cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Resurgent Parenthood: Organic Domestic Ideals and the Southern Family Roots of Conservative Ascendancy, 1980–2005

Accounts that focus on the “southernization” of the Republican Party and the subsequent conservative ascendance in American party politics emphasize the role of race and civil rights issues, or battles over sex and gender, but none analyze the significance of family in shaping this partisan rightward shift. Meanwhile, literatures in fields other than party politics have engaged family more centrally, highlighting the rising salience of parents to legal and political development. This article connects and contributes to these literatures by analyzing the impact of parenthood and family on political party development. I demonstrate the increasing salience of “parents” as a political ideal in late twentieth-century policy discourse, reveal an overarching organic family frame in which it was used, and trace this frame to Southern domestic ideals and to the growing importance of the South to the Republican Party. In so doing I provide a “family-centered” account of the late twentieth-century conservative ascendancy and suggest the centrality of family – and parenthood – in defining it.
Relationship between insurance and 30-day readmission rates in patients 65 years and older discharged from an acute care hospital with hospice services

BACKGROUND Patients who are dual eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid have previously been shown to have increased healthcare utilization and cost. However, this relationship has not been examined for patients at the end of life. Dual eligible patients enrolled in hospice may receive more comprehensive care in the community, reducing readmissions in the final weeks or months of life. OBJECTIVE Determine whether patients who have dual coverage with Medicare and Medicaid and are discharged with referral to hospice services after palliative care consult during their hospitalization differ in their 30-day readmission rate compared with similar patients with other types of insurance. DESIGN Retrospective cohort study. SETTING Three acute care hospitals affiliated with Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, New York. PATIENTS In total, 2755 inpatients who received palliative care consultation and were discharged with hospice services. PREDICTOR Dual eligible for Medicare and Medicaid compared with other insurance status. MEASUREMENTS: Readmission to Montefiore Medical Center for any reason within 30 days of the index admission. RESULTS Overall, 9.24% of patients with dual Medicare and Medicaid coverage were readmitted within 30 days compared with 13.12% of others (adjusted odds ratio: 0.77; 95% confidence interval: 0.59-0.98; P = 0.041). CONCLUSIONS Dual eligibility for Medicare and Medicaid is associated with lower 30-day readmission rates in patients enrolled in a hospice program. Insurance coverage that increases access to custodial care (home attendant hours and residential care) may help decrease burdensome hospital readmissions near the end of life. Journal of Hospital Medicine 2016. © 2016 Society of Hospital Medicine
Gallstone disease and pancreatitis in pregnancy.

SUMMARY Controversy exists over whether pregnancy is a risk factor for gallstone formation; however, changes in hepatobiliary function do occur during pregnancy to create a lithogenic environment; these changes include gallbladder stasis and secretion of bile with increased amounts of cholesterol and decreased amounts of chenodeoxycholic acid. In women with existing gallstones, pregnancy may bring out symptoms, including pain and even acute cholecystitis. This may be more common during the postpartum period than during pregnancy itself; however, the overall occurrence of symptomatic biliary disease in association with pregnancy is low. The effects of pregnancy, if any, on pancreatic exocrine function are undefined. Acute pancreatitis can occur during pregnancy but does not appear to do so with either increased or, alternatively, decreased frequency. The concept of pancreatitis caused by pregnancy per se is not valid, although in susceptible women with lipid disorders, hypertriglyceridemia can occur and serve as an etiologic factor. Gallstones are a common cause of pancreatitis, but in contrast to nonpregnant women, alcohol is unusual as a cause. Although the presentation of both acute cholecystitis and acute pancreatitis may be similar to that in the nonpregnant state, the differential diagnosis of both these disorders is expanded because of unique pregnancy-related conditions and the shift of abdominal viscera by the enlarging uterus. The diagnosis is clinical and supported with conventional laboratory studies and ultrasound; management is supportive and in most patients successful. Cholecystectomy is seldom necessary during pregnancy, either for acute cholecystitis or gallstone pancreatitis, but can be safely performed if necessary after the first trimester. Endoscopic papillotomy and stone removal for choledocholithiasis are possible during pregnancy and may be the treatment of choice for this unusual condition. Specific enteral or parenteral nutrition may be necessary in women with pancreatitis associated with hypertriglyceridemia.
Effect of Linker Length on Selectivity and Cooperative Reactivity in Platinum-Catalyzed Asymmetric Alkylation of Bis(phenylphosphino)alkanes

The selectivity of catalytic asymmetric transformations of bifunctional symmetrical substrates often depends on the linker between the two reactive sites. If the catalyst controls the selectivity of reactions at both sites, the rac product will be formed in high enantiomeric ratio (er) via asymmetric amplification. Substrate control may augment this selectivity (positive cooperativity) or detract from it (negative cooperativity). Here, we investigated the effect of linker length on the selectivity of catalytic asymmetric alkylation of the bis(secondary phosphines) PhHP(CH2)nPHPh (n = 2–6; 1a–e) with benzyl bromide using the base NaOSiMe3 and the catalyst precursor Pt((R,R)-Me-DuPhos)(Ph)(Cl). These reactions yielded the diastereomerically and enantiomerically enriched bis(tertiary phosphines) Ph(PhCH2)P(CH2)nP(CH2Ph)Ph (n = 2–6, 2a–e). Pt-catalyzed benzylation of the model phosphines PH(Ph)((CH2)nH) (n = 2–6; 4a–e) gave enantiomerically enriched P(CH2Ph)(Ph)((CH2)nH) (n = 2–6; 5a–e). The partially alkylat...
The Exceptionally Warm Winter of 2015/16 in Alaska

