cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Toward deterministic construction of low noise avalanche photodetector materials

Over the past 40+ years, III-V materials have been intensively studied for avalanche photodetectors, driven by applications including optical communications, imaging, quantum information processing, and autonomous vehicle navigation. Unfortunately, impact ionization is a stochastic process that introduces noise, thereby limiting sensitivity and achievable bandwidths, leading to intense effort to mitigate this noise through the identification of different materials and device structures. Exploration of these materials has seen limited success as it has proceeded in a largely ad hoc fashion due to little consensus regarding which fundamental properties are important. Here, we report an exciting step toward deterministic design of low-noise avalanche photodetector materials by alternating the composition at the monolayer scale; this represents a dramatic departure from previous approaches, which have concentrated on either unconventional compounds/alloys or nanoscale band-engineering. In particular, we demonstrate how to substantially improve upon the noise characteristics of the current state-of-the art telecom avalanche multipliers, In0.52Al0.48As grown on InP substrates, by growing the structure as a strain-balanced digital alloy of InAs and AlAs layers, each only a few atomic layers thick. The effective k-factor, which has historically been considered a fundamental material property, was reduced by 6–7× from k = 0.2 for bulk In0.52Al0.48As to k = 0.05 by using the digital alloy technique. We also demonstrate that these “digital alloys” can significantly extend the photodetector cutoff wavelength well beyond those of their random alloy counterparts.
Assessing the concept of resonance through the lens of discipline-based educational research

In the last few decades, many science and engineering fields have developed educational research programs specific to their fields. These discipline-based educational research programs are critical for improving the learning environments of the next generation of scientists and engineers. Acoustics is a highly interdisciplinary field, drawing from a wide variety of science and engineering fields. Although no major acoustics educational research program currently exists, acoustics educators should be aware of discipline-based educational research findings which most closely align to their particular branch of acoustics. Educational research can inform educators on how students develop content expertise as well as grow in their thinking about the practice of science and engineering. One of the ways that discipline-based educational research informs educators about the way students think about science content and practices is through the use of assessment instruments. Some assessment tools related to acoustics have been developed by the physics education community, although the selection remains somewhat limited. An attempt to develop an instrument for assessing the concept of resonance as well as the challenges for validating the instrument is presented.In the last few decades, many science and engineering fields have developed educational research programs specific to their fields. These discipline-based educational research programs are critical for improving the learning environments of the next generation of scientists and engineers. Acoustics is a highly interdisciplinary field, drawing from a wide variety of science and engineering fields. Although no major acoustics educational research program currently exists, acoustics educators should be aware of discipline-based educational research findings which most closely align to their particular branch of acoustics. Educational research can inform educators on how students develop content expertise as well as grow in their thinking about the practice of science and engineering. One of the ways that discipline-based educational research informs educators about the way students think about science content and practices is through the use of assessment instruments. Some assessment tools related to acousti...
Information booms and busts: Examining oil and gas disclosure policies across the states

Abstract Today's 'fracking debate' includes a familiar set of actors and arguments. Advocates of unconventional oil and gas production contend that it has contributed to an economic renaissance for many subnational governments and has improved American energy security. Opponents suggest that unconventional production is an environmental and public health hazard. One way that states are trying to balance the economic benefits of continued energy production with environmental protection is through the use of information disclosure requirements. Prior work notes that the rigor of state disclosure standards relative to unconventional oil and gas production vary. Through measures of association and exact logistic regression, this project expands the disclosure literature by focusing on three types of disclosure: pre-drilling notification, chemical disclosure during operations, and trade secret exemptions.
Abstract 508: Endothelial Cell Telomerase Promotes Aberrant Cell Proliferation in Pulmonary Hypertension

Background: Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a progressive, severe disease with high morbidity and mortality. Mechanistically, early pulmonary vasoconstriction promotes cell proliferation a...
Qurʾānic Interpretative Latitude and Human Evolution: A Case Study

Muslims today employ various and often conflicting strategies to mitigate contradictions between traditional Islamic teachings and modern science, especially in matters related to the age of the universe and the origin of humans. On the one hand, any scientific theory deemed problematic might be rejected outright; on the other, Islamic texts may be reinterpreted to fully support a novel scientific theory. There is, however, an alternative hermeneutical approach that uses intra-textual analysis to acknowledge “interpretative latitude” in the Qurʾān and other Islamic texts – the possibility that these texts allow for ambiguity and multiple interpretations that may or may not agree with modern science. In this paper, human evolution will serve as a case study of the implementation of this approach via a structured discussion of common Muslim objections to the theory. The paper will conclude with a discussion of the implications of this approach on defining the role of the Qurʾān and on the boundaries of religion and science.
Simple, accurate surrogate models of the elastic response of three-dimensional open truss micro-architectures with applications to multiscale topology design

