cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Normal Accidents of Expertise

Charles Perrow used the term “normal accidents” to characterize a type of catastrophic failure that resulted when complex, tightly coupled production systems encountered a certain kind of anomalous event. These were events in which systems failures interacted with one another in a way that could not be anticipated, and could not be easily understood and corrected. Systems of the production of expert knowledge are increasingly becoming tightly coupled. Unlike classical science, which operated with a long time horizon, many current forms of expert knowledge are directed at immediate solutions to complex problems. These are prone to breakdowns like the kind discussed by Perrow. The example of the Homestake mine experiment shows that even in modern physics complex systems can produce knowledge failures that last for decades. The concept of knowledge risk is introduced, and used to characterize the risk of failure in such systems of knowledge production.
The Evolution of the Functional Role of Trunk Muscles During Locomotion in Adult Amphibians 1

SYNOPSIS. The axial musculature of all vertebrates consists of two principal masses, the epaxial and hypaxial muscles. The primitive function of both axial muscle masses is to generate lateral bending of the trunk during swimming, as is seen in most fishes. Within amphibians we see multiple functional and morphological elaborations of the axial musculature. These elaborations appear to be associated not only with movement into terrestrial habits (salamanders), but also with subsequent locomotor specializations of two of the three major extant amphibian clades (frogs and caecilians). Salamanders use both epaxial and hypaxial muscles to produce lateral bending during swimming and terrestrial, quadrupedal locomotion. However during terrestrial locomotion the hypaxial muscles are thought to perform an added function, resisting long-axis torsion of the trunk. Relative to salamanders, frogs have elaborate epaxial muscles, which function to both stabilize and extend the iliosacral and coccygeosacral joints. These actions are important in the effective use of the hindlimbs during terrestrial saltation and swimming. In contrast, caecilians have relatively elaborate hypaxial musculature that is linked to a helix of connective tissue embedded in the skin. The helix and associated hypaxial muscles form a hydrostatic skeleton around the viscera that is continuously used to maintain body posture and also contributes to forward force production during burrowing.
Publication in otology and neuro-otology: dos and don'ts.

Introduction: Medical publication continues to be important to academicians, physicians in private practice, researchers and corporate sponsors. This article provides valuable dos and don’ts for authors. Materials and Methods: Literature review and personal experience of the author. Results: Advice is provided for understanding the publishing world, the peer-review process, duplicate publication, authorship, and dos and don’ts for successful authors. Conclusions: Publishing is a competitive art and science. The key to success is the submission of a proper manuscript that contains important, new, scientific information of value to the readers. Ann Acad Med Singapore 2005;34:281-4
Legal Responsibility in Health Care: Whose Fault is it Anyway?

Dr. Eddingfleld was a general practitioner. He had been the family physician for the Hurley family for some time and was the only physician in the area available to the Hurleys. One evening Mr. Hurley became critically ill and sent a messenger to Dr. Eddingfield’s house seeking help. The messenger arrived at Dr. Eddingfield’s house, informed him of Hurley’s dangerous condition, offered to pay the fee before services were rendered and asked Dr. Eddingfield to come visit the patient. Without any reason whatever, Dr. Eddingfield refused to go to Hurley’s aid. No other patients were requiring the doctor’s services, and he could have gone to Hurley’s aid had he been willing to do so. No other care was available for Mr. Hurley. Because of lack of attention Hurley died of his illness. Mr. Hurley’s estate sued the doctor for failure to render services and lost the suit. The court said then in 1901, as it would now, that in the absence of some special contract or other commitment, physicians have no obligation, no legal responsibility, to treat people [12]. The law does not require health care providers to be even minimally good samaritans.
Overall survival using local excision techniques with and without radiation compared with APR for stage I rectal cancer: A SEER based analysis

4032 Background: The standard of care for Stage I rectal cancer is radical resection. Increasingly, local therapies have been used to decrease morbidity and preserve sphincter control. Due to incre...
Littriello: Are the Check-the-Box Regulations Valid

When the Treasury Department was considering adopting the check-the-box regulations, several commentators questioned whether such regulations would be valid. The vast majority of commentators, however, defended the Treasury Department's authority to issue the regulations. Still others considered the debate academic, assuming that no one would have the standing and incentive to challenge the validity of the check-the-box regulations because the regulations seemed to favor taxpayers. Recently, several taxpayers have had both the standing and the incentive to challenge the regulations. In Littriello v. United States and McNamee v. Dep't of the Treasury, IRS, the single owner of an LLC challenged the Treasury Department's authority to issue regulations treating his LLC as a disregarded entity for purposes of employment taxes. The facts of both cases are similar, and both courts held that the regulations are valid. This column focuses primarily on the arguments raised in Littriello because the Littriello court provided the most thorough analysis of the issues involved. In Littriello, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, like the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in McNamee, held that the check-the-box regulations are valid. Professors Brant Hellwig and Gregg Polsky, however, have addressed the issues raised in both cases and determined that the check-the-box regulations are not valid, at least in the employment tax context. This article discusses the Sixth Circuit's opinion in Littriello and concludes that the regulations are valid both for purposes of income tax and for purposes of the employment tax.
Visualization of the Gastric Mechanical Systole Using a New Scintigraphic Technique

