cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Price of Subprime Mortgages at Mortgage Brokers and Lender

This paper examines pricing of subprime first mortgages by brokers and lenders using data on loans in originated between the first quarter of 1998 to the first quarter of 2006 at seven large subprime mortgage lenders. The results provide little evidence that most consumers obtaining mortgages through brokers pay higher prices than consumers obtaining mortgages directly from lenders. We first estimate a model explaining price using data on the loans originated directly by lenders (lender model). We predict annual percentage rates for broker-originated loans using the lender model and compare actual annual percentage rates for the broker-originated loans with the predicted rates. For five of six mortgage products, half or more of customers obtaining first mortgages through brokers paid less than we estimate they would have paid if they obtained the loan directly from the lender. For the sixth product, which accounted for a small percentage of all broker originations, 45.5 percent of loans had an annual percentage rate that was less that predicted by the lender model. This finding does not support the hypothesis that brokers generally steer customers into more costly than those they could obtain from lenders. We then repeat the process by estimating a model explaining price as a function of loan terms and borrower characteristics using the data on loans originated through brokers (broker model). Using this model to predict annual percentage rates on loans originated directly with lenders, we compare the actual annual percentage rate with the predicted annual percentage from the broker model. If brokers steer borrowers to higher priced products, we would expect actual rates for lender originations to be less than predicted rates from the broker model. Four of six products accounting for 85.4 percent of lenders mortgage originations, had annual percentage rates that were greater than the rates predicted by the broker model. Large percentages of originations for the other two products has actual rates that were larger that the annual percentage rates predicted by the broker model. Overall, most customers obtaining loans directly from the lender paid more than they would have paid had they obtained the loan through a broker.
Study of the Nanoscale Morphology of Polythiophene Fibrils and a Fullerene Derivative

Nanoscale blending of electron-donor and electron-acceptor materials in solution-processed bulk heterojunction organic photovoltaic devices is crucial for achieving high power conversion efficiency. We used a classic blend of poly(3-hexylthiophene)/phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (P3HT/PCBM) as a model to observe the nanoscale morphology of the P3HT fibrils and PCBM nanoclusters in the mixture. Energy-filtered transmission electron microscopy (EFTEM) clearly revealed a nanoscopic phase separation. Randomly connected and/or nonconnected P3HT fibrous networks and PCBM domains, revealed by 2-dimensional micrographs, were observed by collecting electron energy loss spectra in the range of 19–30 eV. From EFTEM images, the average length and the diameter of P3HT fibrils were found to be approximately 70 ± 5 and 15 ± 2 nm, respectively. Combining the EFTEM, selected area electron diffraction, and X-ray diffraction results, the number and spacing of the ordered chains in P3HT fibrils were determined. There w...
Staying in STEM or changing course: Do natives and immigrants pursue the path of least resistance?

Abstract This paper examines why Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields are becoming “immigrant” fields of study as native students shift from STEM fields to law, medicine and business. Using data from the 2010 National Survey of College Graduates, the analyses find that foreign college-educated immigrants with STEM degrees tend to remain in STEM fields, while natives are more likely to shift from STEM fields to law, medicine and business in graduate school. Among those who moved into law, medicine and business, the gains in earnings are larger for natives than for foreign educated immigrants. These results have important implications for the social mobility of highly educated natives and immigrants.
Mechanism of Ion-Induced Solid-Phase Crystallization and Amorphization

A mechanism is proposed to explain ion-induced solid-phase epitaxial growth (SPEG). It is argued that radiation-enhanced diffusion in amorphous solid is the cause of ion-induced SPEG at relatively low temperatures. The atoms in the amorphous solid near the crystalline/amorphous interface adjust their positions to lattice sites due to a free energy decrease associated with the transformation from amorphous to crystalline solid. An expression for the velocity of ion-induced SPEG is derived. At low temperatures and high irradiation dose rates, a large number of atoms in the lattice gets displaced and the free energy of the crystalline solid can increase to such a value that the crystalline/amorphous interface may remain stationary. It is shown that the dose rate at which the interface remains stationary increases with the temperature, following an Arrhenius dependence.
Repetitive ventricular response (RVR) in the digitalized heart of various mammalian species.

SummaryFourteen animals of five mammalian species (monkeys, dogs, rabbits, cats, and goats) were digitalized with acetyl strophanthidin and ouabain to an end-point of ventricular tachycardia. RVR was present in all animals before onset and after recovery from digitalis-induced intoxication. The appearance and development of RVR was analogous in all animals studied.
Choice-induced biases in perception

