cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Commercial Health Insurance: Smart Or Simply Lucky?

Changes in the commercial health insurance industry are less a strategic shift than a defensive reaction to forces the industry cannot control and risky opportunities the industry cannot pass up. Diversification into the public sector presents short-term gains for the insurance industry but leaves unchanged the fundamental challenge it faces: rapid and apparently uncontrollable growth in health care costs. Commercial insurers have not proved to be any better than public payers at controlling costs. Unfortunately, unless the drivers of health care cost are tamed, the main benefits that people seek from insurance—stable coverage and financial protection—will erode further.
Application of the N2/Ar technique to measuring soil‐atmosphere N2 fluxes

RESULTS: In dry sand, an actual N2 flux of 108 mg N m –2 day –1 was measured as 111 � 19 mg N m –2 day –1 (� standard error (SE)). In wet sand, an actual N2 flux of 160 mg N m –2 day –1 was measured as 146 � 20 mg N m –2 day –1 when solubility and water vapor flux fractionation were taken into account. Corrections for thermal fractionation did not improve estimates of N2 fluxes. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that our application of the N2/Ar technique to soil surface fluxes is valid only above a detection limit of approximately 108 mg N m –2 day –1 . The N2/Ar method is currently best used as a validation tool for other methods in ecosystems with high soil N2 fluxes, but, with future improvements, it holds promise to provide high-resolution measurements in systems with low soil N2 fluxes. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Correction for Excitation Beam Heterogeneities in Multifrequency Phase and Modulation Fluorescence

It has long been recognized that fluorescent probes can give unique information about the complexities of their local environments. For example, fluorescence lifetimes provide information about diffusion coefficients in excimer formation, rates of intermolecular collisions in quenching experiments, fluidity in lipid vesicles, fluctuation within protein systems, and rates of solvation in normal liquids.
School Delinquency and the School Social Bond

Using data from a sample of 754 middle school students in Grades 7 and 8, this article examines the independent effects of the four components of the school social bond—school commitment, attachment to school, school involvement, and belief in school rules—on school crime, school misconduct, and school nonattendance. The results suggest that personal background, family involvement in schooling, and ability grouping have differential effects on the school bond components. Also, an examination of the independent effects of the four components of the school social bond suggests that certain components are more important than others in controlling different types of school delinquency. These results suggest that the school social bond is an important intervening mechanism that helps to explain the effects of certain predictor variables on school crime, school misconduct, and nonattendance in middle schools.
Dream Play and Discovering Cultural Psychology

Dream play is a method of dream analysis I crafted to help fathom the cultural psychology of Samoan dreams. Drawing on Samoan aptitude for performance, this method combines elements of Gestalt role-playing and Jungian active imagination. What I discovered through the method was a Samoan "kea complex," a bipolar constellation of ideas and feelings that reveals pivotal aspects of postcolonial psychocultural dynamics in Samoa and probably in other locations as well. This dynamic revolves around notions of relationality, engagement, and self that hybridize indigenous Samoan psychological schemata with Western Christian models of care.
Hidden mode tracking control for a class of hybrid systems

In this paper, we consider the tracking control problem for a class of hidden mode hybrid systems in which the mode is not available for control. The time-varying reference trajectories are given by functions that may exhibit jumps. We tackle this problem by designing a sliding mode adaptive controller for the hybrid system to track well-posed time-varying reference trajectories that may exhibit jumps, using well-established tools for stabilization of hybrid systems. The approach is illustrated with examples.
State of the art trends in imaging renal of colic

Radiology has a primary role in the work-up of renal colic, both to confirm urolithiasis and to help determine management. The traditional imaging has been conventional radiography and intravenous program with multidetector non-contrast-enhanced helical computed tomography (NCECT) now the modality of choice. Nuclear medicine studies for renal colic are done now infrequently at most institutions. Ultrasound (US) is often done, especially in the emergency department, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is promising. Radiation dose reduction is now on everyone's minds: Lower-dose CT techniques are being tested and used, and US and MR are considered as first modalities of choice in pregnant women and children.
Designing Ranking Systems for Hotels on Travel Search Engines by Mining User-Generated and Crowd-Sourced Content

User-Generated Content (UGC) on social media platforms and product search engines is changing the way consumers shop for goods online. However, current product search engines fail to effectively leverage information created across diverse social media platforms. Moreover, current ranking algorithms in these product search engines tend to induce consumers to focus on one single product characteristic dimension (e.g., price, star rating). This approach largely ignores consumers’ multi-dimensional preferences for products. In this paper, we propose to generate a ranking system that recommends products that provide on average the best value for the consumer’s money. The key idea is that products that provide a higher surplus should be ranked higher on the screen in response to consumer queries. We use a unique dataset of U.S. hotel reservations made over a three-month period through Travelocity, which we supplement with data from various social media sources using techniques from text mining, image classification, social geo-tagging, human annotations, and geo-mapping. We propose a random coefficient hybrid structural model, taking into consideration the two sources of consumer heterogeneity the different travel occasions and different hotel characteristics introduce. Based on the estimates from the model, we infer the economic impact of various location and service characteristics of hotels. We then propose a new hotel ranking system based on the average utility gain a consumer receives from staying in a particular hotel. By doing so, we can provide customers with the “best-value" hotels early on. Our user studies, using ranking comparisons from several thousand users, validates the superiority of our ranking system relative to existing systems on several travel search engines. On a broader note, this paper illustrates how social media can be mined and incorporated into a demand-estimation model in order to generate a new ranking system in product search engines. We thus highlight the tight linkages between user behavior on social media and search engines. Our inter-disciplinary approach provides several insights for using machine learning techniques in economics and marketing research.
Combined MEK and PI3K Inhibition in a Mouse Model of Pancreatic Cancer