Elastic meta-materials are those whose unique properties come from their micro-architecture, rather than, e.g., from their chemistry. The introduction of such architecture, which is increasingly able to be fabricated due to advances in additive manufacturing, expands the design domain and enables improved design, from the most complex multi-physics design problems to the simple compliance design problem that is our focus. Unfortunately, concurrent design of both the micro-scale and the macroscale is computationally very expensive when the former can vary spatially, particularly in three dimensions. Instead, we provide simple, accurate surrogate models of the homogenized linear elastic response of the isotruss, the octet truss, and the ORC truss based on high-fidelity continuum finite element analyses. These surrogate models are relatively accurate over the full range of relative densities, in contrast to analytical models in the literature, which we show lose accuracy as relative density increases. The surrogate models are also simple to implement, which we demonstrate by modifying Sigmund’s 99-line code to solve a three-dimensional, multiscale compliance design problem with spatially varying relative density. We use this code to generate examples in both two and three dimensions that illustrate the advantage of elastic meta-materials over structures with a single length scale, i.e., those without micro-architectures.
Complement factors and reticular pseudodrusen in intermediate age-related macular degeneration staged by multimodal imaging.

Objective Systemic activation of the complement system in intermediate age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is understudied. Moreover, links between the presence of reticular pseudodrusen (RPD) and systemic complement dysregulation have not been studied. The aim of this study was to determine if there is a difference in plasma complement factor levels in intermediate AMD compared with controls, and if complement levels are related to the presence of RPD. Methods and analysis Levels of complement factors C1q (µg/mL), C4 (µg/mL), C2 (µg/mL), Mannose Binding Lectin (ng/mL), C4b (µg/mL), C3 (µg/mL), factor B (µg/mL), factor D (µg/mL), properdin (µg/mL), C3a (ng/mL), iC3b/C3b (ng/mL), Ba (ng/mL), factor H (µg/mL), factor I (µg/mL), C5 (µg/mL), C5a (pg/mL) and SC5b-9 (ng/mL) were measured in plasma. Results 109 cases and 65 controls were included in the study. Thirty-nine (36%) cases had RPD. Significantly lower systemic levels of: C1q (OR 0.96, 95% CI 0.94 to 0.98), factor B (OR 0.98, 95% CI 0.96 to 0.99), iC3b/C3b (OR 0.97, 95% CI 0.95 to 0.98), factor H (OR 0.99, 95% CI 0.98 to 0.99), factor I (OR 0.83, 95% CI 0.77 to 0.89) and C5 (OR 0.94, 95% CI 0.90 to 0.98) were found in cases versus controls. Significantly elevated levels of: C2 (OR 1.29, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.59), C3a (OR 1.03, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.05) Ba (OR 1.03, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.05) and C5a (OR 1.04, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.07) were found in cases versus controls. Systemic levels of complement factors measured were not related to the presence of RPD. Conclusions Levels of several systemic complement pathway factors were found to be altered in intermediate AMD. Systemic levels of complement factors were not related to RPD.
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on academic sleep medicine.

Citation:Ehsan Z. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on academic sleep medicine. J Clin Sleep Med. 2020;16(8):1411.
Are You Enjoying Your Neighbors During the Lockdown? Disputes between Neighbors in Mexican Cities during the COVID-19 Pandemic (preprint)

We estimate the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown on disputes between neighbors using a panel of 70 cities from across Mexico. Our measures of conflicts between neighbors include noise, nuisance pets, unruly children, garbage, and gossip. Using a difference-in-difference strategy, our findings indicate that the lockdown increased conflicts arising between neighbors. We find the lockdown exacerbated disputes related to noise by 42%, unruly children by 35%, garbage by 32%, and gossip by 19%. While the lockdown limited interpersonal interactions on the streets, disputes between neighbors increased as individuals spent more time at home.
Exploring influences on methamphetamine use among Black gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men in Atlanta: A focus group study.

Abstract Background Methamphetamine use is a contributor to HIV risk and poor health outcomes among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM). There is a paucity of research examining methamphetamine use and its social context specifically among Black GBMSM. We therefore sought to: (1) describe trends in methamphetamine use among Black GBMSM in Atlanta, Georgia, and (2) examine the risk environment (micro-, meso‑ and macro-level factors operating in the political, social, physical, economic, and healthcare environments) that might elevate risk for methamphetamine use in this population. Methods We conducted a qualitative study consisting of eight focus groups with 54 key informants between December 2019 and March 2020. Participants represented community-based and healthcare organizations that work closely with Black GBMSM. Our thematic analysis included an iterative, team coding approach combining deductive and inductive elements. Results Participants unanimously agreed that methamphetamine use was increasingly prevalent among Black GBMSM in Atlanta, with many describing a historical arc in which methamphetamine use – previously associated with predominantly white, affluent GBMSM – was now common among younger, lower socioeconomic status Black GBMSM. At the micro-level, participants described contributors to increasing methamphetamine use including use as a sex drug, and the interrelated burdens of stress and mental illness, housing instability, geographic mobility and poverty. At the meso‑level, participants described virtual and physical sex scenes including use of geosocial networking apps that facilitated the spread of methamphetamine use in the Black GBMSM community. At the macro-level, participants described how policies prioritizing other concerns (e.g., HIV, opioids) seemed to limit resources available for methamphetamine prevention and treatment programming. Conclusion Multi-level environmental influences are working together to elevate risk for methamphetamine use among Black GBMSM in Atlanta, with potential to adversely impact health and well-being and undermine HIV prevention and treatment efforts.
What Lawyers Can Learn from Their Mistakes: An Empirical Examination of Legal Malpractice

