cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Business-to-business sponsorship opportunities: Examining UPS’s functional congruence with the NCAA

AbstractBusiness-to-business themed sponsorships can be powerful marketing platforms, giving companies the ability to demonstrate and communicate their performance capabilities. Having a functional congruence, when the sponsor has a participatory role in the event, is a unique advantage for some sponsors. Demonstrating a functional congruence addresses a critical distinction between business-to-business and business-to-consumer marketing approaches identified in the literature, with business-to-business buying decisions more focused on brand reliability. This article examines how United Parcel Service (UPS) executes its business-to-business themed, functional congruence sponsorship with the NCAA. It focuses on the logistical services that UPS performs in putting on the NCAA college basketball tournament. This cooperative indirect customer marketing approach shows how UPS uses the popularity of the NCAA Tournament to communicate its brand theme and brand capabilities. A case study of an actual business-to-...
Characterization of Hydrated Surface Layers on Nuclear Waste Glasses by Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy

The reaction between aqueous solutions and borosilicate glasses designed for commercial or defense waste immobilization produces a hydrated layer on the surface of the glass which can be characterized by infrared reflectance spectroscopy. Specular reflectance curves, obtained by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, can be deconvoluted by Kramers-Kronig analysis to obtain true absorption spectra. The pattern of Si-O stretching modes changes for alkali silicate glass, indicating changes in the network polymerization. The characteristic intense band of the borosilicate glasses simply changes intensity in a way that scales with degree of hydration. The progressive hydration of the glass surface also appears as a broad OH band which can be extracted from the reflectance curve by the deconvolution process.
Predicting Apple Injury Caused by Platynota idaeusalis (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) from Summer Brood Sampling

Linear and multiple regression analysis was used to evaluate four methods that sampled summer brood tufted apple bud moth (TABM), Platynota idaeusalis (Walker), egg masses, larvae, or fruit injury, to predict apple injury caused by fall brood larvae. Summer brood egg masses were low in number and generally were not a significant factor in the regression models. Only high percentages of summer brood fruit injury or high numbers of larvae were significant. Summer brood larvae was consistently the best predictor of fall brood fruit injury. The best sampling method to predict fall brood fruit injury was 5-min timed counts taken during late July–early August. These counts explained comparatively larger percentages of variation (generally r2 values >0.60) with comparatively less sampling effort.
The Significance of St Cuthbert’s Vestments*

Sanctity is a quality first perceived, then acclaimed, contested or affirmed. Most commonly the visual perception of sanctity took the form of witnessing miracles: individuals saw with their own eyes divine power working through another human being. The development of the cult of the saints in western Europe, however, gave rise to a rich visual and material culture. The tombs of saints and the churches dedicated to them were adorned with precious works of art intended to glorify the holy patron. This essay considers quite intimate gifts: articles of clothing laid on the body of a saint. It moves from a particular set of vestments left at a saint’s shrine to wider considerations of what the clergy wore during the central Middle Ages. Liturgical attire might not only honour the sanctity of a long-venerated individual but might also be used to claim sanctity for others.
Designing Warnings to be Read and Remembered

Three kinds of memory for on-product warnings were tested as a function of four variables in an applied laboratory setting. The three kinds of memory tested were recall of hazards, recall of the means to avoid an accident, and recall of the action to take in the event of an accident. The four variables investigated were message length, serial position, message format, and pre-questionning. Basic research findings were substantiated in that message length, message format, and pre-questionning did have an effect on subsequent recall. However, the findings were not always in the expected direction and the effects were far from robust. Suprisingly, no significant effects of serial position were found for any of the three recall measures. Encoding problems due to the nature of the experiment, prior knowledge of warning information, and interference are discussed as explanations for unexpected effects.
Design and Implementation of Online Vibration Monitoring System for Turbine-Generator Sets

Vibration is very harmful to large turbine-generator sets.It may cause the turbine to shut down,or even the shaft to break.Offline periodic monitoring cannot realize continuous monitoring.By contrast online monitoring and analyzing mainly focus on accident prevention and can discover faults early.An online real-time vibration monitoring and analyzing system based on Applet+JavaEE(MVC)+ MySQL technology is developed,capable of displaying multi-window graphics on one webpage,and exchanging and messaging data as well.By integrating the power plant’s network with the Internet resources,end users can perform state monitoring and remote real-time monitoring in one Web browser.The system has more than one map and has the functions of making comparisons with historical data and data uploading,to meet the needs of users at different levels,such as power plants and groups.
The Effects of Chronic Cystitis on Vesicoureteral Reflux in an Animal Model

