National Web Studies: Mapping Iran Online

This work offers an approach to conceptualizing, demarcating and analyzing a national web. Instead of defining a priori the types of websites to be included in a national web, the approach put forward here makes use of web devices (platforms and engines) that purport to provide (ranked) lists of URLs relevant to a particular country. Once gathered in such a manner, the websites are studied for their properties, following certain of the common measures (such as responsiveness and page age), and repurposing them to speak in terms of the health of a national web: Are sites lively, or neglected? The case study in question is Iran, which is special for the degree of Internet censorship undertaken by the state. Despite the widespread censorship, we have found a highly responsive Iranian web. We also report on the relationship between blockage, responsiveness and freshness, i.e., whether blocked sites are still up, and also whether they have been recently updated. Blocked yet blogging portions of the Iranian web show strong indications of an active Internet censorship circumvention culture. In seeking to answer, additionally, whether censorship has killed content, a textual analysis shows continued use of language considered critical by the regime, thereby indicating a dearth of self-censorship, at least for websites that are recommended by the leading Iranian platform, Balatarin. The study concludes with the implications of the approach put forward for national web studies, including a description of the benefits of a national web health index

Community Cultural Wealth in the Community College: A Systematic Review of Latinx Student Engagement

This study is a systematic review of existing research literature dealing with Yosso’s (2005) community cultural wealth model and its influence on practices of student engagement for Latinx community college students in the United States. Inclusion criteria was limited to peer-reviewed studies and doctoral dissertations published between January 2014 and December 2019. A total of 21 studies were discovered, data extracted, and synthesized using methods of qualitative data collection and analysis. Study findings included two to four practices for each of the six forms of capital in Yosso’s theoretical framework. Practices such as mentoring, goal-setting, program mapping, storytelling/testimonios, and an emphasis on relationship with institutional agent(s) were among the primary findings that crossed multiple forms of capital. The dissertation also possesses an extended discussion on implications and suggested practices for community colleges to leverage the existing cultural capital of Latinx students

Addition of a dairy fraction rich in milk fat globule membrane to a high-saturated fat meal reduces the postprandial insulinaemic and inflammatory response in overweight and obese adults.

Meals high in SFA, particularly palmitate, are associated with postprandial inflammation and insulin resistance. Milk fat globule membrane (MFGM) has anti-inflammatory properties that may attenuate the negative effects of SFA-rich meals. Our objective was to examine the postprandial metabolic and inflammatory response to a high-fat meal composed of palm oil (PO) compared with PO with an added dairy fraction rich in MFGM (PO+MFGM) in overweight and obese men and women (n 36) in a randomised, double-blinded, cross-over trial. Participants consumed two isoenergetic high-fat meals composed of a smoothie enriched with PO with v. without a cream-derived complex milk lipid fraction ( dairy fraction rich in MFGM) separated by a washout of 1-2 weeks. Serum cytokines, adhesion molecules, cortisol and markers of inflammation were measured at fasting, and at 1, 3 and 6 h postprandially. Glucose, insulin and lipid profiles were analysed in plasma. Consumption of the PO + MFGM v. PO meal resulted in lower total cholesterol (P = 0·021), LDL-cholesterol (P = 0·046), soluble intracellular adhesion molecule (P = 0·005) and insulin (P = 0·005) incremental AUC, and increased IL-10 (P = 0·013). Individuals with high baseline C-reactive protein (CRP) concentrations (≥3 mg/l, n 17) had higher (P = 0·030) insulin at 1 h after the PO meal than individuals with CRP concentrations <3 mg/l (n 19). The addition of MFGM attenuated this difference between CRP groups. The addition of a dairy fraction rich in MFGM attenuated the negative effects of a high-SFA meal by reducing postprandial cholesterol, inflammatory markers and insulin response in overweight and obese individuals, particularly in those with elevated CRP

