cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Taste Response Variability and Temporal Coding in the Nucleus of the Solitary Tract of the Rat

Theories of taste coding in the brain stem have been based on the idea that taste responses are integrated over time without regard to the temporal structure of the taste-evoked spike train. In the present experiment, the reliability of response rate across stimulus repetitions and the potential contribution of temporal coding to the discrimination of taste stimuli was examined. Taste stimuli representing the four basic taste qualities were presented repeatedly, and electrophysiological responses were recorded from single cells in the nucleus of the solitary tract (NTS) of anesthetized rats. Blocks of the four tastants were repeated for as long as the cell remained isolated. Nineteen cells were recorded with between 8 and 27 repetitions of each stimulus. Response magnitude to a given tastant varied widely within some NTS cells. This impacted the determination of both the breadth of tuning and best stimulus for a given cell. The contribution of spike timing and the pattern of interspike intervals to discrimination of taste stimuli was evaluated by an information-theoretic approach based on two families of metrics. Spike timing significantly contributed to the discrimination of taste qualities in 10 of 19 (53%) cells. This contribution was especially notable during the initial 2 s of the response. Those cells that showed the most variable firing rates in response to repetition of taste stimuli tended to show the largest contribution of temporal coding. These results suggest that, in addition to response rate, the temporal parameters of responses may convey information about taste stimuli in the NTS.
The Intuitive Eating Scale: Development and Preliminary Validation

Abstract This article describes the development and validation of an instrument designed to measure the concept of intuitive eating. To ensure face and content validity for items used in the Likert-type Intuitive Eating Scale (IES), content domain was clearly specified and a panel of experts assessed the validity of each item. Based on responses from 391 university students in the United States, the IES was evaluated for internal consistency and reliability using cross-tabulations, factor analysis, test–retest correlation coefficients, and logistic regression techniques. The factor solution isolated four factors that replicated scale construction, including intrinsic eating, extrinsic eating, antidieting, and self-care with alpha coefficients ranging from .42 to .93. Retesting after 4 weeks (N = 285) yielded correlation coefficients that ranged between .56 and .87. The presence of theorized relationships between IES scores and certain demographic and lifestyle variables (obesity, presence of an eating dis...
Adaptive active constellation extension algorithm for peak-to-average ratio reduction in OFDM

For PAR reduction in OFDM systems, the clipping-based Active Constellation Extension (ACE) technique is simple and attractive for practical implementation. However, we observe it cannot achieve the minimum PAR when the target clipping level is set below an initially unknown optimum value. To overcome this low clipping ratio problem, we propose a novel ACE algorithm with adaptive clipping control. Simulation results demonstrate that our proposed algorithm can reach the minimum PAR for severely low clipping ratios. In addition, we present the tradeoff between PAR and the loss in Eb/No over an AWGN channel in terms of the clipping ratio.
Palladium nanoparticles passivated by metal–carbon covalent linkages

Stable palladium nanoparticles were prepared by the passivation of palladium–carbon covalent linkages by the reduction of diazonium derivatives. The resulting particles were characterized by TEM, UV-vis, FTIR, and NMR measurements. Interestingly, in electrochemical studies of the electronic conductivity of the particle solid ensembles, Pd–biphenyl particles exhibited metallic temperature dependence within the temperature range of 80 to 320 K; whereas the conductivity of Pd–decylphenyl particles showed a transition from semiconductor to metal at 180 K, manifested by their distinctly different temperature dependence. Control experiments with alkanethiolate-protected palladium nanoparticles in the same temperature range exhibited only semiconductor-like conductivity which increased with increasing temperature. The discrepancy was interpreted using Mott's model for metal–insulator transition and ascribed to the strong Pd–C interactions and low contact resistance, which facilitated the interparticle charge transfer.
Endophyte-host associations in grasses. XX. Structural and reproductive studies of Epichloë amarillans sp.nov. and comparisons to E. typhina.

Morphological and reproductive studies were made on five populations of Epichloe amarillans sp. nov. occurring on the host grass Agrostis hiemalis. The fungus was found to be similar to Epichloe typhina in ejection of filamentous ascospores without prior disarticulation. However, differences are evident in several features, including size and density of perithe? cia, and size of asci and ascospores. Crosses to stro? mata of E. amarillans were made using selected isolates of several species of Epichloeand stromata of E. amaril? lans from the five different populations. Perithecia developed in some of the crosses between different populations of stromata, which is evidence that mating types are present among the populations sampled. Perithecia developed in all intraspecific crosses in? volving a culture of E. amarillans isolated from a peri? thecial stroma, regardless of the mating type of the recipient stroma. This is taken as evidence that the culture is composed of a dikaryotic mycelium. A cul?
Myotonia: An Evaluation of the Chloride Hypothesis

