cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Parties for rent? Ambition, ideology, and party switching in Brazil's chamber of deputies

Party switching by legislators has been common in many countries, including the Philippines, Italy, Nepal, Ecuador, Russia, and Japan. While frequently dismissed as simply an indicator of a weak parties, switching provides a unique window on party systems. To the extent that we understand affiliation decisions, we gain insight on the way politicians use parties to advance their careers. In this article I offer a model of party-membership patterns, where decisions to switch party or to stay put are a function of the strategic interaction of legislators and endogenous party leaders. I test the model on the case of Brazil, where switching is common. Results suggest that Brazilian legislators use parties to maximize pork, ideological consistency, and short-term electoral success, but which of these matters most depends on constituents, i.e., legislators use parties for different purposes in different electoral environments. The approach developed here could easily be applied to study legislative behavior in other political systems.
Observer design tools for nonlinear flight regimes

Observer design for highly nonlinear dynamics is an important issue, particularly when the locally observable dynamics are not linearly observable. In such circumstances the ability to reduce the system to observable or observer form is key to observer design. We describe and illustrate symbolic computing tools to do that.
Physiological and Pharmacological Factors which Influence the Incidence of Acute Pulmonary Alterations Following Vagotomy in the Domestic Cock

Abstract INTRODUCTION DISTENSION of the pulmonary blood vessels, transudation of fluid into the air spaces, and formation of large air spaces constitute pulmonary alterations that can occur in an animal either spontaneously or after certain experimental procedures. Clinically, they are most often associated with cardiac failure of many types and with head injuries (Visscher et al., 1956). Experimentally, they have been produced by epinephrine infusions (Auer and Gates, 1917), lesions to specific areas of the brain (Marie and Patton, 1954Marie and Patton, 1956a, b), increased intracranial pressure (Campbell and Visscher, 1949), trauma to the brain (MacKay, 1950), injections of ammonium chloride (Koenig and Koenig, 1949), induction of hypoglycemia (MacKay and Pecka, 1950), restraint in a supine position (Visscher et al., 1956), and many other procedures. Perhaps the earliest experimental induction of pulmonary congestion was by bilateral, cervical vagotomy (see Luckhardt and Carlson, 1921, and Reichsman, 1946, for review of early literature). These pulmonary changes,…
Detection of strain minimization in Hf-based gate dielectrics by X-ray absorption and non-linear optical second harmonic generation spectroscopy

In order to move circuits and systems on a chip to higher levels of integration as required by ULSI technology, it becomes increasing more important to minimize local bond and macroscopic strain in CMOS and advanced CMOS devices. This paper combines linear and non-linear spectroscopic methods and theory to study strain minimization in non-crystalline and nanocrystalline Hf-based high-k dielectrics.
Modernizing love: Gender, romantic passion and youth literary culture in colonial Nigeria

This article concerns literary culture and the representation of romantic love in colonial Nigeria’s print media. It examines how Nigerians, during the first half of the twentieth century, began redefining love, as both a biocultural and a historical construction, through what I call the modernization of African romantic passion. Through letters to editors and articles, print media showed that love, like education, politics and other institutions of colonial power, could be modernized to reflect Nigerians’ quest to embrace ‘civilization’ and Western modernity. Modern romantic love did not just replace the precolonial or ‘traditional’ norms; rather, selective appropriation of precolonial gender and romantic norms created a hybrid that was neither African nor totally Western. While much has been written on African textual and print culture, gender, marriage and sexuality under colonial rule, the subject of romantic passion has received limited attention. Those few published works on the subject overlook it as a significant element of modernization that was championed by Africans who sought new avenues to express their emotion for the consumption of the reading public. This article attempts to retrieve the literary culture of colonial Nigerian youth by weaving textual analyses of representations of love into the wider socio-cultural transformation under alien rule. RESUME: Cet article traite de la culture litteraire et de la representation de l’amour romantique dans la presse ecrite du Nigeria colonial. Il examine comment les Nigerians, dans la premiere moitie du vingtieme siecle, ont commence a redefinir l’amour comme une construction a la fois bioculturelle et historique, a travers ce que l’auteur appelle la modernisation de la passion romantique africaine. La presse ecrite, a travers son courrier des lecteurs et ses articles, a montre que l’amour, comme l’education, la politique et d’autres institutions du pouvoir colonial, pouvait etre modernise pour refleter la quete de « civilisation » et de modernite occidentale des Nigerians. L’amour romantique moderne n’a pas simplement remplace les normes precoloniales ou « traditionnelles »; l’appropriation selective de normes de genre et de normes romantiques precoloniales a cree un hybride, ni africain, ni totalement occidental. Alors que l’on a beaucoup ecrit sur la culture textuelle et ecrite africaine, sur le genre, sur le mariage et sur la sexualite sous le regime colonial, le theme de la passion romantique a quant a lui ete peu traite. Les rares ouvrages publies sur ce sujet l’ont emis comme important element de modernisation prone par les Africains en quete de nouvelles voies pour exprimer leur emotion aupres du lectorat. Cet article tente d’en degager la culture litteraire de la jeunesse du Nigeria colonial en tissant des analyses textuelles de representations de l’amour dans la transformation socioculturelle plus large sous mandat etranger.
Construct and face validity of the American College of Surgeons/Association of Program Directors in Surgery laparoscopic troubleshooting team training exercise

