cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Mutations in DYNC2LI1 disrupt cilia function and cause short rib polydactyly syndrome

The short rib polydactyly syndromes (SRPSs) are a heterogeneous group of autosomal recessive, perinatal lethal skeletal disorders characterized primarily by short, horizontal ribs, short limbs and polydactyly. Mutations in several genes affecting intraflagellar transport (IFT) cause SRPS but they do not account for all cases. Here we identify an additional SRPS gene and further unravel the functional basis for IFT. We perform whole-exome sequencing and identify mutations in a new disease-producing gene, cytoplasmic dynein-2 light intermediate chain 1, DYNC2LI1, segregating with disease in three families. Using primary fibroblasts, we show that DYNC2LI1 is essential for dynein-2 complex stability and that mutations in DYNC2LI1 result in variable length, including hyperelongated, cilia, Hedgehog pathway impairment and ciliary IFT accumulations. The findings in this study expand our understanding of SRPS locus heterogeneity and demonstrate the importance of DYNC2LI1 in dynein-2 complex stability, cilium function, Hedgehog regulation and skeletogenesis.
Vegetative Incompatibility and Myxomycete Biology

On the basis of plasmodial fusion tests on 23 nonheterothallic (all presumptively apomictic) isolates of Didymium iridis, five of D. difforme, and one each of D. laxifila, D. saturnus, Physarum api...
Detection of virus-like particles in germinal centers of normal guinea pigs.

SummaryVirus-like particles similar in uttrastructure to the C-type virus particles found in the mouse leukemias were found selectively localized in the lymphoid germinal centers of 2–6-month-old normal guinea pigs of the Hartley stock. A second type of virus-like particle with a diameter of about 70 m μ and dense central core of 30 m μ was also found in germinal centers.
Pollen taphonomy in Holocene glaciolacustrine sediments, Glacier Bay, Alaska; a cautionary note

Analysis of pollen recovered from mineral-rich glaciolacustrine sediments indicates hydrodynamic sorting of grains occurred before final deposition. Percentages of nonarboreal pollen are greatest in fine deltaic sands. Arboreal pollen is preferentially concentrated in lacustrine silt and clay. Similar results have been reported from studies of fluvial and estuarine sediments and from laboratory experiments. The most important result of this study is the demonstration of effective sorting of arboreal pollen. Spruce (Picea) occurs most abundantly in coarse silts, and alder (Alnus) is most abundant in fine silts and clays. These observations suggest that caution should be exercised in the paleoecologic interpretation of pollen spectra obtained from mineral-rich lacustrine sediments.
Physicochemical considerations in powder metallurgy

Powder metallurgy (P/M) is now recognized as a viable net-or near-net-shape manufacturing technology. Innovative methods of powder production and consolidation, currently under development, are expected to further enhance P/M processing technology compared to ingot metallurgy practice. Optimization of these particulate processing technologies mandates a basic knowledge of the physicochemical behavior of the powder during production and on subsequent processing into final part form. Consideration of the relationship between P/M and physical chemistry illustrates the benefits derived from controlled chemical reactions, as utilized in several commercial and near-commercial powder processing technologies.
Accounting Valuation and Cost of Capital Dynamics: Theoretical and Empirical Macroeconomic Aspects

Accounting valuation theory has been scarce since the formation of accounting research. The theoretical modeling of Feltham-Ohlson-Callen-et-al. is a key exception in capital markets research in accounting, which has mostly been empirical. I build on recent developments in the new and growing research area of Macro-Accounting to provide theoretical extensions to accounting valuation models, with major empirical implications.
An original paper. Intraosseous ganglia of the carpal bones

Intraosseous ganglia are benign, cystic lesions of bone that are most commonly found in the subchondral region of long bones of the lower extremity. Reports of isolated carpal involvement are rare; however, it has been well documented that these lesions may produce chronic wrist pain. Various theories of pathogenesis have been advanced, including synovial herniation, mucoid degeneration, primary cellular metaplasia, and chronic repetitive trauma. In our study, 11 patients (seven female, four male) with 12 lesions were treated for chronic wrist pain associated with intraosseous carpal ganglia. All patients had similar complaints preoperatively and were unable to obtain relief with rest, immobilization, or nonsteroidal medication. Aside from local tenderness over the involved bone, the physical examination was unremarkable. Acute trauma was not found to be a factor in any of these patients' histories. Eleven lesions in 10 patients were grafted with bone from the distal radius. A complete resolution of symptoms was seen at a 20-month follow-up examination.
ZBP1/DAI is an innate sensor of influenza virus triggering the NLRP3 inflammasome and programmed cell death pathways

