cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Stress Management in Childhood

In general, physical and emotional problems are more likely to occur in adults and children who have been exposed to unusual environmental stress. The author reviews the research on children's reactions to environmental and intrafamilial trauma: all youngsters are symptomatic after severe trauma and certain symptoms are characteristic for a given developmental stage. However, some children are able to tolerate submaximal pressure without evident harm. These stress-resistant children are likely to exhibit optimism, ability, and a sense of control over their environment. These attributes can be consciously enhanced when children are taught problem- solving skills. The pediatrician is in an excellent position to prevent emotional morbidity by implementing interventions which would augment children's healthy defenses and enhance their sense of mastery.
Redox Chemistry of Heteropolyacid Microemulsions

Insight from electroanalysis studies of dense fluid phases (known as “third” phases) in the Keggin heteropolyacid tri-n-butyl phosphate (TBP) system is provided. The differences between the H3PW12O40 and H4SiW12O40 redox chemistry in the third phases and in bulk aqueous electrolytes reflect the differences in the formal charge of the protonated acid solvates of TBP in the low dielectric organic media and the deprotonated anions in the high dielectric aqueous media. The faradaic W-based redox activity leading to heteropoly blue entities drives concerted proton transfer across the organic-analyte–aqueous-electrolyte phase boundary in both the heteropolyacid microemulsions (formed by solvent extraction) and the molecular liquids (formed by dissolution) to maintain charge neutrality in the organic phases. This study of heteropolyacid third phases complements the emerging field of mesoscale sciences with polyoxometalates and their electrochemical properties.
Summer temperature variability across four urban neighborhoods in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA

The urban heat island (UHI) is a well-documented effect of urbanization on local climate, identified by higher temperatures compared to surrounding areas, especially at night and during the warm season. The details of a UHI are city-specific, and microclimates may even exist within a given city. Thus, investigating the spatiotemporal variability of a city’s UHI is an ongoing and critical research need. We deploy ten weather stations across Knoxville, Tennessee, to analyze the city’s UHI and its differential impacts across urban neighborhoods: two each in four neighborhoods, one in more dense tree cover and one in less dense tree cover, and one each in downtown Knoxville and Ijams Nature Center that serve as control locations. Three months of temperature data (beginning 2 July 2014) are analyzed using paired-sample t tests and a three-way analysis of variance. Major findings include the following: (1) Within a given neighborhood, tree cover helps negate daytime heat (resulting in up to 1.19 ∘C lower maximum temperature), but does not have as large of an influence on minimum temperature; (2) largest temperature differences between neighborhoods occur during the day (0.38–1.16 ∘C difference), but larger differences between neighborhoods and the downtown control occur at night (1.04–1.88 ∘C difference); (3) presiding weather (i.e., air mass type) has a significant, consistent impact on the temperature in a given city, and lacks the differential impacts found at a larger-scale in previous studies; (4) distance from city center does not impact temperature as much as land use factors. This is a preliminary step towards informing local planning with a scientific understanding of how mitigation strategies may help minimize the UHI and reduce the effects of extreme weather on public health and well-being.
Cultural Criticisms of Law

Professors Binder and Weisberg expound a "cultural criticism" of law that views law as an arena for composing, representing, and contesting identity, and that treats identity as constitutive of the interests that motivate instrumental action. They explicate this critical method by reference to "New Historicist" literary criticism, postmodern social theory, and Nietzchean aesthetics. They illustrate this method by reviewing recent scholarship of two kinds: First, they explore how legal disputes take on expressive meaning for parties and observers against the background of legal norms regulating or recognizing identities. Second, they examine "readings" of the representations of character, credit, and value in commercial and financial law that emphasize the role of the figurative imagination in the creation of markets and market society. Professors Binder and Weisberg conclude that law does not so much represent a social world of subjects that exists independent of it, as it does compose that world. Accordingly, the criticism enabled by their "cultural" account of law is more aesthetic than epistemological
Household remedies: new narratives of queer containment in the television movie.

SUMMARY What constitutes lesbian identity and who gets to define and/or inhabit such an identity in this postmodern and mediated world? This article addresses how the structure of televisual discourse restricts and streamlines “lesbian” representations in television movies. The supposed “progress” of appearing in the virtual public spaces of television and print media may fulfill the queer impulse for visibility in opposition to cultural silence, but it may also come at the price of a depoliticization of queer life and erotic resistance. Taking notice of which deployments of “queerness” are created and supported by text of the television movie, this article seeks insight into how the queer body and queer identity are being hegemonically reconstructed for consumption by this media form.
Problem Solving as Probabilistic Inference with Subgoaling: Explaining Human Successes and Pitfalls in the Tower of Hanoi

