cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
"I've Never Seen People Work So Hard!" Teachers' Working Conditions in the Early Stages of School Turnaround.

School turnaround—a reform strategy that strives for quick and dramatic transformation of low-performing schools—has gained prominence in recent years. This study uses interviews and focus groups c...
How shelterin solves the telomere end-protection problem.

Abstract The symphony of the human genome concludes with a long Gregorian chant of TTAGGG repeats. This monotonous coda represents one of the most complex problems in chromosome biology: the question of how cells distinguish their natural chromosome ends from double-strand breaks elsewhere in the genome. McClintock's classic finding of chromosome breakage-fusion-bridge cycles, first reported by her at one of the early Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Symposia (the ninth), served as a prelude to this question. The 75th Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Symposium marks the completion of a series of mouse gene deletion experiments that revealed DNA-damage-response pathways that threaten chromosome ends and how the components of the telomeric shelterin complex prevent activation of these pathways.
BRAF mutation in thyroid cancer

Genetic alteration is the driving force for thyroid tumorigenesis and progression, based upon which novel approaches to the management of thyroid cancer can be developed. A recent important genetic finding in thyroid cancer is the oncogenic T1799A transversion mutation of BRAF (the gene for the B-type Raf kinase, BRAF). Since the initial report of this mutation in thyroid cancer 2 years ago, rapid advancements have been made. BRAF mutation is the most common genetic alteration in thyroid cancer, occurring in about 45% of sporadic papillary thyroid cancers (PTCs), particularly in the relatively aggressive subtypes, such as the tall-cell PTC. This mutation is mutually exclusive with other common genetic alterations, supporting its independent oncogenic role, as demonstrated by transgenic mouse studies that showed BRAF mutation-initiated development of PTC and its transition to anaplastic thyroid cancer. BRAF mutation is mutually exclusive with RET/PTC rearrangement, and also displays a reciprocal age association with this common genetic alteration in thyroid cancer. The T1799A BRAF mutation occurs exclusively in PTC and PTC-derived anaplastic thyroid cancer and is a specific diagnostic marker for this cancer when identified in cytological and histological specimens. This mutation is associated with a poorer clinicopathological outcome and is a novel independent molecular prognostic marker in the risk evaluation of thyroid cancer. Moreover, preclinical and clinical evaluations of the therapeutic value of novel specific mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway inhibitors in thyroid cancer are anticipated. This newly discovered BRAF mutation may prove to have an important impact on thyroid cancer in the clinic.
Cultural diversity recomposition and effectiveness in monoculture work groups

In this article, we discuss different types of cultural diversity recomposition that can occur in monoculture work groups. Several direct effect propositions are set forth about the impact of cultural diversity recomposition type on monoculture group effectiveness, as are several moderating effect propositions. We identify potential moderators that have not been explored in prior research and discuss the implications that each has for organizational behavior and practice. We then discuss some implications for future research. We conclude this article with a call for establishing a research agenda that will guide our thinking as we explore this topic in more depth. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Numerical bias in bounded and unbounded number line tasks

The number line task is often used to assess children’s and adults’ underlying representations of integers. Traditional bounded number line tasks, however, have limitations that can lead to misinterpretation. Here we present a new task, an unbounded number line task, that overcomes these limitations. In Experiment 1, we show that adults use a biased proportion estimation strategy to complete the traditional bounded number line task. In Experiment 2, we show that adults use a dead-reckoning integer estimation strategy in our unbounded number line task. Participants revealed a positively accelerating numerical bias in both tasks, but showed scalar variance only in the unbounded number line task. We conclude that the unbounded number line task is a more pure measure of integer representation than the bounded number line task, and using these results, we present a preliminary description of adults’ underlying representation of integers.
Children's Drawings as Facilitators of Communication: A Meta-Analysis

In an attempt to explore new methods for accessing children's voices, this meta-analysis explores the facilitative effects of offering children the opportunity to draw as an interview strategy as compared with a traditional directed interview. Based on this analysis, introducing the opportunity to draw appears to be a relatively robust interview strategy with a large overall effect size ( d = .95). Both research and clinical implications are discussed.
Phenomenologic relationship of eating disorders to major affective disorder

We administered the National Institute of Mental Health Diagnostic Interview Schedule to 41 patients with a lifetime history of anorexia nervosa (25 with and 16 without bulimia) and to 49 patients with bulimia alone. Results showed that 77% of the patients with eating disorders had a lifetime diagnosis of DSM-III major affective disorder, a rate significantly higher than that found in comparison groups composed of the first-degree relatives of probands with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. High lifetime rates of anxiety disorders, substance use disorders, and kleptomania were also observed. By contrast, few cases of personality disorders and no cases of schizophrenia were found. These findings combine with the results of studies of family history, long-term outcome, response to biological tests, and treatment response to suggest that anorexia nervosa and bulimia may be closely related to major affective disorder.
Four-wave mixing in dispersion-managed return-to-zero systems

