cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Exploring the genealogy of systems thinking

As a plenary address at the 2001 Annual Conference of the International Society for the Systems Sciences (ISSS), this paper was intended to initiate an interactive exploration into the roots of systems thinking. Beginning with a summary of the key influences in the development of the author's own understanding of systems, the paper continues with an overview of developments in the broad variety of disciplinary fields that contributed to the elaboration of systems concepts. Following these introductory reflections, the paper provides a brief discussion of the primary concerns of the original founders of the ISSS (Ludwig von Bertalanffy, Kenneth Boulding, Ralph Gerard, James G. Miller and Anatol Rapoport). Those who attended the conference were then asked to consider the evolution of their own understanding of the meaning and significance of systems thinking by responding to the following questions: (1) Through what academic discipline or occupational field were you originally introduced to systems ideas? (2) Which systems thinkers have been most influential in the evolution of your own thinking about systems? (3) What kinds of questions motivated your interest in systems? (4) What kinds of problems were you seeking to address? (5) Has your concern with systems ideas been primarily theoretical or practical? A brief summary of answers to these questions is included in the concluding remarks. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Non-traditional lightweight polypropylene composites reinforced with milkweed floss

Lightweight composites are preferred for automotive applications due to the weight restrictions and also due to the presence of inherent voids that can enhance the sound absorption of these composites. The density of the reinforcing materials plays a crucial role in such lightweight composites. Milkweed is a unique natural cellulose fiber that has a completely hollow center and low density (0.9 g cm −3 ) unlike any other natural cellulose fiber. The low density of milkweed fibers will allow the incorporation of higher amounts of fiber per unit weight of a composite, which is expected to lead to lightweight composites with better properties. Polypropylene (PP) composites reinforced with milkweed fibers have much better flexural and tensile properties than similar PP composites reinforced with kenaf fibers. Milk weed fiber-reinforced composites have much higher strength but are stiffer than kenaf fiber-reinforced PP composites. Increasing the pro portion of milkweed in the composites from 35 to 50% increases the flexural strength but decreases the tensile strength. The low density of milkweed fibers allows the incorporation of higher amounts of fibers per unit weight of the composites and hence provides better prop erties compared to composites reinforced with common cellulose fibers with relatively high density. This research shows that low-density reinforcing materials can more efficiently reinforce lightweight composites.
Sex, drugs and Parkinson’s disease

Dopaminergic therapy to relieve motor manifestations of idiopathic Parkinson’s disease may inadvertently cause inappropriate hypersexuality (Vilas et al., 2012). Impulse control disorders that include gambling, eating and hypersexuality seem to occur more commonly with dopamine receptor agonist therapy than l-DOPA and can lead to substantial morbidity with social, psychological and legal consequences (Vilas et al., 2012). The unregulated nature of direct dopamine receptor activation may provide potential clues to the underlying mechanisms. However, the pathophysiological basis for these behaviours remains unknown. Interestingly, dopaminergic pathways also play a key role in brain networks involved in the reward system, and pathological responses in this system may underlie addiction (Volkow et al., 2012). Similarities between addictive behaviour and drug-induced hypersexuality in Parkinson’s disease suggest that they may share common pathological brain mechanisms. Thus investigations of brain regions and networks related to dopaminergic-induced hypersexuality in Parkinson’s disease could shed light on these potentially common underlying mechanisms and provide clues for rationale treatment. The study by Politis et al. (2013) in this issue of Brain takes an important step in this direction. Impulse control disorders including pathological gambling and eating, compulsive shopping and hypersexuality, as well as the dopamine dysregulation syndrome have been described in the context of dopaminergic therapy for Parkinson’s disease (Vilas et al., 2012). Similarly, dopaminergic neurotransmission has been linked to …
A comparison of methods for estimating the transition:transversion ratio from DNA sequences

Estimation of the ratio of the rates of transitions to transversions (TI:TV ratio) for a collection of aligned nucleotide sequences is important because it provides insight into the process of molecular evolution and because such estimates may be used to further model the evolutionary process for the sequences under consideration. In this paper, we compare several methods for estimating the TI:TV ratio, including the pairwise method [TREE 11 (1996) 158], a modification of the pairwise method due to Ina [J. Mol. Evol. 46 (1998) 521], a method based on parsimony (TREE 11 (1996) 158), a method due to Purvis and Bromham [J. Mol. Evol. 44 (1997) 112] that uses phylogenetically independent pairs of sequences, the maximum likelihood method, and a Bayesian method [Bioinformatics 17 (2001) 754]. We examine the performance of each estimator under several conditions using both simulated and real data.
Liberating the programmer with prorogued programming

