cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Role of Economic Efficiency in Medical Malpractice Reform Policy

Through an analysis of medical malpractice votes, a measure of economic efficiency was found to be a statistically significant contributor to a vote for medical malpractice reform. This paper argues that vote models should include such a measure as a supplement to traditional measures of self-interest and ideology that explain legislator behavior. Self-interest and ideology reflect normative characteristics of a representative, while economic efficiency considers maximization of net benefits of policy formulation and is positive. Including economic efficiency in voting models offers insight as to the type of polices that are chosen and frames the legislator’s voting decision in economic terms through a consideration of the aggregate effect of such policymaking.
Proteinase-Activated Receptor Agents

The proteinase-activated receptor agents consist of two primary types of agents. One group consists of proteolytic enzymes, such as …
Formation and restacking of disordered smectite osmotic hydrates

Author(s): Gilbert, B; Comolli, LR; Tinnacher, RM; Kunz, M; Banfield, JF | Abstract: Clay swelling, an important phenomenon in natural systems, can dramatically affect the properties of soils and sediments. Of particular interest in low-salinity, saturated systems are osmotic hydrates, forms of smectite in which the layer separation greatly exceeds the thickness of a single smectite layer due to the intercalation of water. In situ X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies have shown a strong link between ionic strength and average interlayer spacing in osmotic hydrates but also indicate the presence of structural disorder that has not been fully described. In the present study the structural state of expanded smectite in sodium chloride solutions was investigated by combining very low electron dose, highresolution cryogenic-transmission electron microscopy observations with XRD experiments. Wyoming smectite (SWy-2) was embedded in vitreous ice to evaluate clay structure in aqua. Lattice-fringe images showed that smectite equilibrated in aqueous, low-ionic-strength solutions, exists as individual smectite layers, osmotic hydrates composed of parallel layers, as well as disordered layer conformations. No evidence was found here for edge-to-sheet attractions, but significant variability in interlayer spacing was observed. Whether this variation could be explained by a dependence of the magnitude of long-range cohesive (van der Waals) forces on the number of layers in a smectite particle was investigated here. Calculations of the Hamaker constant for layer-layer interactions showed that van der Waals forces may span at least five layers plus the intervening water and confirmed that forces vary with layer number. Drying of the disordered osmotic hydrates induced re-aggregation of the smectite to form particles that exhibited coherent scattering domains. Clay disaggregation and restacking may be considered as an example of oriented attachment, with the unusual distinction that it may be cycled repeatedly by changing solution conditions.
Manipulating Photogenerated Radical Ion Pair Lifetimes in Wirelike Molecules Using Microwave Pulses: Molecular Spintronic Gates

We have studied spin-dependent charge transfer dynamics in wirelike donor−bridge−acceptor (D−B−A) molecules comprising a phenothiazine (PTZ) donor, an oligo(2,7-fluorene) (FLn) bridge, and a perylene-3,4:9,10-bis(dicarboximide) (PDI) acceptor, PTZ−FL3−PDI (1) and PTZ−FL4−PDI (2), dissolved in the magnetic field-aligned nematic phase of 4-cyano-4′-n-pentylbiphenyl (5CB) at 295 K. Time-resolved EPR spectroscopy using both continuous wave and pulsed microwaves shows that the photogenerated radical pairs (RPs), PTZ+•−FL3−PDI−• and PTZ+•−FL4−PDI−•, recombine much faster from the singlet RP manifold than the triplet RP manifold. When a strong resonant microwave π pulse is applied following RP photogeneration in 1 and 2, the RP lifetimes increase about 50-fold as indicated by electron spin−echo detection. This result shows that the RP lifetime can be greatly extended by rapidly switching off fast triplet RP recombination.
In vitro suppression of the lymphocyte response to tuberculin by live measles virus.

SummaryThe addition of live measles virus to PPD sensitive lymphocytes has been shown to reduce significantly the mean response of these cells to PPD. The stimulatory effect of PHA in a similar system was not influenced by the measles virus.
Young Adult Social Development as a Mediator of Alcohol Use Disorder Symptoms From Age 21 to 30

Little research has examined social development in the young adult years relative to childhood and adolescence. This study tested the hypothesized pathways of the social development model (SDM) in young adulthood for predicting symptoms of alcohol use disorder (AUD) and positive functioning at age 30. A longitudinal panel study originally drawn from Seattle, Washington, elementary schools was examined. The sample included 808 participants with high retention and was gender balanced and ethnically diverse. Analyses focused on ages 21, 27, and 30. SDM constructs were assessed with self-reports of past-year behavior and combined multiple life domains. AUD symptoms corresponding to DSM-IV criteria were assessed using the Diagnostic Interview Schedule. Positive functioning combined measures of constructive engagement in work and school, civic engagement, physical exercise, and lack of depressive symptoms. The study found that AUD symptoms were moderately stable from age 21 to 30; however, developmental pathways hypothesized by the SDM at age 27 played a significant role in partially mediating this association. Alcohol-specific factors were key mediating mechanisms, whereas prosocial factors played little role. Conversely, prosocial factors had an important role in predicting positive functioning at age 30, while there were no significant pathways involving alcohol-specific factors. Findings suggest that age 27 is not too late for interventions targeting adult social development to help diminish alcohol use disorder symptoms by age 30. Alcohol-specific factors such as reducing perceived opportunities or rewards for heavy alcohol use or challenging beliefs accepting of drunkenness are likely to be key ingredients of effective adult interventions.
Ixodes (Pholeoixodes) Eastoni N. Sp. (Acari: Ixodidae), a Parasite of Rodents and Insectivores in the Black Hills of South Dakota, USA

