cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Ovarian cancer: avoiding compromising quality of life during intense chemotherapy sessions

ABSTRACTIntroduction: In 2008, we published on the application of supportive care to ovarian cancer patients which involves caring for a patient’s symptoms during and/or after treatment with an objective of providing these women with an improved quality of life (QoL). This complex, multi-dimensional field involves all body systems and collaboration among multiple medical specialties.Areas Covered: In this updated review, we have incorporated new data investigating QoL and supportive care in ovarian cancer, maintaining our format of analyzing the data by separating it into two categories: tumor-related and treatment-related morbidities. The main themes within these categories include nausea and vomiting, abdominal pain, anxiety and depression, fatigue and anemia, small bowel obstruction, sexual dysfunction, and peripheral neuropathy, to name a few.Expert Commentary: While all of these components are challenging to manage, the oncologist must act as a facilitator who either addresses these needs or send the...
A Basic Course in Measure and Probability: Basic structure of stochastic processes

Our aim in this final chapter is to indicate how basic distributional theory for stochastic processes , alias random functions , may be developed from the considerations of Chapters 7 and 9. This is primarily for reference and for readers with a potential interest in the topic. The theory will be first illustrated by a discussion of the definition of the Wiener process, and conditions for sample function continuity. This will be complemented, and the chapter completed with a sketch of construction and basic properties of point processes and random measures in a purely measure-theoretic framework, consistent with the nontopological flavor of the entire volume. Random functions and stochastic processes In this section we introduce some basic distributional theory for stochastic processes and random functions, using the product space measures of Chapter 7 and the random element concepts of Chapter 9. By a stochastic process one traditionally means a family of real random variables {ξ t : t ∈ T} (ξ, = ξ t (ω)) on a probability space (Ω, F, P ), T being a set indexing the ξ t . If T = {1,2,3,…} or {…, −2, −1,0,1,2,…} the family {ξ n : n =1,2,…} or {ξ n : n = …,−2, −1,0,1,2,∧…} is referred to as a stochastic sequence or discrete parameter stochastic process , whereas {ξ t : t ∈ T} is termed a continuous parameter stochastic process if T is an interval (finite or infinite).
Effect of the Surface Characteristics of Seed on Copper Precipitation

Two types of seed with different surface area are used in a precipitation system to evaluate the effectiveness of seed surface characteristics on sludge dewatering properties. We expect that the surface area of the seed will stongly affect the sludge properties. The preliminary study shows that the seeded system has a lower precipitation pH and lower supersaturation level.
A Legionella Effector Disrupts Host Cytoskeletal Structure by Cleaving Actin

Legionella pneumophila, the etiological agent of Legionnaires’ disease, replicates intracellularly in protozoan and human hosts. Successful colonization and replication of this pathogen in host cells requires the Dot/Icm type IVB secretion system, which translocates approximately 300 effector proteins into the host cell to modulate various cellular processes. In this study, we identified RavK as a Dot/Icm substrate that targets the host cytoskeleton and reduces actin filament abundance in mammalian cells upon ectopic expression. RavK harbors an H95EXXH99 motif associated with diverse metalloproteases, which is essential for the inhibition of yeast growth and for the induction of cell rounding in HEK293T cells. We demonstrate that the actin protein itself is the cellular target of RavK and that this effector cleaves actin at a site between residues Thr351 and Phe352. Importantly, RavK-mediated actin cleavage also occurs during L. pneumophila infection. Cleavage by RavK abolishes the ability of actin to form polymers. Furthermore, an F352A mutation renders actin resistant to RavK-mediated cleavage; expression of the mutant in mammalian cells suppresses the cell rounding phenotype caused by RavK, further establishing that actin is the physiological substrate of RavK. Thus, L. pneumophila exploits components of the host cytoskeleton by multiple effectors with distinct mechanisms, highlighting the importance of modulating cellular processes governed by the actin cytoskeleton in the intracellular life cycle of this pathogen.
Molecular mechanisms in the pathogenesis of arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy

The article is based on work presented in the Distinguished Achievement Award lecture at the Society for Cardiovascular Pathology meeting in Seattle, WA, in March 2016. It reviews our current understanding of mechanisms responsible for a highly arrhythmogenic, nonischemic cardiomyopathy. It highlights the armamentarium of powerful methods available to the experimental pathologist in efforts to define how complex cardiovascular diseases work. It concludes with acknowledgment of the need for a far more detailed approach as to how we categorize human disease, a task for which pathologists are especially well positioned.
Optimal design of velocity sensor for open channel flow using CFD

