cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Is brood parasitism related to host nestling diet and nutrition

ABSTRACT Food and nutrient limitation can have negative effects on survival, fecundity, and lifetime fitness of individuals, which can ultimately limit populations. Changes in trophic dynamics and diet patterns, affected by anthropogenic environmental and landscape change, are poorly understood yet may play an important role in population regulation. We determined diets of Wood Thrushes (Hylocichla mustelina), a Neotropical migratory songbird species sensitive to urbanization, and explored how brood parasitism by Brown-headed Cowbirds (Molothrus ater) may be related to Wood Thrush nestling diets. Effects of brood parasitism on host nestling diets is an understudied stressor that may help explain observed population declines. We measured carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) stable isotopes of 7 invertebrate food sources (snails, spiders, isopods, earthworms, myriapods, insects, and caterpillars), blood plasma from adult male and female Wood Thrushes and from Wood Thrush nestlings in nests with and without Bro...
The politics of immigrant policy in the 50 US states, 2005-2011

This article asks what shaped immigrant policy in the 50 states between 2005 and 2011. Theoretically, politicians are influenced by electoral considerations as they craft laws. Law-makers consider both current public opinion and how the electorate is likely to change, at least in the near future. Empirically, the article analyses an original dataset on immigrant-related laws enacted by the states with a Bayesian spatial conditionally autoregressive model. The analysis shows that state immigrant policy is affected primarily by legislative professionalism, electoral ideology, state wealth and change in the foreign-born population.
Test input generation with java PathFinder

We show how model checking and symbolic execution can be used to generate test inputs to achieve structural coverage of code that manipulates complex data structures. We focus on obtaining branch-coverage during unit testing of some of the core methods of the red-black tree implementation in the Java TreeMap library, using the Java PathFinder model checker. Three different test generation techniques will be introduced and compared, namely, straight model checking of the code, model checking used in a black-box fashion to generate all inputs up to a fixed size, and lastly, model checking used during white-box test input generation. The main contribution of this work is to show how efficient white-box test input generation can be done for code manipulating complex data, taking into account complex method preconditions.
Should We Tax Internalities Like Externalities

Does the traditional rationale for taxing externalities also apply to internalities? Yes, if the goal is maximizing efficiency. Efficient taxes reflect any harms consumers overlook, whether to others or themselves. Yes with caution, if the goal also includes equity. Internality taxes fall most heavily on consumers who overlook future costs, a group that tends to have lower incomes. No if the goal is improving the well-being of people who consume harmful products. That paternalistic goal generally implies lower taxes than do efficiency or welfare maximization. In fact, the optimal paternalistic tax is often zero.
Assessment of quantitative polymerase chain reaction for equine herpesvirus-5 in blood, nasal secretions and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid for the laboratory diagnosis of equine multinodular pulmonary fibrosis.

Reasons for performing study The ante mortem diagnosis of equine multinodular pulmonary fibrosis (EMPF) relies on histopathological results and polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-positive equine herpesvirus (EHV)-5 testing of lung tissue. Polymerase chain reaction detection of EHV-5 in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) is commonly used to support a diagnosis of EMPF. However, the diagnostic power of EHV-5 testing on BALF and other biological samples such as blood and nasal secretions has yet to be shown to support a diagnosis of EMPF. Objectives To determine the frequency of detection and the viral loads of EHV-5 by quantitative PCR (qPCR) in blood, nasal secretions and BALF from horses confirmed with EMPF, healthy horses and horses with non-EMPF pulmonary diseases. Study design Prospective study. Methods The study population consisted of 70 adult horses divided into 4 groups based on a combination of clinical findings, cytology of BALF, imaging studies of the thoracic cavity and histopathology of pulmonary tissue: control group (n = 14), EMPF group (n = 11); inflammatory airway disease group (n = 32); and non-EMPF interstitial lung disease group (n = 13). For each horse, whole blood, nasal secretions and BALF were available for EHV-5 qPCR testing. Sensitivities, specificities and their respective 95% confidence intervals were calculated for viral loads from blood, nasal secretions and BALF. In addition, these measures were calculated for combined use of blood and nasal secretions. Results The detection of EHV-5 in BALF was strongly associated with EMPF (sensitivity 91%, specificity 98.3%). Detection of EHV-5 in blood was, independent of the viral loads, strongly associated with EMPF with a sensitivity of 91% and specificity of 83.1%. The detection of EHV-5 in nasal secretions displayed the highest sensitivity (72.7%) and specificity (83.1%) at a level of >245,890 glycoprotein B target genes/million cells to support a diagnosis of EMPF. Dually positive blood and nasal secretions at any viral loads in support of EMPF yielded a sensitivity and specificity of 90% and 89.8%, respectively. Conclusions Although histopathological confirmation (lung biopsy) is considered the gold standard for EMPF diagnosis, results of qPCR testing of BALF or a combination of whole blood and nasal secretions should be regarded as clinically useful in support of this diagnosis. The latter testing may be relevant when dealing with horses in respiratory distress, for which invasive procedures such as BALF collection or lung biopsies may be detrimental to their health.
Buffering strategies for ultra high-throughput stream processing

