cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Project delivery systems and project change: Quantitative analysis

Design/build has become one of the favored project delivery methods in the engineering construction industry. Numerous studies have advocated the use of design/build over the traditional design/bid/build delivery approach. A comprehensive analysis of 67 global projects from the Construction Industry Institute's database shows that design/build projects may not provide all the benefits to project performance. The study found timesaving was a definitive advantage of design/build project delivery, but, the positive effects of cost and productivity changes were not convincing. Based on the results of the study, the project management expertise and experience of the contractor may have a greater impact on project performance outcomes than focusing on project delivery strategy only.
Exposure sources and reasons for testing among women with low blood lead levels

Previous research has focused on highly elevated blood lead (PbB). This study examined reasons for testing and potential sources of exposure among women with PbBs less than 0.72 μmol/l (15 μg/dl). A questionnaire was mailed to 18- to 49-year-old women in upstate New York, USA, who were PbB tested in 2007. The most common testing reason was pregnancy among 125 women who returned the questionnaire. Among women tested for PbB during pregnancy, doctors ordered approximately 80% of tests regardless of lead level. Few women with PbBs less than 0.24 μmol/l (5 μg/dl) reported a potential source of lead exposure. However, among women with PbBs of 0.24–0.71 μmol/L (5–14.9 μg/dl), 29.2% had a job and 21.2% had a hobby with potential lead exposure. There are systematic differences in reasons for testing and exposure sources among women with PbBs less than 0.72 μmol/l and these differences have implications for screening.
T-cell depletion of HLA-identical transplants in leukemia.

We analyzed the effects of T-cell depletion on the outcome of HLA-identical sibling bone marrow transplants for leukemia by comparing 731 T-cell-depleted transplants with 2,480 non-T-cell-depleted transplants. T-cell depletion decreased acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) (relative risk [RR] 0.45; P less than .0001) and chronic (GVHD) (RR 0.56; P less than .0001). However, it increased graft failure (RR 9.29; P less than .0001). Leukemia relapse also was increased. In first remission acute leukemia or chronic phase chronic myelogenous leukemia, leukemia relapse was 2.75 times more likely after T-cell-depleted transplants (P less than .0001). T-cell depletion increased the risk of treatment failure (RR 1.35; P less than .0003) and decreased leukemia-free survival. We also studied controllable variables associated with outcome of T-cell-depleted transplants. The unique findings were that among recipients of T-cell-depleted transplants for early leukemia, radiation doses greater than or equal to 11 Gy (RR 0.54; P less than .01), dose rates greater than 14 cGy/min (RR 0.56; P less than .002), and additional posttransplant immune suppression with cyclosporine alone (RR 0.53; P less than .0006) or cyclosporine plus methotrexate (RR 0.36; P less than .01) were associated with fewer treatment failures. Use of monoclonal antibodies rather than physical techniques for T-cell depletion (RR 2.01; P less than .03) and fractionated radiation (RR 1.69; P less than .05) were associated with increased treatment failure and lower leukemia-free survival. These data may be useful in designing strategies to improve results of T-cell-depleted transplants.
A high-order numerical study of reactive dissolution in an upwelling heterogeneous mantle: 2. Effect of shear deformation

High-porosity dunite channels produced by orthopyroxene dissolution may provide pathways for orthopyroxene-undersaturated melt generated in the deep mantle to reach shallower depth without extensive chemical reequilibration with surrounding mantle. Previous studies have considered these high-porosity channels and melt localization in the presence of a uniform upwelling mantle flow through the process of melt-rock reaction as well as shear deformation, but not both simultaneously. In this Part 2 of a numerical study of high-porosity melt and dunite channel formation during reactive dissolution, we considered the effect of shear deformation on channel distribution and channel geometry in an upwelling and viscously compacting mantle column. We formulated a high-order numerical experiment using conditions similar to those in Part 1, but with an additional prescribed horizontal shearing component in the solid matrix, as could be present in flowing mantle beneath spreading centers. Our focus was to examine orthopyroxene dissolution to determine the behavior of dunite formation and its interaction with melt flow field, by varying the upwelling and shear rate, orthopyroxene solubility gradient, and domain height. Introduction of shearing tilts the developing dunite, causing asymmetry in the orthopyroxene gradient between the dunite channels and the surrounding harzburgite. The downwind gradient is sharp, nearly discontinuous, whereas the upwind gradient is more gradual. For higher shear rates, a wave-like pattern of alternating high and low-porosity bands form on the downwind side of the channel. The band spacing increases with increasing shear rate, relative melt flow rate, and orthopyroxene solubility gradient, whereas the band angle is independent of solubility gradient and increases with increasing shear rate and decreasing relative melt flow rate. Such features could be observable in the field and provide evidence for mantle shearing. Standing wave-like patterns of melt fraction also develop on the downwind side with possible implications for the interpretation of seismic velocities in upwelling mantle.
Rank Score Tests

