cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Computational algorithm to evaluate product disassembly cost index

Environmentally conscious manufacturing is an important paradigm in today's engineering practice. Disassembly is a crucial factor in implementing this paradigm. Disassembly allows the reuse and recycling of parts and products that reach their death after their life cycle ends. There are many questions that must be answered before a disassembly decision can be reached. The most important question is economical. The cost of disassembly versus the cost of scrapping a product is always considered. This paper develops a computational tool that allows decision-makers to calculate the disassembly cost of a product. The tool makes it simple to perform 'what if' scenarios fairly quickly. The tool is Web based and has two main parts. The front-end part is a Web page and runs on the client side in a Web browser, while the back-end part is a disassembly engine (servlet) that has disassembly knowledge and costing algorithms and runs on the server side. The tool is based on the client/server model that is pervasively utilized throughout the World Wide Web. An example is used to demonstrate the implementation and capabilities of the tool.© (2002) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Computer science/informatics: the study of the Information World

In this paper we argue that every secondary school curriculum should include study of informatics/computer science. We present the highlights of the Model High School Computer Science Curriculum which has been endorsed by the Association for Computing Machinery and give arguments for including a study of basic topics of informatics in every ‘computer literacy’ curriculum—be it at the elementary level or in a course for university students not majoring in informatics. Finally we discuss possible ways in which the teaching of informatics can be improved by using computer as a teaching tool, not just as the subject of study.
Parameters of Instrumental Swallowing Evaluations: Describing a Diagnostic Dilemma

The aim of this study was to compare selected parameters of two swallow evaluations: fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES) and the modified barium swallow (MBS) study. This was a cross-sectional, descriptive study. Fifty-five clinicians were asked to watch video recordings of swallow evaluations of 2 patients that were done using fluoroscopy and endoscopy simultaneously. In a randomized order, clinicians viewed 4 edited videos from simultaneous evaluations: the FEES and MBS videos of patient 1 and 2 each taking one swallow of 5 mL applesauce. Clinicians filled out a questionnaire that asked (1) which anatomical sites they could visualize on each video, (2) where they saw pharyngeal residue after a swallow, (3) their overall clinical impression of the pharyngeal residue, and (4) their opinions of the evaluation styles. Clinicians reported a significant difference in the visualization of anatomical sites, 11 of the 15 sites were reported as better-visualized on the FEES than on the MBS video (p < 0.05). Clinicians also rated residue to be present in more locations on the FEES than on the MBS. Clinicians' overall impressions of the severity of residue on the same exact swallow were significantly different depending on the evaluation type (FEES vs. MBS for patient 1 χ(2) = 20.05, p < 0.0001; patient 2 χ(2) = 7.52, p = 0.006), with FEES videos rated more severely. FEES advantages were: more visualization of pharyngeal and laryngeal swallowing anatomy and residue. However, as a result, clinicians provided more severe impressions of residue amount on FEES. On one hand, this suggests that FEES is a more sensitive tool than MBS studies, but on the other hand, clinicians might provide more severe interpretations on FEES.
Clinical Pharmacology and Use of Laxatives and Lavage Solutions

Laxatives and lavage solutions are used in the treatment of constipation and toxic ingestion and also for preparation of the colon before endoscopic or surgical procedures. Several different categories of agents are available for use. These include bulking agents, osmotic agents, secretagogues and agents with direct effects on epithelial nerve or smooth muscle cells, and lubricating agents. Each category has different pharmacologic effects, side effects, and clinical indications. This review summarizes current information about these agents.
Improving the community response to sexual assault: an empirical examination of the effectiveness of sexual assault response teams (SARTs)

OBJECTIVE: Sexual Assault Response Teams (SARTs) seek to improve the response to sexual assault by coordinating the efforts of police, prosecutors, nurses/doctors, victim advocates, and other sexual assault responders. However, SARTs vary with respect to their structure, that is, the composition and organization of their team. Therefore, the current study explored the relationship between SART structure and effectiveness. METHOD: A random sample of N = 172 SART leaders was interviewed. Participants reported on SART structural characteristics and their perceptions of their team's effectiveness at improving victims' help-seeking experiences, victims' participation in the criminal justice system, police processing of cases, and prosecution of cases. RESULTS: Cluster analysis revealed 3 types of SARTs: "Low Adopters" utilized fewer formal structures and were less likely to institutionalize collaborative processes into their teamwork; "High Adopters" utilized more formal structures and were more likely to institutionalize collaborative processes, but did not engage in program evaluation as a multidisciplinary team; and "High Adopters Plus Evaluation" were similar but also engaged in evaluation as a team. High Adopters Plus Evaluation were perceived as significantly more effective than Low Adopters across all domains. High Adopters Plus Evaluation were perceived as more effective at improving victims' participation in the criminal justice system than High Adopters. SARTs with broader active membership from more stakeholder groups also tended to have higher perceived legal effectiveness. CONCLUSIONS: SARTs should consider broad-based active membership and adopting formal structures and collaborative processes to organize their team. Future research can continue to examine factors that contribute to SART success. ©2016 American Psychological Association Language: en
A Simple Two-Dye Basic Stain Facilitating Recognition of Mitosis in Plastic Embedded Tissue Sections