All lawyers in private practice must recognize the possibility of opening a summons and seeing their names listed as defendants. Many private practitioners are more concerned about malpractice than professional discipline. The Preface to the Restatement of Law Governing Lawyers captures the regulatory role of malpractice in stating that “the remedy of malpractice liability and the remedy of disqualification are practically of greater importance in most law practice than the risk of disciplinary proceedings.
Professionalism: microaggression in the healthcare setting.

The inability to talk about race, racism, and structural racism led to the creation of the term microaggressions. Dr Chester M. Pierce, an African-American psychiatrist, coined this term in the 1970s to enable this dialogue around harm caused to nondominant groups. Microaggressions refer to ‘commonplace behavioral indignities whether intentional or unintentional communicating hostile, derogatory or negative attitudes toward marginalized groups,’ which can be found historically throughout man's existence [1]. Not only can microaggressions influence one's access to power, resources, and opportunity, but it could also contribute to the persistent disparities faced by marginalized groups among healthcare professionals as well as patients. Dr Derald Wing Sue and other psychologists have further developed a classification system to ‘help people of color understand what is going on and perhaps to educate white people as well’ in order to amplify the significance of this concept [2]. The reality of these experiences has galvanized the institutional movement for self-education and improvement, especially since microaggressions have stemmed historically from race relations in the United States over the past few centuries. What is understated is how these microaggressions have been rooted in longstanding implicit and explicit behaviors and linked to health disparities. Recently the movement to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion processes has been shown to be both fiscally as well as morally beneficial to our profession and society [3]. This review offers education, processes for improvement, and a road map to begin the monumental task of creating what Martin Luther King Jr. had famously called the Beloved Community – one based on justice, equal opportunity, and positive regard for one's fellow people regardless of race, color, or creed. Open in a separate window Box 1 no caption available
Blockchain-Enabled Electronics Supply Chain Assurance

Electronic systems are ubiquitous today, playing an irreplaceable role in our personal lives as well as in critical infrastructures such as power grid, satellite communication, and public transportation. In the past few decades, the software running on these systems has received quite a bit of attention regarding security. Hardware has been assumed to be trustworthy and reliable “by default” without really analyzing the vulnerabilities in the electronics supply chain. With the rapid globalization of the semiconductor industry, it has become challenging to ensure the integrity and security of hardware. In this chapter, we discuss the integrity concerns associated with a globalized electronics supply chain. We divide the supply chain into distinct participants and entities and analyze the vulnerabilities and threats associated with each stage. To address the concerns of the supply chain integrity, we analyze the prospect of a blockchain-based certificate authority framework that can be used to manage critical chip information such as electronic chip identification (ECID), chip grade, transaction time, etc. The decentralized nature of the data-centric verification framework can mitigate most threats of electronics supply chain, such as recycling, remarking, cloning, and overproduction.
Feasibility study of fiducial marker localization using microwave radar

PURPOSE We explore the potential use of radar technology for fiducial marker tracking for monitoring of respiratory tumor motion during radiotherapy. Historically microwave radar technology has been widely deployed in various military and civil aviation applications to provide detection, position, and tracking of single or multiples objects from far away and even through barriers. Recently, due to many advantages of the microwave technology, it has been successfully demonstrated to detect breast tumor, and to monitor vital signs in real time such as breathing signals or heart rates. We demonstrate a proof-of-concept for radar-based fiducial marker tracking through the synthetic human tissue phantom. METHODS We performed a series of experiments with the vector network analyzer (VNA) and wideband directional horn antenna. We considered the frequency range from 2.0 to 6.0 GHz, with a maximum power of 3 dBm. A horn antenna, transmitting and receiving radar pulses, was connected to the vector network analyzer to probe a gold fiducial marker through a customized synthetic human tissue phantom, consisting of 1-mm thickness of skin, 5-mm fat, and 25-mm muscle layers. A 1.2 × 10-mm gold fiducial marker was exploited as a motion surrogate, which was placed behind the phantom and statically positioned with an increment of 12.7 mm to simulate different marker displacements. The returned signals from the marker were acquired and analyzed to evaluate the localization accuracy as a function of the marker position. RESULTS The fiducial marker was successfully localized at various measurement positions through a simplified phantom study. The averaged localization accuracy across measurements was 3.5 ± 1.3 mm, with a minimum error of 1.9 mm at the closest measurement location and a maximum error of 4.9 mm at the largest measurement location. CONCLUSIONS We demonstrated that the 2-6 GHz radar can penetrate through the attenuating tissues and localize a fiducial marker. This successful feasibility study establishes a foundation for further investigation of radar technology as a non-ionizing tumor localization device for radiotherapy.
Impact of COVID-19 on presentation, staging, and treatment of head and neck mucosal squamous cell carcinoma.

