cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Image content-based geometric transformation resistant watermarking approach

This paper presents a content-based RST (rotation, scaling, and translation) resistant image copyright protection method. The image content is represented by IFPs (important feature points) obtained by the robust Harris detector-based feature extraction method. These IFPs are further used by the acute triangle matching method to determine the possible geometric attacks for reducing synchronization errors. The spread-spectrum-based blind watermark embedding and retrieval scheme is applied in the DFT (discrete Fourier transform) domain of each perceptually highly textured sub-image. The multiplicative scheme is used to embed the blind watermark at highly secure mid-frequency positions generated by one-way hash functions. The watermark detection decision is based on the number of matched bits between the recovered and embedded watermarks in embedding sub-images. Experimental results demonstrate that our algorithm yields good perceptual invisibility, adaptability, and security. It is also more robust to geometric and common image processing attacks than other peer approaches.
The North American Species of Aprostocetus Westwood (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae)

At present, 15 Nearctic species are assigned to the chalcidoid genus Aprostocetus Westwood. An additional one, A. coelioxydis , new species, is described, and a key is presented to all the species except for 3 species that cannot be placed. Information is given also on the types of all the species, with lectotype designations where necessary. The available data on distribution and hosts are summarized.
Reaction Kinetics of Transesterification with Titanium Alkoxide-Based Phase-Transforming Catalyst

A catalytic process was developed that uses a phase-transforming catalyst to perform a transesterification reaction. In this process, titanium isopropoxide catalyst is added to the reaction medium ...
Mechanism of secretion from the adrenal medulla. IV. The fate of the storage vesicles following insulin and reserpine administration.

Rabbits were treated with insulin and with reserpine to obtain information on the mechanism of secretion of catecholamines from the adrenal gland and on the fate of the catecholamine storage vesicles following secretion. Three and twenty-four hours after the intravenous injection of insulin (40 units/kg) there were statistically significant decreases in the contents of catecholamine and dopamine β-hydroxylase activity, and in the ability of the storage vesicles to take up 14 C-adrenaline. Forty-eight hours after insulin administration there was a significant recovery of the catecholamine content and the ability to take up 14 C-adrenaline. At this time the levels of dopamine β-hydroxylase had returned to normal limits. Four days after insulin treatment the dopamine β-hydroxylase levels were significantly greater than normal and the catecholamine content and uptake of 14 C-adrenaline were normal. Six days after insulin administration the dopamine β-hydroxylase levels and catecholamine content were significantly greater than the controls and the uptake was normal. Tyrosine hydroxylase levels remained at normal levels for 24 hr after insulin administration. Forty-eight hours after insulin injection the tyrosine hydroxylase levels were significantly greater than normal; at 96 hr they had increased to twice the normal levels and remained there until the end of the experimental period. Phenylethanolamine N -methyltransferase levels and the protein content were not affected by the insulin treatment. Within 15 min after an injection of reserpine (1 mg/kg) the uptake was almost completely blocked, but the catecholamine content did not differ from the controls at that time or at 3 hr after the injection. Maximal depletion of catecholamines was observed 24 hr after reserpine. Thereafter the catecholamine content and 14 C-adrenaline uptake increased, and both were within normal limits at 8 days. The content of dopamine β-hydroxylase remained normal for 3 days after reserpine and at 8 days increased to approximately twice the normal levels. Higher doses of reserpine (5 mg/kg) produced an effect which appeared to be a combination of neurogenic stimulation as induced by insulin and the depletion produced by lower doses of reserpine. These data suggest that during neurogenic stimulation the entire soluble content of the storage vesicles, including dopamine β-hydroxylase, is secreted by exocytosis, leaving the vesicle membranes within the medullary cells. The depletion of catecholamines produced by low doses of reserpine (1 mg/kg) is due mainly to inhibition of the uptake mechanism rather than to neurogenic secretion.
Shrinkage-induced activation of Na(+)-H+ exchange in barnacle muscle fibers

We examined the effect of shrinkage on Na(+)-H+ exchange in single muscle fibers at intracellular pH (pHi) values of 6.8, 7.2, and 7.6 using pH microelectrodes and internal dialysis. Under normoton...
Xanthogranulomatous Pyelonephritis: Detailed Analysis of 29 Cases and a Brief Discussion of Atypical Presentations

AbstractA detailed review of 29 cases of xanthogranulomatous pyelonephritis is presented. Focal involvement of the kidney was noted in 5 instances. An accurate preoperative diagnosis of xanthogranulomatous pyelonephritis is difficult because of its clinical and radiological similarities to various other renal lesions. Bilateral xanthogranulomatous pyelonephritis is extremely rare and segmental excision of the kidney, when technically feasible, may be curative.
A sea of struggle – activist border interventions in the Mediterranean Sea

