cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Epithelial Carcinomas in the Child

Malignancies derived from epithelial tissues account for the overwhelming majority of tumors in the adult population (American Cancer Society 1991). Such cancers are extremely rare in the pediatric age group (Young et al. 1981), representing less than 5% of all childhood malignancies. The infrequency with which such carcinomas are encountered in patients less than 18 years of age has thus far precluded prospective, systematic evolution of therapy. In general, treatment strategies are adapted from those in use for adults. Etiologic factors in childhood cancer include genetic predisposition (Sherlock et al. 1975; Reed and Neel 1955; McKusick 1964; Bussey 1970; Stemper et al. 1975; Haggitt and Pitcock 1970; Lynch et al. 1973), environmental factors and exposures (Correa and Haenszel 1978; Howell 1975; Wynder and Shigematsu 1967; Pratt and George982; Prati et al. 1977; Odone et al. 1982; Rao et al. 1985; Caldwell et al. 1981), ionizing radiation (Duffy and Fitzgerald 1950; Fjalling et al. 1986; Winship and Rosvoll 1961), and possibly Epstein-Barr virus (Klein et al. 1974; Huang et al. 1978; Henle and Henle 1976; Naegele et al. 1982). Potential causation is, of course, inapparent in many cases. When identified, such risk factors do not appear to have an influence upon clinical outcome, other than perhaps mitigating toward earlier diagnosis in those patients with recognizable clinical syndromes which put them at increased risk for malignancy.
Rare Earth Arene-Bridged Complexes Obtained by Reduction of Organometallic Precursors

Rare earth chemistry has witnessed remarkable advances in recent years. In particular, ancillary ligands other than cyclopentadienyl derivatives have been introduced to the organometallic chemistry, and their complexes exhibit distinct reactivity and properties compared to the metallocene or half-sandwiched analogs. This chapter reviews arene-bridged rare earth complexes with an emphasis on those compounds obtained by reduction reactions. A particular emphasis is placed on rare earth complexes supported by 1,1'-ferrocenediyl diamides since they show the most diverse chemistry with arenes: Fused arenes, such as naphthalene and anthracene, formed inverse-sandwiched complexes, in which the arene is dianionic; weakly conjugated arenes, such as biphenyl, p-terphenyl, and 1,3,5-triphenylbenzene, were unexpectedly reduced by four electrons and led to 6-carbon, 10π-electron aromatic systems; on the contrary, (E)-stilbene, which has a carbon-carbon double bond between the two phenyl rings, could only be reduced by two electrons, which were located on the carbon-carbon double bond instead of the phenyl rings. The reactivity of some rare earth arene-bridged complexes is also discussed with noticeable examples being the activation of white phosphorus (P4) by rare earth naphthalene complexes. Stoichiometric P4 activation led to polyphosphide (P84-P84- or P73-P73-), which could then be transferred to phosphorus-containing organic molecules. © 2014 Elsevier B.V.
COMPETITION AND THE EVOLUTION OF AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR IN TWO SPECIES OF TERRESTRIAL SALAMANDERS.

The effects of competition on the evolution of interspecific interference mechanisms were studied by comparing the aggressive behavior of two terrestrial salamander species from two localities that differ in the intensity of interspecific competition. Plethodon jordani and P. glutinosus are closely related, ecologically similar species that are sympatric at intermediate elevations in the southern Appalachian Mountains. Previous removal and transplant experiments showed that interspecific competition is more intense in the northeastern Great Smoky Mountains, where the species are narrowly sympatric, than in the nearby Balsam Mountains, where sympatry is broader. In laboratory encounters, P. glutinosus from the Great Smoky Mountains were more aggressive to heterospecific and conspecific intruders than were P. glutinosus from the Balsam Mountains. For P. jordani, however, the variation in interspecific and intraspecific aggressive behavior among individuals within populations was as great as the variation between populations. Alpha-selection (i.e., improved competitive ability by the acquisition of interspecific interference mechanisms) has occurred in populations of P. glutinosus under conditions of intense interspecific competition. The evolution of aggressive behavior appears to have been influenced by the intensity of intraspecific competition as well.
Finding the Right (Bioorthogonal) Chemistry

Bioorthogonal chemistries can be used to tag diverse classes of biomolecules in cells and other complex environments. With over 20 unique transformations now available, though, selecting an appropriate reaction for a given experiment is challenging. In this article, we compare and contrast the most common classes of bioorthogonal chemistries and provide a framework for matching the reactions with downstream applications. We also discuss ongoing efforts to identify novel biocompatible reactions and methods to control their reactivity. The continued expansion of the bioorthogonal toolkit will provide new insights into biomolecule networks and functions and thus refine our understanding of living systems.
Group Decision Process Effectiveness A Competing Values Approach