AbstractAlaska experienced record-setting warmth during the 2015/16 cold season (October–April). Statewide average temperatures exceeded the period-of-record mean by more than 4°C over the 7-month cold season and by more than 6°C over the 4-month late-winter period, January–April. The record warmth raises two questions: 1) Why was Alaska so warm during the 2015/16 cold season? 2) At what point in the future might this warmth become typical if greenhouse warming continues? On the basis of circulation analogs computed from sea level pressure and 850-hPa geopotential height fields, the atmospheric circulation explains less than half of the anomalous warmth. The warming signal forced by greenhouse gases in climate models accounts for about 1°C of the anomalous warmth. A factor that is consistent with the seasonal and spatial patterns of the warmth is the anomalous surface state. The surface anomalies include 1) above-normal ocean surface temperatures and below-normal sea ice coverage in the surrounding seas f...
Abstract TMP69: Association Between Skilled Nursing Facility Quality Indicators and Hospital Readmissions After Stroke

Background: Reducing readmission within 30 days of hospital discharge is a national priority. Care in high-quality skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) could lower readmission rates, but its impact on stroke readmissions at the community level has not been assessed. We evaluated the relationships of SNF quality metrics with readmissions within 30 days of stroke discharge Methods: We used 2010-2012 data from the CMS Nursing Home Compare 5-star quality rating system of 4 metrics (health inspections, quality performance, and registered nurse and total staffing hours/resident/day; each rated from 1 to 4 stars). Hospital 30-day risk-standardized readmission rates after ischemic stroke were obtained from CMS Hospital Compare. Hospital and SNF zip codes were used to aggregate data to the healthcare community level (defined by NCHS Health Service Areas). We fit mixed models, weighted by community-specific total hospital discharges, to evaluate the relationship between community-specific SNF quality ratings and readmissions. Results: There were 1,813 healthcare communities with a total of 1,170,817 residents across 11,989 SNFs and 2,603 unique hospitals. Within a community, there was a median of 4 SNFs per hospital. Among 482,124 discharges for stroke during the study period, the median community-specific hospital 30-day readmission rate was 13.3% (IQR 1.62). An increase of 1 star for each of the 4 metrics in the SNF quality composite was associated with a 0.42% decrease in the stroke readmission rate (figure). Among the individual metrics, only the registered nurse and total nurse staffing measures were associated with lower stroke readmissions. Conclusions: Hospitals located in healthcare communities with higher-performing SNFs had lower 30-day readmission rates after stroke. Efforts to increase SNF nurse staffing levels may represent an opportunity to decrease 30-day readmissions after stroke.
Computational Models and Psychological Reality

The main claim of this chapter and the next is that all psychologically plausible parsing models either represent or embody a grammar. I substantiate this claim by surveying top-down, bottom-up, and left-corner parsing algorithms, illustrating the ways in which they can draw on explicit representations of grammatical principles. I then discuss the Parsing as Deduction approach, wherein a proof procedure takes the rules of a grammar as axioms and derives MPMs as theorems, using a subpersonal analogue of natural deduction. This constitutes the most concrete implementation of the idea that the HSPM draws on syntactic principles as data. Finally, I turn to three strategies for dealing with the massive structural ambiguity that any parser will encounter in the input stream. Resource-based approaches emphasize parsing heuristics that minimize the use of computational resources, like short-term memory. Frequency-based approaches use statistical analyses of corpuses and treebanks to guide parsing decisions. Grammar-based approaches appeal directly to Minimalist syntactic principles in accounting for the HSPM’s behavior in the face of ambiguity. The latter possibility is particularly exciting, as it would show that a Minimalist grammar is not only suitable for describing abstract formal relations, but also the real-time operation of psychological mechanisms.
Secretion of the Shiga toxin B subunit (Stx1B) via an autotransporter protein optimizes the protective immune response to the antigen expressed in an attenuated E. coli (rEPEC E22Δler) vaccine strain.