Semithin sections of buccal and palatal mucosa fixed in 2.5% glutaraldehvde followed by 1% osmium and embedded in Durcupan (an araldite-baaed resin) were stained with 2% malachite green in 50% ethanol at 80 C and poststained in 0.05% crystal violet in Sorensen's phosphate buffer (pH 6.4) at 45 C Nuclear envelopes and chromatin stain vivid purple in contrast to the surrounding green cytoplasm and cell borders. Chromosomes of dividing cells stain bluish violet. Nucleoli, depending on their level in the epithelium, stain differing shades of greenish blue. The distinct and differential staining of each of these components facilitates recognition of mitoses in oral epithelium, where the small sice and crowding of cells in the proliferative compartment renders more conventional stains for plastic sections inadequate.
Use Over Loading Protected System Optimize Vehicle Door Test

Auto technology and electrical technology improved quickly,the old test equipment is not content the new product.Wash them out and buy new one or improve them to content the new standard of the product.This article introduce a system to protect the over loading of open door or close door test.The new system will make the test data more correct..
Health Care Utilization and Direct Medical Costs of Tennis Elbow: A Population-Based Study.

Background:Tennis elbow is commonly encountered by physicians, yet little is known about the cost of treating this condition.Hypothesis:The largest cost associated with treating tennis elbow is pro...
A GIS based model of rolling easement policies in Pinellas County and Sarasota County, Florida

Abstract Florida is the fourth most vulnerable coastal state in the USA to sea level rise (SLR). Studies predict that a 1.20 m rise translates into the displacement of almost five million people and destroys about 2.6 million homes. The only solution to reducing the vulnerability of Florida's coastline is the creation and implementation of coastal policies, including a reduction in armoring and the adoption of policies such as rolling easements. This paper advances a SLR inundation computer model that estimates the costs of applying rolling easement policy through three outcomes: property value loss, property area loss and conservation easement payments to home owners. The GIS computer model is modular which allows new policy components, datasets, or ArcGIS tools to easily be added to the model. The results show that property land inundation and real property losses are primarily linear while rolling easement compensation payments are substantial during the first three scenarios then are largely stable for the remaining SLR steps.
A Design Optimization Formulation for Problems with Random and Fuzzy Input Variables Using Performance Measure Approach

To obtain reliable designs, aleatory and epistemic uncertainties are considered recently in the structural analysis and design optimization. The reliability based de-sign optimization (RBDO) method [1] is used when the amount of input data is sufficient enough to create accurate statistical distribution. On the other hand, when the sufficient input data are not available due to limitations in time, human, and facility resources, the optimum design may not be reliable if RBDO method is used. To deal with the situation that input uncertainties have insufficient information, a possibility (or fuzzy set) method can be used for structural analysis and possibility based design optimization (PBDO) [2]. However, in many industry design problems, we may have to deal with design problems that involve with the mixed input statistical random and fuzzy variables simultaneously. For these problems, RBDO may yield unreliable optimum designs because of insufficient data. On the other hand, treating the random variables as fuzzy variables and invoking PBDO to solve the mixed design variable problem may yield too conservative designs with higher optimum costs. This paper proposes a new mixed variable design optimization (MVDO) problem based on the performance measure approach (PMA) [1]. To evaluate the possibilistic constraint in MVDO, a sub-optimization problem for inverse analysis is carried out using a hyper-cylinder domain. To solve this sub-problem efficiently and effectively, a new numerical algorithm, maximum failure search (MFS) method, is proposed in this paper by combining the enhanced hybrid mean value (HMV+) method [3] for the inverse reliability analysis in RBDO and the maximal possibility search (MPS) method [2] for the inverse possibility analysis in PBDO. Some mathematical examples are used to demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed numerical MFS method. Some physical design examples are used to compare the proposed MVDO results with RBDO and PBDO results.
Motivation in Mathematics: Its Theoretical Basis, Measurement, and Relationships with Other Factors1