The interferon-inducible protein Z-DNA binding protein 1 (ZBP1, also known as DNA-dependent activator of IFN-regulatory factors (DAI) and DLM-1) was identified as a dsDNA sensor, which instigates innate immune responses. However, this classification has been disputed and whether ZBP1 functions as a pathogen sensor during an infection has remained unknown. Herein, we demonstrated ZBP1-mediated sensing of the influenza A virus (IAV) proteins NP and PB1, triggering cell death and inflammatory responses via the RIPK1-RIPK3-Caspase-8 axis. ZBP1 regulates NLRP3 inflammasome activation as well as induction of apoptosis, necroptosis and pyroptosis in IAV-infected cells. Importantly, ZBP1 deficiency protected mice from mortality during IAV infection owing to reduced inflammatory responses and epithelial damage. Overall, these findings indicate that ZBP1 is an innate immune sensor of IAV and highlight its importance in the pathogenesis of IAV infection.
High-Rate Micro-Compression Using an Elastic Half-Space Loading Configuration

Recent developments in high rate micro-mechanical testing have used miniaturized Kolsky (Split-Hopkinson) Bars as the basic loading technique. These methods, which employ optical instrumentation instead of strain gages, have been used to test samples in the 20–50 μm size range at rates as high as 1 M/s. However, difficulties attributed to machining and alignment of such small systems make higher strain-rates difficult to achieve. In this work, we investigate an alternate method in which a small compression sample will be loaded rapidly against a transparent elastic half space. As the specimen deforms, it exerts what is essentially a point load on the half space, resulting in an indentation at the contact point. This indentation is measured with a displacement interferometer and in principle can be used to calculate the force applied to the sample. This can then be used to determine the stress–strain response of the specimen. Because loading plates can be made and aligned to great precision, this method has the potential to reach strain-rates as high as 3 M/s provided the force can be correlated to measured displacement with sufficient accuracy. This paper presents preliminary experimental and numerical results that illustrate the challenges in implementing such an approach.
Populism and Dictatorship

Dictatorship is one of the foundations of modern populism. And yet, populism is not dictatorship. In fact, in the context of the early Cold War period, modern populism represented a democratic renunciation of dictatorship. This renunciation of mass dictatorship created a new authoritarian form of democracy. By paying special attention to Peronism, the first case of a modern populist regime after 1945, this chapter argues that “mass dictatorship” is central to the genealogy of populism. More specifically, the fascist dictatorial experience was one of the reasons behind the emergence of populist regimes but it also helped define them in opposition to it. In dialogue, but also in contrast, with a literature that emphasizes the more recent oppositional links and continuities between populism and Cold War dictatorships, I stress the need to understand this ambivalent, oppositional nature of populism in terms of the populist negative response to the fascist version of dictatorial rule that had preceded the Cold War (Crespo 2014; Rouquie 2011, pp. 114–15, 119–34, 251–59). In other words, populism has been a form of anti-liberal authoritarian democracy well before the emergence of Cold War dictatorships. It was and is defined by its contextual rejection of dictatorship while still carrying some of its ideological dimensions, especially the remnants of the fascist global experience of mass dictatorship that ended after 1945.
Predicting Outcomes in the Era of Endovascular Therapy.

See related article, p 105. Endovascular thrombectomy (ET) is a monumental step forward for the treatment of acute ischemic stroke secondary to large vessel occlusion. However, in the 5 clinical trials that made ET standard of care for acute stroke, despite high rates of TICI (thrombolysis in cerebral infarction) ≥2b recanalization, good outcome (assessed by mRS [modified Rankin Scale] ≤2 at 90 days) was achieved in 33% to 71% of patients.1–5 Improving outcomes can be achieved by better prehospital screening, improvements in systems of care, newer generation devices, or combination of Neuroprotection with ET. However, before any new treatment is adopted in clinical practice, it will need to be tested in the setting of a clinical trial. One of the major challenges of any randomized controlled trial is the need to have effective instruments to predict outcomes and optimize the number of patients enrolled. For this purpose, several stroke scales that can predict …
Harnessing Three Dimensional Anatomy of Graphene Foam to Induce Superior Damping in Hierarchical Polyimide Nanostructures.

Graphene foam-based hierarchical polyimide composites with nanoengineered interface are fabricated in this study. Damping behavior of graphene foam is probed for the first time. Multiscale mechanisms contribute to highly impressive damping in graphene foam. Rippling, spring-like interlayer van der Waals interactions and flexing of graphene foam branches are believed to be responsible for damping at the intrinsic, interlayer and anatomical scales, respectively. Merely 1.5 wt% graphene foam addition to the polyimide matrix leads to as high as ≈300% improvement in loss tangent. Graphene nanoplatelets are employed to improve polymer–foam interfacial adhesion by arresting polymer shrinkage during imidization and π–π interactions between nanoplatelets and foam walls. As a result, damping behavior is further improved due to effective stress transfer from the polymer matrix to the foam. Thermo-oxidative stability of these nanocomposites is investigated by exposing the specimens to glass transition temperature of the polyimide (≈400 °C). The composites are found to retain their damping characteristics even after being subjected to such extreme temperature, attesting their suitability in high temperature structural applications. Their unique hierarchical nanostructure provides colossal opportunity to engineer and program material properties.
Abstract SY12-03: Obesity, inflammation and breast cancer