Programming is the process of expressing and refining ideas in a programming language. Ideally, we want our programming language to flexibly fit our natural thought process. Language innovations, such as procedural abstraction, object and aspect orientation, have helped increase programming agility. However, they still lack important features that a programmer could exploit to quickly experiment with design and implementation choices.We propose prorogued programming, a new paradigm more closely aligned with a programmer's thought process. A prorogued programming language (PPL) supports three basic principles: 1) proroguing concerns: the ability to defer a concern, to focus on and finish the current concern; 2) hybrid computation: the ability to involve the programmer as an integral part of computation; and 3) executable refinement: the ability to execute any intermediate program refinements. Working in a PPL, the programmer can run and experiment with an incomplete program, and gradually and iteratively reify the missing parts while catching design and implementation mistakes early. We describe the prorogued programming paradigm, our design and realization of the paradigm using Prorogued C#, our extension to C#, and demonstrate its utility through a few use cases.
Closing the rural broadband gap: Promoting adoption of the Internet in rural America

Even as geographic disparities in high speed Internet access narrow, an urban-rural broadband gap persists, pointing to the importance of individual differences in motivations to adopt broadband as the key to closing the gap. Diffusion of innovation is reconceptualized through contemporary perspectives of the digital divide and social cognitive theory and tested on a survey sample drawn from four rural communities. Path analysis was used to examine the factors that cause broadband Internet service adoption in rural communities. Prior experience with the Internet, the expected outcomes of broadband usage, direct personal experience with broadband, and self-efficacy had direct effects on broadband intentions. Age and income, but not education or ethnicity, also had direct impacts. Efforts that promote the personal benefits of broadband and advanced ICT literacy skills among Internet users are recommended.
Reliability of high-power diode lasers with oxide-defined stripes formed by pulsed anodization

Summary form only given. The key to producing low-cost, reliable, high power diode lasers is to use processes and techniques that are in themselves low cost, reliable, and simple to control. Pulsed anodization (PA) is a process that embodies these qualities for forming the current confinement stripe on high-power diode lasers. There have been several previous studies that have described the merits of the PA process. This work demonstrates, for the first time to our knowledge, that the native oxides formed by PA on GaAs-AlGaAs laser material produce diode lasers that have equivalent reliability (several thousands of power-on hours) to diode lasers made with chemical-vapor deposition (CVD) formed oxide. A comparison of the processing steps used to fabricate the diode lasers used in this study is shown.
Instructional use of analysis/design techniques in nonlinear control systems for the undergraduate curriculum

The authors propose the use of continuous simulation analysis/design techniques of nonlinear control systems with feedback in a control course for undergraduate-level programs. Three frequently encountered nonlinear cases were selected to be analyzed: dead zone, amplifier saturation with dead zone, and dead zone with hysteresis. These nonlinear functions as a whole represent a large number of the familiar characteristics found in typical nonlinear systems. The behavior of each system is analyzed in detail with implied changes in an array of control variables. This experimental method provides the discovery and documentation of generalities within the function and in contrast to other systems. A data catalog is generated for each case which contains output documentation on the systems behavior to an array of variable values related to the plant, the nonlinear function in question, and the input function applied. This accumulated data provide an understanding of the nonlinear system in question, which leads to an increase in the control and efficiency of all physical systems. >
Identifying Academic Demands That Occasion Problem Behaviors for Students With Behavioral Disorders: Illustrations at the Elementary School Level

In two independent experiments, we (a) examined aspects of academic demands associated with the problem behaviors of two elementary students with behavioral disorders and (b) investigated the effects of academic interventions to decrease problem behaviors and increase task engagement. Preliminary functional behavior assessment data suggested each student participant's problem behaviors functioned to escape/avoid academic demands, and experimental structural analyses performed in naturalistic settings confirmed relations between their problem behaviors and specific features of academic tasks. Antecedent-based interventions were developed for each student and separate single-case alternating treatment experiments indicated functional relations between the academic interventions and appropriate task engagement. Findings support the use of structural analyses to inform academic planning and improve the behaviors of students who exhibit escape-maintained problem behaviors associated with academic tasks.
Imaging in the ground-penetrating radar near-field zone: a case study from New Mexico, USA

It has long been suggested that the near field zone in GPR data contains no usable information, and should be ignored. This paper shows that there can be usable information in the near field zone when accurate time-zero is chosen, and near-surface reflections are processed.Reflection data from a Pueblo site in New Mexico were filtered and then re-gained to reveal floors within the upper 3 nano- seconds, and their presence was confirmed by excavation.Copyright � 2006 JohnWiley & Sons,Ltd.
Grammarless Parsing for Joint Inference