The muscle membrane in myotonia congenita is characterized by a normal resting potential with a greatly increased resting resistance usually attributed to a decrease in membrane chloride permeability (P cl ). In this report, the hypothesis that decreased P cl alone can account for the repetitive action potentials of myotonia is tested with a mathematical model of the muscle membrane and is shown to be valid. Reduction of P cl to 20% of control values will produce myotonic activity in response to a single stimulus. Membrane resistance and potential approximate those found experimentally. The model predicts that increasing external K + will aggravate myotonia due to a reduction of P cl , while decreasing K out will prevent repetitive spiking. Further, myotonia can be prevented by reducing peak membrane sodium permeability or by shifting the voltage dependency of the membrane rate constants for sodium in a depolarizing direction. These results are shown to correlate well with clinical observation and provide explanations for the action of drugs effective in the treatment of myotonia.
Explanatory Pluralism in Cognitive Science

This brief commentary has three goals. The first is to argue that ‘‘framework debate’’ in cognitive science is unresolvable. The idea that one theory or framework can singly account for the vast complexity and variety of cognitive processes seems unlikely if not impossible. The second goal is a consequence of this: We should consider how the various theories on offer work together in diverse contexts of investigation. A final goal is to supply a brief review for readers who are compelled by these points to explore existing literature on the topic. Despite this literature, pluralism has garnered very little attention from broader cognitive science. We end by briefly considering what it might mean for theoretical cognitive science.
A3-1: The Just Do It Playbook for Implementation Science.

Background/Aims There are over 60 published implementation science frameworks, and despite the advantages of each, none were designed to help clinicians and administrators to standardize and prioritize initiatives, implement programs efficiently, and evaluate with sufficient rigor.
MOLECULAR DYNAMICS SIMULATIONS OF HYBRID AND COMPLEX TYPE OLIGOSACCHARIDES

Conformational preferences of hybrid (G1cNAc1Man5GIcNAc2) and complex (GlcNAc1Man3GlcNAc2; GIcNAc2Man3GIcNAc2) type asparagine-linked oligosaccharides and the corresponding bisected oligosaccharides have been studied by molecular dynamics simulations for 2.5 ns. The fluctuations of the core Man-α1,3-Man fragment are restricted to a region around (−30°,−30°) due to a ‘face-to-face’ arrangement of bisecting GIcNAc and the βl,2-GIcNAc on the 1,3-arm. However, conformations where such a ‘face-to-face’ arrangement is disrupted are also accessed occasionally. The orientation of the 1,6-arm is affected not only by changes in X, but also by changes in Φ and ψ around the core Man-αl,6-Man linkage. The conformation around the core Man-α1,6-Man linkage is different in the hybrid and the two complex types suggesting that the preferred values of Φ, ψ and χ are affected by the addition or deletion of saccharides to the a1,6-linked mannose. The conformational data are in agreement with the available experimental studies and also explain the branch specificity of galactosyltransferases.
Apparent survival estimates for five species of tropical birds in an endangered forest habitat in western Ecuador

Estimates of annual survival are essential for addressing topics in evolutionary and conservation ecology. However, most demographic studies of land birds are based on north temperate species, and few robust estimates of survival based on mark–recapture statistics are available for continental South American birds. We used time-since-marking models to estimate apparent survival of adult birds from 7 yr of mist netting data in the Colonche Hills. This site is one of few remaining large tracts of premontane forest in southwestern Ecuador, and an area of high priority for avian conservation. Species with sufficient data for analysis included three hummingbirds (Adelomyia melanogenys, Heliodoxa jacula, Phaethornis baroni), a cotinga (Schiffornis turdinus), and a wren (Henicorhina leucophrys). Our parameter estimates had reduced precision because the number of recaptures was small. Probability of recapture was low in three species ( ∧ p < 0.23), and moderate in two others
Model Analysis of Corn Response to Applied Nitrogen and Plant Population Density

Abstract The extended logistic model relates seasonal dry matter and plant nutrient uptake to applied nutrient level. It has been shown to apply to data for annuals such as corn (Zea mays L.) and perennials such as bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon L.) and bahiagrass (Paspalum notatum Flugge). The linear parameters in the model have been shown to depend on water availability and harvest interval (for perennials). Further work is needed to relate model parameters to plant characteristics. In this article, data from a field experiment with corn at six nitrogen levels (0, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, and 5.0 g N plant−1) and three plant population densities (3, 6, and 9 plants m−2; 3, 6, and 9 104 plants ha−1) are used to provide insight into this question. It turns out that all five model parameters are dependent on plant density, approaching maximum values at 8.3 plants m−2. Three of the parameters approach zero as density approaches zero, which seems intuitively correct. It is concluded that lower and upper limits of...
Wave-field separation in two-dimensional anisotropic media

