cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Fluorous membrane ion-selective electrodes for perfluorinated surfactants: trace-level detection and in situ monitoring of adsorption.

Ion-selective electrodes (ISEs) with fluorous anion-exchanger membranes for the potentiometric detection of perfluorooctanoate (PFO–) and perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS–) were developed. Use of an anion-exchanger membrane doped with the tetraalkylphosphonium derivative (Rf8(CH2)2)(Rf6(CH2)2)3P+ and an optimized measurement protocol resulted in detection limits of 2.3 × 10–9 M (1.0 ppb) for PFO– and 8.6 × 10–10 M (0.43 ppb) for PFOS–. With their higher selectivity for PFO– over OH–, membranes containing the alternative anion exchanger (Rf6(CH2)3)3PN+P((CH2)3Rf6)3 with a bis(phosphoranylidene)ammonium group further improved the detection limit for PFO– to 1.7 × 10–10 M (0.070 ppb). These values are comparable with results obtained using well-established techniques such as gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS), liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS), and liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS–MS), but the measurement with ISEs avoids lengthy sample preconcentration, can be perf...
Curbing Firearm Violence: Identifying a Specific Target for Physician Action

Wintemute and colleagues address the legality of counseling patients about firearm safety and recommend content for these conversations. The editorialist discusses why physicians must not shirk the...
ClusterOn: building highly configurable and reusable clustered data services using simple data nodes

The growing variety of data storage and retrieval needs is driving the design and development of an increasing number of distributed storage applications such as key-value stores, distributed file systems, object stores, and databases. We observe that, to a large extent, such applications would implement their own way of handling features of data replication, failover, consistency, cluster topology, leadership election, etc. We found that 45- 82% of the code in six popular distributed storage applications can be classified as implementations of such common features. While such implementations allow for deeper optimizations tailored for a specific application, writing new applications to satisfy the ever-changing requirements of new types of data or I/O patterns is challenging, as it is notoriously hard to get all the features right in a distributed setting. In this paper, we argue that for most modern storage applications, the common feature implementation (i.e., the distributed part) can be automated and offloaded, so developers can focus on the core application functions. We are designing a framework, ClusterOn, which aims to take care of the messy plumbing of distributed storage applications. The envisioned goal is that a developer simply "drops" a non-distributed application into ClusterOn, which will convert it into a scalable and highly configurable distributed application.
Molecular Properties of the Acetylcholine Receptor

Covalent modification of the acetylcholine receptor enables the function of the receptor to be related to its chemical structure. An important byproduct is a chemical specification of the receptor by which it may be identified in isolation. Site-directed reactions with affinity reagents (cf. Singer, Ruoho, Kiefer, Lindstrom & Lennox, this symposium) relate function to the chemical structure in the immediate vicinity of the binding site for acetylcholine and are a potential means for mapping the ‘active site’. A sketchy picture of the acetylcholine receptor has emerged from the effects of both affinity and nonaffinity reagents on the functions of single cells (electroplax) from the electric tissue of Electrophorus electricus. Some of these results have been reproduced using muscle cells from other species (see below). This picture contains a relatively unreactive sulphydryl (SH) group some distance from the negative subsite and a relatively easily reduced disulphide (S—S) group in the near vicinity of the negative subsite. The negative subsite is the postulated locus of ion-pair formation between the receptor and the quaternary ammonium group of cholinergic ligands. Some of the reactions inferred from the physiological results have been more directly demonstrated by means of a radioactive quaternary ammonium maleimide derivative applied to intact electroplax and to membrane fragments isolated from electric tissue. Labelled components have been solubilized and separated by gel electrophoresis, and these results add to the above picture that the receptor or a subunit of the receptor is a polypeptide chain of molecular weight 42 000.
Platinum-Catalyzed Sulfur Dioxide Oxidation Revisited: Assembly of Acid- and Sintering-Resistant Honeycomb Washcoat and Catalytically Active Phase Using Sols of Silica, Zirconia, and Platinum

Publisher Summary Development of platinum-containing particulate catalysts for the oxidation of SO 2 ceased about 50 years ago. Examination of typical patents from that time shows that important concepts in supported catalysts such as metal dispersion, effective use of promoter elements to improve activity and life, and nanotechnology in synthesis and characterization were unavailable for catalyst preparations. Deposition of a high-surface-area washcoat onto a low-surface-area ceramic honeycomb substrate was first described about 40 years ago in the patent literature, but application of this technology to various chemical catalytic processes including sulfuric acid manufacture has occurred slowly.
Bithoven: Gödel encoding of chamber music and functional 8-bit audio synthesis

Bithoven is a prolific composer of approximately 1.079363 * 10^239 different compositions based on four-part harmony and basic chord progressions. It is combined with a purely functional audio synthe- sis engine based on the Ricoh RP2A03, found in the 1985 Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The synthesis engine is parameter- ized over a band of instruments and styles of play, so each com- position can be played in one of approximately 4.22234 * 10^41 different arrangements or "NEStrations".
The Longue Durée of Black Lives Matter

