cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A Funnier "Monk": A Multimodal Approach to Transnational TV Series Adaptations

In their book Reading Television (1978: 64-5), John Fiske and John Hartley define television as a medium that provides the members of a particular community with a “confirming, reinforcing version of themselves.” Although the introduction of the unfamiliar and innovative via televisual productions is a business imperative as well as a cultural necessity today, television continues to function as a mirror of its receiving society, and provide its viewers with culturally appropriate content through its various semiotic modes of communication situated within the visual, verbal, and sound tracks. Televisual productions, in this sense, can be viewed as one of the most salient multimodal texts through which our everyday politics are continuously materialized, fictionalized, and rendered into an entertaining popular language that shapes our everyday perceptions and expectations. Transnational format adaptations, in particular, stand out as ample content-rich texts in which the processes of localization and appropriation, realized through individual semiotic choices made by producers, manifest themselves. It is the goal of this paper to trace back such semiotic choices made during the re-production phase of transnational format adaptations, and reveal sociocultural and political interventions in meaning making at the time, through a multimodal analysis of an American comedy crime series, Monk , and its Turkish adaptation, Galip Dervis .
State plane analysis of an auxiliary resonant commutated pole inverter and implementation with load current adaptive fixed timing control

State plane analysis has been successfully applied to resonant DC-DC converters. The equivalent circuit of the resonant mode of an auxiliary resonant commutated pole (ARCP) inverter is very similar to the parallel resonant converter. With proper normalization, the application of state plane analysis to the ARCP equivalent circuit is a geometric approach which provides much insight into the operating principle of the ARCP inverter. This elegant visualization simplifies the analysis and design of the ARCP inverter and can be extended to other ZVS inverters. A prototype ARCP inverter was constructed with load current adaptive control scheme, which utilizes the commutation characteristics of an inductive load to obtain soft switching performance with minimum hardware. Experimental waveforms are provided to show the soft switching performance of this ARCP inverter.
Human GRIN2B variants in neurodevelopmental disorders

The development of whole exome/genome sequencing technologies has given rise to an unprecedented volume of data linking patient genomic variability to brain disorder phenotypes. A surprising number of variants have been found in the N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) gene family, with the GRIN2B gene encoding the GluN2B subunit being implicated in many cases of neurodevelopmental disorders, which are psychiatric conditions originating in childhood and include language, motor, and learning disorders, autism spectrum disorder (ASD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), developmental delay, epilepsy, and schizophrenia. The GRIN2B gene plays a crucial role in normal neuronal development and is important for learning and memory. Mutations in human GRIN2B were distributed throughout the entire gene in a number of patients with various neuropsychiatric and developmental disorders. Studies that provide functional analysis of variants are still lacking, however current analysis of de novo variants that segregate with disease cases such as intellectual disability, developmental delay, ASD or epileptic encephalopathies reveal altered NMDAR function. Here, we summarize the current reports of disease-associated variants in GRIN2B from patients with multiple neurodevelopmental disorders, and discuss implications, highlighting the importance of functional analysis and precision medicine therapies.
Laparoscopic Distal Pancreatectomy for an ACTH Secreting Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumor

Abstract Introduction: Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) secreting pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors are rare malignancies that can present with symptoms of Cushing's syndrome. Here, we present a c...
Intraocular pressure in American Bullfrogs (Rana catesbeiana) measured with rebound and applanation tonometry

Objective To measure the intraocular pressure (IOP) in normal American Bullfrogs (Rana catesbeiana) with rebound and applanation tonometry and to create calibration curves for both tonometers to determine the actual IOP of bullfrogs. Procedures Twenty bullfrogs were evaluated with slip-lamp biomicroscopy, indirect ophthalmoscopy, rebound tonometry, and applanation tonometry. Axial globe length and corneal thickness were measured in the three largest and the three smallest frogs with ultrasonography and optical coherence tomography, respectively. Two frogs were euthanized for direct manometry. Results The median IOP was 4 mmHg with the rebound tonometer and 16 mmHg with the applanation tonometer. The correlation coefficient (r2) between the manometry measurements and the tonometers was 0.95 and 0.91 for the rebound and applanation tonometers, respectively. The corresponding equations were y = 0.331x + 0.558 for the rebound tonometer and y = 0.675x + 1.907 for the applanation tonometer. The median axial globe length was 0.94 cm. The median corneal thickness was 0.093 mm. Conclusions The rebound tonometer is the preferable tonometer for American Bullfrogs. Neither tonometer produced IOP readings that matched the manometer. The rebound tonometer was more precise and it was faster and easier to use.
FDA Oversight of Postmarketing Studies.