Until recently, the term "elastic" usually implied two-dimensional (2-D) and isotropic. In this limited context, the divergence and curl operators have found wide use as wave separation operators. For example, Mora (1987) used them in his inversion method to allow separate correlation of P and S arrivals, although the separation is buried in the math and not obvious. Clayton (1981) used them explicitly in several modeling and inversion methods. Devaney and Oristaglio (1986) used closely related operators to separate P and S arrivals in elastic VSP data.
Steady state and transient electromagnetic coupling through slabs

The problem of electromagnetic transmission through a slab where transmitting and receiving antennas are at finite distances from the slab is considered. The mathematical formulation of the problem is quite general. A detailed solution is presented for the case of a highly conducting slab exposed to sinusoidal and transient excitations. A discussion is given of the conditions under which measurements with the source and receiver at finite distances are equivalent to the same measurements with plane wave excitation.
The Cultural Theory of Risk for Climate Change Adaptation

The way in which people perceive climate change risk is informed by their social interactions and cultural worldviews comprising fundamental beliefs about society and nature. Therefore, perceptions of climate change risk and vulnerability along with people’s ‘‘myths of nature’’—that is, how groups of people conceptualize the way nature functions—influence the feasibility and acceptability ofclimate adaptation planning, policy making, and implementation. Thisstudy presents analyses ofculturalworldviews that broaden the currenttreatmentsof culture andclimate changemitigationandadaptationdecision makingincommunities.The authors useinsights from community-based climate research and engage the Cultural Theory of Risk conceptual framework to situate community understandings of, and responses to, climate impacts. This study looks at how the issue of climate change manifests socially in four cases in the United States and Tuvalu and how ideas about climate change are produced by the institutional cultural contexts across scales from the local to the global. This approach helps us identify local and regional priorities and support the development of new relationships for adaptation research and planning by helping to diagnose barriers to climate change adaptation, assist improved communication through framing/reframing climate issues based on shared understandings and collective learning, and help move from conflict to cooperation through better negotiation of diverse worldviews.
Surgical approaches to thrombo-embolism

Management of angiographically confirmed pulmonary thromboembolism in 313 patients has been based on a physiological classification system. Patients in shock (Class IV) are managed either by catheter embolectomy (26 patients) with 27 per cent mortality rate or by open embolectomy during active resuscitation (6 patients) with a 33 per cent mortality rate. High-risk patients with transient hypotension (Class III) are managed by anticoagulation and filter insertion. The most common indication for filter placement is a contra-indication to anticoagulation (37 per cent). Filter placement was infrarenal in 268 patients (86 per cent) and intentionally suprarenal in 19 patients (6 per cent). Misplacement has occurred into the iliac veins, renal veins and the heart but has not been seen since the guide wire technique for insertion was developed. The 30 day mortality for patients receiving filters was 14 per cent and due to other disorders. Only one death was suspected from recurrent embolism. One hundred and thirteen venacavagrams at intervals up to 99 months in 110 patients showed long-term patency in 97 per cent. Recurrent embolism was seen in five patients (2 per cent) but caused no deaths.
An Empirical Study of Pairwise Test Set Generation Using a Genetic Algorithm

Pairwise test set generation is the process of producing a subset of all possible test case inputs to a system in situations where exhaustive testing is not possible or is prohibitively expensive. For a given system under test with a set of input parameters where each parameter can take on one of a discrete set of values, a pairwise test set consists of a collection of vectors which capture all possible combinations of pairs of parameter values. Generating pairwise test sets with a minimal size has been shown to be an NP-complete problem, and several deterministic generation algorithms have been published. This paper describes the results of an investigation of pairwise test set generation using a genetic algorithm. The genetic algorithm approach produced pairwise test sets with comparable or smaller (better) size compared with published results for deterministic algorithms for 39 out of 40 benchmark problems. However, the genetic algorithm test set generation technique required significantly longer processing time in all cases. The results illustrate that generation of pairwise test sets using a genetic algorithm is possible, and suggest that the technique may be both practical and useful in certain software testing situations.
Brazil's Distinct Subcultures: Do They Matter to Business Performance?

The article discusses a study which focuses on the impact of Brazil's distinct subcultures on business performance. This study demonstrates the difficulty of companies in evaluating the impact of a country's culture when distinct subcultures exist. Research conducted by Tomasz Lenartowicz of the University of Texas at Austin and Kendall Roth of the University of South Carolina examined the connection between subcultures and organizational performance by looking at the population of small, independently owned retail businesses in Brazil. Kiosk owners comprised the majority of the survey respondents, with questions designed to gauge the cultural value dimensions of enjoyment, achievement, security, autonomy, and conformity. Business turnover was also a focus of the study.
Greedy routing in wireless mesh network: Performance and analysis