Abstract Background Our aim was to develop an objective scoring system and evaluate construct and face validity for a laparoscopic troubleshooting team training exercise. Methods Surgery and gynecology novices (n = 14) and experts (n = 10) participated. Assessments included the following: time-out, scenario decision making (SDM) score (based on essential treatments rendered and completion time), operating room communication assessment (investigator developed), line operations safety audits (teamwork), and National Aeronautics and Space Administration–Task Load Index (workload). Results Significant differences were detected for SDM scores for scenarios 1 (192 vs 278; P = .01) and 3 (129 vs 225; P = .004), operating room communication assessment (67 vs 91; P = .002), and line operations safety audits (58 vs 87; P = .001), but not for time-out (46 vs 51) or scenario 2 SDM score (301 vs 322). Workload was similar for both groups and face validity (8.8 on a 10-point scale) was strongly supported. Conclusions Objective decision-making scoring for 2 of 3 scenarios and communication and teamwork ratings showed construct validity. Face validity and participant feedback were excellent.
Enculturation Effects in Music Cognition The Role of Age and Music Complexity

>> The authors replicate and extend findings from previous studies of music enculturation by comparing music memory performance of children to that of adults when listening to culturally familiar and unfamiliar music. Forty-three children and 50 adults, all born and raised in the United States, completed a music memory test comprising unfamiliar excerpts of Western and Turkish classical music. Examples were selected at two levels of difficulty—simple and complex—based on texture, instrument variety, presence of simultaneous musical lines, and clarity of internal repetition. All participants were significantly better at remembering novel music from their own culture than from an unfamiliar culture. Simple examples from both cultures were remembered significantly better than complex examples. Children performed as well as adults when remembering simple music from both cultures, whereas adults were better at remembering complex Western music. The results provide evidence that enculturation affects one’s understanding of music structure before adulthood.
Vietnam's Civilizing Process and the Retreat from the Street: A Turtle's Eye View From Ho Chi Minh City

This paper documents the closing down of street life at the Turtle Lake cafe district in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Once a bustling area of outdoor activity where patrons would sit in outdoor cafes and turn their gaze towards the public activity of the street, the area has recently been cleared of street side cafes. Instead of looking outward toward the street, patrons now sit indoors in high-end cafes with darkened windows, their gazes directed inwards in a fashion that turns their backs on the street. The new direction of their gaze is linked to both state and popular language about the desire to build a new form of “urban civilization.” In this paper, I show how the language of civilization, coupled with a new spatialized dialectic of seeing, shows a convergence between the disciplinary goals of the late socialist Vietnamese state and the interests of an emerging propertied class in urban Ho Chi Minh City. The logic of “civilization” thus unifies agendas heretofore seen as mutually opposed.
Helical peptides with three pairs of Asp‐Arg and Glu‐Arg residues in different orientations and spacings

The helix-stabilizing effects of repeating pairs of Asp-Arg and Glu-Arg residues have been characterized using a peptide system of the same design used earlier to study Glu-Lys (Marqusee, S. & Baldwin, R.L., 1987, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 84, 8898-8902) and Asp-Lys ion pairs (Marqusee, S. & Baldwin, R.L., 1990, In Protein Folding [Gierasch, L.M. & King, J., Eds.], pp. 85-94, AAAS, Washington, D.C.). The consequences of breaking ion pair and charge-helix dipole interactions by titration to pH 2 have been compared with the results of screening these interactions with NaCl at pH 7.0 and pH 2.5. The four peptides in each set contain three pairs of acidic (A) and basic (B) residues spaced either i, i + 4 or i, i + 3 apart. In one peptide of each kind the pairwise order of residues is AB, with the charges oriented favorably to the helix macrodipole, and in the other peptide the order is BA. The results are as follows: (1) Remarkably, both Asp-Arg and Glu-Arg peptides show the same pattern of helix stabilization at pH 7.0 found earlier for Glu-Lys and Asp-Lys peptides: i + 4 AB > i + 4 BA approximately i + 3 AB > i + 3 BA. (2) The ion pairs and charge-helix dipole interactions cannot be cleanly separated, but the results suggest that both interactions make important contributions to helix stability.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Democratic Imagination at the Brink

The political thought of the Founders is essential to understanding American politics: their thinking was embodied in state institutions and set the conceptual parameters of much subsequent political debate. Examining early American political thought allows us to better grasp the fundamental orientations of American political institutions and ideas, and can therefore also illuminate their democratic limitations. Historically situated democratic theory of the kind that I have pursued returns to the political thinking of the Founders not to uncritically praise it, but to better understand its persistence in the present, reveal its hold on the contemporary political imagination, and glimpse political possibilities beyond its horizon. The Federalist offers a canonical case in point, and the essays in this symposium have pushed me to clarify and develop my own thinking on the Founders’ authority and its limits; on the relationship between founding, violence, and exclusion; and on the distinctions between radical democracy and liberal constitutionalism.
Low-Lying Excited States of Sc 46 Populated in the Thermal-Neutron Capture Reaction Sc 45 (n,γ)Sc 46

