cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Science, Culture, and SETI

We have traveled quite an intellectual distance in this book, moving from the historical process through which modern humans became increasingly aware of and able to imagine the existence and possible nature of extraterrestrial intelligence to some speculation, using an example from the history of anthropology, about what might happen if we do, in fact, make contact. The central thesis of my argument is that the defining feature of how our ability to contemplate ETI has grown and changed over time is tied to the ways in which culture, and the imaginaries associated with changing technological and ideational abilities and themes among humans, is experienced by scientists and the general public.
The Epidemiologic Approach to Investigating Outdoor Air Pollution

Publisher Summary Epidemiology will remain an important research method for addressing the health effects of air pollution. It provides evidence directly from human population that is complementary to the findings of toxicologic studies. This chapter discusses epidemiologic approach for investigating the health effects of outdoor air pollution. Epidemiology comprises the scientific methods used to study disease occurrence in human populations, including description of the occurrence of disease and identification of the causes of disease. Epidemiologic studies address the effects of inhaled pollutants as exposure occurs in the community. Their results can document the occurrence of adverse effects of air pollution and describe the relationship between exposure and response, and characterize effects on susceptible groups within the population, for example, persons with asthma. In general, epidemiologic studies are carried out with several objectives: to determine if air pollution or a source of air pollution poses a hazard to human health; to characterize the relationship between the level of exposure and the response; and to examine responses of potentially susceptible populations to pollutant exposures. Although epidemiologic studies are subject to potentially limiting methodologic problems, new approaches for assessing exposure to pollutants and health outcomes should strengthen the epidemiologic approach for investigating the health effects of air pollution.
Formation and Assembly of Alphavirus Glycoproteins

Among the variety of enveloped viruses that exist in nature, the Togaviridae family is generally considered to be among the simplest with regard to structure and composition of the virus. The virion structure is examined in detail in Chapter 22. In this chapter, we focus on the major protein components of the virion envelope and describe modifications of these proteins that occur as they mature from nascent polypeptides to fully mature and functional glycoproteins that form the spikes of the infectious particle. Most of our information about togavirus glycoproteins comes from biochemical studies of the two alphaviruses, Semliki Forest virus and Sindbis virus (Garoff et al., 1982). These viruses have provided valuable models for the analysis of membrane proteins.
Efficient adaptive vertical downtilt schemes in LTE-Advanced networks

This work introduces efficient schemes for adaptive vertical downtilt beamforming in Long Term Evolution Advanced (LTE-A) networks equipped with active antenna systems (AAS). A framework to determine cell-specific downtilt angles is proposed and solutions are provided with affordable complexities for practical applications. Instead of utilizing a single fixed downtilt, a cell-specific downtilt is obtained and adaptively adjusted across the system, which not only increases signal strength for desired users but also provides better control of inter-cell interference in the system. System level simulation shows that the proposed schemes achieve up to 10% cell edge and 5% cell average spectrum efficiency gain compared to the baseline system with fixed downtilt without involving complex coordination among cells.
The Art of Administrative Biography: Wallace Stegner's John Wesley Powell

Wallace Stegner's biography of John Wesley Powell is a valuable case study of the art involved in administrative biography. Biographical narratives entail a kind of thinking that involves the use of imagination, a viewpoint regarding human intentions and dynamics, an appreciation of the complex influences of historical and cultural context, and an empathetic engagement. This kind of thinking is valued highly by public administrators. It is well suited both to the representation and to the development of practical knowledge. Examining the impact of Stegner's perspective on this biography leads to important lessons regarding the interpreter's influence on the meaning derived from a nonfiction narrative.
Perioperative use of immunosuppressive medications in patients with Crohn’s disease in the new "biological era"

Crohn's disease (CD) is characterized by transmural inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract leading to inflammatory, stricturing and/or and fistulizing disease. Once a patient develops medically refractory disease, mechanical obstruction, fistulizing disease or perforation, surgery is indicated. Unfortunately, surgery is not curative in most cases, underscoring the importance of bowel preservation and adequate perioperative medical management. As many of the medications used to treat CD are immunosuppressive, the concern for postoperative infectious complications and anastomotic healing are particularly concerning; these concerns have to be balanced with preventing and treating residual or recurrent disease. We herein review the available literature and make recommendations regarding the preoperative, perioperative and postoperative administration of immunosuppressive medications in the current era of biological therapy for CD. Standardized algorithms for perioperative medical management would greatly assist future research for optimizing surgical outcomes and preventing disease recurrence in the future.
Behind Auerbach's “Background”: Five Ways to Read What Biblical Narratives Don't Say

