cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Early leukocyte gene expression associated with age, burn size, and inhalation injury in severely burned adults

Background In the patient with burn injury, older age, larger percentage of total body surface area (TBS) burned, and inhalation injury are established risk factors for death, which typically results from multisystem organ failure and sepsis, implicating burn-induced immune dysregulation as a contributory mechanism. We sought to identify early transcriptomic changes in circulating leukocytes underlying increased mortality associated with these three risk factors. Methods We performed a retrospective analysis of the Glue Grant database. From 2003 to 2010, 324 adults with 20% or greater TBS burned were prospectively enrolled at five US burn centers, and 112 provided blood samples within 1 week after burn. RNA was extracted from pooled leukocytes for hybridization onto Affymetrix HU133 Plus 2.0 GeneChips. A multivariate regression model was constructed to determine risk factors for mortality. Testing for differential gene association associated with age, burn size, and inhalation injury was based on linear models using a fold change threshold of 1.5 and false discovery rate of 0.05. Results After adjusting for potential confounders, age greater than 60 years (relative risk [RR], 4.53; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.93-6.99), burn size greater than 40% TBS (RR, 4.24; 95% CI, 2.61-6.91), and inhalation injury (RR, 2.08; 95% CI, 1.35-3.21) were independently associated with mortality. No genes were differentially expressed in association with age greater than 60 years or inhalation injury. Fifty-one probe sets representing 39 unique genes were differentially expressed in leukocytes from patients with burn size greater than 40% TBS; these genes were associated with platelet activation and degranulation/exocytosis, and gene-set enrichment analysis suggested increased cellular proliferation and down-regulation of proinflammatory cytokines. Conclusion Among adults with large burns, older age, increasing burn size, and inhalation injury have a modest effect on the leukocyte transcriptome in the context of the "genomic storm" induced by a 20% or greater than TBS burned. The 39-gene signature we identified may provide novel targets for the development of therapies to reduce morbidity and mortality associated with burns greater than 40% TBS. Level of evidence Epidemiologic study, level III.
Lightening and Englightening Exam Conferences

This paper discusses the costs and benefits of holding law school exam conferences with students. It also describes the author's approach to holding conferences, which reflects his attempt to minimize their costs and maximize their benefits.
An Overview of RNA Polymerase Sigma Factors in Phototrophs

Sigma factors are dissociable subunits that confer promoter specificity on eubacte-rial core RNA polymerase and are required for transcription initiation. Two major families of sigma factors occur in eubacteria: the a70 (RpoD) family [1,2]) and the a54 (RpoN) family [3]; which are both named after the originally identified Escherichia coli proteins. Based upon sequence comparisons and functional considerations, the σ70 family has been divided into three groups [1]. The primary sigma factors, which are essential for cell viability, comprise group 1. Group 2 includes alternative sigma factors that are highly similar in sequence to the respective group 1 members, whereas group 3 sigma factors are alternative sigma factors that vary more significantly in sequence from the other two groups and include functional groupings such as heat shock and sporulation sigma factors. Sigma factors of groups 2 and 3 are not required for cell viability. Group 1 and group 2 members are related sufficiently closely that cross-hybridization is easily detected in genomic Southern analyses.
Pre-Emptive Avoidance Strategy (P.E.A.S.) - addressing allergic contact dermatitis in pediatric populations.

ABSTRACTPediatric allergic contact dermatitis (ACD) has been increasingly recognized in the United States. Reported rates of positive patch tests in children referred for suspected ACD range between 27 and 95.6%. Many young children are becoming sensitized to contact allergens found in personal hygiene products. We reviewed five recent pediatric patch test studies to determine the top allergens associated with this source of ACD in children. The top ten allergens were neomycin, balsam of Peru, fragrance mix, lanolin, cocamidopropylbetaine, formaldehyde, corticosteroids, methylchlorisothiazolinone (MCI)/methylisothiazolinone (MI), propylene glycol, and benzalkonium chloride. We estimate that one third of children suffering from ACD could potentially benefit from a ‘pre-emptive avoidance strategy’ (P.E.A.S.) of the stated top 10 allergens.
Nutritional assessment in clinical practice

John P. Grant, M.D., incoming president of A.S.P.E.N., is the featured author of the lead article in this first issue of Nutrition in Clinical Practice. Dr. Grant is Associate Professor of Surgery and Director of Nutritional Support Service at Duke University Medical Center, as well as Chief of Surgery at the Veterans Administration Hospital, Durham, North Carolina. Dr. Grant is a well-recognized expert in nutritional support and has received tremendous recognition for his Handbook of Parenteral Nutrition.Dr. Grant received his B.S. from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and his M.D. from the University of Chicago. He did most of his medical training at the Duke University Medical Center, with a 2-year hiatus spent at the National Cancer Institute, Surgery Branch, National Institutes of Health, as a clinical associate. Dr. Grant is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons, a member of various medical and surgical societies, and the 11th president of A.S.P.E.N.
The effects of high power ultrasonic energy on milk plasmin activity

