cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Rab11 GTPase-Regulated Membrane Trafficking Is Crucial for Tip-Focused Pollen Tube Growth in Tobacco

Pollen tube growth is a polarized growth process whereby the tip-growing tubes elongate within the female reproductive tissues to deliver sperm cells to the ovules for fertilization. Efficient and regulated membrane trafficking activity incorporates membrane and deposits cell wall molecules at the tube apex and is believed to underlie rapid and focused growth at the pollen tube tip. Rab GTPases, key regulators of membrane trafficking, are candidates for important roles in regulating pollen tube growth. We show that a green fluorescent protein–tagged Nicotiana tabacum pollen-expressed Rab11b is localized predominantly to an inverted cone-shaped region in the pollen tube tip that is almost exclusively occupied by transport vesicles. Altering Rab11 activity by expressing either a constitutive active or a dominant negative variant of Rab11b in pollen resulted in reduced tube growth rate, meandering pollen tubes, and reduced male fertility. These mutant GTPases also inhibited targeting of exocytic and recycled vesicles to the pollen tube inverted cone region and compromised the delivery of secretory and cell wall proteins to the extracellular matrix. Properly regulated Rab11 GTPase activity is therefore essential for tip-focused membrane trafficking and growth at the pollen tube apex and is pivotal to reproductive success.
Gender differences at admission and follow-up in a sample of methadone maintenance clients

Although one-third of clients enrolled in methadone treatment in the United States are female, few studies have looked at gender differences at admission and follow-up. Using interview data from 435 clients (31% female) collected at admission and approximately 1 year after discharge, females were found to have more dysfunctional families of origin and greater prior and current psychological and medical problems. Both genders improved following treatment, as evidenced by reduced illicit drug, tobacco, and alcohol use, criminal involvement, and HIV/AIDS-risky behaviors. Females were more likely to seek further help for both drug misuse and psychological problems subsequent to discharge.
Factors, Bankers, and Masters: Class Relations in the Antebellum South

The paper will show how the Marxian concept of class can be applied to the processes of slavery in the American antebellum South. The use of the notion of classes, and particularly the reconceptualized concepts of fundamental and subsumed class processes, provides an alternative to the received non-Marxian categories of plantation capitalism and planter hegemony. These concepts are developed and applied to Southern class conflicts over both state banking and national monetary policy. Competition among various classes is shown to have had significant influences on the nature of these conflicts.
Interstellar dust models: Extinction, absorption and emission

The observational constraints on interstellar dust are summarized. A dust model, consisting of a mixture of amorphous silicate, graphite, and PAH material that reproduces the observed interstellar extinction, is described. It is used to calculate the infrared emission expected when such dust is heated by radiation with the spectrum of interstellar starlight with various intensities. By adopting a suitable size distribution for the smallest carbonaceous grains (PAHs), and a distribution of starlight intensities, one can reproduce the observed global emission spectrum of galaxies. This allows the total dust mass, and the PAH abundance, to be estimated for any galaxy with a spectral energy distribution measured by the IRAC and MIPS cameras on Spitzer Space Telescope. For the Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxies Survey (SINGS) sample, galaxies with metallicities Z > 0.3 Z๏ tend to have a major fraction of their refractory elements in dust grains, just as in the Milky Way. For lower metallicity galaxies with extended H I envelopes, the overall dust-to-metals ratio remains uncertain. The PAH abundance index qPAH (the fraction of the total dust mass in PAH particles with NC 0.3 Z๏ have median qPAH = 3.5%. The reasons for the pronounced dependence of qPAH on metallicity remain unclear.
Issues in Recording Exchange Coupled Composite Media

Exchange coupled composite (ECC) media exhibits a lower switching field than conventional perpendicular media at the same level of thermal stability, and thus is able to achieve higher areal density. The inhomogeneity of ECC media is predicted to enhance the thermal attempt frequency: this increases both writability and adjacent track erasure (ATE). The adverse change in ATE is, however, countered by the angular dependence of the ECC media switching field. This angular dependence is further exploited with a head design featuring a larger pole width than track width and the introduction of notches in the down track direction. This reduces the effect of head skew and increases the write field. An optimized head is found to be consistent with terabit/in2 recording
A series-fed microstrip receiving array for digital beamforming

A novel design of receiving arrays for digital beamforming purposes is proposed. The essential idea is based on a series-fed slot antenna array with spatial multiplexing of local elements (SMILE) techniques. The proposed approach offers several advantages such as compactness, low cost, and compatibility with monolithic microwave integrated circuits. A four-element receiving array test-bed at 5.5 GHz center frequency is fabricated and digital beamforming on this test-bed is successfully demonstrated.
Reward Magnitude, But Not Time of Day, Influences the Trial-Spacing Effect in Autoshaping With Rats

