cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Trefoil Symmetry V: Class Representations for the Minimal Clover Extension

We construct four different real representations of the minimal vector clover extension and their covariant derivatives. We determine their relation to the basic representation and initiate the exploration of constrained superfields.
Measurement of Body Image in Adolescence and Adulthood

This article provides a overview of measures designed to provide an assessment of the subjective and attitudinal components of body image. Dimensions of body image reviewed include subjective (global and specific), affective, cognitive, and behavioral. Typical measures for each category are described and an extensive listing of widely used and empirically supported measures are provided in tabular format. Methodological issues regarding the appropriate selection of a specific measure for a specific sample (e.g., gender, age, and ethnicity) and research design are explored. Specific recommendations to guide the clinician and the researcher in choosing a body image measure are provided.
A multi-method study to understand how youth perceive and evaluate food and beverage advertisements

As a formal practice, advertising has been in existence for over 100 years, most often with the purpose of creating consumer excitement for, and the voluntary purchase of, company products and goods (Grier & Kumanyika, 2010). While advertising is meant to drive consumption, the purchase of certain products, especially among specific groups, may be problematic. Recent literature suggests that there may be a link between food and beverage advertising and the prevalence of childhood obesity among youth in the USA (IOM, 2006). Because of the dramatic increase in the prevalence of obesity over the past 30 years (Ogden, Carrol, Curtin, Lamb, & Flegal, 2010), investigating factors that may contribute to weight gain among children and adolescents is essential. While overweight and obesity is influenced by many factors, food and beverage advertising, and its resulting influence on the dietary preferences and choices of youth, is thought to be a key factor (Story & French, 2004; IOM, 2006). The amount and type of advertising that is directed toward youth has grown considerably in recent years, with marketers using an increasing number of techniques and outlets to promote their products. Greater media use among youth (Rideout, Foehr, & Roberts, 2010), in combination with advertising that extends to a variety of media channels, has resulted in increased exposure to unhealthy food and beverage products.
Prevention of Lameness in Cow-Calf Operations

Lameness is a significant cause of economic loss, premature culling, and loss of genetics in cow-calf operations. In recent years, attention to treatment and prevention of lameness has increased. Veterinarians must be aware of factors associated with lameness such as genetics, environment, and nutrition so that preventive measures can be instituted in consultation with rancher.
Structure and Biological Function of Factor XI

Factor XI was discovered in 1953 as a missing factor in three family members who had a history of mild hemorrhage especially after tooth extraction [1]. Its disorder is inherited as an autosomal recessive trait. Symptoms are variable, mild to severe, and associated with injury or surgery [2]. A half century from the discovery, its purification, amino acid sequence, and crystal structure have been established. Factor XI is the zymogen of a homodimeric serine protease circulating in blood, 5 μg/ml, as a complex with high-molecular-weight kininogen. The amino-terminal half of the molecule is composed of four unique structures called the apple domain. These domains provide exosites to activators, substrates, or cofactors to modulate its biological activity. The carboxy-terminal half of the molecule is a catalytic domain with a structure typical of serine proteases. Factor XI could play a role in factor XII-independent intrinsic pathway to maintain thrombin generation following the initial stage of coagulation, which is triggered by exposed tissue factor. A number of mutated genes were identified in factor XI deficiency, and their recombinant molecules were studied in relation to their impaired biological functions. Some of these studies provided useful information for functional properties of the molecule. For review see ref. [3].
Do intradermal lymphoscintigraphy injections with Tc99m-tilamanocept produce less perceived pain than filtered Tc99m-sulfur colloid injections?

2721 Objectives Lymphoscintigraphy for sentinel lymph node mapping is the standard of care prior to surgery for breast cancer patients, but many patients find the intradermal tracer injection to be quite painful. The purpose of this study is to evaluate patient characteristics and recorded pain scores for administration of the newly developed 99mTc-Tilamanocept (Tc-T), and most frequently used, Filtered 99mTc-Sulfur Colloid (Tc-SC). Methods An IRB compliant, retrospective review was completed on patients diagnosed with breast carcinoma who had a recorded comparative pain scale (CPS) score (0=no pain; 10=unbearable pain) after receiving standard protocol injections of Tc-T between 2013 and 2014 or Tc-SC between 2010 and 2011. Patient age, breast density, carcinoma type, previous surgery, side of injection and pain scores were collected retrospectively from the electronic medical record for each group. Patient characteristics and pain scores for each group underwent statistical analysis. Results Two groups of patients were evaluated according to the administered radiopharmaceutical, Tc-T (n=50) and Tc-SC ( n=22). Among the 50 women in the Tc-T group (age: mean, 60 yr.; range 29-76), the mean pain score was 3.33 (SD 2.58; range 0-8) and 22% of women attested to significant pain (rated 5 or greater). Among the 22 women in the Tc-SC group (age: mean, 56 yr.; range 32-91), 50% of women attested to significant pain and the mean was 4.18 (SD 2.26; range 0-10). Using bivariate linear regression, no correlation between CPS and age, breast density, carcinoma type, previous surgery or side of administration was identified for either group. Tc-T injection produced a lower CPS on average than for Tc-SC this difference did not demonstrate a statistical difference (t(45)=1.4, p=0.165). Conclusions Our data suggests that 99mTc Tilamanocept injections produce less perceived pain than injection of filtered 99mTc Sulfur Colloid but greater patient numbers are required to statistically confirm the small difference in pain score.
Archaeal RNase P: A Mosaic of Its Bacterial and Eukaryal Relatives

