cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Rapid Ethylene-Induced Gene Expression during Petal Abscission

Ethylene induces petal abscission in diploid geranium flowers. If the flowers are exposed to 1 µ1/L ethylene for 1 hour, petal abscission begins after about 60 minutes and is complete by 90 minutes from the start of the ethylene treatment. This response is inhibited by Actinomycin D, a transcriptional inhibitor, and by cycloheximide, an inhibitor of translation. The amount of total protein in abscission zone tissue doubles during the ethylene treatment. SDS gel electrophoresis of petal abscission zone proteins shows that there are some individual protein species which appear and some which disappear during ethylene treatment. Our hypothesis is that ethylene induces gene activation, and possibly repression, in abscission zone cells.
Dynamics of Heterogeneously Catalyzed Reactions

A mechanism may be postulated on several levels of sophistication [1]. In its most rudimentary form, a mechanism of a heterogeneous reaction is a sequence of elementary steps that accomplishes the overall reaction. For example, the mechanism of CO oxidation on Pt may be written [2]: $$ {\rm{CO}}({\rm{g}}) \leftrightarrow {\rm{CO}}({\rm{ad}}) $$ (1) $$ {{\rm{O}}_2}({\rm{g}}) \to 2{\rm{O}}({\rm{ad}}) $$ (2) $$ {\rm{CO}}({\rm{ad}}) + {\rm{O}}({\rm{ad}}) \to {\rm{C}}{{\rm{O}}_2}({\rm{g}}) $$ (3) Here we have assumed that CO is associatively and reversibly adsorbed and O2 is dissociatively and irreversibly adsorbed at the reaction temperature. Both reactions of Eqs. (1) and (2) involve chemisorption. Because the distance over which the physical adsorption acts is longer than for chemisorption, both reactants and the product CO2 may have passed through this state, but this has not been explicitly included in our mechanism. Also not explicit in this rudimentary mechanism is the fact that oxygen adsorption is known to occur through a molecular precursor [3], nor have we indicated the process by which the adsorbed CO and oxygen atom find each other to allow reaction. The reversible desorption-adsorption of CO provides one path by which this could happen, but surface diffusion is another path that probably plays a significant role in many heterogeneously catalyzed reactions.
Statistics, Symmetry, and the Conventionality of Indistinguishability in Quantum Mechanics

The question to be addressed is, In what sense and to what extent do quantum statistics for, and the standard formal quantum-mechanical description of, systems of many identical particles entail that identical quantum particles are indistinguishable? This paper argues that whether or not we consider identical quantum particles as indistinguishable is a matter of theory choice underdetermined by logic and experiment.
Corporate Culture: The Interview Evidence

We conduct in-depth interviews of senior executives representing over 20% of the market capitalization of the U.S. equity market to understand: (i) the importance, antecedents and consequences of corporate culture; (ii) the mechanisms that underlie the creation and effectiveness of corporate culture; as well as (iii) the factors that deter a firm from achieving its aspirational culture. Our interviews provide the following insights. First, executives characterize culture as “a beliefs system,” “a coordination mechanism,” and “an invisible hand.” Second, most executives view culture as one of the top three factors that affect their firm’s value. Cultural fit in MA instead, they influence the choice of culture by picking the CEO and through their influence on specific policies like incentive compensation, hiring, firing, and promotion decisions, and the values the finance function embraces. Fifth, executives emphasize that for a firm’s culture to be effective, the firm’s espoused values must be backed up by actual behavior and norms. Sixth, an effective culture improves firm value and profitability by (i) fostering creativity and encouraging productivity; (ii) promoting more risk tolerance; (iii) mitigating myopic behavior; (iv) creating a climate for suggesting critiques and for allowing ideas to germinate organically; and (v) by compensating for mistakes in ways that the firm’s assets cannot. In addition to the above, executives suggest several sources of publicly available data to measure corporate culture.See our related paper Corporate Culture: Evidence from the Field.
Small Molecule Screens for Stem Cell Expansion