Four-wave mixing (FWM) in wavelength-division multiplexed systems with strong dispersion management and loss–amplification is comprehensively studied. The methods described apply to both soliton and quasi-linear return-to-zero systems. A linear model is introduced that describes the resonant growth and saturation of the FWM products. The model yields a resonance condition between the channel separation and the amplifier spacing that, in certain parameter regions, reproduces for strongly dispersion-managed systems the phase-matching condition that is valid for classical solitons. As the dispersion map’s strength increases, the residual FWM decreases, but the FWM amplitude is found to increase inversely to the average dispersion in the system. A reduced linear model is also introduced that contains the basic features of FWM processes. Comparisons of both models with direct numerical simulations of the full nonlinear system demonstrate excellent agreement.
Network Analysis of Intrinsic Functional Brain Connectivity in Alzheimer's Disease

Functional brain networks detected in task-free (“resting-state”) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) have a small-world architecture that reflects a robust functional organization of the brain. Here, we examined whether this functional organization is disrupted in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Task-free fMRI data from 21 AD subjects and 18 age-matched controls were obtained. Wavelet analysis was applied to the fMRI data to compute frequency-dependent correlation matrices. Correlation matrices were thresholded to create 90-node undirected-graphs of functional brain networks. Small-world metrics (characteristic path length and clustering coefficient) were computed using graph analytical methods. In the low frequency interval 0.01 to 0.05 Hz, functional brain networks in controls showed small-world organization of brain activity, characterized by a high clustering coefficient and a low characteristic path length. In contrast, functional brain networks in AD showed loss of small-world properties, characterized by a significantly lower clustering coefficient (p<0.01), indicative of disrupted local connectivity. Clustering coefficients for the left and right hippocampus were significantly lower (p<0.01) in the AD group compared to the control group. Furthermore, the clustering coefficient distinguished AD participants from the controls with a sensitivity of 72% and specificity of 78%. Our study provides new evidence that there is disrupted organization of functional brain networks in AD. Small-world metrics can characterize the functional organization of the brain in AD, and our findings further suggest that these network measures may be useful as an imaging-based biomarker to distinguish AD from healthy aging.
Exosomal transfer of proteins and RNAs at synapses in the nervous system

Background Many cell types have been reported to secrete small vesicles called exosomes, that are derived from multivesicular bodies and that can also form from endocytic-like lipid raft domains of the plasma membrane. Secretory exosomes contain a characteristic composition of proteins, and a recent report indicates that mast cell exosomes harbor a variety of mRNAs and microRNAs as well. Exosomes express cell recognition molecules on their surface that facilitate their selective targeting and uptake into recipient cells.
Killing the umpire: cooperative defects in mitotic checkpoint and BRCA2 genes on the road to transformation

Recent findings from mouse models of BRCA2 genetic lesions have provided intriguing insights and important questions concerning modes of tumor development in familial breast and ovarian cancers. Fibroblasts from mice homozygous for the BRCA2Tr allele grow poorly and display an array of chromosomal abnormalities that are consistent with a role for BRCA2 in DNA repair. This growth defect can be overcome and cellular transformation promoted by the expression of defective, dominant negative alleles of p53 and of the mitotic checkpoint gene Bub1, both of which are known to induce chromosome instability. These findings are mirrored in the genetic lesions sustained in tumors found in the rare BRCA2Tr/Trmice that survive to adulthood, which include defects in p53 as well as the mitotic checkpoint proteins Bub1 and Mad3L. Together, these data hint that tumors in these mice evolve from an unusually intense selective pressure to remove DNA damage checkpoints, which in turn might be facilitated by chromosomal abolition of mitotic checkpoints and the consequent increase in shuffling of genetic information. How these genetic lesions co-operate to yield transformed cells and how these data relate to BRCA1 and BRCA2 defects in the human population are important questions raised by this work.
Interferometric SAR adaptive filtering method for improved yield and detail

This paper presents a family of multiple scale adaptive filters which automatically adapt their impulse response width to the local data characteristics, optimizing the accuracy, yield, and/or detail of interferometric measurements. For interferometric SAR, under the best of conditions, significant filtering is required in order to make reliable phase measurements in topographic mapping and other applications. Typically a filter with fixed impulse response width is applied to the complex interferogram. Yet, interferometric SAR data is extremely variable in terms of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), intrinsic coherence, amount of detail and severity of the relief present in the terrain. The optimum filter width-even the feasible width-can vary from one resolution element to another in areas of high relief or high deformation gradients.
Microfabricated Crevice Former with a Sensor Array

