cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Molecular Cloud Chemistry

This review discusses the physical and chemical processes by which molecules can be formed and destroyed under the conditions prevailing in cold interstellar clouds are reviewed. The general structure of chemical networks based on these processes is outlined and uncertainties in our current knowledge are pointed out. The chemistries in diffuse interstellar clouds, and in the outer and inner regions of dense clouds are discussed. Special attention is given to recent developments and to comparisons with millimetre and submillimetre observations.
On the delamination of thermal barrier coatings in a thermal gradient

Thermal barrier coating (TBC) systems are susceptible to delamination failures in the presence of a large thermal gradient. These failures, which occur within the TBC layer, are very different in character from those associated with the thermally grown oxide. Three possible causes of internal delamination are analyzed. In all cases, the thermomechanical properties of the TBC are allowed to vary because of sintering. (a) One mechanism relates to exfoliation of an internal separation in the TBC due to a through thickness heat flux. (b) Another is concerned with edge-related delamination within a thermal gradient. (c) The third is a consequence of sintering-induced stresses. The results of these analyses, when used in combination with available properties for the TBC, strongly suggest that the second mechanism (b) predominates in all reasonable scenarios. Consequences for the avoidance of this failure mode are discussed.
Note on the Interpretation of the Density Matrix in the Many-Electron Problem

When we treat an atom containing a number n of electrons by the method of the self-consistent field, we assume that each electron has its own particular “orbit,” specified by a wave function (q|r) in four variables q. These four variables are usually taken to be the three coordinates of the electron together with a variable describing the spin, but according to the transformation theory of quantum mechanics, they may be any four independent commuting functions of the coordinates, momenta and spin variables.
Reactions of hydroxymethyl and hydride complexes in water: synthesis, structure and reactivity of a hydroxymethyl–cobalt complex

Abstract The properties and reactions of hydroxymethyl and hydride complexes are surveyed with an emphasis on their aqueous chemistry; then the syntheses and reactions found for macrocyclic cobalt complexes of these ligands are presented. The hydroxymethyl–cobalt(III) complex was prepared by addition of the photogenerated CH 2 OH radical to the cobalt(II) macrocycle N - meso -CoHMD 2+ (HMD = 5,7,7,12,14,14-hexamethyl-1,4,8,11-tetraazacyclotetradeca-4,11-diene) in 0.1 M perchloric acid and characterized by an X-ray crystallographic study and spectroscopic characterization in solution. Acidic aqueous solutions are fairly stable and the complex decomposes, with formaldehyde elimination, by a base-catalyzed pathway. At 25 °C, formaldehyde elimination proceeds with the rate law −d[ N - meso -CoHMD(CH 2 OH) 2+ ]/d t = k I [ N - meso -CoHMD(CH 2 OH) 2+ ]/[H + ], with k I = (3.5 ± 0.5) × 10 −9 M s −1 at pH 4–7 and 0.5 M ionic strength to yield the hydride complex, N - meso -CoHMD(H) 2+ and CH 2 O. In a subsequent stage, N - meso -CoHMD 2+ and H 2 form with the rate law −d[ N - meso -CoHMD(H) 2+ ]/d t = (2 ± 1) × 10 −7 [ N - meso -CoHMD(H) 2+ ] 2 /[H + ] s −1 at pH 4.5–8 and 0.5 M ionic strength. Ultimately, the N - meso complex isomerizes to yield N - rac -CoHMD 2+ with previously observed kinetics.
A wideband RF receiver with extended statistical element selection based harmonic rejection calibration

In this paper we present a wideband harmonic rejection (HR) RF receiver design. Both gain mismatch and phase mismatch of the HR mixer have been calibrated using a design and calibration method called extended statistical element selection to achieve best-in-class HR ratio (HRR) performance. The achieved concurrent 3rd order HRR and 5th order HRR are greater than 80dB and 70dB, respectively, after calibration. The even order HRR is also calibrated to greater than 80dB. A single calibration performed at 750MHz was further observed to be effective over more than two octaves of bandwidth with greater than 70dB HRR. The receiver was manufactured in 65nm CMOS technology. Input RF frequency range was 0.15-1GHz and the receiver consumes 64mW at 1GHz. Noise figure is 3.2dB and out-of-band IIP3 is -7dBm at a total gain of 48dB. A wideband RF receiver with best-in-class harmonic rejection performance is presented.A novel design method is proposed for high calibration resolution and wide calibration range.Harmonic rejection calibration performed at one frequency is effective at a wide frequency range.
Nanosecond electric pulse induced changes in cell suspension conductivity

Electric pulses (EPs) can permeabilize cell membranes and intracellular organelles for ion and molecule transport. One can modulate these biophysical effects by changing the pulse shape and duration. Electrically, EPs change the permittivity and conductivity of the cell membrane and intracellular structures; however, measuring these parameters during the EPs is challenging. We assess the impact of EPs on extracellular conductivity to assess membrane permeabilization and ion transport into or out of the cells. For low conductivity buffer solutions, the extracellular conductivity increases from ∼0.15 S/m to 1.1 S/m during 300 ns EPs, indicating membrane pore formation and ion motion out of the cell. For buffer conductivity on the order of the intracellular conductivity, extracellular conductivity changes from ∼1.8 S/m without cells to ∼1.6 S/m, suggesting much less ion flow. The implications of these results are discussed.
Assumptions, Methods, and Research Problems of the Holistic, Developmental, Systems-Oriented Perspective