The arousal hypothesis of the trial-spacing effect suggests that spaced-trial training increases emotional arousal and thus invigorates Pavlovian behavior, relative to massed-trial conditions. Emotional arousal was manipulated by varying reinforcer magnitude during training (either one or five food pellets/trial, across groups). In addition, autoshaping training was administered either in the morning (0900 h) or in the evening (1700 h). Rats were housed in an enclosed colony room and exposed to a regular light:dark cycle (light from 0700 to 1900 h). Available evidence indicates that reinforcer magnitude and time of day are related to arousal levels. As expected, a larger reinforcer magnitude led to a highly significant trial spacing effect. Evening training led to a higher response rate than morning training, but the trial-spacing effect was equally strong whether training was administered in the morning or in the evening. These results provide partial support for the arousal hypothesis and are discussed in the context of research on schedule-induced behavior.
Ex vivo label-free microscopy of head and neck cancer patient tissues

Standard methods to characterize patient tissue rely on histology. This technique provides only anatomical information, so complementary imaging methods could provide beneficial phenotypic information. Cancer cells exhibit altered metabolism, and metabolic imaging could be applied to better understand cancer tissue. This study applies redox ratio, fluorescence lifetime, and second harmonic generation (SHG) imaging to ex vivo tissue from head and neck cancer patients. This high-resolution imaging technique has unique advantages of utilizing intrinsic tissue contrast, which eliminates the need for sample processing or staining, and multiphoton microscopy, which provides depth sectioning in intact tissue. This study demonstrates feasibility of these measurements in patient tissue from multiple anatomical sites and carcinoma types of head and neck cancer.
Creating shared understandings in software design

Effective product design is predicated upon good communication between designers and clients. One possible framework for how designers might better understand a client's needs in design situations is presented. A particular software designer-client interaction is then explored in the light of the framework earlier presented.
Analysis of Stepped-Frequency Pulse Train Design

For uniform frequency stepped pulse trains, there can be undesirable peaks of the autocorrelation function, known as "grating lobes." In this paper we address this issue, using an approach which allows us to suppress grating lobes in the case of appropriately chosen stepped-frequency waveforms, i.e., sequences of narrowband pulses that span the desired bandwidth. We introduce a multiparametric generalization of a stepped-frequency train, and by exploiting a factorization of the autocorrelation function, will be able to effect a useful tradeoff between competing properties of the factors by careful choices of relevant parameters. We provide a detailed description of the method applied to a representative data set.
Economic Efficiency and Optimal Contractual Design of Iraq's Oil Service Contracts

Iraq’s recent service contracts with international oil companies, known as technical service contracts (TSC), exemplify the increasing reliance of oil producing countries on service contracts. In this study, we examine the economic efficiency of Iraq’s Rumaila producing field technical service contract via a dynamic optimization model of oil production and well drilling. A comparison of what our dynamic optimization model recommends as the optimal production profile with the most likely scenario to be realized suggests that the Rumaila producing field technical service contract could result in economically inefficient outcomes, with the loss in profit as high as $73 to $90 billion in 2008 dollars through the lifetime of the contract depending on the well productivity assumption. In order to assess the inefficiencies introduced by various aspects of a technical service contract and by other factors surrounding the implementation of the contract, we solve for the optimal production and well drilling under various constraints and find that economic inefficiency exists even after controlling for TSC specific elements, capital cost ceilings and other constraints. The existence of economically inefficient outcomes suggests that it may be desirable to address the potential sources of economic inefficiency through implementation of some policy reforms in Iraq’s oil sector.
Variability in Cone Populations and Implications

There have been a number of techniques directed toward estimating the relative numbers of the three cone types in the retinae of living humans. For the S-cones, psychophysical measurements which are dependent on the spatial distribution of S-cones (Stiles, 1949; Wald, 1967; Williams et al., 1981) give data which are consistent with the relative sparcity observed anatomically (Ahnelt et al., 1987; deMonasterio et al., 1985; Marc and Sperling, 1977). For typical color-normal observers, the L-and M-cones are both in relatively high spatial density, and the direct psychophysical techniques which are effective for characterizing the retinal distribution of S-cones do not yield interpretable information (Brindley, 1954; Green, 1968; Kelly, 1974). Additional techniques in the literature which have been suggested as capable of revealing L/M cone ratios include Weber fractions for mechanisms isolated by chromatic adaptation (Vos and Walraven, 1971) and retinal densitometry with chromatic bleaching lights (Rushton and Baker, 1964). In this paper we wish to describe our work on two techniques we have used to estimate the L/M cone ratio, spectral sensitivity from heterochromatic flicker photometry and point source detection for lights of varying wavelength. We then consider the perceptual consequences of individual variation in L/M cone populations.
Mechanism of shape change in chilled human platelets.