Abstract We previously developed attenuated rabbit enteropathogenic E. coli (rEPEC) strains which are effective oral vaccines against their parent pathogens by deleting le r, a global regulator of virulence genes. To use these strains as orally administered vectors to deliver other antigens we incorporated the B subunit of shiga-like toxin 1(Stx1) into the passenger domain of the autotransporter EspP expressed on a plasmid. Native EspP enters the periplasm where its passenger domain is exported to the bacterial surface through an outer membrane channel formed by its translocator domain, then cleaved and secreted. Since antigen localization may determine immunogenicity, we engineered derivatives of EspP expressing Stx1B- passenger domain fusions: 1. in cytoplasm 2. in periplasm, 3. surface-attached or 4. secreted. To determine which construct was most immunogenic, rabbits were immunized with attenuated O103 E. coli strain (E22 Δler) alone or expressing Stx1B in each of the above four cellular locations. IgG responses to Stx1B, and toxin-neutralizing antibodies were measured. Animals were challenged with a virulent rabbit Enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) strain of a different serogroup (O15) than the vaccine strain expressing Stx1 (RDEC-H19) and their clinical course observed. IgG responses to Stx1B subunit were induced in all animals vaccinated with the strain secreting Stx1B, in some vaccinated with surface-expressed Stx1B, but in not animals immunized with periplasmic or cytoplasmic Stx1B. Robust protection was observed only in the group immunized with the vaccine secreting Stx1B. Taken together, our data suggest that secretion of Stx1B, or other antigens, via an autotransporter, may maximize the protective response to live attenuated oral vaccine strains.
Spatial and Temporal Scales of Range Expansion in Wild Phaseolus vulgaris.

The wild progenitor of common-bean has an exceptionally large distribution from northern Mexico to northwestern Argentina, unusual among crop wild progenitors. This research sought to document major events of range expansion that led to this distribution and associated environmental changes. Through the use of genotyping-by-sequencing (∼20,000 SNPs) and geographic information systems applied to a sample of 246 accessions of wild Phaseolus vulgaris, including 157 genotypes of the Mesoamerican, 77 of the southern Andean, and 12 of the Northern Peru-Ecuador gene pools, we identified five geographically distinct subpopulations. Three of these subpopulations belong to the Mesoamerican gene pool (Northern and Central Mexico, Oaxaca, and Southern Mexico, Central America and northern South America) and one each to the Northern Peru-Ecuador (PhI) and the southern Andean gene pools. The five subpopulations were distributed in different floristic provinces of the Neotropical seasonally dry forest and showed distinct distributions for temperature and rainfall resulting in decreased local potential evapotranspiration (PhI and southern Andes groups) compared with the two Mexican groups. Three of these subpopulations represent long-distance dispersal events from Mesoamerica into Northern Peru-Ecuador, southern Andes, and Central America and Colombia, in chronological order. Of particular note is that the dispersal to Northern Peru-Ecuador markedly predates the dispersal to the southern Andes (∼400 vs. ∼100 ky), consistent with the ancestral nature of the phaseolin seed protein and chloroplast sequences observed in the PhI group. Seed dispersal in common bean can be, therefore, described at different spatial and temporal scales, from localized, annual seed shattering to long-distance, evolutionarily rare migration.
Ovarian Stimulation in Poor Responders: Have We Made Progress?

Background Poor ovarian responders (POR) pose a challenge to a physicians' ability to choose a stimulation protocol that maximizes the number of oocytes harvested and their chances of conception with multiple protocols aimed at improving pregnancy rates in this poor prognosis population. The Bologna criteria standardized the diagnosis of POR and allows for a more homogenous patient population in clinical trials. Methods A structured review of the literature, which encompasses research on Bologna-defined POR, identified several proposed protocols to optimize pregnancy rates in poor responders. In addition, we reviewed the utility of utilizing oocyte quality enhancers such as luteal pre-treatment, coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), dihydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), and growth hormone (GH). Conclusion Controlled ovarian stimulation strategies with adjuvant aromatase inhibitors and clomiphene citrate have shown similar pregnancy outcomes to higher dose gonadotropin in GnRH antagonist protocols. While the standardization of Bologna defined POR has allowed for more comparable patient populations to study the effectiveness of different protocols for ovarian stimulation, there is currently no convincing data that has determined the ideal protocol for controlled ovarian stimulation in this patient population. Further research is needed to identify optimal treatment strategies.
Who's Afraid of the Imperative Mandate?

The imperative mandate is a medieval institution that arose in a context in which power was not monopolized by the state, but rather distributed in a plurality of municipalities and assemblies with specific political authority. This system, based on the plurality of the authority of assemblies, is incompatible with the modern state. Indeed, it is explicitly forbidden in many modern Western constitutions. Yet the imperative mandate appears in numerous events throughout modernity that have challenged the principles of the nation-state. It emerges today in populist movements as a response to the crisis of the representative democracy. This essay locates the insurgent legacy of the imperative mandate in the Paris Commune, in the German councils, and in the Zapatistas’ practice of mandar obedeciendo (rule by obeying), in order to consider possible democratic alternatives to representative democracy and the crisis of the nation-state.
Comparison of axial and instantaneous videokeratographic data in keratoconus and utility in contact lens curvature prediction

