cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Decentralization and Environmental Governance in Multicultural Areas: Lessons from Two Colombian Communities 1

Most Latin American countries recognized the right to self-determination of ethnic groups and became precursors in community forest management. The paper takes the case of Colombia to evaluate how multicultural areas have adapted to these reforms. I evaluate the effect of local politics on ethnic organizations and environmental governance by comparing an indigenous community settling 1,300 hectares of forested land in Karmata Rua (Antioquia) and a riverine Afro-Colombian community addressing the environmental effects of a hydroelectric company in the Anchicaya River (Valle). The paper argues that in multicultural areas, ethno-political autonomy may lead to environmental governance. Autonomy is affected by the scale and characteristics of ethnic territories and their natural resources, social movement dynamics, type of state presence and inter-government relations, and the reciprocal recognition and adaptation of consuetudinary and statutory norms within multiple layers of governance. I conclude that autonomy rights depend on local faculties to oversee government actions and synchronize customary and statutory rights. This is more likely to happen in the presence of strong social movements that support community empowerment and facilitate governance technology transfers compelling cooperation or acquiescence from government, and other powerful groups. I draw information from primary and secondary documents, participant observation and interviews with stakeholders.
A Measure of Perceived Usefulness in the Pre-Implementation Stages of Healthcare Projects

Information Technology success factors are interpreted as a cumulative measure of multi-dimensional constructs within a socio-technical model in an organizational structure and warrant organizational acceptance from pre-implementation to post-implementation periods. We use a theoretical model based on the Cognitive Dissonance Theory (CDT) to measure perceived usefulness of Information Technology activities. The constructs play an important role in setting initial user expectations before Information Technology activities are rolled out in organizations. In this study, we surveyed physicians to measure the perceived usefulness of a multi-million dollar healthcare project. The analysis shows that computer expertise has a direct, positive effect and an indirect mitigating effect on end-user concerns on perceived usefulness. Ease of use was also found to have a negative effect on perceived usefulness.
Critical thermal maxima of juvenile alligator gar (Atractosteus spatula, Lacépède, 1803) from three Mississippi‐drainage populations acclimated to three temperatures

Summary Local adaptation may cause thermal tolerance to vary between nearby but distinct populations of a species. During the summer of 2013, alligator gar Atractosteus spatula spawned from broodstock collected from three populations within the Mississippi River drainage separated by a 5° latitudinal gradient were acclimated to three temperatures (25, 30, and 35°C). Ten fish from each population were acclimated at each temperature. CTMax was determined at each temperature for each population, using five fish for each population-acclimation temperature pairing. CTMax for each population-acclimation temperature pairing was compared using two-factor anova. CTMax increased significantly with acclimation temperature (F2,40 = 600.5, P < 0.001) but population had no significant effect (F2,40 = 1.882, P = 0.166). Temperature tolerance appears to be consistent across populations of alligator gar, with no evidence of local adaptation.
Determining the Return-Maximizing Portfolio Leverage and its Limitations

Leverage in the risk allocation of an investment portfolio can be an effective strategy in achieving overall portfolio goals. While the literature on portfolio leverage is robust, quantifying the amount and discussion of its limitations are often minimized. This paper focuses on the limitations by explicitly including the volatility drag from leveraging the expected portfolio returns. Maximizing the expected portfolio returns with respect to leverage results in a return-maximizing condition that balances gains from leverage with losses in the volatility drag. The return-maximizing condition is graphically illustrated over a range of investment returns to produce a return-maximizing leverage curve.
Fluoroquinolone e-testing against Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Streptococcus pneumoniae

Objectives and Design: The use of fluoroquinolones has increased against antibiotic-resistant pathogens such as Streptococcus pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The E-test (AB Biodisk, Solna, Sweden) is now commonly used for susceptibility testing of fluoroquinolones against these organisms. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the accuracy and correlation of minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) determined by E-testing with a National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards reference standard, agar-dilution MIC testing. E-test and agar dilution MICs were compared for ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin, gatifloxacin, and moxifloxacin against clinical isolates of S. pneumoniae (n = 53) and P. aeruginosa (n = 62). Main Outcome Measures: MICs were determined by use of agar dilution and E-test methods. Essential agreement was defined as MICs from both methods within ′ 1 loge dilution. Categorical agreement compared MIC interpretations: susceptible, intermediate, or resistant. Categorical disagreement between methods was reported as very major, major, or minor errors. Results: E-tests produced lower MICs than the reference method for ciprofloxacin, gatifloxacin, and moxifloxacin versus P. aeruginosa. For S. pneumoniae, E-test MICs tended to be higher for all fluoroquinolones. The best correlation between testing methods was seen with levofloxacin. Essential agreement occurred more frequently with P. aeruginosa in the lower range of MICs and with S. pneumoniae in the higher range of MICs. Categorical agreement was greater than 90% for the 460 comparisons. Two very major errors (false-susceptible) occurred for gatifloxacin versus P. aeruginosa. Conclusions: For the determination of fluoroquinolone susceptibility against S. pneumoniae and P. aeruginosa, E-testing is a simple tool for clinical use, and few very major or major errors in susceptibility interpretation occur for either organism. For determining fluoroquinolone MICs, E-testing may overestimate drug activity against P. aeruginosa and underestimate drug activity versus S. pneumoniae compared with the agar dilution method. These differences could affect appropriate antimicrobial selection, leading to suboptimal outcomes.
Immunological Approaches to Plant Cell Wall and Biomass Characterization: Glycome Profiling

