cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A binocular stereo algorithm for reconstructing sloping, creased, and broken surfaces in the presence of half-occlusion

The author presents a method for reconstructing the three-dimensional scene geometry, i.e., depth, surface orientation, occluding contours, and surface creases, from a pair of stereo images. This reconstruction is not done as a postprocessing step, but rather all of the quantities are estimated simultaneously as part of the matching algorithm. An energy functional is considered in which each of the quantities in the scene geometry is explicitly represented. For this energy functional, a smoothness prior that, in addition to its ability to detect surface discontinuities and the accompanying half-occluded regions, is able to reconstruct steeply sloping surfaces with sharp creases is used. Experimental results demonstrating the effectiveness of the algorithm are presented. >
Deeper Learning With Advances in Discourse Science and Technology

The need for improving learning at deeper levels has been recognized in the national and international arena because language literacy, numeracy, and other core skills will not go the distance in h...
Comparison of 18F-FDG PET/CT for Systemic Staging of Newly Diagnosed Invasive Lobular Carcinoma Versus Invasive Ductal Carcinoma

Although guidelines such as those of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network consider 18F-FDG PET/CT for systemic staging of newly diagnosed stage III breast cancer patients, factors in addition to stage may influence the utility of PET/CT. Because invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC) is less conspicuous than invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) on 18F-FDG PET, we hypothesized that tumor histology may be one such factor. We evaluated PET/CT systemic staging of patients newly diagnosed with ILC compared with IDC. Methods: In this Institutional Review Board–approved retrospective study, our Hospital Information System was screened for ILC patients who underwent PET/CT in 2006–2013 before systemic or radiation therapy. Initial stage was determined from examination, mammography, ultrasound, MR, or surgery. PET/CT was performed to identify unsuspected distant metastases. A sequential cohort of stage III IDC patients was evaluated for comparison. Upstaging rates were compared using the Pearson χ2 test. Results: The study criteria were fulfilled by 146 ILC patients. PET/CT revealed unsuspected distant metastases in 12 (8%): 0 of 8 with initial stage I, 2 of 50 (4%) stage II, and 10 of 88 (11%) stage III. Upstaging to IV by PET/CT was confirmed by biopsy in all cases. Three of 12 upstaged patients were upstaged only by the CT component of the PET/CT, as the metastases were not 18F-FDG–avid. In the comparison stage III IDC cohort, 22% (20/89) of patients were upstaged to IV by PET/CT. All 20 demonstrated 18F-FDG–avid metastases. The relative risk of PET/CT revealing unsuspected distant metastases in stage III IDC patients was 1.98 times (95% confidence interval, 0.98–3.98) that of stage III ILC patients (P = 0.049). For 18F-FDG–avid metastases, the relative risk of PET/CT revealing unsuspected 18F-FDG–avid distant metastases in stage III IDC patients was 2.82 times (95% confidence interval, 1.26–6.34) that of stage III ILC patients (P = 0.007). Conclusion:18F-FDG PET/CT was more likely to reveal unsuspected distant metastases in stage III IDC patients than in stage III ILC patients. In addition, some ILC patients were upstaged by non–18F-FDG-avid lesions visible only on the CT images. Overall, the impact of PET/CT on systemic staging may be lower for ILC patients than for IDC patients.
Dietary surveillance for states and communities.

Information about dietary behaviors, attitudes, and knowledge is important for state and local health agencies because national monitoring lacks the local representativeness and timeliness necessary to catalyze community interest and to design, target, and evaluate dietary intervention programs. Currently, however, both methods and resources are limited for surveying diet in the population of a state or community. Brief assessments are included in the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System for adolescents. which is conducted by state departments of education, and in the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System for adults, which is operated by state departments of health. More quantitatively precise measurements are being made by a few states and communities but personnel and financial resources for such surveys are limited. Nutritionists in state and local health agencies should explore the possibility of developing public-private partnerships with food producers, retailers, and marketers to collect information about dietary determinants and behaviors in states and communities. Better standardization of dietary assessment methods is needed, as is development of better methods to identify attitudes about diet and barriers to dietary improvement. Most important, though, dietary surveillance in states and communities must be more strongly tied to intervention programs intended to improve nutrition in those populations.
Transcriptome networks in the mouse retina: An exon level BXD RI database.

