cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Dependence on geographic location of air mass modifiers for photovoltaic module performance models

Air mass modifiers are frequently used to represent the effects of solar spectrum on PV module current. Existing PV module performance models assume a single empirical expression, a polynomial in air mass, for all locations and times. In this paper, air mass modifiers are estimated for several modules of different types from IV curves measured with the modules at fixed orientation in three climatically different locations around the United States. Systematic variation is found in the effect of solar spectrum on PV module current that is not well approximated by the standard air mass modifier polynomial.
Using Robots to Moderate Team Conflict: The Case of Repairing Violations

We explore whether robots can positively influence conflict dynamics by repairing interpersonal violations that occur during a team-based problem-solving task. In a 2 (negative trigger: taskdirected vs. personal attack) x 2 (repair: yes vs. no) between subjects experiment (N=57 teams, 114 participants), we studied the effect of a robot intervention on affect, perceptions of conflict, perceptions of team members’ contributions, and team performance during a problem-solving task. Specifically, the robot either intervened by repairing a task-directed or personal attack by a confederate or did not intervene. Contrary to our expectations, we found that the robot’s repair interventions increased the groups’ awareness of conflict after the occurrence of a personal attack thereby acting against the groups’ tendency to suppress the conflict. These findings suggest that repair heightened awareness of a normative violation. Overall, our results provide support for the idea that robots can aid team functioning by regulating core team processes such as conflict. Categories and Subject Descriptors H.1.2; H.5.3; I.2.9; J.4; K.4.3
Informed or Misinformed Consent? Abortion Policy in the United States

Since 2010, the United States has witnessed a dramatic expansion of state-based restrictions on abortion. The most common of these are informed consent statutes, which require that a woman seeking an abortion receive a state-authored informational packet before the abortion procedure can be performed. These laws, in addition to requiring the provision of information about alternatives to and risks of abortion, all also require details of embryological and fetal development. This article presents the findings of a comprehensive study of state-authored informed consent materials regarding embryological and fetal development. To conduct this study, we recruited a panel of experts in human anatomy to assess the accuracy of these materials in the context of the constitutional standard established inPlanned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania et al. v. Robert P. Casey et al.(505 U.S. 833 (1992)): that such information must be "truthful" and "nonmisleading." We find that nearly one-third of the informed consent information is medically inaccurate, that inaccurate information is concentrated primarily in the earlier weeks of pregnancy and is clustered around particular body systems. We discuss the implications of our findings for the question of the constitutionality of informed consent laws as they have been implemented in practice.
Notes on image processing with partial differential equations

We discuss the underlying physics of transport coefficients in the PDE image processing approach and present a more principled method for their construction. Transport coefficients in PDEs play important roles, e.g., the diffusion coefficient c in the Perona-Malik equation ∂u/∂t = ▿T (c▿u). Hence different models for c have been proposed in the literature. We present a physics-based method for constructing c and compare its performance with existing models. We also clarify an issue that arises in implementing the PDE approach. It is well-known that the product rule for derivatives in continuous spaces, namely, ∂(fg) = g∂f + f∂g, does not hold in discrete spaces. Thus computing such quantities as ▿T (c▿u) in spatially discretized images becomes ambiguous depending on which of the two alternatives we use, namely, whether to treat c▿u as a single function or treat c and ▿u as two functions and use the product rule. We examine this ambiguity and show which alternative is better in the sense of yielding approximations that are closer to the continuous space results.
Ureteropelvic Junction Obstruction in Infants and Children: Functional Evaluation of the Obstructed Kidney Preoperatively and Postoperatively

AbstractWe evaluated 14 children with primary ureteropelvic junction obstruction, using preoperative excretory urography and renal imaging with the renal cortical labeling agent 99mtechnetium dimer-captosuccinic acid. All children with a reduction in function of 10 per cent or more in the obstructed kidney had severe calicectasis; others with severe calicectasis had minimal functional loss. Renal scanning with dimercaptosuccinic acid discourages surgery in the questionably obstructed kidney and encourages repair in the severely obstructed kidney. In 10 children who had followup renal imaging after repair relative function was not significantly different.
Synthesis and preservation of graphene-supported uranium dioxide nanocrystals

Graphene-supported uranium dioxide (UO2) nanocrystals are potentially important fuel materials. Here, we investigate the possibility of synthesizing graphene-supported UO2 nanocrystals in polar ethylene glycol compounds by the polyol reduction of uranyl acetylacetone under boiling reflux, thereby enabling the use of an inexpensive graphene precursor graphene oxide into a one-pot process. We show that triethylene glycol is the most suitable solvent with an appropriate reduction potential for producing nanometer-sized UO2 crystals compared to monoethylene glycol, diethylene glycol, and polyethylene glycol. Graphene-supported UO2 nanocrystals synthesized with triethylene glycol show evidence of heteroepitaxy, which can be beneficial for facilitating heat transfer in nuclear fuel particles. Furthermore, we show that graphene-supported UO2 nanocrystals synthesized by polyol reduction can be readily stored in alcohols, impeding oxidation from the prevalent oxygen in air. Together, these methods provide a facile approach for preparing and storing graphene-supported UO2 nanocrystals for further investigation and development under ambient conditions.
Endocrine disruption by dietary phyto-oestrogens: impact on dimorphic sexual systems and behaviours