The native complexity of plant cell walls makes research on them challenging. Hence, it is advantageous to have a diversity of tools that can be used to analyze and characterize plant cell walls. In this chapter, we describe one of two immunological approaches that can be employed for screening of plant cell wall/biomass materials from diverse plants and tissues. This approach, Glycome Profiling, lends itself well to moderate to high-throughput screening of plant cell wall/biomass samples. Glycome Profiling is being further optimized to reduce the amount of sample required for the analysis, and to improve the sensitivity and throughput of the assay. We are optimistic that Glycome Profiling will prove to be a broadly applicable experimental approach that will find increasing application to a wide variety of studies on plant cell wall/biomass samples.
The king's daughter: Medea in Valerius Flaccus' 'Argonautica'

Medea's awakening love for Jason is the great theme of the third book of Apollonius Rhodius' Argonautica. At the opening of that book—that is to say, at the very centre of the four-book epic—the Hellenistic poet signals a programmatic redirection, invoking the Muse Erato to inspire his tale of Jason's winning of the golden fleece, aided by the love of the Colchian princess (Мηδeίηϛ ὑπ' ἔϱωτι, Ap. Rhod. 3.3). This is the first mention of Medea in the poem. Writing a few centuries later, the Flavian poet Valerius Flaccus for the most part adheres closely to Apollonius' narrative outline. As we shall see, however, he manifests comparatively little interest in the love story between Jason and Medea, and takes a different approach to the problem of integrating Medea into the plot. Though, as with the earlier epic, she will not appear as a dramatis persona until the second half of the epic, she is mentioned at the very outset of the narrative (1.61-63), and a number of times thereafter in the early books. Thus by the time the Argonauts reach Colchis and Medea enters the narrative proper, she has already been presented to the reader in a number of ‘previews’.
Speed of Heart Rate Recovery in Response to Orthostatic Challenge

Rationale: Speed of heart rate recovery (HRR) may serve as an important biomarker of aging and mortality. Objective: To examine whether the speed of HRR after an orthostatic maneuver (ie, active stand from supine position) predicts mortality. Methods and Results: A longitudinal cohort study involving a nationally representative sample of community-dwelling older individuals aged ≥50 years. A total of 4475 participants completed an active stand at baseline as part of a detailed clinic-based cardiovascular assessment. Beat-to-beat heart rate and blood pressure responses to standing were measured during a 2-minute window using a finometer and binned in 10-s intervals. We modeled HRR to the stand by age group, cardiovascular disease burden, and mortality status using a random effects model. Mortality status during a mean follow-up duration of 4.3 years served as the primary end point (n=138). Speed of HRR in the immediate 20 s after standing was a strong predictor of mortality. A 1-bpm slower HRR between 10 and 20 s after standing increased the hazard of mortality by 6% controlling for established risk factors. A clear dose–response relationship was evident. Sixty-nine participants in the slowest HRR quartile died during the observation period compared with 14 participants in the fastest HRR quartile. Participants in the slowest recovery quartile were 2.3× more likely to die compared with those in the fastest recovery quartile. Conclusions: Speed of orthostatic HRR predicts mortality and may aid clinical decision making. Attenuated orthostatic HRR may reflect dysregulation of the parasympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system.
Material property calculation of interposer card for modeling of Package-on-Package

Package-on-Package(PoP) technology is being used for high density designed and miniaturized electronic applications. In order to develop these small and complicated structured packages, it is important to predict accurately the structural behavior under various thermal conditions. For example, the package warpage control at solder melting temperature is required for the card or sub-package assembly and also the mechanical stress of the joint needs to be taken care of for the jointing reliability. The FEM analysis has been used to understand these behaviors. To get a good model correlation with an actual package, it is most important to use the faithful material property data on the analysis model. On the other hand, if the interposer card is modeled in detail, it must have huge number of mesh and much calculation time is required to solve. The simplified model is preferable to avoid that situation. In general, each interposer card has a different property by application even the package structure to be used is same. The property is calculated to have good accuracy of the rule of mixture (ROM) that can estimate the behavior as a composite material consists of copper wiring, several resins and FR4. In this paper, the ROM was confirmed by measurement with DIC equipment on different circuitry patterned interposer cards, and the behavior dependencies on the wiring density and the warpage are discussed.
K-SRL: Instance-based Learning for Semantic Role Labeling

