cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Theory-Based Behavioral Intervention Increases Mother-Son Communication About Sexual Risk Reduction Among Inner-City African-Americans.

Abstract Purpose African-American adolescent males are at increased risk for HIV, yet there are few sexual risk-reduction interventions targeting this population. Interventions that include mothers can influence parentingbehaviors and in turn, reduce risky behaviors in adolescents. This study tests the efficacy of the Mother–Son Health Promotion Project at increasing mother–son communication about sexual risk reduction. Methods African-American mothers with their sons (ages 10–15 years) residing in public housing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania were randomized into a HIV/sexually transmitted infections risk-reduction intervention consisting of 16 1-hour modules or an attention-matched health-promotion control intervention.Mothers and sons completed surveys pre-intervention, immediately postintervention, and at 3-, 6-, 12-, 18- and 24-months postintervention. Results Of 525 mother–son dyads, 366 (69.7%) completed the 24-months postintervention follow-up survey. Generalized-estimating-equations models using both mothers’ and sons’ reports revealed that over 24 months, mothers and sons in the HIV/sexually transmitted infections risk-reduction intervention were more likely to communicate about sexual health, including sexual intercourse, birth control, HIV/AIDS prevention, and condoms. Intervention efficacy was found to weaken over time. Conclusions This culturally grounded, theory-based intervention was efficacious in increasing mother–son communication about sexual risk reduction. The work highlights the value of the intervention toincrease parental protective factors, including communication by mothers, to decrease HIV risk behaviors of African-American adolescent males.
Modulation of alternative splicing of trafficking genes by genome editing reveals functional consequences in muscle biology

Alternative splicing is a regulatory mechanism by which multiple mRNA isoforms are generated from single genes. Numerous genes that encode membrane trafficking proteins are alternatively spliced. However, there is limited information about the functional consequences that result from these splicing transitions. Here, we developed appropriate tools to study the functional impact of alternative splicing in development within the most in vivo context. Secondly, we provided evidence of the physiological implications of splicing regulation during muscle development. Our previous work in mouse heart development identified three trafficking genes that are regulated by alternative splicing between birth and adulthood: the clathrin heavy chain, the clathrin light chain-a, and the trafficking kinesin binding protein-1. Here, we demonstrated that alternative splicing regulation of these three genes is tissue- and developmental stage-specific. To identify the functional consequences of splicing regulation in vivo, we used genome editing to block the neonatal-to-adult splicing transitions. We characterized the phenotype of one of these mouse lines and demonstrated that when splicing regulation of the clathrin heavy chain gene is prevented mice exhibit an increase in body and muscle weights which is due to an enlargement in myofiber size. The significance of this work has two components. First, we revealed novel roles of the clathrin heavy chain in muscle growth and showed that its regulation by alternative splicing contributes to muscle development. Second, the new mouse lines will provide a useful tool to study how splicing regulation of three trafficking genes affects tissue identity acquisition and maturation in vivo.
Remotely Sensed Freeze-Thaw from the Soil Moisture Active Passive Instrument to Inform the Timing of Seasonal Load Restrictions in Alaska:

To balance the competing interests of minimizing road damage while maximizing economic opportunities on low-volume roadways located in seasonal frost areas, road management agencies typically apply...
Abstract LB-014: Antibody targeting soluble NKG2D ligand sMIC sensitizes metastatic prostate tumor and other MIC+ tumors to PD1/PD-L1 blockade therapy in pre-clinical models

Targeting programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) has produced a survival benefit for patients diagnosed with many types of malignancies. However, the clinical survival benefit in metastatic prostate cancer is only marginal to-date. Currently, the understanding of why metastatic prostate cancer is resistant to PD-1 blockade therapy remains to be defined. Among the many factors that negatively impact response to PD-1 blockade treatment, tumor-derived soluble NKG2D ligands have been reported to hinder the clinical response to immune checkpoint blockade in melanoma patients. Metastatic prostate cancer cells release high levels of the circulating soluble NKG2D ligand, soluble MHC I Chain related molecule (sMIC), a molecule that is absent in classical rodent tumor model. Here, we tested the hypothesis that targeting sMIC sensitizes metastatic prostate tumors to PD-1 blockade therapy. Using a well-described double transgenic TRAMP/MIC mouse model that closely resembles the onco-immune dynamics of human metastatic prostate cancer, we demonstrate that an antibody targeting sMIC significantly enhances the response of prostate tumors to PD-1/PD-L1 blockade therapy. Mechanistically, targeting sMIC enriches NK cell and CD8 T cell infiltration into tumors, equips CD8 T cells with enhanced NKG2D and CD28 dual co-stimulation, and increases the expression of PD-L1 + on prostate tumor cells. Combination of the antibody targeting sMIC and a PD-1/PD-L1 blockade cooperatively augments intra-tumoral NK and antigen-specific CD8 T cell anti-tumor immunity. These findings were validated in syngeneic prostate tumor transplant models and other models of other cancer types. Our pre-clinical study provides proof-of-concept and uncovered novel mechanisms of a viable combination immunotherapy for metastatic prostate cancer and other MIC + cancers. Citation Format: Jennifer D. Wu, Jinyu Zhang, Pablo Larrocha, Payal Dhar. Antibody targeting soluble NKG2D ligand sMIC sensitizes metastatic prostate tumor and other MIC + tumors to PD1/PD-L1 blockade therapy in pre-clinical models [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2019; 2019 Mar 29-Apr 3; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(13 Suppl):Abstract nr LB-014.
Case Study of Advanced Diagnostic Techniques for Multi Port Register File

