cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Scattering of electromagnetic waves from an N-layer dielectric structure with slightly rough boundaries

Random roughness is a representative model for many naturally occurring surface and sub-surface structures such as soil, ice, lakes, and rivers. Rough surfaces are also encountered in smaller scales such as optical instruments that use the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) technique to measure the refractive index of very thin layers of material adsorbed on a thin layer of metal. The knowledge of subsurface properties of layered media such as soil moisture is especially essential in the fields of environmental engineering, hydrology, soil physics, civil engineering, and planetary exploration. Therefore, an analytical, realistic, and fast method for calculating wave scattering from layered media becomes vital, especially because it can be used for inversion of their subsurface properties, where the forward model is evaluated many times, making numerical techniques often not desirable because of their computational burden. We present an analytical approach to finding the scattering coefficients of a general three-dimensional, N-layer dielectric structure with slightly rough boundaries. The solution to the two-layer case has been introduced by the authors in a previous article. The method presented here is the extension of that solution to a general case where all layers are rough and possibly correlated. We show that the first-order solution is achieved by solving two systems of linear equations. This method, in contrast to some of the previous methods, intrinsically takes into account multiple scattering processes between the boundaries, all of which are considered rough simultaneously. Therefore, our method is suitable for being extended to higher orders, because it does not rely on the assumption that each rough boundary contributes to the solution independently of the other boundaries, which is only true for the first-order solution. Another strength of this method is that amplitudes of the fields scattered into the inner layers are obtained simultaneously with those of the top medium.
A collection of 2D elliptic problems for testing adaptive grid refinement algorithms

Adaptive grid refinement is a critical component of the improvements that have recently been made in algorithms for the numerical solution of partial differential equations (PDEs). The development of new algorithms and computer codes for the solution of PDEs usually involves the use of proof-of-concept test problems. 2D elliptic problems are often used as the first test bed for new algorithms and codes. This paper contains a set of twelve parametrized 2D elliptic test problems for adaptive grid refinement algorithms and codes. The problems exhibit a variety of types of singularities, near singularities, and other difficulties.
Initial experience with EUS-guided Tru-cut biopsy of benign liver disease

Background Histologic biopsy of the liver is often essential for diagnosing hepatic parenchymal disease. Tissue acquisition is traditionally obtained by a surgical, transvascular, or percutaneous route. Objective To describe our initial experience with EUS-guided Tru-cut biopsy (EUS-TCB) of benign liver disease. Design A prospective case series. Setting A tertiary-referral hospital in Indianapolis, Indiana. Patients Consecutive subjects undergoing EUS with suspected hepatic parenchymal disease. Interventions EUS-TCB of the liver. Main Outcome Measurements Liver biopsy specimen yield, diagnosis, and procedural complications. Specimens were routinely stained with hematoxylin and eosin and with special stains for reticulin, iron, and trichome. Each case was reviewed by a single experienced pathologist for the number of portal spaces, total specimen length, and final diagnosis. An adequate specimen was defined as 6 or more complete portal tracts. Results Between February 2007 and March 2008, 21 consecutive patients (mean age 45 years; 13 women) were evaluated. The most common indications for liver biopsy were suspected nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (n = 9), intrahepatic cholestasis (n = 4), and suspected cirrhosis (n = 3). Transgastric biopsy (median 3 passes, range 1-4) into the left lobe (n = 18) or both the left and caudate lobe (n = 3) yielded a median total specimen length of 9 mm (range 1-23 mm). The median total number of portal tracts in the specimen was 2 complete (range 0-10) plus 3 partial (range 0-8) tracts. Six or more complete portal tracts were present in 6 of 21 (29%). A histologic diagnosis was obtained in 19 of 21 (90%). There were no complications. Limitations The small sample size and low-risk population. Conclusions In our initial experience, transgastric EUS-TCB of suspected benign liver disease by using a 19-gauge needle appears safe and feasible. Samples obtained are usually smaller than those traditionally considered adequate for histologic assessment. Further refinement of this technique appears indicated.
Multiple Fimbrial Adhesins Are Required for Full Virulence of Salmonella typhimurium in Mice

Adhesion is an important initial step during bacterial colonization of the intestinal mucosa. However, mutations in the Salmonella typhimurium fimbrial operons lpf, pef ,o rfim only moderately alter mouse virulence. The respective adhesins may thus play only a minor role during infection or S. typhimurium may encode alternative virulence factors that can functionally compensate for their loss. To address this question, we constructed mutations in all four known fimbrial operons of S. typhimurium: fim, lpf, pef, and agf. A mutation in the agfB gene resulted in a threefold increase in the oral 50% lethal dose (LD50 )o fS. typhimurium for mice. In contrast, an S. typhimurium strain carrying mutations in all four fimbrial operons (quadruple mutant) had a 26-fold increased oral LD50. The quadruple mutant, but not the agfB mutant, was recovered in reduced numbers from murine fecal pellets, suggesting that a reduced ability to colonize the intestinal lumen contributed to its attenuation. These data are evidence for a synergistic action of fimbrial operons during colonization of the mouse intestine and the development of murine typhoid fever. Salmonella enterica serotype Typhimurium (S. typhimurium) causes murine typhoid fever. This systemic infection is initiated by colonization and penetration of the intestinal mucosa, which is commonly accepted as a necessary first step in the establish
The relevance of scavenging kinetics to modeling of sediment‐water interactions in natural waters1,1