The so-called cold activation of platelets that precludes refrigeration of platelets for storage has long been recognized, but its mechanism has remained a mystery. Cooling of discoid resting platelets to temperatures below 15 degrees C causes shape distortions, and the chilled cells rewarmed to above 25 degrees C are spheres rather than discs. As platelet shape change responsive to receptor activation at normal temperatures requires the remodeling of an actin scaffolding (Hartwig JH, 1992, J Cell Biol 118:1421–1442), we examined the role of actin in the morphologic changes induced by cooling. The addition of actin monomers onto the fast-exchanging (barbed) ends of actin filaments accompanies the initial physiologic platelet shape changes, and a key control point in this growth is the removal of proteins (caps) from the filament ends. This uncapping of actin filament ends is mediated by polyphosphoinositide aggregates in vitro, suggesting that cold-induced phase changes in membrane lipids might uncap actin filaments and thereby account for actin assembly-mediated shape alterations during cooling. Consistent with this hypothesis, reversible inhibition of actin assembly with cytochalasin B prevented the distortions in shape, although cooled platelets had increased actin nucleation sites and became spherical. Another step in normal platelet shape changes requires the severing of actin filaments that maintain the resting platelet. The proteins that sever initially bind to the broken filament ends, and uncapping of these fragmented filaments provides numerous nucleation sites for growth of actin filaments to fill in spreading filopodia and lamellae. Actin filament fragmentation requires a rise in intracellular calcium, and we showed that chilling platelets from 37 degrees C to 4 degrees C increases free cytosolic calcium levels from 80 nmol/L to approximately 200 nmol/L in minutes, thus providing an explanation for the spherical shape of cooled, rewarmed platelets. Blocking the calcium transient with nanomolar concentrations of the permeant calcium chelators Quin-2 and Fura-2 prevented the increase in nucleation sites and the sphering, but not the other shape changes of chilled and rewarmed platelets. However, a combination of micromolar cytochalasin B and millimolar intracellular calcium chelators preserved the discoid shapes of chilled and rewarmed platelets. After removal of cytochalasin B and addition of sufficient extracellular calcium, these platelets responded with normal morphologic alterations to glass and thrombin activation.
Models, Models, Models…

When looking at relationships between two quantities, we are often interested in fitting a mathematical function to describe this relationship. Statisticians call these functions models. This activity uses data on levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere at a site in Hawaii to illustrate fitting a model to data. Carbon dioxide, or CO2, is one of the gases in the environment whose levels have been increasing. Why should this be of great interest? It is so because scientists are concerned that in creasing levels of complex gases, one of which is CO2, will thicken the blanket around the Earth and prevent heat from escaping. This could result in “global warming,” which could lead to disastrous coastal flooding and severe droughts. These data have been used by scientists in studies involving levels of CO2 in the atmosphere. Reasons for the choice of the site, and additional information regarding the data, are shown after the activity. The patterns observed in this data can be considered to be typical of what could be observed globally.
AEGISi: Attribute Experimentation Guiding Improvement Searches Inline Framework

The quality of a solution to an integer programming problem is a function of a number of elements. Lightly constrained problems are easier to solve than those with tighter constraints. Local search methods generally perform better than greedy methods. In the companion paper to this one, the authors investigated how peripheral information could be gathered and utilized to improve solving subsequent problems of the same type. In the current paper, they extend this to the dynamic environment-that is, utilizing such "peripheral" information as the solver is in progress, in order to determine how best to proceed.
Increased Information Leakage from Text

The enormous data sharing and data availability on the Internet provides opportunities for new services tailored to extract, search, aggregate, and mine data in meaningful ways, At the same time, it poses challenges with regards to data privacy. This paper offers insight into this problem, focusing on current relevant research and potential areas of synergy between the information retrieval community and the privacy community. We then analyze example publicly shared data and discuss the types of data that can be extracted, the methods used for extracting them, and the implications for individuals who share personal information.
Thermal Transport Due to Phonons in Nano-Particulate Media in the Multiple and Dependent Elastic Scattering Regime

Effects of multiple and dependent elastic scattering of phonons due to nano particles on thermal transport due to phonons in nano particulate media are investigated in this paper under various approximations. Multiple scattering means that the scattered wave from one particle is incident on another particle to be scattered again. Dependent scattering means far-field interference of the scattered waves due to phase difference, which is ignored in the independent scattering regime. Results show that multiple scattering primarily affects the velocity and density of states of phonons and dependent scattering primarily affects the mean free path of phonons. Effects of both multiple and dependent scattering increases with increasing volume fraction of the elastic scatterers. Modification of these parameters affects the equilibrium phonon intensity and the thermal conductivity of phonons. Finally a new simplified model called dependent effective field approximation is introduced in this paper. This model accurately captures the effects of both multiple and dependent scattering.Copyright © 2005 by ASME
Promoting Safe Schools for All Students

