cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Three-dimensional X-ray diffraction imaging of dislocations in polycrystalline metals under tensile loading

The nucleation and propagation of dislocations is an ubiquitous process that accompanies the plastic deformation of materials. Consequently, following the first visualization of dislocations over 50 years ago with the advent of the first transmission electron microscopes, significant effort has been invested in tailoring material response through defect engineering and control. To accomplish this more effectively, the ability to identify and characterize defect structure and strain following external stimulus is vital. Here, using X-ray Bragg coherent diffraction imaging, we describe the first direct 3D X-ray imaging of the strain field surrounding a line defect within a grain of free-standing nanocrystalline material following tensile loading. By integrating the observed 3D structure into an atomistic model, we show that the measured strain field corresponds to a screw dislocation.
A REPORT ON SANITARIANS COMPLETING GRADUATE STUDY AT A SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH, 1946–19561

Fifty sanitarians who received masters degrees with a major in sanitary science during the period 1946–1956 from the University of North Carolina in responding to a study of their activities revealed that while 41 of them remained in public health work only 29 were engaged exclusively as sanitarians. Changes in work responsibility were accompanied by increases in supervisory duties, increases in their salaries, and changes in their methods of meeting sanitation problems. Forty were certain that graduate education made their advancement easier. Of the fifty studied, 31 felt opportunities in sanitation to be good.
Software Adaptation and Generalization of Physically-Constrained Games.

In this paper we provide a case study of the use of relatively sophisticated mathematics and algorithms to redefine and adapt a simple traditional game/puzzle to exploit the computational power of smart devices. The focus here is not so much on the end product as it is on the process and considerations underpinning its development. Ancillary results of the venture include generalizations of the circular-shift operator and examination of its computational complexity.
Adapting Mindfulness Training for Military Service Members With Chronic Pain

Introduction Rates of chronic pain in military personnel are disproportionately high. Chronic pain is often associated with mental health and substance use disorders as comorbid conditions, making treatment of chronic pain complex. Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) are a promising behavioral approach to managing chronic pain and psychosocial sequelae. The unique nature of the military context may require adaptations to original MBIs for successful delivery in active-duty military populations. This study adapted the mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program to create a mindfulness training program that was relevant to active-duty Army personnel experiencing chronic pain. This article delineates the adaptation process employed to modify the MBSR program to the military context and discusses the resulting training program. Materials and methods The adaptation process consisted of three iterative stages: 1) Drafting the preliminary intervention protocol with recommendations from stakeholders, including military healthcare providers; 2) Refining the preliminary protocol after pretesting the sessions with research team members and a military Veteran advisory committee; and 3) Delivering the preliminary protocol to one cohort of active-duty Soldiers with chronic pain, collecting feedback, and further refining the intervention protocol. Results Military-related adaptations to MBSR addressed three areas: military culture, language and terminology, and practical and logistical factors relevant to implementation in the military setting. This adaptation process resulted in a live, online program with six, weekly, sessions. Feedback from a military Veteran advisory committee resulted in modifications, including increasing military-relevant examples; preliminary testing with the target population resulted in additional modifications, including shortening the sessions to 75 min and structuring discussions more efficiently. Conclusions The adaptation process was successful in generating an engaging mindfulness training program that was highly relevant to the military context. Obtaining input from stakeholders, such as military healthcare providers and active-duty soldiers, and iterative feedback and modification, were key to the process. Moreover, the program was designed to maintain the integrity and core elements of MBIs while adapting to military culture. A future randomized controlled trial design will be used to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention in improving chronic pain in military personnel. This program is responsive to the military's call for nonpharmacologic treatments for chronic pain that are easily accessible. If effective, the mindfulness program has the potential for widespread dissemination to complement standard care for Service Members experiencing chronic pain.
High resolution NMR techniques in catalysis

High resolution NMR techniques are applicable to a variety of aspects of catalysis. Methods for studying homogeneously-catalyzed systems under high gas pressure are described along with approaches for obtaining mechanistic and dynamic information. Many of the same techniques may be applied to heterogeneous catalysis by following the reaction chemistry by gas phase NMR.
When Sources Honestly Provide Their Biased Opinion: Bias as a Distinct Source Perception With Independent Effects on Credibility and Persuasion:

Anecdotally, attributions that others are biased pervade many domains. Yet, research examining the effects of perceptions of bias is sparse, possibly due to some prior researchers conflating bias w...
Influence of interpregnancy interval on uterine rupture

Objective: This study aims to assess the independent influence of interpregnancy interval (IPI) on uterine rupture using a population-based cohort of all Ohio births, regardless of prior cesarean (...
Camera-Robot Calibration for the Da Vinci Robotic Surgery System