Illusions provide a great opportunity to study how perception is affected by both the observer's expectations and the way sensory information is represented. Recently, Jazayeri and Movshon reported a new and interesting perceptual illusion, demonstrating that the perceived motion direction of a dynamic random dot stimulus is systematically biased when preceded by a motion discrimination judgment. The authors hypothesized that these biases emerge because the brain predominantly relies on those neurons that are most informative for solving the discrimination task, but then is using the same neural weighting profile for generating the percept. In other words, they argue that these biases are "mistakes" of the brain, resulting from using inappropriate neural read-out weights. While we were able to replicate the illusion for a different visual stimulus (orientation), our new psychophysical data suggest that the above interpretation is likely incorrect: Biases are not caused by a read-out profile optimized for solving the discrimination task but rather by the specific choices subjects make in the discrimination task on any given trial. We formulate this idea as a conditioned Bayesian observer model and show that it can explain the new as well as the original psychophysical data. In this framework, the biases are not caused by mistake but rather by the brain's attempt to remain 'self-consistent' in its inference process. Our model establishes a direct connection between the current perceptual illusion and the well-known phenomena of cognitive consistency and dissonance.
Explicit Formulas for Solutions of the Second-Order Matrix Differential Equation Y″ = ay

(1975). Explicit Formulas for Solutions of the Second-Order Matrix Differential Equation Y″ = ay. The American Mathematical Monthly: Vol. 82, No. 2, pp. 159-162.
Characterization of Three Indica Rice Multiparent Advanced Generation Intercross (MAGIC) Populations for Quantitative Trait Loci Identification

Three new rice ( L.) multiparent advanced generation intercross (MAGIC) populations were developed using eight elite rice varieties from different breeding programs. These three populations were two recombinant inbred line (RIL) populations derived from two 4-way crosses, DC1 and DC2, and one RIL population derived from an 8-way cross. These populations were genotyped using an Illumina Infinium rice 6K SNP chip. The potential of the three MAGIC populations in identifying marker-trait associations was demonstrated using the plant height (PH) and heading date (HD) measured in 2014. A population of 248 IRRI breeding lines and a population of 323 Chinese breeding lines were also included to compare genetic diversity and linkage disequilibrium (LD) pattern. Our study discovered that (i) the 8-way population had a higher gene diversity than the DC1, DC2, and IRRI populations; (ii) all three MAGIC populations showed no clear population structure; (iii) LD decayed to < 0.2 at about 2.5, 2.5, 1.25, 1.75, and 4.0 Mb for the DC1, DC2, 8-way, IRRI, and Chinese populations, respectively; and (iv) the 8-way population was more powerful than the DC1, DC2, and IRRI populations on QTL identification. The association analysis identified two and three QTL for PH and HD, respectively. Four of the five QTL had peak markers close to known genes. A novel QTL for PH was identified on chromosome 12 using the 8-way population. Therefore, our study suggests that the three new MAGIC populations are valuable resources for QTL identification.
Efficacy observation of four kinds of DEET repellents on mosquitoes

Objective In order to observe the repellent efficacy on Aedes albopictus in lab and the mosqutito in the field and find an effective repellent preparation.Methods Taking out a lab test according to the national standard of GB/T17322.10-1998.Results In the lab test,15% liquid repellent and the aerosol repellent had the proective time of 7 h and 6 h respectively.The protective time increased with the increasing of the dose of insecticide.The longest protective time was 102 min and the average protective time was 8 min in the field.Other three kinds of repellents had the arerage protective time was 34～45 min.Conclusion DEET is an effective repellent and its common dose in the repellent is 10%～15%.
Patterns of pulmonary arterial supply in patients with truncus arteriosus.

Patients with anatomic discontinuity between the heart and pulmonary arterial system are now candidates for corrective surgical procedures. Differentiation between patients with pulmonary arteries (truncus arteriosus types I, II and III, and pseudotruncus) and those without pulmonary arteries (absent sixth aortic arch, truncus arteriosus type IV) is crucial. Anatomic classification, diagnostic criteria, and indications for surgical repair are still controversial. This paper presents four cases of truncus arteriosus that were managed surgically. Three of these had variants of type I anatomy, with hypoplasia or atresia of the connection to the ascending aorta. The fourth patient had a complicated type of truncus IV anatomy. Three points are emphasized: (I) Patients with type I truncus arteriosus can present with hypoplasia or atresia of the truncus-pulmonary connection. These patients may have suitable anatomy for full physiological correction, and their condition should not be confused with the type IV anatomy. (2) Ligation of collateral arterial supply is important. (3) We hypothesize that any patient with truncus arteriosus and continuous murmur has some kind of pulmonary arterial system which is surgically accessible. Currently, we perform an exploratory operation on any such patient. If reasonably large pulmonary arteries are found at operation, physiological correction with a valved conduit is performed. If the arteries are diminutive, a systemic-to-pulmonary shunt is constructed which it is hoped will stimulate dilation of the pulmonary arterial system and allow later physiological correction. Prolonged follow-up of a larger number of these patients is necessary.
Care Received by Elderly US Stroke Survivors May Be Underestimated

