cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Development of an opioid self-administration assay to study drug seeking in zebrafish

The zebrafish (Danio rerio) has become an excellent tool to study mental health disorders, due to its physiological and genetic similarity to humans, ease of genetic manipulation, and feasibility of small molecule screening. Zebrafish have been shown to exhibit characteristics of addiction to drugs of abuse in non-contingent assays, including conditioned place preference, but contingent assays have been limited to a single assay for alcohol consumption. Using inexpensive electronic, mechanical, and optical components, we developed an automated opioid self-administration assay for zebrafish, enabling us to measure drug seeking and gain insight into the underlying biological pathways. Zebrafish trained in the assay for five days exhibited robust self-administration, which was dependent on the function of the μ-opioid receptor. In addition, a progressive ratio protocol was used to test conditioned animals for motivation. Furthermore, conditioned fish continued to seek the drug despite an adverse consequence and showed signs of stress and anxiety upon withdrawal of the drug. Finally, we validated our assay by confirming that self-administration in zebrafish is dependent on several of the same molecular pathways as in other animal models. Given the ease and throughput of this assay, it will enable identification of important biological pathways regulating drug seeking and could lead to the development of new therapeutic molecules to treat addiction.
Nested Intraepidermal Proliferations

A nested intraepidermal pattern of growth may be observed in several distinctive neoplasms derived from normal epidermal elements. Melanocytic tumors from melanocytes, squamous tumors from keratinocytes and adnexal tumors from intraepidermal adnexal elements.
A Local Adaptive Coarse-Mesh Nonlinear Diffusion Acceleration Scheme for Neutron Transport Calculations

AbstractIn order to improve the effectiveness and stability of the coarse-mesh finite difference method (CMFD), we developed a new nonlinear diffusion acceleration scheme for solving neutron transport equations. This scheme, called LR-NDA, employs a local refinement approach on the framework of CMFD by solving a local boundary value problem of the scalar flux on the coarse-mesh structure to replace the piecewise constant scalar flux obtained by CMFD. The refined flux is then used to update the scalar flux in the neutron transport source iteration. In this paper, a detailed convergence study of LR-NDA is carried out based on a two-dimensional fixed-source problem, and it shows that LR-NDA is much more effective and stable than CMFD for a wide range of optical thicknesses. In addition, we demonstrate that LR-NDA is a local adaptive method. LR-NDA does not necessarily require local refinement for all the coarse-mesh cells on the problem domain, i.e., it can be used only for relatively optically thick regions...
Metabolic pathway interruption: CRISPR/Cas9-mediated knockout of tryptophan 2,3-dioxygenase in Tribolium castaneum

Abstract The Tribolium castaneum vermilion gene encodes tryptophan 2,3-dioxygenase, a pivotal enzyme in the ommochrome pathway that is required for proper pigmentation of the eye. A white-eyed mutant strain of T. castaneum, vermilionwhite (vw), lacks eye pigmentation due to a deletion of unknown size that removes all but the 3′-end of the vermilion gene. To create a more defined mutation in vermilion, the CRISPR/Cas9-nuclease system was used to target wild type vermilion in preblastoderm T. castaneum embryos. As adults, all injected beetles had wild type (black) eye pigmentation; however, when outcrossed to vw mates, one cross produced 19% white-eyed offspring. When the vermilion locus of these offspring was analyzed by target-site sequencing, it was determined that white-eyed individuals had a 2 bp deletion that resulted in a frame-shift mutation, presumably producing a nonfunctional enzyme. Interestingly, some of their black-eyed siblings also had a small deletion of 6 bp, but the resultant loss of two amino acids had no apparent impact on enzyme function. To establish a mutant strain homozygous for the CRISPR-induced knock-out allele, a CRISPR positive G0 male was crossed to wild type females. Their progeny were self-crossed, and white-eyed progeny were used to establish the new strain. This mutant strain is herein named vermilionICE and will be used in future work in addition to or in place of vw.
Do adults acquire a second orthography using their native reading network

Abstract Adult second language learners typically aim to acquire both spoken and written proficiency in the second language (L2). It is widely assumed that adults fully retain the capacity they used to acquire literacy as children for their native language (L1). However, given basic principles of neural plasticity and a limited body of empirical evidence, this assumption merits investigation. Accordingly, the current work used an artificial orthography approach to investigate behavioral and neural measures of learning as adult participants acquired a second orthography for English across six weeks of training. One group learned HouseFont, an alphabetic system in which house images are used to represent English phonemes, and the other learned Faceabary, an alphasyllabic system in which face images are used to represent English syllables. The findings demonstrate that adults have considerable capacity to learn a second orthography, even when it involves perceptually atypical graphs, as evidenced by performance improvements that were sustained across weeks of training. They also demonstrate that this learning involves assimilation into the same reading network that supports native literacy, as evidenced by learning related changes in orthographic, phonological, and semantic regions associated with English word reading. Additionally, we found learning patterns that varied across the two orthographies. Faceabary induced bilateral learning effects in the mid-fusiform gyrus and showed greater engagement of regions associated with semantic processing. We speculate the large graph inventories of non-alphabetic systems may create visual-perceptual challenges that increase reliance on holistic reading procedures and associated neural substrates.
Cervical alterations in pregnancy.