AbstractIn October 2014, on the anniversary of a large migrant shipwreck in the Mediterranean Sea, activists in Europe and Africa commemorated the victims and protested their deaths by launching the WatchTheMed Alarm Phone. The Alarm Phone functions as a ‘hotline’ for travellers who find themselves in emergency situations when crossing maritime borders towards EUrope. Its shift-teams offer information, advice and the possibility of raising public alarm, also in order to pressurise (state) rescue services to act. Based on my own engagement in the project, I portray an activist network that acted on the desire to intervene more directly in a deadly space that is often considered a ‘maritime void’ or as ‘reserved’ for state and EU (border) authorities. I argue that the Alarm Phone’s transformative political potentiality arises precisely from its capacity to connect its constitutive engagement in (under the surface) mobile commons that facilitate ‘unauthorised’ human movement with public campaigns that call f...
Self-Hypnosis Control of Migraine

In a prospective study at the Minneapolis Children’s Medical Center 28 children with classic migraine were treated with propranolol (3 mg/kg/d) or placebo for 3 months, using a cross over design, followed by an equal period of self-hypnosis.
How to Use Learning Preferences to Optimize Teaching Effectiveness

Learners differ in their preferences and aptitudes for acquiring, consolidating, and integrating new information. Similarly, teachers have a variety of preferences, strategies, and strengths for teaching. While it is conceptually attractive to imagine that simply matching “learning styles” and “teaching styles” will lead to better educational outcomes, this conclusion is not supported by the available research. Rather, understanding learning and teaching styles allows the clinical teacher to improve educational outcomes by (a) presenting information in a variety of styles and (b) troubleshoot challenging teacher-student interactions.
Does Parental Sexual Orientation Matter? A Longitudinal Follow-Up of Adoptive Families with School-Age Children.

Controversy continues to surround parenting by lesbian and gay (LG) adults and outcomes for their children. As sexual minority parents increasingly adopt children, longitudinal research about child development, parenting, and family relationships is crucial for informing such debates. In the psychological literature, family systems theory contends that children's healthy development depends upon healthy family functioning more so than family structure. From the framework of family stress theory, it was expected that longitudinal outcomes for school-age children adopted in infancy could be distinct among those with same-sex versus other-sex parents (N = 96 families). Similar findings were hypothesized in terms of parent adjustment, couple relationships, and family functioning in comparing same-sex and other-sex parent families. Results indicated that adjustment among children, parents, and couples, as well as family functioning, were not different on the basis of parental sexual orientation (lesbian, gay, or heterosexual) when children were school-age. Rather, children's behavior problems and family functioning during middle childhood were predicted by earlier child adjustment issues and parenting stress. These findings are consistent with and extend previous literature about families headed by LG parents, particularly those that have adopted children. The results have implications for advancing supportive policies, practices, and laws related to adoption and parenting by sexual minority adults. (PsycINFO Database Record
Control of Three-Phase Inverters in Microgrid Systems

In this work, application of two different control strategies to three-phase DC-AC PWM inverter used in smart microgrid system, is analyzed. The objective of control design is to achieve low THD output voltage, fast transient response and asymptotic tracking of the reference output voltage under different loading conditions minimizing the effect of the harmonic frequencies. First, the PID control technique is applied to the three-phase inverter, and it is shown that PID controller works very well for the linear loads and achieves acceptable level of harmonic reduction. However, with nonlinear loads, PID controller cannot achieve satisfactory level of harmonic suppression. The second control technique – robust servomechanism problem (RSP) control design combined with sliding mode control –eliminates this problem, and achieves satisfactory level of harmonic suppression in presence of nonlinear loads. The control design is performed in discrete-time domain. For both control techniques, controller structure is defined, necessary controller parameters are determined and the simulation of the closed-loop system is performed in MATLAB/Simulink.
An ultrahigh-latitude submarine channel: Northern Chukchi Rise

Eight dedicated mapping cruises have taken place since 2003 in the mostly ice-covered waters north of Alaska to 83.5° N (Mayer et al. 2010), using the USCG Icebreaker Healy . Due to the generally heavy sea-ice conditions (the sea-ice edge was typically encountered at about 75° N), most surveys involved single multibeam swaths that covered specific targets. During the 2012 record sea-ice minimum, however, the ice margin was at about 80° N which allowed mapping using overlapping multibeam surveys (Mayer & Armstrong 2012). The complete-coverage surveys of 2012 revealed a previously unknown submarine channel (informally named ‘Weather Channel’) that is one of the most northerly submarine channels mapped to date and is probably related to glacial processes. ‘Weather Channel’ is about 160 km long, first appearing at a depth of about 3300 m on a relatively flat basin floor in what is probably a pull-apart basin separating the northern extension of Chukchi Rise from Chukchi Cap (Brumley et al. 2009). It lies in the middle of the basin, approximately 13 km north of the base of Chukchi Cap and 9 km south of the topographic highs of the …
Swelling and Deswelling Kinetics of Superabsorbent Polymer