This paper is a case study of diagnostic techniques used to debug a particularly difficult fail in a multi-port register file memory that appeared to increase its minimum functional voltage (VMIN) over time. Some of the debug techniques used involved Array Built-In-Self Test (ABIST) before and after chips in burn in, CPA (Critical Parameters Analysis), PEM (Photon Emission Microscopy), PICA (Picosecond Image Circuit Analysis) and PFA (Physical Failure Analysis).
Can social support during pregnancy affect maternal DNA methylation? Findings from a cohort of African-Americans.

While stress and the absence of social support during pregnancy have been linked to poor health outcomes, the underlying biological mechanisms are unclear. We examined whether adverse experiences during pregnancy alter DNA methylation (DNAm) in maternal epigenomes. Analyses included 250 African-American mothers from the Boston Birth Cohort. Genome-wide DNAm profiling was performed in maternal blood collected after delivery, using the Infinium HumanMethylation450 Beadchip. Linear regression models, with adjustment of pertinent covariates, were applied. While self-reported maternal psychosocial lifetime stress and stress during pregnancy was not associated with DNAm alterations, we found that absence of support from the baby’s father was significantly associated with maternal DNAm changes in TOR3A, IQCB1, C7orf36, and MYH7B and that lack of support from family and friends was associated with maternal DNA hypermethylation on multiple genes, including PRDM16 and BANKL. This study provides intriguing results suggesting biological embedding of social support during pregnancy on maternal DNAm, warranting additional investigation, and replication.
Complementary and Alternative Medicine for Painful Peripheral Neuropathy.

The purpose of our manuscript is to review the current evidence supporting the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in neuromuscular disease, specifically in painful peripheral neuropathy (PPN). We outline the therapeutic challenges of this debilitating condition and describe the best evidence for incorporating such therapies into clinical practice. The most studied modalities include lifestyle modifications with diet and exercise, supplements, and acupuncture. CAM therapies such as yoga, meditation, electrical stimulation, neuromodulatory devices, and cannabis are mentioned as emerging therapies. Current data suggests that targeted lifestyle modifications, including aerobic exercise and diet modifications that promote weight loss, may improve the natural course of diabetic painful neuropathy and potentially other types of neuropathy. A number of studied dietary supplements and vitamins including B vitamins, vitamin D, alpha-lipoic acid, and acetyl-l-carnitine improve both subjective and objective neuropathic measures. A wide range of neuromodulatory devices and electrical stimulation modalities demonstrate mixed results, and further studies are needed to confirm their benefit. Finally, acupuncture and yoga both demonstrate benefit in a variety of PPNs. Multiple CAM therapies show efficacy in the treatment of PPN. From the strongest level of evidence to the least, lifestyle modifications including exercise and diet; supplements including B12, alpha lipoic acid, acetyl-l-carnitine, and vitamin D in deficient patients; followed by acupuncture and yoga may alleviate symptoms of PPN.
Weak consistency of the 1-nearest neighbor measure with applications to missing data

When data is partially missing at random, imputation and importance weighting are often used to estimate moments of the unobserved population. In this paper, we study 1-nearest neighbor (1NN) importance weighting, which estimates moments by replacing missing data with the complete data that is the nearest neighbor in the non-missing covariate space. We define an empirical measure, the 1NN measure, and show that it is weakly consistent for the measure of the missing data. The main idea behind this result is that the 1NN measure is performing inverse probability weighting in the limit. We study applications to missing data and mitigating the impact of covariate shift in prediction tasks.
Choosing Wisely in Critical Care: A National Survey of Critical Care Nurses