The Hebrew Bible's narrative style has impressed interpreters of many periods and perspectives with its powerful tension between fragmentary speech and meaningful silence, summed up in Erich Auerbach's famous thesis that the Akedah is “fraught with background.” But is it possible to give a coherent account of what the Bible does not say? This article offers a comparative critical analysis of attempts to do just that, starting with Auerbach's Mimesis (1946) and continuing through the contemporary work of James Kugel, Robert Alter, Meir Sternberg, Avivah Zornberg, and others. It claims that, rather than the text itself, the Bible's “background” serves as a metaphor by which the biblical critic navigates a complex relationship with her own normative construct of the reader's mind. This comparison concludes with practical considerations about its potential for research and teaching in biblical poetics, understood as rigorous intersubjective communication, rather than as either method or ideology.
Green Jello World and Escher's World

Introducing models of hyperbolic geometry informally in the setting of different worlds lets students naturally come up with the idea that lines (shortest paths) can look like parts of Euclidean ci...
Getting It Right At The End Of Life

With the help of a palliative care team, the author’s terminally ill mother dies on her own terms.
Effects of a lag schedule of reinforcement with progressive time delay on topographical mand variability in children with autism

Objective: Evaluate the effects of a Lag 1 schedule of reinforcement and progressive time delay (TD) on topographical mand variability in children with autism. Methods: Using single-subject design ...
Factors influencing career paths and progress of Kenyan women in sport leadership

Very few women hold positions of leadership in sports organisations. This study examines factors influencing career paths of women in sport leadership positions in various organisations in Kenya. L...
Design of a Novel Wearable Sensor Device for Real-Time Bolted Joints Health Monitoring

Flanged valves are ubiquitous in oil and gas pipeline networks. The valves help to both connect pipes together and control the flow of fluids. Depending on the location, the valve may experience high temperatures, high pressures, and corrosive agents, all of which degrade the integrity of the flange connection. Thus, flanged valves require regular inspection and maintenance. However, in cases where the valve is located in inaccessible areas, regular inspection can be difficult and costly. While certain methods are currently available for automatic inspection of flanged valves, they often suffer from impracticality issues, such as intrusiveness, unintuitive operation, or sensor fragility. Therefore, this paper introduces a sensing device that, as inspired by wearable technology, can be easily and noninvasively “worn” onto the flanged valve and performs measurements in real-time. The device is composed of piezoelectric lead zirconate titanate (PZT) transducers fortified by a layer of cushioning rubber and a metallic outer layer. This paper presents the design of the device, and verifies its performance using a 12-bolted flanged valve recovered from the field. The device is able to accurately track the tightness of the bolted connections. Unlike prior PZT-based monitoring methods, this device shows great promise for practical application.
Surface Membrane Components of Circulating Invertebrate Blood Cells and Their Role in Internal Defense

For eukaryotic cells the importance of plasma membrane constituents in conveying chemical information regarding the extracellular environment is well established. Specific immune recognition and effector/regulatory functions in higher vertebrates are dependent upon a variety of immunocyte-associated membrane factors which include receptors for major histocompatibility (MHC) antigens [44], antigen-specific T-cell receptors [28,40], membrane immunoglobulins [71], Fc and complement receptors [13,17,54], hormone receptors [43], and glycosyltransferases [19]. Extensive knowledge of these cell surface components has been instrumental in helping to provide an understanding of the complex cellular and molecular interactions involved in the generation of immune responses in these animals.
Summary & Future Work

This chapter summarizes the thesis in Section 7.1, reviews the contributions of the research presented in Section 7.2, and gives an outlook on future work in Section 7.3.
Prehistoric Shellfish Utilization and Settlement Systems on Western Santa Cruz Island

Archaeologists generally have not taken advantage of the distinctive characteristics of assemblages of shellfish remains from prehistoric sites to gain information about movement of people between sites within their territory. I attempt to demonstrate this potential through analysis of shell assemblages obtained through small-scale test excavation at 2 archaeological sites in the interior of Santa Cruz Island: CA-SCRI-796 in the western sector of the island and CA-SCRI-758 at an upland location in the central sector. An aspect of the data analysis focused on strata containing an abundance of red abalone shells, dating sometime between 3700 and 3350 cal BC at CA-SCRI-796 and sometime between 4900 and 4325 cal BC at CA-SCRI-758. Also considered are assemblages from later strata at CA-SCRI-758, dating between 2600 and 1600 cal BC. Alternative hypotheses to account for the differences between the sites in proportions of shellfish taxa represented are the following: differences in proportional abundances of taxa at the localities where site inhabitants collected shellfish, changes over time in the character of shellfish communities, different distances of the sites from sources of shellfish, and variation in the intensity of shellfish collecting. The first alternative appears to account for most of the differences between assemblages, thus providing information about the geographic extent of settlement systems.
Nonlinear recovery of narrow spectral features with fast chirped readout

