cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Relationship between the α‐ and β‐relaxation processes in amorphous polymers: Insight from atomistic molecular dynamics simulations of 1,4‐polybutadiene melts and blends

Amorphous polymers exhibit a primary (glass, or α-) relaxation process and a low-temperature relaxation process associated with polymer backbone motion usually referred to as the β-relaxation process. The latter process can be observed below the glass transition temperature of the polymer and usually merges with the α-relaxation process at temperatures somewhat above the glass transition temperature. While it is widely held that both the α-relaxation and β-relaxation processes are engendered by localized (segmental) motions of the polymer backbone, and that there is a strong mechanistic connection between them, the molecular mechanisms of the α-relaxation and β-relaxation processes in amorphous polymers are not well understood. Recently, atomistic molecular dynamics simulations of melts and blends of 1,4-polybutadiene have provided insight into the relationship between the α- and β-relaxation processes in glass-forming polymers and an improved understanding of their molecular origins. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 45: 627–643, 2007
Family functioning of perinatal substance abusers in treatment.

Abstract This prospective study examined family characteristics of perinatal substance abusers enrolled in an intensive outpatient treatment program both during and after treatment. Data is provided on family functioning in three areas: current family, family of origin, and love/partner relationship, and at six time points up to 24 months postdischarge. Standard family assessment measures, including the Self-Report Family Inventory (SFI) and Family-of-Origin Scale (FOS) were utilized to measure current family functioning and family of origin health, respectively. A new instrument, the Relationship Assessment Form (RAF), was used to measure the level of unhealthy, codependent behaviors in the subject's love/partner relationship. A mixed models repeated measures ANOVA was used to determine if subjects' family functioning changed over time. Multivariate and univariate methods examined differences between the subjects in the current study and previously reported means for the SFI and FOS. Results were that pe...
Fatal wounding of the Byzantine Emperor Julian the Apostate (361-363 A.D.): approach to the contribution of ancient surgery.

Byzantine surgery flourished from the early stages of the Byzantine empire (324–1453 a.d.). The first great Byzantine physicians, among the most eminent being Oribasius from Pergamun (fourth century), not only compiled anthologies of the works of ancient Greek, Alexandrian, and Roman physicians but added their own personal practical experience and observations. The circumstances surrounding, and the treatment of, the fatal abdominal wounding of one of the most renowned emperors of Byzantium, Julian the Apostate (361–363 a.d.), is examined based on historical accounts unknown in the broader medical bibliography, namely, the histories and chronicles of Byzantine writers. From this analysis it can be concluded that the emperor's physician, Oribasius, in all probability, applied knowledge of ancient Greek and Roman surgery to save his famous patient. The techniques of “gastrorrhaphy” and pharmaceutical confrontation of the wound in that era, adopted later by the surgeons of the Medieval West, seem to constitute noteworthy roots of modern surgery.
Quantum-confined Stark effect modulators at 1.06 mu m on GaAs

Electroabsorption modulation is achieved at or near a wavelength of 1.06 mu m with In/sub x/Al/sub y/Ga/sub 1-x-y/As/In/sub x/Ga/sub 1-x/As multiple-quantum-well (MQW) structures grown on GaAs substrates. The lattice mismatch (close to 2%) between the MQW and the substrate is accommodated by a compositional-step-graded buffer array. A dislocation density of less than 10/sup 7//cm/sup 2/ is estimated for the MQW region. For 80-to-100 AA well widths, a maximum electroabsorption coefficient of 8000 cm/sup -1/ with an applied voltage of 15 V is obtained. >
Globalisation, Competitiveness, and the Social Democratic Model

For a long time, the discussion about the impact of economic globalisation on the full employment/generous welfare state policies pursued by social democratic governments was characterised by doom and gloom. Glib neo-liberal arguments about the impossibility of maintaining social democratic policies, that were presumably hindering competitiveness through excessive wages and taxes in the new international environment were difficult to counter, because social democrats could not resort to an equally elaborate and internally consistent economic doctrine that could substitute for evidence, and the evidence was not yet in to counter these arguments on empirical grounds. Recently, careful and comprehensive comparative studies have provided evidence that, despite undeniable problems posed by economic internationalisation, social democratic welfare states and employment regimes have proven to be highly resilient (Scharpf and Schmidt, 2000; Huber and Stephens, 2001). Indeed, some kinds of traditional social democratic policy, such as an emphasis on labour mobilisation through active labour market policy and social services that make it possible to combine labour force participation with raising children, and an emphasis on human capital formation have facilitated adaptation to the new economic conditions. Moreover, newly available data on skill distribution (OECD/HRDC, 2000) and income distribution (LIS) suggest that the egalitarian thrust characteristic of social democratic policy has made an important contribution to raising literacy skills at the bottom, which in turn facilitates the integration of the entire labour force into productive activities that are competitive in high-quality markets.
Brass Musical Instruments

