cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Do You See What I See? Perceptions of Gender Microaggressions in the Workplace

Although blatant expressions of sexism in the American workforce appear on the decline, many researchers note that discrimination is not disappearing but is instead becoming more subtle and ambiguous. Drawing from Sue et al.’s construct of microaggressions, which examines manifestations of prejudice ranging from subtle to overt, the present research provides the first known empirical investigation of gender differences in third-party perceptions of microaggressions against women at work. Undergraduate women and men read vignettes describing interactions between male supervisors and female subordinates, which portrayed potentially discriminatory supervisor behavior, ranging in explicitness from subtle to blatant. Results indicate that although both men and women perceive differences in microaggression explicitness, women tend to detect greater discrimination than men, particularly when instances are subtle in nature. Both genders expect microaggressions to generate more negative work outcomes as explicitne...
The Stigma of Testing Intentions Revisited: The Exonerating Effects of Favorable Test Results

The mere intention to get tested for HIV carries a significant moral stigma. The current work investigated the nature of this stigma by determining whether or not it persists in the face of invalidating evidence. Participants read a vignette about someone who declines an HIV test, accepts the test and is awaiting results, or accepts the test and receives negative results. Participants judged the person who received negative results as more moral than those who chose not to get tested. These results suggest that people who choose to get tested for HIV can be exonerated by negative results and may ultimately be viewed as more moral than those who choose not to get tested.
Quantifying the Impact of Research for Tenure and Promotion in Family and Consumer Sciences

This paper provides an overview of different metrics to quantify the impact of scholarly work in Family and Consumer Sciences, for scholars involved in the tenure and promotion process. Even though each institution will have their set of rules, most professors in university settings are increasingly subjected to monitoring and evaluation of their research outputs. This paper describes several metrics that are valid and reliable including age of the journal, acceptance rate, ISI impact factors, the SJR journal ranking, and the journals’ h-index. Two author-level metrics, the Hirsh h-index and the HLA index, are described. In the remainder of the article, three other quantifiable criteria are included.
Using MCA to Segment New Car Markets

In this study the mid-1960's new car market is analyzed by using a new, dummy variable, multivariate technique known as Multiple Classification Analysis (MCA). This approach helps provide a better ...
An Analysis of the Export Structure in Agricultural Products from China to EU

EU is a main export region of agricultural products in the world,the biggest import region of agricultural products,and is also one important trade partner of China.This paper is concerned with the studying of agricultural products exports from China to EU(25 countries),analyses the problems of the export structure from China to EU,probes the export performances between the two partners in respect to export similarity and complementarity.Accordingly,based on the results,some suggestions concerning export policies and countermeasures are also presented in the paper.
Analyses on the incidence and mortality of major cancers in Huai'an city from 2009 to 2011

Objective To study the incidence and mortality of the major cancers in Huaian city from 2009 to 2011 and provide a scientific basis for the prevention and treatment of cancer in Huaian city.Methods The data about cancer incidence and mortality from 2009 to 2011 were provided by 8 County Cancer Registry in Huai'an.The data were analyzed with descriptive epidemiology method by age,gender,and cancer sites.Results The crude incidence rate for all cancer sites was 205.60/10 0000 during 2009-2011 in Huaian city.Meanwhile,the standardized rate was 166.22/10 0000 and similar to the whole national level.The crude mortality rate for all cancer sites was 153.88/10 0000 and the standardized rate was 122.14/10 0000.The standardized rate was more than the whole national level.The constituent ratio of malignant tumors accounted for the total death was 26.59%.The crude incidence rates for men and women were 246.79/10 0000,162.09/10 0000,and the crude death rates were 189.79/10 0000,115.94/10 0000,respectively.The difference of cancer incidence rate between genders was significant,and so the mortality(u=36.90,P0.01; u=37.22,P0.01).The crude incidence and morbidity rate were increased with age,and aged above 35 accounted for 97.68% and 98.15%.Both the crude and standardized incidence rates were higher in urban area than in rural area for men as well as women(P0.01).The top five cancers with highest incidence rate in order were esophageal cancer,gastric cancer,lung cancer,liver cancer,and colorectal cancer,the constituent ratio of the five malignant tumors accounted for total was 77.21%.The top five cancers with highest death rate in order were esophageal cancer,lung cancer,liver cancer,gastric cancer,and colorectal cancer,the constituent ratio of the five malignant tumors accounted for total was 80.81%.The average years of life lost of esophageal cancer,lung cancer,liver cancer,gastric cancer,colorectal cancer was 6.21,7.51,15.43,6.20 and 9.20,respectively.Conclusion It has shown that the incidence and morbidity rate of cancer of Huaian city are being in a high situation,and esophageal cancer,gastric cancer,lung cancer and liver cancer accounted for a large proportion of the cancer,which implies a focus for the future work.We should carry out health education and health promotion,consolidate the risk factor intervention,combine with early diagnosis and treatment to ensure the work of cancer prevention and cure in Huaian city.
A new proof of the fundamental theorem of algebra