Semantic role labeling (SRL) is the task of identifying and labeling predicate-argument structures in sentences with semantic frame and role labels. A known challenge in SRL is the large number of low-frequency exceptions in training data, which are highly context-specific and difficult to generalize. To overcome this challenge, we propose the use of instance-based learning that performs no explicit generalization, but rather extrapolates predictions from the most similar instances in the training data. We present a variant of k-nearest neighbors (kNN) classification with composite features to identify nearest neighbors for SRL. We show that high-quality predictions can be derived from a very small number of similar instances. In a comparative evaluation we experimentally demonstrate that our instance-based learning approach significantly outperforms current state-of-the-art systems on both in-domain and out-of-domain data, reaching F1-scores of 89,28% and 79.91% respectively.
A Robust Event-Triggered Approach for Fast Sampled-Data Extremization and Learning

This paper presents a general framework for the analysis and design of a class of model-free, robust, and efficient sampled-data-based algorithms for extremization and learning in continuous-time nonlinear systems that generate response maps with an optimal operational set. In particular, we consider plants described by differential inclusions, interconnected in a sampled-data setting with a robust learning algorithm characterized by a constrained difference inclusion. In contrast to standard sampled-data-based approaches, where the learning dynamics are updated after a fixed sufficiently long sampling time has passed, we design a robust dynamic event-based mechanism that triggers the control action as soon as the rate of change of the output of the plant is sufficiently small. By using this event-based update rule, a significant improvement in the convergence time of the closed-loop system can be achieved. Using the framework of set-valued hybrid dynamical systems, we establish for the closed-loop system the existence of a uniformly asymptotically stable compact set, which, by an appropriate tuning of the control parameters, can be made arbitrarily close to the optimal operational set. Our results generalize existing results for periodic sampled-data extremum seeking, and can be used to solve model-free multivariable smooth/nonsmooth constrained optimization problems, as well as learning problems in game theoretical scenarios.
Dramaturgies of risky play: Two (risky) case studies

ABSTRACTIn this descriptive autoethnographic essay, I discuss my work on risky play as a dramaturgical framework in two recent performances for young audiences—one traditional, one site-specific—staged in the U.S. metropolitan area of Phoenix, Arizona. I directed the first, This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, This Girl Does Nothing, in February 2015, and one year later I collaborated with a youth artist to create and perform in The Light Rail Plays on the Valley Metro light rail commuter train system with Rising Youth Theatre. Through both productions, I sought to investigate potential ways in which risk might function dramaturgically in two different youth-focused performance environments. These diverse experiences taught me much about the ways in which I use risk (and its aversion) to negate and control the spaces in which I (claim to) seek to enable empowerment and action. Through this journey, I came to understand risky play as a powerful strategy to facilitate problem solving onstage.
Experimental study of permeability reduction and pore size distribution change due to asphaltene deposition during CO2 huff and puff injection in Eagle Ford shale

Many laboratory and simulation studies regarding gas injection enhanced oil recovery method in shale reservoir have been performed and shown good results. However, one problem not investigated is the asphaltene precipitation and deposition problem. In conventional reservoirs, the permeability reduction caused by asphaltene plugging and adsorption has been observed and well studied. In shale reservoirs, the deposition, if any, will be more critical. In this work, experimental studies were conducted to investigate the effect of asphaltene deposition on the pore size reduction and permeability reduction in shale core samples during the CO2 huff and puff injection process using a dead oil sample from a Wolfcamp shale reservoir. A decrement of pore with a diameter size in the range from 100 to 800 nm and an increment of pore with a diameter size smaller than 100 nm were observed after 6 cycles of CO2 huff and puff injection. The result indicates the existence of pore plugging and asphaltene adsorption during the gas injection process. The experimental results also showed a 47.5-nD permeability reduction after 6 cycles of CO2 huff and puff injection. Compared with the original permeability of the shale core, 126 nD, the permeability reduction is more than one-third of the original permeability. © 2017 Curtin University of Technology and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A Novel Method to Generate and Expand Clinical-Grade, Genetically Modified, Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes

Following the clinical success achieved with the first generation of adoptive cell therapy (ACT) utilizing in vitro expanded tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL), the second and third generations of TIL ACT are evolving towards the use of genetically-modified TIL. TIL therapy generally involves the transfer of a high number of TIL, ranging from 109 to 1011 cells. One of the technical difficulties in genetically modifying TIL, using a retroviral vector, is the ability to achieve large expansion of transduced TIL, while keeping the technique suitable to a GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) environment. Consequently, we developed and optimized a novel method for the efficient production of large numbers of GMP-grade, gene-modified TIL for the treatment of patients with ACT. The chemokine receptor CXCR2 was used as the gene of interest for methodology development. The optimized procedure is currently used in the production of gene-modified TIL for two clinical trials for the treatment of metastatic melanoma at MD Anderson Cancer Center.
Endovascular Solutions for Iliac and Lower Extremity Junctional Injuries

Hemorrhage is the second leading cause of death in trauma and non-compressible torso hemorrhage is the leading cause of preventable death within this population. Vascular injuries to the pelvis and lower extremity junctional zone may be difficult to control with direct pressure and complex to approach with open surgery. Endovascular interventions such as balloon occlusion, stenting and embolization are potential alternatives or adjuncts to traditional open surgery in patients with blunt or penetrating vascular injuries to the pelvis. This review of the literature will outline contemporary endovascular management strategies for iliac and junctional zone injuries.
Cumulants and the Contracted Schrödinger Equation

The quantum-mechanical wave function of an N-electron system contains much more information than is required to compute the expectation values for most observables. Because the interactions between electrons are pairwise within the Hamiltonian, the energy may be determined exactly through a knowledge of the two-particle reduced density matrix (2-RDM) [1, 2]. Unlike the unknown dependence of the energy on the one-particle density in density functional theory (DFT) [3], the dependence of the energy on the 2-RDM is linear. The 2-RDM, however, has not replaced the wave function as the fundamental parameter for many-body calculations because not every 2-particle density matrix is derivable from an N-particle wave function. The need for a simple set of necessary and sufficient conditions for ensuring that the 2-RDM may be represented by an N-particle wave function is known as the N-representability problem [4, 5]. Recent theoretical and computational results with the contracted Schrodinger equation (CSE), also known as the density equation, indicate that the CSE offers an accurate, versatile method for generating the 2-RDM without the wave function [6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17]. In the present article we will review the foundations of the CSE method.
Axial, Relative Motion of a Circular Step Bearing

Equations relating the flow of the lubricant and the axial motion of an externally pressurized thrust bearing are developed. The bearing is shown to be stable when the fluid is incompressible. Expressions for local stiffness and damping coefficients, useful in the evaluation of the dynamic response of the bearing, are given. An analog computer solution of the equation of motion is compared with the results of the corresponding, small displacement equation. (auth)
Is Film as a Research Tool the Future of Public Health? A Review of Study Designs, Opportunities, and Challenges:

Among public health researchers, there is growing interest in film methods due to their ability to highlight subtleties in practices, capture emotions, engage hard-to-reach populations, and advocate for social change. Still, little is known about strengths and challenges associated with using film methods in public health. This review synthesizes peer-reviewed, public health research studies that apply film methods, and describes opportunities and challenges. Of the 3,431 identified articles, 20 met the inclusion criteria. Fifteen different film methods were found that offer numerous methodological strengths, including the ability to provide rich descriptions, capture emic perspectives, increase comfort in participation, empower participants, and be used for advocacy. Future studies may explore engaging participants throughout the entire research process and using visuals created in the study to communicate findings. Keeping in mind their challenges, film methods are long overdue in public health and provide unique opportunities to capture sensory data.
New definitions of the generalized Stirling numbers

We introduce new combinatorial and algebraic definitions for the generalized Stirling numbers of Hsu and Shiue, and we use the interplay between these definitions to extend existing identities and discover new ones. We also explore how some of these results specialize to new identities of r-Whitney numbers.
A Citizenship Market

Imagine a global marketplace in which private citizens could freely swap their citizenship. Participants might agree on a pure one-for-one trade or a swap with a cash payment on one side of the deal. What might the implications of such a citizenship market be? This Article explores the possibilities in terms of individual rights and economic efficiency. The United States already comes close to selling citizenship—by prioritizing investors who bring capital with them and by pursuing reforms to quantify would-be migrants’ potential economic contributions. Other governments go further, issuing a passport in return for a cash payment. Yet these government-directed systems can make no meaningful claims of maximizing human rights or economic efficiency. By contrast, a free market for citizenship would recognize that individuals ought to be able to define their own place in the world rather than have their place in the world prescribed for them by the state or allocated to them by accident of birth. In this way, a citizenship market could be seen as advancing individual rights. Moreover, from a law-and-economic standpoint, a free-market regime for individual trading would have straightforward economic efficiency gains: People would strike mutually advantageous deals such that citizenship would be put in the hands of those who could make the most productive use of it. There are well-placed objections to a citizenship market, and this Article imagines and considers many. In wrestling with the idea of a citizenship market, this Article aims to contribute to thinking about immigration law, law-and-economics scholarship, and the multidisciplinary open-borders literature.
So you want to be an academic library director

So You Want to Be an Academic Library Director is a slim, at only 117 pages, edited volume that attempts to provide practical advice for those who are new to, or interested in, library administrati...
Observation of quantum signature in rivastigmine chemical bond break-up and quantum energetics, spectral studies of anti-Alzheimer inhibitors.

