cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
InP-based 1.3-1.6-/spl mu/m VCSELs with selectively etched tunnel-junction apertures on a wavelength flexible platform

In this letter, the authors demonstrate a wavelength flexible platform for the production of long-wavelength vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers which provide full wavelength coverage from 1.3-1.6 /spl mu/m. All-epitaxial InP-based devices with AsSb-based distributed Bragg reflectors were achieved through a common design, process, and growth technology at both the important telecommunications wavelengths of 1.3 and 1.5 /spl mu/m. Thin selectively etched tunnel junctions were implemented as low-loss apertures and offer scalability to small device dimensions. Devices showed low threshold currents ( 20 dB) operation, and high differential efficiency (>40% at 1.3 /spl mu/m and >25% at 1.5 /spl mu/m).
Determining hypoxic fraction in a rat glioma by uptake of radiolabeled fluoromisonidazole.

Abstract Rasey, J.S., Casciari, J.J., Hofstrand, P.D., Muzi, M., Graham, M.M. and Chin, L.K. Determining the Hypoxic Fraction in a Rat Glioma by Uptake of Radiolabeled Fluoromisonidazole. The usefulness of radiolabeled nitroimidazoles for measuring hypoxia will be clarified by defining the relationship between tracer uptake and radiobiologically hypoxic fraction. We determined the radiobiologically hypoxic fraction from radiation response data in 36B10 rat gliomas using the paired cell survival curve technique and compared the values to the radiobiologically hypoxic fraction inferred from mathematical modeling of time–activity data acquired by PET imaging of [18F]FMISO uptake. Rats breathed either air or 10% oxygen during imaging, and timed blood samples were taken. The uptake of [3H]FMISO by 36B10 cells in vitro provided cellular binding characteristics of this radiopharmaceutical as a function of oxygen concentration. The radiobiologically hypoxic fraction determined for tumors in air-breathing rats usi...
TERT promoter mutations in thyroid cancer

The 2013 discovery of Telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) promoter mutations chr5, 1,295,228 C>T (C228T) and 1,295,250 C>T (C250T) in thyroid cancer represents an important event in the thyroid cancer field and much progress has occurred since then. This article provides a comprehensive review of this exciting new thyroid cancer field. The oncogenic role of TERT promoter mutations involves their creation of consensus binding sites for E-twenty-six transcriptional factors. TERT C228T is far more common than TERT C250T and their collective prevalence is, on average, 0, 11.3, 17.1, 43.2 and 40.1% in benign thyroid tumors, papillary thyroid cancer (PTC), follicular thyroid cancer, poorly differentiated thyroid cancer and anaplastic thyroid cancer, respectively, displaying an association with aggressive types of thyroid cancer. TERT promoter mutations are associated with aggressive thyroid tumor characteristics, tumor recurrence and patient mortality as well as BRAF V600E mutation. Coexisting BRAF V600E and TERT promoter mutations have a robust synergistic impact on the aggressiveness of PTC, including a sharply increased tumor recurrence and patient mortality, while either mutation alone has a modest impact. Thus, TERT with promoter mutations represents a prominent new oncogene in thyroid cancer and the mutations are promising new diagnostic and prognostic genetic markers for thyroid cancer, which, in combination with BRAF V600E mutation or other genetic markers (e.g. RAS mutations), are proving to be clinically useful for the management of thyroid cancer. Future studies will specifically define such clinical utilities, elucidate the biological mechanisms and explore the potential as therapeutic targets of TERT promoter mutations in thyroid cancer.
Period biofilter operation for enhanced performance during unsteady-state loading conditions

In conventional biofilter operation, contaminated air is passed continuously through packed beds containing microbial consortia capable of contaminant biotransformation. This paper describes how biofilters can be designed and operated as controlled unsteady-state, periodic processes for the destruction of gas-phase contaminants. Such operation, previously limited to applications in wastewater treatment and soil remediation, increases an operator9s ability to control the physiological state, “robustness,” and spatial distribution of the microbial communities established within the biofilter and, thus, minimizes uncertainties that often accompany design and operation of biological systems. Results are presented from toluene degrading biofilters that used polyurethane foam packing medium. These studies demonstrate how controlled periodic operations can enhance contaminant removal during transient periods of elevated contaminant load.
CLOSED LOOP SIMULATION AND TESTING OF THE STC DIRECT BROADCAST SATELLITE ATTITUDE AND ORBIT CONTROL SYSTEM

Abstract The testing of a satellite’s Attitude and Orbit Control System is difficult to implement in a realistic manner on the ground. A number of methods have been employed, however, to provide an environment which dynamically exercises the control system. One technique specifically developed to test the Attitude and Orbit Control System of a geosynchronous three axis stabilized communications satellite is presented here. This technique allows the exercising of the control system in a real time, closed-loop configuration on a fully integrated spacecraft and with a minimum of test equipment interfacing.
Polyamines in Kidney Biology