Microfabrication of crevice corrosion samples is of importance in developing an accurate, comprehensive, and reliable crevice corrosion model, and real-time acquisition of corrosion information is also essential. Solid-state microsensor arrays have been used for detecting potential, pH, and ion concentrations, and their integration into crevice corrosion testing samples will provide real-time spatial information of crevice corrosion. The crevice corrosion testing sample is constructed by coupling a crevice former to a crevice substrate and has a uniform crevice gap. In this paper we present a crevice former incorporating a potentiometric, ion- selective membrane microelectrode pH sensor array. The crevice former is built on a silicon wafer using microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) fabrication and thin film semiconductor processing techniques, and consists of an array of five independent sensing microelectrodes. The array configuration allows for in-situ spatial pH analysis of crevice corrosion based on information from each sensor. The fabrication details of the crevice former with microelectrode sensor will be elaborated.
A management approach to total computer productivity at Goddard Space Flight Center

The management of the Mission Operations Computing Facility at the Goddard Space Flight Center established a plan which assured total computer productivity. Furthermore, the plan safeguarded against unwarranted expansion of the Facility consisting of four large-scale digital computers. The elements of the plan are: (a) optimization of the facility, (b) optimization of the present workload, (c) optimization of the new workload, and (d) establishment of continuous communication channels with the users. Throughout the discussion of the plan, it becomes evident that when management provides leadership and operating managers actively and enthusiastically cooperate with professional computer staffs, major economic achievements can result.
Constitutive Modeling of Unsaturated Soils Using Results from Suction Controlled Odometer Tests

Suction-controlled triaxial tests have been widely used to characterize unsaturated soil behavior for the constitutive modelling purpose. This type of tests requires sophisticated and therefore expensive equipment, is time-consuming and unreliable, and cannot be justified for routine engineering projects. In comparison, suction-controlled odometer tests require much simpler testing equipment. Due to the smaller specimen thickness, the time needed for dissipating excess pore water pressure is about 10 times less. However, the stress path of a soil during odometer test is not clear since the lateral stress is unknown. At present, there is no method available to analyze the odometer test results for constitutive modeling purpose. This paper presents an analytical method to use results from odometer tests for constitutive modeling purpose. An example is used to demonstrate the effectiveness and simplicity of the proposed method from which some conclusions are made.
SHA modeling of gold gratings for oblique light incidence

We use spatial harmonic analysis (SHA) to model gold double-strip gratings under obliquely incident light. The simulation results are compared to experimentally measured values and excellent matches are achieved.
InfiniBand performance review: It's the software stupid

The InfiniBand interconnect has received a great deal of attention recently as a result of its use in the Virginia Tech cluster that placed 3rd on the Top500 list. However, InfiniBand hardware and software have been available for over a year and continue to evolve. In addition, InfiniBand is supported by a number of different vendors each of which is seeking to differentiate themselves in the marketplace with slightly different hardware and software offerings. This paper will examine many of the current hardware and software implementations, illustrating their similarities and differences. In addition we will demonstrate the sometimes dramatic effects of the various tuning parameters of the various software implementations.
Solid-Phase Synthesis of Consolidated Ligands Containing an Intramolecular Lactam Bridge: Comparison of Strategies and Tactics

Src homology (SH) domains are building blocks involved in intracellular signal transduction [1]. Previous work has defined and demonstrated consolidated ligands, which combine in the same molecule peptide sequences recognized by SH2 and SH3 domains (i.e., Pro-Val-pTyr-Glu-Asn-Val and Pro-Pro-Ala-Tyr-Pro-Pro-Pro-Pro-Val-Pro, respectively), and exhibit enhanced affinities and specificities towards dual SH(32) Abelson kinase [2,3]. For first-generation consolidated ligands, binding sequences were connected by a flexible linker, e.g., Glyn. With the goal to further improve their efficacies, several second-generation consolidated ligands with a more rigid linker, e.g., Alan, and optionally including an intramolecular lactam bridge “lock”, were designed and synthesized [4]. The present report focuses on the 32-residue structure shown below, which contains an i to i+7 lactam bridge to connect the side-chains of Glu and Lys, with an intervening 5-aminovaleric acid (Ava) as a spacer. Two different solid-phase synthetic strategies were evaluated.
Three-dimensional simulations of low foot and high foot implosion experiments on the National Ignition Facility