Nonparametric statistical methods are useful tools for data analysis when there is reason to believe that the outcome variables of interest may fail certain distributional assumptions required for parametric methods. Variables may be ordered categories in nature and thereby not suitable for analysis methods that assume normally distributed variables, such as t tests or analyses of variance and covariance. Variables may also be metric or continuous but subject to excessive variability or the presence of outliers. When the research hypothesis involves comparing a sample of subjects under 2 conditions or at 2 time points or comparing 2 samples of subjects with respect to an outcome variable of interest, then univariate nonparametric methods based on rank score tests can be invoked. A study design feature such as random assignment of conditions or treatments is typically all that is required for these methods to be valid. Furthermore, the methods can be quite powerful under a number of alternatives, particularly those involving shifts in the median. The Wilcoxon signed rank test, the Spearman rank correlation coefficient, and the Wilcoxon rank sum test are among the most commonly used nonparametric tests and cover a variety of research questions. These tests are described here. Although the focus is on hypothesis testing, related methods for estimation of confidence intervals are also presented. Extensions of nonparametric methods to handle stratification and covariate adjustment are also described. Scenarios in which nonparametric methods may be most useful and the power they can be expected to yield are discussed. The methods are illustrated with data from a clinical trial assessing the impact of exposure to low levels of carbon monoxide on exercise capacity in patients with ischemic heart disease. When the response variable of interest is a metric measurement that follows a symmetrical distribution with substantial variability or outliers, then …
Years of Plenty, Years of Want: France and the Legacy of the Great War. By Benjamin Franklin Martin. (DeKalb, IL: Northern Illinois University Press, 2013. Pp. x, 239. $25.00.)

This concise narrative history connects the catastrophic events of World War I in France to a national malaise in the postwar era. An authoritative historian of France during the interwar period, B...
The value of the 1982 UN convention on the law of the sea: Preserving our freedoms and protecting the environment

Abstract As exhibited in ongoing environmental fora, world attention is being focused on the marine environment with particular attention to the sustainable development of ocean resources. In this context it is equally important to ensure that emerging principles of environmental protection continue to reflect the deliberate balance between the preservation of navigational freedoms and protection of the marine environment as reflected in the 1982 United Nations Law of the Sea Convention. This article reviews how Part XII of the Convention provides a modern framework for environmental norms that are appropriate in light of the competing interests affecting ocean uses. The author concludes that strict adherence to the Part XII framework is in the best interests of the security, economic, and environmental interests of all nations.
Listening: Can Ability Be Improved?

Listening is one of the most important communication skills that an organizational member can possess, but it is repeatedly identified as a weakness in employees. The authors determined that the listening abilities of 598 students who took a listening course in a nontraditional college improved significantly with no significant difference between the abilities of males and females. Therefore, students who complete a listening course could become more efficient and effective employees.
CRITICAL MASSES OF CYLINDERS OF PLUTONIUM DILUTED WITH OTHER METALS

Critical masses of 6-in. dia. cylinders of plutonium diluted in various volume ratios with steel, aluminum, thorium, air, and depleted uranium were determined. The cores were in 0, 2, 4.5, or 7.5-in. thick uranium reflectors and in 2, 4.5, or 7.5-in. thick thorium reflectors. From these data, the equivalent spherical critical masses of plutonium were estimated. An appendix gives reflector savings of undiluted plutonium for a variety of materials. (auth)
Competence of the African tortoise tick, Amblyomma marmoreum (Acari: Ixodidae), as a vector of the agent of heartwater (Cowdria ruminantium).

The ability of the African tortoise tick, Amblyomma marmoreum, to acquire and transmit Cowdria ruminantium infection was investigated experimentally with transmission trials and with a C. ruminantium-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) detection assay. Laboratory-reared A. marmoreum larvae and nymphs were fed on small ruminants with clinical heartwater. After molting, the resultant nymphs were fed on Cowdria ruminantium-naive sheep (n = 3), and the adults were ground and inoculated intravenously into sheep (n = 5). Fatal heartwater developed in the 5 recipient animals, demonstrating larvae–nymph transmission and nymph–adult acquisition of infection. Cowdria ruminantium infection was also detected in adult A. marmoreum by PCR analysis, although at lower frequency (10%) than in Amblyomma hebraeum ticks (43%), the major vector of C. ruminantium in southern Africa, which had been fed simultaneously on the infected animals (P < 0.0001). Amblyomma marmoreum, therefore, can be an effective vector of C. rumi...
Advanced Image Processing for Defect Visualization in Infrared Thermography

Results of a defect visualization process based on pulse infrared thermography are presented. Algorithms have been developed to reduce the amount of operator participation required in the process of interpreting thermographic images. The algorithms determine the defect''s depth and size from the temporal and spatial thermal distributions that exist on the surface of the investigated object following thermal excitation. A comparison of the results from thermal contrast, time derivative, and phase analysis methods for defect visualization are presented. These comparisons are based on three dimensional simulations of a test case representing a plate with multiple delaminations. Comparisons are also based on experimental data obtained from a specimen with flat bottom holes and a composite panel with delaminations.
Season's appreciations

To follow the tradition set by the late Franz Halberg, highlights of research performed over the last year from his Minnesota Center are summarized. They illustrate the broad international cooperation enjoyed by his center and the diversity of applications of the discipline he founded. The results briefly summarized herein in the form of an annotated bibliography are a testimony that his legacy continues to live on and constitutes a tribute to his memory.
Technospatial imaginaries: Masud Rana and the vernacularization of popular Cold War geopolitics in East Pakistan, 1966–1971

AbstractThe cold war in East Pakistan was intimately connected with nationalism and nation-building. One of the central aspects of such nation-building was the articulation of a new sense of national territoriality. Technology was central to these attempts to radically reimagine space. This is what I call technospatiality. Material, political and symbolic resources of the cold war were mobilized in the production of these new technospatialities. Popular cold war geopolitics engendered in cultural productions such as the James Bond films were creatively vernacularized to produce new, nationally useful technospatial imaginaries. In this article I look at how Kazi Anwar Hussain’s hugely successful spy-thrillers articulated this new technospatial imaginaries by drawing upon and reworking contemporary technopolitical objects, projects and anxieties.
A little bit of kindlin goes a long way

In this issue of Blood , Klapproth et al used mice that were hypomorphic for the protein kindlin-3 to demonstrate that as little as 5% of the normal amount of kindlin-3 is sufficient to protect against spontaneous bleeding and infection. 1
Epoetin alfa protocol and multidisciplinary blood-conservation program for critically ill patients.

Purpose. An evidence-based epoetin alfa protocol and a multidisciplinary blood-conservation program were implemented in a medical intensive care unit (MICU) and surgical intensive care unit (SICU). Summary. Baseline data were collected to evaluate the use of epoetin alfa and red blood cell (RBC) transfusions in our MICU and SICU. An evidence-based protocol for epoetin alfa use and a multidisciplinary blood-conservation program were designed, approved, and implemented. Preprotocol patients consisted of a convenience sample of 18 patients receiving epoetin alfa for various indications who were admitted to our MICU and SICU from January 1 to December 31, 2002. The postprotocol sample consisted of 40 patients who received epoetin alfa for the treatment of anemia due to critical illness who were admitted to the MICU and SICU from March 25 to May 23, 2003. Postprotocol data were collected and compared with baseline data. All patients seen in the MICU and SICU, during the postprotocol period, regardless of whether they were receiving epoetin alfa, were included in the multidisciplinary blood-conservation program. Postprotocol data showed statistically significant improvements in epoetin alfa dosing and monitoring and in the use of adjunctive therapy. Pharmacist-initiated blood-conservation strategies resulted in several blood-draw reductions and discontinuations. Statistically significant reductions in the number of RBC units transfused per patient and per intensive care unit (ICU) day were also observed. Conclusion. An epoetin alfa protocol and a multidisciplinary blood-conservation program contributed to rational prescribing of epoetin alfa and to a reduction in the number of RBC units transfused per patient and per ICU day.
Finding Long-Term Influence and Sensitivity of Genes Using Probabilistic Genetic Regulatory Networks

Investigation of the gene’s long-term behavior becomes more important in understanding the interactions between different genes and how the genes collectively behave. It has been known for a long time by biologists that some genes may have more impact than others in determining the value of a target gene. Probabilistic Boolean genetic regulatory networks (PBNs), the stochastic generalizations of Boolean networks, have been used in system biology to study biological systems from a holistic perspective in providing a comprehensive, system-level understanding of cellular behavior. Hence, finding the genes that have the most potent effect is an important task in studying the PBN. Similarly, some genes may be more stable while other genes have little effect. However, current computational methods for analyzing the long-term behavior of genes require the construction of the network’s transition probability matrix, which has a huge size of 2 n × 2 n where n is the number of genes on the PBN. That said, even a PBN with a small set of 20 genes would require memory surpassing the size of any computer system.
The Establishment and Preliminary Application of Detection Method of Mixed Infection both Classical Swine Fever and Porcine Circovirus Type 2

According to the published nucleotide sequence of CSFV and PCV2 in GenBank,one pair of specific primers of nucleotide sequence of CSFV and PCV2 were designed respectively by NCBI/Primer-BLAST and synthesized.The PCR and RT-PCR method to PCV2 and CSFV was established,and 19 clinical samples collected from eight pig farms in Kunming from April to August in 2008 were detected to CSFV and PCV2.The results showed that,four samples from three farms were positive CSFV,the infection rate of positive CSFV was 21.05 percent;two samples from two farms were positive PCV2,the infection rate of positive PCV2 was 10.53 percent.CSFV and PCV2 mixed infection rate was 10.53 percent.The established detection method of mixed infection both CSFV and PCV2 was specific,and can be used for detecting CSFV and PCV2 mixed infection and epidemiological investigation,and can also provided scientific basis for prevention and control of CSFV and PCV2.
Carcinoma of the Larynx

Laryngeal carcinoma is caused by tobacco smoking and alcohol consumption, and especially by the combination of both exposures. Occupational exposures to sulfuric acid mist and mustard gas have been strongly suspected to be causal in the past. As with lung cancer, regular vegetable consumption is thought capable of lowering risk and a variety of specific genetic characteristics are thought to be protective. This malignancy occurs with about the same frequency in Los Angeles County as in other parts of the country, with the exception of Utah, which enjoys a lower incidence rate. The tumor increases in frequency in middle age, and is especially common among African-Americans and relatively uncommon among Asian-Americans. The occurrence among men is four times than among women. As with squamous carcinomas of the oropharynx and esophagus, the pattern of risk according to sex, social class, and racial/ethnic group, plus known causation by cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption, leads one to expect that high risk would concentrate in South Central Los Angeles. Although there is such a concentration, the pattern of high-risk census tracts is similar to that of squamous carcinoma of the lung, which is related to smoking but not necessarily to alcohol consumption.
Methodology of clinical trials: current issues

One of the most sobering problems in the clinical pharmacology of depression is that, although we have had antidepressant drugs available for the past 25 years, we still do not know who responds specifically to them. As several authors in this volume have observed, the tricyclic antidepressant drugs are widely prescribed, mostly by non-psychiatrist physicians. Much of this widespread prescribing of tricyclic antidepressants is appropriate: hospital first-admission rates are declining and untreated severely depressed patients are rarely seen any more. On the other hand, we must strongly suspect that many simply unhappy or dysphoric patients are given these drugs unnecessarily and with predictable consequences in terms of morbidity from side-effects, mortality from overdosage, economic waste, and irrational, unproductive clinical management.
Bacterial and Fungal Diseases

Publisher Summary This chapter studies the bacterial diseases in hamsters such as proliferative ileitis, which is a serious infectious disease of hamsters and it results in high morbidity and mortality. The incidence of bacterial diseases in laboratory hamsters has declined and this decrease is primarily due to improved husbandry activities including more frequent and effective sanitation practices, and the use of microisolation and barrier technologies. A reduction in occurrences of bacterial diseases is also associated with the reduced use of hamsters as a laboratory animal species. However, bacterial diseases of hamsters remain significant because many of these diseases have the potential for high morbidity, high mortality, zoonosis, and economic loss. Conversely, mycotic infections are extremely rare and are poorly documented in the scientific literature. The chapter studies Tyzzer's disease, antibiotic and nonantibiotic-associated clostridial enteropathy, and the fungal diseases. Hamsters are used as an animal model for fungal infections; spontaneously occurring fungal diseases are extremely rare.
The effects of chamfer and back rake angle on PDC cutters friction

Abstract Single PDC cutter tests at a high pressure cell were conducted and analyzed to gain an understanding of the effect of cutter geometry on its frictional response. First, sets of tests conducted with sharp non-chamfered cutters are analyzed. A decreasing trend between the friction angle and back rake angle is consistently observed. The reason can be attributed to a change in flow direction of the rock in front and near the cutting face. A linear relationship between the friction angle and cutter back rake angle is proposed. The coefficient of this relationship can be calculated using the rock internal friction angle and at least one drilling data for the given drilling fluid and contacting surfaces. Four sets of tests with cutters of different diameters (13 and 16 mm) and chamfer lengths (0.010 and 0.016 inch) were conducted. The test results are presented and analyzed using the abovementioned semi empirical model. The method is to associate a chamfered cutter's action to an equivalent non-chamfered cutter back rake angle. It is observed that applying the test data to this analysis produces results that make physical sense with the geometric shape of a chamfered cutter. Finally, contact stress data, for the range of back rake angles tested, confirm a strong increasing trend with back rake angle. The observations indicate that, for the conditions of these tests, that the frictional response of a cutter with developed wear flat is dominated by the wear flat friction itself.
Haunting Memories: Gothic and Memoir

The legacy of the Gothic has extended well beyond the ramparts of Horace Walpole’s Castle (1764). Gothic landscapes haunt contemporary genres, from science fiction to horror, and from the historical novel to a presently popular incarnation of life writing: memoir. Memory is a Gothic haunting. The words of the memoirist creep silently inside the writer’s unconscious and are projected onto the shadowed walls of the blank page, enacting a puppet show replete with uncanny props and a recently unearthed, now un-dead, script. The human mind is a Gothic landscape, painted as an unsettled space where memory intermingles with history, and fact is perpetually contested and re-memorialized. Gothic geographies intersect with those of the memoir via haunted and haunting memories. To consider the memoir in a relationship with the Gothic is to call upon these spectral concepts.
Validity of clinical outcome measures to evaluate ankle range of motion during the weight-bearing lunge test.