The shelf life of pasteurized milk is limited by heat-stable proteases that undergo depolymerization, causing age gelation and bitterness. Proteolysis of milk during storage can be attributed to both native proteases and the proteases produced by bacteria, such as plasmin, which is the major native protease in milk. Ultra-high temperature (UHT) processing (>135°C for 2 s) inactivates proteases and extends shelf life up to 9 months but adversely affects sensory properties. Ultrasound is an emerging non-thermal food processing technology that is being explored as an alternative to pasteurization, as it minimize flavor loss, facilitates homogenization, and saves energy compared to thermal processing. A preliminary study by Vijayakumar et al. has shown that thermosonication (72°C, 152 μmpeakto-peak (p-p) for 3 min) inactivated proteases without producing off-flavor. With the aim of inactivating plasmin, the present study evaluated the feasibility of extending milk shelf life by combining short durations (≤ 60 s) sonication as an adjunct to pasteurization. We refer to this approach as thermosonication to reflect its use of both highpower ultrasound and thermal treatment. Batch thermosonication was conducted using a bench scale ultrasonic unit operating at a frequency of 20 kHz and a maximum output of 2.2 kW. Skim milk was sonicated at short duration with constant amplitude of 170 μm(p-p), 72°C for 10, 30 and 60 s. The enzyme activity of raw, pasteurized, and thermosonicated milk was analyzed by total plasmin assay. A plasmin activity reduction of 83 and 96% up to day 49 was observed for both 30 and 60 s sonication times. Because another preliminary study by Benner et al. reported lower total aerobic bacterial count (TAC) via psychrosonication with subsequent pasteurization, the latter process was tested for scale-up potential in a continuous flow system.
Attribution Theory and Acceptance of Information

1. Distinctiveness: the impression is attributed to the thing if it uniquely occurs when the thing is present and does not occur in its absence. 2. Consistency over time: each time the thing is present, the individual's reactions must be the same or nearly so. 3. Consistency over modality: his reaction must be consistent even though his mode of interaction with the thing varies. 4. Consensus: attributes of external origin are experienced the same way by all observers.
Determination of benzoic,sorbic,dehydroacetic acid in foods by gas chromatography

Objective: To develop a new method to detect benzoic,sorbic,dehydroacetic acid in foods by capillary gas chromatography.Methods: The samples were deproteinized by NaOH-ZnSO4,defatted by benzine-ether firstly,then acidized with hydrochloric acid,extracted by ethyl acetate and finally determined by capillary gas chromatography.Results: The linear range was 50 μg~1000 μg(r0.9990).When taken sample of 1.0 g,the lowest detecting limits of sorbic,dehydroacetic,benzoic were 0.033 g/kg,0.050 g/kg,0.010 g/kg.The recovery range was 90%~102%.RSD was 0.96%~3.3%.Conclusion: This method is stable,rapid and repeatable to detect the benzoic,sorbic,dehydroacetic acid of bulk foods.
Three-Territory DWI Acute Infarcts: Diagnostic Value in Cancer-Associated Hypercoagulation Stroke (Trousseau Syndrome).

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: DWI infarcts involving the bilateral anterior and posterior circulation suggest an embolic etiology. In the absence of an identifiable embolic source, we analyzed DWI lesions involving these 3 cerebral territories to determine the diagnostic value for ischemic infarction caused by cancer-associated hypercoagulation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective analysis of all brain MR imaging studies at our institution from July 2014 to June 2015 was conducted, yielding 4075 studies. Of those, 17% ( n = 709) contained the terms “restricted-diffusion” plus either “numerous,” “innumerable,” “multiple,” or “bilateral.” Of these 709 reports, 6% ( n = 41) of DWI lesions involving 3 or more vascular territories of the bilateral anterior and posterior circulation were analyzed. RESULTS: Of the 41 patients, 19 separate etiologies were identified, the most frequent being malignancy-related infarctions (22% [ n = 9]) and hypoxic-ischemic injury (12% [ n = 5]). Only 2 patients had an indeterminate etiology. The most frequent etiology of infarctions not suspected clinically or radiographically was malignancy ( P < .001). Infarctions of malignancy had a characteristic appearance, being nonenhancing, nonring-appearing clusters or single areas of restricted diffusion of 0.5–2 cm with a peripheral location or larger vascular territories, uncommonly in a watershed distribution, and with absence of diffuse cortical ribbon or deep gray nuclei involvement. CONCLUSIONS: Approximately 1 in 5 ischemic infarcts in patients with DWI lesions involving 3 vessel territories are malignancy related. In the absence of an identifiable embolic source, ischemic infarction with cancer-associated hypercoagulation accounts for 75% of cases. Cancer-associated hypercoagulation infarction should be considered, particularly when no other cause is apparent. TS : Trousseau syndrome
Impact Testing and Improvements in Aircraft Vulnerability Modeling for Range Safety