PURPOSE Differences in gene expression provide diverse retina phenotypes and may also contribute to susceptibility to injury and disease. The present study defines the transcriptome of the retina in the BXD RI strain set, using the Affymetrix Mouse Gene 2.0 ST array to investigate all exons of traditional protein coding genes, non-coding RNAs, and microRNAs. These data are presented in a highly interactive database on the GeneNetwork website. METHODS In the Normal Retina Database, the mRNA levels of the transcriptome from retinas was quantified using the Affymetrix Mouse Gene 2.0 ST array. This database consists of data from male and female mice. The data set includes a total of 52 BXD RI strains, the parental strains (C57BL/6J and DBA/2J), and a reciprocal cross. RESULTS In combination with GeneNetwork, the Department of Defense (DoD) Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) Normal Retina Database provides a large resource for mapping, graphing, analyzing, and testing complex genetic networks. Protein-coding and non-coding RNAs can be used to map quantitative trait loci (QTLs) that contribute to expression differences among the BXD strains and to establish links between classical ocular phenotypes associated with differences in the genomic sequence. Using this resource, we extracted transcriptome signatures for retinal cells and defined genetic networks associated with the maintenance of the normal retina. Furthermore, we examined differentially expressed exons within a single gene. CONCLUSIONS The high level of variation in mRNA levels found among the BXD RI strains makes it possible to identify expression networks that underline differences in retina structure and function. Ultimately, we will use this database to define changes that occur following blast injury to the retina.
Experimental Validation of Displacement Underestimation in ARFI Ultrasound

Acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) imaging is an elastography technique that uses ultrasonic pulses to both displace and track tissue motion. Previous modeling studies have shown that ARFI displacements are susceptible to underestimation due to lateral and elevational shearing that occurs within the tracking resolution cell. In this study, optical tracking was utilized to experimentally measure the displacement underestimation achieved by acoustic tracking using a clinical ultrasound system. Three optically translucent phantoms of varying stiffness were created, embedded with sub-wavelength diameter microspheres, and ARFI excitation pulses with F/1.5 or F/3 lateral focal configurations were transmitted from a standard linear array to induce phantom motion. Displacements were tracked using confocal optical and acoustic methods. As predicted by earlier FEM studies, significant acoustic displacement underestimation was observed for both excitation focal configurations; the maximum underestimation error was 35% of the optically measured displacement for the F/1.5 excitation pulse in the softest phantom. Using higher F/#, less tightly focused beams in the lateral dimension improved accuracy of displacements by approximately 10 percentage points. This work experimentally demonstrates limitations of ARFI implemented on a clinical scanner using a standard linear array and sets up a framework for future displacement tracking validation studies.
Fasting-induced differential stress sensitization in cancer treatment

Most tumors are generated and evolve under high-nutrient conditions, yet therapy does not include dietary changes generating a hostile environment for cancer cells. Because fasting promotes the most drastic change in the levels of plasma macro- and micro-nutrients, and consequently in glucose and growth factors, it has the potential to maximize cancer cell sensitization.
Epidemiological Analysis on Hand Foot and Mouth Disease in Ningde,2008-2009

Objective To analyze the epidemiological characteristics of hand foot and mouth disease(HFMD) in Ningde during 2008-2009 and provide evidence for HFMD control and prevention.Methods The incidence data of HFMD was obtained from national disease information reporting system and analyzed by using SPSS software to know the time,geographic and population distributions of the disease.Result During 2008-2009,a totalof 4 602 HFMD cases were reported with annual average incidence rate of 73.21/105.The Cases were distributed in 118 townships among 9 counties(district) in Ningde.Two epidemic peaks were observed,one was in summer(April-May),another one was in autumn(September-November).Most cases(92.92%) were children less than 5 years old.The incidence rate of HFMD in urban area was 117.87/105,which was significantly higher than that of 50.25/105 in rural area(χ2=883.14,P0.001).Among 49 confirmed HFMD cases,48 were caused by enterovirus 71 infection and one was caused by other enterovirus infection.No Coxsackie virus A16 infection was detected.Conclusion The most HFMD cases were children less than 5 years old in Ningde during 2008-2009.The disease pathogen was mainly enterovirus 71 and the incidence of disease peaked in summer and autumn.
Simulation of the support fleet maintenance of modern stealth fighter aircraft

The F-35 Lightning II is a 5th Generation, multirole stealth fighter aircraft that is expected to replace the aging "legacy fighters" and their roles in our national defense. The plane was designed and is currently produced by Lockheed Martin. Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Air Force recognize that a proper information infrastructure is critical to sustaining a functional and mission ready aircraft fleet. Thus, to provide the information technology backbone and capabilities to support current and future Warfighters across the U.S. and allied military services, the U.S. Air Force started adapting a modern electronic information system. The F-35 has been equipped with an Autonomic Logistics Information System to allow operators the ability to plan ahead, to maintain, and to plan and sustain its systems of the newly created fleet. Within the system is a problem ticket system that serves as a means to resolve issues with F-35 systems. An Action Request System, which utilizes this ticketing system, to efficiently funnel the tickets to an appropriate engineering organization and back to the originator for issue resolution. This paper studies that ticketing process with the goal of creating a model that can be used to study and optimize the time it takes to move a ticket through the process from creation to closure (resolution). To best understand this problem, we have worked closely with the Luke Air Force Base Maintenance Group to create a discrete event simulation that exposes different bottlenecks in the current process. Using this simulation, we identify which stages in the process will benefit most from a reallocation of resources. The simulation tool will be used by the client to perform future analysis.
Reorganizing Society: Cranial Modification and the Creation of Difference

