cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Valency-Dependent Affinity of Bioactive Hydroxyapatite-Binding Dendrons

Hydroxyapatite (HA)-coated surfaces are used widely as stationary phase for protein and enzyme purification, coatings for dental and orthopedic implants, and composite materials for tissue engineering substrates. More advanced applications are envisioned, but progress has been slowed by the limited ability to controllably functionalize the surface of HA with biomolecules in a translationally relevant manner. Herein we report the synthesis and characterization of a series of multivalent, HA-binding peptide bioconjugates with variable valency and tether length which afford the ability to precisely tune the desired binding behavior. The respective binding affinities of the multivalent constructs to HA surface were characterized by quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D) techniques, and the relationship between dendron structure and binding affinity was revealed. Tetravalent constructs of HA-binding peptides show a 100-fold enhancement in binding affinity compared to HA-binding peptide...
MicroRNA Seed Region Length Impact on Target Messenger RNA Expression and Survival in Colorectal Cancer

microRNAs (miRNA) repress messenger RNAs post-transcriptionally through binding to the 3’ UTR of the mRNA with the miRNA seed region. It has been purported that longer seed regions have a greater efficacy on mRNA repression. We tested this hypothesis by evaluating differential expression of miRNAs involved in regulating the immune response, an important mechanism in colorectal cancer (CRC), by seed length category. We subsequently evaluated differential expression of these miRNAs’ targets in colonic tissue and the impact of these miRNAs on CRC survival. We determined sequence complementarity between each miRNA seed region and the 3’ UTR of each experimentally verified mRNA target gene. We classified miRNAs into groups based on seed regions matching perfectly to a mRNA UTR with six bases beginning at position two, seven bases beginning at position one, seven bases beginning at position two, or eight bases beginning at position one. We analyzed these groups in terms of miRNA differential expression between carcinoma and normal colorectal mucosa, differential colonic target mRNA expression, and risk of dying from CRC. After correction for multiple comparisons, the proportion of the miRNAs that were associated with differential mRNA expression was 0% for the 6-mer, 13.64% for the 7α-mer group, 12.82% for the 7β-mer group, and 8.70% for the 8-mer group. The proportion of miRNAs associated with survival was 20% for the 6-mer group, 27.27% for the 7α-mer group, 10.23% for the 7β-mer group, and 21.74% for the 8-mer group. We did not see a linear relationship between seed length and miRNA expression dysregulation, mRNA expression, or survival. Our findings do not support the hypothesis the seed region length alone influences mRNA repression.
Survey of the content of cadmium and lead in rural soil, Ningxia

Object To evaluate the heavy metal pollution of rural soil in Ningxia and provide the basis for the reasonable utlization of cadmium and lead contaminated soil. Methods According to the administrative division of Ningxia, one district was randomly selected from every prefecture-level city. Five towns were randomly selected from each district. Eight administrative villages were randomly selected from each town as sampling sites. 200 soil samples were collected and analyzed. We evaluated the degree of soil pollution with a single index and the composite index method. Results The average value of cadmium and lead contents was 0.187mg/kg and 20.76 mg/kg, respectively. The rate of exceeding standard cadmium was 3.0%, while lead content did not exceed. Single pollution indexes were respective 0.625 and 0.069, and the integrated pollution index was 1.08. Conclusion According to the grade of lead and cadmium pollution assessment, the soil quality in rural area is better, but the cadmium pollution is worth attention in some area.
An Underlying Constitutional Logic: Rational Actors?

Four Interesting Curves Our aim in this book has been to consider principles of constitutional design in order to better understand the project as a whole rather than to develop formulae for designing constitutions. The nature of the project demands such a stance, because, if a constitution must be matched to the people who will live under it, there is no one ideal or model constitution. Instead, the history of constitutionalism shows that there is a large variety of possible successful designs. Still, various empirical regularities have emerged that can be used by framers of constitutions as they consider the preferred institutional pattern that best suits them; as a result, although there is not an overall science of constitutional design, the design project can be informed by political science. Several empirical findings fairly plead for further explication, because together they suggest a deeply interesting aspect of constitutional design. Under conditions of liberty, those who frame constitutions exhibit a set of patterned choices that suggest constitutionalism has a certain underlying logic, and perhaps an underlying rationality. We will examine these four curves that designers seem to strain toward without conscious intent: the index of amendment difficulty generating a nearly hyperbolic curve with respect to amendment rate; the size of legislatures tracking the curve for the cube root of the population; the separation of powers increasing as popular control increases; and the historical curve for constitutional democracies tracking the curve for the number of written constitutions.
Social relationships in late life

