cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Normal and Angular Motions at Rough Planar Contacts During Sliding With Friction

The planar dynamics of a rough block in nominally stationary or sliding contact with a counter-surface is studied in this work. Starting with the Greenwood-Williamson model of a rough surface, the analysis of elastic contact deflections is extended to accommodate angular as well as normal motions. The real area of contact and the normal contact force are obtained in terms of the relative approach and orientation of the surfaces. It is shown that angular and normal motions at frictional contacts are generally coupled. The contact area and normal contact force are shown to be nonlinearly related to the normal and angular motions
Radiation environments and shielding approach for Jupiter Europa Orbiter (JEO)

A brief overview of the Jupiter Europa Orbiter (JEO) mission is presented along with a discussion of the challenges associated with the harsh radiation environment anticipated for the mission. The shielding approach for such harsh environment is discussed.
Salt Water Product Contamination During Trans Atlantic Shipments: Management Decisions And Legal Implications A Case Study

A ceramic manufacturing plant received a shipment of heavy sand that was contaminated with salt water during a Trans Atlantic voyage. The ship’s captain and the ship owners claimed it to be an “Act of God” as the ship went through a hurricane. Examination of the hatch covers indicated that they were faulty and compensation for the damaged cargo was demanded. The demand was refused by the ship’s owners and the cargo owner chose to “arrest” the ship to force payment.
Multiple factors in marine environments affecting lobster survival, development, and growth, with emphasis on alkylphenols: a perspective1

A major die-off of the American lobster (Homarus americanus) population in Long Island Sound (LIS) occurred in 1999, involving multiple causes, including increases of temperatures, decreasing oxyge...
Because It's Important: A Comment on Gelman and Imbens (2013)

The paper presents a response to Gelman and Imbens (2013). There are two answers to the reverse causal question. The observed statistical relationship between two observables may be causal or "spurious." The solution to the reverse causal question is the solution that identifies the model that allows both generic answers. The paper considers the solutions proposed by Gelman and Imbens (2013) and Pearl (2009). Gelman and Imbens (2013) suggest that accounting for additional observables may remove the observed correlation, while Pearl (2009) argues that experimentally adjusting one of the variables may determine the direction of causality. Both solutions have value but both suffer from problems. Gelman and Imbens (2013) points to a third answer; there exists both a causal and a statistical relationship between the variables. In this case, neither proposed solution seems up to the challenge. While Manski bounds may be the way forward, this paper suggests a solution based on matrix factorization.
Interventional Neurovascular Techniques in Acute Thrombolytic Therapy for Stroke

Interventional neurovascular techniques for the treatment of cerebrovascular disorders and stroke have evolved rapidly during the past decade. Development of soft, atraumatic microcatheters and steerable microguidewires have now allowed the interventional neuroradiologist relatively safe access to all the larger intracranial vessels around the skull base and circle of Willis. Newer nonionic contrast media used to visualize the cerebral vessels have decreased adverse reactions. Digital subtraction angiography has allowed rapid interpretation and immediate visualization of the blood vessels during infusion therapy of thrombolytic agents. Magnetic resonance imaging and magnetic resonance angiography now allow noninvasive screening and follow-up of patients with cerebrovascular occlusive disease.
Mass Transfer of Binary Mixtures of Oxygen and Argon in a Carbon Molecular Sieve

Transport of binary O2/Ar gas mixtures in a carbon molecular sieve (CMS) has been studied using concentration-swing frequency response. The rate data for this binary gas system are described well by the transport models (surface barrier for Ar and surface barrier plus micropore diffusion for O2) and parameters that were found to govern transport of the respective pure gases on the same CMS. These results suggest that transport of O2 is not impeded by the presence of Ar. However, the experimental data do not rule out the possibility of some enhancement of the O2 transport rate. Furthermore, O2 and Ar isotherms on this CMS were observed to be linear in the region over which frequency response experiments were performed, suggesting that the micropore diffusion component of O2 transport behavior is unaffected by the presence of Ar. Because transport of Ar in this CMS is much slower than O2, the dynamic response of this system owes the majority of its character to O2 adsorption, and the effect of O2 on Ar tran...
PGE2-EP3 signaling exacerbates intracerebral hemorrhage outcomes in 24-mo-old mice.

In this ongoing research effort, we now reveal that deletion of the PGE2-EP3 receptor improves anatomical and functional outcomes following intracerebral hemorrhage in aged mice, confirming our pre...
86 HAMP AND HVJ AS CANDIDATE MODIFIER GENES IN TYPE 1 HEREDITARY HEMOCHROMATOSIS WITH HIGH IRON BURDEN AND IN PORPHYRIA CUTANEA TARDA.

