cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
On the Convergence of a Distributed Augmented Lagrangian Method for Nonconvex Optimization

In this paper, we propose a distributed algorithm for optimization problems that involve a separable, possibly nonconvex objective function subject to convex local constraints and linear coupling constraints. The method is based on the accelerated distributed augmented Lagrangians (ADAL) algorithm that was recently developed by the authors to address convex problems. Here, we extend this line of work in two ways. First, we establish convergence of the method to a local minimum of the problem, using assumptions that are common in the analysis of nonconvex optimization methods. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work that shows convergence to local minima specifically for a distributed augmented Lagrangian (AL) method applied to nonconvex optimization problems; distributed AL methods are known to perform very well when used to solve convex problems. Second, we propose a more general and decentralized rule to select the stepsizes of the method. This improves on the authors’ original ADAL method, where the stepsize selection used global information at initialization. Numerical results are included to verify the correctness and efficiency of the proposed distributed method.
Experimental Study of the Transmission Spectrum of a Sonic/Ultrasonic Acoustic Metamaterial

Acoustic metamaterials have received much attention recently. In the past decades, countless structures have been studied for their novel physical phenomenon or potential applications. The goals of many of the works were to explore ways to enlarge the band gap, lower the band gap frequency, and/or generate greater attenuation of vibration. However, most of the work was limited to simulation, with experimental studies rarer. In this work, we would like to experimentally present the transmission spectrum of an acoustic metamaterial with a proposed structure called the coated double hybrid lattice (CDHL) [1]. The CDHL has both crystalline structure and local resonators, which provide high-frequency and low-frequency band gaps, respectively. A structure was fabricated and tested to experimentally determine the transmission spectrum. Both, a higher frequency band gap and a lower frequency band gap, were obtained. Vibration is clearly attenuated in the frequency range of 70–90 kHz. This is due to the Bragg scattering effect. At the same time, around the frequency of 4.8kHz, another band gap is observed which is attributed to local resonance. It turns out that our experimental results coincide with our previous simulation quite well.Copyright © 2016 by ASME
Beta-1 vs. beta-2 adrenergic control of coronary blood flow during isometric handgrip exercise in humans.

In this study, we evaluated the role of vascular β1 vs. β2 receptors in coronary exercise hyperemia in a single-blind, randomized, crossover study in healthy men. In response to isometric handgrip ...
Catalysis at Multiple Length Scales: Crotonaldehyde Hydrogenation at Nanoscale and Mesoscale Interfaces in Platinum–Cerium Oxide Catalysts

Crotonaldehyde hydrogenation is carried out on a series of Pt–CeO2 catalysts to investigate the mechanism of enhanced C═O bond hydrogenation by an active oxide–metal interface. We show that deposition of CeO2 nanoparticles onto a Pt surface leads to two types of Pt–CeO2 interfaces: (1) the nanoscale interface defined by the contact of individual CeO2 nanoparticles with the Pt surface and (2) a larger, mesoscale interface defined by the boundary between domains of self-assembled nanoparticles and the surrounding clean Pt substrate. Surprisingly, although the nanoscale interface accounts for greater than 90% of the total number of 3-phase boundary sites in the catalysts tested as shown by TEM analysis, C═O bond hydrogenation kinetics scale exclusively with the larger, mesoscale interface. Using in situ ambient pressure XPS, we show that these kinetics are not the result of variations in the CeO2 oxidation state due to H spillover or the result of Pt decoration by the migration of reduced Ce atoms during rea...
NCCN Guidelines Insights: Head and Neck Cancers, Version 2.2017

The NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines) for Head and Neck Cancers provide treatment recommendations for cancers of the lip, oral cavity, pharynx, larynx, ethmoid and maxillary sinuses, and salivary glands. Recommendations are also provided for occult primary of the head and neck (H&N), and separate algorithms have been developed by the panel for very advanced H&N cancers. These NCCN Guidelines Insights summarize the panel's discussion and most recent recommendations regarding the increase in human papillomavirus-associated oropharyngeal cancer and the availability of immunotherapy agents for treatment of patients with recurrent or metastatic H&N cancer.
Hydrogen Sulfide Capture: From Absorption in Polar Liquids to Oxide, Zeolite, and Metal-Organic Framework Adsorbents and Membranes.

Hydrogen sulfide removal is a long-standing economic and environmental challenge faced by the oil and gas industries. H2S separation processes using reactive and non-reactive absorption and adsorption, membranes, and cryogenic distillation are reviewed. A detailed discussion is presented on new developments in adsorbents, such as ionic liquids, metal oxides, metals, metal–organic frameworks, zeolites, carbon-based materials, and composite materials; and membrane technologies for H2S removal. This Review attempts to exhaustively compile the existing literature on sour gas sweetening and to identify promising areas for future developments in the field.
Pravastatin-Induced Eczematous Eruption Mimicking Psoriasis.

