cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Density scaling of the dynamics of vitrifying liquids and its relationship to the dynamic crossover

Abstract A central question concerning glass-formation has been what governs the kinetic arrest of the quenched liquid – cooling reduces the thermal energy which molecules need to surmount local potential barriers, while the accompanying volume contraction promotes molecular crowding and congestion (and thus alters the potential). Recent experimental findings have shown that both thermal energy and density contribute significantly to the temperature-dependence of vitrifying liquids. Herein, we show that the scaling (superpositioning) of the relaxation times near the glassy state, by expressing them as a function of temperature and the specific volume, leads to a modification of the usual fragility curves, whereby differences in the extent of departure from Arrhenius behavior can be rationalized. More intriguingly, the characteristic changes in the relaxation properties (i.e., the ‘dynamic crossover’), occurring well above the liquid-to-glass transition, are shown to be related to the same function that superposes the relaxation data.
Standard-Target Calibration of Active Sonars Used to Measure Scattering: Principles and Illustrative Protocols

The standard-target sonar-calibration method was used as early as the 1940s. Its development since then is reviewed, as is the prerequisite for the method, the standard target. The theoretical basis for the method is established, with the aim of enabling sonar output signals to be expressed in absolute physical units of scattering. This is done with reference to the volume scattering coefficient ${s_V}$ and physical effects intrinsic to operational sonars. A constituent of ${s_V}$ , the generally bistatic acoustic sampling volume, is elaborated. Formulas are developed for the calibration constant in the energy domain and the combined transmit–receive frequency response function in the spectral domain. Practical elements of a calibration are elaborated in terms of the sonar specification, candidate calibration venue, environmental state, and calibration exercise design, including reference-beam approach. These elements are illustrated through the example of a standard-target calibration of a sonar with multiple beams at a land-based facility. The venue is specified in terms of its measurement volume, and equipment and instrumentation. Preparations for the exercise are enumerated, and reference-beam and nonreference-beam protocols are described. The intended audience for this paper is those who require a basic understanding of principles to be able to organize or undertake the standard-target calibration of new sonars on arbitrary platforms or known sonars on new platforms.
Action knowledge and symbolic knowledge. The computer as mediator / Conocimiento basado en la acción y conocimiento simbólico. El equipo informático como mediador

I begin by stating a small set of troublesome but pervasive educational issues. While these have remained in the background during our work, they have served as the impetus for developing and refle...
Generation of a Two-Dimensional Silicon Carbide Lattice

Silicon carbide was generated by pyrolysis of gas mixtures consisting of silicon tetrachloride, hydrogen, and organic vapors, such as acetone, on fine tungsten wires resistance-heated at 1500°C. Prominent two-dimensional structure was demonstrated for the 220 reflection. All other lines were of the normal three-dimensional lattice type.
Buried deep beyond the veil of extinction: Euphyllophyte relationships at the base of the spermatophyte clade.

PREMISE OF THE STUDY The deep origin and early evolution of seed plants (spermatophytes) are poorly understood. Starting in the Early Devonian, euphyllophytes diversified rapidly into several groups. Two of these groups, progymnospems and Stenokoleales, along with satellite taxa, have been involved in discussions of seed plant origins. Because these early lineages are extinct, the key to the origin and early evolution of seed plants lies in the fossil record. Decades-long paleobotanical work has produced data on the diversity and anatomy of fossil species, which now provide a foundation for exploring seed plant origins in a phylogenetic context. METHODS We address phylogenetic relationships between early seed plants, aneurophytalean progymnosperms, Stenokoleales, and several Devonian species of uncertain affinities using parsimony analyses that include 28 anatomically preserved species (the most comprehensive taxon sampling to date) and 49 morphoanatomical characters (including nine continuous characters). KEY RESULTS Our analyses recover monophyletic seed plants, Stenokoleales, and aneurophytes, with the latter placed as sister to a clade (termed the bilateral clade) that includes the former two. When added in the analysis, continuous characters based on anatomy improve phylogenetic resolution. CONCLUSIONS Our results support the groups defined by traditional taxonomy, resolve Stenokoleales nested among the lignophytes, and indicate that seed plants may share a closer ancestor with Stenokoleales than with aneurophytes. Additionally, our trees suggest a Givetian minimum age for the seed plant ancestor, a late Emsian minimum age for the Stenokoleales, and early Emsian minimum ages for lignophytes, the bilateral clade, and the aneurophyte ancestor.
Toward an Alliance Between the Issue-Processing Approach and Pragma-Dialectical Analysis

