cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Triple Arthrodesis for the Adult-Acquired Flatfoot Deformity

Triple arthrodesis is often the procedure of choice for end-stage adult-acquired flatfoot. The benefits of triple arthrodesis include resolution of symptoms, hindfoot realignment, and stability. This article reviews the operative technique, realignment considerations, and postoperative management when performing triple arthrodesis. When taken into account, these recommendations provide a favorable outcome for both the patient and the surgeon.
Triadimefon and Triadimenol: Effects on Monoamine Uptake and Release

Acute administration of the agricultural fungicide triadimefon produced a neurotoxic syndrome in rats characterized by increased motor activity, stereotyped behaviors, and altered monoamine metabolism. Triadimenol, a metabolite of triadimefon in mammals, plants, and soil, also increased motor activity in rodents. To test the hypothesis that triadimefon and triadimenol are indirect-acting dopamine agonists, the present studies examined their abilities to inhibit monoamine uptake, bind to the dopamine transporter, and stimulate dopamine efflux in rat brain tissue, in vitro. Both triazoles inhibited the uptake of dopamine in striatal synaptosomal preparations. Triadimefon was 100-fold less potent than GBR12909, a prototypical inhibitor of dopamine uptake (IC50 = 4.7 microM vs. 37.2 nM, respectively), and triadimenol was about three-fold less potent than triadimefon. Triadimefon also weakly inhibited the uptake of norepinephrine in cortical synaptosomes (IC50 = 22.4 microM), but neither compound blocked the uptake of serotonin in cortical synaptosomes (IC50s > 100 microM). Triadimefon and triadimenol had similar affinity for [3H]mazindol binding sites on the dopamine transporter (IC50s approximately 1-1.5 microM, only two- to threefold greater than GBR12909). Neither triadimefon nor triadimenol (0.01-100 microM) increased basal efflux of [3H]DA that had been preloaded into striatal minces in vitro. An unexpected result was that GBR12909 (10 microM) increased basal efflux of [3H]DA by 71%, suggesting that this compound has DA releasing properties. These data suggest that increased synaptic concentrations of dopamine due to inhibition of dopamine uptake may play an important role in the neurobehavioral effects of triadimefon and triadimenol.
Impact of a disease-management program on symptom burden and health-related quality of life in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and their care partners.

Background Patients were recruited from the Dorothy P. and Richard P. Simmons Center for Interstitial Lung Disease, located within the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis results in scarring of the lung and respiratory failure, and has a median survival of 3 to 5 years from the time of diagnosis. The purpose of this study was to determine whether patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and their care partners could be more optimally managed by a disease-management intervention entitled “Program to Reduce Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis Symptoms and Improve Management,” which nurses delivered using the format of a support group. We hypothesized that participation would improve perceptions of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and decrease symptom burden. Methods Subjects were 42 participants randomized to an experimental (10 patient/care partner dyads) or control (11 patient/care partner dyads) group. Experimental group participants attended the 6-week program, and controls received usual care. Before and after the program, all participants completed questionnaires designed to assess symptom burden and HRQoL. Patients and care partners in the intervention group were also interviewed in their home to elicit information on their experience after participating in the Program to Reduce Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis Symptoms and Improve Management. Results After the intervention, experimental group patients rated their HRQoL less positively ( P = .038) and tended to report more anxiety ( P = .077) compared with controls. Care partners rated their stress at a lower level ( P = .018) compared with controls. Course evaluations were uniformly positive. Post-study qualitative interviews with experimental group participants suggested benefits not exemplified by these scores. Patient participants felt less isolated, were able to put their disease into perspective, and valued participating in research and helping others. Conclusion Further exploration of the impact of disease-management interventions in patients with advanced lung disease and their care partners is needed using both qualitative and quantitative methodology. Disease-management interventions have the potential to positively affect patients with advanced lung disease and their care partners.
Mining confident minimal rules with fixed-consequents

Association rule mining (ARM) finds all the association rules in data, that match some measures of interest such as support and confidence. In certain situations where high support is not necessarily of interest, fixed-consequent association-rule mining for confident rules might be favored over traditional ARM. The need for fixed consequent ARM is becoming more evident in a number of applications such as market basket research (MBR) or precision agriculture. Highly confident rules are desired in all situations; however, support thresholds fluctuate with the applications and the data sets under study, as we shall show later. We propose an approach for mining minimal confident rules in the context of fixed-consequent ARM that relieves the user from the burden of specifying a minimum support threshold. We show that the framework suggested herein is efficient and can be easily expanded by adding new pruning conditions pertaining to specific situations.
Thermal management using synthetic jet ejectors