A wide range of health benefits have been ascribed to soya intake including a lowered risk of osteoporosis, heart disease, breast cancer, and menopausal symptoms. Because it is a hormonally active diet, however, soya can also be endocrine disrupting, suggesting that intake has the potential to cause adverse health effects in certain circumstances, particularly when exposure occurs during development. Consequently, the question of whether or not soya phyto-oestrogens are beneficial or harmful to human health is neither straightforward nor universally applicable to all groups. Possible benefits and risks depend on age, health status, and even the presence or absence of specific gut microflora. As global consumption increases, greater awareness and consideration of the endocrine-disrupting properties of soya by nutrition specialists and other health practitioners is needed. Consumption by infants and small children is of particular concern because their hormone-sensitive organs, including the brain and reproductive system, are still undergoing sexual differentiation and maturation. Thus, their susceptibility to the endocrine-disrupting activities of soya phyto-oestrogens may be especially high. As oestrogen receptor partial agonists with molecular and cellular properties similar to anthropogenic endocrine disruptors such as bisphenol A, the soya phyto-oestrogens provide an interesting model for how attitudes about what is ‘synthetic’ v. what is ‘natural,’ shapes understanding and perception of what it means for a compound to be endocrine disrupting and/or potentially harmful. This review describes the endocrine-disrupting properties of soya phyto-oestrogens with a focus on neuroendocrine development and behaviour.
Perception of the plant hormone ethylene: known-knowns and known-unknowns

The gaseous phytohormone ethylene is implicated in virtually all phases of plant growth and development and thus has a major impact on crop production. This agronomic impact makes understanding ethylene signaling the Philosopher's Stone of the plant biotechnology world in applications including post-harvest transport of foodstuffs, consistency of foodstuff maturity pre-harvest, decorative flower freshness and longevity, and biomass production for biofuel applications. Ethylene is biosynthesized by plants in response to environmental factors and plant life-cycle events, and triggers a signaling cascade that modulates over 1000 genes. The key components in the perception of ethylene are a family of copper dependent receptors, the bioinorganic chemistry of which has been largely ignored by the chemical community. Since identification of these receptors two decades ago, there has been tremendous growth in knowledge in the biological community on the signal transduction pathways and mechanisms of ethylene signaling. In this review, we highlight these advances and key chemical voids in knowledge that are overdue for exploration, and which are required to ultimately regulate and control ethylene signaling.
Effect of Vitamin D on Endothelial Function: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial.

Background In nonhypertensive individuals, lower levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) have been associated with an increased risk of hypertension, and vitamin D deficiency has been associated with endothelial dysfunction in such individuals. However, the effect of vitamin D supplementation on endothelial dysfunction in nonhypertensive individuals has not been examined in a rigorous fashion. Methods In this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of nonhypertensive, nondiabetic overweight, or obese individuals with vitamin D deficiency (body mass index ≥25 and 25[OH]D ≤ 20 ng/ml), we assigned subjects to receive either ergocalciferol (50,000 units) or matching placebo, once a week for 8 weeks. Our primary outcome was endothelial-dependent vasodilation (EDV) measured by brachial artery ultrasound at baseline and 8 weeks postrandomization. Results By the end of the trial, 46 and 47 participants were allocated to receive ergocalciferol and placebo, respectively. Mean 25(OH)D levels increased from 14.9 to 30.3 in the vitamin D group and 14.4 to 17.4 in the placebo. EDV did not change significantly with either vitamin D repletion (from 6.3 ± 3.6% at baseline to 6.1 ± 4.6% at 8 weeks; P value = 0.78) or placebo (7.9 ± 4.7% to 6.8 ± 4.7%; P = 0.17). The treatment effect P value (comparing the 8-week change with ergocalciferol to the change with placebo) was 0.35. Conclusions In this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, there was no improvement in endothelial function (measured as EDV) after repletion of vitamin D in overweight/obese nonhypertensive individuals.
New innovations in agricultural biotech: Consumer acceptance of topical RNAi in rice production