Homozygosity for the HFE C282Y (HFE Y/Y) mutation accounts for approximately 90% of HFE-associated (type 1) hereditary hemochromatosis (hh), but the clinical phenotype ranges from simply an elevated transferrin (Tf) saturation to organ damage due to iron overload. Modifier genes have been proposed to explain this phenotypic variability. A second disease associated with hepatic iron overload is porphyria cutanea tarda (PCT). Approximately 20% of patients with PCT are HFE Y/Y, but the cause of hepatic iron loading in the remaining 80% is not known. Two genes known to affect iron homeostasis are hepcidin (HAMP) and hemojuvelin (HJV). Heterozygosity for HAMP and HJV mutations has been associated with iron overload in a small number of type 1 hh patients (Blood. 2004;103:2835-40; Blood Cells Mol Dis 2004;33:338-43). We asked if mutations of HAMP or HJV could account for hepatic iron overload in highly penetrant hh patients and in PCT patients with or without HFE mutations. Serum iron values did not differ between hh and PCT patients, but Tf saturation and serum ferritin values were higher in hh patients compared with PCT patients with hh. This may reflect the fact that PCT patients develop skin lesions leading to diagnosis at a younger age than organ damage occurs in patients with hh but without PCT. We sequenced the HAMP and HJV genes in 96 hh patients with grade 3 to 4 (scale 0-4) hepatic parenchymal cell stainable iron and 96 PCT patients with variable degrees of hepatic siderosis. Ninety-four percent (90) of the hh patients were HFE Y/Y, 4.2% (4) were HFE C/Y, and 2.1% (2) were wild-type HFE C/C. No exonic changes or splice site mutations were detected in either the HAMP or HJV genes. Eighty-three of the 96 PCT patients were genotyped. Twenty-five percent (21) were HFE Y/Y, 23% (19) were HFE C/Y, and 52% (43) were HFE C/C. No exonic changes or splice site mutations were detected in the HJV gene of patients with PCT, but two PCT patients were found to be heterozygotes for HAMP mutations. The first had the previously identified 212G→A transition leading to a G71D substitution. The second had a 248A→C transversion corresponding to K83R in the peptide. Both of these PCT patients were HFE C/C, but both had grade 4 HPCSI. These data indicate that heterozygosity for mutations of HAMP or HJV rarely modifies the iron loading phenotype in either type 1 hh or PCT. Other modifier loci must exist.
Implementing Architecture of Network Security by Sections' Defence

Security problems regarding the network are due not only to malicious outsiders or hackers,but also to malicious users inside the organization.By the technology of VPN,Private path can be created to transfer important data,Secure communication can be done by the end-to-end data encryption.In this paper,VPNs for sections which constructed in a company's VPN can extend the private path to the sections of the company and guard important information of sections from being blabbed inside the organization's network.
Mechanisms of human lymphoid chromosomal translocations

This Review discusses the mechanisms underlying 'hot-spot' translocations, which frequently occur in human lymphomas. Discussion of the role of activation-induced deaminase (AID) and the recombination activating gene (RAG) complex provides insights into these mechanisms. Some aspects may also apply to translocations that occur in non-lymphoid neoplasms.
Randomized Ballot Order Can Increase Invalid Votes: Evidence from Australia

Randomized ballot order of electoral candidates prevents unfair advantages for candidates with favorable positions on a ballot, but it also places additional cognitive strain on voters who need to search for their preferred candidates without clues. This strain could increase voters' probability of making errors. Using more than 68,000 polling-place level data from Australian House of Representatives elections, we show that the stronger the candidate at the top of a ballot, the smaller the percentage of informal (i.e., invalid and unrecorded) votes. This is because, for a larger number of voters, the most favorable candidate appears at the easiest-to-find position. The magnitude of this effect is particularly large when the number of candidates is large. Our finding implies that designing a ballot to maximize fairness among candidates could bring about an unintended consequence that is inconsistent with another important normative principle -- maximized (valid) voter participation.
Generic Lightweight Certificate Management Protocol (GLCMP)

This paper describes a Generic Light Weight Certificate Management Protocol (GLCMP) for handling certificates on mobile devices. Theoretically, various security solutions are designed to protect the valuable information of mobile users. But, its power, memory and processing constraints, high response time and authentication latencies are the main challenges for the researcher to develop and integrate standard security mechanisms in it. It is observed that, most of mobile users are not technical enough to configure security parameters and even already developed libraries do not support extended security features like transparent handling of certificates, verification of identities, and distribution of certificates. In this paper, an innovative and comparatively efficient protocol is designed and implemented. It does not only overcome the shortcoming of the certificate handling in mobile devices but also provides some extended certificate related features like registration, authentication and trust delegation. The designed GLCMP is lightweight because all complex and computation-intensive operations, involved in creation of certificate request in PKCS#10 standard format, are offloaded to a proxy server. It also provides domain based secure registration and verification of the identities without exchanging any confidential information to the proxy servers and even no user's credential is exchanged on network for authentication. After analyzing its performance, we noticed that authentication latency of GLCMP is 0.394 sec which is less than previously proposed protocols like NSI (4.7), PKI (5.01), and PKASSO (5.19 delegation time + 0.082 authentication times). We also formally verified our designed by using Z-Notation Modeling techniques and found that it is protected against man-in-the-middle, replay and impersonation and non-repudiation attacks.
Opioid-Prescribing Patterns of Emergency Physicians and Risk of Long-Term Use.