Using \u27big data\u27 to explain visits to lakes in 17 US states

We use large dataset on US lakes from 17 states to estimate the relationship between summertime visits to lakes as proxied by social media use and the lakes\u27 water quality, amenities, and surrounding landscape features and socioeconomic conditions. Prior to estimating these relationships we worked on 1) selecting a parsimonious set of explanatory variables from a roster of more than 100 lake attributes and 2) accounting for the non-random pattern of missing water quality data. These steps 1) improved the interpretability of the estimated visit models and 2) widened our estimated models\u27 scope of statistical inference. We used Machine Learning techniques to select parsimonious sets of explanatory variables and multiple imputation to estimate water quality at lakes missing this data. We found the following relationships between summertime visits to lake and their attributes across the 17-state region. First, we estimated that every additional meter of average summer-time Secchi depth between 1995 and 2014 was associated with at least 7.0% more summer-time visits to a lake between 2005 to 2014, all else equal. Second, we consistently found that lake amenities, such as beaches, boat launches, and public toilets, were more powerful predictors of visits than water quality. Third, we also found that visits to a lake were strongly influenced by the lake\u27s accessibility and its distance to nearby lakes and the amenities the nearby lakes offered. Finally, our results highlight the biased results that big data -based research on recreation can generate if non-random missing observation patterns in the data are not corrected

Consumption of a high-fat meal containing cheese compared with a vegan alternative lowers postprandial C-reactive protein in overweight and obese individuals with metabolic abnormalities: a randomised controlled cross-over study.

Dietary recommendations suggest decreased consumption of SFA to minimise CVD risk; however, not all foods rich in SFA are equivalent. To evaluate the effects of SFA in a dairy food matrix, as Cheddar cheese, v. SFA from a vegan-alternative test meal on postprandial inflammatory markers, a randomised controlled cross-over trial was conducted in twenty overweight or obese adults with metabolic abnormalities. Individuals consumed two isoenergetic high-fat mixed meals separated by a 1- to 2-week washout period. Serum was collected at baseline, and at 1, 3 and 6 h postprandially and analysed for inflammatory markers (IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IL-17, IL-18, TNFα, monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1)), acute-phase proteins C-reactive protein (CRP) and serum amyloid-A (SAA), cellular adhesion molecules and blood lipids, glucose and insulin. Following both high-fat test meals, postprandial TAG concentrations rose steadily (P < 0·05) without a decrease by 6 h. The incremental AUC (iAUC) for CRP was significantly lower (P < 0·05) in response to the cheese compared with the vegan-alternative test meal. A treatment effect was not observed for any other inflammatory markers; however, for both test meals, multiple markers significantly changed from baseline over the 6 h postprandial period (IL-6, IL-8, IL-18, TNFα, MCP-1, SAA). Saturated fat in the form of a cheese matrix reduced the iAUC for CRP compared with a vegan-alternative test meal during the postprandial 6 h period. The study is registered at clinicaltrials.gov under NCT01803633

Absence of a metallicity effect for ultra-short-period planets

Ultra-short-period (USP) planets are a newly recognized class of planets with periods shorter than one day and radii smaller than about 2 Earth radii. It has been proposed that USP planets are the solid cores of hot Jupiters that lost their gaseous envelopes due to photo-evaporation or Roche lobe overflow. We test this hypothesis by asking whether USP planets are associated with metal-rich stars, as has long been observed for hot Jupiters. We find the metallicity distributions of USP-planet and hot-Jupiter hosts to be significantly different ($p = 3\times 10^{-4}$), based on Keck spectroscopy of Kepler stars. Evidently, the sample of USP planets is not dominated by the evaporated cores of hot Jupiters. The metallicity distribution of stars with USP planets is indistinguishable from that of stars with short-period planets with sizes between 2--4~$R_\oplus$. Thus it remains possible that the USP planets are the solid cores of formerly gaseous planets smaller than Neptune.Comment: AJ, in pres

A low stellar obliquity for WASP-47, a compact multiplanet system with a hot Jupiter and an ultra-short period planet

We have detected the Rossiter-Mclaughlin effect during a transit of WASP-47b, the only known hot Jupiter with close planetary companions. By combining our spectroscopic observations with Kepler photometry, we show that the projected stellar obliquity is $\lambda = 0^\circ \pm 24^\circ$. We can firmly exclude a retrograde orbit for WASP-47b, and rule out strongly misaligned prograde orbits. Low obliquities have also been found for most of the other compact multiplanet systems that have been investigated. The Kepler-56 system, with two close-in gas giants transiting their subgiant host star with an obliquity of at least 45$^\circ$, remains the only clear counterexample.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, Accepted for publication on ApJL, comments welcom

