cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Better With Time: An Economic Assessment of Long-Term Mechanical Circulatory Support in a Population Surviving at Least 1 Year with a Left Ventricular Assist Device

This study aims to identify the major components of left ventricular assist device (LVAD)-related costs in a population on long-term mechanical circulatory support to gain insight into opportunities for improvements in quality, safety, and efficiency of care for end-stage heart failure patients. This was a single institution, retrospective cost analysis of patients who received a Heartmate II or HeartWare LVAD between November 2005 and October 2015. Payments for hospitalization for device implantation and subsequent readmissions were represented as the institution's 2015 Medicare reimbursement rate. The incidence, average Medicare reimbursement, and length of stay of readmissions were analyzed for the first year postimplant. A full year of LVAD-related hospitalizations in patients surviving ≥12 months, has a median Medicare reimbursement of $247,208. The most common complications related to ventricular assist devices were gastrointestinal bleeding, driveline infection, stroke, and pump thrombosis. Over 90% of total costs were incurred during the initial hospitalization. Seventy-five percent of first-time readmissions occurred within the first 4 months post discharge. Intensive care unit costs accounted for the single largest cost category during readmissions for all of the 4 most common complications. The trends demonstrated suggest that longer lengths of LVAD support in appropriately selected patients results in progressively decreasing cost-per-month up to 12 months, given the large upfront cost of device implantation and relatively modest additional costs of readmissions. This analysis emphasizes the importance of devices with improved complication profiles and clinical protocols to reduce unnecessary intensive care unit stays to increase the cost effectiveness of long-term ventricular assist device therapy.
A Sensor Fusion Based Robotic System Architecture using Human Interaction for Motion Control

The human-robot interaction is an emerging field in the area of robotics and growth in this field facilitates a sophisticated control system for the robotic system. Human-robot interaction allows the robot to determine some decision while the robot communicates with the human operator to make a more difficult decision. For this reason, different control systems for autonomous and tele-operated robots are assessed. Also, a few control algorithms are outlined for a better understanding of how the system makes decisions. The paper also proposes a motion control module that uses human robot interaction and sensor fusion for the robotic control system. This is a work in progress, and the control system architecture will be updated with more functionality and modules as the work progresses.
Obviation and Old French Subjunctive Clauses

Obviation, or the fact that the subject of the subjunctival subordinate clause cannot be coreferential with the subject of the main clause, as seen by the French example, *je veux que je parte ‘I want that I leave’ (cf. Ruwet 1984), is a topic that has been discussed widely in the literature, especially for the Romance languages, including Catalan (Picallo 1985), French (Jackubowicz 1985), Old French (Martineau 1994; Arteaga 2015), Italian (Costantini 2005, 2016), Portuguese (Raposo 1987), Romanian (Farkas 1984), and Spanish (Kempchinsky 2009). This chapter considers the lack of obviation in Old French. After reviewing analyses proposing that obviation effects are related to tense construal in the subordinate clause, it is proposed that the analyses in San Martin (2007) and Laskova (2017) can be adapted to account for the lack of obviation effects in Old French and Romanian. Our analysis is an extension of Arteaga (2015), in that it is valid cross-linguistically and does not rely on the morphological development from Old French to Modern French.
Influence of Simple and Radical Cystectomy on Sexual Function and Pelvic Organ Prolapse in Female Patients: A Scoping Review of the Literature.

Abstract Introduction Despite the high risk for sexual dysfunction and pelvic organ prolapse after cystectomy and urinary diversion, a paucity of data and attention to these issues exists in women. This is in stark contrast to the attention paid to male sexual function undergoing similar urologic procedures. As survivorship from bladder cancer improves, appropriate assessment and treatment of these quality of life conditions are needed. Whereas consideration of surgical approach and technique on male outcomes is widespread, female outcomes are lacking in comparison. Aim This scoping review evaluates sexual function and postoperative vaginal support in women undergoing cystectomy for benign and malignant diseases of the bladder. Methods This article reviews current evidence regarding sexual function and pelvic organ prolapse in women undergoing cystectomy and the potential impact of choice of urinary diversion on these outcomes. Main Outcome Measure We conducted a systematic literature review of sexual dysfunction and pelvic organ prolapse after cystectomy and urinary diversion. Results 73 relevant articles were reviewed regarding sexual dysfunction and pelvic organ prolapse after cystectomy. This review discusses key quality-of-life outcomes, the role of surgical approach, the importance of evaluation and counseling, and future directions in the field. Conclusion Our internal review highlights the urgent need to raise awareness among providers regarding the adverse impact of cystectomy on these important quality-of-life issues. Voigt M, Hemal K, Matthews C. Influence of Simple and Radical Cystectomy on Sexual Function and Pelvic Organ Prolapse in Female Patients: A Scoping Review of the Literature. Sex Med Rev 2019;7:408–415.
Metabolic Responses to Reductive Stress