BackgroundIncreasing overuse of opioids in the United States may be driven in part by physician prescribing. However, the extent to which individual physicians vary in opioid prescribing and the implications of that variation for long-term opioid use and adverse outcomes in patients are unknown. MethodsWe performed a retrospective analysis involving Medicare beneficiaries who had an index emergency department visit in the period from 2008 through 2011 and had not received prescriptions for opioids within 6 months before that visit. After identifying the emergency physicians within a hospital who cared for the patients, we categorized the physicians as being high-intensity or low-intensity opioid prescribers according to relative quartiles of prescribing rates within the same hospital. We compared rates of long-term opioid use, defined as 6 months of days supplied, in the 12 months after a visit to the emergency department among patients treated by high-intensity or low-intensity prescribers, with adjustme...
Real-Time Quantum Dynamics of Long-Range Electronic Excitation Transfer in Plasmonic Nanoantennas

Using large-scale, real-time, quantum dynamics calculations, we present a detailed analysis of electronic excitation transfer (EET) mechanisms in a multiparticle plasmonic nanoantenna system. Specifically, we utilize real-time, time-dependent, density functional tight binding (RT-TDDFTB) to provide a quantum-mechanical description (at an electronic/atomistic level of detail) for characterizing and analyzing these systems, without recourse to classical approximations. We also demonstrate highly long-range electronic couplings in these complex systems and find that the range of these couplings is more than twice the conventional cutoff limit considered by Forster resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based approaches. Furthermore, we attribute these unusually long-ranged electronic couplings to the coherent oscillations of conduction electrons in plasmonic nanoparticles. This long-range nature of plasmonic interactions has important ramifications for EET; in particular, we show that the commonly used “nearest-ne...
Using computed tomography and 3D printing to construct custom prosthetics attachments and devices.

The prosthetic devices the military uses to restore function and mobility to our wounded warriors are highly advanced, and in many instances not publically available. There is considerable research aimed at this population of young patients who are extremely active and desire to take part in numerous complex activities. While prosthetists design and manufacture numerous devices with standard materials and limb assemblies, patients often require individualized prosthetic design and/or modifications to enable them to participate fully in complex activities. Prosthetists and engineers perform research and implement digitally designs in collaboration to generate equipment for their patient’s rehabilitation needs. 3D printing allows for these devices to be manufactured from an array of materials ranging from plastic to titanium alloy. Many designs require form fitting to a prosthetic socket or a complex surface geometry. Specialty items can be scanned using computed tomography and digitally reconstructed to produce a virtual 3D model the engineer can use to design the necessary features of the desired prosthetic, device, or attachment. Completed devices are tested for fit and function. Numerous custom prostheses and attachments have been successfully translated from the research domain to clinical reality, in particular, those that feature the use of computed tomography (CT) reconstructions. The purpose of this project is to describe the research pathways to implementation for the following clinical designs: sets of bilateral hockey skates; custom weightlifting prosthetic hands; and a wine glass holder. This article will demonstrate how to incorporate CT imaging and 3D printing in the design and manufacturing process of custom attachments and assistive technology devices. Even though some of these prosthesis attachments may be relatively simple in design to an engineer, they have an enormous impact on the lives of our wounded warriors.
Networked Protest and the Shift of Civic Activism

The spread of social media platforms and introduction of ubiquitous smartphones have shifted media ecologies in ways that impact civic practices and institutions. Initially hailed as democratizing ...
IntroAssist: A Tool to Support Writing Introductory Help Requests

Writing introductory help requests is a key part of develop-ing new professional connections, such as through email and other online messaging systems. This paper presents the design and an experimental evaluation of IntroAssist-a web-based tool that leverages cognitive apprenticeship in-structional methods to support writing introductory help requests through an expert-informed checklist, tagged peer examples, self-tagging, and suggested word limit. In a study of IntroAssist with novice entrepreneurs, we find that 1) expert raters consider help requests written with the tool as more effective, 2) participants are able to perform introduc-tory help seeking skills after the tool is removed, and 3) participants report being more likely to send help requests written with the tool. We present implications for the de-velopment of systems that support the initiation of profes-sional relationships.
Procedural complexity independent of P2Y12 reaction unit (PRU) values is associated with acute in situ thrombosis in Pipeline flow diversion of cerebral aneurysms.

