cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Engaging Students in Natural Variation in the Introductory Biology Laboratory via a Statistics-based Inquiry Approach

Natural variation, including the continual selective pressures that lead to speciation, is one of the more dynamic aspects of biology. However, traditional instruction on the topic is often passive in nature, leaving little opportunity for scientific inquiry. In this laboratory exercise, we use a statistics-based, guided-inquiry approach to engage students in natural variation. Students are introduced to speciation and classification by using a dichotomous key to identify various common local trees on the basis of leaf characteristics. Once the students have learned characteristics useful for identification, they are given two leaf samples, a sugar maple and an “unknown.” They are asked to choose characteristics and collect quantitative data in order to determine whether the unknown is a sugar maple. Before data collection, students form hypotheses related to the identity of their unknown, followed by statistical comparison of means to support or refute their original hypotheses. In this way, students gain an appreciation for the activities undertaken by taxonomists that are related to natural variation and classification.
Limitations of the repetition effect revealed by partial report

A partial report technique employing a visual marker was used to study the perceptual repetition effect. The repeated item (one row of a 3 by 3 array) was presented tachistoscopically several times, but was not reported by S until a test trial was given. No repetition effect was found when S was required to report another item from the array on each repetition trial. However, a repetition effect (improved recognition performance) did occur when S was required merely to attend to another item, without response, during the repetition trials. It also occurred when S attended, without response, to the whole array on each repetition trial.
Pretreatment circulating serum cytokines associated with follicular and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma: a clinic-based case-control study

Background Abnormal immune function is a key factor in predisposition to non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). We evaluated the association of 30 cytokines individually and as a profile with diffuse large B-cell (DLBCL) and follicular (FL) lymphomas. Methods We used a multiplexed assay to measure 30 cytokine concentrations in pre-treatment serum in a case-control study of 234 FL, 188 DLBCL, and 400 control participants. Unconditional logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) adjusted for age and sex, and polytomous regression was used to evaluate heterogeneity between FL and DLBCL. Principal components analysis (PCA) was used to assess cytokine profiles associated with FL and DLBCL. Results In single cytokine modeling, we found that 12 of the 30 circulating serum cytokines were significantly (P < 0.05) associated with FL and/or DLBCL after accounting for multiple testing (q < 0.05). Soluble IL-2R (sIL-2R) had the strongest association with both FL (OR = 6.0 for highest versus lowest tertile, 95% CI 3.8–9.5; p-trend = 1.8 × 10−21) and DLBCL (OR = 7.6, 95% CI 4.5–13.1; p-trend = 7.2 × 10−20). IL1RA and IL-12p40 also showed similar associations for DLBCL and FL. In contrast, HGF, MIG, and MIP-1α had a stronger association with DLBCL compared to FL, and IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IFN-γ, IP-10, and VEGF were only statistically significantly associated with DLBCL after accounting for multiple testing. However, in PCA modeling, a cytokine profile based on sIL-2R, IL-1RA, MIG, IP-10, IL-8, and IL-12p40 explained most of the variability between controls and both FL and DLBCL. Conclusions We identified some cytokines unique to DLBCL, but overall cytokine associations were more similar than distinct for DLBCL and FL. While these data are limited by concerns of reverse causality, they do suggest cytokines and cytokine profiles that can be prioritized in future studies.
Cellular dynamics in the early mouse embryo: from axis formation to gastrulation

Coordinated cell movements and reciprocal tissue interactions direct the formation of the definitive germ layers and the elaboration of the major axes of the mouse embryo. Genetic and embryological studies have defined the major molecular pathways that mediate these morphogenetic processes and provided 'snapshots' of the morphogenetic program. However, it is increasingly clear that this foundation needs to be validated, and can be significantly refined and extended using live imaging approaches. In situ visualization of these processes in living specimens is a major goal, as it provides unprecedented detail of the individual cellular behaviors, which translate into the large-scale tissue rearrangements that shape the embryo.
Generation of Self-Dual and Self-Complementary Dual Functions

Properties of self-dual and self-complementary dual functions are discussed. Necessary and sufficient conditions of self-dual and self-complementary dual functions are obtained in terms of the multithreshold weight threshold vector. In particular, self-dual and self-complementary dual functions are shown to be realizable only by an odd and even number of effective thresholds, respectively. A threshold T j is effective if E min ≪ T j ≪ E max . It is shown that n+1 variable self-dual and self-complementary dual functions can always be generated from 1- and 2-effective-threshold weight threshold vectors of n-variable Boolean functions, respectively. If the number of effective thresholds exceeds 2, constraints on the thresholds must be met in order to generate n+1 variable self-dual and self-complementary dual functions. Such generations of self-dual and self-complementary dual functions are shown to correspond to the functional forms of self-dualization and self-complementary dualization of an n-variable Boolean function. Moreover, they are realized by the same threshold vector T. Furthermore, it is shown that if an n-variable Boolean function F n (X) is self-dual or self-complementary dual with weight threshold vector [W n ; T], then an n+m variable self-dual or self-complementary dual Boolean function F n+m (X), where m is any positive integer, can be realized by a weight threshold vector [W n+m ; T]. The above cited weight vectors W n and W n+m are constrained by If ?n i=1 W i = ?n+m i=1 W i . ?n i=1 |W i | = ?n+m i=1 |W i |, then optimal realization vectors seem to be obtained.
Homomorphic analysis of speech