On the approach to discussions of policy choices that treats such discussions as instances of issue-processing, the joint use of the logic of questions and the logic of rules gives precise formulation to two sorts of issues. To one sort of issue belong issue-circumscribing questions; to another sort, issues-simplicter, which consist of disjunctions of policy proposals – so many proposed social rules – that are answers, in the case of each disjunction, to a given issue-circumscribing question. Work in pragma-dialectics can take over the issue-processing approach; and by doing so add to the pragma-dialectical repertory further dimensions in the analysis of issues and in protocol-narratives of discussion. The analysis and narratives would now include accounts of how issue-circumscribing questions generate initial standpoints and how discussions sometimes end with compromises between standpoints. Further research questions follow about transformations of issues and the comparison of successive rounds of discussion. A narrative of one period of discussion during `the War on Drugs' in the United States illustrates these points.
Rent-Seeking by Mutual Fund Managers: Evidence from Equity Contract Renegotiations

I take advantage of a government announcement that non-tradable shares would become free to trade, but requiring that non-tradable shareholders pay compensation to tradable shareholders. Motivated by the finding that fund ownership negatively affects the compensation received by tradable shareholders in the negotiation over compensation, I present systematic evidence showing that this is likely the result of agency problems among fund managers taking side payments (bribes) from non-tradable shareholders in exchange for poor bargaining outcomes.
Regional Brain Blood Flow Estimated by Using Particle Distribution and Isotope Clearance Methods

With the development of radio-active particles, investigators [1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10] have been re-examining regional distribution of the cardiac output (C.O.) to organs and tissues, including the brain of experimental animals. Carbonized microspheres appeared to be distributed in direct proportion to blood flow (BF) and by appropriate size selection, essentially all can be removed in one circulation. Preliminary studies [9] were performed to examine regional BF and total brain flow (TBF) in the dog brain. These have been extended and the effect of breathing 5% CO2 on BF has been studied [10]. External isotope monitoring to detect the washout of residual (r) radioactivity of an inert gas in a tissue has become an important tecnique to study regional BF. Many investigators [3, 4, 7 and others] have used this approach to examine cerebral blood flow (CBF). This study proposed to determine regional and TBF by particle distribution method and also analyze cortical blood flow by the rCBF approach using 133Xe to provide a comparative study.
Developmental and Synaptic Regulation of 5-HT2 and 5-HT1c Serotonin Receptors

5-HT2 and 5-HT1c receptors are regulated by a number of exogenous and endogenous factors via biochemical and molecular mechanisms which remain largely uncharacterized. To clarify some of these we investigated the effects of (1) normal perinatal development and (2) acute and chronic receptor blockade on the levels of 5-HT2 and 5-HT1c receptor binding and mRNAs. During rat brain development, 5-HT2 receptors increased 8-fold while 5-HT2 receptor mRNA rise by 13-fold. 5-HT1c receptors displayed a 2.2-fold elevation while 5-HT1c mRNA increased 6-fold. On the basis of these observations, we postulate that transcriptional processes appear to be important for regulating 5-HT2 receptors during development.
Nitrogen-15 Solid-State NMR Study of RDX and HMX-Polymorphs

The study of the molecular structure and conformation of explosive materials in the solid state is more relevant to the explosive behavior than the structure in solution. The recently developed high-resolution, solid-state NMR techniques, namely cross polarization, magic angle rotation and high power proton decoupling, have been applied to obtain N-15 NMR spectra of the important nitramine explosives, RDX and HMX, enriched in N-15 content. The spectra of RDX and the four polymorphs of HMX are clearly distinguishable and show promise of interesting correlations with the charge densities on the nitrogens of each conformation in the crystal structure derived from molecular orbital calculations. These spectra represent some of the first few solid-state N-15 NMR spectra available in the literature.
Buried Tunnel Junction VCSEL with High Contrast Grating Top Reflector

Emerging applications of optical sensing in consumer products, such as facial recognition based on structured light and time of flight proximity sensing, create high volume demand for low-cost illumination sources in the infrared wavelength range. Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers (VCSELs), manufactured into arrays of tens to thousands of elements, show superior beam quality compared to LEDs and edge emitter lasers and sufficient power for most applications. In this paper we present a high contrast grating enabled VCSEL with a buried tunnel junction emitting in the 980 nm wavelength range. The presented architecture with lithographically defined current aperture promises potential for highly uniform and dense VCSEL arrays. In our work we describe an epitaxial regrowth process for VCSELs incorporating a GaAs tunnel junction. Prototype single emitter devices with aperture sizes from $6-12\ \mu \mathrm{m}$ where fabricated. Devices with $6-8\ \mu \mathrm{m}$ apertures achieved submilliamp thresholds, while devices with $12 \ \mu \mathrm{m}$ apertures demonstrated 1.4 mW peak power and a thermal resistance of 1.21 K/mW.
Black Scorpion (Tityus obscurus) Fatalities in Guyana and a Literature Review.