Abstract: In this study, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was used to design the geometry of a new velocity sensor for measuring open channel flows. This sensor determined velocity by observing the travel of dye carried in the flow. Evaluation of this design required the development of fluid dynamics models to determine potential errors in fluid velocity measurement due to velocity changes caused by intrusion of the sensor in the fluid. It also required an analysis technique to determine the expected sensor response to the flow fields that resulted from the CFD modeling. These models were then used to improve the geometry of the sensor to minimize the measurement error. Starting with a simple design for the sensor geometry, the CFD analysis modeled the open channel flow around the sensor as turbulent using both the k-ω and k-e Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) turbulence models. The model predicted that the original sensor design would underestimate the free-stream velocities of open channels by 7.9% to 2.0% across a range from 0.1 m/s to 5.0 m/s. After using CFD to improve the sensor design, the velocity measurement error was limited to less than 4% across the same velocity range. Keywords: computational fluid dynamics, flow measurement, sensors, flow velocity, open channel DOI: 10.3965/j.ijabe.20171003.2147 Citation: Dvorak J S, Zhang N Q. Optimal design of velocity sensor for open channel flow using CFD. Int J Agric & Biol Eng, 2017; 10(3): 130–142.
Narrating Space/Spatializing Narrative: Where Narrative Theory and Geography Meet

Marie-Laure Ryan, Kenneth Foote, and Maoz Azaryahu, eds. Columbus, OH: The Ohio State Universitiy Press, 2016. viii and 254 pp., illustrations, tables, bibliography, index. $99.95 cloth (ISBN 978-0...
Steady-State Delamination in Multilayers

In this chapter, the framework to analyze a multilayer stack of blanket films is presented. Emphasis is placed on stacks with piecewise-linear distributions of misfit, or ‘eigenstrain’, strain variations within each layer allowing for the possibility of discontinuities from layer to layer. In addition to being applicable to thermal problems with steady-state thermal distributions through the multilayer, the formulation encompasses layers with residual processing strains which vary from layer to layer and possibly within layers. The principle focus of this chapter is on computing the steady-state energy release rate for a semi-infinite crack. The results of the analysis are algebraic but nevertheless will usually require some computation. As the framework is applicable to any number of layers, it provides the basis to derive the results presented in Chapter 4 for bilayers. In Section 5.1, basic results for the stresses and strains in a multilayer subject to overall stretching and bending, together with internal misfit strains, are derived. Section 5.2 makes use of the basic results to derive general results for delamination energy release rates in the absence of any misfit strains. Section 5.3 gives an alternative derivation which can be used to predict the energy release rate under general conditions, including misfit strains, and for the special case where the stresses prior to cracking arise under equi-biaxial conditions but the delamination occurs under plane strain conditions. Section 5.4 discusses the computation of the mode mix for the general multilayer. The derivation in Section 5.3 also leads to a bilayer approximation in Section 5.5, which can be used to estimate both the energy release rate and mode mix. Illustrative examples of multilayer analysis are presented in Section 5.6. Software that implements the specific framework described in this chapter is described in Chapter 14, which provides additional examples beyond those in this chapter. Computation of the mode mix for general multilayer problems requires finite element analysis, which is described in Chapter 16. However, several illustrative examples of mode mix in multilayers are provided here in this chapter, providing some insight regarding the role of layer properties.
Comparative Study of Chemical Pretreatments of Dairy Manure for Enhanced Biomethane Production

Dairy manure containing partially digested plant cells is an inexpensive bioenergy feedstock. The carbohydrates and lignin that remain after digestion are typically processed in an anaerobic digester to produce biomethane, but due to the remaining material’s recalcitrance, the process has a low conversion efficiency. To improve the conversion of this lignocellulosic material, chemical, thermal, or biological pretreatments can be considered. This study compared several chemical pretreatments including dilute acid, sulfite, and alkali pretreatments for dairy manure as a bioenergy feedstock and analyzed their impact on biomethane production. The comparative study showed that a hot alkali pretreatment (180 °C, 30 min) can improve the methane production of dairy manure by 50%, which is more effective than dilute acid (6.8%), sulfite (26.3%), and cold or ambient alkali (19.8 to 32.8%) pretreatments. However, the ambient alkali pretreatment (23 °C, 12 h) was calculated to be more economically feasible because of the net energy production.
Cooperative stimulation of atherogenesis by lipopolysaccharide and palmitic acid-rich high fat diet in low-density lipoprotein receptor-deficient mice.