Uniform random network(URN) is perhaps the most basic and generic model of complex networks. In a URN, each node links to exactly k other nodes which are randomly chosen from the entire network with equal probability. With such a simple topology assumption, URN is suitable for modeling homogeneous wireless mesh networks. However, compared to inhomogeneous networks like small world or power-law network, the routing performance of URNs has been less investigated. For small world, it is widely known that a message can be expected to reach its destination through averagely 6 hops. But how many hops for URNs? In this paper, we try to evaluate the performance of URN routing through discrete-event simulation, which reveals two interesting and surprising findings: (1)most routings in URNs end up with incorrect destinations after one or two hops; (2)given a key, the diversity of all possible routing results closely approximates to N=k, where N is the network size and k is the outgoing degree. Tuning of these two parameters does not change above observations.
Deploying OpenMP Task Parallelism on Multicore Embedded Systems with MCA Task APIs

Heterogeneous multicore embedded systems are rapidly growing with cores of varying types and capacity. Programming these devices and exploiting the hardware has been a real challenge. The programming models and its execution are typically meant for general purpose computation, they are mostly too heavy to be adopted for the resource-constrained embedded systems. Embedded programmers are still expected to use low-level and proprietary APIs, making the software built less and less portable. These challenges motivated us to explore how OpenMP, a high-level directive-based model, could be used for embedded platforms. In this paper, we translate OpenMP to Multicore Association Task Management API (MTAPI), which is a standard API for leveraging task parallelism on embedded platforms. Our results demonstrate that the performance of our OpenMP runtime library is comparable to the state-of-the-art task parallel solutions. We believe this approach will provide a portable solution since it abstracts the low-level details of the hardware and no longer depends on vendor-specific API.
Lobbying as Costly Persuasion with Legislative Subsidies

We develop a model of informational lobbying that combines features of the literatures on costly persuasion and legislative subsidies. In contrast to other models of informational lobbying we focus on the implications of policymakers’ and a lobbies’ resource constraints for lobbying activities and the political process. Policymakers and a lobbyists can gather information, and each can either provide funding for policy reform. We show that a lobby is more likely to persuade a policymaker to change her anticipated behavior of gathering information or choosing a policy, if the precision of the information signals received by the lobby is more asymmetric rather than better or if information costs are lower. We also show that a lobby is more likely to persuade critical to optimistic policymakers and more likely to support those nancially. By varying resource endowments, we address whether costly persuasion and nancial contributions as legislative subsidies are substitutes or complements in the lobbying process and derive the conditions for each. Additionally, we discuss the relationship between costly persuasion and nancial information subsidies in the case of an entirely resource constrained policymaker. Our results point out additional diculties to identify empirically the role of contributions as legislative subsidies which may appear as bribery and the shadow lobbying of interest groups.
Poison Pill Adoption in Response to External Threats

The likelihood that a firm will adopt a poison pill in response to hedge fund activism increases in the target firm’s pre-adoption takeover probability and in the CEO’s board influence, implying that some pills are intended to protect shareholders and others to protect management. Pills adopted in response to hedge funds appear to protect management, since the stock market reacts negatively, the probability of acquisition decreases, firms have worse long-term performance, and hedge funds are less likely to achieve their activism goals. We show that poison pills play both a direct and a signaling role in impeding hedge fund activists. ∗We thank Daniel Bergstresser, Erik Lie, Ralph Walkling and participants of seminars at Brandeis University and the University of Massachusetts at Lowell for helpful suggestions. †Northeastern University, 413 Hayden Hall, 360 Hungtington Ave, Boston, MA 02115. 617-373-4775, fax: 617-373-8798 n.boyson@neu.edu ‡Northeastern University, 413 Hayden Hall, 360 Hungtington Ave, Boston, MA 02115. 617-373-4572, fax: 617-373-8798 p.pichler@neu.edu.
Model predictive controller for battery management systems

Advances in battery storage technology and the integration of renewable energy sources offer new opportunities in electricity grid operations to reduce the cost to end users. The introduction of time-of-usage tariff plan enables users to store energy when its price is low and re-use it at other times. Such cost savings can further be improved by harvesting energy from renewable sources such as solar PV Panels and wind mills. While intuitively simple, this problem is challenging because of the uncertainty in the renewable sources; further, frequent charging and discharging battery storage system and/or operating them outside the rated manufacturing specifications will damage the battery cells. Therefore, to increase the life cycle of the battery storage system and maximize the cost savings, it is necessary to carefully schedule these battery actions. We formulate and solve a model predictive control problem to obtain an optimal battery scheduling policy that minimizes battery life cycle cost and grid cost.
National Trends in Nonoperative Management of Rectal Adenocarcinoma