Obesity is a risk factor for the development of hormone receptor-positive breast cancer in postmenopausal women. In addition to its impact on breast cancer risk, obesity has been recognized as a poor prognostic factor among breast cancer survivors. Obesity causes subclinical inflammation in visceral and subcutaneous white adipose tissue, characterized by macrophages surrounding dead or dying adipocytes forming crown-like structures (CLS). Estrogen synthesis is catalyzed by aromatase, which is encoded by CYP19. Several pro-inflammatory mediators including PGE2 and TNF-alpha are known inducers of aromatase. Utilizing a combination of preclinical models and human breast tissue samples, we demonstrated that obesity was associated with increased numbers of CLS in the breast (CLS-B), activation of the NF-κB transcription factor, increased levels of pro-inflammatory mediators and elevated aromatase expression. These findings raise the possibility that the obesity-inflammation-aromatase axis is important for understanding the link between obesity and hormone receptor-positive breast cancer in postmenopausal women. To further explore the potential clinical significance of breast adipose inflammation, a retrospective study was carried out to investigate the relationship between CLS-B and breast cancer recurrence. The presence of CLS-B at the time of index mastectomy was associated with shortened recurrence free survival in women who develop recurrent breast cancer. Whether white adipose inflammation promotes the progression of breast cancer via local effects, systemic mechanisms, e.g., hyperinsulinemia or both is uncertain. Given the apparent significance of white adipose inflammation (CLS-B) in the pathogenesis of disease, a blood-based biomarker discovery effort has been initiated. Elevated levels of CRP, IL-6 and insulin as well as altered levels of numerous metabolites correlate with the presence of breast white adipose inflammation. Finally, the connection between obesity, adipose inflammation and cancer provides a strong rationale for attempting to develop effective anti-inflammatory interventions. This will be illustrated with findings from a recent preclinical study that utilized caloric restriction to reverse adipose inflammation and related molecular changes in the mammary glands of obese mice. Citation Format: Andrew J. Dannenberg. Obesity, inflammation and breast cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr SY12-03. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-SY12-03
K. D. Roeder and the History of Chemoreception

Within the past few years there have been many reviews of insect chemoreception detailing advances that have resulted from electrophysiological, electron microscopical, and biochemical analyses. Antedating these are reviews covering the morphological era of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The history of the transition period between pre- and post-electrophysiology is less well documented. This is the period during which Kenneth Roeder worked and contributed so influentially to the field of insect physiology and behavior.
Detection of multicentric and contralateral breast cancers on MRI based on primary cancer biomarker status: will this change surgical or medical management?

The utilization of staging preoperative breast MRI in biopsy-proven cancer patients varies based on institution and individual clinicians. It is unclear whether primary breast cancer subtype influences a clinician’s decision to obtain a preoperative breast MRI based on likelihood of multicentric or contralateral disease, which may change surgical or medical management. Our purpose was to compare the four main breast cancer subtypes in our patient population (i.e., luminal A, luminal B, HER2 enriched and triple-negative) who underwent pretreatment staging MRIs to determine whether certain breast cancer subtypes are more likely to have multicentric or contralateral disease. We retrospectively reviewed 435 patients with biopsy-proven invasive breast cancer who had staging MRI. Of these patients, 14 had biopsy-proven multicentric disease (3.2% of total) and 15 had biopsy-proven contralateral second tumor sites (3.4% of total). There was no statistically significant difference between primary tumor subtype and likelihood of multicentric or contralateral disease (p = 0.3065). Pretreatment staging MRI can detect multicentric and/or contralateral additional tumor sites, which ultimately changes staging, treatment options, and outcomes for patients with biopsy-proven breast cancer. There is no correlation between primary breast cancer subtype and likelihood of multicentric or contralateral disease.
Fostering College Readiness: An Ethnography of a Latina/o Afterschool Program.

There are two, related types of college readiness: (a) cognitive—students’ test scores and grades and (b) noncognitive—students’ academic mind-sets, behaviors, and motivation. This study uses an et...
Staged Urethroplasty for Penile Urethral Strictures From Lichen Sclerosus and Failed Hypospadias Repair.