The function of the kidney is largely considered filtration of the plasma compartment and removal of waste liquids and metabolic end products. Of equal importance is the conservation of liquids and solutes by reabsorption that is required to maintain life. The kidney functions to precisely regulate the body’s fluid compartment, maintain electrolytic and acid balance of the plasma, and secrete hormones such as renin, erythropoietin, and prostaglandins.
Bereavement in old age

Major theoretical and empirical studies of the bereavement process and its outcomes are reviewed within a framework of therapeutic intervention. Findings on the impact of bereavement and variables associated with successful and unsuccessful coping are examined for bereaved elderly. Research needs in this area, based on the limitations of previous studies, are also discussed.
Interplay of a Way of Knowing among Mexican-Origin Transnationals: Chaining to the Border and to Transnational Communities:

Background/ContextTransnational Mexican-origin youth comprise a large and increasing number of students in U.S. schools, yet their teachers have often misunderstood their backgrounds and the condit...
Using Student Drawings to Understand the First-Year Experience:

This article reports on an exploratory study that investigated the use of student drawings as a visual research method to understand the first-year experience. A total of 31 undeclared students enr...
Cardiopulmonary exercise test in adults with prior Fontan operation: The prognostic value of serial testing

Abstract Background The purpose of the study was to determine the role of cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET) indices in predicting cardiovascular adverse events (CAEs) in patients with Fontan palliation. CAE was defined as death or cardiac surgery. Methods Retrospective review of adult Fontan patients who had treadmill CPET at Mayo Clinic, 1994–2013. Patients with loss of follow-up defined as ≥2years without clinical follow-up were excluded. The results of serial CPETs were reviewed, and patients with CPETs meeting the following criteria were selected for analysis: maximum effort on serial CPETs, minimum of 3-year interval between CPETs, and absence of CAE between CPETs. Results A total of 145 patients met inclusion criteria for the study; age at baseline CPET was 24±3years; age at Fontan operation was 11±5years; and 91 (63%) were males. Baseline peak oxygen consumption (VO 2 ) was 22.7±5.4ml/kg/min (63±11% predicted), peak heart rate was 135±31beats per minute, and oxygen saturation at peak exercise was 86±7%. Serial CPETs were performed in 71/145 patients (49%); mean duration between CPETs was 3.8±0.3years. The % predicted peak VO 2 decreased by 1.7±0.9 percentage points/year. CAE (deaths n =22; cardiac surgery n =45) occurred in 54/145 patients (37%) within 8±3years. Decline in % predicted peak VO 2 ≥3 percentage points/year was the only predictor of 5-year risk of CAE (HR 1.86, 95% CI 1.11–3.48, P =0.02). Conclusions Serial CPET is prognostic of CAE in the adult Fontan population, and can be used to risk stratify these patients.
Health Insurance In China: After Declining In The 1990s, Coverage Rates Rebounded To Near-Universal Levels By 2011

We analyzed trends in rates of health insurance coverage in China in the period 1991–2011 and the association of health insurance with hypertension and diabetes based on data from eight waves of th...
Potential for a booster dose of rotavirus vaccine to further reduce diarrhea mortality.

Concern has grown that children vaccinated against rotavirus in developing countries may be vulnerable to rotavirus diarrhea in the second year of life due to waning immunity. Adding a booster dose of rotavirus vaccine at 9 or 12 months of age with measles vaccine has been suggested as a strategy to address this. We evaluated the hypothetical potential benefits of a booster dose on reduction of rotavirus mortality. The projected number of deaths averted were calculated using national level full series vaccination coverage, estimated national rotavirus deaths by week of age, and VE at <12 months of age and ≥12 months of age derived from the published literature. We assumed three functional forms of waning based on the VE estimates: stepwise, linear, and logarithmic. We modeled three potential boosting scenarios: (a) reduced VE waning in the second year of life by 50%, (b) reestablished second year of life VE to the levels in the first year of life, and (c) boosted first year VE by 50% of the difference between VE in the first and second years. To express uncertainty resulting from the parameters, each of the nine models were run 1000 times using a random sample of input values. Across all WHO regions, with the stepwise models we estimated a median of 9800 (95%CI: 9400, 10,200), 19,600 (95%CI: 18,800, 20,400), and 29,400 (95%CI: 28,200, 30,700) additional rotavirus deaths averted in the reduced VE waning, reestablished VE, and boosted VE scenarios. These estimates were highly sensitive to the assumed functional form of waning with approximately 65–80% fewer deaths averted if immunity waned in a linear or logarithmic fashion compared to the stepwise model. While these projections will benefit from improved input data points, our results inform consideration of booster doses of rotavirus vaccine.
Scholarly activity in academic plastic surgery: the gender difference