To test the market viability of a non-GMO topical RNAi insect control, we conducted a Willingness-To-Pay (WTP) survey in the USA, Canada, Australia, France, and Belgium to elicit whether consumers need a premium or discount for: (1) a hypothetical GMO rice variety using the Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) gene for insect control; and (2) a hypothetical non-GMO rice variety using topical RNAi spray for insect control. The survey was designed based on a Multiple Price List (MPL) format where respondents selected their preferred insect control technology; i.e., conventional, GMO Bt, or non-GMO RNAi, at different prices. Participants' responses were analyzed using an interval regression model to generate WTP premiums and discounts for each country with control variables for demographic influences. Further, we asked consumers their Willingness-To-Consume (WTC) food produced with GM and RNAi technologies respectively and evaluated WTC differences using a McNemar matched pairs test in each country. The results from our study clearly show that: (1) consumers in the USA, Canada, Australia, and France still require a discount for rice produced with topical RNAi compared to conventionally-produced rice (p < 0.05), (2) consumers in the USA, Canada, Australia, France, and Belgium would need an additional 30–40% discount to purchase Bt rice over rice produced with topical RNAi (p < 0.05), and (3) consumers in all countries were more willing to consume rice produced with non-GM RNAi than with GM Bt technology (p < 0.05). These findings suggest consumers differentiate among biotechnology solutions and consumers may prefer topical RNAi insect control to transgenic GMO insecticides.
Detection of diffuse seafloor venting using a structured light laser sensor: 2. Evaluation of detection sensitivity and limitations.

Algorithms to detect diffuse hydrothermal vent fluids using the structured light laser sensor have proven to be successful. However, potential limitations due to survey parameters, including altitude and vehicle heading, have not been explored and are the focus of this study. Data from twelve surveys conducted over a single hydrothermal vent at three different altitudes (2.7m, 4.2m, and 6.2m) and four different headings are analyzed. Increasing survey altitude decreases the resolution and intensity of the imaged laser line, therefore range dependent processing considerations to maintain detection sensitivity are presented. Analysis of these surveys suggest minimal degradation of vent detection capabilities from survey altitudes up to 6m. Additionally, the shape and location of the detected distortion is dependent on survey heading and altitude and is presented as a potential indication of plume shape and rise height. The effects of range and survey heading are important for future applications of this sensor which may include surveying from higher, faster flying autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV).
Systemanweisungen für Bibliotheken

In diesem Kapitel werden Systemanweisungen vorgestellt, die zur Verwaltung der Arbeitsbereichs-Bibliotheken dienen.
Morrissey v. U.S. and the IRS's Attack on Reproductive Choice

In September 2017, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals decided the case of Morrissey v. U.S.. The case concerned the tax deductibility of surrogacy and attendant assisted reproductive costs paid by Joseph Morrissey, a gay man, in pursuit of parenthood. The court, affirming the lower court’s granting of the Internal Revenue Service’s motion for summary judgment, held that the expenses paid failed IRC §213’s definition of medical care as they did not affect a function of Mr. Morrissey’s body. This crabbed construction of Section 213 is bad tax policy. With its narrow construction of the term “function” in §213(d)’s definition of medical care, the court reifies and worsens the discriminatory impact of the statute on the basis of gender, sexual orientation, and marital status. Despite the court’s dismissive treatment of the plaintiff’s claims, however, its interpretation of §213’s application to fertility expenses places greater burden on certain groups’ fundamental right to reproduce. The Windsor and Obergefell opinions have changed the landscape of sexual orientation discrimination and the constitutionality of laws that burden the fundamental right to reproduce. This Article takes up these considerations and the questions of tax policy that Morrissey poses for the IRS and Congress, considering the proper response to Morrissey. More broadly, this Article argues that the court’s opinion in Morrissey is simply the most recent example of judicial acceptance of Service’s hostility toward reproductive choice.
High-Performance QR Decomposition for FPGAs

QR decomposition (QRD) is of increasing importance for many current applications, such as wireless and radar. Data dependencies in known algorithms and approaches, combined with the data access patterns used in many of these methods, restrict the achievable performance in software programmable targets. Some FPGA architectures now incorporate hard floating-point (HFP) resources, and in combination with distributed memories, as well as the flexibility of internal connectivity, can support high-performance matrix arithmetic. In this work, we present the mapping to parallel structures with inter-vector connectivity of a new QRD algorithm. Based on a Modified Gram-Schmidt (MGS) algorithm, this new algorithm has a different loop organization, but the dependent functional sequences are unchanged, so error analysis and numerical stability are unaffected. This work has a theoretical sustained-to-peak performance close to 100% for large matrices, which is roughly three times the functional density of the previously best known implementations. Mapped to an Intel Arria 10 device, we achieve 80us for a 256x256 single precision real matrix, for a 417 GFLOP equivalent. This corresponds to a 95% sustained to peak ratio, for the portion of the device used for this work.
The Measurement and Epidemiology of Child Obesity