Background To promote the use of appropriate testing, and decrease unnecessary treatments, the ABIM Foundation established the Choosing Wisely campaign in 2012. Initially targeting physicians, the campaign has evolved to encourage all providers to promote high-value care; however, information related to critical care nursing is limited. Objectives To assess nurses' reports of the use of Choosing Wisely recommendations in critical care settings. Methods Responses from nurses were examined as part of a critical care survey of members of 4 societies in order to assess awareness and use of the Choosing Wisely recommendations. Results Of the 1651 acute and critical care nurses who were members of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses and responded to the survey, 632 (38.3%) reported being familiar with the Choosing Wisely campaign. Of these respondents, 200 identified as advanced practice nurses. A total of 620 reported implementing the 5 Critical Care Society Collaborative recommendations, including reducing diagnostic testing (n = 311 [50.2%]), reducing the number of red blood cell transfusions (n = 530 [85.5%]), not using parenteral nutrition in adequately nourished patients (n = 293 [47.3%]), not using deep sedation in patients receiving mechanical ventilation (n = 499 [80.5%]), and offering comfort care for patients at high risk for death (n = 416 [67.1%]). Staff education, specific protocols, electronic medical record alerts, and order sets all raised nurses' awareness of the recommendations. Conclusions Acute and critical care nurses are directly involved with measures to reduce unnecessary testing and treatments. Greater awareness and championing of the Choosing Wisely recommendations by acute and critical care nurses can help to promote high-value care for acute and critically ill patients.
Some, But Not All, Children Believe in Miracles

Recent findings have shown that young children resemble adults in claiming that events which violate causal laws cannot happen. Indeed, young children are especially conservative. They claim that even highly improbable events, such as finding an alligator under one’s bed, cannot happen. Children make use of this knowledge about possibility and impossibility in assessing the status of a narrative. When presented with narratives that include extraordinary or magical possibilities, children typically judge them to be fictional narratives rather than genuinely factual accounts. However, despite their doubts about any radical departure from the ordinary course of events, some young children believe in various extraordinary or miraculous possibilities. They accept that God has special powers, unlike ordinary mortals. In addition, when presented with narratives that include miraculous events, they often claim that the narrative is an account of what truly happened rather than being purely fictional. We discuss the origins and scope of this apparent tension between a naturalistic stance and a belief in the miraculous.
Connecting Hands and Heads: Retooling Engineering Technology for the “Smart” Manufacturing Workplace:

Technological change, global competition, and a protracted economic downturn combined to usher in and hasten a new era in manufacturing. The digitally integrated factory, where machines are compute...
Disinformation as Political Communication

This introduction to the special issue “Beyond Fake News: The Politics of Disinformation” contains four main sections. In the first, we discuss the major sociopolitical factors that have allowed di...
Microspectrophotometry of Visual Receptors

During this brief talk, I would like to try to give an updated view, since my Handbook review (1) written in 1969 of the kinds of things I believe microspectrophotometry (MSP) of single vertebrate receptor outer segments has contributed to our fund of knowledge of visual pigments and photoreceptor structure and where I anticipate future understanding will be gained by further application of this technique.
Local conspecific density does not influence reproductive output in a secondary cavity-nesting songbird

Density dependence is a conceptual cornerstone of avian population biology and, in territorial songbirds, past research has emphasized interactions among food limitation, density, and reproduction. Documenting the importance of density effects is central to understanding how selective forces shape life histories and population dynamics. During the 2008–2011 breeding seasons, we nearly doubled overall conspecific breeding densities on study sites, and manipulated nest box spacing to increase local breeding densities (defined as the number of pairs breeding within 200 m of a pair's nest) of a secondary cavity-nesting songbird, the Prothonotary Warbler (Protonotaria citrea). Our primary objective was to test for effects of food limitation, as mediated by conspecific local densities, on measures of productivity. We monitored breeding pairs and recorded the total number of fledglings produced along with several components of reproductive output (clutch size, hatching success, nestling survival, and probability of attempting a second brood), rates of nestling provisioning, and nestling body condition prior to fledging. We predicted that if the availability of food were affected by local densities, then one or more of these parameters measuring reproduction would be affected negatively. We did not detect an effect of local density on total reproductive output or its components despite our vast range of local densities (1–27 pairs; i.e. 0.16–2.23 pairs ha–1). Further, we also did not detect differences in nestling provisioning rates and nestling body condition relative to local density. By breeding in a productive ecosystem rich in food resources, these warblers appear to avoid reduced reproductive output when breeding in high densities. Whereas density-dependent food limitation may commonly reduce reproductive output in many species, the ecological circumstances underlying when it does not occur merit further investigation and may provide new insights into what is driving territoriality and what are the primary factors affecting individual fitness.
Prognostic significance of lymphovascular space invasion for stage IA1 and IA2 cervical cancer.

Background Data regarding the prognostic significance of lymphovascular space invasion (LVSI) for stage IA1 and IA2 cervical cancer are limited. Specifically, the role of LVSI as an independent risk factor for mortality in stage IA disease has not been shown. Objective We examined the association between LVSI and nodal metastases and survival for women with stage IA1 and IA2 cervical cancer. Study Design We used the National Cancer Database to identify patients with stage IA adenocarcinoma or squamous carcinoma of the cervix from January 2010 through December 2015 for whom LVSI status was known. Mixed-effect log-Poisson models were used to identify predictors of LVSI. Cox proportional hazard models and Kaplan-Meier curves were used to compare all-cause mortality. Results We identified 3239 patients with stage IA1 and 1049 patients with stage IA2 carcinoma of the cervix. Among patients with stage IA1 and IA2 disease, 10.5% and 18.8% had LVSI, respectively. Less than 1% of patients with stage IA1 disease without LVSI had positive nodes compared with 7.8% of those with LVSI (p Conclusions LVSI is associated with lymph node metastases in patients with stage IA cervical cancer. LVSI is associated with decreased survival for women with stage IA2 cervical cancer.
Technology infusion in K-12 classrooms: a retrospective look at three decades of challenges and advancements in research and practice