How do humans and other animals face novel problems for which predefined solutions are not available? Human problem solving links to flexible reasoning and inference rather than to slow trial-and-error learning. It has received considerable attention since the early days of cognitive science, giving rise to well known cognitive architectures such as SOAR and ACT-R, but its computational and brain mechanisms remain incompletely known. Furthermore, it is still unclear whether problem solving is a “specialized” domain or module of cognition, in the sense that it requires computations that are fundamentally different from those supporting perception and action systems. Here we advance a novel view of human problem solving as probabilistic inference with subgoaling. In this perspective, key insights from cognitive architectures are retained such as the importance of using subgoals to split problems into subproblems. However, here the underlying computations use probabilistic inference methods analogous to those that are increasingly popular in the study of perception and action systems. To test our model we focus on the widely used Tower of Hanoi (ToH) task, and show that our proposed method can reproduce characteristic idiosyncrasies of human problem solvers: their sensitivity to the “community structure” of the ToH and their difficulties in executing so-called “counterintuitive” movements. Our analysis reveals that subgoals have two key roles in probabilistic inference and problem solving. First, prior beliefs on (likely) useful subgoals carve the problem space and define an implicit metric for the problem at hand—a metric to which humans are sensitive. Second, subgoals are used as waypoints in the probabilistic problem solving inference and permit to find effective solutions that, when unavailable, lead to problem solving deficits. Our study thus suggests that a probabilistic inference scheme enhanced with subgoals provides a comprehensive framework to study problem solving and its deficits.
Photosensitizer (PS)-cyanine dye (CD) conjugates: Impact of the linkers joining the PS and CD moieties and their orientation in tumor-uptake and photodynamic therapy (PDT).

Abstract To investigate the impact of linker(s) joining the photosensitizer HPPH [3-(1’-hexyloxy) ethyl-3-devinylpyropheophorbide-a] and the cyanine dye (CD) in tumor-imaging and photodynamic therapy (dual-function agents), a series of HPPH-CD conjugates were synthesized. The modifications were done in an attempt to minimize Forster Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) between the two chromophores and maximize singlet oxygen production. Among the conjugates containing variable length of linkers, the HPPH-CD conjugate, in which the photosensitizer (PS) and the CD was joined by four Carbon [(CH 2 ) 4 ] units showed higher tumor uptake, improved tumor contrast and limited skin uptake in mice bearing Colon-26 (BALB/c) or U87 tumors in Nude mice. The bi-functional agents in which the HPPH was linked at the meta -position of phenyl-substituted CD 5, 6 and 7 showed longer tumor response (cure) than the corresponding para -substituted analogs 2 , 3 , and 4 , which suggests that the orientation of the PS and CD moieties within the conjugate also makes a substantial difference in tumor-specificity. Compared to HPPH, the singlet oxygen yields of all the HPPH-CD conjugates were significantly low, and required a higher therapeutic dose to achieve the same in vivo response obtained by HPPH-PDT alone. However, conjugate 6 produced a higher singlet oxygen yield with reduced FRET and exhibited enhanced long-term PDT efficacy in mice bearing Colon-26 (BALB/c) and U87 tumors (nude) than its counterparts, including our lead compound (HPPH-CD), making it the most efficacious of the series. Thus, these conjugates bearing cyanine dye moiety (CD) provide an opportunity of imaging deeply seated tumors for fluorescence-guided surgery with an option of PDT.
Beneficial effect of the nitric oxide donor compound 3-(1,3-dioxoisoindolin-2-yl)benzyl nitrate on dysregulated phosphodiesterase 5, NADPH oxidase and nitrosative stress in the sickle cell mouse penis: implication for priapism treatment

Patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) display priapism, and dysregulated nitric oxide (NO) pathway may contribute to this condition. However, current therapies offered for the prevention of priapism in SCD are few. The 3-(1,3-dioxoisoindolin-2-yl)benzyl nitrate (compound 4C) was synthesized through molecular hybridization of hydroxyurea and thalidomide, which displays an NO-donor property. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of compound 4C on functional and molecular alterations of erectile function in murine models that display low NO bioavailability, SCD transgenic mice, and endothelial NO synthase and neuronal NO synthase double gene-deficient (dNOS-/) mice, focusing on the dysregulated NO-cGMP- phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE5) pathway and oxidative stress in erectile tissue. Wild-type, SCD, and dNOS-/- mice were treated with compound 4C (100 μmol/kg/d, 3 weeks). Intracavernosal pressure in anesthetized mice was evaluated. Corpus cavernosum tissue was dissected free and mounted in organ baths. SCD and dNOS-/- mice displayed a priapism phenotype, which was reversed by compound 4C treatment. Increased corpus cavernosum relaxant responses to acetylcholine and electrical-field stimulation were reduced by 4C in SCD mice. Likewise, increased sodium nitroprusside-induced relaxant responses were reduced by 4C in cavernosal tissue from SCD and dNOS-/- mice. Compound 4C reversed PDE5 protein expression and reduced protein expressions of reactive oxygen species markers, NADPH oxidase subunit gp91phox, and 3-nitrotyrosine in penises from SCD and dNOS-/- mice. In conclusion, 3-week therapy with the NO donor 4C reversed the priapism in murine models that display lower NO bioavailability. NO donor compounds may constitute an additional strategy to prevent priapism in SCD.
Bounds on certain classes of Kronecker and q-binomial coefficients