The uptake of radioactive trace metals by suspended particles in natural aquatic systems is often slow and the time constants for scavenging are of the same order of magnitude as the residence times of particles in the water column. Therefore, models simulating removal of radioactive trace metals from water to sediments in shallow aquatic systems with short particle residence times need to include sorption (i.e. scavenging) kinetics. We present a numerical kinetic transport model designed to simulate tracer movements from a well mixed water column where particles are generated by both primary production and sediment resuspension processes. Tracers are allowed to penetrate into underlying sediments by diffusion and particle and porewater mixing. All model parameters can be experimentally determined either in the ecosystem itself or in separate laboratory experiments. Model simulations of three kinds of experiments are presented: tracer diffusion in benthic flux chambers, and tracer removal in marine mesocosms and in lacustrine limnocorrals. Limited sensitivity analyses and simulations of actual experiments indicate that under conditions of particle cycling in the sediments and the water, tracer removal can be affected and-in the case of high particle fluxes, as in summer- even be limited by the slow kinetics of tracer uptake by suspended particles. The model is also useful in identifying and quantifying critical pathways in the complicated web of interrelated processes of an aquatic ecosystem.
Backfill Effects on Circular Foundation Stiffnesses

The dynamic behavior of a structure resting on or embedded in an elastic material is a problem that has been of considerable interest in recent years. The determination of the dynamic soil-structure interaction effects is particularly important in the seismic design of nuclear power plants. The dynamic behavior of these structures has often been adequately described using a lumped parameter model consisting of equivalent mass, stiffness, and damping elements. For cases other then a foundation resting on the surface of an elastic homogeneous half space, numerical procedures, such as the finite element method, are frequently employed to determine these lumped parameters. To the extent that stiffness coefficients may be considered to be independent of frequency, the static had-displacement results of finite element models may be used to determine spring constants for the discrete model. This paper deals with the static load-displacement behavior of circular foundations, embedded in an elastic stratum underlain by a rigid base. Horizontal, rocking and coupled rocking-sliding stiffness are investigated for various backfill conditions.
The clinician's best friend.

There's an old saying that a real friend is someone who walks in when the rest of the world walks out. I have always believed that the American Physical Therapy Association is the clinician's best friend. This past year, I have come across several examples that illustrate just what I mean. Recently, one of our members was being investigated by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for a coding issue that could result in fines and back payments of almost a half million dollars. He called APTA and outlined his situation. Between the departments of Reimbursement and Government Affairs, and assisted by our Legal Counsel, APTA provided him with historical data on coding, legal memoranda, and expert opinion that helped him to prepare for his appeal. The outcome was positive; the judge ruled in his favor! The member immediately called to tell me that APTA had saved his practice and his future…. He said he would be forever in debt to our staff of experts. Take a moment to reflect: Who are the friends that you turn to? … the friends who make a difference in your life?… the friends whom you know you can always count on? APTA is the friend that you can count on. When you're in the midst of difficult clinical situations, APTA is where you can turn for help. When you need the latest information on Medicare rules and regulations, when you need to know the intricacies of how the federal government works, and when you need the expertise to work through a difficult practice or reimbursement situation—APTA can be your best friend. Another member recently called headquarters looking for some advice on how to handle a request from a referring physician. The physical therapist stated that a physician would like her to …
Laboratory diagnosis of lupus anticoagulant: Comparison of three methods of antibody neutralization

The lupus anticoagulant (LAC) is an antiphospholipid antibody initially identified by prolongation of in vitro phospholipid-dependent coagulation tests. Because of its association with thromboembolic disease1-3 and recurrent pregnancy loss,4,5 there is interest in developing a convenient test for confirming the presence of LAC activity. The purpose of this study was to compare three methods for detecting LAC, one a recently marketed test. Twenty plasma specimens were identified as suspicious for LAC by isolated prolongation of the activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT) that failed to correct with a 1:1 mix with pooled plasma. First, all plasma specimens were tested for LAC by the platelet neutralization procedure (PNP) as previously described by Triplett.6 In this test, freeze-thawed platelets are used as a source of phospholipid to neutralize the antiphospholipid antibody and correct the aPTT. Second, the plasma specimens were tested utilizing Platelet Extract ReagentTM, a recently available reagent that consists of phospholipid in the form of lyophilized platelets and was designed to confirm LAC. Third, the specimens were tested with a concentrated solution of a standard aPTT reagent as a source of phospholipid to neutralize the antibody. PNP confirmed 100% of the suspected LACs, Platelet Extract Reagent detected 35%, and the concentrated aPTT reagent solution detected 30%. This study confirms the diagnostic utility of the PNP in identifying LACs. The Platelet Extract Reagent was convenient to use but was less effective in confirming LACs; it performed similarly to a concentrated solution of a standard aPTT reagent.
Vapor phase deposition of functional polymers onto paper-based microfluidic devices for advanced unit operations.

