cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Why Autonomous Robotics and Artificial Intelligence

But for me, these questions are much too big for one person’s life pursuit. I like knowing the answer to problems, and these questions are too complex to be answered easily. Instead, what if we study a “simpler” life form – a robot – and try to answer these questions in that context? How can we give robots the capability to solve problems in a way that is as “natural” for the robot as it seems to be for us as humans? And, why not develop these answers by applying robots to real-world problems that can help make our complex human lives a bit easier (and perhaps even more interesting)? Then, we can have answers to these fascinating questions while at the same time applying our work to benefit human society. To me, this is a great motivation for my research in artificial intelligence and autonomous robotics, and what makes this work very satisfying to me.
An Emergency Care System Using RFID and Zigbee Techniques

In this study a RFID technology to assist medical care personnel with ward round and nursing is proposed to increase the management efficiency and reduce the human caused careless mistakes. We use the RFID tag, ZigBee technology, and long-range wireless communication to build an emergency care system. The designed model consists of an active RFID tag, an active RFID-ZigBee positioning reader (including Router) and wireless network module. Because using wireless transmission, this architecture does not require any communication cable. When the router is placed in the corresponding position, the patient can be located, making this construction relatively simple.
Using Stage- and Slit-Scanning to Improve Contrast and Optical Sectioning in Dual-View Inverted Light Sheet Microscopy (diSPIM).

AbstractDual-view inverted selective plane illumination microscopy (diSPIM) enables high-speed, long-term, four-dimensional (4D) imaging with isotropic spatial resolution. It is also compatible with conventional sample mounting on glass coverslips. However, broadening of the light sheet at distances far from the beam waist and sample-induced scattering degrades diSPIM contrast and optical sectioning. We describe two simple improvements that address both issues and entail no additional hardware modifications to the base diSPIM. First, we demonstrate improved diSPIM sectioning by keeping the light sheet and detection optics stationary, and scanning the sample through the stationary light sheet (rather than scanning the broadening light sheet and detection plane through the stationary sample, as in conventional diSPIM). This stage-scanning approach allows a thinner sheet to be used when imaging laterally extended samples, such as fixed microtubules or motile mitochondria in cell monolayers, and produces fine...
Metabolic Studies of Adrenoleukodystrophy

Two series of metabolic studies were prompted by the previous finding that the brain and adrenal tissues of patients with adrenoleukodystrophy, an X-linked genetic disorder,contain unusually long-chain (C22 – C32) fatty acids in cholesterol esters and gangliosides. Postmortem brain tissues from three patients were assayed for activities of the three distinct cholesterol ester hydrolases, using [4-14C]cholesterol oleate, lignocerate and cerotate as the substrates. No deficiency of the crude mitochondrial (pH 4.2), the microsomal (pH 6.0), or the myelin-localized cholesterol ester hydrolases was detected, although the activities of the myelin-localized cholesterol ester hydrolase against cholesteryl lignocerate and cerotate were too low for reliable assays. The activities of the microsomal and myelin-localized hydrolases were actually higher in adrenoleukodystrophy than in controls. Upt le and exclusion by cultured fibroblasts of [1-14C]stearic, [1- C]lignoceric and [1-14C]cerotic acids were also examined. All fatty acids were avidly taken up by the fibroblasts. Stearic acid was excluded from the cells much more rapidly than lignoceric or cerotic acid. No difference was observed in the uptake and exclusion of fatty acids between the controls and adrenoleukodystrophy, except that cells from some cases of adrenoleukodystrophy consistently took up the very long chain fatty acids at greater rates than the control cells. Neither did the distribution of the label among individual lipids reveal differences between the controls and adrenoleukodystrophy, although there were interesting and dramatic differences in the metabolism of lignoceric acid and cerotic acid. Cerotic acid appeared largely inert with 90–95% remaining intact over eight days, while lignoceric acid was mostly incorporated into complex lipids. This series of studies did not uncover the fundamental genetic defect underlying adrenoleukodystrophy.
A study of undetectable non-feedback shorts for the purpose of physical-DFT

Undetectable shorts may decrease the long term reliability of a circuit, cause intermittent failures, add noise or delay, or increase test pattern generation costs. This paper describes the undetectable nonfeedback shorts that are likely to occur in standard cell implementations of the ISCAS'85 combinational test circuits. For ten layouts of each circuit, all shorts between adjacent wires were extracted and the undetectable ones analyzed. We found that approximately 0.4% are undetectable and that nearly half of these can be easily predicted before the physical layout of the circuit is generated. Since only a small percentage of the shorts are undetectable, and many of the undetectables are easily identifiable, it appears that it is possible to reduce the likelihood, or completely eliminate, the occurrence of a large portion of these shorts by incorporating design-for-test strategies into routing software. >
Spatially Polarized Landscapes and a New Approach to Urban Inequality

