cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Improvement of Navel Orangeworm (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) Egg Traps

Improvement of egg traps for the navel orangeworm, Amyelois transitella (Walker), was investigated by modifying trap color, trap texture, and bait. Changing the color of the trap from the clear plastic standard to a less reflective color, such as black, increased egg deposition 180 to 350%. Changing the surface texture of the trap so that the roughened surface extended the full length of the trap increased egg deposition by at least 25%. Changing the bait formulation from almond press cake to almond press cake plus 10% crude almond oil by weight increased egg deposition 160%. After 8 weeks, the biological activity of the almond press cake plus 10% crude almond oil was not significantly different from that of fresh bait. Also, we found that as the amount of bait in the trap increased, so did egg deposition.
The Administration of Don Melchor de Navarra y Rocafull, Duque de la Palata: Viceroy of Peru, 1681-1689*

On November 20, 1681 the cathedral bell of Lima announced the official arrival of the new Viceroy of Peru, Don Melchor de Navarra y Rocafull, Duque de la Palata. The streets were decked with bunting and flowers and many people crowded windows and balconies to catch a glimpse of the new Viceroy. Palata, astride a white horse, led a procession of town councilmen, lancers, footmen, and coaches through the capital to the main plaza. There he was greeted by an artillery salute that shook the entire city. Thanking the officials who had accompanied him, Palata entered the viceregal palace and appeared at a window to the acclamation of the multitude.
Improving Product Abandonment Decisions

This article describes a product review and evaluation model which views the total product line as a set of interrelated elements, each of which place varying demands on the resources of the firm. ...
An industry perspective on drug target validation

Drug attrition in clinical trials due to inadequate preclinical target validation is a huge problem facing drug discovery. The issue is compounded by concerns over the reproducibility of published ...
A Failed Experiment

In 1956 I joined Ole Maaloe’s laboratory in Copenhagen for a two-year postdoc. We worked on the connection between the rate of growth of Salmonella and its macromolecular composition, arriving at the conclusion that there was indeed a simple linear correlation between the cells’ nucleic acid and protein content and how fast they were growing. In trying to interpret this, Ole was influenced by the experiments coming from the labs of quite a few people, showing that the synthesis of many biosynthetic enzymes becomes repressed when the end product of their pathway is added to the medium. If, say, arginine is added to a culture, the enzymes involved in arginine biosynthesis will not be made. If so, in cultures grown in a rich broth, many biosynthetic genes should indeed be silenced. These should include all the operons for amino acid biosynthesis and for other building blocks present in this medium.
Owner-Centric Protection of Unstructured Data on Smartphones

Modern smartphone apps tend to contain and use vast amounts of data that can be broadly classified as structured and unstructured. Structured data, such as an user's geolocation, has predefined semantics that can be retrieved by well-defined platform APIs. Unstructured data, on the other hand, relies on the context of the apps to reflect its meaning and value, and is typically provided by the user directly into an app's interface. Recent research has shown that third-party apps are leaking highly-sensitive unstructured data, including user's banking credentials. Unfortunately, none of the current solutions focus on the protection of unstructured data. In this paper, we propose an owner-centric solution to protect unstructured data on smartphones. Our approach allows the data owners to specify security policies when providing their untrusted data to third-party apps. It tracks the flow of information to enforce the owner's policies at strategic exit points. Based on this approach, we design and implement a system, called DataChest . We develop several mechanisms to reduce user burden and keep interruption to the minimum, while at the same time preventing the malicious apps from tricking the user. We evaluate our system against a set of real-world malicious apps and a series of synthetic attacks to show that it can successfully prevent the leakage of unstructured data while incurring reasonable performance overhead.
An exploratory study of radium-223 and vascular endothelial growth factor targeted therapy (VEGF TT) in patients (pts) with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) and bone metastases (BM).

466Background: BM frequently occur in pts with mRCC and are associated with worse survival. The primary aim was to investigate the effect of radium-223 with VEGF TT on bone turnover markers (BTMs) in mRCC pts with BM. Methods: Pts were stratified into cohort 1 (C1) if treatment (tx) naive (n=15) to receive pazopanib 800 mg daily or cohort 2 (C2) if previously treated (n=15) to receive sorafenib (SOR) 400 mg twice BID and could escalate to 600 mg BID at progression. All pts received radium-223 55 kBq/kg every 4 weeks x 6. A safety run-in was performed after 6 pts per cohort completed 2 cycles with criteria to halt enrollment if grade ≥3 tx-related adverse events (TRAEs) were observed in ≥80% of pts. Herein, we report the results of the safety run-in and early safety, biomarker, and imaging data for C2. Results: In the safety run-in, 5/12 (42%) pts experienced TRAEs including anemia, fatigue, liver test elevation, amylase elevation, rash, hand-foot-syndrome, and hypertension, and therefore enrollment contin...
Systematic Review Protocol to Assess the Effectiveness of Usability Questionnaires in mHealth App Studies

