cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Ions near the air/water interface. II: Is the water/air interface acidic or basic? Predictions of a simple model

Abstract A simple modified Poisson–Boltzmann model, compatible with zeta potential experiments, is used to calculate the concentrations of ions on the interface. It is shown that, for most pH values and salt concentrations, both H+ and OH− accumulate on the interface, making their interfacial concentrations larger than in the bulk. However, at extreme pH values, the interfacial concentrations of both H+ and OH− have been found to be lower than in bulk, which might explain some contradictory results from literature. The ratio between H+ and OH− concentrations is smaller at the interface than in bulk for most (but not all) pH values and salt concentrations. Recent experimental results, which show that H+ is present on the interface only at very low pH values, are explained on the basis of this model. It is shown that, when the adsorption of Cl− on the interface is sufficiently large compared to that of OH−, the number of H+ ions adsorbed on the interface passes through a maximum with salt concentration, also in agreement with experiment. The concentration at which the maximum occurs is of the order of the adsorption equilibrium constant of Cl− on the interface.
Novel therapeutic combination demonstrates more than additive effects in cutaneous T-cell lymphoma

Cutaneous T-cell lymphomas (CTCL) represent a group of non-Hodgkin's lymphomas comprised of skin-homing lymphocytes. Mycosis fungoides (MF), the most common form, is typically indolent, while Sezary syndrome (SS) is a less common, aggressive leukemic variant.1 Early MF is often controlled with skin-directed therapies including topical steroids, chemotherapies, retinoids, phototherapy, and electron beam therapy.2 Advanced MF and SS require systemic treatments including biologic response modifiers, extracorporeal photopheresis, or cytotoxic chemotherapy,2 and relapses are common. Often, combination therapy is used to increase response rate and duration; however, there has been only one phase I study of combinatorial treatment in CTCL.3 Romidepsin is a histone deacetylase inhibitor (HDACi), which demonstrated a 34% response rate during a phase 2 study of CTCL patients who had received prior systemic therapy.4 Histone deacetylases (HDACs) modify chromatin by catalyzing the removal of acetyl moieties from lysine, producing chromatin condensation and silencing tumor suppressor genes.5 HDAC inhibition, thus, produces open chromatin structure and alteration of transcription resulting in cell cycle arrest, apoptosis, and cellular differentiation.6 Further, HDACs deacetylate structural proteins, transcription factors, and DNA repair enzymes,7 adding to the antitumor properties of HDACi. Though romidepsin is a promising single-agent treatment, HDACi have also demonstrated additive or synergistic properties with other anticancer agents.5 Nitrogen mustard (NM, mechlorethamine hydrochloride) is a topical alkylating agent used to treat early stage CTCL with an overall response rate of up to 83%; however, this declines with disease progression.8 The alkylating effect of NM produces cellular DNA damage and results in apoptosis.9 Previous studies suggest closed chromatin structure can inhibit the formation of DNA interstrand cross-linking reactions by NM.10 We hypothesized chromatin remodeling following romidepsin treatment exposes sections of DNA that are normally protected from damage due to the effects of NM. To test our hypothesis we characterized the effects of NM and romidepsin on cell viability, apoptosis, and DNA damage. Here we present our findings demonstrating the efficacy of this combination.
Magnetosphere of Neptune: Auroral zone field-aligned potential drops

This paper explores some possibilities for plasma populations, field-aligned currents, and field-aligned potentials in the magnetosphere of Neptune. Observed plasma populations at Saturn and Uranus may provide reasonable upper and low limits, respectively, to those at Neptune. Field-aligned current densities comparable to those at Earth may be observed by the Voyager magnetometer above Neptune's auroral zone. Inverted-V events reaching energies of several tens of keV may also be observed by the Voyager Low Energy Charged Particle experiment.
A Variable-Phase Ring Oscillator and PLL Architecture for Integrated Phased Array Transceivers

A variable-phase ring oscillator (VPRO) and phase-locked loop (PLL) architecture is introduced for integrated phased arrays. The architecture eliminates key building blocks such as mixers, phase shifters and power splitters/combiners, allowing for compact and low-power implementations. This paper presents the principles of operation of the architecture in transmit and receive modes, along with a detailed theoretical treatment of critical performance metrics such as linearity and sensitivity. In addition, measured results from a prototype, 24 GHz , 4-channel, phased-array transceiver, implemented in a 0.13 mum CMOS process, are presented.
Hybrid Inverse Design Method for Nonlifting Bodies in Incompressible Flow