Abstract SCI-42 The identification of safe and effective methods to expand human hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) would have a major impact on the use of HSC in clinical medicine. Several features of human HSC, including the lack of a suitable cell line model and cumbersome methods for quantification, have made the identification of conditions for human HSC expansion challenging. Current culture methods using cytokine cocktails in serum-free media support the robust proliferation of CD34 positive (CD34+) cells but this is accompanied by rapid differentiation such that after 1 week of culture fewer than 20% of cells continue to express CD34. To overcome these limitations we developed a high throughput screen that uses primary human CD34+ cells and multiparameter flow cytometry to identify compounds capable of expanding human CD34 positive cells. By screening >100,000 LMW compounds we identified a molecule (SR1) that enhanced CD34 expression during ex vivo culture. Culture of CD34+ cells with cytokines and SR1 for 3 weeks leads to a >600-fold increase in the number of CD34+ cells, and a >2000-fold increase in the number of CFU compared to starting cell numbers. Importantly, cells expanded in the presence of SR1contain a 17-fold increase in the number of NOD-SCID repopulating cells compared to starting cell numbers. Mechanistic studies reveal that SR1 binds to and antagonizes the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR). Knockdown of the AHR in CD34+ cells using lentiviral transduction also maintains CD34 expression. These findings suggest that AHR normally promotes HSC differentiation during ex vivo culture and that AHR antagonists can be used to promote CD34 cell expansion. To determine the clinical utility of these findings, we have begun to explore the use of SR1 to expand CD34+ cells isolated from umbilical cord blood for clinical transplantation. To this end, we have developed a GMP compatible process to manufacture CD34 positive cells expanded with SR1 for use in cord blood transplantation. In addition, we have also explored the use of SR1 to prevent HSC differentiation during HSC transduction and enable manufacturing of differentiated blood cells. These data reveal AHR antagonism and SR1 treatment as a promising method to promote HSC expansion for clinical use. Disclosures: Cooke: Novartis: Employment. Boitano: Novartis: Employment.
Stopping points: ‘I’, immunity and the real guarantee

AbstractThe aim of the paper is to bring out exactly what makes first-personal (and more generally indexical and demonstrative) contents special, by showing that they perform a distinctive cognitive function. Namely, they are stopping points of inquiry. First, I articulate this idea and then I use it to clear the ground from a troublesome conflation. That is, the conflation of this particular function all first-person thoughts have with the property of immunity to error through misidentification, which only some I-thoughts enjoy. Afterward, I show the implications of this idea for a theory of first-person content and of immunity to error though misidentification. I then make some comparisons with Pryor’s notion of wh-misidentification and immunity thereof and with Cappelen and Dever’s position on immunity to error through misidentification and show why they are defective.
Regional and source-based patterns of [11C]-(+)-PHNO binding potential reveal concurrent alterations in dopamine D2 and D3 receptor availability in cocaine-use disorder

Dopamine type 2 and type 3 receptors (D2R/D3R) appear critical to addictive disorders. Cocaine-use disorder (CUD) is associated with lower D2R availability and greater D3R availability in regions primarily expressing D2R or D3R concentrations, respectively. However, these CUD-related alterations in D2R and D3R have not been concurrently detected using available dopaminergic radioligands. Furthermore, receptor availability in regions of mixed D2R/D3R concentration in CUD remains unclear. The current study aimed to extend investigations of CUD-related alterations in D2R and D3R availability using regional and source-based analyses of [11C]-(+)-PHNO positron emission tomography (PET) of 26 individuals with CUD and 26 matched healthy comparison (HC) participants. Regional analysis detected greater binding potential (BPND) in CUD in the midbrain, consistent with prior [11C]-(+)-PHNO research, and lower BPND in CUD in the dorsal striatum, consistent with research using non-selective D2R/D3R radiotracers. Exploratory independent component analysis (ICA) identified three sources of BPND (striatopallidal, pallidonigral, and mesoaccumbens sources) that represent systems of brain regions displaying coherent variation in receptor availability. The striatopallidal source was associated with estimates of regional D2R-related proportions of BPND (calculated using independent reports of [11C]-(+)-PHNO receptor binding fractions), was lower in intensity in CUD and negatively associated with years of cocaine use. By comparison, the pallidonigral source was associated with estimates of regional D3R distribution, was greater in intensity in CUD and positively associated with years of cocaine use. The current study extends previous D2R/D3R research in CUD, demonstrating both lower BPND in the D2R-rich dorsal striatum and greater BPND in the D3R-rich midbrain using a single radiotracer. In addition, exploratory ICA identified sources of [11C]-(+)-PHNO BPND that were correlated with regional estimates of D2R-related and D3R-related proportions of BPND, were consistent with regional differences in CUD, and suggest receptor alterations in CUD may also be present in regions of mixed D2R/D3R concentration.
Surgical treatment for Pipkin type IV femoral head fracture.

Purpose:Pipkin type IV femoral head (FH) fracture was thought as poor prognosis. There were several surgical approaches and treatments for this difficult fracture. However, there was no one treatme...
The Holocaust Memorial Museum: Sacred Secular Space