Abstract Objectives During the COVID-19 pandemic, maintenance of safe and timely oncologic care has been challenging. The goal of this study is to compare presenting symptoms, staging, and treatment of head and neck mucosal squamous cell carcinoma during the pandemic with an analogous timeframe one year prior. Materials and methods Retrospective cohort study at a single tertiary academic center of new adult patients evaluated in a head and neck surgical oncology clinic from March -July 2019 (pre-pandemic control) and March - July 2020 (COVID-19 pandemic). Results During the pandemic, the proportion of patients with newly diagnosed malignancies increased by 5%, while the overall number of new patients decreased (n = 575) compared to the control year (n = 776). For patients with mucosal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), median time from referral to initial clinic visit decreased from 11 days (2019) to 8 days (2020) (p = 0.0031). There was no significant difference in total number (p = 0.914) or duration (p = 0.872) of symptoms. During the pandemic, patients were more likely to present with regional nodal metastases (adjusted odds ratio (OR) 2.846, 95% CI 1.072-3.219, p = 0.028) and more advanced clinical nodal (N) staging (p = 0.011). No significant difference was seen for clinical tumor (T) (p = 0.502) or metastasis (M) staging (p = 0.278). No significant difference in pathologic T (p = 0.665), or N staging (p = 0.907) was found between the two periods. Conclusion Head and neck mucosal SCC patients presented with more advanced clinical nodal disease during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic despite no change in presenting symptoms.
Clinicopathologic Analysis of Inflammatory Myofibroblastic Tumors of the Urinary Bladder.

Objectives To describe clinical, imaging, and histopathologic characteristics of inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor (IMT) of the urinary bladder and provide initial management and surveillance recommendations. Patients and methods We identified patients with IMT of the bladder treated at our facility from 1998-2020. Categorical variables were analyzed with Chi-square and Fisher's exact tests and continuous variables with the Mann-Whitney U test. Kaplan-Meier analysis was performed for recurrence-free survival. Results IMT was diagnosed in 35 patients with median follow-up of 20 months (interquartile range [IQR] 11.5-68.5 months). At initial diagnosis 86% were clinically organ-confined, 9% locally-advanced, and 5% metastatic. The rate of residual disease on restaging transurethral resection (TUR) was 92%. Of the 15 patients with organ-confined disease managed initially with TUR, 5 patients (33%) recurred at a median 5 months from initial diagnosis (IQR 3.0-5.5 months). Presentation with visible haematuria was associated with recurrence (100% in recurrence vs. 40% in non-recurrence groups, P=0.044). There were no patients who developed an initial recurrence beyond 6 months after diagnosis. Partial or radical cystectomy was required in 23% and 9% of patients, respectively. One patient presented with metastatic disease associated with ALK translocation and achieved a durable complete remission with 7 months of crizotinib therapy. Conclusions No IMT recurrences were diagnosed beyond 6 months in patients who underwent aggressive endoscopic management, including restaging TUR. There were additionally no recurrences noted after definitive radical or partial cystectomy. These data support aggressive endoscopic management and short-term surveillance in patients with localized IMT, with extirpative surgery reserved for refractory cases.
Phase I study of capecitabine combined with weekly carboplatin and intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) for treatment of locally advanced squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck (HNSCC)

15522 Background: Chemoradiotherapy (CRT) programs for locally advanced HNSCC that reduce toxicity but maintain efficacy are needed. Methods: A two-step phase I trial to determine the maximum toler...
Cancer stem cells in Helicobacter pylori infection and aging: Implications for gastric carcinogenesis

AIM: To demonstrated the combined effects of aging and carcinogen treatment on cancer stem/stem-like cells (CSCs) of gastric mucosa in an animal model. METHODS: In this study we investigated the effects of aging and Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) inflammation as a model for inflammation induced carcinogenesis in human and rat gastric mucosa samples. In aging studies, we compared 4-mo old (young) with 22 mo (aged) old Fischer-344 rats. For human studies, gastric biopsies and resection specimens representing normal mucosa or different stages of H. pylori gastritis and gastric adenocarcinomas were used for determining the expression of stem cell markers CD166, ALDH1 and LGR5. In addition we performed immunofluorescent double labeling for B-catenin and Lgr5 in both rat and human gastric tissues to examine the status of Wnt signaling in these cells. RESULTS: CSC markers ALDH1, LGR5, and CD166 were expressed in very low levels in normal human gastric mucosa or young rat gastric mucosa. In contrast, level of expression for all three markers significantly increased in H. pylori gastritis and gastric adenocarcinomas as well as in normal gastric mucosa in aged rats. We also observed cytoplasmic B-catenin staining in both aged rat and human H. pylori inflamed gastric mucosa, which were found to be colocalized with Lgr5 immunoreactive cells. The increased number of ALDH1, CD166 and LGR5 positive cells in H. pylori gastritis indicates that increased number of stem-like cells in gastric mucosa is an early event, and may constitute an important step in the progression to neoplasia. CONCLUSION: Our observation of the age-related increase in cancer stem/stem-like cells in the gastric mucosa may explain the increased incidence of gastric cancer during aging. Combination of aging and H. pylori infection may have additive effects in progression to neoplasia.
Open information extraction from the web

