cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
An improved map of the lunar south pole with earth based radar interferometry

NASApsilas long-term exploration goals include a return to manned missions to the Moon that will culminate in a permanent manned station on the Moon. Prior to embarking on such a mission, a series of precursor unmanned robotic missions are required to ascertain the best locations for manned exploration or a permanent lunar base. These precursor missions will consist of both orbital missions, such as the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and missions for which probes will be landed on the lunar surface. The south polar region of the Moon has attracted much recent attention due to the possibility of significant amounts of frozen water being trapped in permanently shadowed regions in craters in that region. In order to better plan and determine the optimal landing sites for such probes, as much a priori information as possible on the lunar south polar region is desired. Of particular importance from a landing survivability and accessible exploration region perspective is knowledge concerning the lunar topography. This paper will discuss processing of recently acquired radar interferometric data from Earth-based radar, namely the NASA Goldstone Solar System Radar, into topographic maps.
Cellular Polarity in Prokaryotic Organisms

Simple visual inspection of bacteria indicated that, at least in some otherwise symmetric cells, structures such as flagella were often seen at a single pole. Because these structures are composed of proteins, it was not clear how to reconcile these observations of morphological asymmetry with the widely held view of bacteria as unstructured "bags of enzymes." However, over the last decade, numerous GFP tagged proteins have been found at specific intracellular locations such as the poles of the cells, indicating that bacteria have a high degree of intracellular organization. Here we will explore the role of chromosomal asymmetry and the presence of "new" and "old" poles that result from the cytokinesis of rod-shaped cells in establishing bipolar and monopolar protein localization patterns. This article is intended to be illustrative, not exhaustive, so we have focused on examples drawn largely from Caulobacter crescentus and Bacillus subtilis, two bacteria that undergo dramatic morphological transformation. We will highlight how breaking monopolar symmetry is essential for the correct development of these organisms.
Tc-99m Pyrophosphate Myocardial Imaging in Perimyocarditis

A focal or diffuse pattern of Tc-99m pyrophosphate (Tc-99m PPi) myocardial uptake may occur in patients with acute myocardial necrosis from various causes. A recent study has shown intense Tc-99m PPi myocardial uptake in experimental viral perimyocarditis in mice. This report describes a patient with perimyocarditis, with intense, persistent, and generalized myocardial uptake of Tc99m PPi.
The effects of examples and principles in instructions for computer software

Prior work found that computer-naive subjects who received instructions written at a general level took longer to accomplish initial word processing tasks than those who received more specific documentation tailored to specific tasks. However, the general-instruction subjects transferred more successfully to new tasks and tended to show superior long-term performance R. Catrambone (1990). The current study examined whether adding an example or a principle to general instructions would help subjects get started on initial tasks more quickly. Users who were given a principle performed an initial deletion task more quickly than users who were not given this principle. The presence or absence of an example did not affect initial performance. However, the example differed from the initial task. These results suggest that a principle helps users disambiguate general instructions by providing a rationale for potentially misunderstood actions. An example apparently does not help early performance if it fails to match the initial task. >
Narrating Identities: Schools as Touchstones of Endemic Marginalization.

This article examines a racial awareness activity conducted as part of a community-wide change initiative at which we found that the majority of racial identity events occurred in schools. Given the prevalence of schools in participant narratives, we argue that schooling is a societal marker, or what we will call a touchstone, of racial identity formation and marginalization that is enacted on an interactional level and that reflected historical and present day relationships.[touchstone case, race, narrative, marginalization]
Ecdysone pathway is required for furrow progression in the developing Drosophila eye

In Drosophila, secretion of the steroid hormone ecdysone from the prothoracic ring gland coordinates and triggers events such as molting and metamorphosis. In the developing Drosophila compound eye, pattern formation and cell-type specification initiate at a moving boundary known as the morphogenetic furrow. We have investigated the role of ecdysone in eye development and report here that the ecdysone signaling pathway is required for progression of the morphogenetic furrow in the eye imaginal disc of Drosophila. Genetic disruption both of the ecdysone signal in vivo with the ecdysoneless1 (ecd1) mutant and of ecdysone response with a Broad-Complex mutant result in disruption of morphogenetic furrow progression. In addition, we show that ecdysone-dependent gene expression, both of a reporter of transcriptional activity of the Ecdysone Receptor and of the Z1 isoform of the Broad Complex, are localized in and close to the furrow. These results suggest that, in the morphogenetic furrow, temporal hormonal signals are integrated into genetic pathways specifying spatial pattern.
External calibration of the spectral coverage for three-dimensional multispectral MRI.

