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null | Whereas a number of studies have examined relationships among brain activity, social cognitive skills, and autistic traits, fewer studies have evaluated whether structural connections among brain regions relate to these traits and skills. Uncinate fasciculus (UF) and inferior longitudinal fasciculus (ILF) are white matter tracts that may underpin the behavioral expression of these skills because they connect regions within or provide sensory information to brain areas implicated in social cognition, and structural differences in these tracts have been associated with autistic traits. We examined relationships among self-reported autistic traits, mentalizing, and water diffusivity in UF and ILF in a nonclinical sample of 24 young adults (mean age = 21.92 years, SD = 4.72 years; 15 women). We measured autistic traits using the Autism-Spectrum Quotient, and we measured mentalizing using the Dynamic Interactive Shapes Clips task. We used Tract-Based Spatial Statistics and randomize to examine relationships among fractional anisotropy (FA) values in bilateral ILF and UF, age, cognitive abilities, autistic traits, and mentalizing. Autistic traits were positively related to FA values in left ILF. No other relationships between FA values and other variables were significant. Results suggest that left ILF may be involved in the expression of autistic traits in individuals without clinical diagnoses. | Diffusion tensor imaging;Mentalizing;Theory of mind;Animacy;Uncinate fasciculus;Inferior longitudinal fasciculus | WoS |
null | Whereas autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exhibits striking heterogeneity in genetics and clinical presentation, dysfunction of mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) signaling pathway has been identified as a molecular feature common to several well-characterized syndromes with high prevalence of ASD. Additionally, recent findings have also implicated mTORC1 signaling abnormalities in a subset of nonsyndromic ASD, suggesting that defective mTORC1 pathway may be a potential converging mechanism in ASD pathology across different etiologies. However, the mechanistic evidence for a causal link between aberrant mTORC1 pathway activity and ASD neurobehavioral features varies depending on the ASD form involved. In this review, we first discuss six monogenic ASD-related syndromes, including both classical and potentially novel mTORopathies, highlighting their contribution to our understanding of the neurobiological mechanisms underlying ASD, and then we discuss existing evidence suggesting that aberrant mTORC1 signaling may also play a role in nonsyndromic ASD. | mTORC1 signaling pathway;ASD-related syndromes and nonsyndromic/idiopathic ASD;neuronal cell growth;axonal and dendritic morphogenesis;dendritic spine density and maturation;synaptic plasticity;mTORC1-targeted therapies | WoS |
null | Whereas parental involvement is consistently linked with positive child outcomes throughout development, parental involvement that is not developmentally appropriate and intrusive-a style of parenting called helicopter parenting-can be problematic for their child's adjustment and well-being. Helicopter parenting can be particularly harmful during emerging adulthood when young adults are working toward developmental goals of self-reliance and autonomy. The purpose of this study was to examine sex differences in the relation between helicopter parenting and autonomy support on college students' mental health and well-being. A secondary aim was to explore the extent to which there were ethnic differences (non-Hispanic White vs. Hispanic) in associations between parenting and college students' outcomes. We examined several domains of mental health, including dysphoria symptoms, social anxiety, and general well-being. A sample of 118 undergraduate students (Mage = 19.82 years, SD = 1.38; 83.1 % female; 57 % European American) completed measures of parenting and mental health and well-being. The results showed that higher levels of helicopter parenting predicted lower levels of well-being for females, whereas higher levels of autonomy support predicted lower levels of dysphoria symptoms and social anxiety among males. No ethnic differences were found. The findings highlight that parents' behavior continues to predict their child's well-being even in emerging adulthood, and that parenting may differentially predict male and female college students' mental health outcomes. | Helicopter parenting;Autonomy support;Mental health;Well-being;College students | WoS |
null | Whereas past research has focused on the downsides of task switching, the present research uncovers a potential upside: increased creativity. In two experiments, we show that task switching can enhance two principal forms of creativity divergent thinking (Study 1) and convergent thinking (Study 2) in part because temporarily setting a task aside reduces cognitive fixation. Participants who continually alternated back and forth between two creativity tasks outperformed both participants who switched between the tasks at their discretion and participants who attempted one task for the first half of the allotted time before switching to the other task for the second half. Importantly, Studies 3a-3d reveal that people overwhelmingly fail to adopt a continual-Switch approach when incentivized to choose a task switching strategy that would maximize their creative performance. These findings provide insights into how individuals can "switch on" creativity when navigating multiple creative tasks. (C) 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. | Task switching;Creativity;Fixation;Divergent thinking;Convergent thinking;Problem solving | WoS |
null | Whereas previous research on environmental factors implicated in the intergenerational transmission of depression has tended to focus on the role of parenting quality (e.g., harshness), the current study sought to assess whether structural aspects of families may contribute to depression-relevant affective and immune processes in youths. Specifically, the present study examined the role of family routines in linking parental depressive symptoms to youth emotion regulation, a depression-relevant marker of low-grade inflammation, and depressive symptoms in youths. 261 parent-adolescent dyads reported on their own depressive symptoms, family routines, and youths' emotion regulation abilities. In addition, peripheral blood was drawn from youths to assess levels of the proinflammatory cytokine interleukin 6 (IL-6). Path analyses provided support for a model in which parental depressive symptoms related to fewer family routines, which in turn were associated with higher IL-6 and depressive symptoms in youths as well as marginally associated with worse youth emotion regulation. Moreover, family routines were found to statistically account for part of the association between parent- and youth- depressive symptoms. Together, these results suggest that family routines may represent an additional facet of the family environment that can potentially contribute to the intergenerational transmission of depressive symptoms. | Depressive symptoms;Intergenerational transmission;Family routines;Inflammation;Emotion regulation | WoS |
null | Whereas primary prevention seeks to forestall development of disease in individuals with elevated risk, primordial prevention seeks to preempt the development of risk factors. Health behaviors-characterized as "lifestyle" factors-are key interventional targets in primordial prevention of cardiovascular disease. Appropriate dietary intake, including limiting salt and saturated fat consumption, can reduce the risk of developing hypertension and dyslipidemias. Regular physical activity is associated with lower blood pressure and healthier lipid profiles. Diet and exercise are critical to maintaining weight conducive to cardiovascular health. Behavioral factors such as stress management, sleep duration, portion control, and meal timing may play a role in weight management and offer additional routes of intervention. Any smoking elevates cardiovascular risk. Although lifestyle modification programs can be instrumental in reaching public health goals, maintaining cardiovascular health should not be a matter solely of willpower. Ideally, structural and social forces should make healthy lifestyles the default option. | Primordial prevention;Lifestyle;Behavioral intervention;Cardiovascular health | WoS |
null | Whereas recent reports from national studies have presented extremely high rates for many personality disorders in American Indian communities, persistent concerns about the meaning of these symptoms have left many troubled by these reports. American Indians as a group are known to suffer disproportionately from a number of violent experiences, but the dynamics of this violence have received little attention. This paper examines perspectives on violence in the lives of 15 northern plains tribal members who met criteria for antisocial personality disorder and comorbid alcohol use disorder. It explores how study participants constructed and understood their own violent encounters, as well as the motivations they described (characterized here as reputation, leveling, retaliation, catharsis, and self-defense). Violence was gendered in this study, with men generally presenting as perpetrators and women as victims. Men often described themselves as ready participants in a violent world, while women were quite clear that aggression for them was often simply required as they tried to defend themselves from male violence. While this analysis does not replace clinical analyses of violence in antisocial personality disorder, it does reveal an underlying cultural logic that may play a role in shaping the recourse to violence for that minority of individuals for whom it appears to be the obvious choice. | alcohol use disorder;American Indians;antisocial personality disorder;gender;violence | WoS |
null | Whereas selenium (Se) is an important antioxidant in human metabolism to prevent cancer, aflatoxins are highly carcinogenic. Brazil nuts from Eastern and Western Amazon regions were evaluated to find any relationship between Se and aflatoxins levels. A total of 80 (in-shell and shelled) nuts samples were collected directly from different forest sites and analyzed for Se by atomic emission spectrometry and aflatoxins by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. The limit of quantitation (LOQ) for Se was 2.0 mg/kg, and LOQ for total aflatoxins was 0.390 mu g/kg. Nut Se levels from the Eastern region were higher than the Western, in addition to the aflatoxins. The moisture content (mc) and water activity (a(w)) of the raw nuts from the two regions did not present a significant difference, for either in-shell or shelled. The mc was 24.5% (minimum of 20.1% and maximum of 30.4%) and 22.1% (minimum of 14.6% and maximum of 28.9%) and a(w) of 0.85 for both regions. Further studies need to be carried out to discover the role of Se on fungi growth stress and aflatoxin production mechanisms. | aflatoxins;selenium;LC-MS/MS;Brazil nuts;Amazon basin;moisture content;tandem liquid chromatography | WoS |
null | Whereas significant advances have been made in understanding how exposure to early adversity gets under the skin of children to result in long term changes in developmental outcomes, the processes by which positive social relationships become biologically embedded remain poorly understood. The aim of this study was to understand the pathways by which maternal and infant social environments become biologically embedded in infant cortisol reactivity. Two hundred seventy-two pregnant women and their infants were prospectively assessed during pregnancy and at 6 months postpartum. In serial mediation analyses, higher perceived social support from partners during pregnancy was associated with lower infant cortisol reactivity or larger decreases in cortisol in response to a stressor at 6 months of age via lower self-reported prenatal maternal depression and higher mother-infant interaction quality. The findings add to our understanding of how perinatal social relationships become biologically embedded in child development. | biological embedding;cortisol reactivity;mother-infant interaction quality;social support | WoS |
null | Whereas some data are available about late smoking relapse among adult quitters, there are none for teen quitters. This study is a 6-year follow-up of teen quitters (n = 253) for whom we collected (retrospectively) data on the extent and timing of relapse. We found that even after a strictly defined quit (six-months prolonged abstinence) at one year, substantial relapse occurred both early and late: the majority (55%) of relapses occurred after the 0-1 year interval after having quit. These findings have implication for the need for research into the relapse process for teen quitters, and for the need to develop interventions for teens (as for adults) to prevent (early and) late relapse. (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier Ltd. | Smoking relapse;Late relapse;Teen smoking cessation;Teen quitters;Duration of quit;Long-term follow-up | WoS |
null | Whereas some studies have demonstrated impaired working memory (WM) among patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD), these findings have not been consistent. Furthermore, there is a lack of neurophysiological evidence about WM function in patients with BPD. The goal of this study was to examine WM function in patients with BPD by using event-related potentials (ERPs). An additional goal was to explore whether characteristics of BPD (i.e., impulsiveness and emotional instability) are associated with WM impairment. A modified version of the N-back task (0- and 2-back) was used to measure WM. ERPs were recorded in 22 BPD patients and 21 age-, handedness-, and sex-matched healthy controls (HCs) while they performed the WM task. The results revealed that there were no significant group differences for behavioral variables (reaction time and accuracy rate) or for latencies and amplitudes of P1 and N1 (all p >0.05). BPD patients had lower P3 amplitudes and longer N2 latencies than HC, independent of WM load (low load: 0-back; high load: 2-back). Impulsiveness was not correlated with N2 latency or P3 amplitude, and no correlations were found between N2 latency or P3 amplitude and affect intensity scores in any WM load (all p >0.05). In conclusion, the lower P3 amplitudes and longer N2 latencies in BPD patients suggested that they might have some dysfunction of neural activities in sub-processing in WM, while impulsiveness and negative affect might not have a close relationship with these deficits. | borderline personality disorder;working memory;event-related potential;N-back task;workload | WoS |
null | Whereas the question of verbal versus nonverbal primacy has gained intensive interest, considerably less attention has been devoted to parental response to children's verbal/nonverbal incongruence. This study comprehensively analyzed parental responses to children's incongruence during mutual interactions. Parent-child interactions (n = 160) in structured joint game sequences were filmed in their homes and analyzed using a mixed multivariate design. Unexpectedly, parents related almost equally to verbal and nonverbal channels. The analysis of a wide range of social and situational contexts, including child's sex, parent's sex, SES, and task difficulty, highlighted their significant effects and delineated the contexts that activated verbal primacy, nonverbal primacy, and incongruent responses. This study provides a composite theoretical framework for the relative dominance of verbal versus nonverbal communication. | Incongruent Communication;Verbal Communication;Nonverbal Communication;Discrepancy;Parent-child Interaction | WoS |
null | Whereas traumatic brain injury (TBI) results in widespread disruption of neural networks, changes in regional resting-state functional connectivity patterns after insult remain unclear. Specifically, little is known about the chronology of emergent connectivity alterations and whether they persist after a critical recovery window. We used resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging and seed-voxel correlational analyses in both cross-sectional and longitudinal designs to probe intrinsic connectivity patterns involving the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and hippocampi, regions shown to be important in the default mode network (DMN) and vulnerable to neuropathology. A total of 22 participants in the chronic stage of moderate-to-severe TBI and 18 healthy controls were included for cross-sectional study. Longitudinal analyses included 13 individuals in the TBI group for whom data approximately 3 months after injury (subacute) were available. Overall, results indicated dissociable connectivity trajectories of the PCC and hippocampi during recovery from TBI, with PCC alterations characterized by early hypersynchrony with the anterior DMN that is gradually reduced, and hippocampal changes marked by increasing synchrony with proximal cortex and subcortex. The PCC also showed increasing antiphase synchrony with posterior attentional regions, and the hippocampi showed decreasing antiphase synchrony with frontal attentional regions. Antiphase synchrony of the hippocampus and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex at the subacute stage of TBI was positively associated with attentional performance on neuropsychological tests at both the subacute and chronic stages. Our findings highlight the heterogeneity of regional whole-brain connectivity changes after TBI, and suggest that residual connectivity alterations exist in the clinically stable phase of TBI. Parallels between the chronicity of the observed effects and findings in neurodegenerative disease are discussed in the context of potential long-term outcomes of TBI. | traumatic brain injury;resting state;default mode;dementia;functional connectivity | WoS |