Background: Usability questionnaires have a wide use in mobile health (mHealth) app usability studies. However, no systematic review has been conducted for assessing the effectiveness of these questionnaires. Objective: This paper describes a protocol for conducting a systematic review of published questionnaire-based mHealth app usability studies. Methods: In this systematic review, we will select recently published (2008-2017) articles from peer-reviewed journals and conferences that describe mHealth app usability studies and implement at least one usability questionnaire. The search strategy will include terms such as “mobile app” and “usability.” Multiple databases such as PubMed, CINAHL, IEEE Xplore, ACM Digital Library, and INSPEC will be searched. There will be 2 independent reviewers in charge of screening titles and abstracts as well as determining those articles that should be included for a full-text review. The third reviewer will act as a mediator between the other 2 reviewers. Moreover, a data extraction form will be created and used during the full article data analysis. Notably, the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocols (PRISMA-P) guidelines will be followed in reporting this protocol. Results: A preliminary search produced 1271 articles, 40 of which are duplicate records. The inclusion-exclusion criteria are being strictly followed in performing the ongoing study selection. Conclusions: Usability questionnaires are an important tool in mHealth app usability studies. This review will summarize the usability questionnaires used in published research articles while assessing the efficacy of these questionnaires in determining the usability of mHealth apps.
Surface Plasmon-Coupled Emission from Rhodamine- 6G Aggregates for Ratiometric Detection of Ethanol Vapors

Surface plasmon-coupled emission (SPCE), the phenomenon associated with nanometer thick metal films has been extensively used on account of its enhanced spectral resolution, directional and polarized fluorescence. Here we report the detection of ethanol vapors based on the ability of SPCE to spectrally resolve individual emissions from Rhodamine-6G (R-6G) aggregates encapsulated in chitosan. This study opens doors to a broad spectrum of next generation ratiometric SPCE sensors based on high-resolution spectral determination of nano-environments in a multi-species system.
Microbial community assembly in wild populations of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster

Animals are routinely colonized by microorganisms. Despite many studies documenting the microbial taxa associated with animals, the pattern and ecological determinants of among-animal variation in microbial communities are poorly understood. This study quantified the bacterial communities associated with natural populations of Drosophila melanogaster. Across five collections, each fly bore 16–78 OTUs, predominantly of the Acetobacteraceae, Lactobacillaceae, and Enterobacteriaceae. Positive relationships, mostly among related OTUs, dominated both the significant co-occurrences and co-association networks among bacteria, and OTUs with important network positions were generally of intermediate abundance and prevalence. The prevalence of most OTUs was well predicted by a neutral model suggesting that ecological drift and passive dispersal contribute significantly to microbiome composition. However, some Acetobacteraceae and Lactobacillaceae were present in more flies than predicted, indicative of superior among-fly dispersal. These taxa may be well-adapted to the Drosophila habitat from the perspective of dispersal as the principal benefit of the association to the microbial partners. Taken together, these patterns indicate that both stochastic processes and deterministic processes relating to the differential capacity for persistence in the host habitat and transmission between hosts contribute to bacterial community assembly in Drosophila melanogaster.
A de novo mutation in the EXT2 gene associated with osteochondromatosis in a litter of American Staffordshire Terriers.

Background We aimed to identify mutations associated with osteochondromatosis in a litter of American Staffordshire Terrier puppies. Hypothesis We hypothesized that the associated mutation would be located in a gene that causes osteochondromatosis in humans. Animals A litter of 9 American Staffordshire puppies, their sire and dam, 3 of 4 grandparents, 26 healthy unrelated American Staffordshire Terriers, and 154 dogs of 27 different breeds. Methods Whole genome sequencing was performed on the proband, and variants were compared against polymorphisms derived from 154 additional dogs across 27 breeds, as well as single nucleotide polymorphism database 146. One variant was selected for follow-up sequencing. Parentage and genetic mosaicism were evaluated across the litter. Results We found 56,301 genetic variants unique to the proband. Eleven variants were located in or near the gene exostosin 2 (EXT2), which is strongly associated with osteochondromatosis in humans. One heterozygous variant (c.969C > A) is predicted to result in a stop codon in exon 5 of the gene. Sanger sequencing identified the identical mutation in all affected offspring. The mutation was absent in the unaffected offspring, both parents, all available grandparents, and 26 healthy unrelated American Staffordshire Terriers. Conclusions and clinical importance These findings represent the first reported mutation associated with osteochondromatosis in dogs. Because this mutation arose de novo, the identical mutation is unlikely to be the cause of osteochondromatosis in other dogs. However, de novo mutations in EXT2 are common in humans with osteochondromatosis, and by extension, it is possible that dogs with osteochondromatosis could be identified by sequencing the entire EXT2 gene.
Compression of deep convolutional neural network for computer-aided diagnosis of masses in digital breast tomosynthesis

