cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Carbon Nanotube Macroelectronics for Active Matrix Polymer-Dispersed Liquid Crystal Displays

Active matrix liquid crystal display (AMLCD) is the most widely used display technology nowadays. Transparent display is one of the emerging technologies to provide people with more features such as displaying images on transparent substrates and simultaneously enabling people to see the scenery behind the panel. Polymer-dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) is a possible active matrix transparent display technology due to its high transparency, good visibility, and low power consumption. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with excellent mobility, high transparency, and room-temperature processing compatibility are ideal materials for the driver circuit of the PDLC display. Here, we report the monolithic integration of CNT thin-film transistor driver circuit with PDLC pixels. We studied the transmission properties of the PDLC pixels and characterized the performance of CNT thin-film transistors. Furthermore, we successfully demonstrated active matrix seven-segment PDLC displays using CNT driver transistors. Our achievemen...
The immune properties of Manduca sexta transferrin.

Transferrins are secreted proteins that bind iron. The well-studied transferrins are mammalian serum transferrin, which is involved in iron transport, and mammalian lactoferrin, which functions as an immune protein. Lactoferrin and lactoferrin-derived peptides have bactericidal activity, and the iron-free form of lactoferrin has bacteriostatic activity due to its ability to sequester iron. Insect transferrin is similar in sequence to both serum transferrin and lactoferrin, and its functions are not well-characterized; however, many studies of insect transferrin indicate that it has some type of immune function. The goal of this study was to determine the specific immune functions of transferrin from Manduca sexta (tobacco hornworm). We verified that transferrin expression is upregulated in response to infection in M. sexta larvae and determined that the concentration of transferrin in hemolymph increases from 2 μM to 10 μM following an immune challenge. It is also present in molting fluid and prepupal midgut fluid, two extracellular fluids with immune capabilities. No immune-induced proteolytic cleavage of transferrin in hemolymph was observed; therefore, M. sexta transferrin does not appear to be a source of antimicrobial peptides. Unlike iron-saturated lactoferrin, iron-saturated transferrin had no detectable antibacterial activity. In contrast, 1 μM iron-free transferrin inhibited bacterial growth, and this inhibition was blocked by supplementing the culture medium with 1 μM iron. Our results suggest that M. sexta transferrin does not have bactericidal activity, but that it does have a bacteriostatic function that depends on its iron sequestering ability. This study supports the hypothesis that insect transferrin participates in an iron withholding strategy to protect insects from infectious bacteria.
A Hybrid Nonlinear Vibration Energy Harvester

Abstract Vibration energy harvesting converts mechanical energy from ambient sources to electricity to power remote sensors. Compared to linear resonators that have poor performance away from their natural frequency, nonlinear vibration energy harvesters perform better because they use vibration energy over a broader spectrum. We present a hybrid nonlinear energy harvester that combines bi-stability with internal resonance to increase the frequency bandwidth. A two-fold increase in the frequency bandwidth can be obtained compared to a bi-stable system with fixed magnets. The harvester consists of a piezoelectric cantilever beam carrying a movable magnet facing a fixed magnet. A spring allows the magnet to move along the beam and it provides an extra stored energy to further increase the amplitude of vibration acting as a mechanical amplifier. An electromechanically coupled mathematical model of the system is presented to obtain the dynamic response of the cantilever beam, the movable magnet and the output voltage. The perturbation method of multiple scales is applied to solve these equations and obtain approximate analytical solutions. The effects of various system parameters on the frequency responses are investigated. The numerical approaches of the long time integration (Runge-Kutta method) and the shooting technique are used to verify the analytical results. The results of this study can be used to improve efficiency in converting wasted mechanical vibration to useful electrical energy by broadening the frequency bandwidth.
Neonatal testicular torsion: Is it time for consensus?

Testicular torsion (TT) occurring in the newborn period has been called neonatal TT (NTT) or perinatal TT. Most of these are asymptomatic, occur prenatally, and are difficult to diagnose. Almost all NTT are extravaginal. There is a lack of consensus in the approach to management of this rare condition. An emergent surgical exploration could salvage, the asymptomatic bilateral TT and prevent asynchronous torsion. After a thorough review of the evidence, the conclusion is that NTT should be managed like TT at any other age group, except that nonoperative maneuvers may not be successful.
Central American family business groups: internationalisation and diversification strategies

Central America has been characterised by the large presence of family business groups (FBGs). The objective of this study is to gain insights about the internationalisation and diversification strategies of selected FBGs. In addition, the study examines how networking influences these strategies. Internationalisation and agency theories provide the theoretical framework for the study. The findings reveal three insights: first Central American FBGs have taken a long time to internationalise reflecting the challenges related to the economical and historical development of the region. Second, the diversification of the FBGs into various sectors of the domestic economies is a key determinant of the internationalisation strategy. Third, the ownership structure and family networking linkages also determine internationalisation strategies.
African Women in Colonial Economies

The historiography on Africa’s colonial economic history has transformed significantly. Whereas the earliest studies on colonial economies focused almost exclusively on male-dominated cash-crop production, scholars of African women identified the numerous direct and indirect ways in which women engaged the colonial economy. As the scholarship on women continues to expand and explore topics such as artisan production, marriage, and childhood, we have a fuller understanding of the dynamic ways in which women in Africa shaped and were shaped by colonial economies
F36. SELF-ESTEEM AND SYMPTOMS IN INDIVIDUALS AT CLINICAL HIGH-RISK FOR PSYCHOSIS.