The thermal-neutron capture reaction ${\mathrm{Sc}}^{45}(n,\ensuremath{\gamma}){\mathrm{Sc}}^{46}$ was utilized to populate low-lying states in ${\mathrm{Sc}}^{46}$ by means of $\ensuremath{\gamma}$-ray cascades from the compound-nucleus capture level. Scintillation singles and coincidence $\ensuremath{\gamma}$-ray spectroscopy techniques were used to study the gamma-ray decay characteristics of the levels observed. A rather complete set of data has been obtained for transitions between levels at excitation energies up to 0.675 MeV. Levels at 0.142, 0.225, 0.289, 0.445, 0.585, and 0.675 MeV have been inferred, and the decay characteristics of each of these states have been determined. In addition, many levels up to an excitation energy of 3.62 MeV have been observed and the principal $\ensuremath{\gamma}$-ray decay modes of these states are described. Conventional and time-to-pulse-height delayed-coincidence techniques were employed to establish the "prompt" (${t}_{\frac{1}{2}}\ensuremath{\lesssim}2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}9}$ sec) lifetimes of the 0.225-, 0.289-, 0.445-, 0.585-, and 0.675-MeV states. The isomeric character (${t}_{\frac{1}{2}}=20$ sec) of the state at 0.142 MeV has been confirmed. A complete decay scheme for states up to an excitation energy of 0.675 MeV is proposed, and the observed characteristics of these levels are compared with previous ($d,p$) stripping studies and recent theoretical calculations. In addition, a decay scheme is also presented which involves states at higher excitation energies (\ensuremath{\le}3.62 MeV) and includes the $\ensuremath{\gamma}$-ray decay modes observed in the present work.
Exploring Features For Localized Detection of Speech Recognition Errors

We address the problem of localized error detection in Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) output to support the generation of targeted clarifications in spoken dialogue systems. Localized error detection finds specific mis-recognized words in a user utterance. Targeted clarifications, in contrast with generic ‘please repeat/rephrase’ clarifications, target a specific mis-recognized word in an utterance (Stoyanchev et al., 2012a) and require accurate detection of such words. We extend and modify work presented in (Stoyanchev et al., 2012b) by experimenting with a new set of features for predicting the likelihood of a local error in an ASR hypothesis on an unsifted version of the original dataset. We improve over baseline results, where only ASRgenerated features are used, by constructing optimal feature sets for utterance and word mis-recognition prediction. The f-measure for identifying incorrect utterances improves by 2.2% and by 3.9% for identifiying incorrect words.
The Second Amendment and Militia Rights: Distinguishing Standard Model Legal Theory from the Historical Record

In this Journal’s symposium edition Gun Control and the Second Amendment, Nicholas J. Johnson argues the Standard Model Second Amendment is the correct interpretation in both law and history. In particular, Johnson chastizes any historically based militia interpretation as “nonsense” because it conflates rights with duties. And frustrated with different militia focused interpretations of the Second Amendment, he queries: “How many tries are allowed before the enterprise loses credibility?” To those historians that have waded through the evidentiary record, the irony of Johnson’s view that scholarship should not improve and evolve in response to new research and on-going scholarly debate will not go unnoticed. Johnnson shares with other supporters of the self-styled Standard Model a preference for ideology over evidence. The Standard Model “right to shoot, to train, or to gather for shooting practice or other activity with their individual arms that approximates or facilitates the militia duty” is not the Founders’ right, but closer in spirit to Daniel Shays, not James Madison.
Oxazolochlorins. 9. meso-Tetraphenyl-2-oxabacteriochlorins and meso-tetraphenyl-2,12/13-dioxabacteriochlorins.

The formal replacement of one or two pyrrole groups in meso-tetraphenylporphyrin by oxazole moieties is described, generating inter alia the bacteriochlorin-type chromophores oxazolobacteriochlorins (oxabacteriochlorins) and bisoxazolobacteriochlorins (dioxabacteriochlorins). The key step is the conversion of a β,β′-dihydroxy-functionalized pyrroline group into an oxazolone or (substituted) oxazole. Depending on the substitution pattern on the oxazole or oxazoline moieties, mono- and dioxabacteriochlorins may have chlorin- or bacteriochlorin-like spectra. The optical properties (as measured by UV–vis and fluorescence spectroscopies) of the novel oxa- and dioxabacteriochlorins are described and contrasted against benchmark chlorins and bacteriochlorins. The conformations of a representative number of mono- and dioxabacteriochlorins, as their free bases or ZnII complexes, were determined by single-crystal X-ray diffractometry. They proved to be essentially planar, showing that the modulation of their optica...
Preference for Managerial Boundary Setting in Relation to Empowerment: Adding Clarity to the Role of Boundaries