Abstract Background The number of women in medicine has grown rapidly in recent years. Women constitute over 50% of medical school graduates and hold 38% of faculty positions at United States medical schools. Despite this, gender disparities remain prevalent in most surgical subspecialties, including plastic surgery. The purpose of this study was to analyze gender authorship trends. Materials and methods A cross-sectional study of academic plastic surgeons was performed. Data were collected from departmental websites and online resources. National Institute of Health (NIH) funding was determined using the Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tools database. Number of published articles and h-index were obtained from Scopus (Elsevier Inc, New York, NY). Statistical analysis was performed in SPSS (SPSS Inc, Chicago, IL). Results A total of 814 plastic surgeons were identified in the United States. Compared to men, women had significantly fewer years in practice (P Conclusions This study identifies significant gender disparities in scholarly productivity among plastic surgeons in academia. Future efforts should focus on improving gender equality and eliminating barriers to academic development.
Influence of non-Darcy and MHD on free convection of non-Newtonian fluids over a vertical permeable plate in a porous medium with soret/dufour effects and thermal radiation

Abstract This study investigated the effects of non-Darcy (Forchheimer equation) and magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) forces on free convection of non-Newtonian fluids over a vertical permeable plate in a porous medium with Soret/Dufour effects and thermal radiation. The vertical plate surface has a uniform wall temperature and uniform wall concentration (UWT/UWC). Non-similar solutions for the transformed governing equations are obtained by Keller box method. Comparisons showed excellent agreement with numerical data reported in previous works. Numerical data entered in tables or plotted in figures for the dimensionless temperature profile, the dimensionless concentration profile, the local Nusselt number and the local Sherwood number are presented for the main parameters: the non-Darcy parameter ND, the magnetic field parameter M, the power-law index of the non-Newtonian fluid n, the blowing/suction parameter ξ and the thermal radiation parameter Rd. The numerical results show that increasing the non-Darcy parameter ND or the magnetic field parameter M tends to decrease both the local Nusselt number and the local Sherwood number. Additionally, increasing the thermal radiation parameter Rd increases both the local Nusselt number and the local Sherwood number. Generally, for the case of suction, both the local Nusselt number and the local Sherwood number increase. The opposite trend occurs in the case of blowing fluid.
Adding to the mounting evidence for geographic inequity in liver transplantation: Hospital length of stay.

Background Severe geographic inequities in liver transplantation have persisted for years. Previous investigators have demonstrated 90-day transplant rates varying from 14% to 82% and death rates varying from 18% to 86%. The aim of this analysis was to utilize a robust multivariate analysis to investigate whether geographic inequities affected the length of stay after liver transplantation. Methods We conducted a unique Kaplan-Meier analysis with the event being discharge from the hospital and length of stay as the time to the event, using a cohort of 66 674 recipients listed in the UNOS database from 2002 to 2016. Multivariate Cox regression using 43 covariates was used for time-to-event analysis. Results Region 9 (0.82; CI 0.79-0.85), Region 2 (0.85; CI 0.83-0.88), and Region 10 (0.96; CI 0.93-0.99) were statistically significant factors for prolonged hospital stay. The following covariates were the most significant factors for prolonged hospital stay: serum sodium >150 mEq/L (0.70; CI 0.62-0.78), ICU admission (0.77; CI 0.74-0.80), hospital admission (0.81; 0.79-0.83), region 9 (0.82; CI 0.79-0.85), and ventilator dependence (0.82; CI 0.76-0.88). Conclusion In this analysis, we demonstrate regional disparities in hospital length of stay that are significant in robust multivariable Cox regression analysis. We hope the transplant community will take immediate measures to correct geographic inequities.
Fodor's guide to mental representation: the intelligent auntie's Vade-Mecum

It rained for weeks and we were all so tired of ontology, but there didn't seem to be much else to do. Some of the children started to sulk and pull the cat's tail. It was going to be an awful afternoon until Uncle Wilifred thought of Mental Representations (which was a game that we hadn't played for years) and everybody got very excited and we jumped up and down and waved our hands and all talked at once and had a perfectly lovely romp. But Auntie said that she couldn't stand the noise and there would be tears before bedtime if we didn't please calm down. Auntie rather disapproves of what is going on in the Playroom, and you can't entirely blame her. Ten or fifteen years of philosophical discussion of mental representation has produced a considerable appearance of disorder. Every conceivable position seems to have been occupied, along with some whose conceivability it is permissible to doubt. And every view that anyone has mooted someone else has undertaken to refute. This does not strike Auntie as constructive play. She sighs for the days when well-brought-up philosophers of mind kept themselves occupied for hours on end analysing their behavioural dispositions. But the chaotic appearances are actually misleading. A rather surprising amount of agreement has emerged, if not about who's winning, at least about how the game has to be played. In fact, everybody involved concurs, pretty much, on what the options are. They differ in their hunches about which of the options it would be profitable to exercise. The resulting noise is of these intuitions clashing. In this paper, I want to make as much of the consensus as I can explicit; both by way of reassuring Auntie and in order to provide new participants with a quick guide to the game: Who's where and how did they get there? Since it's very nearly true that you can locate all the players by their answers to quite a small number of diagnostic questions, I shall organize the discussion along those lines. What follows is a short projective test of the sort that self-absorbed persons use to reveal their hitherto unrecognized proclivities. I hope for a great success in California.
Mental Healthcare Disparities Disparities Affect Treatment of Black Adolescents.

