cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Role of the thyroid and of iodine in nutritional anemia.

The experiments here described were undertaken to ascertain whether different functional levels of the thyroid gland as induced by the administration of iodine play any part in the development or severity of the anemia produced by milk feeding.Kunde, Green and Buno1 have shown that hypothyroidism is accompanied by mild anemia and Drennan, Malcolm and Cox2 produced thyroid hyperplasia in rats on a diet of white bread and fresh milk. This hyperplasia was easily corrected by the addition of a small amount of iodine. The iodine content of milk is low but varies considerably in different samples,3 thus suggesting that lack of iodine and consequent thyroid hypo function may complicate the nutritional anemia in some instances.Male rats, chosen from litters made anemic by the method of Elvehjem and Kemmerer,4 were weaned and continued on whole milk powder (Klim) until 6 weeks of age. They were then placed in individual screen bottom cages and for the succeeding 8 weeks were fed the various supplements indicated i...
Multiscale Mathematics For Plasma Kinetics Spanning Multiple Collisionality Regimes

This is the Final Technical Report on this grant. The subject of this grant is accelerated simulation for plasma kinetics, in particular for Coulomb collisions in a plasma.
Battle on the Wrong Field? Entrant Type and Firm Survival Prior to Dominant Design

Before a dominant design forms in an industry, firms engaged in fierce competition. This study bridges the dominant design literature and the industry evolution literature to study firm survival pr...
Prediction of Excited-State Energies and Singlet-Triplet Gaps of Charge-Transfer States Using a Restricted Open-Shell Kohn-Sham Approach.

Organic molecules with charge-transfer (CT) excited states are widely used in industry and are especially attractive as candidates for fabrication of energy efficient OLEDs, as they can harvest energy from nonradiative triplets by means of thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF). It is therefore useful to have computational protocols for accurate estimation of their electronic spectra in order to screen candidate molecules for OLED applications. However, it is difficult to predict the photophysical properties of TADF molecules with LR-TDDFT, as semilocal LR-TDDFT is incapable of accurately modeling CT states. Herein, we study absorption energies, emission energies, zero–zero transition energies, and singlet–triplet gaps of TADF molecules using a restricted open-shell Kohn–Sham (ROKS) approach instead and discover that ROKS calculations with semilocal hybrid functionals are in good agreement with experiments—unlike TDDFT, which significantly underestimates energy gaps. We also propose a cheap compu...
Carbon fluxes and storage in forests and landscapes

We begin this chapter with a discussion of the major carbon fluxes (e.g., gross primary production, ecosystem respiration) and stocks (e.g., aboveground biomass) in forest ecosystems, as well as their relationships, and provide examples of their values from selected case studies. We pay special attention to the magnitudes of these fluxes and stocks in different forests and biomes. However, studies of carbon cycling at a landscape scale lag significantly behind those at an ecosystem level. The objective of this chapter is to provide a glimpse of current knowledge of carbon fluxes and storage in forests at both ecosystem and landscape scales. Due to the overwhelming literature on this topic, we have limited our review to lessons from selected empirical studies that demonstrate the temporal and spatial variations of the carbon cycle in a range of representative environments. We further discuss our current understanding of carbon cycles across forests and landscapes in the contexts of climate change, the impact of natural disturbances, and regulation of the carbon cycle by management actions. We present a new conceptual framework for the changes in net ecosystem production following a disturbance as a foundation to guide future studies. Finally, we share our vision of the direction of future carbon cycle research from both basic and applied perspectives. We support our review by citing relevant papers that provide important references for readers.
Cybernetics as a Systems Philosophy

Although cybernetics is not primarily a philosophy, it implies philosophical assumptions: mechanistic materialism modified by feedback mechanisms enabling interactions between dynamic systems. It lacks ability to explain organic wholes. Systems theorists should adopt organicism, a philosophy conceiving systems, including numbers, as organic wholes.
A Single Legionella Effector Catalyzes a Multistep Ubiquitination Pathway to Rearrange Tubular Endoplasmic Reticulum for Replication

Intracellular pathogens manipulate host organelles to support replication within cells. For Legionella pneumophila, the bacterium translocates proteins that establish an endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-associated replication compartment. We show here that the bacterial Sde proteins target host reticulon 4 (Rtn4) to control tubular ER dynamics, resulting in tubule rearrangements as well as alterations in Rtn4 associated with the replication compartment. These rearrangements are triggered via Sde-promoted ubiquitin transfer to Rtn4, occurring almost immediately after bacterial uptake. Ubiquitin transfer requires two sequential enzymatic activities from a single Sde polypeptide: an ADP-ribosyltransferase and a nucleotidase/phosphohydrolase. The ADP-ribosylated moiety of ubiquitin is a substrate for the nucleotidase/phosphohydrolase, resulting in either transfer of ubiquitin to Rtn4 or phosphoribosylation of ubiquitin in the absence of a ubiquitination target. Therefore, a single bacterial protein drives a multistep biochemical pathway to control ubiquitination and tubular ER function independently of the host ubiquitin machinery.
Emerging markets’ resource booms and busts, borrowing risk and regime change