This paper begins with a summary of several key efforts by the US government to facilitate safe and efficient integration of air-traffic and space transportation activities in the aftermath of the Columbia accident. This paper describes impact tests sponsored by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to help improve the fidelity of computational models used to quantify the vulnerability of commercial transport aircraft to potential launch or reentry vehicle debris impacts. Specifically, the FAA and the US Department of Defense funded a small series of tests to investigate the influence of obliquity on the velocity required for compact metal fragments (steel spheres and cubes between 1 and 9 grams) to perforate thin sheets of aircraft grade aluminum. This paper summarizes the testing done to determine the minimum velocities required to perforate aircraft skin at zero and 75 degrees of obliquity. This paper also describes how these test results can be used to refine elements of the models used to quantify the vulnerability of typical commercial transport aircraft to potential debris impacts.
Relativity, Tensors, and Curvature

Heuristics of Einstein's Theory What does g00 have to do with gravitation? The Metric Potentials Einstein's general theory of relativity is primarily a replacement for Newtonian gravitation and a generalization of special relativity. It cannot be “derived”; we can only speculate, with Einstein, by heuristic reasoning, how such a generalization might proceed. His path was very thorny, and we shall not hesitate to replace some of his reasoning, with hindsight, by more geometrical methods. Einstein assumed that the actual space–time universe is some pseudo-Riemannian manifold M 4 and is thus a generalization of Minkowski space. In any local coordinates x 0 = t, x 1 , x 2 , x 3 the metric is of the form where Greek indices run from 1 to 3, and g 00 must be negative. We may assume that we have chosen units in which the speed of light is unity when time is measured by the local atomic clocks (rather than the coordinate time t of the local coordinate system). Thus an “orthonormal” frame has 〈 e 0 , e 0 〉 = -1, 〈 e 0 , e β 〉 = 0, and 〈 e α , e β 〉 = δ αβ . Warning : Many other books use the negative of this metric instead. To get started, Einstein considered the following situation. We imagine that we have massive objects, such as stars, that are responsible in some way for the preceding metric, and we also have a very small test body , a planet, that is so small that it doesn't appreciably affect the metric.
Search for new exotic particles decaying to photons with the CMS experiment at the LHC

The results of searches for physics beyond the standard model with photons in the final state are presented. Events were collected at center-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV in proton-proton collisions during the first run of the LHC data taking between 2011 and 2015 and analyzed with the general-purpose detector of the Compact Muon Solenoid experiment. A search for long-lived particles which decay to photons is first presented. This is the first search at CMS which exploits information of the time measurement made with the CMS electromagnetic calorimeter to identify displaced photons. A model-independent search for new heavy scalars in the diphoton final state is also described. The search, covering the mass range between 150 GeV and 850 GeV, is extended to resonances with natural width up to 10% of the mass. Results obtained in both searches significantly extend previous searches results in terms of mass, width and lifetime ranges.
Ion-assisted evaporation of vanadium dioxide thin films

Vanadium dioxide (VO2) is a polycrystalline thin film that reversibly changes from a semiconductor to a metallic state at 68°C, and has important applications in thermal detection and actuation as well as in reconfigurable photonic circuitry. In this work, we have produced VO2 thin films by oxygen ion-assisted electron-beam evaporation. Compared to prior work, the phase change temperature is as low as 54°C, which we believe arise due to the oxygen implantation from the ion-assisted process. The films were deposited on c-cut sapphire substrates, and their properties were measured using a four-point probe electrical sheet resistance measurement.
Beyond Supermarkets: Food Outlet Location Selection in Four U.S. Cities Over Time

Introduction Understanding what influences where food outlets locate is important for mitigating disparities in access to healthy food outlets. However, few studies have examined how neighborhood characteristics influence the neighborhood food environment over time, and whether these relationships differ by neighborhood-level income. Methods Neighborhood-level data from four U.S. cities (Birmingham, AL; Chicago, IL; Minneapolis, MN; Oakland, CA) from 1986, 1993, 1996, 2001, 2006, and 2011 were used with two-step econometric models to estimate longitudinal associations between neighborhood-level characteristics ( z -scores) and the log-transformed count/km 2 (density) of food outlets within real estate–derived neighborhoods. Associations were examined with lagged neighborhood-level sociodemographics and lagged density of food outlets, with interaction terms for neighborhood-level income. Data were analyzed in 2016. Results Neighborhood-level income at earlier years was negatively associated with the current density of convenience stores (β= –0.27, 95% CI=–0.16, –0.38, p p =0.05), and the density of smaller grocery stores across all income levels (β= –0.27, 95% CI=–0.45, –0.09, p =0.003). There was a lack of policy-relevant associations between the pre-existing food environment and the current density of food outlet types, including supermarkets. Conclusions Socioeconomically disadvantaged and minority populations may attract "unhealthy" food outlets over time. To support equal access to healthy food outlets, the availability of "less healthy" food outlets types may be relatively more important than the potential lack of supermarkets or full-service restaurants.
Patient empowerment and engagement with a health infomediary

