cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Some Factors that Affect Oviposition in the Domestic Fowl

Abstract OVIPOSITION takes place with regularity in the fowl. The time of oviposition depends on the number of eggs in a clutch (eggs laid on consecutive days). In eggs laid in a large clutch, say 10 eggs or more, oviposition in the first part of the clutch takes place each morning at 8.00 or 9.00, at definite 24 to 25-hour intervals between eggs. During the latter part of the clutch the interval between eggs lengthens until the last egg of a clutch is laid in the afternoon. Eggs laid in a small clutch of 2 or 3 may require as much as 30 hours between eggs. Oviposition and ovulation show a time relationship. Warren and Scott (1936) found that oviposition of an egg occurred 15 to 45 minutes before ovulation of the next egg if another egg was to be laid in the clutch. They found also that it was not . . .
Active Polymer Nanoparticles: Delivery of Antibiotics

Antibiotic-encapsulated PLA and PLGA nanoparticles were prepared by the single emulsion-solvent evaporation technique. Different PLA and PLGA systems were prepared, varying the copolymer composition and the amount of the surfactant polyvinyl alcohol. Characterization and drug loading studies were performed by UV-Visible spectrophotometry, dynamic light scattering, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Simultaneously, in order to model the diffusion of the nanoparticles within the osteoblast, QDs such as functionalized InGaP/ZnS and polymer encapsulated InGaP/ZnS nanoparticles were added to confluent cultures of primary mouse osteoblasts. Following PreFer fixation, cultures were examined via confocal microscopy. QDs were clearly visible within osteoblasts.
Basidiospore Formation by Ceratobasidium Sp. on Agar

Several Ceratobasidium isolates (binucleate Rhizoctonia solani-like fungi), all in anastomosis group 7 (CAG-7), developed basidiospores in axenic agar culture. There was wide variation in reproduct...
Feed Wheast and the Abundance and Fecundity of Chrysopa carnea

When Feed Weast®, honey, glycerine, and water were applied to cotton, the populations of adult lacewing Chrysopa carnea Stephens, increased 3-fold after hand treatment and 2-fold after aerial application compared with the control. Egg deposition did not increase consistently.
A Study of Ablation-Flowfield Coupling Relevant to Orion Heatshield

The coupled interaction between an ablating surface and the surrounding aerothermal environment is studied. An equilibrium ablation model is coupled to the LAURA flowfield solver, which allows the char ablation rate (ṁc) to be computed as part of the flowfield solution. The wall temperature (Tw) and pyrolysis ablation rate (ṁg) may be specified by the user, obtained from the steady-state ablation approximation, or computed from a a material response code. A 32 species thermochemical nonequilibrium flowfield model is applied, which permits the treatment of C, H, O, N, and Si containing species. Coupled ablation cases relevant to the Orion heatshield are studied. These consist of diffusionlimited oxidation cases with Avcoat as the ablation material. The ṁc values predicted from the developed coupled ablation analysis were compared with those obtained from a typical uncoupled ablation analysis. The coupled results were found to be as much as 50% greater than the uncoupled values. This is shown to be a result of the cumulative effect of the two fundamental approximations inherent in the uncoupled analysis.
Multiwavelength mid-IR spatially-dispersive CW laser based on polycrystalline Cr 2+ :ZnSe

For the first time a continuous-wave, multiwavelength, polycrystalline Cr2+ZnSe spatially-dispersive laser is described. A 200 nm wide, multiwavelength (2-40 lines) output spectrum, tunable over 2200-2800 nm spectral range is reported.
Basic Experience and Inspiration of the CPC in the past 90 years

The history of the CPC in the past 90 years is the history of uniting and leading all ethnic groups to promote revolution,construction and reform of the Chinese society.The basic experience of the CPC consists of unremitting efforts to achieve national independence,people's liberation and happiness and national prosperity,adhering to the combination of Marxism with China's reality to guide theoretical innovation;and continuously strengthening and improving self-construction in the process of correcting errors.The CPC's basic experience inspires us greatly.We must firmly grasp the fundamental ideals and beliefs,consistently arm the Party and educate the people with the theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics,and popularize Marxism among ordinary people in contemporary China.We also must adhere to the key value of serving the people wholeheartedly,continue to reform and opening up to the world rather than from the world and maintain the continuity of the Party's policies,opening up the future of their historical context.
Observation of treatment with naloxone citicoline lizhucereb in neonatal hypoxic ischemic encepholopathy

Objective: For observation of treatment with naloxone citicoline lizhucereb in neonatal HIE. Methods: Treatment group were 36 cases (naloxone + lizhucereb), control group were 32 cases (naloxone + citicolne), course of treatment were 10 day. To observe recoveing time of clinic manifestation, and study effect of treatment. Result: Effective rate were 86% in treatment group, ef-fective rate were 87. 5% in contral proup. Conclution: The diference did not reach a significant between the two groups in treatment of neonatal HIE.
Shared Learning and The Ignorant Schoolmaster