In order to achieve the several hundred Gbar stagnation pressures necessary for inertial confinement fusion ignition, implosion experiments on the National Ignition Facility (NIF) [E. I. Moses et al., Phys. Plasmas 16, 041006 (2009)] require the compression of deuterium-tritium fuel layers by a convergence ratio as high as forty. Such high convergence implosions are subject to degradation by a range of perturbations, including the growth of small-scale defects due to hydrodynamic instabilities, as well as longer scale modulations due to radiation flux asymmetries in the enclosing hohlraum. Due to the broad range of scales involved, and also the genuinely three-dimensional (3D) character of the flow, accurately modeling NIF implosions remains at the edge of current simulation capabilities. This paper describes the current state of progress of 3D capsule-only simulations of NIF implosions aimed at accurately describing the performance of specific NIF experiments. Current simulations include the effects of hohlraum radiation asymmetries, capsule surface defects, the capsule support tent and fill tube, and use a grid resolution shown to be converged in companion two-dimensional simulations. The results of detailed simulations of low foot implosions from the National Ignition Campaign are contrasted against results for more recent high foot implosions. While the simulations suggest that low foot performance was dominated by ablation front instability growth, especially the defect seeded by the capsule support tent, high foot implosions appear to be dominated by hohlraum flux asymmetries, although the support tent still plays a significant role. For both implosion types, the simulations show reasonable, though not perfect, agreement with the data and suggest that a reliable predictive capability is developing to guide future implosions toward ignition.
Laboring on the Periphery: Managers and Workers at the A. M. Byers Company, 1900–1956

Although historians have thoroughly discussed the impact of transformations in the workplace and the corporate structure that accompanied the rise of modern business enterprises, Professor Santos argues that they have ignored the traditional firms that continued to exist amid these changes. Constituting a significant portion of companies operating in the industrial economy, firms like Byers employed simple systems of managerial control based on the entrepreneurs' personal authority and property interest in the business. While labor policy at modern corporations was shaped by the managers' need to establish administrative control over the production and distribution systems, Byers's labor policy was defined by family attitude and the company's history.
The Circumcision Debate: Beyond Benefits and Risks.

In 2007, following a flurry of reports describing a benefit of circumcision in the fight against HIV, the American Academy of Pediatrics reconvened the task force on circumcision to update its policy statement of 1999.1 Rather than simply incorporating this new information, the committee chose to start from scratch and rereview the medical literature. The task force’s work culminated in a policy statement published in 2012, the centerpiece of which was the statement that “the health benefits of newborn male circumcision outweigh the risks.”2 This formulation of the debate, “benefits versus risks” rather than “medical necessity,” resulted in wide-ranging ramifications. To many, especially in the lay press, this was interpreted as moving the needle from a neutral stance, as the 1999 guidelines were viewed, to being pro circumcision. It was vigorously criticized by anticircumcision activists, as well as many, primarily European, physicians and medical societies. Difficulties with this approach included the lack of a universally accepted metric to accurately measure or balance the risks and benefits. In particular, there was insufficient information about the actual incidence and … Address correspondence to Andrew L. Freedman, MD, Department of Surgery, Cedars Sinai Medical Center, 8635 West Third St, Ste 1070, Los Angeles, CA 90048. E-mail: andrew.freedman{at}cshs.org
‘Superficial out of profundity’: The branding of customer experiences

SOOP branding — ‘superficial — out of profundity’ — focuses on the seemingly ‘superficial’ world of sensory, affective and creative experiences which have been largely ignored by marketers and brand managers. The approach distinguishes between three types of experiential brands — ‘Sense’, ‘Feel’ and ‘Think’ brands — for which marketers use different types of appeals. SOOP branding thus proposes to treat consumers as living human beings with experiential needs rather than as rational price-driven and attribute-driven information processors.
“No Two Fields Ever Grow Grass the Same Way”: Assessment of Conservation Abilities in the Elderly:

Within the past ten years, standard cognitive assessment procedures, including Piagetian tasks, have often been used with the elderly. The present paper examines several possible difficulties in in...
Mesial Motor Areas in Self-Initiated Versus Externally Triggered Movements Examined With fMRI: Effect of Movement Type and Rate

Mesial motor areas in self-initiated versus externally triggered movements examined with fMRI: effect of movement type and rate. The human frontomesial cortex reportedly contains at least four cort...
A new authentication protocol for an Authentication-as-a-Service (AaaS) cloud using Pedersen commitment scheme

While the Public-Key Infrastructure (PKI) model and digital certificates are existing methods to achieve many security requirements, recent limitations and threats make them vulnerable to serious attacks when used without prior trust. Cloud-based services are being widely adopted to offer desirable services for a growing number of devices in different geographic locations, which opens the door to new security threats. Evolving business models are starting to rely on Clouds to offer services as simple as finding a cab to services as sensitive as sharing health records. As a result, the authenticity of entities communicating through Clouds has become an important requirement, which is the initial step for any secure communication. In this paper, we present an Authentication-as-a-Service (AaaS) Cloud that provides strong mutual authentication among communicating parties. It implements a new authentication protocol we developed using the Pedersen commitment scheme, which involves interaction between communicating parties. It avoids the possibility of hash collisions and the overhead of checking digital certificate validity, valid chain of legitimate CAs, and revocation lists. Also, it prevents replay attacks and man-in-the-middle attacks.
In Situ Study of Evaporation-Induced Surface Structure Evolution in Asymmetric Triblock Terpolymer Membranes