Abstract We present a lower bound on the Kronecker coefficients for tensor squares of the symmetric group via the characters of S n , which we apply to obtain various explicit estimates. Notably, we extend Sylvester's unimodality of q-binomial coefficients ( n k ) q as polynomials in q to derive sharp bounds on the differences of their consecutive coefficients. We then derive effective asymptotic lower bounds for a wider class of Kronecker coefficients.
Inter-hierarchical power analysis methodology to reduce multiple orders of magnitude run-time without compromizing accuracy

Now, it is very common to require more than ten engineering-change-order (ECO) iterations to sign-off VLSI design in scaled technologies because engineers should close not only circuit speed, but also power. One of the main components of the long turn-around-time for closing power is generating activity files at gate level or at register-transfer-level (RTL) to analyze the power. This paper describes a method to reduce the power-analysis run time multiple orders of magnitude maintaining gate-level power-analysis accuracy. To reduce the run-time dramatically for power analysis, novel activity-propagation and port-mapping algorithms to convert automatically from electronic-system-level (ESL) activity file to RTL vcd (value change dump) file and to gate-level vcd file have been proposed. After obtaining all vcd files in each level, we can do power analysis without accuracy degradation at RTL and at gate level. In this method, a huge amount of run time for simulation in each level is reduced. By analyzing a variety of digital circuits, we demonstrate the run-time of our methodology is an order of magnitude faster than traditional method at RTL and multiple orders of magnitude faster at gate level with less than 1% accuracy degradation of RTL and gate-level power analysis.
A review of anaesthetic outcomes in patients with genetically confirmed mitochondrial disorders

Mitochondrial disorders are a clinically and biochemically diverse group of disorders which may involve multiple organ systems. General anaesthesia (GA) poses a potential risk of decompensation in children with mitochondrial disorders, and there is little guidance for anaesthetists and other clinicians regarding the optimal anaesthetic agents and perioperative management to provide to patients with mitochondrial disease[15]. The aim of this review was to document adverse events and perioperative complications from GA in patients with genetically confirmed mitochondrial disorders. A retrospective chart review of patients with genetically confirmed mitochondrial disorders who had undergone GA was undertaken. The indication for GA, anaesthetic agents utilised, length of admission and post anaesthetic complications were documented and analysed. Twenty-six patients with genetically proven mitochondrial disease underwent 65 GAs. Thirty-four (52%), received propofol as their induction agent. Thirty-three (51%) patients received sevoflurane for the maintenance of anaesthesia, while 8 (12%) received isoflurane and 24 (37%) received propofol. The duration of most GAs was short with 57 (87%) lasting less than 1 h. Perioperative complications occurred in five patients while under GA including ST segment depression, hypotension and metabolic acidosis in one. All five patients were stabilised successfully and none required ICU admission as a consequence of their perioperative complications. The duration of hospital stay post GA was <24 h in 25 (38%) patients. Conclusion: No relationship between choice of anaesthetic agent and subsequent perioperative complication was observed. It is likely that individual optimisation on a case-by-case basis is more important overall than choice of any one particular technique.
Asymmetric effects of the business cycle on carbon dioxide emissions

Abstract Long-term carbon dioxide emissions forecasts rely on the assumption that the economic growth rate is constant over long time horizons and exclude the business cycle, thereby ignoring a fundamental component of the macroeconomy. This paper considers how the business cycle affects emissions forecasts and shows the implicit assumption in current forecasts, that the elasticity of emissions is constant with respect to GDP, is wrong. In the United States, emissions fall more sharply when GDP declines than they rise when GDP increases. This is partly due to a decrease in industrial energy intensity as GDP declines. A simulation shows that accounting for the business cycle results in 5% lower cumulative emissions through 2050 relative to the baseline forecast.
CHITOSAN, A NATURAL REGULATOR IN PLANT-FUNGAL PATHOGEN INTERACTIONS, INCREASES CROP YIELDS

Chitosan is a naturally occurring component in the cell walls of many plant pathogenic fungi. It has dual roles in the interaction between pea tissue and the formae speciales of the pathogenic fungus , Fusarium solani. First, it inhibits Fusarium spore germination and growth. Second, chitosan, when applied to pea tissue, induces protection against subsequent inoculations of a virulent pathogen. The biochemistry and gene regulation of this protection response induced by chitosan is indistinguishable from the cross protection induced by an incompatible Fusarium solani strain. Some of the genes activated in the resistance response have been isolated and cloned. Chitosan commercially derived from crab shell chitin has been tested as seed treatments and foliar applications to field crops. Some of the seed treatment applications resulted in cost effective increases in yield.
Biological Control: Perspectives for Maintaining Provisioning Services in the Anthropocene