Despite some improvement in the safety of America’s schools in the past decade, there are still many concerns. There are no clear standards for assessing threats such as violence, theft, bullying, intimidation, and possible harm. School administrators are charged with keeping their students safe. Studies have recognized the importance of a positive school climate as a foundation for school safety. Creating a positive school climate is a multitiered approach. School personnel can gain expertise in recognizing risk factors, identifying warning signs, and responding to critical incidents if necessary. Research has identified evidence-based programs designed to prevent violence and behaviors such as bullying and teen dating violence. This chapter will provide information on assessing and preventing school violence including research on the effectiveness of some of the prevention/intervention programs.
Prospective comparison of intraoperative angiography with duplex scanning in evaluating lower-extremity bypass grafts in a community hospital.

The gold standard for intraoperative evaluation of lower-extremity bypass grafts has been angiography. Limitations of this technique include inability to measure flow dynamics, violation of graft integrity, cost, and length of assessment time. The goal of this study was to evaluate duplex scanning as an alternative modality for intraoperative graft assessment. Our study group comprised of 19 consecutive patients undergoing infrainguinal bypass procedures at our institution between March 1999 and March 2000. Intraoperative angiography was compared with duplex scanning by evaluating parameters of assessment time, graft flow velocities, serum creatinine levels, and 30-day graft patency rates. Mean study times were the following: cut-film angiography, 22 ± 1.8 minutes; real-time fluoroscopy, 17 ± 2.5 minutes; and duplex imaging, 10.4 ± 1.1 minutes. As noted duplex imaging times as compared with radiographic modalities were significantly shorter (p < 0.05). There was a substantial cost difference between angiography ($650) and duplex scanning ($350). A 100 per cent correlation of study findings was noted between angiography and duplex scanning. No significant change in pre- versus postoperative creatinine levels was found. We conclude that duplex scanning is an effective modality and provides reliable intraoperative vascular graft assessment data in a community hospital setting. Advantages include a shorter study time, lower cost, flow dynamic data acquisition, and avoidance of mechanical graft trauma.
Mathematical modelling in electro-optics I: Mathematical modeling of beam reflection, transmission and trapping at nonlinear optical interfaces

The propagation of laser beams as self-focussed channels in nonlinear dielectric media, their mutual interaction and interaction with one or more dielectric interfaces can be described in a unified manner in terms of the dynamics of one or more equivalent particles in equivalent potentials. Beam reflection, transmission and trapping as nonlinear surface waves is described by the phase space trajectories of the appropriate equivalent particle. The equivalent particle theory can, with minor extensions, provide quantitative estimates on beam break-up at the interface into multiple self-focussed channels and accurately estimate the amount of incident beam power converted into scattered radiation. The theoretical predictions are supported by full scale numerical simulations.
Sliding Scheduled Lightpath Establishment With Time-Slotted Wavelength-Switching

Extreme-scale transmissions exhibit schedules dependent upon the equipment used to generate data, availability of the collaborators who will investigate and analyze the data, and the availability of storage and supercomputing resources, which must be dedicated to distribution, backup, computation, and visualization of data. Given such a wide array of dependencies, these applications, which are often scientific in nature, offer the luxury of in-advance reservation of network resources prior to the demand uptimes. Advance reservation (AR) allows for efficient scheduling around or in cooperation with competing reservations from other applications. This work focuses on static inputs to two classifications of AR demands: with and without sliding-window flexibility. We further introduce the ability for a demand to be assigned to more than one dedicated wavelength at different points throughout its lifetime depending on availability. This λ-switching functionality is incorporated at time-slot granularity, which limits the overhead associated with reconfiguring wavelength resources at runtime and enhances opportunities for scheduling efficiency. A novel λ-switching integer linear program is presented to evaluate this enhancement under varying degrees of temporal flexibility. Detailed and novel proofs are provided, which demonstrate that AR scheduling with and without λ-switching is in the complexity class NP-complete. Conservative heuristics are presented to harness the benefits of λ-switching while lowering the trade-off from transceiver reconfiguration overhead. Lower bounds also are developed as a baseline comparison for these heuristics, and we evaluate these solutions through extensive simulation. We also introduce the notion of considering time-slotted, wavelength-routed networks from the perspective of a finer resource granularity represented by the intersection of the temporal and spectral resource domains.
Some Recent Changes in Meat and Feed Crop Production