Background and Purpose— Previous studies exploring stroke-related caregiving focused solely on informal caregiving and a relatively limited set of activities. We sought to determine whether, and at what cost, stroke survivors receive more care than matched controls using an expanded definition of caregiving and inclusion of paid caregivers. Methods— Data were drawn from the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS), a nationally representative survey of Medicare beneficiaries. NHATS personnel conducted in-person interviews with respondents or proxies to determine the weekly hours of care received. We compared hours of assistance received between self-reported stroke survivors (n=892) and demography- and comorbidity-matched nonstroke controls (n=892). The annual cost of stroke caregiving was estimated using reported paid caregiving data and estimates of unpaid caregiving costs. Results— Of community-dwelling elderly stroke survivors, 51.4% received help from a caregiver. Stroke survivors received an average of 10 hours of additional care per week compared with demography- and comorbidity-matched controls (22.3 hours versus 11.8 hours; P Conclusions— Although stroke survivors are known to require considerable caregiving resources, our findings suggest that previous assessments may underestimate hours of care received and hence costs.
An Alternative Perspective: the Reputing Agent

In this chapter, a social cognitive model of reputation is presented. As anticipated in the previous chapter, the notion of reputation will be defined as the output of a social process of transmission of information. The input to this process is the evaluation that agents directly form about a given agent during interaction or observation. This evaluation will be called here the social “image” of the agent. An agent’s reputation is argued to be distinct from, although strictly interrelated with, its image. More precisely, image will be defined as a set of evaluative beliefs about a given target, while reputation will be defined as the process and the effect of transmission of image, i.e., of specific social evaluations. As an application of this model, some simple predictions made possible by this conceptualisation will be presented. Furthermore, the decision to accept image will be compared with and distinguished from the decision to acknowledge reputation. In the next chapters, especially in Chapter 6, predictions about the specific effects of image and reputation in different social contexts, relevant for the design of computational systems of reputation, will be provided.
Thoughts on hate and aggression.

The phenomenon of hate is explored from two perspectives: in terms of intensive bodily arousal and mobilization, and as a form of active but paralyzed aggression. Aggression, in this context, is viewed not in terms of discharges of drive energies but rather as reinforced effort aimed at the removal or destruction of barriers that impede the organism's movement, in real or symbolic space. Winnicott (1950) already had emphasized how the basic fact of the child's motility, its activity, lies at the source of what becomes aggression. Encounter with 'reality' brings interference with free, unrestricted movement at first in actual, physical space, then gradually within the representational world. Inasmuch as such additional mobilization finds intrapsychic representation which, in turn, comes to be coupled with an 'injured' response from a loved or valued object, an intrapsychic representation of what the person experiences as his own aggressiveness emerges. Aggression thus derives from accumulating 'inevitable' collisions between adaptive motility and objects (real and symbolic barriers, obstacles) in the way. Aggression plays its part in the development of object relations. If aggressive mobilizations are sufficiently interfered with to block any further movement but continue to be stimulated in pursuing valued actual or symbolic goals, hate emerges as a form of active but paralyzed aggression. Selections from two patients' material illustrate these issues clinically. Language: en
A vision for technology-mediated support for public participation & assistance in mass emergencies & disasters

We present a vision of the future of emergency management that better supports inclusion of activities and information from members of the public during disasters and mass emergency events. Such a vision relies on integration of multiple subfields of computer science, and a commitment to an understanding of the domain of application. It supports the hopes of a grid/cyberinfrastructure-enabled future that makes use of social software. However, in contrast to how emergency management is often understood, it aims to push beyond the idea of monitoring on-line activity, and instead focuses on an understudied but critical aspect of mass emergency response---the needs and roles of members of the public. By viewing the citizenry as a powerful, self-organizing, and collectively intelligent force, information and communication technology can play a transformational role in crisis. Critical topics for research and development include an understanding of the quantity and quality of information (and its continuous change) produced through computer-mediated communication during emergencies; mechanisms for ensuring trustworthiness and security of information; mechanisms for aligning informal and formal sources of information; and new applications of information extraction techniques.
A free-electron model for the Dirac bands in graphene

We present a new method for describing the electronic structure of graphene, by treating the honeycomb lattice as an arrangement of crisscrossing one-dimensional quantum wires. The electrons travel as free particles along the wires and interfere at the three-way junctions formed by the carbon atoms. The approach produces the linearly dispersive Dirac band structure as well as the chiral pseudo-spin-wave functions. When vacancies are incorporated, the model reproduces the well known zero mode states.
376. Correction of Metabolic Abnormalities in Murine Glycogen Storage Disease Type Ib by Gene Therapy

