cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Placebo-Controlled Trials of New Drugs: Ethical Considerations

Much controversy exists regarding the ethics of placebo-controlled trials in which an experimental therapy will compete with an already established treatment (or treatments). In such cases, argue critics, patients in the control arm of the study should receive an accepted therapy rather than a placebo. By using an active and effective drug, the control patients would not be placed at risk for deterioration of their disease, and the study would generate more meaningful results for physicians. The key question, it is said, is not whether a new therapy is better than nothing but whether it is better than the current standard of care (1,2). In response, say proponents of placebo-controlled trials, critical information cannot always be obtained by giving control patients an existing therapy. For some effective therapies, the drug may perform no better than placebo in a particular trial even though other trials demonstrate the drug’s superiority to placebo. If an experimental agent confers the same benefit as such an existing therapy in a comparative trial, we cannot be certain that the new agent is any better than placebo. We might have one of the trials in which the existing therapy (and therefore the new agent) does no better than placebo, perhaps because of inadequate sample size, perhaps because the outcome measure can vary widely from one patient group to another (3–5). In addition, some new therapies are useful even if they are less effective than existing therapies. Some patients might choose a less effective drug if substantial cost savings or a reduction in side effects would be realized (6). Without a placebo control, however, one cannot always tell whether a new drug that is not as effective as existing therapy is still sufficiently more effective than placebo to justify its use. Finally, not …
Color of poultry meat as influenced by dietary nitrates and nitrites.

Abstract NITRATES and nitrites have been used for some time in curing of red meat products. Nitrite reacts with myoglobin to produce nitrosomyoglobin which is red in color. Upon heating this nitrosomyoglobin is converted to a pink component nitrosohemochrome. The sequence in production of the cured meat color is as follows (American Meat Institute Foundation, 1960): N O 3 - → action bacterial N O 2 - N O 2 - + H ± → pH 5.4 to 6.0 H N O 2 H N O 2 → reduction N O N O + m y o g l o b i n → nitrosomyoglobin ( red ) Nitrosomyoglobin → heat nitro sochemochrome ( Pink ) Nitrate in the curing mixture is ultimately reduced to nitrite by nonpathogenic organisms. The current practice is to use both nitrates and nitrites in meat curing, since nitrite alone does not produce a desirable color. If nitrite is used alone, the concentration of nitrous acid is of such magnitude that it decomposes and N2 O3 is lost in the process. offer a possible source of undesirable pink color in certain products. The introduction of nitrates or nitrites into the meat may be possible in at least two different ways. One is the addition through the…
Detailed Film Cooling Measurements on a Cylindrical Leading Edge Model: Effect of Free-Stream Turbulence and Coolant Density

Detailed heat transfer coefficient and film effectiveness distributions are presented on a cylindrical leading edge model using a transient liquid crystal technique. Tests were done in a low-speed wind tunnel on a cylindrical model in a crossflow with two rows of injection holes. Mainstream Reynolds number based on the cylinder diameter was 100,900. The two rows of injection holes were located at ±15 deg from stagnation. The film holes were spaced four hole diameters apart and were angled 30 and 90 deg to the surface in the spanwise and streamwise directions, respectively. Heat transfer coefficient and film effectiveness distributions are presented on only one side of the front half of the cylinder. The cylinder surface is coated with a thin layer of thermochromic liquid crystals and a transient test is run to obtain the heat transfer coefficients and film effectiveness. Air and CO 2 were used as coolant to simulate coolant-to-mainstream density ratio effect. The effect of coolant blowing ratio was studied for blowing ratios of 0.4, 0.8, and 1.2. Results show that Nusselt numbers downstream of injection increase with an increase in blowing ratio for both coolants. Air provides highest effectiveness at blowing ratio of 0.4 and CO 2 provides highest effectiveness at a blowing ratio of 0.8. Higher density coolant (CO 2 ) provides lower Nusselt numbers at all blowing ratios compared to lower density coolant (air). An increase in free-stream turbulence has very small effect on Nusselt numbers for both coolants. However, an increase in free-stream turbulence reduces film effectiveness significantly at low blowing ratios for both coolants.
Parallax Errors and Corrections for Dual-Antenna Millimeter-Wave Cloud Radars

Abstract Dual-antenna radar designs avoid using a transmit/receive switch. In order to measure radar reflectivity accurately and to avoid a general decrease in system sensitivity, these systems require precise alignment of their high-gain/narrow-beamwidth antennas, which is difficult. Given precisely aligned antennas, a parallax correction to account for antenna beam overlap, which is range-dependent, must be used with the correct alignment information to produce accurate reflectivities. Calculations show that dual-antenna parallax errors are extremely sensitive to the alignment of the two antennas, especially for the current generation of W-band radars, which tend to use 0.91- and 1.21-m Cassegrain antennas with half-power beamwidths of typically ≤0.25°. For example, the minimum detectable reflectivity of a W-band radar system may be degraded by more than an order of magnitude for alignment errors on the order of the antenna half-power beamwidth. Moreover, parallax errors are essentially independent of r...
Characterization of emissions from a desktop 3D printer and indoor air measurements in office settings

Emissions from a desktop 3D printer based on fused deposition modeling (FDM) technology were measured in a test chamber and indoor air was monitored in office settings. Ultrafine aerosol (UFA) emissions were higher while printing a standard object with polylactic acid (PLA) than with acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) polymer (2.1 × 10(9) vs. 2.4 × 10(8) particles/min). Prolonged use of the printer led to higher emission rates (factor 2 with PLA and 4 with ABS, measured after seven months of occasional use). UFA consisted mainly of volatile droplets, and some small (100-300 nm diameter) iron containing and soot-like particles were found. Emissions of inhalable and respirable dust were below the limit of detection (LOD) when measured gravimetrically, and only slightly higher than background when measured with an aerosol spectrometer. Emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOC) were in the range of 10 µg/min. Styrene accounted for more than 50% of total VOC emitted when printing with ABS; for PLA, methyl methacrylate (MMA, 37% of TVOC) was detected as the predominant compound. Two polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), fluoranthene and pyrene, were observed in very low amounts. All other analyzed PAH, as well as inorganic gases and metal emissions except iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn), were below the LOD or did not differ from background without printing. A single 3D print (165 min) in a large, well-ventilated office did not significantly increase the UFA and VOC concentrations, whereas these were readily detectable in a small, unventilated room, with UFA concentrations increasing by 2,000 particles/cm(3) and MMA reaching a peak of 21 µg/m(3) and still being detectable in the room even 20 hr after printing.
Distributed navigation strategy of mobile sensor networks with probabilistic wireless communication links

Mobile sensor networks have been widely used to predict spatio-temporal physical phenomena for various scientific and engineering applications. To accommodate the realistic models of mobile sensor networks, we incorporated probabilistic wireless communication links based on packet reception ratio (PRR) with distributed navigation. We then derived models of mobile sensor networks that predict Gaussian random fields from noise-corrupted observations under probabilistic wireless communication links. For the given model with probabilistic wireless communication links, we derived the prediction error variances for further sampling locations. Moreover, we designed a distributed navigation that minimizes the network cost function formulated in terms of the derived prediction error variances. Further, we have shown that the solution of distributed navigation with the probabilistic wireless communication links for mobile sensor networks are uniformly ultimately bounded with respect to that of the distributed one with the R-disk communication model. According to Monte Carlo simulation results, agent trajectories under distributed navigation with the probabilistic wireless communication links are similar to those with the R-disk communication model, which confirming the theoretical analysis.Copyright © 2015 by ASME
No Escape From Reality: Security and Privacy of Augmented Reality Browsers

Augmented reality (AR) browsers are an emerging category of mobile applications that add interactive virtual objects to the user's view of the physical world. This paper gives the first system-level evaluation of their security and privacy properties. We start by analyzing the functional requirements that AR browsers must support in order to present AR content. We then investigate the security architecture of Junaio, Layar, and Wikitude browsers, which are running today on over 30 million mobile devices, and identify new categories of security and privacy vulnerabilities unique to AR browsers. Finally, we provide the first engineering guidelines for securely implementing AR functionality.
Gorbachev's policy innovations

Gorbachev has long been interested in economic and political reform, and now that he is clearly in control, changes are already evident on the Soviet domestic front. But signs of change in foreign policy are harder to find.
Heterogeneous Catalysts for the Guerbet Coupling of Alcohols

Alcohol coupling, also known as the Guerbet reaction, is a potentially important process to increase the value of short chain alcohols. Metal oxides, metal phosphates, and supported transition metals, such as copper, are important components of heterogeneous catalysts for the reaction. However, the wide variety of catalyst compositions, reaction conditions, and reactor configurations used to study the reaction complicate a direct comparison of various catalysts. In this review, rates over different catalysts will be compared, the influences of the acid and base properties of the catalyst on product selectivity will be presented, and possible reaction paths to accomplish alcohol coupling will be discussed.
A comparison of QPF from WRF simulations with operational NAM and GFS output using multiple verification methods

The goal for this study was to examine the performance of quantitative precipitation forecasting (QPF) obtained from a high resolution convection-­‐allowing model and two coarser resolution operational weather prediction models to better understand any QPF improvements in the convection-­‐allowing runs. The ARW-­‐WRF model was run over the period from March through November 2013 with 4 km grid spacing to better understand the limits of predictability of short-­‐term (12 h) QPF that might be used in hydrology models. WRF runs were performed using NAM and GFS output as the first guess fields in the 3-­‐dimensional variational data assimilation system. Radar data were assimilated in WRF runs. Several verification methods were used to compare the QPF from the high-­‐resolution runs with coarser operational GFS and NAM QPF. Three traditional grid-­‐to-­‐grid verification methods, as well as two spatial techniques, neighborhood and object-­‐based, were used to verify QPF for 1h, 3h, 6h and 12h precipitation accumulation intervals and two grid configurations. In general, skill increased more as accumulation interval increased than for spatial scale increasing. At the same neighborhood scale, the grid spacing on which the verifications were done had less impact on the high resolution WRF model than the coarser models. NAM had the worst performance not only for model skill but also for spatial features due to the existence of large dry bias and location errors. Even for some severe floods with large rain coverage, NAM still underpredicted the magnitude of the total rain volume. Moreover, the finer resolution of NAM did not offer any advantages in predicting small-­‐scale storms compared to the coarser GFS
Teaching Diversity in the Graduate Classroom: The Instructor, the Students, the Classroom, or All of the Above?

© 2015 APA, all rights reserved). Diversity courses in higher education have been associated with many positive educational and developmental outcomes as well as challenges. Studies have examined these types of undergraduate courses within education, psychology, and other disciplines (e.g., Hurtado, 2001; Hurtado, Mayhew, & Engberg, 2012; Larke & Larke, 2009); however, less research has been conducted on graduate-level diversity courses, their students, processes, and outcomes. To address this gap, the current study explored the experiences with and perspectives on diversity classes of 16 (2 male and 14 female) diverse students in graduate-level diversity courses in a school of education. Researchers used questionnaires and a focus group to collect data. Emergent themes include Essential Instructor Characteristics and Methods, Peer Interactions, Diversity Class Climate, Uniqueness of Diversity Courses, Graduate Course Context, Improving Graduate Diversity Courses, and Impact on Students. Limitations and future directions are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record
Convergence in energy consumption per capita across the US states, 1970–2013: An exploration through selected parametric and non-parametric methods

Abstract Noting the paucity of studies of convergence in energy consumption across the US states, and the usefulness of a study that shares the spirit of the enormous research on convergence in energy-related variables in cross-country contexts, this paper explores convergence in per-capita energy consumption across the US states over the 44-year period 1970–2013. Several well-known parametric and non-parametric approaches are explored partly to shed light on the substantive question and partly to provide a comparative methodological perspective on these approaches. Several statements summarize the outcome of our explorations. First, the widely-used Barro-type regressions do not indicate beta-convergence during the entire period or any of several sub-periods. Second, lack of sigma-convergence is also noted in terms of standard deviation of logarithms and coefficient of variation which do not show a decline between 1970 and 2013, but show slight upward trends. Third, kernel density function plots indicate some flattening of the distribution which is consistent with the results from sigma-convergence scenario. Fourth, intra-distribution mobility (“gamma convergence”) in terms of an index of rank concordance suggests a slow decline in the index. Fifth, the general impression from several types of panel and time-series unit-root tests is that of non-stationarity of the series and thus the lack of stochastic convergence during the period. Sixth, therefore, the overall impression seems to be that of the lack of convergence across states in per-capita energy consumption. The present interstate inequality in per-capita energy consumption may, therefore, reflect variations in structural factors and might not be expected to diminish.
Principles of instrumentation in SPECT

This is the first CE article in a four-part series on single photon emission tomography (SPECT) imaging. Nuclear emission tomography has rapidly gained acceptance as a viable clinical diagnostic tool. The challenge to the nuclear medicine technologist is to acquire a good working knowledge of the scientific principles. After studying this article, the reader should be able to discuss the technical issues of: 1) quality control; 2) filtering techniques; and 3) be able to identify acquisition related artifacts. A summary of new instrumentation for brain and elliptical tomography is presented as is a general discussion on system requirements for enhanced patient throughput.
Negotiations for Freer Trade in Agricultural Products

Major progress in reducing levels of agricultural protection will be made as a result of multilateral actions. Very few countries have been or will be willing to reduce their levels of protection unilaterally as a result of deliberate action. The recent examples of New Zealand, Chile and Australia seem to be isolated ones for the twentieth century.1 Given the degree to which international market prices have been depressed by domestic farm programmes, it is understandable why in most countries there would be resistance to unilateral reductions in protection. It has become popular to argue for ‘a level playing field’ — the terms of entry for a country’s exports should be as favourable as the terms it provides for imports. This idea is presumably derived from the concept of reciprocity. The 1930s legislation in the United States that led to the important post-Second World War trade agreements and to the GATT was called the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act. Thus even when it can be shown that unilateral reductions in protection have positive welfare effects, it is difficult to convince those who are required to adjust that they are being treated fairly.
Eyes open and shut in cognition: Closing your eyes does not change Intelligence

Alpha power correlates with psychometric intelligence. Closing your eyes creates an artifactual spike in alpha. Therefore, if the alpha to intelligence correlation is causal, people should be more intelligent when they close their eyes. We tested this on N=96 participants randomly assigned to a fluid intelligence subtest with their eyes either open or shut. It did not change their intellectual performance.
ANO1 in intramuscular interstitial cells of Cajal plays a key role in the generation of slow waves and tone in the internal anal sphincter.

Key points The internal anal sphincter develops tone important for maintaining high anal pressure and continence. Controversy exists regarding the mechanisms underlying tone development. We examined the hypothesis that tone depends upon electrical slow waves (SWs) initiated in intramuscular interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC-IM) by activation of Ca2+-activated Cl− channels (ANO1, encoded by Ano1) and voltage-dependent L-type Ca2+ channels (CavL, encoded by Cacna1c). Measurement of membrane potential and contraction indicated that ANO1 and CavL have a central role in SW generation, phasic contractions and tone, independent of stretch. ANO1 expression was examined in wildtype and Ano1/+egfp mice with immunohistochemical techniques. Ano1 and Cacna1c expression levels were examined by quantitative PCR in fluorescence-activated cell sorting. ICC-IM were the predominant cell type expressing ANO1 and the most likely candidate for SW generation. SWs in ICC-IM are proposed to conduct to smooth muscle where Ca2+ entry via CavL results in phasic activity that sums to produce tone. Abstract The mechanism underlying tone generation in the internal anal sphincter (IAS) is controversial. We examined the hypothesis that tone depends upon generation of electrical slow waves (SWs) initiated in intramuscular interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC-IM) by activation of Ca2+-activated Cl− channels (encoded by Ano1) and voltage-dependent L-type Ca2+ channels (encoded by Cacna1c). Phasic contractions and tone in the IAS were nearly abolished by ANO1 and CavL antagonists. ANO1 antagonists also abolished SWs as well as transient depolarizations that persisted after addition of CavL antagonists. Tone development in the IAS did not require stretch of muscles, and the sensitivity of contraction to ANO1 antagonists was the same in stretched versus un-stretched muscles. ANO1 expression was examined in wildtype and Ano1/+egfp mice with immunohistochemical techniques. Dual labelling revealed that ANO1 expression could be resolved in ICC but not smooth muscle cells (SMCs) in the IAS and rectum. Ano1, Cacna1c and Kit gene expression were the same in extracts of IAS and rectum muscles. In IAS cells isolated with fluorescence-activated cell sorting, Ano1 expression was 26.5-fold greater in ICC than in SMCs while Cacna1c expression was only 2-fold greater in SMCs than in ICC. These data support a central role for ANO1 and CavL in the generation of SWs and tone in the IAS. ICC-IM are the probable cellular candidate for ANO1 currents and SW generation. We propose that ANO1 and CavL collaborate to generate SWs in ICC-IM followed by conduction to adjacent SMCs where phasic calcium entry through CavL sums to produce tone.
Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) Val66Met polymorphism interacts with gender to influence cortisol responses to mental stress.

Abstract Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) Val66Met polymorphism has been associated with cortisol responses to stress with gender differences reported, although the findings are not entirely consistent. To evaluate the role of Val66Met genotype and gender on cortisol responses to stress, we conducted a 45-min mental stress protocol including four tasks and four rest periods. Blood cortisol was collected for assay immediately before and after each task and rest period. A significant two-way interaction of Val66Met genotype × gender (P = 0.022) was observed on the total area under the curve (AUC), a total cortisol response over time, such that the Val/Val genotype was associated with a larger cortisol response to stress as compared to the Met group in women but not in men. Further contrast analyses between the Val/Val and Met group for each stress task showed a similar increased cortisol pattern among women Val/Val genotype but not among men. The present findings indicate the gender differences in the effect of Val66Met genotype on the cortisol responses to stress protocol, and extend the evidence for the importance of gender and the role of Val66Met in the modulation of stress reactivity and subsequent depression prevalence. Further studies and the underlying mechanism need to be investigated, which may provide an insight for prevention, intervention, and treatment strategies that target those at high risk.
Microprocessor-Aided Local Anaesthesia

The speed of injection during administration of an anaesthetic will vary among individual clinicians. On average, male dentists will probably inject faster than their female counterparts. The pain and discomfort, reported by patients during the injections, are caused by the exerted pressure, the temperature of the fluid or the added epinephrine. It is obvious that the diameter of the needle also determines the pressure in the tissues. The smaller the internal diameter of the needle, the more pressure one has to exert to inject a certain volume of injection fluid within a certain time. Many dentists assume that a needle with a smaller diameter (e.g. 30G) is more comfortable and less painful for their patients than a wider needle (e.g. 27G). However, when the mucosa is stretched well and lip is pinched gently to distract the patient, in both cases, patients usually do not feel the insertion of the needle at all.
Venezuela’s polarized politics: the paradox of direct democracy under Chávez, by Ana L. Mallen and María Pilar García-Guadilla

When Hugo Chavez died in 2013, he left behind a polarizing legacy. For the advocates of liberal democracy across the world, Chavez was yet another example of a Latin American caudillo (strongman), ...
Optimal Collaborative Mapping of Terrestrial Transmitters: Receiver Placement and Performance Characterization

Mapping multiple unknown terrestrial signals of opportunity (SOP) transmitters via multiple collaborating receivers is considered. The receivers are assumed to have knowledge about their own states, make pseudorange observations on multiple unknown SOPs, and fuse these pseudoranges through a central estimator. Two problems are considered. The first problem assumes multiple receivers with random initial states to pre-exist in the environment. The question of where to optimally place an additional receiver so to maximize the quality of the estimate of the SOPs’ states is addressed. A novel, computationally efficient optimization criterion that is based on area-maximization is proposed. It is shown that the proposed optimization criterion yields a convex program, the solution of which is comparable to two classical criteria: minimization of the geometric dilution of precision (GDOP) and maximization of the determinant of the inverse of the GDOP matrix. The second problem addresses the optimal mapping performance as a function of time and number of receivers in the environment. It is demonstrated that such optimal performance assessment could be generated off-line without knowledge of the receivers’ trajectories or the receivers’ estimates of the SOP. Experimental results are presented demonstrating collaborative mapping of an unknown terrestrial SOP emanating from a cellular tower for various receiver trajectories versus the optimal mapping performance.
Recognition of Christoffel’s Work on Quadrature during and after His Lifetime

I would summarize the impact of Christoffel’s 1858 and 1877 papers on numerical integration as follows1): (1) The first paper was well received and recognized among mathematicians of the period. It is cited explicitly by Mehler [1864], Radau [1880], Heine [1881], Hermite (see below), and implicitly by Deruyts [1886]. (2) The second paper, to my knowledge, has never been cited during Christoffel’s lifetime. The only “early” citation known to me, and proper assessment, occurs in Runge & Willers [1915]. Subsequent citations do not seem to be made until Reiz [1950a, b] and Gautschi [1968a]. (3) The first paper continues to be occasionally cited, even today, but not as often as it deserves to be, and sometimes for the wrong reason. (4) Examination of some 25 modern textbooks on numerical analysis and numerical integration revealed only two direct citations of Christoffel [1858] — one of which is incorrect — and none of Christoffel [1877]. Two books list Christoffel [1858] in the references but do not refer to it in the text. The name of Christoffel is generally adopted in connection with “Christoffel numbers”, “Christoffel functions”, “Christoffel’s theorem”, and the “Christoffel-Darboux formula”.
STOCHASTIC MARKERS FOR AN ENTROPIC DEFECT IN THE SCHIZOPHRENIC SYNDROME: A VERTICAL INTEGRATION

High variance, multimodal population distributions, and heterogeneous spectral densities are characteristic of group and individual measures of the schizophrenic syndrome. The habituation defect in some schizophrenic patients and its repair by d- and 1-propranolol, but not by phenothiazines, allow cross-disciplinary exploration of the hypothesis that in the brain as a stochastic system, the absence of single gaussian populations and their associated limit cycles reflect conditions that prevent the emergence of normally integrated self-organization. Such pathology may lead to the entrainment of multiple coherent oscillator masses with resulting functional separation of brain systems, including the hemispheres.
Corticotropin Releasing Factor Receptors: Characterization and Actions in the Anterior Pituitary Gland

Corticotropin releasing factor (CRF), which was isolated from hypothalamic extracts and sequenced in 1981, has been shown to participate in visceral and behavioral responses to stress, as well as the control of ACTH secretion (1,2). The initial event in the action of CRF in the pituitary gland is its binding to specific plasma membrane receptors, which trigger the formation of intracellular messengers responsible for the activation of ACTH release. Such receptors were first identified in rat pituitary membranes by binding studies with radioiodinated CRF (3), and were subsequently analyzed by radioassays in membranes (4) and by autoradiographic (5–8) and cytochemical techniques using biotinylated or fluorescein-conjugated CRF analogues (9,10). The use of autoradiography permitted the identification and characterization of CRF receptors in the central and peripheral nervous systems, and has greatly aided our understanding of the physiological actions of CRF in these tissues. The most common ligand used for CRF receptor studies is the radioiodinated ovine CRF derivative, Tyr-oCRF; similar receptor properties have been described using radioiodinated [NLeu21, Tyr32]oCRF (5). Analogues of rat/human CRF have given tracers with reduced biological action and lower binding activity due to peptide damage during the iodination procedure. Since ovine and human CRF bind to the CRF receptor in different species with equal affinities, oCRF can be used for studies in both rat and primates.
The VL2 Toolkit Psychometric Study: Summary of Procedures and Description of Sample Characteristics

This chapter presents the development of the VL2 Psychometric Toolkit protocol, including the types of measures (standard, adapted, or developed for the project), the division of the tests into multiple assessment sessions, and the sequencing and counterbalancing of the measures. Sample recruitment, approaches to scoring of measures, and development of the database are described. The Background Questionnaire is introduced and the resulting sample characteristics in the areas of demographics, deafness-related factors, parental characteristics, linguistic practices, and educational history are presented. The similarities and differences between the sample evaluated for the project and the available national data concerning these factors are discussed, as are the implications for the generalizability of the results of the project. The benefits of the Toolkit data representing this unique sample of more severely to profoundly deaf individuals who report American Sign Language as their primary mode of communication for purposes of this project are presented.
“Community Dignity Takings”: Dehumanization and Infantilization of Communities Resulting from the War on Drugs

The half-century long “War on Drugs” and its “tough on crime” policies have wreaked havoc upon both individuals convicted of offenses and their communities. The impact on communities in this figurative war can be as devastating as the aftermath of a literal war, but that impact often goes unconsidered and unmeasured. We should consider this collateral damage a form of taking – a community dignity taking – like many other collateral impacts of policy. Bernadette Atuahene, in her seminal work on the subject, defined a “dignity taking” and included within that definition situations where a community is damaged through the deprivation of the dignity of its members. To date, scholars have typically applied this analysis to situations where real and personal property have been taken from communities, but not to collateral consequences of policy such as social stigma. In previous work, I have applied the concept of a dignity taking to the collateral consequences of conviction on individuals. In this paper, I propose an extension of that analysis to the communities to which those individuals belong. Through this framework, it becomes possible for communities to express the damage done to them through these policies.
Material characterization and selection for 3D-printed spine models.

The two most popular models used in anatomical training for residents, clinicians, or surgeons are cadavers and sawbones. The former is extremely costly and difficult to attain due to cost, ethical implications, and availability, while the latter is said to not have the same tactile fidelity or mechanical properties as human bone. This study examined the potential use of 3D-printed phantoms to emulate cadaveric, human vertebrae, in hopes of acting as a future use over cadavers. In so doing, we developed 3D-printed MedPhantom®, with the intended use to offer similar tactile feel, mechanical characteristics, and visual appearance as human bone. In order to quantify tactility, a mechanical test was developed where a 5-mm diameter diamond-coated bur spinning at 75,000 RPM swept across the specimens while continuously recording the resultant forces (N) and moments (N-cm), The bur sweep motion is common in orthopedic surgery and neurosurgery. Since most 3D-prints do not offer internal, trabecular structure similar to bone, an algorithm was written to create a stochastic framework of internal mesh to mimic cancellous bone within an STL (stereolithography) file. The ranges of mesh parameters were chosen after several visits with the neurosurgeons participating in the project. In order to quantify structural combinations of wall thickness, gap sizes, and varying cylindrical radii within a print, 1000 RPM compression test with a 5-mm diamond-coated bur was performed with resultant forces (N). Two sample t-test shows statistical significance that samples are not equal to the vertebrae (p < 0.05). Results from the bur sweep test showed 15% Gypsum® powder mixed with 100% Clear® Formlabs resin and 10% Castable® resin mixed with 90% Clear® resin were nearest to human, cadaveric vertebrae, with the difference of force and moment in the x-direction at only 5 N and 7–9 N-cm, respectively. Structural compression results showed that a 2 mm cortical wall, 4 mm or 5 mm gap size between cylinders inside the structure, and 0.25 mm radius of internal cylinders were the best fit parameters to match human vertebrae.
Miliary pattern MRSA sepsis following clandestine intravenous infusion

Intravascular devices aid in drug administration and fluid replacement for hospitalized patients and are thus an integral part of modern medical care; however, poor aseptic technique and improper manipulation of infusion devices increase the risk of infections secondary to catheterization that can progress to sepsis and septic shock. We report the case of a woman who presented with altered mental status after receiving normal saline through an intravenous catheter placed by a medically untrained individual. Less than 24 h following her initial presentation to emergency medical services the patient became unresponsive to multiple vasopressors and broad-spectrum antibiotics and succumbed to septic shock. At autopsy, the decedent had enumerable hemorrhagic lesions consistent with septic emboli, and microscopic examination revealed clusters of coccoid-appearing bacteria. Cultures of the intravenous fluid and IV tubing collected at the decedent’s home grew methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), which was consistent with ante-mortem cultures. This case highlights the rapid clinical deterioration and autopsy presentation of MRSA sepsis due to contamination of the intravenous delivery system.
Visibility and Peer Influence in Durable Good Adoption

The underlying channels through which peer influence operates in durable good adoption can affect the ability of marketers to leverage them. In this paper, we assess whether the visibility of peers' adoption decisions leads to greater peer influence. The context we study is residential rooftop solar panels. We exploit the plausibly exogenous location and orientation of peers' rooftop solar panels relative to proximate roadways and visual obstructions, such as vegetation, in order to determine whether geographically proximate peer installations increase a household's probability of solar adoption more if they are visible from the road. Highlighting the role of peer influence at the very local level, we find evidence of peer influence for non-visible solar arrays only within 100m on the same street. We also demonstrate that installations that are visible from the street exert peer influence at distances of at least 500m. A peer installation within 500m that is visible from proximate roadways at angles totaling 90 degrees exerts the same magnitude peer effect as a non-visible installation within 100m. The effect of peer visibility is moderated by the economic value the peers receive from installing solar, providing suggestive evidence of social learning through visual information.
Utility of Claudin-4 versus BerEP4 and B72.3 in pleural fluids with metastatic lung adenocarcinoma.

Introduction Lung adenocarcinoma (LADC) is the most common occult primary in patients presenting with a malignant pleural effusion. Distinguishing metastatic LADC from reactive mesothelial cells (RMC) and malignant mesothelioma (MM) based on morphology alone has been a persistent diagnostic challenge in cytopathology. Claudin-4, a major functional constituent of tight junctions, has been shown to help distinguish LADC from RMC and MM in surgical specimens. Our goal was to further validate and assess the utility of Claudin-4 in comparison to BerEP4 and B72.3 in malignant effusions with a focus on metastatic LADC. Materials and methods We evaluated 58 pleural effusions (40 LADC, 10 RCM, and 8 MM). Immunohistochemistry was performed using Claudin-4, Ber-EP4, and B72.3 on cell blocks. Staining patterns, quantity of tumor cells, and intensity of staining (weak, moderate, or strong) were assessed. Results All cases of LADC were positive for Claudin-4 with an overall sensitivity of 100% (40 of 40) and specificity of 100% (18 of 18). In addition, Claudin-4 showed the highest quantity and quality of staining with 3+ staining intensity in 73% (29 of 40) of cases, compared with 35% (14 of 40) of cases using BerEP4 and 52% (21 of 40) of cases using B72.3. The sensitivity and specificity for BerEP4 were 90% and 78%, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity for B72.3 were 87.5% and 100%, respectively. Conclusions In this study, Claudin-4 performed superiorly compared to BerEP4 and B72.3 in distinguishing lung adenocarcinoma from RMC or MM in pleural effusions. Our results show Claudin-4 is a useful marker for distinguishing RMC and MM from lung adenocarcinoma, with high sensitivity (100%) and specificity (100%), compatible with studies shown in the literature.
Family Caregivers of Children With Medical Complexity: Health-Related Quality of Life and Experiences of Care Coordination.

Abstract Objective To examine the association between care coordination experiences of family caregivers of children with medical complexity (CMC) and caregivers’ health-related quality of life (HR-QOL). Methods From July 2018 to July 2019, family caregivers of CMC completed an electronic survey (n=136) at the time of initial contact with a regional complex care medical home. Information on caregiver HR-QOL and receipt of care coordination services were assessed using the CDC HR-QOL-14 measure and Family Experiences of Care Coordination questionnaire, respectively. Negative binomial regression, adjusted for caregiver and child characteristics, examined associations between caregiver HR-QOL and caregiver experiences of care coordination. Results In the 30 days prior to initial contact, CMC caregivers reported a median of 3.5 mentally unhealthy days, 2 days felt depressed, 7 days felt anxious, and 16 days with insufficient sleep. Caregivers who had a knowledgeable, supportive care coordinator who advocates for their child reported significantly fewer days mentally unhealthy (incidence rate ratio [IRR], 0.46; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.22-0.95), depressed (IRR, 0.44; 95% CI, 0.21-0.91), or anxious (IRR, 0.5; 95% CI, 0.29-0.85). Having a shared care plan was associated with significantly fewer days mentally unhealthy (IRR, 0.46; 95% CI, 0.23-0.93) or anxious (IRR, 0.53; 95% CI, 0.31-0.92). Having a written visit summary with appropriate content was associated with fewer days of insufficient sleep (IRR, 0.63; 95% CI, 0.43-0.93). Conclusions CMC family caregivers report experiencing mentally unhealthy days and negative mental symptom days. The experience of specific care coordination activities was associated with higher caregiver mental HR-QOL.
Afterword: Data in Transit

The naive fantasy that data have an immediate relation to the phenomena of the world, that they are “objective” in some strong, ontological, sense of that term, that they are the facts of the world directly speaking to us, should be finally laid to rest by the papers collected in this volume. In this afterword, I propose that these papers, investigating data journeys in fields from particle physics to urban planning, show that even the primary, original, state of data is not free from researchers’ value- and theory-laden selection and organization.
Riemannian Perspective on Matrix Factorization.

We study the non-convex matrix factorization approach to matrix completion via Riemannian geometry. Based on an optimization formulation over a Grassmannian manifold, we characterize the landscape based on the notion of principal angles between subspaces. For the fully observed case, our results show that there is a region in which the cost is geodesically convex, and outside of which all critical points are strictly saddle. We empirically study the partially observed case based on our findings.
Design Science and Design Patterns: A Rationale for the Application of Design-Patterns within Design Science Research to Accelerate Knowledge Discovery and Innovation Adoption

Fundamental to any profession is a common vocabulary for expressing its concepts, and a language for relating them together. Many disciplines draw from a collective body of knowledge (BoK) of "best practices" and "lessons learned" for solving known problems. This body of knowledge is typically comprised of well-defined solutions for known problems plus emergent solutions for ill-defined problems. As design science research results are codified into a knowledge base, they become "best practices" over time through their routine application, feedback and evolution. This paper presents the case to express Design Science Research (DSR) artifacts in design-pattern format – to accelerate insight generation and application of DSR outputs. As the focus of Innovation shifts to Innovation “Adoption”, the use of design patterns to help achieve faster and more widespread innovation adoption is likely to increase significantly.
REVISED AGE FOR THE GOSSES BLUFF IMPACT STRUCTURE, NORTHERN TERRITORY, AUSTRALIA, BASED ON 40Ar/39Ar DATING

40Ar/39 Ar dating of a pumiceous suevite clast from the melt breccia at Gosses Bluff consisting largely of extremely fine-grained sanidine yields a discordant age spectrum, probably reflecting some diffusional loss of argon. High-temperature increments that together yield a near-plateau age of 142.5 Ma are apparently not affected by argon loss and offer the best estimate of the date of the Gosses Bluff event. The event may fall in the latest Jurassic Period, but more likely falls in the earliest Cretaceous, probably in one of the reverse-polarity magnetochrons M16, M17, or M18.
PATHOPHYSIOLOGY OF IRON TOXICITY

It has been shown that approximately 1 in 250–300 individuals of European descent are homozygous for the hemochromatosis gene, 1 thus identifying hereditary hemochromatosis as one of the most common inherited disorders. In both hereditary hemochromatosis and in the various forms of secondary iron overload, there is a pathologic expansion of body iron stores, due mainly to an increase in absorption of dietary iron. 2,3 Cellular uptake of circulating excess iron results in increased formation of ferritin and hemosiderin found in highest concentration in the parenchymal tissues of several organs (e.g., liver, heart, pancreas). At high tissue iron levels, fibrogenesis occurs in these organs accompanied by functional insufficiency. 2-6 Although best studied in the liver, pathological studies support this association in other organs affected in iron overload as well. Thus, clinical evidence for toxicity and fibrosis in hepatic iron overload has been provided by studies of patients with hereditary hemochromatosis, 4,5 African iron overload, 7 and secondary iron overload due to s-thalassemia8 in which a correlation between hepatic iron concentration and the occurrence of liver damage has been demonstrated or in which therapeutic reduction of hepatic iron by either phlebotomy or chelation therapy has resulted in clinical improvement. Despite clinical evidence for the cellular and tissue toxicity of excess iron, the specific pathophysiologic mechanisms of tissue injury and fibrogenesis in chronic iron overload are still poorly understood.
An empirical investigation of japanese consumer ethics

One of the gaps in the current international marketing literature is in the area of consumer ethics. Using a sample drawn from Japanese consumers, this study investigates these individuals' reported ethical ideology and their perception of a number of different ethical situations in the realm of consumer behavior. Comparisons are then made across several demographic characteristics. The results reveal differences which provide theoretical support for expanded research in the area of cross-cultural/cross-national consumer ethics and highlight the need for managers to consider possible differences in the ethical behavior of consumers when entering a new international market. In addition, this study extends current knowledge in international marketing ethics by utilizing a research design and survey instruments similar to previous studies on consumer ethics.
Flame-excited luminescence in the oxides Ta2O5, Nb2O5, TiO2, ZnO, and SnO2

Abstract The flame-excited emission (candoluminescence) of the oxides Ta 2 O 5 , Nb 2 O 5 , TiO 2 , ZnO, and SnO 2 have been reexamined. By measuring the emission spectra as a function of temperature in comparison with the optical band gap, also measured as a function of temperature, it is concluded that a portion of the emission, particularly in Ta 2 O 5 and Nb 2 O 5 , is non-thermal. The results support the hypothesis that the excess emission is due to recombination of electron–hole pairs created by de-excitation of neutral radicals on the phosphor surface.