cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Nonstructural carbohydrate and prunasin composition of peach seedlings fertilized with different nitrogen sources and aluminum

Abstract In greenhouse experiments, Nemaguard peach seedlings were irrigated with nutrient solutions containing NO 3 − :NH 4 + ratios of 100:0, 75:25, 50:50, 25:75 and 0:100, and Al concentrations of 0 or 1 mM. Eight weeks of treatment with 1 mM aluminum caused severe reductions in reducing sugar concentration, increased starch in the root and shoot, and increased sucrose concentration in the leaves. Total soluble carbohydrate (TSC) concentration in the roots was significantly greater in plants receiving a mixed ratio of NO 3 − :NH 4 + than plants receiving all NO 3 − or NH 4 + , but significantly increased with increasing NH 4 + in stem and leaves. Increasing NH 4 + reduced sucrose concentrations but elevated sorbitol concentrations in the roots, stem, and leaves. Aluminum increased prunasin concentration in the roots, whereas increasing NH 4 + resulted in higher levels of prunasin in the stems and leaves of Nemaguard seedlings. Leaf carbohydrate supply limitations and altered root concentration status may be the consequences of high Al and NH 4 + exposure.
An Integrated Model of Group Psychotherapy for Patients with Fibromyalgia

This study examined the effectiveness of an integrated model of brief group psychotherapy for treatment of fibromyalgia syndrome, using cognitive behavioral and supportive expressive techniques. In the context of an outpatient, multidisciplinary fibromyalgia treatment program, group psychotherapy was provided to 35 patients with 21 control patients. Pre-post treatment measures of depression, anxiety, fibromyalgia impact, pain, fatigue, and morning tiredness were obtained. Using a quasi-experimental design with validated psychometric instruments, the results showed a significant decrease in pre-versus post treatment measures of depression, fibromyalgia impact, fatigue, and pain for the treatment patients, suggesting that an integrated model of group psychotherapy may have beneficial psychological and functional effects for some patients with fibromyalgia.
Esterification of oxysterols in human serum: effects on distribution and cellular uptake

Oxysterols, oxidized derivatives of cholesterol, may enter the circulation as contaminants of cholesterol-containing food, arise through peroxidation of lipoproteins, or be generated by enzymatic reactions. They are found in serum associated either with lipoproteins or with albumin. In these studies, 25-hydroxycholesterol (25OHC) was used as a model oxysterol to investigate the effect of esterification on the association of oxysterols with serum components and their delivery to cultured cells. 25OHC added in vitro to fresh human serum was readily esterified during incubation at 37 degrees C, most likely by serum lecithin:cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT) as it was blocked by known inhibitors of LCAT. The 25OHC-esters formed were identified as monoesters by comparing their elution on high performance liquid chromatography and thin-layer chromatography with that of chemically synthesized 25OHC mono- and diesters. Esterification doubled the percentage of 25OHC associated with lipoproteins, concomitantly decreasing the amount associated with albumin. Whereas unesterified 25OHC readily transferred between isolated lipoproteins, 25OHC-esters remained associated with donor lipoproteins unless human lipoprotein-deficient serum was added. That cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) mediated transfer of 25OHC-esters was demonstrated by the ineffectiveness of rat lipoprotein-deficient serum as well as by the ability of IC-4, an anti-CETP monoclonal antibody, to suppress the transfer. Esterification of 25OHC in serum limited its entry into human erythrocytes and fibroblasts (GM 3468A cells) in vitro. Up-regulation of fibroblast low density lipoprotein (LDL)-receptors enhanced the uptake of esterified 25OHC from medium, but did little to enhance the total uptake of 25OHC. Thus, esterification of oxysterols in serum shifts their distribution away from albumin into LDL and high density lipoprotein (HDL) and limits their availability to cells in culture.
Amending the State Constitution is a Tricky Business: Can Dedicated-Fund Clauses in the Constitution Serve the State's Interest Best?

This article addresses an amendment to Minnesota’s Constitution on the 2006 ballot, to direct a portion of the revenue from an existing tax on motor vehicles sales to public transit transit purposes. The author asks if this dedicated-fund clause belongs in a constitution. The author explores the influence of traditions, values, and economic or political compromises on the issue.
Robust system for identifying procurement fraud

An accredited biennial 2012 study by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners claims that on average 5% of a company's revenue is lost because of unchecked fraud every year. The reason for such heavy losses are that it takes around 18 months for a fraud to be caught and audits catch only 3% of the actual fraud. This begs the need for better tools and processes to be able to quickly and cheaply identify potential malefactors. In this paper, we describe a robust tool to identify procurement related fraud/risk, though the general design and the analytical components could be adapted to detecting fraud in other domains. Besides analyzing standard transactional data, our solution analyzes multiple public and private data sources leading to wider coverage of fraud types than what generally exists in the marketplace. Moreover, our approach is more principled in the sense that the learning component, which is based on investigation feedback has formal guarantees. Though such a tool is ever evolving, an initial deployment of this tool over the past 6 months has found many interesting cases from compliance risk and fraud point of view, increasing the number of true positives found by over 80% compared with other state-of-the-art tools that the domain experts were previously using.
Postponing the Hypoglycemic Response to Partial Hepatectomy Delays Mouse Liver Regeneration