Abstract Background More than 1500 scorpion species exist worldwide, with a few scorpion species potentially lethal to humans. About 1 million stings annually result in >3000 deaths, but the incidence and mortality vary greatly by species and location. Physicians working internationally must recognize that resulting toxidromes vary significantly by region. Over the past few decades, South America has reported relatively few deaths and low case mortality rates from envenomations. In Guyana, a small tropical country on its northeast coast, they have been extremely rare. A sudden fatal case cluster suggests an extension of the black scorpion's habitat, an increase in venom toxicity, or both. Case Reports During a 12-month period, Guyana experienced 3 deaths, including 1 adult, from black scorpion (Tityus obscurus) envenomation. The 30-year-old man and 2 young children experienced the same symptom complex, initially appearing well except for pain at the sting site. They soon developed persistent emesis and leukocytosis. All were flown from remote jungle areas to the only public tertiary care hospital where they received maximal available medical support. They gradually developed profound cardiopulmonary failure requiring ventilation and, eventually, dysrhythmias. None had hyperglycemia or pancreatitis, and they had no neurologic abnormalities until developing progressive obtundation immediately before intubation. Why Should an Emergency Physician be Aware of This? Scorpion envenomation symptoms, outcomes, and treatment are geographically specific. Patients benefit when clinicians recognize the worldwide variations in grading systems and treatment options, which we discuss and compare to our patients.
An Assessment of the Factors Influencing the Selection of the Best Carsharing Alternative in Portland Area Using Hierarchical Decision Modeling (HDM)

Carsharing is a business model of car rentals that allows consumers to benefit from a private vehicle for short periods while being relieved of the costs of the purchase and maintenance. Carsharing is a growing industry and some players are trying to get a hold in the already competitive market. The current transportation market offers consumers many options for buying a vehicle, but fewer practical options for using a vehicle occasionally. Carsharing provides the benefits of allowing easy access to vehicles spread across the city that are rented per an hour or day. It is an increasingly common option for locals and tourists who want to get from one place to another without spending too much time on public transports. These have the added benefit of convenience and comfort of four-wheelers without paying much extra, as in the case of conventional rental cars, taxi, or cabs. This paper uses Hierarchical Decision Model (HDM) to evaluate the factors influencing the selection of the best carsharing alternative around Portland area by analyzing different perspectives and criteria that influence the selection. This paper address which criteria are most important to renters and provide recommendations for renters and carsharing businesses. The findings suggest that most essential criteria for the consumers are insurance coverage, reliability, rental cost, drop-off-options, and gas cost.
Sea lamprey cardiac mitochondrial bioenergetics after exposure to TFM and its metabolites

Population control of invasive sea lamprey relies heavily on lampricide treatment of infested streams. The lampricide 3-trifluoromethyl-4-nitrophenol (TFM) is thought to impair mitochondrial ATP production through uncoupling oxidative phosphorylation. However, the effect of TFM on the entire electron transport chain (complexes I to V) in the mitochondria is not clear. In addition, TFM is reduced in phase I metabolism by sea lamprey at higher levels than in other fish species. The effects of these TFM reductive metabolites on mitochondria have not been explored. In this study, we sought to examine the effects of TFM and its reductive metabolite amino-TFM (TFMa) on cardiac mitochondrial oxygen consumption and membrane potential to delineate potential mechanisms for toxicity. To determine if molecules with similar structure also exhibit similar effects on mitochondria, we used 4-nitro-3-methylphenol (NMP) and its reductive metabolites 4-amino-3-methylphenol (NMPa) and 4-nitroso-3-methylphenol (NMPn) for comparisons. We found that mitochondrial bioenergetics was heavily affected with increasing concentrations of TFM, NMP, and NMPa when complexes I and II of the electron transport chain were examined, indicating that the toxic action of these compounds was exerted not only by uncoupling complex V, but also affecting complexes I and II.
A Guide to Management of Sleepiness in ESKD

Daytime sleepiness, also known as hypersomnolence, is common among patients receiving maintenance dialysis and following successful kidney transplantation. Sleepiness may be secondary to medical comorbid conditions, medication side effect, insufficient sleep syndrome, and sleep-disordered breathing or the result of a primary central disorder of hypersomnolence, such as narcolepsy. Unrecognized and untreated sleep disorders are associated with substantial morbidity and mortality among patients with end-stage kidney disease. Effective management of hypersomnolence can improve quality of life in patients with kidney disease. This review focuses on the principal causes of sleepiness in patients with end-stage kidney disease. Awareness of these disorders by treating nephrologists is crucial. This review provides a systematic approach to guide providers through the recognition, early diagnosis, and treatment of hypersomnolence, which is commonly encountered in this patient population. Areas of future research are also suggested.
Treatment of incompleteness in obsessive-compulsive disorder

Abstract Incompleteness, defined as the sense that a behavior has not been fully executed, has emerged as a potential motivator of obsessive-compulsive behavior. Treatment protocols for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) have emphasized exposure with response prevention in alleviating obsessional experiences and associated compulsions in targeting harm avoidance. The present case illustration presents an adult who sought treatment for harming obsessions with additional symptoms of incompleteness. Treatment targeting incompleteness was early in the course of intervention, and in this instance, treatment provided minor relief that set the occasion for vigorous targeting of harming obsessions and associated compulsivity. Recommendations for future research into clinical interventions for incompleteness and its role in a comprehensive treatment plan for OCD is provided.
Chemically bonded thermal impulse sensors for use in extreme environments

