cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Indications and Technique for Posterior Capsule Release

The posterior capsule of the shoulder is a complex confluence of capsule, labrum, and ligamentous structures that can often become pathologic resulting in pain and limited range of motion in some patients. In its normal physiologic state, the posterior capsule of the shoulder works to help limit posterior translation of the humeral head when the arm is in a forward flexed, adducted, and internally rotated position. In cases of posterior capsule tightness, these motions are inhibited to an excessive degree and function may diminish as well as injury may ensue to the rotator cuff and labrum. In the throwing athlete, tightness of the posterior capsule can lead to posterior and superior translation of the humeral head on the glenoid which can lead to increased risk for impingement and injury to the superior labrum. Typically, when a patient is identified to have a tight posterior capsule, the treatment plan is nonsurgical in nature with exercises focused on stretching the posterior capsule fibers. Should a patient’s symptoms remain recalcitrant to nonoperative measures, the patient can then undergo arthroscopic posterior capsular release with the use of electrocautery and gentle range of motion under anesthesia to help regain a more normal range of motion.
A Case of Ertapenem Neurotoxicity Resulting in Vocal Tremor and Altered Mentation in a Dialysis Dependent Liver Transplant Patient.

Carbapenem agents are advanced derivatives of cephalosporins that are active against bacteria that produce extended spectrum beta lactamases (ESBL). These antibiotics are resistant to enzymatic cleavage, and have good central nervous system penetration. Given this fact, it is not surprising that these drugs have been reported to cause neurological side effects like seizures and encephalopathy. We report a case of a patient on hemodialytic support who had a notable change in mentation and vocal tremor. This was at first attributed to calcineurin toxicity, but after the finding of a normal tacrolimus level, ertapenem neurotoxicity was suspected. After discontinuation of the offending agent, the patient’s vocal tremor, cognition, and neurological function returned to baseline levels.
Inverse Problems in Population Balances

This chapter addresses problems of fundamental importance in the application of population balances. The single particle behavior pertains both to continuous changes such as particle growth processes in which a particle retains its identity, and processes such as aggregation, breakage, and nucleation in which termination and/or initiation occurs of the identity of particles. The experimental observations are generally dynamic measurements on the population that evolves in time. Furthermore, it is desirable to consider situations in which only one of the different particle processes is present so that the inversion is accomplished without unduly risking loss of uniqueness. Thus, the measurement of number densities in particle size at various times in a pure breakage or pure aggregation process constitutes a case of population data. The inversion of such data, however, represents a difficult problem because it is generally ill posed. This chapter also deals with the determination of the growth rate of individual particles from dynamic measurement of particle size distributions.
Low-cost indoor health monitoring system

The advent of smart infrastructure or Internet of Things (IoT) has enabled scenarios in which objects with unique identifiers can communicate and transfer data over a network without human to human/computer interactions. Incorporating hardware in such networks is so cheap that it has opened the possibility of connecting just about anything from simple nodes to complex, remotely-monitored sensor networks. In the paper, we describe a low-cost scalable and potentially ubiquitous system for indoor remote health monitoring using low energy bluetooth beacons and a smartwatch. Our system was implemented in a rehabilitation facility in Los Angeles and the overall assessments revealed promising results.
Antimicrobial Monotherapy versus Combination Therapy for the Treatment of Complicated Intra‐Abdominal Infections

tudy Objective It is unknown if β-lactam monotherapy is sufficient for complicated intra-abdominal infections or if broader coverage is required, such as with vancomycin. This study sought to determine the clinical outcomes of piperacillin/tazobactam (PIP/TAZ) monotherapy compared to combination therapy with vancomycin and PIP/TAZ for complicated intra-abdominal infections among patients within a surgical intensive care unit (ICU). Design Retrospective cohort study. Setting Three surgical ICUs at a tertiary academic medical center. Patients Four hundred seventeen patients with a secondary peritonitis identified by International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision codes who received either PIP/TAZ monotherapy (228 patients) or PIP/TAZ and vancomycin combination therapy (189 patients). Measurements and Main Results The primary outcome was day 28 clinical cure; secondary outcomes included day 7 clinical cure, length of stay (LOS), and mortality. There were no statistically significant differences between the monotherapy and combination therapy groups with respect to day 28 clinical cure (33.9% vs 25.5%, p=0.064), day 7 clinical cure (23.6% vs 17.6%, p=0.14), or 28-day mortality (7% vs 7.9%, p=0.72). LOS in the ICU was significantly shorter in the monotherapy group (6 days) compared with the combination therapy group (7 days; p=0.04); however, hospital LOS was not significantly different. Conclusions No difference was observed in clinical cure rates at day 28 or day 7 between those who received PIP/TAZ monotherapy compared to PIP/TAZ and vancomycin combination therapy.
Esophageal Tumors in Childhood and Adolescence: Benign and Malignant