null | Whether children share in anticipation of future benefits returned by a partner is an interesting question. In this study, 5-year-old children and an adult partner played a sharing game, in which children donated first and the partner donated afterward. In Experiment 1, the partner's resources were more attractive than the child's. In the reciprocal condition, the child was told that s/he would be a recipient when the partner played as a donor. In the non-reciprocal condition, however, the child was told that an anonymous child would be the recipient when the partner donated. Results showed that children shared more with the partner when they knew that they would be a recipient later. In Experiment 2, the child was always the recipient when the partner donated, but the partner's resources were more desirable than the child's in the high-value condition, and less desirable in the low-value condition. We found that children were more generous when the partner's resources were valued higher. These findings demonstrate that 5-year-old preschoolers' sharing choices take into account the anticipated reciprocity of the recipient, suggesting either self-interested tactical sharing or direct reciprocity in advance of receiving. Specifically, they adjust their sharing behavior depending on whether a partner has the potential to reciprocate, and whether it is worth sharing relative to the value of the payback. | prosociality;strategic behavior;preschooler;direct reciprocity;self-interest | WoS |
null | Whether cumulative stress, including both chronic stress and adverse life events, is associated with decreased heart rate variability (HRV), a non-invasive measure of autonomic status which predicts poor cardiovascular outcomes, is unknown. Healthy community dwelling volunteers (N =157, mean age 29 years) participated in the Cumulative Stress/Adversity Interview (CAI), a 140-item event interview measuring cumulative adversity including major life events, life trauma, recent life events and chronic stressors, and underwent 24-h ambulatory ECG monitoring. HRV was analyzed in the frequency domain and standard deviation of NN intervals (SDNN) calculated. Initial simple regression analyses revealed that total cumulative stress score, chronic stressors and cumulative adverse life events (CALE) were all inversely associated with ultra low-frequency (ULF), very low-frequency (VLF) and low-frequency (LF) power and SDNN (all p<0.05). In hierarchical regression analyses, total cumulative stress and chronic stress each was significantly associated with SDNN and ULF even after the highly significant contributions of age and sex, with no other covariates accounting for additional appreciable variance. For VLF and LF, both total cumulative stress and chronic stress significantly contributed to the variance alone but were not longer significant after adjusting for race and health behaviors. In summary, total cumulative stress, and its components of adverse life events and chronic stress were associated with decreased cardiac autonomic function as measured by HRV. Findings suggest one potential mechanism by which stress may exert adverse effects on mortality in healthy individuals. Primary preventive strategies including stress management may prove beneficial. | Adversity;autonomic nervous system;heart rate variability;stress | WoS |
null | Whether encoding variability facilitates memory is shown to depend on whether item-specific and relational processing are both performed across study blocks, and whether study items are weakly vs. strongly related. Variable-processing groups studied a word list once using an item-specific task and once using a relational task. Variable-task groups' two different study tasks recruited the same type of processing each block. Repeated-task groups performed the same study task each block. Recall and recognition were greatest in the variable-processing group, but only with weakly related lists. A variable-processing benefit was also found when task-based processing and list-type processing were complementary (e.g., item-specific processing of a related list) rather than redundant (e.g., relational processing of a related list). That performing both item-specific and relational processing across trials, or within a trial, yields encoding-variability benefits may help reconcile decades of contradictory findings in this area. (C) 2014 Published by Elsevier Inc. | Encoding variability;Item-specific and relational processing;Free recall;Recognition;False recognition | WoS |
null | Whether exposure to violence in the virtual reality of the media has an impact on users' aggressive behaviour has been a controversial issue in academic as well as public debate. This article summarises a programme of research conducted with adolescents in Germany that presents cross-sectional and longitudinal evidence for the association between violent media use and aggression. It provides experimental evidence in support of mediating variables, such as hostile attributional style, increased normative acceptance of aggression, and emotional desensitisation, which might explain the pathways from media violence use to aggression. In addition it presents the development and experimental evaluation of a theory-based intervention designed to reduce media violence use and decrease its link with aggressive behaviour. The findings are discussed in the context of a large international body of research that points to the causal role of violent media use as a risk factor for aggressive behaviour. | Media violence;Aggression;Adolescence;Intervention;Prosocial behaviour | WoS |
null | Whether indoor painting aggravates preexisting allergic diseases remains unclear. We aimed to evaluate the impact of new classroom painting on aggravation of asthma, allergic rhinitis (AR), and atopic dermatitis (AD) in children. Studied school was previously painted with conventional water-based paint 20 years ago and had natural ventilation system. We identified a total of 172 children aged 10-12 years with allergic diseases in 17 classrooms, which were allocated to newly painted rooms with low-volatile organic compounds (VOC), water-based paint, or existing rooms. After painting, there was no intervention or internal airflow to influence indoor air environment in both classrooms. We prospectively assessed the symptom severity and serious events of allergic diseases between both classrooms at baseline and after one and eight weeks after painting. At one and eight weeks, there were no significant changes in the Childhood Asthma Control Test scores, the fractional nitric oxide levels, lung function in asthmatic children in either classroom. There were also no significant changes in the severity score of AR or AD, or serious events in all allergic diseases. These findings suggest classroom painting with this new paint at the levels encountered in this study might not be a major aggravating factor for school-aged children with allergic diseases. | Paint;Asthma;Allergic rhinitis;Atopic dermatitis;Indoor air | WoS |
null | Whether it be Smart Cities, Ambient Intelligence, or the Internet of Things, current visions for future urban spaces share a common core, namely the increasing role of distributed sensor networks and the on-demand integration of their data to power real-time services and analytics. Some of the greatest hurdles to implementing these visions include security risks, user privacy, scalability, the integration of heterogeneous data, and financial cost. In this work, we propose a crowdsensing mobile-device platform that empowers citizens to collect and share information about their surrounding environment via embedded sensor technologies. This approach allows a variety of urban areas (e.g., university campuses, shopping malls, city centers, suburbs) to become equipped with a free ad-hoc sensor network without depending on proprietary instrumentation. We present a framework, namely the GeoTracer application, as a proof-of-concept to conduct multiple experiments simulating use-case scenarios on a university campus. First, we demonstrate that ambient sensors (e.g. temperature, pressure, humidity, magnetism, illuminance, and audio) can help determine a change in environment (e.g. moving from indoors to outdoors, or floor changes inside buildings) more accurately than typical positioning technologies (e.g. global navigation satellite system, Wi-Fi, etc.). Furthermore, each of these sensors contributes a different amount of data to detecting events. for example, illuminance has the highest information gain when trying to detect changes between indoors and outdoors. Second, we show that through this platform it is possible to detect and differentiate place types on a university campus based on inferences made through ambient sensors. Lastly, we train classifiers to determine the activities that a place can afford at different times (e.g. good for studying or not, basketball courts in use or empty) based on sensor-driven semantic signatures. | crowdsensing;smart city;semantics;volunteered geographic services | WoS |
null | Whether long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) affect prognosis of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) remains unknown. To search the association between lncRNA SNPs and AML outcomes, thirty tagSNPs in five lncRNAs were genotyped in 313 AML patients. Survival analysis indicated that GAS5 rs55829688 (T>C) was significantly associated with prognosis of AML (p=0.018). Patients with rs55829688CC genotype showed higher GAS5 expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) (p=0.025) and harbored a longer platelets recovery (p=0.040) than carriers of rs55829688T allele. In vitro study indicated that GAS5 promoter harboring the rs55829688C allele showed marginally increased reporter gene activity (p=0.019), and the promoter activity was increased by TP63 in a dose-dependent manner (P=0.001). Moreover, GAS5 higher expression predict shorter AML overall survival (OS), which validated in GEO GSE12417 dataset (p=0.011). In conclusion, rs55829688 polymorphism could increase GAS5 expression by interacting with TP63, which might aggravate the myelosuppression and in turn lead to poor prognosis in AML. Trail registration number: ChiCTR-PPC-14005297. | Growth arrest specific 5;single nucleotide polymorphism;acute myeloid leukemia;long non-coding RNA;promoter | WoS |
null | Whether metabolic syndrome (MetS) and its components are risk factors for atopic dermatitis (AD) remains unclear. This study investigated the association between MetS and AD in Korean adults. Nationally representative data for 5,007 Korean adults, aged 19-40 years, from the cross-sectional Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2010-2011 were analysed. AD in female patients was associated with MetS (p = 0.02) and increased triglyceride level (p = 0.05). After adjusting for confounding factors, the odds ratio for female participants with MetS was 2.92; for central obesity (waist circumference = 85 cm), 1.73; and for hypertriglyceridaemia, 2.20. In this large-scale nationwide study in Korean adults, MetS and its components (central obesity and hypertriglyceridaemia) correlated positively with the presence of AD in women. | atopic dermatitis;metabolic syndrome;obesity;lipid;association;prevalence | WoS |
null | Whether people seek help depends on their estimations of both the likelihood and the value of getting it. Although past research has carefully examined how accurately help-seekers predict whether their help requests will be granted, it has failed to examine how accurately help-seekers predict the value of that help, should they receive it. In this paper, we focus on how accurately help-seekers predict a key determinant of help value, namely, helper effort. In four studies, we find that (a) helpers put more effort into helping than help-seekers expect (Studies 1-4); (b) people do not underestimate the effort others will expend in general, but rather only the effort others will expend helping them (Study 2); and (c) this underestimation of help effort stems from help-seekers' failure to appreciate the discomfort in particular, the guilt that helpers would experience if they did not do enough to help (Studies 3 & 4). (C) 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. | Help effort;Help-seeking;Social judgment;Prosocial behavior;Decision-making | WoS |
null | Whether specific T-cell clones are present in tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in BCC is unknown. We employed deep sequencing of mRNA coding for the T-cell receptor (TCR) chains - and to characterize the repertoire of TILs in BCC. V and J gene-usage and CDR3 length were computed to determine the clonality of TCR and degree of overlap in TCR repertoires between skin resident T-cells and TILs. We found high diversity of the TCR repertoire in BCC and control skin with random V-J gene usage and similar CDR3-length distribution. Lack of TCR repertoire restriction indicates absence of tumor-specific TIL clones in BCC. | next-generation sequencing (NGS);skin cancer;T-cell receptor -chain;T-cell receptor -chain;tumor immunology | WoS |
null | Whether superiors or subordinates are more accurate in assessing the emotions of others (aka emotion recognition accuracy, ERA) is a question that has gained much interest but yielded decidedly mixed empirical results. The present study investigates whether superiors and subordinates who are in an actual hierarchical relationship differ in their ERA. We investigated 142 superiors who each had recruited one of his or her direct subordinates (total N = 284). Superiors and subordinates each took a paper-pencil version of a standardized ERA test. Results showed that superiors were more accurate in assessing the emotions of other persons than subordinates were. | power;emotion recognition accuracy;interpersonal sensitivity;leadership | WoS |
null | Whether the use of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) protects patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) from lung cancer remains undetermined. In this retrospective nationwide population-based cohort study, we extracted data of 13,686 female COPD patients (ICS users, n = 1,290, ICS non-users, n = 12,396) diagnosed between 1997 and 2009 from the Taiwan's National Health Insurance database. These patients were followed-up until 2011, and lung cancer incidence was determined. Cox regression analysis was used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) for lung cancer incidence. The time to lung cancer diagnosis was significantly different between ICS users and non-users (10.75 vs. 9.68 years, P39.48 mg was significantly associated with a lower risk of lung cancer [ICS users >39.48 mg, HR = 0.45 (95% CI: 0.21-0.96)]. Age = 60 years, pneumonia, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension decreased lung cancer risk, whereas pulmonary tuberculosis increased the risk. Our results suggest that ICS have a potential role in lung cancer prevention among female COPD patients. | inhaled corticosteroids;chronic obstructive pulmonary disease;lung cancer;incidence;hazard ratio | WoS |
null | Whether theory of mind (ToM) is preserved in Alzheimer's disease (AD) remains a controversial subject. Recent studies have showed that performance on some ToM tests might be altered in AD, though to a lesser extent than in behavioural-variant Frontotemporal Dementia (bvFTD). It is however, unclear if this reflects a genuine impairment of ToM or a deficit secondary to the general cognitive decline observed in AD. Aiming to investigate the cognitive determinants of ToM performance in AD, a data-mining study was conducted in 29 AD patients then replicated in an independent age-matched group of 19 AD patients to perform an independent replication of the results. 44 bvFTD patients were included as a comparison group. All patients had an extensive neuropsychological examination. Hierarchical clustering analyses showed that ToM performance clustered with measures of executive functioning (EF) in AD. ToM performance was also specifically correlated with the executive component extracted from a principal component analysis. In a final step, automated linear modelling conducted to determine the predictors of ToM performance showed that 48.8% of ToM performance was significantly predicted by executive measures. Similar findings across analyses were observed in the independent group of AD patients, thereby replicating our results. Conversely, ToM impairments in bvFTD appeared independent of other cognitive impairments. These results suggest that difficulties of AD patients on ToM tests do not reflect a genuine ToM deficit, rather mediated by general (and particularly executive) cognitive decline. They also suggest that EF has a key role in mental state attribution, which support interacting models of ToM functioning. Finally, our study highlights the relevancy of data-mining statistical approaches in clinical and cognitive neurosciences. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. | Theory of mind;Alzheimer's disease;Behavioral variant frontotemporal;dementia;Data mining;Data driven | WoS |
