cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Biomechanical Analysis of Differing Pedicle Screw Insertion Angles

Background. Pedicle screw fixation to stabilize lumbar spinal fusion has become the gold standard for posterior stabilization. A significant percentage of surgical candidates are classified as obese or morbidly obese. For these patients, the depth of the incisions and soft tissue makes it extremely difficult to insert pedicle screws along the pedicle axis. As such, the pedicle screws can only be inserted in a much more sagittal axis. However, biomechanical stability of the angled screw insertion has been controversial. We hypothesized that the straight or parallel screw was a more stable construct compared to the angled or axially inserted screw when subjected to caudal cyclic loading. Methods. We obtained 12 fresh frozen lumbar vertebrae from L3 to L5 from five cadavers. Schantz screws (6.0 mm) were inserted into each pedicle, one angled and along the axis of the pedicle and the other parallel to the spinous process. Fluoroscopic imaging was used to guide insertion. Each screw was then subjected to caudal cyclic loads of 50 N for 2000 cycles at 2 Hz. Analysis of initial damage, initial rate of damage, and total damage during cyclic loading was undertaken. Findings. Average total fatigue damage for straight screws measured 0.398 ± 0.38 mm, and 0.689 ± 0.96 mm for angled screws. Statistical analysis for total fatigue damage ratio of angled to straight screws revealed that a significant stability was achieved in straightscrew construct (P < 0.03). Interpretation. This study showed that straight screw insertion results in a more stable pedicle-screw construct. The angled screw insertion technique resulted in more scattered values of damage indicating that the outcome from the angled screw fixation is less predictable. This validates the use of this technique to implant pedicle screws across the axis of the pedicle (parallel to the mid sagittal line) rather than along the axis, and has broad implications in instrumented posterior lumbar spinal surgery.
Interactions and Aggregation of Charged Nanoparticles in Uncharged Polymer Solutions

We employ an extension of the single chain in mean field simulation method to study mixtures of charged particles and uncharged polymers. We examine the effect of particle charge, polymer concentration, and particle volume fraction on the resulting particle aggregates. The structures of aggregates were characterized using particle-particle radial distribution functions and cluster size distributions. We observe that the level of aggregation between particles increases with increasing particle volume fraction and polymer concentration and decreasing particle charge. At intermediate regimes of particle volume fraction and polymer concentrations, we observe the formation of equilibrium clusters with a preferred size. We also examined the influence of manybody effects on the structure of a charged particle-polymer system. Our results indicate that the effective two-body approximation overpredicts the aggregation between particles even at dilute particle concentrations. Such effects are thought to be a consequence of the interplay between the respective manybody effects on the depletion and electrostatic interactions.
The Changing Mission of Museums

This chapter discusses what the current “missions” or goals of anthropology and archaeology museums are today and, in the authors’ experiences, how these goals have changed during their respective careers. The authors discuss in this organizational or funding obstacles that have emerged and that they have overcome, and especially the logistics and “politics” of work in this field. Nash discusses these issues in particular reference to the Field Museum, Chicago and the Denver Museum of Nature & Science (DMNS); O’Malley in particular reference to the William S. Webb Museum of Anthropology at the University of Kentucky in Lexington. The authors identify in closing three currently disparate entities toward a common goal for museum-based archaeology: (1) the public’s inherent interest in our subject; (2) the often unseemly amounts of disposable income produced by Western-style capitalism; and (3) a preservation, conservation, and (most importantly) dissemination ethic amongst archaeologists such that museum archaeology again returns to a central position in the discipline and in society.
Vatican II at Fifty – and Now?

Pope Francis and his non-European and non-Western origins are overturning a paradigm that is at once geopolitical and cultural, along with other European and Western paradigms that are typical of Catholicism in the north-western part of the globe. In this sense Francis embodies the message of Vatican II for the future of the Catholic Church.
Role of Patient and Disease Factors in Adjuvant Systemic Therapy Decision Making for Early-Stage, Operable Breast Cancer: American Society of Clinical Oncology Endorsement of Cancer Care Ontario Guideline Recommendations

PurposeAn American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) panel considered the Cancer Care Ontario (CCO) recommendations on the role of patient and disease factors in selecting adjuvant therapy for women with early-stage breast cancer for endorsement.MethodsASCO staff reviewed the CCO guideline for methodologic rigor, and an ASCO panel of content experts reviewed the content of the recommendations.CCO RecommendationsFor making decisions regarding adjuvant therapy, nodal status, tumor size, estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PgR), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) status, tumor grade, and lymphovascular invasion are relevant; Oncotype DX score and Adjuvant! Online may be used as risk stratification tools; and age, menopausal status, and medical comorbidities should be considered. Chemotherapy should be considered for patients with positive lymph nodes, ER-negative disease, HER2-positive disease, Adjuvant! Online mortality greater than 10%, grade 3 lymph node–negative tumors (T > 5 mm...
Programmed instruction and learner characteristics: preliminary data.