A constructive proof of the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra is given based on a labelling procedure and a combinatorial lemma applying to labelled triangulations of regions of the complex plane.
Unraveling the Paradox of Selective Insulin Resistance in the Liver: the Brain–Liver Connection

The insulin receptor (IR) is expressed widely throughout the brain (1); however, unlike insulin in peripheral tissues whose major function is regulation of glucose metabolism, the actions of insulin in the brain are less glucocentric. Glucose enters neurons and glia of the brain primarily through the facilitative glucose transporters GLUT1 and GLUT3 (2), which are not insulin dependent. Despite being dispensable for glucose entry into the brain, early work by Woods et al. (3) and others (reviewed in ref. 1) demonstrated that intracerebroventricular (ICV) delivery of insulin into the brain could produce a multitude of effects, including suppression of feeding behavior and hepatic glucose production, activation of thermogenesis in brown adipose tissue, and stimulation of lipogenesis in white adipose tissue, all without significantly altering systemic insulin levels. Using a conditional knockout of the IR in the brain, Bruning and colleagues (4,5) demonstrated that the actions of insulin in the brain require IRs and can produce a range of phenotypes including mild obesity, decreased counterregulatory responsiveness to hypoglycemia, and hypothalamic hypogonadism. This has been confirmed and refined by region-specific IR knockouts and knockdowns of the IR using antisense technology (6,7). Studies using animal models and in vitro systems have uncovered many other …
Chapter 32 – Discovery and Development of New HIV Medicines

This chapter focuses on the discovery and development of small organic molecules for treatment of HIV infection. DNA- or RNA-based therapies have been and continue to be examined in clinical trials, and the 36-mer peptide T20 has recently been FDA approved. However, the preference for small molecules is supported by the molecular weight range for compounds approved to date for HIV therapy—between approximately 300 for nucleoside analogs and 700–800 for protease inhibitors, with non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors falling in between. Viral gene products remain the best drug targets and integrase is likely the most important new target for drug development. After integrase, however, additional viral targets represent large challenges. In addition, among the approved HIV drugs, those with higher molecular weights usually have poorer pharmacokinetic and oral absorption properties, a common observation within drug development in general. Some of the desired properties of a new drug and various approaches to predict achieving the product profile are provided in this chapter.
Fundamentals of Multimedia Encryption Techniques

Borko Furht Department of Computer Science and Engineering Florida Atlantic University, 777 Glades Road Boca Raton, FL 33431-0991, USA E-mail: borko@cse.fau.edu Daniel Socek Department of Computer Science and Engineering Florida Atlantic University, 777 Glades Road Boca Raton, FL 33431-0991, USA E-mail: dsocek@brain.math.fau.edu Ahmet M. Eskicioglu Department of Computer and Information Science Brooklyn College of the City University of New York 2900 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11210, USA E-mail: eskicioglu@sci.brooklyn.cuny.edu
Polysiloxane-functionalized graphene oxide paper: pyrolysis and performance as a Li-ion battery and supercapacitor electrode

Exfoliated graphene oxide (GO) and polysiloxane were blended and pyrolyzed to synthesize free-standing SiOC–graphene composite papers. Characterization techniques reveal a layer-by-layer stacking of GO sheets and an increase in interlayer spacing due to the functionalization of SiOC with GO. This unique structure of the SiOC–graphene composite paper makes it suitable for energy storage applications in batteries and supercapacitors. A reversible electrochemical capacity ∼750 mA h g−1 which is stabilized to ∼400 mA h g−1 after 5 cycles was recorded when tested as a battery electrode. Also, a maximum specific capacitance of 75.72 F g−1 at a current density of 6.7 A g−1 was observed while studying its electrochemical performance as a supercapacitor.
Interface thermal conductance of van der Waals monolayers on amorphous substrates

Heterostructures based on atomic monolayers are emerging as leading materials for future energy efficient and multifunctional electronics. Due to the single atom thickness of monolayers, their properties are strongly affected by interactions with the external environment. We develop a model for interface thermal conductance (ITC) in an atomic monolayer van der Waals bonded to a disordered substrate. Graphene on SiO2 is initially used in our model and contrasted against available experimental data; the model is then applied to monolayer molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) on SiO2 substrate. Our findings show the dominant carrier of heat in both graphene and MoS2 in the cross-plane direction is the flexural (ZA) phonon mode, owing to the large overlap between graphene ZA and substrate vibrational density of states. The rate of phonon transfer across the interface depends quadratically on the substrate coupling constant K a , but this interaction also causes a lifting of the lowest flexural phonon modes. As a result, ITC depends roughly linearly on the strength of the coupling between a monolayer and its substrate. We conclude that, in both graphene and MoS2 on SiO2, substrate adhesion plays a strong role in determining ITC, requiring further study of substrate coupling in TMDCs.
BLASPHEMY AND THE NEGOTIATION OF RELIGIOUS PLURALISM IN BRITAIN