Research in the area of health disparities has increased in recent years. Various sources cite widespread differences between whites and people of color in a variety of healthcare treatment areas including cardiovascular disease, cancer, maternal and child health and mental health.1 In 2001, US Surgeon General David Satcher commissioned a report supplement to illuminate racial mental health disparities, provide empirical support to document the differences, and offer strategies for use in reducing the disparities.2 In accordance with a number of the suggestions from the Surgeon General’s report, the purpose of this article is to present a paradigm that may assist in addressing health disparities in child and adolescent psychiatric research and clinical care. Regarding blacks and psychiatric clinical care in particular, the following discussion is presented to elucidate sociocultural (ie, nonfinancial) barriers to treatment, the unique aspects of shame and stigma that blacks associate with treatment, and black cultural mistrust of the mental health system. The focus of clinical care in this article is adolescent depression, and the Breland-Noble Model of Pathways to Psychiatric Clinical Care3 serves as the backdrop for this discussion. Please note that in this article, the term “blacks” is being used to refer to people of various ethnic groups within the category of black (non-Hispanic), including African Americans, emigrant Caribbean Blacks, and emigrant Continental Africans in the United States.
Change Point Detection Techniques

In this chapter we will discuss change point detection techniques for analyzing population change over time. The linkage between information theory and statistics has been discussed in Chapter 5. In statistics, the problem of change point analysis can be formulated as that of model selection. Model selection plays an important role in data mining, and is a difficult problem because it is irregular. A new methodology was developed [Chen 2000] for solving the difficult problem of change point analysis.
Evaluation of a Novel Fibrin Sealant Patch in Hemorrhage Control After Vascular or Hepatic Injury.

Introduction Acute hemorrhage remains the leading cause of death in potentially survivable injuries. The use of topical hemostatic agents has increased over the last two decades with the evolution of damage control surgery. By 2008, the military widely adopted Combat Gauze as the hemostatic dressing of choice for compressible hemorrhage. The goal of this study was to compare the performance of a novel fibrin sealant patch to Combat Gauze in two clinically relevant models of hemorrhage. Materials and methods Yorkshire swine underwent unilateral femoral artery puncture or a grade V liver laceration with timed free bleeding then received either the fibrin patch or Combat Gauze packing with 3 minutes of standardized pressure. Animals were then resuscitated to maintain a mean arterial pressure of 60 mmHg for 4 hours. Hemostasis, blood loss, resuscitation volume, survival, vessel patency, and hematologic parameters were evaluated. Results Hemostasis was equivalent in both groups after hepatic and vascular injury. Survival was 80% in the fibrin patch vascular injury group and 100% in all other groups. Hematologic parameters were not significantly different between treatment groups. Femoral artery patency was 80% in both groups after vascular injury. With simulated ambulation after vessel injury, 60% of the Combat Gauze group and 80% of the fibrin patch group remained hemostatic (p > 0.05). In simulated re-exploration with packing removal, all animals rebled after hemostatic product removal. Conclusion There was no significant difference in hemostasis between a novel fibrin patch and Combat Gauze after extremity arterial or hepatic injury. This novel fibrin patch may have a clinical advantage over the Combat Gauze, as it can be left in the body, thereby limiting the potential need for reoperation.
Assessing the association between mental health and disability indicators among adults living in the United States

Abstract Background Over 40 million people in the U.S. experience mental illness and/or disabilities. However, there has been limited characterization of the relationship between mental health and disability in national surveys. Objective To examine associations between current indicators for psychological distress, serious mental illness, and disability in the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). Methods Secondary analysis (univariate and multivariate log-binomial estimation of relative risk) of non-specific psychological distress, duration of serious mental illness, disability types, and demographic factors in adults from the NHIS. Results Strong associations between psychological distress, serious mental illness, and disability types were found. After demographic stratifications and adjustment, associations were strongest for cognitive disabilities, compared to other disability types. Adults reporting serious psychological distress or more than 10 years of serious mental illness were 19.7 (17.8, 21.7) and 11.0 (10.2, 12.0) times more likely to report cognitive disabilities, compared to adults reporting no psychological distress or serious mental illness. After sex and race/ethnicity adjustment, individuals ages 35–54 years reporting serious psychological distress or more than 10 years of serious mental illness were 8.6 (6.9, 10.6) and 3.7 (3.3, 4.2) times more likely to report cognitive disabilities, compared to individuals ages 35–54 years reporting no psychological distress or serious mental illness. Conclusions There is a robust association between mental health and cognitive disabilities among adults. Our results suggest health agencies and public policy consider addressing the concurrent nature of mental illness and cognitive disabilities in services and programs for adults with disabilities.
Understanding the ridesharing needs of older adults

Abstract Riding in the comfort of a private vehicle is the preferred mode of alternate transportation, but ridesharing services might also fit the needs of older drivers. To understand the ridesharing needs of older adults, the vehicles of 39 drivers 65 years and older were instrumented for two weeks. Post-drive interviews were conducted to understand their ridesharing challenges. A Contextual Design approach was used to assess the data from the instrumentation recordings and interview responses. Results from the Contextual Design showed that older adults faced four main challenges: limited social network, efficient communication of trip details and needs, and establishing trip reliability and privacy. These findings were used to design and build a web-based ridesharing tool prototype for older adults that addressed these challenges. Implementing such tools on current ridesharing platforms and ICTs could provide more accessible mobility options, and prolong the overall mobility and independence of older adults.
Particle-In-Cell Algorithm on Unstructured Tetrahedral Meshes*

