cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Uncertainty analysis methodology for internally coupled systems with many random variables

An approach for performing uncertainty analysis of internally coupled systems is presented. An internally coupled system is defined as an assemblage of calculational modules that are linked together in order to compute a global response. In the general case, each module accepts as input one or more independent problem variables and one or more output responses from other modules in the system. In many cases, these problems also involve a large number of random variables. Because efficient uncertainty analysis methods require calculation of global response sensitivities with respect to problem input parameters, the time required to compute sensitivities for internally coupled systems by finite differencing the entire system can quickly become prohibitive, especially if one or more of the modules requires an expensive calculation, or if the number of random variables is large. Moreover, accuracy problems associated with finite differencing are exacerbated for internally coupled systems. The paper presents an approach for dealing with these issues using a method that computes global response sensitivities from local module sensitivities. Several simple examples are presented to illustrate the method. A more complex example that emulates a complex code for performing nuclear waste repository assessment is presented to illustrate the efficiency of the method on a problem of significant size.
Percutaneous tibial nerve stimulation as an off-label treatment of clitoral pain

Objective Percutaneous tibial nerve stimulation (PTNS) is used to treat refractory urinary frequency, urgency, and urgency urinary incontinence. To date, it is not approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in the treatment of chronic pain syndromes, and its use in the treatment of chronic clitoral pain has not been reported. Methods We describe 2 cases of women who presented with symptoms of urgency urinary incontinence, urinary frequency, and clitoral pain. After inadequate response to conservative treatment of their urinary symptoms, they received PTNS. Results By the 12th session, significant improvement in urinary symptoms and resolution of clitoral pain were noted. Conclusions The findings of this report suggest that PTNS may be a therapeutic option in patients with idiopathic clitoral pain.
High-field transport and thermal reliability of sorted carbon nanotube network devices

We examine the high-field operation, power dissipation, and thermal reliability of sorted carbon nanotube network (CNN) devices, with 99% semiconducting nanotubes. We combine systematic electrical measurements with infrared (IR) thermal imaging and detailed Monte Carlo simulations to study high-field transport up to CNN failure by unzipping-like breakdown. We find that metallic CNNs carry peak current densities up to an order of magnitude greater than semiconducting CNNs at comparable nanotube densities. Metallic CNNs also appear to have a factor of 2 lower intrinsic thermal resistance, suggesting a lower thermal resistance at metallic nanotube junctions. The performance limits and reliability of CNNs depend on their makeup, and could be improved by carefully engineered heat dissipation through the substrate, contacts, and nanotube junctions. These results are essential for optimization of CNN devices on transparent or flexible substrates which typically have very low thermal conductivity.
A new block interface condition for aeroacoustic applications

Aeroacoustic simulations are extremely sensitive to numerical errors. To achieve a highorder of accuracy, optimized finite difference schemes, such as the well-known dispersionrelation-preservation schemes, and multi-block structured meshes are often used. Challenges appear in communicating the flow information between neighboring blocks, and sophisticated interface treatments are required. The characteristic interface condition has shown to be successful in applications in previous publications, and yet limitations exist that are identified in the present study. This paper proposes a new interface treatment based on a unified finite difference and finite volume discretization. Applications to several benchmark cases show an encouraging improvement as compared to the characteristic interface treatments.
The role of assistance foresters in nonindustrial private forest management: Alabama landowners' perspectives.

Nonindustrial private forest landowners in Alabama were surveyed and assistance foresters' involvement in their management activities documented. Overall, assistance foresters have participated in some 58% of all forest management activities. Consulting foresters account for 45 to 50% of those activities involving assistance foresters. Public foresters have more small and low income landowners as their clients, and consulting and industry foresters assist more medium and large landowners. The perception of all assistance foresters by the landowners is positive, and reputation is a key to acquire new clients. Respondents also believe that the number of public foresters shouM stay roughly the same or be increased, and they are evenly divided about paying a fee for services provided by publicforesters. South. J. Appl. For. 22(2):101-105. About 59% of the commercial timberland in the United States and 70% of the timberland in the South are owned by nonindus-
Compositional Inhomogeneity and Corner Enrichment of Pt in Pt/Pd Bimetallic Nanoparticles

Experimental results of a smooth composition gradient within Pt/Pd alloy nanoparticles with Pt enrichment at the corners are reported. We find that the Pt concentration gradually increases toward the outermost surface, and it appears different from the thermodynamically most stable configuration. We demonstrate that it is the result of reaction kinetics of both the reduction of precursors and growth of nanoparticles, by a growth model. We then explain that the corner Pt enrichment is a result of local thermodynamic control at the corners. This mixed control of kinetics and thermodynamics in bimetallic nanoparticle synthesis can lead to the formation of particles with a complex concentration profile, which could be interesting when these particles are used in catalytic applications. Our analysis is not simply a qualitative model but rather a relatively rigorous quantitative analysis of the composition as a function of the growth conditions, which can serve as a basis for improved reproducibility of synthes...
Prevention of Carcinogen-Induced Oral Cancer by Sulforaphane

