cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Wireless Online Position Monitoring of Manual Valve Types for Plant Configuration Management in Nuclear Power Plants

In the current competitive energy market, the nuclear industry is committed to lowering operations and maintenance costs and increasing productivity and efficiency while maintaining a safe and reliable operation. The present nuclear power plant operating model is dependent on a large technical staff, which has put the nuclear industry at a long-term economic disadvantage. Technology can play a key role in nuclear power plant configuration management to offset labor costs by automating manually performed plant activities. The technology being developed, tested, and demonstrated in this paper will support continued safe operation of today’s fleet of light water reactors by providing the technical means of monitoring components in nuclear power plants today that are only routinely monitored through manual activities. The wireless-enabled valve position indicators that are the subject of this paper are able to provide a continuously available, rather than periodically available, valid position indication. A real-time (online) availability of valve positions using affordable technologies is vital to plant configuration when compared with long-term labor rates and it provides information that can be used for a variety of plant engineering, maintenance, and management applications.
Feasibility of the collection of patient-reported outcomes in an ambulatory neurology clinic.

Objective: To determine whether patients could self-report physical and mental health assessments in the waiting room and whether these assessments would be associated with modified Rankin Scale (mRS) and Quality of Life in Epilepsy (QOLIE-10) scores. Methods: We offered iPad-based surveys to consecutive adult neurology patients at check-in to collect patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs). We collected demographic and clinical data on 6,075 patients through survey or administrative claims and PROMs from participating patients. We compared demographic characteristics of participants and nonparticipants and tested associations between physical and mental health scores and mRS and QOLIE-10. Results: Of 6,075 patients seen by neurologists during the study period, 2,992 (49.3%) participated in the survey. Compared to nonparticipating patients, participating patients more often were privately insured (53.5% vs 42.7%, p p p p p p Conclusions: Systematic digital collection of PROMs is feasible. Differences among survey participants and nonparticipants highlight the need to develop multilingual measurement tools that may improve collection from vulnerable populations.
Hypoxic Hematopoietic Stem and Progenitor Cells Reside in Structurally Diverse Perivascular Niches in the Bone Marrow

Abstract 3417 The identification of specific microenvironments, in which Hematopoietic Stem and Progenitor Cells (HSPCs), reside within the BM is a major challenge in stem cell biology. Yet the extreme rarity of HSCs, their dynamic nature, and the lack of unique specific markers to identify them, have precluded an accurate definition of HSC niches to date. Using Laser Scanning Cytometry, a powerful emerging quantitative imaging technology that enables analysis of whole femoral sections at the single cell level, we have mapped the global distribution of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells within femoral bone marrow cavities, and analyzed their inmediate surrounding microenvironment. Systematic mapping of the global distribution of endogenous HSPC-enriched populations in the BM, revealed an accumulation of these cells inside endosteal regions (ER in situ analysis reveals that intracellular hypoxia is a hallmark of HSPCs, independent of their distance to bone surfaces, and more importantly, regardless of their perivascular localization. These studies provide unequivocal anatomical evidence for the intrinsic rather than environmental regulation of intracellular hypoxia in HSPCs and challenge the hypothesis of a “super hypoxic” HSPC niche. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
Inflationary theory and pulsar timing investigations of primordial black holes and gravitational waves

The gravitational waves measured at LIGO are presumed here to come from merging primordial black holes. We ask how these primordial black holes could arise through inflationary models while not conflicting with current experiments. Among the approaches that work, we investigate the opportunity for corroboration through experimental probes of gravitational waves at pulsar timing arrays. We provide examples of theories that are already ruled out, theories that will soon be probed, and theories that will not be tested in the foreseeable future. The models that are most strongly constrained are those with a relatively broad primordial power spectrum.
Catastrophes in Lagrangian Systems: An Example — B

The classic example of a soap bubble held by wire loops is used to illustrate the propositions of the previous paper. It is shown that when the soap bubble breaks it is a catastrophe in the technical sense of the word.
Microwave resonant cavities for material properties determination

Relationships are presented for use in determining material properties of dielectric objects, including permittivity, density, moisture content, and mass, from measurements of frequency shift and change in cavity transmission characteristics when a small object is inserted into a microwave resonant cavity. Results are presented for such measurements of moisture content of individual soybeans and cereal grain and peanut kernels. Results are also given for mass determinations on irregularly shaped objects of three commercial plastic materials.
Elucidating the structural organization of a novel low-density lipoprotein nanoparticle reconstituted with docosahexaenoic acid

Low-density lipoprotein nanoparticles reconstituted with unesterified docosahexaenoic acid (LDL-DHA) is promising nanomedicine with enhanced physicochemical stability and selective anticancer cytotoxic activity. The unique functionality of LDL-DHA ultimately relates to the structure of this nanoparticle. To date, however, little is known about the structural organization of this nanoparticle. In this study chemical, spectroscopic and electron microscopy analyses were undertaken to elucidate the structural and molecular organization of LDL-DHA nanoparticles. Unesterified DHA preferentially incorporates into the outer surface layer of LDL, where in this orientation the anionic carboxyl end of DHA is exposed to the LDL surface and imparts an electronegative charge to the nanoparticles surface. This negative surface charge promotes the monodisperse and homogeneous distribution of LDL-DHA nanoparticles in solution. Further structural analyses with cryo-electron microscopy revealed that the LDL-DHA nanostructure consist of a phospholipid bilayer surrounding an aqueous core, which is distinctly different from the phospholipid monolayer/apolar core organization of plasma LDL. Lastly, apolipoprotein B-100 remains strongly associated with this complex and maintains a discrete size and shape of the LDL-DHA nanoparticles similar to plasma LDL. This preliminary structural assessment of LDL-DHA now affords the opportunity to understand the important structure-function relationships of this novel nanoparticle.
Is Preoperative Vein Mapping Beneficial for the Creation of Dialysis Arteriovenous Fistulas

IntroductionThe use of preoperative vein mapping for arteriovenous fistula creation has shown promise in multiple studies over the years. However, a definitive scanning technique has not been well ...
Upper limit on shift current generation in extended systems

Despite a long history of research into nonlinear response theory, there has been no systematic investigation into the maximum amount of nonlinear optical response attainable in solid-state materials. In this work, we present an upper bound on the second-order response functions of materials, which controls the shift current response. We show that this bound depends on the band gap, bandwidth, and geometrical properties of the material in question. We find that delocalized systems generally have larger responses than more localized or isolated ones. As a proof of principle, we perform first-principles calculations of the response tensors of a wide variety of materials, finding that the materials in our database do not yet saturate the upper bound. This suggests that new large shift current materials will likely be discovered by future materials research guided by the factors mentioned in this work.
Actobindin induces the accumulation of actin dimers that neither nucleate polymerization nor self-associate.

Actobindin purified from Acanthamoeba castellanii inhibits the nucleation, but not the elongation, phase of actin polymerization. Previously, we had speculated that actobindin, which can simultaneously bind two actin monomers (Bubb, M.R., Lewis, M.S., and Korn, E.D. (1991) J. Biol. Chem. 266, 3820-3826), might preferentially interact with small oligomers and inhibit their ability to elongate (Lambooy, P.K., and Korn, E.D. (1988) J. Biol. Chem. 263, 12836-12843). In the accompanying paper (Bubb, M.R., Lewis, M.S., and Korn, E.D. (1994) J. Biol. Chem. 269, 25587-25591), we show that under non-polymerizing conditions, actobindin binds to covalently cross-linked actin dimers with higher affinity than to two actin monomers. The sedimentation velocity and fluorescence anisotropy experiments described in this paper show that actobindin prevents the formation of actin oligomers larger than an actin dimer under conditions in which, in the absence of actobindin, actin rapidly polymerizes to F-actin with no detectable small oligomers. Moreover, the molar concentration of actin dimer formed in the presence of actobindin can exceed the total actobindin concentration. These results indicate that actobindin does not form a stable complex with native actin dimer but, rather, causes the accumulation of dimers that are unable to nucleate polymerization or self-associate.
Negotiated exchanges in the Spanish–English bilingual courtroom

This paper examines the interpreters’ use of requests for clarification in two criminal (Spanish–English) jury trials. The aim of the paper is to study how interpreters in the case studies reconcil...
A critical rejoinder to Manfred B. Steger

AbstractManfred Steger’s response to our critique of globalization theory studiously avoids a confrontation with our basic thesis that nation-states are the principal agents of globalization and th...
Effects of corneal environment on oxygen tension in the anterior chambers of rabbits.

Oxygen tension in the aqueous of the anterior chamber of rabbit eyes was measured for anumber of conditions at the corneal surface. The conditions were: (A) normal exposure to airwith eyelids open, (B) a hard contact lens placed on the cornea, (C) a 15 ixm thick piece ofcellophane placed on the cornea, (D) closed, eyelids and (E) held gases—oxygen, air, andnitrogen played on the cornea. The technique employed in vivo measurements using needle-shaped oxygen cathodes which were inserted into the eye from behind the limbus. The normal(Condition A) oxygen tension in the anterior chamber aqueous was 32 ± 9 mm. Hg. Oxygentensions in the aqueous for conditions B, C, and D, and when nitrogen was played on thecomea were similar and equaled about 9 mm. Hg. Essentially no change was observed whenair was played on the cornea and anterior chamber oxygen tension rose to 138 mm. Hg whenoxygen was played on the cornea. The results indicate that oxygen tension levels through thecornea are dependent on environmental conditions at its anterior surface.Key words: oxygen tension, cornea, corneal environment, oxygen cathode, aqueous humor.
Understanding Plasma–Liquid Interface Instabilities Using Particle Image Velocimetry and Shadowgraphy Imaging Methods

Plasma-induced fluid convection is a poorly understood phenomenon originating at the plasma–liquid interface. Diffusive transport, both natural and driven, as well as convection effects determines the rate at which reactive species are produced at the interface and those diffusing from gas phase, ultimately mix within the solution. Efficient mass transfer rates are important to a number of applications ranging from water purification to plasma medicine. In order to understand the mechanisms of plasma-generated active species’ transport through the plasma–liquid interface, a new 2-D Hele–Shaw-like cell was constructed to allow shadowgraph and particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements of the interface. The plasma-induced flow field in the liquid water as observed using PIV revealed the formation of vortices as well as significant velocity shear, particularly near the bubble interface in the bulk liquid. These flows appear to be related to streamer strikes at the interface. The stability analysis was carried out to investigate the presence of the Kelvin–Helmholtz instability and to determine if the observed perturbations to the flow field were stable. The circulation flows were found to be consistent with Marangoni convection. Additionally, shadowgraph images showed that the streamers impact at the interface locally compress the fluid, thereby driving diffusive flow, density gradients, and interfacial capillary waves.
Optimization of the Magnetic Field Topology in the Hall Effect Rocket with Magnetic Shielding

NASA's Hall Effect Rocket with Magnetic Shielding (HERMeS) 12.5 kilowatt Technology Demonstration Unit-1 (TDU-1) has been the subject of extensive technology maturation in preparation for flight system development. The TDU-1 thruster implements a magnetically shielded field topology and has demonstrated the elimination of the discharge channel erosion. Extensive wear testing of the TDU Hall thrusters has identified the thruster front pole covers as the next life limiting component. This effort aims to explore and investigate alternate magnetic field topologies to assess whether reductions in the front pole cover erosion can be attained while still maintaining very low erosion rates on the discharge channel walls. NASA GRC (Glenn Research Center) and JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) have begun a magnetic field topology characterization and optimization study by designing four candidate magnetic field topologies that reduce the effectiveness of the shielding along the discharge channel walls with the intent to also reduce the erosion rates along the pole covers. Three of the four candidate magnetic field topologies have been manufactured subjected to an extensive test campaign that includes performance, plume, and stability characterization. In the Phase I test segment, the thruster's oscillation magnitude and laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) measurements of the plasma plume were performed for the three candidate topologies. In Phase I, the thruster's oscillation magnitude and LIF measurements were performed for the three candidate topologies. Phase I test results found that the B1 configuration attained lower oscillation levels than the baseline topology (B0). Additionally, laser induced fluorescence measurements along the discharge chamber centerline found that upstream retraction of the thruster’s peak magnetic field does result in an upstream shift of the acceleration zone but the magnitude of the shift does not correspond one-to-one to the shift in the location of the peak radial magnetic field magnitude. Phase II test segment will include performing performance, stability, plume, and erosion measurements for the various candidate magnetic field topologies..
Investigation of Intact Subunit Polypeptide Composition of the 20S Proteasome Complex from Rat Liver Using Mass Spectrometry

Proteasomes are multicatalytic proteolytic complexes found in almost all living cells that are responsible for protein degradation in both the cytosol and nucleus. They are involved in many important biological processes, including the removal of abnormal, misfolded or improperly assembled proteins, stress response, cell differentiation, metabolic adaption, and cellular immune response [1, 2]. The 20S proteasome is the catalytic core of the larger, ATP-dependent 26S complex that is responsible for degradation of ubiquitin-conjugated proteins. With a molecular weight of approximately 750 kDa, the 20S proteasome complex has a cylindrical structure consisting of four stacked rings, each of which is organized from seven α and β subunits, assembled in the order αββα(1–4). This overall structure is conserved from archebacteria to eukaryotes, which has been shown clearly in the crystal structures ofthe 20S proteasomes from Thermoplasma acidophilum and Saccharomyces cerevisiae [5,6]. The proteasome complex from archeabacterium Thermoplasma acidophilum contains only two different but related subunits, α and β, while it is known that the eukaryotic proteasome complex is composed of at least 14 subunits with molecular masses of 21 to 34 kDa, and different charges (pI 3–10). These subunits can be divided into α- and β-type based on their polypeptide sequence homology with the T. acidophilum α- or β-subunit. The primary structure of these subunits shows high inter-subunit homology within species, and high evolutionary conservation in various eukaroytes, suggesting that they constitute a multi-gene family and may have originated from a common ancestral gene [4]. Open image in new window Fig. 1 The dendrogram of proteasome subunits into α- and /β-type subunits. Tα and Tβ represent Thermoplasma acidophilum α and β subunits. β-type subunits can be divided into two subgroups as “active” and “inactive”, which refer to the presence or absence of Thr-1 as the N-terminal nucleophile, which is believed to be essential for the peptidase activities.
Zeolite MCM-22 supported heterogeneous chromium catalyst for ethylene polymerization

The chromium alkyl complex Cp*Cr(py)Me2 (Cp* = η5-pentamethylcyclopentadienyl, py = pyridine, Me = methyl) has been affixed to the surface of zeolite MCM-22 via methane elimination. The resulting composite material has been characterized by a variety of physical methods. The results are consistent with the presence of isolated organometallic fragments linked to the solid support by a covalent chromium–oxygen bond. Activation of this material with methylaluminoxane (MAO) yielded a highly active catalyst for the polymerization of ethylene. The polyethylene thus formed featured high molecular weights (Mw ∼ 4 × 106) and narrow molecular weight distributions (Mw/Mn ∼ 3.5).
The Influence of Prosody on the Requirements for Gesture-Text Alignment

Designing an agent capable of multimodal communication requires synchronization of the agent’s performance across its communication channels: text, prosody, gesture, body movement and facial expressions. The synchronization of gesture and spoken text has significant repercussions for agent design. To explore this issue, we examined people’s sensitivity to misalignments between gesture and spoken text, varying both the gesture type and the prosodic emphasis. This study included ratings of individual clips and ratings of paired clips with different alignments. Subjects were unable to notice alignment errors of up to ±0.6s when shown a single clip. However, when shown paired clips, gestures occurring after the lexical affiliate are rated less positively. There is also evidence that stronger prosody cues make people more sensitive to misalignment. This suggests that agent designers may be able to “cheat” when it comes to maintaining tight synchronization between audio and gesture without a decrease in agent naturalness, but this cheating may not be optimal.
Rotters Theorie des Sozialen Lernens

Die Theorien, die wir bis jetzt besprochen haben, grundeten sich alle hauptsachlich auf die klinische Erfahrung ihrer Autoren. Wie wir schon weiter oben betont haben, erwiesen sich viele Grundkonstrukte dieser Theorien als schwer operationalisierbar. Das Fehlen geeigneter Operationen zur Messung der Konstrukte fuhrt zu Schwierigkeiten beim Uberprufen der Hypothesen und Verwirrung bei der Interpretation von Untersuchungsergebnissen. Man kann nicht behaupten, sei das Konfidenzniveau auch noch so hoch, das die Verdrangung machtiger Es-Impulse neurotische Symptome nach sich ziehe, solange man nicht Verdrangung zuverlassig messen kann, und zwar mit Operationen, die allgemein als zuverlassiger Indikator fur das, was unter dem Begriff verstanden wird, gelten. Wenn experimentell orientierte Psychologen Wege ableiten, wie sich die von Klinikern verwendeten Konstrukte ihrer Meinung nach messen lassen, kommt es sehr oft vor, das ihre Arbeitsweise von den klinisch Tatigen als ungenau und stark vereinfachend abgestempelt wird. Der Streit zwischen denen, die auf wissenschaftlich uberprufbare Hypothesen bestehen, und denen, die glauben, das die objektive Untersuchung klinischer Beobachtungen nichtssagend, uberflussig und verfalschend sei, halt schon viele Jahre an.
Immunopathogenesis of Pseudomonas Keratitis

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic pathogen associated with bacterial keratitis. Advances in understanding host innate/adaptive immune responses in this disease have been made using various experimental animal models, including inbred mice that are classed as resistant (cornea heals) versus susceptible (cornea perforates). Evidence has shown that interleukin (IL)-12 driven interferon gamma (IFN-γ) production in T helper (Th)1 responder strains, such as C57BL/6, contributes to corneal perforation, while IL-18 driven IFN-γ production is associated with bacterial killing and less disease in Th2 responder strains (BALB/c). The critical role of Toll-like receptor 4, neuropeptides, macrophages (Mϕ), and regulation of neutrophil (PMN) apoptosis is also discussed, together with potential theraputic approaches.
The Kinetics of Sperm Return and Late Failure Following Vasovasostomy or Vasoepididymostomy: A Systematic Review

Purpose:Vasovasostomy and vasoepididymostomy are technically challenging microsurgical reconstructive procedures necessary for men with obstructive azoospermia at the level of the vas deferens or epididymis. Patency rates following vasovasostomy or vasoepididymostomy have been widely described in the literature. However, few reports have discussed the timing of sperm return to the ejaculate after reconstruction as well as the proportion of men in whom late failure develops following vasovasostomy or vasoepididymostomy. Therefore, the objective of this article was to review the rates and predictors associated with late failure and the timing of sperm returning to the ejaculate after vasovasostomy and vasoepididymostomy.Materials and Methods:A literature search was performed using the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines via the PubMed®/MEDLINE® database. We included relevant articles published in English in peer reviewed journals from 1960 to 2017 which rep...
Associations between screen time and lower psychological well-being among children and adolescents: Evidence from a population-based study

Abstract Previous research on associations between screen time and psychological well-being among children and adolescents has been conflicting, leading some researchers to question the limits on screen time suggested by physician organizations. We examined a large (n = 40,337) national random sample of 2- to 17-year-old children and adolescents in the U.S. in 2016 that included comprehensive measures of screen time (including cell phones, computers, electronic devices, electronic games, and TV) and an array of psychological well-being measures. After 1 h/day of use, more hours of daily screen time were associated with lower psychological well-being, including less curiosity, lower self-control, more distractibility, more difficulty making friends, less emotional stability, being more difficult to care for, and inability to finish tasks. Among 14- to 17-year-olds, high users of screens (7+ h/day vs. low users of 1 h/day) were more than twice as likely to ever have been diagnosed with depression (RR 2.39, 95% CI 1.54, 3.70), ever diagnosed with anxiety (RR 2.26, CI 1.59, 3.22), treated by a mental health professional (RR 2.22, CI 1.62, 3.03) or have taken medication for a psychological or behavioral issue (RR 2.99, CI 1.94, 4.62) in the last 12 months. Moderate use of screens (4 h/day) was also associated with lower psychological well-being. Non-users and low users of screens generally did not differ in well-being. Associations between screen time and lower psychological well-being were larger among adolescents than younger children.
Limitations of Preoperative Right Ventricular Failure Assessment in Patients Undergoing LVAD Insertion

Purpose Early right ventricular (RV) failure after LVAD is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Several hemodynamic indices have been suggested to identify patients at risk for RV failure, however their predictive value remains unclear. Methods We retrospectively identified patients at our center who required mechanical RV support following LVAD between 2007-2018, with either surgical (Centrimag RVAD) or percutaneous (Impella RP, Protek Duo) devices. Those receiving RVAD at time of LVAD insertion were excluded. Predictors of RV failure were calculated with preoperative hemodynamics, including RA/PCWP (low risk (LR) 0.64), PAPI (LR >2, medium risk (MR) 1.5-2, HR 600 mmHg*mL/m2, MR 300-600, HR 5.5), and EUROMACS-RHF (LR 4). Results 37 patients required mechanical RV support. 18 received percutaneous RVAD and 19 surgical RVAD. Figure 1 summarizes the proportion of patients who would have been identified as low, medium, or high risk of RV failure. Mean RA/PCWP was 0.43 ± 0.19, with 13.5% of patients identified as high risk. 70.3% of patients had PAPI suggestive of low risk, with only 10.8% and 18.9% identified as medium or high risk, respectively. RVSWI identified 51.3% of patients as medium risk of RV failure and 21.6% as high risk, with mean 519 ± 316 mmHg*mL/m2. EUROMACS-RHF classified 51.3% as medium risk and 22% as high risk, while the RVFRS identified the majority of patients as low risk (83.8%). Conclusion Among patients who ultimately required mechanical support for RV failure following LVAD insertion, the majority would not have been identified as at risk using most currently available preoperative risk assessments. RVSWI and EUROMACS-RHF best predicted RV failure, identifying the majority of patients as at medium risk. In patients not identified as at risk preoperatively, easily deployed RV support may be an important means to rapidly address RV failure after LVAD insertion.
A new interpretation of the structure and solvent dependence of the far UV circular dichroism spectrum of short oligopeptides

UV circular dichroism (UVCD) spectroscopy is a prominent tool for exploring secondary structures of polypeptides and proteins. In the unfolded state of these biomolecules, most of the individual residues primarily sample a conformation called polyproline II. Its CD spectrum contains a negatively biased positive couplet with a pronounced negative maximum below and a weak positive maximum above 200 nm. It is traditionally rationalized in terms of an excitonic coupling mechanism augmented by polarization effects. In this work, we carry out new time-dependent density functional theory calculations on the cationic tripeptide GAG in implicit and explicit water to determine the transitions that give rise to the observed CD signals of polyproline II and β-strand conformations. Our results reveal a plethora of electronic transitions that are governed by configurational interactions between multiple molecular orbital transitions of comparable energy. We also show that reproducing the CD spectra of polyproline II and β-strand conformations requires the explicit consideration of water molecules. The structure dependence of delocalized occupied orbitals contributes to the experimentally-observed invalidation of Flory's isolated pair hypothesis.
The “Bus Proof” Library: Technical Succession Planning, Knowledge Transfer, and Institutional Memory

The departure of colleagues with a long tenure at a library, whether planned or unplanned, can be devastating for the organization. A review of the literature reveals that terminology for discussin...
AutoPersist: an easy-to-use Java NVM framework based on reachability

Byte-addressable, non-volatile memory (NVM) is emerging as a revolutionary memory technology that provides persistency, near-DRAM performance, and scalable capacity. To facilitate its use, many NVM programming models have been proposed. However, most models require programmers to explicitly specify the data structures or objects that should reside in NVM. Such requirement increases the burden on programmers, complicates software development, and introduces opportunities for correctness and performance bugs. We believe that requiring programmers to identify the data structures that should reside in NVM is untenable. Instead, programmers should only be required to identify durable roots - the entry points to the persistent data structures at recovery time. The NVM programming framework should then automatically ensure that all the data structures reachable from these roots are in NVM, and stores to these data structures are persistently completed in an intuitive order. To this end, we present a new NVM programming framework, named AutoPersist, that only requires programmers to identify durable roots. AutoPersist then persists all the data structures that can be reached from the durable roots in an automated and transparent manner. We implement AutoPersist as a thread-safe extension to the Java language and perform experiments with a variety of applications running on Intel Optane DC persistent memory. We demonstrate that AutoPersist requires minimal code modifications, and significantly outperforms expert-marked Java NVM applications.
On the Economic Value of Signals

We provide sufficient conditions for the economic value of a signal to be a convex function, either locally or globally, of the input required to produce the signal. We also provide conditions under which this input can be interpreted as a measure of the information contained in this signal. We demonstrate that, under certain conditions, information is a very peculiar good that can—globally—show increasing marginal utility. In contrast to the earlier approach used to obtain the classic results on the local lack of concavity of the value of information, our approach allows permits the investigation of concavity (or lack) of the function representing the value of information, without imposing any conditions of differentiability on this function. Our approach also allows us to show that the marginal value of information can be zero even at an informative signal. Finally, we discuss some of the difficulties that can arise in designing price discrimination schemes for selling signals with various levels of quality.
The Trans Panic Defense Revisited

Violence against transgender individuals in general, and trans women of color in particular, is a significant problem today. When a man is charged with murdering a transgender woman, a common defense strategy is to assert what is called the trans panic defense. The trans panic defense is not a traditional criminal law defense. Nor, despite its name, is it recognized as a stand-alone defense. Rather, trans panic is a defense strategy associated with the provocation or heat of passion defense. A murder defendant asserting trans panic will claim that the discovery that the victim was a transgender female—an individual thought to be male when born who identifies as a woman—provoked him into a heat of passion, causing him to lose his self-control. If the jury finds that the defendant was actually and reasonably provoked into a heat of passion, it can acquit him of murder and find him guilty of a lesser offense. This Article starts by discussing the problem of violence against transgender individuals in the United States today. It then focuses upon a particular manifestation of this violence—cases in which a man kills a transgender woman with whom he was intimate or to whom he was attracted, is arrested and charged with murder, and then asserts a trans panic defense. Next, this Article offers several reasons why the trans panic defense strategy is deeply problematic. First, the trans panic defense appeals to negative stereotypes about transgender individuals. Second, it legitimizes the enforcement of norms of masculinity and heterosexuality through violence. Third, it inappropriately validates bias against transgender individuals when we live in a pluralistic society that should be tolerant and accepting of all individuals. The Article then addresses the normative question of what should be done to rectify the harms rendered when a defendant charged with murder asserts a trans panic defense. In the past, the Author was reluctant to support proposals to legislatively ban the trans panic defense. She felt that the best way to defeat the trans panic defense was not to ban it, but to allow it to be aired and then have a strong prosecutor explain to the jury why it should be rejected. She also argued that it was critically important to eradicate the underlying structures of masculinity that encourage violence against transgender women to reduce the risk of such violence taking place and to undermine the effectiveness of the trans panic defense. She opined that the best way to achieve these goals was to educate both the public and the jury about the difficulties transgender individuals face just trying to exist in society and make the existence of bias against transgender individuals salient to the jury. While the Author still believes in the importance of education, she now feels education alone is insufficient to ensure that juries reject the trans panic defense. The Article explains the Author’s shift in position and concludes by examining recently enacted legislative bans on the trans panic defense and offering concrete suggestions on how legislative reform in this arena could be strengthened.
Breaking Down Memory Walls: Adaptive Memory Management in LSM-based Storage Systems (Extended Version).

Log-Structured Merge-trees (LSM-trees) have been widely used in modern NoSQL systems. Due to their out-of-place update design, LSM-trees have introduced memory walls among the memory components of multiple LSM-trees and between the write memory and the buffer cache. Optimal memory allocation among these regions is non-trivial because it is highly workload-dependent. Existing LSM-tree implementations instead adopt static memory allocation schemes due to their simplicity and robustness, sacrificing performance. In this paper, we attempt to break down these memory walls in LSM-based storage systems. We first present a memory management architecture that enables adaptive memory management. We then present a partitioned memory component structure with new flush policies to better exploit the write memory to minimize the write cost. To break down the memory wall between the write memory and the buffer cache, we further introduce a memory tuner that tunes the memory allocation between these two regions. We have conducted extensive experiments in the context of Apache AsterixDB using the YCSB and TPC-C benchmarks and we present the results here.
Discussion: Biochemical studies in various culture systems of neural tissues.

Publisher Summary This chapter describes the factors that regulate the expression of glycerolphosphate dehydrogenase (GPDH) in brain, using the four types of tissue culture. In explants, dissociated cell cultures, and aggregates, the level of the enzyme remains extremely low in the absence of glucocorticoids even after several weeks in culture. When hydrocortisone is added to the culture medium, GPDH activity rises to levels that approximate those in vivo in less than 5 days by which time it has reached a new steady state. The chapter discusses experiments that illustrate the fact that without the knowledge of the hormonal requirement, one will conclude that primary rat cerebral cultures do not differentiate with respect to GPDH as the basal level is low and remains constant throughout the culture period. GPDH is also inducible in a clonal glial tumor cell line, C6. The chapter also presents two conclusions from the results—(1) GPDH induction, unlike glutamine synthetase in the retina, does not require the cell-cell contact present in explant or aggregates as it is fully inducible in dissociated cell cultures; and (2) the extensive similarity of the induction characteristics in all types of culture systems suggests that the tumor cell line, C6, is a valid model to study some aspects of GPDH induction.
Positivity of energy in five dimensional classical unified field theories, II☆

Abstract Five dimensional classical unified field theories as well as Yang-Mills theory with gauge group U(1), are described in terms of a Lorentzian five dimensional space V5 with metric tensor γαβ which admits a space-like Killing vector ζα. It is assumed that: (1) V5 has the topology of V4 x S1, S1 is a circle and V4 is a four dimensional Lorentzian space that is asymptotically flat and (2) the Einstein tensor Γαβ of V5 satisfies Γαβ Uαυβ ⩽ 0 where Uα and υα are future oriented time-like vectors with γαβυαζβ = 0. The spinor approach of Witten [4], Nester [3] and Moreschi and Sparling [5] is used to show that the conserved five dimensional energymomentum vector Pα = ifΓαβ = 0 then V5 must admit a time-like Killing vector. Lichnerowicz's results [1] then imply that V5 must be flat. A lower bound for P4 (the mass) similar to that found by Gibbons and Hull [6] is obtained.
P53 in lung vascular barrier dysfunction

Endothelial barrier dysfunction is the hallmark of inflammatory lung disease, including Acute Lung Injury and Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome. The purpose of the present editorial is to emphasize on recent advances in the corresponding field, as it relates to P53. This tumor suppressor protein has been shown to enhance the vascular barrier integrity via distinct molecular pathways. Further, it mediates the beneficial effects of heat shock protein 90 inhibitors and growth hormone releasing hormone antagonists in the lung microvasculature.
BRUCE LINCOLN, Holy Terrors: Thinking about Religion after September 11 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003). Pp. 153. $25.00 cloth

The 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks spawned a cottage industry of instant analysis. The result has been an avalanche of books that purport to explain terrorism, Islam, and the relationship between religion and violence. Most of the books written in the shadow of these events are superficial efforts unlikely to be remembered a few years hence. Bruce Lincoln's is a rare and distinguished exception. It is sure to outlast its competitors both in providing an understanding of 11 September and in offering broader frameworks for analyzing the linkages between religion and political change.
Impact of bi-directional loading on the seismic performance of C-shaped piers of core walls

Abstract Reinforced concrete structural walls are commonly used as the primary lateral load resisting system in modern buildings constructed in high seismic regions. Most walls in high-rise buildings are C-shaped to accommodate elevators or other architectural features. C-shaped walls have complex loading and response including: (1) symmetric response in the direction of the web, (2) asymmetric response in the direction of the flange and (3) high compression and shear demands when used as a pier in a coupled-wall configuration. A research study was conducted on C-shaped walls tested under (1) uni-directional and (2) bi-directional loading of an isolated walls and (3) bi-directional loading of a c-shaped pier in a coupled wall system. Each of the walls failed in flexure with strength loss resulting from low-cycle fatigue of the boundary element longitudinal reinforcement with buckling followed by fracture. The damage progression was as follows: (1) cracking at the wall-foundation interface, (2) concrete spalling in the web, (3) buckling and fracture of web reinforcement, (4) spalling in the flanges, (5) buckling and fracture of the bars in the boundary elements. Concrete spalling and steel bar damage occurred at lower strong-axis drift levels for the bi-directionally loaded, resulting in lower drift capacities for these loading protocols. However, for the strong-axis direction, bi-directional loading does not reduce flexural or shear effective stiffness values suggesting that current values are appropriate for design and evaluation of buildings with c-shaped walls.
Comparative efficiency of California State University system by DEA

This study evaluates the performance of 23 campuses of California State University (CSU) system, the largest public university system in the USA from a benchmarking perspective. Despite of shared vision and management control under one system, a substantial variability in performance outcomes across campuses has been observed. Using data envelopment analysis, this study appraises the relative efficiency of the 23 campuses by focusing on outcomes such as graduation rates and impacts of graduates on the California economy. The result shows the CSU system was roughly 79% efficient compared to the performances of the best practice campuses. It also indicates a significant difference in efficiencies among campuses at different geographical regions. Cross-efficiency analysis confirmed the findings on the overall performance ratings. After identifying benchmarking targets for each inefficient campus, the direction and amount of potential improvement are presented.
A retrospective matched cohort single-center study evaluating outcomes of COVID-19 and the impact of immunomodulation on COVID-19-related cytokine release syndrome in solid organ transplant recipients.

