cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Speckle reduction in ultrasonic images through a maximum likelihood based adaptive filter

Speckle poses serious problems in the interpretation of ultrasound images. It reduces contrast and resolution, making it difficult to identify the presence of abnormalities in B mode images. Using a recently proposed compound probability density function (pdf) for the statistics of the backscattered ultrasonic signals, an adaptive filter for speckle reduction is implemented and tested on B mode images of a tissue mimicking phantom. Results suggest that the adaptive filter based on a maximum likelihood approach improves the ability to classify targets in images while retaining the details in the original unprocessed image.
The effect of aspirin on prostaglandin synthetase

Abstract Aspirin covalently modifies and inactivates prostaglandin synthetase by acetylating a single serine residue of the enzyme. Acetylation selectively inhibits oxygenase activity, the formation of PGG 2 from arachidonic acid. The consequence of the aspirin modification is currently unknown but could relate to some disruption in cofactor binding (such as heme) to the enzyme. The relative sensitivity of the platelet and endothelial enzymes to asprin has not been clearly defined.
The resilience of Native American elders.

This article focuses on the lived experiences of resilience in eight Native American elders. Although resilience has not been conceptualized among this group, findings revealed five unique attributes. The study design fostered the culturally relevant use of story telling, which allowed the authentic voices of the elders to be heard.Resilience exists among these Native American elders, but it is uniquely enmeshed into the seamless fabric of their culture, worldview, and connectedness expressed as Oneness with all creation. This finding of a unified cosmology suggests an extension to Bronfenbrenner's ecological theory to include the cosmosystem as a new systemic level.
An integrated voice/data protocol for local area bus networks

A distributed protocol for integrated voice/data traffic on a local area bus network is discussed. The protocol uses announcement and reservation techniques. A two-dimensional Markov model is used to estimate the performance of both traffic types. The performance of voice traffic is much like a centrally controlled time-division multiplexing (TDM) system, due to the short propagation delay properties of local area networks, and the data traffic behavior is similar to a CSMA-type system, since the data protocol is basically a variation of carrier-sense multiaccess with collision detection (CSMA/CD). The interactive effects between voice and data traffic are investigated and discussed. It is shown that the protocol fulfils the requirements of both types of traffic and the unified voice/data access simplifies the design and implementation of interfaces. The use of dynamic voice and data bandwidth allocation achieves efficient usage of the channel, and the protocol performs well for all values of traffic intensity. Simulation results validate the performance model and show good consistency with analytic results. >
High efficiency diode doubler with conjugate- matched antennas

A high efficiency harmonic re-radiator, consisting of a diode doubler and conjugate-matched receive and transmit antennas, is described. The device operates by receiving a 1.3 GHz signal and re-radiating a 2.6 GHz signal. The doubler design is optimized for low input power operation and provides 1% conversion efficiency at -30 dBm input. It is shown that utilizing proper harmonic terminations in the computer simulations is critical for accurate performance prediction.
Subgenus Systematics of Acanthamoeba: Four Nuclear 18S rDNA Sequence Types

Classification of Acanthamoeba at the subgenus level has been problematic, but increasing reports of Acanthamoeba as an opportunistic human pathogen have generated an interest in finding a more consistent basis for classification. Thus, we are developing a classification scheme based on RNA gene sequences. This first report is based on analysis of complete sequences of nuclear small ribosomal subunit RNA genes (Rns) from 18 strains. Sequence variation was localized in 12 highly variable regions. Four distinct sequence types were identified based on parsimony and distance analyses. Three were obtained from single strains: Type T1 from Acanthamoeba castellanii V006, T2 from Acanthamoeba palestinensis Reich, and T3 from Acanthamoeba griffini S-7. T4, the fourth sequence type, included 15 isolates classified as A. castellanii, Acanthamoeba polyphaga, Acanthamoeba rhysodes or Acanthamoeba sp., and included all 10 Acanthamoeba keratitis isolates. Interstrain sequence differences within T4 were 0%-4.3%, whereas differences among sequence types were 6%-12%. Branching orders obtained by parsimony and distance analyses were inconsistent with the current classification of T4 strains and provided further evidence of a need to reevaluate criteria for classification in this genus. Based on this report and others in preparation, we propose that Rns sequence types provide the consistent quantititive basis for classification that is needed.
Effects of Dietary Copper Supplementation and Copper Source on Digesta pH, Calcium, Zinc, and Copper Complex Size in the Gastrointestinal Tract of the Broiler Chicken

An experiment was conducted to study the effects of high dietary Cu and Cu source on the pH of digesta from the gizzard, duodenum + jejunum, ileum, and complex size of Ca, Zn, and Cu in the duodenum + jejunum digesta of broiler chickens. Ross 308 male broiler chicks were randomly assigned to 32 cages and fed 1 of 4 treatments: control, 250 ppm Cu from sulfate, 250 ppm Cu from lysinate, and 250 ppm tribasic Cu from chloride from 15 to 21 d of age. Copper supplementation and Cu source had no effects on pH of gizzard or duodenum + jejunum contents. Copper supplementation, however, increased the pH of the ileal contents (P 100,000, 100,000 to 30,000, 30,000 to 5,000, and 100,000 MW) or small complexes ( 100,000 MW) and decreased (P < 0.05) the percentage of Zn associated with small complexes (<5,000 MW; P < 0.05), thereby suggesting an antagonism between Cu and Zn.
Robust adaptive asymptotic tracking of nonlinear systems with additive disturbance

