cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Optimizing Nonlinear Properties of Thermal Sprayed Coatings through Processing Parameters

Low-temperature thermal cycling of plasma sprayed zirconia coatings via curvature measurements is used to quantify their nonlinear mechanical behavior. The nonlinear feature arises from the unique layered, porous and cracked morphology of thermal sprayed ceramic materials. With this procedure, various specimens were tested to investigate the effects of processing condition. The measured nonlinear properties are interpreted in the context of microstructural changes in the plasma sprayed coatings due to differences in particle state upon impact and coating build-up. The implications of this study are significant for thermo-mechanical design of strain-tolerant ceramic coatings in thermal barrier applications.
Abstract 5199: An in vivo reporter to quantitatively and temporally analyze the effects of CDK4/6 inhibitor-based therapies in melanoma

Aberrant cell cycle progression is a hallmark feature of cancer cells. Cyclin-dependent kinase 4 and 6 (CDK4/6) drive progression through the G1 stage of the cell cycle, at least in part, by inactivating the tumor suppressor, retinoblastoma (RB). CDK4/6 are targetable and the selective CDK4/6 inhibitor, palbociclib (IBRANCE/PD-0332991), was recently FDA approved for the treatment of estrogen receptor-positive, HER2-negative advanced breast cancer. In cutaneous melanoma, driver mutations in NRAS and BRAF signal to promote CDK4/6 activation suggesting that inhibitors such as palbociclib are likely to provide therapeutic benefit most likely in combination with BRAF and/or MEK inhibitors that are FDA-approved. However, the determinants of the response to CDK4/6 inhibitors alone and in combination with other targeted inhibitors are poorly defined. Furthermore, in vivo systems to quantitatively and temporally measure the efficacy of CDK4/6 inhibitors and determine the extent that CDK activity is reactivated during acquired resistance are lacking. Here, we describe the heterogeneous effects of CDK4/6 inhibitors, the expression of anti-apoptotic proteins that associate with response to CDK4/6 and MEK inhibitors, and the development of a luciferase-based reporter system to determine the effects of CDK4/6 inhibitors alone and in combination with MEK inhibitors in melanoma xenografts. These findings are likely to inform on-going and future clinical trials utilizing CDK4/6 inhibitors in cutaneous melanoma. Citation Format: Jessica L. Teh, Timothy Purwin, Evan J. Greenawalt, Inna Chervoneva, Allison Goldberg, Michael E. Davies, Andrew Aplin. An in vivo reporter to quantitatively and temporally analyze the effects of CDK4/6 inhibitor-based therapies in melanoma. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 5199.
The Role of Government

The role of government in the United States economy has two major aspects: (1) quantitative — taxes collected, borrowing, government expenditure, purchases, sales and so on, and (2) qualitative — the laws and regulations which affect economic behaviour. There is even a subtle psychological aspect of trust, respect, hope for the future and so on, which government can create or destroy as the case may be. The impact of regulation and deregulation is something that cannot be estimated from simple statistics. The transition from one president to the next (Figure 3.4) seems to make surprisingly little difference to the quantitative aspects of the economy, with perhaps two exceptions: the transition from Hoover to Roosevelt in 1933, which marked the beginning of the ‘New Deal’ and an increase in gross private domestic investment, which brought the United States part of the way out of the Great Depression; and the transition from Carter to Reagan in 1980, which seems to have stimulated a steady rise in personal consumption expenditure as a proportion of the economy.
A supply insensitive resistor-less bandgap reference with buffered output

This paper describes a bandgap reference that doesn't use resistors or operational amplifiers. The circuit uses ratioed transistors in strong inversion with the inverse function technique to develop a voltage, proportional to the absolute temperature term of the reference. With the low-output impedance at the output, this reference voltage can drive resistive loads. Unlike its predecessor, this circuit's performance doesn't degrade with variations in supply voltage. The bandgap was designed on a 0.6μm process and the corresponding BSIM3 (V3.2) models are used.
Effects of Semantic Ambiguity Detection Training on Reading Comprehension Achievement of English Learners With Learning Difficulties

This study examined how explicit instruction in semantic ambiguity detection affected the reading comprehension and metalinguistic awareness of five English learners (ELs) with learning difficulties (e.g., attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, specific learning disability). A multiple probe across participants design (Gast & Ledford, 2010) evaluated instructional effects on (a) number of correct replacements (CR) on maze tasks and (b) percentage accuracy with applying targeted metalinguistic awareness skills on researcher-developed semantic ambiguity detection probes. During the baseline condition, guided reading was the primary instructional method. During intervention, explicit instruction focused on identification and interpretation of multimeaning words, production and interpretation of riddles, and close reading of authentic text to interpret nonliteral language. Results-revealed performance increases relative to baseline levels on instructional-level reading comprehension and semantic ambiguity ...
The SMART approach to comprehensive quality assessment of site-based spatial-temporal data

