cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Prices and Quantities: Fundamentals of Microeconomics

Rakesh V. Vohra offers a unique approach to studying and understanding intermediate microeconomics by reversing the conventional order of treatment, starting with topics that are mathematically simpler and progressing to the more complex. The book begins with monopoly, which requires single variable rather than multivariable calculus and allows students to focus clearly on the fundamental trade-off at the heart of economics: margin versus volume. Imperfect competition and the contrast with monopoly follows, introducing the notion of Nash equilibrium. Perfect competition is addressed toward the end of the book, and framed as a model of non-strategic behavior by firms and agents. The last chapter is devoted to externalities, with an emphasis on how one might design competitive markets to price externalities and linking the difficulties to the problem of efficient provision of public goods. Real-life examples engage the reader while encouraging them to think critically about the interplay between model and reality.
snoRNPs: Functions in Ribosome Biogenesis.

Ribosomes are perhaps the most critical macromolecular machine as they are tasked with carrying out protein synthesis in cells. They are incredibly complex structures composed of protein components and heavily chemically modified RNAs. The task of assembling mature ribosomes from their component parts consumes a massive amount of energy and requires greater than 200 assembly factors. Among the most critical of these are small nucleolar ribonucleoproteins (snoRNPs). These are small RNAs complexed with diverse sets of proteins. As suggested by their name, they localize to the nucleolus, the site of ribosome biogenesis. There, they facilitate multiple roles in ribosomes biogenesis, such as pseudouridylation and 2′-O-methylation of ribosomal (r)RNA, guiding pre-rRNA processing, and acting as molecular chaperones. Here, we reviewed their activity in promoting the assembly of ribosomes in eukaryotes with regards to chemical modification and pre-rRNA processing.
Factors related to disagreement between self-reported versus objective measurement of allergen sensitization at a tertiary pediatric center in Beijing, China.

The objectives of present study were to examine the level of disagreement between self-reported and objective measurement of sensitization to common inhalant allergens, and to explore the potential risk factors that might contribute to this discrepancy. A total of 215 children were enrolled from pediatric clinics at a tertiary pediatric center in Beijing, China. A survey questionnaires regarding self-perceived sensitization was completed by participants’ parents/caregiver, meanwhile, skin prick testing(SPT) was performed as objective assessment of sensitization. Extent of agreement between self-reported versus SPT-measured sensitization to individual allergen was calculated using Cohen’s kappa (κ) coefficient. Multivariable regression analyses were used to determine the factors associated with discrepancy between self-reported and objective measurement of sensitization. 119(55.3%) patients have reported to be sensitized to at least one of inhalant allergen, whereas 167(77.7%) patients had a positive skin testing response. Agreement between self-perceived and actual aeroallergen sensitization was moderate for mites(κ = 0.518) and grass pollen mix(κ = 0.451), moreover, fair agreement was observed for mold(κ = 0.316) and cockroach(κ = 0.297), respectively. There was a least agreement between perceived and actual sensitization observed for pet dander, with a kappa coefficient of 0.005. Subjects’ age, atopy history, ownership of pet may increase the risk of disagreement, moreover, background factors of informant, like: age, education level, and the relationship with enrolled subjects, were linked to the incidence of disagreement between self-reported sensitization in comparison with SPT results. Questionnaire-based self-assessment is easy way to collect clinical information on allergen sensitization; however, the accuracy of questionnaire-derived information is more likely to be influenced by respondent’s background factors. The information from the questionnaire report is considered to be more reliable when in combination with objective assessment of sensitization, including blood IgE testing and SPT.
Understanding of personal agency among youth to curtail HIV rates

Abstract We aimed to discover which social factors influence protective health behaviors among Black youth. We measured study variables based on data from the National Survey of Teens and Young Adults on HIV/AIDS. Participants include youth aged 15 to 24 who completed a 40-question, web-based survey. The analytical sample of participants (n = 270) only comprised African American youth, mean age 20 years (SD: 0.28). Using multiple regression analysis, study findings suggest that focusing on protective health behaviors, such as personal agency among youth, with variables like personal perception and concern and HIV testing could be one way to reduce their risk of HIV transmission. Enhancing the role and influence of personal agency given their testing behaviors can inform HIV prevention and intervention programs that are specific to Black youth. Our findings identify targets for intervention to enhance personal agency in this population, including enhancing HIV risk prevention.
CORE: Compassion Oriented Reflection and Engagement to Guide Academic-Community Partnership

Estimates in dissemination, implementation, and services (DIS) research continue to present a 17-year lag for implementation of only 14% of evidence-based clinical services and technologies in practice (Chambers, 2018) – especially troubling for communities characterized by disproportionately high rates of poverty, crime and mental health need (Yoshikawa, Aber, & Beardslee, 2012). Academic-community partnerships offer pathways by which to speed the transport of evidence-based innovations; however, a range of challenges can disrupt implementation and adoption (Damschroder et al., 2009). This manuscript presents Compassion-Oriented Reflection and Engagement (CORE), a framework to inform academic collaborators’ perspectives and practices towards building flexible, responsive partnerships with youth-serving community-based organizations.
Equine uridine diphospho-glucuronosyltransferase 1A1, 2A1, 2B4, 2B31: cDNA cloning, expression and initial characterization of morphine metabolism.