Biological control is an essential component of sustainable crop management that attempts to maximize one ecosystem service—production of food and fiber—while concurrently contributing in a positive manor to other ecosystem services required for human health and wellbeing. Biological control techniques are both plant species and site specific, so efficacy of controls and specific methodologies will vary among crop species or for a single crop species over resource and climatic gradients. However, techniques to enhance food web diversity within croplands via maximizing spatial and temporal heterogeneity of these local landscapes appear to be the appropriate framework with which to attempt specific biological control techniques. Such a framework also provides an agricultural system with potential resilience to climatic extremes, emergent diseases, and other factors deleterious to food security.
Endoscopic Endonasal Surgery for Remission of Cushing Disease Caused by Ectopic Intracavernous Macroadenoma: Case Report and Literature Review

Background Complete surgical resection of an adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)-secreting pituitary adenoma is the gold standard of treatment of Cushing disease. Ectopic location of these adenomas is an extremely rare condition that may compromise the diagnosis and surgical success. We present the first case of an ectopic intracavernous ACTH-secreting macroadenoma totally resected with endoscopic endonasal surgery (EES). Case Description A 36-year-old woman presented with Cushing syndrome. Increased ACTH, serum cortisol, and free urine cortisol levels were identified; however, pituitary magnetic resonance imaging failed to show a pituitary tumor; instead, a parasellar lesion in the left cavernous sinus (CS) was noticed. Inferior petrosal sinus sampling showed a significant central to peripheral and lateralized left-sided ACTH gradient. The patient underwent EES. No tumor was found in the sella; however, the left CS was widely explored and a tumor was found lateral to the paraclival segment of the carotid artery. There were no complications after EES. Pathology confirmed the diagnosis of an ACTH-secreting adenoma. During the immediate postoperative course, serum cortisol levels decreased lower than 5 μg/dL. Postoperative magnetic resonance imaging showed complete tumor resection. At 20 months follow-up, the patient remained in clinical and biochemical remission of Cushing disease. Conclusions Only 12 cases of ectopic intracavernous ACTH-secreting adenomas have been reported and all were microadenomas. The presence of an ectopic ACTH-secreting macroadenoma in the CS represents a surgical challenge. EES is the ideal approach for complete resection of ectopic intracavernous adenomas, allowing for a wide exploration of the CS with no surgical complications.
Strategic Communication in the C-Suite:

This article explores the ways in which C-suite executives are using corporate communications to execute strategy. Over the past two decades, we have seen a profound shift in how leaders view commu...
Negative D-dimer testing excludes pulmonary embolism in non-high risk patients in the emergency department

The purpose of this study was to assess the ability of d-dimer testing to obviate the need for cross-sectional imaging for patients at “non-high risk” for pulmonary embolism (PE). This is a retrospective study of emergency department patients at an academic medical center who underwent cross-sectional imaging (MRA or CTA) to evaluate for PE from 2008 to 2013. The primary outcome was the NPV of d-dimer testing when used in conjunction with clinical decision instruments (CDIs = Wells’, Revised Geneva, and Simplified Revised Geneva Scores). The reference standard for PE status included image test results and a 6-month chart review follow-up for venous thromboembolism as a proxy for false negative imaging. Secondary analyses included ROC curves for each CDI and calculation of PE prevalence in each risk stratum. Of 459 patients, 41 (8.9%) had PE. None of the 76 patients (16.6%) with negative d-dimer results had PE. Thus, d-dimer testing had 100% sensitivity and NPV, and there were no differences in CDI performance. Similarly, when evaluated independently of d-dimer results, no CDI outperformed the others (areas under the ROC curves ranged 0.53–0.55). There was a significantly higher PE prevalence in the high versus “non-high risk” groups when stratified by the Wells’ Score (p = 0.03). Negative d-dimer testing excluded PE in our retrospective cohort. Each CDI had similar NPVs, whether analyzed in conjunction with or independently of d-dimer results. Our results confirm that PE can be safely excluded in patients with “non-high risk” CDI scores and a negative d-dimer.
Effect of an Electric Field on Gas Chromatographic Retentions by Liquid Crystals

Abstract Reversible changes in gas-chromatographic peak shape and retention time were produced by applying an electric field across a capillary column that employed a liquid crystal as a stationary phase. In general, applied potential caused peaks to be retained longer and to be more nearly symmetrical in shape. The behavior of a variety of substances has been studied over a range of temperatures.
HEART SCORE DOES NOT PREDICT THE SEVERITY OF ANATOMICAL CORONARY ARTERY DISEASE IN PATIENTS PRESENTING TO THE EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT WITH CHEST PAIN

Heart Score (HS) is being increasingly utilized in the US to guide management of patients presenting to the emergency department (ED) with chest pain. Coronary CT angiography (CCTA) allows for rapid triaging of such patients and carries prognostic value. We hypothesize that HS will predict the
Renal Outcomes in Patients With IgA Nephropathy Undergoing Liver Transplant: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