One of the most important branches of American agriculture is the production of crops for feeding livestock; corn, hay, oats, barley and the sorghums occupying nearly two-thirds of the crop acreage of the country. These crops are grown more or less in all parts of the nation but the more important centers of production are the corn belt and the area to the north and east, roughly the northeast quarter of the country. Within this vast region there are wide differences in the relative importance of this branch of agriculture, in the particular crops grown as well as differences in the methods of disposal. Three general types of areas may be noted. (1) areas producing feed crops more or less exclusively for sale; (2) areas feeding all the crops grown; (3) areas buying large quantities of feed stuffs usually to supplement home production. The economic interests of each of these sections differ. The first is interested in high prices for corn, oats, hay or whatever crop is sold; the second is only nominally interested in the price of the crops grown, but intensely interested in the prices received for livestock or livestock products; while the third is interested not only in favorable prices for livestock and livestock products sold but also in low prices for purchased feed. Eastern Illinois, selling corn and oats in volume, is typical of the first; central Indiana, feeding the bulk of their grain, of the second; while the milk-producing sections of New York, New England or Pennsylvania and some livestock feeding sections in the middle west are typical of the third. The bulk of the feed crops being consumed by livestock largely on the farms where grown, the principal interest of producers of feed crops is in livestock prices. The prices of corn, oats or hay are of little interest while the prices of hogs, milk or cattle are of vital interest. Sections specializing in the production of feed crops for sale, one of the most important of which is central and eastern Illinois, where corn and
Thyristor step up chopper for modified series motor

Summary Interest in electric vehicles has greatly increased over the last few years. With it comes the exploitation of various forms of speed control. One such method is the thyristor chopper. The subject of this paper is a thyristor chopper which is designed to draw current from a dc source and deliver current to the load with a minimum amount of ripple. The circuit has two unique features. One-it operates from a 12 volt source and has a variable output between 12 and 100 volts. Two-the field winding of the motor at the load is used as an inductor. The chopper circuit is described first. Next there is a description of the trigger circuit used to turn on the thyristors. This is followed by calculations of expected motor characteristics. Finally, the results of setting the circuit up in the laboratory are analyzed and compared with predicted circuit operation.
Abstract 2347: MicroRNA mediated CDK4/6 inhibitor resistance via extracellular signaling

Multiple potent and highly selective inhibitors of the cell cycle kinases - CDK4 and CDK6 are in development. One such inhibitor, palbociclib, was recently approved for use in combination with letrozole for the treatment of estrogen receptor positive (ER+) breast cancer. Cyclin D-dependent kinase activity is a driving factor for ER+ breast carcinogenesis, irrespective of CCND1 amplification, making CDK4/6 inhibition a promising approach for this breast cancer subset. However, as with all cancer treatments, resistance will be a major issue limiting the efficacy of this approach. To date, mechanisms of palbociclib resistance have not been extensively investigated. Through interrogation of the generated CDK4/6 inhibition resistant cells we discovered overexpression of CDK6, specifically, mediates resistance. CDK6 depletion reversed resistance and overexpression caused resistance, whereas the same was not true when CDK4 or D cyclin protein levels were manipulated. Interestingly, when generating and analyzing resistant cell populations, we observed a “bystander effect”, by which resistance was transmissible between cells. The “resistant bystander” cells display all characteristics of the drug exposure induced resistant cells, however became resistant in just 48 hours as oppose to 14 weeks. Analysis of conditioned medium revealed that the transmission of resistance is dependent on exosomes, but not protein or DNA. We identified a specific miRNA, present in the exosomes of resistant cells, by microarray which caused resistance when excreted. Additionally, overexpression and inhibition of the miRNA confirmed that it is responsible for causing resistance. miRNA overexpressing cells exhibited the same phenotype as drug induced resistant cells, and furthermore, could cause resistance in neighboring cell populations by exosome mediated signaling. Using Biotin labelled miRNA-mRNA pulldown followed by RNA-seq, we identified the TGFβ pathway as the miRNA target. Downregulation of the TGFβ caused a decrease in the CDK inhibitors, p15 and p21, resulting in an increased CDK6 protein level and palbociclib resistance. We subsequently confirmed these data in patient samples by comparing before treatment and post relapse biopsies. These findings highlight a novel mechanism of conferred drug resistance as well as new insights into acquired CDK4/6 inhibitor resistance. Citation Format: Liam Cornell, Geoffrey I. Shapiro. MicroRNA mediated CDK4/6 inhibitor resistance via extracellular signaling [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 2347. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-2347
Inflammation in Systemic Immune Diseases: Role of TLR9 Signaling and the Resultant Oxidative Stress in Pathology of Lupus