Using the standard radionuclide gastric emptying test combined with a new data acquisition and processing method, we have been able to visualize the contractions of the stomach and to generate the gastric mechanical systole. After ingestion of a radiolabeled test meal, list mode images of the stomach were acquired at different time intervals for 2 hr and processed to generate distal stomach time-activity curves. A curve-peak finding algorithm was applied to each time-activity curve to indicate the start of every gastric cycle. List mode images were re-framed in 20 images per cycle and 20 pseudo-gated images consisting of the sum of the same numbered frame interval in every cycle were generated for each dynamic acquisition set. Fourier analysis of the time-activity curve in each gastric pixel location of the 20 pseudo-gated images allowed for the generation of phase images of the stomach in a color scale. The closed-loop cinematic display of the phase images during a gastric cycle enables one to visualize the progression of the gastric contraction wave, that is, the gastric mechanical systole. Correlations between the antral time-activity curve cycles and gastric contractions were established in five dogs using simultaneous isotopic and serosal electrogastrographic recordings. The patterns of phase distribution and sequential phase changes of the food in the stomach that we have observed noninvasively indicate that the proximal stomach does not undergo phasic contractions, while in the distal stomach contractions originate in mid-corpus and propagate aborrally to the pylorus. The scintigraphic test can be used to noninvasively visualize gastric contractions and to delineate the spatial progression of the gastric electromechanical wave of contraction.
An Unusual Polymer Architecture for the Generation of Elastomeric Properties in Fluorinated Polyphosphazenes

We report the synthesis and characterization of a new linear polyphosphazene architecture in which rigid, bulky side units provide the possibility of interdigitation with their counterparts on neighboring chains to generate noncovalent cross-links and distinct elastomeric properties. The bulky side groups are cyclotriphosphazene rings substituted with trifluoroethoxy groups connected to the main chain via aryloxy spacers. These bulky units are distributed along the polymer backbone and separated from each other by trifluoroethoxy units linked directly to the main chain. Compared to the well-known poly[(bis-2,2,2-trifluoroethoxy)phosphazene], [NP(OCH2CF3)2]n, which is a microcrystalline film- and fiber-forming polymer, several of the new materials are elastomers with properties that arise partly from interactions of the protruding cyclotriphosphazene side units with those on nearby polymer chains. Specific elastomers are capable of regaining up to 89% of their original shape when elongated to high strain (...
Genetic Control of Neonatal Growth and Intestinal Maturation in Turkeys

Turkey experimental lines E (selected 44 yr for increased egg production) and F (selected 38 yr for increased 16-wk BW) were mated reciprocally with the randombred control lines from which they were derived (RBC1 and RBC2, respectively), and the pure line and reciprocal cross poults were compared according to their hatch, 3- and 7-d BW, jejunum weight, jejunum length, and jejunal maltase and alkaline phosphatase activities. Orthogonal contrasts of the data from the pure line and reciprocal cross-poult data were used to estimate additive genetic effects, reciprocal effects (confounded maternal and sex-linked effects), and heterosis for each of the traits measured. Body weights at hatch and at 3 and 7 d of age were increased in the F line relative to the RBC2 line and were decreased in the E line relative to the RBC1 line. The genetic changes from long-term selection in the E and F lines have had concomitant effects on jejunum growth and function that parallel the changes in growth rate. The increased BW of the F line poults and the decreased BW of the E line poults relative to their randombred controls may be due to increases in the absorption of nutrients because of greater intestinal mass rather than to differences in glucose digestion. Concomitant changes in egg weight in the 2 selected lines appear to have resulted in maternal effects that have significantly affected neonatal BW and digestive system maturation.
Upscale energy transfer in three-dimensional rapidly rotating turbulent convection.

Rotating Rayleigh-Benard convection exhibits, in the limit of rapid rotation, a turbulent state known as geostrophic turbulence. This state is present for sufficiently large Rayleigh numbers representing the thermal forcing of the system, and is characterized by a leading order balance between the Coriolis force and pressure gradient. This turbulent state is itself unstable to the generation of depth-independent or barotropic vortex structures of ever larger scale through a process known as spectral condensation. This process involves an inverse cascade mechanism with a positive feedback loop whereby large-scale barotropic vortices organize small scale convective eddies. In turn, these eddies provide a dynamically evolving energy source for the large-scale barotropic component. Kinetic energy spectra for the barotropic dynamics are consistent with a k-3 downscale enstrophy cascade and an upscale cascade that steepens to k-3 as the box-scale condensate forms. At the same time the flow maintains a baroclinic convective component with an inertial range consistent with a k-5/3 spectrum. The condensation process resembles a similar process in two dimensions but is fully three-dimensional.
Electrical Measurement of Recombination Lifetime in Blue Light Emitting Diodes