Preliminary data are presented from a long-term project relating the structure of the learning task to selected personality characteristics of groups of Ss.
Managers' Perceptions of Subordinates' Competence As a Function of Personal Value Orientations

Managers were asked to rank their subordinates in all-around competence after a semantic differential analysis was made of their respective value orientations. Subordinates rated highest tended to ...
Discussion of Case-Control Studies of Peleg, Stähelin, and Willett

The combined results from the case-control studies of Peleg, Stahelin, and Willett were found to provide no evidence of a relationship between serum retinol levels and the risk of cancer in all sites combined or of lung cancer. However, a relationship between serum retinol levels and the risk of gastrointestinal cancer was suggested.
Failure Analysis and Mechanical Characterization of 3D Printed ABS With Respect to Layer Thickness and Orientation

In contrast to conventional subtractive manufacturing methods which involve removing material to reach the desired shape, additive manufacturing is the technology of making objects directly from a computer-aided design model by adding a layer of material at a time. In this study, a comprehensive effort was undertaken to represent the strength of a 3D printed object as a function of layer thickness by investigating the correlation between the mechanical properties of parts manufactured out of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) using fused deposition modeling and layer thickness and orientation. Furthermore, a case study on a typical support frame is done to generalize the findings of the extensive experimental work done on tensile samples. Finally, fractography was performed on tensile samples via a scanning digital microscope to determine the effects of layer thickness on failure modes. Statistical analyses proved that layer thickness and raster orientation have significant effect on the mechanical properties. Tensile test results showed that samples printed with 0.2 mm layer thickness exhibit higher elastic modulus and ultimate strength compared with 0.4 mm layer thickness. These results have direct influence on decision making and future use of 3D printing and functional load bearing parts.
Preparation of PVA Modified Non Woven Fabric and Research of its Antifouling Performance

The hydrophilic modification of polypropylene non-woven fabric (NWF) surface was conducted by coating PVA (poly vinyl alcohol) film on the NWF surface via dip-coating method. Water static contact angles of original and modified NWF were measured to evaluate their hydrophilicities. The antifouling performance of modified NWF was investigated by measuring its static absorption quantity of Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) and also by measuring the flux, dynamic absorption quantity and the component (protein/carbohydrate, P/C) of bound and soluble Extra-cellular Polymeric Substances (EPSB and EPSS) of sludge attached on the membrane when the PVA modified NWF was used as membrane in an experimental membrane bio-reactor. The results show that the hydrophilicity of NWF is improved by coating PVA film on the NWF surface, at the same time the water static contact angle is decreased from 86°±1° to 43°±3° and the static absorption quantity of BSA is decreased by 83.4%. During membrane bioreactor operation, the difference of EPSB absorption quantities between original and modified NWF is not obvious, however, the difference of EPSS absorption quantity is obvious. The P/C of EPSB and EPSS of original NWF is bigger than that of modified NWF and the flux decline of original and modified NWF is 40% and 12% respectively. It implies that PVA modification of NWF can increase its hydrophilicity, effectively restrain both its protein absorption and flux decline and improve its antifouling performance.
Symbolic Schedulability Analysis of Task Sets with Arbitrary Deadlines.

Times is a collection of tools designed for symbolic schedulability analysis and synthesis of code for real-time systems [1]. A design model in Times consists of a set of application tasks, a network of timed automata describing the task arrival patterns; e.g., periodic, sporadic, or controlled, and a real-time scheduling policy. Given a design model, Times will generate a scheduler, and calculate the worst-case response times for the tasks. The design model may be validated using the UPPAAL model checker [2, 3]. However, if periodic task deadlines are allowed to be larger than their respective periods, then the worstcase response times that are reported by Times may be incorrect when using the default, two clocks scheduler. In particular, Times may report that a periodic task set is schedulable even though it is not. In this paper, we present an UPPAAL model with a two clocks scheduler that correctly computes the worst-case response times for periodic tasks with arbitrary deadlines.
Use of a Multiplex Transcript Method for Analysis of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Gene Expression Profiles in the Cystic Fibrosis Lung

The discovery of therapies that modulate Pseudomonas aeruginosa virulence or that can eradicate chronic P. aeruginosa lung infections associated with cystic fibrosis (CF) will be advanced by an improved understanding of P. aeruginosa behavior in vivo We demonstrate the use of multiplexed Nanostring technology to monitor relative abundances of P. aeruginosa transcripts across clinical isolates, in serial samples, and for the purposes of comparing microbial physiology in vitro and in vivo The expression of 75 transcripts encoded by genes implicated in CF lung disease was measured in a variety of P. aeruginosa strains as well as RNA serial sputum samples from four P. aeruginosa-colonized subjects with CF collected over 6 months. We present data on reproducibility, the results from different methods of normalization, and demonstrate high concordance between transcript relative abundance data obtained by Nanostring or transcriptome sequencing (RNA-Seq) analysis. Furthermore, we address considerations regarding sequence variation between strains during probe design. Analysis of P. aeruginosa grown in vitro identified transcripts that correlated with the different phenotypes commonly observed in CF clinical isolates. P. aeruginosa transcript profiles in RNA from CF sputum indicated alginate production in vivo, and transcripts involved in quorum-sensing regulation were less abundant in sputum than strains grown in the laboratory. P. aeruginosa gene expression patterns from sputum clustered closely together relative to patterns for laboratory-grown cultures; in contrast, laboratory-grown P. aeruginosa showed much greater transcriptional variation with only loose clustering of strains with different phenotypes. The clustering within and between subjects was surprising in light of differences in inhaled antibiotic and respiratory symptoms, suggesting that the pathways represented by these 75 transcripts are stable in chronic CF P. aeruginosa lung infections.
Venous thromboembolism prophylaxis during neoadjuvant therapy for resectable and borderline resectable pancreatic cancer-Is it indicated?

