cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Improved Visual Preference Authentication

We describe an improved preference-based password reset scheme in which both security and usability of previous approaches are dramatically improved on. We report on experimental findings supporting these claims. Our experiment shows a false negative rate on the order of 0.9% and a false positive rate on the order of 0.5% for a choice of parameters that result in a registration time of 100 seconds and an authentication time of 40 seconds. The improvements are due to a tertiary classification during authentication, instead of a binary classification, which allows a reduction in the number it items to be classified. Preference-based authentication schemes offer higher retention rates and lower risks for data-mining based attacks than comparable knowledge-based authentication schemes.
Shear Strength Model for Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete Beams without Stirrup Reinforcement

A simple model is presented to estimate the shear strength of steel fiber reinforced concrete (FRC) beams without stirrup reinforcement. The model was developed on the basis of observations from tests of 27 large-scale beams under monotonically increased concentrated loading. Three types of hooked steel fibers were evaluated in volume fractions ranging between 0.75% (59 kg/m3 or 100 lb/yd3) and 1.5% (118 kg/m3 or 200 lb/yd3). All but one beam failed in shear either prior to or after flexural yielding. In the proposed model, shear in steel FRC beams is assumed to be resisted by shear stress carried in the compression zone and tension transferred across diagonal cracks by steel fibers. Shear carried in the compression zone is estimated by using the failure criterion for concrete subjected to combined compression and shear proposed by Bresler and Pister. The contribution from fiber reinforcement to shear strength, on the other hand, is tied to material performance obtained through standard ASTM 1609 four...
Estimating the Magnitude of Rape and Sexual Assault against American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) Women

National surveys indicate that American Indian and Alaskan Native (AIAN) women have higher rates of rape and sexual assault victimisation compared to women from other race/ethnic groups. These statistics were brought to the forefront of media attention when an Amnesty International (2007) report illuminated the obstacles many AIAN women have when seeking justice for rape victimisations. Despite this attention, empirical research that examines rape and sexual assault against AIAN women is still in its infancy. The purpose of this article is twofold. We first provide a methodological review of the epidemiological research that has attempted to measure the magnitude of rape against AIAN women at both national and local levels. We then examine National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) data to determine how the contextual characteristics of rape and sexual assault victimisations against AIAN women differ from those of African American and White women. Results indicate that AIAN victims are more likely to face armed offenders, and more likely require medical care for injuries sustained as a result of the attack. Sexual assaults against AIAN women are also more likely to be interracial and the offender is more likely to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol, compared to attacks against other victims. Although victimisations against AIAN women are more likely to come to the attention of police, they are much less likely to result in an arrest compared to attacks against either White or African American victims. Directions for future research are provided.
Parallelizing computation of elastodynamic response on arbitrary domains using GPU

The cellular automata (CA) approach for modeling wave propagation in elastic media presented by Georgia Tech researchers is very promising. The software package (JCA for Java cellular automata) they developed to simulate the wave propagation, takes a mesh file, runs a simulation, and outputs results. However, the processing time for large mesh file is extremely high. CUDA assisted parallel processing of finite element method (FEM) shows potential to analyze wave propagation in computational solid mechanics. In this work, we propose GPU assisted CA approach for computing elastodynamic response on different fields. The elastodynamic CA method is discontinuous like FEM and thus accurately captures propagating wave fronts. The CA technique lends itself to parallelization because there is no need to store a large sparse matrix. Experiments show that for 26K mesh size and 10000 iterations, GPU assisted solution gains speed up more than 573x over the JCA implementation.
Risk factors for incident venous thromboembolism in active cancer patients: A population based case–control study

Abstract Background Independent risk factors for cancer-associated incident venous thromboembolism (VTE) and their magnitude of risk are not fully characterized. Aim To identify non-cancer and cancer-specific risk factors for cancer-associated incident VTE. Methods In a population-based retrospective case–control study, we used Rochester Epidemiology Project and Mayo Clinic Cancer Registry resources to identify all Olmsted County, MN residents with active cancer-associated incident VTE, 1973–2000 (cases; n=570) and 1–3 residents with active cancer matched to each case on age, sex, date and duration of active cancer (controls; n=604). Using conditional logistic regression, we tested cancer and non-cancer characteristics for an association with VTE, including a cancer site VTE risk score. Results In the multivariable model, higher cancer site VTE risk score (OR=1.4 per 2-fold increase), cancer stage≥2 (OR=2.2), liver metastasis (OR=2.7), chemotherapy (OR=1.8) and progesterone use (OR=2.1) were independently associated with VTE, as were BMI 2 (OR=1.9) or ≥35kg/m 2 (OR=4.0), hospitalization (OR=7.9), nursing home confinement (OR=4.7), central venous (CV) catheter (OR=8.5) and any recent infection (OR=1.7). In a subgroup analysis, platelet count≥350×10 9 /L at time of cancer diagnosis was marginally associated with VTE (OR=2.3, p=0.07). Conclusion Cancer site, cancer stage≥2, liver metastasis, chemotherapy, progesterone, being underweight or obese, hospitalization/nursing home confinement, CV catheter, and infection are independent risk factors for incident VTE in active cancer patients.
Activity of the aurora kinase inhibitor MK-0457 (VX-680) in combination with taxotere

