cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Tuning Open-Circuit Voltage in Organic Solar Cells with Molecular Orientation.

The role of molecular orientation of a polar conjugated polymer in polymer–fullerene organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells is investigated. A planar heterojunction (PHJ) OPV cell composed of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and [6,6]-phenyl C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) is used as a model system to isolate the effect of the interfacial orientation on the photovoltaic properties. The molecular orientation of the aggregate P3HT relative to the PCBM layer is varied from highly edge-on (conjugated ring plane perpendicular to the interface plane) to appreciably face-on (ring plane parallel to the interface). It is found that as the P3HT stacking becomes more face-on there is a positive correlation to the OPV open-circuit voltage (VOC), attributed to a shift in the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) energy level of P3HT. In addition, the PHJ OPV cell with a broad P3HT stacking orientation distribution has a VOC comparable to an archetypal bulk heterojunction (BHJ) device. These results suggest that, in th...
Early outcomes after cochlear implantation for adults and children with unilateral hearing loss.

Objectives/Hypothesis This study was designed to examine speech recognition and self-perceived health-related quality of life (HRQoL) received from cochlear implantation among a cohort of adults and children with a short duration of unilateral hearing loss greater than 6 months, but less than 2 years. Study Design Single-subject repeated measures prospective study. Methods This study assessed changes in speech recognition and self-perceived quality of life by prospectively analyzing data at the preoperative evaluation and at the 3-month and 6-month postactivation intervals. Measurement tools included Medical Outcomes Study Questionnaire Short Form 36, Nijmegen Cochlear Implant Questionnaire, Speech Spatial and Qualities of Hearing–Comparative, and speech recognition measures in quiet and in noise. Results Results indicated significant improvement in speech recognition, both in quiet and noise. Quality-of-life measures showed a significant increase in self-perceived benefit with disease-specific instruments, but remained constant with a generic HRQoL instrument. Conclusions Cochlear implantation was a successful intervention for improved hearing in quiet and noise, and a self-perceived benefit for this group of adults and children with a short duration of unilateral hearing loss. Level of Evidence 4 Laryngoscope, 127:1683–1688, 2017
Personality Attributes of High IQ/High Achieving Gifted Adolescents: Implications of the Personal Styles Model.

The nonpathological personality characteristics of high IQ/high achieving high school students were assessed using the Personal Styles Inventory (PSI) and the 16PF. All PSI scales were significantly correlated with one or more of the 16PF scales. Basic personality characteristics of the High IQ/High Achieving students did not differ remarkably from students in general; and, in many instances, the PSI results were more suitable for describing normal personality characteristics and generating usable insights for the students. Implications for assessing normal personality correlates with the gifted are discussed.
Cytogenetic Analysis and FISH in the Evaluation of Patients with MDS: A Retrospective Analysis of Concordance Rate, Utility and Benefit of Performing Both Studies Simultaneously

Abstract Background: The Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are hematopoietic stem cell disorders, characterized by cytopenia, and risk of progression to acute leukemia. Chromosomal abnormalities are detected in 40–60%of patients with MDS. Cytogenetic findings are critical for diagnosis, prognosis and monitoring therapy. FISH has been reported to detect occult clonal abnormalities in 15–7.8% of karotypically normal patients in some studies, but found to be of limited value in others. We sought to evaluate whether FISH can be a valuable diagnostic/prognostic adjunct to conventional cytogenetic (CC) analysis. Methods: Since the implementation of FISH panel at our institution, we have identified 62 MDS patients who had both CC and FISH panel tests performed simultaneously. Our FISH panel was designed specifically to detect abnormalities in chromosomes 5, 7, 8, 11 and 20. Results: In these patients, concordance between the 2 methods was noted in 43 patients (69.3%). Clonal chromosomal abnormalities were detected by CC in 36 patients (58 %). FISH defined additional clones in 7/26 patients with normal and 3/36 patients with an abnormal karyotype increasing the detection rate by 16%. Importantly, 9/36 patients with abnormal CC had clonal abnormalities in chromosome regions not analyzed, thus not detected, by our FISH panel. To further evaluate the prognostic significance of the additional clones detected by FISH, we calculated and compared the IPSS risk category for the 10 patients identified with discordant results utilizing data derived from CC and FISH. 3 patients had no change in their IPSS scores, 7 patients had an upgrade in their IPSS scores as follows: from low to Int-1: 4, Int-1 to Int-2: 2, and Int-2 to High: 1. If one were to apply NCCN guidelines with regard to treatment options according to IPSS risk categories, FISH upgraded scores could potentially result in change of therapy in 2/10 patients with discrepancy, and in 2/62 (3%) patients altogether. Conclusion: Our results suggest that FISH has the potential of increasing the rate of detecting chromosomal abnormalities in complete CC studies that have failed to reveal clonal abnormalities. However, the practical impact of finding such clones seems to be very low resulting in potential change of clinical management in only 3% of patients. Furthermore, in cases with identified cytogenetic abnormalities, FISH was of limited benefit. Our series is small and retrospective in nature; prospective studies addressing the utility, benefit, and cost justification of this method are needed.
Omniscience, the Incarnation, and Knowledge de se

