cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
An empirical examination of the relationship between adult attention deficit and the operational effectiveness of project managers

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between adult attention deficit (AAD) and the operational effectiveness of project managers (OEPM). Design/methodology/approach – In total, 160 actively employed business graduate students participated in a business course where they were assigned to four person project teams responsible for completing a major business project. The project contained four sub-projects each of which was managed by a different team member. At the end of the semester each team member rated the others on their operational effectiveness as a project manager. Each subject identified a close associate who completed an observer version of the Brown Attention Deficit Scale. Product moment correlations were used to test the hypotheses that AAD and each of the symptom clusters are negatively associated with OEPM. Simultaneous linear regression was used to test the hypothesis that difficulties activating and organizing to work (DAOW) is uniquely associated with OEPM af...
Lung abscess: A study of the results of treatment based on 90 consecutive cases

Ninety patients with primary suppurative lung abscess were treated at University Hospitals from 1961 to 1971. The over all mortality rate was 17 per cent (15 deaths). Of the 71 patients treated medically, 14 died. Of the 19 patients requiring surgical treatment after failure of medical treatment, only 1 died. The largest number of patients was in the age group from 26 to 50 years (39 cases) and the next largest from 51 to 75 years (34 cases). However, 11 out of the 15 patients who died were in the latter group. Noteworthy was the high mortality rate in patients with debilitating disease (14 of the 15 deaths) and the relatively large number of patients with predisposing factors, particularly alcoholism (31), diabetes (18), and steroid therapy (9).
Utilizing semantic big data for realizing a national-scale infrastructure vulnerability analysis system

Critical Infrastructure systems (CIs) such as energy, water, transportation, and communication are highly interconnected and mutually dependent in complex ways. Robust modeling of CIs' interconnections is crucial to identify vulnerabilities in the CIs. We present a vision of national-scale Infrastructure Vulnerability Analysis System (IVAS) leveraging Semantic Big Data (SBD) tools, Big Data, and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) tools. We first survey existing approaches on vulnerability analysis of critical infrastructures and discuss relevant systems and tools aligned with our vision. Next, we present a generic system architecture and discuss challenges including: (1) Constructing and managing a CI network-of-networks graph, (2) Performing analytic operations at scale, and (3) Interactive visualization of analytic output to generate meaningful insights. We argue that this architecture acts as a baseline to realize a national-scale network based vulnerability analysis system.
B cell receptor inhibition as a target for CLL therapy

Inhibitors of the B cell receptor (BCR) represent an attractive therapeutic option for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Recently approved inhibitors of Bruton's tyrosine kinase (ibrutinib) and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (idelalisib), are promising agents because they are generally well tolerated and highly effective. These agents may be particularly important in the treatment of older patients who are less able to tolerate the myelosuppression (and infections) associated with chemoimmunotherapy. As a class of medications, BCR inhibitors have some unique side effects including redistribution lymphocytosis. Ibrutinib has specific toxicities including increased risk for bleeding and atrial fibrillation. Idelalisib also has some unique toxicities consisting of transaminitis, diarrhea and pneumonitis. Ongoing clinical trials are evaluating these agents in combination with antibodies, chemotherapy and other small molecules.
Reciprocity as a Species of Fairness: Completing Malinowski’s Theory of Law

Throughout his career Bronislaw Malinowski attempted to construct a theory that would support the position that law is necessarily shared by all human societies rather than an achievement of only a privileged few. His initial effort in Crime and Custom in Savage Society intended reciprocity to be the psychological mechanism that would lead inevitably to the formation of legal institutions. For reasons reviewed here, this solution failed largely because the understanding of reciprocity available to Malinowski was too crude to perform the theoretical work he required. By enriching the statements of Crime and Custom with later concepts such as altruistic punishment, we can now fulfill Malinowski’s goal of a general theory of law that results in its treatment as a cultural universal.
What Is the Preferred Conformation of Phosphatidylserine-Copper(II) Complexes? A Combined Theoretical and Experimental Investigation

Phosphatidylserine (PS) has previously been found to bind Cu2+ in a ratio of 1 Cu2+ ion per 2 PS lipids to form a complex with an apparent dissociation constant that can be as low as picomolar. While the affinity of Cu2+ for lipid membranes containing PS lipids has been well characterized, the structural details of the Cu–PS2 complex have not yet been reported. Coordinating to one amine and one carboxylate moiety on two separate PS lipids, the Cu–PS2 complex is unique among ion–lipid complexes in its ability to adopt both cis and trans conformations. Herein, we determine which stereoisomer of the Cu–PS2 complex is favored in lipid bilayers using density functional theory calculations and electron paramagnetic resonance experiments. It was determined that a conformation in which the nitrogen centers are cis to each other is the preferred binding geometry. This is in contrast to the complex formed when two glycine molecules bind to Cu2+ in bulk solution, where the cis and trans isomers exist in equilibrium,...
Infrared spectroscopy of weak charge-transfer complexes

