cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Association between choroidal pigmentation and posterior uveal melanoma in a white population.

Uveal melanoma is the most common primary eye cancer, and it is the most common site of melanoma besides the skin.1,2 The environmental and genetic risk factors for uveal melanoma remain less clear than for cutaneous melanoma, where there is now strong evidence that UV irradiation plays an important role.3 Several studies have reported associations between uveal melanoma and increased UV exposure, sensitivity to UV light, ancestry from northern latitudes, light skin colour, residence at lower latitudes, sunlamp use, and a history of intense sunlight exposure.4–6 However, other studies have failed to confirm an association between uveal melanoma and UV exposure.1,2 Several investigators have also reported an association between uveal melanoma and light iris colour.5–7 Based on the assumption that light iris colour may allow more UV light to reach the posterior segment, these studies have generally been interpreted as supporting an aetiologic role for UV exposure in uveal melanoma. However, it remains unproven whether significant levels of UV irradiation reach the posterior segment in adult human eyes, irrespective of iris colour.8 Choroidal pigmentation is largely caused by melanin pigment within choroidal melanocytes. Individuals with dark racial pigmentation generally have very heavy choroidal pigmentation and are at extremely low risk of uveal melanoma. Among white people, choroidal pigmentation varies from heavy to very light (for example, “blonde fundus”). As whites are the racial group at highest risk for posterior uveal melanoma, we performed a study to determine whether light choroidal pigmentation may be a risk factor for uveal melanoma, as light skin pigmentation is a risk factor cutaneous melanoma. We developed a clinical grading system for estimating the degree of choroidal pigmentation, and we confirmed the histologic validity of this grading system in a clinicopathologic correlative study. We then used this grading system in a cross sectional study of patients with posterior uveal melanoma and control patients.
Science and the Modest Image of Epistemology

In Philosophy and the Scientific Image of Man (1963) Wilfrid Sellars raises a problem for the very possibility of normative epistemology. How can the “scientific image”, which celebrates the causal relation among often imperceptible physical states, make room for justificatory relations among introspectible propositional attitudes? We sketch a naturalistic model of reason and of epistemic decisions that parallels a compatibilist solution to the problem of freedom of action. Not only doesn’t science lead to rejection of our account of normative reasoning, science depends on, sophisticates, and explains how normative reasoning is possible.
Spin-State Tuning in Iron(II) Triazamacrocyclic Complexes

The structures of [FeII(tacn)2](OTf)2·DMF (1·DMF), [FeII(tacd)2](OTf)2 (2), and [FeII(tacud)2](OTf)2 (3) (OTf = triflate, tacn = 1,4,7-triazacyclononane, tacd = 1,4,7-triazacyclodecane, tacud = 1,4,8-triazacycloundecane) are reported. In the solid state, compounds 1 and 2 exhibit temperature-dependent gradual and reversible one-step spin crossover between the high-spin (S = 2) and low-spin (S = 0) states with estimated spin-conversion equilibria (T1/2) of 330 and 320 K, respectively. Compound 1 exhibits somewhat reversible magnetic behavior during the heating and cooling cycle, whereas 2 is more reversible. Compound 2 is only the third example of a spin-crossover compound possessing secondary amine ligands exclusively. Complex 3 is high spin at the temperatures measured. Systematic comparison of the properties of 1–3 indicates that the structural–magnetic properties correlate with the ligand-donor strength. There is also a close correlation with the room-temperature solution spin state and E1/2 in acetonitrile for these compounds.
Continuous phase transition of a fully frustrated XY model in three dimensions

We have used Monte Carlo simulations, combined with finite-size scaling and two different real-space renormalization group approaches, to study a fully frustrated three-dimensional $XY$ model on a simple cubic lattice. This model corresponds to a lattice of Josephson-coupled superconducting grains in an applied magnetic field $\mathbf{H}=({\ensuremath{\Phi}}_{0}∕{a}^{2})(1∕2,1∕2,1∕2)$. We find that the model has a continuous phase transition with critical temperature ${T}_{c}=0.681\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}J∕{k}_{B}$, where $J$ is the $XY$ coupling constant, and critical exponents $\ensuremath{\alpha}∕\ensuremath{\nu}=0.87\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.01$, $v∕\ensuremath{\nu}=0.82\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.01$, and $\ensuremath{\nu}=0.72\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.07$, where $\ensuremath{\alpha}$, $v$, and $\ensuremath{\nu}$ describe the critical behavior of the specific heat, helicity modulus, and correlation length. We briefly compare our results with other studies of this model, and with a mean-field approximation.
Are ParM Filaments Polar or Bipolar

A recent perspective [Erickson, H. (2012). Bacterial actin homolog ParM: arguments for an apolar, antiparallel double helix. J. Mol. Biol., 422, 461–463] by Harold Erickson has suggested that published reconstructions of bacterial ParM filaments from three different laboratories may have artifactually imposed polarity upon a filament that is really bipolar, with the two strands running in opposite directions. We show that Erickson's model of a bipolar filament can be easily distinguished from a polar filament by helical diffraction, since the asymmetric unit in a bipolar filament would be twice the size as that in a polar filament. Existing data from both electron cryo-microscopy and X-ray diffraction exclude a bipolar model. We adopt the suggestion put forward by Erickson to process filaments, assuming that they are bipolar, and show that the resulting filaments are polar.
A prospective trial of a novel, silicone-based, silver-coated foley catheter for the prevention of nosocomial urinary tract infections.