Paper-based microfluidic devices have recently received significant attention as a potential platform for low-cost diagnostic assays. However, the number of advanced unit operations, such as separa...
Chronic Exposure to Bisphenol A Affects Uterine Function During Early Pregnancy in Mice

Environmental and occupational exposure to bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical widely used in polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins, has received much attention in female reproductive health due to its widespread toxic effects. Although BPA has been linked to infertility and recurrent miscarriage in women, the impact of its exposure on uterine function during early pregnancy remains unclear. In this study, we addressed the effect of prolonged exposure to an environmental relevant dose of BPA on embryo implantation and establishment of pregnancy. Our studies revealed that treatment of mice with BPA led to improper endometrial epithelial and stromal functions thus affecting embryo implantation and establishment of pregnancy. Upon further analyses, we found that the expression of progesterone receptor (PGR) and its downstream target gene, HAND2 (heart and neural crest derivatives expressed 2), was markedly suppressed in BPA-exposed uterine tissues. Previous studies have shown that HAND2 controls embryo implantation by repressing fibroblast growth factor and the MAPK signaling pathways and inhibiting epithelial proliferation. Interestingly, we observed that down-regulation of PGR and HAND2 expression in uterine stroma upon BPA exposure was associated with enhanced activation of fibroblast growth factor and MAPK signaling in the epithelium, thus contributing to aberrant proliferation and lack of uterine receptivity. Further, the differentiation of endometrial stromal cells to decidual cells, an event critical for the establishment and maintenance of pregnancy, was severely compromised in response to BPA. In summary, our studies revealed that chronic exposure to BPA impairs PGR-HAND2 pathway and adversely affects implantation and the establishment of pregnancy.
Insecticide interference with Microplitis demolitor (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) parasitization of Heliothis zea (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

Heliothis zea (Boddie) larvae were fed untreated cotton foliage or foliage treated with chlordimeform, methyl parathion, or fenvalerate. Foliage was allowed to age until at least 80% of the larvae placed on foliage for 24 h survived. At that time half were exposed to mated Microplitis demolitor Wilkinson females. Larvae were monitored until H. zea death or pupation or parasitoid pupation occurred. None of the insecticides had significant effects on the survival of unparasitized versus parasitized hosts, or on M. demolitor developmental time. Unparasitized host larvae fed foliage from any of the insecticide treatments had significantly lower survival rates than those fed untreated foliage. All insecticide treatments significantly reduced the percentage of parasitized hosts surviving to parasitoid pupation. Methyl parathion had the most deleterious effect on M. demolitor development. Implications for integrated management programs are discussed.
Predictors of Success in Electroejaculation of Spinal Cord Injured Men

AbstractRectal probe electroejaculation was attempted in 48 spinal cord injury men and greater than 10 million sperm were obtained in 71%. Patient age and interval since injury had no effect on outcome. The best performance was seen in thoracic paraplegics and in those using intermittent catheterization for bladder management. Indwelling urethral catheters and high pressure reflex voiding had a negative impact on electroejaculation results.
The Treatment of Urinary Calculi in Transplanted Kidneys

Renal lithiasis in a transplanted kidney is a rare, usually late complication occurring in approximately 1% of all allografts. Because of the immunosuppressed state and precious renal function, these patients present a unique treatment challenge.
Assessing the National Library of Medicine's Informationist Awards.

Author(s): Deardorff, Ariel; Florance, Valerie; VanBiervliet, Alan | Abstract: ObjectiveTo understand the experience of the informationist recipients of NLM-funded Administrative Supplements for Informationist Services and gather evidence for their impact on NIH-funded biomedical research.MethodsA mixed methods approach consisting of a survey of principal investigators and a focus group of informationists.ResultsInformationists appeared to have a positive impact on their team's research, especially in the areas of data storage, data management planning, data organization, and literature searching. In addition, many informationists felt that their involvement had increased their research skills and made them true research partners. Assessing their own impact was a challenge for the award recipients, and questions remain about the best evaluation methods. The overall experience of the informationists and researchers was mixed but largely positive.ConclusionThe NLM-funded informationist supplement award appears to be a successful mechanism for immersing informationists into research teams and improving data management in the supported projects.
Treatment of Carotid Disease in North America