A recombination lifetime of approximately 25 ns was extracted from measured reverse recovery storage times in AlGaN/GaN/AlGaN double heterojunction blue light emitting diodes. This experimentally determined lifetime is expected to arise from a combination of radiative and non-radiative processes occurring in the diodes. The non-radiative processes are likely to be due the presence of a high concentration deep-states as identified from the current-voltage and capacitance-voltage measurements. Current-voltage characteristics of these diodes were highly non-ideal as indicated by high values of the ideality factor ranging from 3.0–7.0. Logarithmic plots of the forward characteristics indicated a space-charge-limited-current (SCLC) conduction in presence of a high density of “deep-level states” in the active region of the diodes. An analysis of these characteristics yielded an approximate density of these deep-level states as 2 × 1017/cm3. The density of deep-states extracted from capacitance-voltage measurements were in good agreement with that obtained from current-voltage measurements.
P-15GUT BACTERIAL LOAD INFLUENCES LIVER INFLAMMATION AND NEUTROPHIL INFILTRATION IN AN ACUTE-ON-CHRONIC ALCOHOL FEEDING MODEL IN MICE

An important component in alcohol-induced liver injury is leakage of gut bacterial products into the circulation leading to an inflammatory cascade. Alcohol alters gut permeability leading to the delivery of bacterial components in the liver contributing directly to organ injury. Previous studies have examined the role of reducing gut bacteria …
Recursion Theorems and Self-Replication Via Text Register Machine Programs.

Register machine programs provide explicit proofs of the sn -Theorem, Kleene’s Second Recursion Theorem, and Smullyan’s Double Recursion Theorem. Thus these programs provide a pedagogically useful approach. We develop this topic from scratch, hence without appeal to the existence of universal programs, pairing, quotation, or any form of coding device. None of the results are new from the point of view of computability theory apart from the particular formulations themselves. We introduce the notion of a text register machine; this is a register machine whose registers contain words from some alphabet and whose instructions are again words from the same alphabet. We work with a particular instruction set whose language of programs we call 1#. Tools for writing and evaluating 1# programs have been made freely available: see www.indiana.edu/∼iulg/trm. It is generally recognized that the greatest advances in modern computers came through the notion that programs could be kept in the same memory with ‘data,’ and that programs could operate on other programs, or on themselves, as though they were data.” Marvin Minsky [5]
Effects of Tumor Necrosis Factor on the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis

Stimulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis is a central feature of the response to critical illness. The regulation of this response is unclear; afferent cortical and peripheral stimuli undoubtedly lead to HPA axis stimulation, but recently it has become apparent that cytokines are potent stimulators of this response. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of tumor necrosis factor (TNF), a major cytokine mediator of endotoxic shock, on HPA axis gene expression and peptide release.
Parental divorce and initiation of alcohol use in early adolescence

Parental divorce/separation is among the most commonly endorsed adverse childhood events. It has been shown to increase subsequent risk of alcohol dependence and problems across adolescence and early adulthood, but its influence on early stages of alcohol involvement has only recently been explored. In the present study, we examined whether time to first full drink was accelerated among youth who experienced parental divorce/separation. To determine specificity of risk, models controlled for perceived stress as well as family history of alcoholism, current parental drinking, and internalizing and externalizing problems. Developmental specificity in terms of timing of both parental divorce and first drink was also examined. Participants were 931 middle-school students (488 girls, 443 boys) who were enrolled in a prospective study on drinking initiation and progression (52% female; 23% non-White, 11% Hispanic). Students indicated whether and at what age they had consumed a full drink of alcohol. Parental divorce/separation was coded from a parent-reported life-events inventory and was grouped based on age experienced (ages 0-5, ages 6-9, age 10+). Cox proportional hazard models showed increased risk for onset of drinking as a function of divorce/separation, even controlling for stress, parental alcohol involvement, and psychopathology. There was no evidence for developmental specificity of the divorce/separation effect based on when it occurred nor in timing of first drink. However, the effect of parental divorce/separation on initiation was magnified at higher levels of parental drinking. Given the rates of parental divorce/separation and its association with increased risk of early drinking, investigation of the mechanisms underlying this link is clearly warranted. (PsycINFO Database Record
Patient/treatment characteristics and prognostic factors in small-cell bladder cancer (SCBC).

e16037Background: SCBC is rare; data on treatment and outcomes is limited. There is a need to define patient (pt) and treatment related prognostic factors that can be used for clinical decision and...
Chapter 37 – The Vascular and Coagulation Systems