Educational technology offers unique affordances as a learning tool and delivery system for enhancing and personalizing instruction. Over the past two decades, efforts by school districts and states to infuse technology into everyday K-12 education through one-to-one laptop initiatives have rapidly proliferated. In this paper, I examine such initiatives from studies in the literature and from my own research, starting with the Apple Classroom of Tomorrow in the mid-1980′s and continuing today with comprehensive mixed-method evaluations in school districts. Drawing from this work, I focus on several themes that create both challenges and opportunities for technology infusion to occur in more effective and sustainable ways. These include: (a) conceptualizing technology as an educational tool and delivery system, not as a “treatment” in itself; (b) defining and communicating to stakeholders what proximal and long-term outcomes the technology initiative is (and is not) expected to promote; (c) not over-promising impacts on student achievement on standardized assessments where technology applications are directed primary toward other educational goals; and (d) conducting ongoing evaluation studies to provide evidence of program implementation progress and effectiveness at different phases of the initiative.
Favorable Outcomes and Anti-TNF Durability After Addition of an Immunomodulator for Anti-Drug Antibodies in Pediatric IBD Patients.

Background Anti-drug antibodies (ADAs) to anti-tumor necrosis factor alpha (anti-TNF) drugs are associated with increased drug clearance and loss of response. We aimed to assess the effectiveness of starting an immunomodulator (IM) drug in patients with newly detected ADAs on anti-TNF monotherapy. Methods We reviewed the medical records of pediatric patients with inflammatory bowel disease on infliximab or adalimumab monotherapy with first-time detection of significant ADAs between 2014 and 2018. Patients who started an IM within 3 months of ADA detection were compared with those who did not (No-IM). Outcomes included steroid-free clinical and biochemical remission on the same anti-TNF , anti-TNF durability, and ADA reversal. Results We identified 89 patients with ADAs: 30 IM patients and 59 No-IM patients. The initial anti-TNF was stopped shortly after ADA detection in 36% of the No-IM patients vs none of the IM patients, driving longer survival on the initial anti-TNF in the IM group (P = 0.005). At 12 months, steroid-free clinical and biochemical remission on the same anti-TNF occurred in 53.9% of the IM group vs 26.8% in the No-IM group (P = 0.025). Drug levels rose higher (P = 0.003) and ADA levels fell farther (P = 0.037) in the IM group than in the No-IM group. Baseline ADA level predicted ADA reversal in the No-IM patients with an area under the receiver operating characteristic of 0.79 (P = 0.006). An ADA level Conclusions Pediatric patients with inflammatory bowel disease on anti-TNF monotherapy who started an IM for significant ADA levels exhibited longer anti-TNF durability and a higher likelihood of steroid-free clinical and biochemical remission on the same anti-TNF. Patients not treated with an IM were unlikely to reverse ADAs >329 ng/mL.
Dewey’s Ethics of Moral Principles and Deliberation: Extending IEEE’s Ethics Initiative for Adaptive Instructional Systems

This paper proposes an expansion of the classical ethical foundations as laid out by the IEEE’s Global Initiative on the Ethics of Autonomous and Intelligent Systems that are of particular relevance for developers and interested parties concerned with establishing standards to inform the design and implementation of adaptive instructional systems. Ethically Aligned Design [1] argues for the value of integrating the following ethical traditions into either autonomous and intelligent systems public awareness campaigns or engineering or science education programs: virtue ethics, deontological ethics, utilitarian ethics, and ethics of care. Though these traditions cover a broad spectrum of important considerations, they lack specificity for adaptive instructional systems. We argue that an alternative, more manageable and particularly relevant framework should be considered: Dewey’s notion of the ethics of moral principles and deliberation. Following from this framework, we also argue for the need to explore education of ethical thinking and related skills through the medium of adaptive instructional systems.
Use of word and graph embedding to measure semantic relatedness between Unified Medical Language System concepts.