Chronic exposure to carcinogens represents the major risk factor for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Beverages derived from broccoli sprout extracts (BSE) that are rich in glucoraphanin and its bioactive metabolite sulforaphane promote detoxication of airborne pollutants in humans. Herein, we investigated the potential chemopreventive activity of sulforaphane using in vitro models of normal and malignant mucosal epithelial cells and an in vivo model of murine oral cancer resulting from the carcinogen 4-nitroquinoline-1-oxide (4NQO). Sulforaphane treatment of Het-1A, a normal mucosal epithelial cell line, and 4 HNSCC cell lines led to dose- and time-dependent induction of NRF2 and the NRF2 target genes NQO1 and GCLC, known mediators of carcinogen detoxication. Sulforaphane also promoted NRF2-independent dephosphorylation/inactivation of pSTAT3, a key oncogenic factor in HNSCC. Compared with vehicle, sulforaphane significantly reduced the incidence and size of 4NQO-induced tongue tumors in mice. A pilot clinical trial in 10 healthy volunteers evaluated the bioavailability and pharmacodynamic activity of three different BSE regimens, based upon urinary sulforaphane metabolites and NQO1 transcripts in buccal scrapings, respectively. Ingestion of sulforaphane-rich BSE demonstrated the greatest, most consistent bioavailability. Mucosal bioactivity, defined as 2-fold or greater upregulation of NQO1 mRNA, was observed in 6 of 9 evaluable participants ingesting glucoraphanin-rich BSE; 3 of 6 ingesting sulforaphane-rich BSE; and 3 of 9 after topical-only exposure to sulforaphane-rich BSE. Together, our findings demonstrate preclinical chemopreventive activity of sulforaphane against carcinogen-induced oral cancer, and support further mechanistic and clinical investigation of sulforaphane as a chemopreventive agent against tobacco-related HNSCC. Cancer Prev Res; 9(7); 547-57. ©2016 AACR.
What Do Anthropologists Mean When They Use the Term Biocultural

The term biocultural is often invoked as a unifying theme in a holistic vision of anthropology. To ascertain patterns in its use and meaning in current anthropological publications, we conducted a bibliometric review of the use of biocultural in AAA journals, Current Anthropology (CA), Annual Review of Anthropology (ARA), and in American Journal of Human Biology (AJHB) from 2000–2014. The term was found in 177 articles in the sample from AAA journals, CA, and ARA, and in 74 AJHB articles, representing approximately 3 percent of the total number of articles published in the anthropology journals and approximately 5 percent of those in AJHB from 2000–2014. The term biocultural most commonly referred to how the social environment affects human biology (75% in AAA/CA/ARA, 95% in AJHB) and was topically aligned with health (46% in AAA/CA/ARA, 77% in AJHB). Articles from biological and cultural subfields were evenly represented in the AAA/CA/ARA sample (37% and 36%, respectively). There was extensive variation in what the term biocultural described. Evolutionary theory or political economic analyses were employed in a minority of articles using the term biocultural. Currently there is no consensus on what criteria define biocultural, and there is wide variation in its use. [biocultural, holism, bibliometric analysis]
Emotional Expressive Style as a Mediator Between Religion and Health

This study examined relationships among religious fundamentalism, emotional expressive styles (repressors, true low-anxious, true high-anxious, and defensive high-anxious), and health, hypothesizing that emotional expressive style is a mediator between religion and health. Participants were 145 undergraduate Protestant women. Religion correlated with emotional expressive styles, with the low fundamentalist group, as compared to the high fundamentalist group, having a higher proportion of women classified as true high-anxious. Religion also significantly related to health when measured by medical records from the University Health Center, with the high fundamentalist group having fewer visits than the low fundamentalist group. Emotional expressive style related to self-reported health, with repressers reporting fewer symptoms than other groups. This study did not support the hypothesis that emotional expressive style is a mediator between religion and health.
A brush fire feedback loop for the ramp-like rise in hominin brain size that began 2.4 million years ago

During the first million years of the Pleistocene climate changes, our ancestors' brain size doubled. Enlargement continued at the same rate, suggesting a self-sustaining process with a rate-limiting component. For large grazing animals and their predator Homo erectus, I analyzed the brush-fire cycle behind grasslands' brushy frontier, seeking a feedback loop. The burn scar's new grass is an empty niche for grass-specialized herbivores, which evolved from mixed feeders only in the early Pleistocene. The frontier subpopulation of grazers discovering the auxiliary grassland quickly multiplies. Following this boom, a bust occurs several decades later when the brush returns; it squeezes this offshoot population back into the core grasslands population. For both prey and predators, such a feedback loop can shift the core's gene frequencies toward those of the brush explorers. Hunters of both browsers and grazers spend more time in the brush than those specializing in grazers; this versatility becomes a candidate for differential amplification. Any brush-relevant allele could benefit from amplifying feedback by such trait hitchhiking, so long as its phenotypes also concentrate near where empty niches can open up in the brush for grazers and their predators. Increased versatility likely correlates with larger brain size on the evolutionary time scale. Among the tasks likely to need the shade of brush are toolmaking and food preparation. The more versatile, larger-than-average brains need only spend more-than-average time in the catchment zone for this recursive evolutionary process to keep average brain size increasing even further, making advance room for some future functionality in the cerebral cortex.
Mechanism of Electroless Copper Deposition from [CuIIEDTA]2– Complexes Using Aldehyde-Based Reductants