Deep-learning models are highly parameterized, causing difficulty in inference and transfer learning. We propose a layered pathway evolution method to compress a deep convolutional neural network (DCNN) for classification of masses in DBT while maintaining the classification accuracy. Two-stage transfer learning was used to adapt the ImageNet-trained DCNN to mammography and then to DBT. In the first-stage transfer learning, transfer learning from ImageNet trained DCNN was performed using mammography data. In the second-stage transfer learning, the mammography-trained DCNN was trained on the DBT data using feature extraction from fully connected layer, recursive feature elimination and random forest classification. The layered pathway evolution encapsulates the feature extraction to the classification stages to compress the DCNN. Genetic algorithm was used in an iterative approach with tournament selection driven by count-preserving crossover and mutation to identify the necessary nodes in each convolution layer while eliminating the redundant nodes. The DCNN was reduced by 99% in the number of parameters and 95% in mathematical operations in the convolutional layers. The lesion-based area under the receiver operating characteristic curve on an independent DBT test set from the original and the compressed network resulted in 0.88±0.05 and 0.90±0.04, respectively. The difference did not reach statistical significance. We demonstrated a DCNN compression approach without additional fine-tuning or loss of performance for classification of masses in DBT. The approach can be extended to other DCNNs and transfer learning tasks. An ensemble of these smaller and focused DCNNs has the potential to be used in multi-target transfer learning.
The Structure of Municipal Political Ideology

Conventional wisdom holds that municipal politics is nonideological. Recent scholarship challenges this perspective, finding representation on a liberal–conservative dimension in municipal politics...
Writing, Memory, and Revenge in Beowulf , Sir Gawain and the Green Knight , and Hamlet

This chapter addresses the connection between memory and revenge in the medieval epic Beowulf, the chronicle History of the Danes (Gesta Danorum) by Saxo Grammaticus, and in Hamlet. When Hamlet’s father returns from the dead to urge his son to avenge his murder by his own brother, the scene reprises the moment in Beowulf when Grendel emerges from the darkness of the Danish landscape to take revenge on Hrothgar and his mead-hall. In both cases their origins and identity are obscure. Who or what is Grendel? Is he human or monster? And what exactly, Hamlet constantly asks himself, is the nature of the apparition that visits him? This uncertainty is precisely what drives—or rather fails to drive—his revenge. Hamlet is torn between the need to mourn his father and the urge to avenge him; and this confusion arises from the Ghost’s own mixed messages. At first he enjoins Hamlet to wreak revenge for his murder, but his valedictory words to his son are “Remember me!” Memory thus becomes revenge by other means, just as for English Catholics the memory of the old religion was a means to resist and even enact revenge on the Elizabethan settlement.
Tracking observations of everyday living with smart phones

Reports of health information systems failures identified the guilty parties laying with issues around social, technical, and organizational factors. The reason so many systems fail may lie in the socio-cultural fit of e-Health systems. We do not understand how to deliver information to providers when they need it, in a usable format, and in a way that fits transparently into their workflow and into the daily lives of patients. In addition to understanding how clinicians use HIT in order to promote health behavior change, it is necessary to consider patient goals, preferences and capacities. Patients with multiple diagnoses are often complex to manage because so much of their experiences happen in between clinical visits. Information and communication technologies (ICT) can play an important role in assisting patients managing personal health information. The key question is how do we take advantage of the power of low-cost ICTs to extend care?
The virtues of politics in fearful times

While many warn about the failures of politics, this article argues that politics serves to resolve conflicts of interests and values among us in a manner that limits the use of violence and also protects and fosters value pluralism and freedom. Public administration scholars often look to science to improve governance but science cannot resolve our many conflicting ends and values, nor can it take proper account of the freedom and resulting sheer unpredictability that we have come to experience within our own tradition of politics. It is argued that the practice of politics requires not a science of governance, but simply a certain kind of toleration, namely a willingness to hear the other side and to engage in practices of adversary argument. Implications for the "politics of fear" are also discussed.
Analysis of variability of fractional anisotropy values at 3T using a novel diffusion tensor imaging phantom.

We employed a novel diffusion tensor imaging phantom to study intra- and interscanner reproducibility on two 3T magnetic resonance (MR) scanners. Using a phantom containing thousands of hollow micr...
Building a Multidisciplinary Hospital-Based Abdominal Wall Reconstruction Program: Nuts and Bolts.

