cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Sleep curtailment is accompanied by increased intake of calories from snacks.

Background: Short sleep is associated with obesity and may alter the endocrine regulation of hunger and appetite. Objective: We tested the hypothesis that the curtailment of human sleep could promote excessive energy intake. Design: Eleven healthy volunteers [5 women, 6 men; mean ± SD age: 39 ± 5 y; mean ± SD body mass index (in kg/m2): 26.5 ± 1.5] completed in random order two 14-d stays in a sleep laboratory with ad libitum access to palatable food and 5.5-h or 8.5-h bedtimes. The primary endpoints were calories from meals and snacks consumed during each bedtime condition. Additional measures included total energy expenditure and 24-h profiles of serum leptin and ghrelin. Results: Sleep was reduced by 122 ± 25 min per night during the 5.5-h bedtime condition. Although meal intake remained similar (P = 0.51), sleep restriction was accompanied by increased consumption of calories from snacks (1087 ± 541 compared with 866 ± 365 kcal/d; P = 0.026), with higher carbohydrate content (65% compared with 61%; P = 0.04), particularly during the period from 1900 to 0700. These changes were not associated with a significant increase in energy expenditure (2526 ± 537 and 2390 ± 369 kcal/d during the 5.5-h and 8.5-h bedtime periods, respectively; P = 0.58), and we found no significant differences in serum leptin and ghrelin between the 2 sleep conditions. Conclusions: Recurrent bedtime restriction can modify the amount, composition, and distribution of human food intake, and sleeping short hours in an obesity-promoting environment may facilitate the excessive consumption of energy from snacks but not meals.
2,6‐Di‐tert‐Butyl‐4‐Methylpyridine

2,6-Di-tert-butyl-4-methylpyridine intermediate: 2,6-di-tert-butyl-4-methylpyrylium trifluoromethanesulfonate product: 2,6-Di-tert-butyl-4-methylpyridine Keywords: annulation, heterocyclic-[6]; cyclization, condensation; rearrangements; replacement reactions, miscellaneous; tert-butyl alcohol; carbon monoxide; chromatography column, water-jacketed
BEYOND W. E. B. DU BOIS: A NOTE ON SOME OF THE LITTLE KNOWN MEMBERS OF THE ATLANTA SOCIOLOGICAL LABORATORY

Between 1895 and 1924 Atlanta University sponsored yearly investigations into the social, economic, and physical condition of Blacks and hosted conferences where the findings were presented. With the appointment of William Edward Burghardt Du Bois as director of the investigations in 1897 the unit soon became the first American school of sociology. Unfortunately, the contributions of members of the school beyond Du Bois remain buried within the hundreds of pages of the Atlanta University Publications. This inquiry provides examples of three groups of contributors to the research program at Atlanta University—professionally trained social scientists, citizen researchers, and university students.
Reproductive patterns in pygmy lorises (Nycticebus pygmaeus): Behavioral and physiological correlates of gonadal activity

The purpose of this study was to evaluate behavioral and physiological parameters of reproduction in a breeding colony of pygmy lorises. To this end, nine male and eight female adult pygmy lorises were kept under natural lighting conditions and monitored through five consecutive breeding seasons. Behavioral data were collected continuously throughout the year on all loris pairs. Behaviors associated with estrogen peaks in females included approaches, leaves, and lunges by females. Whistles were more frequent during estrus, but there was high inter-individual variability. Males responded to estrous females by persistent following. There was a higher percentage of births in pairs that were together for more than 30 days before onset of estrus, compared with pairs that were put together when females came into estrus. However, these results may have been influenced by factors such as previous familiarity and social compatibility. Fecal testosterone levels were measured using radioimmunoassays and correlated with estrogen peaks and labial swelling of the females. The data showed an annual rhythm in testosterone that was consistent with a July–August mating season. Captive births were significantly higher during January–April than they were during any other months of the year. The earliest testosterone peak in a juvenile male was detected at 58 weeks, while the youngest male to sire offspring was 73 weeks of age at the time of the conception. Zoo Biol 22:15–32, 2003. © 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Notes on the Distribution and Feeding Ecology of a Relict Population of the Cardinal Shiner, Luxilus cardinalis (Teleostei: Cyprinidae), in Kansas

We reviewed historical patterns in distribution and investigated dietary habits of a relict population of cardinal shiner (Luxilus cardinalis) in southeastern Kansas. Historical (pre-1980) collections of cardinal shiner ranged throughout portions of the upper Neosho and Verdigris basins, and contemporary collections (post-1980) documented the species in many of the same locations. Reduction in cardinal shiner range has apparently occurred in the Neosho River basin just downstream of John Redmond Reservoir. Diets of 95 individuals collected from five sites in the Cottonwood River drainage of the upper Neosho River basin during summer of 2010 included primarily aquatic invertebrates (occurred in 93.7% of individuals, constituted 29.3% of diet), followed by terrestrial invertebrates (76.8%, 9.5%) and algae and plant material (70.5%, 4.8%). Diet diversity increased as cardinal shiner size increased, so that aquatic invertebrates constituted the majority of the diet among cardinal shiner >80 mm total length. A...
A method to reconstruct myocardial sarcomere lengths and orientations at transmural sites in beating canine hearts

