cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
On the Equivalence of Obfuscation and Multilinear Maps.

Garg et al. [FOCS 2013] showed how to construct indistinguishability obfuscation (iO) from a restriction of cryptographic multilinear maps called Multilinear Jigsaw Puzzles. Since then, a number of other works have shown constructions and security analyses for iO from different abstractions of multilinear maps. However, the converse question — whether some form of multilinear maps follows from iO — has remained largely open. We offer an abstraction of multilinear maps called Polynomial Jigsaw Puzzles, and show that iO for circuits implies Polynomial Jigsaw Puzzles. This implication is unconditional: no additional assumptions, such as one-way functions, are needed. Furthermore, we show that this abstraction of Polynomial Jigsaw Puzzles is sufficient to construct iO for NC, thus showing a near-equivalence of these notions. ∗Boston University. Email: omer@bu.edu. Supported by the Simons award for graduate students in theoretical computer science and an NSF Algorithmic foundations grant 1218461. This work was done in part while the author was visiting the Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing, supported by the Simons Foundation and by the DIMACS/Simons Collaboration in Cryptography through NSF grant #CNS-1523467. †UCLA. Email: sahai@cs.ucla.edu. Research supported in part from a DARPA/ONR PROCEED award, a DARPA/ARL SAFEWARE award, NSF Frontier Award 1413955, NSF grants 1228984, 1136174, 1118096, and 1065276, a Xerox Faculty Research Award, a Google Faculty Research Award, an equipment grant from Intel, and an Okawa Foundation Research Grant. This material is based upon work supported by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency through the U.S. Office of Naval Research under Contract N00014-11-1-0389. The views expressed are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of Defense, the National Science Foundation, or the U.S. Government. This work was done in part while the author was visiting the Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing, supported by the Simons Foundation and by the DIMACS/Simons Collaboration in Cryptography through NSF grant #CNS-1523467.
Three-Dimensional Nanolithography Using Light Scattering from Colloidal Particles

The interaction between light and colloidal elements can result in a wealth of interesting near-field optical patterns. By examining the optical and colloidal properties, the intensity distribution can be tailored and harnessed for three-dimensional nanolithography. Here, we examine the use of light scattering from colloidal particles to fabricate complex hollow nanostructures. In this approach, a single colloidal sphere is illuminated to create a scattering pattern, which is captured by a photoresist in close proximity. No external optical elements are required, and the colloidal elements alone provide the modulation of the optical intensity pattern. The fabricated nanostructures can be designed to have multiple shells, confined volumes, and single top openings, resembling "nano-volcanoes." The geometry of such structures is dependent on the scattered light distribution and can be accurately modeled by examining the light-particle interaction. The hollow nanostructures can be used to trap nanomaterial, and we demonstrate their ability to trap 50 nm silica nanoparticles. These well-defined surface hollow structures can be further functionalized for applications in controlled drug delivery and biotrapping. Colloidal elements with different geometries and material compositions can also be incorporated to examine other light-colloid interactions.
Getting to Normal: Women's Experiences Self-Managing Their Perceived Blood Pressure Changes.

BACKGROUND In the United States, nearly 25% of all women older than 20 years have hypertension (HTN). Nearly 30% to 50% of persons with HTN experience symptoms attributed to high blood pressure (BP). Women with hypertensive symptoms may connect their symptoms to perceived BP changes and may be using their perceptions about BP changes to guide their HTN self-management. There is limited research about perceived BP changes or their use in self-management. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this qualitative study is to describe the experiences of women with HTN self-managing their perceived BP changes. METHODS van Manen's phenomenology methodology and method guided the inquiry. Women with HTN who believed they could tell when their BP changed based on their symptoms were recruited from community settings and were interviewed once with a semistructured guide. Interviews were digitally recorded and professionally transcribed. Textual data were analyzed using thematic analysis to identify major themes. RESULTS Seven black and 6 white women comprised the study sample. Participants were middle aged (mean [SD], 50.5 [9.62] years), were experienced in living with HTN (mean [SD],10.76 [9.50] years), had at least a high school education, and had a limited annual income (93% <$24 000). One central theme ("getting to normal") and 4 subthemes (i.e., "I can tell," "tending to it," "the wake-up call," and "doing it right") were discovered in the data. The themes depict a process of episodic symptom-driven and day-to-day actions that the participants used to get their BP to normal. CONCLUSIONS The study is significant as new knowledge was discovered about how women perceive their BP changes and use them to guide self-management. This study contributes to clinical practice through suggestions for improving patient assessments. Results serve as a foundation for further research of the self-management of BP changes and developing belief-based interventions with the potential to improve BP control.
Cholinergic stimulation of globus pallidus in man.

