cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Economic Profitability of Social Predation Among Wild Chimpanzees: Individual Variation Promotes Cooperation

Social predation (hunting in groups) presents a collective action problem. If nonhunters can obtain meat following a kill, it is unclear why an individual would choose to incur hunting costs. We explored this question using long-term data on chimpanzees from Kanyawara (Kibale National Park, Uganda) to test why hunting probability increases with chimpanzee party size. Social predation was not simply a function of the additive probability of intrinsic individual hunting rates. The potential for sharing meat with preferred social partners or sexually receptive females did not increase hunting probability, and there was no evidence of collaboration. Instead, individual variation in hunting motivation was critical for predicting hunting. Two ‘impact’ males had persistently high hunting rates, and hunts rarely occurred in their absence. When present, these males acted as hunting ‘catalysts’. We argue that the profitability of social predation for chimpanzees differs from social carnivores, for which energy maximization is the expected goal. Since meat contains valuable micronutrients that complement a predominantly plant-based diet, obtaining even a small amount of meat is likely to be beneficial to a chimpanzee. We found that the probability that a male obtained meat increased with the number of hunters, and thus social predation was economically profitable. However, in the largest parties, hunters and nonhunters were equally likely to obtain meat, suggesting that there was incentive to refrain from hunting. Together, our results show that the catalytic action of impact males promotes cooperative hunting to a degree, but the collective action problem persists in large parties.
KINETIC STUDIES OF CALCIUM DISTRIBUTION IN VENTRICULAR MUSCLE OF THE DOG.

Five phases (0 to 4) were defined kinetically for calcium in the dog papillary muscle vascularly perfused for five to six hours with perfusate containing 5 mM/liter calcium. The mean rate constant, λ, (min -1 ), approximate calcium concentration (mM/liter muscle water) and suggested origin of each phase are respectively: (0) λ 0 = 3.5, 0.4, vascular; (1) λ 1 = 0.59, 1.8, interstitial; (2) λ 2 = 0.116, 1.7, "specialized" calcium transport system (?sarcoplasmic reticulum); (3) λ 3 = 0.021, 2.0, intracellular; (4) λ approx 0.004, The possibility that the Ca ++ content of the "specialized system" represented by phase 2 is controlled by movements of Na + into and out of this system is discussed. Ca ++ movements associated with increased frequency of contraction are also discussed in the context of their possible relation to Na + exchange.
Weighting Components of a Composite Score Using Naïve Expert Judgments About Their Relative Importance.

A common problem that arises in testing—as well as other contexts such as candidate selection—is how to combine various scores into a weighted composite that reflects expert judgments about each component’s relative importance. For experts to provide nominal weights explicitly, they must fully account for the variances of the components, the covariances among components, and the reliability of each component. This task can be challenging, and in many cases, experts may have greater success making simple judgments about component importance without regard for the variances, covariances, and reliabilities. In this article, it is shown how to estimate the requisite nominal weights when only these kinds of naive judgments are available, and the analytical solution is demonstrated with a small simulation study. Results from the simulation suggest that the proposed estimators could yield more valid composite scores in practice.
IMAGE: an approach to building standards-based enterprise grids

We describe a system for aggregating heterogeneous resources from distinct administrative domains into an enterprise-wide compute grid, such that the aggregated resource provides the services of reliable and flexible queuing, scheduling, execution, and monitoring of batch applications. The system provides scheduling across multiple cluster grids, user account mapping across domains, and file staging, thereby enabling the consolidation of organization-wide distributed resources into a virtual resource, while preserving local control of resources. The concept of abstract queue, as the unit of aggregating heterogeneous resources, is introduced and instantiated for distributed resource scheduling. The proposed system is an open source, standards-based alternative to similar commercial systems.
A survey of surgical simulation: applications, technology, and education

Surgical simulation for medical education is increasingly perceived as a valuable addition to traditional teaching methods. Simulators provide a structured learning experience, permitting practice without danger to patients, and simulators facilitate the teaching of rare or unusual cases. Simulators can also be used to provide an objective assessment of skills. This paper is a survey of current surgical simulator systems. The components of a simulator are described, current research directions are discussed, and key research questions are identified.
Single- and double-plane iridium-192 interstitial implants: Implantation guidelines and dosimetry

Computerized dosimetric studies of single- and double-plane iridium-192 (Ir-192) planar implants were performed. With respect to dose homogeneity, we found that the optimal source and ribbon separation for single-plane implants was 1.0 cm. For double-plane implants, the preferred ribbon and plane separation was 1.5 cm, maintaining a 1-cm separation for the sources. Using these separations, standard dose rate curves for single- and double-plane Ir-192 implants were generated by computer calculations. These standard curves are useful for quickly and fairly accurately estimating the dose from any size planar implant, without requiring more time-consuming individual computer dosimetry. We believe that the curves will prove to be of practical clinical value to physicists and radiotherapists.
Preservice Teachers' Beliefs and Attitude About Teaching and Learning Mathematics Through Music: An Intervention Study