A methodology for the inverse design of nonlifting axisymmetric and nonaxisymmetric bodies in incompressible flow is presented. In this method, an inverse design approach based on conformal mapping is used to design a set of airfoils in isolation. These airfoils are then assembled into a three-dimensional body and the flow over the body is calculated using a panel method. The inverse design parameters for the isolated airfoils are adjusted by a multidimensional nonlinear solver to achieve the desired aerodynamic properties on the three-dimensional body. The method can be used with fairly complex geometries, such as bodies in the presence of a wing or keel. The suitability and performance of several numerical schemes are compared in the paper. Several examples are presented that demonstrate the flexibility of the design method when applied to various representative design problems and they also show the ability of the method to match a known velocity distribution.
The Mdm2 RING domain C-terminus is required for supramolecular assembly and ubiquitin ligase activity

Mdm2, a key negative regulator of the p53 tumor suppressor, is a RING-type E3 ubiquitin ligase. The Mdm2 RING domain can be biochemically fractionated into two discrete species, one of which exists as higher order oligomers that are visible by electron microscopy, whereas the other is a monomer. Both fractions are ATP binding and E3 ligase activity competent, although the oligomeric fraction exhibits lower dependence on the E2 component of ubiquitin polymerization reactions. The extreme C-terminal five amino acids of Mdm2 are essential for E3 ligase activity in vivo and in vitro, as well as for oligomeric assembly of the protein. A single residue (phenylalanine 490) in that sequence is critical for both properties. Interestingly, the C-terminus of the Mdm2 homologue, MdmX (itself inert as an E3 ligase), can fully substitute for the equivalent segment of Mdm2 and restore its E3 activity. We further show that the Mdm2 C-terminus is involved in intramolecular interactions and can set up a platform for direct protein–protein interactions with the E2.
Impact of power control on the performance of ad hoc wireless networks

An ad hoc wireless network with n nodes and m source-destination pairs, using a scheduling based medium access control (MAC) protocol such as time division multiple access (TDMA), and a routing mechanism that may be unicast or multicast based, is considered. Under a given nodal transmit power vector, we define the source-destination throughput vector to be achievable if there exists an associated temporal (based on the channel sharing MAC protocol) and spatial (based on the underlying routing mechanism) joint scheduling-routing scheme that yields the throughput vector. In this paper, we analyze and investigate the effect of nodal transmit power vector on the maximum (or supreme) level of a general (real-valued) function of the source-destination throughput levels. We represent the latter supreme level attained under power vector. We also derive a linear programming (LP) formulation for obtaining the exact solution to the optimization problem that yields the throughput capacity of finite ad hoc wireless networks. Our LP based performance evaluation results identify the magnitude of capacity upgrade that can be realized for networks with random topologies and traffic patterns.
Armenian Manuscripts of St. Athanasius of Alexandria

The Armenian version of the works of Athanasius is known to European scholars from four sources: (1) the list in Karekin's catalogue of early Armenian translations, (2) Conybeare's edition of the pseudo-athanasian “Dialogue between Athanasius and Zacchaeus,” (3) an article by the same scholar, ‘On the Sources of the Text of St. Athanasius,’ with accompanying collations of the Armenian of De Incarnatione et contra Arianos and Qvod unus sit Christus, and (4) the Venice edition of Armenian Athanasiana made by E. Tajezi and published with Conybeare's help at the Mechitarist press in 1899. This edition contains all the material then available in the Mechitarists' library at Venice but is not based on a complete survey of the sources. Furthermore, the manuscripts employed are (with the one exception of Cod. Venet. 818) collections of various patristic writings, and do not contain corpora of Athanasius's works such as are commonly found in Greek.
Multiagent-based simulation of societal networking in a consumer marketplace

The Internet provides a means for customers to compare prices for products from several different sellers. However, the customers act individually and they are missing out on the potential benefits that can accrue from acting cooperatively and in concert. The benefits include lower prices, better terms, improved services, and increased efficiency. Businesses have begun forming supply-chain alliances to achieve these benefits, but it has not yet been feasible among consumers. However, using mobile devices can allow for the sharing of information among consumers. Multiagent networking helps in implementing a simulation for mobile agents in a marketplace of consumers. Using basic knowledge in economics and societal networking to develop the groundwork for the implementation of this architecture will provide results to show the benefits that can be gained by consumers. In this experiment, a grocery market has been set up to demonstrate how communication between honest agents representing consumers can result in a lower overall cost for the community.
Impact basin relaxation on Rhea and Iapetus and relation to past heat flow