A comprehensive theory of the infrared spectra of weak charge-transfer complexes is given. The mechanism required for increased variation of dipole moment with molecular vibration due to complexing, and hence infrared enhancement, is a variation in the dative coefficient of the complex. In addition to the previously discussed mechanisms for dative coefficient variation, namely ionization potential and electron affinity variation, it is proposed that a variation in donor and acceptor wave function overlap due to molecular vibration is required to explain the benzene-iodine complex infrared spectrum.This latter mechanism is consistent with either a non-symmetric geometry for the complex or an « Axial » model in which the very low frequency vibrations associated with motion of the benzene with respect to the iodine cause the near iodine atom to spend a large fraction of time appreciably off of the C6 axis. The infrared spectrum of the benzene-iodine complex is explained in detail. Infrared selection rules for aromatic-halogen complexes are formulated and spectra of a number of methylated benzene-iodine complexes are explained very well.
Law and the Making of Slavery in Colonial Virginia

Some authorities from the antebellum period to the present have located the source of the American law of slavery in continental civil law codes and hence in Roman slave law. They have been unable or unwilling to connect the brutal system of institutionalized racial slavery that emerged in Virginia and elsewhere in the American slave kingdom with what they have perceived as an open, freedom-favoring Anglo-American legal system and have thus sought an explanation of its legal underpinnings in other jurisdictical standards. Both the absence of chattel slavery in English law and the common law9s claimed bias in favor of liberty have often been cited as reasons why it is impossible that English law could be the source of such an abomination.
Daunorubicin and Cytarabine Liposome in Newly Diagnosed Therapy-Related Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) or AML With Myelodysplasia-Related Changes.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of daunorubicin and cytarabine liposome in older adults with newly diagnosed therapy-related acute myeloid leukemia (t-AML) or AML with myelodysplasia...
Topical Delivery of Antiviral Agents: In Vivo / In Vitro Correlations

There has been significant progress made during the past ten years in our understanding of drug transport processes in skin and the use of this information in topical and transdermal drug delivery. Physicochemical concepts and methods have been especially valuable in this regard. We have recently developed a method which combines in vitro experiments with hairless mouse skin and theoretical techniques based upon physical chemical relationships for predicting target-site levels of drug delivered by the drugs or prodrugs in various vehicles. A three-layer model was developed (stratum corneum, epidermis and dermis) and validated by independent experiments. In our most recent investigations, target-site predictions were made for the 5’-monoester prodrugs of vidarabine (an antiviral agent) delivered topically into hairless mouse skin with and without the penetration enhancer, Azone (dodecylazacycloheptan-2-one). The 5’-valerate ester of vidarabine was predicted to be the best among five monoester prodrugs. It was, nevertheless, predicted to be only marginally effective (against herpes virus) in sustaining high enough steady-state vidarabine levels in the epidermis when delivered from conventional creams. Efficacy predictions for the 5’-valerate in formulations containing 10 to 20% Azone, suggested that the Azone formulations would be able to sustain much higher steady-state epidermal vidarabine levels (50 to 200 X). The first set of in vivo studies by Dr. W.M. Shannon completed very recently showed that topical treatment with the 5’-valerate prodrug of vidarabine in a conventional cream was only marginally effective in reducing lesion scores and the mortality rates of prodrug of vidarabine in a conventional cream was only marginally effective in reducing lesion scores and the mortality rates of hairless mice infected topically by Herpes Simplex Virus Type I. With Azone in the formulations, the lesion scores were significantly improved and the mortality rate was zero.
Parallel Signcryption with OAEP, PSS-R, and other Feistel Paddings

We present a new, elegant composition method for joint signature and encryption, also referred to as signcryption. The new method, which we call Padding-based Parallel Signcryption (PbPS), builds an efficient signcryption scheme from any family of trapdoor permutations, such as RSA. Each user U generates a single public/secret key pair fU/f −1 U used for both sending and receiving the data. To signcrypt a message m to a recipient with key frcv, a sender with key fsnd efficiently transforms m into a pair 〈w, s〉, and simply sends frcv(w)‖f −1 snd (s). PbPS enjoys many attractive properties: simplicity, efficiency, generality, parallelism of “encrypting”/“signing”, optimal exact security, flexible and ad-hoc key management, key reuse for sending/receiving data, optimally-low message expansion, long message and associated data support, and, finally, complete compatibility with the PKCS#1 infrastructure. The pairs 〈w, s〉 sufficient for the security of PbPS are called universal two-padding schemes. Using one round of the Feistel transform, we give a very general construction of such schemes. Interestingly, we notice that all popular padding schemes with message recovery used for plain signature or encryption, such as OAEP, OAEP+, PSS-R, and “scramble all, encrypt small” [21], naturally consist of two pieces 〈w, s〉. Quite remarkably, we show that all such pairs become special cases of our construction. As a result, we find a natural generalization of all conventional padding schemes, and show that any such padding can be used for signcryption with PbPS. However, none of such paddings gives optimal message bandwidth. For that purpose and of independent interest, we define a new “hybrid” between PSS-R and OAEP, which we call Probabilistic Signature-Encryption Padding (PSEP). We recommend using PbPS with PSEP to achieve the most flexible and secure signcryption scheme up-to-date. To justify this point, we provide a detailed practical comparison of PbPS/PSEP with other previously-proposed signcryption candidates.
The effects of limited data in multi-frequency reflection diffraction tomography

