cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Faith Renewed: Auden’s For the Time Being

Auden’s poem contrasts the Time Being with the Fullness of Time. By the Time Being he means human existence in its many aspects: personal, social, historical, cultural. That existence he finds essentially flawed and definitely not sufficient unto itself. In saying that the Time Being can be redeemed only by the Fullness of Time, Auden claims that human life can be made ultimately meaningful only by ackowledging its relation to the timeless supernatural. He returns to the story of the birth of Christ in order to explicate its meaning for human life on earth. In that event, initiated by God, he finds the bridge to the supernatural. Only in Divine Love can human beings find ultimate peace and salvation from sinfulness that is unavoidable and inescapble in the Time Being.
“Is That the Mona Lisa?” Art in Advertising and Its Effect on Viewer Perceptions

AbstractAd preferences and product perceptions were examined for advertisements containing a visual juxtaposition of the commodity with an artwork, and for comparison, a similar product’s advertisement without artwork. Art ads were divided into two categories. Serious art ads used the art in its original form, while humorous art ads contained images which were modified to enhance the ad’s message. Interviews with lower and higher cultural capital individuals (LCC/ HCC) suggested that: ( I ) knowledge and recognition of an ad’s artwork are essential for understanding its message: (2) co-option of high art in humorous ads lowers product ratings by HCC individuals: (3) art increases a product’s value for LCC individuals, by signaling that the ad’s target audience is defined by their higher income and social status; (4) art is seen as a powerful segmenting tool for age, education, income, race and social status.
Storage filters upland suspended sediment signals delivered from watersheds

Climate change, tectonics, and humans create long- and short-term temporal variations in the supply of suspended sediment to rivers. These signals, generated in upland erosional areas, are filtered by alluvial storage before reaching the basin outlet. We quantified this filter using a random walk model driven by sediment budget data, a power-law distributed probability density function (PDF) to determine how long sediment remains stored, and a constant downstream drift velocity during transport of 157 km/yr. For 25 km of transport, few particles are stored, and the median travel time is 0.2 yr. For 1000 km of transport, nearly all particles are stored, and the median travel time is 2.5 m.y. Both travel-time distributions are power laws. The 1000 km travel-time distribution was then used to filter sinusoidal input signals with periods of 10 yr and 10 4 yr. The 10 yr signal is delayed by 12.5 times its input period, damped by a factor of 380, and is output as a power law. The 10 4 yr signal is delayed by 0.15 times its input period, damped by a factor of 3, and the output signal retains its sinusoidal input form (but with a power-law “tail”). Delivery time scales for these two signals are controlled by storage; in-channel transport time is insignificant, and low-frequency signals are transmitted with greater fidelity than high-frequency signals. These signal modifications are essential to consider when evaluating watershed restoration schemes designed to control sediment loading, and where source-area geomorphic processes are inferred from the geologic record.
Theory of molecular conductance using a modular approach.

This study probes the correlation between the conductance of a molecular wire (the property of a whole system) and its constituent backbone units (modules). By using a tight-binding Hamiltonian combined with single-particle Green's functions, we develop an approach that enables an estimate of a conductance decay constant in terms of the Hamiltonians of molecular backbone units and the couplings between two nearest-neighbor units in the off-resonant tunneling regime. For demonstration, we examine several representative molecular systems in a framework of the Huckel model (the simplest atomistic-level model). The Huckel model can be reduced to a single-orbital-per-site formulation [A. Nitzan, Annu. Rev. Phys. Chem. 52, 681 (2001)], and each energy level in the single-orbital-per-site picture can be expressed in an explicit form including the synergistic effect of all molecular orbitals of a molecular backbone unit. Based on the proposed approach, we show the correspondence between the complete destructive quantum interference and an infinite injection gap and derive the preconditions of the modified Simmons equation and the rule of intramolecular series circuits.
Applying 3D measurements and computer matching algorithms to two firearm examination proficiency tests.

Abstract In order for a crime laboratory to assess a firearms examiner's training, skills, experience, and aptitude, it is necessary for the examiner to participate in proficiency testing. As computer algorithms for comparisons of pattern evidence become more prevalent, it is of interest to test algorithm performance as well, using these same proficiency examinations. This article demonstrates the use of the Congruent Matching Cell (CMC) algorithm to compare 3D topography measurements of breech face impressions and firing pin impressions from a previously distributed firearms proficiency test. In addition, the algorithm is used to analyze the distribution of many comparisons from a collection of cartridge cases used to construct another recent set of proficiency tests. These results are provided along with visualizations that help to relate the features used in optical comparisons by examiners to the features used by computer comparison algorithms.
Polymer Parameters Affecting Aqueous Topcoat Systems

Of major concern in the field of industrial surface coatings is the elimination or reduction of volatile organic solvents in order to comply with existing or proposed pollution control laws. The substitution of water for the organic solvents or its use as the continuous phase of a coating system is one manner of approaching this problem. However, it must be stressed that the appearance, ease of application, durability, and the myriad of other desirable properties of our current coating systems should not be compromised in order to achieve a pollution free system.
A theoretical foundation for assessing principal-agent problems in lobbying ethics and an empirical test

