cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Comparative Analysis of Medical Resources and Health Expenditure between China and Developed Countries

Objective: Compare and analyze the medical resources and health expenditure status in China and developed countries, in order to provide useful reference to the currently deepening our reform work. Methods: Data analysis and literature study are used. Results: Compared with developed countries, the medical resources in China is generally at a low level, but the average number of hospital beds is relatively high; the total health expenditure, health expenditure and health expenditure per capita growth were faster; total health expenditure proportion of GDP is relatively low, and the growth rate is slow; the government health expenditure accounted for the proportion of total health expenses increase rapidly. Conclusion: On the basis of continually increasing health investment China should adjust the structure of medical resources, change the health service model, improve related mechanism, value system and the innovation of science and technology, constantly improve the limited resources and funds performance and maximize the protection of resident health.
Atypical plant–herbivore association of algal food and a kleptoplastic sea slug ( Elysia clarki ) revealed by DNA barcoding and field surveys

The identity of food sources and feeding preferences of specialist herbivores have been commonly inferred from spatial associations between consumer and food items. However, such basic information for well-known marine herbivores, sacoglossans (sea slugs), and their algal diets remains disappointingly lacking, especially from field studies. The sacoglossan, Elysia clarki (Pierce et al. in Molluscan Res 26:23–38, 2006), is kleptoplastic and sequesters chloroplasts from algal food to photosynthesize, so DNA identification of sequestered chloroplasts was employed to verify the algal species fed upon by the slug across its geographic range. The molecular information on the algae consumed by E. clarki was combined with field surveys of slugs and algae in slug habitats in the Florida Keys in July and August of 2008 in order to evaluate whether the diet of this herbivore could be predicted based on its spatial association with algae in the field. A considerable mismatch between food availability and kleptoplast identity was recorded. E. clarki commonly occupied areas devoid of potential food and often contained symbiotic plastids from algal species different from those most frequently found in the surveyed habitats. In three of the four study sites, algal species present were poor predictors of slug diet. These findings suggest that the photosynthetic capability of E. clarki may release the slug from the constraint of requiring proximity to its food sources and may allow for the potential lack of spatial coupling between this herbivore and its algal food. This combination of field surveys and DNA barcoding provided critical and previously unavailable information on herbivore feeding in this marine system.
Earthquake Time Bombs

Robert Yeats. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2015. xv and 346 pp, maps, diagrams, notes, photos, text boxes, tables, bibliography, index. $29.99 cloth (ISBN 978-1-107-08524-4).Author Ro...
Conformational Dynamics of Prion Proteins at the Membrane Interface

Prions are infectious agents responsible for transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), a class of fatal neurodegenerative diseases in many mammals, including humans. The infectious prion protein, PrPSc, propagates by converting the non-pathological conformation of the prion protein, PrPc, into the misfolded PrPSc. It is unclear how infectious PrPSc initially arose, and the mechanism behind the misfolding, conversion, and replication of PrPSc is still widely debated. Since PrPc is found extracellularly and GPI-anchored to the cell membrane, gaining insight on prion-membrane interactions is required to shed light on these uncertainties. In this presentation, we will discuss our results based on biomolecular modeling techniques to identify favorable modes of interaction of the PrPc molecule with model membranes.
The Phases of Quantum Chromodynamics: Lattice fermions and chiral symmetry

Free fermions on the lattice in one and two dimensions Lattice fermions, their symmetries, and their continuum properties are issues central to lattice studies of dense and hot matter. It is a subtle subject because there are fundamental restrictions on the number of fermion species, their handedness, and gauge invariance. To see what the challenges are, we will illustrate lattice forms of the Dirac equation in various settings. First consider the free Klein–Gordon equation and free Dirac equation on a spatial lattice with continuum time variable. In a Hamiltonian lattice-gauge theory, one would have a three-dimensional lattice and a continuum of time. Excitations in the system could hop from site to site given the rules of the Hamiltonian, the discrete version of the spatial derivatives in the energy, etc. Although Hamiltonian lattice-gauge theory is an important subject, our emphasis here continues to be on the Euclidean version of the theory. However, a short look at Hamiltonian methods is very elementary and enlightening. The details of the problems of lattice versions of the Dirac equation are different depending on whether time is treated as a continuum variable or a discrete one. Euclidean lattice fermions will be discussed in detail below after our introduction. Let there be a free boson field φ( x, t ) in 1 + 1 dimensions, namely one discrete spatial axis and one continuum temporal axis.
Domperidone to Treat Symptoms of Gastroparesis: Benefits and Side Effects from a Large Single-Center Cohort