Background Acute in situ thrombosis is an ischaemic phenomenon during Pipeline embolisation device (PED) procedures with potentially high morbidity and mortality. There is controversy regarding the role of platelet function testing with P2Y12 assay as a predictor of intraprocedural thromboembolic events. There is limited knowledge on whether procedural complexity influences these events. Methods Data were collected retrospectively on 742 consecutive PED cases at a single institution. Patients with intraprocedural acute thrombosis were compared with patients without these events. Results A cohort of 37 PED cases with acute in situ thrombosis (mean age 53.8 years, mean aneurysm size 8.4 mm) was matched with a cohort of 705 PED cases without intraprocedural thromboembolic events (mean age 56.4 years, mean aneurysm size 6.9 mm). All patients with in situ thrombosis received intra-arterial and/or intravenous abciximab. The two groups were evenly matched in patient demographics, previous treatment/subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) and aneurysm location. There was no statistical difference in postprocedural P2Y12 reaction unit (PRU) values between the two groups, with a mean of 156 in the in situ thrombosis group vs 148 in the control group (p=0.5894). Presence of cervical carotid tortuosity, high cavernous internal carotid artery grade, need for multiple PED and vasospasm were not significantly different between the two groups. The in situ thrombosis group had statistically significant longer fluoroscopy time (60.4 vs 38.4 min, p Conclusions Predictors of procedural complexity (higher radiation exposure, longer fluoroscopy time, adjunctive coiling and need for balloon angioplasty) are associated with acute thrombotic events during PED placement, independent of PRU values.
Dynamics of Kuramoto oscillators with time-delayed positive and negative couplings

Many real-world examples of distributed oscillators involve not only time delays but also attractive (positive) and repulsive (negative) influences in their network interactions. Here, considering such examples, we generalize the Kuramoto model of globally coupled identical oscillators with time-delayed positive and negative couplings to explore the effects of such couplings in collective phase synchronization. We analytically derive the exact boundaries for stable incoherent and coherent states in terms of the system parameters allowing us to examine the interplay of symmetric and asymmetric time delays and couplings in collective synchronization. Dependent on these parameters, regions of coherent, incoherent, and mixed (coherent, partially coherent, incoherent) states with hysteresis are possible. The region of stability for incoherent states decreases with increasing time delay in all cases and it overall gets reduced in the presence of a time delay in repulsive coupling. The time-delay effects for instability can become more significant at the delay values that are about half an oscillation period length, or its multiples in the case of positive time-delay couplings, and is about a full period or its multiples in case of negative delayed couplings. The mixed state region shows multistability among fully coherent, fully incoherent, and partially coherent (clustered) states. Partially coherent or clustered states occur near the instability-stability boundaries and can show quasiperiodic and nonstationary behaviors. We discuss the implications of the model and the results for natural systems, particularly neuronal network systems in the brain.
Impervious surface thresholds for urban tree site selection

Abstract Impervious surfaces are a ubiquitous urban feature that increase temperature and tree drought stress and are a demonstrated indicator of Acer rubrum L. tree condition and insect pest abundance. We examined the relationship between A. rubrum condition, impervious surface cover, and Melanaspis tenebricosa (Comstock) abundance, a primary herbivore of urban A. rubrum, in eight cities across the southern distribution of A. rubrum. We predicted that the effects of warming, due to impervious surface, would be greater in warmer southern cities than in cooler northern cities. We found that impervious surface was a robust predictor of tree condition, but this effect was not significantly affected by background temperature. Melanaspis tenebricosa abundance was a function of impervious surface and background temperature, with greatest abundances occurring at mid latitudes. Based on these relationships, we developed impervious surface thresholds to inform site selection for A. rubrum throughout the southeastern USA. Planting criteria based on habitat characteristics should maximize urban tree longevity and services provided.
Ist das Gesundheitswesen unheilbar krank? Das Programm eines integrierten Gesundheitsnetzwerks und sein Beitrag zur Transformation der Patientenversorgung

Der medizinische Fortschritt hat eine deutliche Verbesserung der Versorgung bei vielen Krankheitsbildern gebracht. Die Entwicklung hat aber auch unerwunschte „Nebenwirkungen“ wie steigende Kosten und eine teilweise enttauschende Qualitat. An dieser Stelle wird die These vertreten, dass eine wichtige Strategie zur Verbesserung der Gesundheitsversorgung die Entstehung von sektorubergreifenden Gesundheitsorganisationen ist, die elektronische Patientenakten (EMRs)2 und andere Systeme einsetzen, um die Zusammenarbeit des klinischen Personals zu verbessern, die Patientensicherheit und Qualitat zu erhohen und Ineffektivitaten zu reduzieren.
Axoplasmic Flow—the Fast Transport System in Mammalian Nerve Fibers

In the relatively short time since a review of axoplasmic flow appeared in the first edition of this book (Ochs, 1966), study of the subject has undergone several remarkable shifts in emphasis. Whereas it was previously believed necessary to present evidence in support of the concept that materials synthesized in the neuron somas are continuously transported down inside the axons, a number of studies have since then fully confirmed the phenomenon (e.g., Friede, 1966; Barondes, 1967; Ochs, 1969; Grafstein, 1969; Droz, 1969). Another change was the realization that slow and fast-moving components of axoplasmic flow are present in the fibers. Most of the previous evidence obtained with isotope-labeling techniques had supported a rate of axoplasmic flow of several millimeters per day, a value close to an earlier one arrived at from morphological evidence of damming proximal to a constriction of the nerve trunk (Weiss and Hiscoe, 1948). The increase in the volume of the fibers in the dammed portions above the constriction was interpreted as reflecting a growth of the axoplasmic contents down inside the fibers. However, evidence obtained by Dahlstrom and Haggendal (1966), Karlsson and Sjostrand (1968), Kerkut et al. (1967), Burdwood (1965), Lasek (1967, 1968), Livett et al. (1968), Ochs et al. (1967), Ochs and Johnson (1969), and Sjostrand (1969) indicated the presence of a much faster moving component additional to the slow-moving component.
Role of Serotonin in Brain Reward and Regulation of Alcohol Drinking Behavior