The development of autonomous or semiautonomous surgical robots stands to improve the performance of existing teleoperated equipment but requires fine hand-eye calibration between the free-moving endoscopic camera and patient-side manipulator arms (PSMs). A novel method of solving this problem for the da Vinci robotic surgical system and kinematically similar systems is presented. First, a series of image-processing and optical-tracking operations are performed to compute the coordinate transformation between the endoscopic camera view frame and an optical-tracking marker permanently affixed to the camera body. Then, the kinematic properties of the PSM are exploited to compute the coordinate transformation between the kinematic base frame of the PSM and an optical marker permanently affixed thereto. Using these transformations, it is then possible to compute the spatial relationship between the PSM and the endoscopic camera using only one tracker snapshot of the two markers. The effectiveness of this calibration is demonstrated by successfully guiding the PSM end-effector to points of interest identified through the camera. Additional tests on a surgical task, namely, grasping a surgical needle, are also performed to validate the proposed method. The resulting visually guided robot positioning accuracy is better than the earlier hand-eye calibration results reported in the literature for the da Vinci system while supporting the intraoperative update of the calibration and requiring only devices that are already commonly used in the surgical environment. Note to Practitioners —The problem of hand-eye calibration for the da Vinci robotic surgical system and kinematically similar systems is addressed in this article. Existing approaches have insufficient accuracy to automate low-level surgical subtasks and often require external patterns or subjective human intervention, none of which are applicable to practical robotic minimally invasive surgery (RMIS) scenarios. This article breaks down the calibration procedure into systematic steps to reduce error accumulation. Most of the time-consuming steps are performed offline, allowing them to be retained between movements. Each time the passive joints of the manipulator or the endoscope move, all that needs to be done is to refresh the transformation between the fixed markers. This key idea enables intraoperative updates of the hand-eye calibration to be performed online without sacrificing precision. The calibration method presented here demonstrates that the achieved accuracy is sufficient for automating basic surgical manipulation tasks, such as grasping a suturing needle. The hand-eye calibration will be incorporated into a visually guided manipulation framework to perform high-precision autonomous surgical tasks.
Freedom from Monopolies

The chapter is focused on Jefferson’s proposal that the US Constitution, before its formal ratification, should include an amendment that would mandate “freedom from monopolies.” The historical context of anti-monopoly ideology in the early republic is described along with Jefferson’s stringent criticisms of the elite/aristocratic power bloc in American society. The moral spirit underlying Jefferson’s amendment proposal to prohibit monopolies is bracketed and theorized as something that might be recovered and deployed as a pedagogical tool to raise awareness of the increasingly dominant role that corporations play in contemporary American society. It is argued that Jefferson would regard the doctrine of “corporate personhood” as anathema to American democracy.
T2 Hepatocellular Carcinoma Exception Policies That Prolong Waiting Time Improve the Use of Evidence-based Treatment Practices.

Background A United Network for Organ Sharing policy change in 2015 created a 6-mo delay in the receipt of T2 hepatocellular carcinoma exception points. It was hypothesized that the policy changed locoregional therapy (LRT) practices and explant findings because of longer expected waiting time. Methods Patients transplanted with a first T2 hepatocellular carcinoma exception application between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2014 (prepolicy; N = 6562), and those between August 10, 2015 and December 2, 2019 (postpolicy; N = 2345), were descriptively compared using data from United Network for Organ Sharing. Results Median time from first application to transplantation was more homogenous across the US postpolicy, due to greater absolute increases in Regions 3, 6, 10, and 11 (>120 d). During waitlisting, postpolicy candidates received more LRT overall (P < 0.001), with more notable increases in previously short-wait regions. Postpolicy explants were overall more likely to have ≥1 tumor with complete necrosis (23.9 versus 18.4%; P < 0.001) and less likely have ≥1 tumor with no necrosis (32.6% versus 38.5%; P < 0.001). Significant geographic variability in explant treatment response was observed prepolicy with recipients in previously short-wait regions having more frequent tumor viability at transplant. Postpolicy, there were no differences in the prevalence of recipients with ≥1 tumor with 100% or 0% necrosis across regions (P = 0.9 and 0.2, respectively). Conclusions The 2015 T2 exception policy has led to reduced geographic variability in the use of pretransplant LRT and in less frequent tumor viability on explant for recipients in previously short-waiting times.
Indigenous Heritage Tourism Development in a (Post-) COVID World: Towards Social Justice at Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, USA

While a growing body of literature explores tourism impacts in search of sustainable outcomes, research on justice in diverse tourism settings is nascent. Theoretically informed studies drawing from interdisciplinary perspectives are just beginning to emerge to help examine contestations and injustices such as addressed in the case study presented here. The Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument (or “Custer’s Last Stand” as some know it; LBH) is a protected heritage tourism site that commemorates a battle between Native American tribes and the U.S. military in 1876. Indigenous stakeholders have struggled for decades with the National Park Service to overturn a long legacy of misrepresentation and exclusion from the commemoration and development of the site for heritage tourism. Site closures and other effects of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic present additional challenges for Native American stakeholders like the Crow Tribe. Guided by Nancy Fraser’s principles of trivalent justice (redistribution, recognition, and representation), this qualitative study traces the conflict over heritage commemoration, and explores the potential for praxis through ethical tourism development and marketing. Fraser’s trivalent approach to justice demonstrates the importance of interdisciplinary research to examine historically entrenched discrimination, redress injustices, and facilitate healing and well-being of diverse groups at sites like LBH.
Working with Capacity Limitations: Operations Management in Critical Care

