cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Isolation of intact capillaries and capillary plasma membranes from frozen human brain

The development of methods for the isolation of brain capillaries and brain capillary plasma membranes makes possible biochemical studies of the blood-brain barrier (BBB), which is made up of brain capillaries. Studies aimed at assessing the role of the BBB in the pathogenesis of specific neurologic diseases, e.g., Alzheimer's disease or multiple sclerosis, will necessitate the isolataion of capillaries from brain involved with specific pathology. Such tissue is most readily available from banks containing frozen human brain. The present studies show that intact capillaries and capillary plasma membranes can be isolated from frozen human brain, including as little as five g of multiple sclerosis plaque tissue. Capillaries from frozen human brain are enriched in gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase, factor VIII antigen, and a 46K protein which has recently been shown to be a BBB-specific protein. These studies provide the basis for future biochemical studies of human brain microvessels in neurologic disease.
The Pattern of Intact and Impaired Memory Functions in Autism

A battery of tests of auditory and visual memory was used to investigate memory function in 52 high-functioning adolescents and young adults with autism and 40 group-matched normal controls. It was hypothesized that memory dysfunction is present in autism but is not modality specific and is produced by poor utilization of organizing strategies. It was therefore hypothesized that memory impairment in autism would become more prominent as task complexity was increased. The participants with autism performed as well as controls on short-term memory and paired-associate learning tasks, but performed significantly less well than controls on a list learning task. They also performed significantly more poorly on immediate and delayed recall of a story and of a complex geometric figure. On a maze learning task, their performance became progressively worse relative to controls as the complexity of the maze increased. On a series of span tasks, they did not differ from controls on letter span, but did significantly worse on word span and sentences of increasing complexity. These findings indicate a lack of modality specificity and a failure to initiate organizing strategies as evidenced by inefficiency in new learning, poor utilization of contextual cues in story and complex pattern recall, and greater impairment with increasing complexity of the material.
Monotone iterative techniques for nonlinear problems involving the difference of two monotone functions

We prove a fundamental theorem concerning the existence of coupled maximal and minimal solutions of the dynamical systems involving the difference of two monotone functions. Besides the relevance of such problems in mathematical biology, this treatment has several implications to the theory of monotone iterative techniques, as has been pointed in the several remarks made in the paper.
Total Elbow Replacement for Rheumatoid Arthritis

Management of patients with rheumatoid arthritis of the elbow has changed significantly over the last several years. The reliability of both coupled and uncoupled elbow joint replacements have emerged as reliable interventions for this diagnosis. Mayo’s experience with 78 procedures with rheumatoid arthritis undergoing total elbow arthroplasty has revealed a satisfactory outcome of approximately 92% at 12 years. The complication rate is approximately 15%, consisting primarily of delayed avulsions or deficiency of the triceps tendon (2%), deep infection (2%), and ulnar nerve irritation (3%).
Race, Wealth, and Class Identification in 21st-Century American Society

This study examines the determinants of Americans' subjective class identities, using General Social Survey data from 2006. In particular, this study addresses the question of whether individuals' ...
Effect of Tumor Heterogeneity on Interstitial Pressure and Fluid Flow

Delivery of drugs to solid tumors is often impeded by the elevation of the interstitial fluid pressure at the tumor core and the loss of plasma from the tumor to the surrounding normal tissue. Interstitial pressure in tumors is abnormally high because tumor blood vessels are highly permeable relative to their normal counterparts and tumors lack functional lymphatic vessels that can absorb the excess fluid loss [1]. As a result, there is a net outward flow of plasma-like fluid through the interstitial spaces of the tumor toward the exterior of the tumor where functional lymphatics may be found (Fig. 1).Copyright © 2013 by ASME
The Official Story

During the years of the Vietnam War, public trust in American politicians reached an all-time low. Journalists coined the term “credibility gap” to describe the chasm between official descriptions of the war and the reality of the conflict. The phrase “credibility gap” was first used by reporter David Wise in a May 23, 1965, article for the New York Herald Tribune. At the time, there were only a few thousand American combat troops stationed in South Vietnam, but the antiwar movement was gaining momentum. Public suspicions about the truthfulness of the Johnson administration escalated as well. Murray Marder, a reporter for the Washington Post, popularized the term “credibility gap” in an article on December 5, 1965, in which he argued that government officials were being disingenuous in painting a rosy picture of a war that was actually going quite badly. The 1971 publication in the New York Times of the so-called Pentagon Papers exposed to the entire world just how disingenuous public officials had been. Four American presidents—Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon—had been guilty of misleading the American people.
The US-Japan Alliance and Japan’s Future

Perhaps the key question facing the over 50-year-old US-Japan alliance is whether it still remains at the core of America’s Asia strategy as well as Japan’s security strategy. In other words, is the alliance still the fundamental relationship that both sides have assumed it has been for the past half a century or more? The most reasoned and prudent answer is a qualified “yes,” and this essay will attempt to explain what those qualifications are.
Comparison of Principal Component Analysis and t-Stochastic Neighbor Embedding with Distance Metric Modifications for Single-cell RNA-sequencing Data Analysis

