cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Spatial patterns of extra‐pair paternity for spotted towhees (Pipilo maculatus) in urban parks

The extra-pair (EP) mating system of birds may be influenced by food resources, such that nutritionally stressed females are unable to pursue EP fertilizations (constrained female hypothesis; CFH), or that females on poor territories acquire EP fertilizations during extra-territorial forays in search of food (mating opportunity hypothesis; MOH). Edges of urban habitat fragments are sites of apparent high food abundance for spotted towhees Pipilo maculatus, and we used distance to habitat edge in four urban parks in Portland, OR, USA (2004–2006), to test the CFH and MOH. EP paternity was independent of park identity and year; 44% of nests contained EP young and 26% of all young were EP. As predicted by the CFH, EP paternity was more common in nests of long-tailed (presumably) high quality females. However, independently of tail length, younger females had more EP young than older females, a finding consistent with the MOH. Contrary to predictions of both hypotheses, the probability that a nest contained EP young was highest both at the habitat edge and habitat interior while the proportion of young in nests of EP origin (for nests with EP young) was highest at intermediate distances from habitat edge. We propose that high frequency of EP paternity among females in the interior occurred because, as predicted by the MOH, they ranged more widely in search of food and often encountered EP males. High probability of EP paternity near edges was likely unrelated to female quality. Instead, anthropogenic food sources may have attracted individuals to edges and increased encounters between potential EP mates. Simple opportunity seems likely to account for patterns of EP paternity in spotted towhees, suggesting that human altered environments have the potential to substantially affect EP mating behavior.
Mutational signature of aristolochic acid: Clue to the recognition of a global disease

Mutational signatures associated with specific forms of DNA damage have been identified in several forms of human cancer. Such signatures provide information regarding mechanisms of tumor induction which, in turn, can reduce exposure to carcinogens by shaping public health policy. Using a molecular epidemiologic approach that takes advantage of recent advances in genome sequencing while applying sensitive and specific analytical methods to characterize DNA damage, it has become increasingly possible to establish causative linkages between certain environmental mutagens and disease risk. In this perspective, we use aristolochic acid, a human carcinogen and nephrotoxin found in Aristolochia herbs, to illustrate the power and effectiveness of this multidisciplinary approach. The genome-wide mutational signature for this toxin, detected initially in cancers of the upper urinary tract, has subsequently been associated with cancers of the liver and kidney. These findings have significant implications for global public health, especially in China, where millions of individuals have used Aristolochia herbal remedies as part of traditional Chinese medicine and, thus, are at risk of developing aristolochic acid nephropathy and/or upper urinary tract carcinomas. The studies reported here set the stage for research into prevention and early detection, both of which will be required to manage a potentially devastating global disease.
A contemporary view of neoplasms in children. The pathologist's perspective.

A comprehensive overview of pediatric neoplasms, from the perspective of the surgical pathologist, is presented. The necessity for a meaningful dialogue between the oncologist and pathologist is also emphasized to ensure that an appropriate biopsy and studies are performed to arrive at an accurate diagnosis. Several advanced techniques are widely available to the pathologist, including immunohistochemistry, DNA ploidy analysis, and molecular genetics, to serve as adjuncts to the cornerstone of light microscopic examination.
Epidemiology of Colorectal Cancer

Colorectal cancer is a major cause of morbidity and mortality among men and women, particularly in Western countries. With more countries adopting a western lifestyle, the burden of colorectal cancer continues to increase globally. This chapter, beginning with a concise summary on the clinical presentation of colorectal cancer and descriptive data on colorectal cancer incidence and mortality, is devoted to reviewing current evidence surrounding risk and protective factors, particularly those that are modifiable. By including examples of epidemiologic studies on colorectal cancers sub-classified by tumor molecular markers, this chapter introduces an emerging field of research that aims to address the heterogeneous nature of colorectal cancer.
Models of Monopoly Regulation

This chapter is concerned with examining some simple models of regulation. These take several forms, corresponding to the general concerns of monopoly regulation. They include models of: 1. Profit or price level regulation, including rate-of-return regulation, 2. Price structure regulation, concerned with the structure of tariffs (e.g. mandated peak-load or two-part tariffs), 3. Productivity and incentive regulation concerned with inducing X-efficiency. Naturally, the scope of regulation is considerably broader than the above three areas of concern here, e.g. including health, safety and environmental regulation, which we neglect. Our concern will be to briefly describe the major theoretical contributions developed to address the above three areas of regulation and for understanding the costs and benefits of applying such regulation to the monopoly problem.
Affect Theory and the Empirical

