cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Negotiating Hospital Care: La Leche League Members and Hospital Personnel

Based on part of a larger study of La Leche League, a voluntary association of breastfeeding mothers, this study considers specific health care implications of La Leche League's distinctive approach to breastfeeding management. Data for the study came from intensive interviews with organization members as well as a questionnaire distributed to a sample of 1,000 La Leche League members. Findings reveal organization members' commitment to such practices as breastfeeding soon after delivery, rooming-in, and demand feeding in the hospital. Also discussed are the strategies organization members employ to obtain the type of care they desire from health care personnel.
MLL fusion partners AF4 and AF9 interact at subnuclear foci

The MLL gene is involved in translocations associated with both acute lymphoblastic and acute myelogenous leukemia. These translocations fuse MLL with one of over 30 partner genes. Collectively, the MLL partner genes do not share a common structural motif or biochemical function. We have identified a protein interaction between the two most common MLL fusion partners AF4 and AF9. This interaction is restricted to discrete nuclear foci we have named 'AF4 bodies'. The AF4 body is non-nucleolar and is not coincident with any known nuclear structures we have examined. The AF4-AF9 interaction is maintained by the MLL-AF4 fusion protein, and expression of the MLL-AF4 fusion can alter the subnuclear localization of AF9. In view of other research indicating that other MLL fusion partners also interact with one another, these results suggest that MLL fusion partners may participate in a web of protein interactions with a common functional goal. The disruption of this web of interactions by fusion with MLL may be important to leukemogenesis.
Built to Last: Understanding the Link between Democracy and Conflict in the International System

We revisit Gartzke and Weisiger's (2014) claim that development and dyadic difference, rather than democracy or a strong democratic community, drive peace and conflict in the international system. In so doing, we identify important inconsistencies in their theoretical argument. We also find extensive instability and errors in their empirical tests. Corrected analyses support the conclusion that a materially strong global democratic community dampens the onset of militarized violence. In addition, we show that an accurate interpretation of models including Gartzke and Weisiger's “dyadic difference” variable actually supports the conclusion that dyadic democracy reduces conflict. We recommend moving toward a more productive analysis of the interdependence between regime dynamics, political economy, and violence. This involves better theorizing about the emergence of market structures and their pacifying effects, treating global economic and democratic effects as complementary, research designs that carefully adhere to logic, and a continued practice of sharing replication files.
The Relationship Between Preparation Convergence and Retention of Extracoronal Retainers

Purpose Although traditional ideal convergence (the sum of taper of the opposite sides) for crown preparation has been arbitrarily set at 4 degrees to 10 degrees, some believe absolute parallelism yields the highest retention. This study examined the relationship between the degree of convergence of a machined metal die and the retention of its casting. Materials and methods The method used was that of cementing cast metal crowns onto full crown preparations on brass dies with varying convergence angles, and then recording the force required to remove the crowns from the dies in a vertical direction using a Tate-Emery Testing Machine and Load Indicator. Results It was found that retention (i.e., the force needed to remove the cemented castings from the die in their common long axis) increases from 0 degree convergence to peak between 6 degrees to 12 degrees convergence. It also seems that a critical film thickness does exist for optimum retention, and that film thicknesses smaller than the critical thickness may be responsible for the phenomenon that we have observed and directly related to the convergence angle itself. Conclusions There seems to be experimental data supporting the use of traditionally taught convergence. Our study found that convergence angles between 6 degrees and 12 degrees seem to be optimum for tooth crown preparation when one plans to use zinc phosphate cement. Convergence angles of less than 6 degrees may not be desirable even if they can be clinically achieved. The results of our study indicate that a relationship exists between the convergence angle and the critical cement thickness that is necessary to realize the maximum strength properties of zinc phosphate cement.
Voter Characteristics and Support for Local School Taxes: Urban Politics and Policy in Elections in a Louisiana Parish.

This study examined local politics, economics, and other factors contributing to the results of 1987and 1992 tax elections in a Louisiana city-parish. The purpose of the study was to explain conditions of voter support for millages to fund educational and community enhancement programs in the city of Baton Rouge and East Baton Rouge parish. The research design was to employ separate examinations of tax referenda on parish election ballots in 1987and 1992. Urban voters appreciated distinctions among tax and expenditure referenda. Developmental policies were favored by voters in all precincts. Redistributive policies were preferred in precincts with high percentages of Black and normal Democratic voters, such as those located in the inner city.
Pharmacokinetic-Pharmacodynamic Modeling of Biomarker Response and Tumor Growth Inhibition to an Orally Available Heat Shock Protein 90 Inhibitor in a Human Tumor Xenograft Mouse Model

PF04942847 [2-amino-4-{4-chloro-2-[2-(4-fluoro-1H-pyrazol-1-yl)ethoxy]-6-methylphenyl}-N-(2,2-difluoropropyl)-5,7-dihydro-6H-pyrrolo[3,4-d]pyrimidine-6-carboxamide] was identified as an orally available, ATP-competitive, small-molecule inhibitor of heat shock protein 90 (HSP90). The objectives of the present study were: 1) to characterize the pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic relationship of the plasma concentrations of PF04942847 to the inhibition of HSP90-dependent protein kinase, AKT, as a biomarker and 2) to characterize the relationship of AKT degradation to tumor growth inhibition as a pharmacological response (antitumor efficacy). Athymic mice implanted with MDA-MB-231 human breast cancer cells were treated with PF04942847 once daily at doses selected to encompass ED(50) values. Plasma concentrations of PF04942847 were adequately described by a two-compartment pharmacokinetic model. A time delay (hysteresis) was observed between the plasma concentrations of PF04942847 and AKT degradation; therefore, a link model was used to account for the hysteresis. The model reasonably fit the time courses of AKT degradation with the estimated EC(50) of 18 ng/ml. For tumor growth inhibition, the signal transduction model reasonably fit the inhibition of individual tumor growth curves with the estimated EC(50) of 7.3 ng/ml. Thus, the EC(50) for AKT degradation approximately corresponded to the EC(50) to EC(80) for tumor growth inhibition, suggesting that 50% AKT degradation was required for significant antitumor efficacy (50-80%). The consistent relationship between AKT degradation and antitumor efficacy was also demonstrated by applying an integrated signal transduction model for linking AKT degradation to tumor growth inhibition. The present results will be helpful in determining the appropriate dosing regimen and guiding dose escalation to achieve efficacious systemic exposure in the clinic.
Superplastic Deformation in Fine-Grained MgO 2Al2O3 Spinel

Fine-grained polycrystals of MgO 2A12O3 spinel were deformed to large strains at strain rates ranging from 1O-5 to 1O-3 s-1 and at temperatures from 1723 to 1885 K. These polycrystals were ductile at low strain rates and high temperatures; the ductility was especially remarkable at temperatures near the solvus. The mechanism of deformation, which was determined by measuring the change of flow stress with grain size, was dislocation creep, with the stress exponent in the power-law creep equation having a value of 2.1 ± 0.4. Despite deformation of several hundred percent, the grain size remained equiaxed, and deformation led to the evolution of a grain size which depended only on the strain rate and temperature. The initial microstructure had an influence on whether the poly-crystal would fracture or flow; a small initial grain size and a supersaturated solid solution were conducive to ductile flow. The ductility is attributed to dynamic recrystallization. It is proposed that the onset of fracture and the onset of dynamic recrystallization are competitive processes. Conditions which promote dynamic recrystallization also promote ductile flow.
TAPHONOMIC ANALYSIS OF A DINOSAUR FEEDING SITE USING GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS (GIS), MORRISON FORMATION, SOUTHERN BIGHORN BASIN, WYOMING, USA

Geospatial data collected with a Nikon Total Station from a dinosaur quarry in the upper part of the Morrison Formation in north-central Wyoming were plotted on ArcGIS ArcScene software. The resulting three-dimensional maps indicate two distinct sauropod bone assemblages with closely associated shed theropod teeth separated by a weakly developed paleosol. Consequently, previous hypotheses that all bone elements and theropod teeth in the quarry were chronologically connected are amended. Synthesis of geological and paleontological data provides evidence that a juvenile Camarasaurus was the center of feeding activity in a shallow-water, palustrine-lacustrine setting in the lower assemblage. The high ratio of juvenile to adult allosaurid teeth suggests one or two adults in the company of several juveniles during a scavenging event. A high incidence of theropod teeth in the upper assemblage suggests that another feeding event may have occurred, but data loss from initial traditional excavation techniques precludes a more detailed interpretation. Although the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation in the western United States yields abundant sauropod and theropod remains, few sites documenting theropod-prey interactions have been reported. Evidence of theropod feeding activities has been difficult to establish in seemingly homogeneous continental deposits with traditional excavation techniques alone. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is a valuable tool that allows paleontologists to establish chronostratigraphic constraints in complex continental assemblages, assess the degree of time averaging, and evaluate important geospatial patterns.
Averaged transition conditions for electromagnetic fields at a metafilm

This paper derives generalized sheet transition conditions (GSTCs) for the average electromagnetic fields across a surface distribution of electrically small scatterers characterized by electric and magnetic polarization densities. We call such an arrangement of scatterers a metafilm-the two-dimensional (2-D) equivalent of a metamaterial. The derivation is based on a replacement of the discrete distribution of scatterers by a continuous one, resulting in a continuous distribution of electric and magnetic polarization densities in the surface. This is done in a manner analogous to the Clausius-Mossotti-Lorenz-Lorentz procedure for determining the dielectric constant of a volume distribution of small scatterers. The result contains as special cases many particular ones found throughout the literature. The GSTCs are expected to have wide application to the design and analysis of antennas, reflectors, and other devices where controllable scatterers are used to form a "smart" surface.
Honeycomb-like appearance of hazy coronary lesions: OCT image report of a recanalized thrombus

An 80-year-old female was transferred to our cardiac catheterization laboratory with an ST-elevation myocardial infarction and cardiogenic shock. An electrocardiogram demonstrated inferior ST elevations with deep ST depressions in V1–V3, suggestive of posterior infarction. An echocardiogram showed inferior and lateral wall motion abnormalities. Coronary angiography demonstrated high-grade lesion with thrombolysis in myocardial infarction II flow in the left circumflex (LCx) artery. A long eccentric hazy lesion with multiple linear filling defects with normal flow was also noted in the …
Religious Engagement in a Risky Family Model Predicting Health in Older Black and White Seventh-day Adventists

In a structural equation model, associations among latent variables - Child Poverty, Risky Family exposure, Religious Engagement, Negative Social Interactions, Negative Emotionality, and Perceived Physical Health - were evaluated in 6,753 Black and White adults aged 35-106 years (M = 60.5, SD = 13.0). All participants were members of the Seventh-day Adventist church surveyed in the Biopsychosocial Religion and Health Study (BRHS). Child Poverty was positively associated with both Risky Family exposure (conflict, neglect, abuse) and Religious Engagement (intrinsic religiosity, religious coping, religiousness). Risky Family was negatively associated with Religious Engagement and positively associated with both Negative Social Interactions (intrusive, failed to help, insensitive, rejecting) and Negative Emotionality (depression, negative affect, neuroticism). Religious Engagement was negatively associated with Negative Emotionality and Negative Social Interactions at a given level of risky family. Negative Social Interactions was positively associated with Negative Emotionality, which had a direct, negative effect on Perceived Physical Health. All constructs had indirect effects on Perceived Physical Health through Negative Emotionality. The effects of a risky family environment appear to be enduring, negatively affecting one's adult religious life, emotionality, social interactions, and perceived health. Religious engagement, however, may counteract the damaging effects of early life stress.
Ocean Observations with EOS/Modis: Algorithm Development and Post Launch Studies

Several significant accomplishments were made during the present reporting period. (1) Initial simulations to understand the applicability of the MODerate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) 1380 nm band for removing the effects of stratospheric aerosols and thin cirrus clouds were completed using a model for an aged volcanic aerosol. The results suggest that very simple procedures requiring no a priori knowledge of the optical properties of the stratospheric aerosol may be as effective as complex procedures requiring full knowledge of the aerosol properties, except the concentration which is estimated from the reflectance at 1380 nm. The limitations of this conclusion will be examined in the next reporting period; (2) The lookup tables employed in the implementation of the atmospheric correction algorithm have been modified in several ways intended to improve the accuracy and/or speed of processing. These have been delivered to R. Evans for implementation into the MODIS prototype processing algorithm for testing; (3) A method was developed for removal of the effects of the O2 'A' absorption band from SeaWiFS band 7 (745-785 nm). This is important in that SeaWiFS imagery will be used as a test data set for the MODIS atmospheric correction algorithm over the oceans; and (4) Construction of a radiometer, and associated deployment boom, for studying the spectral reflectance of oceanic whitecaps at sea was completed. The system was successfully tested on a cruise off Hawaii on which whitecaps were plentiful during October-November. This data set is now under analysis.
The response of beetles to Quaternary climate changes

Desender and Turin (1989) estimated that 142 (34%) of the 419 ground beetle species in the Netherlands and adjoining countries were endangered to varying degrees. Changes in geographic distribution which have occurred during the last century are attributed to either climate change (Hengeveld 1985) or habitat fragmentation caused by increased urbanization and intensification of agriculture (Turin & den Boer 1988). Desender et al. (1994) concluded that it was the loss of specific habitat types associated with the intensification of agriculture, and not climate change, that had caused rare species to become rarer and common species to become more abundant.
Badley, K. & Van Brummelen, H. (Eds.) (2012). Metaphors We Teach By: How Metaphors Shape What We Do in the Classroom

Ken Badley, author and professor of education at George Fox University in collaboration with Harro Van Brummelen, former dean, professor emeritus and executive director of Christian Studies Interna...
Enhanced Oil Recovery

Capillary pressure Difference in the pressure between two fluids measured at the interface between the two fluids. Interfacial tension Measure of the ease with which a new interface between two fluids can be made. Miscible When two or more phases become single phased. Mobility Measure of the ease with which a fluid moves through porous media. Permeability Measure of the capacity of a porous medium to conduct a fluid. Polymer Large-molecular-weightchemicalused to thicken a solution. Primary production Production of oil using only the natural energy of the formation. Reservoir Volume of underground porous media usually containing rock, oil, gas, and water. Residual oil Amount of oil remaining in a reservoir after primary and secondary production. Secondary production Production of oil when gas, water, or both are injected into the formation and the injected fluid immiscibly displaces the oil. Surfactant Molecule that is made up of both hydrophilic and hydrophobic entities and can reduce the interfacial tension between two fluids. Sweep efficiency Measure of how evenly a fluid has moved through the available flow volume in a porous medium. Viscosity Property of a fluid that is a measure of its resistance to flow.
Ex vivo incubation with growth factors enhances the engraftment of fetal hematopoietic cells transplanted in sheep fetuses.

Hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) transplanted in utero are in competition with endogenous HSC; thus, ultimately the graft constitutes a relatively small fraction of total HSC pool. To enhance the engraftment of donor cells in sheep fetuses, we preincubated these cells, ex vivo, for 16 hours at 37 degrees C with the conditioned medium from phytohemagglutinin-stimulated lymphocytes (PHA-LCM) before in utero transplantation. PHA-LCM is a rich source of hematopoietic growth factors in sheep. Subsequent engraftment was significantly higher in cells preincubated with PHA-LCM compared with fresh cells or those incubated with control medium only. This was reflected in all markers of the donor cells (hemoglobin type, karyotype, and progenitor cell assays). Brief ex vivo incubation with PHA-LCM also increased viability of all marrow cells as well as total numbers of progenitors. Similar enhancement of engraftment was also noted in monkeys after a brief preincubation of donor cells with interleukin-3 (IL-3) and granulocyte- macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF). We conclude that brief (16 hours) ex vivo incubation of donor cells with a source of such growth factors as IL-3 and GM-CSF enhances the subsequent engraftment of transplanted cells.
Hertzian Testing to Obtain Flaw Distributions in High Strength Glasses and Glass-Ceramics

Hertzian testing is applied to obtain flaw distributions in two fusion-drawn glasses and two glass-ceramics. A tungsten carbide sphere (diameter either 1.0, 2.5, or 5.0 mm) was used to produce surface cracks (ring cracks and cone cracks). Two theoretical approaches were employed to describe the data. Both approaches are only descriptive for very high strength materials in which the surface flaw sizes are small (e.g., <1 μm). In the first, a Weibull distribution for strength was assumed, and an expression for the probability of fracture was derived based on the stress field around the indent contact area. The unique aspect of this is that the stress field used includes material that has been “probed” at loads below the fracture load. A Weibull plot with this expression shows a slope of m + 2, where m is the conventional Weibull modulus. For the four different materials, the Weibull modulus varied between 8.0 for β-quartz glass-ceramic to 14.2 for fusion drawn alumni silicate glass. The second theoretical approach employs a modification of the method of Poloniecki and Wilshaw (the PW Method) to describe the distributions of very small flaws. The modification removes the need to bin the flaw distribution data. The modified PW Method revealed distinct differences in the flaw distributions between the four materials. These differences are consistent with the different Weibull moduli determined by ranking the different materials according to flaw size. However, Hertzian testing only probes relatively small flaw sizes and thus may differ from typical tensile or bending tests; nevertheless, the method should be applicable for extremely high strength materials.
Toxic agents in the agro-ecosystem. Chairman's comments.

As we begin the session concerned with Toxic Agents In the Agro-Ecosystem, it seems proper to consider additional ways in which a chemical may interact with its target. While the first portion of this session dealt principally with the direct effects of mycotoxins acting on receptor systems, the following papers will offer possibilities wherein exposures to combinations of chemicals can complicate an assessment of associated health hazards. How, then, does the risk to health from exposure to a combination of chemicals compare to an estimated risk from exposure to a single chemical by itself? This question recently was considered by a National Research Council panel concerned with maritime personnel exposed to multiple cargo vapors. The following comments reflect certain observations and conclusions of this panel.
Technology and Tragedy

Allen Verhey attempts to employ narrative categories to help us understand our complex relationship to medical technology. Verhey invites us to think about medical technology in the context of the story of tragedy, and he demonstrates a masterful knowledge of tragedy in Western thought. He then presents a compelling and profound account of how the Christian story illuminates a way “beyond tragedy.”
Gravity currents propagating into shear

An analytical vorticity-based model is introduced for steady-state inviscid Boussinesq gravity currents in sheared ambients. The model enforces the conservation of mass and horizontal and vertical momentum, and it does not require any empirical closure assumptions. As a function of the given gravity current height, upstream ambient shear and upstream ambient layer thicknesses, the model predicts the current velocity as well as the downstream ambient layer thicknesses and velocities. In particular, it predicts the existence of gravity currents with a thickness greater than half the channel height, which is confirmed by direct numerical simulation (DNS) results and by an analysis of the energy loss in the flow. For high-Reynolds-number gravity currents exhibiting Kelvin–Helmholtz instabilities along the current/ambient interface, the DNS simulations suggest that for a given shear magnitude, the current height adjusts itself such as to allow for maximum energy dissipation.
Investigating impulsive strong field perturbation of molecular Rydberg states with XUV transient absorption

We probe the laser induced modification of XUV initiated molecular polarization using attosecond transient absorption. Spectral evolution is used to investigate the vibrationally resolved dynamics. We also simulate the spectrogram under impulsive laser perturbation.
A Study of the Earth-Affecting CMEs of Solar Cycle 24

Using in situ observations from the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE), we have identified 70 Earth-affecting interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) in Solar Cycle 24. Because of the unprecedented extent of heliospheric observations in Cycle 24 that has been achieved thanks to the Sun Earth Connection Coronal and Heliospheric Investigation (SECCHI) instruments onboard the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO), we observe these events throughout the heliosphere from the Sun to the Earth, and we can relate these in situ signatures to remote sensing data. This allows us to completely track the event back to the source of the eruption in the low corona. We present a summary of the Earth-affecting CMEs in Solar Cycle 24 and a statistical study of the properties of these events including the source region. We examine the characteristics of CMEs that are more likely to be strongly geoeffective and examine the effect of the flare strength on in situ properties. We find that Earth-affecting CMEs in the first half of Cycle 24 are more likely to come from the northern hemisphere, but after April 2012, this reverses, and these events are more likely to originate in the southern hemisphere, following the observed magnetic asymmetry in the two hemispheres. We also find that as in past solar cycles, CMEs from the western hemisphere are more likely to reach Earth. We find that Cycle 24 lacks in events driving extreme geomagnetic storms compared to past solar cycles.
APOBEC3H structure reveals an unusual mechanism of interaction with duplex RNA.

The APOBEC3 family of cytidine deaminases cause lethal hypermutation of retroviruses via deamination of newly reverse-transcribed viral DNA. Their ability to bind RNA is essential for virion infiltration and antiviral activity, yet the mechanisms of viral RNA recognition are unknown. By screening naturally occurring, polymorphic, non-human primate APOBEC3H variants for biological and crystallization properties, we obtained a 2.24-A crystal structure of pig-tailed macaque APOBEC3H with bound RNA. Here, we report that APOBEC3H forms a dimer around a short RNA duplex and, despite the bound RNA, has potent cytidine deaminase activity. The structure reveals an unusual RNA-binding mode in which two APOBEC3H molecules at opposite ends of a seven-base-pair duplex interact extensively with both RNA strands, but form no protein-protein contacts. CLIP-seq analysis revealed that APOBEC3H preferentially binds to sequences in the viral genome predicted to contain duplexes, a property that may facilitate both virion incorporation and catalytic activity.
Experimental Analysis of Bandwidth Allocation in Automated Video Surveillance Systems

We consider the bandwidth allocation problem in automated video surveillance systems, in which a monitoring station analyzes the video streams captured and delivered wirelessly by multiple cameras. In contrast with prior studies, we provide a detailed experimental analysis of cross-layer optimization by developing a real system and conducting extensive experiments. In addition, we present an enhanced cross-layer optimization solution that allocates bandwidth to different cameras in a manner that optimizes the overall detection accuracy. The solution works with the popular HTTP streaming approach and includes a new online scheme for estimating the effective airtime of the network. The results show that the proposed solution significantly improves the detection accuracy.
Trends in Upper Extremity Injuries Presenting to US Emergency Departments

Background: The purpose of this study was to identify the incidence of upper extremity injuries presenting to emergency departments (EDs) nationally. Methods: The Nationwide Emergency Department Sa...
A Case of a Patient with Residual Symptoms of Schizophrenia who Relapsed Following Treatment with the Topical Corticosteroid, Clobetasol: A Review of its Risk of Systemic Absorption and Possibility of Exacerbating Psychosis.

Abstract: Almost fifty percent of patients with schizophrenia experience some type of dermatitis. The standard treatment for dermatitis is a topical corticosteroid. Despite their demonstrated effectiveness, topical corticosteroids are associated with various side effects that may limit their use. These include generalized adverse effects from systemic absorption, such as suppression of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. While dose-related, oral corticosteroid-induced psychiatric symptoms, such as psychosis, are well documented, the literature is devoid of cases of topical corticosteroids precipitating psychosis. We present a case of a patient with schizophrenia who developed morphea. She was liberally treated with the potent topical corticosteroid clobetasol, possibly resulting in a “supraphysiologic exposure.” Subsequently, our patient developed an exacerbation of activephase symptoms of schizophrenia. After clobetasol administration was reduced, these active phase symptoms dissipated.
Microwave gain in a recirculating planar crossed-field amplifier

The Recirculating Planar Crossed-Field Amplifier (RPCFA) has demonstrated gain of an injected ~20 kW RF signal. The RPCFA concept is adapted from the Recirculating Planar Magnetron (RPM) also developed at the University of Michigan. The device was designed in simulation using Ansys HFSS and verified using the particle-in-cell code, MAGIC. In preliminary experiments, the RPCFA has demonstrated zero-drive stability and produced peak output powers up to 0.3-0.4 MW. The gain is shown to increase with the applied magnetic field, and output power is typically limited to about 0.4 MW, apparently by RF breakdown within the RPCFA SWS. Analysis of the amplified signal shows high spectral purity, with minimal contamination from frequencies other than the 2.84 GHz injected RF signal.
Metal powder injection molding (MIM): Key trends and markets

Abstract: Metal powder injection molding (MIM) has been in production since the 1970s. During that time the market has expanded enormously to include a broad array of applications; the initial successes were in dental orthodontic brackets, watch cases, and firearms, but recently the technology has moved into higher performance, life-critical applications in dental implants, artificial joints, heart pacemakers, and aerospace jet engines. This chapter provides a statistical overview of MIM, its applications, growth, financial performance, and growth prospects.
On Bias Estimation in Linear Cryptanalysis

Security analysis of block ciphers against linear cryptanalysis has virtually always been based on the bias estimates obtained by the Piling-Up Lemma (PUL) method. Despite its common use, and despite the fact that the independence assumption of the PUL is known not to hold in practice, accuracy of the PUL method has not been analyzed to date. In this study, we start with an experimental analysis of the PUL method. The results on RC5 show that the estimates by the PUL method can be quite inaccurate for some non-Feistel ciphers. On the other hand, the tests with SP-structured Feistel ciphers consistently show a much higher degree of accuracy. In the second part, we analyze several theories for an alternative method for bias estimation, including correlation matrices, linear hulls, and statistical sampling. We show a practical application of the theory of correlation matrices, where better estimates than the PUL method are obtained. We point out certain problems in some current applications of linear hulls. We show that the sample size required for a reliable statistical estimator is an impractically large amount for most practical cases.
Survival Trends in Pediatric In-Hospital Cardiac Arrests An Analysis From Get With The Guidelines–Resuscitation

Background—Despite ongoing efforts to improve the quality of pediatric resuscitation, it remains unknown whether survival in children with in-hospital cardiac arrest has improved. Methods and Results—Between 2000 and 2009, we identified children ( 3 years of participation and >5 cases annually within the national Get With The Guidelines–Resuscitation registry. Multivariable logistic regression was used to examine temporal trends in survival to discharge. We also explored whether trends in survival were attributable to improvement in acute resuscitation or postresuscitation care and examined trends in neurological disability among survivors. Among 1031 children at 12 hospitals, the initial cardiac arrest rhythm was asystole and pulseless electrical activity in 874 children (84.8%) and ventricular fibrillation and pulseless ventricular tachycardia in 157 children (15.2%), with an increase in cardiac arrests due to pulseless electrical ac...
Non-Infectious Parotitis in Infants with Severe Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia: A Case Series

We report four former extremely premature infants with severe bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) who had tracheostomy for prolonged mechanical ventilation and presented with non-infectious parotitis while still in the neonatal intensive care unit. A retrospective chart review of patients with BPD who developed parotitis was conducted over a 5-year period at a level IV neonatal intensive care unit with a BPD home ventilator program. During this 5-year period, there were 409 patients with BPD, and 48 (11.7%) of these patients had a tracheostomy (severe BPD). Four patients with severe BPD with tracheostomy and on mechanical ventilation developed non-infectious parotitis. All four patients initially underwent an infectious work-up, which were negative. Non-infectious parotitis can complicate the clinical course of tracheostomized and ventilator-dependent infants with severe BPD. Awareness of this condition in infants with chronic illness will prevent unnecessary investigations since the clinical course is self-limited. Int J Clin Pediatr. 2018;7(3):36-38 doi: https://doi.org/10.14740/ijcp302w
A.M.B.R.O.S.I.A: providing performant virtual resiliency for distributed applications

When writing today's distributed programs, which frequently span both devices and cloud services, programmers are faced with complex decisions and coding tasks around coping with failure, especially when these distributed components are stateful. If their application can be cast as pure data processing, they benefit from the past 40--50 years of work from the database community, which has shown how declarative database systems can completely isolate the developer from the possibility of failure in a performant manner. Unfortunately, while there have been some attempts at bringing similar functionality into the more general distributed programming space, a compelling general-purpose system must handle non-determinism, be performant, support a variety of machine types with varying resiliency goals, and be language agnostic, allowing distributed components written in different languages to communicate. This paper introduces Ambrosia, the first system to satisfy all these requirements. We coin the term "virtual resiliency", analogous to virtual memory, for the platform feature which allows failure oblivious code to run in a failure resilient manner. We also introduce novel programming language constructs for resiliently handling non-determinism. Of further interest is the effective reapplication of much database performance optimization technology to make Ambrosia more performant than many of today's non-resilient cloud solutions.
Boys and Girls for Others

The paper describes a critical multiculturalist approach the author used, while working as a reading support teacher in a third grade classroom of English language learners. The author shares a step-by-step timeline she used to adopt a social justice agenda in the classroom, while teaching a unit. Through integration of reading and social studies content objectives, the author was able to meet students' reading needs, as well as foster critical thinking through questioning, art, discussion, and writing about matters that were relevant to the students' own lives, their familes' lives and the community, while learning the social studies content. Students were able to identify important problems, determine relevant themes within and across texts, as well as decide on potential solutions. Ultimately, the critical approach, helped students learn that they can be agents of change in their own communities, in and out of school.
Cultural Mapping: Location the Arts in a Place

Cultural mapping is an exercise or interdisciplinary methodology carried out using different technologies that locate tangible and intangible assets which highlight different aspects of the cultural values of a community. This chapter explores the different facets of cultural mapping, starting with an examination of the changing role of maps within the postmodern literature in geography. A cultural mapping overview includes a brief history and an analysis of pioneering national reports. Next, an examination of the international literature highlights three main themes linked to creating a map: the variety of media used, the different purposes pursued, and what is included. An analysis of American cities is divided into two parts. The first part explores the academic literature, and the second presents three kinds of cultural mapping exercises carried out by Austin, Minneapolis, and Nashville. The final section focuses on how cultural mapping tracks intangible assets capturing the soul of New York City.
A statistical analysis of bike sharing usage and its potential as an auto-trip substitute

Abstract Introduction Bikesharing has become increasingly popular in urban areas as an alternative active transportation mode that can help relieve congestion, mitigate negative environmental impacts, and improve public health through increased physical activity. To understand the benefit of bikesharing, it is important to identify the factors influencing how often registered users use bikesharing, and assess whether and how much their bikesharing use is displacing an auto trip. Methods A survey was conducted, and random parameters logit models were estimated to study individuals’ bikesharing usage rates and modal substitution. In addition to standard socio-demographic and travel behavior characteristics of the survey respondents, health-related questions were also included in the survey and health-related indicators were considered as explanatory variables in the estimated models. Results It was found that gender, age, income, household size, commute type and length, and vehicle ownership all played significant roles in bikesharing usage and modal substitution decisions. Regarding health measures, respondents’ body mass index (BMI), one of the health-related indicators, was also a significant predictor of bikesharing usage. Conclusions The outcomes of this research provide some initial insights into the bikesharing decision-making process that can help in the development of policies to improve the performance of bikesharing systems and making them a more viable transportation option.
Analysis of toxicants in agricultural environments.

It is axiomatic that the magnitude of biological effects is related to the dose of chemical to which an organism or group of organisms is exposed. Tremendous advances in analytical methodology during the past several years have furnished, in many instances, precise information on exposure. This ability to identify and quantify chemicals, even at very low concentration levels, is reflected in the assignment of finite chemical standards—tolerances, action levels, threshold limit values (TLV’s), water and air quality standards, etc.—which belle the uncertainty in ascribing biological effects, particularly for diverse populations. This uncertainty is manifested in the relatively large safety factors used in assigning standards, rather than in the numerical standards themselves.
Deriving models for the Kitaev spin-liquid candidate material α − RuCl 3 from first principles

We use the constrained random phase approximation to derive from first principles the Ru-${t}_{2g}$ Wannier-function-based model for the Kitaev spin-liquid candidate material $\ensuremath{\alpha}\text{\ensuremath{-}}{\mathrm{RuCl}}_{3}$. We find the nonlocal Coulomb repulsion to be sizable compared to the local one. In addition we obtain the contribution to the Hamiltonian from the spin-orbit coupling and find it to also contain non-negligible nonlocal terms. We invoke strong-coupling perturbation theory to investigate the influence of these nonlocal elements of the Coulomb repulsion and the spin-orbit coupling on the magnetic interactions. We find that the nonlocal Coulomb repulsions cause a strong enhancement of the magnetic interactions, which deviate from experimental fits reported in the literature. Our results contribute to the understanding and design of quantum spin-liquid materials via first-principles calculations.
Why do countries emulate each others’ policies? A global study of renewable energy policy diffusion

Abstract The international environmental community and many donor countries have encouraged developing countries to adopt renewable energy (RE) policies that will encourage low-carbon energy development. While the drivers of RE policy adoption have been well-studied in the U.S. and Europe, we know little about the factors that drive RE policy adoption in developing countries. Both theory and anecdotal evidence suggest that policies often spread when one country emulates another’s policy, but scholars of policy diffusion have tended to focus on emulation of political and ideological peers, overlooking other factors that may be particularly critical for driving RE policy adoption, including emulation of peers with similar electric sector conditions and emulation that is driven by coercive donor-recipient aid relationships. We use a directed dyadic analysis to assess the factors that prompt a country to emulate another’s policies and to determine whether emulation patterns differ across developed and developing countries. We find that both sets of countries tend to emulate the policies of their political peers, and that developing countries tend to emulate the policies of donors. The effect of electric sector similarities varies by policy type. Countries emulate feed-in tariffs of countries with similar electric sector conditions, but they emulate quota policies of countries with dissimilar levels of reliance on renewable energy. Results suggest that different policies may diffuse via different emulation patterns.
Local Anesthetic Block of the Anterior Scalene Muscle Increases Muscle Height in Patients With Neurogenic Thoracic Outlet Syndrome.

Background Local anesthetic (LA) blocks of the anterior scalene muscle are used to predict which patients with neurogenic thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS) may benefit from surgical decompression. The block is thought to work through both analgesic and muscle relaxation effects, but evidence of the latter is lacking. The aim of our study was to assess the effects of LA blocks on anterior scalene muscle anatomy as captured by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Methods Over a two-year period, a series of patients with neurogenic TOS underwent MRI-guided anterior scalene blocks with an LA. Patients underwent MRI both before injection and 30 minutes after injection. Anterior scalene muscle heights (measured from the superior border of the first rib to the top of C3 vertebrae) before and after injection were compared for the injected side and the noninjected (control) side, both overall and stratified by subjective patient response to injection. Results A total of 54 patients with neurogenic TOS were included. The median age was 39 years (interquartile range, 27–45), 61% were women, and 46% had a history of neck trauma. Forty-five patients (83%) had a favorable response to injection. Overall, there was no significant change in scalene muscle height for either the injected side (preinjection: 90.0 ± 1.2 mm vs. postinjection: 90.7 ± 1.2; P = 0.12) or the control side (preinjection: 89.3 ± 1.4 mm vs. postinjection: 88.9 ± 1.3 mm; P = 0.83). However, when stratified by patient response, those with a positive response had a larger increase in muscle height for the injected side than for the control side (change in baseline: 0.65 ± 0.58 mm vs. −0.53 ± 0.48 mm; P = 0.05). In contrast, nonresponders had no significant change in scalene height for either the injected or control side (change in baseline: 0.59 ± 1.30 mm vs. 0.37 ± 1.07; P = 1.00). Notably, responders had significantly longer anterior scalene muscles at baseline than nonresponders (92.2 ± 1.1 mm vs. 79.5 ± 2.5; P Conclusions LA blocks of the anterior scalene muscle may provide symptomatic relief in patients with neurogenic TOS by increasing muscle height, although the clinical significance of this small change is unclear. Patients who do not have a response to the block tend to have significantly shorter anterior scalene muscle heights than patients who respond, suggesting an anatomic difference in responders versus nonresponders.
General concepts in biostatistics and clinical epidemiology: Random error and systematic error

Biomedical research, particularly when it involves human beings, is always subjected to sources of error that must be recognized. Systematic error or bias is associated with problems in the methodological design or during the execu-tion phase of a research project. It affects its validity and is qualitatively ap-praised. On the other hand, random error is related to variations due to chance. It may be quantitatively expressed, but never removed. This review is the first of a methodological series on general concepts in biostatistics and clin-ical epidemiology developed by the Chair of Scientific Research Methodology at the School of Medicine, University of Valparaiso, Chile. In this article, we address the theoretical concepts of error, its evaluation, and control. Finally, we discuss some current controversies in its conceptualization that are relevant to undergraduate and graduate students of health sciences.
Estimating the Potential Public Health Impact of Prohibiting Characterizing Flavors in Cigars throughout the US.

Flavored cigar use is common among cigar smokers, particularly those at younger ages. Several US localities have implemented policies restricting the sale of flavored tobacco products, including cigars. We estimated the population health benefits of removal of flavored cigars throughout the US in terms of reductions in cigar smoking-attributable mortality due to increased cessation and reductions in cigar smoking prevalence due to decreased initiation and continuing use. Monte Carlo simulation was used to estimate possible ranges for these values. We used published estimates of cigar use and attributable mortality in the US, as well as prior study conclusions on the effect of local and national flavor restriction policies. We estimated that removal of flavored cigars would result in approximately 800 (90% prediction interval = 400–1200) fewer cigar smoking-attributable deaths in the US each year and 112,000 fewer cigar smokers (90% prediction interval = 76,000–139,000) in each cohort of 18 year olds. The removal of characterizing flavors in cigars sold in the US is thus projected to have substantial public health benefits over time.
Trajectories of mental health across baby boomers: latent growth curve modeling for depression

This study examines the trajectories of mental health across baby boomers to understand their mental health during middle age. This study used secondary data from the National Longitudinal Survey o...
Review and Comparison of Resonant DC-DC Converters for Wide-Input Voltage Range Applications

This paper reviews and compares DC-DC resonant converters for wide input voltage range applications that can maintain high efficiency over such a wide voltage range. To meet such requirements, different methods have been reported in the open literature including topological switching between a half bridge (HB) and full bridge (FB) converters, increasing the magnetizing ratio, and using different rectifier types. Each method has its advantages and disadvantages. To help provide full understanding of advantages and disadvantages of these different methods, this paper will provide a comprehensive review of these methods and provide detailed performance comparison between them.