cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Wärmerückgewinnung aus Abwässern durch Energiesparende Wärmepumpensysteme

The research project deals with the possibility of utilizing the heat quantity in waste water through heat pump systems driven by combustion. Main efforts in this connection have been concentrated on the facts relating to utilization of heat from the local waste water.
Controversies in the Adjuvant Therapy of High-Grade Gliomas

The 2-year survival rate of patients with glioblastoma accrued to research studies increased from 10% to nearly 40% from 2000 to 2010. These improvements began with the demonstration of a survival benefit when daily temozolomide was administered with 6 weeks of standard radiation and for 6 months thereafter. This treatment regimen is often associated with significant lymphopenia, thrombocytopenia, and progressive blood-brain barrier dysfunction that can result in clinical and radiologic deterioration without true tumor progression ("pseudoprogression"). With new evidence that combining this cytotoxic agent with radiation improves survival in this malignancy, many investigators have modified the regimen to further improve patient outcomes. These largely uncontrolled studies highlight controversies regarding the optimal therapy of this disease. This review focuses on the following selected controversies: (a) What is the appropriate temozolomide dose, schedule, and duration in the postradiation period? (b) How should other U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved therapies (such as carmustine wafers and bevacizumab) be incorporated into this treatment regimen? (c) Should the results in glioblastoma be extrapolated to patients aged >70 and to patients with lower grade gliomas? and (d) How should novel therapeutic approaches be added to radiation and temozolomide in clinical trials for patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma?
Family Characteristics and Dynamics Among Families Receiving Postadoption Services

Postadoption services are an expanding service sector. This study determined the characteristics of families and children using a postadoption services program in New England. On average, children were 11 years of age at case opening and had been adopted for 6 years. Most had a history of maltreatment (57%), were adopted domestically (67%), and lived in adoptive families with married parents (82%). Almost all had received at least 1 other postadoption service (90%) and many (47%) had received 4 or more. Families' greatest concerns were child development and family relationships, with fewer concerns about culture, race, or birth parents. Although managing their children's behavior was a concern, families reported feeling effective and expressed considerable closeness to their child.
Hybrid Artificial Organs: Are They Really Necessary?

In order to reproduce completely the function of an organ, past research has considered hybrid artificial organs as the only method to achieve this goal. Various attempts have been made to use cell components, whole cells, tissue, and organ sections in conjunction with artificial organ systems. However, utilization of biological preparations or tissues is not clinically practical today. In this paper disadvantages of using natural tissue preparations are outlined. Recent progress in membrane technology such as membrane plasmapheresis, particularly on-line plasma treatment by multiple reactors, on-line plasma treatment by cryogelation, or the use of a cascade membrane scheme for the selective removal of macromolecules, will provide the tools to treat and remove macromolecules which were once considered extremely difficult to treat. The historical development of membrane plasmapheresis is described, including potential applications of this type of artificial organ for practical clinical treatment of metabolic, toxic and immunologic disease states.
A VLSI architecture for computing scale space

Abstract Meaningful information about a scene is captured in the intensity changes in an image. These intensity changes occur at various scales depending on their physical origins. Scale-space generated by applying the Laplacian of Gaussian edge detector to the image at a continuum of scales is a powerful representation for detecting and organizing these intensity changes symbolically and has proved to be very useful for one-dimensional signals. The high computational cost of generating scale-space in two dimensions has restricted its use in images. This paper proposes a very efficient single chip VLSI design for scale-space computation in one and two dimensions. The architecture of the chip is based on an algorithm that can provide speeds that are of an order of magnitude higher than the speeds obtainable from other systems proposed in the literature. The design uses the principles of modularity, expandability, and parallelism, and fully utilizes the three properties of Gaussian symmetry, separability, and scaling. Moreover, our proposed algorithm does not approximate the Laplacian of the Gaussian operator; it uses instead four one-dimensional convulations to obtain the computations in two dimensions. The proposed architecture has not been built.
Student Metacognitive Monitoring: Predicting Test Achievement from Judgment Accuracy

Metacognitive monitoring processes have been shown to be critical determinants of human learning. Metacognitive monitoring consist of various knowledge estimates that enable learners to engage in self-regulatory processes important for both the acquisition of knowledge and the monitoring of one’s knowledge when engaged in assessment. This study investigated the reliability and the predictive validity of one measure of metacognitive monitoring, absolute accuracy . Absolute accuracy pertains to how accurately students judge their knowledge relative to their actual performance on a test. Students show poor absolute accuracy if they judge their knowledge as correct when in fact it is in error, or if they judge their knowledge in error when in fact it is correct. Contrary to previous studies, this study revealed that absolute accuracy indices may be reliably measured in an authentic setting. The study also showed that absolute accuracy was significantly correlated with concurrent test performance.
The Role of Philosophers in RCR Training

The expanding moral circle lends coherence to the usual hodge-podge of canonical RCR topics. As it is in a person’s own interest to report falsification, understand fabrication, avoid plagiarism, beware of intuition, and justify one’s decisions, it is useful to begin RCR discussions with the principle that we ought to do what is in our own long-term best interests . As it is in the interest of a person’s research group to articulate their reasons for their conclusions, to write cooperatively, review manuscripts professionally, and report statistics transparently, one can introduce the principle that we ought to keep our promises and contracts. As it is a basic matter of rights to respect human subjects, mentor inclusively, recognize intellectual property, and reveal both conflicts of interests and collaborations with private industry, an RCR instructor can introduce the idea that we ought to respect each individual’s moral rights. Finally, as many animals can feel pain, are subjects of their own lives, and have interests of their own, we must take seriously our role in their welfare as research subjects. In this last step, we expand the circle fully, considering animal experimentation, duties to future generations and the natural environment, and the larger social responsibilities of researchers while adopting a utilitarian principle : We ought to do what will maximize aggregate happiness.
TBR and shielding analyses in support of ST-FNSF study

The maximum achievable tritium breeding ratio (TBR), the dose to the insulator of the Cu coils, and the radial build definition are among numerous design issues investigated in detail for a Fusion Nuclear Science Facility (FNSF) based on the spherical tokamak (ST) concept. The ongoing PPPL study is considering a range of machine sizes with 1-2.2 m major radius. Preliminary shielding analysis for the PF coils of the intermediate size machine (R~1.7 m) indicated excessive dose to the cyanate ester/epoxy organic insulator, suggesting a more radiation resistant ceramic insulator such as MgO. The 3-D analysis predicts a TBR of ~1 when the details of the dual-cooled LiPb blanket and outboard penetrations are included in the model. Potential means to increase the TBR were investigated. Understanding the impact of various device sizes on the TBR is another important ongoing research activity to determine the threshold in device size for achieving T self-sufficiency.
Trapping Carpenterworms and Aspen Carpenterworms with Sex Attractants in North Dakota

The Z,E isomer of 3,5-tetradecadien-1-ol acetate was a potent attractant for ♂ carpenterworm moths, Prionoxystus robiniae (Peck), in North Dakota, but only the E,E isomer attracted ♀ aspen carpenterworms, Acossus centerensis (Litner): Neither isomer greatly inhibited or synergized the response of males of either species to the other isomer.
Development and Extended Operation of a High Power Radiation Loaded Heat Pipe

A high temperature, high power molybdenum-lithium heat pipe has been fabricated and tested at 1500 K for 1700 hours with radiant heat rejection. Power throughput during the test was approximately 14 kW, corresponding to an axial flux density of 11 kW/cm/sup 2/ for the 1.59 cm diameter heat pipe. Radial flux density was 70 W/cm/sup 2/ over an evaporator length of 40.0 cm. Condenser length was approximately 150 cm with radiant heat rejection from the condenser to a coaxial water cooled radiation calorimeter. A plasma sprayed, high emissivity coating was used on the condenser surface to increase the radiant heat rejection during the tests. The heat pipe was operated for 514 hours at steady state conditions before being damaged during a planned shutdown for test equipment maintenance. The damage was repaired and the initial 1000 hour test period completed without further incident. After physical examination of the heat pipe at 1000 hours the test was resumed and the heat pipe operated at the same conditions for an additional 700 hours before conclusion of this test phase.
Geographic and hydrodynamic characteristics of shallow coastal lagoons

Abstract Coastal lagoons can be conveniently separated based on geomorphology into leaky, restricted or choked systems. This subdivision orders coastal lagoons hydrodynamically according to water exchange with the coastal ocean. Leaky systems have the shortest turnover time, restricted lagoons have a longer turnover time, and choked lagoons have the longest turnover time. In leaky coastal lagoons, oscillating tidal currents account for most of the flow variance and mask residual currents due to wind- and freshwater-induced density gradients. In restricted lagoons, tides, winds, and freshwater runoff drive components of the circulation. Winds are usually dominant in causing circulation and mixing in choked lagoons, and water exchange with the coastal ocean largely depends on the hydrologic cycle. Coastal lagoons are usually well mixed, but can exhibit significant horizontal gradients due to freshwater runoff and vertical gradients due to solar radiation or surface cooling. In general, river inflow and heat balance induce stratification in coastal lagoons, whereas winds and tides cause mixing. Coastal lagoons usually trap inorganic sediment and organic matter, thus serving as material sinks. On a geologic time scale, they are short-lived landscape features, with an existence intrinsically linked to filtering efficiency and relative sea-level change as a result of glacioeustatic cycles and local tectonic activity.
Development and Calibration of a Two-Dye Fluorescence System for Use in Two-Phase Micro Flow Thermometry

The increasing need for more effective cooling in electronic devices has led to research into the use and modeling of two-phase cooling strategies in micro-scale geometries. In order to verify these models it is necessary to reliably determine local parameters such as fluid temperature in boiling flows, which cannot be easily obtained due to micro-scale geometries. A convenient and non-contact method of thermometry is the use of fluorescence where the emitted intensity is a function of the local temperature. Previous work has verified the ability to use single dyes to measure void fraction in isothermal cases and suggested the possibility of simultaneous thermometry using a system of two dyes. In the present work, we verify the ability to measure the temperature of a single-phase liquid system using pairs of dyes and to this end also determine if two-dye temperature-intensity calibration curves could be accurately constructed from single dye calibration curves. The experimental set-up and procedure yield calibration results from 300K to 400K for Stilbene 420, Kiton Red, Rhodamine B and Fluorescein. Two-dye calibration curves are constructed from single-dye calibration curves and compared experimentally to a system containing two dyes in mixture. The small variation in predicted and actual responses suggest that two-dye systems should be calibrated in mixture form, and if done accurately, have the potential to measure the liquid temperature of a two-phase system
Deterministic Explanation of Quantum Mechanics - Two Photon "Ghost" Diffraction Calculations

Clear “ghost” diffraction patterns for single and double slits are obtained directly by calculating trajectories for both members of a photon pair. Nonlinear differential equations describing the trajectory-wave ordering interaction [1][2] are numerically solved for thousands of particle trajectories. Assuming a fixed relation [3] between the initial momentum for the two photons, the trajectory-wave ordering interaction exactly determines the trajectory for both the idler and signal photon, even though the latter undergoes extreme turbulent acceleration in the slit diffraction region. Selecting the signal particles that enter a small detector aperture selects a particular set of photon idler particles and where they arrive on the idler screen. By calculating many trajectories, I obtain the result that the distributions on the idler screen reproduces the slit diffraction patterns. These results clearly indicate that “Ghost” diffraction can be described as a simple phenomena of pattern selection via correlated trajectory selection. In these results I find no support for superluminal signals. The composite model of the photon field on which these calculations are based together with generation of the electromagnetic-matter interactions via nonlinear realizations of groups is briefly described.
Preparation of metal distributions within catalyst supports: II. Effect of ionic strength on catalytic metal profiles

Abstract The effects of the addition of simple inorganic salts on the adsorption of hexachloroplatinic acid on γ-alumina were studied. As a class, monovalent salts effected the exchange capacity differently from divalent salts. Collectively, however, the ionic strength of the aqueous phase was shown to control the amount adsorbed by altering the electrical double layer thickness and the platinate ion activity. Impregnation experiments were performed to determine the effect of salt addition on the distribution of platinum within the 'y-alumina support. Catalytic metal profiles remained uniform with increasing ionic strength of the electrolyte, but the amount adsorbed decreased. The decrease was shown to agree with results from the adsorption experiments.
Patterns of carpal tunnel syndrome.

SUMMARY Patterns of carpal tunnel syndrome have been presented, each with characteristic history and physical examination findings. Overlap is common; however, a prominent pattern can usually be identified to recommend primary treatment. The cumulative trauma patterns of tenosynovitis and position can be controlled in about two thirds of cases by nonsurgical management. The other major cumulative trauma pattern, vibration, usually requires avoidance, which commonly involves a job change. The lumbrical pattern responds to surgery with special attention to complete distal release of the transverse carpal ligament. External pressure from tool use requires design modification. Anatomic variations due to arthritis, tumors, or trauma are contraindications for the endoscopic techniques.
Diverse diets of the Mio-Pliocene carnivorans of Langebaanweg, South Africa

The Mio-Pliocene guild of carnivorans of Langebaanweg (LBW), South Africa, is phylogenetically and ecologically diverse. Unlike modern African fauna, this fossil sample contains a large ursid; although there are mustelids, herpestids and viverrids in Africa today, some of the LBW members of those families were much larger than their modern confamilials. There were also numerous felid species, including some that possess a more sabretoothed dental morphology, as well as several species of hyaenids that were very different from their modern confamilials. Questions remain about the dietary morphospace occupied by these fossils. Which taxa were predominately durophagous and which were the most hypercarnivorous? Did the level of durophagy and hypercarnivory in the LBW taxa reach the level of specialisation found in modern carnivores? In the current study, we evaluate the dietary specialisations of all the large terrestrial LBW carnivorans through analysis of the radii-of-curvature and intercuspid notches present in the mandibulardentition. We found that the LBW carnivorans had less sharp premolars than do their modern confamilials - an indication of greater durophagy. However, some families contain individuals with more extreme intercuspid notch patterns, indicating greater hypercarnivory. The ursid also possessed a suite of morphology unlike any modern carnivoran, exhibiting some morphology conducive to durophagy and some that places it functionally among the most hypercarnivorous of modern carnivorans. Thus it was likely capable of consuming high levels of both flesh and bone.
Sam2bam: High-Performance Framework for NGS Data Preprocessing Tools

This paper introduces a high-throughput software tool framework called sam2bam that enables users to significantly speed up pre-processing for next-generation sequencing data. The sam2bam is especially efficient on single-node multi-core large-memory systems. It can reduce the runtime of data pre-processing in marking duplicate reads on a single node system by 156–186x compared with de facto standard tools. The sam2bam consists of parallel software components that can fully utilize multiple processors, available memory, high-bandwidth storage, and hardware compression accelerators, if available. The sam2bam provides file format conversion between well-known genome file formats, from SAM to BAM, as a basic feature. Additional features such as analyzing, filtering, and converting input data are provided by using plug-in tools, e.g., duplicate marking, which can be attached to sam2bam at runtime. We demonstrated that sam2bam could significantly reduce the runtime of next generation sequencing (NGS) data pre-processing from about two hours to about one minute for a whole-exome data set on a 16-core single-node system using up to 130 GB of memory. The sam2bam could reduce the runtime of NGS data pre-processing from about 20 hours to about nine minutes for a whole-genome sequencing data set on the same system using up to 711 GB of memory.
Dry‐Steam Wellhead Discharges from Liquid‐Dominated Geothermal Reservoirs: A Result of Coupled Nonequilibrium Multiphase Fluid and Heat Flow Through Fractured Rock

In many geothermal fields around the world, it is observed that (1) the vertical distribution of fluid pressure in the undisturbed reservoir is approximately liquid-hydrostatic (7-9 kPa per meter of depth), but that (2) when a well is drilled into the reservoir and fluid is withdrawn, the enthalpy (or steam fraction) of the stable fluid discharge is often anomalously high-sometimes the well discharges steam alone. As will be seen, this apparent paradox cannot be explained unless the reservoir is highly heterogeneous on a local scale, with a sharp permeability contrast between the relatively impermeable matrix rock and the fracture zones that penetrate it and provide channels for fluid flow. Also, anomalous wellhead discharge enthalpies will not be observed unless two-phase flow of a water/steam mixture is taking place deep within the reservoir itself. Finally, it is noteworthy that this socalled excess enthalpy effect is inherently transient in character and discharge enthalpies will eventually decline, although several years may pass before the deterioration in system performance becomes noticeable. Examples of these phenomena as observed in two geothermal fields in Japan are presented.
On the structure of behavioral self-regulation.

Publisher Summary It is believed that behavior is goal directed and feedback controlled, and that the goals underlying behavior form a hierarchy of abstractness. In thinking about the structure of self-regulation, one draws on ideas from disparate sources. The focus on goals that translate into behavior is very much in line with a growing reemergence of goal constructs. A variety of labels are used in this chapter: for example, current concern, personal strivings, life task, and personal project. In all these theories, there is room for individualization; that is, a life task can be achieved in many ways. People choose paths that are compatible with other aspects of their life situations and other aspects of their personalities. Two goal constructs that differ somewhat from those named thus far are the possible self and the self-guide. These constructs are intended to bring a dynamic quality to conceptualization of the self-concept. In contrast to traditional views, but consistent with other goal frameworks, possible selves are future oriented. They concern how people think of their unrealized potential, the kind of person they might become. Self-guides similarly reflect dynamic aspects of the self-concept.
Cross-sectional Analysis of Whole Body Vibration Exposures and Health Status among Long-haul Truck Drivers

Exposure to whole body vibration (WBV) is known to be associated with various adverse health outcomes among professional truck drivers. As a part of a randomized controlled trial, this study evalua...
The STAMPEDE trial: paradigm-changing data through innovative trial design

Despite the numerous regulatory approvals for prostate cancer, metastatic prostate cancer remains a huge burden for men worldwide. In an exciting development, James et al. recently published data from the Systemic Therapy in Advanced or Metastatic Prostate Cancer: Evaluation of Drug Efficacy: a multi-stage multi-arm randomised control trial (STAMPEDE). This is an innovative multi-arm multi-stage (MAMS) trial that has utilized one control arm and several comparator arms in order to provide evidence for the inclusion of therapies beyond standard androgen deprivation alone. The patient population included: (I) men with high-risk, non-metastatic, node-negative disease; (II) men with distant-metastatic or node-positive disease; and (III) men with previously-treated prostate cancer by prostatectomy or definitive radiotherapy presenting with relapse. Men were to continue androgen deprivation for at least 2 years. The current data published by this group supports earlier results and provides additional evidence that docetaxel utilized in an up-front fashion provides a survival benefit in men with hormone-sensitive metastatic prostate cancer. Moreover, the initial results from STAMPEDE show how therapies without a demonstrated survival benefit can be efficiently excluded from further study once the likelihood of a benefit is ruled out by a predetermined analysis. In this piece, we will review the STAMPEDE data, contrast it with existing results, and provide our perspectives on how this will affect future trial conduct in the field of prostate cancer.
Expanding Clinical Laboratory Tobacco Product Evaluation Methods to Loose-Leaf Tobacco Vaporizers

Abstract Background Novel tobacco products entering the US market include electronic cigarettes (ECIGs) and products advertised to “heat, not burn” tobacco. There is a growing literature regarding the acute effects of ECIGs. Less is known about “heat, not burn” products. This study’s purpose was to expand existing clinical laboratory methods to examine, in cigarette smokers, the acute effects of a “heat, not burn” “loose-leaf tobacco vaporizer” (LLTV). Methods Plasma nicotine and breath carbon monoxide (CO) concentration and tobacco abstinence symptom severity were measured before and after two 10-puff (30-s interpuff interval) product use bouts separated by 60 min. LLTV effects were compared to participants’ own brand (OB) cigarettes and an ECIG (3.3 V; 1.5 ohm; 18 mg/ml nicotine). Results Relative to OB, LLTV increased plasma nicotine concentration to a lesser degree, did not increase CO, and did not appear to reduce abstinence symptoms as effectively. Relative to ECIG, LLTV nicotine and CO delivery and abstinence symptom suppression did not differ. Participants reported that both the LLTV and ECIG were significantly less satisfying than OB. Conclusions Results demonstrate that LLTVs are capable of delivering nicotine and suppressing tobacco abstinence symptoms partially; acute effects of these products can be evaluated using existing clinical laboratory methods. Results can inform tobacco product regulation and may be predictive of the extent that these products have the potential to benefit or harm overall public health.
Optimized joystick controller

The purpose of the study was to develop an optimized joystick control interface for electric powered wheelchairs and thus provide safe and effective control of electric powered wheelchairs to people with severe physical disabilities. The interface enables clinicians to tune joystick parameters for each individual subject through selecting templates, dead zones, and bias axes. In terms of hand tremor usually associated with people with traumatic brain injury, cerebral palsy, and multiple sclerosis, fuzzy logic rules were applied to suppress erratic hand movements and extract the intended motion from the joystick. Simulation results were presented to show the graphical tuning interface as well as the performance of the fuzzy logic controller.
Measures of Cognitive Distance and Diversity.

I use a model of human causal learning, Causal Support (Tenenbaum & Griffiths, 2001), to derive a meaningful measure of Cognitive Distance – the degree to which two people differ in their opinions about the workings of the world. Next, I amend this measure to quantify the notion of Cognitive Diversity. Cognitive Diversity measures the degree to which opinions vary within a human collective, such as a political party or a research department of a firm or university. Measures of Cognitive Distance and Diversity are important for theoretical and empirical work which aims to link Cognitive Diversity to collective Wisdom – an organization’s success in recognizing structure in the universe of interest – in order to make robust collective decisions in uncertain environments.
The efficacy of Trauma Management Therapy: A controlled pilot investigation of a three-week intensive outpatient program for combat-related PTSD

Abstract Despite the 8–18.5% of returning Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation New Dawn (OND) veterans who are suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), few receive empirically supported treatments. Among those that do, the dropout rate is high and more than 50% retain their diagnosis after treatment. This study evaluated the efficacy of Trauma Management Therapy (TMT), delivered in a 3-week intensive outpatient (IOP) format. TMT combines virtual-reality augmented individual exposure therapy with a group intervention to address social isolation, anger, and depression. One hundred twelve (112) OIF/OEF/OND veterans and active duty personnel participated. Assessment included measures of PTSD, sleep, depression, anger, guilt, and social isolation, administered at post-treatment, 3-month, and 6-month follow-up. The effect size for TMT delivered in an IOP format was 2.06, with 65.9% no longer meeting diagnostic criteria for PTSD. There were similar positive effects in other domains and treatment gains were maintained at 6-month follow-up. The results are discussed regarding the need for efficacious, multi-component interventions that can be delivered safely and rapidly, and the potential of this approach towards that end.
Self-regulatory processes and exercise adherence in older adults: executive function and self-efficacy effects.

Background Self-efficacy and the use of self-regulatory strategies are consistently associated with physical activity behavior. Similarly, behavioral inhibition and cognitive resource allocation—indices of executive control function—have also been associated with this health behavior. Purpose The purpose of this study was to examine the hypothesis that self-efficacy mediates the relationship between self-regulatory processes, such as executive function, and sustained exercise behavior. Methods Older adults (N=177, mean age=66.44 years) completed measures of executive function, self-reported use of self-regulatory strategies, and self-efficacy prior to and during the first month of a 12-month exercise intervention. Percentage of exercise classes attended over the following 11 months was used to represent adherence. Data were collected from 2007 to 2010 and analyzed in 2010–2011. Structural equation models were tested examining the effect of executive function and strategy use on adherence via efficacy. Results As hypothesized, results showed significant direct effects of two elements of executive function and of strategy use on self-efficacy and of efficacy on adherence. In addition, there were significant indirect effects of strategy use and executive function on adherence via self-efficacy. Conclusions Higher levels of executive function and use of self-regulatory strategies at the start of an exercise program enhance beliefs in exercise capabilities, which in turn leads to greater adherence. Trial registration number This study is registered in Clinicaltrials.gov ( NCT 00438347 ).
Impact of Physician Specialty Mix on the Outcomes of Patients Dually Diagnosed With Diabetes and Compensated Cirrhosis.

Liver cirrhosis, an irreversible chronic condition, was the 11th leading cause of death in the U.S. in 2012 (1). Up to 70% of patients with compensated cirrhosis have coexisting diabetes (2). Previous studies found that patients dually diagnosed with diabetes and compensated cirrhosis are often managed by primary care physicians (PCP), although the percentage who also visit specialists such as gastroenterologists (GI) and endocrinologists (ENDO) is increasing (3). Whether the mix of physician specialties visited is associated with major health events among these dually diagnosed patients is unknown. Therefore, this study investigates whether physician mix affects outcomes of patients dually diagnosed with compensated cirrhosis and diabetes. The study was reviewed and approved by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Institutional Review Board. This retrospective study analyzed MarketScan Commercial Claims and Encounters and Medicare Supplemental databases (2000–2013). A total of 18,359 adults (aged ≥18 years) with ICD-9 codes indicating both diabetes and compensated cirrhosis were classified into one of …
Cooperative BSM architecture to improve transportation safety in VANETs

For human-driven as well as autonomous vehicles, one of the key requirements is continuous awareness of the surroundings to detect any potential threats (vehicles, pedestrians, wild-life etc.). This requires continuous cooperation between the vehicles by efficiently sharing safety information in a timely manner. However, this is a multi-dimensional and challenging problem due to the complex nature of the vehicular environment. To solve this problem, this paper proposes an elegant solution to efficiently share the safety information among vehicles by using only Basic Safety Messages (BSM), which are part of the existing V2V standards. Through this research, the vehicles are able to quickly and preemptively identify potential threats, not only in their close proximity, but also those which are further along the roadway by intelligently exchanging safety information between neighboring vehicles. Additionally, for the first time, the proposed architecture presents a practical approach of incorporating the onboard sensor data with the V2V communications. This leads to vehicles having improved visibility and situational awareness further outside of their one-hop coverage. Simulation results show that improved visibility of vehicles up to 2.6 km can be achieved while placing minimum overhead and complexity on the network.
Leibnizian Space-times and Leibnizian Algebras

In what is perhaps his only reference to Berkeley, Leibniz says: The Irishman who denies the reality of bodies seems neither to offer suitable reasons nor to explain his position sufficiently. I suspect that he belongs to the class of men who want to be known for their paradoxes. (Loemker, 1970, p. 609.)
Pancreatic Laceration in a Pediatric Patient: An Unexpected Diagnosis

Pediatric pancreatic injuries are rare. We present an atypical case that occurred in a 4-year-old male. The child presented with a twenty-four-hour history of vomiting that had progressed to right lower quadrant abdominal pain on examination in the emergency department. The initial differential was gastroenteritis versus appendicitis. An abnormality on the ultrasonography and an elevated lipase level eventually led to an MRI showing a complete transection through the posterior margin of the pancreas. The patient was admitted to pediatric surgery and underwent a successful distal pancreatectomy with preservation of the spleen. On further inquiry specific to trauma, the child disclosed that his older brother had punched him in his abdomen the night before. The child's parents were separated due to intimate partner violence, and this older sibling recently had been very stressed. The sibling was referred for mental health evaluation and counseling, and the case reported to the county children and youth investigative services system. A low threshold for considering trauma and child abuse in the pediatric population is recommended when significant intra-abdominal injury is diagnosed.
Deflection of Particle Beams Using Planar Channeling

In 1976 Tsyganovl considered the motion of planar channeled particles in a crystal bent elastically in a direction perpendicular to the particle direction and to the channeling plane. This, he postulated, should introduce a centrifugal force to the particle motion equivalent to lowering one side of the continuum potential well and raising the other. This would cause the equilibrium planar trajectory to move away from the midpoint of the planar channel toward the plane on the convex side of the curved planar channel. Although such a shift would cause some of the channeled particles to become dechanneled, it was suggested that others would follow the curved trajectory through the crystal and that it might be possible in this way to deflect high-energy charged particles through much smaller radii than can be attained through achievable magnetic or electrostatic fields. The curvature at which no particles can remain channeled is reached when the equilibrium point of planar channeled motion is shifted to the position of the planar wall on the outside of the curve.
Adaptive Checkpointing with Dynamic Voltage Scaling in Embedded Real-Time Systems

We present an integrated approach that provides fault tolerance and dynamic power management for a real-time task executing in an embedded system. Fault tolerance is achieved through an adaptive checkpointing scheme that dynamically adjusts the checkpointing interval during task execution. Adaptive checkpointing is then combined with a dynamic voltage scaling scheme to achieve power reduction. Finally, we develop an adaptive checkpointing scheme for a set of multiple tasks in real-time systems. Simulation results show that compared to previous methods, the proposed approach significantly reduces power consumption and increases the likelihood of timely task completion in the presence of faults.
Semi-empirical molecular orbital computations

A number of Wolfsberg-Helmholz (W-H) type calculations for VO(H2O) 5 ++ are reported. The aim of the work is twofold: to test the viability of single Slater type mimics of SCF orbitals, and to remove a number of the more drastic assumptions in the original Ballhausen-Gray (B-G) calculations. It is shown that single Slater type orbitals may be obtained in such a way as to more or less reproduce results of W-H calculations using SCF-functions. It is shown that removal of B-G approximations does not change the relative one-electron MO ordering of the B-G scheme; however, the energy gaps between the levels are changed considerably. The effects of displacing the vanadyl group from the equatorial plane are shown to be important.
Comparative genomics of transport proteins in seven Bacteroides species

The communities of beneficial bacteria that live in our intestines, the gut microbiome, are important for the development and function of the immune system. Bacteroides species make up a significant fraction of the human gut microbiome, and can be probiotic and pathogenic, depending upon various genetic and environmental factors. These can cause disease conditions such as intra-abdominal sepsis, appendicitis, bacteremia, endocarditis, pericarditis, skin infections, brain abscesses and meningitis. In this study, we identify the transport systems and predict their substrates within seven Bacteroides species, all shown to be probiotic; however, four of them (B. thetaiotaomicron, B. vulgatus, B. ovatus, B. fragilis) can be pathogenic (probiotic and pathogenic; PAP), while B. cellulosilyticus, B. salanitronis and B. dorei are believed to play only probiotic roles (only probiotic; OP). The transport system characteristics of the four PAP and three OP strains were identified and tabulated, and results were compared among the seven strains, and with E. coli and Salmonella strains. The Bacteroides strains studied contain similarities and differences in the numbers and types of transport proteins tabulated, but both OP and PAP strains contain similar outer membrane carbohydrate receptors, pore-forming toxins and protein secretion systems, the similarities were noteworthy, but these Bacteroides strains showed striking differences with probiotic and pathogenic enteric bacteria, particularly with respect to their high affinity outer membrane receptors and auxiliary proteins involved in complex carbohydrate utilization. The results reveal striking similarities between the PAP and OP species of Bacteroides, and suggest that OP species may possess currently unrecognized pathogenic potential.
GENDERED ACTIVISM: THE ANTI FRANCOIST STUDENT MOVEMENT IN THE UNIVERSITY OF GRANADA IN THE 1960S AND 1970S

This article focuses on the repression of the student movement in the University of Granada during the state of exception of 1970. It relates the experiences of two students, Socorro and Jesus, a couple who joined the Communist Party of Spain (PCE) and suffered persecution and imprisonment. The Francoist university was governed by the University Regulatory Law (URL, University Regulatory Law) issued in 1943, which was replaced with the promulgation of the General Law of Education in 1970. As I explained in my previous work, the Catholic national rhetoric of the Franco regime forged an ideal "True Catholic Woman" based on the resurgence of the values ​​of purity and subordination of the 16th century counter reform as proposed by Luis Vives in The Instruction of the Christian Woman (1523) and Fray Luis de Leon in The Perfect Wife (1583). This ideal of a woman came to contradict the ideal of an intellectual built on the letter of the Ley de Ordenacion Universitaria (1943). The transition to the consumer economy in the 1950s with the military and economic aid of the United States, as well as the social Catholicism of the Second Vatican Council in the sixties along with the arrival of tourism and emigration to Europe changed the social fabric and opened the doors of the classrooms to an increasing number of women, especially in the humanities careers of Philosophy and Letters. Through the analysis of interviews conducted in the late 1980s with two people who participated in the clandestine student movement, this article explores how young people transgressed the official discourse on the Catholic ideal of women, claimed the university environment for the working class and created a neutral space in terms of gender in which they could achieve their commitment to study, democratic freedom and feminism.
Risk factors for incident central serous retinopathy: case-control analysis of a US national managed care population.

Aim To evaluate clinical comorbidities and steroid use as risk factors for central serous retinopathy (CSR). Methods Using national insurance databases, we conducted a case–control study of beneficiaries with an incident diagnosis of CSR between 2007 and 2015 (n=35 492) and randomly selected controls matched on age-based and sex-based propensity scores (n=1 77 460). Results The mean age (SD) of cases was 49.1 (12.2) years, and the majority (69.2%) were male. Cases were more likely to have received steroids in the past year (OR 1.14, 95% CI 1.09 to 1.19, p Conclusions Male middle-aged patients with recent steroid exposure were significantly more likely to develop CSR. Other risk factors include diabetes mellitus, diabetic macular oedema and age-related macular degeneration. Other previously hypothesised risk factors did not appear to confer increased risk. More research is needed to confirm and examine underlying pathophysiology.
Workflow efficiency pilot study of Surgery Viewer©: A secure hands-free intraoperative multimedia interface for Google Glass™.

Background:The Google Glass™ heads-up-display system has been adopted by the medical field for applications such as image capture, live streaming and decision support.Methods:We designed a custom a...
The Aesthetics of Disability

The foundational faith of disability law is the proposition that we can reduce disability discrimination if we can foster interactions between disabled and nondisabled people. This central faith, which is rooted in contact theory, has encouraged integration of people with and without disabilities, with the expectation that contact will reduce prejudicial attitudes and shift societal norms. However, neither the scholarship nor disability law sufficiently accounts for what this Article calls the “aesthetics of disability,” the proposition that our interaction with disability is mediated by an affective process that inclines us to like, dislike, be attracted to, or be repulsed by others on the basis of their appearance. The aesthetics literature introduces a significant complication to uncritical reliance on contact as the theoretical and remedial basis for our inclusive ideal. Contact and engagement with the aesthetics of disability may fail to provide the benefits assumed by contact theory, but more perversely, under certain conditions, they may trigger negative affective responses that may stunt the very normative change sought through antidiscrimination law. This Article proposes a novel theoretical lens to more accurately reflect the complexity of the aesthetic–affective process of discriminatory behavior in the context of disability.
Dark sector origin of the KOTO and MiniBooNE anomalies

Abstract We present a dark sector model that reproduces the KOTO, MiniBooNE and muon anomalous magnetic moment anomalies. The dark sector is comprised of a light scalar singlet S that has a large coupling to a slightly heavier sterile neutrino that mixes with the active neutrinos. The scalar couples to standard model fermions via Yukawa couplings, and to photons via a higher-dimensional coupling. The KOTO signal is a result of the flavor-changing penguin process K L → π 0 S followed by the decay of S to neutrinos. The sterile neutrino produced in neutrino-nucleus scattering at MiniBooNE decays to an active neutrino and S, which decays electromagnetically and creates an event excess at low energies.
A cross-sectional analysis of electronic cigarette use in US adults by asthma status.

Objective Electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use has been shown to worsen asthma symptoms, but there is little information on current e-cigarette use patterns in the general US adult asthma population. We examined the unadjusted and adjusted estimates of current e-cigarette use in a nationally representative sample of US adults by asthma status and what factors influence this use. Methods We determined the prevalence of current e-cigarette use in adults with and without asthma using the 2016-2018 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System datasets. A multinomial logistic regression model was used to obtain adjusted estimates of e-cigarette use by asthma status while also identifying which sociodemographic and clinical factors are associated with e-cigarette use in adults with asthma. Results Of the 23,071 adults with asthma in the study, 22.5% were currently using e-cigarettes. After adjusting for sociodemographic and clinical factors associated with asthma and current e-cigarette use, adults with asthma had similar odds of every day e-cigarette use (odds ratio (OR): 1.04, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.93-1.15) but higher odds of e-cigarette use on some days (OR: 1.18, 95% CI: 1.10-1.27) compared to adults without asthma. Younger age, male sex, and former or current traditional cigarette use were significantly associated with both e-cigarette use on some days and every day in adults with asthma. Conclusion Current e-cigarette use estimates among US adults with asthma indicate a need for further e-cigarette education and cessation interventions that are specifically tailored to sociodemographic and clinical groups who are especially prone to e-cigarette use within this population.
Freedom in White and Black: A Lost Story of the Illegal Slave Trade and Its Global Legacy: by Emma Christopher, Madison, University of Wisconsin Press, 2018, xii + 310 pp.

Emma Christopher offers a rare, intimate glimpse of the illicit transatlantic slave trade during Britain’s early efforts to suppress that traffic. Freedom in White and Black does this by tracing th...