Background A nationwide trend toward "centers of excellence" for medical and surgical care has led to development and scrutiny of high-volume surgical specialty centers. The prevalence of hernias and the complexity of successful repair have led to the establishment of specialty practices. Herein we review and discuss the components of the successful establishment of a tertiary hernia referral center. Methods Literature on establishment and impact of hernia specialty centers was reviewed, including the authors' own practice. Factors and outcomes concerning the coordination, development, funding, and staffing of a hernia center were discussed and tabulated. Results After establishment of a tertiary hernia center or center of excellence, institutions have reported an increase in surgical case volume, hernia complexity, patient comorbidity, and the area from which patients will travel. Driving factors for this practice development are varied and include team development, improvement in patient preoperative factors, and surgical outcomes assessment, among others. Conclusions Establishment of a successful tertiary hernia referral center often includes institution participation, surgical expertise, interdisciplinary collaboration, and ongoing evaluation of outcomes. Success may be marked by increased case volume and tertiary referrals, but it is most evidenced by improved patient outcomes.
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Activation Optimization in the Setting of Brain Tumor-Induced Neurovascular Uncoupling Using Resting-State Blood Oxygen Level-Dependent Amplitude of Low Frequency Fluctuations

The goal of this study was to demonstrate that a novel resting state BOLD ALFF (amplitude of low frequency fluctuations)-based correction method can substantially enhance the detectability of motor task activation in the presence of tumor-induced neurovascular uncoupling (NVU). Twelve de novo brain tumor patients who underwent comprehensive clinical BOLD fMRI exams including task fMRI and resting state fMRI (rsfMRI) were evaluated. Each patient displayed decreased/absent task fMRI activation in the ipsilesional primary motor cortex in the absence of corresponding motor deficit or suboptimal task performance, consistent with NVU. Z-score maps for the motor tasks were obtained from general linear model (GLM) analysis (reflecting motor activation vs. rest). ALFF maps were calculated from rsfMRI data. Precentral and postcentral gyri in contralesional (CL) and ipsilesional (IL) hemispheres were parcellated using an Automated Anatomical Labeling (AAL) template for each patient. A novel ALFF-based correction method was used to identify the NVU affected voxels in the ipsilesional primary motor cortex (PMC), and a correction factor was applied to normalize the baseline Z-scores for these voxels. In all cases, substantially greater activation was seen on post-ALFF correction motor activation maps within the ipsilesional precentral gyri than in the pre-ALFF correction activation maps. We have demonstrated the feasibility of a new resting state ALFF-based technique for effective correction of brain tumor-related NVU in the primary motor cortex.
Sweetened Beverages Excise Tax Passthrough Rates: A Case Study in Philadelphia

A 1.5 cent per ounce excise tax was implemented on all sweetened beverages (SBs) in Philadelphia County on January 1, 2017 at the distributor level. As the tax is on the distributor, retailers must determine the passthrough rate of this tax to the shelf price for SBs as well as determine the prices for SB substitutes. This paper investigates the pricing of SBs and their substitutes at retailers both inside and outside of Philadelphia County. Results suggest a 100% excise tax passthrough rate on SBs with almost no price change on substitute products.
Voluntary sensemaking: the identity formation process of volunteers in sport organizations.

Volunteers are essential to the management of nonprofit community sport organizations (CSOs). Although previous research has focused on the individual or institutional factors that influence volunt...
Epidemiology of Finger Amputations in the United States From 1997 to 2016

Purpose There are minimal long-term epidemiological data focused on finger amputations in the United States (US). We sought to quantify the incidence and trends in finger amputations over a 20-year period, describe mechanisms of injury by age groups, and examine trends in emergency department (ED) disposition. Methods The National Electronic Injury Surveillance System was queried over a 20-year period (1997–2016) for finger amputations presenting to US EDs. Using US Census data, national incidence rates were estimated. We evaluated specific mechanisms of injury and ranked common mechanisms for each age group. Trends in hospital admission rates were evaluated and predictors of admission were examined using logistical regression. Results From 1997 to 2016, a weighted estimate of 464,026 patients sustained finger amputations in the US with an estimated yearly incidence of 7.5/100,000 person-years. A bimodal age distribution was seen, with the greatest incidence in children aged less than 5 years and adults over 65 years. Doors were the most common injury mechanism in children (aged less than 5 years), whereas power saws were most common in teens and adults (aged more than 15 years). Over the study period, there was a significant increase in patients admitted to the hospital; however, this increase was not seen among African Americans. Significant predictors of hospital admission included male gender, age less than 18 years, high-energy mechanisms, non–African American race, and very large hospital size, as defined by the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System. Conclusions The incidence of finger amputations is bimodal; young children (aged less than 5 years) and the elderly (aged greater than 65 years) are at greatest risk. There is a widening disparity between African Americans and non–African Americans in relation to ED disposition. Doors and power saws are the most common mechanisms of injury; however, these affect different age ranges. This study's results highlight the need for improved age-specific safety guidelines and device safety features. Type of study/level of evidence Prognostic IV.
Reply to Duffy and Smith's (2018) reexamination.