This review article approaches the turn to affect theory as diagnostic of broader currents in cultural anthropology. This is a time of increased curiosity within the subfield. It is also a time of increased anxiety, as researchers feel mounting pressure to make a case for the empirical value of what they do. Affect theory seems to offer cultural anthropologists a way of getting to the bottom of things: to the forces that compel, attract, and provoke. And yet what affect theory is offering cultural anthropologists may be less an account of how the world works than a new awareness of the premises that guide their research. I base these observations on a discussion of recent ethnographies that deploy affect theory in the study of labor, governance, and animal–human relations. I conclude with an assessment of the risks and opportunities associated with the adoption of theoretical models from other fields.
Taking Followership Education to the Next Level

If leadership is a relationship between a leader and follower (Rost, 1991), why are we, as higher education faculty and practitioners, so focused on only one half of the equation: the leader? When we examine the countless research articles, books, and conferences, it is clear that more attention has been paid to leaders than followers. Followership, however, in recent decades, is beginning to get its share of attention (Raffo, 2013). As educators in colleges and universities, we are tasked with sculpting and feeding the minds of students that will soon lead our society and make change. While higher education institutions across the United States and Canada offer leadership programs, certificates, and education, there seems to be a disconnect: if leadership is a relationship between the leader and follower, why is there little or no education on followership (Smith, 2009)? There needs to be a shift in the way institutions support leadership education to ensure we are developing and graduating individuals that will shape our future in positive ways.
Evidence Based Intervention: Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Children and Families

This chapter describes an evidence-based intervention for child maltreatment and other traumas, Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT).
Anthropological Ethics and the Communicative Affordances of Audio-Video Recorders in Ethnographic Fieldwork: Transduction as Theory

This article contributes to the development of professional anthropological discourses about audio-video recording technologies in ethnographic research. Synthesizing scholarship on ethnographic partiality, doing ethnography in sound, and multimedia technologies, the article reflexively applies the concepts of transduction and affordance to analyze how recorders may be theorized as part of fieldwork encounters. This is based on fieldwork with a Zulu gospel choir comprised of people living with HIV in South Africa. Here, I discuss how research participants guided my use of recorders amid inequality and HIV stigma. I analyze the ethical-communicative affordances of recording technologies, examining how the design of audio-video technologies intersects with cultural and communicative conventions for use and evaluation of use of these technologies. This analysis suggests that the ethical-communicative affordances of transducers yield both an extension of an ethnographer's social self and a disconnect from that self in ways that can be productively navigated during fieldwork. [ethnographic methods, technology, stigma, ethics]
EUTHANASIA AND (D)EVOLUTION IN SPECULATIVE FICTION

In the latter part of the nineteenth century future or speculative fiction became big business in Britain. It was a safe haven for invasion narratives, for socialist paradises or hells, for worlds ruled by benevolent machines, or worlds ruined by mechanical dependence. Themes and plots were varied, but they always reflected some facet of contemporary society. The future was not a bubble, untouched by time or trouble, but a field of battle, where ideas could be tested and philosophies given a test drive. The future was a place where the mistakes or triumphs of today dictated the course of human progress. I argue in this essay that the nascent ideas about euthanasia of the early and middle Victorian period became full-fledged philosophies in the late-Victorian period and that Malthusian philosophy and Darwinian-informed theories were manipulated by novelist and theorist-turned- novelists, resulting in euthanasia becoming a tool in class warfare and in the fight to eradicate social undesirables for their good and for the good of society.
Evaluation of coverall field dry aerosol decontamination methods using a manikin.

ABSTRACTA full-size manikin dressed in fire-resistant coveralls coated in 120 g of sodium bicarbonate was randomly given one of three treatments for dry aerosol decontamination. The three treatments were high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) vacuum, a commercially available air shower, and the no treatment control. Immediately after the treatment, the coveralls were doffed and an air sample was taken in the breathing zone of the manikin to estimate airborne total and respirable dust concentrations to an unprotected worker post decontamination. Each treatment was applied four times for a total of 12 trials. Using analysis of variance (ANOVA) with alpha =.05 and Tukey's Honestly Significant Difference multiple comparison post-test, it was determined that HEPA vacuuming was not significantly different from the air shower for respirable dust, but only the air shower was significantly better than no decontamination (p =.037). For total dust, HEPA was not significantly different from the air shower, but both w...
Detecting clinically related content in online patient posts