Four standards are proposed to assess instruments designed to evaluate group decision process effectiveness. These standards were applied to a multicriteria evaluative instrument based on the Competing Values Approach to decision process effectiveness. In a study using nine groups and three types of raters (facilitators, participants, and observers) in a field setting, the instrument was found to be appropriately insensitive to role differences between raters within groups and appropriately sensitive to differences across groups. Ratings of facilitators and participants within groups were the most consistent, although their ratings diverged on four of the effectiveness scales.
Sequences of mechanisms for causal reasoning in artificial intelligence

We present a new approach to token-level causal reasoning that we call Sequences Of Mechanisms (SoMs), which models causality as a dynamic sequence of active mechanisms that chain together to propagate causal influence through time. We motivate this approach by using examples from AI and robotics and show why existing approaches are inadequate. We present an algorithm for causal reasoning based on SoMs, which takes as input a knowledge base of first-order mechanisms and a set of observations, and it hypothesizes which mechanisms are active at what time. We show empirically that our algorithm produces plausible causal explanations of simulated observations generated from a causal model. We argue that the SoMs approach is qualitatively closer to the human causal reasoning process, for example, it will only include relevant variables in explanations. We present new insights about causal reasoning that become apparent with this view. One such insight is that observation and manipulation do not commute in causal models, a fact which we show to be a generalization of the Equilibration-Manipulation Commutability of [Dash(2005)].
Commercial Nationalism and the Affective News Network

The collision of news and entertainment cultures in the United States was neatly encapsulated by a 2015 dust-up between rival pundits on Fox News and its allegedly progressive rival MSNBC over the relationship between truth-telling and ratings-grubbing. The exchange revolved around the revelation that high-profile Fox News commentator Bill O’Reilly had apparently stretched the truth about his experiences in conflict zones — a discovery that followed on the heels of a similar revelation about NBC celebrity news anchor Brian Williams. Whereas Williams promptly apologized and stepped down so that the circumstances could be investigated, O’Reilly, backed up by his network, stood his ground, conceding only that some of the violent and tragic events that he claimed to have witnessed firsthand in Northern Ireland and El Salvador he had actually seen only in photographs (Dearden, 2015). Picking up on the apparent hypocrisy of O’Reilly, who had publicly criticized Williams with the observation that, ‘If you can’t trust a news anchor or commentator, then you’re not going to watch that person,’ MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow enumerated O’Reilly’s exaggerations and falsehoods (Corn & Schulman, 2015).
Edge dislocations in dicalcium silicates: Experimental observations and atomistic analysis

Abstract Understanding defects and influence of dislocations on dicalcium silicates (Ca 2 SiO 4 ) is a challenge in cement science. We report a high-resolution transmission electron microscopy image of edge dislocations in Ca 2 SiO 4 , followed by developing a deep atomic understanding of the edge dislocation-mediated properties of five Ca 2 SiO 4 polymorphs. By decoding the interplay between core dislocation energies, core structures, and nucleation rate of reactivity, we find that γ-C2S and α-C2S polymorphs are the most favorable polymorphs for dislocations in Ca 2 SiO 4 , mainly due to their large pore channels which take away majority of the distortions imposed by edge dislocations. Furthermore, in the context of edge dislocation, while α-C2S represents the most active polymorph for reactivity and crystal growth, β-C2S represents the most brittle polymorph suitable for grinding. This work is the first report on the atomistic-scale analysis of edge dislocation-mediated properties of Ca 2 SiO 4 and may open up new opportunities for tuning fracture and reactivity processes of Ca 2 SiO 4 and other cement components.
Orthogonal model and experimental data for analyzing wood-fiber-based tri-axial ribbed structural panels in bending

This paper presents an analysis of 3-dimensional engineered structural panels (3DESP) made from wood-fiber-based laminated paper composites. Since the existing models for calculating the mechanical behavior of core configurations within sandwich panels are very complex, a new simplified orthogonal model (SOM) using an equivalent element has been developed. This model considers both linear and nonlinear geometrical effects when used to analyze the mechanical properties of 3DESP by transforming repeated elements from a tri-axial ribbed core for bending. Two different conditions were studied in comparison with finite element method (FEM) and I-beam equation. The results showed the SOM was consistent with FEM and the experimental result and were more accurate than the I-beam equation. The SOM considering nonlinear geometric deformation needed more computational effort and was found to match well with a FEM model and had slightly better accuracy compared with the linear SOM. Compared with FEM, the parameters in the linear SOM were easier to modify for predicting point-by-point bending performance. However, while the FEM can provide advanced characteristics of the 3DESP such as strain distribution, the linear SOM provided acceptable deformation accuracy and is proposed for preliminary design with multiple parameters. FEM should be applied for advanced analyses.
Optimal reconstruction and quantitative image features for computer-aided diagnosis tools for breast CT.

