Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Methods and Research Briefs Can Additional Patient Experience Items Improve the Reliability of and Add New Domains to the CAHPS s Hospital Survey?

Context. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will introduce the reporting of patient surveys in 2008. The Consumer Assessment of Health Care Providers and Systems (CAHPS s ) Hospital Survey contains 18 questions about hospital care. Internal consistency reliability of the discharge information scale is relatively low and some important domains of care are not represented. Objective. To determine whether adding questions increases the reliability and validity of the survey. Data Sources and Study Setting. Surveys of patients at 181 hospitals participating in the California Hospitals Assessment and Reporting Taskforce (CHART), an initiative for voluntary public reporting of hospital performance in California. Study Design. CHART added nine questions to the CAHPS Hospital Survey; two to improve reliability of the discharge information domain, ﬁve to create a coordination of care domain, and two relating to interpreter services. Data Collection. Surveys were sent to randomly selected patients from each CHART hospital. Principal Findings. A total of 40,172 surveys were included. Adding the new discharge information questions improved the internal consistency reliability from 0.45 to 0.72 and the hospital-level reliability from 0.75 to 0.81. New coordination of care composites had good internal consistency reliabilities ranging from 0.58 to 0.70 and hospitallevel reliabilities ranging from 0.84 to 0.87. The new coordination of care composites were more closely correlated with overall hospital ratings and willingness to recommend than six of the seven original domains. Conclusions. The additional discharge information questions and the new coordination of care questions signiﬁcantly improved the psychometric properties of the CAHPS Hospital Survey. To establish and support a continuous healing relationship, enabled by an inte- grated clinical environment and characterized by the proactive delivery of evi-dence-based care and follow-up. Clinical integration is further deﬁned as the extent to which patient care services are coordinated across people, functions activities and sites over time so as to maximize the value of services delivered to patients.
A Tri-Band, Highly Selective, Bandpass FSS Using Cascaded Multilayer Loop Arrays

A highly selective tri-band bandpass frequency-selective surface (FSS) is presented by cascading three layers of periodic arrays. The middle layer is composed of double square loops (DSLs) while the two exterior layers are composed of gridded-double square loops (G-DSLs) structure. The proposed FSS can provide multitransmission zeros which lead to a wide out-of-band rejection between each two adjacent passbands and sharp rejection behavior on both sides of each passband. Furthermore, the FSS exhibits stable response over a wide range of incident angles for both TE and TM polarizations. The design procedure, simulation, and experiment of the FSS are presented. The measured results are in good agreement with the simulations.
Developmentally Regulated Expression of a Peptide:N-Glycanase during Germination of Rice Seeds (Oryza sativa) and Its Purification and Characterization*

Peptide:N-glycanase (PNGase; EC3.5.1.52) activity was detected in dormant rice seeds (Oryza sativa) and the imbibed rice grains. Time-course studies revealed that the enzyme activity remained almost constant until about 30 h after imbibition in both of endosperm- and embryo tissue-containing areas, and started to increase only in growing germ part, reached a peak at about 3-day stage, followed by a gradual decrease concomitant with a sharp increase in the coleoptile. The specific activity increased about 6-fold at about 3-day stage. PNGase was purified to electrophoretic homogeneity from the extracts of germinated rice seeds at 24 h, and the apparent molecular weight of the purified enzyme, estimated by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), was about 80,000. The purified enzyme was designated PNGase Os to denote its origin. The N-terminal sequence of the 10 residues was determined to be SYNVASVAGL. The purified PNGase Os in SDS-PAGE appeared as a rather broad band, consistent with the presence of multiple glycoforms as indicated by chromatographic behavior on a Sephadex G-75 column. PNGase expressed in coleoptile under anoxia condition was also purified, and both of the purified enzymes were found to exhibit very similar, if not identical, electrophoretic mobility in SDS-PAGE. PNGase Os exhibited a broad pH-activity profile with an optimum of 4–5 and, interestingly, was significantly inactivated by K+ and Na+ at near the physiological concentration, 100 mm. These results are discussed in relation to other work.
Mobility improvement of ultrathin-body Germanium-on-insulator (GeOI) MOSFETs on flipped Smart-Cut™ GeOI substrates

We report the first demonstration of ultrathin-body GeOI MOSFETs utilizing a surface region of Smart-Cut™ GeOI substrates with high material quality. The devices are realized by flipping the Smart-Cut™ GeOI substrates, directly bonding them to another Si substrate, removing the supporting Si substrate of the Smart-Cut™ GeOI and thinning the flipped GeOI films. The normal operation of pMOSFETs is confirmed for GeOI with thickness down to 11 nm. It is found that the hole mobility of the flipped GeOI is higher at a given GeOI thickness than that of the original GeOI. The peak effective hole mobility of 117 cm2/Vs, is obtained for 11-nm-thick-GeOI pMOSFETs.
Electronic Full-Space Scanning With 1-D Fabry–Pérot LWA Using Electromagnetic Band-Gap