Duffy, Huttenlocher, Hedges, and Crawford (2010, Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 17[2], 224–230) examined whether the well-established central tendency bias in people’s reproductions of stimuli reflects bias toward the mean of an entire presented distribution or bias toward only recently seen stimuli. They reported evidence that responses were biased toward the long-run mean and found no evidence that they were biased toward the most recent stimuli. Duffy and Smith (2018) reexamine the data using a different analytical strategy and argue that estimates are biased by recent stimuli rather than toward the long-run mean. I argue that this reanalysis misses a true effect of the running mean and that the data are (mostly) consistent with the claims in the original work. I suggest that these results, and many other null results presented by Duffy and Smith, do not have major theoretical significance for the category adjustment model and similar Bayesian models. (Code and data available: https://osf.io/tkqvn .)
Mediator Subunit MED1 Modulates Intranuclear Dynamics of the Thyroid Hormone Receptor

The thyroid hormone receptors (TRs) mediate thyroid hormone (T3)-dependent gene expression. The nuclear import and export signals that direct TR shuttling are well characterized, but little is known about factors modulating nuclear retention. We used fluorescence-based nucleocytoplasmic scoring and fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) in transfected cells to investigate whether Mediator subunits MED1 and MED13 play a role in nuclear retention of TR. When MED1 was overexpressed, there was a striking shift towards a greater nuclear localization of TRβ1 and the oncoprotein v-ErbA, subtypes with cytosolic populations at steady-state, and TRβ1 intranuclear mobility was reduced. For TRα1, there was no observable change in its predominantly-nuclear distribution pattern or mobility. Consistent with a role for MED1 in nuclear retention, the cytosolic TRα1 and TRβ1 population was significantly greater in MED1−/− cells, compared with MED1+/+ cells. Exposure to T3 and epidermal growth factor, which induces MED1 phosphorylation, also altered TR intranuclear dynamics. Overexpression of miR-208a, which downregulates MED13, led to a more cytosolic distribution of nuclear-localized TRα1; however, overexpression of MED13 had no effect on TRβ1 localization. The known binding site of MED1 overlaps with a transactivation domain and nuclear export signal in helix 12 of TR’s ligand-binding domain (LBD). Coimmunoprecipitation assays demonstrated that TR’s LBD interacts directly with exportins 5 and 7, suggesting that binding of exportins and MED1 to TR may be mutually exclusive. Collectively, our data provide evidence that MED1 promotes nuclear retention of TR, and highlight the dual functionality of helix 12 in TR transactivation and nuclear export.
Civic Education in a Fake News Era: Lessons for the Methods Classroom

Many young people are unprepared to encounter misleading news and information that they find online. As civic educators, we are able to teach them the media literacy skills required to navigate thi...
Sex-specific associations of inflammation markers with cognitive decline.

Abstract Background/objective Inflammation is implicated in cognitive decline; however, there is a paucity of data for African American populations and for sex-specific associations. Design Prospective cohort study. Setting Genetic Epidemiology Network of Arteriopathy/Genetics of Microangiopathic Brain Injury studies. Participants African-American sibships (N = 1010). Measurements Neurocognitive tests assessed global cognition and four cognitive domains: processing speed, memory, language, and executive function at two time points over seven years. Circulating levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor receptor (TNFR)-1 and TNFR2 were measured at study baseline. Linear mixed models were used to investigate the association between inflammation markers and cognitive decline. Results Among men, a one SD increase in CRP was associated with an increased rate of decline over 7 years in global cognitive Z-score (adjusted difference in slopes = −0.31, p = 0.006) and in processing speed Z-score (adjusted difference in slopes = −0.10, p = 0.02), but not declines in memory, language, or executive function Z-scores. Also among men, a one SD increase in IL-6 was associated with an increased decline rate in global cognitive Z-score (adjusted difference in slopes = −0.33, p = 0.002) and in processing speed Z-score (adjusted difference in slopes = −0.12, p = 0.007). There was no difference in decline rates by CRP or IL-6 level in adjusted analyses among women for any cognitive scores. Among men and women combined, a one SD increase in baseline sTNFR1 was associated with a faster rate of decline in memory Z-score (adjusted difference in slopes = −0.09, p = 0.02). Baseline sTNFR2 levels did not significantly predict rate of cognitive decline in any cognitive domains. Conclusions Circulating markers of CRP and IL-6 may be differential risk factors for men and women in relation to cognitive decline. A novel inflammation marker, sTNFR1, may be a useful predictor of memory decline in older adults.
Predictive modeling of bedrock outcrops and associated shallow soil in upland glaciated landscapes

Abstract Identifying the areal extent of bedrock outcrops and shallow soils has important implications for understanding spatial patterns in vegetation composition and productivity, stream chemistry gradients, and hydrologic and soil properties of landscapes. Manual methods of delineating bedrock outcrops and associated shallow soils are still commonly employed, but they are expensive to implement over broad areas and often limited by representation of polygon units. Few studies have automated the delineation of bedrock outcrops. These focused on delineation approaches in landscapes with rapidly eroding hillslopes and sparse vegetation. The objectives of this study were to assess the accuracy of visually interpreting high-resolution relief maps for locating bedrock outcrops and associated shallow soil (BOSS)
An effect of various parameters on insertion torque to improve the success rate of dental implantation: A review