In this article, we present a mechanism for electroless copper deposition from alkaline solutions containing [CuIIEDTA]2–(aq) and hydrolyzed aldehydes. The mechanism is based on quantum chemical calculations of the activation energies and reversible electron-transfer potentials. Low-coordinated, electroless-deposited surface Cu atoms are found to activate H abstraction from the C–H bond of the aldehyde group, putting H on the surface and releasing a highly reducing electron in the process; this electron reduces [CuIIEDTA]2–(aq) to [CuIEDTA]3–(aq). [CuIEDTA]3–(aq) is subsequently reduced to Cu0(ads) by a second electron generated by the same process, releasing EDTA4–(aq). Calculated reversible potentials for the reduction steps aid in interpretation of the catalytic behavior observed in experimental polarization curves.
Telling left from right in the nucleus

Louis Pasteur first discovered that molecules have a "handedness" in 1848 while he was studying salts of acids that had been separated and dried from the bottom of old wine casks. Two acids that seemed to have identical chemical compositions caused polarized light to rotate differently as it passed through their crystalline residues. Pasteur carefully sorted the crystals and found two separate forms that could be distinguished by their shape. Some 45 years later, Lord Kelvin introduced the term "chirality" to describe a geometric shape that looks different from its mirror image.
Screening Tool for Bleeding Disorders in Women with Menorrhagia: Evaluation in a Prospective US Multi-Site Cohort.

Abstract Menorrhagia is a common clinical problem among reproductive age women and annually 5% of reproductive age women seek medical attention, usually with gynecologists and other primary care physicians, for this symptom. Since underlying bleeding disorders are common in women presenting with menorrhagia, and referral for comprehensive hemostatic testing of substantial numbers of women with otherwise unexplained menorrhagia is problematic from the public health and cost perspective, a short, easy-to-administer screening tool comprised of 8 questions for identifying women with menorrhagia for hemostatic evaluation was previously developed (Am J Ob Gyn 2008; 198:e1–163e8). In the present study, the validity of the screening tool was evaluated in a multi-site, prospectively recruited cohort of women with menorrhagia. 232 women with menorrhagia age 18 and older with a pictorial blood assessment chart (PBAC) score > 100 were recruited from 5 US centers as potential subjects for a prospective cross-over study for evaluation of intranasal DDAVP versus tranexamic acid. All subjects underwent comprehensive laboratory testing for bleeding disorders, including VWF, platelet aggregation/ATP release, and factor assays. Study participants were administered a questionnaire which included the 8 screening tool questions in 4 categories, including history of duration and severity of menorrhagia, anemia treatment, excessive bleeding with hemostatic challenges, and family diagnosis of bleeding disorder. A screening tool was considered positive if there was a positive response for any of the questions in the four categories. Sensitivity of the screening tool with 95% confidence interval was calculated for bleeding disorders and also separately for low VWF (ristocetin cofactor 185 increased the sensitivity of the screening tool for bleeding disorders to 95% (95% CI, 90–98). Using a multi-site US population of adult women with menorrhagia, this study confirms the benefit of a short screening tool to assist primary care physicians in the selection of women with menorrhagia to refer for comprehensive hemostatic testing and evaluation. population of adult women with menorrhagia, this study confirms the benefit of a short screening tool to assist primary care physicians in the selection of women with menorrhagia to refer for comprehensive hemostatic testing and evaluation.
The geometry of random paired comparisons

Suppose that we are able to obtain binary paired comparisons of the form “x is closer to p than to q” for various choices of vectors p and q. Such observations arise in a variety of contexts, including nonmetric multidimensional scaling, unfolding, and ranking problems, often because they provide a powerful and flexible model of preference. In this paper we give a theoretical bound for how well we can expect to estimate x under a randomized model for p and q. We also show that we can achieve significant gains by adaptively changing the distribution for choosing p and q.
Surgical treatment of sacral chordoma

Abstract Chordoma is a rare, slow-growing, malignant bone tumor with an insidious presentation. Consequently, diagnosis is often delayed, particularly for sacral tumors, which can reach large proportions before becoming symptomatic. En bloc surgical excision is the most effective treatment. Reconstruction in the sacral region can require complex instrumentation and soft-tissue rearrangement. Optimal patient outcomes require a multidisciplinary approach with contributions from spinal, oncologic, vascular, and plastic surgeons.
Reduced jitter in displacement estimation using the spatial coherence of backscatter