Significance: Reducing equivalents (NAD(P)H and glutathione [GSH]) are essential for maintaining cellular redox homeostasis and for modulating cellular metabolism. Reductive stress induced by excessive levels of reduced NAD+ (NADH), reduced NADP+ (NADPH), and GSH is as harmful as oxidative stress and is implicated in many pathological processes. Recent Advances: Reductive stress broadens our view of the importance of cellular redox homeostasis and the influences of an imbalanced redox niche on biological functions, including cell metabolism. Critical Issues: The distribution of cellular NAD(H), NADP(H), and GSH/GSH disulfide is highly compartmentalized. Understanding how cells coordinate different pools of redox couples under unstressed and stressed conditions is critical for a comprehensive view of redox homeostasis and stress. It is also critical to explore the underlying mechanisms of reductive stress and its biological consequences, including effects on energy metabolism. Future Directions: Future studies are needed to investigate how reductive stress affects cell metabolism and how cells adapt their metabolism to reductive stress. Whether or not NADH shuttles and mitochondrial nicotinamide nucleotide transhydrogenase enzyme can regulate hypoxia-induced reductive stress is also a worthy pursuit. Developing strategies (e.g., antireductant approaches) to counteract reductive stress and its related adverse biological consequences also requires extensive future efforts.
Seasonal and spatial variations in the ocean-coupled ambient wavefield of the Ross Ice Shelf

The Ross Ice Shelf (RIS) is host to a broadband, multimode seismic wavefield that is excited in response to atmospheric, oceanic and solid Earth source processes. A 34-station broadband seismographic network installed on the RIS from late 2014 through early 2017 produced continuous vibrational observations of Earth's largest ice shelf at both floating and grounded locations. We characterize temporal and spatial variations in broadband ambient wavefield power, with a focus on period bands associated with primary (10–20 s) and secondary (5–10 s) microseism signals, and an oceanic source process near the ice front (0.4–4.0 s). Horizontal component signals on floating stations overwhelmingly reflect oceanic excitations year-round due to near-complete isolation from solid Earth shear waves. The spectrum at all periods is shown to be strongly modulated by the concentration of sea ice near the ice shelf front. Contiguous and extensive sea ice damps ocean wave coupling sufficiently so that wintertime background levels can approach or surpass those of land-sited stations in Antarctica.
The Value and Potential Integration of Pharmacy Technician National Certification into Processes That Help Assure a Competent Workforce.

The purposes of this study were: (1) to determine pharmacists’ perceptions of the impact of certification on competence in specific job skills, its impact in combination with job experience, and its impact in combination with other types of vocational education/training; (2) to identify elements that could potentially enhance the value, or impact of national certification; and (3) to determine how pharmacists view certification in light of various personnel management and organizational behavior phenomena. A self-administered survey was constructed and delivered in spring of 2019 to a random sample of four U.S. states chosen for their geographic diversity and relatively high proportions of both certified and non-certified pharmacy technicians. Following multiple reminders, a response rate of 19.3% was obtained. The 326 responding pharmacists saw certification being less impactful alone than when combined with other types of education/training and previous job experiences. They saw the need for more skills-related and “soft skills” content on the certification examination and agreed that certification is a factor in hiring decisions and that it should be required for designation for advanced practice status. Taken together, respondents saw the need for pharmacy leaders to integrate certification with other aspects of preparation to make for a more competent and professional workforce support team.
Review: The Global Middle Ages: Past and Present, edited by Catherine Holmes and Naomi Standen

Catherine Holmes and Naomi Standen, eds., The Global Middle Ages: Past and Present . Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018. 441 pp; illustrations; maps. ISBN 9780198837503. $45. The Global Middle Ages , a supplement to the journal Past and Present , is a welcome publication. Pre-1500 global history is a small field, and few works have taken up the middle period millennium (the volume covers roughly 500–1500 C.E.) in a comparative way at all, let alone in Africa, Oceania, and the Americas as well as Eurasia. Indeed, there is no volume, to my mind, that theorizes or conceptualizes the Middle Ages as a global era. This is a field-making volume, and for that reason alone, it belongs in the collection of any historian who is serious about world history or about the millennium in question. It is also a volume that grows out of a collaborative endeavor, a series of intensive workshops. No single individual could have covered its breadth, but neither is it a typical edited collection in which each chapter is a deep dive into one author's expertise. Instead, half the chapters are co-authored, and all of them include information about parts of the world far beyond the authors’ own specialties. It is commendable to see authors offering insights that they could not have reached outside the opportunities that the editors fostered. The volume is exemplary in that way. The Global Middle Ages defines itself against “the still ubiquitous idea” that “truly global history” only began with European long-distance maritime expeditions (1) and against a dominant teleology of global history, that of “relentless development of a global order defined by ever increasing circulation” (2). It is audacious for a global history book to reject a “globalization narrative” (18) in favor of an aspiration to study the millennium in question “in its own terms and in its own time” (15). The editors concede that “the topic is a moving target” (43). For a reader looking for …
Drug Use in Elderly During Surgery: They Were Youngsters Once