null | Whether total joint replacement (TJR) patients are susceptible to postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) remains unclear due to inconsistencies in research methodologies. Moreover, cognitive reserve may moderate the development of POCD after TJR, but has not been investigated in this context. The current study investigated POCD after TJR, and its relationship with cognitive reserve, using a more rigorous methodology than has previously been utilized. Fifty-three older adults (aged 50+) scheduled for TJR were assessed pre and post surgery (6months). Forty-five healthy controls matched for age, gender, and premorbid IQ were re-assessed after an equivalent interval. Cognition, cognitive reserve, and physical and mental health were all measured. Standardized regression-based methods were used to assess cognitive changes, while controlling for the confounding effect of repeated cognitive testing. TJR patients only demonstrated a significant decline in Trail Making Test Part B (TMT B) performance, compared to controls. Cognitive reserve only predicted change in TMT B scores among a subset of TJR patients. Specifically, patients who showed the most improvement pre to post surgery had significantly higher reserve than those who showed the greatest decline. The current study provides limited evidence of POCD after TJR when examined using a rigorous methodology, which controlled for practice effects. Cognitive reserve only predicted performance within a subset of the TJR sample. However, the role of reserve in more cognitively compromised patients remains to be determined. | Elderly;Postoperative cognitive dysfunction;Reserve;Total joint replacement | WoS |
null | Whether video game play affects social behavior is a topic of debate. Many argue that aggression and helping are affected by video game play, whereas this stance is disputed by others. The present research provides a meta-analytical test of the idea that depending on their content, video games do affect social outcomes. Data from 98 independent studies with 36,965 participants revealed that for both violent video games and prosocial video games, there was a significant association with social outcomes. Whereas violent video games increase aggression and aggression-related variables and decrease prosocial outcomes, prosocial video games have the opposite effects. These effects were reliable across experimental, correlational, and longitudinal studies, indicating that video game exposure causally affects social outcomes and that there are both short- and long-term effects. | helping;video games;aggression;meta-analysis | WoS |
null | Whether you like a person or not is often appraised in a glance. However, under such short presentation durations stimuli are harder to perceive and, according to hedonic fluency theory-which holds that higher fluency is linked to higher liking-thus, are liked less. Given that liking considerably influences person perception, we tested how shorter and longer presentation durations affect liking for faces and compared this with abstract patterns. To capture facets of fluency of processing we assessed felt fluency, liking, and certainty ratings. Following predictions of fluency theory, longer presentation durations led to higher felt fluency, certainty, and positively affected liking judgments in the abstract patterns. In faces, felt fluency and certainty also increased with longer durations. However, with longer durations, faces were liked less, and liking was not related to felt fluency. In other words, in contrast to hedonic fluency theory, faces are more attractive when only seen for a short amount of time. Thus, fluency does not inevitably lead to more positive evaluations -it rather depends on the stimulus category. We discuss these findings in terms of the special status that faces have with regard to human perception and evaluation. | Fluency;Faces;Abstract patterns;Presentation duration;Subjective fluency;Liking | WoS |
null | Whetherwell-documented patterns of mental health comorbidity with adolescent combustible cigarette use extend to e-cigarette use is unclear. Demonstrating associations between e-cigarette and combustible cigarette use with mental health symptomatology across adolescence may be important for promoting accurate perceptions of populations at risk for and potential consequences of tobacco product use. Adolescents (N = 2460; mean age at baseline = 14.1; 53.4% female; 44.1% Hispanic) who had never previously used combustible or e-cigarettes were assessed at baseline, and 6-and 12-month follow-ups in Los Angeles, CA (2013-2014). Logistic regression was used to examine associations between baseline depressive symptoms and onset of e-cigarette and cigarette single product and dual use at follow-ups. Latent growth modeling was used to examine associations between sustained use of either product (vs. non-use) and changes in depressive symptoms over 12-months. Higher baseline depressive symptoms predicted subsequent onset of cigarette (OR = 1.024, 95% C.I. = 1.009-1.055), e-cigarette (OR = 1.015, C.I. = 1.003-1.023), and dual use of both products (OR = 1.021, C.I. = 1.003-1.043). Sustained use of e-cigarettes over the 12-month observation (vs. non-use) was associated with a greater rate of increase in depressive symptoms over time (b = 1.272, SE = 0.513, p = 0.01). Among those who sustained use of e-cigarettes, higher frequency of use was associated with higher depressive symptoms at the final follow-up (B = 1.611, p = 0.04). A bi-directional association of depressive symptoms with e-cigarette use onset across mid adolescence was observed. Further research on the causal nature, etiological underpinnings, and intervention implications of mental health and tobacco product use comorbidity is warranted. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. | Electronic cigarettes;E-cigarettes;Depression;Depressive symptoms;Adolescents;Developmental;Structural equation modeling;Growth curve model | WoS |
null | Whey proteins, due to their high nutritional value, are generally hydrolyzed to reduce the allergenicity and used as ingredients in many special products, such as infant formulae, geriatric products, highly energetic supplements or dietetic foods or in foods produced to prevent nutrition related diseases, like food intolerances and allergies. The aim of this work was to assess the applicability of innovative technologies, such as high hydrostatic pressure (HHP) processes, to assist the enzymatic hydrolysis of target proteins, namely whey protein concentrate (WPC-80), in order to modify their antigenicity. Experiments were carried out to verify the effectiveness of HHP technology to accelerate whey protein hydrolysis reaction with selected enzymes (a-chymotrypsin, bromelain), and to affect the protein allergenic power. To this purpose, different HHP treatments were carried out at several pressure levels (100, 200, 300 and 400 MPa) and the untreated whey protein samples were used as control. A defined enzyme/substrate ratio of 1/10 w/w was used in the experiments, while the treatment time was changed from 0 to 30 min (0, 5, 15, or 30 min). The experimental data demonstrated that High Hydrostatic Pressure (HHP) induced WPC-80 unfolding at the highest value of the pressure applied (400 MPa) as indicated by the higher exposure of free sulfhydryl groups. When HHP was used in combination with enzymatic hydrolysis, the degree of hydrolysis increased not only with the pressure level applied but also with the processing time. These results suggested that, even if the exposure of hidden epitopes upon protein unfolding increased the antigenicity of whey proteins, further peptide bonds cleavage also took place after hydrolysis. This effect could modify whey proteins antigenic sequences, and thus their antigenic power. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. | High hydrostatic pressure;Enzymatic hydrolysis;Food allergens;Whey protein | WoS |
null | Which issues do political parties emphasize in campaigns? Selecting the issues to emphasize in campaigns is treated with the same importance as policy positioning. Nevertheless, little attention has been paid to understanding parties' strategies of issue competition in presidential elections under multiparty systems. By analyzing statements of presidential candidates in the 2002, 2007, and 2012 Korean presidential debates, we find that presidential candidates use their issue emphasis strategies differently in presidential elections according to party size and ideological relationships with other parties. Specifically, a small party's candidates have been more likely than mainstream parties' candidates to pursue their issue ownership advantage. In addition, a mainstream party's candidates have emphasized the issues of a small party more than those of his own party when the two parties have had a similar ideological foundation, whereas, when there were no such ideological similarities, a mainstream party's candidate has only focused on issues of the mainstream party. Our results imply that the political communication used by political parties and candidates is conditioned not only by political contexts such as electoral systems or party systems but also by the size and ideology of parties. | Issue ownership;issue competition;presidential debates;party competition | WoS |
null | While adenosine and dipyridamole as myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) stress agents have literature supporting their safety in the setting of myocardial infarction (MI), regadenoson does not. Studying a high risk cohort of patients with elevated cardiac biomarkers may shed light on potential safety issues of these agents which might also affect lower risk cohorts. All patients who had undergone a clinically indicated stress MPI study at two academic centers from 1/1/2010 through 12/31/2012 with elevated troponin a7 days prior to testing were included. The primary endpoint was a composite of death, non-fatal MI, congestive heart failure (CHF), stroke, ventricular arrhythmias, atrial fibrillation/flutter, or atrioventricular block requiring intervention within 24 h of testing. Of the 703 stress MPI studies that met inclusion criteria, 360 (51.2%), 199 (28.3%), 74 (10.5%), 9 (1.3%), and 61 (8.7%) underwent regadenoson, dipyridamole, adenosine, dobutamine, and exercise stress, respectively. The primary endpoint occurred in 11 (1.6%) patients with an incidence of 1.4% (n = 5), 1.0% (n = 2), 1.4% (n = 1), 11.1% (n = 1), and 3.3% (n = 2) following regadenoson, dipyridamole, adenosine, dobutamine, and exercise stress, respectively (P = 0.137). The adverse events included non-fatal MI in 7 (1.0%) patients, death in 1 (0.1%) patient, CHF in 1 (0.1%) patient, ventricular arrhythmia in 1 (0.1%) patient, and atrial arrhythmia in 1 (0.1%) patient. In the setting of elevated troponin, serious complications associated with either exercise or vasodilator stress testing appear to be relatively rare with no increased risk attributable to a particular vasodilator agent. | Troponin;myocardial perfusion imaging;vasodilator stress;exercise stress;Regadenoson | WoS |
null | While all cloud based platforms possess security vulnerabilities, the additional security challenges with container systems stem from the sharing of Host OS among independent containers. If a malicious application was to break into the root of container Daemon, it could gain root access into the host kernel thereby compromising the entire system. It could create Denial-Of-Service attack for other user applications, rejecting service to other applications. In this paper, we propose a quantum network security framework for the cloud. We devise a means by which quantum particles, denoted entangled bell pairs, are routed to network nodes. This enables teleportation of quantum information between source and destination only when root privileges are required by an application. The secure quantum channel works on a use-once only policy, so the key data cannot be easily copied, regenerated or spoofed without detection. A network framework for multiple pre-staged channels is devised and we illustrate that policy for network routing of entangle particles formulated as a multi-tenant teleportation network, capable of disseminating key data to servers hosting Docker container applications. The framework can achieve provably high levels of security and is capable of integration into a cloud data center for securing applications using Docker Containers. We also describe quantum network layer protocols for cloud container security that leverage the unique properties of quantum entanglement. To resolve security concerns, this layer would control access between application and container daemon, thereby facilitating restricted communication with proper authentication. | cloud computing;container daemon;denial-of-service;hypervisor;Hilbert space;kernel space;system calls;teleportation;qubits;quantum channel;quantum entanglement | WoS |
null | While an understanding of the structure and function of a generically described immune system is essential in contemporary biomedicine, it is clear that a one-size-fits-all approach applied across multiple species is fraught with contradictions and inconsistencies. Nevertheless, the breakthroughs achieved in immunology following the application of observations in murine systems to that of man have been pivotal in the advancement of biology and human medicine. However, as additional species have been used to further address biologic and safety assessment questions relative to the structure and function of the immune system, it has become clear that there are differences across species, gender, age and strain that must be considered. The meaningfulness of these differences must be determined on a case-by-case basis. This review article attempts to collect, consolidate and discuss some of these species differences thereby aiding in the accurate placement of new observations in a proper immunobiological and immunopathological perspective. | species differences;lymphoid system;lymphoid function;immunology;immunobiology;immunopathology | WoS |
null | While attracting new tourists is an important issue in destination marketing, it is also imperative to manage tourists' experience post-trip, particularly in cases of unsatisfying experiences. Yet, the questions of how to rectify unsatisfying tourism experiences received little attention in tourism scholarship. In the present research, we investigated the effectiveness of different forms of marketing messages and the role of counterfactual thinking in the ability of a marketing message to improve tourists' attitudes towards the destination and intentions to recommend, when a tourism experience was not up to tourists' satisfaction. A scenario-based experiment was conducted with 480 respondents. The results showed that user-generated messages and the messages employing emotional appeal were more impactful than destination-generated or rational messages. Respondents who engaged in downward counterfactual thinking, that is imagining the situation in which their experience could have been worse, was shown to have a greater positive effect on unsatisfied tourists. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. | Destination marketing;Post-trip experience;Post-purchase evaluation;Message effectiveness;Counterfactual thinking;Message appeal;Message authorship | WoS |
null | While attributional style is regarded as a core domain of social cognition, questions persist about the psychometric characteristics of measures used to assess it. One widely used assessment of attributional style is the Ambiguous Intentions Hostility Questionnaire (AIHQ). Two limitations of the AIHQ include (1) a possible restricted range resulting from too few and too homogenous item scenarios, and (2) use of rater scores that are cumbersome and time-consuming to score and have unknown incremental validity. The present study evaluated the psychometric properties of the AIHQ while concurrently testing changes aiming to improve the scale, in particular expansion of the number of self-report items and removal of the rater-scored items. One hundred sixty individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia and 58 healthy controls completed the full AIHQ along with measures of symptoms, functioning, and verbal intelligence. The AIHQ particularly the self-reported blame score demonstrated adequate internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and distinguished patients from controls. It also was significantly related to clinically-rated hostility and suspiciousness symptoms, and correlated with functional capacity even after controlling for verbal intelligence. Incremental validity analyses suggested that a higher number of self-report items strengthens relationships to outcomes in a manner that justifies this expansion, while rater-scored items had mixed results in providing additional information beyond self-report in the AIHQ. (C) 2017 Published by Elsevier Ltd. | Schizophrenia;Social cognition;Functioning;Psychometrics | WoS |
null | While bone mineral density has been traditionally used to quantify fracture risk for individuals with spinal cord injuries, recent studies are including engineering measurements such as section modulus and cross sectional moment of inertia. These are almost exclusively calculated by peripheral QCT scanners which, unlike DXA scanners, are rarely found in clinical settings. Using fifty-four fresh frozen femora, we developed and validated a pixel-by-pixel method to calculate engineering properties at the distal femur using a Hologic QDR-1000 W DXA scanner and compared them against similar parameters measured using a Stratec XCT-3000 peripheral QCT scanner. We found excellent agreement between standard DXA and pixel-by-pixel measured BMD (r(2) = 0.996). Cross-sectional moment of inertia about the anteroposterior axis measured using DXA and pQCT correlated very strongly (r(2) = 0.99). Cross-sectional moment of inertia about the anteroposterior axis measured using DXA also correlated strongly with pQCT measured bone strength index (r(2) = 0.99). These correlations indicate that DXA scans can measure equivalent pQCT parameters, and some existing DXA scans can be reprocessed with pixel-by-pixel techniques. Ultimately, these engineering parameters may help better quantify fracture-risk in fracture-prone populations such as those with spinal cord injuries. | BMD;DXA;DEXA;Bone QCT;Biomechanics;Osteoporosis;Fracture risk assessment;SCI;Bone Strength Index;Moment of Inertia | WoS |