Esophageal tumors are exceedingly rare in childhood and adolescence. However, they should always be considered when evaluating a pediatric patient who presents with dysphagia. Although both are rare, benign esophageal tumors are more frequent than malignant ones. Leiomyoma is the most common type of benign tumor, whereas squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma are the most common types of malignant tumors. Review of published case reports shows that the clinical behavior of esophageal tumors is similar in children and adults: benign tumors have a generally excellent prognosis, and malignant tumors are associated with a very poor prognosis. In this chapter, we review the published literature on benign and malignant tumors to better understand the epidemiology and pathophysiology of pediatric esophageal tumors.
Antimicrobial ceragenins inhibit biofilms and affect mammalian cell viability and migration in vitro

The healing of burn wounds is often hampered by bacterial infection and the formation of biofilms. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are effective in promoting wound healing, but are susceptible to degradation. We have tested the ability of ceragenins (CSAs), mimics of antimicrobial peptides, to mitigate pre-formed biofilms and stimulate wound healing in vitro. Potent CSAs (MICs 10 μg ml−1), lower concentrations of CSA-13 and CSA-192 stimulated cell migration. CSA-13, CSA-90, and CSA-142 also stimulated tube formation in an in vitro angiogenesis model. An inhibitor of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2) blocked tube formation stimulated by CSA-13, suggesting that CSA-13 signals through this receptor. Ceragenins display anti-biofilm activity and stimulate migration and tube formation in vitro. This work suggests ceragenins have the potential to be both topical antimicrobials and wound healing adjunct therapeutics.
Cherenkov imaging in the potential roles of radiotherapy QA and delivery

Cherenkov emission has a direct proportionality to the deposited dose at the local level, and capture of these emitted light signals allows visualization of real time maps of dose in vivo. Mapping the Cherenkov signals through water tanks illustrates how 3D Cherenkov can be achieved, either as 2D plus time, or 3D in static imaging. Imaging Cherenkov from patients shows how signals can be acquired which map out radiation dose in real time. The signals are affected by several factors, each of which will take some calibration to resolve, yet intrinsically the signal is shown to be a linear reporter of dose delivered. Development of calibration methodologies is ongoing in both research and development work.
Artificial Immune Systems for Self-Nonself Discrimination: Application to Anomaly Detection

Self-nonself discrimination is the ability of the vertebrate immune systems to distinguish between foreign objects and the body’s own self. It provides the basis for several biologically inspired approachs for classification. The negative selection algorithm, which is one way to implement self-nonself discrimination, is becoming increasingly popular for anomaly detection applications. Negative selection makes use of a set of detectors to detect anomalies in input data. This chapter describes two very successful negative selection algorithms, the self-organizing RNS algorithm and the V-detectors algorithm, which are useful with real valued data. It also proposes two new approaches, the single and the multistage proliferating V-detector algorithms to create such detectors. Comparisons with artificial fractal data as well as with real data pertaining to power distribution failure rates, shows that while the RNS and the V-detector algorithms can perform anomaly detection quite well, the proposed mechanism of proliferation entails a significant improvement over them, and can be very useful in anomaly detection tasks.
Use of social services by pregnant Medicaid eligible women in Baltimore.

Objectives: To use linked health and social service databases to determine differences in the use of social services by pregnant women in different managed care systems. Methods: Comparison of service use by women enrolled in a fee-for-service primary care case management program (Maryland Access to Care or MAC), in a capitated health maintenance organization (HMO), or not assigned to managed care using six state databases. Participants included 5181 women receiving Medical Assistance (MA) and delivering in Baltimore City in 1993. Outcome measures were receipt of WIC, AFDC, and Food Stamps. Results: The overall proportions of women receiving WIC, AFDC, and Food Stamps at delivery were 52.7%, 89.2%, and 62.7%, respectively. Women enrolled in an HMO at delivery were less likely to be receiving WIC (adjusted odds ratios, 0.8, 95% CI, 0.69 to 0.93), AFDC (OR, 0.20; CI, 0.03 to 0.43 for women with prior children and OR 0.13; CI, 0.09 to 0.20 for women without prior children), and Food Stamps (OR 0.77; CI, 0.59 to 0.95 for women with prior children and OR, 0.49; CI, 0.35 to 0.67 for women without prior children) than their MAC counterparts. Women not assigned to managed care also generally were less likely than their MAC counterparts to receive WIC (OR 0.55; CI, 0.46, 0.66), AFDC (OR 1.07; CI 0.83,1.30 for women with prior children and OR 0.24; CI 0.18,0.34 for women without prior children), and Food Stamps (OR 0.31; CI 0.08, 0.55 for women with prior children and OR 0.31; CI 0.23, 0.41 for women without prior children). Conclusions: Although many low-income pregnant women qualify for select social services, receipt of WIC and Food Stamps was low. Increasing efforts are needed by managed care systems and public health agencies to ensure delivery of appropriate services for women.
HCNN: heterogeneous convolutional neural networks for comorbid risk prediction with electronic health records