Traditionally, Information Extraction (IE) has focused on satisfying precise, narrow, pre-specified requests from small homogeneous corpora (e.g., extract the location and time of seminars from a set of announcements). Shifting to a new domain requires the user to name the target relations and to manually create new extraction rules or hand-tag new training examples. This manual labor scales linearly with the number of target relations. This paper introduces Open IE (OIE), a new extraction paradigm where the system makes a single data-driven pass over its corpus and extracts a large set of relational tuples without requiring any human input. The paper also introduces TEXTRUNNER, a fully implemented, highly scalable OIE system where the tuples are assigned a probability and indexed to support efficient extraction and exploration via user queries. We report on experiments over a 9,000,000 Web page corpus that compare TEXTRUNNER with KNOWITALL, a state-of-the-art Web IE system. TEXTRUNNER achieves an error reduction of 33% on a comparable set of extractions. Furthermore, in the amount of time it takes KNOWITALL to perform extraction for a handful of pre-specified relations, TEXTRUNNER extracts a far broader set of facts reflecting orders of magnitude more relations, discovered on the fly. We report statistics on TEXTRUNNER's 11,000,000 highest probability tuples, and show that they contain over 1,000,000 concrete facts and over 6,500,000 more abstract assertions.
The Climate of Rebellion in the Early Modern Ottoman Empire: The Celali Rebellion

Even as the drought lifted in late 1596, conditions in the empire went from bad to worse. Bandit gangs grew larger and more brazen in their attacks, taking a mounting toll on provincial towns and villages. In time, these groups coalesced into rebel armies called Celalis, led by a motley succession of commanders. Meanwhile, wars in Hungary and then Persia along with a new rebellion in Syria left Ottoman forces incapable of handling the revolt. The violence unleashed a flood of refugees, driving a vicious cycle of desperation, lawlessness, and flight. Persistent Little Ice Age weather fueled the crisis, bringing famine even worse than that of the Great Drought. Only after peace with the Habsburgs in 1606 could the empire even begin to deal with the Celalis and bring a semblance of order to Anatolia. Even then the Ottomans had to pass through several more winters of extreme cold and privation, leaving parts of the empire depopulated for decades, even centuries to come.
Children, Value of

In demography, the value of children refers most often to the benefits parents receive from having and rearing children. Benefits may accrue from the children themselves, from the experience of rearing them, or from the responses of kin, community, and society at large. Children also entail costs for parents and the value of children sometimes refers to their net value (benefits less costs). Benefits and costs of children are shaped by the economic conditions of life, forms of social organization, and cultural beliefs and practices. Studies using surveys to measure the value of children report variation in values across societies; by socioeconomic status; between women and men; for first, second, and higher order births; and for daughters versus sons. Cultural foundations for the value of children have also been explored. The net value of children underlies parents' desires for children which, in combination with their ability to achieve those desires, influences their decisions to have children and how many children they have.
Point-of-Use Water Filtration for Arsenic: A Sustainable and Simple Solution in Resource-Poor Settings

Lack of access to potable drinking water due to contamination from harmful metals is one of the most pressing public health issues globally. In areas close to mining and smelting operations, significant contamination from arsenic and other harmful metals can compound contamination from harmful microorganisms in drinking water. In response to this dual hazard, this study tests a prototype design of an improved point-of-use water filter for resource-poor areas and exposed populations. This project builds upon previous research that has demonstrated the effectiveness of clay pot filters impregnated with silver in reducing coliform bacteria. A compatible attachment comprised of activated charcoal in the form of bone char was added to the clay pot filter with the purpose of enabling the combined filter system to remove arsenic. The experiment tested the designed attachment with source water having an arsenic concentration of 500 parts per billion (ppb) to investigate the combined filter’s ability to reduce the arsenic to acceptable World Health Organization drinking water standards of 10 parts per billion or below. The results demonstrate a significant decrease in the arsenic concentration to below the 10 ppb standard with the bone char attachment, as well as a decrease in the arsenic concentration with the clay pot filter alone. These results warrant further investigation into the potential for clay pot filters with a charcoal layer to reduce arsenic concentrations in drinking water and demonstrate a potential additional benefit in arsenic removal by utilizing inexpensive bone char material in conjunction with the clay pot filter.
O problema de reabilitação e melhoramento da resistência geral dos atletas - visão da Rússia

O sistema de reabilitacao e melhoramento da resistencia geral dos atletas, ha muito tempo, tem sido objeto de estudo de muitos especialistas em todo o mundo. Apesar do avanco nesses estudos, ainda na pratica e dificil de aplicar os metodos para aumentar as capacidades adaptativas do organismo, usando os principios patogeneticos e sistematicos. O objetivo deste artigo e mostrar as atitudes existentes nas clinicas esportivas russas a respeito desse assunto.
Imaging, Empathy, and Causal Attribution.