All serious liver injuries alter metabolism and initiate hepatic regeneration. Recent studies using partial hepatectomy (PH) and other experimental models of liver regeneration implicate the metabolic response to hepatic insufficiency as an important source of signals that promote regeneration. Based on these considerations, the analyses reported here were undertaken to assess the impact of interrupting the hypoglycemic response to PH on liver regeneration in mice. A regimen of parenteral dextrose infusion that delays PH-induced hypoglycemia for 14 hours after surgery was identified, and the hepatic regenerative response to PH was compared between dextrose-treated and control mice. The results showed that regenerative recovery of the liver was postponed in dextrose-infused mice (versus vehicle control) by an interval of time comparable to the delay in onset of PH-induced hypoglycemia. The regulation of specific liver regeneration-promoting signals, including hepatic induction of cyclin D1 and S-phase kinase-associated protein 2 expression and suppression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ and p27 expression, was also disrupted by dextrose infusion. These data support the hypothesis that alterations in metabolism that occur in response to hepatic insufficiency promote liver regeneration, and they define specific pro- and antiregenerative molecular targets whose regenerative regulation is postponed when PH-induced hypoglycemia is delayed.
Is Europe Unfairly Attacking Another U.S. High Technology Company

This short piece considers whether the EU antitrust action against Intel constitutes an example of European regulators attacking a successful US company in order to protect a European competitor, or whether it instead is an example of legitimate law enforcement.
Breathless at the Point of a Sword.

Context: Scimitar syndrome is a congenital anomaly of pulmonary venous return where right pulmonary artery drains into right side other heart, instead of the left side, causing pulmonary hypertension resulting in shortness of breath, recurrent lower respiratory tract infections, chest pain, and fatigue. Early diagnosis and surgical intervention would correct this congenital anomaly reducing morbidity and complications in otherwise healthy young patients. Case Report: We present a case of an 18-year-old female who presented with exertional shortness of breath, fatigue, and recurrent lower respiratory tract infections. She had unremarkable physical examination but chest x-ray showed an abnormal opacity next to right heart border. Computed tomography (CT) chest was performed that showed possible scimitar syndrome. Transesophageal echocardiogram (TEE) and right heart catheterization (RHC) confirmed the diagnosis. Conclusion: Scimitar syndrome is a very rare congenital anomaly of pulmonary venous return. It is usually diagnosed in early childhood but the diagnosis may be delayed until later in adulthood. The consequences are pulmonary hypertension, right-sided heart failure, and frequent pulmonary infections resulting in increased morbidity, mortality, and frequent doctor visits for otherwise healthy young patients.
Experimental validation of a walking model for planar bipeds with curved feet

Bipeds with curved feet typically require less energy for walking than do point- or flat-footed bipeds, and they tend to mimic human gait more closely. Thus, understanding the effects of curved feet on bipedal walking gaits has the potential to improve both humanoid robot efficiency and human rehabilitation. This paper derives the equations of motion for planar bipeds with curved feet under the assumption, among others, of instantaneous transfer of support between the legs. The paper then verifies the mathematical model by comparing the results of simulation to previous experimental results for two very different bipedal robots — McGeer’s two-link, passive dynamic walker traversing a decline and the five-link, actuated biped ERNIE walking on a treadmill with a supporting boom. In both cases, the results from simulation match the experimental results very well despite the simplifying assumptions, indicating that the mathematical model captures the dominate dynamics of bipedal robots with curved feet.Copyright © 2011 by ASME
Burn camps and community aspects of burn care.

Burn injuries can have a profound effect on the personality development and emotional stability of children, particularly those children who had preexisting pathologic conditions at the time of injury. Integration of an altered sense of self and reentry into the social arena are two challenges that children with burn injuries must face. Creative psychosocial services are of critical importance in providing support to children as they meet these challenges. School reentry programs and burn camps are presented as two services that are currently provided to facilitate the adaptation and reentry process for these children. Language: en
De eerste grootouders

Door analyse van fossielen van tanden en kiezen weten we dat er voor ongeveer 30.000 jaar geleden een enorme stijging van de gemiddelde leeftijd van onze verre voorouders plaatsvond. Maar dan rijzen de vragen: Waarom toen en niet eerder of later in de lange geschiedenis van de mens? In welk opzicht was dit gunstig voor ons als soort?
Inhibition of cholinesterase and ali-esterase in parathion and paraoxon poisoning in the house fly.