14069 Background: MK-0457 (VX-680) is a reversible kinase inhibitor that targets Aurora A, B and C (Ki’s of 0.7, 18 and 4.6 nM, respectively). Clinical trials are on-going in patients with solid tu...
Nursing Perspectives: Acute Care Nurse Practitioners in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: Why This Is a Successful Collaboration

The steadily increasing prominence of the neonatal nurse practitioner (NNP) in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) across the United States has gone largely unnoticed outside the neonatology and nursing literature. Although most NICUs in the United States employ NNPs (now often called neonatal advanced practice registered nurses) and neonatologists widely accept this approach, physicians and nurses in other intensive care settings may be surprised at the extent and sophistication of this new collaborative practice model. This model of expanded interprofessional practice and enhanced contributions by highly specialized nurses to the daily care of critically ill newborns and their families has proven successful. It exemplifies intelligent evolution of care and warrants recognition and emulation across critical care practice. We previously described proposed changes in the educational requirements for NNPs. This article provides historical background of the introduction and addresses the importance of NNPs in NICUs.
Metronidazole in the treatment of metastatic brain tumors. Results of a controlled clinical trial.

We measured the effect of the radiation enhancer metronidazole on patients with metastatic brain tumors undergoing radiation therapy (RT) in a randomized controlled study. Metronidazole was given in a dose of 6 g/m2 4 h before each of the first 3 doses of RT to the whole-brain. A total of 3000 rad was delivered in 6 doses. Patients were followed by serial neurological examinations and CT scans. The metronidazole group did not differ from the control group when measured in terms of survival, clinical improvement or improvement on CT scan, whether measured 2 months or 6 months following treatment. Nausea and vomiting was a significant side effect, preventing about 10% of patients from completing the treatment. Metronidazole appears to have no substantial radiation enhancing effect on metastatic brain tumors.
The Pedagogy of Trauma-Informed Lawyering

“Trauma-informed practice” is an increasingly prevalent approach in the delivery of therapeutic services, social and human services, and now legal practice. Put simply, the hallmarks of trauma-informed practice are when the practitioner puts the realities of the client’s trauma experiences at the forefront in engaging with the client, and adjusts the practice approach informed by the individual client’s trauma experience. Trauma-informed practice also encompasses the practitioner employing modes of self-care to counterbalance the effect the client’s trauma experience may have on the practitioner.This article posits that teaching trauma-informed practice in law school clinics furthers the goals of clinical teaching, and is a critical aspect of preparing law students for legal careers. Trauma-informed practice is relevant to many legal practice areas. Clients frequently seek legal assistance at a time when they are highly vulnerable and emotional. As clinical professors who each supervise a family law clinic, we of course teach our students how to connect with their clients, while drawing the appropriate boundaries of the attorney-client relationship. Equally challenging and important is helping our students cultivate insight into identifying and addressing trauma and its effects. Many of our clinics’ clients are survivors of intimate partner violence or have experienced other significant traumatic events that are relevant to their family court matters. Law students should learn to recognize the effects these traumatic experiences may have on their clients’ actions and behaviors. Further, law students should learn to recognize the effect that their clients’ stories and hardships are having on their own advocacy and lives as a whole. It is particularly crucial that we educate our law students about the effects of vicarious trauma and help them develop tools to manage its effects as they move through their clinical work and ultimately into legal practice. This article argues that four key characteristics of trauma-informed lawyering are: identifying trauma, adjusting the attorney-client relationship, adapting litigation strategy, and preventing vicarious trauma. Specifically, the article discusses how to teach trauma-informed lawyering through direct examples of pedagogical approaches.
Temperament Characteristics and Syndrome Differentiation typing of Children with SensoryIntegration Dysfunction

Objective: To study the temperament characteristics in children with SensoryIntegration Dysfunction(SID)and explore the relationship between types of temperamentand Chinese medicine Syndrome Differentiation typing(SDT).Methods:The temperaments were measured in 92children with SID and 41 normal children using the parent temperament questionnaire.And children with SIDwere classified into 2 types according to SDT,the sthenia syndrome type and the deficient syndrome.Results: The factor scores of regularity,adaptability and mood were significantly lower in SID than in the normal children.The factor scores of intensity and activity in SID were significantly high in SID than in the normal children.The rate of difficulty temperament(type D) was significantly high in SID(34.8%)than in the normal children(9.8%),P0.01.Conclusions:There are differences in temperament types between children with SensoryIntegration Dysfunction and the normal,with type D temperament might be more prone toSensoryIntegration Dysfunction.The sthenia syndrome type related closely to type D temperament.We should pay attention to influence of children's temperament characteristics on their sensory integration ability during treating and intervening of SID.
Decreases in Perceived Maternal Criticism Predict Improvement in Subthreshold Psychotic Symptoms in a Randomized Trial of Family-Focused Therapy for Individuals at Clinical High Risk for Psychosis

