cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Chinese nationalism, Taiwan autonomy and the prospects of a larger war

In contrast to the belief that the 1995–1996 Taiwan Straits crisis was caused by the visit of the President of Taiwan to Cornell University, in fact, the post‐Mao ruling groups in Beijing made forcing early reunification with mainland China on Taiwan a top priority soon after assuming power in 1978. This new focus on Taiwan's reunification reflects a policy switch. It is not a continuation of Mao era policies. The switch is basic. It involves a profound change in the content of Chinese nationalism from Mao era nationalism, which is seen by its critics in China as insufficiently promoting the national interests of the Chinese people. The new, post‐Mao nationalism in China not only challenges Taiwan's autonomy, it also could endanger peace in the Pacific‐Asia region. Consequently, it is important to rethink the political dynamics at work in China and in the region if the parties involved hope to avoid a larger war.
Generation and suppression of conducted EMI from inverter-fed motor drives

This paper focuses on a systematic analysis of the conducted electromagnetic interference (EMI) from an inverter-fed motor drive system. It proposes a theory to explain how the conducted EMI is generated. The theory states that the EMI can be produced from the system by two different mechanisms: parasitic capacitive coupling and inductive load current switching. Each of the EMI mechanisms is discussed in detail. Suppression methods are also suggested to help effectively reduce the EMI emission. Validation of the theory and suppression methods are then performed experimentally based on a brushless PM motor drive.
The impact of metabolic state on Cd adsorption onto bacterial cells

This study examines the effect of bacterial metabolism on the adsorption of Cd onto Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial cells. Metabolically active Gram-positive cells adsorbed significantly less Cd than nonmetabolizing cells. Gram-negative cells, however, showed no systematic difference in Cd adsorption between metabolizing and non-metabolizing cells. The effect of metabolism on Cd adsorption to Gram-positive cells was likely due to an influx of protons in and around the cell wall from the metabolic proton motive force, promoting competition between Cd and protons for adsorption sites on the cell wall. The relative lack of a metabolic effect on Cd adsorption onto Gram-negative compared to Gram-positive cells suggests that Cd binding in Gramnegative cells is focused in a region of the cell wall that is not reached, or is unaffected by this proton flux. Thermodynamic modeling was used to estimate that proton pumping causes the pH in the cell wall of metabolizing Gram-positive bacteria to decrease from the bulk solution value of 7.0 to approximately 5.7.
Using the creative process to map n dimensions: quantum information at your fingertips

In this information rich age where voluminous amounts of data are being generated, processed, and transformed at ever-increasing rates, how does one master control of this data as if it were intuitive and second nature? Can one master control much in the same way that an artist, composer, or musician creates or performs a work of art, with intuitive precision? In this Keynote I will discuss the use of the creative process in order to conduct advanced research in science and the arts. I will describe research underway at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where a team of artists, scientists and engineers have found a way to work creatively in consort, mapping very largescale (n-dimensional) data sets for scientific and artistic data generation, exploration and transformation. To this end, this author has created, and implemented an instrument that will allow a team of researchers to control and interact with n-dimensional data as one large multi-user instrument. The AlloSphere is a 3-story metal sphere in an echo-free chamber that is built as a design stage, and is performed as an instrumental ensemble would compose and perform a piece of music [1]
Increased Neuronal Production, Enlarged Forebrains and Cytoarchitectural Distortions in β-Catenin Overexpressing Transgenic Mice

beta-Catenin can function in the decision of neural precursors to proliferate or differentiate during mammalian neuronal development and may regulate cerebral cortical size by controlling the generation of neural precursor cells. Mice expressing high levels of a stabilized beta-catenin transgene in neural precursors develop enlarged brains with expanded precursor populations, increased cerebral cortical surface area, and folds resembling sulci and gyri of higher mammals present at birth. Here we report the effects in adult mice expressing lower levels of the same stabilized beta-catenin transgene in neural precursors. Adult transgenic animals develop enlarged forebrains with thin cerebral cortices with increased surface area, expanded subventricular zones with subcortical aggregations of neurons and enlarged, distorted hippocampi. The brains from transgenic mice also show apparent arrest of neuronal migration and dramatic disorganization of the layering of the cerebral cortex. These findings suggest that beta-catenin can cause expansion of the precursor pool resulting in increased neuronal production and greater brain size and suggest a crucial role for beta-catenin in neuronal migration and cortical lamination.
REMARKABLE INHIBITION OF OXYGEN QUENCHING OF PHOSPHORESCENCE BY COMPLEXATION WITH CYCLODEXTRINS

