cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Caring for infant daughters and sons in dual‐earner households: maternal reports of father involvement in weekday time and tasks

This study focused on maternal reports of gender differences in weekday father involvement with 12-month-olds in 47 dual-earner households utilizing full time infant day care. Three involvement variables were considered: father's time alone with the infant; father's time available to the infant; and father participation in caregiving tasks. The results showed fathers to be available to sons significantly more than daughters. Fathers were also significantly more involved in caregiving tasks with sons than with daughters. There was no difference in father time alone with sons and daughters. Examination of these three involvement measures in relation to demographic, family environment, and infant temperament measures revealed that mothers' reported fathers as being available more to sons than to daughters. In addition, mothers reported fathers to be more available to temperamentally easy sons than to temperamentally difficult sons. Recommendations are made for future research. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Surge deposit misidentification at Spor Mountain, Utah and elsewhere: A cautionary message for Mars

Abstract Before base surges were described in association with nuclear blasts and explosive volcanic eruptions (especially, the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, Washington), laminar and cross-bedded volcanogenic surge deposits were commonly misinterpreted as being of fluvial or aeolian origin. One well-documented example involves the “water-laid tuffs” in and near the Spor Mountain beryllium mine, Utah; other examples abound. In light of how frequently volcanogenic surge deposits have been misinterpreted on Earth, extreme caution is urged for Mars studies. Contrary to what has been claimed, the markedly cross-bedded, salty deposits at Meridiani Planum on Mars need not have been formed by a combination of aeolian and aqueous processes, and their contained hematitic spherules need not have formed as aqueous concretions. Given the lack of indications of volcanism in the vicinity, and the planet-wide abundance of impact craters, deposition by surges associated with distant impact targets consisting of brine-soaked, locally sulfidic regolith is a reasonable explanation for all features observed, especially if diagenesis and weathering are considered. The uniformly sized and shaped, Ni-enriched blue-gray hematitic spherules would then be some type of vapor condensation spherules (including accretionary lapilli). A similar interpretation is possible for deposits in the Home Plate area, Gusev Crater. Unlike on the dry and atmosphereless Moon, salty impact surge deposits containing spherules should be common, and well-preserved, on Mars.
Freedom Reclaimed: Rediscovering the American Vision

Freedom Reclaimed: Rediscovering the American Vision. By John E. Schwarz. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005. 264p. $30.00. In his book, John Schwarz develops a conception of freedom different from, and more expansive than, the one most common today. His crucial distinction echoes that of Isaiah Berlin's (1969) Four Essays on Liberty: Negative freedom (which Schwarz calls “free-market freedom”) involves the absence of formal restrictions on personal conduct, particularly those coming from government, whereas positive freedom (“genuine freedom,” in Schwarz's words) requires that society be organized such that people can and do attain a decent standard of living through their own efforts. Schwarz differs from Berlin, however, in seeing positive freedom not as a concept easily twisted for totalitarian ends but rather as the highest form of freedom. Emphasizing only negative freedom means ignoring the bonds that connect citizens to one another, leading to an individualistic, morally bankrupt notion that says we are all in this—alone.
Calcium and Phosphorus Levels in Submaxillary Saliva Changes in Cystic Fibrosis and in Asthma

The provocative finding of higher than normal levels of submaxillary calcium and phosphorus in asthmatic children, and the repeated demonstration of abnormally elevated levels in cystic fibrosis, suggest a potentiany important line of investigation into the basic pathogenesis of these diseases.
Surveillance Cultures of Blood, Urine, and Throat Specimens Are Not Valuable for Predicting Cytomegalovirus Disease in Liver Transplant Recipients

The role of markers of cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection, such as the isolation of CMV, the presence of CMV antigenemia, or detection of viral DNA by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay, as predictors of subsequent CMV disease has been examined in recent studies. We studied the value of performing surveillance cultures of blood, urine, and throat specimens in a cohort of 156 liver transplant recipients who had participated in clinical trials and had received ganciclovir only for documented CMV disease. Cultures of urine and throat specimens for detection of CMV were performed every week, and cultures of blood specimens were performed every other week for the first 2 months after transplantation, then monthly for 6 months. Eighty-nine (57%) of 156 patients developed CMV infection, 41 (46%) of whom developed clinical CMV disease (36 had organ involvement and five had CMV syndrome). Fifty (32%) of 156 patients had positive blood cultures, 35 (22%) had positive urine cultures, and 41 (26%) had positive throat cultures. The positive and negative predictive values of surveillance cultures for predicting CMV disease were as follows: blood cultures, 46% and 83%, respectively; urine cultures, 26% and 74%, respectively; and throat cultures, 32% and 76%, respectively. These data indicate that such cultures are not useful in predicting CMV disease in liver transplant recipients. Future studies should examine the value of alternative markers, such as CMV antigenemia or the detection of viral DNA by PCR, for predicting CMV disease in this setting.
Decision theory on dynamic domains nabla derivatives and the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation

The time scales calculus, which includes the study of the Nabla derivatives, is an emerging key topic due to many multidisciplinary applications. We extend this calculus to approximate dynamic programming. In particular, we investigate application of the Nabla derivative, one of the fundamental dynamic derivatives of time scales. We present a Nabla-derivative based derivation and proof of the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation, the solution of which is the fundamental problem in the field of dynamic programming. By drawing together the calculus of time scales and the applied area of stochastic control via approximate dynamic programming, we connect two major fields of research.
Effect of fabrication tolerances on the diffraction performance of chirped grating lenses on planar optical waveguides

The performance limitations of linear chirped grating lenses on single-mode planar optical waveguides due to positional error and to the variation of line-to-space width ratios of the grating grooves are discussed.
Effect of impurities on the superheating field of type-II superconductors

We consider the effect of nonmagnetic and magnetic impurities on the superheating field ${H}_{s}$ in a type-II superconductor. We solved the Eilenberger equations, which take into account the nonlinear pairbreaking of Meissner screening currents, and calculated ${H}_{s}(T)$ for arbitrary temperatures and impurity concentrations in a single-band $s$-wave superconductor with a large Ginzburg-Landau parameter. At low temperatures, nonmagnetic impurities suppress a weak maximum in ${H}_{s}(T)$, which has been predicted for the clean limit, resulting, instead, in a maximum of ${H}_{s}$ as a function of impurity concentration in a moderately clean limit. It is shown that nonmagnetic impurities weakly affect ${H}_{s}$ even in the dirty limit, while magnetic impurities suppress both ${H}_{s}$ and the critical temperature ${T}_{c}$. The density of quasiparticles states $N(\ensuremath{\epsilon})$ is strongly affected by an interplay of impurity scattering and current pairbreaking. We show that a clean superconductor at $H={H}_{s}$ is in a gapless state, but a quasiparticle gap ${\ensuremath{\epsilon}}_{g}$ in $N(\ensuremath{\epsilon})$ at $H={H}_{s}$ appears as the concentration of nonmagnetic impurities increases. As the nonmagnetic scattering rate $\ensuremath{\alpha}$ increases above ${\ensuremath{\alpha}}_{c}=0.36$, the quasiparticle gap ${\ensuremath{\epsilon}}_{g}(\ensuremath{\alpha})$ at $H={H}_{s}$ increases, approaching ${\ensuremath{\epsilon}}_{g}\ensuremath{\approx}0.32{\ensuremath{\Delta}}_{0}$ in the dirty limit $\ensuremath{\alpha}\ensuremath{\gg}1$, where ${\ensuremath{\Delta}}_{0}$ is the superconducting gap parameter at zero field. The effects of impurities on ${H}_{s}$ can be essential for the nonlinear surface resistance and superconductivity breakdown by strong RF fields.
Frailty and cardiovascular disease: potential role of gait speed in surgical risk stratification in older adults

Frailty is a state of late life decline and vulnerability, typified by physical weakness and decreased physiologic reserve. The epidemiology and pathophysiology of frailty share features with those of cardiovascular disease. Gait speed can be used as a measure of frailty and is a powerful predictor of mortality. Advancing age is a potent risk factor for cardiovascular disease and has been associated with an increased risk of adverse outcomes. Older adults comprise approximately half of cardiac surgery patients, and account for nearly 80% of the major complications and deaths following surgery. The ability of traditional risk models to predict mortality and major morbidity in older patients being considered for cardiac surgery may improve if frailty, as measured by gait speed, is included in their assessment. It is possible that in the future frailty assessment may assist in choosing among therapies (e.g., surgical vs. percutaneous aortic valve replacement for patients with aortic stenosis).
Maintaining tree islands in the Florida Everglades: nutrient redistribution is the key

The Florida Everglades is an oligotrophic wetland system with tree islands as one of its most prominent landscape features. Total soil phosphorus concentrations on tree islands can be 6 to 100 times greater than phosphorus levels in the surrounding marshes and sloughs, making tree islands nutrient hotspots. Several mechanisms are believed to redistribute phosphorus to tree islands: subsurface water flows generated by evapotranspiration of trees, higher deposition rates of dry fallout, deposition of guano by birds and other animals, groundwater upwelling, and bedrock mineralization by tree exudates. A conceptual model is proposed, in which the focused redistribution of limiting nutrients, especially phosphorus, onto tree islands controls their maintenance and expansion. Because of increased primary production and peat accretion rates, the redistribution of phosphorus can result in an increase in both tree island elevation and size. Human changes to hydrology have greatly decreased the number and size of tr...
Circulating Matrix Metalloproteinases and Tissue Inhibitors of Metalloproteinases in Cardiac Amyloidosis