SummaryA 10% solution of acetylcholine chloride injected into the globus pallidus of persons with Parkinsonism resulted in initial excitatory stage with increase in tremor and parasympathetic activation. Parasympathetic response was blocked by intracerebral injection of an anticholinergic drug, oxyphenonium bromide. The exact mechanism of drug action is not known, although cholinergic sensitive regions appear to exist in or near the globus pallidus.
Organizing for Good Jobs: Recent Developments and New Challenges

Over the past several decades, there has been a remarkable surge of economic justice organizing across the country. The goal of this article is to examine these efforts and provide a framework for understanding their potential, their limitations, and their future. In what follows, the authors first describe five distinct organizing movements focused on low-wage work that have flourished in recent years. The authors then develop a framework for thinking about these movements. They distinguish among these efforts along the two dimensions of goals and strategies, assessing relative strengths and weaknesses. With these distinctions in hand, they then take up the question of the scalability of the movements and analyze the challenges they face in terms of growth strategy, sustainability, constituencies, and cohesion. This overall framework yields a picture of significant promise in America’s economic justice organizing—but one that will take equally significant resources and political power to realize.
Generalized Scalar-on-Image Regression Models via Total Variation

ABSTRACTThe use of imaging markers to predict clinical outcomes can have a great impact in public health. The aim of this article is to develop a class of generalized scalar-on-image regression models via total variation (GSIRM-TV), in the sense of generalized linear models, for scalar response and imaging predictor with the presence of scalar covariates. A key novelty of GSIRM-TV is that it is assumed that the slope function (or image) of GSIRM-TV belongs to the space of bounded total variation to explicitly account for the piecewise smooth nature of most imaging data. We develop an efficient penalized total variation optimization to estimate the unknown slope function and other parameters. We also establish nonasymptotic error bounds on the excess risk. These bounds are explicitly specified in terms of sample size, image size, and image smoothness. Our simulations demonstrate a superior performance of GSIRM-TV against many existing approaches. We apply GSIRM-TV to the analysis of hippocampus data obtain...
Cross-linked nanofilms for tunable permeability control in a composite microdomain system

Fabrication of microcapsule based composite materials with precise control over diffusion is desirable for applications in anti-corrosive agent release, drug delivery, and biosensing. Self-assembled layer-by-layer (LbL) nanofilms may be used to control analyte flux in these advanced materials because they allow accurate manipulation of interface properties on the nanoscale. The transport of a model analyte was evaluated across glutaraldehyde cross-linked PAH [poly(allylamine hydrochloride)]/PSS [poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate)] nanofilm constructs to determine the potential of these bilayers to precisely control small-molecule diffusion. Measurements of glucose permeation rates across nanofilms deposited on planar porous substrates revealed that glutaraldehyde-mediated cross-linking drastically decreased transport across PAH-containing bilayers. Additionally, we found that analyte permeation rates can be finely tuned by controlling the degree of intralayer and interlayer PAH cross-linking. To realize the practical application of these nanofilms in micro-scale flux-based devices, the planar multilayer scheme was used to line glucose-sensing microdomains entrapped in alginate matrices. These glucose sensing nanocomposite hydrogels exhibited sensitivity and analytical range that are adjustable depending upon the characteristics of the multilayers; cross-linking of the nanofilm lining the microdomains to limit glucose diffusion resulted in an extension of the analytical range by ≈249% and a decrease in the corresponding sensitivity by ≈85%. This demonstration of control over small-molecule diffusion in microdomain-populated hydrogel materials opens the possibility to use these devices for multifunctional purposes, including biosensing and controlled release of encapsulated species such as drugs, coloring/flavoring agents, anti-corrosives, and other active molecules.
Media exposure and corporate reputation

Abstract The media typically provide greater coverage of large and reputed corporations. I provide a theory of firm reputation dynamics based on the positive feedback effects resulting form the correlation between firm size and media coverage. I show that, in equilibrium, the dynamics of firm reputation are highly asymmetric: slow increases in reputation are followed by sudden drops. Moreover, endogenous media coverage implies greater dispersion of firm performance. Finally, I consider implications for corporate media strategy, namely the trade-off between “no news is good news” and “there is no such thing as bad publicity.”
Urate metabolism in a mongrel dog.

For many years, mongrel dogs have been widely used for physiologic and pharmacologic studies of uric acid excretion. Despite the abundance of excretion data, relatively little is known about urate metabolism in these animals beyond the fact that there is an abundance of uricase activity. In order to examine this question, we conducted three short-term turnover studies in a trained mongrel dog.
Open-Cell Ablation of Killke and Inka Pottery from the Cuzco Area: Museum Collections as Repositories of Provenience Information

