cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Heterosis and triploid advantage between Chinese and American populations of Pacific oysters(Crassostrea gigas)

The Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas is a major aquaculture species in China and around the world.A serious problem in Pacific oyster farming is the occurrence of summer mortalities.Heavy summer mortalities have been observed in cultured Pacific oysters in US,China and France.While the causes for the summer mortality are not well understood.The production and use of triploid oysters may help to reduce summer mortalities.The goal of this study is to determine if heterosis exists between US and China populations of the Pacific oyster and if the interstrain hybrid triploids have greatly improved performance compared to diploids.Hybrid crosses of Pacific oysters between diploids from China and diploids as well as tetraploids from America were conducted.Four groups were produced:Chinese diploid ♀×Chinese diploid ♂,American diploid ♀×American diploid ♂,Chinese diploid ♀×American diploid ♂ and Chinese diploid ♀×American tetraploid ♂.Heterosis and triploid advantage of experimental groups were studied for traits such as fertilization and hatching success,survival,larval and juvenile growth.Our results show that heterosis in diploid hybrid progeny varied among traits and developmental stages:1.21% for larval growth,34.47% for larval survival and 20.39% for juvenile growth.The triploid advantage was significant for all traits and stages,except D larval size(5.19%)and larval growth(4.00%).Triploid advantages for larval survival,larval growth and juvenile survival were 19.92%,30.18% and 54.43%,respectively.The highest triploid advantage(202.96%)was observed in wet weight of juveniles at Day 200.Heterosis and the triploid advantage were stronger at juvenile stages than at larvae stages.Our results suggest that the hybrid triploid Pacific oysters between Chinese diploid females and American tetraploid males have greatly improved growth and survival compared to all diploid groups.Production of triploids through interstrain crossing may be the best way for producing triploids for aquaculture.However,at Day 200 when the triploid advantage was 202.96% in growth and 73.6% in survival,the diploid heterosis was only 3.75% and-26.25%,respectively.This finding suggests that the superior performance of the triploids may not be caused by the same heterosis observed in diploids.It is possible that heterosis in triploids is different from heterosis in diploids.We did not have pure-line triploids as controls in this study.Further studies are needed to determine to what degree that heterosis contributes to the superior performance of hybrid triploids.
Algorithm reaseach on measuring the inner and outer diameters of the sealings

According to the character that the sealings are prone to be distorted but the perimeter is invariable,a new algorithm is proposed that the inner and outer diameters are computed through measuring the perimeter.A new method of classification for pixels on single pixel edge and its coefficients are proposed,which can be used to correct the edge length and measure the perimeter of arbitrary curvature with single pixel edge.Simulation experiment shows that the algorithm is more accurate,quiker,and more generic.
Molecular characteristics and its evolution of the complete genome of avian influenza H5N1 virus isolated in Zhejiang province from 2002 to 2006

Objective To analyze the molecular characteristics and evolution reassortment of the complete genome of avian influenza H5N1 virus isolated in Zhejiang province in recent years. Methods Complete genomes of avian influenza H5N1 viruses isolated in Zhejiang province from 2002 to 2006 were sequenced. Molecular and evolution reassortment characterization of these virus strains were analyzed by Mega 3.0 bioinformatics software. Results Through study on the HA genes from all these strains,our data revealed that there were multiple basic amino acids at the cleavage site, which was typical for HPAIV.Compared with Gs/Guangdong/1/96,all these strains had a 20 amino acid deletion in the stalk of the NA, except for Dk/Zhejiang/2/02 and Ck/Zhejiang/8/03. Results from phylogenetic analysis showed that from2002 to 2003 the H5N1 viruses belonged to the genotype of B,W,X,Y,Z, and other genotypes were prevailed in corresponding year. However, different gene fragments of several strains belonged to different genotypes. Conclusion Recombinant might be widespread among the poultry in Zhejiang province. The genetic genes of viruses isolated after 2005, the Ck/Zhejiang/24/05 and Zhejiang/16/06 strains were almost all originated from the FJ-like genotype stably. Key words: Avian influenza HSN1 ; Genetic characteristics; Evolution; Reassortment
Picosecond electrooptic characterization of the permeable base transistor

The advent of ultrashort optical pulses used in conjunction with the electrooptic effect has made possible the temporal analysis of electrical phenomena on the picosecond and femtosecond time scale.1 This electrooptic technique is based on the colliding pulse mode-locked (CPM) laser which routinely produces pulses < 100-fs FWHM. Electrical signals with rise times as fast as a few hundred femtoseconds have been measured with the technique.2
How do I Love Thee and Thee and Thee: Self-presentation, Deception, and Multiple Relationships Online