The phosphorescence of the 4-bromo-l-naphthoyl group is readily quenched by molecular oxygen in homogeneous solvents. However, when this lumophore is complexed with γ-cyclodextrin in aqueous solution at room temperature, its phosphorescence is observed even under 1 atm of oxygen! Phosphorescence decay data indicated that two types of probe/cyclodcxtrin complexes are formed with lifetimes of 600 u,s and 3.5 ms. Oxygen completely quenches the fast decay, but only partially quenches the slow decay.
Development and Application of Electroluminescence Imaging for CdS/CdTe Characterization

A technique for spatially resolved optical characterization of CdS/CdTe thin film solar cells has been developed using electroluminescence (EL). In EL, excess minority carriers are injected via forward biasing. Light produced in radiative carrier recombination is collected with a CCD camera. Because EL intensity depends upon radiative vs. non-radiative recombination lifetimes, EL provides insight into material quality. Spatial resolution is a key benefit of EL as it provides insight into the non-uniformities of polycrystalline CdTe. At high magnification the resolution is diffraction limited, but coarser measurements of up to several millimeters in range may also be made. Non-uniformities in emission have been observed throughout this range. Further benefits of EL as a characterization technique are as follows: EL probes the region of most interest, namely the CdTe near the main junction. Also, it is observable at room temperature and data acquisition is fast. Finally, EL is observable at very low carrier injection rates, comparable to short circuit current. (Though more structure is often revealed at higher injection rates.) This low injection means that EL can be a non-destructive probe. This fact, along with the aforementioned ease of observation, means that EL could possibly be used for quality control and in situ testing of modules. Data gathered from CdS/CdTe cells from various institutions deposited using different methods such as close spaced sublimation, vapor transport, and sputtering are presented. In addition to changes in deposition technique, changes in processing parameters were observed to affect EL emission. Furthermore, overall EL emission decreased noticeably with stress at various biases and elevated temperature, with non-uniformity increasing in many cases. Changes in EL become apparent before changes in parameters acquired with standard current-voltage measurements, suggesting that this technique can be used as an early indicator for degrading cells. Finally, some dramatic changes in EL with stress suggest highly non-uniform degradation of the back contact.
Lichen Community Response to Prescribed Burning and Thinning in Southern Pine Forests of the Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain, USA

The effects of prescribed burning and thinning on lichen communities is a poorly understood aspect of biodiversity conservation, despite the widespread use of these practices to achieve conservation-oriented land management goals. To address this knowledge gap we documented apparent changes in the diversity and abundance of lichens following 0 to 2 growing-season burns preceded by 0 to 1 commercial thinnings within nine southern pine dominated stands on the Delmarva Peninsula of Maryland, USA. Corticolous lichens growing on the stems and within the canopies of pines and co-occurring hardwoods were identified to species and fractional coverage was estimated; growth forms and reproductive modes were also determined. A total of 93 lichen taxa were recorded on the 19 tree species (4 pines, 15 hardwoods) represented in this study. Burning emerged as a strong driver of reductions in lichen diversity (P = 0.002), whereas thinning in the absence of burning did not (P = 0.279). In general, we found that lichens growing on tree bases and lower bole sections were more strongly impacted by burning, both in terms of diversity and cover, than those residing in the canopy. The apparent refugia represented by the canopy was qualified by the limited overlap in lichen species composition observed among the various sampling heights. This work calls attention to an understudied component of biodiversity that appears to be sensitive to fire management; however, we suggest that these results need to be interpreted in the context of altered disturbance regimes and the trajectory of community assembly resulting from long-term fire exclusion.
Optimization of Waverider-Derived Crew Reentry Vehicles Using a Rapid Aerodynamics Analysis Approach

A unique implementation of commonly used engineering methods for estimating supersonic and hypersonic aerodynamics of arbitrary shapes is discussed. A validation case comparing the aerodynamic coefficients generated by this technique with both wind tunnel and published computational results for the NASA HL-20 configuration from Mach 1.2 to Mach 10 is presented. These results indicate that the method can generate aerodynamic databases where the lift and drag coefficients are within 15% of experimental data in minutes on a typical workstation. Therefore, the benefits of this rapid aerodynamic analysis approach are further investigated by integrating it into a multidisciplinary design optimization framework for waverider-derived crew reentry vehicles. A shape design code, mass estimating model, and trajectory/aeroheating analysis are linked using a genetic algorithm optimization process to generate a pareto front comparing vehicle downrange versus landed mass. The results of this analysis indicate that a higher lift-to-drag ratio ( L/D ) typically results in a longer range, but also correlates with a larger vehicle mass. Finally, a comparison with the HL-20 is performed to highlight how the waverider-derived design approach can produce configurations exhibiting a 20% increase in maximum L/D with only a 4% increase in vehicle length.
Abstract 3353: Prostate cancer microenvironment modulates macrophage phagocytosis