Abstract Objectives To determine the concurrent validity of standard clinical outcome measures compared to laboratory outcome measure while performing the weight-bearing lunge test (WBLT). Design Cross-sectional study. Methods Fifty participants performed the WBLT to determine dorsiflexion ROM using four different measurement techniques: dorsiflexion angle with digital inclinometer at 15 cm distal to the tibial tuberosity (°), dorsiflexion angle with inclinometer at tibial tuberosity (°), maximum lunge distance (cm), and dorsiflexion angle using a 2D motion capture system (°). Outcome measures were recorded concurrently during each trial. To establish concurrent validity, Pearson product–moment correlation coefficients (r) were conducted, comparing each dependent variable to the 2D motion capture analysis (identified as the reference standard). A higher correlation indicates strong concurrent validity. Results There was a high correlation between each measurement technique and the reference standard. Specifically the correlation between the inclinometer placement at 15 cm below the tibial tuberosity (44.9° ± 5.5°) and the motion capture angle (27.0° ± 6.0°) was r = 0.76 (p = 0.001), between the inclinometer placement at the tibial tuberosity angle (39.0° ± 4.6°) and the motion capture angle was r = 0.71 (p = 0.001), and between the distance from the wall clinical measure (10.3 ± 3.0 cm) to the motion capture angle was r = 0.74 (p = 0.001). Conclusions This study determined that the clinical measures used during the WBLT have a high correlation with the reference standard for assessing dorsiflexion range of motion. Therefore, obtaining maximum lunge distance and inclinometer angles are both valid assessments during the weight-bearing lunge test.
The Role of Youth Program Leaders in the Use of Technology: Challenges and Opportunities for Youth-Serving Organizations

Youth-serving organizations offer young people an opportunity to gain skills and advance their knowledge of current and evolving technology through experiential learning. The key to ensuring that young people have meaningful learning experiences is directly related to the youth program leader who is responsible for designing and implementing these programs. Programs conducted by well-trained and well-prepared adults are an essential component of community-based interventions. To date, there is relatively limited research on how technology such as smart phones can be used in community-based programs and the success or failure of this as a strategy for delivering information and engaging young people in a program. In this paper, we discuss how technology was introduced into eight programs conducted by youth-serving organizations in the Southwest. We discuss the training of youth program leaders and their experience using technology at their sites, highlighting what worked and what was problematic, how challenges were overcome, and lessons learned.
Navigating Neighborhood Institutions: Gang Involvement

MONICA: me and C., stopped getting along because—I felt like she was ta—it was so awkward because—we were fighting for the stupidest reason—I felt like she was taking my place—like they were showing her a lot of attention and this and that—but she was getting attention from the little guys. The big guys—would never—you know—they didn’t trust her like they trusted me—so, I—you know—I still thought I was the shit. And they had me so manipulated—that I thought—I was running—because you know I was the only girl ever allowed to—to roll with them cars—I was the only girl—to count money for them—to—you know—to do everything—I was the only girl allowed in the houses. I thought I had moved up in the world…I just thought I was on top of the world, you know—oh my God—these—these main guys respect me and they trust me and—and this is what I always wanted…
An Integral Approach to Information Technology Diffusion: Innovation in the Product Life Cycles of a Large Technology Company

A practitioner in a large technology company reflects on a successfully designed and implemented enterprise-wide IT diffusion, which exemplifies both integral and action research approaches. An online tool, in use in one part of the company, was modified and extended to support a standard and customizable product life cycle methodology. In addition, this diffusion approach addressed the broader system of work, including culture and the intentions and behaviors of organization members. Other lessons learned are captured as key success factors, change agent attributes, and useful research methods.
The Promise of Targeting Macrophages in Cancer Therapy

Cancer therapy has developed around the concept of killing, or stopping the growth of, the cancer cells. Molecularly targeted therapy is the modern expression of this paradigm. Increasingly, however, the realization that the cancer has co-opted the normal cells of the stroma for its own survival has led to the concept that the tumor microenvironment (TME) could be targeted for effective therapy. In this Review we outline the importance of tumor associated macrophages (TAMs), a major component of the TME, in the response of tumors to cancer therapy. We discuss the normal role of macrophages in wound healing, the major phenotypes of TAMs and their role in blunting the efficacy to cancer treatment by radiation and anticancer drugs both by promoting tumor angiogenesis and by suppressing antitumor immunity. Finally we review the many preclinical studies that have shown that the response of tumors to irradiation and anticancer drugs can be improved, sometimes markedly so, by depleting TAMs from tumors or by suppressing their polarization from an M1 to an M2 phenotype. The data clearly support the validity of clinical testing of combining targeting TAMs with conventional therapy.
Open source, modular, customizable, 3-D printed kinesthetic haptic devices

Open Source Hardware allows users to share, customize, and improve designs, thus enabling technological advancement through communities of practice. We propose open source hardware for educational haptics that permits researchers, educators, and students to share designs arising from their different perspectives, with the potential to expand educational applications. In this paper we present a family of open source kinesthetic haptic devices that build upon the design of a previous educational haptic device, Hapkit 3.0. First, we discuss methods for Hapkit personalization and customization that can be achieved by K-12 students and educators. Next, we describe two kinesthetic haptic device designs that evolved from the original Hapkit 3.0. One uses two standard Hapkits with additional components to form a Pantograph mechanism, and the other uses customized Hapkit elements along with a novel kinematic design to form a serial mechanism. These designs are modular; after building two Hapkits, a user acquires a small number of additional parts to transform them into a two-degree-of-freedom device. The Pantograph mechanism was used in an undergraduate class to teach robotics and haptics to both engineering and nonengineering students. Open source designs for all devices as well as tutorials for customization are available at http://hapkit.stanford.edu.
Preincision Processing of Cyclobutane Pyrimidine Dimers in Escherichia coli

In both prokaryotes and eukaryotes cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers (CPD) formed by UV-irradiation are repaired mainly by the nucleotide excision repair (NER) pathway. Evidence has been presented that CPDs are repaired more rapidly and efficiently in vivo than when using purified NER components in vitro, and raises the possibility that CPD can be processed at the preincision stage before being removed by NER pathway. We investigated this hypothesis in E. coli cells and found that the phosphodiester bonds in CPDs are indeed incised (for the sake of simplicity we term this result as CPD*) in a time-dependent fashion in NER-proficient cells. This CPD preincision processing also occurs in NER-deficient uvrB- and uvrC-, but not in uvrA-mutant cells, and in endonuclease V (nfi) mutant cells. Introduction of the nfi mutation into wild type or uvrB-mutant cells results in disablement of CPD to CPD* conversion and enhances UV sensitization to the level of uvrA-mutant cells. We found that in a reconstituted in vitro system, that purified UvrA and Nfi are necessary but not sufficient to convert CPD to CPD*. A UvrC homologous protein, Cho, is also needed for this conversion. In addition, we found that Nfi does not bind to UV-irradiated DNA, suggesting that UvrA and Cho proteins may function as matchmakers for Nfi-CPD binding, which consequently results in the conversion of CPD to CPD*. We further demonstrated that CPD*, but not CPD, can allow efficient translesion bypass synthesis with accuracy. We thus have elucidated a new CPD preincision processing mechanism and genes involved in this process. The biological significance of these findings is discussed elsewhere (another manuscript in preparation).
Evolution of risk preference is determined by reproduction dynamics, life history, and population size.

Alternative behavioral strategies typically differ in their associated risks, meaning that a different variance in fitness-related outcomes characterizes each behavior. Understanding how selection acts on risk preference is crucial to interpreting and predicting behavior. Despite much research, most theoretical frameworks have been laid out as optimization problems from the individual’s perspective, and the influence of population dynamics has been underappreciated. We use agent-based simulations that implement competition between two simple behavioral strategies to illuminate effects of population dynamics on risk-taking. We explore the effects of inter-generational reproduction dynamics, population size, the number of decisions throughout an individual’s life, and simple alternate distributions of risk. We find that these factors, very often ignored in empirical and theoretical studies of behavior, can have significant and non-intuitive impacts on the selection of alternative behavioral strategies. Our results demonstrate that simple rules regarding predicted risk preference do not hold across the complete range of each of the factors we studied; we propose intuitive interpretations for the dynamics within each regime. We suggest that studies of behavioral strategies should explicitly take into account the species’ life history and the ecological context in which selection acted on the risk-related behavior of the organism of interest.
Characterization of Phytophthora nicotianae Resistance Conferred by the Introgressed Nicotiana rustica Region, Wz, in Flue-Cured Tobacco.

Black shank, caused by Phytophthora nicotianae, is one of the most important diseases affecting tobacco worldwide and is primarily managed through use of host resistance. An additional source of re...
Development of the ThyCAT: A clinically useful computerized adaptive test to assess quality of life in thyroid cancer survivors.

Abstract Background Current quality of life assessment tools for thyroid cancer survivors are not clinically useful due to the length of available questionnaires. Computerized adaptive tests are easily administered electronically and can achieve highly accurate and efficient results in minimal time. We aimed to develop a quality of life computerized adaptive tests (ThyCAT) for thyroid cancer survivors. Methods A bifactor item response theory model was fit to questionnaire responses from 1,078 North American Thyroid Cancer Survivorship Study participants—a longitudinal cohort study of quality of life in thyroid cancer survivors. Tuning parameters were selected to maintain a correlation of r > 0.9 with the total item bank quality of life score obtained from the original North American Thyroid Cancer Survivorship Study questions, using a minimal number of adaptively administered ThyCAT items. Results The ThyCAT assesses quality of life with strong correlation (r = 0.96) with the original 75 North American Thyroid Cancer Survivorship Study questions using an average of 9.94 questions (SD ± 3.03) administered in Conclusion The ThyCAT can be administered on a smartphone app in
What came first: the police or the incident? Bidirectional relationships between police actions and police incidents