This chapter explains the vascular and coagulation systems. The vascular system, while not particularly associated with immunogenicity, is the conduit for the mediators of immunity, and is a common site of immunologic attack. The vascular system includes the vessel wall, the endothelium, and the vascular contents—the white blood cells, red blood cells (RBCs), platelets, macrophages, complement, cytokines, immunoglobulins, coagulation mediators, and other plasma proteins. The vascular system consists of the arteries, arterioles, capillaries, veins, venous sinuses, and venules with fenestrations that allow the passage of polymorphonuclear leukocytes and lymphocytes to sites of disease. The coagulation system consists of three lines of defense in the maintenance of the integrity of the vascular system: the vessel wall, the platelets, and the coagulation factors. The vessel wall plays an important role in the integrity of the vasculature because of its collagen-containing basement membrane which, when breached, functions as an activator of platelets.
CRISPR-Cas9 nuclear dynamics and target recognition in living cells

The bacterial CRISPR-Cas9 system has been repurposed for genome engineering, transcription modulation, and chromosome imaging in eukaryotic cells. However, the nuclear dynamics of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-associated protein 9 (Cas9) guide RNAs and target interrogation are not well defined in living cells. Here, we deployed a dual-color CRISPR system to directly measure the stability of both Cas9 and guide RNA. We found that Cas9 is essential for guide RNA stability and that the nuclear Cas9-guide RNA complex levels limit the targeting efficiency. Fluorescence recovery after photobleaching measurements revealed that single mismatches in the guide RNA seed sequence reduce the target residence time from >3 h to as low as <2 min in a nucleotide identity- and position-dependent manner. We further show that the duration of target residence correlates with cleavage activity. These results reveal that CRISPR discriminates between genuine versus mismatched targets for genome editing via radical alterations in residence time.
Drosophila Enhancer of Rudimentary Homolog, ERH, Is a Binding Partner of RPS3, RPL19, and DDIT4, Suggesting a Mechanism for the Nuclear Localization of ERH

The protein enhancer of rudimentary homolog, ERH, is a small, highly conserved protein that has been found in animals, plants, and protists. Genetic and biochemical interactions have implicated ERH in the regulation of pyrimidine biosynthesis, DNA replication, transcription, mRNA splicing, cellular proliferation, tumorigenesis, and the Notch signaling pathway. In vertebrates and insects, ERH is nuclearly localized; however, an examination of the ERH amino-acid sequence does not reveal any nuclear localization signals. In this paper we show that the first 24 amino acids contain sequences necessary and sufficient for nuclear localization. Through yeast two-hybrid screens, three new binding partners of ERH, RPS3, RPL19, and DDIT4, were identified. RPS3 was isolated from both human and Drosophila screens. These interactions suggest functions of ERH in cell growth, cancer, and DNA repair. The ERH sequences necessary for the interactions between ERH and RPS3 and RPL19 are mapped onto the same 24-amino-acid region in ERH which are necessary for nuclear localization, suggesting that ERH is localizing to the nucleus through binding to one of its DNA-binding partners, such as RPS3 or RPL19.
Abstract 211: Do Women Receive Less Aggressive Care Following Intracerebral Hemorrhage?

Background: Several studies have shown that women with ischemic stroke receive fewer proven therapies for secondary prevention. A small study found that women receive early DNR orders after intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) more often than men ( Stroke 2013; 44: 3229) but national data regarding sex differences in ICH are lacking. Objective: To compare comorbidities and use of surgical treatments and palliative care between men and women with ICH. We tested the hypothesis that women receive less aggressive care after ICH. Methods: ERICH is a multi-center study of ICH risk factors and outcomes. We compared clinical variables, treatments (e.g., hematoma evacuation), and use of DNR orders in men compared with women. Chi square tests(categorical items) and t-tests (continuous items) were performed. Multivariable analyses assessed the likelihood of ICH surgery and/or palliative care after adjustment for variables that were significant (p Results: 2964 patients (1220 women) were analyzed. Mean age was higher in women (65.0 vs. 59.9, p Conclusions: Despite sex differences in several categories, no observable sex differences were found in use of surgical therapies or use of DNR/comfort care in an American population. Future work should focus on whether sex differences exist following ICH in patient-centered outcomes.
The Sodium Amytal (Wada) Test: Procedural and Interpretative Considerations

This chapter familiarizes the reader with the sodium amytal (amobarbital) test, both as a technique to establish hemispheric language capabilities in epilepsy surgery candidates, and as a procedure to gain insights into the neural correlates of language. After a brief historical overview, the chapter reviews the rationale underlying the use of the amobarbital procedure. Because the exact nature of the amobarbital procedure varies from center to center, we next provide a description of how the procedure is performed at the University of Kansas Medical Center’s Comprehensive Epilepsy Center. Some of the problems and considerations involved in the administration and interpretation of the amobarbital test are identified, and recent developments aimed at overcoming some of these problems are highlighted. A discussion of the sodium amytal test’s contribution to our understanding of inter-and intra-hemispheric differences in the organization of language concludes the chapter.
Scalable and Adaptive Algorithms for the Triangle Interdiction Problem on Billion-Scale Networks

Motivated by the relevance of clustering or transitivity to a variety of network applications, we study the Triangle Interdiction Problem (TIP), which is to find a minimum-size set of edges that intersects all triangles of a network. As existing approximation algorithms for this NP-hard problem either do not scale well to massive networks or have poor solution quality, we formulate two algorithms, TARL and DART, with worst-case guarantees 5/2 and 3 with respect to optimal, respectively. Furthermore, DART is able to efficiently maintain its worst-case guarantee under dynamic edge insertion and removal to the network. In our comprehensive experimental evaluation, we demonstrate that DART is able to run on networks with billions of triangles within 2 hours and is able to dynamically update its solution in microseconds.
Detection of arbovirus transmission via sugar feeding in a laboratory setting.