Objective. To evaluate the efficacy of silicone‐based, silver ion–impregnated urinary catheters in the prevention of nosocomial urinary tract infections (NUTIs). Design. Prospective, crossover study to compare the efficacy of a silicone‐based, hydrogel‐coated, silver‐impregnated Foley catheter with that of a silicone‐based, hydrogel‐coated catheter in the prevention of NUTIs. Setting. Adult medical and surgical wards of a university teaching hospital. Results. A total of 3,036 patients with catheters were evaluated; 1,165 (38%) of the catheters were silver impregnated, and 1,871 (62%) were not silver impregnated. Study groups were not identical; there were more men, a shorter duration of catheterization, and fewer urine cultures per 1,000 catheter‐days in the silver catheter group. The rate of NUTIs per 1,000 Foley‐days was 14.29 in the silver catheter group, compared with 16.15 in the nonsilver catheter group (incidence rate ratio, 0.88; 95% confidence interval, 0.70‐1.11; \documentclass{aastex} \usepack...
On the zeta function of a hypersurface

Abstract : This article is concerned with the further development of the methods of p-adic analysis used in an earlier article to study the zeta function of an algebraic variety defined over a finite field. These methods are applied to the zeta function of a nonsingular hypersurface of degree d in projective n-space of characteristic p defined over the field of q elements.
The Role of the Study of Exercise in Defining the Frontier of Integrative Biology

Of all the fields that comprise the physiological sciences, exercise is one of the hardest to categorize even though it is a common everyday experience for nearly everyone whether it is a formal exercise program or simply walking from one place to another. This familiarity makes the field understandable to the average person, but this familiarity also sometimes leads to an oversimplification of the complexity of the investigation of the physiological response to exercise. This is further complicated by the idea, as Tipton and Franklin (2006) point out, that exercise has different meanings for different people and is thus inherently diverse in terms of what one may think it consists of, as well as diverse in the lines of scientific inquiry that concern it.
Changes in late-winter snowpack depth, water equivalent, and density in Maine, 1926-2004

Twenty-three snow-course sites in and near Maine, USA, with records spanning at least 50 years through to 2004 were tested for changes over time in snowpack depth, water equivalent, and density in March and April. Of the 23 sites, 18 had a significant decrease (Mann-Kendall test, p < 0·1) in snowpack depth or a significant increase in snowpack density over time. Data from four sites in the mountains of western Maine–northern New Hampshire with mostly complete records from 1926 to 2004 indicate that average snowpack depths have decreased by about 16% and densities have increased by about 11%. Average snowpack depths and water equivalents in western Maine–northern New Hampshire peaked in the 1950s and 1960s, and densities peaked in the most recent decade. Previous studies in western North America also found a water-equivalent peak in the third quarter of the 20th century. Published in 2006 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Comparison of the internal state scale to clinician-administered scales in asthma patients receiving corticosteroid therapy.

Abstract Mood symptoms are reported frequently in asthma patients, particularly during corticosteroid therapy. This investigation compared the Internal State Scale (ISS), a self-report measure of symptoms of mania and depression, to the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD), Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS), and Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) in a group of asthma patients ( n =60 at baseline) before, during, and after a 1–2 week burst of prednisone. The depression and well being subscales of the ISS correlated well with HDRS scores. The perceived conflict subscale correlated with the BPRS scores. However, none of the ISS subscales correlated consistently and specifically with the YMRS in this population. Possible explanations for differences observed in bipolar versus asthma patients given the ISS are discussed. These data suggest the ISS may be a useful tool for depression symptoms and overall psychopathology in asthma patients and in patients receiving corticosteroid therapy. However, its ability may be attenuated outside of the population for which it was designed.
Inhibition of angiogenesis by a mouse sprouty protein.