This note deals with the tracking control of multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) nonlinear parametric strict-feedback systems in the presence of additive disturbances and parametric uncertainties. For such systems, C/sup 0/ robust adaptive controllers usually cannot ensure asymptotic tracking or even regulation. In this work, under the assumption the disturbances are C/sup 2/ with bounded time derivatives, we present a C/sup 0/ robust adaptive control construction that guarantees the tracking error is asymptotically driven to zero.
Point of Care Testing in Cardiac Surgery: Diagnostic Modalities to Assess Coagulation and Platelet Function

Preclinical Research Point of Care testing in the perioperative arena is a high priority topic, specifically in cardiac surgery where a majority of perioperative blood transfusions occur. Platelet function in particular is of interest in cardiac surgery as cardiopulmonary bypass itself creates known platelet dysfunction, but also because more and more patients are on antiplatelet agents due to coronary stenting procedures. This review will focus on presenting current data relating to platelet function in the perioperative setting, along with a brief review of general coagulation concepts.
Characterization of Geotextile Void Structure

This paper presents results from a study undertaken to quantitatively evaluate a fibrous medium containing both voids and man-made filaments. The evaluation was conducted using optical images captured from surfaces of coupons cut from resinimpregnated specimens of a needle punched nonwoven (NPNW) geotextile under various boundary load conditions. The sizes of voids enclosed by adjacent filaments were measured using optical image analysis and expressed in terms of the largest inscribing opening size (LIOS). In contrast to the dimensionless parameters of global or local void ratio, the largest inscribing opening size is useful for directly measuring the actual void size which affects properties such as the hydraulic conductivity, soil retention/migration, compressibility, and tensile strength. LIOS was particularly suitable for analyzing images containing linear or curved line segments with relatively low values of void ratio. The results showed how the LIOS distribution varies as a function of normal load and shear displacement.
The influence of emotions on cognitive control: feelings and beliefs—where do they meet?

The influence of emotion on higher-order cognitive functions, such as attention allocation, planning, and decision-making, is a growing area of research with important clinical applications. In this review, we provide a computational framework to conceptualize emotional influences on inhibitory control, an important building block of executive functioning. We first summarize current neurocognitive models of inhibitory control and show how Bayesian ideal observer models can help reframe inhibitory control as a dynamic decision-making process. Finally, we propose a Bayesian framework to study emotional influences on inhibitory control, providing several hypotheses that may be useful to conceptualize inhibitory control biases in mental illness such as depression and anxiety. To do so, we consider the neurocognitive literature pertaining to how affective states can bias inhibitory control, with particular attention to how valence and arousal may independently impact inhibitory control by biasing probabilistic representations of information (i.e., beliefs) and valuation processes (e.g., speed-error tradeoffs).
Effect of Measurement Frequency and Test Duration on the Inflation Pressure Loss Rate of Radial Medium Truck Tires

ABSTRACT: The inflation pressure loss rate (IPLR) of a tire has been a standard test method for several decades and is used to determine the rate at which a tire will lose pressure. Following these procedures, the rate of pressure loss is obtained and expressed numerically as the percentage of loss per month. This is an investigation of two experimental variables: (1) the frequency at which the inflation pressure is measured on a daily basis, and (2) the duration of the entire test. The measurement frequency means how many data points are recorded during a 24-hour period. For example, one study may collect data as infrequently as once per day by manually reading a pressure gauge every 24 hours. Alternatively, another study may collect data electronically with pressure transducers capable of transmitting large numbers of data points over short preset periods, then numerically averaging those data into a single 24-hour daily measurement. After a 21-day period to equilibrate the newly inflated tire, the test...
Struggling with History and Memory

I wish to speak about the components of the controversy at the National Air and Space Museum (NASM): (1) the presence of the Enola Gay itself; (2) the evolution of the museum, from the nation's "Valhalla of the Air" to a place that investigates the "interrelationship between aerospace technology and modern warfare"; (3) commemorative expectations at fiftieth anniversaries; and (4) the grotesque caricature of script, curatorial motive, and interpretive purpose that dominated media coverage. (This stands in striking contrast to the thoughtful critique by military historians of the infamous first script.) I conclude with a few comments about the implications of this controversy.' The Enola Gay may stir more passions than any other relic in the culture. For some, it carried a weapon that saved countless lives-perhaps theirs-and ended the war. Brig. Gen. Paul Tibbets, who piloted the Enola Gay on its mission to Hiroshima, said it should be displayed as a "peacekeeper . . . the harbinger of a cold war kept from going hot." For others, however, it was a harbinger of a new and more indiscriminate holocaust - a term appropriated purposefully from its traditional usage to impress people with the gravity of the predicament.2 There has been ambivalence regarding the appropriate location in American memory and on American soil of the Enola Gay. There were scattered objections in 1946 when Sen. Carl Hatch of New Mexico introduced a bill to display the Enola Gay in a special museum to be part of an Atomic Bomb National Monument near Alamogordo, New Mexico. There was outrage from some veterans when the
The "Cyclopropyl Fragment" is a Versatile Player that Frequently Appears in Preclinical/Clinical Drug Molecules.