A new nonlinear signal processing algorithm for recovery of narrow and high-contrast spectral features for fast chirping tunable laser spectroscopy is described. The prior linear spectral feature recovery algorithm used only linear signal processing techniques. The new algorithm uses nonlinear signal processing to improve the linear recovery algorithm by estimating and removing nonlinearities resulting from the combination of chirping faster than the conventional spectroscopic limit, large absorption depth, and high-contrast spectral features. In this context, “nonlinearities” refers to the difference between the feature-size-dependent recovered spectral features and a properly scaled version of the actual spectral features. The new nonlinear algorithm was tested on a set of spectrally narrow holes burned into the inhomogeneous line, both theoretically and experimentally. Experimental data included multiple sets of spectral holes of different depths and widths <1 MHz, which were spectrally burned into cryogenic Tm3+:YAG and readout using a chirp rate of 11.88 MHz/μs. This technique improves the qualitative and quantitative spectral estimates made by spectral-holeburning-based RF spectrum analyzers, but can be applied to any tunable laser spectroscopy applications that require fast measurement of multiple high-contrast and narrow spectral features.
Externalities and agricultural import bans : evaluating regionalization measures in light of the Russia - Pigs dispute

Article 6 of the SPS Agreement presents a series of interlinked obligations for importing and exporting countries of diseased agricultural products. The Russia–Pigs dispute raises the question of when an importing country is justified in imposing a ban on products from exporting countries unaffected by the disease, on the basis of the fact that the country is part of the same customs union as another country inflicted with the disease. This Article contends that four distinct classes of cross-border and cross-product externalities ought to play an important role when assessing this question in the future. It discusses the possible roles to be played by bilateral, sequential, pass-through, and supply chain externalities in propagating the transmission of agricultural disease across borders through trade.
Modelagem de comunicação: considerando a complexidade em políticas de tecnologias digitais

Policies related to digital technologies tend to scarcely consider comprehensive communication models and the way information is actually generated and assimilated in a communicational process. Typically, models that describe communication is completely circumscribed by the technical dimension. In technology-mediated interaction, the effectiveness between the intention of a message and how it is received and understood by a user is fundamental to knowledge creation and the construction of intersubjectivity, and can be decisive in ICT policies. Interactivity, multiple contexts and subjectivity are conditioning factors of this complex process. This paper presents a reflection on how communication models including these factors can contribute to a phenomenological understanding of communication and how such understanding may support the formulation of digital technology policies.
The Emancipatory Continuity of Religious Emotion

In this paper, I engage three different sets of phenomenological concepts in order to explore the continuous transformation (“transmutation”) of religious emotion from unwholesome (anger, alienation, grief) to wholesome (love, sense of connectedness, bliss). Analysis shows that in the practice of Neo-Buddhist meditation), emotion transitions from complex and axiologically directed at intentional objects (claims based on Husserl’s theory of intentionality), to nonrepresentational (as suggested by Levinas). The way emotions are given in meditation, as a continuity in which one emotion is not replaced by another but transforms into it, is very different from the discrete, incremental character of emotion in the everyday life. Husserl’s theory of passive synthesis and intentional continuity appears insufficient to account for the continuity of emotion’s “transmutation,” to be better understood by means of Henry’s nonintentional phenomenology as nonintentional continuity. In meditative practice, emotion is reduced to being a counterphenomenon, continuously undergoing modifications and the inhibition of rising intentionalities. The modes of noēsis also change to include reversibility between the self-affective character of emotion and the “clear-seeing” aspect of noēsis. I further elaborate on the conditions of possibility for the continuous teleological transformation of emotion, found not only in the Husserlian horizon of time-consciousness and clear seeing but, more importantly, in noematic horizons of self-affection, of the rudimentary intentionalities related to the quality of emotion, and in the foundational horizon of phenomenological materiality (not hyletics). Finally, I argue that a religious quality of this experience depends on the teleology of emotion’s continuous transformation.
Hepatocyte growth factor is upregulated in ischemic retina and contributes to retinal vascular leakage and neovascularization.

In patients with macular edema due to ischemic retinopathy, aqueous levels of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) correlate with edema severity. We tested whether HGF expression and activity in mice with oxygen-induced ischemic retinopathy supports a role in macular edema. In ischemic retina, HGF was increased in endogenous cells and macrophages associated with retinal neovascularization (NV). HGF activator was increased in and around retinal vessels potentially providing vascular targeting. One day after intravitreous injection of HGF, VE-cadherin was reduced and albumin levels in retina and vitreous were significantly increased indicating vascular leakage. Injection of VEGF caused higher levels of vitreous albumin than HGF, and co-injection of both growth factors caused significantly higher levels than either alone. HGF increased the number of macrophages on the retinal surface, which was blocked by anti-c-Met and abrogated in chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 2 (CCL2)-/- mice. Injection of anti-c-Met significantly decreased leakage within 24 hours and after 5 days it reduced retinal NV in mice with ischemic retinopathy, but had no effect on choroidal NV. These data indicate that HGF is a pro-permeability, pro-inflammatory, and pro-angiogenic factor and along with its activator is increased in ischemic retina providing support for a potential role of HGF in macular edema in ischemic retinopathies.
THICKNESS EFFECTS ON MATERIAL PROPERTIES IN A GLASS/THERMOPLASTIC P.E.T. INJECTION MOLDING COMPOUND