We have developed nano/microscale thermal impulse (TI) (i.e., temperature and duration) sensors for use in extreme environments such as explosions, furnaces, and combustion experiments. These sensors consist of chemically bonded precursor Eu : ZrO 2 and precursor Dy : Y 2 O 3, which are prepared via mixed coprecipitation. In this study, we demonstrate their functionality for subsecond pulsed laser heating (isothermal duration of ≈ 10 ms) up to 1773 K, with evidence suggesting functionality to even higher temperatures. This large range is due to the formation of a new mixed-material phase (similar to yttria-stabilized zirconia) that results in spectral features that are not seen in the component materials on their own. To the best of our knowledge, this material has the largest functional temperature range of any ex situ TI sensor reported in the literature.
Identifying the Geographic Profile of International Visitors to the United States for Neurosurgical Education: A Single Institution's Experience.

Background Departments of neurosurgery in the United States have had a long history of hosting international visitors for the advancement of their neurosurgical education. The goal of the present study was to determine the existence of a geographic profile of international visitors for education purposes, both students and graduates, to the United States through the anecdotal experience of 1 department to explore the reach and worth of hosting such opportunities. Methods Administrative records were retrospectively reviewed for international visitors over the preceding 10 years, 2009–2019, were surveyed at 1 institution. Visitors were grouped as either medical students or graduates, visiting for clinical or research purposes. Geographic trends were compared using the Pearson chi-squared test. Results We identified 128 visitors from 33 countries during the study period. The most common home countries were Italy (10%), China (9%), and India (7%). The cohort involved 62 (48%) students and 66 (52%) graduates, and 59 (46%) and 69 (54%) visited for clinical and research purposes, respectively. The geographic distribution of student versus graduate visitors was statistically significant by region (P Conclusions There appears to be international appeal worldwide to participate in neurosurgical education in the United States. At our institution, every geographic region was represented in our most recent decade of experience. International visitor profiles appear to be associated with particular geographic patterns depending on their status as either a medical student or graduate.
Reduced-rank Least Squares Parameter Estimation in the Presence of Byzantine Sensors

In this paper, we study the impact of the presence of byzantine sensors on the reduced-rank linear least squares (LS) estimator. A sensor network with N sensors makes observations of the physical phenomenon and transmits them to a fusion center which computes the LS estimate of the parameter of interest. It is well-known that rank reduction exploits the bias-variance tradeoff in the full-rank estimator by putting higher priority on highly informative content of the data. The low-rank LS estimator is constructed using this highly informative content, while the remaining data can be discarded without affecting the overall performance of the estimator. We consider the scenario where a fraction 0 < α < 1 of the N sensors are subject to data falsification attack from byzantine sensors, wherein an intruder injects a higher noise power (compared to the unattacked sensors) to the measurements of the attacked sensors.Our main contribution is an analytical characterization of the impact of data falsification attack of the above type on the performance of reduced-rank LS estimator. In particular, we show how optimally prioritizing the highly informative content of the data gets affected in the presence of attacks. A surprising result is that, under sensor attacks, when the elements of the data matrix are all positive the error performance of the low- rank estimator experiences a phenomenon wherein the estimate of the mean-squared error comprises negative components. A complex nonlinear programming-based recipe is known to exist that resolves this undesirable effect; however, the phenomenon is oftentimes considered very objectionable in the statistical literature. On the other hand, to our advantage this effect can serve to detect cyber attacks on sensor systems. Numerical results are presented to complement the theoretical findings of the paper.
#CardioOncology: Twitter chat as a mechanism for increasing awareness of heart health for cancer patients

Consideration of heart health for cancer survivors is increasingly important, as improved cancer survivorship has resulted in a growing number of survivors affected by cardiovascular disease. However, there is limited knowledge of cardio-oncology among both patients and a variety of health professionals. Thus, efforts are needed to increase awareness about cardio-oncology. Social media represents one potential opportunity to disseminate information about cardio-oncology to a large audience. We highlight one example of a social media educational/advocacy campaign conducted on Twitter (a “Twitter Chat”) that garnered nearly 1.2 million impressions (views by Twitter users) in just 24 h. We provide both quantitative and qualitative data to support the efficacy of using Twitter for such educational/advocacy campaigns, and describe key features that contributed to its success. Twitter Chats inexpensively utilize innovative technology to provide education and foster community. Long-term studies are needed to understand whether Twitter Chats can change knowledge and behavior related to cardio-oncology.
Low-order Moment Relaxation of ACOPF via Algorithmic Successive Linear Programming