Recently, there has been an increasing use of the cyclopropyl ring in drug development to transition drug candidates from the preclinical to clinical stage. Important features of the cyclopropane ring are, the (1) coplanarity of the three carbon atoms, (2) relatively shorter (1.51 A) C–C bonds, (3) enhanced π-character of C–C bonds, and (4) C–H bonds are shorter and stronger than those in alkanes. The present review will focus on the contributions that a cyclopropyl ring makes to the properties of drugs containing it. Consequently, the cyclopropyl ring addresses multiple roadblocks that can occur during drug discovery such as (a) enhancing potency, (b) reducing off-target effects, (c) increasing metabolic stability, (d) increasing brain permeability, (e) decreasing plasma clearance, (f) contributing to an entropically more favorable binding to the receptor, (g) conformational restriction of peptides/peptidomimetics to prevent proteolytic hydrolysis, and (h) altering drug pKa to reduce its P-glycoprotein e...
Guerreiro Ramos in the United States: his life through the lens of political exile

Neste artigo sao explorados os anos de exilio de Guerreiro Ramos nos Estados Unidos (1966-1982), questionando como um intelectual esquerdista brasileiro, de ascendencia africana, lidou com o clima social e politico dos Estados Unidos nesse periodo. O foco esta em duas questoes: sua carreira na Escola de Administracao Publica da University of Southern California (USC), onde ele permaneceu ate sua morte, e sua relacao, como um brasileiro de cor, com a politica racial radical nos Estados Unidos nesse periodo. Argumenta-se que, na USC, o pragmatismo e a habilidade de Guerreiro Ramos de produzir sucesso em circunstâncias adversas, aprendidos durante sua carreira no Brasil, possibilitaram-lhe fazer o mesmo na USC – transformar a adversidade do exilio em um sucesso criativo equiparavel. Seu brilho e carisma como intelectual e como professor granjearam-lhe admiracao, respeito, popularidade e uma carreira academica segura. Sua criatividade e abertura a novas ideias permitiram-lhe abracar o campo da sociologia americana, mesmo quando continuava a se opor ao imperialismo americano e a trazer a sociologia para a critica da administracao publica americana. Quanto a sua relacao com a politica racial americana desse periodo, mesmo no Brasil, ele ja havia se afastado do engajamento anterior com as questoes raciais e isso continuou nos Estados Unidos. A especulacao aqui e que sua identidade como um estrangeiro exotico o protegeu de sofrer, diretamente, a discriminacao racial direcionada aos afro-americanos. Finalmente, seu exilio aumentou seu senso de ser um “de fora”, um “homem entre parentesis” tanto no Brasil como nos Estados Unidos.
A review of wood-frame low-rise building performance study under hurricane winds

Abstract The unsatisfying performance of light-frame low-rise buildings under hurricane winds is a long-standing issue. Most past research effort has been made in creating a wind pressure database using advanced testing facilities, studying “cutout” subassemblies (i.e., roof subassemblies/sheathed shear walls) without considering the imparted influences of the whole system, analyzing load transfer mechanisms within full building models in the linear range, and quantifying building performance for the purpose of estimating economic losses. What still remains unclear is the contribution of some key factors, such as the simplified spatial-temporal varying wind loads, the resolution of numerical models, and the building component capacities, with large uncertainties, to the ultimate building performance. This paper aims to review the state-of-the-art research of four related disciplines that may contribute to a rational building performance assessment from an engineering perspective. Hurricane hazards, public wind pressure databases, and design wind loads are reviewed to indicate the importance of parameters other than wind speed to the building performance. The evolution of the low-rise building FE modeling is summarized with an emphasis on the connection modeling as well as their comparisons with experimental measurements. The quantification of the building performance is discussed by using stochastic finite element modeling techniques. At last, areas requiring future studies are identified to fill knowledge gaps.
Decoupling of ion conductivity from segmental dynamics in oligomeric ethylene oxide functionalized oxanorbornene dicarboximide homopolymers