This paper examines the implications of reconstruction from limited spatial frequency coverage in multi-frequency reflection diffraction tomography. The inversion equation in reflection diffraction tomography is presented. It is shown that the resultant multi-frequency data provides coverage in a one-quadrant of the spatial frequency domain. This coverage yields accurate information regarding the surface structure of the object under study.
Thermal Wave Characterization of Coated Surfaces

The experimental techniques and theory for utilizing the mirage effect, or optical probe beam detection, of thermal waves in opaque solids for determining their thermal diffusivities have been described in detail elsewhere. [1–4] An application to a coated nickel-based alloy has also been described elsewhere. [1] In previous papers [5,6] we presented a theoretical expression which describes the mirage effect signal in a three-layer medium (gas-coating-sample system), taking into consideration the effects of the sizes of the heating and probe beams. In this paper we extend the results of numerical calculations from that expression to the case of films which are thermally very thin (thicknesses of the order of 10-3 thermal diffusion lengths). A model system of 100–500 nm thick Cu films on glass substrates was studied experimentally at thermal wave frequencies below 1kHz, and in this paper we compare the results of those measurements to the numerical calculations.
Stress analysis of bolted composite joints under multiaxial loading

Abstract: This chapter presents a two-dimensional, semi-analytical solution method for the stress analysis of bolted composite lap joints under mechanical and/or thermal loading. It is based on a combined complex potential and variational formulation. The method is capable of modeling finite geometries, bolt stiffness, bolt-hole clearance, variable plate thickness and metallic inserts without any symmetry requirements. It accounts for the contact phenomenon and the interaction among the bolts explicitly under bearing and by-pass loading with or without thermal loading. It is computationally not demanding and, thus, is suitable for parametric studies and design optimization.
Waveguide Microcalorimetry Status at NMIs

Measurement of radio frequency (RF) power is extremely important in RF metrology and great strides have been made over the last couple of decades to enhance its accuracy. This paper briefly summarized the recent developments concerning the power standards as well as current capabilities of various national metrology institutes (NMIs) worldwide.
Exploring the Postcamp Civic Outcomes and Supporting Program Features of the Teens Leading & Connecting Program

Americans are increasingly becoming disconnected from society, which means that civic engagement is changing at best or drastically decreasing at worst (Bellah et al., 2008; Putnam, 2000). Social researchers have been seeking to identify places in society that can foster not just civic engagement, but also the civic skills that enable such engagement (Obradovic & Masten, 2007; Putnam, 2000). Summer camp may be a potential avenue to engender civic skills and civic engagement, but summer camps remain underrepresented in the civic engagement literature. This article describes a camp program, Teens Leading & Connecting (TLC), that was intentionally designed to develop campers' civic skills and encourage civic engagement. The purposes of this study were to understand the immediate postcamp outcomes of the TLC program (i.e., the outcomes campers reported directly after camp ended) and to explore how the TLC program fostered those immediate postcamp outcomes, from the campers' perspectives. The current study utilized semi-structured interviews with the TLC campers in the week following TLC. These postcamp interviews explored the civic skills and outcomes campers gained through TLC along with future intentions to be civically engaged in the campers' home communities. The qualitative interview data were analyzed following Hycner's (1985) guidelines for qualitative analysis. Analysis revealed six immediate postcamp outcomes for TLC campers, as expressed by the campers: increased collaboration skills, increased leadership skills, increased problem-solving skills, increased motivation and confidence to contribute to their community, increased understanding of service, and increased knowledge of their home community. Additionally, campers identified a variety of features in their TLC experience that supported their outcomes and success in the program. Three main features of their TLC experience emerged as particularly important from the camper interviews: the structure of the TLC program, the bonding within the TLC group, and the context of camp. Campers in the TLC program reported gains that paralleled the intention of the program's designers and were able to describe how the TLC program itself fostered those outcomes. Lessons learned from TLC that could support other youth-serving organizations looking to offer programs similar to TLC are discussed.
The Role of Vitamin E in Pregnancy