Sprouty negatively modulates branching morphogenesis in the Drosophila tracheal system. To address the role of mammalian Sprouty homologues in angiogenesis, another form of branching morphogenesis, a recombinant adenovirus engineered to express murine Sprouty-4 selectively in endothelial cells, was injected into the sinus venosus of embryonic day 9.0 cultured mouse embryos. Sprouty-4 expression inhibited branching and sprouting of small vessels, resulting in abnormal embryonic development. In vitro, Sprouty-4 inhibited fibroblast growth factor and vascular endothelial cell growth factor-mediated cell proliferation and migration and prevented basic fibroblast growth factor and vascular endothelial cell growth factor-induced MAPK phosphorylation in endothelial cells, indicating inhibition of tyrosine kinase-mediated signaling pathways. The ability of constitutively activated mutant RasL61 to rescue Sprouty-4 inhibition of MAPK phosphorylation suggests that Sprouty inhibits receptor tyrosine kinase signaling upstream of Ras. Thus, Sprouty may regulate angiogenesis in normal and disease processes by modulating signaling by endothelial tyrosine kinases.
Predictive comparison of joint longitudinal-survival modeling: a case study illustrating competing approaches.

The joint modeling of longitudinal and survival data has received extraordinary attention in the statistics literature recently, with models and methods becoming increasingly more complex. Most of these approaches pair a proportional hazards survival with longitudinal trajectory modeling through parametric or nonparametric specifications. In this paper we closely examine one data set previously analyzed using a two parameter parametric model for Mediterranean fruit fly (medfly) egg-laying trajectories paired with accelerated failure time and proportional hazards survival models. We consider parametric and nonparametric versions of these two models, as well as a proportional odds rate model paired with a wide variety of longitudinal trajectory assumptions reflecting the types of analyses seen in the literature. In addition to developing novel nonparametric Bayesian methods for joint models, we emphasize the importance of model selection from among joint and non joint models. The default in the literature is to omit at the outset non joint models from consideration. For the medfly data, a predictive diagnostic criterion suggests that both the choice of survival model and longitudinal assumptions can grossly affect model adequacy and prediction. Specifically for these data, the simple joint model used in by Tseng et al. (Biometrika 92:587–603, 2005) and models with much more flexibility in their longitudinal components are predictively outperformed by simpler analyses. This case study underscores the need for data analysts to compare on the basis of predictive performance different joint models and to include non joint models in the pool of candidates under consideration.
Management Strategies for Ribavirin‐Induced Hemolytic Anemia in the Treatment of Hepatitis C: Clinical and Economic Implications

Abstract Objectives Recently published studies have demonstrated increased efficacy and cost-effectiveness of combination therapy with interferon and α-2b/ribavirin compared with interferon-alpha monotherapy in the treatment of chronic hepatitis C (CHC). Combination therapy is associated with a clinically important adverse effect: ribavirin-induced hemolytic anemia (RIHA). The objective of this study was to evaluate the direct health-care costs and management of RIHA during treatment of CHC in a clinical trial setting. Methods A systematic literature review was conducted to synthesize information on the incidence and management of RIHA. Decision-analytic techniques were used to estimate the cost of treating RIHA. Uncertainty was evaluated using sensitivity analyses. Results RIHA, defined as a reduction in hemoglobin to less than 100 g/L, occurs in approximately 7% to 9% of patients treated with combination therapy. The standard of care for management of RIHA is reduction or discontinuation of the ribavirin dosage. We estimated the direct cost of treating clinically significant RIHA to be $170 per patient receiving combination therapy per 48-week treatment course (range $68–$692). The results of the one-way sensitivity analyses ranged from $57 to $317. In comparison, the cost of 48 weeks of combination therapy is $16,459. Conclusions The direct cost of treating clinically significant RIHA is 1% ($170/$16,459) of drug treatment costs. Questions remain about the optimal dose of ribavirin and the incidence of RIHA in a real-world population. Despite these uncertainties, this initial evaluation of the direct cost of treating RIHA provides an estimate of the cost and management implications of this clinically important adverse effect.
Distinctive properties of bacilliform photosynthetic heliobacteria

Heliobacterium chlorum and Heliobacillus mobilis are closely related N2-fixing anoxyphoto-trophs that contain bacteriochlorophyll g (Bchl g) as the major photopigment. In the presence of O2 and light, the absorbance peak in the infra-red (788 nm) of this novel photoreceptor disappears and absorbance at 670 nm increases simultaneously. These optical changes appear to be due to a photoisomerization reaction which converts Bchl g to a form of green-plant chlorophyll a (in which farnesol replaces phytol). In addition to this unusual property, the Gram-negative heliobacteria present biochemical features (16S RNA base sequence and peptidoglycan structure) indicating an evolutionary relationship with some Gram-positive bacteria. In comparison to H. chlorum, H. mobilis grows more robustly and shows a much lower tendency to spheroplast and lyse; accordingly, H. mobilis is better suited for further investigations on the biology and biochemistry of these exceptional prokaryotes.
Neurons selective for orientation and binocular disparity in the visual Wulst of the barn owl (Tyto alba)

The visual response properties of single neurons in the owl's visual Wulst suggest that this forebrain structure is an analog of the mammalian visual cortex. Features in common with the cat and the monkey visual cortex include a precise topographic organization, a high degree of binocular interaction, and selectivity for orientation, direction of movement, and binocular disparity of straight-line contours.
Bathroom Battlegrounds and Penis Panics