Abstract Objectives This study explores the role of three types of empowerment, psychological, discretionary, and leadership, on sustained engagement with a health infomediary. Discretionary empowerment refers to authority, psychological empowerment is the manifestation of inherent motivation and response, and leadership empowerment is the trait of knowledge-based control and governance for a group in an infomediary. Sustained engagement is critical for patients to derive long-term benefits from an infomediary. Relationships between the three types of patient empowerments on sustained patient engagement is conceptualized and operationalized with testable hypotheses. Methods Data from a health infomediary providing a knowledge exchange platform for patients interested in cosmetic surgery was obtained through the website. Probit regression models were used to test hypotheses using daily activity observations of 21,715 patients during the first 30 and 60 days of their engagement with the infomediary platform. Results All three empowerment types have positive association with sustained engagement. In addition, leadership empowerment is shown to play a higher role than discretionary or psychological empowerments in sustaining patient engagement. Conclusions Identifying empowered patients is likely to benefit health infomediaries. Leadership empowerment has a greater role than discretionary or psychological empowerments in sustaining patient engagement with infomediaries. Incentive structures around promoting patients towards leadership empowerment are likely to generate positive returns for health infomediaries.
Correlation of unbound plasma clearances of fifteen extensively metabolized drugs between humans and rats.

Unbound plasma clearances (CLu) in humans and rats of 15 extensively metabolized drugs (phe-nytoin, hexobarbital, pentobarbital, phenylbutazone, warfarin, tolbutamide, valproate, phenobarbital, amobarbital, quinidine, chlorpromazine, propranolol, pentazocin, antipyrine, and diazepam), studied earlier by Sawada et al. (J. Pharmacokin. Biopharm. 13:477–491, 1985), were calculated. It was found that the ratio of CLu per square meter of body surface area between human and rat ranged from 0.38 for pentobarbital to 2.34 for tolbutamide, with a mean ratio of 1.07. When body weight (BW) was used for correlation, the mean CLu was proportional to BW 0.657±0.0935. A rationale for the above empirical findings is postulated. The present study seems to indicate the existence of a general similarity or predictability in the CLu of drugs between rats and humans. Low correlations were generally obtained when total (bound and unbound) plasma clearances were used for comparison.
Energy efficiency of trajectory generation methods for stop-and-go aerial robot navigation

The paper reports on the energy consumption of smooth trajectories for stop-and-go navigation of aerial robots. We consider a decimeter-scale quadrotor tasked to travel on straight line, constant height trajectories from an initial hover configuration to another hover configuration. We investigate three prominent types of smooth trajectories (minimum acceleration, minimum jerk and minimum snap), and evaluate their energetic efficiency through the total energy consumption. The energy consumed by each trajectory type is determined via aerodynamics-based expressions for power consumption of rotorcraft. We extensively test in simulation trajectories of varying length, and designed with varying desired maximum velocities and accelerations. Several representative cases are also tested and validated experimentally.
Exploring the evolution of pressure-perturbations to understand atmospheric phenomena

Atmospheric sciences is the study of physical and chemical phenomena occurring within the Earth's atmosphere. The study entails understanding the state of the Earth's atmosphere, how it is changing over time and why. Understanding how various weather events develop and evolve is often conducted through retrospective analysis of past atmospheric events. Atmospheric scientists can then utilize tools to better predict potential hazards and provide earlier warnings for events that may impact life and property. Several atmospheric state variables can be measured to identify high-impact events, one of which is surface atmospheric pressure. Many weather events are characterized by variations in surface pressure from the mean pressure value (i.e., pressure-perturbations). Accordingly, there is significant interest in extracting and tracking pressure-perturbations both spatially and temporally to better understand the evolution of weather events. Here, we present a visualization and analysis environment that allows interactive exploration of pressure-perturbation data sets. Our system, for the first time, enables atmospheric scientists to interactively explore the spatiotemporal behaviors of pressure-perturbations for a range of values and provides support to leverage other conventional data sets such as radar imagery and wind observations. It also allows atmospheric scientists to evaluate model and parameter sensitivity, which is difficult if not impossible with conventional visualization tools in atmospheric sciences. Finally, we demonstrate the utility of our approach for retrospective analysis using different case studies of recorded severe weather events.
Effectiveness of the GoCheck Kids Vision Screener in Detecting Amblyopia Risk Factors.

Purpose The GoCheck Kids smartphone photoscreening app (Gobiquity Mobile Health, Scottsdale, Arizona, USA), introduced in 2014, is marketed to pediatricians with little published validation. We wished to evaluate the GoCheck Kids Screener for accuracy in detecting amblyopia risk factors (ARF) using 2013 American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus guidelines. Design Validity assessment. Methods Children 6 months to 6 years of age presenting from October 2016 to August 2017 were included. Children were screened with the GoCheck preloaded Nokia Lumia 1020, software version 4.6 with image processing version R4d, prior to undergoing a comprehensive eye examination by a pediatric ophthalmologist masked to the screener results. Determination of the presence of age-specific ARF was made based upon the examination and compared with the GoCheck recommendation. Results A total of 206 children were included (average age 43 months). When compared to examination, GoCheck had a sensitivity of 76.0% and specificity of 67.2% in detecting ARF. Positive predictive value was 57.0% and negative predictive value 83.0%. The screener results of 13 children were changed from “no risk factors” to “risk factors identified” based on the GoCheck remote review process. Four images remained “not gradable” and screening was unsuccessful in 3 children. Conclusion In our high-risk population, this version of the Gocheck Kids smartphone app was useful in identifying ARF in children who are often not able to cooperate with visual acuity testing. This study informs pediatricians about the efficacy of this new screener as they make decisions about how to best detect vision problems in young children.
Early Decompressive Hemicraniectomy for Malignant Middle Cerebral Artery Infarction: A single centre retrospective study (P4.290)

