cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Anthropogenic turbulence and velocity barriers for upstream swimming fish: A field study on emerald shiners (Notropis atherinoides) in the Upper Niagara River

Abstract Anthropogenic modifications alter the hydrodynamics of rivers and can affect the movement of aquatic organisms. The upper Niagara River is home to a trophically important minnow species, the emerald shiner ( Notropis atherinoides ) who appear to have difficulty traversing a stretch of the shoreline seawall along Broderick Park, Buffalo, NY, USA. The goal of this study was to determine if the upstream movement of emerald shiners was affected by the current hydrodynamic conditions along the US shoreline at Broderick Park in the Niagara River. Field point-velocity measurements were collected using an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler and Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter along the US shoreline of the upper Niagara River adjacent to Broderick Park. Results indicate that this highly modified stretch of the shoreline is characterized by velocities beyond the swimming capability of emerald shiners (0.59 m s −1 ) and turbulence conditions that are not conducive to fish movement as quantified by turbulent kinetic energy, Reynolds shear stress, integral length scales and the energy associated with eddies of a problematic size range (55–400 mm). Therefore, the seawall upstream of the shoreline recess along Broderick Park is likely to be a barrier to the upstream passage of emerald shiners into Lake Erie. This study also provides an effective method to determine the location of potential barriers to fish passage.
Stability analysis for LTI systems with multiple time delays using the bounds of its imaginary spectra

Abstract The stability of linear time invariant (LTI) systems with multiple independent time delays and the cluster treatment of characteristic roots (CTCR) paradigm are investigated from a new perspective. Any delay composition that results in an imaginary characteristic root lies either on a small number of kernel hypersurfaces (KH) or their infinitely many offspring hypersurfaces (OH). The complete description of KH is the only prerequisite for the CTCR-based stability assessment procedure. As the number of delays increases, however, the determination of these KH becomes computationally costly. Instead, we present a practical procedure to extract the 2-D cross-sections of the KH set in the domain of the two arbitrarily selected delays. First, we determine the exact upper and lower bounds of the imaginary spectra in this 2-D cross-section of interest. This process starts with a half-angle tangent representation of the characteristic equation followed by the Dixon resultant operation. Based on the full knowledge of KH, the CTCR paradigm creates the complete stability map in the domain of these two arbitrarily selected delays. We demonstrate the effectiveness of this methodology over an example case study.
Minimum accelerometer wear time in Infants: A generalizability study

Background:Research measuring physical activity behaviors during infancy is critical for evaluation of early intervention efforts to reduce rapid weight gain. There is little known about the physical activity patterns of infants, due in part to limited evidence for measurement procedures. This study sought to determine the minimal number of days and hours of accelerometry needed to reliably measure daily physical activity in infants using Generalizability (G) theory. Methods:A total of 23 infants (14 female, 9 male) wore an accelerometer on the right ankle and right wrist for 7 days. Data were manually cleaned to remove activity counts not produced by the infant. G theory analyses were conducted on the average counts per epoch. Results:Reliable estimates were observed with at least 2 days (G & Φ = .910) and 12 hours (G = .806, Φ = .803) at the ankle, and with at least 3 days (G & Φ = .906) and 15 hours (G = .802, Φ = .800) at the wrist. Conclusions:These results provide some of the first guidelines for ob...
Evidence of indirect symbiont conferred protection against the predatory lady beetle Harmonia axyridis in the pea aphid

Defensive symbionts can provide significant fitness advantages to their hosts. Facultative symbionts can protect several species of aphid from fungal pathogens, heat shock, and parasitism by parasitoid wasps. Previous work found that two of these facultative symbionts can also indirectly protect pea aphids from predation by the lady beetle Hippocampus convergens. When aphids reproduce asexually, there is extremely high relatedness among aphid clone-mates and often very limited dispersal. Under these conditions, symbionts may indirectly protect aphid clone-mates from predation by negatively affecting the survival of a predator after the consumption of aphids harboring the same vertically transmitted facultative symbionts. In this study, we wanted to determine whether this indirect protection extended to another lady beetle species, Harmonia axyridis. We fed Ha. axyridis larvae aphids from one of four aphid sub-clonal symbiont lines which all originated from the same naturally symbiont free clonal aphid lineage. Three of the sub-clonal lines harbor different facultative symbionts that were introduced to the lines via microinjection. Therefore these sub-clonal lineages vary primarily in their symbiont composition, not their genetic background. We found that aphid facultative symbionts affected larval survival as well as pupal survival in their predator Ha. axyridis. Additionally, Ha. axyridis larvae fed aphids with the Regiella symbiont had significantly longer larval developmental times than beetle larvae fed other aphids, and females fed aphids with the Regiella symbiont as larvae weighed less as adults. These fitness effects were different from those previously found in another aphid predator Hi. convergens suggesting that the fitness effects may not be the same in different aphid predators. Overall, our findings suggest that some aphid symbionts may indirectly benefit their clonal aphid hosts by negatively impacting the development and survival of a lady beetle aphid predator Ha. axyridis. By directly affecting the survival of predatory lady beetles, aphid facultative symbionts may increase the survival of their clone-mates that are clustered nearby and have significant impacts across multiple trophic levels. We have now found evidence for multiple aphid facultative symbionts negatively impacting the survival of a second species of aphid predatory lady beetle. These same symbionts also protect their hosts from parasitism and fungal infections, though these fitness effects seem to depend on the aphid species, predator or parasitoid species, and symbiont type. This work further demonstrates that beneficial mutualisms depend upon complex interactions between a variety of players and should be studied in multiple ecologically relevant contexts.
What does the Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome trial (ART) teach us?—it is time for precision medicine and precision trials in critical care!