Museum collections are often invaluable repositories of information for archaeologists, as they contain large numbers of intact, well provenanced objects. However, the utility of such collections for chemical analysis is often limited by the inability to perform destructive analysis on them. We report here on the analysis of Killke (ad 1000–1400) and Inka (ad 1400–1532) ceramics from the Cuzco area of Peru housed in the Field Museum of Natural History South American collections using a specially modified open-cell laser to generate compositional data from complete intact vessels in a minimally destructive manner. These data are compared to measurements performed using a conventional laser cell on Killke and Inka sherds from the same collections and regional raw material samples. We discuss both the utility and shortcomings of the open-cell system as a means of ceramic analysis, as well as implications for archaeological understanding of prehistoric ceramic production and economy in the Cuzco area.
Warfarin and Newer Agents: What the Oral Surgeon Needs to Know

The new direct oral anticoagulants-dabigatran etexilate, rivaroxaban, and apixaban- have predictable pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic profiles and are alternatives to warfarin. However, many surgeons are wary of these drugs, as there is limited evidence on how to manage bleeding in patients taking them, and only recently has a specific antidote been developed to reverse their anticoagulant effect. Management of the newer agents requires careful adherence to primary measures of bleeding care, knowledge of their mechanism of action, and familiarity with the unapproved and untested reversal strategies that may be required in patients with life-threatening bleeding.
Ventromedial hypothalamic glucose sensing and glucose homeostasis vary throughout the estrous cycle.

Objective 17β-Estradiol (17βE) regulates glucose homeostasis in part by centrally mediated mechanisms. In female rodents, the influence of the ovarian cycle on hypoglycemia counterregulation and glucose tolerance is unclear. We found previously that in prepubertal females, 17βE modulates glucose sensing in nonadapting glucose-inhibited (GI) and adapting GI (AdGI) neurons within the ventrolateral portion of the ventromedial nucleus (VL-VMN). Nonadapting GI neurons persistently decrease their activity as glucose increases while AdGI neurons transiently respond to a glucose increase. To begin to understand if endogenous fluctuations in estrogen levels across the estrous cycle impact hypothalamic glucose sensing and glucose homeostasis, we assessed whether hypoglycemia counterregulation and glucose tolerance differed across the phases of the estrous cycle. We hypothesized that the response to insulin-induced hypoglycemia (IIH) and/or glucose tolerance would vary throughout the estrous cycle according to changes in 17βE availability. Moreover, that these changes would correlate with estrous-dependent changes in the glucose sensitivity of VL-VMN glucose-sensing neurons (GSNs).
Induction of pulmonary immunity in cattle by the oral administration of antigen encapsulated in alginate microspheres

L'immunite mucosale a la surface des poumons peut etre induite par administration orale d'antigenes. Les vaccins oraux sont faciles a administrer a un grand nombre d'animaux. Cependant, les antigenes doivent etre proteges des acides et des enzymes de l'estomac. L'encapsulation dans des microspheres de polymere est une methode de protection des antigenes, et permet la liberation aux niveaux d'induction immunitaire de l'intestin grele. Dans la presente etude, l'ovalbumine a ete utilisee comme antigene modele encapsule dans des microspheres d'alginate. L'administration orale de microspheres d'ovalbumine conduit a l'apparition de cellules secretrices d'IgA au niveau des alveoles pulmonaires. L'administration orale de vaccins au betail peut etre une methode rentable pour induire une immunite pulmonaire protectrice afin d'empecher l'apparition de maladies a repercussions economiques importantes telles que les infections respiratoires.
Vagal Regulation in Breastfeeding Infants and Their Mothers

Consistent with the gustatory–vagal hypothesis, vagal stimulation during breastfeeding may contribute to infants' physiological regulatory development independent of caregiving effects. This study examined whether breastfeeding predicted 6-month-old infants' (N = 151) and their mothers' vagal regulation during the face-to-face still-face (FFSF). Although breastfed and nonbreastfed infants showed expected vagal withdrawal during the Still-Face episode, only breastfed infants showed continued withdrawal during the reunion episode, suggesting greater physiological mobilization to repair the interaction. Breastfeeding mothers showed higher vagal tone than nonbreastfeeding mothers at baseline, suggesting greater capacity for regulation, and throughout the FFSF, suggesting calmer states. Breastfeeding effects were independent of maternal sensitivity. Findings suggest that infants' and mothers' physiological regulation may be shaped by breastfeeding independently of associated social factors.
Communicating Brand Identity on Social Media: A Case Study of the Use of Instagram and Twitter for Collegiate Athletic Branding

This case study examined how a large university in the southern U.S. incorporated branding strategies into its social-media content. Specifically, the strategies for using text-based social media (Twitter) and visual-based social media (Instagram) to communicate brand identity through brand associations and brand personality were investigated. To do this, the authors conducted a 2-part study. The first, a content analysis of social-media content, revealed how the athletic department communicated the football team’s brand identity through brand associations and brand personality. Second, a survey assessed the perceived brand personality of the football program through social-media content to determine external perceptions of the team. Results support the use of Instagram as a branding strategy. Instagram was used more than Twitter to communicate brand associations and brand-personality cues, while survey results indicated that respondents exposed to Instagram content reported higher perceptions of brand pe...
An untold story in biology: the historical continuity of evolutionary ideas of Muslim scholars from the 8th century to Darwin’s time