How transgender rights legislation got framed as “bathroom bills,” with seemingly everyone trying to mark their territory.
Miscibility Studies on Heterogeneous Polymer Blends by Radioluminescence Spectroscopy and Particle Coarsening Measurements

Abstract Interest in the subject of polymer miscibility has been stimulated by the investigation and common use by industry of heterogeneous polymer systems. Particularly, in recent years we have seen the development of materials, such as ABS, high-impact polystyrene, block copolymers, thermoplastic elastomer blends (TPR, etc.), and many more, which owe their unique properties to a certain critical degree of immiscibility of the polymeric constituents. This subtle difference in miscibility contributes to the formation of morphological features in the above-mentioned materials. More importantly, it governs the adhesion between the domains of the phase-separated polymeric composite. The latter property provides for stress transfer across the interface and thus is needed for the attainment of physical strength. Thus the questions posed by researchers are not so much concerned with whether two polymers are fully miscible on a molecular scale, a rare event indeed, but rather in the degree of miscibility of the...
Value-Added University Services: The Importance of On-Campus Recreational Facilities

ABSTRACTSuccessful universities know that they must view the students, faculty, and staff as important stakeholders and market to them accordingly. One of the most popular services on university campuses is a campus recreational facility. The purpose of this study is to understand the factors that influence a university community's satisfaction with campus recreational facilities. Community characteristics including motivation, loyalty, age, and gender; and facility characteristics including staffing, cleanliness, and parking were considered to determine their effect on satisfaction with the recreational facility. The results suggest that loyalty, staffing, cleanliness, and parking are significant indicators of satisfaction with on-campus recreational facilities.
Action of tri-ethylene melamine in mice.

Summary and ConclusionsTri-ethylene melamine decreased the total white blood cell counts and the percentage of mononuclear cells. The total white blood cell counts returned to normal between the sixth and tenth days after injection and the mononuclear count returned to normal after one month. The highest percentage of deaths after single injections occurred between the third and sixth days when the total white blood cell counts were lowest. Surviving animals developed a resistance to a second injection, which manifested itself in a long latent period. Nine out of fifteen of the deaths in the latter group occurred between the ninth and thirty-first days, during which period the white blood cell counts were normal. The median lethal dose after a second injection was considerably lower due to the cumulative effect. The toxic effects of tri-ethylene melamine were evidenced in the dramatic fall in white blood cell count and decrease in percentage of mononuclear cells. However, the return to a normal blood pict...
Strengthening Mechanism of 9-12%Cr Steels

The strengthening mechanism of 9-12%Cr steels is precipitation strengthening,dispersion strengthening and dislocation strengthening.The MX carbonitrides,which are dispersed in martensite laths,and the M23C6 carbides,which are distributed along lath,block,pocket and prior austenite grain boundaries,are the main strengthening phases,and the laves phase has the strengthening effects as well under special occasions.The coarsening of M23C6 and MX and precipitation of Z phase result in reversion of the martensite,decrease of resistance to dislocation movement and decrease of creep properties.Addition of micro alloys C,N,Ti,V,B can control the quantity and distribution of M23C6 and MX,consequently controlling the reversion of martensite,increasing the barriers of dislocation movement,and maintaining the creep properties of 9-12%Cr steel.
Cutaneous signs of AIDS

In this article, selected aspects of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection are reviewed, particularly as it relates to cutaneous signs and symptoms. Included are discussions of the classification, epidemiology, and clinical manifestations of this complex infectious process.
HTML5 accessible video player: how and why

In this paper, we describe the development of an HTML5 video player, created for implementation by web developers. This player removes a barrier to media for people with disabilities. The reasoning behind the applied design features is outlined.
Missile Defenses and Nuclear Arms Reductions: Can Deterrence Withstand the Attention?

The expectation of improved missile defense technologies and the commitment by the United States and NATO to deploy advanced missile defenses in Europe have raised important issues related to nuclear deterrence. One of the most contentious issues between the United States and Russia in 2011–2012 was the Obama administration’s revised version of the US-NATO European-based missile defense plan. Russian political leaders criticized this plan, insisted on a shared Russian-NATO missile defense arrangement going forward, and threatened responsive countermeasures if the United States and NATO proceeded despite Russia’s objections.1 A NATO-Russia summit originally scheduled for May 2012 in Chicago was shelved in favor of other forums for consultations between President Obama and the newly reelected Russian President Vladimir Putin. Regardless of the outcome of dialogue with Russia, NATO planned to announce at its 2012 summit the onset of the first phase of its evolving European Phased Adaptive Approach (EPAA) to European missile defense.
U.S. Government Analysis of Race and Public Opinion During World War II and the Politics of the South and Urban North