Kin-based collectives such lineages, ayllus, and ethnic confederations are notoriously difficult to identify in the bioarchaeological record because they are not limited to simple trait lists. Rather, these groups are nebulous, multi-scalar and materially and conceptually malleable. Nevertheless, the nature of these factions are strongly structured by oppositional interactions with non-members. Despite the panoply of intersecting identities that mark individuals, cases of state collapse tend to provoke the emergence of singularized affiliations. In Andahuaylas, newly prominent identities were conspicuously and permanently inscribed through a practice known as cranial modification. The meaning and motivation of head remodeling is evaluated using standard osteometric measures as well as three-dimensional geomorphometric analysis of digitized crania. The abrupt appearance of cranial modification in Andahuaylas and intra-population morphological variations signal the ethnogenesis of ranked kin categories known from ethnohistoric sources as the Wakcha and the Piwi Churi.
Is Silicon a Glass? Measurements of the Mechanical Properties of Boron-Doped and Single-Crystal Silicon

The low-temperature mechanical properties of single-crystal silicon have been studied by Kleiman et al. [1] (KAB). A high-purity (110) wafer, with ρ = 20K Ω-cm and a few ppm non-electronic impurities was used to fabricate the oscillator. They observed a temperature independent dissipation to 100mK, decreasing linearly for T < 100mK. The frequency shift shows softening below 60mK, with a log T dependence near the frequency maximum. Such a mechanical response is qualitatively similar to that of glasses [2]. KAB propose that glassy defects are intrinsic to silicon, and estimate a defect concentration ~1% of that found in vitreous silica. Other explanations have been offered for the mechanical response. [3,4] Keyes proposed that electronic states, split by a small energy, would fit the frequency shift data at a much smaller concentration.
Man the Maker and Exterminator of Plant and Animals

The patterns of life of the contemporary world cannot be understood without the inclusion of humans as an agent of biotic change. Humans have directly influenced the kind and distribution of the Earth’s biotic stock. The increasing impact of humans on the biotic patterns of the Earth is an outcome of a growing population and its requirement for food, warmth, and shelter. Human demands for resources result in the death of some species and promotes the survival of other species. Both processes involve events that are attributable to the development of culture and the expansion in number and geographic area of the human population. The chapter begins with a discussion of the expansion of the human population and the changing diets during various evolutionary phases. The relationship between cultural evolution, extinction, and domestication of plants and animals is examined. Finally, humans are considered as an agent of global exchange of organisms.
Transgressing Boundaries: Plotinus and the Gnostics

An examination of instances of Plotinus’s critique in the first ten chapters of Enneades II .9, commonly called “ Against the Gnostics ,” regarding doctrines reflected in the Sethian Platonizing treatises and the Valentinian Tripartite Tractate insofar they may be appropriately considered as transgressions of Platonic metaphysics and of traditional principles of philosophical hermeneutics and etiquette that may or may not merit the designation “countercultural.”
Cigarette smoking and ADHD: An examination of prognostically relevant smoking behaviors among adolescents and young adults.

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is associated with health risks in adolescence which includes the potential for smoking cigarettes, early smoking initiation, and rapid progression to daily smoking. Much less is known, however, about prognostically relevant smoking behaviors among individuals with childhood ADHD. Further research in this area is important for identifying individuals at pronounced risk for nicotine addiction, and for developing effective interventions for this population. This study examined initiation of cigarette smoking, progression to regular smoking, quantity of use, indicators of tobacco dependence, and quit rates among adolescents and young adults with (n = 364) and without (n = 240) childhood ADHD. Individuals with, versus without, ADHD histories were significantly more likely to become daily smokers independent of conduct disorder (CD). They were also more likely to initiate smoking at younger ages and to progress to regular smoking more quickly. There were no significant group differences in cigarettes smoked per day, Fagerstrom Test of Nicotine Dependence (FTND), or Nicotine Dependence Syndrome Scale (NDSS) scores or in smoking within 30 min of waking. However, smokers with ADHD reported more intense withdrawal and craving during periods of abstinence than non-ADHD smokers. There were no significant group differences in number of quit attempts. Lastly, there were no significant differences among symptom persisters and desisters in daily smoking and amount. Individuals with ADHD histories are at high risk for persistent smoking given their early onset, rapid course, and abstinence characteristics. Smoking cessation programs may need to be adapted or otherwise intensified for those with ADHD. (PsycINFO Database Record
Patient-related risk factors for infection following knee arthroscopy: An analysis of over 700,000 patients from two large databases.