Macrophages play an important role in the body9s immune system. There are two main phenotypes of macrophages, M1 and M2. M1 polarized macrophages participate in tumorcidal activity and pro-inflammatory responses. M2 macrophages perform anti-inflammatory responses and promote tissue repair, angiogenesis, and tumor growth. Macrophages within the vicinity of cancer cells may be influenced by the microenvironment and change their gene expression accordingly. Macrophages can express different cytokine profiles depending on their polarization state (M1 or M2). We investigated whether macrophages exposed to cancer cells demonstrate a M2 or M1 phenotype. We stimulated U937 cells with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) for 24 hours to allow for adhesion and differentiation. We co-cultured PMA-stimulated U937 macrophages with PC3 and DU145 prostate cancer cell lines in a 1:1 ratio with a transpermeable membrane to allow for cell to cell contact and communication, and with PC3 and DU145 conditioned media for 48 hours. We isolated the RNA from the treated macrophages and performed qPCR to assess gene expression levels of the following cytokines: IL-10, a cytokine demonstrating a M2 phenotype was upregulated by 10 and 15 fold for PC3 and DU145 cells respectively and by 3 fold in both cell lines exposed to conditioned media. We also found a trend of downregulation with the cytokines IL-1, IL-12, and TNF - alpha, which also depict a M2 phenotype. We also assessed macrophage function by measuring engulfment by flow cytometry. Treated macrophages were allowed to phagocytose fluorescent microbeads for 1 hour. Flow cytometry analysis revealed that total bead engulfment decreased by up to 80% in macrophages treated with PC3 cells. Moreover, the population of macrophages that engulfed 3+ beads decreased significantly from both the cells and media treatments. Macrophages treated with DU145 cells and spent media also showed a similar trend to macrophages exposed to PC3 cells. The results show that macrophages exposed to PC3 and DU145 cancer cell lines polarized towards an M2 phenotype and could be important in the success of cancer within the microenvironment. Further research will reveal whether this process of a M2 polarization of macrophages is mediated by cytokines and cell vesicles or other factors. Citation Format: Evita G. Weagel, Nicholas B. Anderson, Wei Meng, Josh Davis, Richard A. Robison, Kim L. O9Neill. Prostate cancer microenvironment modulates macrophage phagocytosis. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 3353. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-3353
How to think about satisficing

An agent submaximizes with motivation when she aims at the best but chooses a less good option because of a countervailing consideration. An agent (radically) satisfices when she rejects the better for the good enough, and does so because the mere good enough gets her what she really wants. Motivated submaximization and satisficing, so construed, are different ways of choosing a suboptimal option, but this difference is easily missed. Putative proponents of satisficing tend to argue only that motivated submaximization can be appropriate while critics of satisficing tend to criticize satisficing, as I construe it. The existing literature, then, leaves (radical) satisficing in a very bad state: there are no good arguments for it and there are three unanswered objections to it. This paper (1) clarifies the distinction between motivated submaximization and satisficing and (2) refutes the three most prominent objections to the claim that satisficing can be appropriate.
Expanding thermal ablation to the ‘intermediate-sized’ renal mass: clinical utility in T1b tumors

In the August 2016 issue of European Urology , Caputo et al . present the most recent series comparing outcomes of cryoablation (CA) versus partial nephrectomy (PN) for clinical T1b (cT1b) renal tumors (1). The publication retrospectively identified 31 patients at a single high-volume center who underwent percutaneous or laparoscopic CA for renal tumors >4 and ≤7 cm between 1999 and 2014. For all patients, the treating physician determined that while treatment was indicated, the risk of surgery outweighed the benefit. CA with pretreatment biopsy was performed via both laparoscopic and percutaneous approaches though the authors do not define the number of patients in each group.
Perceptual and categorical decision making: goal-relevant representation of two domains at different levels of abstraction

To date it has been unclear whether perceptual decision making and rule-based categorization reflect activation of similar cognitive processes and brain regions. On one hand, both map potentially ambiguous stimuli to a smaller set of motor responses. On the other hand, decisions about perceptual salience typically concern concrete sensory representations derived from a noisy stimulus, while categorization is typically conceptualized as an abstract decision about membership in a potentially arbitrary set. Previous work has primarily examined these types of decisions in isolation. Here we independently varied salience in both the perceptual and categorical domains in a random dot-motion framework by manipulating dot-motion coherence and motion direction relative to a category boundary, respectively. Behavioral and modeling results suggest that categorical (more abstract) information, which is more relevant to subjects' decisions, is weighted more strongly than perceptual (more concrete) information, although they also have significant interactive effects on choice. Within the brain, BOLD activity within frontal regions strongly differentiated categorical salience and weakly differentiated perceptual salience; however, the interaction between these two factors activated similar frontoparietal brain networks. Notably, explicitly evaluating feature interactions revealed a frontal-parietal dissociation: parietal activity varied strongly with both features, but frontal activity varied with the combined strength of the information that defined the motor response. Together, these data demonstrate that frontal regions are driven by decision-relevant features and argue that perceptual decisions and rule-based categorization reflect similar cognitive processes and activate similar brain networks to the extent that they define decision-relevant stimulus-response mappings.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Here we study the behavioral and neural dynamics of perceptual categorization when decision information varies in multiple domains at different levels of abstraction. Behavioral and modeling results suggest that categorical (more abstract) information is weighted more strongly than perceptual (more concrete) information but that perceptual and categorical domains interact to influence decisions. Frontoparietal brain activity during categorization flexibly represents decision-relevant features and highlights significant dissociations in frontal and parietal activity during decision making.
Detention of Immigrant Children