Abstract Spontaneous preterm birth (SPTB), defined as delivery before 37 weeks' gestation, remains a significant obstetric dilemma even after decades of research in this field. Although trends from 2007 to 2014 showed the rate of preterm birth slightly decreased, the CDC recently reported the rate of preterm birth has increased for two consecutive years since 2014. Currently, 1 in 10 pregnancies in the US still end prematurely. In this chapter, we focus on the “compartment” of the cervix. The goal is to outline the current knowledge of normal cervical structure and function in pregnancy and the current knowledge of how the cervix malfunctions lead to SPTB. We review the mechanisms by which our current interventions are hypothesized to work. Finally, we outline gaps in knowledge and future research directions that may lead to novel and effective interventions to prevent premature cervical failure and SPTB.
Integrated color, shape and texture features for object classification on oil/gas pipeline right-of-ways

Pipeline right-of-way (ROW) monitoring and safety pre-warning is an important way to guarantee a safe operation of oil/gas transportation. Any construction equipment or heavy vehicle intrusion is a potential safety hazard to the pipeline infrastructure. Therefore, we propose a novel technique that can detect and classify an intrusion on oil/gas pipeline ROW. The detection part has been done based on our previous work, where we built a robust feature set using a pyramid histogram of oriented gradients in the Fourier domain with corresponding weights. Then a support vector machine (SVM) with radial basis kernel is used to distinguish threat objects from background. For the classification part, the object can be represented by an integrated color, shape and texture (ICST) feature set, which is a combination of three different feature extraction techniques viz. the color histogram of HSV (hue, saturation, value), histogram of oriented gradient (HOG), and local binary pattern (LBP). Then two decision making models based on K-nearest neighbor (KNN) and SVM classifier are utilized for automatic object identification. Using real-world dataset, it is observed that the proposed method provides promising results in identifying the objects that are present on the oil/gas pipeline ROW.
3.11 Alkaloid Derived Auxiliaries: Miscellaneous Alkaloids

This chapter focuses on the application of lesser used alkaloids (perhaps due to their physiological properties) in asymmetric applications in synthetic organic chemistry. These alkaloids include (−)-brucine, (−)-sparteine, (−)-strychnine, and (−)-nicotine. In many of the applications, these alkaloids have been functionalized to have the proper reactivity for use as catalytic ligands in asymmetric synthesis. The reactions and processes described in this chapter include the aldol addition reaction, the nitroaldol (Henry) reaction, the Friedel–Crafts reaction, and cycloaddition reactions. Carbolithiations are also described in this chapter as well as an example strychnine-based enantiodifferentiation coupling agent.
Biased censoring of low SMC sites by atheroma in coronary artery

Earlier data on aorta suggested that atheroma selectively censors arterial sites with the fewest SMC’s, gaining this result from direct use of sampling theory in the level playing field of that organ. Here the same conclusion is obtained for the coronary artery, using an indirect approach adapted to the uneven playing field of this organ
What to Do When You Can't Hear the Whistleblowing: A Proposal to Protect the Public's Health by Providing Whistleblower Protection for Medical Researchers

Both the safety of human subjects participating in medical research and the consumers of the research's products are of vital importance to the public's health. Unfortunately the current methods of over-seeing drug development and protecting whistleblowers makes it difficult for those involved in drug production or sales to bring forward information about hidden dangers. While some risks cannot be anticipated, others may be suppressed because they are against the manufacturer's financial interest. Protecting the public is difficult because U.S. law divides human subjects' safety oversight into two separate jurisdictions: first, research funded by agencies of the Federal Government and second, drug trials paid for by pharmaceutical companies. This article addresses the latter. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) controls every aspect of the development, production and marketing of a drug to be sold in the United States. This article identifies the dangers to the public during drug testing and the marketing of a new drug, reviews the existing options for protecting those with knowledge, and proposes that the FDA adopt a new rule to encourage those with information to bring it to the FDA's attention. Extending and reforming protection for whistleblowers is a particularly effective intervention because it aligns with long-standing traditions, within science and medicine, for individuals to step forward and report wrong-doing. It then proposes that the FDA initiate two methods of reform. First the FDA should establish a mechanism for obtaining and reviewing anonymous concerns about the safety of clinical trials or recently marketed drugs. Second, the FDA needs to require sponsors applying for Investigational New Drugs (IDA)s or New Drug Applications (NDA)s to develop real-time monitoring systems which will use interoperable electronic medical records and pharmacy records to track the health of both research subjects and consumers. Finally, Sponsors must certify that they have adopted broad and effective Whistleblower protection as an incentive for employees to come forward and provide information without concern that they will be retaliated against if discovered as its source. Improving information flow by developing a safe and effective whistleblower procedure will not be an easy task. Drug trials are complex and often occur at multiple test sites, both public and private, in many different states in the United States, as well as overseas. As a result, the pool of potential people with relevant knowledge is very large and transcends employment status, job title or physical location. Direct action by the FDA is necessary because traditional whistleblower protection statutes are usually quite specific and often will only protect disclosures directly related to violations of a specific statute.
Hydrogen production via natural gas steam reforming in a Pd-Au membrane reactor. Investigation of reaction temperature and GHSV effects and long-term stability