A knowledge argument is offered that presents unique difficulties for Christians who wish to assert that God is essentially omniscient. The difficulties arise from the doctrine of the incarnation. Assuming that God the Son did not necessarily have to become incarnate, then God cannot necessarily have knowledge de se of the content of a non-divine mind. If this is right, then God’s epistemic powers are not fixed across possible worlds and God is not essentially omniscient. Some options for Christian theists are discussed, including rejecting traditional theism in favour of some version of pantheism or panentheism.
Understanding of early-phase clinical trials among a cohort of advanced cancer patients with limited standard treatment options.

9651 Background: Early phase (EP) trials are typically offered to ACP once they exhaust standard treatment options. Limited knowledge exists about what patients understand regarding EP trials as they approach the end of standard treatments. Methods: ACP were recruited from five clinics at an academic medical center with an EP trials program. Patients were eligible if treating oncologists deemed them likely to exhaust standard treatment in 6-12 months. Eligible patients completed a 60 minute qualitative interview. Clinical research was only discussed if patients raised it during the interview. Interviews were audio recorded and transcribed; Atlas.ti was used for thematic coding. Results: 82 patients were recruited; 60 mentioned clinical research. Thematic analysis showed that understanding of clinical research differed along two dimensions: Accuracy and Specificity. Some ACP accurately described research; others had inaccurate understandings. Patients described the research process with different degrees o...
Technical program chairs' overview

Welcome to ICASSP 2017, the world's largest and most comprehensive conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing, held this year in the beautiful city of New Orleans, Louisiana—the home of jazz, year long festivities, and a unique cuisine with a Cajun kick. We are happy to welcome you to New Orleans and hope you will enjoy the colors of the city, the music, the active nightlife, and of course the food, which all reflect the city's rich history as a melting pot of French, African, and American cultures. ICASSP 2017 encompasses a rich social program to match the diverse activities in the city, and as Program Chairs, we have been working diligently to make sure your visit to New Orleans will be memorable from a technical standpoint as well‥
Excited-state one-neutron halo nuclei within a parallel momentum distribution analysis

Using a fully quantum mechanical post-form finite-range distorted-wave Born approximation theory of Coulomb breakup, I study the parallel momentum distribution of the core in the Coulomb breakup of suggested excited-state one-neutron halo nuclei considered in their different bound excited states. Narrow momentum distributions obtained in the present calculations for some cases indicate the possibilities of the excited-state halo structure in the nuclei under consideration and therefore favor the previous predictions.
Characterization of Extracellular Vesicles by Surface Plasmon Resonance

Surface plasmon resonance (SPR ) enables real-time, label-free detection of ligand binding to target receptors immobilized on a sensing surface. SPR has emerged as a promising technique for extracellular vesicle (EV) characterization with its label-free detection scheme, and exquisite sensitivity. Among the various system configurations, nanohole-based SPR sensors are of particular interest because of their simple optical setup, tunability, and scalability. Here, we describe the characterization of circulating EVs or exosomes from human clinical samples using a nanohole-based SPR sensor, named nPLEX (nano-plasmonic exosome) sensing.
Heterogeneity of the Frequency Domain Patterns in Persistent Atrial Fibrillation

Background: Persistent atrial fibrillation (AF) has remained a challenging clinical problem. The mechanisms of persistent AF are still subject to debate. Both a single mother-rotor with fibrillatory conduction and multiple meandering spiral waves have been proposed to explain persistent AF. Previous frequency domain studies have reported the presence of dominant frequency (DF) gradient (a marker of single mother-rotor) in paroxysmal, but not persistent AF. Methods and Results: We performed temporally-dense high-resolution frequency domain analysis of 10-40 minutes segments of intracardiac signals recorded in 24 patients undergoing ablation of persistent AF. We observed two predominant patterns. The expected signature of the mother-rotor mechanism was observed in 38% of the patients. The frequency pattern in 54% consisted of two or more distinct frequency peaks with no obvious gradient, which is consistent with multiple separate primary spiral waves in electrophysiologically heterogeneous areas of atria. The average measured number of rotors per case was 1.71 ± 0.32, which provides a lower limit on the actual number of rotors. The single-zone pattern was exclusively seen in patients who were on a membrane-active antiarrhythmic medication at the time of ablation (P < 0.005). Conclusions: AF is a heterogeneous disorder. High-frequency resolution analysis is a useful tool to detect the underlying mechanisms of AF and to classify it into patterns consistent with a single mother-rotor vs. multiple meandering wavelets.
Necessary gradient restrictions at the core of a voting rule