Immune response against pathogens or foreign bodies involves the activation and participation of multiple receptors and pathways. Of these the Toll-like receptors (TLRs) play a critical role in sensing both exogenous and endogenous signals that characterize infection and inflammation. While an optimum activation of TLRs is a prerequisite to mount immune responses against infection, a well-regulated negative signaling is also crucial to bring the immune responses to homeostatic level. In the context of autoimmune diseases, the negative signaling that restores homeostasis is somewhat aberrant; besides there is also a constant supply of endogenous autoreactive danger molecules in the circulation or in the cytoplasm. Self-recognition that propels autoimmune diseases is blocked in normal physiology, where a highly regulated processing and intracellular lysosome-specific TLR9 activation specifically by the recognition of hypomethylated CpG is thought to ensure escape from self-recognition. However, a chronic activation of TLR and modification of cellular components by a synergistic participation of oxidative stress and global epigenetics are indicated for tissue damage and release of highly auto-reactive molecules in systemic lupus erythmatosus (SLE). This is accompanied by altered and dysfunctional innate and adaptive immune cells including T-lymphocytes that display altered methylation of genes that are necessary for immune regulation. Recent studies highlight a connection between intestinal commensal microbiota with TLR9-mediated modulation of innate and adaptive immune responses in the progression of autoimmune diseases. This indicates a role for diet modulating intestinal microbial colonization, which may have a serious impact on immune responses. The present chapter discusses the molecular mechanism of regulation of TLR signaling with an emphasis on how environmental factors at the face of genetic predisposition may influence CpG-DNA/TLR9-signaling-mediated SLE pathogenesis.
Dual-Layered Coordination and Political Instability: Repression, Co-optation, and the Role of Information

We study coordination dynamics in the context of two groups under the shadow of political instability. One group (regime opponents) prefers a change in regime and can participate in an attack, whic...
Does 'right to work' imperil the right to health? The effect of labour unions on workplace fatalities

Objective Economic policies can have unintended consequences on population health. In recent years, many states in the USA have passed ‘right to work’ (RTW) laws which weaken labour unions. The effect of these laws on occupational health remains unexplored. This study fills this gap by analysing the effect of RTW on occupational fatalities through its effect on unionisation. Methods Two-way fixed effects regression models are used to estimate the effect of unionisation on occupational mortality per 100 000 workers, controlling for state policy liberalism and workforce composition over the period 1992–2016. In the final specification, RTW laws are used as an instrument for unionisation to recover causal effects. Results The Local Average Treatment Effect of a 1% decline in unionisation attributable to RTW is about a 5% increase in the rate of occupational fatalities. In total, RTW laws have led to a 14.2% increase in occupational mortality through decreased unionisation. Conclusion These findings illustrate and quantify the protective effect of unions on workers’ safety. Policymakers should consider the potentially deleterious effects of anti-union legislation on occupational health.
Family- and community-based treatments

Abstract Comprehensive treatment models are needed to address the complex social–ecological factors that contribute to the development of serious disruptive behavior disorders (DBDs) in youth. This chapter reviews five family- and community-based treatment models that have demonstrated positive clinical effects with such disorders in controlled research studies: Multisystemic therapy (MST), treatment foster care Oregon, functional family therapy, brief strategic family therapy, multidimensional family therapy. Herein, we describe each treatment model; discuss the similarities and differences in theoretical, empirical, and clinical foundations of these models as a group, with a case example of MST to provide illustration; and identify important areas for future research including mediators and moderators of treatment effects, economic analysis, and dissemination, and implementation science. We conclude that emphasis on the evaluation and dissemination of family- and community-based treatment models is critical to reducing the personal, social, and financial consequences of serious DBDs in youth.
Nutritional support in cardiac cachexia

A nutritional survey of 350 hospital patients reveals 50 with cardiac disease who had clinically significant protein-calorie malnutrition. Assessment criteria of malnutrition (per cent normal) included triceps skin fold (52 per cent), arm muscle circumference (88 per cent), and impaired delayed hypersensitivity skin testing (i.e., deficiency in cell-mediated immunity), the latter frequently observed in patients with concurrent weight loss. The functional category of cardiac status was not precise in predictin the morbidity and mortality of 14 patients undergoing cardiac valvuloplasty. By contrast, a nutritional/metabolic profile using weight loss, triceps skin fold (35 per cent), arm muscle circumference (27 per cent), and cell-mediated immunity (29 per cent) did identify high-risk patients who could be expected to benefit by concurrent nutritional support (4/4). Further studies are indicated to determine if nutritional support for cardiac cachexia can reduce the levels of morbidity and mortality during mitral and tricuspid valve surgery.
Predictors of disease progression in smoldering Waldenström macroglobulinemia.