Glycogen storage disease type Ib (GSD-Ib) is an autosomal recessive disorder caused by deficiencies in a glucose-6-phosphate (G6P) transporter (G6PT) that transloacates G6P from the cytoplasm into the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum where it is hydrolyzed to glucose and phosphate by the glucose-6-phosphatase-α (G6Pase-α or G6PC) enzyme. The functional coupling of G6PT and G6Pase-α maintains interprandial blood glucose homeostasis. GSD-Ib patients manifest impaired glucose homeostasis characterized by fasting hypoglycemia, hepatomegaly, nephromegaly, hyperlipidemia, hyperuricemia, lactic acidemia, and growth retardation. The current dietary therapies enable patients to maintain normoglycemia but the underlying pathological processes remain uncorrected and long-term complications, including hepatocellular adenoma (HCA), are common. In this study, we examined the efficacy of liver G6PT delivery mediated by two human G6PT-expressing recombinant adeno-associated virus (AAV) pseudotype 2/8 (rAAV8) vectors. One is a single-stranded vector containing a 2864-bp of the human G6PC promoter/enhancer (rAAV8-GPE-G6PT) and the other is a double-stranded vector containing the minimal human G6PT promoter/enhancer (rAAV8-miGT-G6PT). GSD-Ib mice were infused with either vector neonatally, then at age 4 weeks, and metabolic profiles of the infused animals were monitored at age 12 weeks. We show that the rAAV8-GPE-G6PT vector directed significantly higher levels of hepatic G6PT expression, achieved greater reduction in hepatomegaly, and led to a better toleration of fasting in GSD-Ib mice than the rAAV8-miGT-G6PT vector. Our results suggest that the rAAV8-GPE-G6PT vector is an efficacious vector in correcting metabolic abnormalities in murine GSD-Ib.
WayPoint: Scaling coherence to 1000-core architectures

In this paper, we evaluate a set of coherence architectures in the context of a 1024-core chip multiprocessor (CMP) tailored to throughput-oriented parallel workloads. Based on our analysis, we develop and evaluate two techniques for scaling coherence to thousand-core CMPs. We find that a broadcast-based probe filtering scheme provides reasonable performance up to 128 cores for some benchmarks, but is not generally scalable. We propose a broadcast-collective network for accelerating probe filter misses, which extends scalability but falls short of supporting 1024 cores. We find that a sparse directory with an invalidate-on-evict policy can work well for many throughput-oriented workloads. However, the on-die structures required to achieve good performance carry a large performance and power overhead. To achieve thousand-core scalability with smaller and less associative sparse directories, we introduce WayPoint, a mechanism that increases directory associativity and capacity dynamically. Using less than 3% of total die area, WayPoint achieves performance within 4% of an infinitely large on-die directory.
Serpentine populations of Arabidopsis lyrata ssp. lyrata show evidence for local adaptation in response to nickel exposure at germination and during juvenile growth

Abstract Evolutionary divergence among disjunct populations that encounter different stressful conditions may be rapid due to limited gene flow. Arabidopsis lyrata ssp. lyrata (L.) O’Kane & Al-Shehbaz grows throughout the mid-Atlantic region in a variety of fragmented and stressful environments, including serpentine soils. The purpose of this study was to investigate the differential responses to heavy metals (particularly nickel and chromium, naturally occurring in serpentine soils) among three serpentine populations compared to two non-serpentine populations of A. l. ssp. lyrata , as evidence of local adaptation. The five populations were exposed to a nickel, chromium or control treatment during germination and juvenile growth. None of the populations had a negative growth response to chromium. All five populations had reductions in growth when exposed to nickel. The greatest reductions were found in the two non-serpentine populations, which had reductions of 97–99% compared to the control. In contrast, the three serpentine populations had reductions of 23–83%, with most reduction in one of the serpentine populations (Robert E. Lee). Compared to the non-serpentine populations and the least tolerant serpentine population, the two most tolerant serpentine populations (Pilot and Soldiers Delight) had early lateral root formation, accumulated less nickel in their shoots and roots, and had high shoot phenolics. All three serpentine populations had increased serine levels in response to nickel and chromium. The tolerance mechanisms we found in the most tolerant serpentine populations serve as evidence for local adaptation to nickel stress in the non-hyperaccumulator A. l ssp. lyrata .
Industry and government strategies for product quality

Quality in manufactured products is a combination of performance levels, performance stability, reliability and longevity. Advancing any or all of these elements of quality requires a range of technological, organizational and marketing changes. Specific technical solutions cannot be effectively conceived and implemented in isolation from the broader system of production and servicing of targeted markets. This implies a trend towards integration of research and development, production and marketing. Moreover, an increasing proportion of technical solutions will have to come from outside the corporate entity, as will information on the broader technological and market trends. Much of the responsibility for removing barriers to improving quality has been correctly placed on the shoulders of corporate management, and major changes in corporate strategy and management lie ahead. However, significant improvements will be required in the performances of government policy and the technological infrastructure in general. Because timing of the commercialization is ever more important, these three sectors will have to increase their cooperation as well as their individual performances.
Legal Issues: IP Asset Valuation and IRS Scrutiny

