cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Changes over time in marijuana use, deviant behavior and preference for risky behavior among US adolescents from 2002 to 2014: testing the moderating effect of gender and age

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Among adolescents, risk preference and deviant behaviors are associated with marijuana use, which exhibit substantial historical trends. We examined (1) trends, (2) effect modification by sex and age, (3) associations of marijuana use with deviant behaviors and risk preferences and (4) differences by sex, age and year. DESIGN Adjusted logistic and relative risk regression models, using data from the 2002-14 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, annual cross-sectional surveys of US households. SETTING United States. PARTICIPANTS A nationally representative sample of adolescents aged 12-17 years (n = 230 452). MEASUREMENTS We estimated associations between past-year marijuana use [self-reported using computer-assisted personal interviewing/audio computer-assisted self-interviewing (CAPI/ACASI)], deviant behavior (i.e. selling drugs; stealing; attacking someone) and risk preference (i.e. getting a kick; testing oneself). FINDINGS Marijuana use, deviant behaviors and risk preferences declined among adolescents from 2002 to 2014. There were no significant sex or age differences in the decline of marijuana use over time. There were sex [sold drugs: β = 0.90, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.75, 1.04] and age (attacked someone: β = 0.32, 95% CI = 0.22, 0.42) differences in the prevalence of deviant behaviors, and trends over time differed by sex and age for attacking someone. CONCLUSIONS While marijuana use, deviant behavior and risk preferences among US adolescents declined from 2002 to 2014, associations have remained stable, with marijuana use positively associated with deviant behaviors and risk preferences.
Conditionally active STAT1 and its functional role in tumor progression and invasion

1825 The signal transducer and activator of transcription STAT1 is activated in breast carcinomas and a recent microarray study by our group suggested a potential involvement of STAT1 in the onset of bone marrow micrometastasis in breast cancer patients (1). We have now conducted the first functional experiments to unravel the precise role of STAT1 in breast cancer micrometastasis. It is known that increased gene expression of the latent cytoplasmic transcription factor STAT1 does not automatically lead to a transcriptional activation of target genes. STAT1 must be phosphorylated which triggers the dimerisation of STAT1 monomers and enables then the translocation of the homodimers into the nucleus to initiate DNA binding and gene expression. Therefore we used conditionally active STAT1 by fusing STAT1 with the ligand binding domain (LBD) of the oestrogen receptor (ER). The resulting STAT1-ERLBD chimeras were transfected into the oestrogen receptor- negative, low invasive mammary carcinoma cell line MDA-MB468. Western Blot analyses and immunocytochemical stainings with an ERLBD specific antibody confirmed the expression of the STAT1-ERLBD chimera. 10-5 to 10-8M oestrogen stimulation in the STAT1-ERLBD expressing MDA-MB468 cells as measured by luciferase reporter assays using the STAT1-inducible reporter GAS-luc resulted in a 5-8 fold activation of the reporter. Using this inducible system active STAT1 was associated with a reduced proliferation rate but had no influence on the invasive properties of the analysed breast cancer cells, as shown by in vitro invasion assays (Boyden Chamber assays). In conclusion, the established experimental model system allows the in-depth investigation of the role of STAT1 activation in breast cancer cells. STAT1 appears to be a negative regulator of cell proliferation and might therefore be a candidate for an inducer of tumor cell dormancy, a hallmark of micrometastatic cancer cells (2). References 1. Woelfle, U., Cloos, J., Sauter, G., Riethdorf, L., Janicke, F., van Diest, P., Brakenhoff, R., and Pantel, K. Molecular signature associated with bone marrow micrometastasis in human breast cancer. Cancer Res, 63: 5679-5684, 2003. 2. Pantel, K. and Brakenhoff, R. H. Dissecting the metastatic cascade. Nat Rev Cancer, 4: 448-456, 2004.
Chapter 20 – Glaciovolcanism

Glaciovolcanism (a.k.a., subglacial volcanism, volcano–ice interaction) involves all interactions between magmatic-volcanic systems and ice in any form, including meltwater derived directly from ice melting. The earliest studies to recognize connections between characteristic volcanic deposits and an ice-rich environment were conducted in Iceland (1920s) and British Columbia, Canada (1940s). Almost a century later, glaciovolcanic deposits have been identified on all terrestrial continents, except Australia, and on Mars. The “classic” tuya model provides a generalized account of the dominant processes extant during a volcanic eruption beneath ice, including (1) transitions in eruptive style from effusive to explosive (or vice versa), (2) growth and emergence of volcanoes from subaqueous to subaerial environments (i.e., passage zones), and (3) waning of the eruption commonly expressed by effusion of lavas to cap the tuya. While the model has general application to the entire magmatic compositional spectrum, intermediate to felsic glaciovolcanic eruptions appear to preserve a less diagnostic record of interactions with ice owing to their higher viscosities and to their capacity to form glassy deposits even in subaerial environments. Recognition of glaciovolcanic origins for volcanic edifices and deposits is important well outside of classical volcanology. Glaciovolcanic deposits serve as valuable proxies for paleoclimate reconstructions by delineating the spatial and temporal limits of Quaternary ice sheets on Earth and also are used to map ice sheet distributions on Mars. Additionally, as demonstrated by recent eruptions at Gjalp (1996), Eyjafjallajokull (2010), and Redoubt (2009), volcano–ice interactions produce a unique set of local and regional hazards in both remote and urban areas that are critical to understand in order to protect strategic infrastructure and growing human populations.
Intensified inundation shifts a freshwater wetland from a CO 2 sink to a source