Being a mosaic of its bacterial and eukaryal relatives, archaeal RNase P presents an attractive model for biochemical and structural comparative studies. The archaeal RNase P RNA subunit is more conserved with the bacterial counterpart, but its protein subunits share homology only with those associated with the eukaryal RNase P. This review summarizes recent advances in understanding protein-aided RNA catalysis in archaeal RNase P, and highlights findings that exemplify the diversity of RNase P and the dynamic co-evolution of this catalytic ribonucleoprotein complex.
Meiofauna in intermittent streams differ among watersheds subjected to five methods of timber harvest

Meiofauna were collected from the pools of small (0 order) streams in the Ouachita National Forest, Arkansas to examine the impact of forest harvest methods. The study streams and their watersheds (2–6 ha) were located in 14–16 ha forest stands that were selected based on comparability of stands. Five treatment stands were paired with adjacent undisturbed reference stands (10 total). Treatment stands were subjected to one of five harvest methods, listed in order of decreasing severity of harvest disturbance to the stands: (1) clearcut; (2) pine seed-tree; (3) pine shelterwood; (4) pine-hardwood group selection; and (5) pine single-tree selection. Although the mean density of meiofauna collected in 22 l samples pumped from pools was low (1 No. l −1), significant differences were identified. Densities of total meiofauna, harpacticoid copepods, nauplii, ostracods and `other' meiofauna varied significantly by site and treatment (forest harvest). The highest densities of these taxa occurred at the single-tree treatment sites. Greater densities of meiofauna corresponded to greater diversity. The mean number of taxa per site was 11 with a range of 5–24. Rotifers, copepods, nematodes, ostracods and `other' meiofauna taxa were collected. The pattern of diversity of meiofauna at treatment sites from the least intensive (single-tree) to most intensive (clearcut) suggests a curve related to disturbance intensity.
Strawson sobre o juízo estético em Kant

Este artigo parte da leitura que Strawson faz de Kant para enfatizar, a partir do Opus Posthumum, a autonomia da terceira critica e do juizo reflexivo enquanto principio novo e irredutivel aos principios regulativos da razao na primeira critica. Abstract This paper starts with an homage to Strawson's reading of Kant and emphasizes, based on the Opus Posthumum, the autonomy of the Third Critique and of the principle of reflexive judgment as a new and independent principle which cannot be reduced to any of the regulative principles in the Critique of Pure Reason.
Highly Efficient Recovery of Heparin Using a Green and Low-Cost Quaternary Ammonium Functionalized Halloysite Nanotube

Heparin, a highly sulfated polysaccharide, has been widely utilized as a medical anticoagulant for more than 40 years. Nevertheless, it is challenging to obtain heparin at high concentrations in th...
Investigation of Radiated Electromagnetic Interference for an Isolated High-Frequency DC–DC Power Converter With Power Cables

To analyze the radiated electromagnetic interference generated by isolated power converters, this paper proposes a technique to develop a general radiation model for the converters. The radiated electric field can be predicted from the developed model. The interaction between the impedance of the converter and the undesired antenna in the converter's power delivery paths is explored in detail based on the developed model. Moreover, a dual active bridge converter is taken as an example to demonstrate the developed modeling technique based on the converter's topology. The radiated electric field of the dual active bridge converter is predicted from the developed model. Experiments are conducted to validate the developed model and the predicted interaction between the converter impedance and the undesired antenna impedance in the power delivery paths.
Water Disinfection in Rural Areas Demands Unconventional Solar Technologies