Black Lives Matter was first articulated just a few years ago, but it has been the leitmotif of antiracist struggles for generations.The Movement for Black Lives extends the work of previous movements that challenged forms of oppression that act on Black bodies with impunity. It should be understood in the context of Ida B. Wells’ anti-lynching campaign, Fannie Lou Hamer’s reproductive justice demands, and the Black Panther Party’s health activism. The 50th anniversary of the Black Panther Party is an occasion to recall that its work confronted the callous neglect and the corporeal surveillance and abuse of poor Black communities.Similar demands have been the centrifugal force of social movements that for centuries have refused to have Black lives cast beyond the human boundary.
Evaluation of Prostate Cancer with PET/MRI

In the ongoing effort to understand and cure prostate cancer, imaging modalities are constantly evolving to assist in clinical decisions. Multiparametric MRI can be used to direct prostate biopsies, improve diagnostic yield, and help clinicians make more accurate decisions. PET is superior in providing biologic information about the cancer and is sensitive and highly specific. Integrated PET/MRI is a welcome technical advance with great potential to influence the diagnosis and management of prostate cancer in clinical practice.
Local filtration based scatter correction for cone-beam CT using primary modulation.

Purpose Excessive scatter contamination fundamentally limits the image quality of cone-beam CT (CBCT), hindering its quantitative use in clinical applications. The author has previously proposed an effective scatter correction method for CBCT using primary modulation. A Fourier transform-based algorithm (FTPM) was implemented to estimate scatter from modulated projections, with a few limitations including the assumption of uniform modulation frequency and magnitude that becomes less accurate in the presence of beam-hardening and other nonideal effects. This paper aims to overcome the above drawbacks by developing a new algorithm for the primary modulation method with improved accuracy and reliability. Methods Incident x-ray intensities for each detector pixel with and without the interception of the modulator blocker are estimated from a modulated flat-field image. A new signal relationship is then developed to obtain a first scatter estimate from a modulated projection using a spatially varying modulation distribution. The method empirically adjusts the effective modulation magnitude for each projection ray to account for the beam-hardening effects. Estimated scatter signals with high expected errors are discarded in the generation of the final scatter distribution. The author proposes a technique of local filtration to accelerate major portions of the signal processing, and the new algorithm is referred to as local filtration based primary modulation (LFPM). Results The study on the Catphan® 600 phantom shows that LFPM effectively removes scatter-induced cupping artifacts on CBCT images and reduces the CT image error from 222 to 15 HU. In addition, the image contrast on eight contrast rods of the phantom is enhanced by a factor of 2 on average. On an anthropomorphic head phantom, LFPM reduces the CT image error from 153 to 18 HU and eliminates the streak artifacts observed on the result of FTPM with substantially improved image uniformity. On the Rando® phantom, LFPM reduces the CT image error from 278 to 4 HU around the object center. Conclusions As compared with the previously developed FTPM algorithm, LFPM enhances the imaging performance by using a more flexible data processing framework that does not require projection data downsampling or uniform modulation frequency and magnitude. It also becomes possible to discard suspicious scatter estimate values prior to the generation of a final scatter distribution and to model the beam-hardening effects on modulation for improved scatter estimation accuracy. The presented research further exploits the potential of the primary modulation method on scatter correction and facilitates its clinical adoption in CBCT imaging.
Spectroscopic Characterization of Waveguides

Since the first experiments on femtosecond laser waveguide writing the question on which mechanisms are responsible for the refractive index change immediately arose. Several efforts have been made in that direction but no conclusive answer has been achieved yet. In fact, it has been observed that several factors determine the actual mechanism dominating the refractive index change, such as the irradiation conditions and the material composition. Understanding the materials change at the microscopic level is however important in terms of optimization of both the fs-laser processing conditions and the material composition. It also can provide more detailed insight into the physical mechanisms involved in the fs-laser modification process to enhance its capabilities. Confocal fluorescence and Raman spectroscopy are powerful tools to investigate the material structure. This chapter will review the results obtained by using these techniques to characterize fs-laser induced structural changes in glass. The focus will be on structures related to waveguides and refractive index changes, since this has been the most active research area of fs-laser processing in glass to date.
INCIDENCE OF PRECLINICAL (STAGE A AND B) HEART FAILURE IN THE GENERAL POPULATION

Background: The AHA/ACC classification system for heart failure (HF) consists of four stages to better characterize the progression of the disease. Studies have demonstrated a high risk of progression from preclinical HF (Stage A/B) to clinical HF (Stage C/D). The aim of this study was to evaluate
The Logic of Joint Ability in Two-Player Tacit Games

