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Introduction: Wound complications (WC) after abdominal wall reconstruction (AWR) are associated with increased cost, recurrence, and mesh infection. Operative closing protocols (CP) have been studied in other surgical disciplines but not in AWR. Our aim was to study the effect of a CP on WC after AWR. Methods: The CP consists of antibiotic wound irrigation, glove and complete instrument exchange, and re-draping of the sterile field to cover the skin entirely prior to mesh implantation. A prospective institutional database at a tertiary hernia center was queried for patients who underwent open AWR with mesh. Standard descriptive and inferential statistics are reported. A Bayesian structured time-series analysis was performed to evaluate rates of wound infection (WI) and WC before and after implementation of a CP in late 2016. Results: A total of 2541 AWR patients were examined. Mean age and BMI were 57.9 ± 12.6 years and 32.9 ± 9.8 kg/m2, 56.7% were female, and 24.2% were diabetic. Significantly more CP patients had contaminated wounds. Mean defect size was 203.1 ± 205.8 cm2. Average follow-up was 31.5 ± 41.4 months. WI rate before CP (preCP) was 14.5% compared to 2.6% after CP (P < 0.001). WC rate was higher before CP (29.3% vs 10.3%, P < 0.001). Specifically, wound cellulitis (9.7% vs 2.7%, P < 0.001), wound infection (13.8 vs 1.8%, P < 0.001), and mesh infection (2.1% vs 0.6%, P < 0.004) rates were reduced after CP implementation. For WI, Bayesian Structured time-series analysis showed that the implementation of CP had an effect of 83% (± 2%, 95% CI − 87%, − 78%; P < 0.001) reduction in WI compared to counterfactual. For WC, the Bayesian analysis revealed a reduction compared to counterfactual for WC of − 67% (± 3%, 95% CI − 60%, − 72%; P < 0.001). Conclusions: Introduction of a CP for open AWR with mesh has reduced overall WI and WC rates. The use of a CP should be strongly considered in AWR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent results concerning the linear dynamics and mean ergodicity of compact operators in Banach spaces, together with additional new results, are employed to investigate various spectral properties of generalized Cesàro operators acting in large classes of classical BK-sequence spaces. Of particular interest is to determine the eigenvalues and the corresponding eigenvectors of such operators and to decide whether (or not) the operators are power bounded, mean ergodic and supercyclic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: The purpose of this study was to determine the real-world incidence and predictors of additional vertebroplasty or balloon kyphoplasty after initial vertebral augmentation, as a proxy for subsequent symptomatic vertebral fracture. Of patients, 15.5% underwent subsequent vertebral augmentation. The patient's comorbidities are strongly associated with risk of subsequent treatment. Purpose: To determine the real-world incidence and predictors of additional vertebroplasty or balloon kyphoplasty after initial vertebral augmentation, as a proxy for subsequent symptomatic and disabling vertebral fracture. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study using commercial insurance claims data (Optum's de-identified Clinformatics® Data Mart Database). Adult patients who underwent subsequent treatment for vertebral fracture within 24 months of initial balloon kyphoplasty (BKP) or vertebroplasty (VP) were classified into "subsequent treatment" or "no subsequent treatment" cohorts. Survival analysis was applied to investigate the effect of risk factors on subsequent treatment. Results: Between 1 January 2008 and 30 June 2020, a total of 32,513 adult patients underwent a BKP/VP procedure following a diagnosis of vertebral compression fracture in the preceding 12 months. Five thousand thirty-five patients (15.5%) underwent a subsequent BKP/VP treatment within 2 years; 90% had a single fracture level treated. An increased hazard of subsequent treatment was associated with a number of fractures treated at initial BKP/VP (≥ 4 levels, adjusted hazard ratio (AHR) 1.68 (95% CI 1.24–2.26); steroid use, AHR 1.9 (95% CI 1.31–1.48); Elixhauser Comorbidity Index ≥ 4, AHR 1.44 (95% CI 1.17–1.77); and multiple myeloma, AHR 1.31 (95% CI 1.13–1.53)). Age < 70 years was associated with reduced hazard of subsequent treatment (AHR 0.81, 95% CI 0.74–0.89). Conclusions: One in seven patients underwent subsequent treatment for vertebral fracture after initial vertebral augmentation. Baseline patient characteristics were associated with increased risk of subsequent fracture within 2 years, suggesting that a patient's natural history is strongly associated with risk of subsequent treatment rather than the initial surgical procedure itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is a common complication in patients with diabetes. It is associated with a poor quality of life and high costs of care. This study investigated the impact of painful DPN on healthcare costs and resource utilization. Methods: This was a retrospective analysis of administrative claims of adult patients with diabetes (type 1 or 2) from Optum's de-identified Clinformatics® Data Mart Database. Patients were assigned to four cohorts by presence of DPN and pain severity, based on diagnoses and prescription patterns in a one-year baseline. All-cause and diabetes-associated costs were calculated for the year following the index DPN diagnosis. Risk factors associated with presence of severely painful DPN were evaluated. Results: Relative to those without DPN, patients who had DPN without pain, painful DPN (PDPN), or severe PDPN incurred respective increases of $3,093, $9,349, and $20,887 in average annual all-cause costs. More than half of costs from painful/severe DPN were for prescriptions and inpatient hospitalization. Severe PDPN was associated with elevated odds of diabetic amyotrophy (OR: 8.09; 95% CI: 6.84–9.56), diabetic foot ulcers (OR: 6.54, 95% CI: 6.32–6.76), and loss of mobility (OR: 2.54, 95% CI: 2.48–2.60), among other complications. Conclusions: Painful DPN is associated with higher healthcare costs and resource utilization, and a greater risk of debilitating conditions that limit quality of life. Future research should focus on better treatment options and more aggressive pain management strategies to reduce the negative impacts of DPN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Processing that occurs while information is held in working memory is critical in long-term retention of that information. One counterintuitive finding is that the concurrent processing required during complex span tasks typically impairs immediate memory, while also leading to improved delayed memory. One proposed mechanism for this effect is retrieval practice that occurs each time memory items are displaced to allow for concurrent processing during complex span tasks. Other research has instead suggested that increased free time during complex span procedures underlies this effect. In the present study, we presented participants with memory items in simple, complex, and slow span tasks and compared their performance on immediate and delayed memory tests. We found that how much a participant engaged with the secondary task of the complex span task corresponded with how strongly they exhibited a complex span boost on delayed memory performance. We also probed what participants were thinking about during the task, and found that participants' focus varied depending both on task type and secondary task engagement. The results support repeated retrieval as a key mechanism in the relationship between working memory processing and long-term retention. Further, the present study highlights the importance of variation in individual cognitive processing in predicting long-term outcomes even when objective conditions remain unchanged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research on family communication of cancer genetic test results has primarily focused on non-Hispanic White patients with high-risk pathogenic variants (PV). There are limited data on patient communication of moderate-risk PVs, variants of uncertain significance (VUS), and negative results. This qualitative study examined communication of positive, negative, and VUS hereditary cancer multi-gene panel (MGP) results in an ethnically and socioeconomically diverse population. As part of a multicenter, prospective cohort study of 2000 patients