Background End-stage liver disease (ESLD) is the most common cause of secondary immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN). Multiple mechanisms have been proposed to explain the association between liver disease and IgAN. Although some mechanisms are expected to reverse in patients after liver transplant, the long-term renal prognosis is unclear for these patients. Methods This observational retrospective cohort study examined the renal outcomes of 14 patients who had IgAN with end-stage liver disease and subsequently underwent either liver transplant alone or combined liver and kidney transplant at a single tertiary care center. Results Of the 7 patients who underwent liver transplant alone, hematuria persisted in 2, 4 had progressive loss of kidney function with worsening proteinuria in 3 but only 1 reached end-stage renal disease 5 years posttransplant. Among 7 combined liver and kidney transplant recipients, 1 had histologic and 1 had histologic and clinical recurrence of IgAN without kidney allograft loss. Conclusions IgAN in patients with advanced liver disease does not necessarily resolve after liver transplant but has overall favorable renal outcomes.
From 'ah' to 'bah': social feedback loops for speech sounds at key points of developmental transition.

Social feedback is a driving force for speech development. A recent study provided a key finding to explain how contingent responses influence developmental change: infant speech-related vocalizations are contingent on responses to prior speech-related vocalizations (Warlaumont et al., 2014). However, the study did not distinguish between different speech-related vocalizations, vowel-like (V) and consonant–vowel (CV) vocalizations, which is important because CV vocalizations are a precursor to words. The present study explored parents’ responses to infants’ vocalizations and infants’ subsequent vocal production at a point when vocalizations become more like adult speech. The relative proportion of CVs following contingent responses to CV did not differ between 10- and 12-months-olds; however, there was only a significant contingent relationship between responses to CV and subsequent CV production in 12-month-olds. Results suggest a developmental transition and a social feedback loop for the production of more developmentally advanced sounds when infants are learning their first words.
Ending AIDS as a Public Health Threat: Treatment-as-Usual Risk Reduction Services for Persons With Mental Illness in Brazil.

Objective:Persons with mental illness have higher HIV infection rates than the general population. Little is known about whether care systems for this population are effectively participating in gl...
Simultaneous recovery of a series of low-rank matrices by locally weighted matrix smoothing

Low-rank matrix factorizations arise in a wide variety of applications — including recommendation systems, topic models, and source separation, to name just a few. There exist both empirical and theoretical results showing that, under some dynamic models, significant improvements can be obtained by incorporating temporal information and allowing for the possibility that the underlying matrix is time-varying. In this paper we propose the S-LOWEMS estimator, which simultaneously recovers a series of low-rank matrices based on the locally weighted matrix smoothing (LOWEMS) framework. Our synthetic simulations and real world experiments show that, compared to the original LOWEMS estimator, the proposed S-LOWEMS estimator not only recovers a series of low-rank matrices with a small computational overhead, but also improves the recovery accuracy and reduces the sample complexity.
Multicultural Curriculum and Teaching in the Standards-Based Classroom

C. E. Sleeter & J. F. Carmona. (2017). Un-Standardizing Curriculum: Multicultural Teaching in the Standards-Based Classroom (2nd ed.). New York, NY : Teachers College Press. 209 pages, $29.82 (pape...
Circannual Transitions in Gene Expression: Lessons from Seasonal Adaptations

Circannual timing is important for the coordination of seasonal activities, particularly promoting the survival of individuals in adverse conditions through adaptive physiological and behavioral changes. This includes optimizing the survival of offspring by coordinating reproductive efforts at appropriate times. Thus, timing is very important for overall fitness. In this chapter, we provide several examples of circannually timed events, including mammalian hibernation, discussing the physiological changes that accompany these events, and some of the known genes and pathways underlying these changes. We then describe five candidate systems that are potentially involved in circannual timing. Finally, we discuss several recent advances in molecular biology and animal husbandry that have made the use of nonmodel organisms for research more feasible, which will hopefully promote and encourage further advancement in the knowledge of circannual timing.
Head sway response to optic flow: effect of age is more important than the presence of unilateral vestibular hypofunction.

Background: The purpose of this study was to examine how older adults with vestibular impairment use sensory feedback for postural control. Methods: Nine older adult subjects with unilateral vestibular hypofunction (UVH, mean age 69 y) and 14 older (mean age 70 y) and 8 young adult controls (CON, mean age 28 y) viewed full-field optic flow scenes while standing on a fixed or sway-referenced support surface. The subjects with UVH had 100% caloric asymmetry. Optic flow consisted of sinusoidal anterior-posterior movement of the visual surround at three frequencies and three amplitudes of stimulation. The anterior-posterior head sway was measured. The number of head sway responses that were coupled to the optic flow and magnitude of head sway during optic flow relative to during quiet stance on fixed floor was quantified. Results: The number of trials in which the head sway response was significantly coupled to the optic flow was significantly greater in the Older UVH and Older CON subjects compared with the Young CON subjects. Furthermore, the magnitude of head sway was two to three times greater in Older UVH and CON compared with Young CON subjects. There was no difference in coupling or magnitude of head sway between Older UVH and Older CON subjects. The amplitude of sway was also dependent on the amount of surface support, stimulus frequency, and stimulus amplitude. Conclusions: Older adults with unilateral vestibular hypofunction who are able to effectively compensate show no difference in postural responses elicited by optic flow compared with age-matched controls. Language: en
A 98.55% Efficiency Switched-Tank Converter for Data Center Application

