cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Dielectric properties of polypropylene loaded with synthetic organoclay

The incorporation of synthetic silica nanoparticles into polypropylene is shown to increase the ac breakdown strength compared to unfilled material. This breakdown strength stays unchanged during application of a 40 kV/mm dc field for up to 500 h at both, room temperature and 90°C. Dielectric spectroscopy shows an increase of dielectric loss factor, tanδ, with nanoflller concentration and a distinct relaxation around 60°C. The increase of tanδ caused by nanoparticles is moderate and thus manageable in practical applications. Subjecting specimens to a dc field did not significantly change the dielectric loss spectra. The dc conductivity of the materials with nano-filler was found to be higher than for unfilled materials. This is believed to be caused by the overlapping of the diffuse double layers surrounding nanoparticles, which provide a path for the migration of electric charge. Aging nanocomposites in a dc field resulted in the increase of conductivity but the increments were significantly smaller than those observed in the material without organoclay.
Foundation Engineering for Transmission Line Structures

An overview is given of the development and practice of foundation engineering for electrical transmission line structures (TLS). The evolution of this specialty field has been very different from its evolution for building and/or bridge structures. The differences involved are substantial and relate to the structure types, loading, threat to life, ground assessment over long corridors, construction issues, and various other factors. Unfortunately, these key issues are not addressed in traditional references such as textbooks or design manuals, and they are not covered in standard university courses in foundation engineering. Accordingly, designers, constructors, and others in the electric utility industry have developed alternative approaches toward foundation engineering for TLS. This paper presents an overview of this specialty field and discusses some pertinent issues regarding the structures, loading, foundations, geotechnical assessment, design philosophy, and construction issues.
An innovative research reactor design

Abstract A new and innovative core design for a research reactor is presented. It is shown that while using the standard, low enriched uranium as fuel, the maximum thermal flux per MW of power for the core design suggested and analyzed here is greater than those found in existing state of the art facilities without detrimentally affecting the other design specs. A design optimization is also carried out to achieve the following characteristics of a pool type research reactor of 10 MW power: high thermal neutron fluxes; sufficient space to locate facilities in the reflector; and an acceptable life cycle. In addition, the design is limited to standard fuel material of low enriched uranium. More specifically, the goal is to maximize the maximum thermal flux to power ratio in a moderate power reactor design maintaining, or even enhancing, other design aspects that are desired in a modern state of the art multi-purpose facility. The multi-purpose reactor design should allow most of the applications generally carried out in existing multi-purpose research reactors. Starting from the design of the German research reactor, FRM-II, which delivers high thermal neutron fluxes, an azimuthally asymmetric cylindrical core design with an inner and outer reflector, is developed. More specifically, one half of the annular core (0 θ π ) is thicker than the other half. Two variations of the design are analyzed using MCNP, ORIGEN2 and MONTEBURNS codes. Both lead to a high thermal flux zone, a moderate thermal flux zone, and a low thermal flux zone in the outer reflector. Moreover, it is shown that the inner reflector is suitable for fast flux irradiation positions. The first design leads to a life cycle of 41 days and high, moderate and low (non-perturbed) thermal neutron fluxes of 4.2 × 10 14 n cm −2 s −1 , 3.0 × 10 14 n cm −2 s −1 , and 2.0 × 10 14 n cm −2 s −1 , respectively. Heat deposition in the cladding, coolant and fuel material is also calculated to determine coolant flow rate, coolant outlet temperature and maximum fuel temperature under steady-state operating conditions. Finally, a more compact version of the asymmetric core is developed where a maximum (non-perturbed) thermal flux of 5.0 × 10 14 n cm −2 s −1 is achieved. The core life of this more compact version is estimated to be about 23 days.
Always Having to Say You’re Sorry: an ethical response to making mistakes in professional practice

Efforts to decrease errors in health care are directed at prevention rather than at managing a situation when a mistake has occurred. Consequently, nurses and other health care providers may not know how to respond properly and may lack sufficient support to make a healthy recovery from the mental anguish and emotional suffering that often accompany making mistakes. This article explores the conceptualization of mistakes and the ethical response to making a mistake. There are three parts to an ethical response to error: disclosure, apology and amends. Honesty and humility are discussed as important virtues that facilitate coping and personal growth for the health care provider who is involved in mistakes. In conclusion, a healthy view of nursing practice and mistake making is one that prevents error but, when prevention is not possible, accepts fallibility as part of the human condition and achieves the best possible outcome for all.
Application of phase-conjugate mirrors during recording of volume holographic memories

We propose, demonstrate, and analyze the application of phase-conjugate mirrors during the recording of volume holographic memories. Our results show that using phase-conjugate mirrors during recording improves the uniformity of the holographic gratings and increases the recording speed. Theoretical simulations agree with experimental results.
Fair Use of Unpublished Works: Burdens of Proof and the Integrity of Copyright

