cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of In-Service Performance of Tom's Creek Bridge Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Superstructure

The Tom's Creek Bridge is a small-scale demonstration project involving the use of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composite girders as the main load carrying members. It is a simply supported, short-span bridge located along Tom's Creek Road in Blacksburg, Virginia. As a result of discussions among Virginia Tech, Strongwell, the Virginia Department of Transportation, and the Town of Blacksburg, the existing deteriorated superstructure of the Tom's Creek Bridge was replaced with a glue-laminated timber deck on 8 in. (20.3 cm) deep pultruded FRP beams. The project was intended to address two issues. First, by calculating bridge design parameters such as the dynamic load allowance, transverse wheel load distribution and deflections under service loading, the Tom's Creek Bridge will aid in modifying current AASHTO bridge design standards for use with FRP composite materials. Second, by evaluating the FRP girders after being exposed to controlled laboratory and service conditions, the project will begin to answer questions about the long-term performance of these advanced composite material beams when used in bridge design. A dynamic load allowance, IM, of 0.90 is recommended for the Tom's Creek Bridge. This value is the largest average IM observed and is therefore conservative. This value is significantly higher than those set forth in the AASHTO standards of 0.33 (AASHTO, 1998) and 0.30 (AASHTO, 1996). It is recommended to use a value of L/425 (LRFD Specification) or L/500 (Standard Specification). This value is consistent with AASHTO deflection control criteria for an all timber bridge. It is recommended to use the AASHTO wheel load distribution factors for a glulam timber deck on steel stringer bridge. There is no indication of loss of FRP girder ultimate strength after 15 months of service. Given the low service loads (no more than 10% of the ultimate capacity) and traffic volume the fatigue life prediction model suggests that fatigue will not be a major concern during the life of service (10 to 15 years).
Ferrite-Metal Thermal Conductances by a Transient Technique

An experimental transient technique is presented for the evaluation of ferrite-to-metal thermal conductances (h). The technique is easy to instrument, adaptable for a rapid graphical solution for h, and provides five percent accuracy. The technique can be used for the determination of the thermal diffusivity constant of an unknown material. The results are independent of the interface conditions.
Stress and microstructure evolution during initial growth of Pt on amorphous substrates

An understanding of the relationship between stress and the corresponding microstructure at various stages of thin film growth might allow prediction and control of both microstructure and film stress during thin film deposition. In the present study, a combination of in situ curvature measurement and ex situ microstructural characterization was used to make correlations between stress and microstructure for the growth of Pt on SiO2. Plan view transmission electron micrographs of Pt films with average thicknesses ranging from 3 to 35 A show the evolution of microstructure from isolated islands to a coalesced film, in agreement with models for stress behavior during the early stages of film growth. Quantitative measurements of grain size, island size, and areal fraction covered are extracted from these micrographs and, in conjunction with an island coalescence model, used to calculate the magnitude of the tensile stresses generated during coalescence. The predicted curvature is shown to compare favorably with the measured stresses.
Ni2+ Block of CaV3.1 (α1G) T-type Calcium Channels

Ni2+ inhibits current through calcium channels, in part by blocking the pore, but Ni2+ may also allosterically affect channel activity via sites outside the permeation pathway. As a test for pore blockade, we examined whether the effect of Ni2+ on CaV3.1 is affected by permeant ions. We find two components to block by Ni2+, a rapid block with little voltage dependence, and a slow block most visible as accelerated tail currents. Rapid block is weaker for outward vs. inward currents (apparent Kd = 3 vs. 1 mM Ni2+, with 2 mM Ca2+ or Ba2+) and is reduced at high permeant ion concentration (110 vs. 2 mM Ca2+ or Ba2+). Slow block depends both on the concentration and on the identity of the permeant ion (Ca2+ vs. Ba2+ vs. Na+). Slow block is 2–3× faster in Ba2+ than in Ca2+ (2 or 110 mM), and is ∼10× faster with 2 vs. 110 mM Ca2+ or Ba2+. Slow block is orders of magnitude slower than the diffusion limit, except in the nominal absence of divalent cations (∼3 μM Ca2+). We conclude that both fast and slow block of CaV3.1 by Ni2+ are most consistent with occlusion of the pore. The exit rate of Ni2+ for slow block is reduced at high Ni2+ concentrations, suggesting that the site responsible for fast block can “lock in” slow block by Ni2+, at a site located deeper within the pore. In contrast to the complex pore block observed for CaV3.1, inhibition of CaV3.2 by Ni2+ was essentially independent of voltage, and was similar in 2 mM Ca2+ vs. Ba2+, consistent with inhibition by a different mechanism, at a site outside the pore.
Development of an Object Oriented Vehicle Library for Automated Design Analysis