A novel mechanism to obtain full-space electronic scanning from a half-space scanning one-dimensional (1-D) Fabry-Pérot (FP) leaky-wave antenna (LWA) is proposed and experimentally demonstrated in this letter. By using a central feed that divides the structure into two independently controlled leaky lines, one each side, and making use of the electromagnetic band-gap (EBG) region of the FP resonator, the antenna can be electronically tuned to operate in three different regimes: backward scanning, forward scanning, and broadside radiation. Leaky-mode dispersion theory and experimental results of a fabricated prototype demonstrate a continuous electronic scanning from -25° to +25° at 5.5 GHz.
“Artificial flagellates” selective attachment of flagella as a bioactuator of micro-object

We propose a method for attaching flagella to a selected region of a micro-object. We separated the flagella of unicellular algae Chlamydomonas from their body and reactivate them by adding adenosine triphosphate (ATP). We fixed them on a specific region of micro-scale beads using a device that has a perforated Parylene sheet separating a flagella solution from a no-flagella one. We have succeeded in attaching flagella to 5 μm-diameter beads. After that, we observed various behaviors of the beads attached with flagella: rotation, oscillation, and advancing motion like that of the Chlamydomonas. We believe that flagella can be utilized as bioactuators for various micro devices.
Structural Trends in the Aging Femoral Neck and Proximal Shaft: Analysis of the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Dual‐Energy X‐Ray Absorptiometry Data

Hip scans of U.S. adults aged 20–99 years acquired in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) using dual‐energy X‐ray absorptiometry (DXA) were analyzed with a structural analysis program. The program analyzes narrow (3 mm wide) regions at specific locations across the proximal femur to measure bone mineral density (BMD) as well as cross‐sectional areas (CSAs), cross‐sectional moments of inertia (CSMI), section moduli, subperiosteal widths, and estimated mean cortical thickness. Measurements are reported here on a non‐Hispanic white subgroup of 2719 men and 2904 women for a cortical region across the proximal shaft 2 cm distal to the lesser trochanter and a mixed cortical/trabecular region across the narrowest point of the femoral neck. Apparent age trends in BMD and section modulus were studied for both regions by sex after correction for body weight. The BMD decline with age in the narrow neck was similar to that seen in the Hologic neck region; BMD in the shaft also declined, although at a slower rate. A different pattern was seen for section modulus; furthermore, this pattern depended on sex. Specifically, the section modulus at both the narrow neck and the shaft regions remains nearly constant until the fifth decade in females and then declined at a slower rate than BMD. In males, the narrow neck section modulus declined modestly until the fifth decade and then remained nearly constant whereas the shaft section modulus was static until the fifth decade and then increased steadily. The apparent mechanism for the discord between BMD and section modulus is a linear expansion in subperiosteal diameter in both sexes and in both regions, which tends to mechanically offset net loss of medullary bone mass. These results suggest that aging loss of bone mass in the hip does not necessarily mean reduced mechanical strength. Femoral neck section moduli in the elderly are on the average within 14% of young values in females and within 6% in males.
A Highly Hydrogen Permeable Silica Membrane Supported on Porous Alumina

In previous chapters, the synthesis of a highly hydrogen selective membrane formed by the deposition of a silica layer on top of a Vycor glass substrate was discussed. In this chapter, the preparation of a composite membrane using a porous alumina support is described. This membrane showed a high hydrogen permeance of the order of 10 mol m s Pa at 873 K with selectivity of hydrogen over CH4, CO, and CO2 above 2000. The notable result is that the permeance of hydrogen is one order of magnitude higher than that of the silica membrane obtained on the porous Vycor support. The membranes were examined using Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) to give their cross-sectional morphology and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) to show their surface structure. The gas permeation properties of the membranes were discussed, and the transport of He and H2 gases through the silica membrane was analyzed using the statistical gas permeation mechanism described in Chapter 3.
The Impact of Network Externalities on the Competition Between Open Source and Proprietary Software

In this paper, we build analytical models to examine the impact of network externalities on the competition between open source software (OSS) and proprietary software. We investigate the competing OSS and proprietary software products with comparable functionalities in four different scenarios depending on whether they are compatible with each other and whether the underlying market is fully covered (i.e., all consumers adopt one of the two products). Furthermore, we study which party has the most incentive to make its product compatible with its counterpart. When the market is fully covered, the installed base and the profit of proprietary software increase at the expense of a decreasing user base for OSS in the presence of network externalities. This competitive imbalance becomes more pronounced when OSS and proprietary software are incompatible and the market is partially covered. Finally, we find that in the presence of network externalities, being compatible with its rival is not desirable for the proprietary software, but highly beneficial to the OSS community.
Power ramp rate control for grid connected photovoltaic system

Grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) generation attracts increasing attention in countries around the world and it has been extensively studied during last ten years. In the literature, the control system for PV systems has been designed to respond extremely fast to changed weather condition, and the whole regulating duration is generally within tens of milliseconds. As PV installation is moving towards large scale and high penetration today, fast maximum power point tracking (MPPT) control, or in other words fast PV power control, is not always a better option for power systems, because it may cause power surge with rapid sunlight intensity increase, which can further result in network overvoltage, and this could lead to line circuit breaker tripping and damage to customers' appliances. In this paper, a new control method is proposed to control PV power ascending rate, so the whole process can become much smoother, and some valuable time can be left for tap changer to step down line voltage.
A novel role of differentiation‐inducing factor‐1 in Dictyostelium development, assessed by the restoration of a developmental defect in a mutant lacking mitogen‐activated protein kinase ERK2

It has been previously reported that the differentiating wild‐type cells of Dictyostelium discoideum secrete a diffusible factor or factors that are able to rescue the developmental defect in the mutant lacking extracellular signal‐regulated kinase 2 (ERK2), encoded by the gene erkB. In the present study, it is demonstrated that differentiation‐inducing factor‐1 (DIF‐1) for stalk cells can mimic the role of the factor(s) and the mechanism of the action of DIF‐1 in the erkB null mutant is also discussed. The mutant usually never forms multicellular aggregates, because of its defect in cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) signaling. In the presence of 100 n M DIF‐1, however, the mutant cells formed tiny slugs, which eventually developed into small fruiting bodies. In contrast, DIF‐1 never rescued the developmental arrest of other Dictyostelium mutants lacking adenylyl cyclase A (ACA), cAMP receptors cAR1 and cAR3, heterotrimeric G‐protein, the cytosolic regulator of ACA, or the catalytic subunit of cAMP‐dependent protein kinase (PKA‐C). Most importantly, it was found that DIF‐1 did not affect the cellular cAMP level, but rather elevated the transcriptional level of pka during the development of erkB null cells. These results suggest that DIF‐1 may rescue the developmental defect in erkB null cells via the increase in PKA activity, thus giving the first conclusive evidence that DIF‐1 plays a crucial role in the early events of Dictyostelium development as well as in prestalk and stalk cell induction.
Disease‐associated prion protein is not detectable in human systemic amyloid deposits

Cerebral and cardiac amyloid deposits have been reported after scrapie infection in transgenic mice expressing variant prion protein (PrPC) lacking the glycophosphatidylinositol anchor. The amyloid fibril protein in the systemic amyloid deposits was not characterized, and there is no clinical or pathological association between prion diseases and systemic amyloidosis in humans. Nevertheless, in view of the potential clinical significance of these murine observations, we tested both human amyloidotic tissues and isolated amyloid fibrils for the presence of PrPSc, the prion protein conformation associated with transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE). We also sequenced the complete prion protein gene, PRNP, in amyloidosis patients. No specific immunohistochemical staining for PrPSc was obtained in the amyloidotic cardiac and other visceral tissues of patients with different types of systemic amyloidosis. No protease‐resistant prion protein, PrPres, was detectable by Western blotting of amyloid fibrils isolated from cardiac and other systemic amyloid deposits. Only the complete normal wild‐type PRNP gene sequence was identified, including the usual distribution of codon 129 polymorphisms. These reassuringly negative results do not support the idea that there is any relationship of prions or TSE with human systemic amyloidosis, including cardiac amyloid deposition. Copyright © 2007 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
β-Glucuronidase (GUS) transposons for ecological and genetic studies of rhizobia and other Gram-negative bacteria

Summary: A series of transposons are described which contain the gusA gene, encoding β-glucuronidase (GUS), expressed from a variety of promoters, both regulated and constitutive. The regulated promoters include the tac promoter which can be induced by IPTG, and nifH promoters which are symbiotically activated in legume nodules. One transposon contains gusA with a strong Shine-Dalgarno translation initiation context, but no promoter, and thus acts as a promoter-probe transposon. In addition, a gus operon deletion strain of Escherichia coli, and a transposon designed for use in chromosomal mapping using PFGE, are described. The GUS transposons are constructed in a mini-Tn5 system which can be transferred to Gram-negative bacteria by conjugation, and will form stable genomic insertions. Due to the absence of GUS activity in plants and many bacteria of economic importance, these transposons constitute powerful new tools for studying the ecology and population biology of bacteria in the environment and in association with plants, as well as for studies of the fundamental molecular basis of such interactions. The variety of assays available for GUS enable both quantitative assays and spatial localization of marked bacteria to be carried out.
Simulation of gas flow and heat transfer in micro Poiseuille flow