Ixodes (Pholeoixodes) eastoni n. sp. (Acari: Ixodidae) is described from all active stages from collections on insectivores and rodents in western South Dakota, USA.
Abstract LB-188: Chk1 suppresses bypass of mitosis and tetraploidization in p53-deficient cells

Proceedings: AACR 102nd Annual Meeting 2011‐‐ Apr 2‐6, 2011; Orlando, FL Many checkpoint-deficient cancer cells are unable to maintain a numerically stable chromosome complement. The Chk1 kinase has a well-established role in the DNA damage checkpoint responses and is also essential for viability; however little is known about its role throughout the unperturbed cell cycle. Here, we rigorously examine the role of Chk1 in the maintenance of cell ploidy and mitotic progression. Using recombinant adeno-associated virus-based gene targeting techniques, we disrupted one allele of CHK1 in human cancer cell lines that are proficient or deficient for the tumor suppressor p53. We assessed ploidy by fluorescence in situ hybridization and metaphase chromosome analysis, and examined cell cycle progression by live cell time-lapse fluorescent microscopy, DNA labeling, flow cytometry and biochemical analysis. Loss of one CHK1 allele caused an elevated frequency of mitotic bypass in p53-deficient cells. CHK1 -haploinsufficient, p53-deficient cells frequently underwent sequential rounds of DNA synthesis without an intervening mitosis, which caused whole genome endoreduplication and tetraploidization. CHK1 haploinsufficient cells exhibited reduced Cdk1 activity, which has been shown to lead to the bypass of mitosis. This mitotic bypass phenotype could be suppressed by targeted reversion of a p53 mutation or by exogenous Cdk1 expression. Interestingly, the rate of mitotic bypass was independent of upstream signaling by ATR to Chk1 and was not associated with DNA damage. These findings demonstrate a previously unrecognized role for Chk1 in promoting the initiation of mitosis during the cancer cell cycle and thereby maintaining ploidy. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr LB-188. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-LB-188
ZINC DEFICIENCY: A CAUSE OF GROWTH RETARDATION?

Zinc is distributed in mammalian tissues and is found in various fractions in the blood. Serum and blood ceU concentrations are increased or decreased in various pathologic conditions.The author reviews studies conducted recently in the Near East which strongly suggest that zinc deficiency causes dwarfism and hypogonadism in man. The possibility that in Western countries cases of milder growth retardation also may be due to zinc deficiency deserves careful consideration.
Research about treatment effect of oilfield waste water with ionic liquids

The extraction of oilfield wastewater with three ionic liquids(PF6,PF6 and PF6)was investigated.The effects of extraction time,the amount of ionic liquids,the pH and the length of alkyl chain on the imidazole group on the extraction result were reviewed.The experiment results indicate that extraction equilibrium can be reached when the extraction ratio is 5 ∶1 and the extraction time is 20 min.The transmittance of oilfield wastewater will decrease when the pH value increases.The length of alkyl chain on the imidazole group was longer,the extraction efficiency was better.
Investigation of enterovirus 71 antibody levels among children in the Longgang District,City of Shenzhen

Objective To investigate human enterovirus71(EV71) antibody levels and the state of natural infection among children in the Longgang District of Shenzhen so as to provide a scientific basis for prevention and control of hand,foot,and mouth disease(HFMD).Methods A total of 528 serum specimens were collected from children ages 0-5 years in June 2012.EV71 IgG antibody was detected using ELISA.Results A total of HFMD 28847 cases were reported in the Longgang District of Shenzhen from 2008-2011.All cases involved individuals from 11d to 50 years of age.Of the cases,89.40%(25789/28847) involved children younger than 5.Of 528 children,241 tested positive for EV71 IgG antibodies at a rate of 45.64%.Infants under 1 year of age tested positive for IgG antibodies at the lowest rate.Boys tested positive for IgG antibodies at a rate of 46.18%,while girls tested positive at a rate of 44.93%.The difference in rates was not statistically significant(χ2=0.37,P0.05).Conclusion HFMD prevention and control should focus on children younger than 5,and especially those younger than 1.
Generation of T-Cell Antigenic Determinants in Autoimmunity and Their Recognition