Abstract This paper generalizes known gradient restrictions for the core of a voting rule parameterized by an arbitrary quota. For the special case of majority rule with an even number of voters, the result implies that given any pointed, finitely generated, convex cone C , the difference between the number of voters with gradients in C and the number with gradients in − C cannot exceed the number of voters with zero gradient, plus a dimensional adjustment. When the cone has dimensionality less than three, the adjustment is zero. A difficulty in the proof of a result of Schofield (1983), which neglects the dimensional adjustment term, is identified, and a counterexample (in three dimensions) presented.
What It Takes to Achieve 100% Condition Accuracy on WikiSQL

WikiSQL is a newly released dataset for studying the natural language sequence to SQL translation problem. The SQL queries in WikiSQL are simple: Each involves one relation and does not have any join operation. Despite of its simplicity, none of the publicly reported structured query generation models can achieve an accuracy beyond 62%, which is still far from enough for practical use. In this paper, we ask two questions, “Why is the accuracy still low for such simple queries?” and “What does it take to achieve 100% accuracy on WikiSQL?” To limit the scope of our study, we focus on the WHERE clause in SQL. The answers will help us gain insights about the directions we should explore in order to further improve the translation accuracy. We will then investigate alternative solutions to realize the potential ceiling performance on WikiSQL. Our proposed solution can reach up to 88.6% condition accuracy on the WikiSQL dataset.
Causes of Reductive Stress in Male Reproduction

Abstract As there is concern for oxidative stress and its effects on male fertility, antioxidant supplementation has been used as a means of combating oxidative stress in the modern-day lifestyle. Antioxidant supplementation, however, is currently unregulated and has the potential to cause or perpetuate tissue injury. Shifting the equilibrium of chemical reactions within the human body away from oxidation and toward the other extreme is also not without its risks. While additional studies are needed, there is an emerging understanding of the clinical manifestations of reductive stress. An abundance of reducing agents can result in loss of necessary oxidation mechanisms, promotion of additional tissue injury, and a paradoxical increase in reactive oxygen species. This chapter discusses the antioxidant paradox, identifies enzymatic and nonenzymatic reducing agents within the male reproductive system, and reviews the clinical implications of reductive stress.
Kidney Transplantation in C3 Glomerulopathy: A Case Series.

Rationale & Objective C3 glomerulopathy (C3G), a form of glomerulonephritis associated with dysregulation of the alternative complement pathway, occurs either as dense deposit disease (DDD) or C3 glomerulonephritis (C3GN). Few studies have reported outcomes of patients with C3G after transplantation since its formal classification and the advent of complement-targeting therapies such as eculizumab. Study Design Case series of C3G. Setting & Participants We reviewed laboratory testing, native and allograft biopsy reports, and clinical charts of the 19 patients (12, C3GN; and 7, DDD) from our C3G registry who underwent transplantation between 1999 and 2016. Results During a median follow-up of 76 months, 16 patients had recurrent disease (10 of 12, C3GN; and 6 of 7, DDD), with median time to recurrence of 14 months in C3GN versus 15 months in DDD. Graft failure was more frequent in patients with DDD (6 of 7) than in patients with C3GN (3 of 12), occurred at a median time of 42 months posttransplantation, and was attributed to recurrent disease in half the failures. A rare genetic variant or autoantibody associated with alternative complement pathway abnormalities was detected in 9 of 10 screened patients. Treatment of 7 patients (8 allografts) with eculizumab was associated with variable clinical outcomes. Limitations Incomplete testing for complement pathway abnormalities and genetic defects, incomplete records of HLA antigen matching, lack of centralized biopsy review, and limited sample size. Conclusions In a case series of C3G transplant recipients, the proportion of disease recurrence was high in both C3GN and DDD, although graft loss appeared to occur more frequently in DDD. In a small subset of study patients, eculizumab therapy was not consistently followed by salutary outcomes.
Category-selective areas in human visual cortex exhibit preferences for stimulus depth

Abstract Multiple regions in the human brain are dedicated to accomplish the feat of object recognition; yet our brains must also compute the 2D and 3D locations of the objects we encounter in order to make sense of our visual environments. A number of studies have explored how various object category-selective regions are sensitive to and have preferences for specific 2D spatial locations in addition to processing their preferred-stimulus categories, but there is no survey of how these regions respond to depth information. In a blocked functional MRI experiment, subjects viewed a series of category-specific (i.e., faces, objects, scenes) and unspecific (e.g., random moving dots) stimuli with red/green anaglyph glasses. Critically, these stimuli were presented at different depth planes such that they appeared in front of, behind, or at the same (i.e., middle) depth plane as the fixation point (Experiment 1) or simultaneously in front of and behind fixation (i.e., mixed depth; Experiment 2). Comparisons of mean response magnitudes between back, middle, and front depth planes reveal that face and object regions OFA and LOC exhibit a preference for front depths, and motion area MT+ exhibits a strong linear preference for front, followed by middle, followed by back depth planes. In contrast, scene-selective regions PPA and OPA prefer front and/or back depth planes (relative to middle). Moreover, the occipital place area demonstrates a strong preference for “mixed” depth above and beyond back alone, raising potential implications about its particular role in scene perception. Crucially, the observed depth preferences in nearly all areas were evoked irrespective of the semantic stimulus category being viewed. These results reveal that the object category-selective regions may play a role in processing or incorporating depth information that is orthogonal to their primary processing of object category information.
Postlaparotomy pain management: Comparison of patient-controlled analgesia pump alone, with subcutaneous bupivacaine infusion, or with injection of liposomal bupivacaine suspension.

