cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
National guidelines may reduce socioeconomic disparities in treatment selection for esophageal cancer

The 2011 National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines first incorporated the results of the landmark CROSS trial, establishing induction therapy (chemotherapy ± radiation) and surgery as the treatment standard for locoregional esophageal cancer in the United States. The effect of guideline publication on socioeconomic status (SES) inequalities in cancer treatment selection remains unknown. Patients diagnosed with Stage II/III esophageal cancer between 2004 and 2013 who underwent curative treatment with definitive chemoradiation or multimodality treatment (induction and surgery) were identified from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER)-Medicare registry. Clinicopathologic characteristics were compared between the two therapies. Multivariable regression analysis was used to adjust for known factors associated with treatment selection. An interaction term with respect to guideline publication and SES was included Of the 2,148 patients included, 1,478 (68.8%) received definitive chemoradiation and 670 (31.2%) induction and surgery. Guideline publication was associated with a 16.1% increase in patients receiving induction and surgery in the low SES group (21.4% preguideline publication vs. 37.5% after). In comparison, a 4.5% increase occurred during the same period in the high SES status group (31.8% vs. 36.3%). After adjusting for factors associated with treatment selection, guideline publication was associated with a 78% increase in likelihood of receiving induction and surgery among lower SES patients (odds ratio 1.78; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.05,3.03). Following the new guideline publication, patients living in low SES areas were more likely to receive optimal treatment. Increased dissemination of guidelines may lead to increased adherence to evidence-based treatment standards.
Review: Españoles en la corte de los Medici: Arquitectura y política en tiempos de Cosimo I, by Carlos Plaza

Carlos Plaza Espanoles en la corte de los Medici: Arquitectura y politica en tiempos de Cosimo I Madrid: Centro de Estudios Europa Hispanica, 2016, 562 pp., 60 color and 165 b/w illus. €33.66, ISBN 9788415245568 Recent research about early modern Spanish Italy has yielded fruitful results for architectural history. For instance, we now know more about a Castilian cardinal's patronage of Donato Bramante in Rome, and we have new evidence of correspondence between viceroys and a Spanish king about building a royal palace in Naples.1 Carlos Plaza's Espanoles en la corte de los Medici also contributes new knowledge about Spanish patrons of architecture in Florence during that city's transformation by Cosimo I de’ Medici (1519–74) and his successors into the site of a ducal court. This is a book with many protagonists, beginning with Cosimo, his first wife, Eleanora of Toledo (1522–62), and his sons Francesco I (1541–87) and Ferdinando I (1549–1609). The cast of characters expands to include three Spaniards whose Florentine palaces form the core of the study: the courtiers Antonio Ramirez de Montalvo (d. 1581) and Fabio Arrazola de Mondragon (1530/35–86), and the merchant and bali , or grand master, of the Order of Santo Stefano, Baltasar Suarez de la Concha (d. 1620). Plaza's ambitious project probes the biographies of these three Spaniards and elucidates the processes by which they built monuments to glorify the Medici dukes and elevate their own status. Plaza also reevaluates existing scholarship on Bartolomeo Ammannati (1511–92), who emerges as another principal figure. In the book's prologue, Howard Burns commends Plaza's attention to little-known Spanish patrons and to the political, cultural, and architectural contexts in which they operated. Indeed, context drives Plaza's introduction, where he provides wide-ranging information about Florence and its relation with Spain from the late Middle Ages through the sixteenth century. During the Renaissance, according to Plaza, Italy and Spain formed “a common territory” for the circulation of ideas, models, and persons that helped shape architectural …
Traveling lessons: Norbert Truquin’s Mémoires et aventures d’un prolétaire

In 1872, Norbert Truquin, a French silk weaver, boarded an English steamer docked in Bordeaux. Forty days and some three hundred or so francs later, he disembarked in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where...
Identification of Remote IoT Users Using Sensor Data Analytics

The immense progress of sensor technology and Internet of Things (IoT) has contributed well for the provision of various smart services through smart applications. These services include remote sensing, monitoring, control and operations in the fields of health care, transportation and weather forecast etc. alongside these great benefits users and device security prevails as a great challenge. Recently existing biometric identification methods are incorporated with other identification techniques of remote user recognition to improve the performance. In this research paper we have introduced a novel user identification framework using sensor data of walk activity. Accelerometer and heart rate sensors are used in combination for this purpose. As we know that both of these sensor readings are biologically more correlated during the walk activity. Heart rate is a unique biometric parameter for user identification whereas accelerometer sensor is known for its effective usage for activity recognition. The fusion method is adopted to make the proposed identification technique more customized to remove the overlapping probabilities of existing classification methods. The actual data set of 15 subjects is used for the experiments. The results are elaborated to prove the validity of the proposed approach. Accuracy for user identification is improved and a certain level of overlapping is reduced despite the low level of accuracy of heart rate sensors currently embedded in smart IoT devices.
In Reply: The Presence and Persistence of Unrealistic Expectations in Patients Undergoing Nerve Surgery.