Display Omitted Automatically identify forum posts that need clinical resources.Analyze feature designs and feature selection techniques.Evaluate the performance of classifier algorithms.Analyze performance of features and classifier on another online health community. Patients with chronic health conditions use online health communities to seek support and information to help manage their condition. For clinically related topics, patients can benefit from getting opinions from clinical experts, and many are concerned about misinformation and biased information being spread online. However, a large volume of community posts makes it challenging for moderators and clinical experts, if there are any, to provide necessary information. Automatically identifying forum posts that need validated clinical resources can help online health communities efficiently manage content exchange. This automation can also assist patients in need of clinical expertise by getting proper help. We present our results on testing text classification models that efficiently and accurately identify community posts containing clinical topics. We annotated 1817 posts comprised of 4966 sentences of an existing online diabetes community. We found that our classifier performed the best (F-measure: 0.83, Precision: 0.79, Recall:0.86) when using Nave Bayes algorithm, unigrams, bigrams, trigrams, and MetaMap Symantic Types. Training took 5s. The classification process took a fraction of 1s. We applied our classifier to another online diabetes community, and the results were: F-measure: 0.63, Precision: 0.57, Recall: 0.71. Our results show our model is feasible to scale to other forums on identifying posts containing clinical topic with common errors properly addressed.
Tax Liability Issues Associated with United States Income Tax Filing Statuses for Married Taxpayers and Proposals for Enhanced Equity

ABSTRACT Throughout the history of the United States income tax code, Congress has struggled with equitable treatment of married taxpayers. In the early years, married taxpayers dealt with uncertainty regarding the liability they assumed depending upon whether they filed one single return together, or two separate returns. Congress ultimately concluded that married taxpayers who filed together should incur joint and several liability. In the meantime, married taxpayers who filed separately eventually found themselves losing out on several tax benefits simply by virtue of their filing status. Yet, many married taxpayers file separately for compelling non-tax reasons. The following legal analysis of tax liability issues faced by married taxpayers begins with a brief history of the evolution of the income tax laws as they applied to married taxpayers, with focus on congressional intent behind joint and several liability, and the preclusion of several tax benefits for married taxpayers who filed separately. T...
Experimental Evidence for the Role of Atherosclerosis in Calcific Aortic Valve Disease

Calcific aortic stenosis is the most common indication for surgical valve replacement in the United States (www.sts.com). Currently, in 2012 surgical valve replacement is the number one indication for the treatment of this disease process (Bonow et al. 1998). For years, this disease has been described as a passive phenomena during which serum calcium attaches to the valve surface and binds to the leaflet to form nodules. Over decades, as aortic stenosis progressed, it will cause progressive left ventricular hypertrophy, left ventricular diastolic and systolic dysfunction, congestive heart failure, angina, arrhythmias, and syncope. Recent studies demonstrate an association between atherosclerotic risk factors and aortic valve disease. Although a unifying hypothesis for the role of atherosclerotic risk factors towards the mechanism of vascular and aortic valve disease is emerging, progress in studying the cell biology of this disease has been defining turning point in understanding the overall mechanisms.
Comparing the emissions benefits of centralized vs. decentralized electric vehicle smart charging approaches: A case study of the year 2030 California electric grid

Abstract Grid communicative “smart” charging of electric vehicles can provide significant benefits for maximizing the emission reductions provided by the large-scale use of these vehicles. While decentralized approaches to smart charging can be practical to implement in real systems, it is unclear whether these provide the same benefits for the electric grid as those identified by centralized approaches in the literature. This study compares the CO2 and NOx reduction benefits, and cost and grid capacity benefits, achieved by decentralized and centralized electric vehicle smart charging by modeling two different smart charging algorithms in battery electric vehicles and characterizing their effect on the operation and dispatch of electric grid resources and subsequently electric grid CO2 and NOx emissions. Decentralized approaches were found to provide the same CO2 emissions benefits and within 2% of the NOx emissions benefits achieved with centralized approaches, but only if the frequency of communication between vehicles and the electric grid is sufficiently high (less than 60 min). The difference in NOx emission is associated with the increased load variability caused by less frequent communication in decentralized smart charging resulting in higher power plant startup events. Finally, costs and grid capacity needs are increased without frequent grid communication.
Prognosis of triple negative breast cancer patients who attain pathological complete response with neoadjuvant carboplatin/docetaxel and do not receive adjuvant anthracycline chemotherapy.

1015Background: Pathological complete response (pCR) in TNBC is associated with excellent long term survival. Recent studies demonstrate that addition of neoadjuvant (NA) carboplatin (Cb) to anthracycline/taxane chemotherapy improves pCR in TNBC. The prognostic value of pCR attained with anthracycline-free platinum/taxane chemotherapy in TNBC is not well known. Aims: To determine the long term outcomes in TNBC patients treated with NA Cb + Docetaxel (D). Methods: 443 patients with stage I (T>1cm), II, or III TNBC were enrolled in a prospective multisite registry between 2011-2015, out of which 76 patients received NA chemotherapy regimen of Cb(AUC 6) + D(75 mg/m2) q 21 days (4-6 cycles). pCR (no evidence of invasive tumor in the breast and axilla) and Residual Cancer Burden (RCB) was evaluated and patients were followed for recurrence and survival. Results: For the 76 eligible patients, median age: 52 yrs, African-American:16%, median tumor size: 3 cm, 33% LN positive and 25% with germline BRCA mutation. ...
Dual Versus Single Parental Households and Differences in Maternal Mental Health and Child’s Overweight/Obesity

