cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Soft-tissue allografts terminally sterilized with an electron beam are biomechanically equivalent to aseptic, nonsterilized tendons.

Background: Allograft safety is contingent on effective sterilization. However, current sterilization methods have been associated with decreased biomechanical strength and higher failure rates of soft-tissue allografts. In this study, electron beam (e-beam) sterilization was explored as an alternative sterilization method to preserve biomechanical integrity. We hypothesized that e-beam sterilization would not significantly alter the biomechanical properties of tendon allograft compared with aseptic, nonsterilized controls and gamma-irradiated grafts. Methods: Separate sets of forty fresh-frozen tibialis tendon allografts (four from each of ten donors) and forty bisected bone-patellar tendon-bone (BTB) allografts (four from each of ten donors) were randomly assigned to four study groups. One group received a 17.1 to 21.0-kGy gamma radiation dose; two other groups were sterilized with an e-beam at either a high (17.1 to 21.0-kGy) or low (9.2 to 12.2-kGy) dose. A fourth group served as nonsterilized controls. Each graft was cyclically loaded to 200 N of tension for 2000 cycles at a frequency of 2 Hz, allowed to relax for five minutes, and then tested in tension until failure at a 100%/sec strain rate. One-way analysis of variance testing was used to identify significant differences. Results: Tibialis tendons sterilized with both e-beam treatments and with gamma irradiation exhibited values for cyclic tendon elongation, maximum load, maximum displacement, stiffness, maximum stress, maximum strain, and elastic modulus that were not significantly different from those of nonsterilized controls. BTB allografts sterilized with the high e-beam dose and with gamma irradiation were not significantly different in cyclic tendon elongation, maximum load, maximum displacement, stiffness, maximum stress, maximum strain, and elastic modulus from nonsterilized controls. BTB allografts sterilized with the e-beam at the lower dose were significantly less stiff than nonsterilized controls (p = 0.014) but did not differ from controls in any other properties. The difference in stiffness likely resulted from variations in tendon size rather than the treatments, as the elastic moduli of the groups were similar. Conclusions: The biomechanical properties of tibialis and BTB allografts sterilized with use of an e-beam at a dose range of 17.1 to 21.0 kGy were not different from those of aseptic, nonsterilized controls or gamma-irradiated allografts. Clinical Relevance: E-beam sterilization can be a viable method to produce safe and biomechanically uncompromised soft-tissue allografts.
A comparison of biased regression estimators using a pitman nearness criterion

Biased regression estimators have traditionally benn studied using the Mean Square Error (MSE) criterion. Usually these comparisons have been based on the sum of the MSE's of each of the individual parameters, i.e., a scaler valued measure that is the trace of the MSE matrix. However, since this summed MSE does not consider the covariance structure of the estimators, we propose the use of a Pitman Measure of Closeness (PMC) criterion (Keating and Gupta, 1984; Keating and Mason, 1985). In this paper we consider two versions of PMC. One of these compares the estimates and the other compares the resultant predicted values for 12 different regression estimators. These estimators represent three classes of estimators, namely, ridge, shrunken, and principal component estimators. The comparisons of these estimators using the PMC criteria are contrasted with the usual MSE criteria as well as the prediction mean square error. Included in the estimators is a relatively new estimator termed the generalized principal...
Quantification of histone modification ChIP-seq enrichment for data mining and machine learning applications

Background The advent of ChIP-seq technology has made the investigation of epigenetic regulatory networks a computationally tractable problem. Several groups have applied statistical computing methods to ChIP-seq datasets to gain insight into the epigenetic regulation of transcription. However, methods for estimating enrichment levels in ChIP-seq data for these computational studies are understudied and variable. Since the conclusions drawn from these data mining and machine learning applications strongly depend on the enrichment level inputs, a comparison of estimation methods with respect to the performance of statistical models should be made.
Changes in carbon storage and fluxes in a chronosequence of ponderosa pine