ABSTRACTThe present research examines the long-term, bidirectional relationships between calls for service, crime, and two police patrol strategies in Santa Monica, California: foot patrol and police stops. Using nine years of monthly data (2006–2014), we estimate two sets of block-level, longitudinal models to tease apart these relationships. In our first set of models, we use police actions and calls for service in the preceding month(s) to predict crime in the subsequent month. In our second set of models, we use calls for service and crime in the preceding month(s) to predict police actions in the subsequent month. We find that while changes in calls for service and crime often precede changes in police action, changes in crime also tend to follow them. For example, police stops appear to be particularly receptive to burglary: blocks with more burglaries receive greater numbers of police stops, and blocks with more police stops have reduced odds of experiencing burglary. We also find that the length o...
The Software Architect and DevOps

DevOps practices deal with such things as the velocity of releases, how fast incidents are handled, and the enforcement of organizationally specified security practices. All these are critical for success in today’s environment, and the architect is critical for success in adopting DevOps practices. This instalment of the Pragmatic Architect explains why.
Abstract P5-22-05: Evaluation of simplified lymphatic microsurgical preventing healing approach (SLYMPHA) for the prevention of breast cancer-related clinical lymphedema after axillary lymph node dissection

Background: Lymphedema (LE) is a serious complication of axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) with an incidence rate of 16%. Lymphatic Microsurgical Preventing Healing Approach (LYMPHA) has been proposed as an effective adjunct to ALND for the prevention of LE. This procedure however requires microsurgical techniques. The aim of this study was to assess the efficiency of Simplified-LYMPHA (SLYMPHA) in preventing LE in a prospective cohort of patients. Methods: All patients, undergoing ALND with or without SLYMPHA between January 2014 and December 2016 were included in the study. SLYMPHA is a slightly modified and simplified version of LYMPHA. It is performed by the operating surgeon performing the ALND. One or more lymphatic channels identified by reverse arm mapping are inserted using a sleeve technique into the cut end of a neighboring vein. During follow-up visits, tape-measuring limb circumference method was used to detect clinical LE. Demographic, clinical, surgical and pathologic factors were recorded. The incidence of clinical LE was compared between ALND with and without SLYMPHA. Univariate and multivariate analysis were used to assess the role of other factors in the appearance of clinical LE. Results: 406 patients were included in the study. SLYMPHA procedure was attempted in 81 patients and was completed successfully in 90% of patients. Early complication rates were similar between patients who underwent SLYMPHA and who did not (4% vs. 4.13%; p = 0.948). Median follow-up time was 15±13.73 [1-32] months. Patients, who underwent SLYMPHA, had a significantly lower rate of clinical LE both in univariate and multivariate analysis (3% vs 19%; p = 0.001; OR 0.12 [0.03-0.5]). Excising > 22 lymph nodes and a co-diagnosis of diabetes were also correlated with higher clinical LE rates on univariate analysis, but only excising > 22 lymph nodes remained to be significant on multivariate analysis. Conclusions: SLYMPHA is a safe and relatively simple method, which decreases incidence of clinical LE dramatically. It should be considered as an adjunct procedure to ALND for all patients during initial surgery. Citation Format: Ozmen T, Lazaro M, Zhou Y, Vinyard A, Avisar E. Evaluation of simplified lymphatic microsurgical preventing healing approach (SLYMPHA) for the prevention of breast cancer-related clinical lymphedema after axillary lymph node dissection [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2017 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2017 Dec 5-9; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P5-22-05.
GIS-based regression modeling of the extreme weather patterns in Arkansas, USA

Investigating the extreme weather patterns (EWP) in Arkansas can help policy makers and the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management in establishing polices and making informed decisions regarding hazard mitigation. Previous studies have posed a question whether local topography and landcover control EWP in Arkansas. Therefore, the main aim of this study is to characterize factors influencing EWP in a Geographic Information System (GIS) and provide a statistically justifiable means for improving building codes and establishing public storm shelters in disaster-prone areas in the State of Arkansas. The extreme weather events including tornadoes, derechos, and hail that have occurred during 1955–2015 are considered in this study. Our GIS-based regression analysis provides statistically robust indications that explanatory variables (elevation, topographic protection, landcover, time of day, month, and mobile homes) strongly influence EWP in Arkansas, with the caveat that hazardous weather frequency is congruent to magnitude. Results indicate a crucial need for raising standards of building codes in high severity regions in Arkansas. Topography and landcover are directly influencing EWP, consequently they make future events a question of “when” not “where” they will reoccur.
Medical and Psychological Evidence of Trauma in Asylum Cases

Individuals who flee their homelands due to persecution often apply for asylum, seeking a safe haven in exile. Asylum adjudicators are frequently faced with making difficult asylum determinations. Medical and psychological evidence of the applicant’s trauma and its impact may be valuable in contributing to the asylum officer’s or immigration judge’s decision related to the credibility of the applicant’s claim of persecution.
Forget Me Not