Abstract In order to design more effective solid polymer electrolytes, it is important to decouple ion conductivity from polymer segmental motion. To that end, novel polymers based on oxanorbornene dicarboximide monomers with varying lengths of oligomeric ethylene oxide side chains have been synthesized using ring opening metathesis polymerization. These unique polymers have a fairly rigid and bulky backbone and were used to investigate the decoupling of ion motion from polymer segmental dynamics. Ion conductivity was measured using broadband dielectric spectroscopy for varying levels of added lithium salt. The conductivity data demonstrate six to seven orders of separation in timescale of ion conductivity from polymer segmental motion for polymers with shorter ethylene oxide side chains. However, commensurate changes in the glass transition temperatures Tg reduce the effect of decoupling in ion conductivity and lead to lower conductivity at ambient conditions. These results suggest that both an increase in decoupling and a reduction in Tg might be required to develop solid polymer electrolytes with high ion conductivity at room temperature.
Performance Appraisals in Public Parks and Recreation: A Study of Employees’ Short and Longer Term Attitudes Toward the Appraisal System

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Well-designed employee performance appraisals assume great importance by providing park and recreation agencies with information that can guide administrative and developmental decision-making about their most important asset—their human resources. Despite their importance, an agency’s performance appraisal system can often be viewed by employees and management as a frustrating and unfair process. Responding to these issues, a pay-for-performance appraisal system was developed in 2004 for the Elmhurst Park District (Elmhurst, IL) that utilized an employee participation model and was guided by the appraisal literature. The purpose of this study was to examine the employees’ longer-term reactions to the implementation and administration of the performance appraisal system over the past 10 years. Data was collected at three points: (1) in 2004, prior to the start of the pay-for-performance workshops (n = 56); (2) in 2005 at the conclusion of the workshops and initial implementation of the newly developed system (n = 56); and (3) in 2014–15, 10 years after implementation of the system (n = 51). Drawing from existing management literature and the utilization of an employee participation model, this 10-year follow-up study sought to address the following questions: To what extent are the employees’ (1) overall satisfaction, (2) perceptions of accuracy of the appraisal ratings, (3) perceptions of procedural justice, and (4) perceptions of distributive justice with the appraisal system different in 2014- 15 compared to 2005 and the original system in 2004? Analyses indicated that there were significant differences between employees’ attitudes toward their agencies’performance appraisal systems in 2004 compared to 2005 and 2014– 15. Study findings and implications for management are discussed. Subscribe to JPRA
Joyce's Ulysses and Woolf's Jacob's Room as the phenomenology of reasoning: Intentions and control as emergent of language and social interaction

human information processing: I. Detection, search, and attention. Psychological Review, 84, 1–66. Singh, D. (1993). Adaptive significance of female physical attractiveness: Role of waist-to-hip ratio. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 293–307. Singh, D. (2004). Mating strategies of young women: Role of physical attractiveness. Journal of Sex Research, 41, 43–54. Singh, D., & Young, R. K. (1995). Body weight, waist-to-hip ratio, breasts, and hips: Role in judgments of female attractiveness and desirability for relationships. Ethology & Sociobiology, 16, 483–507. Sloman, S. A. (1996). The empirical case for two systems of reasoning. Psychological Bulletin, 119, 3–22. Smith, E. R., & DeCoster, J. (2000). Dual-process models in social and cognitive psychology: Conceptual integration and links to underlying memory systems. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 4, 108–131. Strack, F., & Deutsch, R. (2004). Reflective and impulsive determinants of social behavior. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 8, 220–247. Wegener, D. T., & Claypool, H. M. (1999). The elaboration continuum by any other name does not smell as sweet. Psychological Inquiry, 10, 176–181.
Potentially Avoidable Surgical Intensive Care Unit Admissions and Disposition Delays.

Importance High health care costs encourage initiatives that avoid overuse of resources and identify opportunities to promote appropriate care. Objective To investigate the causes of potentially avoidable surgical intensive care unit (SICU) admissions and disposition delays to determine whether targeted interventions could decrease these stays. Design, Setting, and Participants This prospective, observational study focused on potentially avoidable SICU days, as determined by observers with input from the rounding intensivists at a 24-bed open SICU at an urban, academic hospital. The preintervention phase occurred from April 6 through June 21, 2015; after implementation of targeted interventions, the postintervention phase occurred from April 4 through June 28, 2016. Data collected included demographic characteristics, reason for admission, and length of stay. All patients admitted to the SICU during the preintervention and postintervention phases were included in the analysis. Interventions Based on results collected in the preintervention phase, targeted interventions were designed and implemented from July 1, 2015, through March 31, 2016, including (1) reducing SICU care for minor traumatic brain injury, (2) optimizing postoperative airway management, (3) enhancing communication between services regarding transfers to the SICU, (4) identifying and facilitating more timely end-of-life conversations and supportive care consultations, and (5) encouraging early disposition of patients to floor beds. Main Outcomes and Measures Changes in the proportion of potentially avoidable SICU days owing to potentially avoidable admissions and/or disposition delays. Results A total of 459 patients (253 men [55.1%] and 206 women [44.9%]; median age, 62 years [interquartile range, 46-75 years]) were admitted during the preintervention and postintervention phases. Of 261 patients admitted during the preintervention period and 245 during the postintervention period, median SICU and hospital length of stay remained unchanged. A reduction was noted in the percentage of postintervention SICU days owing to potentially avoidable admissions (152 of 1168 days [13%] vs 118 of 1338 days [8.8%]; P = .001) and disposition delays (138 of 1168 days [11.8%] vs 97 of 1338 days [7.2%]; P P Conclusions and Relevance Nearly one-fourth of SICU days could be categorized as potentially avoidable. Targeted interventions resulted in a significant reduction of potentially avoidable SICU days.
THE MEANING OF BARIATRIC SURGERY AMONG MALE PATIENTS: SELF-CONCEPT AND THE SEARCH FOR MASCULINITY