Displacement estimation is a critical component of elastography. The measurement of sub-resolution displacements relies on high cross-correlation (CC) between repeated collinear RF acquisitions. CCs are degraded by common sources of acoustic noise, such as reverberation clutter, in addition to the displacement of scatterers within the radiation force field. CCs are also degraded spatially across the aperture when imaging diffuse scatterers. Previously, we proposed a method that defines an equivalent CC calculation utilizing the CCs of the individual channel signals. In this method, poor CCs are rejected from the channel-signal pairs, resulting in reduced jitter in simulation experiments. Here, we characterize the performance of the channel-based method in radiation force displacement estimation in a phantom study under ideal and noisy imaging conditions.
The autopsy lexicon: suggested headings for the autopsy report.

Context.-Although standard autopsy texts and other publications discuss the general content of autopsy reports, and some provide examples of autopsy report formats, no publication to date has recommended specific headings for autopsy report organization. The College of American Pathologists Autopsy Committee decided it would be helpful to provide suggestions for autopsy report headings to foster more standardized autopsy reporting, to facilitate review of reports by third parties, and to facilitate searches of electronically stored autopsy reports. Objectives.-To create a model document (named the Autopsy Lexicon), which defines standard categories of information that are useful to include in autopsy reports; to offer specific wording for the headings of various sections of the report; and to explain the rationale for including the various items of information and headings. Participants and Methods.-The members of the Autopsy Committee of the College of American Pathologists prepared the document by reviewing various examples of autopsy report formats, identifying specific categories of information usually contained in such reports, and developing wording for various sections of the autopsy report that would contain specific information. A draft was submitted to 45 members (including 12 forensic pathologists) of the College of American Pathologists for review, comment, and reality testing. Reviewers included pathologists from both community and academic settings. Comments of reviewers were incorporated to the extent possible. Results.-The Autopsy Lexicon was prepared and is a model document for autopsy pathologists who wish to define an autopsy template of headings for consistent organization of autopsy reports. Conclusions.-The Autopsy Lexicon is available to foster more uniform reporting of autopsy information, which may facilitate review of autopsy reports and retrieval of information from electronically stored autopsy reports.
The Bose-Einstein Condensation of Positronium in Submicron Cavities

We have considered the possibility of creating a matter-antimatter Bose-Einstein condensate in the laboratory and concluded that a committed and focussed program could succeed in making this new “extraordinary” material available for scientific study. In this paper we describe the experimental requirements of the scheme and the mechanisms by which a positronium Bose-Einstein condensate may be both formed and observed.
Myocardial scintigraphy. Post-Vineberg study.

In order to assess myocardial perfusion of Vineberg implants, tracer particles (99mTc and 131I-MAA) were injected into the internal mammary implants of 7 patients (6 years after the operation) after selective contrast visualization. The myocardial perfusion images were correlated with the internal mammary arteriographic findings. Of those patients with patent implants with communication, the myocardial scintigrams demonstrated even distribution of radioactive particles reflecting myocardial perfusion at the capillary or precapillary bed.
Physiological and Urinary Metabolite Responses to Cold Shock and Confinement of Sheep

Fourteen 15-kg hand-raised lambs were subjected to a control treatment or to one 3-hr, -5 C cold shock each day for 4 days. The greatest increase in heart rate occurred at the second hour of cold shock, when ambient temperatures were lowest. This increase became successively smaller each day. The greatest rectal temperature decreases occurred after 3 hr of cold shock, 1 hr after the minimum ambient temperature had been reached. This rectal temperature decrease became successively greater each day as the lambs habituated to the cold shocks. Urinary calcium excretion was 67% higher (P less than .05) in the cold-shocked lambs than in the controls during the 18-hr intervals following the shock. Urinary cortisol excretion was different only on day 2, when the control group showed higher (P less than .05) values. A confinement stress was induced by the placing of four lambs in metabolic cages 5 days after they were removed from a range environment. These lambs were compared to four other lambs in metabolic cages which had been reared in the laboratory. Confinement stress increased urinary cortisol excretion (P less than .05) above that of the laboratory-reared lambs for the first 3 days. A mean urinary cortisol excretion of 41 ng.MBS-1.mr-1 or 20 ng.mg.creatine-1 was found in lambs in the range and laboratory groups over the remainder of the study. The range lambs' nitrogen retention, measured after cortisol excretion returned to baseline, was greater (P less than .05) than that of the laboratory lambs.
The Realm of Graphical Processing Unit (GPU) Computing