Background. Statins, an example of the most commonly prescribed medications to the elderly, are not without side effects. Dermatologic events are often overlooked as arising from medications, particularly those which are taken chronically. Moreover, elderly patients are prone to pharmacologic interactions due to multiple medications. In this report, we describe a case of a statin-induced eczematous dermatitis with a psoriasis-like clinical presentation and review the skin manifestations that may arise from statin therapy. Case Presentation. An 82-year-old man with gout and hypercholesterolemia presented to dermatology clinic with new onset of pruritic, scaly erythematous plaques bilaterally on the extensor surfaces of his arms. He had never had similar lesions before. Despite various topical and systemic treatments over several months, the rash continued to evolve. The patient was then advised to discontinue his long-term statin, which led to gradual resolution of his symptoms. He was subsequently diagnosed with statin-induced eczematous dermatitis. Conclusions. This case report describes an adverse cutaneous reaction to statins that is rarely reported in the literature. Medications, including longstanding therapies, should be suspected in cases of refractory dermatologic lesions.
t-Tests for Two Means Comparisons

In Chap. 2, the one-sample t-test was introduced to test whether or not a single mean of a population is equal to a certain value. Chapter 3 will introduce the extension of the t-test to examine whether or not the difference between the two population means is equal to a certain value. Two situations will be discussed of which the first is when the two means are from independent (i.e., unrelated) populations, and the second is when the two means are from related populations.
Irenicism and Ecumenism in the Early Modern World: A Reevaluation

Artykul proponuje nową probe oceny nowozytnego irenizmu. Irenizm i ekumenizm, dawniej stanowiące istotne obszary zainteresowan badaczy dziejow reformacji, zostaly z czasem zepchniete na margines. Wykazuje, ze zmiana ta jest cześcią szerszego zjawiska w obrebie badan nad historią religii, oddalających sie coraz bardziej od ujec metodologicznych osadzonych w antropologii. W odpowiedzi artykul niniejszy oferuje przegląd wiadomości o irenizmie epoki nowozytnej i stawia nowe pytania, a wszystko to dla lepszego zrozumienia dynamiki tych znaczących przemian. The article offers a reassessment of early modern irenicism. Irenicism and ecumenism, which were once significant areas of study for Reformation specialists, have drifted to the scholarly margins. I argue that this shift is part of a broader phenomenon connected to the study of religion that draws increasingly more from anthropologically based methodologies. In response, the article provides an overview of irenicism in the early modern world and proposes a new set of questions to help us better understand this important dynamic today.
Fabrication of Infrared Broadband Polarized Emitting Metasurfaces using Microsphere Photolithography

This paper describes the low-cost, scalable fabrication of 2D metasurface LWIR broadband polarized emitter/absorber. A Frequency Selective Surface (FSS) type design consisting of dipole antenna elements is designed for resonance in the 7.5-13 μm band. Frequency-domain Finite Element Method (FEM) is used to optimize the design with ellipsometrically measured properties. The design is synthesized to be broadband by creating a multiple cavities and by hybridizing the dipole modes with phonon resonances in a germanium/silica dielectric which separates metallic elements from a continuous ground plane. While IR metasurfaces can be readily realized using direct-write nanofabrication techniques such as E-Beam Lithography, or Focus-Ion Beam milling, or two-photon lithography, these technologies are cost-prohibitive for large areas. This paper explores the Microsphere Photolithography (MPL) technique to fabricate these devices. MPL uses arrays of self-assembled microspheres as optical elements, with each sphere focusing flood illumination to a sub-wavelength photonic jet in the photoresist. Because the illumination can be controlled over larger scales (several μm resolutions) using a conventional mask, the technique facilitates very low cost hierarchical patterning with sub-400 nm feature sizes. The paper demonstrates the fabrication of metasurfaces over 15 cm2 and are measured using FTIR and imaged with a thermal camera.
Modeling Pollutant Buildup and Washoff Parameters for SWMM Based on Land Use in a Semiarid Urban Watershed

SWMM (Storm Water Management Model) has been widely used in urban water resources management. Despite its popularity, no commonly accepted pollutant buildup and washoff parameters are available for urban areas in semi-arid or arid climate, which covers 30% of global land area and is sustaining fast growth. This study provides a method to determine these parameters using inverse modeling and apply it in a semi-arid Texan urban watershed. Because GIS land use data is not available for early 1980s, it was determined from aerial photography from 1984 to 2006, and GIS land use data from 2006. Calibration using Shuffled Complex Evolution – University of Arizona (SCEUA) was used for hydraulic parameters followed by pollutant parameters. Confidence intervals of pollutant parameters were calculated by GLD (Generalized Lambda Distribution). Buildup parameters are clustered in narrow numerical ranges, indicating that spatially uniform factors are responsible for pollutant buildup. Washoff parameters do not cluster and are distributed more evenly, indicating strong influence of local factors such as topography. The results also imply that the commonly used parameter values need major revision.
Update Treatment for HBV Infection and Persistent Risk for Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Prospect for an HBV Cure