Objectives Mothers report higher levels of psychological stress than fathers. s. Psychological stress is posited to influence parenting practices that could increase children’s obesity risk. However, previous studies have not investigated several aspects of maternal mental health and the moderating role of household structure on children’s obesity risk. The objective was to investigate associations of maternal mental health with child obesity risk, and whether these associations differed by household structure (single-parent vs. dual parent/multigenerational). Methods Mothers and their 8–12 year old children (N = 175 dyads) completed baseline questionnaires on mothers’ mental health and child anthropometrics. Separate logistic regressions assessed associations of standardized maternal mental health indicators with the odds of child overweight/obesity, controlling for child age, and women’s BMI, age, education, employment status, and annual income. Household structure was investigated as a moderator of these relationships.Results There were no statistically significant relationships between maternal mental health characteristics and odds of child overweight/obesity. Among single mothers only, greater anxiety was associated with higher risk of child overweight/obesity [OR (95% CI) = 3.67 (1.27–10.62); p = 0.0163]; and greater life satisfaction was marginally associated with lower risk of child overweight/obesity [OR (95% CI) = 0.44 (0.19–1.01); p = 0.0522]. Mothers’ life satisfaction may lower risk for their children’s overweight/obesity, whereas higher anxiety may increase this risk, particularly among children living in single-mother households. Conclusions for Practice Future interventions could increase resources for single mothers to buffer the effects of stress and lower pediatric obesity risk.
Optimizing channel selection for excitation-scanning hyperspectral imaging

A major benefit of fluorescence microscopy is the now plentiful selection of fluorescent markers. These labels can be chosen to serve complementary functions, such as tracking labeled subcellular molecules near demarcated organelles. However, with the standard 3 or 4 emission channels, multiple label detection is restricted to segregated regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, as in RGB coloring. Hyperspectral imaging allows the user to discern many fluorescence labels by their unique spectral properties, provided there is significant differentiation of their emission spectra. The cost of this technique is often an increase in gain or exposure time to accommodate the signal reduction from separating the signal into many discrete excitation or emission channels. Recent advances in hyperspectral imaging have allowed the acquisition of more signal in a shorter time period by scanning the excitation spectra of fluorophores. Here, we explore the selection of optimal channels for both significant signal separation and sufficient signal detection using excitation-scanning hyperspectral imaging. Excitation spectra were obtained using a custom inverted microscope (TE-2000, Nikon Instruments) with a Xe arc lamp and thin film tunable filter array (VersaChrome, Semrock, Inc.) Tunable filters had bandwidths between 13 and 17 nm. Scans utilized excitation wavelengths between 340 nm and 550 nm. Hyperspectral image stacks were generated and analyzed using ENVI and custom MATLAB scripts. Among channel consideration criteria were: number of channels, spectral range of scan, spacing of center wavelengths, and acquisition time.
Abstract 25: Mild Cognitive Impairment the New Risk Factor for Stroke?

Background and Purpose: Hypertension, prediabetes and type 2 diabetes are major risk factors for stroke, particularly among elderly African Americans (AAs). However, whether there are racial differ...
Schizophrenia and arousal

Abstract Schizophrenia is a complex and severe psychiatric disorder with a variety of symptoms including positive symptoms (delusions and hallucinations), thought disorder, negative symptoms, and cognitive changes. The classic etiologic hypothesis for schizophrenia is based on changes in dopaminergic activity in the CNS. Medications used to alleviate psychotic symptoms rely mostly on antagonism of dopamine receptors, in particular the D2 subclass. Etiologic studies of schizophrenia point to a complex interplay between genetic and environmental factors. Schizophrenia is associated with disturbances in wake-sleep control and sleep architecture, with those changes being more closely tied to positive symptoms. Altered gamma band activity and coherence along with increased expression of neuronal calcium sensor protein 1 are also seen in schizophrenia. Findings from EEG, reflex, and P50 potential studies point to increased arousal and rapid eye movement sleep drive in schizophrenia. While current treatment options rely on the traditional dopamine hypothesis, future alternatives are likely to emerge from the understanding of the basic physiological mechanisms underlying this complex brain disorder.
Information Utilization in the Formulation of Hazardous Waste Facility Siting Regulations: A Method of Research for Organizational Learning

The demand for siting new hazardous waste disposal facilities has grown nationally during the past decade while opposition to these facilities has also increased. At the heart of this controversy is the issue of risk. The meaning of risk in this context is subject to various interpretations. The task of resolving these controversies has been left to the states. This paper discusses the problem of defining risk in the context of hazardous waste facility siting regulations, and proposes a method of research for analyzing the process by which risk is defined and the implications of this process for organizational learning.
Criminal Justice Students’ Perceptions and Awareness of Racism and Discrimination:

The recent focus on the controversial deaths of minorities at the hands of police officers has led to increased attention on racial bias among the law enforcement community. However, this focus doe...
Tissue Imaging with Shaped Femtosecond Laser Pulses

Rapid laser pulse shaping permit detection of novel molecular signatures such as self- and cross-phase modulation or nonlinear absorption. These effects are used to discriminate between different melanins in tissue and to monitor neuronal activation.
Experience in the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis in Africans in Salisbury.