Purpose To describe venous thromboembolism (VTE) rates in patients with pancreatic cancer (PC) during neoadjuvant therapy. Methods Factors associated with VTE were evaluated using multivariable logistic regression modeling in patients with resectable and BLR PC treated with neoadjuvant therapy between 2009 and 2014. Results Prevalent VTEs were detected in 13 (5%) of the 260 patients. Incident VTEs were detected in 26 patients (10%); 9 (8%) of the 109 resectable and 17 (11%) of the 151 BLR patients (P = 0.53). Of the 26 incident events, 9 (35%) were PEs, 9 (35%) were extremity DVTs, and 8 (31%) involved the SMV/PV. VTEs were catheter-related in 7 (27%) of the 26 patients. Rh(D) antigen positivity was associated with a decreased risk of incident VTE (OR:0.32, 95%CI:0.11–0.85, P = 0.02). Completion of neoadjuvant therapy to include surgery occurred in 176 (75%) of the 234 patients without incident VTE as compared to 14 (54%) of the 26 patients with incident VTE (P = 0.02). The median survival for all 260 patients was 24.3 months: 17.0 months versus 24.6 months for patients who did and did not develop incident VTE during neoadjuvant therapy (P = 0.11). Conclusions Patients with localized PC who receive neoadjuvant therapy are at significant risk of VTE and thromboprophylaxis may be warranted. J. Surg. Oncol. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Self-Compassion, Self-Injury, and Pain

We conducted an experiment to examine self-compassion and responses to pain among undergraduate women with and without histories of self-injury. After a writing task that has been shown to increase self-compassion in a values-affirming condition relative to a neutral control condition, participants completed a self-report measure of state self-compassion and the cold pressor task. As predicted, participants with a history of self-injury reported lower trait self-compassion than those without such a history, and participants in the values-affirming condition reported significantly higher state self-compassion than those in the control condition. Moreover, participants with a history of self-injury demonstrated significantly less insensitivity to pain in the values-affirming condition than the control condition. Future research should investigate the possibility that interventions involving self-compassion and/or affirmation of values may help correct high-risk responses to pain among those who self-injure.
Evaluation of poly([2‐(acryloyloxy)ethyl]trimethylammonium chloride) cationic polymer capillary coating for capillary electrophoresis and electrokinetic chromatography separations

Capillary electrophoresis and electrokinetic chromatography are typically carried out in unmodified fused-silica capillaries under conditions that result in a strong negative zeta potential at the capillary wall and a robust cathodic electroosmotic flow. Modification of the capillary wall to reverse the zeta potential and mask silanol sites can improve separation performance by reducing or eliminating analyte adsorption, and is essential when conducting electrokinetic chromatography separations with cationic latex nanoparticle pseudo-stationary phases. Semipermanent modification of the capillary walls by coating with cationic polymers has proven to be facile and effective. In this study, poly([2-(acryloyloxy)ethyl]trimethylammonium chloride) polymers were synthesized by reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer polymerization and used as physically adsorbed semipermanent coatings for capillary electrophoresis and electrokinetic chromatography separations. An initial synthesis of poly([2-(acryloyloxy)ethyl]trimethylammonium chloride) polymer coating produced strong and stable anodic electroosmotic flow of -5.7 to -5.4 × 10-4 cm2 /V⋅s over the pH range of 4-7. Significant differences in the magnitude of the electroosmotic flow and effectiveness were observed between synthetic batches, however. For electrokinetic chromatography separations, the best performing batches of poly([2-(acryloyloxy)ethyl]trimethylammonium chloride) polymer performed as well as the commercially available cationic polymer polyethyleneimine, whereas polydiallylammonium chloride and hexadimethrine bromide did not perform well.
Who Are the Turkers? A Characterization of MTurk Workers Using the Personality Assessment Inventory.