IntroductIon: two conflIctIng desIres This essay has its origin in two conflicting desires. The first is my desire to examine and protect the shared space and time of the school. My understanding of school and its value owes much to Jan Masschelein and Maarten Simons’s book, In Defence of the School.1 Inspired by their analyses, I see the school’s dimension of sharing to be its most precious characteristic. In school, students learn in a shared space — the school is a structure that enables and requires spatial coexistence. Further, in its relation to tradition, the school also enables a sharing of time, bringing the past into contact with the present, and opening this present up to a future to come. Learning in the school is thus a shared learning that comes about through a certain sharing of space and of time. Otherwise put, there is a fundamental difference between the learning that occurs in the school and the learning that occurs when one is alone. It may be that more learning occurs in our lives when we are alone. But my interest in this essay lies not with the quantity but with a certain quality or process of learning, namely that shared process that occurs in the school.
Mangafodipir trisodium injection (Mn-DPDP). A contrast agent for abdominal MR imaging

Mangafodipir trisodium (Mn-DPDP) is one of several recently developed targeted hepatobiliary agents. Contrast-to-noise measurements have shown favorable results for Mn-DPDP-enhanced MR as compared with nonenhanced T1- and T2-weighted images. An improved capability for lesion detection and the ability to characterize tumors of hepatocellular origin have been demonstrated. The prolonged enhancement obtained with Mn-DPDP provides an extended window of time during which effective contrast is maintained as compared with traditional extracellular contrast agents. This report details the experimental and initial clinical experience with Mn-DPDP-enhanced MR imaging of the abdomen.
Definitions in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

SUMMARY States of airflow obstruction are common disorders which span the spectrum from asthmatic–chronic bronchitis to emphysema. Asthmatic and chronic bronchitic states are at least potentially reversible by systematic, pharmacologically oriented therapy focusing on bronchodilators and corticosteroids. Both asthmatic bronchitis, particularly when it is not adequately treated, and emphysema result in the final common pathway of COPD. These are generally progressive states, unless smoking cessation can be achieved in early or mild stages of disease. The future focuses on the great challenge of early identification, classification, and intervention. Thus, all patients with cough, dyspnea, and wheeze should be carefully evaluated by health workers who understand the history, physical examination, and simple pulmonary function tests in the context of chest radiology. These clinical methods together can help define the disease states characterized by airflow obstruction. Often, a final definition of disease cannot be made until aggressive attempts at the treatment of the airflow obstruction and its attendant symptoms complex have been vigorously pursued by experienced clinicians.
Stabilization of an arbitrary order transfer function with time delay using a PID controller

This paper is concerned with developing a procedure for stabilizing a linear time-invariant plant of any order with time delay utilizing a proportional-integral-dervative (PID) controller. The method presented here is based on calculating the stability bounds in terms of the three planes (KP, K1), (Kp, Kd) and (KI, Kd), where Kp, Ki and Kd are proportional, integral and derivative gains, respectively. The advantage of this procedure is the fact that it does not require the knowledge of the plant transfer function parameters, but only its frequency response. In addition, if the plant function is known, the procedure may also be used to analytically obtain the stabilizing controllers. We also present the tuning rules for user specified gain and phase margins.
"Gloucester and the Friendly Sea": An Early 20th-Century Art Educator's Mural as a Pedagogical Hinge.

In this article, I investigate the mural-making experience of Mabel Spofford, an early 20th-century art educator from Massachusetts. Spofford designed and created a mural titled Gloucester and the Friendly Sea while attending a Pennsylvania State University Summer Arts Institute course with Viktor Lowenfeld in 1947. By placing archival documents, such as the written mural plan, in relation to relevant historical, social, and cultural contexts, a story emerges about the personal and social motivations of Spofford as an art educator whose life was inextricably intertwined with place. The story I tell is of a woman who had a deep connection to the local and whose experience in the mural course served as a pivot point (Ellsworth, 2005) in her own becoming—one which brought her lifelong experiences of place into relation, allowing her to see the known anew.
Comparison of atlas-based bone segmentation methods in whole-body PET/MRI

The aim of this work is to compare bone extraction accuracy of commonly used atlas-based segmentation algorithms for generation of pseudo-CT images in whole-body PET/MRI. Eight different bone segmentation methods from whole-body MR images were implemented. The study comprised 23 patients who underwent sequential PET/CT and PET/MRI scans, thus enabling to produce pairs of aligned 3D Dixon MR and CT images. The voxel-wise weighting method, which employs local normalized cross-correlation similarity measure to give appropriate weights locally, outperformed other pseudo-CT generation approaches, yielding a Dice similarity index of 0.77±0.04 (P<0.05) compared to 0.60±0.02 (P<0.05) achieved by bone segmentation using simple averaging of all CT atlases. This approach is promising for MRI-guided attenuation correction in whole-body PET/MRI.
The Opportunities and Risks of Community Docent Training as Adult Learning