PURPOSE The purpose of this study is to determine the optimal representative reconstruction and quantitative image feature set for a computer-aided diagnosis (CADx) scheme for dedicated breast computer tomography (bCT). METHOD We used 93 bCT scans that contain 102 breast lesions (62 malignant, 40 benign). Using an iterative image reconstruction (IIR) algorithm, we created 37 reconstructions with different image appearances for each case. In addition, we added a clinical reconstruction for comparison purposes. We used image sharpness, determined by the gradient of gray value in a parenchymal portion of the reconstructed breast, as a surrogate measure of the image qualities/appearances for the 38 reconstructions. After segmentation of the breast lesion, we extracted 23 quantitative image features. Using leave-one-out-cross-validation (LOOCV), we conducted the feature selection, classifier training, and testing. For this study, we used the linear discriminant analysis classifier. Then, we selected the representative reconstruction and feature set for the classifier with the best diagnostic performance among all reconstructions and feature sets. Then, we conducted an observer study with six radiologists using a subset of breast lesions (N = 50). Using 1000 bootstrap samples, we compared the diagnostic performance of the trained classifier to those of the radiologists. RESULT The diagnostic performance of the trained classifier increased as the image sharpness of a given reconstruction increased. Among combinations of reconstructions and quantitative image feature sets, we selected one of the sharp reconstructions and three quantitative image feature sets with the first three highest diagnostic performances under LOOCV as the representative reconstruction and feature set for the classifier. The classifier on the representative reconstruction and feature set achieved better diagnostic performance with an area under the ROC curve (AUC) of 0.94 (95% CI = [0.81, 0.98]) than those of the radiologists, where their maximum AUC was 0.78 (95% CI = [0.63, 0.90]). Moreover, the partial AUC, at 90% sensitivity or higher, of the classifier (pAUC = 0.085 with 95% CI = [0.063, 0.094]) was statistically better (P-value < 0.0001) than those of the radiologists (maximum pAUC = 0.009 with 95% CI = [0.003, 0.024]). CONCLUSION We found that image sharpness measure can be a good candidate to estimate the diagnostic performance of a given CADx algorithm. In addition, we found that there exists a reconstruction (i.e., sharp reconstruction) and a feature set that maximizes the diagnostic performance of a CADx algorithm. On this optimal representative reconstruction and feature set, the CADx algorithm outperformed radiologists.
Conformational changes at cytoplasmic intersubunit interactions control Kir channel gating.

The defining structural feature of inward-rectifier potassium (Kir) channels is the unique Kir cytoplasmic domain. Recently we showed that salt bridges located at the cytoplasmic domain subunit interfaces (CD-Is) of eukaryotic Kir channels control channel gating via stability of a novel inactivated closed state. The cytoplasmic domains of prokaryotic and eukaryotic Kir channels show similar conformational rearrangements to the common gating ligand, phosphatidylinositol bisphosphate (PIP2), although these exhibit opposite coupling to opening and closing transitions. In Kir2.1, mutation of one of these CD-I salt bridge residues (R204A) reduces apparent PIP2 sensitivity of channel activity, and here we show that Ala or Cys substitutions of the functionally equivalent residue (Arg-165) in the prokaryotic Kir channel KirBac1.1 also significantly decrease sensitivity of the channel to PIP2 (by 5–30-fold). To further understand the structural basis of CD-I control of Kir channel gating, we examined the effect of the R165A mutation on PIP2-induced changes in channel function and conformation. Single-channel analyses indicated that the R165A mutation disrupts the characteristic long interburst closed state of reconstituted KirBac1.1 in giant liposomes, resulting in a higher open probability due to more frequent opening bursts. Intramolecular FRET measurements indicate that, relative to wild-type channels, the R165A mutation results in splaying of the cytoplasmic domains away from the central axis and that PIP2 essentially induces opposite motions of the major β-sheet in this channel mutant. We conclude that the removal of stabilizing CD-I salt bridges results in a collapsed state of the Kir domain.
Toward a community ecology of landscapes: predicting multiple predator-prey interactions across geographic space.

Community ecology was traditionally an integrative science devoted to studying interactions between species and their abiotic environments in order to predict species' geographic distributions and abundances. Yet for philosophical and methodological reasons, it has become divided into two enterprises: one devoted to local experimentation on species interactions to predict community dynamics; the other devoted to statistical analyses of abiotic and biotic information to describe geographic distribution. Our goal here is to instigate thinking about ways to reconnect the two enterprises and thereby return to a tradition to do integrative science. We focus specifically on the community ecology of predators and prey, which is ripe for integration. This is because there is active, simultaneous interest in experimentally resolving the nature and strength of predator-prey interactions as well as explaining patterns across landscapes and seascapes. We begin by describing a conceptual theory rooted in classical analyses of non-spatial food web modules used to predict species interactions. We show how such modules can be extended to consideration of spatial context using the concept of habitat domain. Habitat domain describes the spatial extent of habitat space that predators and prey use while foraging, which differs from home range, the spatial extent used by an animal to meet all of its daily needs. This conceptual theory can be used to predict how different spatial relations of predators and prey could lead to different emergent multiple predator-prey interactions such as whether predator consumptive or non-consumptive effects should dominate, and whether intraguild predation, predator interference or predator complementarity are expected. We then review the literature on studies of large predator-prey interactions that make conclusions about the nature of multiple predator-prey interactions. This analysis reveals that while many studies provide sufficient information about predator or prey spatial locations, and thus meet necessary conditions of the habitat domain conceptual theory for drawing conclusions about the nature of the predator-prey interactions, several studies do not. We therefore elaborate how modern technology and statistical approaches for animal movement analysis could be used to test the conceptual theory, using experimental or quasi-experimental analyses at landscape scales.
Improvements in Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Young Adults in a Randomized Trial of Approaches to Weight Gain Prevention.