Abstract Background and aims Either lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or high-fat diet (HFD) enriched with saturated fatty acid (SFA) promotes atherosclerosis. In this study, we investigated the effect of LPS in combination with SFA-rich HFD on atherosclerosis and how LPS and SFA interact to stimulate inflammatory response in vascular endothelial cells. Methods Low-density lipoprotein receptor-deficient ( LDLR − / − ) mice were fed a low-fat diet (LFD), HFD with low palmitic acid (PA) (LP-HFD), or HFD with high PA (HP-HFD) for 20 weeks. During the last 12 weeks, half mice received LPS and half received PBS. After treatment, metabolic parameters and aortic atherosclerosis were analyzed. To understand the underlying mechanisms, human aortic endothelial cells (HAECs) were treated with LPS and/or PA and proinflammatory molecule expression was quantified. Results The metabolic study showed that LPS had no significant effect on cholesterol, triglycerides, free fatty acids, but increased insulin and insulin resistance. Both LP-HFD and HP-HFD increased body weight and cholesterol while LP-HFD increased glucose and HP-HFD increased triglycerides, insulin, and insulin resistance. Analysis of aortic atherosclerosis showed that HP-HFD was more effective than LP-HFD in inducing atherosclerosis and LPS in combination with HP-HFD increased atherosclerosis in the thoracic aorta, a less common site for atherosclerosis, as compared with LPS or HP-HFD. To understand the mechanisms, results showed that LPS and PA synergistically upregulated adhesion molecules and proinflammatory cytokines in HAECs. Conclusions LPS and PA-rich HFD cooperatively increased atherogenesis in the thoracic aorta. The synergy between LPS and PA on proinflammatory molecules in HAECs may play an important role in atherogenesis.
Unseen scars: Cocaine patients with prior trauma evidence heightened resting state functional connectivity (RSFC) between the amygdala and limbic-striatal regions.

Abstract Background Substance use disorder (SUD) patients with a history of trauma exhibit poorer treatment outcome, greater functional impairment and higher risk for relapse. Endorsement of prior trauma has, in several SUD populations, been linked to abnormal functional connectivity (FC) during task-based studies. We examined amygdala FC in the resting state (RS), testing for differences between cocaine patients with and without prior trauma. Methods Patients with cocaine use disorder (CUD; n = 34) were stabilized in an inpatient setting prior to a BOLD fMRI scan. Responses to Addiction Severity Index and the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview were used to characterize the No-Trauma ( n = 16) and Trauma ( n = 18) groups. Seed-based RSFC was conducted using the right and left amygdala as regions of interest. Examination of amygdala RSFC was restricted to an a priori anatomical mask that incorporated nodes of the limbic-striatal motivational network. Results RSFC was compared for the Trauma versus No-Trauma groups. The Trauma group evidenced greater connectivity between the amygdala and the a priori limbic-striatal mask. Peaks within the statistically significant limbic-striatal mask included the amygdala, putamen, pallidum, caudate, thalamus, insula, hippocampus/parahippocampus, and brain stem. Conclusions Results suggest that cocaine patients with prior trauma (versus without) have heightened communication within nodes of the motivational network, even at rest. To our knowledge, this is the first fMRI study to examine amygdala RSFC among those with CUD and trauma history. Heightened RSFC intralimbic connectivity for the Trauma group may reflect a relapse-relevant brain vulnerability and a novel treatment target for this clinically-challenging population.
Effects of niacin-bound chromium, Maitake mushroom fraction SX and (-)-hydroxycitric acid on the metabolic syndrome in aged diabetic Zucker fatty rats

Previous studies in our laboratories have demonstrated that niacin-bound chromium (NBC), Maitake mushroom and (–)-hydroxycitric acid (HCA-SX) can ameliorate hypertension, dyslipidemias and diabetes mellitus, and therefore may be useful in weight management. In the present study, we used aged, diabetic Zucker fatty rats (ZFR) (70–75 weeks) in order to determine whether NBC, fraction SX of Maitake mushroom (MSX) and 60% (–)-hydroxycitric acid (HCA-SX) from Garcinia cambogia, alone or in combination, can affect certain aspects of the metabolic syndrome. Syndrome X or metabolic syndrome has been described as a concurrence of disturbed glucose and insulin metabolism, overweight and abdominal fat distribution, mild dyslipidemia, and hypertension, which are associated with subsequent development of type 2 diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease. Four groups of eight ZFR were gavaged daily with different supplements. For the initial three weeks, the control group of ZFR received only water, the second group received NBC 40 mcg elemental chromium/day, the third group received MSX 100 mg/day and the last group received HCA-SX 200 mg/day. During weeks 4–6, the doses of each treatment were doubled. The control animals lost approximately 50 g body weight (BW) per rat over 6 weeks of treatment, which is characteristic of these animals in declining health. In contrast, eight ZFR receiving NBC lost approximately 9 g BW per rat, while rats consuming MSX lost 16 g BW per rat. However, ZFR receiving HCA-SX simulated the pattern in the control group because these animals lost approximately 46 g BW per rat. The wide individual variations resulted in a lack of statistical significance among groups. Nevertheless, 75% of the ZFR in the control group lost more than 50 g BW over the 6 weeks duration, whereas none of the ZFR receiving NBC, 25% of the ZFR receiving MSX and 57% of the ZFR receiving HCA-SX lost over 50 g BW over the 6 weeks of the study. ZFR in all 3 treatment groups showed significantly lower blood pressures as compared to control, which seemed to be dose related. The general trend was for renal and liver blood parameters, hepatic and renal lipid peroxidation and DNA fragmentation to improve due to the supplementation of these natural products. Treatment of animals with a combination of these three novel supplements resulted in a lower SBP and maintenance of BW compared to control animals. These results demonstrate that elderly diabetics and even aging individuals might benefit from a similar regimen.
Development of Insect Resistance to Plant Biopesticides: An Overview