This study explores the role of manager and employee preference for managerial boundary setting in empowerment. Research has shown a clear relationship between managers’ empowerment practices and employee psychological empowerment, but confusion persists in the empowerment literature about the role played by boundaries in creating empowerment. We add clarity to the role of boundary setting by considering how the individual difference variable of manager and employee preference for managerial boundary setting impacts empowerment. Results indicate that higher preference for managerial boundary setting was associated with greater utilization of empowerment practices by managers and with greater psychological empowerment of employees. For managers there was a positively-accelerating quadratic relationship between preference for managerial boundary setting and empowerment practices. We also confirm the positive relationship between managers’ empowerment practices and employee psychological empowerment, and we ...
Domain Adaptation With Preservation of Manifold Geometry for Hyperspectral Image Classification

Adapting a pretrained classifier with unlabeled samples from an image for classification of another related image is a common domain adaptation strategy. However, traditional adaptation methods are not effective when the drift of spectral signatures is significant. Instead of iteratively redefining classifier parameters or decision boundaries, we exploit similar data geometries of images and preserve essential common data characteristics in a joint manifold space where similar samples are clustered. The proposed classification framework is based on aligning two global data manifolds with bridging pairs. In addition to global structures, we also consider the local scale by incorporating similar local clusters into the alignment process. In experiments with challenging temporal and spatially disjoint hyperspectral data sets, the proposed framework provides favorable classification results compared to two baseline methods, naive $k$ -NN in both the original space and the manifold derived from pooled data. In comparisons with four state-of-the-art domain adaptation benchmark methods, the proposed method is demonstrated to be a competitive domain adaptation method, especially for the case when spectral changes between two data domains are significant. Results also provide insights related to the usefulness of incorporating global and local geometric characteristics of remote sensing data for domain adaptation studies.
Using phase retrieval to obtain the complete spatiotemporal electric field of ultrashort pulses

Using a phase-retrieval algorithm, we recover the only undetermined quantities--the phase vs. transverse position--in spectral-interferometric ultrashort-laser-pulse measurements, to yield complete spatiotemporal measurements of the electric field of focusing ultrashort pulses.
Patient Decision Making

Decision making in older cancer patients involves several aspects. Some are physician-assessed: objective benefits (e.g., response rate, survival), objective risks, amount of co-morbidity and its impact on treatment choices. Others are patient-assessed: value of the benefits compared to the risks, impact of the cancer, and treatment on the life of the patient compared to other illnesses, events, and life values. One should be aware, however, that the physician’s presentation of the options is colored by the physician’s own experience: other patients treated with that regimen, other patients with this disease, “look” of the patient, physician’s a priori guesses about the willingness of the patient to undergo the treatment. The latter is especially difficult, as, with age, cancer patients become increasingly diverse in their health and life experience. Therefore, besides knowing as much data as possible about cancer and its treatment in the elderly, it is important to gain knowledge about what is known concerning the decision making of older cancer patients. Fortunately, a certain amount of data is available.
Assessing Claims of Metaphorical Salience Through Corpus Data.

In the linguistic domain, conceptual metaphors have been shown to structure grammar, the lexicon, and abstract reasoning. Much recent research on conceptual metaphor comes from corpus examination, which is increasingly focused on developing quantificational tools to reveal cooccurrence patterns indicative of source and target domain associations. Some mappings between source and target are transparent. However, other metaphors, especially those that structure abstract processes, are more complex because the target domain is lexically divorced from the source. This study introduces new techniques directed at the quantitative evaluation of metaphorical salience when target and source relationships are nonobvious. Constellations of sourcedomain triggers are identified in the data and shown to disproportionately emerge in topic specific discourse. This measurement can be taken as one indicator of conceptual salience among the target speech community.
Epigenetic Inheritance and Its Role in Evolutionary Biology: Re-Evaluation and New Perspectives.

Epigenetics increasingly occupies a pivotal position in our understanding of inheritance, natural selection and, perhaps, even evolution. A survey of the PubMed database, however, reveals that the great majority (>93%) of epigenetic papers have an intra-, rather than an inter-generational focus, primarily on mechanisms and disease. Approximately ~1% of epigenetic papers even mention the nexus of epigenetics, natural selection and evolution. Yet, when environments are dynamic (e.g., climate change effects), there may be an “epigenetic advantage” to phenotypic switching by epigenetic inheritance, rather than by gene mutation. An epigenetically-inherited trait can arise simultaneously in many individuals, as opposed to a single individual with a gene mutation. Moreover, a transient epigenetically-modified phenotype can be quickly “sunsetted”, with individuals reverting to the original phenotype. Thus, epigenetic phenotype switching is dynamic and temporary and can help bridge periods of environmental stress. Epigenetic inheritance likely contributes to evolution both directly and indirectly. While there is as yet incomplete evidence of direct permanent incorporation of a complex epigenetic phenotype into the genome, doubtlessly, the presence of epigenetic markers and the phenotypes they create (which may sort quite separately from the genotype within a population) will influence natural selection and, so, drive the collective genotype of a population.
The Cost of Medicare Advantage

The Medicare Advantage program, which offers private plan alternatives to traditional Medicare, is surging in popularity among Medicare beneficiaries (http://nyti.ms/1rGB0gu). More than 30% of about 55 million beneficiaries are enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan, up from 16% a decade ago (http://kaiserf.am/1IniNZU). Yet among policy experts it remains as controversial as ever. At issue: do Medicare Advantage plans cost more or less than traditional Medicare?
Improving query expansion for image retrieval via saliency and picturability