Perceived criticism (PC) is a measure of how much criticism from 1 family member “gets through” to another. PC ratings have been found to predict the course of psychotic disorders, but questions remain regarding whether psychosocial treatment can effectively decrease PC, and whether reductions in PC predict symptom improvement. In a sample of individuals at high risk for psychosis, we examined a) whether Family Focused Therapy for Clinical High-Risk (FFT-CHR), an 18-session intervention that consists of psychoeducation and training in communication and problem solving, brought about greater reductions in perceived maternal criticism, compared to a 3-session family psychoeducational intervention; and b) whether reductions in PC from baseline to 6-month reassessment predicted decreases in subthreshold positive symptoms of psychosis at 12-month follow-up. This study was conducted within a randomized controlled trial across 8 sites. The perceived criticism scale was completed by 90 families prior to treatment and by 41 families at 6-month reassessment. Evaluators, blind to treatment condition, rated subthreshold symptoms of psychosis at baseline, 6- and 12-month assessments. Perceived maternal criticism decreased from pre- to posttreatment for both treatment groups, and this change in criticism predicted decreases in subthreshold positive symptoms at 12-month follow-up. This study offers evidence that participation in structured family treatment is associated with improvement in perceptions of the family environment. Further, a brief measure of perceived criticism may be useful in predicting the future course of attenuated symptoms of psychosis for CHR youth.
Trench storage capacitors for high density DRAMs

The authors have demonstrated trench capacitors with openings down to 0.25 mu m*0.25 mu m and aspect ratios as high as 40, and with a capacitance of 31 fF for 8 nm equivalent ONO (oxide/nitride/oxide) thickness. The projected trench dimensions for a 256 Mb DRAM are 0.25 mu m*0.40 mu m*4 mu m, yielding a capacitance of 30 fF when a 5 nm thick oxide dielectric is used. A capacitance of about 50 fF has been obtained using 8 nm oxide-equivalent ONO dielectric with trench dimensions of 0.25 mu m*0.4 mu m*11.5 mu m. >
Everyday emotion word and personal pronoun use reflects dyadic adjustment among couples coping with breast cancer

Dyadic adjustment is integral for couples facing breast cancer; therefore, it is important to identify its everyday indicators. A total of 52 couples coping with breast cancer wore the Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR) for one weekend and completed the Dyadic Adjustment Scale to investigate how dyadic adjustment manifests in noncancer-related word use. Multilevel models revealed that partners', rather than one's own, positive emotion words positively related to dyadic adjustment. Conversely, spouses' negative emotion words and patients' anger words were negatively related to dyadic adjustment. Furthermore, focus on spouses rather than patients (spouses “I” and patients “you”) positively related to dyadic adjustment. Results revealed that dyadic adjustment can be reflected in couples' everyday word use, serving as an objective indicator of marital quality.
Bending behavior of multilayered textile composite prepregs: Experiment and finite element modeling

Abstract An accurate model and assessment of out-of-plane bending properties can improve the forming predictions of multilayered textile prepregs using a suitable modeling technique. This paper aims to investigate the bending properties of multilayered textile thermosetting composite prepregs under conditions relevant to the forming process. A finite element model based on a viscoelastic approach has been developed to predict the bending behavior of different stacking sequences at different processing parameters, including temperature and rate. This model allows the modeler to determine the correct bending parameter values to set during the forming simulation process. The effect of stacking sequences on out-of-plane bending deformation was studied experimentally and numerically through the developed modeling methodology. Furthermore, the paper analyzes the feasibility of using a viscoelastic material model to model the bending behavior of rate-dependent material and its application in forming simulation. A comparison between elastic and viscoelastic material models showed the importance of considering the rate dependency to describe the bending behavior of prepreg materials. The experimental and numerical results show that the bending properties strongly depend on the fabric lay-up inside multiple stacked plies. Bending and friction properties were also found to significantly influence the occurrence of wrinkles during the forming simulation.
Emerging Roles of MTG16 in Cell-Fate Control of Hematopoietic Stem Cells and Cancer

MTG16 (myeloid translocation gene on chromosome 16) and its related proteins, MTG8 and MTGR1, define a small family of transcriptional corepressors. These corepressors share highly conserved domain structures yet have distinct biological functions and tissue specificity. In vivo studies have shown that, of the three MTG corepressors, MTG16 is uniquely important for the regulation of hematopoietic stem/progenitor cell (HSPC) proliferation and differentiation. Apart from this physiological function, MTG16 is also involved in carcinomas and leukemias, acting as the genetic target of loss of heterozygosity (LOH) aberrations in breast cancer and recurrent translocations in leukemia. The frequent involvement of MTG16 in these disease etiologies implies an important developmental role for this transcriptional corepressor. Furthermore, mounting evidence suggests that MTG16 indirectly alters the disease course of several leukemias via its regulatory interactions with a variety of pathologic fusion proteins. For example, a recent study has shown that MTG16 can repress not only wild-type E2A-mediated transcription, but also leukemia fusion protein E2A-Pbx1-mediated transcription, suggesting that MTG16 may serve as a potential therapeutic target in acute lymphoblastic leukemia expressing the E2A-Pbx1 fusion protein. Given that leukemia stem cells share similar regulatory pathways with normal HSPCs, studies to further understand how MTG16 regulates cell proliferation and differentiation could lead to novel therapeutic approaches for leukemia treatment.
Crowdsourcing Exercise Plans Aligned with Expert Guidelines and Everyday Constraints