Abstract Background To determine patient-related risk factors for infection following knee arthroscopy using two large databases. Methods A private-payer (PP) and Medicare national insurance database were queried for patients undergoing simple knee arthroscopy procedures from 2005 to 2015. Patients undergoing concomitant open or complex procedures with grafts were excluded. Postoperative infection within 90 days was assessed using ICD-9 and CPT codes. A multivariate logistic regression analysis was utilized to evaluate patient-related risk factors for postoperative infection. Adjusted odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals were calculated for each risk factor, with P Results One hundred thousand three hundred ninety nine patients from the PP database and 629,842 patients from the Medicare database met all inclusion and exclusion criteria. In the PP database, there were 250 patients with documented infections (0.25%); the incidence of infection was similar in the Medicare database (1755 patients, 0.28%). There were numerous patient-related comorbidities and demographics independently associated with a significantly increased risk of postoperative infection that were similar across the PP and Medicare patient populations, respectively, including younger age (OR = 1.27, 1.43), morbid obesity (OR = 1.26, 1.74), tobacco use (OR = 1.34, 1.48), inflammatory arthritis (OR = 1.61, 1.60), chronic kidney disease (OR = 1.65, 1.14), hemodialysis (OR = 1.93, 1.36), depression (OR = 2.02, 1.73), and a hypercoagulable disorder (OR = 2.76, 1.58). Conclusion The present study identified numerous patient-related risk factors independently associated with an increased risk of infection following knee arthroscopy in PP and Medicare-aged patients.
HIDA scan for functional gallbladder disorder: ensure that you know how the scan was done.

Background Despite the increasing use of fatty meal (FM) as a substitute for cholecystokinin (CCK) in pain reproduction during hepato-imino-diacetic acid (HIDA) scan in functional gallbladder disorder, there are no studies comparing the differences between CCK and FM. The present study was to compare the efficacy of FM in comparison of CCK in FGBD application. Methods Patients undergoing HIDA scans from August 2013 to May 2014 were divided into two groups: those undergoing CCK-stimulated HIDA scan versus FM-stimulated HIDA scan. These groups were compared according to demographics and HIDA results. Results Of 153 patients, 70 received CCK and 83 FM. There was no difference regarding age, gender, gallstones, gallbladder ejection fraction and time to visualization. However, significantly more of the patients receiving CCK than FM experienced pain reproduction (61% vs 30%, P Conclusions Stimulation of gallbladder contractility with a FM during HIDA is less than half as likely to reproduce biliary symptoms compared to CCK, despite similar ejection fractions and other parameters. It is essential that providers account for this difference when counseling patients regarding cholecystectomy for functional gallbladder disorder.
Biodeterioration of materials in water reclamation systems

The chemicals produced by the microbial processes involved in the 'biofilms' which form on the surfaces of manned spacecraft water reclamation systems encompass both metals and organic poisons; both are potential hazards to astronaut health and the growth of the plants envisioned for closed-cycle life support systems. Image analysis is here shown to be a very useful technique for the study of biofilm formation on candidate water-processor materials for Space Station Freedom. The biodeterioration of materials exposed to biofilms can be swiftly evaluated by means of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy.
Abstract 018: Neuronal (Pro)renin Receptor Deletion Prevents High-fat Diet Induced High Blood Pressure and Type II Diabetes

We recently reported that the (pro)renin receptor (PRR) is a key component of the brain renin-angiotensin system, mediating the majority of Ang II formation, and plays a pivotal role in the develop...
The promoting effect of tetravalent cerium on the oxygen evolution activity of copper oxide catalysts.

A new catalyst is presented for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) based on cerium-modified copper oxide (CuOx) prepared using a facile electrodeposition procedure. Incorporation of Ce into CuOx leads to greatly improved OER activity, which reached an optimal value at a surface concentration of 6.9 at% Ce. Specifically, the OER current density at 400 mV overpotential for the most active Ce-modified CuOx catalyst (6.9 at% Ce) was 3.3 times greater compared to the pure CuOx. Coincident with the improved OER activity, Ce incorporation also leads to significant structural changes that manifested in increasing degrees of disorder. A further increase in the Ce concentration led to a decrease in the OER performance which can be attributed to the formation of a segregated CeO2 phase. A strong correlation was observed between the OER performance and tetravalent Ce (Ce4+) ion concentration, up to a concentration corresponding to CeO2 phase segregation. No particular trend was observed for the OER activity of these Ce-modified CuOx catalysts with respect to the surface concentration of Cu ions, surface oxygen species or catalyst structure. The stability of these CuOx catalysts at 5 mA cm−2 was also improved with Ce incorporation, and the overpotential required to sustain this current density is much lower than that of pure CuOx. Overall, this study provides new insights regarding the promoting effect of tetravalent Ce ions on the OER activity of CuOx-based OER catalysts in alkaline electrolytes.
Abstract 20967: Outcomes and Prevalence of Migraines in Patients With Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissections: A Cohort Study

Background: Spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) is a nonatherosclerotic cause of myocardial infarction (MI) occurring most often in young women without cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk f...
Examining within- and across-day relationships between transient and chronic stress and parent food-related parenting practices in a racially/ethnically diverse and immigrant population