Objective: Efforts to achieve balance between effective pain management and opioid-related adverse events (ORAEs) have led to multimodal analgesia regimens. This study compared opioids delivered via patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) plus liposomal bupivacaine, a long-acting local anesthetic with potential to be an effective component of such regimens, to opioids delivered through PCA alone or PCA plus subcutaneous bupivacaine infusion (ONQ), following laparotomy. Design: Prospective, randomized controlled trial. Setting: Single, tertiary-care institution. Patients: One hundred patients undergoing nonemergent laparotomy. Interventions: Patients were randomly assigned to one of three study treatments: PCA only (PCAO), PCA with ONQ, or PCA with injectable liposomal bupivacaine suspension (EXP). Main Outcome Measures: Cumulative opioid use, daily mean patient-reported pain scores, and ORAEs through 72 hours postoperatively. Results: On average, the EXP (n = 31) group exhibited less than 50 percent of the total opioid consumption of the PCAO (n = 36) group, and less than 60 percent of that for the ONQ (n = 33) group. Postoperative days 1 and 3 pain scores were significantly lower for the EXP group as compared to the ONQ and PCAO groups (p ≤ 0.005). Fewer patients in the EXP group (19.4 percent) experienced ORAEs compared to the PCAO (41.1 percent) and ONQ (45.5 percent) groups (p = 0.002). Conclusions: Laparotomy patients treated with liposomal bupivacaine as part of a multimodal regimen consumed less opioids, had lower pain scores, and had fewer ORAEs. The role of liposomal bupivacaine in the postoperative care of laparotomy patients merits further study.
Visualizing, Measuring, and Tuning Adaptive MPI Parameters

Adaptive MPI (AMPI) is an advanced MPI runtime environment that offers several features over traditional MPI runtimes, which can lead to a better utilization of the underlying hardware platform and therefore higher performance. These features are overdecomposition through virtualization, and load balancing via rank migration. Choosing which of these features to use, and finding the optimal parameters for them is a challenging task however, since different applications and systems may require different options. Furthermore, there is a lack of information about the impact of each option. In this paper, we present a new visualization of AMPI in its companion Projections tool, which depicts the operation of an MPI application and details the impact of the different AMPI features on its resource usage. We show how these visualizations can help to improve the efficiency and execution time of an MPI application. Applying optimizations indicated by the performance analysis to two MPI-based applications results in performance improvements of up 18% from overdecomposition and load balancing.
Centrally Guided Identification of Patients With Large Vessel Occlusion: Lessons From Trauma Systems.

Abstract Objective: Improve prehospital identification of acute ischemic stroke patients with large vessel occlusion (LVO) by using a trauma system-based emergency communication center (ECC) to guide the emergency medical service (EMS). Methods: We trained 24 ECC paramedics in the Emergency Medical Stroke Assessment (EMSA). ECC-guided EMS in performance of the EMSA on patients with suspected stroke. During the second half of the study, we provided focused feedback to ECC after reviewing recorded ECC-EMS interactions. We compared the sensitivity, specificity, and area under the receiver operator characteristics curve (AUC) and 95% confidence interval of ECC-guided EMSA to the NIH Stroke Scale (NIHSS) for predicting a discharge diagnosis of LVO. Results: We enrolled 569 patients from September 2016 through February 2018. Of 463 patients analyzed, 236 (51%) had a discharge diagnosis of stroke and 227 (49%) had a nonstroke diagnosis. There were 45 (19%) stroke patients with LVO. For predicting LVO, there was no significant difference between the EMSA AUC = .68 (.59-.77) and the NIHSS AUC = .73 (.65-.81). An EMSA score greater than or equal to 4 had sensitivity = 75.6 (60.5-87.1) and specificity = 62.4 (57.6-67.1) for LVO. During the first 9 months of the study, the EMSA AUC = .61 (.44-.77) compared to an AUC = .74 (.64-.84) during the second 9 months. Conclusions: ECC-guided prehospital EMSA is feasible, has similar ability to predict LVO compared to the NIHSS, and has sustained performance over time.
Patterns of Geometry.