The goal of the chapter is to introduce the upper-level Computer Engineering/Computer Science undergraduate (UG) students to general-purpose graphical processing unit (GPGPU) computing. The specific focus of the chapter is on GPGPU computing using the Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA) C framework due to the following three reasons: (1) Nvidia GPUs are ubiquitous in high-performance computing, (2) CUDA is relatively easy to understand versus OpenCL, especially for UG students with limited heterogeneous device programming experience, and (3) CUDA experience simplifies learning OpenCL and OpenACC. The chapter consists of nine pedagogical sections with several active-learning exercises to effectively engage students with the text. The chapter opens with an introduction to GPGPU computing. The chapter sections include: (1) Data parallelism; (2) CUDA program structure; (3) CUDA compilation flow; (4) CUDA thread organization; (5) Kernel: Execution configuration and kernel structure; (6) CUDA memory organization; (7) CUDA optimizations; (8) Case study: Image convolution on GPUs; and (9) GPU computing: The future. The authors believe that the chapter layout facilitates effective student-learning by starting from the basics of GPGPU computing and then leading up to the advanced concepts. With this chapter, the authors aim to equip students with the necessary skills to undertake graduate-level courses on GPU programming and make a strong start with undergraduate research.
What Is Surgical Professionalism

Professionalism has been, inarguably, the most important characteristic valued by both patients and surgeons. If a surgeon is not perceived as behaving professionally, a patient’s trust in the surgeon is much more likely to be called into question. This chapter deals with the topic of professionalism in the practice of surgery, challenges to surgeons’ professionalism, and our suggestions on meeting those challenges. Challenges to our professionalism and professional standing include a philosophical and attitudinal shift from paternalism to patient autonomy, the medical malpractice crisis, the rise of entrepreneurship in medicine with its potential for conflict of interest, the commercialization and lucrative aspects of health care, the commoditization of surgical care, the introduction of new technology, and more overt competition among health providers and systems. Being a professional requires continuous self-improvement; self-regulation keyed to our individual current competence, contributing to the equitable regulation of our colleagues and our surgical practices; and always placing the welfare of the patient before our own.
Synthesis, Functionalization, and Characterization of Fusogenic Porous Silicon Nanoparticles for Oligonucleotide Delivery

With the advent of gene therapy, the development of an effective in vivo nucleotide-payload delivery system has become of parallel import. Fusogenic porous silicon nanoparticles (F-pSiNPs) have recently demonstrated high in vivo gene silencing efficacy due to its high oligonucleotide loading capacity and unique cellular uptake pathway that avoids endocytosis. The synthesis of F-pSiNPs is a multi-step process that includes: (1) loading and sealing of oligonucleotide payloads in the silicon pores; (2) simultaneous coating and sizing of fusogenic lipids around the porous silicon cores; and (3) conjugation of targeting peptides and washing to remove excess oligonucleotide, silicon debris, and peptide. The particle's size uniformity is characterized by dynamic light scattering, and its core-shell structure may be verified by transmission electron microscopy. The fusogenic uptake is validated by loading a lipophilic dye, 1,1'-dioctadecyl-3,3,3',3'-tetramethylindocarbocyanine perchlorate (DiI), into the fusogenic lipid bilayer and treating it to cells in vitro to observe for plasma membrane staining versus endocytic localizations. The targeting and in vivo gene silencing efficacies were previously quantified in a mouse model of Staphylococcus aureus pneumonia, in which the targeting peptide is expected to help the F-pSiNPs to home to the site of infection. Beyond its application in S. aureus infection, the F-pSiNP system may be used to deliver any oligonucleotide for gene therapy of a wide range of diseases, including viral infections, cancer, and autoimmune diseases.
PROPERTIES OF SOLUTIONS OF NONLINEAR PARTIAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS USING FINITE ELEMENT METHODS

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on properties of solutions of nonlinear partial differential equations using finite element methods. It presents estimates of bounds and zeros of classical solutions of some nonlinear partial differential equations in bounded regions R a subset of E n . Estimates do not depend upon boundary conditions imposed on the classical solutions of such partial differential equations. However, such estimates obtained will depend upon the class of trial functions defined on a finite element mesh of R . Methods used are in contrast to those of actually attempting to compute such a classical solution in detail throughout large regions R contained in Euclidean n -space E n and, thus, provide rapid initial estimates of such properties of classical solutions. The chapter describes second-order nonlinear elliptic partial differential equations.
An immersed boundary method coupled with a dynamic overlapping-grids strategy

Abstract An immersed-boundary method is devised within an existing finite-volume dynamic overlapping-grids solver. The immersed-boundary approach allows improved flexibility, removing the constraint of the Eulerian grid to conform to the geometry of solid bodies within the fluid domain. This is beneficial to the regularity of the grid, especially in the near wall regions, improving the stability and accuracy of the overall method. Furthermore, grid generation, which is a very time-consuming, non-automated task in body-fitted techniques, requiring a significant effort in terms of human work-hours, is dramatically simplified. Here the immersed-boundary strategy is utilized together with curvilinear grids capabilities, which are useful to keep cells count under control, a major issue in more conventional immersed-boundary methods using Cartesian grids. The main advantage of the proposed approach is the coupling with a dynamic overlapping-grids methodology. This is especially convenient in presence of moving bodies, since the grid attached to a moving immersed-boundary can follow the body during its motion, with no need to update the position of the Lagrangian grid, discretizing the body surface, relative to the associated Eulerian grid, discretizing the fluid domain in the vicinity of the body. A distance function is defined at each node of the computational grid, based on the position relative to the surface of the immersed-boundary, which is utilized to enforce no-slip boundary conditions via reconstruction of the solution in the vicinity of the body. Thanks to the dynamic overlapping grids, the distance function is computed only once in pre-processing, with no additional cost due to the motion of the immersed-boundary. Here the methodology is discussed in detail and test-cases are presented, featuring both stationary and moving bodies, also in relative motion. Results from present immersed-boundary computations are compared with body-fitted solutions by the same solver and with data from the literature as well.
Overview of Anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) and association with fertility in female cattle.

Anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) is produced by granulosa cells of early-antral follicles found on the ovary. After production, it enters circulation and can be detected from a blood sample with an ELISA. Multiple works have found that circulating AMH is a reliable marker of the antral follicle population (AFP) of an animal as well as directly correlated to an animal's response to a superovulation protocol. Research has also found high repeatability within an animal's oestrous cycle. Further use of AMH may be valuable as a reproductive management tool, based on previous research linking productive life with circulating AMH in heifers and success to various breeding protocols by AMH concentration. The aim of this review was to summarize previous works describing basic function of AMH as well as explore recent research examining AMH as a reproductive tool and measurement of fertility in dairy animals.
Hot Spots of Crime: Methods and Predictive Analytics

As part of a contemporary look at the intersection of geography and crime, the current chapter offers a new conceptual definition of predictive policing, an overview of some of the most commonly used methods to identify crime “hot spots” retrospectively, prospective hot spot analysis, and predictive policing analytics. Police and researchers have mapped crime and disorder for decades, consistently finding that these incidents clusters in areas commonly referred to as hot spots. Understanding where and when crime and disorder cluster, both spatially and temporally, provides vital information necessary for community leaders to design and implement effective crime-reduction strategies and community-safety initiatives. Until recently, however, researchers and analysts have operated retrospectively—using incident location information to describe historical crime patterns through the use of data visualization techniques or to design reactionary policing strategies based on the assumption that historical crime patterns are reliable indicators of future problem areas. Unlike traditional crime hot spot analysis, predictive analytics identify patterns in crime data that relate to criminal activity in the near future. The aim of this approach is to exploit patterns identified in data dynamically and to prevent crime through proactive resource allocation. This approach is distinct from how crime analysis and intelligence-led policing has historically been conducted.
Patterns of Failure in Women Who Have Residual Nodal Disease After Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy for Breast Cancer According to Extent of Lymph Node Surgery.

Abstract Background Optimal surgical management of limited axillary nodal disease following neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) for breast cancer is evolving. Concerns exist with respect to leaving residual disease in the axilla when omitting axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) in this setting. We sought to determine whether extent of nodal surgery altered patterns of failure and patient outcomes. Patients and Methods We identified 70 patients with breast cancer who were confirmed cN0 after NAC yet had residual nodal disease (ypN1) on sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB). Twenty-eight patients underwent SLNB alone and 42 underwent SLNB+completion (c)ALND in a non-randomized fashion. Most (n = 65) patients underwent adjuvant regional nodal irradiation (RNI). Detailed patterns of failure data were obtained for each patient. Results The median follow-up was 43.5 months. There were 30 (43%) recurrences. Of these, 5 were isolated locoregional failures, and 24 were distant failures. There were no significant differences in local (P = .13), regional (P = .62), or distant (P = .47) failure between patients who underwent SLNB alone versus SLNB+cALND. Seventeen (24%) patients died. Overall survival was similar in both groups with median overall survival not reached for those who underwent SLNB and 109 months for those who underwent SLNB+cALND (P = .45). Conclusions There were no differences in patterns of recurrence among patients with 1 to 3 involved lymph nodes after NAC who underwent SLNB alone versus SLNB+cALND in the setting of RNI. We await the results of ongoing, prospective clinical trials to confirm the relative merits of RNI in lieu of cALND in these patients.
Linear energy transfer weighted beam orientation optimization for intensity-modulated proton therapy