Immigrant children seeking safe haven in the United States, whether arriving unaccompanied or in family units, face a complicated evaluation and legal process from the point of arrival through permanent resettlement in communities. The conditions in which children are detained and the support services that are available to them are of great concern to pediatricians and other advocates for children. In accordance with internationally accepted rights of the child, immigrant and refugee children should be treated with dignity and respect and should not be exposed to conditions that may harm or traumatize them. The Department of Homeland Security facilities do not meet the basic standards for the care of children in residential settings. The recommendations in this statement call for limited exposure of any child to current Department of Homeland Security facilities (ie, Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities) and for longitudinal evaluation of the health consequences of detention of immigrant children in the United States. From the moment children are in the custody of the United States, they deserve health care that meets guideline-based standards, treatment that mitigates harm or traumatization, and services that support their health and well-being. This policy statement also provides specific recommendations regarding postrelease services once a child is released into communities across the country, including a coordinated system that facilitates access to a medical home and consistent access to education, child care, interpretation services, and legal services.
Prefrontal Cortex: A Mystery of Belated Memories.

A recent study suggests that the prefrontal cortex gradually becomes critical as a storage site for remotely acquired memories. How do we interpret this observation in light of the well-known functional role of the prefrontal cortex in cognition and memory?
Tuning DNA Condensation with Zwitterionic Polyamidoamine (zPAMAM) Dendrimers

Cationic dendrimers are promising vectors for nonviral gene therapies due to their well-defined size and chemistry. We have synthesized a series of succinylated fourth generation (G4) PAMAM dendrimers to control the DNA packaging in dendriplexes, allowing us to probe the role of charge on DNA packaging. The self-assembly of DNA induced by these zwitterionic PAMAM (zPAMAM) was investigated using small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). We demonstrate that changing the degree of modification in zPAMAM–DNA significantly alters the packing density of the resulting dendriplexes. Salt sensitivities and pH dependence on the inter-DNA spacing were also examined. The swelling and stability to salt are reduced with increasing degree of PAMAM modification. Lowering the pH leads to significantly tighter hexagonal DNA packaging. In combination, these results show zPAMAM is an effective means to modulate nucleic acid packaging in a deterministic manner.
Hormonal Contraceptives and Adherence

Hormonal contraceptives are among the most widely used reversible methods of preventing pregnancy. In 2002, oral contraceptive pills (OCPs) were the most popular contraceptive method, used by 11.6 million women in the USA [1]. Unfortunately, for methods such as OCPs, which depend on adherence in order to be effective, there is a large difference in failure rates between perfect use and typical use. For example, the first year failure rate for OCPs with perfect use is only 0.3%, but with typical use it is 8% [2].
Finite Automata With Restricted Two-Way Motion.

We consider finite two-way automata and measure the use of two-way motion by counting the number of left moves in accepting computations. Restriction of the automata according to this measure allows us to study in detail the use of two-way motion for the acceptance of regular languages in terms of state complexity. The two-way spectrum of a given regular language is introduced. This quantity reflects the change of size of minimal accepting devices if the use of two-way motion is increased incrementally. We give examples for spectra, prove uniform upper and lower bounds and study their sharpness. We also have state complexity results for two-way automata with uniformly bounded use of two-way motion.
Musculoskeletal Biopsies: Extremities

The use of percutaneous image-guided biopsy has increased over the past several years as it has been shown to be both a safe and accurate tool for diagnosis of lesions of the appendicular musculoskeletal system. There are few relative contraindications, and the accuracy of percutaneous image-guided biopsies of the extremities is very high. The safety is related to the minimally invasive nature of these procedures as well as the advanced imaging that allows for precise planning and performance. The accuracy of these procedures is a function of the modern techniques and tools being used. The choice of imaging modalities such as fluoroscopy, ultrasound, CT, and MR is dictated by the lesion characteristics and patient considerations. Considerations of critical structures, tissue planes, and future surgery approaches should be part of pre-biopsy planning. A collaborative effort between a dedicated team of surgeons, radiologists, and pathologists is essential. Through assessment of these and other important techniques and tools, this chapter provides comprehensive recommendations for optimizing diagnostic outcomes while minimizing patient risks.
Flag State Responsibility for the Exercise of Jurisdiction and Control in Administrative Matters Over Vessels: Crimes at Sea and Trafficking of Weapons in Central America to the United States