The ability to measure cyclic changes in myocardial sarcomere lengths and orientations during cardiac ejection and filling would improve our understanding of how the cellular processes of contraction relate to the pumping of the whole heart. Previously, only postmortem sarcomere measurements were possible after arresting the heart in one state and fixing it for histology. By combining such histological measurements with direct observations of the deformation experienced by the same myocardial region while the heart was beating, we have developed a method to reconstruct sarcomere lengths and orientations throughout the cardiac cycle and at several transmural layers. A set of small (1 mm) radiopaque beads was implanted in approximately 1 cm3 of the left ventricular free wall. Using biplane cineradiography, we tracked the motion of these markers through various cardiac cycles. To quantify local myocardial deformation (as revealed by the relative motion of the markers), we calculated the local deformation gradient tensors. As the heart deforms, these describe how any short vectorial line segment alters its length and orientation relative to a reference state. Specifically, by choosing the reference state to be the arrested and fixed heart and by measuring the sarcomere vector in that state, we could then use the deformation gradient tensors to reconstruct the sarcomere vector that would exist in the beating heart. As ventricular chamber volume varied over its normal range of operation, the range of reconstructed sarcomere lengths (approximately 1.7-2.4 microns) was comparable to other histological studies and to measurements of sarcomere length in excised papillary muscles or trabeculae. The pattern of sarcomere length changes was markedly different, however, during ejection vs. filling.
Studies of gas tensions, pH, and viscosity in amniotic fluid of sheep

Abstract Gas tensions and pH of the amniotic fluid in sheep were compared to those of umbilical cord blood. Observations also were made on the relationship of viscosity of the amniotic fluid to the survival of the fetus. The P o 2 was higher in the amniotic fluid than in the umbilical artery but lower than in the vein. The P co 2 was consistently higher and the pH consistently lower than in either of these vessels. A highly viscous fluid was uniformly associated either with failure to survive or with severe neonatal distress.
Interactions of nutrients with oral contraceptives and other drugs.

PIP: All drugs either directly or indirectly interact with the concentrations of nutrients and their derivatives in an organism. Pharmacology is ultimately inseparable from nutrition: From ancient times man has made use of natural products for medicinal purposes. Since nutritional requirements are species-specific, drugs based on nutritional requirements of man but unhelpful to disease-producing microorganisms could be developed. Also, drugs could be developed to beneficially effect specific, highly differentiated tissues of man. Mechanisms of drug-nutrient interaction involve similarities in chemical structure, enzyme inhibition, interference with systems necessary for transport and storage of nutrients, interference with genetic apparatus, and alteration of functional characteristics of cell membranes. Oral contraceptives may have many effects on nutrients, including vitamin-B6 deficiency, effects on other vitamin concentrations, and derangement of folate function.
Performance of HST as an infrared telescope

On the basis of the measured NICMOS performance in HST-Cycle 7 and Cycle 7N programs, we analyze the behavior of the HST optical assembly at IR wavelengths. An accurate analysis of the telescope thermal status allows us to estimate the background flux observed by NICMOS, and compare it with the flux actually measured in different filters. The very close match between expected and measured fluxes confirms the validity of our model. A good understanding of the HST emissivity, which turns out to be lower than previous estimates, allows to predict with higher accuracy the performance of the future IR instruments on HST like NICMOS+cooling system and to specify critical design parameters for WFC3. Also, issues related to the long term stability of the system can be addressed more properly, providing useful quantitative insight on future missions such as the Next Generation Space Telescope.
The infinitely-many-alleles model with selection as a measure-valued diffusion

In [4], a diffusion model is constructed for a genetic system in which all alleles are selectively neutral and all mutants are new. The state of this model is the vector of order statistics of the gene frequencies. This reordering of the frequencies is necessary because of the assumption on mutation. Fixing the order of the alleles results in a model in which the sum of the gene frequencies is less than one for all positive time. Unfortunately, reordering makes it virtually impossible to study models with selection using this approach.
An active and hybrid storage system for data-intensive applications