Climate change has altered global precipitation patterns and has led to greater variation in hydrological conditions. Wetlands are important globally for their soil carbon storage. Given that wetland carbon processes are primarily driven by hydrology, a comprehensive understanding of the effect of inundation is needed. In this study, we evaluated the effect of water level (WL) and inundation duration (ID) on carbon dioxide (CO2 ) fluxes by analysing a 10-year (2008-2017) eddy covariance dataset from a seasonally inundated freshwater marl prairie in the Everglades National Park. Both gross primary production (GPP) and ecosystem respiration (ER) rates showed declines under inundation. While GPP rates decreased almost linearly as WL and ID increased, ER rates were less responsive to WL increase beyond 30 cm and extended inundation periods. The unequal responses between GPP and ER caused a weaker net ecosystem CO2 sink strength as inundation intensity increased. Eventually, the ecosystem tended to become a net CO2 source on a daily basis when either WL exceeded 46 cm or inundation lasted longer than 7 months. Particularly, with an extended period of high-WLs in 2016 (i.e., WL remained >40 cm for >9 months), the ecosystem became a CO2 source, as opposed to being a sink or neutral for CO2 in other years. Furthermore, the extreme inundation in 2016 was followed by a 4-month postinundation period with lower net ecosystem CO2 uptake compared to other years. Given that inundation plays a key role in controlling ecosystem CO2 balance, we suggest that a future with more intensive inundation caused by climate change or water management activities can weaken the CO2 sink strength of the Everglades freshwater marl prairies and similar wetlands globally, creating a positive feedback to climate change.
Gallstone Disease and the Timing of Cholecystectomy for Acute Cholecystitis and Gallstone Pancreatitis

Gallstone disease is highly prevalent and is a common surgical indication. This chapter discusses the appropriate timing of surgical intervention in gallstone disease – specifically, in acute cholecystitis and gallstone pancreatitis. The surgical literature has long debated early versus late cholecystectomy in both disease processes. Large randomized controlled trials and meta-analyses suggest early cholecystectomy is beneficial in acute cholecystitis and mild gallstone pancreatitis. This chapter will also briefly discuss two important tenets of acute surgical intervention in gallstone disease: the critical view of safety and damage control cholecystectomy.
Disturbed Cerebellar Growth Trajectories in Adolescents Who Initiate Alcohol Drinking

Abstract Background The cerebellum is a target of alcoholism-related brain damage in adults, yet no study has prospectively tracked deviations from normal cerebellar growth trajectories in adolescents before and after initiating drinking. Methods Magnetic resonance imaging tracked developmental volume trajectories of 10 cerebellar lobule and vermis tissue constituents in 548 no/low drinking youths age 12 to 21 years at induction into this 5-site, NCANDA (National Consortium on Alcohol and NeuroDevelopment in Adolescence) study. Over the 3- to 4-year longitudinal examination yielding 2043 magnetic resonance imaging scans, 328 youths remained no/low drinkers, whereas 220 initiated substantial drinking after initial neuroimaging. Results Normal growth trajectories derived from no/low drinkers indicated that gray matter volumes of lobules V and VI, crus II, lobule VIIB, and lobule X declined faster with age in male youths than in female youths, whereas white matter volumes in crus I and crus II and lobules VIIIA and VIIIB expanded faster in female youths than in male youths; cerebrospinal fluid volume expanded faster in most cerebellar regions of male youths than female youths. Drinkers exhibited accelerated gray matter decline in anterior lobules and vermis, accelerated vermian white matter expansion, and accelerated cerebrospinal fluid volumes expansion of anterior lobules relative to youths who remained no/low drinkers. Analyses including both alcohol and marijuana did not support an independent role for marijuana in alcohol effects on cerebellar gray matter trajectories. Conclusions Alcohol use–related cerebellar growth trajectory differences from normal involved anterior lobules and vermis of youths who initiated substantial drinking. These regions are commonly affected in alcohol-dependent adults, raising the possibility that cerebellar structures affected by youthful drinking may be vulnerable to age–alcohol interactions in later adulthood.
A vision for autonomous blockchains backed by secure hardware