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the cellular strategy inherent in the creation of the self-determinants that become involved in autoreactivity. There is no common structural characteristic describing antigenic determinants involved in autoimmunity. T lymphocytes directed against such determinants have managed to escape negative selection, and their emergence into pathogenicity is contextual. The “dominant self” that does induce negative selection is created by the ordeal of antigen-processing events. The residual self-reactive potential, inherent in the “cryptic self,” may erupt into autoimmune attack when fortuitously cross-reactive, dominant determinants are encountered, or upon interaction with environmental agents that excite Toll-like receptors, or provide unusual cell-activation stimuli. Deficiencies in regulation at a variety of points can alternatively unleash the available repertoire, largely directed against the cryptic self. To conclude, autoimmune disease is an outcome dependent on a string of chance events, some genetically underwritten and others related to a series of immunologic events in the lifetime of the individual that prey upon the residual self-reactive repertoire.
Clarendon as the English Thucydides

Visiting Moulins, France, in 1671, Laurence Hyde brought his father Edward, Earl of Clarendon, the trunk containing an unfinished history of the English Civil War. As advisor to King Charles I, Clarendon began the history in 1646, after a series of military defeats forced him to go to Scilly, then Jersey, a last royalist stronghold. Composition was interrupted in 1648, when the queen summoned him from Jersey to the Paris headquarters of the royalist camp. For the next dozen years he worked to restore the monarchy, which parliament had abolished, and the Prince of Wales, whose father King Charles had been executed. Both were restored in 1660, and Hyde served as chief royal counselor. After seven years of government, however, Clarendon ran afoul of both court and parliament, blamed for naval defeats at the hands of the Dutch. He was banished in 1667 and spent the next two years writing his life’s story to vindicate himself from articles of impeachment.’ He completed his History by adding passages from his autobiographical Life, written 1667–9, to the earlier History, written 1646-8 and delivered to him by Laurence in 1671.
Wearable Wireless Sensors for Rehabilitation

Advances in microprocessors, fabrication techniques, communication protocols, and machine learning algorithms have resulted in the development of wearable wireless sensors and allowed investigators to begin addressing an unmet need in clinical rehabilitation: remote monitoring of skills practice. Wearable sensor systems provide the opportunity to not only evaluate the behavior of disabled persons as it occurs in the course of daily life activities but also to provide timely, meaningful feedback to patients and their therapists that can guide and motivate progressive skills practice aimed at maximizing the recovery of motor function. While the technology of wearable sensors continues to improve, additional clinical trials are needed to generate the evidence base demonstrating the utility and efficacy of remote monitoring for clinical care and research in rehabilitation. Promising approaches to the challenges of monitoring gait and reaching movements in disabled persons are highlighted. Practical issues affecting compliance with the sensor use, the data collection, and the analysis of sensor data are discussed. The research infrastructure, sensor components, and feedback protocols necessary to support telerehabilitation will be reviewed.
“We Routinely Borrow to Survive”: Exploring the Financial Capability of Income-Poor People in India

A lack of financial capability—financial opportunities and abilities—and poverty are highly interlinked. Over 65 percent of people in India are excluded from any financial services. This article explores income-poor Indians’ experiences with financial capability through a qualitative study. Purposive sampling was used to collect data from 658 individuals, through focus groups (n = 566) and face-to-face interviews (n = 92). Findings show that 97 percent of respondents had the opportunity to earn an income, and 55 percent earned through financial inclusion programs, but 87 percent of respondents earned less than U.S. $2 a day. Although almost all saved and needed to borrow, 46 percent were eligible for formal savings and only 23 percent for formal loans. Financial abilities or knowledge and skills related to income, savings, and loans were higher among the few who had a stable income or had medium and high income in relation to those who had unstable and low income. Respondents experienced many challenges with their financial capabilities, including borrowing to save, fearing formal loans, and lacking clarity about loan and interest rate; banks miscalculating interest rates; and political parties influencing access to loans. Implications for social policy and social work practice are discussed.
Association of Intervals Between Neoadjuvant Chemoradiation and Surgical Resection With Pathologic Complete Response and Survival in Patients With Esophageal Cancer

Importance Pathologic complete response (pCR) after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (CRT) may be a clinical prognostic marker of superior outcomes. In patients with esophageal cancer, pCR is associated with increased survival. While mechanisms for increasing the likelihood of pCR remain unknown, in other solid tumors, higher rates of pCR have been associated with longer time intervals between CRT completion and surgical procedures. Objective To determine the association between time intervals from the completion of CRT to surgical procedure with rates of pCR in patients with esophageal cancer. Design, Setting, and Participants A prospectively maintained multidisciplinary foregut database was reviewed for consecutively enrolled patients with esophageal cancer from January 2000 to July 2015 presenting for surgical evaluation at a single National Cancer Institute–designated cancer center within a quaternary academic medical center. Interventions Included patients successfully completed neoadjuvant CRT followed by esophagectomy. Main Outcomes and Measures Rate of pCR by logistic regression based on a categorized time interval (ie, 0 to 42, 43 to 56, 57 to 70, 71 to 84, 85 to 98, and 99 or more days) from the completion of CRT to surgical resection, adjusted for clinical stage, demographic information, and CRT regimen. Results Of the 234 patients who met inclusion criteria, 191 (81.6%) were male, and the median (range) age was 64 (58-70) years; 206 (88.0%) were diagnosed as having adenocarcinoma, and 65 (27.9%) had a pCR. Patients in the 85 to 98–day group had significantly increased odds of a pCR compared with other groups (odds ratio, 5.46; 95% CI, 1.16-25.68; P = .03). No significant differences in survival were seen between time groups overall or among patients with residual tumor. Conclusions and Relevance This study suggests that a time interval of 85 to 98 days between CRT completion and surgical resection is associated with significantly increased odds of a pCR in patients with esophageal cancer. No adverse association with survival was detected as a result of delaying resection, even in patients with residual tumor.
HOODFAR, Homa, BETWEEN MARRIAGE AND MARKET: Intimate Politics and Survival in Cairo