Pharmacologic management of the geriatric patient is fraught with pitfalls and complications. The polypharmacy patient is difficult to balance and difficult to manage in the postoperative setting. Preoperative planning for the most comorbid patients is helpful in the postoperative setting, and attention to the most common postoperative complications can prevent life-threatening complications from affecting our patients and their families. Careful attention to the geriatric patient and to the management of preexisting organ dysfunction can help secure a successful outcome for the geriatric patient, even the most comorbid, most frail, and most difficult to manage of these patients.
Need for effective HPV vaccine promotional messaging before sexual activity begins.

To the Editor: The human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common sexually transmitted infection1 and precedes cervical cancer. In 2006, the HPV vaccine was approved for US women aged 9 to 26 years. Vaccination rates are well below the 70% estimated needed coverage to realize population-level benefits.2 In the United States, regulations to make the vaccine mandatory have stirred controversy. Conservative groups object to compulsory vaccination arguing that vaccination may lead to sexual disinhibition.3 Vaccine acceptability research indicates that the proportion of parents who voice such concerns is low.4 However, the role of variables, (eg, children characteristics) that may influence parents' acceptability of vaccines that protect against a sexually transmitted infection, have not been studied. Research indicates that parents who believe that their child is at low risk because of lack of sexual activity tend to decline vaccination.5 Thus, parents may use perceived initiation of sexual activity as a heuristic to infer whether their child is in need of protection. If this is the case, then one should expect that parents of sexually active children may display greater involvement with a vaccination promotion message highlighting the losses of not vaccinating, compared with those highlighting the benefits, because such messages are more difficult to process and a greater degree of involvement is required.6 We presented information about HPV and the vaccine to 150 Hispanic, Non-Hispanic White, and African American mothers (mean age=33.72 [SD = 7.95] years) of daughters, aged 9 to 17 years, who had not received the HPV vaccine. We highlighted the benefits and losses of not vaccinating. Mothers had an income between 100% and 185% of federal poverty guidelines. We assessed perceived sexual experience of daughter (yes vs no) and intentions to vaccinate. We computed a MANCOVA controlling for education and insurance status. Results yielded a two-way interaction between framing and daughter's initiation of sexual activity F(1,128) = 3.83, P =.05, partial n2 = .02. Mean vaccination intentions following the loss frame were greater (M = 6.76, SD = 1.26) than the gain frame (M = 6.18, SD = 1.42), (d = .43) for mothers who perceived that their daughters may be sexually active. Our findings are worrisome because vaccination should occur before sexual activity and highlight the potential benefits of considering children characteristics in promotional messages. Future research should continue to investigate the manner in which sexuality-related issues/concerns may be influencing mothers' HPV vaccination decisions. Addressing such issues may contribute to increased vaccine acceptability.
Using unsupervised machine learning to identify changes in eruptive behavior at Mount Etna, Italy

Abstract Volcanoes frequently generate infrasound signals that need to be processed before they can be used to monitor and track changes in eruptive activity. Unsupervised machine learning is complementary to existing processing methods and can be used for data exploration to identify features of interest in the data. Here, I examine three days of infrasound data from Mount Etna, Italy, that encompasses the 24 December 2018 fissure eruption. The continuous infrasound data is divided into overlapping windows and for each window I extract seven features in the time and frequency domains that characterize the signal. I apply the k-means clustering algorithm to group the data into seven clusters and generate a discrete time series of cluster labels. The cluster labels clearly identify a change in eruptive activity from Strombolian explosions at the summit to lava fountaining at the fissure. Feature distributions and representative waveforms for each cluster are analyzed and source mechanisms are hypothesized. This work illustrates how advances in unsupervised machine learning can be leveraged to explore volcano infrasound data sets and demonstrates the potential of these techniques for monitoring eruptive activity.
Multiobjective optimization challenges in perioperative anesthesia: A review.

Physicians use perioperative decision-support tools to mitigate risks and maximize benefits to achieve the most successful outcome for patients. Contemporary risk-assessment practices augment surgeons' judgement and experience with decision-support algorithms driven by big data and machine learning. These algorithms accurately assess risk for a wide range of postoperative complications by parsing large datasets and performing complex calculations that would be cumbersome for busy clinicians. Even with these advancements, large gaps in perioperative risk assessment remain; decision-support algorithms often cannot account for risk-reduction therapies applied during a patient's perioperative course and do not quantify tradeoffs between competing goals of care (eg, balancing postoperative pain control with the risk of respiratory depression or balancing intraoperative volume resuscitation with the risk for complications from pulmonary edema). Multiobjective optimization solutions have been applied to similar problems successfully but have not yet been applied to perioperative decision support. Given the large volume of data available via electronic medical records, including intraoperative data, it is now feasible to successfully apply multiobjective optimization in perioperative care. Clinical application of multiobjective optimization would require semiautomated pipelines for analytics and reporting model outputs and a careful development and validation process. Under these circumstances, multiobjective optimization has the potential to support personalized, patient-centered, shared decision-making with precision and balance.
Association between body mass index and arsenic methylation in three studies of Bangladeshi adults and adolescents.