The results of the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis in Africans and their follow-up as outpatients during one year following discharge from hospital are recorded in this study. This is presented so that it may be of interest to others in the Federation who are faced with the same problems of continuity of treatment in tuberculosis in Africans.
HMM conditional-likelihood based change detection with strict delay tolerance

Abstract Hidden Markov models (HMMs) have been widely used for anomaly and change point detection due to their representation power and computational efficiency in capturing statistical dependencies in time series. However, often information is integrated over relatively long observation windows, with detections made when the observed sequence’s likelihood under the (null) HMM deviates significantly from its typical range. Three related limitations are: i) use of long windows entails large decision delay, which may e.g. fail to prevent machine failure/damage; ii) typical approaches do not narrowly identify an interval within which the change point occurred. Such information could be useful e.g. for process control, where one wants to know how long it takes for control inputs to induce desired change points; iii) The decision statistic is usually the likelihood of the data in the current window, without consideration of past observations. This is suboptimal – this likelihood should be conditioned on past observations to optimally account for statistical dependency in the time series. In this paper, we propose a framework for change point detection which overcomes all of these limitations: i) it applies a standard HMM Forward recursion, but used to evaluate the likelihood of an observation subsequence conditioned on the subsequence’s entire past. This approach is used to efficiently evaluate the conditional likelihoods of all intervals of fixed length (hence with fixed delay, d), until a change point is first detected. Here d is a design parameter whose proper value (needed to have a quick response/mitigate damage) may be known for a given application domain; ii) the algorithm narrowly estimates the interval within which a detected change point lies; iii) we propose a novel performance criterion well-matched to low-delay, narrowly localized change point detection – the true detection interval rate (TDIR) – and also evaluate the false positive rate (FPR) and the bias and variance of the estimated change point, all as a function of d. The proposed method is shown to outperform a CUSUM algorithm, symbolic time series analysis (STSA) methods, and a standard HMM method (evaluating the unconditioned likelihood) for instability onset in combustion systems and fatigue failure initiation in a material.
Safety and improved efficacy signals following gene therapy in childhood blindness caused by GUCY2D mutations.

Summary A first-in-human clinical trial of gene therapy in Leber congenital amaurosis due to mutations in the GUCY2D gene is underway, and early results are summarized. A recombinant adeno-associated virus serotype 5 (rAAV5) vector carrying the human GUCY2D gene was delivered by subretinal injection to one eye in three adult patients with severe visual loss, nystagmus, but preserved retinal structure. Safety and efficacy parameters were monitored for 9 months post-operatively. No systemic toxicity was detected; there were no serious adverse events, and ocular adverse events resolved. P1 and P2 showed statistically significant rod photoreceptor vision improvement by full-field stimulus testing in the treated eye. P1 also showed improvement in pupillary responses. Visual acuity remained stable from baseline in P1 and P2. P3, however, showed a gain of 0.3 logMAR in the treated eye, indicating greater cone-photoreceptor function. The results show safety and both rod- and cone-mediated efficacy of this therapy.
Factors associated with hospitalization length of stay in patients with COVID-19, a multivariable analysis

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is the cause of a global pandemic which has strained the resources of health systems around the world. Health systems, patients, and healthcare providers may benefit from knowledge regarding which factors predict length of stay (LOS), and therefore healthcare resource allocation, in patients presenting with COVID-19. Methods: 559 patients were retrospectively identified who were admitted to Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia, PA between February and May of 2020. All patients tested positive for COVID-19 by nasopharyngeal swab and received computed tomography screening for viral pneumonia. We collected data present at time of hospital admission and performed a retrospective analysis to determine factors associated with hospital LOS. Results: Mean hospital LOS for our cohort was 9.0 days. In this cohort, most patients received antibiotics. 100% of patients received glucocorticoids and 8.1% received remdesivir. 31.2% participated in clinical trials of monoclonal antibodies. 26.8% of patients required intensive care during their hospitalization, 17.4% required invasive or noninvasive mechanical ventilation, and 11.1% died. On multivariable linear regression analysis, increasing leukocyte count and a diagnosis of diabetes mellitus predicted decreased LOS. Increased respiratory support within the first 24 hours, patient age, creatinine, and total bilirubin were associated with increased LOS. Conclusion: Patient past medical history, admission laboratory values, and severity of hypoxemia at hospital admission may predict LOS in patients hospitalized for COVID-19. (Table Presented).
A National Truth Commission for Native Americans