In the oil industry, techniques that decrease unwanted water production have drawn large amounts of interest from many companies. During water injection operations, water is injected into the reservoir in order to extract oil remaining in the formation. Due to the heterogeneity in the reservoir formation, oil production will decline and water production will increase as the injected water sweeps the high permeability zones. In order to flush out the oil remaining in the low permeability zones, many treatments have been used. One such treatment involves the injection of a superabsorbent polymer (SAP) into the high permeability zones. The swelled polymer will decrease heterogeneity in the reservoir’s permeability, thus forcing injected water into the oil rich, unswept zones/areas of the formation. Proper application of an SAP can have a dramatic impact on both the production and lifespan of mature oil wells. Understanding the swelling and deswelling kinetics of the SAP is crucial to its application. The following work focused on the use of AT-O3S polymer, a Sodium salt of crosslinked polyacrylic acid purchased from Emerging Technologies®. The polymer had a particle size of 35 to 60 meshes, or 250 to 500 microns. The swelling and deswelling ratio of such a polymer is heavily influenced by salinity, temperature, and pH. In order to study the polymer’s kinetics, 1% (for swelling) or 0.1% (for deswelling) by solution weight of polymer was allowed to swell and deswell over time in various brines. These brines were made up of deionized water, 1% to 20% (by wt.) Sodium Chloride, and/or 1% to 10% (by wt.) Calcium Chloride. The effect of temperature on the final swelling ratio was afterwards tested. Understanding the reaction of SAPs to conditions similar to those found in an oil formation can help the oil industry to utilize this tool with greater efficiency.Copyright © 2016 by ASME
Intermediate elixir programming

Elixir is an exciting functional programming language with immutable state, and a somewhat Rubyish syntax encouraging programming as transforming data. Elixir runs on the Erlang virtual machine but enhances Erlang's approach to solving concurrent problems by providing constructs and syntax that are more fun to work with while keeping many of Erlang's strengths - it is functional, concurrent, fault tolerant, encourages recursion and higher order functions and has pattern matching. There are good Elixir books [2, 3]. Elixir also allows metaprogramming.
Open peer commentary: A theatre for exploring the cybernetic

While Tom Scholte has concentrated on ways in which cybernetics can inform theatre, the connections that he has developed between the two fields are significant for being not ones of application but, rather, overlap, where cybernetic processes are seen to be being enacted within an already established set of practices. Scholte’s bridge building is, therefore, suggestive of further possibilities, opening up a new avenue for exploring how cybernetics may be understood in terms of action rather than theory, and so as an active research tradition rather than one form of worldview amongst others. This is highly relevant to the context of this volume and previous concerns in Constructivist Foundations with second-order science (Riegler & Muller 2014).
Once Upon a Toxic Sanctuary: Partnering to Restore and Reclaim a Dakota Sacred Site

In this article, we examine the role of partnerships as they relate to the destruction and reconstruction of Wakaŋ Tipi and Indian Mounds Park as a Dakota sacred feminine, origin, birth site through a theoretical lens of critical Indigenous pedagogy of place (Trinidad, 2016) and partnership studies (Eisler, 2005). We discuss the deep historical, social, psychological, and cultural relationship the Dakota have to this sacred site and the challenge of partnering with non-Dakota entities to restore Wakaŋ Tipi/Indian Mounds Park from a toxic waste dump to a spiritual sanctuary.
Cardiac rehabilitation Cardiac rehabilitation in the United States: from evidence to application

Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) programs first appeared in the United States in the late 1960s. Over the past 40 years, CR has evolved into a comprehensive rehabilitation and secondary prevention service, delivered by a multidisciplinary staff, and based on scientific and clinical evidence. CR is now recognized as an important element in the continuum of care for patients with cardiovascular disease. The contemporary definition of cardiac rehabilitation is: ‘...services are comprehensive, long-term programs involving medical evaluation, prescribed exercise, cardiac risk factor modification, education, and counseling. These programs are designed to limit the physiologic and psychological effects of cardiac illness, reduce the risk of sudden death or reinfarction, control cardiac symptoms, stabilize or reverse the atherosclerotic process, and enhance the psychosocial and vocational status of selected patients’ [1].
The Historical Development of Ideas About the Auditory Cortex

The history of studies aimed at defining the location and extent of the auditory cortex in humans and animals is traced from the seventeenth century into the modern era, with an emphasis on the contributions of individual scientists. Progressive advances have resulted from the application of new and refined techniques. At times, physiological techniques have led while at others neuroanatomical approaches have yielded the first insights. Each methodological approach has informed and stimulated the other. The field has at times had significant controversies, especially in the early days when it was difficult to extend the findings of lesion studies in animals to humans, and later, when no obvious structural equivalent of the human auditory cortex could be discerned in animals. Knowledge has accumulated at a growing pace in the recent past and we now have an excellent picture of the parcellation of the auditory regions of the cortex in primates and non-primates. This parcellation into multiple fields has been accomplished by the application of tonotopic mapping and correlated neuroanatomical tracing, and further refined by the revelations of histochemistry and immunocytochemistry. Much has been accomplished in the analysis of pathways and areas that undoubtedly provide the underpinnings for the perception of pitch. Less has been achieved in learning about how these and other regions of the auditory cortex and their input connections participate in the analysis of complex sounds.
Design and biological activity of novel stealth polymeric lipid nanoparticles for enhanced delivery of hydrophobic photodynamic therapy drugs.