A short time ago an instructor was dis cussing a topic relating to motivation with a class of prospective teachers. To illustrate the point that many motives are learned, a statement resembling the fol lowing was made: "Consider motives re lated to the study of mathematics as an example. Many people develop intense motives to avoid mathematics. Now there is nothing about mathematics itself that could cause people to dislike it; this could occur only as a result of unfortunate ex periences with it." As the words in italics were uttered, a chorus of chuckles arose from the class. It was apparent from the uniformity of the reaction, and from the discussion that followed, that this idea was totally strange to the thinking of many of the students. A considerable number of them had acquired unfavorable attitudes toward mathematics which were so firmly established that the idea that the study of mathematics could have been enjoyable to them appeared ludicrous. This is especially significant in view of the fact that the class was composed of a select group of college juniors whose classroom experiences with mathematics were prob ably more pleasant than for most of their classmates in elementary school and high school. This incident, unfortunately, illustrates a relatively typical rather than a rare attitude. Probably every high school teacher has encountered students who
Jurji Zaidan and the Foundations of Arab Nationalism. By Thomas Philipp. (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2014. Pp. xxiii, 431. $49.95.)

Jurji Zaidan [1861‐1914], the prolific Cairene writer and publisher of the journal Al‐Hilal, is perhaps best remembered today for his twenty‐one popular historical novels, which through initial ser...
Phosphatidylserine targeted single-walled carbon nanotubes for photothermal ablation of bladder cancer

Bladder cancer has a 60%-70% recurrence rate most likely due to any residual tumour left behind after a transurethral resection (TUR). Failure to completely resect the cancer can lead to recurrence and progression into higher grade tumours with metastatic potential. We present here a novel therapy to treat superficial tumours with the potential to decrease recurrence. The therapy is a heat-based approach in which bladder tumour specific single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) are delivered intravesically at a very low dose (0.1 mg SWCNT per kg body weight) followed 24 h later by a short 30 s treatment with a 360° near-infrared light that heats only the bound nanotubes. The energy density of the treatment was 50 J cm-2, and the power density that this treatment corresponds to is 1.7 W cm-2, which is relatively low. Nanotubes are specifically targeted to the tumour via the interaction of annexin V (AV) and phosphatidylserine, which is normally internalised on healthy tissue but externalised on tumours and the tumour vasculature. SWCNTs are conjugated to AV, which binds specifically to bladder cancer cells as confirmed in vitro and in vivo. Due to this specific localisation, NIR light can be used to heat the tumour while conserving the healthy bladder wall. In a short-term efficacy study in mice with orthotopic MB49 murine bladder tumours treated with the SWCNT-AV conjugate and NIR light, no tumours were visible on the bladder wall 24 h after NIR light treatment, and there was no damage to the bladder. In a separate survival study in mice with the same type of orthotopic tumours, there was a 50% cure rate at 116 days when the study was ended. At 116 days, no treatment toxicity was observed, and no nanotubes were detected in the clearance organs or bladder.
Magnetic resonance imaging of the lumbar spine: determining clinical impact and potential harm from overuse.

Abstract Background Lumbar spine magnetic resonance imaging is frequently said to be “overused” in the evaluation of low back pain, yet data concerning the extent of overuse and the potential harmful effects are lacking. Purpose The objective of this study was to determine the proportion of examinations with a detectable impact on patient care (actionable outcomes). Study Design This is a retrospective cohort study. Patient Sample A total of 5,365 outpatient lumbar spine magnetic resonance (MR) examinations were conducted. Outcome Measures Actionable outcomes included (1) findings leading to an intervention making use of anatomical information such as surgery; (2) new diagnoses of cancer, infection, or fracture; or (3) following known lumbar spine pathology. Potential harm was assessed by identifying examinations where suspicion of cancer or infection was raised but no positive diagnosis made. Methods A medical record aggregation/search system was used to identify lumbar spine MR examinations with positive outcome measures. Patient notes were examined to verify outcomes. A random sample was manually inspected to identify missed positive outcomes. Results The proportion of actionable lumbar spine magnetic resonance imaging was 13%, although 93% were appropriate according to the American College of Radiology guidelines. Of 36 suspected cases of cancer or infection, 81% were false positives. Further investigations were ordered on 59% of suspicious examinations, 86% of which were false positives. Conclusions The proportion of lumbar spine MR examinations that inform management is small. The false-positive rate and the proportion of false positives involving further investigation are high. Further study to improve the efficiency of imaging is warranted.
Challenge of Environmental Education

Perhaps it was at the time of Earth Day that the public became aware of environment and ecology, but the voices that rushed forward to say what ecology was were from sources that really did not know or know how to explain the principles.
Length-Increasing Reductions for PSPACE-Completeness

Polynomial-time many-one reductions provide the standard notion of completeness for complexity classes. However, as first explicated by Berman and Hartmanis in their work on the isomorphism conjecture, all natural complete problems are actually complete under reductions with stronger properties. We study the length-increasing property and show under various computational hardness assumptions that all PSPACE-complete problems are complete via length-increasing reductions that are computable with a small amount of nonuniform advice.
Malaria as a Military Factor in Southeast Asia

