cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Systematic Social Observation in Criminology

Systematic social observation (SSO) came to criminology at the hand of Albert J. Reiss, Jr., who, in the 1960s, encouraged social scientists to shed some “nonsensical” views about the limits and benefits of different forms of observing social phenomena (Reiss 1968, 1971b). Reiss objected to the notion that direct observation of social phenomena in their natural setting was work for solo researchers using qualitative methods, while survey research was suitable as a group enterprise with many researchers using a systematized protocol to gather quantified data. Reiss argued that both direct social observation and survey research were in fact forms of observation that must confront the same set of challenges to produce interpretable information, that both were amenable to either solo or group practice, and that both could be used effectively for discovery or validation of propositions about social phenomena. Beyond these insights, Reiss’s important contribution to criminology was the development and practice of the techniques of SSO. Acknowledging that others before him had associated social field observation with the sorts of systematic protocols that had become popular in survey research, Reiss demonstrated how SSO could be used to answer important questions about what influences police–citizen interactions, with implications for theories about police–citizen relationships and for public policies concerning justice, race relations, and crime control. Since Reiss, criminologists have expanded the application of SSO more broadly, but it is still used relatively infrequently.
A study of tension test specimens of laminated hybrid composites

This paper is a continuation of the research work reported on earlier in Part I: a study of tension test specimens for laminated hybrid composites. Effects of specimen size and alignment of the tensile testing machine were investigated. It is demonstrated that the variation of strength with size is significant, and alignment of the testing machine is critical. In summary, the use of a straight-sided specimen for tension testing of fibre-metal laminates is recommended. However, if one can maintain good control of alignment from the tensile testing machine, use of a dogbone-type test specimen is also applicable. The effect of specimen size on the strength of fibre-metal laminates is also examined in this study. The strength of fibre-metal laminates exhibits no size (width) effect over the range 6.4 to 38.1 mm, holding the strain rate constant.
Analysis of Radiation Effects in Silicon Using Kinetic Monte Carlo Methods

The transient degradation of semiconductor device performance under irradiation has long been an issue of concern. Neutron irradiation can instigate the formation of quasi-stable defect structures, thereby introducing new energy levels into the bandgap that alter carrier lifetimes and give rise to such phenomena as gain degradation in bipolar junction transistors. Normally, the initial defect formation phase is followed by a recovery phase in which defect-defect or defect-dopant interactions modify the characteristics of the damaged structure. A kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) code has been developed to model both thermal and carrier injection annealing of initial defect structures in semiconductor materials. The code is employed to investigate annealing in electron-irradiated, p-type silicon as well as the recovery of base current in silicon transistors bombarded with neutrons at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE) “Blue Room” facility. Our results reveal that KMC calculations agree well with these experiments once adjustments are made, within the appropriate uncertainty bounds, to some of the sensitive defect parameters.
Student-Produced Videos for Exam Review in Mathematics Courses

Videos have been used in classrooms for decades, but student-produced video has recently become a viable, economical option to enhance learning. Students were asked to create videos to be used for their exam review in two different undergraduate mathematics courses: Differential Equation and Complex Analysis. Students were then surveyed about their opinions on the project and its helpfulness for exam review. Students enjoyed the project, found it engaging and most of them viewed the videos again outside of class. Students agreed that creating videos helped them learn the material better. However students still preferred instructor-led review over student videos for exam review.
Development and Application of the Flame Retardants for Plastic

The mechanism and process of plastic burning were introduced and the basic theory and the category of flame retardants were summarized,especially the application in plastic was discussed.At last,the developing tendency of the flame retardants were prospected.
Fiber liquid drop sensors based on DSP technique and cross-correlation algorithm

The fiber liquid drop sensor can be used to monitor the dripping process of a liquid drop and obtain the fiber fingerprint drop trace (FFDT), which reflects the physical and chemical properties of liquid samples to be tested. The cross-correlation algorithm could be adopted to dig characters of liquids, in addition, the algorithm could be used to judge if two liquid samples are same. The application of DSP technique speeds up the operation of the cross-correlation algorithm. An experimental device was fabricated and applied to test some samples. Both cross-correlation function and cross-correlation coefficient were used to test alcohol solution with different concentrations. The testing results show that the peaks of the cross-correlation functions could be used to measure the concentrations of alcohol solutions with standard deviation as 3.4%, while the cross-correlation coefficient is a good candidate to judge alcohol solutions with different concentrations. The minimum cross-correlation coefficient is less than 60%.
Radical Prostatectomy, Preservation of Sexual Function, Cancer Control. The Controversy

