City University of New York - College of Staten Island

A wavelet-based method is re-introduced in an oceanographic and spectral context to estimate wavenumber spectrum and spectral flux of kinetic energy and enstrophy. We apply this to a numerical simulation of idealized, doubly-periodic quasi-geostrophic flows, i.e. the flow is constrained by the Coriolis force and vertical stratification. The double periodicity allows for a straightforward Fourier analysis as the baseline method. Our wavelet spectra agree well with the canonical Fourier approach but with the additional strengths of negating the necessity for the data to be periodic and being able to extract local anisotropies in the flow. Caution is warranted, however, when computing higher-order quantities, such as spectral flux.

Bones are connective tissues mainly made of collagen proteins with calcium phosphate deposits. They undergo constant remodeling, including destroying existing bones tissues (known as bone resorption) and rebuilding new ones. Bone remodeling has been well-described in mammals, but it is not the case in fish. Here, we focused on the mobile phase of the bone vascular system by carefully preserving moisture in adult Atlantic herring intermuscular bones. We detected pore water with high ionic strength and soluble degraded peptides whose 1H-transverse relaxation times, T2s, exceed 15 milliseconds. With favorable T2s, we incorporated a solution state spinlock scheme into the INEPT techniques to unequivocally demonstrate collagen degradation. In addition, we detected a substantial amount of inorganic phosphate in solution with 31P-NMR in the considerable background of solid hydroxyapatite calcium phosphate by saturation recovery experiment. It is consistent with the idea that bone resorption degrades bone collagen and releases calcium ions and phosphate ions in the pore water with increased ionic strength. Our report is the first to probe the resorption process in the heterogenous bone microstructure with a rigorous characterization of 1H and 13C relaxation behavior and direct assignments. In addition, we contribute to the fish bones literature by investigating fish bone remodeling using NMR for the first time.

Background: COVID-19 hand hygiene recommendation had resulted in a hand eczema ­exacerbation. The guidelines of care for the management of hand eczema recommend the use of educational interventions for patients. Objective: An educational intervention was designed to increase the patient’s knowledge of appropriate hand hygiene and improve the patient’s symptoms. Methods: The validated self-assessment patient-oriented eczema measure tool and pre- and post-tests were used to measure outcomes prior to educational intervention and again in 1–2 months postintervention. Of the 26 participants enrolled, 21 completed the study. The study included newly diagnosed or established patients with eczema, and the education material was available for all patients. Results: The difference between the average pretest and initial posttest was statistically significant ( df = 20, P ( T ≤ t ) = 0.000663535, p < .05). Similarly, the difference between the average pretest and follow-up posttest was also statistically significant ( df = 20, P ( T ≤ t ) < 0.001, p < .05). Participants also had a 2.04 mean point decrease in symptoms severity. Conclusions: The results demonstrated an improvement in patient’s knowledge and reduction in symptoms. Implications for Nursing: The program can serve as a new guideline for managing hand eczema symptoms due to COVID-19 in the adult population in the private office setting.

The standard of care for most malignant solid tumors still involves tumor resection followed by chemo- and radiation therapy, hoping to eliminate the residual tumor cells. This strategy has been successful in extending the life of many cancer patients. Still, for primary glioblastoma (GBM), it has not controlled recurrence or increased the life expectancies of patients. Amid such disappointment, attempts to design therapies using the cells in the tumor microenvironment (TME) have gained ground. Such “immunotherapies” have so far overwhelmingly used genetic modifications of Tc cells (Car-T cell therapy) or blocking of proteins (PD-1 or PD-L1) that inhibit Tc-cell-mediated cancer cell elimination. Despite such advances, GBM has remained a “Kiss of Death” for most patients. Although the use of innate immune cells, such as the microglia, macrophages, and natural killer (NK) cells, has been considered in designing therapies for cancers, such attempts have not reached the clinic yet. We have reported a series of preclinical studies highlighting strategies to “re-educate” GBM-associated microglia and macrophages (TAMs) so that they assume a tumoricidal status. Such cells then secrete chemokines to recruit activated, GBM-eliminating NK cells and cause the rescue of 50–60% GBM mice in a syngeneic model of GBM. This review discusses a more fundamental question that most biochemists harbor: “since we are generating mutant cells in our body all the time, why don’t we get cancer more often?” The review visits publications addressing this question and discusses some published strategies for re-educating the TAMs to take on the “sentry” role they initially maintained in the absence of cancer.