Textbooks on the history of biology and evolutionary thought do not mention the evolutionary ideas of Muslim scholars before Darwin’s time. This is part of a trend in the West to minimise the contr...
The Political Implications of American Concerns About Economic Inequality

This article presents a national measure of Americans’ level of concern about economic inequality from 1966 to 2015, and analyzes the relationship between this construct and public support for government intervention in the economy. Current research argues that concerns about economic inequality are associated with a desire for increased government action, but this relationship has only been formally tested using cross-sectional analyses. I first use a form of dynamic factor analysis to develop a measure of national concern over time. Using an error correction model I then show that an increase in national concern about economic inequality does not lead to a subsequent increase in support for government intervention in the economy. Instead there is some evidence that, once confounding factors are accounted for, an increase in concern could lead to reduced support for government intervention.
The Use of Community Based Participatory Research to Assess Perceived Health Status and Health Education Needs of Persons in Rural and Urban Haiti

PURPOSE : Haitian communities have limited access to health care. The purpose of this study was to determine the perceived self-health status and health education needs of rural versus urban Haitians using a Community Based Participatory Research design. SAMPLE: Residents of two rural and one urban Haitian communities (n = 340) were surveyed to obtain demographic information, perceived health status, and priority of health education topics. METHOD: Surveys were used to collect demographic data and the personal importance of various health education topics were obtained. Native Haitians were trained to use the survey instrument and conducted the short interview with willing participants in rural and urban settings. FINDINGS : Health related status significantly varied by rural versus urban community type in that those in urban communities ( M = 2.64, SD = 1.10) viewed their health as significantly better than those in rural communities ( M = 2.26, SD = 1.14), t(324) = 2.93, p = .004. The highest rate topics for requests in health education included spiritual health ( M = 4.44, SD = 0.84). Interest was shown in learning about injury prevention, improving maternal mortality, helping children live longer, environmental issues such as water, food, and sanitation. Less interest was shown in learning about weight management and exercise. CONCLUSIONS : A health education curriculum was developed to train laity in faith based organizations to be community health promoters. This project offers sustainable interventions to empower communities to take responsibility of their own health. DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.14574/ojrnhc.v17i1.427
Sleeve Gastrectomy: the first 3 Years: evaluation of emergency department visits, readmissions, and reoperations for 14,080 patients in New York State

The purpose of our study was to evaluate the indications for and incidence of both emergency department (ED) visits and hospital readmissions within the first postoperative year. We also sought to identify the rate of reoperation within the first 3 years following a SG operation in New York State (NYS). The SPARCS database was examined for all SGs performed between 2011 and 2013. Using a unique identifier, patients were followed for at least 1 year. Patients were followed for reoperation and/or conversion to Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass (RYGB), as well as for any other hospital-based encounter. Using primary diagnosis codes, the top five reasons for ED visits and readmission were identified. There were 14,080 SG between 2011 and 2013. Among all patients, just over one-third of patients visited the ED (33.9%). One in every ten of these visits resulted in readmission (9.5%), with 12.5% of the total postoperative patient population undergoing readmission within their first year after SG surgery. ED visits were unrelated to surgery in just over half of the patients (n = 4977; 53.88%). However, ED visits for abdominal pain (n = 1029; 11.14%), vomiting (n = 237; 2.57%), dehydration (n = 224; 2.43%), and syncope (n = 206; 2.23%) were attributed to surgery. The top five causes for readmission within the first year after SG were unrelated to surgery (n = 1101; 41.74%), complication related to bariatric surgery (n = 211; 8%), dehydration (n = 171; 6.48%), postoperative wound complication (n = 89; 3.37%), abdominal pain (n = 78; 2.96%). Overall, there was a low reoperation rate (0.32%); specifically, rates of sleeve revision and conversion to RYBG were 0.11 and 0.21%, respectively. SG has increasing popularity in NYS. Although postoperative ED visits are high, SG has a low overall reoperation rate (0.32%), and of these patients, most undergo conversion to RYGB compared to sleeve revision. Overall 1-year readmission rates after SG are 12.5%.
Validation of an ICD code for accurately identifying emergency department patients who suffer an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