Objective To present our technique for staged urethroplasty with buccal mucosa graft. Methods The patient presented is a 42-year-old man with a history of congenital hypospadias repaired as a child. He developed a penile urethral stricture at age 30 and was managed with self-intermittent dilation. Recently, dilation became more difficult, and he was referred for reconstruction. Workup revealed a high-grade stricture extending from the meatus to the site of the previous anastomosis at the penoscrotal junction. To contextualize the presented case, we performed a retrospective review of all staged penile urethroplasties performed at our institution from 2013 to 2016 (n = 20). Results At 18 months' follow-up, the patient voids with an unobstructed, directable stream and has not required any urethral instrumentation. In our series, stricture etiology was lichen sclerosus in 9 (45%), failed hypospadias repair in 8 (40%), trauma in 2 (10%), and penile calciphylaxis in 1 (5%). At median follow-up of 520 days, 60% underwent second-stage urethroplasty at a median of 277 days after first-stage urethroplasty (range 213-738). No patients required grafting after first-stage surgery. Complications of second-stage surgery included wound dehiscence in 2 (17%), fistula in 1 (8%), and meatal stenosis in 1 (8%). Conclusion Staged penile urethroplasty is a safe and effective treatment option for patients with complex urethral strictures resulting from lichen sclerosus and failed hypospadias repair.
Archaeological Concepts of Remoteness and Land-Use in Prehistoric Alaska

For the first Americans to establish territories in the New World, the concept of remoteness must have differed considerably from later periods. The Middle Susitna Valley of south-central Alaska was sparsely occupied during the late Pleistocene and underwent millenia of marginal exploration by the earliest Alaskans prior to becoming fully colonized in the early Holocene. For most of prehistory the Susitna Valley was socially and economically “remote.” Disequilibrium dynamics likely influenced cultural adaptations in the Middle Susitna Valley, ultimately transforming a geographically remote location into a familiar place through experience. Reduced remoteness is manifested in cultural traditions that include trails, place names, material culture, and religious beliefs. In the case of the Middle Susitna region its remote position facilitated the maintenance of band level society political organization adjacent to developing social complexity along the coast.
A survival comparison of mucin-producing adenocarcinoma of the esophagus to conventional adenocarcinoma after esophagectomy.

The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that mucin-producing adenocarcinoma (MA) exhibits a more advanced clinical presentation and worse prognosis than conventional adenocarcinoma (CA) in patients undergoing esophagectomy. Patient demographic and clinical variables and cancer-specific survival were collected from the U.S. Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results database between 1988 and 2006. Esophagectomy was performed for 105 patients with MA and 5473 patients with CA. The MA cohort exhibited a similar age at presentation, gender, and anatomic location (lower third of the esophagus/abdominal) as the CA cohort. We found trends toward advanced pathologic stage of disease of MA compared with CA (Stage IIB to IV 56 vs 46%), higher grade tumors (Grade III/IV, 44 vs 34%), positive lymph nodes (51 vs 40%), and poorer mean survival. For both groups, after multivariate analysis, age at diagnosis, tumor stage, and grade were negative predictors of survival (hazard ratios 1.02, 1.39, and 1.32, respectively; P < 0.001). Although this study suggests that patients with resected MA of the esophagus have a trend toward worse clinical presentation and survival than patients with resected CA, the observations are not significant and do not support our hypothesis or results from single-institution studies.
The Wide Angle Mobility Light: An Aid for Night Blindness:

This descriptive study is based on telephone interviews with 56 people who had obtained a Wide Angle Mobility Light (WAML). Respondents were queried about usage, applications, malfunctions, strengt...
Generalizing distance covariance to measure and test multivariate mutual dependence via complete and incomplete V-statistics

Abstract We propose three new measures of mutual dependence between multiple random vectors. Each measure is zero if and only if the random vectors are mutually independent. The first generalizes distance covariance from pairwise dependence to mutual dependence, while the other two measures are sums of squared distance covariances. The proposed measures share similar properties and asymptotic distributions with distance covariance, and capture non-linear and non-monotone mutual dependence between the random vectors. Inspired by complete and incomplete V-statistics, we define empirical and simplified empirical measures as a trade-off between the complexity and statistical power when testing mutual independence. The implementation of corresponding tests is demonstrated by both simulation results and real data examples.
Reaction Ensemble Monte Carlo Simulations of CO2 Absorption in the Reactive Ionic Liquid Triethyl(octyl)phosphonium 2-Cyanopyrrolide.

The absorption of CO2 into an aprotic heterocyclic anion ionic liquid (IL) is modeled using reaction ensemble Monte Carlo (RxMC) with the semigrand reaction move. RxMC has previously been unable to sample chemical equilibrium involving molecular ions in nanostructured liquids due to the high free-energy requirements to open and close cavities and restructure the surrounding environment. Our results are validated by experiments in the modeled IL, triethyl(octyl)phosphonium 2-cyanopyrrolide ([P2228][cnp]), and in a close analog with longer alkyl chains on the cation. Heats of absorption and reaction from both experiment and simulation are exothermic and of comparable magnitude. Replacing experimental Henry’s constants with their simulated counterparts improves the accuracy of a Langmuir-type model at moderate pressures. Nonidealities that affect chemical equilibrium are identified and calculated with high precision.
Parent chronic pain and mental health symptoms impact responses to children's pain.