This retrospective matched cohort study describes 30 solid organ transplant (SOT) patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) matched 1:2 to 60 non-SOT patients (control group) based on age, body mass index (BMI), and comorbidities (hypertension and diabetes mellitus with hemoglobin A1c > 8.0%). The SOT group had a higher proportion of cardiovascular disease (P < .05). During the index hospitalization, there were no significant differences with regard to disease severity or critical care needs (mechanical intubation, vasopressors, and renal replacement therapy). At 28 days, 4 (13%) patients died in the SOT group and 8 (13%) patients died in the control group (P = 1.0). Nineteen patients received tocilizumab in the SOT group compared to 29 patients in the control group. Among these patients, interleukin-6 (IL-6) and soluble interleukin-2 receptor (sIL2R) levels increased after tocilizumab and interleukin-10 (IL-10) levels decreased after tocilizumab. Overall, SOT patients had comparable mortality to non-SOT patients, although numerically more SOT patients received tocilizumab (63% vs 48%) and steroids (37% vs 20%). Larger, multi-center studies are needed to ascertain these findings. Lastly, the complex cytokine release syndrome in COVID-19 remains an area of intense research and the analysis of key interleukin levels (IL-6, IL-10, and sIL2R) in this study contributes to the understanding of this process.
Correlates of COVID-19 pandemic-related increases in sleep aid and anti-anxiety medication use

Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic has created a stressful environment of fear, isolation, and economic instability. This study quantifies rates of self-reported increases in use of anxiety-related m...
Quantifying the Gender Gap in Authorship in Herpetology

It is well-known that women are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), but the extent of this underrepresentation varies among STEM fields. Analyzing gender demographics of publications within a field is an effective means of quantifying representation because of the importance of publications to scientists' careers and to the scientific community. We created a data set consisting of all publications accessed with a database search on each taxonomic order of herpetofauna (Anura, Caudata, Gymnophiona, Testudines, Crocodylia, Rhynchocephalia, and Squamata) as well as squamate suborders (Amphisbaenia, Lacertilia, Serpentes) from 2010 to 2019, and another data set with all publications on Lacertilia and Serpentes from 1970 to 2019, and used these data sets to estimate the genders of authors. During the past decade, our estimates show that male authors outnumbered female authors 2.24:1, with especially low levels of authorship by females in studies on Gymnophiona, Crocodylia, and Squamata. However, female authorship increased steadily during the decade. While male first authors also outnumbered females 1.95:1, male last authors outnumbered females 3.30:1, and male sole authors outnumbered females 5.29:1. Papers with female first authors or last authors were more likely to have female coauthors than were papers with male first authors or last authors. Papers with female first authors were more likely to be cited than papers with male first authors, and papers with female last authors were less likely to be cited than those with male last authors. Finally, qualitative analysis of authorship estimates in studies on lizards and snakes over the past 50 yr show that female authors represented about 10–15% of authors from 1970 to 2000, followed by a rapid rise in female authorship over the past 20 yr to current rates of >30% female authorship. Our data suggest that the gender gap in herpetology, which has traditionally appeared to be a male-dominated field, is slowly narrowing.
Intraparenchymal Hemorrhage After Evacuation of Chronic Subdural Hematoma: A Case Series and Literature Review.

Background Intraparenchymal hemorrhage (IPH), possibly due to reperfusion, after evacuation of a cranial chronic subdural hematoma (cSDH) is a known phenomenon. However, it is sparingly reported and not well understood. Methods An illustrative case series is presented. A literature review was conducted according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis guidelines to identify all previously reported cases. Results A total of 48 cases were analyzed. Males were 85.4% of the population, and the mean age was 67.5 years. Pre-existing head trauma and hypertension were the most common comorbidities. Headache was a presenting symptom in 60.4% of cases. Midline shift was explicitly stated in 54.2% of cases. Initial burr hole alone was performed 75.0% of the time, whereas craniotomy alone was performed in 16.7% of cases. Any initial craniotomy patients were associated with a modified Rankin Scale score of 5 (P = 0.03). The IPH was located in the cerebral hemisphere in 62.5% of cases and more likely to occur ipsilateral to a unilateral cSDH (P = 0.02). The IPH occurred a mean 1.9 days after surgery, and 50.0% occurred within 24 hours of initial intervention. The median modified Rankin Scale at discharge was 2. The mortality rate was 25%. Lastly, a multifactorial reperfusion pathophysiology was proposed. Conclusion IPH after cSDH evacuation is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Prompt recognition, regulating blood pressure, controlling the amount and rate of extra-axial fluid drained, and a meticulous surgical technique are critical to optimize the care of patients with cSDH and reduce the rate of postoperative IPH.