Abstract Evidence for relaxation of impact crater topography has been observed on many icy satellites, including those of Saturn, and the magnitude of relaxation can be related to past heat flow (e.g. Moore, J.M., Schenk, P.M., Bruesch, L.S., Asphaug, E., McKinnon, W.B. [2004]. Icarus 171, 421–443; Dombard, A.J., McKinnon, W.B. [2006]. J. Geophys. Res. 111, E01001. http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2005JE002445 ). We use new global digital elevation models of the surfaces of Rhea and Iapetus generated from Cassini data to obtain crater depth/diameter data for both satellites and topographic profiles of large basins on each. In addition to the factor of three lower amplitude of global topography on Rhea compared to Iapetus, we show that basins on Iapetus >100 km in diameter show little relaxation compared to similar sized basins on Rhea. Because of the similar gravities of Rhea and Iapetus, we show that Iapetus basin morphologies can be used to represent the initial, unrelaxed morphologies of the Rhea basins, and we use topographic profiles taken across selected basins to model heat flow on both satellites. We find that Iapetus has only experienced radiogenic heat flow since formation, whereas Rhea must have experienced heat flow reaching a few tens of mW m −2 , although this heat flow need only be sustained for as little as several million years in order to achieve the observed relaxation magnitudes. Rhea experienced a different thermal history from Iapetus, which we consider to be primarily related to their different formation mechanisms and locations within the saturnian system. A recent model for the formation of Saturn’s mid-sized icy satellites interior to and including Rhea (Charnoz, S. et al. [2011]. Icarus 216, 535–550) describes how Rhea’s orbit would have expanded outwards after its accretion from a giant primordial ring, which would have instigated early heating through rapid despinning and tidal interaction with Saturn and other satellites. Rhea’s basins would therefore be required to have formed within the first few tens of Myr of Rhea’s formation in order to relax due of this heating, and if so may provide an important anchor point for Saturn system chronology. None of these heating mechanisms are viable for Iapetus in its isolated position far from Saturn, and as such it has remained dynamically inert since formation, confirming conclusions based on thermal modeling of Iapetus’ interior. Rapid and complete relaxation and subsequent erosion by bombardment of a ‘first generation’ of large basins on Rhea is regarded as an explanation for the lower counts of large basins on Rhea relative to Iapetus, and the overall lower amplitude of topography on Rhea compared to Iapetus.
Merger Decisions and Inside Debt

Executive pensions and deferred compensation, collectively referred to as inside debt, tend to align CEO incentives with those of debt holders. Although CEO equity compensation is well known to induce risk-shifting incentives and thereby add to the agency cost of debt, too much inside debt may drive incentives to reduce risk and thereby increase the agency cost of equity. We study this effect of inside debt by examining firms’ incentives to pursue diversifying acquisitions. We find that when the CEO-firm relative debt-to-equity ratio is greater than one, firms undertake value-destroying diversifying acquisitions that are anticipated to decrease overall firm volatility. Our findings are stronger for smaller firms. We further find that when the CEO-firm relative debt-to-equity ratio is greater than one, the merger pushes the ratio toward one which is consistent with the direction suggested by optimal contracting theory.
Live CT Imaging of Sound Reception Anatomy and Hearing Measurements in the Pygmy Killer Whale, Feresa Attenuata

In June 2008, two pygmy killer whales (Feresa attenuata) were stranded alive near Boca Grande, FL, USA, and were taken into rehabilitation. We used this opportunity to learn about the peripheral anatomy of the auditory system and hearing sensitivity of these rare toothed whales. Three-dimensional (3-D) reconstructions of head structures from X-ray computed tomography (CT) images revealed mandibles that were hollow, lacked a bony lamina medial to the pan bone and contained mandibular fat bodies that extended caudally and abutted the tympanoperiotic complex. Using auditory evoked potential (AEP) procedures, the modulation rate transfer function was determined. Maximum evoked potential responses occurred at modulation frequencies of 500 and 1000 Hz. The AEP-derived audiograms were U-shaped. The lowest hearing thresholds occurred between 20 and 60 kHz, with the best hearing sensitivity at 40 kHz. The auditory brainstem response (ABR) was composed of seven waves and resembled the ABR of the bottlenose and common dolphins. By changing electrode locations, creating 3-D reconstructions of the brain from CT images and measuring the amplitude of the ABR waves, we provided evidence that the neuroanatomical sources of ABR waves I, IV and VI were the auditory nerve, inferior colliculus and the medial geniculate body, respectively. The combination of AEP testing and CT imaging provided a new synthesis of methods for studying the auditory system of cetaceans.
Regioregularity and solar cell device performance of poly(3-dodecylthienylenevinylene)

Influence of side chain regioregularity on photovoltaic performance has been investigated in bulk heterojunction solar cells based on a series of poly(3-dodecylthienylenevinylene)s (C12-PTV) and 6,6-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM). Performance of each C12-PTV is optimized for fair comparison. It is found that regiorandomness has no detrimental effect on device performance, in sharp contrast to poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT). Fully regioregular C12-PTV performs slightly poorer than less regioregular ones mainly due to its fast crystallization behavior. The results suggest that introduction of side chain regiorandomness is an effective strategy to enhance processability of certain types of polymers without a reduction in photovoltaic performance. The better polymer:PCBM weight ratio, found to be 3:7 for all C12-PTVs, and improved device performance, as compared with the literature work on the same polymer synthesized by a different method, demonstrate again the importance of the integrity of polymer main chain structure. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys, 2012
Viability and apoptosis of human chondrocytes in osteochondral fragments following joint trauma