null | While century old clinical reports document the periosteum's remarkable regenerative capacity, only in the past decade have scientists undertaken mechanistic investigations of its regenerative potential. At a Workshop at the 2012 Annual Meeting of Orthopaedic Research Society, we reviewed the molecular, cellular, and tissue scale approaches to elucidate the mechanisms underlying the periosteum's regenerative potential as well as translational therapies engineering solutions inspired by its remarkable regenerative capacity. The entire population of osteoblasts within periosteum, and at endosteal and trabecular bone surfaces within the bone marrow, derives from the embryonic perichondrium. Periosteal cells contribute more to cartilage and bone formation within the callus during fracture healing than do cells of the bone marrow or endosteum, which do not migrate out of the marrow compartment. Furthermore, a current healing paradigm regards the activation, expansion, and differentiation of periosteal stem/progenitor cells as an essential step in building a template for subsequent neovascularization, bone formation, and remodeling. The periosteum comprises a complex, composite structure, providing a niche for pluripotent cells and a repository for molecular factors that modulate cell behavior. The periosteum's advanced, smart material properties change depending on the mechanical, chemical, and biological state of the tissue. Understanding periosteum development, progenitor cell-driven initiation of periosteum's endogenous tissue building capacity, and the complex structurefunction relationships of periosteum as an advanced material are important for harnessing and engineering ersatz materials to mimic the periosteum's remarkable regenerative capacity. (c) 2012 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 30:18691878, 2012 | periosteum;regenerative medicine;tissue engineering;bone biology;advanced materials | WoS |
null | While chronic cocaine use is associated with abnormalities in both brain structure and function within and interactions between regions, previous studies have been limited to interrogating structure and function independently, and the detected neural differences have not been applied to independent samples to assess the clinical relevance of results. We investigated consequences of structural differences on resting-state functional connectivity in cocaine addiction and tested whether resting-state functional connectivity of the identified circuits predict relapse in an independent cohort. Subjects included 64 non-treatment-seeking cocaine users (NTSCUs) and 67 healthy control subjects and an independent treatment-completed cohort (n = 45) of cocaine-dependent individuals scanned at the end of a 30-day residential treatment programme. Differences in cortical thickness and related resting-state functional connectivity between NTSCUs and healthy control subjects were identified. Survival analysis, applying cortical thickness of the identified regions, resting-state functional connectivity of the identified circuits and clinical characteristics to the treatment cohort, was used to predict relapse. Lower cortical thickness in bilateral insula and higher thickness in bilateral temporal pole were found in NTSCUs versus healthy control subjects. Whole brain resting-state functional connectivity analyses with these four different anatomical regions as seeds revealed eight weaker circuits including within the salience network (insula seeds) and between temporal pole and elements of the default mode network in NTSCUs. Applying these circuits and clinical characteristics to the independent cocaine-dependent treatment cohort, functional connectivity between right temporal pole and medial prefrontal cortex, combined with years of education, predicted relapse status at 150 days with 88% accuracy. Deficits in the salience network suggest an impaired ability to process physiologically salient events, while abnormalities in a temporal pole-medial prefrontal cortex circuit might speak to the social-emotional functional alterations in cocaine addiction. The involvement of the temporal pole-medial prefrontal cortex circuit in a model highly predictive of relapse highlights the importance of social-emotional functions in cocaine dependence, and provides a potential underlying neural target for therapeutic interventions, and for identifying those at high risk of relapse. | cocaine addiction;relapse;cortical thickness;salience network;default mode network | WoS |
null | While cloud computing led the path towards a revolutionary change in the modern day computing aspects, further developments gave way to the Internet of Things and its own range of highly interactive applications. While such a paradigm is more distributed in reach, it also brings forth its own set of challenges in the form of latency sensitive applications, where a quick response highly contributes to efficient usage and QoS (Quality of Service). Fog computing, which is the answer to all such challenges, is rapidly changing the distributed computing landscape by extending the cloud computing paradigm to include widespread resources located at the network edge. While the fog paradigm makes use of edge-ward devices capable of computing, networking and storage, one of the key impending challenges is to determine where to place the data analytic operators for maximum efficiency and least costs for the network and its traffic, the efficient algorithmic solution to which we seek to propose by way of this work underway. | Fog Computing;Cloud Computing;IoT (Internet of Things);Analytics | WoS |
null | While co-locating virtual machines improves utilization in resource shared environments, the resulting performance interference between VMs is difficult to model or predict. QoS sensitive applications can suffer from resource co-location with other less short-term resource sensitive or batch applications. The common practice of overprovisioning resources helps to avoid performance interference and guarantee QoS but leads to low machine utilization. Recent work that relies on static approaches suffer from practical limitations due to assumptions such as a priori knowledge of application behaviour and workload. To address these limitations, we present Stay-Away, a generic and adaptive mechanism to mitigate the detrimental effects of performance interference on sensitive applications when co-located with batch applications. Our mechanism complements the allocation decisions of resource schedulers by continuously learning the favourable and unfavourable states of co-execution and mapping them to a state-space representation. Trajectories in this representation are used to predict and prevent any transition towards interference of sensitive applications by proactively throttling the execution of batch applications. The representation also doubles as a template to prevent violations in the future execution of the repeatable sensitive application when co-located with other batch applications. Experimental results with realistic applications show that it is possible to guarantee a high level of QoS for latency sensitive applications while also improving machine utilization. | Performance interference;Interference mitigation;Performance sensitivity;Quality of Service;Virtualization | WoS |
null | While considerable data support the relationship between childhood trauma and adult personality pathology in general, there is little research investigating the specific relationships between different types of childhood maltreatment and adult personality disorders. The present study tested a model incorporating five a priori hypotheses regarding the association between distinct forms of childhood maltreatment and personality pathology in 231 psychiatric patients using multiple self-report measures (Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire-4th Edition, Child Trauma Questionnaire, Conflict in Tactics Scale Parent-Child Child-Adult, and Multidimensional Neglectful Behavior Scale). Step-wise linear regressions supported three out of five hypotheses, suggesting independent relationships between: physical abuse and antisocial personality disorder traits; emotional abuse and Cluster C personality disorder traits; and maternal neglect and Cluster A personality disorder traits after controlling for co-occurring maltreatment types and personality disorder traits. Results did not support an independent relationship between sexual abuse and borderline personality traits nor between emotional abuse and narcissistic personality disorder traits. Additionally, there were three unexpected findings: physical abuse was independently and positively associated with narcissistic and paranoid traits and negatively associated with Cluster C traits. These findings can help refine our understanding of adult personality pathology and support the future development of clinical tools for survivors of childhood maltreatment. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. | Child abuse;Sexual abuse;Physical abuse;Emotional abuse;Neglect;Personality disorders;Trauma | WoS |
null | While criteria for Schenkerian analysis have been much discussed, such discussions have generally not been informed by data. Kirlin [Kirlin, PhillipB., 2014 A Probabilistic Model of Hierarchical Music Analysis. Ph.D. thesis, University of Massachusetts Amherst] has begun to fill this vacuum with a corpus of textbook Schenkerian analyses encoded using data structures suggested byYust [Yust, Jason, 2006 Formal Models of Prolongation. Ph.D. thesis, University of Washington] and a machine learning algorithm based on this dataset that can produce analyses with a reasonable degree of accuracy. In this work, we examine what musical features (scale degree, harmony, metrical weight) are most significant in the performance of Kirlin's algorithm. | Schenkerian analysis;machine learning;harmony;melody;rhythm;feature selection;68T05;68T10;supervised learning;sound and music computing | WoS |
null | While cryptography is used to protect the content of information (e.g., a message) by making it undecipherable, behaviors (as opposed to information) may not be encrypted and may only be protected by partially or fully hiding through creation of ambiguity (by providing covers that generate indistinguishable observations from secrets). Having a cover together with partial observability does cause ambiguity about the system behaviors desired to be kept secret, yet some information about secrets may still be leaked due to statistical difference between the occurrence probabilities of the secrets and their covers. In this paper, we propose a Jensen-Shannon divergence (JSD)-based measure to quantify secrecy loss in systems modeled as partially observed stochastic discrete event systems, which quantifies the statistical difference between two distributions, one over the observations generated by secret and the other over those generated by cover. We further show that the proposed JSD measure for secrecy loss is equivalent to the mutual information between the distributions over possible observations and that over possible system status (secret versus cover). Since an adversary is likely to discriminate more if he/she observes for a longer period, our goal is to evaluate the worst case loss of secrecy as obtained in the limit over longer and longer observations. Computation for the proposed measure is also presented. Illustrative examples, including the one with side-channel attack, are provided to demonstrate the proposed computation approach. Note to Practitioners-Secrecy is the ability to hide private information. For communicated information, this can be done through encryption or access control. However, the same is not possible for system behaviors, and in contrast, cover is introduced for providing ambiguity. Quantifying the ability to hide secrets is a challenge. This paper provides a means to quantify this in terms of a type of distance measure between a secret and its cover. A computation of the same is also provided for partially observed stochastic discrete event systems and illustrated through a cache's side-channel secrecy loss example. | Discrete event systems (DESs);Jensen-Shannon divergence (JSD);partial observability;secrecy quantification;stochastic systems | WoS |
null | While digital control has achieved success in various power electronic applications, data conversion remains a primary challenge and limitation compared to conventional analog methods. In particular, tradeoffs among resolution, switching frequency, and power consumption of digital pulse-width modulation (DPWM) blocks limit performance, particularly in high conversion-ratio applications. Analog-digital conversion is also challenging when line-voltage feedforward techniques are applied as it requires high speed, accuracy, and in some cases exposure to voltages exceeding the rating of deep-submicron CMOS technologies. This work explores tradeoffs in power consumption of counter/delay-line DPWM circuits, implemented in CMOS, and derives an optimization method to segment the bit allocation among the counter and delay line components. A method for line-voltage feedforward is also presented that can instrument and quantize transients on the supply voltage without direct exposure of low voltage devices to the supply. An automotive 48V:7V application is considered. | DPWM;buck converter;dc-dc converter;input voltage feedforward;ivff;line voltage feedforward | WoS |
null | While display quality and rendering for Head-Mounted-Displays (HMDs) has increased in quality and performance, the interaction capabilities with these devices are still very limited or relying on expensive technology. Current experiences offered for mobile HMDs often stick to dome-like looking around, automatic or gaze-triggered movement, or flying techniques. We developed an easy to use walking-in-place technique that does not require additional hardware to enable basic navigation, such as walking, running, or jumping, in virtual environments. Our approach is based on the analysis of data from the inertial unit embedded in mobile HMDs. In a first prototype realized for the Samsung Galaxy Gear VR we detect steps and jumps. A user study shows that users novice to virtual reality easily pick up the method. In comparison to a classic input device, using our walking-in-place technique study participants felt more present in the virtual environment and preferred our method for exploration of the virtual world. | H.5.2 [Information Interfaces and Presentation] | WoS |
null | While early and intermediate results of Fontan palliation have greatly improved the survival and quality of life of patients with single ventricle physiology, late complications remain concerning, and leave room for further improvement. In addition to recent advances in surgical techniques and post-operative care, advances in Medical Imaging and related technologies can further improve pre-surgical planning and post-operative management of these complex patients. Novel technologies including advanced MRI, computer aided design, three-dimensional printing, Virtual Surgery and Computational Fluid Dynamics may provide better patient-specific surgical plans, and continue to improve long-term outcomes. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. | Fontan;4D flow;Surgical planning;Biomechanical modeling;3D printing | WoS |
null | While economic and environmental policies and strategies are largely designed at the international, national or regional level, the environmental impacts of these measures are often felt at a more geographically-localized level. In particular, the effects on water resources, especially regarding water pollution and water stress, are usually localized in very specific hotspots. In this work, we acknowledge these facts and attempt to identify the linkages among the 17 regions in Spain (a semi-arid country with significant geographical variations in water availability), the European Union (EU), and the Rest of the World (RW), while also looking at the local effects of those interactions. In particular, we study the grey water footprints (a measure of the assimilation capacity of water resources) of production, at both the regional and business level, with spatially explicit information, and the extension of those footprints throughout the supply chain, while also computing the water footprints of consumption at the regional level. This process is a combination of a detailed computation of grey water footprints from production, from agriculture (from diffuse pollution), and from more general economic activities (from point source pollution), with a multiregional input output model that encompasses the 17 Spanish Regions, the EU, and the RW. We also identify hotspots and vulnerable areas, linking the grey water footprints from production originating in these areas to final-consumer responsibilities. As an example of the potential of the combined methodology, we design and evaluate the effects on grey water footprints of scenarios of import substitutions in Spain. Our results show strong final demand in regions such as Madrid and Catalonia, and in net exporting regions such as Andalusia, Aragon, Castile and Leon, Castile-La Mancha, Extremadura, and Navarre. Some of these regions contain areas that are clearly vulnerable to nitrates and other pollutants, and parts of these regions, most obviously in Andalusia and Extremadura, suffer water stress, which leads us to question the sustainability of the relationships between the structure of production and trade and the environment. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. | Grey water footprints;Downscaling;Regional science;Input-output;GIS;Spain | WoS |