This article presents exploratory research investigating the integration of music and a mathematics lesson as an intervention to promote preservice teachers' attitude and confidence and to extend their beliefs toward teaching mathematics integrated with music. Thirty students were randomly selected from 64 preservice teachers in a southern university. A 90-minute mathematics lesson integrated with a music composition activity was taught by the first author. Pre- and postquestionnaires were provided to evaluate the change in preservice teachers' attitude and beliefs toward mathematics. The results demonstrated that the mathematics lesson integrated with music had a positive effect on preservice teachers' attitude and beliefs toward mathematics teaching and learning.
The effects of computer-based writing instruction and mode of discourse on writing performance and writer anxieties

Abstract In this study, 18 English education undergraduates participated in a 15-week, computer-based, writing instruction, requiring them to produce five essays: a pretreatment, descriptive essay; an expository essay; a narrative essay; a persuasive essay; and, a post-treatment, descriptive essay. These essays were analyzed for holistic quality. The participants also responded to a writing apprehension instrument and a computer anxiety instrument for each writing task. Data were analyzed, using one-way analyses of variance with repeated measures. Besides a significant pretreatment, descriptive/posttreatment, descriptive increase in quality, there was much fluctuation among the other three “internal” essays. Although their writing apprehension did not significantly change from pretreatment, descriptive to posttreatment, descriptive, it did increased from pretreatment, descriptive to both expository and narrative essays and further increased when they wrote persuasive essays. It significantly decreased when they wrote their posttreatment, descriptive essays. Their computer anxiety did decrease from pretreatment, descriptive to posttreatment, descriptive.
Purification and characterization of human liver dehydroepiandrosterone sulphotransferase

A form of sulphotransferase capable of sulphating dehydroepiandrosterone and other steroids was purified from cytosol prepared from human liver. Dehydroepiandrosterone sulphotransferase was purified 621-fold when compared with the activity in cytosol using DEAE-Sepharose CL-6B and adenosine 3',5'-bisphosphate-agarose affinity chromatography. During affinity chromatography, dehydroepiandrosterone sulphation activity could be resolved from p-nitrophenol sulphation activity catalysed by phenol sulphotransferase by using a gradient of adenosine 3'-phosphate 5'-phosphosulphate. The purified enzyme was most active towards dehydroepiandrosterone but was capable of conjugating a number of other steroids, including pregnenolone, androsterone and beta-oestradiol. No activity towards p-nitrophenol or dopamine, substrates for the phenol sulphotransferase, was observed with the pure enzyme. A single band with a subunit molecular mass of 35 kDa was observed by Coomassie Blue staining following SDS/polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis of the purified enzyme. A molecular mass of 68-70 kDa was calculated for the active form of the enzyme by chromatography on Sephacryl S-200, suggesting that the active form of the enzyme is a dimer.
Assessing the equivalence of paper-and-pencil vs. computerized tests: Demonstration of a promising methodology

Abstract A computer-administered version of a test-attitudes screening instrument was examined for generalizability and evaluated against criteria for parallelism with the identical test in paper-and-pencil format. Implications for computerized testing are discussed.
ADDITIONS TO THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL FAUNA OF THE FORMER CHINATOWN SECTION OF EL PASO, TEXAS

Abstract Additions to the archaeological fauna recovered from the former Chinatown section in El Paso, Texas (late 1800s), include lizard, ringtail, dog, killdeer, domestic goose, badger, domestic cat, jackrabbit, and cottontail. The latter 5 species likely were used for food. Two species of turtles used as food also are discussed.
Anatolian Default Accentuation and Its Diachronic Consequences

This paper adduces evidence for and attempts to phonologically motivate a pattern of descriptive “retraction” of surface word accent in the Anatolian languages. It is proposed that the innovative accentual peak ( ICTUS ) in the relevant forms is due to ANATOLIAN DEFAULT ACCENTUATION , which applies when no constituent morpheme in a prosodic word is lexically specified as accented and assigns ICTUS to its leftmost syllable. Diachronic prosodic change is shown to result from the interaction of various morphophonological developments and the stable operation of this default accentual principle, whose effects in Hittite, Palaic, and Luwian require its reconstruction for Proto-Anatolian. Furthermore, the Anatolian evidence is argued to support Kiparsky and Halle’s (1977) reconstruction of the same default principle for Proto-Indo-European on the basis of Vedic Sanskrit and Balto-Slavic evidence.
Modeling Time-Dependent Covariates in Longitudinal Data Analyses