Objective Weight gain occurs commonly in young adults and increases the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Following on a previous report that two self-regulation interventions reduced weight gain relative to control, this study examines whether these interventions also benefit CVD risk factors. Methods The Study of Novel Approaches to Weight Gain Prevention was a randomized trial in two academic settings (N = 599; 18-35 years; BMI 21-30 kg/m2) comparing two interventions (Self-Regulation with Small Changes; Self-Regulation with Large Changes) and a control group. Small Changes taught participants to make daily small changes in calorie intake (approximately 100 calories) and activity. Large Changes taught participants to initially lose 5 to 10 pounds to buffer anticipated weight gains. CVD risk factors were assessed at baseline and at 2 years in 471 participants. Results Although Large Changes was associated with more beneficial changes in glucose, insulin, and homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance than Control, these differences were not significant after adjusting for multiple comparisons or 2-year weight change. Comparison of participants grouped by percent weight change from baseline to 2 years showed significant differences for several CVD risk factors, with no interaction with treatment condition. Conclusions Magnitude of weight change, rather than specific weight gain prevention interventions, was related to changes in CVD risk factors in young adults.
Investigations into the Reusability of Amidoxime-Based Polymeric Adsorbents for Seawater Uranium Extraction

The ability to reuse amidoxime-based polymeric adsorbents is a critical component in reducing the overall cost of the technology to extract uranium from seawater. This report describes an evaluation of adsorbent reusability in multiple reuse (adsorption/stripping) cycles in real seawater exposures with potassium bicarbonate (KHCO3) elution using several amidoxime-based polymeric adsorbents. The KHCO3 elution technique achieved ∼100% recovery of uranium adsorption capacity in the first reuse. Subsequent reuses showed significant drops in adsorption capacity. After the fourth reuse with the ORNL AI8 adsorbent, the 56-day adsorption capacity dropped to 28% of its original capacity. FTIR spectra revealed that there was a conversion of the amidoxime ligands to carboxylate groups during extended seawater exposure, becoming more significant with longer exposure times. Ca and Mg adsorption capacities also increased with each reuse cycle supporting the hypothesis that long-term exposure resulted in converting amid...
Protein patterning using germanium as a sacrificial layer

With the rise of microfluidic diagnostics, there is a need for more efficient methods of patterning surface-attached moieties, including proteins like antibodies, onto microchannel surfaces. This arises because almost all of the solvents and processes used for surface-attachment chemistries (or their payloads) are incompatible with sacrificial layers usually photoresist during microfabrication, rendering it difficult to easily pattern active chemistry onto a surface in manufacture scale. We present a simple method, based on thin film germanium dissolution, which is compatible with both modern nanolithographic techniques and surface chemistries. Simply, because germanium thin films dissolve readily, controllably and rapidly in water (but not organic solvents), these films can be used to mask and protect areas of the substrate during the attachment of surface chemistries. We demonstrate the process and results using microscale patterns. The resolution and alignment of this method depends on the photolithography tool used; nanoscale patterning is not difficult to achieve. In addition, we show that with non-conformal germanium deposition (e.g. e-beam evaporation), the conjugation of surface chemistry on vertical side walls can be manipulated by controlling the thickness of the deposited germanium layer, opening another dimension for microfluidic devices and cell manipulation research.
Extending the Neuroanatomic Territory of Diffuse Midline Glioma, K27M Mutant: Pineal Region Origin

Diffuse midline glioma, H3-K27M mutant (DMG-K27M) is a newly described, molecularly distinct infiltrative glioma that almost exclusively arises in midline CNS structures, including the brain stem, especially the pons, as well as the thalamus and spinal cord with rare examples seen in the cerebellum, third ventricle, and hypothalamus. To our knowledge, only 1 case of a molecularly confirmed DMG-K27M arising in the pineal region has been previously reported. We present the second occurrence of a tissue-confirmed DMG-K27M of the pineal region, which, to our knowledge, is the first case reported in a child and the first case with documented preoperative MRI. This case, in addition to a prior report described in an adult, defines the lower end of a broad age range of DMG-K27M onset (12-65 years) and establishes the pineal gland as a bona fide site of origin for this newly codified midline glioma.
What Happened to My Office? The Role of Place Identity at Work