Fifty women gathered in June 2003 at a television news conference to announce they had all been duped by a man they had met online: US Army Col. Kassem Saleh, a military officer whom each had met via an online dating site, had been wooing all 50 women simultaneously, even going so far as to propose to many of them, despite the fact that he was already married to another woman. At least two of the unwitting women had already bought wedding gowns before discovering the ruse. One woman called Colonel Saleh’s email love letters ‘intoxicating’ and another said they were ‘more romantic than the works of poets William Butler Yeats or Robert Browning’ (Kleinfeld, 2003). ‘You are my world, my life, my love and my universe’, Saleh allegedly wrote in an email love note to one of his many mistresses (Kleinfield, 2003).
Craniosynostosis Prevalence and Treatment

Reasons for the late 1980s apparent epidemic of craniosynostosis and neurosurgical intervention in Colorado, including reports of clusters in selected high-altitude communities, were investigated in the Colorado Department of Health and the University of Colorado School of Medicine, Denver.
Increasing the Number of Apheresis Collections Increases Lymphocyte Collection and Affects Survival after Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation for Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma.

Peripheral blood infused total autograft absolute lymphocyte count (A-ALC) correlates with day 15 absolute lymphocyte count and is an independent prognostic factor for survival after autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) for non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). Factors to enhance A-ALC collections are not well defined. We hypothesize that the number of peripheral blood apheresis collections (PBAC) directly correlates with A-ALC. 190 consecutive NHL patients who underwent ASCT at the Mayo Clinic between 1993 and 2001 were analyzed. The primary end point of the study was to assess the correlation between the number of PBAC and A-ALC. The secondary end point was to determine if the number of PBAC affected survival post-ASCT. Of the 190 patients, 18 patients underwent 1 PBAC, 23 patients 2 PBAC, 50 patients 3 PBAC, 37 patients 4 PBAC, 50 patients 5 PBAC, and 12 patients had ≥ 6 PBAC. There was no association between the number of PBAC and the number of CD34+ stem cells collected (p= 0.25). A strong association between number of PBAC and A-ALC (Kruskall Wallis test, p
Toward a Practical Solar-Driven CO2 Flow Cell Electrolyzer: Design and Optimization

A first-of-its-kind solar CO2 flow cell electrolyzer is reported here with a solar-to-fuel efficiency (SFE) of 6.5% at high operating currents (>1 A), orders of magnitude greater than those of other reported solar-driven devices that typically operate at currents of a few milliamperes. The approach of solar module-driven electrolysis, compared to monolithic photoelectrochemical cells, allows simpler manufacture, use of commercially available components, and optimization of the power transfer between the photovoltaic and the electrochemical systems. Employing commercial high-efficiency crystalline silicon solar cells with a large area flow cell CO2 electrolyzer (25 cm2), we present a procedure for optimizing the SFE of a decoupled photovoltaic electrolyzer by impedance matching the source and the load using their independent current–voltage characteristics. The importance of the voltage-dependent Faradaic efficiency of the electrolyzer on device performance and optimization is highlighted.
Mere-Liberty in David Hume

What does Hume mean by liberty? Though clearly important to him, Hume never clarifies the matter explicitly. In his texts, liberty often seems to be a matter of government rules being certain, general, regular, etc., and often a matter of political form or constitution—the place of parliament or republicanism, checks to power, and so on. Many scholars have highlighted such ideas as Hume's idea of liberty. We argue that liberty in Hume bears a central meaning: liberty is a flipside of (commutative) justice. The basic injunction of (commutative) justice is to not mess with other people’s stuff. The flipside is: Others not messing with one's stuff. And it is especially in relation to government (as opposed to, say, a robber) that that flipside concept is what Hume often signifies with the word liberty. Because liberty is polysemous in Hume's writings, we call that meaning “mere-liberty.” Hume sees the achievement of high degree of mere-liberty as dependent on authority, which itself depends on contraventions of mere-liberty. We advance mere-liberty not against the other meanings, but with them, with mere-liberty central to Hume’s political outlook.
The Biochemistry and Physiology of Respiratory-Driven Reversed Methanogenesis

In situ ecological and metagenomic investigations have provided a wealth of information setting the stage for advanced mechanistic understanding of the anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM). These studies infer that anaerobic methylotrophic (ANME) species of the domain Archaea are capable of growth by reducing electron acceptors such as Fe(III) and nitrate. However, the unavailability of axenic cultures has impeded a mechanistic understanding of nitrate-dependent AOM. Nonetheless, the reconstructed genomes from nitrate-reducing AOM environments predict pathways consistent with reversal of methanogenic pathways. The methane-producing archaeon Methanosarcina acetivorans is capable of AOM dependent on reduction of Fe(III) for which a pathway is proposed. The pathway is consistent with the reversal of methanogenesis pathways deduced from the reconstructed genomes derived from metagenomes of environments where Fe(III)-dependent ANME are expected. Roles are indicated for electron bifurcation by HdrABC family enzymes and the Rnf complex which appears to be a universal requirement for energy conservation during AOM. An updated genome-scale metabolic model of M. acetivorans correctly captures the observed energy requirements and electron flow mechanism during AOM and predicts the interplay between Fe(III) availability and the partitioning of the incoming carbon flux from methane into acetate and carbon dioxide. The model also predicts a plausible switching mechanism for ATP production between chemiosmotic and substrate-level phosphorylations depending on the availability of Fe(III).
Sincronia: near-optimal network design for coflows