Logics of joint strategic ability have recently received attention, with arguably the most influential being those in a family that includes Coalition Logic (CL) and Alternating-time Temporal Logic (ATL). Notably, both CL and ATL bypass the epistemic issues that underpin Schelling-type coordination problems , by apparently relying on the meta-level assumption of (perfectly reliable) communication between cooperating rational agents. Yet such epistemic issues arise naturally in settings relevant to ATL and CL: these logics are standardly interpreted on structures where agents move simultaneously, opening the possibility that an agent cannot foresee the concurrent choices of other agents. In this paper we introduce a variant of CL we call Two-Player Strategic Coordination Logic (SCL 2 ). The key novelty of this framework is an operator for capturing coalitional ability when the cooperating agents cannot share strategic information. We identify significant differences in the expressive power and validities of SCL 2 and CL 2 , and present a sound and complete axiomatization for SCL 2 . We briefly address conceptual challenges when shifting attention to games with more than two players and stronger notions of rationality.
Fabrication and Implementation of a New Ceramic Material in an Adaptive Optics System

A CNC machine optical polishing protocol for ZrB2 ceramics has been established. The first optic is a deformable mirror facesheet. Light-weight athermal systems with optical and structural components fabricated from the same material will follow.
Prehospital Transfusion for Gastrointestinal Bleeding.

Abstract Objective Gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding is a common medical emergency with significant morbidity and mortality. Many patients are coagulopathic, which may perpetuate bleeding. Remote damage control resuscitation, including early correction of coagulopathy and anemia, may benefit exsanguinating patients with GI bleeding. Methods We conducted a retrospective review of patients with acute GI bleeding who received packed red blood cells (pRBC) and/or plasma during transportation to our institution between 2010 and 2014. A comparison group of patients who were not transfused en route was selected, and demographics, outcomes, and response to resuscitation were compared. Results A total of 112 patients with GI bleeding received pRBC (82%, n = 92 pRBC, mean 1.7 ± 0.9 units), plasma (62%, n = 69, mean 1.7 ± 0.8 units) or both (44%, n = 49) en-route. The comparison group comprised 49 patients transported by helicopter who were not transfused en-route. Demographics, crystalloid resuscitation, transfusion prior to transfer, rate of intervention, ICU days, length of stay, and mortality were similar between groups. Patients transfused en route had a significant increase in hemoglobin from 8.3 ± 2.2 to 8.9 ± 2.1 ( P = .03) and decrease in INR from 2.0 ± 1.0 to 1.6 ± 1.4 ( P = .01), whereas those not transfused en route experienced stable hemoglobin (8.7 ± 2.8 to 9.4 ± 2.5; P = .21) and INR values (1.9 ± 1.0 to 1.6 ± 1.4; P = .32). Both groups had a significant improvement in hemodynamic parameters with resuscitation. Conclusion Prehospital damage control resuscitation with pRBC and/or plasma resulted in the improvement of hemodynamic instability, coagulopathy and anemia in patients with acute GI bleeding. Almost all patients required additional inpatient interventions and/or transfusions, suggesting that pre-hospital transfusion is being utilized for appropriately selected patients.
What is the future of patient-specific vertebral fracture prediction?

Abstract This paper aims to introduce a few alternative methodologies for prediction of vertebral fractures, the most common type being fragility fracture in the elderly. Current methods, such as DXA, for diagnosing osteoporosis and predicting the risk of vertebral failure, are often not accurate thereby preventing those patients at risk from receiving adequate treatment. Robust fracture prediction models for vertebral fracture risk should not only include BMD, as measured by DXA, but should incorporate a wide range of factors including bone geometry, bone mineral distribution within the vertebral body, daily living activities, and spine musculature. One promising technique is finite element modeling, which has been developed over the past several decades and implements clinical imaging, such as quantitative computed tomography (QCT), and engineering fundamentals to more accurately predict the risk of fracture. Other imaging tools that assess bone mineral distribution and structure at the microscopic level include micro-CT or high-resolution peripheral QCT (HR-pQCT). These newer techniques hold the promise of more accurate diagnosis of osteoporosis and those at risk for vertebral insufficiency fractures before they occur.
Dissertation to Book? A Snapshot of Dissertations Published As Books in 2014 and 2015, Available in Open Access Institutional Repositories

INTRODUCTION Graduate students sometimes express consternation about whether the presence of their dissertation in an open access institutional repository (IR) will harm their chances of being able to publish the manuscript as a book. Several studies have addressed the question from different perspectives, but the avenue of examining what had actually been published had not been explored. METHODS This study examines books published in 2014 and 2015 that were listed as dissertations in one large book vendor database. A list of books was downloaded and searched in both ProQuest’s Dissertations & Theses Global database and Google to identify a matching dissertation. RESULTS Only a small percentage of books published as dissertations were found in ProQuest and then subsequently in IRs. The number of libraries holding book titles with corresponding dissertations in IRs dropped between 2014 and 2015. The lists of publishers who published dissertations as books was very similar between 2014 and 2015 data and included large, commercial publishers. DISCUSSION Students should be aware that only a small percentage of the total number of dissertations produced in a year are subsequently published as books, that the time between dissertation and book publication is substantial, and that some subject areas are more likely to be published than others. CONCLUSION These findings provide nuance to the discussions of dissertations in open access repositories and a starting point to monitor trends in this area. They should also provide librarians who are providing supplementary guidance to graduate students with information about the publishing landscape.
Ο ποιητής ως προφήτης και ως πιερότος στην ποίηση του Ρώμου Φιλύρα: Οι επιβιώσεις της ρομαντικής ιδεολογίας