Providing access to safe drinking water is a prerequisite for protecting public health. Vast improvements in drinking water quality have been witnessed during the last century, particularly in urban areas, thanks to the successful implementation of large, centralized water treatment plants and the distribution of treated water via underground networks of pipes. Nevertheless, infection by waterborne pathogens through the consumption of biologically unsafe drinking water remains one of the most significant causes of morbidity and mortality in developing rural areas. In these areas, the construction of centralized water treatment and distribution systems is impractical due to high capital costs and lack of existing infrastructure. Improving drinking water quality in developing rural areas demands a paradigm shift to unconventional, innovative water disinfection strategies that are low cost and simple to implement and maintain, while also requiring minimal infrastructure. The implementation of point-of-use (POU) disinfection techniques at the household- or community-scale is the most promising intervention strategy for producing immediate health benefits in the most vulnerable rural populations. Among POU techniques, solar-driven processes are considered particularly instrumental to this strategy, as developing rural areas that lack safe drinking water typically receive higher than average surface sunlight irradiation. Materials that can efficiently harvest sunlight to produce disinfecting agents are pivotal for surpassing the disinfection performance of conventional POU techniques. In this account, we highlight recent advances in materials and processes that can harness sunlight to disinfect water. We describe the physicochemical properties and molecular disinfection mechanisms for four categories of disinfectants that can be generated by harvesting sunlight: heat, germicidal UV radiation, strong oxidants, and mild oxidants. Our recent work in developing materials-based solar disinfection technologies is discussed in detail, with particular focus on the materials' mechanistic functions and their modes of action for inactivation of three common types of waterborne pathogens (i.e., bacteria, virus, and protozoa). We conclude that different solar disinfection technologies should be applied depending on the source water quality and target pathogen due to significant variations on susceptibility of microbial components to disparate disinfectants. In addition, we expect that ample research opportunities exist on reactor design and process engineering for scale-up and improved performance of these solar materials, while accounting for the infrastructure demand and capital input. Although the practical implementation of new treatment techniques will face social and economic challenges that cannot be overlooked, novel technologies such as these can play a pivotal role in reducing water borne disease burden in rural communities in the developing world.
Squamous Intraepithelial Lesions of the Vulva

Vulvar intraepithelial lesions are known to develop along two distinct pathways, one of which is driven by human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and one of which has no association with HPV. HPV-induced lesions, now called squamous intraepithelial lesions of the vulva and formerly termed vulvar intraepithelial neoplasias, comprise a spectrum of epithelial alterations. Lesions that are exophytic, lack cytological atypia, and are associated with low-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) subtypes are classified as condyloma acuminata and have little to no propensity to progress to either high-grade lesions or invasive carcinoma. They are not specifically classified as vulvar squamous intraepithelial lesions (SIL). Vulvar low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (LSIL) are flat, macular, or papular. Microscopically they demonstrate epithelial keratinocyte maturation although nuclear pleomorphism and some atypia may be found in the lower one third of the epithelium. The more superficial epithelium often has koilocytosis without atypia. They are predominantly associated with low-risk HPV types, although oncogenic HPV types may be identified in less than a fifth of the cases. As compared to condyloma acuminata or high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSIL), vulvar LSIL lesions are uncommon. The high-grade lesions are associated with high-risk HPV types, especially type 16. They occur predominately in younger patients and typically present as flat, macular, or papular lesions, although confluent lesions may occasionally be identified. Microscopically they show a warty or basaloid morphology with cellular abnormalities extending into the upper layers of the epithelium and are classified as “high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions.” The intraepithelial lesions of the vulva which are not related to HPV infection are known as the differentiated type of vulvar intraepithelial neoplasia (d-VIN) and comprise a minority of lesions, which usually occur in older patients, have a distinctive appearance with cellular abnormalities confined to the basal layers of the epithelium, and have the highest risk of progressing to invasive disease.
Understanding the residential energy efficiency financing coverage gap and market potential

Abstract Access to upfront capital remains a primary barrier in residential energy efficiency adoption. Government-sponsored programs exist for low-income households while traditional financing serves creditworthy households. However, there remains a coverage gap for those with moderate incomes too high to qualify for low- income programs, but without access to friendly capital. With limited research in this space, this study aims to: (1) develop a model to estimate the number of households in the coverage gap; and (2) explore their spatial distribution. For the state of Michigan, we used data from the US Census Bureau and approximately 12,000 green bank loans to estimate the energy efficiency financing coverage gap across the state's 83 counties using a binomial mixed model. We found that credit score and income interacted to largely determine whether an applicant was approved. Households in the highest income quintile achieved a 50% chance of approval with a moderate credit score (662) while those in the lowest needed a very high credit score (715) for the same odds. Overall, this created an estimated 12% energy efficiency financing coverage gap of households statewide, with individual county levels between 0% and 24%. Broadly, understanding the market potential and spatial distribution of this coverage gap could allow impact-driven financiers such as green banks or community development financial institutions to expand programs that may offer alternative underwriting criteria. Expanding loan access to this underserved market can promote energy system improvements, policy goals, household living conditions, and an equitable clean energy transition.
Propeller influence on the aeroelastic stability of High Altitude Long Endurance aircraft

This work investigates the propeller’s influence on the stability of High Altitude Long Endurance aircraft, incorporating all resultant loads at the propeller hub, propeller slipstream, and gyroscopic loads. Such effects are usually neglected in the aeroelastic simulation of HALE aircraft. For that goal, a previously developed framework, which couples a geometrically nonlinear structural solver with an Unsteady Vortex Lattice method (uVLM) for lifting surfaces and a Viscous Vortex Particle (VVP) method for propeller slipstream, was employed to generate time-data series. Also, a method, based on a combination of Proper Orthogonal Decomposition and system identification, to extract dynamic information (frequencies, damping, and modes) of the aircraft from a time-series signal is proposed and successfully tested for a purely structural case, for which reference data is available. The method is then applied to investigate the stability of aeroelastic cases. The results demonstrate that the presence of propellers can influence the aeroelastic stability of a Very Flexible Aircraft.
Effect of Growth Rings per Inch and Density on Compression Parallel to Grain in Southern Pine Lumber