Abstract Background Water-borne arsenic (As) exposure is a global health problem. Once ingested, inorganic As (iAs) is methylated to mono-methyl (MMA) and dimethyl (DMA) arsenicals via one-carbon metabolism (OCM). People with higher relative percentage of MMA (MMA%) in urine (inefficient As methylation), have been shown to have a higher risk of cardiovascular disease and several cancers but appear to have a lower risk of diabetes and obesity in populations from the US, Mexico, and Taiwan. It is unknown if this opposite pattern with obesity is present in Bangladesh, a country with lower adiposity and higher As exposure in drinking water. Objective To characterize the association between body mass index (BMI) and As methylation in Bangladeshi adults and adolescents participating in the Folic Acid and Creatine Trial (FACT); Folate and Oxidative Stress (FOX) study; and Metals, Arsenic, and Nutrition in Adolescents Study (MANAS). Methods Arsenic species (iAs, MMA, DMA) were measured in urine and blood. Height and weight were measured to calculate BMI. The associations between concurrent BMI with urine and blood As species were analyzed using linear regression models, adjusting for nutrients involved in OCM such as choline. In FACT, we also evaluated the prospective association between weight change and As species. Results Mean BMIs were 19.2/20.4, 19.8/21.0, and 17.7/18.7 kg/m2 in males/females in FACT, FOX, and MANAS, respectively. BMI was associated with As species in female but not in male participants. In females, after adjustment for total urine As, age, and plasma folate, the adjusted mean differences (95% confidence) in urinary MMA% and DMA% for a 5 kg/m2 difference in BMI were −1.21 (−1.96, −0.45) and 2.47 (1.13, 3.81), respectively in FACT, −0.66 (−1.56, 0.25) and 1.43 (−0.23, 3.09) in FOX, and −0.59 (−1.19, 0.02) and 1.58 (−0.15, 3.30) in MANAS. The associations were attenuated after adjustment for choline. Similar associations were observed with blood As species. In FACT, a 1-kg of weight increase over 2 to 10 (mean 5.4) years in males/females was prospectively associated with mean DMA% that was 0.16%/0.19% higher. Discussion BMI was negatively associated with MMA% and positively associated with %DMA in females but not males in Bangladesh; associations were attenuated after plasma choline adjustment. These findings may be related to the role of body fat on estrogen levels that can influence one-carbon metabolism, e.g. by increasing choline synthesis. Research is needed to determine whether the associations between BMI and As species are causal and their influence on As-related health outcomes.
Wall Cooling Effect on High-Enthalpy Supersonic Modes over a Cone

High-enthalpy hypersonic boundary-layer transition plays an important role in many entry/descent vehicles. The aerothermodynamic performance of these vehicles strongly depends on the transition loc...
Associating complex traits with genetic variants: polygenic risk scores, pleiotropy and endophenotypes.

Genotype–phenotype causal modeling has evolved significantly since Johannsen’s and Wright’s original designs were published. The development of genomewide assays to interrogate and detect possible causal variants associated with complex traits has expanded the scope of genotype–phenotype research considerably. Clusters of causal variants discovered by genomewide assays and associated with complex traits have been used to develop polygenic risk scores to predict clinical diagnoses of multidimensional human disorders. However, genomewide investigations have met with many challenges to their research designs and statistical complexities which have hindered the reliability and validity of their predictions. Findings linked to differences in heritability estimates between causal clusters and complex traits among unrelated individuals remain a research area of some controversy. Causal models developed from case–control studies as opposed to experiments, as well as other issues concerning the genotype–phenotype causal model and the extent to which various forms of pleiotropy and the concept of the endophenotype add to its complexity, will be reviewed.
Methods for High-Throughput Computation of Elementary Functions

Computing elementary functions on large arrays is an essential part of many machine learning and signal processing algorithms. Since the introduction of floating-point computations in mainstream processors, table lookups, division, square root, and piecewise approximations were essential components of elementary functions implementations. However, we suggest that these operations can not deliver high throughput on modern processors, and argue that algorithms which rely only on multiplication, addition, and integer operations would achieve higher performance. We propose 4 design principles for high-throughput elementary functions and suggest how to apply them to implementation of log, exp, sin, and tan functions. We evaluate the performance and accuracy of the new algorithms on three recent x86 microarchitectures and demonstrate that they compare favorably to previously published research and vendor-optimized libraries.
Multi-port measurement-based package model extraction for single-ended and differential signaling