Using symbolic interaction theory, this phenomenological study was designed to explore how male patients made sense of their self-concept and masculinity during the bariatric surgery process, including their expe-rience prior to surgical intervention and post-surgery. Twenty men who had undergone bariatric surgery in the previous 5 years in the United States were interviewed. Three major themes emerged in the study: (1) men’s search to embody a stereotypical notion of masculinity; (2) men’s reﬂ exive process about their own masculinity as their bodies changed; and (3) men’s eff orts to sustain their renewed sense of manhood after bariatric surgery. Implications for research and clinical practice are provided.
The effect of theophylline on the chronobiology of inflammation in asthma

Asthma is an inflammatory disease of the airways. It appears that the inflammatory environment responds differently at night when the asthmatic patient should be asleep as compared to other times during the day. The reason for this difference is multifactorial and likely very complex. Sustained-release theophylline therapy has proven to be an antiasthmatic therapy with impressive efficacy for the control of asthma and nocturnal asthma, the latter especially if administered once-daily in the evening. In that theophylline is a “weak” bronchodilator, it is possible that theophylline works through non-bronchodilator anti-asthmatic mechanisms. Therefore, it may be that theophylline’s principal anti-asthmatic effects are antiinflammatory in character. Recent data suggesting that theophylline has certain immunomodulating properties opens a whole new area for clinical investigation with this medication, a therapy that is literally decades old. In that theophylline therapy is relatively low in cost and convenient to take, this new investigative challenge should be taken seriously.
BullyBlocker: toward an interdisciplinary approach to identify cyberbullying

Cyberbullying is the deliberate use of online digital media to communicate false, embarrassing, or hostile information about another person. It is the most common online risk for adolescents, yet well over half of young people do not tell their parents when it occurs. While there have been many studies about the nature and prevalence of cyberbullying, there have been relatively few in the area of automated identification of cyberbullying that integrate findings from computer science and psychology. The goal of our work is thus to adopt an interdisciplinary approach to develop an automated model for identifying and measuring the degree of cyberbullying in social networking sites, and a Facebook app, built on this model, that notifies parents about the likelihood that their adolescent is a cyberbullying victim. This paper describes the challenges associated with building a computer model for cyberbullying identification, presents key results from psychology research that can be used to inform such a model, introduces a holistic model and mobile app design for cyberbullying identification, presents a novel evaluation framework for assessing the effectiveness of the identification model, and highlights crucial areas of future work. Importantly, the proposed model—which can be applied to other social networking sites—is the first that we know of to bridge computer science and psychology to address this timely problem.
Carbon Nanotube Arrays: Synthesis, Properties, and Applications

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have become one of the most interesting allotropes of carbon since the discovery of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) by Iijima [1] in 1991. It took almost 2 more years until Iijima and Ichihashi [2] and Bethune et al. [3] synthesized simultaneously single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs). Ever since, steady progress has been made to successfully synthesize vertically and horizontally aligned arrays of CNTs over a wide range of substrates by employing different techniques. CNTs have shown promising mechanical, electrical, optical, and thermal properties, rendering their applications in new structural and functional materials, electrical circuitry, energy storage, drug delivery, and many other devices of the future generation.
Video Games as a Potential Modality for Behavioral Health Services for Young Adult Veterans: Exploratory Analysis.

Background: Improving the reach of behavioral health services to young adult veterans is a policy priority. Objective: The objective of our study was to explore differences in video game playing by behavioral health need for young adult veterans to identify potential conditions for which video games could be used as a modality for behavioral health services. Methods: We replicated analyses from two cross-sectional, community-based surveys of young adult veterans in the United States and examined the differences in time spent playing video games by whether participants screened positive for behavioral health issues and received the required behavioral health services. Results: Pooling data across studies, participants with a positive mental health screen for depression or posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) spent 4.74 more hours per week (95% CI 2.54-6.94) playing video games. Among participants with a positive screen for a substance use disorder, those who had received substance use services since discharge spent 0.75 more days per week (95% CI 0.28-1.21) playing video games than participants who had not received any substance use services since discharge. Conclusions: We identified the strongest evidence that participants with a positive PTSD or depression screen and participants with a positive screen for a substance use disorder who also received substance use services since their discharge from active duty spent more time playing video games. Future development and evaluation of video games as modalities for enhancing and increasing access to behavioral health services should be explored for this population.
Medical Management of Cerebral Palsy