Abstract This chapter will review the involvement of serotonin (5-HT) in mediating brain reward processes, and extend the review to the regulation of alcohol drinking by 5-HT. The first three sections of the chapter will focus on studies using intracranial self-stimulation, place conditioning, and conditioned reward and delay of reward procedures to examine the involvement of 5-HT in the regulation of brain reward systems. The fourth section will focus on studies of the involvement of 5-HT in regulating the rewarding properties of alcohol, as measured by alcohol drinking behavior of rodent models. Overall, the data suggest that 5-HT systems negatively modulate brain reward processes and alcohol drinking. However, some findings suggest that the effects of 5-HT on brain reward and alcohol drinking is dependent upon the subtype of 5-HT receptor.
Rehabilitation of the injured athlete

The authors have presented basic guidelines and considerations for rehabilitation of the injured athlete. The use of various physical agents and therapeutic exercise in the rehabilitation of the injured athlete has been discussed. Clinical pathways for improving range of motion and muscle function and eliminating functional limitations and disability have also been presented. It should be remembered that rehabilitation of the injured athlete at any point in time may focus on any one or combination of these areas. The ultimate goal for rehabilitation of injured athletes is to return them to their prior level of sports activity. Athletes should be discharged from rehabilitation when they have achieved this goal or when no further improvement in their level of function can be expected. Individuals unable to return to their prior level of activity should be provided with alternate activities that they can continue to participate in to maintain an active lifestyle.
Recent research on natural rubber latex (NRL) allergy

Abstract: This chapter discusses recent findings on current views of natural rubber latex (NRL) allergy, the underlying mechanisms, risk groups and clinical manifestations and, in the course of time, remarkable changes in prevalence. Historically interesting milestones and the dominant role of medical gloves are highlighted. Prevailing practices to prevent sensitisation to NRL and to control the problems that emerged are dealt with, including the impact of international standards and the activities of the scientific community. The role of education combined with guidelines and obligations to use properly controlled NRL products or, under defined circumstances, alternative NRL-free synthetics, show that means to prevent sensitisation to NRL have been built up and shown to be effective where implemented.
Parametric assumptions equate to hidden observations: comparing the efficiency of nonparametric and parametric models for estimating time to AIDS or death in a cohort of HIV-positive women.

When conducting a survival analysis, researchers might consider two broad classes of models: nonparametric models and parametric models. While nonparametric models are more flexible because they make few assumptions regarding the shape of the data distribution, parametric models are more efficient. Here we sought to make concrete the difference in efficiency between these two model types using effective sample size. We compared cumulative risk of AIDS or death estimated using four survival models – nonparametric, generalized gamma, Weibull, and exponential – and data from 1164 HIV patients who were alive and AIDS-free in 1995. We added pseudo-observations to the sample until the spread of the 95% confidence limits for the nonparametric model became less than that for the parametric models. We found the 3-parameter generalized gamma to be a good fit to the nonparametric risk curve, but the 1-parameter exponential both underestimated and overestimated the risk at different times. Using two year-risk as an example, we had to add 354, 593, and 3960 observations for the nonparametric model to be as efficient as the generalized gamma, Weibull, and exponential models, respectively. These added observations represent the hidden observations underlying the efficiency gained through parametric model form assumptions. If the model is correctly specified, the efficiency gain may be justified, as appeared to be the case for the generalized gamma model. Otherwise, precision will be improved, but at the cost of specification bias, as was the case for the exponential model.
Cities, Images of

This article deals with the visual environment of cities. It looks at scientific findings on the social and physical features that can enhance the imageability of a city, as well as features that can affect human emotional response to places. The article defines these concepts and discusses their importance to people and planners. It then lays out a theoretical framework for understanding human affective, cognitive, and behavioral responses to their visual surroundings. It will then review the findings on environmental cognition, touching on features that enhance imageability, development of environmental cognition, and comparisons across various groups by age, race, sex, etc. The article then turns to the evaluative response to places to look at environmental meaning and aesthetics. What aspects of meaning stand out in human experience of their cities? How do those dimensions relate to social and physical features of places? Here are discussed features that evoke fear, have restorative (calming) effects, and that people like and dislike. Some of these features include order, complexity, atypicality, naturalness, openness, historical significance, upkeep. As with cognition, research on individual and socio-cultural differences will be covered The article concludes with new directions for research and practice, including environmental simulation, meta-analysis, historiometric inquiry, visual quality programming, and evaluative mapping.
Light pollution and insufficient sleep: Evidence from the United States.