Abstract Resource booms create real sector and credit expansion in resource-rich countries; however it can also give rise to over-borrowing. If a resource bust hits, the affected economies contract through declining export revenues, and possibly face increased default risk. Thus, both booms and busts can create macroeconomic instability. Using a dynamic growth model, we model regime changes which reveal nonlinear effects of debt on the economy, depending on the level of leveraging. We find a change from stable to unstable dynamics if the external debt to capital ratio rises above a certain threshold. Risk premia are introduced highlighting the state-dependent borrowing costs for the dynamic paths. We study excess debt and over-leveraging as deviations from sustainable ratios. We find country-specific risk premia that are likely associated with booms and busts for the given debt assessment. Our empirical estimates suggest that certain oil-exporting countries are at a heightened risk for debt crises.
Electromagnetic Navigational Bronchoscopy Reduces the Time Required for Localization and Resection of Lung Nodules.

ObjectiveThe aims of the study were to evaluate electromagnetic navigational bronchoscopy (ENB) and computed tomography–guided placement as localization techniques for minimally invasive resection ...
Credit market imperfections, labor markets, and leverage dynamics in emerging economies

Abstract Emerging economies (EMEs) have different credit and labor market structures relative to advanced economies. We document that economies with larger self-employment shares tend to exhibit less countercyclical leverage dynamics. We build a model where formal credit markets, input credit relationships, and the structure of labor markets interact that (1) captures a comprehensive set of EME business cycle regularities and (2) rationalizes our new fact. The interaction between firms’ net worth, interfirm input credit, and self-employment underlying our framework is critical for explaining our fact and is supported by the data.
On the Distinctive Function of Christian Higher Education and the Common Good

ABSTRACTDespite myriad benefits of higher education to communities and the public at large, a commonplace perception these days is that the most important benefit of higher education centers on what accrues to individual degree earners. Institutions can inadvertently encourage this narrower perception in various ways. The purpose of this article is to reflect on the distinctive function of Christian higher education and to consider how that function might affect contributions to the common good. We outline three contributions to the common good that appear to be connected in important ways to the distinctive function of Christian higher education.
A micromechanical mass sensing method based on amplitude tracking within an ultra-wide broadband resonance

We propose a mass sensing scheme in which amplitude shifts within a nonlinear ultra-wide broadband resonance serve as indicators for mass detection. To achieve the broad resonance bandwidth, we considered a nonlinear design of the resonator comprised of a doubly clamped beam with a concentrated mass at its center. A reduced-order model of the beam system was constructed in the form of a discrete spring-mass system that contains cubic stiffness due to axial stretching of the beam in addition to linear stiffness (Duffing equation). The cubic nonlinearity has a stiffening effect on the frequency response causing nonlinear bending of the frequency response toward higher frequencies. Interestingly, we found that the presence of the concentrated mass broadens the resonant bandwidth significantly, allowing for an ultra-wide operational range of frequencies and response amplitudes in the proposed mass sensing scheme. A secondary effect of the cubic nonlinearity is strong amplification of the third harmonic in the beam’s response. We computationally study the sensitivity of the first and third harmonic amplitudes to mass addition and find that both metrics are more sensitive than the linearized natural frequency and that in particular, the third harmonic amplitude is most sensitive. This type of open-loop mass sensing avoids complex feedback control and time-consuming frequency sweeping. Moreover, the mass resolution is within a functional range, and the design parameters of the resonator are reasonable from a manufacturing perspective.
Editor Recommendations for Successfully Writing for Beyond Behavior

As Beyond Behavior editors, we frequently hear that differences in readership, content, and writing styles between traditional research and practitioner journals can make it difficult for scholars ...
Report from Europe: France’s Information Needs: Reality or Alibi?

It is the annual gathering of some of the world’s most sophisticated data shufflers—clever and demanding users. It is the Esomar (European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research) Congress, the nearest thing the intellectually respectable end of the industry has to a worldwide annual meeting. I go almost every year, but was particularly sure to attend the last one, as my wife was chairman of the program committee. (Chairman, will you note: she will have no truck with chairperson. Now that she is getting there, she says, they are not going to start changing the titles on her.)
Colliding Particles: Beyond Accident-Free Car Following Models

This paper explores specifications of microscopic traffic models that could capture congestion dynamics and model accident-prone behaviors on a highway section in greater realism than models currently used in practice. A comparative assessment of several major acceleration models is conducted, especially in regards to congestion formation and incident modeling. Based on this assessment, alternative specifications for a car-following/lane changing model are developed and implemented in a microscopic simulation framework. The models are calibrated and compared in terms of resulting vehicle trajectories and macroscopic flow-density relationships. Experiments are conducted with the models under different degrees of relaxation of the safety constraints typically applied in conjunction with simulation codes used in practice. The ability of the proposed specifications to capture traffic behavior in extreme situations is examined. The results suggest that these specifications offer an improved basis for microscopic traffic simulation for situations that do not require an accident free environment. As such, the same basic behavior model structure could accommodate both extreme situations (evacuation scenarios, over-saturated networks) as well as “normal” daily traffic conditions.
Parafoveal Nonperfusion Analysis in Diabetic Retinopathy Using Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography.

