NASA Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Subtopic S2.04: X-Ray Mirror Systems Technology, Coating Technology: X-Ray, Ultraviolet (UV), Optical and Infrared (IR), and Free-Form Optics

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Letter to the Editor on: Prostate-specific antigen density is predictive of outcome in suboptimal prostate seed brachytherapy

In this study, a novel method was developed to measure acidic and basic drugs in biological and wastewater samples. The method used magnetic nanoparticles based on Vortex-Assisted Dispersive Micro-Solid Phase Extraction (SPE) and then identifying with HPLC-UV. The magnetic nanoparticle (Fe3O4@SiO2@Kit-6@NH2) has been used as an efficient adsorbent for the extraction of acidic and basic drugs ibuprofen (IFB), fenoprofen calcium (FPC), methocarbamol (MTC), and clonazepam (CZP). The magnetic nanoparticle was characterized by techniques including SEM, XRD, EDX, and FT-IR. The effect of various parameters in the V-D-μ-SPE method was studied completely through the design of the response surface methodology (RSM) of the Box–Behnken design (BBD) based response method and the utility function. The parameters affecting the extraction efficiency were optimized including sample pH, adsorbent amount, absorption time, the salt concentration in the sample solution, CTAB of concentration, desorption time, and the volume of an eluent. After optimization, the limit of detection and calibration curve in the linear range were obtained 0.062–0.32 μg L−1 and 0.1–800 μg L−1, respectively. Its linear correlation was R2> 0.9951. The relative standard deviation (n = 5) was between 2.4 and 5.1. Finally, this method was used to determine target analytes in human serum, urine, and wastewater. • In this study, for the first time, a novel method for the determination of some drugs from human serum, urine, and wastewater samples. • The Synthesized Fe3O4@SiO2@Kit-6@NH2 NPs based V-D-μ-SPE was characterized by techniques including SEM, XRD, EDX, and FT-IR. • The effects of various parameters in the V-D-μ-SPE methods were studied through the design of the RSM of BBD. © 202

Arts Districts, Universities, and the Rise of Digital Media

In the last decade, arts and culture have been placed at the center of attention when discussing economic growth. In particular, studies on the “creative class” have been using arts and culture as an important factor impacting local economies. In addition, studies on local economic development have frequently viewed universities as a major factor in economic growth. In the middle of this discussion is new economic growth via creativity, via new recipes and new combinations of local capital, and via innovation centers. Combining these disparate literatures brings to center stage both clusters of arts and culture and concentrations of research and human capital development. Hence, the focus of this paper is to analyze the dual impacts of universities and arts districts on innovation and economic growth through employment in digital media. The results indicate that cultural districts have a consistently positive effect on local digital media economic activity—employment and innovation. The same cannot be said for research universities

Ichthyotoxism in Capoeta capoeta gracilis (Keyserling, 1861) from west of Urmia (Marmisho Lake), Iran

Fish egg poisoning is a public health hazard although usually the incident rate, mortality and fish species involved are not well reported (Halstead,1970). Four species of Cyprinidae in Iran have been suggested as ichthyotoxic by Coad (1979) .namely Abramis brama. Cyprinus carpio .Schizothorax zarudnyi and Tinca tinca and it was thought that other species may be discovered subsequently.Najafpour and Coad (2002) reported ichthyotoxin in the cyprinid Barbus luteus from Iran ,and the study records another species. The Cyprinid fish Capoeta capoeta known as Siah mahi or gara balig in Iran

Current and Near-Term AI as a Potential Existential Risk Factor

There is a substantial and ever-growing corpus of evidence and literature exploring the impacts of Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies on society, politics, and humanity as a whole. A separate, parallel body of work has explored existential risks to humanity, including but not limited to that stemming from unaligned Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). In this paper, we problematise the notion that current and near-term artificial intelligence technologies have the potential to contribute to existential risk by acting as intermediate risk factors, and that this potential is not limited to the unaligned AGI scenario. We propose the hypothesis that certain already-documented effects of AI can act as existential risk factors, magnifying the likelihood of previously identified sources of existential risk. Moreover, future developments in the coming decade hold the potential to significantly exacerbate these risk factors, even in the absence of artificial general intelligence. Our main contribution is a (non-exhaustive) exposition of potential AI risk factors and the causal relationships between them, focusing on how AI can affect power dynamics and information security. This exposition demonstrates that there exist causal pathways from AI systems to existential risks that do not presuppose hypothetical future AI capabilities