Nowadays, there is a critical and urgent need for developing smart and robust OPF solvers since the conventional options currently available for OPF problems are quite limited. This research is based on AC Optimal Power Flow (ACOPF) with active and reactive quadratically constrained quadratic programming optimization problems of a form that arises in operation and planning applications in power systems. Besides being non-convex, these problems are identified to be NP-hard. This paper first utilized semi-definite programming (SDP) relaxation to convexify the original ACOPF problems and then solve the SDP relaxation problem with “moment-based” algorithm to get the rank-1 solutions of the $W$ matrix. However, the computation time will increase exponentially with higher order of the moment matrix. To improve the computation efficiency, we added some penalty terms in the objective function to push the rank of the moment matrix reach to 1 by using the proposed SLP(SLPBB) algorithms. The proposed algorithm is verified by simulating on small scale test cases and NP-hard topologies in MATLAB. Also, the results were compared with the ones obtained by only using SLP (SLPBB) algorithms and the local solutions (The SLP and SLPBB algorithms were denoted as SLP(BB) afterwards). Numerical simulations illustrate that the SDP moment-based SLP(BB) algorithm can obtain the global optimal solutions which can guarantee the rank-1 solutions of the moment and $W$ matrices.
Clinical assessment of a biophysical model for distinguishing tumor progression from radiation necrosis.

PURPOSE The efficacy of an imaging-driven mechanistic biophysical model of tumor growth for distinguishing radiation necrosis from tumor progression in patients with enhancing lesions following stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) for brain metastasis is validated. METHODS We retrospectively assessed the model using 73 patients with 78 lesions and histologically confirmed radiation necrosis or tumor progression. Postcontrast T1-weighted MRI images were used to extract parameters for a mechanistic reaction-diffusion logistic growth model mechanically coupled to the surrounding tissue. The resulting model was then used to estimate mechanical stress fields, which were then compared with edema visualized on FLAIR imaging using DICE similarity coefficients. DICE, model, and standard radiographic morphometric analysis parameters were evaluated using a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve for prediction of radiation necrosis or tumor progression. Multivariate logistic regression models were then constructed using mechanistic model parameters or advanced radiomic features. An independent validation was performed to evaluate predictive performance. RESULTS Tumor cell proliferation rate resulted in ROC AUC = 0.86, 95% CI: 0.76-0.95, P < 0.0001, 74% sensitivity and 95% specificity) and DICE similarity coefficient associated with high stresses demonstrated an ROC AUC = 0.93, 95% CI: 0.86-0.99, P < 0.0001, 81% sensitivity and 95% specificity. In a multivariate logistic regression model using an independent validation dataset, mechanistic modeling parameters had an ROC AUC of 0.95, with 94% sensitivity and 96% specificity. CONCLUSIONS Imaging-driven biophysical modeling of tumor growth represents a novel method for accurately predicting clinically significant tumor behavior.
A Comparison of Adverse Short-Term Outcomes Following Forefoot Amputation Performed on an Inpatient Versus Outpatient Basis

Abstract The objective of this investigation was to evaluate short-term adverse outcomes following forefoot amputation with a specific comparison between those procedures performed on an inpatient versus outpatient basis. The 2018 American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database was interrogated to select those subjects with a 28805 current procedural terminology code (amputation, foot; transmetatarsal) that underwent the procedure with “all layers of incision (deep and superficial) fully closed.” This resulted in 326 subjects who underwent the procedure on an inpatient basis and 72 subjects who underwent the procedure on an outpatient basis. Results of the primary outcome measures found no significant differences between groups with respect to the development of a superficial surgical site infection (5.8% vs 5.6%; p = .950), deep incisional infection (3.4% vs 5.6%; p = .380), or wound disruption (3.4% vs 6.9%; p = .163). Additionally, no significant differences were observed between groups with respect to unplanned reoperations (15.6% vs 12.5%; p = .500) or unplanned hospital readmissions (21.8% vs 23.6%; p = .957). The results of this investigation demonstrate no difference in short-term adverse outcomes following the performance of forefoot amputation with primary closure when the procedure is performed on an inpatient or outpatient basis. We hope that this information is utilized in future investigations specifically examining this clinical scenario as it relates to hospital admission criteria related to lower extremity tissue loss, length of hospital stay considerations, the timing of partial foot amputation following revascularization, and the economics of limb preservation.
‘Psychic Screams’: Reflections on a Howard Thurman Sermon

The 20th century mystic/writer Howard Thurman makes a claim that there is a symbiotic relationship between the earth adn humans such that what humans experience as violence against each other is actually a reflection of the violence that humans do to the earth.
The Authoritarian Predisposition and American Public Support for Social Security

Authoritarianism, an individual-level predisposition that favors security, conformity, and certainty, has been powerfully linked with cultural conservatism and support for “strongman” politicians b...
Data-driven fault model development for superconducting logic

Superconducting technology is being seriously explored for certain applications. We propose a new clean-slate method to derive fault models from large numbers of simulation results. For this technology, our method identifies completely new fault models – overflow, pulse-escape, and pattern-sensitive – in addition to the well-known stuck-at faults.
Aflatoxins: Background, Toxicology, and Molecular Biology