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on the classification of high levels of BMI and body fatness, the relation of BMI to body fatness among children, and the ability of a high BMI to identify children with excess body fatness. Many of the results are based on published data from the Pediatric Rosetta Study, but several are from unpublished analyses of this large data set. Based on levels of BMI, there have been marked increases in child obesity over the past few decades in most countries that have recent, representative data. BMI, however, is a measure of weight relative to height, and several investigators have concluded that a large proportion of children with excess body fatness do not have a high BMI (low sensitivity). However, after accounting for race and age differences, BMI levels among children are a fairly good predictor of body fatness in linear regression models, with BMI accounting for about 77% (boys) to 79% (girls) of the variability in percentage body fat.
Introduction and General Concepts of Dual Diagnosis

In recent years the problems of diagnosing and treating patients with psychiatric and substance abuse comorbidities has become of serious concern. Although such patients have always been in both psychiatric and addictive disorders programs, they have been largely ignored. They have often been refused admission to treatment, referred to other programs, or just not noticed because they were felt to be untreatable or had very poor prognoses.
Fundamental understanding of centrifugal micromolding for high fidelity patterns

Abstract Centrifugal casting is a convenient and effective approach for producing micro-patterns from ceramic suspensions. However, the fundamental mechanisms for this approach are elusive and require an in-depth investigation. In this work, basic theories related to centrifugal casting and particle interaction energy of the dispersed suspension are analyzed with the consideration of the micro patterning process, the repulsive steric/electrostatic/depletion energy, and the attractive van der Waals energy. A well dispersed suspension with weak flocculation improves the flowability of the suspension and enables high fidelity pattern formation. From the centrifugal casting point of view, a higher solids loading suspension under an intermediate centrifugal speed is beneficial for high fidelity micro pattern formation. This study provides important guidance for centrifugal micromolding of high fidelity patterns.
Public perception of climatological tornado risk in Tennessee, USA

The southeastern United States experiences some of the greatest tornado fatality rates in the world, with a peak in the western portion of the state of Tennessee. Understanding the physical and social characteristics of the area that may lead to increased fatalities is a critical research need. Residents of 12 Tennessee counties from three regions of the state (N = 1804) were asked questions about their perception of climatological tornado risk in their county. Approximately half of participants underestimated their local tornado risk calculated from 50 years of historical tornado data. The percentage of participants underestimating their climatological risk increased to 81% when using model estimates of tornado frequencies that account for likely missed tornadoes. A mixed effects, ordinal logistic regression model suggested that participants with prior experience with tornadoes are more likely to correctly estimate or overestimate (rather than underestimate) their risk compared to those lacking experience (β = 0.52, p < 0.01). Demographic characteristics did not have a large influence on the accuracy of climatological tornado risk perception. Areas where more tornadoes go unreported may be at a disadvantage for understanding risk because residents’ prior experience is based on limited observations. This work adds to the literature highlighting the importance of personal experiences in determining hazard risk perception and emphasizes the uniqueness of tornadoes, as they may occur in rural areas without knowledge, potentially prohibiting an accumulation of experiences.
An exploration of unlearning of practicing civil engineers

This Research to Practice Work in Progress Paper presents an exploration of unlearning of practicing civil engineers. Unlearning is a necessary process to keep engineers abreast of ever-changing socio-technical and professional demands by replacing odd knowledge with a new one, which is coherent with their knowledge structures and practice contexts. This paper explores the unlearning of fundamental engineering concepts within 95 practicing civil engineers by investigating their performances on and attitudes towards Statics Concept Inventory. The analysis of their performances on the inventory revealed that many of them did not retain, use, and need this fundamental engineering concept in their practices. It appears that when engineers begin their professional careers, they also start giving up parts of their learned knowledge including many fundamental engineering concepts to acquire new knowledge suitable to their expertise and practice contexts of teams and organizations.
Evaluating horizontal mergers in the presence of price promotions

In this paper, I investigate the impact of a horizontal merger between firms that use price promotions. I find that after the merger, the merged firms increase their prices, but coordinate the promotions by never discounting their products simultaneously. The non-merged firm responds with a more aggressive pricing strategy, offering deeper and more frequent discounts. The effects of a merger on the firms’ profits and the consumer surplus are very small relative to the case with no promotions. These conclusions are not affected by the size of the change in market concentration or by the degree of substitutability between the merging products. Thus, the use of price promotions by the merging firms can be viewed as a mitigating factor by the antitrust authorities.
Agricultural Policy: The Place of Agriculture in Economic Development

The rapidly growing literature on the history, theory, and policy of economic development has perforce recognized the dominant place of agriculture in the under-developed countries and has generally concluded that economic development requires that vast numbers of rural people shift out of agriculture. This literature has also usually agreed that substantial industrialization is necessary if this redundant agricultural population is to find more productive non-agricultural employment, thereby permitting those who remain in agriculture to reorganize their farms into more efficient, large-scale, mechanized operating units. Within a sufficiently long-run context, these conclusions are beyond cavil for virtually any under-developed country. However, as guides to the establishment of short-run planning goals and priorities — particularly as between agricultural and industrial development — they are, in my opinion, often misleading if not completely fallacious.
Feasibility Studies of an Insulin-Only Bionic Pancreas in a Home-Use Setting.