Purpose In intensity-modulated proton therapy (IMPT), unaccounted-for variation in biological effectiveness contributes to the discrepancy between the constant relative biological effectiveness (RBE) model prediction and experimental observation. It is desirable to incorporate biological doses in treatment planning to improve modeling accuracy and consequently achieve a higher therapeutic ratio. This study addresses this demand by developing a method to incorporate linear energy transfer (LET) into beam orientation optimization (BOO). Methods Instead of RBE-weighted dose, this LET weighted BOO (LETwBOO) framework uses the dose and LET product (LET × D) as the biological surrogate. The problem is formulated with a physical dose fidelity term, a LET × D constraint term, and a group sparsity term. The LET × D of organs at risks is penalized for minimizing the biological effect while maintaining the physical dose objectives. Group sparsity is used to reduce the number of active beams from 600-800 non-coplanar candidate beams to between 2 and 4. This LETwBOO method was tested on three skull base tumor (SBT) patients and three bilateral head-and-neck (H&N) patients. The LETwBOO plans were compared with IMPT plans using manually selected beams with only physical dose constraint (MAN) and the initial MAN plan reoptimized with additional LET × D constraint (LETwMAN). Results The LETwBOO plans show superior physical dose and LET × D sparing. On average, the [mean, maximal] doses of organs at risks (OARs) in LETwBOO are reduced by [2.85, 4.6] GyRBE from the MAN plans in the SBT cases and reduced by [0.9, 2.5] GyRBE in the H&N cases, while LETwMAN is comparable to MAN. cLET × Ds of PTVs are comparable in LETwBOO and LETwMAN, where c is a scaling factor of 0.04 μm/keV. On average, in the SBT cases, LETwBOO reduces the OAR [mean, maximal] cLET × D by [1.1, 2.9] Gy from the MAN plans, compared to the reduction by LETwMAN from MAN of [0.7, 1.7] Gy. In the H&N cases, LETwBOO reduces the OAR [mean, maximal] cLET × D by [0.8, 2.6] Gy from the MAN plans, compared to the reduction by LETwMAN from MAN of [0.3, 1.2] Gy. Conclusion We developed a novel LET weighted BOO method for IMPT to generate plans with improved physical and biological OAR sparing compared with the plans unaccounted for biological effects from BOO.
Molecular Characterization of Photochemically Produced Asphaltenes via Photooxidation of Deasphalted Crude Oils

The ability of molecular characterization to expose the chemical and structural composition of petroleum photooxidation products can aid future optimization of oil spill remediation techniques. Pre...
Recommendations for the future science of family caregiving services and supports: A synthesis of recent summits and national reports

Abstract Meeting the challenge of the impending family care gap will require coordination among educators, healthcare providers, researchers, and policymakers. Over the past 5 years, national summits, conferences, and working committees have been convened by national research institutes and other organizations to make recommendations for addressing family caregivers’ needs. In this chapter, we systematically distill over 350 individual recommendations from these efforts to clarify a scientific agenda to advance caregiving research and services. Recommendations are reported by the main target audience. For educators, the primary focus was on growing and training the workforce. For healthcare and service providers, the main recommendation was to integrate caregivers into regular practice. Researchers were encouraged to include caregivers and care recipients in setting research agendas, and to focus research on underserved and underrepresented caregivers. Researchers and providers should collaborate to implement effective interventions more broadly using implementation science methods. Finally, researchers and policymakers should work together to develop more comprehensive data collection and surveillance efforts. Our hope is that, by organizing these goals and linking them to recent research and policy developments, this chapter will contribute to a coherent, up-to-date agenda for supporting family caregivers that will better help to address the public health ramifications of family caregiving in the United States.
Detection of organosilanes with surface enhanced infrared spectroscopy

DETECTION OF ORGANOSILANES WITH SURFACE ENHANCED INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY by Anh Duong Infrared transmission spectra of 1 nm thick organic films were studied with and without the aid of a 5 nm thick Au island film enhancement layer. It is estimated that absorbance intensities for these molecules were about 100 to 200 times higher when they were deposited onto Au films. When the Au film is annealed at 250°C the absorbance of these molecules decreased. The smaller islands in the un-annealed Au films were more active enhancers of the IR absorption. Given the approximate concentration of the molecules within the molecular film and assuming that the extinction coefficients are the same in solution and in the film, the apparent thickness can be calculated. This thickness exceeds the measured thickness by 10 300 times. Even accounting for some additional adsorbed material using a simple model of the surface, this thickness is greater 5-150 times, than the true thickness.
An efficacious model for predicting icing-induced energy loss for wind turbines

Abstract The wind industry in cold climates has shown strong growth in recent years, but turbine icing in these regions can cause significant energy loss leading to a reduction in reliability of wind energy. Previous studies on estimating wind turbine icing (WTI) generally rely on complex physical models, and many only model the ice growth itself while failing to correlate ice growth with energy loss. It is the estimation of icing-induced energy loss that is critical for power grid management to cope with energy deficits associated with extreme weather conditions. This study focuses on bridging this modeling gap through developing an efficacious methodology for predicting icing-induced energy losses for wind turbines in cold weather events. Specifically, this study uses measurements of 11 WTI events between 2018 and 2020 from a 2.5 MW wind turbine (Eolos site, University of Minnesota) to create a statistical correlation between meteorological conditions and icing-induced energy loss. Meteorological icing parameters generated from a Weather Research and Forecasting simulation are used as inputs to the model. The model is validated against in-situ data for all events, and against two additional 1.65 MW wind turbines for one event (Morris site, University of Minnesota). When comparing average estimated energy loss to measured loss, it shows a relative mean absolute error of 37% at Eolos and 2.9% at Morris (after power curve scaling). The new model is additionally implemented for 30 large-scale wind farms in the Midwest region of the United States for estimation of WTI energy loss. The method proposed in this study enables fast and accurate prediction of WTI energy loss for wind turbines.
"I'm a transgender man… I have to quit smoking for treatment and surgery": Describing the experience of a Latino transgender man during his attempt to quit smoking.