In this paper, we present a Wikipedia-based approach to query expansion for the task of image retrieval, by combining salient encyclopaedic concepts with the picturability of words. Our model generates the expanded query terms in a definite two-stage process instead of multiple iterative passes, requires no manual feedback, and is completely unsupervised. Preliminary results show that our proposed model is effective in a comparative study on the ImageCLEF 2010 Wikipedia dataset.
Neutronics and thermal hydraulics analysis of a small modular reactor

Abstract The small modular reactor (SMR) offers many feasible pathways for the construction of more nuclear power plants. A physics model of a near term deployable SMR of the integral pressurized water reactor (IPWR) design is developed. Fuel depletion simulations are performed to optimize the active fuel length, fuel enrichment and core loading pattern in order to achieve a uniform core power distribution. The optimized core can produce 500 MW of thermal power with a four year core life-time at a capacity factor of 87%. The core consists of 69 uranium dioxide (UO2) fuel assemblies; 5 assemblies at 4.4 at% 235U enrichment and 64 assemblies at 4.95 at% 235U enrichment. The active fuel length is 200 cm and the core diameter is 194.55 cm for an active core height-to-diameter ratio of 1.03. As part of the study the active fuel length is increased to 240 cm resulting in an increased capacity factor of 95% at 530 MW of thermal power output for an active core height-to-diameter ratio of 1.23. Rod cluster control assemblies (RCCAs) are placed strategically to reduce the overall core power peaking factor to 1.3. Estimated reactor kinetics parameters such as the delayed neutron fraction and mean neutron generation time are typical of existing larger pressurized water reactors (PWRs) from which much of the IPWR based SMR design is derived. This study showed that Doppler, moderator temperature, void and power reactivity coefficients are all negative over the core life-time of four years indicating the possibility of safe reactor operation. A semi-analytical thermal hydraulics analysis reveals acceptable radial and axial fuel element temperature profiles with significant safety margin from industry standards on peak fuel and clad surface temperature limits. The critical heat flux (CHF) is calculated and is not exceeded even in 10% overpower conditions. In addition the nucleate boiling ratio (DNBR) is calculated and found to be above 4.8 for the entirety of the active core region. These parameters further engender confidence in the safety of the SMR design.
Varicocele in a Young Man: Something We Should Be Worried About?

The testis performs two important functions, production of testosterone and spermatogenesis. A varicocele is an abnormal dilation of spermatic veins that can affect spermatogenesis and possibly testosterone production. Despite the high prevalence of varicocele among adolescent males, only a small proportion of men with varicocele have impaired spermatogenesis. Other than testicular hypotrophy, there are no reliable markers to predict which adolescents with varicoceles will have impaired spermatogenesis. In this issue of European Urology, Damsgaard and colleagues [1] report on a cross-sectional study that evaluated 7035 military recruits from six European countries who underwent a mandatory medical examination. This study examined the association between varicocele, semen parameters, and serum hormone levels.
PhyloCore: A phylogenetic approach to identifying core taxa in microbial communities.

Abstract Background Identifying core microbiota is an important step for understanding the key components of microbial communities. Traditional approach that identifies core taxa at the OTU level ignores potential ecological coherence of higher rank taxa. There is a need to develop software that can systematically identify core taxa at and above the species level. Results Here we developed PhyloCore, an application that uses a phylogeny-based algorithm to identify core taxa at the proper taxonomic levels. It incorporates a number of features that users can set according to their needs. Using multiple gut microbiota as test cases, we demonstrate that PhyloCore is more powerful and flexible than OTU-based approaches. Conclusions PhyloCore is a flexible and fast application that identifies core taxa at proper taxonomic levels, making it useful to sequence-based microbial ecology studies. The software is freely available at http://wolbachia.biology.virginia.edu/WuLab/Software.html
Is Bicarbonate Therapy Useful

Despite concerns about the negative effects of metabolic acidosis, there is minimal evidence that sodium bicarbonate administration is an effective treatment. In addition, sodium bicarbonate therapy is associated with many adverse effects, including paradoxic intracellular acidosis, hypokalemia, hypocalcemia, hypernatremia, and hyperosmolality. Definitive recommendations regarding bicarbonate therapy are challenging as there is little high-quality evidence available. In most clinical scenarios of metabolic acidosis, treatment efforts should focus on resolution of the underlying cause, and sodium bicarbonate therapy should be used with caution, if at all. An exception to this is kidney disease, wherein sodium bicarbonate therapy may have a valuable role.
“The Secrets of the Darkened Chamber”: Michael Schmidt's Berlin nach 45*

It seems increasingly clear that the reputation of the late German photographer Michael Schmidt will rest on the three photo books that form his “Berlin trilogy:” Waffenruhe (1987), Ein-Heit (1996), and Berlin nach 45 (2005). These projects are linked by Schmidt's obsessive fidelity to Berlin and its history. Rather than offer a vision of German history through the representation of experience or through cognitive reconstruction—the strategies that structure Waffenruhe and Ein-Heit —Schmidt in Berlin nach 45 offers a vision of Berlin's history that is suggestively metaphorical. The overarching figure is that of theatricality: in a remarkable number of images, the viewer looks across a vast open stage—the great swaths of devastation left not just by the building of the Berlin Wall, but by battles, bombings, and capitalist neglect—toward a proscenium at the rear, a proscenium provided by Berlin's built environment. The viewer looks at the ruined landscapes not just from the great physical distance, but as i...
Drug use Discrimination Predicts Formation of High-Risk Social Networks: Examining Social Pathways of Discrimination