SUMMARY In this article, I have addressed some of the important controversies regarding the safety and efficacy of radical prostatectomy with the preservation of sexual function: (1) How often is sexual function preserved? (2) Does preservation of sexual function interfere with cancer control? (3) Are there tricks to performing the operation? and (4) Who is a candidate? Overall, 72 per cent of patients are potent postoperatively. The probability of return of sexual function correlates with the age of the patient and the stage of the lesion. In addition, it appears that only one neurovascular bundle is necessary for the return of sexual function because 69 per cent of men who undergo wide excision of one neurovascular bundle are potent postoperatively. The question whether preservation of sexual function compromises the removal of tumor can be analyzed in several ways. On the basis of operative descriptions and the evaluation of whole-mount cross sections of prostates removed by standard radical perineal and radical retropubic techniques, it appears that the neurovascular bundles were not completely resected in the past using standard techniques. However, with knowledge of the location of these neurovascular bundles, they can now be excised more widely when necessary than was previously possible. Furthermore, evaluation of surgical margins of excision gave no indication that the nerve-sparing modification compromises the adequacy of the removal of cancer, which is determined primarily by the extent of the tumor rather than by the operative technique. However, controversy surrounding this procedure will not be settled until long-term follow-up data are available to determine whether the control of local disease and distant metastases is similar to that achieved with standard radical prostatectomies. To aid in this comparison, we have been careful not to use postoperative adjuvant hormonal or radiation therapy so that we will be able to evaluate the true impact of radical prostatectomy on the control of cancer. To preserve sexual function, a variety of fine points in surgical technique must be observed. These have been discussed in detail. It is my opinion that any patient who is a candidate for radical prostatectomy is a candidate for intraoperative assessment of the extent of tumor and the location of the neurovascular bundles. Based on this information, the surgeon can make an informed decision whether the neurovascular bundles can be safely preserved or excised widely with the specimen. In all surgical approaches to prostatic cancer, the primary goal must be excision of all tumor; preservation of sexual function should be of secondary concern. However, if candidates are selected carefully using these criteria, most patients should be potent postoperatively. With a reduction in overall morbidity, it is hoped that more men with localized disease will accept radical prostatectomy as the form of treatment with the greatest likelihood for cure.
Abstract B28: Determining the apoptotic mechanisms of bromodomain and extraterminal (BET) inhibitors

Inhibitors of the bromodomain and extraterminal domain family (BETi), represent a novel class of targeted therapy to treat aggressive B-cell lymphomas. Specifically, BETi are shown to inhibit proliferation and induce apoptosis in lymphoma cells arising from Myc transgenic mice. However, the underlying apoptotic mechanisms are still not well understood. Dissecting apoptotic mechanisms required by BETi could provide strong rationale on how to best utilize BETi to treat patients with aggressive B-cell lymphomas. It was the primary purpose of this study to delineate the molecular mechanisms underlying BETi induced apoptosis. Secondly, by determining critical apoptotic proteins/pathways, investigate the potential of BETi in novel combination therapy strategies. For this, we conducted in vitro studies utilizing primary and compound mutant lymphomas derived from the Eµ-myc murine model of B-cell lymphoma. The BETi IBET762 was used to treat lymphomas, and over all cell death, apoptosis, mitochondria damage, cell cycle distribution were assessed by flow cytometry. Protein expression of Myc, bromodomain 3 and 4 (BRD 3 and BRD4), Bcl-2 and activated caspase 3 were assessed by western blot. IBET762 induces apoptosis in Eµ-myc lymphomas in a time and dose dependent manner at low nanomolar concentrations. Apoptosis was dependent on the intrinsic apoptotic pathway, but independent of p53 or p19arf. Loss of apoptosome function delayed the kinetics of BETi mediated cell death. Analysis of BRD3, BRD4, Bcl-2 and Myc protein expression is ongoing. Because apoptosis induction by BETi was blocked by the overexpression of Bcl-2, we tested the efficacy of the small molecule Bcl-2 inhibitor, ABT-263. Combining low dose ABT-263 with IBET762 resulted in induction of apoptosis in Eµ-myc/Bcl-2 lymphomas. These data indicate mitochondrial damage to be critical for BETi mediated apoptosis. Finally, our current studies will provide vision and strong rationale on how best to apply BET inhibitors to the clinic to provide maximum benefit to patients with aggressive B-cell lymphomas. Citation Format: Elena Lasorsa, Leigh Ellis. Determining the apoptotic mechanisms of bromodomain and extraterminal (BET) inhibitors. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Myc: From Biology to Therapy; Jan 7-10, 2015; La Jolla, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Res 2015;13(10 Suppl):Abstract nr B28.
Assessment of heterogeneous electron-transfer rate constants for soluble redox analytes at tetrahedral amorphous carbon, boron-doped diamond, and glassy carbon electrodes