Although prior research suggests that stress may play a role in parent’s use of food-related parenting practices, it is unclear whether certain types of stress (e.g., transient, chronic) result in different food-related parenting practices. Identifying whether and how transient (i.e., momentary; parent/child conflict) and chronic (i.e., long-term; unemployment >6 months) sources of stress are related to parent food-related parenting practices is important with regard to childhood obesity. This is particularly important within racially/ethnically diverse parents who may be more likely to experience both types of stress and who have higher levels of obesity and related health problems. The current study examined the association between transient and chronic stressors and food-related parenting practices in a racially/ethnically diverse and immigrant sample. The current study is a cross-sectional, mixed-methods study using ecological momentary assessment (EMA). Parents (mean age = 35; 95% mothers) of children ages 5–7 years old (n = 61) from six racial/ethnic groups (African American, American Indian, Hispanic, Hmong, Somali, White) participated in this ten-day in-home observation with families. Transient stressors, specifically interpersonal conflicts, had significant within-day effects on engaging in more unhealthful food-related parenting practices the same evening with across-day effects weakening by day three. In contrast, financial transient stressors had stronger across-day effects. Chronic stressors, including stressful life events were not consistently associated with more unhealthful food-related parenting practices. Transient sources of stress were significantly associated with food-related parenting practices in racially/ethnically diverse and immigrant households. Chronic stressors were not consistently associated with food-related parenting practices. Future research and interventions may want to assess for transient sources of stress in parents and target these momentary factors in order to promote healthful food-related parenting practices.
Early Corticosteroids for Pneumocystis Pneumonia in Adults Without HIV Are Not Associated With Better Outcome.

Background Evidence supporting adjunctive corticosteroids during the treatment of Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PcP) in adults without HIV is minimal and controversial. Methods This retrospective cohort study included P jirovecii pneumonia-positive, hospitalized patients without HIV admitted to the Mayo Clinic from 2006 to 2016. Change from baseline in the respiratory component of the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment score (SOFAresp) at day 5 was compared between early (within 48 h) steroid recipients and nonrecipients by using multivariable logistic regression and in a propensity-matched analysis. Results Among the 323 included patients (early steroids, n = 258; no steroids, n = 65), the median (interquartile range) age was 65 (53, 73) years, 63% were male, and 92% were white. Severity-adjusted regression and propensity-matched analyses found that early administration of steroids was associated with less improvement in SOFAresp at day 5 compared with no steroids (P = .001 and P = .017, respectively). No differences were observed in the odds of having at least a one-point improvement in SOFAresp at day 5 compared with baseline between groups (adjusted OR, 0.76 [95% CI, 0.24-2.28]; P = .61). Overall 30-day mortality was 22.9% (95% CI, 18.2-27.4). No differences in mortality, length of stay, admission to the ICU, or need for mechanical ventilation were found between early steroid recipients and nonrecipients. Conclusions The addition of early corticosteroids to anti-Pneumocystis therapy in patients without HIV was not associated with improved respiratory outcomes.
Interference Rejection for Spread Spectrum Signals Using the EM Algorithm

Spread-spectrum systems are well known to be robust to narrowband interference. Even for these systems, however, performance degrades substantially when interference levels rise, requiring the use of further signal processing to combat interference. Traditionally, the approach has been to excise the interference by either estimating it and then subtracting it, or by filtering it out. In this paper we instead formulate the problem as one of maximum-likelihood (ML) sequence estimation in the presence of interference, and then solve it by using the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm. We look first at the problem of signle-tone interference, and then generalize it to the case of narrowband Gaussian interference. Comparisons are made to the optimum receiver, and to a receiver that utilize a notch-filter to reject the interference. The EM algorithm is seen to perform esentially optimally, even for large interference levels.
Regulating in Vitro Motility of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells with Macrophage Migration Inhibitory Factor (MIF) and a Small-Molecule MIF Antagonist

Human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) from bone marrow possess a remarkable capacity to home to and regenerate damaged tissue, but the molecular mechanisms governing their migration and homing are not well defined. The present study reveals that a potent pro-inflammatory cytokine, macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF), regulates in vitro chemokinesis of MSCs in a dose-dependent manner, inhibiting approximately 50% of migration at 100 ng/ml recombinant MIF. The small-molecule MIF antagonist (S,R)-3-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-4,5-dihydro-5-isoxazole acetic acid methyl ester (ISO-1, 500 μg/μg rMIF) restores MSC migration to levels found in the absence of MIF. ISO-1 (85 μg/ml) increases migration to conditioned medium containing MIF from bronchial epithelial cells by ≥ 3-fold for a variety of donor MSC preparations (p < 0.05). Regulation of MIF signaling may be an effective method to control the innate homing response of MSCs and improve the efficacy of MSC therapies for injured lung and other damaged tissues.
Role of Spindle Cells in the Social Cognition of Apes and Humans

The spindle cells, also known as the von Economo (VE) neurons, are known to be present in great apes and humans, but not in other primate species. These large, symmetric cells are present in the anterior cingulate cortex and frontoinsular cortex, and express subtypes of dopamine, serotonin, and vasopressin receptors. This receptor expression profile, combined with imaging studies that highlight the regions that contain the VE cells, suggests that these neurons may participate in circuits devoted to fast, intuitive processes, which, in turn, may mediate dynamic social discourse.
Flame structure studies of CF3Br-Inhibited methane flames: II. Kinetics and mechanisms