Background:We tested the safety and performance of the “insulin-only” configuration of the bionic pancreas (BP) closed-loop blood-glucose control system in a home-use setting to assess glycemic out...
The British Intellectual Inheritance

We present a history of the British mind-set from Ockham to Oakeshott (including Bacon, the seminal role of Hobbes, Newton, Locke, Scottish Enlightenment, Hume (especially the pivotal History of England), Smith, Burke, Mill, and the expatriates Polanyi, Popper, Wittgenstein, and Hayek). Our main thesis here is that there is a significant and distinctively British way of thinking that emerged in the first millennium and has been sustained down to the present. Reality is composed of distinct individual entities (nominalism), the human world is sui generis and intellectually prior to the understanding of the physical world. Reality can never be reduced to an abstract system of any kind and therefore cannot be expressed deductively from first principle(s).
Risk management of renewable power producers from co-dependencies in cash flows

Abstract Increasing adoption of renewable energy, which is inherently intermittent, poses several business risks for renewable energy producers. We identify the core co-dependencies of electricity demand, temperature and radiation risk exposures of a solar energy producer at different times of the year, which offer a valuable risk mitigation opportunity. By capturing the co-dependencies in a vector autoregressive, multivariate GARCH model, we investigate the extent of natural hedge embedded in the solar energy producer’s cash flows. We further develop the framework to use explicit optimal cross hedging strategies for risk mitigation using temperature-based weather derivatives. We find that there is significant benefit of natural hedge in certain months of the year, while in others, explicit hedges can effectively modify risk exposure.
Social scenarios in Latin America and the Caribbean

A wide range of sources have pointed out the magnitude and depth of the social problems that trouble Latin America and the Caribbean and the risks that these problems pose for democracy. Although there are other issues that merit consideration, this article briefly outlines nine key social problems: 1) the increase in poverty, 2) the impact of poverty, 3) unemployment and informal employment, 4) deficiencies in public health, 5) problems in education, 6) the newly poor, 7) the erosion of the family, 8) increasing crime, and 9) the perverse cycle of socioeconomic exclusion. Solving these problems must not be delayed. It is urgent to move to a comprehensive view of development that achieves a different balance between economic and social policies, and that recognizes the indispensable role of these policies in achieving truly sustainable development. At stake are problems that not only concern resources, but also priorities, levels of equity, and the organization of society. Facing up to this poverty and inequity requires an in-depth assessment of these economic policies' social consequences, of the crucial subject of Latin American inequity--the greatest in the world--and of the role of social and public policies.
Morphology of Quasi-Direct-Current Discharges Collocated with Fuel Jets in a Supersonic Crossflow

This study is focused on the morphology of a quasi-DC discharge generated concurrently with a jet of fuel injected normally into Mach 2 crossflow. It was observed that the filamentary plasma follow...
Proprotein Convertase Subtilisin/Kexin Type 9 Inhibitors and Ezetimibe on Risk of New-Onset Diabetes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Large, Double-Blinded Randomized Controlled Trials.

Background:Previous meta-analyses have shown that statins may cause incident diabetes. This article reviews randomized controlled trials using proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin 9 inhibitors (P...
Known Target and Nontarget Effects of the Novel Neonicotinoid Cycloxaprid to Arthropods: A Systematic Review

Neonicotinoids are the most widely used insecticide class worldwide, and unfortunately, the widely used neonicotinoid imidacloprid is problematic for pollinators and other nontarget organisms. These nontarget impacts and the development of resistance prompt the ongoing development and testing of new neonicotinoids. The novel neonicotinoid cycloxaprid was described in 2011 and registered in China in 2015. Studies investigating its use and effect on target and nontarget species are recent and ongoing, and empirical evidence has not yet been collectively considered. Therefore, a systematic review was performed to identify and summarize data associated with target and nontarget, lethal and sublethal impacts of cycloxaprid for its use as a new insecticide. We performed keyword literature searches in Web of Science, PubMed, Academic Search Complete, and Google Scholar and explored citations used in identified articles. The search strategy yielded 66 citations; 25 citations fulfilled eligibility criteria and were included in the review. Under experimental conditions, cycloxaprid reduced populations of plant-feeding insect pests, suppressed populations of sucking and biting insect pests, and affected reproduction, development time, longevity, growth, gene regulation and expression, and phloem-feeding behavior of various life stages of certain insects. Studies focus on pest control efficacy and comparison with imidacloprid. Five nontarget organisms have been evaluated: Apis mellifera, Chrysoperla sinica, Harmonia axyridis, Daphnia magna, and Eisenia fetida. Variation in study design, to date, precludes a metaanalysis. However, these results provide valuable insight into possible effects to target and nontarget arthropods. Because cycloxaprid is a new insecticide, additional research is needed to clarify the mechanism of action of cycloxaprid and its metabolites, and to determine if it harms natural enemies or other nontarget organisms, if resistance develops, and if it exhibits cross-resistance with other insecticides. Although research on target arthropods will inform some effects on nontarget organisms, studies focusing explicitly on impacts to nontarget organisms are needed. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2020;16:831-840. © 2020 SETAC.
Snowmelt control on spring hydrology declines as the vernal window lengthens