Post-traumatic arthritis is a frequent consequence of articular fracture. The mechanisms leading to its development after such injuries have not been clearly delineated. A potential contributing factor is decreased viability of the articular chondrocytes. The object of this study was to characterise the regional variation in the viability of chondrocytes following joint trauma. A total of 29 osteochondral fragments from traumatic injuries to joints that could not be used in articular reconstruction were analysed for cell viability using the fluorescence live/dead assay and for apoptosis employing the TUNEL assay, and compared with cadaver control fragments. Chondrocyte death and apoptosis were significantly greater along the edge of the fracture and in the superficial zone of the osteochondral fragments. The middle and deep zones demonstrated significantly higher viability of the chondrocytes. These findings indicate the presence of both necrotic and apoptotic chondrocytes after joint injury and may provide further insight into the role of chondrocyte death in post-traumatic arthritis.
Some Thoughts on Price Deflation

Price deflation has long been a bugaboo of economics; cordially hated, reviled and feared by practically everyone. There is some justice in these sentiments when the price deflation comes about as a result of government action. However, there is no war- rant for them when they stem from the freely made economic decisions of the masses of economic actors. Then, price deflation is not only not problematic, it is a positive virtue.
Distributed fair-efficient power allocation in two-hop relay networks

In this paper 1, we propose a distributed fair-efficient power allocation game model for two-hop relay networks. The system model consists of N-parallel source-relay-destination links, where each source node sends its packets to its corresponding destination via a preassigned relay node using half-duplex Amplify-and-Forward (AF) relaying method. The previously reported works only account for the efficiency of system throughput, however in this paper we incorporate fairness into this problem and propose a distributed game model that balances the fairness and efficiency objectives.
Phasor-Banks: Customizable filter banks for robust dynamic time-frequency analysis

The paper extends the concept of dynamic phasors to allow customizations that could benefit a number of diverse applications. Connections between dynamic phasors and non-decimated filter banks are established in discrete time, and links with the Gabor transform are presented. The fundamental filter bank structure that includes an analysis and a synthesis family of filters is described next. In the presented context this structure naturally leads to introduce the concept of Phasor-Banks, a family of non-decimated perfect reconstruction filter banks for dynamic (online, one sample at a time) time-frequency analysis and modeling. We analyze in detail properties of windowed finite impulse response (FIR) phasor banks, introduce the concept of robustness with respect to perturbations of dynamic phasors, and derive conditions for optimally robust phasor banks. This allows us to further extend the concept of phasor banks to allow for infinite impulse response (IIR) analysis and synthesis filters.
Gangliosides in subacute sclerosing leukoencephalitis: isolation and fatty acid composition of nine fractions

Gangliosides from brain of an 8 yr old boy with subacute sclerosing leukoencephalitis have been studied in terms of pattern and structure. Thin-layer chromatography showed that both gray and white matter have a highly abnor- mal pattern, with elevation of the relative proportion of four gangliosides corresponding to minor species in normal brain. The total level of lipid-bound sialic acid, however, was not increased, which indicated a compensating loss of other gangli- osides. Two of the proliferating species were monosialo- gangliosides (Gb and G6) (Korey nomenclature), and two were disialo types (G~A and G~A). Studies of their carbohydrate structures are described. Nine ganglioside fractions were isolated by preparative TLC in combination with column chromatography, and the fatty acid compositions were determined. Seven contained stearate as the major component, while two (G~A and Go) had rela- tively large proportions of oleate and palmitate. Five of the fractions contained two fatty acids of long chain-length and unknown structure.
Current Situation of the Human Resource in the Community Health Care Service Center in Jinshan District of Shanghai

[Objective] To learn the current situation of the human resource in the community health care service center in Jinshan District of Shanghai and provide scientific evidence for the optimization of human resource.[Methods] Excel was used to establish database for all the collected data;SPSS 14.0 was used for the statistical analysis.[Results]The staff members of the community health care service center were aged from 31 to 50;the education degree was relative low with only 5 people(3.76%)who had college education or above,51.12% of them had secondary education,75.94% of them had no senior professional post or had only primary professional post.[Conclusion]The constitution of the center is unreasonable,the overall quality is expected to be improved;various training and communication should be carried out;the retired medical human resource can be fully used to enrich the constitution.
Hospital Readmissions of Stroke Patients with Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy Feeding Tubes