Abstract Objective Uridine diphospho-glucuronosyltransferases (UGTs) are membrane-bound enzymes that catalyze the conjugation of glucuronic acid onto a diverse set of xenobiotics. Horses efficiently and extensively glucuronidate a number of xenobiotics, including opioids, making UGTs an important group of drug-metabolizing enzymes for the clearance of drugs. Recombinant enzymes have allowed researchers to characterize the metabolism of a variety of drugs. The primary objective was to clone, express and characterize equine UGTs using drugs characterized as UGT substrates in other species. A secondary objective was to characterize the in vitro metabolism of morphine in horses. Study design In vitro drug metabolism study using liver microsomes and recombinant enzyme systems. Animals Liver microsomes and RNA from tissue collected from two Thoroughbred mares euthanized for other reasons. Methods Based on homology to the human UGT2B7, four equine UGT variants were expressed: UGT1A1, UGT2A1, UGT2B31 and UGT2B4. cDNA sequences were cloned and resulting protein expressed in a baculovirus expression system. Functionality of the enzymes was assessed using 4-methylumbelliferone, testosterone, diclofenac and ketoprofen. Recombinant enzyme, control cells, equine liver microsomes and human UGT2B7 supersomes were then incubated with morphine. Concentrations of metabolites were measured using liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry and enzyme kinetics determined. Results 4-Methylumbelliferone was glucuronidated by all expressed equine UGTs. Testosterone glucuronide was not produced by any of the expressed enzymes, and diclofenac glucuronide and ketoprofen glucuronide were produced by UG2A1 and UGT1A1, respectively. UGT2B31 metabolized morphine to morphine-3-glucuronide and low concentrations of morphine-6-glucuronide. Conclusions and clinical relevance This is the first successful expression of functional recombinant equine UGTs. UGT2B31 contributes to the glucuronidation of morphine; however, it is probably not the main metabolizing enzyme. These results warrant further investigation of equine UGTs, including expression of additional enzymes and further characterization of UGT2B31 as a contributor to morphine metabolism.
Physiology of acidophilic and alkalophilic bacteria.

Publisher Summary This chapter reviews the physiology of acidophilic and alkalophilic bacteria. The greatest problem with respect to life at low pH values is the maintenance of a cytoplasmic environment far less acidic than the external milieu. Acidophiles could accomplish this in two ways, firstly, by pumping protons outward effectively and/or secondly, by possession of a cell-surface barrier extremely impermeable to protons. If the cytoplasmic pH value of acidophiles is maintained near neutrality, then no problems would be expected in connection with cytoplasmic enzymes or synthetic processes. However, extracellular enzymes, flagella, and all processes associated with the external membrane surface would have to function at extremely acid pH values. Unusual properties of the cell wall and membrane layer would be anticipated. Many bacteria are able to grow at pH values as low as 4.0, but the vast majority of such organisms can also grow at neutral pH values. More unusual are those bacteria that thrive at pH values below 3.0 and cannot grow at neutral pH. For extreme, obligately alkalophilic bacteria, the optimal external pH value for growth on most substrates is between pH 10.0 and 11.0. Growth at even higher pH values is also observed. The most obvious and pressing physiological problem is regulation of cytoplasmic pH value. Maintenance of a relatively acidic cytoplasm— that is, nearer to neutral pH value than the highly alkaline pH value of the medium, might bypass any need for unusual pH optima or stabilities for cytoplasmic enzymes or macromolecules.
Development of an e-learning module to facilitate student learning and outcomes

Abstract Background Based on the call to include technology in nursing education and the growing demand for online instruction, self-regulated e-learning modules are an innovative teaching strategy to help improve student success and outcomes. Problem A learning needs analysis determined the addition of a self-directed, self-paced e-learning module could provide an avenue for students to better prepare for a medium-fidelity pediatric dehydration simulation scenario. Approach A collaborative, multidisciplinary project team consisting of a librarian/instructional designer, a faculty content expert, and a faculty content consultant was organized. The team developed an e-learning module using the theory of self-regulated learning. This module was designed to be an asynchronous, stand alone, self-paced adjunct to better prepare undergraduate nursing students for pediatric simulation. Conclusion The addition of an e-learning module will allow students to be better engaged with the content and more actively involved in their own learning.
Porting and optimizing UniFrac for GPUs: Reducing microbiome analysis runtimes by orders of magnitude