This paper focuses on U.S. government monitoring of racial tensions during World War II. Using a historical-institutionalist view of the development of public opinion research, the paper focuses on institutional goals and political contexts and contributes to literature on race and the New Deal coalition. With particular attention to studies in agricultural areas in the South, polls comparing black and white workers, analyses of reactions to Detroit’s Sojourner Truth housing project for black workers and responses to the pamphlet “Negroes and the War,” the paper shows that public opinion studies were among the technological toolkit of concerted policy planning and implementation that were crafted in the context of racial segregation and white supremacy. While distaste for racial animus existed within the administrative state, bureaucrats had limited power to influence how policies and programs developed and, ultimately, to maintain support for their endeavors. Reactions to the opinion studies and what they discovered presaged later shifts in the New Deal coalition, including the movement of the South away from Democrats, growing African-Americans support for Democrats, and a fracturing of the white northern ethnic vote.
Selective backbone construction for topology control in ad hoc networks

A key step in controlling topology in ad hoc networks is the construction of the backbone which is then used to transfer data. Nodes that are not part of the backbone can then go to sleep to save energy and increase the lifetime of the network. Centralized backbone construction algorithms give better performance but incur high communication overhead, while localized algorithms lack sufficient topology information needed to construct efficient backbones. We present selective backbone construction (SBC) which starts by selecting a small number of seed nodes in the backbone and then completes its construction by making a sweep of the network spreading outwards from the seed nodes. During the latter process, topology information is transferred to allow better coordinator selection decisions. We compared SBC with other power-saving protocols in a variety of tests featuring different mobility levels, traffic patterns, and node densities. Our experiments show that SBC is more efficient in saving energy and extending network life while providing satisfactory network performance when compared with 802.11, 802.11 PSM, and GAF.
To neither target, capture, surveille, nor wage war: On-going need for attention to metaphor theory in care and prevention for people who use drugs.

ABSTRACTMetaphors, and the frames they evoke, potently influence how people understand issues. These concepts of discourse, metaphor, and framing have been productively used in a range of studies including in the field of addiction. In public health and clinical discourse on people who use drugs, use of terms such as “targeting,” “surveilling,” and “capturing,” along with “war on drugs” frames and referring to drug treatment as “substitution” may reinforce negative perceptions of people who use drugs. Avoiding military metaphors and explicitly leveraging metaphors that emphasize humanity, social cohesion, and agency have the potential to improve public health for people who use drugs.
SURFACE RECONSTRUCTION OF 3D OBJECTS

A priority driven based algorithm for surface reconstruction from a set of surface points is presented. It calculates the shape change at the boundary of mesh area and builds a priority queue for the advance front of mesh area according to the changes. Then, the mesh growing process is forced to propagate in reliable direction through the queue. The algorithm reconstructs surface in a fast and reliable way. The efficiency of the proposed algorithm is demonstrated by the experimental results.
The Experience of Racial and Ethnic Minorities with Zoning in the United States

To date, scholars have examined two common effects of zoning that disproportionately impact racial and ethnic minorities in the United States: (1) exclusionary effects, resulting from zoning’s erec...
Theorists succumb to Tao

Some 20 years ago physicists thought they understood almost everything about superconductivity. Below a certain temperature elements such as mercury suddenly lose all resistance to electric current due to electrons forming pairs, in accordance with the famous Bardeen–Cooper–Schrieffer (BCS) theory. But in 1986 the discovery of copperoxide materials that become superconducting at relatively high temperatures wrecked this view.
Value of FDG PET/CT in early response assessment of neoadjuvant chemotherapy for patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma

1598 Objectives To evaluate the prognostic value of FDG PET/CT in the early response assessment of randomized neoadjuvant chemotherapy (gemcitabine and Nab-paclitaxel, GA) with or without the autophagy inhibitor, hydroxychloroquine, in patients with resectable pancreatic adenocarcinoma and to correlate PET estimation of chemotherapeutic effect with clinical and histologic findings in both treatment arms. Methods Sixteen patients with histologically proven resectable or borderline resectable pancreatic adenocarcinoma underwent FDG PET/CT before and following chemotherapy with GA alone (n=8) or GA plus hydroxychloroquine (n=8). The early therapy response time scan was performed just prior to surgical resection. Tumor maximum standard uptake values (SUVmax) and total glycolytic activity (TGA) were measured on FDG PET/CT scans in all patients. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test compared paired pre- and post-therapy PET parameters and group differences were compared using the Wilcoxon rank sum test. Prognostic value of PET/CT parameters were evaluated for recurrence-free survival (RFS) by a univariate Cox proportional hazards regression model. Results There was a statistically significant difference between pre and post therapeutic measures of tumor metabolism by FDG PET/CT in all patients (SUVmax and TGA: p Conclusions Greater changes in SUVmax and TGA in the HCQ arm vs the GA alone arm correlate with clinical and histologic findings. Greater decrease in SUVmax is associated with a lesser hazard of recurrence. FDG uptake in primary pancreatic adenocarcinoma may provide additional prognostic information early in the therapeutic decision-making process.
Geographic distribution of California mental health professionals in relation to sociodemographic characteristics.

