cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Analytical chemistry in water quality monitoring during manned space missions

Abstract Water quality monitoring during human spaceflights is essential. However, most of the traditional methods require sample collection with a subsequent ground analysis because of the limitations in volume, power, safety and gravity. The space missions are becoming longer-lasting; hence methods suitable for in-flight monitoring are demanded. Since 2009, water quality has been monitored in-flight with colorimetric methods allowing for detection of iodine and ionic silver. Organic compounds in water have been monitored with a second generation total organic carbon analyzer, which provides information on the amount of carbon in water at both the U.S. and Russian segments of the International Space Station since 2008. The disadvantage of this approach is the lack of compound-specific information. The recently developed methods and tools may potentially allow one to obtain in-flight a more detailed information on water quality. Namely, the microanalyzers based on potentiometric measurements were designed for online detection of chloride, potassium, nitrate ions and ammonia. The recent application of the current highly developed air quality monitoring system for water analysis was a logical step because most of the target analytes are the same in air and water. An electro-thermal vaporizer was designed, manufactured and coupled with the air quality control system. This development allowed for liberating the analytes from the aqueous matrix and further compound-specific analysis in the gas phase.
Targeting MAPK Signaling in Age-Related Macular Degeneration

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a major cause of irreversible blindness affecting elderly people in the world. AMD is a complex multifactorial disease associated with demographic, genetics, and environmental risk factors. It is well established that oxidative stress, inflammation, and apoptosis play critical roles in the pathogenesis of AMD. The mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathways are activated by diverse extracellular stimuli, including growth factors, mitogens, hormones, cytokines, and different cellular stressors such as oxidative stress. They regulate cell proliferation, differentiation, survival, and apoptosis. This review addresses the novel findings from human and animal studies on the relationship of MAPK signaling with AMD. The use of specific MAPK inhibitors may represent a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of this debilitating eye disease.
Physiology of Yersinia pestis

This chapter outlines the physiology of Yersinia pestis with emphasis on identifying unique functions required for tissue invasion and acute disease. These activities are opposed to often incompatible processes expressed by very closely related Yersinia pseudotuberculosis, which causes localized gastrointestinal infection. Gain of new information in Y. pestis entailed lateral transfer of plasminogen activator and anti-phagocytic capsular antigen via the plasmids pPCP and pMT, respectively, and derepression of the pigmentation locus facilitating colonization of the flea vector. The ability to survive in austere natural environments became unnecessary following mastery of the closed flea–rodent–flea life cycle permitting concomitant chromosomal degeneration (large and small deletions, additions, inversions, translocations, transposon inserts, and single base substitutions causing nonsense and missense mutations). Consequently, modern Y. pestis lacks a functional pentose–phosphate pathway, glyoxylate bypass, and is unable to directly catabolize L-aspartate and close metabolic derivatives directly via the tricarboxylic acid cycle. The missing gene products accounting for these and numerous other metabolic lesions are now well-established. This group includes formyltetrahydrofolate deformylase (PurU) required for synthesis of glycine. This deficiency is associated with a dramatic ability of Y. pestis to catabolize L-serine, required by the host to initiate methylation of DNA (necessary in turn to initiate successful innate immune processes leading to delayed-type hypersensitivity).
Unconventional combinations of prospective parents: ethical challenges faced by IVF providers.

Professional guidelines have addressed ethical dilemmas posed by a few types of nontraditional procreative arrangements (e.g., gamete donations between family members), but many questions arise regarding how providers view and make decisions about these and other such arrangements. Thirty-seven ART providers and 10 patients were interviewed in-depth for approximately 1 h each. Interviews were systematically analyzed. Providers faced a range of challenges and ethical dilemmas concerning both the content and the process of decisions about requests for unconventional interfamilial and other reproductive combinations. Providers vary in how they respond — what they decide, who exactly decides (e.g., an ethics committee or not), and how — often undergoing complex decision-making processes. These combinations can involve creating or raising the child, and can shift over time — from initial ART treatment through to the child’s birth. Patients’ requests can vary from fully established to mere possibilities. Arrangements may also be unstable, fluid, or unexpected, posing challenges. Difficulties emerge concerning not only familial but social, combinations (e.g., between friends). These arrangements can involve blurry and confusing roles, questions about the welfare of the unborn child, and unanticipated and unfamiliar questions about how to weigh competing moral and scientific concerns — e.g., the autonomy of the individuals involved, and the potential risks and benefits. Clinicians may feel that these requests do not “smell right”; and at first respond with feelings of “yuck,” and only later, carefully and explicitly consider the ethical principles involved. Proposed arrangements may, for instance, initially be felt to involve consanguineous individuals, but not in fact do so. Obtaining and verifying full and appropriate informed consent can be difficult, given implicit familial and/or cultural expectations and senses of duty. Social attitudes are changing, yet patients’ views of these issues may also vary, based on their cultural backgrounds. These data, the first to examine how clinicians make decisions about unconventional reproductive arrangements, highlight several critical ethical questions and ambiguities, and variations in clinicians’ responses. While several professional guidelines exist, the current data highlight additional challenges, and have vital implications for improving future guidelines, practice, education and research. Not applicable.
Abstract 309: Sirt3 Regulates Oxygen Sensors and Blood Vessel Formation in the Heart