The insatiable demand for more data content and higher video resolution over the Internet requires a corresponding increase in communication data rates. Handling the massive acquisition, aggregation, and propagation of these communication signals requires high-throughput data processing. ASICs and FPGAs are the only devices capable of processing the data in real time at the highest throughput requirements. Traditionally, when data throughput exceeds the clock rate of these devices, data are sourced in parallel streams. However, current highlevel synthesis tools fail to efficiently handle data distributed across parallel streams while trying to meet low latency and real time requirements. This paper presents an algorithm to automate efficient allocation of data across parallel streams and computations with varying memory access requirements. The proposed approach exceeds the performance of current high-level tools by 57% in latency and 55% memory usage for two samples per clock, with more impressive reductions of 88% in latency and 83% in memory usage at eight samples per clock.
Negative Interest Rate Policy as Conventional Monetary Policy

As long as all interest rates move in tandem – including the rate of return on paper currency – economic theory suggests no important difference between interest rate changes in the positive region and interest rate changes in the negative region. Indeed, in standard models, only the real interest rate and spreads between real interest rates matter. Thus, in most respects, negative interest rate policy is conventional. It is only (a) what needs to be done with paper currency, (b) difficulties in understanding negative rates or (c) institutional features interacting with negative rates that make negative interest rate policy unconventional.
The Program of Marriage Instruction at the University of North Carolina

IN RECENT years the idea of instruction in preparation for marriage has spread rapidly. The first full-credit college course in the subject was offered at the University of North' Carolina in i9z6. Today scores of colleges are offering similar courses. In addition there is a growing demand for comparable instruction on the secondary school level, in adult-education classes, in short courses, lecture series, and for marriage counseling. Many of these courses, especially those for college classes, have been patterned after the plan of presentation as it was developed at the University of North Carolina by Professor Ernest R. Groves. His textbook Matriage, itself a product of the development of the course and written only after several years of practical handling of the materials in classes, is used widely. The result of all this is a growing need for more information on the whole subject of marriage and family life and a demand for instruction for those who plan to specialize in the presentation of these materials. The development of undergraduate instruction at the University was discussed by Professor Groves in an article, "Teaching Marriage at the University of North Carolina," in Social Forces, Vol. i6, No. i, October, I937, pp. 87-96. In that article he pointed out how the course had arisen from a request by the students, how it had been organized around the materials in which they were especially interested, how the need for a basic gatheringtogether of materials called for a textbook and resulted in the publication of his Marriage. He further indicated that experience in teaching the course many times proved (i) the value of the plan of having one instructor who was responsible for the course rather than a symposium of specialists; (2) the value of emphasizing those items that were of practical concern to the students, with the instructor reserving the right to include items that might not seem to be of immediate interest to them but which he knew would be of help later; and (3) the value of facing issues squarely and completely with no attempts at evasion. Since the publication of that article the undergraduate courses have been continued in the same manner except that a second instructor has been added who offers the course all four quarters of the year. Professor Groves has been thereby
Effects of dietary protein restriction on circulating concentrations of growth hormone in growing domestic fowl (Gallus domesticus).

AbstractTwo- to three-week-old broiler chicks were fed isocaloric purified diets with varying levels of protein (soy protein supplemented with glycine and methionine). The growth rates of the birds were monitored throughout the period of 14 days on the purified diets, while the circulating concentrations of growth hormone (GH) were determined at the end of this period. As expected, decreases in the dietary protein level were associated with concomitant reductions in growth rate. While this decrease in growth rate was observed with chicks fed 12 and 18% protein (compared with 24%), circulating concentrations of GH were observed to be only elevated with severe protein restriction (10% and lower). There was also evidence for some progressive increase in plasma concentrations of GH as dietary protein levels were decreased.
A sampling method to determine insecticide residues on surfaces and its application to food-handling establishments.