Oxidative stress has been associated with low birth weight, preterm delivery, and preeclampsia, all important negative maternal or neonatal outcomes of pregnancy. Vitamin E, specifically RRR-α-tocopherol, has potent antioxidant effects that may help mitigate these risks if intake is optimal during pregnancy. Many complications of pregnancy and the neonatal period are augmented by inflammation making the task of defining optimal vitamin E status and antioxidant capacity during pregnancy a worthwhile endeavor. Clinical supplementation trials of vitamin E during pregnancy as reviewed by a 2015 Cochrane review are inconclusive or draw contradictory conclusions and have designs that do not lead to robust data for analysis. Additional information regarding placental regulation of α- and γ-tocopherols, fetal tissue incorporation, and fetal serum concentrations of tocopherol metabolites are other areas for continued research. A more complete understanding of vitamin E status of the pregnant woman and its impact on the developing fetus as well as associations with pregnancy outcomes such as length of gestation, mode of delivery, and associations with preeclampsia, pregnancy-induced hypertension, and gestational diabetes is critical to improving pregnancy outcomes. Considerable scientific work remains necessary to fully understand the role of vitamin E in fertility and pregnancy and its ability to optimize maternal and neonatal outcomes.
EPA's DSSTox database: History of development of a curated chemistry resource supporting computational toxicology research.

Abstract The US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Distributed Structure-Searchable Toxicity (DSSTox) database, launched publicly in 2004, currently exceeds 875 K substances spanning hundreds of lists of interest to EPA and environmental researchers. From its inception, DSSTox has focused curation efforts on resolving chemical identifier errors and conflicts in the public domain towards the goal of assigning accurate chemical structures to data and lists of importance to the environmental research and regulatory community. Accurate structure-data associations, in turn, are necessary inputs to structure-based predictive models supporting hazard and risk assessments. In 2014, the legacy, manually curated DSSTox_V1 content was migrated to a MySQL data model, with modern cheminformatics tools supporting both manual and automated curation processes to increase efficiencies. This was followed by sequential auto-loads of filtered portions of three public datasets: EPA’s Substance Registry Services (SRS), the National Library of Medicine’s ChemID, and PubChem. This process was constrained by a key requirement of uniquely mapped identifiers (i.e., CAS RN, name and structure) for each substance, rejecting content where any two identifiers were conflicted either within or across datasets. This rejected content highlighted the degree of conflicting, inaccurate substance-structure ID mappings in the public domain, ranging from 12% (within EPA SRS) to 49% (across ChemID and PubChem). Substances successfully added to DSSTox from each auto-load were assigned to one of five qc_levels, conveying curator confidence in each dataset. This process enabled a significant expansion of DSSTox content to provide better coverage of the chemical landscape of interest to environmental scientists, while retaining focus on the accuracy of substance-structure-data associations. Currently, DSSTox serves as the core foundation of EPA’s CompTox Chemicals Dashboard [ https://comptox.epa.gov/dashboard ], which provides public access to DSSTox content in support of a broad range of modeling and research activities within EPA and, increasingly, across the field of computational toxicology.
Breaking the nlog n barrier for solvable-group isomorphism

We consider the group isomorphism problem: given two finite groups G and H specified by their multiplication tables, decide if G b H. The nlog n barrier for group isomorphism has withstood all attacks --- even for the special cases of p-groups and solvable groups --- ever since the nlog n+O(1) generator-enumeration algorithm. In this work, we present the first significant improvement over nlog n by showing that group isomorphism is n(1/2) logpn+O(1) Turing reducible to composition-series isomorphism where p is the smallest prime dividing the order of the group. Combining our reduction with an nO(p/log p) algorithm for p-group composition-series isomorphism, we obtain an n(1/2) log n+O(1) algorithm for p-group isomorphism. We then generalize our techniques from p-groups using Sylow bases to derive an n(1/2) log n+O(log n/log log n) algorithm for solvable-group isomorphism. Finally, we relate group isomorphism to the collision problem which allows us replace the 1/2 in the exponents with 1/4 using randomized algorithms and 1/6 using quantum algorithms.
Lipid Metabolism and Ferroptosis

Ferroptosis is an iron-dependent form of non-apoptotic cell death that is characterized by the accumulation of toxic lipid reactive oxygen species (ROS). The execution of ferroptosis does not appear to rely on particular protein effectors. Rather, the initiation and execution of this process depends upon modulation of intracellular metabolism. In particular, the process of lipid peroxidation is essential for ferroptosis. While the central role of lipid peroxidation in ferroptosis is clear, the precise lipid peroxide species formed during ferroptosis, as well as how and where they are generated, remain poorly understood. This chapter explores these questions and describes the role of lipids and lipid metabolism in the initiation, execution, and suppression of ferroptosis.
Qualitative Examination of Health Perceptions and Obesity Among Mothers of Preschool-aged American Indian Children

Purpose: Obesity disparities may be potentially mediated through culturally-oriented health counseling. American Indian (AI) children are at high risk for obesity, yet few studies have examined culturally-specific health beliefs related to obesity in this population. The goal of this study was to examine parental perceptions of health and obesity in early childhood among mothers of AI preschool children in the Chickasaw Nation. Methods: Focus groups were …
Machine Learning + Distributed IoT = Edge Intelligence