Background Unrealistic expectations of the outcomes of peripheral nerve surgery reduce patient satisfaction. Most clinicians can recall patients with unrealistic expectations despite verbal preoperative education. Objective To assess patients' baseline level of understanding regarding nerve surgery and appropriate expectations. Additionally, we tested the effect of a written, preoperative educational handout on the patients' retention of knowledge. Methods This cross-sectional survey recruited patients scheduled to undergo peripheral nerve surgery at a single institution in 2016 to 2017. During the preoperative visit, a specialized nurse practitioner reviewed perioperative protocols, risks and benefits of the surgery, and postoperative care. Patients immediately completed a survey to assess their preoperative understanding of the verbally reviewed information. During the same visit, an additional written handout was given to patients in a randomized fashion. At their first postoperative visit, all patients completed the survey again. Results A total of 60 patients (mean age 52 yr) were enrolled of which 62% were male. Immediately following verbal instruction, 31% of patients had erroneous (unrealistic) expectations regarding pain, 30% had erroneous expectations regarding postoperative motor outcome, and 41% had erroneous expectations regarding the timing of postoperative recovery. There was no significant difference between patients who received the written handout vs those who did not, on retesting in the postoperative period. Conclusion Patients undergoing peripheral nerve procedures demonstrated a high baseline level of unrealistic expectations despite standard in-person verbal counseling by specialty providers. A written handout did not have clear benefit in the retention of preoperative surgical teaching. Further investigation into more effective preoperative patient counseling is needed.
Hydrogen Activation and Hydrogenolysis Facilitated By Late-Transition-Metal-Aluminum Heterobimetallic Complexes.

Previously reported heterobimetallic rhodium–aluminum and iridium–aluminum alkyl complexes are shown to activate hydrogen, generating the corresponding alkane. Kinetic data indicate a mechanistic d...
Chapter 8 – Immunofluorescence

Immunofluorescence (IF) is a type of immunohistochemistry technique that utilizes fluorophores to visualize various cellular antigens such as proteins. This technique can be utilized to visualize the localization of various cellular components within cells, tissues as well as in 3D culture-derived cellular spherical structures. Fluorophore, compounds that emit light when exposed to a certain wavelength of light are essential for IF. To detect protein expression, the biological sample of interest is incubated with an antibody specific to the protein of interest; the antibody may be coupled to a fluorophore (direct fluorescence) or may be detected by a secondary antibody conjugated to a fluorophore (indirect fluorescence). The proteins or antigens can then be visualized by examination under a fluorescent microscope or a confocal microscope depending on the biological question being addressed by this method. This technique is commonly used in clinical practice as well as in research applications to optically determine protein expression and cellular and intracellular localization.
The evaluation of a tissue-engineered cardiac patch seeded with hips derived cardiac progenitor cells in a rat left ventricular model.

Background Ventricular septal perforation and left ventricular aneurysm are examples of potentially fatal complications of myocardial infarction. While various artificial materials are used in the repair of these issues, the possibility of associated infection and calcification is non-negligible. Cell-seeded biodegradable tissue-engineered patches may be a potential solution. This study evaluated the feasibility of a new left ventricular patch rat model to study neotissue formation in biodegradable cardiac patches. Methods Human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiac progenitor cells (hiPS-CPCs) were cultured onto biodegradable patches composed of polyglycolic acid and a 50:50 poly (l-lactide-co-e-caprolactone) copolymer for one week. After culturing, patches were implanted into left ventricular walls of male athymic rats. Unseeded controls were also used (n = 10/group). Heart conditions were followed by echocardiography and patches were subsequently explanted at 1, 2, 6, and 9 months post-implantation for histological evaluation. Result Throughout the study, no patches ruptured demonstrating the ability to withstand the high pressure left ventricular system. One month after transplantation, the seeded patch did not stain positive for human nuclei. However, many new blood vessels formed within patches with significantly greater vessels in the seeded group at the 6 month time point. Echocardiography showed no significant difference in left ventricular contraction rate between the two groups. Calcification was found inside patches after 6 months, but there was no significant difference between groups. Conclusion We have developed a surgical method to implant a bioabsorbable scaffold into the left ventricular environment of rats with a high survival rate. Seeded hiPS-CPCs did not differentiate into cardiomyocytes, but the greater number of new blood vessels in seeded patches suggests the presence of cell seeding early in the remodeling process might provide a prolonged effect on neotissue formation. This experiment will contribute to the development of a treatment model for left ventricular failure using iPS cells in the future.
Characterization of Podosphaera macularis Derived from the Hop Cultivar ‘Strata’ and Strata’s Resistance to Powdery Mildew in Oregon

Powdery mildew is one of the most destructive diseases of hop. Host resistance is a most efficient means of managing the disease, but resistance may not be durable. The cultivar Strata was develope...
Wire detection by GPR using the Hough transform

This paper investigates the use of the Hough Transform (HT) for the detection of surface wires that are attached to explosives. Wires, when laid, have a linear structure in which HT can be a promising technique to extract the features and detect the wires. We use a step-frequency ground penetrating radar with a co-pole configuration mounted on an air-borne platform to collect the data for the research study. After beamforming for constructing the data image, projecting onto the surface plane and obtaining the edges, HT is applied to extract features for the detection of wire in the projected image. The features for wire detection include orientation, strength and relative strength that correspond to the tilt angle, the length and the confidence of a wire. Experimental results using the data collected from an indoor facility containing several kinds of wires show the effectiveness of HT for wire detection.
Validation of 1-0 and instantaneous sampling for quantifying oral behaviors in milk-fed dairy calves.