Among its many incarnations, the Holocaust has been “Americanized,” “indigenized,” “nationalized,” and “politicized” (193). In her bold, often elegant, and highly significant 2015 book, Dr. Avril A...
An Evaluation of the World Health Organization and American Medical Association Ratings of Hearing Impairment and Simulated Single-Sided Deafness.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), a pure-tone threshold average (PTA) ≤25 dB HL for the better ear represents “no impairment.” This implies that patients with single-sided deafness (SSD) would have “no or very slight hearing problems.” According to the American Medical Association (AMA), a patient with SSD would receive a binaural hearing impairment rating of 16.7%. The premise of the WHO and AMA methods is that PTA is related to the ability to perceive speech in everyday environments. The overall goal of the study was to evaluate the WHO and AMA criteria for the rating of hearing impairment. The purpose of this study was to quantify the impact of simulated SSD on the ability to recognize speech in the presence of background noise in terms of binaural and spatial advantage measures. Study participants were tested using the standard protocol for the Hearing in Noise Test (HINT) in both binaural and monaural conditions using a simulated soundfield environment under headphones. The target sentences were presented at 0°. Binaural thresholds were obtained for the Noise Front (0°), Noise Left (270°), and Noise Right (90°) listening conditions. Monaural thresholds were collected for each ear for the Noise Front condition and for the unshadowed ear for the Noise Left and Noise Right conditions. Binaural advantage was determined by subtracting the binaural from the monaural thresholds. Spatial advantage was determined by subtracting the Noise Side from the Noise Front thresholds. Twenty-five young native speakers of English with normal pure-tone thresholds (≤25 dB HL, 250–8000 Hz) participated in the study. Pure-tone threshold data were collected using the modified Hughson–Westlake procedure. Speech recognition in noise data were collected using a Windows-based HINT software system. The binaural and spatial advantage measures were calculated from the HINT thresholds. Statistical analyses included descriptive statistics, correlation coefficients, and matched-pairs t-tests. The average binaural advantage for the Noise Front conditions was 1.21 dB (p The results do not support the WHO or AMA hearing impairment ratings for SSD. The WHO and AMA criteria for the determination of hearing impairment should be updated to include speech recognition in noise testing with and without the spatial separation of the speech and noise stimuli. In this way actual, as opposed to inferred perceptions of speech in noisy environments, may be determined. This will provide a much-needed improvement in the ratings of hearing impairment.
FIELD EVALUATION OF FENITROTHION FOR POST-ATTACK CONTROL OF THE SOUTHERN PINE BEETLE

One and 2% fenitrothion caused high mortality of southern pine beetles, Dendroctonus frontalis Zimmermann within billets removed from infested trees which had been sprayed. Mortality of beetles thr...
Applying Social Media in Crisis Communication: A Quantitative Review of Social Media-Related Crisis Communication Research from 2009 to 2017

Social media has drawn growing attention from crisis communication researchers. The purpose of this study was to provide an overview of the current paradigm of research on social media and crisis communication, to identify the research gaps, and to help scholars understand future research directions in this area. The current study examined the trends and patterns of social media-related crisis communication research published in 11 communication and public relations journals from 2009 to 2017. More specifically, it focused on the trends and characteristics of research topics, theories and theoretical models, crisis types, social media platforms, sample types, and research methods. This study found that public relations-focused journals published most of the social media-related crisis communication articles. Most studies adopted theories or theoretical models and examined the role of social media in crisis communication, which focused on product tampering and general crisis. Additionally, a considerable number of studies employed content analysis techniques that used social media content as the sample. This study discussed the trends of social media-related crisis communication research and the directions for future research.
Using a digital storytelling assignment to teach public health advocacy

The need and expectation for advocacy is central to public health nursing practice. Advocacy efforts that effectively call attention to population health threats and promote the well-being of communities rely on strategies that deliver influential messaging. The digital story is a lay method to capture meaningful, impactful stories that can be used to advocate for public health concerns. Readily available, user-friendly digital technologies allow engagement in digital media production to create digital stories. This paper describes how digital story making can be utilized as an academic assignment to teach public health advocacy within an undergraduate nursing curriculum. Providing nursing students this artistic outlet can facilitate meeting academic learning goals, while also equipping them with creative skills that can be applied in future professional practice. Nursing educators can take advantage of institutional resources and campus culture to support the use of novel digital media assignments that facilitate application of advocacy concepts.
Complementary Support from Facilitators and Peers for Promoting mHealth Engagement and Weight Loss

This study investigates the effects of mHealth interventions on sustainable behavior change and weight loss, drawing on in-app user activity data and online survey data. Specifically, we focus on t...
The National Institute on Aging-Alzheimer's Association Framework on Alzheimer's disease: Application to clinical trials.

Abstract Introduction The National Institute on Aging—Alzheimer's Association Research Framework on Alzheimer's disease (AD) represents an important advance in the biological characterization of the AD spectrum. Methods The National Institute on Aging—Alzheimer's Association Framework is considered as it applies to clinical trials. Results Using the combination of amyloid (A), tau (T), and neurodegeneration (N) biomarkers, the Framework provides a means of defining the state of patients with regard to Alzheimer pathologic change. The Framework is relevant to clinical trials of disease-modifying agents, allowing participants to be characterized biologically at baseline. The ATN Framework can also inform trial outcomes. The preclinical phase of the disease after amyloid deposition is defined by A+T−N−, and the transition to prodromal disease and dementia is characterized by the addition of T and N. Most symptomatic patients in clinical trials are in the class of A+T+N− and A+T+N+. Discussion The National Institute on Aging—Alzheimer's Association Framework on AD represents progress in providing biomarker profiles of participants in the AD spectrum that can be used to help design clinical trials.
New Mechanisms of Sintering and Redispersion Induced by Spreading and Wetting