The electrochemical properties of a nitrogen-incorporated tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C:N) thin-film electrode were investigated. Cyclic voltammetry was used to investigate the background current response as a function of potential, scan rate, and electrolyte composition. Cyclic voltammetry and digital simulation were used to determine the heterogeneous electron-transfer rate constants (ko) for IrCl62−/3−, Fe(CN)63−/4−, ferrocene carboxylic acid, Ru(NH3)63+/2+, and methyl viologen. The results revealed that the background current for the ta-C:N electrode falls between that of BDD and GC. ko values for all the redox analytes at ta-C:N were comparable to the values at BDD and GC. ko values were lower for Fe(CN)63−/4−, 10−3 cm s−1, than for the other four redox systems, 10−2–10−1 cm s−1. ko for Ru(NH3)63+/2+ was insensitive to the electrolyte cation (Li+, Na+, K+, and Cs+) at all three electrodes. In contrast, ko for Fe(CN)63−/4− was sensitive to the cation type with the greatest sensitivity seen for the ta-C:N electrode suggestive of more significant double layer effects. The ta-C:N electrode supports relatively rapid electron transfer for a wide range of redox systems with formal potentials from ca. 0.9 to −1.0 V vs. Ag/AgCl.
Assessing Domestic vs. International Student Perceptions and Attitudes of Plagiarism.

The authors examined students’ perceptions of plagiarism from a higher education teaching institution within the U.S. southeast. This study employed a five-point Likert-scale to examine differences of perceptions between domestic versus international students. Statistically significant outcomes were observed regarding the notions that plagiarism is a necessary evil and that plagiarism is illegal. Respectively, the analyses of the means showed that respondents tended toward disagreement concerning the former notion and neutrality regarding the latter notion.
SwarmSim: a framework for modeling swarming unmanned aerial vehicles using hardware-in-the-loop

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) swarm applications, algorithms, and control strategies have experienced steady growth and development over the past 15 years. Yet, to date, most swarm development efforts have gone untested and unimplemented. The major inhibitors to successful swarm implementation seem to include the cost of aircraft systems, government imposed airspace restrictions, and the lack of adequate modeling and simulation tools. This paper examines how the open-source OpenEaagles simulation framework was leveraged to bridge this gap to create Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) simulations. Leveraging OpenEaagles through software extension to create HIL simulations provides developers with a functional capability with which to develop and test the behaviors of scalable and modular swarms of autonomous UAVs. Using HIL-based simulations in this capacity provides assurance that defined behaviors will propagate to live flight tests in the real world. The demonstrations in the work show how the framework enhances...
Demonstration of acoustic source localization in air using single pixel compressive imaging

Acoustic source localization often relies on large sensor arrays that can be electronically complex and have large data storage requirements to process element level data. Recently, the concept of a single-pixel-imager has garnered interest in the electromagnetics literature due to its ability to form high quality images with a single receiver paired with shaped aperture screens that allow for the collection of spatially orthogonal measurements. Here, we present a method for creating an acoustic analog to the single-pixel-imager found in electromagnetics for the purpose of source localization. Additionally, diffraction is considered to account for screen openings comparable to the acoustic wavelength. A diffraction model is presented and incorporated into the single pixel framework. In this paper, we explore the possibility of applying single pixel localization to acoustic measurements. The method is experimentally validated with laboratory measurements made in an air waveguide.
Cancer risk and clinicopathological characteristics of thyroid nodules harboring thyroid-stimulating hormone receptor gene mutations.

Background Thyroid-stimulating hormone receptor (TSHR) gene mutations play a critical role in thyroid cell proliferation and function. They are found in 20%-82% of hyperfunctioning nodules, hyperfunctioning follicular thyroid cancers (FTC), and papillary thyroid cancers (PTC). The diagnostic importance of TSHR mutation testing in fine needle aspiration (FNA) specimens remains unstudied. Methods To examine the association of TSHR mutations with the functional status and surgical outcomes of thyroid nodules, we evaluated 703 consecutive thyroid FNA samples with indeterminate cytology for TSHR mutations using next-generation sequencing. Testing for EZH1 mutations was performed in selected cases. The molecular diagnostic testing was done as part of standard of care treatment, and did not require informed consent. Results TSHR mutations were detected in 31 (4.4%) nodules and were located in exons 281-640, with codon 486 being the most common. Allelic frequency ranged from 3% to 45%. Of 16 cases (12 benign, 3 FTC, 1 PTC) with surgical correlation, 15 had solitary TSHR mutations and 1 PTC had comutation with BRAF V600E. Hyperthyroidism was confirmed in all 3 FTC (2 overt, 1 subclinical). Of 5 nodules with solitary TSHR mutations detected at high allelic frequency, 3 (60%) were FTC. Those at low allelic frequency (3%-22%) were benign. EZH1 mutations were detected in 2 of 4 TSHR-mutant malignant nodules and neither of 2 benign nodules. Conclusion We report that TSHR mutations occur in ∼5% thyroid nodules in a large consecutive series with indeterminate cytology. TSHR mutations may be associated with an increased cancer risk when present at high allelic frequency, even when the nodule is hyperfunctioning. Benign nodules were however most strongly correlated with TSHR mutations at low allelic frequency.
Reimagining ‘justice’ in environmental justice: Radical ecologies, decolonial thought, and the Black Radical Tradition:

In this article, we rethink the spatial and racial politics of the environmental justice movement in the United States by linking it to abolitionist theories that have emerged from the Black Radica...
Vitamin nutriture and requirements of the elderly.