There is increased awareness about risks and benefits of using domperidone to treat gastroparesis. To describe the outcome of treating patients with refractory gastroparesis symptoms with domperidone. Domperidone 10 mg QID or TID was prescribed to patients with refractory gastroparesis symptoms; follow-up obtained at 2–3 months assessing symptoms and side effects. Patients filled out Patient Assessment of Upper GI Symptoms prior to treatment and at follow-up along with Clinical Patient Grading Assessment Scale (CPGAS, +7 = completely better; 0 = no change). Of 125 patients initially prescribed domperidone, 7 did not take this medication and 3 were lost to follow-up. Of the 115 known patients treated with domperidone, 88 had idiopathic, 16 diabetic, and 9 postsurgical gastroparesis. Side effects were reported by 44 patients (most common—headache, tachycardia/palpitations, diarrhea); 14 patients stopped treatment. Hundred and one patients were seen at follow-up taking domperidone (2.4 ± 2.7 months, average dose 36 ± 13 mg/day). CPGAS averaged 2.7 ± 2.7 (p < 0.01) with 69 patients reporting symptom improvement and 45 patients at least moderately improved with CPGAS ≥ 4. Improvements were seen in most symptoms, especially postprandial fullness, nausea, vomiting, and stomach fullness. In this large single-center study of patients treated with domperidone, side effects necessitating discontinuing treatment occurred in 12 %. The majority of patients remaining on treatment experienced an improvement in symptoms of gastroparesis, particularly postprandial fullness, nausea, vomiting, and stomach fullness. Thus, domperidone treatment is beneficial for many patients with symptoms of gastroparesis. This study provides needed benefit and risk information concerning treating patients with domperidone. FDA IND Number: 71,089.
Three-Dimensional Graphene Foam Induces Multifunctionality in Epoxy Nanocomposites by Simultaneous Improvement in Mechanical, Thermal, and Electrical Properties.

Three-dimensional (3D) macroporous graphene foam based multifunctional epoxy composites are developed in this study. Facile dip-coating and mold-casting techniques are employed to engineer microstructures with tailorable thermal, mechanical, and electrical properties. These processing techniques allow capillarity-induced equilibrium filling of graphene foam branches, creating epoxy/graphene interfaces with minimal separation. Addition of 2 wt % graphene foam enhances the glass transition temperature of epoxy from 106 to 162 °C, improving the thermal stability of the polymer composite. Graphene foam aids in load-bearing, increasing the ultimate tensile strength by 12% by merely 0.13 wt % graphene foam in an epoxy matrix. Digital image correlation (DIC) analysis revealed that the graphene foam cells restrict and confine the deformation of the polymer matrix, thereby enhancing the load-bearing capability of the composite. Addition of 0.6 wt % graphene foam also enhances the flexural strength of the pure epox...
Emerging trends of tropical dry forests loss in North & Central America during 2001–2013: The role of contextual and underlying drivers

Abstract Historical anthropogenic pressures on tropical dry forests (TDF) have led to the loss of more than 50% of its potential coverage worldwide. However, information on the temporal and spatial dynamics of TDF deforestation or disturbance is scarce. In this study, we present a national and sub-national level assessment of TDF loss patterns in Mexico and Central America at high spatial and temporal resolution using remote sensing and GIS technologies. We used the Global Forest Change (GFC) dataset published by Hansen et al. (2013) which shows detected forest loss at 30-m pixel resolution at interannual rates from 2000 through 2013. We analyzed TDF loss within a peer reviewed moderate resolution map of TDF extent based on 2004 satellite imagery, eliminated potential sources of errors and enforced all polygons to correspond to forest loss only within TDF dominated cover. We analyzed trends in the magnitude of deforestation (total forest loss area) and TDF loss patch size as well as density of forest loss across the region. We also investigated the spatial pattern of increasing or decreasing temporal trends of forest loss by applying a space-time hotspot analysis. For the 2001–2013 period, we identified five areas where TDF loss was high and had the tendency to increase; while widespread low TDF loss with the tendency to decrease was found across most Central America countries and most of the Pacific coast of Mexico. Contextual and underlying causative factors vary, conforming to cultural and socioeconomic differences across the region, with rural migration, small-scale agricultural expansion, agricultural intensification, oil palm expansion and cattle ranching amongst the main causes of TDF conversion.
Qué es un showrunner

In movies, the director is king. In the television series business, the showrunner calls the shots. A showrunner is almost always the head writer and executive producer (EP) of a TV series. Very often, but not always, the showrunner is also the creator of the series. In many cases, a TV network will buy a series "pitch" or a completed pilot scripts that's already been written speculatively (on "spec") by a screenwriter who has little or no producing experience. In such cases, the studio and network will work together to assign an experienced showrunner to supervise all the writing on the series, and this Executive Producer will also be the last and final word on all production decisions, including casting, locations, art direction, the hiring of the directors for each episode, and all final cuts in postproduction for the series. Not all EPs are showrunners, but all showrunners are credited as EPs.
Preferential Memory Design for MBC Frameworks