UniFrac is a commonly used metric in microbiome research for comparing microbiome profiles to one another (“beta diversity”). The recently implemented Striped UniFrac added the capability to split the problem into many independent subproblems and exhibits near linear scaling. In this paper we describe steps undertaken in porting and optimizing Striped Unifrac to GPUs. We reduced the run time of computing UniFrac on the published Earth Microbiome Project dataset from 13 hours on an Intel Xeon E5-2680 v4 CPU to 12 minutes on an NVIDIA Tesla V100 GPU, and to about one hour on a laptop with NVIDIA GTX 1050 (with minor loss in precision). Computing UniFrac on a larger dataset containing 113k samples reduced the run time from over one month on the CPU to less than 2 hours on the V100 and 9 hours on an NVIDIA RTX 2080TI GPU (with minor loss in precision). This was achieved by using OpenACC for generating the GPU offload code and by improving the memory access patterns. A BSD-licensed implementation is available, which produces a C shared library linkable by any programming language.
Cost-effectiveness of alcohol use treatments in patients with alcohol-related cirrhosis.

Background & Aims Alcohol use treatment such as medication-assisted therapies (MATs) and counseling are available and effective in promoting alcohol abstinence. We sought to explore the cost-effectiveness of different alcohol use treatments among patients with compensated alcohol-related cirrhosis (AC). Methods We simulated a cohort of patients with compensated AC receiving care from a hepatology clinic over their lifetimes. We estimated costs (in 2017 US$) and benefits in terms of quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) gained from healthcare and societal perspectives. Transition probabilities, costs, and health utility weights were taken from the literature. Treatment effects of FDA-approved MATs (acamprosate and naltrexone) and non-FDA approved MATs (baclofen, gabapentin, and topiramate) and counseling were based on a study of employer-insured patients with AC. We calculated incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) and performed one-way and probabilistic sensitivity analyses to understand the impact of parameter uncertainty. Results Compared to a do-nothing scenario, MATs and counseling were found to be cost-saving from a healthcare perspective, which means that they provide more benefits with less costs than no intervention. Compared to other interventions, acamprosate and naltrexone cost the least and provide the most QALYs. If the effectiveness of MATs and counseling decreased, these interventions would still be cost-effective based on the commonly used $100,000 per QALY gained threshold. Several sensitivity and scenario analyses showed that our main findings are robust. Conclusions Among patients with compensated AC, MATs and counseling are extremely cost-effective, and in some cases cost-saving, interventions to prevent decompensation and improve health. Health policies (e.g. payer reimbursement) should emphasize and appropriately compensate for these interventions. Lay summary Alcohol use treatments, including physician counseling and medication-assisted therapies (MATs), improve the outcomes of patients with compensated alcohol-related cirrhosis, though use and access have remained suboptimal. In this study, we found that counseling and MATs are extremely cost-effective, and in some cases cost-saving, interventions to help patients with alcohol-related cirrhosis abstain from alcohol and improve their health. Wider use of these interventions should be encouraged.
Smart System to Avoid Railway Accidents

The objective of this paper is to implement smart ways to prevent railway accidents and to minimize the loss of life and money. Faulty equipment, improper maintenance of tracks and train conductor negligence are some of the causes of train accidents. The paper provides a way to detect the major cause of rail derailment which is the presence of cracks in rails. It eliminates most of the flaws in the current system of crack detection in railway tracks using IoT-based modern system, which can significantly reduce the cost, time and manpower without compromising accuracy. It also solves this problem by detecting the presence of cracks in rail and notifying the concerned railway authority about the location of the crack. The detection is performed using IoT-based modern system and transducer. Angle beam techniques are utilized employing common angle beam transducer assemblies aligned so as to direct sound energy into the test piece at selected angle; the administrator couples the transducer to the test piece and finds the refracted waves and after that utilizesGlobal Positioning System (GPS). Global System for Mobile (GSM) technology specialists are informed about the location of cracks.
Knowing your limits: evaluating aquatic metabolism in a subtropical treatment wetland

Changes in dissolved oxygen (DO) within aquatic ecosystems integrate dynamic biological, physical, and chemical processes that control the rate of ecosystem metabolism. Aquatic ecosystem metabolism can be characterized by the diel change in DO changes over time and is expressed as the net aquatic productivity (NAP) based on the balance of gross primary productivity (GPP) and ecosystem respiration (ER). This study investigated aquatic metabolism of dominant emergent and submerged aquatic vegetation (EAV and SAV, respectively) within two treatment flow-ways of Stormwater Treatment Area 2 (STA-2) in the Everglades ecosystem. This study hypothesizes that aquatic metabolism will differ between aquatic vegetation communities with SAV communities having a greater GPP and ER rate than EAV communities driven by biophysical, hydrodynamic, and biogeochemical differences between systems. Aquatic metabolism observed in this study varied spatially (along flow-ways) and temporally (diel to days) controlled by different factors related to biological, physical, and chemical processes. This study suggests that ecosystem metabolism is controlled differently across flow-ways with varying levels of response to loading/transport and water quality resulting in differences in organic matter accumulation, C turnover, and P cycling. The relationship between GPP and TP concentrations could be an indicator of P-removal efficiency and ecosystem function.
An innovative Fast Layer-wise Simulation of Temperature distribution using a Chessboard Strategy (FALS TECHS) in the powder-bed fusion process