Forest development following stand-replacing disturbance influences a variety of ecosystem processes including carbon exchange with the atmosphere. On a series of ponderosa pine (Pinius ponderosa var. Laws.) stands ranging from 9 to> 300 years in central Oregon, USA, we used biological measurements to estimate carbon storage in vegetation and soil pools, net primary productivity (NPP) and net ecosystem productivity (NEP) to examine variation with stand age. Measurements were made on plots representing four age classes with three replications: initiation (I, 9–23 years), young (Y, 56–89 years), mature (M, 95–106 years), and old (O, 190–316 years) stands typical of the forest type in the region. Net ecosystem productivity was lowest in the I stands (−124 g C m−2 yr−1), moderate in Y stands (118 g C m−2 yr−1), highest in M stands (170 g C m−2 yr−1), and low in the O stands (35 g C m−2 yr−1). Net primary productivity followed similar trends, but did not decline as much in the O stands. The ratio of fine root to foliage carbon was highest in the I stands, which is likely necessary for establishment in the semiarid environment, where forests are subject to drought during the growing season (300–800 mm precipitation per year). Carbon storage in live mass was the highest in the O stands (mean 17.6 kg C m−2). Total ecosystem carbon storage and the fraction of ecosystem carbon in aboveground wood mass increased rapidly until 150–200 years, and did not decline in older stands. Forest inventory data on 950 ponderosa pine plots in Oregon show that the greatest proportion of plots exist in stands ∼ 100 years old, indicating that a majority of stands are approaching maximum carbon storage and net carbon uptake. Our data suggests that NEP averages ∼ 70 g C m−2 year−1 for ponderosa pine forests in Oregon. About 85% of the total carbon storage in biomass on the survey plots exists in stands greater than 100 years, which has implications for managing forests for carbon sequestration. To investigate variation in carbon storage and fluxes with disturbance, simulation with process models requires a dynamic parameterization for biomass allocation that depends on stand age, and should include a representation of competition between multiple plant functional types for space, water, and nutrients.
Kids in the tutor seat: Building schools' capacity to help struggling readers through a cross‐age peer‐tutoring program

Increasingly, elementary schools across America are adopting prereferral intervention models that follow a structured problem-solving consultation process to reduce referrals to special education and to improve student academic outcomes. One feasible and affordable systems-level solution for a school that must deliver reading interventions of high quality to many children is an effective cross-age peer-tutoring program. The present study examines the impact of a school-based peer-tutoring intervention on the fluency of delayed readers in an urban school district. A peer-tutoring program was implemented across four elementary schools, with a total of 27 tutors and 27 tutees. Tutors and tutees were monitored weekly using CBM oral reading-fluency probes, and treatment integrity checks were conducted periodically on all tutor pairs. While both tutors and tutees showed increases in reading fluency during the program, students receiving tutoring made substantially greater gains than did tutors. The article provides guidelines for implementing an effective cross-age peer-tutoring program in a range of school settings. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 43: 99–107, 2006.
Viscoelastic Effect of Heat Treatment on the Fracture Toughness of Metal‐Particulate/Glass‐Matrix Composites

The fracture toughness (KIc) of a 90/10 glass-matrix/metal-particulate composite was measured as a function of treatment temperature and hold time. The toughness was 20% higher at a heat-treatment temperature 15°C below Tg than at the other four treatment temperatures examined. KIc also varied as a function of time at temperature. The volume fraction of exposed particulate phase on the fracture surface was proportional to the increase in the fracture toughness.
The Effects of Instructional Intervention on Improving Proportional, Probabilistic, and Correlational Reasoning Skills among Undergraduate Education Majors.

The main purpose of this study was to test the effect of instruction to improve the reasoning skills of undergraduates majoring in the field of education. The results of this investigation demonstrate the lack of proficiency in formal reasoning by undergraduate education majors in the areas of proportional, probabilistic, and correlational reasoning. However, after receiving three specifically planned interventions, students in the experimental group showed improvement in all three areas of reasoning (p ≤ 0.05). Also, it was noted that students with science and/or math in their backgrounds performed significantly (p ≤ 0.05) better in all three areas of reasoning on both pre- and post-tests than did students with no science or math in their backgrounds. This study is among the first to show that background knowledge obtained from college level science and math courses correlates with better reasoning skills. Data from this study also demonstrated that interventions focusing on probability and proportionality improved the correlational reasoning skills of students. The results of this investigation indicate that deficiencies in reasoning abilities in the areas of proportionality, probability, and correlational reasoning can be successfully addressed even with limited classroom intervention. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 37: 981–995, 2000
Network-Based Root of Trust for Installation

A network-based system installation method that binds a file system to its installer and disk image thwarts many known attacks against the installation process.
The Survey Engineer - A Rare Species

The Sixth National Surveying Teachers Conference, supported by National Science Foundation, sponsored by American Society for Engineering Education and the other professional societies concerned with surveying, held August 1968, revealed an annual demand in the United States for 3,750 survey techniques, 2,750 professional graduates competent in survey engineering at the B.S. level, and 225 graduates with advanced degrees. However, the average annual supply of graduates at each level, respectively, is 4%, 1%, and 19%. At the M.S. and/or Ph.D. level 42 graduates pre year are produced. Government mapping agencies and private survey organizations have attempted in-house programs to develop the required personnel. These programs have been useful, though expensive, at the technician level but ineffective at the professional level. Salaries for technicians, rodmen, chainmen, instrumentmen, party chiefs, and plotter operators, range from $7,000 to $15,00 guaranteed annual income. Salaries for B.S. graduates in surveying are approximately 10% to 25% higher than for graduates in other areas of engineering competence. Recommendations to correct the situation were developed by the 125 delegates to the Surveying Teachers Conference in ten broad areas.
Investigating Herds with Lameness Problems