Many NLP tasks interact with syntax. The presence of a named entity span, for example, is often a clear indicator of a noun phrase in the parse tree, while a span in the syntax can help indicate the lack of a named entity in the spans that cross it. For these types of problems joint inference offers a better solution than a pipelined approach, and yet large joint models are rarely pursued. In this paper we argue this is due in part to the absence of a general framework for joint inference which can efficiently represent syntactic structure. We propose an alternative and novel method in which constituency parse constraints are imposed on the model via combinatorial factors in a Markov random field, guaranteeing that a variable configuration forms a valid tree. We apply this approach to jointly predicting parse and named entity structure, for which we introduce a zero-order semi-CRF named entity recognizer which also relies on a combinatorial factor. At the junction between these two models, soft constraints coordinate between syntactic constituents and named entity spans, providing an additional layer of flexibility on how these models interact. With this architecture we achieve the best-reported results on both CRF-based parsing and named entity recognition on sections of the OntoNotes corpus, and outperform state-of-the-art parsers on an NP-identification task, while remaining asymptotically faster than traditional grammar-based parsers.
Lecture 2 :Defining Abilities through the Person Characteristic Function

Factor analysis aids in identifying the dimensions of ability and in understanding something about how general or specific these abilities are with respect to the domain of possible cognitive tasks. The mathematical parts of factor analysis do not, however, indicate what these abilities are, or anything about their nature. Traditionally, information of this character has been developed by largely subjective interpretation of test content. The procedure has been to examine the tests or variables having high loadings on a particular factor, contrasting these tests with those having low or vanishing loadings on that factor. One then attempts to infer what common elements are involved in the high-loading tests and not in the low-loading tests or variables.
Texting while driving: the development and validation of the distracted driving survey and risk score among young adults

Texting while driving and other cell-phone reading and writing activities are high-risk activities associated with motor vehicle collisions and mortality. This paper describes the development and preliminary evaluation of the Distracted Driving Survey (DDS) and score. Survey questions were developed by a research team using semi-structured interviews, pilot-tested, and evaluated in young drivers for validity and reliability. Questions focused on texting while driving and use of email, social media, and maps on cellular phones with specific questions about the driving speeds at which these activities are performed. In 228 drivers 18–24 years old, the DDS showed excellent internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.93) and correlations with reported 12-month crash rates. The score is reported on a 0–44 scale with 44 being highest risk behaviors. For every 1 unit increase of the DDS score, the odds of reporting a car crash increases 7 %. The survey can be completed in two minutes, or less than five minutes if demographic and background information is included. Text messaging was common; 59.2 and 71.5 % of respondents said they wrote and read text messages, respectively, while driving in the last 30 days. The DDS is an 11-item scale that measures cell phone-related distracted driving risk and includes reading/viewing and writing subscores. The scale demonstrated strong validity and reliability in drivers age 24 and younger. The DDS may be useful for measuring rates of cell-phone related distracted driving and for evaluating public health interventions focused on reducing such behaviors.
Obesity Before, During, and After Pregnancy: A Review and Comparison of Five National Guidelines

Objective This study aims to compare how national guidelines approach the management of obesity in reproductive age women. Study Design We conducted a search for national guidelines in the English language on the topic of obesity surrounding the time of a pregnancy. We identified six primary source documents and several secondary source documents from five countries. Each document was then reviewed to identify: (1) statements acknowledging increased health risks related to obesity and reproductive outcomes, (2) recommendations for the management of obesity before, during, or after pregnancy. Results All guidelines cited an increased risk for miscarriage, birth defects, gestational diabetes, hypertension, fetal growth abnormalities, cesarean sections, difficulty with anesthesia, postpartum hemorrhage, and obesity in offspring. Counseling on the risks of obesity and weight loss before pregnancy were universal recommendations. There were substantial differences in the recommendations pertaining to gestational weight gain goals, nutrient and vitamin supplements, screening for gestational diabetes, and thromboprophylaxis among the guidelines. Conclusion Stronger evidence from randomized trials is needed to devise consistent recommendations for obese reproductive age women. This research may also assist clinicians in overcoming one of the many obstacles they encounter when providing care to obese women.
Abstract 1068: Keratinocyte-specific deletion in mice reveals gene dose-dependent function of SIRT1 in tumorigenesis.

The protein deacetylase SIRT1, a mammalian counterpart of the yeast silent information regulator 2 (Sir2) and a proto member of the sirtuin family, regulates various pathways in metabolism, DNA repair, and cell survival. However, the role of SIRT1 in cancer is still under debate. Here we show that the role of SIRT1 in skin cancer development induced by the human skin carcinogen UVB radiation is dependent on its gene dose. Keratinocyte-specific heterozygous deletion of SIRT1 increases UVB-induced skin tumorigenesis, whereas homozygous deletion of SIRT1 decreases skin tumorigenesis. In mouse skin, SIRT1 is haploinsufficient for DNA repair and the expression of xeroderma pigmentosum C (XPC), a protein critical for repairing UVB-induced DNA damage. Similar to homozygous SIRT1 deletion, heterozygous SIRT1 deletion reduces the XPC protein levels and UVB-induced DNA damage repair. As compared with normal human skin, down-regulation of SIRT1 is in parallel with down-regulation of XPC in human cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma at both the protein and mRNA levels. In contrast, homozygous SIRT1 deletion in mouse skin augments p53 acetylation, and the expression of its transcriptional target Noxa, and sensitizes epidermis to UVB-induced apoptosis in vivo, while heterozygous SIRT1 deletion has no effect. Although mice with homozygous SIRT1 deletion do not develop tumors, these mice suffer severe sunburn. The gene dose-dependent function of SIRT1 in DNA repair and cell survival is consistent with its role in UVB-induced skin tumorigenesis and injury. Taken together, our results indicate that, depending on the SIRT1 levels, SIRT1 acts as a tumor suppressor and as an oncogene. Citation Format: Mei Ming, Keyoumars Soltani, Christopher R. Shea, Xiaoling Li, Yu-ying He. Keratinocyte-specific deletion in mice reveals gene dose-dependent function of SIRT1 in tumorigenesis. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 1068. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-1068
Clinical diagnosis and treatment of a patient with low back pain using the patient response model: A case report