oince time immemorial, men have been impressed by the constants that exist in an apparently chaotic world. Nowhere has this appearance of surprising similarities been more frequent than in the field of mathematics. From the recognition that the sum of two odd integers is an even integer, to the appreciation of geometric forms in nature (e.g., the hexagonal snowflake), man is continually attracted by patterns that stimulate him to classify and to think in terms of analogues. It is evident that instruction that focuses on various recurring stimuli is at least geared to a child's intuitive interest and at best apt to stimulate thought and aid understanding. Patterns in geometry are particularly susceptible to motion and models. Therefore we begin with a model, movement, and knowledge of the perimeter and area of a parallelogram. Our model (fig. 1) is constructed so that one pair of opposite sides is fixed in length while the other pair is allowed to vary. The distance between the two fixed sides is a constant. This model can be constructed by building a track on one edge of a wooden frame. The varying sides of the parallelogram are elastic strings attached to pegs on the frame and to pegs on a wooden strip which slides on the track. Slide the movable side on the track and analyze the various parallelograms formed. What remains constant? The lengths of AB and CD, the altitude, and the area.
Human PAR4 Is a More Potent Receptor for Activating Platelets Than Mouse PAR4

PAR4 is a protease-activated receptor with major roles in both platelet aggregation and platelet procoagulant function, contributing to both hemostasis and thrombosis in vivo. It is a major target for anti-thrombotic agents in current development. There are notable differences in the amino acid sequences between human (hu) PAR4 and mouse (mu) PAR4 in domains associated with the mechanisms of receptor action. These include the second transmembrane domain, which has a Valine at position 120 in muPAR4 while it is Alanine or Threonine in huPAR4 (Edelstein, Nature Med 2014). Other differences include 4 non-conservative amino acid changes in extracellular loop 2 and a major non-conservative change (mu = Cysteine, hu = Glutamine) in helix 8 in the cytosolic carboxy terminal (Ramachandran, Mol Pharm 2017). We generated a unique set of mice which enable us to compare for the first time the potential differences in platelet activation between huPAR4 and muPAR4 in the platelet context, rather than in heterologous cells. We generated and characterized 5 independent lines of mice transgenic for human PAR4, using an approach with a large genomic clone which we have implemented successfully in the past. Each of these huPAR4 transgenic lines has been bred to the mouse PAR4 knockout mice generated by Coughlin and colleagues (generously provided by S. Kunapuli, Temple University). The mice are referred to as PAR4 tgKO mice; 3 express the hu Thr120 allele and 2 the Ala120 allele. The level of huPAR4 expression in the tgKO platelets is equivalent to that of muPAR4 in wild-type mouse platelets. Washed platelets from wild-type mice, PAR4 tgKO mice, and muPAR4 KO mice were stimulated with a range of concentrations of PAR4 activating peptide (PAR4-AP, AYPGKF) and the activation of αIIbβ3 and expression of P-selectin on the surface were determined with flow cytometry. As expected, muPAR4 knockout mice showed no response to the treatment, but reacted normally to other agonists. While we observed small differences between the hu Ala120 and Thr120 tgKO mice, consistent with prior reports by Bray, Edelstein and colleagues for human platelets, we observed large and statistically significant differences between all tgKO mouse platelets tested and wild-type mouse platelets. In summary, all other things being equal (i.e. the same platelet context), human PAR4 is a more potent receptor for platelet activation than mouse PAR4. Studies are in progress to elucidate the contribution of the different functional domains and the roles of heterotrimeric G proteins, calcium and other signaling intermediates. Download : Download high-res image (117KB) Download : Download full-size image Figure . Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
The cheat sheet as pedagogical tool

Occasionally computing courses cover a wide range of "prose" material. Testing students' understanding of such material is commonplace in the humanities, the social sciences, and many aspects of business. There the essay is often a preferred means for this assessment. For a variety of reasons, however, essays are not always appropriate in Computer Science (CS), leading to more traditional, short test items over a huge amount of material. Guidelines are presented here for the use of the help ("cheat") sheet as an aid and supplement for student study and exam preparation. Note: No claim is made here that the use of help sheets is new; many faculty allow them. The present contribution is the delineation of guidelines and pedagogical criteria distinguishing circumstances that warrant in a thoughtful manner the use of this alternative to the open book test.
Prompt Improvement of an Enlarging Pigment Epithelial Detachment Following Intravitreal Dexamethasone in Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration:

Purpose:This report discusses a case of neovascular age-related macular degeneration with mixed serous pigment epithelial detachment (PED) that was unresponsive to antivascular endothelial growth i...
Analyzing the Southern District of New York's Amended 'Related Cases' Rule: The Process for Challenging Nonrandom Case Assignment Remains Inadequate

