observe these multi-layered humanitarian aid and refugee hosting processes. By analyzing semi-structured interview and ethnographic data collected from Kiziba Camp in 2011, 2013, and 2014, interviews with key Rwandan government representatives, and existing media sources and nongovernmental organization reports, this research links the pursuit and maintenance of state sovereignty, as well as aspects of social construction at the local-level, with processes that contribute to protracted displacement. Analyses of this original data reveal intentional and unintentional factors emanating from state foreign and domestic policies, NGO disaster and humanitarian assistance rhetoric, as well as refugees’ own conceptualization of citizenship, identity, and belonging that contribute to the durability refugee displacement. Through the personal narratives of community leaders of Kiziba Camp, this study begins to reveal a theory about state dependency on refugee hosting and the agency of refugees to imagine and define themselves, and how these factors contribute to a form of displacement that becomes increasingly durable over time.
The Computer Held Hostage--Not the Right Road to Tenure

This paper highlights the impact that the pressure of tenure brings to the research quality.
Contextualising street sexual harassment in Morocco: a discriminatory sociocultural representation of women

ABSTRACTThis article aims to contextualise gender-based violence through the phenomenon of sexual harassment in public space in Morocco. This will be achieved by exploring the discriminatory social, cultural and political representation of Moroccan women, and discussing their status, image and treatment in a patriarchal social order. The study seeks to reveal the relationship between the stereotypical images of Moroccan girls and women and the violence that is likely committed against them. It suggests that women’s location in the power structures of the family, school, media and the law, as well as their access to the economic and political spheres, all contribute to the construction and negotiation of gender roles, relationships and inequalities, and consequently participate in fostering violent attitudes and practices against women in the public arena. The evolution of the status of women will be primarily guaranteed by changes in their freedom-of-movement, security and emancipation. However, regularis...
Cultural Competency in Medical Education: Demographic Differences Associated With Medical Student Communication Styles and Clinical Clerkship Feedback

Purpose We tested the significance of associations among students’ demographics, communication styles, and feedback received during clerkships. Methods US medical students who completed at least one required clinical clerkship were invited between April and July 2006 to complete an anonymous, online survey inquiring about demographics, communication styles (assertive-ness and reticence), feedback (positive and negative), and clerkship grades. The effects of self-identified race/ethnicity, gender, and generation (immigrant, first- or second-generation American) and their 2-way interactions on assertiveness, reticence, total positive and total negative feedback comments were tested using factorial analysis of covariance, controlling for age, clerkship grades, and mother’s and father’s education; pairwise comparisons used simple contrasts. Two-sided P values Results (Medical students from 105 schools responded (N = 2395; 55% women; 57% white). Men reported more assertive-ness than women ( P = .001). Reticence ( P ( P = .022) and gender-by-generation ( P = .025) interaction effects were observed for total negative comments; white first-generation Americans reported receiving the fewest and male immigrants reported receiving the most negative comments. Conclusions Demographic differences in students’ communication styles and feedback they received highlight a need for cultural competency training to improve medical student-teacher interactions, analogous to training currently advocated to improve physician-patient interactions.
Development of Emotion Self-Regulation Among Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: The Role of Parents

Emotional self-regulation (ESR) challenges are well-documented in the diagnostic profiles of children with Autism; however, less is known about the development of ESR and the role of parents in ESR development for this population. Thirty-seven young children with autism and one of their parents participated in a home-based, observational study exploring the associations between the children's social communication and sensory processing characteristics and their parents' behaviors associated with ESR development. Findings revealed that parent use of physical and language behaviors were associated with child social communication abilities. No associations between child sensory processing and parent behaviors were found. Understanding the interactive processes between parents and children with ASD has implications for the development of parent-based interventions that increase child ESR.
Blood parasite infection linked to condition of spring-migrating Lesser Scaup (Aythya affinis)

Numerous organisms exhibit carry-over effects, in which previous environmental conditions impact current performance. For example, reproductive output for many migratory birds can be impacted by ev...
Tools for Authoring a Dialogue Agent that Participates in Learning Studies

TuTalk supports the rapid development of dialogue agents for learning applications. It enables an experimenter to create a dialogue agent with either minimal or no programming and provides the infrastructure needed for testing hypotheses about dialogue. Our main goals in developing this tool were to provide 1) an authoring interface and language for setting up the domain knowledge and resources needed to support the agent and 2) a plug-and-play type of system that facilitates the integration of new modules and experimentation with different core modules. In this paper we describe the authoring tool and the usability studies that have shaped its design, the dialogue that is supported and features of the authoring language and their usage history.
A membrane with ion fluxes responsive to temperature, pH and voltage

Abstract Cell membranes of biological cells embedded with nuclear pore complexes (NPCs) are capable of controlling the flow of ions, e.g. Na+, K+ and Ca2+ by responding to stimuli, e.g. pH and voltage. From the inspiration of NPCs, researchers have been endeavoring to develop nanogates to achieve the control of ion transport, but the developed nanogates only have a low selectivity, the factor of change (FC) in ion fluxes due to ON/OFF switching. To our knowledge, nanogates with high responsiveness to temperature changes have not been reported. As such membranes etched with nanopores having a high selectivity (FC) and the reversible gating of temperature, pH and voltage were to be developed in the work. The nanogates were modified with DNA strands, whose linkers, the six nucleobases at 3′ ends, are complementary. According to the experimental results, at mildly acidic pH values, e.g. pH 5.3, the prepared nanogate is in an open state, while at neutral pH values, e.g. pH 7.9, it is shut off. The change in ion fluxes is up to a factor of 90, which is remarkably high compared to other nanogates reported. It is observed experimentally that promoting the number of the complementary nucleobases at the 3′ ends of the strands would improve nanogate performance significantly, while varying the other nucleobases exerts little effects. Hence the formation of nucleobase pairs among the complementary nucleobases at the 3′ ends of the strands leads to the binding of various strands, self-assembly of a strand web and blockage of ion transport. When the temperature is increased, due to the promotion of the thermal motion of DNA strands, the nucleobase pairs and the strand web will not be generated and the nanogate will remain open even at pH 7.9. Hence the nanogate developed is capable of responding to temperature changes. Further experiments were performed to investigate the influence of the NaCl concentrations and small opening diameters exerted on nanogate performance.
On approximating a weak Markovian process as Markovian: Are we justified when discarding longtime correlations

The effect for removing weak longtime correlation is studied using a model system that contains a driven atom at liquid density under strong thermal fluctuations. The force that drives the tagged particle is about 1% of the average random force experienced by the particle. The tagged particle is allowed to assume a range of masses from 1/8 to 80 times that of a surrounding particle to study the effects of inertia. The driving force is indefinitely correlated but much weaker than "random" fluctuations from the environment. From this study, it is shown that the environmental influence is not fully random leading to the force autocorrelation function being a poor metric for detecting the correlated driving force. Although the velocity autocorrelation function shows stronger correlation for systems with higher inertia, the velocity autocorrelation function decays to a very small value of 2.5×10-3 even for the most massive driven particle. For systems with small inertia, our study reveals that discarding longtime correlation has negligible influence on the first passage time (FPT) estimate, whereas for particles with large inertia, the deviation can indeed be appreciable. It is interesting that the Markov State Model (MSM) still produces reasonable estimates on the FPT even when a very short lag time that clearly violates the Markovianity assumption is used. This is likely a result of favorable error cancellations when the MSM transition probability matrices were constructed using trajectories that are much longer than the lag time.
Lactational High-Fat Diet Exposure Programs Metabolic Inflammation and Bone Marrow Adiposity in Male Offspring

Overnutrition during critical windows of development plays a significant role in life-long metabolic disease risk. Early exposure to excessive nutrition may result in altered programming leading to increased susceptibility to obesity, inflammation, and metabolic complications. This study investigated the programming effects of high-fat diet (HFD) exposure during the lactation period on offspring adiposity and inflammation. Female C57Bl/6J dams were fed a normal diet or a 60% HFD during lactation. Offspring were weaned onto a normal diet until 12 weeks of age when half were re-challenged with HFD for 12 weeks. Metabolic testing was performed throughout adulthood. At 24 weeks, adipose depots were isolated and evaluated for macrophage profiling and inflammatory gene expression. Males exposed to HFD during lactation had insulin resistance and glucose intolerance as adults. After re-introduction to HFD, males had increased weight gain and worsened insulin resistance and hyperglycemia. There was increased infiltration of pro-inflammatory CD11c+ adipose tissue macrophages, and bone marrow was primed to produce granulocytes and macrophages. Bone density was lower due to enhanced marrow adiposity. This study demonstrates that maternal HFD exposure during the lactational window programs offspring adiposity, inflammation, and impaired glucose homeostasis.
The Impact of Cloud Shadows on Subpixel Target Detection

This paper will examine the impact of cloud shadows on subpixel target detection. When data is collected by a low flying aircraft under partly cloudy skies, there are two main cloud-induced effects: shadowing, which results in diminished and spectrally altered ground illumination, and illumination enhancement of sunlit areas due to the photons scattered from the clouds into these areas. The work presented here examiknes the effects of cloud-induced illumination on the retrieval of reflectance signatures for target detection applications. The impact of cloud shadows is examined using forward simulations of fully and partly shadowed scenes using two hyperspectral reflectance images. One scene contains man-made elements as well as significant areas of vegetation, while the other scene is primarily dry rocky terrain with a region of dark vegetation. Spectral signatures of a blue roof and brown paint were randomly embedded into the two scenes at subpixel levels. The scene radiance is then simulated for fully shadowed, partly shadowed, and fully sunlit conditions. Target detection is performed on these radiance scenes after atmospheric correction. Detection results show improved performance when the sunlit and shadowed areas are segregated and processed independently rather than treating the whole scene at once.
A case of gabapentin overdose induced rhabdomyolysis requiring renal replacement therapy

We report a rare case with gabapentin overdose that caused severe rhabdomyolysis and acute tubular necrosis which required renal replacement therapy. A better awareness of its adverse effect and a close follow-up of laboratory tests are recommended. Prescribers should also be aware of high-risk population and monitor for signs of abuse.
Toward Uniform Smart Healthcare Ecosystems: A Survey on Prospects, Security, and Privacy Considerations

A plethora of interwoven social enablers and technical advancements have elevated smart healthcare from once a supplemental feature to now an indispensable necessity crucial to addressing intractable problems our modern cities face, which range from gradual population aging to ever surging healthcare expenses. State-of-the-art smart healthcare implementations now span a wide array of smart city applications including smart homes, smart environments, and smart transportation to take full advantage of the existing synergies among these services. This engagement of exogenous sources in smart healthcare systems introduces a variety of challenges; chief among them, it expands and complicates the attack surface, hence raising security and privacy concerns. In this chapter, we study the emerging trends in smart healthcare applications as well as the key technological developments that give rise to these transitions. Particularly, we emphasize threats, vulnerabilities, and consequences of cyberattacks in modern smart healthcare systems and investigate their corresponding proposed countermeasures.
The tick tock of toxicity

A cell-intrinsic circadian program diminishes neutrophil toxicity to protect organs from excessive inflammation.
Executive Pay Transparency and Relative Performance Evaluation: Evidence from the 2006 Pay Disclosure Reforms

Early empirical evidence showed a lack of relative performance evaluation (RPE) for executive pay, a surprise given its theoretical appeal. We predict and find that director shirking reduces RPE use, and executive pay transparency can enhance shareholder monitoring of company boards and increase RPE use. We examine RPE over the two decades centered on the 2006 executive pay reforms, which required disclosures that shareholders could use to monitor pay plans. Firms that increase disclosures exhibit a significant improvement in RPE use after the reforms relative to other firms. To further connect board-shareholder frictions and oversight with pay transparency and RPE, we show four results. (i) Sales targets set by inattentive boards are more likely to lack RPE features. (ii) Shareholders want RPE, evidenced by say-on-pay voting. (iii) Access to pay disclosures on the SEC website increases after the reforms, and this access positively relates to changes in RPE use. (iv) RPE increases occur for firms with inattentive boards before the reforms and with more shareholder engagement after the reforms.
Thermodynamic Adsorption States of TNT and DNAN on Corundum and Hematite

Adsorption isotherms are a critical tool in determining the transport of environmental contaminants through a particular media. Owing to the inherent heterogeneity of soils, the determination of wh...
The transcription factor STAT5 binds to distinct super-enhancer sites and controls Lrrc32 expression in a prominent autoimmune and allergic disease risk locus

Genetic variants associated with diseases are enriched in genomic sequences linked to regulatory regions, such as enhancers, super-enhancers and possibly repressors, that control nearby and distant genes. A known allergic and autoimmune risk locus at chromosome 11q13.5 is associated with the LRRC32 gene, which encodes GARP, a protein critical for TGF-b delivery. This region coincides with a candidate enhancer that was predicted by the presence of activating chromatin marks and contains a polymorphism significantly associated with GARP expression on CD4+CD127−CD25+ Treg cells. In the mouse, binding of the cytokine-induced transcription factor STAT5 was detected at two sites within the expansive candidate enhancer region and a 2.3 kb deletion resulted in reduced Lrrc32 expression4. However, a clear definition of the enhancer units controlled by STAT5 and a functional understanding of STAT5 in the regulation of Lrrc32 are needed. Here we use high-resolution ChIP-seq and identify three STAT5 binding sites within the Lrrc32 super-enhancer, one shared between Treg cells and mammary epithelium and one specific to each respective cell type. Using mice that express only 10% of normal STAT5 levels we demonstrate the defining contribution of STAT5 in the activation of the Lrrc32 super-enhancer.
Student Perspectives on Remote Learning in a Large Organic Chemistry Lecture Course

This study details the efforts taken in remotely teaching a large organic chemistry lecture course in the midst of the recent COVID-19 pandemic. The course lectures were taught synchronously via Zoom and student feedback was gathered regarding effective teaching strategies and assessment tools in a remote course setting. The precourse and midcourse surveys also provided insight into challenges and time commitment issues that students are facing when learning in this new situation. We highlight the instructor’s experience combined with student perspectives to tackle this situation moving forward. We hope that this work can assist faculty in remotely teaching their chemistry courses, and contribute to the information that is being collected globally regarding remote learning in light of the recent events.
Erasing the Past: Untangling the Conflicting Journalistic Loyalties and Paradigmatic Pressures of Unpublishing

Unpublishing, or the act of deleting previously published media content from a news outlet’s online archive in response to an external request, is a growing ethical and practical dilemma for journa...
On the peridynamic effective force state and multiphase constitutive correspondence principle

Abstract This article concerns modeling unsaturated deformable porous media as an equivalent single-phase and single-force state peridynamic material through the effective force state. The balance equations of linear momentum and mass of unsaturated porous media are presented by defining relevant peridynamic states. The energy balance of unsaturated porous media is utilized to derive the effective force state for the solid skeleton that is an energy conjugate to the nonlocal deformation state of the solid, and the suction force state. Through an energy equivalence, a multiphase constitutive correspondence principle is built between classical unsaturated poromechanics and peridynamic unsaturated poromechanics. The multiphase correspondence principle provides a means to incorporate advanced constitutive models in classical unsaturated porous theory directly into unsaturated peridynamic poromechanics. Numerical simulations of localized failure in unsaturated porous media under different matric suctions are presented to demonstrate the feasibility of modeling the mechanical behavior of such three-phase materials as an equivalent single-phase peridynamic material through the effective force state concept.
Orexin gene expression is downregulated in alcohol dependent rats during acute alcohol withdrawal

Abstract Alcohol use disorders (AUD) are chronic relapsing brain disorder characterized by compulsive and heavy alcohol consumption. During acute withdrawal, patients with AUD display excessive daytime sleepiness, a condition linked to serious life-threatening complications, however, the mechanism is not known. Orexin and melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH) are the two hypothalamic neuropeptides that regulate many behaviors including sleep-wakefulness, and alcohol consumption, reinforcement, and reinstatement. Importantly, loss of orexin neurons causes narcolepsy, a severe sleep disorder with excessive daytime sleepiness. Does acute alcohol withdrawal reduce orexin gene expression? To investigate this, male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided in two groups: Rats were either administered with alcohol, mixed with infant formula (alcohol group) or control mixture containing water and infant formula (Controls) by gastric intubation every 8 h for 4 days using Majchrowicz’s chronic binge drinking protocol. The doses of alcohol were adjusted depending on degree of intoxication, exhibited by animals, prior to each dose. The animals were euthanized after 12 h of last alcohol/water administration. During withdrawal, the hypothalamus was rapidly dissected out, and the expressions of orexin and MCH genes were examined by Real-time PCR. There was a significant reduction in orexin gene expression in rats subjected to alcohol withdrawal as compared to controls. No such change was observed in the MCH gene expression. These results suggest that downregulation of orexin gene expression may be a possible mechanism responsible for excessive daytime sleepiness associated with alcohol withdrawal in patients with AUD.
High-fluence light emitting diode-red light inhibits cell cycle progression in human dermal fibroblasts

Skin fibrosis is a debilitating feature of several systemic and dermatologic diseases. While current treatment options carry significant risk of side effects and recurrence, high-fluence light emitting diode-generated red light (LED-RL) is an alternative therapeutic that is safe, non-invasive, and accessible. We previously demonstrated LED-RL decreases fibroblast proliferation, a key pathogenic component of fibrosis. However, the cellular mechanism by which high fluence LED-RL modulates fibroblast proliferation is unclear. Herein, we explored the effects of high fluence LED-RL on human dermal fibroblast cell cycle progression. We demonstrate that LED-RL at 640 J/cm2 induced significant arrest of cells in G0 /G1 compared to temperature-matched control. This was accompanied by a corresponding increase in expression of checkpoint regulator p53 in irradiated cells. These data demonstrate high fluence LED-RL may exert its anti-proliferative effect on fibroblasts by inducing G0 /G1 arrest. Further, this study provides insight into the molecular mechanism underlying LED-RL as an anti-fibrotic therapeutic.
The Role of Radiation Therapy in Addition to Lumpectomy and Hormone Therapy in Men 70 Years of Age and Older with Early Breast Cancer: A NCDB Analysis.

Current treatment guidelines for male breast cancer are guided by female-only trials despite data suggesting distinct clinicopathologic differences between sexes. We sought to evaluate whether radiation therapy (RT) after lumpectomy was associated with equivalent survival among men > 70 years of age with stage I, estrogen receptor (ER) positive tumors, as seen in women from the Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB) 9343 trial. We performed a retrospective analysis of 752 stage I, ER-positive male breast cancer patients ≥ 70 years who were treated with hormone therapy and surgery, with or without RT, from the National Cancer Database between 2004 and 2014. Patients were categorized based on surgery and RT (lumpectomy alone, lumpectomy with RT, and mastectomy alone). Multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was used to compare overall survival between treatment groups. Most patients underwent total mastectomy, with only 32.6% treated with lumpectomy. Of those who underwent lumpectomy, 72.7% received adjuvant RT. In multivariate analysis, there was no statistical difference in overall survival when comparing lumpectomy alone and lumpectomy with RT (aHR 0.72 [95% CI 0.38–1.37], p = 0.31) or when comparing lumpectomy (alone or with RT) and mastectomy (aHR 1.28 [95% CI 0.88–1.87], p = 0.20). In this national sample of elderly men with ER-positive early-stage disease treated with endocrine therapy, there were no significant differences in overall survival when comparing lumpectomy alone and lumpectomy with RT, or lumpectomy (alone or with RT) and mastectomy. These results suggest that less aggressive treatment may be appropriate for a subset of male breast cancer patients.
Abstract IA-17: Mechanisms of pancreatic cancer-induced cachexia