New blood vessels formation is driven by deprivation of nutrients and oxygen during myocardial ischemia. The interaction between nutrients and oxygen sensors in the regulation of new blood vessel formation still remains incompletely understood. Sirtuins belong to a family of NAD+-dependent deacetylases which are involved in the regulation of angiogenesis and energy hemostasis. In the present study, we investigated the functional role of Sirtuin 3 (Sirt3), a metabolic sensor, in the regulation of blood vessel formation and its interaction with oxygen sensors-prolyl hydroxylases (PHDs)/hypoxia-inducible factors (HIFs) system. The levels of PHD1-3, HIFs, and angiogenic growth factors as well as blood vessel formation were examined in the hearts of Sirt3 knockout (Sirt3 KO) mice and wild type (WT) mice. Our data showed that the expression of angiopoietin-1 and angiopoietin-2 was significantly reduced, whereas the expression of Tie-2 and VEGF was unchanged in the hearts of Sirt3 KO mice compared to WT mice. Intriguingly, loss of Sirt3 had different effects on the PHDs/HIFs system. The expression of PHD1, PHD2, and HIF1α was significantly up-regulated, but PHD3 and HIF2α expression was down-regulated in Sirt3 KO mice. Ex vivo angiogenesis assay revealed that vessel outgrowth was significantly reduced in Sirt3 KO mice compared to WT mice. Our immunohistochemistry study further confirmed that the arteriole formation was significantly reduced in the hearts of Sirt3 KO mice compared to that in WT mice. This was accompanied by a reduction of cardiac ejection fraction (EF %) and fraction shortening (FS %). Moreover, the phosphorylation level of Akt was dramatically decreased together with increased Wnt7b, caspase-3 expression and apoptosis in the hearts of Sirt3 KO mice. Therefore, our data implicates that Sirt3 is important in controlling of blood vessel growth and cell survival by affecting oxygen sensors and angiopoietins expression in the heart.
Left Ventricular Assist Devices for Lifelong Support

Continuous-flow left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) have revolutionized advanced heart failure care. These compact, fully implantable heart pumps are capable of providing meaningful increases in survival, functional capacity, and quality of life. Implantation volumes continue to grow, but several challenges remain to be overcome before LVADs will be considered as the therapy of choice for all patients with advanced heart failure. They must be able to consistently extend survival for the long term (7 to 10 years), rather than the midterm (3 to 5 years) more typical of contemporary devices; they must incorporate design elements that reduce shear stress and avoid stasis to reduce the frequent adverse events of bleeding, stroke, and pump thrombosis; and they must become more cost-effective. The advancements in engineering, implantation technique, and medical management detailed in this review will highlight the progress made toward achieving lifelong LVAD support and the challenges that remain.
High Power Integrated Photonic W-Band Emitter

High power W-band integrated photonic emitters were successfully demonstrated by the integration of modified unitraveling-carrier photodiodes (PDs) with high directional gain Vivaldi antennas. An impedance matching network was designed to achieve conjugate matching between the PD and the antenna for better power delivery. An effective isotropic radiation power as high as 5 dBm at 110 GHz was measured for the emitter with a 5- $\mu \text{m}$ -diameter PD. The impedance matching was shown to significantly affect the effective isotropic radiation power.
The effect of load properties on the reliability of machine drives — The temperature and stress analysis of power module bond wires

Semiconductor power modules are widely used in machine drive applications. The temperature distribution in the power module is the result of load properties and the drive cooling. The temperature induced thermal-mechanical stress in the power module bond wires is critical for the power module reliability and lifetime. In this paper, a two level, three phase Silicon-Carbide (SiC) inverter power module is used to drive an induction machine. The temperature distribution in the power module is evaluated under different load properties. The thermal-mechanical stress in the bond wires is investigated based on the measured/simulated power module temperature distribution. The effect of the load properties on the thermal-mechanical stress in the bond wires is studied.
Nocturnal insomnia symptoms and stress-induced cognitive intrusions in risk for depression: A 2-year prospective study.

Nearly half of US adults endorse insomnia symptoms. Sleep problems increase risk for depression during stress, but the mechanisms are unclear. During high stress, individuals having difficulty falling or staying asleep may be vulnerable to cognitive intrusions after stressful events, given that the inability to sleep creates a period of unstructured and socially isolated time in bed. We investigated the unique and combined effects of insomnia symptoms and stress-induced cognitive intrusions on risk for incident depression. 1126 non-depressed US adults with no history of DSM-5 insomnia disorder completed 3 annual web-based surveys on sleep, stress, and depression. We examined whether nocturnal insomnia symptoms and stress-induced cognitive intrusions predicted depression 1y and 2y later. Finally, we compared depression-risk across four groups: non-perseverators with good sleep, non-perseverators with insomnia symptoms, perseverators with good sleep, and perseverators with insomnia symptoms. Insomnia symptoms (β = .10-.13, p 30 m reported greater depression than good sleeping perseverators (t = 2.09, p < .04). Cognitive intrusions following stress creates a depressogenic mindset, and nocturnal wakefulness may augment the effects of cognitive arousal on depression development. Poor sleepers may be especially vulnerable to cognitive intrusions when having difficulty initiating sleep. As treatable behaviors, nighttime wakefulness and cognitive arousal may be targeted to reduce risk for depression in poor sleepers.
Pathological supply dependence of O2 uptake during bacteremia in dogs.