Flag State countries have been attracting a significant amount of vessels around the world due to their low fees for many decades. The proliferation of such an event has triggered the opportunity to many criminal organizations in establishing and sneaking market routes from this attractive and unlimited amount of vessels. Trafficking of weapons, drugs, and immigrants are some of the activities performed by those organizations. Moreover, the lack of efficient law enforcement from flag states has proliferated the damage to other nations. The issue has attracted the concern of multilateral organizations and the United States to cooperate with those nations in Central America to mitigate the damage. The responsibility for the exercise of jurisdiction and control in administrative matters over vessels is no longer a matter of sovereignty.
An Inhibitor of Arginine-Glycine-Aspartate-Binding Integrins Reverses Fibrosis in a Mouse Model of Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis

The presence and stage of liver fibrosis in patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is strongly associated with mortality. Thus, both preventing and reversing fibrosis are critically important approaches to prevent death or the need for liver transplantation from NASH. Recently, fibrosis in several mouse models of organ injury was shown to be prevented and reversed with the potent small molecule, arginine-glycine-aspartic acid tripeptide (RGD)-binding, integrin antagonist (3S)-3-(3-bromo-5-(tert-butyl)phenyl)-3-(2-(3-hydroxy-5-((5-hydroxy-1,4,5,6-tetrahydropyrimidin-2-yl)amino)benzamido)acetamido)propanoic acid (Center for World Health and Medicine [CWHM]-12). We hypothesized that RGD-binding integrins may play an important role in fibrosis progression in NASH. We assessed the efficacy of CWHM-12 in a choline deficient, amino-acid defined, high-fat diet (CDAHFD) mouse model of NASH. Mice were kept on the CDAHFD or a control diet for 10 weeks, and CWHM-12 was delivered by continuous infusion for the final 4 weeks. The parameters of NASH and liver fibrosis were evaluated before and after drug treatment. Hepatic steatosis, liver injury, and inflammation were significantly induced by the CDAHFD at week 6 and did not change by week 10. Hepatic profibrogenic gene expression was induced by the CDAHFD at week 6, further increased at week 10, and decreased by CWHM-12. Fibrosis measured by analysis of liver collagen was reduced by CWHM-12 to levels significantly less than found at 6 weeks, demonstrating the possibility of reversing already established fibrosis despite ongoing injury. Demonstrated mechanisms of the antifibrotic effect of CWHM-12 included loss of activated hepatic stellate cells through apoptosis and suppression of hepatic profibrotic signal transduction by transforming growth factor β. Conclusion: RGD-binding integrins may be critical in the development of fibrosis in NASH and may represent potential targets for treating patients with NASH to reverse advanced liver fibrosis.
Transportable Test Procedures for Elementary Function Software

This paper explores the principles and numerics behind the use of identities to test the accuracy of elementary function software. The success of this approach depends critically on proper matching of identity and test interval with the purpose of the test, and on careful implementation based on an understanding of computer arithmetic systems and inherent accuracy limitations for computational software.
Clinical Tools for Working Abroad with Migrants.

There are an estimated 68.5 million displaced persons worldwide, about one-half of whom are under the age of 18 years. The health needs of migrants are complex and dynamic along their journey. When structuring health care services for migrants abroad, there is not a one-size-fits-all approach and programming must be adaptable, practical, relevant, sustainable, and ideally integrated into the host country's health care system. In this article, we the examine clinical and public health priorities for migrant health care abroad and practical resources for health care professionals who wish to put their ideals into practice in the field.
Styrene Lining and Container Size Affect Substrate Temperature

Abstract The influence of container size and styrene lining on substrate temperature, and their relationship to ambient air temperature were evaluated. Maximum substrate temperatures adjacent to th...
Comparison of severity of asthma hospitalization between African American and Hispanic children in the Bronx

Objective: There are racial and ethnic disparities in childhood asthma burden and outcomes. Although there have been comparisons between whites and minorities, there are few between minority groups...
Getting a Grip: The PET Framework for Studying How Reader Emotions Influence Comprehension.