This paper presents a hybrid method that combines multi-port measurements, electromagnetic (EM) numerical tools, and extrapolation techniques for accurate characterization and modeling of an entire chip-to-chip interconnection link over tens of gigahertz (GHz) ranges. To characterize multi-line transmission lines, a frequency-dependent RLGC model was found from two-port and four-port measured scattering (S) parameters, and then the tabular W-element models were generalized for N-port models using a numerical electromagnetic (EM) field solver. As for the 3D structures, such as package vias and sockets, high-frequency test structures and fixtures were designed to obtain two-and four-port S-parameters. Again, two- and four-port limited measurement-based model were generalized to N-port three-dimensional problems using an EM tool. An entire chip-to-chip link consisting of 20-port was then generated and modeled using measurement data or measurement-based models after enforcing a certain passivity condition. Using the model, 10Gbps performances were successfully predicted for a generic chip-to-chip interconnection including only passive devices such as a CPU package, a socket, a PCB MB trace, and chipset package.
Puberty and Its Measurement: A Decade in Review

Since the early 1980s, the focus on the importance of puberty to adolescent development has continued with variability in the methodology selected to measure puberty. To capture the relevant and important issues regarding the measurement of puberty in the last decade, this paper will address (1) the neuroendocrine aspects of puberty and its components, as well as the timing of puberty and its tempo; (2) why puberty is measured, including the relevance of puberty and its timing to health and development as well as the relevance of being off‐time, that is, early or late with respect to a reference group; (3) the measurement of puberty and its methodology with respect to pubertal staging by physical examination, self‐report measures, and their agreement with other methods and measures, hormones and their methods of measurement, and comparison of hormone concentrations to pubertal stage; and (4) recommendations for what is needed in the next decade regarding the measurement of puberty.
mCiRNA—Synaptic Crystal Ball?

Comment on: Sheinerman KS, Tsivinsky VG, Crawford F, Mullan MJ, Abdullah L, Umansky SR. Plasma microRNA biomarkers for detection of mild cognitive impairment. Aging (Albany NY). 2012; 4:590-605.
SELF-PERCEPTION THEORY

Publisher Summary Individuals come to “know” their own attitudes, emotions, and other internal states partially by inferring them from observations of their own overt behavior and/ or the circumstances in which this behavior occurs. Thus, to the extent that internal cues are weak, ambiguous, or uninterpretable, the individual is functionally in the same position as an outside observer, an observer who must necessarily rely upon those same external cues to infer the individual's inner states. This chapter traces the conceptual antecedents and empirical consequences of these propositions, attempts to place the theory in a slightly enlarged frame of reference, and clarifies just what phenomena the theory can and cannot account for in the rapidly growing experimental literature of self-attribution phenomena. Several experiments and paradigms from the cognitive dissonance literature are amenable to self-perception interpretations. But precisely because such experiments are subject to alternative interpretations, they cannot be used as unequivocal evidence for self-perception theory. The reinterpretation of cognitive dissonance phenomena and other self-perception phenomena have been discussed. The chapter highlights some differences between self-perception and interpersonal perception and shift of paradigm in social psychology. It discusses some unsolved problems, such as the conceptual status of noncognitive response classes and the strategy of functional analysis.
Population Estimation Error and Its Impact on 1991–1999 Cancer Rates*

The error of closure in the 2000 census, or the difference between estimated and enumerated populations, poses special problems for public agencies that rely on census data. Nationally and at the state level, populations were only slightly underestimated, but underestimations were high in rapidly growing counties in the South and intermontaine West, as well as in New York City. Race-specific estimates proved far less reliable, with severe overestimates and underestimates of all racial groups in various counties nationwide. We offer explanations for the estimation error and discuss its impact on cancer rates and trends and its implications for cancer surveillance research.
Separation Conditions, Myopic Maps, and Criteria for UniformApproximation of Input-Output Maps

This paper considerably extends recent discrete-time (and discrete-space) results concerning the problem of obtaining criteria under which input-output maps can be uniformly approximated arbitrarily well using a certain structure consisting of a not-necessarily linear dynamic part followed by a nonlinear memoryless section that may contain sigmoids or radial basis functions, etc. In those results certain separation conditions of the kind associated with the Stone-Weierstrass theorem play a prominent role and emerge as criteria for approximation—not just sufficient conditions under which an approximation exists. Here we give corresponding results for a much larger set of maps of interest. More specifically, corresponding results are given for an important family of continuous-time and continuous space systems. As an example, it is shown that a large class of continuous-space myopic systems with continuous inputs can be uniformly approximated arbitrarily well using just a bank of shift operators followed by a nonlinear memoryless section. This directs attention to approximants for such systems of a very different type than those discussed earlier in the literature. In another example, a new result is given concerning the uniform approximation of a large class of myopic continuous-time systems with inputs that may have discontinuities.
Hydrothermal synthesis and structural characterization of prototypical organic–inorganic hybrid materials: [{Cu(2,2′-bpy)(H2O)}(VO)(O3PCH2PO3)], [Cu(2,2′-bpy)(VO)(O3PCH2CH2PO3)], and [Cu(2,2′-bpy)(VO)(O3PCH2CH2CH2PO3)]·H2O. Bimetallic phosphonate networks with surface-modifying organic subunits