Background The seemingly simple tasks of standing and walking require continuous integration of complex spinal reflex circuits between descending motor commands and ascending sensory inputs. Spinal cord injury greatly impairs standing and walking ability, but both improve with locomotor training. However, even after multiple locomotor training sessions, abnormal muscle activity and coordination persist. Thus, locomotor training alone cannot fully optimize the neuronal plasticity required to strengthen the synapses connecting the brain, spinal cord, and local circuits and potentiate neuronal activity based on need. Transcutaneous spinal cord (transspinal) stimulation alters motoneuron excitability over multiple segments by bringing motoneurons closer to threshold, a prerequisite for effectively promoting spinal locomotor network neuromodulation and strengthening neural connectivity of the injured human spinal cord. Importantly, whether concurrent treatment with transspinal stimulation and locomotor training maximizes motor recovery after spinal cord injury is unknown. Methods Forty-five individuals with chronic spinal cord injury are receiving 40 sessions of robotic gait training primed with 30 Hz transspinal stimulation at the Thoracic 10 vertebral level. Participants are randomized to receive 30 min of active or sham transspinal stimulation during standing or active transspinal stimulation while supine followed by 30 min of robotic gait training. Over the course of locomotor training, the body weight support, treadmill speed, and leg guidance force are adjusted as needed for each participant based on absence of knee buckling during the stance phase and toe dragging during the swing phase. At baseline and after completion of all therapeutic sessions, neurophysiological recordings registering corticospinal and spinal neural excitability changes along with clinical assessment measures of standing and walking, and autonomic function via questionnaires regarding bowel, bladder, and sexual function are taken. Discussion The results of this mechanistic randomized clinical trial will demonstrate that tonic transspinal stimulation strengthens corticomotoneuronal connectivity and dynamic neuromodulation through posture-dependent corticospinal and spinal neuroplasticity. We anticipate that this mechanistic clinical trial will greatly impact clinical practice because, in real-world clinical settings, noninvasive transspinal stimulation can be more easily and widely implemented than invasive epidural stimulation. Additionally, by applying multiple interventions to accelerate motor recovery, we are employing a treatment regimen that reflects a true clinical approach. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04807764 . Registered on March 19, 2021.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic shut-down of in-person research laboratories, remote data collection became mainstream in developmental psychology research. The aim of this study was to test the feasibility of two remote data collection methods for studying sleep and motor development in infancy and the relationship between the two. We asked 1,371 parents of infants aged 4 to 17 months who used the Nanit baby monitor to take the on-line Survey of Well-being of Young Children (SWYC) about their infants’ motor experience. Nanit uses auto-videosomnography and computer vision algorithms to calculate and report summary statistics of infants’ sleep. Nanit replicated all expected developmental trends in sleep, while the SWYC only replicated some, appearing to underestimate infants at the transition between motor milestones. However, we replicated some well-established findings regarding the relationship between sleep and motor development using both measures, suggesting that both Nanit and the SWYC can feasibly be used for remote data collection, especially if some modifications were made to how researchers explained using the SWYC to caregivers. Researchers should consider alternatives to traditional research methods not only when in-person participation is difficult or impossible, but also when large samples are needed and/or simple measurement tools are sufficient.

Simultaneous analysis of carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios by SIMS was applied for the first‐time to a natural diamond from the Kelsey Lake kimberlite, State Line Distinct, Colorado (UWD‐1). This in situ procedure is faster, reduces sample size for analysis, and measures both isotope ratios from a single ~ 10 μm diameter pit, a critical advantage for zoned diamonds. The carbon isotope ratio (expressed as δ13CVPDB) of the bulk UWD‐1 crystal, determined by the conventional combustion method in the present study, is ‐5.9‰ ± 0.2‰ (VPDB, 2s). Nitrogen mass fraction ([N]) and isotope ratio (expressed as δ15NAir) were determined by stepwise combustion and gas‐source mass‐spectrometry, resulting in 553 ± 64 μg g‐1 and ‐6.7‰ ± 1.1‰ (Air, 2s), respectively. Secondary ions of 12C2‐, 12C13C‐, 12C14N‐, and 12C15N‐ were simultaneously measured by SIMS using three Faraday cups and one electron multiplier. The spot‐to‐spot reproducibility of δ13C and δ15N values for the UWD‐1 (178 spots on sixteen chips, 10 μm spots), were 0.3‰ and 1.6‰, respectively (2s). While 12C14N‐/12C2‐ ratios, which are an indicator for [N], varied up to 12% among these sixteen chips, such variation did not correlate with either δ13C or δ15N values. We propose that UWD‐1 is a suitable reference sample for microscale in situ analysis of δ13C and δ15N values in diamond samples.