Plant-incorporated protectants (PIPs) and botanical biochemical pesticides have been widely used as alternative pesticides to synthetic chemical insecticides in the cropping industry. Usually, it takes longer for insects to develop a resistance to such alternative pesticides because these pesticides have broad or non-specific mode of actions. The fact that they are naturally derived pesticides and have multiple modes of action does not mean they are less susceptible to resistance. This review provides information about the resistance development in insect population against PIPs (Bt crop) and botanical pesticides. The mechanisms of resistance, evidence of resistance to these biopesticides, resistance management, and future trend for plant biopesticides are discussed.
Unintended Users, Uses, and Consequences of Mobile Weight Loss Apps: Using Eating Disorders as a Case Study

From weight loss to illness management, mHealth has the potential to help many people track and manage their health. Mobile health applications for weight loss or weight loss apps, in particular, are becoming increasingly popular. Through Google Play and the App Store, weight loss app developers paint a picture of a healthy lifestyle. While these apps may be a promising method to combat the obesity epidemic in places like the United States, what do we really know about the users of weight loss apps and how these apps affect them? The aim of this chapter is to explore these questions by focusing on the unintended users, uses, and consequences of weight loss apps by using eating disorders as a case study. There has been a recent push for understanding the role technology, such as social media, plays on eating disorders and related behaviors. Missing in this research are studies on the impact of weight loss apps on eating disorders even though they contain similar content. Additionally, weight loss apps enable and promote dieting, which is a risk factor for developing an eating disorder. This chapter first explores the unintended users of weight loss apps, then the unintended uses of these apps (i.e., eating disorder maintenance or recovery), and finally the unintended consequences of weight loss apps using qualitative data (from both forum posts and interviews), previous work, and popular media articles. This research has a number of implications for mHealth design, healthcare, and education.
Randomness Classes in Bugs Framework (BF): True-Random Number Bugs (TRN) and Pseudo-Random Number Bugs (PRN)

Random number generators may have weaknesses (bugs) and the applications using them may become vulnerable to attacks. Formalization of randomness bugs would help researchers and practitioners identify them and avoid security failures. The Bugs Framework (BF) comprises rigorous definitions and (static) attributes of bug classes, along with their related dynamic properties, such as proximate and secondary causes, consequences and sites. This paper presents two new BF classes: True-Random Number Bugs (TRN) and Pseudo-Random Number Bugs (PRN). We analyze particular vulnerabilities and use these classes to provide clear BF descriptions. Finally, we discuss the lessons learned towards creating new BF class
Quantification of the Shape and Color of the Optic Nerve Head

Many pathological conditions of the eye and of the body as a whole cause changes in the color and three-dimensional shape of the ocular fundus. Glaucoma is probably the best known of these conditions. (For some examples, see [1] through [9].) It causes increases in the pallor and cupping of the optic nerve head. Therefore, it would obviously be of great potential value for research on and diagnosis and treatment of these diseases if the shape and color of the fundus could be measured with precision, and several different procedures have been developed at various laboratories around the world to try to do that ([10] through [34]).
Common Law Intellectual Property and the Legacy of International News Service v. Associated Press

That information once published should be presumptively free for all to use is a commonplace of intellectual property law. As Benjamin Kaplan has observed, "if man has any 'natural' rights, not the least must be a right to imitate his fellows, and thus to reap where he has not sown. Education, after all, proceeds from a kind of mimicry, and 'progress,' if it is not entirely an illusion, depends on generous indulgence of copying."' It might thus seem to follow that judges should have only modest powers to find that individuals have common law intellectual property rights. Common law judges, however, often discover such rights under the branch of unfair competition law known as misappropriation.
Cultural Synergy and the Role of Information Institutions

Cultural forces govern a synergistic relationship among information institutions that shapes their roles collectively and individually. Cultural synergy is the combination of perception- and behavior-shaping knowledge within, between, and among groups that contributes to the virtual reality of a common information-sharing interface among information institutions. Our hyperlinked era makes information-sharing among institutions critically important for scholarship as well as for the advancement of humankind. Information institutions are those that have, or share in, the mission to preserve, conserve, and disseminate information objects and their informative content. A central idea is the notion of social epistemology—that information institutions arise culturally from social forces of the cultures they inhabit, and that their purpose is to disseminate that culture. All information institutions are alike in critical ways. Intersecting lines of cultural mission are trajectories for synergy—for allowing us to perceive the universe of information institutions as interconnected and evolving and moving forward in distinct ways for the improvement of the condition of humankind through the building up of its knowledge base and of its information-sharing processes.
Super Case II Transport of Organic Vapors in Glassy Polymers