Objective: To evaluate the role of early decompressive hemicraniectomy in Asian patients with a massive acute Ischemic Stroke(IS). Background: Decompression craniectomy in acute malignant middle cerebral artery (MCA) ischemic stroke (IS) reduces mortality. However, its role in reducing disability in this group of patients is often questioned in the stroke community since previous studies have employed variable time intervals for surgical decompression as well as criteria for defining severe disability. Design/Methods: Data for all acute IS patients hospitalized were entered into a prospectively maintained registry. In this retrospective analysis, data for all malignant MCA IS patients who underwent decompressive hemicraniectomy were extracted. Various demographic, clinical and neuroimaging factors were analyzed for identifying independent predictors of favorable functional outcome at 6 months, which was defined as modified Rankin Scale of 0–3. Results: From January 2005 to December 2014, a total of 75 patients with anterior circulation IS underwent decompressive hemicraniectomy. Median age was 55 years [Inter Quartile Range(IQR) 44–64] with male preponderance (66%) and median National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score 21 points (IQR 18–24). Considerable proportion of them (60%) received intravenous thrombolysis with tissue plasminogen activator (IV-tPA). Majority (70%) of patients suffered from acute right MCA IS and median time from symptom-onset to surgery was 31 hours (range18–51). Decompressive surgery was performed within 48 hours of symptom-onset in 50 (67%) of the patients. Favorable functional outcome was achieved by 25 (33.3%) patients at 6 months. Right sided stroke (OR= 9.158; 95% CI 1.881– 44.596, p=0.006) and early decompression surgery (performed within 48 hours from symptom-onset (OR = 4.011; 95% CI = 1.058– 15.208, p=0.041) were independent predictors of favorable functional outcome at 6 months. Conclusions: Early decompression craniectomy, especially in right MCA ischemic stroke is associated with better favorable functional outcome at 6 months. Disclosure: Dr. Bharatendu has nothing to disclose. Dr. Chong has nothing to disclose. Dr. Paliwal has nothing to disclose. Dr. Teoh has nothing to disclose. Dr. Yeo has nothing to disclose. Dr. Seet has nothing to disclose. Dr. Chan has nothing to disclose. Dr. YEO has nothing to disclose. Dr. LWIN has nothing to disclose. Dr. NING has nothing to disclose. Dr. SHARMA has nothing to disclose.
Abstract 146: Efficacy of a Nurse-Led Risk Factor Modification Program in Achieving Weight Loss in Obese Atrial Fibrillation Patients

Objective: Weight loss (WL) can improve arrhythmia outcomes in obese patients (pts) with atrial fibrillation (AF). Although WL in this population has been achieved by strict dietary and lifestyle m...
Influence of sodium chloride on thermal inactivation and recovery of nonproteolytic Clostridium botulinum type B strain KAP B5 spores.

Demand for minimally processed refrigerated foods with reduced salt levels has stimulated renewed interest in the potential for survival and growth of psychrotrophic, nonproteolytic Clostridium botulinum type B spores. As part of a project to better define food-processing requirements, the heat resistance (75 to 90°C) of nonproteolytic C. botulinum type B spores was assessed in turkey containing 1 to 3% (wt/vol) salt (sodium chloride). Heated spores were recovered both on reinforced clostridial medium (RCM) with lysozyme and on RCM having the same salt levels as the heating menstruum. When the recovery medium contained no salt, D-values in turkey slurry containing 1% salt were 42.1, 17.1, 7.8, and 1.1 min at 75, 80, 85, and 90°C, respectively. Increasing levels (2 and 3%, wt/vol) of salt in the turkey slurry reduced the heat resistance as evidenced by reduced spore D-values. Also, apparent or measured heat resistance was decreased with increasing salt concentration in the heating menstruum and the recovery medium. The z-values in turkey slurry for all treatments were similar, ranging from 8.47 to 10.08°C. These data will assist food processors to design thermal processes that ensure safety against nonproteolytic C. botulinum type B spores in cook/chill foods while minimizing quality losses.
Farm and operator characteristics affecting the awareness and adoption of precision agriculture technologies in the US