Despite growing interest in the effect of the physical environment on organizational outcomes, we know relatively little about how physical space influences the formation of identity in the workpla...
When is affect variability bad for health? The association between affect variability and immune response to the influenza vaccination

Abstract Objectives This study addresses methodological and theoretical questions about the association between affect and physical health. Specifically, we examine the role of affect variability and its interaction with mean levels of affect to predict antibody (Ab) levels in response to an influenza vaccination. Methods Participants (N = 83) received the vaccination and completed daily diary measures of affect four times a day for 13 days. At one and four months post-vaccination, blood was collected from the participants to assess Ab levels. Results Findings indicate that affect variability and its interaction with mean levels of affect predict an individual's immune response. Those high in mean positive affect (PA) who had more PA variability were more likely to have a lower Ab response in comparison to those who had high mean PA and less PA variability. Although it did not interact with mean negative affect (NA), NA variability on its own was associated with Ab response, whereby those with less NA variability mounted a more robust immune response. Conclusion Affect variability is related to immune response to an influenza vaccination and, in some cases, interacts with mean levels of affect. These oscillations in affective experiences are critical to consider in order to unpack the intricacies of how affect influences health. These findings suggest that future researchers should consider the important role of affect variability on physical health-relevant outcomes as well as examine the moderating effect of mean affect levels.
BCAP promotion of TLR-induced IFNα production in plasmacytoid DC (INM7P.346)

B cell adaptor for PI3-kinase (BCAP) is a cytosolic adaptor protein involved in phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase (PI3K) activation in several immune lineages. In macrophages, we have shown that BCAP links TLR to phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase (PI3K) activation, thereby negatively regulating the production of proinflammatory cytokine production. BCAP is also expressed in plasmacytoid DC (pDC), in which PI3K signaling has been implicated in TLR responses. Therefore we investigated the role of BCAP in TLR7 and TLR9 responses in pDC. We confirmed high expression of BCAP in pDC by intracellular staining. We then examined pDC responses to TLR7 and TLR9 agonists. pDC grown from bone marrow in Flt3L from BCAP -/- mice secreted lower amounts of IFNa than wild type (WT) pDC in response to the TLR9 agonist CpG-C or TLR7 agonists R848 and ssRNA40. BCAP -/- pDC also had decreased Akt phosphorylation upon TLR7 and TLR9 stimulation, consistent with the function of BCAP to activate the PI3K pathway downstream of TLR in macrophages. BCAP -/- pDC secreted similar or higher levels of IL-6 than WT pDC, similar to inhibition of PI3K in human pDC. We found that BCAP -/- pDC directly isolated from bone marrow also showed reduced production of IFNa in response to CpG-C compared to WT pDC. Therefore, BCAP is a protein that specifically promotes TLR7/9-induced PI3K activation and IFNα production in pDC.
Curiosity-driven exploration with planning trajectories

Reinforcement learning (RL) agents can reduce learning time dramatically by planning with learned predictive models. Such planning agents learn to improve their actions using planning trajectories, sequences of imagined interactions with the environment. However, planning agents are not intrinsically driven to improve their predictive models, which is a necessity in complex environments. This problem can be solved by adding a curiosity drive that rewards agents for experiencing novel states. Curiosity acts as a higher form of exploration than simple random action selection schemes because it encourages targeted investigation of interesting situations. In a task with multiple external rewards, we show that RL agents using uncertainty-limited planning trajectories and intrinsic curiosity rewards outperform non-curious planning agents. The results show that curiosity helps drive planning agents to improve their predictive models by exploring uncertain territory. To the author’s knowledge, no previous work has tested the benefits of curiosity with planning trajectories.
The Moderating Effects of Status-Consumption Motive and Age in the Relationship between CSR Advertising Appeal Type and Purchase Intentions

ABSTRACTThe primary purpose of this study was to examine factors that influence the effectiveness of benefit appeal types (i.e., help-other vs. help-self) in Corporate Social Responsibility adverti...
Promoting natural resource conflict management in an illiberal setting: Experiences from Central Darfur, Sudan

Abstract My main goal is to draw attention to ongoing conflict and insecurity in Darfur region of Sudan, still one of the world’s largest humanitarian situation. Darfur once commanded global attention but has receded into the shadows of a world suffering from compassion fatigue. This study was prompted by three distinct yet related concerns. The first is the growing interest in environmental performance within illiberal regimes. I contend that understanding the situation in authoritarian and heavily conflict-ridden societies such as Darfur region in Sudan requires a combined holistic and historical framework for understanding the complex interplay of political economy and cultural ecology affecting local use and management of natural resources. The second concern is a desire to reflect on the possibilities and challenges of peacebuilding and recovery Darfur, drawing on my experience there with two projects carried out by the Near East Foundation that sought to promote early recovery in Central Darfur through environmental peacebuilding. Its preparation was prompted by three distinct yet related concerns. The third concern is to address some of the links between peacebuilding and natural resource interventions. I argue that even in extremely illiberal settings such as Darfur that it is still possible to carry out activities that widen the scope for action by local populations. This finding was most evident regarding the project’s conflict management training, which local people ended up applying in a range of situations, and which helped spawn a peace movement among youths. Nevertheless, project participants noted that this training and action, while helpful at the community level, could not address “bigger problems outside.” Renewed national and international peace efforts are needed.
The Effect of Stress Management Group Therapy on Patients on an Adolescent Psychiatric Unit