When systemic delivery of O2 [QO2 = cardiac output X arterial O2 content (CaO2)] is reduced, the systemic O2 extraction ratio [(CaO2-concentration of O2 in venous blood/CaO2] increases until a critical limit is reached below which O2 uptake (VO2) becomes limited by delivery. Many patients with adult respiratory distress syndrome exhibit supply dependence of VO2 even at high levels of QO2, which suggests that a peripheral O2 extraction defect may be present. Since many of these patients also suffer from serious bacterial infection, we tested the hypothesis that bacteremia might produce a similar defect in the ability of tissues to maintain VO2 independent of QO2, as QO2 reduced. The critical O2 delivery (QO2crit) and critical extraction ratio (ERcrit) were compared in a control group of dogs and a group receiving a continuous infusion of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (5 x 10(7) organisms/min). Dogs were anesthetized, paralyzed, and ventilated with room air. Systemic QO2 was reduced in stages by hemorrhage as hematocrit was maintained. At each stage, systemic VO2 and QO2 were measured, and the critical point was determined from a plot of VO2 vs. QO2. The mean QO2crit and ERcrit of the bacteremic group (11.4 +/- 2.2 ml.min-1.kg-1 and 0.51 +/- 0.09) were significantly different from control (7.4 +/- 1.2 and 0.71 +/- 0.10) (P less than 0.05). These results suggest that bacterial infection can reduce the ability of peripheral tissues to extract O2 from a limited supply, causing VO2 to become limited by O2 delivery at a stage when a smaller fraction of the delivered O2 has been extracted.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
The Position Leibniz Defends in the Disputatio

The previous chapter presented and evaluated Leibniz’s arguments in the Disputatio Metaphysica de Principio Individui against what he took to be three putative principles of individuation: negation, existence, and haecceity. One important result of this analysis was the identification of philosophical issues that Leibniz must address in the course of defending his candidate for principle of individuation. As it turns out, the Disputatio represents the beginning of a life-long task of grappling with the philosophical issues that are ingredient in Leibniz’s nominalistic views. With this in mind, we turn now to the basic question: Just what is Leibniz’s position on the principle of individuation in the Disputatio? The strategy for answering this question involves the following stages: an exposition and analysis of Suarez’s position on the principle of individuation, which serves in large measure as the source for Leibniz’s view; presentation of the relevant passages from the Disputatio; an analysis of Leibniz’s arguments for “whole entity” as the principle of individuation; and a summary and critique of those arguments.
A microstructure-guided numerical approach to evaluate strain sensing and damage detection ability of random heterogeneous self-sensing structural materials

Abstract Heterogeneous self-sensing materials that respond electrically to mechanical strains enable real time health monitoring of structures. To facilitate design and applicability of such smart materials with piezo-resistivity, a finite element-based numerical framework is being proposed in this paper for evaluation of electro-mechanical response and strain-sensing ability. Intrinsic heterogeneous nature of such composites warrants the need for microstructure-based study to have an insight into the effect of microstructural configuration on the macro-scale response. The microstructure-guided simulation framework, presented in this paper, implements interfacial debonding at the matrix-inclusion interface using a coupled interface damage-cohesive zone model and incorporates an isotropic damage model in the matrix under applied strain in the post-peak regime to obtain the deformed/damaged microstructure which is subjected to an electrical potential to simulate change in resistance due to applied strain. The applicability of the simulation framework is confirmed through its successful implementation on a smart structural material containing nano-engineered conductive coating at the inclusion-matrix interfaces. The predicted electro-mechanical responses correspond very well with the experimental observations and thus, the model has the potential to help develop design strategies to tailor the microstructure in these self-sensing materials for efficient performance.
Overexpression of Nudt7 decreases bile acid levels and peroxisomal fatty acid oxidation in the liver

Lipid metabolism requires CoA, an essential cofactor found in multiple subcellular compartments, including the peroxisomes. In the liver, CoA levels are dynamically adjusted between the fed and fasted states. Elevated CoA levels in the fasted state are driven by increased synthesis; however, this also correlates with decreased expression of Nudix hydrolase (Nudt)7, the major CoA-degrading enzyme in the liver. Nudt7 resides in the peroxisomes, and we overexpressed this enzyme in mouse livers to determine its effect on the size and composition of the hepatic CoA pool in the fed and fasted states. Nudt7 overexpression did not change total CoA levels, but decreased the concentration of short-chain acyl-CoAs and choloyl-CoA in fasted livers, when endogenous Nudt7 activity was lowest. The effect on these acyl-CoAs correlated with a significant decrease in the hepatic bile acid content and in the rate of peroxisomal fatty acid oxidation, as estimated by targeted and untargeted metabolomics, combined with the measurement of fatty acid oxidation in intact hepatocytes. Identification of the CoA species and metabolic pathways affected by the overexpression on Nudt7 in vivo supports the conclusion that the nutritionally driven modulation of Nudt7 activity could contribute to the regulation of the peroxisomal CoA pool and peroxisomal lipid metabolism.
Why We Need a New (Old) Idea of Responsibility