Rynite 545, a commercial short glass fiber/thermoplastic polyethylene terepthalate system, was injection molded into end-gated rectangular plaques of various thicknesses. The plaques were sectioned and characterized by scanning electron microscopy and by mechanical and thermal expansion tests.
Expansion of the Na3MIII(Ln/An)6F30 Series: Incorporation of Plutonium into a Highly Robust and Stable Framework

Na n MAn 6 F 30 is an extremely versatile framework structure for incorporating tetravalent actinides (An) and cerium along with divalent or trivalent d -metals (M); moreover, the structure exhibits a high resistance to harsh chemical conditions. This extreme robustness can potentially be exploited for the sequestration of Pu in a stable matrix; however, no Na n MPu 6 F 30 compounds have been reported so far. Herein, we present four new plutonium fluorides that have been prepared as single crystals via mild hydrothermal synthesis methods. Structural characterizations revealed their compositions to be Na 3 AlPu 6 F 30 , Na 3 FePu 6 F 30 , Na 3 CoPu 6 F 30 , and Na 2.4 Mn 1.6 Pu 6 F 30 . Surprisingly, in the plutonium series it was found that Co 2+ and Mn 2+ precursors oxidized to form Na 3 Co III Pu 6 F 30 and Na 2.4 Mn II/III 1.6 Pu 6 F 30 , whereas the analogous reactions for cerium result in reduction of the transition metal, even when beginning with a M 3+ precursor. While cerium is often used as a surrogate for plutonium, this work serves as an example that deviations between their chemistries do occur.
Solc-style birefringent color filters based on multi-twist retarders

Birefringent color filters serve a critical role in next generation display systems, including augmented-/virtual- /mixed-reality headsets, and many types of optical remote sensing. Most prior polarization interference filters (PIFs) employ many individually aligned plates that enable only relatively thick color filters (≥ 100s of μm), are usually limited to small clear apertures (few cm), and offer poor off-axis performance. Here, we report on a family of monolithic, thin-film, birefringent PIFs formed using liquid crystal polymer (LCP) network materials, also known as reactive mesogens. These multi-twist retarders (MTRs) are only a few µm thick and have a single alignment surface. They offer high color saturation with a notch-type pass/stopband, analogous to Solc filters, and improved off-axis performance and large-area scalability. Here, we apply simplifying assumptions inspired by Solc-type PIFs, and develop a design method resulting in MTRs with an alternating achiral/chiral architecture. We design three representative color filters (blue-yellow, green-magenta, and cyan-red), and fabricate them. The resulting experimental films manifest strong color filtering behavior, with high saturation and uniformity. We study the color differences for oblique incidence, showing modest change within AOI ≤ 20°.
Understanding the induction time associated with the photoredution of resazurin by hydroxylamine in the presence of gold nanoparticles as a photocatalyst

Recently, there has been an increasing interest in using the photoreduction of resazurin by aliphatic amines such as hydroxylamine as a model reaction to assess the efficiency of metal nanoparticles as photocatalysts. However, some features of this reaction are still not understood well. In particular, one of the most important still misconstrued feature of resazurin photoreduction reaction is the lag time in the beginning of the reaction, when no turnover of resazurin is observed. This lag time is often known as the induction time. In order to understand the origin of the induction time, we investigate the factors governing the induction time associated with the reaction. We found that the concentrations of the hydroxylamine and the dissolved oxygen are most important factors influencing the induction time. In the ambient condition, the induction time for resazurin reduction reaction can be as long as 30 min in the absence of any catalyst. Decreasing the dissolved oxygen concentration or increasing the hydroxylamine concentration can significantly reduce the induction time. We attributed the induction time to a side reaction, autoxidation of hydroxylamine by dissolved oxygen. Interestingly, we found that the presence of metal nanocatalyst such as gold can also reduce the induction time. We concluded that in addition to catalyzing the photoreduction of resazurin, gold nanocatalyst can also accelerate the autoxidation reaction of hydroxylamine.
On-Chip Integrated Spectrometers Based on Metasurfaces on Waveguides

Spectrometers with small footprint and high resolutions are highly demanded in various areas. We designed and experimentally demonstrated an ultra-compact fully integrated spectrometer based on metasurface-decorated photonic integrated waveguides.
A Corporate Social Responsibility View on Digital Disruption in Marketing

