cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Population-specific toxicity responses by the freshwater oligochaete, Stylodrilus heringianus, in natural lake Michigan sediments

Abstra~t-.Sedi~ent reworking ra!e, mortality and organism dry weight were measured for Stylodri­ lus hermg1anus m laboratory microcosms. The experiments were designed to identify potential population-specific response differences to mixed (stirred to obtain a more uniform particle size dis­ tribution over depth) and unmixed (passively settled) microcosm sediments. Lake Michigan sedi­ ments and worms were collected offshore Benton Harbor, Michigan and Grand Haven, Michigan. The mixed Benton Harbor sediments were toxic to S. heringianus collected from Grand Haven, whereas there were no significant differences in measured responses between mixed and unmixed sediment microcosms for Grand Haven-collected worms exposed to Grand Haven sediments or Ben­ ton Harbor-collected worms exposed to Benton Harbor sediments. Note that the mixing of sedi­ ments resulted in increased availability of contaminants sorbed to the fine sediment fraction. Because contaminant and oligochaete population density data suggest that Grand Haven sedi­ ments are less contaminated, the population-specific response suggests that S. heringianus may adapt to the low level long-term stressful conditions (chemical or otherwise). Results also suggest caution and consideration of the history of test organisms in the design and interpretation of toxicity tests.
Microbiological and HPLC analysis of miconazole in skin, serum and phase-solubility studies.

SUMMARY Objective: To develop stability-indicating assays for miconazole. Methods: A reversed phase high-performance liquid chromatographic assay and a bioassay were developed. Results: The HPLC and the bioassay were linear in the range of 0·5–100 and 0·64–1·56 μg/ml, respectively. The sensitivity of HPLC and bioassay were 0.5 and 0.64 μg/ml, respectively. The bioassay was less cumbersome and much faster than the HPLC assay by obviating the need for extraction from serum. Miconazole content in the phase-solubility studies and in the serum samples was comparatively evaluated by both assay methods. There was good correlation between the two methods (r2 > 0·99). The drug extraction efficiency from the serum and the skin were 97·7 and 90·2%, respectively. Where necessary, the bioassay can be an alternative choice for the HPLC analysis. The within and between day variations of the HPLC assay were 3·6 and 4·9%, respectively.
Tissue soldering with biodegradable polymer films: in-vitro investigation of hydration effects on weld strength

Previous work demonstrated increased breaking strengths of tissue repaired with liquid albumin solder reinforced with a biodegradable polymer film compared to unreinforced control specimens. It was hypothesized that the breaking strength increase was due to reinforcement of the liquid solder cohesive strength. Immersion in a moist environment can decrease the adhesion of solder to tissue and negate any strength benefits gained from reinforcement. The purpose of this study was to determine if hydrated specimens repaired with reinforced solder would still be stronger than unreinforced controls. A 50%(w/v) bovine serum albumin solder with 0.5 mg/mL Indocyanine Green dye was used to repair an incision in bovine aorta. The solder was coagulated with 806-nm diode laser light. A poly(DL-lactic- co-glycolic acid) film was used to reinforce the solder (the controls had no reinforcement). The repaired tissues were immersed in phosphate buffered saline for time periods of 1 and 2 days. The breaking strengths of all of the hydrated specimens decreased compared to the acute breaking strengths. However, the reinforced specimens still had larger breaking strengths than the unreinforced controls. These results indicate that reinforcement of a liquid albumin solder may have the potential to improve the breaking strength in a clinical setting.
Localization of MGSA/GRO protein in cutaneous lesions

Melanoma growth stimulatory activity (MGSA/GRO), a cytokine originally characterized as an autocrine growth factor for melanoma cells, is highly chemotactic for neutrophils and releases neutrophil elastase as well as other matrix-degrading enzymes. Previous work has demonstrated the presence of MGSA/GRO in melanocytic lesions and in the epidermal keratinocytes of non-lesional skin and psoriatic scale. Herein, MGSA/GRO localization was examined in a variety of human skin lesions exhibiting proliferative and/or differentiative disorders using immunohistochemical methods. Most lesions showed greater MGSA/GRO immunoreactivity in the more differentiated suprabasal keratinocytes of the stratum spinosum and stratum granulosum than in the stratum basalis, where the dividing basal cells are found. Hair follicles, sebaceous glands, and sweat glands were also frequently positive for MGSA/GRO. The highest level of immunoreactive MGSA/GRO in diseased epidermis was detected in verruca vulgaris, followed by psoriasis, keratoacanthoma, and squamous cell carcinoma. Detection of MGSA/GRO in basal cell carcinoma was variable, being present in the sclerosing variant and absent in the more common nodular variant. Melanocytic lesions stained less intensely for MGSA/GRO than keratinocytic lesions, where the levels of MGSA/GRO expression correlated with the inflammatory response and degree of keratinocyte differentiation.
On the completeness of an identifiability algorithm for semi-Markovian models