Often public health data contain variables of interest that change over the course of longitudinal data collection. In this chapter a discussion is presented of analysis options for longitudinal data with time-dependent covariates. Relevant definitions are presented and explained in the context of practical applications, such as different types of time-dependent covariates. The consequences of ignoring the time-dependent nature of variables in models is discussed. Modeling options for time-dependent covariate data are presented in two general classes: subject-specific models and population-averaged models. Specific subject-specific models include random-intercept models and random-slopes models. Decomposition of time-dependent covariates into “within” and “between” components within each subject-specific model are discussed. Specific population-averaged models include the independent GEE model and various forms of the GMM (generalized method of moments) approach, including researcher-determined types of time-dependent covariates along with data-driven selection of moment conditions using the Extended Classification. A practical data example is presented along with example programs for both SAS and R.
An extendable simulation framework for benchmarking EEG-based brain connectivity estimation methodologies

Due to its high temporal resolution, electroencephalography (EEG) is a promising research tool for studying functional and effective brain interaction. Yet, it is rather uncommon for researchers to validate their connectivity estimation methodologies prior to applying them to real data, even though problems have been pointed out regarding the validity of some of the predominant approaches. We here provide an extendable simulation framework that enables researchers to test their analysis pipelines on customizable realistically simulated EEG data. We define three simple criteria to measure source localization, connectivity detection and directionality estimation performance. All data and code needed to generate pseudo-EEG data and to benchmark a method's estimation performance are provided.
Commentary on: A Comparison of Research Productivity Across Plastic Surgery Fellowship Directors

What defines a true academician? A sincere dedication to bettering the field by sharing ideas and educating junior surgeons is possibly the most invaluable aspect of surgical training. Yet, with the institutionalization of academic medicine, physicians are presented with pressures to produce in other arenas in order to secure academic promotion. Teaching and mentoring skills fall to the wayside as more tangible benchmarks of academic productivity, such as publications and clinical revenue generated, gain importance. This article attempts to measure academic productivity of fellowship directors based on research productivity and, in turn, to correlate this with academic rank.1 Herein lie two fundamental flaws. First, the appraisal of academic productivity with solely bibliometric indices is misguided. Research productivity, while often used to determine academic promotion, does not paint a comprehensive picture of academic productivity by any means.2-4 The prototype of academic medicine is only completely qualified with the three foundational pillars of clinical care, research, and …
The Techno-Bureaucratic Elite and the Entrepreneurial State in Dependent Industrialization

A common characteristic of dependent industrializing countries is a substantial direct entrepreneurial role for the state. One explanation for this is that in dependent industrializing countries the system of allocation and production has been captured by a key group, the techno-bureaucratic elite. The argument is that this elite lends its political support to the state, in return for the state substituting as entrepreneur in the industrialization process. In this article we analyze the theoretical implications of this explanation of the entrepreneurial state. A formal model is constructed of the relationship between state entrepreneurship, material consequences for the techno-bureaucratic elite, and important domestic and international constraints. We then use deductive methods to analyze the logic of state entrepreneurship. Among other things, we show how cyclical fluctuations in the global economy are reflected in constantly changing levels of state entrepreneurship, and we investigate the consequences of alternative kinds of dependency syndromes for histories of entrepreneurial substitution and for streams of benefits to the techno-bureaucratic elite. It is demonstrated that there is an inverse relationship between the tendencies to reach stable levels of state entrepreneurship and the long-term potential for economic growth.
Lack of evidence for person-to-person transmission of Legionnaires' disease.

NOTE. The presence of the disease in the index patients was determined by isolation of the organism by culture (three cases), visualization by direct immunofluorescence (seven cases), and/or seroconversion to serogroup 1 of L. pneumophila (14 cases). The number of cases is >17 because multiple criteria were fulfilled in seven patients. There were 17 immediate household contacts (16-65 years of age) and 15 roommates of patients with nosocomial Legionnaires' disease (49-80 years of age). The duration of roommate exposure ranged from 5 to 39 days. Neither pneumonia nor seroconversion was observed in any of the contacts. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for antibodies to serogroups 1-6 of L. pneumophila was used. The sensitivity of this assay was 78% in our institution (J.J.Z., unpublished observations). A negative serologic result was one with an antibody titer of <1:80 to L. pneumophila serogroups 1-6. The one patient who seroconverted had a convalescentphase serum titer of 1:160 for serogroup 1. Summary
Studies on the Biology of Tanypteryx hageni in California

A population of the petalurid dragonfly Tanypteryx hageni (Selys) was associated with springfed insectivorous plant bogs in California. Females oviposited and larval development occurred in acid water-logged substrates. The diet of late-instar larvae consisted primarily of surface inhabiting arthropods, mostly spiders. Collection of fresh exuviae revealed that adults emerged from ca. mid-May–early July. The most abundant groups of macroinvertebrates supported by the bogs were oligochaetes, and chironomid and tipulid larvae.
Development of on-line monitoring systems for transmission line icing