The increasing adoption of electronic health record (EHR) systems has brought tremendous opportunities in medicine enabling more personalized prognostic models. However, most work to date has investigated the binary classification problem for predicting the onset of one chronic disease, but little attention has been given to assessing risk of developing comorbidities that are major causes of morbidity and mortality. For example, type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease frequently accompany congestive heart failure. This paper is motivated by the problem of predicting comorbid diseases and aims to answer the following question: can we predict the comorbid risk using a patient's medical history? We propose a new predictive learning framework, Heterogeneous Convolutional Neural Network (HCNN), that represents EHRs as graphs with heterogeneous attributes (e.g. diagnoses, procedures, and medication), and then develop a novel deep learning methodology for risk prediction of multiple comorbid diseases. The main innovation of the framework is that it defines the distance between the heterogeneous attributes of the graph representation extracted from the EHR and develops an appropriate learning infrastructure that is a composition of sparse convolutional layers and local pooling steps that match with the local structure of the space of the heterogeneous attributes. As a result, the new method is capable of capturing features about the relationships between heterogeneous attributes of the graphs. Through a comparative study on patient EHR data, HCNN achieves better performance than traditional convolutional neural networks on the risk prediction of comorbid diseases.
Computational analysis of vortex dynamics and performance enhancement due to body-fin and fin-fin interactions in fish-like locomotion

Numerical simulations are used to investigate the hydrodynamic benefits of body–fin and fin–fin interactions in a fish model in carangiform swimming. The geometry and kinematics of the model are reconstructed in three-dimensions from high-speed videos of a live fish, Crevalle Jack (Caranx hippos), during steady swimming. The simulations employ an immersed-boundary-method-based incompressible Navier–Stokes flow solver that allows us to quantitatively characterize the propulsive performance of the fish median fins (the dorsal and the anal fins) and the caudal fin using three-dimensional full body simulations. This includes a detailed analysis of associated performance enhancement mechanisms and their connection to the vortex dynamics. Comparisons are made using three different models containing different combinations of the fish body and fins to provide insights into the force production. The results indicate that the fish produces high performance propulsion by utilizing complex interactions among the fins and the body. By connecting the vortex dynamics and surface force distribution, it is found that the leading-edge vortices produced by the caudal fin are associated with most of the thrust production in this fish model. These vortices could be strengthened by the vorticity capture from the vortices generated by the posterior body during undulatory motion. Meanwhile, the pressure difference between the two sides of posterior body resulting from the posterior body vortices (PBVs) helps with the alleviation of the body drag. The appearance of the median fins in the posterior region further strengthens the PBVs and caudal-fin wake capture mechanism. This work provides new physical insights into how body–fin and fin–fin interactions enhance thrust production in swimming fishes, and emphasizes that movements of both the body and fins contribute to overall swimming performance in fish locomotion.
It's no debate, debates are great

Abstract Introduction A debate can be a pedagogical method used to instill essential functions in pharmacy students. This non-traditional teaching method may help to further develop a number of skills that are highlighted in the current Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education Standards 2016 and Center for the Advancement of Pharmacy Education Educational Outcomes 2013. Commentary Debates have also been used as an educational tool in other health disciplines. Current pharmacy literature does illustrate the use of debates in various areas within the pharmacy curriculum in both required and elective courses; however, the current body of literature would suggest that debates are an underutilized teaching tool in pharmacy experiential education. Implications With all potential benefits of debates as a teaching tool, pharmacy experiential preceptors should further explore their use in the experiential setting.
Seizing the Moment: Learning from Humanely Relational and Interdisciplinary Soundscapes

L essons learned from George Sanchez have been at the heart of the work I do with undergraduate students at the University of California, Irvine (UCI). Many of them face enormous stress as a result of being (or being related to) undocumented Latina/o immigrants in the United States. During the 2011 Winter quarter, several of those students conferred with me about their intention to invite fellow UCI undergraduate students enrolled in our “Histories of the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands” course to join UCI Dreamers. This is an undergraduate student group that supports undocumented immigrant students at our campus as they struggle to finance, complete, and derive full social and intellectual benefit from their undergraduate education. This initiative situated our Chicana/o history course as a productive common ground, a space for this generation of women and men to act in support of each other. Attending UCI Dreamers meetings was not an automatic or random decision but rather the outcome of a series of interactions, discussions, and experiences. Prominent among these was our consideration of music and musical soundscapes that have influenced how life in the US–Mexico borderlands is lived and discussed.
The Christian Imaginary of Sons of Anarchy

In this article, I explore how the FX series Sons of Anarchy employs a Christian apocalyptic imaginary. Focusing on the use of rearticulated kinship language, struggles with the place and power of ...
The influence of lower leg configurations on muscle force variability.