This paper addresses the problem of identifying causal effects from nonexperimental data in a causal Bayesian network, i.e., a directed acyclic graph that represents causal relationships. The identifiability question asks whether it is possible to compute the probability of some set of (effect) variables given intervention on another set of (intervention) variables, in the presence of non-observable (i.e., hidden or latent) variables. It is well known that the answer to the question depends on the structure of the causal Bayesian network, the set of observable variables, the set of effect variables, and the set of intervention variables. Sound algorithms for identifiability have been proposed, but no complete algorithm is known. We show that the identify algorithm that Tian and Pearl defined for semi-Markovian models (Tian and Pearl 2002, 2002, 2003), an important special case of causal Bayesian networks, is both sound and complete. We believe that this result will prove useful to solve the identifiability question for general causal Bayesian networks.
Studies of phospholipase A2 related to the hamster sperm acrosome reaction

This report describes studies of innate and exogenous phospholipase A2 related to the acrosome reaction of golden hamster cauda epididymal sperm in vitro. Two acrosome reaction-inducing systems were used: a nonsyn-chronous system with epinephrine, and a synchronous system with the protonionophore FCCP. After a high percentage of sperm had undergone AR (in both systems) an increased phosphatidylcholine hydrolyzing activity was found in incubation media supernatants after partial purification by Affi-Gel Blue chromatography. A preliminary characterization demonstrates that the activity was stimulated by Ca2+, detectable at pH 7.4--7.8, but not at pH 4.5, and inhibited by p-bromophenacyl bromide and mepacrine. Thus, it appears that a phospholipase A2 was released as a result of the acrosome reaction. BSA purified by TCA precipitation and ethanol resolubilization (TCA-BSA), utilized in both types of incubations did not contain associated phospholipase A2 activity, but did contain an associated phosphatidylcholine hydrolyzing activity. The nonphospholipase A2 activity was removed by further purification of the TCA-BSA by Affi-Gel Blue chromatography, but the resulting highly purified TCA-BSA was still able to induce capacitation and acrosome reactions in hamster sperm at the same level as prior to column chromatography. Incubations of the sperm in the presence of a partially purified bee venom phospholipase A2 did not stimulate hamster sperm AR over control values in the presence of epinephrine, but did so in the absence of epinephrine (probably by mimicking the action of the innate sperm head phospholipase A2). These results provide further support to earlier studies from this laboratory suggesting the involvement of a sperm head phospholipase A2 as an important factor in the mammalian sperm acrosome reaction.
The effect of an environmental change on mobile butterfly larvae and the nutritional quality of their hosts

Summary 1. Herbivores that forage on resources that change over time may be strongly affected by environmental factors that alter their temporal overlap with host plants. The magnitude of these effects may be mediated by the availability of alternative hosts and by behavioural adaptations for foraging on temporal food resources. 2. This study examines the temporal interaction of a butterfly species and its two host plants to determine how larvae utilize their host resources and are affected by conditions of accelerated host senescence. By changing host use over time, this butterfly may track temporal declines in host quality and buffer the impacts of environmental variation and change. At the same time, it is hypothesized that host declines and changes in the host environment affect larval survivorship and hence butterfly population size. 3. With three sets of field and greenhouse experiments, the following were examined: (i) larval host plant use and the dependence of larval diet on oviposition, (ii) nutritional differences between hosts, and (iii) the impact of conditions that accelerate host plant death (i.e. temperature) on larval survivorship and growth. 4. Larvae were observed to forage widely, vary their diet through time, and use hosts independently of their natal plant. Larvae tracked changes in host quality by steadily increasing their use of the longer-lasting, but nutritionally variable, host plant. Temperature conditions that accelerated host death actually conferred a survivorship advantage when larvae were able to utilize this host. 5. These results suggest that larval diet choice and movement may be an adaptive strategy for foraging on declining food resources. It also suggests that the net effect of environmental extremes on larvae is strongly mediated by host plant use. Differences in larval survivorship when one or both hosts are available suggest that the long-lasting host is essential to butterfly population persistence. By comparing this mobile taxa to species with fewer host-switching opportunities, we better understand the diversity of foraging strategies of food-limited insects and the effects of environmental change.
Energy and delay analysis of wireless networks with ARQ

In this paper, we consider a variant of the 802.11 protocol augmented with an automatic repeat request (ARQ) mechanism for data transmission. An innovative analysis method that provides the joint distribution of energy and delay via their joint generating function is proposed. The generating function is used to evaluate the average energy and delay of a successful data packet transmission. Our analysis takes into account the effect of channel noise on the transmission of the RTS, CTS, data, and ACK packets. Our analysis indicates that the proposed 802.11 variant performs almost identically to the original protocol and that both are sensitive to the knowledge of channel conditions.
ILLUMINATE Sheds More Light