The utility of a synthetic jet ejector for thermal management at low flow rates is discussed. A synthetic jet ejector typically consists of a primary "zero-mass-flux" unsteady jet driving a secondary airflow through a low profile, high aspect ratio channel. A simple configuration of a nominally two-dimensional jet ejector in a rectangular channel is used to investigate the effects of channel width on the induced flow rate, power dissipated, heat transfer coefficient and thermal efficiency. An active heat sink for high power microprocessors is developed using the jet ejector concept and its performance is discussed.
The Impinging Jet Electrode: Measurement of the Hydrodynamic Constant and Its Use for Evaluating Film Persistency

Abstract The impinging jet system involves either a disk electrode or a ring electrode immersed in electrolyte and subjected to an axis-symmetric impinging jet of the same electrolyte. Ring-electrode experiments were used to determine the value of the hydrodynamic constant and to identify the constraints on cell design such that the electrode surface is situated within the stagnation region (that is, where the shear stress is a linear function of radial position). The geometric constraints obtained were tighter than previously reported results. The system was also employed to evaluate inhibitor film persistency under high-speed fluid flow. With the proper experimental design, the critical shear for removal of a protective film can be obtained by measuring the profile of an electrode subjected to a given electrolyte jet velocity. This technique is illustrated for evaluation of single-compound inhibitors in acidic chloride solutions.
A comparison of methods to assess long-term changes in Sonoran Desert vegetation

Knowledge about the condition of vegetation cover and composition is critical for assessing the structure and function of ecosystems. To effectively quantify the impacts of a rapidly changing environment, methods to track long-term trends of vegetation must be precise, repeatable, and time- and cost-efficient. Measuring vegetation cover and composition in arid and semiarid regions is especially challenging because vegetation is typically sparse, discontinuous, and individual plants are widely spaced. To meet the goal of long-term vegetation monitoring in the Sonoran Desert and other arid and semiarid regions, we determined how estimates of plant species, total vegetation, and soil cover obtained using a widely-implemented monitoring protocol compared to a more time- and resource-intensive plant census. We also assessed how well this protocol tracked changes in cover through 82 years compared to the plant census. Results from the monitoring protocol were comparable to those from the plant census, despite low and variable plant species cover. Importantly, this monitoring protocol could be used as a rapid, “off-the shelf” tool for assessing land degradation (or desertification) in arid and semiarid ecosystems.
Knowledge-based image understanding using incomplete and generic models

A unified representation for image understanding that includes generic models of both objects and sensors is presented. Image understanding tasks such as model-based stereo fusion are performed by applying computation, specialization, and matching up to this representation. Although specialized techniques for a given task are more efficient than the generalized method described, the general formulation allows unforeseen combinations of a priori knowledge and images. >
Modipafant, a new PAF antagonist : pharmacokinetics and disposition in rat, dog and man

1. The pharmacokinetics and disposition of modipafant, a dihydropyridine PAF antagonist, were studied in rat and dog following intravenous and oral administration of the drug or its radiolabelled analogue. In addition, the pharmacokinetics were studied in man following single administration of escalating oral doses of the drug. Modipafant is a lipophilic weak base with log D(octanol) 7.4 and pKa of 4.3 and 5.3 respectively. 2. Following intravenous administration of [14C]-modipafant to rat, radioactivity is rapidly distributed throughout the body, except for the brain. A significant amount of radioactivity (probably modipafant) is rapidly distributed to the alimentary tract, particularly in the stomach. This is believed to be due to 'ion trapping' of modipafant in the acidic environment of the upper GI tract. The re-circulated modipafant may be subject to reabsorption and/or faecal excretion. 3. Following intravenous administration to rats, systemic clearance is five times greater in the male than female. The magnitude of this difference is in keeping with the clearance of other dihydropyridines such as nilvadipine. In dog, the clearance values are similar for both sexes, as expected. In this latter species, the systemic clearance decreases 6-fold with increasing dose size, indicative of saturation of a pathway of metabolism. 4. Following oral administration over a dose range of 1-12 mg/kg, modipafant is incompletely (27-67%) bioavailable in rat and dog. In the male dog, systemic exposure to drug (AUC/infinity) increased non-linearly with dose. Following oral administration to man, absorption was rapid with a mean value for Tmax of 1 h, and Cmax's ranging non-linearly from 90 to 2100 ng/ml following dosing at 12.5 to 150 mg respectively. 5. The elimination of modipafant is characterized by short half-life (mean values for t1/2 range from 1 to 3 h). However, the nature of the receptor kinetics of modipafant (slow offset) means that the drug shows a long duration of action in spite of short pharmacokinetics at pharmacologically relevant doses. 6. Following oral and intravenous administration of 14C-modipafant to rat and dog, the majority of radioactivity (mean 92%) is recovered in the faeces. The excretion of modipafant in rat and dog is characterized by metabolism, mostly to pyridine metabolites, accounting for between 38 and 75% of total clearance, the rest being cleared as unchanged drug.
Effects of Mecamylamine on the Golgi Recurrent Collateral-Renshaw-Cell Synapse in the Spinal Cord