Based on the mechanics analysis of iced conductors,the modern sensor technology and the wireless network communication technology were used to develop the on-line monitoring system for the weight and thickness of ice accreted on the transmission line.The concept of ZigBee-based wireless sensor network and the calculation rationale of transmission line icing were presented.The system's design scheme and the realization of its software and hardware were also illuminated.
Childhood Social Skills as Predictors of Middle School Academic Adjustment

The present study used multiple regression analyses to examine the relationships between fifth-grade social skills and eighth-grade academic achievement. Data were drawn from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study–Kindergarten Class of 1998-1999 (ECLS-K). Results indicated no relationship between positive or negative social behavior in fifth grade and academic achievement or teacher-rated academic skills in eighth grade. However, consistent with previous studies, fifth-grade approaches to learning were found to be positive predictors of both academic achievement and teacher-rated academic skills in eighth grade. In addition, these results suggest that socioeconomic status plays a significant and potentially unexplored avenue for understanding these outcomes. These results further illuminate the way behaviors in elementary school relate to academic adjustment to middle school.
Comments on ''Does Paranormal Perception Occur in Near-Death Experiences?''

Abstract: Keith Augustine's critique of studies of veridical perception in near-death experiences is based on unsubstantiated speculation from the popular media, rather than on supportive data or peer-reviewed literature. Nevertheless, addressing the issues he raises would improve the methodology of near-death research and strengthen the evidential database for veridical perception.
Modulation of resistance artery force generation by extracellular Ca2

We tested the hypothesis that increasing extracellular Ca2+ (Cao) over a physiological concentration range depresses vascular smooth muscle force generation by altering the intracellular Ca2+ (Cai)-force relationship. Mesenteric resistance arteries were isolated from Wistar rats; Cai and isometric force were measured using a fura-based method and wire myography. Vessels were depleted of releasable Cai by repeated contraction with norepinephrine; Cao was then cumulatively added back from 0.025-2.5 mM in the presence of an agonist. With norepinephrine, serotonin, prostaglandin F2 alpha, and K+, Cao from 0.025 to 0.8 mM induced a graded increase in Cai and active stress. With the receptor agonists but not K+ raising Cao from 0.8 to 1.6 mM and from 1.6 to 2.5 mM decreased active stress to 82 +/- 6 and 54 +/- 6% of maximum, respectively, P < 0.05. Although there was a transient decrease in Cai in response to both 1.6 and 2.5 mM Cao, steady-state Cai only decreased significantly in response to 2.5 mM Cao (85 +/- 3% of maximum). Inhibition of the sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca(2+)-adenosinetriphosphatase with 1 microM thapsigargin had no effect on the decrease in force induced by high Ca2+. The decrease in active stress induced by 1.6 and 2.5 mM Cao was inhibited by Ca2+ channel antagonists and by blockade of Ca(2+)-activated K+ channels with charybdotoxin (with 1.6 mM Cao, control tension = 67 +/- 10% of maximum vs. charybdotoxin = 99.2 +/- 1%, P < 0.05; n = 9).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Co-expression of onion chalcone isomerase in Del / Ros1 -expressing tomato enhances anthocyanin and flavonol production

Anthocyanins are colorful pigments known for contributing antioxidant effects to the human diet which provide health benefits that protect against several forms of cancer and vascular disease. Unfortunately, tomatoes found in nature have very low anthocyanin content. Anthocyanin-rich purple tomatoes by the ectopic co-expression of two transcription factors Delila (Del) and Rosea1 (Ros1) from the snapdragon Antirrhinum majus have been generated. However, the Del/Ros1 (DR)-expressing tomatoes cannot sufficiently upregulate all necessary key endogenous genes, particularly chalcone isomerase (CHI), for full utilization of the anthocyanin production pathway. In this study, CHI from onion Allium cepa was introduced into DR-expressing tomatoes for a further increase of anthocyanin levels in both the peel and the flesh of tomatoes. We achieved up to 400- and 260-fold increases in the levels of anthocyanins in tomato peel and flesh, respectively, in CHI/DR transgenics compared with 100- and 80-fold increases in tomato peel and flesh in the DR-only-expressing lines. Furthermore, CHI/DR-expressing tomatoes increased up to 200-fold more total flavonol content in flesh compared with the wild-type tomatoes. In summary, stacking CHI with DR could significantly increase the levels of anthocyanins and flavonols in tomato fruit.
Novel characterization technique with short and open standards

In this paper, through introducing the short and open standards and excluding the match (termination) standard, a technique is proposed to simplify the measurement of symmetric device under test (DUT). Because the short and open standards are usually easier to obtain than the match (termination) standard in terms of cost and/or feasibility, this technique provides more cost-effective and more flexible solution for characterization of symmetric systems and interconnects.
Commercial Flower Production Methodology