Objectives A critical mission of acute care hospitals is to reduce hospital readmissions to improve patient care and avoid monetary penalties. We speculated that stroke patients with enteral tube feeding are high-risk patients and sought to evaluate their hospital readmissions. Methods We analyzed archival hospital billing data from stroke patients discharged from acute care hospitals in Florida in 2012 for 30- and 60-day readmission rates, 30-day readmission rates by discharge destination, most frequent primary readmission diagnoses, and predictors of 30-day readmissions. We conducted univariate and multivariable logistic regression analyses. Results We analyzed 26,774 discharge records. Within 30 days after discharge, 21.06% (N = 299) of stroke patients with percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) tube placement were rehospitalized. Of those readmissions, 11.71% (N = 35) were preventable. Among stroke patients with a PEG tube placement, 53.80% were discharged to skilled nursing facilities and 27.88% were rehospitalized within 30 days. Septicemia was the most frequent primary readmission diagnosis. Comorbidities, stroke type, length of hospital stay, and discharge destinations were predictive for 30-day readmissions (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was .81). Conclusions Stroke patients with a PEG tube placement during their index hospital stay are twice as likely to be readmitted within 30 days compared to stroke patients without PEG tube placements. The primary readmission diagnosis for some patients was directly linked to PEG tube complications. We have identified risk factors that can be used to focus resources for readmission prevention.
Quantified trends in the history of verbal behavior research.

The history of scientific research about verbal behavior research, especially that based on Verbal Behavior (Skinner, 1957), can be assessed on the basis of a frequency and celeration analysis of the published and presented literature. In order to discover these quantified trends, a comprehensive bibliographical database was developed. Based on several literature searches, the bibliographic database included papers pertaining to verbal behavior that were published in the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, Behaviorism, The Behavior Analyst, and The Analysis of Verbal Behavior. A nonbehavioral journal, the Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior was assessed as a nonexample comparison. The bibliographic database also included a listing of verbal behavior papers presented at the meetings of the Association for Behavior Analysis. Papers were added to the database if they (a) were about verbal behavior, (b) referenced B.F. Skinner’s (1957) book Verbal Behavior, or (c) did both. Because the references indicated the year of publication or presentation, a count per year of them was measured. These yearly frequencies were plotted on Standard Celeration Charts. Once plotted, various celeration trends in the literature became visible, not the least of which was the greater quantity of verbal behavior research than is generally acknowledged. The data clearly show an acceleration of research across the past decade. The data also question the notion that a “paucity” of research based on Verbal Behavior currently exists. Explanations of the acceleration of verbal behavior research are suggested, and plausible reasons are offered as to why a relative lack of verbal behavior research extended through the mid 1960s to the latter 1970s.
The Ethics of Computer Games: A Character Approach

As growing influences in contemporary society, computer games are raising a host of ethical issues that have garnered both negative and positive appraisals. One promising approach to many of these issues focuses on the character of gamers as the relevant locus of ethically significant activity. This paper develops a character approach to the ethics of computer games. It frames the important question as one of conceptualizing and evaluating the normatively charged traffic between worlds (real and virtual) and develops the concepts of character and valuation as ways of addressing this question. The final section sketches four topics in computer game ethics for which the character approach shows promise.
Chronic cocaine induces HIF-VEGF pathway activation along with angiogenesis in the brain.

Cocaine induces vasoconstriction in cerebral vessels, which with repeated use can result in transient ischemic attacks and cerebral strokes. However, the neuroadaptations that follow cocaine’s vasoconstricting effects are not well understood. Here, we investigated the effects of chronic cocaine exposure (2 and 4 weeks) on markers of vascular function and morphology in the rat brain. For this purpose we measured nitric oxide (NO) concentration in plasma, brain neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS or NOS1), HIF-1α, and VEGF expression in different brain regions, i.e., middle prefrontal cortex, somatosensory cortex, nucleus accumbens, and dorsal striatum, using ELISA or Western blot. Additionally, microvascular density in these brain regions was measured using immunofluorescence microscopy. We showed that chronic cocaine significantly affected NOS1, HIF-1α and VEGF expression, in a region- and cocaine treatment-time- dependent manner. Cerebral microvascular density increased significantly in parallel to these neurochemical changes. Furthermore, significant correlations were detected between VEGF expression and microvascular density in cortical regions (middle prefrontal cortex and somatosensory cortex), but not in striatal regions (nucleus accumbens and dorsal striatum). These results suggest that following chronic cocaine use, as cerebral ischemia developed, NOS1, the regulatory protein to counteract blood vessel constriction, was upregulated; meanwhile, the HIF-VEGF pathway was activated to increase microvascular density (i.e., angiogenesis) and thus restore local blood flow and oxygen supply. These physiological responses were triggered presumably as an adaptation to minimize ischemic injury caused by cocaine. Therefore, effectively promoting such physiological responses may provide novel and effective therapeutic solutions to treat cocaine-induced cerebral ischemia and stroke.
Empirical support for the media participation hypothesis: Trends across presidential elections, 1992–2012:

This study empirically examines the media participation hypothesis advanced by Bucy, analyzing the influence of traditional and participatory media use across six US presidential elections. Multivariate analyses of American National Elections Study data demonstrate that as participatory media become more prevalent and utilized in an electoral system, corresponding and statistically significant increases in political system efficacy—the perception of governmental responsiveness—can be observed among the heaviest users of participatory media. Enhanced engagement with interactive media in combination with traditional media also translates into more positive assessments of democratic processes than use of traditional media alone. At the same time, increased engagement with participatory media shows a weak and negative association with political trust. Findings for the study uphold the basic tenets of the hypothesis, suggesting the framework provides a useful lens for understanding the tightening relationship ...
Regional variation in breast cancer surgery: Results from the National Cancer Database (NCDB)

Abstract Background Early studies have shown significant regional differences in the utilization of breast-conserving therapy (BCT) and mastectomy with reconstruction. It is expected that with the passage of time and the adoption of national treatment guidelines, these disparities would disappear. Methods Patients with non-metastatic breast cancer who underwent surgery between 2004 and 2013 were analyzed using the National Cancer Database (NCDB). Trends in BCT and reconstruction were evaluated and multivariate logistic regression performed. Results The highest rate of BCT was in New England (69%) and the lowest in East South Central (49%), p Conclusion There continue to be significant regional differences in breast surgery.
Bulky β-Diketones Enabling New Lewis Acidic Ligand Platforms

The synthesis of a sterically encumbered β-diketone ligand (Aracac) substituted with 2,6-(2,4,6-Me3C6H2)2C6H3 is described. Coordination complexes of the type M(Aracac)2Cl(solv) (M = Ti, V, Cr; solv = THF, CH3CN) were prepared by the reaction of Aracac with MCl3 (M = V, Cr) or with TiCl4 to generate Ti(Aracac)2Cl2, followed by reduction. These complexes show a trend of alternating the cis/trans geometric preference with increasing dn electron count (n = 0, 1, 2, 3), which is rationalized in part by the unusual ability of β-diketonates to behave as either a weak π donor or a π acceptor in the cis and trans geometries, respectively. In this way, the bis-β-diketonate platform can accommodate the varying electronic demands of the coordinated metal ion. These results demonstrate the ability to limit the coordination of β-diketonates on metal complexes for the first time, providing a chemically robust and coordinatively versatile platform for mechanistic investigations, metal functionalization, and improved cat...
Differential gene expression elicited by children in response to the 2015-16 live attenuated versus inactivated influenza vaccine.

Abstract Background In recent influenza seasons, the live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV) has not demonstrated the same level of vaccine effectiveness as that observed among children who received the inactivated influenza vaccine (IIV). To better understand this difference, this study compared the mRNA sequencing transcription profile (RNA seq) in children who received either IIV or LAIV. Methods Children 3–17 years of age receiving quadrivalent influenza vaccine were enrolled. Blood samples were collected on Day 0 prior to vaccination and again on Day 7 (range 6–10 days) following vaccination. Total RNA was isolated from PAXgene tubes and sequenced for a custom panel of 89 transcripts using the TruSeq Targeted RNA Expression method. Fold differences in normalized RNA seq counts from Day 0 to Day 7 were calculated, log 2 transformed and compared between the two vaccine groups. Results Of 72 children, 46 received IIV and 26 received LAIV. Following IIV vaccination, 7 genes demonstrated significant differential expression at Day 7 (down-regulated). In contrast, following LAIV vaccination, 8 genes demonstrated significant differential expression at Day 7 (5 up-regulated and 3 down-regulated). Only two genes demonstrated similar patterns of regulation in both groups. Conclusions Differential regulation of genes was observed between 2015–16 LAIV and IIV recipients. These results help to elucidate the immune response to influenza vaccines and may be related to the difference in vaccine effectiveness observed in recent years between LAIV and IIV.
The Degradative Metabolism of Juvenoids by Insects

Juvenoids (juvenile hormone mimics) comprise the major class of insect growth regulators and hold promise as insect control agents. Thus, the fate of juvenoids in target and nontarget insects is of interest. Knowledge of the degradative metabolism of juvenoids is important for the rational development of more effective compounds of varying selectivity, the use of possible synergists, the prediction of application schedules, and the circumvention of resistance. The effectiveness of juvenoids as pest control agents is dependent upon a myriad of factors, but degradative metabolism by the insect is an important consideration. Hormone mimics are also of value in more basic studies of hormone action, and for these uses knowledge of their metabolism is necessary.
EFFECT OF SHORT AND LONG SLEEP DURATION IN PREDICTING OBESITY AMONG VARIOUS RACIAL GROUPS OF A LARGE MULTI-ETHNIC ORGANIZATION

Literature shows strong association of abnormal sleep duration with obesity & increased CVD morbidity& mortality, but less is known how abnormal sleep duration is related to obesity among racial groups. The purpose of this study is to predict relationship of self-reported sleep duration with obesity
Pediatric Psoriasis: An Emphasis on Treatment:

Childhood psoriasis is a common chronic disease that may have devastating physical and psychosocial consequences. Most children are treated with topical agents, including corticosteroids, coal tars...
An exploratory investigation of Additively Manufactured Product life cycle sustainability assessment