Strokes are the third leading cause of death in the United States, with over 795,000 strokes leading to 140,000 deaths every year. Ischemic strokes caused by carotid stenosis are a significant contributor to these figures, and stroke prevention must weigh the risks and benefits of medical versus surgical management. The North American Symptomatic Carotid Endarterectomy Trial (NASCET) and Asymptomatic Carotid Atherosclerosis Study (ACAS) trials from North America helped establish some of the earliest guidelines for when best medical therapy versus surgical revascularization was more appropriate. But these recommendations have since been challenged as best medical therapy, particularly with the increased usage of statins, improves. Duplex ultrasound alone can often diagnose carotid stenosis, with cross-sectional imaging such as Computed Tomography Angiography (CTA) and Magnetic Resonance Angiography (MRA) often being used to provide better diagnostic imaging for pre-operative planning. In general, asymptomatic carotid stenosis >70 % and symptomatic stenosis >50 % merit revascularization, with carotid endarterectomy (CEA) the preferred treatment. Carotid stenting (CAS) has been shown in trials such as Carotid Revascularization Endarterectomy versus Stenting (CREST) to be non-inferior to CEA with regards to outcomes of stroke and myocardial infarction (MI), but is currently reserved for patients with medical or anatomical consideration that are not conducive to CEA. The upcoming CREST-2 trial should help establish guidelines for optimal utilization of best medical therapy (BMT) versus CEA versus CAS for carotid stenosis.
A Picture's Worth: Toward Theorizing A Black/Queer Gaze in the Internet "Pornutopia"

Drawn from an archive of online pornographic selfies, this meditation reconsiders black gay art historical critique of the visual fetish of the black male body in the context of the undisciplined and contradictory circulation of images on the Internet. It asks: Does authorship of the image, or the action of gazing, make you a subject? Who is the gazer in the context of the Internet? What does it feel like to be an object looking at an object?
Comparing Patterns of Error in Generation 1.5, L1, and L2 First-Year Composition Writing

Abstract The purpose of the current study is to determine whether language use patterns in early arrival Generation 1.5 writing more closely resemble the patterns demonstrated by L1 or L2 writers, or perhaps demonstrated patterns unlike either of the two groups. Writing samples were obtained at a South Texas 4-year public institution from First-Year Composition (FYC) classes, and essays were separated into 3 student groups for further analysis: early arrival Generation 1.5 (n = 133), L1 (n = 94), and L2 (n = 48) writing. Holistic writing quality and 11 error variables were compared across the 3 groups. Results indicate no significant holistic quality differences between early arrival Generation 1.5 writing and either L1 or L2 writing. In terms of error variables, no significant differences were found between early arrival Generation 1.5 and L1 writing; however, 9 of the 11 error variables demonstrated significantly lower rates of errors in early arrival Generation 1.5 writing when compared to L2 texts, with the same 9 error variables significantly lower in L1 writing compared to L2 writing. Implications are discussed generally as they relate to defining Generation 1.5 writers. Finally, following Roberge, Losey, and Wald (2015) and di Gennaro (2015), a shift away from the term Generation 1.5 is proposed.
Evangelical Gotham: religion and the making of New York City, 1783–1860

In the last several decades, historians have reminded us that, despite many predictions to the contrary, the modern industrial city has facilitated the growth and diffusion of any number of religio...
Learning to teach culturally and linguistically diverse students through cross-cultural experiences

AbstractTeacher participation in cross-cultural experiences is often associated with the broadening of perspectives and increased intercultural sensitivity. While these qualities provide an overarching and important framework for intercultural development, they remain highly abstract. What exactly do we mean when we refer to these qualities? And in what ways, if any, do they translate into the classroom or school setting? Drawing on interviews from thirty Anglophone educators working in overseas international schools, this article focuses on links between broad-based changes in perspective and concrete changes in professional practice. Findings highlight an important relationship between personal and professional transformation, with the most noteworthy instructional changes emerging in the areas of language, communication style and religious/gender considerations. Most importantly, data from the study illustrate that the prolonged cross-cultural experience was not limited to changes in general dispositio...
Comparison of Completion Rates for SF-36 Compared With SF-12 Quality of Life Surveys at a Tertiary Urban Wound Center

Patient-reported outcome measures derived from quality of life instruments are an important tool in monitoring disease progression and treatment response. Although a number of validated instruments are available, the Short Form-36 (SF-36) quality of life survey is the most widely used. It is imperative that the patients answer all the questions in this instrument for appropriate analysis and interpretation. It has been hypothesized that fewer questions (i.e., the Short Form-12 [SF-12]), will result in greater survey completion rates. The present study was a randomized prospective study comparing the completion rates for the SF-36 and SF-12 quality of life surveys. Patients presenting with a chronic wound were asked to complete the SF-36 or SF-12 survey. After an a priori power analysis was performed, the completion rates, patterns of skipped questions, and demographic information were analyzed using t tests for continuous variables or Fisher's exact test for categorical variables and both multivariate linear regression and logistic regression. A total of 59 subjects (30 completed the SF-12 and 29 completed the SF-36) participated in the present study. The SF-12 group had an 80% (24 of 30) completion rate compared with a 55% (16 of 29) completion rate for the SF-36 group (p < .05). However, the length of the survey did not affect the completion rate nor was a statistically detectable pattern of skipped questions found. College graduates were more likely to complete both surveys compared with high school graduates (p < .07). Although it is unclear why, our study results indicate that the SF-12 yields a higher total survey completion rate. However, completion appears independent of the shorter survey length.
ATP Production II: The TCA Cycle and Oxidative Phosphorylation