Summary In addition to the traditional mechanisms of sintering, such as migration and coalescence of the crystallites and global or local ripening, mechanisms involving wetting and spreading can also be relevant. In an oxygen atmosphere, both the small and the large crystallites emit patches of multilayer films. These patches can coalesce to generate a contiguous film among a large number of crystallites. During subsequent heating in hydrogen, the films are reduced and rupture, generating patches surrounding existing particles (with which they finally coalesce), or independent patches that contract generating particles in places initially free of particles. Thermodynamic considerations are employed to explain why films form during heating in an oxygen atmosphere and why they rupture during heating in a hydrogen atmosphere.
How do i line up?: reducing mental transformations to improve performance

Mobile devices and visual-spatial presentations of information are pervasive, especially for tasks in which the mobile device can be moved to close proximity of the task. This mobility allows the user to offload mental workload by allowing physical transformations of the device. In this study, we compared a fixed mobile device, a non-fixed mobile device, and a fixed desktop display to determine the effects imposed by the mental workload of transforming the frames of reference into alignment. Our results indicate that allowing the user to manipulate the device's position can influence performance by reducing the need for mental transformations.
North American Climate History (1500–1800)

This chapter outlines the available sources and studies for the climate history of North America c.1500–1800. Although most US and Canadian climate history for the period has relied on evidence from the archives of nature, Spanish, French, and English colonial records provide an expanding source base for historical climatology. Early instrumental records, phenological observations, newspapers, almanacs, and weather diaries become particularly important for studying climate and weather reconstruction and impacts around the mid-1700s. The chapter concludes with a review of three important episodes in North American climate history: Europe’s first colonial expeditions to North America, the “Late Maunder Minimum” of the 1680s–1690s, and the US War of Independence of the 1770s–1780s.
File Sharing Application with OTP Service

File sharing has been an essential part of this century. Using various applications, files can be shared to large number of users. For the purpose of storage, the Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS) can be used. HDFS is mainly used for the unstructured data analysis. The HDFS handles large size of files in a single server. Common sharing methods like removable media, servers or computer network, World Wide Web based hyperlink documents. In the proposed project, the files are merged using MapReduce programming model on Hadoop. This process improves the performance of Hadoop by rejecting the files which are larger than the size of Hadoop and reduces the memory size required by the NameNode.
A Concise, Modular Antibody–Oligonucleotide Conjugation Strategy Based on Disuccinimidyl Ester Activation Chemistry

The synthesis of antibody-oligonucleotide conjugates has enabled the development of highly sensitive bioassays for specific epitopes in the laboratory and clinic. Most synthetic schemes to generate these hybrid molecules require expensive reagents, significant quantities of input antibody, and multistep purification routes; thus limiting widespread application. Herein a facile and robust conjugation strategy is reported that involves "plug-and-play" antibody conjugation with succinimidyl-functionalized oligonucleotides, which are high yielding and compatible for use directly after buffer exchange. The succinimidyl-linked oligonucleotides are synthesized with 5'-amine-modified oligonucleotides and disuccinimidyl suberate (DSS), both of which are inexpensive and commercially available. Direct incubation of the resulting stable succinimidyl- oligonucleotide conjugates with commercial antibodies yields conjugates ready for use after benchtop buffer exchange. It is demonstrated that the resulting oligonucleotide-antibody and oligonucleotide-streptavidin conjugates retain potent and specific binding in activity-dependent proximity ligation imaging, and proximity ligation-mediated qPCR detection of endogenous proteins in native cellular contexts down to picogram levels of whole proteome. This DSS conjugation strategy should be widely applicable in the synthesis of protein-oligonucleotide conjugates.
Discovering Data Discrepancies during Deselection: A Study of GreenGlass, Aleph, and Due Date Slips Circulation Data

ABSTRACTAmid a weeding project, librarians at a state college suspected GreenGlass’s circulation data was inaccurate. This study compared GreenGlass’s and Aleph’s circulation statistics for a rando...
Looking at Failed Masculinity: An Attempt at Reading Medieval Sexuality

