cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Commissioning the HTCondor-CE for the Open Science Grid

The HTCondor-CE is the next-generation gateway software for the Open Science Grid (OSG). This is responsible for providing a network service which authorizes remote users and provides a resource provisioning service (other well-known gateways include Globus GRAM, CREAM, Arc-CE, and Openstacks Nova). Based on the venerable HTCondor software, this new CE is simply a highly-specialized configuration of HTCondor. It was developed and adopted to provide the OSG with a more flexible, scalable, and easier-to-manage gateway software. Further, the focus of the HTCondor-CE is not job submission (as in GRAM or CREAM) but resource provisioning. This software does not exist in a vacuum: to deploy this gateway across the OSG, we had to integrate it with the CE configuration, deploy a corresponding information service, coordinate with sites, and overhaul our documentation.
Social and Cultural Protection and Environmental Justice: Lessons of the Colombian Model

This piece, in its Spanish language version, introduced the volume "Justicia Colectiva, Medio Ambiente y democracia Participativa" (Collective Justice, Environment and Participatory Democracy), published in late 2009 by the Universidad de los Andes and Siglo de los Hombres Publishers, Bogota, as part of their "Textos Utiles Serie derecho de Interes Publico" (Key Text Series in Public Interest Law). The article abnalyzes the January 29, 2008 decision of the Colombian Constitutional Court, which issued a decision finding that the national Congress erred in drafting national forest law (Law 1021/2006) - permitting exploitation of forest and related natural resources - because it did not consult with indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities with historic ties to and dependence upon those forest resources. The decision thus stands, in international terms, as an important “environmental justice” victory, a fact contextualized and examined in this article.
Simulation of Distributed Co-Crack Propagation in Cellular Automata by Time Warp Synchronization

Damage tolerance design is a philosophy used to refine fail safe design, especially for the aircraft design field. This design concept predicts structural failure, assuming that cracks exist and will grow large enough to produce failures. Calculation of crack propagation in global aspect as like wing requires a solution of complex system by considering crack opening or crack closure. When analyzing multiple cracks, this behavior becomes more complex. In this paper, the aircraft wing is modeled based NASA Common Research Model (CRM) and simulations are performed to observe the multiple crack propagation that are almost impossible to examine in real environmental tests because of its cost and complexity. The Structural Common Research Model (SCRM) is developed by creating internal structures from the CRM for the simulation. The simulation is performed with two level hierarchical models. At the macro level, the SCRM is used as a general finite element model to get static stress and analyzed with strain-life approach as crack initiation analysis (CIA). If a crack is initialized in a certain element, then the element is considered as a base model to build the micro level environment. This micro level analysis is performed by Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics (LEFM) to calculate crack propagation using Cellular Automata (CA). CA is an effective way to solve a complex system by working without central control and performing with simple local rules of operation. CA local rule is employed that a cell is regarded as a dead cell if the residual strength calculated based on LEFM approaches a critical factor. Dead cells become acting cavities in the model and induce a reduction in strength for neighboring cells. The cellular model acts automatically following cyclic load from the history spectrum. Transport Wing Standard spectrum (TWIST) is selected to represent the test loading spectrum in order to simulate the transport aircraft wing. Crack propagation at the micro level is performed by independent calculations for each CA model which is originally from SCRM. So they can be easily distributed in parallel computing given that each crack propagation process is treated as a logical process. But, a synchronization algorithm is required to consider interaction effects when two cracks get close enough. The Time Warp algorithm was selected for the synchronization manager. Since Time Warp allows violation of local causality constraint mechanism, the parallel analysis of distributed crack propagation can be achieved more optimistic way. In result, CIA is accomplished and generated initial crack cycle information for every element in macro wing model. Crack propagation analysis is performed following local rule, neighboring cells rule, and updating rule of CA. This result makes it possible to estimate the design safety withhold accounting for in-service or manufacturing defects. This simulation method also raises up the possibility of evaluation the safety of complex system for both macro and micromechanical aspects.
The Amphorous and Crystalline Forms of Rubber Hydrocarbon

Abstract The coefficients of thermal expansion and the heat capacities of rubber hydrocarbon, both in an amorphous and in a so-called crystalline form, have been recently reported in two papers by Bekkedahl and Matheson. According to these investigators, the amorphous form undergoes a transition of the second order in the neighborhood of 199° K. Above this temperature they found a rather abrupt increase of approximately 205 per cent in the volume coefficient of thermal expansion, and one of about 38 per cent in the heat capacity. These phenomena are strikingly similar to those found in numerous studies on glasses in this laboratory, and especially in the recent investigation on polyisobutylene by Ferry and Parks. Thus, with the particular sample of polymerized isobutene employed, the transition region centered around 197° K. and the subsequent increases in volume coefficient and heat capacity were 200 and 32 per cent, respectively. Bekkedahl and Matheson found that, by cooling the amorphous rubber hydroca...
Providing comfort to critically ill pediatric patients: isoflurane