Since memory is primarily used for computation in a memory based reconfigurable framework, memory access is dominated by read rather than write, which occurs only during the process of application mapping. For a given technology, optimizing a memory cell for both read and write pose contradictory requirements (Mukhopadhyay et al., IEEE Trans Comput Aided Des Integrated Circ Syst 24(12), 2005). However, exploiting the read-dominated memory access pattern in reconfigurable frameworks, it is possible to come up with a novel memory cell design which offers better read power and performance at the cost of increased write power and performance. Dense memory arrays with such a memory cell would therefore offer better energy efficiency. Details of these circuit-level optimizations corresponding to CMOS based SRAM technology and emerging STTRAM technology are provided in this chapter. This chapter also presents circuit techniques which skew the memory cells be more energy-efficient when storing logic “0” rather than logic “1”. Application mapping heuristics are presented which can leverage this asymmetric memory behavior for further improving the energy-efficiency of the applications mapped to the MBC framework.
Refractive index of polycrystalline submicrometer polymer thin films: Thickness dependence

Dielectric films used in insulating applications are becoming consistently thinner, hence the thickness of thin and ultathin films is an important design parameter. There exists a need for characterizing and understanding the thickness dependence of properties of films. The refractive index for low dielectric polytetrafluoroethylene crystalline submicrometer thin films is investigated by using an optical spectrometer coupled with a hot stage to monitor their thickness-dependent behavior. It is demonstrated that the refractive index has a strong dependence on film thickness, which can be related to the microstructure and morphology of the film as characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy.
The Merits of Ownership; or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Intellectual Property Law

This review essay of Lawrence Lessig's The Future of Ideas and Siva Vaidhyanathan's Copyrights and Copywrongs highlights the common themes in the two books and demonstrates how they represent together a current critique of copyright law in specific and intellectual property more broadly. The author summarizes the principal arguments in the books, situates them in post-Cold War politics, and suggests that both books ignore the important questions of distributive justice raised by intellectual property. After laying out his general critique of the two books, the author turns to a point by point analysis of Professor Lessig's reform proposals.
Real-Time Pricing and Demand Side Participation in Restructured Electricity Markets

This chapter presents the results of an econometric analysis of the customer-level demand for electricity of large and medium-sized industrial and commercial customers purchasing electricity under half-hourly spot prices and demand charges coincident with system peak in the England and Wales (E&W) electricity market. These customer-level demand estimates can be used to forecast customer-level price responsiveness, and design alternative time-of-use and fixed retail pricing options. In particular, we focus on how customers respond to real-time prices and how this response can be used in designing demand side bids. First, we present some background on the E&W electricity market and describe the pool-price contract under which customers purchase electricity according to the half-hourly spot price of electricity.
Modifying Risks in Ventral Hernia Patients With Prehabilitation: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Objective The aim of this study was to determine whether preoperative nutritional counseling and exercise (prehabilitation) in obese patients with ventral hernia repair (VHR) results in more hernia-free and complication-free patients. Background Obesity and poor fitness are associated with complications following VHR. These issues are prevalent in low socioeconomic status patients. Methods This was a blinded, randomized controlled trial at a safety-net academic institution. Obese patients (BMI 30 to 40) seeking VHR were randomized to prehabilitation versus standard counseling. VHR was performed once preoperative requirements were met: 7% total body weight loss or 6 months of counseling and no weight gain. Primary outcome was the proportion of hernia-free and complication-free patients. Secondary outcomes were wound complications at 1 month postoperative and weight loss measures. Univariate analysis was performed. Results Among 118 randomized patients, prehabilitation was associated with a higher percentage of patients who lost weight and achieved weight loss goals; however, prehabilitation was also associated with a higher dropout rate and need for emergent repair. VHR was performed in 44 prehabilitation and 34 standard counseling patients. There was a trend toward less wound complication in prehabilitation patients (6.8% vs 17.6%, P = 0.167). The prehabilitation group was more likely to be hernia-free and complication-free (69.5% vs 47.5%, P = 0.015). Conclusions It is feasible to implement a prehabilitation program for obese patients at a safety-net hospital. Prehabilitation patients have a higher likelihood of being hernia-free and complication-free postoperatively. Although further trials and long-term outcomes are needed, prehabilitation may benefit obese surgical patients, but there may be increased risks of dropout and emergent repair. Clinical trial registration This trial was registered with clinicaltrials.gov (NCT02365194).
Predictors of feelings of energy differ from predictors of fatigue

Background: Studies examining energy and fatigue as a bipolar mood have focused on a single variable, usually fatigue, when studying these moods.Objective: The purpose of this study was to identify...
Reach-Avoid Games Via Mixed-Integer Second-Order Cone Programming

Reach-avoid games are excellent proxies for studying many problems in robotics and related fields, with applications including multi-robot systems, human-robot interactions, and safety-critical systems. However, solving reach-avoid games is difficult due to the conflicting and asymmetric goals of agents, and trade-offs between optimality, computational complexity, and solution generality are commonly required. This paper seeks to find attacker strategies in reach-avoid games that reduce computational complexity while retaining solution quality by using a receding horizon strategy. To solve for the open-loop strategy fast enough to enable a receding horizon approach, the problem is formulated as a mixed-integer second-order cone program. This formulation leverages the use of sums-of-squares optimization to provide guarantees that the strategy is robust to all possible defender policies. The method is demonstrated through numerical and hardware experiments.
Potassium binding for conservative and preservative management of chronic kidney disease.