The medical management of low back pain (LBP) can be approached in a multitude of ways. Classification via subgrouping is increasingly common in orthopedic literature. Clinical diagnosis and treatment of LBP using the patient response model (PRM) can assist clinicians in hypothesizing the origin of pain and providing beneficial interventions unlike the widely used pathoanatomical model. This case report involved a 52-year-old female with sudden onset of right-sided LBP that radiated to the foot. These symptoms were accompanied by occasional paresthesias in bilateral lower extremities. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) confirmed disc bulges at levels T11-T12 and T12-L1. On the first of seven visits, she reported 9/10 on the Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NPRS), scored a 24/50 on the modified Oswestry disability index (mODI), and demonstrated lumbar flexion range of motion (ROM) of 10°. Using the PRM, the patient was classified as an extension responder and was instructed to perform 10 repetitions of standing lumbar extension every 2 waking hours. After 4 weeks of therapy, the patient reported a 1/10 pain localized to the low back, scored 20/50 on the mODI, and improved flexion ROM to 45°. Classification using the PRM yielded positive outcomes with this patient's symptoms and daily function.
Atomic and electronic structures of I-V-VI2 ternary chalcogenides

Abstract Atomic and electronic structures of I-V-VI2 (I = Na, K, Ag, Cu, Au; V = As, Sb, Bi; VI = S, Se, Te) are studied using first-principles hybrid density functional calculations. We find that the strong hybridization between the trivalent cation (As, Sb, and Bi) p states and the divalent anion (S, Se, and Te) p states tends to introduce electronic states in the band gap or pseudogap region and drive the systems toward metallicity. The atomic ordering on the cation sublattice of the ternary chalcogenides, therefore, has a strong impact on the energetics and the electronic structure in the neighborhood of the Fermi level as it determines if a certain atomic configuration is favorable to the highly directional cation p–anion p interaction. Besides these p states, the s state (in the case of Na and K) or the s and d states (Ag, Cu, and Au) can also play an important role in the band-gap formation. Our study suggests how to manipulate the electronic structure of these ternary compounds such that they show desired features for different applications by modifying their atomic structure and/or by changing their constituent element(s).
Dynamic classification algorithm on simple streaming data

In view of data steam in basket match,by means of data stream conception dispersing pretreatment,combined with Bayesian classification algorithm and method of threshold,we have designed a dynamic classification mining method in a limited memory,in which an Ax is initiated as the least useful information threshold to delete the useless info.And while the info is useful,classes and new classes from the dynamic continuous data stream can be classified by the means of threshold values.And lastly,the experiment shows this dynamic classification method is right and efficient.
Comparison of Efficiency in Mobilization Bone Marrow Stem Cell Between Inclusive Type G-CSF and Excretory Type G-CSF

Objective:To observe the mobilization effects of autologous circulating blood stem cells with different types of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Methods:Forty-five patients with AMI were randomly allocated to either inclusion G-CSF(group A), or secretory G-CSF(group B) to mobilize the stem cells.All patients were given G-CSF 300 μg two times a day, by hypodermic injection for 5 days. In the process of the mobilization of the circulating blood stem cells, white blood cell (WBC) and CD34+ cell counts in the circulating blood were observed. Results:Before and 3,4,5,and 6 days after administration of G-CSF, the counts of WBC and CD34+ cells had no significant difference between the two groups.The peak value of WBC was noted at 6 days after the use of G-CSF.The count of CD34+ cells increased rapidly at 3rd-4th day.There was no significant difference between the two groups in the count of CD34+ cells at 7th day (P=0.333).The count of CD34+ cells in the circulating blood was positively correlated with the count of WBC in the circulating blood (r=0.835),and not correlated with sex,age,body weight,and the onset time of AMI. Conclusion:In patients with AMI,there is no significant difference in mobilizing bone marrow stem cell between inclusive type G-CSF and excretory type G-CSF
Micro-scale experimental investigation of the effect of flow rate on trapping in sandstone and carbonate rock samples