Disruption influences the primary components of modern digital marketing, including search engine optimization for website effectiveness, search engine and display advertising, content marketing, social media marketing, email marketing, and e-commerce. By examining the disruption of these components and the role of corporate social and environmental responsibility (CSRE) in sustaining a healthy business domestically and internationally, we determined that transformations also influence the CSRE pillars in the institutional framework of digital marketing. With weakened formal institutions regulating economic and legal relationships in the digital marketing area, the economic and legal pillars of CSR have also weakened, while ethical, discretionary, and environmental pillars are strengthening. Strategically, CSRE acquires the central role in a company’s relationship with stakeholders, including customers and partners, when other institutions in the digital marketing area are yet to be developed.
African-lineage Zika virus replication dynamics and maternal-fetal interface infection in pregnant rhesus macaques

ABSTRACT Following the Zika virus (ZIKV) outbreak in the Americas, ZIKV was causally associated with microcephaly and a range of neurological and developmental symptoms, termed congenital Zika syndrome (CZS). The isolates responsible for this outbreak belonged to the Asian lineage of ZIKV. However, in-vitro and in-vivo studies assessing the pathogenesis of African-lineage ZIKV demonstrated that African-lineage isolates often replicated to high titer and caused more severe pathology than Asian-lineage isolates. To date, the pathogenesis of African-lineage ZIKV in a translational model, particularly during pregnancy, has not been rigorously characterized. Here we infected four pregnant rhesus macaques with a low-passage strain of African-lineage ZIKV and compared its pathogenesis to a cohort of four pregnant rhesus macaques infected with an Asian-lineage isolate and a cohort of mock-infected controls. Viral replication kinetics were not significantly different between the two experimental groups and both groups developed robust neutralizing antibody titers above levels considered to be protective. There was no evidence of significant fetal head growth restriction or gross fetal harm at delivery in either group. However, a significantly higher burden of ZIKV vRNA was found in maternal-fetal interface tissues in the macaques exposed to an African-lineage isolate. Our findings suggest that ZIKV isolates of any genetic lineage pose a threat to women and their infants. IMPORTANCE ZIKV was first identified over 70 years ago in Africa, but most of our knowledge of ZIKV is based on studies of the distinct Asian genetic lineage, which caused the outbreak in the Americas in 2015-16. In its most recent update, the WHO stated that improved understanding of African-lineage pathogenesis during pregnancy must be a priority. Recent detection of African-lineage isolates in Brazil underscores the need to understand the impact of these viruses. Here we provide the first comprehensive assessment of African-lineage ZIKV infection during pregnancy in a translational non-human primate model. We show African-lineage isolates replicate with similar kinetics to Asian-lineage isolates and are capable of infecting the placenta. However, there was no evidence of more severe outcomes with African-lineage isolates. Our results highlight both the threat that African-lineage ZIKV poses to women and their infants and the need for future epidemiological and translational in-vivo studies with African-lineage ZIKV.
Hamilton Versus Hamilton: Spurious Nonlinearities

Using Monte Carlo simulations, this paper evaluates the ability of the trend-cycle decomposition approach of Hamilton (2018) to adequately identify asymmetries in business cycles fluctuations. By considering different specifications of linear and asymmetric processes consistent with previous estimates, the results indicate that the approach of Hamilton (2018) is unable to preserve true asymmetric behavior nor reproduce U.S. business cycles features, especially in highly persistent or mildly asymmetric processes, or in small samples. The findings are robust to the presence of a time-varying drift, the complexity of the autoregressive dynamics and symmetric nonlinearity. Furthermore, the approach of Hamilton (2018) generates spurious expansionary periods when none exist in the data-generating process. Interestingly, they occur, exclusively, in the case of Markov-switching models of the type introduced by Hamilton (1989), but not for other nonlinear models. Meanwhile, the distortions are also present in the case of symmetric nonlinearity. Based on these findings, caution is called into question when the approach is applied to processes that are thought to behave nonlinearly.
The PRO model accounts for the anterior cingulate cortex role in risky decision-making and monitoring

The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) has been implicated in a number of functions including performance monitoring and decision making involving effort. The prediction of responses and outcomes (PRO) model has provided a unified account of much human and monkey ACC data involving anatomy, neurophysiology, EEG, fMRI, and behavior. Here we explore the computational nature of ACC with the PRO model, extending it to account specifically for both human and macaque monkey decision-making under risk, including both behavioral and neural data. We show that the PRO model can account for a number of additional effects related to outcome prediction, decision-making under risk, gambling behavior, and we show that the ACC represents the variance of uncertain outcomes, suggesting a link between ACC function and mean-variance theories of decision making. The PRO model provides a unified account of a large set of data regarding the ACC.
Etiology of Black Exclusion in Radiation Oncology and Beyond: A Systematic Analysis of Early-Stage Career Barriers.

