cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Application of Fiberoptic Bronchoscopy on Diagnosis and Treatment of Respiratory Comorbidity in Children with Congenital Heart Disease

Objective To explore the diagnostic and therapeutic value of fiberoptic bronchoscopy(FB) on respiratory comorbidity in children with congenital heart disease(CHD).Methods Seventy-two children with CHD and concomitant refractory pneumonia,atelectasis,recurrent or persistent wheezing,prolonged mechanical ventilation and preoperative or postoperative evaluation of airways were admitted in hospital and selected in this study from Jul.2006 to May 2010.FB Olympus BF-3C40 was applied after routine local infiltration anesthesia.Twelve children with atelectasis were treated with bronchoalevoar lavage(BAL) simultaneously.Results Respiratory inflammation and obstructive comorbidity were more common in children with CHD(88.9% and 72.2%,respectively),including 46 cases with tracheobronchial stenosis caused by extrinsic compression,8 cases with tracheomalacia or bronchomalacia,5 cases with laryngealmalacia,4 cases with trachealbronchus.Besides,1 child with vessel ring,1 child with inferior segment tracheal congenital stenosis and 1 child with right main bronchial congenital stenosis,1 child with left vocal cord paralysis,respectively.The incidence of tracheobronchial stenosis caused by extrinsic compression in the children with PH was significantly greater than those in children without PH(91.3% vs 19.2%).Seven cases were cured among the 12 children with atelectasis treated with BAL.Transient hypoxemia were found in 31 cases(43.1%).No severe complication was found in both groups.Conclusions Respiratory inflammation,tracheobronchial stenosis,tracheomalacia and bronchomalacia are common in children with CHD,PH is an important risk factor of tracheobronchial stenosis caused by extrinsic compression.FB is a relatively safe evaluation tool in the diagnosis and intervention treatment in the children with CHD and respiratory comorbidity.
Implementing New Technologies to Support Social Justice Pedagogy

Our research and development work in classrooms, and with teachers in professional development settings, has convinced us that the use of new technologies can promote critical inquiry and reflective discourse in the classroom in support of social justice pedagogies. In this chapter, we present a set of frames that articulate high-impact practices and instructional moves for facilitating critical inquiry and reflective discourse in secondary classrooms in support of social justice pedagogies. Classroom vignettes demonstrate specific ways that a variety of technologies can be implemented to support enactment of these practices. The following questions guide the organization of this chapter: (1) What is the research base for using new technologies to facilitate critical inquiry and reflective discourse in support of social justice pedagogies? (2) What are some high-impact instructional practices for using new technologies to facilitate critical inquiry and reflective discourse in support of social justice pedagogies? (3) How can teachers use new technologies to enact high-impact practices in support of social justice pedagogies? (4) What are the implications of this work for teacher professional development and instructional capacity building?
Long-term outcomes using adjuvant pelvic intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) for endometrial carcinoma.

Abstract Purpose We evaluated the long-term outcome and toxicity of adjuvant intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) for high-risk endometrial carcinoma via a retrospective institutional review of patients treated in this setting with extended follow-up. Methods and materials Patients with endometrial cancer who underwent comprehensive surgical staging followed by adjuvant IMRT with or without sequential chemotherapy between 1999 and 2010 were reviewed. Median doses delivered with IMRT and brachytherapy were 45 Gy in 25 fractions and 10 Gy in 2 fractions; 10.2% received extended field and 94.5% received vaginal brachytherapy. Kaplan-Meier estimates are provided for rates of locoregional (in-field) relapse, distant metastasis, and disease-free survival, and overall survival. Gastrointestinal (GI) and genitourinary (GU) toxicity reported were graded with the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events, version 4.03. Results A total of 128 patients were identified. Median age at diagnosis was 64 years. Most patients (82.8%) had endometrioid adenocarcinoma followed by papillary serous (10.2%), clear cell (4.7%), and carcinosarcoma (2.3%). International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics staging distribution was as follows: IA, 13.3%; IB, 32.8%; II, 30.4%; IIIA, 5.5%; IIIC1, 9.4%; and IIIC2, 8.6%. Most (85.9%) underwent nodal dissections (28.1% pelvic only and 57.8% pelvic and para-aortic). Two patients (1.6%) experienced acute grade 3 GI toxicity; no other acute grade ≥3 GI/GU toxicities were noted. With a median follow-up of 57.0 months, 5-year locoregional relapse was 2.5%: vagina (n = 3), parametrium (n = 1), pelvic node (n = 1). Five-year estimates of distant metastasis, disease-free survival, and overall survival were 16.5%, 73.4%, and 77.4%, respectively. Five-year actuarial rates of late grade 3 GI and GU toxicities were 3.2% and 0.0%. The 5-year rate of symptomatic pelvic insufficiency fracture was 4.4%. Conclusions This study represents the largest cohort of endometrial cancer patients with extended follow-up receiving adjuvant IMRT. High rates of pelvic disease control and limited late toxicities demonstrate safety and efficacy of this approach in the setting of extended follow-up.
Brief Announcement: A Family of Leaderless Generalized-Consensus Algorithms