who underwent MGP testing at three hospitals in California, USA, free-text written survey responses to the question: "Feel free to share any thoughts or experiences with discussing genetic test results with others" were collected from participant questionnaires administered at 3 and 12-months post results disclosure. Content and thematic analyses were performed using a theory-driven analysis, Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), on 256 responses from 214 respondents. Respondents with high perceived utility of sharing genetic test results often reported positive attitudes towards sharing test results and direct encouragement for genetic testing of others. Respondents with high self-efficacy in the sharing process were likely to report high perceived utility of sharing, whereas patients with low self-efficacy more often had VUS results and were more likely to report uncertainty about sharing. Consistent with TPB, our findings suggest that clinician reinforcement of the utility of genetic testing may increase intent for patients to communicate genetic information. Our findings suggest that clinicians should focus on strategies to improve patient understanding of VUS results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study analyzes the impact of various wave-induced processes on relative dispersion and diffusivities in the North Sea using OpenDrift, a Lagrangian particle-drift model driven by a fully coupled NEMO-WAM model. The coupled model parameterizations include sea state-dependent momentum flux, energy flux, and wave-induced mixing. The study demonstrates that Eulerian currents, influenced by the interaction between the ocean and wave models, significantly enhance particle transport. Experiments conducted using drifter clusters obtained during an RV Heincke excursion further confirm the impact of wind-wave coupling. The analysis includes a comparison of results from experiments with and without wave coupling. The impact of diffusion in the Lagrangian model on relative dispersion is investigated, with the conclusion that diffusion is essential for achieving precise simulations. Furthermore, the incorporation of wind-wave-driven mixing parameters, including sea state-dependent momentum flux, energy flux, and wave-induced mixing, into the hydrodynamic model leads to elevated levels of relative dispersion and diffusivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multilevel interventions (MLIs) are appropriate to reduce health disparities among Indigenous peoples because of their ability to address these communities' diverse histories, dynamics, cultures, politics, and environments. Intervention science has highlighted the importance of context-sensitive MLIs in Indigenous communities that can prioritize Indigenous and local knowledge systems and emphasize the collective versus the individual. This paradigm shift away from individual-level focus interventions to community-level focus interventions underscores the need for community engagement and diverse partnerships in MLI design, implementation, and evaluation. In this paper, we discuss three case studies addressing how Indigenous partners collaborated with researchers in each stage of the design, implementation, and evaluation of MLIs to reduce health disparities impacting their communities. We highlight the following: (1) collaborations with multiple, diverse tribal partners to carry out MLIs which require iterative, consistent conversations over time; (2) inclusion of qualitative and Indigenous research methods in MLIs as a way to honor Indigenous and local knowledge systems as well as a way to understand a health disparity phenomenon in a community; and (3) relationship building, maintenance, and mutual respect among MLI partners to reconcile past research abuses, prevent extractive research practices, decolonize research processes, and generate co-created knowledge between Indigenous and academic communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research has consistently shown that parental psychological control is associated with negative psychosocial outcomes, including rule-breaking behavior, aggression, and delinquency. Given the potential long-term consequences of early involvement in externalizing problems, it is important to understand pathways of risk for a child engaging in these behaviors. Therefore, the aim of the current cross-sectional study was to investigate whether peer victimization underlies the associations between parental psychological control and externalizing problems. Participants included 275 children (51.6% girls) in the third through fifth grade (M = 9.33 years, SD = 0.99 years) and their homeroom teachers. Children provided self-reports of psychological control, peer victimization, and delinquency, and teachers provided ratings of peer victimization and forms of aggression. Rule-breaking behavior was assessed using school records. As predicted, a higher order latent externalizing problems factor was identified from indices of rule-breaking behavior, relational aggression, physical aggression, and delinquency. Further, results indicated that peer victimization served as a mechanism linking parental psychological control to a higher-order latent externalizing problems factor as well as individual indices (i.e., rule-breaking behavior, relational aggression, physical aggression, and delinquency). Findings from this study suggest that parents can have an impact on child outcomes through their impact on peer relations. Additionally, these findings may have important implications for early identification and prevention efforts addressing externalizing problems during middle childhood. Highlights: There was a significant indirect effect from parental psychological control to childhood externalizing problems through peer victimization. Findings remained consistent when using child- and teacher-reported peer victimization. Rule-breaking behavior, aggression, and delinquency significantly loaded on to a latent externalizing problems factor. Links between parenting behavior and externalizing problems are evident among children in elementary school. There might be multiple points of intervention when trying to reduce youth externalizing problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to shape a tissue, individual cell-based mechanical forces have to be integrated into a global force pattern. Over the last decades, the importance of actomyosin contractile arrays, which are the key constituents of various morphogenetic processes, has been established for many tissues. Recent studies have demonstrated that the microtubule cytoskeleton mediates folding and elongation of the epithelial sheet during Drosophila morphogenesis, placing microtubule mechanics on par with actin-based processes. While these studies establish the importance of both cytoskeletal systems during cell and tissue rearrangements, a mechanistic understanding of their functional hierarchy is currently missing. Here, we dissect the individual roles of these two key generators of mechanical forces during epithelium elongation in the developing Drosophila wing. We show that wing extension, which entails columnar-to-cuboidal cell shape remodeling in a cell-autonomous manner, is driven by anisotropic cell expansion caused by the remodeling of the microtubule cytoskeleton from apico-basal to planarly polarized. Importantly, cell and tissue elongation is not associated with Myosin activity. Instead, Myosin II exhibits a homeostatic role, as actomyosin contraction balances polarized microtubule-based forces to determine the final cell shape. Using a reductionist model, we confirm that pairing microtubule and actomyosin-based forces is sufficient to recapitulate cell elongation and the final cell shape. These results support a hierarchical mechanism whereby microtubule-based forces in some epithelial systems prime actomyosin-generated forces. Actomyosin and microtubule-based forces are both important for tissue development, but how these systems interact in space and time remains unclear. Here, the authors study fly wing epithelium growth and determine aspects driving cell shape that are driven by microtubule or actomyosin-generated forces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Adoption of robotic liver resections has been gradually increasing throughout the HPB surgical community over the past decade. Currently there is limited literature which demonstrates a significant benefit of robotic