cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Organizational boundary spanners — identifying competencies and gaps

Many organizations are in the midst of a services transformation. Along with the ongoing need to provide differentiated products, firms are being asked to go to market with an increasing variety of customized service offerings. A key challenge in this new competitive environment is navigating through the complex dynamics of customer and stakeholder management from service definition through service delivery (Irons, 1994; Teboul, 2006). Success in this new services environment requires multi-talented individuals. They must be able to develop strong customer relationships and manage complex social networks, while also having a deep understanding of relevant service technologies and processes. These talented individuals are boundary spanners. Boundary spanners link their organizations with the outside world (Russ et al., 1998). An example of this boundary spanning role in high technology services is the customer-facing project manager. In this study we present the results of a set of interviews with such project managers. We compare and contrast our findings with general competencies identified in the project management literature, identify the differentiating competencies in this emerging and vital role, and make recommendations for closing the critical gaps.
Inhibition of soluble epoxide hydrolase prevents renal interstitial fibrosis and inflammation

The pathophysiological events that lead to renal interstitial fibrogenesis are incompletely understood. Epoxyeicosatrienoic acid (EET), an arachidonic acid metabolite, has anti-inflammatory and profibrinolytic functions. Soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH) converts EET to less active dihydroxyeicosatrienoic acid. Here, we tested the hypothesis that sEH deficiency would prevent tubulointerstitial fibrosis and inflammation induced by unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO) in mouse kidneys. The loss of sEH enhanced levels of EET regioisomers and abolished tubulointerstitial fibrosis as demonstrated by reduced collagen deposition and myofibroblast formation at 3 and 10 days after UUO. The inflammatory response was prevented as demonstrated by decreased influx of neutrophil and macrophage, expression of inflammatory cytokines, and chemotactic factors in sEH-deficient UUO kidneys. Pharmacological inhibition of sEH also prevented inflammation and fibrosis after UUO. Next, we delved into the molecular mechanisms piloting the beneficial effects of sEH deficiency in renal fibrosis. UUO upregulated profibrotic factors associated with transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1/Smad3 signaling, oxidative stress, and NF-κB activation, and downregulated antifibrotic factors including peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) isoforms, especially PPARγ, but the loss of sEH prevented these adverse effects in UUO kidneys. Furthermore, administration of PPAR antagonists enhanced myofibroblast formation and activation of Smad3 and NF-κB p65, effects that were prevented by sEH deficiency in UUO kidneys. These data demonstrate that loss of sEH promotes anti-inflammatory and fibroprotective effects in UUO kidneys via activation of PPAR isoforms and downregulation of NF-κB, TGF-β1/Smad3, and inflammatory signaling pathways. Our data suggest the potential use of sEH inhibitors in treating fibrotic diseases.
Imaging quality of a retroreflective screen in head-mounted projection displays

A retroreflective screen composed of miniature corner cube reflectors (CCRs) or microbeads redirects an incident ray in the reverse direction. Recently the retroreflective screen was utilized as a key element in head-mounted projection displays (HMPDs). Most prior efforts in developing the HMPD technology have been focused on optimizing the optical design of the projection optics, neglecting the imaging artifacts caused by the screen. Few efforts have been attempted to analyze and evaluate the overall image quality of the HMPD system with the presence of a retroreflective screen. This paper first applies a ray-tracing method to examine the imaging properties of a single CCR. Through the combination of both the geometrical imaging effect and the diffraction effect, the imaging properties of a CCR-based retroreflective screen are analyzed and characterized. Based on these analytical results, the paper further evaluates how the imaging artifacts of a retroreflective screen degrade the spatial resolution of an HMPD system and limit the tolerance range of the distance from an HMPD user to the screen. Finally, a discussion is employed to illustrate potential techniques in minimizing the image quality degradation through the optimization of the corner cube size in a retroreflective screen.
Larval Development and Nesting Biology of the Adventive Wood-Nesting Bee Lithurgus (L.) chrysurus Fonscolombe (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae: Lithurgini)

ABSTRACT Announced herein is the discovery of a nesting site of Lithurgus (Lithurgus) chrysurus Fonscolombe (Megachilidae: Megachilinae: Lithurgini), an adventive solitary bee of Western Palearctic origin that had first been detected in North America in the mid-1970's and thought to have become extinct locally since then. The occurrence of the new nesting site in eastern Pennsylvania, close to the point of first discovery in New Jersey, suggests its persistent but low presence over the past 35 years. Several previous papers offered insight into nests of this species, which bores into dead wood to nest, and described its larva and pupa. The current investigation reveals new information concerning nest architecture, nest closure, its cocoon structure and functions, and anatomy of its mature larva. Its larva is compared with that of L. (Lithurgopsis) apicalis Cresson (a congener in another subgenus) and with that of Trachusa larreae (Cockerell) with consideration of how body vestiture and anatomy function to...
The characterization of a zebrafish mid‐hindbrain mutant, mid‐hindbrain gone (mgo)