Abstract Three studies were conducted to test whether imagery accounts for the effects of empathy on attributions, that is, whether attributers construct and scan a mental image of social scenarios the same way that actual participants scan a real environment. According to this interpretation, attributers “see” the world as the participant does and make vicarious attributions. An alternative interpretation holds that subjects base vicarious attributions on recreating the motivations and affect of the actor, so that imaging is irrelevant to empathy and attributions. In the first study, subjects who imagined a story from the perspective of a particular character later showed differential recall of story details as a function of role, but not differential attributions. In Experiment 2, role-taking subjects showed clear effects of imaged perspective on recall for story details, but no effects on attributions of causality for an accident. Further, recall and attribution were uncorrelated. In the last study, empathy and imagery role-taking instructions produced independent effects: imagers showed pronounced perspective-relevant recall and empathizers did not. Neither showed unambiguous vicarious attributions. Recall and attribution were again uncorrelated. These studies suggest that the imagery explanation of empathy effects is untenable, and imply that the recall of perspective-relevant details is unlikely to mediate attributions of causality in imaginary scenarios.
Simple predictive relations, fugacities, and enthalpies of dissociation for single guest clathrate hydrates in porous media

We present two sets of explicit relations for the equilibrium fugacities of single-guest gas hydrates. These relations can be applied whether the hydrate is dissociated under bulk conditions, or in porous media. The first set of presented relations explicitly shows the dependence of the equilibrium fugacity and the enthalpy of dissociation on classical statistical thermodynamic parameters. The second set of relations for the fugacity and enthalpy represent a very simple empirical form which can be used to calculate these quantities, without having to resort to the use of the full statistical thermodynamic model. It is hoped that these relations will prove useful in engineering or computational endeavors where the speed and/or ease of their use may be advantageous.
Examining pediatric and adolescent gynecology patients.

Successfully completing a gynecologic examination in pediatric and young adolescent patients can be challenging for all parties involved: the patient the caregiver and the clinician. Experiential learning is invaluable in obtaining the skills required to perform the pediatric gynecologic exam. The following outline can be used as a guide to teach medical students and residents some basic fundamentals to either prepare them for their initial patient encounter or augment their current fund of knowledge. Slides referenced throughout the outline are from the PediGYN Teaching Slide Set developed by the North American Society of Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology. (authors)
A rapid bioluminescence assay for measuring myeloperoxidase activity in human plasma

Myeloperoxidase (MPO) is a circulating cardiovascular disease (CVD) biomarker used to estimate clinical risk and patient prognosis. Current enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) for MPO concentration are costly and time-intensive. Here we report a novel bioluminescence assay, designated MPO activity on a polymer surface (MAPS), for measuring MPO activity in human plasma samples using the bioluminescent substrate L-012. The method delivers a result in under an hour and is resistant to confounding effects from endogenous MPO inhibitors. In a pilot clinical study, we compared MAPS and two clinical ELISAs using 72 plasma samples from cardiac catheterization patients. Results from parallel MAPS and ELISAs were concordant within 2±11m gl � 1 MPO with similar uncertainty and reproducibility. Results between parallel MAPS and ELISA were in better agreement than those between independent ELISAs. MAPS may provide an inexpensive and rapid assay for determining MPO activity in plasma samples from patients with CVD or potentially other immune and inflammatory disorders.
Leisure Research, Active Lifestyles, and Public Health

Leisure researchers have long examined the many ways in which people use their leisure time and interact with leisure-related resources including parks and recreation facilities. This special issue...
Towards a New Federal Role in Infrastructure Investment: Using U.S. Sovereign Wealth to Rebuild America

As the United States emerges from the economic collapse of 2008, the question of how to address years of chronic underinvestment in infrastructure remains a pressing issue. Taken together, annual investment in public and quasi-public infrastructure systems of 4 to 6 per cent of GDP ($500-$700 Billion) will probably be necessary for the foreseeable future but in an era of trillion dollar deficits, no funding source is projected to have the capacity to generate funds sufficient for infrastructure investment at these levels. At the same time, there is a clear and immediate need for public and institutional pension funds to invest in instruments that can generate stable, long-term and low-risk returns on equity. This paper attempts to weave together the concurrent needs for infrastructure investment and improved returns to U.S. pension plans and begin a dialogue on a conceptual approach that could have the capacity to supply significant additional capital for infrastructure while at the same time addressing the needs of U.S. retirement systems to obtain higher returns with minimal risk. The core idea of the proposal is to utilize a combination of public and institutional pension funds, individual retirement accounts, and other private investment capital, together with Social Security Trust Funds to capitalize a National Infrastructure Bank (NIB) that would provide senior debt to fund projects and programs supported by user fees or other reliable and sustainable revenue streams. This proposal is viewed as a new and novel way of raising the massive amounts of capital that will be necessary to recapitalize America’s infrastructure.
STRENGTH AND DUCTILITY OF CONCRETE ENCASED COMPOSITE COLUMNS