In 1983, 27 million in the U.S. population (11.7%) were over 65 years of age, and by the year 2050 this number is expected to be nearly double (U.S. Census of Population, 1980). In view of this projection, there is concern for maintaining health and function as late as possible into an individual’s life span. In the maintenance of health and prevention of disease, adequacy of nutrition is an important component. At different stages of life, sufficiency of intakes of nutrients is prescribed by the recommended dietary allowances (National Academy of Sciences, 1980), which have been defined as “the levels of intake of essential nutrients considered, in the judgment of the Committee on Dietary Allowances of the Food and Nutrition Board on the basis of available scientific knowledge, to be adequate to meet the known nutritional needs of practically all healthy persons.” The basis for this definition is discussed in Chapter 1. In the case of adults, the 1980 RDAs are divided into two age categories, namely, 23–50 years and 51 years upwards. It is, however, unlikely that the nutrient requirements of a 50-year-old adult are the same as those of a person of 23 years, and it is even more improbable that a person of 90 years has the same needs as an individual aged 51 years. Acceptance of these broad categories for RDAs underlines the paucity of data on which to base narrower age bands.
Quality Assurance of IMRT

Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) differs from conventional therapy in that the intensity distribution of each field is non-uniform. This intensity distribution is typically determined by an optimization algorithm so that, when combined with other fields, an optimum dose distribution can be obtained. The delivery of an intensity-modulated field can be accomplished with a physical compensator, a special multileaf collmator (MLC) such as MIMIC, or a conventional MLC. To ensure accurate and safe delivery of IMRT in the clinic, it is prudent to implment additional quality assurance procedures to those that are already used for conventional therapy. In this wrok, we describe the procedures used in our hospital that are specific to the delivery of DVIRT with a conventional MLC.
Characterization of a Small Plaque Mutant of the A59 Strain of Mouse Hepatitis Virus Defective in Cell Fusion

The virions of murine coronaviruses contain nucleocapsid protein and two membrane associated proteins E1 and E2. E2 or S glycoprotein forms the peplomer or spike protein and, as shown by Lawrence Sturman and Kathryn Holmes and co-workers (Sturman et al., 1985), is synthesized initially as a 180,000 Dalton glycoprotein that is cleaved into two 90,000 Dalton glycoproteins. They have also demonstrated that the cleaved form of E2 is required for cell fusion (Sturman et al., 1985) and that there are host-dependent differences in the proteolytic cleavage of E2 and in cell fusion (Frana et al., 1985). Recently, Stuart Siddell (Siddell, 1986) has sequenced the E2 gene of the JHM strain of mouse hepatitis virus (MHV) and found a protease cleavage site (arg-arg-ser) approximately in the middle of the open reading frame of RNA 3, the messenger RNA encoding E2.
Case 30-2018: A 66-Year-Old Woman with Chronic Abdominal Pain

A Woman with Chronic Abdominal Pain A 66-year-old woman from Guatemala presented to a community health center for treatment of latent tuberculosis infection. She reported a 2-month history of abdom...
Primary Care Providers' Attitudes and Practices Regarding Cancer Screening in Older Adults

Abstract Cancer screening decisions for older adults should be individualized. However, conducting such complex shared decisions may be challenging for primary care providers (PCPs). Additionally, ...
Low pressure chemical vapor deposition of β-Ga2O3 thin films: Dependence on growth parameters

Low pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) has been used to produce high quality β-Ga2O3 materials with controllable n-type doping. In this work, we focus on the studies of key LPCVD growth parameters for β-Ga2O3 thin films, including oxygen/carrier gas flow rates, growth temperature, pressure, and the substrate to Ga crucible distance. These growth parameters play important roles during the LPCVD β-Ga2O3 growth and determine the thin film growth rate, n-type dopant incorporation, and electron mobilities. The dependence of the growth parameters on LPCVD of β-Ga2O3 was carried out on both conventional c-plane sapphire and 6 degree off-axis (toward ⟨11-20⟩ direction) sapphire substrates. To better understand the precursor transport and gas phase reaction process during the LPCVD growth, a numerical model for evaluating the growth rate was developed by using a finite element method and taking into account the gas flow rate, chamber pressure, and chamber geometry. The results from this work can provide guidance for the optimization of the LPCVD growth of β-Ga2O3 with targeted growth rate, surface morphology, doping concentration, and mobility. In addition, β-Ga2O3 grown on off-axis c-sapphire substrates features with faster growth rates with higher electron mobilities within a wide growth window.
Social entrepreneurship, water supply, and resilience: lessons from the sanitation sector