HOODFAR, Homa, BETWEEN MARRIAGE AND MARKET: Intimate Politics and Survival in Cairo. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1997, 320 pp., $16.95 softcover / $45.00 hardcover. This wise and scholarly ethnographic work is the result of a field study conducted among more than sixty households in three densely populated areas of downtown Cairo between 1983 and 1994. Using the domestic nuclear household as the unit of analysis the author clearly shows how the financial and cultural constraints of the wider society shape survival strategies of working class families and how, in turn this broad range of activities affects their own standard of living as well as the economy itself In contrast to the many studies of Islamic societies with their emphasis on limitations imposed by religious ideology, Dr Hoodfar contends and sets out to prove that women's low level of participation in the formal labor force is more often the result of rational economic assessment of the real costs and net benefits than the result of patriarchal pressures and reluctance to flout Muslim customs of seclusion. As a trained anthropologist and an Iranian woman, raised in Tehran, the author is able to evaluate choices in terms, seldom grasped by Western ethnographers, unfamiliar with the highly elaborated female arenas of power characteristic of sex segregated societies. Using the colorful and culturally apt metaphor of a game of backgammon, to illustrate the way in which strategies, involving a combination of luck and assessment of available options, must take into account pre-existing and possibly shifting conditions, the author gives a multidimensional historical, demographic, social and economic overview of Egypt, the city of Cairo and the Gulf States. This enables the reader to evaluate more fully decisions made by the subjects of the study. Since aspects of this context changed considerably over the eleven year course of the study, the author prefaces each chapter with relevant updates, such as the opening up or closing of job markets and setting up or the dismantling of government programs. This is particular helpful, for example, in understanding the decision of men, who leave their families in Cairo to seek lucrative employment in the Gulf States and of women, who sometimes find it more profitable to invest time in going after subsidized food, health and education benefits than to seek paid work. The author uses therefore a very broad definition for the economic contribution of women to the household income, which avoids simplistic, symbolic equations of housework with work done by men, and involves instead an analysis of the financial impact on the household of all domestic food preparation and preservation, childrearing as a long-term investment, cash-saving activities of all kinds and dealing with public institutions. …
Noncigarette Tobacco Advertising May Be Hazardous to a Teen's Health.

* Abbreviation: PATH — : Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Cigarette smoking contributes to nearly 1 in 5 deaths in the United States and myriad health problems.1 Among the 16.8% of US adults who currently smoke, nearly 90% began to do so before they were 18 years old.2 At this age, brain development is incomplete, and youth lack full ability to make sound decisions.3 Once they begin to smoke, it can be very difficult to stop.4 Thus, it is critical to minimize prosmoking influences in young lives. In “Receptivity to Tobacco Advertising and Susceptibility to Tobacco Products Among US Adolescents,” Pierce et al5 address 1 important influence. Using early data from the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) study, they provide evidence that moderate to high levels of receptivity to advertising for tobacco products other than cigarettes is associated with susceptibility to cigarette smoking. Pierce et al5 also found that nearly half of 12- to 17-year-old nonsmoking PATH participants were receptive to some form of tobacco advertising; they had “a willingness to be open and responsive to the sponsor’s ideas, impressions, … Address correspondence to Rebecca L. Collins, PhD, RAND Corporation, 1776 Main St, Santa Monica, CA 90407. E-mail: Collins{at}rand.org
Computers Play Chess, Computers Play Go…Humans Play Dungeons & Dragons

With the AlphaGo computer program’s recent win over one of the world’s expert Go players, AI researchers need to explore new challenges in the game-playing arena. While there are a number of games to explore, the authors pose a true challenge for the next decade: attacking human-oriented games such as Dungeons & Dragons.
Improvement happens: an interview with Deeb Salem, MD and Brian Cohen, MD.