The FDA aims to ensure the timely dissemination of information from postmarketing studies of drugs. The authors argue that an analysis of the effect of the FDA Amendments Act would evaluate the timeliness of FDAAA postmarketing requirements separately from that of other types of requirements.
Testing in History

Even though written expression is at the heart of the historical process, multiple-choice tests dominate achievement testing. Starting with studies in the 1920s and 1930s, Wineburg and Fogo explore what happened in California – where history/social science standards were first adopted – once essays gave way to quizzes. Following the comparison of the framework's goals with sample questions that push students to do little more than recognize and associate, the authors conclude that standardized multiple-choice testing endures for reasons of economy and efficiency, but not to further student learning – which would benefit from a restored emphasis on analytical writing skills.
The Challenges of Teaching Gender Equality in a World of Reproductive Gendercide

Stemming from ancient practices of female infanticide, the system of eliminating females is not decreasing with time and understanding, or with contemporary notions of post-modern gender equality. Rather, gendercide reflects the low status of female people around the world, and is increasing with advances in reproductive technology. Further complicating these gender equality concerns is the fact that gendercide is mostly accomplished by women. This essay deals directly with teaching, case books and curriculum in legal education in the context of reproductive rights and gender equality. Because the global problem of gender discrimination is advancing based on reproductive liberty, legal educators and scholars must be prepared to do something about it. This piece offers suggestions for scholarship, curriculum, and casebooks that will make a great deal of difference for furthering gender equality. Particularly in feminist discourse reproductive rights are inherent to gender equality, an idea also generally prevalent in legal education. When gender equality’s foundation relies on unregulated reproductive rights, and those rights work to the actual diminishment and severe detriment of females, gender equality is turned against itself, even cannibalized, resulting in a sabotage of women in the colliding legal ideals of liberty and equality. This phenomenon in legal education undermines the ability to honestly discuss the conflict – undercutting gender equality at its foundation – making gender equality all the more challenging to achieve. This essay takes that challenge, considering reproductive sex selective technology, examining how it fosters gender inequality through both numbers and theory, and discussing what legal scholars and educators can do about it. It offers suggestions for solid scholarship, various appropriate casebook enhancements, and suggestions for teaching a curriculum of gender equality with justifiable incorporation of the impact of gendercide on gender equality.
Surgery of the avian respiratory system.

The avian respiratory system is different from that of mammals. Although some surgical techniques can be adapted from those used in mammals, many are unique to avian patients (e.g., choanal atresia correction and air sac cannulation). This article reviews the common surgeries of the upper and lower respiratory systems and describes surgical techniques for the treatment of chronic sinusitis and cranial coelomic mass removal.
Exploiting the Weekend Effect by Trading Closed-End Funds

Closed-end mutual funds allow equity portfolios to be traded like individual stocks and provide a way to implement trading strategies designed to exploit the weekend effect that has been observed in portfolio returns for over a century. Weekend effect trading is aimed at taking a short position on Friday to capture a negative return on Monday. Investor behavior causes this effect through individuals selling stocks on Mondays as a result of weekend portfolio review and/or through short-sellers covering positions on Fridays. After transaction costs, weekend trading is most profitable after the market declines between .5% and 1.5% on Friday.
Tribotechnical Parameters of Repair Compound Materials

This paper describes the study of tribotechnical properties of modern construction materials based on epoxy compositions—the imported repair compounds Loctite 3474, Loctite 3479, and Loctite 3472 and the domestic antifriction materials MAS-3KhB and MAS-4UG. The results of comparative studies of the friction coefficient, temperature, friction factor, and wear of materials during work without lubrication, with water, and with oil are presented.
SRCP1 Conveys Resistance to Polyglutamine Aggregation.

Summary The polyglutamine (polyQ) diseases are a group of nine neurodegenerative diseases caused by the expansion of a polyQ tract that results in protein aggregation. Unlike other model organisms, Dictyostelium discoideum is a proteostatic outlier, naturally encoding long polyQ tracts yet resistant to polyQ aggregation. Here we identify serine-rich chaperone protein 1 (SRCP1) as a molecular chaperone that is necessary and sufficient to suppress polyQ aggregation. SRCP1 inhibits aggregation of polyQ-expanded proteins, allowing for their degradation via the proteasome, where SRCP1 is also degraded. SRCP1’s C-terminal domain is essential for its activity in cells, and peptides that mimic this domain suppress polyQ aggregation in vitro. Together our results identify a novel type of molecular chaperone and reveal how nature has dealt with the problem of polyQ aggregation.
Cottage by the sea or house above the trees: which is better for my lungs?