Malaria remains a major cause of military casualties in Southeast Asia. The numerous conflicts in the region have been greatly affected by malaria. Besides guerrilla warfare, refugees and other civilian movements across international borders contribute heavily to the continuing problem of multiple drug-resistant malaria. Drug resistance is an increasing problem with few available prophylactic options. The malaria threat to any potential deployment of United States military forces remains unsolved.
Recent advances in understanding lymphangiogenesis and metabolism

The blood and lymphatic vasculatures are vital to the maintenance of homeostasis. The interaction between two vascular networks throughout the body is precisely controlled to enable oxygen and nutrient delivery, removal of carbon dioxide and metabolic waste, drainage of interstitial fluid, transport of immune cells, and other key activities. Recent years have seen an explosion of information dealing with the development and function of the lymphatic system. The growth of lymphatic vessels, termed lymphangiogenesis, is a high-energy requirement process that involves sprouting, proliferation, migration, and remodeling of lymphatic endothelial cells and capillaries. Although there has been substantial progress in identifying growth factors and their downstream signaling pathways that control lymphangiogenesis, the role of metabolic processes during lymphangiogenesis and their links to growth factor signaling are poorly understood. In this review, we will discuss recent work that has provided new insights into lymphatic metabolism and its role in lymphangiogenesis.
iSpan: parallel identification of strongly connected components with spanning trees

Detecting strongly connected components (SCCs) in a directed graph is crucial for understanding the structure of graphs. Most real-world graphs have one large SCC that contains the majority of the vertices, as well as many small SCCs whose sizes are reversely proportional to the frequency of their occurrences. For both types of SCCs, current approaches that rely on depth or breadth first search (DFS and BFS) face the challenges of both strict synchronization requirement and high computation cost. In this paper, we advocate a new paradigm of identifying SCCs with simple spanning trees, since SCC detection requires only the knowledge of connectivity among the vertices. We have developed a prototype called iSpan, which consists of parallel, relaxed synchronization construction of spanning trees for detecting the large and small SCCs, combined with fast trims for small SCCs. We further scale iSpan to distributed memory system by applying different distribution strategies to the data and task parallel jobs. The evaluations show that iSpan is able to significantly outperform current state-of-the-art DFS and BFS-based methods by average 18× and 4×, respectively.
Data science experiences for undergraduates

With increasing demand for data science and analytics skills, proper data generation, collection, storage and analysis are expected, yet mostly untaught, skills in the undergraduate experience. One bottleneck tends to be the handling and interpretation of the data created and gathered. Departments are creating new degree programs, concentrations and courses to help address this need. In this paper, we describe the use of existing technologies for introducing undergraduate students to the principles of data science. We share preliminary observations of delivering instruction as a course-based project and research-based experience. We also discuss the development of a data science learning platform to aid instruction.
The Construction of a Consumable Body

In this essay, I analyze various ways in which pregnant bodies are rendered consumable. Tracing our preoccupation with pregnancy diets, I argue that a pregnant woman is made responsible for producing a consumable body. Indeed, producing and maintaining a consumable, fetus-friendly body is a responsibility that women carry before, during, and even after pregnancy. The sphere of this responsibility is also ever-expanding: it goes from detoxing the body to disinfecting the household, and even to protecting the environment at large. I examine two conditions that help construct the maternal body as consumable: 1) the invisibility of the consumed body, and 2) the appeal to “nature” as a justification for consumption. As I will show, the default position of women as consumable is reinforced both by erasing the maternal body and by appealing to the “naturalness” of breastfeeding.
Surfel-Based Dense RGB-D Reconstruction With Global And Local Consistency

Achieving high surface reconstruction accuracy in dense mapping has been a desirable target for both robotics and vision communities. In the robotics literature, simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) systems use RGB-D cameras to reconstruct a dense map of the environment. They leverage the depth input to provide accurate local pose estimation and a locally consistent model. However, drift in the pose tracking over time leads to misalignments and artifacts. On the other hand, offline computer vision methods, such as the pipeline that combines structure-from-motion (SfM) and multi-view stereo (MVS), estimate the camera poses by performing batch optimization. These methods achieve global consistency, but suffer from heavy computation loads. We propose a novel approach that integrates both methods to achieve locally and globally consistent reconstruction. First, we estimate poses of keyframes in the offline SfM pipeline to provide strong global constraints at relatively low cost. Afterwards, we compute odometry between frames driven by off-the-shelf SLAM systems with high local accuracy. We fuse the two pose estimations using factor graph optimization to generate accurate camera poses for dense reconstruction. Experiments on real-world and synthetic datasets demonstrate that our approach produces more accurate models comparing to existing dense SLAM systems, while achieving significant speedup with respect to state-of-the-art SfM-MVS pipelines.
Insertion of the total artificial heart in the Fontan circulation