Comprehension models do not often account for the multifaceted and emotionally charged nature of reading in real-world settings. In addition, studies of how reader emotions influence comprehension ...
Pediatric ambulatory anesthesia: an update

Purpose of reviewAmbulatory surgery is the standard for the majority of pediatric surgery in 2019 and adenotonsillectomy is the second most common ambulatory surgery in children so it is an apt paradigm. Preparing and managing these children as ambulatory patients requires a thorough understanding o
Interaction of enteroluminal neutrophils and the Escherichia coli heat-stable enterotoxin b with porcine small intestine

Culture supernates from two strains of fL. coll were placed into different ligated intestinal sections (loops) of each animal. The two bacterial strains were identical except that one contained a plasmid carrying the heat-stable toxin b (STb) gene, while the other did not. Morphometric techniques were used to assess villous epithelial surface areas and mucosal volumes in both intestinal segments exposed to STbpositive (test) and to Stb-negative (control) supernates. In pigs whose intestines were exposed to STb-positive supernatants for 2 hours, both villous epithelial surface area and mucosal volume were significantly smaller in test loops than in control loops (P<0.02). In test loops of pigs Incubated for 1 hour, and in test loops of lambs incubated for 2 hours, there was a decrease in villous epithelial surface area which approached the test for significance but did not meet it (0.05<P<0.10). Rabbit test loops did not differ from rabbit control loops in either villous epithelial surface area or mucosal volume. Histological examination of the tissues from all three species revealed epithelial changes in porcine and ovine tissues only. In porcine and ovine tissues, epithelium at villous tips was seen to be cuboidal or squamous, or even to be absent. Villi with similarly altered epithelium were seen in control loops, but were seen much more frequently in test loops. These epithelial changes were seen as early as 30 minutes of incubation in
Is the Use of Intraoperative Frozen Section During Pancreaticoduodenectomy Justified

Intraoperative frozen section (IFS) is routinely utilized by many surgeons during pancreaticoduodenectomy. However, its utility has not been rigorously studied. Patients who underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy between 2006 and 2015 were identified from institutional data. Measures of diagnostic accuracy of frozen section and multivariate logistic regression are reported. The cohort included 1076 patients. Of resected specimens, 73.3% were malignant. IFS and final pathologic review (the gold standard) were discrepant for (1) pathologic diagnosis or (2) resection margin status in 5.3% and 3.3% of cases. The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of IFS for histologic determination of malignancy were 97.2%, 95.3%, and 96.7% respectively. For resection margins, they were 92.3%, 99.3%, and 96.8%, respectively. Positive bile duct and neck margins were revised intraoperatively 62% and 65% of the time, respectively; positive uncinate margins were never resected but led surgeons to avoid revision of a second positive margin in 13% of cases (4.2% of all PDA). Operative changes were rarely noted in the presence of benign disease (n = 11, 1.0%); conversion to total pancreatectomy based on positive margins was performed in just 13 cases (1.2%). Upon multivariable analysis, a positive neck margin proved to be the greatest predictor for a revised resection margin (AOR 16.9 [4.8–59.8]), whereas a positive uncinate margin or a diagnosis of chronic pancreatitis was protective against IFS-driven operative changes (AOR 0.25 [0.09–0.73]; AOR 0.16 [0.13–0.19]). IFS is highly accurate and guides reresection of margins. However, selective omission of IFS may be justified for cases where benign disease is suspected.
What a Driver Wants: User Preferences in Semi-Autonomous Vehicle Decision-Making

Autonomous vehicle (AV) systems are developing at a rapid pace, not only in technological capabilities, but also in human-centered directions. Despite this development, we lack a nuanced understanding of driver preference in decision scenarios that semi-AVs will face, and of possible misalignment between semi-AV decisions and user preference. Using an online survey, we explore how participants would like semi-AVs to act and alert them of the vehicles' decisions in various scenarios. Participants reported varying levels of comfort with autonomy, desire to takeover control, and desire for AV informing. Individual differences, including level of experience with autonomy and situation awareness, affected perceptions of the vehicle. Our results highlight the importance of considering driver preference in AV decision-making, and we present an influence diagram that situates this factor among others. We also derive five design principles, including that a previous positive AV experience can lead to more harmful consequences for AVs when not aligned with driver preference.
Black Hope Floats: Racial Emotion Regulation and the Uniquely Motivating Effects of Hope on Black Political Participation

Drawing upon theories of group based emotion, group based efficacy and appraisal, I propose a model of racial emotion regulation to explain variations in how Black and White Americans respond emotionally and behaviorally to policy opportunity cues. I test the major claims of this model with data from an original experiment and national survey. Findings from the studies indicate that expressions of hope carry a strong and consistent mobilizing effect on the political participation of African Americans, while producing null effects on White participation. I discuss the implications of this model for our understanding of the potential of hope to shape appraisals and perceptions of efficacy among socially marginalized groups, opening up a distinct pathway through which they can be mobilized for political engagement.
Clinical decision support system, using expert consensus-derived logic and natural language processing, decreased sedation-type order errors for patients undergoing endoscopy