Background Cardiac amyloidosis due to amyloid fibril deposition in the heart results in cardiomyopathy (CMP) with heart failure (HF) and/or conduction disturbances. Immunoglobulin light chain–related CMP (AL-CMP) features rapidly progressive HF with an extremely poor prognosis compared with a CMP due to the deposition of mutant (ATTR) amyloidosis or wild-type (senile systemic amyloidosis, SSA) transthyretin (TTR) proteins. Amyloid fibril deposition disrupts the myocardial extracellular matrix (ECM) homeostasis, which is partly regulated by matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and their tissue inhibitors (TIMPs). We therefore tested the hypothesis that circulating levels of MMPs and TIMPs in patients with AL-CMP and TTR-related CMP (TTR-CMP) are dissimilar and indicative of cardiac amyloid disease type. Methods and Results Fifty AL-CMP patients were compared with 50 TTR-CMP patients (composed of 38 SSA and 12 ATTR patients). Clinical and laboratory evaluations including echocardiography were performed at the initial visit to our center and analyzed. Serum MMP-2, MMP-9, TIMP-1, and TIMP-2 levels were determined by ELISA. Compared with TTR-CMP patients, AL-CMP patients had higher levels of brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), troponin I (TnI), MMP-2, TIMP-1, and MMP-2/TIMP-2 ratio, despite less left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy and better preserved LV ejection fraction. Mortality was worse in AL-CMP patients than in TTR-CMP patients (log-rank P <0.01). MMP-2/TIMP-2 plus BNP and TnI showed the highest discriminative ability for distinguishing AL-CMP from TTR-CMP. Female sex (HR, 2.343; P =0.049) and BNP (HR, 1.041; P <0.01) were predictors for mortality for all patients with cardiac amyloidoses. Only BNP was a predictor of death in AL-CMP patients (HR, 1.090; P <0.01). There were no prognostic factors for all-cause death in TTR-CMP patients. Conclusions Circulating concentrations of MMPs and TIMPs may be useful in differentiating patients with AL-CMP from those with TTR-CMP, resulting in earlier diagnostic vigilance, and may add prognostic information. In addition to an elevated BNP level, female sex increased the risk of death in patients with cardiac amyloidoses.
TIME-BASED PRICING AND LEADTIME POLICIES FOR A BUILD-TO-ORDER MANUFACTURER

We studied time-based policies on pricing and leadtime for a build-to-order and direct sales manufacturer. It is assumed that the utility of the product varies among potential customers and decreases over time, and that a potential customer will place an order if his or her utility is higher than the manufacturer's posted price. Once an order is placed, it will be delivered to the customer after a length of time called “leadtime.” Because of the decrease in a customer's utility during leadtime, a customer will cancel the order if the utility falls below the ordering price before the order is received. The manufacturer may choose to offer discounted prices to customers who would otherwise cancel their orders. We discuss two price policies: common discounted price and customized discounted price. In the common discounted price policy, the manufacturer offers a single lower price to the customers; in the customized discounted price policy, the manufacturer offers the customers separately for individual new prices. Our analytical and numerical studies show that the discounted price policies results in higher revenue and that the customized discounted price policy significantly outperforms the common discounted price policy when product utility decreases rapidly. We also study two leadtime policies when production cost decreases over time. The first uses a fixed leadtime, and the second allows the leadtime to vary dynamically over time. We find that the dynamic leadtime policy significantly outperforms the fixed leadtime policy when the product cost decreases rapidly.
Vacuum Powder Insulation

The study of powder* in vacuum for very low temperature insulation was started to: 1) Evaluate the quality of this type of insulation by making conductivity measurements. 2) Investigate and compare the insulating properties of different commercial powders and modifications thereof.
Embracing Ambiguity: A Comparison of Annotation Methodologies for Crowdsourcing Word Sense Labels

Word sense disambiguation aims to identify which meaning of a word is present in a given usage. Gathering word sense annotations is a laborious and difficult task. Several methods have been proposed to gather sense annotations using large numbers of untrained annotators, with mixed results. We propose three new annotation methodologies for gathering word senses where untrained annotators are allowed to use multiple labels and weight the senses. Our findings show that given the appropriate annotation task, untrained workers can obtain at least as high agreement as annotators in a controlled setting, and in aggregate generate equally as good of a sense labeling.
Increased cytosolic free calcium in red blood cells is associated with essential hypertension in humans.

Intracellular free calcium (Cai2+) was measured in human red blood cells (RBCs) using the Ca(2+)-sensitive fluorescent probe, fluo-3. Fresh RBCs were loaded with the acetoxymethyl ester of fluo-3 (fluo-3-AM) in vitro. Following incubation at 37 degrees C for 60 min, cells were separated from nonincorporated fluo-3-AM and fluo-3. Fluorescence was quantified with excitation and emission wavelengths of 506 nm and 526 nm, respectively. The relatively long wavelength characteristics of fluo-3 avoid much of the interference from hemoglobin that makes agents such as quin-2 and fura-2 of limited value in RBCs. A protocol with corrections for quenching and for extracellular fluo-3 was employed for each sample. Cai2+ in red blood cells from 15 normotensive volunteers averaged 134 +/- 12 nmol/L. In RBCs from 30 hypertensive patients who were not treated pharmacologically, Cai2+ was 317 +/- 32 nmol/L (P < .05). In a group of 27 hypertensives who were treated with various drugs, RBC Cai2+ was 221 +/- 27 nmol/L. Measurements were also performed in RBCs from 16 patients before and at least 2 weeks following treatment with one or more antihypertensive agents. Reduction of RBC Cai2+ from 342 +/- 47 to 252 +/- 39 (P < .001) was observed in 16 patients whose blood pressure fell with treatment. Overall, there was a correlation between RBC Cai2+ and diastolic blood pressure (r = 0.413, P < .01, d.f. = 71). Thus, the present results confirm an association between elevated RBC Ca2+ and essential hypertension.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
The Use of Gentamicin in Peritoneal Dialysis I. Pharmacologic Results