The inhibition of head and body cholinesterase and body ali-esterase was measured in susceptible and parathion-resistant house flies, Musca domestica L., treated either topically or by injection with parathion and paraoxon. Flies were treated with the toxicants only or with the toxicants after pretreatment with the organophosphate synergist DEF ( S, S, S -tributyl phosphorotrithioate). Results showed that the inhibition of body cholinesterase provided the best measurement of the effects of the insecticides on treated flies. Inhibition of this enzyme was most closely correlated with the effects of the insecticides and was usually 90% or more at the time of knockdown. The inhibition of head cholinesterase, on the other hand, appeared to be primarily a function of the dosage of toxicants used and was usually not more than 50% at the time of knockdown. Ali-esterase inhibition was not closely correlated with the toxicity of the insecticides, but the importance of this enzyme in detoxication of paraoxon was clearly demonstrated.
A Case for Unique Habitat Selection by Sigara mathesoni (Hemiptera: Corixidae) in South-Central Pennsylvania

Abstract Sigara mathesoni (Hemiptera: Corixidae), which predominantly inhabits the northern United States and Canada, has recently been found in carbonate streams with stable and cold temperature regimes in south-central Pennsylvania. The focus of this research was to determine if there is a difference in occurrence of S. mathesoni between carbonate and non-carbonate streams, and whether abiotic factors within these habitats can be used to explain or predict its regional distribution. Our results suggest that S. mathesoni predominantly occurs in carbonate spring habitats, and that parameters such as alkalinity and daytime summer water temperature may best predict occurrence. This work validates observations in other literature and supports the hypothesis that S. mathesoni is a rare species in Pennsylvania and possibly throughout its southern range.
Stability and compatibility of Lornoxicam With Fentanyl Injection

Objective To study the stability and compatibility of Lornoxicam with Fentanyl injection. Methods Using high performance liquid chromatography(HPLC) method to detect the content changes and p H changes within 72 h at room temperature f Lornoxicam with Fentanyl injection. Results The content and p H value and content had less changes in Lornoxicam, significantly lower than Fentanyl injection, there was a small amount of precipitation in liquid after 24 h. Conclusion Lornoxicam with Fentanyl injection has poor stability in 0.9% sodium chloride injection and is unfavorable in clinical application.
An extended finite element method for modeling crack growth with frictional contact

Abstract A new technique for the finite element modeling of crack growth with frictional contact on the crack faces is presented. The eXtended Finite Element Method (X-FEM) is used to discretize the equations, allowing for the modeling of cracks whose geometry are independent of the finite element mesh. This method greatly facilitates the simulation of a growing crack, as no remeshing of the domain is required. The conditions which describe frictional contact are formulated as a non-smooth constitutive law on the interface formed by the crack faces, and the iterative scheme implemented in the LATIN method [Nonlinear Computational Structural Mechanics, Springer, New York, 1998] is applied to resolve the nonlinear boundary value problem. The essential features of the iterative strategy and the X-FEM are reviewed, and the modifications necessary to integrate the constitutive law on the interface are presented. Several benchmark problems are solved to illustrate the robustness of the method and to examine convergence. The method is then applied to simulate crack growth when there is frictional contact on the crack faces, and the results are compared to both analytical and experimental results.
Serum Mir-29a Is Up-Regulated In Acute Graft Versus Host Disease (aGVHD) After Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (allo HSCT) and Activates Dendritic Cells (DCs)

Background aGVHD is one of the most frequent and lethal complications after allo HSCT, underscoring the need to develop novel therapies. To achieve this goal, aGVHD mechanisms needs to be further elucidated. Recently it was reported that miRNAs are modulating aGVHD. In addition miRNAs are also present in the human serum and regulate immune responses. Here, we hypothesize that serum miRNAs expression is deregulated in aGVHD and could play a role in aGVHD pathogenesis. Methods To identify miRNAs associated with aGVHD we performed serum miRNA expression analysis using deep-sequencing from allo HSCT recipients samples at the time of clinical suspicion of aGVHD. Peripheral blood (PB) samples were collected weekly until day 100+ and at the time of clinical diagnosis of aGVHD from allo HSCT patients enrolled into OSU11002. After serum separation, total RNA was extracted using Trizol. Libraries were constructed using the small RNA profiling kit and sequenced on the Solid analyzer. A mouse model of aGVHD (B6 mice donor splenocytes and BM cells transplanted to lethally irradiated F1 recipients) was used to assess serum miRNA expression in animals with aGVHD. Results In this study we included 10 patients with aGVHD (bowel n=2; skin (n=5) and both skin and bowel aGVHD (n=3). Median age was 51.9, conditioning regimens were mainly non-myeloablative (n=9), with unrelated donors (n=9). PB samples from allo HSCT patients with no aGVHD and matched for age, disease, conditioning regimen, donor and timing of sample collection were obtained and used as controls. Sequence alignment was performed using miRBase. Normalization as reads per million was followed by quantiles. We compared miRNA expression between all patients with aGVHD (n=10) and controls (n=7) using class comparison (BRB). We found 7 miRNAs up-regulated (miR-146a, miR-323-b, miR-34c, miR-363, miR-4245, miR-29a, miR-181a* ) and 3 miRNAs down-regulated (miR-3168, miR-662, miR-550a) (Fold change (FC) >2, p 50-fold). This binding leads to the activation of NFkB as measured by a NF-κB assay in TLR8–HEK-293 cells treated only with Dotap-miR-29a. Validation of these results using murine and human DCs are undergoing. Summary Altogether, our results indicate that serum miR-29a is up-regulated during aGVHD and activates DCs, likely by direct binding to TLR8 and inducing NFkB activation Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
Bracket algebra and projective geometry