The structure of a large corporation can often be a very complex conflagration of parent corporations, divisions, subsidiary corporations, sister corporations, holding companies, merged entities, corporate spin-offs and the like. Tracking down all of the related relationships between these entities can be an equally complex process of deep investigation into federal, state, tax, credit and corporate records. An increasing trend in recent years has been for some U.S. corporations to establish subsidiary operations overseas. In some cases it may be simply because it’s more effective to have a subsidiary manage their operations within the country or region. However, a growing tactic among corporations is to use overseas subsidiaries to take advantage of lower foreign tax rates. This concept – often known as tax avoidance – has been an increasing part of a company’s strategy to minimize tax obligations by moving revenue and profits into locations that have lower tax rates. Unlike tax evasion which is illegal, tax avoidance is the use of legal strategies and systems within the tax laws of both the home country, such as the U.S., and the overseas country. However, this has become a political and business controversy as a number of large companies, particularly major information industry companies such as Google, Facebook, and Apple have been criticized for using these strategies to “avoid” or reduce their United States tax obligations.
HER-2/neu expression is associated with increased tumor cell proliferation, loss of hormone receptors and an aggressive phenotype in a population based setting of endometrial carcinomas

AACR Annual Meeting-- Apr 14-18, 2007; Los Angeles, CA 5040 OBJECTIVE: To investigate the distribution of HER-2/neu and EGFR expression in curettage material from a population based patient series with endometrial carcinoma in relation to clinico-pathologic characteristics, proliferative activity, receptor status in tumor and survival. STUDY DESIGN: Preoperative curettage material was collected from a population based series of 316 endometrial carcinomas from Norway with long and complete follow-up. Curettage specimens were studied immunohistochemically for HER-2/neu, EGFR and Ki-67 expression. RESULTS: Positive expression of HER-2/neu was seen in 23% and was significantly correlated to high FIGO stage (p=0.03), serous /clear cell histological subtype (p=0.0001), high histologic grade (p=0.007) and aneuploidy (p=0.02). Patients with positive expression of HER-2/neu had 79% 5-year survival compared to 72% for low HER-2/neu expression (p=0.18). Positive HER-2/neu expression in tumors was significantly correlated to loss of estrogen (p=0.04) and progesterone receptors (p=0.001) and to high tumor proliferation (p=0.01). Expression of EGFR was examined with three different antibodies, but none showed significant correlation to any clinico-pathologic variables, other tumor markers or survival. Proliferative activity in curettage material and the corresponding hysterectomy specimens were significantly correlated. High proliferation estimated in tumor from the hysterectomy specimens showed the strongest correlation with high FIGO stage (p=0.01), serous /clear cell histological subtype (p=0.01), high histologic grade (p=0.002), other prognostic markers and prognosis (p=0.03). CONCLUSION: Positive expression of HER-2/neu in curettage material is common in endometrial carcinomas and identifies tumors with aggressive phenotype, high proliferation and loss of hormonal receptors. These results motivate further clinical trials with trastuzumab based on molecular HER-2/neu status in tumors.
New biomarkers for diagnosis and management of polycystic ovary syndrome

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the most common endocrine disorder affecting young women. Even though the definition of PCOS has changed over the years, all diagnostic criteria include two or more of the following: oligomenorrhea/oligoovulation/anovulation, androgen excess and polycystic ovaries (PCO). Traditional method of assessing the ovarian morphology has been transvaginal pelvic ultrasound. Recent studies support that serum anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) levels correlate with the number of ovarian follicles and cysts. Hence, measurement of AMH is adequate to make the diagnosis. Traditionally, hyperandrogenemia has been assessed by measuring total-testosterone. The literature stresses the importance of sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) measurements and bioavailable-testosterone and free-testosterone calculations, because insulin resistance decreases SHBG, lowers total-testosterone, and leads to under-estimation of bioavailable- and free-testosterone. Since 50-60% of PCOS patients have metabolic syndrome, assessment of metabolic risk is also necessary. It is important to diagnose insulin resistance before development of glucose intolerance and diabetes. This requires measurements of not only plasma glucose but also insulin concentrations. Determination of HgBA1 can be informative as well. This review aims to present an accurate and cost-effective approach to diagnosis and management of PCOS.
The Missing Silica Sink: Revisiting the Marine Sedimentary Si Cycle Using Cosmogenic 32Si

Burial of biogenic silica (bSitotal) in high sedimentation rate continental margins remains highly uncertain. Cosmogenic 32Si (t1/2~140 years) can be used to trace the fates of bSitotal postdeposition, including as opal (bSiopal) and diagenetically altered opal (bSialtered), the latter dominantly authigenic clay (bSiclay). To determine the magnitude and form of bSitotal storage in coastal sediments, conventional operational leaches targeting bSiopal and bSialtered (including bSiclay) were modified for large-scale samples necessary for measurement of 32Si. The 32Si activity was used to estimate total biogenic silica burial (bSitotal = bSiopal + bSialtered) in several depositional settings: Gulf of Papua, Gulf of Mexico, Long Island Sound, and in the previously studied Amazon-Guianas deltaic system. In subtropical and temperate regions, 32Si was detected in both traditional biogenic silica leaches (bSiopal) and residual authigenic clays. Traditional bSiopal and modified operational leaches designed to target the most reactive authigenic silicates (~bSialtered) consistently underestimate authigenic clay formation (bSiclay) and thus the magnitude of bSitotal burial in temperate coastal zones and subtropical deltas by 2–4-fold. In tropical deltas, 32Si activities in the residual fraction after removal of bSiopal demonstrate rapid and almost complete alteration of initial bSiopal to new forms, most likely bSiclay. Globally, 4.5–4.9 Tmol/yr Si may be trapped in marine nearshore deposits as rapidly formed clay (bSiclay), 100% of the “missing silica sink” in the marine silica budget.
What Matters to Students’ Satisfaction: A Comparative Study between Vertical and Horizontal Transfer Students at 4-year Universities

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this study was to examine which engagement factors, along with students’ socio-demographic characteristics and educational background, were associated with students’ overall satisfaction with their current 4-year institution. It also aimed to identify whether these independent variables had similar or different associations with the likelihood of being satisfied between vertical and horizontal transfer students. This research study first employed descriptive statistics to provide a thorough overview of the samples of the study, and then performed exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to identify engagement factors. Lastly, this study tested logistic regression models to identify factors associated with students’ satisfaction for vertical and horizontal transfers, respectively. The study findings highlight that coursework emphasizing on a higher order of thinking, student–faculty interactions, and institutional support were important engagement measures contributing to the likelihood of ...
Educational Complexity and Professional Development: Teachers' Need for Metacognitive Awareness

The study was designed to investigate technology and engineering teachers’ metacognitive awareness during specific established teacher practices. The study had a sample size of 18. There were six participants in three groups. Group 1 consisted of teachers that actively participated in Transforming Teaching through Implementing Inquiry (T2I2) professional development program. Group 2 consisted of teachers that were selected for but did not actively participate in T2I2 professional development system. Group 3 consisted of teachers that completed the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards professional development program. To measure the metacognitive awareness of each group, a semi-structured open-ended interview was used. The interviews were analyzed by two independent coders using a coding rubric. The coded interviews established the phenomenological metacognitive awareness of each group.
Exploring Leaders’ Discriminatory, Passive-Aggressive Behavior Toward Protected Class Employees using Diversity Intelligence:

The ProblemAs there is diversity in many workplaces, diversity intelligence (DQ) needs to be integrated alongside intellectual, emotional, and cultural intelligences to be effective. DQ requires le...
SR’s Elimination of Metaphysical Time

In light of what we have seen in our previous chapter, what can be said of SR’s putative elimination of metaphysical time and space?
MgtA and MgtB: prokaryotic P-type ATPases that mediate Mg2+ influx.

The gram-negative bacteriumSalmonella typhimurium possesses three distinct Mg2+ transport systems, encoded by thecorA, mgtA, andmgtB loci. The CorA transport system is the constitutive Mg2+ influx system. It can also mediate Mg2+ efflux at very high extracellular Mg2+ concentrations. In contrast, the MgtA and MgtB Mg2+ transport systems are normally expressed only at low extracellular Mg2+ concentrations. A strain ofS. typhimurium was constructed by mutagenesis which lacks Mg2+ transport and requires 100mM Mg2+ for growth. Using this strain, both the MgtA and MgtB transport systems were cloned by complementation of the strains inability to grow without Mg2+ supplementation. After sequencing and further genetic analysis, the MgtB system appears to be an operon composed of themgtC andmgtB genes (5′ to 3′). The downstreammgtB gene encodes the 102 kDa MgtB protein which by sequence analysis is clearly a P-type ATPase. Interestingly, while MgtB has relatively poor homology to other known prokaryotic P-type ATPases, it is highly homologous to mammalian reticular Ca2+-ATPases. MgtC is a 22.5 kDa hydrophobic membrane protein that lacks homology to any known protein. Transposon insertions in this gene abolish uptake by the MgtB transport system. We hypothesize that MgtC is a subunit of the MgtB ATPase involved either in proper insertion of MgtB into the membrane or possibly in binding of extracellular Mg2+ for delivery to the ATPase subunit. The sequence of the MgtA gene has recently been completed, and it too is a P-type ATPase more similar to eukaryotic than prokaryotic P-type ATPases. Expression of both MgtA and MgtB are highly regulated by the concentration of extracellular Mg2+. Transcription ofmgtB can be increased about 1000 fold by lowering Mg2+ from 1 mM to 1 µM. Likewise, whenmgtB is expressed from a multicopy plasmid, a similar decrease in extracellular Mg2+ greatly increases transport. Under growth conditions of limiting Mg2+, MgtB becomes the dominant Mg2+ influx system inS. typhimurium. Even so, since MgtB (and MgtA) mediate only influx of Mg2+, it is unclear why the cell requires energy from ATP to mediate Mg2+ entry into the cell down a large electrochemical gradient. Further studies of the structure-function and energetics of these novel Mg2+ influx P-type ATPases should yield insights into the function of P-type ATPases in general as well as information about the regulation of cellular Mg2+ fluxes.
Analysis of Parameters Associated with Prevention of Cellular Apoptosis by Pathogenic Neisseriae and Purified Porins