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) affects a remarkable proportion of patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) and according to a recent international survey, mortality attributable to ARDS remains high (≈40%) (1).
The path to academic medicine: leaving and coming back

Mark Frisse describes how he, as a tenured professor, left medicine for the business world and returned to academic medicine with valuable lessons and skills
Differences in contraceptive discontinuation among black and white women: evidence from the Contraceptive CHOICE Project.

Abstract Objective: We sought to evaluate whether differences in rates of contraceptive discontinuation exist among black and white women receiving contraceptive counseling and no-cost contraceptio...
Transformation of Drosophila Cell Lines

Techniques and experimental applications are described for exogenous protein expression in Drosophila cell lines. Ways in which the Drosophila cell lines and the baculovirus expression vector system differ in their applications are emphasized.
Faculty participation in distance education programs: practices and plans

Universities around the globe are putting Distance Education (DE) in place, often through administrative choice. However, if a DE program is to be successful, faculty must be involved. This change is multidimensional in that established systems may need to change to support development and delivery of courses through DE technologies. This chapter presents results from two related studies that attempt to answer two questions that should be asked and answered before starting a DE program: (1) What factors are considered motivating or inhibiting to faculty for participating in DE? and (2) Which compensation models support DE make sense?
Hydrology of the Blue Nile Basin Overview

The Blue Nile (Abay) basin contributes close to 60% of the flow of Nile River while draining only 10% of the Nile Basin. Analysis and study of the past, current and future climate and hydrology of the Blue Nile basin is important to sustain the environment and livelihood in the Nile Basin. The basin mean annual rainfall is 1423 mm with 74% in the four wet months of June to September. Rainfall in the basin is influenced by ENSO events where El Nino years are likely to be drier than normal and La Nina years are likely to be wetter. River flow fluctuates with the timing and amount of rainfall. The estimated mean annual flow of the Blue Nile River at the Ethio-Sudan border is about 50 bcm (billion cubic meter) with range of year-to-year variation. The subsistence rainfed agriculture in the basin has been affected by periodic droughts and may not be sustainable to support the growing population. Increasing water demand in the Nile basin for food and energy is manifested in the continual increase of water control projects on the main rivers and tributaries and expansion of irrigated areas. These projects are likely to alter the hydrology of the Blue Nile Basin. One of the currently undergoing projects is the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) being built on the Blue Nile River by Ethiopia for hydroelectric power generation. This chapter provides an overview of the hydrology of the Blue Nile Basin.
The Scale and Scope of Global Science

It is now widely accepted that science and technology underlie much of the economic growth that has been a highlight of human social development for over 300 years. Science has grown along with social welfare, economy, and the application of human imagination. This chapter describes the scale and scope of the current global system at this writing.
QoE Inference and Improvement Without End-Host Control

Network quality-of-service (QoS) does not always translate to user quality-of-experience (QoE). Consequently, knowledge of user QoE is desirable in several scenarios that have traditionally operated on QoS information. Examples include traffic management by ISPs and resource allocation by the operating system. But today these systems lack ways to measure user QoE. To help address this problem, we propose offline generation of per-app models mapping app-independent QoS metrics to app-specific QoE metrics. This enables any entity that can observe an app's network traffic-including ISPs and access points-to infer the app's QoE. We describe how to generate such models for many diverse apps with significantly different QoE metrics. We generate models for common user interactions of 60 popular apps. We then demonstrate the utility of these models by implementing a QoE-aware traffic management framework and evaluate it on a WiFi access point. Our approach successfully improves QoE metrics that reflect user-perceived performance. First, we demonstrate that prioritizing traffic for latency-sensitive apps can improve responsiveness and video frame rate, by 46% and 115%, respectively. Second, we show that a novel QoE-aware bandwidth allocation scheme for bandwidth-intensive apps can improve average video bitrate for multiple users by up to 23%.
Atropine-induced sinus tachycardia protects against exercise-induced ventricular arrhythmias in patients with catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia

Aims Catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (CPVT) is an inherited arrhythmia syndrome characterized by exercise-induced ventricular arrhythmias, sudden death, and sinus bradycardia. Elevating supraventricular rates with pacing or atropine protects against catecholaminergic ventricular arrhythmias in a CPVT mouse model. We tested the hypothesis that increasing sinus heart rate (HR) with atropine prevents exercise-induced ventricular arrhythmias in CPVT patients. Methods and results We performed a prospective open-label trial of atropine prior to exercise in CPVT patients (clinicaltrials.gov NCT02927223). Subjects performed a baseline standard Bruce treadmill test on their usual medical regimen. After a 2-h recovery period, subjects performed a second exercise test after parasympathetic block with atropine (0.04 mg/kg intravenous). The primary outcome measure was the total number of ventricular ectopic beats during exercise. All six subjects (5 men, 22-57 years old) completed the study with no adverse events. Atropine increased resting sinus rate from median 52 b.p.m. (range 52-64) to 98 b.p.m. (84-119), P = 0.02. Peak HRs (149 b.p.m., range 136-181 vs. 149 b.p.m., range 127-182, P = 0.46) and exercise duration (612 s, range 544-733 vs. 584 s, range 543-742, P = 0.22) were not statistically different. All subjects had ventricular ectopy during the baseline exercise test. Atropine pre-treatment significantly decreased the median number of ventricular ectopic beats from 46 (6-192) to 0 (0-29), P = 0.026; ventricular ectopy was completely eliminated in 4/6 subjects. Conclusion Elevating sinus rates with atropine reduces or eliminates exercise-induced ventricular ectopy in patients with CPVT. Increasing supraventricular rates may represent a novel therapeutic strategy in CPVT.
Online Pro-Tobacco Marketing Exposure Is Associated With Dual Tobacco Product Use Among Underage US Students

Purpose:To understand the effect of pro-tobacco marketing on electronic cigarette and combustible cigarette dual use among US middle and high school students under 18 years of age.Design:Data were ...
Spectators’ sensory experience and sociability at the American racetrack

Rationale: When attending live motorsport events, spectators watch, hear, smell, taste, and touch the multifarious stimuli that permeate their environs. The resulting perceptions would seem likely ...
I 'Think', Therefore I Create: Claiming Copyright in the Outputs of Algorithms

Artificial intelligence (AI) has often been viewed as either an ally or an adversary — a powerful analytical system to be harnessed or a source of risk to be managed. In copyright law, AI has been treated much the same way, with academic debates focused primarily on whether AI-generated works should be owned by the AI itself, or on a potential copyright battle between the human programmer who created the AI and the end user. However, little attention has been paid to how the use of AI in the creative process can affect the validity of ownership claims asserted by any of these human actors in computer-generated works — a question that may have a far greater impact on creative industries. In this article, I examine whether the use of AI as a tool of creation interferes with a human’s ability to claim copyright in the resulting works. First, I identify the various human actors who could plausibly own the copyright in the creative outputs of AI and evaluate the relative merits of their claims. In the second part, I analyze the doctrine of authorship to determine not which human should own the copyright in a computer-generated work, but rather whether the use of AI presents a barrier to any human claiming authorship in these outputs. Finally, I explain how AI operates in the creative process and the various mechanisms of control available to humans to modify these outputs. Ultimately, I argue that the humans who create and use AI retain sufficient control over the AI’s “decisions” that the use of AI does not constitute a barrier to human ownership of copyrightable computer-generated works. The “original intellectual conceptions” represented in computer-generated works are still those of the humans creating and controlling the algorithms used in the creative process, not those of the AI itself. Like a camera, AI functions merely as a tool of creation, not as a sentient “author.”
Politician hate speech and domestic terrorism