Native Americans have endured centuries of genocide. What began as a systemic attempt by European colonialists to decimate the indigenous population subsequently evolved into more subtle, devastating acts intended to destroy indigenous culture. Today, Native Americans remain the subject of ongoing discrimination and human rights abuses, especially pertaining to the forced removal of children from Native homes in violation of federal law. Despite the egregiousness of these wrongs, Native Americans have yet to be provided with a true sense of justice for the historical and ongoing crimes committed against them. This paper will argue that transitional justice is imperative for Native Americans to collectively move past the trauma associated with these wrongs. By drawing on the experiences of international truth commissions designed to address past wrongs against indigenous people, as well as the achievements made by the domestic Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth & Reconciliation Commission, this paper will specifically advocate for the creation of a national truth commission to address recent and ongoing discriminatory child welfare practices conducted against Native Americans in violation of federal law.
Graphene oxide reinforced facilitated transport membrane with poly(ionic liquid) and ionic liquid carriers for CO2/N2 separation

Abstract CO2 capture technologies are essential to achieve the global goal of carbon neutral and carbon negative. Membrane separations are energy-efficient compared to the adsorption/absorption processes with sorbents/solvents. However, little attention has been given to CO2 separation from air (direct air capture: DAC) or cabin air by membranes. In this study, a thin film composite type of facilitated transport membrane (FTM) with a functionalized ionic liquid (IL) carrier is developed. The selective layer is an IL-rich gel nanoconfined within the graphene oxide nanosheet framework. High performance of CO2 carrier-facilitated transport at conditions relevant to DAC (3090 GPU and CO2/N2 selectivity of 1180) and cabin air (620 GPU and CO2/N2 selectivity of 250) was demonstrated at 295 K and 40% RH (1 GPU = 3.348 × 10-10 mol m-2 s-1 Pa−1). The coupled permeation and selectivity represent the best performing FTM known under DAC conditions and promise potential for CO2 separation from air.
Raising Our Collective Voices: A Sing-Along for Our Collaborative Futures as Qualitative Inquiry (Introduction to a Song Panel From ICQI 2021):

The short essay serves as introduction to a partial Special Issue section that chronicles the 2021 ICQI panel “Raising Our Collective Voices.” The introduction outlines the purpose of the panel in ...
Adding a lens Improves spinning speed characterization

Highly stable sample rotation is important in many solid-state NMR experiments. Whether the necessary stability is achieved is not always clear. Typically only an average frequency over some time interval (often relatively long and unknown) is available from the spinning speed controller readout, which is not representative of the short-term variations of instantaneous rotation frequency. The necessity of the relatively slow measurement of spinning speed is a consequence of phase noise in the tachometer, which prevents speed measurement to be both rapid and precise at the same time. We show that adding a lens to the tachometer, without any other changes in the probe, reduces phase noise by nearly an order of magnitude and allows improved measurement of the spinning speed.
Self-protective measures against workplace hazards

Techniques are examined for influencing individual worker behaviors, actions, and attitudes in ways that could offer greater self-protection against workplace hazards. Training and reinforcement are first described as directive-type means for targeting and strengthening specific worker actions of this nature. Critical considerations here are (1) use of training and reinforcement approaches that stress the learning of safe or healthful behaviors as opposed to the unlearning of unsafe or harmful acts, (2) conditions of practice that insure the transfer of these learned behaviors to the real situation, (3) setting performance goals for these actions with frequent feedback to mark progress, and (4) establishing meaningful rewards with an adequate reinforcement schedule and delivery system. Presented next are nondirective approaches which are designed to create attitude change, a state of heightened awareness, or other predispositions favorable to self-protective actions. Emphasis here is given to communication, incentives, and management sytle factors. The foreman or other credible sources as "change agents" using face-to-face, two-way forms of communication with suitably arousing messages are seen as crucial elements. Company incentives aimed at enlivening general interest in job health and safety are discussed. Increased self-protection is mentioned as a possible by-product of top management's commitment and lead in job health and safety matters accompanied by close interactions with workers. Supportive evidence from field studies and the technical literature on directive and nondirective techniques is reported, and recommendations are made based on their respective merits.
Blastomere culture and analysis.

