cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Magnetic circular dichroism of matrix-isolated group IVb diatomic oxides

Abstract The absorption and magnetic circular dichroism spectra of the diatomic group IVb metal oxides have been measured in argon matrices. Temperature independent MCD spectra for the three oxides TiO, ZrO, and HfO confirm the assignments of their ground states to the magnetically nondegenerate 3Δ1, 1 Σ+, and 1Σ+ states, respectively. The observed MCD spectra for the three oxides consist of A terms, B terms, or no MCD signal. From simple selection rule considerations, the appearance (or nonappearance) of particular MCD terms has been used to assign a number of heretofore unknown states and to confirm known assignments. Transitions due to the atomic Ti and Zr species codeposited with the corresponding oxide have also been observed. Temperature dependent C term behavior enabled a straightforward differentiation of the atomic bands from the temperature independent molecular bands. Assignments of the atomic transitions consistent with the observed C term signs are reported.
A pathway for luteinizing hormone releasing-hormone self-potentiation: cross-talk with the progesterone receptor.

This study investigates the signaling pathways that lead to acute augmentation of secretagogue-induced LH secretion, the physiologically relevant manifestation of which is LHRH self-potentiation. The consequence of LHRH self-potentiation is an augmented LH secretory response to subsequent exposure to the peptide. Although the mechanism for LHRH self-potentiation remains obscure, the second messenger cAMP and the steroid hormone progesterone share common characteristics in their acute augmentation of secretagogue-induced pituitary LH secretion, suggesting that cross-talk between the peptide and steroid hormone pathways may occur. The progesterone receptor would represent a point of convergence of several effectors known to augment secretagogue-induced LH secretion. In rat anterior pituitary cells cultured in the absence of progesterone, it was found that the progesterone receptor antagonist RU486 (2 nM) inhibits LHRH self-potentiation induced by hourly pulses of 1 nM LHRH. In the absence of added progester...
A formulation of the finite element method by implicit decomposition

Abstract This paper presents a procedure based upon the implicit decomposition for finite element formilations. By implicit decomposition, a differential equation is decomposed into a system of related subproblems. Independent subproblems have the potential to be implemented in parallel. This approach provides a clear concept of parallelism for computing large-scale problems in a parallel environment. Numerical examples implemented on an IBM 3090-300E and an Alliant/FX8 are included.
Multivariate statistical analysis of deformation momenta relating anatomical shape to neuropsychological measures

The purpose of this study is to characterize the neuroanatomical variations observed in neurological disorders such as dementia. We do a global statistical analysis of brain anatomy and identify the relevant shape deformation patterns that explain corresponding variations in clinical neuropsychological measures. The motivation is to model the inherent relation between anatomical shape and clinical measures and evaluate its statistical significance. We use Partial Least Squares for the multivariate statistical analysis of the deformation momenta under the Large Deformation Diffeomorphic framework. The statistical methodology extracts pertinent directions in the momenta space and the clinical response space in terms of latent variables. We report the results of this analysis on 313 subjects from the Mild Cognitive Impairment group in the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI).
Measurement of electrostatic generation in semiconductor processing fluids as a result of pumping through insulative pumps and tubing

The voltage generation in six different semiconductor processing fluids; air, deionized water, methanol, isopropanol, Aleg-310reg and REZI-28reg, was evaluated as they were pumped through a PTFE pump and tubing. It was found that more voltage was generated in the ungrounded fluids during operator contact with the pump and tubing than was generated during the pumping operation.
Quantification of flagellar response of single-cell E. coli to chemotactic agents using microfabricated silicon nitride cantilevers

This paper presents a method for measuring the mechanical response of flagella on a single Escherichia coli cell to chemotactic agents using a microfabricated gold-coated silicon nitride cantilever. Changes in flagella motion on the cell immobilized near the free end of the cantilever due to changes in the chemical environment are sensed by a shift in resonance frequency (1st flexural-mode) of the cantilever. The thermally excited resonance frequency of the cantilever is measured using PicoPlusreg AFM liquid cell setup, by focusing the laser on the back of the cantilever. The cantilever with the cell immobilized on it when immersed in leucine solution, an E. coli chemo-attractant, is observed to an increase the frequency by 0.69%. This is due to increase in tensile stress on the cantilever leading to spring stiffening, as a result of stimulated flagellar motion of the cell attached to the top. Thus the flagellar response of single-cell E. coli to chemotactic agents can be quantified.
Cell-Autonomous Effector Mechanisms against Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Few pathogens run the gauntlet of sterilizing immunity like Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). This organism infects mononuclear phagocytes and is also ingested by neutrophils, both of which possess an arsenal of cell-intrinsic effector mechanisms capable of eliminating it. Here Mtb encounters acid, oxidants, nitrosylating agents, and redox congeners, often exuberantly delivered under low oxygen tension. Further pressure is applied by withholding divalent Fe²⁺, Mn²⁺, Cu²⁺, and Zn²⁺, as well as by metabolic privation in the form of carbon needed for anaplerosis and aromatic amino acids for growth. Finally, host E3 ligases ubiquinate, cationic peptides disrupt, and lysosomal enzymes digest Mtb as part of the autophagic response to this particular pathogen. It is a testament to the evolutionary fitness of Mtb that sterilization is rarely complete, although sufficient to ensure most people infected with this airborne bacterium remain disease-free.
Gene expression differences in quiescent versus regenerating hair cells of avian sensory epithelia: implications for human hearing and balance disorders