New unstructured Particle-In-Cell method on tetrahedral grids is presented. In this method the electric potential on cell vertices is evaluated using Gauss’ law applied to the indirect dual cell formed by connecting centroids of tetrahedra with corresponding face centroids and edge centers. The control-volume discretization follows a finite volume Multi Point Flux Approximation method. The implementation of boundary conditions such as Dirichlet, Neumann and external circuit boundary conditions is presented. The resulting matrix equation for the nodal potential is solved with a restarted GMRES algorithm with ILU(0) preconditioner. The GMRES algorithm is OpenMP parallelized using a combination of node coloring and level scheduling approaches for better computational efficiency. The electric field on vertices is evaluated using the gradient theorem applied to the indirect dual cell. The resulting expression for electric field is consistent with the earlier algorithm that was derived using Delaunay-Voronoi grids 1. Boundary conditions and the algorithms for injection, particle loading, particle motion, and particle tracking are implemented for unstructured tetrahedral grids in the code developed at WPI.
Variability in the spatial density of vacant properties contributes to background lead (Pb) exposure in children.

Abstract Background Heightened blood lead levels (BLL) are associated with cognitive deficiencies and adverse behavioral outcomes. Lead-contaminated house dust is the primary source of exposure in U.S. children, and evidence suggests that even background (low-level) exposure has negative consequences. Identifying sources of background exposure is of great public health significance because of the larger number of children that can be affected. Methods Blood lead was assessed in a bi-racial sample of children from Syracuse, NY, aged 9–11, using established biomonitoring methods. The spatial density of vacant properties was modelled from publicly available georeferenced datasets. Further, regression models were used to measure the impact of this spatial density variable on children's BLL. Results In a sample of 221 children, with a mean BLL of 1.06 µg/dL (SD = 0.68), results showed increases in spatial density of vacant properties predict increases in median blood-PB levels, b = 0.14 (0.06–0.21), p Discussion This study is the first to identify a background-lead exposure source using spatial density modelling. As vacant properties deteriorate, lead-contaminated dust likely disperses into the surrounding environment. High-density areas have an accumulation of lead hazards in environmental media, namely soil and dust, putting more children at risk of exposure.
Temperature-Dependent DART-MS Analysis of Sexual Lubricants to Increase Accurate Associations

The analysis of lubricant evidence is a recent development in sexual assault investigations and in the absence of any biological evidence may assist in linking an assailant to the victim or crime scene. An ambient ionization technique, high-resolution direct analysis in real-time mass spectrometry (HR-DART-MS), was employed to characterize a sample set of 33 water-based lubricants. As lubricants are complex multicomponent mixtures, this study investigated if different thermal desorption temperatures could elucidate different additives and provide additional information. A low-temperature, high-temperature, and thermal desorption/pyrolysis DART-MS protocol was used to characterize the water-based lubricant sample set. The strength of the methodologies was evaluated using positive and negative likelihood ratios that were calculated from inter- and intra-pairwise comparisons using Pearson correlation coefficients. The low-temperature DART-MS protocol afforded valuable information pertaining to volatile additives (e.g., flavors and fragrances) and provided positive likelihood ratios that would provide strong support for true positive and negatives than the high-temperature protocol when associating between individual samples and samples to their respective sub-groupings. The thermal desorption/pyrolysis DART analytical protocol provided enhanced differentiation between samples due to the precise temperature control using a thermal gradient. Moreover, the total ion spectra obtained from the thermal desorption/pyrolysis protocol, not only had high positive and negative likelihood ratios, this method also provided the most discrimination as determined by empirical cross entropy plots. Graphical Abstract.
Why Metaphysics and Morality

Commonsensically, we think we know many moral truths—that rape is wrong, that it is praiseworthy to return kindness with kindness, etc. Moral skeptics disagree. Epistemic moral skeptics think that even if there are moral truths, we can’t know them; metaphysical moral skeptics think that there is nothing to know—at least no “objective” moral truths. This book deals with metaphysical moral skepticism. Commonsense morality is committed to objective moral truths and facts, but many metaethical theories deny that there is any such thing e.g., moral relativism, moral nihilism, moral-noncognitivism. A broad outline of the theoretical foundation of commonsense morality, viz., moral realism, is provided in preparation for a full-scale rebuttal of metaphysical moral skepticism.
Evidenced-Based and Practical Management of Real-World Valvular Heart Disease

The treatment of valvular heart disease is complex and the proper course of action is made more difficult by the relative lack of evidence-based data. Published guidelines are helpful in patient management but no guideline can be written to encompass care for every patient in one’s practice. The intent of the chapter is to present patients in whom decision-making is not straightforward, using existing data to help guide the reader to a course of action. In some cases there can be no firm answer because the data in that area or lacking yet the problem is one frequently encountered by the practicing cardiologist who must make decision about therapy, thus the “real world” nature of the chapter.
A Multimodal View into Music's Effect on Human Neural, Physiological, and Emotional Experience