This chapter begins with pyruvate conversion into acetyl CoA and CO 2 by the enzyme pyruvate dehydrogenase. It then describes the combination of acetyl CoA with oxaloacetate to form citric acid. It then follows all of the biochemical transformations that convert citric acid back to oxaloacetate and 2 CO 2 molecules, producing NADH and FADH 2 and GTP along the way. How NADH and FADH 2 lead to the synthesis of ATP is considered in the discussion of the electron transport chain and ATP synthetase. The energetic of the electrochemical potential of hydrogen ions across the inner mitochondrial membrane is discussed
Automating mobility in smart cities

Abstract Smart Cities are examples of Cyber-Physical Systems whose goals include improvements in transportation, energy distribution, emergency response, and infrastructure maintenance, to name a few. When it comes to mobility, the availability of large amounts of data, ubiquitous wireless connectivity, and the critical need for scalability open the door for new control and optimization methods with the aim of automating all aspects of mobility, from interconnected self-driving vehicles to sharing transportation resources. We address two key questions: can control and optimization methods enable this automation and, if so, how can we quantify its benefits to justify the challenging technological, economic, and social transitions involved? An optimal control framework is presented to show how Connected Automated Vehicles (CAVs) can operate in a dynamic resource contention environment, primarily urban intersections without any traffic lights. We also describe how large amounts of actual traffic data can be harnessed and drive inverse optimization methods to quantify the value of CAVs in terms of eliminating the prevailing Price of Anarchy: the gap between current “selfish” user-centric and optimal “social” system-centric traffic equilibria which are achievable with automated mobility.
Tryptophan Availability and Serotonin Synthesis in Brain

One of the most important factors governing the rate of serotonin (5HT) synthesis in the mammalian brain is the local concentration of the substrate amino acid, L-tryptophan (see (1)). As a result, a variety of factors that influence brain tryptophan levels are also found to modify 5HT synthesis. These include such phenomenon as the ingestion of single meals, stress, the development of diabetes, and certain forms of malnutrition (see (1)). Where studied, it has been possible to show that when 5HT synthesis has been modified by one of the above phenomenon, 5HT release is also changed, as evidenced by effects on particular brain functions thought to be regulated in part by 5HT neurons. This article reviews data that have established connections between brain tryptophan levels and 5HT synthesis, and between tryptophan-related changes in 5HT synthesis and 5HT release at the synapse. It also considers evidence linking meal ingestion to alterations in brain tryptophan levels and 5HT synthesis, and food-induced changes in 5HT synthesis to appetites for a specific macronutrient (carbohydrate). It should be evident from the dis­cussion that while a substantial amount of evidence can now be assembled to support many of these relationships, several require additional experimental validation before they can be fully evaluated or accepted.
The borderline patient's intolerance of aloneness: insecure attachments and therapist availability.

Objective This article describes the clinical and theoretical significance of intolerance of aloneness for patients with borderline personality disorder. It is intended to make their treatment more effective and less burdensome. Method: Clinical observations from the author's more than 9,000 hours o
13 – Alcohol and Drug Abuse

Publisher Summary This chapter reveals that substance abuse assessment is important for several reasons. It provides an accurate diagnosis and a detailed picture of the clinical problem. Assessment provides valuable data, which is required for treatment planning and serves as a baseline against which follow-up evaluations can be compared. It is discussed that comprehensive substance abuse assessment is required by a number of accrediting bodies, such as the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations and the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities. A number of substance abuse assessment instruments are targeted toward both alcohol and drugs. Since a variety of instruments are available, focus will be placed on those demonstrating sufficient reliability and validity for recommended use and those that are used most frequently by clinicians and researchers.
Quantifying the effects of hydration on corneal stiffness with noncontact optical coherence elastography

Purpose To quantify the effects of the hydration state on the Young's modulus of the cornea. Setting Biomedical Optics Laboratory, University of Houston, Houston, Texas, USA. Design Experimental study. Methods Noncontact, dynamic optical coherence elastography (OCE) measurements were taken of in situ rabbit corneas in the whole eye–globe configuration (n = 10) and at an artificially controlled intraocular pressure of 15 mm Hg. Baseline OCE measurements were taken by topically hydrating the corneas with saline for 1 hour. The corneas were then dehydrated topically with a 20% dextran solution for another hour, and the OCE measurements were repeated. A finite element method was used to quantify the Young's modulus of the corneas based on the OCE measurements. Results The thickness of the corneas shrank considerably after topical addition of the 20% dextran solution (∼680 μm to ∼370 μm), and the OCE-measured elastic-wave speed correspondingly decreased (∼3.2 m/s to ∼2.6 m/s). The finite element method results showed an increase in Young's modulus (500 kPa to 800 kPa) resulting from dehydration and subsequent thinning. Conclusion Young's modulus increased significantly as the corneas dehydrated and thinned, showing that corneal geometry and hydration state are critical factors for accurately quantifying corneal biomechanical properties.
One way to shrink oncology patients’ emergency room length of stay.