Abstract The thermal evolution of a printed part plays a crucial role in the ultimate quality of components that are produced using powder-bed fusion (PBF) processes. Temperature distribution throughout an exposure-layer can be employed as a significant proxy to optimize the process parameters and explore the effects of different scan strategies on the thermal evolution of the fabrication process. Nevertheless, previous works have not provided any technique to simulate the temperature distribution throughout a layer with freeform complex geometry and in actual size. This conspicuous lack is predominantly due to the high computational cost of existing simulation techniques. This paper introduces a Fast Layer-wise Simulation of Temperature distribution using a Chessboard Strategy” or “FALS TECHS” in the PBF process. This innovative technique simulates the temperature distribution throughout the layers of a freeform shape using actual dimensions in a fraction of computational time achieved by previously reported methods. The developed capability assists designers in the modification of scanning strategies according to the geometry of the exposure-layer to achieve a uniform temperature distribution, thus, reducing the residual stress throughout the printed layer. Furthermore, the technique helps to optimize the process parameters of the scanning strategy. We investigated the accuracy of the methodology by comparing simulation results with experimental thermal images. The results show a close correspondence between the two.
Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor Gene Polymorphism Predicts Response to Continuous Theta Burst Stimulation in Chronic Stroke Patients

Objectives The efficacy of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) in clinically relevant neuroplasticity research depends on the degree to which stimulation induces robust, reliable effects. The high degree of interindividual and intraindividual variability observed in response to rTMS protocols, such as continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS), therefore represents an obstacle to its utilization as treatment for neurological disorders. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a protein involved in human synaptic and neural plasticity, and a common polymorphism in the BDNF gene (Val66Met) may influence the capacity for neuroplastic changes that underlie the effects of cTBS and other rTMS protocols. While evidence from healthy individuals suggests that Val66Met polymorphism carriers may show diminished or facilitative effects of rTMS compared to their homozygous Val66Val counterparts, this has yet to be demonstrated in the patient populations where neuromodulatory therapies are most relevant. Materials and methods We examined the effects of BDNF Val66Met polymorphism on cTBS aftereffects in stroke patients. We compared approximately 30 log-transformed motor-evoked potentials (LnMEPs) obtained per time point: at baseline and at 0, 10, 20, and 30 min after cTBS-600, from 18 patients with chronic stroke using single TMS pulses. We used linear mixed-effects regression with trial-level data nested by subject for higher statistical power. Results We found a significant interaction between BDNF genotype and pre-/post-cTBS LnMEPs. Val66Val carriers showed decrease in cortical excitability, whereas Val66Met carriers exhibited a modest increase in cortical excitability for 20 min poststimulation, followed by inhibition 30 min after cTBS-600. Conclusions Our findings strongly suggest that BDNF genotype differentially affects neuroplastic responses to TMS in individuals with chronic stroke. This provides novel insight into potential sources of variability in cTBS response in patients, which has important implications for optimizing the utility of this neuromodulation approach. Incorporating BDNF polymorphism genetic screening to stratify patients prior to use of cTBS as a neuromodulatory technique in therapy or research may optimize response rates.
Exploring the Interplay Between Psychological Processes, Affective Responses, Political Identity, and News Avoidance

With the ever-evolving COVID-19 pandemic, there is a greater need for the public to keep abreast of the news around the novel virus. However, surveys show that there is an increasing proportion of the public that actively avoid news about the pandemic. This chapter elucidates the reasons behind why people avoid COVID-19 news by examining how the current media landscape (both traditional and new media) contributes to COVID-related news avoidance. It argues that psychological processes, affective responses, and political identity can make communicating COVID information through news media an arduous task. This chapter also provides recommendations on how to overcome tendencies to avoid COVID news and motivate individuals to attend to, select, and process this information, through the use of different emotional appeals and news media literacy education.
An Introduction to Theoretical Fluid Mechanics

This book gives an overview of classical topics in fluid dynamics, focusing on the kinematics and dynamics of incompressible inviscid and Newtonian viscous fluids, but also including some material on compressible flow. The topics are chosen to illustrate the mathematical methods of classical fluid dynamics. The book is intended to prepare the reader for more advanced topics of current research interest. Titles in this series are co-published with the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University.
MAGNESIUM: AN AUTOMOTIVE PERSPECTIVE

Vehicle weight reduction accelerated in importance following the 1973 oil crisis. The Ford Motor Company reduced average vehicle weight by approximately 1000 pounds between 1975 and 1980 through downsizing, design efficiencies and material substitutions. This emphasis on vehicle downsizing and weight reduction has provided an opportunity to evaluate magnesium against conventional U.S. automotive materials. This paper describes magnesium's advantages and disadvantages for automotive applications and assesses its future role in weight reduction. Magnesium's potential is analyzed from a business standpoint including cost/supply, technical and timing issues.
Motile Human Neutrophils Sense Ligand Density Over Their Entire Contact Area.