On October 31, 2013, the Second Circuit relied on a little-known Division of Business Rule to remove a well-respected and long-serving jurist from two high-profile stop-and-frisk cases. This highly unusual and unexpected move has stirred up an uproar of public support for the judge. But the Southern District of New York’s Division of Business Rule 13, the catalyst for a series of unprecedented procedural twists and turns, has been left unexamined. This essay refocuses the discussion on the overlooked rule at issue in Judge Scheindlin’s removal. First, it explains the consequences of Rule 13’s Division of Business label. Unlike local rules of civil procedure, Rule 13 is not subject to review by the Second Circuit, nor is it open to public comment. Creation and enforcement of a district court’s division of business rules are delegated to the court itself; unsurprisingly, decisions made pursuant to such rules are largely unreviewable. Next, this essay explains that precisely because it was a division of business rule, Rule 13 permitted case assignment decisions that might have raised red flags had they occurred pursuant to a local rule of civil procedure. This essay further argues that Rule 13 was only nominally a rule about relatedness. Instead, it functioned as a mechanism through which judges could pull certain cases onto their docket based on the cases’ subject matter. Rule 13 is the reason so many high-profile stop-and-frisk cases were sent to Judge Scheindlin, as opposed to being divvied up at random amongst all S.D.N.Y. judges. The essay also tracks how the stop-and-frisk cases were assigned, their odd procedural history on appeal, and recent hints of settlement. On December 18, 2013, the S.D.N.Y adopted amendments to Division of Business Rule 13, seemingly in reaction to the circumstances that caused Judge Scheindlin’s removal. This essay ends with an analysis of the amendments, concluding that they do not do enough to explain why a judge decides to deem a case related to an earlier-filed matter. The amendments also do not create meaningful motion practice through which parties can challenge a relatedness decision. Rather, the district’s case assignment procedures remain shrouded in secrecy, and, most disturbingly, are still easy to manipulate. If a judge wants to overcome random case assignment and engage in subject matter-specific case shopping, the S.D.N.Y.’s Division of Business rules will not stop it.
Analysis of 20-Year Trends in Medicare Reimbursement for Reconstructive Microsurgery.

Background Microsurgery is being increasingly utilized across surgical specialties, including plastic surgery. Microsurgical techniques require greater time and financial investment compared with traditional methods. This study aimed to evaluate 20-year trends in Medicare reimbursement and utilization for commonly billed reconstructive microsurgery procedures from 2000 to 2019. Materials and Methods Microsurgical procedures commonly billed by plastic surgeons were identified. Reimbursement data were extracted from The Physician Fee Schedule Look-Up Tool from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for each current procedural terminology (CPT) code. All monetary data were adjusted for inflation to 2019 U.S. dollars. The average annual and total percentage changes in reimbursement were calculated based on these adjusted trends. To assess utilization trends, CMS physician/supplier procedure summary files were queried for the number of procedures billed by plastic surgeons from 2010 to 2018. Results After adjusting for inflation, the average reimbursement for all procedures decreased by 26.92% from 2000 to 2019. The greatest mean decrease was observed in CPT 20969 free osteocutaneous flaps with microvascular anastomosis (−36.93%). The smallest mean decrease was observed in repair of blood vessels with vein graft (−9.28%). None of the included procedures saw an increase in reimbursement rate over the study period. From 2000 to 2019, the adjusted reimbursement rate for all procedures decreased by an average of 1.35% annually. Meanwhile, the number of services billed to Medicare by plastic surgeons across the included CPT codes increased by 42.17% from 2010 to 2018. Conclusion This is the first study evaluating 20-year trends in inflation-adjusted Medicare reimbursement and utilization in reconstructive microsurgery. Reimbursement for all included procedures decreased over 20% during the study period, while number of services increased. Increased consideration of these trends will be important for U.S. policymakers, hospitals, and surgeons to assure continued access and reconstructive options for patients.
Environmental factors and crop management that affect Delia antiqua damage in onion fields

Abstract Many factors directly and indirectly influence pest dynamics in cultivated crops and identifying the suite of factors associated with a pest’s population dynamics is an important component of pest management. Onion maggot, Delia antiqua (Meigen) (Diptera: Anthomyiidae), is a significant pest of onion in temperature regions worldwide. In the Great Lakes region of North America, D. antiqua is the most important early-season pest of onion and causes considerable damage by killing plants. Despite growers employing the same management and cultivation practices, plant damage by D. antiqua across the region is highly variable. The commonality of production and management suggests that other factors may be important in explaining the disparities in damage across the region, and previous studies have indicated that temperature and precipitation, soil organic matter, surrounding landscape composition, planting date, and plant size at peak fly activity are all important factors affecting D. antiqua. In a two-year study (2018–19), the aforementioned factors were monitored in commercial onion fields (2018: n = 15; 2019: n = 13) in central and western New York, USA. Fly activity was positively associated with plant damage in both years of the study. Onion fields surrounded primarily by forest rather than agricultural crops and those planted late rather than early in the season had higher levels of damage by D. antiqua. Plant damage also was negatively associated with soil temperature and positively associated with soil organic matter content, but these effects were context dependent and were only observed in the first year of the study. These results will be used to inform management decisions by growers and have important implications for the development of predictive models for D. antiqua infestations.
Do institutional shareholder services (ISS) corporate governance ratings reflect a company's operating performance?