e18850Background: Oncology patients face multiple challenges during their treatment journey. One of the deterring factors for oncology patients to seek medical attention is the lengthy ER (Emergenc...
A metonym for the marginalized

When it comes to seeing representations of historically marginalized groups in US cinema, I tend to be a “glass half-full” sort of person. It is hard to contain my joy at seeing even a modicum of p...
Local Existence and Global Uniqueness Results

In this chapter we will deal with the local existence of families of embedded pseudoholomorphic disks and their properties. In the following let (W, J) be a four-dimensional manifold equipped with an almost complex structure J.
Boomers, Millennials and the Shape of American Judaism

Fall 2017 marked the 100th anniversary of Max Weber’s essay, “Science as a Vocation,” which has greatly influenced the way a host of scholars, including me, have approached the study of religion in the modern West. One cannot imagine the work of Peter Berger, Talcott Parsons, or Marshall Sklare, without Weber’s notions of disenchantment, charisma, or religious virtuosos. It is also impossible, a century after Weber confidently declaimed on these matters, not to notice how wrong he was in key respects. My own work has been less interested in the processes of modernization and secularization that have shaped Jews in the modern period than in the ways Jews have responded to those challenges with new modes of thought and observance; for that reason and others, I find quantitative evidence less useful than qualitative reports and observation. The question facing those of us committed to the study and the practice of Judaism in 2018, I believe, is whether those patterns of thought and observance, honed over two centuries of encounter with modernity, will require further adjustment in coming years. Will the “solutions” arrived at my baby boomers like me—who grew up in, and responded to, the sociological situation Sklare described so perceptively—“work” for millennials and the cohorts that follow? The essay that follows suggests that both continuity and change are likely to prove decisive.
Simplify and Clarify

The engineering writer’s first order of business regarding sentence-level quality control is to make certain that every sentence is concise and clear. This book calls the process simplify and clarify. This chapter reviews four specific techniques for eliminating words and phrasing that unnecessarily complicate and obfuscate a sentence’s intended meaning. Figure 10.1 displays those techniques (OFIs #1 through #4) on sentence optimization’s 20 OFI wheel.
Severity of acute gastrointestinal graft-vs-host disease is associated with incidence of bloodstream infection after adult allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

BACKGROUND Infections are the most common cause of non-relapse mortality in adult allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (allo HSCT) recipients. Acute gastrointestinal graft-vs-host disease (GI GVHD) often leads to friable mucosa as well as treatment interventions which can increase risk of infection. Our primary objective was to describe the relationship between increasing grades of acute GI GVHD and incidence of bloodstream infections (BSI). METHODS We reviewed 441 adults who underwent allo HSCT from 2011 to 2017 and were clinically diagnosed with GI GVHD, non-GI GVHD, or no GVHD based on the modified Glucksberg scale within the first 100 days of transplantation. The maximum grades of acute GI GVHD and non-GI GVHD were used in the analysis. BSI was defined based on the presence of a blood culture positive for bacteria or fungi and treatment with antibiotics. The incidence of BSI within the first 180 days of transplantation was estimated with the cumulative incidence method. Fine and Gray regression was used to assess association between clinical grade of acute GI GVHD and BSI risk, adjusting for grade of non-GI GVHD and for other significant baseline patient risk factors for BSI identified by multivariable analysis. Results are shown as hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI). A similar analysis was conducted in 130 patients with histologic grade of acute GI GVHD. RESULTS Overall BSI incidence by day 180 was 32%; gram-negative bacilli were the predominant organisms, followed by gram-positive cocci and fungi. Patients with grade 4 acute GI GVHD had higher risk of BSI as compared to patients with no GI GVHD (HR 2.98, CI 1.65-5.37, P < .001), while those with grade 3 acute GI GVHD had similar BSI risk (HR 0.89, CI 0.36-2.21, P = .81). Grade of GI GVHD had no association with risk of non-BSI. Results were similar in patients with histologic grade acute GI GVHD. Patients who developed BSI or non-BSI had significantly higher overall mortality risk compared to those without infectious complications (HR 2.52, CI 1.92-3.31, P < .001 for BSI; HR 1.60, CI 1.20-2.13, P = .001 for non-BSI). CONCLUSIONS Grade 4 acute GI GVHD is associated with a higher risk of BSI, which is in turn associated with a higher risk of overall mortality in this population. Understanding the relationships between acute GI GVHD, BSI, and overall mortality can guide future treatment strategies for adult allo HSCT recipients.
Legal Genres: The Gravity of the Supreme Court Opinion