This article argues that Romos Philyras adopts the persona of the Pierrot in the work of Romos Philyras in order to critically appropriate the romantic topos of the poet as prophet. Whereas many symbolist and modernist poets have resource to the figure of the pierrot precisely in order to oppose and demystify high romanticist ideology, I demonstrate that Philyras conjoins the two personae —prophet and pierrot. Employing methodological insights from phenomenological approaches to lyric poetry and enriching them with emphasis on formal and prosodic features, I propose a reading of Philyras’s “Pierrot” (1922) that argues against an anthropomorphizing understanding of the relationship between lyric I and the puppet-pierrot. I highlight instead that for Philyras it is precisely the lack of self-consciousness and self-reflective discourse that is the shared ground between the two personae. Contextualizing my reading with pertinent texts from the European tradition (Heinrich von Kleist, Henri-Louis Bergson), I pursue the relationship between anti-humanism and poetic prophecy in Philyras’s prose work in order to throw in relief the forceful and violent character of the visionary experience.
Surgical Approaches to Mediastinal Parathyroid Glands

The mediastinal parathyroid gland typically results from the failure of the parathyroid glands to cease at their normal position adjacent to the thyroid gland during their descent from the third and fourth pharyngeal pouches. An understanding of the possible anatomic locations of the aberrant parathyroid glands as well as the anatomy of the mediastinum itself is important to developing an effective diagnostic and management strategy. Combining this knowledge with one or several of the preoperative localization techniques that exist can contribute to the successful localization and subsequent resection of an anomalous mediastinal parthyroid gland. The hyperfunctioning ectopic, mediastinal parathyroid gland can usually be addressed operatively through a neck approach. Occasionally though, a thoracic approach is needed and selecting the optimal thoracic approach is dependent upon accurate preoperative localization of the aberrant gland as well as the expertise of the surgeon. The objectives of this chapter are to provide an overview of the ectopic mediastinal parathyroid gland, discuss the associated localization techniques, and describe the open and minimally invasive approaches that can be used when performing a mediastinal parathyroidectomy.
Coherent Hemodynamics Spectroscopy: A New Technique to Characterize the Dynamics of Blood Perfusion and Oxygenation in Tissue

Hemodynamic-based neuroimaging techniques such as near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) are directly sensitive to the blood volume fraction and oxygen saturation of blood in the probed tissue. The ability to translate such hemodynamic and oxygenation measurements into physiological quantities is critically important to enhance the effectiveness of NIRS and fMRI in a broad range of applications aimed at medical diagnostic or functional assessment. Coherent hemodynamics spectroscopy (CHS) is a novel technique based on the measurement (with techniques such as NIRS or fMRI) and quantitative analysis (with a novel mathematical model) of coherent hemodynamics in living tissues. Methods to induce coherent hemodynamics in humans include controlled perturbations to the mean arterial pressure by paced breathing or by timed inflations of pneumatic cuffs wrapped around the subject’s legs. A mathematical model recently outlined translates coherent hemodynamics into physiological measures of the capillary and venous blood transit times, cerebral autoregulation, and cerebral blood flow. A typical method to analyze the optical signal from non-invasive NIRS measurements of the human brain is the modified Beer-Lambert law (mBLL), which does not allow the discrimination of hemodynamics taking place in the scalp and skull from those occurring in the brain cortex. A hybrid method using continuous wave NIRS (with the mBLL) together with frequency-domain NIRS (with a two-layer diffusion model) was successfully used to discriminate oscillatory hemodynamics in the superficial (extracerebral) tissue layer from that in deeper, cerebral tissue.
Proceedings of the 2015 workshop on Wearable Systems and Applications

It is our great pleasure to welcome you to the 2015 ACM Workshop on Wearable Systems and Applications -- WearSys'2015. This is a new workshop inspired by the fact that wearables are spearheading advancements in technology through inter-disciplinary research among a broad spectrum of disciplines such as mobile wireless, health, fashion, energy, just to name a few. The 1st ACM Workshop on wearable systems and applications, WearSys'2015, is focused on how wearable technologies can shape mobile computing, systems and applications research. The goal of this workshop is to provide a forum to bring together researchers and design experts to discuss how wearable technologies have, and can, complement mobile systems research, and vice-versa. It also aims to provide a launchpad for bold and visionary ideas for wearable systems research. The call for papers attracted a total of 18 submissions from all over the world. The program committee reviewed and accepted 9 full papers and 5 short papers. The reviewing process was single-blind (the reviewers' identity withheld from authors). The papers were also reviewed by a group of shadow PC student committee whose reviews, though not considered towards the final decisions, were sent to the authors to help improve their work. The workshop will also include a keynote and feature invited talks from personnel from academia as well as industry. We also encourage attendees to attend the panel that will feature eminent academic and industry personalities working in diverse areas. It will be followed by a demo session that will constitute invited demonstrations of ongoing and futuristic work in the wearables space.
Regulation of T‐type Ca2+ channel expression by interleukin‐6 in sensory‐like ND7/23 cells post‐herpes simplex virus (HSV‐1) infection