In this article, I offer to look at Narcisus et Dane and the Roman de Silence, two pieces of Old French poetry which have in common the refusal of the physical love of a noblewoman by the main character, leading to the unveiling of the “male nature” of Narcisus and the hidden female nature behind the manly appearance of Silence. I propose to read these passages as failures of a sexual initiation expected from young noblemen, and thus as a missed step toward an accomplished manhood. From this disruption into courtly narratives emerges the issue of unconventional desire and gender deviance, because the failure is not just a negative act, but also the creation of something unexpected, a different narrative and a new space. Following Judith Halberstam, I interrogate the possibility of a transgender or transversal look into these two stories, especially with the play between gendered expectations and agencies, the blurring of male and female points of identification for the reader and the gaze of Merlin, the wild man who sees the truth of nature under social surfaces. The purpose is to open up toward a more global understanding of what it is to become a man in the Middle Ages, what sexual behavior is expected from young people and how the poetry manages both gendered expectations and their questioning.
CryptoGuard: High Precision Detection of Cryptographic Vulnerabilities in Massive-sized Java Projects

Cryptographic API misuses, such as exposed secrets, predictable random numbers, and vulnerable certificate verification, seriously threaten software security. The vision of automatically screening cryptographic API calls in massive-sized (e.g., millions of LoC) programs is not new. However, hindered by the practical difficulty of reducing false positives without compromising analysis quality, this goal has not been accomplished. CryptoGuard is a set of detection algorithms that refine program slices by identifying language-specific irrelevant elements. The refinements reduce false alerts by 76% to 80% in our experiments. Running our tool, CryptoGuard, on 46 high-impact large-scale Apache projects and 6,181 Android apps generated many security insights. Our findings helped multiple popular Apache projects to harden their code, including Spark, Ranger, and Ofbiz. We also have made progress towards the science of analysis in this space, including manually analyzing 1,295 Apache alerts, confirming 1,277 true positives (98.61% precision), and in-depth comparison with leading solutions including CrySL, SpotBugs, and Coverity.
Modulation of lymphocyte-mediated tissue repair by rational design of heterocyclic aryl hydrocarbon receptor agonists

Aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) is an essential regulator of gut immunity and a promising therapeutic target for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Current AHR agonists are inadequate for clinical translation due to low activity, inadequate pharmacokinetics, or toxicity. We synthesized a structurally diverse library and used integrated computational and experimental studies to discover mechanisms governing ligand-receptor interaction and to design potent drug leads PY109 and PY108, which display physiochemical drug-likeness properties, desirable pharmacokinetic profiles, and low toxicity. In a murine model of dextran sulfate sodium–induced colitis, orally administered compounds increase interleukin-22 (IL-22) production and accelerate mucosal healing by modulating mucosal adaptive and innate lymphoid cells. AHR and IL-22 pathway induction was confirmed using RNA sequencing and characterization of the lymphocyte protein-protein interaction network. Significant induction of IL-22 was also observed using human T cells from patients with IBD. Our findings support rationally designed AHR agonists for IBD therapy.
Machine Learning Driven Campaign Budget Allocation: A Large-Scale Empirical Study of Malls

Evaluating the returns to marketing spending and designing optimal budget allocations have been challenging tasks for businesses. New data availability and novel machine learning methods provide new opportunities to significantly improve such decisions. The goal of this paper is to prescribe the optimal marketing budget allocation for a major shopping mall chain, specifying the timing, content, and budget allocated to different campaigns. We use a unique daily-level dataset on customer traffic and campaigns across 25 malls during a two-year period for the analysis. Then we propose a novel machine learning model, generalized additive model with a neural network term to learn the relationship between campaign budget and customer traffic. We classify the campaigns into different categories based on customer intentions, sales incentives, experience incentives, and online promotion conflicts and compare the ROI for each category. Results indicate that during the off-season, campaigns with experience incentives lead to larger increases in customer traffic than campaigns with sales incentives only; during the peak-season, campaigns with both incentives have similar impacts on customer traffic as those with experience incentives only. In addition, we find that malls can piggyback on online shopping promotion events and boost customer traffic with sufficient marketing spending in the same period. We further compute an optimal budget allocation scheme based on the prediction results. The optimization step yields an additional insight that malls should reduce budget during the peak-season and increase budget during the off-season to avoid over-marketing. Overall, we estimate that holding the total budget fixed, malls are expected to see an 11% increase in ROI from implementing the budget optimization.
Nutrient retention via sedimentation in a created urban stormwater treatment wetland.

Abstract Nutrient removal by a 4.6-ha urban stormwater treatment wetland system in a 20-ha water/nature park in southwest Florida has been investigated for several years, suggesting that the wetlands are significant sinks of both phosphorus and nitrogen although with a slightly decreased total phosphorus retention in recent years. This study investigates the role of sedimentation on changes in nutrient concentrations and fluxes through these wetlands. Sedimentation bottles along with sediment nutrient analyses every six months allowed us to estimate gross sedimentation rates of 9.9 ± 0.1 cm yr−1 and nutrient sedimentation rates of approximately 7.8 g-P m−2 yr−1 and 81.7 g-N m−2 yr−1. Using a horizon marker method to account for lack of resuspension in the sedimentation bottles suggested that net nutrient retention by sedimentation may be closer to 1.5 g-P m−2 yr−1 and 33.2 g-N m−2 yr−1. Annual nutrient retention of the wetland system determined from water quality measurements at the inflow and outflow averaged 4.23 g-P m−2 yr−1 and 11.91 g-N m–2 yr−1, suggesting that sedimentation is a significant pathway for nutrient retention in these urban wetlands and that resuspension is playing a significant role in reintroducing nutrients, especially phosphorus, to the water column. These results also suggest that additional sources of nitrogen not in our current nutrient budgets may be affecting overall nutrient retention.
Airport operations and security screening: An examination of social justice