The objective of this study was to evaluate the relationship of growth characteristics to compression properties from commercially available southern pine lumber. The in-grade No. 2 southern pine lumber was collected from retail stores across the Southeast United States. For this specific project, 797 samples of 2 × 8 and 2 × 10 boards were examined. The samples were subjected to static bending following ASTM D 198 to determine mechanical properties. The 2 × 8 samples averaged 4.78 growth rings per inch (RPI) and the 2 × 10s averaged 3.95. Average density (ρ) was 477 kg·m-3 in the 2 × 8 and 487 kg·m-3 for the 2 × 10 specimens. From small clear samples from the parent boards, compression parallel to grain averaged from 43.78 MPa for the 2 × 8 to 46.77 MPa for the 2 × 10. Correlations were run to test significance among growth rings per inch and compressions parallel to grain, across both sizes: 2 × 8 and 2 × 10. Slight significance was found in those correlations and increased in measure from 2 × 8 to 2 × 10. The segmentation of RPI into three distinct groups helped strengthen the findings of effect on compression parallel to grain. Moreover, the addition of density as another test variable further strengthened in relationship per those RPI categorizations. Statistically significant findings for density per RPI segments, R2 values: for 2 × 8 equal 0.31 (3 or less RPI) to 0.60 (more than 5 RPI). For the 2 × 10 lumber per the same segments, R2 values: 0.39, 0.46 and 0.25, respectively. The results suggest ρ is a better predictor than RPI alone for compression parallel to grain values.
CoroNet: A Deep Network Architecture for Semi-Supervised Task-Based Identification of COVID-19 from Chest X-ray Images

Abstract In late 2019, a new Coronavirus disease, referred to as Corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19), emerged in Wuhan city, Hubei, China, and resulted in a global pandemic—claiming a large number of lives and affecting billions all around the world. The current global standard used in diagnosis of COVID-19 in suspected cases is the real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test. Although the RT-PCR remains the standard reference for diagnosis purposes, it is a time-consuming and expensive test, and moreover, it usually suffers from high rates of false-negatives. Several early works have reported that the sensitivity of the chest Computed Tomography (CT) and the chest X-ray imaging are noticeably greater than that of the RT-PCR test at the initial representations of the disease, making them great candidates for developing new and sophisticated methodologies for analysis and classification of COVID-19 cases. In this paper, we establish the use of a rapid, non-invasive and cost-effective X-ray-based method as a key diagnosis and screening tool for COVID-19 at early and intermediate stages of the disease. To this end, we develop a novel and sophisticated deep learning-based signal and image processing technique as well as classification methodology for analyzing X-ray images specific to COVID-19 disease. Specifically, we consider a semi-supervised learning methodology based on AutoEncoders to first extract the infected legions in chest X-ray manifestation of COVID-19 and other Pneumonia-like diseases (as well as healthy cases). Then, we utilize this highly-tailored deep architecture to extract the relevant features specific to each class (i.e., healthy, non-COVID pneumonia, and COVID-19) and train a powerful yet efficient classifier to perform the task of automatic diagnosis. Furthermore, the semi-supervised nature of the proposed framework enables us to efficiently exploit the limited available dataset on COVID-19 while exploiting the vast amount of available X-ray dataset for healthy and non-COVID classes. Moreover, such a semi-supervised approach does not require an expert-annotated lesion area for each class. Our numerical investigations demonstrate that the proposed framework outperforms the state-of-the-art methods for COVID-19 identification while employing approximately ten times fewer training parameters as compared to other existing methodologies for classification of the COVID-19 from X-ray images (facilitating efficient training in a limited data regime). We further develop explainable artificial intelligence tools that can explain the diagnosis by using attribution maps while providing an indispensable tool for the radiologist in triage state. We have made the codes of our proposed framework publicly available to the research and healthcare community1.
The Role of Reproductive Autonomy in Adolescent Contraceptive Choice and Acceptance of Long-acting Reversible Contraception.

Structured Abstract Study Objective To examine the association between reproductive autonomy and adolescent receptivity towards long acting reversible contraceptive (LARC) methods. Design A survey assessing sexual history and contraceptive practices/knowledge/attitudes was administered. Reproductive autonomy was measured with an adapted validated scale. Setting Adolescent medicine clinic in an urban academic medical center in the Midwestern United States. Participants Girls ages 14-21 years presenting for well or contraceptive visits. Main Outcome Measures Primary outcome was a favorable rating towards the question “How much do you like the idea of LARC for yourself?” Primary independent variable was the reproductive autonomy decision-making subscale score (higher score indicating increased autonomy). Results Eighty-nine participants with a mean age of 16 years completed surveys. Almost all (92%) identified as African American. At study enrollment 56.2% were using Depo-Provera, 15.7% oral contraceptives, 3.4% implants, and 24.7% no method. Only 13.5% of participants liked the idea of LARC for themselves. The mean score on the decision-making subscale was 9 (range 4-12). In bivariable analysis, age was associated with decision-making subscale score, but was not retained as a confounder in multivariable analysis. The odds of liking LARC decreased by 30% with each unit increase in autonomy decision-making subscale score (OR 0.70, 95% CI 0.52 to 0.94, p=0.02). Conclusion Our findings suggest that adolescents with higher reproductive autonomy, as measured by score on the decision-making subscale, were less likely to favor LARC. Further research should explore participants’ perceptions of autonomy and the relational dynamics between adolescents and their parents/partners in contraceptive choice.
Improving free-space optical communication with adaptive optics for higher order modulation