Abstract The maintenance of steady contractions is required in many daily tasks. However, there is little understanding of how various lower limb configurations influence the ability to maintain force. The purpose of the current investigation was to examine the influence of joint angle on various lower-limb constant force contractions. Nineteen adults performed knee extension, knee flexion, and ankle plantarflexion isometric force contractions to 11 target forces, ranging from 2 to 95% maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) at 2 angles. Force variability was quantified with mean force, standard deviation, and the coefficient of variation of force output. Non-linearities in force output were quantified with approximate entropy. Curve fitting analyses were performed on each set of data from each individual across contractions to further examine whether joint angle interacts with global functions of lower-limb force variability. Joint angle had significant effects on the model parameters used to describe the force-variability function for each muscle contraction (p
Predictors of student use of an electronic record.

BACKGROUND Little is known on ambulatory clerkship students' use of an electronic medical record (EMR). We investigated students' use of recommended EMR tasks across different types of sites and studied the predictors of these recommended tasks. METHODS Students documented how often they performed recommended EMR tasks and suggested improvements to enhance EMR use. We compared student performance of recommended tasks across different types of sites using χ2 tests and the Fisher's exact test. We performed regression analyses to investigate factors predicting students' performance of EMR tasks. Two faculty members read all of the suggested improvements and agreed on themes. RESULTS From January 2014 to June 2015, 263 of 295 Family and Community Medicine Clerkship (FCMC) students (89.2%) were at sites that used an EMR. Of the 263 students, 68.4% typed their own note into the EMR, but only 31.2% entered orders and 27.8% entered prescriptions for their teacher to sign. Students' rating of the orientation to the EMR predicted their use of all EMR tasks. The number of years that the teaching site used an EMR predicted the students' use of some tasks. Suggested improvements included a better orientation to the EMR, more use of the EMR, and access to a computer and the EMR. Little is known on ambulatory clerkship students' use of an electronic medical record DISCUSSION: Many students did not perform recommended EMR tasks. To help more students learn EMR tasks, clinical teachers can offer students a detailed orientation to their EMR, provide them with access to a computer and the EMR, and give them the opportunity to perform recommended EMR tasks, including typing their own note and entering orders and prescriptions.
Special session on intelligent sensor nodes

In a world connected by Internet of Things (IoT), sensor nodes play a vital role in monitoring, transmitting and processing useful data. In this session, we will discuss about four significant aspects of intelligent sensor nodes.
Outline of Left-Associative Grammar

This chapter outlines a grammar which satisfies the Criteria of Psychological Well-Foundedness. Section 3.1 presents a syntactic theory which satisfies the Derivational Order Hypothesis. Section 3.2 illustrates how the syntactic analysis of Left-Associative Grammar is displayed by the associated NEWCAT parsers. Section 3.3 describes a semantic interpretation for this syntax which satisfies the Criteria of Psychological Adequacy. Section 3.4 illustrates the system with the analysis of a “garden path sentence.” Section 3.5 summarizes the descriptive, methodological and heuristic advantages of left-associative grammar.
Medical Examiner/Death Investigator Training Requirements in State Medical Examiner Systems

Comprehensive and properly performed investigation of suspicious, unusual, unnatural, and various natural deaths is necessary to maintain the health, safety, and well-being of society as a whole. Adequate investigation requires the combined efforts and cooperation of law-enforcement and other public-service agencies, medical professionals, and those within the forensic community. As such, the “death investigator” plays a crucial role in the investigation process. These front-line investigators, whether they be coroners, medical examiners, physicians, other medical professionals, or lay-people, are required to make important decisions which have far-reaching consequences on how death investigation cases proceed. Death investigation practices vary greatly among medico-legal jurisdictions. A recent publication has categorized state death investigation systems by type of system. In an attempt to better delineate death investigation practices with specific regard to investigators' training and continuing education requirements, we surveyed the 20 systems categorized as state medical examiner systems and the five states with combined state medical examiner and county coroner/medical examiner systems. We present our findings and make recommendations which address the attributes and deficiencies of current death investigation practices.
Multiple Forms of Rabbit Cytochrome P450: Comparison of Chemical Physical, Immunological and Biocatalytic Properties

The cytochrome P450 system of the rabbit is one of the most highly characterized of any species. The majority of the P450s characterized in the rabbit contribute to the metabolism of foreign compounds, where the multiple forms of P450 provide both functional diversity as well as redundancy of function. In addition, a variety of factors regulate the expression of the individual forms of P450. These can be ontogenetic factors leading to differential expression with age and tissue or environmental factors which induce specific P450s.
Keratin 8 is a potential self-antigen in the coronary artery disease immunopeptidome: A translational approach.