Classes of systems which satisfy a generalized principle of superposition have been previously proposed and termed "homomorphic systems," emphasizing their interpretation as homomorphic (i.e., algebraically linear) transformations. One such class appears suited to the separation of signals that have been convolved. In this paper, an approach to deconvolution of speech, based on these ideas, is discussed.
Sparse Supermatrices for Phylogenetic Inference: Taxonomy, Alignment, Rogue Taxa, and the Phylogeny of Living Turtles

As phylogenetic data sets grow in size and number, objective methods to summarize this information are becoming increasingly important. Supermatrices can combine existing data directly and in principle provide effective syntheses of phylogenetic information that may reveal new relationships. However, several serious difficulties exist in the construction of large supermatrices that must be overcome before these approaches will enjoy broad utility. We present analyses that examine the performance of sparse supermatrices constructed from large sequence databases for the reconstruction of species-level phylogenies. We develop a largely automated informatics pipeline that allows for the construction of sparse supermatrices from GenBank data. In doing so, we develop strategies for alleviating some of the outstanding impediments to accurate phylogenetic inference using these approaches. These include taxonomic standardization, automated alignment, and the identification of rogue taxa. We use turtles as an exemplar clade and present a well-supported species-level phylogeny for two-thirds of all turtle species based on a approximately 50 kb supermatrix consisting of 93% missing data. Finally, we discuss some of the remaining pitfalls and concerns associated with supermatrix analyses, provide comparisons to supertree approaches, and suggest areas for future research.
A review of the virological efficacy of the 4 World Health Organization-recommended tenofovir-containing regimens for initial HIV therapy.

(See the Editorial Commentary by Kuritzkes et al, on pages 876–7.) We systematically reviewed studies of the virological efficacy of the 4 new tenofovir (TDF)-containing regimens recommended for initial antiretroviral (ARV) therapy in the 2010 World Health Organization ARV Treatment Guidelines. Thirty-three studies assessed the efficacy of 1 or more TDF-containing regimens: TDF/lamivudine (3TC)/nevirapine (NVP) (n = 3), TDF/ emtricitabine (FTC)/NVP (n = 9), TDF/3TC/efavirenz (EFV) (n = 6), and TDF/FTC/EFV (n = 19). TDF/3TC/NVP was the least well-studied and appeared the least efficacious of the 4 regimens. In 2 comparative studies, TDF/3TC/NVP was associated with significantly more virological failure than AZT/3TC/NVP; a third study was terminated prematurely because of early virological failure. TDF/FTC/NVP was either equivalent or inferior to its comparator arms. TDF/3TC/EFV was equivalent to its comparator arms. TDF/FTC/EFV was equivalent or superior to its comparator arms. Possible explanations for these findings include the greater antiviral activity of EFV versus NVP and longer intracellular half-life of FTC-triphosphate versus 3TC-triphosphate. Further study of TDF/3TC/NVP is required before it is widely deployed for initial ARV therapy.
Functional Polymorphisms in the Gene Encoding Macrophage Migration Inhibitory Factor Are Associated With Gram-Negative Bacteremia in Older Adults

Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is an immune mediator encoded in a functionally polymorphic locus. We found the genotype conferring low expression of MIF to be enriched in a cohort of 180 patients with gram-negative bacteremia, compared with 229 healthy controls (odds ratio [OR], 2.4; P = .04), an association that was more pronounced in older adults (OR, 4.6; P = .01). Among older subjects, those with low expression of MIF demonstrated 20% reduced MIF production from lipopolysaccharide-stimulated peripheral blood monocytes and 30% lower monocyte surface Toll-like receptor 4, compared with those with high expression. Our work suggests that older adults with low expression of MIF may be predisposed to hyporesponsiveness to lipopolysaccharide and gram-negative bacterial infection.
Heat capacity changes in RNA folding: application of perturbation theory to hammerhead ribozyme cold denaturation

In proteins, empirical correlations have shown that changes in heat capacity (ΔCP) scale linearly with the hydrophobic surface area buried upon folding. The influence of ΔCP on RNA folding has been widely overlooked and is poorly understood. In addition to considerations of solvent reorganization, electrostatic effects might contribute to ΔCPs of folding in polyanionic species such as RNAs. Here, we employ a perturbation method based on electrostatic theory to probe the hot and cold denaturation behavior of the hammerhead ribozyme. This treatment avoids much of the error associated with imposing two-state folding models on non-two-state systems. Ribozyme stability is perturbed across a matrix of solvent conditions by varying the concentration of NaCl and methanol co-solvent. Temperature-dependent unfolding is then monitored by circular dichroism spectroscopy. The resulting array of unfolding transitions can be used to calculate a ΔCP of folding that accurately predicts the observed cold denaturation temperature. We confirm the accuracy of the calculated ΔCP by using isothermal titration calorimetry, and also demonstrate a methanol-dependence of the ΔCP. We weigh the strengths and limitations of this method for determining ΔCP values. Finally, we discuss the data in light of the physical origins of the ΔCPs for RNA folding and consider their impact on biological function.
Epithelial-Mesenchymal Interactions in Pulmonary Fibrosis