7571Background: There are limited data on predictors of disease progression in patients (pts) with smoldering Waldenstrom Macroglobulinemia (SWM). We aim to address this issue in a large cohort of ...
Obesity and Weight Loss

The entire world is becoming overweight. Most people are motivated to try to lose weight for cosmetic reasons. Weight loss can decrease health risk factors and possibly improve prognosis. Weight loss can be difficult in people who are trying to stop smoking, as they tend to gain weight. Many weight loss systems are available and are not inexpensive. Athletes who are obese and fit must lose weight after retirement or suffer the consequences related to risk factors. Bariatric surgery seems to be the best way for morbidly obese patients to lose weight, assuming that they adhere to principles of risk factor modulation. Weight-loss medications work in most patients who also comply with lifestyle changes, but these drugs have a number of side-effects.
The need for simple educational case-studies to show the benefit of soft operations research to real-world problems

Soft operations research (OR) methods have the potential to provide deep qualitative insights into the complex problems that face our world. However, the propagation of soft OR has, at best, stagnated in recent years and it has been rejected from mainstream academic hard (quantitative) OR. In this paper, it is proposed that there is a need for simple educational example that actually shows the benefit of soft OR. The paper suggests that these examples should be real-world case studies that do not include convoluted graphics or verbose prose descriptions. An example case study has been included in this paper. This case study investigates the impact of beer price changes to two virtually identical restaurant-bars in the Hampton Roads region of the USA. The case study shows that a simple quantitative analysis results in erroneous conclusions which could be avoided by conducting a simple qualitative analysis.
Transient states of network connectivity are atypical in autism: A dynamic functional connectivity study

There is ample evidence of atypical functional connectivity (FC) in autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). However, transient relationships between neural networks cannot be captured by conventional static FC analyses. Dynamic FC (dFC) approaches have been used to identify repeating, transient connectivity patterns ("states"), revealing spatiotemporal network properties not observable in static FC. Recent studies have found atypical dFC in ASDs, but questions remain about the nature of group differences in transient connectivity, and the degree to which states persist or change over time. This study aimed to: (a) describe and relate static and dynamic FC in typical development and ASDs, (b) describe group differences in transient states and compare them with static FC patterns, and (c) examine temporal stability and flexibility between identified states. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data were collected from 62 ASD and 57 typically developing (TD) children and adolescents. Whole-brain, data-driven regions of interest were derived from group independent component analysis. Sliding window analysis and k-means clustering were used to explore dFC and identify transient states. Across all regions, static overconnnectivity and increased variability over time in ASDs predominated. Furthermore, significant patterns of group differences emerged in two transient states that were not observed in the static FC matrix, with group differences in one state primarily involving sensory and motor networks, and in the other involving higher-order cognition networks. Default mode network segregation was significantly reduced in ASDs in both states. Results highlight that dynamic approaches may reveal more nuanced transient patterns of atypical FC in ASDs.
Theoretical investigation of the stepwise hydrolysis of the [Re(3)(mu-Cl)(3)Cl(9)](3-) anion.

A detailed study of the stepwise substitution of the chloride ligands in the [Re 3 (μ-Cl) 3 Cl 9 ] 3- (1) anion by water molecules is presented using theoretical methods. Ligand lability as well as the structure and relative stability of the various mono-[Re3(μ-Cl) 3 Cl 8 (H 2 O)] 2- (2a,b) and dihydro-[Re3(μ-Cl) 3 Cl 7 (H2O) 2 ] - (3a-f) conformers is examined. Clear preferences for the positions of the incoming water ligands are proposed based on calculated energy and vibrational data, which fully agree with the experimental results.
Development of the Bias in Attitudes Survey: A Sex-Role Questionnaire

Empirical research into sex bias continues to grow at the same time that societal attitudes are changing. For this reason, broader and more sensitive measuring tools are necessary. The present stud...
The impact of a depression self-management intervention on seizure activity.

Abstract Purpose Seizures have a variety of significant physical, cognitive, and social effects upon the individual. Depression has been linked to an increase in seizure activity, and Project Using Practice and Learning to Increase Favorable Thoughts (UPLIFT) was shown to reduce depressive symptoms. Project UPLIFT, based upon mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), provides distance delivery of depression management skills to groups of people with epilepsy. Because Project UPLIFT reduces depression and depression is linked to seizure activity, the current analysis was designed to determine the impact of Project UPLIFT upon seizure frequency and severity. Method Participants (n = 107) were adults ages 21–70 with epilepsy and mild-to-moderate depressive symptoms from the states of Georgia, Michigan, Texas, and Washington. The eight-session Project UPLIFT intervention was group-delivered weekly via the web or telephone. Participants were randomly assigned to condition (i.e., Project UPLIFT or a treatment-as-usual [TAU] waitlist) and assessed at baseline, and after intervening in the Project UPLIFT group (~ 10 weeks). Assessments included valid self-report measures of seizure frequency and severity and depression. Results Mediation analysis found that there was a significant negative direct relationship between condition and number of seizures at posttest; the mean number of seizures decreased by 3.2 in the Project UPLIFT group, but increased by 2.3 in the TAU group. The indirect path from condition to number of seizures through change in depression was not significant. Conversely, there was no significant negative direct relationship between condition and seizure severity at posttest, although the seizure severity decreased by 2.2 points in the UPLIFT group and increased by 2.7 points in the TAU group. The indirect path from condition to seizure severity through depression was significant, however, demonstrating that change in depression mediated the effect of Project UPLIFT on seizure severity. Conclusions This study found that participating in Project UPLIFT directly reduced the number of seizures experienced by participants with epilepsy. This was not mediated by the change in depression. Participation in Project UPLIFT also reduced their perceived seizure severity indirectly, through reducing their depressive symptoms. This suggests Project UPLIFT may have the potential to impact the health, healthcare costs, and well-being of people with epilepsy.
Texting while walking: is it possible with a smartwatch?