Cerebral palsy is a disorder of motor control due to a static lesion of the developing brain. It was described almost 150 years ago and is quite familiar to both the lay and the medical communities. Continuing advances in our understanding of the causes and treatment of this heterogeneous disorder, when broadly understood and applied, will allow more children and adults with cerebral palsy to reach their full potential. This chapter reviews the definition, clinical presentation, and medical management of cerebral palsy.
Length-lex ordering for set CSPs

Combinatorial design problems arise in many application areas and are naturally modelled in terms of set variables and constraints. Traditionally, the domain of a set variable is specified by two sets (R,E) and denotes all sets containing R and disjoint from E. This representation has inherent difficulties in handling cardinality and lexicographic constraints so important in combinatorial design. This paper takes a dual view of set variables. It proposes a representation that encodes directly cardinality and lexicographic information, by totally ordering a set domain with a length-lex ordering. The solver can then enforce bound-consistency on all unary constraints in time O(k) where k is the set cardinality. In analogy with finite-domain solvers, non-unary constraints can be viewed as inference rules generating new unary constraints. The resulting set solver achieves a pruning (at least) comparable to the hybrid domain of Sadler and Gervet at a fraction of the computational cost.
When a Personal HPV Story on a Blog Influences Perceived Social Norms: The Roles of Personal Experience, Framing, Perceived Similarity, and Social Media Metrics

The current study examines how a personal health story on a blog can influence individuals’ perceived social norms, adopting the notion that social norms are “group identity-based codes of conduct”...
Towards an Advanced Virtual Ultrasound-guided Renal Biopsy Trainer.

Ultrasound (US)-guided renal biopsy is a critically important tool in the evaluation and management of non-malignant renal pathologies with diagnostic and prognostic significance. It requires a good biopsy technique and skill to safely and consistently obtain high yield biopsy samples for tissue analysis. This project aims to develop a virtual trainer to help clinicians to improve procedural skill competence in real-time ultrasound-guided renal biopsy. This paper presents a cost-effective, high-fidelity trainer built using low-cost hardware components and open source visualization and interactive simulation libraries: interactive medical simulation toolkit (iMSTK) and 3D Slicer. We used a physical mannequin to simulate the tactile feedback that trainees experience while scanning a real patient and to provide trainees with spatial awareness of the US scanning plane with respect to the patient’s anatomy. The ultrasound probe and biopsy needle were modeled using commonly used clinical tools and were instrumented to communicate with the simulator. 3D Slicer was used to visualize an image sliced from a pre-acquired 3-D ultrasound volume based on the location of the probe, with a realistic needle rendering. The simulation engine in iMSTK modeled the interaction between the needle and the virtual tissue to generate visual deformations on the tissue and tactile forces on the needle which are transmitted to the needle that the user holds. Initial testing has shown promising results with respect to quality of simulated images and system responsiveness. Further evaluation by clinicians is planned for the next stage.
Towards a popular queer Mariology: rediscovering the virgin through popular religiosity

In the dominant theological production of Mary as holy “Virgin,” theological discourses have ironically hyper-sexualized the Mother of God. This article explores the sexuality of the Virgin, introd...
The Delineation of Recreational Boating Markets: a Multivariate Approach

Previous research into the shape and extent of market areas for recreational facilities has been minimal, and available methodologies have been difficult to apply. This paper addresses these issues by investigating recreational boating markets. Boaters in three Great Lakes states are surveyed, an origin-destination matrix is computed, and principal components analysis and clustering algorithms are then used to delineate coastal markets. Results show that these markets vary considerably in coastal extent, and do not extend very far inland. Results also show that the geographic units (counties) comprising these markets are not necessarily contiguous.
A 42-Year-Old Woman with Progressive Limb Weakness and Breathing Difficulty

Hydroxychloroquine, first introduced as an antimalarial drug in 1955, has been widely used along with corticosteroids and other immunomodulatory agents to treat a variety of connective tissue diseases. However, it affects lysosomal function which can result in the development of a vacuolar myopathy, characterized by the presence of autophagic rimmed vacuoles and distinctive curvilinear bodies and myeloid profiles. Patients with hydroxychloroquine myopathy often present with proximal limb weakness which can progress into diffuse weakness and respiratory failure. Muscle biopsy is essential to differentiate hydroxychloroquine myopathy from steroid myopathy and inflammatory myopathies associated with connective tissue diseases. Here we present a case with clinical presentation and muscle biopsy features consistent with hydroxychloroquine myopathy. The patient had a near-complete recovery 2 months after discontinuing hydroxychloroquine.
Differences in Human Motoneuron Excitability Between Functionally Diverse Muscles