The U.S. Supreme Court is the authority in the interpretation of U.S. law that acts both within an activity system and as an activity system itself. The written slip opinion contains a case’s complete history and the Court’s holding on the case—a distinct genre of legal documents that act as a powerful tool of the judiciary. However, the complexity of the legal dialect, and the Court’s operation as a discourse community often muddle the public’s ability to understand and engage with the Court. As such, nuances in legal interpretation that would otherwise explain the framework behind major political and social decisions are often lost in communication. This paper analyzes the role of the Court Opinion as an object of the Supreme Court activity system, and the effect of the concept of the “discourse community” on the Opinion’s effectiveness and clarity, through the 2018 “travel ban” case, Trump v. Hawaii.
Dense Point Cloud Quality Factor as Proxy for Accuracy Assessment of Image-Based 3D Reconstruction

AbstractPhotogrammetry using structure from motion (SfM) and multiview stereopsis (MVS) techniques can recover three-dimensional (3D) structure from a set of overlapping, unoriented, and uncalibrat...
Lift Off: Launching the Journal of First-generation Student Success

“I have to go much further and I have to go much closer.”—Pablo NerudaWords have always saved me and lifted me, and in these dark days and hours of the pandemic, political climate, and social unres...
The Politics of the Black Power Movement

In notable ways, analysis of the Black Power Movement (BPM) by political scientists has been woefully neglected in comparison to analyses proffered by historians, sociologists, and Black Studies sc...
Evaluation of Traffic Signal Systems Effectiveness in Connected Vehicle Environments Using Trajectory Analytics

One of the ways to design more effective signal control strategies is to leverage and synthesize connected vehicle generated (CVG) information to identify traffic states for the controller to opera...
Inactivation of Giardia by Anaerobic Digestion of Sludge

Sludge produced by a model wastewater treatment plant and anaerobically digested at 37°C in a laboratory digester was seeded with G. muris cysts. Samples from the digester were collected at 0:15, 4:00, 8:00, 11:30 and 26:00 hrs. Cyst inactivation was measured by excystation and direct counts of G. muris cysts using a hemacytometer and a phase contrast microscope. The results showed that 99.9% of the cysts were inactivated within apgroximately 18:00 hrs of exposure. This demonstrates that the standard sludge digestion (37°C for 24 hrs) will eliminate most of the cysts (greater than 99.9%).
Oracles versus Proof Techniques that Do Not Relativize

Oracle constructions have long been used to provide evidence that certain questions in complexity theory cannot be resolved using the usual techniques of simulation and diagonalization. However, the existence of nonrelativizing proof techniques seems to call this practice into question. This paper reviews the status of nonrelativizing proof techniques, and argues that many oracle constructions still yield valuable information about problems in complexity theory.
Spreading the Fortune: The Distribution of Lottery Prizes across Countries

It has been 15 years since Cook and Clotfelter described the scale economies associated with state-run lotto games in an American Economic Review article entitled “The Peculiar Scale Economies of Lotto.” U.S. states with larger populations are identified as having the ability to offer games with larger jackpots to attract higher sales per capita. The current paper extends this analysis to all current U.S. state and multi-state lotto-style lottery games as well as to a sample of international lotto games for comparative purposes. The development of the two major U.S. multi-state games over time is also examined to illustrate that changes in the structure of those games can be explained by an application of the scale economies concept offered by Cook and Clotfelter.
A global analysis of stratospheric-tropospheric exchange during northern winter

The global and the regional distributions of the time-averaged stratospheric-tropospheric (ST) mass exchange were analyzed. Using a mathematical formulation of ST exchange, the cross-tropopause mass flux was diagnosed globally for January 1979, and contributions by physical mechanisms including the diabatic transport and the quasi-horizontal adiabatic transport along isentropes that intersect the tropopause surface were evaluated. Two regions of mass flux zonally integrated into the stratosphere were found: one over tropical latitudes associated with diabatic transports, and a second one over subpolar latitudes associated with adiabatic transport. The results are consistent with independent analyses of trace atmospheric constituents.
Exercise as a Vital Sign: A Quasi-Experimental Analysis of a Health System Intervention to Collect Patient-Reported Exercise Levels

BACKGROUND Lack of regular physical activity is highly prevalent in U.S. adults and significantly increases mortality risk.
THE 'SHELL GAME': WHY CHILDREN NEVER LOSE

This paper articulates a formal solution to the puzzle of child language learnability within the Principles and Parameters-based framework. The language learning (parameter-setting) task requires, in principle, that the selection of syntactic knowledge be sufficiently constrained for the child to arrive at the appropriate target grammar, expending a minimum of computational effort and time. Since previous L1 analyses impose very strict requirements on the learner, solutions are achieved only at a very high cost. Further, not only do the standard accounts frequently contradict fundamental empirical facts of child linguistic development, such as the degree of variability observed in the production of early grammatical structures regardless of input; the accounts also fail to consider a crucial aspect which impacts selection: the young child's innate potential to efficiently acquire multiple languages simultaneously. The primary aim of the current paper is to provide a computational model that demonstrates a ''bilingual universals'' (in the spirit of Roeper 1996) stage of development based on real world data. The proposed model actually reflects a more precise UG-based representation within early monolingual grammars, as well as plausibly accounting for variability found in child L1 grammars.
The Heat Is On: Impact of Endobronchial Electrosurgery on the Need for Nd-YAG Laser Photoresection