Abstract The purpose of this study was to determine if chronic cystitis interferes with maturation of the ureterovesical junction, thus prolonging vesicoureteral reflux in infant rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta). Serial implantations of a Proteus-infested silastic pellet into the bladder wall ensured continued infection as demonstrated by urine culture. Chronic cystitis as evidenced by pathological findings at surgery and sacrifice was created in a group of infant monkeys who had initial spontaneous vesicoureteral reflux. There was no evidence of pyelonephritis. Four animals represent a short term study since they were followed from four months to one year of age. Three animals were long term studies and were evaluated for at least 2½ years. In no animals did chronic cystitis delay the normal disappearance of vesicoureteral reflux that is commonly seen in these animals as the ureterovesical junction matures, as demonstrated by serial cystograms. In two animals reflux (after initial clearing) reappeared when a bladder calculus formed in these chronically infected animals. Renal damage occurred only in these animals. In conclusion, this animal model failed to demonstrate interference with normal vesicoureteral junction maturation in the face of a chronic bladder infection.
Fournier’s Gangrene as The Presenting Sign of an Undiagnosed Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection

AbstractWe report a case of Fournier’s gangrene as the presenting sign of an unrecognized human immunodeficiency virus infection.
The governance of crowdsourcing: Rationalities of the new exploitation

Drawing from literatures in business, the burgeoning field of human computation, and media studies together with economic geography and social theory, this paper contextualizes corporate crowdsourc...
Tumor-Specific Immunotherapy of Murine Bladder Cancer with Butanol-Extracted Antigens and Ethylchlorformate Polymerized Tumor Protein

Successful treatment of superficial bladder cancer using nonspecific immunotherapy with Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) has been well documented. Investigation of two potential tumor-specific immunotherapeutic agents using a murine transitional-cell carcinoma model (MBT-2) is reported. The survival of mice immunized with tumor proteins obtained by treating tumor cells with either 1-butanol or ethylchlorformate was compared to the survival of animals immunized with BCG. Long-term immunity conferred by each of these agents was also assessed. Significant protection by both agents was noted in all treatment groups compared to controls. Long-term immunity was also found to result from treatment with both investigational agents as well as with BCG. Butanol-extracted antigens and ethylchlorformate polymerized tumor protein may be useful as immunotherapeutic alternatives to BCG.
Cyclicity and Connectivity in Nez Perce Relative Clauses

This article studies two aspects of movement in relative clauses, focusing on evidence from Nez Perce. First, I argue that relativization involves cyclic Ā-movement, even in monoclausal relatives: the relative operator moves to Spec,CP via an intermediate position in an Ā outer specifier of TP. The core arguments draw on word order, complementizer choice, and a pattern of case attraction for relative pronouns. Ā cyclicity of this type suggests that the TP sister of relative C constitutes a phase—a result whose implications extend to an ill-understood corner of the English that-trace effect. Second, I argue that Nez Perce relativization provides new evidence for an ambiguity thesis for relative clauses, according to which some but not all relatives are derived by head raising. The argument comes from connectivity and anticonnectivity in morphological case. A crucial role is played by a pattern of inverse case attraction, wherein the head noun surfaces in a case determined internal to the relative clause. These new data complement the range of existing arguments concerning head raising, which draw primarily on connectivity effects at the syntax-semantics interface.
Organelle Inheritance in Yeasts and Other Fungi

Organelle inheritance has emerged as an active and fundamentally important branch of cell biology. As a result of advances in our understanding of organelle biogenesis, cell cycle progression, cytoskeletal dynamics, establishment of cell polarity, and membrane-cytoskeletal interactions, we are now in a position to uncover the molecular basis for organelle inheritance. Diversity appears to be a theme in organelle inheritance, from the use of immobilization versus selective mobilization for control of organelle position, in the type of force-generating machinery that is used to drive organelle motility, and in the type of cytoskeletal network used for all forms of positional control. Fungi will continue to play a central role as model systems to understand the mechanisms that ensure proper organelle segregation during cell division in dividing cells.
Combined Muliparameter Approach to the Diagnosis of Polycythemia Vera and Essential Thrombocythemia.