As online data collection services such as Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk) gain popularity, the quality and representativeness of such data sources have gained research attention. To date, the maj...
Virtual clinical trial in action: textured XCAT phantoms and scanner-specific CT simulator to characterize noise across CT reconstruction algorithms

Although non-linear CT systems offer improved image quality over conventional linear systems, they disrupt certain assumptions of the dependency of noise and resolution on radiation dose that are true of linear systems. As such, simplistic phantoms do not fully represent the actual performance of current systems in the clinic. Assessing image quality from clinical images address this limitation, but full realization of image quality attributes, particularly noise, requires the knowledge of the exact heterogeneous anatomy of the patient (not knowable) and/or repeated imaging (ethically unattainable). This limitation can be overcome through realistic simulations enabled by virtual clinical trials (VCTs). This study aimed to characterize the noise properties of CT images reconstructed with filtered back-projection (FBP) and non-linear iterative reconstruction (IR) algorithms through a VCT. The study deployed a new generation version of the Extended Cardio-Torso (XCAT) phantom enhanced with anatomically-based intra-organ heterogeneities. The phantom was virtually “imaged” using a scanner-specific simulator, with fifty repeats, and reconstructed using clinical FBP and IR algorithms. The FBP and IR noise magnitude maps and the relative noise reduction maps were calculated to quantify the amount of noise reduction achieved by IR. Moreover, the 2D noise power spectra were measured for both FBP and IR images. The noise reduction maps showed that IR images have lower noise magnitude in uniform regions but higher noise magnitude at edge voxels, thus the noise reduction attributed to IR is less than what could be expected from uniform phantoms (29% versus 60%). This work demonstrates the utility of our CT simulator and “textured” XCAT phantoms in performing VCT that would be otherwise infeasible.
From Art Gallery to Movie Theatre: Spectatorship in Julian Rosefeldt’s Manifesto

Experimental films have historically had a contested and marginalized position within film exhibition. With his Manifesto (2015), which has been exhibited both as a video installation in art galleries and as a feature film in movie theatres, Julian Rosefeldt collapsed the barriers between these exhibition spaces. By performing a comparative analysis of Manifesto in both forms, this article outlines the way spectators behave differently in the theatre and the gallery, the different demands the work makes on the viewer in each venue, and the difficulties of transforming the work from one form to another. By asking what is lost and what is gained, this article explores how the text, form, and venue function differently, to reveal underlying assumptions about spectatorship. Article received: December 31, 2017; Article accepted: January 10, 2018; Published online: April 15, 2018; Original scholarly paper How to cite this article: Ljungback, Hugo. "From Art Gallery to Movie Theatre: Spectatorship in Julian Rosefeldt’s Manifesto ." AM Journal of Art and Media Studies 15 (2018): 135–146. doi: 10.25038/am.v0i15.237
Determination of aristolochic acid in botanicals and dietary supplements by liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection and by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry: single laboratory validation confirmation.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is concerned about botanicals and botanical containing products that may contain aristolochic acid, either naturally or through adulteration. Some of these botanicals are known to contain, or are suspected of containing, aristolochic acid. These botanicals include Aristolochia species (spp.), Asarum spp., and Bragantia spp. Botanicals that may be adulterated with aristolochic acid include Akebia spp., Clematis spp., Coculus spp., Diploclisia spp., Menispernum spp., Sinomenium spp., and Stephania spp. Additional names associated with these species include Mu tong, Fang ji, Guang fang ji, Fang chi, Kan-Mokotsu, and Mokutsu. The similarity of names, as well as the identification and handling of botanicals in preparation of traditional Chinese medicines, makes it difficult to avoid inadvertent adulteration of both botanicals and dietary supplements. Reported serious adverse effects in humans include nephropathy and urothelial carcinomas. Rodents administered aristolochic acid developed lymphoma and cancers in the kidney, bladder, stomach, and lung, implying a potential increased risk of developing malignancies in humans (1, 2). The test materials used in the validation were Aristolochia spp. root, Aristolochia manschuriensis stem, Akebia trifoliata stem, Clematis armandii stem at 20 ppm high fortification, Stephania tetrandra root at 10 ppm low fortification, tablets containing a 20 ppm high fortification, and tablets with a 10 ppm low fortification. The fortified materials were spiked with ground Aristolochia spp. root. All test materials were authenticated by voucher or analysis for aristolochic acid I (Aristolochia spp. root). Due to the amount of Aristolochia spp. root needed for some experiments in the single laboratory validation (SLV), the ground Aristolochia spp. root was further diluted, as necessary, with ground Stephania tetrandra root (negative control) to produce the necessary amounts of Aristolochia spp. root containing aristolochic acid I.
Effects of Interfacial Interactions on the Sintering and Reduction of Niobia Supported on Silica

Abstract One to three monolayers of niobia supported on either high-surface-area or thin-film silica were examined by X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, and thermogravimetry. Interaction at the oxide-oxide interface was found to affect the stability and reducibility of the supported niobia phase both at and above a monolayer coverage. The degree of interaction was weaker on the thin-film samples, resulting in different behavior between the two types of supports.
Rotational Spectral Band Shapes in Dense Fluids