Purpose of review Hyperkalemia is a life-threatening complication of chronic kidney disease (CKD). Risk factors include advanced kidney impairment, diabetes, hypertension, heart failure, and consumption of a K-enriched diet. High-K diets provide health benefits to include reductions in blood pressure, stroke risk, and osteoporosis. Individuals at the highest risk for developing hyperkalemia are those who would benefit most from high K diets. Inhibitors of the renin--angiotensin--aldosterone system (RAASi) are effective in reducing cardiovascular events and slowing the progression of CKD, yet hyperkalemia is a risk factor. Discussed are new strategies facilitating use of both high-K diets and pharmacology to preserve kidney function and reduce cardiovascular events. Recent findings Sodium zirconium cyclosilicate and patiromer are new K-binding drugs approved for the treatment of hyperkalemia. Both are efficacious in the short-term and long-term treatment of hyperkalemia. These binders are effective in treating hyperkalemia while facilitating RAASi therapy. Summary Hyperkalemia is a life-threatening condition. New K-binding drugs allow for optimal use of pharmacological therapy, such as RAASi, enhancing their cardiorenal protection. Health benefits from consumption of high K foods may also be enhanced by use of these binders. In conclusion, there are new well tolerated and effective K-binding agents for acutely and chronically managing hyperkalemia.
Lactobacillus Endocarditis-Associated Glomerulonephritis Complicated by anti-Coagulant Nephropathy and Renal Amyloidosis.

Kidney injury is a well-known sequelae of infectious endocarditis. Various types of kidney injury can be seen, including endocarditis-associated glomerulonephritis, and may affect nearly half of the patients with infectious endocarditis. Lactobacillus species are an infrequently documented cause of endocarditis. We present a case of Lactobacillus endocarditis-associated glomerulonephritis in a patient with a complex medical history including Lactobacillus infection of an artificial heart valve. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of development of endocarditis-associated glomerulonephritis secondary to Lactobacillus species organisms. Furthermore, the patient’s renal biopsy revealed several frequently overlooked concomitant findings including anti-coagulant nephropathy and renal amyloidosis.
Queer Latina/o(x) Youth Education: A Community-Based Education Model to Queer of Color Praxis

This article focuses on the author’s collaborative work with the Promotoras Comunitarias of Planned Parenthood Los Angeles who teach the Familias Diversas workshop series. Taught in Spanish, the pr...
Association of Allergic Rhinitis With Change in Nasal Congestion in New Continuous Positive Airway Pressure Users.

Importance Nasal congestion occurring after continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment initiation impairs CPAP adherence. Allergic rhinitis is associated with worsening nasal congestion in patients who are exposed to nonallergic triggers. Use of CPAP presents potential nonallergic triggers (eg, humidity, temperature, pressure, and airflow). Objective To compare nasal congestion among CPAP users with allergic rhinitis, nonallergic rhinitis, and no rhinitis. We hypothesize that CPAP patients with baseline allergic rhinitis are more likely to experience a worsening of nasal congestion (or less improvement in nasal congestion) compared with patients with no baseline rhinitis. Design, setting, and participants This prospective cohort study included consecutive patients newly diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea in a tertiary sleep center who were using CPAP therapy 3 months after diagnosis. Baseline rhinitis status was assigned as allergic rhinitis, nonallergic rhinitis, or no rhinitis, based on questionnaire responses and past allergy testing. Data were collected from 2004 to 2008 and analyzed from July 2019 to February 2020. Main outcomes and measures At baseline before CPAP exposure and again 3 months later, subjective nasal congestion was measured with the Nasal Obstruction Symptom Evaluation (NOSE) scale and a visual analog scale (VAS), each scored from 0 to 100 (100 = worst congestion). Changes in nasal congestion were tested over 3 months for the whole cohort, within each rhinitis subgroup (paired t test), and between rhinitis subgroups (multivariate linear regression). Results The study cohort comprised 102 participants, of whom 61 (60%) were male and the mean (SD) age was 50 (13). The study included 23 (22.5%) participants with allergic rhinitis, 67 (65.7%) with nonallergic rhinitis, and 12 (11.8%) with no rhinitis. Nasal congestion improved from baseline to 3 months in the whole cohort (mean [SD] NOSE score, 38 [26] to 27 [23], mean [SD] change, -10 [23]; 95% CI, -15 to -6; mean [SD] VAS score, 41 [27] to 32 [28]; mean [SD] change, -10 [26]; 95% CI, [-15 to -4]) and in each rhinitis subgroup. Adjusted improvement in nasal congestion at 3 months was significantly less in the allergic rhinitis subgroup compared with the no rhinitis subgroup (positive difference means less improvement) compared with baseline: NOSE score 14 (95% CI, 1 to 28) and VAS score 15 (95% CI, 0 to 30). Conclusions and relevance Initiation of CPAP was associated with improved subjective nasal congestion, but less improvement in patients with baseline allergic rhinitis. Baseline allergic rhinitis may predict which patients are more vulnerable to potential congestive effects of CPAP.
Nucleation and Growth in Electrochemically Deposited Metals