The process of cellular apoptosis is mediated by a number of microbial pathogens to modulate host defense mechanisms. Inhibition of apoptosis is thought to favor microbial survival, replication or immune evasion, while induction of apoptosis is likely to promote escape of the organisms from host cells. Several studies have reported that infection with Neisseria spp. can inhibit or reduce apoptotic cell death, thus allowing adaptation, intracellular replication, and immune evasion, events that are likely to spread infection. In this chapter, various techniques are described for direct measurement of host cell responses to infection with Neisseria meningitidis and to treatment with pure Neisseria porins, the major proteins found in the outer membrane of the pathogen.
Adolescent Brain Response to Reward Is Associated with a Bias toward Immediate Reward.

The current study examines associations between neural activation to the receipt of monetary reward in a rewarding game task and bias toward immediate reward measured in a behavioral delay discount...
A new spin on an old debate: Errors in farmer-reported production and their implications for inverse scale - productivity relationship in Uganda

Abstract Based on a two-round household panel survey conducted in Eastern Uganda, this study shows that the analysis of the inverse scale-productivity relationship (IR) is highly sensitive to how plot-level maize production is measured. While farmer-reported production-based plot-level maize yield regressions consistently lend support to the IR, the comparable regressions estimated with maize yields based on sub-plot crop cutting, full-plot crop cutting, and remote sensing point towards constant returns to scale, at the mean as well as throughout the distributions. In deriving the much-debated coefficient for GPS-based plot area, the maize yield regressions control for objective measures of soil fertility and edge effects at the plot-level, as well as time-invariant household- and parcel-level unobserved heterogeneity in select specifications. The core finding appears to be driven by over-estimation of farmer-reported maize production vis-a-vis their crop cutting-based counterparts, particularly in the lower half of the plot area distribution.
Assessment of MRI-detected lesions on screening tomosynthesis in patients with newly diagnosed breast cancer

Abstract Objectives The purpose of this study is to retrospectively evaluate the presence of screening digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) correlates for suspicious lesions detected on pre-operative staging magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in patients with newly diagnosed breast cancer. Methods After approval from the institutional review board (IRB), screening DBTs on breast cancer patients with BI-RADS 4 or 5 staging MRI exams between 8/1/17 and 8/1/18 were assessed for presence of DBT correlates for suspicious MRI findings. The pathology of the index lesion, type of additional MRI finding (mass, non-mass enhancement, or focus), correlative finding on tomosynthesis (mass, asymmetry/focal asymmetry, distortion, or calcifications), size on MRI and tomosynthesis, breast density, and pathology of the additional lesion were recorded. The chi-square test of association was used unless otherwise specified. Confidence intervals for proportions were estimated using the Wilson's score method. Results 17/70 (24%) of additional lesions seen on pre-operative MRI exams in patients with newly diagnosed cancer had a mammographic correlate on corresponding screening DBT. There was no significant relationship between the presence of a mammographic correlate and the type of MRI finding (mass, NME, or focus), breast density, size of lesion, pathology of index cancer, or pathology of the additional lesion (p≥ 0.05). Conclusions 76% of additional lesions seen on pre-operative staging MRI in patients with newly diagnosed breast cancer are not seen retrospectively on screening DBT. Since about 24% of MRI-detected additional lesions may have a DBT correlate, DBT exams should be reviewed in patients recalled for further workup of findings seen on pre-operative MRI since this may facilitate DBT-guided biopsy of suspicious lesions, which is preferable to MRI-guided biopsy for cost and patient comfort reasons.
Antibodies to rat Sertoli cell secretory proteins recognize antigenic sites in acrosome and tail of developing spermatids and sperm

Polyclonal antisera raised against polypeptide components of antigenically related rat Sertoli cell secretory protein S70 and S45-S35 heterodimeric protein were used to identify antigenic sites in rat testis during spermatogenesis. Immunofluorescence, immunoperoxidase and immunogold electron-microscopic methods have shown that all antisera recognize immunoreactive sites in the acrosome of developing spermatids. Apical cytoplasmic regions of Sertoli cells in close association with bundles of developing spermatids displayed an immunoreactive product. The principal piece of the developing tail of maturing spermatids immunostained with antisera to Sertoli cell secretory S45-S35 heterodimeric protein, displayed characteristic apical-to-distal immunoreactive gradient patterns before acquiring uniform immunoreactivity at completion of maturation. Immunogold electron microscopy demonstrated that outer dense fibres were the predominant immunoreactive site. Results of this work, together with previous immunoblotting and immunofluorescent data, demonstrate that both Sertoli cell secretory proteins and components of the acrosome and tail of developing spermatids and epididymal sperm share antigenic homology.
Alcohol Use Disorder Interventions Targeting Brain Sites for Both Conditioned Reward and Delayed Gratification