Does hate speech – rhetoric that targets, vilifies or is intended to intimidate minorities and other groups in society – fuel domestic terrorism? This question is, unfortunately, relevant given the...
Astrocyte-derived extracellular vesicles: Neuroreparative properties and role in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disorders.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) released by neural cells play an essential role in brain homeostasis and the crosstalk between neural cells and the periphery. EVs are diverse, nano-sized vesicles, which transport proteins, nucleic acids, and lipids between cells over short and long expanses and hence are proficient for modulating the target cells. EVs released from neural cells are implicated in synaptic plasticity, neuron-glia interface, neuroprotection, neuroregeneration, and the dissemination of neuropathological molecules. This review confers the various properties of EVs secreted by astrocytes and their potential role in health and disease with a focus on evolving concepts. Naive astrocytes shed EVs containing a host of neuroprotective compounds, which include fibroblast growth factor-2, vascular endothelial growth factor, and apolipoprotein-D. Stimulated astrocytes secrete EVs with neuroprotective molecules including heat shock proteins, synapsin 1, unique microRNAs, and glutamate transporters. Well-characterized astrocyte-derived EVs (ADEVs) generated in specific culture conditions and ADEVs that are engineered to carry the desired miRNAs or proteins are likely useful for treating brain injury and neurogenerative diseases. On the other hand, in conditions such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), stroke, Parkinson's disease, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and other neuroinflammatory conditions, EVs released by activated astrocytes appear to mediate or exacerbate the pathological processes. The examples include ADEVs spreading the dysregulated complement system in AD, mediating motoneuron toxicity in ALS, and stimulating peripheral leukocyte migration into the brain in inflammatory conditions. Strategies restraining the release of EVs by activated astrocytes or modulating the composition of ADEVs are likely beneficial for treating neurodegenerative diseases. Also, periodic analyses of ADEVs in the blood is useful for detecting astrocyte-specific biomarkers in different neurological conditions and for monitoring disease progression and remission with distinct therapeutic approaches.
Using Twitter to Surveil the Opioid Epidemic in North Carolina: An Exploratory Study

Background: Over the last two decades, deaths associated with opioids have escalated in number and geographic spread, impacting more and more individuals, families, and communities. Reflecting on the shifting nature of the opioid overdose crisis, Dasgupta, Beletsky, and Ciccarone offer a triphasic framework to explain that opioid overdose deaths (OODs) shifted from prescription opioids for pain (beginning in 2000), to heroin (2010 to 2015), and then to synthetic opioids (beginning in 2013). Given the rapidly shifting nature of OODs, timelier surveillance data are critical to inform strategies that combat the opioid crisis. Using easily accessible and near real-time social media data to improve public health surveillance efforts related to the opioid crisis is a promising area of research. Objective: This study explored the potential of using Twitter data to monitor the opioid epidemic. Specifically, this study investigated the extent to which the content of opioid-related tweets corresponds with the triphasic nature of the opioid crisis and correlates with OODs in North Carolina between 2009 and 2017. Methods: Opioid-related Twitter posts were obtained using Crimson Hexagon, and were classified as relating to prescription opioids, heroin, and synthetic opioids using natural language processing. This process resulted in a corpus of 100,777 posts consisting of tweets, retweets, mentions, and replies. Using a random sample of 10,000 posts from the corpus, we identified opioid-related terms by analyzing word frequency for each year. OODs were obtained from the Multiple Cause of Death database from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research (CDC WONDER). Least squares regression and Granger tests compared patterns of opioid-related posts with OODs. Results: The pattern of tweets related to prescription opioids, heroin, and synthetic opioids resembled the triphasic nature of OODs. For prescription opioids, tweet counts and OODs were statistically unrelated. Tweets mentioning heroin and synthetic opioids were significantly associated with heroin OODs and synthetic OODs in the same year (P=.01 and P<.001, respectively), as well as in the following year (P=.03 and P=.01, respectively). Moreover, heroin tweets in a given year predicted heroin deaths better than lagged heroin OODs alone (P=.03). Conclusions: Findings support using Twitter data as a timely indicator of opioid overdose mortality, especially for heroin.
Risk, vulnerability and pragmatic inevitability: The conflict‐disaster nexus in urban governance in Johannesburg

This paper spotlights post-disaster relief provision in Johannesburg, South Africa, following the floods of 2016 in a bid to explore how local government and non-governmental actors in the country conceive of compounding vulnerability and conflict within urban disaster governance. It reveals the diverse strategies employed to navigate violent conflict during the cyclical occurrence of disaster and reconstruction that the predominantly migrant population experiences in the Setswetla informal settlement, adjacent to the Alexandra township in northern Johannesburg. Rendered visible in moments of disaster and recovery are the spatial politics and multidimensional nature of conflict. These phenomena unfold across various levels of urban governance and in the affected community and effectively construct a disaster citizenship that makes risk reduction and community cohesion impossible in the eyes of disaster managers. This research, based on a set of expert interviews, integrates conflict and disaster studies to shed light on how the conflict-disaster interface materialises, and is operationalised, in an urban setting.
Lipid trafficking and signaling in plants