The idea of concierge medicine, where patients pay a surcharge for increased access and additional services from their physician, elicits a range of reactions in the medical community. Ethical concerns about patient abandonment and the creation of a two-tiered health care system have been raised, but the appeal of more time and support for personalized attention is a draw for some patients and physicians. In addition, some say that concierge medicine raises the bar for primary care practice writ large by reminding us of what patients want and what primary care practice can be.
Semi-direct tree reconstruction using terrestrial LiDAR point cloud data

Abstract A new method was developed for reconstructing the geometric structure of large plants such as trees at the leaf-scale by utilizing terrestrial LiDAR data. The primary goal of the work was to develop a feasible means for accurately and rapidly reconstructing or “digitizing” entire trees in order to specify the position, orientation, and size of every leaf in digital tree models that provide geometric inputs for high-resolution biophysical models or analyses. As with any optical measurement technique, a primary challenge is accurately accounting for plant matter that is occluded from view of the sensor. The present method is termed “semi-direct” because it uses a triangulation procedure to approximately directly reconstruct as many leaves as possible that are in view of the scanner. For plant matter obstructed from view, a statistical backfilling procedure was used to add additional leaves such that the three-dimensional distribution of leaf area and orientation of the reconstructed plant matched that of the actual plant on average. In a best case scenario such as when leaf density is low, nearly all leaf area is directly reconstructed from the scan and the branch and clumping structure is preserved within the reconstruction. In the worst case scenario such as when the leaf density is very high and nearly all leaves are occluded from view of the scanner, only a small fraction of leaves can be directly reconstructed, but at a minimum the distribution of leaf area and the leaf angle distribution across the reconstructed plant will be consistent with that of the actual plant. Unlike many other approaches, the present method does not rely on the woody matter of the plant to provide a skeleton for reconstruction, and can be used in dense plants where little woody matter is visible from the scanner.
Genetics and osteoarthritis

Genetic approaches complement other approaches for gaining insights about the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis. Genetic mapping of simple Mendelian skeletal diseases can identify genes that participate in normal joint homeostatic pathways. Genetic studies in cohorts of patients having common forms of osteoarthritis will be more challenging, but may also identify genes that contribute to osteoarthritis predisposition and/or disease progression. Employing the entire human transcriptome to study changes in gene expression between normal and diseased tissues, or cells, can identify other participants in these complex pathways. Finally, naturally occurring mutations, or induced genetic variations, in other organisms can be used to model human disease phenotypes and further dissect the processes responsible for disease pathogenesis.
From Old to New Materialism: Rethinking Freedom after Neoliberalism

While critiques of neoliberalism have acknowledged its departure from classical liberalism in terms of economic policy, they have failed to recognize its distinctive form of humanism, especially as enacted through the concept of freedom. This essay argues that, because of its antihumanist convictions, new materialism can be to neoliberalism what Marxist materialism was to classical liberalism. Marx’s critique of liberalism relies on the liberal view of the human as homo sapiens, but neoliberalism reimagines the human as homo oeconomicus. Under neoliberalism, state, market, human, and nature have all been subsumed under the flattened logic of capital. Marx might help us take government to task for failing to protect the environment from the market, but a government in the grips of neoliberalism will acknowledge the problem and cultivate creative ways for the market to solve it. New materialism enables an immanent critique of neoliberalism along the lines of Marx’s critique of classical liberalism because it shares neoliberalism’s flattened ontology. Proponents and opponents alike have sometimes situated these ‘new’ and ‘old’ materialisms as hostile to each other, but I maintain that tracing the materialist argument from Marx through figures like Bruno Latour, Dipesh Chakrabarty, and Jane Bennett can strengthen the critique of capital under neoliberalism.
Characterization of 1.2 kV SiC Power MOSFETs at Cryogenic Temperatures

To operate a converter at cryogenic temperatures, understanding the characteristics of power semiconductor devices is critical. This paper presents the characterization of state-of-the-art 1.2 kV SiC MOSFETs from leading manufacturers at cryogenic temperatures. The testing setup consisting of a cryogenic chamber, and a liquid nitrogen Dewar is introduced. With a curve tracer and double pulse test, comprehensive characterization of the SiC MOSFETs including both static and switching performance is conducted and evaluated. Test results indicate the on-resistance increases while the breakdown voltage remains relatively constant at cryogenic temperatures. Other characteristics like threshold voltage and switching loss vary significantly at cryogenic temperatures among devices from different manufacturers.
Return to Prussia

Ernst Eduard Kummer, while preparing Dirichlet’s eulogy for the Berlin Akademie, consulted Peter Elvenich about their youthful days together. He was told that Dirichlet had combined his love for mathematics with a deep interest in history, particularly modern French history.
Does Class Size Matter? An Exploration into Faculty Perceptions of Teaching High-Enrollment Online Courses

Class size has been a popular topic for decades. There is renewed interest in this topic now with the growth of online learning. Online courses can accommodate hundreds, if not thousands, of studen...
Botany of Mangroves