In this article, I lay out some ideas on developing resilient local water systems by drawing from fieldwork in the sanitation sector. Specifically, I examine how differing configurations of water resource ownership (municipality, private sector) and water system management (municipality, community, private sector) can help to construct models of water supply management that are resilient to both local and global shocks and which can inform the development of sustainable water supply systems in communities of different sizes and divergent endowments of water resources. In doing this, I attempt to link recent work on organizational resilience and social enterprise to the broader field of water resources ownership and management as seen from a development perspective.
Do the parallels meet?: On the origin of the accusative with infinitive construction in Slavic

Abstract The paper is concerned with the origin and the development of the Accusative with Infinitive (AcI) construction in Slavic. Looking into the areal-typological, diachronic, and socio-typological parameters of the AcI construction, the author introduces new Slavic dialectal and comparative material and reconstructs the developmental cline of this construction along two parallel pathways of grammaticalization of the second accusative complement in Proto-Indo-European. The grammaticalization of infinitival complementation, typical primarily of those Slavic varieties which acquired secondary analytical features, is distinguished from the grammaticalization of participial complementation which is commonly attested in the history of low-contact Slavic languages and dialects like Southwest Ukrainian and some Polish dialects. Special emphasis is placed on the interaction between infinitival and participial grammaticalization in the history of Slavic standard and non-standard varieties, which allows the author to substantiate an initial switching between the two pathways as attested in Old Church Slavonic and early standard varieties of (West) Slavic.
Activities of daffy living performance in children with cerebral palsy with different gross motor function

Objective To analyze the activities of daily living (ADL) performance in children with cerebral palsy (CP) with different gross motor function and the correlation between gross motor function and ADL perform-ance. Methods A total of 118 children (81 boys and 37 girls; mean age: 47.7 months, SD: 20.1 months, age range: 18-90 months) with CP were recruited from three different rehabilitation centers in Shanghai. Types of CP included hemiplegia (n = 27), spastic diplegia (n = 53), spastic quadriplegia(n = 29), athetoid (n = 4), dystonic (n = 4), ataxic (n = 1). Gross motor function classification system (GMFCS) and Gross motor function measure (GMFM) were adopted to assess and classify the gross motor function. Pediatric evaluation of disability inventory (PEDI) was adopted to assess ADL performance. Differences of PEDI scores were compared among different levels of GMFCS; and the correlation between GMFCS levels, GMFM scores and PEDI scores were analyzed. Resnlts PEDI scores showed significant differences among CP children with different levels of GMFCS. The PEDI score usually de-creased with the increase of the GMFCS level, and mobility ability was the lowest. Significant correlations were found between PEDI scaled scores and GMFCS (rs = 0.85～0. 50, P < 0.001). Various levels of correlations (r = 0. 85～ 0.54, P<0.001) were found between GMFM scores and PEDI scaled scores. Higher correlations were found between GMFCS levels, GMFM scores and mobility ability. Conclusion ADL performance was significantly different among CP children with different gross motor function. The higher the gross motor function, the better the performance of ADL. Mobility would be improved by promoting gross motor function in CP children. The training of self-care and so-cial communication ability should be emphasized. Key words: Cerebral palsy; Gross motor function; Activities of daily living
Clinical outcomes in a large pediatric cohort of patients with ependymoma treated with proton radiotherapy.

Background Treatment for pediatric ependymoma includes surgical resection followed by local radiotherapy (RT). Proton RT (PRT) enables superior sparing of critical structures compared with photons, with potential to reduce late effects. We report mature outcomes, patterns of failure, and predictors of outcomes in patients treated with PRT. Methods One hundred fifty patients ( Results Median follow-up was 6.5 years. EFS, OS, and LC for the intracranial cohort (n = 145) at 7 years were 63.4%, 82.6%, and 76.1%. Fifty-one patients recurred: 26 (51.0%) local failures, 19 (37.3%) distant failures, and 6 (11.8%) synchronous failures. One hundred sixteen patients (77.3%) underwent gross total resection (GTR), 5 (3.3%) underwent near total resection (NTR), and 29 (19.3%) underwent subtotal resection (STR). EFS for the intracranial cohort at 7 years for GTR/NTR and STR was 70.3% and 35.2%. With multivariate analysis, the effect of tumor excision persisted after controlling for tumor location. There was no adverse effect on disease control if surgery to RT interval was within 9 weeks of GTR/NTR. Conclusion PRT is effective and safe in pediatric ependymoma. Similar to previous studies, GTR/NTR was the most important prognostic factor. Intervals up to 9 weeks from surgery to PRT did not compromise disease outcomes. There was no LC benefit between patients treated with >54 Gray relative biological effectiveness (GyRBE) versus ≤54 GyRBE.
Impact of a Hands-on Pre-Clinical Neurosurgery Elective Course on Second-Year Medical Student Interest and Attitudes.