Evaporation-induced asymmetric triblock terpolymer membrane formation from polyisoprene-block-polystyrene-block-poly(4-vinylpyridine) (ISV) that relies on self-assembly of doctor bladed solutions was studied using in situ grazing incidence small-angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS). Transient ordered structures were observed for two ISV terpolymers at intermediate evaporation times in the top surface layers of the films as a function of molar mass and solution concentration. Analysis of the GISAXS patterns revealed the evolution from disordered to ordered structures including a transition from body-centered cubic (BCC) to simple cubic (SC) lattices and finally to an amorphous mesoscale structure. The BCC to SC transition solves an apparent structural puzzle resulting from comparisons of, on one side, earlier quiescent solution SAXS studies suggesting BCC terpolymer micelle structures at higher concentrations and, on the other side, electron microscopy studies consistent with SC lattices originating from polyme...
FDA Total Diet Study, July 1986-April 1991, dietary intakes of pesticides, selected elements, and other chemicals.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration conducts the Total Diet Study to determine dietary intakes of selected pesticides, industrial chemicals, and elements (including radionuclides). This paper reports results for the sampling period July 1986 to April 1991. The study involves retail purchase of foods representative of the ?total diet? of the U.S. population, preparation for ?table-ready? consumption, and individual analyses of 234 items making up the diets of 8 population groups. The diets were based on 2 nationwide food consumption surveys. The data presented represent 21 food collections (also termed ?market baskets?) in regional metropolitan areas during the 5-year period. Dietary intakes of nearly 120 analytes are presented for 8 population groups, which range from infants to elderly adults. Intakes of selected population groups are compared with representative findings from earlier Total Diet Study sampling periods. As reported previously, average daily intakes are well below acceptable limits.
SleepSense: A Noncontact and Cost-Effective Sleep Monitoring System

Quality of sleep is an important indicator of health and well being. Recent developments in the field of in-home sleep monitoring have the potential to enhance a person's sleeping experience and contribute to an overall sense of well being. Existing in-home sleep monitoring devices either fail to provide adequate sleep information or are obtrusive to use. To overcome these obstacles, a noncontact and cost-effective sleep monitoring system, named SleepSense, is proposed for continuous recognition of the sleep status, including on-bed movement, bed exit, and breathing section. SleepSense consists of three parts: a Doppler radar-based sensor, a robust automated radar demodulation module, and a sleep status recognition framework. Herein, several time-domain and frequency-domain features are extracted for the sleep recognition framework. A prototype of SleepSense is presented and evaluated using two sets of experiments. In the short-term controlled experiment, the SleepSense achieves an overall 95.1% accuracy rate in identifying various sleep status. In the 75-minute sleep study, SleepSense demonstrates wide usability in real life. The error rate for breathing rate extraction in this study is only 6.65%. These experimental results indicate that SleepSense is an effective and promising solution for in-home sleep monitoring.
Fox-2A Modulates Protein 4.1R Exon 16 5' Splice Site Activation.

Abstract 778 Erythroid differentiation-induced Fox-2A is an important regulator for the differentiation-specific exon 16 splicing switch in protein 4.1R. Up-regulation of Fox-2A in late erythroid differentiation is critical for inclusion of exon 16, which encodes a portion of the spectrin/actin binding domain vital for maintaining the mechanical stability of red blood cell membranes. Fox-2A exerts its splicing enhancing activity in a motif-dependent manner, binding to UGCAUGs located downstream of exon 16. In this study, we investigated the mechanism by which Fox-2A modulates the expression of exon 16. The excision of introns and the joining of exons depends on the recognition and usage of 59 and 39 splice sites (59 ss and 39 ss, respectively) by the splicing machinery. Exon 16 possesses a relatively strong 39 ss but a weak 59 ss. Mutation of the weak 59 ss (GAGIGTTTGT) to a strong consensus 59 ss (GAGIGTAAGT) led to nearly total exon 16 inclusion. While mutations impairing Fox-2A binding drastically reduced exon 16 inclusion in the presence of the weak 59 ss, no effect on exon 16 inclusion was observed when the strong 59 ss was presented with these mutations. These results suggest that Fox-2A facilitates exon 16 splicing by supporting the weak 59 ss. Early recognition of the 59 ss involves base-pairing interaction with the 59 end of U1 snRNA and stabilization by U1 snRNP. Psoralen-mediated UV cross-linking assays revealed a reduction in U1 snRNA recruitment to the weak 59 ss when Fox-2A binding sites were impaired, suggesting that binding of Fox-2A could promote recruitment and stabilization of U1 snRNP to the weak 59 ss. In support for a role of Fox-2A in modulating the activation of the weak 59 ss by recruiting U1 snRNP, we demonstrated that Fox-2A directly interacts with U1 specific protein U1C in an RNA-independent manner. The C-terminal domain of Fox-2A is responsible for its association with U1C. These data suggest a novel mode for exon 16 59 ss activation in which the binding of Fox-2A to an intronic splicing enhancer element UGCAUG may stabilize the pre-mRNA-U1 snRNP complex through interactions with U1C. These could then result in spliceosome commitment complex formation and exon 16 inclusion. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
Estimating general equilibrium models with stochastic volatility and changing parameters