Recent developments in technological tools such as next generation sequencing along with peaking interest in the study of single cells has enabled single-cell RNA-sequencing, in which whole transcriptomes are analyzed on a single-cell level. Studies, however, have been hindered by the ability to effectively analyze these single cell RNA-seq datasets, due to the high-dimensional nature and intrinsic noise in the data. While many techniques have been introduced to reduce dimensionality of such data for visualization and subpopulation identification, the utility to identify new cellular subtypes in a reliable and robust manner remains unclear. Here, we compare dimensionality reduction visualization methods including principle component analysis and t-stochastic neighbor embedding along with various distance metric modifications to visualize single-cell RNA-seq datasets, and assess their performance in identifying known cellular subtypes. Our results suggest that selecting variable genes prior to analysis on single-cell RNA-seq data is vital to yield reliable classification, and that when variable genes are used, the choice of distance metric modification does not particularly influence the quality of classification. Still, in order to take advantage of all the gene expression information, alternative methods must be used for a reliable classification.
Assessing Fuel Economy From Automated Driving: Influence of Preview and Velocity Constraints

Constrained optimization control techniques with preview are designed in this paper to derive optimal velocity trajectories in longitudinal vehicle following mode, while ensuring that the gap from the lead vehicle is both safe and short enough to prevent cut-ins from other lanes. The lead vehicle associated with the Federal Test Procedures (FTP) [1] is used as an example of the achieved benefits with such controlled velocity trajectories of the following vehicle. Fuel Consumption (FC) is indirectly minimized by minimizing the accelerations and decelerations as the autonomous vehicle follows the hypothetical lead. Implementing the cost function in offline Dynamic Programming (DP) with full drive cycle preview showed up to a 17% increase in Fuel Economy (FE). Real time implementation with Model Predictive Control (MPC) showed improvements in FE, proportional to the prediction horizon. Specifically, 20s preview MPC was able to match the DP results. A minimum of 1.5s preview of the lead vehicle velocity with velocity tracking of the lead was required to obtain an increase in FE.The optimal velocity trajectory found from these algorithms exceeded the presently allowable error from standard drive cycles for FC testing. However, the trajectory was still safe and acceptable from the perspective of traffic flow. Based on our results, regulators need to consider relaxing the constant velocity error margins around the standard velocity trajectories dictated by the FTP to encourage FE increase in autonomous driving.Copyright © 2016 by ASME
Long-term trends in aquatic ecosystem bioassessment metrics are not influenced by sampling method: empirical evidence from the Niobrara River

Choosing an aquatic invertebrate sampling method for biomonitoring depends upon study goals, resources, and ecosystem conditions. In this study, we compared two methods that are widely used in stream ecology, but have not been directly compared: Hester–Dendy (HD) and Hess sampling. Hester–Dendy sampling uses artificial substrate that invertebrates colonize over a specific period of time. In contrast, Hess samplers surround a fixed area of natural substrate with a net. To compare approaches, we combined 5 years of simultaneous HD and Hess data collection (2010–2014) from the Niobrara River with a 14-year (1996–2009) historical HD data set for the same study sites. We used this full 19-year data set to assess how ecosystem health has changed in the Niobrara River over time, while also testing the influence of HD versus Hess data (2010–2014) on historical trends (1996–2009). Our results showed that HD samples are more taxonomically variable and bias bioassessment metrics because they collect more sensitive taxa versus Hess sampling. However, when combined with the 1996–2009 HD data set, both recent HD and Hess data sets recovered the same trend of declining ecosystem health in the Niobrara River. These results provide empirical evidence that even when historical HD data are combined with recent Hess data, long-term bioassessment trends remain unchanged despite more accurate perspectives of invertebrate assemblages being collected.
President Obama on the ballot: Referendum voting and racial spillover in the 2014 midterm elections

Abstract The 2014 elections were widely viewed as a referendum on the presidency of Barack Obama. Republicans ran against the incumbent president, and many view the Republican Party's victories in 2014 as a mass rejection of President Obama's policies. We argue that this account of the 2014 elections is incomplete. We advance the theory of racial spillover—that associating an attitude object with President Obama causes public opinion to polarize on the basis of racial attitudes—to explain both vote choice and referendum voting in the 2014 elections. In an analysis of the CCES and an original survey, we show that congressional vote choice was strongly racialized in 2014. We go on to show that perceptions of the election as a referendum on President Obama were also racialized, and that these perceptions mediated the link between racial animus and 2014 congressional vote choice. This represents the first study to show that racialized congressional evaluations continued into 2014 and we provide direct evidence that attitudes about President Obama mediated the effect of racial animus on congressional vote choice. We conclude by discussing the implications for referendum voting, racial spillover, and the 2014 midterm elections.
Making Freedom: Apartheid, Squatter Politics, and the Struggle for Home. By Anne-Maria Makhulu. (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2015. Pp. 228. $23.95.) : Book Review

It is a commonplace that, for all its ideological pretensions, apartheid was about the management of black urbanization in South Africa, through influx control for Africans and residential segregat...
Schools of democracy

In the late 20th century, a wave of democratic transformation swept away dictatorships of the right and left across Europe, Africa and much of Asia; and for the first time in human history most cit...
Galactomannan antigenemia as a biomarker for therapeutic response of invasive aspergillosis: implications for clinical trial design and patient care.