Abstract The fact that mecamylamine is a secondary amine with “nicotinic” blocking properties suggested it would act at the Golgi recurrent collateral—Renshaw-cell synapse in the spinal cord. Glass micropipettes were used to obtain extracellular Renshaw-cell discharges due to antidromic ventral root stimulation in cats anesthetized with pentobarbital. The effects of mecamylamine, hexamethonium, physostigmine, and nicotine given intravenously were determined in this preparation. It was found that mecamylamine reduced the terminal portions of the repetitive discharge of Renshaw cells to antidromic stimulation. The stimulant effect of physostigmine and nicotine on Renshaw cells was blocked by mecamylamine. Hexamethonium in similarly effective ganglionic blocking doses had no effect.
GROWTH HORMONE DEFICIENCY IN DUBOWITZ SYNDROME

Severe short stature as a result of intra-uterine growth retardation is one of the characteristics of Dubowitz syndrome. There have been few reports elaborating growth hormone secretory status in this syndrome. A child with Dubowitz syndrome, who was found to have complete growth hormone (GH) deficiency and who responded to growth hormone therapy, is described. This appears to be the first documentation of GH deficiency in this syndrome.
RIBONUCLEASE ACTIVITY IN TOMATO LEAVES AS RELATED TO DEVELOPMENT AND SENESCENCE

Summary Ribonuclease (RNase) activity, greenness (reflectance) and chlorophyll content were determined for different ages of attached and detached leaves from 6 to 8 week old tomato plants. RNase activity of homogenates was correlated with a general indicator of senescence, chlorophyll loss. Young leaves were different from old leaves in their response to detachment. RNase activity increased almost linearly in older leaves, but younger leaves increased in activity to an ‘RNase plateau’ which was maintained for 2 days before a second increase in activity occurred. High light intensity, which is known to delay senescence, apparently delayed this second increase in RNase activity. Rooting of detached young leaves delayed loss of greenness and eventually returned leaves to the dark green condition and low level of RNase activity associated with attached leaves. RNase activity increases during senescence were not attributed to dechne of inhibitors of the enzyme, or to rupture of hypothetical lysosomes. Suppression of RNase activity increases by actinomycin D suggested instead that enzyme synthesis was at least partially responsible for additional activity during senescence.
Self-polyaddition of hydroxyalkyl vinyl ethers

With tetrahydrofuran as a solvent and pyridium p-toluenesulfonate as a catalyst, the hydroxyalkyl vinyl ethers 2-hydroxyethyl vinyl ether (2E), 4-hydroxybutyl vinyl ether (4B), and 6-hydroxyhexyl vinyl ether (6H) underwent step-growth self-polyaddition, generating polymers with an acetal main-chain structure. The molecular weight of the resulting polymers increased gradually during the initial polymerization period at room temperature. However, decomposition occurred after about 22-24 h, and the presence of a large amount of catalyst accelerated the latter process. The three monomers exhibited different polymerization capabilities. In contrast to the smooth polymerization of 6H, cyclization side reactions usually took place during the polymerizations of 4B and 2E, which resulted in low polymer yields and low molecular weights because of the formation of unreactive small cyclic acetals. In the self-polyaddition of 4B, this side reaction was greatly restricted at high concentrations of the monomer. Higher temperatures (60-70 °C) remarkably accelerated the self-polyaddition process to produce polymers with high molecular weights. However, the polymerizations at high temperatures had to be terminated within about 2 h to avoid the severe decomposition of the polymers. Copolymers were also obtained via the copolyaddition of any two of the monomers. The easiness of the incorporation of the monomers into the copolymers was in the sequence 6H > 4B > 2E. Poly(6H), poly(4B), poly(2E), and the copolymers possessed different hydrophilicities and were stable in basic, neutral, and even weak acidic media but exhibited degradation in the presence of a strong acid.
Discharges against medical advice: time to address the causes.

Many hospital patients start asking “How long will I need to be here?” even before the admission process is complete. Others fear that they may be discharged too soon. Both payers and physicians tend to interpret a shorter length of stay as a favourable outcome because of lower short-term costs
Theory of Deductive Systems and Its Applications

In a fluent, clear, and lively style this translation by two of Maslov's junior colleagues brings the work of the late Soviet scientist S. Yu. Maslov to a wider audience. Maslov was considered by his peers to be a man of genius who was making fundamental contributions in the fields of automatic theorem proving and computational logic. He published little, and those few papers were regarded as notoriously difficult. This book, however, was written for a broad audience of readers and describes elegant examples of applications in such fields as computer science, artificial intelligence, operations research, economic modeling, and biological modeling, among others.The book also brings to light the work by the American mathematician E. L. Post, which inspired Maslov's own work in the development of a general theory and which has been long neglected by mathematicial logicians and systems theorists in the United States.The book's first chapter introduces the Rules of the Game. Part I, Mathematics of Calculi, covers E. L. Post's canonical systems, deductive systems and algorithms, and probabilistic calculi and deductive information. Part II, Horizonal Modeling, takes up a "toy" economy, the calculi of technological possibilities, and the development of rules. Part III, Vertical Modeling, deals with the topics of "to fight and to search" and the consequences of the asymmetry of cognitive mechanisms.Vladimir Lifschitz is affiliated with the Department of Computer Science at Stanford University, and Michael Gelfond with the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Texas, El Paso. "Theory of Deductive Systems and Its Applications" is included in the Foundation of Computing Series, edited by Michael Garey.
Hume, Norton, and Induction without Rules