A household sponge encased in a glass museum vitrine accompanies the above label, in the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum (JAHHM) in Chicago. This object is unusual for a museum collection, if not for a lavatory or kitchen. Together, the object and its label tell a unique story about the experience of a domestic worker.
Which patients with atrial fibrillation do not need anticoagulation therapy with warfarin

Anticoagulation therapy with warfarin is not indicated for use in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation who are at low risk for embolic cerebral vascular events. The classification of “low risk for embolic stroke” is defined as a 1 percent annual risk for stroke or lone atrial fibrillation (i.e., age younger than 65 years without history of hypertension, transient ischemic attack, stroke, coronary heart disease, recent congestive heart failure, or diabetes).
Fast Startup of LC VCOs Using Circuit Asymmetries

An LC VCO whose design includes deliberate circuit mismatches is presented. It is shown that such mismatches can reduce the oscillation start-up time due to a common-mode disturbance simultaneous with the turn-on of the tail current. The use of this technique is applied to a low-power transmitter for an ultra-wideband wireless communication system using the on–off keying modulation scheme. Measurements using a 0.18- ${\mu }\text{m}$ CMOS technology with a 4.2-GHz carrier frequency demonstrate the technique.
Pelvic discontinuity associated with total hip arthroplasty: Evaluation and management

Pelvic discontinuity is a challenging complication encountered during revision total hip arthroplasty. Pelvic discontinuity is defined as a separation of the ilium superiorly from the ischiopubic segment inferiorly and is typically a chronic condition in failed total hip arthroplasties in the setting of bone loss. After a history and a physical examination have been completed and infection has been ruled out, appropriate imaging must be obtained, including plain hip radiographs, oblique Judet radiographs, and often a CT scan. The main management options are a hemispheric acetabular component with posterior column plating, a cup-cage construct, pelvic distraction, and a custom triflange construct. The techniques have unique pros and cons, but the goals are to obtain stable and durable acetabular component fixation and a healed or unitized pelvis while minimizing complications.
Ablation of smooth muscle myosin heavy chain SM2 increases smooth muscle contractility and results in postnatal death in mice

The smooth muscle myosin heavy chains (SMHC) are motor proteins powering smooth muscle contraction. Alternate splicing of SHMC gene at the C-terminus produces SM1, and SM2 myosin isoforms; SM2 (200 kDa) contains a unique 9-amino-acid sequence at the carboxyl terminus, whereas SM1 (204 kDa) has a 43 amino acid non-helical tail region. To date the functional difference between C-terminal isoforms has not been established; therefore, we used an exon-specific gene targeting strategy and generated a mouse model specifically deficient in SM2. Deletion of exon-41 of the SMHC gene resulted in a complete loss of SM2 in homozygous (_SM2^-/-^_) mice, accompanied by a concomitant down-regulation of SM1 in bladders. While heterozygous (_SM2^+/-^_) mice appeared normal and fertile, _SM2^-/-^_ mice died within 30 days after birth. The peri-mortal _SM2^-/-^_ mice showed reduced body weight, distention of the bladder and alimentary tract, and end-stage hydronephrosis. Interestingly, strips from _SM2^-/-^_ bladders showed increased contraction to K^+^ depolarization or M3 receptor activation. These results suggest that SM2 myosin has a distinct functional role in smooth muscle, and the deficiency of SM2 increases smooth muscle contractility, and causes dysfunctions of smooth muscle organs, including the bladder that leads to the end-stage hydronephrosis and postnatal death.
Modeling bacterial load scenarios in a Texas coastal watershed to support decision-making for improving water quality

The planning for improved health of a stream can be optimized by assessing the watershed system as a whole; state and federal agencies have embraced this watershed approach for managing water quality (USEPA 2008). Using the watershed approach, bacteria loads in the Double Bayou watershed were modeled to identify critical loading areas and develop appropriate voluntary management measures as part of a watershed protection plan. The Spatially Explicit Load Enrichment Calculation Tool (SELECT) model was developed by the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering and the Spatial Science Laboratory at Texas AM results showed SELECT was successful in the Double Bayou watershed in ranking categories of bacteria sources and revealing spatial load aggregations. This analysis guides discussion on the prioritization of management measures to improve water quality in the Double Bayou watershed. Citation: Glen SM, Bare RM, Neish BS. 2017. Modeling bacterial load scenarios in a Texas coastal watershed to support decision-making for improving water quality. Texas Water Journal. 8(1):57-66. Available from: https://doi.org/10.21423/twj.v8i1.7048.
Chapter 11 – Benthic Stream Algae: Distribution and Structure

Algae are ubiquitous in streams and play fundamentally important roles as primary producers at the interface of the physical–chemical environment and the biological community. In this chapter, we present an introduction to the taxonomic and ecological classification of stream algae for the investigator with little previous experience with algae. You will learn to recognize stream benthic algal growth in a variety of microhabitats and how to identify common North American stream algae using an illustrated key. You will also be introduced to the ways by which different ecological factors structure the stream algal community by investigating differences in algal density and biovolumes among different microhabitats.
Systems Pharmacology of VEGF165b in Peripheral Artery Disease