Smartwatches are quickly becoming a popular complement to smartphones for notifications and activity tracking, yet most lack an effective method for text input. Typing on a smartwatch with an onscreen keyboard was originally thought to be impractical due to the small screen size. As a result, alternative keyboards that use "zoom" features to enlarge key size were developed as a potential solution. However, observed typing speeds with alternative keyboards are slow, and they often have a steep learning curve. Recent research, in a lab setting using a more familiar full QWERTY onscreen keyboard, demonstrated that it is possible to type quickly on a smartwatch while seated. Given the ubiquitous and mobile nature of smartwatches, this study examines typing performance using a full QWERTY keyboard while mobile. Participants typed using two different text input methods---trace and tap---with their index finger while standing and while walking. Results show participants typed faster with trace (35 words per minute) than tap (30 words per minute), regardless of whether they were standing or walking or whether they had prior experience with trace input. These typing speeds are among the fastest reported in the smartwatch literature. Typing accuracy was also better for trace than for tap and better when standing than while walking. Subjectively, participants rated trace easier to use, preferred it over tap, and suggested they would use it in the future if available. Recommendations to include a full QWERTY keyboard on all smartwatch designs are discussed.
Merging Internal Users and Consumer Requirements

This chapter seeks to provide analysts with a path to transforming legacy systems into the new mobile-based paradigm of analysis and design. In order to best understand this journey I must first clearly define what has been accomplished in the past; to do so provides today’s analyst with a better understanding of why applications perform the way they were designed and the reasons why they are not capable of being used as we go forward with the new paradigm of advanced technologies in a mobile based global economy.
A Successful Organized Effort to Improve Operating Room First-Case Starts in a Tertiary Academic Medical Center.

BackgroundOperating room (OR) inefficiency drives up cost, decreases revenue, and leads to surgeon, staff, and patient dissatisfaction. Given a low mean first-case start rate in our tertiary academ...
User Base Estimation Methodology for a Business Airport Shuttle Air Taxi Service

This paper presents a methodology to estimate the potential user base of a business airport shuttle service operated by electric vertical takeoff and landing air taxis. The user base of the air tax...
Chronic low-level nutrient enrichment benefits coral thermal performance in a fore reef habitat

Global- and local-scale anthropogenic stressors have been the main drivers of coral reef decline, causing shifts in coral reef community composition and ecosystem functioning. Excess nutrient enrichment can make corals more vulnerable to ocean warming by suppressing calcification and reducing photosynthetic performance. However, in some environments, corals can exhibit higher growth rates and thermal performance in response to nutrient enrichment. In this study, we measured how chronic nutrient enrichment at low concentrations affected coral physiology, including endosymbiont and coral host response variables, and holobiont metabolic responses of Pocillopora spp. colonies in Mo'orea, French Polynesia. We experimentally enriched corals with dissolved inorganic nitrogen and phosphate for 15 months on an oligotrophic fore reef in Mo'orea. We first characterized symbiont and coral physiological traits due to enrichment and then used thermal performance curves to quantify the relationship between metabolic rates and temperature for experimentally enriched and control coral colonies. We found that endosymbiont densities and total tissue biomass were 54% and 22% higher in nutrient-enriched corals, respectively, relative to controls. Algal endosymbiont nitrogen content cell−1 was 44% lower in enriched corals relative to the control colonies. In addition, thermal performance metrics indicated that the maximal rate of performance for gross photosynthesis was 29% higher and the rate of oxygen evolution at a reference temperature (26.8 °C) for gross photosynthesis was 33% higher in enriched colonies compared to the control colonies. These differences were not attributed to symbiont community composition between corals in different treatments, as C42, a symbiont type in the Cladocopium genus, was the dominant endosymbiont type found in all corals. Together, our results show that in an oligotrophic fore reef environment, nutrient enrichment can cause changes in coral endosymbiont physiology that increase the performance of the coral holobiont.