Neutrophils are key components of the immune system and motility is central their function during the inflammatory response. We have previously demonstrated that neutrophils are capable of switching their motile phenotype between amoeboid-like and keratocyte-like in response to the ligand density of adhesion molecules (Henry et al. in Int Biol 6:348–356, 2014). In this study, we engineered planar micropatterned surfaces that presented adhesion molecules in local islands of high density, separated by regions largely devoid of ligands. By controlling the geometry of islands we made arrays in which the local (on island) adhesion density was high but the global (multi-island) adhesion density over the entire cell-substrate interface was low. Neutrophils in contact with these island arrays assumed a well-spread and directionally-persistent motile phenotype (keratocyte-like) in contrast to the classical amoeboid morphology they display on uniform fields of high adhesion density. By virtue of our rationally designed substrates, we were able to conclude that neutrophils were integrating the stimulation received across their entire contact interface; furthermore, they were able to mount this whole cell response on the timescale of seconds. This work demonstrates the capacity of adhesive microenvironments to direct the phenotype of cell motility, which has broader implications in physiologic processes such as inflammation and cancer metastasis.
Studies on the Membranes of Bacilli: II. CHARACTERIZATION OF A NOVEL PROTEIN OF A BACILLUS SPECIES

Abstract During an earlier study on the localization of the enzymes of phospholipid synthesis in the ghosts of an unidentified Bacillus species (designated Bacillus PP) the presence of fibers in ghost preparations was noted. More extensive electron microscopic study has revealed the presence of large quantities of these fibers at the periphery of intact cells. The majority of the fibers were found to remain associated with the ghosts isolated from Bacillus PP. Treatment of the ghosts at pH 11 resulted in release of the fibers, which were isolated and analyzed by chemical and physical methods. Disc gel electrophoresis in two systems and gel filtration indicate that the fibers are composed of a single polypeptide of molecular weight 31,000 to 33,000. The purity of the fibers was confirmed by amino acid analysis and by fingerprint analysis after tryptic digestion. Electron microscopic examination, physical and chemical analysis, and immunological studies showed that these fibers are unrelated to the flagella of Bacillus PP. Detailed electron microscopic studies revealed that the fibers were composed of bundles of fibrils having a diameter of 30 to 40 A and a regular wavelike structure. Under certain conditions these fibrils dissociated into single filaments 12 to 15 A in diameter. The function of these fibers and the nature of their association with the cytoplasmic membrane is unknown.
The STOL Performance of a Two-Engine, USB Powered-Lift Aircraft with Cross-Shafted Fans

The short takeoff and landing capabilities that characterize the performance of powered-lift aircraft are dependent on engine thrust and are, therefore, severely affected by loss of an engine. This paper shows that the effects of engine loss on the short takeoff and landing performance of powered-lift aircraft can be effectively mitigated by cross-shafting the engine fans in a twin-engine configuration. Engine-out takeoff and landing performances are compared for three powered-lift aircraft configurations: one with four engines, one with two engines, and one with two engines in which the fans are cross-shafted. The results show that the engine-out takeoff and landing performance of the cross-shafted two-engine configuration is significantly better than that of the two-engine configuration without cross-shafting.
Plugs or flood-makers? The unstable landslide dams of eastern Oregon

Abstract Landslides into valley bottoms can affect longitudinal profiles of rivers, thereby influencing landscape evolution through base-level changes. Large landslides can hinder river incision by temporarily damming rivers, but catastrophic failure of landslide dams may generate large floods that could promote incision. Dam stability therefore strongly modulates the effects of landslide dams and might be expected to vary among geologic settings. Here, we investigate the morphometry, stability, and effects on adjacent channel profiles of 17 former and current landslide dams in eastern Oregon. Data on landslide dam dimensions, former impoundment size, and longitudinal profile form were obtained from digital elevation data constrained by field observations and aerial imagery; while evidence for catastrophic dam breaching was assessed in the field. The dry, primarily extensional terrain of low-gradient volcanic tablelands and basins contrasts with the tectonically active, mountainous landscapes more commonly associated with large landslides. All but one of the eastern Oregon landslide dams are ancient (likely of order 10 3 to 10 4 years old), and all but one has been breached. The portions of the Oregon landslide dams blocking channels are small relative to the area of their source landslide complexes (0.4–33.6 km 2 ). The multipronged landslides in eastern Oregon produce marginally smaller volume dams but affect much larger channels and impound more water than do landslide dams in mountainous settings. As a result, at least 14 of the 17 (82%) large landslide dams in our study area appear to have failed cataclysmically, producing large downstream floods now marked by boulder outwash, compared to a 40–70% failure rate for landslide dams in steep mountain environments. Morphometric indices of landslide dam stability calibrated in other environments were applied to the Oregon dams. Threshold values of the Blockage and Dimensionless Blockage Indices calibrated to worldwide data sets successfully separate dam sites in eastern Oregon that failed catastrophically from those that did not. Accumulated sediments upstream of about 50% of the dam sites indicate at least short-term persistence of landslide dams prior to eventual failure. Nevertheless, only three landslide dam remnants and one extant dam significantly elevate the modern river profile. We conclude that eastern Oregon's landslide dams are indeed floodmakers, but we lack clear evidence that they form lasting plugs.
Like “Some Long Lost Brother”: Allusions to Queer Public Sex in Jack Kerouac's ON THE ROAD