Herpes simplex virus-type 1 (HSV-1) infection of sensory neurons may lead to a significant reduction in the expression of voltage-activated Na+ and Ca2+ channels, which can disrupt the transmission of pain information. Viral infection also results in the secretion of various pro-inflammatory cytokines, including interleukin (IL)-6. In this work, we tested whether IL-6 regulates the expression of Na+ and Ca2+ channels post-HSV-1 infection in ND7/23 sensory-like neurons. Our results demonstrate that HSV-1 infection causes a significant decrease in the protein expression of the Cav3.2 T-type Ca2+ channel subunit, despite increasing Cav3.2 mRNA synthesis. Neither Cav3.2 mRNA nor total protein content was affected by IL-6 treatment post-HSV-1 infection. In ND7/23 cells, HSV-1 infection caused a significant reduction in the expression of Na+ and T-type Ca2+ channels within 48 h. Exposure of ND7/23 cells to IL-6 for 24 h post-infection reverses the effect of HSV-1, resulting in a significant increase in T-type Ca2+ current density. However, Na+ currents were not restored by 24-h treatment with IL-6 post-HSV-1 infection of ND7/23 cells. The ability of IL-6 to increase the functional expression of T-type Ca2+ channels on the membrane was blocked by the inhibition of protein trafficking with brefeldin-A and ERK1/2 activation. These results indicate that IL-6 release following HSV-1 infection regulates the expression of T-type Ca2+ channels, which may alter the transmission of pain information.
Increasing preoperative apnea severity improves upper airway stimulation response in OSA treatment.

OBJECTIVE Examine the patient characteristics of those undergoing upper airway stimulation (UAS) for the treatment of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP)-refractive obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) at a tertiary care medical center to determine objective clinical predictors of success. METHODS Retrospective chart review of the first 25 consecutive patients between August 2015 and December 2016 treated with UAS at a tertiary care academic center. Demographic data, medical and sleep history, pre- and postoperative polysomnography data, and sleep endoscopy findings were collected. Statistical analysis was performed using two-sided t test with bivariate and linear regression analysis. RESULTS In our cohort of 25 patients, mean age was 67.5 ± 7.6 years, and mean body mass index (BMI) was 28.2 ± 3.8 kg/m2 with 42% female. One patient was excluded from analysis for unmasking of complete central apnea with therapy. AHI decreased by a mean of 33.8 events/hour following treatment (95% confidence interval: 25.8 to 41.7, P < 0.001). Preintervention AHI was associated with therapy response, with each point of preintervention AHI leading to an average decrease of 1.03 points (P < 0.001). Eighty-three percent of patients achieved a treatment AHI < 5, whereas 92% achieved an AHI < 10. Mean device use was 49.5 ± 10.4 hours per week. Ninety-two percent of patients were discharged the day of surgery. No major adverse events occurred. CONCLUSION UAS continues to gain popularity for the treatment of CPAP-refractive OSA; therefore, identification of predictors of success is crucial. Our study, although small, suggests that more severe preintervention AHI does not preclude significant therapy response and may expand the inclusion criteria for UAS, meriting further investigation. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE 4 Laryngoscope, 130:556-560, 2020.
Hardware-Based Simulation of Optoelectronic Spiking Neuromorphic Computing Network

We report an optoelectronic spiking neuromorphic computing network and propose a hardware-based simulation method for network design. The simulation result shows that the network can recognize simple patterns and patterns with noise. © 2019 The Author(s)
Online collaborative writing revision intervention outcomes for struggling and skilled writers: An initial finding

AbstractThis study examined struggling and skilled writers’ narrative writing performances when revising stories in pairs online as compared to students working independently. In the experimental g...
Transmutations and the Presumption of Undue Influence: A Quagmire in Divorce Court

In the past thirty years, California’s community property system has undergone a transformation driven by statutory changes, including the enactment of a statute of frauds for transactions between partners and the imposition of heightened fiduciary duties between partners, as well as judicial interpretation of these statutory changes. As a result of these changes, divorcing partners now have greater opportunity to influence the outcome of the court’s division of the community property by appearing as sympathetic as possible on the witness stand. In this note, I will discuss briefly the history of California’s community property laws, and more particularly, the presumption of undue influence as applied to transmutations. Section I provides background and context for the discussion, including principles of community property as they are applied in California statutes and jurisprudence. Section II describes the application of the presumption of undue influence to transmutations in the context of recent cases; explains how judicial interpretation of what constitutes an unfair advantage to one partner over the other has led to tension between the fiduciary obligations imposed by section 721(b) and the writing requirement codified at section 852(a) of the Family Code; and
Determining Economic Base—A Process of Community Study