ABSTRACT Oral behaviors, including feeding, drinking, grooming, and non-nutritive behaviors, are used as indicators of health and welfare in dairy calves, but continuous measurement of these behaviors can be labor intensive. Instantaneous sampling is often used to save labor but has only been validated for feeding behavior in calves. One-zero sampling may be an appropriate strategy well suited to capturing the rapid performance of non-nutritive behaviors. Our objective was to validate 1–0 and instantaneous sampling for measurement of oral behaviors around the time of bottle delivery against true values. Eleven Holstein heifer calves were housed individually, provided water, and fed a diet of starter grain and milk replacer (4.8–5.6 L/d step-up) via a bottle. When calves were 23 ± 7 d old, they were video recorded for 30 min before and after the morning 2.5 ± 0.2 L milk meal, from approximately 0900 to 1000 h. We measured ruminating, eating, drinking water, sucking milk, grooming, non-nutritive oral manipulation, and tongue flicks continuously and with instantaneous and 1–0 sampling at 5-, 10-, 30-, and 60-s intervals. We also examined the effect of instantaneous timing within these intervals. Estimates obtained through subsampling were compared with true values via regression analysis. The subsampling interval was determined to represent true values if the coefficient of determination ≥0.9, slope = 1, intercept = 0, and relative error
Implementation of the Telephone Montreal Cognitive Assessment in a Telemedicine Based Pre-admission Testing Clinic During COVID-19

Abstract Introduction Postoperative delirium (POD) affects 10-70% of patients 60 years or older and has been linked to increasing length of hospitalization, mortality, and morbidity. Pre-existing cognitive impairment is a predictor of POD. COVID-19 restricted use of in-person cognitive screens. The Telephone Montreal Cognitive Assessment (T-MoCA) can screen for cognitive dysfunction remotely. We evaluated the feasibility of administering T-MoCA in a multiethnic population during pre-operative testing televisits. Methods Patients scheduled for surgery between July 2020 and August 2020 were asked to participate in the T-MoCA at the end of their preadmission testing (PAT) televisit. A retrospective chart review was conducted to collect patient comorbidities and demographics. Patients were stratified by negative (T-MoCA≥19) or positive (T-MoCA Results Fifty out of 65 (77%) patients who consented to the T-MoCA completed the test. The average time to complete the assessment was 10.5 mins. Twenty two (44%) had a negative score and 28 (56%) had a positive score. Patients who had a positive T-MoCA were older (70.04±7.61 yrs) compared to those with a negative T-MoCA (67.68±4.69 yrs, p=0.007), although the distribution of patients above and below age 65 was not different (p=0.243). The two groups did not vary by gender, race/ethnicity, obesity, surgery type, or medical co-morbidities. When we examined our population for predictors of a positive T-MoCA, we found a trend toward men being less likely to score positive on T-MoCA (OR=0.33, 95% CI: 0.10-1.10, p=0.07) compared to women; and that patients with Hispanic race/ethnicity were more likely to test positive on the T-MoCA (OR=4.13, 95% CI: 0.84-20.28, p=0.08) compared to Non-Hispanic Whites. Conclusions Implementation of the T-MoCA in a telemedicine-based PAT setting is feasible. In our cohort, most people who consented to the assessment completed it, and more than half scored positively, which may have important implications on the surgical plan and post-operative recovery. There may be limitations in using T-MoCA in certain populations, such as non-English preferred language, hearing difficulties, lack of focus, and use of external aids, which would need to be explored in a larger sample size.
Embedding Euclidean Distance Graphs in $\mathbb{R}^n$ and $\mathbb{Q}^n$

For $S \subseteq \mathbb{R}$, positive integer $n$, and $d > 0$, let $G(S^n, d)$ be the graph whose vertex set is $S^n$ where any two vertices are adjacent if and only if they are Euclidean distance $d$ apart. The primary question we will consider in our work is as follows. Given $n$ and distance $d$ actually realized as a distance between points of the rational space $\mathbb{Q}^n$, does there exist a finite graph $G$ that appears as a subgraph of $G(\mathbb{Q}^n, d)$ but not as a subgraph of $G(\mathbb{R}^{n-1}, 1)$? We answer this question affirmatively for $n \leq 5$, and along the way, resolve a few related questions as well.
New perspectives on Rosa Luxemburg’s concept of the transition to socialism