Achieving high efficiency and high power density features of intermediate bus converter (IBC) in data center application is very critical. This paper proposes a nonisolated switched-tank dc–dc converter (STC) to meet the high requirement of IBC. The proposed STC has fixed voltage conversion ratio. Theoretical analysis provides the guideline for designing resonant tank and nonresonant tank as well as selecting proper deadtime for the proposed circuit. With resonant operation feature of the proposed circuit, zero current switching is realized on all switching devices to help the high-efficiency operation of the proposed converter. Through the proposed design methodology in this paper, power loss on switching devices and planar inductors can be minimized. In addition, detailed power loss analysis and breakdown provide hints for further efficiency improvement. Simulation has been performed to validate the operating principle of the proposed STC. A designed 6x STC (450 W nominal/600 W maximum) based on eGaNFETs is demonstrated. With 54 V typical input voltage, the output of the 6x STC is 9 V. The GaN-based prototype achieves a peak efficiency of 98.55%. Also, it achieves 97.18% efficiency and 750 W/in3 power density at 450 W.
13.3 A 7Mb STT-MRAM in 22FFL FinFET Technology with 4ns Read Sensing Time at 0.9V Using Write-Verify-Write Scheme and Offset-Cancellation Sensing Technique

STT-MRAM has been emerging as a very-promising high-density embedded non-volatile memory (eNVM) [1], [2]. Embedded Flash memory has been the leading eNVM technology, but STT-MRAM has been developed as a better solution for continuing scaling, speed and cost. This paper presents a write-verify-write (WvW) scheme and a programmable offset cancellation sensing technique that achieves a high-yield, high-performance and high-endurance 7Mb STT-MRAM arrays in a 22FFL FinFET technology [3]. The developed technology supports a wide range of operating temperatures between $-40- 105 ^{\circ}\mathrm {C}$. Compared to prior-art [4], [5], the two-stage current-sensing technique with a die-by-die tuning of thin-film precision resistor that is used as a reference can significantly improve the sensing margin during verify and read operations. Read disturb for reference cells is eliminated as there is no MTJ in the reference path.
The cost of careless talk

My patient, Mr T, was a middle aged man with hepatitis C, cirrhosis, a history of alcoholism and intravenous drug use, and a great sense of humor. He came to me with a bacterial peritonitis and a possible gastrointestinal bleed. He didn’t look too good, and I was happy to learn that he was on the waiting list for a liver transplant. Although the team did our best to control his symptoms in the hospital, a transplant was the only cure. We got along well and he soon became my favourite patient to visit every morning. He would make requests that only I draw his blood, and I would enjoy running errands for …
Passive water ascent in a tall, scalable synthetic tree

The transpiration cycle in trees is powered by a negative water potential generated within the leaves, which pumps water up a dense array of xylem conduits. Synthetic trees can mimic this transpiration cycle, but have been confined to pumping water across a single microcapillary or microfluidic channels. Here, we fabricated tall synthetic trees where water ascends up an array of large diameter conduits, to enable transpiration at the same macroscopic scale as natural trees. An array of 19 tubes of millimetric diameter were embedded inside of a nanoporous ceramic disk on one end, while their free end was submerged in a water reservoir. After saturating the synthetic tree by boiling it underwater, water can flow continuously up the tubes even when the ceramic disk was elevated over 3 m above the reservoir. A theory is developed to reveal two distinct modes of transpiration: an evaporation-limited regime and a flow-limited regime.
Association of aberrant subclavian arteries with aortic pathology and proposed classification system

Abstract Objective Aberrant subclavian artery (aSCA) is a rare anatomic variant whose association with other aortic branch variations and aortic pathology has yet to be established. Knowledge of such an association could be relevant to recommendations for screening and awareness as associated variations are important for operative planning. We describe the incidence of aSCA variations, its association with aortic pathology, and a proposed classification system. Methods The thoracic cross-sectional imaging database at Keck Hospital of the University of Southern California from 2006 to 2018 was queried for presence of aSCA. Studies were evaluated for aSCA laterality, variant anatomy, and aortic and branch vessel disease. Medical records were reviewed for associated symptoms and diagnoses. The primary outcome was association of aSCA with aortic pathology (aneurysm or dissection). Secondary outcomes were comparison of right and left aSCA, comparison between the sexes, and creation of a proposed classification system. Results Of 98,580 axial imaging studies, 810 studies (0.82%) were identified with aSCA in 312 unique patients. Right aSCA made up the majority of cases (90.1%). All aSCAs had a retroesophageal course. Kommerell’s diverticulum (KD) was present in 184 (59%) with an average diameter of 1.67 cm (range, 1.2-3.3 cm). KD was more frequent (84% vs 56%; P = .0003) and larger (2.05 cm vs 1.61 cm; P Conclusions aSCAs are frequently symptomatic and commonly associated with aortic dissection and aneurysm. Our proposed classification scheme depicts all four aSCA arch variants and accounts for vertebral artery origin variation. These variants are common, and vertebral anatomy can differ greatly. Knowledge of these anatomic variations is critical to planning for endovascular and open repair of aortic arch pathology.
Filtered adaptive constrained sampled‐data control for uncertain multivariable nonlinear systems