Lung function is better than systolic blood pressure in predicting all-cause mortality and surprisingly circulatory disease mortality.1 It is a strong predictor of shorter survival even among people who have never smoked and in those with no symptoms of lung disease.1–3 A lung function lower than normal is usually the result of poor lung development in early life or a rapid decline of lung function with age during adulthood or both.4–6 The best established risk factor for rapid decline in lung function is tobacco smoking,7 but obesity, occupational exposures and socioeconomic position-related factors may also play a key role.8–12 In addition, there is evidence showing that people with asthma or hypertension tend to see a faster deterioration of their lung function.5 13 However, most data on this topic come from studies carried out mainly in high-income countries bringing into question whether the same is true in low/middle-income countries, where the prevalence of tobacco smoking has been lower and other environmental factors may be of greater relevance. Miele et al 14 report findings of the CRONICAS study where they investigated whether prebronchodilator lung function is affected by factors such as urbanisation, altitude, use of biomass for cooking, asthma, chronic bronchitis, history of pulmonary TB, hypertension, body mass index (BMI), diabetes and systemic C-reactive protein levels. …
Intestinal epithelial HMGB1 inhibits bacterial infection via STAT3 regulation of autophagy

Extracellular HMGB1 (high mobility group box 1) is considered as a damage-associated molecular pattern protein. However, little is known about its intracellular role. We studied the mechanism whereby intestinal epithelial HMGB1 contributes to host defense, using cell culture, colonoids, conditional intestinal epithelial HMGB1-knockout mice with Salmonella-colitis, il10-/- mice, and human samples. We report that intestinal HMGB1 is an important contributor to host protection from inflammation and infection. We identified a physical interaction between HMGB1 and STAT3. Lacking intestinal epithelial HMGB1 led to redistribution of STAT3 and activation of STAT3 post bacterial infection. Indeed, Salmonella-infected HMGB1-deficient cells exhibited less macroautophagy/autophagy due to decreased expression of autophagy proteins and transcriptional repression by activated STAT3. Then, increased p-STAT3 and extranuclear STAT3 reduced autophagic responses and increased inflammation. STAT3 inhibition restored autophagic responses and reduced bacterial invasion in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, low level of HMGB1 was correlated with reduced nuclear STAT3 and enhanced p-STAT3 in inflamed intestine of il10-/- mice and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients. We revealed that colonic epithelial HMGB1 was directly involved in the suppression of STAT3 activation and the protection of intestine from bacterial infection and injury. Abbreviations: ATG16L1: autophagy-related 16-like 1 (S. cerevisiae); DAMP: damage-associated molecular pattern; HBSS: Hanks balanced salt solution; HMGB1: high mobility group box 1; IBD: inflammatory bowel disease; IL1B/Il-1β: interleukin 1 beta; IL10: interleukin 10; IL17/IL-17: interleukin 17; MEFs: mouse embryonic fibroblasts; STAT3: signal transducer and activator of transcription 3; TLR: toll-like receptor; TNF/TNF-α: tumor necrosis factor.
Case Study of a New Engineering Early College High School: Advancing Educational Opportunities for Underrepresented Students in an Urban Area:

In response to the pervasive problem of making college more accessible to at-risk and underrepresented populations, the early college high school (ECHS) model has gained popularity. However, limite...
Conserved serum protein biomarkers associated with growing early colorectal adenomas.

A major challenge for the reduction of colon cancer is to detect patients carrying high-risk premalignant adenomas with minimally invasive testing. As one step, we have addressed the feasibility of detecting protein signals in the serum of patients carrying an adenoma as small as 6–9 mm in maximum linear dimension. Serum protein biomarkers, discovered in two animal models of early colonic adenomagenesis, were studied in patients using quantitative mass-spectrometric assays. One cohort included patients bearing adenomas known to be growing on the basis of longitudinal computed tomographic colonography. The other cohort, screened by optical colonoscopy, included both patients free of adenomas and patients bearing adenomas whose risk status was judged by histopathology. The markers F5, ITIH4, LRG1, and VTN were each elevated both in this patient study and in the studies of the Pirc rat model. The quantitative study in the Pirc rat model had demonstrated that the elevated level of each of these markers is correlated with the number of colonic adenomas. However, the levels of these markers in patients were not significantly correlated with the total adenoma volume. Postpolypectomy blood samples demonstrated that the elevated levels of these four conserved markers persisted after polypectomy. Two additional serum markers rapidly renormalized after polypectomy: growth-associated CRP levels were enhanced only with high-risk adenomas, while PI16 levels, not associated with growth, were reduced regardless of risk status. We discuss biological hypotheses to account for these observations, and ways for these signals to contribute to the prevention of colon cancer.
Examining the risk factors and needs of veterans involuntarily doubling-up with family or friends

Prior research has found that individuals who are involuntarily doubling-up are at greater risk of experiencing homelessness and continued housing instability. Using intake assessment data from com...
Identifying Comfort Areas in 3D Space for Persons with Upper Extremity Mobility Impairments Using Virtual Reality