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses embryo devitellinization and blastomere isolation. A method of permeabilization and blastomere isolation and assay methods for assessing the degree of development and its relative normality after experimental manipulation are minimal requirements for a satisfactory Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) embryonic culture system. In the procedure described in this chapter, embryos are stripped of the eggshell and vitelline membranes by chitinasing the eggshell, and mechanically stripping off the vitelline membrane. Batches of up to about 200 embryos can be prepared at the dissecting microscope. Blastomeres may be isolated manually following this denuding. The procedure takes from 15 to 40 minutes, depending on the number of worms cut. The criteria that indicates, both a good preparation and a good batch of culture medium includes: (1) embryos show very little lysis, initially or after overnight culture; (2) embryos continue to divide on schedule; (3) intact embryos after overnight incubation have more than 300 cells, and ideally more than 500; and (4) gut granules are visible under polarized light in more than 90% of these embryos.
An adaptive soft-output receiver in space-time coding with continuous phase modulation

Space-time coding has shown great promise for digital transmission in wireless communication links, especially when the channel response is known at the receiver. Combined with continuous phase modulation (CPM), better bandwidth and power efficiency can be obtained. But without the perfect channel state information, the high performance of space-time CPM system can be greatly degraded due to the channel estimation errors. In this paper we present an adaptive soft algorithm which performs joint channel estimation and data detection for space-time CPM system. Properly designed pilot symbols are inserted at the very beginning to give a good initial estimate of the channels. This soft demodulator is further applied to the interleaved space-time CPM system to yield better performance with moderate complexity. Simulation results show that the receiver can often achieve near-coherent performance in quasi-static fading as well as in relatively fast fading.
Culture and social behavior

CHAPTER 1: Introduction: Our Culture Influences Who We Are and Our Understanding of Social BehaviorCHAPTER 2: Why Bother Study Culture-Social Behavior RelationshipsCHAPTER 3: How to Study CulturesCHAPTER 4: The Analysis of Subjective CulturesCHAPTER 5: Some Interesting Differences in Subjective CulturesCHAPTER 6: Cultures Differences in Patterns of Social BehaviorCHAPTER 7: Culture and CommunicationCHAPTER 8: Cultural Differences in Aggression, Helping, Dominance, Conformity, Obedience, and IntimacyCHAPTER 9: Dealing with Diversity and Intercultural RelationsCHAPTER 10: Intercultural Training
Universal Compression of Envelope Classes: Tight Characterization via Poisson Sampling ‡

The Poisson-sampling technique eliminates dependencies among symbol appearances in a random sequence. It has been used to simplify the analysis and strengthen the performance guarantees of randomized algorithms. Applying this method to universal compression, we relate the redundancies of fixed-length and Poisson-sampled sequences, use the relation to derive a simple single-letter formula that approximates the redundancy of any envelope class to within an additive logarithmic term. As a first application, we consider i.i.d. distributions over a small alphabet as a step-envelope class, and provide a short proof that determines the redundancy of discrete distributions over a small alphabet up to the first order terms. We then show the strength of our method by applying the formula to tighten the existing bounds on the redundancy of exponential and power-law classes, in particular answering a question posed by Boucheron, Garivier and Gassiat [6].
Elektronenbeugungsversuche am gasförmigen Nor‐tricyclen

Durch die Elektronenbeugungsversuche am gasformigen Nortricyclen wurde fur diese Verbindung die Konstitutionsformel I bewiesen und die Geometrie der Molekel festgelegt. Thermische und chemische Eigenschaften von Derivaten dieser Verbindung wurden, gestutzt auf die Strukturanalyse, diskutiert.
High-Performance Work Systems as an Initiator of Employee Proactivity and Flexible Work Processes

We offer a conceptual framework that explicates the effect of high-performance work systems (HPWS) on the flexibility of organizational work processes. The flexibility of work processes is conceptualized as the extent to which organizational work routines can be modified by employees to better exploit existing capabilities or be adapted to explore new alternatives. We argue that HPWS directly facilitate individual proactivity, and foster a supportive social structure that further enables individuals to be proactive in modifying their work processes. The proposed model is in response to calls for researchers to consider proximal outcomes related to the use of human resource management (HRM) systems and, more specifically, the need to better understand how HRM systems can enable employees to respond to threats and opportunities. Future research issues are also considered, including recommendations for empirical assessment of how employees modify their work processes.
Effects of flow configuration on bone tissue engineering using human mesenchymal stem cells in 3D chitosan composite scaffolds