Electrochemical deposition of metals, such as Li, Na, K, Zn, Mg and alike, are very important for energy storage and rechargeable battery applications. Yet, the fundamental understanding of the deposition process of these metals is surprisingly overlooked and lacking. It is often observed that the deposit's morphology, microstructure, and the associated properties are often controlled by the kinetic processes that govern the evolution of these properties with time. However, the mechanism and mechanistic processes involved are difficult to characterize to yield quantitative and sufficiently detailed temporal information to help us understand the underlying principles that govern the phase lattice structural and morphological changes. Here, we applied reactive molecular dynamics (r-MD) simulation to model the nucleation and growth processes of Li metal deposition in typical electrochemical cells. Cryo-EM was used to characterize the microstructure, morphology and relevant properties of the Li metal deposits obtained from a range of current density and duration. Both cryo-TEM and r-MD results suggest that the Li deposits are likely amorphous in the initial deposition and such amorphous phase was retained more easily at lower current density such as 0.1 mA cm-2 than those at 1 mA cm-2. The r-MD simulation explained the cause of such amorphous phase retention is due to the significantly longer phase transition time associated with the transition from the disordered amorphous phase to the ordered crystalline phase of body-centered cubic (bcc) lattice structure. Such a long incubation could be easily understood, but hardly emphasized in the literature. Therefore, this critical aspect was often overlooked in the discussion of the experimental results, where kinetic effects are dominating the processes in the observations. We registered similar observations in other electrochemical metal depositions, and this thermal-activation-inhibited incubation process is being observed in all experimental conditions disregarding which elemental metal and lattice structure involved. The implication of this fundamental understanding will be discussed in this presentation.
Graph Problems: Polynomial-Time

Algorithmic graph problems constitute approximately one third of the problems in this catalog. Problems from other sections could have been formulated equally well in terms of graphs, such as bandwidth minimization and finite-state automata optimization. Identifying the name of a graph-theoretic invariant or problem is one of the primary skills of a good algorist. Indeed, the catalog will tell you exactly how to proceed as soon as you figure out your particular problem’s name.
Does greater morning sickness predict carrying a girl? Analysis of nausea and vomiting during pregnancy from retrospective report.

The prevalence of severe nausea and vomiting during pregnancy (NVP) requiring hospitalization has been associated with female fetal sex. However, the question of whether fetal sex and less severe forms of NVP share that association has not been investigated. The objective of this study was to evaluate the relationship between fetal sex and the frequency of NVP. We collected self-reported data from mothers via an international web-based survey on the Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) platform about pregnancy and first trimester NVP history. We considered the covariables of maternal age, parity status, proneness to nausea, geographic cohort, and preconceived notions of a relationship between fetal sex and NVP. Two-thousand five hundred and forty-three mothers met the inclusion criteria, yielding data from 4320 pregnancies. Women gestating a female fetus reported higher frequencies of NVP (M = 6.35 on a 1–9 scale) than did women gestating males (M = 6.04, p = .007). This effect held true when all other variables were included in the regression. General proneness to nausea, maternal age, and parity were also significant independent predictors of NVP. Women that carried a female fetus, as opposed to a male fetus, reported significantly higher frequency of NVP during the first trimester of pregnancy. Further research should evaluate both the proximate and ultimate causes of this relationship.
Remote Pair Programming in Virtual Reality

There are many benefits to pair programming, including increased knowledge transfer, higher quality code, increased code comprehension, and team bonding. Unfortunately, when programmers work remotely, it becomes more challenging to collaborate. Virtual Reality (VR) technology has become increasingly popular in domains outside of software engineering. It allows humans to experience increased social presence, a key for collaboration, while still working remotely. In the last few years, and even more so recently, remote work has become very common for software engineers. In this paper, we explore remote pair programming and code comprehension in virtual reality. We conducted remote pair programming experiments with a total of 40 professional programmers. Half of the participants pair programmed using VR as a tool and the other half used a screen sharing system to collaborate. We found that programmers solved almost twice as many bugs using VR. We also found that the time taken to solve bugs was, on average, reduced when working in the VR environment than using the state of the art
Update on human exposure to glyphosate, with a complete review of exposure in children.