According to the general philosophy outlined in Sect. 1.3, analytic geometry deals with those properties of vectors and matrices which are invariant with respect to some group of linear transformations. Applying this program to projective geometry, one is lead in a natural way to the study of the bracket algebra.
Multiple time-scales in network-of-networks

This paper examines a multiple time-scale system where each layer of time-scale dynamics corresponds to a network. Coupling between layers induces a network-of-networks dynamic system. Assuming a hierarchical interaction structure between network time-scale layers with sufficient time-scale differences, layers can be studied under a separation principle. We describe stability of the network-of-networks through a composite Lyapunov function and provide a bilinear matrix inequality condition to guarantee asymptotic stability. Techniques are proposed to adapt this inequality into a linear matrix inequality condition making it computationally efficient to solve as a convex optimization problem. We examine estimates of the dynamics' domain of attraction and provide conservative bounds on the time-scale separation required to guarantee stability. A class of network-of-networks dynamics with modified consensus dynamics and a state-dependent network structure is then explored. Graph-based guarantees are provided that certify the stability of the system with the worst case rate of convergence dictating conservative bounds on the time-scale separation. An illustrative network-of-networks example is presented.
The Integration Between Satellite Data and Conventional Monitoring System in Order to Update the Arpa Piemonte Landslide Inventory

Arpa Piemonte is in charge of the maintenance of the framework about the hydrogeological instability of the Piemonte region. One of the main goal of working package B2 of the ALCOTRA European Project RISKNAT is focused to improve the knowledge of the SIFRAP (the landslide inventory of Piedmont region), in particular on the more serious phenomena where detailed examination is needed. The update is mainly carried out by the integration of different kind of data in order to obtain an effective knowledge of phenomena: detailed morphological analysis, carried out mainly by air-photo interpretation and some aimed field survey, are coupled with the outcome of the monitoring system of Arpa Piemonte. Thanks to the found of RISKNAT project also space borne radars data are available: in 2010, we covered an Alpine area of about 13,000km2 using data sets from Canadian RADARSAT satellite, covering the time span from 2002 to 2009. The survey was made using a newly patented processing algorithm (the SqueeSAR™) and identified more than 2 millions PS. Also a previous in coverage was made over the entire region (~25,000km2) using data sets from ERS-1 and ERS-2 radar satellites, covering the time span from 1992 to 2001. The main activity is now pointed out to analyse and integrate together all these different data in order to obtain meaningful landslides interpretations and an efficient way to make available all data to citizen and regional authorities.
Integrating the gridiron: black civil rights and American college football

The struggle for African American civil rights took many forms and progressed in many ways. The standard narrative of the movement focuses on the political activism that began in black churches of ...
An Applied Algorithmic Foundation for Hierarchical Clustering

Hierarchical clustering is a data analysis method that has been used for decades. Despite its widespread use, there is a lack of an analytical foundation for the method. Having such a foundation would both support the methods currently used and guide future improvements. This paper gives an applied algorithmic foundation for hierarchical clustering. The goal of this paper is to give an analytic framework supporting observations seen in practice. This paper considers the dual of a problem framework for hierarchical clustering introduced by Dasgupta. The main results are that one of the most popular algorithms used in practice, average-linkage agglomerative clustering, has a small constant approximation ratio. Further, this paper establishes that using recursive $k$-means divisive clustering has a very poor lower bound on its approximation ratio, perhaps explaining why is it not as popular in practice. Motivated by the poor performance of $k$-means, we seek to find divisive algorithms that do perform well theoretically and this paper gives two constant approximation algorithms. This paper represents some of the first work giving a foundation for hierarchical clustering algorithms used in practice.
Depression and Anxiety in Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: Etiology and Treatment.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the most common endocrine disorder in reproductive age women and is associated with an increased prevalence of depression and anxiety symptoms. This review presents potential mechanisms for this increased risk and outlines treatment options. Women with PCOS have increased odds of depressive symptoms (OR 3.78; 95% CI 3.03–4.72) and anxiety symptoms (OR 5.62; 95% CI 3.22–9.80). Obesity, insulin resistance, and elevated androgens may partly contribute to this association. Therefore, in addition to established treatment options, treatment of PCOS-related symptoms with lifestyle modification and/or oral contraceptive pills may be of benefit. Screening for anxiety and depression is recommended in women with PCOS at the time of diagnosis. The exact etiology for the increased risk in PCOS is still unclear. Moreover, there is a paucity of published data on the most effective behavioral, pharmacological, or physiological treatment options specifically in women with PCOS.
Teaching assistants' topic-specific pedagogical content knowledge in 1H NMR spectroscopy