Despite such harsh environmental conditions, mangroves have colonized the nearshore environment of much of the global tropical coastline. In doing so, mangrove forests have converted what is otherwise often barren coastlines into one of the most productive ecosystems on the planet. Measured regarding human livelihoods, carbon processing, fisheries support, erosion control, or biodiversity; mangrove forests are one of the most productive ecosystems on the planet, yet they mangrove forests are historically one of the most underappreciated and misunderstood land cover types. This chapter examines the botany of mangroves. Section 1.1 describes the biology of mangroves with a focus on those present in Ecuador. Section 1.2 examines the dominant Ecuadorian mangrove that is Rhizophora mangle which is currently undergoing a taxonomic reclassification to Rhizophora samoensis. Section 1.3 delineates the global and Ecuadorian distribution of mangrove species. Section 1.4 examines current and past estimates of mangrove forest area for both global mangrove forests and Ecuadorian mangrove forests. Section 1.5 examines the role of mangrove forests in supporting the wider ecosystem that they inhabit. Section 1.6 focusses upon the role of mangrove forests in supporting wild fish fisheries and Sect 1.7 on the manner in which mangrove forests provided important livelihood options and other goods and services to the people that reside nearby. Section 1.8 elucidates on the role of mangrove forests in mitigating global climate change and recent advances in this critical arena.
Cease the IVF racket

Fertility clinics must stop profiting from expensive, unproven add-on treatments, says Clare Wilson
Envelope tracking techniques

The growing demand for high data rate cellular systems has pushed the adoption of 4G/5G Long-Term Evolution (LTE) which uses high peak-to-average power (PAPR) modulation schemes. 5G will bring high data capacity and low latency using the sub-6 GHz and mm-wave spectrum. The increased adoption of powerful worldwide smart phones has been in part possible due to increase of CMOS technology in lower feature nodes as FinFET 7 nm/14 nm. This has made possible the adoption of “old” techniques such as envelope tracking (ET) into smart phones. The ET technique was mentioned back in 1952 by Leonard R. Kahn who introduced a related technique, envelope elimination and restoration (EER). Envelope tracking improves the linearity and efficiency RF for power amplifiers, typically the most power-hungry components in a wireless transmitter. With explosive band proliferation as well as the use of carrier aggregation (CA) and multiple input multiple output (MIMO) techniques, the research area of improving the cost, size, and the performance of the RF transmit solution is very active.
Do Biologists’ Conceptions of Science as a Social Epistemology Align with Critical Contextual Empiricism?

From literature on understandings of the “nature of science” (NOS), we know that sometimes scientists and others that participate in teaching and mentoring in the sciences lack an informed view of the philosophical underpinnings of their discipline. In this study, we ask whether biologists who are also teachers or mentors for college students agree with the tenets of critical contextual empiricism (CCE), a social epistemology of science that foregrounds the importance of a diversity of voices in knowledge-producing communities. We used a Q-sort methodology to examine beliefs about social knowledge construction that are related to teaching science inclusively. Overall, we found that biologists-teachers held viewpoints somewhat consistent with the tenets of Critical Contextual Empiricism. Although participants shared many beliefs in common, we found two significantly different groups of participants that were characterized under the themes “knowledge is constructed by people” and “the truth is out there.” Overall, although participants believed a diversity of cognitive resources aids scientific communities, they failed to recognize the more nuanced ways certain social interactions might impact objective knowledge production. For one group, outside of a belief that collaboration in science is valuable, other social influences on science were assumed to be negative. For a second group, the search for universal truth and the separation of rational and social aspects was critical for scientific objectivity. We use the results of our Q-sort to identify areas for professional development focused on inclusive science teaching and to recommend the explicit teaching of CCE to science educators.
Trump Impeachment Trial in the Senate: Caught Between Politics and Law

Some may argue that the trial should be conducted like a criminal trial, with the Bill of Rights fully invoked. In this view, President Trump should not be compelled to testify. The Senate would find it sufficient to judge Trump based on the testimony of other witnesses it might call, limited by the work already done by the House in what they have sent over to the Senate. Yet that ignores the key contextual differences with other House Impeachments, that the President, or judges, as the case may be, had already cooperated with the House during its investigations, by providing evidence, witness statements, and documents in support of their side of the case. It is hard to see from the history of Senate impeachment trials, that if the Senate felt it necessary to call witnesses, how other witnesses who heard the President tell them what to do, could avoid testifying (their testimony is not hearsay under FRE 801, as it is an admission of a party, in this case, the President., and any executive privilege would likely fail in the face of the Senate’s judgment of what it needs for a fair trial. The White House may yet itself see its way to the need to protect the Office of the President, by working out a compromise. Otherwise, the Senate should be forced to preserve its powers to protect its right to exercise appropriate Congressional oversight. In 1933 the Senate determined that the Senate, not the Chief Justice, determines whether depositions will be taken of witnesses for impeachment trials, in lieu of their live testimony. But the House Managers agreed that this was sufficient, in light of what it worked out with the particular respondent. The Senate ought to have an interest in working something out with the President to protect its power going forward, but finally, the Chief Justice might also have responsibilities concerning the trial. After all, majorities change in the Senate. If the Senate chooses to ignore its Constitutional responsibilities going forward, in light of the short term political gain of protecting the President, it would create a strong argument for the Senate to do the same with other Presidential impeachments. Finally, there is nothing in the Senate rules and precedent that would foreclose the House Managers from taking up the matter with the Chief Justice. Perhaps, then, it still behooves the President and Senate majority to cooperate with the House, going forward, in order that the President can present his defense, and still protect the integrity of the Senate, and Congress as a whole; that it full fill its responsibilities to conduct a fair trial and responsibly exercise its oversight capacity of the Executive branch of government. Where such a compromise has not been worked out, it falls to the Chief Justice to ensure a fair trial.
Universal Design for Measurement: Centering the Experiences of Individuals With Disabilities Within Health Measurement Research:

People with disabilities comprise roughly 25% of the U.S. adult population yet remain underrepresented in mainstream public health and evaluation research. The lack of measures of common constructs...
Transforming data into actionable insights

As this supplement goes to press, the Veteran Health Administration’s (VHA) electronic health record system is undergoing a critical transition; from a largely home-grown system to a widely used co...
QuickNN: Memory and Performance Optimization of k-d Tree Based Nearest Neighbor Search for 3D Point Clouds

The use of Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) has enabled the continued improvement in accuracy and performance of autonomous navigation. The latest applications require LiDAR's of the highest spatial resolution, which generate a massive amount of 3D point clouds that need to be processed in real time. In this work, we investigate the architecture design for k-Nearest Neighbor (kNN) search, an important processing kernel for 3D point clouds. An approximate kNN search based on a k-dimensional (k-d) tree is employed to improve performance. However, even for today's moderate-sized problems, this approximate kNN search is severely hindered by memory bandwidth due to numerous random accesses and minimal data reuse opportunities. We apply several memory optimization schemes to alleviate the bandwidth bottleneck: 1) the k-d tree data structure is partitioned to two sets: tree nodes and point buckets, based on their distinct characteristics – tree nodes that have high reuse are cached for their lifetime to facilitate search, while point buckets with low reuse are organized in regular contiguous segments in external memory to facilitate efficient burst access; 2) write and read caches are added to gather random accesses to transform them to sequential accesses; and 3) tree construction and tree search are interleaved to cut redundant access streams. With optimized memory bandwidth, the kNN search can be further accelerated by two new processing schemes: 1) parallel tree traversal that utilizes multiple workers with minimal tree duplication overhead, and 2) incremental tree building that minimizes the overhead of tree construction by dynamically updating the tree instead of building it from scratch every time. We demonstrate the performance and memory-optimized QuickNN architecture on FPGA and perform exhaustive benchmarking, showing that up to a 19× and 7.3× speedup over k-d tree searches performed on a modern CPU and GPU, respectively, and a 14.5× speedup over a comparable sized architecture performing an exact search. Finally, we show that QuickNN achieves two orders of magnitude performance per watt increase over CPU and GPU methods.
Chapter 99 – Cavernous Malformations

Cavernous malformations of the brain and spinal cord are lesions consisting of cysts (“caverns”) filled with blood of different ages lined by an endothelial layer. Typically, there is no interposed normal brain parenchyma within the lesion. Cavernous malformations can present with seizures, hemorrhage, or symptoms of mass effect. With the widespread utilization of noninvasive imaging, incidental lesions are not uncommon. Cavernous malformations have usually a typical MRI appearance and other imaging modalities are rarely indicated. The risk of hemorrhage is related with their mode of presentation and, in symptomatic lesions, invasive treatment is indicated to prevent further bleeding and for seizure control in patients with epilepsy. Because of the very benign natural history, treatment is not indicated for asymptomatic lesions. The role of radiosurgery is controversial and this therapeutic modality should only be reserved for truly unresectable lesions that exhibit a very aggressive clinical course.
Earnings Inequality: The Implications of the Rapidly Rising Cost of Employer-Provided Health Insurance

Health insurance for a high-paid employee costs an employer the same amount as health insurance for a low-paid employee. At the same time, healthcare costs, and therefore health insurance premiums, are growing much more rapidly than earnings. Therefore, it is reasonable to expect thatwhile earnings will indeed become more unequal over timetotal compensation will not become more unequal, or, when considered over the entire labor force, at least will not become as unequal. Direct empirical evidence supports this hypothesis, based on unique, unpublished survey data about employers compensation costs collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The supporting results hold both for the period 19962008 and for the period 19922010. A regression estimated over the period 19902014 also bolsters the understanding that the rising cost of health care is a major cause of increasing earnings inequality. This finding suggests that the best policy to reduce inequality would be to effectively control the rate of growth in the cost of health care.
Kinetic and chemical mechanisms for the effects of univalent cations on the spectral properties of aromatic amine dehydrogenase