The vertebrate mid-hindbrain boundary (MHB) is a crucial morphological structure required for patterning and neural differentiation of the midbrain and anterior hindbrain. We isolated a novel zebrafish mutant, MHB gone (mgo), that exhibited a defective MHB. Expression of engrailed3 in the prospective MHB was absent at the 1-somite stage, suggesting that initiation of the isthmic organizer was disrupted in mgo mutants. Complementation test with mgo and noi, in which the pax2a gene is mutated, infer that the mgo mutant may represent a novel noi allele. However, pronephric, otic vesicle, and commissural axonal defects described in noi mutants were not associated with mgo mutants. Genetic mapping revealed that the mgo mutation is linked to the Pax2a locus, but no mutation was detected in pax2a exons or within intron-exon boundaries. Based on these findings, we propose that the mgo mutation genetically interacts with pax2a required for the initiation of MHB formation.
Systematic Errors in Cosmic Microwave Background Interferometry

Cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization observations will require superb control of systematic errors in order to achieve their full scientific potential, particularly in the case of attempts to detect the $B$ modes that may provide a window on inflation. Interferometry may be a promising way to achieve these goals. This paper presents a formalism for characterizing the effects of a variety of systematic errors on interferometric CMB polarization observations, with particular emphasis on estimates of the $B$-mode power spectrum. The most severe errors are those that couple the temperature anisotropy signal to polarization; such errors include cross talk within detectors, misalignment of polarizers, and cross polarization. In a $B$ mode experiment, the next most serious category of errors are those that mix $E$ and $B$ modes, such as gain fluctuations, pointing errors, and beam shape errors. The paper also indicates which sources of error may cause circular polarization (e.g., from foregrounds) to contaminate the cosmologically interesting linear polarization channels, and conversely whether monitoring of the circular-polarization channels may yield useful information about the errors themselves. For all the sources of error considered, estimates of the level of control that will be required for both $E$ and $B$ mode experiments are provided. Simulations of a mock experiment are presented to illustrate the results. Both experiments that interfere linear polarizations and those that interfere circular polarizations are considered. The fact that circular experiments simultaneously measure both linear polarization Stokes parameters in each baseline mitigates some sources of error.
THE RELEASE OF SPECIFIC BACTERICIDAL ANTIBODIES BY ENDOTOXIN

Studies presented in this report are concerned with the effect of endotoxin upon the release of bactericidal antibodies as determined by the agar plaque technique. We found that shortly after the injection of mice with small amounts of endotoxin the number of plaque-forming cells in the spleen was substantially reduced and remained low for about 12 hr. At the same time the titer of specific bactericidal antibodies in the circulation was increased, 6-mercaptopurine was shown to be an effective suppressor of the immune response by inhibiting the multiplication of bactericidin-forming cells. However, administration of this drug did not modify the initial responses of antibodies and plaque-forming cells to endotoxin. Thus, we postulate that endotoxin does not induce destruction and subsequent reconstitution of bactericidin-forming cells, but that the observed changes represent a release of preformed antibodies from competent cells. For a limited time, thereafter, these cells become inactive, but soon resume their normal function of releasing bactericidal antibodies.
A revision of ants of the subgenus Polyrhachis Fr. Smith (Hymenoptera: Formicidae : Formicinae)

Abstract All the 13 nominal taxa of the subgenus Polyrhachis are included in this revision. Range, mean, standard deviation, coefficient of variability, coefficient of difference, and the taxonomic distance for 10 morphological measurements and indices are calculated for comparison of different samples. Seven of the eight infraspecific taxa are synonymized, and the other, mindanaensis, is raised to specific status. Montana from Borneo is described as a new species. A tentative phyletic scheme within this subgenus is proposed.
Emotion-Specific Priming: Congruence Effects on Affect and Recognition Across Negative Emotions

The emotion-specific priming effects of negatively valenced emotions (anger, sadness, and fear) were demonstrated in a divided attention task. After an emotional prime, subjects were simultaneously exposed to target displays portraying two different negative emotions. Target emotions congruent with the primed emotion were judged as more intense. Emotive priming did not increase recognition for affectively congruent target displays that were actually presented, but priming effects appeared on recognition for displays not actually seen. Emotively congruent displays that had not been presented were falsely recognized, where as emotively incongruent displays that had not been seen were correctly reported as not recognized. The results indicated that emotional congruence effects seemed to emerge from the increased probability that congruent behaviors were schematically processed whereas controlled attentional processing resources were reserved for emotively incongruent behaviors.
The Influence of Circle Hooks on the Capture Efficiency and Injury Rate of Walleyes