Leaderless consensus algorithms in the vein of EPaxos have performance advantages, especially for geo-replication, but are also very intricate, making them hard to modify and adapt for specific use cases. In this paper we show that their core principle can be captured in a generic leaderless generalized-consensus algorithm that uses two new abstractions: a dependency-set algorithm, which suggests dependencies for commands, and a map-agreement algorithm, which ensures that, for each submitted command, processes agree on a dependency set. Our generic algorithm gives rise to a family of algorithms whose members are obtained by using concrete dependency-set and map-agreement algorithms. On top of enabling modular correctness proofs of leaderless consensus algorithms, we expect that the modular structure of our generic leaderless algorithm will allow a principled theoretical and empirical evaluation of the trade-offs that can be achieved by different implementations of our two abstractions.
Psycho-Geographic Orientation in the Neoliberal City: Establishing and Contesting Place Identity in the Nascent Literature of Dubai

In a number of ways the United Arab Emirate (UAE) city-state of Dubai represents one of the purest incarnations of neoliberalism on the planet: in its demographic division between a small, fabulously affluent social elite and the legion of veritable indentured servants who clean the former’s homes and build their skyscrapers; in its unapologetic celebration of conspicuous consumption through state-sponsored shopping festivals and posh luxury boutiques; in its government based on the corporate organizational model; and in its status as ‘an oasis of free enterprise without income taxes, trade unions, or opposition parties’ (Davis 60). What Los Angeles was to the late modern, industrial era — a sprawling lodestone for capital, people, and the ideas and cultures they carry along with them — Dubai is to our neoliberal, postcolonial (or neo-colonial) world of globalization and ballooning consumerism. Spurred like Los Angeles by real estate boosterism and economic opportunities, Dubai exploded in population over a short span of time, going from 10,000 people living in about 2,000 houses in 1900 to roughly 1.5 million people occupying over eighty-seven square miles today — with the vast majority of that growth occurring in the twilight of the twentieth and dawning of the twenty-first centuries (Elsheshtawy 107, 121). But the inherent interest of Dubai, like Los Angeles, is not principally its mushrooming sprawl and population growth, but its paradigmatic relationship to the defining socio-cultural trends of its era.
HPC-VMs: Virtual machines in high performance computing systems

The concept of virtual machines dates back to the 1960s. Both IBM and MIT developed operating system features that enabled user and peripheral time sharing, the underpinnings of which were early virtual machines. Modern virtual machines present a translation layer of system devices between a guest operating system and the host operating system executing on a computer system, while isolating each of the guest operating systems from each other. 1 In the past several years, enterprise computing has embraced virtual machines to deploy a wide variety of capabilities from business management systems to email server farms. Those who have adopted virtual deployment environments have capitalized on a variety of advantages including server consolidation, service migration, and higher service reliability. But they have also ended up with some challenges including a sacrifice in performance and more complex system management. Some of these advantages and challenges also apply to HPC in virtualized environments. In this paper, we analyze the effectiveness of using virtual machines in a high performance computing (HPC) environment. We propose adding some virtual machine capability to already robust HPC environments for specific scenarios where the productivity gained outweighs the performance lost for using virtual machines. Finally, we discuss an implementation of augmenting virtual machines into the software stack of a HPC cluster, and we analyze the affect on job launch time of this implementation.
Predicting Students’ Intention to Plagiarize: an Ethical Theoretical Framework

This article investigates whether acts of plagiarism are predictable. Through a deductive, quantitative method, this study examines 517 students and their motivation and intention to plagiarize. More specifically, this study uses an ethical theoretical framework called the Theory of Reasoned Action (TORA) and Planned Behavior (TPB) to proffer five hypotheses about cognitive, relational, and social processing relevant to ethical decision making. Data results indicate that although most respondents reported that plagiarism was wrong, students with strong intentions to plagiarize had a more positive attitude toward plagiarizing, believed that it was important that family and friends think plagiarizing is acceptable, and perceived that plagiarizing would be an easy task. However, participants in the current study with less intention to plagiarize hold negative views about plagiarism, do not believe that plagiarism is acceptable to family, friends or peers, and perceive that the act of plagiarizing would prove difficult. Based on these findings, this study considers implications important for faculty, librarians, and student support staff in preventing plagiarism through collaborations and outreach programming.
Poesia e preghiera, in Testo. Studi di teoria e storia della letteratura e della critica

Si tratta di un numero speciale della rivista interamente dedicato al rapporto tra poesia e preghiera nella letteratura italiana. Curato da Erminia Ardissino e Francesca Parmeggiani, il volume racc...
Hard Constraints for Prioritized Objective Nonlinear MPC