Experiences of discrimination, or social marginalization and ostracism, may lead to the formation of social networks characterized by inequality. For example, those who experience discrimination may be more likely to develop drug use and sexual partnerships with others who are at increased risk for HIV compared to those without experiences of discrimination. This is critical as engaging in risk behaviors with others who are more likely to be HIV positive can increase one’s risk of HIV. We used log-binomial regression models to examine the relationship between drug use, racial and incarceration discrimination with changes in the composition of one’s risk network among 502 persons who use drugs. We examined both absolute and proportional changes with respect to sex partners, drug use partners, and injecting partners, after accounting for individual risk behaviors. At baseline, participants were predominately male (70%), black or Latino (91%), un-married (85%), and used crack (64%). Among those followed-up (67%), having experienced discrimination due to drug use was significantly related to increases in the absolute number of sex networks and drug networks over time. No types of discrimination were related to changes in the proportion of high-risk network members. Discrimination may increase one’s risk of HIV acquisition by leading them to preferentially form risk relationships with higher-risk individuals, thereby perpetuating racial and ethnic inequities in HIV. Future social network studies and behavioral interventions should consider whether social discrimination plays a role in HIV transmission.
Aggregated States of Chalcogenorhodamine Dyes on Nanocrystalline Titania Revealed by Doubly Resonant Sum Frequency Spectroscopy

Broadband doubly resonant sum frequency generation (DR-SFG) spectroscopy was used to probe selectively the vibrational signatures of a series of chalcogenorhodamine dyes tethered to TiO2 either as monomers or as H-aggregates. This selectivity was achieved by virtue of the vibronic coupling associated with the unique electronic transitions for the corresponding states. It was found that clear spectral differences and polarization dependences were observed contingent on whether the outgoing SFG wavelength was in resonance with either the monomer or H-aggregate electronic excited states. Our results also indicate that the orientation and proximity of the xanthylium core to the semiconducting surface play an important role in this vibrational–electronic coupling and may affect the character of the charge-transfer complex. Our DR-SFG results also provide important clues into the anchoring motifs for carboxylic and phosphonic acid groups.
Electronic and Morphological Inhomogeneities in Pristine and Deteriorated Perovskite Photovoltaic Films

We perform scanning microwave microscopy (SMM) to study the spatially varying electronic properties and related morphology of pristine and degraded methylammonium lead-halide (MAPI) perovskite films fabricated under different ambient humidity. We find that higher processing humidity leads to the emergence of increased conductivity at the grain boundaries but also correlates with the appearance of resistive grains that contain PbI2. Deteriorated films show larger and increasingly insulating grain boundaries as well as spatially localized regions of reduced conductivity within grains. These results suggest that while humidity during film fabrication primarily benefits device properties due to the passivation of traps at the grain boundaries and self-doping, it also results in the emergence of PbI2-containing grains. We further establish that MAPI film deterioration under ambient conditions proceeds via the spatially localized breakdown of film conductivity, both at grain boundaries and within grains, due to...
Structural toxicity relationship of 4-alkoxyphenols’ cytotoxicity towards murine B16-F0 melanoma cell culture

Proc Amer Assoc Cancer Res, Volume 46, 2005 5895 Tyrosinase enzyme was used as a molecular target for 4-hydroxyanisole (4-HA), an alkoxyphenol, for the treatment of malignant melanoma. However, 4-HA causes serious liver damage due to its metabolism by liver P450s to cytotoxic intermediate metabolites. In the current work, we adopted for the first time a strategy in order to identify alkoxyphenols that were minimally metabolized by liver P450 metabolizing enzymes and hence to have potentially a minimal toxicity towards liver but could still form quinone reactive intermediate metabolites in melanoma cells and hence to be potentially useful for the treatment of melanoma. Ten alkoxyphenols (4-hydroxyanisole, 4-ethoxyphenol, 4-n-propoxyphenol, 4- iso-propoxyphenol, 2-iso-propoxyphenol, 4-n-butoxyphenol, 4-iso-butoxyphenol, 4-sec-butoxyphenol, 4-t-butoxyphenol, and 4-n-hexyloxyphenol) were investigated for their metabolism by mushroom tyrosinase/O2 and toxicity towards murine B16-F0 melanoma cells. The extent of glutathione depletion by rat liver P450 microsomal /NADPH/O2 /alkoxyphenol mixture was used as a surrogate marker for the liver toxicity. All the alkoxyphenols acted as substrates for tyrosinase/O2 metabolizing system and demonstrated a dose- and time-dependent toxicity towards B16-F0 melanoma cells except 2-iso-propoxyphenol. 4-n-Hexyloxyphenol demonstrated the greatest toxicity towards B16-F0 cells while depleting only 17% glutathione by rat liver microsomal preparations at its calculated LC50 lethal concentrations for B16-F0 cells whereas 4-HA demonstrated 33% glutathione depletion. At 100 μM concentrations, 4-t-butoxyphenol showed the lowest amount of glutathione depletion of 25% by microsomal P450 system whereas 4-HA showed 58% glutathione depletion. Alkoxyphenols with at least two alkyl groups derivatized at alpha carbon of alkoxy group showed the minimal rates of metabolism by tyrosinase/O2 metabolizing system. A quantitative structural toxicity relationship equation was also derived, LogLC50(μM)= -0.265(±0.064)LogP+2.482(±0.179) indicating the toxicity was increased with an increase in the lipid solubility of the alkoxyphenols. In summary, we identified 4-n-hexyloxyphenol and 4-t-butoxyphenol as two potential lead compounds for their further in vitro and in vivo toxicity and efficacy evaluation as anti-melanoma agents which is currently under way in our laboratory.
Duality for homomorphisms