Objective The study sought to explore the use of deep learning techniques to measure the semantic relatedness between Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) concepts. Materials and methods Concept sentence embeddings were generated for UMLS concepts by applying the word embedding models BioWordVec and various flavors of BERT to concept sentences formed by concatenating UMLS terms. Graph embeddings were generated by the graph convolutional networks and 4 knowledge graph embedding models, using graphs built from UMLS hierarchical relations. Semantic relatedness was measured by the cosine between the concepts' embedding vectors. Performance was compared with 2 traditional path-based (shortest path and Leacock-Chodorow) measurements and the publicly available concept embeddings, cui2vec, generated from large biomedical corpora. The concept sentence embeddings were also evaluated on a word sense disambiguation (WSD) task. Reference standards used included the semantic relatedness and semantic similarity datasets from the University of Minnesota, concept pairs generated from the Standardized MedDRA Queries and the MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) WSD corpus. Results Sentence embeddings generated by BioWordVec outperformed all other methods used individually in semantic relatedness measurements. Graph convolutional network graph embedding uniformly outperformed path-based measurements and was better than some word embeddings for the Standardized MedDRA Queries dataset. When used together, combined word and graph embedding achieved the best performance in all datasets. For WSD, the enhanced versions of BERT outperformed BioWordVec. Conclusions Word and graph embedding techniques can be used to harness terms and relations in the UMLS to measure semantic relatedness between concepts. Concept sentence embedding outperforms path-based measurements and cui2vec, and can be further enhanced by combining with graph embedding.
Axis Concept in Body Surface Mapping

The axis concept is well known both in evaluation and in documentation of Ecg and Vcg for many years. In the Einthoven Ecg the horizontal axis left to right gives the main axis, to which the vector in the frontal plane will be referred in angle and in magnitude. In every kind of measurement of the orthogonal Ecg and in the Vcg the parameters, which are very often used in diagnostics and in documentation are the angles of azimuth and elevation and the spatial magnitude of the vector. The normal values and the diagnostic criteria are very well documented in a large number of patients and collectives. This holds also for the so called polarvector, the perpendicular vector of all directly measured vectors.
Opportunity is not everything

We experimentally investigate in village India how belief systems that hierarchize social groups affect the groups’ responses to economic opportunities. Earlier we found that making caste salient hurt low caste performance both absolutely and relative to the high caste's. To examine the possible role of mistrust, we manipulate the scope for discretion in rewarding performance. When offered a gamble in which success mechanically triggers rewards, making caste salient has no significant effect. Instead, it is in the case with scope for discretion that making caste salient creates a large caste gap in the proportion of subjects who refuse the gamble.
Improving Students’ Physics Activities and Learning Outcomes Using Advance Organizer Learning Models

This study aims to determine whether there is an increase in students’ physics activity and learning outcomes by using the advanced organizer learning model. Subjects in this study were 30 students in class XI, SMA Sumatra Tanjung Morawa. The objects of this research are the activities and the results of students’ physics learning on Fluid Mechanics using the advance organizer learning model. The research instruments used were observation and tests. This type of research is Classroom Action Research (PTK). Research observation is in the form of activities to observe student activities. And for the multiple-choice test, 23 questions were compiled in cycle I. In the second cycle, the test was in the form of multiple choices which consisted of 24 questions. Students’ physics learning activity at the first meeting reached 44.6% and at the second meeting reached 53.74% with the percentage of students’ classical physics learning activity in the first cycle of 49.8%. Meanwhile, the students’ physics learning activity at the fourth meeting was 76.68% and at the fifth meeting it was 87.52% with the percentage of students’ classical physics learning activity in the second cycle was 82.1%. The completeness of the students’ physics learning outcomes in the first cycle classically reached 50%. The completeness of students’ physics learning outcomes in the second cycle classically increased by 33%. In addition, the percentage of student learning outcomes in the second cycle of physics completeness reached 83%. The results showed that the use of an advance organizer learning model can improve the activity and learning outcomes of students in Physics in class IX SMA Sumatra Tanjung Morawa in the 2016/2017 academic year.
Someone Is Wrong on the Internet: Having Hard Conversations in Online Spaces

Good faith disagreements and healthy conflict management are essential to deliberative democracy and building strong relationships. People increasingly use computer-mediated communication during disagreements, which raises the question of how technology and design impact users' disagreements and relationships. We conducted a mixed-methods study with 257 participants to understand how design impacts disagreements across both existing social media platforms and novel, user-generated designs. Through interviews, a survey, and storyboard evaluations, we found that users often want to discuss challenging topics online but avoid them due to fear of hurting their relationships. Further, we found that users are most excited about design interventions that empower collective group action, humanize others online, or support channel switching to more private or socially rich contexts. Our results suggest that although technology has the potential to support users during conflict, it is also rife with possibilities to do more harm than good by diluting users' intentions, intruding, or backfiring. We introduce "interpersonal design,'' which centers relationships in the design process, an essential step in supporting users in the challenging task of arguing well.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)

President Barack Obama promised that his administration would make a clean break with the past, setting new standards in transparency and accountability. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act ...
A Type-Theoretic Approach to Induction with Higher-Order Encodings

Reasoning by induction is common practice in computer science and mathematics. In formal logic, however, standard induction principles exist only for a certain class of inductively defined structures that satisfy the positivity condition. This is a major restriction considering that many structures in programming languages and logics are best expressed using higher-order representation techniques that violate exactly this condition. In this paper we develop induction principles for higherorder encodings in the setting of first-order intuitionistic logic. They differ from standard induction principles in that they rely on the concept of worlds [Sch01] which admits reasoning about open terms in regularly formed contexts. The soundness of these induction principles follows from external termination and coverage considerations about a realizability interpretation of proofs.
Intrateam coverage is common, intrateam handoffs are not