Displays of wealth and opulence in the face of dire need and poverty have become commonplace as the rich and the poor increasingly share city spaces around the globe. Research shows that it is the perception of inequality, more than raw measures of inequality, that has important political consequences and that is most concerning for social well-being. In this article, I propose a theoretical move from a general, statistically driven conceptualization of inequality to a spatially informed concept that recognizes how people experience inequality. Relying on findings that show that the perception of inequality is most important for life chances, I suggest that it is key to understand not only where inequality is located but how it is spatially distributed. Using the Mall of San Juan as an example of a spatially polarized landscape in Puerto Rico, and referring to other cases in Latin America, the article shows how the spatial distribution of inequality highlights the perceptual fields of citizens who may celebrate, succumb to, respond to, attune to, and/or challenge the inequalities accordingly. To shift from an accounting of inequality through the concept of segregation to recognizing the experience and perception of inequality through spatial polarization shifts the scholarly and policy frames of inequality research and policy.
HBCUs and the Production of Doctors

An important issue facing the world of medicine and health care is the field's lack of diversity, especially regarding African American doctors. African Americans made up 6% of all physicians in the U.S. in 2008, 6.9% of enrolled medical students in 2013 and 7.3% of all medical school applicants. The existing literature on the lack of diversity within the medical field emphasizes the role that inclusion would play in closing the health disparities among racial groups and the benefits acquired by African Americans through better patient-doctor interactions and further respect for cultural sensitivity. A large portion of current research regarding Black medical students and education focuses on why minority students do not go into medical school or complete their intended pre-med degrees. Common notions and conclusions are that many institutions do not properly prepare and support students, who despite drive and desire, may lack adequate high school preparation and may go through additional stress unlike their other peers. Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) are institutions that were designed to support African American students by providing an educational learning environment that caters to their unique challenges and cultural understandings. Given that HBCUs have had much success in preparing minority students for STEM fields, and for medical school success more specifically, this article looks at the history of such universities in the context of medical education, their effective practices, the challenges faced by African Americans pursing medical education, and what they can do in the future to produce more Black doctors. We also highlight the work of Xavier University and Prairie View A&M University, institutions that regularly rank among the top two and top ten producers, respectively, of future African American doctors among colleges and universities.
Characterization of the sensitivity of piezoelectric resonant pressure/force sensor with a new automatic device

A fully automated novel apparatus for the characterization of the sensitivity of piezoelectric resonant pressure/force sensor is proposed. The force-frequency effect of piezoelectric resonant senso...
Network dynamics of human face perception

Prevailing theories suggests that cortical regions responsible for face perception operate in a serial, feed-forward fashion. Here, we utilize invasive human electrophysiology to evaluate serial models of face-processing via measurements of cortical activation, functional connectivity, and cortico-cortical evoked potentials. We find that task-dependent changes in functional connectivity between face-selective regions in the inferior occipital (f-IOG) and fusiform gyrus (f-FG) are bidirectional, not feed-forward, and emerge following feed-forward input from early visual cortex (EVC) to both of these regions. Cortico-cortical evoked potentials similarly reveal independent signal propagations between EVC and both f-IOG and f-FG. These findings are incompatible with serial models, and support a parallel, distributed network underpinning face perception in humans.
American Football Sets Players' Body Mass Index.

Objectives. Document American football, National Football League (NFL), Lean State (LS) or Heavy State (FS) Public High School (PHS), sets similar player position mean body mass indexes (BMI). Revi...
Gold nanoshells for imaging and photothermal ablation of cancer

Abstract: Gold nanoshells consist of a thin, gold shell over a non-conductive core material, such as silica or gold-sulfide. Designed to scatter and absorb light within the near-infrared (NIR) water window, these particles can be employed for both optical imaging and photothermal ablation of cancer. This chapter provides a brief overview of nanotechnology’s role in cancer medicine followed by an in-depth discussion of gold nanoshells, their optical properties and use thus far as a cancer diagnostic and therapeutic tool in vitro and in vivo.
The Vascular Effects of ω-3 Fatty Acids

Much has been learned in the past two decades about the impact of ω-3 fatty acids on human biology. These distinctive fatty acids are derived principally from marine sources such as fish and fish oil. They are rapidly incorporated into cell membranes after their ingestion in the diet and subsequently may alter a myriad of cellular functions. For example, eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid may inhibit the synthesis of several prostaglandins and leukotrienes, as well as reduce the cellular production of cytokines or growth factors such as interleukin-1 or platelet-derived growth factor. Some of these functional changes found after fish-oil ingestion may have therapeutic implications in the treatment of human disease. Studies are now underway to investigate the effect of fish-oil preparations or more-purified ω-3 fatty acids on arterial injury, thrombosis or atherosclerosis, as well as to study their effects in certain inflammatory or cutaneous disorders, such as psoriasis. This paper will review the current body of research on marine oils and will focus specifically on the effects of ω-3 fatty acids in vascular biology and associated disease states. The potential toxicity of these fatty acids will be discussed, as well as current indications (or lack of them) for their therapeutic use in humans. J Invest Dermatol 93: 102S–106S, 1989
Venture-backed IPOs and the Exiting of Venture Capital in China