Internet-of-Things (IoT) systems provide large-scale sensor networks that can be used to monitor and analyze a wide range of physical systems. IoT systems can generate huge volumes of data that needs to be dealt with in a timely fashion. Machine learning (ML) provides compelling techniques for the analysis of large, complex data sets. Many existing machine learning systems operate in the cloud. However, bandwidth, power, latency, privacy, and other issues often require IoT systems to apply ML techniques at multiple levels of the network hierarchy. This paper describes important characteristics of edge intelligence and identifies several important research challenges related to machine learning + distributed IoT systems.
Causes of Socioeconomic Disparities in Colorectal Cancer and Intervention Framework and Strategies

Colorectal cancer (CRC) disproportionately affects people from low socioeconomic backgrounds and some racial minorities. Disparities in CRC incidence and outcomes might result from differences in exposure to risk factors such as unhealthy diet and sedentary lifestyle; limited access to risk-reducing behaviors such as chemoprevention, screening, and follow-up of abnormal test results; or lack of access to high-quality treatment resources. These factors operate at the individual, provider, health system, community, and policy levels to perpetuate CRC disparities. However, CRC disparities can be eliminated. Addressing the complex factors that contribute to development and progression of CRC with multicomponent, adaptive interventions, at multiple levels of the care continuum, can reduce gaps in mortality. These might be addressed with a combination of health care and community-based interventions and policy changes that promote healthy behaviors and ensure access to high-quality and effective measures for CRC prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. Improving resources and coordinating efforts in communities where people of low socioeconomic status live and work would increase access to evidence-based interventions. Research is also needed to understand the role and potential mechanisms by which factors in diet, intestinal microbiome, and/or inflammation contribute to differences in colorectal carcinogenesis. Studies of large cohorts with diverse populations are needed to identify epidemiologic and molecular factors that contribute to CRC development in different populations.
Cruel and Unusual Punishment in the USA

It’s coming to America first. The cradle of the best and the worst. It’s here they got the range, and the machinery for change, and it’s here they got the spiritual thirst.It’s here the family’s br...
Opioid prescribing practices in adolescent and young adults with sarcomas.

136Background: Adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with sarcoma undergo procedures that can result in acute and chronic pain. Adult cancer patients are at increased risk of chronic opioid use, and ...
Specification Choice in Randomized and Natural Experiments: Lessons from the Regulation SHO Experiment

During 2005-2007, the SEC conducted a randomized trial in which it removed short-sale restrictions from one-third of the Russell 3000 firms. Early studies found modest microstructure-related effects of removing the restrictions but no effect on short interest or share prices. More recently, however, many studies have attributed a wide range of substantive indirect outcomes to this experiment. We revisit the principal findings in four recent studies in major journals, using a sample that closely matches the actual experiment and a pre-specified research design, and find no support for any of the reported results. If we instead match their specifications as best we can based on the published descriptions, we still obtain quite different results; only two of 13 outcomes are statistically significant, barely so, and even those results are tenuous. For two papers, we have the authors’ original data and code. We can technically replicate two (different) results, but those results are highly sensitive to specification. Our findings have implications for the robustness of other studies finding indirect effects of the short-sale experiment. More broadly, they have implications for the credibility of “causal” research designs which rely on randomization or on natural experiments. Researchers retain extensive discretion over both the sample and model specification, even for a true randomized experiment. The choices in these studies produced significant results, when other reasonable choices would not. The Online Appendix is available at https://ssrn.com/abstract=3657200. Our pre-specified analysis plan is available at https://ssrn.com/abstract=3415529.
Three broken vessels in a peripartum patient: a rare case report of spontaneous triple vessel coronary artery dissection.

Background Spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) is a frequently underdiagnosed entity that carries a significant risk of morbidity and mortality. Spontaneous coronary artery dissection is increasingly recognized as an important cause of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and, the majority of SCAD patients are young healthy women. Case summary A 23-year-old female G5P4 presented to the emergency room for severe sub-sternal chest pain, associated with shortness of breath. Past medical history was significant for pre-eclampsia. Initial electrocardiogram was remarkable for ST depressions in V5-V6 with inverted T waves to V1-V2. Troponin I was elevated to 1.13 ng/mL. Two-dimensional echo showed reduced left ventricular function with an ejection fraction of 40%. Cardiac catheterization showed triple vessel dissection involving the left main trunk extending into mid-left anterior descending and dissection extending from ostium of left circumflex artery into large first obtuse marginal branch. She was started on aspirin and heparin. After 48 h she was loaded with clopidogrel. Computed tomography angiography of head, neck, abdomen, and pelvis showed findings compatible with fibromuscular dysplasia. She was haemodynamically stable and symptom free and did not want surgery. She was recommended to continue dual antiplatelet therapy for 12 months and subsequently aspirin and beta blocker only lifelong. Discussion Spontaneous coronary artery dissection is a rare condition which is underdiagnosed. A thorough history and high degree of suspicion is required to diagnose in a timely manner and it should be high on differential in a postpartum female presenting with signs and symptoms of ACS.
Seawater Dielectric Constant At L-Band: How Consistent Are New Parametrisations Inferred from Smos and Laboratory Measurements?