Introduction: Spinal motoneurons (MN) transmit neural commands from the brain to the muscles they innervate and, as a result, produce functional movement. However, MNs are not simply passive conduits of these command and, instead, actively shape motor output through alterations in intrinsic excitability. We hypothesize that the excitability of MNs is not fixed across the body; instead, MNs are functionally tuned to the tasks they control. Here, we investigate this mapping of MN excitability across motor pools. Methods: High-density surface electromyography of the tibialis anterior (TA) and first dorsal interosseous (FDI) was recorded from four neurologically intact participants while they performed low-level, isometric contractions. The data were decomposed into underlying motor unit action potentials and paired motor unit analyses were subsequently performed on these spike trains to quantify MN excitability (ΔF). Results: 1,638 motor unit spike trains were extracted across all contractions. Mann-Whitney U test revealed that all subjects (4/4) had significantly higher maximal discharge rates in FDI, 19.13 [17.62 – 20.59] pps, when compared to the TA, 13.08 [11.51 – 15.46] pps. All subjects (4/4) had a higher ΔF in the TA (4.22 [2.89 – 5.61] pps) than the FDI (3.62 [1.23 – 5.94] pps), with 3/4 reaching statistical significance. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that the discharge rate and intrinsic excitability of human MNs differs across TA and FDI motor pools during similar isometric tasks. These results support the notion that motor pools are functionally tuned to their environmental demands.
A self-resolving, post-traumatic aortopulmonary shunt

A 34-year-old Hispanic man sustained a stab wound to his chest complicated with hemopericardium and pericardial tamponade. He underwent emergent clamshell thoracotomy as well as repair to the pulmonary artery. A transthoracic echocardiogram showed no evidence of intracardiac shunt. Two months later, a new murmur was noted, with a transthoracic echocardiogram revealing high-velocity flow between the left coronary sinus and the main pulmonary artery, with which a coronary computed tomography angiogram concurred. A transesophageal echocardiogram was performed which revealed an aortopulmonic fistula from the left coronary sinus of Valsalva, approximately 1cm anterior to the ostium of the left main coronary artery, to the main pulmonary artery just distal to the pulmonic valve. Pulmonary insufficiency was minimal. The main pulmonary artery was dilated, measuring 3.2 cm by coronary computed tomography angiogram. Right ventricular systolic function was normal. Right and left heart catheterizations were performed to further assess hemodynamics and coronary anatomy; pulmonary artery pressures were 16/8 mm Hg. Aortopulmonary fistula was seen on aortogram. Surgery was deferred in view of lack of symptoms and uncertainty in its natural history in the setting of traumatic etiology. A repeat transthoracic echocardiogram at six-month follow-up showed spontaneous closure of the fistula.
Chapter 5 – Loop Statements and Vectorizing Code

The chapter introduces the concepts of counted (for) and conditional (while) loops. Many common uses such as summing and counting are covered using the programming method. Nested loops are also introduced. Some more sophisticated uses of loops such as error-checking and combining loops and selection statements are also covered. Finally, vectorizing code, by using built-in functions and operators on vectors and matrices instead of looping through them, is demonstrated. Tips for writing efficient code are emphasized, and tools for analyzing code are introduced.
Noninvasive Early Disease Diagnosis by Electronic-Nose and Related VOC-Detection Devices

This editorial provides an overview and summary of recent research articles published in Biosensors journal, volumes 9 (2019) and 10 (2020), within the Special Issue "Noninvasive Early Disease Diagnosis", which focused on recent sensors, biosensors, and clinical instruments developed for the noninvasive early detection and diagnosis of human, animal, and plant diseases or invasive pests. The six research articles included in this Special Issue provide examples of some of the latest electronic-nose (e-nose) and related volatile organic compound (VOC)-detection technologies, which are being tested and developed to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of innovative diagnostic methodologies for the early detection of particular diseases and pest infestations in living hosts, prior to symptom development.
Meta-analysis of rare adverse events in randomized clinical trials: Bayesian and frequentist methods.

Background/aims:Regulatory approval of a drug or device involves an assessment of not only the benefits but also the risks of adverse events associated with the therapeutic agent. Although randomiz...
A Novel Framework for Data Center Risk Assessment

Data center risk assessment must provide an understanding of the risks that the mission critical facility is exposed to. This paper proposes a novel framework for data center site risk assessment, as an important tool for data center due diligence. The proposed methodology is aimed at standardizing a process to help quantify and prioritize external risks to enable comparisons. It consists of three steps: risk identification, risk analysis, and risk evaluation. The risk analysis incorporates the infrastructure resiliency rating and a data center site risk metric to quantify the weighted risk level, as well as criteria based on standards, best practices and expert knowledge. Based on the results from the risk assessment, the risk level may be treated, to adjust it to the desired level. The risk assessment is a way to better communicate and understand risks associated to the data center location, and help evaluate mitigation strategies.
Electrocatalysis for the Water Splitting: Recent Strategies for Improving the Performance of Electrocatalyst