Mycotoxins are mold poisons; aflatoxins are the best known and most widely studied mycotoxins. The contamination of foods and feeds with aflatoxin can have serious consequences for human and animal health. In general, aflatoxin exposure is most likely to occur in the developing countries where food handling and storage processes are suboptimal, where malnutrition is widespread, and where few regulations exist to protect the exposed populations. Depending on dose and other variables, aflatoxins can be mutagenic, carcinogenic, teratogenic, and immunosuppressive. Fundamental studies on the genetics, biosynthesis and molecular biology of aflatoxin producing fungi may offer insights into controlling this serious agricultural problem.
Twentieth-Century Realism and the Autonomy of the Human Sciences

During the twentieth century the struggle between the parties of science and of religion for supremacy in Western civilization, which marked the nineteenth century, became a conflict between the sciences and the humanities. Much of the continuing battle between the partisans of the flesh and of the sprit or, as William James put it, between the tender minded who assign priority to the “suprahuman” and the tough minded who assign it to the “infrahuman,” has been fought on the grounds of the so-called social or human sciences. Acknowledging the strife among the disciplines, the British critic I. A. Richards suggested in his Speculative Instruments that philosophers become diplomats seeking to create a reasoned unity to the various branches of knowledge. Nowhere has there been as much demand for such diplomacy as in those fields devoted to studying human activity. But despite many proposed peace accords the struggle goes on and is not likely soon to end. The severity of the conflict is indicated by the different terms which identify inquiry into human affairs. Are the inquiries to be called behavioral sciences, social sciences, human sciences, human studies? The foregoing terms are not synonyms. They indicate a profound diversity.
Stratigraphical occurrence of vertebrate remains in the Upper Devonian of Severnaya Zemlya (Russia)

The stratigraphical distribution of vertebrate remains in the standard section of the Upper Devonian of October Revolution Island of the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago has been studied. Fossil fish and agnathans were collected in 1978 and 1979 from the outcrops of the Matusevich, Vavilov and Malyutka formations along the Matusevich, Bol'shaya and other rivers. The fish fauna consists of representatives of the main taxonomic groups of Devonian vertebrates, i.e., psammosteid heterostracans, placoderms, acanthodians, chondrichthyans, porolepiform and osteolepiform "rhipidistians", and dipnoans. Summnarising all avaiable data on the distribution of vertebrates, it is possible to suggest a very late Givetian - Frasnian age for the Matusevich Formation, a late Frasnian age of the Vavilof Formation, and a latest Frasnian - early Famennian age for the Malyutka Formation of Severnaya Zemlya.
Silicon Nitride Thin Windows for Biomedical Microdevices

We report on several years of experience with the design, fabrication and use of silicon nitride thin windows. The thickness used has ranged from 20 nm to several micrometers. The window area has ranged from an edge dimension of a few micrometers to a few centimeters. Using IC technology, these windows can be mass-produced in an efficient manner. Their tensile stress can be adjusted to range from 100 MPa to 1 GPa, and they can be patterned to contain holes and slots.
Dust Particles and Molecules in the Extended Atmospheres of Carbon Stars

It is shown that the absorption due to a circumstellar shell containing solid silicon carbide particles can very nicely explain the observed strong violet opacity in stars in which the carbon to oxygen ratio is > 1. It has been shown by Friedemann and Gilman that solid SiC particles can form in the cooler outer layers of such stars. Thermal re-emission from SiC particles is predicted to be in the 10–13 µ region and recent infrared observations by Hackwell show an emission band in this region, thereby strongly supporting the SiC suggestion. It is also shown that the opacity due to C3 pseudo-continuum is not adequate to explain the observed violet opacity.
Relief of intractable pruritis in Alagille syndrome by partial external biliary diversion

Abstract Background Patients with Alagille syndrome (AGS) may develop pruritis, skin hypertrophy, and xanthomas because of chronic cholestasis and hypercholesterolemia. Partial external biliary diversion (PEBD) has been used successfully to treat chronic cholestasis in patients with progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis (PFIC) and is a potentially useful treatment for patients with severe and intractable pruritis because of AGS. Methods Four children with chronic cholestasis and intractable pruritis were treated with PEBD, 1 by surgical cholecystostomy and 3 by cholecystojejunostomy. Results Three patients had a known diagnosis of AGS. The fourth was an 11-month-old infant boy with PFIC. The first patient, a 15-month-old boy with AGS, underwent surgical cholecystostomy, which has required frequent tube changes to maintain patency. Three patients underwent PEBD using a segment of jejunum as a conduit between the gallbladder and the skin, where bile is collected in a standard ostomy appliance. Mean follow-up is 15.5 months (range, 9-26 months). All patients experienced rapid and enduring relief of pruritis. Two adolescents with AGS had significant improvement of the hypertrophic skin of their hands. There was one significant complication: the infant with PFIC required reoperation for bleeding from the jejunal anastomosis 1 week after PEBD; he has subsequently done well. One adolescent girl with AGS initially had difficulty with her ostomy because of poor site placement and partial retraction, but nevertheless has managed quite well. The patient treated by cholecystostomy has had excellent relief of his pruritis and is being considered for conversion to cholecystojejunostomy. Conclusions Chronic cholestasis caused by AGS can cause debilitating symptoms that are resistant to medical therapy. Partial external biliary diversion is a safe and technically straightforward operation that may be effective for the relief of intractable pruritis and other symptoms in patients with AGS.
The Role of Processing Conditions on the Color and Antioxidant Retention of Jet Tube Fluidized Bed–Dried Blueberries