Lung epithelial cells have emerged as a frequent target of injury, a driver of normal repair, and a key element in the pathobiology of fibrotic lung diseases. An important aspect of epithelial cells is their capacity to respond to microenvironmental cues by undergoing epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). EMT is not simply widespread conversion of epithelial cells to fibroblasts but a graded response whereby epithelial cells reversibly acquire mesenchymal features and enhanced capacity for mesenchymal cross-talk. Recent studies elucidate distinct integrin-sensing systems that coordinate activity of TGFβ1, a critical signaling element regulating EMT, with the presence of proinflammatory signals and cell injury. Repeated injury superimposes persistent inflammation and hypoxia onto these highly regulated repair pathways, potentially overwhelming orderly repair and creating sustained fibrogenesis. Understanding specific signaling mechanisms driving the mesenchymal response to TGFβ1 may reveal therapeutics to attenuate fibrogenesis yet preserve the important homeostatic functions of TGFβ1.
Learning Synchronous Grammars for Semantic Parsing with Lambda Calculus

This paper presents the first empirical results to our knowledge on learning synchronous grammars that generate logical forms. Using statistical machine translation techniques, a semantic parser based on a synchronous context-free grammar augmented with �operators is learned given a set of training sentences and their correct logical forms. The resulting parser is shown to be the bestperforming system so far in a database query domain.
Evidence for nonrandom multiplicity of gene products in 22 plant genera.

Correlations in the number (multiplicity) of molecular forms among 10 enzymes have been estimated from a sample of plants representing 22 genera. Significant correlations in multiplicity among some of the 10 enzyme systems suggest a nonrandom organization of variation in number of molecular forms. An analysis of the correlations among enzymes of a glycolytic and Krebs cycle subset supports the occurrence of patterns of influence on multiplicity which correspond to the known metabolic relatedness of the enzymes. We interpret these data as evidence for organization of enzyme multiplicity. This property may be of adaptive value to the species.
The Enzymatic Synthesis of Lipid A: Molecular Structure and Biologic Function of Monosaccharide Precursors

Certain Escherichia coli mutants, deficient in phosphatidylglycerol, accumulate novel, glucosamine-derived phospholipids that appear to be very early precursors of lipid A. The simplest of these, lipid X, is a derivative of glucosamine-1-phosphate substituted with beta-hydroxymyristoyl moieties at positions 2 and 3. The discovery of lipid X makes it possible to predict a biosynthetic pathway and a unified structure for lipid A. In addition, the minimal molecular requirements for the mitogenic and endotoxic properties of lipopolysaccharides can be elucidated with compounds of this kind.
Modeling household energy consumption and adoption of energy-efficient technology using recent micro-data

This paper presents a unified technology choice and energy consumption model (a “discrete/continuous model”) that can be applied to study household energy use behavior. The model, stemming from consumer theory, ensures modeling of consumer short-run energy demand and long-run capital investment decisions in a mutually consistent manner. The model adopts a second-order translog flexible functional form that allows considerable structural flexibility in exploring consumer preferences and interplays among energy uses and between short-run and long-run choices. Using a unique California household dataset, the model is applied to examine the roles of household characteristics, energy prices, and energy and environmental policy in household energy use behavior. Estimation results demonstrate the modeling framework is robust and appropriate in studying household energy use behavior. This study confirms two important market failures with respect to household energy technology choice behavior: the principal/agent problem and information imperfection. The empirical analysis finds strong evidence that information-based Energy Star program and energy efficiency standards influence the adoption of energy-efficient appliances. Surprisingly, financial incentives aimed to lower the initial costs of energy-efficient appliances, such as the popular rebate programs, are far less effective. Furthermore, at the household level the incentive for new technology adoption appears to be greater under direct regulation than under market-based instruments, such as a carbon cap-and-trade program or emission taxes. 1 This paper is based on my PhD dissertation at the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics of the University of Maryland, College Park. I especially acknowledge of Professor Richard E. Just, my advisor, for his tremendous contributions and guidance to the analytical endeavour. I also thank Glen Sharp of the California Energy Commission for making the RASS micro dataset available to me.
System implementation issues of dynamic discrete disaster decision simulation system (D4S2): phase I