Beginning with the basic assumption of perspectivism that is grounded in the philosophical position of interpretationism or constructivism (Lavine, 1950 a,b) and Pepper’s (1942) notion that understanding the world is based on a metaphoric description of world hypotheses and root metaphors, we shall, in keeping with the theme of this volume, attempt to look inward so-to-speak and uncover the basic assumptions of our holistic, developmental, systems-oriented perspective that shapes the nature of the research problems and methods we use in analyzing environment-behavior relationships. We shall attempt to characterize the main assumptions and illustrate how they mold methodology and the formulation of research problems.
The effect of rural-urban ties kinship and marriage on household structure in a Kongo village.

The effect of rural and urban ties kinship and marriage on household structure in the village of Mbanza Manteke in Western Zaire is analyzed using village census data for 1965. The analysis of households "provides rural data that reveal the interdependence of village and town and a form of family organization adapted to mobility within the total urban-rural social field." It is found that "over time several distinct factors produce the variation in household structure. These factors are age sex marriage and divorce labour migration and return the rights and obligations of kinship and the relative economic independence of women in the village." (summary in FRE) (EXCERPT)
Experience report: constraint-based modeling of autonomous vehicle trajectories

Autonomous vehicles and other robotics systems are frequently implemented using a general-purpose programming language such as C++, and prototyped using domain-specific tool such as MATLAB/Simulink, and LabVIEW. Such an approach is not efficient when programming primitive motions of autonomous vehicles when considering important safety constraints, and when promoting the broad access to robotic systems through involvement of students and aspiring students who do not know conventional low-level programming languages. Aside from general-purpose programming languages, there are languages that are specifically designed to model autonomous vehicles, such as SHIFT, but these languages are typically for simulation purposes only. This experience report discusses the creation of a domain-specific language that allows for faster programming of autonomous vehicles while ensuring valid constraints will be met. This language generates code for multiple controllers that will operate alternatively to allow for fast and effective programming of vehicle trajectories using primitive motions. In addition to improving coding efficiency and reducing the number of programming errors, the language adds a level of abstraction so that autonomous vehicle behaviors may be generated by people with little knowledge of low-level details of the car's operation. Furthermore, this language ensures safe operation of the vehicle by enforcing a set of user-definable constraints on the output path. A main set of constraints that are applied to every generated path have been specifically chosen to enforce safe switching between controllers and prevent the planning of unsafe actions. A novel application of the language is its ability to permit users to add specific constraints for a particular path; these constraints are checked for validity after the main constraint check is performed.
Fine Detection of Radiation Pressure on Optical Wings Using Micro Oscillators

Finite element results are reported for a micromechanical oscillator used to measure the piconewton force and attonewton-meter torque imparted to a micron-scale optical wing when illuminated with a 300 mW uniform laser beam.
APPLICATION OF TILTMETER SYSTEM IN STABILITY MONITORING OF DAYAOSHAN TUNNEL

In this paper, a case history of the application of tiltmeter system to monitor the stability of tunnel is introduced.In Dayaoshan Tunnel,the tilting deformation measurement of side wall is carried out by tiltmeter system at No.9 fault section during the construction of parallel water tunnel in order to understand to which extent the stability of existing main tunnel shall be influenced by the excavation of adjacent water tunnel.It proves that the tiltmeter system is a easy and promising measurement measure, which can measure the peripheral tilting deformation of tunnel and accurately monitor the influence due to the excavation of adjacent tunnel.
An approach for selection of health care personnel handwashing agents.

Given the wide range of available health care personnel handwashing agents, selection of an appropriate product may be difficult. This decision may be made on the basis of user preference, cost, or other factors unrelated to product effectiveness. Four criteria—efficacy, safety, cost, and acceptability—are appropriate for systematic evaluation of handwashing products. These criteria are applied to para-chloro-meta-xylenol (PCMX), a compound used with increasing frequency in health care personnel handwashing agents. Published data regarding the biochemical properties, efficacy, and safety of PCMX are summarized. We conclude that the substance appears to be safe and efficacious. However, the activity of PCMX is highly formula-dependent and many of the studies available in scientific literature have been conducted in Europe using a variety of testing conditions and formulations different from those currently available in the US. Clinical studies of marketed formulations are beginning to appear in the literature. Such studies will provide the data needed for adequate product evaluation.
Electron Microscopic Analysis of Infection Patterns for Venezuelan Equine Encephalomyelitis Virus in the Vector Mosquito, Culex (Melanoconion) Taeniopus