Seventeen azotemic patients were treated with gentamicin during 28 instances of peritoneal dialysis. Twenty-four of 28 yielded a persistently turbid dialysate containing predominantly polymorphonuclear leukocytes. Four patients received gentamicin prophylactically or because of systemic infection. Antibiotic was given by either the intramuscular or intraperitoneal route alone in 21 cases and by a combination of both in seven. Despite the presence of peritoneal inflammation, intramuscular gentamicin alone resulted in suboptimal peritoneal and variable serum concentrations. Intraperitoneal administration produced equilibration between the two compartments after 12 hr. In the absence of peritoneal inflammation the removal rate of gentamicin from one patient was 1596-2596 of that found in three with peritonitis, and the half-life was prolonged two- to fivefold. When gentamicin was used for the treatment of peritonitis during dialysis, therapeutic levels in both serum and dialysate were most readily achieved and maintained by one or two intramuscular injections with continuous addition of antibiotic to the dialysis fluid.
A form of Ontological Argument

Tillich is widely held to be among those Protestant theologians who proclaim considerable scepticism about the arguments for the existence of God. This particular form of scepticism is not an attack on any individual argument or set of arguments, but rather is a wholesale rejection of the possibility of there being any "argument" for the existence of God at all. The best evidence for attributing this view to Tillich derives from his own testimony. According to Tillich, "there can be little doubt that the arguments are a failure insofar as they claim to be arguments."' The primary reason cited for this "failure" is the suggestion that "the method of arguing to a conclusion" (1.204) is "inadequate for the idea of God";2 indeed, it "contradicts the idea of God.3 More precisely, Tillich seems to hold that God's existence cannot be made a matter of inference from any given data about the world because that method of argument is inconsistent with a proper understanding of the concept of God:
Finite element simulative analysis for the concrete arch dam of Tianshengqiao reservoir

In this paper,finite element simulative analysis is proceeded for the concrete arch dam of Tianshengqiao reservoir.Deducing variation law of the dam’s stress and displacement in construction process and operational process.The analytic results are shown:concrete arch dam of Tianshengqiao reservoir is reasonable structure,and every index meets the requirements for design.
Associating new spectral features from visible and near infrared regions with optimal combination principle to monitor leaf nitrogen concentration in barley

The paper proposed a method to monitor LNC in crop with hyperspectral remote sensing. Taking the LNC monitoring of barley that is more demanding for nitrogen fertilization as a case,this study employs new spectral features such as slopes and angles extracted from the normalized reflectance curves in Visible-Near Infrared region to evaluate LNC,At the same time,the optimal combination principle that was widely used in the combinated forecasting domains was presented to estimate LNC. The analysis resluts proved that most of the new spectral features propsoed in the study exhibited significant correlations with LNC. Among the new spectral features,the key features of slopes( K re/ K pb and K pb) and angles( Aδ/ Aαand Aδ/ Aθ) could well describe the dynamic pattern of LNC changes in crop. The optimal combination algorithm determined the optimal combination with K re/ K pb and K nir1,which could increase the spectral responding to LNC,strengthen the stability of models monitoring LNC and improve the accuracy of LNC estimates.
Effect of repetitive stunning on myocardial metabolism in pig hearts.

Recent animal and clinical studies have suggested that chronic hibernation, a condition of depressed mechanical function and enhanced glycolysis in viable but downregulated myocardium, may result from chronic repetitive ischemia and reperfusion. The present study was conducted to test whether similar trends could be reproduced in an acute animal preparation of repetitive stunning. Eight intact pig hearts were extracorporeally perfused for 115 min and subjected to four cycles of ischemia [60% decrease in anterior descending flow for 5 min each, interspersed with 15 min of aerobic reperfusion]. Each bout of ischemia caused a progressive decline in regional systolic shortening such that systolic shortening was 37% lower at end-reperfusion (P < 0.05 vs. initial conditions). Regional myocardial O 2 consumption was reduced during ischemia but was not significantly lower at end-reperfusion compared with that under initial conditions. Fatty acid oxidation was unchanged at any point during the trials. Although glucose utilization was increased by an average of 264% during the four ischemic periods, it was not significantly or progressively increased during the reperfusion periods. Therefore, although this acute stunning protocol depressed mechanical function, it did not cumulatively increase glycolysis during reperfusion. This absence of accelerated glycolysis is at variance with the metabolic findings reported in clinical hibernation and raises concerns regarding this protocol in animal studies designed to stimulate short-term hibernation.
List prediction applied to motion planning