The vernal window, or the winter-to-spring transition, is a key period for seasonally snow-covered, forested ecosystems. The events that open and close the vernal window shape the unique characteristics of spring hydrology that, in turn, influence both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem processes. Few studies have examined how climate change will alter the vernal window and thereby impact basic hydrology during this transitional period. We project that over the 21st century the vernal window will lengthen by +15 to +28 days in northeastern North America. Loss of snow cover under a high forcing scenario eliminates the vernal window across 59% of the study domain, removing snow's influence on spring runoff in those areas. Spring runoff timing where the vernal window lengthens but does not disappear becomes similar to the southern, snow-free region where precipitation drives winter runoff, indicating a fundamental change in the hydrologic character of northeastern forested ecosystems.
The pre-operative and post-operative imaging appearances of urethral strictures and surgical techniques

Urethral strictures arise from a variety of etiologies, most commonly either iatrogenic or inflammatory in the anterior urethra and iatrogenic/surgical or traumatic etiologies in the posterior urethra. Diagnosis and treatment planning depend on urethrography, usually performed with a combination of retrograde urethrography (RUG) and voiding cystourethrography (VCUG) to evaluate the anterior and posterior urethra, respectively. While this is most commonly performed fluoroscopically, sonographic urethrography is an alternative, although at the expense of the posterior urethra, it is only visualized using a transrectal approach. In addition to understand urethral anatomy, familiarity with normal periurethral structures is necessary to avoid misdiagnosis, such as Cowper's ducts, the glands of Littre, and the prostatic and ejaculatory ducts. Surgical management depends on the stricture location, length, and number and options range from balloon dilatation to endoscopic urethrotomy to anastomotic and substitution urethrotomy. Postprocedural management includes urethrography to identify potential complications including urethral leak, graft failure, and stricture recurrence.
Implications of Increased Solar UV-B for Terrestrial Vegetation

Potential damage to photosynthesis and other plant processes by increased UV-B has been demonstrated at the physiological level and for a few species at the stand level in the field. Other responses of vegetation including shifts in competitive balance of plant species may be of equal importance. Interactions with other environmental factors and difficulties in making realistic assessments are discussed.
Idiopathic Moyamoya Disease Presenting as Isolated Hemichorea

The study aimed to describe a case of a 7-year-old Caucasian girl who developed isolated chorea in her right upper and lower extremities progressively increasing over 2 years. This study is a case report and conducted at tertiary care center. A 7-year-old Caucasian girl who gradually developed worsening choreiform movements in her right upper and lower extremities over the course of 2 years until medical attention was sought. Literature review of children presenting with chorea as the only manifestation in moyamoya disease. A 7-year-old right-handed Caucasian girl presented with progressively worsening choreiform movements in her right upper and lower extremities affecting her fine motor skills and gait impairment There was no weakness, hyperreflexia, or spasticity on her neurological exam. Neuroimaging studies showed “ivy sign,” asymmetric prominence of vessels within the subarachnoid spaces overlying the left cerebral hemisphere with corresponding serpiginous T2 fluid-attenuated inversion recovery abnormality, but no parenchymal volume loss or diffusion restriction. Magnetic resonance angiography showed focal moderate-to-severe stenosis at the junction of the paraophthalmic and supraclinoid segments of the left internal carotid artery, with poststenotic dilatation. Angiography demonstrated focal stenosis involving the ophthalmic segment of the left internal carotid artery with 50% stenosis. There was compensation through a medium sized left posterior communicating artery as well as posterior cerebral artery to middle cerebral artery and anterior cerebral artery collateralization. Brain single-photon emission computerized tomography scan showed no evidence of perfusion defects in the cerebral hemispheres, basal ganglia, or thalami. She underwent successful revascularization procedure (left pial synangiosis) with resolution of her choreiform movements and normalization of her gait. Our case demonstrates that moyamoya disease should be suspected when evaluating a child with hemichorea and describes resolution of symptoms after revascularization surgery. Neuroimaging and vascular studies should be obtained in children with unilateral movement disorder.
24-Hour Urine Calcium Oxalate Supersaturation Risk Correlates with Computerized Tomography Volumetric Calcium Oxalate Stone Growth