It is very important to understand the needs of caregivers to be able to empower caregivers and to develop or improve services around the world. Therefore, research in different regions is needed to understand differences in caregivers needs between countries, but also between areas within countries. This study investigated differences in needs and service use between caregivers of autistic children in Morocco, living in urban and rural areas. A total of 131 Moroccan caregivers of autistic children took part in the study and responded to an interview survey. The results showed both similarities and differences between urban and rural living caregivers' challenges and needs. Autistic children from urban communities were much more likely to receive intervention and attend school than children from rural communities, even though age and verbal skills of the two groups of children were comparable. Caregivers expressed similar needs for improved care and education, but different challenges in caring. Limited autonomy skills in children were more challenging to rural caregivers, while limited social-communicational skills were more challenging to urban caregivers. These differences may inform healthcare policy-makers and program developers. Adaptive interventions are important to respond to regional needs, resources, and practices. In addition, the results showed the importance of addressing challenges as experienced by caregivers such as costs related to care, barriers in access to information, or stigma. Addressing these issues may help reduce both global and within-country differences in autism care.

We study the path behavior of the symmetric walk on some special comb-type subsets of ℤ ² which are obtained from ℤ ² by generalizing the comb having finitely many horizontal lines instead of one.

Introduction Graduate students engage in college teaching with varied attitudes and approaches. Their teaching practices may be influenced by professional development experiences related to pedagogy, and their personality traits. Methods Through an online survey of graduate students teaching undergraduate courses ( N = 109, 69.7% women, M age = 30 years, 59% psychology), we examined whether self-reported participation in professional development related to pedagogy, teaching assistantship (TA) experience, academic discipline (psychology vs. other), and Big Five personality traits were associated with variation in teaching practices. Results Participation in professional development correlated positively with years of undergraduate teaching experience and with the trait of openness. Hierarchical regressions indicated that professional development served to promote student-focused practices and discouraged lecturing, while TA experience (mostly restricted to psychology instructors) promoted lecturing and discouraged a student-focused approach. Regarding academic discipline, psychology instructors gave higher endorsements to an information transmission, teacher-focused approach to teaching, lectured more, and were less likely to provoke debate than instructors of other disciplines. Such differences may be attributed in part to larger enrollments of psychology courses. Regarding personality traits, both openness and agreeableness were associated with some student-focused practices, while conscientiousness was associated with an information transmission, teacher-focused approach and with practices aligned with backward course design. Discussion In light of previous evidence that personality traits are malleable, graduate training programs may want to cultivate traits like openness as a means of encouraging graduate students to reflect on their pedagogy and seek ways to improve their teaching through professional development. Relatedly, graduate programs should aim to support students’ participation in professional development related to pedagogy and, in doing so, communicate its value.

The current study sought to tease apart the unique contributions of napping and nighttime sleep to infant learning, specifically in the context of motor problem solving. We challenged 54 walking infants to solve a novel locomotor problem at three time points—training, test, and follow-up the next morning. One group of infants napped during the delay between training and test. Another group did not sleep during the delay. A third group received the test immediately after training with no delay. Only the Nap group’s strategy choices continued to improve through the follow-up session, suggesting that daytime sleep has an active role in strengthening otherwise fragile memory. Although group did not affect strategy maintenance, walk experience did, suggesting that task difficulty may shape the impact of sleep on learning. Thus, day sleep and night sleep make independent contributions to the consolidation of motor problem-solving strategies during infancy.

Background Turkish immigrants form the largest ethnic minority group in the Netherlands and show a higher prevalence of (i) cardiovascular disease (CVD), (ii) cigarette smoking, and (iii) type 2 diabetes (T2D) as compared to the native Dutch. This study examines the association of CVD risk factors: serum cotinine, as an indicator of cigarette smoke, and lipid-related indices among first-generation (foreign-born) Turkish immigrants with T2D living in deprived neighbourhoods in the Netherlands. Methods A total of 110 participants, physician-diagnosed with T2D, aged 30 years and older, were recruited by convenience sampling from the Schilderswijk neighbourhood of The Hague in a clinic-based cross-sectional design. Serum cotinine (independent variable) was measured with a solid-phase competitive chemiluminescent immunoassay. Serum lipids/lipoproteins (dependent variables) were determined by enzymatic assays and included: total cholesterol (CHOL), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c), and triglycerides (TG). The Castelli Risk Index-I (CRI-I), and Atherogenic Coefficient (AC) were calculated using standardised formulas and assessed as dependent variables in multiple linear regression (MLR) models. Log-transformation of HDL-c, TG, CRI-I, and AC values were performed to account for the extreme right skewness of the data. Statistical analyses included descriptive characteristics and MLR models were adjusted for all major confounders of cotinine and lipids. Results The sample size had a mean age of 52.5 years [standard deviation (SD) = 9.21]. The geometric mean of serum cotinine level was 236.63 ng/mL [confidence interval (CI) = 175.89 ± 318.36]. The MLR models indicated that high serum cotinine levels (≥10 ng/mL) was positively associated with HDL-c ( P = 0.04), CRI-I ( P = 0.03), and AC ( P = 0.03) in the age, gender, WC, diabetes medications, and statins-adjusted models ( n = 32). Conclusion This study indicated that lipid ratios of HDL-c, CRI-I and AC are dependent determinants of serum cotinine and higher serum cotinine levels (≥10 ng/mL) are associated with worse HDL-c, CRI-I and AC values in participants with T2D. Clinical comprehension of these biochemical indicators (lipids/lipoproteins) and symptomatic results (CVD risk) in individuals with T2D will aid in the intervention (smoking) approach for this vulnerable cohort (Turkish immigrants). Therapy that is targetted to modify this behavioural risk factor may improve cardiovascular health outcomes and prevent comorbidities in Turkish immigrants with T2D living in deprived neighbourhoods in the Netherlands. In the meantime, this report contributes to a growing body of information and provides essential guidance to researchers and clinicians.