As your hospital’s intensive care unit (ICU) director you are approached by the hospital’s administration to help solve ongoing problems with ICU throughput. The ICU seems to be full all the time, and trauma patients in the emergency department sometimes wait up to 24 hours before receiving a bed. At the same time, the cardiac surgeons were forced to canceled several elective coronary-artery bypass graft cases because there was not a bed available for post-operative recovery. The hospital administrators ask if you can decrease your ICU length of stay, and wonder if they should build more ICU beds instead. For help in understanding and optimizing your ICU’s throughput, you seek out the operations management researchers at your university.
Approximating Banana Distributions Based on Constant, Unknown Acceleration and Turn Rate

A tracking algorithm may employ a probability distribution for object locations at a given time after the last observation. In the two-dimensional case, such a distribution on geographical locations typically takes a curved, oblong shape, a so-called “banana distribution.” One recent version of the banana distribution proposed by Gade et al. [1] assigns probabilities to the possible future locations of a moving object for which the original location, speed and direction are known, while subsequent movement is determined by a constant, unknown acceleration and a constant, unknown turn rate with independent, zero-mean Gaussian distributions. Such assumptions can be appropriate in connection with frequent observations of moving objects, where it is reasonable to assume near constant acceleration between observations, and with objects that typically turn a constant angle per unit of time rather than per unit of distance. Finding the probabilities of locations in such a distribution can be computationally demanding, since there are no functional, closed forms to recover the acceleration and turn rate from the geographical position. In this paper we propose an approximation to the banana distributions above based on polar coordinates, where the angle out to the next observation is normally distributed with expectation zero, while the distance out to the next observation is also normally distributed, but with parameters given by two functions on the angle. While this framework is computationally far more tractable, we show that remarkably good approximations to the original banana distributions can be achieved by fine tuning of the two functions on the angle. We also believe that the framework proposed here, which is more directly related to the shape of the distribution, may serve as a suitable framework in which to compare the various other banana-like distributions obtained from different types of assumptions.
An Efficient Deep Learning System for Epileptic Seizure Prediction

Predicting epilepsy ahead of its occurrence has been an arduous job for scientists for a long time. Epileptic patients are still endeavoring to find a prosperous way to evade seizures to improve the quality of their lives. In this paper, we propose a novel deep learning system for epileptic seizure prediction using multi-channel electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings from the scalp of human brains. The proposed system is patient-specific and is predicated on the classification between the interictal and preictal brain states for the epileptic patient. The system uses a two-dimensional convolutional variational autoencoder and trains it once in a supervised way for automatic feature learning and classification. Within a prediction window of up to one hour, our proposed system achieved an average sensitivity of 94.45% and 0.06FP/h average false prediction rate which makes it one of the most efficient among state-of-the-art methods.
Little's Law for K-12 School Partnerships

Nonprofit organizations (NPOs) exist to reduce inequalities in public services created by failures in the public and private sectors. Yet, whether NPOs do so is not always clear. In the education sector, researchers have found that NPOs are an avenue through which existing inequalities are maintained, and perhaps perpetuated: Well-resourced schools tend to have the most NPO partners. Schools serving high proportions of low-income students, which have greater need, have fewer NPO partners. An open question is how this happens. In our study, we adapt a process modeling framework (Little's Law), often used to calculate the inventory in production systems, to represent the school's problem of allocating limited time and resources to build and maintain a high inventory of NPO partners. To contextualize the process flow framework in this new setting, we draw on 36 hour-long, one-on-one interviews with principals and teachers from six public and charter schools representing different levels of socio-economic hardship. Our model, taken together with these rich first-hand accounts, contributes an operational understanding of how under-resourced schools come to maintain fewer NPO partnerships than well-resourced schools. Finally, we use our process model as a tool to analyze policy interventions that could re-balance school-NPO partnerships to better promote equity in school services and educational outcomes.
Mitigating Nonattendance Using Clinic-Resourced Incentives Can Be Mutually Beneficial: A Contingency Management-Inspired Partially Observable Markov Decision Process Model.

