cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Love Thy Neighbor? Moral Communities, Civic Engagement, and Juvenile Homicide in Rural Areas

While juvenile homicide garnered a tremendous amount of attention from the general public, the media, and policymakers around 1990, macro-level research examining intercommunity variations in juvenile homicide is generally sparse. In addition, most studies addressing this topic focus on urban areas, neglecting the equally important issue of juvenile homicide in rural communities. This analysis extends prior research by investigating the structural sources of variation in rural juvenile homicide rates and by examining the influence of religion on this phenomenon. Informing our analyses with theoretical insights drawn from the moral communities and civil society literatures, we investigate the protective effects of civically engaged religious denominations on juvenile family, acquaintance, and stranger homicides in rural counties. For comparative purposes, we also perform parallel analyses on a sample of urban areas. The empirical analyses of county-level data using negative binomial regression estimation techniques indicate that the presence of civically engaged religious adherents is inversely associated with juvenile homicide in rural areas (net of the effects of a range of control variables), but that this protective effect is primarily confined to juvenile family homicides. In contrast, the measure of civically engaged denominations has no effect on juvenile homicide in urban areas. We conclude with a discussion of the theoretical importance of these findings and directions for future research.
Genetic Improvement of Symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation in Legumes

N2 fixation by the Rhizobium-legume symbiosis is influenced by the genotype of both the bacterium and the plant. This review assesses genetic variation in N2 fixation associated with R. meliloti and alfalfa (Medicago sativa), indicates the limitations to improving Rhizobium, and suggests that genetic traits in the host legume can be used to control Rhizobiumsymbionts. The conclusion is that our present inability to manage indigenous soil rhizobia temporarily argues against producing Rhizobium strains with superior N2 fixation and supports the concept of breeding legumes. One particularly effective method may be to develop legumes that increase N2 fixation in diverse Rhizobium strains.
Phase Characterization and Morphology Control of Electrospun Nanofibers of Pani/Pmma Blends

Electrospinning derived from electro spraying is a process by which sub-micron polymer fibers can be produced using an electrostatically driven jet of polymer solution. The fibers are collected as non-woven mat and offer a high surface to volume ratio. Polyaniline is an organic conducting polymer and can be used to fabricate conducting nano fibers by blending with suitable polymers like poly methyl methacrylate. In this present work we have explored the effects of electrospinning parameters on the formation of PANI/PMMA fibers and the phase morphology of the electrospun fibers using advanced electron microscopy and scanning probe microscopy techniques.
Estimating Incoherent Noise in Post-stack Seismic Data

Summary Seismic data reliability is a major concern of seismic interpreters due to the high cost of drilling. Estimates of incoherent noise can help determine the reliability of seismic data. Although numerous techniques to reduce seismic noise have been published, few publications show noise estimation techniques. We propose a new filter to estimate incoherent noise in three dimensional (3D) post-stack seismic data. The resultant noise estimate can be used to assess data quality for seismic interpretation and the spatial distribution of noise. It may also be useful to identify fracture zones, gas chimneys and the original survey boundaries of merged datasets. Compared to Dash and Obaidullah’s (1970) tracecorrelation method, the proposed filter executes six times faster and is not as heavily biased by the existence of faults and unconformities; therefore resulting in more accurate noise estimations.
The effects of body mass index on curative radiation therapy in cervical carcinoma: An analysis of complications and survival

e16520 Background: Recently, the rates of obese and overweight patients have increased dramatically. However, the effect of body mass index (BMI) have not been evaluated in treatment outcomes for patients with advanced stage cervical cancer receiving definitive chemotherapy and radiation therapy, and is the purpose of this study. Methods: After obtaining approval from the Washington University Human Studies Protection Office, a retrospective cohort study (n = 321) was performed on all cervical cancer patients with stage IB1 with positive lymph nodes or ≥ stage IB2 from January 1998 to January 2008. The median duration of follow up was 60 months. BMI was calculated using the National Institute of Health online BMI calculator. Main outcomes were overall survival, disease free survival, and radiation complications such as radiation enteritis/cystitis, bowel obstruction, and fistula formation. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed, and Kaplan-Meier curves were generated. Results: Underweight pat...
Unsupervised Document Classification with Informed Topic Models

Document classification is an important and common application in natural language processing. Scaling classification approaches to many targets faces a bottleneck in acquiring gold standard labels. In this work, we develop and evaluate a method for using informed topic models to noisily label documents, creating a noisy but usable set of labels for training discriminative classifiers. We investigate multiple ways to train this noisy classifier, and the best performing method uses Wikipedia-seeded topic models to approximately label training instances without any supervision. We evaluate these methods on the classification task as well as in an active learning setting, in which they are shown to improve learning rates over traditional active learning.
Systemic administration of cell-free exosomes generated by human bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells cultured under 2D and 3D conditions improves functional recovery in rats after traumatic brain injury.