The Anglo-American tradition has understood responsibility largely in terms of intentional agency or role-based duties. Yet this approach increasingly appears inadequate to deal with pressing new issues arising in connection with climate change, transformations being wrought by artificial intelligence, and bureaucratic institutions that diffuse accountability. Which alternative approaches to responsibility exist? Might they enable us to better address such issues? Or are these ideas equally problematic? This chapter sketches the current dominant Anglo-American idea of responsibility and two alternative approaches grounded in human nature and the human condition. I argue that none of these conceptions are adequate to the challenges we currently face and provide some reasons for why we would be better served by embracing a classical, Platonic concept of responsibility. This concept keeps the act of responding within responsibility and avoids reducing it to mere accountability.
Assessing measles vaccine failure in Tianjin, China.

Abstract Despite increasing global measles vaccination coverage, progress toward measles elimination has slowed in recent years. In China, children receive a measles-containing vaccine (MCV) at 8 months, 18–24 months, and some urban areas offer a third dose at age 4–6 years. However, substantial measles cases in Tianjin, China, occur among individuals who have received multiple MCV doses. This study describes the vaccination history of measles cases 8 months – 19 years old. Data came from measles cases in Tianjin’s reportable disease surveillance system (2009–2013), and from a case control study (2011–2015). Twenty-nine percent of those in the surveillance dataset and 54.4% of those in the case series received at least one dose of MCV. The minimum and median time-to-diagnosis since vaccination revealed an increase in time since vaccination for incremental doses. Considerable measles cases in Tianjin occur in vaccinated children, and further research is needed to understand the reasons for vaccine failure.
Chronic Antibiotic Dependent Pouchitis Is Associated With Older Age at the Time of Ileal Pouch Anal Anastomosis (J-pouch) Surgery

Background Risk factors for the development of chronic antibiotic dependent pouchitis (CADP) are not well understood. Methods Using multivariable logistic regression, we compared clinical factors between 194 patients with acute antibiotic responsive pouchitis or CADP. Results Individuals with CADP were significantly older (40.9 vs 30.8 years, P < 0.001) and demonstrated a longer disease duration before IPAA (10.3 vs 7.0 years, P = 0.004). Age ≥55 years at the time of IPAA was significantly associated with CADP (adjusted odds ratio = 4.35, 95% confidence interval = 1.01-18.7). Conclusions Although older age should not represent a barrier to IPAA, further studies evaluating etiologies of this association are warranted.
Introduction: Knowledge, Actionable Practices, and Urgency

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is universally accepted as a premiere intervention for youth with a variety of mental and physical health conditions. Over the last decade, integrated behavioral health in pediatric medical settings has skyrocketed, requiring clinical practice to catch up. In this introductory chapter of this handbook, a summary of each chapter is presented with pertinent findings and salient issues highlighted.
Integrity Authentication for SQL Query Evaluation on Outsourced Databases: A Survey

Spurred by the development of cloud computing, there has been considerable recent interest in the Database-as-a-Service (DaaS) paradigm. Users lacking in expertise or computational resources can outsource their data and database management needs to a third-party service provider. Outsourcing, however, raises an important issue of result integrity : how can the client verify with lightweight overhead that the query results returned by the service provider are correct (i.e., the same as the results of query execution locally)? This survey focuses on categorizing and reviewing the progress on the current approaches for result integrity of SQL query evaluation in the DaaS model. The survey also includes some potential future research directions for result integrity verification of the outsourced computations.
Comparing the oxygen reduction reaction on selectively edge halogen doped graphene from quantum mechanics

Recently, edge halogenated graphene-nanosheets (EH-GNS) have been discovered to provide low cost oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalysis for alkaline fuel cells. Particularly important is that EH-GNS lead to water as the preferred product whereas undoped graphene leads to peroxide. In order to understand the ORR mechanism, we use density functional theory (DFT) to determine the most probable conformations of the doped graphene after synthesis by ball-milling, to calculate the binding energies of each species, and then to obtain the barriers of each step of the ORR. Our results predict that ORR occurs on the edge of the zigzag with onset potentials of 0.62 (chlorine), 0.66 (bromine), and 0.75 V (iodine) vs. the reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE). Based on our validated theoretical framework, we surveyed other molecules (TeH, BiH₂, SbH₂, OCH₃, SCH₃, SeCH₃) as graphene edge molecules to test for promising ORR catalysts, predicting that SCH₃ would be best.
Associations between prescribed benzodiazepines, overdose death and buprenorphine discontinuation among people receiving buprenorphine.