We present a method to extract workspace comfort areas for ergonomic placement of assistive technologies for persons with upper extremity mobility impairments Currently, areas of comfort are determined using multiple physical prototypes over several iterations which is expensive and time consuming. Our method utilizes a virtual reality exergame to obtain user-specific end effector motion data which is then combined with kernel density estimation to identify areas of frequent motion. Levels of comfort were confirmed by calculating shoulder joint forces necessary to reach these frequented areas and validated through a user study. Identifying areas of comfort in the workspace allows for optimal positioning and training of input devices for numerous applications.
Association Between Race/Ethnicity and Insurance Status with Outcomes in Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Racial/ethnic disparities in prognosis have been reported in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC); however, few studies have evaluated racial/ethnic disparities in the context of insurance status. Characterize racial/ethnic and insurance status in early tumor detection, receipt of curative therapy and overall survival in a multicenter diverse cohort of HCC patients from the USA. We included patients with HCC diagnosed between June 2012 and May 2013 at four centers in the USA. Generalized linear mixed effects models were used to compare early tumor detection (defined using Milan Criteria) and curative treatment receipt (liver transplantation, surgical resection, or local ablation) as a function of patient race/ethnicity and insurance status. A multivariable frailty survival model was used to compare risk of death between patient groups. Of 379 HCC patients (52.8% non-Hispanic White, 19.5% Hispanic White, 19.8% Black), 46.4% and 48.0% were found at an early stage and underwent curative therapy, respectively, and median overall survival of the cohort was 25.7 months. Early detection of HCC was associated with gastroenterology subspecialty care and receipt of HCC surveillance but not race/ethnicity or insurance status in adjusted models. However, commercial insurance was significantly associated with higher odds of curative treatment receipt, which in turn was the strongest correlate for overall survival. After adjusting for health system and insurance status, race/ethnicity was not associated with curative treatment receipt or overall survival. Insurance status and access to gastroenterology subspecialty care may be important drivers of racial/ethnic disparities in prognosis among HCC patients.
Recent Developments in Perfect Bricks with Dimension Higher than 2 x 2

A numerical semigroup S is a set of nonnegative integers such that S contains 0, S is closed under addition, and the complement of S is finite. This paper considers pairs (S, I) of a given numerical semigroup S and corresponding relative ideal I such that μ(I)μ(S − I) = μ(I + (S − I)), where μ denotes the size of the minimal generating set and S−I is the dual of I in S. We will present recent results in the research of such pairs (perfect bricks) with μ(I) > 2 and μ(S − I) > 2. We will also show the existence of an infinite family of perfect bricks. Acknowledgements: I would like to thank my research advisor, Jeff Rushall, for all of his help and support. Page 162 RHIT Undergrad. Math. J., Vol. 13, No. 1
A mechanistic study of microstructure modulation in olefin polymerizations using a redox-active Ni(II) α-diimine catalyst

Polyolefins are among the world's most widely produced and utilized classes of polymers, serving as synthetic alternatives to traditional materials such as wood, glass, and metal. While numerous prior research efforts have focused on the development of faster, more efficient, and less expensive catalysts, recent studies have demonstrated that redox-active olefin polymerization catalysts may also be employed to modulate catalytic activity, reactivity, and selectivity in situ. One example of these efforts is the modulation of polyolefin microstructure and comonomer incorporation via the use of a redox-switchable Ni(II) α-diimine catalyst. Though this capability is intriguing, neither the mechanisms that lead to this behavior nor the structures of the active reduced catalyst species are completely understood. Herein, we report a computational study based on density functional theory designed to better understand the structure and underlying olefin polymerization mechanisms of the active catalytic species in two distinct redox states. These findings are further supported through experimental evidence and suggest that upon activation of the reduced catalyst species, the added electron density of the catalyst is transferred from the active metal center to the α-diimine ligand. Consequently, the observed decrease in polyethylene branching that results from catalyst reduction is believed to stem from changes in the subtle balance of steric, electronic, and entropic effects, primarily perturbing the coordination of subsequent monomer units. This perturbation is expressed not only in the monomer-inserted-product energy differences but also in the catalysts' deviation from square planarity about the Ni center. Through these studies, we can better understand how the addition of an electron to a Ni(II) α-diimine catalyst perturbs its catalytic behavior, which may influence the design of future generations of redox-active olefin polymerization catalysts.
A systematic, label-free method for identifying RNA-associated proteins in vivo provides insights into vertebrate ciliary beating