The sensory receptors for hearing and balance are the hair cells of the cochlea and vestibular organs of the inner ear. Permanent hearing and balance deficits can be triggered by genetic susceptibilities or environmental factors such as infection. Unlike mammalian hair cells that have a limited capacity for regeneration, the vestibular organ of the avian ear is constantly undergoing hair cell regeneration, whereas the avian cochlea undergoes regeneration only when hair cells are damaged. In order to gain insights into the genetic programs that govern the regenerative capacity of hair cells, we interrogated custom human cDNA microarrays with sensory epithelial cell targets from avian inner ears. The arrays contained probes from conserved regions of approximately 400 genes expressed primarily in the inner ear and approximately 1500 transcription factors (TF). Highly significant differences were observed for 20 inner-ear genes and more than 80 TFs. Genes up-regulated in the cochlea included BMP4, GATA3, GSN, FOXF1 and PRDM7. Genes up-regulated in the utricle included SMAD2, KIT, beta-AMYLOID, LOC51637, HMG20B and CRIP2. Many of the highly significant changes were validated by Q-PCR and in situ methods. Some of the observed changes implicated a number of known biochemical pathways including the c-kit pathway previously observed in melanogenesis. Twenty differentially expressed TFs map to chromosomal regions harboring uncloned human deafness loci, and represent novel candidates for hearing loss. The approach described here also illustrates the power of utilizing conserved human cDNA probes for cross-species comparisons.
Local mismatch location and spatial scale detection in image Registration

Image registration is now a well understood problem and several techniques using a combination of cost functions, transformation models and optimizers have been reported in medical imaging literature. Parametric methods often rely on the efficient placement of control points in the images, that is, depending on the location and scale at which images are mismatched. Poor choice of parameterization results in deformations not being modeled accurately or over parameterization, where control points may lie in homogeneous regions with low sensitivity to cost. This lowers computational efficiency due to the high complexity of the search space and might also provide transformations that are not physically meaningful, and possibly folded. Adaptive methods that parameterize based on mismatch in images have been proposed. In such methods, the cost measure must be normalized, heuristics such as how many points to pick, resolution of the grids, choosing gradient thresholds and when to refine scale would have to be ascertained in addition to the limitation of working only at a few discrete scales. In this paper we identify mismatch by searching the entire image and a wide range of smooth spatial scales. The mismatch vector, containing location and scale of mismatch is computed from peaks in the local joint entropy. Results show that this method can be used to quickly and effectively locate mismatched regions in images where control points can be placed in preference to other regions speeding up registration.
Aging Among Older Adults With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities: Setting National Goals to Address Transitions in Health, Retirement, and Late-Life

Abstract Building on the findings of the 2003 meeting, Keeping the Promises: National Goals, State of Knowledge and Research Agenda for Persons with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, the intended outcomes of the 2015 National Goals in Research, Practice and Policy Conference were to outline a vision for the future and leadership of research, practice, and policy in intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). At the National Goals 2015 Conference held August 6–7, 2015, in Washington, D.C., 12 members of a designated strand on aging were charged to discuss the research and gaps in evidence specific to the context of transitions in aging associated with health, retirement, and end of life. The strand was comprised of a strand leader, research mentor, policy consultant, conference liaison and eight other participants with expertise and experience in aging among people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Explored in relative detail are the four goals, rationale, and implications...
Beyond engagement analytics: which online mixed-data factors predict student learning outcomes?

This mixed-method study focuses on online learning analytics, a research area of importance. Several important student attributes and their online activities are examined to identify what seems to work best to predict higher grades. The purpose is to explore the relationships between student grade and key learning engagement factors using a large sample from an online undergraduate business course at an accredited American university (n = 228). Recent studies have discounted the ability to predict student learning outcomes from big data analytics but a few significant indicators have been found by some researchers. Current studies tend to use quantitative factors in learning analytics to forecast outcomes. This study extends that work by testing the common quantitative predictors of learning outcome, but qualitative data is also examined to triangulate the evidence. Pre and post testing of information technology understanding is done at the beginning of the course. First quantitative data is collected, and depending on the hypothesis test results, qualitative data is collected and analyzed with text analytics to uncover patterns. Moodle engagement analytics indicators are tested as predictors in the model. Data is also taken from the Moodle system logs. Qualitative data is collected from student reflection essays. The result was a significant General Linear Model with four online interaction predictors that captured 77.5 % of grade variance in an undergraduate business course.
Between francophonie and world literature in French: Tahar Ben Jelloun's evolving authority