Simulation has many advantages in modeling complex systems to facilitate decision making. In this research, an integrated computer system will be developed which incorporates an agent-based discrete event simulator, a geographic information system, a rule base, and interactive databases in addition to interfaces and other supporting components. The modules will seamlessly communicate with each other by exchanging a progression of data, and making a series of deductive decisions through embedded algorithms. This integrated system will be applied to disaster management planning and training and is designated Dynamic Discrete Disaster Decision Simulation System (D4S2). Here we address Phase I system implementation issues of D4S2 which is under development.
Temperature measurements in a laser-heated gas by quantitative shadowgraphy

A whole-field quantitative shadow method was used to determine the temperature in a laser ignition experiment. An ethylene-air mixture was heated by a CO(2) laser, and the hot gas was illuminated with a collimated laser beam. The resulting shadow image was recorded digitally and analyzed to determine the temperature. Very good spatial and temporal resolutions (15 microm and 10 ns) were achieved using a simple optical arrangement. A computer simulation was used to determine the sensitivity of the shadow temperatures to blurring due to diffraction and uncertainties in parameters such as the ambient pressure. Temperatures determined from Rayleigh light scattering agreed with the shadow measurements to within 1-4%.
Inhibition of prostate cancer cell growth by an avocado extract: role of lipid-soluble bioactive substances.

Abstract Although the avocado is known as a rich source of monounsaturated fatty acids, there has been far less attention given to its content of other bioactive substances including carotenoids, which might contribute to cancer preventive properties similar to those attributed to other fruits and vegetables. The yellow-green color of the avocado prompted us to study the carotenoid content of this fruit using established methods in our laboratory. The California Hass avocado ( Persea americana Mill.) was selected for study, because it is the most commonly consumed variety in the southwest United States. These avocados were found to contain the highest content of lutein among commonly eaten fruits as well as measurable amounts of related carotenoids (zeaxanthin, α-carotene, and β-carotene). Lutein accounted for 70% of the measured carotenoids, and the avocado also contained significant quantities of vitamin E. An acetone extract of avocado containing these carotenoids and tocopherols was shown to inhibit the growth of both androgen-dependent (LNCaP) and androgen-independent (PC-3) prostate cancer cell lines in vitro. Incubation of PC-3 cells with the avocado extract led to G 2 /M cell cycle arrest accompanied by an increase in p27 protein expression. Lutein alone did not reproduce the effects of the avocado extract on cancer cell proliferation. In common with other colorful fruits and vegetables, the avocado contains numerous bioactive carotenoids. Because the avocado also contains a significant amount of monounsaturated fat, these bioactive carotenoids are likely to be absorbed into the bloodstream, where in combination with other diet-derived phytochemicals they may contribute to the significant cancer risk reduction associated with a diet of fruits and vegetables.
Thrombospondin-2 facilitates assembly of a type I collagen-rich matrix in marrow stromal cells undergoing osteoblastic differentiation

AbstractWe examined the effects of Thrombospondin-2 (TSP2) deficiency on assembly of collagenous extracellular matrix (ECM) by primary marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) undergoing osteoblast differentiation in culture. After 30 d, wild-type cells had accumulated and mineralized a collagen-rich insoluble matrix, whereas the TSP2-null cultures contained markedly lower amounts of matrix collagen and displayed reduced mineral. Differences in matrix collagen were seen as early as day 9, at which time wild-type cultures contained more total collagen per cell than did TSP2-null cells. Collagen was unevenly distributed amongst different extracellular compartments in the two cell-types. Collagen levels in conditioned medium of wild-type cells were higher than those of TSP2-null cells, but were roughly equivalent in the acid-soluble, newly cross-linked matrixes. Conversely, the mature, cross-linked acid-insoluble matrix layer of wild-type cells contained about twice as much collagen as TSP2-null cell-d...
Dietary Phthalate Exposure in Pregnant Women and the Impact of Consumer Practices

Phthalates are ubiquitous endocrine-disrupting chemicals that are contaminants in food and contribute to significant dietary exposures. We examined associations between reported consumption of specific foods and beverages and first trimester urinary phthalate metabolite concentrations in 656 pregnant women within a multicenter cohort study, The Infant Development and Environment Study (TIDES), using multivariate regression analysis. We also examined whether reported use of ecofriendly and chemical-free products was associated with lower phthalate biomarker levels in comparison to not following such practices. Consumption of one additional serving of dairy per week was associated with decreases of 1% in the sum of di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) metabolite levels (95% CI: −2.0, −0.2). Further, participants who reported sometimes eating homegrown food had monoisobutyl phthalate (MiBP) levels that were 16.6% lower (95% CI: −29.5, −1.3) in comparison to participants in the rarely/never category. In contrast to rarely/never eating frozen fruits and vegetables, participants who reported sometimes following this practice had monobenzyl phthalate (MBzP) levels that were 21% higher (95% CI: 3.3, 41.7) than rarely/ever respondents. Future study on prenatal dietary phthalate exposure and the role of consumer product choices in reducing such exposure is needed.
Cognitive Engine Design for Link Adaptation: An Application to Multi-Antenna Systems