surgery for major hepatectomies over open or laparoscopic. As one of the first centers to develop a robotic HPB program, we have experienced improved outcomes over time with increasing utilization of robotics. Herein, we present our 10-year experience and outcomes for major robotic liver resections. Methods: From 2012 to 2022, 361 robotic liver procedures were performed, including 100 major hepatectomies. A retrospective data review of the electronic medical record was performed evaluating outcomes after robotic major hepatectomy. Outcomes for the first 50 cases (Group A) and second 50 cases (Group B) were compared to identify any improvements in practice. Demographic and clinical outcome variables were analyzed. Data were assessed for normality, and Wilcoxon rank-sum, χ2 tests, and a logistic regression model were performed appropriate for the data. Stata v.17 was utilized, and significance was set as p <.05. Results: There was no difference in median operative time (258 vs 256 min), EBL (500 vs 500 mL), median LOS (5 vs 3.5 days), 90-day readmission (14% vs 24%), major complications (14% vs 20%), and 90-day mortality (6% vs 4%) between early and late cases, respectively. ICU admissions and conversion rates were significantly lower in group B (14.0% vs 48.0%), while expert level difficulty indices were higher (82% vs 58%). Conclusion: Development of a robotic liver program with good outcomes is feasible over time. Our data suggest that our institutional learning curve for robotic major hepatectomy plateaued at approximately 50 cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IN625 is an attractive alloy for additive manufacturing (AM) applications, but the processing conditions in AM generate considerable residual stresses, compositional gradients, and microstructural heterogeneities that degrade properties and performance. Resistance to environmentally induced cracking is of great concern for many applications within the petroleum and natural gas (PNG) industries. To evaluate the influence that AM fabrication may have on this property, AM and wrought-processed samples were given similar heat treatments and tested in tension at slow strain rates in an acidified chloride environment under both freely corroding conditions and controlled hydrogen fugacity. The results revealed that the AM solidification microstructure had a deleterious influence on the mechanical properties and significantly increased the severity of the cracking when absorbed hydrogen was present in the sample. An increase in the volume fraction of the δ-phase intensified the strength of that influence. This evaluation also demonstrated that additional thermal processing eliminated the AM solidification microstructure and the microsegregation resulting in a more homogeneous microstructure, which reduced the density and severity of the interactions between the absorbed hydrogen, interfacial precipitates (δ-phase), grain boundaries, and tri-axial stresses. It is concluded that effective post-build heat treatments can be designed that will enable AM components to perform as well as wrought components under the same environmental conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Robotic pancreaticoduodenectomy (RPD) is an emerging alternative to open pancreaticoduodenectomy (OPD). Although RPD offers various theoretical advantages, it is used in less than 10% of all pancreaticoduodenectomies. The aim of this study was to report our 10-year experience and compare RPD outcomes with international benchmarks for OPD. Methods: A retrospective review of a prospectively maintained institutional database was performed of consecutive patients who underwent RPD between January 2011 and December 2021. Patients were categorized into low-risk and high-risk groups according to the selection criteria set by the benchmark study. Their outcomes were compared to the international benchmark cut off values. Outcomes were then evaluated over time to identify improvements in practice and establish a learning curve. Results: Of 201 RPDs, 36 were low-risk and 165 high-risk patients. Compared to the OPD benchmarks, outcomes of low-risk patients were within the cutoff values. High-risk patients were outside the cutoff for blood transfusions (26% vs. ≤ 23%), overall complications (78% vs. ≤ 73%), grade I–II complications (68% vs. ≤ 62%), and readmissions (22% vs ≤ 21%). Oncologic outcomes for high-risk patients were within benchmark cutoffs. Cases at the end of the learning curve included more pancreatic cancer (42% from 17%) and fewer low-risk patients (10% from 24%) than those at the beginning. After 41 RPD there was a decline in conversion rates and operative time. Between 95 and 143 cases operative time, transfusion rates, and LOS declined significantly. Complications did not differ over time. Conclusion: RPD yields results comparable to the established benchmarks in OPD in both low- and high-risk patients. Along the learning curve, RPD evolved with the inclusion of more high-risk cases while outcomes remained within benchmarks. Addition of a robotic HPB surgery fellowship did not compromise outcomes. These results suggest that RPD may be an option for high-risk patients at specialized centers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Percutaneous cryoablation is a first-line therapeutic option for primary neoplasms and metastatic lesions of the musculoskeletal system. Treatment of abdominal wall tumors is challenging as surgical resection can be highly morbid and necessitate complex reconstructive surgery; the efficacy of cryoablation for abdominal wall tumors may be limited by inadequate posterior margins owing to the proximity of intra-abdominal organs. With laparoscopy and insufflation, peritoneal structures can be safely mobilized away from the abdominal wall, allowing for adequate deep margin freeze and visualization of the ice ball. We present two patients with abdominal wall soft tissue tumors treated with a novel approach of laparoscopic-assisted, percutaneous ultrasound-guided cryoablation. Patients and Methods: Patient 1 is a 65-year-old female with metastatic extraskeletal myxoid chondrosarcoma, stable on systemic therapy, who presented with a new soft tissue metastasis to the abdominal wall. Resection would have necessitated a highly morbid complex abdominal wall reconstruction with mesh. Patient 2 is a 35-year-old female with a large abdominal wall desmoid tumor, diagnosed after miscarriage. Resection was relatively contraindicated owing to the morbidity of a complex abdominal wall reconstruction and concerns regarding potential future pregnancies after surgery. Results: Both patients underwent procedures in the outpatient setting after discussion at multidisciplinary sarcoma tumor board. Laparoscopic enterolysis was performed to mobilize the bowel away from the abdominal wall, to allow direct visualization of the peritoneal aspect of the tumor, and to confirm adequacy of the posterior margin freeze of the lesion. Laparoscopic transversus abdominus preperitoneal (TAPP) blocks with local anesthetic were performed for postoperative pain control. Interventional radiology performed an ultrasound-guided cryoablation consisting of two freeze and thaw cycles. Both patients recovered well without complications and were without radiographic evidence of persistent or recurrent disease at 12 and 18 months postoperatively, respectively. Conclusion: We report a novel approach of laparoscopic-assisted cryoablation for the treatment of abdominal wall soft tissue tumors. This allowed for successful minimally invasive local control of these large tumors that would have otherwise required highly morbid resections with complex abdominal wall reconstruction and mesh repair. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Airborne laser scanners (ALS) are used to map the sea-ice surface at sub-meter resolution. We conducted 64 flights over the Arctic sea ice between September 2019 and September 2020 during the Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) expedition to measure sea-ice surface elevation. The flights ranged from repeated, local-scale 5 × 5 km2 floe grid surveys to regional-scale transects more than 100 km long. We provide data at different processing levels: geolocated elevation point clouds and gridded segments of elevation and freeboard with a spatial resolution of 0.5 m. The latter product is corrected for atmospheric backscatter, sea-ice drift, and offset in elevation due to degraded INS/GNSS solutions > 85° N. For floe grid surveys, all data are combined to merged two-dimensional elevation maps. Other provided parameters include laser reflectance and echo width. The presented data offer a unique possibility to study the temporal evolution, spatial distribution, and variability of the snow and sea-ice surface and their properties in addition to validating satellite products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The Japanese difficulty score (JDS) categorizes laparoscopic hepatectomy into low, intermediate, and high complexity procedures, and correlates with operative and postoperative outcomes. We sought to perform a validation study to determine if the JDS correlates with operative and postoperative indicators of surgical complexity for patients undergoing robotic-assisted hepatectomy. Methods: Retrospective review of 657 minimally invasive hepatectomy procedures was performed between January 2008 through March 2019. Outcomes included operative time, estimated blood loss (EBL), blood transfusion, complications, post-hepatectomy liver failure (PHLF), length of stay, 30-day readmission, and 30-day and 90-day mortality. Patients were grouped based on JDS defined as: low (< 4), intermediate (4–6), and high (7 +) complexity procedures. Statistical comparisons were analyzed by ANOVA or χ2 test. Results: 241 of 657 patients underwent robotic-assisted resection. Of these patients, 137 were included in the analysis based on JDS: 25 low, 58 intermediate, and 54 high. High JDS was associated with more major resections (≥ 4 contiguous segments) versus minor resections (median JDS 8 vs. 5, P < 0.0001). High JDS was associated with significantly longer operative times, higher EBL, and more blood transfusions. High JDS was associated with higher rates of PHLF at 16.7%, compared with 5.2% intermediate and 0.0% low, (P = 0.018). Complication rates, 30-day readmissions, and mortality rates were similar between groups. Median LOS was longer in patients with high JDS compared with intermediate and low (4 days vs. 3 days vs. 2 days; P = 0.0005). Discussion: Higher JDS was associated with multiple indicators of operative complexity, including greater extent of resection, increased operative time, EBL, blood transfusion, PHLF, and LOS. This validation study supports the ability of the JDS to categorize patients undergoing robotic-assisted hepatectomy by complexity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While holding items in working memory has been shown to improve delayed long-term recall, the mechanisms underlying this relationship remain unclear. One potential mechanism is working memory consolidation, which may facilitate the formation of novel associations between items during learning and lead to improved memory search at delayed retrieval. Forming novel associations via consolidation may share mechanisms with creative ability. The present research aims to explore how an individual's creativity relates to the relationship between working memory consolidation and long-term memory. In Experiment 1, participants completed a stimulus identification task that manipulated the need for consolidation followed by a surprise delayed recognition task and measures of objective and self-reported creativity. While creativity scores were correlated with general performance on memory tasks, this effect was not related to working memory consolidation. In Experiment 2, participants were induced into either a creative or a non-creative state prior to completing the stimulus identification and delayed recognition tasks. Performance on these tasks was not significantly different between the groups and was again unrelated to working memory consolidation. The results of these two experiments suggest that creativity is not related to the mechanism underlying the effect of working memory consolidation on delayed recognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many aspects, elastomers and soft biological tissues exhibit similar mechanical properties such as a pronounced nonlinear stress–strain relation and a viscoelastic response to external loads. Consequently, many models use the same rheological framework and material functions to capture their behavior. The viscosity function is thereby often assumed to be constant and the corresponding free energy function follows that one of the long-term equilibrium response. This work questions this assumption and presents a detailed study on non-Newtonian viscosity functions for elastomers and brain tissues. The viscosity functions are paired with several commonly used free energy functions and fitted to two different types of elastomers and brain tissues in cyclic and relaxation experiments, respectively. Having identified suitable viscosity and free energy functions for the different materials, numerical aspects of viscoelasticity are addressed. From the multiplicative decomposition of the deformation gradient and ensuring a non-negative dissipation rate, four equivalent viscoelasticity formulations are derived that employ different internal variables. Using an implicit exponential map as time integration scheme, the numerical behavior of these four formulations are compared among each other and numerically robust candidates are identified. The fitting results demonstrate that non-Newtonian viscosity functions significantly enhance the fitting quality. It is shown that the choice of a viscosity function is even more important than the choice of a free energy function and the classical neo-Hooke approach is often a sufficient choice. Furthermore, the numerical investigations suggest the superiority of two of the four viscoelasticity formulations, especially when complex finite element simulations are to be conducted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although siblings are known to contribute to one's socialization experiences, research examining sibling victimization remains limited. One area in need of examination is the links between coping strategies and sibling victimization, as extant research suggests that how one responds to negative social interactions is associated with subsequent adjustment and may increase risk for further victimization. The current study advances the field by examining the bidirectional associations between coping strategies and sibling and peer victimization over a 6-month period and evaluating potential gender differences in these associations. Third- through fifth-grade children (M age = 9.28 years; 54.4% male) reported on their victimization experiences and coping strategies at each time point. Findings suggest that while revenge seeking was associated with increases in sibling victimization for both boys and girls, revenge seeking was only associated with increases in peer victimization for boys. Further, peer victimization was associated with increases in passive coping regardless of gender. Thus, associations between victimization and coping strategies appear to vary somewhat depending on who the aggressor is, but the majority of effects appear to be similar for boys and girls. Findings support the need to evaluate experiences of sibling victimization further. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hyperelasticity is a common modeling approach to reproduce the nonlinear mechanical behavior of rubber materials at finite deformations. It is not only employed for stand-alone, purely elastic models but also within more sophisticated frameworks like viscoelasticity or Mullins-type softening. The choice of an appropriate strain energy function and identification of its parameters is of particular importance for reliable simulations of rubber products. The present manuscript provides an overview of suitable hyperelastic models to reproduce the isochoric as well as volumetric behavior of nine widely used rubber compounds. This necessitates firstly a discussion on the careful preparation of the experimental data. More specific, procedures are proposed to properly treat the preload in tensile and compression tests as well as to proof the consistency of experimental data from multiple experiments. Moreover, feasible formulations of the cost function for the parameter identification in terms of the stress measure, error type as well as order of the residual norm are studied and their effect on the fitting results is illustrated. After these preliminaries, invariant-based strain energy functions with decoupled dependencies on all three principal invariants are employed to identify