Abstract Lipids are essential to proper cell structure, function, and signaling during development and in response to biotic and abiotic stresses in all organisms, including plants. The acquisition of plant-specific organelles, in particular the chloroplast with its extensive photosynthetic membranes, led to the manifestation of unique plant lipids. The cooperation of lipid biosynthetic pathways in the endoplasmic reticulum and the chloroplast necessitate transport of precursors and intermediates between the two organelles. In addition to their structural functions in membranes, lipids in plants are also involved in many signaling mechanisms that influence development and stress responses. Here, we briefly review key aspects of plant lipid biosynthesis and trafficking, and focus on lipid signaling in plants. Emphasis is on the central role of phosphatidic acid as an essential lipid precursor and signal lipid for development as well as abiotic and biotic stress responses. Finally, we discuss a novel long-distance, lipid-mediated signaling mechanism for systemic stress response in plants.
Physical, Biomechanical, and Optical Characterization of Collagen and Elastin Blend Hydrogels

Collagen and elastin proteins are major components of the extracellular matrix of many organs. The presence of collagen and elastin networks, and their associated properties, in different tissues have led scientists to study collagen and elastin composites for use in tissue engineering. In this study, we characterized physical, biochemical, and optical properties of gels composed of collagen and elastin blends. We demonstrated that the addition of varying amounts of elastin to the constructs alters collagen fibrillogenesis, D-banding pattern length, and storage modulus. However, the addition of elastin does not affect collagen fibril diameter. We also evaluated the autofluorescence properties of the different collagen and elastin blends with fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIm). Autofluorescence emission showed a red shift with the addition of elastin to the hydrogels. The fluorescence lifetime values of the gels increased with the addition of elastin and were strongly correlated with the storage moduli measurements. These results suggest that FLIm can be used to monitor the gels’ mechanical properties nondestructively. These collagen and elastin constructs, along with the FLIm capabilities, can be used to develop and study collagen and elastin composites for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.
A New Paralog Removal Pipeline Resolves Conflict between RAD-seq and Enrichment

ABSTRACT Target enrichment and RAD-seq are well-established high throughput sequencing technologies that have been increasingly used for phylogenomic studies, and the choice between methods is a practical issue for plant systematists studying the evolutionary histories of biodiversity of relatively recent origins. However, few studies have compared the congruence and conflict between results from the two methods within the same group of organisms, especially in plants, where extensive genome duplication events may complicate phylogenomic analyses. Unfortunately, currently widely used pipelines for target enrichment data analysis do not have a vigorous procedure for remove paralogs in Hyb-Seq data. In this study, we employed RAD-seq and Hyb-Seq of Angiosperm 353 genes in phylogenomic and biogeographic studies of Hamamelis (the witch-hazels) and Castanea (chestnuts), two classic examples exhibiting the well-known eastern Asian-eastern North American disjunct distribution. We compared these two methods side by side and developed a new pipeline (PPD) with a more vigorous removal of putative paralogs from Hyb-Seq data. The new pipeline considers both sequence similarity and heterozygous sites at each locus in identification of paralogous. We used our pipeline to construct robust datasets for comparison between methods and downstream analyses on the two genera. Our results demonstrated that the PPD identified many more putative paralogs than the popular method HybPiper. Comparisons of tree topologies and divergence times showed significant differences between data from HybPiper and data from our new PPD pipeline, likely due to the error signals from the paralogous genes undetected by HybPiper, but trimmed by PPD. We found that phylogenies and divergence times estimated from our RAD-seq and Hyb-Seq-PPD were largely congruent. We highlight the importance of removal paralogs in enrichment data, and discuss the merits of RAD-seq and Hyb-Seq. Finally, phylogenetic analyses of RAD-seq and Hyb-Seq resulted in well-resolved species relationships, and revealed ancient introgression in both genera. Biogeographic analyses including fossil data revealed a complicated history of each genus involving multiple intercontinental dispersals and local extinctions in areas outside of the taxa’s modern ranges in both the Paleogene and Neogene. Our study demonstrates the value of additional steps for filtering paralogous gene content from Angiosperm 353 data, such as our new PPD pipeline described in this study. [RAD-seq, Hyb-Seq, paralogs, Castanea, Hamamelis, eastern Asia-eastern North America disjunction, biogeography, ancient introgression]
Book announcement: Introduction to Multi-Armed Bandits

"Introduction to multi-armed bandits" is a broad and accessible textbook which emphasizes connections to economics and operations research.
Seronegative necrotizing autoimmune myopathy with favorable response to intravenous immunoglobulin

We describe a 68-year-old man who presented with progressive weakness in proximal muscles of all four limbs and was found to have autoantibody-negative necrotizing autoimmune myopathy (NAM). His myopathy was refractory to corticosteroids and methotrexate, but subsequently demonstrated successful response to intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG). The patient also received rituximab, but the timing of his recovery favored IVIG as the more important factor in terms of efficacy. Treatment guidelines for seronegative necrotizing myopathies are lacking. This case suggests a potential efficacious treatment option for the seronegative subset of NAM.
Investigating the effectiveness of safety countermeasures at highway-rail at-grade crossings using a competing risk model.