There is growing interest in applying machine learning to motion planning. Potential applications are predicting an initial seed for trajectory optimization, predicting an effective heuristic for search based planning, and even predicting a planning algorithm for adaptive motion planning systems. In these situations, providing only a single prediction is unsatisfactory. It leads to many scenarios where the prediction suffers a high loss. In this paper, we advocate list prediction. Each predictor in a list focusses on different regions in the space of environments. This overcomes the shortcoming of a single predictor, and improves overall performance. A framework for list prediction, ConseqOpt, already exists. Our contribution is an extensive domain-specific treatment. We provide a rigorous and clear exposition of the procedure for training a list of predictors. We provide experimental results on a spectrum of motion planning applications. Each application contributes to understanding the behavior of list prediction. We observe that the benefit of list prediction over a single prediction is significant, irrespective of the application.
Discriminative Stimulus Properties of the Endocannabinoid Catabolic Enzyme Inhibitor SA-57 in Mice.

Whereas the inhibition of fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) or monoacylglycerol lipase (MAGL), the respective major hydrolytic enzymes of N-arachidonoyl ethanolamine (AEA) and 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG), elicits no or partial substitution for Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in drug-discrimination procedures, combined inhibition of both enzymes fully substitutes for THC, as well as produces a constellation of cannabimimetic effects. The present study tested whether C57BL/6J mice would learn to discriminate the dual FAAH-MAGL inhibitor SA-57 (4-[2-(4-chlorophenyl)ethyl]-1-piperidinecarboxylic acid 2-(methylamino)-2-oxoethyl ester) from vehicle in the drug-discrimination paradigm. In initial experiments, 10 mg/kg SA-57 fully substituted for CP55,940 ((-)-cis-3-[2-hydroxy-4-(1,1-dimethylheptyl)phenyl]-trans-4-(3-hydroxypropyl)cyclohexanol), a high-efficacy CB1 receptor agonist in C57BL/6J mice and for AEA in FAAH (−/−) mice. Most (i.e., 23 of 24) subjects achieved criteria for discriminating SA-57 (10 mg/kg) from vehicle within 40 sessions, with full generalization occurring 1 to 2 hours postinjection. CP55,940, the dual FAAH-MAGL inhibitor JZL195 (4-​nitrophenyl 4-​(3-​phenoxybenzyl)piperazine-​1-​carboxylate), and the MAGL inhibitors MJN110 (2,5-dioxopyrrolidin-1-yl 4-(bis(4-chlorophenyl)methyl)piperazine-1-carboxylate) and JZL184 (4-[Bis(1,3-benzodioxol-5-yl)hydroxymethyl]-1-piperidinecarboxylic acid 4-nitrophenyl ester) fully substituted for SA-57. Although the FAAH inhibitors PF-3845 ((N-3-pyridinyl-4-[[3-[[5-(trifluoromethyl)-2-pyridinyl]oxy]phenyl]methyl]-1-piperidinecarboxamide) and URB597 (cyclohexylcarbamic acid 3′-(aminocarbonyl)-[1,1′-biphenyl]-3-yl ester) did not substitute for SA-57, PF-3845 produced a 2-fold leftward shift in the MJN110 substitution dose-response curve. In addition, the CB1 receptor antagonist rimonabant blocked the generalization of SA-57, as well as substitution of CP55,940, JZL195, MJN110, and JZL184. These findings suggest that MAGL inhibition plays a major role in the CB1 receptor-mediated SA-57 training dose, which is further augmented by FAAH inhibition.
Functions and Mechanisms: A Perspectivalist View

Though the mechanical philosophy is traditionally associated with the rejection of teleological description and explanation, the theories of the contemporary physiological sciences, such as neuroscience, are replete with both functional and mechanistic descriptions. I explore the relationship between these two stances, showing how functional description contributes to the search for mechanisms. I discuss three ways that functional descriptions contribute to the explanations and mechanistic theories in contemporary neuroscience: as a way of tersely indicating an etiological explanation, as a way of framing constitutive explanations, and as a way of explaining the item by situating it within higher-level mechanisms. This account of functional description is ineliminably perspectival in the sense that it relies ultimately on decisions by an observer about what matters or is of interest in the system they study.
Practical challenges for radiation-balanced lasers (Conference Presentation)

Radiation Balanced Lasers (RBL) use cooling from spontaneous emission to offset waste heat generation. This technique offers the potential for very high power operation without thermo-optic distortions or damage. Nevertheless establishing and maintaining radiation balance poses interesting problems for the laser designer. An analysis of RBL’s sensitivity to material losses, intensity variation, and temperature will be presented. This comparison of simulations and experiments is intended to assist in the design of future high power systems.
Intravenous Acetaminophen Does Not Decrease Persistent Surgical Pain After Cardiac Surgery