We built a whole-body computational model to study the role of the poorly understood vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)165b splice isoform in peripheral artery disease (PAD). This model was built and validated using published and new experimental data from cells, mice, and humans, and explicitly accounts for known properties of VEGF165b : lack of extracellular matrix (ECM)-binding and weak phosphorylation of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2 (VEGFR2) in vitro. The resulting model captures all known information about VEGF165b distribution and signaling in human PAD, and provides novel, nonintuitive insight into VEGF165b mechanism of action in vivo. Although VEGF165a and VEGF165b compete for VEGFR2 in vitro, simulations show that these isoforms do not compete for VEGFR2 at much lower physiological concentrations. Instead, reduced VEGF165a may drive impaired VEGFR2 signaling. The model predicts that VEGF165b does compete for binding to VEGFR1, supporting a VEGFR1-mediated response to anti-VEGF165b . The model predicts a key role for VEGF165b in PAD, but in a different way than previously hypothesized.
Narrative approach in understanding the drivers for resilience of military combat medics.

Introduction Qualitative insights may demonstrate how combat medics (CM) deal with stressors and identify how resilience can potentially develop. Yet, qualitative research is scant in comparison to the many quantitative studies of health outcomes associated with military service. Method Semistructured qualitative interviews were used to collect personal narratives of US Army CMs who had previously served in Iraq or Afghanistan. Results Thematic analysis revealed three key driving forces for how resilience develops in the context of combat and war. The first was patriotism, which captures loyalty and full commitment to the military and its missions. The second was commitment to their family, reflecting the balance of responsibility to family of origin with the obligation one feels towards their military family. The last driving force was faith, or the drive to reach towards the transcendent to provide a moral compass and develop empathy in the face of difficult situations. Conclusions An individual’s commitment to country, military family and faith strengthens their resilience, and this can be used to inform future research efforts as well as current clinical practice.
Single-Crystal Graphene-Directed van der Waals Epitaxial Resistive Switching

Graphene has been broadcasted as a promising choice of electrode and substrate for flexible electronics. To be truly useful in this regime, graphene has to prove its capability in ordering the growth of overlayers at an atomic scale, commonly known as epitaxy. Meanwhile, graphene as a diffusion barrier against atoms and ions has been shown in some metal–graphene–dielectric configurations for integrated circuits. Guided by these two points, this work explores a new direction of using graphene as a bifunctional material in an electrochemical metallization memory, where graphene is shown to (i) order the growth of a low-ionicity semiconductor ZnS single-crystalline film and (ii) regulate the ion migration in the resistive switching device made of Cu/ZnS/graphene/Cu structures. The ZnS film is confirmed to be van der Waals epitaxially grown on single-crystal graphene with X-ray structural analysis and Raman spectroscopy. Charge transport studies with controlled kinetic parameters reveal superior ion regulatin...
A case study for intelligent event recommendation

Social networks, along with their “event” organization, planning, and sharing tools, play an important role in connecting and engaging individuals and groups. These online spaces thrive with multifaceted activities and interests which give rise to rich content and user interaction that often crossover to the world of events. For these reasons, the data trails associated with “events” in the virtual world can be complex and challenging to understand and predict. This paper presents our efforts to build an interpretable framework to analyze event data and recommend relevant events to social media users with different preferences. The datasets for this challenge were provided by a competition on Kaggle. We conduct an extensive data analysis and exploration to help gain a better understanding of the data. We then proceed to the critical phase of feature engineering, storytelling and modeling for computing event recommendations. We explore fuzzy approximate reasoning for modeling because of its rich linguistic expression ability which allows handling uncertainty, while maintaining human interpretability of the built models and predictions. This interpretability is critical in the data mining enterprise because data mining often requires team collaboration and yields results that need to be consumed by people of diverse technical and non-technical background. Such teams tend to question the meaning of models and emphasize the importance of telling stories from the data. We evaluate our event recommendation system on a real-world dataset with more than one million events and 38,000 users. The proposed methodology achieved 70% accuracy, outperforming existing event recommendation algorithms.
ON MULTIVARIATE VERTEX SPLINES AND APPLICATIONS

A basis of multivariate splines with an arbitrarily preassigned order of smoothness, smallest possible supports, and the lowest corresponding total degree is constructed on an arbitrarily given grid partition which consists of simplices and parallelopipeds. The optimal order which is one higher than the degree of the piecewise polynomials can be attained for both approximation and interpolation using this basis. As an important application, results on least-squares approximation to arbitrary discrete scattered data are obtained. In particular, the optimal order of approximation on any subregion is guaranteed.
Physics evaluation of some design changes in the EBR-II

Results are presented for the reactor physics analysis of the installation of a higher worth control rod system and a new type metal fuel loading for the EBR-II.
Viruses of the Potyviridae with non-aphid vectors.