Hydrothermal reactions of Cu2O or CuCl2 with Na3VO4, 2,2′-bipyridine and the appropriate organodiphosphonate yielded the bimetallic, two-dimensional phosphonate phases, [{Cu(2,2′-bpy)(H2O)}(VO)(O3PCH2PO3)], [Cu(2,2′-bpy)(VO)(O3PCH2CH2PO3)] and [Cu(2,2′-bpy)(VO)(O3PCH2CH2CH2PO3)]·H2O.
Thermochemistry of La0.7Sr0.3Mn1−xFexO3 solid solutions (0<x<1)

The structure, the energetics and the internal redox reactions of La0.7Sr0.3FexMn1−xO3 have been studied in the complete solid solution range 0.0<x<1.0. High temperature oxide melt drop solution calorimetry was performed to determine the enthalpies of formation from binary oxides and the enthalpy of mixing. There is a noticeable change in the energetics of the solid solution near x=0.7, which is due to the growing concentration of Fe4+ at higher Fe/(Fe+Mn) ratio. The balance between different valences of the transition metals, Mn and Fe, is the main factor in determining the energetics of the La0.70Sr0.30FexMn1−xO3 solid solution.
Augmented regionalism: Ingress as geomediated gaming narrative

As new mobile and gaming technologies become increasingly ubiquitous, they encourage new modes of storytelling and engagement. This article focuses on the Google game Ingress, which combines augmented reality with geomedia to create a robust and complex digital narrative. More importantly, Ingress combines globalism with regionalism in a way that rewrites the regional as global, and vice versa. In turn, the transformative nature of the smaller real-world regionalist narratives help to lend ethos to the overarching globalist (fictional) narrative within the game world. Through narrative analysis of this transmedia game world and community, this article considers ways that information and communications technologies are able to use storytelling to negotiate complex relationships between the regional and the global.
Validation of Optical Measurements of Cerebral Blood Flow and Volume with SPION and ASL fMRI

We attempt to validate optical measurements of cerebral blood volume and blood flow in a rat model during a hypercapnic challenge using functional MRI. Initial results show good correlation between optical measurements and MR results.
Influence of anthropometric and mechanical variations on functional instability in the ACL-deficient knee.

Individual variations in joint anatomy, tissue mechanical properties, and muscle strength of the knee are believed to affect the clinical outcome of ACL-deficient patients, but the effects have not been studied systematically. The impact of individual anthropometric and mechanical variation on functional stability of the ACL-deficient knee was investigated in this study using a two-dimensional mathematical knee model. The model included the tibiofemoral and the patellofemoral articulations, four ligaments, the medial capsule, and four muscle units surrounding the knee. Simulations were conducted to determine tibial anterior translation as well as tibiofemoral and patellofemoral joint loading at a single selected position during early stance phase of gait. Incremental hamstring muscle forces were applied to the modeled ACL-deficient knee in order to examine the level of the hamstring muscle forces required to prevent abnormal tibial anterior translation relative to the femur. Simulations were repeated using incremental variations in the selected anthropometric and mechanical properties of the ACL-deficient knee. It was found that bony geometry of the knee joint, especially the slope of tibial plateau, strongly affected both the tibial translations in the ACL-deficient knee and the effectiveness of the hamstring muscles to compensate for the ACL deficiency. For instance, simulations indicated that, due to ACL deficiency, the tibial anterior displacement increased by 9.1 mm for a tibial slope angle of 4° compared to 15.2 mm for a tibial slope angle of 12°. Future outcome studies for ACL-deficient knee may be required to include individual anthropometric and mechanical parameters of the knee as covariants. © 2003 Biomedical Engineering Society.
The Policy Constraints of Deficit Reduction: President Clinton's 1995 Budget

The federal budgeting process is now limited by deficit reduction policy constraints. This article examines the FY 1995 budget requests within the context of long term budget trends, changes in the federal budget process, and the recently established political and fiscal budget constraints. It further examines enactment of the Omnibus Budget Enforcement Act of 1993, the policy changes it contained, and its further tinkering with the process of budgeting. Finally the article evaluates the first budgeting process of the Clinton administration and their initiatives in deficit reduction following these policy constraints.
Gender and Age Do Not Alter Actuarial Incidence of Cardiac Dysfunction Following Anthracycline Chemotherapy of Childhood Malignancy

Gender and Age Do Not Alter Actuarial Incidence of Cardiac Dysfunction Following Anthracycline Chemotherapy of Childhood Malignancy
Neonatal Tolerant Immunity for Vaccination against Autoimmunity