Exercise plans help people implement behavior change. Crowd workers can help create exercise plans for clients, but their work may result in lower quality plans than produced by experts. We built CrowdFit, a tool that provides feedback about compliance with exercise guidelines and leverages strengths of crowdsourcing to create plans made by non-experts. We evaluated CrowdFit in a comparative study with 46 clients using exercise plans for two weeks. Clients received plans from crowd planners using CrowdFit, crowd planners without CrowdFit, or from expert planners. Compared to crowd planners not using CrowdFit, crowd planners using CrowdFit created plans that are more actionable and more aligned with exercise guidelines. Compared to experts, crowd planners created more actionable plans, and plans that are not significantly different with respect to tailoring, strength and aerobic principles. They struggled, however, to satisfy exercise requirements of amount of exercise. We discuss opportunities for designing technology supporting physical activity planning by non-experts.
“Of things as yet unborne”: The Poetics of Fantasy in John Marston's What You Will

The Romantic period has been identified as the paradigmatic moment of transformation in western culture when the mimetic and didactic theories of literature typically favored by classical and Renai...
Fatou’s 1906 Note

Previous to Pierre Fatou’s note “Sur les solutions uniformes de certaines equations fonctionnelles” which appeared in the Comptes rendus of the French Academy of Sciences in 1906, studies of iteration focused on a given analytic function ∅(z) in the vicinity of an attracting fixed point.1 Although much was known about the behavior of ∅(z) under iteration near a fixed point, little was known about the global behavior of such functions, that is, the behavior of the iterates of an arbitrary point in the extended complex plane.
Hemophilia Burden of Disease: A Systematic Review of the Cost-Utility Literature for Hemophilia.

BACKGROUND: Prophylaxis with clotting factor replacement products is recommended by the Medical and Scientific Advisory Council of the National Hemophilia Foundation as the optimal therapy for the prevention of bleeding episodes in individuals with severe hemophilia A or B (< 1 IU per dL endogenous factor VIII or factor IX activity, respectively). Prophylaxis is associated with an improved health-related quality of life and has been shown to be cost-effective compared with on-demand therapy. However, the overall cost of treatment remains high, particularly among patients with a greater propensity to bleed. The overall value of hemophilia treatments and their associated benefits, measured in quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs), and dollar costs compared with other interventions can be evaluated through the use of cost-utility analyses (CUAs). Previous CUA studies in hemophilia have focused primarily on patients with more severe forms of hemophilia and on prophylaxis compared with on-demand treatment. Howev...
Asking more of Siri and Alexa: feminine persona in service of surveillance capitalism

This paper illuminates how gendered stereotypes can be leveraged to assuage anxieties surrounding artificially intelligent virtual assistants (AI VA). In particular, the analysis shows that these A...
Maternal antithyroid antibodies and euploid miscarriage in women with recurrent early pregnancy loss.

Objective To determine whether an association exists between maternal antithyroid antibodies and euploid miscarriage in women with recurrent early pregnancy loss (REPL). Design Observational cohort study. Setting Two academic medical centers. Patient(s) Women seen between 2004-2015 with a history of REPL, who were euthyroid or had subclinical hypothyroidism, had maternal antithyroid antibody testing and had at least one subsequent early pregnancy loss ( Intervention(s) Thyroid function and antibodies were measured at consultation. Subsequent miscarriages were assessed by conventional cytogenetic analysis, and when indicated, microsatellite analysis and/or comparative genomic hybridization/single nucleotide polymorphisms were performed. Main Outcome Measure(s) Determine whether maternal antithyroid antibodies are associated with euploid miscarriage. Result(s) Cohort consisted of 74 subjects with REPL who had 130 subsequent early pregnancy losses. The prevalence of maternal antithyroid antibodies in the cohort was 17.6%. Mean TSH was significantly higher among subjects with maternal antithyroid antibodies. Otherwise, no significant differences in demographics were noted. When comparing types of early pregnancy losses between the two groups, a trend toward having more miscarriages than nonvisualized pregnancy losses was noted among subjects with maternal antithyroid antibodies (70% and 30%) compared with subjects without maternal antithyroid antibodies (55% and 43%). No significant difference was noted in the frequency of euploid miscarriage between subjects with and without maternal antithyroid antibodies (42% vs. 56%). Conclusion(s) Our study did not demonstrate an association between euploid miscarriage and maternal antithyroid antibodies in subjects with a history of REPL. Therefore, testing or treatment in this cohort may not be warranted.
Effect of hot water treatment of in‐shell pecans on physicochemical properties and consumer acceptability of roasted pecan kernels