Purpose: Improved therapeutic approaches are needed for the treatment of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). As dual MEK and PI3K inhibition is presently being used in clinical trials for patients with PDAC, we sought to test the efficacy of combined targeting of these pathways in PDAC using both in vitro drug screens and genetically engineered mouse models (GEMM). Experimental Design: We performed high-throughput screening of >500 human cancer cell lines (including 46 PDAC lines), for sensitivity to 50 clinically relevant compounds, including MEK and PI3K inhibitors. We tested the top hit in the screen, the MEK1/2 inhibitor, AZD6244, for efficacy alone or in combination with the PI3K inhibitors, BKM120 or GDC-0941, in a Kras G12D-driven GEMM that recapitulates the histopathogenesis of human PDAC. Results: In vitro screens revealed that PDAC cell lines are relatively resistant to single-agent therapies. The response profile to the MEK1/2 inhibitor, AZD6244, was an outlier, showing the highest selective efficacy in PDAC. Although MEK inhibition alone was mainly cytostatic, apoptosis was induced when combined with PI3K inhibitors (BKM120 or GDC-0941). When tested in a PDAC GEMM and compared with the single agents or vehicle controls, the combination delayed tumor formation in the setting of prevention and extended survival when used to treat advanced tumors, although no durable responses were observed. Conclusions: Our studies point to important contributions of MEK and PI3K signaling to PDAC pathogenesis and suggest that dual targeting of these pathways may provide benefit in some patients with PDAC. Clin Cancer Res; 21(2); 396–404. ©2014 AACR .
Sensory and Nutritional Evaluation of Wheat Bread Supplemented with Single Cell Protein from Torula Yeast (Candida utilis)

Experimental breads were made with 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12% torula yeast flour (TYF). Taste panels found that bread fortified with 8% TYF was acceptable. Eight percent TYF raised protein content from 12.42% for all wheat flour bread to 14.22% for supplemented bread. Amino acid analyses indicated a marked increase in amino acid content especially lysine. The protein efficiency ratio (PER) for rats on all-wheat-flour bread was 1.3 1; replacing 8% of the wheat flour with TYF raised PER of supplemented bread to 2.28. Total carcass nitrogen retained by animals fed a diet containing supplemented bread was higher than that retained by rats whose protein was obtained from unsupplemented bread.
Using floating atrial electrodes to combat the rising tide of inappropriate defibrillator therapies.

Despite various implantable defibrillator algorithms and strategies used to improve discrimination between potentially life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias (ventricular tachycardia/ventricular fibrillation [VT/VF]) and more benign supraventricular tachycardias (SVTs), this remains a problem. In addition to significant discomfort and impairment of quality of life, there is some suggestion that shocks may increase mortality.1 Recording atrial intracardiac electrograms during arrhythmic episodes would be expected to improve our ability to discriminate tachycardias and thus reduce the number of inappropriate shocks. It may also lead to the diagnosis of otherwise unsuspected atrial arrhyhmias that may require specific therapy, such as anticoagulation therapy for patients with atrial flutter or atrial fibrillation (AF). Article see p 56 The evidence available so far, however, does not clearly demonstrate that atrial electrograms reduce inappropriate shocks.2–7 Although some studies performed in patients with a dual-chamber device have shown a reduction in inappropriate detection, inappropriate shocks also were avoided in the single-chamber detection arm by using anti tachycardia pacing.2 In addition, placement of an atrial lead is associated with a risk of lead dislodgement (≈4.5%) and increased procedural and fluoroscopy times compared to a single-chamber defibrillator. Thus, there currently is no strong evidence to support the addition of an atrial lead for the sole purpose of SVT discrimination and reducing implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) shocks.8 Using a single-pass VDD defibrillator lead holds the promise of offering atrial electrograms without the additional risks and procedural time related to implantation of a separate atrial lead. Similar lead designs with integrated atrial electrodes have been used in VDD pacemakers.9 In a study published by Sticherling et al in this issue of Circulation: Arrythmia and Electrophysiology , the ADRIA (Study to Verify Proper Detection of Supraventricular Tachyarrhythmia With Single-Lead Dual-Chamber Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillators) study, the authors investigated the use …
The ethics of policing: Ethical challenges for police management

