Association between help-seeking and motivation for completing a couple relationship education program across service modality.

Levels of motivation and help-seeking impact the effectiveness of couple relationship education (CRE), as those with greater help-seeking and motivation are more likely to attend more sessions and remain engaged. Less is known about what impacts the association between motivation and help-seeking between partners in a couple engaging in CRE. The current study aims to examine (a) the effect of couples' self-stigma for help-seeking on their own or partner's motivation to complete the relationship education program and (b) whether the effects differ between service modality (i.

Real-time 3D tracking of swimming microbes using digital holographic microscopy and deep learning.

The three-dimensional swimming tracks of motile microorganisms can be used to identify their species, which holds promise for the rapid identification of bacterial pathogens. The tracks also provide detailed information on the cells' responses to external stimuli such as chemical gradients and physical objects. Digital holographic microscopy (DHM) is a well-established, but computationally intensive method for obtaining three-dimensional cell tracks from video microscopy data.

Medical practitioner perspectives on AI in emergency triage.

Introduction: A proposed Diagnostic AI System for Robot-Assisted Triage ("DAISY") is under development to support Emergency Department ("ED") triage following increasing reports of overcrowding and shortage of staff in ED care experienced within National Health Service, England ("NHS") but also globally. DAISY aims to reduce ED patient wait times and medical practitioner overload. The objective of this study was to explore NHS health practitioners' perspectives and attitudes towards the future use of AI-supported technologies in ED triage.

Effects of protease enzyme supplementation and varying levels of amino acid inclusion on productive performance, egg quality, and amino acid digestibility in laying hens from 30 to 50 weeks of age.

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of protease supplementation and reduced digestible amino acid (dAA)/ crude protein (CP) level on productive performance, AA digestibility, and egg quality parameters in Hy-Line W-36 laying hen from 30 to 50 wk of age. A total of 768 hens (12 replicates of 8 hens per treatment) were equally and randomly allocated into 8 experimental diets in a 4 × 2 factorial arrangement of dAA/CP level (100, 95, 90, and 85% of breeder recommendation) and protease (exclusion or inclusion). Protease was added at 60 g/metric ton of feed in the inclusion group.

Measurement of lead complexation by humic acids and humic acid analogues using competitive ligand exchange.

In soil and water, metal complexation by humic substances has been demonstrated to have great importance in determining the bioavailability of many trace metals including lead. The binding of lead by humic acids has important implications for lead toxicity, and remediation. In this study we demonstrate the use of 4-(2-pyridylazo)-resorcinol (PAR) as a competitive ligand for the purposed of determining sorption isotherms for Pb on humic acids and humic acid analogs.

On the use of AI for Generation of Functional Music to Improve Mental Health.

Increasingly music has been shown to have both physical and mental health benefits including improvements in cardiovascular health, a link to reduction of cases of dementia in elderly populations, and improvements in markers of general mental well-being such as stress reduction. Here, we describe short case studies addressing general mental well-being (anxiety, stress-reduction) through AI-driven music generation. Engaging in active listening and music-making activities (especially for at risk age groups) can be particularly beneficial, and the practice of music therapy has been shown to be helpful in a range of use cases across a wide age range.

Aqueous solubility of beryllium(II) at physiological pH: effects of buffer composition and counterions.

Beryllium ion elicits p53-mediated cell cycle arrest in some types of human cancer cells, and it is a potent inhibitor of GSK3 kinase activity. Paradoxically, Be is regarded to have almost negligible aqueous solubility at physiological pH, due to precipitation as Be(OH). This study demonstrates that the interaction of Be with serum proteins greatly increases its effective solubility.

Investigating Research Gaps of Pharmaceutical take back Events: An Analysis of take back Program Participants' Socioeconomic, Demographic, and Geographic Characteristics and the Public Health Benefits of take back Programs.

Research continues to show that pharmaceutical environmental contamination causes adverse effects to aquatic life. There are also public health risks associated with pharmaceuticals because in-home reserves of medications provide opportunities for accidental poisoning and intentional medication abuse. Pharmaceutical take back programs have been seen as a potential remedy for these issues; however, a thorough review of past programs indicates limited research has been conducted on take back programs.

Sampling for silver nanoparticles in aqueous media using a rotating disk electrode: evidence for selective sampling of silver nanoparticles in the presence of ionic silver.

Amendment of a carbon paste electrode consisting of graphite and Nujol®, with a variety of organic and inorganic materials, allows direct adsorption of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) from aqueous solution in either open or close circuit modes. The adsorbed AgNPs are detected by stripping voltammetry. Detection limits of less than 1 ppb Ag are achievable with a rotating disk system.

A Digital Repository and Execution Platform for Interactive Scholarly Publications in Neuroscience.

The CARMEN Virtual Laboratory (VL) is a cloud-based platform which allows neuroscientists to store, share, develop, execute, reproduce and publicise their work. This paper describes new functionality in the CARMEN VL: an interactive publications repository. This new facility allows users to link data and software to publications.

Analysis of mercury in rock varnish samples in areas impacted by coal-fired power plants.

Rock varnish is a manganese-iron rich coating that forms on rocks, most often in arid climates. To assess its utility as an environmental monitor of mercury contamination, cold vapor atomic absorption spectrometry (CVAAS) was used for analysis. Samples were collected in the fallout patterns of two coal-fired power plants in southern Nevada: the defunct Mohave Power Plant (MPP) and the operating Reid Gardner Power Plant (RGPP).