In today’s emerging parametric and probabilistic design environments, disciplinary or multidisciplinary analysis data are represented efficiently with the use of metamodels. Each metamodel is an efficient replacement for a particular design analysis tool. An object oriented library is developed in this paper to represent vehicle configuration in a generic manner and assist the analysis data collection for the metamodeling process. The library is used to produce input files for design analysis tools. It can also be used to create preprocessors for integration environments used in the design process. This allows for smoother integrations of analysis programs within such environments as the environment now needs only replace data in one central input file rather than a file for each analysis tool.
Knowledge-free induction of morphology using latent semantic analysis

Morphology induction is a subproblem of important tasks like automatic learning of machine-readable dictionaries and grammar induction. Previous morphology induction approaches have relied solely on statistics of hypothesized stems and affixes to choose which affixes to consider legitimate. Relying on stem-and-affix statistics rather than semantic knowledge leads to a number of problems, such as the inappropriate use of valid affixes ("ally" stemming to "all"). We introduce a semantic-based algorithm for learning morphology which only proposes affixes when the stem and stem-plus-affix are sufficiently similar semantically. We implement our approach using Latent Semantic Analysis and show that our semantics-only approach provides morphology induction results that rival a current state-of-the-art system.
Management of Elevated Intracranial Pressure

Elevated intracranial pressure (ICP) is a primary cause of morbidity and mortality for many neurologic disorders. The relationship between ICP and brain volume is influenced by autoregulatory proce...
Regulation of ocular mucin secretion by P2Y2 nucleotide receptors in rabbit and human conjunctiva.

The effects of adenine analogues on secretion of high molecular weight, mucin-like glycoproteins (mucins) by conjunctival goblet cells were investigated using isolated rabbit and human conjunctiva. Mucin secretion was assayed using a quantitative dot-blot assay of Helix pomatia agglutinin-horseradish peroxidase binding to mucins absorbed to nitrocellulose filters. In rabbit conjunctiva, exogenous ATP (10(-7)-10(-3) m) induced a concentration-dependent, four-fold increase in mucin secretion that reached a plateau 15 min after drug addition. The rank order of potency of agonists was UTP>=ATPgammaS>ATP>ITP>ADP>>AMP. Adenosine, alpha,beta-methylene- ATP and beta,gamma-methylene-ATP were ineffective in stimulating mucin release. The response to ATP was unmodified by the putative P2 purinergic antagonists suramin or reactive blue (5x10(-5) m). In human conjunctiva, ATP and UTP were nearly equipotent in stimulating mucin secretion with an EC50 congruent with5x10(-6) m. These findings demonstrate that rabbit and human conjunctival cells contain functional P2Y2 (formerly designated as P2U) nucleotide receptors that govern mucin secretion. These receptors may provide useful pharmacological targets for therapeutic modulation of tear film mucins in dry-eye disorders and/or corneal wound healing.
Molecular Variation at the SLC6A3 Locus Predicts Lifetime Risk of PTSD in the Detroit Neighborhood Health Study

Recent work suggests that the 9-repeat (9R) allele located in the 3′UTR VNTR of the SLC6A3 gene increases risk of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, no study reporting this association to date has been based on population-based samples. Furthermore, no study of which we are aware has assessed the joint action of genetic and DNA methylation variation at SLC6A3 on risk of PTSD. In this study, we assessed whether molecular variation at SLC6A3 locus influences risk of PTSD. Participants (n = 320; 62 cases/258 controls) were drawn from an urban, community-based sample of predominantly African American Detroit adult residents, and included those who had completed a baseline telephone survey, had provided blood specimens, and had a homozygous genotype for either the 9R or 10R allele or a heterozygous 9R/10R genotype. The influence of DNA methylation variation in the SLC6A3 promoter locus was also assessed in a subset of participants with available methylation data (n = 83; 16 cases/67 controls). In the full analytic sample, 9R allele carriers had almost double the risk of lifetime PTSD compared to 10R/10R genotype carriers (OR = 1.98, 95% CI = 1.02–3.86), controlling for age, sex, race, socioeconomic status, number of traumas, smoking, and lifetime depression. In the subsample of participants with available methylation data, a significant (p = 0.008) interaction was observed whereby 9R allele carriers showed an increased risk of lifetime PTSD only in conjunction with high methylation in the SLC6A3 promoter locus, controlling for the same covariates. Our results confirm previous reports supporting a role for the 9R allele in increasing susceptibility to PTSD. They further extend these findings by providing preliminary evidence that a “double hit” model, including both a putatively reduced-function allele and high methylation in the promoter region, may more accurately capture molecular risk of PTSD at the SLC6A3 locus.
Longitudinal trajectories of posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms and binge drinking among adolescent girls: the role of sexual victimization.