ABSTRACTOne of the most prolific authors writing in French today, Moroccan born Tahar Ben Jelloun has built a rich and multi-layered career as a literary figure and public intellectual in France. He is an excellent figure to use as a case study when analysing the specificities and implications of categorising a particular author and their works within such frameworks as ‘francophonie’ or ‘world literature in French.’ In this paper, I examine the contemporary culture industry’s shaping of the authorial identity of Tahar Ben Jelloun, whether as writer or public persona. Specifically, this article considers Ben Jelloun at three particular moments in his career, and examines two fictionalised testimonials, Cette aveuglante absence de lumiere (This Blinding Absence of Light) and Par le feu (By Fire). Each of the three moments represents a particular positioning of the author’s identity as, alternatively, Arab, Middle Eastern, francophone, African, some combination of these, or as a figure of World literature i...
Chain Ends and the Mullins Effect in Rubber

Abstract It has been suggested that “Mullins softening”, which is the anomalously low stress found in crosslinked rubbers that have been subjected to a reversing deformation history, might be caused by retraction of the chain ends along their primitive paths. Using natural rubber networks made from precursors of varying molecular weight, and an end-linked polytetrahydrofuran rubber, the fraction of chain ends was varied. From stress-strain relationships measured on these rubbers, it is concluded that Mullins softening is unrelated to the presence of chain ends, or to polydispersity in the lengths of network strands.
Astrocyte scar formation aids central nervous system axon regeneration

Transected axons fail to regrow in the mature central nervous system. Astrocytic scars are widely regarded as causal in this failure. Here, using three genetically targeted loss-of-function manipulations in adult mice, we show that preventing astrocyte scar formation, attenuating scar-forming astrocytes, or ablating chronic astrocytic scars all failed to result in spontaneous regrowth of transected corticospinal, sensory or serotonergic axons through severe spinal cord injury (SCI) lesions. By contrast, sustained local delivery via hydrogel depots of required axon-specific growth factors not present in SCI lesions, plus growth-activating priming injuries, stimulated robust, laminin-dependent sensory axon regrowth past scar-forming astrocytes and inhibitory molecules in SCI lesions. Preventing astrocytic scar formation significantly reduced this stimulated axon regrowth. RNA sequencing revealed that astrocytes and non-astrocyte cells in SCI lesions express multiple axon-growth-supporting molecules. Our findings show that contrary to the prevailing dogma, astrocyte scar formation aids rather than prevents central nervous system axon regeneration.
Looking through the Shades: The Effect of Skin Color on Earnings by Region of Birth and Race for Immigrants to the United States

The purpose of this study is to determine whether a labor market penalty exists for members of immigrant groups as a result of being phenotypically different from white Americans. Specifically, the...
Correlation and prediction: interpreting the significance of r.

Abstract Given the growing popularity of cephalometric programs for the personal computer, it is once again necessary for the specialty to confront the problem of prediction accuracy. The strength of the relationships upon which a prediction scheme is based is often assessed by means of the coefficient of linear correlation, r. Although it is common to judge the practical significance of a relationship by squaring the correlation coefficient, the present paper argues that the index of forecasting efficiency, the percentage reduction in error, is not only the more appropriate index, but also one that is easy to infer directly from r. Supported by N.I.D.R. grant DE08716; this help is greatly appreciated. In addition, the author wishes to thank Drs. Carroll-Ann Trotman, Fedon Livieratos, and James McNamara for their constructive comments during the preparation of this manuscript.
ADHD interventions in children younger than six years.

What are the potential benefits and adverse effects associated with treatments for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in preschool-aged children (younger than six years)?
The half-life of glutamate dehydrogenase in plasma of dry and lactating dairy cows

The clearance of glutamate dehydrogenase from plasma was measured weekly for three weeks in three dry and three lactating cows. The clearance was exponential with a mean clearance constant of 0.0488/j and means (+/- SE) half-life of 14.2 (+/- 0.77) h. There were variations among cows and among measurements in the same cow but there was no difference between the mean half-lives of GDH in lactating and dry cows. Because of the long half-life the small variations among individual cows are unlikely to affect the interpretation of increased plasma GDH activity.
Identifying Drivers of Episode Cost Variation With Radical Prostatectomy.