If one could design a metabolic intervention to prevent incident or recurrent cardiovascular events, it might look a lot like torcetrapib. Torcetrapib is the first cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) inhibitor extensively studied in humans. Torcetrapib, in addition to statin therapy, raised high-density lipoprotein (HDL) by >70%, lowered low-density lipoprotein by 25%, and lowered triglycerides by ≈10%.1 This is an impressive profile for a pharmaceutical agent. What if someone told you that this therapy also improves glycemic control? Article see p 555 That is precisely what Barter et al2 tell us in the current issue of Circulation . In a post hoc analysis of the Investigation of Lipid Level Management to Understand Its Impact in Atherosclerotic Events (ILLUMINATE) trial, the authors report the results of multiple glycemic measures among atorvastatin-treated patients randomly assigned to torcetrapib versus placebo. Torcetrapib/atorvastatin-treated patients had modest, but consistently lower, levels of plasma glucose and glycosylated hemoglobin than patients taking atorvastatin alone. These differences were observed in the setting of lower levels of plasma insulin, suggesting that torcetrapib was associated with better insulin sensitivity and less insulin resistance. These changes were more prominent in subjects with diabetes mellitus, but also seemed to be present in subjects without diabetes mellitus. These findings emerged early, within 1 month, and increased progressively during follow-up (12 months). The glycemic results in ILLUMINATE are subject to the same limitations as all post hoc analyses and could simply be the play of chance, 1 significant observation among many possible observations across multiple parameters tested. In addition, the relatively small effects on glycemic parameters could be seen as a variation across measurements. However the consistency of …
The Later Years

In the late 1970s and early 1980s tenant selection and assignment issues again came to the fore as outside parties began to play a larger role in promoting change at the BHA. However, unlike past years, during this period the major force was neither HUD nor politicians; it was the courts. Following suits brought by legal service attorneys representing BHA tenants to improve general operations and conditions, a master was appointed by the court to plan and monitor BHA activities. Later, when progress was judged inordinately slow, further suits resulted in the court’s actually taking over the BHA through an appointed receiver. As a result of the court’s involvement, issues which had lain dormant for several years suddenly gained new attention and several major new thrusts in tenant selection and assignment emerged.
Oncocytic Adrenocortical Neoplasm Diagnosed after Robot-Assisted Adrenalectomy

Oncocytic tumors, composed of eosinophilic, mitochondria-rich cells, can occur in several locations throughout the body. These tumors can occur in the adrenal cortex and are rarely malignant. We report a case of a patient presenting with an incidental adrenal mass which was later diagnosed as a oncocytic adrenocortical neoplasm (OAN). The patient is a 53-year-old man found to have a 7.2 cm right adrenal mass, incidentally found by computed tomography (CT). After metabolic workup was negative, a right robotic adrenalectomy (RA) was performed. Pathologic analysis revealed clusters of large cells with abundant eosinophilic and granular cytoplasm, consistent with OAN. This pathology is rare, with only about 150 cases described in the literature. It occurs in females 2.5 times more frequently and more commonly on the left side. Diagnosis is usually made by imaging criteria, typically with CT or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Treatment is generally surgical, since OAN can be malignant in some cases. Differentiation between benign and malignant OAN is done based on the Lin-Weiss-Bisceglia criteria and can be difficult. If malignancy is diagnosed, recurrence is common and close surveillance should be performed.
Carvedilol binding to β2-adrenergic receptors inhibits CFTR-dependent anion secretion in airway epithelial cells

Carvedilol functions as a nonselective β-adrenergic receptor (AR)/α1-AR antagonist that is used for treatment of hypertension and heart failure. Carvedilol has been shown to function as an inverse ...
Shared Illness and Social Support Within Two HIV-Affected African American Communities:

A key source of resiliency within HIV-affected African American communities is informal social support. Data from dyadic conversations and focus groups were used to address the following research question: What are HIV-positive African Americans' social support experiences within their informal social networks in response to HIV-related problems? Circumstances that exacerbated HIV-related problems included others' fear of contagion, reticence to be involved, judgment and rejection, and disregard for privacy Support from HIV-negative others buffered the impact of problems when others communicate interest, take the initiative to help, or make a long-term investment in their success. Support from other HIV-positive persons was helpful given the shared connection because of HIV, the opportunity to commiserate about what is mutually understood, and the fight for mutual survival Based on these findings, we offer suggestions for future research and social network interventions aimed at bolstering connections between HIV-positive peers, reducing stigma, and improving family support.
Fernzugriff auf Datenbanken

The increasing popularity of computer networks allows for providing database services not only for a local but also for a remote set of potential user. In such an environment, the, in general, heterogeneous nature of computer hard- and software involved requires ‘Open Systems’ communication facilities for transferring, e.g., request/ response messages between peer communication partners over the network. A corresponding set of general communication services has been standardized by the ‘International Standards Organization’ (ISO) in the framework of ‘Open Systems Interconnection’ (OSI). This paper reports on problems related to and solutions provided by the international standardization work on ‘Remote Database Access’ (RDA) which aims at communication support for accessing remote databases in an open systems computer network environment.
Defining the Clinical Significance of Alloscardovia omnincolens in the Urinary Tract