Police departments … are guided by implicit values that are often at odds with explicit values. Robert Wasserman and Mark H. Moore Many professionals are privately employed, either singly or as part of a peer-run corporation. They are able to dispense their expertise without close administrative direction and oversight. It is assumed that doctors and lawyers, whether self-employed or as members of larger practices, will exercise good judgment and discretion when responding to the demands that are placed upon them. Even where professionals are not privately employed, and must dispense their expertise under the umbrella of a larger, non-peeroperated organization, they are likely to be able to do so with little more than peer accountability. Thus university professors work within space that is secured by traditions of academic freedom, and physicians working in large hospitals are for the most part shielded from administrative interference in the way they dispense their expertise. Police officers, however, generally work in publicly supported organizations that are strongly hierarchical in character, and not known for democratic decision making or peer review. Naturally this impacts on their work environment, on the possibilities that exist for professionalism, and on the institutional structures that develop in response. Although the rhetoric of professionalization is spouted by both management and rank and file, and much managerial direction is justified in the name of professionalization, the reality often seems quite otherwise.
Predatory Management Buyouts

In a management buyout (MBO), the managers of a company typically partner with a financing source, such as a private equity firm, to acquire the firm that employs them. MBOs raise an important corporate governance concern not present in other corporate acquisitions: managers act as fiduciaries to target shareholders at the same time that they act as acquirors. According to corporate law fiduciary duty principles, managers must always privilege the interests of the corporation and its shareholders over their own personal interests. In direct opposition to those fiduciary duties are managers’ incentives to acquire the company on the best terms possible. Corporate law’s prevailing answer to questions of conflicts of interest, including in MBOs, is to rely on procedural safeguards to sanitize otherwise tainted transactions. Federal securities law further applies special disclosure requirements to MBOs. This article demonstrates that neither body of law produces the desired equivalent outcome of arm’s-length bargaining and suggests mechanisms for protecting shareholders from predatory managerial behavior in MBOs, in which managers underpay for their targets.
P2-02-03: MAP3K3, Amplified in Human Breast Cancer, Promotes Breast Tumor Progression and Defines Poor Prognosis.

Gene amplification in the 17q chromosomal region is observed frequently in breast cancers. An integrative bioinformatics analysis nominated MAP3K3 gene, located in 17q23, as a potential therapeutic target in breast cancer. This gene encodes the mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase kinase 3 (MEKK3), but has not yet been associated with cancer-causal genetic aberrations. We found that MAP3K3 was amplified in approximately 8–20% of breast carcinomas, and that its over-expression was an independent prognostic marker for poor outcome with respect to relapse-free and overall survival, especially among the estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer patients. shRNA-mediated knockdown of MAP3K3 expression significantly inhibited cell proliferation and colony formation of MAP3K3- amplified breast cancer cell lines MCF7 and MDA-MB361, and promoted breast cancer cell apoptosis induced by TNFα, TRAIL, or a doxorubicin. In addition, ectopic expression of MAP3K3 , in collaboration with Ras, induced colony formation in both primary mouse embryonic fibroblasts and immortalized mammary epithelial cells (MCF-10A). Together, these results suggest that MAP3K3 is a potential biomarker indicating poor prognosis, contributes to resistance to therapy, and is an oncogene in breast carcinogenesis. Therefore, therapeutic targeting of MAP3K3 may be attractive in breast cancer patients with MAP3K3-amplified breast cancer. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2011;71(24 Suppl):Abstract nr P2-02-03.
Uterine endometrial arterial aneurysm: diagnosis with Doppler sonography.

Arteriovenous malformations of the uterus, 1 uterine cirsoid aneurysm,2 and cavernous angiomatosis of the uterus 3 are described in the literature. The gray scale, duplex, and color Doppler ultrasonographic features of these abnormalities are well described. 1,4-6 These vascular malformations, although uncommon, are not rare. However, only one case report of a true aneurysm of the uterine artery in the vaginal wall has been published. 7 Although the gray scale morphologic features of these abnormalities are nonspecific, duplex Doppler sonography can accurately characterize the type of vascular abnormality by its Doppler signature as venous, arteriovenous, or arterial malformation. The abnormality was completely unsuspected clinically and was detected incidentally on routine pelvic ultrasonography.
Amino terminal amino acid sequence of the major polypeptide subunit of Torpedocalifornica acetylcholine receptor

Abstract The amino terminal sequence of the 40,000 dalton polypeptide subunit of Torpedo californica acetylcholine receptor has been determined for twenty-five cycles using automatic microsequencing procedures. The results demonstrate a unique polypeptide sequence for this receptor subunit and quantitation of amino acid recoveries shows that no significant amounts of polypeptides with blocked amino terminii are present.
Three bernoulli factors that generate an ergodic flow

We show that three Bernoulli invariant sub σ-algebras of an ergodic flow of positive entropy generate the full σ-algebra.
Bright Monomeric Near-Infrared Fluorescent Proteins for Multiscale Imaging