The diagnosis of Polycythemia Vera (PV) and Essential Thrombocythemia (ET) is currently performed by excluding possible causes of secondary erythrocytosis and thrombocythosis. Recently, new typical findings of Ph-negative myeloprolipherative syndromes have been described, such as the PRV-1 RNA over-expression and the Val617Phe JAK-2 mutation. In this study we evaluated the diagnostic value of endogenous erythroid colony-assay (EECs), PRV-1 RNA over-expression and JAK-2 mutation, in the screening of patients with thrombocytosys and erythrocytosis which are candidate to a more extensive diagnostic approach including bone marrow biopsy and red cell mass evaluation. Peripheral blood samples were obtained from 56 patients referring to the hematological day hospital of our institution for erythrocythosis or thrombocythosis. EECs assay and PRV-1 expression were evaluated as prevoiusly described (Teofili L. et al, JCO 2002); Jak-2 mutation was investigated by the method described by Baxter et al. (Lancet 2005). The diagnosis of PV and ET was performed according to the PV and ET Study Group criteria. Twenty-five patients were affected by PV (19 males and 6 females, median age 68 years, range 34–80), 20 by ET, (5 males and 15 females, median age 64 years, range 31–85) 5 patients (3 males and 2 females, median age 56 years, range 35–69) and 6 patients (1 male and 5 females, median age 31 years, range 12–83) were diagnosed affected by secondary erythrocytosis and thrombocytosis, respectively. Results obtained are shown in Table 1. In our series all PV cases were identified by means at least one positive test, whilst 20% of ET patients resulted negative to all three assays. Moreover, among PV patients, only 1 patient was positive at one single assay (JAK-2 mutation), and the vast majority of them resulted positive for two or three assays. On the contrary, among patients affected by ET, a high proportion of patients (35 %) showed only Jak-2 mutation (10%) or PRV-1 over-expression (25%).. Importantly, no false positive cases were detectable among patients with secondary erythrocytosis and thrombocythosis. In conclusion, these data confirm that PRV-1 over-expression is a feature typical not only of PV but also of ET. Nevertheless the combination of different used assays is more usefull in the differential diagnosis of erythrocythosis than of thrombocythosis. | | PV (%) | ET (%) | SE (%) | ST (%) | |:------------- | ------- | ------- | ------- | ------- | | EECs pos. | 18 (72) | 8 (40) | | | | PRV-1 pos. | 24 (96) | 14 (70) | | | | Jak-2 mutated | 17 (68) | 7 (35) | | | | Full positive | 14 (56) | 4 (20) | | | | Full negative | | 4 (20) | 5 (100) | 6 (100) | TABLE 1
Creating Original Products and Infomercials to Study Rhetorical Analysis

Rhetorical analysis was a required unit of study for college students enrolled in intermediate English as a second language (ESL) composition. Twenty-six students participated in a project creating an original product and its infomercial. The project aimed at increasing student motivation to continue writing essays in English and providing a space for them to collaborate in small groups to do independent work. The research questions guiding the project were as follows: What are the linguistic gains for ESL students participating in rhetoric practice in a college composition course creating an original product and its infomercial? What can be learned about fostering learner independence as a result of implementing this project? Therefore, the students created infomercials of original products, used persuasion and argumentation strategies, transmitted social messages, and engaged in civic literacy. Independent learning occurred as students worked in small groups and made decisions, planned, applied new/prev...
L’influence de la puberté sur les circuits neuronaux sous-tendant la régulation des émotions : implications pour la compréhension des risques de troubles affectifs

L’adolescence, avec le debut de la puberte, represente une periode developpementale durant laquelle il existe une plus grande vulnerabilite pour l’emergence de psychopathologies telle que les troubles affectifs. C’est egalement une importante periode de maturation des circuits neuronaux sous-tendant la regulation des emotions, suggerant ainsi la possibilite que certains mecanismes neurodeveloppementaux puissent contribuer a cette vulnerabilite. Bien que plusieurs etudes epidemiologiques suggerent une prevalence plus elevee de troubles depressifs durant la puberte chez les filles, les chercheurs ne font que commencer a se pencher sur la question de l’influence specifique de la puberte sur le developpement des circuits fronto-striato-limbiques sous-tendant la regulation des emotions. Cet article inclut a) la presentation d’etudes en imagerie par resonance magnetique axees sur l’etude du developpement cerebral sous-tendant les emotions pendant la puberte ; b) le traitement de l’importance de l’etude du developpement cerebral pendant la puberte afin d’elucider les facteurs predisposant aux troubles affectifs ; c) une integration des recherches scientifiques en neuroscience affective du developpement en vue de developper des strategies d’intervention pour les troubles affectifs chez l’adolescent.
Using Multilevel SEM to Study Leadership Effectiveness in Higher Education

Despite countless efforts to define and understand administrative leadership, it remains an oft-debated and even controversial construct. Explaining effective Leadership is even more elusive and continues to intrigue and challenge the best of scholars, administrative teams, consultants and, most of all, leaders themselves. In fact, within the literature on administration in higher education there has been no commonly accepted definition of leadership effectiveness nor agreement about which aspects of leadership may be most important to assess in order to evaluate one’s performance in the administrative role (Bensimon, Neumann and Birnbaum, 1989; Birnbaum, 1992; Dill, 1984; Fincher, 1996; Neuman and Bensimon, 1990; Whetten and Cameron, 1985). In order to determine the effectiveness of those in leadership positions accurately and. fairly, researchers must understand how individuals, as well as groups of individuals, construct their perceptions of effective leadership within complex organizations.
Dexamethasone: To Use or Not To Use—That is the Question

Recently, during a busy office day, I received a phone call from Dr. P, one of my former colleagues who is now practicing pain management in Canada. Dr. P was concerned about his father-in-law, a 76-year-old successful lawyer in New York, who recently injured his back after playing 9 holes of “terrible golf”. He has type 2 diabetes, borderline hypertension, and a remote history of L4–L5 disk disease that was treated 15 years ago with laminectomy and posterior fusion. He is very active and was symptom-free until the bad golf day. Now he experiences severe lumbosacral pain that radiates to the lateral aspect of his right leg. It is accompanied by electric shock sensations, tingling, and numbness of the dorsum of his foot.
Density-Dependent Growth in Atlantic Menhaden: Impacts on Current Management