Background Inflammation is an important risk factor in atherosclerosis, the underlying cause of coronary artery disease (CAD). Unresolved inflammation may result in maladaptive immune responses and lead to immune reactivity to self-antigens. We hypothesized that inflammation in CAD patients would manifest in immune reactivity to self-antigens detectable in soluble HLA-I/peptide complexes in the plasma. Methods Soluble HLA-I/peptide complexes were immuno-precipitated from plasma of male acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients or age-matched controls and eluted peptides were subjected to mass spectrometry to generate the immunopeptidome. Self-peptides were ranked according to frequency and signal intensity, then mouse homologs of selected peptides were used to test immunologic recall in spleens of male apoE-/- mice fed either normal chow or high fat diet. The peptide detected with highest frequency in patient plasma samples and provoked T cell responses in mouse studies was selected for use as a self-antigen to stimulate CAD patient peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Results The immunopeptidome profile identified self-peptides unique to the CAD patients. The mouse homologs tested showed immune responses in apoE-/- mice. Keratin 8 was selected for further study in patient PBMCs which elicited T Effector cell responses in CAD patients compared to controls, associated with reduced PD-1 mRNA expression. Conclusion An immunopeptidomic strategy to search for self-antigens potentially involved in CAD identified Keratin 8. Self-reactive immune response to Keratin 8 may be an important factor in the inflammatory response in CAD.
The study of oceanic turbulent diffusion: Lecture by the member awarded the oceanographical society of Japan prize for 1983

It is indeed a great honor to receive the Oceanographical Society of Japan Prize (1983) for the study of oceanic turbulent diffusion. For this award I owe a great many people inclusive of my teachers, colleagues, and friends, who educated, encouraged, and supported me during the long period of research on oceanic diffusion. I am very grateful for all of these people, not mentioning individual names. In particular, I wish to express my sincere appreciation to Professor D. W. Pritchard, without whose guidance, support, and understanding the work would not have been accomplished. Thank you very much, Don.
Opportunities for Outpatient Pharmacy Services for Patients with Cystic Fibrosis: Perceptions of Healthcare Team Members

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is one of the most common life-threatening, genetic conditions. People with CF follow complex, time-consuming treatment regimens to manage their chronic condition. Due to the complexity of the disease, multidisciplinary care from CF Foundation (CFF)-accredited centers is recommended for people with CF. These centers include several types of healthcare professionals specializing in CF; however, pharmacists are not required members. The purpose of this study was to identify the outpatient care needs of people living with CF that pharmacists could address to improve their quality of care. Healthcare members from a CFF accredited center and pharmacists were recruited to participate in semi-structured, audio-recorded interviews. Prevalent codes were identified and data analysis was conducted, guided by the systems engineering initiative for patient safety (SEIPS) model. The objective was to understand the medication and pharmacy-related needs of patients with CF and care team perspectives on pharmacists providing support for these patients. From the themes that emerged, pharmacists can provide support for people living with CF (medication burden, medication access, medication education) and the CF care team (drug monitoring and adherence, prior authorizations and insurance coverage, refill history). Pharmacists are well-positioned to address these difficulties to improve quality of care for people living with cystic fibrosis.
Effect of Ethanol on the Adsorption of Volatile Sulfur Compounds on Solid Phase Micro-Extraction Fiber Coatings and the Implication for Analysis in Wine

Complications in the analysis of volatile sulfur compounds (VSC) in wine using solid-phase microextraction (SPME) arise from sample variability. Constituents of the wine matrix, including ethanol, affect the volatility and adsorption of sulfur volatiles on SPME fiber coatings (Carboxen- polydimethylsiloxane(PDMS); DVB-Carboxen-PDMS and DVB-PDMS), which can impact sensitivity and accuracy. Here, several common wine sulfur volatiles, including hydrogen sulfide (H2S), methanethiol (MeSH), dimethyl sulfide (DMS), dimethyl disulfide (DMDS), dimethyl trisulfide (DMTS), diethyl disulfide (DEDS), methyl thioacetate (MeSOAc), and ethyl thioacetate (EtSOAc) are analyzed, using SPME followed by gas chromatography (GC), using a system equipped with a pulsed-flame photometric detection (PFPD) system, at various ethanol concentrations in a synthetic wine matrix. Ethyl methyl sulfide (EMS), diethyl sulfide (DES), methyl isopropyl sulfide (MIS), ethyl isopropyl sulfide (EIS), and diisopropyl disulfide (DIDS) are evaluated as internal standards. The absorption of volatile compounds on the SPME fiber is greatly affected by ethanol. All compounds exhibit a stark decrease in detectability with the addition of ethanol, especially between 0.0 and 0.5% v/v. However, the ratio of interested sulfur compounds to the internal standard becomes more stable when the total alcohol concentration exceeds 2%. EMS was found to best resemble DMS. EIS and DES were found to best resemble DMDS, MeSOAc, and EtSOAc. DIDS was found to best resemble DEDS, DMTS, H2S, and MeSH.
Characterization of size and aggregation for cellulose nanocrystal dispersions separated by asymmetrical-flow field-flow fractionation

Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) derived from various types of cellulose biomass have significant potential for applications that take advantage of their availability from renewable natural resources and their high mechanical strength, biocompatibility and ease of modification. However, their high polydispersity and irregular rod-like shape present challenges for the quantitative dimensional determinations that are required for quality control of CNC production processes. Here we have fractionated a CNC certified reference material using a previously reported asymmetrical-flow field-flow fractionation (AF4) method and characterized selected fractions by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and transmission electron microscopy. This work was aimed at addressing discrepancies in length between fractionated and unfractionated CNC and obtaining less polydisperse samples with fewer aggregates to facilitate microscopy dimensional measurements. The results demonstrate that early fractions obtained from an analytical scale AF4 separation contain predominantly individual CNCs. The number of laterally aggregated “dimers” and clusters containing 3 or more particles increases with increasing fraction number. Size analysis of individual particles by AFM for the early fractions demonstrates that the measured CNC length increases with increasing fraction number, in good agreement with the rod length calculated from the AF4 multi-angle light scattering data. The ability to minimize aggregation and polydispersity for CNC samples has important implications for correlating data from different sizing methods.
Quantifying the electrical behavior of carbon nanotube sheet enhanced with acid functionalization and polymer intercalation

Abstract The electrical properties of carbon nanotube (CNT) sheet manufactured using different production (standard and enhanced) and post-processing (none, acid treatment, polymer intercalation) methods were analyzed. These properties included the electrical conductivity and electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding effectiveness (SE). The acid treatment significantly improved the electrical conductivity of the CNT sheet, while polymer intercalation did not affect the electrical conductivity. The enhanced production reduced the electrical conductivity by more than 40% for all specimen sets. With the exception of the acid-treated standard specimen, the EMI SE was consistent throughout all specimen sets. The electrical conductivity and EMI SE were presented as functions of the thickness, areal density, and density. There was no correlation between these material properties and the electrical conductivity of the untreated or polymer-intercalated specimens. The production method seems to influence how these properties affect the acid-treated specimens. The EMI SE was directly correlated to the thickness and inversely correlated to the density. The EMI SE was directly correlated to the areal density for almost all specimen types. Scanning electron microscopy revealed an increase in catalyst impurities in the enhanced production specimens and an increase in CNT agglomeration in both the acid-treated and polymer-intercalated specimens.
Physical anomaly detection and identification using Cerenkov radiation

Abstract This paper demonstrates the potential use of a method of power profile determination using Cerenkov radiation to detect and identify some physical anomalies in a reactor. Specifically, the blockage of a coolant channel in a square lattice TRIGA reactor is investigated. The ability to quickly detect some blockages is demonstrated. A method is developed through which the blocked channel and approximate size and location of the blockage within the channel can be found by comparing the detectable visible Cerenkov radiation at multiple locations above the core. An example blockage scenario is analyzed, and its location determined from the information obtainable from Cerenkov light detection viewpoints above the core.
Are Consumers Put off by Retargeted Ads on Social Media? Evidence for Perceptions of Marketing Surveillance and Decreased Ad Effectiveness

Consumers have described retargeted ads as “creepy,” possibly because these ads cue consumers that marketers are collecting personal data. Participants (N = 280) were either exposed to an ad that w...
Shock-compressed silicon: Hugoniot and sound speed up to 2100 GPa

High-pressure equation of state and isentropic sound speed data for fluid silicon to pressures of 2100 GPa (21 Mbar) are reported. Principal Hugoniot measurements were performed using impedance matching techniques with \ensuremath{\alpha}-quartz as the reference. Sound speeds were determined by time correlating imposed shock-velocity perturbations in both the sample (Si) and reference material (\ensuremath{\alpha}-quartz). A change in shock velocity versus particle velocity (${u}_{s}--{u}_{p}$) slope on the fluid silicon principal Hugoniot is observed at 200 GPa. Density functional theory based quantum molecular dynamics simulations suggest that both an increase in ionic coordination and a 50% increase in average ionization are coincident with this experimentally observed change in slope.
Climatic factors impacting thermoregulatory behaviours of coastal and inland rattlesnakes.

Abstract Conspecific animals living in multiple habitats may utilize different behaviours to survive and thrive in their environments. The Pacific rattlesnake (Crotalus oreganus), a generalist pit viper species, lives in a myriad of habitat types. We hypothesized that populations inhabiting hot, inland habitats and those in cool, coastal habitats would exhibit different behavioural strategies, especially those related to thermoregulation. Additionally, we determined whether environmental factors could be used as predictors of certain behaviours. We recorded environmental and behavioural data while radio-tracking adult, male rattlesnakes from two inland sites and two coastal sites throughout their active season. We found significant differences in thermoregulatory behaviour, with coastal snakes found more frequently above ground and in an active state than inland snakes. Additionally, wind, cloud cover, and air temperature were significant predictors of several snake behaviours. These results suggest that rattlesnakes exhibit plasticity in thermoregulatory behaviour.
A conceptual model of intergroup contact, social capital, and youth civic engagement for diverse democracy