ABSTRACTIntroduction: Clinical trials for invasive pulmonary aspergillosis, a potentially lethal mold infection, are complex investigations that require protracted time and extensive resources, delaying the development of new antifungal agents for this important disease.Areas covered: In this paper, the authors examine a novel approach to study invasive pulmonary aspergillosis in humans, with a focus on the potentials and pitfalls of surrogate end points such as galactomannan antigenemia to evaluate therapeutic response to novel compounds.Expert commentary: The authors believe the use of serum galactomannan as a primary end point in clinical trials may allow for development studies that could be accomplished with fewer resources. It is widely appreciated that serum galactomannan values strongly correlate with outcome of invasive aspergillosis in patients with hematologic cancer and may be applicable to other at-risk patient populations.
Texas Sour Orange Juice Used in Scaffolds for Tissue Engineering.

Fine fibers of polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), a biopolymer, were developed via a centrifugal spinning technique. The developed fibers have an average diameter of 1.8 µm. Texas sour orange juice (SOJ) was applied as a natural antibacterial agent and infiltrated within the fibrous membranes. The antibacterial activity against common Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli, respectively) was evaluated as well as cell adhesion and viability. The PHB/SOJ scaffolds showed antibacterial activity of up to 152% and 71% against S. aureus and E. coli, respectively. The cell studies revealed a suitable environment for cell growth and cell attachment. The outcome of this study opens up new opportunities for fabrication of fibrous materials for biomedical applications having multifunctional properties while using natural agents.
Public Health and Climate Programs at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

This chapter explores several key aspects of EPA’s climate change program related to public health: (1) the Agency’s findings regarding the risks posed by greenhouse gases; (2) the federal regulations developed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; (3) EPA’s efforts on short-lived climate pollutants such as black carbon, methane, and ozone; and (4) the EPA’s intramural and extramural research programs related to climate and public health.
Das Budget — I Budgets für Absatz, Produktion, Herstellkosten und Investitionen

In allen Bereichen des taglichen Lebens wird bewust oder unbewust budgetiert. Ob jemand uber die Deckung seines eigenen zukunftigen Bedarfs und desjenigen seiner Familie Uberlegungen anstellt oder ob er als Unternehmer die zur Kostendeckung und Gewinnerzielung notwendigen Erlose plant, immer wird ihm die Aufstellung eines Budgets seine Bemuhungen erleichtern.
Inguinal Hernias in Children

Hernia management in children dates from Antiquity. Described as a swelling on the surface of the belly in ancient papyri, it was treated with tight bandages by the early physicians of Alexandria. The underlying abnormality [patent processus vaginalis (PPV)] leading to the development of congenital (indirect) inguinal hernia or hydrocele was described by Galen in 176 A.D. as a “small offshoot of the great peritoneal sac in the lower abdomen” [1].
Thermal conductivity measurements and modeling of ceramic fiber insulation materials

Abstract Ceramic fiber insulation materials are used in numerous applications (e.g. aerospace, fire protection, and military) for their stability and performance in extreme environments. However, the thermal properties of these materials have not been thoroughly characterized for many of the conditions that they will be exposed to, such as high temperatures, pressures, and alternate gaseous atmospheres. The resulting uncertainty in the material properties can complicate the design of systems using these materials. In this study, the thermal conductivity of two ceramic fiber insulations, Fiberfrax T-30LR laminate and 970-H paper, was measured as a function of atmospheric temperature and compression in an air environment using the transient plane source technique. Furthermore, a model is introduced to account for changes in thermal conductivity with temperature, compression, and ambient gas. The model was tuned to the collected experimental data and results are compared. The tuned model is also compared to published data sets taken in argon, helium, and hydrogen environments and agreement is discussed.
Suspended in context: School discipline, STEM course taking, and school racial/ethnic composition.

Abstract STEM curricula and school disciplinary regimes are key foundations of the transition to adulthood, and they may be connected within school contexts in ways that reflect and exacerbate the intergenerational transmission of inequality. This study examines such connections with particular attention to student race/ethnicity and the racial/ethnic composition of high schools. Bivariate probit analyses of the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 and the Civil Rights Data Collection of 2012 revealed that early suspension was associated with truncated trajectories of Calculus course taking later in high school while taking Algebra I in grade 9 was associated with avoiding suspension. The proportion of disciplinary cases of racial/ethnic peers was associated with the math coursework of boys and the proportion of Calculus enrollment moderated the association between Algebra I in 9th grade and suspension during high school for girls. These results confirm the value of studying the interplay of formal and informal processes of schooling.
Survey research in podiatric medicine: An analysis of the reporting of response rates and non-response bias.