The large majority of members of the family Potyviridae are aphid-transmitted. However, 17 viruses whose vectors are unknown have been classified as members of the genus Potyvirus. Loss of aphid transmissibility has been observed in some strains of several potyviruses. There are currently 11 members of the Potyviridae whose vectors are not aphids. These viruses with non-aphid vectors exhibit most of the characteristics of the family. Viruses of the Potyviridae induce cytoplasmic cylindrical inclusions in their hosts whether their vectors are aphids, non-aphids, or are unknown. The virus genome produces the inclusion protein and thus the viruses have related inclusion body gene sequences. Non-aphid-transmitted viruses of the Potyviridae also are serologically related to aphid—transmitted potyviruses.
Simple View of Reading (SVR) in Different Orthographies: Seeing the Forest with the Trees

One of the influential models of reading development may be the Simple View of Reading (SVR), according to which Reading Comprehension can be explained by two important components, decoding (D) and linguistic comprehension (LC) and is expressed as RC = D × LC. Decoding refers to pronunciation of the word and listening comprehension refers to understanding of the text when read by others and listening to the text. This chapter reviews various studies in support SVR from monolinguals, second language learners and conducted in various orthographies of different orthographic depth. Findings from these studies support of SVR and the model is applicable for assessment and intervention by identifying the weak component in the model (e.g., decoding or listening comprehension) and providing systematic instruction to the identified weak component. Future research directions are also provided.
A Values-Based Private Landowner Typology to Improve Grassland Conservation Initiatives

Many conservation initiatives are based on natural science alone, despite an extensive body of literature demonstrating that the incorporation of social science generates more successful and lastin...
A Rapid Statistical Data Processing System for Radio Propagation Research

Research activities in the general field of radio propagation have for many years been concentrated in three areas: a. Theoretical research pertaining to the development of physico-mathematical relations amongst the transmitted energy, the characteristics of the mediinn through which the radio energy is propagated and the received energy. b. Experimental research pertaining to the measurement of certain of the quantities referred to in a, with the intent of further refining theories. c. Experimental research pertaining to new applications of scattering and reflection phenomena. Extension and verification of theories and the application of certain propagation phenomena to specific problems has been hindered because of the absence of adequate means of collecting and processing experimental data. The Franklin Institute Laboratories for Research and Development are now developing a data collection and statistical analysis system specifically designed for use by researchers in radio propagation. It is patterned after a similar system* previously developed and in use now in the study of the reflection of electromagnetic waves from various large surfaces. The system includes: a. A multichannel magnetic tape recorder for original records, which may be airborne. b. A transcriber to convert the original records into form for use in the computing equipment. c. A computer for determining the auto- or cross-correlation function and frequency spectrum of the recorded data. d. A computer for determining the first probabihty density function of the recorded data. e. A computer to determine average values of the recorded data. f. Auxiliary elements and test equipment. The anticipated ranges of this data processing system which are of particular interest are: Bandwidth of Frequency Spectnun Computer 0-4 to 0-250 c/s Frequency Resolution 0.02-5 c/s Maximum Delay in Correlation Function Computer 0.8-51 sec Nmnber of Sorting Levels in First Probabihty Density Computer 50 or 100
Abstract 130: Down Regulation of Gamma-Adducin Diminishes Glomerular Function and Promotes Hypertension Related Chronic Kidney Disease

Fawn Hooded Hypertensive (FHH) rats are a genetic model of hypertension-induced chronic kidney disease (CKD) in association with podocyte dysfunction. We previously identified an inactivating mutat...
Corporate Finance for Social Good

Commentators inside and outside of legal academia have urged corporations to use their outsized power to benefit society. But this advocacy is unlikely to alter corporate decisionmaking to the desired extent because shareholder wealth-maximization has become ingrained in the corporation’s incentive structure. This Essay therefore charts a new course. It discusses developments in financial instruments that make funds available for prosocial corporate activity, and shows how such instruments, with a few alterations, could dramatically induce corporations to prioritize stakeholder goals. More specifically, the Essay proposes that individuals use “corporate social responsibility bonds” to offset costs associated with prosocial corporate decision-making. The intuition behind these instruments is grounded in law and economics theory: if it is welfare-maximizing for individuals to see corporations make public-interested choices that are not wealth-maximizing, there should be a possible Coasian bargain between those individuals and the corporation. In such situations, an issuer could create a bond to finance a predetermined public-interested corporate decision, thereby turning stakeholders into creditors with governance rights. Any individual who values the decision more than its cost could participate. To provide an incentive to depart from wealth-maximization, the bond would stipulate that their contribution would be forgiven if the decision was implemented—a key difference from existing prosocial financial instruments. More broadly, the insight that the individuals with the strongest interest in seeing corporations pursue corporate social responsibility goals are not always the company’s shareholders has consequences for corporate law and corporate governance. In particular, it cautions that we should recognize the limits of corporate law and shareholder activism to achieve socially optimal levels of corporate responsibility. The more difficult question is whether and how to reorient our corporate law system away from shareholders and toward other constituencies. As that project forges on, this Essay proposes action that could allow individuals to influence corporate behavior without any delay—one decision at a time.
Abnormal Balloon Expulsion Test in Patients with Fecal Incontinence.