Perfusion bioreactor plays important role in supporting 3D bone construct development. Scaffolds of chitosan composites have been studied to support bone tissue regeneration from osteogenic progenitor cells including human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSC). In this study, porous scaffolds of hydroxyapatite (H), chitosan (C), and gelatin (G) were fabricated by phase-separation and press-fitted in the perfusion bioreactor system where media flow is configured either parallel or transverse with respect to the scaffolds to investigate the impact of flow configuration on hMSC proliferation and osteogenic differentiation. The in vitro results showed that the interstitial flow in the transverse flow (TF) constructs reduced cell growth during the first week of culture but improved spatial cell distribution and early onset of osteogenic differentiation measured by alkaline phosphatase and expression of osteogenic genes. After 14 days of bioreactor culture, the TF constructs have comparable cell number but higher expression of bone markers genes and proteins compared to the parallel flow constructs. To evaluate ectopic bone formation, the HCG constructs seeded with hMSCs pre-cultured under two flow configurations for 7 days were implanted in CD-1 nude mice. While Masson's Trichrom staining revealed bone formation in both constructs, the TF constructs have improved spatial cell and osteoid distribution throughout the 2.0 mm constructs. The results highlight the divergent effects of media flow over the course of construct development and suggest that the flow configuration is an important parameter regulating the cellular events leading to bone construct formation in the HCG scaffolds.
Correspondence analysis of water quality data: implications for fauna deaths at Stillwater Lakes, Nevada.

Over the last 2 years, more than seven million fish and 16,000 birds have died from drought-induced disease and suspected poisoning at Stillwater Lakes, Nevada. Correspondence analysis of water samples taken in June and September 1986, from lakes and reservoirs near Stillwater Lakes and four background lakes/reservoirs (not associated with fauna disease and death), is attempted to investigate the correlation among sites associated with fauna deaths. This analysis identifies high correlation between some Stillwater Lakes sites and boron. A correlation between boron and arsenic is also identified. Leaching and transport of toxins to the Stillwater Lakes system is one hypothesis to explain the wildlife deaths. Other hypotheses include the direct introduction of toxins by groundwater associated with geothermal activity. A natural cause for the wildlife deaths is also suggested, a cause not associated with the introduction of toxins.
Synthesis and electrochemical evaluation of high capacity nanostructured VO2 cathodes

A metastable form of vanadium dioxide—designated as VO2(B)—has been synthesized by an ambient temperature reduction of aqueous vanadate ions with potassium borohydride and sodium dithionite followed by heating in vacuum at 230 °C. The samples have been characterized by X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and electrochemical discharge–charge cycling in lithium cells. These oxides exhibit a high reversible capacity of >300 mAh/g at 3.5–1 V and a moderate reversible capacity of close to 200 mAh/g at 3.5–2 V with good cyclability in a wide temperature range of −30 to 60 °C. Also, the VO2(B) cathodes exhibit excellent safety characteristics as indicated by the absence of exothermic peaks below 350 °C in differential scanning calorimetry (DSC).
Simultaneous determination of enalapril, felodipine and their degradation products in the dosage formulation by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography using a Spherisorb C8 column

Abstract A reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic (RP-HPLC) method was developed and validated for the simultaneous determination of enalapril and its two degradation products, enalaprilat (diacid, hydrolytic degradation product of enalapril) and enalapril-DKP (cyclization of enalapril); and felodipine and its degradation product, H152/37 (oxidation of felodipine) in the combined enalapril/felodipine (5 mg/5 mg) formulation. Using a Spherisorb C 8 column with a CH 3 CN-0.001 M KH 2 PO 4 (pH 2) (35:65, v/v) mobile phase, these compounds were well separated from each other, and also from maleic acid and the excipients in the formulation. The method was demonstrated to be precise, accurate, specific and robust. Optimization of the separation in terms of mobile phase composition is crucial to the method development, which is discussed in detail. It is proposed that under the experimental conditions used, the retention of felodipine, DKP and H152/37 is governed by the reversed-phase partitioning process whereas that of enalapril and diacid is governed by both the partitioning and the cation-exchange process with residual silanols.
John D. French and Daniel James, eds., The Gendered Worlds of Latin American Women Workers: From Household and Factory to the Union Hall and Ballot Box. Durham: Duke University Press, 1997. vii + 320 pp. $54.95 cloth; $17.95 paper.

This is an invaluable volume, expanding Latin American women's and labor history in important thematic, methodological, and theoretical directions. The authors explore the lives, struggles, and consciousness of urban working women in Brazil, the Southern Cone, Guatemala, and Colombia. By and large, the essays develop a nuanced understanding of the relationship between gender and class in twentieth-century Latin America. They incorporate postmodern approaches to historical analysis as well as the classic concerns of labor history with material conditions, social relations, and working-class political consciousness. The contributors examine the multiple meanings of discourse and popular culture while insisting that it is indeed possible to recapture women's experience in some measure. They generally move beyond the dichotomy of celebrating women's heroism and denouncing sexism, instead showing how solidarity between laboring women and men could be intimately interwoven with male domination. Finally, several of the authors employ oral history in sophisticated ways, demonstrating that how a story is told can be just as important in shaping our understanding of history as the empirical detail it may seem to offer us.