One of the biggest challenges of free-space optical (FSO) communication is the wave-front aberration due to atmospheric turbulence. In FSO links the wave-front distortion manifests as a significant drop in received power, beam wander, information loss, and scintillation effects. The performance of FSO communication system is degraded significantly by the atmospheric turbulence effects. Fortunately, the adaptive optics system offers potential to mitigate the performance degradation, which is relevant for quantum communication applications as well. In our FSO experiment, we perform the transmission of 6.25 GBd QPSK signal over an FSO link without and with adaptive optics, operating at 1550nm. We emulate the atmospheric aberration in our indoor experimental setup by applying random Kolmogorov phase screens on spatial light modulators (SLMs). We demonstrate significant improvements in the power-collected, signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR), and bit-error-rate (BER) performance due to the application of adaptive optics.
DAB2IP modulates primary cilia formation associated with renal tumorigenesis.

Primary cilium is a microtubule-based organelle that projects from the surfaces of most mammalian cell types and protrudes into the extracellular milieu as an antenna-like sensor to senses extracellular physical and biochemical signals, and then transmits signals into cytoplasm or nucleus to regulate numerous physical and developmental processes. Therefore, loss of primary cilia is associated to multiple cancer progression, including skin, breast, pancreas, ovarian, prostate, and kidney cancers. Our previous studies demonstrate that high prevalent loss of DAB2 Interacting Protein (DAB2IP) is associated with renal cell carcinoma, and we found a kinesin-like protein, kinesin family member 3A (KIF3a), was significantly increased in DAB2IP-interacting protein fraction. KIF3 is one of the most abundant kinesin-2 family proteins expressed in cells, and it is necessary for ciliogenesis. In this study, we observed that loss of DAB2IP in normal kidney epithelial cell significantly impair primary cilia formation. We unveiled a new mechanism of primary cilia stability via DAB2IP and KIF3a physical interaction at DAB2IP-PH domain. Furthermore, we found that KIF3a also act as a tumor suppressor in renal cell carcinoma, affect tumor development and patient survival.
Five Facts About Direct Lending to Middle-Market Buyouts

Using a proprietary data set of private credit agreements, I document five facts about a previously unexplored segment of the US corporate debt market: nonbank direct lending to private equity (PE) middle-market buyouts. First, PE-backed middle-market firms have high cash flow, low liquidation value of tangible assets, and exhibit strong (weak) dependence of debt capacity to cash flow (liquidation value). Second, these features are stronger for those borrowing using direct loans despite their being smaller in size. Third, direct loans face markedly higher annual borrowing costs that are over 300 basis points higher than on comparable bank loans. Fourth, direct loans instead have a much more borrower-friendly covenant structure. Fifth, borrowers of direct loans find covenant violation costly, for it may constrain future borrowing. These findings suggest that small firms are not limited to asset-based bank debt and can rely heavily on cash flow-based debt. Further, direct lenders can provide more flexible solutions to PE sponsors in exchange for greater cash flow rights without compromising ex-post enforcement of contractual rights. Overall, this paper raises important questions for research in the growing literature on shadow banking.
Reframing Hospital to Home Discharge from "Should We?" to "How Can We?": COVID-19 and Beyond.

The pressure to discharge patients from the hospital quickly has intensified with the ongoing coronavirus‐2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic as bed and staff availability are paramount. 1 , 2 In addition, patients and caregivers are eager to return home where the risk of viral transmission is less. This is especially important for older adults who are at the greatest risk for complications and mortality if they contract COVID‐19. 3 , 4 Rehabilitation providers contribute uniquely to interdisciplinary discharge planning by providing critical evaluation of a patient's functional abilities and rehabilitation prognosis in the context of the individual's medical complexity, hospital course, psychosocial factors, and environmental features (i.e., home set‐up). 5 , 6 The COVID‐19 pandemic has retained these elements as critical to discharge planning. 7 However, there has been a major shift in perspective from which we view and make discharge decisions from “Should we discharge this person to home?” to “How can we make a discharge to home possible?” To be clear, safe and coordinated discharge planning has remained a priority during the pandemic. Some hospitalized older adults still require discharge to post‐acute care facilities (e.g., inpatient rehabilitation facilities, skilled nursing facilities, transitional care units) to maximize their functional recovery before returning home. Yet, for hospitalized older adults who may be considered “on the fence” for discharge to home versus a post‐acute rehabilitation facility, many rehabilitation and interdisciplinary providers have now reframed how they involve the patient and support network in the discharge planning. The purpose of this commentary is to outline a shift in the perspectives of rehabilitation providers on discharge decision‐making during the COVID‐19 pandemic by incorporating greater integration of caregivers in the discharge planning and increasing the use of shared‐decision making approaches. If changes in the process of hospital discharge decision‐making continue beyond the end of the COVID‐19 pandemic, then further evaluation of their effects (intended and unintended consequences) on system, clinical, and patient‐centered outcomes is warranted.
One-Year Experience of Cytomegalovirus T Cell Immunity Monitoring in Heart Transplant Recipients