Jack Kerouac's On the Road is a text rife with ambivalences; as such, the book has been understood through numerous theoretical frameworks since its publication. Though critics offer diverging clai...
Male Genital System

Cancer surgery of the male genital system has changed dramatically over the last decade. With increasing comfort and advancements in laparoscopy, urologic oncology has seen that a majority of intra-abdominal and retroperitoneal surgeries are performed skillfully in a minimally invasive fashion. Robotics has recently filtered into the urologic world by offering the advantages of three-dimensional and high-definition endoscopic acuity, dissection and reconstruction. Excluding skin cancer, prostate cancer continues to be the most common malignancy amongst men and the second leading cause of cancer related death in men, in the United States. Testis cancer incidence is slowly rising, may be contributed to by environmental causes such as pesticide exposure. Penile cancer has been, and remains a very rare entity in the United States.
Co-Constructing Courses with Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) Graduate Students: Favoring Process over Content

The author describes one method by which to co-construct a course, or even a portion of a course, with family therapy graduate students. She integrates Fink’s (2003) taxonomy of adult learning with Weimer’s (2002) learner-centered course construction process. The author focuses on the process of learning, managing students’ interests, and choosing course content and order so as to align with students’ growth edges. She finishes with co-designing assignments and grading rubrics and a brief discussion of student learning objectives and faculty teaching goals.
Perceptions of Administrative and Supervisory Support in Public Child Welfare

Using the Child Welfare Organizational Culture Inventory (CWOCI) in a public child welfare agency, perceptions of administrative and supervisory support held by employees with social work degrees (BSW and MSW) were compared to perceptions of administrative and supervisory support held by employees without social work degrees. Child welfare employees with social work degrees reported lower administrative and supervisory support than employees without social work degrees. Implications for social work educators, public child welfare administrators and supervisors, and future research are presented.
The non-isothermal stage of magnetic star formation - II. Results

In a previous paper we formulated the problem of the formation and evolution of fragments (or cores) in magnetically supported, self-gravitating molecular clouds in axisymmetric geometry, accounting for the effects of ambipolar diffusion and Ohmic dissipation, grain chemistry and dynamics, and radiative transfer. Here, we present results of star formation simulations that accurately track the evolution of a protostellar fragment over 11 orders of magnitude in density (from 300 to ≈10 14 cm −3 ), i.e. from the early ambipolar-diffusion-initiated fragmentation phase, through the magnetically supercritical, dynamical-contraction phase and the subsequent magnetic decoupling stage, to the formation of a protostellar core in near hydrostatic equilibrium. As found by Fiedler & Mouschovias, gravitationally-driven ambipolar diffusion leads to the formation and subsequent dynamic contraction of a magnetically supercritical core. Moreover, we find that ambipolar diffusion, not Ohmic dissipation, is responsible for decoupling all the species except the electrons from the magnetic field, by a density of ≈3 × 10 12 cm −3 . Magnetic decoupling precedes the formation of a central stellar object and ultimately gives rise to a concentration of magnetic flux (a ‘magnetic wall’) outside the hydrostatic core – as also found by Tassis & Mouschovias through a different approach. At approximately the same density at which Ohmic dissipation becomes more important than ambipolar diffusion (7 × 10 12 cm −3 ), the grains carry most of the electric charge as well as the electric current. The prestellar core remains disc like down to radii ∼10 au, inside which thermal pressure becomes important. The magnetic flux problem of star formation is resolved for at least strongly magnetic newborn stars by this stage of the evolution, i.e. by a central density ≈10 14 cm −3 .T he hydrostatic core has radius ≈2 au, density ≈10 14 cm −3 , temperature ≈300 K, magnetic field
Directional cell movement during early development of the teleost Blennius pholis: I. Formation of epithelial cell clusters and their pattern and mechanism of movement.

Embryos of the teleost Blennius pholis provide exceptional material for observation of the formation and movement of cell clusters in vivo because the clusters are packed with melano-somes and migrate beneath the transparent enveloping layer. These clusters arise from two pigmented cell masses (PCM) which appear precociously on either side of the embryonic axis at 3/5 epiboly, at the future level of somites 1 and 2. As development proceeds, each PCM enlarges and spreads on its lateral margins to form an epithelial sheet. As spreading continues, the sheet fragments, forming small cell clusters that move in a distad direction in the yolk sac. The highly motile lateral marginal cells of the spreading PCM, as well as those of the marginal cells of each moving cluster, invariably protrude highly flattened lamellipodia, which terminate in long, fine, often branched filopodia. As cell clusters leave the PCM, they form long, taut retraction fibers. The rate of spreading of both the lateral edge of the PCM and the initial phase of cluster movement, is higher (1.0 μm/min or greater) than the later rate of cluster movement, apparently because at this phase, motile activity is confined to the distal borders of each. This directional migration ceases in 24 h at 16°–18°C, when the farthest clusters have reached the ventral region of the yolk sac. By then, all clusters are spaced more or less evenly, apparently due to cessation of all cluster movement at about the same time. Once movement ceases, the clusters remain immobile for 2–4 days, depending on the temperature.
SU-E-J-42: Comparison between Rigid and Deformable Image Registrations for Target Volume Delineation in Radiotherapy of Head-and-Neck Cancers