Abstract We present the results of a pore-scale experimental study of residual trapping in consolidated sandstone and carbonate rock samples under confining stress. We investigate how the changes in wetting phase flow rate impacts pore-scale distribution of fluids during imbibition in natural, water-wet porous media. We systematically study pore-scale trapping of the nonwetting phase as well as size and distribution of its disconnected globules. Seven sets of drainage-imbibition experiments were performed with brine and oil as the wetting and nonwetting phases, respectively. We utilized a two-phase miniature core-flooding apparatus integrated with an X-ray microtomography system to examine pore-scale fluid distributions in small Bentheimer sandstone (D = 4.9 mm and L = 13 mm) and Gambier limestone (D = 4.4 mm and L = 75 mm) core samples. The results show that with increase in capillary number, the residual oil saturation at the end of the imbibition reduces from 0.46 to 0.20 in Bemtheimer sandstone and from 0.46 to 0.28 in Gambier limestone. We use pore-scale displacement mechanisms, in-situ wettability characteristics, and pore size distribution information to explain the observed capillary desaturation trends. The reduction was believed to be caused by alteration of the order in which pore-scale displacements took place during imbibition. Furthermore, increase in capillary number produced significantly different pore-scale fluid distributions during imbibition. We explored the pore fluid occupancies and studied size and distribution of the trapped oil clusters during different imbibition experiments. The results clearly show that as the capillary number increases, imbibition produces smaller trapped oil globules. In other words, the volume of individual trapped oil globules decreased at higher brine flow rates. Finally, we observed that the pore space in the limestone sample was considerably altered through matrix dissolution at extremely high brine flow rates. This increased the sample porosity from 44% to 62% and permeability from 7.3 D to 80 D. Imbibition in the altered pore space produced lower residual oil saturation (from 0.28 to 0.22) and significantly different distribution of trapped oil globules.
Ethics and Professional Practice

This chapter discusses what role ethics has in guiding professionals. The chapter criticizes a “lawgiver model” of ethics, in which ethics purports to be universal, authoritarian, and counterpreferential. The chapter sketches parts of a different model of ethics, one in which ethics is participatory and guides us. Ethics need not merely constrain us. Ethics can help economists (and other professionals) to figure out how to do the right thing. There may be more than one way to get this right. Figuring out how to do it is not something ethicists can facilitate without the lived experience and advice of those in the field. In formulating an ethics for economists, economists have to do a lot of the ethical work.
Interaction between Spatial and Feature Attention in Posterior Parietal Cortex

Lateral intraparietal (LIP) neurons encode a vast array of sensory and cognitive variables. Recently, we proposed that the flexibility of feature representations in LIP reflect the bottom-up integration of sensory signals, modulated by feature-based attention (FBA), from upstream feature-selective cortical neurons. Moreover, LIP activity is also strongly modulated by the position of space-based attention (SBA). However, the mechanisms by which SBA and FBA interact to facilitate the representation of task-relevant spatial and non-spatial features in LIP remain unclear. We recorded from LIP neurons during performance of a task that required monkeys to detect specific conjunctions of color, motion direction, and stimulus position. Here we show that FBA and SBA potentiate each other's effect in a manner consistent with attention gating the flow of visual information along the cortical visual pathway. Our results suggest that linear bottom-up integrative mechanisms allow LIP neurons to emphasize task-relevant spatial and non-spatial features.
The migrations of Drosophila muscle founders and primordial germ cells are interdependent

Caudal visceral mesoderm (CVM) cells migrate from posterior to anterior of the Drosophila embryo as two bilateral streams of cells to support the specification of longitudinal muscles along the midgut. To accomplish this long-distance migration, CVM cells receive input from their environment, but little is known about how this collective cell migration is regulated. In a screen we found that wunen mutants exhibit CVM cell migration defects. Wunens are lipid phosphate phosphatases known to regulate the directional migration of primordial germ cells (PGCs). PGC and CVM cell types interact while PGCs are en route to the somatic gonadal mesoderm, and previous studies have shown that CVM impacts PGC migration. In turn, we found here that CVM cells exhibit an affinity for PGCs, localizing to the position of PGCs whether mislocalized or trapped in the endoderm. In the absence of PGCs, CVM cells exhibit subtle changes, including more cohesive movement of the migrating collective, and an increased number of longitudinal muscles is found at anterior sections of the larval midgut. These data demonstrate that PGC and CVM cell migrations are interdependent and suggest that distinct migrating cell types can coordinately influence each other to promote effective cell migration during development.
Co-Expression of CD38 with Zap-70 Is Predictive of Treatment Intervention in Patients (pts) with Early Stage Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL).