Abstract Cell-type specific RNA-associated proteins (RAPs) are essential for development and homeostasis in animals. Despite a massive recent effort to systematically identify RAPs, we currently have few comprehensive rosters of cell-type specific RAPs in vertebrate tissues. Here, we demonstrate the feasibility of determining the RNA-interacting proteome of a defined vertebrate embryonic tissue using DIF-FRAC, a systematic and universal (i.e., label-free) method. Application of DIF-FRAC to cultured tissue explants of Xenopus mucociliary epithelium identified dozens of known RAPs as expected, but also several novel RAPs, including proteins related to assembly of the mitotic spindle and regulation of ciliary beating. In particular, we show that the inner dynein arm tether Cfap44 is an RNA-associated protein that localizes not only to axonemes, but also to liquid-like organelles in the cytoplasm called DynAPs. This result led us to discover that DynAPs are generally enriched for RNA. Together, these data provide a useful resource for a deeper understanding of mucociliary epithelia and demonstrate that DIF-FRAC will be broadly applicable for systematic identification of RAPs from embryonic tissues.
Comparison of Narrow-Versus Broad-Spectrum Antibiotics in Elderly Patients With Acute Exacerbations of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

BackgroundLittle evidence is available regarding the choice of empiric antibiotic therapy in elderly patients with acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD). The primary...
Declines in plant productivity drive loss of soil elevation in a tidal freshwater marsh exposed to saltwater intrusion.

We experimentally increased salinities in a tidal freshwater marsh on the Altamaha River (Georgia, USA) by exposing the organic rich soils to 3.5 yr of continuous (press) and episodic (pulse) treatments with dilute seawater to simulate the effects of climate change such as sea level rise (press) and drought (pulse). We quantified changes in root production and decomposition, soil elevation, and soil C stocks in replicated (n = 6) 2.5 × 2.5 m field plots. Elevated salinity had no effect on root decomposition, but it caused a significant reduction in root production and belowground biomass that is needed to build and maintain soil elevation capital. The lack of carbon inputs from root production resulted in reduced belowground biomass of 1631 ± 308 vs. 2964 ± 204 g/m2 in control plots and an overall 2.8 ± 0.9 cm decline in soil surface elevation in the press plots in the first 3.5 yr, whereas the control (no brackish water additions) and the fresh (river water only) treatments gained 1.2 ± 0.4 and 1.7 ± 0.3 cm, respectively, in a 3.5-yr period. There was no change in elevation of pulse plots after 3.5 yr. Based on measurements of bulk density and soil C, the decline of 2.8 cm of surface elevation resulted in a loss of 0.77 ± 0.5 kg C/m2 in press plots. In contrast, the control and the fresh treatment plots gained 0.25 ± 0.04 and 0.36 ± 0.03 kg C/m2, respectively, which represents a net change in C storage of more than 1 kg C/m2. We conclude that, when continuously exposed to saltwater intrusion, the tidal freshwater marsh's net primary productivity, especially root production, and not decomposition, are the main drivers of soil organic matter (SOM) accumulation. Reduced productivity leads to loss of soil elevation and soil C, which has important implications for tidal freshwater marsh persistence in the face of rising sea level.
Geochemical Controls on Release and Speciation of Fe(II) and Mn(II) From Hyporheic Sediments of East River, Colorado

Hyporheic zones act as critical ecological links between terrestrial and aquatic systems where redox-sensitive metals of iron (Fe) and manganese (Mn) significantly impact nutrient cycling and water quality. However, the geochemical controls on the release and speciation of Fe(II) and Mn(II) in these biogeochemical hotspots are still poorly understood. Here we conducted batch incubation experiments and analyzed Fe K-edge extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) spectroscopy data using sediment samples from a hyporheic zone of the East River floodplain in Colorado to understand the production, release and speciation of Fe(II) and Mn(II) in groundwater. Our results indicate that the production and release of Fe(II) and Mn(II) vary with sediment reducing conditions and subsurface positions, and the rates were determined either by a zero- or first-order rate equation. The sediments with higher Fe(II) production did not necessarily result in higher release of dissolved Fe(II), and  97% Fe(II) is accumulated in solid phase. We found that the majority of Fe(II) exists as siderite (FeCO3), Fe(II)-natural organic matter (NOM) complexes and ferrosmectite, and the equilibrium concentrations of dissolved Fe(II) are controlled primarily by siderite solubility, and enhanced greatly by formation of strong Fe(II)-NOM complexes as dominant aqueous Fe(II) species. By contract, dissolved Mn(II) increases slowly and linearly, and an equilibrium concentration was not reached during the incubation period, and the roles of rhodochrosite (MnCO3) and Mn(II)-NOM complexes are insignificant. Furthermore, we reviewed and calibrated the literature reported binding constants (log K) of Fe(II)-NOM complexes which successfully predicted our experimental data. This work reveals that siderite and dissolved NOM are the controlling phases in release and speciation of dissolved Fe(II), and the finding is expected to be applicable in many hyporheic zones and subsurface environments with similar geochemical conditions.
Improving Distributed Neuroevolution Using Island Extinction and Repopulation.