The effect of hot water pre‐treatment of in‐shell pecans on physicochemical properties, consumer acceptance and purchase intent of dehulled and roasted kernels was evaluated. In‐shell pecans were first subjected to hot water at 70, 80 and 90 °C for 8.6, 6.6 and 4.6 min respectively and kernels were later dry roasted at 160 °C for 10 min. The physicochemical properties of hot water treated and untreated nuts, before and after roasting were determined. Furthermore, consumer acceptance and purchase intent of the roasted kernels were determined. Hot water treatment, alone and subsequent roasting had minimal effect on pecans’ physicochemical properties. Consumers liked (P 0.05) of pre‐treatment was observed on the acceptability of other sensory attributes. Safety claim increased treated pecans’ overall liking; however, it decreased purchase intent. Hot water treatment showed promise as a post‐harvest microbial intervention strategy without affecting the physicochemical properties and consumer acceptability.
Liquid crystal self-alignment technology

The preparation method for uniaxially homogeneous and vertical alignments of liquid crystal (LC) molecules was proposed without using a conventional alignment layer such as polyimide film. The method produces the self-alignment layer (SAL) by the polymerisation of the monomers in the LC layer above the TNI of the LC material. The fringe-field-switching (FFS) and the vertical alignment (VA) modes LC cells with the SALs (self-FFS or self-VA cells) produced from the monomers exhibited equivalent level of alignment state and electro-optical properties compared with the conventional LC cells having the polyimide-film alignment layers. The self-FFS and the self-VA cells would be useful for next-generation displays such as flexible liquid crystal displays (LCDs) because the method does not need high-temperature process over 200 °C.
Electronic Instrumentation Manufacturing - Pre-Conditioning Experiences

Achieving acceptable field reliability with complex state-of-the-art automotive electronic instrumentation has led Ford Motor Company to pre-condition (burn-in) instrumentation modules during the manufacturing process. Since the 1980 model year, over 500,000 modules have been processed this way. This paper will summarize the pre-conditioning process and the lessons learned since 1980.
National study of emergency department disposition for high suicide risk geriatric patients.

Abstract Objective To examine predictors of hospitalization among older adults at high risk for suicide treated in emergency departments (EDs). Methods This retrospective cohort analysis used national 2015 Medicare claims for adults ≥65 years with ED visits for suicide ideation or deliberate self-harm (N = 50,472) merged with data from the Area Health Resource File. Rates and adjusted risk ratios (ARR) of hospital admission were assessed. Results A majority of ED episodes resulted in hospital admission (81.9%) with most being admitted to a psychiatric unit (62.8%). Visits for self-harm with suicide ideation were most likely to result in hospitalization (94.7%) compared to suicide ideation alone (84.0%) or self-harm alone (73.1%). Current diagnosis of depression, bipolar, anxiety, cognitive, and personality disorder were associated with hospitalization. Co-occurring mental and substance use disorders were the most predictive mental health condition of admission. Overall, severity of current medical comorbidity was the strongest predictor of hospital admission. Conclusions Most older adults treated in EDs for suicide ideation or self-harm are hospitalized. Medical morbidity plays a more prominent role than other patient factors in admission status.
Imaging Characteristics of a Hypervascular Pituitary Spindle Cell Oncocytoma on Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Digital Subtraction Angiography.

Background Spindle cell oncocytomas (SCOs) are rare neuroendocrine tumors of the posterior pituitary that are often misdiagnosed as nonfunctional pituitary tumors. Fewer than 50 cases of SCOs have been described in the literature, and many of these reports have documented the tumors to be hypervascular on imaging or histology. Case Description We present the first cerebral angiography imaging findings of an SCO before primary resection. The discovery of a prominent tumor blush, enlarged meningohypophyseal feeders bilaterally, and prominent tumor draining veins aided in preoperative planning and subsequent successful endoscopic transsphenoidal surgical resection. Conclusions Despite being a rare entity, SCOs should be included in the differential diagnosis when working up a hypervascular sellar tumor. Flow voids may be present on initial magnetic resonance imaging evaluation. Subsequent digital subtraction angiography can be used to further investigate abnormal vasculature and aid in surgical planning.
Yeast Telomerase RNA Flexibly Scaffolds Protein Subunits: Results and Repercussions

It is said that "hindsight is 20-20", so, given the current year, it is an opportune time to review and learn from experiences studying long noncoding RNAs. Investigation of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae telomerase RNA, TLC1, has unveiled striking flexibility in terms of both structural and functional features. Results support the "flexible scaffold" hypothesis for this 1157-nt telomerase RNA. This model describes TLC1 acting as a tether for holoenzyme protein subunits, and it also may apply to a plethora of RNAs beyond telomerase, such as types of lncRNAs. In this short perspective review, I summarize findings from studying the large yeast telomerase ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complex in the hope that this hindsight will sharpen foresight as so many of us seek to mechanistically understand noncoding RNA molecules from vast transcriptomes.
Comment on paper by Collins and colleagues - Trajectories of Structural Disease Progression in Knee Osteoarthritis.