ABSTRACTBackground: Chronic pain is a prevalent health condition associated with parenting difficulties. Pain-specific parenting, such as protectiveness and catastrophizing, may contribute to chron...
Molecular Biomarkers for the Management of Colorectal Cancer Liver Metastases

Prognostic biomarkers for patients with colorectal cancer liver metastases (CRLM) have historically consisted of traditional clinicopathologic variables such as tumor size and focality, primary colon cancer nodal status, disease-free interval, and serum CEA level. Given the high risk of recurrence even after margin-negative resection for CRLM, these variables have been used to guide patient selection, treatment decisions, risk stratification, and prognostication. A better understanding of the molecular pathways underlying the development and metastasis of colorectal cancer has led to identification of mutations in KRAS, BRAF, PIK3CA, APC, and P53 genes and the presence of microsatellite instability (MSI) as important prognostic molecular biomarkers. In the near future, these biomarkers may be routinely used for guiding patient selection for surgical resection of CRLM, the choice and timing of systemic therapy, the sequencing of treatments, and individualizing patient-specific risk of recurrence and disease-related mortality.
Utility of the advocacy coalition framework in a regional budget crisis

The advocacy coalition framework predicts that externally controlled events, such as jurisdictional shifts, can open venues for policy change within a policy subsystem. Advocacy coalitions may opt ...
A new method for atmospheric correction and de-noising of CRISM hyperspectral data

Abstract We propose a new method to perform atmospheric correction and de-noising on hyperspectral image cubes acquired by the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) on board NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). The CRISM imager has had an important role in advancing our understanding of many aspects of Martian mineralogy. Many mineral detections from CRISM data have been facilitated by significant efforts in the development of the CRISM data processing pipeline to retrieve surface reflectance. However, some residuals remain in CRISM spectra after atmospheric correction, causing difficulty in the interpretation of processed reflectance spectra. In addition, CRISM images are occasionally corrupted with high noise levels exhibiting heterogeneous statistical properties. This paper identifies the cause of such spectral distortions and describe a technique that simultaneously performs both atmospheric correction and de-noising for each image cube individually. In particular, our method focuses on the 1.0–2.6 μ m wavelength region of CRISM images and is applicable to images of non-icy surfaces. Experimental results show that our technique is able to significantly mitigate noise and distortions from various sources like gaseous absorptions, detector temperature, and water ice aerosols, compared with the atmospheric correction method in the CRISM official processing pipeline called volcano scan correction, for a variety of scenes. Careful validations that include the qualitative examination of noise and artifacts both on ratioed and non-ratioed spectra and comparison using multiple overlapping images strengthen confidence in our approach.
Age-related Impairment of Implant Osseointegration is Associated with Immune Activation and Suppression of Angiogenic, Notch, and Wnt Pathways

The number of total joint replacements (TJRs) in the United States is increasing annually. Cementless implants are intended to improve upon traditional cemented implants by allowing bone growth directly on the surface to improve implant longevity. One major complication of TJR is implant loosening, which is related to deficient osseointegration in cementless TJRs. Although poor osseointegration in aged patients is typically attributed to decreased basal bone mass, little is known about the molecular pathways that compromise the growth of bone onto porous titanium implants. To identify the pathways important for osseointegration that are compromised by aging, we developed an approach for transcriptomic profiling of peri-implant tissue in young and aged mice using our murine model of osseointegration. Based on previous findings of changes of bone quality associated with aging, we hypothesized that aged mice have impaired activation of bone anabolic pathways at the bone-implant interface. We found that pathways most significantly downregulated in aged mice relative to young mice are related to angiogenic, Notch and Wnt signaling. Downregulation of these pathways is associated with markedly increased expression of inflammatory and immune genes at the bone-implant interface in aged mice. These results identify osseointegration pathways affected by aging and suggest that an increased inflammatory response in aged mice may compromise peri-implant bone healing. Targeting the Notch and Wnt pathways, promoting angiogenesis, or modulating the immune response at the peri-implant site may enhance osseointegration and improve the outcome of joint replacement in older patients.
Lung cancer survival period prediction and understanding: Deep learning approaches.

Abstract Introduction Survival period prediction through early diagnosis of cancer has many benefits. It allows both patients and caregivers to plan resources, time and intensity of care to provide the best possible treatment path for the patients. In this paper, by focusing on lung cancer patients, we build several survival prediction models using deep learning techniques to tackle both cancer survival classification and regression problems. We also conduct feature importance analysis to understand how lung cancer patients’ relevant factors impact their survival periods. We contribute to identifying an approach to estimate survivability that are commonly and practically appropriate for medical use. Methodologies We have compared the performance across three of the most popular deep learning architectures - Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN), and Recurrent Neural Networks (RNN) while comparing the performing of deep learning models against traditional machine learning models. The data was obtained from the lung cancer section of Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) cancer registry. Results The deep learning models outperformed traditional machine learning models across both classification and regression approaches. We obtained a best of 71.18 % accuracy for the classification approach when patients’ survival periods are segmented into classes of ‘ 2 years’ and Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) of 13.5 % and R 2 value of 0.5 for the regression approach for the deep learning models while the traditional machine learning models saturated at 61.12 % classification accuracy and 14.87 % RMSE in regression. Conclusions This approach can be a baseline for early prediction with predictions that can be further improved with more temporal treatment information collected from treated patients. In addition, we evaluated the feature importance to investigate the model interpretability, gaining further insight into the survival analysis models and the factors that are important in cancer survival period prediction.
External Stressors and Time Poverty among Online Students: An Exploratory Study