Infective mitral valve myxoma with coronary artery embolization: Surgical intervention followed by prolonged survival

Mauyaetal.CarbonBalanceandManagement (2015) 10:10 DOI 10.1186/s13021-015-0021-x © 2015 Mauya et al.; licensee Springer. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited.Background: Airborne laser scanning (ALS) has recently emerged as a promising tool to acquire auxiliary information for improving aboveground biomass (AGB) estimation in sample-based forest inventories. Under design-based and model-assisted inferential frameworks, the estimation relies on a model that relates the auxiliary ALS metrics to AGB estimated on ground plots. The size of the field plots has been identified as one source of model uncertainty because of the so-called boundary effects which increases with decreasing plot size. Recent re- search in tropical forests has aimed to quantify the boundary effects on model prediction accuracy, but evidence of the consequences for the final AGB estimates is lacking. In this study we analyzed the effect of field plot size on model prediction accuracy and its implication when used in a model-assisted inferential framework. Results: The results showed that the prediction accuracy of the model improved as the plot size increased. The adjusted R 2 increased from 0.35 to 0.74 while the relative root mean square error decreased from 63.6 to 29.2%. Indicators of boundary effects were identified and confirmed to have significant effects on the model residuals. Variance estimates of model-assisted mean AGB relative to corresponding variance estimates of pure field-based AGB, decreased with increasing plot size in the range from 200 to 3000 m 2 . The variance ratio of field-based esti- mates relative to model-assisted variance ranged from 1.7 to 7.7. Conclusions: This study showed that the relative improvement in precision of AGB estimation when increasing field-plot size, was greater for an ALS-assisted inventory compared to that of a pure field-based inventory

Characterization of Information Automation on the Flight Deck

This paper summarizes the results of analyses to identify characteristics of flight deck information automation systems which can lead to potential human factors issues. Information automation systems are responsible for the collection, processing, analysis, and presentation of information to the flightcrew. Information automation systems can pose human factors issues and challenges particular to this type of automation. This paper presents a formal definition of information automation and identifies characteristics and associated human factors issues in the domain of aircraft flight deck systems. A method was developed to identify a set of consistent and independent characteristics of information automation. Characteristics, a set of properties or attributes which describe its operation or behavior, can be used to identify and assess potential human factors issues. This effort lays the groundwork for providing data to support the development of recommendations specific to different characteristics of information automation

The Two-Handed Tile Assembly Model is not Intrinsically Universal

The Two-Handed Tile Assembly Model (2HAM) is a model of algorithmic self-assembly in which large structures, or assemblies of tiles, are grown by the binding of smaller assemblies. In order to bind, two assemblies must have matching glues that can simultaneously touch each other, and stick together with strength that is at least the temperature τ, where τ is some fixed positive integer. We ask whether the 2HAM is intrinsically universal. In other words, we ask: is there a single 2HAM tile set U which can be used to simulate any instance of the model? Our main result is a negative answer to this question. We show that for all τ′ < τ, each temperature-τ′ 2HAM tile system does not simulate at least one temperature-τ 2HAM tile system. This impossibility result proves that the 2HAM is not intrinsically universal and stands in contrast to the fact that the (single-tile addition) abstract Tile Assembly Model is intrinsically universal. On the positive side, we prove that, for every fixed temperature τ ≥ 2, temperature-τ 2HAM tile systems are indeed intrinsically universal. In other words, for each τ there is a single intrinsically universal 2HAM tile set U_τ that, when appropriately initialized, is capable of simulating the behavior of any temperature-τ 2HAM tile system. As a corollary, we find an infinite set of infinite hierarchies of 2HAM systems with strictly increasing simulation power within each hierarchy. Finally, we show that for each τ, there is a temperature-τ 2HAM system that simultaneously simulates all temperature-τ 2HAM systems