Purpose: Deformable image registration promises to solve the problem of co‐registering images acquired at different patient positioning and has recently become clinically available. This study seeks to compare deformable registration with rigid body registration among FDG‐PET/CT and CTimages in the delineation of target volumes of head‐and‐neck cancers. Methods: Eight patients with head‐and‐neck cancers were retrospectively selected based on the availability of FDG‐PET/CT images acquired within one month of planning CT simulation. FDG‐PET/CT, planning CTimages, and the treated clinical target volume (CTV) were imported from ADAC Pinnacle into Velocity AI program where they were co‐registered around the regions of CTV using rigid body transformation and multi‐pass deformable registration respectively. Following rigid and deformable registrations of FDG‐PET/CT with planning CT, gross tumor volumes (GTVs) were automatically generated using an adaptive threshold technique with FDG‐PET and then the GTV‐rigid and GTV‐deformable of each patient were compared in terms of volume. The target centers of the GTV‐rigid and GTV‐deformable were calculated to measure the registration discrepancy. Results: Deformable image registration significantly reduced the registration error due to different head and neck positioning between the planning CT acquisition and the FDG‐PET/CT. We found that the volume of GTV‐deformable increased by (5.2±4.0) percent compared to those of GTV‐ rigid. We observed significant shape changes between the GTV‐rigid and GTV‐deformable. The center‐of‐mass shifts between the GTV‐rigid and GTV‐deformable are 2.8±1.7 mm in the anterior‐posterior direction, 2.8±2.7mm in the lateral direction, and 5.2±4.4mm in the superior‐inferior direction. Conclusions: Significant shape and positional changes of GTVs were observed in the comparison between rigid body registration and deformable image registration, although the volume of GTV changed very little between the two techniques. Further assessment is still needed such as volume and positional analysis of normal structures before the full implementation of the deformable image registration technique in the clinic.
Shunts vs endoscopic third ventriculostomy in infants: are there different types and/or rates of complications? A review.

The decision-making process when we compare endoscopic third ventriculostomy (ETV) with shunts as surgical options for the treatment of hydrocephalus in infants is conditioned by the incidence of specific and shared complications of the two surgical procedures. Our literature review shows that the advantages of ETV in terms of complications are almost all related to two factors: (a) the avoidance of a foreign body implantation and (b) the establishment of a ‘physiological’ cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) circulation. Both these kinds of achievements are particularly important in infants because of the relative high rate of some intraoperative (i.e. abdominal) and late (secondary craniosynostosis, slit-ventricle syndrome) shunt complications in this specific subset of patients. On the other side, the main factor which is claimed against ETV is the relatively high risk of immediate mortality and neurological complications. Clinical manifestations of neurological structure damage seem to be more frequent in infants, probably due to the more relevant effect of parenchymal and vascular damage in this age group; however, both the immediate mortality and neurological damage risk of ETV procedures should be weighted against the long-term mortality and the late neurological damage which is not infrequently described as a consequence of shunt malfunction and proximal shunt revision procedures. Infections are possible in both ETV and extrathecal CSF procedures, especially in infants. However, the incidence of infective complications is significantly lower in case of ETV (1–5% vs 1–20%). Moreover, different from shunting procedures, infections in children with third ventriculostomy have a more benign course, being generally controlled by antibiotic treatment alone.
Phencyclidine and phenylcyclohexene disposition after smoking phencyclidine.

Five men who smoked parsley cigarettes containing 100 micrograms of [3H]-phencyclidine hydrochloride (PCP.HCl) inhaled 69 +/- 5(SEM) % of the total radioactivity in the cigarette. Both PCP and its pyrolysis product, 1-phenylcyclohexene (PC), were found and measured in plasma. Calculations based on the assumption that the ratio of these two products was the same as in simulated smoking studies and based on either area under the curve or urinary excretion of PCP indicated that most of the PCP in smoke was absorbed. Mean half-life (t1/2) of PCP (24 +/- 7 hr, harmonic mean 18 hr) and ratios of metabolites in plasma and urine were close to those previously reported after intravenous and oral doses. A second peak in PCP plasma concentrations was observed, possible due to show efflux from the lungs. PC plasma concentrations (maximum 0.35 +/- 0.06 pmol/ml) were lower than those of PCP (maximum 0.62 +/- 0.09 pmol/ml) and its mean t1/2 (14 +/- 3 hr, harmonic mean 12 h) was shorter than that of PCP. Only traces of PC were found in urine. Only small amounts of metabolites from PC were found nonconjugated in plasma (to about 0.1 pmol/ml) or urine (less than 2% of radioactivity), but larger quantities were found as enzyme-hydrolyzable conjugates in urine (6% of radioactivity). Conjugates were also found in plasma (to about 0.12 pmol/ml).
The Nonlinear Equatorial Kelvin Wave