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is an essential analytical tool in chemistry, and the technique is routinely included as a topic across the undergraduate chemistry curriculum. As a result of NMR's importance, classroom instruction of this topic has received considerable attention in chemistry education research. However, little is known about instructors’ knowledge for teaching this topic. In order to better understand this knowledge, we investigated topic-specific pedagogical content knowledge in 1H NMR spectroscopy among 20 chemistry teaching assistants at a large Midwestern university in the United States. A questionnaire was developed to provide an inferential measure of content knowledge and topic-specific pedagogical content knowledge in 1H NMR spectroscopy for participants with a range of teaching experience. Data from the questionnaire were analyzed qualitatively and quantized using a rubric. The quantitative data were transformed using the Rasch model and statistically analyzed. Results from these analyses indicate that pedagogical content knowledge increased with teaching experience in 1H NMR spectroscopy, suggesting that knowledge for teaching this topic is developed through practice. Additionally, the development of pedagogical content knowledge was found to depend upon content knowledge required for specific NMR sub-topics and problems. This finding suggests that the ultimate “grain-size,” or domain-specificity, of pedagogical content knowledge may extend to the problem level. Results from this study have implications for how instructors may cultivate knowledge for teaching NMR spectroscopy, as well as for how pedagogical content knowledge may be more effectively incorporated into instructor training programs.
Treatment of Irritant Contact Dermatitis

Contact with external irritating agents such as dishwashing liquid, formaldehyde, or raw meat may result in irritant contact dermatitis (ICD), a localized nonimmunologic condition. ICD ensues when irritant stimuli overpower the defense and repair capacities of the skin [34, 86]. Exposure to highly potent irritants or exposure to mild irritants for an extended period of time will increase the likelihood of developing ICD. Prevention of skin irritation is the main therapeutic strategy in irritant dermatitis. The causative irritant should be avoided, in addition to other common environmental irritants such as soaps and detergents. Regular use of emollients and the use of syndets or non-soap cleansers help to maintain the skin barrier. Protective clothing such as gloves, can reduce skin contact with environmental irritants while allowing the skin to heal. It is important that protective clothing be suitable for the purpose intended: the fact that certain gloves allow permeation of irritants and allergens is often overlooked. However, prevention itself may not be sufficient to eradicate ICD. This may be because irritated skin can become hyper-reactive, and the dermatitis may flare with even minimal contact with the eliciting substances. In addition, it is not possible to identify and avoid causative irritants in all cases. Thus, additional therapies to treat ICD are essential in certain cases. Examples of such treatments in clinical practice include cool compresses, moisturizing creams, and PUVA or UV-B phototherapy [59]. In this chapter, we explore available treatments and discuss experimental evidence of their putative mechanisms and benefits.
The Use of Cover Crops to Manage Soil

Cover crops are used to manage soils for many different reasons and are known by many different names. Cover crops are literally “crops that cover the soil” and one of their first uses was to reduce soil erosion during fallow periods in annual cropping systems. Cover crops are also known as “green manures,” “catch crops,” or “living mulch.” Green manure cover crops are usually legumes that fix N and are grown to provide N to the following cash crop. Catch crops are cover crops that are grown during fallow periods in cropping systems to take up nutrients, especially N, that would be lost if plants are not present. Lastly, living mulches are cover crops that are grown both during and after the cash crop growing season and are suppressed or managed to reduce their competition with the cash crop when it is growing. After the cash crop has matured and before it begins growing again, the living mulch is allowed to grow unhindered. One way to manage living mulches is to restrict them to the “fallow” spaces between crop rows. Orchards or vineyards are sometimes managed with living mulches, but it is also possible to incorporate living mulches into annual cropping systems. Thus, as can be seen from their many names and descriptions, cover crops can fulfill many soil management functions. In terms of soil management, the basic premise for using cover crops is to reduce fallow periods and spaces in cropping systems. Natural ecosystems typically have some plants growing, covering the soil, transpiring water, taking up nutrients, fixing carbon, and sup porting soil fauna for most of the time that the ground is not frozen. Agricultural cropping systems producing grain, oilseed, and fiber crops in temperate regions typically only have living plants for four to six months of the year and are fallow for the remaining six to eight months. Current planting and tilling practices often leave soil bare and exposed during fall, winter, and early spring. Some perennial cropping systems for nut or fruit crops (e.g., almonds and grapes) keep the spaces between rows fallow and tilled for extended periods. As a result of these fallow periods and fallow spaces in annual and perennial cropping systems, soil is left unprotected from erosive forces, nutrients and organic matter are lost or not replenished, runoff increases, soil fauna are stressed, and soil productivity diminishes. Thus, inserting cover crops into fallow periods or fallow spaces in cropping systems can accomplish multiple soil management goals. This discussion is not intended to be a comprehensive review and will focus on the general principles and evidence for using cover crops to manage soil erosion, runoff, soil nutrients, soil physical properties, soil water, soil organic carbon, soil chemical properties, and soil biology.
Abdominal Radiography With Digital Tomosynthesis: An Alternative to Computed Tomography for Identification of Urinary Calculi?