Abstract Additive manufacturing (AM) refers to a group of manufacturing techniques that produce components in a layer-by-layer fashion. By virtue of its capability to produce parts with complex geometry and functionally graded materials, AM has been introduced and used in multiple industrial sectors and is leading the way into the “third industrial revolution”. One of the key considerations in Additively Manufactured Products (AMP) is the issue of sustainability which attracts increasing attention as modern society becomes more aware of environmental concerns. As a response to the growing requirement for sustainability, industries and customers are inclined to assess products and services through the perspective of life cycle sustainability. The integration of life cycle sustainability and AMP is still an open question and is the primary motivation for this study. Since the eventual goal of all advanced technologies is to serve and satisfy human society, social sustainability must be an essential part of all decisions regarding AMP. Limited studies that integrate social sustainability into AMP life cycle analysis is a current research gap in the body of the literature, and thus this paper will address it. The primary merit of this paper is developing a suitable full-dimension sustainability life cycle assessment framework to obtain a fundamental understanding of the performance of AMP life cycle sustainability. The proposed framework applies a more systemic AMP life span including AMP design, AM, usage, and end-of-life (EOL) handling. An AM produced gear is used as an example to illustrate the life cycle sustainability assessment framework. The results show that the AM stage has the highest influence on economic and environmental dimensions of sustainability and the EOL stage has the highest social impact. The results also indicate that AM mass production can significantly reduce the impact of sustainability.
Moving forward with social justice education in physical education teacher education

Social justice has been steadily gaining traction in physical education (PE) and physical education teacher education (PETE) for more than 40 years. During that time, scholars have argued for the i...
Terminally attached polymer chains

Polymer chains which are partially attached to a surface occur in a number of applications, such as colloidal stabilization (paint, ink), adhesion promoters (glue, “Scotch tape”), adhesion preventors (mold release agents, i.e., agents which prevent a casting from sticking to the mold), lubrication, and biocompatability of artificial implants. The effectiveness of the surface, which may be evaluated, for instance, by the stability of the colloid or the strength of the joint, depends on properties of the polymer layer, such as the thickness and segment density distribution; these, in turn, depend on the shape (or conformation) of the polymer chains. One important class of partially attached polymers is that of polymers adsorbed or grafted onto a substrate at (precisely) one of their end points.
Energy Audit Methodology and Energy Savings Plan in the Nautical Industry

Despite technical and organizational progress, energy weighs heavily in the fixed costs for industrial enterprises. With the depletion of fossil resources and the inexorable rise of the resulting price, we are now at a crucial time when saving strategies and “best consumption” will be crucial for companies, especially in a period of recession where industrial plants have become improperly sized. In this article, the process of industrial energy audit based on reference standards and best practices is broken down into three main stages: (1) Developing a global energy balance of the company. (2) Identifying and modeling the main consumption, quantifying the potential savings. (3) Defining the actions and investment plan necessary to achieve these savings Through the example discussed, it is described how the energy management system has been implemented and what the results were after one year in the manufacturing sector of sailboats and powerboats of BENETEAU Group (11 production sites in France and 1 in Poland).
The Role of Firm Low-Carbon Electricity Resources in Deep Decarbonization of Power Generation

Summary We investigate the role of firm low-carbon resources in decarbonizing power generation in combination with variable renewable resources, battery energy storage, demand flexibility, and long-distance transmission. We evaluate nearly 1,000 cases covering varying CO2 limits, technological uncertainties, and geographic differences in demand and renewable resource potential. Availability of firm low-carbon technologies, including nuclear, natural gas with carbon capture and sequestration, and bioenergy, reduces electricity costs by 10%–62% across fully decarbonized cases. Below 50 gCO2/kWh, these resources lower costs in the vast majority of cases. Additionally, as emissions limits decrease, installed capacity of several resources changes non-monotonically. This underscores the need to evaluate near-term policy and investment decisions based on contributions to long-term decarbonization rather than interim goals. Installed capacity for all resources is also strongly affected by uncertain technology parameters. This emphasizes the importance of a broad research portfolio and flexible policy support that expands rather than constrains future options.
Human-in-the-Loop Bayesian Optimization of a Tethered Soft Exosuit for Assisting Hip Extension

Advances in wearable devices have led to an increased need to develop sophisticated and individualized control strategies. To address this problem, several researchers have begun exploring human-in-the-loop optimization methods that automatically adjust control parameters in a wearable device using real-time physiological measurements. A common physiological measurement, metabolic cost, poses significant experimental challenges due to its long measurement times and low signal-to-noise ratio. This study addresses the challenges by using Bayesian optimization—an algorithm well-suited to optimizing noisy performance signals with very limited data—to perform control adaptation online. When applied to a soft exosuit designed to provide hip assistance, optimized control parameters were found in 24 min with a significant reduction in metabolic cost. These results suggest that this method could have a practical impact on improving the performance of wearable robotic devices.
Multiple aging mechanisms in ferroelectric deuterated potassium dihydrogen phosphate

The anomalously large dielectric aging in ferroelectric partially deuterated potassium dihydrogen phosphate is found to have multiple distinct mechanisms. Two components cause a decrease in dielectric response over a limited range of fields around the aging field. Substantial aging occurs on time scales of ∼1000 s after a field change, as expected for a hydrogen/deuterium diffusion mechanism. A slower component can give an almost complete loss of domain-wall dielectric response at the aging field after weeks of aging. There is also a particularly unusual aging in which the dielectric response increases with time after rapid cooling.
Endoscopic Services in the United States: By Whom, for What, and Why?