Abstract Purpose Many studies have documented associations among sexual victimization (SV), posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, and alcohol use; however, few have examined these associations longitudinally among adolescents. The present study evaluated the effect of SV on the longitudinal trajectory of PTSD symptoms and binge drinking (BD) among adolescent girls, a population known to have high rates of SV and alcohol use. Methods Participants (N = 1,808 at wave 1) completed interviews regarding PTSD symptoms, BD, and SV experiences over approximately 3 years. Results Multilevel modeling revealed decreases in PTSD symptoms over the course of the study; however, compared with nonvictims, adolescents who were sexually victimized reported greater PTSD symptoms at wave 1 and maintained higher levels of PTSD symptoms over the course of the study after controlling for age. SV reported during the study also predicted an acute increase in PTSD symptoms at that occasion. BD increased significantly over the course of the study; however, SV did not predict initial BD or increases over time. SV reported during the study was associated with acute increases in BD at that occasion, although this effect diminished when participants reporting substance-involved rape were excluded. Conclusions SV was associated with immediate and long-lasting elevations in PTSD symptoms, but not with initial or lasting elevations in BD over time, suggesting that adolescent victims have yet to develop problematic patterns of alcohol use to cope with SV. However, SV was associated with acute increases in PTSD symptoms and BD, suggesting a need for BD interventions to reduce alcohol-related SV.
Revisiting Marketing’s Lawlike Generalizations:

Since being recognized as a separate field of inquiry over 75 years ago, marketing has made enormous strides in terms of becoming a scholarly discipline. Marketing scholars have used scientific approaches to discover and document a number of regularities pertaining to consumer behavior and marketing exchages. Many regularities that have been empirically validated have achieved the status of “lawlike generalizations.” In this article, the authors first classify these generalizations into four categories: location centric, time centric, market centric, and competition centric. They then argue that each category is now being affected by at least one major contextual discontinuity that is likely to challenge the relevance, if not validity, of these well-accepted lawlike generalizations. The authors also identify important questions stemming from these discontinuities and issue a call for further research to discover new insights and paradigms.
BASES PARA EL ESTUDIO DE LAS CUENTAS DE COLLAR PÉTREAS DE COLOR VERDE DEL SUROESTE DE LA PENÍNSULA IBÉRICA DEL VI MILENIO A.C AL SIGLO IV D. C.

Esta articulo es una sintesis de las bases metodologicas empleadas en la tesis doctoral que actualmente realizamos. El uso del collar es un elemento distintivo, pues este adorno tiene para la mayor parte de las culturas una funcion social, ya que el hecho de llevarlo motiva una diferenciacion, y es senal de rango, de poder. Nuestro estudio pretende conocer el proceso productivo de elaboracion de estos objetos, entendiendolos como “producto” (Ruiz et al , 1986).
Adaptive Simulation with Repast Simphony and Swift

We present a general approach for adaptive ABMS, which integrates Repast Simphony's distributed batch components and the Swift parallel scripting language. Swift is used to launch Repast Simphony simulations on parallel resources, collect the results from those simulations, and generate further simulations based on an analysis of the results. In order to demonstrate the benefits and capabilities of this approach, we developed a simulated annealing reference workflow and applied it to a modified Repast Simphony "JZombies" demonstration model. The workflow was able to successfully and efficiently find areas of the model parameter space that yielded the desired outcomes, as specified by an objective function. The workflow was run on a high-performance cluster, launching 16 concurrent simulated annealing optimization processes, each executing 100 simulated annealing loops over 16 stochastic model variations --- a total of 25,856 adaptive simulation runs, accounting for a 96.3% reduction in the number of simulations that were required compared to a complete enumeration of parameter space. The materials used in the workflow are included as linked external resources to allow replication.
Singing about soldiers in German schools, from 1890 to 1945

AbstractA crucial historical intersection of war and education asks how schooling contributed to convincing people to fight and to sacrifice their own lives, and those of their loved ones, in wars. This article addresses this question by asking how primary schools, in one country, namely Germany, over several tumultuous generations, used songs to teach children about soldiers’ lives and deaths. Songs, because they are short, often repeated, and laden with emotion, merit attention in studies of education for war. Examination of school songbooks and curricula shows that songs commonly taught in German primary schools from the late German Empire, through the First World War and the Weimar Republic, and into the Third Reich and Second World War consistently exalted sacrificial death for fatherland. The routine presence of these songs contributed to presenting death for the fatherland as a holy cause, and making sacrificial death in battle imaginable. Wartime sources suggest that songs learned at school also w...
Biology of Psylla uncatoides

Psylla uncatoides (Ferris and Klyver) attacks plants of the genera Acacia and Albizzia in California. In addition to causing foliage Chlorosis and tip dieback on new growth, it is important as a nuisance species. Reproduction takes place throughout the year in coastal central California; highest levels of eggs and nymphs occurred in late winter and early spring. Females deposited an average of 463 ± 289 eggs during a mean oviposition period of 19 ± 8 days. Nymphs are naked and required an average of 13 ± 2 clays to complete that stage. Five nymphal in stars were found. Adults of both sexes are smaller in late summer and early fall than at any other time.
Evidence that tacrolimus augments the bioavailability of mycophenolate mofetil through the inhibition of mycophenolic acid glucuronidation.