Objective To describe total and component radical prostatectomy (RP) episode costs across a diverse set of hospitals in Michigan, and examine drivers of variation in such payments. Methods We identified Medicare and private payer patients undergoing RP from 2012 to 2014 from the claims-based registry maintained by the Michigan Value Collaborative, a statewide consortium that provides hospitals with price-standardized and risk-adjusted 90-day episode costs for common medical and surgical procedures. We divided hospitals into quartiles based on mean total episode cost for RP. Total episode costs were further classified into 4 payment categories: index hospitalization, professional services, readmissions, and postacute care. Component payments were then compared across high-cost and low-cost hospitals. Results We identified 3077 patients undergoing RP in 42 hospitals. Mean 90-day total episode cost was $14,614, ranging from $13,043 to $16,749 across quartiles (28.4% difference, P Conclusion Significant variation exists in 90-day total episode costs for RP, suggesting a potential target for bundled payments and other care improvement efforts. Focused efforts on reducing variation in readmissions and postacute care could improve cost-efficiency.
Strategic Alliances: A New Way Forward for Business Education

Strategic alliances are proposed as an important way for business schools to face the challenges of a “new world order” that includes intensified competition, changing educational requirements and increasingly global marketplaces. Partnerships between individual business schools, and between business schools and corporations, on a regional, national, and international basis are suggested.
Perfective Perfects in Two Dialects of Spanish

The focus of this chapter is to explore in more detail the manifestation of perfectivity in the present perfects of Peninsular and Peruvian Spanish. The simple vs periphrastic past distinction in Peruvian Spanish has received some attention in the literature (see Klee and Ocampo 1995, Escobar 1997, Howe and Schwenter 2003, Sanchez 2004, Jara Yupanqui 2006). In this particular case, it has been claimed that the development of the perfect in this dialect group is parallel to that of Peninsular Spanish and that increased perfectivity can be attributed, at least in part, to similar processes of grammaticalization. Complicating the analysis of the Peruvian perfect is the fact that extended contact with indigenous languages such as Aymara and Quechua may have contributed to its increased use (see Klee and Ocampo 1995, Escobar 1997, Sanchez 2004). In this chapter, I demonstrate that while there are uses of the perfect in Peruvian Spanish that are functionally akin to the simple past, upon further investigation these distributional similarities with the Peninsular Spanish perfect are quite limited (see also Howe and Schwenter 2003). As opposed to the previous chapter, the proposed distinctions between the Peruvian and Peninsular situations are based on the results of a sentence judgment task.
READY or Not: Findings From a School-Based MI Intervention for Adolescent Substance Use

We aimed to examine the impact of a school-based Motivational Interviewing (MI) intervention, Project READY, on reducing adolescent substance use. We randomly assigned students (N = 244) to receive the intervention immediately (READY First) or to be in a waitlist control group (WLC). Those in WLC received the intervention once those in READY First had completed the intervention. Our hypotheses were: (1) adolescents in READY First would make greater initial reductions in their alcohol and marijuana use compared to adolescents assigned to WLC, (2) adolescents in READY First would make greater initial reductions in their alcohol and marijuana-related consequences compared to adolescents assigned to WLC, and (3) upon completing treatment, adolescents assigned to WLC would yield substance-related outcomes comparable to their peers in the READY First group. We found that those in READY First made greater initial decreases in their marijuana use and substance-related consequences upon completing treatment than participants in WLC, during the first phase of the study. Once both groups had completed the active intervention, those in the WLC had comparable marijuana use to those in READY First. At enrollment, daily marijuana users were equally represented in both groups. Post-treatment, significantly fewer participants reported daily marijuana use in the READY First group, prior to treatment initiation for WLC. Comparable reductions were observed once WLC began treatment. Those in WLC were observed to make reductions in their alcohol use at the same rate as those in READY First, prior to treatment initiation. Participants were not observed to make differential reductions in alcohol use based on group assignment. The findings from this study support the effectiveness of school-based MI interventions for adolescent marijuana use and provide evidence that MI is a critical and effective component within such interventions.
Improvements to Series Elastic Actuators

Actuators must be safe when interacting with humans, even in unexpected situations. Safety requires low impedance (low forces for a given perturbation) at all frequencies, not only in the actuator's stable bandwidth. Series Elastic Actuators (SEAs) are capable of achieving low impedance across all frequencies, though their force-frequency saturation envelope is decreased as a result. This paper examines ways to increase the force fidelity of SEAs by introducing inner control feedback loops and using appropriate sensor location. Findings include the superiority of a low fidelity sensor distal to stiction sources over a high fidelity sensor proximal to stiction and the superiority of an inner position feedback loop over an inner velocity feedback loop.
Synchrotron Physics: SOLEIL rises for French researchers

Scientists in France are celebrating the news that they are Finally to get their own new synchrotron source. The third-generation facility, dubbed SOLEIL, will be built at Saclay on the outskirts of Paris, research minister Roger-Gerard Schwartzenberg announced last month. Scientists were furious last year when the then research minister, Claude Allegre, ditched SOLEIL and instead put FFr 350m (about £32m) into the British synchrotron project, DIAMOND. (Physics World September 1999 p7). "The decision is a big relief," says Robert Comes, director of the LURE synchrotron facility at Orsay near Paris.
Assessing Intimate Partner Violence in a Control Balance Theory Framework

The purpose of this study was to examine the role that control occupies in the motivation for, and development of, intimate partner violence (IPV). The research literature often theorizes about the...
Deep learning for pharmacovigilance: recurrent neural network architectures for labeling adverse drug reactions in Twitter posts.