PURPOSE By combining images created at distinct frequency offsets from the Larmor frequency, three-dimensional (3D) multispectral imaging (3D-MSI) sequences help overcome the large spatial frequency dispersion caused by metal implants. This frequency dispersion, however, varies with the implant size, orientation, and composition. Using a MAVRIC 3D-MSI acquisition, we sought to prospectively calibrate the spectral coverage needed for 3D-MSI scans. This calibration should offer a significant improvement to image quality, and reduce the scan time. METHODS The 24 spectral bins from the calibration scan were used to generate a map of frequency offsets around the implant. The magnitude image was used to remove any outliers in the associated frequency offset map, and this processed map was used to determine the cutoff frequency offset and, hence, number of spectral bins. This approach was tested in 13 subjects, by retrospectively reconstructing MAVRIC-SL images with fewer spectral bins. Subsequently, the spectral coverage for MAVRIC-SL images was prospectively calibrated in six subjects, and based on the cutoff frequency offset, these images were acquired with fewer spectral bins. RESULTS With fewer spectral bins, both retrospectively and prospectively calibrated MAVRIC-SL images adequately delineated the implant boundary. CONCLUSION Incorporating this calibration procedure into future 3D-MSI exams will help improve image signal-to-noise ratio, reduce scan time, and significantly improve clinical workflow when imaging near orthopedic implants. Magn Reson Med 76:1494-1503, 2016. © 2015 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.
Differential antioxidant and anti‐inflammatory activities of dietary polyphenols and vitamins

The objective of this study was to determine if the anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory activities of plant polyphenols and vitamins are associated with their antioxidant efficacy. We compared the...
Myocardial protection during revascularization for myocardial ischemia.

Operations that reestablish flow to proximally obstructed coronary arteries are being applied with greater frequency and greater success. The long-term effects of such operations will ultimately be measured by increased longevity for patients with coronary artery disease, providing that perioperative injury is held to an absolute minimum and technical expertise is maintained at an absolute maximum. Application of myocardial protective techniques requires a knowledge of coronary and myocardial physiology. The use of nonrandomized applications of new protective techniques is strongly discouraged since such adventures provide little insight for the future. Further elucidation of the safe intervals for brief periods of ischemia in hearts with and without obstructed coronary arteries is needed, as are more refined measurements of physiologic and biochemical effects of revascularization techniques in regions of myocardium supplied by heterogeneously affected coronary arteries.
Microbiology of Frozen Foods. V. The Behavior of Clostridium botulinum in Frozen Fruits and in Vegetables.

This investigation was undertaken to determine whether or not botulism could occur through the agency of frozen foods. In other canning methods steps are taken to destroy CI. botulinum, but in the frozen food industry nothing is done in this respect. It is assumed that the organism is not important, because the low temperature of storage would prevent its development. It is quite possible that this is a proper assumption. Berry's 1 work indicated that there is little danger of botulism occurring in frozen foods. Straka and James,2 however, reported work which shows that the organism may be of great importance in the frozen food industry. It is well known that sometimes cans are allowed to stand for as long as twenty-four hours before freezing. Because of a lack of familiarity with canned frozen foods the consumer may allow the cans to stand at room temperature for some time after defrosting before using them. In these periods, the toxin of CI. botulinum might be formed and cause an outbreak of food poisoning.
Third-Trimester Prenatal Syphilis Screening: A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis

OBJECTIVE:To estimate the cost to prevent one case of congenital syphilis or fetal or neonatal death with universal third-trimester syphilis rescreening in the United States and to estimate the incidence of syphilis seroconversion at which rescreening becomes cost-effective.METHODS:We created a deci
Constrained efficiency versus unanimity in incomplete markets

In production economies with incomplete markets, shareholders disagree about optimal production plans, and there is no natural objective of the firm. From a normative perspective, the firm should choose plans that lead to a constrained Pareto efficient allocation. From a positive perspective, all decisions of the firm should be supported by a majority of shareholders. This paper asks whether one can design objectives for the firm that meet both normative and positive criteria. The answer is negative: Constrained efficient production plans would generically be turned down by a majority of shareholders. This finding is related to the generic nonexistence of Makowski equilibria.
Study on MADM Model of Fuzzy Entropy Weight Based on Credibility Theory

In view of fuzzy variable attribute,Credibility Theory,the newest branch of basic mathematics founded in 2004about fuzzy variable,was applied.Two tasks were accomplished:(1)A new fuzzy entropy weight formula was put forward based on credibility measure.(2)A multi-attribute decision making(MADM) model based on fuzzy entropy weight was established by constructing weighting average arithmetic operators of distance between attributes and the ideal point based on the distance between fuzzy variables.In the end,an instance was cited,its analysis and calculation showed that the model is reality,that indicated the model is good.
Cold-inducible RNA-binding protein causes endothelial dysfunction via activation of Nlrp3 inflammasome