Glyphosate, a commonly used pesticide, has been the topic of much debate. The effects of exposure to glyphosate remains a contentious topic. This paper provides an update to the existing literature regarding levels of glyphosate exposure in occupationally exposed individuals and focuses or reviewing all the available published literature regarding glyphosate exposure levels in children. A literature review was conducted and any articles reporting quantifiable exposure levels in humans published since January 2019 (the last published review on glyphosate exposure) were reviewed and data extracted and standardized. A total of five new studies reporting exposure levels in humans were found including 578 subjects. Two of these studies focused on occupationally exposed individuals while three of them focused on glyphosate exposure levels in children. Given the sparse nature of the new data, previously identified studies on exposure to glyphosate in children were included in our analysis of children’s exposure. The lowest average level of glyphosate exposure reported was 0.28 μg/L and the highest average exposure levels reported was 4.04 μg/L. The literature on glyphosate exposure levels, especially in children, remains limited. Without more data collected in a standardized way, parsing out the potential relationship between glyphosate exposure and disease will not be possible.
The Military and Us: Toward a New Approach to the Study of the Military and Culture

The first chapter by Mattia Roveri, the editor of the volume, provides an overview of the project that also aims to set the following contributions in a broader context. With the aim to launch a much-needed conversation on the role and reflections of the military in Italian culture, this chapter offers a thematically structured discussion, first, on the historical development of the institution, and secondly, on different approaches to the military. All these are used to prepare the stage for the particular insights and approach that set this volume apart from many other works on the military, in Italy and elsewhere. In particular, this chapter explores the ways in which paying closer attention to the role of the military in civilian artworks (literature, music, fine arts, fashion, etc.) may offer us better insights not only of the military structures and experiences but also of the meaning of the military institution for our lives, in war and peacetime.
Beyond Notice and Choice: Privacy, Norms, and Consent

Informational privacy is the ability to determine for yourself when and how others may collect and use your information. Adequate informational privacy requires a sufficiently broad ability to give or withhold free and informed consent to proposed uses. Notice and Choice (sometimes also called “notice and consent”) is the current paradigm for consent online. The Notice is a presentation of terms, typically in a privacy policy or terms of use agreement. The Choice is an action signifying acceptance of the terms, typically clicking on an “I agree” button, or simply using the website. Recent reports by the Federal Trade Commission explicitly endorse the Notice and Choice approach (and provide guidelines for its implementation). When the Notice contains information about data collection and use, the argument for Notice and Choice rests on two claims. First: a fully adequate implementation of the paradigm would ensure that website visitors can give free and informed consent to data collection and use practices. Second: the combined effect of all the individual decisions is an acceptable overall tradeoff between privacy and the benefits of collecting and using consumers’ data. There are (we contend) decisive critiques of both claims. So why do policy makers and privacy advocates continue to endorse Notice and Choice? Most likely, they see no need to seek an alternative. We find the critique of Notice and Choice conclusive, but our assessment is far from widely shared—and understandably so. Criticisms of Notice and Choice are scattered over several articles and books. No one has unified them and answered the obvious counterarguments. We do so. Making the critique plain, however, is not enough to ensure that policy makers turn to a viable alternative. The critiques are entirely negative; they do not offer any alternative to Notice and Choice. We offer an alternative: informational norms. When appropriate informational norms govern online data collection and use, they both ensure that visitors give free and informed consent to those practices, and yield an acceptable overall tradeoff between protecting privacy and the benefits of processing information. A fundamental difficulty is the lack of norms. Rapid advances in information processing technology have fueled new business models, and the rapid development has outpaced the slow evolution of norms. Notice and Choice cannot be pressed into service to remedy this lack. It is necessary to develop new norms. Table of
Category structure guides the formation of neural representations

Perceptual variability is often viewed as having multiple benefits in object learning and categorization. Despite the abundant results demonstrating benefits such as increased transfer of knowledge, the neural mechanisms underlying variability as well as the developmental trajectories of how variability precipitates changes to category boundaries are unknown. By manipulating an individual’s exposure to variability of novel, metrically organized categories during an fMRI-adaptation paradigm, we were able to assess the functional differences between similarity and variability in category learning and generalization across two time-points in development: adulthood (n = 14) and late childhood (n = 13). During this study, participants were repeatedly exposed to category members from different distributions. After a period of adaptation, a deviant stimulus that differed from the expected distribution was then presented. This deviant differed in either an invariant dimension (a feature that remained consistent throughout presentation was altered) or a similarity dimension (a feature that changed throughout exposure was changed in a new dimension). Our results can be summarized in three main findings: (1) Variability during exposure recruited the right fusiform gyrus to a greater extent than tight exposure. (2) Deviant items were generalized based on the exemplar distributions during exposure, although children only generalized items if provided variable exposure. (3) Variability influenced release to a greater extent in children than adults. These results are discussed in relation to the variability and category learning literature more broadly.
Sonic Metaphors: Music, Sound, and Ecofeminist Theology:

This article explores the relationship between music and ecofeminist theology and investigates how music and sound can advance the development of ecofeminist thought. On a physical level, the act o...
Enhancing End-User Roles in Information Security: Exploring the Setting, Situation, and Identity

Abstract Managing employee behaviors is a continuous quest for management. The quest is even more intense in the information security space, where a seemingly unintentional activity could have a consequential effect on an organization's security. The information security literature has used many theoretical approaches to explain how to regulate employee security behaviors, including protection motivation and deterrence. However, a theoretical approach that has captured the focus in organizational literature for behavioral regulation and yet to be realized in the information security domain is work-related identities. Work-related identity regulation depends on settings and situations in which the individual is embedded. This study draws from the identity theory and information security literature to explore how factors in the information security setting (security threats, security policy, and organizational support) help foment work-related information security identity and security behaviors. Our findings show that these factors significantly increase the user's identification in their roles in information security, and in turn, security behaviors. This research has implications for research and practice.
Computational design of double-layer cathode coatings in all-solid-state batteries

All-solid-state lithium-ion batteries have great potential for improved energy and power density compared to conventional lithium-ion batteries. With extensive research efforts devoted to the development of inorganic superionic conductors, lithium thiophosphates stand out due to their high ionic conductivity and room-temperature processability. However battery rate performance still suffers from increased impedance attributed to the interfacial reactions between thiophosphate electrolyte and oxide electrodes. Stabilizing the interfaces with a protective coating layer has been proposed as a solution to the interfacial problem, but it is rare for a material to simultaneously exhibit fast ionic conductivity and chemical stability at battery interfaces. Here, we propose a double-layer coating design comprising a sulfide-based layer adjacent to the thiophosphate electrolyte accompanied by a layer that is stable against the oxide cathode. Based on a high-throughput thermodynamic stability screen and active learning molecular dynamics simulations, we identify several sulfide + halide couples that potentially outperform the known coating materials in interfacial stability as well as ionic conductivity. Several halides we identify have been recently identified as novel solid electrolyte candidates. We highlight the integration of room-temperature fast ionic conductors Li5B7S13 (137 mS cm−1), Li7Y7Zr9S32 (6.5 mS cm−1), and Li(TiS2)2 (0.0008 mS cm−1) which potentially reduces interfacial reactivity with minor loss of charge transfer rate through the thiophosphate electrolyte.
Polynucleotide Immunization for Cancer Therapy

The limitations of conventional cancer therapy (surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy) combined with a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms regulating the immune system have led to increasing attention focused on the development of immunotherapies for cancer. Active immunotherapy approaches seek to eliminate tumor cells by eliciting immune responses directed against tumor-associated antigens. Gene transfer techniques have expanded the potential opportunities in this area by providing new methods for stimulating the immune response. Among the array of techniques under development for clinical application, nucleic acid or polynucleotide vaccines have emerged as a novel and effective method of inducing tumor antigen-specific immune responses.
Lamentation and Annunciation

AbstractThis paper is a study of a thirteenth-century fresco of the lamentation of the Virgin in the Church of the Virgin Peribleptos (St. Clement's) in Ohrid, Macedonia, which is positioned vertically adjacent to a fresco of the Annunciation at the well. The placement of the scenes — one of conception, the other of death, one of joy, the other of grief — situates the frescos in conversation. Together the images explicitly link Mary's sorrow to her role as mother. The paper compares these iconographic depictions with Gregory of Nyssa's fourth-century ascetic theology of grief, which similarly employs the maternal figure to exemplify sorrow and grieving by linking mourning, virginity, and reproduction. The paper argues that the theology suggested by the iconography is a radical departure from understandings of grief in ascetical writings of figures like Gregory, which remained influential in the thirteenth century even as an alternative understanding and valuation of grief was forming and being disseminate...
Geological modeling of submeter scale heterogeneity and its influence on tracer transport in a fluvial aquifer