promising models for each compound. Especially, appropriate parameter constraints are discussed and the role of the second invariant is analyzed. Thus, this contribution may serve as a guideline for the process of experimental characterization, data processing, model selection and parameter identification for existing as well as new materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The American Society of Breast Surgeons recommends genetic testing (GT) for all women with breast cancer (BC), but implementation and uptake of GT has not been well-described. Methods: A retrospective chart review was performed for newly diagnosed BC patients or patients with a newly identified recurrence of BC seen in a multidisciplinary clinic (MDBC) who were offered genetic counseling (GC) and GT. Results: The 138 women attending the MDBC had a median age of 54 years and comprised non-Hispanic whites (46%), Asians (28%), Hispanics (17%), blacks (4%), and other (5%). Of the 105 (76%) patients without prior GT, 100 (95%) accepted GC, with 93 (93%) of these 100 patients undergoing GT. The patients meeting the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines for GT were more likely to undergo GT. Testing was performed with a 67- to 84-gene panel, together with an 8- to 9-gene STAT panel if needed. Among 120 patients with reports available, including 33 patients previously tested, 15 (12%) were positive (1 BLM, 1 BRCA1, 3 BRCA2, 1 BRIP1, 1 CFTR, 1 CHEK2, 1 MUTYH, 1 PALB2, 1 PRSS1, 1 RAD50, 1 RET, and 2 TP53), 44 (37%) were negative, and 61 (51%) had an uncertain variant. The median time to STAT results (n = 50) was 8 days. The STAT results were available before surgery for 47 (98%) of the 48 STAT patients undergoing surgery. Conclusions: New BC patients attending the MDBC demonstrated high rates of acceptance of GC and GT. The combination of GC and GT can offer timely information critical to patient risk assessment and treatment planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An emerging area of research is focused on the relationship between working memory and long-term memory and the likely overlap between these processes. Of particular interest is how some information first maintained in working memory is retained for longer periods and eventually preserved in long-term memory. The process of stabilizing transient memory representations for lasting retention is referred to as consolidation in both the working memory and long-term memory literature, although these have historically been viewed as independent constructs. The present review aims to investigate the relationship between working memory consolidation and long-term memory consolidation, which both have rich, but distinct, histories. This review provides an overview of the proposed models and neural mechanisms of both types of consolidation, as well as clinical findings related to consolidation and potential approaches for the manipulation of consolidation. Finally, two hypotheses are proposed to explain the relationship between working memory consolidation and long-term memory consolidation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Youth who experience aggression at the hands of peers are at an increased risk for a variety of adjustment difficulties, including depressive and anxiety symptoms and lower self-esteem. The links between peer victimization and internalizing problems are robust, but less work has been done to identify individual-level protective factors that might mitigate these outcomes. The current study investigated whether hope served as a moderator of the prospective links from peer victimization to depressive and anxiety symptoms and self-esteem during adolescence. Participants included 166 high school students (64% female; 88% Black/African American). Youth completed self-report measures at three different time points across the Spring semester of an academic year. As predicted, hope interacted with peer victimization to predict changes in depressive and anxiety symptoms over the course of the semester. That is, for youth with low levels of hope, peer victimization predicted more stable patterns of depressive and anxiety symptoms. For adolescents with average levels of hope, however, peer victimization did not influence anxiety and depressive symptoms over time. Finally, for adolescents with high levels of hope, peer victimization predicted greater decreases in anxiety symptoms over time. Hope did not interact with peer victimization to predict self-esteem. Rather, hope uniquely predicted higher levels of self-esteem, whereas peer victimization uniquely predicted lower levels of self-esteem. The current study provides initial support for the notion that hope can serve as a protective factor among youth who are victims of peer aggression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When holding information in working memory, the proportion of time occupied by a concurrent task determines memory performance. This effect, the cognitive load effect, has been replicated many times. Recent work has referred to it as a law of cognition (Barrouillet, Portrat, & Camos, Psychological review, 118(2), 175-192, 2011) and a Priority-A Benchmark of working memory (Oberauer et al., Psychological bulletin, 144(9), 885-958, 2018), making it an important effect for all models of working memory to explain. Despite this, some recent work has demonstrated conditions under which this law does not apply, bringing into question its generalizability. The present work investigates the boundary conditions of the cognitive load effect in visual working memory. We show that only under specific circumstances is cognitive load crucial to visual working memory performance. Moreover, the data indicate that the theoretical underpinnings assumed to underlie the cognitive load effect, maintenance in the face of continued forgetting, may be incorrect, at least in visual working memory. We propose that cognitive load effects may reflect enrichment of the memory representation in low cognitive load task situations, not mitigation of ongoing forgetting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The drift diffusion model (DDM) is a widely applied computational model of decision making that allows differentiation between latent cognitive and residual processes. One main assumption of the DDM that has undergone little empirical testing is the level of independence between cognitive and motor responses. If true, widespread incorporation of DDM estimation into applied and clinical settings could ease assessment of whether response disruption occurs due to cognitive or motor slowing. Across two experiments, we manipulated response force (motor speed) and set size to evaluate whether drift rates are independent of motor slowing or if motor slowing impacts the drift rate parameter. The hierarchical Bayesian drift diffusion model was used to quantify parameter estimates of drift rate, boundary separation, and non-decision time. Model comparison revealed changes in set size impacted the drift rate while changes in response force did not impact the drift rate, validating independence between drift rates and motor speed. Convergent validity between parameter estimates and traditional assessments of processing speed and motor function were weak or absent. Widespread application, including neurocognitive assessment where confounded changes in cognitive and motor slowing are pervasive, may provide a more process-pure measurement of information processing speed, leading to advanced disease-symptom management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: This retrospective analysis of insurance claims evaluated real-world trends in prescription fills among patients treated with balloon kyphoplasty (N = 6,656) or vertebroplasty (N = 2,189) following diagnosis of vertebral compression fracture. Among those with evidence of opioid use, nearly half of patients discontinued or reduced prescription fills relative to pre-operative levels. Introduction: Vertebral compression fractures (VCF) are associated with debilitating pain, spinal misalignment, increased mortality, and increased healthcare-resource utilization in elderly patients. This study evaluated the effect of balloon kyphoplasty (BKP) or vertebroplasty (VP) on post-procedure opioid prescription fills and payer costs in patients with VCF. Methods: This was a retrospective analysis of a large, nationally representative insurance-claims database. Clinical characteristics, opioid