The clinical significance of Alloscardovia omnincolens in the urinary tract has not been thoroughly evaluated. In this study, 15 patients with A. omnincolens present in their urine cultures were identified. A. omnincolens is only rarely associated with urinary tract symptoms and in some patients may play a commensal role.
Pynchon's V. and Durrell's Alexandria Quartet: A Seminar in the Modern Tradition

Lawrence Durrell's alter-ego, Pursewarden, in The Alexandria Quartet defines his work in a way that Seems particularly applicable to Pynchon's Y.
Effects of Alarm Modality and Alarm Reliability on Workload, Trust, and Driving Performance

As roads are getting more congested, the rate of automobile crashes due to driver error is also rising. Driving is an attention demanding task. The automobile industry has developed collision avoid...
Recent incidences and differential trends of thyroid cancer in the USA

The incidence rate of thyroid cancer has been rising rapidly in recent decades; however, its trend remains unclear. To investigate this, we analyzed the database of the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) 13, 1992-2012 in the USA, particularly focusing on conventional papillary thyroid cancer (CPTC) and follicular variant of PTC (FVPTC). Of the 75,992 thyroid cancers, 61.3% were CPTC and 25.7% were FVPTC, and their incidence rates (IRs) were significantly increased from 1992 to 2012 (P all 0.05), which jumped to 6.8% (P < 0.05) after 1996, whereas the APC of FVPTC before 2000 was 6.6% (P < 0.05), which dropped to 4.8% (P < 0.05) after 2000. IRs and incidence trends of PTC were uneven among different ethnic/demographic groups, as exemplified by the lower IRs of both PTC variants in the Black females than in non-Hispanic White females but higher AAPCs of incidence in the former than in the latter. Interestingly, the data also suggest that the rise in the IRs of PTC is becoming plateaued in the most recent 2 years. These novel observations are helpful in understanding the incidence and incidence trends of thyroid cancer.
Effects of metoclopramide on steers grazing endophyte-infected fescue.

The dopamine antagonist metoclopramide (MC) was administered to steers grazing on endophyte-infected fescue. Yearling Angus steers (n = 24) were assigned randomly to pasture treatments including high (74%) and low (33%) endophyte levels and low (134 kg N.ha-1.yr-1) and high (335 kg N.ha-1.yr-1) N fertilization rates. One steer of the pair in each paddock (n = 12) received MC, whereas the other received sucrose (S) (15 mg/kg body weight, orally, three times a week for 10 wk). Blood for basal and maximal TRH-stimulated serum prolactin (PRL) concentrations was obtained before animals grazed fescue, after grazing for 1 mo, and after 3, 6 and 9 wk of animal treatment. Grazing endophyte-infected fescue decreased (P less than .05) basal serum PRL concentrations (less than 1.0 vs 5.3 ng/ml, high vs low endophyte). Basal serum PRL increased after 3, 6 and 9 wk of MC treatment (58.1 vs 5.4, 46.0 vs 12.0 and 50.8 vs 16.9 ng/ml, MC vs sucrose, respectively). After 6 wk of animal treatments, MC increased (P less than .05) serum cholesterol (84.7 vs 60.8 mg/dl, MC vs S). Animals treated with MC spent more (P less than .05) time between 1200 and 1600 grazing (22.4% vs 6.2%, MC vs S respectively) and had faster ADG (.314 vs .150 kg/d, MC vs S). The results implicate dopaminergic processes in fescue toxicosis.
Semi-supervised Energy Modeling (SSEM) for Building Clusters Using Machine Learning Techniques☆

Abstract There are many data mining and machine learning techniques to manage large sets of complex energy supply and demand data for building, organization and city. As the amount of data continues to grow, new data analysis methods are needed to address the increasing complexity. Using data from the energy loss between the supply (energy production sources) and demand (buildings and cities consumption), this paper proposes a Semi-Supervised Energy Model (SSEM) to analyse different loss factors for a building cluster. This is done by deep machine learning by training machines to semi-supervise the learning, understanding and manage the process of energy losses. Semi-Supervised Energy Model (SSEM) aims at understanding the demand-supply characteristics of a building cluster and utilizes the confident unlabelled data (loss factors) using deep machine learning techniques. The research findings involves sample data from one of the university campuses and presents the output, which provides an estimate of losses that can be reduced. The paper also provides a list of loss factors that contributes to the total losses and suggests a threshold value for each loss factor, which is determined through real time experiments. The conclusion of this paper provides a proposed energy model that can provide accurate numbers on energy demand, which in turn helps the suppliers to adopt such a model to optimize their supply strategies.
Characteristics of the Regional Hydrological Cycle