Cold-inducible RNA-binding protein (CIRP) is a damage-associated molecular pattern (DAMP) molecule which stimulates proinflammatory cytokine release in hemorrhage and sepsis. Under these medical conditions, disruption of endothelial homeostasis and barrier integrity, typically induced by proinflammatory cytokines, is an important factor contributing to morbidity and mortality. However, the role of CIRP in causing endothelial dysfunction has not been investigated. In this study, we show that intravenous injection of recombinant murine CIRP (rmCIRP) in C57BL/6 mice causes lung injury, evidenced by vascular leakage, edema, increased leukocyte infiltration and cytokine production in the lung tissue. The CIRP-induced lung damage is accompanied with endothelial cell (EC) activation marked by upregulation of cell-surface adhesion molecules E-selectin and ICAM-1. Using in vitro primary mouse lung vascular ECs (MLVECs), we demonstrate that rmCIRP treatment directly increases the ICAM-1 protein expression and activates NAD(P)H oxidase in MLVECs. Importantly, CIRP stimulates the assembly and activation of Nlrp3 inflammasome in MLVECs accompanied with caspase-1 activation, IL-1β release and induction of proinflammatory cell death pyroptosis. Finally, our study demonstrates CIRP-induced EC pyroptosis in the lungs of C57BL/6 mice for the first time. Taken together, the released CIRP in shock can directly activate ECs and induce EC pyroptosis to cause lung injury.
Empirical Movement Models for Brain Computer Interfaces

For brain–computer interfaces (BCIs) which provide the user continuous position control, there is little standardization of performance metrics or evaluative tasks. One candidate metric is Fitts’s law, which has been used to describe aimed movements across a range of computer interfaces, and has recently been applied to BCI tasks. Reviewing selected studies, we identify two basic problems with Fitts’s law: its predictive performance is fragile, and the estimation of ‘information transfer rate’ from the model is unsupported. Our main contribution is the adaptation and validation of an alternative model to Fitts’s law in the BCI context. We show that the Shannon–Welford model outperforms Fitts’s law, showing robust predictive power when target distance and width have disproportionate effects on difficulty. Building on a prior study of the Shannon–Welford model, we show that identified model parameters offer a novel approach to quantitatively assess the role of control-display gain in speed/accuracy performance tradeoffs during brain control.
Debate and Switch: William Howard Taft on Law As a Vocation

Were William Howard Taft’s shifting views on the proper roles and supply of lawyers really just manifestations of crass professional self-interest? Did President Taft talk trash about lawyers in Congress to get a leg up on policy competitors without regard to the collateral effects of America’s most powerful lawyer impugning the integrity of a whole category of other powerful lawyers? Did Professor Taft write enthusiastically about careers in law to a generation of young Americans serving their country in World War I knowing full well – at least according to himself just three years later – that back home the nation was already oversupplied with lawyers? (A ploy known to a later generation as a law school scam.) And did Chief Justice Taft demean as incompetent and unnecessary many members of the bar – those who lacked a college education, at a time when access to higher education was far more limited than it is today – in order to prop up the profession for those who already had (or would be able to get) a college degree? Or, instead, was Taft getting wiser with age? Or were his views shifting in keeping with changing times? Or did someone or some new idea trigger a shift? Reasonable minds can differ about the answers, but Taft himself could have made it easy. He could have explained himself – why he was reversing, or at least refining, his thinking. Or how circumstances had changed while his thinking had not. Isn’t that what good leaders (and scholars and judges) do?
Recent developments in the applications of ferroelectric and ferroelastic crystals

A ferroelectric crystal, below its Curie temperature T c , is characterized by spontaneously electrically polarized domains. The nature of the domain structure,1 the magnitude and direction of electric polarization in the domain states,2 and many of the macroscopic properties of the single domain3 can be described in terms of a polarization induced “distortion” of a higher symmetry prototype state, the prototype frequently corresponding exactly to the paraelectric structure above T c .
Pathophysiology of Ischemia: Why are Some Episodes Silent?

Myocardial ischemia occurring during daily life is characterized by a high frequency of silent ischemic episodes. Asymptomatic patients with severe coronary artery disease have only silent episodes while most symptomatic patients have both painful and silent episodes, with silent being prevalent. The extent and severity of coronary artery disease in asymptomatic patients is similar to that found in the symptomatic patients. In the symptomatic patients the silent episodes are accompanied by objective markers of ischemia that indicate that the silent episodes are as severe as the painful episodes. The silent episodes have a characteristic circadian variation with highest frequency between 6 AM and noon and lowest frequency between midnight and 6 AM. Silent episodes also occur at heart rate and activity levels lower than those achieved during exercise-induced angina, suggesting that myocardial oxygen supply is temporarily reduced. Recent data also suggests sympathetic activation and rise in heart rate occur during silent ischemic episodes. This would increase myocardial oxygen demand. All of these findings indicate that both supply- and demand-side mechanisms are important in the pathophysiology of silent ischemia.
Effects of the Affordable Care Act's contraceptive coverage requirement on the utilization and out-of-pocket costs of prescribed oral contraceptives