Abstract Multipotent human bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) improve functional outcome after experimental traumatic brain injury (TBI). The present study was designed to investigate whether systemic administration of cell-free exosomes generated from hMSCs cultured in 2-dimensional (2D) conventional conditions or in 3-dimensional (3D) collagen scaffolds promote functional recovery and neurovascular remodeling in rats after TBI. Wistar rats were subjected to TBI induced by controlled cortical impact; 24 h later tail vein injection of exosomes derived from hMSCs cultured under 2D or 3D conditions or an equal number of liposomes as a treatment control were performed. The modified Morris water maze, neurological severity score and footfault tests were employed to evaluate cognitive and sensorimotor functional recovery. Animals were sacrificed at 35 days after TBI. Histological and immunohistochemical analyses were performed for measurements of lesion volume, neurovascular remodeling (angiogenesis and neurogenesis), and neuroinflammation. Compared with liposome-treated control, exosome-treatments did not reduce lesion size but significantly improved spatial learning at 33–35 days measured by the Morris water maze test, and sensorimotor functional recovery, i.e., reduced neurological deficits and footfault frequency, observed at 14–35 days post injury (p
Trellis coding for full-response CPM

The GSM standard for digital cellular employs Gaussian Minimum- Shift-Keying (GMSK) as a modulation format. A method for encoding the data sequence of full-response GMSK modulator is described and analyzed. This method is also general to any full-response Continuous Phase Modulation. It uses a nonlinear precoder to encode the data stream in such a way that symbol-by-symbol detection can be used to receive the data. We also extend the precoding concept so that memoryless detection can be used for any CPM modulation. The equivalent memoryless channel then permits concatenation of standard trellis codes.
Improved islanded operation of a diesel generator — PV microgrid with advanced inverter

Microgrids are characterized as weak systems with poor power quality due to significant variations in frequency and/or voltage that can occur during sudden changes in load demand. This problem is exacerbated in cases where one of the power sources is tied to the microgrid through a grid-interactive inverter which is designed to trip when deviations in frequency and voltage exceed well-defined thresholds that are specified by interconnection standards. Numerous solutions with variable complexity are proposed in the literature, including the integration of battery storage systems. This paper presents a simple alternative method that does not require any hardware nor software for solving the inverter tripping problem. Field experiments show that using an advanced inverter with controllable voltage and frequency ride-through capability eliminates the inverter disconnection under any condition, thus improving system performance and reliability.
Endozoicomonas Dominates the Gill and Intestinal Content Microbiomes of Mytilus edulis from Barnegat Bay, New Jersey

Blue mussels Mytilus edulis (Linnaeus, 1758) from southern Barnegat Bay, NJ, were examined to determine the make-up of the normal blue mussel microbiome. Sequencing of 16S ribosomal DNA amplicons from gill and intestinal content microbiomes using the Illumina MiSeq platform yielded 1,276,161 paired-end sequence reads from the gill libraries and 1,092,333 paired-end sequence reads from the intestinal content libraries. General bioinformatic analyses were conducted with the opensource packages Qiime and Mothur. Phylotype assignments to the genus level were made using the commercial One Codex platform. This resulted in 1,697,852 gill and 988,436 intestinal content sequences being classified to genus. A majority of these (67.6% and 37.2%, respectively) were assigned to a single operational taxonomic unit (M. edulis Symbiont, MeS) that has homologies with other recently described Endozoicomonas pathogens and symbionts of marine invertebrates. This newly discovered symbiont shares 98% identity with an uncultured bacterium from the gill tissue of an invasive Indo-Pacific oyster and with HQE1 and HQE2 isolated from the sea squirt Styela clava. Other than MeS, most of the detected bacterial species are known from marine sediments and seawater.
Vein Patch Closure Using Below the Knee Greater Saphenous Vein for Femoral Endarterectomy Procedures is Not Always a Safe Choice

Background The complication of vein patch rupture is well described after carotid patch angioplasty; however, there is a paucity of data about the safety of vein patch closure in the setting of femoral endarterectomy. Methods/results From May 2012 to May 2015, 115 femoral endarterectomies with patch closure were performed. A patch rupture occurred in three cases (2.6%) with a mortality rate of 66% (2/3). In all cases the greater saphenous vein below the knee was used as patch material. Discussion/conclusion Vein patches, particularly from small calibre veins, should be excluded in femoral endarterectomy procedures as they pose a substantial risk of rupture.
A Reproducibility-Based Computational Framework Identifies an Inducible, Enhanced Antiviral State in Dendritic Cells from HIV-1 Elite Controllers

Human immunity relies on the coordinated responses of many cellular subsets and functional states. Inter-individual variations in cellular composition and communication could thus potentially alter host protection. Here, we explore this hypothesis by applying single-cell RNA-sequencing to examine viral responses among the dendritic cells (DCs) of three elite controllers (ECs) of HIV-1 infection. To overcome the potentially confounding effects of donor-to-donor variability, we present a generally applicable computational framework for identifying reproducible patterns in gene expression across donors who share a unifying classification. Applying it, we discover a highly functional antiviral DC state in ECs whose fractional abundance after in vitro exposure to HIV-1 correlates with higher CD4+ T cell counts and lower HIV-1 viral loads, and that effectively primes polyfunctional T cell responses in vitro. By integrating information from existing genomic databases into our reproducibility-based analysis, we identify and validate select immunomodulators that increase the fractional abundance of this state in primary peripheral blood mononuclear cells from healthy individuals in vitro. Overall, our results demonstrate how single-cell approaches can reveal previously unappreciated, yet important, immune behaviors and empower rational frameworks for modulating systems-level immune responses that may prove therapeutically and prophylactically useful.
Positive emotional attention bias in young children with symptoms of ADHD.