Abstract Introduction: Highway-rail at-grade crossings (HRGCs) are critical locations where a railway and a roadway intersect with one another. Crashes at those locations often result in fatalities and economic and social damages due to the impacts on both road and rail users. The main purpose of countermeasures at HRGCs is to permit safe and efficient rail and highway operations. Method: Countermeasures at highway-rail grade crossings (HRGCs) considered in this study include all traffic control devices and other warning and barrier devices at or on approaches to crossings. In general, active devices are commonly accepted as more effective countermeasures than passive devices. However, many of the previous effectiveness studies are either at the project level or were conducted without considering the before-improvement condition. This study focuses on the network-level marginal effectiveness of countermeasures on crash rate and severity levels during the 29-year study period from 1990 to 2018 by fully considering before-improvement control levels. A competing risk model (CRM) is able to accommodate the competing nature of crash severities as multiple outcomes from the same event of interest, which is crash occurrence in this study. Subsequently, CRM is used in this study as an integrated one-step estimation approach that investigates both crash frequency and severity likelihood over time. Results: The study findings indicate that adding audible devices to crossings already equipped with gates will result in a considerable annual decline in crash occurrence likelihood (0.25%). The same device installed at crossings already controlled by gates and flashing lights results in less reduction in crash occurrence likelihood of 0.14%. Moreover, adding a stop sign to the active crossing controls of gates, standard flashing lights, and audible devices will lead to a decrease in the probability of crash occurrence and severe crashes (injury and fatal). However, adding stop signs to crossings equipped only with crossbucks will increase the crash occurrence.
Reproductive justice and black lives: A concept analysis for public health nursing

BACKGROUND Inequities in maternal mortality in the United States are a form of structural violence against Black women. The concept of reproductive justice has been employed in the social sciences for almost 30 years, yet nursing has been slow to adopt this concept in promoting maternal-child health. OBJECTIVE To analyze the concept of reproductive justice as used in peer-reviewed publications with the aim of reframing black maternal health in public health nursing scholarship, research, practice, and advocacy. DESIGN We conducted a systematic review of the social science literature. We analyzed selected articles though a principle-based concept analysis focusing on epistemological, pragmatic, linguistic, and logical principles. SAMPLE Eight articles were selected from a pool of 377. RESULTS Race was identified as a source of power for understanding reproductive justice through individual knowledge, collective knowledge, and praxis. Pragmatically, reproductive justice is a social justice-oriented platform that bridges the pro-choice/pro-life divide; aids coalition building; and promotes inclusion. Linguistically, the concept is distinct from both reproductive health and reproductive rights. Reproductive justice is logically situated within intersectionality theory and the cumulative embodiment of oppressions Black women experience based on race, class, and gender. CONCLUSION Reproductive justice reframes public health nursing actions for Black women by focusing on uncovering systems of oppression, recognizing past historical injustices, and advancing cultural safety in health promotion. Multilevel interventions are needed to simultaneously address these injustices particularly in the areas of preconception health, maternal health, infant and child health, and Black family well-being across the reproductive lifespan.
Attitude Pointing Control using Artificial Potentials with Control Input Constraints

This paper presents a novel approach for pointing direction control of a rigid body with a body-fixed sensor, in the presence of control constraints and pointing direction constraints. This scheme relies on the use of artificial potentials where an attractive artificial potential is placed at the desired pointing direction and a repulsive artificial potential is used to avoid an undesirable pointing direction. The proposed control law ensures almost global asymptotic convergence of the rigid body to its desired pointing direction, while satisfying the control input constraints and avoiding the undesirable pointing direction. These theoretical results are followed by numerical simulation results that provide an illustration of the scheme for a realistic spacecraft pointing control scenario.
The rules implementing sections 201 and 210 of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978: A regulatory history

The act provides that utilities must purchase power for qualifying producers of electricity at nondiscriminatory rates. It exempts private generators from virtually all state and federal utility regulation. Pertinent reference material is provided.
Trophoblastic origin of the X cell and the placental site giant cell

Abstract Quinacrine fluorescence and immunofluorescence were used in an attempt to investigate the controversy about the origin of the so-called X cells of the placental floor and septa and the placental site giant cells. It has been shown, by these techniques, that they are undoubtedly of fetal trophoblastic origin.
Variations of Banker's algorithm for highly flexible resource allocation systems

We show that the generic logic underlying the classical Banker's algorithm (Habermann, 1969), is a very flexible and powerful tool for developing correct and computationally efficient deadlock avoidance policies for a broad variety of structural control applications arising in contemporary large-scale flexibly automated environments. Although we draw our examples from the manufacturing domain, it can be clearly seen that similar problems arise in the context of other technological applications, e.g., monorail transportation systems.
Examining the Personal Meaning of Inventoried Interests During Career Counseling.