Abstract This paper explores the importance of specification in estimated general equilibrium models with changing monetary policy parameters and stochastic volatility. Simulated data is used to estimate models with incorrectly specified exogenous shocks (time-varying vs. constant variance) and models misspecifying the way Taylor rule parameters change over time (constant vs. drifting vs. regime-switching). The model correctly identifies some changes in monetary policy parameters, even when misspecified. The inclusion of stochastic volatility greatly improves model fit even when the data is generated using constant variance exogenous shocks; this relationship is stronger in data generated from models with changing policy parameters.
Variation in Timing and Type of Groin Wound Complications Highlights the Need for Uniform Reporting Standards

Abstract Background Groin wound infections represent a substantial source of patients' morbidity and resource utilization. Definitions and reporting times of groin infections are poorly standardized, which limits our understanding of the true scope of the problem and potentially leads to event under-reporting. Our objective was to investigate the timing and variation of groin wound complications after vascular surgery. Methods We reviewed all patients who underwent vascular surgery with a groin incision at our institution during 2013 (N = 256; 32% female; mean age, 68.8 years). We analyzed patient- and procedure-level variables. Our primary outcome was any groin complication within 180 days. We classified groin-related events as major (hospital readmission or reoperation for groin wound) or minor (wound opened in clinic, initiation of antibiotics specifically for a groin wound, or new groin hematoma or wound drainage). Results The Kaplan-Meier estimated rate of groin complications at 180 days was 23% (n = 53/256); 29 (54%) were major and 24 (46%) were minor. The Kaplan-Meier 30-day event rate was 13% for any complication and only 3% for major complications, indicating that most events occurring within the first 30 days did not require readmission or reoperation. By 180 days, the overall complication rate rose to 23% and the major event rate to 14%, indicating that nearly all complications occurring after 30 days required readmission or reoperation. Those with a groin complication more commonly had tissue loss (23% vs 12%; P = .05), underwent infrainguinal bypass (42% vs 22%; P=.004), had a redo incision (32% vs 18%; P = .03), and had a longer operation (77% vs 65% surgery >200 minutes; P = .07). There were no significant differences in patients' comorbidities, skin closure, dressing type, prosthetic implants, hemostatic agents, or discharge status. Conclusions Whereas >20% of patients suffered a groin complication, nearly half of these events occurred after 30 days. Standardized reporting measures limited to 30-day events or infection definitions that are limited to the need for antibiotic use may misrepresent the true infection rate and thus highlight the need for uniform reporting standards.
Chapter 4 - Neurocardiology

Neurocardiology refers to the interplay between the nervous system and the cardiovascular system. Stress-related cardiomyopathy exemplifies the brain–heart connection and occurs in several conditions with acute brain injury that share oversympathetic activation. The brain's influences on the heart can include elevated cardiac markers, arrhythmias, repolarization abnormalities on electrocardiogram, myocardial necrosis, and autonomic dysfunction. The neurogenic stunned myocardium in aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage represents one end of the spectrum, and is associated with an explosive rise in intracranial pressure that results in excess catecholamine state and possibly CBN. A brain–heart link is more known to cardiologists than neurologists. This chapter provides some insight into the pathophysiology of these pathologic neurocardiac states and their most appropriate management relevant to neurologists.
Reaction of Amines with Aldehydes and Ketones Revisited: Access To a Class of Non-Scorpionate Tris(pyrazolyl)methane and Related Ligands

The reaction of amines with aldehydes and ketones has been exploited for over 150 years to produce Schiff bases, one of the most popular classes of compounds in both organic and coordination chemistry. In certain cases, however, compounds other than Schiff bases have been reported to result from such reactions. After conducting a representative reaction under various different conditions and identifying several reaction intermediates by NMR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry and X-ray crystallography, we now report a unified picture that explains the scattered and often inconsistent results obtained with 3(5)-aminopyrazole derivatives and other related molecules. Acid catalysis, which is often employed in Schiff base synthesis, radically changes the course of reaction and leads to bis(pyrazol-4-yl)methane derivatives instead of the expected Schiff base products. The stoichiometry of the reaction is also found to be crucial for obtaining quantitative conversions. A total of 31 new compounds have been isolated...
Collective Approach to Advancing C-H Functionalization.