Abstract Advances in in vivo stability and preferential tumor uptake of cancer nanomedicine are warranted for effective chemotherapy. Here, we describe a novel nanoformulation using an unconventional polymeric tubule-forming phospholipid, DC8,9PC. We report that DC8,9PC transitions to stable vesicles (LNPs) in the presence of PEGylated lipid (DSPE-PEG2000); the resulting DC8,9PC:DSPE-PEG2000 LNPs efficiently included a hydrophobic PDT drug, HPPH. Remarkably, these LNPs incorporated unusually high DSPE-PEG2000 concentrations; LNP10-HPPH and LNP20-HPPH (10 & 20 mol% PEGylated lipid, respectively) exhibited >90% serum stability at 37 °C. Increased PEGylation in the LNPs correlated with enhanced tumor accumulation in intravenously injected HT29 tumor mouse xenographs. Colon-26 bearing BALB/c mice, intravenously injected with LNP20-HPPH showed superior PDT efficacy and animal survival (no tumor recurrence up to 100 days) as compared to a formulation currently used in clinical trials. Taken together, we present a simple stealth binary lipid nanosystem with enhanced efficiency of tumor accumulation and superior therapeutic efficacy.
Author Correction: Single CD271 marker isolates mesenchymal stem cells from human dental pulp

In the original version of this Article, Figure 1c was inadvertently assembled with a duplicate of Figure 1b. The correct image for Figure 1c, shown below, has been added in the HTML and PDF versions of the Article. This does not affect the conclusions of the study. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused our readers.
Contribution of Asphalt Products to Total and Bioaccessible Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons

Soil-like waste products such as construction and demolition debris fines, street sweepings and catch basin sediments often contain elevated concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) resulting from anthropogenic activities. Previous research suggested that small pieces of asphalt may contribute to PAHs in these wastes. The objective of this research was to investigate this idea by analyzing total PAHs concentrations in various asphalt products to assess their contribution to PAHs in these wastes. Five types of asphalt products (new and used asphalt shingles, new asphalt pavement, reclaimed asphalt pavement [RAP], and bitumen) were selected. PAHs concentrations were relatively low in most of the asphalt products except for RAP. The benzo[a]pyrene-equivalent (BaP-equivalent) concentrations in two RAP samples exceeded both Florida and EPA risk thresholds. PAHs bioaccessibility tests were conducted using a mild solvent extraction method on asphalt product samples of several different samples sizes (< 0.5 cm and < 250 µm); bioaccessibility was measured at < 10% for most samples. When asphalt products were mixed with clean sand to mimic soil-like waste, PAHs concentrations and bioaccessibility for most products decreased with decreasing asphalt percentages. Though PAHs sources for asphalt products are petrogenic, the few detected diagnostic ratios did not indicate a clear petrogenic source for these materials, suggesting that caution be taken when using diagnostic ratios for source apportionment related to these materials.
Palliative radiation oncology in pediatric patients

Radiation therapy (RT) provides an effective and often rapid means to alleviate symptomatic progression in pediatric patients with advanced or metastatic cancer. As part of a comprehensive, multimodality approach to pediatric palliative care, RT can be a useful tool to manage pain, spinal cord compression, dyspnea, neurologic compromise, bleeding, and bowel or urinary obstruction. Whether such symptoms present earlier in the disease course or in children and adolescents approaching the end of life, they can significantly impact the quality of life of patients and caregivers. Control of symptoms is therefore an important aspect in maximizing end of life care. Outcomes for palliative RT in both children and adults are favorable. While RT has been widely adopted as a component of palliative oncologic care for many adult malignancies, it remains infrequently utilized in pediatric patients despite the relative radiosensitivity of many pediatric tumors. Potential barriers to palliative radiation for pediatric patients include insufficient understanding by care providers regarding the utility of RT for a given symptom, lack of comfort in discussing a transition away from definitive management, concern over radiation-related side effects, and hesitancy toward radiation treatment on the part of parents and caregivers. Delivery of palliative RT can also be impeded by logistical obstacles including lack of on-site radiation facilities, unavailability of radiation oncologists comfortable with pediatric treatments, and the potential need for specialized medical care such as pediatric anesthesia. The aim of this review is to foster a more complete understanding of the benefits and limitations of palliative RT in the pediatric oncology setting, including common symptoms experienced by children and adolescents with cancer that may be indications for the integration of RT into palliative care paradigms, as well as the expected efficacy of treatment. We describe the logistics, delivery, common doses for palliative radiation regimens, and management of potential side effects. While palliative RT is generally well tolerated in the pediatric population, we also discuss potential side effects of RT to various body sites and approaches for prevention or mitigation.
Local Logrolling? Examining the Impact of District Representation on Distributive Politics