prescription patterns, and payer costs for subjects who underwent either BKP or VP to treat VCF were evaluated beginning 6 months prior to surgery through 7-month follow-up that included a 30-day, postoperative medication washout. Patient demographics, changes in opioid utilization, and payer costs were analyzed. Results: A total of 8,845 patients met eligibility criteria (75.3% BKP and 24.7% VP) with a mean of age 77 and 74% female. Among the 75% of patients who used opioids, 48.7% of patients discontinued opioid medication and 8.4% reduced prescription fills versus preoperative baseline. Patients who reduced or discontinued prescriptions exhibited a decrease in all-cause payer costs relative to pre-intervention levels, which was a significantly greater change relative to patients with no change, increase, or new start of opioids. Conclusions: Interventional treatment for VCF was associated with decreased or discontinued opioid prescription fills and reduced payer costs in follow-up in a significant proportion of the study population. Reduction of opioid-based harms may represent a previously unrecognized benefit of vertebral augmentation for VCF, especially in this elderly and medically fragile population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effective monitoring of antibiotic resistance genes and their dissemination in environmental ecosystems has been hindered by the cost and efficiency of methods available for the task. We developed the Diversity of Antibiotic Resistance genes and Transfer Elements-Quantitative Monitoring (DARTE-QM), a method implementing TruSeq high-throughput sequencing to simultaneously sequence thousands of antibiotic resistant gene targets representing a full-spectrum of antibiotic resistance classes common to environmental systems. In this study, we demonstrated DARTE-QM by screening 662 antibiotic resistance genes within complex environmental samples originated from manure, soil, and livestock feces, in addition to a mock-community reference to assess sensitivity and specificity. DARTE-QM offers a new approach to studying antibiotic resistance in environmental microbiomes, showing advantages in efficiency and the ability to scale for many samples. This method provides a means of data acquisition that will alleviate some of the obstacles that many researchers in this area currently face. Smith et al. present DARTE-QM, a highthroughput sequencing method for screening environmental DNA samples for antibiotic resistance genes on a broad scale. This method is demonstrated as effective on soil, manure and livestock fecal samples, as well as a synthetic mock-community reference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Restoring wetlands is expensive, and hydrology criteria are needed to determine if restored sites are saturated long enough to support the planted vegetation. This study determined relationships among hydrology, soils, and vegetation in a restored Carolina Bay wetland (CBW) to identify field indicators of saturation duration. The study site was in Robeson County, NC in a CBW that had been restored for 15 years. Water-table data for the five-year period following restoration were used to establish saturation periods of: ≤13, 14-50, 51-100, and 101-225 consecutive days occurring during the growing season and within 30 cm of the surface. Sampling plots were established 15 years after restoration along a hydrologic gradient to identify vegetation type, tree basal area, tree height, wetland hydrology field indicators, and inundation. The number of hydrology field indicators increased 50%, going from ≤13 to 101-225 days of saturation. Dominant tree species at the restored site were similar to those found in three reference CBWs. Where saturation occurred for 101+ days, tree basal area and height decreased 40-69% compared to where saturation periods were shorter. Areas that experienced saturation for <51 days contained trees that were 10 cm larger in diameter, had more shrubs and vines, and contained less areal cover of graminoids compared to areas that had saturation for 101- 225 days. Regression equations predicted average saturation duration during the growing season using number of hydrologic field indicators and tree height with R2 values between 0.62 and 0.73. Such relationships would be useful to evaluate restoration success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy status plays a key role in the health of athletes and exercising individuals. Energy deficiency/low energy availability (EA), referring to a state in which insufficient energy intake and/or excessive exercise energy expenditure has resulted in compensatory metabolic adaptations to conserve fuel, can affect numerous physiological systems in women and men. The Female Athlete Triad, Male Athlete Triad, and Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S) models conceptualize the effects of energy deficiency in athletes, and each model has strengths and limitations. For instance, the Female Athlete Triad model depicts relationships between low EA, reproductive, and bone health, underpinning decades of experimental evidence, but may be perceived as limited in scope, while the more recent RED-S model proposes a wider range of potential health effects of low EA, though many model components require more robust scientific justification. This critical review summarizes current evidence regarding the effects of energy deficiency on athlete health by addressing the quality of the underlying science, the strengths and limitations of each model, and highlighting areas where future research is needed to advance the field. With the health and wellness of athletes and exercising individuals as the overarching priority, we conclude with specific steps that will help focus future research on the Female and Male Athlete Triad and RED-S, and encourage all researchers, clinicians, and practitioners to collaborate to support the common goal of promoting the highest quality science and evidence-based medicine in pursuit of the advancement of athletes' health, well-being, and performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Textile-reinforced concrete has emerged in recent years as a new and valuable construction material. The design of textile-reinforced concrete requires knowledge on the mechanical properties of different textile types as well as their reinforcing behaviour under different loading conditions. Conventional load-bearing tests tend to be complex, time-consuming, costly and can even lack consistent specifications. To mitigate such drawbacks, a standardised tensile test for fibre strands was used to characterise the material properties needed for the design of a textile-reinforced concrete member. The standardised tensile test uses a fibre strand with 160 mm length, which is cut out of a textile grid. For the sake of this study, an epoxy resin-soaked AR-glass reinforcement was considered. The results show that the textile reinforcement has a linear-elastic behaviour, and the ultimate tensile strength can be statistically modelled by a Gumbel distribution. Furthermore, the results indicate that the modulus of elasticity is not influenced by the length or the number of fibre strands. Therefore, the mean value attained from the standardised test can be used for design purposes. These findings are essential to derive an appropriate partial safety factor for the calculation of the design values of the tensile strength and can be used to determine the failure probability of textile-reinforced concrete members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose of Review: Three COVID-19 vaccines obtained emergency authorization from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and are widely used in the USA. Unfortunately, there is a paucity of evidence on the safety and efficacy of these vaccines in patients with autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic diseases (AIIRD), as these patients were excluded from all phases of vaccine development. Here we reviewed current data on COVID-19 vaccination in patients with AIIRD, with emphasis on systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and provided a comprehensive update on the benefits and risks of vaccination. Recent Findings: Patients with SLE have worse immune responses following SARS-CoV-2 vaccination than healthy controls. The efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines seems to be further reduced by immunosuppressive medications, such as