Alfrey, Turner, and Lloyd have defined Fickian transport and Case II transport as the two limiting cases for the transort of an organic penetrant through an amorphous glassy polymer.1 Fickian transport refers to the interdiffusion of penetrant and polymer described by Fick’s equations. In general, Fickian diffusion is only observed in glassy systems when the penetrants are simple gases, solvents with small molecular diameters, or partial solvents at very low temperatures and penetrant activities. At temperatures and penetrant activities where partial solvents swell the polymer, transport is often controlled by a combination of polymer relaxation and Fickian diffusion mechanisms. Case II transport occurs when the sorption is entirely controlled by stress-induced relaxations taking place at a sharp boundary separating an outer swollen shell, essentially at equilibrium penetrant concentration, from an unpenetrated glassy core. Ideally, this sharp boundary moves through the polymer at a constant velocity during Case II transport.
In-Plant evaluation of a lactic acid treatment for reduction of bacteria on chilled beef carcasses..

The effectiveness of a lactic acid treatment consisting of spraying a 4% l-lactic acid solution (55°C at source) on chilled beef carcasses to reduce bacterial populations was tested in a commercial slaughter environment. All carcasses had been treated with a proprietary decontamination treatment composed of a hot water spray followed by a lactic acid spray prior to chilling. Bacterial groups used to indicate reductions included aerobic plate count (APC), total coliform count, and Escherichia coli count, and samples were examined from the brisket, the clod, and the neck regions of 40 untreated and 40 treated carcass sides. Depending on the carcass surface region, APCs were reduced by 3.0 to 3.3 log cycles. Log coliform and E. coli counts were consistently reduced to undetectable levels. The small reductions observed for coliforms are attributable to counts on untreated carcasses already being near the lower detection limit of the counting method. The percentage of samples with detectable numbers of colifor...
Development of Auditory Scene Analysis and Auditory Attention

This chapter summarizes the literature describing auditory scene analysis and auditory attention during infancy and childhood. In Chap. 4, Buss, Hall, and Grose reviewed more than 30 years of research investigating the accuracy with which the frequency, intensity, and temporal characteristics of incoming sounds are represented by the developing child. Building on these impressive studies, a basic assumption underlying the work described in the current chapter is that the peripheral auditory system provides the brain with a precise representation of most sounds by at least 6 months after term birth.
Radical Constructivism Has an Answer - But This Answer Is Not an Easy One

Context: In spite of its advantages and its ability to make valid responses to objections, radical constructivism is not mainstream. Problem: Extolling the virtues of radical constructivism and …
Reading and writing with nature: Social claims and the French formal garden

In The Structures of Everyday Life' Fernand Braudel dismisses out of hand Werner Sombart's suggestion2 that there is a close connection between the ravenous patterns of consumption in early moder court life and the growth of capitalist production. The idea that businesses and trade might have been spawned to fill this demand is not, to Braudel's mind, worthy of serious consideration. Court sumptuousness is a cultural aberration to Braudel, not an essential part of an emerging capitalist economy. There is a tone of deep contempt in this dismissal, presumably because Sombart's approach would lead researchers to sanctify outrageous spending and to study the well-known stock players of elite history, not the equally fascinating but more obscure characters now the major focus of historical research. Sombart violates current norms by thinking and writing about kings and queens. Worse than that, Sombart's approach takes the development of capitalism out of the hands of ordinary entrepreneurs, and puts it squarely into the laps of aristocrats who did little business yet reaped rewards from the economic efforts of others. It seems an insult to those living more modest lives who helped to transform European life through the development of new business practices and a new economic mentality.
Real-time optimization of a solar-natural gas hybrid power plant to enhance solar power utilization

A dynamic model of a natural gas/solar hybrid system was developed using heat integration and smart flow control. Natural gas was used as a supplemental fuel, which enhanced the reliability of the system and increased the power block cycle efficiency through the use of higher temperatures. In this work, the synergy of the two energy sources (solar and natural gas) was exploited with real-time optimization (RTO). A quadratic programming-based optimizer was used to redirect heat to the steam generator or to boiler feedwater pre-heating as the optimizer dictates. During low solar conditions, the RTO directs the solar heat to the lower temperature heat sink (the boiler feedwater preheater) to make better use of the solar heat. During high solar conditions, the solar heat flows through the steam generator (the high-temperature heat sink) and to the boiler feedwater pre-heater in series. The optimization is more effective at low irradiance conditions (morning, evening, winter, cloud cover etc.) because it is able to identify conditions that maximize solar utilization. Yearly results demonstrate the model observed an improvement of 10% in terms of solar to electric efficiency (STE) and 10.7% in solar fraction. Optimization increased the solar share and maximized greener energy.
Leveraging technology to address the problem of cigarette smoking among women of reproductive age.