Purpose/Objective(s) Recent studies and commentaries have highlighted the systemic and sustained exclusion of black physicians from the radiation oncology workforce and beyond. Moreover, the importance of black physicians in yielding better clinical and oncological outcomes for patients of color is well documented. Unfortunately, the disproportionate exclusion of black providers is also apparent among trainees and medical students, which would suggest barriers to entry at earlier stages in the workforce pipeline. Thus, a better understanding of the etiology of the systemic exclusion of black physicians and workforce pipeline problem is warranted to identify adequate solutions and interventions. To this end, we conducted a review of the literature and content analysis to describe and highlight barriers of entry into medicine, and describe a way forward to improving early exposure of radiation oncology as a field to black premedical students. Materials/Methods In accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses, we conducted a review of studies and commentaries in the indexable literature of barriers experienced by black, American undergraduate/college students interested in medicine. These studies were further analyzed and grouped by frequency of barrier reporting. Grounded theory-based content-analysis was performed on commentaries/perspective articles. Results Our initial query generated 3924 results. Following title, abstract, then full-text review, 88 papers were selected for inclusion. While the majority of included papers discussed multiple barriers to entry (33%), the single most discussed topic was educational (18%). Educational barriers included lower grade-point averages, access to science courses, as well as the impact of individual courses on motivation. Other barriers included socioeconomic (15%), standardized testing (10%), interview preparation (7%), lack of mentorship/exposure (7%), discrimination (3%), lack of research experience (3%) 6burnout (2%), financial (2%). Conclusion In addition to technical barriers to entry (e.g., admissions test scores, grade point averages), black premedical students face social barriers and racial abuse during their premedical journey that impact confidence, self-esteem, and motivation. With the recent prioritization of racial justice in radiation oncology, addressing systemic barriers that limit black inclusion in medicine should serve as an early starting place and a mentoring opportunity for earlier exposure to oncology as a profession.
No apparent effects of a viscous, superabsorbent hydrogel on appetite, energy intake, or fecal excretion in overweight adults.

Abstract As the obesity epidemic continues, there is a great need for safe and effective weight loss aids. A superabsorbent hydrogel device administered as a capsule demonstrates potential for weight loss, but its mechanism of action remains unclear. The present study's goal was to determine the mechanisms of action of the hydrogel through the investigation of its effects on appetitive sensations, eating behavior, energy intake, and fecal excretion of energy. Overweight and obese adults (n = 18) participated in a double-blind, randomized, crossover-design study in which they were provided all meals for a week in a supervised setting (i.e., controlled-feeding) and were required to either consume the hydrogel or a placebo with 16-oz of water 20 min before lunch and dinner. No differences in appetite (all, p > 0.05), total fecal nitrogen excretion (p = 0.74), total fecal fat excretion (p = 0.54), or total fecal energy excretion (p = 0.76) were identified when comparing the hydrogel to a placebo. Affect towards food (i.e., mood, emotions) was more positive in the hydrogel group compared with the placebo group. A subset of the controlled-feeding group (n = 10) then participated in another double-blind, randomized, crossover-design study in which they provided their own food for a week (i.e., free-feeding) and were required to either consume the hydrogel or a placebo with 16-oz of water 20 min before lunch and dinner. No differences in appetite (all, p > 0.05), energy intake (p = 0.95), diet quality (all, p > 0.05), or eating behavior (all, p > 0.05) were determined when comparing the hydrogel to the placebo. Future studies with greater statistical power should confirm these findings and investigate other potential mechanisms of action of the hydrogel.
Book Review: Solved by Sacrifice: Austin Farrer, Fideism, and the Evidence of Faith:

Solved by Sacrifice: Austin Farrer, Fideism, and the Evidence of Faith. By Robert MacSwain. Studies in Philosophical Theology, Book 51. Leuven, Belgium: Peeters Publishers, 2013. 275 pp. $71.00 (paper).Robert MacSwain has written one of the best books on the work of Austin Farrer to this day. Beyond being an authoritative guide to the philosophical theology of Farrer, MacSwain offers a brilliant and nuanced narrative of Anglophone philosophical theology in the second half of the twentieth century, especially as this was practiced by those in the Anglican Communion. I know of nothing equal in any of the secondary literature on Farrer to MacSwain's meticulous care with his sources and his masterful use of details that he includes in the text but does not allow to intrude on an engaging, critical, but constructive overall narrative on how philosophical theology was and may be practiced. His subject, Austin Farrer, was an Anglican divine who, in his time, attracted the attention of leading philosophers (of no less significance than Wittgenstein) and, in particular, those who would become leading philosophers of religion: Basil Mitchell cites Farrer as instrumental in his mature embracing of Christian faith, and C. S. Lewis was a close personal friend. Farrer is especially worthy of attention today given the lively debate over faith and reason, the very nature of faith, and the use of metaphors and image in revelation.There is a helpful introduction situating MacSwain s study, five chapters, and an impressive appendix that includes some of Farrers correspondence and a bibliography of work by or on Farrer. Rather than begin straightaway with a narrative of Farrer s life and diving into primary texts, MacSwain dedicates his first two chapters to some stage setting. We are introduced to Farrer through considering the response to his work; this is a fitting way to anticipate the issues that will emerge later in arriving at a judicious interpretation of Farrers theology, epistemology, and his work on revelation. We are also able to recapture or (for younger readers) see for the first time the importance of Farrer in the mid-twentieth century on up through the 1970s.Getting into some of the details of MacSwain's narrative, the first chapter takes us into Farrer's work with attention to the perennial question that is often put in terms of the relationship of faith and reason. We see tension between those who are committed to some form of evidentialism, such as Basil Mitchell and Brian Hebblethwaite, and those who embrace a moderate form of fideism, such as John Hick, or a position that hovers on the borders of fideism, such as the position advanced by Diogenes Allen. Chapter 2 takes us into exploring the different forms of fideism that have significance historically and today. …
Aeroallergen sensitivity in Hawai'i: association with asthma and increased prevalence of sensitivity to indoor allergens since 1966.