Abstract In fisheries managed with conservative regulations, catch-and-release mortality may contribute over one-half of the total fishing mortality. Popular angling literature suggests that circle hooks reduce hooking mortality by reducing the incidence of deep hooking. Anglers fished for walleyes Sander vitreus with circle hooks and octopus hooks (J-hooks) to explore differences in hook efficiency and injury rate. The strike-specific injury rate (SSIR) was defined as the product of four performance ratings: hooking efficiency (H), retention efficiency (R), deep-hooking rate (D), and internal injury rate (I). The H of circle hooks was significantly less than that of octopus hooks. Values of R, D, and I did not differ significantly between circle hooks and octopus hooks, although all three proportions were lower for circle hooks. The circle hook SSIR was 0.12 injuries/strike and was significantly lower than the octopus hook SSIR of 0.27 injuries/strike. Assuming that hooking mortality is proportional to t...
EMI reduction techniques for InfiniBand multi-GHz interconnect

EMI compliance is becoming more and more challenging as the date transmission rate gets higher and higher. This paper discusses EM issues for a multi-GHz high-speed interconnect-the InfiniBand Architecture. Potential EMI problems are identified and addressed. EMI reduction solutions with measurement data support are presented including a cost-effective inter-plane capacitance approach, which significantly reduces system EM by implementing a board layout change.
Overexpression of the kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus transactivator K-Rta can complement a K-bZIP deletion BACmid and yields an enhanced growth phenotype.

Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus/human herpesvirus 8 (HHV8) ORF50 encodes a transactivator, K-Rta, which functions as the switch from latent to lytic virus replication. K-bZIP interacts with K-Rta and can repress its transactivation activity for some viral promoters. Both K-Rta and K-bZIP are required for origin-dependent DNA replication. To determine the role of K-bZIP in the context of the viral genome, we generated a recombinant HHV8 bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) with a deletion in the K-bZIP open reading frame. This BACmid, BAC36ΔK8, displayed an enhanced growth phenotype with respect to virus production and accumulation of virus-encoded mRNAs measured by real-time PCR when K-Rta was used to induce the virus lytic cycle. Conversely, induction of the virus lytic cycle using tetradecanoyl phorbol acetate/n-butyrate resulted in no virus production and an aberrant gene expression pattern from BAC36ΔK8-containing cells compared to wild-type (wt) BAC. This null virus phenotype was efficiently complemented by the expression of K-bZIP in trans, restoring virus production to wt BAC levels. Immunofluorescence staining revealed that subcellular localization of K-Rta was unchanged; however, a disruption of LANA subcellular localization was observed in cells harboring BAC36ΔK8, suggesting that K-bZIP influences LANA localization. Coimmunoprecipitation experiments confirmed that K-bZIP interacts with LANA in BCBL-1 cells and in cotransfection assays. Lastly, the chromatin immunoprecipitation assay revealed that, in an environment where K-Rta is overexpressed and in the absence of K-bZIP, K-Rta binds to CAAT enhancer binding protein α sites within oriLyt, suggesting that it is K-Rta that supplies an essential replication function and that K-bZIP may serve to augment or facilitate the interaction of K-Rta with oriLyt.
A numerical stable algorithm for constructing constrained Delaunay triangulation and application to multichip module layout

Presents some characteristics of constrained Delaunay triangulation and introduces a numerically stable algorithm for incrementally constructing constrained Delaunay triangulation. This algorithm produces constrained Delaunay triangulation at each step. It builds Delaunay triangulation in O(N/sup 2/) time in the worst case. However, its average case performance is O(NlogN). Since the algorithm mainly uses the circle criterion, it arises the precision problem, such as whether a point is inside, outside or exactly on a circle. The authors present a method to conceptually avoid the numerical errors. The experimental results are shown in this paper. >
Experiential Learning: Lessons Learned From The UND Business And Government Symposium

The authors describe lessons learned from a limited-duration experiential learning component of a Master’s level course. The course is open to Master’s in Business and Master’s in Public Administration students and explores the relationships between government and business. A complete discussion of the Master’s in Business and Master’s in Public Administration students is presented, with emphasis on advance planning and integration of a limited-duration field trip experience into the academic component of the course.
The impact of PET pixel size on contrast recovery for small lesions