Background and Aims: Functional defecatory dysfunction is attributed to the pathophysiology of fecal incontinence (FI) in some patients. We hypothesized that patients with FI and abnormal balloon expulsion test (BET) have distinct manometric characteristics as compared to the patients with FI and normal BET. We aimed to compare the anorectal pressure profile in patients with FI, with or without abnormal BET and to identify risk factors associated with abnormal BET in FI. Methods: We performed a retrospective review of 77 consecutive patients with ROME IV FI. Wilcoxon rank sum test, t-test, and Fisher exact tests were performed for comparison. Multivariable logistic regression was performed to identify factors associated with abnormal BET. Results: Thirty-two percent of patients had abnormal BET. Demographics and surgical history and clinical symptoms, except for sensation of incomplete evacuation (p=0.02) and abdominal pain (p=0.03), were comparable in both groups. Anorectal pressure profile except for the median rectal propulsive pressures were similar between groups. Rectal propulsive pressures at simulated defecation were significantly lower in patients with abnormal BET (p=0.02). Mean sensory threshold for first sensation was also significantly higher in patients who had abnormal BET (p=0.03). Rectal propulsive pressures (OR: 1.03, 95% CI: 1.00-1.06, p=0.032) and rectal sensory threshold for first sensation (OR:0.94, 95% CI: 0.90-0.99, p=0.02) were able to predict abnormal BET independently. Conclusions: In patients with FI and similar clinical and anal pressure profile, rectal sensory threshold and rectal propulsive pressures at simulated defecation can determine normal BET.
Medical malpractice and meningiomas: an analysis of 47 cases

Objective Among medical practices, surgical fields, including neurosurgery, are at a high risk for medical malpractice litigation. With meningiomas contributing to 10% of the total neurosurgery litigation cases, the aim of this study was to identify demographic characteristics, reasons for litigation, and surgical complications commonly reported in these cases. This analysis serves to increase neurosurgeons' awareness of factors associated with medical malpractice litigation. Methods The online legal database Westlaw was utilized to query public litigation cases related to the medical management of meningiomas between December 1985 and May 2020. Variables extracted included the following: plaintiff and defendant demographics, litigation category, plaintiff medical complaints, and trial outcomes. The authors compared these characteristics between cases with decisions in favor of the defendant and those with decisions in favor of the plaintiff. Results A total of 47 cases met the inclusion criteria. Failure to diagnose (68.1%) was the most common type of malpractice claim, and surgical complications (19.1%), motor weakness (33%), and financial loss (33%) were cited as the most common postoperative complaints. Individual specialties that most often required defense due to malpractice claims were radiology (21.7%) and neurosurgery (19.6%). The jury verdict was in favor of the defense in 51.1% of cases and in favor of the plaintiff in 27.7% of cases. A settlement was reached in 19.1% of cases. The mean payout for a verdict in favor of the plaintiff was $3,409,650.22, while the mean payout for settlements was $867,555.56. The greatest average payout for specialties was in neurosurgery at $3,414,400, followed by radiology at $3,192,960. Cases with a verdict in favor of the plaintiff were more likely to involve an internal medicine physician as a defendant (p = 0.007). Conclusions Over one-half of the cases resulted in a defendant's verdict with failure to diagnose cited as the most common reason for litigation. Radiology and neurosurgery were the most common specialties for legal cases and also had some of the largest average payouts based on specialty. Motor weakness and financial loss were the most common plaintiff postoperative complaints. These findings may inform surgeons on active measures to take, such as increasing focus on diagnostic accuracy and reducing specific postoperative complaints, such as motor weakness, through risk management and prophylactic measures, to reduce unfavorable legal outcomes.
Shakespeare the Storyteller

In this chapter, Eastman defines three key concepts. The first, story, involves the ways a character changes (or fails to change) as they pursue whatever it is they want. The second, storytelling, involves the tools that Shakespeare uses to combine several stories together to form a play. The third is the five steps that each of Shakespeare’s stories follows as it introduces characters and leads them through their journey of self-discovery and change.
Centrality dependence of the parton bubble model for high-energy heavy-ion collisions and fireball surface substructure at energies available at the BNL relativistic heavy ion collider (RHIC)