This paper documents the dramatic improvement in institutional, legal and regulatory environment for the exiting of foreign venture capital in China. It also discusses the recent developments, advantages and disadvantages of various China venture-backed IPO listing channels, including overseas listing through the main board and high-tech trading board in the United States (via New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ), Hong Kong (via Hong Kong Stock Exchange and Hong Kong Growth Enterprise Market) and Singapore (via Singapore Exchange and SESDAQ), and domestic listing (via Shenzhen Small and Medium Enterprise Board). Finally, this paper examines the venture capital funding and IPO offering details, and the short-run and long-run performance of the U.S.-listed China Venture-backed IPOs between 2000 and 2005.
Asymptotic Analysis of Implied Volatility

The implied volatility was first introduced by H.A. Latane and R.J. Rendleman under the name “the implied standard deviation”. Latane and Rendleman studied standard deviations of asset returns, which are implied in actual call option prices when investors price options according to the Black-Scholes model. Chapter 9 mainly is concerned with the asymptotics of the implied volatility at extreme strikes. It presents sharp model-free asymptotic formulas for the implied volatility established by the author and the higher order extensions of these formulas found by K. Gao and R. Lee. The chapter also provides a characterization of implied volatility models free of static arbitrage, and discusses certain symmetries hidden in stochastic asset price models. These symmetries can be used to analyze the asymptotic behavior of the implied volatility at small strikes knowing how the volatility behaves at large strikes.
Collaborative Visual Methods: Parent Activism, Educational Justice, and Photography in a Los Angeles Elementary School

Scholars and practitioners in the subfields of Environmental and Medical Anthropology have adopted photo-based collaborative research methodologies like photovoice as a means of incorporating participants in community-based research in a hybrid practice that borrows from the collective filmmaking strategies of visual anthropologists like Jean Rouch, the pedagogy of the oppressed of Paolo Freire (2000), and the feminist critiques of the 1990s and 2000s (Harper 2012; Pink 2007; Rouch and Feld 2003). In this article, we demonstrate how a collaborative research methodology using digital photography and group discussions was applied within a parent engagement program at a primary school in Los Angeles. The methods and findings show how photography revealed points of convergence and divergence between two groups of participants: (1) parents and caretakers and (2) teachers and school support staff. We demonstrate how the photovoice-inspired methods helped the two stakeholder groups in a school community identify...
New Universities’ Organizational Identities Through Presidential Lenses

This qualitative investigation addresses three new universities in the provinces of British Columbia and Alberta and their presidents’ ascriptions of organizational identity to their universities. Through extended, semi-structured interviews and narrative analysis, this investigation uses organizational identity theory and institutional theory to explain the positionality and understandings of presidents in relationship to their universities’ paths to legitimacy. We found that the preservation of aspects of the institutions’ original identity (as community colleges) aids new universities’ organizational change. Furthermore, while presidents advocated for a replacement of community college logics with university logics, data showed that these three new universities had yet to embrace the university logic fully. We propose that a blending of logics may be the preferred mechanism for the attainment of legitimacy during sectoral change for new universities.This qualitative investigation addresses three new universities in the provinces of British Columbia and Alberta and their presidents’ ascriptions of organizational identity to their universities. Through extended, semi-structured interviews and narrative analysis, this investigation uses organizational identity theory and institutional theory to explain the positionality and understandings of presidents in relationship to their universities’ paths to legitimacy. We found that the preservation of aspects of the institutions’ original identity (as community colleges) aids new universities’ organizational change. Furthermore, while presidents advocated for a replacement of community college logics with university logics, data showed that these three new universities had yet to embrace the university logic fully. We propose that a blending of logics may be the preferred mechanism for the attainment of legitimacy during sectoral change for new universities.
Semiconductor Hyperbolic Metamaterials at the Quantum Limit

We study semiconductor hyperbolic metamaterials (SHMs) at the quantum limit experimentally using spectroscopic ellipsometry as well as theoretically using a new microscopic theory. The theory is a combination of microscopic density matrix approach for the material response and Green’s function approach for the propagating electric field. Our approach predicts absorptivity of the full multilayer system and for the first time allows the prediction of in-plane and out-of-plane dielectric functions for every individual layer constructing the SHM as well as effective dielectric functions that can be used to describe a homogenized SHM.
Abstract P255: Differential Regulation of Blood Pressure and Renal Injury by HDAC Inhibitor Mocetinostat in Npr1 Gene-targeted Male and Female Mutant Mice