Publisher Summary Social relationships are recurrent patterns of interaction with other individuals. Social relationships are broader that social support and serve a wider range of functions. At least four constructs are subsumed under the broad rubric of social relationships. First, social support related to various types of assistance provided in an effort to help the recipient cope more effectively with stress. Companionship represents a second type of social relationship that is quite different from social support. Companionship involves shared leisure and recreational activities, as well as relationships that are based on the pursuit of common interests. The third type of social relationship is referred to as weak social ties, and it includes social encounters with bartenders, waitresses, as well as more distant neighbors and casual relationships with some coworkers. Negative interaction is the fourth type of social relationship, and it involves unpleasant social encounters characterized by disagreements, criticism, rejection, and invasion of privacy. This chapter finally explores the genesis of social relationships focusing on how social relationships influence the health of an individual.
Mobile Robots for Polar Remote Sensing

Mobile robots are becoming more heavily used in environments where human involvement is limited, impossible, or dangerous. These robots perform some of the more dangerous and laborious human tasks on Earth and throughout the solar system, many times with greater efficiency and accuracy, saving both time and resources. As we explore further away from Earth, higher levels of autonomy are also becoming more desired in such applications, one of them being remote sensing. This chapter covers mobile robots that have been designed and built at the University of Kansas to facilitate seismic and radar remote sensing of ice sheets in polar regions. These robots have been developed for and deployed in unstructured, polar environments. System designs, components, deployment and data acquisition algorithms, and experimental results are discussed. In this chapter, future applications, such as an autonomous multi-robot seismic surveying surveying team, are simulated. Future planetary missions will hopefully incorporate similar robotic systems to conduct insitu experiments on other planets. Christopher M. Gifford Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045, e-mail: cgifford@eecs.ku.edu Eric L. Akers Mathematics and Computer Science Department, Elizabeth City State University, Elizabeth City, NC 27909, e-mail: elakers@mail.ecsu.edu Richard S. Stansbury Department of Computer and Software Engineering, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, FL 32114, e-mail: richard.stansbury@erau.edu Arvin Agah Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045, e-mail: agah@ku.edu
Comparison of remicade to curcumin for the treatment of Crohn’s disease: A systematic review

Abstract Objective The aim of this study was to review the literature to assess if there is evidence to support the use of Curcumin as a safe complementary therapy in treating Crohn’s Disease (CD) in conjunction with Remicade. Design Systematic searches were performed by three researchers using electronic databases (ProQuest Medical Library, CINAHL Complete, and PUBMED) to locate and identify articles to meet a predetermined set of inclusion criteria. Specifically full text, peer-reviewed articles published after 2007 were included if they studied human participants 18 years or older. Results Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-a) and Interleukin-1 (IL-1) levels increase in CD patients. Remicade reduces TNF-a in adults with CD. The issues are eventual loss of response (LOR) once IL-1 increases, and severe risks such as malignancy. CD patients using Curcumin saw a 55 point mean reduction in the Crohn’s Disease Activity Index, reducing IL-1 and Crp. Plus it reduced TNF-a and PPMTase which improved colorectal cancer outcomes. Conclusions LOR of Remicade occurs when IL-1 increases, and it can cause malignancy. Research shows Curcumin reduces IL-1 and improves cancer outcomes. Future research, using both Remicade and Curcumin, would have to be done, but preliminary data would suggest using both would reduce LOR. Curcumin, even by itself, was found to be a cheap and safe way to reduce CD symptoms and inflammatory markers.
Stochastic IMT (Insulator-Metal-Transition) Neurons: An Interplay of Thermal and Threshold Noise at Bifurcation

Artificial neural networks can harness stochasticity in multiple ways to enable a vast class of computationally powerful models. Boltzmann machines and other stochastic neural networks have been shown to outperform their deterministic counterparts by allowing dynamical systems to escape local energy minima. Electronic implementation of such stochastic networks is currently limited to addition of algorithmic noise to digital machines which is inherently inefficient; albeit recent efforts to harness physical noise in devices for stochasticity have shown promise. To succeed in fabricating electronic neuromorphic networks we need experimental evidence of devices with measurable and controllable stochasticity which is complemented with the development of reliable statistical models of such observed stochasticity. Current research literature has sparse evidence of the former and a complete lack of the latter. This motivates the current article where we demonstrate a stochastic neuron using an insulator-metal-transition (IMT) device, based on electrically induced phase-transition, in series with a tunable resistance. We show that an IMT neuron has dynamics similar to a piecewise linear FitzHugh-Nagumo (FHN) neuron and incorporates all characteristics of a spiking neuron in the device phenomena. We experimentally demonstrate spontaneous stochastic spiking along with electrically controllable firing probabilities using Vanadium Dioxide (VO2) based IMT neurons which show a sigmoid-like transfer function. The stochastic spiking is explained by two noise sources - thermal noise and threshold fluctuations, which act as precursors of bifurcation. As such, the IMT neuron is modeled as an Ornstein-Uhlenbeck (OU) process with a fluctuating boundary resulting in transfer curves that closely match experiments. The moments of interspike intervals are calculated analytically by extending the first-passage-time (FPT) models for Ornstein-Uhlenbeck (OU) process to include a fluctuating boundary. We find that the coefficient of variation of interspike intervals depend on the relative proportion of thermal and threshold noise, where threshold noise is the dominant source in the current experimental demonstrations. As one of the first comprehensive studies of a stochastic neuron hardware and its statistical properties, this article would enable efficient implementation of a large class of neuro-mimetic networks and algorithms.
Results of Survey of Economics Professors on Immigration, Drug, and Pharmaceutical Policies