Monomeric near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent proteins (FPs) and biosensors are in high demand as additional colors for microscopy and, particularly, for deep-tissue imaging. We engineered three bright and spectrally distinct monomeric NIR FPs, called miRFPs, miRFPs are 2-5-fold brighter in mammalian cells than the only available monomeric NIR FP and perform well in protein fusions, allowing multicolor structured illumination microscopy. Starting from miRFPs, we engineered the first monomeric multicolor fluorescence complementation reporters for protein-protein interactions and RNA labeling. We then designed NIR IκBα signaling reporter for canonical NF-κB signaling in both cells and animals. We further developed NIR cell cycle biosensor for detection of proliferation status of individual cells and cell populations. For the first time, miRFPs enable non-invasive visualization of biological processes at different scales, from super-resolution microscopy to in vivo imaging, using the same probes.
Hydra amphiphiles: Using three heads and one tail to influence aggregate formation and to kill pathogenic bacteria

Hydra amphiphiles mimic the morphology of the mythical multi-headed creatures for which they are named. Likewise, when faced with a pathogenic bacterium, some hydra derivatives are as destructive as their fabled counterparts were to their adversaries. This report focuses on eight new tricephalic (triple-headed), single-tailed amphiphiles. Each amphiphile has a mesitylene (1,3,5-trimethylbenzene) core, two benzylic trimethylammonium groups and one dimethylalkylammonium group with a linear hydrophobe ranging from short (C8H17) to ultralong (C22H45). The logarithm of the critical aggregation concentration, log(CAC), decreases linearly with increasing tail length, but with a smaller dependence than that of ionic amphiphiles with fewer head groups. Tail length also affects antibacterial activity; amphiphiles with a linear 18 or 20 carbon atom hydrophobic chain are more effective at killing bacteria than those with shorter or longer chains. Comparison to a recently reported amphiphilic series with three heads and two tails allows for the development of an understanding of the relationship between number of tails and both colloidal and antibacterial properties.
Feline-transmitted Staphylococcal hyicus endophthalmitis after clear lens extraction: a case report

BACKGROUND Postoperative endophthalmitis is a dreaded postsurgery complication which may lead to legal blindness. In addition to typical risk factors, some minor episodes may also lead to the occurrence of endophthalmitis. The purpose of the current study was to report a case of acute postoperative endophthalmitis caused by Staphylococcus hyicus in a patient with a contact history of felines. CASE PRESENTATION A 58-year-old Taiwanese female who had a history of contact with felines due to her occupation had received clear lens extraction surgery of the left eye on July 10, 2015. One day after the surgery, the best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) of the left eye was 20/40, which rapidly deteriorated to light perception with hypopyon formation. She was admitted for acute postoperative endophthalmitis and received antibiotic therapy with topical levofloxacin instillation and intravitreal vancomycin plus amikacin injection. Trans pars plana vitrectomy (TPPV) was then performed 1 day after admission. The specimen obtained from the vitreous and anterior chambers yielded the growth of S. hyicus. The patient was discharged with BCVA measured by counting fingers. Another TPPV was arranged for the persistent vitreous opacity on October 20, 2015, and the BCVA recovered to 20/32 at the last visit. CONCLUSION To our knowledge, this is the first case of acute postoperative endophthalmitis caused by S. hyicus due to feline contact. Unusual pathogens in the environment and personal hygiene status should be validated preoperatively to prevent the development of postoperative endophthalmitis.
Perception of Facial Aging and Its Relationship to Two Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (OXTR rs53576, CD38 rs3796863):

Oxytocin is associated with social behavior. In humans, several studies have assessed the relationship between social behavior and a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)—rs53576—within the gene enc...
Economic Analysis and Agricultural Policy

By “agricultural policy” I mean the pattern of those acts of government, especially of national governments, which specifically concern the agricultural segment of society. The discussion of agricultural policy, like that of any other social problem, involves all the social sciences, perhaps one should say all the sciences. Economic analysis, dealing as it does with a limited range of abstractions, cannot pretend to give an “answer” to any social problem, agricultural policy included. Sociological, political, legal, historical, psychological, technical considerations obviously enter into the discussion. Nevertheless it may be useful to ask what are the insights yielded by economic analysis, as a discipline of thought and as a system of related propositions, in approaching a problem of this degree of generality. The case for economics, or for any other discipline of thought, is the case for specialization. The problems involved in the study of even so relatively simple a problem as agricultural policy are beyond the wit of any single mind to explore fully. To appreciate the problems of agriculture fully one would need to be an economist, sociologist, political scientist, social psychologist, biologist, chemist, physicist, botanist, zoologist, and much more; and in these days no one man can hope to be expert in all fields. The only way in which we can even begin to encompass any problem is by specialization; but, according to what is almost the first proposition in economics, specialization is useless without exchange. The aim of this paper is a little intellectual trade, a small offering of an economist to other disciplines, in the hope perhaps of some enlightenment in return.
Single 15-Min Protocol Yields the Same Cryoablation Size and Margin as the Conventional 10–8–10-Min Protocol: Results of Kidney and Liver Swine Experiment