Since the discovery of the hepatitis B virus (HBV) by Blumberg et al. in 1965, its genome, sequence, epidemiology, and hepatocarcinogenesis have been elucidated. Globally, hepatitis B virus (HBV) is still responsible for the majority of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). HCC is the sixth-most common cancer in the world and the second-most common cancer death. The ultimate goal of treating HBV infection is the prevention of HCC. Fortunately, anti-HBV treatment with nucleos(t)ide analogues (NAs), which began with lamivudine in 1998, has resulted in remarkable improvements in the survival of patients with chronic hepatitis B and a reduced incidence of HCC. These results were documented with lamivudine, entecavir, and tenofovir. Nonetheless, as the duration of antiviral treatment increases, the risk for HCC still remains despite undetectable HBV DNA in serum, as reported by different investigators with observation up to 4–5 years. In our own experience, we are witnessing the development of HCC in patients who have received antiviral treatment. Some have enjoyed negative serum HBV DNA for over 12 years before developing HCC. Current treatment with NAs can effectively suppress the replication of the virus but cannot eradicate the covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA) that is within the nucleus of hepatocytes. There still remains a great need for a cure for HBV. Fortunately, several compounds have been identified that have the potential to eradicate HBV, and there are ongoing clinical trials in progress in their early stages.
Metaphor and Model-Based Reasoning in Maxwell’s Mathematical Physics

The role of model-based reasoning in experimental and theoretical scientific thinking has been extensively studied. However, little work has been done on the role of mathematical representations in such thinking. I will describe how the nature of mathematical expressions in physics can be analyzed using an extension of the metaphoric analysis of mathematics. Lakoff and Nunez [29] argued that embodied metaphors underlie basic mathematical ideas (e.g., the concept of “number” is based on the embodied operations of “collecting objects”), with more complex expressions developed via conceptual blends from simpler expressions (e.g., “addition” as “combining collections”). In physics, however, the need to represent physical processes and observed entities (including measurements) places different demands on the blending processes. In model-based reasoning, conceptual blends must often be based on immediately available embodiments as well as highly developed mathematical expressions that draw upon long term working memory. Thus, Faraday’s representations of magnetic fields as “lines of force” were modeled by Maxwell as vectors. In the paper, I compare Faraday’s experimental investigation of the magnetic field within a magnet to Maxwell’s mathematical treatment of the same problem. Both can be understood by unpacking the metaphoric underpinnings as physical representations. The implications for analogical and model-based reasoning accounts of scientific thinking are discussed.
The Relevance of Economic-Efficiency Conclusions to Moral-Rights, Moral-Ought, and Legal-Rights Analysis

After operationalizing the concept of "the effect of a choice on economic efficiency," this Article explains the basis of its author's conclusion that ours is a liberal, rights-based society as well as the implications of that conclusion for the structure and content of the analysis of moral rights in our culture, the analysis of what an individual or the State ought to do when the relevant choice is neither required nor prohibited by our society's moral-rights commitments, and the analysis of various types of legal rights?legal rights that are based on moral rights, legal rights that arise from legislation that is designed to secure various legitimate social goals, or legal rights that are created by legislation designed to further the narrowly-defined self-interest of its supporters. The Article then explains that economic efficiency is not an ultimate value (that increasing economic efficiency is not a goal that is desired in itself), that the fact that a choice increases economic efficiency does not guarantee its consistency with our rights-commitments, that the fact that a choice decreases economic efficiency does not guarantee its inconsistency with our rights-commitments, that these last two conclusions partly reflect the inability of economic-efficiency analysis to identify the creatures that are moral-rights' holders and partially reflects the insensitivity of economic-efficiency analysis to many factors that are relevant to the consistency of a choice with the moral rights of moral-rights holders, that the fact that a choice will increase (decrease) economic efficiency is not a necessary or sufficient condition for its desirability (undesirability) from any legitimate personal-ultimate-value perspective (rights-considerations aside), and partly for reasons that relate to the foregoing conclusion that the analysis of economic efficiency is also not an algorithm for the determination of legal rights of any kind (except in the rare instances in which the alleged legal right was created by a statute that contains ambiguous or open-textured language and was passed to achieve the possible proximate goal of increasing economic efficiency).
Conceptualizing Fairness in the Context of Competition: Philosophical Sources

There are multiple ways of conceptualizing the notion of fairness. After reviewing the basis of fairness in human psychology, I present four different philosophical perspectives about fairness. Each of these perspectives is illustrated by considering well known perspectives from the history of philosophy. I conclude with a discussion of how these four approaches might be brought to bear in contemporary discussions of agrifood competition.
Evolutionary Selection, Levels of: Group versus Individual

Human society has been metaphorically compared to a single organism throughout history. This article describes the evolutionary forces that are required for groups to evolve into organismic units and the degree to which they occurred throughout human biological and cultural evolution. A cautious revival of group-level functionalism in the social sciences may be warranted.
A PRIMER ON BLOCKCHAIN