Over the past three decades, efforts to increase minority incorporation and representation have resulted in a shift away from at-large toward district-based elections in American cities. Observers and academics have blamed this institutional change for encouraging elected official to focus on district priorities while ignoring --- and perhaps even sacrificing --- broader municipal needs. Have improved electoral prospects for minority candidates come at the cost of parochialism and logrolling on city councils, as traditional models of urban and distributive politics predict? Using seven years worth of roll call data from the Los Angeles city council, we examine the hypothesis that district elections lead to vote-trading among its members. Overall, our analysis finds little evidence for distributive theories of legislative voting. Instead, the results support a model of conditional deference, suggesting that a district-based electoral system does not always incentivize elected officials to ignore the larger concerns of their polity when creating policy.
Prostate Cancer Prevention

Prostate cancer is a major cause of morbidity and mortality for American men. Hence, it is essential to understand the factors that could be helpful in preventing it. Majority of incident cancer follows an indolent trajectory, although significant percent follows an aggressive trajectory leading to considerable morbidity and mortality. Due to this, the emphasis of the current chapter is on secondary rather than primary prevention. Currently available diagnostic modalities are unable to reliably distinguish between aggressive and indolent disease. Hence, efforts need to be made to understand the factor associated with secondary and tertiary prevention of prostate cancer. This chapter systematically reviews literature starting with the changing guidelines, the modifiable risk factors for prostate cancer prevention, factors affecting prostate cancer survivorship, novel avenues for prostate cancer prevention, and finishing with themes to be addressed in the future that could be instrumental in preventing prostate cancer.
Perioperative management of patients undergoing transsphenoidal pituitary surgery.

Background: The sellar and parasellar region is a confluence of several critical anatomical structures from various physiological systems located in close proximity to one another. Patients with pathology in this critical region of the central nervous system therefore make up a unique subset of neurosurgical patients that require careful preoperative and postoperative attention to numerous management details involving neurological, visual, and neuroendocrine function. A thorough understanding of the underlying anatomical and physiological principles of each of these systems, as well as the medical and surgical nuances involved in each case, is required to provide optimized management for patients with pituitary pathology. In this review, we discuss the major preoperative and postoperative considerations in patients undergoing resection for pituitary lesions in the modern era of transsphenoidal surgery.
Mastery Learning: Opportunities and Challenges

This concluding chapter of Mastery Learning in Health Professions Education addresses two mastery learning centers of interest—opportunities and challenges. Six opportunities are discussed: (a) expand mastery learning curricula to include a broader range of skills training in medicine, nursing, and other health professions; (b) spread mastery learning curricula into patient education and education for family members and patient caregivers; (c) develop and test mastery learning curricula to better address training of clinical team skills; (d) widen education models where one’s peers and other professionals serve as teachers and assessors; (e) enlarge mastery learning domains to cover a much wider range of non-technical clinical skills; and (f) improve the quality, impact, and reporting of mastery learning research. Seven challenges are then presented: (a) assessment of complex clinical problems; (b) achievement of adaptive competencies in patient care; (c) the limits of mastery learning; (d) evaluation apprehension; (e) cultural and organizational questions; (f) mastery learning in the context of new and emerging technologies; and (g) in the USA, a lack of federal funding for mastery learning health professions education research. We hope this chapter will inspire other health professions educators to adopt and improve the mastery learning model in service of their learners and patients.
Hydrogen deuterium exchange defines catalytically linked regions of protein flexibility in the catechol O-methyltransferase reaction

Human catechol O-methyltransferase (COMT) has emerged as a model for understanding enzyme-catalyzed methyl transfer from S-adenosylmethionine (AdoMet) to small-molecule catecholate acceptors. Mutation of a single residue (tyrosine 68) behind the methyl-bearing sulfonium of AdoMet was previously shown to impair COMT activity by interfering with methyl donor-acceptor compaction within the activated ground state of the wild type enzyme [J. Zhang, H. J. Kulik, T. J. Martinez, J. P. Klinman, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 112, 7954-7959 (2015)]. This predicts the involvement of spatially defined protein dynamical effects that further tune the donor/acceptor distance and geometry as well as the electrostatics of the reactants. Here, we present a hydrogen/deuterium exchange (HDX)-mass spectrometric study of wild type and mutant COMT, comparing temperature dependences of HDX against corresponding kinetic and cofactor binding parameters. The data show that the impaired Tyr68Ala mutant displays similar breaks in Arrhenius plots of both kinetic and HDX properties that are absent in the wild type enzyme. The spatial resolution of HDX below a break point of 15-20 °C indicates changes in flexibility across ∼40% of the protein structure that is confined primarily to the periphery of the AdoMet binding site. Above 20 °C, Tyr68Ala behaves more like WT in HDX, but its rate and enthalpic barrier remain significantly altered. The impairment of catalysis by Tyr68Ala can be understood in the context of a mutationally induced alteration in protein motions that becomes manifest along and perpendicular to the primary group transfer coordinate.
Short Report: Asymptomatic Zika virus infections with low viral loads not likely to establish transmission in New Orleans Aedes populations

Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus are both vectors of Zika virus and both are endemic to the New Orleans Metropolitan area. Fortunately, to date there has been no known autochthonous transmission of Zika virus in New Orleans. No studies of the vector competence of local populations of Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus for Zika virus transmission have been conducted. To determine if New Orleans Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus mosquitoes are competent for Zika virus, mosquitoes were reared to generation F3 from eggs collected in New Orleans during the 2018 mosquito season. Adults were fed an infectious blood meal and kept for 15 days in an environmental chamber. Transmission assays were conducted at 4, 10, and 15 days post exposure and RT-PCR was run on bodies and saliva to detect the presence of Zika virus RNA. We observed remarkably low susceptibility of both Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus from New Orleans to a Zika strain from Panama after oral challenge. These results suggest a limited risk of Zika virus transmission should it be introduced to the New Orleans area, and may partially explain why no transmission was detected in Louisiana during the 2016 epidemic in the Americas, despite multiple known travel associated introductions to New Orleans. Despite these results these mosquito populations are known to be competent vectors for some other mosquito-borne viruses and control measures should not be relaxed.
Spectrum of Cardiac Involvement in COVID-19

Cardiac involvement in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) commonly accompanies multi-organ system failure with acute respiratory syndrome; however, infrequently myocarditis and pericardial effusions may be isolated, yet fulminant. In this report, we highlight significant variations in cardiac involvement and presentation among patients with COVID-19. This article reports two cases of fulminant myocarditis in COVID-19 positive patients who presented to our facility with contrasting symptoms, laboratory and imaging findings. A 65-year-old patient A had a more typical presentation including respiratory distress, chest pain, ST-segment elevations on electrocardiogram (EKG), lymphopenia, elevated levels of inflammatory markers and cardiac troponin I. A 34-year-old patient B presented with shortness of breath and chest pain similar to patient A; however, she had isolated cardiac involvement with systolic dysfunction and an acute pericardial effusion causing tamponade physiology. Inflammatory marker and cardiac troponin I levels for patient B were within normal range. Patient A had a rapid progression of multi-organ system failure leading to her death within 24 hours from presentation on maximal inopressor support. Patient B, however, is one of few reported cases of cardiac tamponade and veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA-ECMO) use in COVID-19 who underwent pericardiocentesis and was additionally managed with colchicine and steroids, leading to complete recovery in systolic function within three weeks from initial presentation. Isolated myocardial dysfunction and pericardial effusions in COVID-19 may have catastrophic sequalae even in the absence of elevated biomarkers described in literature. Therefore, early detection and management of cardiac involvement is warranted. Additionally, the role of mechanical circulatory support devices and VA-ECMO in COVID-19 needs further investigation.
From a distance: Nursing and pharmacy students use teamwork and telehealth technology to provide interprofessional care in a simulation with telepresence robots

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the influence of a simulation training program focused on providing learners the opportunity to work interprofessionally and with telehealth technology. Pharmacy students and nursing students collaborated as an interprofessional team via a telepresence robot, video teleconferencing, and telephone. They focused interactions on role understanding, communication, and team collaboration. They also employed coaching skills to teach the patient how to interact with the robot during a health encounter. Quantitative results indicated that learners improved in communication and team collaboration and also in including patients in the health encounter. Qualitative results gave further insight into the strengths of the program as well as areas for improvement. The paper concludes with recommendations for future directions.
Loss of FOXO transcription factors in the liver mitigates stress-induced hyperglycemia.

Abstract Objective Stress-induced hyperglycemia is associated with poor outcomes in nearly all critical illnesses. This acute elevation in glucose after injury or illness is associated with increased morbidity and mortality, including multiple organ failure. Stress-induced hyperglycemia is often attributed to insulin resistance as controlling glucose levels via exogenous insulin improves outcomes, but the mechanisms are unclear. Forkhead box O (FOXO) transcription factors are direct targets of insulin signaling in the liver that regulate glucose homeostasis via direct and indirect pathways. Loss of hepatic FOXO transcription factors reduces hyperglycemia in chronic insulin resistance; however, the role of FOXOs in stress-induced hyperglycemia is unknown. Methods We subjected mice lacking FOXO transcription factors in the liver to a model of injury known to cause stress-induced hyperglycemia. Glucose, insulin, glycerol, fatty acids, cytokines, and adipokines were assessed before and after injury. Liver and adipose tissue were analyzed for changes in glycogen, FOXO target gene expression, and insulin signaling. Results Stress-induced hyperglycemia was associated with reduced hepatic insulin signaling and increased hepatic FOXO target gene expression while loss of FOXO1, 3, and 4 in the liver attenuated hyperglycemia and prevented hyperinsulinemia. Mechanistically, the loss of FOXO transcription factors mitigated the stress-induced hyperglycemia response by directly altering gene expression and glycogenolysis in the liver and indirectly suppressing lipolysis in adipose tissue. Reductions were associated with decreased IL-6, TNF-α, and follistatin and increased FGF21, suggesting that cytokines and FOXO-regulated hepatokines contribute to the stress-induced hyperglycemia response. Conclusions This study implicates FOXO transcription factors as a predominant driver of stress-induced hyperglycemia through means that include cross-talk between the liver and adipose, highlighting a novel mechanism underlying acute hyperglycemia and insulin resistance in stress.
Towards Reimagining the Autonomous City