The objective was to determine the ablation size of a single 15-min freeze and compare it with the conventional 10-min freeze–8-min thaw–10-min freeze protocol. Secondary objectives were to determine the ablation margin and to ascertain whether islands of viable tissue remain within the ablation zone. Five adult swine under general anesthesia were used. After surgical abdominal exposure, two ablations were performed in liver and two in kidney. One ablation utilized the 15-min and the second the 10–8–10-min protocol. At maximum ice-ball, tissue ink was infused via an angiographic catheter in hepatic or renal artery to stain the non-frozen tissue. Animals were euthanized and organs examined macro- and microscopically. Three histological regions were observed: (A) a viable/stained region representing the tissue outside the ice-ball, (B) a central necrotic area representing the ablated region within the ice-ball and (C) an unstained but viable margin representing the non-lethal margin within ice-ball. Ablation size did not vary with protocol but did for tissue type. Renal ablation was approximately 5 × 4 cm with both protocols, whereas liver ablation was approximately 6.7 × 4.4 cm. Ablation margin was measured at 1 mm irrespective of ablation protocol or tissue. No islands of viable tissue were identified within the ablation zone. Fifteen-minute cryoablation yielded an ablation size and margin identical to that of the conventional 10–8–10-min protocol. Within the ablated region, cell death was uniform. The only difference was a larger cryoablation zone in hepatic tissue compared to renal tissue, likely attributable to differences in blood perfusion.
Wing-integrated airborne antenna array beamforming sensitivity to wing deflections

For airborne radar, wing-integrated antenna arrays allow for large apertures in the cross-track direction. While large arrays have directivity and beamforming advantages, integrating the array onto the flexible structure introduces positional and phase center errors. Here we aim to characterize the radiation pattern sensitivity to the positional errors, and particularly the ability to form low sidelobe levels using the Chebyshev beamformer. As expected, the sidelobe level of arrays increase with increased deformation. The positional errors also result in main beam pointing error, increased beamwidth, and null degradation. We examined practical wing-integrated array sizes of 6–10 elements and found that when positional errors are normalized to the operating wavelength, the resulting pattern errors are frequency independent. In addition due to the limited array sizes examined, no significant correlation was found between increasing the number of elements in the array and changes in sidelobe level; however, there was a strong correlation between magnitude of the positional errors and the effects on sidelobe level. This was particularly true when trying to achieve very low sidelobes (40–60 dB). In an effort to compensate for errors caused by array deformation, a phase correction was applied to the patterns. It is shown that the pattern main beam could be corrected while the sidelobe levels could be decreased by up to 6 dB. To put this study in context, two fielded systems were investigated to determine actual wing deformation during flight.
Social Metacognition, Micro-Creativity, and Justifications: Statistical Discourse Analysis of a Mathematics Classroom Conversation

This analysis shows how statistical discourse analysis can identify the locations and consequences of pivotal moments and how characteristics of recent turns of talk such as questions and evaluations (social metacognition) are linked to characteristics of subsequent turns of talk, such as correct ideas, new ideas, or justifications. Along with the other studies in this unit, this analysis shows how multivocality can suggest cycles of analyses and help develop further statistical methods.
Enzymatic analysis of glucuronidation of synthetic cannabinoid 1-naphthyl 1-(4-fluorobenzyl)-1H-indole-3-carboxylate (FDU-PB-22)

AbstractRecently, there has been a rise in abuse of synthetic cannabinoids (SCBs). The consumption of SCBs results in various effects and can induce toxic reactions, including paranoia, seizures, t...
Genomic and Genetic Approaches to Deciphering Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome Risk and Mortality.

Abstract Significance: Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a severe, highly heterogeneous critical illness with staggering mortality that is influenced by environmental factors, such as m...
Microbes: An Invisible Universe

This fascinating volume introduces the general public to the microbial universe, stressing the essential role microbes play in our daily lives. Its 24 chapters explain, in non-technical language, all the important principles of microbiology, the nature of microbial life, and how microbes interact with the environment and with other living organisms, including humans. Through a lively historical approach, the author pays tribute to the pioneers of microbiology and biological chemistry who discovered the microbes responsible for diseases that were the scourges of man, animals, and plants, and ways to combat them; explained how the activities of many microbes benefit higher forms of life directly and through their effects on the biosphere; and devised procedures for exploiting microbes as tools of biotechnology for improvements in medical treatments, agriculture, waste disposal, and more. Designed to educate a diverse readership, Microbes provides the background and basic information needed to develop informed opinions on issues affecting our health and the preservation of the natural biosphere. Enjoyable reading for the non-scientist and scientist alike. Hardcover, 220 pages, illustrations, index.
Cortical atrophy patterns of incident MCI subtypes in the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging.