Since large-scale and data-intensive applications have been widely deployed, there is a growing demand for high-performance storage systems to support data-intensive applications. Compared with traditional storage systems, next-generation systems will embrace dedicated processor to reduce computational load of host machines and will have hybrid combinations of different storage devices. We present a new architecture of active storage system, which leverage the computational power of the dedicated processor, and show how it utilizes the multi-core processor and offloads the computation from the host machine. We then solve the challenge of applying the active storage node to cooperate with the other nodes in the cluster environment by design a pipeline-parallel processing pattern and report the effectiveness of the mechanism. In order to evaluate the design, an open-source bioinformatics application is extended based on the pipeline-parallel mechanism. We also explore the hybrid configuration of storage devices within the active storage. The advent of flash-memory-based solid state disk has become a critical role in revolutionizing the storage world. However, instead of simply replacing the traditional magnetic hard disk with the solid state disk, researchers believe that finding a complementary approach to corporate both of them is more challenging and attractive. Thus, we propose a hybrid combination of different types of disk drives for our active storage system. An simulator is designed and implemented to verify the new configuration. In summary, this dissertation explores the idea of active storage, an emerging new storage configuration, in terms of the architecture and design, the parallel processing capability, the cooperation of other machines in cluster computing environment, and the new disk configuration, the hybrid combination of different types of disk drives.
Book Review: 'Feminism Unmodified' by Catherine A. MacKinnon

This article is a book review of "Feminism Unmodified" by Catherine A. MacKinnon, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1987.
Green Introspection

Energy consumption and e-waste have inundated computing technologies, and now we must focus on reducing environmental waste in all phases of the computing life cycle. Green IT is a moving target, and continual introspection and reevaluation are necessary. This column will cover a range of important green IT topics, providing insight from leaders in the field.
Observations on normal-fault scarp morphology and fault system evolution of the Bishop Tuff in the Volcanic Tableland, Owens Valley, California, U.S.A.

Mapping of normal faults cutting the Bishop Tuff in the Volcanic Tableland, northern Owens Valley, California, using side-looking airborne radar data, low-altitude aerial photographs, airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data, and standard field mapping yields insights into fault scarp development, fault system evolution, and timing. Fault zones are characterized by multiple linked fault segments, tilting of the welded ignimbrite surface, dilation of polygonal cooling joints, and toppling of joint-bounded blocks. Maximum fault zone width is governed by ( i ) lateral spacing of cooperating fault segments and ( ii ) widths of fault tip monoclines. Large-displacement faults interact over larger rock volumes than small-displacement faults and generate larger relay ramps, which, when breached, form the widest portions of fault zones. Locally intense faulting within a breached relay ramp results from a combination of distributed east-west extension, and within-ramp bending and stretching to accommodate displacement gradients on bounding faults. One prominent fluvial channel is offset by both east- and west-dipping normal faults such that the channel is no longer in an active flowing configuration, indicating that channel incision began before development of significant fault-related geomorphic features. The channel thalweg is “hanging” with respect to modern (Q1) and previous (Q2) Owens River terraces, is incised through the pre-Tahoe age terrace level (Q4, 131–463 ka), and is at grade with the Tahoe age (Q3, 53–119 ka) terrace. Differential incision across fault scarps implies that the channel remained active during some of the faulting history, but it was abandoned between Q2 and Q3 time, while faulting continues to the present day.
Modifiers of Cardiac Phenotypes

Two expertly executed papers in this month’s issue of Circulation: Cardiovascular Genetics take candidate gene approaches to understanding genetic modification of interesting phenotypes.1,2 Kolder et al2 examine the role of genetic variants shown to associate with QTc interval as modifiers of the autosomal-dominant form of long QT syndrome (LGQ2) caused by mutations in KCNH2. Dauriz et al1 look at specific genetic variation known to predict type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D), asking if these same variants predispose to subclinical atherosclerotic disease. Articles see p 447 and p 507 In the case of Dauriz et al,1 the interesting question is why the predicted association was in fact not observed. After all, T2D is a strong risk factor for the development of cardiac events, as is subclinical atherosclerotic disease. The large sample size and careful phenotyping suggest that the lack of association between T2D genetic risk, as quantified in this study, and subclinical atherosclerotic disease, is correct. What does this lack of association mean? T2D genetic risk was assessed by means of a genetic risk score (GRS) based on 62 T2D loci. The GRS used was essentially the sum of risk alleles at individual loci. But as the …
Matched Sampling for Causal Effects: My Introduction to Matched Sampling

This volume reprints my publications on matched sampling, or more succinctly, matching, produced during a period of over three decades. My work on matching began just after I graduated college in 1965 and has continued to the present, and beyond, in the sense that there are publications on matching subsequent to those collected here, and I have continuing work in progress on the topic. For most of the years during this period, I believe I was one of the few statistical researchers publishing in this area, and therefore this collection is, I hope, both interesting and historically relevant. In the introduction to each part, I attempt to set the stage for the particular articles in that part. When read together, the part introductions provide a useful overview of developments in matched sampling. In contrast to the earlier years, in the last few years, there have been many other researchers making important contributions to matching. Among these, ones by technically adroit economists and other social scientists are particularly notable, for example: Hahn (1998); Dehejia and Wahba (1999); Lechner (2002); Hansen (2004); Hill, Reiter, and Zanutto (2004); Hirano, Imbens, and Ridder (2004); Imbens (2004); Zhao (2004); Abadie and Imbens (2005); and Diamond and Sekon (2005). Some of these have had a direct or indirect connection to a course on causal inference I've taught at Harvard for over a decade, sometimes jointly with Guido Imbens.
An Experimental Survey of MapReduce-Based Similarity Joins