AbstractBackgroundIndividuals with psychotic symptoms often report low global self-esteem (GSE).However, it remains unclear whether the low GSE is linked to the presence of psychotic symptoms or it is present prior to the onset of psychosis. Additionally, the specific subdomains of GSE in these populations are unknown.MethodsTo address this question, we conducted a cross-sectional study comparing global and SE elements among individuals at clinical high-risk for psychosis (CHR; n=36), individuals with schizophrenia (SCZ; n=43), and healthy controls (HC; n=40). We then examined among CHR individuals the association between GSE, subdomains, and symptoms.ResultsCHR individuals displayed significantly lower GSE compared to HC, at a level comparable to individuals with SCZ. The low GSE was driven primarily by self-perceptions of work and interpersonal relationships abilities, in the sub-domains of provider (r=.53, p<.001), physical appearance (r=.37, p=.026), sense of humor (r=.45, p=.006), intimate relations (r=.45, p=.006), and job competence (r=.39, p=.018). Lower GSE was associated with overall negative (p<0.01) and disorganized (p<0.05) symptoms severity, but not positive ones.DiscussionThis investigation demonstrates that low self-esteem, which is prevalent in SCZ, is also present to a comparable degree of severity in CHR individuals. Our findings help to better understand the CHR period and may suggest targets for early psychosocial treatments aimed at improving social and occupational functioning, as such domains appear to play an important role in determining GSE in this population. The examination of different dimensions of self-esteem in the assessment of CHR populations may contribute to a better understanding of the phenomenology of prodromal symptoms, and thus, may have implications for finding successful early therapeutic approaches, rehabilitation, and social integration for a condition that is accompanied by considerable suffering and risk of suicide.
Uterine-like Mass With Features of an Extrauterine Adenomyoma Presenting 22 Years After Total Abdominal Hysterectomy–Bilateral Salpingo-oophorectomy: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

Abstract Adenomyoma is a benign tumor composed of smooth muscle and benign endometrium. These tumors typically originate within the uterus. An extrauterine adenomyoma is a rare entity. We report a uterine-like mass consistent with an extrauterine adenomyoma presenting 22 years following a total abdominal hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy. The mass was pear-shaped with uterine-type smooth muscle and a cavity lined by functional endometrial glands and stroma. To our knowledge, only 4 other cases of an extrauterine uterine-like mass are reported in the literature. Three involved the ovary, while one was located adjacent to the broad ligament with normal pelvic organs. Although none of these other uterus-like masses were described as adenomyomas with uterine-like features, the histologic findings are strikingly similar. An understanding of the mullerian system suggests that either an embryologic malformation or a differential multipotentiality existing in the subcoelomic tissues in response to ...
Bounds and Comparisons for Weighted Renewal-Type Integral Equations

In this note, inequalities and bounds for weighted renewal-type integral equations are presented. Some upper and lower bounds for the weighted renewal-type integral equations with monotone weight functions are derived. Some upper and lower bounds for the weighted renewal-type equations with monotone weight functions are derived. Bounds for the difference between two weighted renewal functions as well between the parent and weighted renewal functions are obtained in terms of the parent renewal reliability functions and their first and second moments. Relations for renewal-type integrals of the ruin probability are presented. Some inequalities, bounds and convergence results are also established. Mathematics Subject Classifications: 62N05, 62B10
Why Context Matters

Lawyers’ ethical decision making is shaped both by professional regulation and the social and economic setting of the workplace. The notion that “context matters” for lawyers has become almost a truism, but few other works have shown exactly how it matters. This essay introduces and summarizes a new book of empirical research that examines lawyers’ ethical decision making in the context of practice. The book is entitled Lawyers in Practice: Ethical Decision Making in Context (University of Chicago Press 2012). Contributors explore ethical problems lawyers confront in immigration, personal injury, patent, securities, and public interest practice, as well as in corporate settings such as litigation, in house counsel, and transnational work. Each practice area has its own particular norms and challenges, shaped not only by substantive, procedural and ethical legal rules, but also by clients, practice organizations, economics, and culture. Lawyers construct definitions of acceptable lawyering conduct in their offices, in interactions with one another in negotiations and litigation, and through appearances before judges and agencies. Such definitions are also influenced by professional rules, disciplinary boards, and others who regulate lawyer conduct. This essay draws on interdisciplinary studies that describe ethical issues from the practitioners’ point of view in each area of practice to show why close attention to context matters for understanding lawyers’ ethical decision making. Knowing what “is” can help the bar, lawmakers and other regulators construct and enforce what lawyers “ought” to do.
An Ecological Perspective of Reinforcement and Motivation