Abstract A filtered adaptive constrained sampled‐data controller for uncertain multivariable nonlinear systems in the presence of various constraints is synthesized in this paper. A piecewise const...
A minimization approach to conservation laws with random initialconditions and non-smooth, non-strictly convex flux

We obtain solutions to conservation laws under any random initial conditionsthat are described by Gaussian stochastic processes (in some cases discretized). We analyze thegeneralization of Burgers' equation for a smooth flux function $H\left( p\right)=\left\vert p\right\vert ^{j}$ for $j\geq2$ under randominitial data. We then consider a piecewise linear, non-smooth and non-convexflux function paired with general discretized Gaussian stochastic process initial data. Bypartitioning the real line into a finite number of points, we obtain an exactexpression for the solution of this problem. From this we can also find exactand approximate formulae for the density of shocks in the solution profile ata given time $t$ and spatial coordinate $x$. We discuss the simplification ofthese results in specific cases, including Brownian motion and Brownianbridge, for which the inverse covariance matrix and corresponding eigenvaluespectrum have some special properties. We calculate the transition probabilities between various cases and examine the variance of the solution $w\left(x,t\right)$ in both $x$ and $t$. We also describe how results may be obtained for a non-discretized version of a Gaussian stochastic process bytaking the continuum limit as the partition becomes more fine.
Incorporation of Tracer Elements Within Aerogels and CH Foams

AbstractLow-density materials containing tracer elements are an important component of target platforms for high-energy density physics experiments. High-Z elements can be dispersed homogeneously by changing chemistry of the matrix or by simple physical mixing; alternately, tracers can be introduced heterogeneously in the form of ultrathin foils or particles. We have recently focused on how best to manufacture and embed tracer elements into silica aerogels and polystyrene-divinylbenzene (CH) foams. The ability to control dopant concentration and distribution is critical to final shot success. We have produced low-density CH foams doped with chlorine at levels up to 2 at. %. In addition, we have placed metal particles and foils precisely within silica aerogel monoliths.
Strategic Information Perturbation for an Online In-Vehicle Coordinated Routing Mechanism for Connected Vehicles Under Mixed-Strategy Congestion Game

The increased market penetration of route guidance tools-relaying real-time traffic information to drivers-can have damaging effects on transportation networks, including traffic congestion oscillation resulting from the overreaction phenomenon and the inability to control system performance. To address these issues, this study leverages V2I communication capabilities to integrate strategic real-time traffic information perturbation into an online, in-vehicle coordinated routing mechanism for connected vehicles using a mixed-strategy congestion game (CRM-M-IP). Under the CRM-M-IP, the routing decisions of all vehicles are coordinated to prevent overreaction. Additionally, the routing decisions for all vehicles are based on strategically perturbed traffic information (a convex combination between average and marginal link travel times), to ensure that the selfish route choices made by users also help improve system performance. We prove that low information perturbation levels can lead to high system performance gains with correspondingly low individual user optimality losses. From numerical experiments conducted on the Sioux Falls network, we observe that the CRM-M-IP leads to a system performance improvement greater than 3%, and average individual travel time reduction up to 3.5% as compared to the case with no perturbation. Moreover, we find that the average individual user optimality loss resulting from information perturbation is less than 2%. However, we find that when perturbation is high, some users can experience losses approaching 30%--illustrating the need to not over-perturb to ensure compliance of drivers.
Myocarditis after Covid-19 mRNA Vaccination.