This paper presents a Nonlinear Model Predictive Control (NMPC) algorithm that uses hard variable constraints to allow for control objective prioritization. Traditional prioritized objective approaches can require the solution of a complex mixed-integer program. The formulation presented in this work relies on the feasibility and solution of a relatively small logical sequence of purely continuous nonlinear programs (NLP). The proposed solution method for accomodation of discrete control objectives is equivalent to solution of the overall mixed-integer nonlinear programming problem. The performance of the algorithm is demonstrated on a simulated multivariable network of air pressure tanks.
Transcranial Doppler Monitoring in Carotid Endarterectomy: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Objectives To evaluate the efficacy of intraoperative transcranial Doppler monitoring in predicting perioperative strokes after carotid endarterectomy (CEA). Methods An electronic search of PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science databases was conducted for studies on transcranial Doppler monitoring in CEA published from January 1970 through September 2015. All titles and abstracts were independently screened on the basis of predetermined inclusion criteria, which included randomized clinical trials and prospective or retrospective cohort reviews, patients who underwent CEA with intraoperative transcranial Doppler monitoring (either middle cerebral artery velocity [MCAV] or cerebral microembolic signals [MES]) and postoperative neurologic assessments up to 30 days after the surgery, and studies including an abstract, published in English on adult humans 18 years and older with a sample size of 50 or greater. Results A total of 25articles with a sample population of 4705 patients were analyzed. Among the study patients, 189 developed perioperative strokes. Transcranial Doppler monitoring (either MCAV or MES) showed specificity of 72.7% (95% confidence interval [CI], 61.2%–81.8%) and sensitivity of 56.1% (95% CI, 46.8%–65.0%) for predicting perioperative strokes. Intraoperative MCAV changes during CEA showed strong specificity of 84.1% (95% CI, 74.4%–90.6) and sensitivity of 49.7% (95% CI, 40.6%–58.8) for predicting perioperative strokes. Conclusions Patients with perioperative strokes are 4 times more likely to have had transcranial Doppler changes (either MCAV or MES) during CEA compared to patients without strokes. Simultaneous MCAV and MES monitoring by transcranial Doppler sonography and combined intraoperative monitoring of transcranial Doppler sonography with somatosensory evoked potentials and electroencephalography during CEA to predict perioperative stroke could not be evaluated because of a lack of clinical studies combining these measures.
Developmental and internal validation of a novel 13 loci STR multiplex method for Cannabis sativa DNA profiling

Marijuana (Cannabis sativa L.) is a plant cultivated and trafficked worldwide as a source of fiber (hemp), medicine, and intoxicant. The development of a validated method using molecular techniques such as short tandem repeats (STRs) could serve as an intelligence tool to link multiple cases by means of genetic individualization or association of cannabis samples. For this purpose, a 13 loci STR multiplex method was developed, optimized, and validated according to relevant ISFG and SWGDAM guidelines. The STR multiplex consists of 13 previously described C. sativa STR loci: ANUCS501, 9269, 4910, 5159, ANUCS305, 9043, B05, 1528, 3735, CS1, D02, C11, and H06. A sequenced allelic ladder consisting of 56 alleles was designed to accurately genotype 101 C. sativa samples from three seizures provided by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection crime lab. Using an optimal range of DNA (0.5–1.0 ng), validation studies revealed well-balanced electropherograms (inter-locus balance range: 0.500–1.296), relatively balanced heterozygous peaks (mean peak height ratio of 0.83 across all loci) with minimal artifacts and stutter ratio (mean stutter of 0.021 across all loci). This multi-locus system is relatively sensitive (0.13 ng of template DNA) with a combined power of discrimination of 1 in 55 million. The 13 STR panel was found to be species specific for C. sativa; however, non-specific peaks were produced with Humulus lupulus. The results of this research demonstrate the robustness and applicability of this 13 loci STR system for forensic DNA profiling of marijuana samples.
5-Fluorouracil Urethral Suppositories for the Eradication of Condyloma Acuminata

AbstractThe formulation of a 5-fluorouracil urethral suppository is described. The suppositories have been found extremely successful in the eradication of intraurethral condylomas. They have provided better patient compliance and dosage monitoring, and have extended patient usefulness to male and female subjects.
Bilateral Central Retinal Artery Occlusion Associated with Bilateral Lymphoproliferative Infiltrative Optic Neuropathy.

Background: Leukemic infiltration of the optic nerve is relatively rare. While previously described in acute leukemia, the infiltration in our case represents cen
Extent of impaired axoplasmic transport and neurofilament compaction in traumatically injured axon at various strains and strain rates.