Asthma and allergic diseases have increased globally. Earlier studies suggest a history of excess asthma morbidity and mortality in Hawai‘i, with high prevalence of sensitization to outdoor aeroallergens among atopic children. This study was undertaken to test the hypotheses that specific allergens are more associated with asthma, and that sensitivity to common aeroallergens has increased in Hawai‘i since 1966. Adult participants were recruited between 2001–2013, according to approved protocols. Data from 211 adults who reported physician-diagnosed asthma and 404 non-asthmatic controls are included in this analysis. Skin test responses to 8 common aeroallergens were assessed, and association between specific aeroallergen response and asthma diagnosis evaluated, using Chi-squared analysis. P-values < .05 were considered statistically significant. Compared to non-asthmatic controls, asthmatic participants were older, more likely to be of Mixed and non-White race, and more likely to be obese. Allergen sensitivity (atopy) was found in 85% of asthmatic and 72% of the controls. Prevalence (%) of positive responses to specific aeroallergens in asthmatic, non-asthmatic, and all atopic subjects, were: D. farinae (74, 59, 83), D. pteronyssinus (68, 52, 75), roach (42, 31, 46), cat (45, 19, 37), dog (27, 15, 25), grasses (34, 26, 37), weeds (22, 18, 25), and molds (18, 11, 17). Adjusted for age, race, and BMI, highest prevalence ratios [PR (95% CI)] were: D. farinae [1.16 (1.1–1.2)], D. pteronyssinus [1.16 (1.1–1.3)], cat [1.34 (1.2–1.5)], and dog [1.19 (1.1–1.3)]. This data indicates a strong association with asthma, and an increased prevalence in sensitivity to indoor allergens.
Moment-Based Translation Model for Hardening Non-Gaussian Response Processes

AbstractThe translation process theory has widely been used in assessing extreme and fatigue damage of stochastic non-Gaussian response processes. It relates a non-Gaussian process to an underlying Gaussian process through a monotonic translation function. For softening non-Gaussian processes with kurtosis larger than three, the Hermite polynomials model has been used in those situations in which the model coefficients are determined from the skewness and kurtosis of the process with closed-form formulations. This study presents a moment-based translation model for hardening non-Gaussian processes with kurtosis less than three. Closed-form formulations for determining the model coefficients in terms of skewness and kurtosis are presented. The accuracy and limitations of moment-based translation model in representing non-Gaussian processes are also discussed. The proposed moment-based translation model facilitates the analysis of extreme and fatigue of hardening non-Gaussian processes.
The adsorption dynamics of molecular carbon dioxide on Pt(111) and Pd(111)

Abstract The dynamics of the nondissociative adsorption of carbon dioxide on Pt(1 1 1) and Pd(1 1 1) were investigated by supersonic molecular beam techniques at a surface temperature of 80 and 60 K, well below the desorption temperatures of 95 and 88 K, respectively. The initial trapping probability of CO 2 on both Pt(1 1 1) and Pd(1 1 1) scale with normal and near-normal energy scaling functions, indicating smooth gas–surface potentials. On the other hand, trapping on the carbon dioxide-saturated Pt(1 1 1) exhibits a more corrugated gas–surface potential, on which trapping scales as E T cos 0.7 θ . The probability of carbon dioxide trapping increases with self-coverage and is successfully described by the modified Kisliuk model, indicating that trapping into the extrinsic precursor state is more efficient than trapping on the clean surface. The coverage of carbon dioxide into Pt(1 1 1) saturates at about 0.275 ML at a surface temperature of 80 K as a result of beam exposure at normal incidence at 8.5 kJ/mol. The stochastic, three-dimensional classical dynamics for the simulation of CO 2 on Pt(1 1 1) indicates that the excitation of surface phonons on the first bounce determines trapping on Pt(1 1 1). The same set of Morse potentials were employed to predict the CO 2 trapping on Pd(1 1 1). In general, the prediction agrees reasonably with the experimental results. The difference between the calculated trapping probabilities from simulations and the experimental values is within 20%.
Evidence-Based Management: Implications for Nonprofit Organizations