The accuracy of the Sea Surface Salinity (SSS) retrieved from L-Band radiometer measurements is strongly dependent on the accuracy of the modelling of the dielectric constant (e). Two new e parametrizations have recently been developed based on one hand on the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) satellite multi-angular brightness temperature measurements and on the other hand on new laboratory measurements. These two approaches are fully independent. These new e parametrizations are compared with each other and with the e models previously in use in the SMOS, Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) and Aquarius SSS retrievals. The two new e parametrizations are found to be in closer agreement than with earlier parametrizations for most common ocean conditions. We will further study to which extent the recent SMOS CCI+SSS v3 reprocessing confirms the above results and could help resolve remaining inconsistencies.
COVID-19 Vaccination Dynamics in the US: Coverage Velocity and Carrying Capacity Based on Socio-demographic Vulnerability Indices in California.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) disparities among vulnerable populations are of paramount concern that extend to vaccine administration. With recent uptick in infection rates, dominance of the delta variant, and authorization of a third booster shot, understanding the population-level vaccine coverage dynamics and underlying sociodemographic factors is critical for achieving equity in public health outcomes. This study aimed to characterize the scope of vaccine inequity in California counties through modeling the trends of vaccination using the Social Vulnerability Index (SVI). Overall SVI, its four themes, and 9228 data points of daily vaccination numbers from December 15, 2020, to May 23, 2021, across all 58 California counties were used to model the growth velocity and anticipated maximum proportion of population vaccinated, defined as having received at least one dose of vaccine. Based on the overall SVI, the vaccination coverage velocity was lower in counties in the high vulnerability category (v = 0.0346, 95% CI 0.0334, 0.0358) compared to moderate (v = 0.0396, 95% CI 0.0385, 0.0408) and low (v = 0.0414, 95% CI 0.0403, 0.0425) vulnerability categories. SVI Theme 3 (minority status and language) yielded the largest disparity in coverage velocity between low and high-vulnerable counties (v = 0.0423 versus v = 0.035, P < 0.001). Based on the current trajectory, while counties in low-vulnerability category of overall SVI are estimated to achieve a higher proportion of vaccinated individuals, our models yielded a higher asymptotic maximum for highly vulnerable counties of Theme 3 (K = 0.544, 95% CI 0.527, 0.561) compared to low-vulnerability counterparts (K = 0.441, 95% CI 0.432, 0.450). The largest disparity in asymptotic proportion vaccinated between the low and high-vulnerability categories was observed in Theme 2 describing the household composition and disability (K = 0.602, 95% CI 0.592, 0.612; versus K = 0.425, 95% CI 0.413, 0.436). Overall, the large initial disparities in vaccination rates by SVI status attenuated over time, particularly based on Theme 3 status which yielded a large decrease in cumulative vaccination rate ratio of low to high-vulnerability categories from 1.42 to 0.95 (P = 0.002). This study provides insight into the problem of COVID-19 vaccine disparity across California which can help promote equity during the current pandemic and guide the allocation of future vaccines such as COVID-19 booster shots.
Molecular assessment of testicular adult granulosa cell tumor demonstrates significant differences when compared to ovarian counterparts.

Testicular adult granulosa cell tumor (AGCT) is a rare type of sex-cord stromal tumor that affects patients of a wide age range and has the potential for late metastasis. In the testis, the diagnosis of AGCTs often requires the exclusion of other more common types of sex-cord stromal tumors. Immunohistochemistry is of limited utility, being used mostly to confirm sex-cord lineage and to exclude other entities when morphology is not typical. Unlike ovarian AGCTs, which are molecularly homogeneous and harbor a specific activating FOXL2 mutation (c.7558C > T p.C134W) in >90% of cases, the molecular characteristics of testicular AGCTs remain largely unknown. In the current study, we analyzed 13 testicular AGCTs diagnosed at multiple institutions using massively parallel DNA sequencing to evaluate single nucleotide variants, copy number alterations, and structural variants. In all, 10/13 cases were sequenced successfully. Notably, the FOXL2 c.7558C > T (p.C134W) mutation was identified in only a single case (1/10, 10%). The remaining cases were molecularly heterogeneous, with largely nonrecurrent genetic variants. Putative driver events in individual cases included a well-characterized gain-of-function NRAS mutation, as well as inactivation of ATM and TP53, among others. The only highly recurrent finding was single copy loss of 22q (7/10 cases, 70%). Comparatively, the frequencies of FOXL2 c.7558C > T (p.C134W) and 22q loss in 12 metastatic ovarian AGCTs identified in our database were 92% (11/12) and 42% (5/12), respectively. The results of the present study suggest that testicular AGCTs are different from their ovarian counterparts in that they appear to be molecularly heterogeneous and only rarely harbor FOXL2 mutations.
The Evolution of an Ecosystem: Pleistocene Extinctions

It is generally assumed that evolution is an issue of looking at how a species fits into its environment. This over-constrains our thinking; we should look at how the species and the ecosystem evolve together.
Cytosolic phospholipase A2 as a mediator of disease pathogenesis