Does Hume's skeptical critique of inductive reasoning depend for its force on the assumption that such reasoning is a matter of following general rules? I explore this question in connection with John Norton's “Material Theory of Induction.”
A Total Ordering of LR-Sequences

A total order relation on the set P of α-sequences, and correspondingly on the set of LR-sequences, is implied by the asymptotic properties of the ψ-functions for large ζ, as we now develop.
P.1. Supraventricular Arrhythmias

Introduction The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a dual-coil, active-can implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) system, implanted for the treatment of ventricular arrhythmias, in cardioversion of spontaneous episodes of atrial fibrillation (AF). Methods The population was derived from 360 patients with icds implanted between July 1997 and June 2001. The study patients were 69 ± 8.9 years old, 83% were male, coronary artery disease was present in 78%, and a prior history of non-permanent AF was present in 54%. Beta blockers were used in 72% of patients and amiodarone in 27% of patients. The mean left ventricular ejection fraction was 31 ± 9%. Echocardiographic evaluation demonstrated moderate to severe left atrial enlargement in 41% of patients. Patients with permanent AF were excluded. Results Atrial fibrillation resulted in an ICD discharge in 23 patients. Successful cardioversion occurred in 79% of episodes of AF with defibrillation energy of 30.5 ± 4.4 joules. In multivariate analysis, no patient characteristics, including left atrial size, ejection fraction, or concurrent use of beta blockers or amiodarone predicted success of cardioversion. Multiple discharges were delivered in 17% of these patients. Conclusion Standard dual-coil, active-can ICD systems are highly successful at converting spontaneous AF that occurs in the clinical setting. There were no specialized defibrillation coils or algorithms required. The use of discriminatory algorithms for prevention of multiple ICD discharges due to atrial arrhythmias needs to be balanced with the high success rate of cardioversion.
Moving beyond Karnofsky and ECOG Performance Status Assessments with New Technologies

Progress in cancer research is coupled with increased treatment complexity reliant upon accurate patient selection. Oncologists rely upon measurement instruments of functional performance such as the Karnofsky or Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Performance Status scales that were developed over fifty years ago to determine a patient's suitability for systemic treatment. These standard assessment tools have been shown to correlate with response to chemotherapy, chemotherapy tolerability, survival, and quality of life of cancer patients. However, these scales are subjective, subject to bias and high interobserver variability. Despite these limitations important clinical decisions are based on PS including eligibility for clinical trials, the "optimal" therapeutic approach in routine practice, and the allocation of healthcare resources. This paper reviews the past, present, and potential future of functional performance status assessment in an oncology setting. The potential ability of electronic activity monitoring systems to provide an objective, accurate measurement of patient functional performance is explored. Electronic activity monitoring devices have the potential to offer positive health-related opportunities to patients; however their introduction to the healthcare setting is not without difficulty. The potential role of this technology in healthcare and the challenges that these new innovations pose to the healthcare industry are also examined.
Effect of Age of Hen, Egg Weight, and Sex on Chick Performance and Lipid Retention

Abstract Experiments were conducted to determine whether age of hen, weight of the egg, and sex of the chick affected fat retention and growth of the broiler chick. Chicks were fed a corn and soybean meal diet containing 5% supplemental poultry fat. In the first study, eggs from two ages of hens were compared (30 and 52 wk) with six egg weight classes per age. The second experiment consisted of three hen ages (31, 37, and 47 wk) with three egg weight classes per age. The results indicated that as hen age and egg weight increased, BW gain of the chicks increased but feed efficiency and fat retention were not affected. Females had improved fat retention when compared with males. When analyzed within each egg weight class, there was no age effect on fat retention, BW gain, or feed efficiency.
Analysis on Typical Faults of Coils at Stator End of Large Steam Turbine Generators

The paper anatomizes various faults and reasons of coils at stators end of generators.It is believed that the faults of coils at stator end of generators are fundamentally caused by human factors and abrasion factors.Therefore,strict work in these two aspects has practical significance to safe operation of generators.
Optimization of cerebellar purkinje neuron cultures and development of a plasmid-based method for purkinje neuron-specific, miRNA-mediated protein knockdown