Introduction We examined differences in cortical thickness in empirically derived mild cognitive impairment (MCI) subtypes in the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging. Methods We compared cortical thickness of four incident MCI subtypes (n = 192) to 1257 cognitive unimpaired individuals. Results The subtle cognitive impairment cluster had atrophy in the entorhinal and parahippocampal cortex. The amnestic, dysnomic, and dysexecutive clusters also demonstrated entorhinal cortex atrophy as well as thinning in temporal, parietal, and frontal isocortex in somewhat different patterns. Discussion We found patterns of atrophy in each of the incident MCI clusters that corresponded to their patterns of cognitive impairment. The identification of MCI subtypes based on cognitive and structural features may allow for more efficient trial and study designs. Given individuals in the subtle cognitive impairment cluster have less structural changes and cognitive decline and may represent the earliest group, this could be a unique group to target with early interventions.
FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF SELF-HEATED THERMISTORS.

Publisher Summary An experimental technique is being developed to accurately measure thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity, and tissue blood flow using self-heated thermistors. In this procedure, a small thermistor bead, with a 005 to .08 an radius, is exposed at the tip of a plastic catheter and is inserted into the tissue of interest. The thermistor is first used passively to sense the initial temperature of the bead and the tissue, and then electrical energy is dissipated in the thermistor at a rate sufficient to maintain the volume average temperature of the bead at some predetermined fixed increment above the initial equilibrium temperature of the bead and the surrounding homogeneous tissue. The thermal properties of the tissue are then obtained by fitting electrical power and temperature rise data to an analytic expression that is derived using a number of simplifying assumptions. This chapter discusses whether the derived relationship between the tissue thermal conductivity and the measured thermistor data remains valid as the assumptions are relaxed.
Educating for Comprehensive Well-Being.

Purpose:Educational approaches that advocate “well-being,” the “whole child,” “social and emotional learning,” “character,” and the like emphasize human development beyond the acquisition of knowle...
'Have you ever traded sex for money or drugs?' Health care providers' perspectives on sex trafficking risk assessments in clinics.

ObjectiveThe United States’ Institute of Medicine recommends that health care providers be aware of sex trafficking (ST) indicators and conduct risk assessments to identify people at risk. However,...
Microindentation of Cartilage Before and After Articular Loading in a Bioreactor: Assessment of Length-Scale Dependency Using Two Analysis Methods

Microindentation is a technique with high sensitivity and spatial resolution, allowing for measurements at small-scale indentation depths. Various methods of indentation analysis to determine output properties exist. Here, the Oliver-Pharr Method and Hertzian Method were compared for stiffness analyses of articular cartilage at varying length-scales before and after bioreactor loading. Using three different conospherical tips with varying radii (20, 100, 793.75 µm), a bioreactor-indenter workflow was performed on cartilage explants to assess changes in stiffness due to articular loading. For all data, both the Oliver-Pharr Method and Hertzian Method were applied for indentation analysis. The reduced moduli calculated by the Hertzian Method were found to be similar to those of the Oliver-Pharr Method when the 20 µm tip size was used. The reduced moduli calculated using the Hertzian Method were found to be consistent across the varying length-scales, whereas for the Oliver-Pharr Method, adhesion/suction led to the largest tip exhibiting an increased average reduced modulus compared to the two smaller tips. Loading induced stiffening of articular cartilage was observed consistently, regardless of tip size or indentation analysis applied. Overall, geometric linearity is preserved across all tip sizes for the Hertzian Method and may be assumed for the two smaller tip sizes using the Oliver-Pharr Method. These findings further validate the previously described stiffening response of the superficial zone of cartilage after articular loading and demonstrate that the finding is length-scale independent.
Conformal Higgs model: Gauge fields can produce a 125 GeV resonance

Recent cosmological observations and compatible theory offer an understanding of long-mysterious dark matter and dark energy. The postulate of universal conformal local Weyl scaling symmetry, witho...
Switching on and Off: Rethinking Partisan Selective Exposure

Despite concern that selective exposure to congenial sources drives partisans to disagree about even purely factual matters, existing empirical research finds little to mixed evidence that most Americans do seek out like-minded sources of information. In this paper, we suggest an alternative conceptualization of selective exposure; people choose when to pay attention to politics, instead of which ideological sources to follow, such that they avoid politics altogether in the times when they anticipate unpleasant information. We argue that presidential performance shapes such expectations, which would, in turn, create divergent overtime ebbs and flows in the levels of political engagement across partisan groups. Drawing on two multi-wave survey datasets, we find partisans display a lower level of political interest and media consumption during a politically disappointing period. Our findings suggest that that the stream of information that Democrats receive in the long run can be different from Republicans, even if partisans follow mostly central news sources.
Wait and Watch Approach for Patients With Rectal Cancer Following Neoadjuvant Therapy.