The flexibility that Congress infused into fair use allows it to be restructured and adapted for the unpredictable scope of future needs. That flexibility also can lead to narrow interpretations of the law. A line of cases focusing on the unpublished character of the copyrighted material appear to have developed a presumption against fair use and some court rulings seemingly use the four statutory factors only as an afterthought to support a conclusion. While some cases have probed the issues more carefully, the perception of a presumption remains.Part of the interpretative problem is the infiltration of privacy interests into copyright law. The commingling of privacy and copyright and the assumption of privacy interests in unpublished works has had a detrimental effect on the law, particularly because copyright and privacy have diametrically opposing objectives. Copyright law seeks to encourage the production and dissemination of works for the advancement of knowledge; privacy law seeks to keep materials out of the public’s hands in order to prevent a sharing and expansion of knowledge. With the maturation of privacy rights in tort law, legislation, and constitutional doctrine, copyright no longer needs to carry the weight of protecting privacy.By endorsing a relationship between privacy and market value, and by stressing that value, recent decisions have made privacy a part of the "nature" factor whenever the court relies on a "right of first publication." This approach leaves little opportunity for overcoming the presumption against narrow uses of unpublished material, with devastating consequences for writing and publishing works of history and other socially important works. In the analysis of unpublished works, one factor – "nature" – is therefore preordained against a finding of fair use. Disentangling copyright and privacy interests can lead to a more balanced law.Congress amended the fair use statute in 1992, removing any notion of a "per se" rule against fair use, but still leaving users and courts to find meaning in the four factors. A restructuring of the burden of proof in fair use cases has the potential to maintain flexibility in the law while addressing the distinctive interests surrounding unpublished works from historical manuscripts to computer software code. The analysis proposed here is consistent with the current structure of fair use, yet it establishes standards of proof and shifts the burden of proof to address more directly the issues that courts tend merely to assume. Such a more nuanced approach to the “nature” factor can facilitate a more careful application of fair use, and it may be crucial for preserving a conception of fair use that protects the interests of the copyright owner while simultaneously encouraging the growth of knowledge.
Detecting actionable items in meetings by convolutional deep structured semantic models

The recent success of voice interaction with smart devices (human-machine genre) and improvements in speech recognition for conversational speech show the possibility of conversation-related applications. This paper investigates the task of actionable item detection in meetings (human-human genre), where the intelligent assistant dynamically provides the participants access to information (e.g. scheduling a meeting, taking notes) without interrupting the meetings. A convolutional deep structured semantic model (CDSSM) is applied to learn the latent semantics for human actions and utterances from human-machine (source genre) and human-human (target) interactions. Furthermore, considering the mismatch between source and target genre and scarcity of annotated data sets for the target genre, we develop adaptation techniques that adjust the learned embeddings to better fit the target genre. Experiments show that CDSSM performs better for actionable item detection compared to baselines using lexical features (27.5% relative) and other semantic features (15.9% relative) when the source genre and target genre match with each other. When the target genre mismatches with the source genre, our proposed adaptation techniques further improve the performance. The discussion and analysis of the experiments provide a reasonable direction for such an actionable item detection task1.
Note on the Expansion of Devertebrate Determinants

(1904). Note on the Expansion of Devertebrate Determinants. The American Mathematical Monthly: Vol. 11, No. 8-9, pp. 166-168.
Photoluminescence Studies of Annealed GaAs Films Grown on Si Substrates

Low temperature (T - 5K) photoluminescence (PL) has been measured on a variety of as-grown and annealed GaAs films grown on Si substrates by the MBE technique. The PL spectra of the annealed GaAs layers showed an apparent difference between the nomigally undoped samples with free carrier concentrations below 1015 cm−3 and the layers with dopant concentrations exceeding 1017 atoms cm−3 . The annealing caused an increase of both excitonic and defect related PL intensities in low doped samples. In heavily doped layers the annealing suppressed excitonic emission and strongly enhanced defect related luminescence bands. Observed post annealed infrared shifts of the PL peaks in the excitonic region are explained assuming a tetragonally distorted GaAs lattice under tensile stress, and an increase in stress after high temperature annealing.
RABIES IN ETHIOPIA

Rabies is one of the most severe infectious diseases in Ethiopia, with many cases of the disease diagnosed in various parts of the country. The dog is the species most responsible for human exposure, with over 98% of the human cases and vaccinations due to the bite of rabid or suspected rabid dogs. Most of the treatments are due to stray dogs that bite, escape and are not available for observation. Most of the people who die of rabies are under 40 years of age, and among adults, the majority of these are males, suggesting that the close contact the young men have with dogs causes them to have a higher exposure rate and more deaths from rabies.
Ecological equivalency as a tool for endangered species management