Purpose Guidelines suggest optional use of Cytomegalovirus (CMV) T Cell immunity monitoring (TCell) to guide primary prophylaxis duration or need for secondary prophylaxis after infection. This may help balance the negative implications of CMV (rejection, coronary artery vasculopathy) against those of valganciclovir (expense, leukopenia/neutropenia). We present one year of experience to evaluate the potential utility of this test. Methods CMV TCell was implemented at our center to assess immunity at end of primary prophylaxis (R+ serostatus) and need for secondary prophylaxis after treatment of CMV. Heart transplant recipients with CMV TCell September 2019 to 2020 were retrospectively reviewed. Primary prophylaxis tests were excluded if R- serostatus or within 6 months of rATG. Tests at time of CMV detection prior to treatment were also excluded. Results Table 1 describes requirements for implementation. 24 patients had CMV TCell during study period; 1 never processed. Patients were excluded for: R- serostatus (6), rATG (1), and at time of CMV detection (2). 14 patients were included for analysis; 5 CMV R+ to guide primary prophylaxis discontinuation, 8 for secondary prophylaxis after infection treatment, 1 early for neutropenia. The early test for neutropenia was inconclusive after G-CSF administration. Immunity was noted at first test in 2/5 (40%) of the primary prophylaxis and 4/8 (50%) of the secondary group. Of non-immune in primary prophylaxis group, 2 had inconclusive tests concurrent to non-CMV infection and other in setting of neutropenia. After repeat tests, 9/14 (64%) patients were noted to have immunity. Of those with immunity, 5/9 (55%) had recurrence of low level viremia; 2 treated at detection, 3 self-cleared without treatment. Conclusion Early review of our data suggests CMV TCell may serve a role to identify patients who would benefit from secondary prophylaxis after treatment of CMV infection. Additional data over future years will help better define optimal utilization of this test.
Perceived Stress and Diet Quality in College Females

Objectives To explore the relationship between perceived stress on the diet quality of college females, age 18–24.
The determinants of positive long-term performance in strategic mergers: Corporate focus and cash

Abstract Using a sample selection and benchmarking methodology designed to more accurately assess merger-related changes in corporate focus, we find a significantly positive relationship between corporate focus and long-term merger performance. Focus-decreasing (FD) mergers result in significantly negative long-term performance with an average 18% loss in stockholder wealth, 9% loss in firm value, and significant declines in operating cash flows three years after merger. Mergers that either preserve or increase focus (FPI) result in marginal improvements in long-term performance. These results are consistent with many corporate focus studies, suggesting that merger studies finding opposite results are the result of measurement error. A positive relationship between changes in focus and long-term performance continues to hold after controlling for other variables. A continuous measure of focus change indicates that the extent of focus changes is significant. Every 10% reduction in focus results in a 9% loss in stockholder wealth, a 4% discount in firm value, and a more than 1% decline in operating performance. Cash-financed FPI mergers exhibit the best, and stock-financed FD mergers the worst, long-term performance. Tests of subsample time periods show that the focus change measure is significant in both time periods, indicating that the extent of corporate focus changes is the more important measure of corporate focus or diversification.
Solar Photovoltaic Devices as Radiation Sensors for Post-detonation Nuclear Forensics

In this study, we evaluated the feasibility of applying solar photovoltaic (PV) panels as sensors of nuclear and electromagnetic radiation that includes neutrons, x-rays and gamma-rays, and optical radiation emanating from a nuclear explosion. We investigated the steady-state and transient response of both a commercial silicon (Si) and a perovskite solar cell to different radiation types. Solar cell current-voltage characteristics and short-circuit current (I sc ) response under steady-state x-ray illumination were measured. The fast transient radiation pulse from a nuclear detonation was mimicked by using a fast switching, nanosecond pulsed laser source and the transient response of the solar cells was captured on an oscilloscope. Subsequently, the transient response of Si solar cells to pulsed x-rays generated by a mechanical x-ray chopper was measured. A 2 MeV neutron beam chopper was built at the fast neutron beam facility of a research reactor to produce time-modulated neutrons and evaluate the solar cell transient response to a neutron pulse. Our steady-state measurements demonstrated good response of solar cells to x-rays and neutrons. The pulsed radiation measurements indicated that the solar cells are able to detect a fast transient radiation and produce a proportional measurable output signature.
Identifying a molecular profile to predict the risk of recurrence in high-intermediate risk endometrial cancer.