2018 Objectives Clinical PET images are frequently reconstructed to a relatively large pixel size and this may contribute to a loss of contrast recovery for small lesions. The aim of this study was to determine whether lesion detection could be improved by reconstructing with smaller pixels. Methods Three replicate studies were performed with the ACR PET phantom on different dates. The phantom inserts (25, 16, 12, 8 mm diameter) were filled with a 2.5:1 lesion-to-background activity ratio. Data were acquired with a Discovery RX PET/CT system in 3D mode. Separate images were reconstructed with 128 or 256 matrix sizes and a 60 cm transverse field-of-view (3D OSEM, 2 iterations, 21 subsets, 3 mm post filter). For both image sets, SUVmax was determined on 5 separate slices for each insert and study. In addition, the above protocol was used to reconstruct 14 clinical head and neck studies with both 128 and 256 matrix sizes. Results Visual inspection of the phantom images showed slightly greater contrast for the smallest insert. This was confirmed by quantitative analysis: SUVmax(256) / SUVmax(128) was 1.01 ± 0.02, 0.99 ± 0.02, 1.01 ± 0.02 and 1.08 ± 0.04 for the 25, 16, 12 and 8 mm inserts respectively. Despite this, blinded side-by-side physician review of the 256×256 and 128×128 patient images consistently revealed no clinically significant differences between the two matrix sizes in terms of tumor detection. Conclusions Phantom studies showed that contrast for an 8 mm diameter insert was improved with the 256×256 compared to the 128×128 matrix size. Although visually detectable in the phantom images, this contrast improvement did not translate to improved lesion detection in clinical images.
Engineering And Environmental Applications Of The Potential Field Methods Of Geophysics.

Gravity and magnetic methods are potential field methods and used for a wide range of applications and scales in geosciences. Traditionally, they have been used for regional, large scale investigation of geological structure, such as basement relief and fault structure delineation. Despite the initial contribution of gravity methods to oil/petroleum exploration by detection and mapping of salt domes, “gravity data” is viewed primarily as a “reconnaissance tool in oil exploration” and “to provide constraints in seismic interpretation.” (quotes from Telford et al., 1990) A familiar, smaller-scale (higher resolution) application of the gravity and magnetic methods is for ore body detection and mapping. The key geological factor required for application of the gravity and magnetic methods is lateral variation in physical properties of subsurface materials. If the only variation in physical properties is in the vertical direction, such as is the case for horizontally layered, homogeneous strata, the gravity and magnetic methods are applicable only for confirmation of the uniformity and lack of anomalous conditions. Engineering and environmental (near-surface) applications of the gravity and magnetic methods were limited prior to the 1960's. Equipment developments and the emergence of new classes of high priority applications have brought about a resurgence of interest in the potential field methods of geophysics and the development of high-resolution, high-accuracy field procedures. The new classes of applications can be summarized as environmental (hazardous and toxic waste site assessments), archaeological, abandoned mine lands reclamation, cavity and tunnel detection and mapping, site investigations in karst areas, seismotectonic investigations, and other specialized problems. The gravity and magnetic methods are noted for two facts, one positive and the other somewhat negative: (1) the methods, which rely on measurement of variation in a naturally occurring potential fields, are fundamentally non-invasive and nondisturbing; (2) the interpretation of survey results is complicated by the fundamental, inherent nonuniqueness or ambiguity of source determination. The inherent ambiguity of gravity and magnetic interpretation often requires the exercise of more geological insight and constraining direct information, such as from boreholes, for quantitative interpretation than required by many of the other geophysical methods (although in fact interpretation of all geophysical survey results involves varying degrees of nonuniqueness and ambiguity). For purely qualitative, anomaly mapping applications, the gravity and magnetic methods often can be used when other geotechnical methods are not effective. And, with apologies for not including other near-surface geophysical methods that are legitimately potential field methods, e.g., direct current resistivity and self-potential, this paper only addresses gravity and magnetic methods and their engineering and environmental applications.
Non-isomorphic distribution supports for calculating entropic vectors

A 2N − 1 dimensional vector is said to be entropic if each of its entries can be regarded as the joint entropy of a particular subset of N discrete random variables. The explicit characterization of the closure of the region of entropic vectors Γ*Nis unknown for N ≥ 4. A systematic approach is proposed to generate the list of non-isomorphic distribution supports for the purpose of calculating and optimizing entropic vectors. It is shown that a better understanding of the structure of the entropy region can be obtained by constructing inner bounds based on these supports. The constructed inner bounds based on different supports are compared both in full dimension and in a transformed three dimensional space of Csirmaz and Matus.
Renal Microradiography of Experimental Ureteral Obstruction in the Rabbit

AbstractMicroradiography of nephrons in kidneys perfusion-fixed with glutaraldehyde permits examination of large numbers of nephrons. This technique was applied to rabbits between one and 14 days following unilateral ureteral ligation. Kidneys without ureteral occlusion served as controls. By two days after ureteral obstruction there was dilatation of the ducts of Bellini and papillary collecting ducts. At three to four days there was splaying and tortuosity of the loops of Henle. By eight to 10 days the proximal straight tubules were noted to be dilated and helically twisted. After two weeks of ureteral obstruction there was dilatation of Bowman’s space with encroachment on the glomerular capillary tuft. At this time many proximal convoluted tubules began to show atrophic changes. These morphologic alterations may due in part to back pressure on the nephrons, with retrograde progression as the duration of urinary tract obstruction is increased. The distal convoluted tubule and the descending limb of the ...
‘Able and Evangelical Ministers’: The Beginnings of Ministerial Formation at Bristol Baptist College