Introduction:Medical student involvement opportunities and educational experiences with surgical residents during medical school have been shown to increase the chance of students deciding to speci...
The Effects of Social Support and Coping Strategies on Job Stress and Burnout

Despite the numerous research addressing the relationship between job stress, burnout, and social support, seldom do we find a study that explores the mechanisms leading to this relationship from a causality perspective. In addition, previous research did not say too much on whether the self-reliant coping strategies (i.e., problem-focused vs. emotion-focused) are more effective in alleviating stress and reducing levels of burnout than seeking and receiving social support. The current study will focus on these two questions and seek answers to them. Such a study is necessary in that it will not only reveal the magnitude of each causal relationship, but also provide empirical evidence to support organizational training directors in their decisions to incorporate the right training content in their training programs to assist employees with the coping strategies to alleviate job-related stress and burnout syndromes.
Tongue-Tied: Rhetoric and Relation in Louise Erdrich's Tracks

In the epilogue to Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, the narrator makes what James M. Albrecht identifies as "a complex assertion of the connection between oppressor and oppressed." This claim depends upon the black man's ability to see doubly, a variation of DuBoisian double-consciousness as a "dual ability to see the injustice and humanity of one's oppressor" (Albrecht 59). Ellison's narrator states:
DISCO App: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial to test the effectiveness of a patient intervention to reduce the financial burden of cancer in a diverse patient population

Financial toxicity, the material and psychological burden of the cost of treatment, affects 30–50% of people with cancer, even those with health insurance. The burden of treatment cost can affect treatment adherence and, ultimately, mortality. Financial toxicity is a health equity issue, disproportionately affecting patients who are racial/ethnic minorities, have lower incomes, and are < 65 years old. Patient education about treatment cost and patient-oncologist cost discussions are recommended as ways to address financial toxicity; however, research shows cost discussions occur infrequently (Altice et al. J Natl Cancer Inst 109:djw205, 2017; Schnipper et al. J Clin Oncol 34:2925-34, 2016; Zafar et al. Oncologist 18:381-90, 2013; American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network 2010). Our overall goal is to address the burden of financial toxicity and work toward health equity through a tailorable education and communication intervention, the DISCO App. The aim of this longitudinal randomized controlled trial is to test the effectiveness of the DISCO App on the outcomes in a population of economically and racially/ethnically diverse cancer patients from all age groups. Patients diagnosed with breast, lung, colorectal, or prostate cancer at a NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center in Detroit, MI, will be randomized to one of three study arms: one usual care arm (arm 1) and two intervention arms (arms 2 and 3). All intervention patients (arms 2 and 3) will receive the DISCO App before the second interaction with their oncologist, and patients in arm 3 will receive an intervention booster. The DISCO App, presented on an iPad, includes an educational video about treatment costs, ways to manage them, and the importance of discussing them with oncologists. Patients enter socio-demographic information (e.g., employment, insurance status) and indicate their financial concerns. They then receive a tailored list of questions to consider asking their oncologist. All patients will have up to two interactions with their oncologist video recorded and complete measures at baseline, after the recorded interactions and at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after the second interaction. Outcome measures will assess discussions of cost, communication quality, knowledge of treatment costs, self-efficacy for treatment cost management, referrals for support, short- and longer-term financial toxicity, and treatment adherence. If effective, this intervention will improve awareness of and discussions of treatment cost and alleviate the burden of financial toxicity. It may be especially helpful to groups disproportionately affected by financial toxicity, helping to achieve health equity. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04766190. Registered on February 23, 2021
Soft Material-Enabled Packaging for Stretchable and Flexible Hybrid Electronics

Recent advancement in miniaturized electronics, materials integration, and seamless packaging offers the development of stretchable and flexible hybrid electronics for real-time, continuous monitoring of human health and persistent human-machine interfaces. Soft materials have enabled this new class of materials and system integrations, which has significant advantages over the conventional rigid and planar electronics in the design of wearable devices. Nano-microstructured and soft packaging of the hybrid electronics is crucial for a seamless integration with the human skin. Various types of soft material-enabled packaging strategies have been developed to ensure comfort, long-term use, and reliability without sacrificing device performance when mounted on the skin. Systematic designs include stretchable interconnects, strain isolation layers, and soft conductive composites. This chapter describes a comprehensive review of soft packaging methods and technologies, including design strategies, materials selection, and system integration.
Single-cell lactate production rate as a measure of glycolysis in endothelial cells.

Summary Heterogeneous metabolism supports critical single-cell functions. Here, we describe deep-learning-enabled image analyses of a genetically encoded lactate-sensing probe which can accurately quantify metabolite levels and glycolytic rates at the single-cell level. Multiple strategies and test data have been included to obviate possible obstacles including successful sensor expression and accurate segmentation. This protocol reliably discriminates between metabolically diverse subpopulations which can be used to directly link metabolism to functional phenotypes by integrating spatiotemporal information, genetic or pharmacological perturbations, and real-time metabolic states. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Wu et al. (2021a) .
National Trends and Outcomes Associated With Presence and Type of Usual Clinician Among Older Adults With Multimorbidity.