Neuroevolution commonly uses speciation strategies to better explore the search space of neural network architectures. One such speciation strategy is the use of islands, which are also popular in improving the performance of distributed evolutionary algorithms. However, islands may experience stagnation, which prevents their convergence towards better solutions and can result in wasted computation. This work evaluates utilizing an island extinction and repopulation mechanism to avoid premature convergence using Evolutionary eXploration of Augmenting Memory Models (EXAMM), an asynchronous island based neuroevolution algorithm that progressively evolves recurrent neural networks (RNNs). In island extinction and repopulation, all members of the worst performing island are erased periodically and repopulated with mutated versions of the global best RNN. This island based strategy is additionally compared to NEAT’s (NeuroEvolution of Augmenting Topologies) speciation strategy. Experiments were performed using two different real-world time series datasets (coal-fired power plant and aviation flight data). With statistical significance, results show that in addition to being more scalable, this island extinction and repopulation strategy evolves better global best genomes than both EXAMM’s original island based strategy and NEAT’s speciation strategy. The extinction and repopulation strategy is easy to implement, and can be generically applied to other neuroevolution algorithms.
Validity of a patient-specific percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) simulated surgical rehearsal platform: impact on patient and surgical outcomes

Simulators provide a safe method for improving surgical skills without the associated patient risks. Advances in rapid prototyping technology have permitted the reconstruction of patient imaging into patient-specific surgical simulations that require advanced expertise, potentially continuing the learning curve. To evaluate the impact of preoperative high-fidelity patient-specific percutaneous nephrolithotomy hydrogel simulations on surgical and patient outcomes. Between 2016 and 2017, a fellowship-trained endourologist performed 20 consecutive percutaneous nephrolithotomy procedures at an academic referral center. For the first ten patients, only standard review of patient imaging was completed. For the next ten patients, patient imaging was utilized to fabricate patient-specific models including pelvicalyceal system, kidney, stone, and relevant adjacent structures from hydrogel. The models were tested to confirm anatomic accuracy and material properties similar to live tissue. Full procedural rehearsals were completed 24–48 h before the real case. Surgical metrics and patient outcomes from both groups (rehearsal vs. standard) were compared. Significant improvements in mean fluoroscopy time, percutaneous needle access attempts, complications, and additional procedures were significantly lower in the rehearsal group (184.8 vs. 365.7 s, p < 0.001; 1.9 vs. 3.6 attempts, p < 0.001; 1 vs. 5, p < 0.001; and 1 vs. 5, p < 0.001, respectively). There were no differences in stone free rates, mean patient age, body mass index, or stone size between the two groups. This study demonstrates that patient-specific procedural rehearsal is effective reducing the experience curve for a complex endourological procedure, resulting in improved surgical performance and patient outcomes.
Computational optimization of solar thermal generation with energy storage

Abstract Integrating renewable energy resources into power systems is essential for achieving sustainability targets. Concentrated solar power can incorporate thermal energy storage, which can provide larger storage capacities than other technologies. In this study, a comprehensive computational framework is developed for the modeling and optimization of a parabolic trough plant with storage. A Particle Swarm Optimization – Mesh Adaptive Direct Search hybrid scheme is applied to optimize hourly plant operations. A 16.5 MWe parabolic trough plant with thermal energy storage, simulated to be located in Daggett, California, is modeled and optimized. The optimal storage duration is four hours with a net present value of $37.40 million. The results show that scenarios including higher peaks in electricity prices yield an optimal storage duration of six hours and net present value of $63.70 million. Importantly, a plant operating under a Purchase Power Agreement without storage results in a 25% decrease in net present value, indicating that it is beneficial to utilize storage and sell at market prices rather than enter into a Power Purchase Agreement at fixed prices. Computational capabilities of the type developed in this study are essential for assessing the impact of future price scenarios on optimal plant design and operations.
Developmental Venous Anomalies

Developmental venous anomalies (DVA) are the most common blood vessel abnormality of the central nervous system. The etiology of DVAs remains unclear. DVAs drain normal brain and are associated with other cerebrovascular lesions, such as cavernous malformations (CM). Consensus dictates that isolated DVAs do not require treatment and, in fact, removal of a DVA may lead to extreme venous stasis, infarction and hemorrhage. When associated with abnormalities that require resection, such as CMs, care should be taken not to violate the venous collector of the DVA given the aforementioned potential complications.
e-Commerce Standards

Standards are essential to insure that devices and networks work together effectively to provide access to content and communication. They are also necessary to reduce the costs of e-commerce transactions, especially between businesses. This entry provides a basic definition of standards and a brief overview of the role of standards throughout the history of electronic communications and e-commerce. The main research themes related to standards are introduced, including research on the economics of compatibility standards; network and bandwagon effects in the adoption of standards; and collective action dilemmas in standards development and diffusion, especially in the context of vertical information system standards to support electronic commerce. Keywords: communication networks; digital media; electronic commerce; information and communication technology; standardization
Evaluating the legitimacy of entrepreneurship and small business as a field of study