In this paper, we present a Cognitive Engine (CE) design for link adaptation and apply it to a system which can adapt its use of multiple antennas in addition to modulation and coding. Our design moves forward the state of the art in several ways while having a simple structure. Specifically, the CE only needs to observe the number of successes and failures associated with each set of channel conditions and communication method. From these two numbers, the CE can derive all of its functionality. First, it can estimate confidence intervals of the packet success rate (PSR) using the Beta distribution. A low computational approximation to the CDF of the Beta distribution is also presented. Second, the designed CE balances the tradeoff between learning and short-term performance (exploration {vs.} exploitation) by applying the Gittins index. Third, the CE learns the radio abilities independently of the operation objectives. Thus, if an objective changes, information regarding the radio's abilities is not lost. Finally, prior knowledge such as capacity, BER curves, and basic communication principles are used to both initialize the CE's knowledge and maximize the learning rate across different channel conditions. The proposed CE is demonstrated to have the ability to learn in a dynamic scenario and quickly approach maximal performance.
Context-sensitive program analysis as database queries

Program analysis has been increasingly used in software engineering tasks such as auditing programs for security vulnerabilities and finding errors in general. Such tools often require analyses much more sophisticated than those traditionally used in compiler optimizations. In particular, context-sensitive pointer alias information is a prerequisite for any sound and precise analysis that reasons about uses of heap objects in a program. Context-sensitive analysis is challenging because there are over 1014 contexts in a typical large program, even after recursive cycles are collapsed. Moreover, pointers cannot be resolved in general without analyzing the entire program.This paper presents a new framework, based on the concept of deductive databases, for context-sensitive program analysis. In this framework, all program information is stored as relations; data access and analyses are written as Datalog queries. To handle the large number of contexts in a program, the database represents relations with binary decision diagrams (BDDs). The system we have developed, called bddbddb, automatically translates database queries into highly optimized BDD programs.Our preliminary experiences suggest that a large class of analyses involving heap objects can be described succinctly in Datalog and implemented efficiently with BDDs. To make developing application-specific analyses easy for programmers, we have also created a language called PQL that makes a subset of Datalog queries more intuitive to define. We have used the language to find many security holes in Web applications.
Modeling and analysis of a high current electron beam focused by a permanent-magnet quadrupole lattice in a helical traveling-wave circuit

Periodic lattices of permanent-magnet quadrupoles (PMQ) have the potential to provide the strong focusing required to transport higher current electron beams compared with conventional periodic permanent-magnet (PPM) lattices. Using the design methodology and numerical tools described in [1], we present a design example of a PMQ lattice optimized for a 16 kV, 0.81 A beam along with particle simulations using the electron transport code, MICHELLE 3D [2]. The PMQ lattice facilitates non-intercepting transport of a beam that is a factor of three higher in current compared with a PPM system using the same magnetic material and lattice periodicity. We will also present analyses of the interaction between the elliptical beam formed by the PMQ lattice and a helical traveling-wave circuit. Here, we have used the large-signal traveling-wave tube (TWT) code, CHRISTINE 1-D [3], to explore the sensitivity of the amplifier performance to variations in beam radius. We will show that, in addition to enabling higher rf power operation, the higher beam currents afforded by PMQ focusing enable a higher power gain per unit length and result in more compact form factors and higher amplifier power densities compared with comparable PPM-focused circuits.
Investigation of carbofuran and its metabolites by gas‐liquid chromatography in green and dry hops

Processed hop cones (Humulus americanus) are an important flavoring component in beer, and it is possible that carbofuran and its metabolites could be found in treated hops and thus in beer. Hop cones were treated with 1.12 kg/ha active ingredient carbofuran (2, 3-dihydro-2, 2-dimethyl-7-benzofuranyl-N-methyl carbamate) for the control of root weevils (Otiorhynchus sulcatus, O. ovatus). The carbamates in the cones were determined using gas-liquid chromatography (GLC) and a thermionic specific detector. The percent recoveries for the carbamates ranged from 88.7 ± 5.3 to 95.3 ± 6.3% (green hops) and from 88.6 ± 12.3 to 98.0 ± 5.0% (dry hops). The phenolic metabolites were analyzed as their 2, 4-dinitrophenol ether derivatives, using GLC with an electron capture detector. The percent recoveries ranged from 85.0 ± 5.8 to 88.3 ± 8.5% (green hops) and from 80.3 ± 4.4 to 95.3 ± 3.0% (dry hops). The GLC procedure was sensitive to 0.05 ppm. Control samples in all cases contained less than 0.05 ppm and green, treated hop cones had residues of less than 0.05 ppm. Dry treated hop cones contained less than 0.05 ppm of all chemicals, except 3-keto-7-phenol (0.12 ppm) and the 3,7-diol (0.07 ppm). Although the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has not established tolerance levels for carbofuran and its metabolites in hop cones, the present investigation shows that residue levels on green and dry hop cones are well below the EPA's tolerances for carbofuran in other commodities.
Challenges for research publications: what is journal quality and how to measure it?