We previously reported an unexpected augmentation of mycophenolic acid (MPA) levels (trough and AUC0-12) in patients receiving mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) in combination with tacrolimus versus patients receiving the same dose of MMF in combination with cyclosporin A (CsA). This finding was accompanied by a corresponding reduction of the inactive glucuronide metabolite of MPA (MPAG) in patients, suggesting that tacrolimus may effect the conversion of MPA to MPAG by the enzyme UDP-glucuronosyltransferase (UDPGT). To investigate this possibility directly, UDPGT was extracted from human liver and kidney tissue and its activity was characterized using MPA as a substrate in vitro, assessing the conversion of MPA to MPAG using analysis by high-performance liquid chromatography. With crude microsomal preparations, amounts of UDPGT at least 100 times higher in specific activity (i.e., units to milligrams of protein) could be extracted per gram of tissue from kidney as opposed to liver. This result did not appear to be related to the coextraction of a liver-specific UDPGT inhibitor because initial enzyme kinetic values (Vmax and km) were identical for kidney and liver extracts, and further purification of the liver enzyme did not enhance activity (as is seen when inhibitors are removed during purification). With further UDPGT purification (approximately 200-fold) from kidney extracts using a combination of ammonium sulfate precipitation, followed by anion exchange, hydroxyapatite, and size exclusion chromatography, the enzyme was more than 80% pure when assessed by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Initial enzyme kinetic analysis of this purified product showed a km value for MPA of 35.4+/-5.7 microg/mL and a Vmax of 2.87+/-0.31 MPAG produced per hour (n = 7). The addition of clinically relevant concentrations of CsA (200-1,000 ng/mL) or tacrolimus (10-25 ng/mL) resulted in a dose-dependent inhibition of the UDPGT enzyme by both agents with tacrolimus, which was approximately 60-fold more efficient as an inhibitor. The calculated inhibition constants (KI) of tacrolimus and CsA for the purified UDPGT were 27.3+/-5.6 ng/ml and 2,518+/-1473 ng/ml. respectively. Both agents displayed an inhibition profile characteristic of a competitive inhibitor (substrate) that could be demonstrated in a reciprocal experiment with CsA as a substrate, but not with tacrolimus. This finding suggested that the significantly more efficient inhibition of UDPGT by tacrolimus may occur by a more complicated mechanism that is yet to be determined.
Can Avoiding Sternotomy Reduce Early Complications of Left Ventricular Assist Device Surgery? Observations from Routine Implantation of Heartmate II Left Ventricular Assist Device without Median Sternotomy

usage (3.5±1.0 vs. 1.7±2.1; p≤ 0.03) which is also below the STS reported national average use. Conclusion: The results suggest significant reduction in resource utilization (i.e. less length of hospital stay, blood product use) following robotic versus traditional sternotomy for LVAD implantation. If validated by our ongoing experience with this procedure, robotic assistance may improve the safety and cost effectiveness of LVAD surgery and minimize blood product use in bridge-to-transplant patients.
The socioeconomic impact of vasculitis.

Information detailing the socioeconomic impact of the vasculitides on society has been difficult to obtain. Recent published studies provide preliminary information suggesting that the impact of systemic vasculitis may be significant and far greater than previously anticipated. A rough estimate of e
Tag-Split Cache for Efficient GPGPU Cache Utilization

Modern GPUs employ cache to improve memory system efficiency. However, large amount of cache space is underutilized due to irregular memory accesses and poor spatial locality which exhibited commonly in GPU applications. Our experiments show that using smaller cache lines could improve cache space utilization, but it also frequently suffers from significant performance loss by introducing large amount of extra cache requests. In this work, we propose a novel cache design named tag-split cache (TSC) that enables fine-grained cache storage to address the problem of cache space underutilization while keeping memory request number unchanged. TSC divides tag into two parts to reduce storage overhead, and it supports multiple cache line replacement in one cycle. TSC can also automatically adjust cache storage granularity to avoid performance loss for applications with good spatial locality. Our evaluation shows that TSC improves the baseline cache performance by 17.2% on average across a wide range of applications. It also out-performs other previous techniques significantly.
The Post-Colonial Village

A comparative study of the traditional village with post-colonial villages can show the effects of the development of capitalist markets in Central and South Vietnam. This chapter, therefore, describes typical southern and central villages in the 1950s and contrasts these with the traditional village. This technique reveals the fundamental economic changes in production and distribution in the villages during the colonial era. The effects of the extension of the market on methods of production and the production infrastructure are shown. It becomes apparent that the market affected the lives of the people of the village, the organisation of their labour, the returns they received, and also the distribution of wealth among the village population.
Weaving the Inward Thread to Awakening: The Perennial Appeal of Ramana Maharshi.