Precision agriculture (PA) technologies have been commercially available since the early 1990s. However, not only has the pace of adoption in the US been relatively modest but a surprisingly large number of producers are not familiar with these technologies. Using farm level survey data, this study quantifies the role that awareness plays in the decision to adopt PA technology and allows us to explore the potential for public or private information programs to affect the diffusion of PA. PA adoption and awareness are modeled as jointly determined dichotomous variables and their determinants are estimated using a two-stage (i.e. instrumental variable) logistic specification. The first-stage logit model indicated that operator education and computer literacy, full-time farming, and farm size positively affected the probability of PA awareness while the effect of age was negative. Grain and oilseed farms (i.e. corn, soybean, and small grains) and specialty crop farms (i.e. fruits, vegetables, and nuts) as well as farms located in the Heartland and Northern Great Plains regions were most likely to be aware of PA technologies. The second-stage PA adoption logit model, which included an instrumental variable to account for the endogeneity of awareness, revealed that farm size, full-time farming, and computer literacy positively influenced the likelihood of PA adoption. Grain and oilseed farms were the most likely types of farms to adopt PA as were farms in the Heartland region. Awareness, as defined in this study, was not found to be limiting the adoption of PA, suggesting that farmers for whom the technology is profitable are already aware of the technology and that a sector-wide public or private initiative to disseminate PA information would not likely have a major impact on PA diffusion.
THE USE OF INDUCTIVELY COUPLED PLASMA EMISSION SPECTROSCOPY FOR THE ANALYSIS OF ENVIRONMENTAL SAMPLES

ABSTRACT Atomic absorption spectroscopy is a well-established technique in the environmental laboratory. It is used for the analysis of air, waters, effluents, stack gases, etc. Many of these determinations can be performed using inductively coupled plasma emission spectroscopy (ICP) as well. The ICP is very often faster when many elements must be determined in a single sample. However, detection limits for some important elements, such as arsenic, selenium and mercury, are better using graphite furnace atomic absorption. Therefore, the laboratory which is required to perform many different types of analysis should be equipped with three techniques, flame atomic absorption, graphite furnace atomic absorption and ICP emission spectroscopy. The use of all three techniques for environmental analysis will be described. The advantages of each technique will be compared and typical analyses will be discussed. The ICP/5000 can perform all three types of analyses either manually or in a fully automated mode if many samples must be analyzed.
Retrosigmoid Approach for Resection of Cerebellar Peduncle Cavernoma.

The case described in this video involved a 38-year-old man, who presented with a 4-week history of worsening acute-onset headache, nausea, double vision, and vertigo. On examination, he had impaired tandem gait and diplopia on right horizontal gaze. A computed tomography (CT) scan revealed a hyperdense lesion of the right cerebellopontine angle. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed a nonenhancing middle cerebellar peduncle lesion that was isointense on T2-weighed imaging and hypointense on FLAIR imaging ( Fig. 1A – B ). The differential diagnoses for this lesion included cavernous malformation, thrombosed aneurysm, and neurocysticercosis. CT angiography was done preoperatively to rule out cerebral aneurysm. Surgical resection of the lesion was recommended to relieve his symptoms, to prevent further deterioration/bleeding, and to obtain a pathological diagnosis. The patient underwent a right retrosigmoid craniotomy for resection of the right middle cerebellar peduncle cavernoma ( Fig. 2 ). The patient tolerated the procedure well with no new postoperative neurological deficit. Postoperative MRI depicted gross total resection of the lesion and expected residual blood in the resection cavity ( Fig. 1C – D ). The patient was discharged home on postoperative day 4. At his last follow-up appointment, 1 month after surgery, he reported complete resolution of his preoperative symptoms, including diplopia. The patient gave consent for publication. The link to the video can be found at: https://youtu.be/TRieS9DXbV4 .
Morphological cell image analysis for real-time monitoring of stem cell culture

The capability of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) to self-renew is reflected by their morphological phenotype. Cells that rapidly self-replicate (RS) are spindle-shaped and fibroblastic, while cells that slowly replicate (SR) are flattened and cuboidal. In addition to slow replication, SR cells lose most of their ability to differentiate into multiple cell lineages and promote tissue repair. Morphological evaluation can be used as a rapid screening technique to monitor culture viability in real-time and minimize the need for time consuming validation assays during expansion. We have developed an image analysis algorithm to quantitatively determine the morphological features with the goal of non-invasive and automated prediction of culture viability. The algorithm includes cell segmentation and classification. Following initial thresholding for cell localization, individual cells are segmented using region-based edge detection while clustered cells are segmented using a marker-based watershed method. In addition, classification of cell phenotype as RS or SR is accomplished using a logistic regression model. Results were validated via visual inspection from twenty individuals trained to evaluate the morphological phenotypes of MSCs. The segmentation algorithm demonstrated an accuracy of 94.03% and a mean Dice-Sorensen score of 0.71 across 15 images containing 67 cells. The classification results for the test dataset demonstrated an accuracy of 83.33%, an AUC of 0.87 +/- 0.08, and an F-measure of 0.87.
Opportunities in Mathematics Content Courses for Developing Prospective Teachers’ Knowledge About Students