This article re-tells the story of the origins of ministerial formation in Bristol Baptist College, and seeks to highlight what has become popularly known as the ‘Bristol tradition’. Special attention is given to some of the European Baptists who came to Bristol to study.
From high harmonics to subfemtosecond pulses

Interaction of optical or near infrared laser light of intensity around 1015 W/cm2 with gases of He, Ne, or Ar atoms is a means of generating very high harmonics (with numbers around 100) with photon energies in XUV region. In this presentation I will discuss the physical mechanism of high harmonic emission in a very strong laser field and possible ways to manipulate this process.
Safety and Feasibility of Laparoscopic Liver Resection in Antiplatelet-Burdened Patients with Arterial Thromboembolic Risks

AIM: The aim of the study was to assess the safety and feasibility of laparoscopic liver resection (LLR) using two-surgeon technique in patients with preoperative antiplatelet therapy (APT) for arterial thromboembolic risks. METHODS: Patients who had undergone LLR using two-surgeon technique in a tertiary care setting from 2010 to 2016 were retrospectively reviewed. Our perioperative antithrombotic management of patients with high thromboembolic risks included continuation of aspirin monotherapy for APT patients and bridging heparin substitution for patients with anticoagulation. Outcome variables, including bleeding and thromboembolic complications, were compared between the APT patients with high thromboembolic risks (APT-HR group), those with low risks (APT-LR group), and those without APT (non-APT group). RESULTS: A total of 73 LLRs were performed, including partial resection in 54, left lateral sectionectomy in 13, S5 sub-sectionectomy in 4, right anterior sectionectomy in 1 and left hepatectomy in 1. APT-HR group showed significantly high frequency of history of congestive heart failure, percutaneous coronary intervention and cerebral infarction, although tumor characteristics and the type of operation were similar between the groups. Only one patient was converted to open surgery due to massive bleeding in non-APT group but none was converted in APT-HR or APT-LR groups. In the current cohort, neither bleeding nor thromboembolic complications occurred postoperatively, but one postoperative mortality case due to unknown cause was experienced in APT-HR group. CONCLUSION: LLR using two-surgeon technique can be performed safely and satisfactorily even under continuation of aspirin monotherapy for patients with high thromboembolic risks, although this challenging group needs to be carefully managed to prevent fatal postoperative complications.
Concentration of Egg White by Ultrafiltration1

Unpasteurized egg white was concentrated by ultrafiltration to about one half of its original volume. Twenty four batches, each started with 5,000 pounds of fresh egg white, were carried out in a 12-month period with a SANOVO Unit in an egg products plant. The optimum operating pressure was found to be about 415 psi. Higher pressure did not benefit the overall efficiency; on the contrary, it increased the chances of fouling and possibly compaction of the membrane and shortened the membrane life. As no refrigeration was provided in the system, egg white temperature rose linearly in all trials. The aerobic plate count of microorganisms was found to be doubled within 1–3 h when the ending temperature was above 20 C and over 10 h when the ending temperature was less than 16 C. The logarithm of permeation rate (R, lb./min) was linearly proportional to operating time (t, min) and the percent solids content of egg white (S). The solids content at a given time can be predicted by the equation: The estimated cost ...
The Self restated

This is a short summary of the book The Self: Naturalism, Consciousness and the First-Person Stance (Oxford University Press 2012). It introduced an “author meets critics” panel at the American Philosophical Association Pacific Division meeting in San Francisco 2016. I try to relate the discussion in the book to recent work that has appeared since its publication.
Spectral- and energy-efficient transmission over frequency-orthogonal channels

Spectral efficiency and energy efficiency are important design criteria for green communications systems and networks. In this paper, spectral efficiency and energy efficiency are addressed for wireless transmission over frequency-orthogonal channels. The maximum sum rate is used in measuring spectral- and energy-efficiency. Towards achieving the maximum efficiency, two separated optimization problems are formulated. With a fixed transmit power allocation, the optimal bandwidth assignment is given in closed form. Then, a procedure is provided to determine the total bandwidth for maximum spectral efficiency. With a fixed bandwidth assignment, the optimal transmit power allocation is given in closed form. Then, a procedure is provided to determine the total transmit power for maximum energy efficiency. Practical data traffic is discussed that affects the maximum efficiency result. Simulation results validate the transmission approaches over frequency-orthogonal channels that achieve the best spectral efficiency and energy efficiency, respectively.
Long-Term Psychological Health among Individuals Pursuing Emerging Adulthood-Type Pathways in the 1950s and 1960s.