Purpose:In vitro experiments demonstrate calcium oxalate (CaOx) supersaturation (SS) drives CaOx nucleation and growth. We investigated the link between 24-hour urine SS CaOx and in vivo stone grow...
Direct Biofluid Analysis Systems

The extraction and concentration of samples prior to analysis represents a major hurdle for the implementation of routine assays and for assays when there are large number of samples such as in drug disposition studies. This review will provide a survey on the use of four different direct injection techniques that have been employed in combination with liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry over the last decade for the analysis of biofluid samples-solid phase extraction, restricted access media, monolithic chromatography, and turbulent flow chromatography have been reviewed. On-line solid-phase extraction offers numerous advantages including the ability to readily automate the analyses. Turbulent flow chromatography is a flexible high sensitivity system, which can be employed to concentrate the sample and to remove proteins and phospholipids. The resulting extract is then separated on an analytical column, which provides enormous flexibility. A particularly attractive feature of the turbulent flow systems is the ability to remove constituents from the biofluid that cause suppression or enhancement of ionization in the mass spectrometer. Clearly direct analysis of biofluid samples has come of age and is now a realistic alternative to more time consuming off-line purification procedures particularly when large numbers of sampled are involved. Keywords: solid phase extraction; restricted access media; monolithic chromatography; turbulent flow chromatography; liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry
Decreased bicarbonate threshold and renal magnesium wasting in a sibship with distal renal tubular acidosis

Abstract Two siblings with impaired distal renal tubular acidification and nephrocalcinosis associated with vasopressin-resistant polyuria are described. They also exhibit decreased renal bicarbonate threshold and defective renal magnesium conservation with a concomitant hypomagnesemia. Evaluation of other family member revealed no such abnormalities. Parathyroid hormone (PTH) has been shown to affect the renal tubular handling of both bicarbonate and magnesium. The role of the hormone in the development of the observed abnormalities of excretion of these substances was evaluated in both siblings. Following initial determinations, which in the older child suggested increased PTH effect, studies were performed on the two siblings to assess levels of PTH secretion both by indirect methods and by direct immunoassay of their sera. The results indicated excessive PTH secretion in the older sibling, but not in the younger. It was concluded that increased PTH secretion was not responsible either for the abnormalities of bicarbonate excretion or for the excessive urinary magnesium losses demonstrated in the two siblings. Further, neither vitamin D resistance nor secondary hyperparathyroidism appears necessary for the development of nephrocalcinosis in such disorders. Finally, responses to therapy indicate that the acidosis in both siblings was corrected, as expected, by alkali administration, but the hypomagnesemia did not correct (due to increased urinary losses) with either oral on parenteral magnesium supplements.
Effect of cleaning and sanitization agents on the surface characteristics of new and extended‐wear produce picking bins

BACKGROUND Although surface characteristics of food contact materials are known to alter the efficacy of cleaning procedures there is a lack of data establishing how cleaning/sanitization practices affect the surface characteristics of materials used for produce handling on-farm. The overall objective of this work was to characterize the effects of cleaning and sanitization procedures on the surface properties of new and extended-wear polyethylene bins used for produce harvest and handling. RESULTS Compared to detergent cleaned samples, chlorine and quaternary ammonium sanitization resulted in a decrease in advancing contact angle from 100° to 88° and 59°, respectively, after 2 min exposure. However, changes in surface chemistry were not observed. Increasing sanitization time to 144 min (representative of 4320 sanitization cycles) resulted in an increase in contact angle to 73° for quaternary ammonium sanitization and a decrease in contact angle to 75° for chlorine sanitization. Abrasion increased contact angle hysteresis due to enhanced surface roughness. The hysteresis effect of abraded material was reduced with quaternary ammonium treatment. CONCLUSIONS This work indicates that sanitizing agents employed in on-farm cleaning can alter the surface characteristics of polyethylene picking bins and should be considered in developing cleaning and sanitization procedures. © 2013 Society of Chemical Industry
Toll-like receptor 4 inhibition attenuates ischemia-reperfusion injury in rats: Will it work in human beings?

From the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC. Disclosures: Author has nothing to disclose with regard to commercial support. Received for publication Sept 14, 2015; accepted for publication Sept 16, 2015; available ahead of print Oct 16, 2015. Address for reprints: Chadrick E. Denlinger, MD, 25 Courtenay Dr, ART Suite 7018, Charleston, SC 29425 (E-mail: denlinge@musc.edu). J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2016;151:507-8 0022-5223/$36.00 Copyright 2016 by The American Association for Thoracic Surgery http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtcvs.2015.09.075
Techniques for data and rule validation in knowledge based systems

A framework is proposed for the validation of data and rules in knowledge-based systems. This work involves three major tasks: (1) validation of data; (2) validation of rules; and (3) interaction between data and rule validation. These tasks are conducted on a rule set that specifies the dependencies of rule variables. Data validation is performed by using the enforcement of constraint rules. Constraint rules are also propagated for the overall database consistency. A scheme for rule validation is sketched. The completeness and consistency of rules are verified by a theorem-proving method. It is concluded that production rules should be restricted by constraint rules, whereas constraint rules can correct the inconsistency of data by reasoning production rules. >
Medicalizing Ethnicity: The Construction of Latino Identity in a Psychiatric Setting.