Although the detailed structure of infrared or Raman vibration-rotation spectra for low pressure gases is ordinarily interpreted in terms of energy levels, one can also view measurements of the rotational transitions as a method of determining quantized values of the angular momentum of an isolated molecule. In this way, one sees that spectral experiments probe the time evolution of molecular orientations even at low density. As the density increases, the rotational lines broaden and eventually merge into a continuous spectral band. At this point, it is no longer useful to describe the molecules as being in well-defined energy or angular momentum states. A more rewarding approach to the understanding of these band shapes can be found by extracting time-correlation functions from the data by Fourier transforming the band shapes. In general, a time-correlation function contains information about the evolution of some relevant molecular variable averaged over an equilibrium ensemble of molecules; for rotational spectra, the relevant variables are functions of orientation angles It should be emphasized that a Fourier transform of a spectral intensity distribution does not carry one very far toward solving the problem, which is to extract information about vibrational and rotational motions of molecules in dense phases from the data. It is only when one actually begins to model, either by a physical theory or by computer simulation, that the power of the time-correlation function approach becomes apparent.
Pauling's rules for oxide surfaces

Abstract Determination of surface structures currently requires careful measurement and computationally expensive methods since, unlike bulk crystals, guiding principles for generating surface structural hypotheses are frequently lacking. Herein, we discuss the applicability of Pauling's rules as a set of guidelines for surface structures. The wealth of solved reconstructions on SrTiO3 (100), (110), and (111) are considered, as well as nanostructures on these surfaces and a few other ABO3 oxide materials. These rules are found to explain atomic arrangements for reconstructions and thin films just as they apply to bulk oxide materials. Using this data and Pauling's rules, the fundamental structural units of reconstructions and their arrangement are discussed.
Conditional Survival, Cause-Specific Mortality, and Risk Factors of Late Mortality After Allogeneic Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation

Background Long-term mortality after hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) is conventionally calculated from the time of HCT, ignoring temporal changes in survivors' mortality risks. Conditional survival rates, accounting for time already survived, are relevant for optimal delivery of survivorship care but have not been widely quantified. We estimated conditional survival by elapsed survival time in allogeneic HCT patients and examined cause-specific mortality. Methods We calculated conditional survival rates and standardized mortality ratio for overall and cause-specific mortality in 4485 patients who underwent HCT for malignant hematologic diseases at a large transplant center during 1976-2014. Statistical tests were two-sided. Results The 5-year survival rate from HCT was 48.6%. After surviving 1, 2, 5, 10, and 15 years, the subsequent 5-year survival rates were 71.2%, 78.7%, 87.4%, 93.5%, and 86.2%, respectively. The standardized mortality ratio was 30.3 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 29.2 to 35.5). Although the standardized mortality ratio declined in longer surviving patients, it was still elevated by 3.6-fold in survivors of 15 years or more (95% CI = 3.0 to 4.1). Primary disease accounted for 50% of deaths in the overall cohort and only 10% in 15-year survivors; the leading causes of nondisease-related mortality were subsequent malignancy (26.1%) and cardiopulmonary diseases (20.2%). We also identified the risk factors for nondisease-related mortality in 1- and 5-year survivors. Conclusion Survival probability improves the longer patients survive after HCT. However, HCT recipients surviving 15 years or more remain at elevated mortality risk, largely because of health conditions other than their primary disease. Our study findings help inform preventive and interventional strategies to improve long-term outcomes after allogeneic HCT.
Who Mentors Undergraduate Student Researchers? An Analysis of Faculty Involvement at a Four-Year University.

In this study, we investigated a profile of faculty who mentor undergraduate researchers at a four-year Hispanic-serving, public research university. Six variables were investigated: ethnicity, gen...
SPEARS: Standard Performance Evaluation of Ancestral Reconstruction through Simulation

Motivation: Ancestral haplotype maps provide useful information about genomic variation and biological processes. Reconstructing the descendent haplotype structure of homologous chromosomes, particularly for large numbers of individuals, can help with characterizing the recombination landscape, elucidating genotype-to-phenotype relationships, improving genomic predictions and more. Inferring haplotype maps from sparse genotype data is an efficient approach to whole-genome haplotyping, but this is a non-trivial problem. A standardized approach is needed to validate whether haplotype reconstruction software, conceived population designs and existing data for a given population provides accurate haplotype information for further inference. Results: We introduce SPEARS, a pipeline for whole simulation-based appraisal of genome-wide ancestral haplotype inference. The pipeline generates virtual genotypes (truth data) with real-world missing data structure. It then proceeds to mimic analysis in practice, capturing sources of error due to imputation and reconstruction of ancestral haplotypes. Standard metrics allow researchers to assess which features of haplotype structure or regions of the genome are sufficiently accurate for analysis and reporting. Haplotype maps for 1,000 outcross progeny from a multi-parent population of maize is used to demonstrate SPEARS.
Factors influencing the survival of implant-supported ceramic-ceramic prostheses: A randomized, controlled clinical trial.