Purpose To describe a new technique for mapping parafoveal intercapillary areas (PICAs) using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA), and demonstrate its utility for quantifying parafoveal nonperfusion in diabetic retinopathy (DR). Methods Nineteen controls, 15 diabetics with no retinopathy (noDR), 15 with nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR), and 15 with proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) were imaged with 10 macular OCTA scans. PICAs were automatically delineated on the averaged superficial OCTA images. Following creation of an eccentricity-specific reference database from the controls, all PICAs greater than 2 SD above the reference means for PICA area and minor axis length were identified as nonperfused areas. Regions of interest (ROI) at 300 μm and 1000 μm from the foveal avascular zone (FAZ) margin were analyzed. Percent nonperfused area was defined as summed nonperfused areas divided by ROI area. Values were compared using Kruskal-Wallis and post-hoc Mann-Whitney U tests. Results Median values for total percent nonperfused area at the 300-μm ROI were 2.09, 2.44, 18.08, and 27.55 in the control, noDR, NPDR, and PDR groups, respectively. Median values at the 1000-μm ROI were 3.10, 3.31, 13.42, and 23.00. While there were no significant differences between the control and noDR groups, significant differences were observed between all other groups at both ROIs. Conclusions Percent nonperfused area can quantify parafoveal nonperfusion in DR and can be calculated through automatic delineation of PICAs in an eccentricity-specific manner using a standard deviation mapping approach. Translational relevance Percent nonperfused area shows promise as a metric to measure disease severity in diabetic retinopathy.
Numerical study of material decomposition in ultrafast laser interaction with metals

Abstract A study of ultrafast laser-induced ablation of metals is presented based on an improved two-temperature model. Material decomposition and the resultant energy loss from the sample are considered through the dynamic description of the ablation process. The boiling temperature is adopted as the ablation initiation temperature to capture the contributions from multiple ablation mechanisms. Ablation occurrence period, ablation depth, threshold fluence, residual thermal energy and melting layer thickness have been studied for aluminum, copper, and gold. The simulation results agree well with the experimental measurements for different materials and laser parameters. The electron-phonon coupling strength and thermal conductivity are found to be critical factors determining ablation behaviors. With strong electron-phonon coupling and low thermal conductivity (like aluminum), ultrafast ablation can be triggered within hundreds of femtoseconds, leading to a more efficient laser energy deposition, high ablation depth, and thin melting layer.
A comparison of DNA repair activity in several lymphocyte preparations

4056 DNA repair activity has been measured in circulating lymphocytes and may be a risk factor for several cancers. The measurements of DNA repair activity in lymphocytes have utilized several lymphocyte preparations without consideration of whether differences exist between these preparations. In this study, we have measured one pathway of DNA repair activity, nucleotide excision repair activity (NER), in four lymphocyte preparations including fresh cells (without culturing), cryopreserved cells (frozen as whole blood in dimethyl sulfoxide and grown in culture), immortalized cells (transformed with the Ebstein Barr Virus and cultured), and cultured cells (fresh cells grown in culture). Single blood draws were obtained from each individual in two groups of five healthy subjects. Cultured and immortalized cells were prepared from each blood sample from the first group. In the second group, fresh, cryopreserved and immortalized cells were prepared from each blood sample. DNA repair activity was measured in each cell preparation with an alkaline unwinding flow cytometric assay that was adapted for measurement of NER activity by using UV-C radiation as a DNA damaging agent. Intra-individual variability in DNA repair activity by this assay had a coefficient of variation of 13% as determined in separate studies. Despite a highly reliable assay, the mean DNA repair activity varied across cell preparations and only moderate correlations were found between the DNA repair activities of some preparations. The mean DNA repair activity (area under curve ± SD) was 364±103 and 144±25 in culture and immortalized cells from group 1 (p
Wards and Apprentices: The Legal and Literary Construction of the Familial Position of the Child