Abstract Introduction: CLL is a heterogeneous disease where advanced stage pts have compromised survival despite treatment, while early stage pts may not require any intervention. Based on current NCI-WG guidelines, most early stage (Rai stage 0 and 1) CLL pts do not require treatment until the development of progressive or symptomatic disease, though eventually over 70% of CLL pts will receive therapy. Currently, there are no markers to predict this subset of pts. Several markers of adverse prognosis, including ZAP-70+, CD38+, un-mutated IgVH gene and cytogenetic aberrations (17p-, 11q-, +12) have been identified. These markers are primarily studied in context of aggressive clinical course and survival outcome. The value of these markers to predict the necessity of treatment intervention in early stage CLL pts has not yet been completely evaluated. We investigated the expression pattern of Zap-70 and CD38 to examine their predictive value in identifying early stage CLL pts who will require therapeutic intervention. Methods & Results: 93 CLL pts were evaluated since 2002 at our institution. Flow cytometry was used to determine Zap-70 and CD38 expression on CD19+ CLL cells obtained from peripheral blood. Pts were considered to be positive for Zap-70 and CD38 expression if ≥ 20% and ≥ 30% of the cell stained for these proteins, respectively. For the Zap-70 analysis we used similar methodology as described by Crespo et al. 1 Thirty-six (19M, 17F) pts had limited stage CLL, based on Rai staging criterion. Median age was 65 years (range 43–86) with stage 0 or 1 observed in 14 and 22 pts, respectively. Median time from diagnosis is 2 years (range Conclusion: Our study, demonstrates for the first time, the clinical utility of CD38 and Zap-70 co-expression in determining the probability of treatment intervention in early stage CLL pts. Although the number of pts studied is small, our findings highlight a potentially important use of these markers in the management of early-stage CLL pts. These observations warrant validation in a larger cohort of pts early stage CLL pts as well as correlation with other prognostic markers such as cytogenetic and IgVH gene mutational status.
Structural Nested Models for Cluster-Randomized Trials

In clinical trials and epidemiologic studies, adherence to the assigned components is not always perfect. In this book chapter, we are interested in estimating the causal effect of cluster-level adherence on an individual-level outcome. Two different methodologies will be provided, based on ordinary and weighted structural nested models (SNMs). We also applied the jackknife to construct confidence intervals. The computation is straightforward with application of instrumental variables software, and the programming schemes are developed for both ordinary and weighted structural nested models. Simulation studies under ordinary structural nested models with different link functions (loglinear SNM, logistic SNM, and linear SNM) were conducted to validate our methods. We then applied the methods to a school-based water, sanitation, and hygiene study to estimate the causal effect of increased adherence to intervention components on student absenteeism. The results calculated from these two methodologies are quite close.
Explaining Variations in the Nonprofit Founding Process : Founder and Organizational Factors.

Although the organizational founding process is subject to various isomorphic pressures, significant variation is still found in the completion, ordering, and timing of founding events. Prior research on entrepreneurship suggests the importance of education and previous experience in determining who is best positioned to recognize entrepreneurial opportunities, which may explain some of the variation in the founding process. In this article the authors present an analysis of an original survey of recently founded religious nonprofits to better understand how founder, organizational, and contextual characteristics influence the founding process in this specific nonprofit context. Overall, the authors’ findings show that founder education and experience particularly affect the founding process as well as organizational characteristics; however, these effects vary across different dimensions of this process.
Application of compressive sensing theory in infrared imaging systems

Compressive Sensing (CS) theory shows that if a signal is sparse under a certain basis, it can be recovered from a small number of measurement samples. These measurements can be significant departures from the traditional notion of a pixel associated with a single detector element in a focal plane array. In this work, we study the problem of how different sampling methods affect image recovery. In our study, a 2D Fourier transform is used as the measurement method. Spatial frequency sampling is accomplished using three different methods, uniform random method, 2D Gaussian method with different variances and a LineMask method. Infrared images from a stationary surveillance camera are recovered from these collected samples. Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR) is used to evaluate the quality of recovered images. Our simulation results show that, with the same number of collected measurement samples, both LineMask and 2D Gaussian methods offer better image recovery results than the random method. For the 2D Gaussian method, the image recovery results improve slightly as the variance of Gaussian sampling function decreases. The recovery result of the LineMask method is between the best and worst cases from the Gaussian method. Our results show that while the CS technique allows images to be recovered from randomly chosen measurement samples, the method used to collect the measurement samples does affect the signal recovery quality. Choosing a proper sampling method can optimize recovery using the CS technique.
Overall Survival (OS) of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) Is Better When Initial Therapy Is Administered in Academic Hospitals (AH) Versus Non-Academic Hospitals (NAH): A Retrospective Analysis of the National Cancer Data Base (NCDB)