OBJECTIVE To determine whether geographic access to licensed mental health providers in California is a barrier for underserved populations. METHOD Data from the master file of the California Board of Psychology and Board of Behavioral Sciences were merged with U.S. Census data to determine the correlations between the concentration of providers and the corresponding sociodemographic characteristics of places in California. RESULTS This article shows that the concentration of licensed mental health providers in the communities of California varies systematically with the racial, ethnic, age, education, and economic characteristics of those places. Specifically, licensed mental health providers are more concentrated in places that are wealthier, Whiter, older, and more educated. CONCLUSIONS Policy and advocacy efforts in health service psychology can help assure more equitable distribution of mental health services. (PsycINFO Database Record
Propagation of singularities for the wave equation on manifolds with corners

In this paper we describe the propagation of C°° and Sobolev singularities for the wave equation on C°° manifolds with corners M equipped with a Riemannian metric g. That is, for X = M x R t , P = D 2 t - Δ M , and u ∈ H 1 loc (X) solving Pu = 0 with homogeneous Dirichlet or Neumann boundary conditions, we show that WF b (u) is a union of maximally extended generalized broken bicharacteristics. This result is a C°° counterpart of Lebeau's results for the propagation of analytic singularities on real analytic manifolds with appropriately stratified boundary, [11]. Our methods rely on b-microlocal positive commutator estimates, thus providing a new proof for the propagation of singularities at hyperbolic points even if M has a smooth boundary (and no corners).
Can We Survive? A Case of Culture Change and Learning:

In an effort towards business survival, an executive team considers progressive options for the future of their organization. The external business environment continues to change with fierce compe...
A longitudinal examination of factors associated with social support satisfaction among HIV-positive young Black men who have sex with men.

ABSTRACTThis study examined the long-term predictors of social support satisfaction among HIV-positive young Black men who have sex with men (YBMSM). Data were collected across three waves between October 2012 and November 2014 as part of the baseline assessment from Project nGage, a preliminary efficacy randomized control study examining the role of social support in improving HIV care among YBMSM. The sample included 92 YBMSM aged 18–29. Major results controlling for age, education and intervention effects indicated that psychological health, social network size, and education at baseline predicted differences in social support satisfaction at Wave 3, with no significant effects based on length of HIV diagnosis. Therefore, interventions that are intended to promote the quality of life for YBMSM and their engagement and retention in HIV care must focus on their psychological health concerns and network size.
A Review of the Effectiveness of a Combat and Operational Stress Control Restoration Center in Afghanistan

ABSTRACT Background: The management of Combat and Operational Stress Reactions (COSR) within an operational environment is a multidimensional process. The aim is to help prevent behavioral health problems, preserve combat power, and increase return to duty rates for combat stress related casualties. In some COSR cases, enhanced services are required and the Combat and Operational Stress Control (COSC) Clinic refers Service Members (SMs) to the Freedom Restoration Clinic (FRC). The purpose was to describe a deployed restoration center in Afghanistan and examine the long-term effectiveness of those services. Methods: The data analyzed were obtained by a retrospective clinical records review from the participants' responses to the Outcome Questionnaire-45.2 (OQ-45.2) and a 30-Day Post-Restoration Program Survey created by the occupational therapist. The OQ-45.2 was administered pretreatment and immediately post-treatment. In addition, the OQ-45.2 and 30-Day Post-Restoration Program Survey was sent electronic...
Toplogical optimization of structures using Fourier representations

The minimization of compliance subject to a mass constraint is the topology optimization design problem of interest. The goal is to determine the optimal configuration of material within an allowed volume. Our approach builds upon the well-known density method in which the decision variable is the material density in every cell in a mesh. In it’s most basic form the density method consists of three steps: 1) the problem is convexified by replacing the integer material indicator function with a volume fraction, 2) the problem is regularized by filtering the volume fraction field to impose a minimum length scale; 3) the filtered volume fraction is penalized to steer the material distribution toward binary designs. The filtering step is used to yield a mesh-independent solution and to eliminate checkerboard instabilities. In image processing terms this is a low-pass filter, and a consequence is that the decision variables are not independent and a change of basis could significantly reduce the dimension of the nonlinear programming problem. Based on this observation, we represent the volume fraction field with a truncated Fourier representation. This imposes a minimal length scale on the problem, eliminates checkerboard instabilities, and also reduces the number of decision variables by over 100 × (two dimensions) or 1000 × (three dimensions).
Is non-invasive indocyanine-green angiography a useful adjunct for the debridement of infected sternal wounds?