The last few years have seen major academic and political calls (particularly in the Global North) for cities with greater autonomy and constitutional standing. Despite being major population hubs and the dominant economic players in a system, cities are conspicuously absent from the constitutional space. They are creatures of the federal or province and are dependent on them for their functioning and very existence. Because of this reality, it is argued that cities are unable to address issues such as income inequality, housing, population density, immigration, environment, etc. Their lack of autonomy and constitutional standing also makes them susceptible to corporate capture. Furthermore, cities are more progressive and diverse than the rest of the polity, and national politics are often not entirely responsive to city residents’ values, identity concerns, and priorities. The answer to this predicament often thrown around is to emancipate cities and provide them with constitutional standing and greater autonomy. It is believed that constitutional standing and greater autonomy would help cities realise their potential and address changing economic and political concerns. While prima facie, this seems like a simple fix, several issues arise. The first is whether constitutional standing and greater autonomy for cities will address issues they seek to address? Then there is a question of whether constitutional standing and greater autonomy for cities have any downside? Lastly, there is a question of the legal, political, methodological obstacles in the way of a demand for constitutional standing and greater autonomy for cities. Using mini case studies from Dubai, Singapore and Hong Kong as well as theoretical reasoning, this article is a preliminary attempt to chalk some of these issues and suggest directions for future research and political action on ‘envisioning the autonomous city.’ On a very ambitious level, this article also hopes to make ’weak’ a case to rethink the demand for constitutional standing and greater autonomy for cities in the short term and instead concentrate on other political reforms that would be easier to achieve and which would be equally effective.
Estimating Effects of Wind Loss Mitigation on Home Value

We employ a novel spatial regression model to estimate effects of windstorm loss mitigation features on the value of coastal homes. Specifically, we consider joint effects of the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety’s (IBHS) FORTIFIED HOMETM . designation (henceforth Fortified) and distance from the coast on the prices paid for houses. We find that on average homebuyers pay a seven-percent premium for Fortified homes, which exceeds the typical cost of building or retrofitting homes to the Fortified standard. In addition, we find that Fortified construction and distance from the coast are substitutes. The premium is highest for homes nearest the coast.
Processing of Global Solar Irradiance and Ground-Based Infrared Sky Images for Solar Nowcasting and Intra-Hour Forecasting Applications

The projection of shadows from moving clouds in the troposphere impacts energy generation in power grids using photovoltaic systems. This investigation proposes an efficient method of data processing for the statistical quantification of cloud features using infrared images and global solar irradiance measurements. The infrared images and the global solar irradiance measurements are acquired using a sky imager equipped with a commercial low-cost long-wave infrared radiometric camera and a pyranometer. The enclosure of the infrared camera is mounted on a solar tracker so that the Sun stays in the center of images throughout the day. We explain how to remove cyclostationary biases in global solar irradiance measurements. Seasonal trends are removed from the global solar irradiance time series, using the theoretical global solar irradiance to obtain the clear sky index time series. We introduce an atmospheric model to remove the effect of atmospheric scattering and the effect of the Sun's direct irradiance from infrared images. Scattering is produced by water spots and dust particles on the germanium lens of the camera enclosure. We explain how to remove the scattering effect produced by the germanium lens attached to the data acquisition system enclosure window of the infrared camera. An atmospheric condition model classifies the sky conditions in four different categories: clear sky, cumulus, stratus and nimbus. When an infrared image is classified in the category of clear sky, it is used to model the scattering effect produced by the germanium lens.
The exact strength of generic absoluteness for the universally Baire sets.