We have traditionally viewed continuity of care with a particular intern as important for high-quality inpatient care, but this continuity is difficult to achieve. As we move to a model of team rather than individual continuity, information transfers between team members become critical. When discontinuity between the primary team and a cross-covering team occurs, this informational continuity is managed through formal handoffs. Accordingly, there has been ample research on handoffs between different teams, but there has been little published literature to date to describe handoffs between members of the same team. Therefore, we set out (1) to learn how interns view intrateam handoffs and (2) to identify intern-perceived problems with intrateam handoffs.
Charcoal as a Fire Proxy

Charcoal analysis of lake sediments is used to reconstruct long-term variations in fire occurrence that can complement and extend reconstructions provided by dendrochronological and historical records. In the last 15 years, several papers have reviewed the methods for charcoal analysis of lake-sediment cores and its use as a tool for studying fire history (e.g., Tolonen, 1986; Patterson et al., 1987; MacDonald et al., 1991; J. S. Clark, 1988a; J. S. Clark et al., 1998; Long et al., 1998; Whitlock & Anderson, in review). In most cases, pollen and charcoal data from the same cores are used to examine the linkages among climate, vegetation, fire, and sometimes anthropogenic activities in the past. The growing use of charcoal analysis reflects a heightened interest within the paleoecological community to consider fire as an ecosystem process operating on long and short time scales, as well as an increasing need on the part of forest managers to understand prehistoric fire regimes. In this chapter, we discuss issues of site selection, chronology, and methodology in charcoal analysis, based on recent advances in the discipline. We also review the theoretical and empirical basis for charcoal analysis, including assumptions about the charcoal source area and the processes that transport and deposit charcoal into lakes. Fire reconstructions based on lake-sediment records are derived from three primary data sources: particulate charcoal that provides direct evidence of burning; pollen evidence of fluctuations in vegetation that can be tied to disturbance; and lithologic evidence of watershed adjustments to fire, such as erosion or the formation of fire-altered minerals. Charcoal analysis quantifies the accumulation of charred particles in sediments during and following a fire event. Stratigraphic levels with abundant charcoal (so-called charcoal
The Happy Life: Nice Work if You Can Get It

Has any other writer so closely suggested that the aura of a work of art is a manifestation of joy? For David Malouf, happiness involves the complete immersion of a man or woman—he uses gender with all body parts intact—in moments of irreducible self-consciousness. In The Happy Life (2011), the Transcendentalist connections are clear, but Malouf’s is a thoroughly contemporary vision. As with Emerson and Thoreau, Malouf brings considerable Classical insight to modern problems of unhappiness, which he says generally spring from mistaking the material “good life” for the spiritual “happy life.” While acknowledging global problems of environment and politics, Malouf looks squarely at the possibilities for personal happiness in physical and intellectual self-awareness, moments that can be realized in the interstices and lapses of a world beyond individual control. The result is both a classical humanistic assertion of personal possibility and a modern registry of the odds against us.
Very-broadband-structure and the linear rise in the extinction curve

Measurements of the very broadband structure in the visual part of the extinction curve are compared to IUE extinction curve parameters in the scheme of Fitzpatrick and Massa. The correlation of Very-broadband-structure (VBS) depth with FUV rise found by Reimann & Friedemann (1991) is shown to be a correlation with linear rise and not with far UV non-linear rise. The correlation with linear rise suggests that the VBS is due to an onset of extinction at about 1.8/micrometer, rather than what has previously been suggested: due to luminescence or the presence of two extinction components longward and shortward of the VBS. The optical properties inferred for the linear rise carrier are consistent with some amorphous solid with a large optical gap. Small carbonaceous grains may be the carrier of the linear rise in extinction, because the erosion of core-mantle particles is expected to produce many of such small grains and offers a natural mechanism for the existence of the inferred two populations of big (a approximately 0.13 micrometer) and small (a approximately 0.005 micrometer) grains.
SIMULATION OF NONLINEAR WAVES AND FORCES DUE TO TRANSIENT AND STEADY MOTION OF SUBMERGED SPHERE

This paper presents a time domain simulation of fully nonlinear waves and nonlinear hydrodynamic forces that are generated by a submerged sphere in a transient and steady motion near the free surface. A higher-order boundary element method previously developed in the frequency domain was further developed to solve the boundary integral equation in the time domain. The multiple node technique was applied on elements in the neighbourhood of the edges and corners of the truncated rectangular numerical wave tank. Orlanski's open boundary condition was modified in association with the boundary element method to satisfy the radiation conditions at the upstream and downstream boundary. The initial force variation provides the impacting hydrodynamic force (added mass) and the near-steady forces give the averaged steady nonlinear hydrodynamic forces. The nonlinear stern wave appears to be steep and asymmetric and its progressing speed is faster than that of the linear one.
Hill climbing beats genetic search on a boolean circuit synthesis problem of koza's