Alcohol use disorder is a destructive compulsion characterized by chronic relapse and poor recovery outcomes. Heightened reactivity to alcohol-associated stimuli and compromised executive function are hallmarks of alcohol use disorder. Interventions targeting these two interacting domains are thought to ameliorate these altered states, but the mutual brain sites of action are yet unknown. Although interventions on alcohol cue reactivity affect reward area responses, how treatments alter brain responses when subjects exert executive effort to delay gratification is not as well-characterized. Focusing on interventions that could be developed into effective clinical treatments, we review and identify brain sites of action for these two categories of potential therapies. Using activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis, we find that interventions on alcohol cue reactivity localize to ventral prefrontal cortex, dorsal anterior cingulate, and temporal, striatal, and thalamic regions. Interventions for increasing delayed reward preference elicit changes mostly in midline default mode network regions, including posterior cingulate, precuneus, and ventromedial prefrontal cortex-in addition to temporal and parietal regions. Anatomical co-localization of effects appears in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, whereas effects specific to delay-of-gratification appear in the posterior cingulate and precuneus. Thus, the current available literature suggests that interventions in the domains of cue reactivity and delay discounting alter brain activity along midline default mode regions, specifically in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex for both domains, and the posterior cingulate/precuneus for delay-of-gratification. We believe that these findings could facilitate targeting and development of new interventions, and ultimately treatments of this challenging disorder.
"The results are encouragements to make positive changes to be healthier:" qualitative evaluation of Marshallese participants' perceptions when receiving study results in a randomized control trial.

Abstract Background Study participants express a desire to receive the results of studies in which they have participated even when the results are not what researchers expected. Sharing results with participants is a core principle of community-based participatory research (CBPR), however, many researchers using a community-based participatory approach report that they encounter barriers to sharing results with study participants. Researchers at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences established a CBPR partnership with Marshallese community stakeholders in an effort to reduce the health disparities of this vulnerable population. Marshallese are a Pacific Islander population that faces significant health disparities and have a high prevalence of diabetes, obesity, obesity-related cancers, and other chronic diseases compared to the general US population. Methods A qualitative descriptive design was used to evaluate Marshallese participants’ perceptions related to receiving results of a culturally adapted Diabetes Self-Management Education randomized control trial in which they participated. Participants were provided with a summary of their individual results as well as preliminary, overall aggregate study results. Interviews were conducted with half of (N = 111) of the 221 enrolled participants that provided them with the opportunity to share in-depth responses related to their perceptions of the study results they received. Results There was no statistically significant differences between study arms in participant desire to receive overall study results, desire to receive personal study results, or willingness to participate in future research. Participants described their desire for results and the effect of these results on their future behavior. Within the a priori theme of participants’ desire for results, three subthemes emerged: 1) results showed current health status, 2) results showed improvement, and 3) demonstrated the overall results of the study. Within the a priori theme of effects of results on future behavior, two sub-themes emerged: 1) encourage future healthy behavior, and 2) encourage future research participation. Conclusions Participants overwhelmingly stated they wanted to receive personal and aggregate study results. This finding is consistent with previous qualitative studies that documented that participants want results. Marshallese participants also reported that receiving study results would affect their future health behavior. This study documents specifically how participants anticipate using the results of studies in which they participated. Clinical trials registration information The study is registered in clinicaltrials.gov (#NCT02407132).
Mentoring in Academic Libraries

The authors, who have each engaged in mentoring in higher education, surveyed academic librarians in 2017 on their mentoring experiences. Those findings are placed alongside best practices drawn from the literature to discover what motivates academic librarians to participate in mentoring and how it impacts them professionally and personally. Based on this evidence, the authors encourage colleagues to seek professional development through mentoring opportunities. “Sometimes our light goes out, but is blown again into instant flame by an encounter with another human being. Each of us owes the deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this inner light.” Dr. Albert Schweitzer
Medical and Invasive Management of Congenital and Acquired Pulmonary Vein Stenosis

Pulmonary vein stenosis (PVS) is an increasingly recognized disease in infants and young children. Controversy exists regarding the best management of this disease. The hallmarks of PVS include recurrence, upstream progression, and spread to previously unaffected pulmonary veins. This review highlights invasive and medical therapies for pediatric patients with primary and secondary PVS. Catheter-based therapies for PVS are the mainstay of anatomic, large-vessel therapy. Angioplasty and stenting both have a role in the anatomic management of PVS. Repeated transcatheter interventions have been shown to improve survival. Surgical PVS intervention is an important element to PVS therapy. Primary (medical) therapy is increasingly recognized as an important element to PVS treatment. New anti-proliferative therapies have proven to be a useful adjunct to invasive therapies. Congenital and acquired PVS are progressive diseases that pose a growing challenge for cardiologists. Surgical and transcatheter interventions in most cases have early success but are only temporizing solutions in the face of myofibroblastic proliferation. More recent studies focusing on benefits of immunomodulatory therapy have paved the way for the use of primary treatment alongside the anatomic therapy.