We conducted a survey by mail in 2013 of randomly selected economics professors in the United States about the welfare effects of three proposed policy reforms. We received back 574 completed surveys (a 19 percent response rate). A large majority supported a reform to increase immigration into the United States, a large majority supported liberalization of restrictions on the sale of marijuana or cannabis, and a plurality supported a liberalization of pharmaceutical regulation. This report simply details those topline results of the survey (the survey was designed for a different purpose, which we have written about elsewhere).
Biological and Clinical Implications of Comorbidities in Parkinson's Disease.

A wide spectrum of comorbidities has been associated with Parkinson’s disease (PD), a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects more than 10 million people worldwide. Emerging evidence indicates that chronic diseases including diabetes, depression, anemia and cancer may be implicated in the pathogenesis and progression of PD. Recent epidemiological studies suggest that some of these comorbidities may increase the risk of PD and precede the onset of motor symptoms. Further, drugs to treat diabetes and cancer have elicited neuroprotective effects in PD models. Nonetheless, the mechanisms underlying the occurrence of these comorbidities remain elusive. Herein, we discuss the biological and clinical implications of comorbidities in the pathogenesis, progression, and clinical management, with an emphasis on personalized medicine applications for PD.
Effects of walking speed on the step-by-step control of step width.

Abstract Young, healthy adults walking at typical preferred speeds use step-by-step adjustments of step width to appropriately redirect their center of mass motion and ensure mediolateral stability. However, it is presently unclear whether this control strategy is retained when walking at the slower speeds preferred by many clinical populations. We investigated whether the typical stabilization strategy is influenced by walking speed. Twelve young, neurologically intact participants walked on a treadmill at a range of prescribed speeds (0.2–1.2 m/s). The mediolateral stabilization strategy was quantified as the proportion of step width variance predicted by the mechanical state of the pelvis throughout a step (calculated as R2 magnitude from a multiple linear regression). Our ability to accurately predict the upcoming step width increased over the course of a step. The strength of the relationship between step width and pelvis mechanics at the start of a step was reduced at slower speeds. However, these speed-dependent differences largely disappeared by the end of a step, other than at the slowest walking speed (0.2 m/s). These results suggest that mechanics-dependent adjustments in step width are a consistent component of healthy gait across speeds and contexts. However, slower walking speeds may ease this control by allowing mediolateral repositioning of the swing leg to occur later in a step, thus encouraging slower walking among clinical populations with limited sensorimotor control.
National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association (2004). The value of recreational sports in higher education: Impact on student enrollment, success, and buying power

(2004). National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association (2004). The value of recreational sports in higher education: Impact on student enrollment, success, and buying power. SCHOLE: A Journal of Leisure Studies and Recreation Education: Vol. 19, No. 1, pp. 162-163.
Globalization and Environmental Regulation

A wide range of authoritative indicators establishes what we sense in our daily lives: the effects of international influences and factors are increasing. This trend is most easily observed in economic activity. Goods and money move around the globe at levels that until recently seemed unimaginable. Even nations, such as the United States, whose economies were only marginally dependent on trade, are drawn into world trade. While total trade, the sum of exports and imports, was 6.5 percent of U.S. Gross National Product (GNP) in the period 1946-59, it was 15.3 percent in the period 19801992(Economic Report of the President1994). U.S. trade dependence continued to increase, growing 44 percent between 1992 and 1996. By 1996, trade was equivalent to 30 percent of U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (U.S. Trade Representative 1997). Cross border investment stock (assets in the United States owned by foreigners plus assets owned by Americans overseas) grew from 15.45 of GNP in 1960 to 41 percent in 1992 and has continued at a faster rate than the growth in GNP overall(Economic Report of the President1995). The United States, although it remains less trade dependent than other countries such as the United Kingdom, is now fully part of international markets.
Thorstein Veblen as Economic Theorist

The article considers the Veblen’s legacy from the point of view of its theoretical status. In this connection the author investigates the nature of theory as such, analyzes neoclassical school as theory, compares Veblen’s ideas with neoclassical conceptions, in particular showing the influence of these ideas on F. Knight. The article displays and systematizes the main directions of Veblen’s research and shows that if a certain concept of the theory as such is adopted, then these lines of research should be treated as theories no less than the works of neoclassic economists.
TREATMENTS (NON-ANTIEPILEPTIC DRUGS) | Focal Cooling as a Potential Treatment for Neocortical Epilepsies