Eighteenth-century fiction often places its underage characters in temporary families, only to move them to new families that prove equally flawed or fragmented. Simply put, storytelling structure proves reliant on family structure. For example, in many of the century’s most popular novels, although the child searches for a lost nuclear family, the plot seems most interested in the many replacements he or she inhabits during that search. Within the first few pages of Daniel Defoe’s Moll Flanders (1722), Moll is born in Newgate Prison, taken in by a group of gypsies, placed into the home of a poor school teacher, and integrated into the household of the mayor’s wife, where she is famously seduced by one son and marries another. In Frances Burney’s Evelina (1778), the eponymous heroine leaves her protective guardian Villars to travel to London with the Mirvan family, where she is reclaimed by her grandmother before being able to reunite with her father. In Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park (1814), Fanny is adopted into the Bertram household by her aunts; when she returns to her nuclear family, she realizes that she no longer feels at home there and returns to the Bertram’s. These well-known heroines’ shifting familial positions encourage us to reexamine the place the child inhabits within the household and to account for the non-biological family that recreates itself to accommodate the child. Taking its cue from the experiences of Moll, Evelina, and Fanny, this essay focuses on the economic and emotional roles the child plays in the flexible family that is under construction, and compares eighteenth-century legal definitions of the child, captured in the terminology of the legal treatise, to literary dramatizations of the child, central to the plotting of novels, plays, conduct books, and children’s literature. This comparison of factual and fictional understandings of the child reveals the law’s equation of the child with relationships of economic obligation, while the literary work emphasizes the child’s questioning of those obligations and plots his or her escape from them, often as part of a trajectory of self-realization. The law, quite predictably, is interested in positioning the child within stable family structures defined by legal devices such as contracts, while the literary work is interested in the dramatic possibilities provided by the disrupted, fragmented family, and highlights both the challenges and opportunities it affords the child.
A hybrid nanoparticle to diagnose and treat multi-drug resistant bacteria (Conference Presentation)

Ag+ ions are a well-known antibacterial agent, and Ag nanoparticles act as a reservoir of these Ag+ ions for targeted therapy of bacterial infections. However, there are no tools to effectively trigger and monitor the release of Ag+ ions from Ag nanoparticles. Photoacoustic (PA) imaging is an emerging noninvasive imaging tool, and gold nanorods (AuNRs) are an excellent contrast agent for PA imaging. In this work, we developed Au/Ag hybrid nanoparticles by coating AuNRs with silver (Ag), which decreased their photoacoustic signal. The as-prepared, Ag-coated Au nanorods (Au/AgNRs) are stable under ambient conditions, but the addition of ferricyanide solution (1 mM) results in oxidative etching of the silver shell. The PA contrast is simultaneously recovered as the silver is released, and this PA signal offers noninvasive monitoring of localized release of Ag+ ions. The released Ag+ ions exhibit a strong bactericidal efficacy similar to equivalent free Ag+ ions (AgNO3), and the nanoparticles killed >99.99% of both (Gram-positive) methicillin- resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA, 32 μM Ag+ equivalent) and (Gram-negative) Escherichia coli (8 μM Ag+ equivalent). The theranostic potential of these nanoparticles was demonstrated in a pilot in vivo study. Mice were inoculated with MRSA and Au/AgNRs were subcutaneously implanted followed by silver etching. There was a 730% increase in the PA signal (p < 0.01) pre- and post-etching, and the bacterial counts in infected tissues of the treated group were reduced by 1000-fold (log CFU/g = 4.15 vs 7.75) versus the untreated control; this treatment efficacy was confirmed with histology. We further showed that these hybrid nanoparticles could release Ag+ after stimulation by reactive oxygen species including hydrogen peroxide and peroxynitrite. These hybrid Au/Ag nanoparticles are a useful theranostic agent for the photoacoustic imaging and treatment of bacterial infections.
Are fish associations with corals and sponges more than an affinity to structure? Evidence across two widely divergent ecosystems

The role of deep-sea coral and sponge ecosystems as habitat for marine fishes has been widely studied, with many finding significant associations, especially for rockfishes. However, rockfishes als...
Severe Asthma During Adolescence and the Transition to Adulthood

In prior chapters of this book, we have reviewed the epidemiology of severe asthma and have discussed important considerations in the preschool years. Adolescents comprise another important and vulnerable population, in whom asthma severity may vary and many other factors, especially social influences, may affect asthma control. In this chapter we will discuss current knowledge of the natural history of severe asthma during adolescence, risk factors for poor outcomes, and important issues to consider when we manage patients in this age group and help them prepare for the transition to young adulthood – when patients are expected to become responsible for managing their disease.
Atypical congenital kyphosis: REPORT OF TWO CASES WITH LONG-TERM FOLLOW-UP

We describe two patients with an atypical congenital kyphosis in which a hypoplastic lumbar vertebral body lay in the spinal canal because of short pedicles. There were no defects in the posterior elements, or any apparent instability of the facet joints. Both patients were treated successfully by anterior fusion to the levels immediately above and below the affected vertebra, and posterior fusion which extended one level more both proximally and distally. This gave progressive correction of the kyphotic deformity by allowing some continued anterior growth at the levels which had been fused posteriorly.
Parenting and the development of impulse control in youth with type 1 diabetes: the mediating role of negative affect

AbstractParents are important for the development and maintenance of regulatory control. The current longitudinal study examined associations between parental coercion and autonomy support and impu...
Output Plane Analyses of LLC Resonant Converter