The family of musical instruments known as brass instruments includes the trumpet, trombone, French horn, and tuba, among others. The ranges of these well-known orchestral instruments are given in Appendix C. If you guessed that brass instruments are made out of brass you would be right, but they are sometimes made out of other materials as well. For instance, the vuvuzela is made out of vinyl. What really characterizes the brass family, as we define it, is that the sound originates with the vibration of the player’s lips in a mouthpiece. Some authors refer to brass instruments as “lip-reed” instruments. Another characteristic of the brasses is that they all have a bell, a flaring end of the horn that radiates all the sound.
Ethics Complaints and Local Government: The Case of Florida

This paper analyzes complaints about ethics at the local level of government. Several databases, including ethics complaints filed with the Florida Commission on Ethics, are drawn on to test hypotheses that might explain why officials in some Florida counties receive more or fewer ethical complaints than do officials in other counties. The findings indicate that those counties that experience populationgrowth pressures and that have highly educated populations are likely to have more ethics complaints filed against their officials than are counties with the opposite characteristics. These findings, although tentative and limited to Florida, point to the need to study more fully and to understand the contextual influences on ethics complaints. In addition, the study results suggest that explanations for ethical wrongdoing may need to reach beyond finding faults or weaknesses in individuals who commit such acts or in the organizations that conduct the public's business.
The Relationship between the School Function Assessment (SFA) and the Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) in Ambulatory Patients with Cerebral Palsy.

PURPOSE Determine the relationship between the SFA and GMFCS in children with cerebral palsy (CP). METHODS Through correlation, regression, and ANOVA analysis, data from 103 children were examined. A regression model was used to compare SFA-predicted versus actual GMFCS levels. One-way ANOVA was utilized to determine differences between SFA subscale scores in the context of GMFCS. RESULTS A significant correlation between composite SFA scores and GMFCS levels (r = -0.847, p < 0.020) was observed. Subscale-SFA and GMFCS correlations included Regular Class (r = -0.338, p < 0.001), Physical Tasks Adaptation (Phys1; r = -0.340, p < 0.001) and Assistance (Phys2; r = -0.340, p < 0.001), Position (r = -0.338, p<0.001), Recreational Movement (RecMvmt; r = -0.387, p <0.0001), Manipulation Movement (ManMvmt; r = -0.494, p < 0.0001), and Up/Down Stairs (UDStairs; r = -0.453, p< 0.0001). Between predicated and actual GMFCS levels, no statistical difference was observed. One-way ANOVA demonstrated SFA differences at GMFCS levels: Phys1 (F= 5.32, p < 0.002), Phys2 (F = 4.54, p < 0.005), Position (F = 4.63, p < 0.004), RecMvmt (F = 7.92, p < 0.0001), ManMvmt (F = 13.50, p < 0.0001), and UDStairs (F = 6.18, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION Utilizing both SFA-predicted and actual GMFCS levels may help determine if a child is performing at an expected level of daily function.
Fine and distributed subcellular retinotopy of excitatory inputs to the dendritic tree of a collision-detecting neuron

Individual neurons in several sensory systems receive synaptic inputs organized according to subcellular topographic maps, yet the fine structure of this topographic organization and its relation to dendritic morphology have not been studied in detail. Subcellular topography is expected to play a role in dendritic integration, particularly when dendrites are extended and active. The lobula giant movement detector (LGMD) neuron in the locust visual system is known to receive topographic excitatory inputs on part of its dendritic tree. The LGMD responds preferentially to objects approaching on a collision course and is thought to implement several interesting dendritic computations. To study the fine retinotopic mapping of visual inputs onto the excitatory dendrites of the LGMD, we designed a custom microscope allowing visual stimulation at the native sampling resolution of the locust compound eye while simultaneously performing two-photon calcium imaging on excitatory dendrites. We show that the LGMD receives a distributed, fine retinotopic projection from the eye facets and that adjacent facets activate overlapping portions of the same dendritic branches. We also demonstrate that adjacent retinal inputs most likely make independent synapses on the excitatory dendrites of the LGMD. Finally, we show that the fine topographic mapping can be studied using dynamic visual stimuli. Our results reveal the detailed structure of the dendritic input originating from individual facets on the eye and their relation to that of adjacent facets. The mapping of visual space onto the LGMD's dendrites is expected to have implications for dendritic computation.
Acoustic Enhancement of Water Spray Evaporation within a Pulse Combustor

In this study, the effects of resonant acoustic oscillations on the evaporation rate of a water spray within the resonating chamber of a natural gas burning pulse combustor were investigated. Two different approaches were taken in determining the effect of the oscillations on the evaporation rate. In both approaches, resonant acoustic oscillations in the combustor increased the evaporation rates compared to the evaporation rates measured during steady state combustion. The amount of water that could be sprayed into the combustor and evaporated without wetting the walls and pooling of liquid water in the chamber was significantly increased, 25-30% over the investigate range of conditions, when acoustic oscillations were excited in the combustor. The degree of enhancement was shown to increase with acoustic pressure amplitude. The data suggests that the presence of oscillations reduces, rather than enhances, the evaporation rate from pooled liquid in the combustor.
The Best GEO Daytime Spacecraft Charging Index - Part II