Abstract Objectives Nonattendance of appointments in outpatient clinics results in many adverse effects including inefficient use of valuable resources, wasted capacity, increased delays, and gaps in patient care. This research presents a modeling framework for designing positive incentives aimed at decreasing patient nonattendance. Methods We develop a partially observable Markov decision process (POMDP) model to identify optimal adaptive reinforcement schedules with which financial incentives are disbursed. The POMDP model is conceptually motivated based on contingency management evidence and practices. We compare the expected net profit and trade-offs for a clinic using data from the literature for a base case and the optimal positive incentive design resulting from the POMDP model. To accommodate a less technical audience, we summarize guidelines for reinforcement schedules from a simplified Markov decision process model. Results The results of the POMDP model show that a clinic can increase its net profit per recurrent patient while simultaneously increasing patient attendance. An increase in net profit of 6.10% was observed compared with a policy with no positive incentive implemented. Underlying this net profit increase is a favorable trade-off for a clinic in investing in a targeted contingency management-based positive incentive structure and an increase in patient attendance rates. Conclusions Through a strategic positive incentive design, the POMDP model results show that principles from contingency management can support decreasing nonattendance rates and improving outpatient clinic efficiency of its appointment capacity, and improved clinic efficiency can offset the costs of contingency management.
Whitman’s Life as “Poet”

Whitman’s Life as “Poet” shows his movement into literary circles, being visited by Thoreau and Alcott, spending sociable evenings at Pfaff’s in New York, moving toward the third printing of Leaves of Grass in Boston. New poems related to Brooklyn and New York City, and adding more than a hundred new poems to the collection—“Crossing Brooklyn Ferry,” “Children of Adam,” the “Calamus” group.
Effect of Standardized Grape Powder Consumption on the Gut Microbiome of Healthy Subjects: A Pilot Study

Grapes provide a rich source of polyphenols and fibers. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of the daily consumption of 46 g of whole grape powder, providing the equivalent of two servings of California table grapes, on the gut microbiome and cholesterol/bile acid metabolism in healthy adults. This study included a 4-week standardization to a low-polyphenol diet, followed by 4 weeks of 46 g of grape powder consumption while continuing the low-polyphenol diet. Compared to the baseline, 4 weeks of grape powder consumption significantly increased the alpha diversity index of the gut microbiome. There was a trend of increasing Verrucomicrobia (p = 0.052) at the phylum level, and a significant increase in Akkermansia was noted. In addition, there was an increase in Flavonifractor and Lachnospiraceae_UCG-010, but a decrease in Bifidobacterium and Dialister at the genus level. Grape powder consumption significantly decreased the total cholesterol by 6.1% and HDL cholesterol by 7.6%. There was also a trend of decreasing LDL cholesterol by 5.9%, and decreasing total bile acid by 40.9%. Blood triglyceride levels and body composition were not changed by grape powder consumption. In conclusion, grape powder consumption significantly modified the gut microbiome and cholesterol/bile acid metabolism.
Novel Gabor-PHOG features for object and scene image classification

A new Gabor-PHOG (GPHOG) descriptor is first introduced in this paper for image feature extraction by concatenating the Pyramid of Histograms of Oriented Gradients (PHOG) of all the local Gabor filtered images. Next, a comparative assessment of the classification performance of the GPHOG descriptor is made in six different color spaces, namely the RGB, HSV, YCbCr, oRGB, DCS and YIQ color spaces, to propose the novel YIQ-GPHOG and the YCbCr-GPHOG feature vectors that perform well on different object and scene image categories. Third, a novel Fused Color GPHOG (FC-GPHOG) feature is presented by integrating the PCA features of the six color GPHOG descriptors for object and scene image classification, with applications to image search and retrieval. Finally, the Enhanced Fisher Model (EFM) is applied for discriminatory feature extraction and the nearest neighbor classification rule is used for image classification. The effectiveness of the proposed feature vectors for image classification is evaluated using two grand challenge datasets, namely the Caltech 256 dataset and the MIT Scene dataset.
Did the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act Work

In 1995 Congress passed the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act to address abuses in securities fraud class actions. In the wake of Enron, WorldCom, Adelphia, and other high profile securities frauds, critics suggest that the law made it too easy to escape liability for securities fraud and thus created a climate in which frauds are more likely to occur. Others claim that the Act has largely failed because it did little to deter plaintiff's lawyers from filing non-meritorious cases. This article employs a database of the 1,449 class actions filed from 1996 through 2001 to explore whether the Act achieved several of its primary goals - discouraging the filing of non-meritorious suits, reducing litigation risk for high technology issuers, and reducing the "race to the courthouse," whereby class actions were filed soon after significant stock price declines, apparently with very little pre-filing investigation. The picture that emerges from studying these data is that the PSLRA did not work as intended. This article demonstrates that as many or more class actions are filed after the Act as before. High technology issuers remain at significantly greater risk than issuers in other industries. There is statistically significant evidence, however, that suggests that the Act improved overall case quality at least in the circuit that most strictly interprets one of the Act's key provisions, a heightened pleading standard. The data in the article also demonstrate that Congress did not achieve its goal of increasing the filing delay in class actions. Actions are filed as quickly now as they were before passage of the Act. Nonetheless, that too may provide indirect evidence that plaintiff's attorneys are selecting more apparent cases of fraud that require less pre-filing investigation.
Virus Transport in the Subsurface