PurposeNeoadjuvant chemoradiation for stage II/III rectal cancer results in up to 49% of patients with a clinical complete response. As a result, many have questioned whether surgery can be omitted for this group of patients. Currently, there is insufficient evidence for chemoradiation only, or nonoperative management (NOM), to support its adoption. Despite this, anecdotal evidence suggests there is a trend toward increased use of NOM. Our objective was to examine the use of NOM for rectal cancer over time, as well as the patient- and facility-level factors associated with its use.MethodsWe included all incident cases of invasive, nonmetastatic rectal adenocarcinoma reported to the National Cancer Database from 1998 to 2010. We performed univariate and multivariate analyses to assess for NOM use over time, as well as associated patient- and facility-level factors.ResultsA total of 146,135 patients met the inclusion criteria: 5,741 had NOM and 140,394 had surgery with or without additional therapy. From 19...
The association between socioeconomic status and the symptoms at diagnosis of celiac disease: a retrospective cohort study

Background:There are little data on patient factors that impact diagnosis rates of celiac disease. This study aims to evaluate the association between patient socioeconomic status and the symptoms ...
True Hermaphrodites in a Flock of Cochin Bantams

SUMMARY. Three birds from a flock of 125 Cochin bantam chickens were true hermaphrodites, having both ovarian and testicular tissues. These birds were recognizable by their intermediate comb size, intermediate plumage, and spur development. At necropsy, the left gonad of all three birds was an ovotestis and the right gonad was a testis. Microscopically, both ovarian follicles and seminiferous tubules were present within the ovotestes. Chromosomal analysis of lymphocytes from the whole blood of the third bird revealed triploid ZZW sex chromosomes. This high incidence (2.4%) of hermaphrodism suggests that there may be a hereditary predisposition for genetic intersex. RESUMEN. Reporte de Caso-Hermafroditas verdaderos en una parvada de pollos miniatura.
Moment Analysis of Fate and Transport of Volatile Pollutants in Porous Media

Organic compounds, owing to their persistence and volatility, present unique environmental problems in the vadose zone of soils. Apart from advection and dispersion, such compounds also undergo several complex chemical reactions such as adsorption, degradation, volatilization and ionic exchange. The focus here is on the role of volatilization losses in organic compounds that have the potential to migrate to the atmosphere by vapor diffusion. A simple mathematical model is developed where the solute resides in the solid, liquid and gaseous phases, and explicitly accounts for immobile water as well as chemical losses through decay. Using moment analysis, this paper studies potential losses by volatilization and degradation for several organic compounds. The results of this study can be used as a screening tool for assessing the contamination potential of various volatile contaminants in different soils. A sensitivity analysis is conducted to assess the importance of different physical/chemical processes on volatilization, degradation, or leaching. The moment analysis also facilitates the development of effective velocity, dispersion, and degradation rates for organic contaminants.
Parameter Optimization for Wheeled Pipe Robot Based on Genetic Algorithm

Through studying the mass optimization problem of a full whell drived pipe robot, the optimization model of mass selection that was based on genetic algorithm was put forward.Through changing the diameter of the wheel ,the distance between wheels ,the torque of the wheel and the revolving speed of the wheel under the requirement of tracting and running speed of the robot, a smaller and optimum numeric value of the robot s mass could be ontained, with its lightness , convenience for use, and reduction of the production cost. A genetic algorithm based procedure was writeen in C++. The simulation result shows that the algorithm was effective and steady. Through traction simulation tests under mechanical dynamics analysis and simulation software ADAMS, the optimization method as proved correctly.
Acute Disseminated Encephalomyelitis: An Uncommon Presentation of Hyper IgE Syndrome

The hyper-immunoglobulin E (IgE) syndrome (HIES), also known as Job's syndrome is a rare primary immunodeficiency characterized by the clinical triad of recurrent staphylococcal abscesses of skin, recurrent cyst-forming pneumonia, and an elevated serum IgE level of > 2000 IU/ml. Although, most cases are sporadic, families with autosomal dominant (AD-HIES) and recessive (AR-HIES) traits have been reported. Very few articles were published previously on central nervous system abnormalities with definite neurologic manifestations which may vary from partial facial nerve paralysis to hemiplegia in children but Acute Disseminated Encephalomyelitis (ADEM) in a child with HIES hitherto has not been reported. Here we describe a 5-year-old male child with HIES who presented with neurologic manifestations of ADEM.
Mr and Spiral/Helical CT Imaging of Lower Extremity Occlusive Disease

Magnetic resonance (MR) angiography and spiral CT angiography are promising new imaging modalities for evaluating patients with lower extremity arterial occlusive disease. Both techniques are less invasive than conventional angiography, and MR angiography has the additional advantages of not requiring iodinated contrast media or ionizing radiation. The basic principles of MR angiography and spiral CT angiography are reviewed with an emphasis on three-dimensional display techniques. This is followed by a discussion of their clinical applicability toward the diagnosis and treatment planning of lower extremity arterial occlusive disease.
New developments in the pharmacological treatment of schizophrenia