This paper examines the May 2008 abolition of the British law against blasphemy. The blasphemy law had been the subject of debate since the 1970’s, which began a series of high profile attempts to invoke the law against perceived offenders. No action was taken until after September 11th, when the Labour government sought to institute a law criminalising Incitement to Religious Hatred. It was not until that law came into statute (2006), that the Houses of Commons and Lords seriously debated abolishing the blasphemy law. Against those who argued that changing the legislation amounted to ‘the death of Christian Britain’, I argue that this case offers evidence that the meta-narrative of secularization is neither helpful nor accurate; it fails to account for the reasons why the law was eliminated, or for its relation to ongoing efforts to accommodate religious diversity. The elimination of the blasphemy law and enactment of the Incitement to Religious Hatred legislation should be situated as part of ongoing efforts to negotiate diversity in Britain, and serves as an illustration that a more thoughtful analysis of religion should be a major part of the debate on cultural pluralism.
Landslide Information Service Based on Composition of Physical and Social Sensors

Abstract-Modern world data come from an increasing numberof sources, including data from physical sensors like weathersatellites and seismographs as well as social networks and weblogs. While progress has been made in the filtering of individualsocial networks, there are significant advantages in the integrationof big data from multiple sources. For physical events, theintegration of physical sensors and social network data canimprove filtering efficiency and quality of results beyond whatis feasible in each individual data stream.Disasters are representative physical events with real worldimpact. As illustration and demonstration, we have built theLITMUS landslide information service that combines data fromboth physical sensors and social networks in real-time. LITMUSfilters and combines reliable but indirect physical data with directreport social media data on landslides to achieve high quality andwide coverage of landslide information.
Genetic Encoding of Photocaged Tyrosines with Improved Light-Activation Properties for the Optical Control of Protease Function

We genetically encoded three new caged tyrosine analogues with improved photochemical properties by using an engineered pyrrolysyl-tRNA synthetase/tRNACUA pair in bacterial and mammalian cells. We applied the new tyrosine analogues to the photoregulation of firefly luciferase by caging its key tyrosine residue, Tyr340, and observed excellent off-to-on light switching. This reporter was then used to evaluate the activation rates of the different light-removable protecting groups in live cells. We identified the nitropiperonyl caging group as an excellent compromise between incorporation efficiency and photoactivation properties. To demonstrate applicability of the new caged tyrosines, an important proteolytic enzyme, tobacco etch virus (TEV) protease, was engineered for optical control. The ability to incorporate differently caged tyrosine analogues into proteins in live cells further expands the unnatural amino acid and optogenetic toolbox.
The battle over flexibilization in post-communist transitions: Labor politics in Poland and the Czech Republic, 1989–2010:

In post-communist transitions, given the steepness of union decline and the inheritance of rigid communist-era Labor Codes, a convenient way to compare the relative efficacy of organized labor is t...
Hypertrophic Lichen Planus versus Well-Differentiated Squamous Cell Carcinoma: A Histological Challenge

Differentiating hypertrophic lichen planus (LP) from well-differentiated squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is a histological challenge given the numerous histopathologic similarities between SCC and pseudoepitheliomatous hyperplasia (PEH) arising in the setting of hypertrophic LP. Multiple reports have shown that SCC can arise from hypertrophic LP not infrequently, but that the LP-to-SCC sequence is poorly understood, and many cases defy diagnosis due to histologic similarities. However, there are several clinical clues and histopathologic details that have shown to have some value when trying to ascertain the correct diagnosis. To the contrary, immunohistochemical tests have shown little promise in differentiating hypertrophic LP from SCC. Although multiplex PCR has shown some potential in differentiating PEH from SCC, this has only been in the setting of patients diagnosed with prurigo and lichen simplex chronicus, but not necessarily in the case hypertrophic LP.
Demographic trends in Claremont California’s street tree population

Abstract The aim of this study was to quantify street tree population dynamics in the city of Claremont, CA. A repeated measures survey (2000 and 2014) based on a stratified random sampling approach across size classes and for the most abundant 21 species was analyzed to calculate removal, growth, and replacement planting rates. Demographic rates were estimated using a hierarchical Bayesian framework. The community-level (all species) median growth rate was 1.41% per year (95% CI: 1.21–1.65%) with Pinus brutia and Pistacia chinensis growing significantly faster than the community-level median. The community-level median removal rate was 1.03% per year (95% CI: 0.66–1.68%), with no significant differences between species and the community-level medium. Once removed, only 7.2% (95% CI: 4.4–12.9%) were replaced annually. Presence of overhead utility lines influenced tree removal rates while age, diameter-at-breast-height, and prior tree condition influenced tree growth. Overall live aboveground biomass in sampled sites was 713.29 Mg in 2000 and increased to 877.36 Mg by 2014. Biomass gain from growth outweighed loss from removals nearly three-fold; replacement contributed 0.5% of the total biomass gain. We conclude that to increase the resilience of the street tree population will require 1) an increase in percent of full stocking or biomass stock and 2) a shift in the species palette to favor species less vulnerable to pests and expected disturbance from climate change and 3) ongoing monitoring to detect departures from baseline demographic rates.
A Case of Delirium and Rhabdomyolysis in Severe Iatrogenic Opioid Withdrawal.