LLC resonant converters are popular for point-of-load (POL) DC-DC conversion in various applications due to its soft-switched characteristics, high operating efficiency and reduced EMI noise profile. In complex systems, modular structure is maintained by using POL converters in parallel to feed a high power load. Therefore, it is essential to model the output characteristics of LLC resonant converter, to understand its behavior in a paralleled system. In this paper, a large-signal I-V characteristics and small-signal output impedance are modeled. Further, the effect of droop control strategy on these characteristics, current distribution and stability are explored. The analyses are supported by time-domain simulation. Hardware results are presented to validate the proposed models.
Frailty and Outcomes after Craniotomy or Craniectomy for Atraumatic Chronic Subdural Hematoma

Objective Frailty is a measure of decreased physiologic reserve and has been associated with increased morbidity and mortality in a variety of surgical disciplines. No data exist regarding the relationship of frailty with adverse outcomes in craniotomy for chronic subdural evacuation. We assessed the relationship between frailty and the incidence of major postoperative complication, discharge destination other than home, 30-day readmission, and 30-day mortality after craniotomy for atraumatic subdural evacuation. Methods A retrospective cohort study was conducted on a population of 1647 adult patients undergoing craniotomy for evacuation of atraumatic subdural hematoma in the 2005–2018 American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database. Frailty was assessed using the modified frailty index (mFI-5). Multivariable logistic regression was performed using all covariates deemed eligible through clinical relevance and statistical significance. Results The overall rates of major complication (25.4%), discharge to destination other than home (49.8%), 30-day readmission (11.7%), and 30-day mortality (12.8%) in this analysis were high and rose with increasing frailty. In multivariable regression analyses, medium frailty (mFI-5 = 2) was associated with increased odds of major complication (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 1.64, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.03–2.63), discharge to destination other than home (aOR 2.04, 95% CI 1.38–3.02), and 30-day mortality (aOR 2.27, 95% CI 1.08–4.78). High frailty (mFI-5 >2) was associated with increased odds of 30-day mortality (aOR 2.85, 95% CI 1.13–7.14). Conclusions Preoperative frailty, as determined by mFI-5, is associated with increased odds of major postoperative complication, discharge to destination other than home, and 30-day mortality after craniotomy for chronic subdural hematoma.
Search for a cosmologically relevant boson in muon decay

Experiments looking for a lepton-flavor-violating decay ${\ensuremath{\mu}}^{+}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{e}^{+}{X}^{0}$ are reviewed in light of present-day germanium detector technology, with an eye on scenarios where a long-lived, slow-moving massive boson ${X}^{0}$ might have a cosmological impact. A broad swath of interesting, unexplored parameter space very close to the kinematic limit of the decay is found to be within the reach of a new proposed search. A number of possible roles for ${X}^{0}$ in past and present epochs can be investigated.
Classification of Adolescent Major Depressive Disorder Via Static and Dynamic Connectivity

This paper introduces an approach for classifying adolescents suffering from MDD using resting-state fMRI. Accurate diagnosis of MDD involves interviews with adolescent patients and their parents, symptom rating scales based on Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), behavioral observation as well as the experience of a clinician. Discovering predictive biomarkers for diagnosing MDD patients using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans can assist the clinicians in their diagnostic assessments. This paper investigates various static and dynamic connectivity measures extracted from resting-state fMRI for assisting with MDD diagnosis. First, absolute Pearson correlation matrices from 85 brain regions are computed and they are used to calculate static features for predicting MDD. A predictive sub-network extracted using sub-graph entropy classifies adolescent MDD vs. typical healthy controls with high accuracy, sensitivity and specificity. Next, approaches utilizing dynamic connectivity are employed to extract tensor based, independent component based and principal component based subject specific attributes. Finally, features from static and dynamic approaches are combined to create a feature vector for classification. A leave-one-out cross-validation method is used for the final predictor performance. Out of 49 adolescents with MDD and 33 matched healthy controls, a support vector machine (SVM) classifier using a radial basis function (RBF) kernel using differential sub-graph entropy combined with dynamic connectivity features classifies MDD vs. healthy controls with an accuracy of 0.82 for leave-one-out cross-validation. This classifier has specificity and sensitivity of 0.79 and 0.84, respectively.
An Alphabet Soup Agenda for Reform of the Internal Revenue Code and Erisa Provisions Applicable to Qualified Deferred Compensation Plans

Subchapter D of the Internal Revenue Code endows certain advance-funded, employer-sponsored retirement arrangements with the advantage of relatively pure income tax deferral. Most of the deferral is at least originally traceable to contributions to employer-sponsored plans, although individuals may also achieve tax deferral through direct contributions to individual retirement accounts. According to the tax expenditure budget prepared by the Joint Committee on Taxation, the estimated cost of the tax-deferral is currently over $100 billion annually. This article accepts that the basic tax regime associated with Subchapter D will remain a part of our tax code and assumes that the regime has an accepted policy rationale: to help as many working Americans as possible create income security for that period of life when they are no longer supporting themselves with wage income. The purpose of this article is to suggest certain changes to the Internal Revenue Code and to ERISA that would, in my view, increase the probability that employer-sponsored retirement plans will enhance the retirement security of such working people sufficiently to justify our national tax-expenditure commitment to such plans.
Multidimensional Perioperative Recovery Trajectories in a Mixed Surgical Cohort: A Longitudinal Cluster Analysis Utilizing National Institutes of Health Patient-Reported Outcome Measurement Information System Measures.