We present Sincronia, a near-optimal network design for coflows that can be implemented on top on any transport layer (for flows) that supports priority scheduling. Sincronia achieves this using a key technical result --- we show that given a "right" ordering of coflows, any per-flow rate allocation mechanism achieves average coflow completion time within 4X of the optimal as long as (co)flows are prioritized with respect to the ordering. Sincronia uses a simple greedy mechanism to periodically order all unfinished coflows; each host sets priorities for its flows using corresponding coflow order and offloads the flow scheduling and rate allocation to the underlying priority-enabled transport layer. We evaluate Sincronia over a real testbed comprising 16-servers and commodity switches, and using simulations across a variety of workloads. Evaluation results suggest that Sincronia not only admits a practical, near-optimal design but also improves upon state-of-the-art network designs for coflows (sometimes by as much as 8X).
HTML5 Tag Structure

Get up to speed with the new HTML5 elements. Matthew David shows how you can take advantage of them and what you need to look out for as you design your new Web sites. * Use the new Section, Article, Aside, Footer and Header elements* Apply new element attributes to create new Forms 2.0 solutions* Understand the impact of the new HTML API tools, such as GeoLocation, LocalStorage, and Drag and Drop HTML5 Tag Structure is the first of five articles on the new Web standard, HTML5. These five full-color articles feature ample visuals to illustrate what your Web sites can do with the help of HTML5. The articles are also combined in the book , HTML5, which will add exclusive material in the form of a related real-life project to go alongside each article. This article is equivalent to 38 print pages.
The retinal pigment epithelium apical microvilli and retinal function.

The RPE performs highly specialized, unique functions essential for homeostasis of the neural retina. These include phagocytosis of photoreceptors shed outer segments, directional transport of nutrients into and removal of waste products from photoreceptor cells and visual pigment transport and regeneration. All of these functions involve the RPE apical microvilli.1, 2, 3, 4
Perspective: Coherent Raman scattering microscopy, the future is bright

Chemical imaging offers critical information to understand the fundamentals in biology and to assist clinical diagnostics. Label-free chemical imaging piques a general interest since it avoids the use of bio-perturbing molecular labels and holds promises to characterize human tissue in vivo. Coherent Raman scattering (CRS), which utilizes lasers to excite the vibrations of molecules, renders new modalities to map chemicals in living samples without the need of labeling and provides significantly improved speed, resolution, and sensitivity compared to spontaneous Raman scattering. Although microscopy systems based on CRS have seen rapid development in the past two decades, remaining challenges, which emerge in diverse aspects, start to impede the continuous advancement of the field. In this perspective, we review the history of CRS microscopy, scrutinize the pros and cons of different modalities, and discuss the current challenges and possible future directions of the field. Infiltration of conceptual and technological ideals from other fields will promote CRS microscopy towards a versatile tool for basic science and medical research.
Nine isomorphous lanthanide–uranyl f–f bimetallic materials with 2-thiophenecarboxylic acid and terpyridine: structure and concomitant luminescent properties

A series of nine new 4f–5f lanthanide–uranyl complexes, [(UO2)2(O)(L1)(L2)2]2[UO2(L1)3]2[Ln2(L1)6(L2)2]·2H2O, (where L1 and L2 are 2-thiophenecarboxylic acid (C5H3SO2) and 2,2′:6′2′′-terpyridine (C15H11N3), respectively, and Ln = Pr3+ (1), Nd3+ (2), Sm3+ (3), Eu3+ (4), Gd3+ (5), Tb3+ (6), Dy3+ (7), Ho3+ (8), Er3+ (9)), and a uranyl only complex (10), [(UO2)2(O)(L1)(L2)2]2[UO2(L1)3](NO3)·(H2O)3, have been hydrothermally synthesized and characterized with single crystal and powder X-ray diffraction. The nine bimetallic complexes are isomorphous, where only the identity of the lanthanide metal center changes, and contain two distinct uranyl units: a monomer with a formal negative charge and a dimer with a formal positive charge, as well as a single neutral dimeric lanthanide unit. The uranyl only phase (10) contains two unique dimers and a monomer, both similar to the units observed in the heterometallic series. Comparative analyses of speciation and the first coordination spheres between of title complexes and building units in the literature reveal common motifs and a possible structural influence of uranyl units. Further, the units in all complexes are held together primarily through weak hydrogen and offset π-stacking interactions. Raman and visible luminescent spectroscopic techniques found concurrent and selective emission from the uranyl and lanthanide metal centers in certain compounds.
Improving the Availability of Tandem Cold Metal Rolling by the Use of Fault-Tolerant Techniques with Virtual Rolling