Survey on enrichment of Artemia urmiana nauplii with oxolinic acid and determination of its accumulation rate in different dosages and times

The nauplii of Artemia urmiana was enriched with oxolinic acid and the accumulation rate of this antibacterial drug in different times and dosages was determined. The nauplii which were hatched out of cysts from Urmia Lake's Artemia were incubated in the antibiotic/ seawater suspension with dosages of 25, 50, 75 and 100mg/l of oxolinic acid, in intervals of 2, 4, 6 and 8 hours. All factors including salinity, pH, aeration, dosage and enrichment time were kept the same for all treatments. Each treatment was repeated three times. After enrichment, the concentration of oxolinic acid per sample was determined by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). One way ANOVA and Duncan's tests were implemented to analyze the data

Commensalism and parasitic infestation in crayfish (Astacus leptodactylus Eschscholtz, 1823) of Aras Dam Reservoir, Iran

The freshwater crayfish of the Aras Reservoir is an important economic fisheries resource of West Azarbaijan, Iran. This study was conducted to evaluate the prevalence of parasitic infestation of Crayfish seasonally in this area in 2010. Among 390 different sizes of Astacus leptodactylus which were examined, a range of ectocommensals or ectosymbionts from a number of different phyla including 9 orders and 11 classes infested the different anatomic units of the surface and appendages such as gills, head, thorax, abdomen, walking legs, uropod, telson, antennae and antennulae of freshwater crayfish. Common groups such as peritrich ciliates, suctorian ciliates, free living nematodes, branchiobdellids, and algae, copepods, rotifers and oligochaetes have also been observed in association with freshwater crayfish

Eye of the Beholder: The individual and dyadic contributions of empathic accuracy and perceived empathic effort to relationship satisfaction

This study examined links between two distinct facets of empathy – empathic accuracy and perceived empathic effort – and one’s own and one’s partner’s relationship satisfaction. Using a video recall procedure, participants (N = 156 couples in committed relationships) reported on their own emotions and their perceptions of partners’ emotions and partners’ empathic intentions during moments of high affect in laboratory-based discussions of upsetting events. Partners’ data were correlated as a measure of how accurately they were able to read what the other was feeling and to what degree they felt the other was trying to be empathic at those moments. The perception of empathic effort by one’s partner was more strongly linked with both men’s and women’s relationship satisfaction than empathic accuracy. Men’s relationship satisfaction was related to the ability to read their partners’ positive emotions accurately, whereas women’s relationship satisfaction was related to their partners’ ability to read women’s negative emotions accurately. Women’s ability to read their husbands’ negative emotions was positively linked to both men’s and women’s relationship satisfaction. Findings suggest that the perception of a partner’s empathic effort – as distinct from empathic accuracy – is uniquely informative in understanding how partners may derive relationship satisfaction from empathic processes. When working with couples in treatment, heightening partners’ perceptions of each other’s empathic effort, and helping partners learn to demonstrate effort, may represent particularly powerful opportunities for improving satisfaction in relationships

Sources of somatization: Exploring the roles of insecurity in relationships and styles of anger experience and expression

Research has shown strong connections between insecure attachment in close relationships and somatization. In addition, studies have demonstrated connections between somatic symptoms and anger experience and expression. In this study, we integrate perspectives from these two literatures by testing the hypothesis that proneness to anger and suppression of anger mediate the link between insecurity in relationships and somatization. Between 2000 and 2003, a community-based sample of 101 couples in a large U.S. city completed self-report measures, including the Somatic Symptom Inventory, the Relationship Scales Questionnaire, the Multidimensional Anger Inventory, the Revised Conflict Tactics Scale, and the Beck Depression Inventory. Controlling for age, income, and recent intimate partner violence, analyses showed that the link between insecure attachment and somatization was partially mediated by anger proneness for men and by anger suppression for women. Findings are consistent with the hypothesis that men who are insecurely attached are more prone to experience anger that in turn fosters somatization. For women, findings suggest that insecure attachment may influence adult levels of somatization by fostering suppression of anger expression. Specific clinical interventions that help patients manage and express angry feelings more adaptively may reduce insecurely attached individuals’ vulnerability to medically unexplained somatic symptoms