Abstract Women of reproductive age and particularly pregnant women underutilize evidence-based smoking cessation services such as counseling and quit lines. Mobile health (mHealth) may constitute an unexplored and innovative avenue for providing smoking cessation support to a population that is otherwise difficult to reach with evidence-based interventions. Female respondents aged 18–44 years (N = 10,023) were drawn from the first wave of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) study (2013–2014). We examined prevalence of use of various digital forms of communication (e.g., social media, text messaging, smartphone ownership) among non-pregnant women of reproductive age, pregnant women, and among smokers versus non-smokers within these groups. Multiple logistic regression modeling was conducted to identify correlates of using each digital form adjusting for smoking status, pregnancy, and demographic characteristics. Over two thirds of women overall and within subgroups of non-pregnant and pregnant smokers reported using social media, owning a cell phone, owning a smartphone, downloading apps, and sending/receiving text messages. Current smokers and those with lower educational attainment generally had lower odds of using each digital form relative to non-smokers and those with higher educational attainment, the exception being that smokers had higher odds of using social media relative to non-smokers. The high prevalence of using various digital forms among both non-pregnant smokers of reproductive age and pregnant smokers suggests that leveraging technology to expand access to prevention, education, and treatment resources may reduce smoking-attributable adverse health effects among reproductive-aged women and their offspring.
Conclusion: Resilience for Whom?

This chapter constitutes the final call to action, asking policy makers, emergency managers, disaster professionals, and other interested parties to take a closer look at the role that current policies around disasters play in creating and perpetuating injustice. As the previous chapters bring to light, disaster recovery policies and programs have routinely and repeatedly failed to prioritize human rights and failed to acknowledge the dynamic pressures and complex history of disaster risk creation in the United States. The prevailing narratives surrounding climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction, both extremely pressing in the current fiscal and environmental climate, have been willfully colorblind, perpetuating existing inequalities while fostering a climate of blame. The chapter argues that the definition and framing of resilience utilized by policy makers, professionals, and communities cannot be value neutral; the question must always be asked: resilience for whom?
Semantics first

The design of languages is still more of an art than an engineering discipline. Although recently tools have been put forward to support the language design process, such as language workbenches, these have mostly focused on a syntactic view of languages. While these tools are quite helpful for the development of parsers and editors, they provide little support for the underlying design of the languages. In this paper we illustrate how to support the design of languages by focusing on their semantics first. Specifically, we will show that powerful and general language operators can be employed to adapt and grow sophisticated languages out of simple semantics concepts. We use Haskell as a metalanguage and will associate generic language concepts, such as semantics domains, with Haskell-specific ones, such as data types. We do this in a way that clearly distinguishes our approach to language design from the traditional syntax-oriented one. This will reveal some unexpected correlations, such as viewing type classes as language multipliers. We illustrate the viability of our approach with several real-world examples.
Using Classification Trees to Examine Predictors of Marijuana Use Among a Wide Range of Variables.

AbstractBackground: Young adults have elevated risk for negative marijuana use-related outcomes, and there is heterogeneity among users. Identifying risk factors for marijuana user status will impr...
Management of Conductive Hearing Loss Associated with Aural Atresia and Microtia

Hearing loss associated with craniofacial microsomia (CFM) requires a team approach for evaluation, diagnosis, aural rehabilitation, and surgical intervention. Age-appropriate hearing assessment is essential to appropriately diagnose associated hearing loss and provide early intervention services. Therapy is based on the anomalies associated with the craniofacial microsomia and can vary from ear-level hearing aids to bone conduction sound processors (BCSP), using either band or osseointegrated implant-retention systems to atresia repair. For many patients with favorable anatomy, aural atresia repair allows for improved conductive hearing and quality of life. In summary, unilateral hearing loss (UHL) should be treated early and appropriately to aid in optimal speech and language development, as well as age-appropriate school performance.
Advocating for students through encouragement: Communication on a human level

Don’t give up.” “You’ve got this!” The manner in which we communicate with students is not always measurable when assessing a librarian’s performance. Nevertheless, honesty and encouragement factor into how I communicate with students during library instruction. This essay details an approach that I have used in eight years of teaching information literacy sessions to advocate for and talk with students on a human level.
Sleep fragmentation exacerbates executive function impairments induced by protracted low dose rate neutron exposure.