Many dairy herds have unusual or exceptionally serious lameness problems. Based on published observations of risk factors for specific disease problems, along with the author's experience, this article describes a systematic way to approach and evaluate lameness problems. It is important to define the etiologic diagnosis because preventive or corrective measures depend on the cause of the herd problem. Compound etiologies and complex risk factor interactions are the norm in this sometimes frustrating endeavor.
Social support and smoking behavior: The impact of network composition and type of support on cessation and relapse

The extant literature has examined the structural elements of social support, or the supportive functions of interpersonal relationships of smokers. Seldom have they been studied in conjunction. A questionnaire assessed the frequency with which general and smoking specific support was given to people who went on to become successful abstainers or relapsed during the last attempt to quit, as well as the smoking status of the persons who made up the smoker's network. Results revealed some differential relationships between network composition and type of social support given, depending on the eventual smoking status of the individual.
Phone classification by a hierarchy of invariant representation layers.

We propose a multi-layer feature extraction framework for speech, capable of providing invariant representations. A set of templates is generated by sampling the result of applying smooth, identity-preserving transformations (such as vocal tract length and tempo variations) to arbitrarily-selected speech signals. Templates are then stored as the weights of “neurons”. We use a cascade of such computational modules to factor out different types of transformation variability in a hierarchy, and show that it improves phone classification over baseline features. In addition, we describe empirical comparisons of a) different transformations which may be responsible for the variability in speech signals and of b) different ways of assembling template sets for training. The proposed layered system is an effort towards explaining the performance of recent deep learning networks and the principles by which the human auditory cortex might reduce the sample complexity of learning in speech recognition. Our theory and experiments suggest that invariant representations are crucial in learning from complex, real-world data like natural speech. Our model is built on basic computational primitives of cortical neurons, thus making an argument about how representations might be learned in the human auditory cortex. Index Terms: Invariance, Auditory Cortex, Phonetic Classification, Convolutional Network
Effect of Sindbis virus infection on hydrocortisone-induced hepatic enzymes in mice.

SummaryHormonal induction of three hepatic enzymes, phosphoenolpyruvate car-boxykinase, tryptophan oxygenase, and ty-rosine aminotransferase, was significantly inhibited in mice infected with Sindbis virus. Induction of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxy-kinase was suppressed whether it was elicited by overnight fasting or by administration of hydrocortisone. This enzyme responded normally to steroid induction 4 hr after virus administration, but after 6 hr, it was significantly less responsive, The timing of this effect corresponds with the appearance of interferon in the serum of virus-infected mice and mice injected with uvirradiated virus, but results with commercially available interferon make it questionable whether interferon is the factor responsible.
109 SURGICAL CORRECTION OF ANEURYSMS OF THE SINUS OF VALSALVA IN THE 21ST CENTURY

Objective To evaluate contemporary management of sinus of Valsalva aneurysms. Methods We reviewed the medical records of all patients, since 2000, presenting to UCLA with rare sinus of Valsalva aneurysms. Seven patients (6 males, 1 female) were identified with a mean age of 22.2 yrs (range, 6 wks to 45 yrs). Their mode of presentation, diagnosis and operative management were evaluated and compared to historical controls. Results Forty-three percent (3/7) of cases presented unruptured. Patients with ruptured aneurysms presented with exercise intolerance, continuous murmurs and volume overload from left to right shunting. In every case, the aneurysm originated in the right coronary sinus, protruding or rupturing into the right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) in 5, the right ventricle in 1 and the pulmonary artery in another. Color Doppler and 2-D echocardiography was the most common diagnostic tool (5), supplemented by cardiac catheterization (4) and transesophageal echocardiography (2). Predominant co-existing defects included VSD (6) and PFO (2). Four and one patient presented with important aortic and tricuspid regurgitation.Operative strategy required cardiopulmonary bypass and cardioplegia for myocardial protection. The aortic root was opened in all cases in addition to the communicating cardiac chambers and great vessels. Pericardium was used to repair the coronary sinus and obliterate the fistulous tract. Additional VSD closures (6), aortic valve repairs (4), PFO closures (2) and tricuspid valve repair (1) were performed. There was no patient mortality, residual shunting or valvular dysfunction. Conclusion Contemporary surgical repair of rare sinus of Valsalva aneurysms yields excellent outcomes.
AANA Journal course: update for nurse anesthetists--a comprehensive review of remifentanil: the next generation opioid.