Music has a powerful influence on human experience. In this paper, we investigate how music affects brain activity, physiological response, and human-reported behavior. Using auditory features related to dynamics, timbre, harmony, rhythm, and register, we predicted brain activity in the form of phase synchronizations in bilateral Heschl's gyri and superior temporal gyri; physiological response in the form of galvanic skin response and heart activity; and emotional experience in the form of continuous, subjective descriptions reported by music listeners. We found that using multivariate time series models with attention mechanisms are effective in predicting emotional ratings, while vector-autoregressive models are effective in predicting involuntary human responses. Musical features related to dynamics, register, rhythm, and harmony were found to be particularly helpful in predicting these human reactions. This work adds to our understanding of how music affects multimodal human experience and has applications in affective computing, music emotion recognition, neuroscience, and music information retrieval.
The Mischief of Cohen v. Cowles Media Co.

For a short, sloppily reasoned 5-4 decision that textbook editors have largely consigned to note status, Cohen v. Cowles Media Co. has had a remarkably insidious influence on First Amendment law. The problem is not so much the decision’s holding. The Supreme Court’s conclusion that newspapers could be liable for breaching a promise of anonymity to a source might actually further speech interests. The problem instead is in Cohen’s reasoning. It is the way in which the Supreme Court so cavalierly dismissed the argument that the First Amendment precluded punishing media defendants for the publication of truthful information. The Court did not reach this conclusion after a careful balancing of interests. Rather, it brushed aside the defendants’ arguments as if there were no free speech issues to consider, leaving the impression that holding the press liable for disclosing truthful information need hardly make a First Amendment ripple. This brusque treatment of the defendants’ First Amendment arguments has become Cohen’s legacy. Cohen, in effect, has become a First Amendment neutralizer. It is the case parties use in a variety of contexts to convince a court that it need not bother with a searching First Amendment analysis. It is the case courts cite when laying the groundwork for dismissing a party’s First Amendment defenses. This Article attempts to show where Cohen went wrong and how courts, particularly the Supreme Court, can put an end to Cohen’s mischief. The Article’s primary thesis is that Cohen created the jurisprudential foundation for the argument that parties can use property and contract rights to cordon off information from public purview without First Amendment scrutiny. The Article argues that our “information age” society can ill afford to have the First Amendment become a neutral bystander to this privatization of information. To the extent that Cohen suggests otherwise, the Article contends that Cohen is wrong.
Statistics in Pharmacology and Toxicology

In this chapter, we gave an introduction to basic statistics. The topics include definitions of statistical terminologies, sampling distributions, data presentation, and descriptive statistics, designs of an experiment, statistical inference, and regression analysis. We discussed a completely randomized design, randomized block design, Latin square design, factorial design, split plot design, and crossover design that are used in experimental and safety pharmacology studies. For inferential statistics, we discussed methods of point and interval estimations, parametric and nonparametric statistical inferences, and methods of analyzing repeated measures data. We further introduced the techniques of regression analysis and the transformation of variables. The topic of adjustment for multiple testing is also briefly discussed. Some examples of statistical applications in common animal pharmacological studies have been provided.
Ultrasonication of beef improves calpain-1 autolysis and caspase-3 activity by elevating cytosolic calcium and inducing mitochondrial dysfunction

Abstract The objective of this study was to investigate if ultrasonication of bovine longissimus thoracis et lumborum (LTL) steaks increases calpain-1 and caspase-3 activities, and if so, to explore the underlying mechanisms that trigger their activation. Post-rigor bovine LTL steaks were subjected to ultrasonication at 40 kHz and 12 W/cm2 for 40 min and subsequently aged for 14 d at 4 °C. Ultrasonication improved beef tenderness (P 0.05). Improved tenderness in the ultrasonicated steaks was associated with greater degradation of titin, desmin, troponin-T, and calpastatin and increased calpain-1 autolysis and caspase-3 activity (P
Nutrient sources for offspring formation: diet-mother and mother-offspring isotope discrimination in domesticated gallinaceous birds.

Stable isotope techniques can be used to assess nutrient acquisition and allocation strategies used to produce offspring. Before stable isotope techniques can be employed, researchers need reliable...
Economics as Distributed Computation