In the United States alone, the estimated annual number of reported illnesses resulting from contact with waterborne pathogens was as low as one million and as high as seven million between 1971 and 1982, and 51% of all waterborne disease outbreaks due to the consumption of contaminated groundwater. It is estimated that approximately 20–25% of U.S. groundwater sources are contaminated with microbial pathogens, including more than 100 types of viruses. A literature review by Craun indicated that approximately one-half of the surface water and groundwater sources tested contained enteric viruses. Even 9% of conventionally treated drinking water (coagulation, sedimentation, filtration, postfiltration disinfection using chlorine/ozone) tested positive for enteric viruses. Although water-transmitted human pathogens include various bacteria, protozoa, helminths, and viruses, agents of major threat to human health are pathogenic protozoa (Cryptosporidium and Giardia) and enteroviruses. Despite ample information regarding the fate of viruses in the subsurface, research on the persistency of pathogenic protozoa through passage in soil and groundwater is just now emerging. In the past, it was generally believed that pathogenic protozoa are confined to surface water. Contrary to that expectation, recent monitoring results from 463 groundwater samples collected at 199 sites in 23 of the 48 contiguous states suggested that up to 50% of the groundwater sites were positive for Cryptosporidium, Giardia, or both, depending on the parasite and the type of groundwater source (vertical wells, springs, infiltration galleries, and horizontal wells). Keywords: drinking water; septic tanks; sources; subsurface; transport modeling; virus
Management of Pyridoxine and Pyridoxal in the Isolated Kidney of the Rat

The vascularly perfused kidney of the rat was used to study the transport, metabolism, filtration, secretion, reabsorption and excretion of pyridoxine (PN) and pyridoxal (PL), independent of other tissues including erythrocytes. [3H]-PN or [3H]-PL was administered via the perfusate at concentrations ranging from 8 nmole to 20.75 Â?Â«noie per 95 ml perfusate. After 30 minutes of perfusion with 8 nmole of [3H]-PN, 17.2% of the total 3H was found in the kidney. As the concentration of PN in the perfusate was increased the percentage found in the kidney decreased. This inverse relationship resulted primarily from saturation of PL kinase in the kidney. At all levels of administration approximately one-half as much 3Hwas found in the kidney after [3H]-PLadministration as when [3H]-PN was given at the same concentration. In the case of PN the primary metabolite found in the kidney was PNP whereas when PL was administered, significant amounts of PLP, PMP and pyridoxic acid were found. A differential response in the renal tubular handling of PN and PL is also reported. At all levels of adminis tration of PL, the majority of the vitamer filtered was reabsorbed. The same was the case at the lowest dosage, however, at higher concentrations there was a net secretion of PN into the urine via a saturable process, this could account for the observed ratio of greater than 1 of kidney/perfusate concentration of PN. J. Nutr. 110: 1597-1609, 1980. INDEXING
Assessing the Vulnerabilities of U.S. Drinking Water Systems

During the Clinton administration, the importance of our critical infrastructure was highlighted by the National Security Council in Presidential Decision Directive 63 (PDD 63). PDD 63 was superseded recently when President Bush signed Homeland Security Presidential Directive 7 (HSPD-7). HSPD 7, like its predecessor PDD 63, establishes a national policy under which federal departments and agencies are required to identify and prioritize United States critical infrastructure and the key resources needed to protect them from terrorist attacks. PDD 63 and HSPD 7 also encourage Federal departments and agencies to form public and private partnerships to pursue the goal of lowering risks to our national assets due to malevolent events. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is assigned responsibility for the water infrastructure, which includes both drinking water and wastewater systems. Subscribers (mainly water utilities) of the American Water Works Association Research Foundation (AwwaRF) were also becoming concerned about security at drinking water utilities and encouraged AwwaRF to assist them in understanding potential malevolent threats. In response to PDD 63, and with input from public water utilities, both EPA and AwwaRF initiated programs to understand and mitigate the security vulnerabilities of drinking water utilities. The events of 9/11 accelerated the development of these programs. This paper describes efforts to assess and mitigate the vulnerabilities of drinking water utilities. (See O’Neill and Hais, this volume, for a discussion of wastewater security issues.) This paper covers several key areas, including threat assessment, water contamination, and response effectiveness.
Dynamics of ADAM17-Mediated Shedding of ACE2 Applied to Pancreatic Islets of Male db/db Mice

Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) gene therapy aimed at counteracting pancreatic ACE2 depletion improves glucose regulation in two diabetic mouse models: db/db mice and angiotensin II-infused mice. A disintegrin and metalloproteinase 17 (ADAM17) can cause shedding of ACE2 from the cell membrane. The aim of our studies was to determine whether ADAM17 depletes ACE2 levels in pancreatic islets and β-cells. Dynamics of ADAM17-mediated ACE2 shedding were investigated in 832/13 insulinoma cells. Within a wide range of ACE2 expression levels, including the level observed in mouse pancreatic islets, overexpression of ADAM17 increases shed ACE2 and decreases cellular ACE2 levels. We provide a mathematical description of shed and cellular ACE2 activities as a function of the ADAM17 activity. The effect of ADAM17 on the cellular ACE2 content was relatively modest with an absolute control strength value less than 0.25 and approaching 0 at low ADAM17 activities. Although we found that ADAM17 and ACE2 are both expressed in pancreatic islets, the β-cell is not the major cell type expressing ACE2 in islets. During diabetes progression in 8-, 12-, and 15-week-old db/db mice, ACE2 mRNA and ACE2 activity levels in pancreatic islets were not decreased over time nor significantly decreased compared with nondiabetic db/m mice. Levels of ADAM17 mRNA and ADAM17 activity were also not significantly changed. Inhibiting basal ADAM17 activity in mouse islets failed to affect ACE2 levels. We conclude that whereas ADAM17 has the ability to shed ACE2, ADAM17 does not deplete ACE2 from pancreatic islets in diabetic db/db mice.
The value of intraoperative Gram stain in revision spine surgery.

Abstract Background context Intraoperative cultures and Gram stains are often obtained in cases of revision spine surgery even when clinical signs of infection are not present. The clinical utility and cost-effectiveness of this behavior remain unproven. Purpose The aim was to evaluate the clinical utility and cost-effectiveness of routine intraoperative Gram stains in revision spine surgery. Study design This was a retrospective clinical review performed at an academic center in an urban setting. Patient sample One hundred twenty-nine consecutive adult revision spine surgeries were performed. Outcome measures The outcome measures included intraoperative Gram stains. Methods We retrospectively reviewed the records of 594 consecutive revision spine surgeries performed by four senior surgeons between 2008 and 2013 to identify patients who had operative cultures and Gram stains performed. All revision cases including cervical, thoracic, and lumbar fusion and non-fusion, with and without instrumentation were reviewed. One hundred twenty-nine (21.7%) patients had operative cultures obtained and were included in the study. Results The most common primary diagnosis code at the time of revision surgery was pseudarthrosis, which was present in 41.9% of cases (54 of 129). Infection was the primary diagnosis in 10.1% (13 of 129) of cases. Operative cultures were obtained in 129 of 595 (21.7%) cases, and 47.3% (61 of 129) were positive. Gram stains were performed in 98 of 129 (76.0%) cases and were positive in 5 of 98 (5.1%) cases. Overall, there was no correlation between revision diagnosis and whether or not a Gram stain was obtained (p=.697). Patients with a history of prior instrumentation were more likely to have a positive Gram stain (p Conclusions This study demonstrates that while very specific for infection, the sensitivity of intraoperative Gram staining is low, and agreement between positive cultures and Gram stains is very poor. Gram staining demonstrated limited cost-effectiveness because of the low prevalence of findings that altered patient management.
Communication, dialogue and project management

Purpose – Project communication is overwhelmingly viewed as the proper and timely delivery of pertinent project information. The view of communication in this way misses the constitutive nature of communication. Communication is more than message exchange but a way that project managers generate the grounds for a project. The purpose of this paper is to explore how the communicative practices of project managers creates a dialogue with stakeholders that ultimately impacts the content, direction and outcome of a project. Design/methodology/approach – Semi-structured interviews were performed with project managers from the Project Management Office of a large international bank. The project managers were responsible for their own projects of varying size with scopes that included everything from marketing initiatives to heavily oriented technology projects. Findings – Overall, the project managers interviewed for the current project do not subscribe to the belief that communication is part of a constitutive...
Corrected pose data for the Wright Patterson Air Force Base 2009 Wide Area Motion Imagery data set

The Wright Patterson Air Force Base 2009 Wide Area Image data set consists of 1537 frames of high-resolution image data. The data are supplied as raw images with pose files and also as projected images in National Imagery Transmission Format (NITF). The georegistration performance of the NITF images is 22.3 m root-mean square horizontal (RMSH). In a previous paper, calibrated camera models were developed to reduce the georegistration error to 3.3 m RMSH. In this work, corrected pose files are generated to reduce the error to 0.9 m RMSH. This is done by correcting the pose errors in a stepwise fashion to illustrate the error sources, which are global positioning system position bias, time registration errors, and attitude errors. The pose files are then corrected by simultaneously modifying the position and attitude to achieve the 0.9 m RMSH result. The corrected pose files are posted to allow users to perform high-accuracy projection, tracking, and other functions.
Social wasp swarm emigration: males stay behind

Many species of tropical social wasps initiate colonies by means of a swarm of queens and workers. Swarms either bud from mature colonies (reproductive swarms) or form from the entire adult populat...
Neither here nor there: the cognitive nature of emotion