Abstract Airports are a crucial part of the United States transportation system and airport officials are continuously challenged to ensure that their operations are secure. A major part of providing airport security is implementing check points where passengers interface with the security screening system. The airlines and airport security administration receive negative publicity when passengers are mistreated at security check points. Further, these organizations spend a lot of time to assess the situation and take corrective actions. This study examines passenger perceived bias and the airport security screening system. Using data from a randomly selected sample of 145 airline passengers, six hypotheses are tested. The hypotheses exam the predictive relationships of control procedures, security personnel training, security personnel professionalism, and security screening systems on passenger perceived bias. Multiple regression analysis is used to test the hypotheses. The research findings indicate that security personnel professionalism is negatively and significantly related to passenger perceived bias. Also, security personnel training and security control procedures are positively and significantly related to security personnel professionalism. Management implications, limitations, and recommendations for future research are offered.
On the Pedagogy of “Boomerangs”: Exposing Occupation Through Co-Implication

This article explores the pedagogical takeaways of a faculty led study-tour with U.S. university students in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. It offers examples of how to teach students first-hand about settler colonialism, neoliberalism, securitization, and racialization. We examine how theories of co-implication and bearing witness can encourage students to take part in transnational solidarity work.
Luteolin-induced vasorelaxation in uterine arteries from normal pregnant rats.

Abstract Background The flavonoid, luteolin, promotes vasorelaxation in various arteries through endothelial-dependent and independent mechanisms. Although there is growing interest in the vasoactive effects of flavonoids on maternal vascular function during pregnancy, it is unknown whether luteolin elicits vasorelaxation in the uterine circulation. We tested the hypothesis that luteolin induces vasorelaxation via endothelial-dependent mechanisms in uterine arteries from normal pregnant rats during late gestation. Methods Uterine arteries and aortas were isolated from Sprague-Dawley rats at gestational day 19 and prepared for wire myography. Results The potency of luteolin-induced vasorelaxation was examined between uterine arteries and the aortas. By 50 µM of luteolin, there was complete relaxation (100.5 ± 5.2%) in uterine arteries as compared to aortas (27.5 ± 10.0%). Even the highest concentration of 100 µM luteolin produced less than half relaxation (43.6 ± 8.6%) in aortas compared to uterine arteries. We then explored if luteolin-induced vasorelaxation in uterine arteries from pregnant rats was mediated by endothelial-dependent vasorelaxation pathways, including nitric oxide synthase (NOS), cyclooxygenase (COX), or potassium (K+) channels. Blocking these pathways with N(G)-Nitro- l -arginine methyl ester hydrochloride (L-NAME), indomethacin, or tetraethylammonium (TEA)/high potassium chloride (KCl), respectively, did not alter luteolin responses in uterine arteries from pregnant rats. These findings suggested that endothelial factors may not mediate luteolin-induced vasorelaxation in uterine arteries during pregnancy. Indeed, experiments where the endothelium was removed did not alter luteolin-induced vasorelaxation in uterine arteries during pregnancy. Conclusions Luteolin directly promotes vasorelaxation in the medial smooth muscle layer of uterine arteries during normal pregnancy.
COVID-19 Claims CES 2021

CES is the world's largest consumer electronics exhibition. Throughout its decades-long history, various iconic technologies have made their debut at CES. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, CES 2021 will be a virtual event. While there will be no in-person gathering in Las Vegas, NV, USA (the show's typical venue), CES will continue to be the center of the world's technological innovation that sets the tone for the year.
Epidemiology and Sequence-Based Evolutionary Analysis of Circulating Non-Polio Enteroviruses

Enteroviruses (EVs) are positive-sense RNA viruses, with over 50,000 nucleotide sequences publicly available. While most human infections are typically associated with mild respiratory symptoms, several different EV types have also been associated with severe human disease, especially acute flaccid paralysis (AFP), particularly with endemic members of the EV-B species and two pandemic types—EV-A71 and EV-D68—that appear to be responsible for recent widespread outbreaks. Here we review the recent literature on the prevalence, characteristics, and circulation dynamics of different enterovirus types and combine this with an analysis of the sequence coverage of different EV types in public databases (e.g., the Virus Pathogen Resource). This evaluation reveals temporal and geographic differences in EV circulation and sequence distribution, highlighting recent EV outbreaks and revealing gaps in sequence coverage. Phylogenetic analysis of the EV genus shows the relatedness of different EV types. Recombination analysis of the EV-A species provides evidence for recombination as a mechanism of genomic diversification. The absence of broadly protective vaccines and effective antivirals makes human enteroviruses important pathogens of public health concern.
The Need for Safety and Beliefs About Guns