Treating neocortical epilepsies remain challenging despite recent advances in brain imaging, clinical neurophysiology, neuropharmacology, and epilepsy surgical technique. Even when the most sophisticated diagnostic and therapeutic modalities are all available, surgical control of seizures is achieved in only about 60% of patients, who are then at risk for permanent neurological deficit. The known antiepileptic effect of cooling has made local cortical cooling an attractive alternative to irreversible resection for cortical epilepsies. Recent advances in the fabrication of small, electric cooling devices (thermoelectric) and the finding that 1 - 2° temperature decrements are antiepileptic, has raised the possibility of constructing an implantable device capable of actively or passively cooling a neocortical seizure focus.
Fachärztliche ambulante und stationäre Versorgung von Asthma bronchiale

Obwohl die Pravalenz von obstruktiven Atemwegserkrankungen in Hausarztpraxen auf 30 % geschatzt wird [35, 38], bestehen Lucken in der Behandlung von Patienten mit obstruktiven Erkrankungen. Die Erkennung obstruktiver Atemwegserkrankungen in der Hausarztpraxis scheint nicht systematisiert zu sein. Selbst bei nachgewiesener Obstruktion in der Lungenfunktion wird die Diagnose Asthma oder COPD nur bei 50 % der Patienten gestellt. Gerade bei der COPD besteht die Gefahr, dass ohne einen systematischen Erkennungsprozess ein Grosteil der Kranken nicht entdeckt wird. Wahrend der Asthmatiker wegen seiner Symptome meist von sich aus den Arzt aufsucht, hat der Patient mit COPD gelernt, sich mit seinen Symptomen zu arrangieren. Bei der zunehmenden Pravalenz der Erkrankung in hoherem Alter und bei Rauchern konnte die Durchfuhrung einer regelhaften spirometrischen Untersuchung in der Hausarztpraxis einmal im Jahr bei dieser Zielgruppe zu einer vermehrten und damit auch fruhzeitigeren Entdeckung obstruktiver Atemwegserkrankungen fuhren.
Predictions of the Heat Transfer Coefficient by Correlations and Turbulence Models

Heat transfer coefficients have been computed for flow in a pipe and flow between two plates with correlations and turbulence models based on Reynolds Averaging of the Navier-Stokes (RANS) equation...
Managing the Sacred Lands of Native America

This research paper is a review of ten years of sacred lands management and policy in the United States. The author reports from the unique position of having been involved in national and international meetings with communities of indigenous peoples and intergovernmental stakeholders during this time. Discussion includes an historical overview of such topics as environmental justice and the 2001 Native American Sacred Lands Forum, one of the first national meetings in the United States to specifically address the sacred lands of Native Americans. Further discussion draws attention to the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2007 as a gateway to better sacred lands management and policy for Native Americans in the future.
Generating Interactive Study Among Undergraduates

Find out about two new approaches to teaching a class in vertebrate paleontology to encourage cooperative learning among students: a Wiki site and a course research project.
Gastrointestinal Helminths of Three Species of Limnonectes Frogs (Anura: Dicroglossidae) from Malaysia

Three species of dicroglossid frogs from Malaysia were examined for helminths: Limnonectes ibanorum (n = 5), Limnonectes ingeri (n = 5), and Limnonectes leporinus (n = 6). We found 7 species of Nematoda (Amphibiocapillaria bufonis, Cosmocerca ornata, Falcaustra dubia, Orneoascaris sandoshami, Oswaldocruzia sp., Physaloptera sp., Cosmocercinae gen., sp. 1 of Moravec and Sey 1990); 1 species of Cestoda (pleurocercoid); 1 species of Acanthocephala (Pseudoacanthocephalus bufonis); and 1 species of Digenea (Diplodiscus amphichrus). Cosmocerca ornata was the only helminth infecting the 3 dicroglossid species. The most numerous helminth (n = 36) was Cosmocercinae gen. sp. in L. ibanorum. The 3 species of Limnonectes are parasitized by generalist helminths that also infect other species of frogs. Twelve new host records are reported.
Modeling Microbial Activity in Wastewater Treatment

Abstract Mathematical modeling is a powerful tool in design, operation, optimization, prediction, and assessment of various processes in wastewater treatment. The majority of the key microbial processes comprises of mixed anaerobic microbial communities, where a fundamental understanding of the mechanisms of these microbial ecosystems is critical for efficient treatment of wastes. This review provides a comparison of approaches to model microbial activities in wastewater treatment, starting with traditional approaches and then proceeding toward more complex systems considering the effects of reversibility and thermodynamic equilibrium in kinetic rate expressions, maintenance requirements for microbial growth, as well as alternative metabolic models based on metabolic reaction networks. The current knowledge, state of the art of modeling applications in wastewater treatment systems, and future trends are discussed. The selection of a model depends on various factors including the available data, objective of the application, or problem under consideration and the required level of accuracy. While complex structure of models may be necessary for analysis of complex systems and technology development, simpler models may be sufficient to use for design purposes. The incorporation of reversible kinetic expressions for the simulation of product inhibition, thermodynamic factors and maintenance energy requirements within the existing wastewater treatment models may be recommended for further future development, as needed. This review chapter can prove useful for modeling microbial processes for a variety of applications in wastewater treatment systems, including the design of optimal bioreactors for bioremediation applications, start-up and shut-down periods of various reactor applications, resource recovery, and understanding the processes for optimal waste treatment.
Construction of Viral Vectors for Cell Type-specific CRISPR Gene Editing in the Adult Mouse Brain