The ongoing project to issue the Complete Works of Rosa Luxemburg, which will make all of her writings available in English translation, provides a critical lens to re-evaluate aspects of Luxemburg...
IoT-Based Dynamic Map Attributes for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles

The Internet of Things (IoT) is of paramount importance in the smart automotive industry, the growth of IoT has been exponential, where it enables greater transportations mobility and management efficiency through its framework. The IoT is paving the way for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs) in the subsequent economy, through advanced networking communication capabilities. The autonomous driving systems, especially, integrate sensing, localization, perception, decision-making technologies smoothly iterated through the cloud platforms for dynamic map generation and data upload and storage. As a part of the intelligent vehicles' integration, the localization unit acts as an intermediary to communicate a large amount of data between the CAVs and the cloud. In this work, we analyze the IoT reliability in CAVs situation, applying the dynamic map as up-to-date data that guides the vehicle during a road scenario by generating a secure path. We use the Frenet frame approach that ought to emulate human behavior while driving. The approach is used to generate a velocity profile that is critical for updating dynamic map information communicated through the cloud. We put in evidence, the velocities differences in the two extreme cases, by generating the data set required for an automated vehicle using the dynamic map characteristics, as a guideline on the road. We emphasize, through the generated profiles, the stability of the test case that uses the dynamic map as a guideline to generate the most robust automated path as safety wise. The emulated information could be implemented in the CAVs to avoid accidents on the road.
Ethnicity and causal mechanisms

Introduction Michael Rutter and Marta Tienda 1. Natural experiments, causal influences, and policy development Michael Rutter 2. Growing up ethnic in the UK and US: comparative contexts for youth development Marta Tienda 3. The multiple facets of ethnicity Michael Rutter and Marta Tienda 4. Educational attainments: ethnic differences in the UK Barbara Maughan 5. Race and ethnic inequality in educational attainment in the United States Charles Hirschman and Jennifer C. Lee 6. Racial and ethnic disparities in crime and delinquency in the United States Jeffrey D. Morenoff 7. Explaining ethnic variations in crime and antisocial behavior in the UK David J. Smith 8. Cultural differences in the effects of physical punishment Kirby Deater-Deckard, Kenneth A. Dodge and Emma Sorbring 9. Ethnicity and mental health: the example of schizophrenia in the African-Caribbean population in Europe Peter B. Jones and W. L. Alan Fung 10. Ethnic variations in youth suicide Jewelle Taylor Gibbs 11. Ethnicity and intergenerational identities and adaptations in Britain: the socio-political context Tariq Modood 12. Assimilation, dissimilation, and ethnic identities: the experience of children of immigrants in the United States Ruben G. Rumbaut 13. Deciphering ethnicity Marta Tienda and Michael Rutter.
Antiherpesviral DNA Polymerase Inhibitors

Acyclovir (ACV), whose mechanism is detailed in this chapter, heralded the second generation of antivirals for herpesviruses and set the standard for the development of antiviral drugs. Two limitations of oral acyclovir have been its limited oral bioavailability (~15%) and short half-life. These limitations require administration of large pills as often as every four hour. Valacyclovir and famciclovir overcome these limitations and would have completely displaced the use of acyclovir except for the expiration of the acyclovir patent resulting in the availability of low-cost generic drug. Both valacyclovir and famciclovir can be used for applications of oral acyclovir. In the herpesviruses considered here, there are six gene products with activities at the replication fork. The viral proteins that have thus far served as the best targets for antiherpesvirus drugs are the viral DNA polymerases that are required for viral DNA replication, which are thus targets for inhibition, and viral kinases. All of the nucleoside analogs discussed in this chapter are converted to analogs of deoxynucleoside triphosphates (dNTPs) that inhibit herpesvirus DNA polymerases. The mechanism of acyclovir action begins with the TK encoded by herpes simplex virus (HSV) or varicella-zoster virus (VZV). An important unanswered question is whether new antiherpesvirus drugs can be developed to combat drug-resistant human infections. Although the number of drug-resistant HSV infections is relatively small, the need for new drugs that are active against acyclovir-resistant viruses and that have good pharmacokinetic and toxicity profiles is substantial for the patients involved.
Improved map-slice-to-volume motion correction with b0 inhomogeneity correction: validation of activation detection algorithms using ROC curve analyses

Head motion is a significant source of error in fMRI activation detection and a common approach is to apply 3D volumetric rigid body motion correction techniques. However, in 2D multislice fMRI, each slice may have a distinct set of motion parameters due to inter-slice motion. Here, we apply an automated mutual information based slice-to-volume rigid body registration technique on time series data synthesized from a T2 MRI brain dataset with simulated motion, functional activation, noise and geometric distortion. The map-slice-to-volume (MSV) technique was previously applied to patient data without ground truths for motion and activation regions. In this study, the activation images and area under the receiver operating characteristic curves for various time series datasets indicate that the MSV registration improves the activation detection capability when compared to results obtained from Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM). The effect of temporal median filtering of motion parameters on activation detection performance was also investigated.
The American Voter Goes Shopping: Micro-Foundations of the Partisan Economy