We read with interest the recently published paper by Collins and colleagues (1), which examined trajectories of worsening medial knee compartment joint space width (JSW). Osteoarthritis initiative (OAI) data from baseline to eight years of follow-up were used to define three JSW trajectories of persons with prevalent symptomatic knee OA, based on the presence of baseline pain and Kellgren and Lawrence OA grades of 1 to 3. Additionally, the investigators considered an analytic method that allowed for consideration of knee replacement participants, a subgroup whose knee OA data are usually censored in knee OA studies. Finally, the investigators determined trajectories of WOMAC Pain scores using the three trajectories defined from the JSW data as the predictor of WOMAC Pain scores over a nine-year period.
Abstract MP05: Pvn-specific Microgliosis And Inflammation Precedes Sympathoexcitation In gαI 2 Protein-dependent, Salt-sensitive Hypertension

Aim: Hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN) Gαi2 proteins mediate sympathoinhibitory responses to a high salt (HS; 4% NaCl) diet. Failure to upregulate Gαi2 proteins in response to a HS diet re...
Investigating the Impact of Gene Cofunctionality in Predicting Gene Mutations of E. coli

Machine learning algorithms (MLAs) have recently been applied to predict gene mutations of Escherichia coli (E. coli) under different exposure conditions, with room for improvement in performance. In a bid to improve performance, we hypothesize that incorporating the interactions between genes will help MLAs make better predictions. To investigate this, we integrated protein-coding gene cofunctional networks into a mutation dataset of E. coli exposed to different conditions. Also, we proposed a feature-selection algorithm based on gene cofunctional networks to pick the most relevant exposure conditions. Then, we used the extended dataset to train a support vector classifier, an artificial neural network, and an ensemble of both MLAs. Separate models were trained for each of the protein-coding genes. Validation results showed that our approach improved both the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) and the area under the precision-recall curve (AUPRC). A peak increase of 8.20% in AUPRC was observed. A similar analysis on selected genes, with ten or more mutation points for each gene, also showed improvement in the general performance of the MLAs. Out-of-sample testing on adaptive laboratory evolution experiments curated from the literature provided further evidence of an enhanced mutation-prediction performance, where a maximum 8.74% boost in the AUC was observed. Finally, we highlighted the genes with the most improved and most degraded predictions due to the additional information of the cofunctional genes. This work suggests that the functional relationship between genes may play a role in gene mutation and illustrates how the relationships might help to improve mutation prediction.
Functional Distinction between Human and Mouse Sodium-Coupled Citrate Transporters and Its Biologic Significance: An Attempt for Structural Basis Using a Homology Modeling Approach

NaCT (SLC13A5; mINDY), a sodium-coupled citrate transporter, is the mammalian ortholog of Drosophila INDY. Loss-of-function mutations in human NaCT cause severe complications with neonatal epilepsy and encephalopathy (EIEE25). Surprisingly, mice lacking this transporter do not have this detrimental brain phenotype. The marked differences in transport kinetics between mouse and human NaCTs provide at least a partial explanation for this conundrum, but a structural basis for the differences is lacking. Neither human nor mouse NaCT has been crystallized, and any information known on their structures is based entirely on what was inferred from the structure of VcINDY, a related transporter in bacteria. Here, we highlight the functional features of human and mouse NaCTs and provide a plausible molecular basis for the differences based on a full-length homology modeling approach. The transport characteristics of human NaCT markedly differ from those of VcINDY. Therefore, the modeling with VcINDY as the template is flawed, but this is the best available option at this time. With the newly deduced model, we determined the likely locations of the disease-causing mutations and propose a new classification for the mutations based on their location and potential impact on transport function. This new information should pave the way for future design and development of novel therapeutics to restore the lost function of the mutant transporters as a treatment strategy for patients with EIEE25.
Scleraxis-Lineage Cell Depletion Improves Tendon Healing and Disrupts Adult Tendon Homeostasis

Abstract Despite the requirement for Scleraxis-lineage (ScxLin) cells during tendon development, the function of ScxLin cells during adult tendon repair, post-natal growth, and adult homeostasis have not been defined. Therefore, we inducibly depleted ScxLin cells (ScxLinDTR) prior to tendon injury and repair surgery and hypothesized that ScxLinDTR mice would exhibit functionally deficient healing compared to wildtype littermates. Surprisingly, depletion of ScxLin cells resulted in increased biomechanical properties without impairments in gliding function at 28 days post-repair, indicative of regeneration. RNA sequencing of day 28 post-repair tendons highlighted differences in matrix-related genes, cell motility, cytoskeletal organization, and metabolism. We also utilized ScxLinDTR mice to define the effects on post-natal tendon growth and adult tendon homeostasis and discovered that adult ScxLin cell depletion resulted in altered tendon collagen fibril diameter, density, and dispersion. Collectively, these findings enhance our fundamental understanding of tendon cell localization, function, and fate during healing, growth, and homeostasis.
Tobacco taxes for improving welfare and distributional outcomes: the case of Georgia.