PURPOSE Instantaneous radius of curvature data in corneal videokeratoscopy better represents corneal shape and local curvature changes in keratoconus than axial maps, especially in the periphery. Knowledge of instantaneous radius is especially important in keratoconus for analysis of the cone apex, which is often decentered. In this study, we quantitatively compared axial and instantaneous displays of videokeratographic data in keratoconus, with emphasis on apex curvature and position. We assessed the utility of instantaneous data for rigid gas permeable (RGP) contact lens curvature selection and compared it with data derived from the original axial displays in keratoconus. METHODS We performed modern placido-based videokeratography on 35 eyes with clinically diagnosed keratoconus. We derived the apex curvature, the position of the apex relative to the center of the map, and the steep simulated keratometry (SIM-K) reading from axial and instantaneous videokeratographic displays. We also collected the RGP base curves for 28 eyes that were fit with a minimal apical bearing or clearance RGP contact lens. RESULTS The instantaneous apex was consistently located closer to the center of the map than the axial apex. Means (and standard deviations) for the best fit RGP base curve, axial steep SIM-K, axial apex curvature, instantaneous steep SIM-K, and instantaneous apex curvature were 52.00 D +/- 5.92 D, 50.93 D +/- 5.94 D, 54.81 D +/- 7.14 D, 49.19 D +/- 5.54 D, and 56.86 D +/- 7.89 D, respectively. Statistical comparisons revealed axial steep SIM-K to best represent the RGP base curve for the entire group. Similarly, in the subset of patients with apex decentrations within 1 mm of the map center, the axial steep SIM-K best represented the RGP base curve. In the remaining decentered cone subset, the axial apex curvature best represented the base curve. CONCLUSIONS Axial and instantaneous maps differ significantly in apical position and apex curvature in keratoconus. Although instantaneous radius may better represent corneal shape, axial curvatures better predict the final RGP base curve in keratoconus patients.
An Overview of the Translational Dilemma and the Need for Translational Systems Biology of Inflammation

The translational dilemma, i.e., the difficulty in achieving effective translation of basic mechanistic biomedical knowledge into effective therapeutics, is the greatest challenge in biomedical research. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the reductionist approaches to understanding and manipulating the acute inflammatory response in the settings of sepsis, trauma/hemorrhage, wound healing, and related processes such as host–pathogen interactions. Despite numerous advances in defining novel molecules, pathways, and mechanisms, these advances remain, in general, in scientific silos that are poorly connected and lacking interoperability, reflected in the dearth of available therapeutics for these deadly diseases. We suggest that complex systems and computational biology methods and approaches have advanced sufficiently to allow for knowledge generation, knowledge integration, and clinical translation in the settings of complex diseases related to the inflammatory response. This book brings together the current state of the art in complex systems and computational biology as applied to inflammatory diseases.
Comparison of Mainframe and Minicomputer Spectral Analysis Codes in the Activation Analysis of Geological Samples

In recent years, small laboratory computers for the acquisition and reduction of gamma-ray spectra have increased in capacity, speed and versatility to the point that they are comparable in many capabilities to the main frame computers of a few years ago. Several computer-based gamma-ray spectrometer systems using computers having memories of 256 kilobytes and hard disk bulk storage devices are now available. Generally supplied with these systems are applications software packages for gamma-ray spectra peak location and peak area determination. There has been a question among gamma-ray spectroscopists as to whether or not any of these codes are as accurate as the vintage main frame computer codes which have been the mainstay of gamma-ray spectroscopy for the past ten to fifteen years. This paper presents a comparison study of one of the most widely used main frame codes, GAMANL, and the applications software supplied with the Nuclear Data 6620 gamma-ray spectroscopy system.
Decasia as Audiovisual Elegy

Decasia (2001), video artist Bill Morrison and composer Michael Gordon’s most critically acclaimed collaboration, consists of assembled archival footage from nitrate film prints in various stages o...
Dynamic Regulation of Hematopoietic Stem Cells by Bone Marrow Niches

Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) reside in a specialized microenvironment called the HSC niche. While key components of the niche have been known for several years, recent advances have identified several additional cell types that regulate HSC in the bone marrow (BM). Here, we review our current understanding of the components and dynamics of the HSC niche. While the niche has been considered a stable structure, recent advances clearly show that the niche is regulated in a dynamic manner to control HSC traffic and function. Moreover, the niche can rapidly remodel in response to insults to the BM in a process controlled by positive and negative regulators. Multiple niche cells have been shown to be dynamically regulated by systemic and local signals to influence how the niche controls HSC function. Elucidating how different components of the niche coordinate to orchestrate HSC behavior is essential to understand how the hematopoietic system adjusts blood cell production to the demands of the body.
Abstract 1014: Pharmacological modulation of PDAC stroma to enhance checkpoint blockade immunotherapy

Sonic hedgehog signaling pathway is an important regulator during the initiation and progression of pancreatic cancer, and sustained activation of this pathway contributes to excessive deposition of tumor stroma and maintenance of tumor-initiating cells. Cyclopamine (CPA) is a potent inhibitor of the SHH pathway. In this work, we encapsulated both paclitaxel (PTX) and CPA in a long-circulating polymeric micelles to obtain M-CPA/PTX. In a genetically engineered mouse model of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) (KPC model), systemic administration of M-CPA/PTX significantly prolonged the median survival of mice with well-established tumors from 23 days with nab-paclitaxel or gemcitabine to 58 days post-enrollment (p Citation Format: Jun Zhao, Zhilan Xiao, Willem Overwijk, Chun Li. Pharmacological modulation of PDAC stroma to enhance checkpoint blockade immunotherapy [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 1014.
Is There Feminism in Saudi Arabia