Purpose – The paper aims to clarify a debate about the legitimacy of entrepreneurship as a field of study. Katz and Kuratko continued this discussion by evaluating the legitimacy as an academic discipline. Their work extends the earlier contributions of Stephenson, Meyer, Finkle et al., and Fiet. Their research focused on the use of secondary data to consider this research question. This study uses an empirical evaluation of the actors that form the basis of this field of study, the faculty that teach entrepreneurship. Design/methodology/approach – This study used an online survey to ascertain the academic background, dissertation subject, doctoral course work, teaching assignments, and research output of individuals that described themselves as entrepreneurship faculty. Findings – The results show that a significant percentage of the sample of college instructors did not have a doctorate in entrepreneurship, nor did they study entrepreneurship in their curriculum thereby potentially undermining perceptio...
The Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Summary Judgment Trilogy: Much Ado About Very Little

The twenty-fifth anniversary of the Supreme Court’s famous summary judgment trilogy in 1986 offers an opportunity to assess the impact of this trilogy on federal practice. This study sets out to answer a few relatively simple questions: are federal courts doing anything more than citing Celotex as the leading Rule 56 precedent, and if so, are they indeed following the analytical burden-shifting framework so carefully and elaborately set out by Justices Rehnquist and Brennan? A sub-textual inquiry was: do federal judges understand Celotex, any more than our largely confused and confounded first year law students? In addition, this study also researched the extent to which the trilogy’s second leg ― Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc. ― has resulted in numerous trial-by-affidavit nightmares suggested by Justice Brennan in his dissent. The results of this study seem to suggest that in a surprising number of summary judgment cases, federal courts don’t even cite Celotex. If this were not shocking enough, in the remaining universe of decisions where courts do cite Celotex, some federal judges do not seem to acknowledge, understand, or apply the elaborate Celotex conceptual framework. The data also seem to suggest that in at least many cases, federal judges ― as they did pre-Celotex ― continue to decide summary judgment motions on a kind-of gestalt “tennis match” mode of analysis. The various FJC studies of post-trilogy summary judgment practice have demonstrated that the disposition rates (that is, favorable grants of summary judgment motions) have not increased in statistically significant ways in the aftermath of the trilogy. Along with the FJC studies, this very modest study further suggests that the trilogy’s central Celotex decision likewise has had small impact on the ways in which judges analyze and decide summary judgment motions. In addition, the Anderson decision’s core evidentiary holding has been replicated in exactly three other somewhat anomalous contexts, in the past 25 years ― clearly averting any substantial judicial crisis. Surveying these realities, it is difficult not to conclude that the Court’s summary judgment trilogy, along with its attendant hype, has been much ado about very little. Against this backdrop, practitioners who must file summary judgment motions may take some comfort in realizing that in most instances in federal court, at least, the lawyers need not overly fret over shifting burdens of production, persuasion, and proof, so long as the attorneys proffer something in the record for a judge to consider (except in those outlying federal courts that have chosen to dun attorneys who do not point to the specific evidence). And while some erudite judges on the federal bench may justifiably take pride in wending their way through a recitation and application of the Celotex standards, judges also may take comfort in knowing that they also largely will not be dunned by appellate courts for failure to recite or properly apply Celotex.
Rates of continental erosion and mountain building

The first objective of this work was to obtain values for the rates at which continental erosion can smooth out or remove the topographic expression produced by orogeny. The dominant part is played by mechanical erosion, which acts most strongly in regions of large topographic expression. Chemical erosion depends strongly on precipitation or runoff in individual river drainage basins, but because most continents have very similar average rainfall, chemical erosion is fairly uniform for continental sized areas, and will succeed in planing down all continents to a level peneplain if given enough time. The exception to this rule is Australia, which has a very low chemical erosion rate because of its dryness. The time constants for mechanical and chemical erosion so obtained vary between about 30 and 300 My depending on the continent and the assumptions made. Mountain building occurs throughout the geological time-scale, but at a non-uniform rate. Although there will not be a balance between erosion and mountain building over a short time-scale, due to the non-uniform rate of mountain building, the long-term situation must be that the two phenomena should balance out. It is shown that the freeboard of continents will respond to the long-term balance between mountain building and erosion. An expression has been derived for the average continental elevation in which the rate of mountain building depends on the rate of radiogenic heat production within the earth. It is shown that relatively small changes in average elevation above sea level of a few hundred metres are predicted to have occurred since the beginning of the Proterozoic. As mountain building is predicted to decrease on average with time, because of the reduction in internal heat generation, and as erosion is dependent on the average elevation, this average elevation will decrease slowly through time, the opposite of what some workers have predicted. A more complicated model of mountain building is then investigated, in which one component of mountain building has a sinusoidal signal. The oscillations in average elevation depend on the period of the sinusoid, being smaller for shorter periods. Finally, an average continental elevation is derived using a list of real orogenic events. Although this list of orogenies is incomplete, there is some indication that the actual continental elevation as seen in the flooding history of the continents is similar to that derived in this paper.
Emotional Experience and Interaction Design