[1] We developed a new model of aquifer heterogeneity to analyze data from a single-well injection-withdrawal tracer test conducted at the Macrodispersion Experiment (MADE) site on the Columbus Air Force Base in Mississippi (USA). The physical heterogeneity model is a hybrid that combines 3-D lithofacies to represent submeter scale, highly connected channels within a background matrix based on a correlated multivariate Gaussian hydraulic conductivity field. The modeled aquifer architecture is informed by a variety of field data, including geologic core sampling. Geostatistical properties of this hybrid heterogeneity model are consistent with the statistics of the hydraulic conductivity data set based on extensive borehole flowmeter testing at the MADE site. The representation of detailed, small-scale geologic heterogeneity allows for explicit simulation of local preferential flow and slow advection, processes that explain the complex tracer response from the injection-withdrawal test. Based on the new heterogeneity model, advective-dispersive transport reproduces key characteristics of the observed tracer recovery curve, including a delayed concentration peak and a low-concentration tail. Importantly, our results suggest that intrafacies heterogeneity is responsible for local-scale mass transfer.
Immunodeficiency Diseases and Malignancy

This review of immunodeficiency diseases and malignancy is based primarily on evidence provided by over 200 cases of cancer occurring in patients with diagnosed primary immunodeficiency diseases. The cases were collected by the Immunodeficiency-Cancer Registry, a tumor registry established in 1971 under the aegis of the World Health Organization Committee on Primary Immunodeficiencies (Fudenberg et al., 1971). Compilation of case reports provides evidence that immunodeficiency diseases predispose to malignancy, since mortality rates for cancer in immunodeficiency groups exceed by 100 times the expected rates for the general population (Kersey et al., 1974). An intimate association between an abnormal immune system and subsequent development of malignancy also exists among renal transplant recipients on immunosuppressive regimens, who have developed lymphomas at significantly higher rates than expected for an age-and sex-matched population during a comparable period (Penn, 1975; Hoover and Fraumeni, 1973). Another condition, the actual presence of a malignancy, demonstrates the effect of cancer on the immune system in persons with Hodgkin’s disease, chronic lymphatic leukemia, and multiple myeloma (Schier, 1954; Kelly et al., 1958; Southam, 1961; Cone and Uhr, 1964; Dent et al., 1968).
Loop-Erased Random Walk

Loop-erased random walk (LERW) is a process obtained from erasing loops from simple random walk. This paper reviews some of the results and conjectures about LERW. In particular, we discuss the critical exponents for LERW, Wilson’s algorithm for generating uniform spanning trees with LERW, and the role of conformal invariance in studying LERW in two dimensions.
Design and self-assembly of two-dimensional DNA crystals

Molecular self-assembly presents a `bottom-up' approach to the fabrication of objects specified with nanometre precision. DNA molecular structures and intermolecular interactions are particularly amenable to the design and synthesis of complex molecular objects. We report the design and observation of two-dimensional crystalline forms of DNA that self-assemble from synthetic DNA double-crossover molecules. Intermolecular interactions between the structural units are programmed by the design of `sticky ends' that associate according to Watson-Crick complementarity, enabling us to create specific periodic patterns on the nanometre scale. The patterned crystals have been visualized by atomic force microscopy.
Quantum versus evolutionary systems: total versus sampled search

This paper introduces a quantum computing algorithm called "QNN" (Quantum Neural Networks) which measures quantum mechanically and simultaneously the fitness values of all 2N possible chromosomes of N bits used to specify the structure of the networks. Previous attempts to apply quantum computing algorithms to evolutionary systems (e.g [1-4]) applied classical computing evolutionary algorithms to the choice and sequence of quantum operators, which is a hybrid approach (i.e. the EAs were classical, and the applications were quantum mechanical). Our QNN algorithm, on the other hand, is fully quantum mechanical, in the sense that the fitnesses are calculated quantum mechanically as well, thus allowing the fitness values of all possible 2N chromosomes to be measured simultaneously. Evolutionary algorithms (EAs) are a form of sampled search in a huge search space (of 2N points). If N is large, then 2N is astronomically large and computationally intractable. The QNN algorithm thus undermines the implicit basic assumption applicable to the field of evolutionary systems (ES), namely that one must employ a sampled search approach (i.e. an evolutionary algorithm (EA)) to explore the huge search space. The QNN algorithm is a form of what is called in this paper a "total search" algorithm. The whole space is searched and is done simultaneously, which makes the adjective "evolutionary" in the term "evolutionary systems" redundant. One can speculate that as the number of qubits implemented in real systems increases (currently the state of the art is 7 [5]), then it is likely that the current emphasis on evolutionary approaches to optimization problems and complex system building, will fade away and be replaced by the "total search" approach allowed by quantum computational methods.
Essentials of Creativity Assessment

Acknowledgments. Series Preface. One. Introduction to Creativity. Two. Divergent Thinking Tests. Three. The Consensual Assessment Technique. Four. Assessment by Others: Teacher, Peer, and Parent Measures. Five. Self Assessment. Six. Creativity, Intelligence, and Giftedness. Seven. Moving Forward. References. Annotated Bibliography. Index. About the Authors.
MSSM from AdS/CFT

Abstract We develop a robust version of the MSSM from a Z 12 orbifolded AdS/CFT, with natural low scale unification and briefly discuss cosmology in this testable model.