In recent years, Big Data systems and their main data processing framework - MapReduce, have been introduced to efficiently process and analyze massive amounts of data. One of the key data processing and analysis operations is the Similarity Join (SJ), which finds similar pairs of objects between two datasets. The study of SJ techniques for Big Data systems has emerged as a key topic in the database community and several research teams have published techniques to solve the SJ problem on Big Data systems. However, many of these techniques were not experimentally compared against alternative approaches. This was the case in part because some of these techniques were developed in parallel while others were not implemented even as part of their original publications. Consequently, there is not a clear understanding of how these techniques compare to each other and which technique to use in specific scenarios. This paper addresses this problem by focusing on the study, classification and comparison of previously proposed MapReduce-based SJ algorithms. The contributions of this paper include the classification of SJs based on the supported data types and distance functions, and an extensive set of experimental results. Furthermore, the authors have made available their open-source implementation of many SJ algorithms to enable other researchers and practitioners to apply and extend these algorithms.
Bush Hill: Material Life at a Working Plantation

Bush Hill plantation, located near Aiken, South Carolina, and Augusta, Georgia, along the middle Savannah River valley, was owned by four generations of the George Bush lineal family between ca. 1807 and 1920. Drawing upon the interpretive concept of the working plantation, perceptions regarding material conditions and the standard of living experienced by southern planters are explored in this essay. Economic records indicate that the George Bush family was among the top wealth-holding groups within the surrounding community. Although the planter family was affluent, the standard of living revealed archaeologically was economically conservative. The Bush family used inexpensive household items and did not acquire the luxury goods often thought to be archaeological hallmarks of genteel society, such as expensive dining sets or tea ware. Conversely, archaeological data revealed they were aggressive consumers, indicated by the sheer quantity of material discarded at the site. The example provided by Bush Hill underscores the complexity of planter households in the past and illustrates that the wealth held by former site residents is not always directly discernable in the archaeological record.
Changes in spatial variance during a grassland to shrubland state transition

1.State transitions are changes in ecosystem structure and self-reinforcing feedbacks that are initiated when an exogenous driver variable crosses a threshold. Reversing state transitions is difficult and costly. While some state transitions are relatively rapid, many take years to decades. Outside of theoretical models, very little is known about slower state transitions and how they unfold in time and space. 2.We quantified changes in spatial variance as a mesic grassland ecosystem shifts to a shrub-dominated state, using long-term experiments and simulations that maintain grasslands with annual fires or initiate a state transition to shrub dominance by decreasing fire frequency. 3.In the experiments, the susceptibility to state transitions varied substantially in space. In the less frequent fire treatment, some plots became shrub-dominated around year 20 and grass extirpations began in year 25, but a third of the plots were still grass-dominated in year 37. Variable rates of state transition resulted in increasing spatial variance of grass cover over time, whereas shrub cover variance decreased. In the annually burned treatment, grasses remained dominant and the spatial variance of grass cover declined. 4.In a separate experiment, less frequent fires were maintained for 23 years and then switched to annual fires. The switch to annual fires occurred shortly after grass variance started to increase and a majority of these plots quickly returned to a grass dominated state. 5.In simulations, spatial variance remained low and average grass cover was high under frequent fires. If fire frequency decreased below a threshold, the ecosystem transitioned to shrubland, with a transient increase in the spatial variance of grass cover during the transition between states. 6.Synthesis: Spatial variability in the rate and susceptibility to state transitions is indicative of a system with a patchy spatial structure, high spatial heterogeneity and low connectivity between patches. Increases in spatial variance can serve as an indication that some patches have begun a state transition and that management interventions are needed to avoid widespread transitions. This is one of the first empirical examples where altering management after an increase in spatial variance prevented state transitions. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
‘But, We Are Karenni. We Are Not Burmese.’ Historical Contexts and Lived Experiences of Karenni Refugees from Burma

This chapter reviews the historical contexts of the Karenni people from Burma, including their linguistic and cultural backgrounds. The chapter also explores the cause of their flight from their homeland, their refugee experiences in Thailand, and their current situation in the USA. Insights from the refugee participants are presented.
Eltrombopag, a thrombopoietin mimetic, crosses the blood-brain barrier and impairs iron-dependent hippocampal neuron dendrite development.