Children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) often experience emotional dysregulation. Dysregulation can arise from heightened attention to emotional stimuli. Emotional attention b...
The Infection Process in Pines By Gremmeniella abietina

Gremmeniella abietina infects shoots of pines through stomata numbering about 3–20 in each of two short irregular rows on the abaxial surface of bracts that subtend short shoots. The germ tube penetrates between guard cells, sparsely colonizes bract tissue, and reaches the periderm that separates bract from stem tissue by late summer or fall. The fungus crosses this periderm only after about early February and then rapidly colonizes the short shoot and surrounding cortical tissue. This invasion produces a resinous brown necrotic area of cortical parenchyma and phloem beneath the bract as the first visible symptom of infection.
Intake and digestion of low-quality meadow hay by steers and performance of cows on native range when fed protein supplements containing various levels of corn.

Two trials were conducted to evaluate the effects of corn in protein supplements fed to cattle receiving low-quality forages. In Trial 1, four ruminally cannulated steers (avg BW 500 kg) and four intact steers (avg BW 270 kg) were used in a replicated latin square to determine intake and digestibility fo a low-quality meadow hay (4.3% CP) when fed no supplement (NS), 1.12 g CP/kg BW (PS), 1.12 g CP/kg BW with corn supplying 1.98 g starch/kg BW (PLC) or 1.12 g CP/kg BW with corn supplying 3.96 g starch/kg BW (PHC). Hay DMI decreased (P = .001) and total diet DMI increased (P = .001) quadratically as supplemental corn increased. Diet DM digestibility increased (P = .004) and forage DM and hemicellulose digestibility decreased (P less than or equal to .018) quadratically as level of corn in the diet increased. In Trial 2, 135 cows received either ear corn (1.16 kg TDN and 127 g CP.hd(-1).d(-1), ear corn plus protein (1.16 kg TDN) and 290 g CP g CP.hd(-1).d(-1) or protein (.72 kg TDN and 290 g CP.hd(-1.d(-1) while grazing native Sandhills winter range for 112 d and while receiving hay (10% CP) during the following 60-d calving period. Cows that received ear corn lost (P less than .001) more weight than cows fed ear corn plus protein supplement, which lost more weight than cows fed only protein supplement (-54, -18 and 6 kg, respectively) during the 112-d winter grazing period. Cows that received ear corn and ear corn plus protein gained more (P less than .001) weight during calving and summer grazing (after supplement wa withdrawn) than protein-supplemented cows. Reproductive performance was not affected (P greater than .705) by treatments.
APPLICATION OF FULL FAITH AND CREDIT CLAUSE TO EQUITABLE DECREES FOR THE CONVEYANCE OF FOREIGN LAND

The Constitution of the United States provides: "Full faith and credit {shall be given in such state to the public acts, records and judicial proceedings of every other state. And the Congress may by general laws prescribe the manner in which such acts, records and proceedings shall be approved, and the effect thereof." In pursuance of the power vested in it, Congress has prescribed the mode of authentication and the effects of such acts, records and proceedings as followss:' "and the said records and judicial proceedings so authenticated shall have such faith and credit given to them inevery court within the United States as they have by law or usage in the courts of the state from which they are taken." It is a settled rule that the full faith and credit clause applies only to substantive rights and that it has no application to matters of procedure.2 Hence, if 'it can be shown that equitable decrees do not establish obligations, that is, right-duty relations, but are merely methods for the enforcement of existing legal relations, it follows of course that they are not within the purview of the full-faith and credit clause. The first issue relates therefore to the nature and effect of equitable decrees in general. If we go back as far as the Year Books we find Knightly, Sergeant at law, making the following statement :8 "A decree is not like a judgment in the King's Bench or Common Bench, for such a judgment binds the right of the party; but a decree does not bind the right, but only the person to obedience, so that if the party will not obey, then the Chancellor may commit him to prison until he will obey and this is all that the Chancellor can do." In another Year Book case the following appears :4
Long-Term Vitamin Stabilization in Low Moisture Products for NASA: Techniques and Three-Year Vitamin Retention, Sensory, and Texture Results