While research shows that partisanship influences beliefs about the economy, it is yet to be established whether individual partisans engage in systematically different economic behaviors. Focusing on consumer behavior, the single largest determinant of economic activity in the United States, we develop a model of voters whose purchasing behavior is driven, in part, by their politically induced evaluations of macroeconomic conditions. We hypothesize that partisans will engage in systematically different consumption patterns of everyday goods, depending on whether their preferred party is in charge of economic policy. To evaluate whether partisan influences on consumer sentiment translate into partisan differences in consumer behavior, we utilize aggregate surveys of economic opinions, as well as individual-level surveys conducted before and after the 2000 presidential election of 26,000 respondents who provide detailed data about variety of economic behaviors. Our results show that Republicans had consistently more positive evaluations of the economy than Democrats, and this partisan gap in evaluations became more pronounced in the aftermath of the 2000 election. Moreover, our analyses of consumption behavior before and after the election show that elections indeed induce partisan divergence in how partisans consume, but these effects are modest and short lived.
Chapter 1 Polymeric and Molecular Organic Light Emitting Devices: A Comparison

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on light-emitting devices (LEDs) containing luminescent polymer thin films. The first LEDs-containing luminescent polymer thin films were demonstrated in 1990 (Burroughes et al., 1990), just 3 years after the reports of the demonstration of efficient molecular organic LEDs (OLEDs). Since then, the development of polymer LEDs (PLEDs) and small-molecule-based OLEDs proceeded in parallel. The two classes of devices have similar physical properties and operating characteristics between the optical and electronic properties of polymeric and molecular organic materials. The chapter describes the operating properties of PLEDs by focusing on notable differences between PLED and OLED technologies. The chapter introduces the structural and electro-optic property of polymers, describes the methods of growing thin films and emphasizes differences with molecular organic thin films. It also discusses the methods of patterning both classes of organic materials. The chapter outlines the advantages and disadvantages of both polymeric and molecular organic materials in comparison to more conventional inorganic semiconductors.
Computerized physician order entry systems:: Is the pharmacist's role justified?

In their recent commendable article, “A Cross-site Qualitative Study of Physician Order Entry,” Ash et al.1 concluded that collaboration and trust among organizational members and active engagement of clinicians are important factors in successfully implementing computerized physician order entry (CPOE) systems. The article contributed to our understanding of the reasons behind physicians' resistance and the factors that might promote successful CPOE implementations. Although the article mentioned “pharmacists as team members,” their role was not described explicitly. We would like to recommend active incorporation of clinical pharmacists in the health care team involved in using CPOE. Well-designed CPOE systems can improve the safety of patient care and reduce health care costs2–4 caused by medication errors. Yet, as the authors of this study mention, many physicians have been reluctant to use CPOE.1,6–9 From the physicians' perspective, CPOE generally takes more time than writing prescriptions on paper.6,9 Hence, most physicians still prefer the traditional method. It is important to note, however, that the CPOE process is a two-way communication between the physician and …
3-D floorplanning algorithm to minimize thermal interactions

An algorithm for including relative thermal interactions among different circuit modules within a 3-D system is introduced in this paper. Application of the proposed algorithm on MCNC and GSRC benchmark circuits is presented. The thermal behavior of a heterogeneous 3-D structure, consisting of a different number of modules and substrate materials, is evaluated to emulate the heat transfer characteristics of practical heterogeneous 3-D systems. The algorithm lowers thermal interactions between different modules while maintaining the peak temperature within a practical range. The thermal characteristics of the floorplan are evaluated using HotSpot and HotSpot Detailed 3-D and compared to a random floorplan. The recorded peak temperatures are within the practical range of on-chip temperatures.
Effect of isolated fractures on accelerated flow in unsaturated porous rock

[1] Fractures that begin and end in the unsaturated zone, or isolated fractures, have been ignored in previous studies because they were generally assumed to behave as capillary barriers and remain nonconductive. We conducted a series of experiments using Berea sandstone samples to examine the physical mechanisms controlling flow in a rock containing a single isolated fracture. The input fluxes and fracture orientation were varied in these experiments. Visualization experiments using dyed water in a thin vertical slab of rock were conducted to identify flow mechanisms occurring due to the presence of the isolated fracture. Two mechanisms occurred: (1) localized flow through the rock matrix in the vicinity of the isolated fracture and (2) pooling of water at the bottom of the fracture, indicating the occurrence of film flow along the isolated fracture wall. These mechanisms were observed at fracture angles of 20 and 60 degrees from the horizontal, but not at 90 degrees. Pooling along the bottom of the fracture was observed over a wider range of input fluxes for low-angled isolated fractures compared to high-angled ones. Measurements of matrix water pressures in the samples with the 20 and 60 degree fractures also demonstrated that preferential flow occurred through the matrix in the fracture vicinity, where higher pressures occurred in the regions where faster flow was observed in the visualization experiments. The pooling length at the terminus of a 20 degree isolated fracture was measured as a function of input flux. Calculations of the film flow rate along the fracture were made using these measurements and indicated that up to 22% of the flow occurred as film flow. These experiments, apparently the first to consider isolated fractures, demonstrate that such features can accelerate flow through the unsaturated zone and should be considered when developing conceptual models.
Division of House Chores and the Curious Case of Cooking: The Effects of Earning Inequality on House Chores among Dual-Earner Couples