ABSTRACTPrimary objective: Secondary axotomy is more prevalent than the primary axotomy and involves subtle intraaxonal changes in response to the injury leading to cytoskeletal disruptions including neurofilament (NF) misalignment and compaction, which is associated with the genesis of impaired axoplasmic transport (IAT). Recent studies have reported two differential axonal responses to injury, one associated with the cytoskeletal collapse and another with the IAT. The objective of this study was to determine the extent of IAT and early NF changes in axons that were subjected to a stretch of various degrees at different strain rates.Research design and methods: Fifty-six L5 dorsal spinal nerve roots were subjected to a predetermined strain at a specified displacement rate (0.01 and 15 mm/second) only once. The histological changes were determined by performing standard immunohistochemical procedures using beta amyloid precursor protein (β APP) and NF-68 kDa antibodies.Results and conclusions: No signific...
Assessment of the feasibility of interconnected smart DC homes in a DC microgrid to reduce utility costs of low income households

DC Microgrids (DC MG) present themselves as an obvious choice enabling integration of multiple renewable energy sources and distributed energy storage. This concept of DC electrification of homes in small communities is being explored in many parts of the world. Furthermore, typical household loads are increasingly becoming natively DC. In this paper, a community DC MG in an urban environment is analyzed. In combination with a community revitalization effort, up to 9 renovated dwellings (a mixture of apartments in a commercial property and houses) will be equipped with a smart DC power panel for loads such as LED lights, fans and air conditioning while a portion of loads will remain AC with an AC/DC converter interface between the loads. The smart DC power panel interfaces to the community DC MG. The effectiveness of driving down utility costs in a low-income household using this concept is compared to a home with conventional AC loads and AC loads with smart technologies. The efficacy of the DC MG to optimal installation and usage of solar energy and battery energy storage is determined and a notional smart energy management approach is presented.
Immunotherapy for Pediatric Brain Tumors

Malignant brain tumors are the most common cause of solid cancer death in children. New targeted therapies are vital to improve treatment outcomes, but must be developed to enable trafficking across the blood brain barrier (BBB). Since activated T cells cross the BBB, cancer immunotherapy can be harnessed to unlock the cytotoxic potential of the immune system. However, standard of care treatments (i.e., chemotherapy and radiation) applied concomitant to pediatric brain tumor immunotherapy may abrogate induction of immunotherapeutic responses. This review will discuss the development of immunotherapies within this paradigm using emerging approaches being investigated in phase I/II trials in children with refractory brain tumors, including checkpoint inhibitors, vaccine immunotherapy, and adoptive cell therapy.
Does the Use of Unreliable Contraceptive Methods Increase the Number of Abortions? Results from a National Survey of Women in the United States.

In this study the authors assessed the association between the types contraceptive use (unreliable or traditional methods vs. modern methods) and number of abortions among a nationally representati...
MARKETING LEADERS AND SOCIAL MEDIA: BLENDING PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL IDENTITIES

Social media is increasingly used as a branding and engagement tool by individuals and organizations. With blurring boundaries between personal and professional social media use, the objective of t...
BEHAVIORAL RESPONSES TO THE ENVIRONMENT | Temperature Preference: Behavioral Responses to Temperature in Fishes

Fish will behaviorally select a specific temperature when in a thermally heterogeneous environment. This preferred temperature is of major importance in determining habitat ranges and microhabitat selection. Preferred temperature can be altered by physiological, environmental, and ecological factors. Fish utilize a neuronal thermoregulatory system similar to that employed by other vertebrates. The main regulatory control centers occur in the anterior brainstem and respond to thermal inputs from the periphery and the central nervous system. This particularly sensitive regulatory system allows fish to avoid deleterious temperatures and, when possible, to occupy temperatures that are optimal for growth and performance.
CORDIC Co-processor

The Coordinate Rotation Digital Computer Algorithm (CORDIC for short) is a well known algorithm to compute rotations using simple, integer arithmetic. The algorithm implements a conversion between rectangular (X, Y ) coordinates and polar (r, θ) coordinates. In this chapter, we discuss the design of a coprocessor that implements the CORDIC algorithm. We will use a Fast-Simplex-Link (FSL) interface. We also discuss a prototype implementation of the design on a Spartan 3E Starter Kit, and show how to resolve the communication bottlenecks originating from inefficient hardware/software interfaces.
Computational contributions towards scalable and efficient genome-wide association methodology