The article reviews evidence-based management and its implications for practice and teaching. My focus is on strategic decision making in nonprofit organizations. Evidence-based management is a process that includes framing the question, finding evidence, assuring accuracy, applicability, and actionability of evidence until the evidence is the best available.
Robust Linear Discriminant Trees

We present a new method for the induction of classification trees with linear discriminants as the partitioning function at each internal node. This paper presents two main contributions: first, a novel objective function called soft entropy which is used to identify optimal coefficients for the linear discriminants, and second, a novel method for removing outliers called iterative re-faltering which boosts performance on many datasets. These two ideas are presented in the context of a single learning algorithm called DT-SEPIR, which is compared with the CART and OC1 algorithms.
Evidence for nonrandom alterations in a fraction of the highly repetitive DNA of a eukaryote

Abstract Although the DNA of the red crab Geryon quinquedens has no patent satellites, a large fraction (approximately 40%) is highly repetitive. Treatment of total DNA by Hind III produces fragments comprising 5-6% of the genome. While the sizes of some of these fragments form an arithmetic series based on an 81 bp repeating unit, the amounts of the multimers differ significantly from distributions observed for multimeric series in the DNAs of other eukaryotes. In red crab DNA, the amounts of some of the multimers suggest that they may have undergone as much as four times the divergence as the others. Other data, however, are more compatible with the conclusion that there has been selective amplification of segments of highly repeated DNA which results in the enhanced amount of specific multimers. These results indicate the presence of a nonrandom process in the evolution of the highly repetitive DNA. Selective mutation alone seems insufficient to explain these results.
High resolution chromosomes of the t(9;22) positive leukemias

A combined bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) and actinomycin D (AMD) treatment of methotrexate (MTX) synchronized bone marrow cells from four patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), and two each with acute lymphocytic (ALL) and acute nonlymphocytic (ANLL) leukemia were used to define the breakpoints involved in the t(9;22) found in subgroups of these three disorders. An additional 20 patients with CML were studied with the MTX technique alone. All cases showed the same breakpoints at subbands 9q34.1 and 22q11.2. In CML, it was possible to further define the breakpoint of chromosome 22 to subband q11.21.
Labile aggregation stimulating substance (LASS): the factor from storage pool deficient platelets correcting defective aggregation and release of aspirin treated normal platelets.

Summary Mixtures of equal volumes of Hermansky-Pudlak (HP) syndrome (adenine nucleotide storage pool deficient) and aspirin treated (AT) platelets (inhibited release of adenine nucleotides) undergo irreversible aggregation when exposed to collagen or adrenaline, whereas neither alone will do so. The present investigation has explored the basis for the mutual correction. Correction in the mixed system was accompanied by release of significant amounts of [14C]5-hydroxy-tryptamine from the AT platelets, whereas very little isotope was released when AT platelets alone were exposed to collagen. The correction of aggregation and the release of isotope could both be suppressed by pre-treating HP platelets with aspirin. Labile aggregation stimulating substance (LASS) composed of two closely linked intermediates of prostaglandin (PG) E2 and PGF2a biosynthesis, produced using a microsomal fraction of HP platelets, could correct the aggregation and secretion defect of AT platelets exposed to collagen. These findings indicate that HP platelets when mixed with AT platelets and exposed to collagen secrete a substance which is responsible for the correction. LASS, identified as the factor involved, acted as an intercellular messenger which mediated the correction by overcoming the influence of aspirin on normal cells.
Salinity and temperature effects on whole-animal thyroid hormone levels in larval and juvenile striped bass, Morone saxatilis.

Whole-animal thyroxine (T4) and 3,5,3′-triiodothyronine (T3) levels were measured in larval and juvenile striped bass, Morone saxatilis, reared for 10 days at one of three levels of salinity (equivalent to fresh water (FW), one-third seawater (1/3 SW), and seawater (SW) and two temperatures (15°C and 20°C). The striped bass were pre-metamorphic larvae, metamorphic larvae or juveniles. The short-term effects of seawater on plasma T4 levels of juvenile striped bass were also measured. Higher salinities increased T4 levels in premetamorphic larvae. In metamorphic larvae, SW and 1/3 SW increased T4 levels and SW increased T3 levels at 20°C. This response was eliminated in those at 15°C. Whole-animal thyroid hormone content was unaffected by salinity or temperature in juvenile striped bass, although significant fluctuations in plasma T4 levels occurred in those transferred to 1/3 SW and SW. The thyroid axis of striped bass responds to salinity and temperature as early as in the pre-metamorphic stage. Thyroid hormones may mediate the beneficial effects of salinity on larval striped bass growth and survival.