The use of the word feminism might be problematic in trying to describe women’s movement in Saudi Arabia because of historical and social factors associated with the feminist movement. Feminism is a movement that developed out of Western context and discourse, therefore it might not properly describe what is taking place in Saudi Arabia. A comparison between women’s movements in Saudi Arabia and the Western feminist movement reveals important differences. This, however, does not mean that Saudis are not preoccupied by the theme of justice as it pertains to gender issues. The aim of this research is thus to challenge the view that Saudi women have no agency and to explore the ways they seek to shape their society and challenge oppressive systems from within their own culture and worldview. This research will discuss why feminist theory may not be the ideal, and certainly not the only system that can address oppressive systems in non-Western societies, including Saudi Arabia. Additionally, this research will describe and analyze the ways in which Saudi women are working towards defining their own views of equity and creating women's movement within their society.
Quantifying the impacts of dams on riverine hydrology under non-stationary conditions using incomplete data and Gaussian copula models

Abstract Across the world, the assessment of environmental impacts attributable to infrastructure and development projects often require a comparison between observed post-impact outcomes with what “would have happened” in the absence of the impact (i.e., the counterfactual). Environmental impact assessment (EIA) methods traditionally determine the counterfactual based on strong assumptions of stationarity (e.g., using before and after comparisons) and can be particularly challenging to use in the context of substantial data gaps, a vexing problem when combining several time-series data from different sources. Here we propose and test a widely applicable statistical approach for quantifying environmental impacts that avoids the stationarity assumption and circumvents issues associated with data gaps. Specifically, we used a Gaussian Copula (GC) model to assess the hydrological impacts of the Tucurui dam on the Tocantins River in the Brazilian Amazon. Using multi-source water level and climate data, GC predictions of pre-dam hydrology for the validation period were excellent (Nash-Sutcliffe coefficients of 0.83 to 0.98 and 93–96% of observations within the 95% predictive intervals). In the post-dam period, the river had higher dry-season water levels both upstream and downstream relative to the predicted counterfactual, and the timing and duration of wet-season drawdown was delayed and extended, substantially altering the flood pulse. These impacts were evident as far as 176 km away from the dam, highlighting widespread hydrological impacts. The GC model outperformed standard multiple regression models in representing predictive uncertainty while also avoiding the stationarity assumption and circumventing the issue of sparse and incomplete data. We thus believe the GC approach has wide utility for integrating disparate time-series data to quantify the impacts of dams and other anthropogenic phenomena on riverine hydrology globally.
Linear Fractional Prologue

Linear fractional transformations appear in this book at several different levels. Most frequently they play the traditional role of conformal changes of variable, allowing discs to be replaced by half-planes, and arbitrary points to be regarded as the origin. At a deeper level the linear fractional mappings that take the unit disc into itself provide a class of tractable examples diverse enough to reflect much of the character of more general situations. In fact, the Linear Fractional Model Theorem proclaims that every univalent self-map of the disc is conjugate (in a sense to be made precise in Chapters 6 and 8) to a linear fractional map.
Persistence of Biological Control Agents in Waterhyacinth Following Herbicide Application

In Florida, waterhyacinth (Pontederia [Eichhornia] crassipes) (Martius) Solms Laubach (Pontederiaceae) is primarily controlled by herbicides, but overall control is enhanced by insect biological control agents that decrease growth and reproduction and slow regrowth. However, herbicide applications often disrupt the biological control agent populations when applied indiscriminately. Previous studies identified the utility of preserving populations of biological control agents in the vicinity of herbicide treated areas by establishing refuges for the insects. The objectives of this experiment were to quantify the impact of insect refuges, using groups of untreated P. crassipes within treated mats, on the regrowth of the new mat and the ability of biological control agents to persist following an herbicide treatment. Pontederia crassipes mats were grown with and without biological control agents, then treated with 2 concentrations of the herbicide penoxsulam. Plant growth metrics and biological control agent densities were monitored pre- and post-treatment and compared using ANCOVAs and non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis tests. Although the systemic activity of penoxsulam in the water column prevented the establishment of refuges in this study, biological control agent populations persisted following herbicide applications without additional releases and were able to remain at field densities after the decay and loss of P. crassipes. The treatment with no biological control agents and only half-label rate herbicide grew more densely, had greater dry weight biomass, higher relative growth rate, and produced more inflorescences than the plants in treatments with biological control agents. The half-label herbicide and biological control agent treatment performed as well as both treatments with label rate herbicide, and with and without biological control agents, respectively, in lowering P. crassipes density, final dry weight biomass, and relative growth rate. Although the concept of refuge systems at operational field scales requires further study, demonstrating the ability of biological control agents to persist even on sprayed mats is a necessary first step in determining the temporal and spatial factors that might influence the utility of such refuges.
A Feature Fusion Approach to Classifying Targets Underneath Foliage via Wideband LFMB SAR Systems