Semi-empirical calculations on the torsion potential for dihedral angle of rivastigmine linking NAP and Carbamyle moieties consistently show regions of several discontinuities and a cusp indicating...
Successful Treatment of Ocular Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia with Ibrutinib: Case Report and Review of the Literature.

Abstract Clinically apparent neurological involvement by chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), especially ocular manifestations, is rare. Standard diagnostic approaches for neurological or ocular CLL, including neuroimaging, have low yield and sensitivity and CSF flow cytometry remains the gold standard. Optical coherence tomography can yield helpful data and usually shows retinal pigment epithelial disruptions which may persist despite clinical improvement and resolution of MRI abnormalities. Our patient with ocular relapse with leukemic retinopathy and choroidal involvement was successfully treated with Ibrutinib monotherapy, lasting more than 2 years, highlighting the safety and efficacy of this agent regardless of site or type of relapse.
Between- and within-breed genetic analysis of calving traits and survival to weaning in beef cattle.

Data for gestation length, birth weight, calving difficulty (percent assisted) and survival from birth to weaning were analyzed from 4,639 calves by 290 sires of 14 Bos taurus breeds (Hereford, Angus, Jersey, South Devon, Limousin, Simmental, Charolais, Red Poll, Brown Swiss, Gelbvieh, Maine Anjou, Chianina, Pinzgauer and Tarentaise) mated to Hereford and Angus cows. The calves were produced over a 7-yr period in a germ plasm evaluation program. Variance components were estimated for breed of sire (sigma 2b), sire within breed of sire (sigma 2s) and progeny within sire (sigma 2w) random effects. Estimates of sigma 2b and sigma 2s direct genetic variance were similar for gestation length and calf survival. Estimates of sigma 2b genetic variance were greater than for sigma 2s for birth weight and calving difficulty. Estimates of total heritability [h2t = 4(sigma 2b + sigma 2s)/(4 sigma 2b + sigma 2s + sigma 2w)] and within-breed heritability (h2w = 4 sigma 2s/sigma 2s + sigma 2w) indicated that gestation length (h2t = .77, h2w = 64) and birth weight (h2t = .79, h2w = .46) are under a high degree of direct genetic control, calving difficulty (h2t = .42, h2w = .21) is under a moderate degree of direct genetic control and calf survival (h2t = .11, h2w = .07) is under a low degree of direct genetic control. Estimates of genetic correlation for between (rb) - and within-breed (rg) sources of genetic variation were comparable in direction, but tended to be stronger between than within breeds.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Nanophotonic Biomolecular Sensor with Passive Molecule Trapping Functionality

We experimentally demonstrate a nanophotonic biomolecular sensor which can passively concentrate and trap biomolecules in a drying analyte solution to regions of device structures where the field is highly enhanced, leading to improved sensing performance.
Hypocretin (Orexin) Replacement Therapies

Abstract Twenty-two years after their discovery, the hypocretins (Hcrts), also known as orexins, are two of the most studied peptidergic systems, involved in myriad physiological systems that range from sleep, arousal, motivation, homeostatic regulation, fear, anxiety and learning. A causal relationship between activity of Hcrt and arousal stability was established shortly after their discovery and have led to the development of a new class of drugs to treat insomnia. In this review we discuss the many faces of the Hcrt system and examine recent findings that implicate decreased Hcrt function in the pathogenesis of a number of neuropsychiatric conditions. We also discuss future therapeutic strategies to replace or enhance Hcrt function as a treatment option for these neuropsychiatric conditions.
Nuns as "Sponsae Christi": The Legal Status of the Medieval Oblates of Tor de' Specchi

This article examines the unusual history and legal status of the Tor de’ Specchi community, founded by Francesca Romana (d. 1440) in Rome, in the face of shifting expectations for religious women in Counter-Reformation Catholicism. It is argued that Francesca Romana had sought to carve out a religious path for women distinct from that of nuns as brides of Christ (‘sponsae Christi’). The article demonstrates the community's difficulties in maintaining this way of life in the face of Pope Pius V's 1566 bull Circa Pastoralis, which extended the Council of Trent's 1563 decrees on enclosure (clausura) to all nuns of every order.
A Microphone Calibration Scheme for Cough Sound Analysis and Diagnosis

A self-calibration system implemented as part of an audio signal processing mobile app with dithering and digital filtering is presented for cough sound analysis and subsequent remote diagnosis of the type of cough cause, the cough itself can be due to different conditions such as chemical irritation, emphysema, pneumonia, bacterial or viral infection. The algorithm will produce a signal that normalizes the input cough sound irrespective of the type of smartphone used, the computed information makes analysis possible with audio signal collected from microphones produced by different manufacturers that may exhibit different sonic properties.
Methylomic Investigation of Problematic Adolescent Cannabis Use and Its Negative Mental Health Consequences.