The CARMEN software as a service infrastructure.

The CARMEN platform allows neuroscientists to share data, metadata, services and workflows, and to execute these services and workflows remotely via a Web portal. This paper describes how we implemented a service-based infrastructure into the CARMEN Virtual Laboratory. A Software as a Service framework was developed to allow generic new and legacy code to be deployed as services on a heterogeneous execution framework.

(239, 240, 241)Pu fingerprinting of plutonium in western US soils using ICPMS: solution and laser ablation measurements.

Sector field inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (SF-ICPMS) has been used with analysis of solution samples and laser ablation (LA) of electrodeposited alpha sources to characterize plutonium activities and atom ratios prevalent in the western USA. A large set of surface soils and attic dusts were previously collected from many locations in the states of Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and Colorado; specific samples were analyzed herein to characterize the relative contributions of stratospheric fallout vs. Nevada Test Site (NTS) plutonium.

234U/238U isotope ratios in groundwater from Southern Nevada: a comparison of alpha counting and magnetic sector ICP-MS.

The 234U/238U activity ratio (AR) is extensively used as a geochemical tool to investigate movement and flow relationships in major hydrological units, information that is particularly important when considering nuclear waste disposal. It is usually determined by radiochemical separation and concentration of U, followed by energy-specific alpha particle counting. Alternatively, sector field inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (SF-ICP-MS) can be used to measure U isotopic signatures directly in groundwater samples.

Prompt detection of alpha particles from 210Po: another clue to the origin of rock varnish?

Alpha particles have been measured coming from the surfaces of rocks covered with dark red-brown rock varnish, as well as rocks that appear to have little, if any, varnish. A pronounced peak at 5.3 MeV indicates the presence of 210Po, a short-lived natural-radioactive element.

A high performance k-NN approach using binary neural networks.

This paper evaluates a novel k-nearest neighbour (k-NN) classifier built from binary neural networks. The binary neural approach uses robust encoding to map standard ordinal, categorical and numeric data sets onto a binary neural network. The binary neural network uses high speed pattern matching to recall a candidate set of matching records, which are then processed by a conventional k-NN approach to determine the k-best matches.

Rapid identification and analysis of airborne plutonium using a combination of alpha spectroscopy and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry.

Recent wildland fires near two U.S. nuclear facilities point to a need to rapidly identify the presence of airborne plutonium during incidents involving the potential release of radioactive materials.

Excess plutonium in soil near the Nevada Test Site, USA.

Two soil profiles were collected from undisturbed areas near the Nevada Test Site (NTS). The activity of 137Cs in the surface layer of the downwind Queen City Summit profile is three times higher than at the upwind site at Searchlight, NV (41.1+/-0.

An evaluation of standard retrieval algorithms and a binary neural approach.

In this paper we evaluate a selection of data retrieval algorithms for storage efficiency, retrieval speed and partial matching capabilities using a large Information Retrieval dataset. We evaluate standard data structures, for example inverted file lists and hash tables, but also a novel binary neural network that incorporates: single-epoch training, superimposed coding and associative matching in a binary matrix data structure. We identify the strengths and weaknesses of the approaches.

A novel cytokine receptor-ligand pair. Identification, molecular characterization, and in vivo immunomodulatory activity.

As part of a large scale effort to discover novel secreted proteins, a cDNA encoding a novel cytokine was identified. Alignments of the sequence of the new protein, designated IL-17B, suggest it to be a homolog of the recently described T cell-derived cytokine, IL-17. By Northern analysis, EST distribution and real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis, mRNA was detected in many cell types.

The concentration, apparent molecular weight and chemical reactivity of silica from groundwater in southern Nevada.

Sorption of radionuclides, metals and organic compounds to colloidal particles has been suggested to increase the mobility of these pollutants in groundwater. Because silicates and alumino-silicates can be important components of groundwater colloids, we have conducted a study to characterize the nature of silica in various springs and wells in Southern Nevada and to determine the extent that silica may be associated with colloidal particles that can participate in pollutant transport. The total silica content was measured using inductively coupled plasma emission spectroscopy (ICP).

Resolving Nevada test site and global fallout plutonium in attic dust and soils using 137Cs/239+240Pu activity ratios.

A simple equation using only 137Cs/239+240Pu activity ratios was developed and evaluated as a means of resolving the plutonium in attic dust and soil from Nevada and Utah that came from Nevada Test Site fallout from that which came from global fallout. Applied to an historical data set of 137Cs and 239+240Pu activity concentrations in soils from Nevada and Utah, the activity ratio method gives results similar to the traditional 240Pu/239Pu isotope mass ratio method. Considering the difficulty and expense of determining the 240Pu/239Pu atom ratios, this activity ratio method is simpler, faster, and less costly, and may be useful for detecting and/or monitoring plutonium contamination in soils.

Plutonium anomalies in attic dust and soils at locations surrounding the Nevada Test Site.

Attic dust and soil samples were collected during the Summer of 1996 and the Spring of 1997 in southern Nevada and southern Utah. Analysis of the samples for radiocesium and plutonium give activity ratios of radiocesium/plutonium that range from 0.7 +/- 0.