The use of taxon substitutes for extinct or endangered species is a controversial conservation measure. We use the example of the endangered California tiger salamander (Ambystoma californiense; CTS), which is being replaced by hybrids with the invasive barred tiger salamander (Ambystoma mavortium), to illustrate a strategy for evaluating taxon substitutes based on their position in a multivariate community space. Approximately one-quarter of CTS's range is currently occupied by "full hybrids" with 70% nonnative genes, while another one-quarter is occupied by "superinvasives" where a specific set of 3/68 genes comprising 4% of the surveyed genome is nonnative. Based on previous surveys of natural CTS breeding ponds, we stocked experimental mesocosms with field-verified, realistic densities of tiger salamander larvae and their prey, and used these mesocosms to evaluate ecological equivalency between pure CTS, full hybrids, and superinvasives in experimental pond communities. We also included a fourth treatment with no salamanders present to evaluate the community effects of eliminating Ambystoma larvae altogether. We found that pure CTS and superinvasive larvae were ecologically equivalent, because their positions in the multivariate community space were statistically indistinguishable and they did not differ significantly along any univariate community axes. Full hybrids were ecologically similar, but not equivalent, to the other two genotypes, and the no-Ambystoma treatment was by far the most divergent. We conclude that, at least for the larval stage, superinvasives are adequate taxon substitutes for pure CTS and should probably be afforded protection under the Endangered Species Act. The proper conservation status for full hybrids remains debatable.
Learning and prediction of slip from visual information: Research Articles

This paper presents an approach for slip prediction from a distance for wheeled ground robots using visual information as input. Large amounts of slippage which can occur on certain surfaces, such as sandy slopes, will negatively affect rover mobility. Therefore, obtaining information about slip before entering such terrain can be very useful for better planning and avoiding these areas. To address this problem, terrain appearance and geometry information about map cells are correlated to the slip measured by the rover while traversing each cell. This relationship is learned from previous experience, so slip can be predicted remotely from visual information only. The proposed method consists of terrain type recognition and nonlinear regression modeling. The method has been implemented and tested offline on several off-road terrains including: soil, sand, gravel, and woodchips. The final slip prediction error is about 20p. The system is intended for improved navigation on steep slopes and rough terrain for Mars rovers. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
A novel electron diffraction technique to accurately measure valence electron distribution and interfacial lattice displacement

We developed a novel electron diffraction technique by focusing a small probe above(or below) the sample in a transmission electron microscope to measure charge density in complex compound with large unit cell,e.g.high-dielectric-constant perovskite CaCu-3Ti-4O-12.The method features the simultaneous acquisition of shadow images within many Bragg reflections,resulting in Parallel Recording of Dark-field Images(denoted as PARODI).For wedge-shaped crystals,this procedure provides a means of recording thickness or Pendellsung fringes of many reflections simultaneously,which ensures that the experimental conditions with respect to thickness variations and crystallographic direction of the incident beam are the same for all reflections.The PARODI technique has been further extended to study defects with coherent electron source(denoted as coherent PARODI),e.g.in transmission electron microscope equipped with a field emission gun.We studied Bi-based high-temperature superconductors containing stacking faults and twist grain boundaries with accompanying displacements perpendicular to the boundary plane.We observed strong interference fringes from the planar faults even when they were viewed edge-on,in agreement with model calculations.With coherent PARODI,we determined displacement vectors of the planar faults in Bi-2212 with an accuracy down to 1 picometer(10-12 m),which is the highest accuracy that has been achieved in measuring displacement vectors.
International Association of Hospitality Financial Management Education (iAHFME) Academic Member 2015 Total Annual Earnings

This study uses survey research to determine the 2015 annual earnings of hospitality financial management educators. Of the International Association of Hospitality Financial Management Education (iAHFME) members affiliated with educational institutions who were invited to participate, 58% responded. Survey results show that for 2015, annual base salaries of iAHFME members ranged from $75,000 to $264,000. The lowest-paid member was an assistant professor and the highest-paid member was a full professor. Many respondents supplemented their base salaries by teaching during summer school or consulting or both. The total annual earnings of iAHFME members ranged from $81,000 to $264,000. Survey results also show that hospitality financial management educators appear to be more highly compensated than the average college professor than their counterparts in the lodging industry.
A physiologic approach to the treatment of heart failure.

The concluding article in this series addresses the diversity and complexity of cardiac failure—with its many causes, mechanisms, and manifestations. Clearly, it is no longer feasible to treat heart failure patients without having a working hypothesis as to the underlying disorder. Important distinctions among circulatory failure, heart failure, and myocardial failure are examined.
Compressive estimation in AWGN: General observations and a case study

Compressive random projections followed by l 1 reconstruction is by now a well-known approach to capturing sparsely distributed information, but applying this approach via discretization to estimation of continuous-valued parameters can perform poorly due to basis mismatch. However, we show in this paper it is still possible to capture the information required for effective estimation using a small number of random projections. We characterize the isometries required for preserving the geometric structure of estimation in additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) under such compressive measurements. Under these conditions, estimation-theoretic quantities such as the Cramer- Rao Lower Bound (CRLB) are preserved, except for attenuation of the Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) by the dimensionality reduction factor. For the canonical problem of frequency estimation of a single sinusoid based on N uniformly spaced samples, we show that the required isometries hold for M = O(log N) random projections, and that the CRLB scales as predicted. While we prove isometry results for a single sinusoid, we present an algorithm to estimate multiple sinusoids from compressive measurements. Our algorithm combines coarse estimation on a grid with iterative Newton updates and avoids the error floors incurred by prior algorithms which apply standard compressed sensing with an oversampled grid. Numerical results are provided for spatial frequency (equivalently, angle of arrival) estimation for large (32 × 32) two-dimensional arrays.
Risk factors for metastatic prostate cancer: A sentinel event case series.