BACKGROUND Patients with high-intermediate risk endometrial cancer (H-IR EMCA) have an elevated risk of recurrence compared to low-risk counterparts. Many H-IR EMCA patients are treated with radiation or chemotherapy, but their overall survival is not significantly impacted by treatment. The objective of this study was to compare molecular profiles of H-IR EMCA patients with disease recurrence to those without to identify characteristics that could better predict patient outcomes. METHODS Tissue was acquired from H-IR EMCA patients with disease recurrence (n=15) and without disease recurrence (n=15) who had not received adjuvant therapy and performed DNA and RNA analyses. RESULTS In recurrent population, 5 patients had matchingrecurrent and initial tumor tissues. Of note, 5/7 (71%) African Americanpatients had disease recurrence compared to 10/23 (43%) White patients. Inaddition, several new mutations were found in individual patient's recurrentcompared to initial tumors. CONCLUSIONS Currently the treatment ofendometrial cancer is rapidly changing with molecular profiling becoming partof the standard of care. Additionally, it and is being incorporated intoclinical trials in this group of patients. The specific gene mutations and RNAexpression signatures that were observed in our small cohort need to bevalidated in larger cohorts to determine their impact.
New Venture Financing and Venture Capital `Funding Hole'

An entrepreneur usually chooses to receive seed funding for a new project from an angel investor (angel) or a venture capitalist (VC), a choice complicated by the implications of follow-on financing required at the next stage of the venture. The size of the follow-on round is typically much larger than the seed round and the first-stage investors, including the angel almost certainly, and the VC with a significant probability, do not extend follow-on financing. A project released by the original investor faces unfavorable valuation risk from a new financier at the second stage due to asymmetric information, and may even be denied funding and disappear into a ``funding hole." We show theoretically and empirically that the risks are asymmetric for initially angel-funded and initially VC-funded but otherwise identical projects. The risk is elevated with initially VC-backed projects because the original venture capitalist is presumed to decline further financing to all negative-NPV projects in her stable, along with some positive-NPV projects depending on her other opportunities, while an angel declines in all cases. Thus, a positive-NPV project released by a VC enters a diluted pool with more negative-NPV projects than a project released by an angel. On the other hand, the original venture capitalist adds value to all projects in the first period with her guidance and advice and projects that receive follow-on funding have no valuation risk due to asymmetric information. We show that an entrepreneur should choose seed funding from a VC when the follow-on rate of the VC is low or high, but select angel financing for intermediate follow-on rates. We examine seed fundings by the top US angel investors and venture capitalists from 2010-2015 and show that projects released by venture capitalists are less successful raising funds after release, and that follow-on rates by venture capitalists tend to be either high or low, supporting our theoretical findings. Our results are new to the existing literature and offer interesting implications, including that angel financing and VC financing are sometimes complementary, and not always substitutes as in conventional thinking. Angel financing may rescue an entrepreneur when VC financing leads to a funding hole.
Horizontal Transfer of Naphthalene Catabolic Genes in a Toxic Waste Site

Publisher Summary This chapter summarizes the investigations examining how the naturally occurring groundwater microbial community in a site in South Glens Falls, New York, has genetically adapted to exposure to coal-tar waste and naphthalene, in particular. After isolation of naphthalene-degrading bacteria from the site and sequencing their key naphthalene catabolic (nahAc) and 16S rRNA genes, incongruent gene phylogeny suggested that horizontal gene transfer (HGT) had occurred. The nahAc gene was found to reside on large (70–88 kb) plasmids within the site-derived isolates. Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) and Southern analysis of the plasmids showed that they were very similar to the archetypal naphthalene catabolic plasmid pDTG1. Laboratory mating assays with cured, rifampin-resistant recipient strains proved the plasmids were self-transmissible. Laboratory mating assays also proved that the native soil microbial community carried donor strains similar to pDTG1. HGT, the transmission of DNA fragments among the organisms of distinctive ancestral lineage, is an increasingly significant area of science because of its evolutionary, biotechnological, and medical implications.
On the generation and structure of the quadrupole magnetic field in the reconnection process: Comparative simulation study

[1] We investigate magnetic reconnection dynamics using three simulation codes to isolate ion kinetic effects from Hall effects: a full hybrid code, a Hall MHD code, and a new Hall-less hybrid code. The structure of the quadrupole magnetic field (also known as the core field or out-of-plane field) is used as the physical quantity for this comparison because it is a good proxy of fast magnetic reconnection. Examination of the core field time evolution equations for the Hall-less hybrid and Hall MHD models reveal inherent differences between these models. In particular, it demonstrates that core fields can be generated in the kinetic regime even in the absence of the Hall term. We attribute this result to ion kinetic effects, e.g., ion diamagnetic drifts driven by an anisotropic ion stress tensor. This result is borne out by our simulations. Additionally, kinetic ion dynamics leads to core fields with widths that can extend to several ion inertial lengths in the vicinity of X-line and tens of ion inertial lengths further away. In contrast, in Hall MHD, the typical case is about an ion inertial length in the vicinity of the X-line and a few ion inertial lengths further away. These results pose challenges for improving fluid models of reconnection.
The effect of vascular endothelial growth factor and brain-derived neurotrophic factor on cavernosal nerve regeneration in a nerve-crush rat model.