A central theme in Western culture is the assumption that behavior is motivated by need and shaped by reward. This theme is reflected in modern theories of learning and motivation in such concepts as deprivation, incentive, and reinforcement and is expressed in one or another of the many versions of the Law of Effect (for reviews, see Bolles, 1975; Meeh, 1950; Postman, 1947). Moreover, this theme is either implicit or explicit in almost every current study of learning and motivation. Several classic relations between deprivation, reinforcement, incentive value, and penormance have encouraged proponents of the Law of Effect. Rate of responding for a nutritive substance by a deprived animal is a linear, increasing function of log percent body weight loss (Collier, 1969; Collier and Levitsky, 1967) as well as of both log concentration (Collier, 1964) and log volume (Collier and Willis, 1961) of the nutrient used as the reinforcer (see Figures 1 and 2). Precise, reproducible functions such as these have provided the data base for most theories of reinforcement.
A Randomized Iterative Approach for SV Discovery with SVelter

Genomic structural variants (SVs) are major sources of genome diversity, and numerous studies over the past few decades have shown the impact this class of genetic variation has had on human health and disease. In spite of the recent advances in sequencing technology and discovery methodology, there are still considerable amount of variants in the genome that are partially or completely misinterpreted. The computational tool introduced in this chapter, SVelter, is specifically designed to detect and resolve genomic SVs in all different formats, including the canonical as well as the complex.
A Pilot Study of Inpatient Satisfaction Rating of Surgical Resident Care

Objective To describe inpatient satisfaction with surgical resident care given the increasing importance of patient satisfaction as a quality metric. Design Surgical inpatients were invited to complete a survey that addressed their satisfaction with and attitudes regarding surgical resident care. The survey was based on the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems Surgical Care Survey (S-CAHPS). Patients were required to positively identify photos of resident physicians prior to providing ratings. Adapted S-CAHPS items were scored using the “top-box” method. Setting Massachusetts General Hospital, a tertiary academic center. Participants General surgery inpatients recovering from elective, major abdominal surgery were recruited on postoperative days 2 to 4. Results Ninety-one percent of approached patients participated (102/112, mean age = 62.9, 51.6% male). Patients positively identified both seniors and interns 88% of the time. Thirteen seniors and 19 interns were rated, with 1 to 14 evaluations per trainee. Overall quality of care ratings for seniors and interns were 9.35 and 9.09, respectively (0-10 scale, 10 = “best possible care”). Sixty-three percent of senior resident evaluations and 60% of intern evaluations received a score of 10. The proportion of residents receiving top-box scores ranged from 59.5% to 97.7% depending on the item. Forty percent of senior resident and 38% of intern evaluations received top-box scores for all 8 items. Over 96% of patients reported strong or moderate agreement with the statements “I feel it is important to help in the education of future surgeons.” Conclusions Surgical inpatients willingly completed ratings about their surgery residents, typically can recognize their resident physicians, and rate quality of care highly. Despite many high ratings, there is room for improvement in some S-CAHPS domains. These results indicate patients are a valuable source of feedback regarding a resident's progress in several core competencies such as interpersonal skills, communication, professionalism, and patient care.
Sport for Development’s Impact on Cultural Adaptability: A Process and Outcome-Based Analysis

Sport for development (SFD) has gained traction over the past several decades, establishing itself as a subdiscipline within sport management research. As such, it has moved from simple program eva...
Comparison of Direct Surgical Costs for Proximal Row Carpectomy and Four-Corner Arthrodesis.

Background Proximal row carpectomy (PRC) and four-corner arthrodesis (FCA) are common treatments for stage II scapholunate advanced collapse (SLAC) and scaphoid nonunion advanced collapse (SNAC) wrists, with similar functional and patient-reported outcomes reported in the peer-reviewed literature. Questions Study questions included (1) whether surgical encounter total direct costs (SETDCs) differ between PRC and FCA, and (2) whether SETDC differs by method of fixation for FCA. Patients and Methods Consecutive adult patients (≥ 18 years) undergoing PRC and FCA between July 2011 and May 2017 at a single tertiary care academic institution were identified. Patients undergoing additional simultaneous procedures were excluded. Using our institution's information technology value tools, we extracted prospectively collected cost data for each surgical encounter. SETDCs were compared between PRC and FCA, and between FCA subgroups (screws, plating, or staples). Results Of 42 included patients, mean age was similar between the 23 PRC and 19 FCA patients (51.2 vs. 54.5 years, respectively). SETDCs were significantly greater for FCA than PRC by 425%. FCA involved significantly greater facility costs (2.3-fold), supply costs (10-fold), and operative time (121 vs. 57 minutes). Implant costs were absent for PRC, which were responsible for 55% of the SETDC for FCA. Compared with compression screws, plating and staple fixation were significantly more costly (70% and 240% greater, respectively). Conclusion SETDCs were 425% greater for FCA than PRC. Implant costs for FCA alone were 130% greater than the entire surgical encounter for PRC. For FCA, SETDC varied depending on the method of fixation. Level of Evidence This is a level III, cost analysis study.
Renewable Energy and Land Use Regulation (Part 2)