Multiyear spaceflight will require innovative strategies to preserve vitamins in foods, in order to retain astronaut health and functionality long-term. Furthermore, space foods must be low weight/volume to comply with cargo restrictions, and must retain sensory quality to ensure consumption. Low water activity products were developed, fortified with vitamins A, B1, B9, C, and E at twice their spaceflight requirements, stored for three years at 21 °C and one year at 38 °C, and analyzed annually for retained vitamin content and organoleptic quality. The vitamins were encapsulated in carbohydrate or lipid coatings and tested in relatively low and high fat versions of compressed bars and powdered drink mix formulations. Susceptibility to degradation at 21 °C followed the sequence B9 > A > B1 > C > E; degradation rates were fitted to first-order kinetics. Vitamins A and C were more sensitive at the higher storage temperature. Vitamin retention was slightly higher in compressed bars verses powders. Effects of matrix lipid level on stability were vitamin dependent. Sensory characteristics for products stored three years at 21 °C remained mostly above 6.0 on a 9-point hedonic scale, whereas those stored for one year at 38 °C remained mostly above 5.0. Compressed bars firmed significantly during storage. All vitamin levels after three years at 21 °C remained above the space flight requirements, demonstrating the suitability of the selected fortification schemes and food matrices for long-term preservation. PRACTICAL APPLICATION Vitamins A, B1, B9, C, and E were retained at 70% to 95% levels for three years at 21 °C in carefully formulated, fortified low water activity products. Product compression and vacuum packaging slightly helped to further preserve vitamins. The sensory quality of these products was retained throughout storage.
Online Characterization of Single Airborne Carbon Nanotube Particles Using Optical Trapping Raman Spectroscopy

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have become recognized as a potential environmental and health hazard as their applications are broadening and manufacturing costs are reducing. Fundamental information of CNTs in air is of significant importance to our understanding of their environmental fate as well as to further applications. Extensive efforts have been made over decades on characterizing CNTs; however, a majority of the studies are of bulk or CNTs dispersed on substrates. In the present study, we characterize single CNT particles in air using optical trapping Raman spectroscopy (OT-RS). Different types of CNT particles, as well as glassy carbon spheres, were optically trapped in air. Their physical properties were viewed by microscopic bright field images and scattering images; their chemical properties and structural information can be inferred from characteristic Raman bands. The system can also spatially resolve the morphology and chemical distribution of optically trapped CNT particles in air. The OT-RS technique combines single-particle morphological and chemical information and offers an online method to characterize the physicochemical properties of single CNT particles at their native states in air.
GRIK5 Genetically Regulated Expression Associated with Eye and Vascular Phenomes: Discovery through Iteration among Biobanks, Electronic Health Records, and Zebrafish

Although the use of model systems for studying the mechanism of mutations that have a large effect is common, we highlight here the ways that zebrafish-model-system studies of a gene, GRIK5, that contributes to the polygenic liability to develop eye diseases have helped to illuminate a mechanism that implicates vascular biology in eye disease. A gene-expression prediction derived from a reference transcriptome panel applied to BioVU, a large electronic health record (EHR)-linked biobank at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, implicated reduced GRIK5 expression in diverse eye diseases. We tested the function of GRIK5 by depletion of its ortholog in zebrafish, and we observed reduced blood vessel numbers and integrity in the eye and increased vascular permeability. Analyses of EHRs in >2.6 million Vanderbilt subjects revealed significant comorbidity of eye and vascular diseases (relative risks 2–15); this comorbidity was confirmed in 150 million individuals from a large insurance claims dataset. Subsequent studies in >60,000 genotyped BioVU participants confirmed the association of reduced genetically predicted expression of GRIK5 with comorbid vascular and eye diseases. Our studies pioneer an approach that allows a rapid iteration of the discovery of gene-phenotype relationships to the primary genetic mechanism contributing to the pathophysiology of human disease. Our findings also add dimension to the understanding of the biology driven by glutamate receptors such as GRIK5 (also referred to as GLUK5 in protein form) and to mechanisms contributing to human eye diseases.
A scoping review of patterns, motives, and risk and protective factors for adolescent firearm carriage

Firearm carriage is a key risk factor for interpersonal firearm violence, a leading cause of adolescent (age < 18) mortality. However, the epidemiology of adolescent firearm carriage has not been well characterized. This scoping review examined four databases (PubMed; Scopus; EMBASE; Criminal Justice Abstracts) to summarize research on patterns, motives, and underlying risk/protective factors for adolescent firearm carriage. Of 6156 unique titles, 53 peer-reviewed articles met inclusion criteria and were reviewed. These studies mostly examined urban Black youth, finding that adolescents typically carry firearms intermittently throughout adolescence and primarily for self-defense/protection. Seven future research priorities were identified, including: (1) examining adolescent carriage across age, gender, and racial/ethnic subgroups; (2) improving on methodological limitations of prior research, including disaggregating firearm from other weapon carriage and using more rigorous methodology (e.g., random/systematic sampling; broader population samples); (3) conducting longitudinal analyses that establish temporal causality for patterns, motives, and risk/protective factors; (4) capitalizing on m-health to develop more nuanced characterizations of underlying motives; (5) increasing the study of precursors for first-time carriage; (6) examining risk and protective factors beyond the individual-level; and, (7) enhancing the theoretical foundation for firearm carriage within future investigations.
Production of a carrier-free standard 56Mn source for the NRC manganese salt bath