The gas flow and heat transfer characteristics in micro Poiseuille flow in slip and transition regime were studied numerically using two methods: direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method and the Burnett equations. The traditional mathematical model of the Navier-Stokes equations becomes invalid because of their linear constitutive relations of viscous stress and heat flux. The molecule based DSMC method is widely used in transition flow regime and has achieved great success. The high- order continuum model of the Burnett equations is recently introduced to simulate the flow in small devices. These two methods are both adopted in the present study and they show good agreement with each other. But DSMC method is more expensive in computational time. The flow and heat transfer characteristics of Poiseuille flow in microchannels are then studied. It is found that with the increase of Knudsen number, the Poiseuille number decreases while Nusselt number increases. The local Poiseuille number decreases along the whole channel while the local Nusselt number decreases rapidly first and then increases slowly afterwards.
Boundary-layer thickness effects of the hydrodynamic instability along an impedance wall

The Ingard–Myers condition, modelling the effect of an impedance wall under a mean flow by assuming a vanishingly thin boundary layer, is known to lead to an ill-posed problem in time domain. By analysing the stability of a linear-then-constant mean flow over a mass-spring-damper liner in a two-dimensional incompressible limit, we show that the flow is absolutely unstable for h smaller than a critical hc and convectively unstable or stable otherwise. This critical hc is by nature independent of wavelength or frequency and is a property of liner and mean flow only. An analytical approximation of hc is given, which is complemented by a contour plot covering all parameter values. For an aeronautically relevant example, hc is shown to be extremely small, which explains why this instability has never been observed in industrial practice. A systematically regularised boundary condition, to replace the Ingard–Myers condition, is proposed that retains the effects of a finite h, such that the stability of the approximate problem correctly follows the stability of the real problem.
Measuring Alcohol Use: “Quantity Frequency Variability” and “Weekly Recall” Compared among Turks and Moroccans in the Netherlands

The aim of the present study was to test the quality of the “Quantity Frequency Variability” (QFV) measure and the “Weekly Recall” (WR) measure among second-generation Turks and Moroccans in The Netherlands. Data were gathered in an experimental study conducted in 2002, in Rotterdam, the second largest city in the Netherlands. A sample of 744 second-generation Turks and 753 second-generation Moroccans, aged 16 years and older, was approached to participate in the study. The response rate was 40.3% among Turks and 37.5% among Moroccans, which resulted in 300 Turks (mean age 21.8, of which 51.7% were male) and 282 Moroccans (mean age 20.1, of which 44.9% were male) participating in the experimental study. Differences in item non-response rates and alcohol reports between both measures were analyzed among the drinking sample; i.e., 95 Turks (31.7%) and 26 Moroccans (9.2%). Data showed higher alcohol reports with the QFV measure compared to the WR measure. Furthermore, item non-response rates were significantly lower for the QFV measure compared to the WR measure. The results suggest that, compared to the WR measure, the QFV measure is a more appropriate instrument to study the prevalence of alcohol use among second-generation Turks and Moroccans. Limitations of the study are discussed.
Effects of serum carrier proteins on the growth of pathogenic neisseriae with heme-bound iron

The pathogenic neisseriae can use free heme and hemoglobin as an essential source of iron (Fe) for growth in vitro, but it is unknown whether they can utilize heme bound to human hemopexin or to human serum albumin, or hemoglobin bound to haptoglobin. We found that neither Neisseria meningitidis nor Neisseria gonorrhoeae used bound heme, but bound hemoglobin was used as an Fe source by two meningococcal strains and one gonococcal strain. A second gonococcal strain, previously shown to use free hemoglobin poorly or not at all, also did not grow with hemoglobin-haptoglobin complex as an Fe source. These observations suggest that hemoglobin might act as an Fe source in vivo for many pathogenic neisseriae even when in complexed (bound) form, but heme probably would not support growth in vivo if bound to serum carrier proteins.
Approximating Complex Surfaces by Triangulation of Contour Lines

An algorithm is described for obtaining an optimal approximation, using triangulation, of a three-dimensional surface defined by randomly distributed points along contour lines. The combinatorial problem of finding the best arrangement of triangles is treated by assuming an adequate objective function. The optimal triangulation is found using classical methods of graph theory. An illustrative example gives the procedure for triangulation of contour lines of a human head for use in radiation therapy planning.