It is important in the control of the tandem rolling of cold metal strip to achieve a degree of robustness to faults in certain measurements to avoid degradation of the availability of the process. Examples of such faults are those that would preclude valid measurements of strip speed and tension stress. These types of faults could degrade the process availability and seriously reduce the quality and yield of the output, along with a major loss of production and with possible equipment damage. In this paper we propose a method of control for this process that permits continuity of operation during possible major faults in the strip speed and tension measurements due to initiating events that result in several of these measurements being faulty. The faults are handled without major disruptions in process operation or a significant reduction in the quality of the output. The effectiveness of this method is shown by simulations using data from operating mills.
Spin torque on birefringent "o" and "e" axes in regular rhombohedral calcite crystals

We demonstrate the orientation-dependent torque on regular rhombohedral calcite in an optical trap. It is well known that calcite, a birefringent particle, will experience a torque and rotate when tightly trapped at the focus of an elliptically polarized beam due to the transfer of spin angular momentum. Our calcite is grown using a precipitate technique we developed that results in regular crystals approximately 10 μm long on all edges. The regularity of the crystal shape makes it possible to visually identify the optical axis as well as the ordinary (o) and extraordinary (e) polarization axes. When one of our crystals is trapped in an elliptically polarized beam, it first orients itself such that the propagation direction of the beam is along the corner-to-corner optic axis. While in this orientation, the total torque increases and decreases as the crystal rotates, with significant effects at four different locations corresponding to the e and o axes. Current research in this area assumes that there is one crystal axis that is most significant to the motion. We illustrate this axis-dependent calcite rotation at the top of the sample as well as when crystals are trapped three-dimensionally in the middle of the sample fluid, and calculate the torque on the crystal relative to crystal orientation. This work allows us to predict the motion of calcite, giving us an analytical tool for applications such as fluid stirring or as a handle in micro-machines.
Cognitive ability and cognitive style: finding a connection through resource use behavior

The goal of this study was to investigate cognitive style (the visualizer–verbalizer dimension) and cognitive ability (spatial and verbal abilities) in terms of corresponding resource use behavior. The study further examined the potential link between cognitive style and cognitive ability based on observable behavior. A total of 67 university students participated in the study by completing an online survey containing a series of questionnaires, tests, and tasks, which assessed their cognitive style, cognitive ability, and resource use behavior. Multinomial logistic regression analyses revealed that cognitive style in general predicts resource use behavior. The findings also showed that spatial ability, particularly lower spatial ability, predicts resource use behavior. This study thus contributes to the literature with theory-based, empirical evidence that cognitive ability is reflected in cognitive style. This study further provides information needed to better understand the interplay between individuals’ cognitive style and cognitive ability and how these may be addressed in the design and implementation of learning environments.
Strategic Experimentation With Humped Bandits

Models of learning and experimentation based on two-armed Poisson bandits addressed several important aspects related to strategic and motivational learning, but they are not suitable to study effects that accumulate over time. We propose a new class of models of strategic experimentation which are almost as tractable as exponential models, but incorporate such realistic features as dependence of the expected rate of news arrival on the time elapsed since the start of an experiment. In these models, the experiment is stopped before news is realized whenever the rate of arrival of news reaches a critical level. This leads to longer experimentation times for experiments with possible breakthroughs than for equivalent experiments with failures. In experimentation models with multiple players, either no player stops before the first failure is observed, or all players stop simultaneously before the first failure. We also demonstrate a crowding out effect in models with profitable breakthroughs.
A 3-D Numerical Model to Predict Low Temperature Aluminum Electrochemical Process Using Ionic Liquids as Electrolytes at Different Boundary Conditions

Aluminum separation process using low temperature ionic liquids electrolytes is an energy-efficient and environmental benign metal extraction technology. A 3-D numerical model was developed to predict this electrochemical process. The average current density of anode and cathode was set as the evaluation standard. The influence of batch reactor geometries, number and distance between electrodes, reactor domain and inlet temperature, inlet flow velocity to the current density was studied. Three kinds of ionic liquids [EMIM]Cl–AlCl3, [HIMIM]Cl–AlCl3, and [BMIM]Cl–AlCl3 electrolytes were compared. Uncertainty analysis of electrolyte parameters like electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, density, specific heat, and viscosity was also conducted. The results give some reference value for different boundary conditions and indicate that to get a larger current density; the inlet temperature should be as high as the domain. It also shows the electrical conductivity plays a decisive role in determining the current density. Those simulation results were also verified by the experiment.
Chapter 10 – Program Analysis