Introduction During initial diagnosis and therapy, patients with ALL can develop life-threatening complications such as sepsis, leukostasis, hemorrhage, and tumor lysis syndrome. Dedicated multidisciplinary leukemia teams may be needed to provide optimal management of such complications and selection of optimal therapeutic strategy. AH are more likely to have such expertise, adequate resources, standard operating policies and clinical trials, which may influence early mortality and OS. Such trends have been noted for other malignancies, such as lung cancer (Samson, Am Thorac Surg 2015 and Luchtenborg JCO 2013). In acute myeloid leukemia, OS may be better if patients are treated in a high-volume hospital (Giri Blood 2015). Whether OS of ALL differs based on the facility type remains unclear. Methods Using the NCDB Participant User File, we extracted patient-level data of patients with ALL reported between 1998 to 2012. Hospital facilities were classified as either AH (academic/research program) or NAH (community cancer program, comprehensive community cancer program, and other, as per NCDB classification). Patients, who received all of their first course treatment or a decision not to treat made at the reporting facility, were included. Subjects with complete and known data for the variables sex, age, race, education, income, distance traveled for health care, hospital type, facility location, urban/rural location, insurance, Charlson co-morbidity score, chemotherapy use, time from diagnosis to treatment initiation, use of hematopoietic stem cell transplant, 30-day mortality, last contact, and vital status were included. These variables were analyzed in a univariate analysis. Kaplan Meier curves were drawn and compared using log rank test. Multivariate analysis was performed using logistic regression for 30-day mortality and cox regression with backward elimination approach for OS. Statistical analysis was done using PC SAS version 9.4. Results Of 9863 patients with ALL, 5710 (57.9%) were treated in AH. Patients treated at AH versus NAH were more likely to be African-Americans, uninsured and Medicaid insured, travel long distance to receive health care and receive transplant as a part of their treatment. The median OS (23 vs. 17 months) and 1-year OS (67% vs. 59%) were better in AH as compared to NAH (Figure 1). In a multivariate analysis, the 30-day mortality was significantly worse in NAH as compared to AH (odds ratio, OR 1.206; 95% confidence interval, CI 1.011-1.44; p Conclusion OS of patients with ALL may be improved, if patients receive initial therapy in AH. Possible explanations may include increased provider experience, enhanced multidisciplinary care, and access to clinical trials, among others. Improved understanding of such factors may provide opportunity to improve OS of patients treated at NAH. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
Chiropractic treatment of hand and wrist pain in older people: systematic protocol development Part 2: cohort natural-history treatment trial.

Objectives This study examines (a) the feasibility of continued research with an older population; (b) the variety of hand-wrist conditions presented by older patients; (c) the accommodations to standard chiropractic treatment for older patients; and (d) the validity, reliability, responsiveness of measures, and preliminary estimates of outcome of treatment for general hand-wrist pain.
HIV healthcare transition outcomes among youth in North America and Europe: a review

Introduction : The transition from paediatric to adult care poses risks to the health of young adults living with HIV if unsuccessful, including interruptions in care and poor health outcomes. Evolving best practices in HIV healthcare transition should ideally be informed by real-world qualitative and quantitative clinical healthcare transition outcomes. There has been a recent proliferation of HIV healthcare transition outcome research, largely from Europe and North America. Methods : A literature search was undertaken using the online databases PubMed, Web of Science, and Google Scholar. Medical subject and text word searches were combined for terms relating to HIV, paediatric transition outcomes, and internal and external factors were used to identify peer-reviewed articles. Results : In this paper, we review data on HIV healthcare transition outcomes in North America and Europe. Internal and external factors which may impact the success of HIV healthcare transition are examined. We describe ongoing research efforts to capture transition outcomes in the North America and Europe. Clinical, operational, and implementation science research gaps that exist to date are highlighted. Efforts to improve HIV healthcare transition research through country-level surveillance networks and large multicentre cohorts, including data integration and linkage between paediatric and adult cohorts are discussed. Conclusions : We identified the need for a comprehensive approach to implementing empirically supported protocols to support healthcare transition for ALHIV. While there is limited prospective longitudinal cohort data available at this time, cohorts linking the paediatric and adolescent with ongoing surveillance into adulthood are being developed. Through a review of existing qualitative and quantitative healthcare transition outcomes studies, we identify emerging areas of consensus surrounding healthcare transition research implementation. Successful healthcare transition programmes in Europe and North America often share several characteristics, including implementation of a youth friendly multidisciplinary approach, consistent communication and integration between paediatric and adult care teams, and an individualized approach which is attuned the adolescent’s transition readiness. Moving forward, the voices of youth and young adults living with HIV should be included in the development and evaluation of healthcare transition protocols to ensure that the definition of successful transition reflects all of the stakeholders in the transition process. Keywords HIV; AIDS; healthcare transition; adolescent; youth (Published: 16 May 2017) Tepper V et al. Journal of the International AIDS Society 2017, 20(Suppl 3) :21490 http://www.jiasociety.org/index.php/jias/article/view/21490 | http://dx.doi.org/10.7448/IAS.20.4.21490
Drugs currently under investigation for the treatment of invasive candidiasis