This article is a revision of the previous edition article by W.B. Miller, volume 2, pp. 942–948, © 2003, Elsevier Ltd.
Major fraction of black carbon is flushed from the melting New Hampshire snowpack nearly as quickly as soluble impurities

Seasonal snowpacks accumulate impurities derived from atmospheric aerosols and trace gases throughout the winter and release them during snow melt. Previous field and laboratory studies have shown that a snowpack can lose up to 80% of the soluble ion burden in the first 20% of the melt, an event commonly known as an ionic pulse. Other studies have concluded that particulate impurities (e.g. black carbon (BC)) concentrate in surface layers during melt which can have important implications for snowpack albedo. However, model and field studies have indicated that meltwater scavenging efficiency of BC in melting snowpacks is still an area of uncertainty. To quantify BC melt dynamics and the release of soluble impurities, we collected and analyzed near daily chemical profiles in the snowpack at three sites during two winters in New Hampshire, United States of America. We observe an ionic pulse and a pulse of BC from the snowpack at the onset of melt; up to 62% of BC leaves within the first 24% of the melt. Surface concentrations of BC are higher than seasonal medians at the end of the winter season, but surface enhancements do not appear to be closely linked to decreases in snow-water equivalence caused by melting.
Photochemistry of Monomeric Complexes of Second- and Third-Row Transition Metals

This chapter covers the photochemistry and photophysics of monomeric complexes of the 4d and 5d block transition metals. The subject matter is focused principally on complexes that have ligands from Groups V, VI, or VII of the periodic table, along with sections covering the photochemistry of complexes having pseudohalide or hydride ligands. The photochemistry of the ruthenium bipyridyl system is omitted from this chapter because this subject is covered in Chapter 5, along with its photoredox reactions and those of related systems. Also omitted is any discussion of the photochemistry of multimetallic or organometallic complexes since these subjects are covered in Chapters 4, 6, and 7, respectively.
Evolution in the Education of Software Engineers: Online Course on Cyberphysical Systems with Remote Access to Robotic Devices

The objective of this work is to address, from the educational perspective, the trends in the software engineerring discipline, which rely on a significant increase in the use of remotely accessible and remotely controlled embedded devices. The paper presents an approach and experiences with introducing robotic devices accessible online to a course on Cyberphysical Systems in an undergraduate Software Engineering program. A closer look at both technologies, online labs and cyberphysical systems education, reveals that they are not in sync. Remote labs have embraced a wide variety of science and engineering disciplines, but they are not popular in software engineering. On the other hand, software engineering education, being crucial to the development of cyberphysical systems has not focused on such systems by any measure. This project and paper aim at addressing this gap.
Retinotopy within rat primary visual cortex in response to electrical stimulation of the retina

Retinal degenerative disorders are one of the leading causes of human blindness in adult life. Electronic retinal prostheses aim to restore vision in blind people who have photoreceptor cell loss by electrically stimulating the inner retina. We conducted in-vivo experiments, in which we electrically stimulated the retina and measured electrically evoked potentials (EERs) from the visual cortex of rat brains. We mapped the regions of electrophysiology activity in the visual cortex in response to electrical stimulation of the retina. Cortical activity was recorded in the same regions as seen with light stimulus of retina in previously published studies. The strength of the electrically evoked responses in the visual cortex showed a dose-response characteristic with respect to the amount of charge delivered to the retina.
An exotic species alters patterns of marine community development

Predictions of ecological patterns can be strengthened through replication of foundational studies under different environmental conditions to evaluate the consistency in their underlying processes. In this study, we replicated Sutherland and Karlson's 1977 classic ecology study that tested terrestrial paradigms of community development in a marine fouling community. The abundance patterns of marine fouling species were quantified on sequentially submerged settlement plates to investigate the effects of disturbance date on short- and long-term patterns of community development, and the original study's datasets were re-analyzed for comparison. In both studies, community structure was initially shaped by disturbance date due to monthly and annual variation in larval recruitment; however, the influence of disturbance date diminished over time. Despite these similarities, the underlying drivers of long-term patterns of community development have shifted substantially since the 1970′s. During the present study, an exotic tunicate, Clavelina oblonga, dominated plates over time and its dominance was associated with significant declines in species diversity. In contrast, the 1970s long-term community was characterized by a heterogeneous mixture of species that varied inter-annually, yielding increased species diversity over time. Continued observations of our settlement plates (2 years total) indicated that C. oblonga remains the dominant species in this community, suggesting that these findings are not the result of a single, novel recruitment event. These results highlight how an exotic species can alter patterns of community development and biodiversity. Moreover, this study demonstrates the need to replicate foundational ecological studies to evaluate community dynamics and underlying processes in light of ongoing ecosystem change. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Environmental hedging: A theory and method for reconciling reservoir operations for downstream ecology and water supply