OBJECTIVE To test the hypothesis that an intracavernosal injection with brain-derived neurotrophin factor (BDNF) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) can facilitate nerve regeneration and recovery of erectile function after cavernosal nerve injury. MATERIALS AND METHODS The study included 25 Sprague-Dawley rats; four had a sham operation, seven bilateral nerve crushing with no further intervention, and 14 bilateral nerve crushing with either an immediate (seven) or delayed for 1 month (seven) intracavernosal injection with BDNF+VEGF. Erectile function was assessed by cavernosal nerve electrostimulation at 3 months, and neural regeneration by NADPH-diaphorase staining and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) staining of penile tissue and major pelvic ganglia (MPG). RESULTS After nerve crushing, the functional evaluation at 3 months showed a lower mean (sd) intracavernosal pressure (ICP) with cavernosal nerve stimulation, at 33.9 (15.3) cmH2O, than in the sham group, at 107.8 (18.1) cmH2O. With an immediate injection with BDNF+VEGF the ICP was significantly higher than in the controls, at 67.8 (38.5) cmH2O. Even delayed injection with BDNF+VEGF improved the ICP, to 78.0 (21.8) cmH2O. Histological analysis of specimens stained for NADPH and TH showed a significant change in the morphology of terminal branches of the cavernosal and dorsal nerves, and the staining quality of the neurones in the MPG. The number of positively stained nerve fibres tended to revert to normal after treatment with BDNF+VEGF. CONCLUSION An intracavernosal injection with BDNF+VEGF appears to both prevent degeneration and facilitate regeneration of neurones containing neuronal nitric oxide synthase in the MPG, dorsal nerve and intracavernosal tissue. Therefore it might have therapeutic potential for enhancing the recovery of erectile function after radical pelvic surgery.
Knowledge acquisition using rough sets when membership values are fuzzy sets

In this paper we model uncertainty using the so-called rough set approach in which upper and lower approximations of a set of objects are based on equivalence classes determined by attribute values. However, due to imprecision in the information, both the attributes and the resulting decisions are modeled as fuzzy sets. Furthermore, the membership of these fuzzy sets is also fuzzy, creating fuzzy sets of type II. From information of this type, we construct inference rules of unequal strength. The strength of any rule is determined by both its degree of truth and its degree of belief, each of which are obtained from the fuzzy memberships.
Port and case flow temperature prediction for axial piston machines

Researchers at Purdue’s Maha Fluid Power Research Center have developed models that will enable computational design of piston machines. The core of the in-house developed program forms multi-domain models capturing the fluid–structure interaction phenomena taking place in the main lubricating interfaces (piston/cylinder, cylinder block/valve plate, and slipper/swash plate) of axial piston machines. The model allows studying the influence of a given pump or motor design on machine performance, power loss, and energy dissipation in those main lubricating interfaces. The behavior of the fluid film in these lubricating interfaces as well as the shape of the solid parts is temperature and pressure dependent. In order to solve for non-isothermal flow and to consider elasto-hydrodynamic effects, port and case temperatures are needed as boundary condition for the model. In case of analysis and optimization of existing pumps and motors, those boundary conditions can be taken from steady-state measurements; howeve...
Random Probability Measures with Given Mean and Variance Running title: Random Probability Measures

This article describes several natural methods of constructing random probability measures with prescribed mean and variance, and focuses mainly on a technique which constructs a sequence of simple (purely discrete, finite number of atoms) distributions with the prescribed mean and with variances which increase to the desired variance. Basic properties of the construction are established, including conditions guaranteeing full support of the generated measures, and conditions guaranteeing that the final measure is discrete. Finally, applications of the construction method to optimization problems such as Plackett's Problem are mentioned, and to experimental determination of average-optimal solutions of certain control problems.
Water Pollution Regulation in a Spatial Model

In this paper the properties of optimal tax incentives schemes to control pollution in the long run in a spatial setting are examined. In the full information, “point source” setting, a majority of authors who have investigated this issue attest to the efficacy of spatial Pigouvian taxes (e.g., Tietenberg, 1974; Maler, 1974; Hochman et al.,1977; Freeman, 1984; Spulber, 1985). Such taxes are levied on emissions, at a rate equal to the marginal damages of emissions at that location, evaluated at an optimal allocation. However, close examination of these papers reveals that, while excellent contributions in a number of respects, they fail to demonstrate completely that a system of spatial Pigouvian taxes (SPTs) suffice to ensure that competitive equilibrium (given the taxes) are Pareto efficient. The reason is that they fail to consider adequately the assignment of productive activities to locations.