235Background: After 25 years of declines in late stage prostate cancer (PCa), evidence is mounting that an increasing fraction of men may present with metastatic disease, well after they might hav...
3D-Drucken – eine Zukunftstechnologie?

Kurzfassung Auf Grund sich stetig andernder Anforderungen an Produkte aus dem Konsum- und Investitionsgutersektor gewinnen Flexibilitat, Innovationsfahigkeit und Individualisierung sowie die Losung dieser Herausforderungen durch die Fertigungstechnik zunehmend an Bedeutung. Der grose Vorteil generativer Fertigungsprozesse besteht dabei darin, komplexe geometrische Strukturen direkt aus CAD-Daten zu fertigen. Eines dieser Verfahren ist das 3D-Kunststoffdurcken, dessen Grundlage durch die selektive Einbringung eines Binders in ein Pulverbett gegeben ist. Bei dieser Verfahrensklasse besteht die Herausforderung nicht in der Erstellung innovativer, kundenindividueller Produkte in kurzester Zeit, sondern in der Verbesserung der Prozessfahigkeit und damit der Qualitat der produzierten Produkte bzw. in der Notwendigkeit, Zusatzfunktionen in die Produkte zu integrieren. Eine Verbesserung der Produkteigenschaften, wie z.B. Festigkeit, Temperaturbestandigkeit und Porositat, soll durch aktivierte Polymerisation des M...
Abstract NTOC-102: TARGETING NEDDYLATION TO OVERCOME CISPLATIN RESISTANCE IN OVARIAN CANCER

PURPOSE: Ovarian cancer has the highest mortality rate of all female reproductive malignancies. Drug resistance is a major problem that limits overall survival and novel therapeutic strategies are urgently needed. The inappropriate loss of several NEDD8-cullin-RING ubiquitin ligase (CRL) targets has been linked to cancer progression and drug resistance, suggesting that this pathway may be a promising new therapeutic target. MLN4924 is a first-in-class NEDD8 activating enzyme (NAE) inhibitor currently under investigation in multiple clinical studies. We investigated its anticancer activity and pharmacodynamic effects in cisplatin-sensitive and cisplatin-resistant ovarian cancer models. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES: Cellular sensitivity to MLN4924/cisplatin was determined by measuring viability, senescence, and apoptosis. The effects of drug treatment on global protein expression, DNA damage, and reactive oxygen species generation were determined. RNA interference approaches were used to identify and validate regulators of therapeutic sensitivity. The in vivo effects of MLN4924/cisplatin on tumor burden and key pharmacodynamic endpoints were assessed in cisplatin-sensitive and -resistant xenograft models. RESULTS: Intrinsic resistance to cisplatin did not significantly impact the efficacy of MLN4924 against ovarian cancer cells, indicating that this agent may be useful for patients with platinum-resistant disease. Detailed pharmacodynamic analyses showed that treatment with MLN4924 induced the stabilization of key NEDD8 substrates and regulators of cellular redox status. Notably, cisplatin-resistant cells displayed significantly higher basal levels of NEDDylated cullins and NEDDylation activity than cisplatin-sensitive cells. Further investigation demonstrated that MLN4924 significantly augmented the activity of cisplatin against cisplatin-resistant cells. This suggests that aberrant NEDDylation may contribute to drug resistance and that targeting this pathway may be a promising strategy to restore chemosensitivity. MLN4924 and cisplatin cooperated to induce DNA damage, oxidative stress, and increased expression of the BH3-only protein NBK/BIK. Targeted NBK/BIK knockdown diminished the pro-apoptotic effects of the MLN4924/cisplatin combination. In addition, administration of MLN4924 to mice bearing ovarian tumor xenografts significantly increased the efficacy of cisplatin against both cisplatin-sensitive and cisplatin-resistant tumors. CONCLUSIONS: Our collective data provide a rationale for the clinical investigation of NAE inhibition as a novel strategy to augment cisplatin efficacy in patients with ovarian cancer and other malignancies where platinum-based chemotherapy is utilized. Citation Format: Steffan T. Nawrocki, Kevin R. Kelly, Claudia M. Espitia, and Jennifer S. Carew. TARGETING NEDDYLATION TO OVERCOME CISPLATIN RESISTANCE IN OVARIAN CANCER [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 11th Biennial Ovarian Cancer Research Symposium; Sep 12-13, 2016; Seattle, WA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Clin Cancer Res 2017;23(11 Suppl):Abstract nr NTOC-102.
Locally Connected Sets