Abstract The National Research Council (NRC) of Canada's primary method for emission rate for radionuclide neutron sources utilizes a manganese salt bath which was last calibrated in the 1960s. At that time, an NRC RaBe neutron source was used to irradiate a solution of calcium permanganate to take advantage of the Szilard-Chalmers effect in producing the bulk 56Mn material for standardization and calibration of the bath. When attempting to repeat this exercise, a small amount (~100 kBq) was produced. This amount was sufficient for the standardization process but did not yield enough material to calibrate the bath to a sufficient level of precision. Improvements upon the previous separation scheme adopted at NRC for the separation of the 56Mn from the bulk irradiated material included the rinsing of the 56Mn dioxide precipitate using a mixture of sulfuric acid and hydrogen peroxide. While these improvements made in the separation chemistry improved the yield of 56Mn extraction from 60% to above 95% the maximum amount of activity was still quite low. Hence in March of 2018, the SLOWPOKE-2 Facility at the Royal Military College in Kingston, ON, was used to irradiate three vials of KMnO4 in solution. An estimated 2 GBq was produced and sent to NRC, from which the extraction procedure recovered essentially all of the available 56Mn. The 56Mn was standardized using the 4 π β − γ anti-coincidence counting system and confirmed using the CIEMAT/NIST primary method. The resulting bulk material was certified with an uncertainty of 0.8% (k = 2). Minor quantities of 65Zn, 69mZn and 42K were unexpectedly observed but were in minute quantities so as not to affect the results of the standardization or calibration. The standardized 56Mn artifact was used to calibrate the Secondary Standard Ionizing Radiation Chamber System (SSIRCS) for a more rapid deployment of the calibrant in the future.
Joy and the Nature of Emotion

I discuss two fundamental issues that come up in Matthew Johnson’s literature review: the nature of emotion and the delineation or specification of the concept of joy. Emotions, I claim, are a kind...
The Articulating Profiler

The McLane Moored Profiler (MMP), developed from prototype vehicles conceived and constructed at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, has been in operational use for nearly 20 years. The full-depth-capable MMP utilizes a traction drive system to propel itself vertically along a standard mooring cable and transport a single sensor suite through the water column (negating possible errors due to multiple sensor intercalibration). MMPs are commonly configured with a single-point current meter and a CTD (a variety of other sensors have also been interfaced); processed data yield repeated realizations of the ocean temperature, salinity and horizontal velocity profiles at order 1 m vertical resolution on deployments lasting sometimes 2 years or longer. Standard MMP battery capacity results in a profiling endurance typically around 800 km of total travel, with profiles distributed in time as the user specifies. Motivated by the twin goals of increasing profiling endurance and improving sensor data quality, a joint development project for the Articulating Profiler was undertaken by WHOI and MRL that reconfigures MMP components into a streamlined body able to orient into the relative three-dimensional incident flow. A series of dock tests below the WHOI pier refined the mechanical design of the AP, followed by a 10-month ocean deployment on the continental slope north of Cape Hatteras, N.C. in conjunction with the PEACH (Processes Driving Exchange Between the Shelf and Deep Ocean at Cape Hatteras) program. Results from these test deployments are presented and plans for further development discussed.
Caesarean delivery and the risk of atopic dermatitis in children.

Background Caesarean delivery (C-section) may disrupt maternal-infant microbial transfer and alter immune system development and subsequent risk for atopic dermatitis. Objective Investigate the association between C-section and atopic dermatitis by age four and examine potential sources of bias in the relationship in a large cohort study. Methods Maternal and child information was collected through Kaiser Permanente Northern California's (KPNC) integrated healthcare system. Data sources included electronic medical records, pharmacy databases, state birth records, and prospectively collected breastfeeding surveys. Children were eligible if they were born in a KPNC or contracting hospital between 2005 and 2014 and had continuous enrolment in the KPNC system for at least four years (n = 173 105). Modified Poisson regression with robust variance estimation was used to estimate the association between C-section and atopic dermatitis overall and when stratified by demographic and labour and delivery characteristics. Results Although unadjusted analyses showed a positive association between C-section and atopic dermatitis [RR(95%CI): 1.06(1.03, 1.10)], this effect was attenuated towards the null after adjustment [aRR(95%CI): 1.02(0.99, 1.05)]. In stratified analyses, there was evidence that C-section increased atopic dermatitis risk among certain subgroups (eg firstborns, overweight/obese pre-pregnancy BMI), but associations were weak. C-section delivery conditions indicative of the least exposure to maternal microbiome (ie no labour, short interval between membrane rupture and delivery) showed no evidence of association with atopic dermatitis. Estimated associations were not strongly influenced by intrapartum antibiotics, breastfeeding, missing data, or familial factors. Conclusion Caesarean delivery was not associated with atopic dermatitis by age four in this large US cohort. This association did not appear to be biased by intrapartum antibiotics, breastfeeding behaviour, C-section indication, missing covariates, or familial factors.
Preoperative cholangitis is an independent risk factor for mortality in patients after pancreatoduodenectomy for pancreatic cancer.