The philosophy of emotion has long been divided over the cognitive nature of emotion. In this paper I argue that this debate suffers from deep confusion over the meaning of “cognition” itself. This confusion has in turn obscured critical substantive agreement between the debate’s principal opponents. Capturing this agreement and remedying this confusion requires re-conceptualizing “the cognitive” as it functions in first-order theories of emotion. Correspondingly, a sketch for a new account of cognitivity is offered. However, I also argue that this new account, despite tacit acceptance by all major theories of emotion, in fact rules out some of the most fundamental and controversial claims of one side of the nature-of-emotion debate, emotional cognitivism.
Study on the Effects of Different Stair-Descending Methods on Knee Angle, Joint Moment and Joint Force

[Purpose] In general, people with bilateral osteoarthritis descend stairs sideways or backwards as compensatory movements. However, to the best of our knowledge, no studies have investigated these movements. The objective of the present study was to ascertain the effects of descending forwards and descending backwards on kinetic changes in the knee joint, to ascertain the optimal stair descending method for minimizing stress on the knee joint. [Subjects] Subjects were 30 adult women with no orthopedic or neurological disorders. [Methods] With step heights (riser heights) of 10, 15, 20 and 25 cm, changes in knee flexion angle, extension moment and joint force were measured when descending forwards and descending backwards using a three dimensional motion analysis system. [Results] Peak knee flexion angle, peak knee extension moment and peak knee joint forces observed in descending stairs backwards were smaller than those in the descending forwards action. [Conclusion] The present results suggest that descending stairs backwards for osteoarthritis patients is effective in protecting the knees, alleviating pain and acquiring compensatory movements.
Novel cytotoxic peptides from the tropical marine cyanobacterium Hormothamnion enteromorphoides. 1. Discovery, isolation and initial chemical and biological characterization of the hormothamnins from wild and cultured material.

A Caribbean cyanobacterium,Hormothamnion enteromorphoides, was found to produce a complex mixture of ichthyotoxic peptides, perhaps explaining the apparent absence of predation upon these potentially palatable life forms. Bioassay-guided fractionation was used to isolate these toxic and antimicrobial natural products, and a variety of techniques including HR FAB mass spectrometry, 2D-NMR, traditional hydrolysis-amino acid analysis, and several chemical reactions were used to define the basic structural features of the major peptide, hormothamnin A. Hormothamnin A is a cyclic undecapeptide containing six common and five uncommon or new amino acid residues. HPLC analyses indicate that the relative proportions of these peptide natural products remain relatively constant between different collection locations and years, however, they do vary seasonally. Clonal isolates of this cyanobacterium in culture produce the full spectrum of toxic peptides.
Teaching central line placement: no clear window.

We appreciate Maizel and colleagues addressing the teaching of ultrasound-guided central line placement to medical residents [1]; however, we have several comments. We feel that the success rates reported in this study are artificially high since most residents in 2014 are training with the use of ultrasound, and it is highly unlikely that the initial procedures being done by these senior residents (fourth and fifth year medical residents) were their first experience. In addition, by teaching the landmark technique second, the residents at that time are definitely experienced with the procedure of central line placement. The shorter procedure time noted for the landmark technique is likely related to the fact the practitioners are more experienced at this point and they did not need to set up the ultrasound machine. In addition, since procedure times were being measured, it would have been useful to separate out ‘difficult sticks’ [2]. It is anecdotally known that some patients have more difficult anatomy and require advanced maneuvers. Another possible variable that was not considered was the time of day of central line placement, since it has been established that central lines placed at night have higher complication rates than those placed during the day [3]. We feel that a better approach to answer the question of how to teach central line placement may be the concomitant approach: teach ultrasound-guided and landmark techniques at the same time to inexperienced practitioners, and then assess the success and complication rates.
Nothing Succeeds Like Access? NGO Strategies Towards Multilateral Institutions

Despite a large literature on international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), we still know relatively little about their nature as strategic actors. This article addresses this gap, arguing that a key determinant of NGOs' strategies towards multilateral institutions in particular is their level of formalization. NGOs' choices over both organizational structure and strategy towards multilateral institutions reflect their level of commitment to being a social movement organization. Some NGOs bureaucratize their organizations and seek insider access to (and influence in) multilateral institutions, while others reject formalization as betraying the social movement network ethos and inviting co-option. Drawing on an original database, this article demonstrates that NGOs adopting formal bureaucratic structures are more likely to engage in insider strategies—i.e. lobby and seek accreditation at multilateral institutions—than those maintaining informal coalitional structures, regardless of these NGOs' budget...
Change in electrophoretic mobility of erythrocytes on reaction with Stewart-Eddy polyoma virus