The lobbying industry is frequently held out as the most unethical part of the American political system, corrupting the governing system for the benefit of special interests at the expense of the public interest and thus in need of stern regulation, if lobbying is permitted at all. But what does it mean for a lobbyist to be “unethical,” or “ethical” for that matter? Is there such a thing as ethical lobbying? In this paper, I argue that theoretical models of how lobbying works and constitutional protections of the profession, taken together, provide a foundation for determining what kinds of lobbying might be considered ethical, and why lobbyists frequently slide into ethical gray areas. I then use data from interviews conducted with lobbyists working on six issues over a period of four years to empirically test explanations as to why lobbyists might behave in ways that are arguably unethical. Finally, I end the paper by speculating on what might be done to constrain lobbyists into behaving ethically.
Managing the Introduction of Super-Resolution Microscopy into a Core Facility.

Super-resolution fluorescence microscopy represents a change in resolution standards that that requires core facilities to re-fit themselves. The equipment brings a large improvement in resolution and hence yields images that now much better approximates the size of the subcellular organelle or molecular complex. New biology is possible. This transition to higher resolution now possible may well have the same level of impact as commercialization of confocal microscopy in the early 1990s. Confocal microscopy’s ability to “haze bust” was important. Core facilities must evolve to provide and maintain state-of-the-art equipment that individual laboratories would have a difficult time acquiring alone. The benefit of a core facility is lost if it does not update. Spreading acquisition and operating costs over multiple laboratories can create a virtuous cycle in which the core facility is able to keep up with the latest equipment and techniques and hence enhance research capabilities. For a microscopy core facility, the commercial introduction of super-resolution microscopy systems now presents a new opportunity and standard in both equipment and expertise in supporting quality research results. When expanding, or re-fitting core microscopy facilities to include super-resolution capabilities, several key aspects have to be examined and addressed.
Enhancing GTEx by bridging the gaps between genotype, gene expression, and disease

Genetic variants have been associated with myriad molecular phenotypes that provide new insight into the range of mechanisms underlying genetic traits and diseases. Identifying any particular genetic variant's cascade of effects, from molecule to individual, requires assaying multiple layers of molecular complexity. We introduce the Enhancing GTEx (eGTEx) project that extends the GTEx project to combine gene expression with additional intermediate molecular measurements on the same tissues to provide a resource for studying how genetic differences cascade through molecular phenotypes to impact human health.
Buprenorphine/Naloxone Maintenance Therapy: an Observational Retrospective Report on the Effect of Dose on 18 months Retention in an Office-Based Treatment Program.

Context and objective:Buprenorphine has been available with few reports of the dose range necessary to adequately maintain patients. We report on the effect of 8 mg/d versus 16 mg/d of buprenorphine on long-term patient retention in office-based opioid maintenance (OBOMT).Design, setting, and participants:Case series, at an urban hospital-based primary care clinic providing OBOMT to 157 opiate-dependent, low socioeconomic status, uninsured, nonhomeless patients.Intervention:The OBOMT program operated by a comprehensive sobriety treatment program experienced State funding cuts. Thus, after 2 years, the program was required by the State funder to decrease the buprenorphine maintenance dose from 16 to 8 mg/d for all new admissions. We report on patient retention before and after dose reduction.Main outcome measures:The primary outcomes of this study were to measure and compare patient retention in the 2 cohorts at each point of treatment transition over the 18 months following OBOMT initiation.Results:No sig...
Molecular Simulations Suggest a Force-Dependent Mechanism of Vinculin Activation

Focal adhesions are dynamic constructs at the leading edge of migrating cells, linking them to the extracellular matrix and enabling force sensing and transmission. The lifecycle of a focal adhesion is a highly coordinated process involving spatial and temporal variations of protein composition, interaction, and cellular tension. The assembly of focal adhesions requires the recruitment and activation of vinculin. Vinculin is present in the cytoplasm in an autoinhibited conformation in which its tail is held pincerlike by its head domains, further stabilized by two high-affinity head-tail interfaces. Vinculin has binding sites for talin and F-actin, but effective binding requires vinculin activation to release its head-tail associations. In migrating cells, it has been shown that the locations of vinculin activation coincide with areas of high cellular tension, and that the highest recorded tensions across vinculin are associated with adhesion assembly. Here, we use a structure-based model to investigate vinculin activation by talin modulated by tensile force generated by transient associations with F-actin. We show that vinculin activation may proceed from an intermediate state stabilized by partial talin-vinculin association. There is a low-force regime and a high-force regime where vinculin activation is dominated by two different pathways with distinct responses to force. Specifically, at zero or low forces, vinculin activation requires substantial destabilization of the main head-tail interface, which is rigid and undergoes very limited fluctuations, despite the other being relatively flexible. This pathway is not significantly affected by force; instead, higher forces favor an alternative pathway, which seeks to release the vinculin tail from its pincerlike head domains before destabilizing the head-tail interfaces. This pathway has a force-sensitive activation barrier and is significantly accelerated by force. Experimental data of vinculin during various stages of the focal adhesion lifecycle are consistent with the proposed force-regulated activation pathway.
Modeling and Analysis of Performance Under Interference in the Cloud