The objective of the present study was to elucidate the systolic blood pressure (SBP) lowering effect of class I histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor, mocetinostat (MGCD0103) by enhanced expression...
A practice-centered analysis of environmental accounting standards: integrating agriculture into carbon governance

Abstract Standards for carbon accounting are a core element of environmental governance. We study the production of standards as situated and practical action, which is shaped by opportunities, resource constraints, and existing infrastructure. Careful observations of this work reveals what people do and how they organize their actions relevant to the particular questions, conventions, and resources at hand. We apply this practice-centered, ethnomethodological approach to study the creation of an accounting protocol for nitrous oxide emissions from corn production, an effort within the broader project of enlisting agriculture in carbon markets. We find that efforts to create a far-reaching, rigorous, and efficient standard were frustrated by lack of data, contestation of knowledge claims, and the challenges of collapsing real-world heterogeneity into a model and a set of tidy decision rules. In this sense, carbon accounting standards should be understood as provisional, and potentially unstable, compromises.
Conditions for successful environmental justice mobilizations: an analysis of 50 cases

The environmental justice (EJ) literature can benefit from comparative analysis that helps to identify conditions for more and less successful outcomes. A data set of 50 EJ cases in the U.S. was de...
Artist interview: JoAnne Growney

The interview and the ten poems authored by JoAnne Growney presented in this article reflect on the various influences and events in JoAnne’s journey through a life that includes both mathematics a...
Screening for Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm: US Preventive Services Task Force Recommendation Statement

Importance An abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is typically defined as aortic enlargement with a diameter of 3.0 cm or larger. The prevalence of AAA has declined over the past 2 decades among screened men 65 years or older in various European countries. The current prevalence of AAA in the United States is unclear because of the low uptake of screening. Most AAAs are asymptomatic until they rupture. Although the risk for rupture varies greatly by aneurysm size, the associated risk for death with rupture is as high as 81%. Objective To update its 2014 recommendation, the USPSTF commissioned a review of the evidence on the effectiveness of 1-time and repeated screening for AAA, the associated harms of screening, and the benefits and harms of available treatments for small AAAs (3.0-5.4 cm in diameter) identified through screening. Population This recommendation applies to asymptomatic adults 50 years or older. However, the randomized trial evidence focuses almost entirely on men aged 65 to 75 years. Evidence Assessment Based on a review of the evidence, the USPSTF concludes with moderate certainty that screening for AAA in men aged 65 to 75 years who have ever smoked is of moderate net benefit. The USPSTF concludes with moderate certainty that screening for AAA in men aged 65 to 75 years who have never smoked is of small net benefit. The USPSTF concludes that the evidence is insufficient to determine the net benefit of screening for AAA in women aged 65 to 75 years who have ever smoked or have a family history of AAA. The USPSTF concludes with moderate certainty that the harms of screening for AAA in women aged 65 to 75 years who have never smoked and have no family history of AAA outweigh the benefits. Recommendations The USPSTF recommends 1-time screening for AAA with ultrasonography in men aged 65 to 75 years who have ever smoked. (B recommendation) The USPSTF recommends that clinicians selectively offer screening for AAA with ultrasonography in men aged 65 to 75 years who have never smoked rather than routinely screening all men in this group. (C recommendation) The USPSTF recommends against routine screening for AAA with ultrasonography in women who have never smoked and have no family history of AAA. (D recommendation) The USPSTF concludes that the current evidence is insufficient to assess the balance of benefits and harms of screening for AAA with ultrasonography in women aged 65 to 75 years who have ever smoked or have a family history of AAA. (I statement)
Cases of Successful Independent Educationally Oriented Podcasters.

This research project examined three cases of successful independent educationally oriented podcasters. As the numbers of podcasts and podcast listeners grow in the United States, the stories of pe...
The high-resolution infrared analysis of the ν3 and ν6 bands of CD3Br

Abstract The ν3 parallel, and ν6 perpendicular infrared-active vibrational bands have been analyzed for both CD379Br and CD381Br at 0.0015 cm−1 resolution. The band origins for the v3 = 1 state are 577.28925(2) cm−1 and 575.97685(2) cm−1 for the CD379Br and CD381Br isotopologues, respectively; for the v6 = 1 state the band origins are 713.46997(1) cm−1 and 713.38156(1) cm−1, respectively. The v3 = 1 and v6 = 1 vibrational states are possibly the only unperturbed vibrational states in CD3Br, and thus yield the most reliable infrared spectroscopy-based determination of the ground state rotational constants. The spectroscopic constants for both vibrational states, as well as the ground vibrational state were improved compared to previous studies through a direct fit of the vibrational bands, as well as a separate fit of the ground state combination differences. Ab initio calculations were performed to examine the efficacy of high-level theoretical calculations to accurately predict spectroscopic constants. Though not used in fitting the experimental data, nuclear quadrupole hyperfine splitting by the bromine atoms was observed in both vibrational states, an uncommon observation in the infrared spectra of polyatomic molecules.
A Simple Method for the Comparison of Adjacent Points on Thematic Maps