null | While elevated blood cholesterol has been associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer (CRC) in observational studies, causality is uncertain. Here we apply a Mendelian randomisation (MR) analysis to examine the potential causal relationship between lipid traits and CRC risk. We used single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with blood levels of total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) as instrumental variables (IV). We calculated MR estimates for each risk factor with CRC using SNP-CRC associations from 9,254 cases and 18,386 controls. Genetically predicted higher TC was associated with an elevated risk of CRC (odds ratios (OR) per unit SD increase=1.46, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.20-1.79, p = 1.68 x 10(-4)). The pooled ORs for LDL, HDL, and TG were 1.05 (95% CI: 0.92-1.18, p = 0.49), 0.94 (95% CI: 0.84-1.05, p = 0.27), and 0.98 (95% CI: 0.85-1.12, p = 0.75) respectively. A genetic risk score for 3-hydoxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase (HMGCR) to mimic the effects of statin therapy was associated with a reduced CRC risk (OR=0.69, 95% CI: 0.49-0.99, p = 0.046). This study supports a causal relationship between higher levels of TC with CRC risk, and a further rationale for implementing public health strategies to reduce the prevalence of hyperlipidaemia. What's new? While observational studies have suggested an association between blood cholesterol levels and colorectal cancer (CRC), they do not establish causality and may be influenced by confounding factors. Here the authors used Mendelian randomization, the relationship between genetic risk scores for lipid traits and CRC, to provide new evidence for a causal link between both. Their results point to hyperlipidaemia as an important target for CRC prevention in the population. | Mendelian randomisation;hyperlipidaemia;cholesterol;colorectal cancer;risk | WoS |
null | While environmental sustainability has grown in importance to governments and the community, the purpose of this paper is to examine the environmental sustainability activities of A-REITs over the period of the global financial crisis. Using a content analysis methodology similar to Newell, annual reports and home websites for 24 of the largest A-REITs (which have also been a constituent of the ASX 300 index) are analysed to determine the extent of their sustainable investment activities. The Green Building Council of Australia and NABERS websites are also explored. Given the increasing focus on sustainable commercial property, the study finds that A-REIT investment into these properties has been rather conservative and slow. There are, however, some A-REITs that have tried to lead in the field even during the period of the global financial crisis.Relatively solid and stable returns on equity and assets appear to be achieved by such A-REITs in the years during and following this crisis. | sustainability;corporate social responsibility;Australian Real Estate Investment Trusts (A-REITs) | WoS |
null | While Epstein Barr virus (EBV) is associated with about 10% of gastric carcinomas worldwide, the role of the virus in the tumorigenesis of EBV-associated gastric carcinoma (EBVaGC) is unclear. Previously, we reported that a gastric cancer cell line, SNU-719, that is naturally infected with EBV closely resembles EBVaGC. Here, we attempted to eliminate the EBV genome from SNU-719 cells to ascertain the influence of EBV in EBVaGC. Southern blotting and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) showed that EBV genomes were maintained as episomes in SNU-719 cells. To remove EBV episomes, SNU-719 cells were first cultured in a hydroxyurea (HU)-containing medium for up to 6 months. Real-time polymerase chain reaction and FISH results revealed no evidence of HU-mediated EBV genome reduction, although cell growth was reduced by acute HU treatment in dose- and time-dependent manners. Two small interfering RNAs against Epstein Barr nuclear antigen 1 (EBNA1) abrogated over 90% of the ectopic EBNA1 expression in HeLa cells, but only 40% of endogenous EBNA1 expression in SNU-719 cells. Together, our data suggest that maintenance of latent EBV infection is essential for the viability of EBVaGC cells, avoiding elimination of EBV episomes from the cells. | Epstein-Barr virus;Episome;Hydroxyurea;siRNA;Gastric carcinoma | WoS |
null | While exposure to adverse family experiences (AFEs), subset of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), has been associated with childhood obesity, less is known about the impact of exposures to each type of AFE. Using 2011-2012 National Survey of Children's Health data, we evaluated associations between exposure to individual AFEs and overweight/obesity status in children 10 years or older, adjusting for socio-demographic factors. Caregivers reported their child's height, weight, and exposure to nine AFEs; body mass index (BMI) was classified by Center for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) guidelines. At Mayo Clinic, we calculated frequencies and weighted estimates of socio-demographic factors and AFEs. Unadjusted and adjusted weighted multinomial logistic regression models were employed to assess the independent associations of each AFE and the different AFE composite scores with BMI category. Exposure to two or more AFEs was independently associated with increased odds of overweight (odds ratio [OR], 1.33; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.13, 1.56) and obese (OR, 1.45; 95% CI, 1.21, 1.73) status after adjustment for age, household income, parents' education-level, race and sex. Death of parent (OR, 1.59; 95% CI, 1.18, 2.15) and hardship due to family income (OR, 1.26; 95% CI, 1.06, 1.50) were independently associated with obesity status with adjustment for other AFEs and socio-demographic factors. Our results suggest that, in addition to cumulative exposure to AFEs, exposure to certain childhood experiences are more strongly associated with childhood obesity than others. Death of parent and hardship due to family income are individual AFEs, which are strongly predictive of obesity. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. | Adolescent;Child;Child abuse;Child maltreatment;Child neglect;Obesity;Pediatric | WoS |
null | While female participation in work places has increased over the last decades, women only make up 1-2 % of the 1.25 million seafarers worldwide. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the International Labor Organizations are making a concerted effort to promote women into the maritime industry. Still, there are barriers in the maritime industry that hinder female employment, particularly in leadership positions. The primary aim of the paper is to investigate whether there is a significant difference in implicit beliefs about leadership between males and females. In addition to this, it seeks to evaluate whether the aforementioned difference is within the context of masculine versus neutral work domains. The findings indicated that employees in the maritime industry might have lower expectations towards female leaders thereby indicating the presence of gender bias in the evaluation of leaders. | Gender differences;Leadership;Maritime industry;Shifting standards;Role congruity | WoS |
null | While gastrointestinal disease is common among HIV infected individuals, the prevalence and distribution of ano-rectal pathology has not been well studied in our setting. The objective of this study therefore was to determine the prevalence and determinants of ano-rectal pathology in HIV infected patients attending the Douala General Hospital HIV treatment centre. A hospital-based cross-sectional study was undertaken. We collected socio-demographic, clinical and laboratory data using a structured questionnaire and patients' files. Each study participant had a full physical and ano-rectal examination. We further studied factors associated with having at least one ano-rectal lesion by logistic regression reporting odds ratios (ORs) and their 95% confidence intervals (CI). We included 390 HIV infected patients. The mean age was 41 (SD: 8) years and 48% were men. Median duration since HIV diagnosis was 3 (interquartile range: 2-5) years and median CD4 cell count was 411 (interquartile range: 234-601) cells/mm 3. Prevalence of ano-rectal pathology was 22.8% (95% CI: 18.7-27.3). Hemorrhoids and proctitis were most common lesions found; each in 10% of patients. From multivariate logistic regression, factors associated with ano-rectal pathology were CD4 < 350 cells/ml (OR: 2.1, 95% CI: 1.1-4.2), not on highly active antiretroviral therapy (OR: 2.2, 95% CI: 1.1-4.6), inpatient (OR: 2.3, 95% CI: 1.2-4.3), ano-rectal intercourse (OR: 5.0, 95% CI: 1.7-15.1), and more than one sexual partner (OR: 2.4, 95% CI: 1.3-4.2). Ano-rectal pathology is common amongst HIV infected patients. Care givers should actively investigate and treat them as this will improve the quality of life of people living with HIV/AIDS. | Anorectal pathology;anorectal intercourse;CD4 cell counts;highly active antiretroviral therapy;HIV | WoS |
null | While great strides have been made to advance the understanding of the neurobiology of suicidal behavior (SB), the neural and neuropsychological mechanisms associated with SB are not well understood. The purpose of the current study is to identify neurocognitive markers of SB in the context of medical rehabilitation. The performances of 39 patients at a medical rehabilitation center, aged 21-78, were examined on a series of neurocognitive executive tasks-decision-making (Iowa Gambling Task - IGT), mental flexibility (WCST), response inhibition (SST) and working memory (digit span). Self-report questionnaires were administered, for Suicidal behaviors, depression, Anxiety, and PTSD as well as perceived social support. Suicidal participants performed more poorly on the IGT. A mediation analysis presented a significant direct effect of decision making on suicidal risk (p<0.14) as well as significant indirect effect of decision making on suicidal risk that was mediated by the depressive symptoms (95% BCa CI [-0.15, -0.018]) with a medium effect size ((2)=0.20, 95% BCa CI [0.067, 0.381]). Despite the complexity of relationship between decision-making and suicidal risk, these results suggest that clinicians should routinely assess decision-making abilities in adults at risk for suicide due to the fact that impaired decision-making may increase suicidal risk above and beyond that conferred by depression. | decision-making;depression;markers;mental-flexibility;neuropsychology;suicide risk | WoS |
null | While higher education is associated with healthy lifestyles and health literacy, it remains unclear whether education shapes reactions to varying levels of genetic risk for Alzheimer's disease (AD). In this study, participants (N = 701) in the National Genetic Risk Survey Experiment (NGRISE) received a hypothetical genetic risk assessment for AD (ranging from 20 to 80% lifetime risk) and then completed items on their cognitive (perceived threat to health), emotional (general negative affect), and anticipated behavioral (seek information, improve health behaviors, engage in public or private civic action) reactions to this risk. Individuals with a college education showed reactions to increasing genetic risk approximately twice or several times as strong relative to those of individuals with lower (high school, HS) education. In fact, behavioral reactions do not significantly increase with AD risk among those with HS education. Some educational differences in risk response widen at older ages. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. | United States;Alzheimer's disease;Dementia;Genomics;Genetics;Educational attainment;Aging | WoS |
null | While horizontal partitioning of traditional relational databases is well studied, there is in comparison very little in the literature about the partitioning of NoSQL databases, especially those that are cloud based, such as Amazon's SimpleDB. In order to optimize the response time of a web application using a cloud based database, it is possible to partition the database for storage on local regional servers. In this work, data mining and cluster analysis of database logs is used in order to partition, thus essentially caching, data on local servers. This work compares the average response times of three partitioning algorithms on a simple web application using a cloud based NoSQL database management system. The experimental study shows that the techniques presented can improve web application performance. | NoSQL;cloud database partitioning;data mining;minimum spanning tree | WoS |
null | While hyperalgesia (increased pain sensitivity) has been suggested to contribute to the increased prevalence of clinical pain in Parkinson's disease (PD), experimental research is equivocal and mechanisms are poorly understood. We conducted a meta-analysis of studies comparing PD patients to healthy controls (HCs) in their response to experimental pain stimuli. Articles were acquired through systematic searches of major databases from inception until 10/2016. Twenty-six studies met inclusion criteria, comprising 1292 participants (PD = 739, HCs =553). Random effects meta-analysis of standardized mean differences (SMD) revealed lower pain threshold (indicating hyperalgesia) in PD patients during unmedicated OFF states (SMD = 0.51) which was attenuated during dopamine-medicated ON states (SMD = 0.23), but unaffected by age, PD duration or PD severity. Analysis of 6 studies employing suprathreshold stimulation paradigms indicated greater pain in PD patients, just failing to reach significance (SMD = 0.30, p= 0.06). These findings (a) support the existence of hyperalgesia in PD, which could contribute to the onset/intensity of clinical pain, and (b) implicate dopamine deficiency as a potential underlying mechanism, which may present opportunities for the development of novel analgesic strategies. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. | Parkinson's disease;Dopamine;Pain;Meta-analysis;Systematic review | WoS |
null | While hyperspectral sensors describe plant canopy reflectance in greater detail than multispectral sensors, they also suffer from issues with data redundancy and spectral autocorrelation. Data mining techniques that extract relevant spectral features from hyperspectral data will aid the development of novel sensors for plant trait estimation. The objectives of this research were to (1) compare broad-band reflectance, narrow-band reflectance, and spectral derivatives for estimation of durum wheat traits in the field and (2) develop a genetic algorithm to identify the most relevant spectral features for durum wheat trait estimation. Experiments at Maricopa, Arizona during the winters of 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 tested six durum wheat cultivars with six split-applied nitrogen (N) fertilization rates. Durum wheat traits, including leaf area index, canopy dry weight, and plant N content, were measured from destructive biomass samples on four occassions in each growing season. Grain yield and grain N content were also measured. Canopy spectral reflectance data in 701 narrow wavebands from 350 nm to 1050 nm were collected weekly using a field spectroradiometer. First-and second-order spectral derivatives were calculated using Savitzky-Golay filtering. The narrow-band data were also used to estimate reflectance in broad wavebands, as typically collected by two commercial multispectral instruments. Partial least squares regression (PLSR) compared the ability of each spectral data set to estimate each measured durum wheat trait. A genetic algorithm was developed to mine narrow-band canopy reflectance and spectral derivative data for spectral features that improved estimates of durum wheat traits. Multispectral data in 4 broad bands estimated leaf area index, canopy dry weight, and plant N content with root mean squared errors of cross validation (RMSECV) between 33.0% and 67.6%, while hyperspectral data in 701 narrow bands reduced RMSECV to values between 19.3% and 36.3%. Use of the genetic algorithm to identify less than 25 relevant spectral features further reduced RMSECV to values between 15.1% and 30.7%. Grain yield was optimally estimated from canopy spectral measurements between 110 and 130 days after planting with RMSECV less than 7.6% using the genetic algorithm approach. The timing corresponded to anthesis and early grain fill when presence of wheat heads likely affected canopy spectral reflectance. By using a genetic algorithm to mine hyperspectral reflectance and spectral derivative data, durum wheat traits were optimally estimated from a subset of relevant canopy spectral features. Published by Elsevier B.V. | Derivative spectra;Genetic algorithm;Partial least squares regression;Spectral reflectance;Spectroradiometer | WoS |
null | While it is recognized that veterans have increased rates of depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), suicide, and substance use disorders, rates of homicide and unintentional injury deaths in veterans have been minimally investigated. We evaluated all non-natural deaths in New Mexico veterans between 2002 and 2011 in comparison with non-natural deaths among non-veterans. We reviewed all decedents in New Mexico with a history of military service and investigated by the medical examiner, excluding natural deaths and deaths due to fall from standing height. The most common manner of death was unintentional injury (62%), most of these deaths due to motor vehicle accidents (29%) followed by unintentional overdose (26%). Suicide rates among veterans were consistently higher than the general population. The most common mechanism of suicide in men was gunshot wound (72%), and intentional overdose in women (49%). Services are needed for veterans that are tailored to all ages and both sexes. | forensic science;veterans;suicide;epidemiology;unintentional injury;homicide | WoS |