The infectious process for Venezuelan equine encephalomyelitis virus in an enzootic vector mosquito, Culex (Melanoconion) taeniopus, was examined by transmission electron microscopy. Following large dose oral infection, virus was seen in the abdominal fat body and epidermis within 1 hr of engorgement. Replicated virus appeared to leave the mesenteron 3-4 hr post-infection. Dissemination to other organs occurred between days 1 and 2 of extrinsic incubation, when the hindgut and abdominal nerve ganglia were found to be infected. Virus reached the thoracic nerve ganglia, brain and salivary glands by 4 days post-infection, and flight muscles contained virus by day 6. Virus was never detected in the malphigian tubules or ovaries of infected mosquitoes within 21 days of extrinsic incubation. These results suggest that virus particles penetrate the mesenteron and accumulate in the abdominal fat body prior to replication within the vector. This pattern differs from that reported for other arbovirus-vector pairs.
Benchmark study of the two-dimensional Hubbard model with auxiliary-field quantum Monte Carlo method

Ground-state properties of the Hubbard model on a two-dimensional square lattice are studied by the auxiliary-field quantum Monte Carlo method. Accurate results for energy, double occupancy, effective hopping, magnetization, and momentum distribution are calculated for interaction strengths of $U/t$ from 2 to 8, for a range of densities including half-filling and $n=0.3,0.5,0.6,\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}0.75$, and $0.875$. At half-filling, the results are numerically exact. Away from half-filling, the constrained path Monte Carlo method is employed to control the sign problem. Our results are obtained with several advances in the computational algorithm, which are described in detail. We discuss the advantages of generalized Hartree-Fock trial wave functions and its connection to pairing wave functions, as well as the interplay with different forms of Hubbard-Stratonovich decompositions. We study the use of different twist angle sets when applying the twist averaged boundary conditions. We propose the use of quasirandom sequences, which improves the convergence to the thermodynamic limit over pseudorandom and other sequences. With it and a careful finite size scaling analysis, we are able to obtain accurate values of ground-state properties in the thermodynamic limit. Detailed results for finite-sized systems up to $16\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}16$ are also provided for benchmark purposes.
Clinical anthropometrics and body composition from 3D whole-body surface scans.

Obesity is a significant worldwide epidemic that necessitates accessible tools for robust body composition analysis. We investigated whether widely available 3D body surface scanners can provide clinically relevant direct anthropometrics (circumferences, areas and volumes) and body composition estimates (regional fat/lean masses). Thirty-nine healthy adults stratified by age, sex and body mass index (BMI) underwent whole-body 3D scans, dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), air displacement plethysmography and tape measurements. Linear regressions were performed to assess agreement between 3D measurements and criterion methods. Linear models were derived to predict DXA body composition from 3D scan measurements. Thirty-seven external fitness center users underwent 3D scans and bioelectrical impedance analysis for model validation. 3D body scan measurements correlated strongly to criterion methods: waist circumference R2=0.95, hip circumference R2=0.92, surface area R2=0.97 and volume R2=0.99. However, systematic differences were observed for each measure due to discrepancies in landmark positioning. Predictive body composition equations showed strong agreement for whole body (fat mass R2=0.95, root mean square error (RMSE)=2.4 kg; fat-free mass R2=0.96, RMSE=2.2 kg) and arms, legs and trunk (R2=0.79-0.94, RMSE=0.5–1.7 kg). Visceral fat prediction showed moderate agreement (R2=0.75, RMSE=0.11 kg). 3D surface scanners offer precise and stable automated measurements of body shape and composition. Software updates may be needed to resolve measurement biases resulting from landmark positioning discrepancies. Further studies are justified to elucidate relationships between body shape, composition and metabolic health across sex, age, BMI and ethnicity groups, as well as in those with metabolic disorders.
The postural feeding hypothesis: an ecological model for the evolution of bipedalism

Chimpanzee ecology and australopithecine functional morphology suggest a combined terrestrial and arboreal postural feeding origin for hominid bipedalism. Field research has shown that chimpanzees are bipedal most often when they feed on the small fruits of diminutive, open-forest trees. They feed from such trees either by reaching up to pick fruits while standing on the ground, or by balancing on branches in trees, stabilizing themselves by grasping an overhead branch in a semi-arm-hanging posture. Some australopithecine anatomy shared with apes (abductible humeri, shallow ribcages, long narrow scapulae, cranially orientated glenoid fossae, robust clavicular anchors and wide manubria of the sterna) is adapted for reducing muscle action and structural fatigue during armhanging.
Rescuing uncorrectable fault patterns in on-chip memories through error pattern transformation