This article considers the “perennial” appeal of Ramana Maharshi, the twentieth-century Hindu saint from South India (1879–1950). While not as well-known in the West as either Ramakrishna or Ramana's contemporary, Sri Aurobindo, Ramana's life and teaching have evoked a surprisingly strong positive reaction from Indians and Westerners alike. The reason for this, first of all, is to be located in the perennial philosophy which his life and teaching implicate, and the use made of that philosophy by neo-Hindu apologists or Western scholars and spiritual figures interested in “mysticism” across cultures or interfaith dialogue. Second, the appeal of Ramana can also be located in the compelling attraction of holiness, a phenomenon which raises the fundamental question of what it means to be human. In the case of Ramana, the compelling example of human “being” provokes inquiry into the depth dimension of human existence, where, in the non-dualistic tradition which he represents, one discovers divinity.
The Discrete Series for a Semi-Simple Lie Group — Existence and Exhaustion

Let G be an acceptable connected semi-simple Lie group with finite center, Ĝ its unitary dual. Let G d be the discrete series for G. Given U ∊ G d , let To denote its character, d U its formal dimension — then, as is known, the distribution $${T_{d}} = \sum\limits_{{\hat{U} \in {{\hat{G}}_{d}}}} {{d_{{\hat{U}}}}{T_{{\hat{U}}}}}$$ represents the contribution of the discrete series to the Plancherel formula for G. This being so, the primary objectives of the present chaper are as follows: (1) Determine when the set Ĝ d is non-empty; (2) Describe explicitly the entities d U , T U (U ∊ Ĝ d ) and T d .
Development of an in vivo bone fatigue damage model using axial compression of the rabbit forelimb

Many nontraumatic fractures seen clinically in patients with metabolic bone disorders or on antiresorptive treatment show an increased incidence of microdamage accumulation and impaired intracortical remodeling. However, the lack of basal remodeling and Haversian bone in rodents limits their translatability in studying bone damage repair mechanisms. The work presented here demonstrates the development of the forelimb loading model in rabbits, the smallest mammal with intracortical Haversian remodeling. The forelimbs of post-mortem female New Zealand white rabbits were loaded in axial end compression to determine their basic monotonic and fatigue properties. Following time zero characterization, stress fractures were created in vivo and animals were allowed to recover for a period of two to five weeks. The rabbit forelimb when loaded in axial compression demonstrates a consistent mid-diaphyseal fracture location characterized by a local mixed compression-bending loading environment. Forelimb apparent stiffness, when fatigue loaded, demonstrates a progressive increase until macrocrack formation, at which time apparent stiffness rapidly declines until failure. Stress fractures in the rabbit ulna display robust periosteal expansion and woven bone formation two weeks following fracture. Subsequent healing at five weeks post-fracture is marked by woven bone densification, resorption and intracortical remodeling along the stress fracture line. The rabbit forelimb fatigue model is a promising new platform by which bone׳s response to damage may be studied.
Fast fMRI can detect oscillatory neural activity in humans

Oscillatory neural dynamics play an important role in the coordination of large-scale brain networks. High-level cognitive processes depend on dynamics evolving over hundreds of milliseconds, so measuring neural activity in this frequency range is important for cognitive neuroscience. However, current noninvasive neuroimaging methods are not able to precisely localize oscillatory neural activity above 0.2 Hz. Electroencephalography and magnetoencephalography have limited spatial resolution, whereas fMRI has limited temporal resolution because it measures vascular responses rather than directly recording neural activity. We hypothesized that the recent development of fast fMRI techniques, combined with the extra sensitivity afforded by ultra-high-field systems, could enable precise localization of neural oscillations. We tested whether fMRI can detect neural oscillations using human visual cortex as a model system. We detected small oscillatory fMRI signals in response to stimuli oscillating at up to 0.75 Hz within single scan sessions, and these responses were an order of magnitude larger than predicted by canonical linear models. Simultaneous EEG–fMRI and simulations based on a biophysical model of the hemodynamic response to neuronal activity suggested that the blood oxygen level-dependent response becomes faster for rapidly varying stimuli, enabling the detection of higher frequencies than expected. Accounting for phase delays across voxels further improved detection, demonstrating that identifying vascular delays will be of increasing importance with higher-frequency activity. These results challenge the assumption that the hemodynamic response is slow, and demonstrate that fMRI has the potential to map neural oscillations directly throughout the brain.
Tale of two anniversaries

Measured in terms of Nobel prizes, the Brookhaven National Laboratory can claim to be one of the most successful scientific labs ever built. A total of 10 researchers who used the lab's facilities went on to become Nobel laureates, sharing six Nobel prizes among them. Five of the prizes were for physics: the theory of parity violation and the discoveries of the muon neutrino, the J/ψ particle, charge-parity (CP) violation and the fact that the number of neutrinos emitted by the Sun is less than that predicted by theory. The other Nobel was for cell chemistry.
Does congestion negatively affect income growth and employment growth? Empirical evidence from US metropolitan regions