null | While it is usually not difficult to compute principal curvatures of a smooth surface of sufficient differentiability, it is a rather difficult task when only a polygonal approximation of the surface is available, because of the inherent ambiguity of such representation. A number of different approaches has been proposed in the past that tackle this problem using various techniques. Most papers tend to focus on a particular method, while an comprehensive comparison of the different approaches is usually missing. We present results of a large experiment, involving both common and recently proposed curvature estimation techniques, applied to triangle meshes of varying properties. It turns out that none of the approaches provides reliable results under all circumstances. Motivated by this observation, we investigate mesh statistics, which can be computed from vertex positions and mesh connectivity information only, and which can help in deciding which estimator will work best for a particular case. Finally, we propose a meta-estimator, which makes a choice between existing algorithms based on the value of the mesh statistics, and we demonstrate that such meta-estimator, despite its simplicity, provides considerably more robust results than any existing approach. | Categories and Subject Descriptors (according to ACM CCS);I.3.5 [Computer Graphics] | WoS |
null | While learners of a second language (L2) are increasingly interacting in small groups as part of a communicative methodological paradigm, very few studies have investigated the social dynamics that occur in such groups. The aim of this study is to introduce a group work dynamic measuring instrument and to investigate the relationship between group work dynamic (GWD), or the social climate existing within a group, and learners' state-level motivational responses and amount of language produced in interactive tasks. The context for the classroom-based study was a speaking-skills course consisting of a small group of 10 Korean English learners of intermediate to high intermediate proficiency level enrolled in a Korean university TESOL certificate program. The data were based on 15 different tasks that were part of the course and two work groups for each task for a total of 30 groups. Instruments of data collection consisted of audio-video recordings, transcription of all verbal and nonverbal language produced in the tasks, the GWD measurement instrument, and post-task motivation questionnaires. Results from correlational analysis showed a significant relationship between GWD and task motivation and between GWD and language production. Nonverbal-related behaviors, furthermore, were found to be particularly influential in shaping GWD and were significantly associated with learners' task motivation, especially in the form of greater task enjoyment and sense of success. The study's findings therefore add support to socio-contextual perspectives in L2 motivation and applied linguistics that emphasize the critical role of social and group factors on motivation and language development and imply a need for educators to focus on creating positive group dynamics in their classrooms. | Group dynamics;L2 motivation;nonverbal communication;social climate;task-based language teaching;task motivation | WoS |
null | While many attempts have been made to measure various aspects of parenting within a variety of theoretical frameworks, there remains much work to do on the development of reliable and valid measures. Common themes across the papers included in a special issue on the measurement of parenting are discussed. Parenting constructs are a vital part of the work of prevention scientists, and more support is needed for researchers to engage in measurement development. Fortunately, there are some bright spots in this regard today, such as the Common Fund Science of Behavior Change Program sponsored by the National Institutes of Health. | Parenting;Measurement;Reliability;Validity | WoS |
null | While many schemes have been proposed to search encrypted relational databases, less attention has been paid to NoSQL databases. In this paper we report on the design and the implementation of a security scheme called "SecureNoSQL" for searching encrypted cloud NoSQL databases. Our solution is one of the first efforts covering not only data confidentiality, but also the integrity of the datasets residing on a cloud server. In our system a secure proxy carries out the required transformations and the cloud server is not modified. The construction is applicable to all NoSQL data models and, in our experiments, we present its application to a Document-store data model. The contributions of this paper include: (1) a descriptive language based on a subset of JSON notations; (2) a tool to create and parse a security plan consisting of cryptographic modules, data elements, and mappings of cryptographic modules to the data fields; and (3) a query and data validation mechanism based on the security plan. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. | Search over encrypted data;Database as a service;NoSQL;Encryption;Cloud computing;Security;Query processing;Data integrity | WoS |
null | While many studies have focused on identifying the neural and behavioral characteristics of decoding-based reading disorder (RD, aka developmental dyslexia), the etiology of RD remains largely unknown and understudied. Because the brain plays an intermediate role between genetic factors and behavioral outcomes, it is promising to address causality from a neural perspective. In the current study, Part I of the two-part review, we discuss neuroimaging approaches to addressing the causality issue and review the results of studies that have employed these approaches. We assume that if a neural signature were associated with RD etiology, it would (a) manifest across comparisons in different languages, (b) be experience independent and appear in comparisons between RD and reading-matched controls, (c) be present both pre- and post-intervention, (d) be found in at-risk, pre-reading children, and (e) be associated with genetic risk. We discuss each of these five characteristics in turn and summarize the studies that have examined each of them. The available literature provides evidence that anomalies in left temporo-parietal cortex, and possibly occipito-temporal cortex, may be closely related to the etiology of RD. Improved understanding of the etiology of RD can help improve the accuracy of early detection and enable targeted intervention of cognitive processes that are amenable to change, leading to improved outcomes in at-risk or affected populations. | reading disorder;developmental dyslexia;etiology;causal inference;neuroimaging;cross-cultural;reading-matched design;behavioral intervention;preliterate;imaging genetics | WoS |
null | While maps of solar irradiance are readily available, they do not represent the economic viability of a solar project in any particular location. This paper provides a financial analysis with different electricity tariffs and then maps the internal rate of return (IRR) of solar load displacement projects. We examine 25 locations in the southwestern USA and show that IRR maps differ substantially from irradiance maps. Our analysis includes 27 scenarios derived from the following combinations: three types of solar installations (concentrated photovoltaic (CPV), south-facing PV and PV oriented so as to optimize IRR); three project start dates (2016, 2018, 2020); and three price projections for grid-connected systems (optimistic, central, pessimistic). The variation of irradiance across these 25 locatibns is much lower than the variation of IRR. Direct normal irradiance is almost uncorrelated with the IRR from CPV projects, indicating that irradiance alone is a poor predictor of IRR. Tariff differences among the 25 locations, including time of use aspects, play a major role in determining economic viability and IRR varies considerably even within a single city. Orienting PV modules so as to optimize the IRR brings little benefit unless the optimized azimuth is greater than 20 west of south. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. | Economic analysis;Solar power;Internal rate of return;Geographic distribution;Time-of-use electricity tariffs;Map | WoS |
null | While migration health studies traditionally focused on socioeconomic determinants of health, an emerging body of literature is exploring migration status as a proximate cause of health outcomes. Study 1 is a path analysis of the predictors of mental health amongst 582 documented migrant workers in Singapore, and shows that threat of deportation is one of the most important proximate social determinants of predicted mental illness, and a mediator of the impact of workplace conflict on mental health. Study 2 is a qualitative study of the narratives of 149 migrant workers who were in workplace conflict with their employers, and demonstrates that workers believed threats were used as a negotiating strategy during workplace conflicts. Findings suggest that migration status places workers who come into workplace conflict with their employers at heightened risk of mental illness because migration status can be used as a tool by employers in workplace negotiations. | Social determinants of health;Migration;Migrant health;Mental health;Deportation;Precarity;Singapore | WoS |
null | While more studies are exploring the ways in which gender structures the family experiences of Americanborn children of immigrants, there is less attention to how gender shapes later views on ethnicity and culture. Based on interviews with Korean, Chinese, and Taiwanese Americans in the New York-New Jersey metropolitan area, this article examines the different ways second-generation children learn, interpret, and pass on the cultural values and family traditions in their adulthood. Because their family roles center on their roles as leaders and carriers of the family name through male heirs, sons-especially oldest sons-can fulfill their filial obligations through relatively orthodox and nonengaging cultural practices that although restrictive, do not threaten their personal goals and privileged status. However, daughters must negotiate more emotionally burdensome expectations and responsibilities by preserving family honor, acting as family caretakers, and juggling multiple responsibilities; thus, they tend to re-create more subtle, self-empowering, and emotionally engaging ways of interpreting and preserving their parents' expectations on family culture. I argue that the gendered ways daughters and sons are taught to practice cultural values and protect family honor has significant bearing on their later views on ethnicity and culture but in complex ways that transcend the generational divide. | Asian American children;emotion work;family culture;gender roles;generation gap;immigrant families | WoS |
null | While most commercially available functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) systems employ optical fibers for both the measurement optode and the transmission cable for optical signals, their material inflexibility presents some problems in stable optode fixation to the head surface and adequate cable lining to the main system. In practice, mechanical fluctuations of optical fibers in fNIRS measurement often lead to motion artifacts in the signals. A few fiber-less fNIRS systems are available and equipped with light sources and detectors that directly adhere to the scalp surface. However, their shapes and detection sensitivities are not suitable for usage on a hair-covered head. Based on the commercial fiber-less fNIRS system OEG-16 (Spectratech Inc., Japan), we developed a new source-detector unit that was designed with LEDs for enhanced illumination, avalanche photodiodes instead of photodiodes, and a new holder system. The electrical circuits of the system were modified after the design. By simultaneous implementation of multi-distance fNIRS measurement and hemodynamic modality separation on conventional fNIRS data at the bilateral parietal area during single-sided motor tasks, significant functional signals were observed only at the position contralateral to the side of movement. This is the first report describing a fiber-less fNIRS system that can detect functional signals on a hair-covered head. We believe this fiber-less system will improve the utility of fNIRS, particularly in less restraining conditions. | Functional near-infrared spectroscopy;cerebral functional detection under motion;optical-fiber-less system;wearable system;motion artifact reduction;detection on hair-covered head | WoS |
null | While most sociology students are well prepared to think critically about inequalities involving race, gender, social class, and sexuality, the topics of body weight and health present some challenges for classroom discussion. Primarily, this is due to the body's status in contemporary society as simultaneously malleable (able to be changed) and intractable (an indicator of moral worth). Such associations lead to cases of size discrimination-what is often called "sizeism"-with impacts similar to what is experienced around race and gender discrimination. To challenge students' taken-for-granted assumptions regarding weight and health, I detail two classroom techniques involving deconstructing the obesity "epidemic" and comparing the pro-ana community to bodybuilders for their similar use of extreme behaviors to achieve ideal bodies. In this way, students learn to critically assess something that has held a stigmatized position (fatness) as well as something that has held a valued position (thinness). | health;body weight;sizeism;obesity;anorexia;bodybuilding;inequality | WoS |
null | While much literature has examined immigrants' health in Canada, less attention has focused specifically on the life stress, an important yet understudied post-migration challenge which may lead to poor coping strategies and negative health consequences. For this study, the pooled 2009-2014 Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) was analyzed, using multilevel logistic regression to examine the compositional effects (at an individual level) and areal effects (at a CMA/CA level) on reported high life stress. Separate models have been run for immigrants and non-immigrants for comparative purposes. The results reveal different ways in which select individual socioeconomic and lifestyle factors affect life stress. A statistically significant yet small areal effect at the CMA/CA level on life stress was identified for both immigrants and non-immigrants. When comparing immigrants to non-immigrants, factors such as smoking, length of residency in Canada, and mental health status were found to be particularly informative for predicting high life stress among immigrants. A Healthy Immigrant Effect (HIE) is partially evident, as immigrants with a longer stay in Canada are more likely to be highly stressed than recent arrivals. The areal effect on variances in high life stress is minimal, suggesting the importance of focusing on individual-level effects as stress predictors. | Immigrant;Life stress;Canada;CCHS;Health;Multilevel regression | WoS |
null | While much of the person perception literature has focused solely on the representation of superordinate social categories (e.g., race and age), these superordinate social categories may be organized into smaller subcategories (i.e., subtypes and subgroups) that can be distinguished by their perceived typicality. Based on the logic that atypical subcategories represent subtypes and typical subcategories represent subgroups, we hypothesized that some subcategory labels would elicit greater perceived stereotypicality compared to others. In Experiment 1, participants listed stereotypic traits and rated the perceived typicality of subcategories of Black and White men. In Experiment 2 we used a reverse correlation image classification procedure to estimate participants' visual representations of the faces of Black and White superordinate category and subcategory members. Results indicated that representations of Black subgroups reflected traits and features more prototypical of Black men compared to representations of Black subtypes. Similarly, representations of White subgroups reflected traits and features more prototypical of White men compared to representations of White subtypes. The current experiments further clarify the nature of subcategory representations as subgroups and subtypes within the superordinate category. Implications for stereotype maintenance and change are considered. (C) 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. | Person perception;Subtyping;Subgrouping;Social cognition;Facial features | WoS |
null | While much research focuses on the causes and consequences of direct democracy and regime legitimacy, little attention has been paid to the potential relationship between them. In an attempt to fill this void, this paper focuses on the legal provisions for direct democracy and its use. The key argument is that possibilities for the public's direct involvement reflect high importance given to citizens, openness of the regime towards different modes of decision-making, and ways to avoid unpopular institutions. Consequently, citizens are likely to accept and support the regime, improving or maintaining its legitimacy. The cross-national analysis includes 38 European countries ranging from transition countries to established democracies. It uses bivariate statistical analysis and country-level data collected from legislation, secondary sources, and aggregate surveys. | direct democracy;local level;national level;regime legitimacy;Europe | WoS |