OBJECTIVE Determination of appropriate endoscopy sedation strategy is an important preprocedural consideration. To address manual workflow gaps that lead to sedation-type order errors at our institution, we designed and implemented a clinical decision support system (CDSS) to review orders for patients undergoing outpatient endoscopy. MATERIALS AND METHODS The CDSS was developed and implemented by an expert panel using an agile approach. The CDSS queried patient-specific historical endoscopy records and applied expert consensus-derived logic and natural language processing to identify possible sedation order errors for human review. A retrospective analysis was conducted to evaluate impact, comparing 4-month pre-pilot and 12-month pilot periods. RESULTS 22 755 endoscopy cases were included (pre-pilot 6434 cases, pilot 16 321 cases). The CDSS decreased the sedation-type order error rate on day of endoscopy (pre-pilot 0.39%, pilot 0.037%, Odds Ratio = 0.094, P-value < 1e-8). There was no difference in background prevalence of erroneous orders (pre-pilot 0.39%, pilot 0.34%, P = .54). DISCUSSION At our institution, low prevalence and high volume of cases prevented routine manual review to verify sedation order appropriateness. Using a cohort-enrichment strategy, a CDSS was able to reduce number of chart reviews needed per sedation-order error from 296.7 to 3.5, allowing for integration into the existing workflow to intercept rare but important ordering errors. CONCLUSION A workflow-integrated CDSS with expert consensus-derived logic rules and natural language processing significantly reduced endoscopy sedation-type order errors on day of endoscopy at our institution.
HePPCAT: Probabilistic PCA for Data With Heteroscedastic Noise

Principal component analysis (PCA) is a classical and ubiquitous method for reducing data dimensionality, but it is suboptimal for heterogeneous data that are increasingly common in modern applications. PCA treats all samples uniformly so degrades when the noise is heteroscedastic across samples, as occurs, e.g., when samples come from sources of heterogeneous quality. This paper develops a probabilistic PCA variant that estimates and accounts for this heterogeneity by incorporating it in the statistical model. Unlike in the homoscedastic setting, the resulting nonconvex optimization problem is not seemingly solved by singular value decomposition. This paper develops a heteroscedastic probabilistic PCA technique (HePPCAT) that uses efficient alternating maximization algorithms to jointly estimate both the underlying factors and the unknown noise variances. Simulation experiments illustrate the comparative speed of the algorithms, the benefit of accounting for heteroscedasticity, and the seemingly favorable optimization landscape of this problem. Real data experiments on environmental air quality data show that HePPCAT can give a better PCA estimate than techniques that do not account for heteroscedasticity.
LKB1/STK11 is a tumor suppressor in the progression of myeloproliferative neoplasms.

The myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN) frequently progress to blast phase disease, an aggressive form of acute myeloid leukemia. To identify genes that suppress disease progression, we performed a focused CRISPR/Cas9 screen and discovered that depletion of LKB1/Stk11 led to enhanced in vitro self-renewal of murine MPN cells. Deletion of Stk11 in a mouse MPN model caused rapid lethality with enhanced fibrosis, osteosclerosis, and an accumulation of immature cells in the bone marrow, as well as enhanced engraftment of primary human MPN cells in vivo. LKB1 loss was associated with increased mitochondrial reactive oxygen species and stabilization of HIF1α, and downregulation of LKB1 and increased levels of HIF1α were observed in human blast phase MPN specimens. Of note, we observed strong concordance of pathways that were enriched in murine MPN cells with LKB1 loss with those enriched in blast phase MPN patient specimens, supporting the conclusion that STK11 is a tumor suppressor in the MPNs. SIGNIFICANCE: Progression of the myeloproliferative neoplasms to acute myeloid leukemia occurs in a substantial number of cases, but the genetic basis has been unclear. We discovered that loss of LKB1/STK11 leads to stabilization of HIF1a and promotes disease progression. This observation provides a potential therapeutic avenue for targeting progression.This article is highlighted in the In This Issue feature, p. 1307.
What’s Natural About Natural Selection?

As Darwin originally conceived it, natural selection not only chose features that, in retrospect, would allow those with them to be better adapted to their immediate circumstances—it was also the agent provocateur of the pool of variation from which it chose these better-adapted features. Gradually, over immense amounts of time, the accumulation of these “infinitesimally small” adaptive changes would yield a new species. After Morgan successfully substituted gene mutation for natural selection as the basis of morphological change, for many evolutionists (but not those following in the intellectual footsteps of Darwin’s contemporary saltationists Mivart, Huxley, and Galton) natural selection remained the guiding “force” that, by choosing from among available variants, continually reshaped features and, thus ultimately, species. The late twentieth century-to-present language of evolution has retained the notion of natural selection having the power to provoke change, even at the genetic level. Here I review the history of these and alternative, non-Darwinian ideas—focusing on the inclusion as well as absence of development and developmental thinking especially in terms of conceptions of heredity and species formation—and point out how much of what is assumed to be true of evolution by means of natural selection remains assumption and suggest that it is time to re-evaluate the utility of invoking selection to explain evolutionary phenomena.
Smoking Is Related to Reduced Motivation, But Not Global Cognition, in the First Two Years of Treatment for First Episode Psychosis.