C–H functionalization is a very active research field that has attracted the interest of scientists from many disciplines. This Outlook describes the collaborative efforts within the NSF CCI Center for Selective C–H Functionalization (CCHF) to develop catalyst-controlled selective methods to enhance the synthetic potential of C–H functionalization.
An End-to-End Dynamic Trust Framework for Service-Oriented Architecture

Service-oriented architecture (SOA) is an architectural paradigm that advocates composition of loosely-coupled services in order to construct more complex applications. The agility and complexity of modern web services on one hand and the arbitrary interconnections among them on the other hand, make it difficult to maintain a sustainable trustworthiness in long-running SOA-based applications. Moreover, the chain of participating services in a specific SOA invocation may not be visible to the service consumers, which leads to a lack of accountability. To address these challenges in SOA, we propose the following contributions. First, we design a new dynamic and flexible trust model based on graph abstraction that uses multiple trust strategies to calculate trust across SOA. This trust model keeps track of three trust metrics: individual service trust, session trust, and composite trust. We further design a trust engine component that implements the proposed trust model and that continuously maintains the quantitative end-to-end trust based on processing actual execution of services. Second, to prove the practicality and usefulness of the proposed framework, we have implemented an adaptive and secure service composition engine (ASSC) which takes advantage of an efficient algorithm to generate service compositions with near-optimal trustworthiness under predefined QoS constraints. Finally, we have developed a tool that is able to automatically deploy SOA testbeds from arbitrary directed acyclic graphs (created in the GUI). This tool enables the researcher to study the dynamics of new trust algorithms and strategies under different scenarios (e.g., arbitrary SOA topologies and attacks). We have extensively studied the effectiveness and performance of the proposed solutions using testbeds in the Amazon EC2 cloud.
Nested Plant/Controller Co-Design Using G-Optimal Design and Extremum Seeking: Theoretical Framework and Application to an Airborne Wind Energy System

Abstract This paper presents a unique nested optimization framework for the co-design of a physical system (plant) and controller, which leverages optimal Design of Experiments (DoE) techniques for the plant optimization and extremum seeking for the control system optimization. At each iteration of the optimization, candidate plant parameters are generated by using G-optimal DoE. Unlike gradient-based approaches, the use of optimal DoE enables efficient global exploration of a plant design space that can contain multiple local optima. For each candidate plant design, the corresponding controller optimization is performed in real time, using extremum seeking. This enables the real-time adjustment of controller parameters during the course of simulations or experiments, thereby expediting the overall optimization process. The co-design process is carried out iteratively, where sub-optimal plant designs are rejected based on a response surface characterization and hypothesis testing. The co-design framework was validated in simulation for a Buoyant Airborne Turbine (BAT). Here, the optimized plant parameters were a reference area scale factor (scales the horizontal and vertical stabilizer areas uniformly) and center of mass location, whereas the optimized control parameter was the pitch angle setpoint. After four complete iterations, the flight performance index improved and the feasible plant design space (i.e., the locus of plant design parameters that could possibly be optimal, based on hypothesis testing) shrunk by 99%.
Experimental results and temporal surrogate modeling of particulate organic carbon released during interrill erosion

Abstract Despite its temporal nature, the release of particulate organic carbon from soils during interrill erosion lacks high resolution description via experimental datasets and has not been analyzed and predicted with time series approaches that might be adopted research and application. Hence, current research approaches have produced limited success to describe the interrill process that temporally flushes particulate organic carbon off of landscapes and into waterways. Therefore, the goals of this work included three-fold innovative components and was to (i) perform rain simulation experiments and collect a comprehensive particulate organic carbon erosion dataset during erosion; (ii) utilize the dataset to describe particulate organic carbon release as a function of governing transport variables using a multivariate autoregressive model, which is argued as a versatile tool for description of temporal erosion and inclusion within predictive modeling structure; and (iii) to apply a laboratory-based surrogate approach to predict erosion release, in absence of rainfall simulation data, that is coupled with the temporal modeling methodology. Data from the rainfall simulation experiments was collected on agricultural field sites from soils of different textures, including silt and silt loam soils, and with a variety of tillage systems. The experimental datasets reflected both the initial non-equilibrium detachment process followed by near-equilibrium detachment later in the simulations associated with aggregate structure and fluid energy, with the more aggressive tillage systems exhibiting less time to reaching equilibrium. Thereafter runoff and fine sized soil particle release was utilized as predictive variables within autoregressive temporal modeling of the carbon detachment process. The applied variables predicted carbon release well (i.e. 95% of the carbon loss was predicted) and notably both the non-equilibrium and equilibrium phases of erosion was predicted. The surrogate approach was then applied by replacing the variable indicating soil release with a time series of fine soil released during laboratory slaking. Findings show that the temporal stability of the surrogate variables could describe the non-equilibrium and equilibrium detachment for the different soil types and tillage systems. The state space coupled with the surrogate approach proved to be an important and promissory tool to explain the particulate organic carbon release interrill erosion, even in absence of predictive data.
Microwave Heating Applications in Thermochemical Biomass Conversion