Abstract Traffic congestion has long been among the biggest economic problems in US metropolitan areas. Scholars have argued the importance of research focusing on transportation planning that aims to mitigate traffic congestion and reduce economic costs. However, most existing work has overlooked the interrelationship between congestion and economic components. With this perspective, this study seeks to explore the interrelationship between congestion, income, and employment. To this end, we focus on 86 US metropolitan areas by utilizing a simultaneous equation model. The results show that there is an interrelationship between income growth, employment growth, and congestion growth, but their effects are somewhat different between periods of the economic boom in the 1990s and the economic recession in the 2000s. In addition, our findings clearly show that traffic congestion growth negatively affects income growth and employment growth. It is suggested that transportation policy that aims to reduce traffic congestion could provide economic benefits in terms of increasing employment growth as well as income growth.
Radiographic and surgical considerations in arthritis surgery of the hand

Indications for hand surgeries include unremitting joint pain, deformity and stiffness, often secondary to arthritis. Several surgical options are available, including arthrodesis (fusion) and joint arthroplasty. Classically arthrodesis is performed in situations with poor bone stock and supporting soft tissues. Arthroplasty is reserved for patients and joints in which preservation of function is important and bone stock and soft tissue support are adequate. In this article we will review various techniques for arthrodesis and arthroplasty, their post-surgical imaging appearance, including key findings important to surgeons, and the findings that indicate post-surgical complications. Radiographs are the mainstay for postoperative evaluation and will be the focus of the imaging portions of this review. Advanced imaging modalities will be reviewed when applicable.
Factors Affecting the Views of Bishops and Priests About Catholic Schools

The attitudes of bishops and priests toward Catholic schools are critical for the school’s success. This article discusses a recent nationwide survey of Catholic clergy that measured the support of bishops and priests for Catholic schools, with a special emphasis on determining factors that affect such support. Overall, a high level of support for Catholic schools is reported by the majority of the clergy surveyed. Factors influencing that support include type and location of ministry, number of years ordained, and one’s own Catholic school background.
Copper-Catalyzed Enantio-, Diastereo-, and Regioselective [2,3]-Rearrangements of Iodonium Ylides.

The first highly enantioselective, diastereoselective, and regioselective [2,3]-rearrangement of iodonium ylides has been developed as a general solution to catalytic onium ylide rearrangements. In the presence of a chiral copper catalyst, substituted allylic iodides couple with α-diazoesters to generate metal-coordinated iodonium ylides, which undergo [2,3]-rearrangements with high selectivities (up to >95:5 r.r., up to >95:5 d.r., and up to 97 % ee). The enantioenriched iodoester products can be converted stereospecifically into a variety of onium ylide rearrangement products, as well as compounds that are not accessible by classical onium ylide rearrangements.
Extricating Justification Scheme Theory in Middle School Mathematical Problem Solving.

AbstractTwenty middle grades students were interviewed to gain insights into their reasoning about problem-solving strategies using a Problem Solving Justification Scheme as our theoretical lens and the basis for our analysis. The scheme was modified from the work of Harel and Sowder (1998) making it more broadly applicable and accounting for research developments in the cognitive sciences. During cognitive interviews, students reasoned about their solutions to four contextualized problems. We use student interview excerpts to define the four major categories of Mechanistic, Authoritarian, Language, and Visual of the justification scheme and to elaborate on the various sublevels. Analysis of cognitive interview transcripts revealed combinations of justifications leading to both successful and unsuccessful problem-solving strategies. The major difference between these strategies was the ability to correctly select a representational aspect of the problem that triggered a correct solution strategy.
Variation in outpatient emergency department utilization in Texas Medicaid: a state-level framework for finding “superutilizers”

Very frequent outpatient emergency department (ED) use—so called “superutilization”—at the state level is not well-studied. To address this gap, we examined frequent ED utilization in the largest state Medicaid population to date. Using Texas Medicaid (the third largest in the USA) claims data, we examined the variability in expenditures, sociodemographics, comorbidities, and persistence across seven levels of ED utilization/year (i.e., 1, 2, 3–4, 5–6, 7–9, 10–14, and ≥ 15 visits). We classified visits into emergent and non-emergent categories using the most recent New York University algorithm. Thirty-one percent (n = 346,651) of Texas Medicaid adult enrollees visited the ED at least once in 2014. Enrollees with ≥ 3 ED visits accounted for 8.5% of all adult patients, 60.4% of the total ED visits, and 62.1% of the total ED expenditures. Extremely frequent ED users (≥ 10 ED visits) represented < 1% of all users but accounted for 15.5% of all ED visits and 17.4% of the total ED costs. The proportions of ED visits classified as non-emergent or emergent, but primary care treatable varied little as ED visits increased. Overall, approximately 13% of ED visits were considered not preventable or avoidable. The Texas Medicaid population has a substantial burden of chronic disease with only modest increases in substance use and mental health diagnoses as annual visits increase. Understanding the characteristics that lead to frequent ED use is vital to developing strategies and Medicaid policy to reduce high utilization.
Human leukocyte antigen matching in organ transplantation: what we know and how can we make it better (Revisiting the past, improving the future).