Composition profiles for atomic, radical, and stable species, as well as temperature and area expansion ratio profiles, have been determined for a nearly stoichiometric CH4−O2−Ar flame and for one to which 0.3% CF3Br inhibitor had been added. Net reaction rate profiles were calculated for all the observed species. For the normal flame, these and the mole fraction profiles gave rate coefficient information about the elementary reactions in the methane flame, viz., C H 3 + O → 4 H 2 C O + H , k 4 = 1.05 × 10 14 c m 3 m o l e − 1 sec ⁡ − 1 for 1350≤T≤1750°K. Comparison between the inhibited and normal flame showed that [H] and [CH3] were significantly reduced at the lower temperatures in the inhibited flame even though in the hot gas region the [H], [OH], and [O] were the same in both flames. The CF3Br disappears very early in the flame, relative to the fuel, and the reaction primarily responsible for its disappearance is H + C F 3 B r → 7 H B r + C F 3 where k7 is found to be 2.2×1014 exp (−9460/RT), 700–1550°K. Reaction, of the inhibitor with methyl radicals provides for the relatively small amounts of CH3Br observed, but CH3+Br2→CH3Br+Br must also occur. The HBr formed reacts rapidly with H atoms to form H2 and Br, but the reaction is soon “balanced” in the flame as demonstrated by calculation of the equilibrium constant at various temperatures. The fluorocarbon fragment produced in reaction (7) also reacts rapidly, in part with methyl radicals to give the observed elimination product CH2CF2. The magnitude of the net reaction rate for both HF and F2CO early in the flame indicates that these, too, are formed by rapid reactions involving CF3. Later in the flame, above ∼1400°K, F2CO is formed from the reaction C H 2 C F 2 + O → 18 F 2 C O + C H 2 and k18∼1.5×1013 at 1600°K. The rather slow decay of carbonyl fluoride is attributed to reaction with H atoms, and the sequence F2CO+H→HF+FCO and FCO+H→HF+CO plus reaction (6) provides an additional radical recombination route in the inhibited flame.
Good Medicine, Good Companions

I revisit an experience of receiving a penicillin injection as an allegorical frame for issues of identity and hope and collaboration in our vocational work. I suggest a recent first session with a psychotherapy companion as a landscape on which to see these issues budding helpfully.
β-Cyclodextrins as sustained-release carriers for natural wood preservatives

Abstract Natural preservatives for wood protection have gained increasing attention due to their intrinsic antimicrobial properties, renewability, and lower impact on the environment. We report a study on the use of β-cyclodextrin (βCD) derivatives as sustained-release carriers of allyl isothiocyanate (AITC), as a model natural preservative compound. The formation of AITC inclusion complex in βCDs is qualitatively confirmed by FT-IR and the maximum inclusion yield is estimated to be 39%. Impregnation of wood with the water-borne βCD-AITC complexes allows penetration and even distribution of the preservative in the lumen and possibly in the cell walls. The efficacy of the βCD-AITC complexes as wood preservatives of southern yellow pine is examined by the AWPA E10-16 standard. Compared with the water-treated and AITC-treated wood, βCD-AITC-treated wood exhibits decrease in mass loss from 45% to 25% and no visible cell wall damage after exposure to brown and white rot fungi. The results indicate that βCD suppresses the premature leaching of otherwise volatile AITC and suggests a novel approach of application of volatile or water-immiscible natural preservatives for wood protection.
Exposing the War on Women: The Limits of Law and Power of Care to Address Sexual Violence in Contemporary Crime Drama

ABSTRACTA comparative reading of two recent crime dramas, The Fall (TF) and The Bletchley Circle (BC), demonstrates the limits of law and potential of care to address violence against women. TF, a Nordic noir, moves beyond a gender-blind account of crime yet relies on a liberal, state-centric response that blunts its political critique. BC, a hybrid cozy-period-detective genre piece set in post-World War II London, offers a new perspective on violence against women in crime dramas. First, juxtaposing men’s and women’s post-war experiences, BC frames violence against women as an ongoing war in which women remain comrades-in-arms. Second, it suggests that while the state has a necessary role to play as a coordinator of spaces, skills, and citizens, state action alone cannot end violence against women. Rather, citizen engagement through an ethic of care may offer a new way to address such harms.
Population health impact of genome-driven oncology by race and ethnicity.

e18229Background: The magnitude of clinical benefit from genome-driven oncology is the subject of controversy. Past estimates of the population health gains from genomic therapies have not explored...
Barriers to PrEP uptake: Perspectives of community health workers in the Mid-South region of the United States