This article is Part 2 of a set of materials on renewable energy and land use. The article focuses on state and local government approaches to the siting of wind projects including a discussion of host community agreements. Examples of local ordinances are provided as well as a summary of recent relevant caselaw.
Ciência, valores, conhecimento tradicional/indígena e diálogo de saberes

Este artigo discute a possibilidade de um dialogo construtivo entre ciencia moderna e saberes tradicionais/indigenas, inclusive os saberes dos Povos Tradicionais na America Latina. O argumento desenvolvido nele depende de interpretar a ciencia em termos da pesquisa multiestrategica [P-MS]: utiliza a distincao entre estrategias descontextualizadoras (SDs) e estrategias sensiveis ao contexto (SCs) e as teses: as estrategias metodologicas adotadas para projetos de pesquisa podem variar com as caracteristicas dos objetos da pesquisa; ha relacoes de reforco mutuo entre a adocao duma estrategia e a aderencia a valores eticos e sociais particulares; ha limites nos tipos dos objetos que podem ser investigados sob uma estrategia; e as varias estrategias desempenham papeis complementares. A tese principal do artigo e que o dialogo construtivo entre a P-MS e os saberes tradicionais e possivel na condicao de que (a) o conhecimento obtido nos saberes tradicionais pode ser interpretado como tendo sido gerado sob variedades das SCs, cuja adocao tem relacoes de reforco mutuo com a aderencia aos valores incorporados nos modos de vida e praticas dos grupos que fomentam os saberes ; e/ou (b) a P-MS pode ser interpretada como consistindo num conjunto de saberes – cada um identificado por uma estrategia – que pertence a um conjunto maior dos saberes (cada um social, cultural e historicamente situado) que tambem contem os tradicionais, do qual todos os membros geram conhecimento com credenciais epistemicas potencialmente comparaveis aqueles de investigacoes cientificas conduzidas sob as SDs.
2445 Appendiceal Pathology in Women with Endometriosis

Study Objective To report the prevalence of abnormal appendiceal pathology in women with pelvic pain and pathology-confirmed pelvic endometriosis. Design Retrospective case series. Setting Tertiary care referral center. Patients or Participants Forty patients with pelvic pain undergoing laparoscopy for possible endometriosis with concomitant laparoscopic appendectomy during a 5 month period. Interventions Laparoscopic excision of suspected endometriosis with concomitant laparoscopic appendectomy on patients with visible abnormalities of the appendix. Measurements and Main Results Forty patients underwent laparoscopic excision of suspected endometriosis with visible abnormalities involving the appendix and were treated with concomitant laparoscopic appendectomy. Of this subgroup, thirty-eight patients had pelvic endometriosis and eighteen patients (47.3%) had appendiceal pathology: seven (18%) with pathology-confirmed appendiceal endometriosis, three (7.9%) with carcinoid neuroendocrine tumor, two (5.3%) with acute appendicitis, two (5.3%) with mild acute inflammation, two (5.3%) with lymphoid hyperplasia, and two (5.3%) with fibrous obliteration. The prevalence of appendiceal pathology in patients with pelvic endometriosis was 47.3%. Conclusion Appendiceal pathology may be a contributing factor to pelvic pain in women with endometriosis and should be routinely inspected for visible abnormalities.
Immunoepidemiology of Human Immunodeficiency

Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) was officially acknowledged as a new disease in 1981 by the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The etiologic agent of AIDS is a retrovirus – human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). In 1986, the isolation of another retrovirus, HIV-2, in AIDS patients in West Africa provided a clue to the origin of HIV-1. HIV-1 and HIV-2 infections in humans resulted from zoonotic transfers of simian immunodeficiency viruses (SIVs) infecting chimpanzees (SIVcpz) and sooty mangabeys (SIVsmm), respectively. For SIVcpz to adapt to its new human hosts, the viral matrix protein came under intense host-specific immune selection pressure that resulted in an amino acid substitution (Met to Arg or Lys) in the viral matrix protein (Gag-30). This chapter focuses on how host immune factors modify susceptibility to HIV-1 infection, progression and severity of HIV-1 disease, and the likelihood of transmission of HIV-1 to another person. Some of the factors are genes encoding a chemokine receptor (the C-C motif receptor 5 gene [CCR5]), chemokine ligands, human major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I human leukocyte antigen (HLA), human β-defensins, and apolipoprotein B mRNA editing enzyme catalytic polypeptide-like 3 (APOBEC3). Despite scientific advancements in the field of HIV-1 research in the last three decades, the search for cure and preventative vaccines for HIV-1 continues to elude the scientific community. A better understanding of the interactions between HIV-1, host restriction factors, and immune responses might provide drug targets for cure and a framework for vaccine initiatives.
Child and Adolescent Career Construction: An Expressive Arts Group Intervention