A set of reals is \textit{universally Baire} if all of its continuous preimages in topological spaces have the Baire property. $\sf{Sealing}$ is a type of generic absoluteness condition introduced by Woodin that asserts in strong terms that the theory of the universally Baire sets cannot be changed by forcing. The $\sf{Largest\ Suslin\ Axiom}$ ($\sf{LSA}$) is a determinacy axiom isolated by Woodin. It asserts that the largest Suslin cardinal is inaccessible for ordinal definable bijections. Let $\sf{LSA-over-uB}$ be the statement that in all (set) generic extensions there is a model of $\sf{LSA}$ whose Suslin, co-Suslin sets are the universally Baire sets. We show that over some mild large cardinal theory, $\sf{Sealing}$ is equiconsistent with $\sf{LSA-over-uB}$. In fact, we isolate an exact large cardinal theory that is equiconsistent with both (see \rdef{dfn:hod_pm}). As a consequence, we obtain that $\sf{Sealing}$ is weaker than the theory $``\sf{ZFC} + $there is a Woodin cardinal which is a limit of Woodin cardinals". A variation of $\sf{Sealing}$, called $\sf{Tower \ Sealing}$, is also shown to be equiconsistent with $\sf{Sealing}$ over the same large cardinal theory. The result is proven via Woodin's $\sf{Core\ Model\ Induction}$ technique, and is essentially the ultimate equiconsistency that can be proven via the current interpretation of $\sf{CMI}$ as explained in the paper.
Monitoring the Mental State of Cooperativeness for Guiding an Elderly Person in Sit-to-Stand Assistance.

In providing physical assistance to elderly people, ensuring cooperative behavior from the elderly persons is a critical requirement. In sit-to-stand assistance, for example, an older adult must lean forward, so that the body mass can shift towards the feet before a caregiver starts lifting the body. An experienced caregiver guides the older adult through verbal communications and physical interactions, so that the older adult may be cooperative throughout the process. This guidance is of paramount importance and is a major challenge in introducing a robotic aid to the eldercare environment. The wide-scope goal of the current work is to develop an intelligent eldercare robot that can a) monitor the mental state of an older adult, and b) guide the older adult through an assisting procedure so that he/she can be cooperative in being assisted. The current work presents a basic modeling framework for describing a human's physical behaviors reflecting an internal mental state, and an algorithm for estimating the mental state through interactive observations. The sit-to-stand assistance problem is considered for the initial study. A simple Kalman Filter is constructed for estimating the level of cooperativeness in response to applied cues, with a thresholding scheme being used to make judgments on the cooperativeness state.
Domain-filling sequences of Julia sets, and intuitive rationale for the Siegel discs

Within the M-set of the map z → λz(1-z), consider a sequence of points λm having a limit point λ. Denote the corresponding F* -sets by ℱ*(λm) and ℱ*(λ). In general, lim ℱ*(λm) = ℱ*(lim λm), but there is a very important exception. In some cases, the sets ℱ*(λm) do not converge to either a curve or a dust, but converge to a domain of the A -plane, part of which is called the Siegel disc l while the rest is made of the preimages of ℒ. In such cases, ℱ*(lim λm) is not the set lim ℱ*λm but only that set’s boundary. The intuitive meaning of this behavior is discussed and illustrated in terms of the so-called Peano curves, and a mathematical question is raised concerning the nonrational and non-Siegel λ.
Phrase versus Phase: Family Engagement

Abstract A qualitative research design was developed to explore a simple question: Is “family engagement” simply a new phrase or is it a synonym for “family involvement?” This study explored to what degree school leaders gained an understanding of family engagement; more importantly, to what degree did the administrators and teachers implement” family engagement” by the end of the first year?
Multimedia content recommendation engine with automatic inference of user preferences

We propose novel algorithms for automatically determining a user's profile from his/her content usage history (profiling agent), and automatically filtering content according to the user's profile (filtering agent). A fuzzy inference system is used to construct and periodically update the preferences of a user based on the user's interactions with various types of content over an observation period. The proposed algorithms are designed to support an MPEG-7 or TV-anytime-compliant description framework, although they can also be utilized in any non-standard environment that provides structured descriptions of multimedia content.
Mecoptera: Scorpionflies, Hangingflies

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on the mecoptera, holometabolous insects in which the head is characterized by a downward projecting rostrum or beak, at the ends of which are chewing mouthparts. They are usually slender bodied and have four long, narrow wings that are membranous and often marked with dark bands, spots, or darkening along the numerous crossveins. There are exceptions, however. A few species are brachypterous or wingless; species in family Boreidae have hardened, highly modified wings, which are nearly oval and scale-like in females, slender and somewhat curved apically in males. The rostrum is not unusually prolonged in species of Nannochoristidae; and the wings of species of Meropeidae are only about 2.5 times longer than their greatest width. Although Mecoptera are one of the minor orders of insects, with only about 570 living species so far made known, they are of much interest to entomologists. This is largely because fossil Mecoptera are among the oldest remains of insects with complete metamorphosis (of Permian age) and have been regarded by some as ancestral to the more recently evolved and vastly larger orders Diptera and Lepidoptera. Fossil evidence suggests that the Mecoptera were once one of the larger orders of holometabolous insects. Past diversity, based mainly on wing venation, has led to placement of nearly 400 fossil species in 87 genera in 34 families. Thus, modern Mecoptera are survivors of millions of years of evolutionary development.