In an earlier paper we developed a QCD-inspired theoretical parton bubble model (PBM) for RHIC/LHC. The motivation for the PBM was to develop a model that would reasonably quantitatively agree with the strong charged particle pair correlations observed by the STAR Collaboration at RHIC in $\mathrm{Au}+\mathrm{Au}$ central collisions at $\sqrt{{s}_{\mathit{NN}}}=200$ GeV in the transverse momentum range 0.8 to 2.0 GeV/$c$. The model was constructed to also agree with the Hanbury Brown and Twiss (HBT) observed small final-state source size $~2$ fm radii in the transverse momentum range above 0.8 GeV/$c$. The model assumed a substructure of a ring of localized adjoining $~2$ fm radius bubbles perpendicular to the collider beam direction, centered on the beam, at midrapidity. The bubble ring was assumed to be located on the expanding fireball surface of the $\mathrm{Au}+\mathrm{Au}$ collision. These bubbles consist almost entirely of gluons and form gluonic hot spots on the fireball surface. We achieved a reasonable quantitative agreement with the results of both the physically significant charge-independent (CI) and charge-dependent (CD) correlations that were observed. In this paper we extend the model to include the changing development of bubbles with centrality from the most central region where bubbles are very important to the most peripheral where the bubbles are gone. Energy density is found to be related to bubble formation and as centrality decreases the maximum energy density and bubbles shift from symmetry around the beam axis to the reaction plane region, causing a strong correlation of bubble formation with elliptic flow. We find reasonably quantitative agreement (within a few percent of the total correlations) with a new precision RHIC experiment that extended the centrality region investigated to the range 0%\char21{}80% (most central to most peripheral). The characteristics and behavior of the bubbles imply they represent a significant substructure formed on the surface of the fireball at kinetic freezeout.
Axion production in pulsar magnetosphere gaps

Pulsar magnetospheres admit nonstationary vacuum gaps that are characterized by nonvanishing $\mathbf{E}\ifmmode\cdot\else\textperiodcentered\fi{}\mathbf{B}$. The vacuum gaps play an important role in plasma production and electromagnetic wave emission. We show that these gaps generate axions whose energy is set by the gap oscillation frequency. The density of axions produced in a gap can be several orders of magnitude greater than the ambient dark matter density. In the strong pulsar magnetic field, a fraction of these axions may convert to photons, giving rise to broadband radio signals. We show that dedicated observations of nearby pulsars with radio telescopes (FAST) and interferometers (SKA) can probe axion-photon couplings that are a few orders of magnitude lower than current astrophysical bounds.
Comparison of 24-Month Outcomes After Treatment for Distal Radius Fracture: The WRIST Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance Distal radius fractures (DRFs) are common injuries among older adults and can result in substantial disability. Current evidence regarding long-term outcomes in older adults is scarce. Objective To compare outcomes across treatment groups at 24 months among adults with DRFs who participated in the WRIST trial. Design, Setting, and Participants The Wrist and Radius Injury Surgical Trial (WRIST) randomized, international, multicenter trial was conducted from April 1, 2012, through December 31, 2016. Participants were adults aged 60 years or older with isolated, unstable DRFs at 24 health systems in the US, Canada, and Singapore. Data analysis was performed from March 2019 to March 2021. Interventions Participants were randomized to open reduction and volar locking plate system (VLPS), external fixation with or without supplementary pinning (EFP), and percutaneous pinning (CRPP). The remaining participants chose closed reduction and casting. Main Outcomes and Measures The primary outcome was the 24-month Michigan Hand Outcomes Questionnaire (MHQ) summary score. Secondary outcomes were scores on the MHQ subdomains hand strength and wrist motion. Results A total of 304 adults were recruited for the study, and 187 were randomized to undergo surgery, 65 to VLPS, 64 to EFP, and 58 to CRPP; 117 participants opted for closed reduction and casting. Assessments were completed at 24 months for 182 participants (160 women [87.9%]; mean [SD] age, 70.1 [8.5] years). Mean MHQ summary scores at 24 months were 88 (95% CI, 83-92) for VLPS, 83 (95% CI, 78-88) for EFP, 85 (95% CI, 79-90) for CRPP, and 85 (95% CI, 79-90) for casting, with no clinically meaningful difference across groups after adjusting for covariates (χ23 = 1.44; P = .70). Pain scores also did not differ across groups at 24 months (χ23 = 2.64; P = .45). MHQ summary scores changed from 82 (95% CI, 80-85) to 85 (95% CI, 83-88) (P = .12) between 12 and 24 months across groups. The rate of malunion was higher in the casting group (26 participants [59.1%]) than in the other groups (4 participants [8.0%] for VLPS, 8 participants [17.0%] for EFP, and 4 participants [9.8%] for CRPP; χ23 = 43.6; P < .001), but malunion was not associated with the 24-month outcome difference across groups. Conclusions and Relevance The study did not find clinically meaningful patient-reported outcome differences 24 months after injury across treatment groups, with little change between 12 and 24 months. These findings suggest that long-term outcomes need not necessarily be considered in deciding between treatment options. Patient needs and recovery goals that fit to relative risks and benefits of each treatment type will be more valuable in treatment decision-making. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01589692.
TARE: A Hierarchical Framework for Efficiently Exploring Complex 3D Environments