Over the last two decades, profound changes have taken place in the way elective surgery is practiced with the majority of surgical patients now admitted and discharged through ambulatory surgical facilities. After initial hesitation on the part of the surgeons, anesthesia care providers, and patients and their families, this practice is now clearly accepted. A variety of surgical advances (e.g., new endoscopic procedures, laser technology, and extracorporeal shock wave procedures) have allowed surgeons to simplify and abbreviate surgical procedures. Anesthesia care providers now, more than ever, need rapid acting agents to keep apace with these surgical technological advances; the pressure to produce rapid room turnover and rapid recovery from anesthesia is unprecedented. Ideally, the anesthetic care plan and drug selection should precisely match the need of the individual patient and the surgical procedure. Remifentanil, a new member of the fentanyl family, is the first ultra-short-acting opioid that can be rapidly titrated and individualized for various levels of surgical stimuli. Relatively large doses can be administered, permitting rapid extubation and awakening at the end of the procedure. Remifentanil differs from all other opioids, possessing an ester linkage that allows predictable pharmacokinetics. Remifentanil may have potential for clinical exploitation where rapid onset and offset of opioid effects are desirable.
Operative Cholangiography: An Aid in Reducing the Incidence of Residual Common Duct Stones

The incidence of “unsuspected stones” in the common duct at the time of cholecystectomy is 3 to 4 per cent. The incidence of “overlooked stones” in the common duct after instrumental exploration is probably 8 to 27 per cent. Routine use of operative cholangiography will decrease the incidence of residual stones. No appreciable risk is associated with the procedure if reasonable care is exercised. Technically satisfactory results are obtained with mobile roentgenographs equipment.
A Novel Approach for Biaxial Residual Stress Mapping Using the Contour and Slitting Methods

This paper describes a residual stress measurement approach that determines a two-dimensional map of biaxial residual stress. The biaxial measurement is a combination of contour method, slitting method measurements on a thin slices removed adjacent to the contour plane, and a computation to account for the effects of slice removal. The measurement approach uses only mechanical stress release methods, which is advantageous for some measurement articles. The measurement approach is verified with independent confirmation measurements. Biaxial mapping measurements are performed in a long aluminum bar (77.8 mm width, 51.2 mm thickness, and 304.8 mm length) that has residual stresses induced with quenching. The measured stresses are consistent with quench induced residual stress, having peak magnitude of 150 MPa and a distribution that is tensile toward the center of the bar and compressive around the boundary. The validating confirmation measurement results have good agreement with results from the biaxial mapping approach.
The science of mind

In Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature , Richard Rorty attributes to Rene Descartes the invention of a distinctively modern notion of the mind. According to Rorty, Descartes deviated from previous thinkers, both Aristotelian and Platonic, in taking the realm of the “mental” to include both the “sensory grasp of particulars” and the intellectual grasp of universals. What makes these apparently heterogeneous kinds both count as mental is the fact that we have indubitable access to the various states. Thus, Descartes made indubitability the new mark of the mental. Rorty claims that this new mark was connected to a new conception of the mind as “an inner arena with its inner observer.” This new conception in turn rendered knowledge of what exists outside of the inner arena problematic, and thus made it possible “to pose the problem of the veil of ideas, the problem which made epistemology central to philosophy.” There can be no doubt that Descartes deviated in some significant ways from the psychology of Aristotle and the later scholastics. However, the deviations are linked less to epistemological preoccupations with external world skepticism than to a concern to articulate a new metaphysical conception of the mind and its relation to the material world. The first of the three sections in this chapter considers the Aristotelian and scholastic accounts of the soul that serve as the foil for Descartes’s discussions, and then takes up Descartes’s view of the mind and its influence on his early modern successors.
Deflation strategies to improve the convergence of communication-avoiding GMRES

The generalized minimum residual (GMRES) method is a popular method for solving a large-scale sparse nonsymmetric linear system of equations. On modern computers, especially on a large-scale system, the communication is becoming increasingly expensive. To address this hardware trend, a communication-avoiding variant of GMRES (CA-GMRES) has become attractive, frequently showing its superior performance over GMRES on various hardware architectures. In practice, to mitigate the increasing costs of explicitly orthogonalizing the projection basis vectors, the iterations of both GMRES and CA-GMRES are restarted, which often slows down the solution convergence. To avoid this slowdown and improve the performance of restarted CA-GMRES, in this paper, we study the effectiveness of deflation strategies. Our studies are based on a thick restarted variant of CA-GMRES, which can implicitly deflate a few Ritz vectors, that approximately span an eigenspace of the coefficient matrix, through the standard orthogonalization process. This strategy is mathematically equivalent to the standard thick-restarted GMRES, and it requires only a small computational overhead and does not increase the communication or storage costs of CA-GMRES. Hence, by avoiding the communication, this deflated version of CA-GMRES obtains the same performance benefits over the deflated version of GMRES as the standard CA-GMRES does over GMRES. Our experimental results on a hybrid CPU/GPU cluster demonstrate that thick-restart can significantly improve the convergence and reduce the solution time of CA-GMRES. We also show that this deflation strategy can be combined with a local domain decomposition based preconditioner to further enhance the robustness of CA-GMRES, making it more attractive in practice.
386. rAAV-Mediated Reduction of Alpha-Synuclein in the Substantia Nigra of the African Green Monkey Results in Neurodegeneration