Though the Fontan circulation provides long-term palliation for patients with univentricular hearts, failure of the circulation may ensue, leaving heart transplantation as the only definitive treatment. For Fontan patients awaiting transplant, both "right-sided" and "left-sided" symptoms may be present and severe, hence, biventricular mechanical circulatory support may be indicated. This can be provided by implantation of the total artificial heart (TAH), a procedure which is performed slightly differently than in patients with biventricular hearts. In this article, the unique aspects of implantation of this device in a patient with a Fontan operation are reviewed, with specific attention to the most commonly encountered anatomic variants of importance to the implanting surgeon.
Knowledge Transfer between MNC Subsidiaries and Local Firms: The Case of Foreign Owned MNC Subsidiaries in Finland

The role of MNC subsidiaries in exchanging knowledge from their local relations is crucial for the success of MNCs. Foreign subsidiaries, which are embedded in their respective local networks, do not have the same propensity to access and leverage local knowledge. It is determined by several antecedents of inter-organizational knowledge transfer. In this study, several hypotheses were developed and tested on data collected from managers of foreign owned MNC subsidiaries operating in Finland. The results show that similarities in business practices and existence of rich communications between the units have significant positive impact on the amount of knowledge transferred. Length of knowledge exchange relationships, volume of inter-unit trade, parent country nationality of subsidiaries and the existence of lateral relations between the two units do not have significant impact on the amount of knowledge transferred. A minimum level of shared business practices and lateral relations are essential for social communications to have impact on the amount of knowledge transferred.
Introducing risky housing and endogenous tenure choice into a portfolio-based general equilibrium model

Abstract Portfolio-based general equilibrium models are useful for analyzing the interaction between the structure of individual tax rates and the way particular assets are taxed, for considering the role of differential tax rules and risk in determining household portfolio choices, and for addressing distributional questions. Unfortunately, current versions of these models give housing short shrift: owner housing is assumed to be riskless, rental housing is not a separately identifiable asset, and tenure choice is of necessity exogenously determined. This paper extends one of these models to incorporate a full housing subsector and uses the model to analyze the impact of the U.S. 1986 Tax Reform Act.
End-to-end domain knowledge-assisted automatic diagnosis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) using computed tomography (CT).

Purpose Domain knowledge (DK) acquired from prior studies is important for medical diagnosis. This paper leverages the population-level DK using an optimality design criterion to train a deep learning model in an end-to-end manner. In this study, the problem of interest is at the patient-level to diagnose a subject with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) among subjects with interstitial lung disease (ILD) using a computed tomography (CT). IPF diagnosis is a complicated process with multidisciplinary discussion with experts and is subject to inter-observer variability, even for experienced radiologists. To this end, we propose a new statistical method to construct a time/memory-efficient IPF diagnosis model using axial chest CT and DK, along with an optimality design criterion via a DK-enhanced loss function of deep learning. Methods Four state-of-the-art two-dimensional convolutional neural network (2D-CNN) architectures (MobileNet, VGG16, ResNet-50, and DenseNet-121) and one baseline 2D-CNN are implemented to automatically diagnose IPF among ILD patients. Axial lung CT images are retrospectively acquired from 389 IPF patients and 700 non-IPF ILD patients in five multi-center clinical trials. To enrich the sample size and boost model performance, we sample 20 three-slice samples (triplets) from each CT scan, where these three slices are randomly selected from the top, middle, and bottom of both lungs respectively. Model performance is evaluated using a five-fold cross-validation, where each fold was stratified using a fixed proportion of IPF versus non-IPF. Results Using DK-enhanced loss function increases the model performance of the baseline CNN model from 0.77 to 0.89 in terms of study-wise accuracy. Four other well-developed models reach satisfactory model performance with an overall accuracy greater than 0.95 but the benefits brought on by the DK-enhanced loss function is not noticeable. Conclusions We believe this is the first attempt that (1) uses population-level DK with an optimal design criterion to train deep learning-based diagnostic models in an end-to-end manner and (2) focuses on patient-level IPF diagnosis. Further evaluation of using population-level DK on prospective studies is warranted and is underway.
The role of Sfrp and DKK proteins in cardiomyocyte development

In this review, we summarize the role of Wnt proteins in cardiomyogenesis. More specifically, we focus on how the development of cardiomyocytes from precursor cells involves a complex interplay between Wnt canonical β-catenin signaling pathways and Wnt noncanonical signaling pathways involving PCP and JNK. We also describe recent literature which suggests that endogenous Wnt inhibitors such as the Sfrp and DKK proteins play important roles in regulating the cardiomyocyte differentiation.
The association between ambient temperature variability and myocardial infarction in a New York-State-based case-crossover study: An examination of different variability metrics