The Peterson et al[1][1] article in the Journal examines the declining volume of endoscopic procedures performed by family physicians (FPs) in both urban and rural settings. In a relatively short, 3-year time period, the percentage of colonoscopies, sigmoidoscopies, and upper endoscopies performed
MIBG in neuroblastoma diagnosis and treatment

Neuroblastoma is a heterogenous disease, with solid tumors arising in the adrenal gland or paraspinal regions in young children. Neuroblastoma is unique, with varied presentation and prognosis based on primary location and tumor stage. Tumor behavior and response to treatment ranges from spontaneous regression to disseminated, lethal disease depending on the individual biology of a patient's tumor. Stratification of the disease has changed, with patients now placed in low, intermediate, and high-risk categories depending on age, stage, and tumor biology. Long-term survival for the high-risk subset of patients with metastatic disease is <40% despite aggressive multimodal therapy. Derived from sympathoadrenal cells of the adrenal medulla and sympathetic nervous system, both malignant neuroblastoma and differentiated tumors have specialized norepinephrine transporter (NET) receptors which are naturally occurring in the sympathetic nervous system throughout the body. Metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) is a norepinephrine analog that undergoes active uptake by NET receptors resulting in accumulation in neuroblastoma as well as tissues normally expressing the NET receptor. When radioiodine labeled, MIBG can be used for both diagnosis and treatment. This article describes the history of MIBG use in neuroblastoma, including its utility as an imaging modality for diagnosis as well as the varied ways in which is it included in the multimodal treatment algorithm.
Arthroscopic Technique for Bone Augmentation With Suture Button Fixation for Anterior Shoulder Instability.

Abstract Glenoid bone loss remains a significant risk factor for recurrent instability after shoulder dislocation. Several options exist for glenoid bone graft augmentation, including autograft and allograft options. Strengths and weaknesses exist for each. Graft fixation with screws remains a key concern for technical viability requiring a medial portal as well as the risk of graft osteolysis. Suture button suspensory fixation is a new technique recently described for arthroscopic iliac crest bone graft; however, no description exists concerning osteochondral graft fixation. We describe an arthroscopic technique for distal tibial allograft glenoid augmentation with suspensory suture button fixation. The rationale and technical aspects of this procedure are discussed.
Us Corporate Governance: How Shareholders Access to Nominating Directors?

Nominating committee now operates the task of nominating board of directors. Nonetheless, as owners of the company, shareholders should have rights to participate nomination affairs. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently is processing a proposal for shareholders to access to nominate directors. The SEC proposed shareholders could access to nomination through proxy materials including shareholders' nomination of directors under certain circumstances, and by shareholder proposal to nominating committees. However, these measures face several objections, challenged by scholars' critique. On the other hand, still some scholars hold affirmative attitude toward this method. This paper will discuss how and why shareholder access to nomination of directors has certain extent of difficulty. Nevertheless, the SEC reform of shareholders access to nomination of directors should be extolled, and it will also contribute to enhance directors' accountability owed to the shareholders, the owners of the company.
Community Schools as an Urban School Reform Strategy: Examining Partnerships, Governance, and Sustainability Through the Lens of the Full-Service Community Schools Grant Program:

The community school concept has become a popular school reform model that has gained traction in urban school systems. To date, however, few studies have looked across contexts to see how various ...
On Sampling and Recovery of Topology of Directed Social Networks – A Low-Rank Matrix Completion Based Approach

Extracting connectivity information in massive social networks is important for many applications. Algorithms developed for undirected networks cannot be used with social networks characterized by directed edges. We present a method to extract the network topology from a small sample of distance measures without the need for exhaustive measurements. Tolerating missing data is also necessary when certain nodes participate in message passing, but are not accessible for direct measurements. An anchor-based sampling approach is proposed and compared with random sampling. As we demonstrate, real-world directed social networks such as Twitter and US election blogs have hop-distance matrices that are low-rank. Low-rank matrix completion techniques are thus used to recover the complete topology from a relatively small set of measurements. Evaluation of the proposed technique using metrics such as distance distribution, degree distribution, and hop-distances show that the proposed technique is effective even when only a small fraction of distance entries are available.