An experiment described in chapter 9 of the book “Genetic Programming” shows that the method is more efficient than random-generate-and-test on a boolean circuit synthesis task. Here we show that hill climbing is more efficient than genetic programming on this problem. It is interesting to note that our improved results were obtained by mating the current best hypothesis with completely random S-expressions, rather than with members of a high-fitness population. Perhaps, for this task, fragments of high fitness individuals have no special value when transplanted into other individuals.
SEMICONDUCTOR CAVITY QED IN HIGH-Q REGIME

In this paper recent theoretical and experimental investigations on semiconductor cavity QEDs in high-Q regimes are reviewed. The linear dispersion characteristics (including normal mode splitting and reversible spontaneous emission) and suppressed phonon scattering rates of a microcavity exciton-polariton are described; an exciton-polariton laser (boser) operation via phonon-assisted final-state stimulation is discussed; and dressed-boson, dressed-fermion, and dressed-quoin concepts are introduced and compared with the experimental nonlinear dressed-exciton spectra.
The Human Antimicrobial Protein Calgranulin C Participates in Control of Helicobacter pylori Growth and Regulation of Virulence

During infectious processes, antimicrobial proteins are produced by both epithelial cells and innate immune cells. Some of these antimicrobial molecules function by targeting transition metals and sequestering these metals in a process referred to as "nutritional immunity." This chelation strategy ultimately starves invading pathogens, limiting their growth within the vertebrate host. Recent evidence suggests that these metal-binding antimicrobial molecules have the capacity to affect bacterial virulence, including toxin secretion systems. Our previous work showed that the S100A8/S100A9 heterodimer (calprotectin, or calgranulin A/B) binds zinc and represses the elaboration of the H. pylori cag type IV secretion system (T4SS). However, there are several other S100 proteins that are produced in response to infection. We hypothesized that the zinc-binding protein S100A12 (calgranulin C) is induced in response to H. pylori infection and also plays a role in controlling H. pylori growth and virulence. To test this, we analyzed gastric biopsy specimens from H. pylori-positive and -negative patients for S100A12 expression. These assays showed that S100A12 is induced in response to H. pylori infection and inhibits bacterial growth and viability in vitro by binding nutrient zinc. Furthermore, the data establish that the zinc-binding activity of the S100A12 protein represses the activity of the cag T4SS, as evidenced by the gastric cell "hummingbird" phenotype, interleukin 8 (IL-8) secretion, and CagA translocation assays. In addition, high-resolution field emission gun scanning electron microscopy (FEG-SEM) was used to demonstrate that S100A12 represses biogenesis of the cag T4SS. Together with our previous work, these data reveal that multiple S100 proteins can repress the elaboration of an oncogenic bacterial surface organelle.
Interspecific variation at the Y-linked RPS4Y locus in hominoids: implications for phylogeny.

Within- and between-species variation in restriction endonuclease recognition sites was examined at the Y-linked RPS4Y locus of six hominoid species: human (Homo sapiens), gorilla (Gorilla gorilla), chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes), bonobo (Pan paniscus), orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus), and gibbon (Hylobates lar). RPS4Y is an expressed gene that maps to the non-recombining region of the Y chromosome. An approximately 1,490 base pair fragment of the RPS4Y gene, including all of intron 3, was amplified by PCR from DNA extracted from each of the six species. Forty-seven restriction sites were identified on the six-species composite map derived from double-digest restriction analyses of the amplified fragment. As expected, maximum parsimony analysis indicated that chimpanzee and bonobo are the two most closely related living hominoids. The same analysis suggested that the closest living relative of Homo is Gorilla, not Pan, although support for this relationship was relatively weak. These results disagree with recently published phylogenies based on analyses of mtDNA sequences (Horai et al. [1995] Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 88:7401-7404) and the Y-linked ZFY locus (Dorit et al. [1995] Science 268:1183-1185). A combined data set derived from three distinct Y-linked loci-RPS4Y, SRY, and ZFY-was also analyzed. The maximum parsimony topology for the combined data provided only weak support for a shared common ancestor for Homo and Pan subsequent to divergence from the Gorilla lineage. Taken together, the data from the Y chromosome do not provide unequivocal support for any single, dichotomously branching species tree linking Homo, Pan, and Gorilla.
Volume emission of pions in relativistic heavy-ion collisions

Abstract We consider the possibility of volume emission of pions by the Δ(1232) decay in a hot compressed projectile-target residue. We calculate the momentum distribution of the pions created by the two-body Δ(1232) decay. Reabsorption is taken into account assuming a quasi-deuteron model. We argue that low-energy pions created deep inside the hot zone are likely to escape and contribute to the pion inclusive spectrum.
Preparation, drug release, and cell growth inhibition of a gelatin: doxorubicin conjugate