Abstract Background Short-term temperature variability has been consistently associated with mortality, with limited evidence for cardiovascular outcomes. Previous studies have used multiple metrics to measure temperature variability; however, those metrics do not capture hour-to-hour changes in temperature. Objectives We assessed the correlation between sub-daily temperature-change-over-time metrics and previously-used metrics, and estimated associations with myocardial infarction (MI) hospitalizations. Methods Hour-to-hour change-over-time was measured via three metrics: 24-hr mean absolute hourly first difference, 24-hr maximum absolute hourly first difference, and 24-hr mean hourly first difference. We first assessed the Spearman correlations between these metrics and four previously-used metrics (24-hr standard deviation of hourly temperature, 24-hr diurnal temperature range, 48-hr standard deviation of daily minimal and maximal temperatures, and 48-hr difference of daily mean temperature), using hourly data from the North America Land Data Assimilation System-2 Model. Subsequently, we estimated the association between these metrics and primary MI hospitalization in adult residents of New York State for 2000–2015 using a time-stratified case-crossover design. Results The hour-to-hour change-over-time metrics were correlated, but not synonymous, with previously-used metrics. We observed 809,259 MI, 45% of which were among females and the mean (standard deviation) age was 70 (15). An increase from mean to 90th percentile in mean absolute first difference of temperature was associated with a 2.04% (95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 1.30–2.78%) increase in MI rate. An increase from mean to 90th percentile in mean first difference also yielded a positive association (1.86%; 95%CI: 1.09–2.64%). We observed smaller- or similar-in-magnitude positive associations for previously-used metrics. Discussion First, short-term hour-to-hour temperature change was positively associated with MI risk. Second, all other variability metrics yielded positive associations with MI, with varying magnitude. In future research on temperature variability, researchers should define their research question, including which aspects of variability they intend to measure, and apply the appropriate metric. Alternative All metrics of temperature variability, including short-term hour-to-hour temperature changes, were positively associated with MI risk, though the magnitude of effect estimates varied by metric.
When positive outcomes and reality collide: Children prefer optimists as social partners.

Abstract Optimists, by definition, make inaccurate (overly positive) predictions regarding future event outcomes. Adults favor optimists as social partners. If children also prefer optimists, that preference could indicate early social benefits of being optimistic and might also shape how and what children learn regarding the likelihood of future outcomes. The present study thus sought to determine how children integrate the conflicting dimensions of optimism and accuracy in their social (friendship) preferences. Across two experiments (N = 133) 3- to 6-year-old children chose optimists over realists as social partners even if they were able to correctly identify the realist as being the most accurate of the two. However, when children made mistakes in identification, those mistakes primarily took the form of identifying the optimist as most accurate. These findings suggest that young children weigh optimism more heavily than accuracy in their affiliative relationships. Misidentifying the optimist as accurate also supports the notion that children have a bias to expect others to provide positive information. Further, a social preference for optimists might impact children’s abilities to learn the true likelihood of event outcomes, as affiliating with optimists may result in setting oneself up to receive more positive (mis)information in the future. Such a preference suggests a mechanism by which optimism is perpetuated and points to potential social benefits that derive from being optimistic.
Identifying proximal RNA interactions from cDNA-encoded crosslinks with ShapeJumper

Abstract SHAPE-JuMP is a concise strategy for identifying close-in-space interactions in RNA molecules. Nucleotides in close three-dimensional proximity are crosslinked with a bi-reactive reagent that covalently links the 2’-hydroxyl groups of the ribose moieties. The identities of crosslinked nucleotides are determined using an engineered reverse transcriptase that jumps across crosslinked sites, resulting in a deletion in the cDNA that is detected using massively parallel sequencing. Here we introduce ShapeJumper, a bioinformatics pipeline to process SHAPE-JuMP sequencing data and to accurately identify through-space interactions. ShapeJumper identifies proximal interactions with near-nucleotide resolution using an alignment strategy that is optimized to tolerate the unique non-templated reverse-transcription profile of the engineered crosslink-traversing reverse-transcriptase. JuMP-inspired strategies are now poised to replace adapter-ligation for detecting RNA-RNA interactions in most crosslinking experiments.
Driving chemical reactions with polariton condensates

When molecular transitions strongly couple to photon modes, they form hybrid light-matter modes called polaritons. Collective vibrational strong coupling is a promising avenue for control of chemistry, but this can be deterred by the large number of quasi-degenerate dark modes. The macroscopic occupation of a single polariton mode by excitations, as observed in Bose-Einstein condensation, offers promise for overcoming this issue. Here we theoretically investigate the effect of vibrational polariton condensation on the kinetics of electron transfer processes. Compared with excitation with infrared laser sources, the condensate changes the reaction yield significantly due to additional channels with reduced activation barriers resulting from the large accumulation of energy in the lower polariton, and the many modes available for energy redistribution during the reaction. Our results offer tantalizing opportunities to use condensates for driving chemical reactions, kinetically bypassing usual constraints of fast intramolecular vibrational redistribution in condensed phase.
The Ethics of Reintroducing Large Carnivores: The Case of the California Grizzly