Most species of mosquitoes consume sugar to survive and during sugar feeding can expectorate virus. Scientists have used this behavior to develop novel methods of mosquito control and arbovirus surveillance. In this study, we use sugar feeding and corresponding viral expectoration to develop an affordable method of monitoring individual mosquitoes for longitudinal data collection. Female Culex tarsalis Coquillett (Diptera: Culicidae) that consumed an infectious bloodmeal of West Nile virus were placed into separate containers and offered a sucrose-soaked cotton wick. Wicks were then collected daily and tested for virus with similar results to those from standard capillary tube method. This yielded a direct longitudinal estimate of the extrinsic incubation period, while using fewer mosquitoes. This approach could be used to further characterize variation in the amount and diversity of expectorated virus over the life span of individual mosquitoes.
Are symptoms of ovarian cancer evident: A retrospective analysis of claims data to determine prior symptoms to diagnosis.

5565Background: There are no standard of care screening methods for ovarian cancer. Over sixty percent (60%) of ovarian cancer cases are found at Stage III and IV, which ultimately impacts a woman’...
Laparoscopic Ladd's Procedure for Midgut Malrotation

Abstract Introduction: Volvulus is the main concern with intestinal malrotation. Treatment consists of Ladd's procedure that was first described in 1936.1 The procedure performed in an “open” manne...
“The Black Tile in the Mosaic”: Austin Chesterfield Clarke and the Canadian Literary Tradition

ABSTRACTThis paper engages selected moments in Austin Clarke’s literary journey to argue that in spite of his involvement in the development of Canadian literature (CanLit) during the 1960s and 197...
Aggressive T-cell lymphomas: 2019 updates on diagnosis, risk stratification, and management

Introduction Aggressive T-cell lymphomas continue to have a poor prognosis. There are over 27 different subtypes of peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL) and we are now beginning to understand the differences between the various subtypes beyond histologic variations. Molecular pathogenesis of various subtypes of ptcl Gene expression profiling can help in diagnosis and prognostication of various subtypes including PTCL-nos and anaplastic large cell lymphoma. In addition, mutational analysis is now being incorporated in clinical trials of novel agents to evaluate various biomarkers of response to allow better therapeutic choices for patients. Targeted therapies There are many targeted agents currently in various stages of clinical trials for PTCL that take advantage of the differential expression of specific proteins or receptors in PTCL tumors. The most promising is the CD30 directed antibody drug conjugate brentuximab vedotin. This has recently been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the upfront treatment of CD30 expressing PTCLs in combination with cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, and prednisone chemotherapy. Other notable targets are CD25, CCR4 tag, PI3kinase inhibitors, and JAK/STAT inhibitors. Anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) inhibitors are promising for ALK expressing tumors. Immunotherapies The use of checkpoint inhibitors in the treatment of PTCL is still controversial. The most promising results have been seen in cases of extranodal natural killer cell/T-cell lymphomas and cutaneous T-cell lymphomas. For all other subtypes, immune checkpoint inhibitors should be used with extreme caution and only in the context of a clinical trial. Allogeneic stem cell transplant continues to be the curative therapy for most aggressive subtypes of PTCL.
Cottonmouth snake bites reported to the ToxIC North American snakebite registry 2013–2017

Introduction: The majority of venomous snake exposures in the United States are due to snakes from the subfamily Crotalinae (pit vipers). There are three types of US pit vipers: rattlesnakes (Crota...
Experiential consumption of a South African wine farm destination as an agritourism attraction

As agritourism has been gaining in popularity as a form of special interest tourism, researchers have investigated different aspects of this phenomenon. However, academic literature seems to be mos...
BACK TO BASICS: HOPELESSNESS AS THE MEDIATING FACTOR FOR COMPLETED SUICIDE AMONG OLDER ADULTS