I qualitatively reviewed mathematics education literature to offer explicit classroom- based examples and recommendations on the learning opportunities that can be embedded into mathematics content courses, designed specifically for prospective elementary teachers (ePTs), to help develop their knowledge of students and their mathematical thinking, learning, and development. I particularly drew on the articles that outlined the course opportunities that could be embedded by college instructors with little or no prior experience teaching or working with elementary students as well as the articles that did not require direct access to schoolchildren in the course. I provided direct quotes and explicit descriptions as representative classroom examples, documented in the literature, for university faculty to select from and plan for implementation in their own courses. Ultimately, in this review of literature, I argue that university faculty who teach mathematics to ePTs, including those who do not have experiences in K-12 educational settings, have numerous readily available resources and classroom-based examples (from the field) to help them embed course opportunities that focus ePTs’ attention and reflection (directly and indirectly) on students’ mathematical thinking and learning. I also provide research evidence demonstrating that these types of course opportunities help to improve ePTs’ readiness to teach and preparedness to work with schoolchildren, particularly in developing their appreciation for students’ mathematical successes and challenges.
“Spokes in the wheel” and how policy gains can diversify a social movement

Activists often use their resources to pursue protective legislation, like anti-discrimination or environmental protection laws, and the results are often compromised versions of what they wanted. ...
Wideband Source Enumeration Using Sparse Array Periodogram Averaging in Low Snapshot Scenarios

This paper proposes a new sparse array source enumeration algorithm for underdetermined scenarios with more sources than sensors. The proposed algorithm decomposes the wideband signals into multiple uncorrelated frequency bands, computes the narrowband spatial periodograms and then averages periodograms to reinforce the sources' spectral information. The inverse spatial Fourier transform of the wideband periodogram estimates the spatial correlation function, which then populates the diagonals of a Hermitian Toeplitz augmented covariance matrix (ACM) after lag redundancy averaging. A modified minimum description length (MDL) criteria, termed MDLgap, is proposed for source enumeration using the eigenvalues of the constructed ACM. MDLgap provably never overestimates the number of sources present, and is asymptotically consistent when the signals present span a limited dynamic range. Numerical simulations show that the proposed MDLgap algorithm achieves improved performance over existing approaches for underdetermined source enumeration, especially in low snapshot scenarios.
An analytical pipeline for identifying and mapping the integration sites of HIV and other retroviruses

All retroviruses, including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), must integrate a DNA copy of their genomes into the genome of the infected host cell to replicate. Although integrated retroviral DNA, known as a provirus, can be found at many sites in the host genome, integration is not random. The adaption of linker-mediated PCR (LM-PCR) protocols for high-throughput integration site mapping, using randomly-sheared genomic DNA and Illumina paired-end sequencing, has dramatically increased the number of mapped integration sites. Analysis of samples from human donors has shown that there is clonal expansion of HIV infected cells and that clonal expansion makes an important contribution to HIV persistence. However, analysis of HIV integration sites in samples taken from patients requires extensive PCR amplification and high-throughput sequencing, which makes the methodology prone to certain specific artifacts. To address the problems with artifacts, we use a comprehensive approach involving experimental procedures linked to a bioinformatics analysis pipeline. Using this combined approach, we are able to reduce the number of PCR/sequencing artifacts that arise and identify the ones that remain. Our streamlined workflow combines random cleavage of the DNA in the samples, end repair, and linker ligation in a single step. We provide guidance on primer and linker design that reduces some of the common artifacts. We also discuss how to identify and remove some of the common artifacts, including the products of PCR mispriming and PCR recombination, that have appeared in some published studies. Our improved bioinformatics pipeline rapidly parses the sequencing data and identifies bona fide integration sites in clonally expanded cells, producing an Excel-formatted report that can be used for additional data processing. We provide a detailed protocol that reduces the prevalence of artifacts that arise in the analysis of retroviral integration site data generated from in vivo samples and a bioinformatics pipeline that is able to remove the artifacts that remain.
Comparing the torque- and power-velocity relationships between children and adolescents during isokinetic leg extension muscle actions.

Abstract The purpose of this study was to use polynomial regression analyses to examine the torque- and power-velocity relationships and calculate and compare the vertices of these nonlinear models, and how they relate to measurements of muscle size and maximal strength, between male and female children and adolescents during maximal isokinetic leg extension muscle actions. Sixteen children (n = 8 males, n = 8 females) and 22 adolescents (n = 11 males, n = 11 females) participated in this study. Measurements of growth included age, maturity offset, height, body mass, fat-free mass, and quadriceps femoris muscle cross-sectional area (CSA). Participants completed maximal voluntary isometric contractions (MVICs) of the leg extensors and maximal voluntary isokinetic leg extensions at 60, 120, 180, 240, and 300°·s−1. Variables calculated during all leg extension muscle actions included peak torque (PT, Nm) and mean power (MP, W). Polynomial regression analyses determined the model of best fit for the PT- and MP-velocity relationships. For each participant, the vertex from the PT- and MP-velocity quadratic models were quantified as the predicted maximum velocity of last measurable torque (VPT) and the predicted velocity of maximum mean power (VMP), respectively. Measurements of growth, PT and MP at all velocities, VPT, and VMP were greater in the adolescents than children. When normalized to CSA, VPT and VMP remained greater for adolescents than children, and exhibited low to very high relationships with measurements of growth. When normalized to MVIC strength, VPT and VMP were no longer different between children and adolescents and exhibited negligible to low relationships with measurements of growth. The results of the present study suggest that the ability to produce torque and power at high velocities may be more dependent on muscle strength than muscle size, which suggests that mechanisms other than muscular hypertrophy affect torque and power production at high velocities in young males and females.
PalmTree: Learning an Assembly Language Model for Instruction Embedding