Efforts to reintroduce species to portions of their historic ranges are growing in number and kind. These include proposals and projects to reintroduce large carnivores in areas where these species have been absent for decades. Reintroductions, like all conservation efforts, involve not only empirical and logistical problems, but also complex normative questions. So, what are the obligations, values, permissions, restrictions, and demands that citizens, conservationists, wildlife managers, and other impacted parties must address? This paper attempts to organise, summarise and briefly analyse the diverse suite of common normative arguments concerning large carnivore reintroduction. Clarifying arguments as a methodological approach grounded in environmental ethics sheds light on many implicit ethical presuppositions that underwrite reintroduction efforts. As an example, we use the grizzly bear (Ursus arctos), whose populations have grown in recent years in both Europe and North America. Whereas past efforts to recover grizzlies in the lower 48 U.S. states focused on the Northern Rockies and North Cascades, research, legal proceedings, and other proposals have emerged to return the species to other portions of its historic range, including California. Clarifying ethical arguments that may arise from large carnivore reintroduction can contribute to a more civil public discourse and effective decision-making processes.
NRVS investigation of ascorbate peroxidase compound II: Observation of Iron(IV)oxo stretching.

Abstract The protonation state of ascorbate peroxidase compound II (APX-II) has been a subject of debate. A combined X-ray/neutron crystallographic study reported that APX-II is best described as an iron(IV)hydroxide species with an Fe O distance of 1.88 A (Kwon, et al. Nat Commun 2016, 7, 13,445), while X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) experiments (utilizing extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) and pre-edge analyses) indicate APX-II is an authentic iron(IV)oxo species with an Fe O distance 1.68 A (Ledray, et al. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2020, 142, 20,419). Previous debates concerning ferryl protonation states have been resolved through the application of Badger's rule, which correlates Fe O bond distances with Fe O vibrational frequencies. To obtain the required vibrational data, we have collected Nuclear Resonance Vibrational Spectroscopy (NRVS) data for APX-II. We observe a broad vibrational feature in the range associated with iron(IV)oxo stretching (700–800 cm−1). This feature appears to have two peaks at 732 cm−1 and 770 cm−1, corresponding to Fe O distances of 1.69 and 1.67 A, respectively. The broad vibrational envelope and the presence of multiple resonances could reflect a distribution of hydrogen bonding interactions within the active-site pocket.
Ranked-Choice Voting, Runoff, and Democracy: Insights from Maine and Other U.S. States

In recent years, a growing number of scholars and policymakers have called for electoral reform in the United States; many suggest ranked-choice voting (RCV), with a few proposing runoff. The expected benefits include greater openness of the electoral arena to new parties, greater ideological moderation, and greater voter satisfaction. To what extent did RCV and runoff live up to these expectations in the United States in 2020? Whereas until recently the impact of RCV could be assessed only for local elections, we take advantage of the implementation of RCV in Maine to assess together the effects of the three distinct rules — RCV, runoff, and plurality — in federal elections. Across a dataset for twelve competitive 2020 federal elections, the electoral arena was more open to new parties and candidates under RCV in Maine than under runoff or plurality elsewhere. Also under RCV in Maine, one candidate broke the national pattern of ideological polarization. Yet, in the context of Maine’s political history, these gains were modest. Further, RCV has been fiercely opposed by Maine’s Republican Party, especially after a loss in a 2018 congressional election by a Republican to a Democrat in a “come-from-behind victory.” (In a “come-from-behind” victory under RCV, the winner of the first-preference votes loses after the allocation of additional-preference votes.) In a survey experiment administered on 3,471 registered voters throughout the U.S., voters were less satisfied with RCV than with runoff or plurality, and especially less satisfied with a come-from-behind victory. Overall, these results highlight the challenges that arise with change; voters and candidates require time to understand and adapt to new electoral rules.
Corn fiber as a biomass feedstock for production of succinic acid

Abstract The selection of an economical carbon source is a fundamental parameter to establish a successful industrial succinic acid (SA) bioprocess. In this work, corn fiber (CF), a renewable and an inexpensive source of carbohydrates, was successfully used for bioproduction of SA. Optimized liquid hot water (LHW) pretreatment followed by enzymatic hydrolysis were used to obtain corn fiber hydrolysate (CFH). Results in batch fermentation with Actinobacillus succinogenes showed that a control solution mimicking CFH produced 28.7 g/L of SA with a yield of 0.67 g SA/g sugars, while fermentation of CFH produced 27.8 g/L of SA with a yield of 0.61 g SA/g sugars. It was found that culture pH was a critical factor affecting SA production. In sodium acetate buffered media, SA was the major end-product with lower levels of acetic acid (AA) and formic acid (FA). When unbuffered media was used, lactic acid (LA) and ethanol were also detected.
Agent-Based Model for Order Routing and Financial Market Integration