Abstract Little is known about the relation between the actual governance rating received by a firm and the firm's performance. In this study, we examine the relation between the actual corporate governance rating received by a firm and the firm's performance during the years 2002–2004. We use the institutional shareholder services (ISS) corporate governance quotient (CGQ) rating of a firm's corporate governance structure and analyze this rating in relation to the firm's operating performance. We compare the institutional shareholder services’ CGQ rating to two measures of the firm's operating performance, return on assets (ROA) and return on equity (ROE). Based upon our results, we do not find statistical evidence suggesting that the firms’ operating performance is related to the firms’ ISS corporate governance rating.
Adaptation of resilient regenerative agricultural practices by small-scale growers towards sustainable food production in north-central Arizona

Abstract The demand for agricultural lands for other uses because of population growth and extreme climate in Arizona led to 57% decrease in average farm size and 127% increase in farm numbers from 1997 to 2017, which threaten sustainable local food production. Small-scale family farms of less than 10 acres make up 50% of the farmer population in the state and have a vital role in resilient and sustainable practices that maximize land use with less negative impact on the environment. This study investigated land use and farm practices among small-scale growers in north-central Arizona in their resilience in sustainable food production. The finding revealed 52% of the small farms are family operations with dominant regenerative and sustainable practices (27% cover cropping, 26% compost, 23% crop rotation, 22% animal and green manure, 21% no-till, and 18% reduced tillage) with less interest in conventional practices (5% intensive tillage and 13% synthetic fertilizers). Ninety-five percent of the growers used biological, cultural, or mechanical practices for weed, pest, and disease control, while only 5% used conventional synthetic chemicals. For water use, 78% of the growers used water-saving irrigation practices (drip, subsurface, and sprinklers), while 11% used open flood irrigation. Driving forces for the sustainable practices among the small-scale growers are their consumers (community supported agriculture, restaurants, Farmers' Markets, and farm stands) and extreme climate conditions. Small-scale growers have great potential in advancing resilient, environmentally friendly practices for sustainable local food production and environmental stewardship.
Urban youth and the environmental commons: rejuvenating civic engagement through civic science

Civic-science integrates science knowledge with civic practice but differs from the citizen-science prototype by reframing science as a public good and citizens as both recipients of and actors in ...
A new architecture for second order Sigma Delta modulation

An architecture for a second-order Sigma Delta modulator is proposed. It is part of an ongoing analysis of the stability of multiloop modulators. This modulator features an increased number of parameters, allowing a designer to swap an increase in stability for a reduction in the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for small inputs. The tradeoff, compared to a traditional modulator, is an increase in the complexity of the integrator closest to the comparator. Simulation results are presented that demonstrate the ability to design modulators with superior stability compared to a standard second-order modulator and the ability to design modulators with superior SNR performance over most of the input amplitude range compared to a standard second-order modulator. >
Pregnancies in juveniles.

Abstract 1. 1. The pregnancies of 272 patients between the ages of 12 and 16 were compared with the pregnancies of 658 patients between the ages of 20 and 29. 2. 2. The juvenile patients were similar in most respects to the older patients. 3. 3. The principal exceptions included increased frequency of toxemia, contracted pelvis, and prolonged labor.
Electrical and mechanical characterization of carbon nanotube filled conductive adhesive

Electronic assemblies rely heavily on soldering to attach components to the interconnect wiring on printed circuit boards and other types of substrates. In response to environmental legislation, the lead-tin alloys commonly used for soldering are being replaced with lead-free alloys and electrically conductive adhesives. Isotropic conductive adhesives (ICA) filled with metal particles are an alternative to solder reflow processing. ICA materials, however, require up to 80 wt% metal filler to achieve minimum electrical resistivity and the high loading content substantially degrades the mechanical properties of the polymer matrix. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs), a new material based on C60 fullerenes (Bucky Balls) and graphite rolls have many novel properties. Replacing the metal particles with carbon nanotubes in ICA compositions has the potential benefits of being lead free, low process temperature, corrosion resistant, high electrical conductivity, high mechanical strength and lightweight. In this paper, new conductive adhesives were formulated by adding multiwall nanotubes (MWNT) as filler to epoxy. Different loadings of CNTs and mixing methods were used to make the new conductive adhesives. Contact resistance, volume resistivity, high frequency performance, thermal conductivity and mechanical properties were measured and compared with metal filled ICA and traditional solder paste.
Optimizing Concrete Mixtures with Minimum Cement Content for Performance and Sustainability