Voltage scaling can effectively reduce processor power, but also reduces the reliability of the SRAM cells in on-chip memories. Therefore, it is often accompanied by the use of an error correcting code (ECC). To enable reliable and efficient memory operation at low voltages, ECCs for on-chip memories must provide both high error coverage and low correction latency. In this paper, we propose error pattern transformation, a novel low-latency error correction technique that allows on-chip memories to be scaled to voltages lower than what has been previously possible. Our technique relies on the observation that the number of on-chip memory errors that many ECCs can correct differs widely depending on the error patterns in the logical words they protect. We propose adaptively rearranging the logical bit to physical bit mapping per word according to the BIST-detectable fault pattern in the physical word. The adaptive logical bit to physical bit mapping transforms many uncorrectable error patterns in the logical words into correctable error patterns and, therefore, improving on-chip memory reliability. This reduces the minimum voltage at which on-chip memory can run by 70mV over the best low-latency ECC baseline, leading to a 25.7% core-wide power reduction for an ARM Cortex-A7-like core. Energy per instruction is reduced by 15.7% compared to the best baseline.
The Natural History of Hemodialysis Access

One of the most critical aspects of planning for long-term hemodialysis (HD) is obtaining vascular access. Hemodialysis access had evolved over the years and this chapter discusses the history of hemodialysis in the USA.
Looking toward the future of IT-bUSINESS strategic alignment through the past: a meta-analysis

Research examining the relationship between IT-business strategic alignment (hereafter referred to as alignment) and firm performance (hereafter referred to as performance) has produced apparently conflicting findings (i.e., an alignment paradox). To examine the alignment paradox, we conducted a meta-analysis that probed the interrelationships between alignment, performance, and context constructs. We found the alignment dimensions (intellectual, operational, and cross-domain) demonstrate unique relationships with the different performance types (financial performance, productivity, and customer benefit) and with many of the other constructs in alignment's nomological network. All mean corrected correlations between dimensions of alignment and dependent variables were positive and most of the credibility interval values in these analyses were also positive. Overall, the evidence gathered from the extant literature suggests there is not much of an alignment paradox. This study contributes to the literature by clarifying the relationships between alignment and performance outcomes and offering insight into sources of inconsistencies in alignment research. By doing so, this paper lays a foundation for more consistent treatment of alignment in future IT research.
Isocyanide addition to MN2(CO)5(Ph2PCH2PPh2)2 and the formation of a four-electron doubly-bridging isocyanide

Summary Addition of RNC (R = p-CH3C6H4, C6H5CH2, or CH3) to Mn2(CO)5(dpm)2 (dpm = Ph2PCH2PPh2) produces Mn2(CO)5(CNR)(dpm)2 with a terminal isocyanide. Heating of this complex produces Mn2(CO)5(dpm)2 (R = CH3 or C6H5CH2) or Mn2(CO)4(CNR)(dpm)2 (R = p-CH3C6H4). The latter probably contains a four-electron doubly-bridging isocyanide ligand.
An economic comparison of weed management systems used in small-scale organic vegetable production

Weed management strategies likely provide trade-offs in economic implications. Farmers may prioritize weed control during the “critical period” of the crop and ignore subsequent weeds; they may focus on the long term by eliminating additions to the weed seedbank with a “zero seed rain” approach; or they may suppress weed emergence with polyethylene (PE) or hay mulch. We aimed to compare the economic trade-offs of these approaches by implementing each system in a test crop of yellow onion (Allium cepa L.). We found that the zero seed rain system required the most weeding labor and the most evenly spread workload, while the hay mulch system required the most concentrated workload, due to the task of mulching. Despite the labor costs of the zero seed rain and hay mulch systems, net farm income (NFI) was most sensitive to onion yield and these systems resulted in the greatest NFI. The hay mulch system represented the least economic risk, followed by the zero seed rain, PE mulch, and critical period systems, respectively. In a subsequent crop of sweet corn, NFI was decreased 2524 USD ha−1 in plots where the critical period system had been implemented the previous year, likely due to increased weed competition. Overall, despite the long-term focus of the zero seed rain and hay mulch systems related to the weed seedbank and soil quality, respectively, these systems were most profitable in this short-term study.
The Affordable Care Act, Kidney Transplant Access, and Kidney Disease Care in the United States.

Disparities in access to health care, including in access to kidney transplantation, are widespread in the United States ([1][1]). Although the Medicare ESRD program is one of the few examples of a single-payer system in the United States, most people with kidney disease under age 65 years old
Killed Vaccines: Cholera, Typhoid, and Plague

As reviewed in previous chapters of this work, the earliest vaccines were of the live variety, either based on a naturally occurring weaker version of pathogen, as with Jenner’s use of cowpox, or the laboratory-manipulated, attenuated forms of anthrax and rabies employed by his vaccine heir, Pasteur. The next important concept in vaccine science, killed vaccines, was introduced in animals almost concurrently with Pasteur’s live vaccines, but it took another decade for the realization of its clinical application. In 1886, Theobald Smith and his laboratory chief, Daniel Salmon, developed arguably the first successful, heat killed vaccine against the agent of hog cholera while working at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (Zinsser 1987). In the waning years of the nineteenth century, following closely on the heels of a half-century of stunning advances in microbiology and its sister science, immunology, killed vaccines were developed against three major bacterial causes of human morbidity and mortality of the time that flourished amidst the nineteenth century’s primitive sanitation and underdeveloped public health practices: cholera, typhoid, and plague.
Gun Control in the Crosshairs: Christian Nationalism and Opposition to Stricter Gun Laws:

Despite increasingly frequent mass shootings and a growing dissatisfaction with current gun laws, American opposition to federal gun legislation remains strong. The authors show that opposition to stricter gun control is closely linked to Christian nationalism, a religious cultural framework that mandates a symbiotic relationship between Christianity and civil society. Using data from a national population-based survey, the authors show that Christian nationalism is an exceptionally strong predictor of opposition to the federal government’s enacting stricter gun laws. Of all the variables considered, only general political orientation has more predictive power than Christian nationalism. The authors propose that the gun control debate is complicated by deeply held moral and religious schemas that discussions focused solely on rational public safety calculations do not sufficiently address. For the substantial proportion of American society who are Christian nationalists, gun rights are God given and sacre...
Enhancing wind energy harvesting performance of vertical axis wind turbines with a new hybrid design: A fluid-structure interaction study

Abstract Vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs) provide promising solutions for wind energy harvesting in complex flow environment. However, it is challenging to guarantee satisfactory self-starting capability and high power efficiency simultaneously in a VAWT design. To address this challenge, a new hybrid Darrieus-Modifed-Savonius (HDMS) VAWT is designed and numerically tested using a fluid-structure interaction approach based on high fidelity computational fluid dynamics. A systematic study is conducted to analyze the effects of the moment of inertia, turbine structure, and external load on the self-starting capability and power efficiency. It is found that compared with the Darrieus VAWT, the HDMS design has better self-starting capability due to the torque provided by the MS rotor at small tip speed ratios (TSRs). The larger the MS rotor is, the better the self-starting capability is. However, there is penalty on power efficiency when the size of the MS rotor increases. With an appropriately sized MS rotor, the HDMS design can maintain high power efficiency comparable with the Darrieus VAWT at large TSRs. The key flow physics is that the HDMS design can keep accelerating at small TSRs due to the inner MS rotor, and can suppress dynamic stall on the Darrieus rotor at large TSRs.
Microhabitat use by plateau pikas: living on the edge

Mammals rely on habitat resources for survival and reproduction. We studied microhabitats used by plateau pikas (Ochotona curzoniae) of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Microhabitat features used by pikas include sedge meadows that provide forage, burrows that provide safety from predators and cover for nests, degraded open-dirt patches, and edges between sedge meadow and open dirt patches that often have a “lip” between those microhabitats. We investigated the extent to which these edges might serve as a preferred pika microhabitat. GIS techniques were used to overlay individual pika home ranges, determined by focal and scan sampling, on a digitized map containing microhabitat features. Regions that contained multiple coinciding individual home ranges, referred to as overlap polygons, were categorized numerically based on the number of individual home ranges that overlapped each polygon. These overlap polygons were used as relative measures of pika activity. We tested the spatial relationship between pika activity and the microhabitat features of edges, burrows, and proportional area of sedge. There was a significant relationship between the number of pikas in an overlap polygon and the number of pikas in an adjacent polygon. This pattern was controlled statistically to test whether activity was influenced by the presence of potentially favorable microhabitat features. Most of the variation in number of pikas that overlapped a habitat polygon was associated with the relative amount of “edge microhabitat” between sedge meadow and degraded open dirt patches (Cohen's effect size, f2 = 0.91). Neither burrow openings nor sedge had a strong influence on the number of pika home ranges that overlapped. The importance of microhabitat edges appeared high for plateau pikas.
Salen-derived catalysts containing secondary basic groups in the addition of diethylzinc to aldehydes.

A set of modular bifunctional salen catalysts which contain Lewis acid and Lewis base activating groups is described. These groups can be altered independently to control nucleophilic and electrophilic activation of the reacting substrates. These salen-derived catalysts show enhanced reactivity in the addition of diethylzinc to aldehydes with respect to most other salen, amino alcohol, and diamine derived catalysts and reactivity comparable to that of Ti complexes of bis-sulfonamides and diols.
Interactive Image-Guided Surgery Using an Infrared-Based System

The surgical management of intracranial tumors has always been a challenge for the neurosurgeon, from the dual perspective of acquiring a complete resection on one hand and maintaining neurological function on the other. Stereotactic technology followed by computer-assisted neuronavigation has markedly changed the outcome of these operations. It has improved the accuracy of resection, diminished the neurological complication rate, and decreased the length of hospital stay and costs. Interactive image-guided surgery has extended its applications to other fields such as epilepsy and skull-base and spine surgery, and is even used in brain trauma. From December 1991 to December 1996, we used an infrared-based system for intraoperative image-guided resections; in 1995 we began using the same system for spinal applications as well. Our patient group includes 464 patients treated for intracranial pathology and 27 for spinal lesions. In this chapter we discuss our system, protocols used for different applications, and preliminary results in patient care. From our experience with this system we conclude that the infrared-based neuro-navigator is a very useful technology that increases accuracy and the safety of surgical resection.
110th Anniversary: Thermal Coupling via Heat Transfer: A Potential Route to Simple Distillation Configurations with Lower Heat Duty