One of the key performance challenges in cloud computing is the problem of interference, or resource contention, among colocated VMs. While prior work has empirically analyzed interference for specific workloads under specific settings, there is a need for a generic approach to estimate application performance under any interference condition.In this paper, we present an analytical model to estimate performance as a function of various workload, system, and interference conditions, including the intensity and length ofinterference, for single- and multi-VM systems. Comparisons with empirical results under various scenarios show that our model can provide accurate latency estimations (less than 5% error). We employ our model to analyze systems under interference, and derive useful results to aid practitioners.
The university supervisor, edTPA, and the new making of the teacher

As university supervisors at a large, urban university in the southern US, we examined the ways that the Education Teacher Performance Assessment (edTPA) shaped the pedagogic relationships and decision-making processes of our students and ourselves during the spring of 2016. We situated this study of edTPA within the framework of critical policy scholarship (Grace, 1984, cited in Lipman, 2010) by reviewing the role of tests in licensing teachers in the context of the perpetual reform of U.S. education. We drew upon Biesta’s (2009) notion that neoliberal accountability trades democratic relationships for consumer relationships and Attick and Boyles’ (2016) argument that edTPA resituated student teaching as a marketplace activity. Applying self-study methodology (Samaras & Freese, 2009), we documented our experiences of supervising preservice teachers as they underwent the edTPA submission process. We found the assessment strongly controlled our relationships with our candidates. As supervisors, we became part of our candidates’ transaction towards certification. Likewise, our candidates viewed us as arbitrators who could help them align themselves and their work to edTPA’s specifications. Nevertheless we found moments that superceded the control of edTPA. We conclude with recommendations that teacher education programs attend closely to their social justice missions and develop new critical pedagogies in the face of the pressure of edTPA.
Does State Medicaid Coverage of Smoking Cessation Treatments Affect Quitting

Objective Cigarette smoking and smoking-related diseases disproportionately affect low-income populations. Health insurance coverage of smoking cessation treatments is increasingly used to encourage quitting. We assess the relationship between state Medicaid coverage of smoking cessation treatments and past-year quitting in adult Medicaid beneficiaries. Data sources 2009-2014 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS); 2008-2013 indicators of state Medicaid coverage of smoking cessation treatments. Study design A triple-differencing specification based on differences in Medicaid cessation coverage policies across states as well as within-state differences between Medicaid beneficiaries and a counterfactual group of low-income adults not covered by Medicaid. Data collection/extraction methods Individual-level NHIS data with restricted geographical identifiers were merged with state-year Medicaid coverage indicators. Principal findings Combined coverage of both cessation counseling and medications in state Medicaid programs was associated with increased quitting, with an estimated mean increase in past-year quitting of 3.0 percentage points in covered Medicaid beneficiaries relative to persons without coverage. Conclusions Combined coverage of both smoking cessation counseling and medication by state Medicaid programs could help reduce cigarette smoking among Medicaid beneficiaries.
Relationship between plasma phosphate and renal handling of phosphate: studies with low phosphate diet and nicotinamide.

Acute intravenous infusions of phosphate have been used to study the relationship between plasma phosphate concentration and renal phosphate excretion (1 – 10). Animals maintained on a normal intake of phosphorus (0.8 – 1.2%) respond to acute phosphate infusions with phosphate excretions ranging from 60 – 90% of the filtered load (5, 7, 9). The high phosphate excretions are not only the result of increases in tubular load exceeding the reabsorptive capacity, but recent studies indicate that at high plasma phosphate concentrations (induced by prolonged intravenous phosphate infusions) the maximal transport rate actually declines (3, 4, 6, 9–11).
Computed Tomography Using Laser-Based Ultrasonics

Computed tomographic techniques provide the ability to image defected regions of a structure from outside the area containing the defects. This is often advantageous when the defected area is not directly accessible. Recently, computed tomography techniques using Lamb waves and surface acoustic waves have been proposed and investigated [1–3].
Peptide vaccine strategy for immunotherapy of HER-2/neu overexpressing cancers