Purpose/Objective(s) Wait-and-watch (W&W) approach for select rectal cancer patients is gaining popularity due to the detrimental effects of surgery on patient's quality-of-life. Here, we present the oncological outcomes of patients managed by W&W approach in a large cancer center network. Materials/Methods Patients with rectal cancer who underwent neoadjuvant therapy (NAT), and had clinical complete or near complete response (cCR) were managed by W&W approach. Disease evaluation was by clinical examination, imaging, and endoscopy. Baseline characteristics including age, gender, tumor location, use of MRI for staging, maximum tumor size and stage, along with time to start and duration of NAT were examined. Kaplan-Meier estimates were used to assess local regrowth (LR), disease-free survival (DFS), and overall survival (OS). Univariate and multivariate Cox models were used to identify factors associated with LR and DFS. Results Between 2010 and 2020, 1400 patients were referred for NAT. Of these, 96 patients (6.85%) were managed by W&W approach. There was a progressive increase in the adoption of W&W. Among the current W&W cohort (N = 96), only 1 patient (1.5%) was diagnosed in 2010, whereas 21.8% and 26% of the cohort were diagnosed recently in 2018 and 2019, respectively. Median follow-up was 23 months (IQR 11,36). Median age was 65 years (IQR 57,73). 21% of the cohort were 75 years or older. Majority of the patients had MRI for staging (76%) and were noted to have low rectal tumors (65.6%). Most of the patients had T3 tumors (62.5%) and were node negative (57.4%). Long course chemoradiation (CRT) followed by 4 months of chemotherapy (41.6%) was the commonest NAT approach, while the other approaches included chemotherapy followed by CRT (25%) or CRT alone (25%). At the start of this program, few patients (16.6%) underwent trans anal excision to confirm pathological complete response. Isolated local regrowth (LR) was noted in eight patients (8.3%), and distant relapse (DR) in 3 patients (4.34%). Salvage surgery was performed in 7 LR patients, while one patient refused surgical intervention. At 1-year, LR rate was 4.7%, DFS was 92.9%, and OS was 98.7%. Similarly, at 3-years, LR rate was 11.5%, DFS was 81.7%, and OS was 92.1%. Importantly, response on MRI did not correlate with either endoscopic assessment of disease status (P > 0.99) or local regrowth (P > 0.99). Finally, tumor size within the highest tertile (> 50mm) was associated with worse LR (81.3% vs. 92.3%, P = 0.04) and DFS (73.9% vs. 85.7%, P = 0.025). In a multivariable Cox model, tumor size within the highest tertile was associated with both LR (HR 8.4, 95% CI 1.5-45.8, P = 0.01) and poor DFS (HR 5.6, 95% CI 1.4-22.0, P = 0.01) independent of age, tumor location, MRI usage, and time to start and duration of NAT. Conclusion Our data supports the use of W&W approach following NAT for select rectal patients with a clinical (near) complete response given the excellent short-term outcomes. The impact of tumor size on local regrowth and DFS should be confirmed in a prospective study.
Naloxone and Buprenorphine Prescribing Following US Emergency Department Visits for Suspected Opioid Overdose: August 2019 to April 2021.

Study objective Nonfatal emergency department (ED) visits for opioid overdose are important opportunities to prescribe naloxone and buprenorphine, both of which can prevent future overdose-related mortality. We assessed the rate of this prescribing using national data from August 2019 to April 2021, a period during which US opioid overdose deaths reached record levels. Methods We conducted a retrospective cohort analysis using Symphony Health’s Integrated Dataverse, which includes data from 5,800 hospitals and 70,000 pharmacies. Of ED visits for opioid overdose between August 4, 2019, and April 3, 2021, we calculated the proportion with at least 1 naloxone prescription within 30 days and repeated this analysis for buprenorphine. To contextualize the naloxone prescribing rate, we calculated the proportion of ED visits for anaphylaxis with at least 1 prescription for epinephrine—another life-saving rescue medication—within 30 days. Results Analyses included 148,966 ED visits for opioid overdose. Mean weekly visits increased 23.6% during the period between April 26, 2020 and October 3, 2020 compared with the period between August 4, 2019 to April 25, 2020. Visits declined to prepandemic levels between October 4, 2020 and March 13, 2021, after which visits began to rise. Naloxone and buprenorphine were prescribed within 30 days at 7.4% and 8.5% of the 148,966 visits, respectively. The naloxone prescribing rate (7.4%) was substantially lower than the epinephrine prescribing rate (48.9%) after ED visits for anaphylaxis. Conclusion Between August 4, 2019, and April 3, 2021, naloxone and buprenorphine were only prescribed after 1 in 12 and 1 in 13 ED visits for opioid overdose, respectively. Findings suggest that clinicians are missing critical opportunities to prevent opioid overdose-related mortality.
Shock Waves in Aerodynamics