glucocorticoids (GC), methotrexate (MTX), mycophenolate/mycophenolic acid (MMF), and rituximab (RTX). However, these data do not substantiate that AIIRD patients are at greater risk of disease flares or have a higher incidence of side effects following vaccination. There is no significant safety concern for the use of COVID-19 vaccines in patients with AIIRD. Summary: The benefits of vaccination far outweigh the risks in patients with AIIRD, including SLE. More data are needed to determine the necessity of a booster vaccine dose and appropriate adjustment of immunosuppressants around the administration of vaccine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Mullins effect is a characteristic property of filled rubber materials whose accurate and efficient modelling is still a challenging task. Innumerable constitutive models for elastomers are described in the literature. Therefore, this contribution gives a review on some widely used approaches, presents a classification, proves their thermodynamic consistency, and discusses reasonable modifications. To reduce the wide range of models, the choice is restricted to those which reproduce the idealised, discontinuous Mullins effect. Apart from the theoretical considerations, two compounds were produced and tested under cyclic uniaxial and equibiaxial tension as well as pure shear. Based on this experimental data, a benchmark that compares the fitting quality of the discussed models is compiled and favourable approaches are identified. The results are a sound basis for establishing novel or improving existing rubber models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To predict the histologic grade and type of small papillary renal cell carcinomas (pRCCs) using texture analysis and machine learning algorithms. Methods: This was a retrospective HIPAA-compliant study. 24 noncontrast (NC), 22 corticomedullary (CM) phase, and 24 nephrographic (NG) phase CTs of small (< 4 cm) surgically resected pRCCs were identified. Surgical pathology classified the tumors as low- or high-Fuhrman histologic grade and type 1 or 2. The axial image with the largest cross-sectional tumor area was exported and segmented. Six histogram and 31 texture (20 gray-level co-occurrences and 11 gray-level run-lengths) features were calculated for each tumor in each phase. Feature values in low- versus high-grade and type 1 versus 2 pRCCs were compared. Area under the receiver operating curve (AUC) was calculated for each feature to assess prediction of histologic grade and type of pRCCs in each phase. Histogram, texture, and combined histogram and texture feature sets were used to train and test three classification algorithms (support vector machine (SVM), random forest, and histogram-based gradient boosting decision tree (HGBDT)) with stratified shuffle splits and threefold cross-validation; AUCs were calculated for each algorithm in each phase to assess prediction of histologic grade and type of pRCCs. Results: Individual histogram and texture features did not have statistically significant differences between low- and high-grade or type 1 and type 2 pRCCs across all phases. Individual features had low predictive power for tumor grade or type in all phases (AUC < 0.70). HGBDT was highly accurate at predicting pRCC histologic grade and type using histogram, texture or combined histogram and texture feature data from the CM phase (AUCs = 0.97–1.0). All algorithms had highest AUCs using CM phase feature data sets; AUCs decreased using feature sets from NC or NG phases. Conclusions: The histologic grade and type of small pRCCs can be predicted with classification algorithms using CM histogram and texture features, which outperform NC and NG phase image data. The accurate prediction of pRCC histologic grade and type may be able to further guide management of patients with small (< 4 cm) pRCCs being considered for active surveillance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document is a correction notice for an article titled "Relative dispersion and relative diffusivities in an ocean-wave coupled model of the North Sea" published in Ocean Dynamics. The correction states that the author forgot to include some projects in the acknowledgement section of the paper. The projects mentioned include the EU Green Deal project REST-COAST, the project Macroplastics Pollution in the Southern North Sea-Sources, Pathways and Abatement Strategies, the project CRANMANII, the EU project DOORS, the Gute Küste Niedersachsen project, the Sailing Intelligent Micro Drifter Swarms project, and the Volkswagen Foundation. The original article has been corrected. [Extracted from the article]

Differences in immune responses to viruses and autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) can show sexual dimorphism. Age-associated B cells (ABC) are a population of CD11c+T-bet+ B cells critical for antiviral responses and autoimmune disorders. Absence of DEF6 and SWAP-70, two homologous guanine exchange factors, in double-knock-out (DKO) mice leads to a lupus-like syndrome in females marked by accumulation of ABCs. Here we demonstrate that DKO ABCs show sex-specific differences in cell number, upregulation of an ISG signature, and further differentiation. DKO ABCs undergo oligoclonal expansion and differentiate into both CD11c+ and CD11c− effector B cell populations with pathogenic and pro-inflammatory function as demonstrated by BCR sequencing and fate-mapping experiments. Tlr7 duplication in DKO males overrides the sex-bias and further augments the dissemination and pathogenicity of ABCs, resulting in severe pulmonary inflammation and early mortality. Thus, sexual dimorphism shapes the expansion, function and differentiation of ABCs that accompanies TLR7-driven immunopathogenesis. Autoimmunity mediated by age-associated B cells (ABC) can affect males and females differently. Here, using a lupus-like mouse model that affects females more severely, the authors observe an ABC mediated and guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) restrained pathogenic process involving TLR7. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The finite Hilbert transform T : X → X acts continuously on every rearrangement invariant space X on (- 1 , 1) having non-trivial Boyd indices. It is proved that T cannot be further extended, whilst still taking its values in X, to any larger domain space. That is, T : X → X is already optimally defined [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Approximately 5% of patients with cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC) may develop recurrent or metastatic disease. The management of such cases is challenging and requires multi-disciplinary care. Immunotherapy using PD-1 inhibition was approved to treat unresectable or metastatic CSCC in 2018. Given limited data regarding clinical outcomes outside of published trials, we describe our experience using this therapy. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed all patients treated with PD-1 inhibition as therapy for locally advanced, regionally metastatic or distant metastatic CSCC at the University of Southern California. Clinicopathological characteristics, treatment data using PD-1 inhibitors, and outcomes were assessed. Results: Among 26 patients treated with PD-1 inhibition, the objective response rate was 42.3%, with 19.2% of patients having partial response and 23.1% having complete response to therapy. The median progression-free survival was 5.4 months. Median tumor mutational burden (TMB) was higher among responders compared to non-responders (60 vs. 9 Mut/Mb, p = 0.04). Primary CSCC tumor location on the head/neck was also associated with response to PD-1 inhibition (p = 0.04). Two patients with mutations affecting mismatch repair deficiency were noted to have complete response to treatment. No other variables were associated with treatment outcomes. Conclusion: PD-1 inhibition produces durable responses among patients with advanced or metastatic CSCC. PD-1 inhibition therapy is well tolerated, but patients should be monitored closely for immune-related adverse events, particularly frail or immune-suppressed patients. Further investigation of potential biomarkers to help identify patients who will derive the most benefit from this therapeutic option is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: The cost-effectiveness of surgical versus conservative medical management of vertebral compression fractures in the US was analyzed in