AbstractBiological reference points (BRPs) are used to determine stock status and set management regulations. While BRPs rely on equilibrium life history data, conditions are not static, and density dependence can play a role. Our objective was to determine the relationship between recruitment strength (i.e., density) and mean length and weight at age for Atlantic Menhaden Brevoortia tyrannus in order to assess the impacts on BRP calculations used for management. Recruitment was tested for autocorrelation and related to time-varying mean lengths and weights at age. Spawning potential ratio (SPR) and yield per recruit (Y/R) benchmarks were calculated across a range of fishing mortality rates, F, and recruitment. Recruitment was autocorrelated and negatively related to mean lengths and weights at age. Both SPR and Y/R were not static under nonequilibrium assumptions about recruitment. To maintain SPR with recruitment increased above equilibrium, F would decrease, while maintaining Y/R would require increase...
IMPLICATIONS OF THE FDA APPROVAL OF PCSK9 INHIBITORS FOR CONTEMPORARY CARDIOVASCULAR PRACTICE: FINDINGS FROM THE NCDR® RESEARCH TO PRACTICE (R2P) PROJECT

Background: In 2015, the FDA approved PCSK9 inhibitors for patients with either familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) or clinical atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) on maximally tolerated statin therapy who “require additional lowering of LDL.” The proportion of US patients in
What.Hack: Learn Phishing Email Defence the Fun Way

As information security systems become increasingly sophisticated and reliable, humans are rapidly becoming the weakest link in the security pipeline. Technological countermeasures can only be deployed if the humans depending upon them are aware of how to use them, and hackers are beginning to take advantage of the knowledge gap that exists in this area. The recent DNC hackings during the 2016 US presidential election are evidence of this, as staff were tricked into sharing passwords which granted access to confidential information by fake Google security emails. Vulnerabilities such as these are due in part to insufficient and tiresome training when it comes to information security. A potential solution is the introduction of more engaging training methods, which teach information security in an active and entertaining way. To this end, we introduce the game What.Hack to teach information security and defense methods for social engineering threats.
Radiotherapy for cranial and brain metastases from prostate cancer: a systematic review.

Intracranial metastasis from prostate cancer is rare. As treatment of castration-resistant prostate cancer improves, the incidence of men with intracranial metastasis from prostate cancer is increasing. Radiation therapy for treatment of intracranial metastasis from prostate cancer is systematically reviewed. A comprehensive review examining peer-reviewed, English language articles from 1990 to 2015 was performed on multiple databases, yielding 1274 articles. These articles were reviewed and selected for studies that met the following inclusion criteria: (1) patients with intracranial metastases from prostate cancer; (2) patients underwent radiation therapy as primary or adjuvant therapy; (3) the sample size of patients was larger than 2. All studies that met inclusion criteria utilized whole-brain radiation therapy (WBRT) in at least one patient. Other treatment regimens included stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), surgical resection followed by WBRT, as well as concurrent cabazitaxel and WBRT. The range of average time from initial diagnosis of prostate cancer to diagnosis of brain metastasis was 29–45 months. The range of reported median survival time after WBRT was 4–9 months, whereas median survivals after SRS ranged from 9 to 13 months. Intracranial metastases from prostate cancer occur late in the disease process, and are increasing as novel therapies for metastatic disease prolong survival. The reviewed literature suggests that outcomes of patients with prostate cancer intracranial metastases appear similar to those of intracranial metastases from other histologies. Prospective examinations of systemic therapies that cross the blood–brain barrier in conjunction with targeted radiotherapy appear warranted for this increasingly common clinical problem.
Low-Ceiling-Temperature Polymer Microcapsules with Hydrophobic Payloads via Rapid Emulsion-Solvent Evaporation

We report a microencapsulation procedure based on rapid solvent evaporation to prepare microcapsules with hydrophobic core materials and low-ceiling-temperature polymer shell wall of cyclic poly(phthalaldehyde) (cPPA). We use and compare microfluidic and bulk emulsions. In both methods, rapid solvent evaporation following emulsification resulted in kinetically trapped core–shell microcapsules, whereas slow evaporation resulted in acorn morphology. Through the systematic variation of encapsulation parameters, we found that polymer-to-core weight ratios higher than 1 and polymer concentrations higher than 4.5 wt % in the oil phase were required to obtain a core–shell structure. This microencapsulation procedure enabled the fabrication of microcapsules with high core loading, controlled size, morphology, and stability. This procedure is versatile, allowing for the encapsulation of other hydrophobic core materials, i.e., mineral oil and organotin catalyst, or using an alternative low-ceiling-temperature polym...
INNER-SHELL COULOMB IONIZATION

Inner-shell ionization in asymmetric ion-atom collisions is reviewed. An historical introduction is followed by an outline of the semiclassical theoretical approaches that have proved to be most fruitful. Recent refinements of the theory are briefly described in relation to the rapidly accumulating experimental results from coincidence and correlation measurements.
Cost-effectiveness of emergency department-initiated treatment for opioid dependence.