We present a simple and efficient method to knock down proteins specifically in Purkinje neurons (PN) present in mixed mouse primary cerebellar cultures. This method utilizes the introduction via nucleofection of a plasmid encoding a specific miRNA downstream of the L7/Pcp2 promoter, which drives PN-specific expression. As proof-of-principle, we used this plasmid to knock down the motor protein myosin Va, which is required for the targeting of smooth endoplasmic reticulum (ER) into PN spines. Consistent with effective knockdown, transfected PNs robustly phenocopied PNs from dilute-lethal (myosin Va-null) mice with regard to the ER targeting defect. Importantly, our plasmid-based approach is less challenging technically and more specific to PNs than several alternative methods (e.g., biolistic- and lentiviral-based introduction of siRNAs). We also present a number of improvements for generating mixed cerebellar cultures that shorten the procedure and improve the total yield of PNs, and of transfected PNs, considerably. Finally, we present a method to rescue cerebellar cultures that develop large cell aggregates, a common problem that otherwise precludes the further use of the culture.
Efficient Generation of Hypothalamic Neurons from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells

The hypothalamus comprises neuronal clusters that are essential for body weight regulation and other physiological functions. Insights into the complex cellular physiology of this region of the brain are critical to understanding the pathogenesis of obesity, but human hypothalamic cells are largely inaccessible for direct study. Here we describe a technique for generation of arcuate-like hypothalamic neurons from human pluripotent stem (hPS) cells. Early activation of SHH signaling and inhibition of BMP and TGFβ signaling, followed by timed inhibition of NOTCH, can efficiently differentiate hPS cells into NKX2.1+ hypothalamic progenitors. Subsequent incubation with BDNF induces the differentiation and maturation of pro-opiomelanocortin and neuropeptide Y neurons, which are major cell types in the arcuate hypothalamus. These neurons have molecular and cellular characteristics consistent with arcuate neurons. © 2016 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Recovery of Salmonella enteritidis From Inoculated Pools of Egg Contents.

To determine whether Salmonella enteritidis (SE) could be efficiently detected in pools of egg contents, eggs were inoculated with small numbers of SE and the contents of 10 or more eggs were mixed together. After these pools were incubated, samples were transferred to culture media for isolation and identification of SE. Incubation (at either 25 or 37°C) of inoculated egg pools for at least 4 d before culturing resulted in a significant increase in the frequency of recovery of SE. Following inoculation of 10-egg pools with approximately 50 CFU, SE was recovered from 11% of pools before incubation and from 94% of incubated pools. Following inoculation of 10-egg pools with approximately 5 CFU, SE was recovered from none of the pools before incubation and from up to 72% of the incubated pools. Increasing the size of the pools (from 10 to 30 eggs) did not significantly affect the frequency of isolation of SE, but reducing the sample volume transferred from incubated egg pools to culture media (from 20 to 2 m...
Pre-steady-state kinetic investigation of bypass of a bulky guanine lesion by human Y-family DNA polymerases.

Abstract 3-Nitrobenzanthrone (3-NBA), a byproduct of diesel exhaust, is highly present in the environment and poses a significant health risk. Exposure to 3-NBA results in formation of N -(2′-deoxyguanosin-8-yl)-3-aminobenzanthrone (dG C8 - N -ABA ), a bulky DNA lesion that is of particular importance due to its mutagenic and carcinogenic potential. If not repaired or bypassed during genomic replication, dG C8- N -ABA can stall replication forks, leading to senescence and cell death. Here we used pre-steady-state kinetic methods to determine which of the four human Y-family DNA polymerases (hPolη, hPolκ, hPolι, or hRev1) are able to catalyze translesion synthesis of dG C8 - N -ABA in vitro . Our studies demonstrated that hPolη and hPolκ most efficiently bypassed a site-specifically placed dG C8- N- ABA lesion, making them good candidates for catalyzing translesion synthesis (TLS) of this bulky lesion in vivo . Consistently, our publication ( Biochemistry 53, 5323-31) in 2014 has shown that small interfering RNA-mediated knockdown of hPolη and hPolκ in HEK293T cells significantly reduces the efficiency of TLS of dG C8 - N -ABA . In contrast, hPolι and hRev1 were severely stalled by dG C8 - N -ABA and their potential role in vivo was discussed. Subsequently, we determined the kinetic parameters for correct and incorrect nucleotide incorporation catalyzed by hPolη at various positions upstream, opposite, and downstream from dG C8 - N- ABA . Notably, nucleotide incorporation efficiency and fidelity both decreased significantly during dG C8 - N -ABA bypass and the subsequent extension step, leading to polymerase pausing and error-prone DNA synthesis by hPolη. Furthermore, hPolη displayed nucleotide concentration-dependent biphasic kinetics at the two polymerase pause sites, suggesting that multiple enzyme•DNA complexes likely exist during nucleotide incorporation.
Statistical and analytical comparison of multi-criteria decision-making techniques under fuzzy environment