Recently developed gene editing technologies based on engineered CRISPR/Cas9 systems enables researchers to disrupt genes in a cell type-specific manner in the adult mouse brain. Using these technologies, we recently showed that the dopamine beta-hydroxylase gene in Locus Coeruleus (LC) norepinephrine neurons plays a vital role in the maintenance of wakefulness. Our method consists of four steps, (1) crossing Cre-dependent spCas9 knockin mice with a Cre-driver mouse line to express spCas9 in the target neural populations, (2) cloning of sgRNA, (3) construction of an AAV (adeno associated virus) vector expressing dual sgRNA, and (4) virus packaging and stereotaxic injection of the virus into the target brain area. Here, we describe a detailed protocol of AAV vector construction for cell type-specific CRISPR gene editing in the adult mouse brain. The method adopts a dual-sgRNA strategy for efficient disruption of the target gene. At first, a few different sgRNAs targeting the same gene are cloned into a plasmid expressing spCas9. After evaluation of the sgRNAs by a T7 endonuclease assay, the two most efficient sgRNAs are cloned in tandem into an AAV vector using the Gibson Assembly method.
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Near and Far: Symptom Networks From 2 to 12 Months After the Virginia Tech Campus Shootings:

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is unique in its longitudinal focus. To better understand how PTSD develops, we used network analysis in a longitudinal sample of survivors of the 2008 Virginia...
Clinical presentation and surgical outcomes in primary aldosteronism differ by race.

BACKGROUND Primary aldosteronism (PA) is the most common cause of secondary hypertension; early diagnosis and intervention correlate with outcomes. We hypothesized that race may influence clinical presentation and outcomes. METHODS We conducted a retrospective analysis of patients with PA (1997-2017) who underwent adrenal vein sampling (AVS). Patients were classified by self-reported race as black or non-black. Improvement was defined as postoperative decrease in mean arterial pressure (MAP), antihypertensive medications (AHM), or both. RESULTS Among patients undergoing AVS (n = 443), 287 underwent adrenalectomy. Black patients (28.2%) had higher body mass index (33.9 vs 31.8 kg/m2 ; P = .01), longer median duration of hypertension (12 vs 10 years; P = .003), higher modified Elixhauser comorbidity index (2 vs 1; P = .004), and lower median income ($47 134 vs $78 280; P < .001). Black patients had similar aldosterone:renin ratios (150 vs 135.6 [ng/dL]/[ng·mL·-1 hr-1 ]; P = .23) compared to non-blacks. At long-term follow-up, black patients had a similar requirement for AHM (1 vs 0; P = .13) but higher MAP (100.6 vs 95.3 mm Hg; P = .004). CONCLUSION Black patients present with longer duration of hypertension and more comorbidities. They are equally likely to lateralize on AVS, suggesting similar disease phenotype. However, black patients demonstrate less improvement with adrenalectomy; this may reflect a delay in diagnosis or concomitant essential hypertension.
Good Luck Soup: Matthew Hashiguchi (director), Donald Young, Davin Agatep (producers) Transmedia Documentary Duration 70 mins, colour, in Kazakh, 35 mm, 16:9 HD, stereo, 2016

Employing a verite style somewhere in between experimental home videos and gorilla filmmaking, Good Luck Soup is Matthew Hashiguchi’s complex love letter to family, identity and tradition in the ce...
A new tool for detecting tampering of big data programs

We propose a tool called BigHASH for efficiently detecting tampering of big data programs (e.g., by malware) when executed in a private cluster or a public cloud environment. BigHASH produces the execution metadata of a program that precisely captures the critical internal data structures and content of the program (at runtime) using graph algorithms and homomorphic hashing. Homomorphic hashing provides two key benefits: (a) It enables parallel hash computation for efficiency. (b) It provides the ability to cope with cluster environments containing different number of servers when executing the program. BigHASH uses a blockchain network to store the execution metadata of programs as it provides a decentralized, secure, tamper-proof storage. To detect whether a program has been tampered or not during execution, BigHASH compares the execution metadata published by the owner (in a trusted environment) on the blockchain network to that produced by a user in his/her cluster environment. BigHASH is simple to use and provides automatic code instrumentation so that a programmer is not burdened to write any extra code to use BigHASH.
Effect of dexmedetomidine added to ropivacaine for transversus abdominis plane block on postoperative pain in pediatric undergoing laparoscopic appendectomy

