cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Microabrasive Technology for Precision Cleaning and Processing

Microabrasive processing is a versatile, dry cleaning, and processing technique. The process uses a miniature nozzle through which a precisely graded abrasive powder, mixed with compresses air or other inert gas, is directed onto the surface of the part to be cleaned. The process is controlled by five key parameters, such as air or other gas pressure, powder flow rate, and dwell time. Microabrasive technology has been developed to a very high degree of sophistication for a wide range of precision cleaning and processing applications, including coating removal, precision deburring, component demarking, drilling and cutting, surface texturing, and etching of a wide range of materials. The work necessary to remove a film is supplied by the kinetic energy of the particle as it impacts the surface. Dynamic effects, such as wave reflection, are negligible and the impact can be treated as quasi-static. Coatings with high interfacial strength are removed by mechanical erosion, while low interfacial strength results in coating removal by delamination. A wide variety of abrasive powders and nozzles are available for diverse applications described in this discussion.
History and Rules of Starpower

The game was developed by R. Garry Shirts for a session on “race” at the National Council of Social Sciences. The first version was a role playing exercise. Its scenario portrayed an incident in a school cafeteria in which a food fight broke out between black and white students. The situation could not be handled by school authorities, so the police were called. The food fight quickly became a riot.
The effects of the Language for Learning programme on the social adjustment of kindergarten children

ABSTRACTThe results of previous research on the Language for Learning programme suggest that it produces positive effects on the intellectual, language, and social skills of young children with and without disabilities [Benner, G. J., Trout, A., Nordness, P. N., Nelson, J. R., Knobel, M. L., Epstein, A.,…Epstein, M. H. (2002). The effects of the language for learning program on the receptive language skills of kindergarten children. Journal of Direct Instruction, 2(2), 67–74. Waldron-Soler, K. M., Martella, R. C., Marchand-Martella, N. E., Tso, M. E., Warner, D. A., & Miller, D. E. (2002). Effects of a 15-week language for learning implementation with children in an integrated preschool. Journal of Direct Instruction, 2(2), 75–86)]. The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of Language for Learning on the social adjustment (i.e. social skills, problem behaviours, and academic competence) of a sample of kindergarten children. A quasi-experimental design was used to compare the social adjustment o...
forbidden tastes: queering the palate in anglophone Indian fiction

The ideology of ‘purity’, normalcy and hierarchy through food and its relations is a postcolonial, feminist, queer issue. In an increasingly intolerant Hindutva political climate in India, a politics of enforced vegetarianism-based-purity as a mark of authenticity and ideal national identity intersects with liberalisation of the economy and globalisation of tastes to produce complex hierarchies of taste and ideas of culinary belonging. Given that literary and other cultural products can play an influential role in issues of social change, my paper critically investigates how queer contemporary anglophone Indian fiction reworks dominant attitudes towards abjection through consumption, queering the approach to disgust as a stable marker of unbelonging in the contexts of postcoloniality and the transnational. Specifically, I examine approaches to abjection through food and discuss transgression through food as a postcolonial re-reading of disgust-based politics and aesthetics in two novels: The Boyfriend (2003) by author and gay-activist R. Raj Rao, and A Life Apart (2010) by writer-reviewer Neel Mukherjee—both of whom are part of an emerging group of authors writing in English and explicitly dealing with male same-sex desire in the subcontinent and the diaspora. Using a transnational and intersectional queer feminist lens on disgust and queering through food, I discuss how by challenging the hidden codes of a disgust-based gastro-politics and aesthetics in culture, The Boyfriend and A Life Apart reveal new spaces of sovereignty and self-expression in the everyday. In the process, I show how they provide fresh positions of resistance and subjectivity that complicate narrow ideas of belonging—national, diasporic and bodily—the production of which becomes crucial in the context of carving out a transnational queer (gastro) aesthetics and politics.
Article 2 [Definitions]

Article 2 defines five key terms used repeatedly throughout the Convention that have very specific meanings and implications for the implementation of CRPD rights: ‘communication,’ ‘language,’ ‘discrimination on the ground of disability,’ ‘reasonable accommodation,’ and ‘universal design.’
The Influence of Lordotic cages on creating Sagittal Balance in the CMIS treatment of Adult Spinal Deformity.

Background CMIS techniques are heavily dependent on placement of lateral interbody cages. Cages with an increased lordotic angle are being advocated to improve segmental lordosis and SVA. We assessed the segmental lordosis achieved with the individual cages. We further studied three variables and the effect each had on segmental lordosis: the lordosis angle of the cage, the position of the cage in the intervertebral space, and the level that it has been placed. Methods This is a retrospective study of 66 consecutive patients who underwent lateral interbody fusion using lordotic cages as part of CMIS correction of scoliosis from June 2012 to January 2016. Standing radiographs at pre op and 6-week follow-up were reviewed to identify the position of the cage in the intervertebral space and the amount of segmental lordosis achieved. Results A total of 224 cages were placed. The 6°, 10°, 12°, and 20° cages achieved a mean segmental lordosis of 9.00°, 13.09°, 13.23°, and 18.32°, respectively (P Conclusions The angle of the cage had an impact on segmental lordosis. Achieved segmental lordosis was notably more when the cage was placed in lower lumbar levels. Additionally, cages placed in the posterior 3rd of the intervertebral space had significantly worse segmental lordosis compared to those placed in the anterior or middle 3rd. Our study shows that an average delta change of 8.03° can be achieved with 12° cages and this when done at each subsequent level results in a progressive harmonious creation of lordosis. IRB approval was obtained for this study.
Implementation of a pharmacist-managed clinic for patients with chronic nonmalignant pain

Purpose A pharmacist-managed chronic pain clinic (PMCPC) in a primary care setting is described. Summary As primary care providers (PCPs) may be unprepared or lack time to manage high-risk patients receiving opioids for chronic nonmalignant pain, alternative models of care are needed. The University of Colorado PMCPC is integrated into an internal medicine outpatient clinic. The PMCPC is staffed by 1 clinical pharmacist, with pharmacy students and residents also performing clinic duties. The pharmacy team reviews health records to determine eligibility for PMCPC services and documents referral requests in the electronic health record (EHR); on PCP acceptance of a referral, the pharmacy team assumes primary responsibility for the patient’s pain management under a collaborative practice agreement. Using a collaborative drug therapy management (CDTM) protocol, the pharmacy team conducts patient assessments, including an assessment for signs of aberrant drug-taking behaviors; provides initial and ongoing counseling and education; and makes recommendations to the PCP for opioid dosage adjustments and regimen additions and discontinuations. Experience at the clinic to date indicates that the PMCPC model is feasible and accepted by PCPs and patients. Conclusion A PMCPC based in a primary care setting was established to improve the care of patients with chronic nonmalignant pain who are prescribed opioid therapy for a period of 3 months or longer. Clinic patients are referred to the clinic through the EHR and managed by a pharmacist under a CDTM protocol.
Signaling-Related Mobility Changes in Bacterial Chemotaxis Receptors Revealed by Solid-State NMR

Bacteria employ remarkable membrane-bound nanoarrays to sense their environment and direct their swimming. Arrays consist of chemotaxis receptor trimers of dimers that are bridged at their membrane-distal tips by rings of two cytoplasmic proteins, a kinase CheA and a coupling protein CheW. It is not clear how ligand binding to the periplasmic domain of the receptor deactivates the CheA kinase bound to the cytoplasmic tip ∼300 A away, but the mechanism is thought to involve changes in dynamics within the cytoplasmic domain. To test these proposals, we applied solid-state NMR mobility-filtered experiments to functional complexes of the receptor cytoplasmic fragment (U–13C,15N-CF), CheA, and CheW. Assembly of these proteins into native-like, homogeneous arrays is mediated by either vesicle binding or molecular crowding agents, and paramagnetic relaxation enhancement is used to overcome sensitivity challenges in these large complexes. INEPT spectra reveal that a significant fraction of the receptor is dynamic...
Allergy and the Frontal Sinus

Allergic sensitivities have been identified in patients with CRS, most notably to perennial allergens such as dust mites, molds, cockroach, and pet dander.
G328 Parents as educators – developing a programme for expert parents and families, whose children have complex neurodisability, to teach medical students

Aims Meeting children with complex neurodisability is a rich learning experience. In the community, medical student (MS) teaching may miss this, as the role of Community Paediatricians is to promote participation, avoiding children attending clinics. We present the process and resources needed to to set up a formal programme of undergraduate teaching, utilising ‘expert parents’ as educators. Methods Parents of children with complex needs were recruited to teach small groups of MS in their community placement. Phase 1: Parents views sought via questionnaire about 1) what was important the MS learnt, 2) what parents felt they could deliver, 3) concerns they had about teaching. Phase 2: Induction workshops for parents explored how a session could be delivered alongside feedback seperately sought from MS. Phase 3: External validation of programme Phase 4:Post workshop and with programme now ‘live,’ parents views sought regarding changes in confidence. Number of hours of medical and administrative time collated. Results Ten families were recruited. Phase 1 Thematic analysis revealed the importance of seeing the childs health in the context of everyday life and that labelling the session as ‘teaching’ was problematic. Phase 2 and 3: MS wanted to hear about the child and families daily life, with less focus on medical aspects of care than was anticipated. Hence paediatrician/Administrator led workshops workshops focussed on the value of ‘sharing my story’ as the basis of the parents educator’s role. Phase 4: the change from ‘teaching’ to ‘sharing my story’ improved reported confidence and gave structure as well as reproducable learning objectives. Parents valued formal MS feedback and a forum to discuss sessions with other parents. Initial set up 12 hours paediatrician, 15 hours administrative time. The ‘live’ programme currrently needs 2 hours of paediatrician and 2 hours administrative time per month. Conclusion This group of expert parents are motivated and provide well received, good quality teaching alongside Paediatricians. The time invested in preparation with parents and a formal process has reassured the medical school of consistency of learning. This programme could be reproduced elsewhere.
Heart Transplant Outcomes in Patients With Pretransplant Diabetes Mellitus.

Background Findings on outcomes of heart transplant patients who had diabetes mellitus before transplant are conflicting. Objective To compare survival, hospitalization, and complications in heart transplant recipients during the first 3 years after surgery in recipients with or without diabetes mellitus before transplant. Methods Of 347 recipients, 64 were diabetic (35.9% taking insulin; mean age 56 years; 17.2% females; 12.5% minorities) and 283 were not (mean age 51 years; 20.8% females; 15.2% minorities). Outcomes examined were length of survival, number of days hospitalized (including transplant admission), acute graft rejection, infection, cardiac allograft vasculopathy, stroke, cancer, and renal dysfunction. Results Patients with pretransplant diabetes spent significantly more time in the hospital during the first 3 years after transplant than did patients without preexisting diabetes (P = .01). Compared with nondiabetic patients, diabetic patients were hospitalized more often for infections and complications related to the cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, respiratory, renal, hematologic, and neurological systems. The 2 groups did not differ significantly in length of survival or in rates of rejection, infection, cardiac allograft vasculopathy, stroke, cancer, or renal dysfunction. Conclusions Heart transplant recipients with pretransplant diabetes fared just as well as patients without pretransplant diabetes in 7 of the 8 outcomes examined, except for the number of days hospitalized during the first 3 years after heart transplant. This study provides clinically important new information on the greater hospitalization time and the reasons for hospitalization during the first 3 years after heart transplant in patients with pretransplant diabetes.
Genetic Code Expansion in Rhodobacter sphaeroides to Incorporate Noncanonical Amino Acids into Photosynthetic Reaction Centers.

Photosynthetic reaction centers (RCs) are the membrane proteins responsible for the initial charge separation steps central to photosynthesis. As a complex and spectroscopically complicated membrane protein, the RC (and other associated photosynthetic proteins) would benefit greatly from the insight offered by site-specifically encoded noncanonical amino acids in the form of probes and an increased chemical range in key amino acid analogues. Toward that goal, we developed a method to transfer amber codon suppression machinery developed for E. coli into the model bacterium needed to produce RCs, Rhodobacter sphaeroides. Plasmids were developed and optimized to incorporate 3-chlorotyrosine, 3-bromotyrosine, and 3-iodotyrosine into RCs. Multiple challenges involving yield and orthogonality were overcome to implement amber suppression in R. sphaeroides, providing insights into the hurdles that can be involved in host transfer of amber suppression systems from E. coli. In the process of verifying noncanonical ...
Ethnoprimatology without Conservation: The Political Ecology of Farmer–Green Monkey (Chlorocebus sabaeus) Relations in St. Kitts, West Indies

The driving force behind the mixed-methods ethnoprimatological endeavor is to effectively conserve nonhuman primates. In this article, I argue that ethnoprimatological research can meet this goal only by discarding the purely science views of conservation that dominate the current literature. By considering more than local ecological perceptions, their ideological agendas, and their levels of power via a political ecology framework, ethnoprimatologists can simultaneously socialize the ecosystems we study and contribute our ethological skills to advance traditionally humanist disciplines’ increased attention to a wider field of agents and structures that matter. I support these arguments through an examination of farmer–green monkey (Chlorocebus sabaeus) relations in St. Kitts. Kittitian farmers’ narrative revealed three scales that collectively construct what is locally known as “the monkey problem:” increased rates of local contact between farmers and monkeys on farms, contestations over the future of St. Kitts’ land, and global debates over appropriate strategies to manage the monkey population. I show that although “the monkey problem” in St. Kitts does not involve an endangered or threatened species, my analysis of this construct has implications for primate populations that are threatened. This is because the root cause of this “problem”—the globalized discourse of nature conservation overpowering and problematizing local views about people–animal interactions—characterizes so many of the locales home to primates of conservation concern.
The Spatial Turn and Twenty-First Century Latin American Fiction

Gonzalez studies the emergence of the Spatial Turn in the 1990s and its impact on the Latin American literary critics analyzing the representation of the city in Latin American literature. He highlights the important role of early twenty-first century feminist readings of Latin American women writers in updating the study of urban space, focusing in their rejection of Angel Rama’s theory of the lettered city. Gonzalez then summarizes the prevailing view of the neoliberal and postmodern city among cultural critics and social scientists. The general perception of the Latin American urban space as a place in ruins is a common theme that connects many of the contemporary readings of this topic. However, Gonzalez also notices in contemporary fiction the presence of utopian elements, of community efforts to improve the living conditions created by globalization.
Cholecystectomy with Improved Retraction

The concept of Transumbilical Cholecystectomy with Magnetic Retraction (TCMR) is founded on reproducing classic laparoscopic surgery of the gallbladder, with an optimum vision and exposition of the triangle of Calot. Newly designed and already existing instruments and devices are deployed inside the abdominal cavity and used to perform surgical procedures. Thereafter, they are removed together with the surgical specimen through a single umbilical incision. Because TCMR is only performed with a single 12-mm trocar, it results in no visible scars and provides a superlative cosmesis and inferior pain scores in comparison to classic laparoscopy and other transumbilical approaches. The internal magnetic device replaces the use of graspers, needles or sutures and supplies the necessary retraction/countertraction force to enable sufficient triangulation. An external, larger and more powerful magnet placed over the abdominal wall controls it. Moreover, since it is not fixed at any level it can freely cruise the abdominal cavity according to the surgeon’s need. Despite its few limitations and the need for further research, TCMR is a feasible and safe alternative to videosurgery and other transumbilical approaches. It is simple to learn and applicable in patients weighing more than 10 kg and a body mass index inferior to 40 kg/m2.
Basic Concepts of Linkage Analysis

The goal of linkage analysis in human disease gene mapping is to assess whether an observed genetic marker locus is physically linked to the disease locus. This is equivalent to testing the null-hypothesis that the recombination fraction between the marker locus and the disease locus, θ, equals ½. In this case, we say the marker locus and the disease locus are unlinked. It is also possible to estimate θ, which can be used to provide an approximate idea of the location of the DSL relative to observed markers. In this chapter, we discuss the basic concepts of parametric linkage analysis. We explain how linkage between two genetic loci can be utilized to construct long-range mapping approaches that require only a small number of marker loci per chromosome to cover the entire human genome sufficiently. Using fully parameterized statistical models, parametric linkage describes the phenotype as a function of the genetic marker locus and its relative distance to the disease locus, i.e., the recombination fraction (Ott (1999)). The simplest case of parametric linkage analysis uses the method of direct counting, where θ can be estimated by directly counting recombinant and non-recombinant offspring haplotypes (Ott (1979)). Using the method of direct-counting, we outline the principles of parametric linkage analysis. Advanced topics such as non-parametric linkage analysis and multi-point analysis (Kruglyak et al. (1996)) are discussed in Appendix A. While the advanced topics that are included in Appendix A are necessary for a thorough grounding in linkage analysis, they are not required for an introduction to association analysis.
Distal Aortic Perfusion and Selective Visceral Perfusion

Incredible progress has been made in the treatment of thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms since its inception. The various strategies of organ protection including the use of distal aortic perfusion, CSF drainage, visceral perfusion, sequential aortic cross-clamp, intercostal artery reattachment and moderate hypothermia, as well as the evolution of surgical approach have all contributed to the decline in mortality and morbidity. Our refined surgical techniques and use of adjuncts have reduced the overall incidence of neurological deficits following thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm repair to 2.4%, and to 6.6% for patients with extent II. Our continuing goals are to further decrease the incidence of neurological deficits and to improve renal protection, with particular focus on the extent II thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm.
Cross-level Detection of Sensor-based Deception Attacks on Cyber-Physical Systems

From electricity distribution to water management, higher levels of efficiency and performance have been attained by the synergy of computers, communications, and control. This higher level of performance, however, comes at a cost to system security. Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) have intrinsic vulnerabilities that malicious agents can explore in order to harm the integrity of the system. An attacker employing deception-based methods seeks to have their target believe an incorrect version of reality. This paper describes two anomaly detection approaches using, respectively, micro-level and process-level techniques which are then combined into one cross-level hypothesis test. The process-level (also referred as macro-level) detector uses the physical interconnections that exist between the multiple sensors and implements a consensus algorithm to determine if one sensor is reporting anomalous values. The micro-level detector uses measurements of the integrated circuit power supply current draw sampling several times per clock cycle to determine if the code running inside the micro-controller of a sensor has been altered. One example of a sensor-based deception attack the present work focuses on is a simple replay attack launched from one sensor within the system that aims to mislead controllers while eluding conventional fault detectors. The theoretical performance of the proposed method is evaluated in two laboratory experiments.
Endogenous oxytocin inhibits hypothalamic stress responsive neurons following acute hypernatremia

Abstract Significant prior evidence indicates that centrally acting oxytocin robustly modulates stress responsiveness and anxiety-like behavior, although the neural mechanisms behind these effects are not completely understood. A plausible neural basis for oxytocin mediated stress reduction is via inhibition of corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) neurons in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVN) that regulate activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. Previously, we have shown that following subcutaneous injection of 2.0 M NaCl, oxytocin (OT) synthesizing neurons are activated in the rat PVN, an oxytocin receptor (Oxtr) dependent inhibitory tone develops on a subset of parvocellular neurons, and stress-mediated increases in plasma corticosterone levels are blunted. Here, we utilized transgenic male CRH-reporter mice to selectively target PVN CRH neurons for whole-cell recordings. These experiments reveal that acute salt loading produces tonic inhibition of PVN CRH neurons through a mechanism that is largely independent of synaptic activity. Further studies reveal that CRH neurons within the PVN synthesize mRNA for Oxtr(s). Salt induced Oxtr-dependent inhibitory tone was eliminated in individual PVN CRH neurons filled with GDP-β-S, and was also largely absent in PVN CRH neurons extracted form CRH-Oxtr KO mice. Additional electrophysiological studies suggest that reduced excitability of PVN CRH neurons in salt loaded animals is associated with increased activation of an inwardly rectifying potassium channel. Collectively, these data reveal a likely cellular mechanism by which endogenous oxytocin signaling reduces the excitability of PVN CRH neurons to curb stress responsiveness during times of high plasma osmolality.
FMRI response to acute psychological stress differentiates patients with psychogenic non-epileptic seizures from healthy controls - A biochemical and neuroimaging biomarker study.

Abstract We investigated psychological stress response in the brain regions involved in emotion-motor-executive control in psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES). 12 PNES patients and 12 healthy controls (HCs) underwent stress task and resting state functional MRI (fMRI), mood and quality of life (QOL) assessments, and measurements of salivary cortisol, alpha-amylase, and heart rate. Group differences were assessed, and we correlated beta values from a priori selected brain regions showing stress task fMRI group differences with other stress response measures. We also used the regions showing stress task fMRI group differences as seeds for resting state functional connectivity (rs-FC) analysis. Mood and QOL were worse in PNES versus HCs. Physiological and assessment measures were similar except ‘Planful Problem Solving’ coping that was greater for HCs (p = .043). Perceived stress associated negatively with heart rate change (rs = −0.74, p = .0063). There was stress fMRI hyporeactivity in left/right amygdala and left hippocampus in PNES versus HCs (corrected p
Rorg: Service Robot Software Management with Linux Containers

Scaling up the software system on service robots increases the maintenance burden of developers and the risk of resource contention of the computer embedded on robots. As a result, developers spend much time on configuring, deploying, and monitoring the robot software system; robots may utilize significant computer resources when all software processes are running. We present Rorg, a Linux container-based scheme to manage, schedule, and monitor software components on service robots. Although Linux containers are already widely-used in cloud environments, this technique is challenging to efficiently adopt in service robot systems due to multi-tasking, resource constraints and performance requirements. To pave the way of Linux containers on service robots in an efficient manner, we present a programmable container management interface and a resource time-sharing mechanism incorporated with the Robot Operating System (ROS). Rorg allows developers to pack software into self-contained images and runs them in isolated environments using Linux containers; it also allows the robot to turn on and off software components on demand to avoid resource contention. We evaluate Rorg with a long-term autonomous tour guide robot: It manages 41 software components on the robot and relieved our maintenance burden, and it also reduces CPU load by 45.5% and memory usage by 16.5% on average.
Does Sentence Type and Length Matter? Interactions of Age, Race, Ethnicity, and Gender on Jail and Prison Sentences:

The current work explores the direct and interaction effects of age, race, ethnicity, and gender disparity on sentence lengths, considering differences between jail and prison sanctions. The libera...
Acid-Sensing Ion Channels: Novel Mediators of Cerebral Vascular Responses.

Rationale: Precise regulation of cerebral blood flow is critical for normal brain function. Insufficient cerebral blood flow contributes to brain dysfunction and neurodegeneration. Carbon dioxide (...
Evaluating the potential of Special Olympics fitness models as a health intervention for adults with intellectual disabilities.

Abstract Background People with intellectual disabilities (ID) have high prevalence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors; yet, few behavioral health interventions are designed and implemented for people with ID. Objective This study examined Special Olympics Inc. (SOI) fitness models as a potential intervention to reduce CVD risk in people with ID. Methods Data from SOI fitness models implemented in 2016–2018 were assessed. Special Olympics Programs received funding, resources, and technical assistance from SOI to conduct fitness models centered on inclusive physical activity and goal setting. Weight, body mass index, systolic blood pressure (SBP), and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) were measured at baseline and 4–12 weeks into the model. Multi-level multivariable quintile linear regression assessed change. Results 383 participants with ID (athletes) and 281 partners without ID met inclusion criteria. Mean weight loss among athletes was 0.67 kg and 132 (31.9%) lost ≥ 1 kg. Blood pressure decreased in SBP quintile 4 (−7.52 mm Hg, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 11.8, −4.0), SBP quintile 5 (−9.52 mm Hg, 95% CI: 13.5, −5.6), and DBP quintile 5 (−7.49 mm Hg, 95% CI: 13.1, −1.9). Partners had similar results. Strongest effects were in a ‘high-risk’ group that was in the quintile 4 or 5 in all baseline measures. Conclusion In fitness models developed to improve fitness for people with ID, there was a reduction in weight and blood pressure. SOI fitness models show promise and potential as a health intervention. This work enables further examination of indicators for successful implementation and evaluation of health.
The petitSat Mission – Science Goals and Instrumentation

Abstract The mid- and low-latitude ionosphere is home to a variety of plasma density irregularities, including depletions (bubbles), enhancements (blobs), and small-scale scintillation. Previous studies of plasma density enhancements observed using ROCSAT data have posited that these structures are the direct result of the formation of bubbles near the geomagnetic equator. However, more recent observations from the C/NOFS satellite suggest that multiple mechanisms are responsible for forming plasma enhancements, with wave action in the ionosphere and thermosphere as a significant driver of the enhanced densities. Indeed, statistical analysis of enhancements observed from satellites resembles the statistics of Medium-Scale Traveling Ionosphere Disturbances (MSTIDs) with respect to seasonal variability and solar activity. petitSat is a CubeSat mission designed to examine the link between MSTIDs and plasma enhancements. The mission will provide in situ measurements of the plasma density, 3D ion drift, as well as ion and neutral composition. The instrument suite includes a combined retarding potential analyzer and cross-track drift meter and an ion-neutral mass spectrometer. This instrument suite will provide comprehensive information about the fluctuations in plasma, as well as changes in the neutral profile. petitSat will launch into a 51 deg inclination orbit at 400 km (consistent with an International Space Station deployment), allowing for numerous conjunctions with the Boston University All-Sky Imager network over the mission lifetime.
The impact of pre-operative symptoms on carotid endarterectomy Outcomes: Analysis of the ACS-NSQIP carotid endarterectomy database

Abstract Carotid artery stenosis accounts for up to 20% of ischemic strokes. Since the 1950 s, one of the primary surgical treatment for this condition is carotid endarterectomy (CEA). Because of improvement of medical therapy for carotid artery atherosclerosis and the increased use of carotid artery stents, CEA is indicated if the risk of stroke and death are low. The goal of this study is to characterize the impact of pre-operative stroke and stroke risk factors on post-operative CEA patient outcomes, using the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS-NSQIP) Targeted Vascular Module on CEA. Using the Targeted Vascular Module of the ACS-NSQIP, 22,116 patients who underwent CEA were identified from 2011 to 2016. Univariate analysis and multivariable logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify significant risk factors that predispose patients to stroke. Patients with pre-operative stroke comprise 42.1% of the group, with post-operative stroke being the second most common complication (2.1%). Pre-operative stroke patients were also at a higher risk for transient ischemic attacks, post-operative restenosis, post-operative distal embolization, and other complications. Patients with pre-operative risk factors, including stroke or stroke-like symptoms, high risk physiologic factors, high risk anatomic factors, and contralateral internal carotid artery stenosis were at a higher risk of developing post-operative stroke and other complications. Patients with these pre-operative risk factors should be closely monitored for post-operative complications in an effort to improve patient outcomes.
Sigma model on a squashed sphere with a Wess-Zumino term

A class of two-dimensional sigma models interpolating between $C{P}^{1}$ and the $SU(2)$ principal chiral model is discussed. We add the Wess-Zumino-Novikov-Witten term and examine the renormalization group flow of the two coupling constants which characterize the model under consideration. The model flows to the $SU(2)$ Wess-Zumino-Novikov-Witten conformal field theory in the IR limit. There is an ordinary phase in which the model flows from the asymptotically free UV limit of the $C{P}^{1}$ model coupled to an extra massless degree of freedom. At higher-loop order we find evidence that there is also a phase in which the model can flow from nontrivial fixed points in the UV. A nonperturbative confirmation of these extra fixed points would be desirable.
Chapter 15 – Exploitation and Conservation

Both the commercial exploitation and conservation of marine mammals are considered. The legal framework (i.e., international and US regulations) for marine mammal conservation is reviewed. Human-induced mortalities are summarized including net entanglements, incidental fisheries take, and environmental contaminants. Also examined are the effects of ecotourism activities on marine mammals. Finally, the status of progress in conserving and protecting marine mammals is evaluated.
Causal Effect of Ambulatory Specialty Care on Mortality Following Myocardial Infarction: A Comparison of Propensity Score and Instrumental Variable Analyses

The quality and outcomes of care provided by primary care physicians and specialists are increasingly important issues in health policy research. Estimating the effect of specialty care on patient outcomes however is complicated by the observational nature of the studies. Patients treated by specialists are often different in terms of observed and unobserved characteristics that can bias estimates of specialty effects. We illustrate and compare two different analytic approaches, propensity scores and instrumental variables, to infer the causal effect of cardiology care in the ambulatory setting on 18-month mortality among 5467 elderly patients who survived at least 3 months after being hospitalized for a myocardial infarction in New York state during 1994 and 1995. Using both approaches we found reductions in 18-month mortality associated with ambulatory cardiology care. However, reasonable deviations from the assumptions underlying each method led to estimated differences in mortality ranging from a 6% absolute reduction in mortality to a 2% increase among patients who received cardiology care. Choosing an analytic strategy depends on both available data and the policy question of interest. We believe that comparative analyses such as this one, with extensive assessment of the assumptions underlying each method, can provide valuable insights into important policy questions reliant on the analysis of observational data.
Niger's Infrastructure: A Continental Perspective

Between 2000 and 2005 infrastructure made a net contribution of less than a third of a percentage point to the improved per capita growth performance of Niger, one of the lowest contributions in Sub-Saharan Africa. Raising the country's infrastructure endowment to that of the region’s middle-income countries could boost annual growth in Niger by about 4.5 percentage points. Niger has made significant progress in some areas of its infrastructure, including water and telecommunications. But the country still faces a number of important infrastructure challenges, the most pressing of which is probably in the water and sanitation sector, as 82 percent of Nigeriens still practice open defecation, the highest in the continent. Niger also faces significant challenges in the power sector, as only 8 percent of the population is electrified. Niger currently spends about $225 million per year on infrastructure, leaving an annual funding gap of $460 million even after savings from curing inefficiencies are taken into account. Niger can close that gap by tapping alternative sources of financing or by adopting lower-cost technologies. There is plenty of room for private-sector participation in Niger's infrastructure sectors, and the adoption of lower-cost technologies could reduce the funding gap by almost half.
Examining the Responding Component of Teacher Noticing: A Case of One Teacher’s Pedagogical Responses to Students’ Thinking in Classroom Artifacts:

In this study, we investigated how an experienced fourth-grade teacher responded to her students’ thinking as part of her teacher noticing practice in a formative assessment context. Our primary pu...
An Open Educational Resource for an Agile Software Engineering Course

The field of software technologies has been seeing a steady growth worldwide recently. Engineering job roles might require candidates to know several different programming paradigms, languages, frameworks, and cloud technologies. Each of these technologies constantly evolve to improve or become obsolete, which requires educational materials for teaching them to be constantly updated. Software engineering has classical texts that have been updated over many editions. These are large volumes with numerous chapters that include older and newer techniques, history, and a variety of extra material, which makes them expensive textbooks. This also make them contain too much material to cover in undergraduate courses. As published textbooks are always updated slower than the pace of technology that changes project dependencies every three months or so, practical materials may still become outdated between editions. Open educational resources (OERs) provide solutions to these problems by allowing adopters to update and customize materials for a given syllabus. An OER can simply mean a no-cost textbook or a resource that is publicly available for teaching. In this work, we present a preliminary OER for software development or engineering courses for undergraduate information technology (IT) majors.
Perceptions of Legal Authorities in a Longitudinal Study of Adjudicated Youth.

While perceptions of the legitimacy of formal authority have been found to influence offending, little is known about the extent to which such perceptions influence the related outcome of victimization. This study addressed this gap by examining how changes in legitimacy affected victimization both within- and between-individuals. This study used 7 waves of the Pathways to Desistance data (n = 1310; 13.85% female; age range 14–22). Youth who have committed serious offenses were surveyed at 6-month intervals during the transition from adolescence to young adulthood. In the full sample, the effects of legitimacy on both victimization and offending remained largely stable over time within individuals. Sensitivity analyses revealed that more positive perceptions of legitimacy significantly reduce offending for boys and reduce victimization for girls during the developmental period under study. Consistent with prior research, between-individual differences appear to be more important than within-individual change for explaining both offending and victimization. The implications of the results for theory, future research, and early intervention for high-risk youth are discussed.
Outcomes of Frozen Oocyte Donor In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) Cycles Using Fresh Versus Frozen Sperm

The ability to use frozen sperm for insemination during in vitro fertilization (IVF) is crucial for patients and for reproductive endocrinologists. However, concerns exist regarding the effects of cryopreservation on sperm quality and IVF outcomes. This study compares outcomes of frozen donor oocyte IVF cycles with intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) of good quality fresh versus frozen ejaculated sperm. Patients who underwent their first frozen donor oocyte IVF cycle between 2013 and 2019 at Mayo Clinic were identified. The primary outcome was live birth rate (LBR). Secondary outcomes included fertilization rate (FR), blastocyst development rate (BR), and clinical pregnancy rate (CPR). Twenty-six patients used fresh sperm and 19 patients utilized frozen sperm; there were no significant demographic differences between the groups. There were no significant differences noted in CPR, FR, and BR. Although the LBR was not statistically different when frozen versus fresh sperm was utilized (52.6% vs. 61.5%, p = 0.55), there was a distinct trend towards improved outcomes with fresh sperm that may be clinically significant. This data suggests that frozen sperm may be an alternative to a fresh sample, however fresh sperm may ultimately be a better option. This finding should be further explored with studies utilizing a larger sample size.
Optical techniques for the detection of extrasolar planets - A critical review

Proposed optical techniques of extrasolar planet detection are discussed and compared. These include terrestrial, orbital, and moon-based systems. Terrestrial systems include ground-level searches for random eclipses of primaries and 'light' echoes of stellar flares from companion planets as well as balloon-mounted telescopes operating in the stratosphere used in conjunction with orbital occulters. Space telescopes considered are multimirror systems simulating huge mirror diameters and single-mirror telescopes, such as the 3-meter Large Space Telescope, used in conjunction with occulters. Although very modest systems are capable of detecting extrasolar planets, the amount of information we can gather regarding these worlds is a function of system complexity and program duration.
Plant Acupuncture: Sticking PINs in the Right Places

The plant hormone auxin is involved in numerous growth and developmental processes. These processes all depend on differences in local auxin concentrations that are established by polar auxin transport. In their Perspective, Kaplinsky and Barton discuss new work that identifies a serine-threonine kinase called PID as a switch that regulates auxin flow by redirecting the cellular localization of auxin transport facilitator (PIN) proteins ( Friml et al .).
Estimating Water Budgets and Vertical Leakages for Karst Lakes in North-Central Florida (United States) Via Hydrological Modeling1

Lin, Zhulu, 2011. Estimating Water Budgets and Vertical Leakages for Karst Lakes in North-Central Florida (United States) Via Hydrological Modeling. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 1-16. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2010.00513.x Abstract: Newnans, Lochloosa, and Orange Lakes are closely hydrologically connected karst lakes located in north-central Florida, United States. The complex karst hydrology in this region poses a great challenge to the hydrological modeling that is essential to the development of Total Maximum Daily Loads for these lakes. We used a Hydrological Simulation Program – Fortran model coupled with the parallel Parameter ESTimation model calibration and uncertainty analysis software to estimate effectively the hydrological interactions between the lakes and the underlying upper Floridan aquifer and the water budgets for these three lakes. The net results of the lake-groundwater interactions in Newnans and Orange Lakes are that both lakes recharge the underlying upper Floridan aquifer, with the recharge rate of the latter one magnitude greater than that of the former. However, for Lochloosa Lake, the net lake-groundwater interaction is that the lake gains water from groundwater in a significant amount, approximately 40% of its total terrestrial water input. The annual average vertical leakages estimated for Newnans, Lochloosa, and Orange Lakes are 6.0 × 106, −8.9 × 106, and 44.4 × 106 m3, respectively. The average vertical hydraulic conductance (Kv/b) of the units between a lake bottom and the underlying upper Floridan aquifer in this region are also estimated to be from 1.26 × 10−4 to 1.01 × 10−3 day−1.
Purification and some properties of β-mannanase fromPolyporus versicolor

Multiple enzyme forms of β-mannanase activity fromPolyporus versicolor were puritied to molecular homogeneity by a sequence involving DEAE Bio-Gel A chromatography, gel filtration on Sephadex G-100 and high-performance liquid chromatography using anion exchange and hydrophobic Interaction media. Overall, 7.6% of input activity was recovered in four β-mannanases, A, B, C and 2A, which were purified 112.6-, 165.5-, 143.7-and 19.9-fold respectivety. The β-mannanases were acidic proteins displaying isoelectric points from 3.75 to 4.6, molecular weights in the range of 33,900 to 57,500 and increasing hydrophobicity in the order of C>B>2A>A. Optimal pH and temperature for the hydrotysis of glucomannan by all activities were pH 5.5 and 65°C, respectively. All preparations exhibited activity after 30 min at 65°C, or after protease digestion. Although the response of individual enzymes to selected ions was variable, all β-mannanases were inhibited in decreasing order of Hg(2+)>Cu(2+)>Zn(2+)>Mn(2+). All activities functioned as endomannanases.
A Dynamic Data Driven Wildland Fire Model

We present an overview of an ongoing project to build DDDAS to use all available data for a short term wildfire prediction. The project involves new data assimilation methods to inject data into a running simulation, a physics based model coupled with weather prediction, on-site data acquisition using sensors that can survive a passing fire, and on-line visualization using Google Earth.
Divergence of perturbation theory for bosons

Perturbation theory is studied in two dimensional space-time. There all non-derivative boson self-interactions are renormalizable and in each order of perturbation theory there are no divergences, that is all renormalizations are finite in perturbation theory. Thus the unrenormalized perturbation series may be studied and it is shown that any interaction of the general form\(H_1 (x) = \lambda \sum\limits_{j = 3}^\infty {a_j \times \times :\varphi (x)^j :,a_j \geqslant 0} \)leads to Green's functions which are not analytic in λ at λ=0. This result holds in momentum space at a large set of points, enough to show that the Green's functions are not distributions in the momenta which are analytic in λ at λ=0. Furthermore the proper self energy and the two-particle scattering amplitude are shown not to be analytic in λ at λ=0 for certain momenta on or below the bare mass shell. In the course of this analysis we use the integral representations for Feynman graphs to derive a minorization of the form |I)p1,...,pe)|>A Bn for the contribution from allnth order connected graphs in a theory with an interaction of the form\(H_1 (x) = \lambda \sum\limits_{j = 3}^Q {a_j :\varphi (x)^j :} \). Then the constantsA andB depend only on the momentapi, and not on the structure of a particular graph.