Abstract The dental implants used by dentists during implantation should be appropriately inserted into the patient jawbone to improve the success rate of implantation. Therefore, insertion torque plays a vital role in the implantation procedure. Most of the times, dentists use the prescribed insertion torque values that are generalised, not patient specific. If incorrect torque values are applied, it affects the primary stability, osseointegration and hence reduces the success rate of implantation. This review article focuses on detailed information about the several factors that affect the insertion torque values. The various parameters such as implant geometry, surgical procedure, and the patient's bone quality need to be considered to avoid implant failure. A detailed understanding of various parameters helps to establish the importance of the insertion torque value during dental protocol. By understanding the insertion torque values, it would help the dentist to decide on a more specific insertion torque value, instead of using a general torque value. This can help in reducing the number of implant failures. However, further research is necessary which combines these parameters to get right torque values to the right patient.
Does foreign aid volatility increase international migration

Scholars have long debated the relationship between foreign aid and international migration, with some arguing that foreign aid can deter emigrants and others contending that aid enables them. We contribute to this discussion by exploring whether negative aid shocks affect migration patterns. We theorize that these shocks, which occur when there are large and abrupt decreases in aid disbursement to a given country, lead individuals in aid-recipient countries to emigrate. Such shocks lead to reductions in the provision of public and community services that are funded by aid. These reductions in turn force individuals who depend on these services to seek better lives abroad. We expect this effect to be especially evident among low-skilled individuals, who are most reliant on the services that are supported by foreign aid. We use country-level panel data to test hypotheses derived from these arguments and we find, first, that negative aid shocks are accompanied by heightened emigration rates and, second, that this effect is driven by the emigration of relatively unskilled individuals.
The Relationship Between Small Business Employee’s Work Performance and Workplace Spirituality

The paper examines the relationship between small business employee’s performance and workplace spirituality. Specifically, the paper investigated whether any relationship existed between the two variables. To that effect, a survey of randomly selected 160 focus group consisting of business owners and employees of ages 25-50 in the state of North Carolina was conducted to gather data on how workplace spirituality affects business employee’s performance. SPSS software, regressions, and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were utilized to conduct statistical analyses of the collected data. The Pearson correlation’s result shows the existence of a strong positive relationship between employee’s work performance and workplace spirituality. The ANOVA results also show strong relationship between employee’s work performance and workplace spirituality as culture in a business organization’s environment. In conclusion, small business employee’s work performance and workplace spirituality have strong positive relationship. Also, workplace spirituality positively affects small business employee’s performance. This strong positive effect will in turn boost small business organization’s overall performance. The boost will occur through the positive effect of workplace spirituality on the employee’s work performance.
The Efficacy of a Classroom Game for Teaching APA Style Citation

Psychology instructors have reported that it is common for students to not know how to cite sources correctly. Therefore, the authors created a classroom game to help students learn to cite sources...
Group Morality and Intergroup Relations: Cross-Cultural and Experimental Evidence

An observational, cross-cultural study and an experimental study assessed behaviors indicative of a moral code that condones, and even values hostility toward outgroups. The cross-cultural study, which used data from the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample (Murdock & White, 1969), found that for preindustrial societies, as loyalty to the ingroup increased the tendency to value outgroup violence more than ingroup violence increased, as did the tendencies to engage in more external than internal warfare, and enjoy war. The experimental study found that relative to guilt-prone group members who were instructed to remain objective, guilt-prone group members who were instructed to be empathic with their ingroup were more competitive in an intergroup interaction. The findings from these studies suggest that group morality is associated with intergroup conflict.
Instructional Asides in Public Library Storytimes: Mixed-Methods Analyses with Implications for Librarian Leadership

Joining a research-based trend in education, public library children’s librarians have begun to adapt and create programs designed to increase children’s early literacy and school readiness skills....
S-Parameters Based Channel Characterization Using Ultra-Wideband Pulse Signal

Ultra-Wideband has recently become a powerful technology that involves wireless communication, digital signal processing, machine learning, and even hardware design for ubiquitous sensing applications. This paper presents a straight forward signal processing method to characterize the wireless communication channel using the UWB pulse signal. This proposed method uses a narrow width based modified Hermitian pulse (MHP) for calculating the output signal at the receiver end from measured network parameters. Magnitude attenuation, wave shape distortion, and phase shift of the output signal indicate the impact of the communication channel on the traveling wave. A neural network-based deep learning algorithm uses to classify the obstacle types from the measured output signal using the MATLAB tool. Measurement results demonstrate the real scenario of channel effects on the high-frequency UWB signal and select a suitable modulation scheme for data encoding. It also helps design the receiver compensation, reconstruct the distorted signal, and channel access to use the MHP pulse signal for high-density data communication. This method can also be used other sensing applications such as damage localization, detection, displacement measurement, material identification, etc.
Gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase elevation is associated with metabolic syndrome, hepatic steatosis, and fibrosis in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: A community-based cross-sectional study.