ABSTRACTIntroduction: The widespread implementation of immunosuppressants, immunomodulators, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and solid organ transplantation in clinical practice has led to an expanding population of patients who are at risk for invasive candidiasis, which is the most common form of fungal disease among hospitalized patients in the developed world. The emergence of drug-resistant Candida spp. has added to the morbidity associated with invasive candidiasis and novel therapeutic strategies are urgently needed.Areas covered: In this paper, we explore investigational agents for the treatment of invasive candidiasis, with particular attention paid to compounds that have recently entered phase I or phase II clinical trials.Expert opinion: The antifungal drug development pipeline has been severely limited due to regulatory hurdles and a systemic lack of investment in novel compounds. However, several promising drug development strategies have recently emerged, including chemical screens i...
Live Fire Test and Evaluation and the Radio Frequency Vulnerability Testing Mission

The Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), Director, Operational Test and Evaluation (DOTE Resources and Ranges; Operational Test of Conventional Systems; and Operational Test of Strategic and Command, Control, Communication, and Integration Systems. The Deputy Director, Operational Testing for Live Fire Test and Evaluation is responsible to the DOT&E for LFT&E policy and live fire testing of systems qualifying for oversight. The LFT&E program is oriented towards providing a timely and realistic assessment of the survivability (of systems designed to provide user protection) and lethality (of missiles, rockets, and munitions) of a military system as it progresses through its development cycle and prior to full-rate production. The LFT&E requirement was placed in law by the U.S. Congress in 1986 and now covers air, land, and sea platforms, as well as a variety of weapons from small arms to national missile defense systems. The program is particularly aimed at providing information to decision makers on potential user (i.e., individual soldiers and armor, aircraft, ship, and tactical vehicle crews) casualties, survivability, vulnerability, and lethality, taking into equal
“Turn Now, My Vindication Is at Stake”: Military Moral Injury and Communities of Faith

The purpose of this article is to describe and analyze how communities of faith can overcome key barriers and fulfill their responsibility to respond to the moral injury of military veterans and military families. Moral injury is a concept within the broader discourse concerning traumatic experiences and responses that pertains particularly to experiences that overwhelm a person’s internalized moral covenant within their social relational world. Communities of faith offer unique resources for many veterans and military families in the process of transitioning into civilian life. However, limited understanding of military experiences and culture and discomfort with moral anguish, including intense forms of guilt, shame, disgust, and contempt as well as traumatic experiences more broadly, too often diminish the efficacy of such ministries with veterans and military families.
Tuning quaternary ammonium ionomer composition and processing to produce tough films

Abstract Multi-block and random quaternary ammonium poly (arylene ether sulfone) copolymer ionomers were synthesized using sequential reactions. Ionomer film processing involved two separate methods: heterogeneous-conversion and solution-casting a pseudo-solution. Film hydroxyl conductivity, water swelling, and tensile strength were dependent upon the hydrophilic and hydrophobic block-length. 1H nuclear magnetic resonance was used to evaluate brominated multi-block poly (arylene ether sulfone) composition, degree of functionalization (DF), and ion-exchange capacity (IEC). In general, multi-block ionomer hydroxyl conductivity was greater than its randomly functionalized counterpart at a similar IEC. Multi-block ionomer films with largest hydrophilic block length exhibited a hydroxide conductivity of 49.8 mS/cm. However, the equivalent random copolymer's conductivity was 1.02 times lower with a water uptake of 223 wt%, which were 190% higher than its multi-block counterpart. This was attributed to ion-clustering improvements, which is not present in a random ionomer. Equivalent copolymer ionomers had a percolation threshold associated with excessive swelling when its IEC exceeded 2.02 meq/g. In contrast to the random ionomer, the maximum swelling observed for the multi-block copolymers was 33.6% at an IEC of 2.86 meq/g. This swelling suppression at high IEC was attributed to the sequential hydrophilic-hydrophobic block architecture. Moreover, the solution-cast multi-block ionomer was found to possess the highest toughness of 1185 × 104 J/m3, which was 237% greater than its heterogeneous counterpart. These results suggest that block length and ionomer processing play a critical role in controlling swelling, improving mechanical strength, and enhancing ion transport.
Synthesis of a biofuel target through conventional organic chemistry

Abstract In this work, the biofuel target compound 2-ethyl-5,5-dimethylcyclopenta-1,3-diene (1) and its exo isomers (9a and 9b), were successfully synthesized via two different pathways from the common intermediate 4,4-dimethylcyclopent-2-ene-1-one (2). The first pathway produced the endocyclic product as a pure isomer via a triflate intermediate obtained from ketone 2 in 60% yield, followed by copper-catalyzed coupling with ethyl magnesium bromide in 63% yield. The second pathway employed a Grignard reaction with ketone 2, which generated an alcohol that was immediately subjected to mild acid-catalyzed elimination to yield primarily a mixture of exo isomers 9a and 9b in 46% yield. The preparation method developed by this work allowed for the production of a sufficient quantity of these targets to evaluate their fuel properties, which will be reported in a separate study.