Purpose of review A renaissance for human leukocyte antigen (HLA) testing emerged with the understanding that donor-specific HLA antibodies play a significant role in long-term allograft survival. This renewed focus on donor/recipient histocompatibility led to a recent quest to decipher antibody responses or, as introduced into the transplantation lexicon, 'HLA-epitope matching'. Recent findings Whether matching is at the antigen or the epitope level, in-depth understanding of how histo-incompatibility leads to activation of an immune response is required. HLA-DQ donor-specific antibody (DSA) has the highest association with poor graft survival. However, HLA-DQ antigens and antibodies are understudied and significant gaps still exist in understanding the function of HLA-DQ in immune activation. Much of our knowledge about HLA class-II molecules is derived from studies performed on HLA-DR, whether it is crystallography, antigen processing and presentation analysis, or activation of T-cell signal-transduction pathways. Indeed, HLA-DQ molecules are less amenable for laboratory testing, but the limited studies that were performed indicate that HLA-DQ might have, at least to some extent, a different role compared with HLA-DR. Summary This review highlights qualities of HLA-DQ that may be associated with different pathways of activating an immune response. Understanding the consequences of such differences may lead to better appreciation and significance of HLA-DQ for matching purposes.
AI education matters: teaching hidden Markov models

In this column, we share resources for learning about and teaching Hidden Markov Models (HMMs). HMMs find many important applications in temporal pattern recognition tasks such as speech/handwriting/gesture recognition and robot localization. In such domains, we may have a finite state machine model with known state transition probabilities, state output probabilities, and state outputs, but lack knowledge of the states generating such outputs. HMMs are useful in framing problems where external sequential evidence is used to derive underlying state information (e.g. intended words and gestures).
Abstract A03: Perturbation of proteostasis is lethal in SMARCB1-deficient tumors

Alterations in chromatin remodeling genes have been increasingly implicated in human oncogenesis. The SWI/SNF complex, specifically, is involved in a plethora of biologic functions including cell cycle regulation, terminal differentiation, and regulation of cell metabolism. The crucial chromatin-remodeling function of the SWI/SNF complex during organogenesis and tissue specification is further supported by clinical data showing that the biallelic inactivation of the core subunits SMARCB1 and SMARCA4 results in the emergence of extremely aggressive pediatric malignancies characterized by a dramatic impairment of cell cycle regulation and cellular differentiation programs, resulting in highly lethal diseases characterized by early onset, widespread metastatic dissemination, and resistance to chemotherapy. So far the lack of conditional genetic models of malignant rhabdoid tumors (MRTs) made difficult to investigate the molecular bases of malignant transformation as well as the existence of dependencies associated with SMARCB1 loss. In order to identify the functional vulnerabilities of SMARCB1-deficient cancers, we developed an embryonic mosaic model of malignant rhabdoid tumors (MRTs) that faithfully recapitulates the clinicopathologic features of human disease. By using this novel experimental system we discovered that, upon SMARCB1 ablation, embryonic epithelial progenitors undergo a profound anabolic reprogramming resulting in a global increase in protein biosynthesis and in the adaptive activation of UPR and ER stress response. As a consequence, murine and human SMARCB1-deficient malignancies display an exquisite sensitivity to agents inducing proteotoxic stress and to the pharmacologic and genetic perturbation of autophagy. Our findings, therefore, have immediate clinical implications, paving the way for drug repositioning trials investigating combinations of agents with already known safety profiles targeting simultaneously UPR and the authopagic catabolic machinery in a class of orphan diseases affecting children with limited therapeutic options. Note: This abstract was not presented at the conference. Citation Format: Giannicola Genovese, Alessandro Carugo, Rosalba Minelli, Frederick, Scott Robinson, Pavlos Msaouel, Tim Heffernan, Andrea Viale, Nizar Tannir, Giulio Draetta. Perturbation of proteostasis is lethal in SMARCB1-deficient tumors [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference: Advances in Modeling Cancer in Mice: Technology, Biology, and Beyond; 2017 Sep 24-27; Orlando, Florida. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(10 Suppl):Abstract nr A03.
The Hydraulic Architecture of Plants

As a painter and naturalist, Leonardo da Vinci was a keen observer of nature. He made the following entry in his notebook about the construction of trees:
Saving Face - Ethical Considerations for American Judges Using Social Media

This short article, which will appear as the Correspondent's Report from the United States in the journal Legal Ethics, reviews the ethics opinions issued by several states and the ABA addressing judges' use of social media. The Article first describes the helpful advice contained in these opinions concerning the unique characteristics and dangers of social media and then criticizes these opinions for failing to provide clear guidance on the most critical issues: whether judges may connect on social media with lawyers and others who may appear before them and whether such relationships must be disclosed to litigant.
Restart of the Transient Reactor Test (TREAT) Facility Neutron Radiography Program

The Transient Reactor Test (TREAT) radiography system is used to perform neutron radiography of fuels, experiments, and other specimens before and after irradiation within the TREAT reactor. The TR...
A Zero-Sum Politics of Identification: A Topological Analysis of Wildlife Advocacy Rhetoric in the Mexican Gray Wolf Reintroduction Project.