We investigate the benefits of employing a wideband low-frequency multiple-band (LFMB) system for classifying targets underneath foliage. While previous work in this area, for both single and multiband scenarios, has been limited to lower bandwidth ( 500 MHz) LFMB synthetic aperture radar (SAR) system. After describing our novel LFMB SAR system in detail and investigating foliage penetration (FOPEN) phenomenologies in target detection applications, we then focus on the main topic of this letter, viz., classification of targets underneath foliage. In particular, we demonstrate feature–classifier combinations that successfully leverage multiband information and that deliver superior performance to each individual band alone. All our experimental validations are based on data captured by our wideband LFMB SAR system.
Physical and Psychological Health of African American Women Caregivers: Unmasking the Paradox.

Existing evidence consistently shows that African American (AA) caregivers experience a health paradox; participants of AA ethnicity have commonly reported having worse physical health but better m...
Sastra Satire Kitab Yunus: Analisis Naratif Prolog dan Epilog Kitab Yunus

The anomaly of Jonah's attitude in rejecting God's call (Jonah 1) and his anger at Nineveh's conversion caused various opinions on the genre of his book. This encourages the need to produce new findings to narrow the view of experts by placing the book of Jonah as satire literature. The purpose of this research is to describe the satire elements contained in the prologue and epilogue of the book of Jonah. The method used in this research is a narrative approach using a modified method that departs from the four narrative elements namely the narrator, character (characterization), point of view, and storyline then combined with some elements of general interpretation in it. through the narrative analysis method, the researcher sees the text as a "mirror" that projects a certain picture, namely the world of narratives that provides benefits to explore the forms and elements of the prologue and epilogical satire texts of the book of Jonah. The results showed that Irony underlies all elements of satire spread in articles 1 and 4. Researchers classify the elements of irony as personification, repetition, hyperbole, sarcasm, paronomasia, and parody. These characteristics indicate Jonah 1 and 4 are narratives containing satire. The implication of the teaching of the church by referring to the didactic values in the satire of the story of Satire Jonah can be used as a reference for learning the truth of God's Word. Abstrak Anomali sikap Yunus dalam menolak panggilan Tuhan (Yunus 1) dan kemarahannya pada pertobatan Niniwe menimbulkan beragam pendapat pada genre kitabnya. Hal ini mendorong adanya kebutuhan untuk menghasilkan temuan baru guna mempersempit pandangan para pakar dengan menempatkan kitab Yunus sebagai sastra satire. Tujuan dilakukan penelitian ini adalah untuk mendeskripsikan unsur satire yang terdapat dalam prolog dan epilog kitab Yunus. Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah pendekatan naratif menggunakan modifikasi metode yang berangkat dari empat unsur narasi yaitu narator, karakter (penokohan), sudut pandang, dan alur cerita lalu dikombinasikan dengan beberapa elemen penafsiran umum di dalamnya. melalui metode analisis naratif peneliti melihat teks sebagai sebuah “cermin” yang memproyeksikan gambaran tertentu, yaitu dunia narasi yang memberikan manfaat untuk mengeksplorasi bentuk dan unsur satire teks prolog dan epilog dari kitab Yunus. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa Ironi mendasari semua unsur satire yang tersebar di pasal 1 dan 4. Peneliti mengelompokkan unsur ironi adalah personifikasi, repetisi, hiperbola, sarkasme, paronomosia dan parodi. Karakteristik ini mengindikasikan Yunus 1 dan 4 adalah narasi yang mengandung satire. Implikasinya terhadap pengajaran gereja dengan merujuk pada nilai-nilai didaktis dalam satire kisah Satire Yunus dapat dijadikan rujukan untuk mempelajari kebenaran Firman Tuhan.
Rehabilitating Mental Disorder Evidence after Clark v. Arizona: Of Burdens, Presumptions, and the Rights to Raise Reasonable Doubt

The right not to be found guilty of a crime absent proof beyond a reasonable doubt is a powerful right. It can be undermined, however, by rules that at first seem to have little to do with reasonable doubt or with burdens of proof. In the recent case of Clark v. Arizona, the Supreme Court considered whether states may enact rules that categorically prohibit criminal defendants from offering mental disorder evidence for the purpose of raising reasonable doubt regarding the mens rea element of a charged offense. In Arizona law, mental disorder evidence is inadmissible for the purpose of disproving mens rea unless a defendant is pleading insanity, and mental disorder evidence that is admissible but insufficient to meet the burden of proving insanity — yet is sufficient to raise reasonable doubt about mens rea — simply has no effect.That Arizona prohibits defendants from using mental disorder evidence to raise reasonable doubt about mens rea means that the prosecution’s burden of proof is effectively lessened. The Supreme Court in Clark acknowledged that Arizona’s rule potentially denies criminal defendants the right to test the prosecution’s case, but the Court seemed determined not to conclude that Arizona’s rule is unconstitutional.As a general rule, however, in the American system of justice more evidence is preferred to less. This preference is reflected in many federal and state rules of evidence and in the constitutional limitations on the power to enact rules of evidence that effectively deny criminal defendants a fair trial. Because rules like Arizona’s prohibit, for insufficient reasons, criminal defendants from presenting evidence that is helpful and trustworthy, such rules therefore threaten the right to present a meaningful defense.
Bullous eczema presenting as bullous pemphigoid-like eruption: A case series.