Essentials Potential neurodevelopmental side effects of thrombopoietin mimetics need to be considered. The effects of eltrombopag (ELT) on neuronal iron status and dendrite development were assessed. ELT crosses the blood-brain barrier and causes iron deficiency in developing neurons. ELT blunts dendrite maturation, indicating a need for more safety studies before neonatal use. Summary Background Thrombocytopenia is common in sick neonates. Thrombopoietin mimetics (e.g. eltrombopag [ELT]) might provide an alternative therapy for selected neonates with severe and prolonged thrombocytopenia, and for infants and young children with different varieties of thrombocytopenia. However, ELT chelates intracellular iron, which may adversely affect developing organs with high metabolic requirements. Iron deficiency (ID) is particularly deleterious during brain development, impairing neuronal myelination, dopamine signaling and dendritic maturation and ultimately impairing long-term neurological function (e.g. hippocampal-dependent learning and memory). Objective To determine whether ELT crosses the blood-brain barrier (BBB), causes neuronal ID and impairs hippocampal neuron dendrite maturation. Methods ELT transport across the BBB was assessed using primary bovine brain microvascular endothelial cells. Embryonic mouse primary hippocampal neuron cultures were treated with ELT or deferoxamine (DFO, an iron chelator) from 7 days in vitro (DIV) through 14 DIV and assessed for gene expression and neuronal dendrite complexity. Results ELT crossed the BBB in a time-dependent manner. 2 and 6 μm ELT increased Tfr1 and Slc11a2 (iron-responsive genes involved in neuronal iron uptake) mRNA levels, indicating neuronal ID. 6 μm ELT, but not 2 μm ELT, decreased BdnfVI, Camk2a and Vamp1 mRNA levels, suggesting impaired neuronal development and synaptic function. Dendrite branch number and length were reduced in 6 μm ELT-treated neurons, resulting in blunted dendritic arbor complexity that was similar to DFO-treated neurons. Conclusions Eltrombopag treatment during development may impair neuronal structure as a result of neuronal ID. Preclinical in vivo studies are warranted to assess ELT safety during periods of rapid brain development.
Selfies, Self-Witnessing and the ‘Out-of-Place’ Digital Citizen

The placemaking selfie documents a complex relationship between embodied social context and networked social media presence. The complexity of these placemaking selfies is particularly apparent in the ‘out-of-place’ selfie, taken at a location considered too austere for what is often cast as a frivolous act. Rather than moving to quickly condemn these out-of-place selfies, this chapter explores how we might read such gestures as attempts to negotiate two overlapping frames – one embodied and physically situated, and the other circulating within an affective imagined community. This act of ‘self-witnessing’ serves as a form of parasocial civic engagement that attempts to communicate one’s own place within interpenetrating social spaces, no matter how gawking or disengaged they may appear at first analysis.
A Model Strategy for Teaching Prehospital Personnel Management of Patients with Alzheimer's Disease

Accompanying the graying of America is the increased incidence of Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and the need to teach prehospital personnel how to manage these patients. The purpose of this project was to develop an instructional strategy to teach prehospital personnel about AD and some basic management techniques. This information includes: causes of acute and gradual onset confusion in the elderly; symptoms and course of AD; mental status exam; methods to facilitate communication; techniques to avoid confrontation; and means to identify personal feelings about the elderly and AD.Teaching methodology includes instructional objectives, videotape presentation of didactic/clinical material, videotape situations demonstrating patient management techniques, role playing exercises, and discussion groups.The videotape presentation portion of the teaching methodology was shown to be effective as a single instructional strategy. One hundred and thirty-four EMS personnel were given a sixteen item exam before and after the videotape presentation. Pre-test to post-test difference was significant at p=.001. The additional instruction components may further impact the knowledge of AD and positive delivery of care to the elderly.
So, Why Didn't the 2009 Recovery Act Improve the Nation's Highways and Bridges?

Although the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (the Recovery Act) provided nearly $28 billion to state governments for improving U.S. highways, the highway system saw no significant improvement. For example, relative to the years before the act, the number of structurally deficient or functionally obsolete bridges was nearly unchanged, the number of workers on highway and bridge construction did not significantly increase, and the annual value of construction put in place for public highways barely budged. The author shows that as states spent Recovery Act highway grants, many simultaneously slashed their own contributions to highway infrastructure, freeing up state dollars for other uses. Next, using a cross-sectional analysis of state highway spending, the author shows that a state?s receipt of Recovery Act highway dollars had no statistically significant causal impact on that state?s total highway spending. Thus, the amount of actual highway infrastructure investment following the act?s passage was likely very similar to that under a no-stimulus counterfactual.
Transformations of n -Space, n ≥ 4

By a transformation of 4-space, we mean a rule T which assigns to each vector X of ℝ4 some vector T(X) of ℝ4. The vector T(X) is called the image of X under T, and the collection of all images of vectors in ℝ4 under the transformation T is called the range of T. We continue to denote transformations by capital letters such as P, Q, R, S, T.
Design and analysis of a remotely-actuated cable-driven neurosurgical robot