Abstract A composite palladium-gold membrane reactor (MR) was packed with a Ni-based catalyst to perform natural gas steam reforming for the purpose of producing high-purity hydrogen. In a related previous study, high hydrocarbon conversion (> 80%) and hydrogen recovery (~ 65%) were reached at 450 °C and 300 kPa, with high-purity hydrogen obtained in all the experimental tests. The membrane has shown a hydrogen permeance of 1.30 × 10−3 mol/s m2 Pa0.5 at 450 °C, and near infinite H2/Ar ideal selectivity at each operating temperature and a pressure of 50 kPa. In this study, the same membrane was used to investigate the influence of the reaction temperature and the gas hourly space velocity (GHSV) in order to optimize the membrane reactor performance. Specifically, the temperature and the GHSV were varied from 350 °C to 450 °C and from 1300 h−1 to 7800 h−1, respectively, while the reaction pressure and the steam-to-methane ratio were kept constant at 300 kPa and 3.5/1, respectively. In addition, a long-term natural gas steam reforming reaction was conducted for more than 260 h at different temperatures to evaluate the stability of the membrane reactor. The best MR performances were obtained at the lowest GHSV and highest temperature with greater than 80% hydrocarbon conversions and 80% hydrogen recovery. High-purity hydrogen was obtained in all of the experimental tests and no coke formation was observed. Finally, it is demonstrated that the Pd-Au MR, which was operated for 800 h under different reaction conditions, displayed stable performance, in terms of conversion, hydrogen recovery and product selectivity, while the membrane showed stable performance for more than 1000 h with minimal degradation.
Movements of leatherback turtles ( Dermochelys coriacea ) in the Gulf of Mexico

Leatherback turtles are a migratory marine species that occur worldwide. Although known to inhabit the Gulf of Mexico (GoM), no quantitative studies have investigated the space use of leatherbacks in these waters. Satellite telemetry data of 16 leatherbacks tagged between 2005 and 2015 were analyzed with a switching state-space model to determine behavioral modes expressed while utilizing the GoM (15°N–32°N, 80.4°W–97.8°W). Foraging was found to be the predominant behavior expressed in the GoM, located mainly within three distinct areas, the northeast corner from Louisiana to Florida, the coastal shelf of southwest Florida, and the eastern side of Campeche Bay, Mexico. Leatherbacks were tracked within the GoM during all months of the year, and movements were associated with specific temperature and salinity ranges, salinity fronts, and sea surface height lows. Identifying leatherback habitat use is imperative to the successful management and survival of this marine species especially since the high-use areas coincide with intensive fishing pressure.
Stressful Life Memories Relate to Ruminative Thoughts in Women With Sexual Violence History, Irrespective of PTSD.

More than one in every four women in the world experience sexual violence (SV) in their lifetime, most often as teenagers and young adults. These traumatic experiences leave memories in the brain, which are difficult if not impossible to forget. We asked whether women with SV history experience stronger memories of their most stressful life event than women without SV history and if so, whether strength relates to ruminative and trauma-related thoughts. Using the Autobiographical Memory Questionnaire (AMQ), women with SV history (n = 64) reported this memory as especially strong (p < 0.001), remembering more sensory and contextual details, compared to women without SV history (n = 119). They further considered the event a significant part of their personal life story. The strength of the memory was highly correlated with posttraumatic cognitions and ruminative thoughts, as well as symptoms of depression and anxiety (p’s < 0.001, n = 183). A third (33%) of the women with SV history were diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but PTSD alone did not account for the increase in memory strength (p’s < 0.001). These data suggest that the experience of sexual violence increases the strength of stressful autobiographical memories, which are then reexperienced in everyday life during posttraumatic and ruminative thoughts. We propose that the repeated rehearsal of vivid stressful life memories generates more trauma memories in the brain, making the experience of SV even more difficult to forget.
Chinese Christian Studies and Anglophone Literary Studies: A Response to Chin Kenpa's "Chinese Marxist Biblical Criticism on Jesus: A Study on W.T. Chu (朱维之)"

The author responds to the most salient matters in Chin Kenpa’s paper in this journal issue on the Chinese biography Wuchanzhe Yesu 無產者耶穌 (Jesus, the Proletarian) by W.T. Chu (朱維之, Zhu Weizhi), wit...
In‐Cell NMR Spectroscopy of Intrinsically Disordered Proteins