Building reservoir release schedules to manage engineered river systems can involve costly trade-offs between storing and releasing water. As a result, the design of release schedules requires metrics that quantify the benefit and damages created by releases to the downstream ecosystem. Such metrics should support making operational decisions under uncertain hydrologic conditions, including drought and flood seasons. This study addresses this need and develops a reservoir operation rule structure and method to maximize downstream environmental benefit while meeting human water demands. The result is a general approach for hedging downstream environmental objectives. A multistage stochastic mixed-integer nonlinear program with Markov Chains, identifies optimal “environmental hedging,” releases to maximize environmental benefits subject to probabilistic seasonal hydrologic conditions, current, past, and future environmental demand, human water supply needs, infrastructure limitations, population dynamics, drought storage protection, and the river's carrying capacity. Environmental hedging “hedges bets” for drought by reducing releases for fish, sometimes intentionally killing some fish early to reduce the likelihood of large fish kills and storage crises later. This approach is applied to Folsom reservoir in California to support survival of fall-run Chinook salmon in the lower American River for a range of carryover and initial storage cases. Benefit is measured in terms of fish survival; maintaining self-sustaining native fish populations is a significant indicator of ecosystem function. Environmental hedging meets human demand and outperforms other operating rules, including the current Folsom operating strategy, based on metrics of fish extirpation and water supply reliability.
Helping teachers and students learn to use 3D in agentcubes online

We examine the challenges and advantages of 3D programming in the AgentCubes Online programming environment. 3D imagery and its associated programming provide a means for personalizing projects and may increase a learner's motivation to learn about technology. After reviewing the challenges for learners, we suggest some ideas for helping both teachers and student learners make the transition to 3D. We will present a plan for further research on this topic.
Symptom management and supportive care of the patient with brain metastases.

The focus of care for patients with brain metastases will always be on therapeutic options such as surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy. However, proper symptom management and supportive care of non-therapeutic issues will be equally as important, including treatment of seizures, use of anticonvulsants, corticosteroids, and gastric acid inhibitors, assessment of swallowing dysfunction, treatment of thromboembolic events, appropriate use and safe application of anticoagulation, and evaluation of psychiatric issues. Appropriate management of these supportive aspects of patient care will improve overall quality of life and allow the patient and family to more easily concentrate on treatment.
Das Kugellager im Betrieb

Der Reibungskoeffizient der Kugellager schwankt bei wechselnder Belastung, bei wechselnder Tourenzahl, sowie bei Veranderung der Temperatur nur ganz unwesentlich. Das Verhalten der Kugellager steht hier im strengen Gegensatz zu demjenigen der Gleitlager. Die Temperatureinflusse, soweit sie fur der Kugellagerbetrieb in Frage kommen (die Temperaturen sollen mit Rucksich auf die Materialien moglichst 50°C nicht ubersteigen), sind so unbedeutend, das sie vernachlassigt warden konnen.
Highland East Cushitic Languages

Highland East Cushitic (HEC) is a group of five languages with some nine named dialects in south-central Ethiopia: from north to south Hadiyya, Kambaata, Sidaama, Gedeo, and Burji. Neighbor to Semitic and Omotic languages, HEC speakers are some 5.5 million people. HEC languages are consistently head-final and inflectional, with glottalic ejective stops, implosive d, long consonants and vowels, and productive n-metathesis in verb formation. Verbs have regular causative, passive, and reflexive derivatives. Nominative case is marked, and the singular as well as plural of nouns. Sidaama marks gender in first person, and has gender exclusive vocabulary.
Power and Signal Integrity Findings in a FPGA Layout for an Aerospace Application

Design principles concerning the use of FPGA are of particular importance in aerospace applications since the neglect of such design principles can cause catastrophic effects in aerospace system, as it will be explainedin this paper. FPGA design rules such as power conditioning and signal integrity for properly interfacing high speed FPGA with its interface circuits are discussed in this paper as it relates to aerospace systems. Signal integrity to avoid crosstalk within a FPGA has not been a great concern because most of the attention over the years had been on signal integrity at the PCB level. However, this paper shows a real example of crosstalk within a FPGA in an aerospace application.
Data-Driven Adaptive Robust Unit Commitment Under Wind Power Uncertainty: A Bayesian Nonparametric Approach

This paper proposes a novel data-driven adaptive robust optimization (ARO) framework for the unit commitment (UC) problem integrating wind power into smart grids. By leveraging a Dirichlet process mixture model, a data-driven uncertainty set for wind power forecast errors is constructed as a union of several basic uncertainty sets. Therefore, the proposed uncertainty set can flexibly capture a compact region of uncertainty in a nonparametric fashion. Based on this uncertainty set and wind power forecasts, a data-driven adaptive robust UC problem is then formulated as a four-level optimization problem. A decomposition-based algorithm is further developed. Compared to conventional robust UC models, the proposed approach does not presume single mode, symmetry, or independence in uncertainty. Moreover, it not only substantially withstands wind power forecast errors, but also significantly mitigates the conservatism issue by reducing operational costs. We also compare the proposed approach with the state-of-the-art data-driven ARO method based on principal component analysis and kernel smoothing to assess its performance. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is demonstrated with the six-bus and IEEE 118-bus systems. Computational results show that the proposed approach scales gracefully with problem size and generates solutions that are more cost effective than the existing data-driven ARO method.
Giving Students Canned Code using Typing Exercises