Background and aims Benzodiazepines are commonly prescribed to patients with opioid use disorder receiving buprenorphine treatment, yet may increase overdose risk. However, prescribed benzodiazepines may improve retention in care by reducing buprenorphine discontinuation and thus may prevent relapse to illicit opioid use. We aimed to test the association between benzodiazepine prescription and fatal opioid overdose, non-fatal opioid overdose, all-cause mortality and buprenorphine discontinuation. Design and setting This was a retrospective cohort study using five individually linked data sets from Massachusetts, United States government agencies. Participants We studied 63 389 Massachusetts residents aged 18 years or older who received buprenorphine treatment between January 2012 and December 2015. Measurements Filled benzodiazepine prescription during buprenorphine treatment was the main independent variable. The primary outcome was time to fatal opioid overdose. Secondary outcomes were time to non-fatal opioid overdose, all-cause mortality and buprenorphine discontinuation. We defined buprenorphine discontinuation as having a 30-day gap without another prescription following the end date of the previous prescription. We used Cox proportional hazards models to calculate hazards ratios that tested the association between receipt of benzodiazepines and all outcomes, restricted to periods during buprenorphine treatment. Findings Of the 63 345 individuals who received buprenorphine, 24% filled at least one benzodiazepine prescription during buprenorphine treatment. Thirty-one per cent of the 183 deaths from opioid overdose occurred when individuals received benzodiazepines during buprenorphine treatment. Benzodiazepine receipt during buprenorphine treatment was associated with an increased risk of fatal opioid overdose adjusted hazard ratio (HR) = 2.92, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 2.10-4.06, non-fatal opioid overdose, adjusted HR = 2.05, 95% CI, 1.68-2.50, all-cause mortality, adjusted HR = 1.90, 95% CI, 1.48-2.44 and a decreased risk of buprenorphine discontinuation, adjusted HR = 0.87, 95% CI, 0.85-0.89. Conclusions Benzodiazepine receipt appears to be associated with both increased risk of opioid overdose and all-cause mortality and decreased risk of buprenorphine discontinuation among people receiving buprenorphine.
LEFT VENTRICULAR ASSIST DEVICE OUTFLOW TRACK TWIST MASQUERADING AS RV FAILURE

Precise diagnosis and troubleshooting of LVAD complications require thorough and careful evaluation of imaging, lab testing and LVAD parameters. A 60 yo man with NICM and HM3 implant presented with dizziness and low flow alarms. ECG showed VT at 160 bpm. Labs showed AKI, normal plasma free
Shigella sonnei Outbreak Investigation During a Municipal Water Crisis-Genesee and Saginaw Counties, Michigan, 2016.

Objectives. To investigate a shigellosis outbreak in Genesee County, Michigan (including the City of Flint), and Saginaw County, Michigan, in 2016 and address community concerns about the role of t...
Elbow Instability: Evaluation and Treatment

Acute elbow dislocations are commonly seen in clinical practice, and attention to management principles and strategies can help facilitate improved outcomes. Patients may present with simple elbow dislocation, in which nonoperative treatment is highly successful. Alternatively, fracture dislocations can be sometimes easily managed but frequently are associated with the need for surgical intervention and operative and postoperative challenges.
Generating Realistic Fake Equations in Order to Reduce Intellectual Property Theft

According to research from Symantec, there is a gap of 312 days on average between the time an enterprise is compromised by a zero-day attack and the time the attack is discovered by the victim. This leaves an adversary with a lot of time to exfiltrate corporate IP. Recent work has suggested automatically generating multiple fake versions of a document to impose costs on the attacker who needs to correctly identify the original document from a set of mostly fake documents. But in the real world, documents contain many diverse components. In this paper, we focus on technical documents that often contain equations and present FEE, a framework to generate fake equations in such documents. FEE tries to preserve multiple aspects of a given equation when generating a fake. Moreover, FEE is very general and applies to diverse equational forms including polynomial equations, differential equations, transcendental equations, and more. FEE iteratively solves a complex, changing optimization problem inside it. We also present FEE-FAST, a fast approximate algorithm to solve the optimization problem within FEE. Using a panel of human subjects, we show that FEE achieves a high rate in deceiving sophisticated subjects.
Designing Supreme Court Term Limits

Since the Founding, Supreme Court justices have enjoyed life tenure. This helps insulate the justices from political pressures, but it also results in unpredictable deaths and strategic retirements determining the timing of Court vacancies. In order to regularize the appointment process, a number of academics and policymakers have put forward detailed term limits proposals. However, many of these proposals have been silent on many key design decisions and there has been almost no empirical work assessing the impact that term limits would have on the composition of the Supreme Court. This Article provides a framework for designing a complete term limits proposal and develops an empirical strategy to assess the effects of instituting term limits. The framework we introduce outlines the key design features that any term limits proposal must make, including frequently overlooked decisions like what the default would be if there is Senate inaction on a president’s nominee. The empirical strategy we develop uses simulations to assess how term limits proposals would have shaped the Court if they had been in place over the last 80 years of American history. These simulations enable comparative assessments of term limit proposals relative to each other and to the historical status quo of life tenure. Using these simulations, we are able to isolate the design features of existing proposals that produce significant differences in the composition of the Supreme Court. For instance, proposals that commence appointing term-limited justices immediately could complete the transition in just 16 years, but proposals that wait until after the sitting justices leave the Court to appoint term limited justices would take an average of 52 years to complete the transition. Our results also reveal that term limits are likely to produce dramatic changes in the ideological composition of the Court. Most significantly, the Supreme Court had extreme ideological imbalance for 60 percent of the time since President Franklin Roosevelt’s effort to pack the Court, but any of the major term limit proposals would have reduced the amount of time with extreme imbalance by almost half.
Supporting new online instructors and engaging remote learners during COVID-19: a distributed team teaching approach