The main purpose of this research is to investigate the minimum cement content required with an appropriate water-to-cement ratio (w/c) to meet given workability, strength, and durability requirements in a concrete pavement; and so as to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, energy consumption, and costs. An experimental program was conducted to test 16 concrete mixtures with w/c ranging between 0.35, 0.40, 0.45 and 0.50; and cement content ranging from 400, 500, 600 and 700 lb/yd 3 (pcy). The fine aggregate-to-total aggregate ratio was fixed as 0.42 and the void content of combined aggregates was maintained the same for all the mixtures. Slump; setting time; 1, 3 and 28-day compressive strength; 28-day chloride penetration; and 1, 3, and 28day air permeability were determined. The test results showed that strength is a function of w/c and independent of cement content after the required cement content is reached, for a given w/c. Workability is a function of w/c and cement content: increasing w/c or cement content improves workability. Setting time is reduced when cement content is increased for a given w/c. Chloride penetration increases as w/c or cement content increases, when one parameter is fixed. Air permeability increases as cement content increases, for a given w/c. Based on these findings, it is possible to reduce the paste content without sacrificing the desired workability, strength and durability, for a given w/c. When the overall effect of cement content on concrete properties is evaluated, 400 pcy of cement content is not recommended due to its high porosity caused by its low paste content. Furthermore, 700 pcy would also not be appropriate as increasing cement content does not improve the strength, after the required content is reached; and may decrease durability as high cement content both increases air permeability and chloride penetration. Moreover, for a w/c higher than 0.35, cement content of more than 500 pcy adversely affects the concrete performance by decreasing strength (increasing cement content from 500 pcy to 700 pcy approximately reduced the 28-day compressive strength by 15%) and may cause shrinkage related cracking problems. Therefore, for a given w/c and for the aggregate system used in this study, the range of 500 pcy to 600 pcy is found to be the most appropriate cement content that provides the
High calcium intake does not prevent stress-salt hypertension in dogs

Avoidance conditioning sessions and isotonic saline (1.3 L/day) were administered to dogs for 12 days under conditions of a low (0.1%) or high (1.5%) calcium diet. Twenty-four-hour mean arterial pressure increased comparably during the stress-salt conditioning periods on both the low (systolic: +16 ± 5 mm Hg; diastolic: +6 ± 2 mm Hg) and high (systolic: +17 ± 4 mm Hg; diastolic: +11 ± 4 mm Hg) calcium diets. Urine volume, sodium excretion, and serum calcium levels on the high calcium diet were not significantly different from those on the low calcium diet. In a second experiment, calcium was infused continuously for six days into the arterial circulation of normotensive or stress-salt hypertensive dogs at a rate of 0.12–0.23 mEq/min. Although serum calcium levels increased by up to 50% under these conditions, there were no significant effects on 24-hour levels of arterial pressure. In contrast to the protective effect of augmented potassium intake, these findings indicate that calcium intake does not influence the development of stress-salt hypertension in dogs.
Partition Identities for the Multiple Zeta Function

We define a class of expressions for the multiple zeta function, and show how to determine whether an expression in the class vanishes identically. The class of such identities, which we call partition identities, is shown to coincide with the class of identities that can be derived as a consequence of the stuffle multiplication rule for multiple zeta values.
Curved-space trace, chiral, and Einstein anomalies from path integrals, using flat-space plane waves

We show that the gravitational trace and chiral anomalies can be computed from the measure by using the same general flat-space methods as used for nongravitational anomalies. No heat-kernel methods, zeta-function regularization, point-splitting techniques, etc., are needed, although they may be used and then simplify the algebra. In particular, we claim that it is not necessary to insert factors of ${g}^{1/4}$ which are often added on grounds of covariance, since one-loop anomalies are local objects, while the trace of the Jacobian of the measure is a purely mathematical object which can be evaluated whether or not one has even heard about general relativity. We also show that the trace operation is cyclic by performing two different computations of the Einstein anomaly: once with the regulator in front of the Jacobian and once in the back. In both cases we obtain total derivatives on a plane-wave basis.
High-level ab initio calculations on hydrogen–nitrogen compounds. Thermochemistry of tetrazetidine, N4H4

Abstract As part of our series of investigations into the thermochemistry of hypothetical hydrogen/nitrogen binary compounds, we use several high-level ab initio techniques to investigate the heat of formation of cyclic N 4 H 4 , tetrazetidine. Comparisons to its straight-chain analog, N 4 H 6 , are offered.
Asymmetric synthesis from terminal alkenes by cascades of diboration and cross-coupling

Terminal, monosubstituted alkenes are ideal prospective starting materials for organic synthesis because they are manufactured on very large scales and can be functionalized via a broad range of chemical transformations. Alkenes also have the attractive feature of being stable in the presence of many acids, bases, oxidants and reductants. In spite of these attributes, relatively few catalytic enantioselective transformations have been developed that transform aliphatic α-olefins into chiral products with an enantiomeric excess greater then 90 per cent. With the exception of site-controlled isotactic polymerization of α-olefins, none of these catalytic enantioselective processes results in chain-extending carbon-carbon bond formation to the terminal carbon. Here we describe a strategy that directly addresses this gap in synthetic methodology, and present a single-flask, catalytic enantioselective conversion of terminal alkenes into a number of chiral products. These reactions are facilitated by a neighbouring functional group that accelerates palladium-catalysed cross-coupling of 1,2-bis(boronates) relative to non-functionalized alkyl boronate analogues. In tandem with enantioselective diboration, this reactivity feature transforms alkene starting materials into a diverse array of chiral products. We note that the tandem diboration/cross-coupling reaction generally provides products in high yield and high selectivity (>95:5 enantiomer ratio), uses low loadings (1-2 mol per cent) of commercially available catalysts and reagents, offers an expansive substrate scope, and can address a broad range of alcohol and amine synthesis targets, many of which cannot be easily addressed with current technology.