Abstract Objective To compare the accuracy of plain abdominal radiography (kidneys, ureter, and bladder [KUB]) with digital tomosynthesis (DT) to noncontrast computed tomography (NCCT), the gold standard imaging modality for urinary stones. Due to radiation and cost concerns, KUB is often used for diagnosis and follow-up of nephrolithiasis. DT, a novel technique that produces high-quality radiographs with less radiation and/or cost than low-dose NCCT, has not been assessed in this situation. Materials and Methods Seven fresh tissue cadavers were implanted with stones of known size and/or composition and imaged with KUB, DT, and NCCT. Four blinded readers (2 urologists, 2 radiologists) evaluated KUBs for presence and/or location of calculi. They then re-evaluated with addition of tomograms to assess additional value. After a memory extinction period, readers evaluated NCCT images. Accuracy of detection was determined using nearest-neighbor match with generalized linear mixed modeling. Results Total of 59 stones were identified on reference read. Overall, NCCT and DT were both superior to KUB alone (P Conclusion Our study demonstrates DT is superior to KUB for identification of intrarenal calculi and could replace routine use of KUB or NCCT for detecting renal stones, even those composed of uric acid.
Heteroepitaxy of Fin-Shaped InGaN Nanoridge Using Molecular Beam Epitaxy

We have demonstrated a well-ordered In-rich single crystalline InGaN nanoridge array grown on GaN/sapphire substrate using the integration of top-down etching and bottom-up molecular beam epitaxy. During the initial growth of InGaN on a patterned GaN/sapphire substrate, a (1011) r-plane predominantly forms, suppressing the growth in [1011] crystal direction and resulting in a triangular InGaN nanoprism. As the growth proceeds further, a narrow (∼50 nm) single-crystal fin-shaped InGaN nanoridge forms atop the InGaN nanoprism structure. The resulting narrow fin-shaped InGaN nanoridge structure shows extremely strong photoluminescence (PL) intensity with a center wavelength at 524–560 nm and narrow distribution compared to the epitaxially grown planar InGaN layer or InGaN nanowire. High-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) combined with an energy-dispersive X-ray (EDS) map reveals that a sharply faceted single-crystal InGaN nanoridge (∼50 nm width) forms along the top of each InGaN n...
Explainable modeling of annotations in crowdsourcing

Aggregation models for improving the quality of annotations collected via crowdsourcing have been widely studied, but far less has been done to explain why annotators make the mistakes that they do. To this end, we propose a joint aggregation and worker clustering model that detects patterns underlying crowd worker labels to characterize varieties of labeling errors. We evaluate our approach on a Named Entity Recognition dataset labeled by Mechanical Turk workers in both a retrospective experiment and a small human study. The former shows that our joint model improves the quality of clusters vs. aggregation followed by clustering. Results of the latter suggest that clusters aid human sense-making in interpreting worker labels and predicting worker mistakes. By enabling better explanation of annotator mistakes, our model creates a new opportunity to help Requesters improve task instructions and to help crowd annotators learn from their mistakes. Source code, data, and supplementary material is shared online.
Lessons: Factors Driving the Rise and Fall of Dynasties

This chapter summarizes what has gone before, with special reference to hypothesized effects of climate on history. Climate has an unpredictable and usually indirect effect on events on the ground. In general, climatic events that produce famine also produce unrest and war, but the correlation is far from perfect. As the East Asian world-system developed, events in one empire—especially China, by far the biggest and most powerful—tended to be more and more influential on neighbors, while climate became less influential overall.
Continuity And Change In Local Development Policies In Egypt: From Nasser To Sadat