Individuals 65 years and older are at high risk for completing suicide. Though risk factors have been established in the literature, the dominant atheoretical approach has left the field at an impasse. The present study aimed to integrate core risk factors of hopelessness, depression, physical illness, and social isolation by proposing a biopsychosocial framework of older adult suicide. A psychological autopsy was used to compare individuals 65 years and older who died either by suicide (n = 32) or natural causes (n = 45). Structural equation modeling results suggested that hopelessness was the only factor directly associated with suicide (B = .01, β = 0.84, SE = 13.31, p ≤ .001), fully mediating the relationships between suicide and social isolation, negative attitudes about physical health, and depression. The proposed model adequately fit the data, explaining 71% of the variance in cause of death. Advanced age (75+ years) moderately increased social isolation, which weakly increased hopelessness, contributing to suicide in a smaller magnitude than expected. Though individuals in the advanced age group had a wider range of physical illnesses, this did not increase risk. Rather, negative perceptions of health increased risk for all individuals 65 years and older via depression and hopelessness, irrespective of the presence of impairing physical illness. Findings support the claim that hopelessness plays a pivotal role in the progression from suicidal ideation to completion among older adults. Directly targeting hopelessness could help prevent at-risk older adults from acting on their thoughts of suicide.
Mechanisms of Advanced Oxidation Processes, the Principle of Detailed Balancing, and Specifics of the UV/Chloramine Process

Advanced oxidation processes tend to have very complex reaction mechanisms, and models containing over 150 steps have been developed to describe the chemistry. Without the aid of automation, it is extremely difficult to avoid the development of kinetic mechanisms that violate the principle of detailed balancing. Here, we apply DETBAL, a computer application, to systematically identify many violations of the principle of detailed balancing in a model proposed for the UV/chloramine process. We then show that these violations can also be found in dozens of other proposed models for advanced oxidation processes. Suggested repairs to these violations are provided. These repairs lead to no significant changes in the model predictions because the illegal loops include steps that are unnecessary under the conditions modeled. The model omits certain steps that do have significant effects on the model predictions.
A 10-Level Flying Capacitor Multi-Level Dual-Interleaved Power Module for Scalable and Power-Dense Electric Drives

The adoption of cleaner vehicle technologies is predicated on the development of efficient and power-dense electric drives. Recent activity in this area has produced several high performance converters geared towards this application. While much effort has been focused on improving traditional concepts, others have sought more unconventional topologies to attain high performance as well as system level benefits–such as reduced output current distortion, dv/dt and filter size. This work represents the latter approach, using the flying capacitor multilevel topology (FCML) in a high-power, high-voltage, gallium nitride (GaN)-based inverter. Specific design considerations are reviewed, and take into account recent developments in component characterization and thermal management, followed by a discussion of start-up and steady-state operation. A 10-level prototype FCML inverter is used to demonstrate operation at 1 kV dc input voltage and 13.4 kW peak output power, with 26.7 kW/kg and 17.4 kW/L power densities.
Montages of Memory: Collage, Memory, and Gender in the Films of Stacey Steers

This chapter examines recent collage films by the American animator Stacey Steers, whose animations appropriate female characters from Victorian print sources and silent-era cinema to recount original narratives that rethink the role of women in cinematic history. Drawing on interviews, this chapter argues that Steers’ works, in particular her three most recent films Phantom Canyon (2010), Night Hunter (2011), and Edge of Alchemy (2017), intricately subvert cultural memory by lifting actresses like Lillian Gish, Mary Pickford, and Janet Gaynor from the gender-prescribed roles dictated to them in Hollywood at the time and inscribing onto them a new, singular agency. While dealing with Steers’ engagement with cultural memory, this chapter also scrutinizes the artist’s unique approach to collage as a way of visualizing memory.
Determinants of Early-Stage Startup Performance: Survey Results

To explore determinants of new venture performance, the CEOs of 470 early-stage startups were surveyed regarding a broad range of factors related to their venture’s customer value proposition, product management, marketing, technology and operations, financial management, funding choices, team management, and founder attributes. Multivariate regression analysis shows that startups that employed lean startup management practices—in particular, an optimal rate of pivoting—had stronger seed equity valuation growth, as did new ventures that struck the right balance in recruiting for skill versus attitude and that professionalized human resource policies earlier. High levels of confidence in financial metrics—including estimates of unit economics, the ratio of customer lifetime value to customer acquisition cost, and total addressable market size—were also associated with strong growth in seed equity value. Valuation outcomes were not related to several founder/CEO attributes, including age, educational background, personality traits, and motivations for becoming an entrepreneur. Likewise, choosing angels versus venture capital firms as lead seed round investors did not predict subsequent growth in equity valuation, nor did decisions about partnerships to provide technology, operational capacity, or marketing support.
Transfusion reactions associated with COVID-19 convalescent plasma therapy for SARS-CoV-2.