Opioid withdrawal is often thought of as psychologically and physiologically distressing but ultimately not life-threatening, however it can result in severe medical complications in some cases. The case herein describes an elderly gentleman on methadone maintenance therapy who experienced delirium and rhabdomyolysis when in severe iatrogenic opioid withdrawal following initiation of naltrexone for alcohol use disorder management. This case and ensuing discussion illustrates the importance of pharmacovigilance and of medically managing opioid withdrawal and reviews some of the more serious complications associated with acute opioid withdrawal.
A RARE CAUSE OF PERIPARTUM CARDIOMYOPATHY

Anomalous origin of the left coronary artery from pulmonary artery (ALCAPA) syndrome is a rare disease that accounts for 0.2-0.5% of all congenital heart defects. If untreated, 90% of patients die within the 1st year of life. A 30-year-old woman presented with chest pain and dyspnea on exertion
Abstract 10283: Motivational Interviewing Decreases Readmissions in Adults With Heart Failure

Introduction: In chronic heart failure (HF), 70% of patients are readmitted to the hospital within 12 months. At least 63% of these readmissions are for a condition other than HF. Hypothesis: We hypothesized that motivational interviewing (MI) would be effective in decreasing readmissions unrelated to HF in HF patients. Methods: Hospitalized adults with HF were enrolled if they were symptomatic (NYHA class II-IV), spoke and read English, lived in a setting where they could independently engage in self-care, and were cognitively intact. We enrolled 100 HF patients (mean age 60 ± 14.3 years; 57% Black, 33% female, 85% NYHA class III/IV symptoms, 64% were educated ≤ high school level) into a randomized controlled trial, using minimization to balance group assignment on NYHA class and gender. Participants in both groups received educational materials emphasizing self-care behavior change. The intervention group received MI emphasizing self-care (e.g. adherence, symptom monitoring) and tailored to individual goals. The intervention was provided by a nurse in a single home visit with 3-4 follow-up phone calls. Participants were followed for 3 months. For the primary outcome, readmission unrelated to HF, a multiple variable regression model was constructed using a backward variable elimination approach. Results: Over 3 months, 25% of the sample had a HF-readmission and 15% had a readmission unrelated to HF. There was an absolute difference of 21% (9 vs 30) in readmissions unrelated to HF between the MI intervention and control groups (p=0.006). The MI group had 94% lower odds of having a readmission unrelated to HF (p=0.001). Each additional unit of hemoglobin was associated with 48% lower odds of having a readmission unrelated to HF (p=0.006). For each additional year of age, the odds of having a readmission unrelated to HF were 7% lower. Participants with diabetes had 6.7 times the odds (p=0.012) of having a readmission unrelated to HF. Conclusion: An MI intervention emphasizing self-care and tailored to individual goals significantly reduced readmissions unrelated to HF in adults with HF, even after accounting for the influence of anemia, age, and diabetes.
Ecospace Utilization During the Ediacaran Radiation and the Cambrian Eco-explosion

A theoretical ecospace is a multi-parameter system for classifying the ecological properties of organisms; because they are viewed in terms of their ecological and functional capabilities, morphologically and phylogenetically disparate organisms can be compared and contrasted. In the ecospace used here, marine animals are classified according to three parameters that can be determined relatively easily from fossils: tiering (position relative to the sediment-water interface), motility level, and feeding mechanism. Analyses of faunas from the Ediacaran, Cambrian, and Recent suggest that the ecological richness (number of ecological lifestyles) of the marine fauna rose through time, although the pace of increase slowed after the early Phanerozoic. However, the Ediacaran biota was quite distinct from Phanerozoic faunas in terms of which tiers, motility levels, and feeding mechanisms were employed; thus, the rise to dominance of bilaterians during the Cambrian Explosion caused a fundamental transformation in marine ecology. Changes in marine animal ecology since the Cambrian Explosion were of lesser magnitude.
Adenomatous Polyp Of The Bladder: A Rare Cause Of Hematuria in Young Men

A 26-year-old black man presented with gross hematuria and was found to have a papillary lesion of the trigone of the bladder. The lesion proved to be an adenomatous polyp with prostatic-type epithelium. This type of neoplasia ordinarily is found in the prostatic urethra and has not been reported previously in the bladder. Adenomatous polyps are benign tumors and should be considered in the differential diagnosis of hematuria in young men.
Use of Molecular Markers for Fruit Crop Improvement

Selectable trait-linked markers have been an integral part of many major plant and animal breeding programs for years. The most common types of markers used generally fall into two categories—morphological and molecular. Both types are the result of differences in genotypes or, in simplest terms, differences in DNA sequences. Morphological markers are identifiable, inherited phenotypes that ideally demonstrate tight linkage with a desired characteristic that is typically not as easily scored as the marker. Molecular markers are also inherited and demonstrate linkage with a desired characteristic; however, they are not based on a visible morphological phenotype. Rather, they are based on variations in DNA sequences, which are usually not observed morphologically (unless they reflect functional and observable allelic differences), yet can be visualized by various molecular techniques.
Clusters/Science Parks/Knowledge Business Incubators

As information and communications technology (ICT) grew more advanced during the 1990s, some observers predicted that geographic location would cease to be a determining factor in economic development. In the old economy, factories had to be near raw materials like coal or iron ore. In the new economy, business would be global, with workers across the globe engaging with one another via mobile devices and the Internet. Instead, the last 20 years have shown that location still matters. While some services like call centers have been outsourced, they have been outsourced to particular places, like Bangalore in India, where many companies compete for business within a geographically restricted space.
Beyond Bombardment: Subjectivity, Visual Culture, and Art Education.