Objective The impact of adolescent cannabis use is a pressing public health question owing to the high rates of use and links to negative outcomes. This study considered the association between problematic adolescent cannabis use and methylation. Method Using an enrichment-based sequencing approach, a methylome-wide association study (MWAS) was performed of problematic adolescent cannabis use in 703 adolescent samples from the Great Smoky Mountain Study. Using epigenomic deconvolution, MWASs were performed for the main cell types in blood: granulocytes, T cells, B cells, and monocytes. Enrichment testing was conducted to establish overlap between cannabis-associated methylation differences and variants associated with negative mental health effects of adolescent cannabis use. Results Whole-blood analyses identified 45 significant CpGs, and cell type–specific analyses yielded 32 additional CpGs not identified in the whole-blood MWAS. Significant overlap was observed between the B-cell MWAS and genetic studies of education attainment and intelligence. Furthermore, the results from both T cells and monocytes overlapped with findings from an MWAS of psychosis conducted in brain tissue. Conclusion In one of the first methylome-wide association studies of adolescent cannabis use, several methylation sites located in genes of importance for potentially relevant brain functions were identified. These findings resulted in several testable hypotheses by which cannabis-associated methylation can impact neurological development and inflammation response as well as potential mechanisms linking cannabis-associated methylation to potential downstream mental health effects.
Effect of metformin on the high‐density lipoprotein proteome in youth with type 1 diabetes

Background Youth with type 1 diabetes (T1D) have normal or elevated High-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol (HDL-C), however, the function of HDL, partly mediated by the HDL proteome, may be impaired. Metformin can be used as an adjunct therapy in youth with T1D, but its effects on the HDL proteome are unknown. Objective To determine the effect of metformin on the HDL proteome. Subjects Youth (12-20 years old) with T1D who had a BMI > 90th percentile, HbA1c > 8.0% and Tanner stage 5. Methods Double-blinded, placebo-controlled randomized sub-study. We examined the effects of metformin (n = 25) or placebo (n = 10) after 6 months on HDL proteome. Changes in HDL proteins were measured by data-independent acquisition (DIA) mass spectrometry and compared between treatment groups. As a secondary outcome, associations between proteins of interest and the most studied function of HDL, the cholesterol efflux capacity (CEC), was examined. Results The relative abundance of 84 HDL-associated proteins were measured. Two proteins were significantly affected by metformin treatment, peptidoglycan recognition protein 2 (PGRP2; +23.4%, p = .0058) and alpha-2-macroglobulin (A2MG; +29.8%, p = .049). Metformin did not significantly affect CEC. Changes in affected HDL proteins did not correlate with CEC. Conclusions Despite having little effect on HDL-C, metformin increased PGRP2 and A2MG protein on HDL in youth with T1D, but had no significant effect on CEC. Further studies are needed to understand the impact of PGRP2 and A2MG on other HDL functions.
Improving Communication with Public Officials on Social Media: Proposals for Protecting Social Media Users’ First Amendment Rights

Government officials undermine a key platform for communication with the public when they block users or delete their comments on social media. Those actions also often run afoul of the First Amendment. To address a problem that exists at all levels of government, this report by Fordham Law School's Democracy Clinic recommends legislation that bans public officials using social media for official purposes from blocking users or deleting their comments, except when comments are unprotected by the First Amendment.
The somatic molecular evolution of cancer: Mutation, selection, and epistasis

Abstract Cancer progression has been attributed to somatic changes in single-nucleotide variants, copy-number aberrations, loss of heterozygosity, chromosomal instability, epistatic interactions, and the tumor microenvironment. It is not entirely clear which of these changes are essential and which are ancillary to cancer. The dynamic nature of cancer evolution in a patient can be illuminated using several concepts and tools from classical evolutionary biology. Neutral mutation rates in cancer cells are calculable from genomic data such as synonymous mutations, and selective pressures are calculable from rates of fixation occurring beyond the expectation by neutral mutation and drift. However, these cancer effect sizes of mutations are complicated by epistatic interactions that can determine the likely sequence of gene mutations. In turn, longitudinal phylogenetic analyses of somatic cancer progression offer an opportunity to identify key moments in cancer evolution, relating the timing of driver mutations to corresponding landmarks in the clinical timeline. These analyses reveal temporal aspects of genetic and phenotypic change during tumorigenesis and across clinical timescales. Using a related framework, clonal deconvolution, physical locations of clones, and their phylogenetic relations can be used to infer tumor migration histories. Additionally, genetic interactions with the tumor microenvironment can be analyzed with longstanding approaches applied to organismal genotype-by-environment interactions. Fitness landscapes for cancer evolution relating to genotype, phenotype, and environment could enable more accurate, personalized therapeutic strategies. An understanding of the trajectories underlying the evolution of neoplasms, primary, and metastatic tumors promises fundamental advances toward accurate and personalized predictions of therapeutic response.
Designing a Podcast Platform for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Users