Known amounts of acephate, chlorpyrifos, and diazinon were applied to Formica, unfinished plywood, stainless steel, and vinyl tile. Cotton-ball and dental wick materials were dipped in 2-propanol and “swiped” over the treated surface area two time. More acephate was found on the second swipe compared to the first from vinyl tile, similar amounts on both swipes from plywood, and less on the second swipe from formica and stainless steel. The ratio of chlorpyrifos on Swipe 1 compared to Swipe 2 found with cotton-ball on both formica and stainless steel surfaces was equivalent (6:1), but a considerable difference was seen when two dental wick swipes were used. Residues of diazinon removed from formica and stainless steel were equivalent, regardless of the swiping material used. Residues of chlorpyrifos were detected by taking swipes of surfaces in two restaurants and a supermarket up to 6 mo after a prescribed application by a commercial pest control firm. The data show that measurable amounts of chloropyrifos can be detected on surfaces not treated with the insecticide for at least 6 mo.
Oxidation Behavior of Binary Ti-xW (0≤ x≤ 30, wt%) Alloys at 650° C As a Function of W Concentration

Abstract The role of composition on the oxidation behavior of the Ti-W system at 650 °C was investigated utilizing a compositionally graded specimen, Ti-xW (0 ≤ x ≤ 30, all compositions in wt%). Microstructural evolution of the base material and thickness of the oxide layers were assessed as a function of composition. Some of the observations with regard to the evolved base metal microstructure, including: α lath and β rib/precipitates and lamellar structure, were found to be comparable to what is reported for Ti-Mo system. It was also shown that formation of a thinner oxide does not necessarily imply on the lower oxygen ingress.
Microclimates of Racial Meaning: Historical Racial Violence and Environmental Impacts

MICROCLIMATES OF RACIAL MEANING: HISTORICAL RACIAL VIOLENCE AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS G EOFF W ARD * This article examines the socially constitutive force of historical racial violence, dimensions and mechanisms of environmental impact, enduring questions, and remedial implications. I stress the importance of empirical scrutiny of racial violence since the nineteenth century, both for the development of critical race perspective on its social force and to inform oppositional movements. Areas plagued by histories of racial violence are further theorized as microclimates of racial meaning where legacies of this contention alter population characteristics, structural and emotional dynamics, and contemporary life chances. I close with consideration of remedy, encouraging more intermediate approaches to legal and policy intervention that may aid in acknowledging and interrupting environmental impacts of historical racial violence. Introduction 576 I. Keeping the Red Record 585 A. Ida B. Wells and the Genesis of A Red Record 586 B. “Little Value Was Placed on the Life of an Individual Negro”: The Tuskegee Lynching Report 589 C. Red Records Lost: Missing Data and Movement Costs .... 593 D. Beyond Lynching: Extending the Red Record 598 II. Microclimates of Racial Meaning 603 A. Microclimates of Environmental Racism 604 B. Mechanisms of Enduring Meaning 606 1. Extreme Racial Socialization 607 2. Culturally Supported Violence 608 3. Legal Cynicism 608 4. Diminished Collective Efficacy 609 Associate Professor of Criminology, Law & Society; Sociology; and Law, University of California, Irvine. I am grateful to several colleagues and collectives whose comments and collaboration contributed to this paper, including Margaret Burnham, David Cunningham, Peter Owens, Nick Petersen, Amy Farrell, and Aaron Kupchik, with whom I have developed analyses informing arguments here. I also thank Mario Barnes, Kaaryn Gustafson, Angela Harris, Val Jenness, Mona Lynch, Khalil Muhammad, Osagie Obasogie, Nicky Rafter, L. Song Richardson, Carroll Seron, Courtney Echols, Levi LaChapelle, James Pratt, and Anjuli Verma for their insights and feedback. Additional thanks to participants in the Wisconsin Law Review Symposium, “Critical Race Theory and Empirical Methods,” and the excellent editorial group at the Wisconsin Law Review. Finally, many thanks to all of the UC Irvine students who have assisted in developing the Racial Violence Archive, the empirical root of this paper.
Proteinuria and progression of pediatric chronic kidney disease: lessons from recent clinical studies

Proteinuria in children with chronic kidney disease (CKD) is common and its etiology differs from that in adults. How proteinuria influences the rate of progression of CKD has been analyzed in multiple retrospective clinical studies and more recently in a few prospective ones. In this review I summarize the results, strengths and weaknesses of each of these studies. The findings of several retrospective studies in children with CKD have confirmed what we have learned from adult studies on the association between proteinuria and worsening kidney function. Larger prospective clinical studies have examined the effects of proteinuria on the rate of decline of kidney function and the risk of end-stage kidney disease. They have also considered children with glomerular and, more importantly, the more common, congenital causes of CKD. Current studies have important strengths but also a few weaknesses that limit the validity of the conclusions which can be drawn. There is still a need for large clinical trials that focus primarily on studying the influence of proteinuria on kidney function and on finding remedies that delay progression.
Nonspiking Operation of Flash-Pumped 2-µm Lasers

The output of most pulsed solid state lasers operating in a normal mode Gong-pulse) condition typically exhibits a transient spiking behavior, characteristic of relaxation oscillations. Suppression of this spiking behavior can be achieved by active or passive techniques which introduce an intensity dependent loss inside the laser resonator. In this paper, smooth, long-pulse operation of a flashpumped 2 μm Cr;Tm:YAG laser is achieved utilizing intracavity second harmonic generation.
Design of a shared-stage charge pump circuit for multi-anode microbial fuel cells