Background Convalescent plasma (CP) for treatment of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has shown preliminary signs of effectiveness in moderate to severely ill patients in reducing mortality. While studies have demonstrated a low risk of serious adverse events, the comprehensive incidence and nature of the spectrum of transfusion reactions to CP is unknown. We retrospectively examined 427 adult inpatient CP transfusions to determine incidence and types of reactions, as well as clinical parameters and risk factors associated with transfusion reactions. Study design and methods Retrospective analysis was performed for 427 transfusions to 215 adult patients with coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) within the Mount Sinai Health System, through the US Food and Drug Administration emergency investigational new drug and the Mayo Clinic Expanded Access Protocol to Convalescent Plasma approval pathways. Transfusions were blindly evaluated by two reviewers and adjudicated by a third reviewer in discordant cases. Patient demographics and clinical and laboratory parameters were compared and analyzed. Results Fifty-five reactions from 427 transfusions were identified (12.9% incidence), and 13 were attributed to transfusion (3.1% incidence). Reactions were classified as underlying COVID-19 (76%), febrile nonhemolytic (10.9%), transfusion-associated circulatory overload (9.1%), and allergic (1.8%) and hypotensive (1.8%) reactions. Statistical analysis identified increased transfusion reaction risk for ABO blood group B or Sequential Organ Failure Assessment scores of 12 to 13, and decreased risk within the age group of 80 to 89 years. Conclusion Our findings support the use of CP as a safe, therapeutic option from a transfusion reaction perspective, in the setting of COVID-19. Further studies are needed to confirm the clinical significance of ABO group B, age, and predisposing disease severity in the incidence of transfusion reaction events.
MCOLN1 gene-replacement therapy corrects neurologic dysfunction in the mouse model of mucolipidosis IV.

Abstract Mucolipidosis IV (MLIV, OMIM 252650) is an orphan disease leading to debilitating psychomotor deficits and vision loss. It is caused by loss-of-function mutations in the MCOLN1 gene that encodes thethe lysosomal transient receptor potential channel mucolipin 1 (TRPML1). With no existing therapy, the unmet need in this disease is very high. Here we show that AAV-mediated gene transfer of the human MCOLN1 gene rescues motor function and alleviates brain pathology in the Mcoln1−/− MLIV mouse model. Using the AAV-PHP.b vector for initial proof-of-principle experiments in symptomatic mice, we showed long-term reversal of declined motor function and significant delay of paralysis. Next, we designed self-complimentary AAV9 vector for clinical use and showed that its intracerebroventricular administration in post-natal day 1 mice significantly improved motor function and myelination and reduced lysosomal storage load in the MLIV mouse brain. We also showed that CNS targeted gene transfer is necessary to achieve therapeutic efficacy in this disease. Based on our data and general advancements in the gene therapy field, we propose scAAV9-mediated CSF-targeted MCOLN1 gene transfer as a therapeutic strategy in MLIV.
A Machine Learning Approach in Regime-Switching Risk Parity Portfolios

The authors present a machine learning approach to regime-based asset allocation. The framework consists of two primary components: (1) regime modeling and prediction and (2) identifying a regime-based strategy to enhance the performance of a risk parity portfolio. For the former, they apply supervised learning algorithms, including the random forest, based on a large macroeconomic database to estimate the probability of an upcoming recession or a stock market contraction. Out-of-sample tests show the reliability of these predictions, especially for recessions in the United States, over the period 1973 to 2020. The probability estimates are linked to a dynamic investment overlay strategy. The combined approach improves risk-adjusted returns by a substantial amount over nominal risk parity in two-asset and multi-asset test cases, even during rising interest rates in the late 1970s. TOPICS:Big data/machine learning, portfolio construction, performance measurement Key Findings ▪ We examine a regime prediction problem with supervised learning approaches and implement regime-switching risk parity portfolios. ▪ All recession periods after 1973 are captured by the random forest model, and stock market regime predictions lead to better portfolio performance. ▪ Regime-switching models enhance risk parity portfolios, even during a rising interest rate period. Regime-based overlay strategies provide higher risk-adjusted returns in risk parity strategies.
Unfair police treatment and sleep problems among a national sample of adults.

The current study examines the associations between unfair police treatment and sleep quantity and quality among a nationally representative sample of adults from Wave V (years 2016-2018) of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (N = 12,057). Furthermore, considering the documented negative associations between unjust police treatment and both physical and psychological wellbeing, we investigate whether this relationship is attenuated by aspects of general health and depressive symptoms. Findings demonstrate that personal experience with unfair police treatment corresponds to worse sleep among adults, including sleeping fewer hours (especially 6 or fewer hours) and reporting more frequent trouble sleeping. This association was found to partially operate through depressive symptoms and general health. These findings suggest that strategies are needed among public health practitioners and law enforcement to mitigate the adverse health impacts of unfair police treatment.
GALU: A Genetic Algorithm Framework for Logic Unlocking