The hydrological cycle in Central and Southwest Asia, of course, operates essentially the same as it does in the rest of the world, but it does have regional variations in character and timing of its phases, energy sources, winds, distributions, climate and topographic influences, and other controlling factors that need to be understood. The high mountains of the region serve as the water-tower catchments for the elusive moisture that passes over the dry lowlands, but fortunately for the people who live there, that moisture precipitates orographically in the mountains above them. Not so fortunately, however, the common devegetation and soil erosion that also occur so commonly in the region, end up despoiling the surficial environments and reducing water infiltration into the surficial soils so that the runoff is accelerated into flashfloods and is thereby wasted. In any case, multiple drainage basins have resulted, the development and use of which are the focus of this book.
Comparing vulnerability and adaptive capacity to climate change in individuals of coastal Dominican Republic

Abstract People's capacity to adapt to shifting and emerging climate conditions is one of the most important characteristics to consider when addressing climate risks. This study explores the vulnerability and adaptive capacity of individuals in various sectors of employment in three coastal communities of the Dominican Republic to changing climate conditions. Participants included individuals who directly use marine resources for their occupation and those who do not. Specific research questions in this study are: What are the factors related to vulnerability and adaptive capacity in coastal communities of the Dominican Republic? Do these factors vary between direct resource users and non-direct resource users? Do these factors vary amongst individuals who do and do not share household responsibility for income? Principal component analysis of responses to 26 likert statements resulted in seven factors related to occupational adaptive capacity. Results suggest that many of these factors are similar across individuals in coastal Dominican Republic. However, direct resource users displayed greater attachment to occupation than non-direct users, indicating perhaps a lower willingness to change. Sole providers of household income exhibited lower financial security than those with shared responsibility, which suggests restricted ability to make changes in livelihood. This research can inform climate change preparedness in coastal communities of the Dominican Republic and beyond regarding the characteristics and circumstances that facilitate or inhibit an individual's occupational adaptation in a changing environment.
Anomalous Heavy Atomic Masses Produced by Electrolysis

By applying to electrolysis cathodes a technique that produces essentially only oxides that are volatile at room temperature, spectroscopically determined masses between 222 and 351 atomic mass uni...
Local Integration of Differential Forms

We recall that a set has measure 0 in R n if and only if, given e, there exists a covering of the set by a sequence of rectangles {R j } such that ∑ μ(R j ) < e. We denote by R j the closed rectangles, and we may always assume that the interiors R j 0 = Int(R j ) cover the set, at the cost of increasing the lengths of the sides of our rectangles very slightly (an e2 n argument). We shall prove here some criteria for a set to have measure 0. We leave it to the reader to verify that instead of rectangles, we could have used cubes in our characterization of a set of a measure 0 (a cube being a rectangle all of whose sides have the same length).
Neutron Scattering Cross Section Measurements for 56 Fe

Elastic and inelastic differential cross sections for neutron scattering from $^{56}\mathrm{Fe}$ have been measured for several incident energies from 1.30 to 7.96 MeV at the University of Kentucky Accelerator Laboratory. Scattered neutrons were detected using a ${\mathrm{C}}_{6}{\mathrm{D}}_{6}$ liquid scintillation detector using pulse-shape discrimination and time-of-flight techniques. The deduced cross sections have been compared with previously reported data, predictions from evaluation databases ENDF, JENDL, and JEFF, and theoretical calculations performed using different optical model potentials using the talys and empire nuclear reaction codes. The coupled-channel calculations based on the vibrational and soft-rotor models are found to describe the experimental ($n,{n}_{0}$) and ($n,{n}_{1}$) cross sections well.
Optimal PID Controller Tuning using Stochastic Programming Techniques

We argue that stochastic programming provides a powerful framework to tune and analyze the performance limits of controllers. In particular, stochastic programming formulations can be used to identify controller settings that remain robust across diverse scenarios (disturbances, set-points, and modeling errors) observed in real-time operations. We also discuss how to use historical data and sampling techniques to construct operational scenarios and inference analysis techniques to provide statistical guarantees on limiting controller performance. Under the proposed framework, it is also possible to use risk metrics to handle extreme (rare) events and stochastic dominance concepts to conduct systematic benchmarking studies. We provide numerical studies to illustrate the concepts and to demonstrate that modern modeling and local/global optimization tools can tackle large-scale applications. The proposed work also opens the door to data-based controller tuning strategies that can be implemented in real-time operations. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Nontraditional Methods of Care

Innovative models of care delivery are being developed and implemented with the goals of meeting patient needs with better efficiency and cost-savings. Patient portals, OpenNotes, secure messaging, team-based care, and telemedicine are moving from innovations into usual care. Current residents will likely see changing care models and new technologies develop over the course of their careers. This chapter discusses each of these digital care tools, evidence supporting them, and how they may be incorporated into teaching clinics.”
The Application of Classification Trees to Pharmacy School Admissions.