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are promising renewable energy sources for long-term underwater systems. The critical limitations of MFCs include low output voltage and bioturbation interference. A multianode MFC was proposed in our previous work to tolerate bioturbation problems. Due to the unique structure of the multi-anode MFC, an anode decoupling function is needed for power management. Conventional designs based on separate charge pumps will have large overhead and performance degradation when anodes are impaired. In this paper, we address the above problems by developing a shared-stage charge pump circuit for voltage boosting and anode decoupling. The shared-stage design employs independent pumping units for each anode at the first stage and shared pumping units at the following stages. A new scheme is developed to prevent reverse currents at the impaired anodes. The proposed design significantly reduces the energy losses and improves the power efficiency of MFCs.
A lottery improves performance on a low-stakes test for males but not females

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to address the effectiveness of autonomy support and a lottery-based reward in enhancing test performance and test-taking motivation on a low-stakes test. Two hundred and forty-six university students were randomly assigned to three groups – lottery, autonomy support and control – and took a mathematics test. Students in the autonomy support and lottery group reported putting forth more test-taking effort than students in the control group. Males who were offered a chance at winning the financial reward scored almost 10 points higher on the exam compared to females. Results showed no significant difference in test scores for female students among groups, suggesting that neither intervention had an impact on females.
Daily variations in attachment anxiety and avoidance: A density distributions approach

Abstract Attachment theory proposes that experiences of acceptance and rejection will modify feelings of attachment security, but such processes have rarely been investigated. In this study, daily variations in attachment anxiety and avoidance were investigated across 7 days in a sample of college undergraduates currently in romantic relationships. We observed significant within-person variation in attachment avoidance and anxiety. Participants reported lower anxiety and avoidance on days on which they felt more accepted by their romantic partners. Further, perceptions of acceptance predicted the following day’s attachment security through lower negative mood. Greater variability in attachment avoidance and anxiety was associated with greater physical aggression in relationships.
The High Tech MPA: Distance Learning Technology and Graduate Public Administration Education

The technology of distance learning is in use in graduate MPA classes at a growing number of colleges and universities and is being considered for use at many others. This article explores the important objectives, issues, and concerns that should be addressed for the successful application of the technology and develops models of distance learning for graduate programs. The results of two preliminary surveys covering the use of distance learning technology in MPA programs are reported and analyzed. The authors present their findings concerning the development of successful distance learning programs at the graduate level and call for a consortium of university MPA programs to devise studies and share data and expertise in order to create quality distance learning programs for public administration education.
Avoiding the Preemption Muddle: Reading Professor Bickel and Judge Garland

Although preemption cases require courts to apply a broad range of statutory regimes, the underlying question in each is the same: Does federal law oust state law? Thus, it is reasonable to expect that the analytic framework courts use in these cases should be consistent. In all preemption cases the analysis requires four steps: the court must construe a federal law, construe a state law, determine whether any overlap or tension between the two laws may be tolerated, and identify the basis for Congress’s authority to displace state law. The Supreme Court has been fractured over the basic rules for performing each of these steps. The law in this area is indeed a “muddle.” Counter to the long-held view of the Court as the arbiter of conflicts between federal and state regulatory authority, this Article argues that as long as no stable majority of the Justices has established a position on the basic analytic framework, the Court should exercise its certiorari discretion not to review most preemption cases. Even if the Supreme Court were to do so, lower courts would remain in a bind. These courts lack the discretionary authority to refuse to hear preemption cases yet are tasked with implementing the muddle of contemporary preemption doctrine. One way in which lower courts might avoid this bind is by applying a variety of techniques that Alexander Bickel and other have referred to as “passive virtues.” This Article finds in the on- and off-bench writings by Judge Merrick Garland an illustration of how a judge with an aversion to preemption decisions that broadly and unpredictably displace state law might apply some of these techniques in order to avoid preemption decisions. The Article concludes by examining two questions. First, does the use by appellate judges of standing and other doctrines to avoid the far-reaching and unpredictable results of deciding preemption questions risk distorting the former out of proportion to the benefits of the latter? And second, is an approach premised on avoiding preemption cases a desirable one for the Supreme Court over the long term? Using Judge Garland’s judicial output as a case study, this Article suggests that while there are risks, avoidance may be preferable to the application of the current, muddled doctrine of preemption.
An investigation of fraclas generated by z →1/ z ∧ n+c

Publisher Summary This chapter explores methods of generating fractals from the mapping z → z-n + c and discusses the structure of the resulting images. Lyapunov exponents and cycle periodicity show details of these fractals that are obscured by prior escape-time techniques. The resulting fractals are shown to have a hypocycloid shape. The associated Julia sets can be classified into a variety of types. In general, the Julia sets are not symmetrical by reflection unless c is real. A positive Lyapunov exponent indicates chaotic behavior and a negative Lyapunov exponent indicates stable behavior.
Language Independent Dependency to Constituent Tree Conversion