AbstractDespite its promise, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) uptake has been slow in the United States with fewer than 100,000 of the 1.1 million Americans considered at substantial risk for HIV cu...
Biomarkers in major depressive disorder: the role of mass spectrometry.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is common. Despite numerous available treatments, many individuals fail to improve clinically. MDD continues to be diagnosed exclusively via behavioral rather than biological methods. Biomarkers—which include measurements of genes, proteins, and patterns of brain activity—may provide an important objective tool for the diagnosis of MDD or in the rational selection of treatments. Proteomic analysis and validation of its results as biomarkers is less explored than other areas of biomarker research in MDD. Mass spectrometry (MS) is a comprehensive, unbiased means of proteomic analysis, which can be complemented by directed protein measurements, such as Western Blotting. Prior studies have focused on MS analysis of several human biomaterials in MDD, including human post-mortem brain, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), blood components, and urine. Further studies utilizing MS and proteomic analysis in MDD may help solidify and establish biomarkers for use in diagnosis, identification of new treatment targets, and understanding of the disorder. The ultimate goal is the validation of a biomarker or a biomarker signature that facilitates a convenient and inexpensive predictive test for depression treatment response and helps clinicians in the rational selection of next-step treatments.
Dimensional Time: Discussion of “Psychoanalysis in Real Time: Temporal Troubles in the Clinical Dyad”

Every moment occasions a constitution of subjectivity that has at its heart a temporal structure. Far from being objective, time is dimensional. The extases (past-present-future) of time do not sim...
Childhood in the United States

My rather idyllic childhood in Germany was disrupted by Adolf Hitler. Sometime early in January, 1933, my parents went to a neighbors’ house several doors away to listen to a campaign radio speech by Hitler. We didn’t have a radio in the house, but those neighbors did. Hitler was a candidate for election as Chancellor, and even though this particular talk was somewhat subdued because of a bad cold he had at the time, my parents were sufficiently concerned by the tone and message of his campaign speech that they decided on the way home from their neighbors’ house to leave Germany the next day for Czechoslovakia to wait until this craziness was over; my father’s father had owned some property in Prague.
Supports and gaps in federal policy for addressing racial and ethnic disparities among long-term care facility residents

Older adults from racial and ethnic minority groups are likely to face disparities in their health as well as care experiences in long-term care facilities such as nursing homes and assisted living facilities just as they do in the United States as a whole. Policymakers in the United States face concerns around long-term services and supports to address the growing demands of a rapidly aging population through public and private sector initiatives. It is important to create inclusive and culturally responsive environments to meet the needs of diverse groups of older adults. In spite of federal policy that supports minority health and protects the well-being of long-term care facility residents, racial and ethnic disparities persist in long-term care facilities. This manuscript describes supports and gaps in the current United States' federal policy to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in long-term care facilities. Implications for social workers are discussed and recommendations include efforts to revise portions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, amending regulations regarding long-term care facilities' training and oversight, and tailoring the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program's data collection, analysis, and reporting requirements to include racial and ethnic demographic data.
Comparing Labor Market Trajectories of Refugee Women to Other Immigrant and Native-Born Women in the United States

Even as the world has witnessed an unprecedented number of displaced individuals, resettlement of refugees has been met with fears about their ability to integrate into host economies. Such fears a...
Frostbite injuries: independent predictors of outcomes.

Objectives Frostbite injuries are important causes of morbidity and mortality after trauma. Epidemiology, injury patterns, and outcomes after frostbite among patients presenting to trauma centers are incompletely defined. The purpose of this study was to delineate patient demographics, clinical characteristics, and independent predictors of outcomes after frostbite. Material and Methods Patients with frostbite injury were identified from the National Trauma Data Bank (NTDB) (2007-2014). Demographics, clinical/injury data, and outcomes were collected. Patients were dichotomized into study groups based on intensive care unit (ICU) admission. Univariate analysis was performed with the Mann-Whitney U, Fisher's exact, or Chi-Square test as appropriate. Multivariate analysis using logistic regression determined independent predictors of outcomes. Results Over the study period, 241 patients were identified. Median body temperature on admission was 36.3⁰C (IQR 33.4-36.7). Mortality was 3% (n= 7). ICU admission was required in 101 (42%) patients and 48 (20%) underwent surgical intervention. On multivariate analyses, mortality was predicted by lower admission GCS (p= 0.027) and amputation by higher HR (p= 0.013). Need for ICU admission was predicted by older age (p= 0.010), male gender (p= 0.040), higher HR (p= 0.031) and ISS (p <0.001), and lower GCS (p= 0.001). Prolonged hospital LOS was predicted by higher heart rate (p <0.001) and ISS (p <0.001). Conclusion Frostbite injuries are uncommon but can necessitate surgical intervention and cause mortality. Lower GCS and higher heart rate, but not body temperature, portend poor outcomes. These findings can be used to triage patients appropriately upon admission and to better inform prognosis after frostbite injuries.
The Links between the Linguistic Designs of L2 Teacher Questions and the Student Responses They Engender