Background Pain trajectories have been described in numerous surgical settings where preoperative characteristics have been used to predict trajectory membership. Suboptimal pain intensity trajectories have been linked to poor longitudinal outcomes. However, numerous biopsychosocial modulators of postoperative pain may also have distinct longitudinal trajectories that may inform additional targets to improve postoperative recovery. Methods Patients undergoing total joint arthroplasty, thoracic surgery, spine surgery, major abdominal surgery, or mastectomy completed Patient Reported Outcome Measurement Information System (PROMIS) measures and additional scales preoperatively and at 1 week, 2 weeks, 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months postoperatively. A k-means clustering for longitudinal data was utilized to explore and describe distinct pain impact (PROMIS Pain Interference and Physical Function) trajectories and associated changes in additional biopsychosocial measures. Follow-up analyses examined participant demographics and clinical characteristics associated with trajectory memberships. Results Three postoperative biopsychosocial symptom clusters were identified across all patients (n = 402): low (35%), average (47%), and high (18%) performance cluster trajectories. Participants undergoing total knee arthroplasty (TKA), spinal surgery, reporting presurgical opioid use, and higher pain catastrophizing scale scores were found to be associated with the low performance trajectory. Patients within the low performance trajectory, while demonstrating small improvements by 6 months, remained mild to moderately impaired in both pain impact and physical health outcomes. Alternatively, participants in the average performance trajectory demonstrated improvement in pain impact to population norms compared to baseline and demonstrated continued improvement across physical and psychological outcomes. Patients within the high performance cluster started within population norms across all measures at baseline and returned to baseline or exceeded baseline values by 6 months postoperatively. Self-reported opioid utilization was significantly higher in the low performance cluster across all time points. While a larger proportion of average performance patients reported opioid utilization during the first postoperative month compared to the high performance cluster, no differences were detected at 6 months postoperatively between these 2 clusters. Conclusions These pain impact trajectories build upon previous unidimensional pain intensity trajectories and suggest that additional distinct biopsychosocial measures may have unique trajectories related to cluster assignment. Additionally, these findings highlight the importance of continued pain impact surveillance through the perioperative recovery period to detect patients at risk of experiencing a poor trajectory and subsequently poor longitudinal health outcomes.
Evaluating adverse rural crash outcomes using the NHTSA State Data System.

INTRODUCTION: The population-based rate of motor vehicle crash mortality is consistently higher in rural locations, but it is unclear how much of this disparity might be due to geographic barriers or deficiencies in emergency medical services (EMS). We sought to analyze separately factors associated with the occurrence of a severe injury and those associated with death after injury had occurred. METHODS: Data from all police-reported crashes in 11 states from 2005-2007 were obtained through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) State Data System (SDS). Logistic regression was used to estimate factors associated with (1) death; (2) severe (incapacitating or fatal) injury; and (3) death given severe injury. Models included covariates related to the person, vehicle, and event; county location was specified using Rural-Urban Continuum Codes (RUCC). RESULTS: Older age, not wearing a belt, ejection, alcohol involvement, high speed, and early morning times were associated with increased risk of both severe injury and death. Controlling for these factors, and restricting analysis to persons who had suffered a severe injury, the adjusted odds ratio (aOR) associated with death was higher for counties classified rural (RUCC 6-7, aOR 1.23, 95% CI 1.16-1.31) or very rural (RUCC 8-9, aOR 1.31, 95% CI 1.18-1.46). CONCLUSIONS: Persons severely injured in crashes are more likely to die if they are in rural locations, possibly due to EMS constraints. As NHTSA-SDS data become more available and more uniform, they may be useful to explore specific factors contributing to this increased risk. Language: en
Development of EUV scatterometer with high-harmonic-generation EUV source for nano-scale grating measurement

We have developed a EUV scatterometer using a focused high-order harmonic generation (HHG) source for nano-scale grating measurement. The coherent light source with multiple discrete wavelengths of 25-35 nm was pumped by a tabletop Ti:sapphire laser system. A charge-couple-device (CCD) camera directly records the diffraction image of the zero and the first order diffraction information from the grating samples. The grating structure can be reconstructed base on the calculations from the location and the intensity distribution of diffraction pattern.
Etiology, Diagnosis, and Management of Bilomas: A Current Update