Autoimmunity arises when the immune system no longer tolerates self and precipitates lymphocyte reactivity against our own antigens. Although the developing T cell repertoire is constantly purging, self-recognition events do exist when such tight control is evaded and autoreactive lymphocytes escape the thymus (the sites of T cell development) and migrate to the periphery. Upon activation these autoreactive cells may exert aggressive behavior toward one's own tissues and organs leading to autoimmune disease. Multiple sclerosis, Rheumatoid arthritis, and type I diabetes are autoimmune diseases mediated by autoreactive T cells. A logical approach to prevent such autoimmunity would be to reprogram those lymphocytes to tolerate the self antigen. Injection of antigen at the neonatal stage promotes a state of tolerance such that successive encounter with antigen does not precipitate aggressive reactions. The mechanism underlying neonatal tolerance involves priming of T cells whose effector functions do not cause inflammatory reactions upon recognition of antigen but rather induce protective immunity. This form of tolerant immunity provides an attractive strategy for vaccination against autoimmunity. Herein, it is shown that neonatal exposure to a self-peptide-immunoglobulin chimera drives a tolerant immunity toward the self-peptide and protects against the autoimmune disease, experimental allergic encephalomyelitis.
Phosphorylation-dependent Conformational Changes Induce a Switch in the Actin-binding Function of MARCKS *

Phosphorylation of myristoylated alanine-rich protein kinase C substrate (MARCKS) by protein kinase C eliminates actin filament cross-linking activity, but residual filament binding activity docks phosphorylated MARCKS on filamentous actin. The postulated actin-binding region of MARCKS, which includes a Ca(2+)-calmodulin-binding site, has been portrayed with alpha-helical structure, analogous to other calmodulin-binding domains. Previous speculation suggested that MARCKS may dimerize to form the two functional actin-binding sites requisite for cross-linking activity. Contrary to these hypotheses, we show that MARCKS peptide with actin-cross-linking activity has an extended structure in aqueous solution but assumes a more compact structure upon phosphorylation. We hypothesize that structural changes in the MARCKS peptide induced by phosphorylation create a dynamic structure that, on average, has only one actin-binding site. Moreover, independent of the state of phosphorylation, this peptide is monomeric rather than dimeric, implying that two distinct actin-binding sites are responsible for the actin-cross-linking activity of unphosphorylated MARCKS. These studies uniquely elucidate the mechanism by which phosphorylation of MARCKS induces structural changes and suggest how these structural changes determine biological activity.
Calculation of the Mollwo-Ivey parameters in the point-ion approximation

We report the first general calculation of the empirical parameters appearing in the Mollwo-Ivey relation between absorption energy and interionic spacing for defects in ionic solids. The calculation is based on the Vinti sum-rule formulation of the Mollwo-Ivey law [Phys. Rev. Lett. 69, 184 (1992)], a self-consistent Hartree-Fock-Slater procedure for defect ions, and a host-crystal environment modeled in the point-ion approximation. The Ivey exponent is reproduced in most cases to within better than 20% using this model in the alkali halides. The wide range of Ivey exponents can be qualitatively understood in terms of the compressibility of the defect.
Genetically modified food in perspective: an inquiry‐based curriculum to help middle school students make sense of tradeoffs

To understand how students learn about science controversy, this study examines students' reasoning about tradeoffs in the context of a technology‐enhanced curriculum about genetically modified food. The curriculum was designed and refined based on the Scaffolded Knowledge Integration Framework to help students sort and integrate their initial ideas and those presented in the curriculum. Pre‐test and post‐test scores from 190 students show that students made significant (p < 0.0001) gains in their understanding of the genetically modified food controversy. Analyses of students' final papers, in which they took and defended a position on what type of agricultural practice should be used in their geographical region, showed that students were able to provide evidence both for and against their positions, but were less explicit about how they weighed these tradeoffs. These results provide important insights into students' thinking and have implications for curricular design.
Two Kinds of Reality

The present discussion arose from the desire to explain, to an audience of non-physicists,1 the epistemology to which one is forced if one pursues the quantum mechanical theory of observation to its ultimate consequences. However, the conclusions will not be derived from the aforementioned theory but obtained on the basis of a rather general analysis of what we mean by real. Quantum theory will form the background but not the basis for the analysis. The concept of the real to be arrived at shows considerable similarity to that of the idealist. As the title indicates, it is formulated as a dualism. It is quite possible that it will soon be rejected not only by the community of the philosophers but also by that of the scientists. If this should be the case, the attempt to derive an epistemology from physics will prove to have been premature. Naturally, the author hopes that this will not be the case because, quite apart from the quantum theoretical background, the concepts to be presented appear natural also as an outgrowth of common sense considerations. They have been arrived at by many (including Schrodinger) who did not accept the epistemology of quantum mechanics.
Vortex core detection: back to basics