Background and Aims In a recent randomized trial, patients with opioid dependence receiving brief intervention, emergency department (ED)-initiated buprenorphine and ongoing follow-up in primary care with buprenorphine (buprenorphine) were twice as likely to be engaged in addiction treatment compared with referral to community-based treatment (referral) or brief intervention and referral (brief intervention). Our aim was to evaluate the relative cost-effectiveness of these three methods of intervening on opioid dependence in the ED. Design Measured health-care use was converted to dollar values. We considered a health-care system perspective and constructed cost-effectiveness acceptability curves that indicate the probability each treatment is cost-effective under different thresholds of willingness-to-pay for outcomes studied. Setting An urban ED in the United States. Participants Opioid-dependent patients aged 18 years or older. Measurements Self-reported 30-day assessment data were used to construct cost-effectiveness acceptability curves for patient engagement in formal addiction treatment at 30 days and the number of days illicit opioid-free in the past week. Findings Considering only health-care system costs, cost-effectiveness acceptability curves indicate that at all positive willingness-to-pay values, ED-initiated buprenorphine treatment was more cost-effective than brief intervention or referral. For example, at a willingness-to-pay threshold of $1000 for 30-day treatment engagement, we are 79% certain ED-initiated buprenorphine is most cost-effective compared with other studied treatments. Similar results were found for days illicit opioid-free in the past week. Results were robust to secondary analyses that included patients with missing cost data, included crime and patient time costs in the numerator, and to changes in unit price estimates. Conclusion In the United States, emergency department-initiated buprenorphine intervention for patients with opioid dependence provides high value compared with referral to community-based treatment or combined brief intervention and referral.
A Political Economy of the United States, China, and India: Prosperity with Inequality

The precipitous rise in global and national economic inequality, which the inexorable force of globalization promised to address with affluence and abundance for all, has returned with a vengeance. The problem of worsening socioeconomic inequality and how best to ameliorate this pernicious resurgence occupies center stage of national and international politics. This study investigates the coexistence of high rates of economic growth and unparalleled prosperity (including a review of the decline in poverty levels in China and India and many other developing countries) with rises in income and wealth inequality in the United States, China, and India. This book examines the overall effectiveness of the measures taken by these three countries to address such anomalies, and what they should do to tackle the problem of widening inequality. This study breaks new ground by providing an original comparative analysis of the challenges facing the world's three major economies.
The Effect of Radical Prostatectomy on Erectile Dysfunction

Prostate cancer is the most common form of cancer in American men other than skin cancer. The American Cancer Society had estimated that about 185,000 new cases of prostate cancer would have been diagnosed by 2008 in the USA alone. Almost 30,000 men will die of the disease in 2008 alone in this country. It is the second leading cause of cancer death in men after lung cancer. While a man has a 15% chance of being diagnosed with prostate cancer during his lifetime, only 3% actually dies of the disease. The use of PSA as a screening tool has resulted in a far greater number of men being diagnosed with prostate cancer at the earliest stages. Thus, in the modern era, the vast majority of men live for a long time after diagnosis and treatment. This has translated into younger men being diagnosed with prostate cancer and long-term sexual function becoming an even bigger issue given these factors.
A high throughput screen identifies benzoquinoline compounds as inhibitors of Ebola virus replication

Ebola virus (EBOV) is an enveloped negative-sense, single-stranded RNA virus of the filovirus family that causes severe disease in humans. Approved therapies for EBOV disease are lacking. EBOV RNA synthesis is carried out by a virus-encoded complex with RNA-dependent RNA polymerase activity that is required for viral propagation. This complex and its activities are therefore potential antiviral targets. To identify potential lead inhibitors of EBOV RNA synthesis, a library of small molecule compounds was screened against a previously established assay of EBOV RNA synthesis, the EBOV minigenome assay (MGA), in 384 well microplate format. The screen identified 56 hits that inhibited EBOV MGA activity by more than 70% while exhibiting less than 20% cell cytotoxicity. Inhibitory chemical scaffolds included angelicin derivatives, derivatives of the antiviral compound GSK983 and benzoquinolines. Structure-activity relationship (SAR) studies of the benzoquinoline scaffold produced ∼50 analogs and led to identification of an optimized compound, SW456, with a submicromolar IC50 in the EBOV MGA and antiviral activity against infectious EBOV in cell culture. The compound was also active against a MGA for another deadly filovirus, Marburg virus. It also exhibited antiviral activity towards a negative-sense RNA virus from the rhabdovirus family, vesicular stomatitis virus, and a positive-sense RNA virus, Zika virus. Overall, these data demonstrate the potential of the EBOV MGA to identify anti-EBOV compounds and identifies the benzoquinoline series as a broad-spectrum antiviral lead.
Adapting Three Classic Demonstrations To Teach Radiant Energy Trapping and Transfer As Related to the Greenhouse Effect