Abstract Aim International classification of disease (ICD-9) code 427.5 (cardiac arrest) is utilized to identify cohorts of patients who suffer out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA), though the use of ICD codes for this purpose has never been formally validated. We sought to validate the utility of ICD-9 code 427.5 by identifying patients admitted from the emergency department (ED) after OHCA. Methods Adult visits to a single ED between January 2007 and July 2012 were retrospectively examined and a keyword search of the electronic medical record (EMR) was used to identify patients. Cardiac arrest was confirmed; and ICD-9 information and location of return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) were collected. Separately, the EMR was searched for patients who received ICD-9 code 427.5. The kappa coefficient (κ) was calculated, as was the sensitivity and specificity of the code for identifying OHCA. Results The keyword search identified 1717 patients, of which 385 suffered OHCA and 333 were assigned the code 427.5. The agreement between ICD-9 code and cardiac arrest was excellent (κ = 0.895). The ICD-9 code 427.5 was both specific (99.4%) and sensitive (86.5%). Of the 52 cardiac arrests that were not identified by ICD-9 code, 33% had ROSC before arrival to the ED. When searching independently on ICD-9 code, 347 patients with ICD-9 code 427.5 were found, of which 320 were “true” arrests. This yielded a positive predictive value of 92% for ICD-9 code 427.5 in predicting OHCA. Conclusions ICD-9 code 427.5 is sensitive and specific for identifying ED patients who suffer OHCA with a positive predictive value of 92%.
Laboratory Assessment of Coagulation

Trauma-induced coagulopathy (TIC) is a multifactorial process associated with increased mortality from hemorrhage, thrombotic complications, and organ failure. TIC represents a spectrum of hyper- and hypocoagulation, which is driven from systemic shock, tissue injury, and reperfusion. These coagulation abnormalities can be related to endothelium, platelets, coagulation factors, fibrinogen, red cells, and neutrophils. The complexity of these interacting systems explains why conventional plasma-based assays are suboptimal in treating coagulopathy following severe injury.
Large Motions of a Moored Floating Breakwater Modeled as an Impact Oscillator

Two-dimensional motions of a floating breakwater moored to thesea floor by two cables are considered. The breakwater is modeled bothas a point mass and as a rigid body. The mooring lines are assumed tohave no effect on the breakwater when they are slack, and to provide aninstantaneous impulsive force when they become taut, analogous to animpact oscillator or a ball bouncing on a rigid surface. The axialcomponent of the velocity is reduced at this instantaneous tautcondition. Fluid inertia and damping are not included, and the waveforces are assumed to be harmonic. A critical force is defined, and theeffects of the forcing frequency, the coefficient of restitution, andthe shape and size of the body on the critical force are examined.Trajectories of the motion are plotted and the impact velocities arecomputed and analyzed. Knowledge of the number and magnitude of theseimpacts is useful in assessing fatigue of the mooring lines.
The Impact of Behavioral Monitoring Technology on the Provision of Health Care in the Home

The lack of appropriate and accurate information on the ability of a frail individual to accomplish specific task oriented activities can place the individual at risk or result in the allocation of costly and unnecessary care. Although there have been previous attempts to use computer technology to obtain this information, they have proved to be costly and complex and therefore not widely used. However, a behavioral monitoring technology, based on smart-home and telemedicine applications, has been developed that obtains more accurate and timely information on the ability of frail individuals to accomplish specific tasks in their own residences than any other existing method. During a twelve month pilot study, this system has been used by care providers to assess the status of their clients, respond to immediate needs and alter overall care plans, thus resulting in better care and greater peace of mind for the individual.
Cross-Cultural Considerations with African American Clients: A Perspective on Psychological Assessment

African Americans come from many different national, linguistic, ethnic, racial, cultural, and social backgrounds. Consequently, mental health professionals must figure out how to ensure assessments yield accurate information about their African American clients rather than reflect their own ethnocentric biases. Unfortunately, instruments for the major constructs in psychology—e.g., personality, intelligence, psychopathology—tend to still be limited to those that have been developed on primarily European American samples increasing the risk of clinical errors when they are used with other groups. This chapter discusses some of the cultural issues inherent in the psychological assessment of African Americans and ends with recommendations. Since no test is valid for all purposes or in all situations, people who work with African Americans must ensure they are using tests that are appropriate for them based on the standardization sample, keeping in mind that the generality of a test must be demonstrated, not assumed.
Optimal Response Time Retrieval of Replicated Data.

This work deals with the problem of finding efficient access plans for retrieving a set of pages from a multi-disk system with replicated data. The paper contains two results related to this problem: (a) We solve the problem of finding an optimal access path by transforming it into a network flow problem. It’e also indicate how our method may be employed in dynamic environments where some (or all) of the disks have a preexisting load, are heterogeneous, and reside on different servers. (b) We present a lower bound for the worst case response time of a request under all replication schemes, and also discuss the replication scheme that results in this lower bound. We then use simulation to show how this replication scheme can also greatly reduce the average case response time.
Preschool and Nursery School

This article provides descriptions of nursery education for children under the age of 3 years, including an overview of quality features for such programs, and descriptions of center-based, home visiting, out-of-home enrichment programs, programs for 0–3 year olds that are identified with other countries. It concludes with an overview of extant research on the effects of early childhood programs for 0–3 year olds.
Falsification of Temporal Logic Requirements Using Gradient Based Local Search in Space and Time