Why are Americans so divided on guns policies? We examine this question within the context of the campus carry debate—whether people should be allowed to carry concealed firearms on college campuses. Our central thesis is that a basic psychological need—the need to feel safe—underlies both support for and opposition to policies such as campus carry. Importantly, whereas some people perceive guns as a source of safety, others perceive guns as a threat to safety. In this chapter we discuss evidence demonstrating how these opposing perceptions correspond with support for campus carry legislation and with a variety of other attitudes, beliefs, and expectations regarding the consequences of legalizing campus carry. We also discuss how examining opposing views on guns in terms of the need for safety reframes the gun debate and suggests new approaches to building understanding and compromise across the gun divide. Ultimately, this re-framing may inform policies to reduce gun violence in the United States. Finally, we discuss the broader policy implications of this framing of the gun debate and stress the importance of considering the safety needs of all people, not simply one group or the other, when crafting legislation to address gun violence.
Patient Race/Ethnicity and Diagnostic Imaging Utilization in the Emergency Department: A Systematic Review.

Abstract Purpose Diagnostic imaging often is a critical contributor to clinical decision making in the emergency department (ED). Racial and ethnic disparities are widely reported in many aspects of health care, and several recent studies have reported a link between patient race/ethnicity and receipt of imaging in the ED. Methods The authors conducted a systematic review following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines, searching three databases (PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library) through July 2020 using keywords related to diagnostic imaging, race/ethnicity, and the ED setting, including both adult and pediatric populations and excluding studies that did not control for the important confounders of disease severity and insurance status. Results The search strategy identified 7,313 articles, of which 5,668 underwent title and abstract screening and 238 full-text review, leaving 42 articles meeting the inclusion criteria. Studies were predominately conducted in the United States (41), split between adult (13) and pediatric (17) populations or both (12), and spread across a variety of topics, mostly focusing on specific anatomic regions or disease processes. Most studies (30 of 42 [71.4%]) reported an association between Black, African American, Hispanic, or nonwhite race/ethnicity and decreased receipt of imaging. Conclusions Despite heterogeneity among studies, patient race/ethnicity is linked with receipt of diagnostic imaging in the ED. The strength and directionality of this association may differ by specific subpopulation and disease process, and more efforts to understand potential underlying factors are needed.
Theorizing Black Trans Survivance and Care in the Context of COVID 19: A Clinical Case Study

Although Trans women of color experience unique stressors to their physical and mental health and bring distinctive survival and resistance strategies to a therapeutic relationship, they are widely...
International Transmission of US Monetary Policy Shocks: Are Bond and Stock Markets Different?

Using local projection and event studies, I investigate the non-linear effects of US monetary policy shocks on financial asset prices in five advanced economies–Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Korea, and the United Kingdom–from 1990 to 2014. The international asset prices show evidence of asymmetric or state-dependent propagation of US monetary shocks. Moreover, the results indicate that the nature of non-linearity in the shock propagation is distinctive across two asset classes, bond yields and equity prices. Contractionary US monetary policy shocks are quite influential in sovereign bond markets, while their impacts are largely insignificant in stock markets, and vice versa for expansionary monetary policy shocks. These results are quite stylized across the open economies and may imply that US monetary announcements and subsequent reactions of international risk premiums can play a critical role in international shock propagation.
Effectiveness of Quickcast Versus Custom-Fabricated Thermoplastic Orthosis Immobilization for the Treatment of Mallet Fingers: A Randomized Clinical Trial:

Background:Mallet finger is a common injury involving a detachment of the terminal extensor tendon from the distal phalanx. This injury is usually treated with immobilization in a cast or splint. T...
The Upside to Broken

The American health care system finds itself on the defense against yet another partisan attack, this time in the form a massive tax code overhaul. In the process of implementing record-breaking tax cuts throughout the national economy, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act effectively eliminates the Individual Mandate provisioned under the Affordable Care Act (the “ACA”). Five years ago, in the seminal decision National Federation of Independent Businesses v. Sebelius, Chief Justice John Roberts and the United States Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the ACA’s Individual Mandate. This was not accomplished through the Commerce or Necessary and Proper Clauses of the U.S. Constitution, but rather through Congress’s authority to lay and collect taxes (U.S. CONST., art I, § 8, cl. 1). While not quite the same beast as the repeatedly failed “repeal and replace” challenges the nation’s health care system withstood earlier in 2017, this most recent foray is at least legally proper. The question that still remains, however, is exactly how will health care in the United States change in 2018, when fiscal repercussions end against those Americans who fail to maintain minimum essential health insurance coverage?
Botanical Interventions to Improve Glucose Control and Options for Diabetes Therapy