Bullous pemphigoid (BP) is an autoimmune blistering disease resulting from autoantibodies directed against BP180 and/or BP230 proteins. BP is traditionally diagnosed based on clinical features, histologic assessment of cutaneous biopsies, direct (DIF) and indirect immunofluorescence (IIF) studies, and/or enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA) analysis. We here report, 6 elderly patients who presented with multiple tense bullae, clinically mimicking BP in the absence of detectable autoantibodies by DIF, IIF, and ELISA for BP-180, BP-230, and type VII collagen autoantibodies. All patients in this case series had histological overlap between BP and eczema, potentially representing a unique form of bullous eczema. Patient demographics are listed in Table I along with clinical images (Fig 1). Patients were evaluated in the Autoimmune Blistering Disease Clinic at Emory University. All patients had at least 2 negative DIFs on 2 separate occasions. Only 1 patient was subject to systemic immune suppression at the time of biopsy, and no history of diabetes, peripheral edema, or arthropod assault was noted. Table I Clinical summary of patients 1 to 6
Nudging Timely Wage Reporting: Field Experimental Evidence from the United States Social Supplementary Income Program

We study a large-scale (n=50,000) natural field experiment implemented by the U.S. Social Security Administration that was aimed at increasing the timely and accurate self-reporting of wages by Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients. Sending a letter reminding SSI recipients of their wage reporting responsibilities significantly increased both the likelihood of reporting any earnings and the total amount of earnings reported, though this effect decays slightly over time. However, the specific letter content—providing social information or highlighting the salience of penalties—had no systematic effect. We develop a conservative estimate that the letters generated roughly $5.91 in savings on average per dollar spent for the U.S. government. Institutional subscribers to the NBER working paper series, and residents of developing countries may download this paper without additional charge at www.nber.org.
Transcriptional plasticity drives leukemia immune escape

Relapse of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (alloSCT) has been linked to immune evasion due to reduced expression of major histocompatibility complex class II (MHC-II) proteins through unknown mechanisms. We developed CORENODE, a computational algorithm for genome-wide transcription network decomposition, that identified the transcription factors (TFs) IRF8 and MEF2C as positive regulators and MYB and MEIS1 as negative regulators of MHC-II expression in AML cells. We show that reduced MHC-II expression at relapse is transcriptionally driven by combinatorial changes in the levels of these TFs, acting both independently and through the MHC-II coactivator CIITA. Beyond the MHC-II genes, MYB and IRF8 antagonistically regulate a broad genetic program responsible for cytokine signaling and T-cell stimulation that displays reduced expression at relapse. A small number of cells with altered TF levels and silenced MHC-II expression are present at the time of initial leukemia diagnosis, likely contributing to eventual relapse. Our findings reveal an adaptive transcriptional mechanism of AML evolution after allogenic transplantation whereby combinatorial fluctuations of TF levels under immune pressure result in selection of cells with a silenced T-cell stimulation program.
Current Status and Future Trend of Dominant Commercial Reverse Osmosis Membranes.

Since 2000, seawater reverse osmosis method has been a dominant desalination technology against the distillation method in the global market. The large project called “Mega-SWRO” (half mega-ton per day and larger) plant in the Middle East is quite popular making full use of the combination with solar energy. Today, the price of desalinated water is affordable at as low as $0.28/m3 to $0.53/m3. Likewise, dominant commercial reverse osmosis membrane is a cross-linked fully aromatic polyamide composite membrane-spiral wound element including FT-30 (DuPont Water Solution) and UTC-80 (Toray Industries., Inc., Otsu, Shiga, Japan). The said membranes are much superior in terms of performance compared to the cellulose triacetate membranes-hollow fiber for variety of applications including seawater desalinations, brackish water desalination, wastewater reuse, ultra-pure production for semiconductor, home-use water purifier, etc. SWCC of Saudi Arabia has announced that it intends to shift from cellulose triacetate hollow fiber to spiral wound RO membranes at all of its plants. Furthermore, the state-sponsored R&D on membrane and membrane process has been put into practice in major countries, including Japan and Korea, which contributed to the progress of membrane science and membrane process, suitable for spiral-wound polyamide membranes. SWCC has announced their plans for SWRO, mainly focusing on brine mining to obtain precious materials from the brine of SWRO. New and innovative brine-mining technology has been introduced for green desalination.
Sleep disordered breathing risk in childhood cancer survivors: an exploratory study.