A significant issue Computer Science students face are syntax errors. This poster presents two studies on the use of typing exercises. In a usability and interaction study, 14 students were asked to complete typing, fill in the blank, and self-explanation style exercises. Fill in the blank were similar to typing exercises with 1 line of code omitted. Self-explanation exercises were graded on whether the student could adequately describe how the source code of a program worked. Students with "Poor"-labeled self-explanations experienced more typing errors and took more time completing exercises. In a semester-long study, 99 students in a CS2 course completed 538 submissions of 66 weekly typing exercises. Students were divided into four categories: users that joined but never used the platform, users that barely used the platform, regular viewers of exercises, and regular completers of exercises. Regular completers earned a minimum final letter grade of a B, compared to 90% regular viewers, 76% from barely used, and 81% from never used. Regular completers were not simply high performing students that did additional work, as 40% of regular completers scored a C or lower on the course's first midterm exam. Based on these findings, students who used the system performed similarly or better than students who did not. While not the only source of practice, typing exercises (and other novel exercises) can serve as a viable tool for teaching Computer Science and boosting low-performing students' abilities.
Endothelial Protective Effects of Defibrotide Reduce Acute Graft Versus Host Disease after Experimental Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation

Introduction Graft versus host disease (GVHD) is a major complication of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT). The pathophysiology of acute GVHD involves donor T cell- and inflammatory cytokine-mediated injury to the patient's tissues and causes significant morbidity and mortality. Defibrotide is a mixture of single stranded nucleotides that has a number of pharmacological effects that contribute to its endothelial protective properties. We hypothesized that preventive treatment with defibrotide will reduce the incidence and severity of GVHD due to its endothelial protective and anti-inflammatory properties and potentially does not alter graft versus leukemia (GVL) responses. Methods Recipient B10.BR mice received Cyclophosphamide 120 mg/kg per day on day-3 and -2, and received lethal total body irradiation (750cGy) on day 0, followed by the infusion of donor C57BL/6 T-cell depleted bone marrow cells. To induce GVHD, respective groups were co-infused with splenocytes, while non-GVHD controls received BM cells only. Mice were treated with defibrotide at the dose of 800mg/kg per body weight or vehicle control for the first week daily and then three times/week thereafter. For GVL experiments, C57BL/6 recipients were lethally irradiated (12Gy) with TBI and transplanted with C3H.SW donor TCD bone marrow alone or in combination with 3 million T-cells along with C1498-luc and treated with defibrotide or vehicle controls. Results Allogeneic defibrotide treated recipients demonstrated significantly better survival when compared to control group (83.34% vs 54.55% on day +28). Clinical GVHD scores were significantly worse after day +14 in control group when compared to defibrotide treated recipients. Both at day +7 and on day +28 allogeneic defibrotide treated recipients showed significantly less organ GVHD in gut, lung and liver (p Conclusion Defibrotide treatment through its anti-inflammatory and endothelium-protective effects reduces the incidence and severity of acute GVHD, while not impairing GVL activity.
Unique morphologic and genetic characteristics of acute myeloid leukemia with chromothripsis: a clinicopathologic study from a single institution

Chromothripsis is a unique type of genomic instability and is recognized in various cancers. In myeloid neoplasms (MNs), chromothripsis was linked to poor prognosis and specific genetic alterations (complex karyotype, 5q deletions, and loss of TP53). However, the clinicopathologic features of MNs with chromothripsis have not been thoroughly characterized. We identified chromothripsis in 11 cases of MNs (9 acute myeloid leukemia [AML] and 2 myelodysplastic syndrome [MDS] cases) and noted that all chromothripsis-positive AML cases were AML with myelodysplasia-related changes (AML-MRC). We performed a comparative clinicopathologic and genetic characterization of AML-MRC cases with and without chromothripsis. AML-MRC with chromothripsis is associated with lower white blood cell and platelet counts and higher degree of karyotypic complexity. Chromothripsis in AML-MRC most frequently involves chromosomes 8 and 11 with consequent amplification of either MYC or KMT2A. Comparative morphologic assessment of blast morphology revealed unique features characteristic of AML-MRC with chromothripsis: a variable degree of cytoplasmic vacuolization, granulation, and blebbing. These morphologic markers in the context of AML-MRC may prompt additional studies to identify cases with chromothripsis.
The APA Publication Manual: Changes in the Seventh Edition:

The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA Publication Manual, Manual) is a challenge for many counselors. The seventh edition (latest edition) of the Manual, published i...
Bone health assessment in clinical practice is infrequenty performed in patients with chronic pancreatitis.