Background Georgia has one of the highest smoking prevalence and tobacco-related morbidity and mortality rates in Europe and Central Asia. Nonetheless, tax increases on tobacco products are often opposed due to concerns of regressive fiscal effects. This article provides evidence on the long-term welfare and distributional impacts of increasing cigarette taxes in Georgia. Methods An Extended Cost-Benefit Analysis is used to simulate the distributional effect of raising taxes on cigarettes. It weighs short-term losses due to higher tobacco prices with long-term benefits related to reduced medical expenses and additional earnings associated with extended life expectancy. Household expenditure data are used to estimate decile-specific price elasticities of demand for cigarettes, accounting for heterogeneous behavioral responses by income-group. Results Consistent with previous literature, cigarettes price elasticity decreases with income. A simulated 50% cigarette price increase would yield positive net gains for the lowest three deciles; increase the available income of the poorest 10% of the population by an average of 1% and, as a result, lift up to 7000 people out-of-poverty in 2017. The effects would be highly progressive. Conclusions As lower-income households tend to be more responsive to price changes on cigarettes, they stand to benefit most from the health and economic consequences of taxing tobacco. This article shows that in addition to boosting fiscal revenues, increasing cigarette prices would lead to progressive and positive net gains for the poorest households in Georgia.
Financial literacy in the Ohio K–2 classroom: a mixed methods study

Financial literacy is a concept widely recognised in the middle and high school grade levels, but what does it mean to a primary elementary teacher? This study was a two-phase, mixed-methods resear...
The Behavior of Stock Analysts: Behavioral Evidence of 'Economic Rents' Across Market Capitalization Accruing from Consensus Forecast EPS Errors

Excess relative outperformance can be achieved by forecasting stocks experiencing momentum in earnings but which will surprise resulting in "consensus forecast errors" whether long or short positions are taken.
Epitaxial growth of dielectric Ba0.6Sr0.4TiO3 thin film on MgO for room temperature microwave phase shifters

Dielectric Ba0.6Sr0.4TiO3 thin films were epitaxially grown on (001) MgO by using pulsed laser ablation. Microstructure studies from x-ray diffraction and electron microscopy suggest that the as-grown films are c-axis oriented with an interface relationship of 〈100〉BSTO//〈100〉MgO. A room temperature coupled microwave phase shifter has been developed with a phase shift near 250° at 23.675 GHz under an electrical field of 40 V/μm and a figure of merit of ∼53°/dB. The performance of the microwave phase shifter based on the epitaxial Ba0.6Sr0.4TiO3 thin films on (001) MgO is close to that needed for practical applications in wireless communications.
The Administered-Price Hypothesis Revisited

The relationship between market structure and firms’ pricing behaviour has been a major and controversial issue in industrial economics. The question of how firms’ pricing behaviour differs across market structures is the focus of the administered-price thesis. In this paper the authors review theories providing rationales for the administered-price thesis and their empirical underpinnings, and methodological controversies concerning price series of differnt industries.
Caring for the chronically ill patient: understanding how fear leads to activity avoidance in individuals with chronic respiratory disease.

The likelihood of taking preventative health actions, such as engagement in physical activity, is affected by individual motivation along with the perceived threat of existing disease. Chronic respiratory disease enhances perceived threat of activity-induced dyspnea and alters the perception of barriers to preventative action. This leads to decreased likelihood of taking the recommended positive health action and engaging in physical activity. Resulting behavior instead is focused on avoidance of disease exacerbation in the form of activity avoidance.
The role of dynamic experimentation for computation analysis

In this paper a brief description of dynamic techniques commonly available for determining material property studies is presented. For many impact applications, the material generally experiences a complex loading path. In most cases, the initial loading conditions can be represented by the shock commonly referred to as the Hugoniot state. Subsequent loading or release structure, i.e., off-Hugoniot states would however be dependent on the physical processes dominating the material behavior. The credibility of the material model is tested by the accuracy of predictions of off-Hugoniot states. Experimental techniques commonly used to determine off-Hugoniot states are discussed in this survey.
Beyond Space (As We Knew It): Toward Temporally Integrated Geographies of Segregation, Health, and Accessibility

Many fundamental notions in geographic and social science research still tend to be conceptualized largely in static spatial terms, ignoring how our understanding of the issues we study can be greatly enriched through the lenses of time and human mobility. This article revisits three such notions: racial segregation, environmental exposure, and accessibility. It argues for the need to expand our analytical focus from static residential spaces to other relevant places and times in people’s everyday lives. Mobility is an essential element of people’s spatiotemporal experiences, and these complex experiences cannot be fully understood by just looking at where people live. As many social scientists are interested in studying segregation, environmental exposure, and accessibility, geographers can contribute to advancing temporally integrated analysis of these issues through careful examination of people’s everyday experiences as their lives unfold in space and time (especially with respect to their daily space-time trajectories and activity spaces). Interdisciplinary research along this line may have a broad impact on many disciplines beyond geography.
Inhibition of anaerobic ammonium oxidation by heavy metals