Abstract Objectives Preoperative biliary stenting is required for patients with obstructive jaundice from pancreatic adenocarcinoma who are receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy. While in most patients this approach results in durable biliary drainage, some patients develop cholangitis during neoadjuvant treatment. Further, several studies have shown that preoperative cholangitis in patients with hepatobiliary malignancies can result in substantially unfavorable outcomes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of preoperative cholangitis in patients who underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy after completing neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Methods Participants: all adult patients (n = 449) diagnosed with pancreatic adenocarcinoma from January 1st, 2013 to March 31st, 2018 who pursued treatment at the Massachusetts General Hospital were screened. Of these 449 patients, 97 met final inclusion criteria of receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy with intent to pursue curative surgery. Data were collected via retrospective chart review including baseline characteristics, survival, episodes of preoperative cholangitis, and surgical complications. Results In patients completing successful pancreaticoduodenectomy surgery, preoperative cholangitis is associated with increased mortality (HR 2.67, 95% CI:1.16–6.13). This finding is independent of postoperative outcomes or tumor recurrence rate. The presence of cholangitis did not impact completion of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (92% vs 85%, p = 0.5) or ability to proceed to surgery (76% vs 75%, p = 1.0). Preoperative cholangitis was not associated with postoperative morbidity (42.1% vs 45.1%, p = 1.0). Conclusions One episode of cholangitis during neoadjuvant chemotherapy is associated with increased mortality following successful pancreaticoduodenectomy, independent of immediate postoperative outcomes or tumor recurrence. Preoperative cholangitis does not affect ability to pursue neoadjuvant chemotherapy or complete successful surgery. Patients who develop cholangitis during the neoadjuvant chemotherapy treatment phase may reflect a distinct phenotype of patients with PDAC with a complex and more challenging clinical course.
Inflammatory markers are poorly predictive of clinical outcomes among hospitalized patients with COVID-19.

Abstract Background Inflammatory markers are often elevated in patients with COVID-19. The objective of this study is to assess the prognostic capability of these tests in predicting clinical outcomes. Methods This was a retrospective cohort study including all patients at least 16 years old with COVID-19 who were admitted from one of five Emergency Departments between March 6th and April 4th, 2020. We included 1123 laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19. We analyzed white blood cell count (WBC), absolute lymphocyte count (ALC), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), C-reactive protein (CRP), procalcitonin (PCT), D-dimer, ferritin, and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR). We looked at clinical outcomes including death, the need for endotracheal intubation (ETT), the need for renal replacement therapy (RRT), and ICU admission. We report Spearman's ρ2 and statistical significance for each correlation with outcomes. We also report positive predictive value, negative predictive value, sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratios, and negative likelihood ratios. Results The mean age of our patient population was 62 (SD 16). Thirty-seven percent of patients self-reported Spanish/Hispanic/Latino ethnicity, 47% reported their race as Black or African-American, and 10% reported their race as non-Hispanic white. Inter-rater reliability was 96%. There was no laboratory value that had both sensitivity and specificity of at least 0.90, or that had a positive predictive value and negative predictive value of at least 0.90, or that had likelihood ratios that could reliably predict a severe course of disease. Conclusion Inflammatory markers drawn within 48 h of arrival, though often correlated with clinical outcomes, are not individually highly predictive of which patients in a predominantly older and minority population will die or require intubation, RRT, or ICU admission.
Pathways for minimal and zero liquid discharge with enhanced reverse osmosis technologies: Module-scale modeling and techno-economic assessment

Abstract While mechanical vapor compression is typically applied for the concentration of brine, new approaches that are less costly and less energy intensive are needed to facilitate minimal and zero liquid discharge. Several variations of reverse osmosis for high-salinity desalination and increasing recovery rates beyond the pressure limitation of conventional RO have been proposed in the literature. The promise of these enhanced RO approaches entails a reduction in energy consumption when compared with thermal desalination methods. In this paper, low-salt rejection reverse osmosis (LSRRO), cascading osmotically mediated reverse osmosis (COMRO), and osmotically assisted reverse osmosis (OARO) were comparatively assessed via module-scale, cost optimization models to gain an accurate perspective of the performance differences between each of these configurations. We quantified the optimal levelized cost of water (LCOW) of each technology for the case of desalinating feedwater at 70 g/L at 75% recovery, which would result in a brine concentration near 250 g/L, a level that allows further treatment with crystallizers. For baseline scenarios, LCOW results for LSRRO, COMRO, and OARO were 6.63, 7.90, and 5.14 $/m3 of product water, respectively, while the corresponding specific energy consumption (SEC) values were 28.9, 12.8, and 10.3 kWh/m3. A sensitivity analysis is also presented.
COVID-19 Impacts on Cycling, 2019–2020

The COVID-19 pandemic has had an enormous impact on travel behaviour in most of the world. This editorial examines the available evidence about the impact of the pandemic on cycling in various citi...
Abstract MP16: A Behavioral Weight-loss Intervention, But Not Metformin, Decreases A Marker Of Gut Barrier Permeability In Adult Cancer Survivors With Overweight Or Obesity

Background: Serum lipopolysaccharide-binding protein (LBP), a surrogate biomarker for gut barrier permeability, is higher in adults with obesity and type 2 diabetes and may trigger inflammation. It...
Candida-Induced Emphysematous Gastritis in a Multiple Myeloma Patient: Conservative Management With Favorable Outcome.