![Figure][1] ![Figure][1] “Throughout the whole history of science most of the really great discoveries which had ultimately proved to be beneficial to mankind had been made by men and women who were driven not by the desire to be useful but merely the desire to satisfy their
Methodological Pluralism and Qualitative Family Research

Methodological pluralism is the hallmark of contemporary research on families Such pluralism is not likely to go away because it is firmly embedded in tradition and in the methodological transformations current in the social and human sciences. Practicing in a wide array of disciplines, family scholars are being swept up in—and helping to create—the exciting possibilities these transformations present. Such possibilities are so recent that the words of LaRossa and Reitzes (1993), written not long ago, although compelling, soon will be outdated. They wrote, “family research is for the most part dominated by relatively static models and methodologies” (p. 158), an observation other family scholars have articulated (e.g., Osmond, 1987; Thomas & Wilcox, 1987). The exploration of methodological stasis in family research will provide a context in which to interpret the state of contemporary qualitative family research methods. As I will show, methodological stasis is a relatively recent phenomenon. Research on families stands on a tradition of methodological pluralism.
Privacy in a Networked World

Social networking sites, search engines, and the like all gather an enormous amount of information about individual users. The information has value to these businesses in terms of tailoring advertisements and calibrating product offerings and pricing. But what constraints does the law place upon the acquisition, storage, and use of this data? In this podcast, we will look at privacy law from a distinctly modern perspective, using recent controversies to highlight not only relevant rules but also strategic tradeoffs inherent in collecting personal information from a user community. Guests include GW Law Professor Dan Solove and Santa Clara Law’s Eric Goldman. UCLA law professor Doug Lichtman hosts. (Podcast available for free in the archives at ipcolloquium.com.)
Medication Use and Metabolic Syndrome Among Overweight/Obese Patients With and Without Binge-Eating Disorder in a Primary Care Sample

Objective: To examine metabolic factors among overweight/obese individuals with binge-eating disorder (BED) and non–binge-eating overweight/obese (NBO) patients recruited from primary care and to examine and compare medication use by these groups.
A DISCONTINUOUS FINITE-ELEMENT FORMULATION FOR INTERNAL RADIATION PROBLEMS

This article presents a discontinuous finite-element formulation for internal thermal radiation problems. In contrast to the conventional finite-element formulation, the discontinuous algorithm permits the discontinuity of field variables across the internal interelement boundaries and is useful for integral-differential equations describing thermal radiation in absorbing/scattering media. Mathematical formulation and numerical implementation are given. The convergence rate and local mesh adaptivity are discussed. Two approaches for coupling of the discontinuous and conventional methods for mixed heat transfer calculations are presented. Numerical results are given for internal radiation and combined conduction/radiation problems and are compared with analytical solutions whenever available.
Continuous Laboratory Rearing of the Diamondback Moth and Related Biological Data

A technique was developed for continuous laboratory rearing of Plutella xylostella (L.) (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae), on artificial diet. The life cycle from egg to adult required 19 days (egg: 3, larva: 11, pupa: 5) at 23°C and 60% RH. Survival from the egg to adult was 70%; adult longevity averaged 8 days (6–21). Females laid an average of 139 eggs (55–266) and 50% were deposited during the 1st 3 days of adult life. The majority of the eggs (ca. 75%) was laid on paper toweling.
ConfChem Conference on Interactive Visualizations for Chemistry Teaching and Learning: Concerns Regarding Accessible Interfaces for Students Who Are Blind or Have Low Vision

This communication summarizes one of the invited papers to the Interactive Visualizations for Chemistry Teaching and Learning ACS CHED Committee on Computers in Chemical Education online ConfChem held May 8–June 4, 2015. It focuses on concerns of the current societal paradigm as it pertains to virtual simulations and visual animations today, and addresses matters pertaining to the usability of such constructs by students who are blind or visually impaired (BVI). Further, it addresses concerns with the importance of providing equal access to visual information in the teaching of chemistry concepts and comments on the dynamic nature of the teaching profession.
Trend analysis of notifiable diseases in Yichang city( 2003-2012)

Objective To analyze the 10-year incidence of notifiable infectious diseases in Yichang City,and provide basis for developing prevention and control measures. Methods Relevant data of Yichang City were collected from the national disease surveillance information reporting system,and descriptive epidemiological method was performed.Results Twenty-seven kinds including 168,927 cases of notifiable diseases were reported,the average annual incidence rate was 427. 11 /100 000,with 464 death cases,the average annual mortality rate was 1. 17 /100 000,and the fatality rate was 0. 27%. The average annual incidence rate of respiratory diseases was 157. 65 /100 000,the average annual incidence rate of intestinal infectious was 149. 05 /100 000,the average annual incidence rate of blood and sexually transmitted diseases was 117. 28 /100 000,the average annual incidence rate of natural foci vector-borne disease was 3. 13 /100 000.Conclusions hand-foot-mouth disease,mumps increased significantly. HBV,HIV,syphilis,hand-foot-mouth disease and mumps should be the focus of disease control,and surveillance and control of imported infectious diseases should be strengthened.
Photonic Crystal Fiber Technology: A Comparison with Conventional Optical Fiber

