cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Use of Mobile Devices to Access Resources Among Health Professions Students: A Systematic Review

This systematic review examines types of mobile devices used by health professions students, kinds of resources and tools accessed via mobile devices, and reasons for using the devices to access the resources and tools. The review included 20 studies selected from articles published in English between January 2010 and April 2015, retrieved from PubMed and other sources. Data extracted included participants, study designs, mobile devices used, mobile resources/apps accessed, outcome measures, and advantages of and barriers to using mobile devices. The review indicates significant variability across the studies in terms of research methods, types of mobile programs implemented, resources accessed, and outcomes. There were beneficial effects of using mobile devices to access resources as well as conspicuous challenges or barriers in using mobile devices.
Justice Kennedy's Stricter Scrutiny and the Future of Racial Diversity Promotion

More than half a century after Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court is closely and bitterly divided about the meaning of that decision, and about the meaning of the Equal Protection Clause to which it appealed. The first major decision of the Roberts Court, Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School Dist. No. 1, took a small step away from a constitutional vision that permits racial discrimination by the government whenever courts believe that the effects on society will be salutary.With respect to non-remedial affirmative discrimination, remarkably little has changed since the Bakke decision in 1978.At that time four members of the Court would have allowed the government virtually unfettered discretion to practice what they regarded as benign forms of racial discrimination. Three decades later, four members of the Court take essentially the same position, and will clearly not be deterred by any of the contrary precedents that have built up during that period.In 1978, four Justices read the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to forbid racial discrimination without regard to the motive for the challenged policy. Today, four members of the Court would give the Fourteenth Amendment (and perhaps also the Civil Rights Act) a roughly similar interpretation, though it is not clear how far they would go in challenging existing precedent.In 1978, Justice Powell's middle position was that racial discrimination practiced for judicially approved diversity purposes is permissible, but that care must be taken to limit its reach and obscure the identity of its victims. Today's swing Justice has expressly endorsed Powell's legal formula, although Kennedy's application of this approach seems less latitudinarian than the one suggested in Powell's Bakke opinion.How much longer will this equilibrium remain stable? We seem to be one vote away from significant progress toward a relatively robust enforcement of antidiscrimination principles. We are also but one vote away from the opposite approach, which would endorse virtually any kind of discriminatory laws that a court believes were "enacted in good faith for the promotion of the public good, and not for the annoyance or oppression of a particular class." It is hard to believe that the Court won't shift in one direction or the other fairly soon. But one might have said the same thing in 1978.
Relationship between myosin phosphorylation and contractile capability of canine airway smooth muscle

To better understand excitation-contraction coupling in smooth muscle, myosin phosphorylation and force-velocity properties of canine tracheal muscle were compared during the rise and early plateau of force in electrically stimulated tetani. Velocity reached a peak of approximately 1.5 times plateau value when force had risen to approximately 45% of its maximum value and then declined progressively. Except early in the tetanus, when phosphorylation rose rapidly, maximum power and phosphorylation had nearly parallel time courses, reaching peaks of 1.2-1.3 times reference at 6-8 s before declining to the plateau level at approximately 12 s. Force, velocity, maximum power, and phosphorylation fell somewhat during the plateau, with the closest correlation between phosphorylation and power. These results suggest that 1) early velocity slowing is not associated with light chain dephosphorylation and 2) maximum power, which we use to signal changes in activation, is closely correlated with the degree of light chain phosphorylation, at least when phosphorylation level is not changing rapidly. Dissociation of these two properties would be expected early in the tetanus if phosphorylation precedes mechanical activity.
Scale Effects in Invention? Evidence from Urban Areas in the U.S.

Creative and inventive individuals are the principal inputs for the generation of ideas which ought to imply the presence of a strong “scale effects” in the production of new ideas. Identifying the relationship between population size and idea generation is difficult at the level of national economies due to the many confounding factors. This paper is motivated by the question of whether there are scale effects in the production of new ideas in urban economies. Patenting activity is a privileged data source as both the production of ideas and who the producers are can be tracked with very high precision. The very high levels of economic, social, institutional, political and cultural integration among the urban areas of the United States provide the conditions to investigate whether there is positive a feedback loop between population and ideas. The evidence presented indicates that both the level and growth rate of urban patents are positively affected by the size of the inventive labor force but the effect is less than proportional (in the case of initial number of inventors) or proportional (when measuring the effect of growth of inventors). The story of urban patenting one of scale effects but without increasing returns. What we know about how patenting gets done, and who does it, provide the micro foundations for the results presented here.
The Relationship Between Sex Role Stereotypes And Requisite Management Characteristics Revisited

The relationship between sex role stereotypes and perceived requisite management characteristics among men and women who were managers was examined and compared with the results of studies of manag...
Chaetophlepsis plathypenae, a New Parasite of the Green Cloverworm, with a Key to Chaetophlepsis and Parahypochaeta (Diptera, Tachinidae)

Chaetophlepsis plathypenae , new species and parasite oi the green cloverworm, is described and included in a revised key. Notes are given on immature stages, hosts of the genus, and variation in taxonomic characters. Study of the type of Parahypochaeta heteroneura, described in 1891 from “North America” but hitherto unrecognized, revealed that it is probably Neotropical. Neocampylochaeta Townsend is a new synonym of Parahypochaeta .
Monitoring processivity and length control of a carbohydrate polymerase