A set M is locally connected at a point p ∊ M provided that if U p is any open set about p 9 then there exists an open set V p , p ∊ V p ⊂ U p9 such that each point of M ∩ V p lies together with p in a connected subset of M ∩ U p .
Performance analysis of a grid connected photovoltaic station in the region of Adrar

This work aims to analyze the performance of grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) system installed in the Saharan area of south Algeria (Adrar) in four different days, each one from different season of the year 2015. The results showed that temperature and irradiance play important role in system performance; the performance ratio and the system efficiency depend heavily on the temperature and drop from 90%, 12.12% respectively in winter to 64%, 8.74% respectively in the summer. Although maximum reference yield was recorded in the summer day with 8.17 kWh/kWp/day, the final yield was 5.30 kWh/kWp/day close to the winter final yield of 5.14 kWh/kWp/day and lesser than maximum final yield which was in the spring day with 6.21 kWh/kWp/day. The minimum daily final yield was recorded in autumn; with 3.88 kWh/kWp/day, as a result of the sudden changes in irradiance due to the sandstorm.
Stories of the sharing economy: Policy narratives surrounding the entry of transportation network companies into four mid-sized American cities

New transportation businesses such as Uber and Lyft have recently entered metropolitan markets across the US. Because they do not fit into existing regulatory and policy frameworks, and their entra...
Discovering Causes and Becauses

In the next three chapters cause and purpose will be examined. We are enormously versatile in our uses of both words. This occasionally makes us think that the notions behind the words are confused. The result? We become confused ourselves. First, some of the confusions.
Building a better university iPhone application

The first day of classes for a new student at a college or university can be very confusing. The first thing a student usually tries to do is look up a class schedule and then try to locate his or her classroom. Since many students these days have a smart phone, it would be very convenient and helpful if there was a mobile application capable of providing step-by-step directions for students to find a classroom and access their class schedule from their mobile phones. Therefore, the main objective of this project is to build an iPhone application to assist new students at a college or university to locate a classroom in the campus by displaying the path from where they currently are to where their destination is. In case of emergency situations, the app is also designed to display a path to the nearest exit. Moreover, the app is set up to view their class schedule as well. To be able to construct step-by-step directions to assist students, a map must be built specifically for the app. Building the map is a three step process. First, the visual component of the map is created in Google SketchUp from floor plans. Next, all the rooms of each map or floor plan are annotated and marked down for possible paths. Then, XML is used to annotate the maps. Once the app has this information, it is capable of dynamically routing students to and from any room in the school.
Difficult Anterior Perineal Dissection During Abdominoperineal Resection

Perineal dissection during abdominoperineal resection can be challenging in radiated and obese patients. This chapter provides tips and tricks in dealing with difficult anterior perineal dissection during APR.
Directional Processing of the Simulated Direct Path, Broadband Reverberation Data and Its Interpretation

Broadband ocean bottom/subbottom reverberation data are simulated for the Acoustic Reverberation Special Research Program’s (ARSRP’s) fine scale experiment to be conducted in FY 93. ARSRP objectives are to study the direct path bottom/subbottom reverberation processes at low frequencies (50–500 Hz) and low grazing angles (±15°). The data are simulated, over the Goff and Jordan sediment pond, for a horizontal array towed at an elevation of 25 m (from the sea floor) in order to generate the bottom/subbottom direct path, backscattered reverberations at low grazing angles (±15°). These data consist of the reverberation and/or specular reflection events from all angles, and we studied the application of the intercept time-ray parameter (τ-p) technique to filter out the undesired reverberations/reflections at high grazing angles. The low grazing angle (0 to 15°) data are then interpreted to identify the (location of) bottom and/or subbottom scattering patches or elements. These are further analyzed to study the reverberation hypotheses.
Efficient Structural Clustering in Large Uncertain Graphs

Clustering uncertain graphs based on the probabilistic graph model has sparked extensive research and widely varying applications. Existing structural clustering methods rely heavily on the computation of pairwise reliable structural similarity between vertices, which has proven to be extremely costly, especially in large uncertain graphs. In this paper, we develop a new, decomposition-based method, ProbSCAN, for efficient reliable structural similarity computation with theoretically improved complexity. We further design a cost-effective index structure UCNO-Index, and a series of powerful pruning strategies to expedite reliable structural similarity computation in uncertain graphs. Experimental studies on eight real-world uncertain graphs demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed solutions, which achieves orders of magnitude improvement of clustering efficiency, compared with the state-of-the-art structural clustering methods in large uncertain graphs.
Psychological entitlement predicts noncompliance with the health guidelines of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Abstract In this research, we examined whether psychological entitlement predicted noncompliance with the health guidelines of the COVID-19 pandemic. People higher in psychological entitlement typically try to avoid behaviors that might cause themselves harm, but their high expectations, lack of concern about others, and distrust of authority figures could affect their perceptions of the threat of the coronavirus and their views on the benefits of following the health guidelines. Across three studies (N = 1004, online samples from the United States), people higher in psychological entitlement reported less compliance with the health guidelines of the COVID-19 pandemic than people lower in psychological entitlement. Moreover, people higher in psychological entitlement believed that the threat of the virus was overblown and were less concerned about harming others, views that may partly explain their noncompliance. People higher in psychological entitlement were also more likely to report that they had contracted COVID-19, and thus their refusal to follow the health guidelines may have had negative consequences for them. An appeal to self-image concerns did not lead individuals higher in entitlement to be more likely to comply with the health guidelines.
Abstract 300: Detection of Hemodynamic Status Using a Novel Analytic Based Solely on a Single Ecg Waveform