As efficient catalysts, enzymes help maintain a variety of biological and chemical transformations necessary for cellular metabolism and normal physiology. Unfortunately, pathogenic microbes can also exploit enzymatic reactions in an attempt to spread infection. Cytosolic phospholipase A2 (cPLA(2) ) is an enzyme that is responsible for the hydrolysis of membrane phospholipids such as phosphatidylcholine. Following activation, cPLA(2) cleaves phosphatidylcholine to yield free fatty acid and lysophosphatidylcholine. Both of these products and their downstream metabolites initiate a network of signalling cascades that influence cellular viability and inflammation. Recent observations have shown that viral and bacterial agents often target this intricate organization of signalling molecules. This review briefly discusses the role of cPLA(2) in the biological response to disease-causing pathogens and injury, the immunological process and tumour progression.
Oversight of reorganization in massive multiagent systems

We have explored mechanisms for converting organizations to an edge type organization. Beyond structural differences, organizations differ in information flow network and information sharing strategies. We review organizational adaptation. A model of computational organization and reorganization is presented using dynamic roles. In addition to self-organization, our model allows human oversight and guided reorganization. This article lays a foundation for automatic organizational adaptation and human supervision. Our model is exemplified with simulated soccer.
Structural evidence that the small subunit found associated with the TL antigen is β2-microglobulin

Comparative tryptic peptide mapping and partial amino-terminal primary sequence analysis of the light chain component associated with the TL antigens showed that the small subunit of TL was identical to the β2m light chain associated with the H-2K or D product of the same strain. Peptide comparison of the β2m from the Tla products of an A strain X-ray induced leukemia RADA1 (Tlaa) and of a C57BL/6 strain X-ray induced leukemia ERLD (Tlab) showed differences to the extent of 25–35% in their peptides. This is consistent with previous results showing β2m allelic variations between these mouse strains. The data prove the structural identity of the β2m molecules from TL and H-2K, D antigens as well as reveal the strain specific polymorphism of the β2m associated with these products.
FAMILIAL NONHEMOLYTIC JAUNDICE: BILIRUBINOSIS AND ENCEPHALOPATHY

The unique pathological findings of a case of congenital familial hyperbilirubinemia are presented. The patient (Case 3 of Crigler and Najjar9s original report), although severely jaundiced, had developed normally without evidence of neurological disease until 15½ years of age. He then developed a progressive neurological deterioration which was clinically similar to infantile kernicterus. At autopsy most of his organs showed extensive intra- and extracellular deposition of bile pigment, particularly the renal papillae, atrial endocardium, intestinal mucosa, Kupffer cells of the liver, and the perivascular adventitia. Although no pigment was found in the central nervous system, there was striking neuronal loss and gliosis of the thalamus. Moderate neuronal loss was found in the putamen, caudate nucleus, dentate nucleus, and red nuclei. No histopathological changes were found in the hippocampus or cerebral cortex. It is suggested that the patient suffered from a late onset of "kernicterus" with involvement, in this older patient, of regions of the nervous system somewhat different from those in infantile kernicterus.
An evidence‐based review of the rectovaginal examination during well‐woman visits

Background and purpose Women's health promotion and disease prevention has experienced considerable transformation over the past decade. This includes introduction of the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination, updated recommendations for mammography screening, Papanicolaou smear and HPV testing, and pelvic examinations. Despite significant literature about these subjects, one area that has not been reviewed is the rectovaginal examination (RVE). This article will examine available evidence regarding the RVE and make evidence-based recommendations that nurse practitioners (NPs) can integrate into practice Methods An electronic search was completed using PubMed, CINAHL, National Guideline Clearinghouse, and Cochrane Data Bases. Medical Subject Heading terms and keywords included Physical Examination, Vagina, Rectum, Digital Rectal Examination, Gynecological Examination, and Rectovaginal Examination in combination with Well-Woman, Screening, and Pelvic Examination. Conclusions Available literature shows the RVE to have low sensitivity in detecting uterosacral nodularity, rectal compression, cervical involvement of endometrial cancer, and colorectal cancer. Implications for practice This critical review of available literature found no evidence to support the use of the RVE in well-woman visits. NPs should limit the use of the RVE to patients presenting with rectovaginal or pelvic complaints.
Influence of hormone replacement therapy and aspirin on temperature regulation in postmenopausal women.