BACKGROUND Anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) is a promising approach for removing nitrogen from landfill leachates and other nitrogen-laden wastewater. Although heavy metals, which are known for their microbial toxicity, are commonly present in those wastewater streams information on their inhibitory impact on anammox activity is still limited. The main aim of this study is to investigate the inhibitory effects of six common metal ions (Cu2+, Cd2+, Ni2+, Zn2+, Pb2+, and molybdate) on anammox activity. RESULTS The soluble concentrations of cationic metals decreased due to precipitation reactions. Cu, Zn, Cd, and Ni were the most toxic metals with 50% inhibiting soluble concentrations of 4.2, 7.6, 11.2, and 48.6 mg L-1, respectively. Molybdate and Pb2+ were not or only moderately inhibitory at the highest soluble concentrations tested (22.7 mg Mo L-1 and 6.0 mg Pb L-1, respectively). A noncompetitive inhibition model successfully described the relationship between microbial inhibition and metal concentrations for all tested metals except for Pb. CONCLUSION Cu, Zn and Cd were the most toxic heavy metals for anammox bacteria. The soluble concentration of these heavy metals needs to be monitored carefully before applying anammox processes. © 2014 Society of Chemical Industry
A run‐based procedure to identify time‐lagged gene clusters in microarray experiments

Motivation: The analysis of gene-expression data obtained from microarray experiments can be useful to identify regulatory relationship between genes. Genes with a common functional role have similar expression patterns across different microarray experiments. These similar expression patterns are perhaps due to co-regulation of genes in the same functional group. Most of the existing methods available for the identification of the regulatory relationships are either made for comparing two genes at a time or methods are not computationally efficient in the identification of the regulatory relationships. The procedures adopted by these methods do not use complete information contained in the data set. In this paper, we propose a statistical procedure, which will use the information contained in the data set to cluster genes that show similar patterns. The proposed procedure compares several genes at a time instead of pair-wise comparisons as done in some of the other procedures. The proposed procedure provides gene clusters based on time-lagged data sets with more details. The proposed method provides a numerical value that would facilitate in comparing different sets of data obtained from different expressions. It also provides the identification of the gene involved and the time point at which the observation is made so that proper medicine can be developed for the gene-specific and time-specific disease. Results: We applied the proposed procedure on the Spellman data set (Mol. Biol. Cell 1998; 9(12): 3273-3297) and compared our procedure with some of the other existing procedures. We found that our procedure is more computationally efficient than Ji and Tan (Bioinformatics 2005; 21:509-516), event method and edge detection procedures. The proposed procedure also provides more details about the clusters than Ji and Tan (Bioinformatics 2005; 21:509-516), event method and edge detection procedures. The proposed procedure is really simple to apply as compared with other available procedures in the literature including Ji and Tan (Bioinformatics 2005; 21:509-516), event method and edge detection procedures.
Use of an appreciative inquiry approach to improve resident sign-out in an era of multiple shift changes.

BACKGROUND Resident duty hour restrictions have resulted in more frequent patient care handoffs, increasing the need for improved quality of residents’ sign-out process.
Iron and silicic acid concentrations together regulate Si uptake in the equatorial Pacific Ocean

The effects of added Si and Fe on the rate of silicic acid uptake were examined during two cruises to the equatorial Pacific upwelling zone between 110oW and 140oW. Maximum uptake rates of Si (Vmax) were highly consistent with a mean of 0.026 ± 0.007 h-1(n = 29), implying maximum diatom growth rates of ~0.6 d-1. Half-saturation constants for Si uptake (KS) also showed little variance, averaging 1.7 ± 0.7 mmol L-1 Si(OH)4. No ecologically significant spatial or temporal patterns for either Vmax or KS were observed. Comparison of Si uptake rates at the ambient silicic acid concentration (Vamb) with Vmax indicated that the ambient [Si(OH)4] restricted Vamb to an average of 63% ± 13% of Vmax. Fe additions also caused significant increases in both Vmax and Vamb, indicating that the rate of Si uptake was also regulated by the ambient [Fe]. Fe additions had a variable effect on KS, but they consistently increased both Vmax and the initial slope of the kinetic curve (Vmax :KS), and thus the diatom assemblages’ ability to take up Si(OH)4 at low concentrations. Added Fe or Si increased Si uptake rates by 87% ± 59% and 69% ± 31%, respectively, indicating nearly equal roles for the two elements in limiting rates of Si uptake in situ. The largest average increase in Si uptake rates, 172% ± 43%, was observed when both Si and Fe were added, implying that together Si and Fe restricted Si uptake rates by almost a factor of three.