A biloma is a well-demarcated collection of bile outside the biliary tree. Traumatic and iatrogenic injuries, most commonly secondary to cholecystectomy, are the usual causes. Although bilomas are relatively uncommon, this pathologic entity may lead to significant morbidity and mortality if not promptly diagnosed and properly managed. As clinical signs and symptoms of bilomas are often nonspecific and laboratory values may be unremarkable, imaging modalities including ultrasound, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and hepatobiliary cholescintigraphy play a crucial role in the diagnosis of this condition. It is paramount that interventional radiologists not only be well versed in the management of bilomas but also be knowledgeable in the diagnosis as well as key imaging findings that dictate the interventional management. The purpose of this article is to review the etiology, pathophysiology, and clinical presentation of bilomas to primarily focus on the relevant multimodal imaging findings and the minimally invasive management options.
An ESD design automation framework and tool flow for nano-scale CMOS technologies

We present a successfully implemented ESD design automation framework that evaluates and verifies the ESD protection methodology at all stages of a standard integrated circuit design flow. The tools used at each step of the flow and sample results showing excellent correlation to hardware test data is presented.
Solutions of the optimal feedback control problem using Hamiltonian dynamics and generating functions

We show that the optimal cost function that satisfies the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equation is a generating function for a class of canonical transformations for the Hamiltonian dynamical system defined by the necessary conditions for optimality. This result allows us to circumvent the final time singularity in the HJB equation for a finite time problem, and allows us to analytically construct a nonlinear optimal feedback control and cost function that satisfies the HJB equation for a large class of dynamical systems. It also establishes that the optimal cost function can be computed from a large class of solutions to the Hamilton-Jacobi (HJ) equation, many of which do not have singular boundary conditions at the terminal state.
Optimizing the Representation of Local Iteration Sets and Access Sequences for Block-Cyclic Distributions

In this paper we investigate the optimization of state machine based representations of access sequence and local iteration set (LIS) information. Two state machine based representations are shown to have complementary strengths. We develop a third representation, the hybrid state machine, that utilizes the strengths of the other two methods. A new optimization is presented that allows state machine reuse across references, reducing the cost of state machine based accesses. Experimental data is presented to support the approach taken.
Fused-Salt Corrosion and Its Control in Fusion Reactors

AbstractThrough extensive testing in fission-reactor programs, molten Li2BeF4 is known to be compatible with graphite and with many useful structural metals. In service as a Controlled Thermonuclear Reactor blanket-coolant fluid, however, corrosion by this molten salt may be enhanced by (a) the effect of magnetically induced electric fields, (b) the consequences of chemical transmutations in the blanket, and (c) inadvertent mixing with other materials through leaks between fluid circuits.Fused salts flowing at high velocity across strong magnetic fields can experience intolerably large induced electromotive forces (emfs); measurements of emfs induced in aqueous solutions with electrical conductivities less than that of Li2BeF4 were found to obey Faraday’s law of electromagnetic induction even under highly turbulent flow conditions. Induced emfs, of course, are absent when the flow is parallel to the magnetic field lines and should be minimized by such flow conditions wherever possible. In regions where mo...
The Effects of Intake Charge Preheating in a Gasoline-Fueled HCCI Engine

Experiments were performed on a homogeneously fueled compression ignition gasoline-type engine with a high degree of intake charge preheating. It was observed that fuels that contained lower end and/or non-branched hydrocarbons (gasoline and an 87 octane primary reference fuel (PRF) blend) exhibited sensitivity to thermal conditions in the surge tanks upstream of the intake valves. The window of intake charge temperatures, measured near the intake valve, that provided acceptable combustion was shifted to lower values when the upstream surge tank gas temperatures were elevated. The same behavior, however, was not observed while using isooctane as a fuel. Gas chromatograph mass spectrometer analysis of the intake charge revealed that oxygenated species were present with PRF 87, and the abundance of the oxygenated species appeared to increase with increasing surge tank gas temperatures. No significant oxygenated species were detected when running with isooctane. The presence of the oxygenated species for PRF 87 fueling indicated that reactions were occurring in the intake surge tanks which resulted in needing lower intake charge temperatures to achieve autoignition.
Revised Interpretation of the Origin of the pSC101 Plasmid

Data are presented indicating that the pSC101 plasmid was not derived by recircularization of a mechanically sheared fragment of R6-5 plasmid deoxyribonucleic acid, as was originally believed.
A plea for more training opportunities in qualitative methods

This article is a commentary on ‘Assessing ‘good’ qualitative research in the work psychology field: A narrative analysis’ (Cassell & Symon, 2011) and a response to two other commentaries (Hickson, 2011; Locke, 2011).
Depth-dependent changes in chlorophyll fluorescence number at a Sargasso Sea station