The Child and Adolescent Career Construction Interview (CACCI) is a developmentally appropriate expressive art intervention designed to facilitate self-expression and career exploration for childre...
Phonological decoding enhances orthographic facilitation of vocabulary learning in first graders

An experiment examined orthographic facilitation of vocabulary learning, that is, whether showing students spellings of novel words during learning helps them remember the words when spellings are no longer present. The purpose was to determine whether having students decode the spellings of vocabulary words improves word learning over passive exposure to spellings, and whether both treatments boost word memory compared to no spelling exposure. Low SES, urban first graders (N = 55) were randomly assigned to one of two word learning conditions: a decoding condition (printed words sounded out and blended) or an exposure without decoding condition (print present but no attention drawn to it). Students were taught the pronunciations and meanings of unfamiliar words over several test trials with feedback, one set with spellings present during learning but not when recall was tested, and one set with no spellings present. Results revealed that students remembered words better when spellings were seen than not seen during learning and on delayed posttests. Students who decoded spellings learned pronunciations and meanings better during the learning trials compared to students who only viewed spellings, but the advantage of decoding declined one and 7 days later. The favored explanation is that exposure to spellings activated grapho-phonemic connections to better secure spellings to pronunciations in memory, especially when students’ had decoded them. This was supported by a posttest showing that spellings were written more accurately when students had seen them than when they had not, with decoding producing better recall than exposure. Results suggest that teachers should incorporate spellings into their vocabulary instruction, and they should direct students to decode them to enhance learning.
Mechanical and Electrical Behavior of Printed Silver Conductor in Adaptive Curvature Flexure Test

Flexible electronic products are becoming increasingly popular. Because of the large deformation that flexible products encounter, it is important to predict their performance in response to mechanical loadings. This article focuses on the mechanical and electrical behavior of the printed silver conductor under the adaptive curvature flexure test. In the adaptive curvature flexure test, the printed conductor is bent between two rigid parallel plates so that the bending strain will be generated through the conductor and, thus, cause resistance change. The resistance of the conductor was measured continuously by the four-wire method during the test for analysis. A series of conductors with different widths printed on two commonly used substrate materials—polyimide and polyethylene terephthalate—were tested. In the single load–unload tests, the resistance of the conductor increased nonlinearly as the gap distance between the parallel plates decreased. Cracks in the conductor were observed under a strain of approximately 3%. In the cyclic tests, the resistance of the conductor increased linearly with cycles after the first several cycles. In addition to the experimental tests, the strain distribution of the conductor was calculated by both finite-element method and theoretical analysis. Combined with the relationship between the resistivity of the conductor and the bending strain, an integral model has been developed to predict the resistance change of the printed conductor under bending.
NCMS: Towards accurate anchor free object detection through ℓ2 norm calibration and multi-feature selection

Abstract We present simple and flexible drop-in modules in feature pyramids for general object detection, which can be easily generalized to other anchor-free detectors without introducing extra parameters, and only involves negligible computational cost on training and testing. The proposed detector, called NCMS, inserts a simple norm calibration (NC) operation between the feature pyramids and detection head to alleviate and balance the norm bias caused by feature pyramid network (FPN). Furthermore, the NCMS leverages an enhanced multi-feature selective strategy (MS) during training to assign the ground-truth to particular feature pyramid levels as supervisions, in order to obtain more discriminative representation for objects. By generalizing to the state-of-the-art FSAF module (Zhu et al., 2019), our NCMS improves it by 1.6% on COCO val set without bells and whistles. The resulting best model achieves 44.0% mAP with single-model and single-scale testing, which is a fairly competitive result.
Optical properties of the phosphors Zn2SnO4:Cr3+ with near-infrared long-persistence phosphorescence for bio-imaging applications

Abstract The optical properties of the efficient near-infrared long-persistence phosphors Zn2SnO4: 0.2% Cr3+ spinels were investigated by Yang Li et al. (2015) [1]. These spinels are effective materials to fabricate multi-wavelength, low-cost, NIR phosphorescent phosphors with many potential multifunctional bio-imaging applications. The process of persistent phosphorescence occurs through a delicate interplay between the energy levels of the Cr3+ dopant ions, intrinsic defects and energy bands of the inverse spinel Zn2SnO4 host lattice. To determine the role of the Cr3+ ions in this process, we examines a detailed crystal-field analysis of the visible lines associated to the transitions between the Stark levels of Cr3+ and occupying an Oh site symmetry in Zn2SnO4 single crystals. The theoretical study is based on the Racah tensor algebra methods. With reference to this theoretical analysis, the electronic structure of Zn2SnO4: 0.2% Cr3+ spinels was determined precisely. This study do not confirm the prediction that the band at 330 nm is assigned to the overlap of the 4A2g (4F) → 4T1g (4P) and VB → CB transitions. The band at 330 nm is assigned only to VB → CB transitions. The energy level 4T1g (4P) is located in the conduction band and is not observed experimentally. The band centered at 372 nm is assigned to the transition 4A2g (4F) → CB. This analysis supports also the assumption that the narrow peak located at 702 nm is associated to the 2Eg (2G) → 4A2g (4F) emission. The exploration of the nature of traps and the evaluation of the trap properties are also essential to understanding the phosphorescence phenomenon.
Wormholes to the rescue