Study objectives Advances in bronchoscopic electrosurgery have allowed its application in the outpatient setting in patients who otherwise would have required Nd-YAG laser photoresection (LPR) in the operating room. We intended to evaluate the impact of endobronchial electrosurgery (EBES) on the need for Nd-YAG LPR on patients with symptomatic airway lesions. Design Prospective observational case series. Participants One hundred eighteen evaluations for LPR were performed. Forty-seven evaluations (40%) were considered to be amendable to EBES and were treated during the initial bronchoscopy. The remaining patients underwent LPR. Setting Outpatient bronchoscopy suite at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, OH. Results Of the 47 procedures, 42 (89%) were successful in alleviating the obstruction, thus eliminating the need for LPR. No major complications were encountered. Conclusion EBES can be performed safely in the outpatient setting and is an effective procedure in treating select endobronchial lesions. EBES eliminated the need for LPR in 36% of such procedures with a potential for significant time and cost savings.
Billy M. McCormac (1920–1999)

Billy M. McCormac died on September 13, 1999, at age 79. His many friends and colleagues will remember him for the legendary International Institutes on Space Science and Aeronomy, which he organized between 1965 and 1975. Billy was born and raised in Zanesville, Ohio, and graduated from Ohio State University in 1943 in the midst of World War II. He joined the Army as a 2nd Lieutenant and served in Europe and Korea. As a career officer he was sent to graduate school at the University of Virginia, where he received his Ph.D. in nuclear physics in 1957. He held various scientific positions in the Army until his retirement as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1963. His last military position was Chief of Electromagnetics at the Defense Atomic Support Agency, where he was responsible for experiments measuring the effects of the high-altitude nuclear weapon explosions in the Pacific.
SI Engine Trends: A Historical Analysis with Future Projections

It is well known that spark ignited engine performance and efficiency is closely coupled to fuel octane number. The present work combines historical and recent trends in spark ignition engines to build a database of engine design, performance, and fuel octane requirements over the past 80 years. The database consists of engine compression ratio, required fuel octane number, peak mean effective pressure, specific output, and combined unadjusted fuel economy for passenger vehicles and light trucks. Recent trends in engine performance, efficiency, and fuel octane number requirement were used to develop correlations of fuel octane number utilization, performance, specific output. The results show that historically, engine compression ratio and specific output have been strongly coupled to fuel octane number. However, over the last 15 years the sales weighted averages of compression ratios, specific output, and fuel economy have increased, while the fuel octane number requirement has remained largely unchanged. Using the developed correlations, 10-year-out projections of engine performance, design, and fuel economy are estimated for various fuel octane numbers, both with and without turbocharging. The 10-year-out projection shows that only by keeping power neutral while using 105 RON fuel will allow the vehicle fleet to meet CAFE targets if only themore » engine is relied upon to decrease fuel consumption. If 98 RON fuel is used, a power neutral fleet will have to reduce vehicle weight by 5%.« less
Porphyromonas bennonis sp. nov., isolated from human clinical specimens.

During our investigation of the bacteriology of human wound infections and abscesses, a novel anaerobic, non-spore-forming, Gram-negative bacillus was frequently isolated. On the basis of morphological and biochemical criteria, the strains were tentatively identified as belonging to the family Bacteroidaceae, but they did not appear to correspond to any recognized species of this family. Comparative 16S rRNA gene sequencing showed that the 14 novel strains were genotypically homogeneous and confirmed their placement in the genus Porphyromonas. Sequence divergence values >10 % with respect to reference Porphyromonas species demonstrated that the strains isolated represent a novel species. On the basis of biochemical criteria and phylogenetic considerations, it is proposed that these strains isolated from human sources should be assigned to a novel species of the genus Porphyromonas, named Porphyromonas bennonis sp. nov., with WAL 1926CT (=ATCC BAA-1629T =CCUG 55979T) as the type strain.
DNA Nanotechnology: A metamaterial with memory

DNA can be used to create a very soft gel with liquid-like properties that can return to a preset solid shape when water is added.
Acid phosphatase localization in the fungus Whetzelinia sclerotiorum

Acid phosphatase was localized by light and electron microscopy in chains of vacuoles in hyphal tip cells of Whetzelinia sclerotiorum. The enzyme was present in these vacuoles whether or not conditions favored extracellular acid phosphatase secretion. Apical vesicles, microbodies, Woronin bodies, and lipid bodies did not contain acid phosphatase. The implications regarding terminology of organelles in filamentous fungi are discussed with special reference to the fungal spherosome concept.