Numerous configurations are available for the separation of a multicomponent mixture by distillation; each of which has different energy requirements. We classify heat integration (a valuable metho...
Physiological responses to gravity in an insect

Gravity is one of the most ubiquitous environmental effects on living systems: Cellular and organismal responses to gravity are of central importance to understanding the physiological function of organisms, especially eukaryotes. Gravity has been demonstrated to have strong effects on the closed cardiovascular systems of terrestrial vertebrates, with rapidly responding neural reflexes ensuring proper blood flow despite changes in posture. Invertebrates possess open circulatory systems, which could provide fewer mechanisms to restrict gravity effects on blood flow, suggesting that these species also experience effects of gravity on blood pressure and distribution. However, whether gravity affects the open circulatory systems of invertebrates is unknown, partly due to technical measurement issues associated with small body size. Here we used X-ray imaging, radio-tracing of hemolymph, and micropressure measurements in the American grasshopper, Schistocerca americana, to assess responses to body orientation. Our results show that during changes in body orientation, gravity causes large changes in blood and air distribution, and that body position affects ventilation rate. Remarkably, we also found that insects show similar heart rate responses to body position as vertebrates, and contrasting with the classic understanding of open circulatory systems, have flexible valving systems between thorax and abdomen that can separate pressures. Gravitational effects on invertebrate cardiovascular and respiratory systems are likely to be widely distributed among invertebrates and to have broad influence on morphological and physiological evolution.
Abstract WP409: Utilization of Open Cranial Surgery Following Surgical Trial in Lobar Intracerebral Haemorrhage I & II

Introduction: The impact of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on clinical practice remains an important topic in medical research. Several landmark RCTs have tested the role of neurosurgical mana...
Using Microenvironments to Control Reactivity in CO2 Electrocatalysis

Climate change has necessitated the development of technologies that are able to efficiently capture, utilize, and store CO2, creating new opportunities to utilize CO2 as a feedstock to produce fuels and chemicals that are vital to our society. In Nature, Sargent, Peters, Agapie, et al. control microenvironments around Cu electrocatalysts to achieve an impressive selectivity of 72% for CO2 conversion to ethylene, stimulating our imagination of what industrial CO2 electrolyzers may look like in the near future.
General Survey of the Field

Publisher Summary This chapter provides an overview of the present status of space trajectory computations, and suggests the desiderata for further progress. It has been said that up until about 10 years ago, the race of celestial mechanicians was approaching extinction. Up until that time, the problems of celestial mechanics involved essentially an extension of methods developed during the preceding centuries to study smaller and at the same time more complex perturbations of bodies principally within the solar system. Recently, though before the realization of artificial satellites and planets, the introduction of the large-scale electronic computers injected new life into celestial mechanics. These computers have made possible a series of attacks on a wide range of problems which would have been untouchable in the times preceding. A prime example of such an attack is the computation by the Watson Computing Laboratories of tables of planetary positions for some three centuries.
Hydrokinetic Turbine Technology

In this chapter a brief summary of the currently available hydrokinetic turbines and their design methods is presented.
Radiation testing of a small pixel, CMOS compatible CCD

Next-generation X-ray imaging missions require fast, low-noise detectors that can survive the harsh environment of space without significant loss of performance. As part of a detector development effort toward a mission such as Lynx, we report on the effects of proton exposure on the spectral performance, dark current and charge transfer effciency of an MIT Lincoln Lab CCID93. The CCD has 8 micron pixels and can be clocked with 2.5MHz pixel speeds with CMOS compatible voltage swings. The 40 MeV proton dose is chosen to represent typical on orbit exposure. Variations with charge injection, temperature, and clocking speed are explored.
Incentive compatible self-fulfilling mechanisms and rational expectations

Abstract This paper extends the exact equivalence result between the allocations realized by self-fulfilling mechanisms and rational expectations equilibrium allocations in Forges and Minelli (1997) to a large finite-agent replica economy where different replicas of the same agent are allowed to receive different private information. The first result states that the allocation realized by any incentive compatible self-fulfilling mechanism is an approximate rational expectations equilibrium allocation. Conversely, the second result states that, given any rational expectations equilibrium satisfying a “uniform continuity” condition on the equilibrium price, one can construct an approximate incentive compatible self-fulfilling mechanism whose equilibrium allocation coincides with the rational expectations equilibrium allocation for all non-monetary commodities.
Clinical and biomarker results from phase I/II study of PI3K inhibitor alpelisib plus nab-paclitaxel in HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer

Purpose: PIK3CA mutations are common in breast cancer and promote tumor progression and treatment resistance. We conducted a phase I/II trial of alpelisib (α-specific PI3K inhibitor) plus nab-paclitaxel in patients with HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer (MBC). Patients and Methods: Eligible patients had HER2-negative MBC with any number of prior chemotherapies. Phase I was 3+3 dose-escalation design with three dose levels of alpelisib (250, 300, and 350 mg) daily plus nab-paclitaxel 100 mg/m2 administered on days 1, 8, and 15 every 28 days. Phase II was according to Simon9s two-stage design. PIK3CA mutations in tumor/circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) were assessed. Primary endpoints were recommended phase II dose (RP2D) and objective response rate (ORR). Additional endpoints included safety, pharmacokinetics, progression-free survival (PFS), and association of PIK3CA mutation with outcomes. Results: A total of 43 patients were enrolled (phase I, n = 13 and phase II, n = 30). A total of 84% had visceral disease and 84% had prior taxane. No dose-limiting toxicities occurred in phase I. RP2D was alpelisib 350 mg daily plus nab-paclitaxel 100 mg/m2 on days 1, 8, and 15. Hyperglycemia (grade 3, 26% and grade 4, 0%), neutropenia (grade 3, 23% and grade 4, 7%), diarrhea (grade 3, 5% and grade 4, 0%), and rash (grade 3, 7% and grade 4, 0%) were the most common adverse events. Among 42 evaluable patients, ORR was 59% (complete response, 7% and partial response, 52%), 21% of whom had response lasting >12 months; median PFS was 8.7 months. A total of 40% of patients demonstrated tumor and/or ctDNA PIK3CA mutation; patients with tumor/ctDNA mutation demonstrated better PFS compared with those without mutation (11.9 vs. 7.5 months; HR, 0.44; P = 0.027). Patients with normal metabolic status had longer PFS compared with prediabetic/diabetic patients (12 vs. 7.5 months; P = 0.014). No pharmacokinetics interactions were detected. Conclusions: The alpelisib plus nab-paclitaxel combination was well tolerated and shows encouraging efficacy, especially in patients with PIK3CA-mutated tumor/ctDNA. The impact of metabolic status on response to this combination merits further investigation.
A cooperative game solution approach for intensity modulated radiation therapy design: Nash Social Welfare optimization.

We study the fluency map optimization problem in Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) from a cooperative game theory point of view. We consider the cancerous and healthy organs in a patient's body as players of a game, where cancerous organs seek to eliminate the cancerous cells and healthy organs seek to receive no harm. The goal is to balance the trade-offs between the utility of players by forming a grand coalition between them. We do so by proposing a methodology that solves a few convex optimization problems in order to transform the fluency map optimization problem into a bargaining game. To solve the bargaining game, we employ the concept of Nash Social Welfare (NSW) optimization due to the desirable efficiency and fairness properties of its outcomes. The proposed NSW optimization is convex and can be solved by powerful commercial solvers such as CPLEX. An additional advantage of the proposed approach is that it has a new control lever for the fluency map optimization, the so-called negotiation powers, which enables practitioners to put more emphasis on an organ by changing its negotiation power. To show the efficacy of our proposed methodology, we apply it to the TG-119 case and a liver case. We compare our proposed approach with a state-of-the-art approach through creating Dose Volume Histograms.
Contemporary Historical Fiction, Exceptionalism and Community: After the Wreck

This book analyzes contemporary historical fiction about damaging, even catastrophic times for people and communities. The novels chronicle civil wars, slavery, and genocide; they trace the logic of histories “after the wreck” when nations assume an exalted, exceptionalist identity and violate the human rights of their Others, rendering community impossible. A first section of the introduction draws on the work of New Americanist scholars to develop the implications of exceptionalism, especially its exclusion of Others from the nation-state’s community. A second section develops the meanings of community, drawing on thinkers who develop ethical and inclusive models. Replacing a vision of the exceptional state as an ahistorical polity of the privileged, contemporary historical fictions imagine diverse communities of obligation, kinship, duty, and service.
Characterizing the relationship between diagnostic intensity and quality of care.

OBJECTIVES The relationship between diagnostic intensity and quality of care has not been well-characterized at the hospital level. We performed an exploratory analysis to better delineate this relationship using a hospital-level diagnostic overuse index and accepted hospital quality metrics (readmissions and mortality). METHODS We previously developed and published a hospital-level diagnostic overuse index. A hospital's overuse index value (which ranges from 0 to 0.986, with larger numbers indicating more overuse) was our predictor variable of interest. The outcome variables were excess readmission ratios and mortality rates for common medical conditions, which CMS publicly reports. The model controlled for Elixhauser comorbidity score, hospital bed size, hospital teaching status, and random effects that vary by state. RESULTS We did not find a statistically significant relationship between our overuse index and the quality measures we evaluated. CONCLUSIONS The lack of a significant relationship between diagnostic intensity and quality, at least as measured by our overuse index and the tested quality metrics, suggests that well-targeted efforts to reduce diagnostic overuse in hospitals may not adversely impact quality of care.
From Essence to Queery—Puzzling Over the Persistence of Identity

The following conversation between K. Merinda Simmons (University of Alabama) and Jeremy Posadas (Austin College) is an outgrowth of a roundtable on class, identity, and religion presented as part of the North American Association for the Study of Religion (NAASR) meeting in November 2020. That discussion reflected participants’ respective approaches and research emphases, of course, but we all in one way or another focused our comments on the role of intersectionality (i.e., the approach to identity that sees social categories and systems of discrimination as structurally interconnected) within the academic study of religion. Using that theme as a starting point, the back-and-forth that follows brings our respective work in gender studies and queer theory into the mix. While exchanging the messages that became this text, we purposefully took an approach of “thinking out loud” and experimenting with ideas in formative stages. This embrace of what remains unsettled—in fact, the process of unsettling what scholars often take to be terra firma—is reflected in our tone and in our relative disinterest in structural linearity. We hope instead that this conversation might be read as exactly that: a conversation, necessarily partial and productively unfinished.
Diagnostic and Translational Utility of the Secondary Traumatic Stress Clinical Algorithm (STS-CA).