The profile of Egypt at midcentury is quite typical of Third World countries: Two-thirds or more of the population lived and made a living off the land, more than half of the national labor force was rural, the contribution of agriculture to GNP was one-third the total, and that of industry less than 15 percent. Land distribution was extremely unequal, less than one percent of landowners possessed more than one-third of the cultivated land and many of them were absentee landlords. The credit system and extension services were inadequate if available at all. Finally, population pressure on the land was relentless. In effect, the revolutionary government was faced with a situation where agricultural surplus was extracted by wealthy landlords connected with urban centers where underemployment was high and manpower productivity very low, with industry growing at a very slow pace. National leaders felt that a developmental policy that would help the country break away from the vicious circle of poverty and underdevelopment was called for. The strategy they followed may be summarized in the following terms: (1) Industrialization was the major avenue to achieve modernization and to raise the standard of living. Hence, the capital for investment in industry was to be partially diverted from agriculture, voluntarily or through other means of control, because the agricultural sector was the main earner of foreign currency and the major single contributor to the economy. (2) Agriculture should be modernized to increase productivity and fulfill the great expectations based on it for national development and provision of food. (3) Opposition forces to such national targets were to be contained and their power undermined in order to prevent resistance. One of these forces was large landlords whose influence in the government was traditionally great. (4) Small cultivators should be supported and made the mainstay of rural policy without jeopardizing productivity. This was conceived as a measure of social justice and political wisdom. The resultant agrarian reform policy was ideologically compatible with the new regime's outlook, fair from a social justice point of view and politically wise. It was in this national and economic context that agrarian reform was born in Egypt and it was therefore shaped by these considerations. Consequently, its
Deep Learning using Convolutional LSTM estimates Biological Age from Physical Activity

Human age estimation is an important and difficult challenge. Different biomarkers and numerous approaches have been studied for biological age estimation, each with its advantages and limitations. In this work, we investigate whether physical activity can be exploited for biological age estimation for adult humans. We introduce an approach based on deep convolutional long short term memory (ConvLSTM) to predict biological age, using human physical activity as recorded by a wearable device. We also demonstrate five deep biological age estimation models including the proposed approach and compare their performance on the NHANES physical activity dataset. Results on mortality hazard analysis using both the Cox proportional hazard model and Kaplan-Meier curves each show that the proposed method for estimating biological age outperforms other state-of-the-art approaches. This work has significant implications in combining wearable sensors and deep learning techniques for improved health monitoring, for instance, in a mobile health environment. Mobile health (mHealth) applications provide patients, caregivers, and administrators continuous information about a patient, even outside the hospital.
PFHub: The Phase-Field Community Hub

Scientific communities struggle with the challenge of effectively and efficiently sharing content and data. An online portal provides a valuable space for scientific communities to discuss challenges and collate scientific results. Examples of such portals include the Micromagnetic Modeling Group (μMAG) [1], the Interatomic Potentials Repository (IPR) [2, 3] and on a larger scale the NIH Genetic Sequence Database (GenBank) [4]. In this work, we present a description of a generic web portal that leverages existing online services to provide a framework that may be adopted by other small scientific communities. The first deployment of the PFHub framework supports phase-field practitioners and code developers participating in an effort to improve quality assurance for phase-field codes. Funding statement: D.W. wishes to acknowledge the Materials Genome Initiative funding allocated to the National Institute of Standards and Technology. S.J.D wishes to acknowledge funding from the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering under Award #DE-SC0008637 as part of the Center for PRedictive Integrated Structural Materials Science (PRISMS Center) at University of Michigan. P.W.V. is grateful for the financial assistance under the award 70NANB14H012 from the National Institute of Standards and Technology as part of the Center for Hierarchical Materials Design (CHiMaD).
Utilization of an Automated Internet-Based Safety Plan

Suicide is a public health crisis, yet few online resources that specifically target suicidality are available. The aim of the present study was to develop an automated, self-guided Internet-Based Safety Plan (IBSP) and to explore how intended users – members of the Internet community who endorsed past or current suicidality – utilized this resource. Participants (N = 150) were adult visitors to an automated Internet-based depression/suicidality screening website, who were either invited to take part in the present study or redirected to the present study from the referring website. Participants were offered comprehensive prompts to guide them through creating a personalized Safety Plan. Participants provided feedback regarding their use of IBSP; data entered in the Safety Plan itself were also analyzed. Participants gave largely positive ratings regarding website navigation, explanations, and examples and reported an overall positive impression of IBSP. Qualitative analysis of the responses suggested that several aspects of IBSP could be enhanced; these included making the IBSP even more predictable and modifying instructions for specific steps. These data will be critical for creating future versions of IBSP, to develop a highly usable and effective Internet-based safety plan to help individuals during crises.
The Mystery of the Kibbutz: Egalitarian Principles in a Capitalist World

This is not a typical economics book. Even though economic logic takes a central place in this work, Ran Abramitsky offers a beautiful human picture of one of the most fascinating forms of social o...
Building maps of protein structure spaces in template-free protein structure prediction.