Rapid titratable effects, limited metabolism, and a reliable mode of administration make isoflurane an appealing alternative to the use of intravenous sedatives and narcotics in critically ill patients requiring prolonged mechanical ventilation. This article, in reviewing this novel approach to management of patient discomfort, focuses on nursing practice issues and provides a critical analysis of isoflurane use in the intensive care unit.
Uniform Pushdown Approach for Quantifying Building-Frame Robustness and the Consequence of Disproportionate Collapse

AbstractThis paper proposes a framework for quantifying the structural robustness of building frames that utilizes a relative numerical interpretation of the strength degradation in response to a damage event. The approach leverages uniform pushdown methods in the context of the current design procedures for resisting progressive and/or disproportionate collapse. The primary metric used to evaluate the structure’s collapse resistance is the magnitude of applied load that the damaged system can support relative to both the design loads and the capacity of the undamaged system. By leveraging several aspects of current alternate path approaches to progressive collapse–resistant design, the framework provides practicing engineers with an accessible tool for evaluating the relative robustness of structural systems. A prototype eight-story, precast/prestressed concrete moment frame system is used as a case study to demonstrate the utility of this procedure. The prototype system is modified to increase its colla...
Site-Directed Mutagenesis to Probe the Role of the D2 Protein in Photosystem II

Photosystem II (PS II) is responsible for the light-driven redox reactions transfering electrons from water to the plastoquinone pool resulting in the evolution of oxygen (Vermaas and Ikeuchi, 1991; Andersson and Styring, 1991). PS II consists of four major and several smaller (≤ 10,000 Mr) integral membrane proteins and also several peripheral polypeptides. The integral proteins include CP43, CP47, D1, D2, PSII-I, and cytochrome b559. CP43 and CP47 are chlorophyll-binding proteins and act as light-harvesting antenna. D1 and D2 are the two reaction center proteins that together create the binding environment for the reaction center components, for the quinone-type electron acceptors, QA and QB, and presumably for Mn involved in water splitting. The functions of cytochrome b559 and of PS II-I, the product of the psbI gene, are still unknown. The most important peripheral protein is the 33 kDa manganese-stabilizing protein (MSP), also known as PS II-O or OEE-1 with OEE standing for oxygen-evolving enhancer. This 33 kDa protein is located on the lumenal side of the membrane and is thought to be involved in stabilizing the manganese that is necessary for the water-splitting process. However, recent in vivo experiments have shown that in the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 the MSP is not absolutely essential for the stable assembly of reaction centers and for oxygen evolution (Burnap et al., 1991; Philbrick et al., 1991; S. Mayes and J. Barber, personal communication). However, in the alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (Mayfield et al., 1987), the 33kDa protein appears to be required for oxygenic photosynthesis and PS II stability.
A physiological approach to high-frequency testing of prosthetic ball valves

Degeneration of polymeric heart valve poppets has caused complications in a number of patients. We decided to evaluate such poppets in a high-speed pulse duplicator with whole blood as the test fluid. Ten valves were placed in the duplicator, ten were placed in a static blood medium, and ten others were frozen for the entire period and were used as control poppets. We found that the poppets in the duplicator absorbed a greater quantity of lipids than did those in the static medium. Our results could not be correlated to data from valves implanted in man. However, the study has provided the groundwork for future investigations.
Hegel and The Sea of Ice

A Hegelian dialectic is built upon in this essay as a basis to interpret and better understand Casper David Friedrich’s The Sea of Ice (Das Eismeer) painted in 1823–1824 and now residing in the Kunsthalle in Hamburg, Germany. The author’s transactional experience with this iconic German Romanticist painting is viewed as both a distinct phenomenological revelation and as a means to unfold the emerging spirit of the painting. The painting is placed within the context of the aesthetic thinking of the time of its creation and is brought out of its historical framework in order to bring forward a personal perspective aligned with the writings of Hegel. Open image in new window
Assessing Readiness for Online Education--Research Models for Identifying Students at Risk.