In recent years, the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) has encouraged the application of big data analytic techniques to pharmaceutical education. Indeed, the 2013-2014 Academic Affairs Committee Report included a “Learning Analytics in Pharmacy Education” section that reviewed the potential benefits of adopting big data techniques.1 Likewise, the 2014-2015 Argus Commission Report discussed uses for big data analytics in the classroom, practice, and admissions.2 While both of these reports were thorough, neither discussed specific analytic techniques. Consequently, this commentary will introduce classification trees, with a particular emphasis on their use in admission. With electronic applications, pharmacy schools and colleges now have access to detailed applicant records containing thousands of observations. With declining applications nationwide, admissions analytics may be more important than ever.3
Efficient p-i-n inorganic CsPbI3 perovskite solar cell deposited using layer-by-layer vacuum deposition

Organometallic halide perovskites have emerged as a promising photovoltaic material achieving more than 22% power conversion efficiency. However, poor thermal, environmental, and photostability still plague methyl ammonium based perovskites. Replacing the organic cation with an inorganic cation: Cesium (Cs) is an alternative approach for making thermally stable perovskite solar cells where there is no organic molecule to decompose thermally. In this paper, the authors report on a CsPbI3 perovskite solar cell deposited using a layer-by-layer vacuum deposition technique followed by thermal annealing at 320 °C. A (p type-intrinsic-n type) (p-i-n) device architecture of ITO/polytriaryl amine/CsPbI3/phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester/Al with power conversion efficiency of >10% was achieved by carefully controlling the molar ratios of CsI to PbI2 and the substrate temperature during deposition. The bandgap of the material was 1.74 eV, and the doping density was 2 × 1015/cm3.Organometallic halide perovskites have emerged as a promising photovoltaic material achieving more than 22% power conversion efficiency. However, poor thermal, environmental, and photostability still plague methyl ammonium based perovskites. Replacing the organic cation with an inorganic cation: Cesium (Cs) is an alternative approach for making thermally stable perovskite solar cells where there is no organic molecule to decompose thermally. In this paper, the authors report on a CsPbI3 perovskite solar cell deposited using a layer-by-layer vacuum deposition technique followed by thermal annealing at 320 °C. A (p type-intrinsic-n type) (p-i-n) device architecture of ITO/polytriaryl amine/CsPbI3/phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester/Al with power conversion efficiency of >10% was achieved by carefully controlling the molar ratios of CsI to PbI2 and the substrate temperature during deposition. The bandgap of the material was 1.74 eV, and the doping density was 2 × 1015/cm3.
Robotic Self-replication, Self-diagnosis, and Self-repair: Probabilistic Considerations

This paper reviews issues related to two topics: (1) “self-replicating robots,” i.e., robots that can make copies of themselves from spare parts; and (2) robotic teams that can “self-diagnose,” which is an essential attribute that will lead to the ability of robots to autonomously and cooperatively repair other robots. In order to quantify the robustness of such robots, statistical measures of the degree of environmental uncertainty that they can handle must be computed. The entropy of the set of all possible arrangements (or configurations) of spare parts in the environment is just such a measure. In the team diagnosis and repair scenario, a team of robots works cooperatively to perform tasks. During this process, all members of the team diagnose each other to determine if there is any abnormal behavior in any team member. When there is, the members of the team can, in principle, cooperate to either repair the malfunctioning team member or disassemble it for use as spare parts. The algorithmic side of this problem is also statistical in nature, and is briefly reviewed here.
The ecology of trachoma: an epidemiological study in southern Mexico.

Abstract A total of 1097 people in two communities in Chiapas, Mexico, were examined for trachoma, and information was obtained about personal and family hygiene. Trachoma was hyperendemic; approximately 25% of those under 10 years old were found to have significant inflammatory trachoma and almost 100% of those aged over 40 years had cicatricial trachoma, although the prevalence of trachoma differed significantly between the two communities. Risk factor analysis was performed by contingency table analysis and χ2 testing. The most important parameter associated with the occurrence and severity of inflammatory trachoma in children was the frequency of face washing. Children who washed their faces 7 or more times per week had significantly less trachoma than those who washed less often (χ22df = 28.7; P < 0.001). This effect was independent of age, use of clean water and soap, or use of clothes to dry the face. Children who washed infrequently and who used clothes to dry the face or clean the nose were more at risk for trachoma. No parameters of family hygiene or socioeconomic status correlated with the amount of trachoma in a family. These data confirm and quantify for the first time the long-held belief that trachoma is associated with poor personal hygiene and suggest potentially effective and efficient intervention strategies.
Is there a duty to serve as a subject in biomedical research

Most contemporary discussions of the ethics of human subjects research focus on the adequacies and inadequacies of informed consent in combination with peer review by institutional review boards (IRBs) for protecting subject welfare. Little has been written about the moral reasons that ought to lead someone to participate in research in the first place. The strong impression conveyed by all the scholarly attention to consent and committee review is that the main
Should a Change in the Atherosclerotic Process be Required for Approval of New Hypolipidemic Agents