Objective Social media is an important pharmacovigilance data source for adverse drug reaction (ADR) identification. Human review of social media data is infeasible due to data quantity, thus natural language processing techniques are necessary. Social media includes informal vocabulary and irregular grammar, which challenge natural language processing methods. Our objective is to develop a scalable, deep-learning approach that exceeds state-of-the-art ADR detection performance in social media. Materials and methods We developed a recurrent neural network (RNN) model that labels words in an input sequence with ADR membership tags. The only input features are word-embedding vectors, which can be formed through task-independent pretraining or during ADR detection training. Results Our best-performing RNN model used pretrained word embeddings created from a large, non-domain-specific Twitter dataset. It achieved an approximate match F-measure of 0.755 for ADR identification on the dataset, compared to 0.631 for a baseline lexicon system and 0.65 for the state-of-the-art conditional random field model. Feature analysis indicated that semantic information in pretrained word embeddings boosted sensitivity and, combined with contextual awareness captured in the RNN, precision. Discussion Our model required no task-specific feature engineering, suggesting generalizability to additional sequence-labeling tasks. Learning curve analysis showed that our model reached optimal performance with fewer training examples than the other models. Conclusion ADR detection performance in social media is significantly improved by using a contextually aware model and word embeddings formed from large, unlabeled datasets. The approach reduces manual data-labeling requirements and is scalable to large social media datasets.
Going Beyond the Consensus View: A Response

ABSTRACTIn this response, I argue that Hodson and Wong's (2017) critique of the consensus view, though valid, lacks a sufficiently detailed and elaborated alternative. Their emphasis on practice fails to define what the goals of engaging in practice might be. In contrast, the picture of science offered as consisting of six different “styles of reasoning”—a view that has emerged from the studies of science undertaken by cognitive historians provides a more coherent picture of the long term goals of scientific practice and the diversity of thinking across the sciences. In addition, such an emphasis forces a recognition that there is both procedural and epistemic knowledge required to undertake practice—and that such knowledge outcomes must be defined and taught in conjunction with content knowledge.
Ecology of Rodent—Ectoparasite Associations in South-Central Kentucky

Abstract The goal of this study was to elucidate the host—ectoparasite associations of small-mammal communities in south-central Kentucky. Specifically we sought to determine whether host species, sex, and age as well as site or season affected the infestation of small mammals by parasitic arthropods. We captured small mammals from November 2014 to October 2015 using live traps in three 200 m × 50 m trapping grids within Western Kentucky University's Green River Preserve. We identified captured small mammals to species and recorded standard measurements. Ectoparasites were removed and retained for identification. We collected 9 species of ectoparasites, including 3 ixodid ticks, 5 species of Siphonaptera, and 1 mesostigmatid mite, from 7 species of small mammals and calculated prevalence and mean intensity for each host—parasite association. Infestation rates of ectoparasites were generally low, but were affected by age and sex of the host, site, and season in different parasite taxa. We posit several nat...
Why Pyeatte v. Pyeatte Might Be the Best Teaching Tool in the Contracts Casebook

The author explains why a relatively obscure judicial opinion is among the best teaching tools in a contracts course. He invites other faculty to share their favorite judicial opinions for the classroom case method, either in a course on contracts or in other courses.
The Significance of Variable Order in Assessing the Effect of Perceived Parental Knowledge and Peer Deviance on Participant Delinquency: A Replication and Extension:

The current study sought to replicate and extend an earlier investigation on mid- to late-adolescent delinquent males to a school-based sample of mixed-gender early- to midadolescents. Two pathways...
Water justice: why it matters and how to achieve it

Water is life. (Ancient proverb)Thousands have lived without love, not one without water. (W. H. Auden)When the well is dry, we learn the worth of water. (Benjamin Franklin)Whiskey is for drinking;...
Longevity and pleural mesothelioma: age-period-cohort analysis of incidence data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program, 1973-2013.

This study investigates the hypothesis that an increasing fraction of incident pleural mesothelioma (PM) in the US population may be related to longevity, i.e., to expansion of the population over age 75 years with an age-related elevation in risk. An age-period-cohort analysis of the SEER 9 cancer registries (1973–2013) was conducted using 5-year intervals of age, calendar period, and birth cohort after stratification into four gender-age groups (male and female; 0–74 and 75+ years). Gender-specific time trends in age-adjusted PM incidence by age groups were observed. After adjusting for cohort effects, males in the 0–74-year age group experienced rapidly declining PM incidence rates following the observed peak in 1978–1982, whereas continuously increasing incidence rates were observed among older males. A significant cohort effect was also observed among males in both age groups, with peak incidence rates in the 1926–1930/1928–1932 birth cohorts and thereafter. The distinct period and cohort effects among males age 0–74 years may be driven by declining age-adjusted PM incidence rates corresponding to the decline in occupational asbestos exposures post-World War II, whereas the increasing time trend seen in both genders at age 75+ may reflect an increasing proportion due to longevity-related factors.
ASTER datasets and derived products for global glacier monitoring