This study explored the interaction between student characteristics and the online environment in predicting course performance and subsequent college persistence among students in a large urban U.S. university system. Multilevel modeling, propensity score matching, and the KHB decomposition method were used. The most consistent pattern observed was that native-born students were at greater risk online than foreign-born students, relative to their face-to-face outcomes. Having a child under 6 years of age also interacted with the online medium to predict lower rates of successful course completion online than would be expected based on face-to-face outcomes. In addition, while students enrolled in online courses were more likely to drop out of college, online course outcomes had no direct effect on college persistence; rather other characteristics seemed to make students simultaneously both more likely to enroll online and to drop out of college.
Aluminum alloys for lightweight automotive structures

Abstract: An overview of automotive aluminum alloys and their applications as castings, sheet and plate, and extrusions is presented. To assist engineers and metallurgists unfamiliar with aluminum alloys, the classification systems for aluminum alloy designations and tempers are described, and comparative guidelines are presented for lightweight materials selection by automotive engineers. A review is made of progress by US, european, and Japanese automobile companies in lightweighting automotive vehicles utilizing innovative technologies for processing aluminum alloys in all forms.
PKA: Dynamic Assembly and Regulation of Macromolecular Signaling Complexes

PKA Signaling: Linkers, Loops, and Intrinsically Disorder Regions Drive the Dynamic Assembly of Holoenzyme Complexes.The PKA catalytic (C) subunit crystallized in 1991, gave us our first glimpse of the fold that describes all protein kinases. The two lobes that comprise the core are flanked by N-and C-terminal tails, which wrap around both lobes. By capturing all stages of catalysis in crystal structures we appreciate the dynamic nature of these tails and how they undergo order-disorder transitions as part of the catalytic cycle. Ordering the activation loop by a critical phosphate is another fundamental order/disorder transition that is a conserved feature of most protein kinases. These dynamic features allow the kinases to function as highly regulated molecular switches. In the case of PKA, the C-subunit is packaged with regulatory (R) subunit dimers where each chain contains two C-terminal cAMP binding (CNB) domains. The CNB domains are highly dynamic allosteric signaling modules that have been conserved to translate a biological response to cAMP. Although the fundamental features of this domain were elucidated by structures of R-monomers and R:C heterodimers, it required full-length R2C2 tetramers to appreciate the importance of symmetry for PKA signaling. Each R-subunit contains an N-terminal dimerization domain that is also a docking site for scaffold proteins referred to as A Kinase Anchoring Proteins (AKAPs). This domain is joined by a flexible linker to the CNB domains, and embedded within the linker is an inhibitor site that docks to the active site of the C-subunit in the holoenzyme. The order/disorder transitions of the linker drive the assembly of the holoenzymes which each have distinct quaternary structures. The linkers, rich in biological information, are an essential feature of PKA regulation. (Funded by NIH GM34921 and DK54441.)
The Ups and Downs of Louis Grabu1

This article explores the career of Louis Grabu, Master of the Music to Charles II of England and an important but often overlooked and unnecessarily denigrated figure in the history of English music and music-making during the last third of the seventeenth century. While both his origins and his ultimate fate remain obscure, Grabu’s activities between 1665 and 1694 are sufficiently documented to enable us not only to trace in considerable detail the periodic fluctuations in his fortunes, but also to establish a paradigm for exploring the lives of the vast number of seventeenth-century court musicians whose personal details must be gleaned from a mix of administrative records, surviving musical compositions and occasional observations recorded in contemporary diaries and correspondence. When these sources are carefully and exhaustively mined, a picture begins to emerge that belies the often glib dismissal of the musician’s activities and abilities by contemporaries and modern scholars alike.
Student Attitudes Toward Poverty in a Social Welfare Policy Course: Online Versus Face to Face:

The growth of online higher education has presented important questions for social workers in academia. Can a human-based profession be properly taught online? In macro courses, are social work stu...
“Solving” Ethical Problems

Analyzing and ultimately “solving” ethical problems is not materially different from solving problems in any field. The first brief section tries to give a schema for dealing with simple or complex problems in this field. Then 16 cases are presented for consideration and discussion. They are illustrative of many of the points raised in the text. Each case is followed by a purposely incomplete discussion highlighting some, but by no means all, aspects and issues. Altering the scenario may further enrich the discussion and help raise other issues. The “what if” phenomenon can, at times, be very fruitful in illuminating problems: “What if such and such were the case instead of what is, in fact, the case here?” Discussions of this sort are most fruitful when led by someone experienced in dealing with such problems.
Optimal adsorption rate: Implications of the shielding effect

Parasite-host interactions has been a research topic of extreme importance due to its implications on human health, agriculture, and wildlife. Since the virus-bacteria interactions are the most abundant in nature, they had become in the object of intensive study. Specifically, how virus infection mechanisms have evolve is still an open question. Classic parasite theory argues that nature selects the virus with highest adsorption rate. However, experiments challenge this prediction, suggesting that viruses with intermediate adsorption rate are more adequate under structured host populations where virus-host local interactions cannot be discarded. For instance, the local interaction between debris of the lysed cell and newborn virus has been suggested as explanation for intermediate evolved traits. In this paper, we introduce a model that includes local interactions between debris and newborn viruses. We found that these interactions may in fact explain the observed intermediate adsorption rate. We show this by exploring single and competition dynamics of different virus strains.
Social Media Return on Investment: How Much is it Worth to My Practice?