Jet tube fluidized bed drying was investigated as a means of rapidly generating shelf-stable and high-quality sweetened and nonsweetened blueberries. Sugar-infused and noninfused scarified Rabbiteye blueberries (Vaccinium ashei ‘Brightwell’) were dried at 99, 107, and 116°C. Prior scarification of the blueberry surface aided in decreasing the drying time. Increased lightness (L*) values were most notable at higher drying temperatures for sugar-infused blueberries, suggesting loss of pigments. Total monomeric anthocyanins level, initially 7.65 mg cyanidin-3-O-glucoside equivalents (C3G eq)/g extract, decreased as drying temperature increased and ranged between 4.07 down to 1.51 mg C3G eq/g extract for dried blueberries. The total phenolics content increased with drying for noninfused blueberries, with highest levels of 31.6 mg gallic acid equivalents (GAE)/g extract for samples dried at 107°C. With the exception of sugar-infused berries dried at 107 and 116°C, the dried blueberries maintained or demonstrat...
Leading Up: A Cross-cultural, Longitudinal, and Multilevel Investigation of TMT Support and Shocks

Following social cognitive theory and using longitudinal, cross-cultural, and multilevel data, this research demonstrates that as the levels of the cultural shocks that foreign CEOs experienced in ...
The Relative Contribution of Intrathyrmic Inoculation of Donor Leukocyte Subpopulations in the Induction of Specific Tolerance

Abstract We have recently demonstrated that intrathymic (IT) inoculation of ultraviolet-B irradiation-modified donor spleen cells induces specific tolerance to organ allografts in transiently immunosuppressed adult rats. This study examines the splenic leukocyte component that plays a role in the induction of organ-specific tolerance when injected into the thymus of an adult animal. Our results showed that in the low responder combination of Lewis-to-ACI, IT inoculation of resting Lewis T-cells consistently induced specific unresponsiveness to cardiac allografts in sublethally irradiated (200 rad total body irradiation) ACI recipients while the same was true in the high responder rat combination of WF-to-Lewis, where recipient rats were transiently immunomodulated with antilymphocyte serum. In contrast, IT inoculation of donor B cells, macrophages, or dendritic cells in similarly prepared animals failed to prolong graft survival in both the low responder (Lewis-to ACI) and the high responder (WF-to-Lewis) rat strain combinations. This observation suggests that donor-specific unresponsiveness can be readily achieved by IT inoculation of major histocompatability (MHC) class I expressing donor-type resting T-cells rather than by any donor-type antigen presenting cells that express MHC class I and II molecules. Extrathymic inoculation of T-cells in transiently immunosuppressed recipients failed to prevent graft rejection, thus demonstrating the privileged position of the thymus in the induction of tolerance. The unresponsive recipients of cardiac allografts specifically and permanently accepted donor-type second-set islet allografts, thus confirming antigen-specific tolerance in this model. These results suggest that manipulation of the immune system through thymic reeducation of the developing T-cells by the deliberate introduction of foreign MHC class I cellular alloantigens has therapeutic potential in the induction of transplantation tolerance in adult animals.
Acquired blue nevi in older individuals: retrospective case series from a Veterans Affairs population, 1991 to 2013.

Importance Apart from the atypical mole phenotype, development of new melanocytic nevi in older individuals is uncommon and considered worrisome for melanoma. We performed a retrospective case series in a Veterans Affairs population from 1991 to 2013 to characterize blue nevi (BN) by patient age at biopsy, location, self-reported duration, and relation to prior or subsequent development of cutaneous melanoma. Observations A total of 204 BN were identified in 194 predominantly male patients (90.7%) who had a mean (SD) age of 62.8 (14.4) years. Clinical duration of 10 years or less was reported by 90.3% of patients with available data (32.0%). Histopathologic examination classified 74.0% of BN as common, 1.5% as cellular, and 24.5% as combined type. No malignant BN were identified; however, 18 primary melanomas were diagnosed, most (72.2%) prior to blue nevus biopsy, including 38.9% in situ and 61.1% with mean (SD) Breslow thickness of 1.02 (0.99) mm. Conclusions and Relevance The later patient-reported onset of BN suggests a potential alternative mechanism of nevogenesis compared with common acquired nevi and differs from prior reports of BN development in younger adults. The lack of association with melanoma in older individuals suggests that most benign-appearing BN may be safely observed, even in a cohort at higher risk for skin cancer.
Efficient coronary border detection using heuristic graph searching