This article looks at a specific study aimed at determining the economic base of a rural community. A general description of the concept of economic base and how it is studied is provided. A case s...
Chemospecific deficits in taste sensitivity following bilateral or right hemispheric gustatory cortex lesions in rats

Our prior studies showed bilateral gustatory cortex (GC) lesions significantly impair taste sensitivity to salts (NaCl and KCl) and quinine ("bitter") but not to sucrose ("sweet"). The range of qualitative tastants tested here has been extended in a theoretically relevant way to include the maltodextrin, Maltrin, a preferred stimulus by rats thought to represent a unique taste quality, and the "sour" stimulus citric acid; NaCl was also included as a positive control. Male rats (Sprague-Dawley) with histologically confirmed neurotoxin-induced bilateral (BGCX, n = 13), or right (RGCX, n = 13) or left (LGCX, n = 9) unilateral GC lesions and sham-operated controls (SHAM, n = 16) were trained to discriminate a tastant from water in an operant two-response detection task. A mapping system was used to determine placement, size, and symmetry (when bilateral) of the lesion. BGCX significantly impaired taste sensitivity to NaCl, as expected, but not to Maltrin or citric acid, emulating our prior results with sucrose. However, in the case of citric acid, there was some disruption in performance at higher concentrations. Interestingly, RGCX, but not LGCX, also significantly impaired taste sensitivity, but only to NaCl, suggesting some degree of lateralized function. Taken together with our prior findings, extensive bilateral lesions in GC do not disrupt basic taste signal detection to all taste stimuli uniformly. Moreover, GC lesions do not preclude the ability of rats to learn and perform the task, clearly demonstrating that, in its absence, other brain regions are able to maintain sensory-discriminative taste processing, albeit with attenuated sensitivity for select stimuli.
X-ray Absorption and EXAFS

When X-rays impinge on a sample, they can be transmitted, scattered elastically (Rayleigh scattering and diffraction), scattered inelastically (Raman and Compton scattering), or absorbed. At high X-ray energies, the higher the atomic number of an element, the stronger the absorption, and this contrast mechanism is employed for X-ray imaging of broken bones, at the dentist’s office, in mammography, and a myriad of other applications. In this chapter, we will consider the energy dependence of X-ray absorption in more detail.
"Hot Issue" Markets

"Hot issue" markets, which refer to instances when stocks increase their offering prices to a level greater than average market premiums, have been overlooked in recent academic literature. Thus, this research examines factors which may aid in the prediction of hot issue markets. A sample of unseasoned stock issues offered between January 1, 1960 and October 31, 1970 is compiled, noting the stock's original offering price and their first two months' ending bids. In order to understand overall market performance during this time, data was also collected from the daily Standard & Poor 500 (SP the correlation between new issue premiums and aftermarket performance; the association between the number of monthly new offerings and simultaneous new issue premiums; and finally the correlation between new issue premiums and past market performance. Several implications for investors, issuers, and researchers are presented, as are directions for future research. The findings indicate that a level of predictability exists within the first month's residuals, which has implications for the timing of offerings and new issue purchases. A higher offering price, when compared to a cold issue market's efficient prices, may be obtained by issuers during that first month's issuance. (AKP)
Ectopic Burden via Holter Monitors in Friedreich Ataxia.

Abstract Background Friedreich ataxia is the most commonly inherited ataxia; nearly 60% of deaths are cardiac in nature, with one in eight deaths due to arrhythmia. Additional or irregular heartbeats, measured as ectopy, can be quantified using portable heart rhythm monitoring. We sought to describe the ectopic burden in Friedreich ataxia. Methods Using a natural history study of patients with Friedreich ataxia at a single center, we analyzed portable heart rhythm monitors (Holters). Ectopic burden was defined as the proportion of atrial or ventricular ectopic beats over total beats. Results Of 456 patients, 131 had Holters. Sixty-eight (52.0%) were male, median age of symptom onset was 8.0 years (5.0 to 13.0, n = 111), median age at time of Holter was 17.3 years (interquartile range [IQR] 12.9 to 22.8, n = 129), and median duration of illness was 8.7 years (IQR 5.3 to 11.6, n = 110). Median GAA length on the shorter FXN allele was 706.0 (IQR 550.0 to 840.0, n = 112). Eight (7.8%, n = 103) had diminished cardiac function, and 74 (74.0%, n = 100) had ventricular hypertrophy. Ninety patients (83.0%) had atrial ectopy (supraventricular ectopy [SVE]): 85 (78.0%) with rare SVE (>0% to 5%) and five (5.0%) with frequent SVE (>10%). Twenty-five (19.0%) had supraventricular runs, and one (0.8%) had atrial fibrillation/flutter. Forty-five (41.0%) had ventricular ectopy (VE): 43 (39.0%) with rare VE (0% to 5%) and two (2.0%) with moderate VE (5% to 10%). Compared with patients with none and rare SVE, patients with frequent SVE had longer disease duration (18.3 versus 4.6 versus 9.0 years, P = 0.0005). Conclusion Patients with longer disease duration had higher rates of SVE. Heart rhythm monitoring may be considered for risk stratification; however, longitudinal analysis is needed.
SU-E-P-46: Clinical Acceptance Testing and Implementation of a Portable CT Unit