We analyzed data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (N = 6390) to investigate how common an emerging adulthood-type lifestyle (e.g., delayed marriage and childbearing, pursuit of higher education) was in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and what the long-term psychological-health correlates were of such a lifestyle. Cluster analyses of marital, childbearing, educational, and occupational variables from 1957 (high school graduation) to 1964 generated six clusters that we labeled: fast-starters (early marriage and childbearing, little education beyond high school, virtually all employed), very-educated/partnered (mean educational attainment well into graduate school and among the earliest to get married), moderately educated/family-oriented (mean years of education somewhat shy of a bachelor’s degree, early marriage and childbearing), educated singles (late marriage and childbearing, if at all, averaging a bachelor’s degree; most prototypical of emerging adulthood), work/military-first (little education past high school, late marriage and childbearing), and military/professional-aspiration (envisioning career requiring college education and pursuing one). The clusters were then compared on health and well-being measures from 1992 to 1993 and 2003 to 2005, controlling for family-of-origin socioeconomic status. In general, individuals whose life pursuits combined higher education, professional career aspirations, and marriage exhibited the best long-term psychological health. Results are discussed in terms of historical conditions when these individuals transitioned to adulthood.
Policy Conflict Framework

This essay introduces a Policy Conflict Framework to guide and organize theoretical, practical, and empirical research to fill the vacuum that surrounds policy conflicts. The framework centers on a conceptual definition of an episode of policy conflict that distinguishes between cognitive and behavioral characteristics. The cognitive characteristics of a policy conflict episode include divergence in policy positions among two or more actors, perceived threats from opponents’ policy positions, and unwillingness to compromise. These cognitive characteristics manifest in a range of behavioral characteristics (e.g., framing contests, lobbying, building networks). Episodes of policy conflicts are shaped by a policy setting, which consists of different levels of action where conflicts may emerge (political, policy subsystem and policy action situations), interpersonal and intrapersonal policy actor attributes, events, and the policy issue. In turn, the outputs and outcomes of policy conflicts produce feedback effects that shape the policy setting. This essay ends with an agenda for advancing studies of policy conflicts, both methodologically and theoretically.
meta-C−H Arylation and Alkylation of Benzylsulfonamide Enabled by a Palladium(II)/Isoquinoline Catalyst

Palladium(II)-catalyzed meta-C-H arylation and alkylation of benzylsulfonamide using 2-carbomethoxynorbornene (NBE-CO2 Me) as a transient mediator are realized by using a newly developed electron-deficient directing group and isoquinoline as a ligand. This protocol features broad substrate scope and excellent functional-group tolerance. The meta-substituted benyzlsulfonamides can be readily transformed into sodium sulfonates, sulfonate esters, and sulfonamides, as well as styrenes by Julia-type olefination. The unique impact of the isoquinoline ligand underscores the importance of subtle matching between ligands and the directing groups.
Overlooked Mechanisms in Type 1 Diabetes Etiology: How Unique Costimulatory Molecules Contribute to Diabetogenesis.

Type 1 Diabetes develops when immune cells invade the pancreatic islets resulting in loss of insulin production in beta cells. T cells have been proven to be central players in that process. What is surprising however is that classic mechanisms of tolerance cannot explain diabetogenesis; alternate mechanisms must now be considered. TCR revision is the process whereby T cells in the periphery alter TCR expression, outside the safety-net of thymic selection pressures. This process results in an expanded T cell repertoire, capable of responding to a universe of pathogens, but limitations are that increased risk for autoimmune disease development occurs. Classic T cell co-stimulators including the CD28 family have long been thought to be the major drivers for full T cell activation. In actuality CD28 and its family member counterparts, ICOS and CTLA-4, all drive regulatory responses. Inflammation is driven by CD40, not CD28. CD40 as a co-stimulus has been largely overlooked. When naive T cells interact with APC CD154, the major ligand for CD40, is induced. This creates a milieu for T cell (CD40) - T cell (CD154) interaction leading to inflammation. Finally, defined pathogenic effector cells including TH40 (CD4+CD40+) cells can express FOXP3 but are not Tregs. The cells loose FOXP3 to become pathogenic effector cells. Each of these mechanisms create novel options to better understand diabetogenesis and create new therapeutic targets for T1D.
Predicting postoperative delirium in patients undergoing deep hypothermia circulatory arrest

Cardiac surgeries involving deep hypothermia circulatory arrest present a risk of cognitive impairment. This study attempts to uncover intraoperative electroencephalogram (EEG) biomarkers predictive of postoperative delirium, which is associated with long term health complications. We predict postoperative delirium diagnoses by examining changes in ensemble neural activity during surgeries through spatiotemporal eigenspectra extracted from patient EEG data. Artifact detection and feature normalization schemes are developed to facilitate this. At most 14 of 16 cases were correctly predicted with a p-value of 0.0015. An area under the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve of 0.8364 was achieved-0.9091 when considering the convex hull.
Introduction to TRP channels: structure, function, and regulation.