Abstract Different multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) techniques require different levels of computational intensity and may produce different outputs, so selecting an appropriate technique largely determines the quality of the recommended decision and the effort required to obtain that decision. In most real environments, criteria and their constraints are not deterministic and cannot be specified precisely; therefore, those criteria are uncertain or fuzzy. To facilitate the selection of an appropriate MCDM method under a fuzzy environment, this study investigates and statistically compares the performances of ten commonly used MCDM techniques: simple additive weights (SAW), weighted product method (WPM), compromise programming (CP), technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS), four types of analytical hierarchy process (AHP), VIKOR (in Serbian: VIseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje), and ELECTRE (in French: ELimination Et Choix Traduisant la REalite). These techniques’ performances were compared using fuzzy criteria and constraints, matching the conditions usually found in real applications. To conduct the comparisons, the 10 multi-criteria decision ranking methods were applied to 1250 simulated sets of decision matrices with fuzzy triangular values, and 12,500 sets of ranks were analyzed to compare the ranking methods. SAW and TOPSIS had statistically similar performances. ELECTRE was not preferable in providing full, sorted ranks among the alternatives. VIKOR considering its ranking process, for specific conditions, assigns identical ranks for several alternatives; when full, sorted ranks are required, VIKOR is unfavorable, although it is a powerful technique in introducing the closest alternative to the ideal condition. Types 1 and 3 of AHP and types 2 and 4 of AHP had close performances. Notably, no ranking method was significantly sensitive to uncertainty levels when uncertainty changed symmetrically.
Maximal Predictability Approach for Identifying the Right Descriptors for Electrocatalytic Reactions

Density functional theory (DFT) calculations are being routinely used to identify new material candidates that approach activity near fundamental limits imposed by thermodynamics or scaling relations. DFT calculations are associated with inherent uncertainty, which limits the ability to delineate materials (distinguishability) that possess high activity. Development of error-estimation capabilities in DFT has enabled uncertainty propagation through activity-prediction models. In this work, we demonstrate an approach to propagating uncertainty through thermodynamic activity models leading to a probability distribution of the computed activity and thereby its expectation value. A new metric, prediction efficiency, is defined, which provides a quantitative measure of the ability to distinguish activity of materials and can be used to identify the optimal descriptor(s) ΔGopt. We demonstrate the framework for four important electrochemical reactions: hydrogen evolution, chlorine evolution, oxygen reduction and...
Antigenic Characterization of a Novel Recombinant GII.P16-GII.4 Sydney Norovirus Strain With Minor Sequence Variation Leading to Antibody Escape.

Background Human noroviruses are the leading cause of acute gastroenteritis. Strains of the GII.4 genotype cause pandemic waves associated with viral evolution and subsequent antigenic drift and ligand-binding modulation. In November 2015, a novel GII.4 Sydney recombinant variant (GII.P16-GII.4 Sydney) emerged and replaced GII.Pe-GII.4 Sydney as the predominant cause of acute gastroenteritis in the 2016-2017 season in the United States. Methods Virus-like particles of GII.4 2012 and GII.4 2015 were compared for ligand binding and antibody reactivity, using a surrogate neutralization assay. Results Residue changes in the capsid between GII.4 2012 and GII.4 2015 decreased the potency of human polyclonal sera and monoclonal antibodies. A change in epitope A resulted in the complete loss of reactivity of a class of blockade antibodies and reduced levels of a second antibody class. Epitope D changes modulated monoclonal antibody potency and ligand-binding patterns. Conclusions Substitutions in blockade antibody epitopes between GII.4 2012 and GII.4 2015 influenced antigenicity and ligand-binding properties. Although the impact of polymerases on fitness remains uncertain, antigenic variation resulting in decreased potency of antibodies to epitope A, coupled with altered ligand binding, likely contributed significantly to the spread of GII.4 2015 and its replacement of GII.4 2012 as the predominant norovirus outbreak strain.
The United States of Art: A Case Apart?

This chapter examines American cultural policies, past and present, showing that they differ in many respects as compared to European policies. Market-based and managerial practices in the arts have a longer history in the United States and they are accompanied by America’s greater decentralization and weaker welfare state. The American government is a “reluctant patron” that relies heavily on tax policies rather than central planning. The chapter specifically addresses the tantalizing prospect, perceived in other nations, that the privatization of cultural support is a good way to reduce public funding for culture. By showing that the American “business model” for the arts (highly privatized) produces problems and contradictions, the chapter suggests that privatization may pose similar dilemmas for European countries tempted by the American approach.
Personal Finance Education for Residents: A Qualitative Study of Resident Perspectives