Blockchains have emerged as a potential mechanism to enable immutable and consistent sharing of data across organizational boundaries. While much of the discussion on blockchains to date has been structured around public versus permissioned blockchains, both of these architectures have significant drawbacks. Public blockchains are energy inefficient, hard to scale and suffer from limited throughput and high latencies, while permissioned blockchains depend on specially designated nodes, potentially leak metainformation, and also suffer from scale and performance bottlenecks. This raises the question if blockchains, in their current form, are the only class of datastores that can provide such strong integrity guarantees. We introduce autonomous blockchains, an architecture based on free-standing, immutable, eidetic databases that implement independent timelines, linked together through interactions. Autonomous blockchains can be realized using trusted execution environments in combination with audit mechanisms. This architecture does not only provide block-chain-like integrity and auditability guarantees but also supports storing and querying private data. Further, multiple autonomous blockchains can be linked together through federated transactions to exchange data and order mutual operations. These transactions are amenable to audits and yield tamper-proof witnesses. Evaluation shows that this design can achieve high throughput while providing stronger integrity guarantees than conventional datastores.
CHAPTER 58 – Melatonin

Publisher Summary Molecular biology has dispersed some of the myths surrounding melatonin. Melatonin production sites can be clearly identified by detecting message and protein from arylalkylamine N-acetyltransferase in specific tissues. Detecting message and protein in specific tissues identifies specific melatonin receptors. Activation of specific signaling pathways used by different melatonin receptors can be detected. Also, knockout models help to further clarify the physiologic action of this hormone as well as its pathophysiologic states. Administration of high doses of melatonin might not be innocuous as this could downregulate its own melatonin receptors. Also, based on the observations recorded in the chapter, timing of exogenously administered melatonin might be crucial to cause a shift in circadian rhythms..This grounding in molecular biology helps to develop sound therapeutic applications for melatonin. It would be regrettable if melatonin did not find its proper place in the therapeutic armamentarium, given the well-defined positive actions of this fascinating hormone.
Information Warfare and Cyber Education: Issues and Recommendations

With the introduction of the Information Warfare (IW) paradigm across military service components, the institution of a new education focus is apropos. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the shifts in thought regarding IW and how the introduction of the fields of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR), electromagnetic warfare (EW), and information operations (IO) is changing how we educate our soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and government civilians. The multidisciplinary ramifications will be discussed separately in order to better define each discipline’s requirements and individual foci as they apply to cyber operations (CO), ISR, EW, and IO.
Contraception for the Postpartum Period

The postpartum period, otherwise referred to as the puerperium, lasts from delivery of placenta through the 6–12 weeks after delivery (Isley and Katz. Obstetrics: normal and problem pregnancies. Chapter 23: postpartum care and long term health considerations. p. 499–516.e2; Steven et al., Obstetrics: normal and problem pregnancies. 7th edn. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107415324.004, 2013; Williams, Am J Obstet Gynecol. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0002-9378(31)90959-9, 1931). In this time interval, the physiologic changes that occurred during pregnancy are in the process of returning to their prepregnancy state (Isley and Katz. Obstetrics: normal and problem pregnancies. Chapter 23: postpartum care and long term health considerations. p. 499–516.e2; Steven et al., Obstetrics: normal and problem pregnancies. 7th edn. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107415324.004, 2013). Reproductive planning does not stop postpartum. The postpartum period is an especially vulnerable time for unintended pregnancy, as 70% of pregnancies that occur within 12 months of delivery are unplanned (White et al., Obstet Gynecol, https://doi.org/10.1097/AOG.0000000000000841, 2015; Vricella et al., Am J Obstet Gynecol, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajog.2019.02.011, 2019). Interpregnancy intervals shorter than 6 months are associated with both maternal and neonatal complications. These include, but are not limited to, third trimester bleeding, anemia, gestational diabetes, uterine rupture (for women who delivered via cesarean section in prior delivery), puerperal endometritis, preterm birth, low birth weight, and infants small for gestational age (Vricella et al., Am J Obstet Gynecol, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajog.2019.02.011, 2019; Bujold and Gauthier, Obstet Gynecol, https://doi.org/10.1097/AOG.0b013e3181d992fb, 2010; Esposito et al., Am J Obstet Gynecol, https://doi.org/10.1067/mob.2000.109046, 2000; Hanley et al., Obstet Gynecol, https://doi.org/10.1097/AOG.0000000000001891, 2017; Conde-Agudelo and Belizan, Br Med J, https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.321.7271.1255, 2000; Conde-Agudelo et al., J Am Med Assoc, https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.295.15.1809, 2006). Despite these health risks to both mom and baby, women with comorbid conditions, such as diabetes or obesity, are less likely to use contraception than those without these conditions (Vricella et al., Am J Obstet Gynecol, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajog.2019.02.011, 2019; Nguyen et al., Women’s Heal Issues, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.whi.2017.09.010, 2018; Vahratian et al., Diabetes Care, https://doi.org/10.2337/dc08-2105, 2009) (Table 16.1).
A novel technique for postclosure of large-bore sheaths using two Perclose devices.