Transient receptor potential or TRP families of ion channels demonstrate great diversity in activation and inhibition, and they are diverse in selectivity of ion conductance. TRP ion channels function as signal integrators through their ion conductance properties, and in some cases kinase activity. They mediate processes such as vision, taste, olfaction, hearing, touch, and thermo- and osmosensation. TRP cation channels function by mediating the flux of Na+ and Ca2+ across the plasma membrane and into the cytoplasm. The influx of cations into the cytoplasm depolarizes cells and is necessary for action potentials in excitable cells such as neurons. In non-excitable cells, membrane depolarization by TRP ) and-channels stimulates voltage- dependent channels (Ca2+, K+, Cl- influences many cellular events, such as transcription, translation, contraction, and migration. TRP channels are important in human physiology, and mutations in TRP genes are associated with at least four diseases. Furthermore, altered expression, function, and/or regulation of TRP channels have been implicated in diseases such as pulmonary hypertension.
Placental Site Trophoblastic Tumor in a Postmenopausal Woman

Placental site trophoblastic tumor is a rare neoplasm that arises in the trophoblastic tissue of the placental bed. This case report is unusual because of the patient's advanced age at the time of diagnosis and the favorable response of the disease to chemotherapy. Although the clinical course is benign for most patients with placental site trophoblastic tumor, the malignant variant of the disease is characterized by recurrence, relative insensitivity to radiation and chemotherapy, and death. To the authors' knowledge, the 53-year-old woman reported is the oldest patient with histologically confirmed placental site trophoblastic tumor. Initially, surgery, radiation, and multiagent chemotherapy failed to control vaginal and pulmonary metastatic disease. After administration of four treatment cycles of a “second-line” chemotherapeutic regimen consisting of cyclophosphamide and cisplatin, complete clinical and radiologic remission was achieved. The patient's serum level of human chorionic gonadotropin has remained undetectable, and she has been without measurable evidence of disease for 16 months.
Rolling sound waves.

A quantitative description of sound wave propagation in suspensions of self-propelled colloidal particles is achieved by combining microfluidics, video microscopy and theory.
Regression Approximations to Estimate Sensitivities

Chapter 5 explores the idea of using regression problems to estimate sensitivities. Section 5.1 explains how one might approximate the gradient of the QoI at a nominal point using a least-squares (regression) formulation. This naive approach requires more QoI evaluations than one-sided finite differences as described in the previous chapter. Section 5.2 introduces a regularization term into the least-squares minimization problem, allowing for useful solutions also for the case where fewer QoI evaluations than parameters are available; sparsity-promoting regularization (1-norm, LASSO) and a combination of 1-norm and 2-norm (elastic net) are considered. Section 5.3 adds cross-validation techniques for selecting the regularization parameters.
Early childhood risk and later adaptation: A person-centered approach using latent profiles

Abstract Risk factors in early childhood tend to co-occur and accumulate over time in complex patterns. Person-centered methods enable nuanced understanding of developmental processes of risk and resilience. With longitudinal data on 3398 children from the Fragile Families study, we utilized latent class analysis to identify profiles of psychosocial risk in early childhood in relation to profiles of middle childhood functioning. Results revealed five classes of risk, including one class of low risk, two classes characterized by resource-related risks, one class characterized by family stress, and one class involving both resource and family risks. Patterns of later functioning involved five profiles. Two profiles demonstrated competence, two were characterized by lower functioning in certain domains, and one involved maladaptive functioning across domains. Risk profiles characterized by resource-related risks corresponded with outcome profiles with low academics. Profiles characterized by family stress were associated with below average academic, conduct, and emotional well-being profiles.
Selective retransplantation after late hepatic artery thrombosis.

Hepatic artery thrombosis (HAT) is a serious and life-threatening complication that can occur any time after liver transplantation. HAT is generally subdivided into 2 categories. Early HAT frequently presents with profound graft dysfunction and sepsis, and requires urgent revascularization or retransplantation. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Is BDSM a Sexual Orientation or Serious Leisure

This review summarizes recent empirical and theoretical scholarship pertaining to two primary ways that BDSM is conceptualized, specifically as a unique sexual orientation or as a form of leisure experience. This review helps clinicians understand how BDSM is currently positioned by scholars and by some within the BDSM community. Recent studies have found strong support for both the sexual orientation and leisure perspectives, distinctly. The sexual orientation approach currently focuses on a somewhat narrow segment of highly invested BDSM participants, while the leisure approach accounts for a broad range of diverse participation and experience. BDSM can be understood as both an orientation and as leisure for many but not all participants. Both perspectives share the same underlying multidisciplinary substrate. Although the emphases of the orientation and leisure approaches are different to some degree, the sexual orientation perspective (OP) and the serious leisure perspective (SLP) seem to account equally well for sexual identity centered on BDSM. Understanding both perspectives provides a more complete understanding of the variation and complexity of BDSM.
Hepatocellular carcinoma response to transcatheter arterial chemoembolisation using automatically generated pre-therapeutic tumour volumes by a random forest-based segmentation protocol.