Abstract Background Survey research is common practice in podiatry literature and many other health-related fields. An important component of the reporting of survey results is the provision of sufficient information to permit readers to understand the validity and representativeness of the results presented. However, the quality of survey reporting measures in the body of podiatry literature has not been systematically reviewed. Objective To examine the reporting of response rates and nonresponse bias within survey research articles published in the podiatric literature in order to provide a foundation with regard to the development of appropriate research reporting standards within the profession. Methods This study reports on a secondary analysis of survey research published in the Journal of the American Podiatric Medical Association, the Foot, and the Journal of Foot and Ankle Research. 98 surveys published from 2000 to 2018 were reviewed and data abstracted regarding the report of response rates and non-response bias. Results 67 surveys (68.4%) report a response rate while only 36 articles (36.7%) mention non-response bias in any capacity. Conclusions The findings suggest that there is room for improvement in the quality of reporting response rates and nonresponse in the body of podiatric literature involving survey research. Both nonresponse and response rate should be reported to assess survey quality. This is particularly problematic for studies that contribute to best practices.
On the Physics of Dimensional Reduction

Certain abstract constructs in ordinary four-dimensional Physics are found to acquire simple geometrical interpretations in the context of Kaluza reduction from higher dimensions. Among such constructs we treat the operation of charge conjugation, the (abelian or non-abelian) Lorentz force, and the forces on point particles moving in the scalar fields of a GL(N, R)/O(N, R) σ-model. Some cosmological and “experimental” aspects of dimensional reduction are discussed.
Exposure to the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, Associated Resource Loss, and Long-Term Mental and Behavioral Outcomes.

Objective The aim of this study was to (1) assess the long-term mental and behavioral health outcomes of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill of residents in the Gulf Coast and to (2) identify populations that may be particularly vulnerable to future disasters. Methods The Survey of Trauma, Resilience, and Opportunity in Neighborhoods in the Gulf (STRONG) is a population-representative sample of 2520 coastal residents surveyed in Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida in 2016. We present prevalence estimates for positive screens of depression, anxiety, and alcohol misuse, as well as receipt of health care services. We examine differences in these outcomes across states, affected occupational groups, and demographic groups. Results Resource loss attributed to the spill was associated with positive screens for depression and anxiety. Almost 50% of adults screened positive for depression, anxiety, or alcohol misuse, but less than 20% of these currently access mental health care. Black residents were less likely to have health insurance and a usual source of care but were more likely to have visited the emergency room in the past 12 months. Conclusions Surveillance data from STRONG can help policy-makers and other stakeholders develop targeted approaches to foster resilience, particularly among vulnerable populations, and thereby mitigate the effects of future disasters.
Proximal fusion constructs in minimally invasive scoliosis surgery are successful without interbody or intertransverse fusion.

Objective Minimally invasive techniques are increasingly used in adult deformity surgery as surgeon familiarity improves and long-term data are published. Concerns raised in such cases include pseudarthrosis at levels where interbody grafts are not utilized. Few previous studies have specifically examined the thoracolumbar component of long surgical constructs, which is commonly instrumented without interbody or intertransverse fusion. Methods A retrospective analysis was performed on all patients who underwent hybrid minimally invasive deformity corrections in two academic spine centers over a 9-year period. Inclusion criteria were at least 2 rostral levels instrumented percutaneously, ranging from T8 to L1 as the upper end of the construct. Fusion assessment was made using CT when possible or radiography. Common radiographic parameters and clinical variables were assessed pre- and postoperatively. Results A total of 36 patients fit the inclusion criteria. Baseline characteristics included a 1:1.8 male/female ratio, average age of 65.7 years, and BMI of 30.2 kg/m2. Follow-up imaging was obtained at a mean of 35.7 months. The average number of levels fused was 7.5, with an average of 3.4 instrumented percutaneously between T8 and L1, representing a total of 120 rostral levels instrumented percutaneously. Fusion assessment was performed using CT in 69 levels and radiography in 51 levels. Among the 120 rostral levels instrumented percutaneously, robust fusion was noted in 25 (20.8%), with 53 (44.2%) exhibiting some evidence of fusion. Pseudarthrosis was noted in 2 rostral segments (1.7%). There were no instances of proximal hardware revision. Eight patients exhibited radiographic proximal junctional kyphosis (PJK; 22.2%), none of whom underwent surgical intervention. Conclusions In the present series of adult patients with scoliosis undergoing thoracolumbar deformity correction, rostral segments instrumented percutaneously have a very low rate of pseudarthrosis, with radiographic evidence of bone fusion occurring in more than 60% of patients. The rate of PJK was acceptable and similar to other published series.
“They all still look the same to me”: Navon processing and the cross-race effect

ABSTRACTResearch suggests the Cross-Race Effect (CRE), the difficulty to remember faces from a different race relative to their own, is due to other race faces being processed featurally. It has be...
A critically modern ecological economics for the Anthropocene

Ecological economics recognizes economic activity as a biophysical process mediated by social systems and ultimately subject to the constraints of a finite earth system. The Anthropocene discourse ...
The Integrative Human microbiome project: a mile stone in the understanding of the gut microbiome.