This book investigates a wide selection of the world’s glaciers and the status of remote-sensing and GIS technologies designed to address their global monitoring in this age of rapid climate change impacts on glaciers and increasing awareness of the policy and economic relevance of glaciers in areas as diverse as water resources and geohazards. This chapter focuses on an important part of the data component, especially data from the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection radiometer (ASTER) project, which also spawned the Global Land Ice Measurements from Space (GLIMS) project as an ASTER Science Team member project (see Foreword by Hugh Kieffer). ASTER’s combination of sensor systems, spanning the visible through thermal infrared and its stereo-imaging capability, the high radiometric and geometric fidelity of the cameras, combined with a liberal data dissemination policy for glacier images, have made it a favored instrument for glacier remote-sensing studies. Operational use of the instrument with on-demand targeting has also aided specific studies ranging from preplanned field campaigns to rapid response to glacier-related disasters.
Perceptual Effects of Deafness

Deafness imposes a naturally occurring condition of unimodal sensory deprivation, in which information conveyed to the perceptual system is blocked at the sensory level or disrupted in transmission to the brain. Since spoken language is a prominent form of auditory information in the human environment, a primary effect of deafness in humans is that it interferes with communication through speech. Many of the psychological, social, and educational consequences of deafness can be attributed largely to the individual’s lack of exposure to verbal information, and resultant deficiency in comprehension and expression of spoken and written language (Moores, 1970; Reynolds, 1977). These effects are most serious when deafness is profound and prelingual—occurring before the acquisition of language, at about the age of 3 years.
The Demand for Recreational Fishing in Montana

The Clark Fork River, located in southwestern Montana, is a tributary of the Columbia River in the northwestern United States. The Upper Clark Fork River area is known for its cold-water trout fishing. The Upper Clark Fork River from the Butte and Anaconda area to the Milltown Reservoir is contaminated with several heavy metals primarily from historical mining activities. The Silver Bow Creek, the Upper Clark Fork River, and Milltown Reservoir have been designated as Superfund sites by the U.S. Environmental Protection Area. Scientific studies indicate that the trout in these areas are at high risk from elevated metal concentrations due to their contaminated diet.
Postoperative Radiotherapy for Supratentorial Malignant Gliomas

From January 1988 to December 1996, sixty-five patients with histologically confirmed supratentorial malignant gliomas were treated with postoperative radiation therapy in our department. They were subjected to this analysis according to different clinical and pathologic parameters. The overall 1-year, 2-year survival rate was 57% and 23%, respectively. With univariate analysis, age, postoperative Karnofsky performance status, duration of symptoms, multiplicity of lesions and the extent of surgery were identified as significant prognostic factors. With multivariate analysis, postoperative Karnofsky performance status and the extent of surgery continued to show independent prognostic significance on overall survival.
Patients treated with surgical irrigation and debridement for infection after ACL reconstruction have a high rate of subsequent knee surgery

Objectives The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to describe the rates of additional surgery and patient-reported outcomes in patients who underwent surgical irrigation and debridement (I&D) for infection following anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) and test the hypothesis that additional surgery is associated with worse patient-reported outcomes. Methods Patients diagnosed with a postoperative infection following ACLR (defined as one requiring surgical treatment with either a deep or superficial I&D) were identified from a prospective cohort. Both primary and revision ACLRs were included, as well as any graft type (autografts and allografts). Patient-reported outcomes (International Knee Documentation Committee [IKDC], Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score [KOOS] and Marx activity level) and subsequent surgeries were collected at 2-year and 6 year follow-up from the initial ACLR surgery. Baseline demographics and 2-year and 6-year outcomes (from initial ACLR) were compared between patients who did or did not undergo additional surgery subsequent to I&D using Wilcoxon rank-sum tests for continuous variables and Fisher's exact tests for categorical variables. Results Twenty-one of 3210 ACLR patients (0.7%) had a postoperative infection requiring surgical I&D. This group consisted of 12 men and 9 women, mean (SD) age of 25.8 (11.3) years, 18 primary and 3 revision ACLRs and 16 autografts and 5 allografts. The mean time from ACLR to the surgical I&D was 39 days. In these patients, IKDC scores improved from 44±17 prior to initial ACLR to 83±16 at 6-year follow-up (p Conclusion Patients who undergo I&D for an infection following ACLR have a high rate of additional surgery but still attain reasonable clinical outcomes 6 years after ACLR. Level of evidence IV
Regionalization of Congenital Heart Surgery in the United States