We will present a review of the capabilities and limitations of photonic crystal fiber technology, with particular emphasis on how the optical properties of these fibers compare with conventional fibers.
Applications of Physiologically Based Pharmacokinetic (PBPK) Models for Pediatric Populations

Given the difficulties for conducting clinical studies in infants and children, pediatric pharmacometrics, which applies quantitative models to account maturation of biochemical and physiological aspects of development, to predict efficacy and the likelihood of adverse reactions, is being extensively applied during pediatric drug development. More specifically, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and disease are evaluated in different subpopulations using different methodologies. Both the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the FDA’s pharmacometrics initiative have influenced pediatric clinical design [41, 45]. Many pediatric pharmacometric examples are for drugs already on the market but used off-label in children to address the concerns on age-appropriate dose, efficacy, and safety in this special population.
Assessment of Cardiovascular Risk Beyond Lipid Panel in Cardio-Oncology Patients

Cancer survivors have an increased risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, which is most often attributed to radiation therapy. While cardiovascular disease risk calculators include the assessment of traditional risk factors, such as hyperlipidemia and hypertension, these calculators may underestimate risk in cancer survivors. This chapter discusses the use of coronary artery calcium, highly sensitivity C-reactive protein, carotid intimal medial thickness, and ankle-brachial index, tools that may guide individual cardiovascular risk assessment beyond the lipid panel in cardio-oncology patients.
Reasons Why: Examining the Experience of Women in Games 140 Characters at a Time:

Recent discourses around digital games and game cultures have revealed myriad challenges for female professionals in the game industry. One of these conversations began in late 2012 on the social n...
Theory and Weighting Strategies of Mixed Sensitivity H∞ Synthesis on a Class of Aerospace Applications

This paper presents a vital design concept commonly used in the robust H infinity control synthesis technique - the mixed sensitivity H infinity optimization.
Asian Pacific elders: implications for health care providers

Asian Pacific Islanders are a diverse group that include recent immigrants as well as long-term residents. They may be isolated or unsettled in their relationships with their own families and unfamiliar with Western medical care and thought. Medical care should take into consideration unique features of their traditional health benefits, traditional medications, prevalence of medical problems, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, diet, health risks, and health promotion. Although they cannot be homogenized into one tidy bundle, certain commonalities apply, and are addressed.
The EU’s Central Asian Strategy in a Globalizing World

The European Union (EU) model for interaction with Central Asia is characterized by a constant stream of contact, notable donations of aid and economic development assistance. Central to this relationship is the persistence of the EU in the face of strong competition from Russia, the United States and China. To date, the EU constitutes the major donor nation for the five Central Asian republics and is a major trade partner in the region. EU aid involves a significant number of different programs and areas including investment, export assistance, education, environment, border management, transport, drug trafficking and crime. While the Central Asian nations welcome donated aid, they are quite reluctant in the areas of human rights and democratization implementation and cooperation, which are very important to the EU. The EU faces significant handicaps in its Central Asia policy—ranging i.a. from the small size of its programs to Turkey’s EU candidacy (Turkey serves somewhat of a model for the Central Asian nations, and its continuing difficulties with the EU accession process raises a red flag for Central Asia). Despite these difficulties, the prospect of energy resources, new markets, and the resolution of problems with neighbors fuels the EU’s persistence, and could lead to positive results in the future.
STATs in Cytokine-mediated Transcriptional Regulation

The signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) proteins are latent cytoplasmic transcription factors that are activated by a variety of cytokines and growth factors to regulate transcription. Upon stimulation, STATs become tyrosine phosphorylated to form functional dimers. Activated STAT dimers then translocate into the nucleus where they directly bind to the promoters of downstream genes to activate transcription. Posttranslational modifications such as phosphorylation and acetylation, the protein inhibitor of activate STAT (PIAS) proteins, and several protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPases) have been shown to regulate the activity of STATs. This article reviews the current understanding of the functional domains, the regulation, and the physiological roles of STATs in cytokine signaling.
Compilation for critically constrained knowledge bases

We show that many "critically constrained" Random 3SAT knowledge bases (KBs) can be compiled into disjunctive normal form easily by using a variant of the "Davis-Putnam" proof procedure. From these compiled KBs we can answer all queries about entailment of conjunctive normal formulas, also easily -- compared to a "brute-force" approach to approximate knowledge compilation into unit clauses for the same KBs. We exploit this fact to develop an aggressive hybrid approach which attempts to compile a KB exactly until a given resource limit is reached, then falls back to approximate compilation into unit clauses. The resulting approach handles all of the critically constrained Random 3SAT KBs with average savings of an order of magnitude over the brute-force approach.
Automated Road Crack Detection Using Deep Convolutional Neural Networks