OBJECTIVES The objective of this study was to test whether light pollution is associated with lower or insufficient sleep. The American Medical Association recently issued a public notice cautioning against the effects of nighttime light on sleep quality and quantity. Light pollution, through the suprachiasmatic nucleus, disrupts circadian rhythm by reducing the secretion of melatonin, a sleep-inducing hormone. METHODS I used 282 403 individual self-reports of sleep hours and insufficient sleep from the 2014 and 2016 metropolitan and micropolitan statistical area (MMSA) Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) and the prevalence of insufficient sleep during 2014 in 2823 US counties from the County Health Rankings. The nighttime artificial light data are from the cloud-free Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite available from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the US. RESULTS At the MMSA level, for a 10-unit increase in nighttime light (nW/[cm2 sr]) the estimated decline in sleep was about 5.59 minutes per day and the odds of reporting insufficient sleep (<7 hours) increased by 13.77%. At the county-level, for a 10-unit increase in nighttime light, the prevalence of insufficient sleep increased by 2.19%. CONCLUSIONS Although light pollution was negatively associated with sleep outcomes, the practical effect sizes were small. The small effects suggest that the effects at the population level are negligible, and the effect of nighttime light pollution is more idiosyncratic.
Asymptotic theory for Maximum Likelihood Estimation

A systematic development of theoretical properties of Maximum Likelihood Estimate: its consistency, asymptotic normality, and optimality are presented in this chapter.
Imaging and Biomarkers in Diabetic Macular Edema and Diabetic Retinopathy

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is the leading cause of acquired vision loss in adults across the globe. Early identification and treatment of patients with DR is paramount for vision preservation. The aim of this review paper is to outline current and new imaging techniques and biomarkers that are valuable for clinical diagnosis and management of DR. Ultrawide field imaging and automated deep learning algorithms are recent advancements on traditional fundus photography and fluorescein angiography. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) and OCT angiography are techniques that image retinal anatomy and vasculature and OCT is routinely used to monitor response to treatment. Many circulating, vitreous, and genetic biomarkers have been studied to facilitate disease detection and development of new treatments. Recent advancements in retinal imaging and identification of promising new biomarkers for DR have the potential to increase detection, risk stratification, and treatment for patients with DR.
Characterization of the ultrafast nonlinear response of new organic compounds

Here, we present our development of several experimental methods, which, when applied together, can provide a thorough characterization of the nonlinear refraction and absorption properties of materials. We focus mainly on time-resolved methods for studying both transient absorption and refraction that reveal molecular dynamics including excited-state absorption, singlet-triplet transfer, instantaneous electronic nonlinear refraction, and molecular reorientation. In particular, we will describe our recent studies of new materials including organometallic compounds and organic solvents such as Tetrachloroethylene (C2Cl4).
Foregrounding Epistemology and Everyday Intuitions in a Quantum Physics Course for Nonscience Majors.

A physics course is designed to promote scientific thinking and epistemologies among nonscience majors by drawing on everyday experiences and analogies when learning quantum mechanics.
Overall survival in patients with breast cancer treated with a CDK 4/6 inhibitor plus fulvestrant: A U.S. Food and Drug Administration pooled analysis.

1055JJG, JC, TMP contributed equally. JAB, LAK contributed equally. Background: Cyclin dependent kinase 4/6 inhibitors (CDKIs) are oral targeted agents approved for use in combination with endocrin...
Fresh Osteochondral and Chondral Allograft Preservation and Storage Media: A Systematic Review of the Literature:

Background:Storage procedures and parameters have a significant influence on the health of fresh osteochondral allograft (OCA) cartilage. To date, there is a lack of agreement on the optimal storag...
Supportive care services and goals of care in early phase clinical trials (EP-CTs).

26Background: EP-CTs investigate novel therapeutic approaches for patients with cancer, but little is known about the use of supportive care services and timing of goals of care (GOC) discussions i...
KINEMATIC DISTRIBUTIONS FOR ELECTRON PAIR PRODUCTION BY MUONS

Cross sections and kinematic distributions for the trident production process plus or negative muon plus charge yields plus or minus muon plus electron plus positron plus charge (with charge = dipion moment and Fe) are given for beam energies of 100 to 300 GeV at fixed (electron positron) masses from 5 to 15 GeV. This process is interesting as a test of quantum electrodynamics at high energies, and in particular as a test of the form of the photon propagator at large timelike (four-momentum) squared. For this purpose, it is desirable to impose kinematic cuts that favor those Bethe-Heitler graphs which contain a timelike photon propagator. It is found that there are substantial differences between the kinematic distributions for the full Bethe-Heitler matrix element and the distributions for the two timelike-photon graphs alone; these differences can be exploited in the selection of appropriate kinematic cuts.
Molecular Genetics of Cardiac Arrhythmias