As climate change contracts our environment, bringing human and nonhuman communities into increased contact and conflict over scarce resources, advocacy rhetoric is making a related shift, from rai...
Public Firm Presence, Financial Reporting, and the Decline of U.S. Manufacturing

We examine the relation between public firm presence and import competition. The information created by public firm presence may provide importers with insights they can use for competing with domestic firms. Consistent with this possibility, we document a positive relation between public firm presence and import competition. We find similar results when using differences in the expected costs of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act as a source of plausibly exogenous variation in public firm presence after the act. We use differences in the proportion of German firms reporting publicly around a major enforcement reform as a natural mechanism experiment, and find evidence that financial reporting is a channel through which public firm presence relates to import competition. Additional mechanism tests and a falsification test estimated in the United Kingdom, where public and most private firms report publicly, further support this inference. In total, our evidence is consistent with foreign competitors using the information created by public firm presence, including what public firms disclose in financial reports, to compete with domestic firms. Consequently, our results provide evidence of competitors using the proprietary information disclosed in financial reports to compete with the disclosing firms and of information frictions affecting trade.
The Prospective Association of Social Integration With Life Span and Exceptional Longevity in Women

Objectives Although stronger social relationships have been associated with reduced mortality risk in prior research, their associations with favorable health outcomes are understudied. We evaluated whether higher social integration levels were associated with longer life span and greater likelihood of achieving exceptional longevity. Method Women from the Nurses' Health Study completed the Berkman-Syme Social Network Index in 1992 (N = 72,322; average age = 58.80 years), and were followed through 2014 with biennial questionnaires. Deaths were ascertained from participants' families, postal authorities, and death registries. Accelerated failure time models adjusting for relevant covariates estimated percent changes in life span associated with social integration levels; logistic regressions evaluated likelihood of surviving to age 85 years or older among women who could reach that age during follow-up (N = 16,818). Results After controlling for baseline demographics and chronic diseases, socially integrated versus isolated women had 10% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 8.80-11.42) longer life span and 41% (95% CI = 1.28-1.54) higher odds of surviving to age 85 years. All findings remained statistically significant after further adjusting for health behaviors and depression. Discussion Better social integration is related to longer life span and greater likelihood of achieving exceptional longevity among midlife women. Findings suggest social integration may be an important psychosocial asset to evaluate for promoting longer, healthier lives.
Impaired Bone Health and Wound Dehiscence in Carriers of Hemophilia a and B

Introduction: FVIII and FIX have a well-established pivotal role in the promotion and maintenance of hemostasis. There is emerging evidence, however, for a role of FVIII and FIX in regulating processes beyond thrombin generation, such as bone health and macrophage function affecting wound healing. Previous studies on bone mineral density (BMD) and fractures have primarily investigated persons with hemophilia A (PwHA) and hemophilia B (PwHB), but not hemophilia carriers. It has been estimated that 35% of hemophilia carriers have FVIII and FIX levels below 40IU/dL. However, it is not known if hemophilia carriers have a similar potential to develop decreased BMD and poor wound healing as PwHA or PwHB. This study aims to assess the prevalence of bone health issues and wound healing among women who are hemophilia carriers comparing them to control women in the general population. Methods: A commercial database (Explorys Inc, Cleveland, OH, USA), an aggregate of electronic health record data from 26 major integrated US healthcare systems, was queried for data, using Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine (SNOMED) clinical terms or codes. Cases were defined as female patients of any age, with a diagnosis of Hemophilia carrier. Controls were defined as female patients of any age, with at least one medical encounter, and who did not have a diagnosis of Hemophilia Carrier. The prevalence rates of osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, fractures and wound dehiscence among cases and controls were estimated based on binomial distribution theory. The prevalence rates of the comorbidities were compared in the Hemophilia Carrier group and control group using chi-square or Fisher's exact test, and relative risk calculations for bone health issues were adjusted for age > 50, as the risk of osteoporosis and osteoporotic fractures is higher in post-menopausal women above the age of 50. Results: Our database search identified 740 hemophilia carriers and 34,129,790 women in the control group (Table 1). Among the hemophilia carrier group, there was increased prevalence of osteoporosis (7% vs 3.6%, p Conclusions: Our study suggests an association between hemophilia carrier state and poor bone health and wound healing. Prospective studies are required to confirm these findings, including the role of factor levels in these patients in relation to bone turnover markers and macrophage function. This data may also have relevance for the importance of exposure to factor in the era of emerging non-factor therapies in hemophilia. Download : Download high-res image (78KB) Download : Download full-size image Disclosures Ahuja: Genentech: Consultancy; Biovertiv Sanofi: Consultancy; Bayer: Consultancy; Rainbow Children's Foundation: Research Funding; XaTexk Inc.: Consultancy, Patents & Royalties, Research Funding.