In this exploratory study, we report results from interviews with 49 students at a large public urban university in the US who enrolled in at least one course online. In line with the literature, many students cited work or family reasons for enrolling in an online course. However, when asked at the end of the interview whether there were any other life events that impacted the time and energy that they had for their studies, 73% of the students cited at least one additional external stressor, and many of them cited up to three or four different categories of external stressors. These included illness/disability, death in the family, caretaking responsibilities, and housing instability, among others. One particularly striking result is that 89% of the external stressors reported by students in response to the final questions of the interview had not been volunteered by students when they were originally asked why they enrolled online or what factors impacted their course outcomes – this suggests that the prevalence of these more complex environmental factors may go underreported in studies that do not ask about them explicitly.
A Narrowband Multi-Frequency Radar Sounding Architecture to Correct Subsurface Interface Roughness Effects

Traditional radar sounders operating at single frequencies provide inherently ambiguous information due to the impact of subsurface basal material and roughness effects on relative along-track echo power. This ambiguity forces assumptions to be made about the nature of the ice sheet in order to definitively interpret subglacial conditions on a pulse by pulse basis. Here, we show that a multi-frequency radar sounder is best suited to discriminate basal material properties by correcting for basal roughness effects. By using frequencies spanning multiple orders of magnitude (3, 30, 300 MHz), each with high radiometric resolution $(\pm 0.5\text{dB})$ , we establish that such an architecture will enable determination of the basal material reflectivity to within 1.5 dB for roughness scales less than $\lambda_{0}/4$ , where $\lambda_{0}$ is the reference wavelength.
Facilitators and Barriers to Implementation of School-Based Telehealth Asthma Care: Program Champion Perspectives

Abstract Objective Asthma is one of the most common chronic conditions of childhood, conferring an immense burden on children and their caregivers. School-based telehealth approaches for asthma care provide the opportunity to deliver convenient, cost-effective care to more children in the school setting. Our study objective was to characterize school-based telehealth asthma program delivery experiences and examine barriers and facilitators to telehealth program implementation. Methods Interviews were conducted with telehealth program staff and school stakeholders in nine schools engaged in a school-based telehealth asthma program. A structured interview guide was designed using the Exploration, Adoption/Preparation, Implementation, Sustainment (EPIS) framework. A template analysis qualitative approach was used to identify themes related to implementation processes. Results Interviews identified key telehealth implementation strategies including building relationships, marketing and provision of technical assistance, education and support to aid program delivery. Key facilitators to successful program implementation included strong partnerships between the telehealth and school teams, a shared commitment to enhancing access to asthma care for children, and strong nurse leadership. Primary barriers to implementation included lack of family/caregiver involvement and competing demands for nurses. Conclusions This study identified barriers and facilitators to implementing a school-based telehealth asthma program that can be used to guide education, training and support strategies to enhance program delivery. Recommended implementation strategies include building strong program-school partnerships, creating a shared vision to improve access to care, and building engagement in families and communities while supporting nurse leaders and family involvement with training and resources. These results can help guide future telehealth interventions.
A Swinger of Birches: A View of Wythe from Without

Readers familiar with Tilt, 52 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 280 (1984), an utterly perfect small gem of an article, know from whence half this tribute's title comes, but here the view from without comes from a friend, colleague, and an observer of Wythe [Holt] in his natural habitat of academe. I come, unabashedly, to praise him.
Leveraging the Code of Ethics to Practically Promote Ethics During COVID-19.

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic has surfaced many ethical challenges for nurse leaders who need the courage, ability, and support to make the right decisions. This paper discusses 3 ethical challenges: workforce shortages, staff assignments, and moral distress. It also offers strategies to leverage our code of ethics to navigate these situations.
Geothermal Resource Investigations

As a major step toward augmentation of the water supply of the Lower Colorado River Basin, the Bureau of Reclamation is investigating the geothermal resource potential of the basin underlying California’s Imperial Valley. Multipurpose development of hot geothermal brines may produce upward of 2,500,000 acre-ft of high quality water per year, and add up to 10,000,000 kw of electrical generating capacity to Pacific Southwest power systems. Investigations to date indicate that several billion acre-ft of hot brine exist in the Imperial Valley geothermal field. When subsurface pressures are tapped by a deep well, the hot brine will flash into a mixture of steam and water. This mixture will flow to the surface and can be used to produce not only desalted water but, also, electrical power and, possibly, mineral byproducts. A deep geothermal test well, Mesa 6-1, was drilled and tested in 1972 and a portable research desalting unit installed in 1973.
Is symptom relief associated with reduction in gastric retention after gastric electrical stimulation treatment in patients with gastroparesis? A sensitivity analysis with logistic regression models.