In the past several years, innovative technologies have allowed for the identification and quantification of the human microbiome composition and function [1]. A PubMed search of the terms: ‘microb...
Statistical Modeling and Analysis of k-Layer Coverage of Two-Dimensional Materials in Inkjet Printing Processes

Two-dimensional layered materials/flakes, also known as crystalline atom-thick layer nanosheets, have recently been receiving great attention in electronics fabrication due to their unique and intr...
A Nationwide Analysis of Budd-Chiari Syndrome in the United States.

Objective The Budd–Chiari Syndrome (BCS) is a rare disorder characterized by hepatic venous outflow obstruction. The primary objectives of our study were to assess temporal trends in the prevalence of BCS among hospitalized patients in the United States using the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) database and to evaluate demographics, risk factors, and common presentation of BCS. Methods Data were extracted from the NIS to identify patients >18 years of age using all listed diagnosis of BCS from 1998 to 2017 and analyzed. Results Between 1998 and 2017, we identified a total of 8435 hospitalizations related to BCS. Over the 19-year period, the hospitalization rate for BCS increased consistently from 4.96 per 1,000,000 US population in 1998 to 10.44 per 1,000,000 in 2017, with an annual percentage change increase of 4.41% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 4.23%–4.59%, P Conclusion This large population-based study from the United States showed increasing hospitalizations related to BCS. Common presentation was ascites and acute kidney injury.
A new role for proteins subunits of RNase P: stabilization of the telomerase holoenzyme

RNase P, an RNA-protein complex, is essential for processing tRNAs. Three of the ten protein subunits of Saccharomyces cerevisiae RNase P (and a related complex, RNase MRP) co-purify with yeast telomerase, another RNA-protein complex. The three telomerase-associated proteins, Pop1, 6 and 7, bind to TLC1, the RNA subunit of telomerase. In a recent study (Garcia et al. Nat Commun), we used temperature sensitive alleles of the essential POP genes to determine their role in telomerase biogenesis. At permissive temperature, pop mutant cells grow normally, and the abundance of most proteins, including protein subunits of telomerase, is similar to wild type (WT). However, telomeres are short, and the amount of the mature telomerase holoenzyme is low. Unlike the RNA subunit of RNase MRP, TLC1 is more abundant in pop cells and properly folded, except at the Cs2a/TeSS domain where the Pop proteins bind. These defects correlate with defective movement of TLC1 from the cytoplasm, where it associates with telomerase proteins, back to the nucleus where it lengthens telomeres. Thus, Pop proteins are needed for the stable association of telomerase proteins with TLC1, and their reduction sequesters mature telomerase in the cytoplasm, away from its nuclear substrates.
COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing in the United States: A mixed-methods study on lived experiences and well-being

The current mixed-methods study was designed to explore individuals’ experiences with the COVID-19 pandemic and potential relationships between social distancing and individual well-being. Particip...
Widespread deep seismicity in the Delaware Basin, Texas, is mainly driven by shallow wastewater injection.

Industrial activity away from plate boundaries can induce earthquakes and has evolved into a global issue. Much of the induced seismicity in the United States9 midcontinent is attributed to a direct pressure increase from deep wastewater disposal. This mechanism is not applicable where deep basement faults are hydraulically isolated from shallow injection aquifers, leading to a debate about the mechanisms for induced seismicity. Here, we compile industrial, seismic, geodetic, and geological data within the Delaware Basin, western Texas, and calculate stress and pressure changes at seismogenic depth using a coupled poroelastic model. We show that the widespread deep seismicity is mainly driven by shallow wastewater injection through the transmission of poroelastic stresses assuming that unfractured shales are hydraulic barriers over decadal time scales. A zone of seismic quiescence to the north, where injection-induced stress changes would promote seismicity, suggests a regional tectonic control on the occurrence of induced earthquakes. Comparing the poroelastic responses from injection and extraction operations, we find that the basement stress is most sensitive to shallow reservoir hydrogeological parameters, particularly hydraulic diffusivity. These results demonstrate that intraplate seismicity can be caused by shallow human activities that poroelastically perturb stresses at hydraulically isolated seismogenic depths, with impacts on seismicity that are preconditioned by regional tectonics.
On the relationship between COVID-19 reported fatalities early in the pandemic and national socio-economic status predating the pandemic