This paper focuses on the division of chores at home between married, dual-earner spouses during the post-recession era using a multi-disciplinary perspective. Using Tobit regression estimations based on American Time Use Survey (ATUS), we test two dominant theories: bargaining/exchange theory and gender role theory. We find that, parallel to gender role theory, when men make less money than their wives and experience gender role threat, they do less housework regardless of the recession. However, they do not see cooking the same way. In the post-recession era, cooking does not behave the same way as the other chores. When men experience gender role threat, men do not decrease the amount of time they dedicate to cooking. Cooking does not have the same social meaning as other house chores do. Keywords: housework, gender, division of chores, recession.
A Field with a Life of Its Own

The Living Universe NASA and the Development of Astrobiology. By Steven J. Dick and James E. Strick . Rutgers University Press, Piscataway, NJ, 2004. 288 pp. $49.95. ISBN 0-8135-3447-X. Building on a review of the primary literature and oral history interviews, the authors chart the birth of exobiology and its subsequent transformation into the discipline of astrobiology.
Four-Point Bending Methodology development for 40nm technology Cu/Nblk interface adhesion measurement

A sample preparation methodology was developed for Four-Point Bending test (4PB) of Cu/Nblk (Nitrogen-doped Barrier for Low-k, SiCN) bi-material in order to overcome interfacial delamination zero yielding issue, possibly caused by the change in carbon content of Nblk film. The methodology involving (i) chemical de-processing (HNO 3 :BOE mixture) and (ii) film thickness optimization was instrumental in achieving greater than 50% delamination yield.
Shallow Water Quasi‐Geostrophic Theory on the Sphere

[1] Quasi-geostrophic theory forms the basis for much of our understanding of mid-latitude atmospheric dynamics. The theory is typically presented in either its f-plane form or its β-plane form. However, for many applications, including diagnostic use in global climate modeling, a fully spherical version would be most useful. Such a global theory does in fact exist and has for many years, but few in the scientific community seem to have ever been aware of it. In the context of shallow water dynamics, it is shown that the spherical version of quasigeostrophic theory is easily derived (re-derived) based on a partitioning of the flow between nondivergent and irrotational components, as opposed to a partitioning between geostrophic and ageostrophic components. In this way, the invertibility principle is expressed as a relation between the streamfunction and the potential vorticity, rather than between the geopotential and the potential vorticity. This global theory is then extended by showing that the invertibility principle can be solved analytically using spheroidal harmonic transforms, an advancement that greatly improves the usefulness of this “forgotten” theory. When the governing equation for the time evolution of the potential vorticity is linearized about a state of rest, a simple Rossby-Haurwitz wave dispersion relation is derived and examined. These waves have a horizontal structure described by spheroidal harmonics, and the Rossby-Haurwitz wave frequencies are given in terms of the eigenvalues of the spheroidal harmonic operator. Except for sectoral harmonics with low zonal wavenumber, the quasi-geostrophic Rossby-Haurwitz frequencies agree very well with those calculated from the primitive equations. One of the many possible applications of spherical quasi-geostrophic theory is to the study of quasi-geostrophic turbulence on the sphere. In this context, the theory is used to derive an anisotropic Rhines barrier in three-dimensional wavenumber space.
Both Rejection and Tolerance of Allografts Can Occur in the Absence of Secondary Lymphoid Tissues

In this study, we showed that aly/aly mice, which are devoid of lymph nodes and Peyer's patches, acutely rejected fully allogeneic skin and heart grafts. They mounted potent inflammatory direct alloresponses but failed to develop indirect alloreactivity after transplantation. Remarkably, skin allografts also were rejected acutely by splenectomized aly/aly (aly/aly-spl(-)) mice devoid of all secondary lymphoid organs. In these recipients, the rejection was mediated by alloreactive CD8(+) T cells presumably primed in the bone marrow. In contrast, cardiac transplants were not rejected by aly/aly-spl(-) mice. Actually, aly/aly-spl(-) mice that spontaneously accepted a heart allotransplant and displayed donor-specific tolerance also accepted skin grafts from the same, but not a third-party, donor via a mechanism involving CD4(+) regulatory T cells producing IL-10 cytokine. Therefore, direct priming of alloreactive T cells, as well as rejection and regulatory tolerance of allogeneic transplants, can occur in recipient mice lacking secondary lymphoid organs.
Market Signaling of Personal Characteristics