Beginning with an understanding of visual culture as a postmodern discourse, this article argues for more focused attention to how visual culture presents a critical rethinking of subjectivity within art education. Through an analysis of a language of bombardment, a discourse that positions the subject as bombarded by media messages, this article examines how differences between humanist constructions of the self and postmodern theories of the subject impact understandings of viewer/viewed, student/teacher and active/passive relationships. The performative photographs of Cindy Sherman are presented as a critical rethinking of conduit metaphors of communication and liberal humanist constructions of the self. In its conclusions, this article suggests that visual culture marks not only a rethinking of the subject's relationship to the visual, but also a significant shift in understandings of subjectivity itself.
Body Balance Estimation in Standing and Walking Conditions Using Inertial Measurement Units and Galvanic Skin Response

Falls can be detrimental, especially in the elderly. We focused on balanced and unbalanced conditions while standing and walking. Body accelerations on the sternum, right wrist, waist, left and right ankles were measured, as well as galvanic skin response (GSR). The results showed that the unbalanced conditions were significantly different from balanced conditions. Acceleration ranges increased during unbalanced conditions, along with large peaks, which represent detectable sways and trips. The correlations between accelerations and GSR were well correlated, which is promising for predicting body balance and unbalance leading to falls.
Effects of patient navigation on satisfaction with cancer care: A systematic review.

e18088Background: Patient navigation (PN) is a model of health care coordination designed to ameliorate health disparities by reducing barriers to achieving optimal health outcomes. Systematic revi...
Performance of coronary angiography and intervention after out of hospital cardiac arrest.

Abstract Aims: Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest (OHCA) is frequently attributed to coronary artery disease, thus guidelines recommend coronary angiography (CAG) for survivors of OHCA. However, the real-world application of these guidelines is unknown, and we sought to evaluate CAG practices in the contemporary OHCA population. Methods: The Clinical Outcomes Assessment Program (COAP), a Washington State public reporting system, and the Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival (CARES), a national registry of OHCA, were matched to characterize OHCA presentations between 2014 and 2015. Adults presenting to PCI-capable centers after OHCA were included. Logistic regression analyses were performed to assess predictors of undergoing CAG after OHCA. Results: 2361 subjects were included with 729 (31%) proceeding to CAG, and 354 (15%) receiving PCI. The majority had return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) at hospital arrival without identified ST elevations (72.2%). Of those with ST elevations and ROSC, 69% underwent CAG. OHCAs without ST elevations underwent CAG in 29.6% and PCI in 12.6%. After adjustment, older patients (aOR 0.73, 95% CI 0.72-0.84 per decade) and women (aOR 0.53, 95% CI 0.41-0.67) were less likely to proceed to CAG. Patients with witnessed arrest (aOR 2.07, 95% CI 1.62–2.67), VT/VF (aOR 6.11, 95% CI 4.85–7.69), ST elevations (aOR 3.82, 95% CI 2.71–5.38) and sustained ROSC (aOR 3.64, 95% CI 2.62–5.04) were more likely to undergo CAG. Conclusion: Only one-third of patients presenting to PCI-capable hospitals underwent CAG after OHCA. Patient selection for an invasive strategy after OHCA appeared to be heavily influenced by pre-hospital presentation variables.
College and Career Readiness Consultation for High-Risk Youth: An Introduction

ABSTRACTThe transition from high school to adulthood is challenging for many students, but particularly for students who hold membership in marginalized populations. College and career readiness (C...
Fabrication and Characterization of GaN/AlN Resonant Tunneling Diodes

This chapter reviews our recent efforts on growth, fabrication, and characterization of GaN/AlN resonant tunneling diodes (RTDs). Working GaN/AlN RTDs were successfully demonstrated, and they could function well under the flux of very high current densities (e.g., ∼431 kA/cm2) without thermal breakdown. The high-speed nature of these devices was confirmed through switching experiments, achieving a 10–90% switching time of ≈55 ps. A fmax calculation shows a small-signal oscillation with frequency up to 164 GHz is possible. Unlike InGaAs/AlAs RTDs, the peak-to-valley current ratios (PVCRs) of GaN/AlN RTDs remain ∼1.5. Through computer modeling, temperature measurements, and material diagnosis, we reveal that there could be stronger inelastic scattering processes contributing to the valley current other than the coherent tunneling in the GaN/AlN RTDs. The possible inelastic mechanisms include optical phonons, interface roughness, and dislocations. Thus, the growth of high-quality GaN/AlN heterostructures and the evolution of bulk GaN substrates are critical for getting better performance devices. Finally, unipolar electroluminescence, without the presence of p-type doping, was observed in GaN/AlN RTDs. The interband tunneling process, which generates holes for the optical recombination, is likely due to the strong electric fields originating from the polarization effects native to wurtzite heterostructures.
CHECK: A randomized trial evaluating the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of home visitation in pediatric weight loss treatment