As the COVID-19 pandemic began, universities swiftly moved to remote teaching, posing challenges to students and instructors alike. This case study discusses how a distributed team approach was use...
Poset Exponentiation and a Counterexample Birkhoff Said in 1942 He Did Not Have

Let A, P, and Q ≠ ∅ be posets and consider Professor Garrett Birkhoff’s exponentiation operator PQ. McKenzie defined a new operator $$ \mathcal C\left( P^{Q}\right):=\{f\in P^{Q}\mid f\ \text{is in the same connected component as some}\ g $$ $$ \text{that is constant on the connected components of}\ Q\}. $$ He implied without proof that $\mathcal C\left (A^{P\times Q}\right )\cong \mathcal C\left (\mathcal C\left (A^{P}\right )^{Q}\right )$ , stating explicitly that this isomorphism was via the canonical order-isomorphism ${\Psi }:A^{P\times Q}\cong \left (A^{P}\right )^{Q}$ when A was connected. In this note, it is shown that the restriction of Ψ does not in general give an order-isomorphism from $\mathcal C\left (A^{P\times Q}\right )$ to $\mathcal C\left (\mathcal C\left (A^{P}\right )^{Q}\right )$ , not even for A connected, although it does if AP has finite diameter or if Q has finitely many components. In his 1942 article on the arithmetic of ordered sets, Professor Birkhoff proved that if P embeds in Q and A is a complete lattice, then AP embeds in AQ. He said, “The author has no counterexample to [this theorem] for [posets] not complete lattices….” In this note, counterexamples where A, P, and Q are lattices are found.
Lung Ultrasound vs. Chest X-Ray Study for the Radiographic Diagnosis of COVID-19 Pneumonia in a High-Prevalence Population.

BACKGROUND: The viral illness severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), more commonly known as Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19), has become a global pandemic, infecting over 100 million individuals worldwide. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to compare the test characteristics of point-of-care lung ultrasound (LUS) with chest x-ray study (CXR) at radiographically detecting COVID-19 pneumonia. METHODS: This was a single-center, prospective, observational study at an urban university hospital with > 105,000 patient visits annually. Patients ≥ 18 years old, who presented to the Emergency Department with predefined signs and symptoms of COVID-19, were eligible for enrollment. Each patient received an LUS using a portable, handheld ultrasound followed by a single-view, portable anteroposterior CXR. Patients with an abnormal LUS or CXR underwent a non-contrast-enhanced computed tomography scan (NCCT). The primary outcome was the radiographic diagnosis of COVID-19 pneumonia on NCCT. RESULTS: One hundred ten patients underwent LUS, CXR, and NCCT; 99 LUS and 73 CXRs were interpreted as positive; 81 NCCTs were interpreted as positive, providing a prevalence of COVID-19 pneumonia of 75% (95% confidence interval [CI] 66-83.2) in our study population. LUS sensitivity was 97.6% (95% CI 91.6-99.7) vs. 69.9% (95% CI 58.8-79.5) for CXR. LUS specificity was 33.3% (95% CI 16.5-54) vs. 44.4% (95% CI 25.5-64.7) for CXR. LUS positive predictive value and negative predictive value were 81.8% (95% CI 72.8-88.9) and 81.8% (95% CI 48.2-97.7), respectively, vs. 79.5% (95% CI 68.4-88), and 32.4% (95% CI 18-49.8), respectively, for CXR. CONCLUSION: LUS was more sensitive than CXR at radiographically identifying COVID-19 pneumonia.
Analysis of the subthreshold characteristics in AlGaN/GaN HEMTs with a p-GaN gate

Abstract In this letter, we analyze the subthreshold characteristics in p-GaN/AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) with two different Mg flow, i.e., 300 sccm and 750 sccm. The device with 750 sccm Mg flow shows a high threshold voltage and large subthreshold swing (SS). The frequency dependent C-V measurement is reported in p-GaN/AlGaN/GaN heterostructure, showing an obvious frequency dispersion in the device with a high Mg flow. Furthermore, the equivalent circuit network with considering the series of a Schottky metal/p-GaN junction capacitor (CSchottky) and the AlGaN barrier capacitor (CAlGaN) is proposed to calculate the interface state density (Dit) via the conduction method. Finally, a strong correlation between SS, Dit and Mg flow can be concluded, pointing out that the optimization of Mg out-diffusion in p-GaN is crucial to improve the subthreshold characteristics.
Weighted Shoes in the Wild: Initial Insights into the Relationship Between the Effort of Walking and the Amount of Walking Performed