This study investigates the relationship between socio-economic determinants pre-dating the pandemic and the reported number of cases, deaths, and the ratio of deaths/cases in 199 countries/regions during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic. The analysis is performed by means of machine learning methods. It involves a portfolio/ensemble of 32 interpretable models and considers the case in which the outcome variables (number of cases, deaths, and their ratio) are independent and the case in which their dependence is weighted based on geographical proximity. We build two measures of variable importance, the Absolute Importance Index (AII) and the Signed Importance Index (SII) whose roles are to identify the most contributing socio-economic factors to the variability of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our results suggest that, together with the established influence on cases and deaths of the level of mobility, the specific features of the health care system (smart/poor allocation of resources), the economy of a country (equity/non-equity), and the society (religious/not religious or community-based vs not) might contribute to the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths heterogeneously across countries.
In a Class by Themselves: A Proposal toIncorporate Tribal Courts into the FederalCourt System Without CompromisingTheir Unique Status As "DomesticDependent Nations"

Table of ContentsI. Introduction 285II. Tribal Sovereignty and the Development of Modern Indian Policy 287III. Tribal Court Jurisdiction Under Supreme Court Precedent 289A. Modern Tribal Court Criminal Jurisdiction 2901. The Determinative Power of Party Status 2902. Double Jeopardy 292B. Civil Jurisdiction 2931. Party Status 2932. Land Status 295IV. Problems with the Current State of Tribal Jurisdiction 297A. Issues Unique to Tribal Courts and the Role of Tribal Courts in the Federalist System 2971. The Interaction of State and Tribal Courts and Public Law 280 2982. The Exhaustion Doctrine and Its Effect on the Tribal/Federal Relationship 301B. Problems in the Criminal Jurisdiction Context 304C. Conflict of Laws Concerns 3051. Which Law Should Apply? 3062. Problems with Judgment Recognition 307D. Forum Shopping and Fundamental Fairness Concerns 308E. Issues of Tribal Sovereignty 309V. Potential Solutions That Treat Indian Tribes Like Other Political Entities 309A. Treat Indian Tribes Like States 310B. Treat Indian Tribes As Foreign Countries 314C. Treat Indian Tribes As Administrative Agencies 316D. Treat Indian Tribes As Federal Territories 317VI. A Proposal for a More Tailored Solution 320A. A Proposal to Modify the Present State of Tribal Court Jurisdiction 3201. Proposed Changes to Tribal Court Criminal Jurisdiction 3212. A Proposal to Expand Tribal Court Civil Jurisdiction 323a. Presumptive Civil Jurisdiction in Tribal Courts........ 323b. Maintaining Some Limits on Tribal Court Civil Jurisdiction 324(1) Limits on Supplemental Jurisdiction 324(2) Adjustments to Tribal Sovereign Immunity 325c. Answering the Critics 3273. Adjustments to State and Federal Court Jurisdiction Resulting from Increased Tribal Court Jurisdiction ........328B. The Structure of the Proposed Tribal Court System 3291. A Court for Every Tribe 3302. Tribal Appellate Courts for Larger Tribes 3303. Creating a New Federal Circuit Court of Appeals 331C. Procedural Devices to Control Interactions Between Tribal Courts and Federal and State Courts 3321. Levels of Review in the CFR Appellate Courts 3332. Levels of Review in the CAIC . …
Moving Towards a Supreme Tribunal: America's 21st Century Obligation to Foster Peace

This article emphasizes the critical role adherence to treaty obligations plays in world order. An overview of two International Court of Justice decisions — Germany v. United States and Mexico v. United States — and the United States Supreme Court’s response in Medellin provide an analytical framework to help understand America’s reluctance to follow World Court decisions. Tensions in the U.S. Constitution and U.S. notions of sovereignty are found to be primary impediments in recognizing the International Court of Justice as the world’s Highest Court. America must overcome both impediments if she desires to set an example of peace and security.
The Political Economy of Lighthouses in Antebellum America

Lighthouses are the quintessential public goods and thus constitute a key illustration of market failure in need of government remedy. Considerable debates have been waged over whether optimal private provision was historically possible. However, little to no attention has been devoted to how lighthouse systems operated once governments took charge of remedying the public goods problem. Using the fact that Antebellum America came close to following the ideal textbook solution to the provision of public goods, we assess how government allocated lighthouses before the Civil War. We find some evidence that the lighthouses were built according to commercial needs. However, we also find strong evidence that political considerations played a strong role in selecting where lighthouses would be built.
The Challenges of standards related to voltage sag

Voltage sag is an inevitable power quality problem in power system. This paper reviews and summarizes IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers), IEC (International Electro technical Commission) and Chinese standards related to voltage sag, mainly including voltage sag definition, monitoring, indices evaluation, voltage sag tolerance test of sensitive equipment and governance measures. This paper also summarizes the differences and focuses of each standard and analyzes the problems that are still worthy of improvement in the existing standards so as to provide reference for scientific understanding and solving the voltage sag problem.
Self-Ownership, Reciprocity and Exploitation, or Why Marxists Shouldn't Be Afraid of Robert Nozick