Chlorophyll a-specific in vivo fluorescence exhibited depth-dependent changes in a Sargasso Sea phytoplankton community, decreasing from a maximum value at the surface to a minimum at 90m, and then increasing again below 90 m. This distribution pattern was not explained by irradiance conditions, diurnal variability, senescence in the deep population, or changes in light-absorption efficiency of chlorophyll a. However, a significant positive correlation was found between mean phytoplankton cell size and fluorescence number in the upper euphotic zone, where nutrient concentrations were low. We hypothesize that the direct cause for this observed correlation was nutrient limitation. In this picoplankton-dominated community, packaging effect was minimal. Under nutrient-limiting conditions, as mean cell size increases photosynthetic efficiency decreases and therefore fluorescence number increases. In the lower euphotic zone where nutrients were not limiting, changes in fluorescence number exhibited weak size-dependence and appeared to be related to species compositional changes.
Adaptive feedforward control of cyclic movements using artificial neural networks

An adaptive neural network control system has been designed for the purpose of controlling cyclic movements of nonlinear dynamic systems with input time delays (as found in functional neuromuscular stimulation). The adaptive feedforward (FF) controller is implemented as a two-stage neural network. The first stage, the pattern generator (PG), generates a cyclic pattern of activity. The signals from the PG are adaptively filtered by the second stage, the pattern shaper (PS). This stage uses modifications to standard artificial neural network learning algorithms to adapt its filter properties. The control system is evaluated in computer simulation on a musculoskeletal model which consists of two muscles acting on a swinging pendulum. The control system provides automated customization of the FF controller parameters for a given musculoskeletal system as well as online adaptation of the FF controller parameters to account for changes in the musculoskeletal system. >
Buying, Expropriating, and Stealing Votes

In elections around the world, large numbers of voters are influenced by promises or threats that are contingent on how they vote. Recently, the political science literature has made considerable progress in disaggregating clientelism along two dimensions: first, in recognizing the diversity of actors working as brokers, and second, in conceptualizing and disaggregating types of clientelism based on positive and negative inducements of different forms. In this review, we discuss recent findings explaining variation in the mix of clientelistic strategies across countries, regions, and individuals and identify a few areas for future progress, particularly in explaining variation in targeting of inducements by politicians on different types of voters.
Studies on a Kentucky Knobs Lake. IV

Physical and chemical conditions in Tom Wallace Lake, Kentucky, were studied through three intermittent ice covers for a period of 49 days during January and February 1958. A Birgean heat budget, based on temperatures observed from a station over the deepest part of the basin, involved a loss of 80 g-cal/cm2 for the entire period. However, temperature profiles made from several stations revealed that there was considerable vertical and horizontal turbulence within the water mass beneath the ice, and that isotherms were not horizontal. Although temperatures of the sediment and deep waters fluctuated, the direction of heat flow from the thin layer of profundal sediment was always upward into the overlying one or two meters of water. Most temperature changes at mid depths, especially at 5 m, were probably caused by lateral transport of heat, since vertical thermal gradients were nonexistent or very slight at those levels. The direction of thermal gradients in the uppermost one or two meters beneath the ice was more varied. At times heat seemed to be moving downward from the ice; at other times an inverse gradient was observed even though the upper water was gaining heat. On several days the vertical temperature profile could not be reconciled with the density of water as a function of the prevailing temperatures, and in a few instances these anomalous stratifications could not be correlated with available chemical data. Some relative-density determinations of water from different depths showed on one occasion that there was no instability in spite of an anomalous temperature profile. Freezing-out effects during times of ice formation, and diluting caused by rain and melting were reflected beneath the ice in changing values of total alkalinity, total iron, and total solids. Stratification and variation in values of dissolved oxygen, total alkalinity, iron, and total solids are discussed.
A new method to measure muscle protein synthesis in humans by endogenously introduced d9‐leucine and using blood for precursor enrichment determination

Enrichment from the easily accessible blood amino acid pool is commonly used as precursor enrichment to calculate rates of muscle protein fractional synthesis in relevant human studies in lieu of the less accessible muscle fluid amino acid pool. However, the accuracy of this approach depends largely on the extent to which there is low discrepancy in free amino acid enrichment between blood and muscle. Steady-state gradient (i.e., ratio) of amino acid enrichment between blood and muscle fluid in the basal state and in response to amino acid infusion were determined in five healthy subjects, and in association with two separate tracers: d9-leucine, introduced endogenously by the metabolism of d10-leucine (i.e., l-[2,3,3,4,5,5,5,6,6,6-2H10]leucine) infused in blood, and 13C6-phenylalanine introduced/infused in blood. The blood-to-muscle fluid amino acid enrichment ratio was lower (P < 0.05) for d9-leucine compared to 13C6-phenylalanine both before (1.5 ± 0.1 vs. 2.5 ± 0.1) and during (1.1 ± 0.1 vs. 1.2 ± 0.1) amino acid infusion. Importantly, the decrease in this ratio in association with the amino acid infusion was considerably less for the d9-leucine than the 13C6-phenylalanine (−0.38 ± 0.03 vs. −1.29 ± 0.07; P < 0.05). In conclusion, blood d9-leucine enrichment introduced endogenously by intravenous infusion of d10-leucine provides a closer estimate of the muscle fluid amino acid enrichment, and its associated changes, than blood phenylalanine enrichment to calculate rates of muscle protein synthesis in humans.