The present article seeks to renovate the career counseling use of interest inventories as personality indicators by making explicit the link between inventoried interests and their personal meanin...
A north-south difference in the rotation rate of auroral hiss at Saturn: Comparison to Saturn's kilometric radio emission

[1] Broadband whistler-mode emissions, commonly observed by the Cassini spacecraft at high latitudes in Saturn's magnetosphere at frequencies below about 100 Hz, have characteristics very similar to auroral hiss observed at high latitudes in Earth's magnetosphere. In contrast to terrestrial auroral hiss, which shows no obvious rotational modulation, Saturnian auroral hiss shows a very pronounced rotational modulation. We show that the rotation period of the auroral hiss is different in the northern and southern hemispheres, with a period of about 10.6 hours in the northern hemisphere and about 10.8 hours in the southern hemisphere. To within experimental error the rotation periods in the two hemispheres match the rotation periods of Saturn Kilometric Radiation, an intense radio emission generated along the auroral field lines at frequencies from about 20 to 500 kHz. These north–south asymmetries have potentially important implications on how angular momentum is transferred from the planet to the magnetospheric plasma.
Management of Marcellus Shale Produced Water in Pennsylvania: A Review of Current Strategies and Perspectives

The reuse of produced water generated by natural gas extraction from Marcellus Shale for hydraulic fracturing is the dominant management option in Pennsylvania (PA), USA. The advantages and disadvantages of this management approach are reviewed and discussed together with long-term concerns and technology development needs. Abandoned mine drainage is a promising alternative make-up water, but high sulfate concentrations will lead to barite precipitation once it is mixed with the produced water. Bench-scale studies were conducted to optimize barite separation from this mixture that meets the finished water quality criteria for sulfate. Conventional separation processes are very effective in removing these solids but radium (Ra) co-precipitation may be a concern for their disposal in municipal landfills. If the produced water volume exceeds the reuse capacity for hydraulic fracturing, lime–soda ash softening can be used to remove divalent cations, including radium, to enable the production of pure salts using subsequent thermal processes.
Survival of the Fittest Online: A Longitudinal Study of Health-Related Web Sites

Longitudinal studies of Web sites can not only trace the history of specific sites but can also provide some guidelines that might help start-up Web sites improve their chances for survival in the ever-changing Web landscape. This article reports on a longitudinal study of health-related Web sites that found about 73% of those sites survived for three years. E-mail surveys gathered quantitative and qualitative insights from survivors and non-survivors. Generally, organizations that invested more resources (money, people, and time) in their Web sites in 1997 were more likely to have surviving sites three years later. Technological expertise, as measured by the level of feature-richness at sites, had relatively little impact on survival. Sites created by individuals were least likely to survive while education and government sites were most likely to survive. Respondents indicated that organizational commitment to Web-based communication was an important factor in long-term survival of sites. Sites with more visitors in 1997 were more likely to survive than those with fewer visitors, but many respondents pointed out the importance of targeting rather than sheer numbers in measuring the Web site audience.
Parody, intertextuality, signature: Kubrick, DePalma, and Scorsese

(1990). Parody, intertextuality, signature: Kubrick, DePalma, and Scorsese. Quarterly Review of Film and Video: Vol. 12, Parody, pp. 29-35.
Selfish routing with atomic players

One of the most successful applications of the price of anarchy---the worst-case ratio between the objective function values of noncooperative equilibria and optima---is to "selfish routing", a classical model of how independent network users route traffic in a congested network. However, almost all existing work on this topic (e.g., [2, 5, 7]) assumes a large population of very small network users, so that the actions of a single individual have negligible impact on the cost incurred by others. This assumption---in game theory terminology, that the game is nonatomic---is obviously not justifiable in all applications.
Current correlators and AdS/CFT geometry

Abstract We consider current–current correlators in 4d N = 1 SCFTs, and also 3d N = 2 SCFTs, in connection with AdS/CFT geometry. The superconformal U ( 1 ) R symmetry of the SCFT has the distinguishing property that, among all possibilities, it minimizes the coefficient, τ R R of its two-point function. We show that the geometric Z-minimization condition of Martelli, Sparks, and Yau precisely implements τ R R minimization. This gives a physical proof that Z-minimization in geometry indeed correctly determines the superconformal R-charges of the field theory dual. We further discuss and compare current two point functions in field theory and AdS/CFT and the geometry of Sasaki–Einstein manifolds. Our analysis gives new quantitative checks of the AdS/CFT correspondence.
Extensions to the exact solution of the long-rod penetration/erosion equations