Genome-wide association studies are experiments designed to find the genetic bases of physical traits: for example, markers correlated with disease status by comparing the DNA of healthy individuals to the DNA of affecteds. Over the past two decades, an exponential increase in the resolution of DNA-testing technology coupled with a substantial drop in their cost have allowed us to amass huge and potentially invaluable datasets to conduct such comparative studies. For many common diseases, datasets as large as a hundred thousand individuals exist, each tested at million(s) of markers (called SNPs) across the genome. Despite this treasure trove, so far only a small fraction of the genetic markers underlying most common diseases have been identified. Simply stated—our ability to predict phenotype (disease status) from a person's genetic constitution is still very limited today, even for traits that we know to be heritable from one's parents (e.g. height, diabetes, cardiac health). As a result, genetics today often lags far behind conventional indicators like family history of disease in terms of its predictive power. To borrow a popular metaphor from astronomy, this veritable "dark matter" of perceivable but un-locatable genetic signal has come to be known as missing heritability. This thesis will present my research contributions in two hotly pursued scientific hypotheses that aim to close this gap: (1) gene-gene interactions, and (2) ultra-rare genetic variants—both of which are not yet widely tested. First, I will discuss the challenges that have made interaction testing difficult, and present a novel approximate statistic to measure interaction. This statistic can be exploited in a Monte-Carlo like randomization scheme, making an exhaustive search through trillions of potential interactions tractable using ordinary desktop computers. A software implementation of our algorithm found a reproducible interaction between SNPs in two calcium channel genes in Bipolar Disorder. Next, I will discuss the functional enrichment pipeline we subsequently developed to identify sets of interacting genes underlying this disease. Lastly, I will talk about the application of coding theory to cost-efficient measurement of ultra-rare genetic variation (sometimes, as rare as just one individual carrying the mutation in the entire population).
Self-Crossing Memristive Pinched Hystereses in Autonomous Implicit Models

This paper shows that autonomous implicit ODEs (based on planar lemniscates) are interesting models, yielding pinched self-crossing hystereses that are intrinsic features of all memristive elements...
CONtrast Conformed Electrical Properties Tomography (CONCEPT) Based on Multi- Channel Transmission and Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers

In magnetic resonance-based electrical properties tomography (EPT), circularly polarized magnetic field ${B}_{\textsf {1}}$ from a transmit radiofrequency (RF) coil is measured and utilized to infer the electrical conductivity and permittivity of biological tissues. Compared with a quadrature RF coil, a multi-channel transmit coil provides a plurality of unique transmit ${B}_{\textsf {1}}$ patterns that help to alleviate the under-determinedness of EPT reconstruction problem, and it also allows to circumvent the “transceive phase assumption” that fails at ultra-high-field MRI. Here, a new approach, contrast conformed electrical properties tomography or CONCEPT, is proposed based on the multi-channel transmission that retrieves electrical properties (EPs) by solving a linear partial differential equation with discriminated ${L}_{\textsf {1}}$ and ${L}_{\textsf {2}}$ norm regularization informed by intermediate EP gradient. The theory of CONCEPT and a fast reconstruction algorithm based on the alternating direction method of multipliers are described and evaluated using numerical simulations, phantom experiment, and analysis of in vivo human brain data at 7 T MRI. Compared with the multi-channel gradient-based EPT (gEPT) method, this new technology does not require receive- ${B}_{\textsf {1}}$ sensitivity profiles and does not rely on symmetry assumption regarding RF coil design and imaged target. Moreover, it is not dependent on external prior information, such as integration seed point or anatomical MRI, which can be sources of bias in reconstructed EP values. By deriving EPs from transmit ${B}_{\textsf {1}}$ profiles only, CONCEPT can be used with RF coils that include receive-only arrays with large channel count which can, in turn, offer substantial gains in signal-to-noise ratio. It also holds potentials to image unsymmetrical body organs and diseased brain. CONCEPT provides solutions for the practical problems during the implementation of gEPT, thus representing a more generalized framework in the context of multi-channel RF transmission.
Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM): epidemiology and implications for research.

Historically, communication between the conventional and alternative medical communities has been poor, and there has been little professional collaboration. There is every reason to believe that collaborative projects can be undertaken without relinquishing professional responsibilities or abandoning scientific principles. Alternative medical therapies encompass a broad spectrum of practices and beliefs. From a historical standpoint, they may be defined “as practices that are not accepted as correct, proper, or appropriate or are not in conformity with the beliefs or standards of the dominant group of medical practitioners in a society.” From a functional standpoint, alternative therapies (also known as “complementary,” or “complementary and alternative medicine” (“CAM,” “holistic,” “integrative”) may be defined as interventions neither taught widely in medical schools nor generally available in hospitals. The tenninology currently in use to describe these practices remains controversial. Many commonly used labels (e.g. “alternative,” “unconventional,” “unproven”) are judgmental and may inhibit the collaborative inquiry and discourse necessary to distinguish useful from useless techniques. For the purposes of reference, the term CAM (Complementary and Alternative Medicine) is frequently used in this chapter.
Human papillomavirus vaccination completion rates among gynecological providers: an institutional retrospective review

ABSTRACTObjective: The primary aim of this study is to assess and characterize correlates of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine series completion among young adult women evaluated by gynecological ...
Parametric convolutional neural network-domain full-waveform inversion

ABSTRACTMost current full-waveform inversion (FWI) algorithms minimize the data residuals to estimate a velocity model based on the assumption that the updated model is the sum of a background mode...
Carcinogenesis and Natural History of Breast Cancer