Knowledge derived from human genetics and from studies in animal models has led to the discovery of multiple molecular defects underlying inherited arrhythmias and cardiac conduction system diseases in structurally altered or normal hearts. Minor disturbances at the molecular and cellular levels can initiate severe rhythm abnormalities. Some congenital heart diseases and cardiomyopathies carry a higher risk for conduction disturbances or arrhythmias. In the structurally normal heart, inherited cardiac arrhythmias or conduction system disease are most often primary electrical diseases. The underlying molecular defect in those disorders, also termed ion channelopathies, typically involves genes that encode ion channels, responsible for maintaining intracellular and extracellular electrolyte balance. Advances in molecular biology and genetics facilitate the identification of factors that may predispose an individual with or without structural heart disease to arrhythmias or sudden death. Taking those discoveries into clinical practice improves risk stratification and allows potential identification of new therapeutic targets. Key Concepts: Sudden unexpected cardiac death in the pediatric population is a devastating event with an incidence of approximately 1–6 in 100 000 per year and in some cases is the first presentation of a previously undiagnosed disorder. Inherited arrhythmias and cardiac conduction system disease frequently occur in pediatric patients with congenital heart disease but can also be associated with a structurally normal heart. Mutations in genes encoding for cytoskeletal proteins, sarcomeric proteins and ion channels are responsible for the majority of inherited arrhythmias associated with the structurally normal or abnormal heart. Identifying the molecular basis of congenital arrhythmias optimises patient screening, risk stratification and allows genotype-directed therapies of patients at risk for sudden cardiac death. Keywords: arrhythmias; cardiac conduction system disease; congenital heart disease; molecular basis; long QT syndrome; channelopathies; electrophysiology; cardiomyopathy
Toxic mold syndrome.

Publisher Summary The term “toxic mold syndrome” has been associated in the lay and medical literature as a constellation of symptoms, resulting from the exposure to fungal mycotoxins. This chapter critically examines the relationship between fungi and their expressed mycotoxins with the development and/or relationship to human disease. There is considerable scientific evidence that molds, under the proper growth conditions, produce mycotoxins. These mycotoxins have numerous properties that may be detrimental to animal and human health when ingested or inhaled in large amounts. For mycotoxins to produce adverse health effects, there should be adequate growth and biomass of the proper mold existing in the appropriate conditions to produce adequate amounts of adverse compounds. The growth of mycotoxin-producing molds does not always predict the presence of mycotoxins. The levels of mycotoxins inducing toxicity have not been determined in humans. The link between causality and human disease remains to be determined by further study.
Radiation safety management during a TFTR shutdown

A radiation exposure management program has been established for the TFTR (Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor). The program distributes exposures to a larger group, thereby minimizing individual doses, and also incorporates methods of personnel and hardware contamination control. Facilities have been set up for the decontamination of hardware and anticontamination clothing . The operation of these facilities leads to considerable cost savings for materials that otherwise would have been disposed of at approved sites. The proper methods of reworking activated and/or contaminated materials are important in contamination control. Dedicated shop and assembly areas are used to complete such operations as machining and rebuilding. All operations described are performed under the guidance of the Health Physics Branch. The relatively low levels of activation and contamination encountered so far have been a good rehearsal for D-T operation. >
Visual Assessment vs. Statistical Goodness of Fit Tests for Identifying Parent Population

Statistical tests are used to identify the parent distribution corresponding to a data set. A human observer looking at a histogram can also identify a probability distribution that models the parent distribution. The accuracy of a human observer was compared to the chi-square test for discrete data and the Kolmogorov-Smirnov and chi-square tests for continuous data. The human observer proved more accurate in identifying continuous distributions and the chi-square test proved to be superior in identifying discrete distributions. The effect of sample size and number of intervals in the histogram was included in the experimental design.
Purification and Characterization of Poliovirus-induced Infectious Double-stranded Ribonucleic Acid

Abstract Ribonuclease-resistant infectious double-stranded RNA has been isolated in milligram quantities from poliovirus-infected HeLa cells. Purification was accomplished by eliminating high molecular weight single-stranded RNA by differential NaCl precipitation and chromatographing the remaining RNA on columns of methylated albumin-Kieselguhr. The product has the following physicochemical and biological properties: (a) Homogeneity with respect to size, as determined by sedimentation analysis; (b) an s20w, of 17.2, which is compatible with the molecular weight of 4 x 106 anticipated for poliovirus double-stranded RNA; (c) buoyant density in Cs2SO4 of 1.60 g cm-3; (d) abrupt hyperchromic shift of 25% on heating, the value of Tm (temperature at midpoint) being dependent upon ionic environment; (e) nucleotide composition consistent with a base-paired, double-stranded secondary structure; (f) infectivity which is partially resistant to RNase and resistant to formaldehyde; (g) specific infectivity 30-fold greater than that of poliovirus single-stranded RNA; (h) optimal conditions for assay of infectivity which differ from those of single-stranded RNA. It is concluded that the RNase-resistant infectivity derives from information contained in a double-stranded molecule and that the replicative cycle initiated by double-stranded RNA must differ from the cycle initiated by single-stranded RNA. The fact that double-stranded RNA is infectious has definite implications regarding the possible functional role of this material in the virus growth cycle.
Molecular basis of the pleiotropic phenotype of mice carrying the hypervariable yellow (Ahvy) mutation at the agouti locus