This review summarizes the results of in-cell Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, NMR, spectroscopic investigations of the eukaryotic and prokaryotic intrinsically disordered proteins, IDPs: α-synuclein, prokaryotic ubiquitin-like protein, Pup, tubulin-related neuronal protein, Tau, phenylalanyl-glycyl-repeat-rich nucleoporins, FG Nups, and the negative regulator of flagellin synthesis, FlgM. The results show that the cellular behavior of IDPs may differ significantly from that observed in the test tube.
Using Telehealth to Remediate Rural Mental Health and Healthcare Disparities

"Deaths of despair", deaths due to drugs, alcohol, and suicide, occur at higher rates in rural communities. The incidence of such deaths highlights underlying access and treatment disparities which result in poorer outcomes. Telehealth is a viable option for addressing rural mental healthcare needs as it enables more effective care management, provides expanded access to services, and fosters integrating primary and mental healthcare services. Implementing telemental health will involve overcoming coverage and reimbursement, licensure, broadband access and adequacy, and privacy and security barriers and advancing select policy changes. Telehealth diffusion will require changes in professional training and care delivery models.
Transgender and non-conforming persons' mental healthcare experiences: An integrative review

Abstract Introduction Transgender and gender non-conforming (TGNC) people in the United States face disproportionate rates of mental health disorders, including suicidality, depression, anxiety, and substance use disorders than the general population. Patients' experiences utilizing mental healthcare is a determinant in their care-seeking behaviors and treatment success. Aim/question The purpose of this integrative review is to better understand the firsthand mental healthcare experiences of TGNC persons. Method The authors sought to locate recent English-language articles that described the mental healthcare experiences of TGNC persons. To do so, only articles that conducted data collection with a TGNC sample were considered for review. Results Seven articles met criteria for review. Four themes emerged that depicted experiences of health promotion (welcoming environments, staff knowledge and response) and health prevention (enacted stigma, racial disparities and intersectional insensitivity). Discussion Themes indicated that TGNC persons have mixed experiences (excellent to harmful/damaging) when receiving mental healthcare. There is room for healthcare provider growth in skills to increase TGNC cultural competency. Implications for practice Mental healthcare providers and nurses would benefit from interventions to promote TGNC culturally competent care, including in-service training or continuing education for the current work force as well as incorporating TGNC content into pre-licensure educational curricula.
Information Quality in Fusion-Driven Human-Machine Environments

Effective decision making in complex dynamic situations calls for designing a fusion-based human-machine information system requiring gathering and fusing a large amount of heterogeneous multimedia and multispectral information of variable quality coming from geographically distributed sources. Successful collection and processing of such information strongly depend on the success of being aware of, and compensating for, insufficient information quality at each step of information exchange. Designing methods of representing and incorporating information quality into fusion processing is a relatively new and rather difficult problem. The chapter discusses major challenges and suggests some approaches to address this problem.
Band gap engineered zinc oxide nanostructures via a sol–gel synthesis of solvent driven shape-controlled crystal growth

A reliable sol–gel approach, which combines the formation of ZnO nanocrystals and a solvent driven, shape-controlled, crystal-growth process to form well-organized ZnO nanostructures at low temperature is presented. The sol of ZnO nanocrystals showed shape-controlled crystal growth with respect to the solvent type, resulting in either nanorods, nanoparticles, or nanoslates. The solvothermal process, along with the solvent polarity facilitate the shape-controlled crystal growth process, augmenting the concept of a selective adhesion of solvents onto crystal facets and controlling the final shape of the nanostructures. The XRD traces and XPS spectra support the concept of selective adhesion of solvents onto crystal facets that leads to yield different ZnO morphologies. The shift in optical absorption maxima from 332 nm in initial precursor solution, to 347 nm for ZnO nanocrystals sol, and finally to 375 nm for ZnO nanorods, evidenced the gradual growth and ripening of nanocrystals to dimensional nanostructures. The engineered optical band gaps of ZnO nanostructures are found to be ranged from 3.10 eV to 3.37 eV with respect to the ZnO nanostructures formed in different solvent systems. The theoretical band gaps computed from the experimental XRD spectral traces lie within the range of the optical band gaps obtained from UV-visible spectra of ZnO nanostructures. The spin-casted thin film of ZnO nanorods prepared in DMF exhibits the electrical conductivity of 1.14 × 10−3 S cm−1, which is nearly one order of magnitude higher than the electrical conductivity of ZnO nanoparticles formed in hydroquinone and ZnO sols. The possibility of engineering the band gap and electrical properties of ZnO at nanoscale utilizing an aqueous-based wet chemical synthesis process presented here is simple, versatile, and environmentally friendly, and thus may applicable for making other types of band-gap engineered metal oxide nanostructures with shape-controlled morphologies and optoelectrical properties.
Laser Induced Thermal Stress in Optical Thin Films