It has been convincingly documented that in high-risk adult men with very high serum cholesterol levels, long-term treatment with lipid-lowering agents reduces the risk of coronary events (1,2). There is currently a debate as to how far these trial findings can be extrapolated. Do they, for example, apply to the elderly, to women, to subjects with moderately high to high serum cholesterol, or to patients who already have manifest coronary heart disease (CHD)? A related question is: What type of documentation of efficacy and safety could or should be required for lipid-lowering agents in these populations? Mortality/ morbidity trials would be almost prohibitively expensive and time consuming. The new treatment guidelines issued by the National Cholesterol Education Program (3), which advocate drug therapy for those whose serum LDL-cholesterol or total cholesterol remains high after dietary intervention, make long-term placebo-controlled trials in these subjects nearly impossible to conduct in the United States.
DNA-induced liquid phase condensation of cGAS activates innate immune signaling

The binding of DNA to cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS) leads to the production of the secondary messenger cyclic GMP-AMP (cGAMP), which activates innate immune responses. We have shown that DNA binding to cGAS robustly induced the formation of liquidlike droplets in which cGAS was activated. The disordered and positively charged cGAS N terminus enhanced cGAS-DNA phase separation by increasing the valencies of DNA binding. Long DNA was more efficient in promoting cGAS liquid phase separation and cGAS enzyme activity than short DNA. Moreover, free zinc ions enhanced cGAS enzyme activity both in vitro and in cells by promoting cGAS-DNA phase separation. These results demonstrated that the DNA-induced phase transition of cGAS promotes cGAMP production and innate immune signaling.
A comparison of the USDA ossification-based maturity system to a system based on dentition.

Two studies using commercially fed cattle were conducted to determine the relationship of the USDA bone ossification-based maturity system to one based on the number of permanent incisors present at slaughter. These studies showed that 91.5 to 100% of cattle with zero permanent incisors ( 45.3 mo of age) were graded as A maturity by the USDA maturity classification system. Kappa tests revealed no statistical relationship between the dentition- and skeletal ossification-based maturity systems. Dentition-based maturity agreed with ossification/lean maturity for only 162 of 1,264 carcasses in Exp. 1 and only 54 of 200 carcasses in Exp. 2. Cattle with two, four, six, or eight permanent incisors were classified in more youthful categories of USDA bone ossification/lean maturity than they should have been. Male cattle were more likely to be misclassified into a younger age category by the USDA system than were female cattle. It seems that determining physiological maturity by number of permanent incisors rather than by the current USDA method of subjectively evaluating skeletal and lean maturity may prove to be a more accurate technique of sorting beef carcasses into less-variable age groups.
Sports Medicine and Injury Prevention

General principles of evaluation and techniques specific to sports injury are discussed in this article. Special emphasis is placed on integrating the physiatrist's previous knowledge into the prescription of appropriate rehabilitation of sports injuries and on developing an understanding of the sport-specific factors necessary for complete recovery.
THE UNIQUE ROLE OF FRIENDSHIP FOR HEALTH AND WELL-BEING ACROSS LIFE AND AROUND THE WORLD

The extent to which various sources of social support contribute to health and well-being has been the subject of many empirical studies. However, how much we value and invest in close relationships change across the lifespan and likely vary cross-culturally. Do close relationships have a static influence on health and well-being across the lifespan or do some close relationships become increasingly more important for health and well-being as people age? In Study 1, a cross-sectional survey of 271,053 adults from 97 different countries, valuing friendships was related to better functioning particularly among older adults whereas valuing familial relationships exerted a static influence on health and well-being across the lifespan. In Study 2, a longitudinal study of 7,481 older adults, only strain from friendships predicted more chronic illnesses over a six-year period; support from spouses, children, and friends predicted higher subjective well-being over an eight-year period. In Study 3, I draw on insights from the Investment Model of Close Relationships to make examine predictors of relationship longevity and how they might vary across relationships in 460 romantic and friendship dyads. Satisfaction and the quality of alternatives to the relationship predicted commitment across relationships. However, partner reports of satisfaction (for friendships) and quality of alternatives (for romantic relationships) provided opposing forces for what predicted commitment. The findings are discussed in the context of lifespan developmental theories of emotion regulation and the dynamic nature of social networks across the lifespan.
Acquirer reference prices and acquisition performance

Abstract In a comprehensive sample of mergers and acquisitions, we find a reference price effect: acquirers earn higher (lower) announcement-period returns when their pre-announcement stock prices are well below (near) their 52-week highs. This reference price effect is stronger in acquisitions of private targets, deals involving greater uncertainty, and acquirers with greater individual investor ownership, and it is reversed in the subsequent year. Further, acquirer reference prices affect bid premia and target announcement-period returns in deals with greater uncertainty in acquirer valuation. The overall evidence is consistent with investors irrationally using 52-week high prices as a measure of acquirer valuation.
The One/Many Problem in the Foundations of Set Theory

The question of whether the universe of set theory is a One or a Many is discussed. It is argued that although there may be a single concept of “set”, the universe of set theory is not any one fixed extensional object. A streamlined form of Takeuti's Nodal Transfinite Type Theory (NTT) is presented as providing a means for making statements about the various higher-order concepts. Several new relative consistency results involving NTT are obtained. It is also shown that if NTT has a model of a certain natural kind, then O# exists. A new theory called Embedding Theory (ET) is introduced as a natural strengthening of NTT. NTT is finally presented as the first theory which is about concepts as well as about sets.
Overweight and Obesity among Sexual Minority Adults in the United States.