We present a dependency to constituent tree conversion technique that aims to improve constituent parsing accuracies by leveraging dependency treebanks available in a wide variety in many languages. The technique works in two steps. First, a partial constituent tree is derived from a dependency tree with a very simple deterministic algorithm that is both language and dependency type independent. Second, a complete high accuracy constituent tree is derived with a constraint-based parser, which uses the partial constituent tree as external constraints. Evaluated on Section 22 of the WSJ Treebank, the technique achieves the state-of-the-art conversion F-score 95.6. When applied to English Universal Dependency treebank and German CoNLL2006 treebank, the converted treebanks added to the human-annotated constituent parser training corpus improve parsing F-scores significantly for both languages.
Proton-Coupled Electron Transfer and the "Linear Approximation" for Coupling to the Donor-Acceptor Distance Fluctuations.

The often-used “linear approximation” for treating the coupling of proton donor–acceptor (D–A) distance fluctuations to proton-coupled electron transfer tunneling reactions is systematically examined. The accuracy of this approximation is found to depend on the potential energy surfaces that are used to describe both the tunneling particle vibrations and the D–A coordinate probability distribution. Harmonic treatment of both the tunneling particle and the D–A coordinates results in a significant breakdown of the linear approximation when the width of the D–A distribution exceeds ∼0.05 A. When a symmetric back-to-back Morse potential is used to describe the tunneling particle vibrations in the reactant and product states, the D–A distribution width can be expanded up to ∼0.09 A before the rates calculated using the linear approximation exceed the exact result by an order of magnitude. Incorporation of a more realistic anharmonic D–A potential, based on quantum calculations, includes the important electroni...
Fully printed flexible carbon nanotube photodetectors

Here, we report fully printed flexible photodetectors based on single-wall carbon nanotubes and the study of their electrical characteristics under laser illumination. Due to the photothermal effect and the use of high purity semiconducting carbon nanotubes, the devices exhibit gate-voltage-dependent photoresponse with the positive photocurrent or semiconductor-like behavior (conductivity increases at elevated temperatures) under positive gate biases and the negative photocurrent or metal-like behavior (conductivity decreases at elevated temperatures) under negative gate biases. Mechanism for such photoresponse is attributed to the different temperature dependencies of carrier concentration and carrier mobility, which are two competing factors that ultimately determine the photothermal effect-based photoresponse. The photodetectors built on the polyimide substrate also exhibit superior mechanical compliance and stable photoresponse after thousands of bending cycles down to a curvature radius as small as 3...
Investigation of Propagation Failures of Flexible Linear Shaped Charges at Cryogenic Temperatures

The NASA Centaur vehicle utilizes Flexible Linear Shaped Charges (FLSC) containing 7 to 15 grains of RDX/ft to perform various separation functions (Fig. 1). Although the systems have consistently performed satisfactorily on flight vehicles, a few unexplained propagation failures occurred during early development tests in environments intentionally more severe than those encountered in light. All of these were in areas of low temperature (-400°F), high thermal gradients (~ 100°F/in.), and small bend radii (< 1/2 in.). In addition to the possibility of random damage of the test specimens during installation into the test assembly, where they were mechanically worked to conform to complex curves, it was felt that the possibility also existed that extreme temperature changes during testing could have caused intolerable dimensional changes at the points of failure. In linear charges, critical dimension effects exist where propagation velocity, normally a function of the type of explosive only, becomes dependent on geometry (because of edge energy losses), and propagation eventually fails if cross sections fall below minimum values for a particular set of circumstances. The results of a NASA Lewis Research Center sponsored program to compare room-temperature propagation velocities with those at cryogenic temperature for these materials have already been reported in the literature [1]. No gross changes were indicated, and no effects were seen to which the original test failures could be attributed.
Quantification of urban atmospheric boundary layer greenhouse gas dry mole fraction enhancements in the dormant season: Results from the Indianapolis Flux Experiment (INFLUX)