Ferguson and Wimberly, in 2013, reopened the debate on what is the best daytime GEO spacecraft charging index, by concentrating mainly on differential charging, and by performing Nascap-2k simulations of charging under different assumed environments. They concluded that the total thermal electron flux was the best charging index of those formally proposed. In this paper, the authors attempt to verify the conclusions of the previous paper by comparing Nascap-2k results with charging and fluxes measured on the SCATHA, Intelsat, DSCS, and LANL GEO satellites. In addition, because the net total thermal electron flux is dependent on the secondary electron emission from incident electrons below the second crossover point, which can be as high as several keV, a refined measure of charging is presented as the total thermal electron flux above a certain energy that is well above the second crossover point. The use of this type of index will be justified by correlations between Nascap-2k simulation results and total fluxes above a range of energies. This approach is similar to those proposed previously in the interpretation of SCATHA and LANL results, and incorporated into the design of the DSCS satellites. The best minimum energy to use will be determined for spacecraft of different design and surface materials. The use of sensors on spacecraft that will allow measurement of the total flux above the optimal minimum energy will be discussed, along with in-situ spacecraft potential monitors. In addition to aiding the design of flux and charging monitors on succeeding spacecraft generations, the results found here will be shown to point the way toward spacecraft that will not arc even under severe GEO storm conditions. Finally, the optimum GEO daytime spacecraft charging index will be obtained, and its use for predicting and resolving spacecraft anomalies in real time will be discussed.
Clinical impact of a pharmacist-led inpatient anticoagulation service: a review of the literature.

Background Anticoagulant therapies provide management options for potentially life-threatening thromboembolic conditions. They also carry significant safety risks, requiring careful consideration of medication dose, close monitoring, and follow-up. Inpatients are particularly at risk, considering the widespread use of anticoagulants in hospitals. This has prompted the introduction of safety goals for anticoagulants in Canada and the USA, which recommend increased pharmacist involvement to reduce patient harm. The goal of this review is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of pharmacist-led inpatient anticoagulation services compared to usual or physician-managed care. Methods This narrative review includes articles identified through a literature search of PubMed, Embase, and International Pharmaceutical Abstracts databases, as well as hand searches of the references of relevant articles. Full publications of pharmacist-managed inpatient anticoagulation services were eligible if they were published in English and assessed clinical outcomes. Results Twenty-six studies were included and further divided into two categories: 1) autonomous pharmacist-managed anticoagulation programs (PMAPs) and 2) pharmacist recommendation. Pharmacist management of heparin and warfarin appears to result in improvements in some surrogate outcomes (international normalized ratio [INR] stability and time in INR goal range), while results for others are mixed (time to therapeutic INR, length of stay, and activated partial thromboplastin time [aPTT] measures). There is also some indication that PMAPs may be associated with reduced patient mortality. When direct thrombin inhibitors are managed by pharmacists, there seems to be a shorter time to therapeutic aPTT and a greater percentage of time in the therapeutic range, as well as a decrease in the frequency of medication errors. Pharmacist recommendation services have generally resulted in a greater time in therapeutic INR range, greater INR stability, decreased length of stay, and reduced major drug interactions, with no significant differences in safety outcomes. Conclusion Pharmacist-led inpatient anticoagulation management seems to result in superior outcomes, as compared to usual or physician-managed care. This conclusion is limited by small, poorly designed studies lacking statistical power, focusing mainly on surrogate outcomes.
Prodrugs in site-selective delivery of radiopharmaceuticals

This paper reviews basic rules for the design of site-selective prodrugs and various modes of their activation with particular emphasis on the applications of prodrugs to targeted delivery of radiopharmaceuticals. Although many radiopharmaceuticals are "targeted" to specific tissues or organs, we will discuss only agents that are either chemically or metabolically transformed producing an active form that is retained by its target. Site-specific prodrugs of diagnostic radiopharmaceuticals are routine in the nuclear medicine applications, but the instances of targeting of radiotherapeutic prodrugs are surprisingly rare. We have concentrated on our own efforts to design and synthesize site-selective prodrugs of 5-[125I]iodo-2'-deoxyuridine (125IUdR) for cancer radiotherapy. The prodrugs of 125IUdR for targeted delivery include several derivatives with altered permeability, 3',5'-dioctanoyl, 3',5'-dioleoyl, 3'- and 5'-N-alkyl-dihydropyridyl, 3'- and 5'-N-alkyl-dihydroisoquinolyl, and 3'- and 5'-N-alkyl-dihydroacridinyl esters of 125IUdR; polymeric and macromolecular prodrugs of 125IUdR for a carrier-mediated or local delivery; metabolically trapped 125IUdR prodrugs; and glycoconjugate prodrugs for oral colon-specific delivery of 125IUDR, 125IUDR-5'-beta-d-cellobioside, 125IUDR-5'-beta-D-glucopyranoside, 125IUDR-5'-beta-D-galactopyranoside and 125IUDR-5'-beta-D-glucuronide. We also describe prodrugs of several diagnostic agents in the context of the metabolic trapping as the primary targeting modality. For various diagnostic agents the prodrug target-associated enzymes are discussed and examples of the site-specific release of the active agent are given. A brief overview of an emerging role of residualizing labels in radioimmunotherapy is included.
The Causal Effects of Grade Retention on Behavioral Outcomes.