The literature on signaling emphasizes signaling by business firms and also signaling by individuals by means of gifts or consumption. But it has rarely considered signaling by individuals by means of market behavior such as buying and selling. This paper seeks to fill this gap in the literature. It presents a model of such signaling, emphasizing the distinction between endowed and purchased status signaling; explains behaviors too readily dismissed as "irrational"; and reinterprets the results of a number of experiments in behavioral economics as artifacts of signaling rather than symptoms of cognitive deficiencies or moral concerns.
The Emergence of Religious Enclaves: Somali Entrepreneurs in Minnesota

For immigrant business owners, co-ethnic networks are often a tremendous benefit, resulting in an ethnic enclave that helps businesses survive. In comparison to the well-developed literature on race and ethnicity in immigrant businesses, there is little research about the role of religion in immigrant entrepreneurial networks. This paper analyzes a 2008 survey of 90 Somali business owners and 45 control group non-migrant business owners in Minnesota and post-recession follow-up interviews conducted in 2013 with 20 of the original Somali respondents and 10 of the non-migrant entrepreneurs. In some ways, religion presents a set of obstacles for Somali entrepreneurs, particularly as Islam places restrictions on credit and interest and Muslims face discrimination as religious minorities. At the same time, interview data suggest Somali entrepreneurs have formed a supportive religious enclave, and religiously-based networks were essential in determining if and how Somali businesses were able to survive the recession years. Forming businesses can be a pathway to upward mobility and the establishment of strong communities for immigrant populations, though being a racial or religious minority can act as a severely limiting factor for business owners. However, the formation of ethnic and religious enclaves can provide a buffer for otherwise vulnerable entrepreneurs.
Chafing in fishes: occurrence, ontogeny, function and evolution

Modal action patterns used in maintenance behavior have often been included in animals' communication repertoires during evolution, yet for fish neither the occurrence nor subsequent ritualization of maintenance behavior has been demonstrated. We review the literature and show that one maintenance behavior, the chafe, occurs in at least 30 families of fish. The chafe thus appears to offer a fruitful tool for the phylogenetic analysis of behavior of fish. We show that chafing in Etroplus maculatus and Xiphophorus helleri functions to remove sources of irritation from their skin. We also show that during ontogeny and when in social groups the frequency of chafing does not change with age in E. maculatus and E. suratensis. Etroplus suratensis have about twice the body surface and chafe twice as often as E. maculatus. Chafe-like behavior in Etroplus is observed during ontogeny when young glance on their parents' body. Young E. maculatus without parents present chafe more frequently than young with parents present suggesting that chafing on the substrate may substitute for parent contacting. Chafing is also included in adult behavior where it occurs during pair-formation, nest relief behavior and as an interspecific signal performed by the cleaner E. maculatus upon the host E. suratensis. The maintenance chafe and glance upon the parent both occur rapidly while the chafe performed during pair-formation is slow suggesting a degree of ritualization.
Glaucoma therapy by extended release of timolol from nanoparticle loaded silicone-hydrogel contact lenses

Glaucoma is the second major cause of blindness in the world after cataract. Glaucoma management through eye drops that reduce the intraocular pressure (IOP) has major deficiencies including low patient compliance and low bioavailability. Extended wear contact lenses that deliver glaucoma drugs for extended periods could increase patient compliance, while also increasing the bioavailability. To develop extended wear contact lenses that can also provide extended glaucoma therapy, we disperse nanoparticles of PGT (propoxylated glyceryl triacylate) that contain a glaucoma drug timolol. The particles can also be loaded into prefabricated lenses by soaking the lenses in a solution of particles in ethanol. The particle loaded gels can release timolol in phosphate buffered saline (PBS) for about a month at room temperature. The most likely rate controlling mechanism is hydrolysis of the ester bond that links timolol to the PGT matrix, but other mechanisms such as water and drug diffusion, drug dissolution, drug-polymer chain cleavage, time-dependent drug permeability within the polymeric matrix, etc. may also be important. Nanoparticle incorporation in the silicone hydrogels results in reduction in ion and oxygen permeabilities, and an increase in modulus, and the impact on each of these properties is proportional to the particle loading. A gel with 5% particle loading can deliver timolol at therapeutic doses for about a month at room temperature, with a minimal impact on critical lens properties. Preliminary animal studies in Beagle dogs conducted with lenses in which particles are loaded by soaking the lenses in ethanol show a reduction in IOP.
Four problems on graphs with excluded minors

The four problems we consider are the Chinese postman, odd cut, co-postman, and odd circuit problems. Seymour's characterization of matroids having the max-flow min-cut property can be specialized to each of these four problems to show that the property holds whenever the graph has no certain excluded minor. We develop a framework for characterizing graphs not having these excluded minors and use the excluded minor characterizations to solve each of the four optimization problems. In this way, a constructive proof of Seymour's theorem is given for these special cases. We also show how to solve the Chinese postman problem on graphs having no four-wheel minor, where the max-flow min-cut property need not hold.
The Role of Maternal Acceptance in the Relation Between Community Violence Exposure and Child Functioning