Postmenopausal women receiving estrogen-replacement therapy (ERT) regulate body temperature (T(b)) at a lower level than women not receiving hormone replacement therapy (untreated) and women using estrogen plus progesterone therapy (E + P), but it is not clear if reproductive hormones alter T(b) by directly acting on central thermoregulatory centers or indirectly via a secondary mediator(s). The purpose of the present investigation was to examine the possible involvement of pyrogenic cytokines and cyclooxygenase (COX) products (e.g., prostaglandins) in the regulation of T(b) in three groups of postmenopausal women (8 ERT, 7 E + P, and 8 untreated). We measured ex vivo secretion of cytokine agonists [tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha and interleukin (IL)-1beta and -6] and modifiers (IL-2 soluble receptor, IL-1 receptor antagonist, soluble TNF receptor type I, soluble TNF receptor type II, soluble IL-6 receptor, and soluble glycoprotein 130) from peripheral blood mononuclear cells and thermoregulatory responses at rest and during 1 h of passive whole body heating in the postmenopausal women before and after 3 days of placebo or aspirin (50 mg. day(-1). kg(-1)). With and without aspirin, the ERT group had a lower baseline rectal temperature (T(re); 0.44 degrees C, P < 0.004) and a reduced T(b) threshold for cutaneous vasodilation (0.29 degrees C and 0.38 degrees C, P < 0.01) compared with the untreated and E + P groups, respectively. In the placebo condition, waking morning oral temperature (T(or)) correlated with ex vivo secretion of the proteins associated with IL-6 bioactivity. Aspirin caused significant reductions in waking T(or) in the E + P group and in baseline T(re) in the untreated group. However, the difference in thermoregulation brought about by steroid hormone treatment could not be explained by these relatively modest apparent influences by cytokines and COX products. Therefore, the altered thermoregulation induced by reproductive steroid therapy appears to occur via a mechanism distinct from a classic infection-induced fever.
Toward an Anthropology of Senility: Anger, Weakness, and Alzheimer's in Banaras, India

Dementia has seldom been subject to cross-cultural and cross-class analyses that localize the obviousness and meaningfulness of its pathology. Fieldwork with old persons and their families in four neighborhoods of Banaras, India, stratified by class, is presented to suggest the need for an anthropology of senility. The centrality of "hot brain"--of anger rather than memory as a fundamental index of senile difference--is explored through its differential construction across class and gender in these neighborhoods. The hearing of the angry voice is examined in relation to local knowledge about weakness, madness, and "sixtyishness" and to practices that maintain intergenerational difference through the construction of what is here termed a familial body.
‘Heat from Above’ Heat Capacity Measurements in Liquid 4He

We have made heat capacity measurements of superfluid He-4 at temperatures very close to the lambda point, T(sub lambda) , in a constant heat flux, Q, when the helium sample is heated from above. In this configuration the helium enters a self-organized (SOC) heat transport state at a temperature T(sub SOC)(Q), which for Q greater than or = 100 nW/sq cm lies below T(sub lambda). At low Q we observe little or no deviation from the bulk Q = 0 heat capacity up to T(sub SOC)(Q); beyond this temperature the heat capacity appears to be sharply depressed, deviating dramatically from its bulk behaviour. This marks the formation and propagation of a SOC/superfluid two phase state, which we confirm with a simple model. The excellent agreement between data and model serves as an independent confirmation of the existence of the SOC state. As Q is increased (up to 6 micron W/sq cm) we observe a Q dependant depression in the heat capacity that occurs just below T(sub SOC)(Q), when the entire sample is still superfluid. This is due to the emergence of a large thermal resistance in the sample, which we have measured and used to model the observed heat capacity depression. Our measurements of the superfluid thermal resistivity are a factor of ten larger than previous measurements by Baddar et al.
Image Segmentation And Texture Analysis

This paper briefly reviews methods which have been employed to do image segmentation and indicates how texture analysis might be utilized to do this task. A method will be described for finding the unit cell size of a texture. The unit cell represents a tile which can be used to tile in the plane and generate the texture. It is the fundamental building block of repetitive textures.
Modeling 180° Domain Switching Population Dynamics in Polycrystalline Ferroelectrics

The macroscopic hysteretic response associated to the underlying microscopic 180° switching of domains in a polycrystalline ferroelectric system is investigated for bipolar, sesquipolar, and unipolar electrical loadings. As a result of the intergranular interactions and physical electromechanical couplings, three polarization populations are found and summarized as the linear superposition of four Gaussian polarization distributions. These distributions quantify the simple switching, the negative switching, and the domain-pinning mechanisms. The reconfiguration of the local polarization and hydrostatic stress distribution indicates that the polarization domains and stress fields are correlated during ferroelectric domain switching. Results show that in the sesquipolar regime, tensile stresses are minimized by 33% and compressive stress minimized by 38%. The maximum strain output decreases by only 1%, thus favoring favoring fatigue-reduced actuation microstructures.
An Explicit Inverse Design Formulation for Compressible Flow

A new singular integral equation method has been developed for solving the full nonlinear potential flow about an arbitrary body. The method bears some resemblance to conventional integral methods, however it is inherently different in that the surface geometry is contained explicitly in the resulting integral equations. Several analytical results are exploited to reduce the two-dimensional integral equations to a one-dimensional problem on the body surface. The integral equation is inverted so that the airfoil geometry is given as an explicit function of the velocity field. The resulting one-dimensional integral equations are solved numerically and the results are compared with existing theoretical methods for both analysis and inverse design problems.Copyright © 1986 by ASME