A simple method is outlined for comparing adjacent grid points that have been measured for a series of maps. It is generalized and can be calculated for different types of maps where the original data are continuous or discrete. Either original or standardized data can provide the input information; standardization expresses the various maps in the same units. Next, similarities or differences are computed for all adjacent points from east to west and from north to south on the grid. The coefficients computed include correlation coefficients, Euclidean distances, and Mahlanobis distances; however, other statistics could be employed where appropriate. The coefficients then are plotted on the grid and contoured to depict the distribution of similarities and differences. Various patterns of similarities and differences between the points are shown by different coefficients and standardizations which can be related to geologic features underlying the original data. The maps of the point-to-point comparisons are suitable for subsequent study with other methods such as trend surfaces, filtering, or Fourier analysis. The example given is based on five structure contour maps from the Paleozoic of Kansas.
Ten-Year Single Institutional Analysis of Geographic and Demographic Characteristics of Patients Treated With Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy for Localized Prostate Cancer.

Objectives Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy (SBRT) offers definitive treatment for localized prostate cancer with comparable efficacy and toxicity to conventionally fractionated radiotherapy. Decreasing the number of treatment visits from over 40 to five may ease treatment burden and increase accessibility for logistically challenged patients. Travel distance is one factor that affects a patient's access to treatment and is often related to geographic location and socioeconomic status. In this study, we review the demographic and geographic factors of patients treated with SBRT for prostate cancer for a single institution with over a decade of experience. Methods Patient zip codes from one thousand and thirty-five patients were derived from a large, prospectively maintained quality of life database for patients treated for prostate cancer with SBRT from 2008 to 2017. The geospatial distance between the centroid of each zip code to our institution was calculated using the R package Geosphere. Characteristics for seven hundred and twenty-one patients were evaluated at the time of analysis including: race, age, and insurance status. To assess the geographic reach of our institution, we evaluated the demographic features of each zip code using US Census data. Statistical comparisons for these features and their relation to distance traveled for treatment was performed using the Mann-Whitney U test. Finally, an unsupervised learning algorithm was performed to identify distinct clusters of patients with respect to median income, racial makeup, educational level, and rural residency. Results Patients traveled from 246 distinct zip codes at a median distance of 11.35 miles. Forty percent of patients were African American, 6.9% resided in a rural region, and 22% were over the age of 75. Using K-means cluster analysis, four distinct patient zip-code groups were identified based on the aforementioned demographic features: Suburban/high-income (45%), Urban (30%), Suburban/low-income (17%), and Rural (8%). For each of the clusters, the average travel distance for SBRT was significantly different at 11.17, 9.26, 11.75, and 40.2 miles, respectively (p-value: <0.001). Conclusions Distinct demographic features are related to travel distance for prostate SBRT. In our large cohort, travel distance did not prevent uptake of prostate SBRT in African American, elderly or rural patient populations. Prostate SBRT offers a diverse population modern treatment for their localized prostate cancer and particularly for those who live significant distances from a treatment center.
In situ SERS detection of dissolved nitrate on hydrated gold substrates

The accurate and fast measurement of nitrate in seawater is important for monitoring and controlling water quality to prevent ecologic and economic disasters. In this work we show that the in situ detection of nitrate in aqueous solution is feasible at nanomolar concentrations through surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) using native nanostructured gold substrates without surface functionalization. Spectra were analyzed as collected or after standard normal variate (SNV) normalization, which was shown through Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to reduce spectral variations between sample sets and improve Langmuir adsorption model fits. An additional normalization approach based on the substrate silicon template showed that silicon provided an internal standard that accounted for the spectral variance without the need for SNV normalization. Nitrate adsorption was well-described by the Langmuir adsorption model, consistent with an adsorbed monolayer, and a limit of detection of 64 nM nitrate was obtained in ultrapure water, representing environmentally relevant concentrations. Free energy calculations based on the Langmuir adsorption constants, approximating equilibrium adsorption constants, and calculated self-energy arising from image charge, accounting for electrostatic interactions with a polarizable nanostructured substrate, suggest that nitrate adsorption was partially driven by an entropy gain presumably due to dehydration of the gold substrate and/or nitrate ion. This work is being extended to determine if similar statistical and normalization methods can be applied to nitrate detection in complex natural waters where non-target ions and molecules are expected to interfere.
Parents Shape their Children’s Physical Activity During Unstructured Recess Through Intrinsic Value the Children Possess