Objective The authors investigated the hypothesis that perioperative acetaminophen reduces incisional pain at 30 and 90 days. Design This was a prospective, randomized, double-blind trial. Setting Tertiary-care hospital (single center) cardiac surgery unit. Participants Patients undergoing cardiac surgery via median sternotomy. Interventions Patients were assigned randomly to intravenous (IV) acetaminophen or IV placebo. Patients were given 4 doses of 1 g of IV acetaminophen or an equal volume of saline placebo over 15 minutes every 6 hours for 24 hours starting in the operating room after sternal closure. Measurements and Main Results Study participants were assessed by phone for incisional pain severity 30 and 90 days after surgery. Those reporting any incisional pain were asked to complete the Neuropathic Pain Questionnaire–Short Form and the modified Brief Pain Inventory. Patients were compared on 30- and 90-day incisional pain severity using separate multivariable linear regression models. IV acetaminophen had no effect on 30- and 90-day incisional pain, with an estimated difference in means (confidence interval) of 0.06 (–0.87 to 0.99) at 30 days (p = 0.88) and 0.07 (–0.71 to 0.86) at 90 days (p = 0.83). Low pain severity, neuropathic pain, and interference at both 30 and 90 days after surgery, regardless of treatment group, were observed. Conclusions IV acetaminophen did not reduce the incidence or intensity of incisional pain at 30 days and 90 days after surgery.
Interactive robogami: An end-to-end system for design of robots with ground locomotion:

This paper aims to democratize the design and fabrication of robots, enabling people of all skill levels to make robots without needing expert domain knowledge. Existing work in computational design and rapid fabrication has explored this question of customization for physical objects but so far has not been able to conquer the complexity of robot designs. We have developed Interactive Robogami, a tool for composition-based design of ground robots that can be fabricated as flat sheets and then folded into 3D structures. This rapid prototyping process enables users to create lightweight, affordable, and materially versatile robots with short turnaround time. Using Interactive Robogami, designers can compose new robot designs from a database of print-and-fold parts. The designs are tested for the users’ functional specifications via simulation and fabricated on user satisfaction. We present six robots designed and fabricated using a 3D printing based approach, as well as a larger robot cut from sheet metal....
Vascular Cognitive Impairment

The risk of cerebrovascular disease increases with advanced age, with almost two thirds of individuals over 70 exhibiting vascular lesions on MRI. Cognitive presentations vary from little or no no cognitive impairment to clinical dementia, and the extent of cognitive impairment is not necessarily correlated with lesion size or burden. The term vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) describes all forms of cognitive impairment caused by cerebrovascular disease. Early identification of vascular disease is critical since many risk factors are modifiable, and the neuropsychologist can play an important role in characterizing the extent of cognitive and behavioral change. This chapter provides an overview of the clinical guidelines to consider when evaluating older adults with possible VCI and includes an illustrative case example and useful recommendations for the clinician.
Donald Trump, Globalization, and Modernity

The election of Donald Trump can be partially understood in the context of the rise of authoritarian populist, nationalist, and anti-globalist movements throughout the world. Unlike previous American presidents in the modern era, however, Donald Trump had no previous political experience and emerged from media culture and the business world, rather than the world of party politics. In this paper, I will focus on the assault on globalization in the Trump campaign, look at his administration and actions as president, and raise questions concerning whether or not he has betrayed his anti-globalist followers and is pursing business-as-usual for global, corporate capitalism—or something else. This investigation also leads us into engaging the Trump campaign/administration connections with Russia and the role of Russia and global computer networks in Election 2016, making Election 2016 the first US election deeply shaped by global political forces and the Internet, new media, and social networking.
Computational methods for optimization via simulation using gaussian markov random fields

There has been recent interest, and significant success, in adapting and extending ideas from statistical learning via Gaussian process (GP) regression to optimization via simulation (OvS) problems. At the heart of all such methods is a GP representing knowledge about the objective function whose conditional distribution is updated as more of the feasible region is explored. Calculating the conditional distribution requires inverting a large, dense covariance matrix, and this is the primary bottleneck for applying GP learning to large-scale OvS problems. If the GP is a Gaussian Markov Random Field (GMRF), then the precision matrix (inverse of the covariance matrix) can be constructed to be sparse. In this paper we show how to exploit this sparse-matrix structure to extend the reach of OvS based on GMRF learning for discrete-decision-variable problems.
Otoplasty techniques in children: a comparative study of outcomes

BACKGROUND Numerous otoplasty techniques have been described in the literature to correct prominent ears; however, few have focused on the complication rates. We reviewed our experience aiming to assess peri-operative care requirements and complication rates. METHOD We conducted a retrospective review of 207 otoplasty procedures performed in 119 patients over a 5-year period (2009-2014) at the Women's and Children's Hospital, Adelaide. Information pertaining to demographic details, length of stay, otoplasty technique and complications (early and late) were obtained. RESULTS In the study period, 97% of the 119 patients had an overnight stay. There was an early complication of 2.2% (return to theatre for bleeding) in the modified Chongchet technique and 0.9% (wound infection) in the Mustarde technique. Late complications included suture extrusion (1.9%) with the Mustarde technique and hypertrophic scarring (2.2%) in the modified Chongchet technique. The recurrence rate requiring revision following modified Chongchet technique was 10% and Mustarde technique was 2.9%. The Mustarde otoplasty technique was associated with a slightly lower antiemetic requirement than the Chongchet technique (3.2 versus 14.3%, P = 0.032). Both techniques had comparable opioid analgesic requirement of 30-35% post-operatively (P = 0.248). CONCLUSION Our results are comparable to the huge variation in available literature. We note the higher revision rate following modified Chongchet technique. Both techniques had a low and acceptable rate of post-operative analgesia and antiemetic requirement. We are considering either otoplasty technique as a day surgery procedure within our unit with the provision of adequate patient support as a safe and economical advance.
Dual effect of first full term pregnancy on breast cancer risk: empirical evidence and postulated underlying biology.