Myocarditis after Covid-19 Vaccination Two patients who had received Covid-19 mRNA vaccination are described. One received the BNT162b2 vaccine; the other received the mRNA-1273 vaccine. Myocarditi...
Barriers to Shift-Left Security: The Unique Pain Points of Writing Automated Tests Involving Security Controls

Background: Automated unit and integration tests allow software development teams to continuously evaluate their application's behavior and ensure requirements are satisfied. Interest in explicitly testing security at the unit and integration levels has risen as more teams begin to shift security left in their workflows, but there is little insight into any potential pain points developers may experience as they learn to adapt their existing skills to write these tests. Aims: Identify security unit and integration testing pain points that could negatively impact efforts to shift security (testing) left to this level. Method: An mixed-method empirical study was conducted on 525 Stack Overflow and Security Stack Exchange posts related to security unit and integration testing. Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) was applied to identify commonly discussed topics, pain points were learned through qualitative analysis, and links were analyzed to study commonly-shared resources. Results: Nine topics representing security controls, components, and scenarios were identified; Authentication was the most commonly tested control. Developers experienced seven pain points unique to security unit and integration testing, which were all influenced by the complexity of security control designs and implementations. Most linked resources were other Q&A posts, but repositories and documentation for security tools and libraries were also common. Conclusions: Developers may experience several unique pain points when writing tests at this level involving security controls. Additional resources are needed to guide developers through these challenges, which should also influence the creation of strategies and tools to help shift security testing to this level. To accelerate this, actionable recommendations for practitioners and future research directions based on these findings are highlighted.
Mid-fidelity manikins improve first-year pharmacy students' confidence and accuracy with performing physical assessment

Abstract Introduction As clinical roles for pharmacists expand, effective physical assessment training for pharmacy students is essential. The study objective was to determine whether doctor of pharmacy students taught physical assessment using mid-fidelity manikins improved in confidence and accuracy. Long-term retention of skills was also measured. Methods First-year (P1) pharmacy students were enrolled in a case-based course over two semesters between August 2018 and May 2019. Manikins were incorporated into the fall semester course for students to perform physical assessment as part of the individual case workup process. Students completed surveys before and after the course to evaluate differences in their confidence and accuracy with detecting normal vs. abnormal vital signs. After 21 weeks of no manikin exposure, students were again surveyed and assessed to evaluate long-term retention of physical assessment skills. Results Fifty-six students were included. Student confidence in assessing heart rate, blood pressure (BP), and lung sounds improved significantly between pre-exposure and post-exposure (34%, 39%, and 71% improvement, respectively), and accuracy in assessing BP and lung sounds improved significantly between pre-exposure and post-exposure (28% and 23% improvement, respectively). Confidence and accuracy were maintained throughout the study including follow-up. Conclusions Early introduction of mid-fidelity manikins to P1 pharmacy students in a case-based, spaced learning strategy provided a successful approach to teach physical assessment skills.
TRENDS IN URBAN TRANSPORTATION

This paper develops a comparative basis for examining trends in urban transportation. The important variables included in the study are indicative of vehicle capacity, demand density, and size of the transportation system in vehicles per square mile. Related variables such as privacy, residential density, travel cost, and convenience in terms of waiting time are also considered. Trends in transit usage since the turn of the century are reviewed to gain insight into the relative importance of the variables and to estimate possible trends in transit service developments during the remainder of the century. It is shown that new door-to-door demand activated transit systems can fill an important gap in urban transportation services.
Dissipative Processes in the Nuclear Magnetic Resonances of Superfluid Liquid 3He

A framework is given for the inclusion of relaxation processes in the theory of NMR in the superfluid phases of liquid 3He, which allows one to compare two recent phenomenological theories. The effects of dissipation on large amplitude longitudinal ringing experiments are discussed.
Wind Shear-Turbulence and Reaeration Coefficient

An equation to predict reaeration rates in natural streams and rivers with wind blowing along the water surface is theoretically developed and experimentally tested. The physical model used in the development of the equation consisted of interfacial layers of water that absorb gas at a rate proportional to an effective diffusion coefficient at the interface, and this surface water is then carried into the main body of liquid by the action of turbulence beneath the water surface. The experimental results give support to the theoretically developed equation. The results indicate that reaeration rates are significantly increased when waves appear on the surface. The increase is often much more than can be accounted for by the increase in surface area. The increase is attributed to the dynamic effect of waves and the wind-induced surface shear stress.
Relationships and Differentially Expressed Genes among Pancreatic Cancers Examined by Large-scale Serial Analysis of Gene Expression

Pancreatic adenocarcinoma is among the most fatal of cancers, in part because of late diagnosis and a lack of effective therapies. Comprehensive studies are needed to better understand and address the cellular mechanisms and pathways of tumorigenesis. Serial analysis of gene expression was used to analyze gene expression profiles of pancreatic cancer cell lines, short-term cultures of normal pancreatic ductal epithelium, and primary pancreatic cancer tissue. A total of 294,920 tags representing 77,746 genes in 10 serial analysis of gene expression libraries were analyzed. A pancreatic cancer cell line (Hs766T) that exhibited a “normoid” profile of gene expression was identified. Several genes that may be involved in the fundamental nature of malignant changes in pancreatic ductal epithelium were suggested from those differentially and highly expressed in pancreatic cancer cells as compared with normal epithelium. Some overexpressed genes, such as S100A4, prostate stem cell antigen, carcinoembryonic antigen-related cell adhesion molecule 6, and mesothelin, suggest potential use as diagnostic markers. Others suggest potential novel therapeutic targets.