The effect of stress management group therapy on a broad range of psychiatric symptoms was evaluated on an adolescent psychiatric unit. Adolescent boys and girls from ages 11 to 18 were placed in either an experimental group or a control group. The experimental group received three session of stress management group therapy in addition to the usual treatment on the unit, while the control group received only the usual treatment on the unit. Both groups were evaluated with the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) before and after the stress management groups. Although both the experimental and the control groups improved their BPRS scores over the time of treatment, the experimental group showed a significantly greater improvement than the control group. The results indicate the stress management group therapy may be effective in reducing a broad range of psychiatric symptoms.
Evolutionary and ecological links between plant and fungal viruses

Contents Summary 86 I. Introduction 86 II. Lineages shared by plant and fungal viruses 87 III. Virus transmission between plants and fungi 90 IV. Additional plant virus families identified in fungi by metagenomics 91 Acknowledgements 91 References 91 SUMMARY: Plants and microorganisms have been interacting in both positive and negative ways for millions of years. They are also frequently infected with viruses that can have positive or negative impacts. A majority of virus families with members that infect fungi have counterparts that infect plants, and in some cases the phylogenetic analyses of these virus families indicate transmission between the plant and fungal kingdoms. These similarities reflect the host relationships; fungi are evolutionarily more closely related to animals than to plants but share very few viral signatures with animal viruses. The details of several of these interactions are described, and the evolutionary implications of viral cross-kingdom interactions and horizontal gene transfer are proposed.
Women's Contraceptive Perceptions, Beliefs, and Attitudes: An Integrative Review of Qualitative Research

Introduction Unintended pregnancy rates will remain high until researchers explore the lived experience of women's relationships with contraception. This integrative review examines the extant qualitative literature on women's contraception to illuminate common themes in women's perspectives through the lens of the feminist poststructuralist framework. Methods A literature review of PubMed and CINAHL databases was completed for English-language studies conducted in the United States from January 2008 through September 2018 that qualitatively examined women's perceptions, beliefs, and attitudes regarding contraception. Reports, dissertations, mixed-methods research, and literature reviews were excluded. The sample, methods, and findings of 19 studies were reviewed. Themes were identified using the 5 major tenets of the feminist poststructuralist framework: discourse, power, language, subjectivity, and agency. Results Themes of power imbalance between partners and health care providers; societal and communal discourses on femininity and motherhood; distrust of hormonal contraception; the ability to enhance personal agency through contraceptive decision making; and a need for open, patient-focused communication arose from the 19 studies included in the review. Discussion Using a feminist poststructuralist framework to examine women's contraceptive perceptions illuminates and magnifies the many ways in which contraceptive beliefs and use are dependent on gender roles and power dynamics. Gaps in knowledge specific to older women and exploration of women's subjectivity should be addressed. Clinicians should evaluate the power structures inherent to their practice while providing woman-focused, evidence-based contraceptive education.
Integration of Alzheimer’s disease genetics and myeloid cell genomics identifies novel causal variants, regulatory elements, genes and pathways

Abstract Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified more than thirty loci associated with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), but the causal variants, regulatory elements, genes and pathways remain largely unknown thus impeding a mechanistic understanding of AD pathogenesis. Previously, we showed that AD risk alleles are enriched in myeloid-specific epigenomic annotations. Here, we show that they are specifically enriched in active enhancers of monocytes, macrophages and microglia. We integrated AD GWAS signals with myeloid epigenomic and transcriptomic datasets using novel analytical approaches to link myeloid enhancer activity to target gene expression regulation and AD risk modification. We nominate candidate AD risk enhancers and identify their target causal genes (including AP4E1, AP4M1, APBB3, BIN1, CD2AP, MS4A4A, MS4A6A, PILRA, RABEP1, SPI1, SPPL2A, TP53INP1, ZKSCAN1, and ZYX) in sixteen loci. Fine-mapping of these enhancers nominates candidate functional variants that likely modify disease susceptibility by regulating causal gene expression in myeloid cells. In the MS4A locus we identified a single candidate functional variant and validated it experimentally in human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC)-derived microglia. Combined, these results strongly implicate dysfunction of the myeloid endolysosomal system in the etiology of AD.
The Effect of Plate Design on the Flexor Pollicis Longus Tendon After Volar Locked Plating of Distal Radial Fractures.