Listening to podcasts is a popular way for people to spend their time. However, little focus has been given to how accessible podcast platforms are for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing (DHH) people. We present a DHH-centered accessible podcast platform prototype developed with user-centered design. Our proposed design was constructed through semi-structured interviews (n=7) and prototype design feedback sessions (n=8) with DHH users. We encourage podcast platform designers to adopt our design recommendations to make podcasts more inclusive for DHH people and recommend how podcast hosts can make their shows more accessible.
Jobs and family relations: Use of computers and mobile phones among Hispanic day laborers in Seattle

This paper presents the results of a research project on the use of computers and mobile phones by Hispanic day laborers at Casa Latina, a non-profit organization in Seattle, Washington. Drawing from over 100 interviews, participatory observations and a focus group, we found that information and communication technologies (ICT) help immigrant day laborers to remain connected with their families and their employers. Mobile phones complement but do not replace the use of computers: mobile phones are used primarily to obtain jobs, while computers and the Internet are used mostly to communicate with family and friends. The results of this study offer new insight regarding the way day laborers use ICT to facilitate their navigation and integration into society as immigrants with precarious existences in the US. This study can also inform programs to help provide better support services and training that can effectively meet the needs of these extremely underserved populations.
Tribunal Discourse and Intercourse: How the International Courts Speak to One Another

This Article analyzes the development of a common law for international tribunals through the interpretation of applicable treaties and the interpretation of customary law—a decidedly difacult and amorphous process. The author notes there has been signiacant development in the common law of the tribunals, but that there is still a long way to go, especially on the issue of when a court should simply interpret or apply existing law and when it should “legislate” or create new law. The Article also examines the less formal rules and practices beyond formal judgments, the “soft” law and practices, which are indispensable to the continued existence of international tribunals. This Article suggests “soft” law and practices may turn out to be more inouential in the overall record of these courts than the jurisprudence. I. Thoughts on the Relationship Between Common Law and Customary Law First, I want to clarify the relationship between what we think of as common law and the customary law norms that restrain international criminal courts in varying degrees. In our Anglo-Saxon legal tradition, common law develops from the accretion of court decisions dealing with similar problems, and through a process of reaning, expanding, and distinguishing among those situations, principles of law emerge. Sometimes these principles are codiaed into statutory law, but often they are not. In the criminal law area, common law has * Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, 1979– 1999 (ret.); Chief Judge, 1986–1991; Judge, International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (1999–2001); LL.B. Yale Law School, 1951. This article is a transcript of a speech presented at “Sharpening the Cutting Edge of International Human Rights Law: Unresolved Issues of War Crimes Tribunals,” a symposium on war crimes tribunals at the Boston College Law School on March 24, 2006. The speech has been edited for clarity and has not been fully cited.
The Role of Commission Rates and Specialization in the Determination of Real Estate Agent Income

This paper explores the performance of residential real estate agents and the commission structure under which they operate. This study reveals the interrelationship among the number of properties sold by an agent, the dollar volume of sales, and real estate agent income. This research shows that the ability to generate listings is essential to generating higher levels of income in residential real estate sales. The listings become the platform from which agents leverage their human capital in the generation of income. However, the ability to generate listings is a skill related to experience, as well as to the firm and market environment.
Science review: Apoptosis in acute lung injury

Apoptosis is a process of controlled cellular death whereby the activation of specific death-signaling pathways leads to deletion of cells from tissue. The importance of apoptosis resides in the fact that several steps involved in the modulation of apoptosis are susceptible to therapeutic intervention. In the present review we examine two important hypotheses that link apoptosis with the pathogenesis of acute lung injury in humans. The first of these, namely the 'neutrophilic hypothesis', suggests that during acute inflammation the cytokines granulocyte colony-stimulating factor and granulocyte/macrophage colony-stimulating factor prolong the survival of neutrophils, and thus enhance neutrophilic inflammation. The second hypothesis, the 'epithelial hypothesis', suggests that epithelial injury in acute lung injury is associated with apoptotic death of alveolar epithelial cells triggered by soluble mediators such as soluble Fas ligand. We also review recent studies that suggest that the rate of clearance of apoptotic neutrophils may be associated with resolution of neutrophilic inflammation in the lungs, and data showing that phagocytosis of apoptotic neutrophils can induce an anti-inflammatory phenotype in activated alveolar macrophages.
Iranâ€™s WTO accession and the auto industry