Parkinson Disease (PD) is characterized by the loss of midbrain nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons and the presence of proteinacious inclusions known as Lewy bodies. Lewy bodies are highly enriched in the protein alpha-synuclein (α-syn). Mutations or multiplication of the α-syn gene are also implicated in some familial forms of PD. Thus, α-syn has been proposed to directly contribute to dopamine (DA) neuron loss in sporadic and familial forms of PD. The predominant hypothesis posits that α-syn-mediated pathology arises due to a toxic gain-of-function. Hence, some therapeutic strategies are aimed at reducing α-syn protein from DA neurons. However, our own efforts to reduce α-syn load in midbrain DA neurons of rodents caused enhanced DA neurodegeneration. This suggested that the reduction of α-syn protein can also be toxic, and that a certain level of α-syn is crucial to DAergic neuron survival. As a result of this observation we propose that α-syn is not a toxic species in PD per se; but rather that α-syn aggregation decreases the pool of soluble α-syn within a neuron to sufficiently impair cellular function and produce pathology. In the current study we expanded our investigation to the non-human primate.African Green monkeys (n=1) were injected unilaterally in the substantia nigra (SN) with low (5×1012 vector genomes (vg)/ml) or high (2×1013vg/ml) titer AAV2/5 expressing a shRNA designed against a-syn or scrambled shRNA as control (total of 4 subjects). Animals were monitored for behavioral deficits indicative of nigrostriatal denervation for three months until sacrifice. Following sacrifice, brains were analyzed for striatal catecholamine content and neuropathology of the SN.The subject treated with high-dose a-syn shRNA exhibited a progressive deficit in a summary score of healthy behaviors, but no increase in overt parkinsonian signs. Analysis of tissue indicated that all a-syn shRNA treated animals exhibited reduced striatal DA levels as compared to the intact hemisphere. A stereological count of midbrain tyrosine hydroxylase positive (TH+) neurons indicated that neurodegeneration was preferentially present in the ventral tier of a-syn shRNA treated SNs, whereas the dorsal tier displayed modest neurodegeneration. The ventral tegmental area remained intact. Scrambled shRNA treated subjects showed no behavioral or neural pathology. Transduction, as measured by the marker GFP (transduction marker), was observed throughout the SN in control subjects. In contrast, GFP was only seen in dorsomedial neurons of a-syn shRNA treated animals, ostensibly due to the loss of DA neuron loss in the ventral tier. Additionally, a-syn shRNA treatment caused a loss of TH phenotype in some surviving neurons as indicated by the observation of several TH-/neuromelanin+ neurons.Our results indicate that non-human primate nigral dopamine (particularly ventral tier) neurons require a-syn for survival, and that the experimentally-induced neuron loss is not a product of nonspecific shRNA toxicity.
Are Mutual Fund Managers Good Gamblers

I investigate the skill of mutual fund managers by focusing in their holdings of a special type of stock. Kumar (2009) classifies low price, high idiosyncratic risk and skewness stocks as ‘Lottery Stocks’, and shows that these securities severely under-perform. I look at the effect that these investments have on the performance of U.S. equity mutual funds, and how they reflect on the skill of the manager. As part of this analysis I introduce the ‘Lottery Score’, the percentage of equity assets invested in Lottery Stocks. I find that the Lottery Stocks that fund managers pick tend to outperform the rest of the market, and the funds themselves persistently outperform similar funds that don’t invest in these stocks. An investable strategy that buys Lottery Stocks held by the funds and sells those ignored by them attains a monthly alpha of 2%. The Lottery Score is shown to be a good predictor of fund performance, even after controlling for a number of previously introduced measures of skill. Since the funds’ out-performance cannot be fully explained by their allocation to Lottery Stocks, this behavior uncovers a more general ability for asset management.
Identification of critical node clusters for consensus in large-scale spatial networks

Abstract In this work, we address the problem of identifying a set of nodes that are critical to the rate of convergence of consensus dynamics in large-scale spatial networks. By assuming that nodes are uniformly distributed over a spatial region and that these can communicate with others in an infinitesimally small neighborhood, we start by formulating the consensus problem by means of a partial differential equation involving the Laplace operator, subject to Neumann boundary condition. As with its finite-dimensional counterpart, we observe how the performance of these dynamics is directly related to the second smallest eigenvalue of the Laplace operator over the domain of interest. We then reduce the critical node set identification problem to that of finding a ball of fixed radius, whose removal minimizes the rate of convergence over the residual domain. This leads us to consider two functional optimization problems. First, we treat the problem of determining the second smallest eigenvalue for a fixed domain by minimizing an energy functional. We characterize the critical points of the energy functional, and then construct the gradient dynamics that converge to the set of critical points. We then prove that the only locally asymptotically stable critical point is the second eigenfunction of the Laplace operator. Building on these results, we consider the critical ball identification problem, provide a characterization of the critical points, and define gradient dynamics to converge asymptotically to these points.
The Anatomy of a Typical Crisis