AIM To demonstrate the feasibility of correlating pre-therapeutic volumes and residual liver volume (RLV) with clinical outcomes: time to progression (TTP) and overall survival (OS) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treated with transcatheter arterial chemoembolisation (TACE). MATERIALS AND METHODS TTP was calculated from a database of 105 patients, receiving first-line treatment with TACE. TTP cut-off for stratifying patients into responders and non-responders was 28 weeks. Pre-treatment tumour and liver volumes were correlated with the TTP and OS following treatment. Univariate cox-regression model was used to assess whether these volumes could predict TTP and/or OS. Kaplan–Meier analysis with log-rank test was used to compare the TTP between high and low volume groups for viable, necrotic, and total tumour. Kaplan–Meier analysis was performed comparing the OS of 10 patients with the longest TTP (mean=122 weeks) in the responder group and 10 patients with the shortest TTP (mean=7 weeks) in the non-responder group. RESULTS HCC in high tumour volume groups had a shorter TTP than lesions in low tumour volume groups (p=0.05, p=0.04, p=0.02, for enhancing, non-enhancing, total tumour groups, respectively). A negative (correlation coefficient [CC] 0.3) linear correlation between TTP and tumour volumes, and a positive linear correlation between TTP and residual liver volumes were also demonstrated (CC 0.3). Patients with the longest TTP had a higher OS than with the shortest TTP (p=0.03). CONCLUSION This demonstrates the feasibility of predicting treatment response of HCC to TACE using volumetric measurements of pre-treatment lesion and the feasibility of correlating RLV with TACE outcome data in HCC patients.
Quantifying and Diagnosing Sources of Uncertainty in Midcentury Changes in North American Snowpack from NARCCAP

AbstractThe NARCCAP RCM–GCM ensemble is used to explore the uncertainty in midcentury projections of snow over North America that arise when multiple RCMs are used to downscale multiple GCMs. Vario...
Patterns of Inequality and Latin American Support for Government Redistribution

This paper examines individual-level support for redistribution in Latin America. Using cross-national survey data from 2008 and 2010, we examine both country-level and individual-level explanations for attitudes toward redistribution. We focus in particular on how both the level of inequality and patterns of inequality at the country level affect attitudes. We consider two aspects of patterns of inequality. The first captures the overlap between ethnic and economic divides, rooted in an argument that as income levels are strongly associated with ethnicity, ethnic divisions will drive down support for redistribution. The second captures the economic distance between those in the middle of the income distribution and those at the top and bottom. The argument here is that support for redistribution will be lower where the distance between the middle and top of the income distribution is smaller than the distance between the middle and bottom of the income distribution. We also consider a host of individual explanations rooted in self-interest, ideology, and demographics. Our analysis supports the conclusion that higher levels of inequality and less overlap between economic and ethnic divides generate more support for redistribution.
Surgeon-specific risk stratification model for early complications after complex adult spinal deformity surgery.

Retrospective outcome analysis of a prospectively collected single-surgeon cases Identify risk factors for complications in adult surgical spine deformity patients, develop a surgeon-specific risk stratification model, and predict the likelihood of 6-week postoperative complications based on prospectively collected preoperative measures. Adult spinal deformity surgery is challenging technically as well as economically. Although many risk factors are well known for spine surgery, complications after complex spine deformity surgery remain a significant problem worldwide. We reviewed 124 consecutive adult patients who have undergone instrumented spinal fusion with nine or more levels over a 21-month period in a single institution. We extracted data from patient medical records. Complications within the 6 weeks after surgery were identified. Univariate and logistic regression analyses (LRAs) were implemented. We generated a formula based on the LRA predictive algorithm—a numeric probabilistic likelihood statistic representing an individual patient’s risk of developing a complication. A total of 34 (27%) patients had complications that were categorized into either 21 (17%) medical or 17 (13.7%) surgical complications, including 3 (2.4%) proximal junctional kyphosis, 8 (6.4%) neurologic deficit, and 9 (6.5%) any wound issue. The predictive model was significant and calibrated using area under the receiver operating characteristics curve analysis. The model correctly classified 83.1% cases. Patients with a three-column osteotomy or history of deep vein thrombosis have 6 and 19 times higher overall complications, respectively, compared with patients without. Patients with a three-column osteotomy or body mass index > 30, respectively, are 24 and 11 times more likely to develop a wound complication. Patients with a three-column osteotomy have 10 times higher rates of surgical complication. Complex spine deformity is often associated with complications. No single variable effectively predicts postoperative complications for such a complicated situation. However, when all risk factors are considered, patients with three-column osteotomy have a significantly higher chance to develop early complications. Level IV.