The emotional experience of an interactive system has been the subject of a great deal of recent interest and study in the HCI community. However, many of researchers have pointed out the extreme difficulty in predicting or controlling these emotional experiences through intentional design choices. However, the user study we conducted proposes a different point-of-view than these claims. Although these emotional responses were not always tied directly to the device itself and influenced by contextual factors, we discovered that certain controllable aspects of interactive products showed clear patterns of emotion in the responses of our participants. We discuss our findings and provide implications for the design of emotional experiences in interactive devices.
Talents Oriented Strategy of Online Learning in Universities

This article argues online learning strategy and teaching characteristics in universities. First it introduces learning activities in EFL must be integrated with technology appropriately to develop talents effectively. Then it puts forward the idea of talents oriented integrative online learning. For incorporating active learning into online teaching it lists some active learning strategies that can be adapted for the online “classroom”. Finally it recommends the detailed talents oriented strategy of online learning design and analyzes effective and appropriate items for learning activity. Key words: Talents; Online Learning; Strategy; Universities; EFL Resume: Cet article parle de la strategie d'apprentissage en ligne et des caracteristiques de l'enseignement en ligne dans les universites. Premierement, il introduit des activites d'apprentissage EFL (English as foreign language) qui doivent etre integrees avec la technologie appropriee pour developper les talents de facon efficace. Puis il met en avant l'idee de l'apprentissage en ligne. Pour incorporer l'apprentissage actif dans l'enseignement en ligne, il enumere quelques-unes des strategies d'apprentissage actives qui peuvent etre adaptees a la «classe» en ligne. Et finalement, il recommande la strategie orientees vers les talents detaillee de la conception de l'apprentissage en ligne et analyse des elements efficaces et appropriees pour les activites d'apprentissage. Mots-Cles: talents; apprentissage en ligne; strategie; universites; EFL
Host Preference of the Crapemyrtle Aphid (Hemiptera: Aphididae) and Host Suitability of Crapemyrtle Cultivars

Crapemyrtle aphids, Sarucallis kahawaluokalani (Kirkaldy), are a common pest of crapemyrtle (Lagerstroemia spp.) throughout the southeastern United States. Breeding programs have produced >100 crapemyrtle cultivars that vary in floral color, plant height, and disease resistance, but these programs did not evaluate insect resistance as part of the selection process. In this study, the host suitability of crapemyrtle cultivars and host preference of the crapemyrtle aphid were tested using the following seven crapemyrtle cultivars: 'Carolina Beauty', 'Byers Wonderful White', 'Apalachee', 'Lipan', 'Tuscarora', 'Sioux', and 'Natchez'. Host suitability or aphid preference may be affected by cultivar attributes of plant parentage, source of Lagerstroemia fauriei Koehne germplasm, and mature plant height. Host suitability was evaluated by measuring daily and total fecundity under no-choice conditions. Host preference of the crapemyrtle aphid was tested in a choice experiment that used eight crapemyrtle cultivars; the seven used in the no-choice experiment plus Lagerstroemia speciosa L. In the no-choice experiment, aphid daily fecundity was not different among the crapemyrtle cultivars, but aphid total fecundity was different for the factors cultivar, plant parentage, source of germplasm, and mature plant height. Crapemyrtle aphid host preference in the choice experiment indicated that there were differences among cultivar, parentage, source of germplasm, and mature plant height. Results from this study are useful for plant breeding programs that have the objective of producing aphid resistant cultivars.
Uplift Capacity of Plate Anchors in Saturated Clays: Analyses with Different Constitutive Models

AbstractEvaluation of the uplift capacity of plate anchors in saturated clay is an important aspect in the design of offshore foundation systems of various structures. In most of the literature reviewed, simple constitutive models such as Tresca or Mohr–Coulomb (MC) have been used in evaluating the plates’ pullout capacity. There exists a need to study the pullout capacity of anchors using other advanced soil models and explore differences in computed behavior. In addition to the MC model, two other constitutive models are used herein to represent the soil behavior. These are Modified Cam-Clay and Soft Soil models. A series of finite-element analyses are performed using the three constitutive models. Undrained effective stress analyses are conducted to study the response of both strip and circular plate anchors in saturated soils. The capacities of plate anchors are assessed through the application of the displacement control approach. The effective stress parameters are correlated with the undrained shea...