This study examines the impact of grade retention on behavioral outcomes under a comprehensive assessment-based student promotion policy in New York City. To isolate the causal effect of grade rete...
Degrees in random self-similar bipolar networks

We investigate several aspects of a self-similar evolutionary process that builds a random bipolar network from building blocks that are themselves small bipolar networks. We characterize admissible outdegrees in the history of the evolution. We obtain the limit distribution of the polar degrees (when suitably scaled) characterized by its sequence of moments. We also obtain the asymptotic joint multivariate normal distribution of the number of nodes of small admissible outdegrees. Five possible substructures arise, and each has its own parameters (mean vector and covariance matrix) in the multivariate distribution. Several results are obtained by mapping bipolar networks into Polya urns.
The earliest long-distance obsidian transport: Evidence from the ∼200 ka Middle Stone Age Sibilo School Road Site, Baringo, Kenya

This study presents the earliest evidence of long-distance obsidian transport at the ∼200 ka Sibilo School Road Site (SSRS), an early Middle Stone Age site in the Kapthurin Formation, Kenya. The later Middle Pleistocene of East Africa (130-400 ka) spans significant and interrelated behavioral and biological changes in human evolution including the first appearance of Homo sapiens. Despite the importance of the later Middle Pleistocene, there are relatively few archaeological sites in well-dated contexts (n < 10) that document hominin behavior from this time period. In particular, geochemically informed evidence of long-distance obsidian transport, important for investigating expansion of intergroup interactions in hominin evolution, is rare from the Middle Pleistocene record of Africa. The SSRS offers a unique contribution to this small but growing dataset. Tephrostratigraphic analysis of tuffs encasing the SSRS provides a minimum age of ∼200 ka for the site. Levallois points and methods of core preparation demonstrate characteristic Middle Stone Age lithic technologies present at the SSRS. A significant portion (43%) of the lithic assemblage is obsidian. The SSRS obsidian comes from three different sources located at distances of 25 km, 140 km and 166 km from the site. The majority of obsidian derives from the farthest source, 166 km to the south of the site. The SSRS thus provides important new evidence that long-distance raw material transport, and the expansion of hominin intergroup interactions that this entails, was a significant feature of hominin behavior ∼200 ka, the time of the first appearance of H. sapiens, and ∼150,000 years before similar behaviors were previously documented in the region.
Technology and Empire: A Comparative Analysis of British and Dutch Maritime Technologies During the Napoleonic Era (1792-1815)

The two ships, Bato (1806) and Brunswick (1805) wrecked in Simon’s Bay, South Africa, provide an opportunity to compare British and Dutch maritime technologies during the Napoleonic Era (1792–1815). The former was a Dutch 74-gun ship of the line and the latter a British East Indiaman. Their remains reveal pertinent information about the maritime technologies available to each European power. Industrial capacity and advanced metal working played a significant role in ship construction initiatives of that period, while the dwindling timber supplies forced invention of new technologies. Imperial efforts during the Napoleonic Era relied on naval power. Maritime technologies dictated imperial strategy as ships were deployed to expand or maintain colonial empires. Naval theorists place the strategy into a wider spectrum and the analysis of the material culture complements further understanding of sea power.
Fibromuscular Dysplasia of the Brachial Artery.

A 68-year-old woman presented with exertional dyspnea and chest pain. She had undergone CABG 5 years earlier. Vascular examination revealed palpable radial pulses on both sides of the body; right brachial angiography revealed a “string of beads” pattern.
A declarative query processing system for nowcasting

Nowcasting is the practice of using social media data to quantify ongoing real-world phenomena. It has been used by researchers to measure flu activity, unemployment behavior, and more. However, the typical nowcasting workflow requires either slow and tedious manual searching of relevant social media messages or automated statistical approaches that are prone to spurious and low-quality results.In this paper, we propose a method for declaratively specifying a nowcasting model; this method involves processing a user query over a very large social media database, which can take hours. Due to the human-in-the-loop nature of constructing nowcasting models, slow runtimes place an extreme burden on the user. Thus we also propose a novel set of query optimization techniques, which allow users to quickly construct nowcasting models over very large datasets. Further, we propose a novel query quality alarm that helps users estimate phenomena even when historical ground truth data is not available. These contributions allow us to build a declarative nowcasting data management system, RaccoonDB, which yields high-quality results in interactive time.We evaluate RaccoonDB using 40 billion tweets collected over five years. We show that our automated system saves work over traditional manual approaches while improving result quality---57% more accurate in our user study---and that its query optimizations yield a 424x speedup, allowing it to process queries 123x faster than a 300-core Spark cluster, using only 10% of the computational resources.
Fission in a Plasma