Abstract We study the problem of computing input signals that produce system behaviors that falsify requirements written in temporal logic. We provide a method to automatically search for falsifying time varying uncertain inputs for nonlinear and possibly hybrid systems. The input to the system is parametrized using piecewise constant signals with varying switch times. By applying small perturbations to the system input in space and time, and by using gradient descent approach, we try to converge to the worst local system behavior. The experimental results on non-trivial benchmarks demonstrate that this local search can significantly improve the rate of finding falsifying counterexamples.
Effect of Prenatal Lactation Education on Lactation Success in Mothers at Risk of Preterm Delivery

Background: Mothers of preterm infants often produce insufficient amounts of breast milk (BM). Early initiation of BM expression following delivery is associated with increased lactation success, but lack of nursing time delays BM expression in this population. Purpose: To determine if providing antenatal breast expression education to the support person (SP) of mothers at risk of preterm delivery improves lactation success. Methods: Twenty women at risk for delivering a preterm infant and their SP were randomized into two groups. Mothers and their SP in Group 1 received education regarding how to use a breast pump and a breast pump was placed into their hospital room. Group 2 received standard care. Data regarding BM volume produced, time to initiation of BM expression and time to onset of lactogenesis stage II was collected. Results: While there was no difference in time to onset of lactogenesis stage II, mothers in Group 1 initiated BM expression 2.5 hours earlier than those in Group 2. Overall, BM production was higher in Group 1. Limitations: This study had a relatively small sample size (n=19). Only mothers delivering 31-33 weeks gestation were included. This is a single-center study, which may limit generalizability. Conclusion: Prenatal lactation education of mothers of preterm infants and their SP is feasible and may increase lactation success.
Range-wide population structure and dynamics of a serotinous conifer, knobcone pine (Pinus attenuata L.), under an anthropogenically-altered disturbance regime

Abstract There is growing concern that populations of fire-adapted species around the world are at risk of extirpation due to 20th century fire exclusion (i.e. senescence risk). Concurrently, increasing fire activity in many regions is prompting concern that repeated, short-interval fire poses a risk to young stands before trees reach reproductive maturity (i.e. immaturity risk). Conceptual models assessing vulnerability to both risks exist, yet there is a lack of empirically-based studies that assess the effects of anthropogenically-altered fire regimes across the entire range of a fire-adapted species. We used geospatial data on fire occurrence (1900–2015) and a systematic sample of recently re-measured (∼2005–2015) forest inventory plots across the range of a serotinous conifer, knobcone pine (Pinus attenuata), in California and southwestern Oregon, U.S.A. to assess the relative threat of immaturity and senescence risk. We base our assessment on: (1) recent trends in area burned, (2) geographic variability and changes in stand-scale population structure, and (3) patterns of local colonization, extirpation, and population change. The area burned across the species range was lowest during the early and mid-20th century and increased in the early 1980s. Approximately 39% of the range burned between 1984 and 2015 and fire rotation was 81 years for the 25-year period ending in 2015. During this period, approximately 6% of the range of knobcone pine experienced repeated fire, and only 4% of the reburned area (∼0.25% of the entire range) experienced multiple fires at an interval less than 10 years. Most populations of knobcone pine currently exist in a mature or decadent state and we found evidence of recent senescence-related extirpation across approximately 15% of its range. However, we also observed a cumulative expansion of knobcone pine during the last decade, and the rate of colonization (less than half of which was associated with fire) was almost double that of extirpation. Despite high rates of colonization and expansion of knobcone pine in response to recent fires, vulnerability to extirpation varies geographically and remains high in some parts of the species range where wildfire activity has been low. This study provides a rare empirically-based look at the contribution of extirpation and colonization to the range-wide dynamics of a serotinous tree. Our findings underlie the importance of recognizing the different temporal and spatial scales at which contemporary disturbance regimes threaten fire-adapted species, and highlight the potential for alternative pathways of persistence and expansion of serotinous species.
When Is It Acceptable to Vaccinate Pregnant Women? Risk, Ethics, and Politics of Governance in Epidemic Crises

In some countries, pregnant women experience disproportionately high morbidity and mortality during infectious disease outbreaks due to a variety of gender-based factors and pregnancy-related immunological changes. Despite this, the interests of pregnant women have largely been absent from policies that guide the design of clinical trials and the deployment of vaccines in epidemic contexts. This review examines historic precedent for both excluding and including pregnant women in vaccine trials and considers the rights of pregnant women in epidemic crises. The latest research reveals that perceptions of risk and vulnerability of pregnant women in clinical research are beginning to change, resulting in modest policy and guideline amendments. A growing advocacy movement calling for “fair inclusion” has played an important role. Despite the global-scale and far-reaching implications of vaccine research policies, the current debate appears to reside primarily in disciplinary siloes across Western academic and policymaking spaces. Conceptual ambiguity of “risk,” the pervasive view of pregnant women as “vulnerable,” and competing ethical values that construct research protocols, globally, call for more explicit guidelines.
Poured Out: A Kenotic Approach to Initiating Children at a Distance from the Church:

A kenotic theology of infant initiation that emphasizes extending the self-giving of God through the sacraments is an alternative to a covenantal approach when celebrating Christian initiation in a...
Redox potential tuning in bio-relevant heterocycles via (anti)aromaticity modulated H-bonding (AMHB)

Hydrogen bonds are arguably the most important non-covalent interactions in chemistry and biology, and their strength and directionality have been elegantly exploited in the rational design of comp...
Real-Time Differential Epidemic Analysis and Prediction for COVID-19 Pandemic

In this paper, we propose a new real-time differential virus transmission model, which can give more accurate and robust short-term predictions of COVID-19 transmitted infectious disease with benefits of near-term trend projection. Different from the existing Susceptible-Exposed-Infected-Removed (SEIR) based virus transmission models, which fits well for pandemic modeling with sufficient historical data, the new model, which is also SEIR based, uses short history data to find the trend of the changing disease dynamics for the infected, the dead and the recovered so that it can naturally accommodate the adaptive real-time changes of disease mitigation, business activity and social behavior of populations. As the parameters of the improved SEIR models are trained by short history window data for accurate trend prediction, our differential epidemic model, essentially are window-based time-varying SEIR model. Since SEIR model still is a physics-based disease transmission model, its near-term (like one month) projection can still be very instrumental for policy makers to guide their decision for disease mitigation and business activity policy change in a real-time. This is especially useful if the pandemic lasts more than one year with different phases across the world like 1918 flu pandemic. Numerical results on the recent COVID-19 data from China, Italy and US, California and New York states have been analyzed.
Chapter 30 – Carbon-in-Pulp

The introduction of activated carbon to recover gold from cyanide leach solutions in the last quarter of the 20th century had a breakthrough impact on the economics of gold ore processing, as the world gold industry entered a period of unparalleled expansion following the deregulation of the gold price in the mid-1970s. By replacing the Merrill–Crowe zinc cementation step, carbon-in-pulp (CIP) and carbon-in-leach (CIL) recovery provided a process that allowed the treatment of lower grade and problematic ores, at lower capital and operating costs and higher metal recoveries. In a relatively short period of 10–15 years, the new technology was developed, proven, and implemented industry-wide. This chapter focuses on advances made in the design and operation of CIP and CIL plants. Advances have been in the area of carbon management, with specific focus on the use of process modeling. While the elution and regeneration components are essential aspects of a CIP plant, in practice, the capital cost of this area of the plant is a relatively small part of the overall project cost and can therefore be engineered with a higher contingency factor.
Bilateral negotiations for electricity market by adaptive agent-tracking strategy

Abstract Bilateral transactions hedge both sides against uncertain price and volume risks of day-ahead auction and make up major portions of trading in electricity markets. Peer-to-peer bilateral transactions avoid broker fees but involve challenges of balancing between cooperative and competitive strategies for multi-round negotiations. To solve these challenges, this paper develops novel utility-based and adaptive agent-tracking strategies for bilateral negotiations. Relying on bilateral transaction volume and utility curves determined over a price range during unilateral pre-negotiation, utility-based strategies are developed for generation company (GenCo) agent (load serving entity (LSE) agent) to offer (bid) volumes and prices during multi-round bilateral negotiations. GenCo agent is also equipped with a new adaptive agent-tracking strategy that estimates reservation price of each LSE agent by Bayesian learning and updates the estimates in each round. The adaptive agent-tracking strategy facilitates cooperative yet competitive responses. Integration of new bilateral negotiation strategies with existing day-ahead auction in a renowned agent-based platform also enables combined simulation of the two market types. The case study demonstrates that the adaptive agent-tracking strategy empowers GenCoagents to swing bilateral negotiation results in their favor and yield 7% more payoff than the utility-based strategy, while achieving 100% improvement in frequency of failure of negotiation.
Food allergies, sensitivities, and intolerances

Summary Food allergies, sensitivities, and intolerances affect a small but significant portion of the population. Symptoms can range from mildly annoying to severe and life-threatening. The true food allergies present the biggest risk because symptoms can occasionally be quite severe and the threshold dose for the offending food needed to provoke a reaction is quite low. The prevalence of true food allergies is growing and dietary management in infancy may be a preventive strategy. In general, food sensitivities are poorly defined and difficult to diagnose. Food intolerances generally present with moderate symptoms and affected individuals can often tolerate small doses of the offending food. Individuals affected with food allergies, sensitivities, and intolerances must avoid the causative food. Construction of safe and effective avoidance diets can be quite difficult for individuals with true food allergies in part due to the low threshold doses.
Construct validity of data from a TPACK self-assessment instrument in 2-year public college faculty in the United States