The murine agouti locus regulates a switch in pigment synthesis between eumelanin (black/brown pigment) and phaeomelanin (yellow/red pigment) by hair bulb melanocytes. We recently described a spontaneous mutation, hypervariable yellow (Ahvy) and demonstrated that Ahvy is responsible for the largest range of phenotypes yet identified at the agouti locus, producing mice that are obese with yellow coats to mice that are of normal weight with black coats. Here, we show that agouti expression is altered both temporally and spatially in Ahvy mutants. Agouti expression levels are positively correlated with the degree of yellow pigmentation in individual Ahvy mice, consistent with results from other dominant yellow agouti mutations. Sequencing of 5' RACE and genomic PCR products revealed that Ahvy resulted from the integration of an intracisternal A particle (IAP) in an antisense orientation within the 5' untranslated agouti exon 1C. This retrovirus-like element is responsible for deregulating agouti expression in Ahvy mice; agouti expression is correlated with the methylation state of CpG residues in the IAP long terminal repeat as well as in host genomic DNA. In addition, the data suggest that the variable phenotype of Ahvy offspring is influenced in part by the phenotype of their Ahvy female parent.
A Robust and Almost Fully Efficient M-Estimator

Simultaneous robust estimates of location and scale parameters are derived from a class of M-estimating equations. A coefficient p (p > 0), which plays a role similar to that of a tuning constant in the theory of M-estimation, determines the estimating equations. These estimating equations may be obtained as the gradient of a strictly convex criterion function. This article shows that the estimators are uniquely defined, asymptotically bi-variate normal and have positive breakdown for some choices of p. When p = 0.12 and p = 0.3, the estimators are almost fully efficient for normal and exponential distributions: efficiencies with respect to the maximum likelihood estimators are 1.00 and 0.99, respectively. It is shown that the location estimator for known scale has the maximum breakdown point 0.5 independent of p, when the target model is symmetric. Also it is shown that the scale estimator has a positive breakdown point which depends on the choice of p. A simulation study finds that the proposed location estimator has smaller variance than the Hodges–Lehmann estimator, Huber’s minimax and bisquare M-estimators.
Automatic B cell lymphoma detection using flow cytometry data

Flow cytometry has been widely used for the diagnosis of various hematopoietic diseases. Although there have been advances in the number of biomarkers that can be analyzed simultaneously and technologies that enable fast performance, the diagnostic data are still interpreted by a manual gating strategy. The process is labor-intensive, time-consuming, and subject to human error. We used 80 sets of flow cytometry data from 44 healthy donors, 21 patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), and 15 patients with follicular lymphoma (FL). Approximately 15% of data from each group were used to build the profiles. Our approach was able to successfully identify 36/37 healthy donor cases, 18/18 CLL cases, and 12/13 FL cases. This proof-of-concept study demonstrated that an automated diagnosis of CLL and FL can be obtained by examining the cell capture rates of a test case using the computational method based on the multi-profile detection algorithm. The testing phase of our system is efficient and can facilitate diagnosis of B-lymphocyte neoplasms.
A Mutation in the Anticodon of a Single tRNAala Is Sufficient to Confer Auxin Resistance in Arabidopsis

Auxin-resistant mutants have been useful for dissecting the mechanisms that underlie auxin-mediated biological processes. Here we report the isolation and molecular characterization of a novel auxin-resistant mutant in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). Like known mutated AUX/IAA transcription factors, the mutant described here displayed dominant resistance to exogenously supplied auxins (sirtinol, 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid, indole-3-acetic acid) and a host of pleiotropic phenotypes, including apical hook deformation, defects in lateral root development, reduced stature, and homozygous lethality. This mutant showed the same sensitivity to the ethylene precursor 1-aminocyclopropane carboxylic acid as wild-type plants, and retained the ability to induce IAA19 expression in response to exogenously supplied indole-3-acetic acid. To our surprise, these phenotypes were not caused by a mutation in an AUX/IAA gene, but rather a mutation in a tRNAala gene in which the anticodon was found changed from CGC to CAC. Such a change results in a tRNA that is charged with alanine but recognizes the second most highly used valine codon in Arabidopsis. Therefore, the observed phenotypes are likely the composite of stochastic mutations of many proteins, including downstream effectors.
Clothing-based person clustering in family photos

This paper presents methods to explore and fuse various clothing features for person clustering in family photos. Our approach automatically detects the clothing regions, extracts the global and localized features based on color and texture, and then computes multiple partitions of people based on different features, which are combined into the final consolidated person clustering with a cluster ensemble technique. The clothing clusters can be used for complementing face clusters and for other photo organization applications. The effectiveness of our approach is tested on real-world family photo datasets.