Three concepts necessary for understanding the greenhouse effect are infrared radiation, absorption of infrared radiation by greenhouse gases, and steady-state energy flow. Herein, we describe adaptations to three classic demonstrations for teaching these concepts. William Hershel’s discovery of infrared radiation has been adapted into a fast and reliable demonstration using a pyranometer. We provide guidelines for building a ball-and-spring model of carbon dioxide that demonstrates the absorption of IR and the three fundamental vibrational modes of carbon dioxide and their relative frequencies. Finally, we describe an adaptation of Blanck’s plastic water-flow device to demonstrate how adding greenhouse gases can alter the steady-state flow of energy through the atmosphere.
Global and regional importance of the direct dust-climate feedback

Feedbacks between the global dust cycle and the climate system might have amplified past climate changes. Yet, it remains unclear what role the dust-climate feedback will play in future anthropogenic climate change. Here, we estimate the direct dust-climate feedback, arising from changes in the dust direct radiative effect (DRE), using a simple theoretical framework that combines constraints on the dust DRE with a series of climate model results. We find that the direct dust-climate feedback is likely in the range of -0.04 to +0.02 Wm -2 K-1, such that it could account for a substantial fraction of the total aerosol feedbacks in the climate system. On a regional scale, the direct dust-climate feedback is enhanced by approximately an order of magnitude close to major source regions. This suggests that it could play an important role in shaping the future climates of Northern Africa, the Sahel, the Mediterranean region, the Middle East, and Central Asia.
You Are My Friends: Pastoral Care with Young Mexican Men

In this article, the author discusses the significance of friendship in caring for and counseling with young men. Following Seward Hiltner, he affirms the distinction between friendliness (or friendly disposition) and friendship. Insofar as friendliness implies warmth and genuine concern, caregiving and counseling relationships can benefit from the minister’s friendly disposition. The author argues that ministers can effectively counsel with young Mexican men who are both their parishioners and their friends. To illustrate this point, he presents and discusses the case of a Mexican minister (Pastor Garza) and a young Mexican man (Alonso). By reflecting on the friendship motif in the Gospel of John, he concludes the article with the idea that friendship and counseling can coexist despite the power differential and imperfect mutuality between the minister and the care seeker.
Waddle and shuffle: gait alterations associated with domestication in turkeys

ABSTRACT Domestication has altered turkey morphology by artificially selecting for increased muscle mass and breast meat. Artificial selection has resulted in birds that weigh up to 3 times more than their wild counterparts, with relatively little change in the length of their bones and limbs. Considering these structural changes, it seems probable that domestic turkey locomotor kinematics and kinetics would also be altered. To examine the locomotor dynamics of wild and domestic turkeys, we had both strains walk down a runway with a force plate at the center to measure their ground reaction forces and gait parameters. The location of their center of mass was also quantified using a force plate and bi-planar x-ray and found to be further anterior in the domestic strain. The domestic turkeys locomoted across a lower range of speeds (0.25–1.64 ms−1) than the wild turkeys (0.26–3.26 ms−1) and increased their stride frequency at a higher rate. They also displayed large lateral oscillations, i.e. waddling, during walking that translated into relatively high medio-lateral ground reaction forces and lateral kinetic energy (3.5 times higher than that of wild turkeys). The results indicate that domestic turkey locomotion is not simply a slowed down version of wild turkey locomotion. The changes in gait observed are similar to the shuffling gait present in some human populations, such as Parkinson9s patients, which serves to increase stability. The domestic turkey9s increased body mass and more anterior center of mass position may require these kinematic and kinetic gait differences.
Perceptions of and Attitudes Toward Climate Change in the Southeastern United States

Despite a global scientific consensus on the anthropogenic nature of climate change, the issue remains highly contentious in the United States, stifling public debate and action on the issue. Local perceptions of and attitudes toward climate change—how different groups of people outside of the professional climate science community make sense of changes in climate in light of their personal experiences and social, political, economic, and environmental contexts—are critical foci for understanding ongoing conflicts over climate change. Contributing to a growing body of literature on the social science of climate change, we use an ethnographic approach to examine these perceptions and attitudes in three sites in Georgia across the urban–rural continuum. Our research demonstrates that the way people view the concept of climate change, its potential effects, and mitigation strategies are mediated by a range of factors, including political and religious affiliation, race and ethnicity, personal experience, economic status, environmental context, media exposure, and sense of community and place. We argue that an ethnographic approach that explores the perceptions and attitudes of specific communities in detail can add nuance to the broad-scale surveys that have dominated the field to date.
A Bayesian Adaptive Design in Cancer Phase I Trials using Dose Combinations in the Presence of a Baseline Covariate.