Minimally invasive neurosurgical robotic procedure performed under real-time MRI can be achieved with a robot that is head-mounted and fits in a standard MRI bore. The design of a remotely-actuated cable-driven robotic system is presented in this work. A head mounted insertion module has been developed to advance the robot module towards the target brain tumor. The robot module is formed by snapping together a reusable part that leads to the remotely-placed actuators and a disposable part which includes the previously developed spring-based MINIR-II robot. Gear transmission mechanism was implemented in the robot module to transmit the force from the actuators to the end effectors of the robot. The robot module and the insertion module are lightweight and compact with a total weight of 250 g and a total height of 222 mm. This allows the entire setup to be placed vertically on a patient's head in a closed MRI bore. The compact design of the robot module has been achieved, significantly due to the innovative modifications made to the structure of standard spur gears and smart routing of the cables around the gears. The completely MRI-compatible Bowden cable module has been implemented to allow transmission of significant force of around 10 N required for the actuation of the robot. A static friction model has been used to estimate the friction coefficient for the Bowden cable module as a preliminary step towards the complete modeling of the entire robotic system. The relationships between the input displacement and force of the cable at the actuator end and those at the middle and end robot segments were determined through experiments and discussed. A functional robotic system has been presented with the robot being inserted into the phantom tissue and only the end segment actuated back and forth.
The Effect of Prevailing Wage Repeals on Construction Income and Benefits

While considerable research has examined the effects of prevailing wage law repeals on construction wages, little has been done on the repeals effect on benefits. Based on state-level data from the...
Improving throughput for small disk requests with proximal I/O

This paper introduces proximal I/O, a new technique for improving random disk I/O performance in file systems. The key enabling technology for proximal I/O is the ability of disk drives to retire multiple I/Os, spread across dozens of tracks, in a single revolution. Compared to traditional update-in-place or write-anywhere file systems, this technique can provide a nearly seven-fold improvement in random I/O performance while maintaining (near) sequential on-disk layout. This paper quantifies proximal I/O performance and proposes a simple data layout engine that uses a flash memory-based write cache to aggregate random updates until they have sufficient density to exploit proximal I/O. The results show that with cache of just 1% of the overall disk-based storage capacity, it is possible to service 5.3 user I/O requests per revolution for random updates workload. On an aged file system, the layout can sustain serial read bandwidth within 3% of the best case. Despite using flash memory, the overall system cost is just one third of that of a system with the requisite number of spindles to achieve the equivalent number of random I/O operations.
Broadband 2D IR spectroscopy reveals dominant asymmetric H5O2+ proton hydration structures in acid solutions.

Given the critical role of the aqueous excess proton in redox chemistry, determining its structure and the mechanism of its transport in water are intense areas of experimental and theoretical research. The ultrafast dynamics of the proton’s hydration structure has made it extremely challenging to study experimentally. Using ultrafast broadband two-dimensional infrared spectroscopy, we show that the vibrational spectrum of the aqueous proton is fully consistent with a protonated water complex broadly defined as a Zundel-like H5O2+ motif. Analysis of the inhomogeneously broadened proton stretch two-dimensional lineshape indicates an intrinsically asymmetric, low-barrier O–H+–O potential that exhibits surprisingly persistent distributions in both its asymmetry and O–O distance. This structural characterization has direct implications for the extent of delocalization exhibited by a proton’s excess charge and for the possible mechanisms of proton transport in water. Although ubiquitous throughout chemistry and biology, the structure and transport mechanism of the aqueous proton in solution remain elusive. Through advances in ultrafast broadband 2D IR spectroscopy, the structure of the aqueous proton is revealed to have a charge-delocalized H5O2+ Zundel-like core arrangement with surprisingly persistent structural heterogeneity.
Psychometric Evaluation of an Instrument to Measure Prospective Pregnancy Preferences: The Desire to Avoid Pregnancy Scale.

Author(s): Rocca, Corinne H; Ralph, Lauren J; Wilson, Mark; Gould, Heather; Foster, Diana G | Abstract: BACKGROUND:Existing approaches to measuring women's pregnancy intentions suffer important limitations, including retrospective assessment, overly simple categories, and a presumption that all women plan pregnancies. No psychometrically valid scales exist to prospectively measure the ranges of women's pregnancy preferences. MATERIALS AND METHODS:Using a rigorous construct modeling approach, we developed a scale to measure desire to avoid pregnancy. We developed 60 draft items from existing research, assessed comprehension through 25 cognitive interviews, and administered items in surveys with 594 nonpregnant women in 7 primary and reproductive health care facilities in Arizona, New Jersey, New Mexico, South Carolina, and Texas in 2016-2017. We used item response theory to reduce the item set and assess the scale's reliability, internal structure validity, and external validity. Items were included based on fit to a random effects multinomial logistic regression model (partial credit item response model), correspondence of item difficulty with participants' pregnancy preference levels, and consistency of each item's response options with overall scale scores. RESULTS:The 14 final items covered 3 conceptual domains: cognitive preferences, affective feelings, and practical consequences. Items fit the unidimensional model, with a separation reliability of 0.90 (Cronbach α: 0.95). The scale met established criteria for internal validity, including correspondence between each item's response categories and overall scale scores. We found no important differential item functioning by participant characteristics. CONCLUSIONS:A robust measure is available to prospectively measure desire to avoid pregnancy. The measure can aid in identifying women who could benefit from contraceptive care and research on less desired pregnancy.
Treatment and Prevention of CMV Disease in Transplant Recipients: Current Knowledge and Future Perspectives