This study aimed to analyze the association between elevated gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) and metabolic syndrome (MetS), hepatic steatosis, and fibrosis in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). From August 2013 to August 2018, a community-based study was conducted in the northeastern part of Taiwan. Patients who underwent abdominal ultrasonography (US) and had no history of alcoholic liver disease were included. According to a US examination showing fatty liver degree, 1566 patients with NAFLD were divided into four groups: normal GGT, isolated GGT elevation, isolated alanine aminotransferase (ALT) elevation, and both GGT and ALT elevation groups. Further 1147 participants with normal serum ALT, GGT, and the abdominal US were included as the control group. GGT levels were associated with high sensitivity C-reactive protein, lower adiponectin, diabetes mellitus, and chronic kidney disease. A stepwise increase in odds ratio (OR) for MetS was found in the normal GGT group (OR = 1.71), isolated GGT elevation group (OR = 3.06), isolated ALT elevation (OR = 4.00), and both GGT + ALT elevation group (OR = 4.17) than the control group. Linear regression analysis revealed a positive association between GGT/ALT value and hepatic steatosis degree, GGT value, and degree of hepatic fibrosis. Hence, GGT elevation is associated with MetS, hepatic steatosis, and fibrosis in patients with NAFLD.
Accelerated burn wound healing with photobiomodulation therapy involves activation of endogenous latent TGF-β1.

The severity of tissue injury in burn wounds from associated inflammatory and immune sequelae presents a significant clinical management challenge. Among various biophysical wound management approaches, low dose biophotonics treatments, termed Photobiomodulation (PBM) therapy, has gained recent attention. One of the PBM molecular mechanisms of PBM treatments involves photoactivation of latent TGF-β1 that is capable of promoting tissue healing and regeneration. This work examined the efficacy of PBM treatments in a full-thickness burn wound healing in C57BL/6 mice. We first optimized the PBM protocol by monitoring tissue surface temperature and histology. We noted this dynamic irradiance surface temperature-monitored PBM protocol improved burn wound healing in mice with elevated TGF-β signaling (phospho-Smad2) and reduced inflammation-associated gene expression. Next, we investigated the roles of individual cell types involved in burn wound healing following PBM treatments and noted discrete effects on epithelieum, fibroblasts, and macrophage functions. These responses appear to be mediated via both TGF-β dependent and independent signaling pathways. Finally, to investigate specific contributions of TGF-β1 signaling in these PBM-burn wound healing, we utilized a chimeric TGF-β1/β3 knock-in (TGF-β1Lβ3/Lβ3) mice. PBM treatments failed to activate the chimeric TGF-β1Lβ3/Lβ3 complex and failed to improve burn wound healing in these mice. These results suggest activation of endogenous latent TGF-β1 following PBM treatments plays a key role in burn wound healing. These mechanistic insights can improve the safety and efficacy of clinical translation of PBM treatments for tissue healing and regeneration.
Expression of Neuronal Nitric Oxide Synthase in the Extratesticular Pathway and Its Role in Murine Sperm Maturation

Neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) is one of two constitutive enzyme variants responsible for the production of nitric oxide (NO) from L-arginine in mammalian cells. In somatic cells, this membr...
The Philippines: Mobilities, Identities, Globalization

Nearly five million migrant workers from the Philippines are employed in over 190 countries and territories. They work as doctors and domestic helpers, engineers and entertainers, seamstresses and surveyors. It is through their collective labor that the Philippines has assumed a global presence. For over five centuries the Philippines has been integrated into the world economy. Only recently, however, has the Philippines been a pro-active agent in the production of a global economy. Since the 1970s the Philippine state, in connection with myriad private institutions, has recruited, trained, marketed, and deployed a mobile work-force. Annually, approximately one million migrant workers travel to all corners of the world. The Philippines seeks to understand how the Philippines has become the world’s largest exporter of government-sponsored temporary contract labor and, in the process, has dramatically reshaped both the processes of globalization and also our understanding of globalization as concept.
Discovery and characterization of electron transfer proteins in the photosynthetic bacteria