The ability to use pharmacological treatment for schizophrenia is progressing in a most efficacious fashion, while the risk of adverse effects is declining. An important reevaluation of minimal effective antipsychotic drug dosages for both acute and extended treatment has taken place. Clozapine has provided clinical practitioners with a useful new alternative for treatment-refractory patients, and new research has helped clarify the role of different maintenance and prophylactic medication strategies. The author summarizes recent progress in these areas.
Chapter 17 – Aging and Consumer Decision Making

As populations of older adults around the world continue to grow at an accelerated rate, many challenges face society. In the consumer domain, there is a need to understand age-related changes in decision-making processes. Decisions made by older consumers have the potential to influence their well-being and life satisfaction in important and systematic ways. In this chapter, we review literature that examines how normal aging impacts consumer decision making via changes in cognitive functioning and decision processing. We then describe various factors that moderate the effects of aging on consumer decision making, including the choice environment and context, the meaningfulness and personal relevance of the decision to the consumer, and the expertise that a consumer has in a given decision domain. We conclude by identifying gaps in the literature and proposing a number of future research directions.
Maternal and infant affect at 4 months predicts performance and verbal IQ at 4 and 7 years in a diverse population

Using existing longitudinal data from 570 infants in the Maternal Lifestyle Study, we explored the predictive value of maternal and infant affect and maternal vocalizations during 2 minutes of face-to-face interactions at 4 months on IQ scores at 4.5 and 7 years. After controlling for demographic factors, maternal depression, and prenatal drug exposure, maternal positive affect and maternal positive vocalizations emerged as predictors of both verbal and performance IQ at 4.5 and 7 years. Although infant positive affect during the interaction with the mother was not predictive of these outcome measures, infant positive affect towards an examiner predicted verbal but not performance IQ at 4.5 years. These results suggest that maternal positive affect may index emotional engagement in interaction that facilitates both verbal and nonverbal cognitive development, while infant social positive affect is specifically related to the acquisition of verbal reasoning abilities. These findings are significant because they are based on a discrete snapshot of observable behavior in infancy (just 2 minutes of interaction), because they extend the range of maternal behaviors and characteristics known to support positive developmental outcomes, and because they are derived from high-risk infants where prevention efforts may be beneficial. Potential mechanisms for these associations are discussed, as are the clinical implications for identifying dyads most in need of targeted interventions.
Challenging US Hegemony: The Ukrainian Crisis and Russian Regional Order

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia was reduced from the role of a global hegemon to that of a regional hegemon. As the regional hegemon, Russia was responsible for creating a regional order that was nested within the global order. However, since the Soviet Union had collapsed, it could not be assumed that Russia would create a regional order that was compatible with the global order. Would Russia create a regional order that was incompatible with the global order, and further, would Russia be a dissatisfied state that would challenge US hegemony? Using network analysis, I discover that Russia created a regional order that was compatible with the global order. In other words, Russia did not directly challenge the global order. More specifically, Russia accepted the global order that existed at the end of the Cold War. Providing that the global order remained static, Russia would not challenge that order. However, US actions following the collapse of the Soviet Union such as the expansion of NATO and the withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty are interpreted by Russia as a dynamic change in the global order. The Ukrainian crisis further exacerbated the wedge that had developed between the United States and Russia. It has further isolated Russia, destroyed the regional order nested within the global order, and ensured that Russia fully became a dissatisfied state looking to challenge US hegemony. Russia will now turn to China to try to challenge US hegemony.
MAKING DECISIONS IN TURBULENT TIMES: AN ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK AND DECISION TOOLS

The business climate for the agricultural sector is characterized by increased uncertainty and “unanticipated surprises,” such as new government regulations, new technology and product introductions, mergers and acquisitions, nonperformance by supply chain partners, and changes in interest and exchange rates. This manuscript uses a real case problem to describe a set of tools(such as scenario analysis, risk scorecarding and heat mapping, payoff matrices, decision trees, and options portfolio mapping) available to use for making strategic decisions in such a business climate.
Examining Interactive and Metacognitive Processes in Student Learning: Findings from a Hybrid Instructional Environment

This study examines the interaction behaviors and metacognitive behaviors of graduate students in the online portion of a flipped classroom. For their time outside the face to face classroom, students were given the choice of two online methods for their interactions -- synchronous verbal discussions and asynchronous written discussions. Students were provided a detailed outline for their discussions. Discussions were analyzed and interactive and metacognitive behaviors were categorized and counted. Interaction behaviors and metacognitive behaviors were present in both environments. Synchronous verbal discussions were found to include significantly more interaction behaviors in five of six categories. There was no significant difference in the number of metacognitive behaviors. Students demonstrated the same level of learning behaviors in both environments.
Linear permeability evolution of expanding conduits due to feedback between flow and fast phase change