This paper defines an operation of multiplication of qubits and describes a subspace of multi-qubit superpositions on which this operation can be applied. In this subspace of superpositions, we describe the operation of quantum convolution using the Fourier transform. The multiplicative group of qubits is described with inverse operations and division of qubits. Since the quantum superpositions require the normalization of amplitudes of the basis states, all these operations are operations composed of Givens rotations. Examples of the ideal low-pass and high-pass filters over the quantum signals described by such superpositions are given. Also, we describe qubit quadratic equations and solutions with an example.

This book redefines Haiti from the first “Black Republic” to the first bourgeois nation-state of the Americas, albeit one forged from a slave insurrection by an alliance of black and mulatto natives of Saint-Domingue who had been free, enslaved, or slaveholders. In a prototype of bourgeois political economy, the state proclaims universal liberty of the person within the nation and subjugates the labor of a class of working people to personal enrichment in an elite class that controls capital. It also withholds citizenship from native Africans. Mapping and theorizing the conjugated work of race and class in the politics of privilege in Haiti, this ethnography’s ultimate ambition as engaged scholarship is to contribute clarity on the instrumentality of race, color, and nation in postcolonial social stratification in the orbit of the West. The country was the first postcolonial Western place, where non-whites attained privileges hitherto reserved for whites. Today, throughout the West, elite subjects routinely hold powers that reproduce class privilege and concomitant social inequality, while becoming in elite discourses racial subjects whose “race” is presumptively a formation of oppressed people. How do we reveal who is doing what to whom beyond the race discourse? How do we speak to race and racism, when oppressors “of color” can experience racism while standing in solidarity coherently with “white” oppressors, and political resistance by the oppressed remains fragmented in racialism? As David Scott might say, this study seeks questions worth asking, when the answer worth having is a social justice beyond racial justice in the postcolonial bourgeois society.

This book makes two main claims: that Shakespeare’s Sonnets contains intricate hidden organization, and that Shakespeare was far more engaged with other poets and with pursuing a career as a poet than is generally assumed. The first claim presupposes that the organizational schemes have been hiding in plain view for over four centuries. The second is literary-historical and biographical, because it speaks to Shakespeare’s cultural milieu and personal ambitions. Although ‘hidden’ and ‘hiding’ may create the impression that Shakespeare wrote in code, the fundamental reason why his schemes have gone unnoticed is historical: within decades of his death, conventions of sonnet sequences became unfamiliar, and they have largely remained so since. The first claim might also be said to follow from the second, because the poets with whom Shakespeare engages most intensely wrote the most complex sequences. In proving these claims, the book approaches Sonnets as three distinct and related things: as a free-standing sequence, as a sonnet sequence among other poets’ sequences, and as a work in Shakespeare’s career as a poet.

Gender roles demand that women devote more time to non-market labor such as childcare and household responsibilities. Therefore, the labor market hinders women’s ability to compete with their male counterparts, whose time is less subject to the demands of non-market work. The result is a performance gap between men and women. To obtain the flexibility to more efficiently perform both their market and non-market work, many women choose to be self-employed and operate their businesses from home. Using a large sample of US firms, we find that women who choose to operate their own businesses from home are able to narrow the performance gap between men and women entrepreneurs. Plain English Summary Women partially overcome societal disadvantages by running businesses from home. Women business owners achieve significant synergies by working from home that enable them to narrow the gap in performance relative to men. An analysis of over 600,000 small businesses reveals that there is a significant gap in performance between businesses run by men versus those run by women. Prior research shows that men enjoy structural advantages over women due to society’s demands on women’s time to perform household duties or provide childcare. We find that women are able to narrow the resulting performance gap by operating their businesses from home, providing them increased flexibility to manage their time. Our paper indicates that supporting women-owned businesses with policies that grant greater flexibility or more equitably or efficiently distribute household work can improve economic efficiency.