cancer risk due to first full-term pregnancy (FFTP) with subsequent lifetime reduction in risk due to parity, has been followed by many empirical confirmations of these hypotheses including the current article [1, 2]. The "breast tissue age" model implies that, for a certain time period after FFTP, ever-parous women are at a higher risk for breast cancer relative to nulliparous women [39]. Subsequent extensions of this model incorporated transient increases in risk due to each full-term pregnancy (FTP), effects of age at first and last FTP, duration between adjacent pregnancies, time since last delivery, as well as other risk factors that influence the prediction of breast cancer incidence [3, 10-23]. These models have been tested and evaluated by large epidemiological studies in varied ethnic populations. Although the results differ somewhat for specific populations and modeling approaches, the overall observations can be summarized as follows: FFTP is the most important determinant of the dual effect of pregnancy with subsequent FTPs exerting similar yet quantitatively much less important short-term increases followed by long-term decreases in breast cancer risk. Moreover, the degree to which the short-term increase and the longterm protection of parity are observed in a given population is determined by the distribution of ages at first and subsequent pregnancies as well as total parity within that population. The lower the age at FFTP and subsequent FTPs, and the shorter the intervals between adjacent pregnancies, the greater the long-term protection. This protection is universally observed among women of various ethnic and racial groups. In the current article, comparison of uniparous with nulliparous women shows that short-term increase in breast cancer risk (OR = 1.49 (95% CI 1.01-2.20)) peaks in the window of around five years post-FFTP, with the long
Status, distribution, and habitat associations of Topeka Shiners in west-central Iowa

The distribution of Topeka shiner Notropis topeka has declined across its historic range and was listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act in 1998. In Iowa, the habitat associations of this imperiled fish are not well understood. Our goals were to understand the current distribution and identify abiotic and biotic factors associated with the occurrence of Topeka shiners in stream and off-channel habitats of west-central Iowa. Fish assemblages and habitat characteristics were sampled in 67 stream and 27 off-channel sites during 2010 – 2011. Topeka shiners were found in 52% off-channel sites, but only 9% of stream sites, supporting the hypothesis that off-channel habitats are an important component of their life history. When compared to prior distributions, our results indicated a recent reduction in the distribution of Topeka shiners in Iowa. Fish assemblages in stream sites Corresponding author: bbakevich@gmail.com Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management, Iowa State University U.S. Geological Survey, Iowa Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management, Iowa State University U.S. Geological Survey, Idaho Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, University of Idaho 4
The RKIP and STAT3 Axis in Cancer Chemotherapy: Opposites Attract

The acquisition of resistance to conventional therapies such as radiation and chemotherapeutic drugs remains a major obstacle in the successful treatment of cancer patients [1, 2]. In this regard, one of the major determinants of apoptosis sensitivity in cancer cells is the transcription factor nuclear factor kappa B (NFκB). Constitutive expression of NF-κB has been implicated in decreasing apoptosis in cancer cell lines [3]. NF-κB is an inducible transcription factor required for the upregulation of a large number of genes in response to inflammation, viral and bacterial infection, cell survival, cell adhesion, inflammation, differentiation, growth, and stress stimuli [4, 5]. Genes that are responsive to NF-κB activation include a variety of cytokines, cell adhesion molecules, acute phase response proteins, and apoptotic and anti-apoptotic proteins. It is believed that this reprogramming of gene expression is essential for cell survival during physiologic crisis situations. Active NF-κB is a dimer comprised of various members of the Rel family of proteins, and some form of NF-κB is expressed in most cell types. In unstimulated cells NF-κB is retained in the cytoplasm in an inactive form bound to a family of inhibitory proteins known as IκB (inhibitor of κB). Activation of NF-κB requires the phosphorylation and degradation of I-κB, which allows the NF-κB dimer to translocate to the nucleus [6, 7]. NF-κB can be activated by several signaling cascades and is subject to multiple levels of regulation. Considerable progress has been made in the identification of kinases that phosphorylate IκB and target it for subsequent degradation. In addition to its critical role in re-programming gene expression in response to infection and other stresses, NF-κB also mediates cell survival signals, protecting cells from apoptosis [8–10]. For example, cells derived from NF-κB p65 knockout mice are significantly more sensitive to TNFαinduced cytotoxicity than normal cells. Specificity to NF-κB was demonstrated by transfecting p65 into the knockout cells that reversed the cytotoxicity [11, 12]. Similar effects were also observed when NF-κB activation was ablated with an IκB dominantnegative mutant. Cells with compromised NF-κB activation are also more vulnerable to other proapoptotic signals such as ionizing radiation and cancer chemotherapeutic agents [13]. NF-κB has also been implicated in downregulating apoptosis in cncer cell lines that constitutively express elevated NF-κB activity by the observation that ablation of NF-κB activity by a variety of means induced apoptosis [3]. Many of the target genes that are activated by NF-κB are critical to the
Indications and Best Practices for Intra-arterial Therapies to Treat Hepatocellular Carcinoma