Objective To evaluate the effect of dexmedetomidine (Dex) added to ropivacaine for transversus abdominis plane block(TAPB) on postoperative pain in pediatric undergoing laparoscopic appendectomy. Methods Forty children(4-8 years, ASAⅠ,Ⅱ) for laparoscopic appendectomy were randomized to receive either an ultrasound-guided TAPB with plain ropivacaine 0.25%(group R, n=20) or ropivacaine 0.25% with Dex 1 μg/kg (group RD, n=20) by using a random number table. The TAPB was performed after surgery and 0.4 ml/kg of the study drugs was injected bilaterally. BIS, HR and non-invasive MAP were recorded at each time point, the end of operation (T0), after TAPB for 1 min (T1), 5 min (T2), 10 min (T3), and 15 min (T4). Improved Aldrete score and sedation(Ramsay) score were estimated in PACU. The length of stay in the PACU, T-pain free (the time interval of TAPB to the beginning of pain), immediate pain score Face, Legs, Activity, Cry, Consolability(FLACC) Behavioral Scale, administration of supplemental analgesia and adverse events were assessed and recorded. Results Compared with group R, the BIS at the time point T2-T4 in group RD was decreased significantly (P 0.05). The improved Aldrete score in group RD was significantly lower than the score of group R, while Ramsay score was significantly higher than the Ramsay score of group R when the PACU was entered and out. The PACU stay in group RD was significantly longer than PACU stay of group R(P<0.05). T-pain free in group RD was significantly longer than the value of group R (P<0.05). The FLACC of immediate pain score in group RD was significantly lower than the score of group R(P<0.05). There is only one case for oral intake supplemental analgesia in group RD postoperatively. No adverse events were recorded in any of the study groups. Conclusions Dex added to ropivacaine for TAPB can significantly prolong the duration of painless postoperatively in pediatric undergoing laparoscopic appendectomy and enhance the analgesic efficacy, but the postoperative sedative depth was increased and the length of stay in the PACU was prolonged. Key words: Dexmedetomidine; Ropivacaine; Transversus abdominis plane block; Pediatric; Therapeutic laparoscopy; Appendectomy
The Sleep Blanket.

The sleep blanket is a visualization of my son's sleep pattern from birth to his first birthday. It has a crochet border surrounding a double-knit body. Each row represents a single day. Each stitch represents 6 min of time spent awake or asleep. The blanket itself is just another way I get to tell my son I love him.
Olfactory groove and planum meningiomas

Meningiomas of the olfactory groove and planum sphenoidale are relatively common skullbase meningiomas. They are typically of low grade but may grow to large size due to the insidious nature of their growth. Surgical resection remains the mainstay of treatment.
A multi-synchronous architecture to control an array of networked siderostats or telescopes at the Navy Precision Optical Interferometer

We present a multi-synchronous architecture for controlling multiple telescope or siderostat stations simultaneously from a central computer. This computer synchronously processes and distributes commands to six net- worked stations. The stations, comprised of a telescope or siderostat, a narrow angle tracker and a star-acquisition camera, are useful in the optical and infrared wavelengths. The central computer sends signed packets that include instructions for a particular station through the network at a rate of 600 Hz. A microcomputer at each station accepts its appropriate packets and parses the embedded data into control signals. These signals are then converted into appropriate outputs for motor controllers and piezoelectric actuators. The motors steer the siderostats while the piezoelectric actuators finely point the narrow angle tracker. A closed feedback loop couples the siderostat pointing with the narrow angle tracker to dynamically steer and maintain stable image positions of a stellar object. Two major components comprise this feedback loop: a wide-angle star acquisition camera inserted between a narrow angle tracker and siderostat, and a photon counter located near the end of the light path. The central computer utilizes positional error data from the camera to intricately align a siderostat. Simultaneously the computer processes pointing error derived from photon counts to finely correct a narrow angle tracker. This synchronized feedback and control system allows for precise, concurrent tracking over a wide range of stellar objects of interest. In this paper, we describe the parallelized software architecture, control hardware, experimental results, conclusions and recommendations.
The Unexpected Trump

Chapter 8 takes the examination of Trump’s real psychology into new territory. The narrow focus on Trump’s supposed psychological and political pathologies make him the presidential equivalent of Marcuse’s One Dimensional Man, which is he not. This chapter analyzes aspects of Trump’s psychology that some will consider heretical, perhaps even politically blasphemous, Trump traits. Those include his compassion, his real—often traditional, sometimes unconventional and in a few cases questionable charitable giving, his being there for others in their times of need, his vision and creativity in business and politics, his basic operational metric in life, business and the presidency—Think Big, and his very surprising and unexpected reflectiveness.
Electron vortex beams in non-uniform magnetic fields

We consider the quantum theory of paraxial non-relativistic electron beams in non-uniform magnetic fields, such as the Glaser field. We find the wave function of an electron from such a beam and show that it is a joint eigenstate of two ($z$-dependent) commuting gauge-independent operators. This generalized Laguerre-Gaussian vortex beam has a phase that is shown to consist of two parts, each being proportional to the eigenvalue of one of the two conserved operators and each having different symmetries. We also describe the dynamics of the angular momentum and cross-sectional area of any mode and how a varying magnetic field can split a mode into a superposition of modes. By a suitable change in frame of reference all of our analysis also applies to an electron in a quantum Hall system with a time-dependent magnetic field.
Use of 3-dimensional-Printed Guide in Hemisection and Autotransplantation of a Fusion Tooth: A Case Report.