Background Enterra gastric electrical stimulation (GES) is an alternative treatment for gastroparesis (GP) when standard medical therapy fails. The aims of this study were to evaluate the association between total symptom score (TSS) and reduction in gastric retention (GR) after GES by GP etiology and to examine the sensitivity of the association to varying cutpoints used to define GR and TSS improvement. Methods Gastric retention assessed with a standardized 99mTc radio-labeled egg meal and TSS measured by a five-point Likert scale in 221 GP patients treated with Enterra GES therapy for at least 1 year were analyzed. Bivariate chi-square test and multivariable logistic regression with all possible cutpoints were used to assess the consistency of association and quantitate the relationship across three GP etiologies. Key Results Symptom relief in diabetic GP was more likely attributable to GR reduction as indicated by the consistently significant odds ratios (P 0.1 for all cutpoints). Patient age, gender, baseline TSS and baseline GR had no significant effect at 5% level on clinical improvement regardless of cutpoints for GR. Conclusions & Inferences Association between clinical improvements and GR reduction following GES treatment depends on patient etiology and was able to be demonstrated in diabetic GP. The association for idiopathic GP was inconclusive and no such association was found for post surgical GP across all possible cutpoint combinations.
Towards a robust and green internet backbone network

Networking infrastructure consumes a sizable fraction of the electricity supply. A network design model aimed at maximizing energy savings by aggregating traffic demand at a small set of resources, to put under-utilized resources to sleep, is offset by legacy models aimed at maximizing the network throughput by spreading the load across network resources. Traffic fluctuations and sudden spikes further complicate the problem. In this paper, we show that the problem is NP-hard, and propose a heuristic which targets optimal power usage for common traffic demand, while accommodating traffic fluctuations. The efficacy of our design is tested on two published backbone networks: NLR and NSFNET. Simulation results reveal that the proposed heuristic closely matches the results of the optimal algorithm in both energy savings and network utilization, while enjoying polynomial time complexity.
THE FIRST HOST ASSOCIATION FOR ALEIODES SHAWI (HYMENOPTERA: BRACONIDAE: ROGADINAE)

Aleiodes Wesmael is a large group of parasitoid wasps, comprising about 220 described species worldwide, and found on every continent except Antarctica. As with other members of the braconid tribe Rogadini, they are koinobiont endoparasitoids of Lepidoptera that mummify the host larva when it dies, and pupate inside the mummy. The mummy is composed of the larval host’s skin, which hardens and darkens into a characteristically shaped structure (Figs. 1, 2), often lined inside with a silken cocoon (Shaw and Huddleston 1991). Before it pupates, the larva usually cuts through the ventral thoracic region of the host mummy and glues the mummy to a substrate (usually leaf or twig). The adult Aleiodes’ exit hole is round and positioned in the dorso-posterior area of the mummy (Shaw 1997) (Figs. 1, 2).
Surface complexation modeling of Cu(II) adsorption on mixtures of hydrous ferric oxide and kaolinite

The application of surface complexation models (SCMs) to natural sediments and soils is hindered by a lack of consistent models and data for large suites of metals and minerals of interest. Furthermore, the surface complexation approach has mostly been developed and tested for single solid systems. Few studies have extended the SCM approach to systems containing multiple solids. Cu adsorption was measured on pure hydrous ferric oxide (HFO), pure kaolinite (from two sources) and in systems containing mixtures of HFO and kaolinite over a wide range of pH, ionic strength, sorbate/sorbent ratios and, for the mixed solid systems, using a range of kaolinite/HFO ratios. Cu adsorption data measured for the HFO and kaolinite systems was used to derive diffuse layer surface complexation models (DLMs) describing Cu adsorption. Cu adsorption on HFO is reasonably well described using a 1-site or 2-site DLM. Adsorption of Cu on kaolinite could be described using a simple 1-site DLM with formation of a monodentate Cu complex on a variable charge surface site. However, for consistency with models derived for weaker sorbing cations, a 2-site DLM with a variable charge and a permanent charge site was also developed. Component additivity predictions of speciation in mixed mineral systems based on DLM parameters derived for the pure mineral systems were in good agreement with measured data. Discrepancies between the model predictions and measured data were similar to those observed for the calibrated pure mineral systems. The results suggest that quantifying specific interactions between HFO and kaolinite in speciation models may not be necessary. However, before the component additivity approach can be applied to natural sediments and soils, the effects of aging must be further studied and methods must be developed to estimate reactive surface areas of solid constituents in natural samples.
Minimally invasive management of the prenatally torsed ovarian cyst