Purpose: Planning for the first installation in New England of a new portable CT unit to be used in the Operating Room required the integration of many departments including Surgery, Neurosurgery, Information Services, Clinical Engineering, Radiology and Medical Physics/Radiation Safety. Acceptance testing and the quality assurance procedures were designed to optimize image quality and patient and personnel radiation exposure. Methods: The vendor’s protocols were tested using the CT Dosimetry phantoms. The system displayed the CTDIw instead of the CTDIvol while testing the unit. Radiation exposure was compared to existing CT scanners from installed CT units throughout the facility. Brainlab measures all 4 periphery slots on the CT Dosimetry phantom. The ACR measures only the superior slot for the periphery measurement. A comprehensive radiation survey was also performed for several locations. Results: The CTDIvol measurements were comparable for the following studies: brain, C-Spine, and sinuses. However, the mobile CT measurements were slightly higher than other CT units but within acceptable tolerance if measured using the ACR method.Based on scatter measurements, it was determined if any personnel were to stay in the OR Suite during image acquisition that the appropriate lead apron and thyroid shields had to be worn.In addition, to reducemore » unnecessary scatter, there were two mobile 6 foot wide shields (1/16″ lead equivalent) available to protect personnel in the room and adjacent areas. Conclusion: Intraoperative CT provides the physician new opportunities for evaluation of the progression of surgical resections and device placement at the cost of increasing the amount of trained personnel required to perform this procedure. It also brings with it challenges to keep the radiation exposure to the patients and staff within reasonable limits.« less
The role of face masks on speech intelligibility for native and nonnative speakers of English: Graduate students’ experiences

The COVID-19 pandemic caused the widespread use of face masks in teaching and other normal communication situations. To provide some insight into the communication issues the wearing of face masks causes, this qualitative study examined beliefs about the role of face masks on speech intelligibility by exploring graduate students’ experiences. Data was collected by interviewing eight native speakers and eight non-native speakers of English in a large Midwestern university in the U.S.A. in December, 2020 while the COVID-19 pandemic was still ongoing. Data was analyzed by using a phenomenology approach and themes were identified. Findings indicated that both native speakers and nonnative speakers view speech with face masks as some kind of obstacle to speech intelligibility, either as speakers or as listeners, pointing towards various factors that cause the difficulty. It was also found that speakers tend to use various strategies to adapt their speech when wearing face masks to facilitate the communication. Frameworks of the factors and strategies are presented. The findings of this study can provide implications for anyone involved in academic, medical, or occupational settings, as well as for the general public during pandemic situations.
Readability Assessment of Patient Educational Materials for Shoulder Arthroplasty from Top Academic Orthopaedic Institutions

Abstract: Background Previous studies have demonstrated that online patient educational materials are written at reading levels too advanced for the average patient. The average American reads at the eighth grade reading level. To date, the readability of online educational material of academic centers for shoulder arthroplasty has not been analyzed. Methods Online patient educational materials from the top 25 orthopedic institutions, as ranked by U.S. News & World Report, were assessed utilizing the following readability assessments: Flesch-Kincaid (FK), Flesch Reading Ease, Gunning Fog Index, Coleman-Liau Index, Simple Measure of the Gobbledygook Index (SMOG), Automated Readability Index, FORCAST, and the New Dale and Chall Readability. All of these scores, with the exception of the Flesch Reading Ease, provide an output indicating reading difficulty based on grade level. Correlations between academic institutional ranking and FK scores were evaluated using a Spearman regression. Lastly, additional factors including geographical location, private versus public institution, and use of concomitant multi-media modalities that may impact institutional readability scores (as determined by FK) were evaluated. Results Only 17.3% of the top 25 institutions included online material at or below the eighth grade reading level. Moreover, half of the online resources evaluated (those with FK score ≥9.3), were not at a suitable reading level for more than two thirds of the general United States population (∼70%). Overall, the composite mean scores were 9.5±2.1 Flesch-Kinaid (FK), 52.8±9.4 Flesch Reading Ease, 12.2±2.4 Gunning Fog, 11.6±1.8 Coleman-Liau, 12.3±1.7 SMOG, 9.6±2.6 Automated Readability, 11.1±0.6 FORCAST, and 5.9±0.6 New Dale and Chall. There was no correlation between Institutional ranking and FK scores (ρ= -0.15; P=0.946). Geographical location, private versus public institution, and use of concomitant multi-media modalities were not significantly associated with readability. Conclusion Shoulder arthroplasty online patient educational material at top-ranked orthopedic institutions have poor readability and are likely not suitable for the majority of patients in the United States.
Digital badges in undergraduate composition courses: effects on intrinsic motivation