The exact solution to the long-rod penetration equations is revisited, in search of improvements to the solution efficiency, while simultaneously enhancing the understanding of the physical parameters that drive the solution. Substantial improvements are offered in these areas. The presentation of the solution is simplified in a way that more tightly unifies the special- and general-case solutions to the problem. Added computational efficiencies are obtained by expressing the general-case solution for penetration and implicit time in terms of a series of Bessel functions. Other extensions and efficiencies are addressed, as well.
Blockade of Receptor for Advanced Glycation End-Products Restores Effective Wound Healing in Diabetic Mice

Receptor for advanced glycation end-products (RAGE), and two of its ligands, AGE and EN-RAGEs (members of the S100/calgranulin family of pro-inflammatory cytokines), display enhanced expression in slowly resolving full-thickness excisional wounds developed in genetically diabetic db+/db+ mice. We tested the concept that blockade of RAGE, using soluble(s) RAGE, the extracellular ligand-binding domain of the receptor, would enhance wound closure in these animals. Administration of sRAGE accelerated the development of appropriately limited inflammatory cell infiltration and activation in wound foci. In parallel with accelerated wound closure at later times, blockade of RAGE suppressed levels of cytokines; tumor necrosis factor-α; interleukin-6; and matrix metalloproteinases-2, -3, and -9. In addition, generation of thick, well-vascularized granulation tissue was enhanced, in parallel with increased levels of platelet-derived growth factor-B and vascular endothelial growth factor. These findings identify a central role for RAGE in disordered wound healing associated with diabetes, and suggest that blockade of this receptor might represent a targeted strategy to restore effective wound repair in this disorder.
Personality and Cognitive Referents of Creativity: A Second Look:

90 Ss were given 5 measures of divergent production and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. As very few of the correlations were significant, it may be concluded that there is no correspondence across...
Medical Education for Social Justice: Paulo Freire Revisited

Although social justice is an integral component of medical professionalism, there is little discussion in medical education about how to teach it to future physicians. Using adult learning theory and the work of Brazilian educator Paulo Freire, medical educators can teach a socially-conscious professionalism through educational content and teaching strategies. Such teaching can model non-hierarchical relationships to learners, which can translate to their clinical interactions with patients. Freirian teaching can additionally foster professionalism in both teachers and learners by ensuring that they are involved citizens in their local, national and international communities.
Isotope-coded ATP Probe for Quantitative Affinity Profiling of ATP-binding Proteins

ATP-binding proteins play significant roles in numerous cellular processes. Here, we introduced a novel isotope-coded ATP-affinity probe (ICAP) as an acylating agent to simultaneously enrich and incorporate isotope label to ATP-binding proteins. By taking advantage of the quantitative capability of this isotope-coded probe, we devised an affinity profiling strategy to comprehensively characterize ATP–protein interactions at the entire proteome scale. False-positive identification of ATP-binding sites derived from nonspecific labeling was effectively minimized through the comparison of the labeling behaviors of lysine residues with the use of low and high concentrations of the ICAP reagents. A total of 258 previously known ATP-binding proteins from lysates of HeLa-S3 and Jurkat-T cells were validated with this affinity profiling assay. Additionally, we demonstrated that this novel quantitative ATP-affinity profiling strategy is particularly useful for unveiling previously unrecognized nucleotide-binding si...
Statistical Analysis of the Performance of a Selective Agglomeration Process Using n-heptane as Agglomerant

The effects of agglomerant/coal weight ratio (ACR), grinding time, slurry pH, and agglomeration time on the performances of a selective agglomeration process using n-heptane as agglomerant were investigated for Upper Freeport and Pittsburgh #8 coals. The experimental conditions were selected following a statistical central composite design. Statistical regression models including inverse terms were developed to predict the process performances using the various operating variables. The response surfaces constructed with these models showed that the Btu recovery for the two coals was generally poor when the ACR was less than 0·2. It was also shown that high slurry pH improved both the ash and inorganic sulfur rejections for the two coals. For Pittsburgh #8 coal, the improvement in the inorganic sulfur rejection at high slurry pH was more pronounced when finer particle size and/or longer agglomeration time were used.
Modeling and Prediction of High Defninition Video Traffic: A Real-World Case Study

In this paper, we introduce an innovative way to model and predict high-definition (HD) video traces encoded with H.264/AVC encoding standard. Our results are based on comparing over 50 HD video traces. We show through our results that our model: simplified seasonal ARIMA (SAM) provides a good representation for HD videos, and it provides significant improvements in prediction accuracy over other regressions methods. In addition, we discuss our methodology to collect and encode our library of HD video traces. We describe the tools that we have created and used in generating create and analyzing these traces. We have made these tools, along with our large collection of HD video traces, available for the research community. We illustrate the simplicity of our approach and we discuss the importance of our modeling and prediction method and its impact on other areas of study.