To establish a dual correspondence between structure-preserving mappings of Boolean algebras and Boolean spaces, it is best not to give preferential treatment either. A good way to stay neutral is to use the concept of pairing introduced in §18. Suppose, accordingly, that A is a Boolean algebra and X is a Boolean space, and suppose that 〈p, x〉 represents all continuous 2-valued functions on X and all 2-valued homomorphisms on A. Suppose, moreover, that B and Y are a similarly paired pair. The purpose of this section is to make a connection between continuous mappings (from X into Y) and homomorphisms (from B into A).
SAFETY OF ENALAPRIL IN INFANTS: DATA FROM THE PEDIATRIC HEART NETWORK INFANT WITH SINGLE VENTRICLE TRIAL

Background: Angiotension converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor therapy has been shown to improve ventricular function and clinical outcomes in adult patients with heart failure. Despite the lack of safety and efficacy data, empiric use of ACE inhibitor therapy is common in infants and children with
How should we treat post-traumatic stress disorder in active military personnel?

Since 2001, more than 2.6 million U.S. service members have deployed in support of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan [1]. Many have faced multiple, long deployments with exposure to traumatic expe...
Scope of Sacubitril/Valsartan Eligibility After Heart Failure Hospitalization: Findings From the GWTG-HF Registry (Get With The Guidelines-Heart Failure).

Sacubitril/valsartan was compared to enalapril in the PARADIGM-HF trial (Prospective Comparison of ARNI [Angiotensin Receptor-Neprilysin Inhibitor] with ACEI [Angiotensin-Converting-Enzyme Inhibitor] to Determine Impact on Global Mortality and Morbidity in Heart Failure [HF]), which was stopped early after an observed 20% reduction in the composite end point of cardiovascular death or HF hospitalization.1 The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved sacubitril/valsartan for patients with HF with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) in July 2015. However, FDA labeling is broader than trial entry criteria, and the scope of potential sacubitril/valsartan use in HFrEF is not well understood. We used the GWTG-HF registry (Get With The Guidelines-Heart Failure) to characterize patients’ eligibility and potential barriers for sacubitril/valsartan initiation according to criteria set forth in FDA labeling and PARADIGM-HF. The GWTG-HF registry was started in 2005 by the American Heart Association to improve adherence to quality of care guidelines for patients hospitalized for HF. Patients were eligible for inclusion in the registry if they were admitted for worsening HF or developed significant HF symptoms during a hospitalization.2 We included GWTG-HF registry participants ≥18 years of age hospitalized with HFrEF (EF ≤40%) between January 1, 2011, and December 31, 2013. Patients were excluded if they had in-hospital death or any missing information for variables needed to determine …
Regulation of Eosinophil Programmed Cell Death and the Subsequent Priming of Ligand Mediated Functions by the Eosinophil-Directed Hematopoietins

In antibody-neutralization studies of a circulating eosinophil viability-sustaining factor in the serum of patients with the idiopathic hypereosinophilic syndrome or the tryptophan-associated eosinophilia- myalgia syndrome, we found substantially increased levels of interleukin (IL) 5 but not granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) or IL-3. As we had previously noted, each of these three recombinant cytokines sustained the ex vivo viability of human peripheral blood eosinophils, and over 7 days altered the phenotype of mature eosinophils as defined by density gradient sedimentation and by upregulated ligand-stimulated functional responses. Using cocultures of human umbilical vein endothelial cells and human normodense peripheral blood eosinophils as a model system of cell to cell interactions in the inflammatory microenvironment, we established GM-CSF as both the constitutive and the IL-1α (5 units/ml)-elicited endothelial cell-derived eosinophil viability-sustaining factor. We next determined whether cytokine-dependent viability was influenced by steroid-mediated cytotoxicity for eosinophils. There was a significant decrease in eosinophil viability when eosinophils were cultured with 1 pM GM-CSF, IL-3, or IL-5 in the presence of dexamethasone. However, the glucocorticoid antagonism of enhanced eosinophil viability was abolished by increasing the cytokine concentration to 10 pM or greater. This acute cytoprotective effect of GM-CSF, IL-3, and IL-5 was associated with the prevention of endonuclease-specific DNA fragmentation. Therefore, cytokine priming by GM-CSF, IL-3, or IL-5 may account for the differential responsiveness of select eosinophilic disorders to glucocorticoid therapy. The short term cytokine effect appears to be the prevention of apoptosis, which allows a cytokinedependent alteration in phenotype to a cell primed for ligand stimulated generation of superoxide and leukotriene C4 and for antibody-directed target cell cytotoxicity.
Expert mathematics teacher educators’ purposes and practices for providing prospective teachers with opportunities to develop pedagogical content knowledge in content courses