the context of inpatient versus outpatient treatment. Surgical intervention (balloon kyphoplasty and vertebroplasty) was found to be cost-effective relative to conservative medical management at a US willingness-to-pay threshold. Introduction: To date, only one published study has evaluated the cost-effectiveness (C/E) of balloon kyphoplasty (BKP) or vertebroplasty (VP) in US Medicare patients with osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures. This study further evaluates the C/E of surgical treatment vs. conservative medical management (CMM), expanding on prior modeling by accounting for quality-adjusted life-years gained. Methods: A Markov microsimulation model of 1000 patients was constructed. Cost data were based on an analysis of Medicare claims payments, with propensity-score matching performed for BKP and VP vs. controls (CMM). Mortality inputs were based on US life tables, modified to account for age at initial fracture, presence of subsequent fracture(s), and relative risk of mortality by treatment. Separate incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) were calculated for BKP and VP in inpatient and outpatient surgical treatment locations to account for individual clinical profiles presenting to each. Results: The discounted ICER for inpatient BKP vs. CMM was $43,455 per QALY gained; for outpatient BKP vs. CMM, $10,922; for inpatient VP vs. CMM, $39,774; and for outpatient VP vs. CMM, $12,293. Probabilistic sensitivity analysis confirmed that both BKP and VP would be considered C/E vs. CMM at a US willingness-to-pay (WTP) threshold of $50,000/QALY in 80% and 100% of 500 model simulations, respectively. The most sensitive parameters included quality of life estimates and hazard ratios for mortality. Conclusion: While VP and BKP are more expensive treatment options than CMM in the short term, model results suggest interventional treatment is cost-effective, among patients eligible for surgery, at a US WTP threshold. This conclusion supports those from economic analyses conducted in EU-member countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When motivated, people can keep nonrecent items in a list active during the presentation of new items, facilitating fast and accurate recall of the earlier items. It has been proposed that this occurs by flexibly orienting attention to a single prioritized list item, thus increasing the amount of attention-based maintenance directed toward this item at the expense of other items. This is manipulated experimentally by associating a single distinct feature with a higher reward value, such as a single red item in a list of black items. These findings may be more parsimoniously explained under a distinctiveness of encoding framework rather than a flexible attention allocation framework. The retrieval advantage for the prioritized list position may be because the incongruent feature stands out in the list perceptually and causes it to become better encoded. Across three visual working memory experiments, we contrast a flexible attention theory against a distinctiveness of encoding theory by manipulating the reward value associated with the incongruent feature. Findings from all three experiments show strong support in favor of the flexible attention theory and no support for the distinctiveness of encoding theory. We also evaluate and find no evidence that strategy use, motivation, or tiredness/fatigue associated with reward value can adequately explain flexible prioritization of attention. Flexible attentional prioritization effects may be best understood under the context of an online attentional refreshing mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The discrete Cesàro operator C acts continuously in various classical Banach sequence spaces within C N. For the coordinatewise order, many such sequence spaces X are also complex Banach lattices [eg. c 0 , ℓ p for 1 < p ≤ ∞ , and ces (p) for p ∈ { 0 } ∪ (1 , ∞) ]. In such Banach lattice sequence spaces, C is always a positive operator. Hence, its order spectrum is well defined within the Banach algebra of all regular operators on X. The purpose of this note is to show, for every X belonging to the above list of Banach lattice sequence spaces, that the order spectrum σ o (C) of Ccoincides with its usual spectrum σ (C) when C is considered as a continuous linear operator on the Banach space X. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AU Microscopii (AU Mic) is the second closest pre-main-sequence star, at a distance of 9.79 parsecs and with an age of 22 million years1. AU Mic possesses a relatively rare2 and spatially resolved3 edge-on debris disk extending from about 35 to 210 astronomical units from the star4, and with clumps exhibiting non-Keplerian motion5–7. Detection of newly formed planets around such a star is challenged by the presence of spots, plage, flares and other manifestations of magnetic 'activity' on the star8,9. Here we report observations of a planet transiting AU Mic. The transiting planet, AU Mic b, has an orbital period of 8.46 days, an orbital distance of 0.07 astronomical units, a radius of 0.4 Jupiter radii, and a mass of less than 0.18 Jupiter masses at 3σ confidence. Our observations of a planet co-existing with a debris disk offer the opportunity to test the predictions of current models of planet formation and evolution. A transiting planet with a period of about 8.5 days and a radius 0.4 times that of Jupiter is reported within the debris disk around the star AU Microscopii. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interactions between barotropic tides and mesoscale processes were studied using the results of a numerical model in which tidal forcing was turned on and off. The research area covered part of the East Atlantic Ocean, a steep continental slope, and the European Northwest Shelf. Tides affected the baroclinic fields at much smaller spatial scales than the barotropic tidal scales. Changes in the horizontal patterns of the M2 and M4 tidal constituents provided information about the two-way interactions between barotropic tides and mesoscale processes. The interaction between the atmosphere and ocean measured by the work done by wind was also affected by the barotropic tidal forcing. Tidal forcing intensified the transient processes and resulted in a substantial transformation of the wave number spectra in the transition areas from the deep ocean to the shelf. Tides flattened the sea-surface height spectra down to ~ k−2.5 power law, thus reflecting the large contribution of the processes in the high-frequency range compared to quasi-geostrophic motion. The spectra along sections parallel or normal to the continental slope differ from each other, which indicates that mesoscale turbulence was not isotropic. An analysis of the vorticity spectra showed that the flattening was mostly due to internal tides. Compared with the deep ocean, no substantial scale selectivity was observed on the shelf area. Particle tracking showed that the lengths of the Lagrangian trajectories increased by approximately 40% if the barotropic tidal forcing was activated, which contributed to changed mixing properties. The ratio between the horizontal and vertical scales of motion varied regionally depending on whether barotropic tidal forcing was included. The overall conclusion is that the barotropic tides affect substantially the diapycnal mixing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The discrete Cesàro (Banach) sequence spaces ces (r) , 1 < r < ∞ , have been thoroughly investigated for over 45 years. Not so for their dual spaces d (s) ≅ (ces (r)) ′ , with 1 s + 1 r = 1 , which are somewhat unwieldy. Our aim is to undertake a further study of the spaces d(s) and of various operators acting between these spaces. It is shown that d (s) ⊆ d (t) whenever s ≤ t , with the inclusion being compact if s < t. The classical Cesàro operator C is continuous from d(s) into d(t) precisely when s ≤ t and compact precisely when s < t. Moreover, C even maps the larger space ces (s) continuously into d(s). This is a consequence of the Hardy–Littlewood maximal theorem and the remarkable property, for each 1 < s < ∞ , that x ∈ C N satisfies C (C (| x |)) ∈ d (s) if and only if C (| x |) ∈ d (s). These results are used to analyze the spectrum and to determine the norm and the mean ergodicity of C acting in d(s). Similar properties for multiplier operators are also treated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]