A Bayesian adaptive design for dose finding of a combination of two drugs in cancer phase I clinical trials that takes into account patients heterogeneity thought to be related to treatment susceptibility is described. The estimation of the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) curve is a function of a baseline covariate using two cytotoxic agents. A logistic model is used to describe the relationship between the doses, baseline covariate, and the probability of dose limiting toxicity (DLT). Trial design proceeds by treating cohorts of two patients simultaneously using escalation with overdose control (EWOC), where at each stage of the trial, the next dose combination corresponds to the quantile of the current posterior distribution of the MTD of one of two agents at the current dose of the other agent and the next patient’s baseline covariate value. The MTD curves are estimated as function of Bayes estimates of the model parameters at the end of trial. Average DLT, pointwise average bias, and percent of dose recommendation at dose combination neighborhoods around the true MTD are compared between the design that uses the covariate and the one that ignores the baseline characteristic. We also examine the performance of the approach under model misspecifications for the true dose-toxicity relationship. The methodology is further illustrated in the case of a prespecified discrete set of dose combinations.
Organic databases

Databases today are carefully engineered: there is an expensive and deliberate design process, after which a database schema is defined; during this design process, various possible instance examples and use cases are hypothesised and carefully analysed; finally, the schema is ready and then can be populated with data. All of this effort is a major barrier to database adoption. In this paper, we explore the possibility of organic database creation instead of the traditional engineered approach. The idea is to let the user start storing data in a database with a schema that is just enough to cove the instances at hand. We then support efficient schema evolution as new data instances arrive. By designing the database to evolve, we can sidestep the expensive front-end cost of carefully engineering the design of the database. Indeed, the deliberate design model complicates not only database creation, but also database transformation i.e., schema mapping because traditional schema mapping tasks are carefully engineered with declarative specification hidden beneath complex user interface. In this paper, we also study the issue of organic database transformation, which automatically induces schema mappings from sample target database instances.
Stand Dynamics and Structure of Two Primary Champlain Valley Clayplain Forests, Vermont

Understanding natural forest dynamics is critical for informing forest restoration and conservation efforts. However, such information is often difficult to generate for areas that have a long history of intense land use, such as the Champlain Valley of Vermont. We used dendroecological methods and assessments of forest structural conditions to describe the tree recruitment history and structural dynamics of 2 examples of valley clayplain forest, a rare natural community that has been drastically reduced in extent by agricultural land use in the Champlain Valley. Although historic selective harvesting had occurred in the areas sampled, these sites represent the best remaining examples of semi-natural valley clayplain forests in the region, thus providing an opportunity to document long-term patterns of structural and compositional conditions and tree recruitment in areas with limited land-use. Age structures in these 2 areas were strongly uneven-aged, with older cohorts composed of Quercus alba (White Oak), including an individual dating to the 1640s, and recruitment over the past 2 centuries dominated by Tsuga canadensis (Eastern Hemlock). Size distributions of live trees also reflected these patterns of recruitment, with White Oak occurring exclusively in larger diameter classes (>35 cm) and Eastern Hemlock predominating across all smaller size classes. We observed sparse regeneration of Quercus spp. (oaks) in these areas, suggesting that this historically important component of valley clayplain forests may disappear over time in the absence of large, stand-scale natural disturbances or management activities focused on the perpetuation of this species group.
Association of Full Breastfeeding Duration with Postpartum Weight Retention in a Cohort of Predominantly Breastfeeding Women

Full breastfeeding (FBF) is promoted as effective for losing pregnancy weight during the postpartum period. This study evaluated whether longer FBF is associated with lower maternal postpartum weight retention (PPWR) as compared to a shorter FBF duration. The MILK (Mothers and Infants Linked for Healthy Growth) study is an ongoing prospective cohort of 370 mother–infant dyads, all of whom fully breastfed their infants for at least 1 month. Breastfeeding status was subsequently self-reported by mothers at 3 and 6 months postpartum. Maternal PPWR was calculated as maternal weight measured at 1, 3, and 6 months postpartum minus maternal prepregnancy weight. Using linear mixed effects models, by 6 months postpartum, adjusted means ± standard errors for weight retention among mothers who fully breastfed for 1–3 (3.40 ± 1.16 kg), 3–6 (1.41 ± 0.69 kg), and ≥6 months (0.97 ± 0.32 kg) were estimated. Compared to mothers who reported FBF for 1–3 months, those who reported FBF for 3–6 months and ≥6 months both had lower PPWR over the period from 1 to 6 months postpartum (p = 0.04 and p 0.05). Interventions to promote FBF past 3 months may increase the likelihood of postpartum return to prepregnancy weight.
Why Do They Keep Swearing? The Role of Outcome Expectations between Descriptive Norms and Swearing among Korean Youths: A Test of the Theory of Normative Social Behavior

Through the Theory of Normative Social Behavior, this article tests whether outcome expectations (i.e., benefits-to-self and anticipatory socialization) moderate the relationship between descriptiv...
Transformation and Additivity in Gaussian Processes

We discuss the problem of approximating a deterministic function using Gaussian processes (GPs). The role of transformation in GP modeling is not well understood. We argue that transformation of th...
Connecting Small-Scale Producers and Consumers: Exploring the Feasibility of Online Food Hubs in Low-Income Communities