Introduction: Delayed identification of hemodynamic deterioration remains a persistent issue for in-hospital patient care. Unfortunately, no continuously measured non-invasive method of detecting h...
A qualitative study of life satisfaction after surgery for adult traumatic brachial plexus injury.

AimsBrachial plexus injury (BPI) is an often devastating injury that affects patients physically and emotionally. The vast majority of the published literature is based on surgeon-graded assessment...
Intact synapse structure and function after combined knockout of PTPδ, PTPσ, and LAR

It has long been proposed that leukocyte common antigen-related receptor protein tyrosine phosphatases (LAR-RPTPs) are cell-adhesion proteins that control synapse assembly. Their synaptic nanoscale localization, however, is not established, and synapse fine structure after knockout of the three vertebrate LAR-RPTPs (PTPδ, PTPσ, and LAR) has not been tested. Here, superresolution microscopy reveals that PTPδ localizes to the synaptic cleft precisely apposed to postsynaptic scaffolds of excitatory and inhibitory synapses. We next assessed synapse structure in newly generated triple-conditional-knockout mice for PTPδ, PTPσ, and LAR, complementing a recent independent study of synapse function after LAR-RPTP ablation (Sclip and Sudhof, 2020). While mild effects on synaptic vesicle clustering and active zone architecture were detected, synapse numbers and their overall structure were unaffected, membrane anchoring of the active zone persisted, and vesicle docking and release were normal. Hence, despite their localization at synaptic appositions, LAR-RPTPs are dispensable for presynapse structure and function.
Time and Financial Costs for Students Participating in the National Residency Matching Program (the Match©): 2015 to 2020.

Introduction The purpose of this study was to provide information to assist students, faculty, and staff in making critical career-determining decisions regarding the residency NRMP "Match©" process. Methods A 47-item survey questionnaire was developed and piloted on a regional medical school campus in 2015. The revised questionnaire was distributed each year from 2016 to 2020 to fourth-year medical students after rank lists had been submitted. The questionnaire incorporated a request for comments about the interviewing experience and suggestions to improve the process. This narrative feedback was coded using a thematic analysis. Results The overall response rate was 86.1% (897/1,042). Annual response rates ranged from 70.0% in 2020 to 97.0% in 2018. Respondents' average age was 27.3 (± 2.7) years and 50.0% (448/897) were male. Most applied to family medicine (164/897; 18.2%) and internal medicine (140/897; 15.6%). Eight specialties had fewer than ten applicants over the six-year period. The number of students applying to individual specialties fluctuated annually, but no specialty showed a consistent upward or downward trend over the study period. Conclusions This study found huge differences in numbers of applications, expenses, and days interviewing. Students crave more guidance, a more efficient system, transparent communication with programs, and less pressure during the process. Reducing escalating volumes of applications is central to improving the system. Despite efforts to inform applicants better, student behavior is unlikely to change until they feel safe in the belief that lower and more realistic numbers of applications and interviews are likely to result in securing an appropriate residency position.
Heterogeneous Hydrogel Structures with Spatiotemporal Reconfigurability using Addressable and Tunable Voxels

Stimuli-responsive hydrogels can sense environmental cues and change their volume accordingly without the need for additional sensors or actuators. This enables a significant reduction in the size and complexity of resulting devices. However, since the responsive volume change of hydrogels is typically uniform, their robotic applications requiring localized and time-varying deformations have been challenging to realize. Here, using addressable and tunable hydrogel building blocks-referred to as soft voxel actuators (SVAs)-heterogeneous hydrogel structures with programmable spatiotemporal deformations are presented. SVAs are produced using a mixed-solvent photopolymerization method, utilizing a fast reaction speed and the cononsolvency property of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm) to produce highly interconnected hydrogel pore structures, resulting in tunable swelling ratio, swelling rate, and Young's modulus in a simple, one-step casting process that is compatible with mass production of SVA units. By designing the location and swelling properties of each voxel and by activating embedded Joule heaters in the voxels, spatiotemporal deformations are achieved, which enables heterogeneous hydrogel structures to manipulate objects, avoid obstacles, generate traveling waves, and morph to different shapes. Together, these innovations pave the way toward tunable, untethered, and high-degree-of-freedom hydrogel robots that can adapt and respond to changing conditions in unstructured environments.
Novel Approach to Movement Disorder Society-Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale Monitoring in Clinical Trials: Longitudinal Item Response Theory Models.