Publisher Summary This chapter presents the application of symbolic logic to program analysis and program synthesis. By program analysis, it is meant that a program is given and one wants to know the input-output relationship of the program. As for program synthesis, one is given an input-output relationship and wants to synthesize a program to realize this input-output relationship. The correctness and equivalence problems can actually be formulated as a termination problem. One can use logical formulas to describe the execution of a program. Considering these formulas as axioms, one can deduce logical consequences from these axioms. Some logical consequences serve as a basis to describe the input-output relationship. In particular, there is one clause, called the halting clause, that will be mechanically deduced, using the resolution principle, if and only if the program terminates. This clause not only tells that the program terminates, but also tells how it terminates. Thus, using this halting clause, one can see whether the program meets the specification, or is equivalent to some other program.
Father involvement in kinship care: A risk and resilience perspective

Abstract Kinship care refers to familial arrangements where the primary caregiver(s) are biological relatives, godparents, or other fictive kin with strong bonds, raising children when the biological parents are unable. The majority of children living in a home with neither of their biological parents present are living in kinship care arrangements. Previous research has primarily focused on maternal involvement and experiences in kinship care; however, little is known about paternal access, engagement, and responsibility in these arrangements. Researchers and practitioners have identified factors that can serve as barriers and facilitators to fathers’ involvement in various contexts. The current study seeks to gain a better understanding of the experiences of fathers with children living in kinship care. To address these goals, we asked the two following questions: (1) What are fathers’ experiences regarding involvement with their children in kinship care arrangements? and (2) What are the common barriers and facilitators to fathers’ involvement in kinship care arrangements? Participants included 25 self-identified fathers of children living in kinship care arrangements. Findings suggest that relationship quality among father-child(ren) and father-caregiver, as well as paternal self-efficacy, each have implications for paternal involvement in kinship care. Continuing this line of research will provide support for enhancing father involvement in a manner that best supports child outcomes in kinship care.
Context Of Injury Among Abusive And Accidental Injuries In Children

Background: Child physical abuse causes significant morbidity. Previous research has established key physical examination and radiographic findings that are associated with abusive injury. A gap in the literature, however, is the role of additional injury circumstances and details, such as the context in which the injury occurred, in distinguishing abusive from accidental injuries. Hypothesis: Are there historical elements of the context in which a child’s injury occurs that are more likely associated with either abusive or accidental mechanisms? Methods: We performed a retrospective review of the medical records …
Parity predicts biological age acceleration in post-menopausal, but not pre-menopausal, women

Understanding factors contributing to variation in ‘biological age’ is essential to understanding variation in susceptibility to disease and functional decline. One factor that could accelerate biological aging in women is reproduction. Pregnancy is characterized by extensive, energetically-costly changes across numerous physiological systems. These ‘costs of reproduction’ may accumulate with each pregnancy, accelerating biological aging. Despite evidence for costs of reproduction using molecular and demographic measures, it is unknown whether parity is linked to commonly-used clinical measures of biological aging. We use data collected between 1999 and 2010 from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (n = 4418) to test whether parity (number of live births) predicted four previously-validated composite measures of biological age and system integrity: Levine Method, homeostatic dysregulation, Klemera–Doubal method biological age, and allostatic load. Parity exhibited a U-shaped relationship with accelerated biological aging when controlling for chronological age, lifestyle, health-related, and demographic factors in post-menopausal, but not pre-menopausal, women, with biological age acceleration being lowest among post-menopausal women reporting between three and four live births. Our findings suggest a link between reproductive function and physiological dysregulation, and allude to possible compensatory mechanisms that buffer the effects of reproductive function on physiological dysregulation during a woman’s reproductive lifespan. Future work should continue to investigate links between parity, menopausal status, and biological age using targeted physiological measures and longitudinal studies.
TransCamP: Graph Transformer for 6-DoF Camera Pose Estimation

Camera pose estimation or camera relocalization is the centerpiece in numerous computer vision tasks such as visual odometry, structure from motion (SfM) and SLAM. In this paper we propose a neural network approach with a graph transformer backbone, namely TransCamP, to address the camera relocalization problem. In contrast with prior work where the pose regression is mainly guided by photometric consistency, TransCamP effectively fuses the image features, camera pose information and inter-frame relative camera motions into encoded graph attributes and is trained towards the graph consistency and accuracy instead, yielding significantly higher computational efficiency. By leveraging graph transformer layers with edge features and enabling tensorized adjacency matrix, TransCamP dynamically captures the global attention and thus endows the pose graph with evolving structures to achieve improved robustness and accuracy. In addition, optional temporal transformer layers actively enhance the spatiotemporal inter-frame relation for sequential inputs. Evaluation of the proposed network on various public benchmarks demonstrates that TransCamP outperforms state-of-the-art approaches.
Multi-Dimensional Reduction Clustering of Complex Carbohydrates Reveal Tissue Metabolism, Heterogeneity and Histopathology

Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) human tissues represent the world's largest collection of accessible clinical specimens with matched, well-annotated clinical course for disease progression. Currently, FFPE sections are limited to low throughput histo- and immunological assessments. Extracting largescale molecular information remains a major technological barrier to uncover the vast potential within FFPE specimens for translation and clinical research. Two critical but understudied facets of glucose metabolism are anabolic pathways for glycogen and N-linked glycan biosynthesis. Together, these complex carbohydrates represent bioenergetics, protein-structure function, and tissue architecture in human biology. Herein, we report the high-dimensional Metabolomics-Assisted Digital pathology Imaging (Madi) workflow that combines matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry imaging (MALDI-MSI) with machine learning for the comprehensive assessment of tissue heterogeneity, histopathology, and metabolism in human FFPE sections. In normal human tissue sections, Madi accurately identifies anatomical regions within liver and the brain. In human lung diseases, Madi accurately predicts major lung pathologies such as honeycomb change, late-stage fibrosis, diffuse alveolar damage (DAD), and acute fibrinous and organizing pneumonia (AFOP) from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and COVID-19 pneumonia specimens with precision. In depth pathway enrichment analyses reveal unique metabolic pathways are associated with distinct pathological regions, which highlight aberrant complex carbohydrate metabolism as a previously unknown molecular event associated with disease progression that could hold key to future therapeutic interventions.
Clinical Knowledge and Trends in Physicians' Prescribing of Opioids for New Onset Back Pain, 2009-2017.

Importance Opioid musculoskeletal pain overprescribing was widespread in the mid-2000s. The degree to which prescribing changed as awareness of the danger grew among physicians with different levels of clinical knowledge remains unstudied. Objective To compare the association of clinical knowledge with opioid prescribing from 2009 to 2011 when prescribing peaked nationally with 2015 to 2017 when guidelines shifted away from opioid prescribing. Design, Setting, and Participants This cross-sectional study included 10 246 midcareer general internal medicine physicians in the United States who saw patients who were Medicare beneficiaries with Part D enrollment from 2009 to 2017. Main Outcomes and Measures Any opioid prescription and high dosage or long duration (HDLD) (>7 days or >50 daily morphine milligram equivalents) opioid prescriptions filled within 7 days of applicable visits for new low back pain concerns. Associations between opioid prescribing for new low back pain concerns during outpatient visits and clinical knowledge measured by prior year American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Maintenance of Certification examination performance were estimated using serial cross-sectional logit regressions. Regression covariates included yearly examination quartile (ie, knowledge quartile) interacted with 3-year group dummies (ie, early: 2009-2011; middle: 2012-2014; late: 2015-2017), state and year dummies, physician, practice, patient characteristics, and state opioid regulations. Results Of the 55 387 low back pain visits included in this study, 37 185 (67.1%) were visits with female patients, 41 978 (75.8%) were with White patients, and the mean (SE) age of patients was 76.2 (<0.01) years. The rate of opioid prescribing was 21.6% (11 978) for any opioid prescription and 17.6% (9759) for HDLD prescriptions. From 2009 to 2011, visits with physicians in the highest and lowest knowledge quartiles had similar adjusted opioid prescribing rates with a 0.5 (95% CI, -1.9 to 3.0) percentage point difference. By 2015 to 2017, visits with physicians in the highest knowledge quartile prescribed opioids less frequently that physicians in the lowest knowledge quartile (4.6 percentage point difference; 95% CI, -7.5 to -1.8 percentage points). Visits in which HDLD opioids were prescribed showed no difference in the early period but showed a difference in the late period when comparing physicians in the highest and lowest knowledge quartiles (early period: difference -0.1; 95% CI, -2.4 to 2.2 percentage points; late period difference: 4.8; 95% CI, -7.4 to -2.1 percentage points). Conclusions and Relevance In this cross-sectional study, when the standard of care shifted away from routine opioid prescribing, physicians who performed well on an ABIM examination were less likely to prescribe opioids for back pain than physicians who performed less well on the examination.
Unsteady Euler algorithm with unstructured dynamic mesh for complex-aircraft aeroelastic analysis