Importance Declining primary care visit rates and increasing specialist visit rates among older adults with multimorbidity raise questions about the presence, specialty, and outcomes associated with usual clinicians of care for these adults. Objective To examine trends in the presence and specialty of usual clinicians and the association with preventive care receipt and spending. Design, setting, and participants This survey study used repeated cross-sectional analyses of Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey data from 2010, 2013, and 2016. Participants were community-dwelling Medicare Advantage and traditional Medicare members with at least 2 chronic conditions. Data were analyzed from March 1, 2020, to February 5, 2021. Main outcomes and measures Trends and factors associated with self-reported usual clinician presence and specialty. Multivariable regression was used to examine associations between usual clinician presence and specialty with preventive care receipt and spending, controlling for respondent sociodemographic and clinical characteristics. Results A total of 25 490 unweighted respondent-years were examined, representing 90 324 639 respondent-years across the United States. Overall, 58.4% of respondent-years belonged to women, and the mean (SD) age of respondents was 77.5 (7.5) years. From 2010 to 2016, those reporting usual clinicians dropped from 94.2% to 91.0% (P Conclusions and relevance In this study, older adults with multimorbidity were less likely to have a usual clinician over the study period, with potential implications for preventive care receipt. Our results suggest a key role for usual clinicians, especially primary care clinicians, in vaccination uptake for this population.
Uniprocessor Garbage Collection Techniques

We survey basic garbage collection algorithms, and variations such as incremental and generational collection. The basic algorithms include reference counting, mark-sweep, mark-compact, copying, and treadmill collection. Incremental techniques can keep garbage collection pause times short, by interleaving small amounts of collection work with program execution. Generational schemes improve efficiency and locality by garbage collecting a smaller area more often, while exploiting typical lifetime characteristics to avoid undue overhead from long-lived objects.
Cardiac Effects of Dexamethasone in Very Low Birth Weight Infants

Objective. To characterize the cardiac effects of dexamethasone in very low birth weight infants. Design. Prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial. Enrolled subjects were randomized to receive either a 42-day tapering course of dexamethasone or a saline placebo. Echocardiographic measurements were obtained on days 0, 7, 14, 28, and 42. Subjects. Thirteen infants received dexamethasone and 13 a saline placebo. The two groups were similar in birth weight, gestational age, age at enrollment, and sex/race composition. Results. Patients receiving dexamethasone had a significantly larger increase in septal thickness on days 7, 14, and 28 and left ventricle (LV) posterior wall thickness on day 14. A significantly lower left ventricular end-diastolic dimension in the dexamethasone group was initially noted on day 7 and persisted until day 42. With the reduced left ventricular end-diastolic dimension, no significant differences in LV mass were noted, despite the increased wall thickness. No differences in LV systolic function, as assessed by area shortening, were seen. Assessment of diastolic function showed a significant increase in the atrial portion of mitral inflow in dexamethasone patients on day 14, as well as a significant prolongation in isovolumic relaxation time on days 7, 14, and 28. Conclusions. Infants receiving dexamethasone developed evidence for impaired LV filling with a larger increase in wall thickness but no increase in LV mass, asymmetric septal hypertrophy, or augmented systolic function. This suggests that alterations in left ventricular filling play an important role in the development of hypertrophy seen with dexamethasone administration.
Hindutva as Praxis

This article is the third and last in a series of three surveying research on Hindutva (Hindu nationalism or political Hinduism), focusing on praxis: processes by which hindutva is mobilized, operationalized, and made relatable to specific contexts. As hindutva’s influences expand to grassroots and diasporic contexts, mediated by discourses of rights, development, and cultures of multiculturalist ethnic assertions, hindutva becomes a mediating discourse in its own right. As such, it is sometimes a diffused logic and sometimes a clear point of reference, but always undeniably central to contemporary political practice at all levels. (The first essay in this series of three surveyed literature on seminal ideological articulations of hindutva, both historical and contemporary; the second examined prominent rhetorical constructions deployed to politically oppose hindutva).
Classical pragmatism and modern finance

The re-evaluation of Classical American Pragmatism carries implications for the way that we might think about financial decision making, post-crisis. By examining the elements of pragmatism and by placing the latter relative to finance theory and forms of moral reasoning, guidelines for financial decision-making may be derived. These guidelines are inherently ethical in that they can be reasonably expected to result in good lives with others. It is further suggested that standard finance- theoretic models and methods can be adapted to fit within a pragmatic-ethical institutional ethos.
L* neural networks from different magnetic field models and their applicability