A three-year theory project was undertaken to study the fission process in extreme astrophysical environments, such as the crust of neutron stars. In the first part of the project, the effect of electron screening on the fission process was explored using a microscopic approach. For the first time, these calculations were carried out to the breaking point of the nucleus. In the second part of the project, the population of the fissioning nucleus was calculated within the same microscopic framework. These types of calculations are extremely computer-intensive and have seldom been applied to heavy deformed nuclei, such as fissioning actinides. The results, tools and methodologies produced in this work will be of interest to both the basic-science and nuclear-data communities.
Modeling nanofluid sessile drop evaporation

Modeling predictions for the evaporation of nanofluid pinned sessile drops are reported. Drops of fluids containing suspended nanoparticles have reduced evaporation rates relative to their pure fluid counterparts due to the agglomeration of nanoparticles at the surface resulting in a reduction in available liquid at the drop surface for evaporation. The present model implements a mechanism for the reduction in the surface concentration of the evaporating liquid based on the fractal geometry of nanoparticle agglomerates. Nanoparticle packing near the drop pinned contact line results in regions where a maximum nanoparticle volume fraction is attained, leading to significant reductions in the evaporative mass flux. Model predictions for the evaporation rate of pure ethanol and ethanol containing suspended aluminum nanoparticles are compared to experiments from the literature with excellent agreement for the reduction in evaporation rate due to nanoparticle loading and in reasonable quantitative agreement for the evaporation rate. The maximum allowable nanoparticle volume fraction is shown to be an important parameter in governing the evaporation rate of nanofluid sessile drops.
CD-HIT-OTU-MiSeq, an Improved Approach for Clustering and Analyzing Paired End MiSeq 16S rRNA Sequences

In recent years, Illumina MiSeq sequencers replaced pyrosequencing platforms and became dominant in 16S rRNA sequencing. One unique feature of MiSeq technology, compared with Pyrosequencing, is the Paired End (PE) reads, with each read can be sequenced to 250-300 bases to cover multiple variable regions on the 16S rRNA gene. However, the PE reads need to be assembled into a single contig at the beginning of the analysis. Although there are many methods capable of assembling PE reads into contigs, a big portion of PE reads can not be accurately assembled because the poor quality at the 3' ends of both PE reads in the overlapping region. This causes that many sequences are discarded in the analysis. In this study, we developed a novel approach for clustering and annotation MiSeq-based 16S sequence data, CD-HIT-OTU-MiSeq. This new approach has four distinct novel features. (1) The package can clustering PE reads without joining them into contigs. (2) Users can choose a high quality portion of the PE reads for analysis (e.g. first 200 / 150 bases from forward / reverse reads), according to base quality profile. (3) We implemented a tool that can splice out the target region (e.g. V3-V4) from a full-length 16S reference database into the PE sequences. CD-HIT-OTU-MiSeq can cluster the spliced PE reference database together with samples, so we can derive Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) and annotate these OTUs concurrently. (4) Chimeric sequences are effectively identified through de novo approach. The package offers high speed and high accuracy. The software package is freely available as open source package and is distributed along with CD-HIT from http://cd-hit.org. Within the CD-HIT package, CD-HIT-OTU-MiSeq is within the usecase folder.
Effects of asymmetric Schottky contacts on photoresponse in tungsten diselenide (WSe2) phototransistor

We present an investigation of the effects of asymmetric contacts on the photoresponse of a thin film tungsten diselenide (WSe2) phototransistor. We observe different scenarios in photoresponse during gate modulation depending on the metal-semiconductor contacts through which majority carrier (hole) injection occurs. Under illumination, a peak in drain current is observed during gate modulation when hole injection occurs from the higher Schottky barrier contact. On the other hand, regular behavior in photoresponse during gate modulation is observed when hole injection occurs from the opposite direction, the lower Schottky barrier contact. Further, we analyze the possibilities of realizing WSe2 phototransistors with improved performance in terms of responsivity, response time, and detectivity by utilizing asymmetric contact engineering and proper gating. In addition, an interesting shift of the aforementioned peak is detected, with increasing incident light intensity during gate modulation. We demonstrate that this peak shift can be explained by the photogating effect caused by trapped charges.
Aggregate modeling and coordination of diverse energy resources under packetized energy management