A finite-volume unstructured-grid FEM scheme with multistage Runge-Kutta time stepping is applied to the three-dimensional time-dependent Euler equations for inviscid flows on complex aircraft configurations undergoing structural deformation. The derivation of the model, the solution procedure, and the computer implementation are described, and results are presented graphically for a NASA Langley supersonic fighter aircraft model in steady and unsteady (harmonic oscillation in complete-vehicle bending mode) flow regimes. Good agreement between FEM predictions and experimental data is demonstrated.
3.3.2 Collaborative Systems Thinking: A response to the problems faced by Systems Engineering's “middle tier”

Experienced systems engineers are adept at more than implementing systems engineering processes: they utilize systems thinking to solve complex engineering problems. Within the space industry demographics and economic pressures are reducing the number of experienced systems engineers that will be available in the future. Collaborative systems thinking within systems engineering teams is proposed as a way to integrate systems engineers of various experience levels to handle complex systems engineering challenges. This paper uses the GOES-R Program Systems Engineering team to illustrate the enablers and barriers to team level systems thinking and to identify ways in which performance could be improved. Ways NASA could expand its engineering training to promote team-level systems thinking are proposed.
Dynamic Models for Haptic Rendering Systems

To create a compelling interactive virtual experience, haptic systems must incorporate methods to allow for the specification of and interaction with complex dynamic environments. In this paper we discuss some of the issues encountered and the solutions developed for incorporating dynamic motion in our haptic rendering library “HL.” The objective in the development of this library is to provide haptic capabilities to users who may have little or no familiarity with robotics, haptics or control.
Association, Cause, and Correlation

Anything one measures can become data, but only those data that have meaning can become information. Information is almost always useful, data may or may not be. This chapter will address the various ways one can measure the degree of association between an exposure and an outcome and will include a discussion of relative and absolute risk, odds ratios, number needed to treat, and related measures.
The price of virtue

This article offers new evidence on the determinants of U.S. unwed birth rates from 1981 to 1990. We show that illegitimacy rates are positively and significantly correlated with payments under the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program over a period in which real AFDC payments declined. We attribute this result to a decline in the social sanctions for illegitimacy. Because social sanctions declined, so did the cost of deviance, as well as the price for which unwed women sold their virtue.
The self-medication hypothesis of addictive disorders: Focus on heroin and cocaine dependence.

Recent clinical observations and psychiatric diagnostic findings of drug-dependent individuals suggest that they are predisposed to addiction because they suffer with painful affect states and related psychiatric disorders. The drugs that addicts select are not chosen randomly. Their drug of choice is the result of an interaction between the psychopharmacologic action of the drug and the dominant painful feelings with which they struggle. Narcotic addicts prefer opiates because of their powerful muting action on the disorganizing and threatening affects of rage and aggression. Cocaine has its appeal because of its ability to relieve distress associated with depression, hypomania, and hyperactivity.
Charge conservation at energies available at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider and contributions to local parity violation observables

Relativistic heavy ion collisions provide laboratory environments from which one can study the creation of a novel state of matter, the quark-gluon plasma. The existence of such a state is postulated to alter the mechanism and evolution of charge production, which then becomes manifest in charge correlations. We study the separation of balancing charges at kinetic freeze-out by analyzing recent results on balancing charge correlations for Au + Au collisions at $\sqrt{{s}_{\mathrm{NN}}}=200 \text{GeV}$. We find that in central collisions, the spatial points from which balancing charges are emitted are characterized by smaller relative angles. These results are consistent with the expectation that charge production occurred later in the collision, as would be expected for delayed hadronization. An alternative explanation would be that the charges were produced early, perhaps with a different mechanism where the charge production mechanism was altered from string breaking which tends to separate the charges in relative rapidity. The alternative explanation would also rely on the diffusion of charges being small. In addition we calculate the contributions from charge-balance correlations to STAR's local parity violation observable. We find that local charge conservation, when combined with elliptic flow, explains the bulk of STAR's measurement.
Rapid antigen detection using the liquid sample as a lens and self-mixer for light scattering detection

Superhydrophobic surfaces, both natural and artificial, cause aqueous drops to bead on them. The most water-repellent surfaces produce nearly perfect spheres with very little contact between water, solutes, and surface due to the roughness of the surface ^1^. However, a related phenomenon that has not been well appreciated until recently, is that colloidal particles in the aqueous drop remain highly mobile, and smaller-sized colloids migrate to the drop surface due to both the driving force of evaporation and the expanded liquid/air interface ^2-3^. A newly identified, third useful optical property resulting from the suspension of an aqueous drop by the superhydrophobic surface is that a spheroidal lens is created. Without any additional energy or instrumentation, the simple placement of an aqueous sample on a superhydrophobic surface followed by the placement of a reagent drop results in very rapid mixing and a means to detect and monitor antigens via agglutination.
Transforming the image of the engineer: The challenge to engineers is to change their image by making their presence felt in in civic, governmental, and professional affairs