The chances that wormholes exist are slim, but this doesn't mean that they can't provide a useful escape, writes Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
Valuing Sequential IT Projects Using Real Options Analysis

Over the last ten years Real Options Analysis (ROA) has become an increasingly important topic in both academia and industry. In industry ROA is now one of the suggested ways to evaluate Information Systems/Information Technology (IS/IT) projects using common governance frameworks. In academia, there have been numerous papers within top MIS journals discussing the issues involved when applying ROA to IS/IT. Most of the work has focused either on the Binomial option model or on the Black-Scholes option model, both of which have been used successfully to evaluate single projects. A more complex case that has been discussed in the literature is the use of ROA to evaluate multiple sequential IS/IT projects, i.e. where Project A enables Project B which in turn enables Project C. This paper uses Monte Carlo techniques to illustrate the pitfall known as “The Flaw of Averages” when using the Binomial or Black-Scholes to evaluate such programs.
Prenatal Detection of Congenital Heart Disease: the Past, Present, and Future

Prenatal diagnosis of congenital heart disease (CHD) is continuously evolving with each passing decade. Early efforts in fetal cardiology focused on identifying CHD in mid-gestation and understanding of fetal circulation in pathologic conditions. Improving prenatal detection rates for CHD remains an ongoing challenge and increasingly the field of fetal cardiology is moving to not only diagnosing CHD prenatally but also assessing the impact of prenatal diagnosis of CHD outcomes. Future directions include earlier diagnosis of fetal CHD, improved diagnostic rates, widespread sonographer education, and a better understanding of antenatal factors that impact outcomes. Our goal in this review is to describe the past, present, and future of prenatal diagnosis of CHD. There has been a steady improvement in the prenatal diagnosis rate for CHD; however, there remains a significant variation between countries and within the USA. Prenatal diagnosis of CHD allows for counseling and delivery planning in those fetuses with critical CHD, thereby providing parents with resources and important tools while dealing with a challenging situation of carrying a child with heart disease and helping them with important decisions for their family and their future. There are several specific conditions which continue to pose a challenge from a diagnostic standpoint as they may appear mild at the time of initial diagnosis and may be missed but progress through the pregnancy and lead to significant CHD in the neonatal period. In summary, continued efforts aimed at collaborative research and education are needed in order to be able to improve CHD detection rates. We need to cautiously assess lesions that appear minor in mid-gestation but have the potential to progress in late gestation. Earlier detection of CHD by means of a transvaginal or a first-trimester fetal echocardiogram may further help families with delivery planning and decision-making.
Revisiting the details when evaluating a visual tracker.

Visual tracking algorithms are naturally adopted in various applications, there have been several benchmarks and many tracking algorithms, more expected to appear in the future. In this report, I focus on single object tracking and revisit the details of tracker evaluation based on widely used OTB\cite{otb} benchmark by introducing a simpler, accurate, and extensible method for tracker evaluation and comparison. Experimental results suggest that there may not be an absolute winner among tracking algorithms. We have to perform detailed analysis to select suitable trackers for use cases.
German Veterans of the Spanish Civil War and the Struggle for Recognition in West Germany

This paper challenges the recognition paradigm through a historical case study that shows recognition struggles to be ideologically embedded and their success subordinated to, and thus contingent upon, the political priorities of recognition-granting authorities. To this end, the paper explores how Cold War ideological considerations shaped the ways in which the West German state processed recognition claims made upon it by two distinct groups of German veterans of the Spanish Civil War: German antifascists who fought as non-state actors in defense of the Spanish Republic and other Germans who fought in support of the Nationalist rebels at the behest of the National Socialist regime. Showing that the West German state’s ostensible commitment to recognition of historical injustice in connection with the National Socialist past was subordinated to the aim of self-legitimation in the Cold War present, the paper calls for a broader sociopolitical contextualization of recognition struggles.
Cost, Severity and Prevalence of Agricultural-Related Injury Workers' Compensation Claims in Farming Operations from 14 U.S. States.