An important goal in template-free protein structure prediction is how to control the quality of computed tertiary structures of a target amino-acid sequence. Despite great advances in algorithmic ...
Early Skin‐To‐Skin Contact for Mothers and Their Healthy Newborn Infants

Newborn Care Paper Presentation Objective To assess the effects of early skin‐to‐skin contact (SSC) on breastfeeding, physiological adaptation, and behavior in healthy mother–newborn dyads. Design Systematic review and meta‐analysis. Setting N/A. Sample Thirty‐four randomized controlled trials involving 2,177 participants (mother–infant dyads). The search strategy included the Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth Group's Trials Register (September 2011), the Cochrane Neonatal Group's Trials Register (June 2011), and Medline (1976‐2011). Selection criteria included randomized controlled trials comparing early SSC with usual hospital care. Methods We independently assessed trial quality and extracted data. Study authors were contacted for additional information. Results Data from more than two trials were available for only 10 outcome measures. We found statistically significant and positive effects of early SSC on breastfeeding at 1 to 4 months post birth (13 trials, 702 participants) (risk ratio 1.27, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.06 to 1.53, and a trend toward significance ( p = .06) in breastfeeding duration (seven trials, 324 participants) (mean difference [MD] 42.55 days, 95% CI –1.69 to 86.79). SSC infants were more likely to have a successful first breastfeeding (two trials, 54 participants) (MD in IBFAT scores 1.79, 95% CI 0.24‐3.35). Late preterm infants had better cardio‐respiratory stability with early SSC (one trial, 31 participants) (MD 2.88, 95% CI 0.53‐5.23). SSC infants cried for a shorter length of time (one trial, 44 participants) (MD –8.01, 95% CI –8.98 to –7.04). The overall methodological quality of trials was mixed, and there was high heterogeneity for some outcomes. Limitations included methodological quality, variations in intervention implementation, and outcomes. Conclusion/Implications for Nursing Practice Mother–infant separation post birth is common in Western culture. Early SSC begins ideally at birth and involves placing the naked baby, head covered with a dry cap and a warm blanket across the back, prone on the mother's bare chest. This time may represent a psychophysiologically sensitive period for programing future physiology and behavior. The intervention appears to benefit breastfeeding outcomes, cardio‐respiratory stability, and infant crying, and has no apparent short‐ or long‐term negative effects. Further investigation is recommended. To facilitate meta‐analysis, future research should be done using outcome measures consistent with those in the studies included here. Published reports should clearly indicate if the intervention was SSC with time of initiation and duration and include means, standard deviations, and exact probability values.
Microtubules regulate pancreatic beta cell heterogeneity via spatiotemporal control of insulin secretion hot spots

Heterogeneity of glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS) in pancreatic islets is physiologically important but poorly understood. Here, we utilize whole mouse islets to determine how microtubules affect secretion toward the vascular extracellular matrix. Our data indicate that microtubule stability in the β-cell population is heterogenous, and that cells with more stable microtubules secrete less in response to a stimulus. Consistently, microtubule hyper-stabilization prevents, and microtubule depolymerization promotes β-cell activation. Analysis of spatiotemporal patterns of secretion events shows that microtubule depolymerization activates otherwise dormant β-cells via initiation of secretion clusters (hot spots). Microtubule depolymerization also enhances secretion from individual cells, introducing both additional clusters and scattered events. Interestingly, without microtubules, the timing of clustered secretion is dysregulated, extending the first phase of GSIS. Our findings uncover a novel microtubule function in tuning insulin secretion hot spots, which leads to accurately measured and timed response to glucose stimuli and promotes functional β-cell heterogeneity.
Deflating the opaque online ad bubble

General Motors and Ford, the two largest U.S. automakers, are together worth about US$100 billion. The combined value of Google and Facebook is about $2 trillion—20 times higher. What makes these companies worth so much? Ads. In Subprime Attention Crisis: Advertising and the Time Bomb at the Heart of the Internet, Tim Hwang suggests that the digital advertising industry may be on the brink of a global collapse. And if it is not, he argues, then we should push it off the cliff.
The Gentrification of the Small Press: CLMP and the DIY Tradition

A disavowal of economic interest is a basic ritual of the poetic avant-garde. To commercialize or ‘sell out’ is to sacrifice artistic and political integrity. In spite of the outward durability of this economic disinterest, however, it turns out that small press publishing operates by a set of rules that is much more complicated than just a contest for poetic supremacy. This chapter suggests that we should develop an analysis of the contemporary small press that considers not just symbolic and economic capital, but also intellectual capital, social capital and human capital. This chapter puts this more nuanced analysis in place through an investigation of the role of the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses in the small press publishing of poetry in the US.
Beta-Genus Human Papillomavirus 8 E6 Destabilizes the Host Genome by Promoting p300 Degradation

The beta genus of human papillomaviruses infects cutaneous keratinocytes. Their replication depends on actively proliferating cells and, thus, they conflict with the cellular response to the DNA damage frequently encountered by these cells. This review focus on one of these viruses (HPV8) that counters the cellular response to damaged DNA and mitotic errors by expressing a protein (HPV8 E6) that destabilizes a histone acetyltransferase, p300. The loss of p300 results in broad dysregulation of cell signaling that decreases genome stability. In addition to discussing phenotypes caused by p300 destabilization, the review contains a discussion of the extent to which E6 from other β-HPVs destabilizes p300, and provides a discussion on dissecting HPV8 E6 biology using mutants.