Mishra and Koehler’s technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) theory can help provide the framework for measuring needed knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) in faculty members at 2-y...
Theorizing the Communication of Digital Religion as Popular Culture in Africa: The Case for Alternative Epistemological Models

The conceptual lens and epistemological models employed by theorists determine their observations and conclusions. This discourse demonstrates how adopting nontraditional conceptual models can lead...
Consumer Loyalty Programs and Retail Prices: Evidence from Gasoline Markets

Past research shows that loyalty programs can generate switching costs for consumers and increase their purchase frequency. Theoretical work suggests that if switching costs are significant, firms should charge lower prices in the early periods of a program to boost market share, and increase prices in later periods, to take advantage of the ``lock-in'' effect. However, it is not clear whether these costs soften or exacerbate price competition. Using a large database of gas stations' prices in the Italian market, we study fuel prices in early and late periods of loyalty programs: the sharp price changes adopted by gas stations affiliated with the program during the introduction and termination dates of the program allow us to establish the causal relationship between the program and the pricing behavior of gas stations. We find evidence that gas stations affiliated with the program increase prices in later periods of the program, as predicted by theory. The higher prices of affiliated stations lead to an increase in prices, on average, across all other stations competing in the local market. We also find that affiliated stations reduce their prices in early periods of the program; however, this evidence is less conclusive, as our data cannot exclude other factors explaining the price reduction. We discuss implications for managers and policy makers.
Integrating people-centered and planet-centered design: in conversation with Elizabeth Murnane

Exploring the many approaches and issues involved in developing technologies for wellbeing---from including environmental concerns to building long-lasting, transdisciplinary partnerships both inside and beyond the academy.
Types and Tokens: On Abstract Objects

There is a widely recognized but infrequently discussed distinction between the spatiotemporal furniture of the world (tokens) and the types of which they are instances. Words come in both types and tokens--for example, there is only one word type 'the' but there are numerous tokens of it on this page--as do symphonies, bears, chess games, and many other types of things. In this book, Linda Wetzel examines the distinction between types and tokens and argues that types exist (as abstract objects, since they lack a unique spatiotemporal location). Wetzel demonstrates the ubiquity of references to (and quantifications over) types in science and ordinary language; types have to be reckoned with, and cannot simply be swept under the rug. Wetzel argues that there are such things as types by undermining the epistemological arguments against abstract objects and offering extended original arguments demonstrating the failure of nominalistic attempts to paraphrase away such references to (and quantifications over) types. She then focuses on the relation between types and their tokens, especially for words, showing for the first time that there is nothing that all tokens of a type need have in common other than being tokens of that type. Finally, she considers an often-overlooked problem for realism having to do with types occurring in other types (such as words in a sentence) and proposes an important and original solution, extending her discussion from words and expressions to other types that structurally involve other types (flags and stars and stripes; molecules and atoms; sonatas and notes).
Effect of Toxicants on Chitin Decomposition

Chitin is a polymer of s-1, 4-N-acetyl-D-glucosamine. It is found within the cell walls of fungi, sporulating filamentous streptomycetes, the exoskeletons of insects, and other arthropods. In nature it serves as a significant source of nutrients which find their way into the food chain via the proper enzymes. The enzymes responsible for chitin degradation are primarily the chitinases and chitobiases produced by microbes. The chitinases degrade chitin into the dimer, chitobiase, and other soluble chitodextrins. These products are degraded into the N-acetyl-D-glucosamine molecule by the chitobiase enzyme.
A New Hybrid Approach for Transport Network Design

Urban development and the installation of new and manifold activities on a territory, with industrial, commercial or service character, cause an ever-increasing demand on mobility to which it is necessary to offer an efficient well-organized transportation system, well-distributed over the territory. The adjustment of old networks to new needs must occur across unitary and organic vision of the problem in order to obtain maximum economy for the resources employed as well as maximum functionality for transport users.
Economics and Ethics

Economics is frequently defined as the science of choice, where choice is understood to be the selection of one course of action from among a set of options, on the basis of weighing costs and benefits. Essential to the economic conception of choice is the recognition that every choice involves costs. Ethics is sometimes understood to refer to a code of conduct, but in the literature of contemporary ethics generally and of business ethics in particular it is more often understood to be a practical activity – a reflective and self-critical process of making decisions about which acts are right, wrong, or permissible. Economics appears to recognize only one reason for acting – namely, that doing this rather than that will maximize one's expected utility. Ethics, in contrast, not only offers a variety of considerations (human welfare, individual autonomy, fairness, etc.), but also requires that individuals sometimes act contrary to their own interests. Economists are expanding what has traditionally been regarded as the proper subject matter of economics to include moral behavior, not just self-interested behavior. In doing so, they are recognizing a more complex and mutually enriching relationship between economics and ethics. Keywords: economics; ethics; business ethics; individual utility maximization