Transmitting a large file across the internet requires breaking up the file into smaller packets of data. Packetized energy management (PEM) leverages similar concepts from communication theory to coordinate distributed energy resources by breaking up deferrable residential consumer demands into smaller fixed-duration/fixed-power packets of energy. Each individual load is managed by a probabilistic automaton that stochastically requests energy packets as a function of its local dynamic state (e.g., temperature or state-of-charge). Based on the aggregate request rate from packetized loads and grid conditions, the PEM coordinator will modulate the rate of accepting requests, which permits tight tracking of a reference (load-shaping or market) signal. This paper presents a state bin transition (macro) model suitable for characterizing a diverse population of electric water heaters (EWHs) and energy storage systems (ESSs) under a single PEM coordinator that is validated against an agent-based simulation of the diverse loads. The resulting model illustrates how diversity of packetized load types enhances the level of flexibility offered by the coordinator.
Information Secure Systems

Publisher Summary By using a simple model it can be shown that an important part of an information secure system is the access control and privacy protection mechanism. Being represented as data in the data base, the information is rich in semantics. The semantically connected data structure has an overwhelming impact on the restrictiveness and complexity of the mechanisms. Restrictiveness is a measure of the amount of information denied to the user in the course of enforcing a security requirement and can be formalized in terms of protection precision. Complexity here is a reflection of the design and implementation difficulty of a mechanism in computer systems. The chapter formalizes these notions and illustrates them with examples. Five mechanisms of increasing complexity and decreasing restrictiveness (that is, increasing protection precision) are outlined. Some of their implementation considerations are discussed. Another mechanism, information-theoretic protection, is proposed as a solution to some of the problems of concealment protection. Some thoughts on information-theoretic protection are presented in an attempt to lay the groundwork for future study. Among mechanisms for concealment protection, it reports the advancement on attribute-based mechanisms, which protect data having one or more attributes in common. The advance in context protection is encouraging. Because context protection can enforce new access to data sets in a context where other data sets have been accessed, there is the need for access history keeping. Not only original and new access rights to the data sets (that is, text) must be remembered by the system, but the rights to the previously accessed data sets (that is, context) must also be recorded by the system. Access history keeping is therefore time consuming and space consuming in an information secure system. Nevertheless, this advance represents the first breakthrough in protection of semantically rich data bases.
The Oceanic Distribution of Methane and Its Flux to the Atmosphere over Southern California Waters

Mapping the distribution of methane in the oceans can help to discern the influence of various processes that produce or remove it. In this chapter, we present results from surveys of the distribution of methane in the upper 300 m of the Southern California Bight and estimate its ventilation to the atmosphere. Data from 150 profiles over a period of 22 months and 6 oceanographic cruises revealed water with 0.9-530 times the atmospheric-equilibrium concentration of methane. Methane maxima in vertical profiles occurred directly below the steepest gradient of the pycnocline. The horizontal distribution of plumes of CH4 enriched waters extended along a narrow density layer that was characterized by a maximum in hydrostatic stability. These results suggested an offshore transport of methane from the coast along isopycnal surfaces. The annual (1989–1990) estimate of the flux of CH4 to the atmosphere was 37 mg CH4 m-2. The majority of the gas flux occurred near the coast with a maximum temporal and spatial variability located in the waters surrounding Point Conception. Extrapolating the mean flux estimates for waters of southern California to the global area of coastal oceans resulted in an annual flux of 1 Tg CH4, or roughly one-quarter of the estimated global flux. The variability of coastal processes, seasonal or otherwise, were thought to influence the inventory of methane and its rate of exchange with the atmosphere.
Radiologic and Pathologic Features Associated With Upgrade of Atypical Ductal Hyperplasia at Surgical Excision.

Rationale and Objectives To evaluate radiologic and pathologic features associated with upgrade of atypical ductal hyperplasia (ADH) to ductal carcinoma in situ or invasive breast cancer at surgical excision, in order to identify patients who may consider alternatives to excision. Materials and Methods This retrospective analysis examined patients who underwent surgical excision of biopsy-proven ADH at our institution. Imaging and pathology from biopsy were reviewed to determine radiologic (lesion size, radiologic abnormality, biopsy type, needle gauge, number of cores, percent of lesion removed) and pathologic features (histologic calcifications, presence of necrosis, micropapillary features, extent of ADH) associated with ADH upgrade. Results One hundred twenty four cases of percutaneous biopsy-proven ADH with subsequent excision were included. The overall upgrade rate was 17.7% (n = 22), with 17 cases to ductal carcinoma in situ and five to invasive cancer. Radiologic features associated with a lower upgrade rate were smaller lesion size (p = 0.032) and larger percent of lesion removed at biopsy (p = 0.047). Larger needle gauge at biopsy (p = 0.070), absence of necrosis (p = 0.051) and focal ADH ( Conclusion For women with ADH identified on percutaneous biopsy, the risk of upgrade may in part be determined by lesion size, percent of lesion removed at biopsy, presence of necrosis, and extent of ADH. Using a combination of these radiographic and pathologic features to stratify patients with biopsy-proven ADH may help identify women who could be considered for alternative treatment options.
The association between physical functioning, symptom burden, and coping strategies with quality of life (QOL) in patients with chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD).