Abstract Objective The goals of this research are: (1) to determine the clinical survival of ceramic-ceramic 3-unit implant supported fixed dental prostheses (FDPs) compared with control metal-ceramic and; (2) to analyze the effects of design parameters such as connector height, radius of curvature of gingival embrasure, and occlusal veneer thickness. Materials and Methods This randomized, controlled clinical trial enrolled 96 participants with 129 3-unit implant-supported FDPs. Participants were randomized to receive different design combinations to include FDP material, thickness of occlusal veneer ceramic, radius of curvature of gingival embrasure and connector height. Participants were recalled for 6 months, 1 year and yearly thereafter for the next 5 years. FDPs were examined for evidence of fracture and radiographs were made to assess viability of implants. Fractographic analyses and Kaplan Meier survival analysis was used to analyze the data. Results 27 FDPs, representing 21%, exhibited chipping fractures of the veneer during the 5-year observation period. There was no statistically significant effect of type of material, veneer thickness, radius of curvature of gingival embrasure and connector height on occurrence of fracture. Fractographic and occlusal analyses reveal that fractures originated from the occlusal surface and that occlusion was the most important factor in determining survival. Stresses calculated at failure demonstrated lower values compared with in vitro data. Conclusion Implant-supported ceramic-ceramic prosthesis is a viable alternative to metal-ceramic. Survival analysis for both materials were comparable and design parameters employed in this study did not affect survival as long as zirconia was used as the core material.
Low-cost and precise inline pressure sensor housing and DAQ for use in laboratory experiments

Abstract There are many applications for inline pressure sensors, including fluid flow experiments, sensor field deployments, pumps, and Internet of Things systems. We developed a low-cost (~US$56), open-source, customizable inline pressure sensor system with operational flexibility and simple data logging. Most pressure sensors are expensive, not customizable, specific to a single tubing size, provide only analog readings, have poor stability and precision, or are incomplete without a data logger. These issues limit the usefulness of such hardware. Our system addresses all of these concerns. The customizability of both the hardware and firmware (via options or code modification) allows for the device to be tailored easily to each application. Tubing diameter, adapter dimensions, sensor used, logging behavior, and integration with other systems can be configured with ease. Much of the practicality and configurability of the software and hardware arise from the use of our Loom code and ecosystem. We present experimental data for the flow of a viscous fluid between two parallel plates that shows that sudden changes in fluid properties are not always discernible in static images, but are detectable as pressure signals with our inline pressure sensor.
Associations Between Children’s Media Use and Language and Literacy Skills

Media use is a pervasive aspect of children's home experiences but is often not considered in studies of the home learning environment. Media use could be detrimental to children's language and literacy skills because it may displace other literacy-enhancing activities like shared reading and decrease the quantity and quality of caregiver-child interaction. Thus, the current study asked whether media use is associated with gains in children's language and literacy skills both at a single time point and across a school year and whether age moderates any association. Children (N = 1583) were from preschool through third grade classrooms and language and literacy skills were measured in the fall and spring of the school year. Parents reported how much time their child spends using media on a typical school day. Regression analyses showed that using 4 h or more of media was related to lower literacy gains, but not to language gains. Multilevel models conducted as a robustness check showed that this effect did not hold when accounting for classroom. In neither set of models was there an interaction between age and media use. Single-time-point models did show some associations that did not manifest in more stringent models, highlighting the limitations of correlational designs that do not have measures of children's skills over time. Given the concern and popular press coverage around children's media use, it is important to acknowledge non-significant effects in this domain. These non-significant associations suggest that societal fears around children's media use may be exaggerated. Notably, however, characteristics of children's media use, like educational content or adult co-use, may moderate any effects. The relation between media use and language and literacy growth did not differ across the age range investigated suggesting that, within this range, younger children are not more vulnerable to detrimental effects.
Mitigation and Remediation

Environmental problems are typically addressed through mitigation, which seeks to prevent environmental damage from occurring, and remediation, which seeks to clean up and repair environmental damage that has already been done. Mitigation is almost always more desirable than remediation. The “Ban Fracking Act” introduced in the U.S. Senate in early 2020, along with a similar bill in the House was intended to mitigate the presumed risks that fracking poses to air, water, earthquakes, and climate change. None of the large-scale studies done so far have been able to show that environmental risks from the fracking process are any more widespread or severe than the environmental risks from any other kind of oil and gas development, all of which are significantly less than the risk of mining and burning coal. Opponents of oil and gas have erroneously conflated “fracking” with the production of fossil fuels in general, leading many environmentalists and some politicians to believe that a national ban on fracking will encourage renewables to fill the energy needs of the nation. This is a laudable goal, but it defies economic reality. Nearly three quarters of domestic natural gas is produced from fracked wells. A fracking ban will lead to gas shortages, and large industrial users are likely to switch to coal, exacerbating climate change. There is no argument that humanity needs to move away from the use of fossil fuels and into a cleaner energy future. However, banning fracking is not the same as banning fossil fuels. Coal is mined, not fracked, and a fracking ban will do nothing about coal. Fracking can be greener, and the use of less toxic chemicals should be pursued. However, greener alternatives will not be used by industry unless they cost the same or less as standard chemicals and perform as well or better. Environmental damages caused by fracking and shale gas development can be remediated by controlling air pollution, water contamination, stormwater runoff, and allowing terrestrial ecosystems to re-occupy the drill pad. Effective monitoring requires site access and field data. These requirements could be enforced by oil and gas regulators if enacted into regulations by state legislatures.
Graphene-enhanced thermal interface materials for heat removal from photovoltaic solar cells