A great deal of research undertaken in child language development, neurolinguistics and various branches of functional and cognitive linguistics has shown that a main source of language development is the spoken input to which learners are exposed. Despite the fact that for most adult L2 learners, the greatest exposure to the L2 is the input they experience in the classroom, we still know very little of the linguistic quality of L2 classroom input and its links to L2 development. The study reported in this paper is a partial response to this gap. Drawing on research from L1 classrooms linking the linguistic quality of teacher questions to the linguistic quality of student responses and grounded in the shared theoretical and methodological framework of conversation analysis and interactional linguistics, our study examines the linguistic designs of L2 teacher questions and the links between them and the L2 student responses they engender.
Brainwave Profiles of Efficient Versus Inefficient Working Memory Retrievals in Healthy Older Adults

General slowing of mental processing speed is the hallmark of the brain and cognitive aging. Thus far it has been limited understanding of neural mechanisms underlying mental states during fluctuations between efficient versus inefficient cognitive performance within individual older adults. Here we examined electrophysiological responses during visual working memory retrieval trials that are fast versus slow reactions. Wireless EEG along with accuracy and reaction times were recorded during a modified delayed match-to-sample task in 17 cognitively normal older adults (age 65-95) from North America. Compared to trials that are faster than average (mean 584 ms), the late positive potentials during trials that are slower than average (mean 747 ms) showed increased responses to memory nonmatch distractors than those to object matching memory targets in frontal sites, as previously reported in older brains. Interestingly, the brainwaves during efficient and accurate memory retrievals resemble those typically seen in younger adults.
Robust Mendelian randomization in the presence of residual population stratification, batch effects and horizontal pleiotropy

ABSTRACT Mendelian Randomization (MR) exploits genetic variants as instrumental variables to estimate the causal effect of an “exposure” trait on an “outcome” trait from observational data. However, the validity of such studies is threatened by population stratification, batch effects, and horizontal pleiotropy. Although a variety of methods have been proposed to partially mitigate those problems, residual biases may still remain, leading to highly statistically significant false positives in large genetic databases. Here, we describe a suite of sensitivity analysis tools for MR that enables investigators to properly quantify the robustness of their findings against these (and other) unobserved validity threats. Specifically, we propose the routine reporting of sensitivity statistics that can be used to readily quantify the robustness of a MR result: (i) the partial R2 of the genetic instrument with the exposure and the outcome traits; and, (ii) the robustness value of both genetic associations. These statistics quantify the minimal strength of violations of the MR assumptions that would be necessary to explain away the MR causal effect estimate. We also provide intuitive displays to visualize the sensitivity of the MR estimate to any degree of violation, and formal methods to bound the worst-case bias caused by violations in terms of multiples of the observed strength of principal components, batch effects, as well as putative pleiotropic pathways. We demonstrate how these tools can aid researchers in distinguishing robust from fragile findings, by showing that the MR estimate of the causal effect of body mass index (BMI) on diastolic blood pressure is relatively robust, whereas the MR estimate of the causal effect of BMI on Townsend deprivation index is relatively fragile.
A Full Spectrum of Interpretation: A Discourse-Historical Analysis of One Community College’s Mission Statement

This study analyzes the internal and external forces that led to the creation and revisions of a community college’s mission statement over the course of its 53-year history. We used discourse-hist...
Local-Miracle Compatibilism: A Critique

The Consequence Argument is one of the leading arguments for the incompatibility of causal determinism and free will in the sense of freedom to do otherwise. Thus, it challenges “classical compatibilism” of the sort defended by many philosophers, such as Hume, Schlick, Ayer, Lehrer, Perry, Lewis, Vihvelin, et, al. David Lewis has offered what has become the most influential response: local-miracle compatibilism. I present a critique of this kind of response to the Consequence Argument. My critique shows that, although Lewis-style local-miracle compatibilism may effectively address some versions of the Consequence Argument, it does not succeed in refuting others (that involve a plausible principle that is arguably the best way to capture the intuitive idea of the fixity of the past and has nothing to do with counterfactuals). My critique consists, in large part, in arguing for a new reconstruction (and extension) of the principle of the fixity of the past - a principle that played a crucial role in the history of the debate and that has, in one form or another, been employed by many important historical figures (including Aristotle, Aquinas, Ockham and Kant). I will also show why Lewis’s famous views about our powers in time-travel are false.
Real-Time Modular Deep Neural Network-Based Adaptive Control of Nonlinear Systems

A real-time deep neural network (DNN) adaptive control architecture is developed for uncertain control-affine nonlinear systems to track a time-varying desired trajectory. A Lyapunov-based analysis is used to develop adaptation laws for the output-layer weights and develop constraints for inner-layer weight adaptation laws. Unlike existing works in neural network and DNN-based control, the developed method establishes a framework to simultaneously update the weights of multiple layers for a DNN of arbitrary depth in real-time. The real-time controller and weight update laws enable the system to track a time-varying trajectory while compensating for unknown drift dynamics and parametric DNN uncertainties. A nonsmooth Lyapunov-based analysis is used to guarantee semi-global asymptotic tracking. Comparative numerical simulation results are included to demonstrate the efficacy of the developed method.