Introduction Personal finance has been linked to wellness and resiliency; however, the level of financial literacy among residents is low. Development of a personal finance curriculum could improve the financial well-being of trainees. The first step in this process is understanding residents' educational needs. Objective The objective was to describe the financial knowledge, attitudes, and experiences of residents to inform the design of a personal finance curriculum. Methods A qualitative approach using semistructured interviews was used to explore the knowledge, attitudes, and experiences of residents in the realm of personal finance. Twelve residents completed interviews: one male and one female resident from the first and third years of training in the specialties of emergency medicine, internal medicine, and pediatrics. Results Three themes were formulated and analyzed through the existing frameworks: 1) daily finances, 2) financial knowledge and experiences, and 3) approach to financial planning. Prominent subthemes included a lack of knowledge and desire for personal finance education, debt-related anxiety, and uncertainty where to find reliable financial advice. Conclusions Residents report a low level of financial literacy and high interest in financial education. The framework provided in this study can inform the design of education interventions to promote financial wellness in trainees.
Y todo a media luz. Rupturas y continuidades en la construcción de la sociabilidad literaria

A proposito de “Transformaciones recientes en la industria editorial argentina ante la digitalizacion de la cultura escrita. El caso de las pequenas editoriales independientes” de Hernan Vanoli.
Neural Social Science

The social sciences, of course, study the material causes of social and political effects: poverty, hunger, illness, homelessness, lack of education, joblessness, disparity of wealth, and so on. But how people think also has social effects: How do people understand morality, markets, the proper role of government, the nature of institutions, and so on? Reason enters into both enterprises: both reason used by social scientists and the form of reason attributed to the people they study. The Brain and Cognitive Sciences have shown that Real Reason—the way people really reason—is a matter of neural circuitry and has effects that are far from obvious.
Hearing International Project on High-Quality, Low-Cost Hearing Aids

Within the Hearing International (HI) organization, a subcommittee of the Committee on Management and Rehabilitation of Hearing Loss was formed several years ago to facilitate the manufacture and commercial availability of one or more high-quality, low-cost hearing aids. The project is named the High- Quality Low-Cost Hearing Aid Project, and its aim is to facilitate the development of such aids for use in developing countries. Actions taken thus far by the subcommittee include meetings and discussions with representatives of leading hearing aid manufacturers, an analysis of hearing aid features and their costs, and an analysis of the opinions of hearing aid manufacturers toward the development of fully functional low-cost hearing aids. The latter two activities involved surveys of the -characteristics of contemporary hearing aids and of hearing aid manufacturers. Findings from these surveys provide the bases for much of the information in this chapter. While this information may be of interest to many laypersons, it should be of special interest to those involved in the pursuit of the goal of facilitating the manufacture of high-quality, low-cost hearing aids. Background information is provided in the previous chapter.
Analytic and Geometric Realization of Representations

Let \( \Delta = \{ z \in \mathbb{C}:|z| < 1\} ,\;{{S}^{1}} = \partial \Delta \). For u in C(S 1), let Pu denote the Poisson transform of u: $$ {{P}_{u}}\left( {r{{e}^{{i\theta }}}} \right) = \frac{1}{{2\pi }}\int_{0}^{{2\pi }} {\frac{{1 - {{r}^{2}}}}{{1 + {{r}^{2}} - 2r\cos (\theta - \varphi )}}u({{e}^{{i\varphi }}})d\varphi .} \; $$ (a)
Linker Technologies for Antibody–Drug Conjugates

Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), which combine the specificity, favorable pharmacokinetics, and biodistribution of a monoclonal antibody (mAb) with the cytotoxic potency of a drug, are promising new therapies for cancer. Along with the development of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and cytotoxic drugs, the design of the linker is of essential importance, because it impacts the efficacy and tolerability of ADCs. The linker needs to provide sufficient stability during systemic circulation but allow for the rapid and efficient release of the cytotoxic drug in an active form inside the tumor cells. This review provides an overview of linker technologies currently used for ADCs and advances that have resulted in linkers with improved properties. Also provided is a brief summary of some considerations for the conjugation of antibody and drug linker such as drug-to-antibody ratio and site of conjugation.
Hegel’s Idealism and Epistemological Realism

In Chapter Seven Hegel’s indifference as to whether the world is described as a concept or as an object was noted, and it was mentioned that his indifference was a function of his idealism.1 Hegel holds that the world has a fundamentally conceptual structure, not because we constitute the world by thinking about it, but because concepts are structures in the world; only upon that basis can they become conceptions in our language and in our heads. The aim of this chapter is not to defend Hegel’s ontology, but only to understand his basic ontological view. This will show that Hegel’s brand of idealism is, and is intended to be, fully compatible with epistemological realism. It will also allow a glimpse of the role of his ontology in refuting skepticism. It is important to note that there are three main strands in Hegel’s idealism, an epistemological strand, an ontological strand, and a moral strand. These three strands are treated in turn.
Treatment of Acute Thoracic Aortic Dissections

Despite the ever-increasing awareness of disorders of the thoracic aorta, these diseases remain among the most frightening conditions for those physicians who do not routinely deal with them. Included within this broad category are aneurysms, thromboses, and the various inflammatory states, but perhaps none of these generate the anxiety evoked by the diagnosis of aortic dissection. Although recent advances in the preoperative recognition and management, intraoperative techniques, and long term follow up and control have greatly increased the survival of these patients, for the majority of physicians this group of diagnoses remains a mysterious and confounding entity. This discussion will attempt to briefly describe these conditions in their acute phase, along with the different approaches, both medically and operatively that have been adopted in our institution. Our experience over the period 1985–1992 will be presented.
Developing a patient-centered outcome for targeting early childhood obesity across multiple stakeholders.