Background Plastic surgeons are rapidly integrating social media into their practices and recent articles on the subject have exploded in the literature. Although social media is being evaluated as a tool, few have actually been able to quantify the impact of social media on a practice. Objectives To quantify the return on investment for social media in a plastic surgery practice. Methods The ideal method for this type of study is a new practice, without preexisting clients and with a broad approach to marketing to examine the effects of multiple marketing tools. In this study, we profile a start-up plastic surgery practice in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles. Results In this study, we report practice demographics as well as one year of income, broken down by the referral source for each patient. The dollar amount returned was reported for several social media resources and other internet-based marketing tools. Conclusions Social media has a relatively high return on investment, and to date this is the first study to transparently quantify the value of social media in plastic surgery.
Robust Aerial Robot Swarms Without Collision Avoidance

One of the main challenges in robot swarming arises from the need to design controllers that guarantee safety and motion planners that guarantee collision avoidance. This translates into sensors that measure proximity to neighbors and algorithms that scale exponentially with the number of robots. In many cases, these problems are solved very differently in nature, especially at smaller scales. The penalty due to collisions is small at these scales and sensors and controllers are not precise enough to guarantee collision-free trajectories. We explore a similar approach with small flying robots. We present a design that is capable of sustaining collisions, controllers that are able to recover from collisions, and simple motion planners that allow the robots to navigate without complete knowledge of the environment. We illustrate the potential of bioinspired swarms using simulations and experimental results.
Light Chain Cast Nephropathy: Practical Considerations in the Management of Myeloma Kidney-What We Know and What the Future May Hold

To update and evaluate the current knowledge on pathogenesis and management of light chain cast nephropathy. Light chain cast nephropathy (LCCN) is the leading cause of acute renal failure in patients with multiple myeloma and is currently recognized as a myeloma defining event. The immunoglobulin free light chain plays an integral role in the pathogenesis of LCCN. The level of free light chain (FLC) in the blood and urine is directly associated with the risk of developing LCCN. Recovery of renal function is related to the speed and degree of the serum FLC reduction. Recently, two randomized trials using high cutoff dialyzer for the removal of serum FLC produced different results in terms of renal recovery. FLC plays a key role in the development and resolution of LCCN. Future therapies will aim to rapidly reduce its concentration or interrupt its interaction with Tamm-Horsfall protein.
"I'm Right by Doing what my Mother Says…": A Pilot Study Chronicling African American Single Mothers' Influence on their Daughter's Romantic Heterosexual Relationships

Recent research avows African American daughters learn to love and exercise resilience through direct and vicarious interactions with their mother. While little research thoroughly elucidates the African American mother-daughter relationship, even fewer studies explore the African American single mother's influence on her daughter's perception of men and romantic heterosexual relationships. For the purpose of this qualitative pilot study, Social Learning Theory and Black Feminist Thought were selected as theoretical paradigms, and Narrative Analysis as an applicable method for analyzing the data. Findings revealed, consistent with previous research, African American daughters revere their mother. Moreover, these daughters unconsciously replicate their mother's romantic relationships, comply with their mother's lessons on men and relationships, imitate their mother's demeanor, and select mates whose affect and behavior parallel their father's. Preliminary conclusions indicate the mother-daughter relationship is essentially the barometer by which the daughters gauged their own romantic relationships.
Homology and Cohomology with Coefficients

Recall that the tensor product M ⊗R N is defined whenever M is a right R-module and N is a left R-module. It is the quotient of M ⊗Z N (which we denote M ⊗ N) obtained by introducing the relations mr ⊗ n = m ⊗ rn (m ∈ M, r ∈ R, n ∈ N).
Integrating Divergent Representations of Place into Decision Contexts

Places are specific locations within a landscape that humans have bound, ordered, and defined by communication. Conflict arises when groups must reconcile different ways they socially represent a shared place. Because land managers cannot control the spectrum of meaningful representations of a managed site, they need to understand how representations of place connect meaning to culture via practices of everyday life. Based on interviews with stakeholders along the Yellowstone River, the authors compiled a cultural inventory that reveals the connections between place and everyday practices. This led to the development of a conceptual framework for integrating divergent place representations that could support more effective management.
EFFECT OF STORAGE ON THE ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES OF BONE