The purpose of this review is to re-evaluate the role of intra-arterial therapies for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) recommended by contemporary staging systems. Currently, intra-arterial therapies are recommended by the Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) staging system only for patients with BCLC B HCC in the form of trans-arterial chemoembolization. Recently, randomized controlled trials in patients with BCLC C HCC without metastatic disease have suggested a potential role for trans-arterial radioembolization (TARE) with fewer adverse events and better quality of life compared to sorafenib. Randomized controlled trials have also demonstrated the benefit of using combination therapy of trans-arterial chemoembolization (TACE) with ablation for patients with BCLC A HCC [single tumors (3–7 cm)] compared to ablation alone. Finally, promising results from single-center studies indicate that TARE using a radiation segmentectomy technique may be a potentially curative therapy for tumors less than 3 cm, supporting its use in patients with BCLC A HCC that are not amenable to surgical or ablative therapies. Recent randomized clinical trials have demonstrated the benefit of intra-arterial therapies in subpopulations of BCLC stages A, B, and C. These studies highlight the need for careful patient assessment, staging, and multidisciplinary discussion to consider treatments that are not currently included in guidelines but can improve patient outcomes for HCC.
Cooling Atoms with Extraresonant Stimulated Emission Below the Doppler Limit

Publisher Summary When the atomic system is “opened,” that is, if it is allowed to decay to other levels or the dipole decay rate is altered by dephasing events, the stimulated force is dramatically modified. Under this conditions, the stimulated force can occur at lower laser intensity and can even reverse sign to provide damping at the red side of resonance. These phenomena originate from extraresonances in the stimulated emission process between the two counterpropagating waves. These resonances appear as a dispersive feature in pump-probe spectra and are closely related to the extraresonances in four-wave mixing. The implications of these results to the recently observed ultracold Na and Cs atoms are discussed in this chapter. The chapter also presents these results through a simple model consisting of a two-level system, which is allowed to interact with a reservoir of levels.
Research Advance in Map-Based Cloning of Genes in Rice(Oryza sativa L.)

Map-based cloning refers to a technique for the isolation of genes characterized by a phenotypic alteration usually caused by variation in its DNA sequence.The central procedure used in map-based cloning is the genetic mapping of the gene of interest at extremely high resolution.The high resolution mapping results in the identification of a small interval harboring the gene.Further intermediate steps such as the establishment of clone-based physical maps,the identification of expressed regions and extensive sequencing and sequence annotation may be necessary.Finally,several approaches may be used for the verification of the identified gene harboring a sequence polymorphism.The progress in Map-based cloning of the function genes in rice(Oryza sativa L.) was reviewed.
Associations Between Maternal Depression and Infant Fronto-Limbic Connectivity

Maternal depression is a well-documented risk factor for psychopathology in children. The origins of this association, however, are not well understood. Noninvasive imaging methods such as MRI can be used to assess infant brain development and examine associations between maternal depression and neurobiological correlates of risk for psychopathology in early life. Here, we present preliminary analyses on 24 6 month old infants using a multi-shell diffusion MRI sequence optimized for imaging infant white matter, along with a novel tract clustering and identification workflow, TractStat. We examine the association between maternal depressive symptoms, measured by the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, and infant white matter organization in the uncinate fasciculus (UF). Infants whose mothers report experiencing more severe depressive symptoms have lower fractional anisotropy of the right UF, suggesting a possible neurobiological marker of the intergenerational transmission of risk for depression.
Power loss due to testing association between covariate-adjusted traits and genetic variants.

Multiple linear regression is commonly used to test for association between genetic variants and continuous traits and estimate genetic effect sizes. Confounding variables are controlled for by including them as additional covariates. An alternative technique that is increasingly used is to regress out covariates from the raw trait and then perform regression analysis with only the genetic variants included as predictors. In the case of single-variant analysis, this adjusted trait regression (ATR) technique is known to be less powerful than the traditional technique when the genetic variant is correlated with the covariates We extend previous results for single-variant tests by deriving exact relationships between the single-variant score, Wald, likelihood-ratio, and F test statistics and their ATR analogs. We also derive the asymptotic power of ATR analogs of the multiple-variant score and burden tests. We show that the maximum power loss of the ATR analog of the multiple-variant score test is completely characterized by the canonical correlations between the set of genetic variants and the set of covariates. Further, we show that for both single- and multiple-variant tests, the power loss for ATR analogs increases with increasing stringency of Type 1 error control ( α ) and increasing correlation (or canonical correlations) between the genetic variant (or multiple variants) and covariates. We recommend using ATR only when maximum canonical correlation between variants and covariates is low, as is typically true.