Purpose To demonstrate the feasibility of a novel macromolecular delivery system for doxorubicin (DOX) which combines pH dependent DOX release with a high molecular weight and biodegradable gelatin carrier.
An ordered examination of influence diagrams

Influence diagrams are a directed network representation for decision making under uncertainty. The nodes in the diagram represent uncertain and decision variables, and the arcs indicate probabilistic dependence and observability. This paper examines the graphical orderings underlying the influence diagram and the primitive interchange operations that can reorder the network. These operations are sufficient to determine the maximal independent set and minimal relevant sets for any given inference problem, and a linear time algorithm is developed to obtain those sets. This framework is also used to examine and explain properties of the time structure of general influence diagrams with decisions.
Appeal of online computer games: a user perspective

This paper examines the perceptual antecedents of the appeal of online computer games from the users’ perspective. It proposes a framework that links the perceived ease of use, perceived entertainment, and perceived irritation with the appeal of an online computer game, measured through attitude toward the game and the user’s intention to play again. Results from a field study indicate that the three proposed perceptual antecedents explain over 60 per cent of variance in both attitude and intention to return. This research demonstrates that factors contributing to user perceptions of online games are important aspects of computer game development. Further research through experimental studies is also advocated.
HO-1 and CO: fighters vs sickle cell disease?

In this issue of Blood , Belcher et al report on the use of pegylated hemoglobin saturated with carbon monoxide (CO) to inhibit vaso-occlusive events in mouse models of sickle cell disease (SCD).[1][1] It has been more than 60 years since sickle cell anemia (SCA) was first characterized at the
Structural design sensitivity analysis for composites undergoing elastoplastic deformation

Nonlinear structural design sensitivity analysis for structures undergoing elastoplastic deformation is developed in this paper. The reference volume concept is used to unify the shape and nonshape design problems. The rate (time-independent) constitutive model is employed to account for the plastic material behavior. In the response analysis, a higher order approximation procedure of the integration of the rate constitutive equations is proposed. The direct differentiation approach (DDA) is adopted to obtain the design sensitivity equation for the response variables. A method of partial differentiation of the rate constitutive equations, which yields a set of linear differential equations in the partial derivatives of stresses and internal variables with respect to the design variable, is included in the DDA procedure. In Part I of this paper, the general theory is described. In Part II, the theory is applied to a composite laminated beam problem.
Initial operation and edge plasma studies in ATF

Abstract Initial plasmas have been obtained in the Advanced Toroidal Facility (ATF) at Oak Ridge. During the first operating period all major systems worked well. Currentless plasmas have been formed with electron-cyclotron heating (ECH) and neutral beam injection (NBI). Plasma breakdown is achieved with 200 kW of microwave power using the second harmonic of the 53 GHz gyrotron at 1 T. Because of the insufficient initial cleanup state of the vessel, the density evolution during the discharge is dominated by impurity influxes due to plasma-wall interactions. Wall conditioning has so far been performed with glow discharge and electron-cyclotron resonance discharge cleaning, with the walls at room temperature. Plasma edge studies are in preparation. They are focused on experiments leading to a divertor concept for ATF. During this brief operating period, plasma conditions were dominated by wall interactions. It is expected that during the next period additional wall conditioning techniques will lead to improved plasma performance.
An approximation to the response time for shortest queue routing

In this paper we derive an approximation for the mean response time of a multiple queue system in which shortest queue routing is used. We assume there are K identical queues with infinite capacity and service times that are exponentially distributed. Arrivals of jobs to this system are Poisson and are routed to a queue of minimal length. We develop an approximation which is based on both theoretical and experimental considerations and, for K ≤ 8, has an relative error of less than one half of one percent when compared to simulation. For K = 16, the relative error is still acceptable, being less than 2 percent. An application to a model of parallel processing and a comparison of static and dynamic load balancing schemes are presented.
Hematopoietic Cell Phosphatase (HCP) Regulates p56LCKPhosphorylation and ZAP-70 Binding to T Cell Receptor ζ Chain

Abstract Ligation of the T cell receptor complex and CD4 leads to activation of the protein tyrosine kinases p56 lck and p59 fyn resulting in phosphorylation of TcRζ chain and the recruitment of ZAP-70. In this study, we have reconstituted p56 lck phosphorylation of TcRζ and ZAP-70 recruitment in heterologous cells and examined the role of the tyrosine phosphatase HCP in regulating the process. Both p56 lck and p59 fyn induce significant phosphorylation of TcRζ. However, under conditions of comparable p56 lck and p59 fyn expression, p56 lck was found to induce three to four fold greater in vivo phosphorylation of TcRζ. HCP dephosphorylated p56 lck , ZAP-70 and the TcRζ chain. Further, dephosphorylation of the different TcRζ isoforms results in disruption of the interaction between TcRζ and ZAP-70. These results indicate that HCP acts to negatively regulate signal transduction pathways in T cells.