A common theme of libertarians is that there is a conflict between the values of liberty and equality. Achieving equality, so libertarians often argue, would require frequent interference in individuals’ lives, creating constraints on freedom and obstacles to the development of individuality. Although not himself endorsing a libertarian conception of liberty, Oxford philosopher G.A. Cohen recently has advanced the surprising thesis that there is a tension in Marxist normative thought that in an interesting way parallels the often heard libertarian challenge to egalitarianism.
Mixing with the radio frequency single-electron transistor

By configuring a radio frequency single-electron transistor as a mixer, we demonstrate a unique implementation of this device, that achieves good charge sensitivity with large bandwidth about a tunable center frequency. In our implementation we achieve a measurement bandwidth of 16 MHz, with a tunable center frequency from 0 to 1.2 GHz, demonstrated with the transistor operating at 300 mK. Ultimately this device is limited in center frequency by the RC time of the transistor’s center island, which for our device is ∼1.6GHz, close to the measured value. The measurement bandwidth is determined by the quality factor of the readout tank circuit.
Scalable parallel list ranking of image edges on fine-grained machines

We present analytical and experimental results for fine-grained list ranking algorithms, with the objective of examining how the locality properties of image edge lists can be used to improve the performance of this highly data-dependent operation. Starting with Wyllie's (1979) algorithm and Anderson and Miller's (1990) randomized algorithm as bases, we use the spatial locality of edge links to derive scalable algorithms designed to exploit the characteristics of image edges. Tested on actual and synthetic edge data, this approach achieves significant speedup on the MasPar MP-1 and MP-2, compared to the standard list ranking algorithms. The modified algorithms exhibit good scalability and are robust across a wide variety of images. >
Undersampling approach for imbalanced training sets and induction from multi-label text-categorization domains

Text categorization is an important application domain of multilabel classification where each document can simultaneously belong to more than one class. The most common approach is to address the problem of multi-label examples by inducing a separate binary classifier for each class, and then use these classifiers in parallel. What the information-retrieval community has all but ignored, however, is that such classifiers are almost always induced from highly imbalanced training sets. The study reported in this paper shows how taking this aspect into consideration with a majority-class undersampling we used here can indeed improve classification performance as measured by criteria common in text categorization: macro/micro precision, recall, and F1. We also show how a slight modification of an older undersampling technique helps further improve the results.
Commission Splits of Real Estate Agents with Affiliated Firms

The commission split between real estate agents and their affiliated firms represents an important incentive mechanism. A study of 1,477 agents indicates that total commission revenue generated during the year affects the subsequent commission rate more than volume of residential sales or transactions. Profit sharing and independent franchise firms offer higher ending commission splits while larger firms offer lower commission splits. The ending commission split for commission agents compared to agents on a 100% payout contract, however, is not influenced as much by profit sharing, firm characteristics, and the economic environment.
Gonococcus infection in female children

Abstract Contamination from some member of the family was, in this series, the most frequent source of gonococcus infection in female children, although in the majority of cases no etiologic history could be obtained. The most reliable method of diagnosis consists in a correlation between the clinical findings and the results of a Gram stain of the secretions. Smears from the cervical canal were positive for the gonococcus in 40 of 42 cases. There was no definite relation between the duration of the infection and the cervical involvement. Even in recent cases gonococci were found in the cervix. Gonococci were obtained from the urethra in nine cases, or 21 per cent, but never in children under six years of age. Mercurochrome (5 per cent) caused the organisms to disappear from the secretions more quickly than either 2 per cent mercurochrome solution, 2 per cent mercurochrome ointment, or 40 per cent argyrol. Four weeks was the average time necessary to procure negative smears. Relapse occurred in approximately 23 per cent of the cases.
The utility of the DSM-5 Z-codes for clinical social work diagnosis

ABSTRACTThe Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is the standard reference text used by social workers for diagnosing mental disorders. The social work profession has always had an uneasy relationship with the DSM, but for 33 years there was an opportunity to note a client’s psychosocial stressors on Axis IV. With the publication of the DSM-5, however, the multiaxial diagnostic system was abandoned, and many social workers are concerned that this change limits their ability to provide comprehensive diagnoses. The purpose of this article is to consider an expanded use of Z-codes as one way to continue including social work’s psychosocial perspective on human functioning in the diagnostic process.
Sharp uniform convexity and smoothness inequalities for trace norms

We prove several sharp inequalities specifying the uniform convexity and uniform smoothness properties of the Schatten trace ideals C p, which are the analogs of the Lebesgue spaces L p in non-commutative integration. The inequalities are all precise analogs of results which had been known in L p, but were only known in C p for special values of p. In the course of our treatment of uniform convexity and smoothness inequalities for C p we obtain new and simple proofs of the known inequalities for L p.
Effects of Performance Assessment on the Achievement and Motivation of Graduate Students.