Purpose: Walking comprises a large portion of active energy expenditure in humans. Interventions that increase or decrease the energy expended on each step, such as ankle weights or energy-saving orthoses, may therefore strongly impact fitness. The overall effect of increasing or decreasing per-step energy use is unclear, however, because people may choose to walk less or more, respectively, in response. Methods: In this study, healthy college students with normal body mass index wore weighted and unweighted shoes embedded with an inertial measurement unit for one week each. Community-based walking data were analyzed for number of steps, distance traveled and walking speed. Oxygen consumption using each set of shoes at a range of speeds were measured in a laboratory setting and used to estimate metabolic energy expended during community-based walking. A survey measured subjective response to each pair of shoes. Results: The weighted shoes increased per-step energy cost by about 26%. Subjects strongly disliked the weighted shoes (P = 0.001) and found them tiring (P = 0.003). Despite this dislike, subjects did not significantly reduce distance walked (P = 0.6), number of steps (P = 0.7), or average speed (P = 0.9) compared to normal shoes. This led to a small but not statistically significant increase in energy expended during walking over a five-day period (12.3 ± 9.6% increase, P = 0.2). On the final collection day this trend appeared to reverse, with fewer steps taken and lower metabolic energy expended with the weighted shoes. Twenty-four subjects were recruited but only ten completed the protocol, with dislike of the weighted shoe condition being the primary reason for dropout. Conclusions: Increasing the energy cost of each step led to greater energy expended through walking. However, there are indications that behavioral changes would be greater with a longer intervention or increased retention. For example, the large dropout rate suggests that some subjects avoided walking with the weighted shoes entirely, simply by leaving the study. Follow-on studies among patient groups may reveal a fitness benefit to either increasing or reducing the energy cost of walking.
Transanal Minimally Invasive Surgery (TAMIS): Standardizing a Reproducible Procedure

The recent introduction of transanal minimally invasive surgery (TAMIS) offers a safe and cost-effective method for the local resection of rectal neoplasms. The ability to standardize a technique for TAMIS will lead to the most reproducible outcomes and enable teaching. A retrospective, IRB-approved chart review was conducted of 32 patients who underwent the TAMIS procedure at one institution over a 3-year period. TAMIS was performed for 11 benign and 21 malignant lesions. The majority of resections were full thickness (29/32) and all were R0. Average distance from the anal verge was 7.5 ± 3 cm, defect circumference was 43.7 ± 10 %, operative time was 131 ± 80 min, and length of stay was 1.1 ± 1 days. Two patients had morbidities requiring readmission and further treatment for (1) an aspiration pneumonia with CHF exacerbation and (2) a rectal abscess. This report outlines an operative technique for TAMIS that is reproducible for the excision of rectal lesions, associated with low morbidity.
Fuel-fed fires and commercial vehicle design

An analysis of US fatal accident data indicates that accidents involving large trucks are accompanied by fire in more than one out of twenty cases. Further review of these cases showed that diesel fuel was frequently the major material burned. The frequency of such truck fires is high during the summer months and in the southwestern region of the USA. The present study reports on further studies of fuel temperature and flash point which may help to explain this phenomenon.
A Review of “Code/Space: Software and Everyday Life”

Mark Weiser, computer scientist and father of ubiquitous computing, famously wrote, “The most profound technologies are those that disappear. They weave themselves into the fabric of everyday life ...
Novel Imaging Agents for Molecular MR Imaging of Cancer

The response of solid tumors to therapy is traditionally measured by changes in tumor volume over the course of treatment. Because of its high spatial resolution and contrast in soft tissues, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provides an informative noninvasive approach to measuring tumor volumes. Keywords: magnetic resonance imaging (MRI); magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS); contrast agents (CA); iron-oxide-based CA; Gd-based agents
Women Leaders in the Areas of Higher Education, the Legal Profession and Corporate Boards: Continued Challenges and Opportunities in the United States

Many believe the “woman problem” has been solved, since women are now represented in powerful positions in government, academia, business, and the law. It is true that women today occupy more positions of power than ever; however, these numbers are quite small at the top level, especially for women of color. This article begins with an overview of women in the workforce and their presence in education; and then goes on to review the current data on women in three settings — higher education faculty, the law, and corporate boards. Next, it examines the barriers women encounter in reaching the top positions in their respective fields. Common obstacles women face include: gender stereotypes, the struggles of balancing work and family life, a lack of mentors and mobility. The article concludes with potential solutions to the impediments faced by women.
Supermarket Speak: Increasing Talk among Low-Socioeconomic Status Families.