178Background: Allogeneic stem cell transplant survivors with cGVHD experience substantial psychological distress and impairments in QOL. However, the relationship between patients’ physical functi...
Three-dimensional Super-Resolution Ultrasound Microvessel Imaging with Bipartite Graph-based Microbubble Tracking using a Verasonics 256-channel Ultrasound System

Three-dimensional (3-D) super-resolution ultrasound microvessel imaging (SR-UMI) has been recently proposed to visualize 3-D microvasculature by overcoming the diffraction limited resolution in three spatial dimensions. However, 3-D SR-UMI suffers from high system complexity and sophisticated microbubble tracking mechanisms to account for 3D movement. To reduce the system complexity, methods such as row-column matrix, sparse array and micro-beamforming have been proposed to reduce the number of transmit/receive channel at the cost of degradation of image quality. In this study, a sub-aperture process is used to reduce the required received channel counts at the cost of slightly reducing the overall frame rate. For the microbubble tracking, two dimensional (2-D) bipartite graph-based tracking has been proposed to improve microbubble tracking performance for 2-D SR-UMI. This approach can reduce the background noise, improve the performance of super-resolution image, and stabilize the estimated micro-vessel flow speed. We extended the 2-D bipartite graph-based method to 3-D SR-UMI to reduce background noise and to improve the micro-bubble tracking performance. In this study, a flow channel phantom was used to evaluate the performance of the proposed method. Results showed that the proposed method can effectively improve the spatial resolution as compared with 3-D Power Doppler images.
The Effect of Resident Participation on Appendectomy Operative Times.

Objective To assess the association between level of resident autonomy and operative times for appendectomies. Design A single center retrospective analysis of electronic medical record data of patients who underwent an appendectomy from 1/1/2017 to 12/31/2018. Medical record numbers s were matched with cases entered in the ACGME Resident Case Log system. Cases were stratified by resident role (“First Assistant,” “Surgeon Junior,” “Surgeon Chief,” or “Teaching Assistant”) and operative times were compared to cases without resident participation using student's t test. Setting Maine Medical Center, Department of Surgery, Portland, Maine. Participants Inclusion criteria: ≥5 years old, underwent appendectomy at a tertiary medical center during the study duration, and either had corresponding Case-log data or had no resident involvement. Patients who underwent appendectomy as part of a larger procedure were excluded. Results Six hundred eighty-eight patients met inclusion criteria, with residents participating in 574 (83.5%) cases. Overall mean operating time was 51 ± 21.5 minutes. Attending physicians without resident participation had the shortest OR times (43 ± 19.1 minutes). There was no difference in operating time between chief resident involvement and attending physicians without resident participation (45 ± 21; p = 0.43). Cases with residents involved as “First Assistant” (53 ± 18.6 minutes; p = 0.04) “Surgeon Junior” (52 ± 24.0 minutes; p Conclusions Operative times for appendectomies are impacted by resident role. Chief residents’ operative times approach that of attendings when operating as Surgeon Chief, however they are significantly longer when operating as Teaching Assistant. Involvement of junior residents in any role lengthen operating times. This suggests that surgical education influences operating room efficiency.
Coreference and parallelism

Previous studies have demonstrated a reliable effect of parallelism in a variety of domains. These studies have suggested that parallelism is preferred during both production and comprehension, and...
Indications for, and outcomes of, end ileostomy revision procedures.

AIM Ileostomy complications have been reported in >70% of cases. Older studies have shown ileostomy revision to be required in 23%-38% of patients over a 5-10 year period. There is a paucity of recent data addressing ileostomy revision surgery. We aimed to review end ileostomy revisions in a tertiary centre and analyse indications, procedures performed, outcomes and risks for such surgery. METHODS This was a retrospective review in a single institution colorectal referral practice. All patients aged >17 years who underwent a revision of an ileostomy at our institution from 2008 to 2019 were included. Indication for ileostomy revision, operative technique (parastomal vs. intra-abdominal) and outcomes including length of stay, readmission rates, wound complications, medical complications and rate of stoma re-revision were assessed. RESULTS Fifty-three patients who underwent 72 end ileostomy revision procedures were included; 20 (27.8%) were re-revision procedures. The majority (76.4%) had their original ileostomy created for inflammatory bowel disease. Indications for ileostomy revision were stoma retraction (36.1%), prolapse (22.2%), stenosis (18.1%) and parastomal hernia (29.2%). Of stoma revisions, 55.6% were performed by a parastomal approach vs. 44.4% by an intra-abdominal approach. Procedures were a combination of laparotomy, laparoscopy or both. The average length of stay was statistically significantly lower in the parastomal approach revision group (2.3 days) compared to the intra-abdominal approach revision group (10.3 days) (P < 0.001). Readmission and wound complication rates were 6.9% and 15.3%, respectively, in the intra-abdominal approach group alone. Medical complication rates were 20.8%. CONCLUSIONS End ileostomy complications are common and surgical treatment may result in significant morbidity, readmission and reoperation. Patients should be counselled about these possibilities.
Spontaneous breaking of time-reversal symmetry in the orbital channel for the boundary Majorana flat bands