This study explored the impact of performance assessment versus traditional paper-and-pencil assessment on graduate students' achievement and motivation to learn while enrolled in a 16-lesson course on program evaluation methods. Students in two sections of the course were exposed to the same content and instructional methods, with one exception: students in one section were exposed to performance assessment during which they demonstrated their knowledge and skills while conducting a program evaluation in a 4th grade classroom, whereas students in the other section were provided with a written scenario of that 4th grade program and were required to answer questions on a traditional paper-and-pencil test about program evaluation methods. Results revealed that students exposed to performance assessment achieved somewhat higher scores on the final examination and demonstrated significantly higher levels of motivation to learn than did students evaluated by traditional paper-and-pencil tests. Qualitative anal...
AML xenograft efficiency is significantly improved in NOD/SCID-IL2RG mice constitutively expressing human SCF, GM-CSF and IL-3

AML xenograft efficiency is significantly improved in NOD/SCID-IL2RG mice constitutively expressing human SCF, GM-CSF and IL-3
Time-delay image degradation with dental xeroradiography

Abstract Dental xeroradiography produces high-quality images of dental structures under ideal conditions. However, charged-but-not-developed xeroradiographic photoreceptor plates lose some of their charge with time, a phenomenon termed “dark decay.” This investigation assesses the maximum allowable time delay between (1) charging and exposing the photoreceptor, (2) exposing and developing the photoreceptor, and (3) a combination of both delays. Measurements of resolution, background density, broad-area contrast, noise, point discharge artifacts, and diagnostic image quality indicate that photoreceptors should be processed within 5 to 10 minutes of charging in order to avoid substantial image degradation.
Time Required for Institutional Review Board Review at One Veterans Affairs Medical Center

Importance Despite growing concern that institutional review boards (IRBs) impose burdensome delays on research, little is known about the time required for IRB review across different types of research. Objective To measure the overall and incremental process times for IRB review as a process of quality improvement. Design, Setting, and Participants After developing a detailed process flowchart of the IRB review process, 2 analysts abstracted temporal data from the records pertaining to all 103 protocols newly submitted to the IRB at a large urban Veterans Affairs medical center from June 1, 2009, through May 31, 2011. Disagreements were reviewed with the principal investigator to reach consensus. We then compared the review times across review types using analysis of variance and post hoc Scheffe tests after achieving normally distributed data through logarithmic transformation. Main Outcomes and Measures Calendar days from initial submission to final approval of research protocols. Results Initial IRB review took 2 to 4 months, with expedited and exempt reviews requiring less time (median [range], 85 [23-631] and 82 [16-437] days, respectively) than full board reviews (median [range], 131 [64-296] days; P = .008). The median time required for credentialing of investigators was 1 day (range, 0-74 days), and review by the research and development committee took a median of 15 days (range, 0-184 days). There were no significant differences in credentialing or research and development times across review types (exempt, expedited, or full board). Of the extreme delays in IRB review, 80.0% were due to investigators’ slow responses to requested changes. There were no systematic delays attributable to the information security officer, privacy officer, or IRB chair. Conclusions and Relevance Measuring and analyzing review times is a critical first step in establishing a culture and process of continuous quality improvement among IRBs that govern research programs. The review times observed at this IRB are substantially longer than the 60-day target recommended by expert panels. The method described here could be applied to other IRBs to begin identifying and improving inefficiencies.
A CLASS OF DEADLOCK-FREE MAEKAWA-TYPE ALGORITHMS FOR MUTUAL EXCLUSION IN DISTRIBUTED SYSTEMS

Maekawa-type mutual exclusion algorithms use locking of a set of sites to achieve mutual exclusion. These algorithms are prone to deadlocks because a site is locked by other sites in exclusive mode and the timestamp of requests is not used to order requests while granting locks. These algorithms require additional rounds of message exchanges, like INQUIRE and FAILED, to recover from a possible deadlock. In this paper we present a class of Maekawa-type mutual exclusion algorithms which are free from deadlocks and do not exchange additional messages to resolve deadlocks. We systematically point out the reasons for deadlocks in Maekawa-type algorithms and eliminate them one by one to give a class of Maekawa-type algorithms which are free from deadlocks. It turns out that to prevent deadlocks in Maekawa-type algorithms, locks on sites must be mutable, timestamps must be used judiciously, and communication among sites must be increased. A deadlock-free Maekawa-type algorithm is optimal when the request sets of sites are the smallest possible such that a correctness condition is satisfied. We state the condition of optimality and present a method to construct optimal request sets. We also give a swap operation which allows us to derive an optimal configuration of request sets from another optimal configuration. There are large number of optimal configurations of request sets, which define a class of optimal deadlock-free Maekawa-type algorithms. Freedom from deadlocks is a desirable property because it dispenses with the need of cumbersome deadlock recovery scheme (e.g., exchange of INQUIRE, FAILED, and YIELD messages). Freedom from deadlock has another benefit: simplicity of the implementation.