Three-dimensional (3D)-printed guides have been used in endodontics to prepare a conservative access, locate calcified or missing canals, and perform precisive osteotomy in apicoectomy. Here, we present the treatment of a fusion tooth by combining 3D printing technology and endodontic intervention in a 10-year-old patient. The bifid crown of a maxillary right lateral incisor #7 had caused esthetic concerns and malocclusion. Clinical and radiographic examinations showed that #7 is fused with a supernumerary tooth with 2 independent root canals. The fusion involved the entire crown and the coronal and middle roots. Because of financial constraints, a multidisciplinary approach involving endodontic, orthodontic, and prosthodontic treatment was excluded. We hemisectioned the tooth intraorally with a 3D-printed guide, extracted the supernumerary tooth, and transplanted tooth #7 to a position with improved esthetics and occlusion. A 3D-printed tooth replica was used to prepare the recipient site for autotransplantation. At the 6-month follow-up, tooth #7 was diagnosed with pulp necrosis and asymptomatic apical periodontitis. Root canal treatment of tooth #7 was completed, and osseous healing was observed 8 months later. The patient had no clinical symptoms and was satisfied with the outcome 14 months after hemisection and transplantation. The open space between teeth #7 and #8 was closed without orthodontic treatment. We present an alternative option to treat a fusion tooth in young patients who do not opt for other treatment options because of their stage of development or for socio-economic reasons. Techniques in modern endodontics, such as cone-beam computed tomographic imaging and 3D printing, should be adapted when it is beneficial to patients.
Rhythm, reading, and sound processing in the brain in preschool children.

A child’s success in school relies on their ability to quickly grasp language and reading skills, the foundations of which are acquired even before entering a formal classroom setting. Previous studies in preschoolers have begun to establish relationships linking beat synchronization, preliteracy skills, and auditory processing. Beat synchronization involves the integration of sensorimotor systems with auditory and cognitive circuits and, therefore calls on many of the same neural networks as language. Using a drumming task, we analyzed the relationship between children’s ability to maintain an isochronous beat with preliteracy skills and frequency following responses (FFRs) in over 150 preschoolers. We show that preschoolers who performed well on the beat synchronization task outscored their peers on all preliteracy measures and had more robust FFRs. Furthermore, the good synchronizers experienced less degradation of certain FFR measures when listening in noise. Together, our results are consistent with the view that rhythm, preliteracy, and auditory processing are interconnected during early childhood.
Kinetics of ethylene oligomerization over Ni-H-Beta catalysts

Abstract We report the kinetics of ethylene oligomerization over the Ni-H-Beta for temperatures ranging between 50 and 100 °C and pressures ranging between 5 and 28 atm. According to our results, the apparent activation energies involved in the formation of butene, hexene, and octene are 44, 78, and 60 kJ.mol−1, respectively. The measured lower apparent activation energy for butene formation relative to hexene and octene is a likely result of the fact that the measured butene formation is not the true (forward) rate of formation of butene but it the net rate because of the consumption of butene in secondary reactions. Analysis of the reaction order indicates that participation of butene in chain-growth reactions takes place via desorption followed by re-adsorption of butene on the catalyst. The results also indicate that hexene undergoes a similar process. In the present paper, we refer to the pathway involving co-oligomerization of butene and hexene as “cascade co-oligomerization”. Based on these findings, we proposed a reaction network and modeled reaction rate expressions for ethylene consumption and butene, hexene, and octene formation based on the construction of a micro-kinetic model. We calculated the kinetic parameters involved in the reaction network proposed and found evidence that the formation of octene proceeds mainly via the “cascade co-oligomerization” of re-adsorbed butene with ethylene.
On periodicity in temporal databases

The issue of periodicity is generally understood to be a desirable property of temporal data that should be supported by temporal database models and their query languages. Nevertheless, there has so far not been any systematic examination of how to incorporate this concept into a temporal DBMS. In this paper we describe two concepts of periodicity, which we call strong periodicity and near periodicity, and discuss how they capture formally two of the intuitive meanings of this term. We formally compare the expressive power of these two concepts, relate them to existing temporal query languages, and show how they can be incorporated into temporal relational database query languages, such as the proposed temporal extension to SQL, in a clean and straightforward manner.
Arctic Shipping Guidance from the CMIP6 Ensemble on Operational and Infrastructural Timescales

The expectation of a seasonally ice-free Arctic expected by mid-century has sparked economic and geopolitical interest in potential Arctic opportunities and risks. But substantial sea ice variability across timescales suggests an uncertain future for forecasts of marine accessibility, especially over operational ( 5 years) time spans that significantly influence decision-makers planning ship routing, emergency management, port investment, and more. Here, we use three marine accessibility schemes applied to CMIP6 scenarios to quantify Arctic shipping season variability and uncertainty across these decision-relevant timescales. We compare route projections across climate models and accessibility schemes to show that the choice of methodology significantly affects information important for decision-making. We find high variability and uncertainty in voyage time notably in the critical “shoulder” seasons on both timescales. This leads to increased risk over the next several decades, with high short-term uncertainty particularly at the end of the shipping season for the next 25 years. Navigation risk is expected to decline from 2045 onward. Knowledge that accounts for sea ice variability, simulation quality, and accessibility algorithm allows for better investment decisions and the minimization of unforeseen costs due to delayed and canceled voyages. Here we develop and demonstrate a framework for developing more timely and salient information to guide decisions on Arctic shipping relevant to both operational and infrastructural horizons as climate projections become spatially and physically better resolved.
Quality Preserving Voice Stream Multicast over Mobile Low Power Wireless Networks

During disasters when the communication and power infrastructures are unavailable, we can deploy low-power, low-cost, portable wireless nodes and use them to facilitate multi-hop voice communication between the survivors and the rescue team. Similarly, using multi-hop, multicast, we can facilitate communication between the rescue team and multiple survivors, with whom direct communication is not possible. This paper examines a multi-layer adaptive approach to the problem, the voice data captured from the sender are compressed based on the availability of the bandwidth and contention it might cause in the network. We also perform distributed admission control to ensure that the new streams entering the network do not affect the old ones. To evaluate, we implement the ideas on a testbed of 18 Raspberry Pi equipped with Xbee radios. Our experimental results show that voice data can be multicast to at least 6 destinations with acceptable voice quality in this setup.
Or-prefaced third turn self-repairs in student questions

Abstract Analyzing video-recordings of university-level writing conferences, this conversation analytic study identifies interactional practices through which participants orient to the preference structure of talk-in-interaction. In particular, the study examines students’ or-prefaced third turn self-repairs produced during the earliest moments of the teacher's possible dispreference projection (e.g., short pause, hesitation, and possibly, gaze shift). In addition to displaying their orientation to getting a preferred response via the or-prefaced self-repair, students show their orientation to the correctness and relevance of their initial question formulation. The analyses show the ways in which students as well as teachers establish their divergent institutional goals and approach the task at hand differently. This study has implications for conversation analytic work on turn design, repair, and action projection while broadening the scope of existing research on discourse markers and educational discourse.
Evaluation of one-dimensional site response techniques using borehole arrays

AbstractNumerical techniques commonly used to compute the dynamic response of soil deposits under earthquake shaking are investigated by analyzing data from instrumented borehole arrays. Eleven instrumented vertical arrays are investigated using over 650 recorded ground motions that span a range of shaking intensities. Based on data from the selected borehole arrays, site response predictions using one-dimensional equivalent linear (EQL) analysis, equivalent linear analysis with frequency-dependent soil properties (EQL-FD), and fully nonlinear (NL) analysis are compared with the borehole observations. The results across all sites indicate that at peak shear strains less than about 0.1%, all three site response techniques predict, on average, site amplification within ±20% of observed. At peak shear strains larger than 0.1% and at periods less than about 0.4 s, EQL and NL analyses underpredict site amplification and EQL-FD analyses overpredict site amplification. The underprediction for the EQL and NL tech...
Sexualized Branded Entertainment and the Male Consumer Gaze

This article applies the “male consumer gaze” – integrating work influenced by Erving Goffman and Laura Mulvey – to two branded televised events: the 2011 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show and the 2012 Hooters International Swimsuit Pageant . Critiqued elements include gendered body positioning, televisual and narrativizing techniques, social and integrated media, and branding strategies that combine to create a flow of consumption-based male gazing. Such trends may intensify with changes in media economics and niche marketing.
Information Processing View of Organizations: An Exploratory Examination of Fit in the Context of Interorganizational Relationships

This study uses Galbraith's information processing theory to examine the fit between information processing needs and information processing capability in an interorganizational supply chain context and to examine its effect on performance. Information processing needs are assessed based on various characteristics of the product and procurement environment and information processing capabilities are assessed by the level of information technology support for various activities in the procurement life cycle. A taxonomy of information processing needs and information processing capabilities is developed. The effect of the fit between information processing needs and capabilities on procurement performance is examined. The study collected data on 142 products through personal interviews and surveys, used cluster analytic techniques to develop taxonomies, and analysis of variance (ANOVA) to test the fit between needs and capability, modeled as an interaction effect. The results reveal two clusters for information processing needs and three clusters for information processing capability. ANOVA results show that the interactive effect of information needs and capability has a significant effect on performance, supporting our fit theory.
Gastrectomy for Cancer

For the past 30 years there has been great confusion over the choice of operations for gastric malignancies. The pendulum has swung from partial gastrectomy to total gastrectomy and back again. Lacking adequate data that correlate survival statistics with various lesions, surgeons have based their choice of operations on anatomical study of the distribution of lymphatic metastases. The routine use of total gastrectomy for all gastric malignancies has been shown not to improve survival of patients.