Thermal stress of optical thin film materials SiO2, HfO2, Al2O3, TiO2, and MgF2 exposed to laser pulse is simulated using 2D finite element method. Thermal stress is compressive and MgF2 film has the least value.
Who Dominates the Discourses of the Past? Gender, Occupational Affiliation, and Multivocality in North American Archaeology Publishing

Equity and the dissemination of knowledge remain major challenges in science. Peer-reviewed journal publications are generally the most cited, yet certain groups dominate in archaeology. Such uniformity of voice profoundly limits not only who conveys the past but also what parts of the material record are narrated and/or go untold. This study examines multiple participation metrics in archaeology and explores the intersections of gender and occupational affiliation in peer-reviewed (high time cost) and non-peer-reviewed (reduced time cost) journals. We find that although women and compliance archaeologists remain poorly represented in regional and national peer-reviewed journals, they are much more active in unrefereed publications. We review feminist and theoretical explanations for inequities in science and argue that (1) the persistent underrepresentation of women and of compliance professionals in archaeological publishing are structurally linked processes and (2) such trends can be best understood in light of the existing structure of American archaeology and the cost-benefit realities of publishing for people in various sectors of the discipline. We suggest that nonrefereed venues offer a pathway to multivocality and help to address epistemic injustices, and we discuss methods for widening the current narrow demographic of men and academics who persist in dominating discourses.
A Hölder type inequality and an interpolation theorem in Euclidean Jordan algebras

Abstract In a Euclidean Jordan algebra V of rank n which carries the trace inner product, to each element x we associate the eigenvalue vector λ ( x ) whose components are the eigenvalues of x written in the decreasing order. For any p ∈ [ 1 , ∞ ] , we define the spectral p-norm of x to be the p-norm of λ ( x ) in R n . In this paper, we show that ‖ x ∘ y ‖ 1 ≤ ‖ x ‖ p ‖ y ‖ q , where x ∘ y denotes the Jordan product of two elements x and y in V and q is the conjugate of p. For a linear transformation on V , we state and prove an interpolation theorem relative to these spectral norms. In addition, we compute/estimate the norms of Lyapunov transformations, quadratic representations, and positive transformations on V .
3D optical fabrication at the intersection of two-photon lithography and optical trapping

The presented work will provide an overview of 3D microfabrication capabilities enabled by concurrent use of holographic optical tweezers and two-photon lithography in a single system. The hybrid nature of this technique allows for fabrication, manipulation, and assembly of microparticles in 3D. Exploiting these capabilities has enabled fabrication of some unprecedented metamaterials such as engineered microgranular crystals and lattices with embedded strain energy. We also demonstrated in situ characterization of 2PL structures by the means of optical manipulation and image processing.
Faculty Perceptions of Academic Librarians: Experts, Connectors, and Resource Stewards

A survey concerning perceptions of academic librarians was conducted at a large, 4-year university with three populations: librarians, faculty, and undergraduate students. This paper presents resul...
Fibrocartilagenous embolism case series: is it a zebra?

Introduction There have been 30 clinically suspected cases and 41 histopathologically confirmed cases of fibrocartilaginous embolism (FCE) reported in the literature. FCE often has a poor prognosis and is estimated to represent 5.5% of spinal cord infarctions, but may be more common than initially presumed given underdiagnosis due to its vague clinical presentation. Case presentation We report two cases, a 15-year-old male and a 15-year-old female, whose clinical history, examination, and imaging findings were consistent with spinal cord infarction secondary to FCE. Discussion These cases were unique given our patients' neurologic improvement; however, the commonly held assumption of poor prognosis may in part be fueled by the preferential case ascertainment via biopsy on autopsy. These cases highlight the importance of recognizing rare causes of spinal cord pathology and considering FCE in the differential diagnosis of acute myelopathy.
Patient-Specific Connectomic Models Correlate With, But Do Not Predict, Outcomes in Deep Brain Stimulation for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Background: Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the ventral internal capsule/ventral striatum (VCVS) is an emerging treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Recently, multiple studies using normative connectomes have correlated DBS outcomes to stimulation of specific white matter tracts. Those studies did not test whether these correlations are clinically predictive, and did not apply cross-validation approaches that are necessary for biomarker development. Further, they did not account for the possibility of systematic differences between DBS patients and the non-diagnosed controls used in normative connectomes. Methods: We performed patient-specific diffusion imaging in 8 patients who underwent VCVS DBS for OCD. We delineated tracts connecting thalamus and subthalamic nucleus (STN) to prefrontal cortex via VCVS. We then calculated which tracts were likely activated by individual patients9 DBS settings. We fit multiple statistical models to predict both OCD and depression outcomes from tract activation. We further attempted to predict hypomania, a VCVS DBS complication. We assessed all models9 performance on held-out test sets. Results: No model predicted OCD response, depression response, or hypomania above chance. Coefficient inspection partly supported prior reports, in that capture of tracts projecting to cingulate cortex was associated with both YBOCS and MADRS response. In contrast to prior reports, however, tracts connected to STN were not reliably correlated with response. Conclusions: Patient-specific imaging and a guideline-adherent analysis were unable to identify a tractographic target with sufficient effect size to drive clinical decision-making or predict individual outcomes. These findings suggest caution in interpreting the results of normative connectome studies.
Can We Talk? Predicting Participant Attitude, Self-Efficacy, and Intention to Engage in Mediation