The increase in the temperature of photovoltaic (PV) solar cells affects negatively their power conversion efficiency and decreases their lifetime. The negative effects are particularly pronounced in concentrator solar cells. Therefore, it is crucial to limit the PV cell temperature by effectively removing the excess heat. Conventional thermal phase change materials (PCMs) and thermal interface materials (TIMs) do not possess the thermal conductivity values sufficient for thermal management of the next generation of PV cells. In this paper, we report the results of investigation of the increased efficiency of PV cells with the use of graphene-enhanced TIMs. Graphene reveals the highest values of the intrinsic thermal conductivity. It was also shown that the thermal conductivity of composites can be increased via utilization of graphene fillers. We prepared TIMs with up to 6% of graphene designed specifically for PV cell application. The solar cells were tested using the solar simulation module. It was found that the drop in the output voltage of the solar panel under two-sun concentrated illumination can be reduced from 19% to 6% when grapheneenhanced TIMs are used. The proposed method can recover up to 75% of the power loss in solar cells.
Toward a Per Se Rule against Price Gouging

Price gouging is the use of high prices to ration access to a good in unexpectedly short supply. Because sellers can always recoup their costs by choosing not to ration with price and instead allowing the good to sell out, price gouging harms consumers: it transfers wealth from consumers to firms unnecessarily. This harm to consumers could violate the antitrust laws in two ways. First, it could serve as the basis for a per se rule against algorithmic price gouging — surge pricing — because the superhuman speeds with which surge pricing algorithms respond to shortages effectively shorten the period during which the effects of competition in the pre-shortage period continue to discipline prices during the shortage, and that should satisfy antitrust’ s anticompetitive conduct requirement. Second, price gouging’s harmfulness to consumers could serve as the basis for an antitrust prohibition on all price gouging were antitrust at last to take its consumer welfare standard seriously and prohibit consumer-harmful pricing even when not accompanied by anticompetitive conduct.
Monolithic 56 Gb/s silicon photonic pulse-amplitude modulation transmitter

Silicon photonics promises to address the challenges for next-generation short-reach optical interconnects. Growing bandwidth demand in hyper-scale data centers and high-performance computing motivates the development of faster and more efficient silicon photonics links. While it is challenging to raise the serial line rate, further scaling of the data rate can be realized by, for example, increasing the number of parallel fibers, increasing the number of wavelengths per fiber, and using multilevel pulse-amplitude modulation (PAM). Among these approaches, PAM has a unique advantage because it does not require extra lasers or a costly overhaul of optical fiber cablings within the existing infrastructure. Here, we demonstrate, to our knowledge, the first fully monolithically integrated silicon photonic four-level PAM (PAM-4) transmitter operating at 56 Gb/s and demonstrate error-free transmission (bit-error rate <10−12) up to 50 Gb/s without forward-error correction. The superior PAM-4 waveform is enabled by co-design and co-optimization of the silicon traveling-wave modulators with the monolithic CMOS driver circuits. Our results show that monolithic silicon photonics technology is a promising platform for future ultrahigh data rate optical interconnects.
Maximization of Non-opioid Multimodal Therapy in Ambulatory Surgery Centers

After nearly two decades of evolution, enhanced recovery after anesthesia has become a best practice pathway for most types of surgeries. A key feature includes multimodal analgesia from which many evidence-based studies have demonstrated reduced opioid consumption and quicker discharge after surgery. In the present chapter, we summarize the key components of these recipes that currently represent mainstream thinking, in particular in ambulatory surgical centers. Although there is continuous refinement to the details of best practice enhanced recovery protocols, the present chapter highlights important concepts and components in the setting of ambulatory surgery.
Laboratory monitoring during treatment of onychomycosis in pediatric patients: A survey of provider perspectives and practices