Children in the United States are exposed to considerable community violence that has been linked to child functioning. However, not all those exposed, experience negative outcomes. Recent research has focused on factors that “buffer” or protect children from negative consequences of violence exposure. The purpose of this investigation was to examine the potential buffering or moderating role of maternal acceptance in the relationship between community violence exposure and internalizing and externalizing problems. Subjects were 268 urban African American first graders. Community violence exposure was significantly related to symptoms of post-traumatic stress, but did not correlate with either internalizing or externalizing problems for all children, after control for demographics, maternal mental health, and general life stress. However, children's perceptions of maternal acceptance moderated the relationship between violence exposure and internalizing and externalizing problems which included being withdrawn, anxious-depressed, and demonstrating delinquent behavior. Children with the lowest levels of self-reported maternal acceptance were most impacted by community violence. In this sample of urban first graders, low levels of maternal acceptance placed children at greater risk for adverse outcomes associated with community violence exposure compared to moderate and high levels of maternal acceptance.
Cucumber nosaic virus-associated RNA 5 VIII. Identification and partial characterization of a CARNA 5 incapable of inducing tomato necrosis

A new satellite-like replicating RNA found in association with cucumber mosaic virus type 1 (CMV-1), one of the earliest CMV isolates described (Doolittle, 1920), was identified and partially characterized. CMV-1-associated RNA 5, or (1)CARNA 5, was isolated from CMV-1 propagated in tomato, where it failed to induce lethal necrosis. In this way it was distinguished from CARNA 5 with the tomato necrosis-causing ability, which was redesignated (n)CARNA 5. Although (1)CARNA 5 and (n)CARNA 5 could be separated by 7.5% polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis under certain conditions, the molecules are probably identical in size, or nearly so. (1)CARNA 5 and (n)CARNA 5 have only limited nucleotide sequence homology. This is also evident from the different multitransitional absorbance-temperature profiles that can be obtained during the thermal denaturation of their respective double-stranded forms. In mixed infections in tomato, the replication of (1)CARNA 5 was also supported by CMV strains WT or S, while (n)CARNA 5 was supported by CMV-1. The biologically different (1)CARNA 5 and (n)CARNA 5 can be considered sequence variants among a group of small satellite-like RNA molecules dependent upon CMV for their replication.
Can imaging be used to assess treatment success after ablation of renal tumors

Interpretation of imaging studies after renal tumor ablation can be difficult. This Practice Point commentary discusses the study by Weight and colleagues, which examined the correlation between imaging studies and biopsy results 6 months after thermal ablation of renal tumors. One important point from the study is that non-enhancing treatment zones on early imaging studies might still harbor viable tumor cells, which illustrates the need for continued, careful follow-up after ablation, even if the tumor bed lacks enhancement. Nevertheless, post-ablation imaging for identification of recurrence is a critical part of renal tumor ablation. Research into understanding imaging findings, through correlation with pathology, is an important adjunct to the success of renal ablation therapy.
Intraoperative rupture of an abdominal aortic aneurysm during an endovascular stent-graft procedure.

Purpose To highlight the risk of intraoperative rupture as a complication of endovascular aortic repair.
Incorporated home‐made long endotracheal tube: A useful option for treating mucus plugging following silicone stenting

Stenting is an effective method of treating airway stenosis. However, airway obstruction due to mucus plugging is problematic. Treatment of this has mainly been conservative. This report describes a patient with complicated tracheal stenosis treated with silicone hood stent, who experienced repeated episodes of airway obstruction due to sputum accumulation. A novel method of sputum clearance and self-care, using a long endotracheal tube within the silicone stent, is described. This procedure resulted in a stable and patent airway, and the patient was discharged smoothly after the procedure. No further respiratory symptom occurred during the follow-up period.
Meaningful representation and recombination of variable length genomes

Optimization algorithms typically operate only within a fixed-sized design space, solving problems with a fixed number of parameters. However, many optimization problems allow for a variable number of components, where the optimal number may not be known a priori. These problems may be solved by using a genetic algorithm that utilizes a variable-length genome. A particular challenge when using variable-length genomes is the recombination of two parent solutions to produce meaningful children. The performances of several crossover operators are investigated and compared using a sensor placement testbed problem. It is shown that the optimal number of sensors may be determined by each operator, and that performance is improved when care is taken to preserve similarities between parent solutions. Performance may also be further improved by introducing a bias when pairing parents for recombination based on their relative genome lengths.
An unusual variant of the dorsal midbrain syndrome in MS: clinical characteristics and pathophysiologic mechanisms:

Patients with MS exhibit a broad diversity of ocular motor syndromes. We describe a patient with relapsing-remitting MS who developed an unusual variation of the dorsal midbrain syndrome, characterized by monocular convergent-retraction nystagmus in the right eye, accompanied by divergent-retraction nystagmus in the fellow eye upon attempted upward gaze. Examination also revealed a skew deviation with a left hyperdeviation and severe adduction limitation in the left eye during attempted right gaze. We propose that a left INO accounted for the inability of the left eye to adduct (and result in convergent-retraction) during attempted upward saccades. We consider the pathophysiologic mechanisms responsible for our observations and review important details of the dorsal midbrain ocular motor circuitry.