The objective of this study is to simulate regionalization of congenital heart surgery (CHS) in the United States and assess the impact of such a system on travel distance and mortality. Patients ≤18 years of age who underwent CHS were identified in 2012 State Inpatient Databases. Operations were stratified by the Risk Adjustment for Congenital Heart Surgery, version 1 (RACHS-1) method, with high risk defined as RACHS-1 levels 4–6. Regionalization was simulated by progressive closure of hospitals, beginning with the lowest volume hospital. Patients were moved to the next closest hospital. Analyses were conducted (1) maintaining original hospital mortality rates and (2) estimating mortality rates based on predicted surgical volumes after absorbing moved patients. One hundred fifty-three hospitals from 36 states performed 1 or more operation (19,064 operations). With regionalization wherein, all hospitals performed >310 operations, 37 hospitals remained, from 12.5% to 17.4% fewer deaths occurred (83–116/666), and median patient travel distance increased from 38.5 to 69.6 miles (P
Consideration of medial anatomical structures at risk when placing quadricortical syndesmotic fixation: A cadaveric study.

Abstract Background Surgical fixation of syndesmotic instability using quadricortical fixation, whether screws or suture-button devices, places structures on the medial side of the tibia at iatrogenic risk. This study aims to radiographically map the anatomic course of structures on the medial aspect of the distal tibia to be able to at-risk zones (ARZs) for syndesmotic fixation. Methods Eighteen fresh-frozen cadaveric ankle specimens were dissected. The saphenous neurovascular bundle (SNVB) and the posterior tibial tendon (PTT) were identified and marked with copper wiring. Standardized and calibrated lateral radiographs of the distal tibia and fibula were analyzed using a grid system consisting of 3 columnar zones from anterior to posterior and five 1-cm rows to chart the anatomic course of the SNVB and the PTT. Results The SNVB was located in the more anterior zones (1, 2, or anterior to Zone 1) in 97.3% of specimens. The SNVB traversed from posterior to anterior as it descended proximal to distal. The PTT was found in Zone 3 (most posterior zone) for all specimens. The PTT was noted to pass behind (radiographically overlap) the tibia in 83.3% (15 of 18) of specimens between 1 and 3 cm above the tibiotalar joint. Conclusions Placement of quadricortical syndesmotic fixation places structures on the medial ankle at risk. The SNVB is at considerable risk along the anterior course of the distal tibial while the PTT is only at risk in zone 3 at the distal extent of the tibia.
Patch scale evapotranspiration of wetland plant species by ground-based infrared thermometry

Abstract Accurate estimation of evapotranspiration (ET) is essential to calculate the wetland water balance. However, wetlands are often composed of patches of different species of vegetation, raising the question whether different species will have different ET rates. Standard field-based meteorological methods to estimate ET, e.g., Priestley-Taylor (P-T), are sensitive to changes in climate drivers of ET but not to spatial variations in vegetation. To investigate whether ET is sensitive to vegetation type, we used thermal infrared (TIR) temperature-based surface energy balance (SEB) and Bowen ratio (β) ET estimation methods in four wetlands in northern New York State. The four wetlands had different plant communities including hardstem bulrush (Scirpus acutus), reed canary grass (Phalaris arundinacea), cattail (Typha Spp.) and meadow willow (Salix petiolaris). Across all four sites, the TIR-based methods generally had similar results as P-T methods, with mean absolute difference (MAD) of 17.1–53.0 W m−2 and root mean squared difference (RMSD) of 23.4–62.4 W m−2 across sites. This suggests that ET was not strongly dependent on vegetation type and topography in these northern wetlands. However, different methods showed different sensitivities to atmospheric variables including wind speed and relative humidity, suggesting that under certain conditions TIR-based methods may better represent differences in ET from different vegetation architectures.
Motion Planning and Decision Making for Underwater Vehicles Operating in Constrained Environments in the Littoral

This paper seeks to enhance the mission and motion-planning capabilities of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) operating in constrained environments in the littoral zone. The proposed approach automatically plans low-cost, collision-free, and dynamically-feasible motions that enable an AUV to carry out missions expressed as formulas in temporal logic. The key aspect of the proposed approach is its use of roadmap abstractions in configuration space to guide the expansion of a tree of feasible motions in the state space. This makes it possible to effectively deal with challenges imposed by the vehicle dynamics and the need to operate in the littoral zone, which is characterized by confined waterways, shallow water, complex ocean floor topography, varying currents, and miscellaneous obstacles. Experiments with accurate AUV models carrying out different missions show considerable improvements over related work in reducing both the running time and solution costs.
Overcoming Historical Injustices: Land Reconciliation in South Africa

1. Land reconciliation and theories of justice, past and present 2. Naming, blaming, and claiming on historical land injustices: the views of the South African people 3. Group identities and land policy preferences 4. Applied justice judgments: the problem of squatting 5. Judging the past: historical versus contemporary claims to land 6. Land reconciliation and theories of justice References Appendix A. A note on race in South Africa Appendix B. The survey methodology Appendix C. The questionnaire.
On the stability of gas bubbles in liquid-gas solutions