Objectives This study aimed to assess the feasibility, efficacy, and safety of a novel percutaneous postprocedure closure technique for large arterial sheath removal with the use of two Perclose ProGlide (Abbott Vascular Devices, Redwood City, CA) devices. Background Postprocedural closing of large-bore arteriotomies using the Perclose system can be difficult given the subsequent inability of the device to capture sufficient wall tissue. Methods Our study was a single-center retrospective analysis of 22 consecutive patients who underwent large arteriotomy closure via the postclosure technique with a 12-16-Fr sheath. Efficacy endpoints included successful deployment of the system and hemostasis. Safety endpoints included the incidence of major or minor vascular complications as defined by the Vascular Academic Research Consortium-2 (VARC-2) definitions at 30-day follow-up. Results The postclosure technique resulted in 100% technical success rate and no postprocedural bleeding or vascular complications. Conclusion Postclosure technique is a safe, highly effective, and feasible percutaneous method to achieve large-bore arteriotomy hemostasis with low rates of major bleeding or vascular complications and favorable early outcome.
Rodent Models of Optic Neuritis

Optic neuritis (ON) is an inflammatory attack of the optic nerve that leads to visual disability. It is the most common optic neuropathy affecting healthy young adults, most commonly women aged 20-45 years. It can be idiopathic and monophasic or as part of a neurologic disease such as multiple sclerosis with recurrence and cumulative damage. Currently, there is no therapy to repair the damage from optic neuritis. Animal models are an essential tool for the understanding of the pathogenesis of optic neuritis and for the development of potential treatment strategies. Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) is the most commonly used experimental rodent model for human autoimmune inflammatory demyelinating diseases of the central nervous system (CNS). In this review, we discuss the latest rodent models regarding optic neuritis, focusing on EAE model, and on its recent achievements and developments.
dbNSFP v4: a comprehensive database of transcript-specific functional predictions and annotations for human nonsynonymous and splice-site SNVs

Whole exome sequencing has been increasingly used in human disease studies. Prioritization based on appropriate functional annotations has been used as an indispensable step to select candidate variants. Here we present the latest updates to dbNSFP (version 4.1), a database designed to facilitate this step by providing deleteriousness prediction and functional annotation for all potential nonsynonymous and splice-site SNVs (a total of 84,013,093) in the human genome. The current version compiled 36 deleteriousness prediction scores, including 12 transcript-specific scores, and other variant and gene-level functional annotations. The database is available at http://database.liulab.science/dbNSFP with a downloadable version and a web-service.
ODC (Ornithine Decarboxylase)-Dependent Putrescine Synthesis Maintains MerTK (MER Tyrosine-Protein Kinase) Expression to Drive Resolution

Objective: ODC (ornithine decarboxylase)-dependent putrescine synthesis promotes the successive clearance of apoptotic cells (ACs) by macrophages, contributing to inflammation resolution. However, ...
The Negative Impact of Product Variety: Forecast Bias, Inventory Levels, and the Role of Vertical Integration

Companies routinely increase product variety in order to enhance competitiveness and grow sales. Unfortunately, increasing product variety creates operational challenges and results in higher inventory levels. The large number SKUs deteriorate decision quality and can introduce forecast bias - the tendency to consistently over or under forecast – into the system, further exacerbating the inventory problem. In this study, we evaluate how firms can increase product variety while managing inventory levels. Using balanced panel data collected from 283 distribution centers over 26 continuous four-week periods, we empirically test the mediation relationship of forecast bias on inventory levels. We find support for this relationship and show that firms can mitigate the negative effect of product variety on inventory levels by using strategies to reduce forecast bias. We then explore this relationship pre and post vertical integration, allowing us to test the impact of organizational change. Vertical integration creates opportunities for information sharing, lowering the uncertainty that may contribute to forecast bias. We find that the relationship is indeed moderated by vertical integration, suggesting that many of the operational challenges of increasing product variety can be improved through information transparency and coordination with supply chain partners. Collectively these findings provide important guidelines on how firms can increase product variety while maintaining inventory levels.
How is staging of ALIF following posterior spinal arthrodesis to the pelvis related to functional improvement in patients with adult spinal deformity

Retrospective cohort. To compare postoperative functional improvement in patients who underwent staged versus non-staged anterior–posterior spinal arthrodesis for adult spinal deformity (ASD). In patients with ASD, spinal arthrodesis can be performed in 2 stages to avoid the physiologic insult of a lengthy surgery. The association between staged surgery and postoperative functional improvement has not been well studied. We included 87 patients (59 women) with ASD who underwent anterior–posterior spinal arthrodesis of > 5 levels with fixation to the pelvis from 2010–2014. Primary outcomes were the frequency of achieving at least a minimal clinically important difference (MCID) in the Scoliosis Research Society-22r (SRS-22r) Activity domain and the timeframe in which it was achieved. The secondary outcome was patient satisfaction (SRS-22r Patient Satisfaction domain). A Cox proportional hazard model was used to compare functional improvement over time between staged and non-staged groups. Our study was powered to detect a relative hazard ratio of 0.53, β = 0.20. α = 0.05. The frequency of achieving an MCID in SRS-22r Activity score did not differ significantly between the staged group (33/41 patients) and the non-staged group (34/46 patients) (hazard ratio 0.74; 95% confidence interval 0.41–1.36). Median times to achieving an MCID in SRS-22r Activity score were 191 days (interquartile range: 86–674) in the staged group and 181 days (interquartile range: 72–474) in the non-staged group (p = .75). The staged and non-staged groups had similar SRS-22r Patient Satisfaction scores at 3–9 months postoperatively and at final follow-up (both, p > .05). Patients with ASD who underwent staged anterior–posterior spinal arthrodesis within 3 months after index surgery were similarly likely to experience functional improvement in the same timeframe as patients who underwent non-staged surgery. Patient satisfaction did not differ significantly between staged and non-staged groups. III.
Why The Stock Markets Negatively Price Democracy