Parents beliefs processes has shown to relate to their children’s decisions making. Thus, grounded in the expectancy-value theory, the aim of this study was to examine parents’ role in shaping elementary school students’ beliefs and task values toward students’ school-time physical activity (PA) and their moderate-to-vigorous (MVPA) behavior during unstructured recess. A convenience sample of 115 (Mage = 10.12±1.81) children and their parents/guardians were recruited, and their expectancy-beliefs and attainment, utility, and interest values toward school-time PA were assessed. In addition, children’s MVPA during recess was measured using waist-attached accelerometers. Results showed that parents impacted children’s recess PA in different ways depending on children’s gender. In girls, parents’ beliefs and values transferred directly to the subsequent values of their children, whereas parents’ beliefs were the central predictors of boys’ beliefs and values. Parents’ intrinsic value moderated girls’ MVPA via the intrinsic value of the participants possessed (Z = 1.73, p = .010, 90% CI [.36, 2.93]), whereas parents’ beliefs moderated boys’ intrinsic value – MVPA relationship (Z = .78, p < .001, 90% CI [.39, 1.10]). This study suggests applying gender-specific strategies when trying to understand how beliefs and task values impact PA-related behaviors.
Cross-Electrophile Coupling of Alcohols with Aryl and Vinyl Halides

Although alcohols represent one of the largest pools of commercially available alkyl substrates, approaches to di-rectly utilize them in cross-coupling and cross-electrophile coupling are limited. We report the use of alcohols in cross-electrophile coupling with aryl and vinyl halides to form C(sp3)–C(sp2) bonds in a one-pot strategy. This strategy allows the use of primary and secondary alcohols through their very fast (<1 min) in situ conversion to the corre-sponding alkyl bromides with compatible phosphonium activating reagents. The utility of the reaction is exempli-fied by its simple reaction setup, scalability, and broad scope (41 examples, 57% ± 15% ave yield). The reaction can be performed on the benchtop without the need for electro-chemical or photochemical equipment. Finally, translation to standard parallel synthesis techniques is demonstrated by successfully coupling all combinations of 8 alcohols with 12 aryl cores in a 96-well plate using only one (99% cover-age) or two (100% coverage) sets of conditions.
Renormalization and Effective Field Theory

This book tells mathematicians about an amazing subject invented by physicists and it tells physicists how a master mathematician must proceed in order to understand it. Physicists who know quantum field theory can learn the powerful methodology of mathematical structure, while mathematicians can position themselves to use the magical ideas of quantum field theory in "mathematics" itself. The retelling of the tale mathematically by Kevin Costello is a beautiful tour de force. --Dennis Sullivan This book is quite a remarkable contribution. It should make perturbative quantum field theory accessible to mathematicians. There is a lot of insight in the way the author uses the renormalization group and effective field theory to analyze perturbative renormalization; this may serve as a springboard to a wider use of those topics, hopefully to an eventual nonperturbative understanding. --Edward Witten Quantum field theory has had a profound influence on mathematics, and on geometry in particular. However, the notorious difficulties of renormalization have made quantum field theory very inaccessible for mathematicians. This book provides complete mathematical foundations for the theory of perturbative quantum field theory, based on Wilson's ideas of low-energy effective field theory and on the Batalin- Vilkovisky formalism. As an example, a cohomological proof of perturbative renormalizability of Yang-Mills theory is presented. An effort has been made to make the book accessible to mathematicians who have had no prior exposure to quantum field theory. Graduate students who have taken classes in basic functional analysis and homological algebra should be able to read this book.
Functional Implications of the Structural Diversity of Murine Ia and Human DR Antigens

The survival of an organism depends on the ability of its cells to recognize each other and their immediate environment. The immune responses found in most vertebrates are prime instances of vitally important interactions among subpopulations of cells. In the sophisticated immune system of mammals, the generation of immune responses requires interactions among T cells, B cells, and macrophages. The I and HLA-D regions of the murine and human major histocompatibility complexes (MHC) contain genes that regulate these cell interactions. This role for these genes was recognized with the observation that subpopulations of immune cells from individuals possessing different forms (haplotypes) of the MHC failed to interact. The cellular interactions genetically regulated by the MHC are apparently mediated by cell-surface glycoproteins known as Ia antigens in mice and HLA-DR antigens in humans. These molecules display a high degree of serological and structural polymorphism, a consequence of the high degree of polymorphism of the MHC. The genetic restrictions placed on cellular interactions by the MHC presumably reflect the requirement for recognition of haplotype-specific Ia or HLA-DR antigens. Consequently, molecular analysis of the structural diversity of Ia and HLA-DR antigens provides a basis for understanding how cells recognize and communicate with each other.
Social Determinants of Sexual Networks, Partnership Formation, and Sexually Transmitted Infections