HER-2 is a member of epidermal growth factor receptors (EGFR) and preferentially heterodimerizes with other members of EGFR family (EGFR, HER-3, and HER-4) signaling cells for division. In humans, HER-2 is expressed in fetal tissues and is weakly detectable in normal tissues of adults. HER-2 is overexpressed in unmutated form in 3040% of breast and ovarian cancers and to a lesser extent in adenocarcinoma of uterus, cervix, fallopian tube and endometrium [1]. HER-2 overexpression is associated with poor prognosis, aggressive disease and resistance to chemotherapy [2]. Monoclonal antibodies directed against the extracellular domain (ECD) of HER-2 confer inhibitory effects on tumor growth in vitro and in animal models. Phase II and III clinical trials with humanized MAb to HER-2 ECD (HerceptinTM) in patients with HER-2 overexpressing breast cancers were promising. Although HER-2 is a self-protein, HER-2 specific immune responses were detectable in patients with HER-2 positive breast cancer [3]. Therefore, active specific immunotherapy offers the possibility of sustained anti-HER-2 immune responses and is potentially more applicable than passive approaches. We have identified B-cell epitopes in HER-2 ECD by computer aided analyses of protein antigenicity [4]. Four high ranking B-cell epitopes (amino acid sequences 115136, 376-395, 410-429, and 628-647) were synthesized co-linearly with a promiscuous T helper cell epitope from measles virus (sequence 288-302, designated MVF) to enhance immunogenicity and circumvent MHC restriction. High titered antibodies were raised in rabbits by immunization with chimeric B-cell epitopes. These peptide antibodies recognized the native HER-2 receptor and had tumor inhibitory effects on HER-2 overexpressing breast cancer cells in vitro and in xenografted nude mice [5]. To validate a proposed phase Ib vaccine trial in humans, we immunized transgenic mice bearing rat neu gene overexpressing mammary tumors with HER-2 B-cell epitope constructs. At least 50% of these female transgenic mice (Jackson Labs, ME) develop focal mammary tumors by twenty five weeks of age. Rat neu is a human homolog of HER-2 and has 89% amino acid sequence similarity.
Oxygen dependent quenching of phosphorescence: a status report.

Oxygen dependent quenching of phosphorescence has now been in use as a method for measuring oxygen for about 10 years. As expected for a new technique, these years have seen a rapid evolution of every aspect of the method, and as it matures the full power of the technique is becoming apparent. Several properties of oxygen measurements by phosphorescence which are of great value compared to other available method for measuring oxygen were established early, including; its very rapid response time (msec), accuracy to low oxygen pressures (< 0.1 Torr), wide dynamic range, and applicability to measurements in tissue in vivo. The limits of the method have been determined in part by the available phosphorescent oxygen probes, the best of which has been a series of Pd-porphyrins. These probes provide a good measure of oxygen, but the excitation light needed to be in the part of the spectrum which is strongly absorbed by pigments in tissue and this restricted oxygen measurements to the surface about 1 mm of tissue.
Methods for Examining the Effects of School Poverty on Student Test Score Achievement

Measuring school effects has been an important inquiry for sociologists of education for at least 50 years. This chapter summarizes current research on the relationship between school poverty and student achievement, which relies heavily on cross-sectional associations. We then propose that scholars consider longitudinal approaches to estimating school effects in which changes in school outcomes are related to changes in school contexts. We present illustrative examples of both cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses using a census of North Carolina students and schools. Cross-sectional models indicate a significant negative association between school poverty and achievement. Our preferred specification—a three-level model of time within students cross-nested within schools—finds no relationship between school poverty and achievement, which raises important questions about the validity of school poverty effects on student test score growth. This model does, however, suggest that variation in test score growth across schools may be greater than variation in test score growth across students, which opens important avenues for understanding the sources of this variation.
Effects of Mapping Uncertainty on Visuomotor Adaptation to Trial-By-Trial Perturbations with Proportional Myoelectric Control

Myoelectric control based on classification of distinct gestures discretizes the output space available to the user, which can make it difficult to react appropriately to novel scenarios such as changing limb position. While proportional myoelectric control is noisy in comparison to pattern recognition control, this noise may be an important component of skill acquisition. Here we implemented a two-dimensional proportional myoelectric controller to investigate the effects of movement direction and mapping uncertainty on adaptation to trial-by-trial perturbations. We found that subjects who practiced hitting targets despite trial-by-trial random modifications of the control mapping adapted to perturbations faster than a control group with low mapping variability. Our findingssuggestthatexposuretoavariablemappingencourages exploratory behavior and underlies a change in adaption rate, which could potentially be used to train myoelectric control users to achieve more robust control.
BELKAR™ - a new herbicide for the control of a wide range of broadleaf weeds in winter oilseed rape applied post-emergence in autumn

Autumn-applied pre-emergence herbicides are currently the primary options for weed control used in winter oilseed rape. A characteristic of the new product BELKARTM herbicide is that it will be applied post-emergence in autumn. BELKAR combines both active ingredients ArylexTM Active and Picloram and therefore contains two non-ALS mode of actions. While Picloram has been widely used in oilseed rape in recent years, Arylex is a new auxinic herbicide for the post-emergence weed control of important broad-leaved weeds. Arylex is the first member of the ‘Arylpicolinate’ structural class, a new class within the HRAC Group O. The ISO common name of Arylex is ‘halauxifen-methyl’ (DOW AGROSCIENCES, 2013). BELKAR is the first herbicide in Europe containing this active for the use in winter oilseed rape. With a maximum use rate of 0.5 L/ha, the product will deliver 4.8 g ae/ha of Arylex and 24 g ae/ha of Picloram. BELKAR can be applied as a sequential application from crop stage of BBCH 12-14 at rates of 0.25 L/ha or a single application with 0.5 L/ha from crop stage BBCH 16. BELKAR provides control of a wide range of key weeds, including most important ones such as Capsella bursa-pastoris, Centaurea cyanus, Galium aparine, Papaver rhoeas, Geranium spp., Thlaspi arvense, Matricaria spp. and Descurainia sophia. With BELKAR, a post-emergence herbicide application in autumn offers a viable option for effective weed control in oilseed rape. As a new concept, the tank mix combination BELKAR with the active ingredient Aminopyralid will even more expand the weed spectrum and will provide an alternative to preemergence herbicide applications in winter oilseed rape.
Between a Clot and a Scarred Place.

Abstract Immobilized orthopedic trauma patients face an elevated risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE). We present a case in which a patient undergoing staged repair of traumatic orthopedic injuries developed deep venous thrombosis (DVT) during hospitalization, prior to repair of a lower extremity injury for which delay in operation might result in poor functional outcome. We provide an overview of recommendations regarding pharmacologic prophylaxis of VTE in orthopedic patients. We review the importance of cultivating a high index of suspicion for VTE in such patients, even when receiving appropriate prophylaxis and lacking overt symptoms. Finally, we outline the multidisciplinary decision-making process regarding optimizing care for the patient in a precarious position of developing acute VTE while awaiting urgent surgery. Specifically, we review the safety, efficacy, and management of retrievable inferior vena cava filters (rIVCF) for this population.
Directed Exploration for Reinforcement Learning.

Efficient exploration is necessary to achieve good sample efficiency for reinforcement learning in general. From small, tabular settings such as gridworlds to large, continuous and sparse reward settings such as robotic object manipulation tasks, exploration through adding an uncertainty bonus to the reward function has been shown to be effective when the uncertainty is able to accurately drive exploration towards promising states. However reward bonuses can still be inefficient since they are non-stationary, which means that we must wait for function approximators to catch up and converge again when uncertainties change. We propose the idea of directed exploration, that is learning a goal-conditioned policy where goals are simply other states, and using that to directly try to reach states with large uncertainty. The goal-conditioned policy is independent of uncertainty and is thus stationary. We show in our experiments how directed exploration is more efficient at exploration and more robust to how the uncertainty is computed than adding bonuses to rewards.
A model for sustainable laser tattoo removal services for adult probationers.

PURPOSE The purpose of this paper is to describe a sustainable free laser tattoo removal clinic for economically disadvantaged adult probationers. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH This paper describes the partnerships, methods and challenges/lessons learned from the implementation of a free monthly laser tattoo removal program for adult probationers within a medical school setting in California. FINDINGS Possible patients are identified via a collaboration with the county's Probation Department. Founded in 2016, this monthly program has provided tattoo removal services to >37 adult patient probationers, many of whom receive follow-up treatments. Clients seek to remove about four blue/black ink tattoos. Since its inception, 23 dermatology residents have volunteered in the program. Challenges to patients' ongoing participation primarily pertain to scheduling issues; strategies for overcoming barriers to participation are provided. No safety concerns have emerged. SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS Programs such as this public-private partnership may benefit probationers by eliminating financial barriers associated with tattoo removal. This model supports the training of cohorts of dermatologists seeking community service opportunities related to laser medicine. Others seeking to implement a similar program may also consider expanding treatment days/times to facilitate access for working probationers, providing enrollment options for other health and social services (e.g. public insurance, food stamp programs) and hosting a mobile onsite clinic to address clients' physical and mental health needs. ORIGINALITY/VALUE This paper describes a unique collaboration between law enforcement and a medical school and it may assist other jurisdictions in establishing free tattoo removal programs for the benefit of probationers. The methods described overcome challenges regarding the implementation of this specialized clinical service.
TGFβ-induced fibroblast activation requires persistent and targeted HDAC-mediated gene repression

Tissue fibrosis is a chronic disease driven by persistent fibroblast activation that has recently been linked to epigenetic modifications. Here, we screened a small library of epigenetic small-molecule modulators to identify compounds capable of inhibiting or reversing TGFβ-mediated fibroblast activation. We identified pracinostat, an HDAC inhibitor, as a potent attenuator of lung fibroblast activation and confirmed its efficacy in patient-derived fibroblasts isolated from fibrotic lung tissue. Mechanistically, we found that HDAC-dependent transcriptional repression was an early and essential event in TGFβ-mediated fibroblast activation. Treatment of lung fibroblasts with pracinostat broadly attenuated TGFβ-mediated epigenetic repression and promoted fibroblast quiescence. We confirmed a specific role for HDAC-dependent histone deacetylation in the promoter region of the anti-fibrotic gene PPARGC1A (PGC1α) in response to TGFβ stimulation. Finally, we identified HDAC7 as a key factor whose RNAi-mediated knockdown attenuates fibroblast activation without altering global histone acetylation. Together these results provide novel mechanistic insight into the essential role HDACs play in TGFβ-mediated fibroblast activation via targeted gene repression.
Risk and the Unfairness of Some Being Better Off at the Expense of Others

This paper offers a novel account of how complaints of unfairness arise in risky distributive cases. According to a recently proposed view in distributive ethics, the Competing Claims View, an individual has a claim to a benefit when her well-being is at stake, and the strength of this claim is determined by the expected gain to the individual’s well-being, along with how worse off the individual is compared to others (Voorhoeve and Fleurbaey, 2012: 397). If an individual is at a lower level of well-being than another, their claim to a given benefit is stronger. On this view, the strength of individuals’ claims are a function of their comparative well-being levels. In this paper, I instead argue that competing claims obtain only when a particular relationship obtains between the fates of individuals: that one individual’s gain is at the expense of another. This is a particular complaint that obtains when the fates of individuals are tied together in such a way that inequality that is to the detriment of the person who is worse off is guaranteed (or likely) to obtain. I demonstrate that this complaint arises only when individuals are exposed to a particular type of risk that allows some to gain only if others lose. As such, I propose that complaints of unfairness occur less frequently than we might think if we take the Competing Claims View to be true. A purely comparative view is unable to account for this unique complaint of unfairness. I argue that this complaint is not only independently plausible, but can serve as a foundation for a more general account of competing claims complaints.
Current Advances in the Treatment of BRAF-Mutant Melanoma

Melanoma is the most lethal form of skin cancer. Melanoma is usually curable with surgery if detected early, however, treatment options for patients with metastatic melanoma are limited and the five-year survival rate for metastatic melanoma had been 15–20% before the advent of immunotherapy. Treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors has increased long-term survival outcomes in patients with advanced melanoma to as high as 50% although individual response can vary greatly. A mutation within the MAPK pathway leads to uncontrollable growth and ultimately develops into cancer. The most common driver mutation that leads to this characteristic overactivation in the MAPK pathway is the B-RAF mutation. Current combinations of BRAF and MEK inhibitors that have demonstrated improved patient outcomes include dabrafenib with trametinib, vemurafenib with cobimetinib or encorafenib with binimetinib. Treatment with BRAF and MEK inhibitors has met challenges as patient responses began to drop due to the development of resistance to these inhibitors which paved the way for development of immunotherapies and other small molecule inhibitor approaches to address this. Resistance to these inhibitors continues to push the need to expand our understanding of novel mechanisms of resistance associated with treatment therapies. This review focuses on the current landscape of how resistance occurs with the chronic use of BRAF and MEK inhibitors in BRAF-mutant melanoma and progress made in the fields of immunotherapies and other small molecules when used alone or in combination with BRAF and MEK inhibitors to delay or circumvent the onset of resistance for patients with stage III/IV BRAF mutant melanoma.
Suckling, Feeding, and Swallowing: Behaviors, Circuits, and Targets for Neurodevelopmental Pathology

All mammals must suckle and swallow at birth, and subsequently chew and swallow solid foods, for optimal growth and health. These initially innate behaviors depend critically upon coordinated development of the mouth, tongue, pharynx, and larynx as well as the cranial nerves that control these structures. Disrupted suckling, feeding, and swallowing from birth onward-perinatal dysphagia-is often associated with several neurodevelopmental disorders that subsequently alter complex behaviors. Apparently, a broad range of neurodevelopmental pathologic mechanisms also target oropharyngeal and cranial nerve differentiation. These aberrant mechanisms, including altered patterning, progenitor specification, and neurite growth, prefigure dysphagia and may then compromise circuits for additional behavioral capacities. Thus, perinatal dysphagia may be an early indicator of disrupted genetic and developmental programs that compromise neural circuits and yield a broad range of behavioral deficits in neurodevelopmental disorders.
Once arrived: A qualitative study of refugees and service providers in the first six months of resettlement:

BackgroundThe world has been facing a chronic refugee crisis. Nations that accept refugees are expected to provide culturally effective services, often without benefit of an evidence-based approach...
Single incision laparoscopic approach for infected necrotizing pancreatitis: A case report.

Abstract Introduction Approximately 5% of patients with acute pancreatitis develop infected necrotizing pancreatitis, with reported mortality rates up to 32%. Surgical interventions are postponed as long as possible, but if surgical debridement is needed the optimal approach has not been found yet. Case presentation A 47-year-old male was referred to our tertiary centre with infected necrotizing pancreatitis. Two months after initial presentation and repeated percutaneous drainage, surgical retroperitoneal debridement of the necrotic tissue was performed using a single incision laparoscopic surgery (SILS) port. Postoperatively, percutaneous drainage was performed two more times, but no additional surgical interventions were needed. The patient was discharged one month after the surgical procedure. Discussion and conclusion This is the first report of a minimally invasive technique using a SILS port for debridement of necrotizing pancreatitis. The ability to create a stable pneumo-retroperitoneum leads to optimal visualisation, better haemostasis, more space to operate in, better instrument handling, and better tissue control.
Tracheal Aspirate as an Alternative Biologic Sample for Pharmacogenomics Testing in Mechanically Ventilated Pediatric Patients.

Pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) patients are exposed to multiple medications and are at high risk for adverse drug reactions. Pharmacogenomic (PGx) testing could help decrease their risk of adverse reactions. Although whole blood is preferred for PGx testing, blood volume in this population is often limited. However, for patients on mechanical ventilation, tracheal secretions are abundant, frequently suctioned, and discarded. Thus, the aim of this pilot study was to determine if tracheal aspirates could be used as a source of human genomic DNA for PGx testing. We successfully extracted DNA from tracheal secretions of all 23 patients in the study. The samples were successfully genotyped for ten clinically actionable single nucleotide variants across three cytochrome P450 genes (CYP2D6, CYP2C19, and CYP3A5). Using DNA from whole blood samples in eleven of the patients, we confirmed the accuracy of the genotyping with 100% concordance. Therefore, our results support the use of tracheal aspirates from mechanically ventilated children as an adequate biospecimen for clinical genetic testing.
Review of Carbon Materials Energy Storage Mechanism in Lead-Carbon Battery

The traditional lead-acid batteries are mainly used for automobile and various internal combustion engine starting,wireless communication base stations and renewable energy storage; however, their negative plates are easily sulfated under partial-state-of-charge duty, then their charging capacity and cycle life are greatly reduced. Lead-carbon battery is a new type of lead-acid battery, in which a carbon material with high specific surface area and conductivity is added into a negative plate, and has excellent rate discharge performance and higher PSoC cycle life. Lead-carbon battery has a good application prospect in energy storage and hybrid electric vehicle, so these years the study of the mechanism of carbon materials in lead-carbon battery becomes a hot research topic. This paper reviewed the recent progresses in research on the mechanisms of carbon materials in lead-carbon batteries, mainly focused on the construction of conductive network, double-layer capacitance storage, improvement of pore structure,increase of electrochemical reaction dynamics and other aspects, as well as the research work of our group in Pb-C batteries.
Real Time Cytokine Quantification in Wound Fluid Samples Using Nanowell Impedance Sensing

Cytokine levels in skin wound fluid can provide valuable information on the progression of the local healing phases and help in making therapeutic decisions. The gold standard cytokine quantification method is the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), which typically relies on labeling and an optical read-out. Impedance sensors provide a promising alternative whose advantages include ease of miniaturization, rapid readout, and label-free operation. We present a nanowell impedance sensor for label free cytokine quantification in wound fluid samples. The sensor relies on the nanowell array structure to perform the label free cytokine detection with high sensitivity despite the high salt concentration of wound fluid. Real time cytokine detection is achieved in the experiments by continuous monitoring of the impedance of the sensor using lock-in amplifier, which increases due to the target protein binding. Multiplexing measurements are also achieved using a multiplexer chip in conjunction with an embedded microprocessor.
Investigating the Impact of Thickness, Calendering and Channel Structures of Printed Electrodes on the Energy Density of LIBs - 3D Simulation and Validation

Current lithium ion batteries (LIBs) are expensive and bulky, limited by relatively low charging rates. To increase the rate of charging and reduce weight, thin electrodes with high energy density are required. The increase in energy density can be achieved by several techniques including boosting electrolyte transport, high loading/utilization of active material, employing high conductive electrolytes and electrodes with advanced architectures, and increasing cell temperature. In this paper, a 3D physics-based electrochemical model of LIBs is developed in COMSOL simulation software for different thickness, calendering steps as well as channel structures (conical, cylindrical) to optimize the electrode design and in turn maximize volumetric energy density. The simulation results demonstrated that calendering the electrodes with high initial porosity increases the volumetric energy density of the cell. In addition, cylindrical channel structures with relatively lower edge-to-edge distance also results in increased volumetric energy density. The simulation results of the 3D model was validated by comparing it with experimental results.
Ethics and Practice in Science Communication: edited by S. Priest, J. Goodwin, and M. F. Dahlstrom, Chicago, IL, The University of Chicago Press, 2018, 336 pp., $40 (paperback), $10-$40 (eBook), ISBN-13: 978-0-226-49781-5

Ethics and Practice in Science Communication (2018) is a collection of works drawn from various conferences, symposia, and journals that explores the ethics of technical communication and the commu...
Radiofrequency Techniques for the Alleviation of Post-amputation Phantom Limb Pain: a Systematic Review

Phantom limb pain is characterized by painful sensations that emanate from portions of an amputated limb and has a prevalence estimated as high as 75–80%. Radiofrequency, which is used interventionally as either pain-ablation or neuromodulation for axial pain, has also been increasingly used for non-axial pain. To conduct a systematic review to determine the therapeutic response of radiofrequency techniques for post-amputation phantom limb pain. A comprehensive search of several databases from January 1, 2000, to November 23, 2020, was conducted. Eligible study designs included randomized controlled trials, prospective and retrospective studies, cross-sectional studies, case series, and case reports. The risk of bias was assessed using a tool specifically for assessing case series and case reports. We assessed the level of evidence using the Oxford tool and the quality of evidence with GRADE. A total of 98 articles were screened, with nine studies meeting inclusion criteria. Five studies had a moderate risk of bias, and four had a high risk of bias. All nine studies, including three case series and six case reports, discussed phantom limb pain treatment for fourteen patients by various radiofrequency techniques, including radiofrequency ablation, cooled radiofrequency ablation, pulsed radiofrequency, and low-temperature plasma radiofrequency ablation. Of the fourteen patients receiving one of the radiofrequency techniques, eleven (78.6%) received ≥ 50% pain relief post-intervention. No adverse effects were seen in any of the included studies. Despite the limited quantity and quality of evidence, radiofrequency techniques show potential therapeutic benefits for phantom limb pain.
Syntheses, structures and reactivities of designed analogues of cobalt(III)-bleomycinsz: Insight into the mechanism of sequence-specific DNA cleavage upon illumination

Three Co (III) complexes of a designed ligand PMAH that mimics the metal-binding domain of the antitumor antibioticbleomycin (BLM) have been isolated and structurally characterized. The coordination structures of the various forms of Co(III)-BLMs have been established on the basis of spectral similarities between these synthetic analogues and the corresponding Co(III)-BLMs. All three analogues, like Co(III)-BLMs, induce DNA strand scission upon UV illumination. Both DNA cleavage and spin trapping experiments demonstrate that UV irradiation of the analogues generates a C/N-based radical on the ligand framework which rapidly reacts with water to produce -OH radical near the DNA helix and causes strand scission. A similar mechanism could account for the photoactivity of the Co(III)-BLMs. Covalent attachment of DNA-binding groups to these analogues enhances the DNA-affinities and photocleavage efficiencies to a great extent. The hybrid analogues promote sequence-specific DNA photodamage at micromolar concentrations. The metallated cores of the hybrid analogues are the primary determinant of the observed sequence-specificity. Details of the mode of binding of the hybrid analogues to DNA have been explored by NMR techniques.
“Experimental” Discovery of a Tilt Instability in Standard Accretion Disks Around Luminous X-ray Sources

Experiments performed at the San Diego (super) computer visualization lab, using a computer graphics model of the standard Shakura-Sunyaev type accretion disk in an X-ray binary system have demonstrated the tendency of these disks to be unstable to the development of warped deformations, when located around an X-ray source of very high luminosity. Experimental determination of the threshold luminosity above which the instability is activated gave 1-10% of Eddington Luminosity, depending on binary parameters. The instability may provide a suitable mechanism for causing accretion disks to tilt out of the binary plane, thereby causing them to start precessing. These results suggest that disk precession may be a very common phenomenon in high luminosity X-ray sources; much more common than suggested by the small number of presently known cases of the precessing disk phenomenon.
Stria terminalis lesions attenuate the effects of posttraining oxotremorine and atropine on retention

In these experiments, we examined the effects of posttraining administration of the cholinergic agonist oxotremorine and the cholinergic antagonist atropine on retention in rats with lesions of the stria terminalis (ST). Male Sprague-Dawley rats, with either sham or bilateral ST lesions, were trained in a one-trial step-through inhibitory-avoidance task and a Y-maze discrimination task. Immediately after training on each task, they received i.p. injections of saline, oxotremorine (50.0 μg/kg), or atropine (3.0 mg/kg). Retention of each task was tested 1 week following training. Lesions of the ST did not affect retention of either task in otherwise untreated animals, but blocked both the memory-enhancing effect of oxotremorine and the memory-impairing effect of atropine. These findings suggest that activation of pathways within the ST is involved in cholinergic influences on memory, and are consistent with the view that the amygdaloid complex is involved in integrating neuromodulatory influences on memory storage.
Sensitivity analysis-based time gate selection procedure for biexponential fluorescence imaging

Fluorescence lifetime imaging is an essential analytical tool in studies of cells and tissues. Recently, translation of the technique from microscopy to in vivo or with augmented data (hyperspectral) is being developed. One major concern for these new implementations reside in the lengthy acquisition times required. Data reduction techniques are one approach to significantly reduce the imaging protocol times. Herein, a sensitivity analysis framework is developed for the multifaceted, high-dimensional problems of current and future applications of fluorescence imaging. This framework is applied to the temporal dimension of lifetime-based Forster resonance energy transfer imaging. Synthetic data is used to show acquisition time can be reduced by an order of magnitude with almost no decrease in parameter estimation accuracy.