null | While much research on video games has focused on aggressive outcomes, the extant research has not come to consensus on the role of other factors, notably enjoyment, frustration and individual differences amongst players, in mediating the link between violent game play and aggression. This experimental design uses a mental models approach to examine game features (e.g., controller naturalness), player characteristics (e.g., first person shooter experience, sex, degree of competitiveness) and the game play experience (e.g., perceived game realism, immersion, game failure, frustration and enjoyment) to explain aggressive outcomes. "Results from a revised path model suggest perceived realism, immersion, and experience with other first person shooters all positively predicted enjoyment while frustration negatively predicted game enjoyment. Frustration and enjoyment both predicted state aggression. The findings of this study support the application of mental models as a theoretical approach to unify thinking about violent games, contextual features of violent games, individual difference variables and differences in player perceptions and game experiences with regards to outcome aggression. Results are discussed in terms of the model matching hypothesis and implications for the comprehensive study of violent game play, including the importance of enjoyment and frustration, are also discussed. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. | Mental models;Video games;Immersion;Enjoyment;Aggressive intentions;Controller manipulation | WoS |
null | While online interventions are increasingly explored as an alternative to therapist-based interventions for cancer-related distress, limitations to efficacy potentially include low uptake and adherence. Few predictors of uptake or adherence to online interventions have been consistently identified, particularly in individuals with cancer. This study examined rates and predictors of uptake and adherence to Finding My Way, a RCT of an online intervention versus an information-only online control for cancer-related distress. Participants were adults with cancer treated with curative intent. Adherence was assessed by login frequency, duration and activity level; analyses examined demographic, medical and psychological predictors of uptake and adherence. The study enrolled 191 adults (aged 26-94 years) undergoing active treatment for cancer of any type. Uptake was highest for females and for individuals with ovarian (80%) and breast cancer (49.8%), and lowest for those with melanoma (26.5%). Adherence was predicted by older age and control-group allocation. Baseline distress levels did not predict adherence. High adherers to the full intervention had better emotion regulation and quality of life than low adherers. Uptake of online intervention varies according to age, gender and cancer type. While uptake was higher amongst younger individuals, once enrolled, older individuals were more likely to adhere to online interventions for cancer-related distress. | Online intervention;Cancer;Cognitive behavioural therapy;Uptake;Adherence | WoS |
null | While onsite measurement of air permeability provides a useful approach to assess the service life of concrete structures, the combined use of onsite and laboratory measurement of air permeability is useful to anticipate whether the target service life is to be achieved. This investigation was developed within the aim of founding the application of an air permeability test (Torrent method), based on the experimental observation of specimen geometry and surface influence on air permeability results. An experimental program was developed considering three specimen geometries, two types of surface, and twelve concrete mixes. The results were analysed and no significant influence of the tested specimens geometry and surfaces was detected. Therefore, the use of any of the surfaces or specimens geometry in mix approval or in compliance control processes is possible without correction of the results. This work constitutes a contribution to further understanding of the test method in particular and of concrete air permeability assessment in general. | Materials Behaviors;Nondestructive Testing;Fluid Mechanics | WoS |
null | While operating conventional spooler system in heavy industries such as winch reel and cranes, wire rope tangling and twisting leads wire aging with short life cycle and entangling occurs catastrophic damage to the whole system. The aim of this work is investigating a tension control system using a magneto rheological brake (MRB) to provide back tension to prevent frequent part changes and fatal malfunction. In order to achieve this aim, a basic MRB is first designed and analyzed using finite element method (FEM) with electromagnetic field and fluid analysis are performed. As second step, a prototype of the an MRB is fabricated with the optimized structural parameters and experimental apparatus is constructed. Moreover, output torque characteristics of the designed MRB with the various input current and rotational speed are evaluated. Consequently, a conventional proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller is designed for a tension control, and the control results show the feasibility for tension control of winch spooler system. | Magnetorheological brake (MRB);Tension control system;PID control;Winch spooler;Electromagnetic field analysis | WoS |
null | While organizational citizenship behaviors (i. e., employee's choosing to perform above and beyond work expectations) are beneficial for the success of any organization, there has been little research on this form of prosocial behavior in private correctional agencies. This study is the first to examine the relationship between two forms of organizational commitment (affective and continuance) and organizational citizenship behaviors for 160 correctional staff at a maximum security private US prison. Results of the Ordinary Least Squares regression analysis supported the predictions that affective commitment would have a positive association with organizational citizenship behaviors and continuance commitment would have a negative association. Possible interventions that private correctional organizations can undertake to encourage affective organizational commitment from their staff are discussed. | private prison staff;private correctional staff;organizational commitment;organizational citizenship behaviors;private security employees | WoS |
null | While over-indebtedness has emerged as a new social risk among Europeans as a consequence of economic recessions, its associations with health and disability are poorly understood. This study utilises longitudinal, register-based data to assess the associations of over-indebtedness with disability retirement. Severely over-indebted people were identified from the Finnish credit information register. For each over-indebted person, one matched control was retrieved from the population register (total N: 54,494). Register data on socio-demographics, health-related factors and pensions were used to analyse the incidence of disability pensions due to different diagnoses among over-indebted people and their controls during the period 1995-2009 using Cox regression analysis. The analyses showed that over-indebtedness was strongly associated with the risk of disability retirement in all diagnostic groups. The associations were stronger among women than among men. The adverse effects of over-indebtedness on health and disability should be acknowledged. In addition to standard socio-demographic indicators, debtor status may add to our knowledge of the predictors of poor health. Policymakers should adopt measures to prevent over-indebtedness and to overcome its harmful effects. | Disability pension;disability retirement;Finland;mental health;morbidity;over-indebtedness | WoS |
null | While performing cryptanalysis, it is of interest to approximate a Boolean function in n variables f : F-2(n) ->F-2 by affine functions. Usually, it is assumed that all the input vectors to a Boolean function are equiprobable while mounting affine approximation attack or fast correlation attacks. In this paper we consider a more general case when each component of the input vector to f is independent and identically distributed Bernoulli variates with the parameter p. Since our scope is within the area of cryptography, we initiate an analysis of cryptographic Boolean functions under the previous considerations and derive expression of the analogue of Walsh-Hadamard transform and nonlinearity in the case under consideration. We observe that if we allow p to take up complex values then a framework involving quantum Boolean functions can be introduced, which provides a connection between Walsh-Hadamard transform, nega-Hadamard transform and Boolean functions with biased inputs. | Boolean functions;Quantum Boolean functions;Bias;Walsh-Hadamard transform;Nega-Hadamard transform | WoS |
null | While planning resource management systems in rural areas, it is important to consider criteria that are specific to the local social conditions. Such criteria might change from one region to another and are hence best identified using a participatory approach. In this work, we propose a participatory framework to identify such criteria and derive their weights. These identified criteria and their weights are used as parameters to develop a quantitative model for evaluating efficiency of each system. Such a model can serve as a support tool for stakeholders to simulate and analyze what-if scenarios, evaluate alternatives, and select one which best satisfies their requirements. We use existing systems to test the model by comparing efficiencies evaluated by the model to efficiencies perceived by the stakeholders. The model is calibrated by repeating the process until statistically significant correlation is achieved between evaluated and perceived efficiencies. The novelty of the proposed framework lies in treating efficiencies perceived by the stakeholders as the ground truth since they know these systems well and are their ultimate users. The framework is successfully demonstrated using case study of rainwater harvesting (RWH) systems in an Indian village. The resulting calibrated model can be used to plan new RWH systems in this region and similar regions elsewhere. The framework can be used to plan other resource management systems in various regions. | resource management;rural water systems;sustainability;public participation;local social criteria;analytic hierarchy process | WoS |
null | While positron emission tomography (PET) studies have provided invaluable data on antipsychotic effects, selection bias remains a serious concern. A systematic review of PET studies that measured dopamine D-2 receptor blockade with antipsychotics was conducted to examine their inclusion exclusion criteria, using PubMed, EMBASE, and ClinicalTrials.gov (last search, September 2016). PET studies were included if they measured D-2 receptor occupancy in patients with schizophrenia and included introduction of antipsychotic treatment or antipsychotic regimen change in a systematic manner. Twenty-six studies were identified. Age limit was included in 13 studies; one study solely included geriatric patients while others targeted younger adults. Eleven, 6, and 3 studies specifically targeted clinically stable patients, patients with severe psychopathology, and antipsychotic-free patients, respectively. Nineteen and 18 studies excluded patients with physical comorbidity and substance abuse, respectively. As a result, the mean age of subjects ranged from 23 to 42 years when one study that targeted geriatric patients was excluded. Mean Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale total scores ranged from 54 to 95. No comparison active-drug or placebo arm was employed in 24 studies. Blind assessment of symptomatology was performed in 5 studies. In general, subjects participating in clinical PET studies were relatively young, presented with mild symptomatology, and were free from substance abuse or physical comorbidities. These characteristics need to be taken into account when clinical PET data are interpreted. On the other hand, it should also be noted that this study was only qualitative and conservative interpretation is necessary for possibility of subjective bias. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. | Antipsychotic;Dopamine;Dopamine D-2 receptor;Positron emission tomography;Schizophrenia | WoS |
null | While previous studies have demonstrated short-wavelength sensitivity to the acute alerting effects of light during the biological night, fewer studies have assessed the alerting effect of light during the daytime. This study assessed the wavelength-dependent sensitivity of the acute alerting effects of daytime light exposure following chronic sleep restriction in 60 young adults (29 men, 31 women; 22.5 +/- 3.1 mean +/- SD years). Participants were restricted to 5 h time in bed the night before laboratory admission and 3 h time in bed in the laboratory, aligned by wake time. Participants were randomized for exposure to 3 h total of either narrowband blue (max 458-480 nm, n = 23) or green light (max 551-555 nm, n = 25) of equal photon densities (2.8-8.4 x 10(13) photons/cm(2)/sec), beginning 3.25 h after waking, and compared with a darkness control (0 lux, n = 12). Subjective sleepiness (Karolinska Sleepiness Scale), sustained attention (auditory Psychomotor Vigilance Task), mood (Profile of Mood States Bi-Polar form), working memory (2-back task), selective attention (Stroop task), and polysomnographic and ocular sleepiness measures (Optalert) were assessed prior to, during, and after light exposure. We found no significant effect of light wavelength on these measures, with the exception of a single mood subscale. Further research is needed to optimize the characteristics of lighting systems to induce alerting effects during the daytime, taking into account potential interactions between homeostatic sleep pressure, circadian phase, and light responsiveness. | alertness;performance;cognition;light;wavelength | WoS |
null | While previous studies have examined motivational aspects of self-directed violence, few studies have included specific motivations in predictive models for future suicide attempts. The current study utilized a sample of 160 individuals treated in an acute emergency setting following a suicide attempt who completed an interview battery that included an assessment of functional aspects of the index suicide attempt. A follow-up interview was conducted at 6 months to ascertain subsequent suicide attempts. The functional domains of suicide attempts were labeled as reduction-of-distress, communication, perceived better alternative to living, and self-loathing. Above and beyond other known risk factors, including history and highest lethality of previous self-injury, suicide attempts that served a communication function (OR = 0.18, p = .02, CI = 0.04, 0.73) and higher ratings of clinical dysfunction (OR = 3.41, p = .05, CI = 1.02, 11.36) were associated with a significant reduction in likelihood to engage in a suicide attempt during the 6-month follow-up window. Including the perceived effectiveness of the index suicide attempt in getting one's needs met strengthened the overall model predicting a suicide attempt in the follow-up window and was an independent risk factor above and beyond other variables in the model OR = 1.75, p = .04, CI = 1.02, 3.01). Assessment of functional aspects of suicide attempt is feasible and may improve formulation of risk in a population where typical risk factors for suicide are ubiquitous. | suicide attempt;function;assessment;longitudinal;emergency medicine | WoS |
null | While previous studies suggested that perfusion abnormalities in Parkinson's disease (PD) are driven by dementia, our study aimed to identify perfusion underpinning of cognitive alteration in non-demented PD patients. Cerebral blood flow was measured using arterial spin labelling (ASL) in 28 PD patients (age 65 years +/- 9.9 SD) and 16 age-matched healthy controls (HC) (age 65 years +/- 7.8 SD), who also underwent neurological and cognitive testing. The 3D pseudocontinuous ASL and T2-weighted scans from 22 PD patients and 16 HC were analysed in a voxel-wise manner using SPM8 software. Associations between the ASL values in volumes of interest (VOIs) and behavioural and cognitive measures were assessed by Spearman correlation analysis. Posterior cortical hypoperfusion was found in PD patients compared to HC in the left supramarginal gyrus/superior temporal gyrus (VOI1) and left posterior cingulate/precuneus (VOI2). Positive correlation was revealed between perfusion in the VOI2 and Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination Revised (ACE-R) scores after filtering out the effect of age, levodopa equivalent dose (LED), and total intracranial volume (TIV) (R = 0.51, p = 0.04). Conversely, negative correlation between VOI1 and ACE-R was detected (R = -0.62, p = 0.01) after regressing out the effects of motor impairment, age, LED, and TIV. In non-demented subjects with PD, blood flow abnormalities in precuneus/posterior cingulate were linked to the level of motor impairment and global cognitive performance. Oppositely, perfusion abnormalities in supramarginal gyrus might serve as a compensatory mechanism for brain degeneration and decreased cognitive performance. | Parkinson's disease;Arterial spin labelling;Perfusion;Cognitive performance | WoS |
null | While previous work has focused on the positive impact of smiles on interpersonal perceptions, this research proposes and finds that smile intensity differentially affects two fundamental dimensions of social judgments-warmth and competence. A marketer displaying a broad smile, compared to a slight smile, is more likely to be perceived by consumers as warmer but less competent. Furthermore, the facilitative effect of smile intensity on warmth perceptions is more prominent among promotion-focused consumers and in low-risk consumption contexts, while the detrimental effect of smile intensity on competence perceptions is more likely to occur among prevention-focused consumers and in high-risk consumption situations. Field observations in a crowdfunding context further indicate that the effects of smile intensity on warmth and competence perceptions have downstream consequences on actual consumer behaviors. | smile intensity;warmth perceptions;competence perceptions;face-based inferences;social cognition | WoS |