Conduits are ubiquitous and critical pathways for many fluids relevant for geophysical processes such as magma, water, and gases. Predicting flow through conduits is challenging when the conduit geometry coevolves with the flow. We theoretically show that the permeability (k) of a conduit whose walls are eroding due to fast phase change increases linearly with time because of a self-reinforcing mechanism. This simple result is surprising given complex feedbacks between flow, transport, and phase change. The theory is congruent with previous experimental observations of fracture dissolution in calcite. Supporting computational fracture dissolution experiments showed that k only slightly increases until the dissolution front reaches the narrowest conduit constriction, after which the linear evolution of k manifests. The theory holds across multiple scales and a broad range of Peclet and Damkohler numbers and thus advances the prediction of dynamic mass fluxes through expanding conduits in various geologic and environmental settings.
United States: Complications Associated with Regional Anesthesia (An American Society of Anesthesiologists’ Closed Claims Analysis)

The American Society of Anesthesiology Closed Claims Project is designed to collect information about and analyze adverse events related to anesthesia. Over 10,500 claims in the database represent events that occurred in 1970–2013. From 2000 to 2013, 445 claims were made relating to regional anesthesia, with obstetric cases comprising about 1/3 of the total. The majority (71 %) of claims were related to neuraxial anesthesia. More cardiovascular and respiratory complications as well as permanent injury or death were reported among neuraxial block claims. Peripheral nerve block claims were more commonly associated with temporary neurologic impairments and local anesthetic systemic toxicity compared to neuraxial block cases. Neurologic injury, including direct needle trauma, was reported for both peripheral and central neuraxial blocks. Several claims related to peripheral nerve blocks were due to wrong-side blocks or administration of the block under general anesthesia. Standards for documentation of regional anesthesia procedures differ among institutions. Poor documentation may put the anesthesiologist at risk of lacking evidence that a procedure was performed according to practice standards or that patient consent was obtained properly.
Keloids and Hypertrophic Scarring

Keloid and hypertrophic scars are diseases of excessive dermal collagen production that occur during and beyond the wound healing process. Keloid scars most commonly occur in darkly pigmented individuals, with a heightened predisposition in adolescence, young adulthood, and pregnancy. Acne lesions and areas of high tension, such as the chest, shoulder, and back, are also at higher risk for keloid development. Unlike hypertrophic scars, keloids grow beyond the original wound borders and can unpredictably progress between periods of quiescence and rapid growth. These scars can become disfiguring, symptomatic, and psychologically devastating for patients. The mainstay of treatment is intralesional corticosteroids, although surgical excision, cryotherapy, lasers, onion extract, chemotherapy, calcium antagonists, and botulinum toxin type A have been utilized. Because complete removal of keloids with current treatment options is difficult, prevention is critical in high-risk patients. This hinges on minimization of trauma, including piercing and tattooing, and aggressive acne management. Secondary preventative options include pressure therapy, silicone sheeting, and radiation. Managing patient expectations is important prior to committing to a treatment regimen, and symptom control should always be a critical part of all treatment decisions.
Semiconductor quantum dot-sensitized rainbow photocathode for effective photoelectrochemical hydrogen generation.

The present study reports the fabrication of CdSe quantum dot (QD)-sensitized photocathodes on NiO-coated indium tin oxide (ITO) electrodes and their H2-generating ability upon light irradiation. A well-established spin-coating method was used to deposit CdSe QD stock solution onto the surface of NiO/ITO electrodes, thereby leading to the construction of various CdSe QD-sensitized photocathodes. The present report includes the construction of rainbow photocathodes by spin-coating different-sized QDs in a sequentially layered manner, thereby creating an energetically favorable gradient for charge separation. The resulting rainbow photocathodes with forward energetic gradient for charge separation and subsequent electron transfer to a solution-based hydrogen-evolving catalyst (HEC) exhibit good light-harvesting ability and enhanced photoresponses compared with the reverse rainbow photocathodes under white LED light illumination. Under minimally optimized conditions, a photocurrent density of as high as 115 μA⋅cm−2 and a Faradaic efficiency of 99.5% are achieved, which is among the most effective QD-based photocathode water-splitting systems.
An orthogonal projection approach to simplex growing algorithm

Simplex growing algorithm (SGA) is an endmember finding algorithm which grows simplexes one vertex at a time by finding vertexes which yield maximal simplex volumes via determinant calculation. This paper presents a new version of SGA, called orthogonal projection based simplex growing algorithm (OPSGA) which takes advantage of a simplex's geometric structure to calculate simplex volume by multiplying its height with its base where the height is the magnitude of the newly generated endmember and the base is the volume of the simplex formed by previous endmembers. With such a simple structure OPSGA can be very easily implemented with significant saving of computing time. Most importantly, OPSGA bridges gaps between fully constrained SGA and most commonly used orthogonal projection-based unconstrained technique, Automatic target generation process (ATGP) to find endmembers.
Benign Thyroid Adenoma