Research on photosynthetic electron transfer closely parallels that of other electron transfer pathways and in many cases they overlap. Thus, the first bacterial cytochrome to be characterized, called cytochrome c2, is commonly found in non-sulfur purple photosynthetic bacteria and is a close homolog of mitochondrial cytochrome c .T he cytochrome bc1 complex is an integral part of photosynthetic electron transfer yet, like cytochrome c2 ,w as fi rst recognized as a respiratory component. Cytochromes c2 mediate electron transfer between the cytochrome bc1 complex and photosynthetic reaction centers and cytochrome a-type oxidases. Not all photosynthetic bacteria contain cytochrome c2; instead it is thought that HiPIP, auracyanin,Halorhodospira cytochrome c551,Chlorobium cytochrome c555, and cytochrome c8 may function in a similar manner as photosynthetic electron carriers between the cytochrome bc1 complex and reaction centers. More often than not, the soluble or periplasmic mediators do not interact directly with the reaction center bacteriochlorophyll, but require the presence of membrane-bound intermediates: a tetraheme cytochrome c in purple bacteria and a monoheme cytochrome c in green bacteria. Cyclic electron transfer in photosynthesis requires that the redox potential of the system be delicately poised for optimum efficiency. In fact, lack of redox poise may be one of the defects in the aerobic phototrophic bacteria. Thus, large
Cache design and exploration for low power embedded systems

This paper summarizes our work on memory design and exploration for low power data-dominated embedded systems. The memory sub-system consists of an instruction cache and a data cache on-chip, and a large memory off-chip. Our procedure consists of: reducing the power consumption due to memory traffic by applying memory-optimizing loop transformations; and using a memory exploration procedure to choose a cache configuration (cache size and line size) that satisfies the system requirements of area, number of cycles and energy consumption. The memory exploration procedure is very efficient since it exploits the trends in the cycles and energy characteristics to reduce the search space significantly.
Lessons Learned: How College Students Seek Information in the Digital Age

A report of findings from 2,318 respondents to a survey carried out among college students on six campuses distributed across the U.S. in the spring of 2009, as part of Project Information Literacy. Respondents, while curious in the beginning stages of research, employed a consistent and predictable research strategy for finding information, whether they were conducting course-related or everyday life research. Almost all of the respondents turned to the same set of tried and true information resources in the initial stages of research, regardless of their information goals. Almost all students used course readings and Google first for course-related research and Google and Wikipedia for everyday life research. Most students used library resources, especially scholarly databases for course-related research and far fewer, in comparison, used library services that required interacting with librarians. The findings suggest that students conceptualize research, especially tasks associated with seeking information, as a competency learned by rote, rather than as an opportunity to learn, develop, or expand upon an information-gathering strategy which leverages the wide range of resources available to them in the digital age.
Thyroid disease diagnosis: A survey

Diagnosis is an important task in medical science because of its criticality, efficiency and accuracy in determining whether or not a patient has a particular disease. This shall further decide the most suitable line of treatment. There has been a large increase in the number of thyroid cases over the past few years. Since thyroid has a complex relation with metabolism and body weight, it is extremely important to diagnose thyroid disease as early as possible. This paper presents an exhaustive survey of work done in the past with respect to semi-automated medical diagnosis in general and thyroid disease diagnosis in particular. Medical Diagnosis encompassed the use of classifiers like Fuzzy Neural Networks, k- Nearest Neighbor and Decision Tree, while the latter included the use of Computer-Aided Diagnosis, different Neural Networks and Support Vector Machine. Amongst these, the impact of Feature Selection using Particle Swarm Optimization and Ant Colony Optimization on classification was also surveyed.
Sources of Social Support: Examining Congregational Involvement, Private Devotional Activities, and Congregational Context

Previous studies examining the relationship between religion and providing social support have claimed that religious involvement and social networks explain the higher levels of social support among religious Americans. By limiting its focus to attenders of religious congregations, this study seeks to understand if private devotional activities and congregational context also matter for predicting the provision of social support in a highly religious sample. Utilizing a sample of attenders and their congregations from the 2008/2009 U.S. Congregational Life Survey, a national survey representative of American congregations, this study uses multilevel models to examine the relationships that congregational involvement, private devotional activities, and congregational context have with providing social support. Results suggest that, among attenders of religious congregations, congregational involvement and private devotional activities matter for predicting the provision of social support, but two aspects of congregational context—size and theology—do not.
Scalable Meter Data Collection in Smart Grids Through Message Concatenation

Advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) initiatives are a popular tool to incorporate changes for modernizing the electricity grid, reduce peak loads, and meet energy efficiency targets. There is the looming issue of how to communicate and handle consumer data collected by electric utilities and manage limited communication network resources. Several data relay points are required to collect data distributedly and send them through a communication backhaul. This paper studies the smart meter message concatenation (SMMC) problem of how to efficiently concatenate multiple small smart metering messages arriving at data concentrator units in order to reduce protocol overhead and thus network utilization. This problem needs to deal with the added constraint that each originating message from its source may have its own stated deadline that must be taken into account during the concatenation process. This paper provides hardness results for the SMMC problem, and proposes six heuristics and evaluates them to gain a better understanding of the best data volume reduction policies that can be applied at data concentrators of AMI infrastructures. These results are further tested for feasibility under practical settings based on aspects, such as network and processing delays, tightness of application deadlines, and lossy backhaul links.