Emphysematous gastritis is a rare, and often fatal, infection with unclear recommendations on management. We report the first documented case of emphysematous gastritis caused by Candida species in a patient on chemotherapy for multiple myeloma. Our patient, who presented with gastrointestinal symptoms was found to have gas in the stomach wall, peri-gastric, and portal veins on CT scan. Nasogastric tube cultures grew Candida albicans and Candida glabrata and the patient was treated with antibiotics and antifungals. Prompt recognition and conservative management led to a favorable outcome.
Nikolaus Pevsner, Academies of Art, Past and Present

(1941). Nikolaus Pevsner, Academies of Art, Past and Present. The Art Bulletin: Vol. 23, No. 2, pp. 184-185.
The impact of technology evolution and scaling on electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection in high-pin count high-performance microprocessors

The technology evolution of MOSFET junctions, salicide technology, well, epitaxy, isolation, copper (Cu) interconnects, low-k interlevel dielectrics (ILD), and transition from bulk-CMOS to silicon-on-insulator (SOI) and their influence on ESD robustness in high-performance microprocessors are discussed here.
Optimal Random Matchings on Trees and Applications

In this paper we will consider tight upper and lower bounds on the weight of the optimal matching for random point sets distributed among the leaves of a tree, as a function of its cardinality. Specifically, given two nsets of points R= {r 1 ,...,r n } and B= {b 1 ,...,b n } distributed uniformly and randomly on the mleaves of i¾?-Hierarchically Separated Trees with branching factor bsuch that each of its leaves is at depth i¾?, we will prove that the expected weight of optimal matching between Rand Bis $\Theta(\sqrt{nb}\sum_{k=1}^h(\sqrt{b}\l)^k)$, for h= min (i¾?,log b n). Using a simple embedding algorithm from i¾?dto HSTs, we are able to reproduce the results concerning the expected optimal transportation cost in [0,1]d, except for d= 2. We also show that giving random weights to the points does not affect the expected matching weight by more than a constant factor. Finally, we prove upper bounds on several sets for which showing reasonable matching results would previously have been intractable, e.g., the Cantor set, and various fractals.
Hamilton's Ricci Flow

Riemannian geometry Fundamentals of the Ricci flow equation Closed 3-manifolds with positive Ricci curvature Ricci solitons and special solutions Isoperimetric estimates and no local collapsing Preparation for singularity analysis High-dimensional and noncompact Ricci flow Singularity analysis Ancient solutions Differential Harnack estimates Space-time geometry Appendix A. Geometric analysis related to Ricci flow Appendix B. Analytic techniques for geometric flows Appendix S. Solutions to selected exercises Bibliography Index.
Altered Monovinyl and Divinyl Protochlorophyllide Pools in bchJ Mutants of Rhodobacter capsulatus POSSIBLE MONOVINYL SUBSTRATE DISCRIMINATION OF LIGHT-INDEPENDENT PROTOCHLOROPHYLLIDE REDUCTASE

In land plants in particular, it has been well established that chlorophyll intermediates, Mg-protoporphyrin, Mg-protoporphyrin monomethylester, protochlorophyllide, and chlorophyllide occur as monovinyl and divinyl forms. The pool of monovinyl and divinyl intermediates differ according to species, age of tissue, and light regime. In this study, we investigated the monovinyl and divinyl characteristics of protochlorophyllide and chlorophyllide in the purple non-sulfur photosynthetic eubacterium Rhodobacter capsulatus. Our results indicate that mutations in genes known to completely block the reduction of protochlorophyllide to chlorophyllide (such as bchN, bchB, and bchL mutants), accumulate a pool of monovinyl and divinyl forms of protochlorophyllide just as observed in plants. However, we also observed that directed insertion and deletion mutations in bchJ, a gene located in the photosynthesis gene cluster, affected the ratio of monovinyl and divinyl protochlorophyllide. Specifically, bchJ-disrupted strains accumulate reduced levels of bacteriochlorophyll concomitant with the accumulation of divinyl protochlorophyllide. Mutants of bchJ in combination with a second mutation in bchL still produce a mixed pool of monovinyl and divinyl protochlorophyllide; however, the ratio of monovinyl to divinyl protochlorophyllide is skewed in favor of divinyl protochlorophyllide. These results thus identify bchJ as the first sequenced gene that affects the divinyl to monovinyl ratio of photopigment intermediates in any photosynthetic organism. In addition, the results of our study also suggest that light-independent protochlorophyllide reductase is discriminatory for a monovinyl substrate.
Time-lapse live imaging of stem cells in drosophila testis