Abstract Laser-assisted indocyanine-green imaging (ICG) has a wide range of surgical applications, and has been used in reconstructive surgery to aid in assessing the viability of free tissue transfers and to help predict poor tissue perfusion. However, its indications for use is limited to assessing free flap tissue perfusion, coronary artery perfusion during coronary artery bypass (CABG), and tissue perfusion in diabetic foot ulcers, to name a few. This system has been proven to be a safe, reliable adjunctive modality to assess microvascular compromise or poor perfusion peri-operatively, which could minimize skin necrosis and other post-operative complications (Further et al., 2013). 1 The ability to objectively assess tissue perfusion has led to improved post-operative outcomes in breast, abdominal wall, colorectal, and cardiac surgery. To date, no studies have reviewed the use of ICG in delineating devitalized bone during sternal wound debridement after cardiac surgery. At our institution, we have encountered a cohort of patients with post-cardiac surgery sternal wound infections who have required debridement of infected and devitalized bone. We propose that SPY technology aids in delineating this devitalized bone, and may aid in the timing muscle flap coverage. In this paper, we will demonstrate two cases of patients who had post-operative sternal wound infections after undergoing cardiac surgery for which ICG was used to demarcate debridement zones and subsequent flap coverage. In these cases, ICG allowed for efficient and reliable intraoperative evaluation of bony perfusion and has aided in early adequate debridement and flap coverage.
Academic Self-Regulation of STEM of Senior High School Students of Divine Word Colleges in Region I, Philippines and Their Academic Performance

The study wanted to determine the level of academic self-regulation of the STEM students of Senior High School students of the Divine Word Colleges and its effect toward academic performance. There were four aspects of self-regulation investigated such as external regulation, introjected regulation, identified regulation and intrinsic motivation. Questionnaires were used to gather the data. The quantitative descriptive research design and explanation research was used in the study. The findings showed that the academic self-regulation of the STEM students of the senior high school of Divine Word Colleges is high which means that they have high external regulation, introjected regulation, identified regulation and moderate intrinsic motivation. However, the findings also showed that there is no correlation between academic self-regulation and their academic performance. Their academic performance can be caused by other factors that are not considered in this study.
Cognitive Strategies for RAB

In Chapters 5 through 9, we examined how people perform when called upon to make resource-allocation decisions in a variety of situations. We examined resource-allocation behavior under conditions of Certainty, Risk, and Uncertainty; in Harsh and Benign Environments; when Gains and Losses are possible; with objective functions of varying slopes; in both technical and commonplace tasks; and in two and three dimensions. But until now we have not addressed in any detail how individuals process the information necessary to make these resource-allocation decisions. It is our goal in this chapter to discover some of the cognitive strategies people use in approaching resource-allocation decisions. Here we will discuss how participants solve a 7-day meal-scheduling task similar to the one used in Chapter 9, but we will conduct a Verbal Protocol Analysis, a research methodology that allows a more detailed analysis of the cognitive processes involved in making such decisions. The contents of this chapter will be based on Ball, Langholtz, Auble, and Sopchak (1998), parts of which are reprinted here with permission. We will see in the research that is discussed, that a few participants attempted to first solve the problem and determine the maximum meals possible in a week before scheduling this solution across the seven days (solve-and-schedule strategy), but the majority of participants simply consumed meals on a day-to-day basis while checking resource availability each day to allow for full resource consumption (consume-and-check strategy).
Visualizing Cosmological Time

Time is a critical aspect of visualization systems that invoke dynamic simulations and animation. Dealing with time at the scales required to conceptualize astrophysical and cosmological data, however, introduces specialized problems that require unique approaches. In this paper, we extend our previous investigations on interactive visualization across extremely large scale ranges of space to incorporate dynamical processes with very large scale ranges of time. We focus on several issues: time scales that are too short or too long to animate in real time, those needing complex adjustment relative to the scale of space, time simulations that involve the constant finite velocity of light (special relativity) in an essential way, and those that depend upon the dynamics of the coordinate system of the universe itself (general relativity). We conclude that a basic strategy for time scaling should ordinarily track the scaling of space chosen for a particular problem; e.g., if we are adjusting the interactive space scale, we scale time in a similar way. At cosmological scales, this has the interesting consequence that the time scale adjusts to the size of each era of the universe. If we make a single tick of the viewer’s clock correspond to an enormous time when viewing an enormous space, we see motions in viewer’s time of increasingly larger, and usually appropriate, scales. Adding interactive time-scale controls then permits the user to switch the focus of attention among animations with distinctly different time features within a single spatial scale. Objects may have an entire time hierarchy of alternate icons, with different representations for different time-step scales, exactly analogous to the choice of spatial level-of-detail models.
NEUROLOGIC COMPLICATIONS OF RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS

Neurologic complications are common extraarticular manifestations of RA, involving both the peripheral and central nervous systems. Because RA patients suffer from pain, stiffness, and weakness, the detection of neurologic impairment is often difficult. Thus, close vigilance and thoughtful use of various diagnostic methods will help in the early diagnosis of cervical spine involvement, compression neuropathies, peripheral neuropathies, myopathies, and central nervous system involvement. Prompt and timely interventions may prevent permanent neurologic sequelae.
Decoupling information and connectivity via information-centric transport

The power of Information-Centric Networking (ICN) architectures lies in their abstraction for communication - the request for named data. This abstraction promises that applications can choose to operate only in the information plane, agnostic to the mechanisms implemented in the connectivity plane. However, despite this powerful promise, the information and connectivity planes are presently coupled in today's incarnations of leading ICNs by a core architectural component, the forwarding strategy. Presently, this component is not sustainable: it implements both the information and connectivity mechanisms without specifying who should choose a forwarding strategy - an application developer or the network operator. In practice, application developers can specify a strategy only if they understand connectivity details, while network operators can assign strategies only if they understand application expectations. In this paper, we define the role of forwarding strategies, and we introduce Information-Centric Transport (ICT) as an abstraction for cleanly decoupling the information plane from the connectivity plane. We discuss how ICTs allow applications to operate in the information plane, concerned only with namespaces and trust identities, leaving network node operators free to deploy whatever strategy mechanisms make sense for the connectivity that they manage. To illustrate the ICT concept, we demonstrate ICT-Sync and ICT-Notify. We show how these ICTs 1) enable applications to operate regardless of connectivity details, 2) are designed to satisfy a predefined set of application requirements and are free from application-specifics, and 3) can be deployed by network operators where needed, without requiring any change to the application logic.
Complete Genome Sequences of 12 B1 Cluster Mycobacteriophages, Gareth, JangoPhett, Kailash, MichaelPhcott, PhenghisKhan, Phleuron, Phergie, PhrankReynolds, PhrodoBaggins, Phunky, Vaticameos, and Virapocalypse.

ABSTRACT Twelve B1 cluster mycobacteriophages were isolated from soil samples collected in Philadelphia, PA, USA, using Mycobacterium smegmatis mc2 155 as a host, and were sequenced. The genome sequences range in size from 66,887 bp to 68,953 bp in length and have between 99 and 105 putative protein-coding genes.
Multivariable robust blade pitch control design to reject periodic loads on wind turbines

Abstract The demand on sustainable operations of large-scale wind turbines necessitates the concurrent advancement of power regulation and load mitigation through blade pitch control. Traditional collective pitch control (CPC) mechanisms can only deal with symmetric disturbances. The advent of individual pitch control (IPC) provides new opportunities to mitigate asymmetric or periodic loads on blades. Nevertheless, difficulties in control synthesis remain. In order for IPC to be truly effective, the complicated dynamic coupling between turbine components has to be accounted for. Moreover, wind turbine dynamics is highly nonlinear, and significant modeling uncertainties exist. In this research, a multivariable robust IPC framework is developed, aiming at rejecting periodic loads. The inter-blade coupling is explicitly modeled to provide response characteristics in the frequency domain. Subsequently, the structured singular values (μ)-synthesis strategy is adopted, as it shows distinct capability of dealing with periodic loads. In particular, weighting functions can be tailored to suppress response peaks at periodic frequencies with guaranteed robustness. Systematic case investigations indicate that, with the proposed IPC strategy, one can achieve significant periodic load mitigation as well as fatigue alleviation in speed-varying wind fields.
Analysis of Mortality and Survival Rate of Liver Cancer in Zhejiang Province in China: A General Population-Based Study

Background. Few accurate up-to-date studies provide liver cancer mortality and survival information in Zhejiang province. This research aimed to depict the mortality and survival of liver cancer in Zhejiang province in China during 2005-2010. Methods. The data were collected from the Zhejiang Chronic Disease Surveillance Information and Management System, and the mortality rates of liver cancer were calculated by gender, age, and areas. Chinese population census in 2000 and Segi’s world population were used for age-standardized mortality rate. The observed and relative survival rates of liver cancer patients were analyzed. Results. The crude mortality rate of liver cancer was 32.11/105. The age-standardized mortality rate was 17.39/105 and 23.07/105 by Chinese population (ASIRC) and Segi’s world population (ASIRW), respectively. The crude liver cancer mortality rate and age-standardized rate in urban areas were lower than those of rural areas. The overall 1-, 3-, and 5-year observed survival (OS) rates of liver cancer patients were 38.61%, 21.65%, and 16.83%, respectively. The 1-, 3-, and 5-year relative survival (RS) rates of liver cancer patients were 39.49%, 23.27%, and 19.09%, respectively. Survival rate decreased obviously within 1 to 5 years and then leveled off. It was shown that the male overall survival rate was higher than the female one and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). Conclusions. Both lower mortality and better survival rates were observed in urban areas, compared to rural areas. Relevant parties including government, public resource, and propaganda department should devote enough attention to rural areas.