We study the boundary Majorana modes for the single component p-wave weak topological superconductors or superfluids, which form zero energy flat bands protected by time-reversal symmetry in the orbital channel. However, due to the divergence of density of states, the band flatness of the edge Majorana modes is unstable under spontaneously generated spatial variations of Cooper pairing phases. Staggered current loops appear near the boundary and thus time-reversal symmetry is spontaneously broken in the orbital channel. This effect can appear in both condensed matter and ultra-cold atom systems.
The association of pregnancy control, emotions, and beliefs with pregnancy desires: A new perspective on pregnancy intentions.

Context Standard pregnancy intentions measures do not always align with how people approach pregnancy. Studies that have investigated beyond a binary framework found that those with "ambivalent" feelings towards pregnancy are less likely to use contraception consistently, but the reasons for this are unclear. We sought to gain a nuanced understanding of pregnancy desires, and how perceptions about pregnancy are associated with contraceptive use. Methods We used non-probability quota sampling based on sex, age, and geographic region for a web-based survey of heterosexual men and women, aged 21-44 years, who could become pregnant/impregnate and were not currently pregnant (n = 1,477; 51% female). The survey was created using unique items informed by recent literature. Bivariate and multivariable analyses explored relationships between various perceptions about pregnancy with pregnancy desires categorized as: wanting a pregnancy, not wanting a pregnancy, and not trying but would be okay with a pregnancy. We conducted a sub-group analysis of those who were not trying but would be okay with a pregnancy (n = 460), using descriptive statistics to examine how consistent contraceptive use was associated with emotions and beliefs about avoiding pregnancy. Results After adjustment, those who felt that pregnancy may not always be avoidable, but instead determined by fate/higher power, or a natural process that happens when it is meant to, were significantly more likely (aOR: 1.83, 95% CI: 1.05-3.36; aOR: 2.21, 95% CI: 1.29-3.76, respectively) to report not trying but being okay with pregnancy, whereas those with negative feelings about a pregnancy were less likely to feel okay about a pregnancy (aOR: 0.11, 95% CI: 0.08-0.15), versus not wanting a pregnancy. In the sub-group analysis, those who felt pregnancy was determined by fate/higher power or a natural process were more likely to report not using contraception consistently (70%, 68%, respectively). Conclusions Those who state they are not trying but would be okay with pregnancy may not use contraception consistently because of beliefs that pregnancy is predetermined. Our findings support less categorical and more multidimensional approaches to measuring fertility intentions, with important implications for reproductive health service provision.
Sex Differences in High-Level Managerial Jobs: Evidence From Professional Basketball:

We examine sex differences in a market for high-level managers with simple and clear objectives, head coaches in the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA). We find equal proportions of mal...
Abundances in Cool Evolved Stars

Nature has filled the upper right quadrant of the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram with more varieties of peculiar stars and odd chemical compositions than even our most speculative observers and theorists could dream up. To bring some structure to this vast subject I will categorize the phenomena we observe according to our model of stellar evolution, dividing the stars among the first ascent of the giant branch and the core-helium burning phase, the asymptotic giant branch (double shell-burning) phase, and the post-AGB and pre-planetary nebula stars. The types of stars found in these three groups are summarized below.
Photochemical degradation of imazosulfuron under simulated California rice field conditions

BACKGROUND The photodegradation of imazosulfuron (IMZ), a potent broad-spectrum herbicide, was investigated under simulated rice field conditions. Previous reports have indicated that it is photolabile, but have failed to report radiation intensity or determine a quantum yield, precluding extrapolation to environmental rates. Therefore, the objective of this investigation was to determine the photolytic rate of IMZ under simulated rice field conditions and how it is influenced by environmental factors such as turbidity, salinity and temperature. RESULTS IMZ was efficiently photolyzed in all solutions and fitted pseudo-first-order kinetics. Degradation was faster in HPLC-grade water than in field water. Field-relevant variances in temperature, turbidity and salinity did not significantly influence degradation. The experimentally derived quantum yield for direct photolysis (2.94 × 103) was used to predict the half-life of IMZ in a California rice field (3.6 days). CONCLUSIONS Aqueous photolysis is predicted to be an important process in the overall degradation of IMZ in the environment, regardless of variances in salinity, organic matter and temperature. Based on the predicted half-life of IMZ in a California rice field (3.6 days), state-mandated holding periods for field water post-IMZ application (30 days) are expected to allow for sufficient clearance of the herbicide (>98%), preventing significant contamination of the environment upon release of tailwater. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry