cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Toxicological Studies of the Thiourea Diafenthiuron in Diamondback Moths (Lepidoptera: Yponomeutidae), Twospotted Spider Mites (Acari: Tetranychidae), and Bulb Mites (Acari: Acaridae)

Diafenthiuron possessed moderate toxicity to adult diamondback moths, Plutella Xylostella (L.) (LD50 269.4 μg/g), low toxicity to twospotted spider mites, Tetranychus urticae Koch (41.7% mortality at 500 ppm), and was inactive against bulb mites, Rhizoglyphus echinopus (Fumouze and Robin) (0% mortality at 1,000 ppm). However, 3-(2,6-diisopropyl)-4-phenoxyphenyl)-1- tert -butylcarbodiimide (DFCD), a diafenthiuron photodegradation product, was highly toxic to diamondback moths (LD50 29.7 μg/g), twospotted spider mites (LC50 8.9 ppm), and bulb mites (LC50 106.6 ppm). The toxicity of diafenthiuron to diamondback moths was antagonized by the mixed function oxidase inhibitor piperonyl butoxide, but the toxicity of DFCD was unaffected by the same treatment. Moreover, bulb mites converted diafenthiuron-14C to DFCD and to 3-(2,6-diisopropyl-4-phenoxyphenyl)-1- tert -butylurea, which was nontoxic. Symptoms in moths treated with diafenthiuron or DFCD were time and dose dependent. These symptoms appeared earlier and with greater intensity in moths treated with the carbodiimide. Symptoms included hyperreflexia and marked hyperactivity manifested chiefly by jumping, increased movement of antennae and mouthparts, spinning, and wing flutter. They were strikingly similar to those manifested by moths treated with N’-(4-chloro- o -tolyl)-N-methylformamidine, a known octopaminergic agonist, and markedly different from symptoms displayed by moths treated with dicyclohexylcarbodiimide and with insecticides and acaricides known to attack cholinergic, GABA-ergic, and other systems. These data suggest that diafenthiuron is a propesticide with lethal action in insects and mites that depends on the carbodiimide metabolite. This metabolite functions as a neurotoxicant, possibly by interfering with a biogenic amine (octopamine) mediated mechanism(s).
Tracking position premiums in discrete choice experiments

ABSTRACTEye-tracking was used to identify potential location ‘premiums’ in discrete choice experiments for certain positions in the computer screen in terms of increasing the visibility, general interest and attention of respondents. The search dynamics to choose the optimal alternative closely resembled the natural process of reading in a ‘Z’ motion going from left to right and top to bottom. An empirical application of water conservation showed that conservation practices in the production process were not statistically different than zero. On the other hand, respondents are interested in water conservation practices in their landscapes where they benefit directly from the sustainable practice.
The Autonomy-Authority Duality of Shared Decision-Making in Youth Environmental Action.

While environmental action is recognized as an effective approach for developing young people’s capabilities as citizens and contributing to environmental improvements, little research has addressed how adults facilitate youth action projects. Environmental action involves a partnership among youth and adults characterized by shared decision-making. We sought insights into the adult experience of shared decision-making through phenomenological interviews with 33 educators facilitating youth environmental action in various non-formal and formal settings in the USA. Educators described experiencing tensions in sharing decision-making power, which we conceive of as a duality – two inseparable elements both contradictory and complementary that drive the dynamics of a system. The duality consists of youth autonomy and adult authority, which stems not only from formally vested decision-making power but also adults’ experience and wisdom. Educators navigated this duality through diverse approaches to structuring...
Analysis on Operation Status of Acute Flaccid Paralysis Case Surveillance System,Fujian Province,2012

Objective To evaluate the operation of acute flaccid paralysis(AFP)surveillance system in Fujian province,2012. Methods Analysis was made on AFP surveillance data for 2012by descriptive methodology. Results In2012,213AFP cases were reported from AFP surveillance system in Fujian province.The incidence rate of AFP was3.68/105 in15years old children.The rate of men an women was respectively 4.70/105 and 2.51/105(P 0.01);Quanzhou city,the highest 6.99/105,the minimum was 2.11/105 in Zhangzhou city(P 0.01).213cases,report in February up to 30cases,accounting for 14.08%;79.34% of the whole AFP cases were mostly in the children under 5years old,192cases(90.14%)accepted OPV ≥3times immunization,40cases were isolated intestinal virus in 213cases,including 35cases of the non-polio enterovirus,and 5cases of polio virus. Conclusion AFP surveillance system maintains high quality in 2012,all the surveillance indicators meet the requirements by Ministry of Health and World Health Organization.
The Discretization Method and its Realization of Continuous Attribute Based on Language Field Theory

The paper introduces author's job on realization of continuous attribute discretization based on language field theory that Prof. Yang put forward. It applies a new algorithm of seeking border values and its incremental one rather than seeking boundary ones that is a difficulty. The theory of the algorithm is self.contained, and its realization is simple. And the paper introduces simply four thoughts about defining language values and then discretizing for non.numerical value that author already realized in KDD.
A Primary Practice of Sichuan Collective Forest Sustainable Management

This article briefly described the present situation of Sichuan collective forest management,the methods,and steps of conducted sustainable collective forest management,and summarized the experience and existing issues of applying PCIV method to the implementation of the sustainable collective forest management.
Cytokine Networking in Lung Inflammation

The molecules that mediate normal events in the lung also regulate the development and ultimate resolution of pulmonary inflammation. And they can orchestrate such fulminant, life-threatening disorders as septic shock. Which cytokines are involved, and how may their physiologic roles be subverted? Interleukins and tumor necrosis factor-α are key players.
Effect of physician-specific pay-for-performance incentives in a large group practice

Objective To assess the effect of a physician-specific pay-for-performance program on quality-of-care measures in a large group practice. Study design In 2007, Palo Alto Medical Clinic, a multispecialty physician group practice, changed from group-focused to physician-specific pay-for-performance incentives. Primary care physicians received incentive payments based on their quarterly assessed performance. Methods We examined 9 reported and incentivized clinical outcome and process measures. Five reported and nonincentivized measures were used for comparison purposes. The quality score of each physician for each measure was the main dependent variable and was calculated as follows: Quality Score = (Patients Meeting Target / Eligible Patients) x 100. Differences in scores between 2006 and 2007 were compared with differences in scores between 2005 and 2006. We also compared the performance of Palo Alto Medical Clinic with that of 2 other affiliated physician groups implementing group-level incentives. Results Eight of 9 reported and incentivized measures showed significant improvement in 2007 compared with 2006. Three measures showed an improvement trend significantly better than the previous year's trend. A similar improvement trend was observed in 1 related measure that was reported but was nonincentivized. However, the improvement trend of Palo Alto Medical Clinic was not consistently different from that of the other 2 physician groups. Conclusions Small financial incentives (maximum, $5000/year) based on individual physicians' performance may have led to continued or enhanced improvement in well-established ambulatory care measures. Compared with other quality improvement programs having alternative foci for incentives (eg, increasing support for staff hours), the effect of physician-specific incentives was not evident.
Wireless-powered communication under statistical quality of service constraints

In this paper, we study the performance of wireless information and power transfer in the presence of statistical queuing constraints. We consider harvest-then-transmit protocol in which users first harvest energy from a dedicated source and then transmit information through an uplink multiple access channel (MAC). Each user is subject to limitations on the buffer overflow probability, specified by the quality of service (QoS) exponent θ, and the optimal time allocation for energy harvesting and information decoding operations depends on these constraints in addition to the channel characteristics. We formulate optimization problems to maximize the throughput with and without QoS constraints. In both cases, the problems are convex, and hence Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) conditions are necessary and sufficient for global optimality. However, it is difficult to obtain closed-form expressions for optimal time interval since we assume that operating intervals are independent of each fading state realization. Hence, we develop an algorithm to obtain optimal solutions numerically. Simulation results justify that QoS constraints primarily affect achievable rate distribution among the users, and override the channel conditions.
An EVI1 Point Mutant Unable To Bind GATA1 Rescues EVI1−Induced Defects in Erythroid Differentiation.

EVI1 is a nuclear oncoprotein deregulated by recurring chromosomal abnormalities in MDS. The expression of this gene in MDS patients represents a very poor prognostic marker and is associated with erythroid and megakaryocytic defects. We have previously shown that the forced expression of EVI1 in mice results in a fatal disease with features characteristic of MDS including dyserythropoiesis, dysmegakaryopoiesis, and anemia. More recently we have shown that EVI1 directly interacts with GATA1 and disrupts GATA1−binding to DNA leading to deregulation of GATA1−dependent genes. Here we describe the effects of an EVI1 mutant unable to bind GATA1, on the regulation of GATA1 target genes and on the erythroid differentiation of murine bone marrow progenitors. The structure of two zinc finger motifs of this mutant, EVI1(1+6Mut), were destroyed by His to Ala and Cys to Ala changes. Semi−quantitative RT−PCR showed that most of the analysed genes were down−regulated in 32Dcl3 cells expressing EVI1 but not EVI1(1+6Mut). Bone marrow lineage negative cells infected with EVI1, EVI1(1+6Mut), or the empty vector as control, selected in G418, and plated in presence of Epo were utilized to determine the progenitors’ potential to differentiate in response to this cytokine. The EVI1−expressing cells were virtually unable to generate erythroid colonies after Epo stimulation and only scarce small colonies were observed. In contrast, the EVI1(1+6Mut)−cells produced about 65% of the colonies formed by the control cells. The cells were recovered and their morphology was analysed after Wright−Giemsa staining. All EVI1−positive erythroid cells showed an impaired differentiation that was arrested at the basophilic−erythroblast stage. These cells were bi− and tetra−nucleated with chromatin bridges, budding nuclei and nuclear−cytoplasmatic maturative asynchronizations. All of these features are known as dysplastic erythroid aspects in MDS patients. These dysplastic characteristics were less prominent in EVI1(1+6Mut)−positive cells and were observed only in a minority of cells rather than in the entire population. As expected, the control cells had the appearance of normal erythroblasts and none of the aberrant features were observed. These results parallel the morphology observation of peripheral blood smears obtained from EVI1−mice and EVI1(1+6Mut)−mice in that erythropoiesis defects such as aniso−poikilocytosis and orthochromatic erythroblasts were less striking and observed only in a limited number of erythroid cells in EVI1(1+6Mut)−mice. Based on these results, we propose that EVI1 blocks erythroid differentiation by direct interaction with GATA1 leading to impairment of GATA1 regulation. This differentiation block is significantly reduced in vitro and in vivo with the EVI1(1+6Mut) mutant, which re−establishes to a high degree the normal functions of GATA1 and diminishes the erythroid dysplastic aspects observed in EVI1 cells.
Social and Cultural World History

This chapter discusses world history from a social and cultural perspective. It breaks with the more typical focus on political and economic processes carried out by governments and commercial elites to examine the ways in which labor, families, women and gender, sexuality, childhood, material culture, social structures, cultural values, and identity have been transformed across time via both local processes and encounters with other cultures. The narrative moves from foraging and farming families (beginnings to 3000 BCE), to cities and classical societies (3000 BCE–500 CE), expanding networks of interaction (500–1500 CE), a new world of connections (1500–1800 CE), and finally industrialization, imperialism, and inequality (1800–2015 CE), noting continuities as well as change.
Justice Served? Perceptions of Plea Bargaining Involving a Sexual Assault in Child and Adult Females

Seventy-four community members (46 women, 28 men) read vignettes describing a plea bargain in a mock sexual assault case. We employed a within-participant design and manipulated rape victim age (6- vs. 26-year-old), type of plea bargain agreement (reduced prison sentence vs. only probation), and reason for plea bargain (save victim from reliving a traumatic experience vs. save time in court). Participants answered questions about the plea bargain agreement (e.g., was justice served). The results showed less support of plea bargaining when it (a) involved a child, (b) involved only probation, and (c) when the rationale for the plea bargain was to save time. Significant moderation revealed that plea deals involving probation in 6-year-old child cases were perceived most negatively. The results are discussed in terms of procedural justice theory in sexual assault cases, and how perceptions of the general public impact the use of plea bargaining as a legal tool.
Ultrasound Reversibly Disaggregates Fibrin Fibers

Ultrasound accelerates fibrinolysis in vitro and in vivo, primarily through non-thermal mechanisms including cavitation. We have previously observed that ultrasound reversibly increases flow through fibrin gels, a property primarily determined by the structure of the fibrin matrix. Therefore, the effect of ultrasound on the ultrastructure of fibrin gels was examined using scanning electron microscopy. Non-crosslinked fibrin gels were fixed and prepared for microscopy before, during and after exposure to 1 MHz ultrasound, and quantitative analysis of fiber population density and diameter was performed. Gels exposed and fixed in the presence of ultrasound exhibited an increase in density of 65 +/- 26% (mean +/- SD) at 4 W/cm2 (p <0.000001) accompanied by a decrease in fiber diameter of 27 +/- 9% (p <0.000001). Gels fixed 15 min following ultrasound exposure showed no significant change in either density or diameter compared to unexposed gels, indicating that the ultrasound-induced change in fiber structure was reversible. Factor XIII-crosslinked fibrin gels exhibited no change in population density or diameter when exposed to ultrasound. These results indicate that ultrasound exposure causes reversible disaggregation of uncrosslinked fibrin fibers into smaller fibers, an effect that may alter flow resistance and create additional binding sites for fibrinolytic components, improving fibrinolytic efficacy.
44 Oxidation of Cobalt Powder at −78, −22, 0, and 26°*

The rates of oxidation of cobalt powders were measured in the thin film region at −78, −22, 0, and 26°. During the first oxidation at each temperature, multiple oxide layers formed to some limiting thickness. This surface could be regenerated for further oxidation by heating in vacuo. Successive oxidations were thus carried out, initially on the reduced sample, thereafter on the regenerated surface. The amount of oxygen adsorbed by the reduced and regenerated samples was an exponential function of time. The theory of Mott and Cabrera for the growth of very thin oxide films did not satisfactorily explain the results. The governing kinetic factor was found to be the increase in oxide thickness rather than the total oxide-film thickness. A mechanism based on the formation of metal lattice vacancies and their elimination by heating is proposed.
TRANSITION AND RECOVERY OF CRYOGENICALLY STABLE CONDUCTORS

Film cooling stability is described for a composite conductor of superconductor filaments in a normal metal matrix. It is shown by an electromagnetic and thermal transient solution for current density, temperature and power generated that the following occurs after a filament has gone normal: (1) the temperature rise δT ≈ 50 K for 0.04 cm radius filaments and is less for smaller filaments, (2) the current spread and temperature rise is fast, ≈ milliseconds, and (3) the recovery to T = T c is relatively slow, seconds. Recovery is assured if the heat flux generated at any temperature is less than the boiling heat flux in helium, in particular less than 0.15 W/cm 2 , the minimum film boiling heat flux at 9 K.
Revisiting Orthopaedic Surgery Residents’ Views of the CDC and AAOS Precautionary Guidelines for HIV

Background The purpose of the present study was to evaluate how orthopaedic residents' views and behaviors toward the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) have changed over the past 25 years. Methods Between May 2017 and June 2017, an electronic survey was distributed to residents who were enrolled orthopaedic residency programs in the United States. The survey included questions based on the revised 2012 American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines for HIV, hepatitis B virus (HBV), and hepatitis C virus (HCV) transmission prevention. Every program in the United States was contacted to avoid selection bias. Categorical data were analyzed with use of the chi-square goodness-of-fit test for the comparison of current and historical results. The null hypothesis of no change between survey results in 1992 and 2016 was set at p > 0.05. Numerical data were analyzed with use of the chi-square goodness-of-fit test with subsequent p value calculations to determine deviation from expected values between the 2 study years. Results The present study demonstrated that there have been compelling changes in residents' attitudes and behaviors with respect to HIV. Current residents are more aware of and compliant with their institutional safety protocols. They are also more accepting of treating HIV-positive patients. However, current residents underestimate the risk of HIV transmission from needle-stick injury and are less aware of proper timing for post-exposure prophylactic medication administration. Conclusions The present study indicates that there has been a compelling positive change in perception and prevention of HIV transmission by orthopaedic residents in the past 25 years but that there is still room for improvement.
Improving graduation rates: Legitimate practices and gaming strategies

Accountability pressures faced by teachers and leaders may lead well-intentioned educators to engage in strategic reporting and operational practices to increase test scores, graduation rates, and other indicators of student success. Such practices are referred to as gaming behaviors . School district personnel attending a Georgia educational conference ( N =146) reported a significant prevalence of two such practices – purging data for students enrolled for a short period of time and fabricating withdrawal forms in case of audit. Exploratory factor analysis yielded three categories of strategies employed by school districts to improve reported graduation rates: a) practices that directly contradict the rules governing ethical reporting of data (Factor1); b) legitimate educational practices aiming to enhance student learning (Factor2); and c) possible gaming strategies aiming to exclude low performing students from the computation of graduation rates (Factor3). Latent profile analysis distinguished a) a group with average scores on all factors ( N =120); and b) a group with significantly higher scores on Factor1 and Factor3 ( N =26). The second group included a significantly larger proportion of individuals from districts with 5,000 – 10,000 students; districts of this size may have the expertise in-house to understand calculations and take strategic action with their data reporting practices.
Cardiac Microtissue Platform with Dynamically Tunable Afterload Control to Show Contractile Reserve and Pathologic Hypertrophy

Introduction Increased afterload induces structural and functional changes in the myocardium that ultimately lead to heart failure. Our lab uses engineered cardiac microtissues, composed of a well with two cantilevers that serve as tethering points for the tissue to model myocardium. We have created a platform with dynamically tunable in vitro afterload (cantilever stiffness) to study hypertrophy. We hypothesized that an instantaneous increase in stiffness will reveal contractile reserve, resulting in increased force, work, contraction velocity, and relaxation velocity. We also hypothesized that prolonged increases in stiffness will induce pathologic hypertrophy, showing decreases in these parameters. Methods and Results We used iron-doped polydimethylsiloxane to create cantilevers that stiffen in a magnetic field. After seeding a mixture of fibroblasts, cardiomyocytes, and collagen matrix, cardiac microtissues were matured over 48 hours, after which baseline testing was performed. Cardiac microtissues were then exposed to low or high stiffness conditions ( 0.6 N/m) for 48 hours and tested at 24 and 48 hours with and without a magnetic field. At baseline, an instantaneous 12.0% increase in stiffness (95% CI 9.4 - 14.6) caused a 13.0% increase in force development (95% CI 6.8 - 19.1) and a 14.8% increase in work (95% CI 1.7 - 28.0). At 24 hours, tissues exposed to high stiffness had significantly decreased work (92.2 vs. 50.6 μN*μm, p = 0.02), contraction velocity (-86.9 vs. -50.9 μm/s, p = 0.0002), and relaxation velocity (49.6 vs. 31.0 μm/s, p = 0.0003), with no significant change in force (31.1 vs. 26.7 μN, p = 0.26). Tissues exposed to high stiffness at 48 hours had significantly decreased work (81.2 vs. 44.4 μN*μm, p = 0.03), contraction velocity (-86.6 vs. -52.9 μm/s, p Conclusions Our data indicates that instantaneous exposure to increased afterload reveals contractile reserve, while sustained increased afterload induces pathologic changes in cardiac microtissues. The addition of dynamically tunable afterload to a cardiac microtissue model provides a variety of new opportunities to study load-dependent myocardial adaptations for translational research applications.
Endoplasmic reticulum stress differentially inhibits endoplasmic reticulum and inner nuclear membrane protein quality control degradation pathways.

Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress occurs when the abundance of unfolded proteins in the ER exceeds the capacity of the folding machinery. Despite the expanding cadre of characterized cellular adaptations to ER stress, knowledge of the effects of ER stress on cellular physiology remains incomplete. We investigated the impact of ER stress on ER and inner nuclear membrane protein quality control mechanisms in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We analyzed the turnover of substrates of four ubiquitin ligases (Doa10, Rkr1/Ltn1, Hrd1, and the Asi complex) and the metalloprotease Ste24 in induced models of ER stress. ER stress did not substantially impact Doa10 or Rkr1 substrates. However, Hrd1-mediated destruction of a protein that aberrantly engages the translocon (Deg1-Sec62) and substrates with luminal degradation signals was markedly impaired by ER stress; by contrast, Hrd1-dependent degradation of proteins with intramembrane degrons was largely unperturbed by ER stress. ER stress impaired the degradation of one of two Asi substrates analyzed and caused a translocon-clogging Ste24 substrate to accumulate in a form consistent with persistent translocon occupation. Degradation of Deg1-Sec62 in the absence of stress and stabilization during ER stress were independent of four ER stress–sensing pathways. Our results indicate ER stress differentially impacts degradation of protein quality control substrates, including those mediated by the same ubiquitin ligase. These observations suggest the existence of additional regulatory mechanisms dictating substrate selection during ER stress.
P-023 National trends of the inpatient diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes of cerebral aneurysms in last decade

Introduction Following publication of the ISUIA and ISAT studies, the paradigm for treatment of cerebral aneurysms shifted from open surgical clipping to endovascular embolization as primary therapy in a majority of cases. While this trend has been widely acknowledged, patient population, outcome data and large-scale treatment patterns have not been reported in recent years. Methods The National Inpatient Sample from 2004–2014 was reviewed. Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) and unruptured aneurysm (UA) discharges were identified along with treatment given, surgical clipping or endovascular repair. UA that were not primary diagnoses were labeled as incidental. The Elixhauser comorbidity readmission index (ELIX) was used to estimate patient baseline health status. SAH severity and outcomes were analyzed with the NIS-SAH severity score (NIS-SSS) and NIS-severity outcome measure (NIS-SOM), which correlate directly with Hunt-Hess score and mRS outcome, respectively. Time trend series plots were created. Following Shapiro-Wilks normality confirmation, linear and logistic regression were utilized to estimate significant changes in the yearly mean or median of treatments. Per capita values were analyzed to control for population growth. Comparisons of means/distributions of normally continuous variables was carried out using least squared means analysis; while, nonparametric distributions were compared with the Wilcoxon rank sum test. P-values of ≤0.05 were considered statistically significant. Statistical analysis performed with SAS 9.4 (Cary, NC). Results A total of 379,437 SAH and 378,242 UA discharges were reviewed. For UA and SAH, endovascularly treated patients were significantly older (p 7, correlating with Hunt-Hess ≥ 4, were more likely to be managed endovascularly (p For SAH treatment, yearly discharges for clipping decreased (-264.1, p=0.0002) and increased for endovascular (+366, p=0.0003) treatment (2004 vs. 2014; SAH-clipping 6579 vs 3400; SAH-endovascular 3878 vs 7535). For treated UA, yearly discharges for clipping remained stable and increased for endovascular therapy (+630, p Conclusion Patients with ruptured and unruptured aneurysms are increasingly treated with endovascular therapy over clipping. Mortality rates of ruptured aneurysms is improving regardless of treatment; whereas, mortality in unruptured aneurysms is only improving for surgical clipping. Disclosures D. McCarthy: None. E. Luther: None. S. Chen: None. S. Sur: None. M. Brunet: None. D. Sheinberg: None. E. Peterson: None. R. Starke: None.
Ultrahigh Peak Power Generation: Present and Future

Compact solid-state laser sources based on “Chirped Pulse Amplification” are capable of generating intensities in excess of 1018 W/cm2 and make possible the investigation of a new class of relativistic experiments in a physical regime previously inaccessible.
How Medical Education Is Missing the Bull’s-eye

How Medical Education Is Missing the Bull’s-eye If medical students and trainees are taught to recognize symptoms of disease in only white patients and learn to perform lifesaving maneuvers on only...
Ultraviolet Electrostatic Field Effect Light-Emitting Diode

The potential of ultraviolet (UV) AlGaN quantum well (QW) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) is stunted due to the lack of efficient p-type doping for this ultra wide bandgap material. In this work, a novel device - UV electrostatic field effect LED (EFELED) is demonstrated to address this issue by significantly improving hole injection into the QW active region which leads to a relative increase of external quantum efficiency (EQE) up to 42%. The UV EFELED is realized by integrating a capacitor layer on top of a conventional 267 nm AlGaN QW LED, which introduces band bending to assist hole injection under a forward bias. A 10x increase in injection current is achieved through the application of a positive bias to the integrated capacitor layer. With 20 V applied to the capacitor, a 42% increase of EQE is achieved. Photon intensity modulation is demonstrated with the application of varying capacitor biases, which presents a novel brightness control at UV wavelength. Thus, the proposed UV EFELED provides significantly improved hole injection through a capacitor integration, which leads to high-efficiency UV LEDs for important applications such as sterilization and purification.
s± pairing near a Lifshitz transition

Observations of robust superconductivity in some of the iron based superconductors in the vicinity of a Lifshitz point where a spin density wave instability is suppressed as the hole band drops below the Fermi energy raise questions for spin-fluctuation theories. Here we discuss spin-fluctuation pairing for a bilayer Hubbard model, which goes through such a Lifshitz transition. We find s± pairing with a transition temperature that peaks beyond the Lifshitz point and a gap function that has essentially the same magnitude but opposite sign on the incipient hole band as it does on the electron band that has a Fermi surface.
Model-Based Feedforward Control of Part Height in Directed Energy Deposition.

Control of the geometric accuracy of a metal deposit is critical in the repair and fabrication of complex components through Directed Energy Deposition (DED). This paper developed and experimentally evaluated a model-based feedforward control of laser power with the objective of achieving the targeted part height in DED. Specifically, based on the dynamic model of melt-pool geometry derived from our prior work, a nonlinear inverse-dynamics controller was derived in a hatch-by-hatch, layer-by-layer manner to modulate the laser power such that the melt-pool height was regulated during the simulated build process. Then, the laser power trajectory from the simulated closed-loop control under the nonlinear inverse-dynamics controller was implemented as a feedforward control in an Optomec Laser-Engineered Net Shape (LENS) MR-7 system. This paper considered the deposition of L-shaped structures of Ti-6AL-4V as a case study to illustrate the proposed model-based controller. Experimental validation showed that by applying the proposed model-based feed-forward control for laser power, the resulting build had 24–42% reduction in the average build height error with respect to the target build height compared to applying a constant laser power through the entire build or applying a hatch-dependent laser power strategy, for which the laser power values were obtained from experimental trial and error.
Offshoring Tax Ethics: The Panama Papers, Seeking Refuge from Tax, & Tax Lawyer Referrals

The fallout from the “Panama Papers” scandal leaves many questions unanswered, including: How did U.S. taxpayers get to the Panamanian law firm of Mossack Fonseca? And what were the ethical responsibilities of the individuals (particularly U.S. lawyers) who connected these U.S. clients with Mossack Fonseca, especially in the cases where the U.S. clients sought offshore assistance in order to avoid or evade U.S. taxes? This symposium essay answers these questions and uses insights gained from an examination of the Panama Papers leak to make recommendations about how to respond ethically to referral requests for assistance with offshore tax avoidance/evasion. Specifically, this symposium essay argues that lawyers should internalize, rather than expatriate, more responsibility for these referrals by doing more than what is required to avoid professional sanctions and penalties.
Optimization of Nonuniform Planar Antenna array Topology in Two-dimensional DOA Estimation

This paper deals with the optimization of the sparse planar antenna array for DOA estimation in two dimensions (azimuth and elevation). The optimization algorithm was proposed on the basis of the peak sidelobe level (SLL) and half-power beamwidth (HPBW) parameters. In empirical validation, we have set up a measurement system to test the efficiency of an optimized array configuration. The array was configured using the patch antennas with frequency band 2.4 GHz. In comparison with several popular array configurations, the experimental results show that the proposed antenna array was optimized, and it provided higher accuracy and resolution in 2D DOA estimation.
Is there value to routine oncologic surveillance after radical cystectomy? Comparative outcomes of symptomatic versus asymptomatic recurrence.

421Background: Reported rates of adherence to post-radical cystectomy (RC) surveillance guidelines in real-world practice have been as low as 9%, in part reflecting a nihilistic view held by many o...
Cross-dataset reproducibility of population receptive field (pRF) estimates and cortical magnification asymmetries

Abstract Population receptive field (pRF) models fit to fMRI data are used to non-invasively measure retinotopic maps in human visual cortex, and these maps are a fundamental component of visual neuroscience experiments. We examined the reproducibility of retinotopic maps across two datasets: a newly acquired retinotopy dataset from New York University (NYU) (n=44) and a public dataset from the Human Connectome Project (HCP) (n=181). Our goal was to assess the degree to which pRF properties are similar across datasets, despite substantial differences in their experimental protocols. The two datasets differ in stimulus design, participant pool, fMRI protocol, MRI field strength, and preprocessing pipelines. We assessed the cross-dataset reproducibility of the two datasets in terms of the similarity of vertex-wise pRF estimates and in terms of large-scale cortical magnification properties. Within V1, V2, V3, and hV4, the group-median NYU and HCP vertex-wise polar angle estimates were nearly identical. Both eccentricity and pRF size estimates were also strongly correlated between the two datasets, but with a slope different from 1; the eccentricity and pRF size estimates were systematically greater in the NYU data. Next, to compare large-scale map properties, we quantified two polar angle asymmetries in V1 cortical magnification previously identified in the HCP data. The prior work reported more cortical surface area representing the horizontal than vertical visual field meridian, and the lower than upper vertical visual field meridian. We confirm both of these results in the NYU dataset. Together, our findings show that the retinotopic properties of V1-hV4 can be reliably measured between two datasets, despite numerous differences in their experimental design. fMRI-derived retinotopic maps are reproducible because they rely on an explicit computational model that is grounded in physiological evidence of how visual receptive fields are organized, allowing one to quantitatively characterize the BOLD signal in terms of stimulus properties (i.e., location and size). The new NYU Retinotopy Dataset will serve as a useful benchmark for testing hypotheses about the organization of visual areas and for comparison to the HCP Retinotopy Dataset.
Confident Risk Premiums and Investments using Machine Learning Uncertainties

This paper derives ex-ante (co)variances of stock-level and portfolio-level risk premium predictions from neural networks (NNs). Considering precision, I provide improved investment strategies. The confident high-low strategies that take long-short positions exclusively on stocks with precise risk premiums deliver superior out-of-sample returns and Sharpe ratios than traditional high-low strategies because precise measurements have low squared forecast errors. Mean-variance strategies incorporating covariances of return predictions outperform existing strategies too. Risk premium variances reflect time-varying market uncertainty and spike after financial shocks. Cross-sectionally, the level and precision of risk premiums are correlated, thus NN-based investments deliver more gains in the long positions.
The effects of surface oxidation and fluorination of boron-doped diamond anodes on perchlorate formation and organic compound oxidation

Abstract This research investigated the effects of surface functional groups on both rates of organic compound oxidation (phenol, p-nitrophenol, benzoquinone, and oxalic acid) and perchlorate (ClO 4 − ) formation at boron-doped diamond (BDD) film anodes at 20 °C. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements determined that various oxygenated functional groups (e.g., C-OH, C=O, COOH) were incorporated on the BDD surface by applying an anodic ageing process, and fluorine functional groups (e.g., C-F, -C n F 2n+1 ) were incorporated by electrochemical oxidation of aqueous perfluorooctanoic acid solutions. Batch oxidation experiments revealed that ClO 4 − formation via the oxidation of ClO 3 − was highly variable during anodic ageing, which was attributed to changes in oxygenated functional groups, while organic compound oxidation rates were not significantly affected. The fluorinated electrode showed a lower ClO 4 − formation rate (19 ± 4 μmoles m −2 min −1 ) compared to the oxygenated electrode (436 ± 26 μmoles m −2 min −1 ) indicating the fluorinated surface limits ClO 4 − production. Measurement of the electrode response to the Fe(CN) 6 3−/4− redox couple using cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy indicated that lower ClO 4 − formation on the fluorinated electrode was likely a result of dipole-dipole interactions between the negatively charged F atoms and ClO 3 − and steric hindrance caused by the perfluorocarbon chains. This effect along with the hydrophobicity of the fluorinated electrode resulted in significantly lower ClO 4 − formation (96% decrease) while slightly enhancing measured oxidation rates of hydrophobic organic compounds. The use of benzoquinone as OH probe confirmed that the fluorination process did not inhibit OH production. The rate of benzoquinone oxidation was 2212 ± 183 μmoles m −2 min −1 on the oxygenated electrode and 2926 ± 201 μmoles m −2 min −1 on the fluorinated electrode. Density functional theory calculations indicated that the fluorination of the BDD surface by both F atoms and perfluorinated carbon radicals ( C n F 2n+1 ) of varying chain lengths (n = 1 to 7) was feasible, and that the fluorinated edge sites (=C-C n F 2n+1 ) were more electrochemically stable than fluorinated planar sites (≡C-C n F 2n+1 ).
Thyroid Dysfunction Induced by Excess Iodine

Although this conference is primarily concerned with iodine deficiency and its adverse effects on thyroid function and health worldwide, excess iodine ingestion, especially in pharmacologic quantities, may also adversely affect thyroid function, especially in patients with underlying thyroid disease. This may occur in subjects residing in both iodine deficient and iodine sufficient areas, although iodine induced hyperthyroidism is far more prevalent when ambient iodine intake is low or marginally low. The recommended daily iodine intake has not been clearly established but is generally believed to be about 150ug daily.
Achieving large transport bandgaps in bilayer graphene

Since opening sizable bandgaps in bilayer graphene (BLG) was proven possible, BLG has attracted considerable attention as a promising high-mobility candidate material for many electronic and optoelectronic applications. However, the bandgaps observed in the transport experiments reported in the literature are far smaller than both the theoretical predictions and the bandgaps extracted from optical measurements. In this study, we investigate the factors preventing the formation of large bandgaps and demonstrate that a ~200-meV transport bandgap can be opened in BLG by scaling the gate dielectric and employing a ribbon channel to suppress the percolative transport. This is the largest transport bandgap that has been achieved in BLG to date.
Molecular cloning of genes encoding transcription factors with the use of recognition site probes.