Historians view each event as unique. In contrast economists search for the patterns in the data, and the systematic relationships between an event and its antecedents. History is particular; economics is general. The business cycle is a standard feature of market economies; increases in investment spending lead to increases in household incomes and in GDP growth rates. Macroeconomics focuses on the explanations for the cyclical variations in the rates of growth of GDP around the long-run trend rates of growth and why these trend rates are higher in some countries than in others.
The IRS's Tax Determination Authority

This paper discusses the IRS's procedures for reviewing and examining tax returns, negotiating tax liabilities after an audit, and the IRS's final determination subject to judicial review.
ElectroCat: DOE's approach to PGM-free catalyst and electrode R&D

Abstract The successful development of high-performance, durable platinum group metal-free (PGM-free) electrocatalysts and electrodes for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) will ultimately improve the cost-competiveness of fuel cells in a wide range of applications. This is considered to be a critical development especially for automotive fuel cell applications in order to bring the system cost of an automotive fuel cell system down to the $30/kW cost target set by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The platinum group metal (PGM) electrocatalysts are a major contributor to the system cost. Addressing the technical challenges to PGM-free electrocatalyst and electrode development, therefore, represents one of DOE's most pressing research and development (R&D) priorities. ElectroCat was formed by the DOE as part of the Energy Materials Network (EMN) in early 2016, and shares with other EMN consortia the goal of decreasing the time to market for advanced materials related to clean energy technologies, in the context of increasing U.S. fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) manufacturing competitiveness. To accomplish this, the consortium performs core research and development and provides universities and companies streamlined access to the unique, world-class set of tools and expertise relevant to early-stage applied PGM-free catalyst R&D of the member national laboratories. Moreover, ElectroCat fosters a systematic methodology by which prospective catalysts and electrodes are prepared and analyzed rapidly and comprehensively using high-throughput, combinatorial methods. Catalyst discovery is augmented by theory as well as foundational electrocatalysis and materials knowledge at the participating national laboratories. Furthermore, ElectroCat has developed a data sharing framework, requisite of all EMN consortia, for disseminating its findings to the public via a searchable database, to further expedite incorporation of PGM-free electrocatalysts into next-generation fuel cells by advancing the general understanding of the PGM-free electrocatalyst field.
Wide ranging equation of state with Tartarus: A hybrid Green’s function/orbital based average atom code

Abstract Average atom models are widely used to make equation of state tables and for calculating other properties of materials over a wide range of conditions, from zero temperature isolated atom to fully ionized free electron gases. The numerical challenge of making these density functional theory based models work for any temperature, density or nuclear species is formidable. Here we present in detail a hybrid Green’s function/orbital based approach that has proved to be stable and accurate for wide ranging conditions. Algorithmic strategies are discussed. In particular the decomposition of the electron density into numerically advantageous parts is presented and a robust and rapid self consistent field method based on a quasi-Newton algorithm is given. Example application to the equation of state of lutetium (Z = 71) is explored in detail, including the effect of relativity , finite temperature exchange and correlation, and a comparison to a less approximate method. The hybrid scheme is found to be numerically stable and accurate for lutetium over at least 6 orders of magnitude in density and 5 orders of magnitude in temperature.
Coarse pixel shading with temporal supersampling

Decoupled sampling techniques such as coarse pixel shading can lower the shading rate while resolving visibility at the full resolution, thereby preserving details along geometric edges. However, while these techniques can significantly reduce shading costs, they also reduce shading quality. In this paper we extend coarse pixel shading with a temporal supersampling scheme that notably improves image quality. We derive multiple shading and visibility samples by jittering each frame using a novel sequence that produces a suitable distribution of samples in both the shading and visibility domain, and temporally resolve these samples to enhance the shading resolution and reduce aliasing. We demonstrate a substantial reduction in shading cost compared to checkerboard rendering, which is another temporal supersampling technique widely used in games today.
Family Therapy: A Treatment Approach with Substance Abusers in Inpatient and Residential Facilities

Family therapy is more easily done in residential settings for abusers than in outpatient settings because the family is a captive audience that can and should be required to participate in therapy if any contact is to occur. It is also essential to engage the family in treatment because if they are not a part of the solution they will frequently pull the patient out of the treatment setting. In addition the patient will frequently duplicate patterns in treatment which originate with the family and can only be recognized, understood, and changed if the patient is seen in the total family setting. Family therapy is presently being used by most substance abuse treatment agencies. A recent survey of 2012 agencies involved with treating substance abuse found that 93% provide some type of family therapy, and 75% of these agencies include the client and his or her entire family (Coleman, 1978). Additionally, 62% provide couple therapy and 36% group therapy for clients’ parents (Basen, 1977). In drug abuse programs, the emphases have broadened so that both types of programs are viewing family therapy as involving three generational systems. Family treatment of substance abusers is a complicated process. In meeting the needs of the family as an entity, the spouse and parental subsystems, the sibling subsystem, and the individual needs of each person in the family must be considered. The therapy of each of these three systems must interlock and work in harmony. This can be done if the same therapist or therapeutic team treats all parts of the family. If not, there must be close communication between therapists.
Igneous experiments on melts and fluids