Originally developed as the accounting method for the virtual currency Bitcoin, Blockchains are appearing in a variety of commercial applications today. Blockchain technology is a type of distributed digital ledger that uses encryption to make entries permanent and tamper-proof and can be programmed to record financial transactions. It is used for secure transfer of money, assets, and information via a computer network such as the Internet without requiring a third-party intermediary. It is now being adopted across financial and non-financial sectors. As a catalyst for change, the Blockchain technology is going to change the business world and financial matters in major ways. This paper provides an introduction to Blockchain.
Enhanced Cancer Theranostics with Self-Assembled, Multilabeled siRNAs

The integration of therapy and diagnostics, termed "theranostics", has recently gained widespread utility in the development of new and improved therapeutics that effectively diagnose and treat diseases, such as cancer. In this study, the covalent attachment of multiple fluorescent labels (i.e., fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)) to a wide range of siRNAs, including those adopting linear, V- and Y-shape nanostructures, was successfully accomplished by solid-phase bioconjugation for monitoring cell uptake, co-localization, and biological activity in cell culture. The FITC-labeled higher-order V- and Y-shape siRNAs maintained the requisite hybrid stabilities and A-type helical structures for invoking RNAi activity. The FITC-siRNA hybrids with sense-strand modifiers enabled efficient mRNA knockdown (∼50-90%), which also translated to increased cell death (∼20-95%) in a bone metastatic prostate cancer cell line, over a 72 h incubation period. Significantly, the Y-shaped siRNA containing three FITC probes enhanced fluorescent signaling relative to the siRNA constructs containing single and double fluorophores while retaining potent knockdown and cell death effects post-transfection. Taken together, this data highlights the theranostic utility of the multilabeled FITC-siRNA constructs for potential cancer gene therapy applications.
Characterization of Insulation Aging with Power- Dense Environments

As machine environments become more power-dense, understanding the aging of insulation is critical for successful machine design and performance. It is well-known that electrical aging under stress can be monitored over time using partial discharge and breakdown strength. There are also tests that indicate comparative “condition”, such as polarization index and dielectric discharge. These characterizations give little information as to the nature of the aging, necessary for specifying new or improved materials. Such information would also be useful in machine design decisions. A survey of materials characterization tools was made to assess the nature of aging under mechanical, thermal, and electrical stresses. The use of three tools is recommended for characterization of the nature of aging in electrical insulation materials: Dielectric Thermal Analysis (DETA), Dynamic Mechanical Analysis for extension (DMA-Extension), and Dynamic Mechanical Analysis for shear (DMA-Shear). With these tools, significant differences are found between the aging behaviors of materials (e.g., between unfilled epoxy and silicone thermoset polymers).
Multiattribute analysis for channel element discrimination in the Taranaki Basin, offshore New Zealand

AbstractA detailed study of Pliocene channel systems within the Taranaki Basin was undertaken from the Parihaka 3D seismic volume to improve our understanding of the Plio-Pleistocene channel elemen...
Mindfulness, Experiential Avoidance, and Recovery From Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation.

BACKGROUND Mood disturbance, pain, and fatigue are prevalent and distressing concerns for patients with hematologic cancer recovering from hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). The way in which individuals approach difficult thoughts and emotions may affect symptoms and functioning. Specifically, mindfulness has been associated with more optimal psychological and physical functioning, whereas experiential avoidance has been associated with poorer outcomes. PURPOSE The primary objective was to determine whether mindfulness and experiential avoidance measured prior to HSCT were associated with recovery of psychological and physical functioning following HSCT. We also evaluated dimensions of mindfulness to determine which were most robustly associated with outcomes. METHODS Participants completed measures of mindfulness and experiential avoidance prior to HSCT. Depression and anxiety symptoms and pain and fatigue interference with daily activities were assessed prior to HSCT and 1, 3, and 6 months post-HSCT. RESULTS Participants who reported better ability to describe their internal experiences and who were better able to act with awareness experienced less depression, anxiety, and fatigue interference following HSCT. Participants who were nonjudgmental and nonreactive toward thoughts and emotions experienced less depression and anxiety following HSCT, but these traits were not associated with pain or fatigue interference. Being a good observer of internal experiences was not associated with outcomes, nor was experiential avoidance. CONCLUSIONS Results suggest that most facets of mindfulness may optimize psychological functioning following HSCT, and the ability to describe one's internal experience and to focus on the present moment may have a beneficial influence on physical functioning.
Monitoring China’s City Expansion in the Urban–Rural Fringe: A Grammar for Binjiang District in Hangzhou

This study uses an analytical shape grammar to encode the general principles behind the structure of a fringe district and describe how a rural area evolved into an urban district. The study shows that both rural and urban development patterns rule-based and, therefore, urban growth could be regulated using synthetic grammars to control the transformation of rural into urban patterns.
Magnéli phases of anion-deficient rutile as lubricious oxides. Part II. Tribological behavior of Cu-doped polycrystalline rutile (TinO2n−1)