In an experiment conducted online, participants viewed a mediator who displayed either supportive or defensive communication behaviors (Gibb, 1961). After viewing their randomly-assigned video, participants reported their attitude, self-efficacy, and intention towards working with the mediator shown in the video (Fishbein, 2010). In line with expectations, exposure to mediator supportive communication yielded higher participant scores on the attitude and self-efficacy measures than did exposure to mediator defensive communication. Moreover, consistent with Fishbein’s integrative model (2010), attitude and self efficacy positively predicted behavioral intention. We conclude the study by addressing the implications of our findings for both researchers and practitioners.
Exploratory study: the COVID-19 pandemic and community-based animal organisations and households in the USA

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed many aspects of human systems. Gaps in community services for people with companion animals can prevent people from seeking care during a pandemic or create other issues. This paper describes exploratory research to identify some key challenges and successes for animal services providers and for households with companion animals. Using data from 19 USA states were gathered using an online survey and respondents were from 13 animal services organisations and 90 households. Themes were identified based on organisational-level challenges or successes, as well as themes at the household level. These findings may be useful for emergency managers and planners who design outreach and support services for people with companion animals, for example, planning for low-cost animal boarding services for people hospitalised or unable to care for their animal.
Arterial Stiffness Is Independently Associated with Acute Kidney Injury in SPRINT

AKI is defined by an abrupt decrease in kidney function and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality, including kidney disease progression and higher cardiovascular disease risk ([1][1]). Greater arterial stiffness is also associated with higher risk for kidney function decline and
Aspen for Excelsior

The use of aspen for the manufacture of excelsior is well established in the Lake States. The properties of the wood make it suitable for this general use, and there are adequate supplies available for increased productive capacity. The process of manufacturing exceisior is relatively uncomplicated, and the production equipment is simple and relatively low in cost. That the industry is not more extensive is obviously due to limitations in markets for excelsior. Expansion of the industry depends primarily upon the development of new uses and new products having excelsior as a base.
The Effect of Ethnic Diversity on Municipal Spending

This paper examines the effect of ethnic diversity on municipal spending, taxes, and employment, as well as on municipal spending in various subcategories. Previous work has found that diversity is associated with decreased productive spending but increased overall spending and employment. The goal of this paper is to investigate whether these opposing effects are found for two different levels of diversity. The first considers broad ethnic groups like non-Hispanic white, black, and Hispanic. The second considers more focused diversity, the various subgroups making up the white category. We find that greater broad diversity increases municipal spending and taxes, spending on all of the specific productive goods, and sometimes on protective or redistributive services. Greater focused diversity, on the other hand, decreases municipal spending and spending on one redistributive service but increases spending on another.
A coupled iterative/direct method for efficient time-domain simulation of nonlinear circuits with power/ground networks

A coupled iterative/direct circuit analysis method is proposed for efficient SPICE-accurate time-domain simulation of nonlinear circuits with large-scale power/ground networks. The system under study is partitioned into a linear part including power/ground networks, a nonlinear part, and an interface between them. The part of power/ground networks is formulated by nodal analysis based on RCLK elements, and solved by an efficient conjugate gradient iterative method with an incomplete Cholesky decomposition preconditioner. The nonlinear circuit part is formulated by modified nodal analysis, and solved by the direct method as in SPICE. The iterative method and the direct method are coupled by a Gauss-Seidel like relaxation scheme with SPICE built-in varying time step-size numerical integration. How the condition number of a circuit matrix changes with time step-sizes is further studied. Experimental results on digital circuits with power/ground networks demonstrate that the proposed coupled iterative/direct method yields SPICE-like accuracy with orders of magnitude speedup for circuits with tens of thousands of elements.
Effect of water temperature on egg incubation time and quality of newly hatched larvae of northern pike (Esox lucius L., 1758)