An efficient algorithm for border detection in coronary images which uses heuristic graph searching is presented. The method has been tested on clinical coronary angiograms and produces highly accurate detected borders and increases search efficiency by a factor greater than 15.
Transmitting hidden information using steganography via Facebook

Social networking websites, specifically Facebook, offer means of reaching wide audiences to share information, including photos, documents, and videos. Social networks post potential critical threats to security and privacy, for example, using steganography to send covert information via Facebook photos. Experiments show that Facebook Cover Photos can effectively hide information to at least twenty percent capacity using Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) coefficient embedding algorithms. JavaScript Facebook application-determined key security properties are desired in a practical steganography implementation, yet, the development of such security properties is missing. Based on our experimental results, we conclude that an automated, Facebook-integrated application is not desirable for these reasons and therefore manual interaction with Facebook should be used for steganography purposes.
Nutrition Intervention to Decrease Symptoms in Patients With Advanced Heart Failure

For a majority of patients with advanced heart failure, there is a need for complementary, non-pharmacologic interventions that could be easily implemented by health care providers to provide palliative care. Three major pathologic pathways underlying heart failure symptoms have been identified: fluid overload, inflammation, and oxidative stress. Prior research has demonstrated that three nutrients-sodium, omega-3 fatty acids, and lycopene-can alter these pathologic pathways. Therefore, the purposes of this study are to test the effects of a 6-month nutrition intervention of dietary sodium reduction combined with supplementation of lycopene and omega-3 fatty acids on heart failure symptoms, health-related quality of life, and time to heart failure rehospitalization or all-cause death. The aims of this double blind-placebo controlled study are (1) to determine the effects of a 6-month nutrition intervention on symptom burden (edema, shortness of air, and fatigue) and health-related quality of life at 3 and 6 months, and time to heart failure rehospitalization or all-cause death over 12 months from baseline; (2) compare dietary sodium intake, inflammation, and markers of oxidative stress between the nutrition intervention group and a placebo group at 3 and 6 months; and (3) compare body weight, serum lycopene, and erythrocyte omega-3 index between the nutrition intervention group and a placebo group at 3 and 6 months. A total of 175 patients with advanced heart failure will be randomized to either the nutrition intervention or placebo group.
Segmentation and Interpretation of Multicolored Objects with Highlights

Abstract This paper presents a segmentation system, based on a general framework for segmentation, that returns not only regions that correspond to coherent surfaces in an image, but also low-level interpretations of those regions' physical characteristics. This system is valid for images of piecewise uniform dielectric objects with highlights, moving it beyond the capabilities of previous physics-based segmentation algorithms which assume uniformly colored objects. This paper presents a summary of the complete system and focuses on two extensions of it that demonstrate its interpretive capacity and applicability to more complex scenes. The first extension provides interpretations of a scene by reasoning about the likelihood of different physical characteristics of simple image regions. The second extension allows the system to handle highlights within the general framework for segmentation. The resulting segmentations and interpretations more closely match our perceptions of objects since the resulting regions correspond to coherent surfaces, even when those surfaces have multiple colors and highlights.
Relationship of the model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) scale to hepatic encephalopathy, as defined by electroencephalography and neuropsychometric testing, and ascites.

Abstract Objective It has recently been suggested that the Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) is a better and a more objective predictor of mortality in patients with end-stage liver disease. The aim of our study was to determine the relationship of the MELD score to hepatic encephalopathy (HE), as determined by electroencephalography (EEG) and clinical and neuropsychometric examination, and ascites. Methods A total of 66 patients underwent EEG, a neuropsychometric screening by Mini-Mental State Examination, Trails Making Tests, Rey-Osterreith Complex Figure, and Hopkins Verbal Learning Tests, and a clinical assessment for HE. The MELD score was calculated as previously described by using serum creatinine, bilirubin, and international normalized ratio. Subclinical HE was diagnosed if clinical examination did not detect HE but neuropsychometric tests and EEG were abnormal. Results Sixteen patients had no HE, 28 had subclinical HE, and 22 had clinical HE. Age, sex, race, and cause of liver disease were similar in all three groups. Child-Turcotte-Pugh score was significantly higher in patients with clinical HE compared with the other two groups. There was only a modest correlation (r = 0.5) between Child-Turcotte-Pugh and the MELD scores. The distribution and mean MELD scores were similar in patients with or without HE as determined by clinical or neuropsychometric examination and EEG. Approximately 90% of patients with clinical HE or abnormal EEG and neuropsychometric tests had a MELD score less than 25. Similarly, the MELD score was not affected by the severity of ascites. Conclusion The MELD score does not correlate well with severity of HE or ascites. Patients with HE and ascites might not receive liver transplantation in a timely manner if MELD scores were to be used exclusively for organ allocation.