As a follow-up to the work described in part I of this paper series, a preliminary study was conducted with polycrystalline rutile TiO−x to render its friction and wear performance independent of the environment. The main goal was to confine the most tribologically desirable oxygen stoichiometries of the crystallographic shear-induced Magneli phases (CSMP) of rutile by doping with cations similar in size and polarizability to the Ti4+, but with lower valences. The resultant chemical expulsion of oxygen from the rutile lattice was intended to generate CSMP free of friction and wear variations caused by changes in the thermal–atmospheric environment. Copper, iron, cobalt and nickel ions were tried as dopants introduced as their stable oxides via a simple ball-milling, hot-pressing and annealing procedure, but only a (Ti + Cu)O1.80 model blend resulted in a desired reaction. A portion of the copper entered the lattice to form a new titanium–copper CSMP, resembling the well-known V3Ti6O17 catalyst equivalent to an undoped rutile CSMP with an O/Ti ratio of 1.89. Although the shear behavior of this new, wear-resistant compound was in accordance with predictions, its friction is higher and more variable than desired for a wide environmental regime lubricant. The preparation technique was only sufficient to demonstrate that oxygen vacancy-induced creation of low-friction CSMP may be possible by doping; it does not appear to be useful for formulating practical, rutile-based lubricious oxides.
A Parasitic Arsenic Cycle That Shuttles Energy from Phytoplankton to Heterotrophic Bacterioplankton

ABSTRACT In many regions of the world oceans, phytoplankton face the problem of discriminating between phosphate, an essential nutrient, and arsenate, a toxic analogue. Many phytoplankton, including the most abundant phytoplankton group known, Prochlorococcus, detoxify arsenate (AsV) by reduction to arsenite (AsIII), followed by methylation and excretion of the methylated arsenic products. We synthesized [14C]dimethyl arsenate (DMA) and used it to show that cultured Pelagibacter strain HTCC7211 (SAR11) cells oxidize the methyl group carbons of DMA, producing 14CO2 and ATP. We measured [14C]DMA oxidation rates in the P-depleted surface waters of the Sargasso Sea, a subtropical ocean gyre. [14C]DMA was oxidized to 14CO2 by Sargasso Sea plankton communities at a rate that would cause turnover of the estimated DMA standing stock every 8.1 days. SAR11 strain HTCC7211, which was isolated from the Sargasso Sea, has a pair of arsenate resistance genes and was resistant to arsenate, showing no growth inhibition at As/P ratios of >65:1. Across the global oceans, there was a strong inverse relationship between the frequency of the arsenate reductase (LMWPc_ArsC) in Pelagibacter genomes and phosphate concentrations. We propose that the demethylation of methylated arsenic compounds by Pelagibacter and possibly other bacterioplankton, coupled with arsenate resistance, results in the transfer of energy from phytoplankton to bacteria. We dub this a parasitic cycle because the release of arsenate by Pelagibacter in principle creates a positive-feedback loop that forces phytoplankton to continually regenerate arsenate detoxification products, producing a flow of energy to P-limited ocean regions. IMPORTANCE In vast, warm regions of the oceans, phytoplankton face the problem of arsenic poisoning. Arsenate is toxic because it is chemically similar to phosphate, a scarce nutrient that phytoplankton cells need for growth. Many phytoplankton, including the commonest phytoplankton type in warm oceans, Prochlorococcus, detoxify arsenate by adding methyl groups. Here we show that the most abundant non-photosynthetic plankton in the oceans, SAR11 bacteria, remove the methyl groups, releasing poisonous forms of arsenic back into the water. We postulate that the methylation and demethylation of arsenic compounds creates a cycle in which the phytoplankton can never get ahead and must continually transfer energy to the SAR11 bacteria. We dub this a parasitic process and suggest that it might help explain why SAR11 bacteria are so successful, surpassing all other plankton in their numbers. Field experiments were done in the Sargasso Sea, a subtropical ocean gyre that is sometimes called an ocean desert because, throughout much of the year, there is not enough phosphorous in the water to support large blooms of phytoplankton. Ocean deserts are expanding as the oceans absorb heat and grow warmer.
Emotional costs of providing social support to political prisoners

This paper examines the emotional costs of providing social support to political prisoners in Japan, using Hochschild’s emotion work theory. It examines two different sets of social interactions wi...
Beyond Band-Aids for Bullet Holes: Firearm Violence As a Public Health Priority

Objectives To review the public health approach to preventing and treating firearm violence. Data sources Peer-reviewed, published scholarship and federal data systems. Study selection English-language, indexed research articles on the epidemiology, risk, prevention, and consequences of firearm violence. Data extraction This narrative review includes findings related to the epidemiology and impact of firearm violence, focusing on short- and long-term outcomes. Evidence supporting interventions at the individual, agent, and environmental level to reduce firearm-related harm was examined. Data synthesis Firearm violence is a major public health challenge in the Unites States. The consequences of firearm violence reach beyond the nearly 40,000 firearm-related deaths and 90,000 firearm-related injuries each year. Firearm violence, including self-harm, assault, and unintentional injury, affects the health of individuals, families, communities, and health systems. Data sources remain inadequate, however, to fully capture these impacts. Treating firearm violence as a disease and taking a public health approach to prevention and treatment is key to reducing the harms of firearm violence. Using a public health framework not only recognizes the physical and mental consequences of firearm violence but also focuses our attention on underlying causes and on innovative, multi-level interventions to reduce the harms of firearm violence. Conclusions The public health approach positions clinicians to change the conversation from political diatribe of pro-gun and anti-gun to systematically reducing injury and death. To achieve comparable success, we must design, test, and implement effective interventions at the environmental, policy, technological, and individual levels to prevent firearm violence. We must collect robust data on firearm violence and its consequences. And we must reckon with the conditions of inequality and disadvantage that feed violence through all means.
Dear Incoming Graduate Student Colleague