Abstract Objective : To describe the experience of a Latino transgender man during his attempt to quit smoking using a text messaging intervention. Methods : A Latino transgender man enrolled in a smoking cessation randomized controlled trial for Latino smokers. The participant was randomized to Decidetexto, a smoking cessation mobile intervention. The participant received a 24-week text messaging intervention. We assessed text messaging interactivity with the program, satisfaction, and self-reported abstinence at Week 12 and Month 6. Results : During the 24-week intervention period, the participant sent a total of 287 text messages to the program. When analyzing the content of the text messages sent by the participants, four important themes were identified: 1) gender identity, 2) low social support, 3) stressors (e.g., gender dysphoria), and 4) gender affirmation surgery as a reason to quit smoking. At both Week 12 and Month 6, the participant reported being extremely satisfied with the intervention and self-reported cigarette use. Conclusion : A smoking cessation mobile intervention generated high satisfaction and frequent interactivity among a Latino transgender man. This case report provides important insights into the experience of one Latino transgender man during his attempt to quit smoking. There is an urgent need to develop or adapt existing smoking cessation interventions to better meet the needs of transgender people.
Socio-ecological predictors of mental health outcomes among healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.

Background Healthcare workers are at increased risk of adverse mental health outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Studies are warranted that examine socio-ecological factors associated with these outcomes to inform interventions that support healthcare workers during future disease outbreaks. Methods We conducted an online cross-sectional study of healthcare workers during May 2020 to assess the socio-ecological predictors of mental health outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic. We assessed factors at four socio-ecological levels: individual (e.g., gender), interpersonal (e.g., social support), institutional (e.g., personal protective equipment availability), and community (e.g., healthcare worker stigma). The Personal Health Questionnaire-9, Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7, Primary Care Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test-Concise scales assessed probable major depression (MD), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and alcohol use disorder (AUD), respectively. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to assess unadjusted and adjusted associations between socio-ecological factors and mental health outcomes. Results Of the 1,092 participants, 72.0% were female, 51.9% were frontline workers, and the mean age was 40.4 years (standard deviation = 11.5). Based on cut-off scores, 13.9%, 15.6%, 22.8%, and 42.8% had probable MD, GAD, PTSD, and AUD, respectively. In the multivariable adjusted models, needing more social support was associated with significantly higher odds of probable MD, GAD, PTSD, and AUD. The significance of other factors varied across the outcomes. For example, at the individual level, female gender was associated with probable PTSD. At the institutional level, lower team cohesion was associated with probable PTSD, and difficulty following hospital policies with probable MD. At the community level, higher healthcare worker stigma was associated with probable PTSD and AUD, decreased satisfaction with the national government response with probable GAD, and higher media exposure with probable GAD and PTSD. Conclusions These findings can inform targeted interventions that promote healthcare workers’ psychological resilience during disease outbreaks.
Gastric Intrinsic Factor and Cobalamin Absorption

The sections in this article are: 1 Types of Cobalamin 2 Dietary Sources and Requirements 3 Biological Reactions and Deficiency Manifestations 4 Cobalamin-Binding Proteins 4.1 Definition 4.2 Specifity of Structure and Binding 4.3 Site of Production, Synthesis, and Secretion 4.4 Structure, Function, and Congenital Abnormalities 5 Intestinal Absorption of Cobalamin 5.1 Gastric Phase 5.2 Intestinal Luminal Phase 5.3 Mucosal Phase 5.4 Studies on Ileal Receptor 5.5 Passive Absorption and Absorption in Neonatal Period 5.6 Uptake and Fate of Intrinsic Factor 5.7 Measurement of Cobalamin Absorption and Body Stores 6 Disorders of Cobalamin Absorption
Assessment of Potential Targets for Deep Brain Stimulation in Patients With Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder affecting 36 million people worldwide and 5.2 million in the United States. The pathogenesis of AD is still elusive. Accumulations of abnormal proteins (beta amyloid and tau protein), inflammatory cascades, abnormal responses to oxidative stress and alteration in oxidative metabolism have been implicated in AD. There are few effective therapeutic options available for this disorder at present. Neuromodulation offers a novel treatment modality for patients with AD. The databases of Medline and PubMed were searched for various studies in English literature describing the deep brain stimulation (DBS) in patients with AD. Various animal and human clinical studies have shown promising initial results with bilateral DBS targeting various anatomical nodes. In this review, we attempt to highlight the pathophysiology, neural circuitry and potential neuromodulation options in patients with AD. In appropriately selected patients, DBS can potentially delay the cognitive decline, enhance memory functions and can improve the overall quality of life. However, further randomized controlled trials are required to validate the efficacy of neuromodulation and to determine the most optimal target for AD.