The clinical presentation of breast cancer can range from microinvasive to highly metastatic. The vast majority of breast cancers belong to the class of carcinomas originating from the epithelium of the lobules and ducts of the gland, more specifically luminal cells (potentially secreting milk). Basal-like subtype breast adenocarcinomas – often negative for estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone (PR) and HER2 receptor expression – have a genetic signature similar to myoepithelial cells that line tubules and lobules and are typical of tumors with BRCA1 deficiency [1, 7]. Invasive carcinoma is often associated with outbreaks of carcinoma in situ and with atypical hyperplastic lesions, suggesting that these premalignant lesions may represent precursor lesions of cancer. The less branched and more cellularized nulliparous type I lobes are more amenable to malignant transformation compared to the more differentiated multiparous type III lobe.
Efficacy of transdiagnostic behavior therapy on transdiagnostic avoidance in veterans with emotional disorders

Objective To date, transdiagnostic treatments have primarily investigated treatment outcomes of general psychiatric symptomatology, rather than the specific transdiagnostic symptoms implicated in their protocols. The present study sought to address this significant gap in the literature by investigating the effect of transdiagnostic behavior therapy (TBT) on transdiagnostic avoidance. Method Forty-four veterans diagnosed with various emotional disorders initiated TBT, and completed diagnostic and self-report measures at pre- and posttreatment. Results Participants demonstrated reliable treatment improvements in measures of situational, thought, and positive emotional avoidance, with moderate-to-large effect sizes, and in measures of physical/interoceptive avoidance with small-to-medium effect sizes. Conclusions The findings support the hypothesized effect of TBT in self-report measures of four types of transdiagnostic avoidance in participants diagnosed with various emotional disorders. These findings contribute to the growing literature on the potential benefits of the transdiagnostic approaches to address symptomatology across diagnoses.
Evolutionary divergence of potential drought adaptations between two subspecies of an annual plant: Do some constraints need to be broken?

Premise Whether mechanisms of drought adaptation tend to evolve together, evolve independently, and/or evolve constrained by genetic architecture is incompletely resolved, particularly for water-relations traits besides gas exchange. We addressed this question in two subspecies of Clarkia xantiana (Onagraceae), California winter annuals that diverged approximately 65,000 years ago and that are adapted, partly by differences in flowering time, to native ranges that differ in precipitation. Methods In these subspecies and in F5 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) from a cross between them we scored drought-adaptation traits related to phenology (times to seed germination and to flowering) and tissue water relations (measures of succulence; pressure-volume curve parameters), in common environments. Results Subspecies differed distinctly. The one native to more arid environments had some trait values associated with drought adaptation (e.g., early flowering and high succulence) but had higher osmotic potential at full turgor and lost turgor at higher water potential, indicating poorer tolerance of dehydration. Traits that differed between subspecies exhibited substantial genetic variation, with broad-sense heritability from 0.09 (stem succulence) to 0.43 (time to flowering). The genetic correlation structure suggests facilitated evolution of some trait combinations that might enhance drought adaptation (e.g., high succulence plus low turgor loss point), but the subspecies exhibit some trait combinations that do not follow genetic correlations. Conclusions As lineages diverged in their potential to escape drought by early flowering, other traits diverged as well. Genetic architecture might facilitate some correlated evolutionary responses to drought, but particular trait combinations also can evolve despite apparent genetic constraints.
Communication Skills: A Key to Collaboration and Change.

Communication is frequently identified as an essential aspect of leadership, an argument that is supported strongly by research regarding organizational change and leader effectiveness. This paper ...
Alexa, Tell Me about Your Mother”: The History of the Secretary and the End of Secrecy

Over the last five years, we have seen the rise of a new generation of ‘soft AI’ digital assistants like Apple’s Siri, Microsoft’s Cortana, and Amazon’s Alexa, all designed with feminized personas. In this paper, we connect these AI assistants to the long history of the secretary, beginning with secretary as a desk and then as a profession, emblematized by the executive assistant. How have the gendered practices of organization, anticipation and surveillance been reinvoked in AI agents? How do AI secretaries present new relationships to work, computation and the increasing entanglements of bodies and data?
Observable shape of black hole photon rings

Motivated by the prospect of measuring a black hole photon ring, in previous work we explored the interferometric signature produced by a bright, narrow curve in the sky. Interferometric observations of such a curve measure its ``projected position function'' $\mathbit{r}\ifmmode\cdot\else\textperiodcentered\fi{}\stackrel{^}{\mathbit{n}}$, where $\mathbit{r}$ parametrizes the curve and $\stackrel{^}{\mathbit{n}}$ denotes its unit normal vector. In this paper, we show by explicit construction that a curve can be fully reconstructed from its projected position, completing the argument that space interferometry can in principle determine the detailed photon ring shape. In practice, near-term observations may be limited to the visibility amplitude alone, which contains incomplete shape information: for convex curves, the amplitude only encodes the set of projected diameters (or ``widths'') of the shape. We explore the freedom in reconstructing a convex curve from its widths, giving insight into the shape information probed by technically plausible future astronomical measurements. Finally, we consider the Kerr ``critical curve'' in this framework and present some new results on its shape. We analytically show that the critical curve is an ellipse at small spin or inclination, while at extremal spin it becomes the convex hull of a Cartesian oval. We find a simple oval shape, the ``phoval,'' which reproduces the critical curve with high fidelity over the whole parameter range.
The role of anxiety sensitivity in anger symptomatology: Results from a randomized controlled trial.