Social factors have long been recognized as important determinants of health [1]. In recent years, social determinants—“the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age, including the health system” (WHO Commission on Social Determinants) [2]—have attracted increasing attention as fundamental causes of disparities in health status between individuals and populations. Although most studies about social determinants address chronic, non-communicable diseases, a recent examination of the social epidemiology literature from 1975 to 2005 found 44 review articles with infectious disease outcomes, with the majority focused on HIV/AIDS [3]. The emphasis on HIV is perhaps not surprising, since HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STI) are by their nature social diseases. Researchers have recently begun to trace the pathways between social determinants and HIV/STI [4–7]. The expression of sexuality, a pervasive influence in human society, is shaped by society. Social factors of all kinds, including those related to education, occupation, neighborhoods, migration, urbanization, mobility, affluence, media, religion, substance use, incarceration, and technological change, can influence sexual behaviors, partnership formation, and sexual networks, with resultant effects on STI dissemination. This chapter explores some of the primary modern-day social determinants of heterosexual partnering and sexual networks relevant to HIV/STI, particularly in the USA, where STI rates exceed those of all other industrialized countries [8].
Technology-dependency among patients discharged from a children's hospital: a retrospective cohort study.

Advances in medical technology may be increasing the population of children who are technology-dependent (TD). We assessed the proportion of children discharged from a children's hospital who are judged to be TD, and determined the most common devices and number of prescription medications at the time of discharge. Chart review of 100 randomly selected patients from all services discharged from a children's hospital during the year 2000. Data were reviewed independently by 4 investigators who classified the cases as TD if the failure or withdrawal of the technology would likely have adverse health consequences sufficient to require hospitalization. Only those cases where 3 or 4 raters agreed were classified as TD. Among the 100 randomly sampled patients, the median age was 7 years (range: 1 day to 24 years old), 52% were male, 86% primarily spoke English, and 54% were privately insured. The median length of stay was 3 days (range: 1 to 103 days). No diagnosis accounted for more than 5% of cases. 41% were deemed to be technology dependent, with 20% dependent upon devices, 32% dependent upon medications, and 11% dependent upon both devices and medications. Devices at the time of discharge included gastrostomy and jejeunostomy tubes (10%), central venous catheters (7%), and tracheotomies (1%). The median number of prescription medications was 2 (range: 0–13), with 12% of cases having 5 or more medications. Home care services were planned for 7% of cases. Technology-dependency is common among children discharged from a children's hospital.
Factors Influencing the Decision of International Students to Attend U.S. Business Schools

International students pursuing secondary education at United States universities has been increasing over the past 25 years, and is expected to continue into the foreseeable future. However, these students have a plethora of choice among universities in the United States and foreign countries, other than their home country. Universities must distinguish themselves if they hope to obtain the most desirable students from around the world. Previous research by Agarwal and Winkler (1985), Lee and Tan (1984), Mazzarol and Soutar (2002), and McMahon (1992 has identified a number of factors that influence the decision among educational programs. This paper builds on extant research by examining the role of accreditation by The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) and understanding of the meaning of AACSB accreditation on the university choice decision of international students pursuing business degrees in a cross-section of United States public universities. This study finds that while understanding of the meaning of AACSB accreditation is mixed that AACSB accreditation is a factor that students report as significant in the choice of educational institution.
Diagnostic specificity and familiality of early versus late evoked potentials to auditory paired stimuli across the schizophrenia‐bipolar psychosis spectrum

Disrupted sensory processing is a core feature of psychotic disorders. Auditory paired stimuli (PS) evoke a complex neural response, but it is uncertain which aspects reflect shared and/or distinct liability for the most common severe psychoses, schizophrenia (SZ) and psychotic bipolar disorder (BDP). Evoked time-voltage/time-frequency domain responses quantified with EEG during a typical PS paradigm (S1-S2) were compared among proband groups (SZ [n = 232], BDP [181]), their relatives (SZrel [259], BDPrel [220]), and healthy participants (H [228]). Early S1-evoked responses were reduced in SZ and BDP, while later/S2 abnormalities showed SZ/SZrel and BDP/BDPrel specificity. Relatives' effects were absent/small despite significant familiality of the entire auditorineural response. This pattern suggests general and divergent biological pathways associated with psychosis, yet may reflect complications with conditioning solely on clinical phenomenology.
NMDA-mediated activation of the medial amygdala initiates a downstream neuroendocrine memory responsible for pseudopregnancy in the female rat.