We utilize panel data on over 65 countries from the Economist Intelligence Unit about its Democracy level, measured by the level of functioning of government, civil liberties and political participation, etc. and show inverse relationship between Democracy and stock market performance. Our results are robust clustering for countries’ characteristics. We conjecture that the larger the space of the democracy, the greater the scrutiny and unrewarded excessive accountabilities on the financial markets; as such cause some inefficiency. We then show that key constitutional factors affect democracies, and hence stock markets return and volatility. Nevertheless, the price of democracy appears to be quite pervasive; not only democracy level matters, but also democracy form, where the Presidential form of democracy has a higher return and lower volatility than the Parliamentary democracy form. This study is critical since there is a great deal of heterogeneity across countries with respect to democracy, with only 5.7% of the world population live in a full democracy. Collectively, the democracy level is a key determinant when we study global financial markets, and it is costly.
Genetic mapping of metabolic traits in the blind Mexican cavefish reveals sex-dependent quantitative trait loci associated with cave adaptation

Background Despite a longstanding interest in understanding how animals adapt to environments with limited nutrients, we have incomplete knowledge of the genetic basis of metabolic evolution. The Mexican tetra, Astyanax mexicanus, is a species of fish that consists of two morphotypes; eyeless cavefish that have adapted to a low-nutrient cave environment, and ancestral river-dwelling surface fish with abundant access to nutrients. Cavefish have evolved altered blood sugar regulation, starvation tolerance, increased fat accumulation, and superior body condition. To investigate the genetic basis of cavefish metabolic evolution we carried out a quantitative trait loci (QTL) analysis in surface/cave F2 hybrids. We genetically mapped seven metabolism-associated traits in hybrids that were challenged with a nutrient restricted diet. Results We found that female F2 hybrids are bigger than males and have a longer hindgut, bigger liver, and heavier gonad, even after correcting for fish size. Although there is no difference between male and female blood sugar level, we found that high blood sugar is associated with weight gain in females and lower body weight and fat level in males. We identified a significant QTL associated with 24-h-fasting blood glucose level with the same effect in males and females. Differently, we identified sex-independent and sex-dependent QTL associated with fish length, body condition, liver size, hindgut length, and gonad weight. We found that some of the genes within the metabolism QTL display evidence of non-neutral evolution and are likely to be under selection. Furthermore, we report predicted nonsynonymous changes to the cavefish coding sequence of these genes. Conclusions Our study reveals previously unappreciated genomic regions associated with blood glucose regulation, body condition, gonad size, and internal organ morphology. In addition, we find an interaction between sex and metabolism-related traits in A. mexicanus. We reveal coding changes in genes that are likely under selection in the low-nutrient cave environment, leading to a better understanding of the genetic basis of metabolic evolution.
Organic Lecture: Teaching the Fluidity of Covalent Bonds

Covalent bonds are fluid, not rigid, as with hand-held plastic models. Raspberry jam is an effective visual demonstration of this fluidity.
Contrasting the fuzzball and wormhole paradigms for black holes

We examine an interesting set of recent proposals describing a `wormhole paradigm' for black holes. These proposals require that in some effective variables, semiclassical low-energy dynamics emerges at the horizon. We prove the `effective small corrections theorem' to show that such an effective horizon behavior is not compatible with the requirement that the black hole radiate like a piece of coal as seen from outside. This theorem thus concretizes the fact that the proposals within the wormhole paradigm require some nonlocality linking the hole and its distant radiation. We try to illustrate various proposals for nonlocality by making simple bit models to encode the nonlocal effects. In each case, we find either nonunitarity of evolution in the black hole interior or a nonlocal Hamiltonian interaction between the hole and infinity; such an interaction is not present for burning coal. We examine recent arguments about the Page curve and observe that the quantity that is argued to follow the Page curve of a normal body is not the entanglement entropy but a different quantity. It has been suggested that this replacement of the quantity to be computed arises from the possibility of topology change in gravity which can generate replica wormholes. We examine the role of topology change in quantum gravity but do not find any source of connections between different replica copies in the path integral for the R\'{e}nyi entropy. We also contrast the wormhole paradigm with the fuzzball paradigm, where the fuzzball does radiate like a piece of coal. Just as in the case of a piece of coal, the fuzzball does not have low-energy semiclassical dynamics at its surface at energies $E\sim T$ (effective dynamics at energies $E\gg T$ is possible under the conjecture of fuzzball complementarity, but these $E\gg T$ modes have no relevance to the Page curve or the information paradox).
Expression, purification, and characterization of human hemoglobins Gower-1 (ζ2ε2), Gower-2 (α2ε2), and Portland-2 (ζ2β2) assembled in complex transgenic–knockout mice