Civic engagement is a critical component of diverse democracy, and youth have the capacity for meaningful engagement to create a more equitable society for all. Preparing youth for active participa...
Mastering Metrics: The Impact of Social Media on the Routines and Values of Broadcast Journalists:

Social media use is essential for success in today's television news industry. Broadcast journalists use social media platforms to gather and disseminate news in more efficient ways. Broadcasters a...
Poisson’s and Laplace’s Boundary Value Problems: Potential Theory

In this chapter we study the interaction of electrostatic potentials with material media. A typical problem would be to determine the electrostatic field or potential in the vicinity of a conductor or dielectric in the presence of sources. These types of problems are very important for several reasons. First, many important electrical quantities, such as capacitance and resistance, can be determined using the methods developed in this chapter. Also, electrostatic principles are directly utilized in a variety of important technologies, such as photocopying, electrostatic cleaning and purification, and electrostatic protection. Furthermore, slowly varying electrodynamic fields can often be approximated as being electrostatic or quasi-static, greatly simplifying analysis methods.
Quadratic Optimization and Contour Grouping

This chapter presents a new and exciting application of quadratic optimization methods to the problem of contour grouping in computer vision. It turns out that this problem leads to finding the local maxima of a Hermitian matrix depending on a parameter. We are thus led to the problem of finding the derivative of an eigenvalue and the derivative of some eigenvector associated with this eigenvalue, in the case of a normal matrix. The problem also leads naturally to the consideration of the field of values of a matrix, a concept studied as early as 1918 by Toeplitz and Hausdorff. We prove that the field of values is convex, a theorem due to Toeplitz and Hausdorff. This fact is helpful in improving the search for local maxima.
Missionaries, Modernists and the Origins of Intolerance in Islamic Institutions

Why are some Islamic institutions more tolerant than others? This basic question has far-reaching implications. Islamic movements have considerable sway in the policies of newly democratic Egypt, Tunisia and most other Muslim-majority states. Islamic movements are likewise important for the formation of social trust; recent scholarship suggests that democratization in Muslim counties is more likely to occur when Islamic institutions are able to build networks of cooperation across religious differences, while scapegoating and sectarian polemics between religious groups increases the likelihood of violence. I answer this basic question by focusing on Islamic institutions in Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority country and one of the most diverse. Using archival material and newly collected survey data, I argue against the notion that theology or ideology shape interethnic relations and show that local politics during the late colonial period explains the policies of contemporary Islamic institutions. Before the national awakening period (pergerakan, 1880-1930), Javanese society was religiously homogenous with overlapping social identities and indistinct boundaries between them. Yet by 1930, there were deep social cleavages between groups. Archival material suggests that locally specific conditions in West, Central and East Java polarized society differently in each region: in West Java the primary divisions were between Christian/Muslim and Modernist/Traditionalist, in Central Java the divisions were similar but shallow and emerged late in the period, and in East Java only the Modernist/Traditionalist divide was salient. These different modes of polarization were then reflected in the policies of the emergent Islamic institutions Muhammadiyah, Nahdlatul Ulama and Persatuan Islam. Contemporary survey data demonstrates that regional differences endure in the attitudes of elites. These findings suggests that rather than using ideological or theological explanations for patterns of tolerance and intolerance, scholars examine the lived experiences of Islamic leaders within their local and historically rooted contexts.
Determination of fluid extraction and osmotic conductance sigma K in the lung with hypertonic NaCl infusion. II. Experiments.

A dispersion and extraction model of the lung is developed to assess how the infusion of hypertonic saline into the pulmonary artery changes the gravimetric density of pulmonary venous blood. The dispersion analysis is built on the indicator dilution curve measured for the pulmonary circulation. The extraction model consists of microvascular and interstitial compartments separated by a permeable pulmonary endothelium. Because the density of fluid extracted by the hypertonic disturbance is lower than the blood density, the extraction leads to a decrease in blood density. Two cases of fluid extraction are analyzed, a hypertonic infusion to elevate the osmotic pressure in the pulmonary arterial blood in the form of a step function and an infusion performed over a period of 1 sec. Both cases show that the dispersion significantly attenuates the changes in osmotic pressure and density as they are transported by the blood along the pulmonary vasculature. Because the model has taken into account the effect of dispersion and pulmonary blood flow, the equations developed here provide the basis to calculate from the density change in pulmonary venous blood the characteristics of osmotic extraction intrinsic to the lung.
Efficient Learning from Massive Spatial-Temporal Data through Selective Support Vector Propagation

In the proposed approach, learning from large spatial-temporal data streams is addressed using the sequential training of support vector machines (SVM) on a series of smaller spatial data subsets collected over shorter periods. A set of representatives are selected from support vectors corresponding to an SVM trained with data of a limited spatial-temporal coverage. These representatives are merged with newly arrived data also corresponding to a limited spacetime segment. A new SVM is learned using both sources. Relying on selected representatives instead of propagating all support vectors to the next iteration allows efficient learning of semi-global SVMs in a non-stationary series consisting of correlated spatial datasets. The proposed method is evaluated on a challenging geoinformatics problem of aerosol retrieval from Terra satellite based Multi-angle Imaging Spectro Radiometer instrument. Regional features were discovered that allowed spatial partitioning of continental US to several semi-global regions. Developed semi-global SVM models were reused for efficient estimation of aerosol optical depth from radiances with a high level of accuracy on data cycles spanning several months. The obtained results provide evidence that SVMs trained as proposed have an extended spatial and temporal range of applicability as compared to SVM models trained on samples collected over shorter periods. In addition, the computational cost of training a semi-global SVM with selective support vector propagation (SSVP) was much lower than when training a global model using spatial observations from the entire period.
Heterodimeric structure of superoxide dismutase in complex with its metallochaperone

The copper chaperone for superoxide dismutase (CCS) activates the eukaryotic antioxidant enzyme copper, zinc superoxide dismutase (SOD1). The 2.9 A resolution structure of yeast SOD1 complexed with yeast CCS (yCCS) reveals that SOD1 interacts with its metallochaperone to form a complex comprising one monomer of each protein. The heterodimer interface is remarkably similar to the SOD1 and yCCS homodimer interfaces. Striking conformational rearrangements are observed in both the chaperone and target enzyme upon complex formation, and the functionally essential C-terminal domain of yCCS is well positioned to play a key role in the metal ion transfer mechanism. This domain is linked to SOD1 by an intermolecular disulfide bond that may facilitate or regulate copper delivery.
Multiple Mechanisms of Unfolded Protein Response-Induced Cell Death

Eukaryotic cells fold and assemble membrane and secreted proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), before delivery to other cellular compartments or the extracellular environment. Correctly folded proteins are released from the ER, and poorly folded proteins are retained until they achieve stable conformations; irreparably misfolded proteins are targeted for degradation. Diverse pathological insults, such as amino acid mutations, hypoxia, or infection, can overwhelm ER protein quality control, leading to misfolded protein buildup, causing ER stress. To cope with ER stress, eukaryotic cells activate the unfolded protein response (UPR) by increasing levels of ER protein-folding enzymes and chaperones, enhancing the degradation of misfolded proteins, and reducing protein translation. In mammalian cells, three ER transmembrane proteins, inositol-requiring enzyme-1 (IRE1; official name ERN1), PKR-like ER kinase (PERK; official name EIF2AK3), and activating transcription factor-6, control the UPR. The UPR signaling triggers a set of prodeath programs when the cells fail to successfully adapt to ER stress or restore homeostasis. ER stress and UPR signaling are implicated in the pathogenesis of diverse diseases, including neurodegeneration, cancer, diabetes, and inflammation. This review discusses the current understanding in both adaptive and apoptotic responses as well as the molecular mechanisms instigating apoptosis via IRE1 and PERK signaling. We also examine how IRE1 and PERK signaling may be differentially used during neurodegeneration arising in retinitis pigmentosa and prion infection.
Quasi-Truth In Quasi-Set Theory

Throughout the last two decades, Newton da Costa and his collaborators have developed some frameworks to help the interpretation of science. Two of them are particularly noteworthy: partial structures and quasi-truth (that provide a way of accommodating the openness and partiality of scientific activity), and quasi-set theory (that allows one to take seriously the idea, put forward by several physicists, that we can't meaningfully apply the notion of identity to quantum particles). In this paper I explore the interconnection between these two frameworks. After reviewing the extant formulations of quasi-truth and quasi-set theory, I suggest a way of combining them, advancing a formulation of quasi-truth in quasi-set theory. In this way, a good sense can be made of the idea that quantum mechanics, if not true, is at least quasi-true. I then explore an application of this combined framework, arguing that it provides a conceptual setting appropriate to overcome two (philosophical) difficulties in van Fraassen's modal interpretation of quantum mechanics.
This Lecture Might be Messy: The Role of Gender in Academic Life

This paper explores the ways in which gender informs our experiences in academia. Specifically, we look at the role of gender in three academic arenas: teaching, research, and service. With the first, we review how gender affects pedagogy, including student reception of the professor as an authority figure, levels of student incivility, student acceptance of “off-days,” and level of instructor preparedness on a day-to-day basis. With the second and third, we review how gender is addressed at the institutional level, including faculty integration and orientation, efforts at living out the mission statement, faculty leadership, promotion and tenure, and faculty resources and accommodations.This paper offers an extensive literature review, focusing on gender and academia, pedagogy, and faculty experience within the three areas of tenure decision: teaching, research, and service. Then, we suggest that the best way to study the gendered nature of the academy is by administering the original survey proposed in this paper, distributed to both men and women on each of our private liberal arts campuses, using a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods. Thus, we seek to critically assess the interaction between gender and academic life.