Univalent cations and pH influence the UV-visible absorption spectrum of the tryptophan tryptophylquinone (TTQ) enzyme, aromatic amine dehydrogenase (AADH). Little spectral perturbation was observed when pH was varied in the absence of univalent cations. The addition of alkali metal univalent cations (K+, Na+, Li+, Rb+ or Cs+) to oxidized AADH caused significant changes in its absorption spectrum. The apparent Kd for each cation, determined from titrations of the spectral perturbation, decreased with increasing pH. Transient kinetic studies involving rapid mixing of AADH with cations and pH jump revealed that the rate of the cation-induced spectral changes initially decreased with increasing cation concentration to a minimum value, then increased with increasing cation concentration. A kinetic model was developed to fit these data, determine the true pH-independent Kd values for K+ and Na+, and explain the pH-dependence of the apparent Kd. A chemical reaction mechanism, based on the kinetic data, is presented in which the metallic univalent cation facilitates the chemical modification of the TTQ prosthetic group to form an hydroxide adduct which gives rise to the spectral change. Addition of NH4(+)/NH3 to AADH caused changes in the absorption spectrum which were very different form those caused by addition of the metallic univalent cations. The kinetics of the reaction induced by addition of NH4+/NH3 were also different, being simple saturation kinetics. Another reaction mechanism is proposed for the NH4+/NH3-induced spectral change that involves nucleophilic addition of the unprotonated NH3 to TTQ. The general relevance of these data and models to the physiological reactions of TTQ-dependent enzymes and to the roles of univalent cations in modulating enzyme activity are discussed.
Futility stopping in clinical trials, optimality and practical considerations.

Stopping for futility is a useful tool in a clinical trial. It is widely used in single-arm trials in oncology and in many two-arm trials. We review three stopping rules for futility. We give recom...
MEASUREMENT OF sin(2ϕ1) AT BELLE

With 6.2 fb-1 of data collected on the ϒ(4S), Belle reports its first measurement of . The result was obtained by fitting the proper time distribution of flavor tagged and fully reconstructed neutral B mesons decays to five different charmonia plus a Ks or KL channels. In this paper the analysis and results will be described briefly.
Amino acid composition analysis and nutritional evaluation of vegetables from Fujian Province

Objective To investigate the amino acid composition and content of common vegetables in Fujian Province, and to evaluate their nutritional value. Methods Selecting 25 kinds of common vegetables from Fujian, composition of amino acid in protein was determined according to GB/T 5009. 124-2016 national food safety standard-determination of amino acid. Evaluating method for nutritional value in food protein: to evaluate nutritional evaluation of vegetable protein by fuzzy recognition, essential amino acid index(EAAI), ratio coefficient(RC) and score ratio coefficient(SRC). Results Kinds of protein amino acid in vegetables were abundant, including 17 kinds of amino acids. Total amino acid content was from 224. 3 to 16202. 1 mg/100 g edible, the ratio of essential amino acids was from 0. 17 to 0. 44, RC was from 0. 13 to 1. 82, SRC was from 50. 56 to 82. 18, the first limiting amino acids of vegetable protein were methionine and cystine. Conclusion There are various kinds of protein amino acids in vegetables, including all essential amino acids of human body. There is big difference among different kinds of amino acids.
Far from Heaven (2002)

In Far From Heaven (2002), Todd Haynes adapts Douglas Sirk’s All That Heaven Allows (1955) through a retrospective lens that fully takes into account Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s Fear Eats the Soul (1974). Transforming the narrative of Cary Scott and Ron Kirby, Haynes splits the character played by Rock Hudson into two, reflecting on the one hand Fassbinder’s interest in otherness based on ethnicity and on the other the 1980s revelation of Hudson’s closeted homosexuality. Haynes’s imitation of Sirk’s style creates a sense of the uncanny, altering cultural memories that seemed definitively fixed. In a way typical of art film adaptation in the postmodern era, Haynes differentiates himself from Fassbinder by reactivating Sirk’s canonical work as an essential part of the rhetoric of Far From Heaven.
Development of a New 21-Bus Test Power System for Teaching Purposes and Stability Studies using Digsilent Powerfactory

This paper presents a new 21-bus power system model developed using the simulation software ‘DIgSILENT PowerFactory’ representing the reduced Norwegian power transmission network. The network includes a 132 kV regional network and a 420 kV transmission network to visualize local and inter-area modes of oscillations. The network data is adopted from the benchmark model ‘Nordic 44’. The model is validated by analyzing some of the static and dynamic simulation results recommended by IEEE task force for the benchmark models. The presented model is recommended to use teaching power system dynamics for new electrical engineers.
Scaling Up of Non-Thermal Gliding Arc Plasma Systems for Industrial Applications

Scaling up of transitional “warm” plasmas to industrial level gives possibility to develop plasma systems that combine advantages of thermal and non thermal discharges such as low temperature and high process selectivity (compare to thermal plasma) at high pressure and average power density. Non-equilibrium “cold” gliding arcs (with observation of equilibrium to non equilibrium transition) has been demonstrated at power level 2–3 kW and proved to be a highly efficient plasma stimulators of several plasma chemical and plasma catalytic processes, including hydrogen/syngas generation from biomass, coal and organic wastes, exhaust gas cleaning, fuel desulfurization and water cleaning from emerging contaminants. The gliding arc evolution includes initial micro-arc phase with fast transition to transient non-equilibrium phase with elevated electric field, low gas and high electron temperatures, as well as selective generation of active species typical for cold plasmas. The paper will describe experimentally achieved scaling up of the non-equilibrium gliding arc discharges to the level of 10–15 kW, as well as theoretical scaling up limitations of this powerful non-equilibrium plasma systems.