Background/objectives Literature regarding the cost and necessity of laboratory monitoring during oral antifungal treatment in adults has recently been published. However, consensus guidelines for the treatment and monitoring of pediatric patients with systemic antifungals for onychomycosis are lacking. We sought to evaluate both the practice trends and perspectives of pediatric dermatology providers who treat pediatric onychomycosis. Methods An electronic survey was administered to providers belonging to the Society for Pediatric Dermatology (SPD) and/or Pediatric Dermatology Research Alliance (PeDRA) regarding their clinical practice and reasoning for laboratory monitoring during the treatment of pediatric onychomycosis. Results One hundred and twenty-one providers completed the survey (12.5%). 77% identified themselves as pediatric dermatologists. A majority practice in the academic setting (51%), and 54% were primarily only pediatric providers. All respondents prescribe oral terbinafine for onychomycosis. 88% of respondents always or almost always confirm the diagnosis of onychomycosis prior to prescribing oral terbinafine for onychomycosis. 39% always or almost always routinely order baseline laboratory tests while 40% never or almost never do. 41% never or almost never order monitoring laboratory tests during treatment while 32% always or almost always do. 91.5% have never discovered a significant reaction to terbinafine with routine monitoring. Conclusion Pediatric dermatology providers are very likely to confirm the diagnosis of onychomycosis prior to systemic treatment. Significant variability was found in pretreatment and treatment laboratory monitoring, reasons for laboratory monitoring or deferral of testing, and timing of testing among providers. Knowledge of current practice trends as well as provider perspectives may be useful in the future development of consensus guidelines.
A Data-Driven Approach for on-line Gas Turbine Combustion Monitoring using Classification Models

Given the critical nature of Gas Turbines in most industrial plants, it is a high priority to find ways of reducing maintenance costs and increasing the availability. Quickly detecting and identifying combustion anomalies enables the choice of an appropriate recovery strategy, potentially mitigating the consequences of unscheduled down time and increased maintenance costs. Monitoring the Exhaust Gas Temperature (EGT) profiles is a good means of detecting combustion problems: plugged nozzles and/or combustor and transition piece failures will always result in distorted exhaust gas temperature patterns. However the conventional monitoring systems do not allow robust discrimination between instrumental failures and real gas turbine issues; furthermore weak diagnostic methods can be source of numerous false alarms.In this paper, we investigate the problem of monitoring the combustion chambers of a gas turbine and we attempt to address this issue by introducing a strategy for automatic and efficient patterns recognition by using Machine Learning Classification algorithms. Some historical events have been firstly retrieved and analyzed to discover which features are useful for classification. Based on the observations, two multiclass classification algorithms, one based on logistic regression, the other on Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), have been developed. Finally, real-world datasets have been used to benchmark the performance of the proposed algorithms against a traditional physics-based approach.
Interplay of Inflammatory, Antigen and Tissue-Derived Signals in the Development of Resident CD8 Memory T Cells.

CD8 positive, tissue resident memory T cells (TRM) are a specialized subset of CD8 memory T cells that surveil tissues and provide critical first-line protection against tumors and pathogen re-infection. Recently, much effort has been dedicated to understanding the function, phenotype and development of TRM. A myriad of signals is involved in the development and maintenance of resident memory T cells in tissue. Much of the initial research focused on the roles tissue-derived signals play in the development of TRM, including TGFs and IL-33 which are critical for the upregulation of CD69 and CD103. However, more recent data suggest further roles for antigenic and pro-inflammatory cytokines. This review will focus on the interplay of pro-inflammatory, tissue and antigenic signals in the establishment of resident memory T cells.
Cataloging Psychological Tests in an Academic Library

Often relegated to a side note in conversations about curriculum materials collections, psychological tests deserve their own consideration in library cataloging. Libraries that are dedicated to ps...
C-X-C Chemokines Influence Intraocular Inflammation During Bacillus Endophthalmitis.

Purpose The purpose of this study was to explore the C-X-C chemokines CXCL2 and CXCL10 as potential anti-inflammatory targets for Bacillus endophthalmitis. Methods Bacillus endophthalmitis was induced in C57BL/6J, CXCL2-/-, and CXCL10-/- mice. At specific times postinfection, eyes were analyzed for Bacillus, retinal function, and inflammation. The efficacies of intravitreal anti-CXCL2 and anti-CXCL10 with or without gatifloxacin in B. cereus endophthalmitis were also assessed using the same techniques. Results Despite similar Bacillus growth in eyes of C57BL/6J, CXCL2-/-, and CXCL10-/- mice, retinal function retention was greater in eyes of CXCL2-/- and CXCL10-/- mice compared to that of C57BL/6J mice. Neutrophil migration into eyes of CXCL2-/- and CXCL10-/- mice was reduced to a greater degree compared to that of eyes of C57BL/6J mice. Infected CXCL2-/- and CXCL10-/- mouse eyes had significantly less inflammation compared to that of C57BL/6J eyes. Retinal structures in infected eyes of CXCL2-/- mice were preserved for a longer time than in CXCL10-/- eyes. Compared to untreated eyes, there was less inflammation and significant retention of retinal function in eyes treated with anti-CXCL2 and anti-CXCL10 with or without gatifloxacin. Conclusions For Bacillus endophthalmitis, the absence of CXCL2 or CXCL10 in mice resulted in retained retinal function and less inflammation. The absence of CXCL2 led to a better clinical outcome than the absence of CXCL10. The use of anti-CXCL2 and anti-CXCL10 limited inflammation during B. cereus endophthalmitis. These results highlight the utility of CXCL2 and CXCL10 as potential targets for anti-inflammatory therapy that can be tested in conjunction with antibiotics for improving treating Bacillus endophthalmitis.