Concrete encased composite column design provisions of the American Concrete Institute Code (ACI 318), AISC-LRFD Specification, and the AISC Seismic Provisions are reviewed and evaluated based on fiber section analyses that account for the inelastic behavior of steel and concrete, including the effects of strength and confinement on the concrete's stress-strain properties. Trial column designs are analyzed to evaluate their strength and ductility as a function of the ratio of structural steel to gross column area, the nominal compression strength of concrete, and confinement of concrete by seismic hoop reinforcing. The analyses highlight known differences in the calculated nominal strength requirements between the ACI 318 and AISC-LRFD provisions and suggest a review of criteria used to establish the limits of the provisions. Compared to columns with low- to medium-strength concrete, columns with high-strength concrete (fc′ = 110 MPa) are shown to rely to a greater degree on hoop reinforcement to provide ...
Escherichia coli MutY and Fpg utilize a processive mechanism for target location

MutY and formamidopyrimidine-DNA-glycosylase (Fpg) are base-excision repair (BER) enzymes involved in the 8-oxoguanine repair pathway in Escherichia coli. An impressive feature of these enzymes is the ability to locate 8-oxoguanine lesions among a large excess of undamaged DNA. To provide insight into the mechanism of target location, the ability of these enzyme to utilize a one-dimensional processive search (DNA sliding) or distributive (random diffusion-mediated) mechanism was investigated. Each enzyme was incubated with double-stranded concatemeric polynucleotides containing a site-specific target site at 25-nucleotide (nt) intervals. The products of each reaction were analyzed after further treatment and denaturation. A rapid accumulation of predominantly 25-nt fragments would indicate the utilization of a processive mechanism, whereas oligomeric multiples of 25-nt fragments would form if a distributive mechanism were used. Both Fpg and MutY were found to function processively on concatemers containing 7,8-dihydro-8-oxo-2'-deoxyguanosine (OG).C and G.A mispairs, respectively. An increase in sodium chloride concentration results in the modulation from a processive to distributive mechanism for both enzymes. Interestingly, processive behavior was not observed in the reaction of MutY with concatemers containing OG.A mispairs. A truncated form of MutY (Stop 225) containing only the N-terminal domain was found to behave in a manner consistent with a processive mechanism with both OG.A- and G.A-containing substrates. This suggests that the C-terminal domain of MutY plays an important role in the mechanism by which the enzyme detects OG.A base pairs in DNA.
Free-radical oxidation of isocyanic acid

Laser-based kinetic studies of the reactions OH+HNCO→Products (1) and O( 3 P)+HNCO→Products (2) are described. Deuteration of isocyanic acid demonstrates that hydrogen-atom abstraction is an important channel for reaction (1). The kinetic results may be represented by the Arrhenius expressions k 1 (T)=(4.4±0.9)×10 −12 exp [−(5.54±.28) kcal mol −1 /RT] cm 3 molecule −1 s −1 and k 2 (T)=5.4×10 −12 exp [−10.3 kcal mol −1 /RT] cm 3 molecule −1 s −1 . The mechanistic implications of these results on the RAPRENO x process are discussed.
Structural properties of SrWO4 films synthesized by pulsed-laser deposition

Abstract Epitaxial SrWO4 films were successfully deposited with or without a buffer layer on the sapphire substrate by pulsed-laser deposition. The interface structures were characterized by high resolution electron microscopy (HREM), and it indicated that the film deposited on a CeO2 buffer layer shows a much better epitaxy than that deposited directly on the substrate, because of the small lattice mismatch between the film and the buffer layer. HREM also revealed definite orientation relationship among the film, the buffer layer, and the substrate, i.e. [ 1 10](00 4 ) SrWO 4 //[1 1 0](002) CeO 2 //[20 1 2 ]( 1 10 2 ) sapphire .
Deep-sea sediments

Often unnoticed by the casual observer, every second of every day the oceans record the passing of time and the interaction of ocean, land, and atmosphere, grain after grain, precipitate after precipitate. Deep marine sediments serve as archives recording the history of ocean basins and lend insights into the rates and magnitudes of climatic and environmental change. As such, a collection of articles on recent cutting-edge research summarizing various marine environments and processes is important and necessary for any Earth scientist. Such a compilation is particularly important for undergraduate and graduate audiences as well as educators charged with teaching them.
A Curable and Probably Often-Overlooked Cause of Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome

Cyclic vomiting syndrome is a disorder of many causes. The major challenge is to label the disorder as idiopathic or primary only when all possible etiologies, particularly those that can be specifically treated, have been ruled out. In retrospect, our patient had subtle prenatal and early postnatal radiological findings supportive of a urological cause for his symptoms, the importance of which was initially missed. It would probably be wise to include an abdominal ultrasound examination (looking for hydronephrosis) in the "must-do" battery of tests for the investigation of all cases of recurrent cyclic vomiting without apparent cause. Otherwise, it seems likely that many cases of ureteropelvic junction obstruction will be missed, cases in which surgical intervention can be curative.
Interstitial chemotherapy of experimental brain tumors: comparison of intratumoral injection versus polymeric controlled release.