Logic locking is a circuit obfuscation technique that inserts additional key gates to the original circuit in order to prevent potential threats such as circuit overproduction, piracy, and counterfeiting. Previous works have identified the vulnerability of logic locking to satisfiability (SAT)-based attacks. However, SAT attacks are unscalable and ine?ectiveness on SAT-hard circuits. To address the above constraints, we propose GALU, the first genetic algorithm-based logic unlocking framework that is parallelizable and significantly faster than the conventional SAT-based counterparts. We consider key sequences as individuals in distinct populations and propose an adaptive, diversity-guided GA framework consisting of four main steps: circuit fitness evaluation, population selection, crossover, and mutation. In each iteration, the key sequences with high fitness scores are selected and transformed into the o?spring key sequences. To optimize the runtime overhead of logic unlocking, we integrate the design of GALU?s algorithm, software, and hardware in a closed loop. In particular, we integrate hardware emulation and pipelining as our hardware optimization techniques. We perform a comprehensive evaluation of GALU?s performance on various benchmarks and demonstrate that GALU achieves up to 1089.2× speedup and 4268.6× more energy-efficiency compared to the state-of-the-art SAT attacks for circuit logic unlocking.
A Review of Studies on Certain Forensic Aspects of Skull Identification and Individualization

This 85-page volume is the published version of P. Chandra Sekharan's doctoral dissertation submitted in 1989 to the University of Madras, Madras, India. He is the founder and president of the. Forensic Science Society of India and editor-in-chief of the Indian Journal of Forensic Sciences. He is now professor of forensic sciences and director of the Forensic Sciences Department of the government of Tamil Nadu state.
New boss at Health Canada.

A new player entered Canada's health care debate in January, when the federal government named career civil servant Ian Green to replace David Dodge as deputy minister at Health Canada. (Dodge left Health Canada to assume responsibility for the health of the Canadian dollar — he was named governor
Effects of Straining on Shear Modulus of Clays

High strain amplitude resonant column tests were conducted on hollow cylindrical samples of five natural cohesive soils and one artificially prepared bentonite silica flour mixture to assess affects of shearing strain amplitude and repetitions of shearing strain on dynamic shear modulus. Results of these tests show that: (1)A threshold level for strain exists below which the modulus is virtually independent of strain or number of cycles of strain; (2)cycles of strain cause a progressive decrease in modulus when strain amplitude exceeds a threshold level; (3)cycling above a threshold level causes a decrease in low-amplitude modulus measured immediately after the end of the high-amplitude cycling; and (4)a time-dependent increase in low-amplitude modulus occurs if additional cycles of high-amplitude strain are not applied. Cycle and post-straining effects are then empirically related to strain amplitude, number of repetitions of strain, and time.
The Mechanisms of Inactivation of Sulfite Oxidase by Periodate and Arsenite

The inactivation of sulfite oxidase, a molybdoenzyme containing the Mo cofactor, by arsenite and periodate was investigated. In contrast to ferricyanide (Gardlik, S., and Rajagopalan, K.V. (1991) J. Biol. Chem. 266, 4889-4895), neither of these reagents causes oxidation of the pterin ring of the Mo cofactor. Instead, inactivation by these reagents appears to involve attack on sulfhydryl groups at the active site of the enzyme. The inactivation of sulfite oxidase by arsenite was shown to be dependent on the presence of O2 and on the enzymatic oxidation of arsenite to arsenate. The inactivation was preventable by the presence of sulfite, or by the use of cytochrome c as the electron acceptor instead of O2. It is concluded that inactivation by arsenite is the result of arsenite displacement of Mo during enzymatic oxidation of arsenite to arsenate, when Mo transiently breaks its bond to protein or molybdopterin sulfhydryl(s) in order to provide a site for transfer of electrons to O2. Data indicate that arsenite is properly oriented to displace Mo only once every 20,800 turnovers, thus accounting for the slow rate of inactivation by this reagent. Inactivation of sulfite oxidase by periodate is believed to occur as the result of direct attack of periodate on the thiolate ligands of Mo, either those of the protein and/or molybdopterin, leading to Mo loss. Treatment of enzyme with even low levels of periodate resulted in loss of Mo and both sulfite:cytochrome c and sulfite:O2 activities. Molybdopterin of periodate-inactivated enzyme retained the ability to reconstitute nitrate reductase apoprotein in nit-1 extracts and the ability to reduce dichlorophenolindophenol, indicating that the pterin ring had not been oxidized.
Comparison of computer-assisted instruction and print drill performance: A research note

A comparison of the performance of two groups of third-grade students practicing division problems is used to assess the effect of a commercial computer-assisted instruction (CAI) drill program on learning. The progress of the experimental group, who used the computer drill program, is compared with a similar group of students using a conventional print drill method. The data demonstrate that after five weeks of practice, no significant differences existed in the achievement level of either the experimental group or the control group. The findings further suggest that use of computer drill materials may be no more effective than print drill materials for assisting third-grade students to achieve proficiency level in learning division of whole numbers.
Adaptive tracking designs for input-constrained linear systems using backstepping

The problems of adaptive control via state feedback for linear systems with input constraints are addressed. We first study an adaptive tracking design for stable systems in the observable canonical form. Then we consider plants both in the observable canonical form and the parametric-strict-feedback form with a chain of integrators. Our main design tool is backstepping. For both cases, our adaptive controllers ensure global boundedness without restricting the magnitude of the reference signal. However, to achieve perfect tracking certain magnitude constraints on the reference signal are required.