Enhancing teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) is essential to improving the teaching and learning of mathematics. Mathematics teacher educators (MTEs) need to help prospective teachers enhance PCK (Marks in J Teach Educ 41(3):3–11, 1990. doi: 10.1177/002248719004100302 ; Mason 2008). However, we know very little about the practices of MTEs, especially in mathematics content courses, as these practices are not widely researched or disseminated (e.g., Bergsten and Grevholm, in: Jaworski, Wood (eds) The international handbook of mathematics teacher education, vol 4, Sense Publishers, Rotterdam, pp 223–246, 2008; Floden and Philipp, in: Lester, Ferrini-Mundy (eds) Proceedings of the NCTM research catalyst conference, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Reston, pp 171–176, 2003). This phenomenographical study offers empirical findings on commonly identified purposes across ten expert MTEs who provided K-8 prospective teachers with opportunities to develop PCK in their mathematics content courses. Furthermore, our emergent findings indicated that expert MTEs also provided opportunities for prospective teachers to develop orientations toward teaching the subject, which prompted framework adaptations and articulations of “orientations” as a construct discussed in the broader literature outside of mathematics teacher education research (Magnusson et al., in: Gess-Newsome, Lederman (eds) Examining pedagogical content knowledge, Kluwer, Dordrecht, pp 95–132, 1999). Research and practitioner implications from this study provide specific PCK-related learning opportunities of prospective teachers through the lenses of expert MTEs’ (personal and professional) purposes and reflections on teaching, as a foundation on which the field can continue building future research and MTEs can continue building their practice in mathematics content courses.
Domestic Terrorism in Democratic States: Understanding and Addressing Minority Grievances:

Scholars continue to disagree on the relationship between regime type and political violence, perhaps because the empirical evidence remains contradictory. To date, most studies generally explore t...
Wanna Hear a Secret?: The Burden of Secret Concealment in Personal Relationships From the Confidant's Perspective

The current study assessed the burden associated with secret-keeping from confidants’ perspective. We proposed a cognition-affect-relationship model to explicate the interrelations between intra- and interpersonal consequences of confidants’ secret concealment. A total of 231 participants (M age = 32.6 years) completed a survey on their experiences in keeping secrets for a close relational partner. A path model was conducted to test all hypotheses simultaneously. Results indicated that secret importance, valence, and negative face threat served as indicators of cognitive burden regarding secret-keeping. As predicted, cognitive burden was positively associated with negative affect. In addition, negative affect mediated the association between cognitive burden and relationship satisfaction, whereas secret characteristics were directly related to relational distancing. Overall, examining confidant burden provides insights on how secret-keeping might affect individuals and their relationships.
Lunate and Perilunate Dislocations

The lunate derives its name from its similarity in shape to the moon. It is the middle carpal bone of the proximal carpal row and plays an integral part in carpal kinematics. Dislocation of the lunate is a serious injury to the wrist and requires surgical stabilization. Failure to recognize this injury at initial presentation is associated with poor patient outcomes.
Electroclinical features of seizures associated with autoimmune encephalitis

Abstract Purpose We sought to characterize the electroclinical features of seizures associated with autoimmune encephalitis and their relevance to outcome. Methods 19 patients with seizures and autoimmune encephalitis were identified from a database of 100 patients (2008–2017) with autoimmune neurological disorders. Clinical and electroclinical characteristics were collected. Persistent seizures at last follow-up were then correlated with electroclinical features. Results Status epilepticus (53%) and early intractability to AEDs (median time to second AED 9.5 days) marked the onset of refractory seizures (median number of AEDs 3). Seizure semiology (abdominal (16%), psychic (42%), olfactory (6%) auras), interictal temporal epileptiform discharges (42%), and ictal onset in the temporal region (63%) mirrored radiologic involvement of the medial temporal regions (on MRI in 74% and/or FDG-PET in 75%). In addition, multimodal auras, with somatosensory (26%), autonomic (26%), gustatory (11%), and visual (16%), features were seen in 82% of patients with focal aware seizures, invoking broader involvement of the perisylvian regions. A change in seizure semiology and EEG findings was often seen. Electroclinical features were similar regardless of antibody type, with the exception of the association of faciobrachial dystonic seizures with LGI1 antibodies. Eight patients had medically intractable seizures at last follow-up and were more likely than patients with seizure remission to have generalized tonic-clonic seizures and temporal lobe involvement on the basis of semiological features, interictal EEG and MRI changes. Conclusions Seizures associated with autoimmune encephalitis exhibit common electroclinical features which show dynamic evolution over time. We propose a role for the temporo-perisylvian regions in their generation.