There is evidence that sexual minority populations have a potentially heightened risk of poor health outcomes due in part to the discrimination they may face. In the present study, we examined whether overweightness and obesity vary by sexual minority subgroup using a large, nationally representative sample. Data were drawn from 2014–2017 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) surveys (n = 716,609). We grouped participants according to sexual identity (straight, lesbian or gay, bisexual, and other/don’t know/not sure). The propensity score matching technique was used to address covariate imbalance among sexual identity groups. In addition, subgroup analyses were performed for both males and females. Compared to straight adults, lesbian females had significantly higher odds of being overweight (OR (odds ratio) 1.33; 95% CI (confidence interval) 1.17–1.53), whereas gay males had significantly lower odds (OR 0.66; 95% CI 0.59–0.73). Similarly, lesbians were more likely to be obese (OR 1.49; 95% CI 1.31–1.70), whereas gay men had significantly lower odds of obesity (OR 0.77; 95% CI 0.69–0.86) when compared to straight adults. Bisexual females had significantly higher odds of being overweight (OR 1.21; 95% CI 1.10–1.34) and obese (OR 1.43; 95% CI 1.29–1.59), whereas bisexual males showed no significant difference. Our results strengthen previous findings and further highlight the need for research by sexual minority subgroup.
Exact spike train inference via $\ell_{0}$ optimization

In recent years new technologies in neuroscience have made it possible to measure the activities of large numbers of neurons simultaneously in behaving animals. For each neuron a fluorescence trace is measured; this can be seen as a first-order approximation of the neuron’s activity over time. Determining the exact time at which a neuron spikes on the basis of its fluorescence trace is an important open problem in the field of computational neuroscience. Recently, a convex optimization problem involving an $\ell_{1}$ penalty was proposed for this task. In this paper we slightly modify that recent proposal by replacing the $\ell_{1}$ penalty with an $\ell_{0}$ penalty. In stark contrast to the conventional wisdom that $\ell_{0}$ optimization problems are computationally intractable, we show that the resulting optimization problem can be efficiently solved for the global optimum using an extremely simple and efficient dynamic programming algorithm. Our R-language implementation of the proposed algorithm runs in a few minutes on fluorescence traces of 100,000 timesteps. Furthermore, our proposal leads to substantial improvements over the previous $\ell_{1}$ proposal, in simulations as well as on two calcium imaging datasets. R-language software for our proposal is available on CRAN in the package LZeroSpikeInference. Instructions for running this software in python can be found at https://github.com/jewellsean/LZeroSpikeInference.
Academy helping pediatricians address patients' oral health

Traditionally, the assessment and treatment of oral health problems has not been considered to be the domain of pediatricians, but that is changing. ![Figure][1] Dr. Ouellette The dentist-to-population ratio is declining. Of the 153,000 U.S. dentists, only 3,600 are pediatric dentists
Bidirectional switching assisted by interlayer exchange coupling in asymmetric magnetic tunnel junctions

We study the combined effects of spin transfer torque, voltage modulation of interlayer exchange coupling, and magnetic anisotropy on the switching behavior of perpendicular magnetic tunnel junctions (p-MTJs). In asymmetric p-MTJs, a linear-in-voltage dependence of interlayer exchange coupling enables the effective perpendicular anisotropy barrier to be lowered for both voltage polarities. This mechanism is shown to reduce the critical switching current and effective activation energy. Finally, we analyze the possibility of having switching via interlayer exchange coupling only.
Real options and strategic bankruptcy

Abstract Understanding whether and when Chapter 11 bankruptcy provides a real option for resolving operational uncertainty is essential for financially-distressed firms seeking to restructure and continue operating as a going concern. The corporate restructuring literature has centered on the operational and strategic actions firms undertake to improve their competitive position and performance prospects. While it is well understood that Chapter 11 bankruptcy is an efficient mechanism for restructuring assets and debt, it also offers an additional benefit seldom discussed in the literature: a real flexibility option that can help firms to resolve operational uncertainty. This paper develops theoretical predictions about when a “strategic” bankruptcy will facilitate a firm’s emergence from bankruptcy and ability to continue operating as an independent entity. We test hypotheses on a sample of 916 bankrupt firms during the period 1980–2014. The results are consistent with our predictions.