Abstract Background: Fetal and neonatal ovarian cysts are detected frequently by ultrasonography. The presence of these lesions can result in adnexal torsion in utero with autoamputation. Historically, these have been removed at laparotomy. Methods: Retrospective chart review was performed at a single children's hospital from October 1996 to September 2001. Results: Six cases of torsion of ovarian cysts were removed laparoscopically. Five of the 6 patients had prenatal ultrasound diagnosis. The sixth had the cyst detected incidentally by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at 3 months of age. All cysts were complex by ultrasound criteria. All 6 procedures were performed via a 2-port laparoscopic approach. The average age at surgery was 3.7 months (range, 9 days to 7.5 months). There were no postoperative complications. Five patients were discharged on the day of surgery. Conclusion: Laparoscopy offers a safe, effective, and cosmetic means of managing perinatal torsion of ovarian cysts. J Pediatr Surg 37:1467-1469. Copyright 2002, Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.
Algorithmic Enhancements to the VULCAN Navier-Stokes Solver

VULCAN (Viscous Upwind aLgorithm for Complex flow ANalysis) is a cell centered, finite volume code used to solve high speed flows related to hypersonic vehicles. Two algorithms are presented for expanding the range of applications of the current Navier-Stokes solver implemented in VULCAN. The first addition is a highly implicit approach that uses subiterations to enhance block to block connectivity between adjacent subdomains. The addition of this scheme allows more efficient solution of viscous flows on highly-stretched meshes. The second algorithm addresses the shortcomings associated with density-based schemes by the addition of a time-derivative preconditioning strategy. High speed, compressible flows are typically solved with density based schemes, which show a high level of degradation in accuracy and convergence at low Mach numbers (M less than or equal to 0.1). With the addition of preconditioning and associated modifications to the numerical discretization scheme, the eigenvalues will scale with the local velocity, and the above problems will be eliminated. With these additions, VULCAN now has improved convergence behavior for multi-block, highly-stretched meshes and also can solve the Navier-Stokes equations for very low Mach numbers.
Transplantation of Eyebank Sclera in the Cutler — Beard Method of Upper Eyelid Reconstruction

Abstract A modification of the Cutler-Beard, or bridge flap, technique for upper eyelid reconstruction using donor sclera for tarsal replacement was performed in 26 patients with follow-up ranging from eight months to nine years. Because the flap advanced from the lower lid normally contains little or no tarsus, donor sclera is inserted between the conjunctiva-lower lid retractor and the skin-muscle layers and is fixed medially and laterally to the tarsal remnants and to the levator aponeurosis superiorly in order to provide substance and stability to the upper lid. Use of donor sclera for tarsal replacement has provided a more normal appearance and greater stability to the reconstructed upper lid. No infection, shrinkage, or rejection has occurred.
The politics of nation-building. Making co-nationals, refugees, and minorities

Written by Harris Mylonas, The Politics of Nation-Building. Making Co-Nationals, Refugees, and Minorities casts some new light on state policy toward ethnic minorities. Mylonas explains how interna...
The Role of Implied Motion in Engaging Audiences for Health Promotion: Encouraging Naps on a College Campus

AbstractObjective: Lack of sleep among college students negatively impacts health and academic outcomes. Building on research that implied motion imagery increases brain activity, this project tested visual design strategies to increase viewers’ engagement with a health communication campaign promoting napping to improve sleep habits. Participants: Participants (N = 194) were recruited from a large southwestern university in October 2012. Methods: Utilizing an experimental design, participants were assigned to 1 of 3 conditions: an implied motion superhero spokes-character, a static superhero spokes-character, and a control group. Results: The use of implied motion did not achieve the hypothesized effect on message elaboration, but superheroes are a promising persuasive tool for health promotion campaigns for college audiences. Conclusions: Implications for sleep health promotion campaigns and the role of implied motion in message design strategies are discussed, as well as future directions for research ...
Neutron Depth Profiling with the New NIST Cold Neutron Source

Neutron depth profiling (NDP) is a method of near-surface analysis for isotopes that undergo neutron-induced positive Q-value charged particle reactions, e.g. (n, α) and (n, p). The method is based on measuring the energy loss of the charged particles as they exit the specimen. Depending on the material under study, depths of up to 10 μm can be profiled and depth resolutions of the order of 15 nm can be obtained. The most studied analytes via NDP at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) are boron, lithium and nitrogen. These analytes have been determined in a variety of matrices. The NIST research reactor has recently undergone a major upgrade, including the addition of a new liquid-hydrogen cold source, which reaches a lower effective temperature and more fully illuminates the neutron guides. The cold neutron depth profiling (CNDP) facility has been placed on a curved super-mirror guide. Because of the guide curvature, the NDP chamber does not directly view the reactor and its associated fast neutrons and gamma rays, and therefore a 13.5 cm thick sapphire filter used previously in front of the beam port is no longer necessary. The increase in the neutron fluence rate at the end of the guide leads to an improvement in detection limit of more than a factor of four over the previous depth profiling instrument. The reduction in the gamma-ray background in the chamber will improve our ability to measure elements such as nitrogen.