Abstract Background Socioeconomically-disadvantaged households have a high prevalence of pediatric overweight/obesity, and also face barriers to accessing weight loss treatment in healthcare settings. Delivering family-based pediatric weight loss treatment in the home setting may enhance its efficacy by facilitating treatment attendance, enabling more tailored treatment recommendations informed by observations of the home environment, and increasing accountability. This paper describes the design of the Creating Health Environments for Chicago Kids (CHECK) Trial, which evaluates the efficacy, cost-effectiveness, and mechanisms of home visitation in family-based pediatric weight loss treatment for children in low-income households. Design CHECK is a two-arm, parallel group, randomized controlled trial that is enrolling N = 266 children, ages 6–12 y, who have overweight/obesity (BMI percentile ≥85) and live in a low-income household. Participants are randomized in a 1:1 ratio to either standard of care family-based weight loss treatment delivered in the home, or the identical intervention delivered in an academic medical center. The primary outcome is change in child BMI z-score from baseline to 12 months. Program delivery costs are rigorously documented to enable cost-effectiveness analyses from the societal and payer perspectives. Objectively-documented changes to the home environment and aspects of intervention delivery (e.g., hours of in-person contact received, quantity of behavioral goals set per session) will be tested as hypothesized treatment mechanisms. Implications Findings will inform the design of future interventions, and treatment dissemination decisions by public health agencies and third-party payers. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03195790
Abstract 11: Geographic Inequalities in Cardiovascular Mortality: Impact of Public Health Initiatives

Introduction: Improvements in therapy and prevention have led to declining cardiovascular mortality in the United States, but it is not clear whether these improvements have narrowed geographic dis...
OpenTimer v2: A New Parallel Incremental Timing Analysis Engine

Since the first release in 2015, OpenTimer v1 has been used in many industrial and academic projects for analyzing the timing of custom designs. After four-year research and developments, we have announced OpenTimer v2—a major release that efficiently supports: 1) a new task-based parallel incremental timing analysis engine to break through the performance bottleneck of existing loop-based methods; 2) a new application programming interface (API) concept to exploit high degrees of parallelisms; and 3) an enhanced support for industry-standard design formats to improve user experience. Compared with OpenTimer v1, we rearchitect v2 with a modern C++ programming language and advanced parallel computing techniques to largely improve the tool performance and usability. For a particular example, OpenTimer v2 achieved up to $5.33\times $ speedup over v1 in incremental timing, and scaled higher with increasing cores. Our contributions include both technical innovations and engineering knowledge that are open and accessible to promote timing research in the community.
Cell-specific toxicity of short-term JUUL aerosol exposure to human bronchial epithelial cells and murine macrophages exposed at the air-liquid interface.

JUUL, an electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS), which first appeared on the US market in 2015, controled more than 75% of the US ENDS sales in 2018. JUUL-type devices are currently the most commonly used form of ENDS among youth in the US. In contrast to free-base nicotine contained in cigarettes and other ENDS, JUUL contains high levels of nicotine salt (35 or 59 mg/mL), whose cellular and molecular effects on lung cells are largely unknown. In the present study, we evaluated the in vitro toxicity of JUUL creme brulee-flavored aerosols on 2 types of human bronchial epithelial cell lines (BEAS-2B, H292) and a murine macrophage cell line (RAW 264.7). Human lung epithelial cells and murine macrophages were exposed to JUUL creme brulee-flavored aerosols at the air–liquid interface (ALI) for 1-h followed by a 24-h recovery period. Membrane integrity, cytotoxicity, extracellular release of nitrogen species and reactive oxygen species, cellular morphology and gene expression were assessed. Creme brulee-flavored aerosol contained elevated concentrations of benzoic acid (86.9 μg/puff), a well-established respiratory irritant. In BEAS-2B cells, creme brulee-flavored aerosol decreased cell viability (≥ 50%) and increased nitric oxide (NO) production (≥ 30%), as well as iNOS gene expression. Creme brulee-flavored aerosol did not affect the viability of either H292 cells or RAW macrophages, but increased the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) by ≥ 20% in both cell types. While creme brulee-flavored aerosol did not alter NO levels in H292 cells, RAW macrophages exposed to creme brulee-flavored aerosol displayed decreased NO (≥ 50%) and down-regulation of the iNOS gene, possibly due to increased ROS. Additionally, creme brulee-flavored aerosol dysregulated the expression of several genes related to biotransformation, inflammation and airway remodeling, including CYP1A1, IL-6, and MMP12 in all 3 cell lines. Our results indicate that creme brulee-flavored aerosol causes cell-specific toxicity to lung cells. This study contributes to providing scientific evidence towards regulation of nicotine salt-based products.
Alterations to the gut microbiome after sport-related concussion and subconcussive impacts in a collegiate football players cohort.