In human societies diverse people act purposively with powerful but limited cognitive processes, interacting directly with one another through technologically-facilitated and physically-mediated social networks. Agent-based computational modeling takes these features of humanity—behavioral heterogeneity, bounded rationality, network interactions—at face value, using modern object-oriented programming techniques to create agent populations that have a high degree of verisimilitude with actual populations. This contrasts with mathematical social science, where fantastic assumptions render models so cartoon-like as to beg credibility—stipulations like identical agents (or a single ‘representative’ agent), omniscient agents (who accurately speculate about other agents), Nash equilibrium (macro-equilibrium arising from agent-level equilibrium) and even the denial of direct agent-agent interaction (as in general equilibrium theory, where individuals interact only with a metaphorical auctioneer). There is a close connection between agent computing in the positive social sciences and distributed computation in computer science, in which individual processors have heterogeneous information that they compute with and then communicate to other processors. Successful distributed computation yields coherent computation across processors. When such distributed computations are executed by distinct software objects instead of physical processors we have distributed artificial intelligence. When the actions of each object can be interpreted as in its ‘self interest’ we then have multi-agent systems, an emerging sub-field of computer science. Viewing human society as a large-scale distributed system for the production of individual welfare leads naturally to agent computing. Indeed, it is argued that agents are the only way for social scientists to effectively harness exponential growth in computational capabilities.
Neutrino Masses in Astrophysics

The standard model of particle physics (SM) [1] as it stands today can best be described as a highly impressive but crucially incomplete edifice. Many particle physicists would perhaps agree that the most important deficiency is the lack of understanding of the mechanism that provides masses for the quarks and leptons. Although the well-known Higgs mechanism provides a consistent and theoretically acceptable way of parametizing the generation of masses, it raises more questions than it answers. A measure of this is the fact that of the seventeen free parameters that are associated with the SM, the Higgs sector of the theory accounts for fully fifteen. An intriguing aspect of the mass problem is that neutrinos seem to have masses which maybe zero, or perhaps, orders of magnitude smaller than those of quarks or charged leptons. Progress on understanding fermion masses will thus certainly require an understanding of why neutrino masses are so small compared to the other energy scales in the theory.
Examination of the knowledge and consumption of fruits and vegetables of 7-11 year old children at the Boys & Girls Club (808.15)

The prevalence of childhood obesity has continued to rise in US over the past decade. The purpose of the study was to determine if the CATCH Kids Club (CKC) nutrition and physical activity program ...
Using Markov Blankets for Causal Structure Learning

We show how a generic feature-selection algorithm returning strongly relevant variables can be turned into a causal structure-learning algorithm. We prove this under the Faithfulness assumption for the data distribution. In a causal graph, the strongly relevant variables for a node X are its parents, children, and children's parents (or spouses), also known as the Markov blanket of X. Identifying the spouses leads to the detection of the V-structure patterns and thus to causal orientations. Repeating the task for all variables yields a valid partially oriented causal graph. We first show an efficient way to identify the spouse links. We then perform several experiments in the continuous domain using the Recursive Feature Elimination feature-selection algorithm with Support Vector Regression and empirically verify the intuition of this direct (but computationally expensive) approach. Within the same framework, we then devise a fast and consistent algorithm, Total Conditioning (TC), and a variant, TCbw, with an explicit backward feature-selection heuristics, for Gaussian data. After running a series of comparative experiments on five artificial networks, we argue that Markov blanket algorithms such as TC/TCbw or Grow-Shrink scale better than the reference PC algorithm and provides higher structural accuracy.
Inactivation of Smad4 in Gastric Carcinomas

Allelic loss of chromosome 18q has been noted in intestinal type gastric adenocarcinomas. Smad4 is a gene located at 18q that was recently cloned in humans and found to be significantly altered in pancreatic cancers. We sought to determine whether Smad4 genetic alterations played a significant role in gastric tumorigenesis by studying 35 gastric adenocarcinomas of all histopathological types and pathological stages. Microdissected specimens were used for mutational analysis of Smad4 at the nucleotide level, including the entire coding region and intron/exon boundaries. Allelic imbalance was also analyzed at the Smad4 locus using two nearby microsatellite markers. One case of apparent biallelic inactivation of Smad4 was found in our study of 35 gastric carcinomas. A nonsense point mutation at codon 334 was demonstrated, which, similar to other Smad4 mutations, is predicted to truncate the conserved COOH-terminal domain of this protein. This Smad4 C to T transition mutation was proven to be somatically acquired. Allelic loss was also noted on chromosome 18q at a marker near Smad4 in this mutated gastric cancer, apparently producing complete inactivation of Smad4 in this tumor. Significant 18q allelic loss (56% of 34 informative cases) was noted in our gastric carcinomas using microsatellite markers near the Smad4 locus, regardless of histological subtype or pathological stage. Additionally, three cases of microsatellite instability were observed. Thus, Smad4 inactivation was noted in our gastric carcinomas; however, this event was rare. The frequent loss of chromosomal arm 18q observed in gastric cancers suggests the presence of other tumor suppressor genes in this region that are involved in gastric tumorigenesis. Further studies are needed to identify these other targets of inactivation during gastric cancer development.
Γ-Convergence approximation to piecewise constant mumford-shah segmentation

Piecewise constant Mumford-Shah segmentation[17] has been rediscovered by Chan and Vese [6] in the context of region based active contours. The work of Chan and Vese demonstrated many practical applications thanks to their clever numerical implementation using the level-set technology of Osher and Sethian [18]. The current work proposes a Γ-convergence formulation to the piecewise constant Mumford-Shah model, and demonstrates its simple implementation by the iterated integration of a linear Poisson equation. The new formulation makes unnecessary some intermediate tasks like normal data extension and level-set reinitialization, and thus lowers the computational complexity.
Mixing Qualitative and Quantitative Methods of Analyzing Poverty Dynamics