BACKGROUND Injury to and rupture of the flexor pollicis longus (FPL) tendon are known complications after volar locking plate fixation for distal radial fractures. Recent investigations have demonstrated that plate positioning contributes to the risk of tendon rupture; however, the impact of plate design has yet to be established. The purpose of this study was to compare FPL tendon-to-plate distance, FPL tendon-plate contact, and sonographic changes in the FPL tendon for 2 volar locking plate designs (ADAPTIVE compared with FPL) using ultrasound examination. METHODS We identified patients who underwent distal radial fracture fixation by 2 fellowship-trained hand surgeons with either standard (ADAPTIVE) or FPL plates. Patients were matched by age, sex, and Soong grade. Enrolled patients returned for a research-related office visit for a clinical examination and bilateral wrist ultrasound. We measured plate-tendon distance, plate-tendon contact, sonographic changes in the FPL tendon, and postoperative radiographic parameters in the operatively treated wrist and the uninjured wrist. RESULTS Forty patients with Soong grade-1 or 2 plate prominence underwent bilateral wrist ultrasound examination; all of the patients had distal radial fracture fixation, 20 with the standard volar locking plate and 20 with the FPL volar locking plate. Similar proportions of patients with the FPL plate (65%) and those with the standard plate (79%) had plate-tendon contact (p = 0.48); however, the FPL volar locking plate group had significantly less of the FPL tendon in contact with the volar plate than the standard volar locking plate group at wrist extension at both 0° (p < 0.001) and 45° (p < 0.001). There was no difference (p = 0.5) in the proportion of patients with sonographic changes in the FPL tendon between the FPL volar locking plate group (25%) and the standard volar locking plate group (21%). The postoperative volar tilt was significantly lower in patients with FPL plate-tendon contact (p = 0.01) and correlated moderately with the percentage of FPL tendon-plate contact at 0° (r = -0.51; p < 0.001) and 45° (r = -0.53; p < 0.001). There were no cases of tendon rupture in the cohort. CONCLUSIONS We found that the FPL volar locking plate and increased volar tilt significantly reduced the plate-tendon contact area compared with the standard volar locking plate. In our asymptomatic cohort, we were unable to find a difference in sonographic changes in the FPL tendon. Further studies are needed to determine the clinical importance of decreased tendon-plate contact area seen in modified volar locking plate designs. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Therapeutic Level III. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of Levels of Evidence.
Detailed Calculations of Thermal Diffuse Scattering

Convergent beam electron diffraction (CBED) produces a diffraction pattern from a single point on the specimen using a focused probe in the scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM). Because the incident wavefunction is a focused probe, each diffraction spot is enlarged to a disk the size of the objective aperture. Thermal vibration in the specimen reduces the intensity of the diffraction disks and introduces scattering in between the disk. This normally forbidden scattering between the diffraction disks is referred to as thermal diffuse scattering (TDS). The effects are most pronounced at large scattering angles, where TDS scattering can greatly reduce the intensity of the higher order Laue zone (HOLZ) lines. Previous work on modeling the TDS intensity involved the so-called frozen phonon method and the Einstein model of lattice vibration. The Einstein model assumes that each atom in the specimen vibrates independently of every other atom in the specimen and possible correlations among adjacent atoms are ignored.
Electronic Vapor Product Use and Violence Victimization Among a Nationally Representative Sample of Adolescents.

Abstract Purpose We examined associations between electronic vapor product use (vaping) and violence victimization (adolescent relationship abuse (ARA), youth violence, bullying, and experiencing all three types of violence). Methods Data were drawn from the 2017 National Youth Risk Behavioral Survey. Logistic regression examined associations between vaping and violence victimization, adjusting for sex, age, race, identification as a sexual minority, and use of other substances. Results After adjusting for demographic characteristics, vaping was significantly and positively associated with ARA, youth violence, bullying, and experiencing all three types of violence (ARA: adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 3.0, 95% CI: 2.5–3.5; youth violence: aOR 3.0, CI: 2.4–3.6; bullying: aOR 1.5, CI: 1.4–1.7; all three types of violence: 10, CI: 6.3, 15.8). When use of other substances was added into the model, these associations attenuated, and, for bullying, lost significance. Conclusions Vaping is associated with increased violence victimization, particularly for youth experiencing ARA, youth violence, and polyvictimization. Further longitudinal studies are needed to determine directionality of these associations and guide prevention efforts.
Detecting flaky tests in probabilistic and machine learning applications