In this study the effects of various storage environments on the electrical properties of bone were evaluated. Cortical bone specimens from canine femora and tibiae were prepared and divided into three groups with one group maintained at room temperature (24°C), a second group stored in a refrigerator at 3°C, and the third group stored in a freezer at −10°C to −20°C. In each group, both the resistance and the capacitance decreased with time, the percentage of change being maximum for the samples stored in the freezer. This suggests that storage of bone specimens in a refrigerator or freezer with repeated thawing at room temperture does effect the electrical properties of bone, with the effect being dependent on the method of storage.
The genetic and functional basis of HIV-1 resistance to nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors

The nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase (RT) inhibitors are structurally diverse compounds that are specific inhibitors of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 RT enzyme. The compounds are largely functionally identical and bind to a common site in the enzyme. HIV-1 variants that exhibit reduced susceptibility to these inhibitors have been derived in cell culture and, more recently, from HIV-1-infected patients undergoing experimental therapy. The variants express amino acid substitutions at RT positions that apparently interact directly with the inhibitors. Effects of specific substitutions at these positions vary among the compounds, suggesting subtle differences in how the compounds physically interact with the enzyme.
Multiple Model Adaptive Control (MMAC)

Multiple-Model Adaptive Control (MMAC) is shown to be an effective strategy for controlling nonlinear chemical processes. A brief review of past work is presented, highlighting the major areas where MMAC has been applied. The structure of the MMAC strategy is shown, including comments on implementation issues. Four basic examples, including a non-linear CSTR with output multiplicities, are presented to discuss decisions and problems faced when designing an MMAC controller. In all cases the MMAC controller provides better performance than a fixed-parameter controller. Directions for future research are discussed.
Activatable T1 and T2 Magnetic Resonance Imaging Contrast Agents

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has become one of the most important diagnosis tools available in medicine. Typically MRI is not capable of sensing biochemical activities. However, recently emerged activatable MRI contrast agents (CAs), whose relaxivity is variable in response to a specific parameter change in the surrounding physiological microenvironment, potentially allow for MRI to indicate biological processes. Among the various factors influencing the relaxivity of a CA, the number of inner-sphere water molecules (q) directly coordinated to the metal center, the residence time of the coordinated water molecule (τ m), and the rotational correlation time representing the molecular tumbling time of a complex (τ R) contribute strongly to the relaxivity of an activatable CA. Tuning the ligand structure and properties has been the subject of intensive research for activatable MR CA designs. This review summarizes a variety of activatable MRI CAs sensitive to common variables in microenvironment in vivo, i.e., pH, luminescence, metal ions, redox, and enzymes, etc., with emphasis on the influence of ligand design on parameters q, τ m, and τ R.
Barriers to International Joint Ventures and Strategic Alliances: A Commentary

The inexorable drive towards corporate alliances may represent a new chapter in the development of capitalism. Many industries that were not so when the original “rules of competition” were being written have become international in scope—pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, electronics, information-processing, telecommunications, petrochemicals, and many others. Meanwhile economic maturity in the home markets of key players within these global industries has forced these firms’ managers to balance their entrepreneurial orientations with strategies for survival amidst economic downsizings and changes in their nations’ industrial bases.
A5) and the Critical Points at Infinity of the Third Kind or of Mixed Type

There is one last situation which we need to discuss, that is, when a critical point at infinity has some characteristic ξ-pieces along which (A5) is violated.
Large-Scale Vertical Motion and Weather in January, 19531

This paper summarizes the relationships between weather, moisture and large-scale vertical motion for January, 1953. The moisture parameter was the dew point depression at 850 mb, and vertical velo...
Differences in Maternal Risk Factors Among Undocumented Latinas in Nebraska by Country of Origin.

Objective:This study compared maternal risk factors by country of origin for 4,188 Mexican and Guatemalan unauthorized immigrants.Method:Data were drawn from 2007 to 2011 public birth certificate r...
Stem Cells and Tissue Engineering

Regenerative medicine deals with the restoration of damaged or injured tissues in patients suffering from catastrophic injuries or chronic diseases in which their own body’s regenerative capacities are not functioning properly. This field typically involves the study of stem cells and the engineering of biological tissues or organs. Stem cells have the unique ability to replicate indefinitely and to differentiate into multiple cells in the body, thereby making them ideal substrates for tissue repair. In this chapter we will examine several facets of regenerative medicine including (1) the types of stem cells available for use, (2) the mechanism of action that these cells use during therapy, and (3) principles of tissue engineering such as scaffolds, bioreactors, and 3D printing.
Examination of Safety Climate, Affective Organizational Commitment, and Safety Behavior Outcomes Among Fire Service Personnel.

Objectives: This research aims to provide guidance on means to bolster safe and effective emergency response. Safe and effective performance among firefighters is key to protecting firefighters, to ensure mission completion, and to protect the public during emergency response situations. Although some studies have shown the impact of safety climate on firefighter performance, few studies have explored the impact of safety climate on affective organizational commitment and safety behaviors among firefighters, which are critical to more effective emergency response. Methods: Data collected from 349 career firefighters in the southern United States were analyzed by means of structural equation modeling to assess posited relationships in the proposed model. Results: This study confirmed a model that describes the relationships between safety climate, affective organizational commitment, and safety behaviors. Safety climate significantly predicted affective organizational commitment (P < 0.001) and affective organizational commitment was positively associated with both safety compliance (P < 0.001) and safety participation (P < 0.001). Conclusions: This study has implications for researchers and practitioners. Firefighters exhibit positive affective organizational commitment as a result of positive safety climate perceptions. This commitment is then associated with positive safety behavior outcomes, which bolsters personal safety and enhances the likelihood of safe and effective mission completion to protect the public.
The Role of Compensation in Nicotine Reduction

The available research on switching from normal nicotine to very low nicotine content cigarettes shows minimal evidence of compensatory smoking. Mathematical estimations suggest that substantial compensation after switching to very low nicotine cigarettes would be impossible. It is likely that smokers who are unable to tolerate the extent of proposed nicotine reduction would switch to other sources of nicotine, rather than try to compensate by smoking more very low nicotine content cigarettes more intensely.
Drug Toxicity, Approach to Cancer as a Systemic Disease, and Imaging Modality-Specific Considerations

In addition to the limitations and pitfalls of tumor response criteria and strategies, there are practical pitfalls for therapy response imaging in cancer patients that should be recognized for accurate characterization of tumor response and progression. Drug toxicity in major organs can be noted on imaging with an appearance of unique radiologic characteristics, and should be distinguished from tumor progression. Approaching cancer as a systemic disease is another important concept, because treating physicians need to know the systemic tumor burden changes to make treatment decisions, rather than the changes in individual body parts. Finally, the choice of imaging modality is a key to maximize the contributions of imaging for therapy response assessment, and the strengths and weaknesses in each modality in specific clinical settings need to be acknowledged.
Multi-energy inter-pixel coincidence counters for charge sharing correction and compensation in photon counting detectors

Purpose Smaller pixel sizes of x-ray photon counting detectors (PCDs) are advantageous for count rate capabilities but disadvantageous for charge sharing. With charge sharing, the energy of an x-ray photon may be split and one photon may produce two or more counts at adjacent pixels, both at lower energies than the incident energy. This "double-counting" increases noise variance and degrades the spectral response. Overall, it has a significantly negative impact on the performance of PCD-based computed tomography (CT). Charge sharing is induced by the detection physics and occurs regardless of count rates; thus, it is impossible to avoid. We propose in this paper a method that has a potential to address both noise and bias added by charge sharing. Methods We propose applying a multi-energy inter-pixel coincidence counter (MEICC) technique, which uses energy-dependent coincidence counters, keeps the book of charge sharing events during data acquisition, and provides the exact number of charge sharing occurrences, which can be used to either correct or compensate for them after the acquisition is completed. MEICC does not interfere with the primary counting process; therefore, PCDs with MEICC will remain as fast as those without MEICC. MEICC can be implemented using current electronics technology because its inter-pixel coincidence counters used to handle digital data are rather simple. We evaluated Cramer-Rao lower bound (CRLB) of PCDs with and without MEICC using a Monte Carlo simulation. Results When the number of energy windows was four or larger and eight neighboring pixels were used, the CRLBs of 225-µm PCD with MEICC normalized by those of the current PCD with the same number of windows were 0.361-0.383 for water density images of two basis functions, which was only 5.7-16.4% worse than those of a PCD without charge sharing (which were at 0.329-0.358). In contrast, the normalized CRLBs of the PCD with one coincidence counter were 0.466-0.499, which were 37.3-45.6% worse than the PCD without charge sharing. The use of eight neighboring pixels provided ~10% better CRLB values than four neighboring pixels for MEICC. With four energy windows, decreasing the number of coincidence counters from 16 to 9 only slightly increased the CRLB from 0.255 to 0.269 (which corresponded to as little as a 5.5% change). The normalized CRLBs of MEICC for K-edge imaging (gold) were 0.295-0.426, while those of the one coincidence counter were 0.926-0.959 and the ideal PCDs were 0.126-0.146. Conclusions The proposed MEICC provides spectral information that can be used to address charge sharing problems in PCDs and is expected to satisfy the requirements for clinical x-ray CT. MEICC is very effective, especially for K-edge imaging, which requires accurate spectral information.
Non-heme Mono-Iron Enzymes: Co-Substrate-Independent Dioxygen Activation

Abstract Non-heme mono-iron (NHMI) dioxygen (O2) activating enzymes are widely distributed in nature. They are involved in many fundamental biological pathways, and catalyze a stunningly broad array of oxidative reactions, including some of the most challenging chemical transformations, such as hydroxylation and halogenation on unactivated carbon-hydrogen bonds and carbon-carbon (C(sp2)-C(sp3)) bond formation. This chemical versatility is achieved by the exquisite control of O2 activation by the mono-iron centers with simple yet well evolved structures. The studies on NHMI enzymes have exploded in recent years with discoveries of new enzymes and new reactions. The mechanistic understanding of NHMI enzymes has also been dramatically improved. In this article, we provide a comprehensive summary of NHMI enzyme studies, focusing on those published in the recent 15 years with the emphases on the iron center coordination environments of various enzymes and the reaction mechanisms they support.
Sexual Risk Among African Americans in Substance Use Treatment: Secondary Analysis of Two Clinical Trials

African Americans who use substances experience a particular risk for HIV. Negative attitudes towards condoms are a strong predictor of risk and can serve as barriers to safe sex. They also vary by gender. In a secondary analysis of data from two National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network trials collecting data from 2004 to 2006, the relationship between gender, unprotected sex, and condom barriers among 203 African Americans in substance use treatment was examined. Results indicated that no gender differences were present in unprotected sex. Men reported more motivational barriers to condom use and were more likely to believe that condoms would impede sexual experience (the latter not statistically significant). For both genders, the perception that condoms might negatively impact sexual experience was associated with unprotected sex. Gender did not moderate the relationship between condom barriers and unprotected sex. These findings suggest the need for gender and race-specific prevention strategies that focus on motivation and address pleasure-based concerns regarding condoms. Substance use treatment facilities are well-positioned to support interventions to target these issues.
Delayed Presentation of STEMI Complicated by Ventricular Septal Rupture in the Era of COVID-19 Pandemic

A significant concern in current coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic era is delay in first medical contact in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), due to reluctance to visit the hospital. We report a case of delayed presentation of STEMI as ventricular septal rupture during the COVID-19 pandemic, a rare presentation in the current age of primary percutaneous coronary intervention. (Level of Difficulty: Beginner.).
Non‐epithelial tumors of the nasal cavity, paranasal sinuses and nasopharynx: A clinico‐pathologic study. VII. Myxomas

In a study of non-epithelial tumors involving the nasal cavity, paranasal sinuses and nasopharynx, 256 lesions, 156 benign and 100 malignant, were identified. Of these, six were classified as myxoma. Myxomas of facial bones, neoplasms of uncertain histogenesis, infiltrate adjacent tissues and if not completely excised will recur locally. In this series, three patients at one time were treated with limited local excisions. Tumor persisted or recurred in all three. Five patients were treated with en bloc resection (following recurrences in two patients). None of these patients subsequently developed recurrent tumor. We believe that myxomas should be widely resected to prevent recurrence. The extent of the surgical resection should depend on the size, extent and location of the lesion.
What Does the Infection Fatality Rate Really Measure

This paper studies what the infection fatality rate (IFR) really measures using the potential outcomes framework. I show that the IFR only reflects the outcome in one state. In contrast, popular causal parameters are all functions of the difference between outcomes in two states. I then demonstrate using a simple illustrative example that a disease that has no effect of the risk of dying can have a higher IFR than a disease that increases the risk of dying for everyone in the population. As a result, the IFR may fail to reflect the causal effect of a disease on the risk of dying and hence might not be a suitable measure of how deadly the disease is.
Identification, Laboratory, Greenhouse, and Field Handling of Aphanomyces euteiches on Pea (Pisum sativum)

Aphanomyces euteiches is a destructive soilborne plant pathogen, causing economic losses when adequate to excess soil moisture is available. This oomycete organism survives in the soil for decades ...
The secular and the global: rethinking the anthropology of Christianity in the wake of 1492

In this article, I call for anthropologists of Christianity to do more to address the ‘difference’ that 1492 has made in Christian institutions, practices, and social worlds. In so doing, I argue t...
Low-Iodine Diets

In patients with thyroid cancer, radioactive iodine scans and treatment must be performed in conjunction with thyrotropin (TSH) stimulation. Classically, serum TSH elevations and stimulation of thyroid cells by TSH have been achieved by withdrawing the patient from thyroid hormone supplementation, thereby allowing the patient to become hypothyroid. Alternatively, TSH elevations can be accomplished by the administration of recombinant human TSH (Ladenson PW et al. N Engl J Med. 1997;337(13):888–96). Regardless of the method, to maximize efficacy, it is important that the accompanying radioactive iodine scan (or treatment) be performed when the patient’s total-body iodine stores are relatively depleted.
Here is what interests us! Students' reconceived physical education activity offerings in an inner-city middle school.