Volatiles play a central role in many magmas, changing melt structure, liquidus phase relationships, and the physical properties of melts. Separation of volatiles from magmas by formation of a fluid phase is the critical process in many volcanic eruptions and may play that role in formation of some ore-forming fluids. We have separated the discussion of experiments involving melt-fluid interaction into a separate chapter because many of the techniques are quite different from those used in crystal-liquid experiments. The objectives in the experiments described here are to provide data for thermodynamic models of volatiles in melts and to determine element partitioning between melts and fluids.
Case Study: Mycophenolate Mofetil

Mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) is an orally bioavailable prodrug of mycophenolic acid (MPA), a potent immunosuppressive agent. MPA acts by inhibiting inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH), which catalyzes the first step in de novo synthesis of guanine (Ransom, 1995). This process is critical to mitogen-stimulating lymphocytes, which gives rise to MPA’s therapeutic efficacy.
Astromimetics: The dawn of a new era for (bio)materials science?

Composite, multifunctional fine particles are likely to be at the frontier of materials science in the foreseeable future. Here we present a submicron composite particle that mimics the stratified ...
Radioactive Iodine-Refractory Differentiated Thyroid Cancer in the Elderly.

Most common thyroid cancers are differentiated thyroid cancers (DTCs) and have papillary, follicular, or Hurthle cell morphology. Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is the most common malignant tumor of the thyroid gland. The incidence of DTC increases with age. While most of the patients with DTC have an excellent prognosis, the outcome can be poor when diagnosed in elderly patients. Current treatment approach for DTC includes surgery, thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) suppression, radioactive iodine, external beam radiotherapy, or systemic treatments such as kinase inhibitors. Radioactive iodine therapy (RAI) is the primary first-line systemic treatment for advanced DTC. However, during the course of treatment, the tumor may become refractory to RAI. Elderly patients are more likely to be diagnosed with advanced disease that can be refractory to RAI. The advent of TKIs (tyrosine kinase inhibitors) and their usage in RAI refractory disease has shown improved progression-free survival. These agents are, however, associated with increased toxicity. The variable nature of disease and toxicity associated with the systemic therapy makes it important to have an individualized approach to management, especially in the elderly population who can be more susceptible to toxicities.
The effects of fuel–air mixing and injector dribble on diesel unburned hydrocarbon emissions:

The primary objective of this work is a more complete characterization of the sources of diesel unburned hydrocarbon and a better understanding of their minimization over a range of combustion-syst...
Reducing Iatrogenic Pneumothoraces: Using Real-Time Ultrasound Guidance for Pleural Procedures.

Objectives Awareness of the impact of bedside ultrasound to reduce iatrogenic pneumothoraces while performing bedside pleural procedures has increased but with little understanding in how ultrasound is used for these procedures. Design and setting We conducted a retrospective chart review at a tertiary referral center in the United States from January 1, 2014, to March 31, 2017. Our study assessed adverse effect rates between real-time ultrasound-guided and ultrasound-marked thoracenteses and thoracostomy tube placements. Patients Three-hundred ninety-four ICU patients were included in this study. Measurements and main results There was a significant difference in the rate of adverse effects between real-time ultrasound-guided (0.63% [95% CI, 0.11-3.4%]) and ultrasound-marked (6.89% [95% CI, 4.15-11.24%]; p ≤ 0.01) procedures. More specifically, the rate of pneumothoraces was different between the two procedures (0.63% [95% CI, 0.11-3.4%] vs 4.43% [95% CI, 2.35-8.21%]; p = 0.02). In patients mechanically ventilated, there was a significant difference in overall adverse effect rates between groups of ultrasound use (p = 0.01). Conclusions The use of real-time ultrasound guidance was associated with a lower rate of iatrogenic pneumothoraces.
Incarvillateine produces antinociceptive and motor suppressive effects via adenosine receptor activation

(-)-Incarvillateine (INCA) is a natural product that has garnered attention due to its purported analgesic effects and historical use as a pain reliever in China. α-Truxillic acid monoesters (TAMEs) constitute a class of inhibitors targeting fatty acid binding protein 5 (FABP5), whose inhibition produces analgesia in animal models. The structural similarity between INCA and TAMEs motivated us to assess whether INCA exerts its antinociceptive effects via FABP inhibition. We found that, in contrast to TAMEs, INCA did not exhibit meaningful binding affinities toward four human FABP isoforms (FABP3, FABP4, FABP5 and FABP7) in vitro. INCA-TAME, a putative monoester metabolite of INCA that closely resembles TAMEs also lacked affinity for FABPs. Administration of INCA to mice produced potent antinociceptive effects while INCA-TAME was without effect. Surprisingly, INCA also potently suppressed locomotor activity at the same dose that produces antinociception. The motor suppressive effects of INCA were reversed by the adenosine A2 receptor antagonist 3,7-dimethyl-1-propargylxanthine. Collectively, our results indicate that INCA and INCA-TAME do not inhibit FABPs and that INCA exerts potent antinociceptive and motor suppressive effects at equivalent doses. Therefore, the observed antinociceptive effects of INCA should be interpreted with caution.
Variations in employees' perceptions of organizational disaster preparedness