Analyzing vortices in fluid flows is an important and extensively studied problem. Visualization methods are an important tool, and vortex cores, including vortex-core axes, are frequently objects for which visualization is attempted. A robust definition of vortex-core axis has eluded researchers for a decade. This paper reviews the criteria described in some early papers, as well as recent papers that concentrate on issues of unsteady flows, and attempts to build on their ideas. In particular, researchers have proposed criteria that are desirable for a vortex-core axis that correspond to nonlocal properties, yet current extraction methods are all based on local properties. Analysis is presented to support the thesis that inaccuracies observed in some popular early methods are due to a mixture of frequencies in the flow field in vortical regions. Such mixtures occur in steady flows, as well as unsteady (time-varying) flows. Thus, the fact that the flows are unsteady is not necessarily the primary reason for inaccuracies recently observed in vortex analysis of such flows. It is hypothesized that time-varying (unsteady) flows tend to be more complex, hence tend to have mixed frequencies more often than steady flows. We further conjecture that an "effective" lack of Galilean invariance may occur in steady or unsteady flows, due to the interaction of low frequencies with high frequencies.
The promise and the promises: Partnerships from a university perspective

Abstract This study describes issues related to the genesis of two university and middle‐school partnerships as experienced and related by the university faculty members who have participated in the process. Benefits and tensions have surfaced from these partnerships. Some of the benefits included a broader community of professional colleagues, opportunities to collaborate on research, and firsthand experiences with school reform. The tensions involved conflicts with the university's reward system, the length of time it takes to build trust, the difficulties in establishing collaborative research agendas and balancing two worlds, and feelings of detachment from university colleagues and activities. Although promises have been made that the university's reward system will change to give priority to work in schools, this is a major concern for non‐tenured faculty. In spite of this, there is great potential in these partnerships to affect change in teacher education.
Welfare effects of announcing election forecasts

A voter's behavior may be affected by his knowledge of how others plan to vote. One example of the dissemination of such knowledge is provided by United States presidential elections, which are preceeded by numerous polls and the results of which are predicted on the basis of early voting returns. These forecasts are heavily publicized by newspapers and television. It has been argued that announcing the results of these projections is in some sense harmful and should therefore be prohibited. On the other hand, an economist's reaction might be that the more information the better, just as with any good. Our purpose here is to provide a more complete analysis of these propositions.
Biophysics of Radiofrequency Ablation

Radiofrequency (RF) ablation is a treatment modality that kills unwanted tissue by heat. Starting with cardiac arrhythmia treatment in the 1980s, RF ablation has found clinical application in a number of diseases, and is now the treatment of choice for certain types of cardiac arrhythmia and certain cancers. During RF ablation, an electrode is inserted into or steered intravascularly to the target tissue region under medical imaging guidance. Then, a tissue volume surrounding the electrode is destroyed by heating via RF electric current. This paper reviews the biophysics of tissue heating during RF ablation. Effects of electrical tissue conductivity and its change with temperature are discussed. Procedures and devices specific for cancer treatment and for arrhythmia treatment are presented with a brief discussion of additional clinical applications.
Biomarker sampling of the airways in asthma.

Purpose of review Although there are several known methods by which to sample the upper and lower airways in asthmatic patients, new endpoints have emerged over the past few years from these sampling techniques that may be useful biomarkers. It is both timely and relevant that these endpoints be reviewed in the context of their role in asthma and hence as potential biomarkers in asthma. Recent findings This article will cover various upper and lower airway sampling methods, and the standard and specialized endpoints that can be derived from those methods. For the nasal airways, this will include nasal lavage, exhaled nasal nitric oxide and acoustic rhinometry. For the lower airways this will include induced sputum, bronchoscopy-based methods and exhaled breath. Summary Some methodologies such as bronchoscopy remain limited in their widespread clinical application due to their invasive nature. Less invasive techniques such as electronic nose and breath condensate have potential biomarker application but still require standardization and additional study. It is clear, however, that despite the applicability of a given sampling technique, both routine (cells and cytokines) and specialized (genomic, phenotypic, hydration) endpoints are measurable and should be combined in clinical trial studies to yield maximum results in asthma.
Nevoid hyperkeratosis of the areola misinterpreted as mycosis fungoides.

Nevoid hyperkeratosis of the nipple and areola is a benign condition with fewer than 70 cases reported in the literature. We report a case of unilateral nevoid hyperkeratosis of the areola with intraepidermal lymphocytes that resembled Pautrier's microabscesses on histological examination. This is the third report of mycosis fungoides-like changes in nevoid hyperkeratosis of the nipple and areola. In addition, this is the first case to present immunohistochemical and T-cell gene rearrangement studies of the intraepidermal lymphocytes. This case highlights a potential histopathological pitfall in the diagnosis of nevoid hyperkeratosis of the nipple and areola. Rosman IS, Hepper DM, Lind AC, Anadkat MJ. Nevoid hyperkeratosis of the areola misinterpreted as mycosis fungoides.