Diabetes mellitus is a major public health problem worldwide. This endocrine disease is clustered into distinct subtypes based on the route of development, with the most common forms associated with either autoimmunity (T1DM) or obesity (T2DM). A shared hallmark of both major forms of diabetes is a reduction in function (insulin secretion) or mass (cell number) of the pancreatic islet beta-cell. Diminutions in both mass and function are often present. A wide assortment of plants have been used historically to reduce the pathological features associated with diabetes. In this review, we provide an organized viewpoint focused around the phytochemicals and herbal extracts investigated using various preclinical and clinical study designs. In some cases, crude extracts were examined directly, and in others, purified compounds were explored for their possible therapeutic efficacy. A subset of these studies compared the botanical product with standard of care prescribed drugs. Finally, we note that botanical formulations are likely suspects for future drug discovery and refinement into class(es) of compounds that have either direct or adjuvant therapeutic benefit.
Sex differences in cognitive aging: a 4-year longitudinal study in marmosets.

Abstract Longitudinal studies are essential to understand healthy and pathological neurocognitive aging such as Alzheimer's Disease, but longitudinal designs are rare in both humans and non-human primate models of aging because of the difficulty of tracking cognitive change in long-lived primates. Common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) are uniquely suited for aging studies due to their naturally short lifespan (10–12 years), sophisticated cognitive and social abilities and Alzheimer Disease-like neuropathology. We report the first longitudinal study of cognitive aging in marmosets (N = 28) as they transitioned from middle- (∼5 years) to old age (∼9 years). We characterized aging trajectories using reversal learning with different stimuli each year. Marmosets initially improved on cognitive performance due to practice, but worsened in the final year, suggesting the onset of age-related decline. Cognitive impairment emerged earlier in females than males and was more prominent for discrimination than for reversal learning. Sex differences in cognitive aging could not be explained by differences in motivation or motor abilities, which improved or remained stable across aging. Likewise, males and females did not differ in aging trajectories of overall behavior or reactivity to a social stressor, with the exception of a progressive decline in the initiation of social behavior in females. Patterns of cognitive aging were highly variable across marmosets of both sexes, suggesting the potential for pathological aging for some individuals. Future work will link individual cognitive trajectories to neuropathology in order to better understand the relationships between neuropathologic burden and vulnerability to age-related cognitive decline in each sex.
Teaming for Exploration

A multibillion-dollar NASA contracting effort, the largest since the Apollo, shuttle, and space station developments, is formally underway with the release of the draft request for proposals for the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) to replace the shuttle and eventually return astronauts to the Moon as a stepping-stone to Mars. With guidance from the draft request for proposals (RFP) now in hand, contractors are beginning a flurry of activity to posture for formal bids and to align their earlier in-house concepts with major new exploration program specifics, including strong guidelines on managing cost and risk. And Lockheed Martin will announce this week that it is teaming with EADS Space Transportation for the CEV contract. Should this team win, Europe's largest aerospace contractor would be in line for a key role in developing a replacement for the shuttle and renewed human operations on the lunar surface.
Christian Sisterhood, Race Relations, and the YWCA, 1906-46

Review of: "Christian Sisterhood, Race Relations & the YWCA 1906–1946," by Nancy Marie Robertson.
Characterizing First and Second-Order Patches Using Geometry-Limited Diffusion

I propose a diffusion process that operates on the jet-space of an image. This process uses variable conductance diffusion as an alternative to Gaussian scale in order to smooth differential measurements in a manner that preserves structures of interest. The process is presented within a general framework that suggests a wide range of possibilities for segmenting images on the basis of homogeneity of local shape. Previous work has shown how first-order geometry is used to locate ridges and valleys in greyscale objects. In this paper I use apply these principles to first and second-order geometry in order to find boundaries and skeletons of objects. Examples of first and second-order segmentations of medical images are given. This method appears to offer a reliable and accurate means of segmenting images and is shown to preserve the orthogonal group properties of properly constructed geometric invariants.
Understanding Repository Growth at the University of North Texas: A Case Study

This paper discusses a case study on understanding repository growth at the University of North Texas (UNT).
Face recognition vendor test 2002 performance metrics

We present the methodology and recognition performance characteristics used in the Face Recognition Vendor Test 2002. We refine the notion of a biometric imposter, and show that the traditional measures of identification and verification performance, are limiting cases of the open-universe watch list task. The watch list problem generalizes the tradeoff of detection and identification of persons of interest against a false alarm rate. In addition, we use performance scores on disjoint populations to establish a means of computing and displaying distribution-free estimates of the variation of verification vs. false alarm performance. Finally we formalize gallery normalization, which is an extension of previous evaluation methodologies; we define a pair of gallery dependent mappings that can be applied as a post recognition step to vectors of distance or similarity scores. All the methods are biometric non-specific, and applicable to large populations.