Interstitial chemotherapy with controlled release polymers is a clinical adjunct in the management of malignant gliomas. The need for polymer to release the chemotherapeutic drug rather than simply injecting the drug into the tumor warrants further investigation. Therefore, we compared the effects of direct intralesional injection of carmustine (BCNU) and 4-hydroperoxycyclophosphamide (4HC) into the rat brain tumor bed with those from the same agents delivered via controlled release polymers implanted intracranially. Treatment was initiated on the fifth day after intracranial implantation of 9L gliosarcoma into male rats; two doses of each drug were injected intratumorally, representing either the amount of drug typically releasedin vivo from polymer during the first 24 h, or the maximal drug loaded on each polymer. Control rats were treated with empty polymers. We found that the median lifespan was extended in the groups of rats treated with intratumoral injection of BCNU (23% and 36% for 1 mg and 2 mg doses), and 271% with BCNU-impregnated polymer. Similar results were found with intratumoral 4HC (21% and 36% for 0.1 mg and 2 mg injection doses), and 121% with 4HC-impregnated polymer. Overall survival after intraneoplastic injections, however, was not statistically significantly different from that of control rats (p > 0.05). Furthermore, improvement in survival was not consistent, and some animals subjected to 4HC injection died early in the course of treatment. Polymeric treatment resulted in statistically significant prolongation of survival, compared to control rats (p < 0.001 for both BCNU and 4HC). We conclude that direct intralesional injection of BCNU and 4HC is less effective than controlled release via polymers for the treatment of 9L gliosarcoma in the rat model.
The anxious believer: Macaulay’s prescient theodicy

Recent feminists have critiqued G.W. Leibniz’s Theodicy for its effort to justify God’s role in undeserved human suffering over natural and moral evil. These critiques suggest that theodicies which focus on evil as suffering alone obfuscate how to thematize evil, and so they conclude that theodicies should be rejected and replaced with a secularized notion of evil that is inextricably tied to the experiences of the victim. This paper argues that the political philosophy found in the writings of Catherine Macaulay (1731–1791) can serve as a support to Leibniz’s larger claims and can also offer a more concrete, situated notion of evil that escapes the contemporary feminist critique. Macaulay’s work on natural and moral political evil, especially, will be presented as an early modern precursor to feminism, which defends divine perfection and a pre-established harmony in the face of political evil. I then identify three unique theodicical arguments in Macaulay’s work: the pragmatically beneficial defense, the eschatalogical defense, and the redemptive defense.
The preparation and some properties of europium bromides and hydrated bromides.

Abstract Europium dibromide was prepared by dehydration and decomposition of an europium tribomide hexahydrate-ammonium bromide matrix and single crystals were grown by vapor transport techniques. Anhydrous europium tribromide was prepared by reaction of the dibromide with bromine at bromine pressures of between 12 and 70 atm. Powder and single crystal X-ray diffraction data indicate tetragonal symmetry for EuBr2 ( a = 11·574±0·006, c = 7·098±0·005 A ) and orthorhombic symmetry for EuBr3 ( a = 9·12±0·01, b = 12·66±0·02, c = 4·013±0·005 A ). Monoclinic EuBr3·6 H2O ( a = 10·025±0·008, b = 6·757±0·005, c = 8·164±0·007 A , β = 93·48±0·06° ) and orthorhombic EuBr2·H2O ( a = 11·46±0·02, b = 4·291±0·005, c = 9·20±0·01 A ) have also been characterized. Observed and calculated X-ray diffraction powder intensities for the dibromide structure are presented and discussed.
Photochromic materials with tunable color and mechanical flexibility

Florescence switches based on photochromic compounds have been fabricated previously and identified as potential candidates for information technology. Recently, optically responsive materials with tunable color have been prepared by dissolving photochromic compounds, such as spiropyran (SP), into solutions of various pH or embedding them into sol–gel matrices with adjusted chemical compositions. Here we report on fabricating flexible rubbers with tunable color by embedding SP molecules inside silicone elastomer networks (SENs) based on poly(vinylmethylsiloxane) (PVMS). SP-containing PVMS networks have been further modified either physically by exposing them to ultraviolet/ozone treatment or chemically by attaching functional thiols to the vinyl bonds in PVMS via UV-activated thiol–ene addition. The color hue of the SP–PVMS SENs after exposing to UV light depends on either the UVO dose or the chemical end-functionality of the thiol modifier, respectively. We also present simple methodologies enabling patterning regions in SP-doped SENs with various shapes and colors.