ABSTRACT Concussions, both single and repetitive, during contact sports cause brain and body alterations in athletes. The role of the brain-gut connection and changes in the microbiota have not been well established after a head injury or concussion-related health consequences. We recruited 33 Division I Collegiate football players and collected blood, stool, and saliva samples throughout the athletic season. Analysis of the gut microbiome reveals a decrease in abundance for two bacterial species, Eubacterium rectale, and Anaerostipes hadrus, after a diagnosed concussion. No significant differences were found regarding the salivary microbiome. Serum biomarker analysis shows an increase in GFAP blood levels in athletes during athletic activity. Additionally, S100β and SAA blood levels were positively correlated with the abundance of Eubacterium rectale species among athletes exposed to subconcussive impacts. These novel findings provide evidence that detecting changes in the gut microbiome may pave the way for improved concussion diagnosis following head injury.
Deep Simulation of Facial Appearance Changes Following Craniomaxillofacial Bony Movements in Orthognathic Surgical Planning

Facial appearance changes with the movements of bony segments in orthognathic surgery of patients with craniomaxillofacial (CMF) deformities. Conventional bio-mechanical methods, such as finite element modeling (FEM), for simulating such changes, are labor intensive and computationally expensive, preventing them from being used in clinical settings. To overcome these limitations, we propose a deep learning framework to predict post-operative facial changes. Specifically, FC-Net, a facial appearance change simulation network, is developed to predict the point displacement vectors associated with a facial point cloud. FC-Net learns the point displacements of a pre-operative facial point cloud from the bony movement vectors between pre-operative and post-operative bony models. FC-Net is a weakly-supervised point displacement network trained using paired data with strict point-to-point correspondence. To preserve the topology of the facial model during point transform, we employ a local-point-transform loss to constrain the local movements of points. Experimental results on real patient data reveal that the proposed framework can predict post-operative facial appearance changes remarkably faster than a state-of-the-art FEM method with comparable prediction accuracy.
Acute mortality in California tiger salamander (Ambystoma californiense) and Santa Cruz long-toed salamander (Ambystoma macrodactylum croceum) caused by Ribeiroia ondatrae (Class: Trematoda)

Abstract In early September 2019, a morbidity and mortality event affecting California tiger salamanders (Ambystoma californiense) and Santa Cruz long-toed salamanders (Ambystoma macrodactylum croceum) in late stages of metamorphosis was reported at a National Wildlife Refuge in Santa Cruz County, California, U.S.A. During the postmortem disease investigation, severe integumentary metacercarial (Class: Trematoda) infection, associated with widespread skin lesions, was observed. Planorbid snails collected from the ponds of the refuge within seven days of the mortality event were infected with Ribeiroia ondatrae, a digenetic trematode that can cause malformation and death in some amphibians. We suggest sustained seasonal high-water levels due to active habitat management along with several years of increased rainfall led to increased bird visitation, increased over-wintering of snails, and prolonged salamander metamorphosis, resulting in a confluence of conditions and cascading of host-parasite dynamics to create a hyper-parasitized state.
Field evaluation of fall armyworm (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) feeding on yield and quality of 'Alicia' bermudagrass.

Field evaluation of fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith) feeding on yield and quality of bermudagrass, Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers., var. ‘Alicia’, was studied during the 1983–1984 gro...
Brementown Revisited: Interactions Among Allelochemicals in Plants

While certain individual plant chemicals are closely identified with particular plant families—sinigrin and the Cruciferae, for example1—plant species in reality produce. a variety of biosynthetically distinct secondary compounds. The tremendous chemical diversity that characterizes the angiosperms in general holds for an individual plant as well. The Umbelliferae are among the more diverse; even the rather undistinguished parsnip (Pastinaca sativa), a biennial that is a minor vegetable crop under cultivation and a noxious weed when naturalized, contains no fewer than seven classes of secondary compounds (Table 1). Yet interactions among co-occurring secondary compounds as regards herbivory, insect and otherwise, have been largely ignored by investigators who have instead concentrated on single classes of secondary products. This emphasis is the result of both practical and theoretical considerations. Operationally, examining a single class of compounds facilitates the design and execution of experiments. Conceptually, stepwise insect/plant coevolution, as formalized by Ehrlich and Raven,2 derived largely from experimental work on the Cruciferae;3–5 the dramatic effects of mustard oil glycosides as toxins to nonadapted species6,7 and as attractants to adapted species8–12 led to the tacit assumption (and fervent hope) that single chemicals can provide the key to understanding insect/plant relationships.
Diffusion in Bulk Solids and Thin Films: Some Phenomenological Examples