Abstract Background Chronic pancreatitis (CP) patients have a high prevalence of osteoporotic fractures. In addition to prevalence of osteoporotic fractures, we evaluated how often bone health is assessed by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) in clinical practice, and the performance of Fracture Risk Assessment Tool (FRAX®) in predicting fracture risk in CP patients. Methods Medical records of CP patients age ≥40 years prospectively enrolled in the North American Pancreatitis Study 2 (NAPS2) from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center from 2000 to 2014 were retrospectively reviewed to gather additional relevant data before, at, and after enrollment until December 2016. We determined if patients underwent DXA, compared their observed prevalence of fractures with published data from two large US studies based on administrative data, and their predicted fracture risk with US population based on FRAX®. Results Only 21% (49/239) patients were evaluated by DXA during their care. The observed cumulative prevalence of fragility fractures in NAPS2 CP patients (9.2%, 95% confidence interval 5.9–13.6) was significantly greater than in controls (1.46% and 2.16%, p ≤ 0.001 for each comparison) and CP patients (4.66%, and 5.13%, p 0.05) and for hip fracture of ≥3% (19.6% vs. 18.9%, p > 0.05) in NAPS2 CP patients did not differ from the US population. Conclusions Despite their high risk of fragility fractures, bone health is infrequently assessed in CP patients. FRAX® may not adequately predict fracture risk in CP patients.
"Until I'm Just Too Old to Turn the Pedals": Exploring Motivational Characteristics of Participants in a High School Mountain Bike Program.

Self-determination theory (SDT) (Ryan & Deci, 2000) suggests that when a person is motivated they likely experience a sense of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. It is important to understand how these constructs relate to physical activity and sport if we are to persist in our notion that these pursuits can positively impact the holistic development of youth (Camire, Trudel, & Forneris, 2013; Frankl, 2007). Thus, the purpose of this investigation is to examine the motivational characteristics of adolescents participating in an after-school mountain bike program. Data were analyzed via field notes, interviews and focus groups. Content analysis of the individual and focus group interviews along with field notes revealed that the mountain bike sport environment served to foster motivational characteristics as is described in SDT.Based on this investigation, students who participated in the after-school program (n=28) reported a sense of autonomy, competence and relatedness.Subscribe to JOREL
The Impact of Previous Abdominal Surgery in a High-Acuity Liver Transplant Population

Abstract Background It is not uncommon for liver transplant (LT) recipients to have had previous abdominal surgery (PAS) preceding transplant. The impact of PAS on morbidity and mortality in LT patients remains unclear. In this study, we investigated the correlation between PAS and LT outcomes in a high-acuity patient population. Materials and methods This is a single-center retrospective review of 936 adult primary LT recipients between 2012 and 2018. Patients were divided based on PAS history. PAS was subdivided into upper abdominal surgery (UAS) and lower abdominal surgery (LAS). UAS was separated into high-impact UAS and low-impact UAS. Finally, we studied patients with PAS ≤90 d versus PAS >90 d. Results Extensive adhesiolysis was the only significant perioperative factor between the PAS group (n = 367) and the non-PAS group (n = 569) (P 90 d (n = 338), recipients with PAS ≤90 d (n = 29) had significantly higher RBC transfusion (P = 0.046), fresh frozen plasma transfusion (P = 0.022), and abdominal packing (P = 0.025). No differences in patient and graft survival was observed. Conclusions These findings suggest that, with appropriate care in the perioperative setting, PAS is not a contraindication to successful LT. Careful consideration is warranted when risk stratifying patients with multiple comorbidities who had PAS, especially those with UAS or PAS ≤90 d.
Socialidad y entorno residencial. El caso de los edificios residenciales de altura en Santiago de Chile.

The notion of sociality describes associative tendencies that are constituted as a response to the contingent tensions of their environments. Based on ethnographic observations of high-rise buildings in Santiago, Chile, this text describes the trends in sociality that account for the external and internal contingencies of their residential operation. The infrastructural character that sociality assumes in high-rise residential buildings is identified and accounted for, and two tendencies that organize it are described: one speculative, generic and abstract, which was qualified as pre-objective; and another situated, singular and locally made, which was qualified as contingent. Understood as an infrastructural quality of socio-technical environments, sociality accounts for the bonds of responsibility present in the communities that inhabit them and can be considered as a specific phenomenon within the governance of built enviro ments.
Designing Potassium Battery Salts through a Solvent-in-Anion Concept for Concentrated Electrolytes and Mimicking Solvation Structures

Highly concentrated electrolytes exhibit advantages in enhanced stability, low solvent volatility, and superior battery safety. It is therefore important to design salts that push the limit of solu...