Abstract 1. 1. An improved microscope method of electrophoresis has been devised. 2. 2. The mobility of guinea pig erythrocytes was altered by polyoma virus in the following manner: 2.1. (a) Virus obtained by high speed centrifugation of tissue culture fluid lowered the mobility some 30 per cent. 2.2. (b) Virus partially purified by adsorption and elution from erythrocytes lowered the mobility 70 per cent. Red cells from which the virus had been eluted had a mobility of 70 per cent less than normal erythrocytes. Intervals of 3 to 4 hours of interaction time between virus and red cells were not sufficient to alter the mobility of the erythrocytes.
Temperature dependence of Kr ion-induced amorphization of mica minerals

Abstract Four different mica compositions, i.e., muscovite [KAl2(AlSi3O10)(OH,F)2], phlogopite [KMg3(AlSi3O10)(OH,F)2], biotite [K(Mg,Fe)3(AlSi3O10)(OH,F)2] and lepidolite [K(Li,Al)3(Al,Si)4O10(OH,F)2], were irradiated with 1.5 MeV Kr+ ions in the temperature range between 20 and 1023 K using the HVEM-Tandem Facility at Argonne National Laboratory. The irradiation effects were characterized by in situ and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM). All four micas are susceptible to irradiation-induced amorphization with relatively low critical amorphization doses (Dc) (1–2 × 1014 ions/cm2, fractions of a dpa) below or at room temperature. Dc increased with irradiation temperature for all phases above 400 K. The predicted critical temperatures (Tc), above which amorphization will not occur, for the four micas are all at or above 1000 K. Lepidolite is the most easily amorphized among the four micas at all irradiated temperatures with a predicted Tc of 1300 K. Large gas bubbles (1–2 μm in diameter) were observed in a 800 keV Kr2+ irradiated biotite after 1 × 1015 ions/cm2.
Transducer manometry and the effect of body position on anal canal pressures.

Anal canal manometry is performed conventionally with balloons, sleeves, perfused or nonperfused open-tipped catheters, or with multiport probes. The authors constructed a new manometer with four transducers embedded in a probe (15 mm outside diameter) and oriented radially, 90‡ apart. The transducer probe was validated in 27 healthy volunteers by comparing its performance to that of a standard four-port perfused manometer and then used to measure anal canal and rectal pressures in body positions more physiologic (standing, sitting) than that usually employed (left lateral) for such measurements. Both devices measured similar anal canal resting pressure in the left lateral position (mid canal, 58±3 mm Hg perfused vs. 62±4 mm Hg transducer;P>0.05).The transducer probe, however, recorded higher squeeze pressures (mid canal, 100±6 mm Hg perfused vs. 143±14 mm Hg transducer;P<0.05).The transducer probe detected higher intrarectal and resting anal canal pressures when subjects were standing or sitting, compared with the left lateral position (rectum, 3±1 mm Hg left lateral; 17±2 mm Hg standing; 20±1 mm Hg sitting; P<0.05; mid anal canal, 57±3 mm Hg left lateral; 86±4 mm Hg standing; 81±5 mm Hg sitting, P<0.05). The rise in resting anal canal pressure was uniform circumferentially. Neither anal canal length nor squeeze pressure changed with change in position. The authors concluded that 1) transducer manometry recorded similar resting but higher squeeze pressures compared with perfused manometry; 2) transducer manometry recorded the same radial variation in anal canal resting and squeeze pressures as that recorded by the perfused manometer; and 3) standing and sitting caused a four-fold rise in intrarectal pressure, which was associated with a concomitant rise in resting anal canal pressure.
Selected ion flow tube studies of H3O+(H2O)0.1 reactions with sulfides and thiols

Abstract Rate coefficients and product distributions have been determined in a selected ion flow tube at 300 K for the reactions of H 3 O + and the water cluster ion, H 3 O + ·H 2 O, with the sulfur-containing compounds H 2 S, CH 3 SH C 2 H 5 SH, n-C 3 H 7 SH, iso-C 3 H 7 SH, (CH 3 ) 2 S, CH 3 SC 2 H 5 , and C 4 H 4 S. The reactions of H 3 O + have high efficiency, following the trend established in reactions with other molecules, and are non-dissociative proton transfer reactions. For H 3 O + ·H 2 O, almost all of the reactions also proceed approximately at the collision rate, with rate coefficients slightly smaller than for the analogous H 3 O + reactions, consistent with the slightly larger reduced mass. The products are more varied, however. Proton transfer and/or ligand switching (presumably with internal H + transfer as, for example, in the production of CH 3 SH + 2 ·H 2 O) are observed to occur. Indeed, in some cases, proton transfer is observed where it should not be energetically possible. For example, in the cases of n- and iso-C 3 H 7 SH, both product channels are observed. The possibilities of neutral water dimer production, reactions being entropy driven, isomerization of the proton acceptor in the reaction, thermal dissociation of cluster ion products and uncertainties in the thermochemical data are all considered. Applications to interstellar gas clouds and the terrestrial atmosphere are discussed briefly.