Using the method of strained coordinates, a uniformly valid approximation to the nonlinear equatorial Kelvin wave is derived. It is shown that nonlinear effects are negligible for the Kelvin waves associated with the Gulf of Guinea upwelling. The Kelvin waves involved in El Nino, however, are significantly distorted both in shape and speed. The leading edge is smoothed and expanded rather than steepened, but the trailing edge will form sharp fronts and eventually break.
Considerations When Determining Appropriate Management Goals: A Reply to Claramunt and Clapp

We read with interest the response by Claramunt and Clapp (2014) to our article about management of Alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus) using Pacific salmon in the Great Lakes (Dettmers et al. 2012). Bo...
Stabilized continuation methods for boundary value problems

Inspired by the classical control theory for linear dynamical systems, we present an analytical continuation algorithm with inherent error stabilization. Numerical error is stabilized quite the same way as controlling the tracking error dynamics in system theory. Simulations demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed method wherein the stabilized continuation method always converges to the unique solution (if it exists) or any feasible solution (in the case of non-unique solutions). Further, we find new applications for this method in solving second order linear and non-linear elliptic partial differential equations with linear and non-linear boundary conditions. Illustrative numerical examples deal with stiff non-linear systems arising out of various physical applications.
Evolution in the Post-Genome Era

The advent of nucleotide sequence data has created a new era in evo - lutionary biology. With theoretical underpinnings derived from the work of the late Motoo Kimura, evolutionary concepts have played a key role in the development of the field of bioinformatics. However, the maturation of modern evolutionary biology has been hindered by a conception of natural selection as an all-powerful force shap - ing every aspect of phenotypic evolution. In new books, Joram Piatigorsky and Michael Lynch provide a corrective to some outdated views and thus provide a glimpse of what the evolutionary biology of the 21st century may look like.
Successful liver transplantation for hilar cholangiocarcinoma.

Purpose of reviewThe purpose of this review is to present recent data demonstrating the success of neoadjuvant therapy followed by liver transplantation for hilar cholangiocarcinoma.Recent findingsThe most recent outcomes of a protocol involving neoadjuvant therapy followed by liver transplant for h
Genetic diversity following demographic recovery in the insular endemic plant Galium catalinense subspecies acrispum

Galium catalinense (Rubiaceae) is a perennial shrub consisting of two subspecies endemic to California’s Channel Islands: Galium catalinense subsp. catalinense on Santa Catalina Island, and G. catalinense subsp. acrispum, a state-endangered taxon on San Clemente Island. A long history of overgrazing by introduced herbivores has contributed to population declines in G. catalinense subsp. acrispum. We surveyed 12 populations throughout the taxon’s range for genetic variation using eight polymorphic microsatellite loci to determine the genetic impact of this demographic bottleneck. At the taxon level, 65 alleles were identified with an average of 8.1 alleles per locus, although many alleles were rare; the effective number of alleles per locus averaged 2.6. Expected heterozygosity was 0.550. Individual populations had between six and eight polymorphic loci, with expected heterozygosities ranging from 0.36 to 0.60, and effective numbers of alleles ranging from 1.8 to 3.5 per locus. Populations fell into three or four genetic clusters, depending on type of analysis, which may represent refugia where the populations persisted during intense herbivory. There is little evidence of genetic bottlenecks or substantial inbreeding within populations. These findings, coupled with indications of recent migration between populations, suggest that G. catalinense subsp. acrispum is currently unlikely to be endangered by genetic factors, but small population sizes make the taxon vulnerable to future loss of genetic diversity. Management strategies based on these genetic data, population sizes, and the spatial distribution of populations are discussed.
Closed-Form and Graphical Solutions for Three-Layered Concrete Pavements:

Analysis and design of three-layered portland cement concrete pavement systems incorporating a base layer have long been hampered by the scarcity of theoretically sound closed-form approaches. This study is focused on verifying and extending the method of transformed sections (MTS), a closed-form approach derived in 1992 on the basis of dimensional analysis and engineering mechanics. The applicability of the MTS to dense liquid and elastic solid foundations is studied in detail using a wide range of numerical test data for all three fundamental loading conditions (interior, edge, and corner). Both unbonded and bonded interface conditions between the two man-made layers are considered. To make the analysis easier, the MTS is incorporated into computer program WESTERX, a compendium of closed-form solutions for two- and three-layered concrete pavements. Maximum responses (bending stresses, deflections, and subgrade stresses) predicted by plate theory MTS are compared with those obtained from the finite-eleme...