In genetically tractable prokaryotes and eukaryotes, most DNA binding transcription factors have been identified as the products of trans-acting regulatory loci. In many complex eukaryotic organisms a similar approach to their identification has not been possible. Instead the recent application of sensitive DNA binding assays, in particular DNase I footprinting (1) and gel electrophoresis of protein-DNA complexes (2,3) has led to the detection and characterization of numerous transcription factors. Each of these proteins binds selectively to a distinctive transcriptional control element and is thereby implicated in regulating the activity of target genes containing such an element (4). The isolation of molecular clones encoding transcription factors facilitates a genetic cum biochemical analysis of their structural and functional properties. Prior to the application of the cloning strategy described below, genes encoding transcription factors could be isolated only by screening recombinant DNA libraries with antibody (5–7) or oligonucleotide probes (6,8,9). The latter are generated from partial amino acid sequences of the relevant proteins. Both screening strategies are dependent on the availability of substantial amounts of the purified transcription factor.
Using surgical appropriateness criteria to examine outcomes of total knee arthroplasty in a United States sample.

Extensive variation in patients’ characteristics and in surgical rates for patients undergoing a variety of procedures has been well documented. For example, a substantial literature supports the presence of geographic(1), racial and ethnic disparities in total knee arthroplasty (TKA)(2). High rates of variation are not isolated to TKA and have been found for multiple surgical procedures(3). Lawson and colleagues(3), among others(4) have suggested that high variations in surgery rates are likely attributable, at least in part, to either under- or over-utilization. Attempts to quantify the extent of overuse or underuse of a medical procedure require the use of appropriateness criteria to judge indications for the procedure. The RAND-UCLA Appropriateness Method has been used extensively in the US and elsewhere(3;5) to determine the extent of over- or under-utilization of a variety of procedures including bariatric surgery(6), hysterectomy(7), and TKA(8). We used appropriateness criteria for TKA developed by Escobar and colleagues(8) and described in a prior publication(9), to study utilization of TKA. To our knowledge, this will be the first study of TKA appropriateness conducted in the US. We used variables(9) in the Osteoarthritis Initiative dataset(10) to reflect the appropriateness classification system used by Escobar and colleagues(8). We calculated prevalence rates for 175 patients undergoing isolated TKA in OAI and found a rate of 44.0% (95%CI= 37, 51) for classifications of appropriate, 21.7% (95%CI = 16, 28) for inconclusive classifications and 34.3% (95%CI =27, 41) for inappropriate classifications. The purpose of the current study was to determine if outcomes following TKA vary for the three classification groups(8). Outcome measurement in TKA can be conceptualized either as a journey, that is, change in outcome score over time, or as a destination, the outcome score the person ends up with(11). Both are important. The journey captures the magnitude of improvement (or worsening) while the destination describes the extent to which pain and functional status at a later point in time is acceptable to the patient. We hypothesized that subjects classified as inappropriate would have smaller changes in pain and function (i.e., a shorter journey) following surgery as compared to persons classified as inconclusive or appropriate for TKA(12). In regard to the destination, because the OAI data does not report Patient Acceptable Symptom State (PASS) measures(13;14), we were unable to compare groups on PASS. However, pre-operative scores are powerful predictors of post-operative status(15-17) such that persons with less pain and better function prior to surgery should have less pain and better function after surgery compared to more severely involved patients. We therefore hypothesized that the one- and two-year post-operative destination outcome scores would be better (i.e. less pain and better function) for persons classified as inappropriate as compared to the other two groups.
Typed Homomorphic Relations Extended with Sybtypes

Typed homomorphic relations on heterogeneous algebras are generalized to allow relationships between elements in the carrier sets of different types. Such relations are needed for the model theory of incomplete, hierarchical specifications with subtypes. Typed logical relations are generalized similarly. These tools help give a simple model-theoretic account of subtyping among abstract data types as observed by terms of a simply-typed lambda-calculus with subtypes.
Excitation and direct imaging of surface plasmon polariton modes in the near-infrared

This paper describes techniques for the simultaneous excitation and imaging of various SPP modes in a 2-D periodic hole array, and show that these features are consistent with the dispersion relation for SPPs on a periodically modulated surface.
Myxomatosis in a Californian Brush Rabbit ( Sylvilagus bachmani )

SINCE myxomatosis was first reported near San Diego in 19301,2 there have been sporadic outbreaks of the disease in commercial rabbitries along the coast at least as far north as San Francisco. Sharp outbreaks of a disease highly lethal for European rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) have been interspersed with long quiescent periods ; a pattern which suggests that the disease is maintained elsewhere than in European rabbits used for commercial purposes. Although it has been suggested2,3 that wild rabbits (Sylvilagus spp.) might be the reservoir, this has never been demonstrated.
Dehydration of protonated Nafion® coatings induced by cation exchange and monitored by quartz crystal microgravimetry

Abstract A quartz crystal microbalance was employed to monitor the changes in mass of thin protonated Nafion® coatings during the replacement of the protons by other cations. In almost every case the mass of the coatings decreased during the cation exchange, despite the replacement of the protons in the coatings with much more massive cations. The expulsion of water from the coatings, induced by the cation exchange, was responsible for the decreases in mass. With simple aqua cations the quantities of water expelled per cation exchanged were relatively small. However, for multiply charged hexaammine and 2,2′-bipyridine complexes as many as 50 water molecules were shown to be ejected from the coatings for each incorporated cation. Data for the cation exchange of 18 cations are presented and some possible reasons for the accompanying dehydration of the coatings are suggested.