Probabilistic programming systems and machine learning frameworks like Pyro, PyMC3, TensorFlow, and PyTorch provide scalable and efficient primitives for inference and training. However, such operations are non-deterministic. Hence, it is challenging for developers to write tests for applications that depend on such frameworks, often resulting in flaky tests – tests which fail non-deterministically when run on the same version of code. In this paper, we conduct the first extensive study of flaky tests in this domain. In particular, we study the projects that depend on four frameworks: Pyro, PyMC3, TensorFlow-Probability, and PyTorch. We identify 75 bug reports/commits that deal with flaky tests, and we categorize the common causes and fixes for them. This study provides developers with useful insights on dealing with flaky tests in this domain. Motivated by our study, we develop a technique, FLASH, to systematically detect flaky tests due to assertions passing and failing in different runs on the same code. These assertions fail due to differences in the sequence of random numbers in different runs of the same test. FLASH exposes such failures, and our evaluation on 20 projects results in 11 previously-unknown flaky tests that we reported to developers.
L’argument de Leibniz sur les conditions nécessaires et suffisantes du principe de la raison suffisante. Leibniz’ Argument der notwendigen und hinreichenden Bedingungen für das Prinzip des hinreichenden Grundes

I discuss an argument for Leibniz’s principle of sufficient reason, the argument that he gives from considerations about necessary and sufficient conditions. I consider two versions that Leibniz offers, a longer and a shorter one. I also wish to assess a criticism of the longer version of Leibniz’s argument made by the distinguished Leibniz scholar Robert Merrihew Adams in 1994. Adams claims that Leibniz’s argument for the principle of sufficient reason begs the question. A simple formalization of the argument in propositional logic shows that this is not the case, but reveals two further difficulties. The first difficulty (a) has to do with the apparent failure of the derivation of the principle that the existence of the “aggregate” of the necessary conditions for the existence of a thing implies the existence of the sufficient conditions. The second difficulty (b) is that Leibniz’s second premise plays no obvious role in his derivation. I try to solve these problems, on his behalf.
Weather-Dependent Nonlinear Microwave Behavior of Seasonal High-Elevation Snowpacks

Ensemble predictions of the seasonal snowpack over the Grand Mesa, CO (~300 km2) for the hydrologic year 2016–2017 were conducted using a multilayer snow hydrology model. Snowpack ensembles were driven by gridded atmospheric reanalysis and evaluated against SnowEx’17 measurements. The multi-frequency microwave brightness temperatures and backscattering behavior of the snowpack (separate from soil and vegetation contributions) show that at sub-daily time-scales, the ensemble standard deviation (i.e., weather variability at 3 × 3 km2) is 0.95) depends on weather conditions (e.g., 5–6 cm/dB/month in January; 2–2.5 cm/dB/month in late February as melt-refreeze cycles modify the microphysics in the top 50 cm of the snowpack). The nonlinear evolution of ensemble snowpack physics translates into seasonal hysteresis in the mesoscale microwave behavior. The backscatter hysteretic offsets between accumulation and melt regimes are robust in the L- and C-bands and collapse for wet, shallow snow at Ku-band. The emissions behave as a limit-cycles with weak sensitivity in the accumulation regime, and hysteretic behavior during melt that is different for deep (winter-spring transition) and shallow snow (spring-summer), and offsets that increase with frequency. These findings suggest potential for multi-frequency active-passive remote-sensing of high-elevation SWE conditional on snowpack regime, particularly suited for data-assimilation using coupled snow hydrology-microwave models extended to include snow-soil and snow-vegetation interactions.
NestedNet: A Container-based Prototyping Tool for Hierarchical Software Defined Networks

Emulators for software-defined networks (SDNs) are important prototyping tools in validating network hardware performance under a broad range of topologies and parameters. Modern SDNs typically contain hierarchical collections of network nodes, each with interconnected compute devices. These devices often have widely varying compute environments making accurate emulation using discrete processes in a virtual machine (VM) difficult. In this paper, we describe NestedNet, a new container-based prototyping environment for hierarchical SDN systems. Each network node is represented as a Docker container. The node internals inside the container are implemented as nested Docker containers interconnected via an Open vSwitch. Unlike previous emulators, the execution of each heterogeneous component in a network node can be accurately performed using native code within the target execution environment. To demonstrate the flexibility of our rapid prototyping system, we emulate a mobile ad hoc network (MANET) topology of twelve interconnected nodes of five components each and evaluate its performance using throughput and latency metrics. Emulated throughput values of up to 32 Gbps per link are achieved.
Computation-Efficient Algorithm for Distributed Feedback Optimization of Distribution Grids

Feedback-based optimization algorithms use real-time measurements to update the optimal control for the underlying system which may not be fully identified. Recently, we have developed a distributed feedback-based algorithm [1] that avoids the requirement of fast communication between central computing and local actuator/sensor agents. This paper extends the work by greatly reducing the number of copies of variables involved in the distributed feedback-based algorithm, which results in faster convergence and lower communication requirement. The main idea is to leverage the specific structural properties of the admittance matrix for distribution systems with tree network topology. We also show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm in simulations.
On Integral Input-to-Output Stability Properties *

This work provides sufficiency Lyapunov results for several notions of integral input-to-output stability properties for nonlinear systems with time delays. The main results extend the work on integral input-to-state stability to the case when the output variables, not necessarily the entire set of state variables, are being considered for stability analysis.