Digital badges are being adopted widely in educational settings as an alternative assessment model, but research on their impact on motivation is scarce. The present study examined college undergraduates (n = 53) enrolled in first-year writing courses, where badges represented essential course outcomes. Participants were categorized as either high or low expectancy-values, and intrinsic motivation to earn badges was measured repeatedly during the 16-week semester. Participants’ attitudes toward digital badges also were investigated. Findings reinforced previous research that digital badges function differently according to the type of learner. Results indicated a generally positive view of badges in English courses, though levels of intrinsic motivation to earn the badges increased for high expectancy-value learners only. It is suggested that incorporating digital badges as an assessment model benefits learners who have high expectations for learning and place value on learning tasks, but badges also could disenfranchise students with low expectancy-values. Digital badges are viable as assessment tools but heavily dependent upon individual learner types.
Flavoproteins: Correlation of Structure and Function

The differences in properties among different flavoproteins and their differences from the free coenzymes have long intrigued workers in this field. For example, in the oxidized state, free flavins have an intense greenish yellow fluorescence, which is mostly quenched, sometimes partially, and often completely, on incorporation into a particular flavoprotein. In the reduced state, free flavins react rapidly with oxygen, through a complex series of reactions involving flavin hydroperoxide, flavin radical and superoxide radical, yielding finally oxidized flavin and H2O2. Some flavoproteins retain this ability to react rapidly with O2, others lose it almost completely.
Study of Praseodyium Strontium Manganite for the Potential Use as a Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Cathode

Extensive research has been performed on solid oxide fuel cell cathodes. These cathodes have a multitude of performance restrictions, such as stability in an oxidation environment, have sufficient electrical conductivity, and catalytic activity for the oxidant gas reaction at the appropriate operating temperature. Also the cathode must be chemically and thermally compatible with the other cell components from room temperature to the operating temperature and even to higher fabrication temperatures. Praseodymium strontium manganite (PSM) has shown promising electrical properties with respect to idealistic properties of cathodes in solid oxide fuel cells. Various dopant levels of strontium in the perovskite structure were investigated, which include Pr 1 - x Sr x MnO 3 - δ where x = 0.10, 0.20, 0.30 and (Pr 1 - x Sr x ) 0 . 9 8 MnO 3 - δ where x = 0.20 and 0.30. This cathodic material has shown electrical conductivity over twice as high as a traditionally used cathode material, La 0 . 8 Sr 0 . 2 MnO 3 . Through this investigation, the electrical conductivities of this ceramic series were measured from 200°C to 950°C. Within the same temperature range the Seebeck coefficient was also investigated. This coefficient is a measurement of the change in voltage across a temperature gradient and thus can be referred to as its thermal power. This measurement provides a better overall understanding of the high electrical conductivity displayed within the material.
Genetic testing for hereditary melanoma and pancreatic cancer: a longitudinal study of psychological outcome.

Objective CDKN2A/p16 mutations confer 76% lifetime risk of melanoma and up to 17% lifetime risk of pancreatic cancer. Our objective was to determine the short- and long-term impact of CDKN2A/p16 genetic counseling and test reporting on psychological distress, cancer worry, and perceived costs and benefits of testing. Methods Prospective changes in anxiety, depression, and cancer worry following CDKN2A/p16 counseling and test reporting were evaluated at multiple assessments over 2 years among 60 adult members of melanoma-prone families; 37 participants completed the 2-year follow-up. Quantitative and qualitative assessments of the costs and benefits of testing were carried out. Outcomes were evaluated among unaffected noncarriers (n = 27), unaffected carriers (n = 15), and affected carriers (n = 18). Results Reported anxiety and depression were low. For carriers and noncarriers, anxiety decreased significantly throughout the 2-year period, whereas depression and melanoma worry showed short-term decreases. Worry about pancreatic cancer was low and decreased significantly. In all groups, test-related distress and uncertainty were low, regret was absent, and positive experiences were high. All participants (>93% at each assessment) reported at least one perceived benefit of genetic testing; only 15.9% listed any negative aspect. Carriers reported increased knowledge about melanoma risk and prevention (78.3%) and increased prevention and screening behaviors for self and family (65.2%). Noncarriers reported increased knowledge (95.2%) and emotional benefits (71.4%). Conclusion Among US participants familiar with their hereditary melanoma risk through prior epidemiological research participation, CDKN2A/p16 genetic testing provides multiple perceived benefits to both carriers and noncarriers without inducing distress in general or worry about melanoma or pancreatic cancer. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Quality-of-service specific information retrieval for densely deployed sensor networks

A new MAC protocol is proposed for the reachback operation in large scale, densely deployed sensor networks. Referred to as quality-of-service specific information retrieval (QUIRE), the proposed protocol aims to assure QoS requirement with a minimum amount of transmissions from sensors. By enabling only one sensor in a neighborhood to transmit, QUIRE ensures that the data access point receives no redundant information for reconstructing the sensed field within a given maximum distortion (QoS). It jointly minimizes system latency (the amount of time spent for data collection) and total energy consumption (the total number of transmissions from sensors).