Background Although nontremor and tremor Part 3 Movement Disorder Society-Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale items measure different impairment domains, their distinct progression and drug responsivity remain unstudied longitudinally. The total score may obscure important time-based and treatment-based changes occurring in the individual domains. Objective Using the unique advantages of item response theory (IRT), we developed novel longitudinal unidimensional and multidimensional models to investigate nontremor and tremor changes occurring in an interventional Parkinson's disease (PD) study. Method With unidimensional longitudinal IRT, we assessed the 33 Part 3 item data (22 nontremor and 10 tremor items) of 336 patients with early PD from the STEADY-PD III (Safety, Tolerability, and Efficacy Assessment of Isradipine for PD, placebo vs. isradipine) study. With multidimensional longitudinal IRT, we assessed the progression rates over time and treatment (in overall motor severity, nontremor, and tremor domains) using Markov Chain Monte Carlo implemented in Stan. Results Regardless of treatment, patients showed significant but different time-based deterioration rates for total motor, nontremor, and tremor scores. Isradipine was associated with additional significant deterioration over placebo in total score and nontremor scores, but not in tremor score. Further highlighting the 2 separate latent domains, nontremor and tremor severity changes were positively but weakly correlated (correlation coefficient, 0.108). Conclusions Longitudinal IRT analysis is a novel statistical method highly applicable to PD clinical trials. It addresses limitations of traditional linear regression approaches and previous IRT investigations that either applied cross-sectional IRT models to longitudinal data or failed to estimate all parameters simultaneously. It is particularly useful because it can separate nontremor and tremor changes both over time and in response to treatment interventions.
Cosmetic dermatologic surgery fellowship websites and social media presence: Opportunities for improved applicant recruitment.

INTRODUCTION The American Society for Dermatologic Surgery (ASDS) established a cosmetic dermatologic surgery fellowship in 2013. Programs often outline details of fellowships on their websites to help prospective applicants make informed decisions. Our primary goal was to evaluate the content quality of online information for all ASDS-accredited cosmetic dermatologic surgery fellowships on program websites and the ASDS website. Our secondary goal was to describe program activity on social media platforms as another avenue for applicant recruitment. METHODS Program websites were assessed using an aggregate score from twenty-one standardized content quality variables. Social media activity on Facebook and Instagram from January 6 2021, to March 6, 2021, was categorized. RESULTS Among 24 cosmetic dermatologic surgery fellowship programs, 23 had websites. Basic information was provided across most websites or the ASDS website (eg, address, 95.8%), but more qualitative variables like research opportunities or didactic schedule were not consistently reported. Most programs had highly active social media accounts (91.7% on Facebook and 79.2% on Instagram). CONCLUSION There is a gap of information availability between the ASDS website and individual cosmetic dermatologic surgery fellowship websites. Increasing information availability may enhance the applicant recruitment process and serve as a low-cost intervention to ensure optimal fit.
Effect of passive heat stress on arterial stiffness in smokers versus non-smokers

In non-smokers, passive heat stress increases shear stress and vasodilation, decreasing arterial stiffness. Smokers, who reportedly have arterial dysfunction, may have similar improvements in arterial stiffness with passive heat stress. Therefore, we examined the effects of an acute bout of whole-body passive heat stress on arterial stiffness in smokers vs. non-smokers. Thirteen smokers (8.8 ± 5.5 [median = 6] cigarettes per day for > 4 years) and 13 non-smokers matched for age, mass, height, and exercise habits (27 ± 8 years; 78.8 ± 15.4 kg; 177.6 ± 6.7 cm) were passively heated to 1.5 °C core temperature (T C) increase. At baseline and each 0.5 °C T C increase, peripheral (pPWV) and central pulse wave velocity (cPWV) were measured via Doppler ultrasound. No differences existed between smokers and non-smokers for any variables (all p > .05), except cPWV slightly increased from baseline (526.7 ± 81.7 cm · s(-1)) to 1.5 °C ΔT C (579.7 ± 69.8 cm · s(-1); p 0.05). Changes in cPWV and pPWV during heating correlated (p < 0.05) with baseline PWV in smokers (cPWV: r = -0.59; pPWV: r = -0.62) and non-smokers (cPWV: r = -0.45; pPWV: r = -0.77). Independent of smoking status, baseline stiffness appears to mediate the magnitude of heating-induced changes in arterial stiffness.
Capture, Unfolding, and Detection of Individual tRNA Molecules Using a Nanopore Device.