Deep learning has demonstrated its strengths in numerous binary analysis tasks, including function boundary detection, binary code search, function prototype inference, value set analysis, etc. When applying deep learning to binary analysis tasks, we need to decide what input should be fed into the neural network model. More specifically, we need to answer how to represent an instruction in a fixed-length vector. The idea of automatically learning instruction representations is intriguing, however the existing schemes fail to capture the unique characteristics of disassembly. These schemes ignore the complex intra-instruction structures and mainly rely on control flow in which the contextual information is noisy and can be influenced by compiler optimizations. In this paper, we propose to pre-train an assembly language model called PalmTree for generating general-purpose instruction embeddings by conducting self-supervised training on large-scale unlabeled binary corpora. PalmTree utilizes three pre-training tasks to capture various characteristics of assembly language. These training tasks overcome the problems in existing schemes, thus can help to generate high-quality representations. We conduct both intrinsic and extrinsic evaluations, and compare PalmTree with other instruction embedding schemes. PalmTree has the best performance for intrinsic metrics, and outperforms the other instruction embedding schemes for all downstream tasks.
Forward and inverse design of programmable surfaces from knitted active textiles

Programmable surfaces and structures are mechanisms that transition between two or more geometric configurations. Programmable surfaces capable of altering their topology with a change in operational conditions have the potential to enable a wide range of applications in a variety of domains like haptics, wearables, human-computer interactions, fluidsurface interactions, and shape morphing structures. Prior research on programmable surfaces has developed various techniques to realize shape change applications. 4D printing includes multi-material printing of mechanisms that transform from any 1D or a 2D shape into a 3D shape using simple energy inputs like heat, water, or light. Additionally, origami composite structures with selective actuation of shape memory polymers also afford complex shape changes. We present a novel approach to designing programmable surfaces by incorporating shape memory alloys (SMA) and textile manufacturing processes to form variable topology programmable surfaces from knitted active textiles. Thermally responsive shape memory alloys (SMAs) leverage solid-state phase transformations and the shape memory effect to return the material to a predetermined state upon heating. The shape memory effect enables creation of multi-stiffness SMA configurations that can be utilized to develop structures with tunable surface topographies. Active knitted textiles act as programmable surfaces by transforming from an inactive 2D flat surface in the cold, flexible martensite state into active 3D surfaces when heated above the austenite finish transformation temperature.
Effect of Somatostatin on Exocrine Pancreas

The exocrine pancreas serves an important function in digestion and absorption of nutrients by secreting digestive enzymes into the lumen of the small intestine.
Hemsterhuis and Herder: Sculptural Theo-humanism

This chapter focuses on the attempts of Frans Hemsterhuis and Johann Gottfried Herder to raise to philosophical clarity Winckelmann’s deliberately lyrical utterances. In a Platonic vein, Winckelmann emphasized how beauty can intimate eternity. Hemsterhuis tries to account for this by an ingenious theory: the seamlessly unitary contours of classical sculpture allow for an extraordinarily fast apprehension of the sculpture itself; so fast, indeed, that the viewer feels ecstatically projected outside of temporality. I also note how Hemsterhuis’ thumbnail art-history can be seen as an explanation of Winckelmann’s poignantly plural temporality of the beautiful. Hemsterhuis claims modernity is characterized by a parcelizing esprit geometrique. Conversely, the ancients were defined by esprit de finesse, a perception that seeks or responds to concentrated unities. A modern spectator, with his or her analytical (and hence divisive) cast of mind, may be less attuned than an ancient spectator to the immediacy of classical beauty. The second half of chapter two is devoted to Johann Gottfried Herder’s sculptural theory. Against Hemsterhuis’ ‘fast’ aesthetics, Herder claims that sculpture requires a slower, quasi-tactile gaze. Herder aims, here, to recover a sense of the numinous that had been eroded by the Enlightenment. A sighted spectator, essentially a metaphor for Enlightenment rationality, can grasp the overall Gestalt only at the cost of severe abridgments. The sculptural Gestalt over determines the groping, guessing hand of the blind; yet, precisely this constantly deferred perceptual fulfillment gives the blind man a sense of the infinite complexity of sculptural beauty—and indirectly, the beauty of God.
The finite Balian-Low conjecture

We present a conjecture for a finite version of the celebrated Balian-Low Theorem for Gabor systems in L2(R). We proceed to prove a special case of the conjecture for C9.
Popper, Karl (1902–94)

Karl Popper (1902–94) was one of the most influential philosophers of science in the twentieth century. This entry discusses his philosophy of science, with particular attention to the role of falsifiability in science, and its relation to his broader epistemology and his philosophy of mind. The influence of Popper's early work in child psychology on his philosophical work is also addressed. Keywords: Popper, Karl; evidence; falsification; mind; psychoanalytic criticism