Patient-centered outcome measures for childhood obesity are limited. Identifying outcomes that patients and families consider important could be a viable avenue for better engagement of patients and interventions that are efficacious and acceptable to patients. Latino children experience high rates of obesity, and under-recognition of obesity in preschool aged children is common. We used growth chart data to identify low-income, Latino children 2–5 years of age with obesity who decreased their adiposity (positive deviants) and a set of controls. We used qualitative interview data to identify themes around goals parents used in addressing weight. Then, we applied a modified Delphi approach across groups of caregivers and providers to identify common goals. We conducted focus groups to explore conflicts and congruency between caregivers and providers related to goals. Using the focus group data, we developed a decision tool for use between patients and providers relevant for early childhood obesity. We identified 257 children who successfully reduced adiposity (positive deviants) from 1621 eligible growth charts. From interviews with 44 parents (21 positive deviants and 23 controls), we coded and categorized outcomes such as increased happiness, clothing size and improved activity. We recruited 81 parents, grandparents and health care providers to participate in the modified Delphi process of ranking outcomes by importance and feasibility. Focus groups (2, total n = 24) suggested potential methods for a common framework to discuss goals, including a modified growth chart. We created a decision-tool that incorporated a growth chart and a section for discussion of patient-centered goals. A final focus group (1, n = 10) provided feedback on the tool as acceptable and potentially useful. The development of a patient-centered tool around achieving a healthy weight in early childhood identified common goals between providers and parents. While the tool has been developed, prospective testing of this patient-centered tool and its effects on engagement, parent motivation, and behavior change would be a useful next step.
Working With 7- to 12-Year-Old Children Who Stutter

The public school speech-language clinician is encouraged to intervene with the school-age child who stutters. The importance of including parents and teachers in the therapeutic process is address...
Creating Community Through Cohort Learning: A Training Model for Youth Development Professionals

University of Minnesota Extension Center for Youth Development (CYD) initiated a learning cohort for their local youth development professionals, 4-H Extension educators (EEs) to fulfill a need to better support staff beyond onboarding. The Youth Development Learn and Lead (YDLL) cohort is grounded in integrative leadership that influences professional relationship building through the sharing of applicable skills and theory across hierarchical boundaries while providing a community of practice to discuss ideas and share resources. The cohort has positively impacted employee engagement and has shown impressive results around networking, relationship building, and learning objectives. The YDLL cohort has been deemed an essential training by CYD, and has been replicated internally to encompass a larger audience with unique staff development needs.
Addressing behavioral health needs in pediatric primary care: discrepancies between desired and received care

There has been a recent push for the incorporation of mental/behavioral health (M/BH) services within primary care (PC). The present study aimed to assess current and desired services and perceived...
The climate crisis as a catalyst for emancipatory transformation: An examination of the possible:

In 2018, a wave of climate change activism emerged in response to calls from scientists for urgent, unprecedented, and far-reaching changes to address the climate crisis. Three social movements, Ex...
Discounted-Cash-Flow Value Estimates are Optimistic when Assumptions are Not

Discounted-cash-flow valuations are upward biased even when estimates of market discount rates and cash flow growth rates are unbiased, because both compounding and discounting are convex functions. The upward bias in the estimated value of a long-lived cash flow stream can exceed 25% under plausible assumptions regarding magnitudes of estimation errors, which can equate to upward bias in estimated net present values that exceed 100%. This bias may help to explain the value premium puzzle, observed takeover premia, long run returns after IPOs, and high equity valuations during periods of low real interest rates. A method of correcting value estimates for the bias is proposed.
Shakuntala: Lone Journeys Deep in the Forest

The story of Shakuntala is special for her unconventional birth, marriage, and childbirth, and the unique way she conducted herself in each event of her life with courage and self-determination, which made her the beloved symbol of womanhood. This chapter will examine her story from the Mahabharata in comparison with Kalidasa’s Abhignana Sakuntalam.
Manual of Emergency and Critical Care Ultrasound

Preface 1. Fundamentals Part I. Diagnostic Ultrasound: 2. Focused assessment with sonography in trauma (FAST) 3. Echocardiography 4. First-trimester ultrasound 5. Abdominal aortic aneurysm 6. Renal and bladder 7. Gallbladder 8. Deep-vein thrombosis 9. Chest ultrasound 10. Ocular ultrasound 11. Musculoskeletal and soft tissue ultrasound 12. Gastrointestinal ultrasound 13. Pediatric ultrasound applications 14. Ultrasound for the hypotensive patient 15. Vascular access 16. Ultrasound for procedure guidance Index.