Purpose: Astronauts on the planned missions to Mars are expected to have to work more autonomously than on previous missions. Thus mission success may be influenced by the astronauts' ability to respond quickly to unexpected problems, processes that require several executive functions. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact that prolonged low dose and low dose rate exposure to neutrons had on two executive functions, and whether the severity and incidence of cognitive impairment was altered by sleep fragmentation.Materials and methods: In this study we assessed the impact that prolonged (six month) low dose rate neutron exposure had on the ability of male Wistar rats to perform in two executive function tasks (i.e. attentional set shifting (ATSET) - a constrained cognitive flexibility task and the UCFlex assay - an unconstrained cognitive flexibility task). In recognition of the fact that astronauts also have to contend with inadequate sleep quantity and quality for much of their time in space, we determined the impact that relatively mild sleep disruption had on the ability to perform in the ATSET test in sham and neutron-irradiated rats.Results: Chronic low dose (18 cGy) and dose-rate (1 mGy/day) exposure of rats to mixed neutron and photon over the course of six months resulted in significant impairment of simple discrimination (SD) performance. Should similar effects occur in astronauts subjected to low dose rate exposure to Space Radiation, the impairment of SD performance would result in a decreased ability to identify and learn the 'rules' required to respond to a new task or situation. Analysis of the behavioral data by kernel density estimation revealed that 40% of rats had severe ATSET impairments. This value may be a best-case scenario because exposure to neutrons also adversely impacted performance in the UCFlex task. Furthermore, when the good performing rats were reevaluated after they had been subjected to sleep fragmentation, additional ATSET performance decrements were observed in the set shifting stages of the ATSET test, with only 7.4% of the neutron exposed rats able to successfully perform ATSET under normal and sleep fragmented conditions, as opposed to ∼55% of shams.Conclusion: Protracted low dose and low dose rate neutron exposures impairs executive functions in a high percentage of rats that were normally rested, however further detriments in performance become evident when the rats are subjected to sleep fragmentation.
Principle and Testing Technology of Station Layers in Smart Substations

Abstract The station layer is the core part in the supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system architecture in a smart substation, which not only connects the master station of electrical dispatch system upward on the vertical but also connects the bay layer device downward. It contains human machine interface (HMI), data communication gateway, data server, protection and fault information system, and so on. The station layer system realizes the functions of panoramic monitoring, automatic operation control, and advanced application interaction using unifying collection, unifying storage, and unifying modeling. This chapter introduces the composition and features of the station layer system in the smart substation and implementation principle of the service. According to the project cases, the protocol used in the station layer is illustrated. In addition, the testing items for the station layer system are introduced.
Laboratory Testing Methods for Novel Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2)

Following the first reports of coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) by China to the World Health Organization (WHO) on 31st December 2019, more than 4,302,774 novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) cases have been reported by authorities in 212 countries and territories by 12th May 2020. The outbreak and spread of COVID-19 worldwide, highlights the critical need for developing rapid and accurate diagnostic testing methods for emerging human coronavirus (CoV) infections. Testing is crucial to track the spread of disease during a pandemic, and to swiftly permit public health interventions including isolation, quarantine, and appropriate clinical management of afflicted individuals. The key components of viral diagnostic tests are (1) collection of the appropriate sample (blood, nasal swab, and throat swab), (2) availability of the genetic and proteomic sequences of the novel virus for analysis, and (3) rapid and accurate laboratory testing methods. The current gold standard for the molecular diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection is the real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for the qualitative and quantitative detection of viral nucleic acids. Other relevant laboratory methods include enzyme-linked immunoassays (EIA) for viral antibody and antigen detection, and serum viral neutralization (SVN) assays for antibody neutralization determination. The challenges faced in developing a diagnostic test for a novel pathogen are the ability to measure low viral loads for early detection, to provide low or no cross-reactivity with other viral strains and to deliver results rapidly. Several point-of-care molecular devices are currently being integrated for fast and accurate diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infections. This review discusses the current laboratory methods available to test for coronaviruses by focusing on the present COVID-19 outbreak.
The effects of maternal supplementation of selenium and iodine via slow-release blouses in late pregnancy on milk production of goats and performance of their kids

Forty pregnant dairy goats were used in a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement of treatments to evaluate the effects of prepartum supplementation of selenium (Se) and iodine (I) as slow-release boluses. The...
Sickle Cell Retinopathy

Sickle cell disease refers to a group of inherited hemoglobinopathies characterized by abnormal hemoglobin genes. The resulting abnormal hemoglobin protein results in sickling of erythrocytes, intravascular hemolysis, defective oxygen transport, and tissue damage due to ischemia and necrosis. Sickle cell disease manifests systemically in many organs such as the brain, lungs, heart, liver, spleen, kidneys, joints, bones, and skin (Yawn et al. 2014).
MLGuard: Mitigating Poisoning Attacks in Privacy Preserving Distributed Collaborative Learning

Distributed collaborative learning has enabled building machine learning models from distributed mobile users’ data. It allows the server and users to collaboratively train a learning model where users only share model parameters with the server. To protect privacy, the server can use secure multiparty computation to learn the global model without revealing users’ parameter updates in the clear. However this privacy preserving distributed learning opens the door to poisoning attacks, where malicious users poison their training data to maliciously influence the behavior of the global model. In this paper, we propose MLGuard, a privacy preserving distributed collaborative learning system with poisoning attack mitigation. MLGuard employs lightweight secret sharing scheme and a novel poisoning attack mitigation technique. We address several challenges such as preserving users’ privacy, mitigating poisoning attacks, respecting resource constraints of mobile devices, and scaling to large number of users. Evaluation results demonstrate the effectiveness of MLGuard on building high accurate learning models with the existence of malicious users, while imposing minimal communication cost on mobile devices.
Observations of the optical counterpart to XTE J1118+480 during outburst by the robotic optical transient search experiment I telescope