Children from low-socioeconomic status (SES) families often fall behind their middle-class peers in early language development. But interventions designed to support their language skills are often costly and labor-intensive. This study implements an inexpensive and subtle language intervention aimed at sparking parent–child interaction in a place that families naturally visit: the supermarket. We placed signs encouraging adult–child dialogue in supermarkets serving low- and mid-SES neighborhoods. Using an unobtrusive observational methodology, we tested how these signs affected adult–child interactions. When signs were present in supermarkets serving low-SES neighborhoods, both the amount and the quality of talk between adults and children increased significantly, compared to when the signs were not present; signs had little effect in middle-SES supermarkets. This study demonstrates that implementing simple, cost-effective interventions in everyday environments may bolster children's language development and school readiness skills.
Mechanism of prostaglandin biosynthesis in rabbit kidney medulla. A rate-limiting step and the differential stimulatory actions of L-adrenaline and glutathione

Microsomal prostaglandin synthase (EC 1.14.99.1) from rabbit kidney medulla was assayed with [5,6,8,9,11,12,14,15-3H]-and [1-14C]-arachidonic acid as the substrate. The ratios of prostaglandin F2 alpha to prostaglandin E2 and to prostaglandin D2 were determined by both 3H and 14C labelling. When 3H was used as a label the ratios were much higher than with 14C labelling indicating that the removal of hydrogen at C-9 or C-11 was the rate-limiting step in the biosynthesis of prostaglandin E2 or prostaglandin D2. This finding shows that the octatritiated arachidonic acid is not the appropriate substrate marker for studying the regulation of the synthesis of different prostaglandins by various agents. When the enzyme assay was carried out in the presence of SnCL2, which was capable of accumulating exclusively prostaglandin F2alpha at the expenses of prostaglandin E2 and prostaglandin D2, the addition of L-adrenaline to the microsomal fraction either alone or with reduced glutathione equally stimulated the formation of prostaglandin F2alpha, whereas the addition of reduced glutathione to the microsomal fraction either alone or with L-adrenaline produced no additional effect. These results suggest that endoperoxide is formed as the common intermediate for the biosynthesis of three different prostaglandins in rabbit kidney medulla, and that L-adrenaline stimulates the synthesis of endoperoxide, whereas reduced glutathione facilitates the formation of prostaglandins from endoperoxide.
Chemogenetic manipulation of ventral pallidal neurons impairs acquisition of sign‐tracking in rats

Cues associated with rewarding events acquire value themselves as a result of the incentive value of the reward being transferred to the cue. Consequently, presentation of a reward-paired cue can trigger reward-seeking behaviours towards the cue itself (i.e. sign-tracking). The ventral pallidum (VP) has been demonstrated to be involved in a number of motivated behaviours, both conditioned and unconditioned. However, its contribution to the acquisition of incentive value is unknown. Using a discriminative autoshaping procedure with levers, the effects of disrupting VP activity in rats on the emergence of sign-tracking was investigated using chemogenetics, i.e. Designer Receptors Exclusively Activated by Designer Drugs (DREADDs). Transient disruption of VP neurons [activation of the inhibitory hM4D(Gi) DREADD through systemic injections of clozapine N-oxide (CNO) prior to each autoshaping session] impaired acquisition of sign-tracking (lever press rate) without having any effect on approach to the site of reward delivery (i.e. goal-tracking) or on the expression of sign-tracking after it was acquired. In addition, electrophysiological recordings were conducted in freely behaving rats following VP DREADD activation. The majority of VP units that were responsive to CNO injections exhibited rapid inhibition relative to baseline, a subset of CNO-responsive units showed delayed excitation, and a smaller subset displayed a mixed response of inhibition and excitation following CNO injections. It is argued that disruption of VP during autoshaping specifically disrupted the transfer of incentive value that was attributed to the lever cue, suggesting a surprisingly fundamental role for the VP in acquiring, compared with expressing, Pavlovian incentive values.
PENETRATION OF 2,4-D IN RELATION TO CUTICLE THICKNESS'

Cuticle thickness was measured, either by direct microscopic examination or as weight per unit area, for the astomatous cuticle from the. upper leaf surface of nine species and from tomato fruit. Thickness ranged from 1.4 fLm for peach leaf cuticle to 10.8 /um for oleander leaf cuticle, and the weight from 0.19 mg/cm2 to 1.26 mg/cm2, respectively. Cuticles were isolated by the pectinase method and permeability to 2,4-D was determined. There was no correlation between cuticle thickness and penetration of 2,4-D, either for non-dewaxed cuticles or after chloroform extraction of waxes. Penetration of 2,4-D was increased following wax removal, but there was no correlation between wax content and the magnitude of the increase. It is suggested that cutin and wax qualitative composition are probably more important than thickness in determining relative permeability of cuticle from different plant species to 2,4-D.
A Comparison of ARA- and Protograph-Based LDPC Block and Convolutional Codes

ARA- and protograph-based LDPC codes are capable of achieving error performance similar to randomly constructed codes while enjoying several implementation advantages as a result of their structure. LDPC convolutional codes can be derived from these codes through an unwrapping process. In this paper, we review the unwrapping process as well as the pipeline decoder that allows continuous decoding of LDPC convolutional codes. Computer simulations are then used to demonstrate that the unwrapped convolutional codes achieve a "convolutional gain" in error performance. We conjecture that this is due to the concatenation of many constraint lengths worth of received symbols in the pipeline decoding process. The consequences of this improved performance are examined in terms of factors related to decoder implementation: processor size, memory requirements, and decoding delay (latency). Finally, given identical protograph kernels, we compare derived block and convolutional codes based on the above measures.