This review summarizes the significant impact of cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection on solid organ and hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients. A discussion of the various CMV prevention and treatment strategies is provided, including a detailed description of each of the available CMV antiviral drugs.
Altered Vegetation Structure From Mechanical Thinning Treatments Changed Wildfire Behaviour in the Wildland–urban Interface on the 2011 Wallow Fire, Arizona, USA

Fuel reduction treatments are designed to meet multiple management objectives, resulting in unique vegetation structures that do not conform to standard classifications and vary considerably over space and time. We evaluated how different post-treatment vegetation structures relate to patterns in wildfire severity. To reconstruct both untreated and treated pre-fire forest structure, we used post-fire stand data measured at three different fuel treatment units burned by the 2011 Wallow Fire (Arizona). We describe (1) how forest structure differs among the treatment units, both in the untreated forest and within the treated area; and (2) how those differences in forest structure explain variability in burn severity. We show that the retention of smaller trees (ladder fuels) for wildlife cover relates significantly to higher severity within one treatment unit. Further variability in within-treatment severity is explained by the severity of the wildfire in the untreated forest as the fire approached the treated area. The untreated forest structure and species composition constrain post-treatment structure and composition, which was related to within-treatment structure and post-fire composition and structure. The study design presented in this paper suggests that evaluations of fuel treatment effectiveness can move beyond simple classifications of treatment type and fire behaviour.
Reducing U.S. CO2 Emissions — The Value of Flexibility in Timing

Within the international community there has developed a growing consensus that greenhouse gas emissions should be limited, and the debate has shifted to the issue of targets and timetables. Who should reduce emissions? By how much? And how quickly? The European Community (E.C.) is proposing that industrialized nations agree to stabilize CO2 emissions at 1990 levels by 2000. This is seen as a first step in a longer term strategy towards more substantial emission reductions. Alternatively, the U.S. is advocating a more flexible approach, one that would provide more freedom in managing the transition to a less carbon intensive economy.
Epilog: Assumptions, Models, Hypotheses and Conclusions

In this chapter the author re-examines the underlying assumptions of the conceptual and hypothetical models of this volume and attempts to answers the questions: Can physicochemical properties of phenolic acids be used as tools to help understand the complex behavior of phenolic acids and the ultimate effects of phenolic acids on sensitive seedlings? What insights do laboratory bioassays and the conceptual and hypothetical models of laboratory systems provide us concerning the potential behavior and effects of phenolic acids in field systems? What potential role may phenolic acids play in broadleaf-weed seedling emergence in wheat debris no-till crop systems?
DO STUDENTS AND FACULTY UNDERSTAND RECRUITER CRITERIA FOR FRONT-LINE SALES POSITIONS?

Students who take university sales courses are expected to graduate with a better understanding of what contributes to a successful sales career. The current research identifies 33 factors recruite...
Roadmap to Safe Vaginal Cuff Revision for Endometriosis

Video Objective This video describes a systematic stepwise approach for vaginal cuff revision associated with vaginal cuff endometriosis and rectovaginal disease. Setting 39 year-old presented with persistent cyclic vaginal bleeding, pelvic pain and deep dyspareunia following laparoscopic hysterectomy. She was noted to have a 2 cm vaginal cuff nodule with posterior cul de sac obliteration. The patient failed medical management and desired surgical management. Interventions Laparoscopic vaginal cuff revision was performed using a systematic approach with bilateral ureterolysis, excision of uterosacral ligament fibrosis, opening the rectovaginal space, shaving of rectal endometriosis and resection of the vaginal cuff nodule. Conclusion This stepwise approach for vaginal cuff revision in patients with symptomatic rectovaginal endometriosis provides a roadmap for the effective and safe excision of vaginal cuff nodules, while minimizing the risks of injury to the bladder, the ureters, the rectum and the risk of vaginal cuff dehiscence, persistent dyspareunia and recurrent endometriosis.
Approval of political leaders can slant evaluation of political issues: evidence from public concern for climate change in the USA