Smoking is highly prevalent in people with psychotic disorders, even in the earliest phases of the illness. The neural mechanisms of nicotine dependence and psychosis overlap and may also be linked to deficits in neurocognition and motivation in psychosis. Both neurocognition and motivation are recognized as important clinical targets, though previous research examining the effects of smoking on these features has been inconsistent. Here, we examine the relationships between smoking status and neurocognition and motivation over the first two years of treatment for psychosis through a secondary analysis of the Recovery After an Initial Schizophrenia Episode–Early Treatment Program (RAISE–ETP) dataset. In a sample of 404 individuals with first-episode psychosis, we examined linear mixed-effects models with the group (smoker vs. non-smoker) by time (baseline, 12-month, 24-month) interaction as a predictor of global cognition and motivation. While all individuals showed enhanced global cognition and motivation over the 24-month course of treatment, non-smokers showed significantly greater gains in motivation. These changes in motivation also corresponded to improvements in functioning over the 24-month period. No significant effects of smoking were observed for global cognition. Our findings suggest that motivation and smoking cessation may be important early treatment targets for first-episode psychosis programs.
Study on the influence of the thermal protection material on the heat dissipation of the battery pack for energy storage

The thermal runaway chain reaction of batteries is an important cause of the battery energy storage system (BESS) accidents, and safety protection technology is the key technology to protect the BESS. Although the flame retardant thermal protection material can delay the thermal runaway chain reaction between batteries and reduce the heat conduction between batteries, it has a negative influence on the normal heat dissipation of batteries. In this paper, 12 series of batteries were assembled into the battery pack. The battery pack with closely arranged batteries, the battery pack with 3mm air gap between batteries and the battery pack with flame retardant thermal protection material between batteries were studied. The battery temperatures and temperature differences of these three types of battery packs were cyclically charged and discharged at rated power, and the effects of air gap and flame retardant thermal protection materials on the heat dissipation of batteries under charge/discharge cycle were analysed.
Glucose-Like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonists and Hepatic Decompensation Events in Patients With Cirrhosis and Diabetes

Background & Aims The study sought to compare the effectiveness of glucose-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs) with dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors, sulfonylureas, or sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT-2) inhibitors in reducing decompensation events, among patients with cirrhosis and type 2 diabetes. Methods This population-based, retrospective cohort study included patients with type 2 diabetes and cirrhosis, in a commercial healthcare database (IBM MarketScan). We constructed 3 pairwise, 1:1 propensity score (PS)–matched cohorts of adults initiating GLP-1RAs or a comparator medication (ie, DPP-4 inhibitors [2006–2020], sulfonylurea [2005–2020], or SGLT-2 inhibitors [2013–2020]). Patients were followed in an as-treated approach for decompensation events (ie, ascites, spontaneous bacterial peritonitis, hepatorenal syndrome, hepatic encephalopathy, or esophageal variceal hemorrhage). Within each PS-matched cohort, we estimated hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs), controlling for >90 baseline characteristics. Results Over 132 days of median follow-up (interquartile range, 73–290 days), PS-matched rates of any decompensation were significantly lower among GLP-1RA initiators, versus DPP-4 inhibitor initiators (105.2 vs 144.0 per 1000 person-years [PY]; HR, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.53–0.88; n = 1431 pairs), and versus sulfonylureas (97.3 vs 144.0 per 1000 PY; HR, 0.64; 95% CI, 0.48–0.84; n = 1246 pairs). Similar, inverse associations were found for individual decompensation events, including ascites, spontaneous bacterial peritonitis, or hepatorenal syndrome (HR, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.45–0.97; and HR, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.46–0.94, respectively); esophageal variceal hemorrhage (HR, 0.62 [95% CI, 0.41–0.92; and HR, 0.59; 95% CI, 0.37–0.92, respectively); and hepatic encephalopathy (HR, 0.76; 95% CI, 0.55–1.06; and HR, 0.60; 95% CI, 0.39–0.92, respectively). Results persisted in subgroups of patients with and without previously decompensated cirrhosis. In contrast, decompensation rates were similar when GLP-1RAs and SGLT-2 inhibitors were directly compared (103.5 vs 112.8 per 1000 PY; HR, 0.89; 95% CI, 0.62–1.28). Conclusions Among cirrhotic patients with type 2 diabetes, we find high rates of decompensation, consistent with previous reports; these rates were substantially lower among GLP-1RA initiators compared with DPP-4 inhibitors or sulfonylureas.