In female rats, genitosensory stimulation received during mating initiates twice-daily prolactin (PRL) surges, a neuroendocrine response that is the hallmark of early pregnancy or pseudopregnancy (P/PSP). Nocturnal and diurnal PRL surges are expressed repeatedly for up to 2 weeks after copulation, suggesting that a neuroendocrine memory for vaginocervical stimulation (VCS) is established at the time of mating. These studies investigated whether the processing and retention of VCS involves acute glutamatergic activation or de novo protein synthesis within the medial nucleus of the amygdala (MEA), a VCS-responsive brain site that is implicated in P/PSP initiation. Pharmacological activation of the MEA with the glutamate agonist, NMDA, initiated nocturnal PRL surges, causing a PSP state in females that had not received VCS. P/PSP initiation by mating was prevented by intra-amygdalar infusion of the NMDA receptor antagonist, 2-amino-5-phosphonopentanoic acid (AP-5), provided that it was administered before mating. AP-5 treatment also disrupted mating-induced c- fos expression in the principle bed nucleus of the stria terminalis and the ventrolateral division of the ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus, but not in the medial or anteroventral periventricular preoptic nuclei. Neither P/PSP nor downstream cellular activation was prevented when a protein synthesis inhibitor, anisomycin, was administered to the MEA. The results indicate that MEA cells are critical to the early processing of VCS through NMDA channel activation, rapidly conveying information to downstream hypothalamic cell groups that modulate neuroendocrine function.
Characterizations and Existence of Easy Sets without Hard Subsets

This paper introduces and studies two notions of easy sets without hard subsets: i) C-hollow sets are defined to be sets in P that have no C - P subsets for (presumably) superclasses C of P such as NP, PSPACE, E, NE, RE, etc.; and ii) C-scant sets are defined to be sets in P that have no many-one C-complete subsets. These sets complement well-studied objects in complexity such as P-printable sets, immune sets and complexity cores. First, characterizations of C-hollow sets and C-scant sets are obtained in terms of universally easy sets, introduced and studied in [7] as an automatic method for generating easy instances of intractable problems. Second, the following results regarding existence of C-hollow sets are obtained: infinite NP-hollow tally (equivalently, P-printable) sets exist iff some nondeterministic time complexity class equals its deterministic counterpart; in contrast, infinite E/NE/RE-hollow sets do not exist. Finally, it is shown that P-printable-immune sets in P are C-scant for E and NE.
Neighborhood and family intersections: prospective implications for Mexican American adolescents' mental health.

We present an integrated model for understanding Mexican American youth mental health within family, neighborhood, and cultural contexts. We combined two common perspectives on neighborhood effects to hypothesize that (a) parents’ perceptions of neighborhood risk would negatively impact their children’s mental health by disrupting key parenting and family processes, and (b) objective neighborhood risk would alter the effect parent and family processes had on youth mental health. We further incorporated a cultural perspective to hypothesize that an ethnic minority group’s culture-specific values may support parents to successfully confront neighborhood risk. We provided a conservative test of the integrated model by simultaneously examining three parenting and family process variables: maternal warmth, maternal harsh parenting, and family cohesion. The hypothesized model was estimated prospectively in a diverse, community-based sample of Mexican American adolescents and their mothers (N = 749) living in the Southwestern, U.S. Support for specific elements of the hypothesized model varied depending on the parenting or family process variable examined. For family cohesion results were consistent with the combined neighborhood perspectives. The effects of maternal warmth on youth mental health were altered by objective neighborhood risk. For harsh parenting results were somewhat consistent with the cultural perspective. The value of the integrated model for research on the impacts of family, neighborhood, and cultural contexts on youth mental health are discussed, as are implications for preventive interventions for Mexican American families and youth.
Food Stamps and Food Insecurity What Can Be Learned in the Presence of Nonclassical Measurement Error

Policymakers have been puzzled to observe that food stamp households appear more likely to be food insecure than observationally similar eligible nonparticipating households. We reexamine this issue allowing for nonclassical reporting errors in food stamp participation and food insecurity. Extending the literature on partially identified parameters, we introduce a nonparametric framework that makes transparent what can be known about conditional probabilities when a binary outcome and conditioning variable are both subject to nonclassical measurement error. We find that the food insecurity paradox hinges on assumptions about the data that are not supported by the previous food stamp participation literature.
Antioxidant status and oxidant stress may be associated with vitamin E intakes in very low birth weight infants during the first month of life

Abstract Premature infants are vulnerable to tissue damage due to supplemental oxygen intake. We hypothesized that oxidative injury as indicated by plasma malondialdehyde (MDA) would be related to nutrient intakes, RBC superoxide dismutase and catalase, plasma vitamin E, and mean daily oxygen exposure (FiO 2 ). Therefore 43 infants 2 (r = +0.40, p=0.001) and inversely correlated with plasma vitamin E (r = -0.35, p=0.028). Plasma vitamin E levels were correlated with vitamin E intakes on Day 4 (r = +0.25, p=0.02). Plasma data indicated that not all infants handled vitamin E intakes the same. Catalase was correlated with FiO 2 at Day 4 (r = +0.34, p=0.037), suggesting up regulation of antioxidant defences with early oxygen exposure. Early nutrient intervention may decrease tissue damage from oxygen exposure.