Abstract Background The Affordable Care Act (ACA) mandated that private health insurance plans cover prescribed contraceptive services for women, including oral contraceptives (OCs), without charging a patient any cost-sharing beginning in August 2012. Objective To evaluate the effects of the ACA's contraceptive coverage requirement on the utilization and out-of-pocket costs of prescribed OCs after two years of implementation. Methods A retrospective, cross-sectional study was designed using data from the 2010 to 2014 waves of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. The sample consisted of reproductive-aged women who have either private health insurance or Medicaid. Utilization of OCs was evaluated using 1) the proportion of women who purchased any OCs and 2) the mean annual number of cycles prescribed per woman. Out-of-pocket costs for OCs were evaluated using 1) the proportion of women who had any OC purchase with $0 out-of-pocket costs, 2) the mean annual out-of-pocket costs per woman, and 3) the mean out-of-pocket costs per cycle. Descriptive analyses and a difference-in-difference linear regression approach were used. Main findings No substantial changes were seen in the utilization of OCs after the ACA requirement became effective. The difference-in-difference regression showed that the proportion of women who had any OC purchase with $0 out-of-pocket costs increased significantly by 54.0 percentage points after the ACA requirement in the private insurance group relative to the Medicaid group. Mean annual out-of-pocket costs in the private insurance group dropped by 37% in the first year and an additional 52% decrease was found in the second year of the policy. Mean out-of-pocket costs per cycle also decreased substantially in the private insurance group by 39% in the first year and an additional decrease of 44% was seen in the second year. Conclusions The ACA's contraceptive coverage requirement markedly reduced out-of-pocket costs of prescribed OCs for women with private health insurance.
How not to develop a sense of number

The authors rightly point to the theoretical importance of interactions of space and number through the life span, yet propose a theory with several weaknesses. In addition to proclaiming itself unfalsifiable, its stage-like format and emphasis on the role of selective attention are at odds with what is known about the development of spatial-numerical associations in infancy.
Interests, Wrongs, and the Injury Hypothesis

I show that cases of harmless wronging only pose a problem for interest-based theories if we accept a significant assumption about the relationship between interests and wrongs.
Impact of automatic infectious diseases consultation on the management of fungemia at a large academic medical center.

Purpose The impact of automatic infectious diseases (ID) consultation for inpatients with fungemia at a large academic medical center was studied. Methods In this single-center, retrospective study, the time to appropriate antifungal therapy before and after implementing a policy requiring automatic ID consultation for the management of fungemia for all patients with an inpatient positive blood culture for fungus was examined. The rates of ID consultation; the likelihood of receiving appropriate antifungal therapy; central venous catheter (CVC) removal rates; performance of ophthalmologic examinations; infection-related length of stay (LOS); rates of all-cause inhospital mortality, death, or transfer to an intensive care unit within 7 days of first culture; and inpatient cost of antifungals were also evaluated. Results A total of 173 unique episodes (94 and 79 in the control and intervention groups, respectively) were included. Candida species were the most frequently cultured organisms, isolated from over 90% of patients in both groups. No differences were observed between the control and intervention groups in time to appropriate therapy, infection-related LOS, or time to CVC removal. However, patients in the intervention group were more likely than those in the control group to receive appropriate antifungal therapy ( p = 0.0392), undergo ophthalmologic examination ( p = 0.003), have their CVC removed ( p = 0.0038), and receive ID consultation ( p = 0.0123). Inpatient antifungal costs were significantly higher in the intervention group ( p = 0.0177). Conclusion While automatic ID consultation for inpatients with fungemia did not affect the time to administration of appropriate therapy, improvement was observed for several process indicators, including rates of appropriate antifungal therapy selection, time to removal of CVCs, and performance of ophthalmologic examinations.
Lyapunov-Based Nonlinear Solution Algorithm for Structural Analysis

AbstractA solution algorithm is proposed for nonlinear structural analysis problems involving static and/or dynamic loads based on the Lyapunov stability theory. The main idea is to reformulate the...
From the Rocket Equation to Maxwell's Equations: Electrodynamic Tether Propulsion Nears Space Test

The US space program is facing a growing challenge to its decades-long, global leadership position, as current launch costs consume valuable resources and limit achievements in science, exploration, and commercial development. More than 40% of projected launches over the next 10 years have payloads with intended destinations beyond low-Earth orbit. Therefore, more cost-effective upper stages and on-board propulsion systems are critical elements in reducing total space transportation costs. A new type of space propulsion, using electrodynamic tethers, may be capable of performing multiple sequential missions without resupply and have a potential usable lifetime of several years. They may provide an in-space infrastructure that has a very low life cycle cost and greatly enhanced mission flexibility, thus supporting the goal of reducing the cost of access to space. Electrodynamic tether thrusters work by virtue of the force the Earth's magnetic field exerts on a wire carrying an electrical current. The effect is the basis for electric motors and generators. The Propulsive Small Expendable Deployer System (ProSEDS) experiment, planned for launch in the summer of 2000, will demonstrate the use electrodynamic tether thrust by lowering the altitude of a Delta-H rocket's upper stage on which it will be flying. Applications of the technology include a passive deorbit system for spacecraft at their end-of-life, reusable Orbit Transfer Vehicles, propellantless reboost of the International Space Station, and propulsion and power generation for future missions to Jupiter.
Arthritis of the Spine

Arthritis is the common term used to describe pathological changes of joints and adjoining parts of the bone. Several types of arthritis commonly affect the spine. Osteoarthritis, a non-inflammatory type of arthritis, most often affects the cervical spine and the lumbar spine. Neck pain, limited neck and head motion, low back pain, and limited flexibility of the low back can result from progressive joint damage. Degeneration of the intervertebral disk may accompany cervical and lumbar osteoarthritis, and can cause either nerve root or spinal cord compression. Ankylosing spondylitis is the most common inflammatory arthritis that principally affects the spine rather than other joints, and is characterized by slow development of bony fusion among the adjacent vertebrae. Rheumatoid arthritis, the most common type of inflammatory arthritis, affects mostly the limb joints but can also affect the cervical spine, causing neck pain and headache. Cervical spine arthritis also often occurs in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis. Radiography is an essential diagnostic tool in the evaluation of patients with spinal arthritis, but provides limited information on the posterior spinal structures. Magnetic resonance imaging can be useful for defining abnormalities in the posterior spinal joints, the nerve roots, and the spinal cord.
Urinothorax: Report of 4 Cases and Review of the Literature

AbstractUrinothorax should be considered when pleural effusion occurs in patients with urinary tract obstruction accompanied by retroperitoneal urinoma. This recommendation is based on our experience with 4 cases and a review of the literature. In 2 patients urinary obstruction was owing to retroperitoneal fibrosis secondary to malignancy, including one who had a neuroectodermal undifferentiated small round cell tumor and the other who had a metastatic epithelial neoplasm. In the 2 other patients urinary obstruction resulted from a failed ureteroneocystotomy following renal allograft transplantation. All 4 patients had a urinoma, which may be a predisposing factor to urinothorax.
Crystal structure of 3,4-dimethoxybenzoic acid

The crystal structure of 3,4-dimethoxybenzoic acid (1) was obtained by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Crystallization of 1 occurs in the centrosymmetric triclinic space group $$P\bar 1$$ (No. 2) with a = 4.8727(5) A, b = 8.4926(7) A, c = 11.2333(14) A; α = 101.365(8)° β = 102.010(8)° γ = 105.784(8)°; and Z = 2. Compound 1 forms hydrogen bonded dimers across an inversion center. Details of the structure and spectroscopic results are presented and discussed.
Acid suppressant medications and the risk of allergic diseases.

ABSTRACTIntroduction: Acid suppressant medications (ASMs), such as proton pump inhibitors and histamine-2 receptor antagonists, are used often and throughout the lifespan. These medications have be...
Characteristics of Mothers and Infants Living in Homeless Shelters and Public Housing in New York City

Introduction Homelessness can result in poor health. The number of families with children living in NYC homeless shelters increased 55% from 2008 to 2014. Half of children living in shelter in 2014 were younger than 6 years old. We compared demographics and health outcomes of mothers and infants residing in NYC homeless shelters to those residing in public housing in this cross-sectional study. Methods Addresses of NYC Department of Homeless Services shelters and NYC Housing Authority (NYCHA) developments were matched to NYC Department of Health birth certificate data for the years 2008–2013. Sociodemographic and health characteristics of newborns residing in shelters were compared to newborns in NYCHA housing using Chi square tests. Results Mothers residing in shelters were younger, more likely to be black and less likely to be Hispanic, more likely to have been born outside NYC and reside in the Bronx. Babies born to mothers living in shelter were more likely to have low birth weight (< 2500 g), be born preterm (< 37 gestational weeks), require assisted ventilation immediately following delivery, have a NICU admission, and use Medicaid. They were less likely to breastfeed within 5 days of delivery and be discharged to their residence. Discussion Homeless mothers and infants had poorer health outcomes compared with those living in public housing. Understanding the health disparities of homeless infants can provide guidance for developing future policies and research initiatives, which may be used to inform the development of new policies to improve health outcomes of homeless infants and their mothers.
Results of the 2008 AORN Salary Survey

ABSTRACT AORN CONDUCTED ITS SIXTH ANNUAL compensation survey for perioperative nurses in August of 2008. A MULTIPLE REGRESSION MODEL was used to examine how a variety of variables including job title, education level, certification, experience, and geographic region affect nursing compensation. COMPARISONS BETWEEN THE 2008 and previous years' data are presented. THE EFFECTS OF OTHER FORMS of compensation, such as on-call compensation, overtime, bonuses, and shift differentials on average base compensation rates also are examined. AORN J 88 (December 2008) 901–915. © AORN, Inc, 2008.
Integrated ultra-narrow linewidth stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) lasers and their applications

Ultra-narrow linewidth, ultra-stable lasers are the heart of precision high-end scientific systems. In this talk we describe a new class of photonic integrated stimulated Brillouin scattering laser that enables moving these systems to the chip-scale and their application to data center communications, atomic clocks, optical gyros and microwave synthesis.
Fractional Co2 Laser Treatment of the Vulva and Vagina and the Effect of Postmenopausal Duration on Efficacy.

Background and objectives More studies are needed to assess the long-term safety profile and clinical outcomes of lasers and energy-based devices to treat the symptoms associated with vulvovaginal atrophy. This study evaluated a series of three fractional CO2 laser treatments to the vulva and vagina with a 1-year follow-up in a postmenopausal population. Study design/materials and methods In this prospective, self-controlled, open-label clinical study, 18 postmenopausal females with atrophic vaginitis received 3 monthly treatments to the vulva and vagina with a fractional CO2 laser system and 1-, 3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-up. Investigators used the Vaginal Health Index (VHI) to assess changes in vaginal elasticity, fluid volume, vaginal pH, epithelial integrity, and moisture. Sexual function at each timepoint was subject-reported, using the validated Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI). Results Treatment of the vulva and vagina in postmenopausal women with fractional CO2 laser resurfacing resulted in statistically significant improvements as compared with baseline at all post-treatment and follow-up intervals to 12 months in VHI and FSFI (P ≤ 0.003 and P ≤ 0.03, respectively). Mean total VHI score increased from a baseline of 11.8-22.8 (93.2% improved) at 6-month follow-up (P = 0.0002) slightly decreasing to 21.4 (81.4% improved) at 12-month follow-up post-treatment (P = 0.0003). Mean FSFI Scores increased from a baseline of 17.9-26.3 (46.9% improvement) at 12-month follow-up post-treatment (P ≤ 0.0048). Cohort analysis revealed restoration of normal or near-normal (23-25) VHI following laser treatment in the recently menopausal (1-3 years) greatly exceeded that of the >3 years postmenopausal population and the difference was statistically significant (P ≤ 0.05). Normal/near-normal VHI at 3-, 6-, and 12-month post-treatment was 88%, 88%, and 63% in the recently postmenopausal cohort, as compared with 30%, 40%, and 10% of the >3 years postmenopausal group (P ≤ 0.05). Patient satisfaction following treatment was rated as high at 94% at 12-month follow-up. Safety findings demonstrated no-to-slight discomfort in the majority of subjects and transient erythema and edema, with no adverse events associated with treatment. Conclusion Fractional CO2 laser treatment of the vulva and vagina resulted in statistically significant improvements in VHI and FSFI compared with baseline in postmenopausal population that were sustained to 12-month follow-up. Restoration of normal VHI was observed in a statistically significant greater percentage in the recently postmenopausal cohort (1-3 years) as compared with postmenopausal cohort of >3 years, suggesting that early intervention is correlated with improved outcomes. Lasers Surg. Med. © 2020 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Transformations of Toxic Metals and Metalloids by Pseudomonas stutzeri Strain KC and its Siderophore Pyridine-2,6-bis(thiocarboxylic acid)

Pyridine-2,6-bis(thiocarboxylic acid)Pyridine-2,6-bis(thiocarboxylic acid) (pdtc)(pdtc) is a siderophore produced by Pseudomonas stutzeri KCPseudomonas stutzeri KC that plays a role in conditioning the bacterial environment. It serves as a siderophore in solubilizing ferric iron and other micronutrient metals, and as a thiol-containing compound, it reacts with toxic heavy metals and metalloids, reducing metals like Cr(VI), Se(IV), and Te(IV) and precipitating metals as sulfides (e.g., Hg(II), Cd(II), Pb(II), and As(III)), rendering them insoluble and less toxic. Understanding the mechanism by which bacteria use pdtc to interact with metals may contribute to our understanding of metal cycling in the biosphere, and may have potential for use in bioremediationbioremediation of heavy metals.
Discriminative Subtyping of Lung Cancers from Histopathology Images via Contextual Deep Learning

Abstract When designing individualized treatment protocols for cancer patients, clinicians must synthesize the information from multiple data modalities into a single parsimonious description of the patient’s personal disease. However, such a description of a patient is never observed. In this work, we propose to model these patient descriptions as latent discriminative subtypes—sample representations which can be learned from one data modality and used to contextualize predictions based on another data modality. We apply contextual deep learning to learn these sample-specific discriminative subtypes from lung cancer histopathology imagery. Based on these subtypes, we produce sample-specific transcriptomic models which accurately classify samples as adenocarcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, or healthy tissue (F1 score of 0.97, outperforming previous state-of-the-art multimodal approaches). Combining these data modalities in a single pipeline not only improves the predictive accuracy, but also gives biological interpretations of the discriminative subtypes and ties the phenotypic patterns present in histopathology images to biological processes.
Alaska’s Tug-of-War on Land Rights

Alaska’s petroleum industry is run by national and international oil companies (IOCs) coming to Alaska with their workers and expertise to develop and produce oil. However, a more pertinent issue surrounding the petroleum industry in Alaska is who owns and who controls the land of Alaska including its mineral rights. Alaska’s land encompasses about 360 million acres (146 million hectares) or about the size of Germany, France, Italy, and the United Kingdom combined, but with a population of only 700,000 people. After subsequent treaties and laws, the land has become split between Native Alaskan land, U.S. Federal Government land, and Alaska State land where by much of the splitting only occurred after the discovery of the great Prudhoe Bay oil field on Alaska’s North Slope in late 1968. The story of how the land was split and how much of Alaska’s land has been made into nature preserves, which have been saved from mineral rights development, is quite a story. The different interests of Americans, Native Alaskans, and average Alaskan citizens have conflicted with each other every step of the way and have affected land rights and even some business practices including how Alaska’s native companies work.
Securing facial recognition: the new spoofs and solutions

Facial recognition is becoming the go-to authentication method because it is seamless and secure: facial algorithms can now achieve one-in-a-million false acceptance rates, making the risk of unintended users gaining access extremely low. However, spoofs present a growing threat to facial recognition systems.
Glaucoma following Infant Lensectomy: 2021 Update.

Purpose To review information pertaining to glaucoma following infant lensectomy surgery and to provide evidence to support the responsible mechanism of this condition. Methods and Results Described risk factors and proposed mechanisms for infantile aphakic glaucoma were assessed. The clinical evidence observed in affected glaucoma patients was analyzed, and evidence of postoperative anterior chamber fibrosis was reviewed and interpreted. Conclusion The review and assessment of laboratory and clinical evidence support the proposal that infantile aphakic glaucoma is caused, in part, by postoperative anterior chamber fibroization related to lens cell dispersion and active epithelial-mesenchymal transition with resultant filtration angle tissue injury and loss of function.
The Boko Haram Insurgency in Nigeria: A National Security Threat to the United States

Activities of violent non-state actors like the Boko Haram sect in Nigeria have greatly affected the national security of the United States. The methods employed by non-state actors enable some groups to be able to take on much stronger entities by waging asymmetric warfare. For instance, "The hijacking of airplanes was common in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The seizing of embassies was popular in the late 1970s and early 1980s and the blowing up of mid-flight airplanes took center stage in the late 1980s. Other tactics include hostage taking, the assassination of prominent individuals and detonating bombs in government or public buildings. These methods have changed over time, but history has also shown that various non-state actors use different tactics no matter what the time period. The 9/11 attacks showed the deadly combination of a mid-air hijacking, suicide mission, and the targeting of public/government/military buildings. More importantly, it showed how a non-state group could adapt their tactics to defeat Western security apparatuses in order to carry out a massive strike. The second factor is communications technology. Innovations like the Internet and cell phones have enabled groups to communicate quickly and effectively. Because the diffusion of these two innovations is so vast, it presents a great challenge to Western security agencies, particularly if the group is operating in a weak or failed state. This study highlights the activities of the Boko Haram insurgency group, as a Violent Non-State Actor (VNSA) and its implications for the United States national security, and proposes a solution that may reduce the activities of the group.
Creation and Formation

If, as Augustine says, there is nothing in God except “is,” then His efficacy, if He exercises it at all, will consist in the giving of “is.” But He obviously did and does give it: other things besides Him exist.
Abstract 16428: Subclinical Atherosclerosis and Obesity Phenotypes in Mexican Americans

Despite a robust association between carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) and cardiovascular disease (CVD), the influence of obesity on subclinical atherosclerosis is not well understood and data are inconsistent. This may be related to varying cardiometabolic risk among obese individuals. Data on CVD in Mexican Americans are likewise conflicting and despite elevated obesity prevalence, reported death rates are no higher than Whites. We hypothesize that cardiometabolic risk modulates the obesity effect on early atherosclerosis development in Mexican Americans and that the influence of cardiometabolic risk is more important than body mass index (BMI) alone. METHODS: Participants (n=493) were drawn from the Cameron County Hispanic Cohort, a Mexican American cohort in Texas on the US-Mexico border. Metabolic health was defined as having < 2 of the following cardiometabolic abnormalities: BP ≥ 130/85; triglyceride ≥ 150 mg/dL; high-density lipoprotein cholesterol <40 mg/dL (men) or <50 mg/dL (women); fasting...
Coupled FSI Simulations of the Interaction of a Flexible Hydrofoil With Large Scale Unsteady Flows

Fluid-structure interaction (FSI) effects must be considered when flexible structures are subjected to unsteady flows. Large-scale unsteady flows can excite structural vibrations significantly and cause the fluid flow to be altered by the large amplitude vibrations. In this work, an in-house finite-element structural code FEANL is tightly coupled with the open-source computational-fluid dynamics (CFD) library package OpenFOAM to simulate the interaction of a backward-skewed, flexible hydrofoil with vortical flow structures shed from a large upstream rigid cylinder in the Penn State-ARL 12” water tunnel. To simulate the turbulent flow at a moderate computational cost, hybrid LES-RANS approaches, i.e. Delayed-Detached-Eddy-Simulation (DDES) and k–ω SST-SAS, are used. The hybrid approaches have been widely employed to simulate massively-separated flows at moderately high Reynolds numbers. Both of the turbulence models are used for a coarse mesh CFD-only case (no FSI effects by assuming a rigid structure) to test their capabilities, and the results of the two models are compared. DDES is chosen to simulate a fine mesh CFD-only case to conduct a mesh convergence study, and it is then used for final FSI simulations. The purpose of this work is focused on obtaining computational results; detailed comparisons against experimental data will be made in future work.Copyright © 2014 by ASME
Generating interest in computer science through middle-school Android summer camps

We conducted a week-long summer camp to promote interest in computer science among middle-school students. The camp primarily used self-paced video tutorials to teach programming concepts using the App Inventor for Android programming environment. Based on strong interest from students and parents as well as positive survey feedback, we conclude that the camp was very successful. We have made the camp resources, including 36 video tutorials, freely available at http://artsci.drake.edu/mathcs/appcamp, and they may be used in future camps at any institution.
Crossover from inelastic magnetic scattering of Cooper pairs to spin-wave dispersion produces the low-energy kink structure in the spectra of cuprate superconductors

We present GW-based-self-energy calculations for the state of the coexisting spin-density-wave and $d$-wave superconductivity in a series of cuprate superconductors. The spin-resonance spectrum is found to exhibit the typical ``hourglass'' form whose upward and downward dispersion branches come from the gapped-spin-wave and magnetic scattering, of Cooper pairs, respectively. We show that the crossover between these two different dispersion features leads to an abrupt change of slope in the quasiparticle self-energy, and hence, the low-energy kink commences in the single-particle quasiparticle spectrum. The calculated electron-boson-coupling strength agrees well with experimental data as a function of temperature, doping, and material. The results demonstrate that electronic correlations dominate the quasiparticle spectra of cuprates near the low-energy kink, suggesting a relatively smaller role for phonons in this energy range.
Peroxidative Breakdown of Phospholipids in Human Spermatozoa, Spermicidal Properties of Fatty Acid Peroxides, and Protective Action of Seminal Plasma

Aerobic incubation of human spermatozoa in the presence of catalytic amounts of ascorbate and ferrous ion results in rapid peroxidative breakdown of sperm phospholipids and fatty acids; most strongly affected are phosphatidyl ethanolamine, ethanolamine plasmalogen, and docosahexanoic acid. Both peroxidation of the endogenous sperm phospholipid and the concurrent loss of motility can be fully prevented, but not reversed, by an "antiperoxidant" factor present in human seminal plasma. Exogenously applied lipid peroxides are powerfully spermicidal. Washed human spermatozoa, at a concentration normally present in semen, treated with as little as 30 nmoles of lipid peroxide/ml become irreversibly immotile within a few minutes. The antiperoxidant factor present in human seminal plasma effectively counteracts the toxic effect of exogenous peroxidized fatty acids upon human spermatozoa, but is unable to restore motility lost by lipid peroxide action.
The Role of Baseline Physical Similarity to Humans in Consumer Responses to Anthropomorphic Animal Images

While humans have a long history of anthropomorphizing animals and the use of animal imagery in the marketplace and popular culture is commonplace, the phenomenon has received little attention. This research investigates the role of how consumers respond to anthropomorphic portrayals of animal mascots that differ on their baseline physical resemblance to humans. In order to test this assertion, an experimental study was conducted with 62 undergraduate participants from a large state university in the Northeastern United States. Results from the study indicate that evaluations of anthropomorphic portrayals of animals with a lower baseline physical similarity to humans are less favorable than nonanthropomorphic portrayals. In contrast, evaluations of anthropomorphic portrayals of animals with a higher baseline physical similarity are more favorable than nonanthropomorphic portrayals. C � 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Elektroniczny system wspomagający zarządzanie zasobami w bibliotece Wyższej Szkoły Biznesu – National- -Louis University w Nowym Sączu

W artykule przedstawiono kilka aspektow związanych z gromadzeniem zbiorow w bibliotece uczelni wyzszej oraz zaprezentowano elektroniczny system wspomagający zarządzanie zasobami informacyjnymi w bibliotece uczelni niepublicznej. Zaprojektowany i wdrozony system nie rozwiązuje wszystkich problemow związanych z gromadzeniem zasobow, ale umozliwia sprawniejsze i efektywniejsze zarządzanie zasobami informacyjnymi oraz racjonalne dopasowanie zbiorow dydaktycznych do potrzeb studentow.
Achieving goals quickly using real-time search: experimental results in video games

In real-time domains such as video games, planning happens concurrently with execution and the planning algorithm has a strictly bounded amount of time before it must return the next action for the agent to execute. We explore the use of real-time heuristic search in two benchmark domains inspired by video games. Unlike classic benchmarks such as grid pathfinding and the sliding tile puzzle, these new domains feature exogenous change and directed state space graphs. We consider the setting in which planning and acting are concurrent and we use the natural objective of minimizing goal achievement time. Using both the classic benchmarks and the new domains, we investigate several enhancements to a leading real-time search algorithm, LSS-LRTA*. We show experimentally that 1) it is better to plan after each action or to use a dynamically sized lookahead, 2) A*-based lookahead can cause undesirable actions to be selected, and 3) on-line de-biasing of the heuristic can lead to improved performance. We hope this work encourages future research on applying real-time search in dynamic domains.
Walter Mignolo: una vida dedicada al proyecto decolonial

Resumen es: El filosofo puertorriqueno Nelson Maldonado-Torres conduce en estas paginas una conversacion con el pensador y teorico Walter Mignolo, considerado uno de...