Climate change has become one of the signature issues that divide the American public. Numerous empirical studies of the past two decades have identified the politicization of this issue. In recent years, the concurrence of rising extreme weather events and uptick in public concern for climate change has led to common speculation that the former may drive up the latter. Using a nationally representative survey dataset combined with climate extremes data including extreme heat, extreme precipitation, and mild drought or worse, we use Structural Equation Modeling to examine how politics and climate extremes altogether shape American public concern for climate change. In addition to confirming politicization of climate change, we find that approval of President Trump not only promotes skeptical climate change perceptions but also serves as an intervening amplifier of these perceptions for Republicans and conservatives. Thus, one’s concern for climate change is partially explained by their political identification and partially explained by their levels of approval of Trump. With the 2020 presidential election underway, it remains to be seen how attitudes towards presidential candidates can affect climate change perceptions and support for climate policies. The widely speculated role of climate extremes however fails to show significant effects in views towards climate change. We provide explanations for this insignificant finding. The study ends by calling for more studies to further investigate the drivers of formation of opinions towards climate change.
Translational relevance of the goat as a preclinical model of the human labrum and chondrolabral junction-histological study.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the histologic features of the caprine labrum, with emphasis on the chondrolabral junction, with the goal of informing the feasibility of the goat as an animal model. The left hip joint of six adolescent Spanish goats (Capra pyrenaica) was harvested and subjected to anatomical and histological assessments. Human acetabular and femoral head samples, collected during total hip arthroplasty, served as comparison samples. The caprine labrum was found to consist of mostly type I collagen with uniform crimp, with an average crimp length of 20.8 µm. Upon histological assessment, acetabular articular chondrocytes were found to express substance-P, especially near or in the chondrolabral junction. And the majority of nonvascular cells expressed α-smooth muscle actin (SMA), with no notable elastin and laminin expression. Human labrum demonstrated similar staining patterns. Overall, the goat hip was found to be homologous to the human hip, demonstrating potential as a useful animal model for future studies. This is the first report of a crimped collagen structure in the labrum. Crimped type I collagen at the chondrolabral junction imparts an extension-recovery property which allows for toleration of stress without permanent deformation, underlying the importance of its preservation during surgery. The high expression of substance-P reflects the degree to which the labrum is innervated. Finally, the expression of α-SMA with contractile characteristics could indicate the potential for chondrocyte (i.e., myochondrocytes) modeling of the extracellular matrix. Statement of Clinical Significance: Establishment of a large animal model and deeper knowledge of the histological composition of the hip joint will enhance our study of the acetabular labrum, including repair techniques. © 2019 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 38:1070-1080, 2020.
Forecasting Cloud Application Workloads with CloudInsight for Predictive Resource Management

Predictive cloud resource management has been widely adopted to overcome the limitations of reactive cloud autoscaling. The predictive resource management is highly relying on workload predictors, which estimate short-/long-term fluctuations of cloud application workloads. These predictors tend to be pre-optimized for specific workload patterns. However, such predictors are still insufficient to handle real-world cloud workloads whose patterns may be unknown a priori, may dynamically change over time and may be irregular. As a result, these predictors often cause over-/under-provisioning of cloud resources. To address this problem, we create CloudInsight, a novel cloud workload prediction framework, leveraging the combined power of multiple workload predictors. CloudInsight creates an ensemble model using multiple predictors to make accurate predictions for real workloads. The weights of the predictors in CloudInsight are determined at runtime with their accuracy for the current workload using multi-class regression. The ensemble model is periodically optimized to handle sudden changes in the workload. We evaluated CloudInsight with various real workload traces. The results show that CloudInsight has 13%—27% higher accuracy than state-of-the-art predictors. Moreover, the results from trace-based simulations with a cloud resource manager show that CloudInsight has 15%—20% less under-/over-provisioning periods, resulting in high cost-efficiency and low SLA violations.
Association Between Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms and Frailty in Older Men Presenting for Urologic Care.

Objective To evaluate the association between non-neurogenic lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) and frailty among treatment-seeking older men. Methods This is a cross-sectional study of male patients age 65 years and older presenting to an academic urology practice between December 2015 and March 2019. Men with cancer, neurologic disease, indwelling catheter, or continuous leakage were excluded. Participants completed a Timed-Up-and-Go-Test (TUGT) which was used to categorize men as fast (≤10 seconds), intermediate (11-14 seconds), or slow (≥15 seconds). Participants with the following diagnoses were identified using billing codes extracted from the electronic medical record: overactive bladder (OAB), benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), mixed OAB/BPH, or non-LUTS urologic condition. Multivariable associations were evaluated using multinomial logistic regression models adjusted for age, race, and body mass index. Results Among 2206 men included in our sample, 64% were fast (mean TUGT time: 8.3 ± 1.2 seconds), 25% were intermediate (mean TUGT time: 12.0 ± 1.0 seconds), and 11% were slow (mean TUGT time: 18.5 ± 4.7 seconds). Subjects with slow TUGT times were more likely to be older, non-White, and have LUTS. Compared to non-LUTS conditions, OAB (odds ratio [OR] = 2.62, 95% CI 1.74, 3.93), BPH (OR = 1.70, 95% 1.14, 2.55), and mixed OAB/BPH (OR = 1.82, 95% 1.14, 2.92) were all associated with increased odds of slow TUGT time. LUTS diagnosis was not significantly associated with intermediate TUGT time. Conclusion LUTS diagnosis, particularly OAB, is associated with increased odds of slow TUGT time, a surrogate of frailty, compared to non-LUTS conditions. Frailty is common among older men with LUTS and should be considered during the initial urological evaluation.