Buttons, these notions have been around since 2000 BC (History, 2009). This design uses buttons for their initial purpose, as decorations, not as fasteners (History, 2009). It was not until 1200 AD that buttons were used as fasteners, and the first buttonhole was introduced (History, 2009).
Toxicities of Chloroanilines to Photobacterium Phosphoreum and their Correlations with Effects on Other Organisms and Structural Parameters

The toxicities of aniline and sixteen chloro—substituted anilines to Photobacterium phosphoreum have been determined using the Microtox test. The values obtained correlate well with the toxic effects of these compounds to four different species of yeast and with the octanol/water partition coefficients.
Parental stress and resilience in CHD: a new frontier for health disparities research

Parental stress is a universal experience for parents who have children diagnosed with CHD and has been studied within the context of the child's illness, but not through a broader health disparity lens. This paper provides a thorough synthesis of the current literature on parental stress addressing disparities in parents of children with CHD. Several theories and models from within this literature are described and a new comprehensive framework, the Parental Stress and Resilience in CHD Model, is presented. Future research and clinical implications are discussed.
The projections of locus coeruleus neurons to the spinal cord

Spinally projecting noradrenergic neurons located in the locus coeruleus/subcoeruleus (LC/SC) are a major source of the noradrenergic innervation of the spinal cord. However, the specific terminations of these neurons have not been clearly defined. The purpose of this chapter is to describe the results of experiments that used the anterograde tracer Phaseolus vulgaris leucoagglutinin in combination with dopamine-beta-hydroxylase immunocytochemistry to more precisely determine the spinal cord terminations of neurons located in the LC/SC. The results of these experiments indicate that the axons of LC neurons are located primarily in the ipsilateral ventral funiculus and terminate most heavily in the medial part of laminae VII and VIII, the motoneuron pool of lamina IX, and lamina X. LC neurons provide a moderately dense innervation of the ventral part of the dorsal horn, but only a very sparse innervation of the superficial dorsal horn. The SC projects ipsilaterally in the ventrolateral funiculus and terminates diffusely in the intermediate and ventral laminae of the spinal cord. Finally, the results of preliminary experiments indicate that different rat substrains may have LC neurons that exhibit qualitatively different termination patterns in the spinal cord. More specifically, LC neurons in some rat substrains innervate the dorsal horn, while those in other substrains primarily innervate the ventral horn and intermediate zone.
Platform Independent Extensions of the Framework

Extensions of the compilation framework Intermediate Language Distributed Just in Time (ILDJIT) can be provided. In order to use these extensions on any platform where the framework is able to run on, ILDJIT provides both data types and a platform independent API. The developer should use them instead of using their correspondent platform specific ones. This chapter describes both these data types and this platform independent API.
Nonbiased Assessment in Counseling: Issues and Guidelines

The author identifies 10 major issues, many of which become prominent through litigation, pertaining to the assessment of minority pupils, discusses the ways in which the profession responded to th...
Comparison of traditional and flash pyrolysis of different carbon content silicon oxycarbides

Abstract This study is to understand the effect of carbon content on the pyrolysis behaviors and phase contents of silicon oxycarbides (SiOCs). Flash pyrolysis conditions, evolution of different SiOC phases, and free carbon types/amounts are compared for C-rich and less C-rich precursors. The C-rich system experiences the flash event at a much lower pyrolysis temperature with a much higher current density even though the internal temperatures at flash are very similar. SiC formation is more obvious for the C-rich samples along with a much higher carbon content under both flash and traditional pyrolysis conditions. The phase contents of SiO2, SiC, and other SiOC intermediates can be calculated using a Gibbs energy minimization method, showing that the C-rich sample has more C-rich SiOC intermediates while the less C-rich sample has more Si-rich intermediates. This research provides a general framework in assessing the pyrolysis behaviors of different SiOC materials.
American Gothic: How Chicago Economics Distorts “Consumer Welfare” in Antitrust

Since the publication of Robert Bork’s The Antitrust Paradox, lawyers, judges, and many economists have defended “Consumer welfare” (CW) as a standard for decisions about antitrust goals and enforcement priorities. This paper argues that the CW is actually an empty concept and is an inappropriate goal for antitrust. Welfare economists concede that there is no credible measurable link between price and output and human well-being. This means that the concept of CW does not legitimate limited antitrust enforcement, nor does it justify the exclusion of other antitrust goals that require more active enforcement practices. This paper contends that antitrust policy is not welfare based at all, and that if it were, antitrust policy and enforcement would differ significantly from the Chicago School vision. Without the fiction that economists can establish that in the short run lower price and higher output measurably increases welfare more than other goals, recent defenses of the CW standard resolve down to arguments based on unsupported assumptions.
Hyperboles in advertising: a serial mediation of incongruity and humour

Visual hyperbole is a widely used yet understudied rhetorical figure in advertising. This experimental study examined the effectiveness of visual hyperbole over non-hyperbolic visual and verbal hyp...