Sustainable agriculture and community food security (CFS) are frameworks commonly used, but often separately, within the broader alternative food movement. Sustainable agriculture is production-centered, with a focus on environmental degradation and family farm viability, whereas CFS shifts research from household-level measures of food security to consider larger geographic areas in terms of equitable healthy food access and social justice. The challenge of both movements continues to be the intersection of these ideals to create a sustainable situation in which the needs of producers and consumers can be met simultaneously. We explored the underlying values of local, small-scale producers and consumers living within an impoverished neighborhood in Columbus, Ohio, a large Midwestern city, as they related to participation in an online food hub. Twenty-one consumers participated in three focus groups, and interviews were conducted with eight producers. Our interest was primarily in whether and how these articulated values fit into sustainable agriculture and CFS frameworks, and if there was any evidence of commonalities or intersections between producers and consumers in the context of these frameworks. We hypothesized that producers would be oriented toward the economic viability of their small-scale operations, while consumers would be oriented toward improved food access that was convenient and affordable. We identified three prominent themes from both the consumers’ and producers’ articulated values. We found that an online food hub appealed to some producers and consumers, but that the barriers identified were more prominent than the benefits, and the desire for the proposed online food hub was not sufficient to pursue moving forward with a full-scale version of an online food hub at the time. Authors' Note re: COVID-19 Our research was conducted before the COVID-19 pandemic. An addendum at the end of the paper provides relevant updates to the research as of late April 2020. See the press release for this article.
Global Plant-Based Food Intakes by Country Wealth and Socioeconomic Status: Findings from the Global Dietary Database

Objectives Given the major interest in plant-based foods (PF) for global diets, we aimed to characterize inequalities in intakes of fruits, vegetables (non-starchy, potatoes, other starchy), legumes, grains (refined, whole), and nuts/seeds by country wealth and population socioeconomic status (SES).
Cutaneous venous malformations as a clue for possible gastrointestinal tract involvement: Diagnosis and treatment of six cases.

Venous malformation (VM) is the most common type among vascular malformations classified by the International Society for the Study of Vascular Anomalies. Most VMs are sporadic (94%), caused in 40% of cases by somatic mutation of TEK gene. VMs can be cutaneous, visceral, or combined. Visceral involvement is rare, and gastrointestinal (GI) tract is the most common localization. Visceral VMs, usually asymptomatic, may manifest with bleeding, anemia, and consumptive coagulopathy, which sometimes require an emergency treatment. Our aim is to study the possible GI involvement in patients with only one cutaneous VM. We analyzed a series of six patients who presented with a single cutaneous VM and have subsequently manifested intestinal involvement at our reference center for vascular anomalies since 2010. In our patients, cutaneous VMs were located on lower or upper limbs, and GI involvement manifested from 3 to 10 years after skin diagnosis. Our experience urges to early diagnose a GI involvement also in patients with only one skin VM and to prevent severe complications. A multidisciplinary approach is mandatory for the diagnosis and treatment of these patients.
Two methods for assessment of choline status in a randomized crossover study with varying dietary choline intake in people: isotope dilution MS of plasma and in vivo single-voxel magnetic resonance spectroscopy of liver.

BACKGROUND Choline deficiency has numerous negative health consequences; although the preponderance of the US population consumes less than the recommended Adequate Intake (AI), clinical assessment of choline status is difficult. Further, several pathways involved in primary metabolism of choline are estrogen-sensitive and the AI for premenopausal women is lower than that for men. OBJECTIVES We sought to determine whether in vivo magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) of liver and/or isotope-dilution MS of plasma could identify biomarkers reflective of choline intake (preregistered primary outcomes 1 and 2, secondary outcome 1). Determination of whether biomarker concentrations showed sex dependence was a post hoc outcome. This substudy is a component of a larger project to identify a clinically useful biomarker panel for assessment of choline status. METHODS In a double-blind, randomized, crossover trial, people consumed 3 diets, representative of ∼100%, ∼50%, and ∼25% of the choline AI, for 2-wk periods. We measured the concentrations of choline and several metabolites using 1H single-voxel MRS of liver in vivo and using 2H-labeled isotope dilution MS of several choline metabolites in extracted plasma. RESULTS Plasma concentrations of 2H9-choline, unlabeled betaine, and 2H9-betaine, and the isotopic enrichment ratio (IER) of betaine showed highly significant between-diet effects (q < 0.0001), with unlabeled betaine concentration decreasing 32% from highest to lowest choline intake. Phosphatidylcholine IER was marginally significant (q = 0.03). Unlabeled phosphatidylcholine plasma concentrations did not show between-diet effects (q = 0.34). 2H9 (trimethyl)-phosphatidylcholine plasma concentrations (q = 0.07) and MRS-measured total soluble choline species liver concentrations (q = 0.07) showed evidence of between-diet effects but this was not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS Although MRS is a more direct measure of choline status, variable spectral quality limited interpretation. MS analysis of plasma showed clear correlation of plasma betaine concentration, but not plasma phosphatidylcholine concentration, with dietary choline intake. Plasma betaine concentrations also correlate with sex status (premenopausal women, postmenopausal women, men).This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT03726671.