Urban middle school physical education teachers undertook action research to understand activity preferences of their sixth and seventh graders (n = 701) as they sought to modify curriculum for enhancing student engagement. Students completed an anonymous survey of basic demographic characteristics and interest in participating in 24 physical education activities. Responses were analyzed by vector analysis where the magnitude and direction of preference was taken into account to generate standardized T-scores Difference scores were used to compare preferences by gender, ethnicity, and grade, with |T difference | greater than 16.4 considered significant (p < .05). For gender, males more preferred football and females more preferred volleyball, yoga, and jump rope than the opposite gender. For ethnicity, Hispanics more preferred soccer than Asians; and Hispanics, Blacks, and Asians more preferred their own ethnonymic games and dance activities than their counterparts. Preference differences were not found between grades. Urban physical educators—and possibly others—should consider gender- and ethnic-based preferences when making curricular content and pedagogical decisions.
Substrats biològics de la conducta agressiva: Genètica i Neuroanatomia

This paper is a review of the works dailing with the biological substrate of aggression with special reference to genetic and neuroanatomical findings. In a next paperwe will consider the neurochemical and hormonal ones.
An Iterative Sampling Procedure for Resource Constrained Project Scheduling with Time Windows

In this paper, we extend and integrate previously reported techniques for resource constrained scheduling to develop a CSP procedure for solving RCPSP/max, the resource constrained project scheduling problem with time windows (generalized precedence relations between start time of activities). RCPSP/max is a well-studied problem within the Operations Research community and the presence of a large set of benchmark problems provides a good opportunity for comparative performance analysis. Our base CSP scheduling model generalizes previous profile-based approaches to cumulative scheduling by focusing on global analysis of minimal conflicting sets rather than pairwise conflict analysis. This generalization increases the tendency for more effective conflict resolution. Since RCPSP/max is an optimization problem, other ideas from prior work are adapted to embed this base CSP model within a multi-pass, iterative sampling procedure. The overall procedure, called ISES (Iterative Sampling Earliest Solutions), is applied to the above mentioned set of benchmark problems. ISES is shown to perform quite well in comparison to current state-of-the-art procedures for RCPSP/max, particularly as search space size becomes limiting for systematic procedures.
The Choice of Evils and the Collisions of Theory

This essay considers the project of reduction in criminal law theory in a narrow, but paradigmatic, doctrinal context - the choice of evils or necessity defense. Many scholars take the view that the only conceivable explanation for the choice of evils defense must be uncorruptedly consequentialist. There can be no other fundamental explanation, it is said, for a defense that at bottom always must issue in a cost/benefit analysis - a weighing or comparison of the illegal evil that must be done against the evil that will thereby be avoided - than a concern for increasing, or maximizing, social welfare. Against these views, this essay argues that some of the doctrines which adorn the choice of evils defense are worthwhile precisely because they instantiate values that are in direct and irreconcilable conflict with consequentialism. It develops this claim by considering one of these adornments - the widely adopted doctrinal rule that an actor who is criminally culpable for causing the conditions leading to a choice of evils should not be permitted to assert the defense. The essay offers a retributivist explanation for the exclusion where the actor was purposely and criminally culpable for creating the necessitous conditions and discusses how this justification is in tension with the consequentialist aims of the defense. It then considers whether, in light of this tension, a “hybrid” theory of justification - modeled on hybrid theories of punishment - might best explain the defense. But in the end it rejects that possibility. Hybrid theories, no less than their pure-bred cousins, are inclined toward precisely the types of totalistic explanations that are seemingly confounded by the culpability-in-causing exclusion. The collision of values highlighted by the problem of the choice of evils intimates a different conclusion, one that echoes the deep pluralism constitutive of criminal law itself.
Rapid Amplification of Genomic DNA Ends by Nla III Partial Digestion and Polynucleotide Tailing

We report a simple and efficient method, which combines restriction endonuclease digestion and deoxynucleotide tailing, for cloning unknown genomic sequences adjacent to a known sequence. Total genomic DNA is partially digested with the frequent-cutting restriction enzymeNla III. A homo-oligomeric cytosine tail is added by terminal transferase. The tailed DNA fragments are used as the template for cloning flanking regions from all sequences of interest. A first round PCR amplification is performed with a gene-specific primer and the selective (modified polyguanine) anchor primer complementary to the cytosine tail and theNla III recognition site, with a universal amplification primer sequence at its 5′ end. This is followed by another PCR amplification with a nested gene-specific primer and the universal amplification primer. Finally, the amplified products are fractionated, cloned, and sequenced. Using this method, we cloned the upstream region of a salt-induced gene based upon a partial cDNA clone (RSC5-U) obtained from sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.).