The third adiabatic invariant L* plays an important role in modeling and understanding the radiation belt dynamics. The typical way to numerically calculate the L* value follows the method described by Roederer (1970), which is just a line integration method that is computationally slow and expensive. This work describes the application of an artificial neural network technique to a series of magnetospheric field models for calculating L* values in microseconds instead of seconds without losing significant accuracy, thereby delivering to the radiation belt community various L* neural networks. These neural networks will enable comprehensive solar-cycle long studies of radiation belt processes and can also help the development of operational radiation belt models because of the speed in calculating L*. The main focus of this work is to test the applicability of each L* neural network, an aspect not addressed in the previous studies, under different interplanetary and magnetospheric conditions. Specifically, we describe the conditions when the neural network is providing a good approximation to the full numerical calculation of L* and when the traditional but more time-consuming method should be used. These L* neural networks are available for download at http://lanlstar.net.
Bootstrap learning via modular concept discovery

Suppose a learner is faced with a domain of problems about which it knows nearly nothing. It does not know the distribution of problems, the space of solutions is not smooth, and the reward signal is uninformative, providing perhaps a few bits of information but not enough to steer the learner effectively. How can such a learner ever get off the ground? A common intuition is that if the solutions to these problems share a common structure, and the learner can solve some simple problems by brute force, it should be able to extract useful components from these solutions and, by composing them, explore the solution space more efficiently. Here, we formalize this intuition, where the solution space is that of typed functional programs and the gained information is stored as a stochastic grammar over programs. We propose an iterative procedure for exploring such spaces: in the first step of each iteration, the learner explores a finite subset of the domain, guided by a stochastic grammar; in the second step, the learner compresses the successful solutions from the first step to estimate a new stochastic grammar. We test this procedure on symbolic regression and Boolean circuit learning and show that the learner discovers modular concepts for these domains. Whereas the learner is able to solve almost none of the posed problems in the procedure's first iteration, it rapidly becomes able to solve a large number by gaining abstract knowledge of the structure of the solution space.
The Elephant in Hosanna-Tabor

This article identifies an unarticulated and widely ignored assumption in the Supreme Court’s recent religious liberty decision, Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. EEOC, which grounded the ministerial exception in the Free Exercise Clause. Specifically, the Court’s failure to articulate which organizations can invoke the ministerial exception could undermine the Free Exercise Clause that is the very basis of the exception’s existence. I argue that the Court’s oversight will result in significant future litigation in a post-Employment Division v. Smith world. The Court’s decision in Hosanna-Tabor uses ambiguous and careless language when failing to articulate the assumption mentioned above. Chief Justice Roberts’ majority opinion uses phrases such as “religious body,” “church,” and “religious organization” interchangeably and without explanation. I explain why this is inadequate from an historical, jurisprudential, and practical perspective by highlighting the tradition of recognizing institutional autonomy and the rise of unconventional religious entities, known as “parachurches,” that self-define as religious. These organizations will present the trickiest case studies with respect to the ministerial exception, thereby making future litigation on this issue likely. Additionally, the article discusses and analyzes an already-existing circuit split over the correct interpretation of §702 of Title VII, which exempts religious organizations from some of the requirements of the statute. Although the split exists in the statutory context, it is instructive when analyzing the assumption in Hosanna-Tabor. Finally, this paper reveals how the Court cannot lean on its own precedent to define “religious” or rely on its characterization of Smith in Hosanna-Tabor to resolve this issue. I conclude by offering an analytical framework that can prevent the ministerial exception from swallowing the Free Exercise Clause in a post-Smith world. The legal implications of the Court’s failure to articulate this assumption have been ignored in the discussions immediately following the decision’s significance. This article outlines why and how this issue is urgent and will require a response by the Court. Based on the growth of unconventional religious entities, the pending circuit split, and the Court’s own inadequate precedent, the Court will have to craft a framework to determine which organizations qualify for the ministerial exception.
An Introduction to the Subprime Mortgage Market and the 2008-2009 Financial Crisis

Since the beginning of summer 2008, the subprime mortgage market has become a contributing drag on the financial sector, with the S&P index dropping to its lowest level in more than a decade, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling below 10,000 for the first time since October 2004. The financial sector turmoil, in turn, worsened the already dreadful situation in mortgage and credit markets. Losses on the subprime mortgage market arose from a two stage process. First, financial intermediaries drove the expansion of the subprime mortgage market. Second, borrowers stopped making payments when default was optimal for their situation. We often see and hear new stories where the repetition of the terminology convinces us of the importance of the issues. Many do not have the background or knowledge of the evolution of the issues, or lack the framework with which to develop a meaningful understanding. Subprime lending and its significance to current events is one such issue. A primer on subprime lending and its relationship to current events in 2008-2009, it seems, would appear to be a timely exposition.This paper explores origins of the subprime mortgage lending crisis and gives insights of the impacts subprime mortgages have on the recent financial issues. Finally, some policy options aimed at preventing the crisis from worsening in the future are offered.