(1) Background: There is no national surveillance of agricultural injuries, despite agricultural occupations being among the most hazardous in the U.S. This effort uses workers’ compensation (WC) data to estimate the burden of agricultural injuries and the likelihood of experiencing an injury by body part involved, cause, and nature in farming operations. (2) Methods: WC data from 2010 to 2016 provided by a large insurance company covering small to medium-sized farm operations from 14 U.S. states was used. We investigated the associations between injury characteristics and WC costs and the risk of having a more severe versus a less severe claim. The proportion of costs attributable to specific claim types was calculated. (3) Results: Of a total 1000 claims, 67% were medical only. The total cost incurred by WC payable claims (n = 866) was USD 21.5 million. Of this, 96% was attributable to more severe claims resulting in disabilities or death. The most common body part injured was the distal upper extremity. Falling or flying objects and collisions were the most expensive and common causes of injury. (4) Conclusions: Characterizing the cost and severity of agricultural injury by key injury characteristics may be useful when prioritizing prevention efforts in partnership with insurance companies and agricultural operations.
Demography-aware COVID-19 Confinement with Game Theory

In the last decades, emerging and re-emerging epidemics such as AIDS, measles, SARS, HINI influenza, and tuberculosis cause death to millions of people each year. In response, a large and intensive research is evolving for the design of better drugs and vaccines. However, studies warn that the new pandemics such as Coronavirus (COVID-19) and even deadly pandemics can emerge in the future. The existing confinement approaches rely on large amount of available data to determine policies. Such dependencies could cause an irreversible effect before proper strategies are developed. Furthermore, the existing approaches follow a one-size fits all approach, which might not be effective. In contrast, we develop a game-theory inspired approach that considers societal and economic impacts and formulates the epidemic control as a non-zero sum dynamic game. Further, the proposed approach considers the demographic information leading to providing a tailored solution to each demography. We explore different strategies including masking, social distancing, contact tracing, quarantining, partial-, and full-lockdowns and their combinations and present demography-aware optimal solutions to confine a pandemic with minimal history information and optimal impact on economy.
Not Down but Different: Depression in the Shadow of the Black Dog

We can hardly wonder that depression is called an invisible disability, by those who regard it as a disability at all. Racism, on the other hand, is a crime of visibility, a social and political crime. What then must we make of the person of color who is depressed by racism? This essay attempts to link depression and race in the experience of Asian Americans, who suffer in disproportionate numbers despite their “model minority” stereotype.
Community-based Naloxone Coverage Equity for the Prevention of Opioid Overdose Fatalities in Racial/Ethnic Minority Communities in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Background and aims Opioid-related overdose death rates continue to rise in the United States, especially in racial/ethnic minority communities. Our objective was to determine if US municipalities with high percentages of non-white residents have equitable access to the overdose antidote naloxone distributed by community-based organizations. Methods We used community-based naloxone data from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and the Rhode Island Non-Pharmacy Naloxone Distribution program for 2016-2018. We obtained publicly available opioid-related overdose death data from Massachusetts and the Office of the State Medical Examiners in Rhode Island. We defined the naloxone coverage ratio as the number of community-based naloxone kits received by a resident in a municipality divided by the number of opioid-related overdose deaths among residents, updated annually. We used a Poisson regression with generalized estimating equations to analyze the relationship between the municipal racial/ethnic composition and naloxone coverage ratio. To account for the potential nonlinear relationship between naloxone coverage ratio and race/ethnicity, we created B-splines for the percentage of non-white residents; and for a secondary analysis examining the percentage of African American/Black and Hispanic residents. The models were adjusted for the percentage of residents in poverty, urbanicity, state, and population size. Results Between 2016-2018, the annual naloxone coverage ratios range was 0-135. There was no difference in naloxone coverage ratios among municipalities with varying percentages of non-white residents in our multivariable analysis. In the secondary analysis, municipalities with higher percentages of African American/Black residents had higher naloxone coverage ratios, independent of other factors. Naloxone coverage did not differ by percentage of Hispanic residents. Conclusions There appear to be no municipal-level racial/ethnic inequities in naloxone distribution in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, USA.
Idiopathic Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia: A Variant of Neurocardiogenic Syncope?

Transient episodes of neurocardiogenically-mediated hypotension and bradycardia have become a well-recognized cause of recurrent syncope and near-syncope [1]. The emergence of tilt table testing as a reliable method for provoking these periods of autonomic decompensation not only provided a useful diagnostic tool but also allowed for a much better understanding of the pathophysiology of these disorders. In the course of investigations, it became apparent that these episodic alterations in autonomic tone could result in varying degrees of systemic hypotension that, while not sufficiently large to cause complete loss of consciousness, were nevertheless great enough to cause symptoms such as near-syncope, lightheadedness, vertigo, and transient ischemic attacks. At the same time, we and other groups identified a large subgroup of patients who have a less severe form of orthostatic intolerance that is characterized by postural tachycardia, exercise intolerance, disabling fatigue, lightheadedness, dizziness, and blurred vision [2]. Detailed investigations of these patients showed that the histories, physical findings, and responses to postural change and head-up tilt were essentially similar. This disorder has become generally known as the postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome. The present paper will review the clinical characteristics, their responses during head-upright tilt table testing, and the various therapies that can benefit these patients.
Drop Impact and the Underwater Noise of Rain