Abstract Anger is often overlooked in the assessment and treatment of pathological anxiety, despite there being evidence that anger is elevated across all anxiety disorders. Anxiety sensitivity (AS), a major risk factor of anxiety disorders, has been shown to modulate anger in response to threat induced hyperarousal. The current study therefore examined if reductions in anxiety sensitivity (AS) mediate reductions in anger symptoms. Outcomes from a randomized control trial evaluating the efficacy of a brief AS mitigation intervention were analyzed. Patients with anxiety and comorbid conditions were randomly assigned to AS reduction (n = 58) or a repeated contact control condition (n = 60) and followed up with for three months. Analyses evaluated whether treatment related change in AS mediated later reductions in anger, hostility, verbal aggression, and physical aggression. Results revealed that reductions in AS temporally mediated the effects of treatment on later reductions in anger, hostility, verbal aggression, and physical aggression. Specificity analyses provided further support for the direction and specific variables examined in these models. Results suggest that AS may be a promising treatment target for anger symptoms among those with elevated anxiety symptoms.
Impact of the Texas-Wide Premedical Mentoring Program during the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the usual processes and support systems related to applying to medical school in the United States. The Texas-Wide Premedical Mentoring Program (TPMP) was establishe...
Effect of alginate coatings with cinnamon bark oil and soybean oil on quality and microbiological safety of cantaloupe

Abstract The quality and microbiological safety of cantaloupes can potentially be improved using antimicrobial coatings that are able to maintain effectiveness throughout storage. The objective of this work was to study the effect of coating mixtures containing sodium alginate and cinnamon bark oil (CBO) on the quality of cantaloupes and the survival of inoculated bacterial pathogens and naturally occurring yeasts and molds during ambient storage at 21 °C. Cantaloupes were dipped in mixtures containing 1% sodium alginate with or without 2% CBO and 0 or 0.5% soybean oil (SBO). Weight loss and total soluble solids content of the flesh were not significantly different among coating treatments. However, changes in color and firmness of cantaloupes were delayed to different extents after coating, most significantly for the CBO + SBO treatment. Cocktails of Salmonella enterica, Escherichia coli O157:H7, or Listeria monocytogenes inoculated on cantaloupes were reduced to the detection limit (1.3 log CFU/cm2) and completely inhibited during the 15-day storage by the CBO + SBO treatment, while L. monocytogenes and S. enterica reached populations of 2.9 log CFU/cm2 and 2.4 log CFU/cm2, respectively, on cantaloupes coated with CBO alone. Antimicrobial coatings, especially with SBO, also reduced yeast and mold counts on cantaloupes by 2.6 log CFU/cm2. SBO improved the retention of CBO during storage suggesting it is related to the enhancement of quality and microbiological safety. Findings demonstrated the potential of the antimicrobial coating system studied to improve microbiological safety and quality of cantaloupes.
Invading and Metastasizing Cardiac Hemangioendothelial Neoplasms in a Cohort of the Fish Rivulus marmoratus: Unusually High Prevalence, Histopathology, and Possible Etiologies

An unusually high, unprecedented prevalence of cardiac hemangioendotheliomata, including hemangiomas, hemangioendotheliomas, and hemangioendotheliosarcomas, was found in a laboratory cohort of the small, teleost fish Rivulus marmoratus. The neoplasms occurred in 51 of 204 fish (25%) used in a carcinogenicity study of butylated hydroxyanisole fed in a lyophilized chicken liver diet for up to 9 months. The cardiac neoplasms occurred in approximately equal numbers of both control (fed lyophilized chicken liver but not exposed to butylated hydroxyanisole) and exposed (fed 0.8% butylated hydroxyanisole in chicken liver) fish. The neoplasms occurred in the bulbus arteriosus and ventricle (accompanied by an intense epicarditis), and in some cases, in the gills. At least one case of hemangioma was characterized by cavernous vessels in the bulbar wall. Hemangioendothelioma cases consisted of pleomorphic endothelial cells that formed continuous tracts and anastomosing, typical vascular channels of varying sizes. The hemangioendotheliosarcomas consisted of atypical, spindle, polygonal, or round endothelial cells that formed solid tumor masses that contained abnormal vessels with atypical endothelium tufting into their lumina. Some fish had neoplasm cases containing varying regions with mixtures of the above features. Incipient neoplasms occurred on/in the semilunar valves, and their cells appeared to invade the adjacent walls of the bulbus and/or the ventricle. The gill lesions represented possible metastatic neoplasms, probably formed by atypical endothelial cells that exfoliated from the edges of cardiac neoplasms into the lumina of the ventricle or bulbus and were then pumped to the arterioles of the gills via the ventral aorta. Fish examined from the original colony in the laboratory and from the wild had no neoplasms. Possible causes are discussed, and studies are under way in an attempt to determine the etiology of the neoplasm and to evaluate Rivulus marmoratus as a possible model organism for study of these types of cardiac neoplasms.
When Rights Become Empty Promises: Promoting an Exclusionary Rule that Vindicates Personal Rights