A microwave system was designed and built which was capable of heating a fluidized bed reactor to elevated temperatures. High temperature heating was achieved through proper microwave network design and selection of fluidized bed material which had the best microwave energy conversion efficiency. The transmission network components were designed so as to minimize reflective power losses with a three stub tuner assembly capable of achieving high transmission efficiencies. Pyrolysis of euphorbia lathyris feedstock at 1060 K and calcination of cobalt/alumina catalyst at 750 K were tested as system applications. Preliminary results of microwave heating indicated that pyrolysis and calcination was feasible. High heating rates, exceeding 17 K/min, were achieved during pyrolysis runs which reduced start-up time to 1 hr from 4–6 hrs normally required for conventional heating using a pyrolyzer-combustor configuration. Although lower microwave heating rates were obtained for calcination, it was demonstrated that elevated temperatures could be maintained during calcination.
Relationship Between Private Religious Activity and Physical Functioning in Older Adults

This study sought to further understand the relationship between physical functioning and use of private religious activity in older adults. Subjects were age 65 or older from urban and rural counties in North Carolina who participated in the Duke University Established Populations for Epidemiologic Studies of the Elderly (Duke/EPESE). A total of 3,851 subjects responded to a question that inquired about their use of prayer, meditation, or Bible reading in 1986. Their response was correlated to number of impairments in activities of daily living (ADLs) (n = 3,791). Subjects who indicated use of private religious activity either dailyor neverhad the greatest number of impairments. Those who prayed or meditated one time per weekhad the least number of impairments. This cross-sectional finding is explained in terms of both changes in private religious activity in response to increasing physical disability and changes in physical disability in response to private religious activity. Previous research has found that prayer is often used as an effective coping mechanism with various sicknesses and chronic conditions. Further studies are needed to examine older individuals' health over time and evaluate their use of private religious activity to see its impact over time on physical disability.
Disparities in Self-reported Access to Patient-centered Medical Home Care for Children With Special Health Care Needs.

Background:Efforts to transform primary care have been underway for over a decade. Yet, we lack understanding of the progress made in scaling up this care model nationwide and on whether patient-centered medical home (PCMH) has benefited every group of children with special health care needs (CSHCNs
It’s Bigger Than Hip-Hop: Sampling and the Emergence of the Market Enhancement Model in Fair Use Case Law:

“Sampling” copyrighted works to create new expression has a rich history in creative culture, particularly in hip-hop music, a genre that values revision and recontextualization. However, courts ar...
Water-soluble cranberry extract inhibits Vibrio cholerae biofilm formation possibly through modulating the second messenger 3', 5' - Cyclic diguanylate level

Quorum sensing (QS) and nucleotide-based second messengers are vital signaling systems that regulate bacterial physiology in response to changing environments. Disrupting bacterial signal transduction is a promising direction to combat infectious diseases, and QS and the second messengers are undoubtedly potential targets. In Vibrio cholerae, both QS and the second messenger 3’, 5’—cyclic diguanylate (c-di-GMP) play a central role in controlling motility, motile-to-sessile life transition, and virulence. In this study, we found that water-soluble extract from the North American cranberry could significantly inhibit V. cholerae biofilm formation during the development/maturation stage by reducing the biofilm matrix production and secretion. The anti-biofilm effect by water-soluble cranberry extract was possibly through modulating the intracellular c-di-GMP level and was independent of QS and the QS master regulator HapR. Our results suggest an opportunity to explore more functional foods to fight stubborn infections through interference with the bacterial signaling systems.
Drogon, the Thermal-Sensing Drone: Exploring Aerial Imagery as a Tool for Citizen Science Research

New developments in low-cost and widely accessible drones have the potential to radically transform the existing mechanisms for citizen science data collection, scientific analysis of the gathered information, and the broader impacts of drone-based projects on science activism. In this paper, we present Drogon, a thermal-sensing drone, which was used in an initial data gathering and co-design workshop with a group of conservation researchers, policy makers, and citizen scientist volunteers. Our findings reveal three concrete directions for future thermal drone-based citizen science projects. In addition, we reflect on higher-level design opportunities and challenges for working with drones in a citizen science context, including systems for expertise sharing amongst citizen scientists and platforms for collecting, analyzing and sharing drone-based data.