Composed in the form of a letter, this chapter is a fictional exploration of the thinking that tends to animate graduate advising in German graduate programs. Addressed to an unnamed “incoming graduate student colleague,” the letter expresses a composite of hopes, experiences, caveats, and uncertainties that the author has gathered, as a seven-year Director of Graduate Studies for a department with both MA and PhD programs. In this, the piece intends neither to be reassuring, nor dissuasive. Neither does the letter seek to reflect the author’s own department or university setting, so much as a general sketch of graduate mentoring as a holistic intergenerational experience that blends one’s own memories of graduate training with the current challenges of the post-Great-Recession academic labor market and the general call to decolonize educational endeavors in this age.
The Extraordinary Abundances of Quasar Broad Absorption Line Regions: A Matter of Novae?

The broad absorption lines (BALs) of QSOs indicate abundances of heavy elements, relative to hydrogen, that are 1-2 orders of magnitude higher than the solar values. In at least one QSO, an especially large enhancement of phosphorus is observed. These abundances resemble those in Galactic novae, and this suggests that novae may produce the BAL gas. The needed rate of nova outbursts may come from single white dwarfs that accrete gas as they pass through a supermassive accretion disk around a central black hole.
Putting 2020 into Perspective: Diversification May Work Better than You Think

Investors wish to avoid the pain of downside risk while seeking portfolio returns. The ability of a diversified portfolio, especially long-only, to provide relief during market turbulence has come under attack in recent years with many saying that diversification disappears altogether when investors need it most. The evidence here suggests the oft repeated “all correlations go to one in a crisis” is an exaggeration. Instead, diversification remains as relevant to investors today as ever before. Furthermore, achieving a globally diversified portfolio is also never before easier. Although a global diversified portfolio has not eliminated the risk of declines in portfolios in the past, it has been shown to provide both meaningful downside protection while also being an efficient portfolio; that is, in providing a sufficient return for the risk taken.
Coumarin (5,6-Benzo-2-pyrone) Trapping of an HDDA-Benzyne.

Although the parent 2-pyrone is known to react with simple o-benzynes to produce naphthalene derivatives, there appear to be no examples of the successful reaction of coumarin, a benzo-annulated 2-...
Cell-matrix adhesion contributes to permeability control in human colon organoids

ABSTRACT Background and aims Cell-cell adhesion structures (desmosomes and, especially, tight junctions) are known to play important roles in control of transepithelial permeability in the colon. The involvement of cell-matrix interactions in permeability control is less clear. The goals of the present study were to: i) determine if disruption of colon epithelial cell interactions with the extracellular matrix alters permeability control and ii) determine if increasing the elaboration of protein components of cell-matrix adhesion complexes improves permeability control and mitigates the effects of cell-matrix disruption. Methods Human colon organoids were interrogated for transepithelial electrical resistance (TEER) under control conditions (0.25 mM calcium) and in the presence of Aquamin®, a multi-mineral product, at a level providing 1.5 mM calcium. The effects of Aquamin® on cell-matrix adhesion protein expression were determined in a proteomic screen and by Western blotting. In parallel, TEER was assessed in the presence of a function-blocking antibody directed at an epitope in the C-terminal region of laminin α3 chain. Results Treatment of colon organoids with Aquamin® increased the expression of multiple basement membrane and hemidesmosomal proteins as well as keratin 8 and 18. TEER values were higher in the presence of Aquamin® than they were under control conditions. Anti-laminin antibody reduced TEER values under all conditions but was most effective in the absence of Aquamin®, where laminin expression was low and TEER values were lower to begin with. Conclusions These findings provide evidence that cell-matrix interactions contribute to permeability control in the colon. They suggest that the elaboration of proteins important to cell-matrix interactions can be increased in human colon organoids by exposure to a multi-mineral natural product. Increasing the elaboration of such proteins may help to mitigate the consequences of disrupting cell-matrix interactions on permeability control.
Examining characteristics of prebunking strategies to overcome PR disinformation attacks

Abstract In 2020, Twitter launched a new strategy dubbed ‘prebunking’ in hopes of pre-emptively countering false information about voting by mail and election results. Prebunking was touted as a potential solution; however, little empirical research has tested the strategy to examine its effectiveness towards disinformation in the realm of public relations. Exploring PR-based disinformation attacks as a paracrisis, the purpose of this online quasi-experimental design study (N = 965) was to investigate the effects of an attack and how prebunking strategies, grounded in inoculation theory, can protect organizational outcomes (i.e., reputation and credibility) by interweaving positive psychology. In addition to examining effects on attitudinal components, this study also inspected dimensions of social amplification to determine if prebunking messages can thwart the spread of disinformation via Facebook. Findings provide insight into advancing the conceptual framework of proactive disinformation responses for crisis communication by demonstrating the success of using prebunking with autonomy support and explicit details to thwart adverse effects of disinformation.
Adapting the McMaster-Ottawa scale and developing behavioral anchors for assessing performance in an interprofessional Team Observed Structured Clinical Encounter.