Iranâ€™s auto industry faces with severe challenges in the post globalization era since it has enjoyed a high degree of protectionism for more than decades now. Infant industry policy beside the international sanctions has paralyzed the industry, limiting the ability of Iranian products to compete in the international markets, creating adverse selection for consumers in the domestic market.WTOâ€™s accession requires a sharp reduction in tariff rates whereas Iranâ€™s auto industry has been subject to a high level of protection. To investigate the impact of WTO accession on the auto industry this paper tries casts light not only on the quantitative effects of reducing tariff rates on imports and domestic production through econometric models, but also highlights the inconsistencies of Iranâ€™s regulatory system with GATT articles.
Measurement of Time Varying Volume Scatter

Abstract : The major long-term scientific goal of this program is to understand the small-scale optical properties of the ocean. This includes the spatial and temporal inhomogeneities that occur naturally over scales from km to mm. The importance of this area of inquiry is underscored by both environmental and practical concerns. In an environmental context, the radiative transfer of light in the ocean is dependent on not only the average but also the small scale (cm - m) optical properties. The role that these inhomogeneities play in light transmission is unexplored to due a lack of in-situ data. In a practical sense, improved characterization of the environment is critical in understanding and predicting the outcome of Navy systems that are in and also planned for use.
4 – Interactions Involving Polar Molecules

This chapter explores the interactions that involve polar molecules. Dipolar or polar molecules are the molecules that posses an electric dipole. The dipoles of some molecules depend on their environment and can change substantially when they are transferred from one medium to another, especially when molecules become ionized in a solvent. When two polar molecules are near each other, there is a dipole–dipole interaction between them that is analogous to that between two magnets. Polarity can also arise from internal charge displacements within a molecule, producing zwitterionic molecules or groups. In larger molecules, or “macromolecules,” such as proteins, the net dipole moment is usually made up of a distribution of positive and negative charges at various locations of the molecules. The chapter discusses electrostatic pair interaction between a charged atom and a polar molecule. The chapter explains strong ion–dipole interactions in water. The solvation forces, structural forces, and hydration forces are also explained. The chapter concludes with a discussion on dipole–dipole interactions.
A Local Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics

A local interpretation of quantum mechanics is presented. Its main ingredients are: first, a label attached to one of the “virtual” paths in the path integral formalism, determining the output for measurement of position or momentum; second, a mathematical model for spin states, equivalent to the path integral formalism for point particles in space time, with the corresponding label. The mathematical machinery of orthodox quantum mechanics is maintained, in particular amplitudes of probability and Born’s rule; therefore, Bell’s type inequalities theorems do not apply. It is shown that statistical correlations for pairs of particles with entangled spins have a description completely equivalent to the two slit experiment, that is, interference (wave like behaviour) instead of non locality gives account of the process. The interpretation is grounded in the experimental evidence of a point like character of electrons, and in the hypothetical existence of a wave like, the de Broglie, companion system. A correspondence between the extended Hilbert spaces of hidden physical states and the orthodox quantum mechanical Hilbert space shows the mathematical equivalence of both theories. Paradoxical behaviour with respect to the action reaction principle is analysed, and an experimental set up, modified two slit experiment, proposed to look for the companion system.
Toxoplasmosis, antibody level, and pregnancy outcome.

Abstract A significantly greater incidence of abortions occurred in patients whose postpartum blood sera had a high antibody titer for toxoplasmosis than in those with low or negative serum levels. This finding, as well as the identification of 3 women who habitually aborted for unknown cause, out of 89 subjects with titers of 1,024 or more, gives further support to the need for isolation studies to document the role of Toxoplasma gondii in spontaneous abortion. This survey revealed approximately 25 per cent incidence of infection with Toxoplasma gondii in women in the childbearing age in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. Routine pediatric newborn examination yielded one infant with a congenital anomaly who was suspect for acute congenital toxoplasmosis. At least 9 other subjects in the high antibody titer group had pregnancy histories suggesting the possible relation of the parasite to abnormal pregnancy outcome. Review of total pregnancy history of patients having antibody level of 1,024 or more has identified a series of infants for follow-up investigation for subclinical congenital toxoplasmosis.
En-ring categories

We show that a category A with a coherent ring structure determines a ring spectrum EA whose zeroth space is an additive group completion of the classifying space BA. This contains May's result that a bipermutative category determines an E∞ ring spectrum. It also implies that a braided bimonoidal category determines an E2 ring spectrum. If X is an En-space, we also construct a ring category A whose associated ring spectrum EA is the En ring spectrum QX +, the stable homotopy of X−.