We assess the detectability of city emissions via a tower-based greenhouse gas (GHG) network, as part of the Indianapolis Flux (INFLUX) experiment. By examining afternoon-averaged results from a network of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), methane (CH 4 ), and carbon monoxide (CO) mole fraction measurements in Indianapolis, Indiana for 2011–2013, we quantify spatial and temporal patterns in urban atmospheric GHG dry mole fractions. The platform for these measurements is twelve communications towers spread across the metropolitan region, ranging in height from 39 to 136 m above ground level, and instrumented with cavity ring-down spectrometers. Nine of the sites were deployed as of January 2013 and data from these sites are the focus of this paper. A background site, chosen such that it is on the predominantly upwind side of the city, is utilized to quantify enhancements caused by urban emissions. Afternoon averaged mole fractions are studied because this is the time of day during which the height of the boundary layer is most steady in time and the area that influences the tower measurements is likely to be largest. Additionally, atmospheric transport models have better performance in simulating the daytime convective boundary layer compared to the nighttime boundary layer. Averaged from January through April of 2013, the mean urban dormant-season enhancements range from 0.3 ppm CO 2 at the site 24 km typically downwind of the edge of the city (Site 09) to 1.4 ppm at the site at the downwind edge of the city (Site 02) to 2.9 ppm at the downtown site (Site 03). When the wind is aligned such that the sites are downwind of the urban area, the enhancements are increased, to 1.6 ppm at Site 09, and 3.3 ppm at Site 02. Differences in sampling height affect the reported urban enhancement by up to 50%, but the overall spatial pattern remains similar. The time interval over which the afternoon data are averaged alters the calculated urban enhancement by an average of 0.4 ppm. The CO 2 observations are compared to CO 2 mole fractions simulated using a mesoscale atmospheric model and an emissions inventory for Indianapolis. The observed and modeled CO 2 enhancements are highly correlated (r 2 = 0.94), but the modeled enhancements prior to inversion average 53% of those measured at the towers. Following the inversion, the enhancements follow the observations closely, as expected. The CH 4 urban enhancement ranges from 5 ppb at the site 10 km predominantly downwind of the city (Site 13) to 21 ppb at the site near the landfill (Site 10), and for CO ranges from 6 ppb at the site 24 km downwind of the edge of the city (Site 09) to 29 ppb at the downtown site (Site 03). Overall, these observations show that a dense network of urban GHG measurements yield a detectable urban signal, well-suited as input to an urban inversion system given appropriate attention to sampling time, sampling altitude and quantification of background conditions.
Application of Microwaves in Sustainable Organic Synthesis

Over the past few decades, microwave-assisted organic synthesis (MAOS) became a commonly applied mainstream tool in the synthesis of organic compounds. The broad range of emerging applications in this field is mainly due to the significant contribution of MAOS to the development of fast, efficient, and ecofriendly processes. Various transformations have been reported for synthesis in combination with several catalysts and solvents under microwave conditions. Reactions involving greener reaction media such as ionic liquids, solvent-free conditions, special techniques such as one-pot multicomponent reactions, and solid-phase synthesis are of exceptional interest in this area. In most transformations, microwave conditions dramatically enhanced the reaction rates, as well as provided improved yields. This chapter highlights some of the most significant advancements in MAOS.
Invitations in Farsi: An analysis of their turn formats and sequential organizations

Abstract This conversation analytical study examines two formats of invitations in everday interaction in Iran. Invitation is a common social activity in which one party gets the other party to join an activity that may be beneficial to both. The study focuses on instances of invitations in everyday Farsi telephone conversations and investigates their turn design formats and the interactional contexts in which particular formats of invitation commonly occur. The analysis of 32 instances of invitations made in informal telephone conversations between close friends and family members suggests two distinctive grammatical constructions that speakers use to compose invitations in the data corpus. The study shows the relationship between the particular grammatical format of invitation and the interactional and sequential environment in which they are delivered. When invitations are delivered as the reason for call, speakers typically use the imperative construction pâsho biâ X (‘get up and come X’) or biâ X (‘come X’) in a multi-unit turn, whereas with invitations that are locally occasioned in the interaction and are not the reason for the call, speakers formulate a construction using the auxiliary verb khâstan (‘want’) such as mikhâi pâsho biâ injâ (‘do you want to come here’). The interactional placement of the invitation seems to be consequential for the selection of one of the turn formats. The study suggests that in a context when the invitation to join an activity is pre-planned and is to occur in the immediate future, it seems that an imperative and its accompanied elements in the turn convey an insistence and immediacy in getting the invitee to accept the invitation. On the other hand, in situations in which the invitation is occasioned by the recipient’s particular circumstance, which is revealed through the immediate prior talk, the auxiliary construction displays the inviter’s interest in the invitee’s desire to take part in the invited activity that has just emerged. It seems that the this particular construction conveys a lesser degree of commitment/pressure on the invitee to accept the invitation. In addition, the imperative format turn and do you want to X including the follow up talk contain elements that demonstrate speaker’s orientation to dimensions such as cost and benefit of the social action.
Challenges for Expanded Use of Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement

Since its development >15 years ago, transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) has rapidly evolved and is now a well-established treatment option for patients with severe symptomatic aortic stenosis at increased risk for surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR). In patients with a prohibitive risk for open-heart surgery, TAVR reduced the 1- and 2-year all-cause mortality by almost half compared with standard medical therapy.1 TAVR with a balloon-expandable prosthesis in high-risk patients achieved similar 5-year rates of cardiovascular outcomes and mortality compared with SAVR.2 At 3 years, TAVR with a self-expanding prosthesis reduced the incidence of stroke and provided similar survival outcomes compared with surgery in high-risk patients.3 Most recently, TAVR achieved almost identical rates of the composite of all-cause death and disabling stroke compared with surgery for patients at intermediate surgical risk.4,5 Consequently, guidelines now include TAVR as a treatment option for extreme-, high-, and intermediate-risk patients with severe symptomatic aortic stenosis.6 The number of patients treated with commercial TAVR in the United States has nearly doubled from >26 000 in 20147 to >50 000 in 2016 and has already reached >300 000 treated patients worldwide. However, several challenges need to be resolved for TAVR to become the mainstream treatment for patients with aortic stenosis. TAVR is currently being examined as a therapeutic option for low-risk patients in 2 large multicenter randomized controlled trials (PARTNER [The Placement of Aortic Transcatheter Valve Trial] III and The CoreValve low-risk trial). Preliminary signals from the NOTION (Nordic Aortic Valve Intervention) trial are encouraging finding no significant difference in the 30-day and the 1-year rates of stroke and all-cause mortality in low-risk patients randomized to SAVR or TAVR with the CoreValve self-expanding prosthesis.8 These reported outcomes are similar to those of low-risk patients who underwent SAVR in a contemporary …
Is medical treatment of Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome a Stag Hunt? Challenges and opportunities in managing risk and uncertainty in addiction cessation.

Purpose While the individual and social costs of alcoholism or alcohol use disorder are well established, few are aware that medical problems can arise during detoxification, some of which can be life-threatening. This study determines if sustained treatment for Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome (AWS) might be based on the strategic choices and expectations of patients and health care providers alike, as well as the risk mitigation options available to them. Design/approach AWS was modeled as a Stag Hunt to explain both risk and decision-making in medical treatments for detoxification, since it can deduce a set of equilibrium strategies available to both patient and provider. Modeling was based on a review of juried literature gathered from search engines with the use medical subject heading terms. Main findings While there is little evidence that decision-making is shared between patient and physician in AWS treatments, the outcomes of their interactions depend on utility-maximizing choices each makes in anticipation of the other. Payoff-dominant and risk-dominant treatment outcomes are equally likely and equally cost-efficient, as conditioned by the presence (or absence) of mutual trust and assurance in reciprocal transactions. Conclusion/value Simulation games, such as the Stag Hunt, offer a viable framework to understand patient and provider incentives and health-affecting behaviors during treatments for addiction cessation. If both anticipate indefinitely interacting in the absence of any predetermined or foreseeable final visit, they can maximize future payoffs from mutual cooperation and accountability, which fosters health promotion. However, this study suggests that the effect of cooperation is distinct from the effect of time in AWS and other addiction-cessation programs.
Intensified CCD camera based fNIRS-DOT imaging system for whole functional brain mapping in children

Although fMRI technique can be used to scan the whole brain to investigate the brain functional activities in children by using the blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) MRI signal, patients often require sedation, which prevents investigation of brain function during the actual disordered movements. Functional near infrared spectroscopy and diffuse optical tomography (fNIRS-DOT) allows a similar assessment to the BOLD MRI signal. However, in a realistic situation there will be a skull, blood vessels, cerebrospinal fluid and a significant variation of distance of the deep hemovascular target from the tissue surface. Transmitted diffuse near-infrared (NIR) light is significantly scattered and attenuated, making it difficult to be detected with sufficient signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) using conventional detectors such as avalanche photodiodes or photomultiplier tubes. In this study, we present an fNIRS-DOT imaging system by use of military based intensification with charge-coupled device (CCD) technology to acquire the transmitted weak diffuse NIR signals with high sensitivity that allows whole brain imaging and the device can be mounted in a comfortable cap on an awake child. The millimeter level spatial resolution of transillumination tomographic reconstructions was demonstrated in studies of phantoms that approximate the size of a child’s brain. In addition, we have been able to obtain preliminary transcranial proof-of-concept data with the reasonable SNR in a 7 month old healthy baby. Further tomographic studies will allow the assessment of the brain network dysfunction in awake children suffering from brain diseases such as brain tumor.
Guidance Documents in the States: Toward a Safe Harbor