It was shown some time ago by use of diffusion theory that a gas bubble in a liquid-gas solution was unstable. This problem has been reconsidered recently in two papers both of which propose to develop a stability analysis solely from thermodynamic considerations. The first of these studies purports to find stability for a gas bubble in a liquid-gas solution. Some possible sources of error in this analysis are mentioned here. The second study considers a particular system of a bubble in a liquid drop immersed in a second liquid in which the gas is insoluble. A condition of stability is then found. This system is reconsidered here simply in terms of the ideas of diffusion theory. The stability conditions may then be stated in simple physical terms.
Role of αβ and γδ T Cells in the Host Response to Salmonella Infection as Demonstrated in T-Cell-Receptor-Deficient Mice of Defined Ity Genotypes

Salmonella spp. are facultative intracellular bacteria which enter the body through the intestinal tract. We studied the roles of T cells expressing either the a and b chains or the g and d chains of the T-cell receptor (ab T cells or gd T cells, respectively) in the host defense against Salmonella using mice genetically deficient in either ab T cells, gd T cells, or both T-cell subsets. These mutant strains of mice were infected orally or intraperitoneally with Salmonella dublin, and the progression of the disease was monitored by determining bacterial numbers in the feces, gut wall, Peyer’s patches, mesenteric lymph nodes, spleen, and liver. Since susceptibility to Salmonella infection in mice is strongly affected by the alleles at the Ity locus, T-cell-mutant mice with either the Ity-sensitive or Ity-resistant phenotype were tested for resistance to S. dublin infection. We found that even though large numbers of intraepithelial and mucosal ab and gd T cells populate the normal intestine, they have no role in controlling the invasion of S. dublin into the intestine or the subsequent bacterial replication in the Peyer’s patches or gut wall. Furthermore, systemic infections were equally severe for the first 6 days in normal, ab T-cell-deficient, and gd T-cell-deficient mice, and ab but not gd T cells were required for clearance of S. dublin, regardless of the Ity phenotype. However, mice that lacked both T-cell subsets had higher bacterial counts in their livers 15 to 18 days after infection than did ab T-cell-deficient mice, suggesting that gd T cells can contribute to acquired immunity to S. dublin.
Prodrugs and nanomicelles to overcome ocular barriers for drug penetration.

Introduction Ocular barriers hinder drug delivery and reduce drug bioavailability. This article focuses on enhancing drug absorption across the corneal and conjunctival epithelium. Both, transporter targeted prodrug formulations and nanomicellar strategy is proven to enhance the drug permeation of therapeutic agents across various ocular barriers. These strategies can increase aqueous drug solubility and stability of many hydrophobic drugs for topical ophthalmic formulations. Areas covered The article discusses various ocular barriers, ocular influx, and efflux transporters. It elaborates various prodrug strategies used for enhancing drug absorption. Along with this, the article also describes nanomicellar formulation, its characteristic and advantages, and applications in for anterior and posterior segment drug delivery. Expert opinion Prodrugs and nanomicellar formulations provide an effective strategy for improving drug absorption and drug bioavailability across various ocular barriers. It will be exciting to see the efficacy of nanomicelles for treating back of the eye disorders after their topical application. This is considered as a holy grail of ocular drug delivery due to the dynamic and static ocular barriers, restricting posterior entry of topically applied drug formulations.
Ecoimmunology at spatial scales

IN FOCUS Becker, D. J., Albery, G. F., Kessler, M. K., Lunn, T. J., Falvo, C. A., Czirjak, G. A., Martin, L. B., & Plowright, R. K. (2020). Macroimmunology: The drivers and consequences of spatial patterns in wildlife immune defence. Journal of Animal Ecology, 89, 972-995. Ecoimmunology seeks to identify and explain natural variation in immune function. Most research so far has focused on differences among individuals within populations, which are often driven by trade-offs in resource allocation between energetically costly immunity and competing processes such as reproduction. In their review article, Becker et al. (2020) have proposed a framework to explicitly address habitat- and population-level differences in wildlife immune phenotypes. Termed macroimmunology, this concept integrates principles from ecoimmunology and macroecology. Becker et al. (2020) have highlighted three non-mutually exclusive habitat features that are likely to vary at spatial scales and influence immune function: (a) parasite pressure, (b) abiotic and biotic factors and (c) anthropogenic changes. However, a large and robust body of literature suitable for synthesis to detect macroimmunology patterns and effect sizes is not yet available. Through their systematic review and critical assessment, Becker et al. (2020) identified common problems in existing research that hinders spatial inferences, such as a need for spatial replication in study design and statistical analyses that account for spatial dependence. Overall, macroimmunology has the potential to identify and even predict spatial patterns in immune phenotypes that form the mechanistic underpinnings of important wildlife disease processes, and this review represents an important step to realizing these goals.