This unit describes a protocol for time-lapse live-imaging of stem cells in Drosophila testis. Testis tips are dissected from Drosophila, sliced, and transferred to glass-bottom chambers where the stem cells residing in their native microenvironment can be monitored in real time. This protocol, facilitated with various fluorescence-labeled markers, allows dynamic cellular processes in stem cells to be characterized throughout the cell cycle.
Green Building Assessment Systems: A Framework and Comparison for Planners

Problem: Building assessment systems allow planners to examine whether buildings and developments meet sustainability goals, but no framework exists to help planners choose among them. Purpose: This study develops a framework for planners to use in considering which building assessment system would be most appropriate for their purposes and analyzes nine such systems. Methods: I conducted a content analysis of the system documentation for nine building assessment systems used in the United States and interviewed administrators of the systems. Results and conclusions: Although many building assessment systems appear at first to be quite similar, they have substantial differences, and could produce significantly different results when used to implement green building programs. Among the important differences are the scales at which they consider various issues, whether or not they emphasize communication, and how they prioritize and weight concerns. I also found that most national building assessment system...
Sender Side Transmission Rules for the Internet

In January 2014, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit struck down the FCC's 2010 Open Internet Order, which contained the Commission's net neutrality rules. The Commission has since indicated that it will take up the D.C. Circuit's invitation to implement rules that, consistent with historic practice, meet the court’s test for preventing improper blocking and discrimination of Internet traffic. In this paper, we consider the Commission's options for a path forward under Title II of the Communications Act. We find that the FCC has at least two available paths. The first is predominantly legal: By adopting the two-stage framework articulated by the D.C. Circuit characterizing broadband transactions as including a call and a response, the Commission can conclude that response, or sender-side, transmissions are a telecommunications service under the statute. The second path is predominantly factual: The Commission can consider whether it is still swayed by its analysis, now well over a decade old, that analogizes broadband subscription services to dial-up Internet access. Regardless of the path the Commission chooses, it will reach a similar destination. Either course allows the Commission to meet the promise to prevent improper blocking and discrimination.
Experimental observations on the human arm motion planning under an elbow joint constraint

This paper seeks to define the governing strategies by which the human central nervous system (CNS) finds optimal solutions for an arm reaching motion, when an elbow joint is constrained. The compensated arm reaching motion under the joint kinematic constraint is observed by human experiments. We present an experimental protocol, where subjects perform point-to-point reaching tasks with a lightweight elbow brace to restrict the elbow kinematics with minimal effect on the arm dynamics. The human compensatory strategy is analyzed in terms of hand path kinematics (i.e. spatial and temporal characteristics) and the arm postural configuration. The spatial and temporal characteristics of hand path are approximated by the Euclidean geodesic curves and the well known bell-shaped smooth profile, respectively. Furthermore, the contribution of each joint degree-of-freedom (DOF) motion is discussed and its relation to the arm posture selection is elaborated.
Floating Jacket-- A New Concept for the Design of a Floating Production, Storage and Offloading Platform in Deepwater

The most unique feature of the new floating jacket (FJ) is to place much of the needed buoyancy/ballast deep below the ocean surface. The deck and production equipment are supported by a jacket structure which is in turn erected on top of a large buoyancy/ballast tank deeply submerged. This simple concept offers many very attractive features and is particularly suitable for the design of floating production, storage and offloading systems in deepwater. Analytical and experimental investigations have been carried out to examine the motions of the platform in regular and random waves. The results indicate that the new FJ concept is a superior platform configuration so far as the seakeeping characteristics and station keeping requirements are concerned. However, in order to evaluate its overall merits, practical design considerations and cost factors must be examined carefully.
Transport of 131I through the grass-cow-milk pathway at a northeast US dairy following the chernobyl accident

Abstract Following the Chernobyl accident, samples of pasture grass and fresh farm milk were collected in northern New Jersey. The time-integrated activities of 131I were used to calculate a milk transfer coefficient of 0·001 d liter−1. This value is at the lower range of those previously reported. No significant difference in the value of the transfer coefficient was seen when calculated based on the integrated 131I in the total grass as compared to only the upper portion of the grass. Therefore, for this event, the height of the vegetation grazed by the cows would not have influenced the concentration of 131I in fresh milk.
Role of criteria in design and management of space systems

Explicit requirements and standards arising in connection with space systems management serve as a framework for technical management and furnish legally binding control of development, verification, and operations. As a project develops, additional requirements are derived which are unique to the system in question; these are designated 'derived requirements'. The reliability and cost-effectiveness of a space system are best ensured where a balance has arisen between formal (legally binding) and informal. Attention is presently given to the development of criteria consistent with total quality management.
Boundary layer control by unsteady vortex generation

Abstract Boundary layer energization by unsteady means is examined. A transverse vortex structure is produced by means of a rotor whose surface moves in an upstream direction Performace improvement is found for a rearward-facinf acting as a diffuser.