null | While psychopathy research has been growing for decades, a relatively new area of research is corporate psychopathy. Corporate psychopaths are simply psychopaths working in organizational settings. They may be attracted to the financial, power, and status gains available in senior positions and can cause considerable damage within these roles from a manipulative interpersonal style to large-scale fraud. Based upon prior studies, we analyze psychopathy research pertaining to 23 moral emotions classified according to functional quality (positive vs. negative signal) and target (self vs. other). Based upon our review, we suggest that psychopaths are high in moral emotions associated with other-directed negative signals, low in self-directed negative signals, and low in other-directed positive signals. We found no empirical articles related to self-directed positive signals. This understanding of the specific moral emotion deficits of corporate psychopaths provides greater theoretical understanding and practical implications of knowing which individuals not to promote, though more research is needed on moral emotions that are faked for manipulative reasons. | Moral emotions;Emotions;Psychopathy;Corporate psychopathy;Anger | WoS |
null | While quantitative structure activity relationship (QSAR) models have been employed successfully for the prediction of small model protein chromatographic behavior, there have been few reports to date on the use of this methodology for larger, more complex proteins. Recently our group generated focused libraries of antibody Fab fragment variants with different combinations of surface hydrophobicities and electrostatic potentials, and demonstrated that the unique selectivities of multimodal resins can be exploited to separate these Fab variants. In this work, results from linear salt gradient experiments with these Fabs were employed to develop QSAR models for six chromatographic systems, including multimodal (Capto MMC, Nuvia cPrime, and two novel ligand prototypes), hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC; Capto Phenyl), and cation exchange (CEX; CM Sepharose FF) resins. The models utilized newly developed local descriptors to quantify changes around point mutations in the Fab libraries as well as novel cluster descriptors recently introduced by our group. Subsequent rounds of feature selection and linearized machine learning algorithms were used to generate robust, well-validated models with high training set correlations (R-2>0.70) that were well suited for predicting elution salt concentrations in the various systems. The developed models then were used to predict the retention of a deamidated Fab and isotype variants, with varying success. The results represent the first successful utilization of QSAR for the prediction of chromatographic behavior of complex proteins such as Fab fragments in multimodal chromatographic systems. The framework presented here can be employed to facilitate process development for the purification of biological products from product-related impurities by in silico screening of resin alternatives. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2017;114: 1231-1240. (c) 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. | QSAR;Fab variants;chromatography;protein surface properties;predictive model | WoS |
null | While research has begun addressing food insecurity (FI) in HIV-positive populations, knowledge regarding FI among individuals living with HIV-hepatitis C virus (HCV) co-infection is limited. This exploratory study examines sociodemographic, socioeconomic, behavioral, and clinical factors associated with FI in a cohort of HIV-HCV co-infected individuals in Canada. We analyzed longitudinal data from the Food Security and HIV-HCV Co-infection Study of the Canadian Co-infection Cohort collected between November 2012-June 2014 at 15 health centres. FI was measured using the Household Food Security Survey Module and classified using Health Canada criteria. Generalized estimating equations were used to assess factors associated with FI. Among 525 participants, 59 % experienced FI at their first study visit (baseline). Protective factors associated with FI (p < 0.05) included: enrolment at a Quebec study site (aOR: 0.42, 95 % CI: 0.27, 0.67), employment (aOR: 0.55, 95 % CI: 0.35, 0.87), and average personal monthly income (aOR per $100 CAD increase: 0.98, 95 % CI: 0.97, 0.99). Risk factors for FI included: recent injection drug use (aOR: 1.98, 95 % CI: 1.33, 2.96), trading away food (aOR: 5.23, 95 % CI: 2.53, 10.81), and recent experiences of depressive symptoms (aOR: 2.11, 95 % CI: 1.48, 3.01). FI is common in this co-infected population. Engagement of co-infected individuals in substance use treatments, harm reduction programs, and mental health services may mitigate FI in this vulnerable subset of the HIV-positive population. | Food insecurity;HIV;HCV;Co-infection;Canada | WoS |
null | While research on monoracial college students' experiences with racial microaggressions increases, minimal, if any, research focuses on multiracial college students' experiences with racial microaggressions. This manuscript addresses the gap in the literature by focusing on multiracial college students' experiences with multiracial microaggressions, a type of racial microaggression. Utilizing qualitative data, this study explored 3 different multiracial microaggressions that 10 multiracial women experienced at a historically white institution including, Denial of a Multiracial Reality, Assumption of a Monoracial Identity, and Not (Monoracial)Enough to Fit In.' | Multiracial students;racial microaggressions;racism | WoS |
null | While rising air and water pollution have become issues of widespread public concern in India, the relationship between spatial distribution of environmental pollution and social disadvantage has received less attention. This lack of attention becomes particularly relevant in the context of industrial pollution, as India continues to pursue industrial development policies without sufficient regard to its adverse social impacts. This letter examines industrial pollution in India from an environmental justice (EJ) perspective by presenting a national scale study of social inequities in the distribution of industrial hazardous waste generation. Our analysis connects district-level data from the 2009 National Inventory of Hazardous Waste Generating Industries with variables representing urbanization, social disadvantage, and socioeconomic status from the 2011 Census of India. Our results indicate that more urbanized and densely populated districts with a higher proportion of socially and economically disadvantaged residents are significantly more likely to generate hazardous waste. The quantity of hazardous waste generated is significantly higher in more urbanized but sparsely populated districts with a higher proportion of economically disadvantaged households, after accounting for other relevant explanatory factors such as literacy and social disadvantage. These findings underscore the growing need to incorporate EJ considerations in future industrial development and waste management in India. | environmental justice;industrial pollution;hazardous waste management;economic development;quantitative;India | WoS |
null | While Russian roulette (RR) and splitting are considered fundamental importance sampling techniques in neutron transport simulations, they have so far received relatively little attention in light transport. In computer graphics, RR and splitting are most often based solely on local reflectance properties. However, this strategy can be far from optimal in common scenes with non-uniform light distribution as it does not accurately predict the actual path contribution. In our approach, like in neutron transport, we estimate the expected contribution of a path as the product of the path weight and a pre-computed estimate of the adjoint transport solution. We use this estimate to generate so-called weight window which keeps the path contribution roughly constant through RR and splitting. As a result, paths in unimportant regions tend to be terminated early while in the more important regions they are spawned by splitting. This results in substantial variance reduction in both path tracing and photon tracing-based simulations. Furthermore, unlike the standard computer graphics RR, our approach does not interfere with importance-driven sampling of scattering directions, which results in superior convergence when such a technique is combined with our approach. We provide a justification of this behavior by relating our approach to the zero-variance random walk theory. | Russian roulette;splitting;light transport;importance sampling;zero-variance schemes | WoS |
null | While serving a vital role in the undergraduate curriculum, capstone design courses face a variety of challenges. These challenges include lack of student value & utilization of course objectives & assessment tools, sponsor retention & funding issues, and large instructional demands. Many of these challenges may be addressed by placing a larger and more genuine emphasis on assessing the product of the design project, not only the process by which the design occurs. Oregon State University's (OSU) Mechanical, Industrial, and Manufacturing Engineering capstone course currently organizes, manages, and evaluates capstone projects using the House of Quality (HoQ). In general, the HoQ is a tool used to relate project requirements to design performance specifications. Additionally, at OSU the HoQ serves as (i) a contract between students, sponsors, course instructors, and faculty advisers detailing exactly what is required from the design project, (ii) a guiding tool to allow students to self-monitor their progress throughout the course, and (iii) an objective means of evaluating the students' performance in terms of the product produced by their capstone design projects. This paper describes the OSU course, introduces the HoQ, and presents a time-line of the implementation of product assessment at OSU. Key changes are shown during the move from a purely process based assessment framework to the current state where 50% of total points in the design implementation term of the capstone course are awarded based on the student design team accomplishing design product metrics per sponsor defined design requirements. In addition, the authors report on the course instructor's perception regarding the effect of implementing the HoQ in the OSU capstone course. Finally, conclusions and implications of the work are presented. | capstone design;product assessment;house of quality;quality function deployment | WoS |
null | While several organs in mammals retain partial regenerative capability following tissue damage, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Recently, the Hippo signaling pathway, better known for its function in organ size control, has been shown to play a pivotal role in regulating tissue homeostasis and regeneration. Upon tissue injury, the activity of YAP, the major effector of the Hippo pathway, is transiently induced, which in turn promotes expansion of tissue-resident progenitors and facilitates tissue regeneration. In this review, with a general focus on the Hippo pathway, we will discuss its major components, functions in stem cell biology, involvement in tissue regeneration in different organs, and potential strategies for developing Hippo pathway-targeted regenerative medicines. | Hippo;YAP;regeneration | WoS |
null | While several studies have examined the effect of renewable portfolio standard laws on renewable generation in states, previous literature has not assessed the potential for spatial dependence in these policies. Using recent spatial panel methods, this paper estimates a number of econometric models to examine the impact of RPS policies when spatial autocorrelation is taken into account. Consistent with previous literature, we find that RPS laws do not have a significant impact on renewable generation within a state. However, we find evidence that state RPS laws have a significant positive impact on the share of renewable generation in the NERC region as a whole. These findings provide evidence that electricity markets are efficiently finding the lowest-cost locations to serve renewable load in states with more stringent RPS laws. In addition, our results suggest that RPS laws may be more effective tools for environmental policy than for economic development. | Renewable Portfolio Standards;Renewable Energy Policy;Spatial Econometrics | WoS |
null | While smiling enhances women's facial attractiveness, the findings are inconclusive for men. The present study investigated the effect of smiling on male facial attractiveness for short- and long-term prospective partners using East Asian and European samples. In Experiment 1 (N = 218), where female participants rated male facial attractiveness, the facilitative effect of smiling was present when judging long-term partners but absent for short- term partners. This pattern was observed for East Asians as well as for Europeans. Experiment 2 (N = 71) demonstrated that smiling male faces engendered an impression suitable for long-term partnership (e.g., high ratings of trustworthiness) while neutral faces produced an impression suitable for short- term partnership (e.g., high ratings of masculinity). We discuss these results in terms of opposing evolutionary strategies in mate choice: heritable benefit versus paternal investment. | facial attractiveness;facial expression;romantic relationship;relationship context | WoS |
null | While some literature has explored women's feelings about social identities like fatness, race, disability, queerness, and aging, little research has examined, from an intersectional perspective, how women construct a dreaded or viscerally disgusting body and how this produces appropriate femininity. This paper utilized thematic analysis of qualitative data from a community sample of 20 US women (mean age = 34, SD = 13.35) to illuminate how women imagined a body they dreaded. Responses indicated that defective femininity, having freak body parts, fear of excessiveness, loathing a particular person's body, and language of smelliness and disgust all appeared, weaving together women's fears about fatness, dark skin, and becoming old or disabled. Implications incorporating visceral disgust to examinations of body image, and the intersectional foundations of women's dreaded selves, were discussed. Further, imagining Other bodies may produce especially vivid narratives around social biases and internalized oppression. | Body image;sexism;disgust;women's bodies;gender roles;intersectionality;fatness | WoS |
null | While teaching network analysis to undergraduate students, the frequency response of electrical circuits consisting of passive elements such as resistors, capacitors and inductors are commonly analysed. Students are familiar with the sharp amplitude peak or trough normally occurring at resonance. This observation is not only intuitively pleasing, but also consistent with the concept of resonance in many physical systems. In the well-known series and parallel RLC circuits, the maximum and minimum currents, respectively, occur at resonance. Because of this, many students and even instructors (sometimes) may erroneously assume that the resonance in general RLC circuits implies maximum or minimum current. In this paper, it will be shown that this is generally untrue. The theoretical analyses and experimental validation of series, parallel and series-parallel RLC circuits are presented to address this common misconception. | engineering education;frequency response;resonance;RLC circuits | WoS |
null | While the cis-acyltransferase modular polyketde synthese assembly lines have largely structurally dissected. enzymes from within the recently discovered trans-acyltransferase polyketide synthase assembly lines are just starting to be observe crystallographically. Here we examine the ketoreductase (KR) from the first polyketide synthase module of the bacilacene nonribosomal peptide syrithetaseipolyketide synthase at 2.35 angstrom resolution. This KR naturally reduces both alpha- and beta-keto groups and is the only KR known to do so during the biosynthesis of a polyketide. The isolated KR not only reduced an N-acetylcysteamine-bound beta-keto substrate to a alpha-beta-hydroxy product, but also an N-acetylcysteamine-botind or-keto substrate to an alpha,beta-hydrorq, product. That the substrates must enter the active site from opposite directions to generate these stereo chemistries suggests that the acyl-phosphrlpalitetheine moiety is capable of accessing very different conformations despite being anchored to a serilie residue of a docked acyl carrier protein. The features enabling stereocontrolled alpha-ketoreduction may not be extensive since a KR that naturally reduces a p-keto group within a cis-acyltransferase polyketide synthase was identified that performs a completely stereoselective reduction of the same a-keto substrate to generate the nu,alpha-hdrorry product. A sequence analysis of trans-acyltransferase KRs reveals that a single residue, rather than a three-residue motif found in cis-acyltransfemse KRs, is predictive of the orientation of the resulting beta-hydroxyl group. | polyketide slartliase;crystallography;enzymology;alpha-ketoreduction;biocatalysis | WoS |
Subsets and Splits