Background : Current scales for interprofessional team performance do not provide adequate behavioral anchors for performance evaluation. The Team Observed Structured Clinical Encounter (TOSCE) provides an opportunity to adapt and develop an existing scale for this purpose. We aimed to test the feasibility of using a retooled scale to rate performance in a standardized patient encounter and to assess faculty ability to accurately rate both individual students and teams. Methods : The 9-point McMaster-Ottawa Scale developed for a TOSCE was converted to a 3-point scale with behavioral anchors. Students from four professions were trained a priori to perform in teams of four at three different levels as individuals and teams. Blinded faculty raters were trained to use the scale to evaluate individual and team performances. G-theory was used to analyze ability of faculty to accurately rate individual students and teams using the retooled scale. Results : Sixteen faculty, in groups of four, rated four student teams, each participating in the same TOSCE station. Faculty expressed comfort rating up to four students in a team within a 35-min timeframe. Accuracy of faculty raters varied (38–81% individuals, 50–100% teams), with errors in the direction of over-rating individual, but not team performance. There was no consistent pattern of error for raters. Conclusion : The TOSCE can be administered as an evaluation method for interprofessional teams. However, faculty demonstrate a ‘leniency error’ in rating students, even with prior training using behavioral anchors. To improve consistency, we recommend two trained faculty raters per station. Keywords: interprofessional education; observed structured clinical encounter; assessment; standard-setting (Publishing: 22 May 2015) Citation: Med Educ Online 2015, 20: 26691 - http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/meo.v20.26691
Anaerobic Biodegradation of the Lignin and Polysaccharide Components of Lignocellulose and Synthetic Lignin by Sediment Microflora

Specifically radiolabeled [14C-lignin]lignocelluloses and [14C-polysaccharide]lignocelluloses were prepared from a variety of marine and freshwater wetland plants including a grass, a sedge, a rush, and a hardwood. These [14C]lignocellulose preparations and synthetic [14C]lignin were incubated anaerobically with anoxic sediments collected from a salt marsh, a freshwater marsh, and a mangrove swamp. During long-term incubations lasting up to 300 days, the lignin and polysaccharide components of the lignocelluloses were slowly degraded anaerobically to 14CO2 and 14CH4. Lignocelluloses derived from herbaceous plants were degraded more rapidly than lignocellulose derived from the hardwood. After 294 days, 16.9% of the lignin component and 30.0% of the polysaccharide component of lignocellulose derived from the grass used (Spartina alterniflora) were degraded to gaseous end products. In contrast, after 246 days, only 1.5% of the lignin component and 4.1% of the polysaccharide component of lignocellulose derived from the hardwood used (Rhizophora mangle) were degraded to gaseous end products. Synthetic [14C]lignin was degraded anaerobically faster than the lignin component of the hardwood lignocellulose; after 276 days, 3.7% of the synthetic lignin was degraded to gaseous end products. Contrary to previous reports, these results demonstrate that lignin and lignified plant tissues are biodegradable in the absence of oxygen. Although lignocelluloses are recalcitrant to anaerobic biodegradation, rates of degradation measured in aquatic sediments are significant and have important implications for the biospheric cycling of carbon from these abundant biopolymers.
Media Ecology: Illuminations

This dialogue is an exercise in probing, which is the modus operandi of McLuhanism. After articulating the rationale behind the practice, the interlocutors Eric McLuhan and Peter Zhang explored the following topics together in an agonistic mode: perception and incarnation, anti-perspectivism, proliferation as a sign of obsolescence, applied poetics, the fusion of strategy and aesthetics, the eye and the ear, music and technology, the acoustic turn, the functional equivalence of electronics and psychochemicals, Einstein’s retrieval of Hindu philosophy, and Aristotle and rhetoric. Instead of talking about McLuhanism, the dialogue performs it. Ce dialogue est un exercice exploratoire, selon la methode de la « sonde » (probe) qui constitue le modus operandi du mcluhanisme. Apres avoir explique la methodologie singuliere de cette pratique, les deux interlocuteurs, Eric McLuhan et Peter Zhang, explorent ensemble, sur un mode agonistique, les sujets suivants: la perception et l’incarnation, l’antiperspectivisme, a proliferation en tant qu’indice d’obsolescence, la poetique appliquee, la fusion de la strategie et de l’esthetique, l’oeil et l’oreille, la musique et la technologie, le tournant acoustique, l’equivalence fonctionnelle des appareils electroniques et des substances psychedeliques, le recyclage de la philosophie hindoue par Albert Einstein, et Aristote et la rhetorique. Plutot que de simplement discuter abstraitement du mcluhanisme, ce dialogue le met en action.
Statistical Distribution and the Grammatical/Ungrammatical Distinction