Incidental FDG uptake on PET/MR imaging within the thyroid gland occurs in both malignant and benign nodules. The higher the SUV values, the more likely the thyroid nodule is malignant.
An optimal quantity tax path in a dynamic setting

Following Ramsey, the existing literature on optimal quantity taxation only compares the pre and the post-tax market equilibriums in order to account for the efficiency losses. However, when the government imposes a quantity tax on the consumer, the buyer’s price jumps to the pre-tax equilibrium price plus the amount of the tax, and the supply and the demand of the taxed commodity then adjust over time to bring the new post-tax market equilibrium. The existing literature does not take into account the efficiency losses during the adjustment process while computing the optimal quantity taxes. This paper derives an optimal quantity tax path in a dynamic setting minimizing the efficiency losses (output and/ or consumption lost) during the dynamic adjustment process as well as the post-tax market equilibrium.
Expressive Real-Time Intersection Scheduling

Traffic congestion is a widespread annoyance throughout global metropolitan areas. It causes increases in travel time, increases in emissions, inefficient usage of gasoline, and driver frustration. Inefficient signal patterns at traffic lights are one major cause of such congestion. Intersection scheduling strategies that make real-time decisions to extend or end a green signal based on real-time traffic data offer one opportunity reduce congestion and its negative impacts. My research proposes Expressive Real-time Intersection Scheduling (ERIS). ERIS is a decentralized, schedule-driven control method which makes a decision every second based on current traffic conditions to reduce congestion.
EXOSOMES FROM INDUCED PLURIPOTENT STEM CELL-DERIVED CARDIOMYOCYTES SALVAGE THE INJURED MYOCARDIUM BY MODULATION OF AUTOPHAGY

Induced pluripotent stem cells and their differentiated cardiomyocytes (iCMs) have tremendous potential as patient-specific therapy for myocardial injury (MI). Our previous work showed that iCMs secrete paracrine factors, modulating apoptotic pathways to restore the murine peri-infarct region (PIR
Lack of Difference in Treatment Patterns and Clinical Outcomes Between Black and White Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Background Previous reports have shown differences in phenotypes among black patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) compared with other racial groups, but prior studies were limited by small numbers of black patients and cross-sectional analyses. We used data from the Sinai-Helmsley Alliance for Research Excellence cohort to compare phenotypes and treatment patterns of black and white patients with IBD in a prospective study. Methods We compared phenotypes, IBD-specific therapies, and health care utilization among black and white patients with IBD. For all analyses, we performed bivariate analyses and multivariable logistic regression to adjust for potential confounders. Results Among 5537 patients with IBD, 314 (6%) reported black race. Black patients were more likely to report a Crohn's disease (CD)-related complication at baseline (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 1.44; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.06-1.95). Black patients with CD were more likely to develop a new abscess (aOR, 2.27; 95% CI, 1.31-3.93) and initiate an anti-tumor necrosis factor therapy during follow-up (aOR, 1.85; 95% CI, 1.09-3.14). Black patients with ulcerative colitis were more likely to have proctitis (24% vs 13%, P = 0.033) at baseline. There were no differences in surgery or hospitalization rates during the follow-up period. Conclusions Black patients with CD demonstrated increased complications at baseline and during follow-up in this cohort. Despite more complicated disease, black and white patients with IBD were generally given the same medications and experienced similar rates of hospitalization and surgery during the study period. In our multicenter cohort, clinical outcomes among black and white patients with IBD were similar.
Thallium Contamination of Water in Canada

Thallium is highly toxic but has been an obscure element compared to its three popular neighbours, lead, mercury and cadmium. It is partly due to the scarcity of its analytical data, caused by its high analytical detection limit relative to the other three elements and by its generally low level in the environment. We have developed a highly sensitive instrument, a Laser-Excited Atomic Fluorescence Spectrometer, to study thallium contamination in some important Canadian ecosystems from the Arctic (containing very low thallium concentration) to coal-related industries across Canada and even to the study of thallium toxicity in an invertebrate, Hyalella azteca. Overall, our data indicate that the coal power plants and mines contain higher thallium concentrations than the other ecosystems studied, and the eastern region has the highest Tl concentrations compared to other regions. The range of thallium concentration in ng/L for the Arctic snow and ice was between not detected and 8.4, for the Great Lakes waters 0.9 to 48, for pore waters 0.1 to 213, for western coal power plants and mines 0.1 to 1326, for central coal power plants 1.2 to 175, for eastern coal power plants and mines 0.2 to 23605, and for miscellaneous sites across Canada not detected to 4390 ng/L. Some of these high concentrations and those high ones reported in industrial wastewaters exceeded the chronic toxicity endpoints for Hyalella azteca mortality, growth and reproduction, thus can cause serious distress to the environment. All data were integrated into a map of thallium distribution, the first one in Canada. Natural background level of thallium for the Arctic was estimated to be 0.02 to 0.03 pg/g.