Embryonic ζ- and e-globin subunits assemble with each other and with adult α- and β-globin subunits into hemoglobin heterotetramers in both primitive and definitive erythrocytes. The properties of these hemoglobins—Hbs Gower-1 (ζ2e2), Gower-2 (α2e2), and Portland-2 (ζ2β2)—have been incompletely described as they are difficult to obtain in quantity from either primary human tissue or conventional expression systems. The generation of complex transgenic–knockout mice that express these hemoglobins at levels between 24% and 70% is described, as are efficient methods for their purification from mouse hemolysates. Key physiological characteristics—including P50, Hill coefficient, Bohr effect, and affinity for 2,3-BPG—were established for each of the 3 human hemoglobins. The stability of each hemoglobin in the face of mechanical, thermal, and chemical stresses was also determined. Analyses indicate that the ζ-for-α exchange distinguishing Hb Portland-2 and Hb A alters hemoglobin O2-transport capacity by increasing its P50 and decreasing its Bohr effect. By comparison, the e-for-β exchange distinguishing Hb Gower-2 and Hb A has little impact on these same functional parameters. Hb Gower-1, assembled entirely from embryonic subunits, displays an elevated P50 level, a reduced Bohr effect, and increased 2,3-BPG binding compared to Hb A. The data support the hypothesis that Hb Gower-2, assembled from reactivated e globin in individuals with defined hemoglobinopathies and thalassemias, would serve as a physiologically acceptable substitute for deficient or dysfunctional Hb A. In addition, the unexpected properties of Hb Gower-1 call into question a common hypothesis for its primary role in embryonic development.
A mechanism design based approach to solving parking slot assignment in the information era

Abstract This paper proposes a mechanism design based approach for public parking slot assignment in an environment empowered by recent advances in parking sensing, infrastructure-to-vehicle, and vehicle-to-infrastructure communications. An important part of the parking slot assignment deals with eliciting truthful private information from drivers while maximizing social welfare. We consider both static and dynamic mechanisms and provide theoretic proofs that, by using coupled slot allocation and payment rules, drivers will be incentivized to participate in the assignment process and truthfully report their private information. The parking manager will benefit by generating non-negative revenue from each assigned driver. Our numerical analysis provides further insights into the implementation of the dynamic mechanisms.
The Suda ’s Flavian Erasure

Flavian dating formulas and authors of Flavian date are largely absent from the Suda , which suggests a systematic suppression by one of its major sources, perhaps an epitome of Hesychius’ Onomatologos .
Long-Term Survival After Bovine Pericardial Versus Porcine Stented Bioprosthetic Aortic Valve Replacement: Does Valve Choice Matter?

Background Bioprosthetic options are increasingly used for surgical aortic valve replacement (AVR). However, current decision making regarding bioprosthetic valve choice is not data-driven given incomplete information on comparative long-term outcomes after stented bovine pericardial (BoAVR) vs porcine (PoAVR) AVR. As such, this study sought to examine the effect of bioprosthetic valve choice on long-term survival and reoperation after AVR. Methods A retrospective analysis of all stented bioprosthetic AVRs, with or without coronary artery bypass grafting procedures, at a single tertiary referral institution from 1980 to 2013 was conducted using a prospectively maintained database. Procedures were classified as BoAVR or PoAVR. The effect of valve type on long-term survival was assessed with Kaplan-Meier analysis and a Cox proportional hazard model. Subanalyses stratifying by valve size and patient age at the time of AVR assessing mortality and reoperation were also conducted. Results We identified 2,010 stented bioprosthetic AVR patients, comprising 1,411 BoAVRs (70.2%) and 599 PoAVRs (29.8%), 868 (43.2%) of whom underwent concomitant coronary artery bypass grafting. Kaplan-Meier analysis ( p = 0.12) and Cox models (hazard ratio BoAVR vs PoAVR, 1.08; p = 0.40) demonstrated no difference in long-term survival or need for reoperation after BoAVR vs PoAVR. Subanalyses of valve size and patient age also failed to show any association between valve choice and long-term survival or need for reoperation. Conclusions For patients undergoing AVR with a stented bioprosthetic valve, with or without coronary artery bypass grafting, the choice of a porcine vs bovine pericardial bioprosthesis does not appear to affect long-term survival or need for reoperation, regardless of valve size or patient age. As such, stented bioprosthetic valves would appear to be fungible, and therefore, valve choice should be driven by local market factors similar to other commodities.
Crust and upper mantle velocity structure of the southern rocky mountains from the jemez lineament to the cheyenne belt

We have interpreted the refraction/wide-angle reflection seismic profile acquired as part of the Continental Dynamics of the Rocky Mountains project. The profile extends ∼955km from northern New Mexico to southern Wyoming, crossing the Tertiary-Quaternary volcanics of the Jemez lineament, the Paleoproterozoic Mazatzal and Yavapai terranes, the Cheyenne belt, and the southern Archean Wyoming Province. We inverted the travel-time data from the 10 shot profile with both a layer based inversion method and a tomographic method. The two techniques yield comparable upper and middle crustal velocity structures. Lower crustal velocities are well constrained in the layer based model but are not in the tomographic model. From the layer based model, velocities in the crystalline crust and the upper mantle are lower than typical for continents and for modern orogens. Lower crustal velocities rarely exceed 7.00 km/s, likely due to the regionally high heat flow. We infer that the low upper mantle velocities beneath the Jemez lineament (7.70-7.76 km/s) are indicative of upper mantle partial melt. Crustal thickness increases from south to north, with thinner crust under the Jemez lineament (40-42 km), and thicker crust under northern Colorado, the Cheyenne belt, and southern Wyoming (51-53 km). Although the Cheyenne belt outcrops as a narrow zone separating Paleoproterozoic and Archean terranes, the seismic model shows broad lateral variation in crustal velocity near the suture, and a thick crust in the northern half of the profile. Part or all of the crustal thickening is likely to have occurred subsequent to continental accretion.
Solitary Neutron Stars as Gamma-Ray Sources

Very high energy particle accelerators exist in the outer magnetospheres of some rapidly spinning solitary radiopulsars. The production of e ± pairs and γ-rays associated with these accelerators evolves as the pulsar spins down. Expected evolution proceeds from a weak γ-ray source to a stronger Crab-like pulsar, then to a Vela-like pulsar, to a much stronger Cos B source, and, after several 104 years, to an extinct aligned Vela-like neutron star whose further spin-down is quenched. The latter can be reignited to be a transient Gamma Ray Burst source by various “match-like” phenomena. Reasons are given for the different evolution of canonical radiopulsars. Outer magnetosphere accelerators in millisecond pulsars and around magnetized neutron stars with accretion disks are also considered.
A Coming of Age for Beowulf-Class Computing

Beowulf-class systems along with other forms of PC clustered systems have matured to the point that they are becoming the strategy of choice for some areas of high performance applications. A Beowulf system is a cluster of mass market COTS personal computers interconnected by means of widely available local area network (LAN) technology. Beowulf software is based on open source code Unix-like operating systems that, in a majority of cases, is Linux. The API for Beowulf is based on message passing semantics and mechanisms including explicit models such as PVM and MPI or implicit models such as BSP of HPF. Since its introduction in 1994, Beowulf-class computing has gone through five generations of PCs from multiple microprocessor vendors including the Intel x86 family, DEC’s Alpha, and the PowerPC from IBM and Motorola. Originally, Beowulfs were implemented as small clusters in the range of 4 to 32 nodes. Larger clusters of 48 to 96 processors were deployed two and a half years ago. Today there are many systems of 100 to 300 processors with systems of over a thousand processors in the planning stage for implementation over the next year.
Coping With a Health Threat: A Study of Food Safety1

The coping strategies used to respond to the perceived health threat of contaminated food are examined. Six hundred and thirty randomly selected adults in the state of Iowa responded to a mailed questionnaire asking their attitudes and behaviors concerning food safety. A principal component analysis of coping measure identified two distinct coping strategies–problem solving and fatalism/avoidance/ trust. Multiple regression analysis showed that the respondents who tended to be health conscious (i. e., engaged in health protective behaviors and had better quality diets) and perceived unsafe food as a personal threat and a social problem were more likely to select problem solving as a coping mechanism. The respondents who were low in health consciousness were more likely to select the approaches of fatalism/ avoidance. Social class variables did not differentiate coping strategies.
The set of singularities of regulated functions in several variables

We consider a class of regulated functions of several variables, namely, the class of functions f defined in an open set \({U\subset\mathbb{R}^{n}}\) such that at each \({{\bf x}_{0} \in U}\) the “thick” limit $$ f_{{\bf x}_{0}}\left( {\bf w}\right) =\lim_{\varepsilon\rightarrow 0^{+}}f\left( {\bf x}_{0}+\varepsilon{\bf w}\right), $$ exists for all \({{\bf w}\in\mathbb{S}}\), the unit sphere of \({\mathbb{R}^{n}}\). We study the set of singular points of f, namely, the set of points \({\mathfrak{S}}\) where the thick limit is not constant. In one variable it is well known that \({\mathfrak{S}}\) is countable. We give examples where \({\mathfrak{S}}\) is not countable in \({\mathbb{R}^{n}}\), but we prove that if all the thick values are continuous functions of w, then \({\mathfrak{S}}\) must be countable. We also consider regulated distributions, elements of the space \({\mathcal{D}^{\prime} \left(U\right)}\) for which the thick value exists, as a distributional limit, and show that in this case the continuity of the thick values gives the countability of \({\mathfrak{S}}\) as well.
The Politics, Problems, and Potential Promise of School-Linked Social Services: Insights and New Directions From the Work of William Lowe Boyd

The purpose of this article is to illustrate Professor William L. Boyd's insights into the political ecology of schooling and his contributions and collaboration with others concerned about ensuring the well-being of students, families, and communities. Over his career, Boyd investigated the subtle and complex organizational constraints to school-linked coordinated services, including examining the reasons for the unrelenting resistance of public organizations to change, despite repeated efforts to reform them. We trace the history of the community schools movement and explore the influential, and at times prophetic, scholarly contributions of William L. Boyd to the research and discussion on the effectiveness, challenges, and future promise of this reform strategy. We hope that current and future researchers can learn from and build on his scholarship to develop new pathways to improve the lives of at-risk children.
Real-time and Accurate Multiple Contact Detection between General Curved Objects

Contact detection based on computing minimum distance is a fundamental issue important to many applications. A largely unsolved problem is how to detect multiple contacts that are formed simultaneously between non-convex and non-polyhedral general objects both accurately and in real-time. This paper presents an effective solution to the problem. Our approach first locates the pairs of closest components by fast intersection checking based on hybrid bounding volume hierarchies of surface components. For each pair of such components, it then finds the pairs of closest points and corresponding pairs of closest parametric features by combining collision detection or minimum distance query between polygonal meshes of those components and exact distance computation between the parametric features. Implementation results show that this approach can compute multiple simultaneous contacts between general objects both very accurately and efficiently in the order of several milliseconds regardless of the numbers of features on the objects.
Management development and management NVQs

Compares individual perceptions of management development across two groups of students who had achieved either an academic management qualification or a National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) in Management. Also examines the experience of candidates on the vocational qualification (VQ). Reports that perceptions of the extent to which management development had occurred were similar between the two groups, although the NVQ group had a higher proportion of non‐developers on some dimensions. Significant differences were found only for development of written and numerical ability, where the academic programme was rated more highly, and for team management, where VQ candidates rated more highly. Also reports that similar patterns of development were perceived by the two groups. Self‐understanding by NVQ candidates appears to have been enhanced through development of openness to feedback, leading to greater awareness of own management style, sensitivity to others and personal confidence. Managerial development centred on task analysis and prioritization, and awareness of the organization’s micro and macro environments.
Lesser known energy sources: a study of biogas and tire-based fuel.

ABSTRACT The objective of this article is to investigate two reasonably uncommon energy sources: biogas and scrap tire-based fuel and their potential use in industry. The article will discuss germane background information about the energy sources, such as current and potential uses, operational constraints, advantages, and disadvantages. In addition, this article will explore each fuel source's potential capacity for energy generation and fuel savings. The quantitative section on biogas analyzes the amount of power biogas digesters can provide based off on varying types and numbers of farm animals and generation methods. The scrap tire fuel section analyzes potential fuel savings with cement kilns, explores these values using several examples, and conducts cursory financial analysis of tire fuel projects. Lastly, this article concludes that there exists great potential for fuel and cost savings with these types of alternative energy sources.
Evidence of resource partitioning between humpback and minke whales around the western Antarctic Peninsula

For closely related sympatric species to coexist, they must differ to some degree in their ecological requirements or niches (e.g., diets) to avoid interspecific competition. Baleen whales in the Antarctic feed primarily on krill, and the large sympatric prewhaling community suggests resource partitioning among these species or a nonlimiting prey resource. In order to examine ecological differences between sympatric humpback and minke whales around the Western Antarctic Peninsula, we made measurements of the physical environment, observations of whale distribution, and concurrent acoustic measurements of krill aggregations. Mantel's tests and classification and regression tree models indicate both similarities and differences in the spatial associations between humpback and minke whales, environmental features, and prey. The data suggest (1) similarities (proximity to shore) and differences (prey abundance versus deep water temperatures) in horizontal spatial distribution patterns, (2) unambiguous vertical resource partitioning with minke whales associating with deeper krill aggregations across a range of spatial scales, and (3) that interference competition between these two species is unlikely. These results add to the paucity of ecological knowledge relating baleen whales and their prey in the Antarctic and should be considered in conservation and management efforts for Southern Ocean cetaceans and ecosystems.
NECK DISSECTION IN THE TREATMENT OF CANCER OF MAJOR SALIVARY GLANDS

The treatment of the neck nodes in salivary gland tumors has changed considerably in the last two decades. The current thinking and the rationale for it are discussed in detail in this article.
Changes in regional input-output coefficients and regional forecasting

Abstract The issue of constant regional input-output coefficients is studied in the context of regional forecasting. Under the constant coefficient assumption and given known final demand vectors, output and intermediate output prediction errors average five and 20 percent, respectively. Neither price nor product-mix adjustments improve predictions, and measurement error in base-year tables accounts for only a portion of the observed variation in coefficients. On the other hand, the interindustry structure is sensitive to short-run disturbances in the region's propensity to import. Tests further indicate that input-output forecasting is superior to a series of naive methods, but that the problem of predicting regional final demands is a relatively serious one.