The United States has played a leading role in the development of the exclusionary rule since Weeks v. United States (1914). The original exclusionary rule justification set out in Weeks is the vindication principle which operates so as to exclude unconstitutionally obtained evidence for the purpose of vindicating the rights of the accused. In this way the exclusion of evidence provides a remedy to the victim of an illegality by maintaining the status quo ante. The U.S. Supreme Court observed in Wolf v Colorado (1949) that “[o]f 10 jurisdictions within the United Kingdom and the British Commonwealth of Nations which have passed on the question, none has held evidence obtained by illegal search and seizure inadmissible.” In recent decades the U.S. exclusionary rule has become a weakened remedy for violations of the Constitution because exclusion has been made to depend on its deterrent effect, rather than on restoring parties to the status quo ante. An exclusionary rule based on deterrence theory suppresses evidence in order to discourage future illegal acts by government officials, rather than for the purpose of remedying a constitutional violation. This being so, when a court justifies the exclusionary rule on the basis of deterring such conduct, the application of the rule becomes limited to situations where exclusion will serve an explicitly deterrent purpose.New Zealand and Canada have adopted judicial integrity as the underlying justification for their versions of the exclusionary rule. Judicial integrity in these jurisdictions is conceived to mean the ability of the judiciary to convict the accused, particularly of serious crimes, so that the public has greater faith in the judicial process. Relying on this principle judges are afforded more discretion and, in the end, entails the balancing of the seriousness of the offense with the seriousness of the violation. Ireland justifies the exclusionary rule on the basis of vindication principle and excludes unconstitutionally seized evidence by way of expressly vindicating the personal rights of the accused. This justification for the exclusionary rule provides, it is submitted, the optimal level of protection against constitutional infractions. Part I of this article details the history of the U.S. exclusionary rule and its deterioration as an effective remedy following the development, in the case law, of an emphasis based on deterrence as providing the underlying justification for exclusion. Part II examines Canada’s and New Zealand’s legislatively mandated exclusionary rules that employ balancing tests based on the principle of judicial integrity. Part III sets out the somewhat contentious history of Ireland’s exclusionary rule and the importance of the vindication principle in the construction of what is arguably a near absolute exclusionary rule. Finally, Part IV advocates that excluding evidence for the purpose of vindicating constitutional rights provides the most protective remedy for the violation of such rights.
Study of lower bound functions for MAX-2-SAT

Recently. several lower bound functions are proposed for solving the MAX-2-SAT problem optimally in a branch-and-bound algorithm. These lower bounds improve significantly the performance of these algorithms. Based on the study of these lower bound functions, we propose a new, linear-time lower bound function. We show that the new lower bound function is admissible and it is consistently and substantially better than other known lower bound functions. The result of this study is a high-performance implementation of an exact algorithm for MAX-2-SAT which outperforms any implementation of the same class.
Motion transformation by example

Animated characters bring the illusion of life to feature films, television shows, video games, and educational simulations. However, it is difficult for artists to define natural and expressive movement. This challenge is compounded by the fact that people are intrinsically sensitive to subtle inaccuracies in human motion. To address this problem, this thesis presents techniques that adjust existing character animations to meet new stylistic or temporal requirements. The proposed methods learn compact models of the appropriate transformations from examples provided by the user. By doing so, they are able to achieve compelling results without significant user effort or skill. (Copies available exclusively from MIT Libraries, Rm. 14-0551, Cambridge, MA 02139-4307. Ph. 617-253-5668; Fax 617-253-1690.)
Succinyl phosphate and the succinyl coenzyme A synthetase reaction.

Trilithium succinyl phosphate of a high degree of purity has been synthesized chemically. It is active in the synthesis of ATP from ADP in a reaction catalyzed by succinyl coenzyme A synthetase from Escherichia coli (succinate: CoA ligase (ADP); EC 6.2.1.5). With desulfo-CoA present, 1 unit of enzyme catalyzes the conversion of 1 µmole of succinyl phosphate into 0.5 µmole of ATP in 60 min at 37°. Kinetically, the rate of ATP synthesis from succinyl phosphate is one-fifth of that from succinyl-CoA plus inorganic phosphate. Omitting desulfo-CoA lowers the rate of reaction to one-quarter and the conversion to one-half. The reactivity of succinyl-CoA synthetase with 13 other acyl phosphates is reported. Succinyl-CoA is rapidly synthesized from succinyl phosphate and coenzyme A in a nonenzymatic reaction, the rate and extent of which depend on temperature, pH, and concentration of reactants.