Transfer RNAs (tRNA) are the most common RNA molecules in cells and have critical roles as both translators of the genetic code and regulators of protein synthesis. As such, numerous methods have focused on studying tRNA abundance and regulation, with the most widely used methods being RNA-seq and microarrays. Though revolutionary to transcriptomics, these assays are limited by an inability to encode tRNA modifications in the requisite cDNA. These modifications are abundant in tRNA and critical to their function. Here we describe proof-of-concept experiments where individual tRNA molecules are examined as linear strands using a biological nanopore. This method utilizes an enzymatically ligated synthetic DNA adapter to concentrate tRNA at the lipid bilayer of the nanopore device and efficiently denature individual tRNA molecules as they are pulled through the α-hemolysin (α-HL) nanopore. Additionally, the DNA adapter provides a loading site for ϕ29 DNA polymerase (ϕ29 DNAP), which acts as a brake on the translocating tRNA. This increases the dwell time of adapted tRNA in the nanopore, allowing us to identify the region of the nanopore signal that is produced by the translocating tRNA itself. Using adapter-modified E. coli tRNAfMet and tRNALys, we show that the nanopore signal during controlled translocation is dependent on the identity of the tRNA. This confirms that adapter-modified tRNA can translocate end-to-end through nanopores and provides the foundation for future work in direct sequencing of individual transfer RNA with a nanopore-based device.
The Two Envelope Problem: a Paradox or Fallacious Reasoning?

The primary objective of this note is to revisit the two envelope problem and propose a simple resolution. It is argued that the paradox arises from the ambiguity associated with the money content $x of the chosen envelope. When X=x is observed it is not know which one of the two events, X=� or X=2�, has occurred. Moreover, the money in the other
Tetraiodido[methylenebis(diphenylphosphine oxide)-κ2O:O′]tin(IV) chloroform solvate

The title compound, [SnI4(C25H22O2P2)]·CHCl3, crystallized from a chloro­form solution of SnI4 and the diphosphine CH2(PPh2)2 exposed to air. The monomeric complex displays a distorted octa­hedral coordinaton for the tin(IV) atom with average Sn—I and Sn—O bond lengths of 2.79 (2) and 2.15 (1) A, respectively.
Static and Dynamic Behavior of H2O and O2 Penetrants in a Polybenzoxazine

The diffusion of water and oxygen molecules in the polybenzoxazine (PBO) matrix was studied at 295 and 450 K using fully atomistic molecular modeling. The hydrogen bonding of water and the hydroxyl groups in PBO is evident in the pair correlation function. The predicted diffusion coefficients for the two penetrants are remarkably close, although water forms hydrogen bonds with PBO but oxygen does not. The averaged hydrogen bond fraction and hydrogen bond lifetime were studied using the hydrogen-bonding autocorrelation function. The lifetime of the hydrogen bond between water and PBO is much shorter than the average residence time of the penetrant in a cavity, and therefore, the hydrogen bond does not remarkably retard the diffusion of water in the PBO matrix. The association of water is also observed.
A processor array for computing wavelet energies

Efficient remediation of sites contaminated with buried unexploded ordnance (UXO) requires highly accurate discrimination between intact ordnance and fragments or other objects. The energies at each level of the discrete wavelet transformation (DWT) of electromagnetic signal responses from subsurface objects have been shown to be characteristic of some types of ordnance. This paper investigates low-level parallel processing of energy calculations that may form part of a classification system that uses energies as characteristic features. Existing designs for the DWT are discussed as well as specific architectural requirements for the remediation application. The proposed design is described in terms of space-time diagrams, recurrence equations, scheduling and allocation functions.
Relative contributions of bacteria and fungi to rates of degradation of lignocellulosic detritus in salt-marsh sediments.

Specifically radiolabeled [14C-lignin]lignocellulose and [14C-polysaccharide]lignocellulose from the salt-marsh cordgrass Spartina alterniflora were incubated with an intact salt-marsh sediment microbial assemblage, with a mixed (size-fractionated) bacterial assemblage, and with each of three marine fungi, Buergenerula spartinae, Phaeosphaeria typharum, and Leptosphaeria obiones, isolated from decaying S. alterniflora. The bacterial assemblage alone mineralized the lignin and polysaccharide components of S. alterniflora lignocellulose at approximately the same rate as did intact salt-marsh sediment inocula. The polysaccharide component was mineralized twice as fast as the lignin component; after 23 days of incubation, ca. 10% of the lignin component and 20% of the polysaccharide component of S. alterniflora lignocellulose were mineralized. Relative to the total sediment and bacterial inocula, the three species of fungi mediated only very slow mineralization of the lignin and polysaccharide components of S. alterniflora lignocellulose. Experiments with uniformly 14C-labeled S. alterniflora material indicated that the three fungi and the bacterial assemblage were capable of degrading the non-lignocellulosic fraction of S. alterniflora material, but only the bacterial assemblage significantly degraded the lignocellulosic fraction. Our results suggest that bacteria are the predominant degraders of lignocellulosic detritus in salt-marsh sediments.