This paper reviews some of the physical aspects of shock waves as they affect the high-velocity performance of airfoils. I t is shown tha t the conventional frictionless, adiabatic, irrotational fluid motion can admit shocks only as an added discontinuity. Real fluids with viscosity and thermal conductivity will admit shocks as a necessary part of the complete solution of highvelocity problems. A brief discussion is given of oblique shock waves and of the necessarily rotational motion in the region behind a shock wave. A few words are included on the subject of the critical Mach Number for airfoils. Finally, combustion, detonation, and condensation waves are mentioned.
18Oxygen Probes of Protein Turnover, Amino Acid Transport, and Protein Synthesis in Bacillus licheniformis

Abstract Experiments were performed in which protein turnover was measured by incorporation of 18O from H218O into protein. Since proteolysis causes the incorporation of 18O into the carboxyl group of amino acids and the incorporation of this amino acid leads to protein with the peptide carboxyl oxygen labeled, turnover can be determined quantitatively. The rate of protein turnover during the first 5 hours after growth was found to be about 22% per hour. Spores contain an amount of 18O that allows the suggestion that the average protein turns over two or more times during sporulation. To examine the possibility of oxygen exchange during protein synthesis, Bacillus licheniformis cells were grown through eight generations, a 200-fold increase in mass, on a medium of glucose plus a mixture of amino acids that were labeled with 18O in the carboxyl groups. The protein of the cells contained oxygen, after appropriate corrections, at an atom per cent excess similar to that of the added amino acids. It is concluded that neither amino acid transport nor protein synthesis involve mechanisms that lead to significant loss or exchange of amino acid carboxyl oxygens.
Morphological operators for flooding, leveling and filtering images using graphs

We define morphological operators on weighted graphs in order to speed up image transformations such as floodings, levelings and waterfall hierarchies. The image is represented by its region adjacency graph in which the nodes represent the catchment basins of the image and the edges link neighboring regions. The weights of the nodes represent the level of flooding in each catchment basin ; the weights of the edges represent the altitudes of the pass points between adjacent regions.
The Gustatory System

The term taste is used to refer to the complex of sensations known as flavor perception, which includes afferent information from the olfactory, gustatory, and trigeminal systems. More strictly defined, taste refers to the sensations arising from stimulation of the gustatory receptors located within the oropharyngeal mucosa. Throughout this chapter, the terms taste and gustation are used interchangeably to refer to the gustatory system.
Foreclosing While the Property is Burning

Commentary on a recent California case concerning a junior mortgagee’s attempt to intervene in the mortgagor’s damage action against a neighboring tortfeasor.
Mimetic fandom and one-sixth-scale action figures

Within material practices that emphasize reproduction, customizers often extrapolate, creating new material to fill in gaps. Bricolage transforms mass-produced items into individualized creative works by improving the perceived accuracy of licensed merchandise or by recycling and repurposing items to achieve realistic and imaginative results. Customization's material fan practices reproduce items in order to create transformative narratives. After duplicating a beloved fan object's definitive appearance, clothing, and/or accessories in one-sixth scale, customizers often pose and photograph action figures in recreations of iconic scenes. Other images and photostories use miniature reproductions of material objects to rework existing media texts and characters or to tell completely original narratives. Images also disrupt and deconstruct the valorization of accuracy. Living rooms, pets, and other aspects of everyday life intrude into photographs of accurately reproduced items and characters. Figures in photostories may be made to break character. Such transformative moments call attention to the toys' status as toys and to the constructed nature of poses, dioramas, and narratives.
IQ-Station: a low cost portable immersive environment

The emergence of inexpensive 3D-TVs, affordable input and rendering hardware and open-source software has created a yeasty atmosphere for the development of low-cost immersive systems. A low cost system (here dubbed an IQ-station), fashioned from commercial off-theshelf technology (COTS), coupled with targeted immersive applications can be a viable laboratory instrument for enhancing scientific workflow for exploration and analysis. The use of an IQ-station in a laboratory setting also has the potential of quickening the adoption of a more sophisticated immersive environment as a critical enabler in modern scientific and engineering workflows. Prior work in immersive environments generally required special purpose display systems, such as a head mounted display (HMD) or a large projector-based implementation, which have limitations in terms of cost, usability, or space requirements. The alternative platform presented here effectively addresses those limitations. This work brings together the needed hardware and software components to create a fully integrated immersive display and interface system that can be readily deployed in laboratories and common workspaces. By doing so, it is now feasible for immersive technologies to be included in researchers' day-to-day workflows. The IQ-station sets the stage for much wider adoption of immersive interfaces outside the small communities of virtual reality centers. In spite of this technical progress, the long-term success of these systems depends on resolving several important issues related to users and support. Key among these issues are: to what degree should hardware and software be customized; what applications and content are available; and how can a community be developed?
Estate Inheritance: A Sociological Lacuna*

Estate inheritance, a frequently mentioned but rarely examined feature of stratification systems, has been a neglected area of research in sociology. In this paper, several possible causes of the sociological neglect are discussed. The treatment of inheritance patterns in functionalist and conflict theories of stratification is analyzed, and an overview of existing research on inheritance is presented. Finally, a conflict theory of stratification that incorporates the phenomenon of inheritance is proposed, and avenues for further research are suggested.