There is a need for comprehensive solutions to address the challenges of spatio-temporal data quality assessment. Emphasis is often placed on the quality assessment of individual observations from sensors but not on the sensors themselves nor upon site metadata such as location and timestamps. The focus of this paper is on the development and evaluation of a representative and comprehensive, interpolation-based methodology for assessment of spatio-temporal data quality. We call our method the SMART method, short for Simple Mappings for the Approximation and Regression of Time series. When applied to a real-world, meteorological data set, we show that our method outperforms standard interpolators and we identify numerous problematic sites that otherwise would not have been flagged as bad. We further identify sites for which metadata is incorrect. We believe that there are many problems with real data sets like these and, in the absence of an approach like ours, these problems have largely gone unidentified. Our results bring into question the validity of provider-based quality control indicators. In addition to providing a comprehensive solution, our approach is novel for the simple but effective way that it accounts for spatial and temporal variation.
Synthesis of (±)-Amathaspiramide F: Stereochemical Switch of a [2,3]-Stevens Rearrangement

Abstract The total synthesis of complex natural products provides a unique opportunity for learning new lessons in chemical reactivity, which drives the field of synthesis forward. With this goal in mind, we describe our synthetic approach to (±)-amathaspiramide F, a polycyclic alkaloid. The key transformation in our strategy is a tandem palladium-catalyzed allylic amination/[2,3]-Stevens rearrangement, which was recently developed by our lab. Although our retrosynthetic analysis for the amathaspiramides was at first glance straightforward, we uncovered an unusual stereochemical effect that led us down an unexpected path to eventually solve the problem and complete the synthesis of amathaspiramide F. The unexpected diastereoselectivity of the [2,3]-Stevens rearrangement was controlled by the substitution patterns of an aromatic ring. This stereochemical switch may represent a new stereocontrolling element for [2,3]-sigmatropic rearrangements in complex molecular settings.
Enabling efficient heat-to-electricity generation at the mesoscale

We present a technology that efficiently harnesses the energy content of hydrocarbon fuels in a volume that is only a fraction of a cubic inch. A propane-fueled microcombustor heats a photonic crystal emitter to incandescence and the resulting spectrally-confined thermal radiation drives low-bandgap PV cells to generate electricity. We overcome the technical challenges that are currently limiting thermophotovoltaics in the following ways: we develop new fabrication processes; we adopt high-temperature alloys to improve the thermo-mechanical stability; we adopt commercial polycrystalline tantalum to fabricate large-area photonic crystals; and finally, we develop a passivation coating for improved thermo-chemical stability. We demonstrate unprecedented heat-to-electricity efficiencies exceeding 4%, greater than the 2–3% efficiencies that were previously thought to be the practical limit, and we predict that over 12% efficiency is achievable with only engineering optimization. For reference, a 1.5% efficiency corresponds to the energy density of lithium ion batteries. This work opens new opportunities to free portable electronics, robots, and small drones from the constraints of bulky power sources.
Variations in Databases Used to Assess Academic Output and Citation Impact

An analysis of listings of 1469 clinical and research faculty in PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar showed major differences in numbers of publications and citations and in the h-index (a measure of productivity and citations) for each author.
Optimized adaptive enrichment designs for three-arm trials: learning which subpopulations benefit from different treatments

We consider the problem of designing a confirmatory randomized trial for comparing two treatments versus a common control in two disjoint subpopulations. The subpopulations could be defined in terms of a biomarker or disease severity measured at baseline. The goal is to determine which treatments benefit which subpopulations. We develop a new class of adaptive enrichment designs tailored to solving this problem. Adaptive enrichment designs involve a preplanned rule for modifying enrollment based on accruing data in an ongoing trial. At the interim analysis after each stage, for each subpopulation, the preplanned rule may decide to stop enrollment or to stop randomizing participants to one or more study arms. The motivation for this adaptive feature is that interim data may indicate that a subpopulation, such as those with lower disease severity at baseline, is unlikely to benefit from a particular treatment while uncertainty remains for the other treatment and/or subpopulation. We optimize these adaptive designs to have the minimum expected sample size under power and Type I error constraints. We compare the performance of the optimized adaptive design versus an optimized nonadaptive (single stage) design. Our approach is demonstrated in simulation studies that mimic features of a completed trial of a medical device for treating heart failure. The optimized adaptive design has $25\%$ smaller expected sample size compared to the optimized nonadaptive design; however, the cost is that the optimized adaptive design has $8\%$ greater maximum sample size. Open-source software that implements the trial design optimization is provided, allowing users to investigate the tradeoffs in using the proposed adaptive versus standard designs.
User acceptance of business intelligence application: motivation to learn, technology, social influence, and situational constraints

Organisations have implemented business intelligence (BI) applications to realise a variety of organisational benefits. However, a majority of BI application implementation projects are unsuccessful. One of the main reasons for the failure is end user resistance to adopt BI applications that their organisation chose. Therefore, it is important to understand how to facilitate individual adoption of BI application. Based on a survey collected among enterprise resource planning (ERP) system users in large to medium sized organisations, this study finds individual intention to adopt a BI application is positively influenced by their motivation to learn the BI application. In addition, the results show that the users' motivation to learn a BI application is influenced by the relative advantage of the application and situational constraints, such as requisite skills/resources and organisational learning climate. These findings provide some practical implications that can help organisations to promote the adoption rate.
The effects of aging and HIV disease on employment status and functioning.

Objective As the prevalence of older adults living with HIV disease increases, questions are emerging regarding the extent to which older age amplifies the adverse effects of HIV on employment status and functioning. This cross-sectional study sought to (1) investigate the combined effects of HIV and older age on employment status, (2) identify clinicodemographic correlates of employment status among older HIV+ persons, and (3) examine the combined effects of HIV and age on workplace performance among employed participants. Method The sample was 358 HIV+ (163 older, 195 younger) and 193 HIV- (94 older, 99 younger) adults, who completed a comprehensive neurocognitive research assessment that included measures of employment status and current workplace functioning. Results We observed main effects of HIV and age on employment status, but no interaction. The older HIV+ sample demonstrated particularly high rates of disability, rather than elective retirement or unemployment. Among older HIV+ adults significant predictors of employment status included age, global neurocognitive functioning, combination antiretroviral therapy status, age at HIV infection, and hepatitis C coinfection. Finally, self-reported work functioning of older HIV+ adults differed only from the younger HIV- group. Conclusion Findings suggest that older age and HIV disease have additive adverse effects on employment status, but not work functioning, and that employment status is associated with both neurocognitive and medical risk factors among older HIV+ adults. Further longitudinal research is needed to elucidate specific disease and demographic characteristics that may operate as protective factors for retaining gainful employment among older HIV+ adults. (PsycINFO Database Record
LC-MS/MS based quantitation of ciprofloxacin and its application to antimicrobial resistance study in Balb/c mouse plasma, urine, bladder and kidneys

The authors proposed a simple, high throughput liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometric (LC-MS/MS) method for the determination of ciprofloxacin in small sample volumes of plasma, urine, bladder and kidneys of mice. d8-Ciprofloxacin was used as an internal standard (IS) which efficiently tracked the matrix effect in different matrices. The method employed 20 μL of plasma/30 μL of urine or tissue homogenate for sample processing using a simple protein precipitation technique. The processed samples were chromatographed on a C18 column by using a mixture of 5 mM ammonium formate (0.1% formic acid)–acetonitrile as the mobile phase at a flow rate of 0.6 mL min−1 with a gradient elution for 3 min. The calibration curve obtained was linear over the concentration range of 100–5000 ng mL−1 with r2 ≥ 0.99 in all matrices. Method validation was performed as per FDA guidelines and the results met the acceptance criteria. The multiple reaction-monitoring mode (MRM) was used for the quantification of ion transitions at m/z 332.1/230.8 and 340.1/296.1 for the analyte and the IS, respectively. The validated method was used for preclinical studies of antimicrobial resistance in mice.
Are Generative Classifiers More Robust to Adversarial Attacks

There is a rising interest in studying the robustness of deep neural network classifiers against adversaries, with both advanced attack and defence techniques being actively developed. However, most recent work focuses on discriminative classifiers, which only model the conditional distribution of the labels given the inputs. In this paper, we propose and investigate the deep Bayes classifier, which improves classical naive Bayes with conditional deep generative models. We further develop detection methods for adversarial examples, which reject inputs with low likelihood under the generative model. Experimental results suggest that deep Bayes classifiers are more robust than deep discriminative classifiers, and that the proposed detection methods are effective against many recently proposed attacks.
Course of remission from and relapse to heavy drinking following outpatient treatment of alcohol use disorder.

Abstract Background We sought to understand alcohol behavior change as a process over time by identifying patterns of relapse and remission after outpatient treatment and evaluating how these patterns predict longer-term clinical outcomes. Method We conducted latent profile analyses using data from the outpatient arm in Project MATCH. Relapse and remission episodes were defined by the number of consecutive 14-day periods that included any heavy drinking days and no heavy drinking days. Indicators of each profile were: initial 2-week post-treatment remission/relapse status, number of remission/relapse transitions in the first year after treatment, duration of remission episodes, and duration of relapse episodes. Results We identified 6 profiles: 1) “remission,” 2) “transition to remission”, 3) “few long transitions,” 4) “many short transitions,” 5) “transition to relapse,” and 6) “relapse.” Profile 1 had the best long-term outcomes. Long-term outcomes were not uniform among individuals with at least some heavy drinking (profiles 2 through 6; ∼75% of the sample). Individuals who transitioned back to and sustained periods of remission (profiles 2–4) had better long-term outcomes than those who failed to transition out of relapse (profiles 5–6) following treatment. Conclusions Post-treatment change in alcohol use is a process in which individuals variably transition in and out of “relapse” and “remission” statuses. “Any heavy drinking” following treatment is not necessarily a sign of treatment failure. A more nuanced look at the process of AUD change by considering whether individuals are able to transition to and sustain periods of remission seems warranted.
Effect of soil-matric potential and phylloplanes of rotation-crops on the survival of a bioluminescent Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris

The survival of the bacterial pathogen, Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris (Xcc), was studied in plant debris-infested soil with different matric potentials (0, −10, −30, −50, −100, −200, and −900 kPa), and on the phylloplane of crops used for rotation with cabbage. Populations of cellulolytic and proteolytic microorganisms were studied in relation to soil matric potential and Xcc. The survival of Xcc was negatively correlated (r=−0.710; P=0.06) with soil matric potential and with the abundance of cellulolytic microorganisms (P=0.05). In saturated soil, Xcc survived for only 19–28 days, while at −900 kPa there was no significant change in the bacterial population within this period. Survival of Xcc on the phylloplane of cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata) (host) was similar to that on mustard and lettuce (48 days), whereas the pathogen was detected for only 9 days on rice. It appears that high matric potentials reduced populations of Xcc in soil, whereas epiphytic survival of this pathogen depended on the plant species.
Improved treatment completion with shorter treatment regimens for latent tuberculous infection.

SETTING Four New York City (NYC) Health Department tuberculosis (TB) clinics. OBJECTIVE To assess the effectiveness of preferentially offering two shorter treatment regimens-4 months of daily rifampin (4R) and 3 months of once-weekly isoniazid and rifapentine (3HP)-as an alternative to 9 months of daily isoniazid (9H) for the treatment of latent tuberculous infection (LTBI). DESIGN Retrospective analysis of patients treated for LTBI from January to June 2015. Poisson regression with robust standard error was used to examine the factors associated with treatment completion. RESULTS Of the patients on 9H, 49% (27/55) completed treatment compared with 70% (187/269) of patients on 4R (P = 0.003) and 79% (99/125) of patients on 3HP (P < 0.001). When adjusting for age, sex, and TB risk factors, patients on 4R (adjusted risk ratio [aRR] 1.39, 95%CI 1.07-1.81) and 3HP (aRR 1.67, 95%CI 1.27-2.19) were more likely to complete treatment than patients on 9H. Treatment was discontinued due to side effects in 1% (3/269) of patients on 4R, 2% (2/125) of patients on 3HP, and 4% (2/55) of patients on 9H. CONCLUSIONS Most patients were placed on shorter regimens for LTBI treatment, and higher treatment completion was observed. Encouraging community providers to use shorter regimens for LTBI treatment would reduce the TB disease burden in NYC.
Designing for Inclusion: Ensuring Accessibility for People with Disabilities

People with disabilities make up almost 19% of the population of the USA, and the aging population trends mean that number may increase. Creating digital materials that follow accessibility principles is crucial to ensuring that they are broadly useful; regulatory and legal pressures add to the urgency. Planning for accessibility from the start of a project is always more cost-effective than fixing problems later, and most accessibility features have no extra cost when they are designed from the start. This chapter provides an introduction to accessible design for maximal inclusivity. It includes an outline of the ways people with disabilities use technology, specific steps you can take to create accessible materials, considerations for non-digital materials and events, and use cases that highlight the benefits of accessible design. Because usability and accessibility are partners in this process, with each discipline taking a slightly different approach to ensuring user satisfaction, information on including participants with disabilities in user testing is also included.
Activating mutation in B-RAF disables normal feedback inhibition of MEK and results in increased output of the RAF/MEK/MAPK signaling pathway.

434 The RAF/MEK/MAPK pathway is activated in tumor cells with BRAF mutation and in those with receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) activation, but only the former are sensitive to inhibition of proliferation by MEK inhibitors. Consensus in vitro and in vivo transcriptional array analysis showed that an 18-gene profile was significantly deregulated in response to MEK inhibition in a panel of tumor cells harboring B-RAF mutation. No such gene signature was identified in a group of tumor cells resistant to MEK inhibition, in which MAPK activation is due to RTK activation. These data suggest that the transcriptional output of the MAPK pathway is selectively elevated in tumors with BRAF mutation, compared to those with RTK activation. In mutant BRAF tumors, the output was comprised of RNAs that encode transcription factors (ETS and FOS family members, MYC, IER3) and proteins involved in the feedback regulation of MAPK signaling, including members of the Sprouty and DUSP families, which are significantly overexpressed. Levels of phosphorylated MAPK are equivalent in tumor cells with mutant BRAF or RTK activation, in contrast to phosphorylated MEK levels, which are only elevated in BRAF mutant cells. Thus in tumor cells, P-MEK, rather than P-MAPK, correlates with elevated MAPK output and with their sensitivity to MEK inhibition. These results suggest that, in mutant BRAF tumor cells, resistance to normal feedback inhibition of RAF activation is associated with increased transcriptional output of the pathway, resulting in increased expression of MAPK phosphatases and elevated P-MEK/P-MAPK ratios. Consistent with this idea, MEK inhibition alleviates feedback inhibition of P-MEK in tumors with RTK activation, but does not further induce P-MEK in tumors with mutant B-RAF.
Biological characterization of F508delCFTR protein processing by the CFTR Corrector ABBV-2222/GLPG2222

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is the most common monogenic autosomal recessive disease in Caucasians caused by pathogenic mutations in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene (CFTR). Significant small molecule therapeutic advances over the past two decades have been made to target the defective CFTR protein and enhance its function. To address the most prevalent defect of the defective CFTR protein (i.e., F508del mutation) in CF, two biomolecular activities are required, namely, correctors to increase the amount of properly folded F508delCFTR levels at the cell surface and potentiators to allow the effective opening, i.e., function of the F508delCFTR channel. Combined, these activities enhance chloride ion transport yielding improved hydration of the lung surface and subsequent restoration of mucociliary clearance. To enhance clinical benefits to CF patients, a complementary triple combination therapy consisting of two corrector molecules, type 1 (C1) and type 2, with additive mechanisms along with a potentiator are being investigated in the clinic for maximum restoration of mutated CFTR function. We report the identification and in vitro biologic characterization of ABBV-2222/GLPG2222 (4-[(2R,4R)-4-({[1-(2,2-difluoro-1,3-benzodioxol-5-yl)cyclopropyl]carbonyl}amino)-7-(difluoromethoxy)-3,4-dihydro-2H-chromen-2-yl]benzoic acid),-a novel, potent, and orally bioavailable C1 corrector developed by AbbVie-Galapagos and currently in clinical trials-which exhibits substantial improvements over the existing C1 correctors. This includes improvements in potency and drug-drug interaction (DDI) compared with 3-(6-(1-(2,2-difluorobenzo[d][1,3]dioxol-5-yl)cyclopropanecarboxamido)-3-methylpyridin-2-yl)benzoic acid (VX-809, Lumacaftor) and improvements in potency and efficacy compared with 1-(2,2-difluoro-1,3-benzodioxol-5-yl)-N-[1-[(2R)-2,3-dihydroxypropyl]-6-fluoro-2-(1-hydroxy-2-methylpropan-2-yl)indol-5-yl]cyclopropane-1-carboxamide (VX-661, Tezacaftor). ABBV-2222/GLPG2222 exhibits potent in vitro functional activity in primary patient cells harboring F508del/F508del CFTR with an EC50 value <10 nM. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: To address the most prevalent defect of the defective CFTR protein (i.e., F508del mutation) in cystic fibrosis, AbbVie-Galapagos has developed ABBV-2222/GLPG2222, a novel, potent, and orally bioavailable C1 corrector of this protein. ABBV-2222/GLPG2222, which is currently in clinical trials, exhibits potent in vitro functional activity in primary patient cells harboring F508del/F508del CFTR and substantial improvements over the existing C1 correctors.
Assessing similarities and differences in self-control between police officers and offenders

Research provides consistent evidence that non-offenders have greater self-control than offenders. While such differences exist across a range of samples, the ability of measures of self-control to discriminate between different groups merits additional attention. We advance research on this topic by comparing the self-control of police officers to offenders. Results indicate police officers score higher than offenders do on global self-control. Results also indicate that, when analyzing differences across the six dimensions of self-control conceptualized by Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990), police officers consistently score lower in impulsivity, self-centeredness, and anger than offenders. At the same time, police officers have a greater preference for physical activities than offenders do, and the risk-seeking and simple tasks dimensions are inconsistently associated with being a police officer relative to an offender across the different models estimated. Discussion centers on the implications of these findings for theory and for the screening of potential police recruits.
The effects of foods available through the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR) on inflammation response, appetite and energy intake.

Objective: To compare the effects of a typical Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR) diet with an FDPIR diet that meets Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) on inflammation response, appetite and energy intake on a combination of American Indian (AI) and non-AI individuals. Design: A within-subjects, randomised, crossover design was used to compare two dietary conditions: (1) a FDPIR diet that met DGA and (2) a FDPIR diet that did not meet DGA. Each participant served as their own control and was exposed to both dietary conditions. Repeated-measures ANOVA and t tests assessed significance between the two dietary conditions. Setting: This took place in the Montana State University Nutrition Research Laboratory in the USA. Participants: Female and male participants (n 13) aged 18–55 years from the university and local community. Results: There were no significant differences in inflammatory response and appetite sensations between the two dietary conditions. Findings indicated that participants ate 14 % more (P < 0·01) kcal on a typical FDPIR diet compared with a FDPIR diet that met DGA. Conclusions: Higher energy intake during a typical FDPIR diet compared with a FDPIR diet that meets DGA may increase risk for obesity and nutrition-related diseases, including type 2 diabetes and other chronic inflammatory conditions.
Caregivers’ Information Overload and Their Personal Health Literacy:

Caregivers may receive information at a rate far higher than their individual abilities to process. Hence, caregivers can cause less desirable health outcomes for their care recipients. This study sought to identify caregiver information overload in comparison to noncaregivers. Relating factors such as caregiving contexts, health status, and personal health literacy were also compared between caregivers and noncaregivers. Using a nationally representative survey, the Health Information National Trends Survey, the differences between caregivers and noncaregivers regarding information overload were compared. A total of 2,918 noncaregivers and 484 caregivers were identified. More than two-thirds of the study sample demonstrated information overload regardless of caregiving status. Male, less educated, lower income, married, and employed caregivers are likely overloaded with information. Caregivers with information overload show less healthy conditions and expressed more information seeking burden. Effective countermeasures of heavy information overload should be devised based on specific causes and their accompanying consequences.
Friendships in gamers and non-gamers

Online social technologies, such as email, social networking applications, texting and others, are now used by a majority of individuals in the U.S. (Pew, 2018a). As a result, it is not uncommon to develop friendships with others that are conducted primarily in an online environment. However, we know little about the qualities of online friendships and how they may, or may not, differ from traditional face to face friendships. The present study focused on exploring friendship quality in online and offline domains using two groups: a gamer group and a non-gamer group that used non-gaming applications to connect with others online. Participants completed a demographic questionnaire to gather information about their online and face to face friendships, the McGill Friendship Questionnaire (Mendelsohn & Aboud, 2014) for their closest online and offline friends and measures of happiness, anxiety, and depression. In Study 1, within group comparison found that gamers’ online friendships were of significantly higher quality than their offline friendships. For non-gamers, the opposite results were found. A second study was done using a larger, non-college-based sample. Results of Study 2 found that for gamers and non-gamers offline friendships were of higher quality than online friendships, although both types of friendships existed in both groups. There were no differences between groups in general life happiness, anxiety or depression. Suggestions for follow-up research are presented.
Life should be transparent: conversations about Lithuania and Europe in the twentieth century and today: by Aurimas Švedas and Irena Veisaitė, Budapest, Central European University Press, 382 pp., 2020, $30.00/€27.00/£23.00, ISBN 978-963-386-359-6

Aurimas Svedas has produced what can be called a historical document about one of the few transgenerational and transformative personalities of twentieth-century Lithuania, Irena Veisaitė. Life Sho...
DNA Replication: An in vivo Space-Time Continuum in the Ciliate Replication Band.

Summary The replication band in the macronucleus of ciliated protozoa has fascinated microscopists since the 19th Century. It migrates through the nucleus, corresponding to a region of DNA replication and nascent chromatin assembly. A new study shows that calcium and actin filaments may participate in the formation and migration of the replication band.
Improving Customer Compatibility with Tradeoff Transparency

Through a large-scale field experiment with 393,036 customers considering opening a credit card account with a nationwide retail bank, we investigate how providing transparency into an offering’s tradeoffs affects subsequent rates of customer acquisition and long-run engagement. Although we find tradeoff transparency to have an insignificant effect on acquisition rates, customers who were shown each offering’s tradeoffs selected different products than those who were not. Moreover, prospective customers who experienced transparency and subsequently chose to open an account went on to exhibit higher quality service relationships over time. Monthly spending was 9.9% higher and cancellation rates were 20.5% lower among those who experienced transparency into each offering’s tradeoffs. Increased product usage and retention accrued disproportionately to customers with prior category experience – more-experienced customers who were provided transparency spent 19.2% more on a monthly basis and were 33.7% less likely to defect after nine months. Importantly, we find that these gains in engagement and retention do not come at the expense of customers’ financial wellbeing – the probability of making late payments was reduced among customers who experienced transparency. We further find that the positive effects of tradeoff transparency on engagement and retention were attenuated in the presence of a promotion that provided financial incentives to choose particular offerings. Taken together, these results suggest that providing transparency into an offering’s tradeoffs may be an effective strategy for informing customer choices, leading to better outcomes for customers and firms alike.
The Liberation of the Concentration Camps, 1945: The Des Moines, Iowa Survivors

Review of: "The Liberation of the Concentration Camps, 1945: The Des Moines, Iowa Survivors" by Adele Anolik.
Shared Decision-Making in Nursing Homes: Factors Associated With the Empowerment of Direct Care Workers

Objective: The advantages of empowering direct care workers (DCWs) within nursing homes (NHs) are well documented. Our objective is to identify factors that create DCW empowerment as this has not r...
Poll Produces Eye-popping Headline: Questionable Inferences Serve as Prop to Turn Public Perception on its Head

Poll Produces Eye-popping Headline: Questionable Inferences Serve as Prop to Turn Public Perception on its Head
Earth Rotation Variations – Long Period

The solid Earth is subject to a wide variety of forces including external forces due to the gravitational attraction of the Sun, Moon, and planets; surficial forces due to the action of the atmosphere, oceans, and water stored on land; and internal forces due to earthquakes and tectonic motions, mantle convection, and coupling between the mantle and both the fluid outer core and the solid inner core. The solid Earth responds to these forces by displacing its mass, deforming its shape, and changing its rotation. Geodetic observing systems can measure the change in the Earth's gravity caused by mass displacement, the change in the Earth's shape, and the change in the Earth's rotation. Consequently, geodetic observing systems can be used to study both the mechanisms causing the Earth's shape, rotation, and gravity to change and the response of the solid Earth to these forcing mechanisms. As a result, geodetic observing systems can be used to gain greater understanding of the Earth's interior structure and of the nature of the forcing mechanisms including their temporal evolution. In this chapter, the variations in the Earth's rotation that occur on timescales greater than a day are discussed. The standard theory used to study the variations is reviewed, the techniques by which the variations are observed are described, and the causes of the observed variations are discussed.
Human procollagen: I. An anionic tropocollagen precursor from skin fibroblasts in culture

Abstract Tropocollagen is derived from an extracellular precursor, procollagen. Conversion to tropocollagen is accomplished by one or more tissue pioteases dependent in vitro on the presence of serum in the culture medium. Twenty-four hour cultures in which serum has been excluded yield an apparently undegraded precursor, procollagen I. The latter is approximately twice the size of tropocollagen, possesses an acidic pl in contrast to the alkaline pl of tropocollagen, and shares secondary structural characteristics common to tropocollagen. Procollagen I exhibits a sharp thermal transition point at 39° with a ΔT of 2° indicating that the collagenous portion of the molecule is in the triple helical configuration prior to proteolytic excision from the parent molecule. The amino acid composition is remarkable when compared to tropocollagen in the large quantity of acidic residues, decreased glycine and imino acids, and the presence of cystcine. Three models of procollagen I structure are presented and discussed relative to the available experimental evidence.
Mechanism of Viral Carcinogenesis by Deoxyribonucleic Acid Mammalian Viruses IV. Related Virus-specific Ribonucleic Acids in Tumor Cells Induced by “Highly” Oncogenic Adenovirus Types 12, 18, and 31

Abstract Formation of hybrids between viral deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA) was used to detect virus-specific RNA in the nuclei and polyribosomes of transformed and tumor cells induced by “highly” oncogenic human adenovirus (Ad) types 12, 18, and 31. The presence of virus-specific RNA in the cell nucleus, and the inhibitory effect of actinomycin D on its synthesis, suggest that adenovirus-specific RNA is transcribed from a DNA template in the nucleus. Ad 12, 18, and 31 virus-specific RNA did not hybridize significantly with the DNA of the “weakly” oncogenic adenovirus group (Ad 3, 7, 11, 14, 16, and 21) or with that of nononcogenic Ad 2 and 4. Labeled RNA from Ad 12, 18, and 31 tumor cells hybridized with heterologous Ad 12, 18, and 31 DNA 30 to 60% as efficiently as with homologous DNA. Thus, common viral genes are transcribed in tumor cells induced by Ad 12, 18, and 31.
Waterhammer Analysis of Pipelines

An analysis of the hydraulic transients in pipelines caused by failure of power to pumps is undertaken in this paper, using dimensionless-homologous pump data and the method of characteristics equations for a waterhammer. The equations are solved by means of a high-speed digital computer. To illustrate the analysis, a pumping station is located in a pipeline between two reservoirs. In the station are a number of identical, parallel pumps. Any number of the pumps may suddenly lose their power. A valve may be located at each pump discharge and may be closed in an arbitrary manner (or as a check valve) when triggered by the loss of power. The effects of large friction heads as compared with large gravity heads are examined, together with the effects of diameter change and valve closure timing.
/spl Hscr//sub /spl infin// optimal interconnections and system design

In this paper, a behavioral version of the /spl Hscr//sub /spl infin// problem for continuous time, linear time invariant systems is formulated and solved. This general formulation, of which standard /spl Hscr//sub /spl infin// is a special case, provides added freedom in the design of optimal controllers, and can in fact be viewed as a means of designing optimal systems. In particular, the formulation presented allows for singular interconnections, which naturally occur when interconnecting systems. >
A Systematic Approach to Determine Economic Potential and Environmental Impact of Biorefineries

Abstract The integrated biorefinery has the potential to provide a strong, self-dependent alternative to the use of fossil fuels for the production of chemicals and energy, but difficulties arise in measuring the potential economic and environmental benefit of the biorefinery. A myriad of products and production pathways are possible in this growing field of biorefining, and the production path with maximum value and minimum environmental impact cannot be determined on heuristics alone. A framework is needed to determine the most optimal route based on measures of economic and environmental performance. Gross profit and net present value are used as economic metrics in the short term and long term respectively, and environmental impact is measured using the WAR algorithm developed by Young and Cabezas [1999]. Top candidates in economic and environmental performance are then subject to process integration techniques in order to minimize mass and energy usage, and these integrated biorefineries are once again analyzed for optimal performance.
Memory-efficient turbo decoder architectures for LDPC codes

In this paper, we propose a turbo decoding message-passing (TDMP) algorithm to decode regular and irregular low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes. The TDMP algorithm has two main advantages over the commonly employed two-phase message-passing algorithm. First, it exhibits a faster convergence behavior (up to 50% less iterations), and improvement in coding gain (up to an order of magnitude for moderate-to-high SNR and small number of iterations). Second, the corresponding decoder architecture has a significantly reduced memory requirement that amounts to a savings of (75 + 25n//spl Sigma/ node-degrees)% > 75% for code-length n. A decoder architecture featuring the TDNW algorithm is also presented. Furthermore, we propose a new structure on the parity-check matrix of an LDPC code based on permutation matrices aimed at reducing interconnect complexity and improving decoding throughput. In addition, we construct a wide range of LDPC codes based on Ramanujan graphs which possess this structure.
Chromatographic analyses of isoaccepting tRNAs from avian tumor viruses.

Abstract Low-molecular-weight RNA from transforming viruses (Rous sarcoma virus-Rous-associated virus 1, Schmidt-Ruppin strain of Rous sarcoma virus, and sarcoma-B77), from nontransforming viruses (Rous-associated virus 1 and sarcoma-NTB77), and from chicken liver, chicken embryo fibroblast, and Rous sarcoma virus-Rous-associated virus 1-transformed chicken embryo fibroblast was isolated and purified. To determine if there are modified, qualitatively or quantitatively different isoaccepting species of tRNA in these avian sarcoma viruses as compared with the cell of virus origin, chicken embryo fibroblast or normal chicken liver, methionyl-, arginyl-, and lysyl-tRNA (with high amino acid acceptance activity), and aspartyl- and glutamyl-tRNA from viral-trans-formed cells (with low viral amino acid acceptance activity) were co-chromatographed on reversed phase-5 chromatography columns, and elution profiles were compared. Although in each case the elution profile between a particular viral and host cell tRNA differed quantitatively, there was no qualitative difference in the profiles of corresponding tRNAs from either transforming or nontransforming viruses examined. Minor quantitative differences in the elution profiles might be a reflection of the metabolic state of the cells, since all evidence points to acceptor activity being of host rather than viral origin. Since, with the exception of selective packaging of methionyl-tRNA (IV) species by both transforming and nontransforming viruses, no selectivity was found for isoacceptor species of other tRNAs, it seems that such preferential packaging of methionyl-tRNA (IV) species has no bearing on the event of viral transformation.
The State and the Transitions in Eastern Europe

This paper is meant to serve as a starting point for a discussion on the transformations taking place in eastern Europe since 1989. Its admittedly liberal bias will be evident in its discussion of the role of the state in these economic transitions. It will conclude with a brief discussion of how the post-1989 transition period differs from other years of great change in twentieth century eastern Europe, and what this transition process tell us about the type of capitalism unfolding in eastern Europe. Four general positions serve the guiding philosophy of this essay. a) In economic terms, the transformation from state owned command to privately owned market economies should be cautiously judged a relative success. b) Those countries which swallowed their bad tasting medicine early and in large doses have been more successful than those which have attempted to implement a softer, more gradual approach. c) In those countries where the state’s direct involvement in the economy has been limited, there is, on the whole, stronger and more potentially enduring economic development. d) Those countries which have avoided collective violence have been much more successful than those who have experienced internal or external conflict.
Money Matters: Instability, Values and Social Payments in the Modern History of West African Communities

Money Matters: Instability, Values and Social Payments in the Modern History of West African Communities. Jane I. Guyer. ed. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann/James Currey, 1995 331 pp.
Inferred electric field variability in the polarization jet from Millstone Hill E region coherent scatter observations

[1] We investigate the fine-scale structure of the subauroral electric field in the vicinity of the polarization jet and subauroral ion drift (SAID) using coherent E region backscatter observed with the Millstone Hill 440 MHz UHF radar during a moderately disturbed period (Kp = 5) on 13 November 1998. We use a combination of data obtained at high time and spatial resolution and radar response modeling, incorporating magnetic aspect angle sensitivity and radar antenna beam shape. The modeled radar response function depends not only on the magnetic and radar pointing geometry but also on the altitude and extent of the irregularity layer. In addition to modeling of the radar system response, an optimal, regularized deconvolution technique is used to resolve fine-scale spatial structure from the relatively long pulse length used. At the 440 MHz Millstone radar frequency, coherent backscattered power is a linear function of electric field amplitude, and we are able to relate changes in the range variation of deconvolved power to spatial/temporal structure in the electric field. We observe the polarization jet to have superimposed multiple instances of narrow (0.1°) intense SAID configuration electric fields having lifetimes as short as 1.5 min and gradients on their equatorward edge as large as 4 mV/m per kilometer. Simultaneous DMSP satellite observations of westward ion drift across our experimental field of view confirms our interpretation of the radar data in terms of a subauroral polarization jet structure spanning over 3° latitude moving poleward at 250–400 m/s velocity (cross-L-shell) past the radar beam with superimposed intense SAID-like electric fields.