Summary This study examined the effect of temperature on egg incubation, survival of eggs during embryonic development and quality of newly hatched larvae of northern pike (Esox lucius L.) under laboratory conditions. Eggs of similar size (diameter 2.7 ± 0.16 mm and weight 6.11 ± 0.35 mg) from five females were incubated at 3, 6, 10, 14, and 18°C (groups A, B, C, D, and E, respectively). The lowest fertilization (FR) and hatching rates (HR) were observed in larvae incubated in group A, 44.6 ± 3.2% and 18.26 ± 2.25%, respectively. The highest FR and HR were found in group B (FR, 71.3 ± 4.3%; HR, 56.2 ± 3.21%) and C (FR, 65.6 ± 3.1%; HR, 65.5 ± 5.41%). Time of incubation period varied from 38 ± 0.33 days (120 ± 1.03°d) when 5% larvae were hatched to 46 ± 0.42 days (144 ± 1.31°d) when 95% larvae were hatched in group A and 2.5 ± 0.08 days (44.67 ± 1.42°d) when 5% larvae were hatched to 3.42 ± 0.06 days (61.11 ± 1.07°d) when 95% larvae were hatched in group E. Larvae from groups A, D, and E were characterized by the lowest values of variables such as resistance to osmotic stress after 90 min of exposure of saline solution (OS = 54 ± 3–76 ± 3%), frequency of normally developed larvae (FNL = 23.8 ± 4.14–87. 1 ± 2.42%), and yolk sac volume (YsV = 3.41 ± 0.44–3.89 ± 0.45 μl3). The highest quality larvae were recorded in groups B and C: OS = 92 ± 3% and 80 ± 4%, FNL = 89.7 ± 3.62% and 93.8 ± 3.17, YsV = 3.3 ± 0.66 μl3 and 3.04 ± 0.42 μl3). Fertilization and hatching rates and quality of larvae showed optimal temperature for successful egg incubation and production of high quality larvae to be 6 to 10°C. Relationship of ontogenic rate to temperature showed development of the pike embryo to be hypothetically stopped at 3.3°C.
A Positive Agenda for Behavioral Law and Economics

Law has spent surprisingly little time developing a theory of human nature. Its efforts have largely focused on the abnormal - notably, those not responsible for their actions by reason of mental illness or diminished capacity. The normal has barely been addressed. Law and economics embeds a theory - that people are rational maximizers of their self-interest. Law and economics admits its theory is unrealistic; it touts instead its theory’s ability to predict. Behavioral law and economics aspires to more realism (and more predictive power). Its trajectory has, however, sometimes been contorted insofar as it has focused on exceptions to the law and economics view rather than a broader reconception of the overall endeavor. Such a reconception is desirable, necessary, and increasingly feasible.
Experimental robotic excavation with fuzzy logic and neural networks

This paper describes experimental results for autonomous robotic rock excavation with fuzzy logic and neural networks. An excavation goal is decomposed into several tasks, whereas a take is accomplished by executing appropriate excavation behaviors. Finally, a behavior is carried out by a sequence of primitive, machine executing excavation actions. Excavation goals, tasks, and behaviors are specified using finite state machines (FSM) based on excavation heuristics and expertise from skilled human operators. The decision making in the FSMs are implemented using neural networks which are capable of improving their performance from previous task executions. Excavation actions are given using fuzzy logic rules acquired from human experience and heuristics. Several experiments are presented that demonstrate the system's ability to complete required excavation tasks effectively.
Knowledge, Attitudes, and Personal Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine among Occupational Therapy Educators in the United States

The purpose of this study was to establish a baseline description of American occupational therapy educators' knowledge, attitudes, and personal use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) as a first step in exploring the larger issue of future occupational therapy practitioners' preparedness for meeting clients' occupational needs in today's evolving healthcare environment. Results of this cross-sectional survey highlighted limitations of occupational therapy educators' knowledge of common CAM concepts and therapies across all demographic variables, varying attitudes towards CAM in general and its inclusion in occupational therapy education, and personal use of common CAM therapies. Without increased occupational therapy educator knowledge about CAM and engagement in the current healthcare practices, occupational therapy practitioners are at risk for having a limited role in integrative healthcare.
Stability, evaporation, and temperature of metal clusters

The stabilities of free metal clusters in beams, as well as their physical and chemical properties, are governed by the shell structure of the quantized electronic levels. In addition, the properties of a cluster depend upon its internal thermal energy, or temperature. We describe a new method to determine the temperature of free neutral clusters. Laser-induced photodissociation of sodium clusters is used to measure the recoil pattern of fragmentation products and thereby the amount of kinetic energy release. The fragmentation process is treated by an evaporation model similar to the statistical theory of the disintegration of compound nuclei. From the kinetic energies of evaporation, we determine the temperatures of both the daughter and the mother particles.
Spectral band passes for a high precision satellite sounder.