The science of diffusion had its beginnings in the early nineteenth century, although the metal artisans of antiquity used the phenomenon to make such objects as the Damascus swords by the cementation process and gilded bronze and copper wares from gold amalgam. Mercury in the amalgam was later oxidized, leaving behind a gold gilding film. John Dalton in 1808 is usually credited as the earliest person to describe diffusion.[1] Thomas Graham studied the diffusion phenomenon in the 1828 to 1833 period with simple, elegant, and definitive experiments.[2] His major observations were that diffusion, or spontaneous intermixing of two gases in contact or separated by porous membranes, is effected by an interchange in position of indefinitely minute volumes. The mixing rate depends on the concentration difference and is inversely proportional to the square root of the density of the gas. Furthermore, he established that “diffusion followed a diminishing progression — at longer intervals of time the mixing process decreased,” and that the diffusion rates in liquids are much slower than in gases. These concepts later became the bases for mathematical treatment of the diffusion process.
Switch Level Modeling

Designs at the logic level of abstraction, describe a digital circuit in terms of primitive logic functions such as OR, and NOR, etc., and allow for the nets interconnecting the logic functions to carry 0, 1, x and z values. At the analog-transistor level of modeling, we use an electronic model of the circuit elements and allow for analog values of voltages or currents to represent logic values on the interconnections.
Interactions between adjacent ganglia bring about the bilaterally alternating differentiation of RAS and CAS neurons in the leech nerve cord

Antibodies to small cardioactive peptide (SCP) label a segmentally iterated subset of cells in the leech nerve cord, including the previously identified alternating SCP (AS) neurons. Unlike the majority of leech neurons, these cells are asymmetrically distributed in the adult nerve cord. Moreover, each AS neuron shows a strong tendency to lie on alternate right and left sides in successive ganglia. Previous work has shown that these unpaired neurons arise from bilaterally paired embryonic homologues, only 1 of which takes on the mature immunoreactive phenotype. The 2 AS homologues within a ganglion compete for this fate, in that either the right or the left homologue will become a mature AS neuron with a high degree of reliability if its contralateral homologue is ablated during embryogenesis. In this paper, we demonstrate the existence of interactions between neurons in adjacent ganglia that could account for the alternation of sides observed during normal development. The unilateral ablation of a single AS homologue neuron forced its contralateral homologue to take on the mature AS fate, and this consistently biased the side of AS development in adjacent, unlesioned ganglia both anterior and posterior to the lesion. One of the AS neurons, the caudal alternating SCP (CAS) cell, was injected with Lucifer yellow in adult nerve cords and was shown to have a large primary axon that extends into more anterior ganglia, as well as other, finer axons that are variable in number and arrangement. If the interganglionic interaction of AS neuron homologues is mediated by their primary axons, signals of developmental import must be transmitted both anterogradely and retrogradely along the axon's length. The present results indicate that the development of individual AS neurons is influenced by homologous cells located in the same and neighboring ganglia and suggest that the final, multisegmental patterning of the AS neuron distribution is not predetermined, but rather, arises as an emergent property of the cell interactions that occur during nervous system differentiation.
Signaling through rho gtpases in phagocytes

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the signaling through RHO GTPases in phagocytes. GTPases act as molecular switches by cycling between the GDP to the GTP-bound form. It is suggested that the interaction of opsonized particles with the Fc receptor on the surface of the phagocytes triggers a series of events leading to the engulfment of the particles. The process of phagocytosis is an actin-driven process that requires the reorganization of the actin cytoskeleton to complete the invagination and the budding of the phagosome from the plasma membrane. The link to the actin cytoskeleton strongly suggests that this process is regulated by Rho GTPases. Recent studies demonstrated that Rac and Cdc42 are required for the reorganization of the actin cytoskeleton in macrophages to form a-phagocytic cups which are essential for particle internalization during FcR mediated phagocytosis. In addition, inactivating Rho by C3 exoenzyme blocked Fcγ receptor-mediated phagocytosis. A most recent study reported two distinct mechanisms of phagocytosis: type I, mediated by the immunoglobilin receptor is controlled by Cdc42 and Rac, and type II, mediated by the complement receptor is regulated by Rho. The molecular effectors that are involved in this process are currently unknown.
Quark-lepton complementarity relation and neutrino mass hierarchy

Latest measurements have revealed that the deviation from a maximal solar mixing angle is approximately the Cabibbo angle, i.e., QLC relation. We argue that it is not plausible that this deviation from maximality, be it a coincidence or not, comes from the charged lepton mixing. Consequently we have calculated the required corrections to the exactly bimaximal neutrino mass matrix ansatz necessary to account for the solar mass difference and the solar mixing angle. We point out that the relative size of these two corrections depends strongly on the hierarchy case under consideration. We find that the inverted hierarchy case with opposite CP parities, which is known to guarantee the RGE stability of the solar mixing angle, offers the most plausible scenario for a high energy origin of a QLC-corrected bimaximal neutrino mass matrix. This possibility may allow us to explain the QLC relation in connection with the origin of the charged fermion mass matrices.