Few studies have sought to understand the different kinds of preparedness measures public, private and nonprofit organizations adopt and the factors motivating these organizations to adopt different kinds of preparedness measures. The present study addresses these gaps in research using perceptions from 1,960 public, private and nonprofit employees. Results indicate significant variations in public, private and nonprofit employees' perceptions of the kinds of preparedness measures their organizations adopt. Findings also suggest there are variations in the factors motivating public, private and nonprofit organizations to adopt different kinds of preparedness measures. The results provide important insights to emergency managers aiming to increase the levels of disaster preparedness among organizations within their communities.
Association of diabetes mellitus with postoperative opioid consumption in patients undergoing primary unilateral hip arthroplasty

Opioids are an indispensable component of perioperative pain management; however, the burgeoning opioid epidemic necessitates research into the risk factors for the development of opioid dependence...
Mandibular symphyseal fusion in fossil primates: Insights from correlated patterns of jaw shape and masticatory function in living primates.

Objectives Variation in primate masticatory form and function has been extensively researched through both morphological and experimental studies. As a result, symphyseal fusion in different primate clades has been linked to either the recruitment of vertically directed balancing-side muscle force, the timing and recruitment of transversely directed forces, or both. This study investigates the relationship between jaw muscle activity patterns and morphology in extant primates to make inferences about masticatory function in extinct primates, with implications for understanding the evolution of symphyseal fusion. Materials and methods Three-dimensional mandibular landmark data were collected for 31 extant primates and nine fossil anthropoids and subfossil lemur species. Published electromyography (EMG) data were available for nine of the extant primate species. Partial least squares analysis and phylogenetic partial least squares analysis were used to identify relationships between EMG and jaw shape data and evaluate variation in jaw morphology. Results Primates with partial and complete symphyseal fusion exhibit shape-function patterns associated with the wishboning motor pattern and loading regime, in contrast to shape-function patterns of primates with unfused jaws. All fossil primates examined (except Apidium) exhibit jaw morphologies suggestive of the wishboning motor pattern demonstrated in living anthropoids and indriids. Discussion Partial fusion in Catopithecus, similar to indriids and some subfossil lemurs, may be sufficient to resist, or transfer, some amounts of transversely directed balancing-side muscle force at the symphysis, representing a transition to greater reliance on transverse jaw movement during mastication. Furthermore, possible functional convergences in physiological patterns during chewing (i.e., Archaeolemur) are identified.
Emotion-induced attentional bias: does it modulate the spatial Simon effect?

Schlaghecken, F., Blagrove, E., Mantantzis, K., Maylor, E. A., & Watson, D. G. [(2017). Look on the bright side: Positivity bias modulates interference effects in the Simon task. Journal of Experim...
Characteristics of uncertainty in advanced pediatric cancer conversations

Abstract Objectives To describe the initiation, response, and content of communication about uncertainty in advanced pediatric cancer. Methods Qualitative analysis of 35 audio-recorded outpatient consultations between physicians and families of children whose cancer recently progressed. We defined uncertainty as “future-oriented lack of clarity in which answers are unknown to all participants involved in the conversation.” Results Conversations contained a median of 14 (interquartile range 8.5–19) uncertainty statements related to 6 topics: appropriateness of treatments, acute toxicities and morbidities, prognosis or response to treatment, diagnostic uncertainty, logistical uncertainty, and long-term toxicities. Physicians initiated 63 % of statements (303/489), parents initiated 33 % (165/489), and children initiated 2% (10/489). We identified 14 unique responses to uncertainty: 11 responses provided space for discussion, 3 responses reduced space. Physicians most commonly responded by providing additional information (38 %, 361/947). Parents most often responded with continuing statements, such as “um” or “yeah” (50 %, 313/622). Children seldom responded ( Conclusion Physicians initiated most uncertainty discussions, and their responses often provided space for further discussion. Children were seldom involved in these conversations. Practice implications Clinicians should consider maintaining open conversations about uncertainties in advanced pediatric cancer, and consider engaging children in these discussions.
Thermal Cycling of a MOF-Based NO Disproportionation Catalyst

The metal–organic framework CuI-MFU-4l reacts with NO, initially forming a copper(I)-nitrosyl at low pressure, and subsequently generates NO disproportionation products CuII–NO2 and N2O. The therma...