Background Sleep disordered breathing (SDB) is emerging as a significant health condition for children. The purpose of this study is to evaluate SDB symptoms in childhood cancer survivors and identify associations with quality of life (QOL) and psychological symptoms. Procedure A sample of 62 survivors aged 8–18 years were recruited during routine survivorship visits. All subjects and their parents completed questionnaires to evaluate sleep, QOL and psychological symptoms; scales included were: Pediatric Sleep Questionnaire, Sleep Disordered Breathing Subscale (PSQ–SDBS), Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL) and Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21). Continuous data were used for all scales and a threshold score of >0.33 on the PSA-SDBS was used to identify risk of SDB. The relationships between measures of sleep and independent variables were examined using Pearson correlations and multiple linear regression models for significant associations. Results Of the 62 subjects enrolled, underlying diagnoses included 29 leukemias, 30 solid tumors and 3 non-malignant diseases. Nineteen percent of subjects were identified as having SDB risk on the PSQ–SDBS. The lowest mean PedsQL subscale score for parent and child ratings were school QOL; Parent mean 73(±SD 19) and Child mean 71(±SD 20). The severity of SDB per the PSQ was significantly associated with reduced total and school QOL which remained significant after adjusting for stress. Conclusions Symptoms suggestive of SDB are common in childhood cancer survivors with negative implications for overall quality of life and school performance. Pediatr Blood Cancer 2015;62:693–697. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Disentangling Aversion: Experimentally Testing the Impact of Disgust and Anger on Political Participation

Within political science, disgust is often lumped with anger, contempt, hatred and other negative emotions in a broad dimension labeled “aversion” To be sure, these highly aroused affective states share many similarities and are powerfully correlated with each other in self-reports of emotion. However, they differ greatly in both their elicitors and behavioral consequences. This paper draws upon cognitive appraisal theory to disentangle aversion, in an effort to better understand the discrete elicitors and effects of disgust. I propose a theory that individuals become disgusted and abstain from voting when they believe politicians’ misdeeds signal widespread and immutable violations of cherished social and moral norms by the political system. I test this hypothesized link with an original question battery on the 2010 CCES and two laboratory experiments in which discrete emotions are induced using a though-listing exercise. The results suggest that disgust is a common reaction to politics, and that individuals who are disgusted with politics, especially those whose personal belief systems are shaped by high levels of moral traditionalism, are less willing to participate in politics, irrespective of socioeconomic resources and political engagement.
Sensitive and accurate methodology for measuring the kinetics of concentration-dependent hydrocarbon metabolism rates in seawater by microbial communities.

Abstract A method having sufficient sensitivity to resolve the kinetic constants for dissolved nonpolar substrate metabolism, together with the related rate constants in natural waters, is presented. The method is based on the rate of 14CO2 recovery from radioactive dissolved substrate. Sensitivity is enhanced by using large seawater volumes, high-specific-activity isotopes, and by reducing background radioactivity. Before use, commercial isotopes are purified by mild alkaline hydrolysis followed by sublimation from base to remove 14CO2 as well as interfering polar 14C-substrates. During sample analysis, chilled Tenax resin is used to remove volatile 14C-substrate from the nitrogen stream containing 14CO2 recovered from substrate oxidation. Chromatographic evidence of purity, shown to be insufficient, is augmented by kinetic data from toluene utilization by mixed cultures and by rates in induced versus noninduced pure cultures. Accuracy is enhanced by using short (<10 h) incubation times and small hydrocarbon concentrations so that the metabolism rates in unamended natural water systems can be evaluated. Toluene metabolism rates in seawater as low as 1 pg/liter per h and at concentrations as low as 20 ng/liter have been determined.
Scenario for ultrarelativistic nuclear collisions: Space-time picture of quantum fluctuations and the onset of quark-gluon plasma

We study the dynamics of quantum fluctuations which take place at the earliest stage of high-energy processes and the conditions under which the data from e-p deep-inelastic scattering may serve as an input for computing the initial data for heavy-ion collisions at high energies. Our method is essentially based on the space-time picture of these seemingly different phenomena. We prove that the ultra-violet renormalization of the virtual loops does not bring any scale into the problem. The scale appears only in connection with the collinear cut-off in the evolution equations and is defined by the physical properties of the final state. In heavy-ion collisions the basic screening effect is due to the mass of the collective modes (plasmons) in the dense non-equilibrium quark-gluon system, which is estimated. We avoid the standard parton phenomenology and suggest a dedicated class of evolution equations which describe the dynamics of quantum fluctuations in heavy-ion collisions.
Preparation of amyloid β-protein for structural and functional studies

Amyloid proteins cause a number of progressive, degenerative diseases. Among these is Alzheimer's disease (AD), the etiology of which is linked to the formation of neurotoxic assemblies by the amyloid beta-protein (Abeta). The clinical importance of AD has stimulated intense interest in the mechanisms of Abeta folding and self-assembly. Studying these phenomena in vitro requires the preparation of Abeta peptide stocks that are well defined and display reproducible biophysical and biological behaviors. Unfortunately, the propensity of Abeta to self-assemble has made this goal difficult. I discuss here a biphasic strategy for preparing Abeta for structural and functional studies. The strategy involves sodium hydroxide pretreatment of synthetic Abeta, followed by size fractionation procedures. This approach produces Abeta solutions that have been used successfully in a variety of in vitro and in vivo experimental systems.