This work reflects many important lessons I have learned from collaborators on various projects in rural Ethiopia, Kenya and Madagascar. In particular, I thank Abdillahi Aboud, Larry Blume, Paul Box, Layne Coppock, Getachew Gebru, Johannes Lehmann, Peter Little, Winnie Luseno, Hussein Mahmoud, Nelson Mango, David Mbugua, John McPeak, Bart Minten, Festus Murithi, Hezron Nyangito, James Nyoro, Willis Oluoch-Kosura, John Omiti, Alice Pell, Max Pfeffer, Frank Place, Jean Claude Randrianarisoa, Jhon Rasambainarivo, Susan Riha and Kevin Smith for all they have taught me. These research collaborations have been made possible by generous funding from the Pastoral Risk Management Project of the Global Livestock Collaborative Research Support Program, funded by the Office of Agriculture and Food Security, Global Bureau, United States Agency for International Development, under grants DAN-1328-G-00-0046-00 and PCE-G-98-00036-00, the Rural Markets, Natural Capital and Dynamic Poverty Traps in East Africa project, funded through USAID grant LAG-A-00-96-90016-00 to the BASIS CRSP, USAID’s Strategies and Analyses for Growth and Access (SAGA) cooperative agreement, number HFM-A-00-01-00132-00, and a biocomplexity research grant from the National Science Foundation. The views expressed here and any remaining errors are the mine alone and do not represent any collaborator, past or present, nor any official agency.
Amniotic fluid phosphatidylglycerol: A potentially useful predictor of intrauterine growth retardation☆

Intrauterine growth retardation, a major complication of pregnancy, remains difficult to detect reliability prior to birth. In this retrospective study of 82 pregnancies which resulted in birth of small infants, preceding clinical factors and amniotic fluid (AF) maturity tests were examined for their ability to differentiate small for gestational age (SGA) from appropriate for gestational age (AGA) infants of comparable weight. AF maturity tests included phosphatidylglycerol (PG), phosphatidylinositol (PI), lecithin to sphingomyelin ratio (L/S), PG/PI, PG/S, PI/S, foam tests, and fat cell count. Discriminant analysis revealed that AF PG was potentially the most useful parameter for predicting the birth of an SGA infant. The predictive value of PG was related to the strong correlation of AF PG with term gestation. High AF PG could potentially predict SGA infants with a true positive rate of 60%; 64% of all SGA infants could be correctly identified by means of only AF PG. The results of this study suggest that, in selected high-risk pregnancies, amniocentesis late in gestation with determination of PG may be helpful in classifying small infants as either growth retarded or preterm.
The Polarization Properties of Sgr A* at Submillimeter Wavelengths

Summary. We have placed an upper limit on the magnitude of the rotation measure of 7 × 10 5 rad m −2 for the putative Faraday screen (magnetized plasma) in front of Sgr A*, the radio source associated with the black hole in the Galactic Center. There is evidence that the actual rotation measure is about −5×10 5 rad m −2 . With a simple model of equipartition of energy and rea�
The Tea Party Goes to Washington: Mass Demonstrations as Performative and Interactional Processes

A fragmented public sphere presents a challenge for political actors seeking public recognition of their legitimacy, authenticity and worthiness. As a movement that has received differential levels of recognition across audiences, the Tea Party’s experience offers insight into this phenomenon. This article builds on existing research on the Tea Party’s relationship with the media by exploring how movement participants interpret and respond to this kind of mixed audience response. An ethnographic account of one local Tea Party group’s experience during and in the wake of Glenn Beck’s Restoring Honor Rally illuminates the performative and interactional dimensions of this experience. It shows that the rally was an opportunity for this group to enact a populist narrative of “the people” confronting out-of-touch elites, but when participants were confronted with fragmented recognition of their rally’s size and authenticity, they engaged in identity work that drew a moral boundary between affirming and disparaging audiences. Discussions about the rally were subsequently dominated by a second narrative—of embattled conservatives facing off against biased, uncivil and unpatriotic liberals. In this way, even though the rally failed to generate the recognition participants sought, it became an occasion for the group to replenish its solidarity and sense of purpose.
Nutrition and Exercise in Adverse Environments

The sections in this article are: 1 Dietary Deficiencies 2 Environmental Heat and Metabolism 3 Heat Acclimatization/Acclimation 4 Cold and Caloric Turnover 5 Cold and Body Fuel 6 High Terrestrial Altitude 7 Nutrition in Space
Peptidoglycan Induces Necrosis and Regulates Cytokine Production in Murine Trophoblast Stem Cells

Problem Intrauterine bacterial infection during pregnancy may lead to adverse outcome. The objective of this study was to assess whether peptidoglycan (PGN) derived from Gram-positive bacteria induces trophoblast stem (TS) cell death or alters TS cell cytokine production.