Hydrogen, due to its high energy density (over 4 times per kg energy capacity compared to that of petrol or diesel) and clean-burning characteristics (water being the sole by-product), is an ideal fuel. It can be obtained by simply electrolyzing water. However, hydrogen production on a large scale from water splitting is mainly constrained due to its high overpotential (300–600 mV) requirements, sluggish kinetics, low efficiency, and instability of electrode materials. Along the way, the massive struggle has been dedicated to finding efficient electrocatalysts, which has also encouraged the invention of new techniques to explore the properties of catalysts or the basic mechanism of water splitting. This accrued information not only provides the foundation for mechanistic understanding but also set the important criteria for a high-performance electrocatalyst based on a variety of studies. This review starts with probing the theoretical study of electrode kinetics and the mechanism of water splitting. The second part of this review explains the bottleneck problems and numerous strategies for improving the performance of electrocatalysts.
Cortical bone stem cell-derived exosomes’ therapeutic effect on myocardial ischemia-reperfusion and cardiac remodeling

Our work is noteworthy due to the identification of factors within stem cell-derived exosomes (dEXOs) that alter fibroblast activation through the hereto-unknown mechanism of decreasing small nucle...
Transient Local Secondary Structure in the Intrinsically Disordered C-Term of the Albino3 Insertase.

Abstract Albino3 (Alb3) is an integral membrane protein fundamental to the targeting and insertion of light-harvesting complex (LHC) proteins into the thylakoid membrane. Alb3 contains a stroma-exposed C-terminus (Alb3-Cterm) that is responsible for binding the LHC-loaded transit complex before LHC membrane insertion. Alb3-Cterm has been reported to be intrinsically disordered, but precise mechanistic details underlying how it recognizes and binds to the transit complex are lacking, and the functional roles of its four different motifs have been debated. Using a novel combination of experimental and computational techniques such as single-molecule fluorescence resonance energy transfer, circular dichroism with deconvolution analysis, site-directed mutagenesis, trypsin digestion assays, and all-atom molecular dynamics simulations in conjunction with enhanced sampling techniques, we show that Alb3-Cterm contains transient secondary structure in motifs I and II. The excellent agreement between the experimental and computational data provides a quantitatively consistent picture and allows us to identify a heterogeneous structural ensemble that highlights the local and transient nature of the secondary structure. This structural ensemble was used to predict both the inter-residue distance distributions of single molecules and the apparent unfolding free energy of the transient secondary structure, which were both in excellent agreement with those determined experimentally. We hypothesize that this transient local secondary structure may play an important role in the recognition of Alb3-Cterm for the LHC-loaded transit complex, and these results should provide a framework to better understand protein targeting by the Alb3-Oxa1-YidC family of insertases.
Evaluating Clinical and Public Health Interventions: A Practical Guide to Study Design and Statistics

Preface 1. Introduction 2. Interventions 3. Evaluating interventions 4. Randomized designs 5. Nonrandomized designs 6. Statistical analysis of intervention trials 7. Methods for adjusting for baseline differences between treatment groups 8. Time series analyses 9. Special issues with intervention studies 10. Research to action 11. Conclusion Index.
Acoustic Effects of Environmental Variability in the Swarm, Primer and Asiaex Experiments

We present an overview of how the coastal oceanographic environment affected acoustic propagation and scattering in three recent major field experiments: SWARM (1995), PRIMER (1996–97), and ASIAEX (2000–01). In all three of these experiments, low frequency sound (50–600 Hz) was transmitted through strong coastal oceanographic features to array receivers. The differences and similarities of these experiments will be emphasized. In particular, we will focus on the effects of coastal oceanography, i.e. fronts, eddies, and internal waves. We begin with the SWARM experiment, which examined the effects of internal waves, particularly non-linear internal waves, on acoustic propagation and scattering. This experiment had excellent environmental support along a single across-shelf propagation path, and we were able to make good progress understanding the sound scattering within the context of this limited geometry. In the PRIMER experiment, we looked at oceanographic effects in a fully three-dimensional configuration, being supported by numerous environmental moorings and Sea Soar (undulating CTD) high-resolution hydrography. This experiment observed the effects of both the shelfbreak front, eddies and filaments, and nonlinear internal waves on the acoustic field. Finally, we examine the recent ASIAEX experiment, which again dealt with fully three-dimensional oceanography and along-and across-shelf acoustic propagation. ASIAEX had perhaps the best environmental support of the three experiments, including thirty environmental moorings, Sea Soar hydrography, satellite remote sensing, and acoustic flow visualization surveys. The acoustic monitoring included both a vertical and horizontal array, and moored and towed sources. Oceanographically, this experimental site featured some of the strongest non-linear internal waves we have seen to date.
Flexible Energy Storage Devices Using Nanomaterials

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the flexible energy storage devices using nanomaterials. Energy storage systems are critical components, especially when the harvested renewable energy is to be stored in remote locations. Types of energy storage system include batteries, supercapacitors, and hydrogen storage. Traditional energy storage devices are not fully compatible with flexible electronics devices such as smart cards and electronic paper. Hence, advances in flexible energy storage devices are important to meet this demand. The research and development of new and innovative nanomaterials is progressing well to address the requirements of the flexible electronics industry. The flexible energy storage device is still in its infancy and hence there is still plenty of room available in the materials exploratory domain; for instance, making a flexible, mechanically robust device of metal nanowires/nanoparticles for the flexible electronics market.