Every agency produces "guidance documents" such as interpretive rules and policy statements. These documents are very important to the public and to the agency and its staff. It should be possible to issue them with no prior notice and comment procedure. Section 553 of the federal APA provides an exception from rulemaking procedure for guidance documents but this provision has proved to be extremely difficult to apply and is problematic in many respects. Most states adopted the 1961 Model State APA which provided no guidance document exception. Surprisingly, the states have moved strongly in the direction of federal law. Either through legislative amendments to the state APA or through creative court decisions, a majority of the states and almost all of the most populous states now permit at least some guidance documents to be issued without prior procedures. California is the primary exception; by statute, California explicitly requires prior notice and comment for the issuance of virtually all guidance documents and the courts have enforced this provision rigorously. The result is disastrous - agencies employ all sorts of suboptimal avoidance devices and many agencies flout the law. The legislature recently passed a statute to partially correct the problem but unfortunately Governor Gray Davis vetoed it. The article concludes with a proposal for a safe harbor provision similar to that in the vetoed California legislation. The safe harbor would improve the law both in jurisdictions with guidance document exceptions (like the federal government) and in jurisdictions providing no such exceptions. The safe harbor provides that clearly identified guidance documents can be issued without prior procedure, but the agency must provide an opportunity for post-adoption comment. Private parties are not bound by the documents but would be entitled to rely on them and courts are prohibited from paying them any deference until the post-adoption process is complete and the document is adopted in final form.
The Use of SpyGlass Direct Visualization System in the Management of Pancreato Biliary Disease

Intraductal endoscopy consists of the use of an endoscope to directly visualize the pancreato-biliary ductal systems. Visual inspection of the biliary tree is called cholangioscopy, and that of the pancreatic duct is termed pancreatoscopy. There have been significant technological challenges encountered in creating an endoscope that allows direct examination of these ducts. However, the recently developed SpyGlass direct visualization system (Boston Scientific Corporation, Natick, Massachusetts, USA) provides technology that promises greater opportunity to improve diagnosis and therapy.
Improving Charge Carrier Delocalization in Perovskite Quantum Dots by Surface Passivation with Conductive Aromatic Ligands

Long-chain saturated hydrocarbons and alkoxysilanes are ligands that are commonly used to passivate perovskite quantum dots (PQDs) to enhance their stability and optical properties. However, the insulating nature of these capping ligands creates an electronic energy barrier and impedes interparticle electronic coupling, thereby limiting device applications. One strategy to solve this problem is the use of short conductive aromatic ligands that allow delocalization of the electronic wave function from the PQDs, which, in turn, facilitates charge transport between PQDs by lowering the energy barrier. This is demonstrated with methylammonium lead bromide (MAPbBr3) QDs prepared using benzylamine (BZA) and benzoic acid (BA) capping ligands. Optimized BZA-BA-MAPbBr3 QDs are highly stable and show very high photoluminescence (PL) quantum yield (QY) (86%). More importantly, the BZA-BA-MAPbBr3 QD film exhibits higher conductivity and carrier lifetime and more efficient charge extraction compared to PQDs with insul...
Exertional Rhabdomyolysis in a Women’s Tennis Athlete: A Case Report

A 19-year-old female tennis athlete with a history of hypohydration presented with cottonmouth, tunnel vision, and muscle cramping following an in-season tennis match. The patient was referred to t...
Exacting Edward Jenner's revenge: The quest for a new tuberculosis vaccine

Recent experimental and clinical work has reinvigorated the pursuit of a better tuberculosis vaccine.
Midsession reversal learning by pigeons: Effect on accuracy of increasing the number of stimuli associated with one of the alternatives

The midsession reversal task involves a simultaneous discrimination in which choice of one stimulus (S1) is correct for the first 40 trials and choice of the other stimulus (S2) is correct for the last 40 trials of each 80-trial session. When pigeons are trained on the midsession reversal task, they appear to use the passage of time from the start of the session as a cue to reverse. As the reversal approaches, they begin to make anticipatory errors, choosing S2 early, and following the reversal they make perseverative errors, continuing to choose S1. Recent research suggests that anticipatory errors can be reduced (while not increasing perseverative errors) by reducing the probability of reinforcement for correct S2 choices from 100% to 20%. A similar effect can be found by increasing the response requirement for choice of S2 from one peck to ten pecks. In the present experiments, we asked if a similar effect could be attained by increasing the number of stimuli that, over trials, could serve as S2. Instead, in both experiments, we found that increasing the number of S2 stimuli actually increased the number of anticipatory errors. Several interpretations of this result are provided, including the possibility that attention to the variable S2 stimuli may have interfered with attention to the S1 stimulus.
Ratiometric autofluorescence lifetime imaging system standardization and application for head and neck cancer

Dynamic optical contrast imaging (DOCI) is a novel optical imaging technology that rapidly generates image contrast from measurements of aggregate endogenous fluorescence lifetime in a clinically meaningful field of view. Recently, our use of this system in both human ex-vivo and in-vivo specimens generated statistically significant contrast between tumor and adjacent normal tissue in biopsies taken from patients undergoing surgery for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma and primary hyperthyroidism. In this work we evaluated the components and resolution of our next-generation DOCI system. We also standardized the quantitative output of our system against the fluorescence lifetime values of three dye standards with monoexponential decay using a commercial Leica two-photon fluorescence lifetime imaging microscope. Significantly, our system continued to demonstrate clinically meaningful contrast between tissue samples with multiexponential decay in near real-time.