Experiment and theory give very strong indications that most of the underwater noise of rain in the region between 8–10 kHz and 20–25 kHz is due to the oscillations of bubbles entrained by the rain drops impacting on the ocean’s surface. We present a theoretical calculation of the noise spectrum of this process and examine the effects of viscosity and other factors on this result. It is found that neglect of dissipative effects can lead to bubble sizes greater than observed experimentally.
Pass-through taxation and the value of the firm

A great deal of work has been done on the optimal capital structure and valuation of the firm. The majority of the literature explores valuation and optimal capital structure conditions under the double taxation system. In this paper, valuation equations and optimal capital structure conditions for firms whose earnings are subject to the double taxation system and for firms whose earnings are subject to the pass-through taxation system are developed. The test results indicate that firm values closely approximate those suggested by the equations.
Extended access to nicotine leads to a CRF1 receptor dependent increase in anxiety‐like behavior and hyperalgesia in rats

Tobacco dependence is associated with the emergence of negative emotional states during withdrawal, including anxiety and nociceptive hypersensitivity. However, the current animal models of nicotine dependence have focused on the mechanisms that mediate the acute reinforcing effects of nicotine and failed to link increased anxiety and pain during abstinence with excessive nicotine self-administration. Here, we tested the hypothesis that the activation of corticotropin-releasing factor-1 (CRF1) receptors and emergence of the affective and motivational effects of nicotine abstinence only occur in rats with long access (>21 hours/day, LgA) and not short (1 hour/day, ShA) access to nicotine self-administration. ShA and LgA rats were tested for anxiety-like behavior, nociceptive thresholds, somatic signs of withdrawal and nicotine intake after 3 days of abstinence. The role of CRF1 receptors during abstinence was tested using systemic or intracerebral infusion of MPZP (N,N-bis(2-methoxyethyl)-3-(4-methoxy-2-methylphenyl)-2,5-dimethyl-pyrazolo(1,5α)pyrimidin-7-amine), a CRF1 receptor antagonist, in the central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA). LgA but not ShA rats exhibited abstinence-induced increases in anxiety-like behavior and nociceptive hypersensitivity, which both predicted subsequent excessive nicotine intake and were prevented by systemic administration of MPZP. Intra-CeA MPZP infusion prevented abstinence-induced increases in nicotine intake and nociceptive hypersensitivity. These findings demonstrate that the model of short access to nicotine self-administration has limited validity for tobacco dependence, highlight the translational relevance of the model of extended-intermittent access to nicotine self-administration for tobacco dependence and demonstrate that activation of CRF1 receptors is required for the emergence of abstinence-induced anxiety-like behavior, hyperalgesia and excessive nicotine intake.
Depression in Jailed Women Defendants and Its Relationship to Their Adjudicative Competence

This study examines the relationship between depression, as measured by four indices, and jailed women defendants' adjudicative competence ("competency to stand trial"). Competence was assessed by the MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool-Criminal Adjudication (MacCAT-CA) in three areas: understanding, reasoning, and appreciation. Depression was not significantly correlated with any competence measure. More depressed women, however, were more likely to feel that they would not be treated fairly by the legal system. This finding is consistent with research showing that depressed people tend to have pessimistic perceptions. The rates of depression were far above the rates in the general female population, and many of the participants were clinically depressed. In addition, competence generally was negatively correlated with measures of psychoticism, emotional withdrawal, and general psychopathology. Implications of the results for addressing the mental health needs of women defendants, and for defense attorneys and forensic clinicians working with them, are discussed.
A comparative study of hematocrits drawn from a standard venipuncture and those drawn from a saline lock device

Abstract Background Most trauma patients in the emergency department have multiple hematocrits drawn to monitor hypovolemia. These venipunctures are painful to the patient and frustrating for hospital staff when venipuncture sites are difficult to locate. Purpose The purpose of this study was to determine whether the hematocrit values of blood samples obtained with saline lock devices agree or are different from those blood specimens obtained by standard venipuncture. If they agree, can the traditional venipuncture route of blood collection be replaced by collection from a saline lock device? Methods The study used a quasiexperimental, repeated measures design. The research was conducted at a teaching, regional level I trauma center with annual ED visits of 65,000. Each subject had hematocrit samples obtained by venipuncture (control) according to standard trauma protocols. Within 5 minutes of obtaining each control specimen, a hematocrit sample was obtained with a saline lock device (experimental) after a 5 ml discard volume was obtained. Results Results were analyzed by measures of central tendency and paired t test. There were no differences in mean hematocrit values in blood obtained by saline locks (41.1 ± 4.4) and those drawn from direct venipunctures (41.0 ± 3.9). Conclusions: Obtaining samples for determination of -hematocrit values from a saline lock device is an accurate method of obtaining serial hematocrit values.