Current tools available to assess secondary traumatic stress (STS) do not account for whether the symptoms are functionally related to indirect trauma, determine functional impairment caused by the...
Los deseos piden puntuación

Summa del cuerpo. Harold Alvarado Tenorio (prefacio de William Ospina). Deriva Ediciones / Talleres Graficos de Anzuelo Etico, Bogota [?], 2002, 163 pags.
Transforming growth factor β1 selectively augments collagen synthesis by human intestinal smooth muscle cells

Intestinal smooth muscle cells play a major role in the stricture formation that complicates chronic intestinal inflammation, by proliferating and producing collagen. Transforming growth factor beta 1 has been identified as an important inflammatory mediator in the fibrotic response of human tissue to inflammation. To determine whether this mediator might be involved in intestinal fibrosis, the effect of transforming growth factor beta 1 on collagen production and proliferation by human intestinal smooth muscle cells was studied in vitro. Cells in the second passage were grown to subconfluence in medium containing 10% Nu-Serum (Collaborative Research Inc., Bedford, MA), after which the concentration of Nu-Serum was decreased. Forty-eight hours later, transforming growth factor beta 1 was added to the culture medium to achieve concentrations of 1-500 pmol/L. After 24 hours exposure to the transforming growth factor beta 1, cellular collagen synthesis was determined by the uptake of [3H]proline into collagenase-sensitive protein. Transforming growth factor beta 1 caused a 100% increase in collagen production and a 40% increase in noncollagen protein production per cell, reflecting an increase in relative collagen synthesis of 58%. This effect was maximal at a concentration of 10 pmol/L. Epidermal growth factor, by comparison, had no significant effect on relative collagen synthesis. Transforming growth factor beta 1 caused a significant increase in the uptake of methylaminoisobutyric acid, a nonmetabolized amino acid analog, into the cells at 10 pmol/L. However, this effect was small (20% increase) compared with the effect on the uptake of proline into collagen (100% increase) at this concentration. When cell proliferation was examined by the uptake of [3H]thymidine, transforming growth factor beta 1 had no effect, whereas epidermal growth factor (1000 pmol/L) caused a 94% increase. Transforming growth factor beta 1 selectively augments collagen production by human intestinal smooth muscle cells in vitro. This effect is potent and is not related to effects on either cell proliferation or amino acid uptake. These data suggest that transforming growth factor beta 1 has an important role as an inflammatory mediator in the pathogenesis of intestinal fibrosis.
Path Dependence and the Federal Budget Process: Explanation and Prescription

The current federal budget process is widely believed to have contributed to the unsustainable fiscal future that many experts project for the United States. That assessment supported the Tea Party campaign to use the debt ceiling vote to force massive spending cuts, and has stimulated renewed attention on potential reforms of the process. Over the past several years, deficit hawks have proposed that special groups be empowered to develop deficit reduction plans and that special procedures automatically be invoked to force necessary savings. The Budget Control Act of 2011 included variants of these proposals. This paper argues that this approach is far from the best alternative for improving federal budgeting. It describes major flaws in the current process, and then advocates a radical reform: collapsing the appropriations and authorizations committees and processes, in order to support a budget process that would be more effective at allocating budgetary resources. It then seeks to describe why this radical reform has not been seriously considered, first by reviewing the path dependence literature, and then by interpreting federal budgeting since 1974 using the path dependence approach. The paper concludes that while politicians’ aversion to radical budget reform may understandably reflect concerns about switching costs, just as important is the failure of politicians to think seriously about institutional alternatives. Political scientists should be more involved in budget reform, in order to improve the quality of discursive institutionalism.
Laminar Natural Convection Over a Slender Vertical Frustrum of a Cone with Constant Wall Heat Flux

The problem of laminar natural convection flow over a slender frustrum of a cone with constant wall heat flux is treated in this paper. The governing differential equations are solved by a combination of quasilinearization and finite-difference methods. Numerical solutions are obtained for Prandtl numbers from 0.1 to 100 for a range of values of transverse curvature parameter. It is found that the effect of transverse curvature is of great significance in such flows.
Griffin, Robert G.: Perspectives of Magnetic Resonance

The sections in this article are 1 Education 2 Postdoctoral Years 3 The Francis Bitter National Magnet Laboratory 4 Lipid and Membrane NMR 5 Retinal Proteins 6 MAS—Single Spins 7 MAS—Recoupling Experiments 8 High Field DNP and EPR 9 The Future 10 Biographical Sketch