The X-ray nova XTE J1118+480 exhibited two outbursts in the early part of 2000. As detected by the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer (RXTE), the first outburst began in early January and the second began in early March. Routine imaging of the northern sky by the Robotic Optical Transient Search Experiment (ROTSE) shows the optical counterpart to XTE J1118+480 during both outbursts. These data include over 60 epochs from January to June 2000. A search of the ROTSE data archives reveal no previous optical outbursts of this source in selected data between 1998 April and 2000 January. While the X-ray-to-optical flux ratio of XTE J1118+480 was low during both outbursts, we suggest that they were full X-ray novae and not minioutbursts based on comparison with similar sources. The ROTSE measurements taken during the 2000 March outburst also indicate a rapid rise in the optical flux that preceded the X-ray emission measured by the RXTE by approximately 10 days. Using these results, we estimate a preoutburst accretion disk inner truncation radius of ~1.2 × 104 Schwarzschild radii.
Parent engagement in the NICU

Abstract Parent engagement examines the synchronous factors of parents’ active participation in NICU care targeting the acquisition of skills for problem solving and infant care. The purpose of this study is to examine parent engagement in the NICU. This descriptive cross-sectional survey design study consists of 51 mothers and 15 fathers of premature infants. A valid and reliable instrument is used to measure parent engagement. Over 50% of participants do not feel prepared to take their premature infant home, yet 85% of participants feel confident they can come up with solutions when caring for their infant. There are significant relationships regarding married participants (p
A Conceptual Framework of Teacher Motivation for Social Media Use

Teachers are increasingly turning to social media to facilitate informal opportunities for professional learning, yet we know little about the motivational factors that prompt teachers’ social medi...
Understanding Fatigue within a Collegiate Aviation Program

Objective: The purpose of this study was fivefold: to investigate the symptoms that would prompt collegiate aviation pilots perceive they are fatigued; to investigate the time of the day they are m...
Implementation of a medical oncology fellow-initiated financial toxicity screening program in outpatient medical oncology clinics

# Introduction The National Cancer Institute defines financial toxicity as “problems a patient has related to costs of cancer care.” Financial toxicity is a critical problem in cancer treatment and one that remains conventionally outside of clinical discussion and treatment decision-making. # Methods This is a feasibility pilot study of the implementation of a medical oncology fellow-led financial toxicity screening intervention program at the Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center (HDFCCC) at the University of California San Francisco. Fellows were asked to conduct and document financial toxicity screening of patients seen in medical oncology outpatient clinics from August 2017 to March 2018 in the electronic medical record. # Results At baseline, no fellows documented financial toxicity screening. Screening rates peaked at 49%, however at the end of the intervention the screening rate decreased to 11% among participants. # Discussion The results of the pilot feasibility study revealed that a fellow-led financial toxicity screening program in medical oncology clinics rendered low adherence to patient screening. Future research will need to develop mechanisms for identifying patients who may experience high levels of financial distress in medical oncology practice.
Quantum Theory as an Emergent Phenomenon: The Statistical Mechanics of Matrix Models as the Precursor of Quantum Field Theory

Quantum mechanics is our most successful physical theory. However, it raises conceptual issues that have perplexed physicists and philosophers of science for decades. This 2004 book develops an approach, based on the proposal that quantum theory is not a complete, final theory, but is in fact an emergent phenomenon arising from a deeper level of dynamics. The dynamics at this deeper level are taken to be an extension of classical dynamics to non-commuting matrix variables, with cyclic permutation inside a trace used as the basic calculational tool. With plausible assumptions, quantum theory is shown to emerge as the statistical thermodynamics of this underlying theory, with the canonical commutation/anticommutation relations derived from a generalized equipartition theorem. Brownian motion corrections to this thermodynamics are argued to lead to state vector reduction and to the probabilistic interpretation of quantum theory, making contact with phenomenological proposals for stochastic modifications to Schrodinger dynamics.
Quantum wells intermixing in InGaAsP/InGaAsP laser structure for photonic integrated circuits

We report the selective area bandgap tuning of multiple quantum well structures by an impurity free vacancy induced quantum well intermixing technique. A 3 dB waveguide directional coupler was fabricated in the disordered section of an intermixed quantum well sample as a demonstration of photonic device applications.
The Consensus Problem in Unreliable Distributed Systems (A Brief Survey)

Agreement problems involve a system of processes, some of which may be faulty. A fundamental problem of fault-tolerant distributed computing is for the reliable processes to reach a consensus. We survey the considerable literature on this problem that has developed over the past few years and give an informal overview of the major theoretical results in the area.