We present a method for autonomous exploration in complex three-dimensional (3D) environments. Our method demonstrates exploration faster than the current state-of-the-art using a hierarchical framework — one level maintains data densely and computes a detailed path within a local planning horizon, while another level maintains data sparsely and computes a coarse path at the global scale. Such a framework shares the insight that detailed processing is most effective close to the robot, and gains computational speed by trading-off computation of details far away from the robot. The method optimizes an overall exploration path with respect to the length of the path. In addition, the path in the local area is kinodynamically feasible for the vehicle to follow at a high speed. In experiments, our systems autonomously explore indoor and outdoor environments at a high degree of complexity, with ground and aerial robots. The method produces 80% more exploration efficiency, defined as the average explored volume per second through a run, and consumes less than 50% of computation compared to the state-of-the-art.
Optogenetically-inspired neuromodulation: Translating basic discoveries into therapeutic strategies

Optogenetic tools allow for the selective activation, inhibition or modulation of genetically-defined neural circuits with incredible temporal precision. Over the past decade, application of these tools in preclinical models of psychiatric disease has advanced our understanding the neural circuit basis of maladaptive behaviors in these disorders. Despite their power as an investigational tool, optogenetics cannot yet be applied in the clinical for the treatment of neurological and psychiatric disorders. To date, deep brain stimulation (DBS) is the only clinical treatment that can be used to achieve circuit-specific neuromodulation in the context of psychiatric. Despite its increasing clinical indications, the mechanisms underlying the therapeutic effects of DBS for psychiatric disorders are poorly understood, which makes optimization difficult. We discuss the variety of optogenetic tools available for preclinical research, and how these tools have been leveraged to reverse-engineer the mechanisms underlying DBS for movement and compulsive disorders. We review studies that have used optogenetics to induce plasticity within defined basal ganglia circuits, to alter neural circuit function and evaluate the corresponding effects on motor and compulsive behaviors. While not immediately applicable to patient populations, the translational power of optogenetics is in inspiring novel DBS protocols by providing a rationale for targeting defined neural circuits to ameliorate specific behavioral symptoms, and by establishing optimal stimulation paradigms that could selectively compensate for pathological synaptic plasticity within these defined neural circuits.
Routine in-person post-operative follow-up for uncomplicated laparoscopic appendectomy does not change management.

Eliminating points in the continuum of care that do not change management is a safe strategy for cost containment and workflow efficiency in health systems. As a process improvement initiative, we sought to identify whether routine, outpatient follow-up changes management in laparoscopic appendectomy in a military hospital. We performed a retrospective chart review of adult patients undergoing laparoscopic appendectomy during a one-year period. The primary outcome was identification of a change in management during routine in person follow-up. Secondary outcomes included location of patient presentation with a post-operative event (clinic, emergency department, primary care provider), and if those visits changed management. Events were defined as any deviation from the typical post-operative course within 6 weeks of surgery, including abnormal specimen pathology. One-hundred and seventy-six appendectomies were performed over one year, and 148 patients met inclusion criteria (median age = 27, 66.9% male). Perforation was identified in 10.1% of patients. Seventeen-point-five percent of patients had a post-operative event, of which persistent pain was the most common. Only 2.0% of all patients saw a change in management at their routine in person follow-up appointment. Eighty percent of patients with any post-operative events sought care outside of their routine in person follow up appointments. No variable was independently associated with a change in management. Routine in-person clinical follow-up for laparoscopic appendectomy almost never changes management. Perforated appendicitis may be an indication for in-person follow-up. Considering a telemedicine model for post-operative follow-up of laparoscopic appendectomy patients will provide a safe and effective alternative to in-person clinic visits, while saving patients time and allowing providers the clinic freedom to prioritize more urgent and new patients.
Microenvironmental Regulation of Adult Mesenchymal Stem Cells

This chapter aims to present the importance of the cell-extrinsic factors that influence the identity and activities of adult mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). The focus is on microenvironmental cues that represent a concert of signals coming from the niche in which the MSC finds itself. These signals are generated by contact with surrounding cells, by soluble factors that can be autocrine, paracrine, or endocrine in nature, and by the extracellular matrix surrounding the cell. Even fragments of matrix molecules and small molecules like oxygen can influence the behavior of an MSC. In vivo, these signals work together in intricate harmony to regulate the regenerative abilities of MSCs. By learning more about the mechanisms of action, specificities and interactions of each member of this environmental orchestra, it will be possible to manipulate MSCs for therapeutic applications to diseases and injuries.
Nonlinear ARDL Approach and the J-Curve Phenomenon

Since introduction of cointegration and error-correction modeling, the definition of the J-curve has changed to reflect short-run deterioration combined with long-run improvement of the trade balance due to currency depreciation. Standard methods such as ARDL approach of Pesaran et al. (2001) assume that adjustment of variables follow a linear path. It is now recognized that the adjustment process could be nonlinear. Application of Non-linear ARDL approach of Shin et al. (2013) provides more evidence of the J-curve supporting non-linear adjustment of variables as well as asymmetric effects of exchange rate changes on the trade balance, using bilateral trade balance models of the U.S. with each of her six largest trading partners.