Agent-based modeling is alternative framework for providing explanations of the behavior of financial markets. In this paper, we consider a simple agent-based model designed to understand the effects of smart order routing in a multi-market setting. The goal is to understand how the prevalence of smart order routing results in different levels of market integration. We find that only a small percentage of smart order routing results in a remarkable level of market integration.
Party Factions and the President

The object of this essay is to define and discuss factional constraints and look at how presidents handle them. The central lesson to be drawn is that presidents often secure change by successfully taking advantage of possibilities in a context shaped by an alignment of forces created by factions. Rather than rhetorical prowess in the public square, successful presidents are adept at handling the circumstances they inherit. Studying the presidency through situations shaped by party factions also invites us to employ more nuanced criteria for evaluating presidents. Party factions present easier and harder contexts for presidential leadership. The most skilled presidents are then those who faced a tough contextual situation and still managed to get much of their program passed. The measurement of presidential skill is thus not just presidential accomplishment, but accomplishment relative to degree of difficulty defined by factional context. Nonetheless, in rare instances it is the case that the context almost determines the result, such that it overpowers almost anything a president can do. So the true explanatory variable is context, not presidential skill.
Nuclear Power Rate Regulation After Eastern Enterprises: Are Ratepayers Being Taken for a Ride?

The electric industry's monopolistic reign is coming to an end. The movement toward deregulation is exposing as flawed the electric industry's decision to build nuclear power plants for the generation of electricity. One such flaw is the miscalculation of decommissioning costs. Without a monopoly, nuclear power plant owners have no guaranteed rate base to pay the high costs of decommissioning. As a result, owners are lobbying the state legislatures and Congress to require recovery of these costs. This comment questions whether it is constitutional to require ratepayers to pay for such costs after they no longer receive service from a power plant. Through an analysis of Justice O'Connor's opinion in Eastern Enterprises v. Apfel, which establishes that economic regulation can be a taking, the argument is presented that ratepayers may be able to challenge rate regulation after the termination of service as an unconstitutional
Multivesicular release and saturation of glutamatergic signalling at retinal ribbon synapses

Pronounced multivesicular release (MVR) occurs at the ribbon synapses of sensory neurones that signal via graded potential changes. As MVR increases the likelihood of postsynaptic receptor saturation, it is of interest to consider how sensory synapses overcome this problem and use MVR to encode signals of widely varying intensities. Here, I discuss three postsynaptic mechanisms that permit three different retinal synapses to utilize MVR.
Framework for Integrating and Assessing Highway Infrastructure Data

State highway agencies invest a large amount of resources in collecting, storing, and managing various types of data, ranging from roadway inventory to pavement condition data, during the life cycle of a highway infrastructure project. Despite this huge investment, the current level of data use and efficiency of information systems is becoming a main concern with respect to adding value to the users as compared with the amount produced and replicated. This paper presents a new framework for integrating highway infrastructure data and assessing the level of effective use of data in generating information and supporting management decisions from a holistic network viewpoint. In this study, social network theory is used as a principal component to interlink and map data with information and decisions, identify critical data and information in decision-making processes, and assess the overall performance of data and information usage. The application of this new framework is illustrated using real pavement management scenarios. A new performance measure called the Highway Infrastructure Data Integration (HIDI) index is proposed to evaluate the status of data utilization that may serve as an infrastructure data report card and help justify the return on investment for the continuous and growing data collection efforts of state highway agencies. This new index allows agencies to interlink data, information, and decisions and develop an active utilization plan for currently existing databases to place the right information in the hands of decision makers. In addition, the HIDI index will allow the enhancement of new data collection and knowledge generation plans to support key decisions that historically were not well supported with information and data. This new framework may be used as a benchmarking example for state highway agencies to make effective and reliable decisions through data-driven insights.
Invertible Quasicontinuous functions, Some Fredholm Operators and Path-Components

We will give a complete description of $\mathcal{I}$, the set of invertible quasicontinuous functions on the unit circle. After doing this, we will then classify all the path-components of $\mathcal{I}$ and show that $\mathcal{I}$ has uncountably many path-components. We will then give a complete description of $\mathcal{F}$, the set of Fredholm operators of the C$^*$ algebra generated by the Toeplitz operators with quasicontinuous symbols. Then we will classify the path-components of $\mathcal{F}$ and show that $\mathcal{F}$ also has uncountably many path-components.