The engineering profession is one of the finest professions today. It attracts the brightest students, as evidenced by scores on ACT and other achievement tests. Engineering education is sharply aimed at improving problem-solving skills as opposed to learning by rote. The engineering education environment is also among the most intense of any professional education program. Unfortunately, many engineers do not realize this, and the general public is unaware of the importance of engineering to society. It is the responsibility of upcoming engineers to change the image of the engineering profession — the way in which engineers are perceived by the public and the way in which they see themselves.
A diffusion model for exchange rates I: Theoretical introduction

Abstract The rates of exchange between r continuously traded currencies are modelled by a diffusion process. The motivation for this kind of model is in terms of long term trends in the exchange rates combined with random fluctuations in these rates which occur as a result of continous evaluation of information by the dealers in the currency market together with a continuous revision of expectations about the short-term course of the exchange rates of the currencies they are dealing in. The formulation as a diffusion process permits considerable theoretical development. On a qualitative level, stability of exchange rates is investigated using Hashiminsky's criterion and the components of an unstable regime quite well identified. Government intervention in exchange markets may be studied at a simple level by using local times. The properties of local times suggest a certain amount of insight into how optimal intervention performs. An important feature of the diffusion formulation is the derivation of explicit formulae for the numerical calculation of quantities of interest in terms of the model. This is illustrated by partial differential equations for local times and an equation obtained from the Feynman-Kac formula which permits interpretation in terms of forward exchange rates. Numerical techniques permit explicit calculation from such equations.
Effects of neuropeptide Y and melanocortin 3/4R antagonist SHU9119 injections into the lateral parabrachial nucleus on intake and licking for water and sucrose solutions.

The pontine parabrachial nucleus is a hindbrain nucleus that is ideally situated to contribute to feeding behavior. Receptors for hypothalamic feeding-related peptides have been identified in the lateral PBN (lPBN), including neuropeptide Y (NPY) Y1 and melanocortin-4 (MC4R) receptors. We evaluated whether direct lPBN injections of Y1 and MC3/4R ligands (NPY and SHU9119) affected the consumption of water and sucrose solutions, using a sensitive microstructural analysis of licking. Rats with bilateral cannulas aimed at the lPBN were offered water, 0.1 M or 1 M sucrose solutions. Rats were injected with either vehicle or NPY (100 pM/side in 0.4 μl), or the MC4 antagonist SHU9119 (30 pM/side), 15 min prior to testing. These doses are below feeding-effective threshold doses for 4V infusions of these compounds. NPY had no effect on intake or numerous measures of licking microstructure, for any solution tested. SHU9119 significantly increased 4 h intake of 1 M sucrose with more variable increases for 0.1 M sucrose. Microstructure analysis indicated effects that varied by concentration. SHU9119 increased meal frequency for 0.1 M sucrose but not 1 M sucrose, while average meal size for 1.0 M sucrose was increased by SHU9119 but reduced for 0.1 M sucrose. For both solutions, however, SHU9119 nearly doubled the mean ingestion rate and it significantly reduced the mean pause time. There was no effect on the mean burst size or initial lick rate, suggesting no change in gustatory evaluation. No significant effects were observed for water. Overall, results suggest that lPBN SHU9119 enhanced intake by producing a more temporally dense consumption pattern within meals, consistent with a diminution of inhibitory postingestive feedback. In addition, SHU9119 appeared to enhance appetitive processes by initiating more meals for solutions that were less caloric. Supported by NIH DC07389.
Assistive Technology: Legislation and Legal Issues

Developing special education programs that confer a free appropriate public education (FAPE) for students with disabilities has been a challenge for local education agencies since the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was first passed in 1975. Developing a FAPE has been particularly challenging when students require assistive technology (AT) services or devices to meet their unique educational needs. In this article, we consider how students' individualized education program (IEP) planning teams have met this challenge by examining administrative and judicial rulings on the use of AT services and devices by students' with disabilities. Specifically, we first examine rulings from 2005 to the first half of 2013 regarding the IDEA, FAPE, and AT. Second, we explore how courts have interpreted the AT obligations of educational agencies with a focus on cases in which parents were the prevailing party. Primary reasons for school district losses in these cases include failing to: (a) provide AT a...
High order operator splitting methods based on an integral deferred correction framework

Integral deferred correction (IDC) methods have been shown to be an efficient way to achieve arbitrary high order accuracy and possess good stability properties. In this paper, we construct high order operator splitting schemes using the IDC procedure to solve initial value problems (IVPs). We present analysis to show that the IDC methods can correct for both the splitting and numerical errors, lifting the order of accuracy by r with each correction, where r is the order of accuracy of the method used to solve the correction equation. We further apply this framework to solve partial differential equations (PDEs). Numerical examples in two dimensions of linear and nonlinear initial-boundary value problems are presented to demonstrate the performance of the proposed IDC approach.