Effective and timely identification of cracks on the roads are crucial to propitiously repair and limit any further degradation. Till date, most crack detection methods follow a manual inspection approach as opposed to automatic image-based detection, making the overall procedure expensive and time-consuming. In this study, we propose an automated pavement distress analysis system based on the YOLO v2 deep learning framework. The system is trained using 7,240 images acquired from mobile cameras and tested on 1,813 road images. The detection and classification accuracy of the proposed distress analyzer is measured using the average F1 score obtained from the precision and recall values. Successful application of this study can help identify road anomalies in need of urgent repair, thereby facilitating a much better civil infrastructure monitoring system. The codes associated with the study including the trained model can be found in [11].
Fakesbook: A social networking platform for teaching security and privacy concepts to secondary school students

As frequent users of social networking applications, middle and high school students are well-suited for curricular interventions that leverage these technologies. Allowing students to see "behind the curtain" of these applications provides them with a unique opportunity to better understand the discipline of computer science upon which these technologies are built and influences their perceptions of computer security and privacy. We present a novel social networking simulation that allows students to create a social network account, including profile data and images, and to manage privacy settings and friend connections. The platform, named Fakesbook, presents students with a visualization of the social network as a graph, enabling them to observe the spread of profile data (theirs and others') depending on friend connections and choices of privacy settings. We additionally present our lab curriculum which uses Fakesbook to enable active learning and adversarial thinking to engage students and build agency with regard to privacy and computing concepts. We deployed and, over several years, evaluated our platform and curriculum with hundreds of students from a diverse set of backgrounds at educational events designed to introduce these populations to computer science, cybersecurity, and privacy. Survey results indicate that students gained or deepened their understanding of online privacy and security and that 86% of participants found that Fakesbook helped them "think about privacy and computer security."
Evaluation: History and Physical Examination, Imaging, and Endoscopy

The first step in the management of any lower urinary tract dysfunction is a proper evaluation. This chapter reviews the basics of the history, physical and neurologic examination, and the indications for imaging and endoscopy that are essential for initial categorization. Coupled with a proper urodynamic evaluation, described subsequently, a proper diagnosis results, along with a stepwise algorithm for management.
Fully retargeted measles viruses for cancer therapy

5294 Attenuated replication-competent Edmonston lineage strains of measles virus (MV-Edm) have proven anti-tumor activity against xenograft models of human multiple myeloma, ovarian cancer, lymphoma and glioma. The virus is selectively oncolytic, causing extensive lethal cell to cell fusion via CD46, which is more highly expressed on tumor cells than normal cells. However, MV-Edm retains the capacity to infect a variety of nontransformed cell types via its native receptors, CD46 and SLAM. CD46 is a ubiquitous regulator of complement activation, which is found on all human nucleated cells. SLAM (signaling lymphocyte activation molecule) is expressed only on activated T and B cells, dendritic cells and macrophages. Therefore, there is a chance that oncolytic MV-Edm may cause immunosupression, or other unwanted damage to normal tissues. One approach to avoid this risk is to engineer the viral attachment protein to ablate its natural tropisms and at the same time, redirect its specificity to interact with alternative tumor specific receptors. The measles Hemagglutinin (H) protein recognizes CD46 or SLAM, and this leads to membrane fusion triggered by the viral Fusion protein (F). We previously engineered the H protein of measles virus to restrict and retarget membrane fusion through various antibody-receptor interactions (Nakamura T. et. al., Nature Biotechnology, 2004). However, ablation of the native receptor interactions makes it difficult to grow the virus on Vero cells. To address this limitation, we have developed pseudoreceptor system “STAR”, which allows rescue and propagation of fully retargeted viruses with modified H proteins that no longer bind to the native measles receptors. The H proteins of the fully retargeted viruses are tagged with a C-terminal peptide tag comprising six histidine residues (H6). The recombinant viruses can then be grown on a Vero-αHis cell line that expresses a membrane-anchored single-chain antibody recognizing the H6 peptide. For validation of the system we rescued three fully retargeted viruses incorporating single chain antibodies against CD38, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), or EGFR mutant vIII, each one tagged with the H6 peptide and displayed at the C-terminus of an ablated H protein. These retargeted viruses propagated efficiently on Vero-αHis cells (but not on parental Vero cells) and efficiently entered target cells through their respective targeted receptors in vitro and in vivo, but not through CD46 and SLAM. When administered intratumorally or intravenously to mice bearing human CD38 or EGFR-positive human tumor xenografts, the targeted viruses demonstrated specific receptor-mediated anti-tumor activity. Fully retargeted MV-Edms may prove to be more selective and safer oncolytic agents than wild-type MV-Edm. Also, our data suggest that receptor choice is not a significant limitation for targeting oncolytic measles viruses and that it should therefore be possible to target a variety of tumors.
Including Maladaptive Anger in Psychology Courses

Despite clear interpersonal, physiological, behavioral, and emotional consequences, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition (DSM-5) and most abnormal psychology tex...
College Student Conceptions of Geological Time and the Disconnect Between Ordering and Scale

College student conceptions of the scale of geologic time and the relationships between time and geological or biological events were evaluated through interviews, open-ended questionnaires, and st...