Cachexia is a debilitating syndrome that results in severe, involuntary weight loss due to the depletion of skeletal muscle mass. Currently, no effective therapy exists to combat this malignant disorder. For pancreatic cancer, 85% of patients lose on average 14% of their pre-illness weight, and cachexia dramatically limits their ability to tolerate surgery, chemo- or radiotherapy. New therapies will likely evolve from an enhanced understanding of the mechanisms leading to muscle wasting and tumor development. Our laboratory has been examining the role of the NF-κB signaling pathway in tumorigenesis for several decades and that interest led us to discover the connection between NF-κB and muscle wasting in cancer cachexia and more recently in pancreatic cancer. We view the pathway as playing two separate functions in pancreatic cancer-induced cachexia. The first occurs at the level of skeletal muscle, or more preciously in skeletal muscle stem cells. We have found that during cancer progression, skeletal muscle undergoes a type of injury response leading to the activation of resident stem cells to engage in a regeneration program. NF-κB is activated in these stem cells and functions to inhibit regeneration, which contributes to the overall wasting process in cachexia. New data reveal that NF-κB activity in progenitor cells also regulates a local muscle inflammatory environment that might also contribute to skeletal muscle catabolism. The mechanism of this regulation will be discussed in more details. The second function of NF-κB signaling that we are pursuing focuses in the tumor microenvironment of pancreatic cancer. Using orthotopic mouse models of pancreatic cancer, we showed that NF-κB plays a critical role in protecting tumor cells from the surveillance property of anti-tumor macrophages. This occurs through the direct transcriptional regulation of the immunosuppressive cytokine, GDF15. Interestingly, circulating levels of GDF15 are elevated in cachectic patients and recent studies indicate that this cytokine might be an attractive therapeutic target in cancer cachexia. Together, we speculate that NF-κB functions in cancer cachexia by acting in muscle stem cells to block muscle repair, as well as promoting pancreatic cancer through the production of immunosuppressive genes such as GDF15. Citation Format: Benjamin Pryce, Nivedita Ratnam, Erin E. Talbert, Mary Dilhoff, Carl R. Schmidt, David J. Wang, Denis C. Guttridge. Mechanisms of pancreatic cancer-induced cachexia [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Virtual Special Conference on Pancreatic Cancer; 2020 Sep 29-30. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(22 Suppl):Abstract nr IA-17.
Levecq, Christine, Black Cosmopolitans: Race, Religion, and Republicanism in an Age of Revolution: Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 304 pp., $45.00, ISBN 9780813942186, Publication Date: July 2019

The intellectual history of the early modern Atlantic world is populated by a great number of white European men and their male descendants. White women, indigenous American men and women, and indi...
Object-Oriented Security Constrained Quadratic Optimal Power Flow

Increased penetration of distributed energy resources (DERs) creates challenges in formulating the security constrained optimal power flow (SCOPF) problem as the number of models for these resources proliferate. Specifically, the number of devices with different mathematical models is large and their integration into the SCOPF becomes tedious. Henceforth, a process that seamlessly models and integrates such new devices into the SCOPF problem is needed. We propose an object-oriented modeling approach that leads to the autonomous formation of the SCOPF problem. All device models in the system are cast into a universal syntax. We have also introduced a quadratization method which makes the models consisting of linear and quadratic equations, if nonlinear. We refer to this model as the State and Control Quadratized Device Model (SCQDM). The SCQDM includes a number of equations and a number of inequalities expressing the operating limits of the device. The SCOPF problem is then formed in a seamless manner by operating only on the SCQDM device objects. The SCOPF problem, formed this way, is also quadratic (i.e. consists of linear and quadratic equations), and of the same form and syntax as the SCQDM for an individual device. For this reason, we named it security constrained quadratic optimal power flow (SCQOPF). We solve the SCQOPF problem using a sequential linear programming (SLP) algorithm and compare the results with those obtained from the commercial solver Knitro on the IEEE 57 bus system.