Atmospheric temperature soundings with significantly improved vertical resolution can be obtained from carefully chosen narrow band-pass measurements in the 4.3-micron band of CO2 by taking advantage of the variation of the absorption coefficients, and thereby the weighting functions, with pressure and temperature. A set of channels has been found in the 4.2-micron region that is capable of yielding about 2-km vertical resolution in the troposphere. The concept of a complete system is presented for obtaining high resolution retrievals of temperature and water vapor distribution, as well as surface and cloud top temperatures, even in the presence of broken clouds.
The invisibility of adolescent sexual development in foster care: Seriously addressing sexually transmitted infections and access to services

Abstract Adolescents residing in foster care are at higher risk for acquiring sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and human immune deficiency virus (HIV) compared to their non-foster care peers. A literature review was conducted to determine whether youth residing in foster care face different barriers to sexual health care compared to their peers in the general population and, if so, what those barriers are. The review revealed barriers common to adolescents in general as well as additional barriers specific to the ecosystem of adolescents in foster care. Systemic issues that decreased access to sexual health services included child welfare policies that were either missing or implemented without fidelity; complicated financial factors; barriers to service utilization; lack of collaboration between child welfare and medical professionals; and limited information provided to foster youth on their sexual health and development. Consent and confidentiality issues that foster youth face in seeking sensitive health services also need to be resolved. More research is needed on how to facilitate development of coherent policies and effective practices that promote sexual health care access for adolescents in foster care.
Step frequency and perceived self-motion

There is a discrepancy between the ability to correctly match the gains of visual and motor speed in virtual reality (VR) when walking on solid ground and the failure of this ability when walking on a treadmill. Moreover, this discrepancy has been found to interact with effects of the structure of the visual environment. The authors used a high-fidelity treadmill VR system to reproduce the high interactivity of normal walking in wide-area VR. Under these conditions, it was found that gain matches in a richly structured near environment differ by only about 10p in treadmill VR from matches in wide-area VR and that trial-to-trial variations in step frequency predicted changes in perceived locomotor speed. Gait differences resulting from treadmill walking (which are shown not to be a product of wearing a head-mounted display), apparently lead to an overestimation of motor speed on treadmills. When the near visual environment represented an empty hallway, additional errors were present that could be accounted for by known illusions in the perception of visual speed during self-motion. A study of normal gait at different speeds measured by head-tracker is reported as evidence of other possible sources of perceptual estimates of locomotor speed in normal walking.
Using Primary Literature to Teach Science Literacy to Introductory Biology Students

Undergraduate students struggle to read the scientific literature and educators have suggested that this may reflect deficiencies in their science literacy skills. In this two-year study we develop and test a strategy for using the scientific literature to teach science literacy skills to novice life science majors. The first year of the project served as a preliminary investigation in which we evaluated student science literacy skills, created a set of science literacy learning objectives aligned with Bloom’s taxonomy, and developed a set of homework assignments that used peer-reviewed articles to teach science literacy. In the second year of the project the effectiveness of the assignments and the learning objectives were evaluated. Summative student learning was evaluated in the second year on a final exam. The mean score was 83.5% (±20.3%) and there were significant learning gains (p < 0.05) in seven of nine of science literacy skills. Project data indicated that even though students achieved course-targeted lower-order science literacy objectives, many were deficient in higher-order literacy skills. Results of this project suggest that building scientific literacy is a continuing process which begins in first-year science courses with a set of fundamental skills that can serve the progressive development of literacy skills throughout the undergraduate curriculum.
Long-term survival in refractory recurrent neuroblastoma.

Background: Patients older than age 1 year with metastatie neuroblastoma have poor survival. A patient with a unique history of metastatie neuroblastoma by virtue of disseminated nodal disease with multiple relapses and a 14-year survival is presented. Methods: A ease history of a 24-year-old man who was diagnosed at age 9 years with Evans stage IV neuroblastoma with multiple recurrences is reviewed. A review of the literature was undertaken to uncover similar patients with advanced stage disease and an absence of hematogenous metastasis. Results: Eleven patients older than age 1 year, in addition to the case presented, have been reported in the literature with stage IV disease without extralymphatie metastasis. These patients have a survival of 50% at 5 years as compared with 15% in historical controls. Long-term survival with recurrent disease has not previously been noted in this population. Other favorable prognostic factors including favorable histology, and a single N-myc oncogene copy were documented in the present case. Conclusion: A tendency toward improved survival is seen in patients with nonhemalogenous stage IV neuroblastoma. It is unknown whether long-term survival with residual disease, as observed in the present case, is seen in other patients with stage IV disease without extralymphatie metastasis. Prospective analysis of other patients with stage IV neuroblastoma without extra-lymphatic metastasis is required to confirm these observations.
Effect of annealing temperature on physical properties of thin epitaxial PZT films on STO/Si substrates

In this work, we report the effect of annealing temperature on the properties of epitaxial PbZr 0.52 Ti 0.48 O 3 (PZT) films deposited using sol-gel techniques on (001) Si substrates with a thin, epitaxial SrTiO 3 (STO) interlayer. The STO is grown on silicon using molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) and acts as the template for PZT growth. We report the values for stress, density, thickness, and refractive index vs. anneal temperatures for a thin PZT film. AFM surface roughness values of less than 0.4 nm are typical for this film. XRD patterns show the film to be c-axis orientated, with PHI scans demonstrating that the [100] PZT is orientated along the [110] Si direction. SEM cross-sections show the film morphology is free of gain boundaries and are clear of interfacial layers from the multiple spin/bake/anneal deposition technique, thereby making this material an excellent candidate for electro-optic applications.