Sampson (1987, 1992, and 1995) argues that there is no grammatical/ungrammatical distinction, based on a study (Sampson, 1987) of the distribution of noun phrases in the Lancaster-Oslo/Bergen (LOB) corpus of British English (Garside et al., 1987). As many phrases occur rarely, it is impossible to make a principled distinction between grammatical and ungrammatical phrases, Sampson claims. This paper examines Sampson's evidence against the grammatical/ungrammatical distinction. It will first be argued that another putative counter-argument to Sampson's claim (Taylor et al., 1989) is incorrect. It will then be shown that Sampson's evidence does not at all bear on the issue of the grammatical/ungrammatical distinction.
An OO Encapsulation of Lightweight OS Concurrency Mechanisms in the ACE Toolkit

This paper describes the design of the ACE object-oriented thread encapsulation C++ class library. This library shields programmers from differences between Solaris threads, POSIX pthreads, and Win32 threads. The architecture of this class library is presented from an end-user and internal design perspective and key design and implementation issues are discussed. Readers will gain an understanding of the overall design approach, as well as the tradeoffs between various software quality factors such as performance, portability, and extensibility.
Direct sums of bilinear algorithms

Abstract We consider the bilinear complexity of certain sets of bilinear forms. We study a class of direct sums of bilinear forms. For this class of problems we show that the bilinear complexity of one direct sum is the sum of the bilinear complexities of the summands and that every minimal bilinear algorithm for computing the direct sums is a direct-sum algorithm. We also exhibit some sets of bilinear forms which belong to this class.
Coronary calcium as a predictor of coronary events in four racial or ethnic groups.

BACKGROUND In white populations, computed tomographic measurements of coronary-artery calcium predict coronary heart disease independently of traditional coronary risk factors. However, it is not known whether coronary-artery calcium predicts coronary heart disease in other racial or ethnic groups. METHODS We collected data on risk factors and performed scanning for coronary calcium in a population-based sample of 6722 men and women, of whom 38.6% were white, 27.6% were black, 21.9% were Hispanic, and 11.9% were Chinese. The study subjects had no clinical cardiovascular disease at entry and were followed for a median of 3.8 years. RESULTS There were 162 coronary events, of which 89 were major events (myocardial infarction or death from coronary heart disease). In comparison with participants with no coronary calcium, the adjusted risk of a coronary event was increased by a factor of 7.73 among participants with coronary calcium scores between 101 and 300 and by a factor of 9.67 among participants with scores above 300 (P<0.001 for both comparisons). Among the four racial and ethnic groups, a doubling of the calcium score increased the risk of a major coronary event by 15 to 35% and the risk of any coronary event by 18 to 39%. The areas under the receiver-operating-characteristic curves for the prediction of both major coronary events and any coronary event were higher when the calcium score was added to the standard risk factors. CONCLUSIONS The coronary calcium score is a strong predictor of incident coronary heart disease and provides predictive information beyond that provided by standard risk factors in four major racial and ethnic groups in the United States. No major differences among racial and ethnic groups in the predictive value of calcium scores were detected.
The concentration dependence of excimer fluorescence in polystyrene solutions

Abstract The fluorescence of high- and low-molecular-weight polystyrene in a variety of solvent conditions has been measured as a function of polymer concentration up to 650 g 1−1. Measurements made using both a right-angle emission geometry and a front-face emission geometry confirm that self-absorption of fluorescence, particularly monomer fluorescence, leads to measurement of the ratio of excimer to monomer fluorescence intensities, I E I M , which overstates its true value at all but very low concentrations. When corrections are made for self-absorption effects, I E I M is essentially constant at low concentrations and increases only very slowly and smoothly at higher concentrations. Contrary to previous reports, no transition from a fractional power dependence to a linear dependence on concentration for I E I M has been observed at low polystyrene molecular weight.
Production of a functional monoclonal antibody recognizing human colorectal carcinoma cells from a baculovirus expression system

The light and heavy chain cDNA of a murine monoclonal antibody (MoAb) with specificity for human colorectal carcinoma cells have been expressed separately, together, and as a dual construct in insect cells infected with recombinant baculoviruses. High levels of the MoAb were expressed under the control of the polyhedrin promoter. The antibody maintained its specific binding to human colorectal carcinoma cells and mediated lysis of these cells by human lymphocytes, monocytes, and murine macrophages, as determined in antibody-directed cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) assays. The recombinant immunoglobulin (Ig), like its ascitic counterpart, did not mediate lysis by either human or rabbit complement. The expression of a recombinant antibody exhibiting both functional binding site and Fc region capacities shows that the baculovirus system could be employed in the production of therapeutic Ig.