Medicalizing Ethnicity: The Construction of Latino Identity in. Psychiatric Setting. Vilma Santiago-Irizarry. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2001.178 pp.
Phosphorus solubilization and uptake by dark septate fungi in fourwing saltbush, Atriplex canescens (Pursh) Nutt

Fourwing saltbush, Atriplex canescens (Pursh) Nutt., is an ecologically important range plant in arid south-western U.S.A. rangelands. Native populations of this chenopodiacious shrub are more extensively colonized by melanized dark septate fungi (DS) than by conventional mycorrhizal fungi. Seedling radicles of A. canescens are colonized at germination by a DS fungus identified as Aspergillus ustus that cannot be removed by heat or sterilization. The association of A. canescens with A. ustus was evaluated by comparing naturally colonized control seedlings receiving no P (0P) or adequate plant available P (AAP) receiving 30 p.p.m. supplied as KH2PO4 in the root zone to seedlings whose roots were separated from plant unavailable P (as rock phosphate (RP) or tricalcium phosphate (TCP)) by a barrier that only allowed access by the fungus. A. ustus penetrated A. canescens roots with hyaline septate hyphae, formed melanized runner hyphae at the root surface, and extended through the root exclusion barrier into RP and TCP. In these treatments A. ustus obtained plant carbon, increased shoot and root biomass, and phosphorus use efficiency. A. ustus grew well in culture on RP and TCP and internally colonized in vitro Ri-T DNA D. carota roots. The mutualistic association of DS fungi in arid ecosystems is discussed.
The structure of the integument of the sea cucumber, Thyone briareus

The integument and podia of the sea cucumber Thyone briareus were examined by bright field and electron microscopy. The epidermal surface was found to be covered by an acellular, PAS positive cuticle which appeared to be secreted by the underlying epidermal cells. Although the superficial portion of the cuticle contains numerous fine filaments, their ultrastructure bears no resemblance to collagen fibers. The epidermal cells are widely spaced and have long apical processes that extend along the under surface of the cuticle forming a contiguous epithelium. The apical expansions of the epidermal cells are attached to one another by means of septate desmosomes which may run continuously around all epidermal cells. Special attachment structures within these apical expansions appear to bind the cuticle to the dermis. The epidermal cells and their apical expansions are separated from the dermis by an 800 A thick basement membrane. Granule containing cells in the upper dermis send processes up to the cuticle where they are bound to the typical epidermal cells by septate desmosomes. The abundant membrane bound granules of the cells enter villous-like processes which pass through the cuticle. The function of these cells may be to produce an adhesive material on the podia or they may be pigment cells. The thick dermis consists of a superficial zone, containing largely ground substance; a middle or laminated zone containing laminae of collagen fibers arranged in an orthogonal fashion; and a hypodermis consisting largely of ground substance and reticular fibers. Fibroblasts are abundant in the superficial dermis and between the collagen laminae. Wandering coelomocytes, or morula cells, accumulate between the collagen laminae and in the hypodermis. They may also become an integral part of the epidermis by forming septate desmosomes with epidermal cells. Morula cells contain highly specialized spherules whose tinctorial properties and electron microscopic appearance suggest that they contain protein and mucopolysaccharide.
Field ionization of an atom near a metal surface

Abstract A new method is reported for calculating the field ionization of an atom near a metal surface. Instead of calculation the tunneling probability of a one-dimensional system, we consider a variational calculation of the interaction energy of the atom with the external field. The width of the ionization zone is calculated and found in reasonable agreement with known experimental data.
Climate Model Simulations of CO2-Induced Climatic Change

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on climate model simulations of CO 2 -induced climatic change. It describes the current issues concerning the study of possible CO 2 -induced climatic change by the physical method, that is, by the use of mathematical climate models. An explanation of mathematical climate models is presented, followed by a comparison of the results of these models for the climatic change resulting from increased levels of atmospheric CO 2 . The focus is on the general circulation models and their simulations of CO 2 -induced climatic change because it is the geographical distribution of that change, which is of importance to humanity, and because the general circulation models (GCMs) simulate geographical distribution. The equilibrium simulations of eight GCMs for both doubled and quadrupled concentrations of CO 2 are considered and the geographical distributions, zonal means, and global means of the CO 2 -induced changes in surface air temperature, precipitation rate, and soil moisture are compared. The issues that are raised by that comparison are described, and recommendations for resolving those issues are presented.