Carbohydrate polymerases are abundant in nature. Although they play vital physiological roles, the molecular mechanisms that they use for the controlled assembly of polymers are largely unknown. One fundamental issue is whether an enzyme utilizes a processive or distributive mechanism for chain elongation. The shortage of mechanistic information on polysaccharide-generating glycosyltransferases became apparent when we sought to carry out investigations of GlfT2, a glycosyltransferase essential for cell wall biosynthesis in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. GlfT2 catalyzes the formation of the cell wall galactan, which is a linear polysaccharide consisting of 20-40 repeating d-galactofuranose (Galf) residues. Recombinant GlfT2 can act on synthetic acceptors to produce polymers with lengths similar to those of endogenous galactan, indicating that GlfT2 has an intrinsic ability to control polymer length. To address whether GlfT2 utilizes a processive or distributive mechanism, we developed a mass spectrometry assay. Our approach, which relies on acceptors labeled with stable isotopes, provides direct evidence that GlfT2 is a processive polymerase that maintains contact with the glycan substrate through successive monomer additions. Given this finding, we probed further the catalytic mechanism of GlfT2 to address the basis of an observed kinetic lag phase. These studies suggest that GlfT2 possesses subsites for Galf residue binding and that substrates that can fill these subsites undergo efficient processive polymerization. The presence of these subsites and the kinetic lag phase are common features of processive enzymes. We anticipate that the strategies described herein can be applied to mechanistic studies of other carbohydrate polymerization reactions.
Modeling Market and Regulatory Mechanisms for Pollution Abatement with Sharp and Random Variables

This dissertation is motivated by the problem of uncertainty and sensitivity in businessclass models such as the carbon emission abatement policy model featured in this work. Uncertain model inputs are represented by numerical random variables and a computational methodology is developed to numerically compute business-class models as if sharp inputs were given. A new description for correlation of random variables is presented that arises spontaneously within a numerical model. Methods of numerically computing correlated random variables are implemented in software and represented. The major contribution of this work is a methodology for the numerical computation of models under uncertainty that expresses no preference for unlikelihood of model input combinations. The methodology presented here serves a sharp contrast to traditional Monte Carlo methods that implicitly equate likelihood of model input values with importance of results. The new methodology herein shifts the computational burden from likelihood of inputs to resolution of input space.
Efficient Tag Search in Large RFID Systems

This chapter introduces the tag search problem in large RFID systems. A new technique called filtering vector is designed to reduce the transmission overhead during search process, thereby improving the time efficiency. Based on this technique, we present an iterative tag search protocol. Some tags are filtered out in each round and the search process will eventually terminate when the result meets a given accuracy requirement. Moreover, the protocol is extended to work under noisy channel. The simulation results demonstrate that our protocol performs much better than the best existing work.
DNA Nanoclews for Stimuli-Responsive Anticancer Drug Delivery

The technique of rolling circle amplification (RCA) emerged recently as a robust tool to generate the regularly patterned DNA structures in addition to its long-recognized ability of amplifying biological signals. Here, we demonstrate the strategy of RCA-driven generation of nano-scaled cocoon-like DNA particles, designated as DNA nanoclews, for loading and delivering a small molecule anticancer drug. The characteristic biodegradability of DNA was harnessed to control the timing and location of drug release by utilizing a polymeric nanogel encapsulating DNA-degrading enzyme DNase I. This smart drug delivery system based on RCA amplicons could get internalized into targeted cells and release the cargo using the endosomal acidity as a trigger.
Organizational Purchasing Analysis for Sales Management

The research reported in this paper investigates how the relative importance of rational buying criteria changes under different “uncertainty buying situations. A sample of eighty organizational bu...
Sex Differences in Radiologist Salary in U.S. Public Medical Schools.

OBJECTIVE. The purpose of this study was to evaluate salary differences between male and female academic radiologists at U.S. medical schools. MATERIALS AND METHODS. Laws in several U.S. states mandate public release of government records, including salary information of state employees. From online salary data published by 12 states, we extracted the salaries of all academic radiologists at 24 public medical schools during 2011–2013 (n = 573 radiologists). In this institutional review board–approved cross-sectional study, we linked these data to a physician database with information on physician sex, age, faculty rank, years since residency, clinical trial involvement, National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding, scientific publications, and clinical volume measured by 2013 Medicare payments. Sex difference in salary, the primary outcome, was estimated using a multilevel logistic regression adjusting for these factors. RESULTS. Among 573 academic radiologists, 171 (29.8%) were women. Female radiologists ...
Places to Go: Connexions

A blog post is, of course, a much simpler entity to create than a learning object. But aside from this internal complexity, there is a remarkable similarity between the creation of blog posts and the creation of learning objects. Each is intended to be a minimal unit of content, a part of a larger whole, and to be shared and repurposed by aggregators, other writers, and eventually, readers or students.
Gigahertz speed operation of epsilon-near-zero silicon photonic modulators

Optical communication systems increasingly require electro-optical modulators that deliver high modulation speeds across a large optical bandwidth with a small device footprint and a CMOS-compatible fabrication process. Although silicon photonic modulators based on transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) have shown promise for delivering on these requirements, modulation speeds to date have been limited. Here, we describe the design, fabrication, and performance of a fast, compact electroabsorption modulator based on TCOs. The modulator works by using bias voltage to increase the carrier density in the conducting oxide, which changes the permittivity and hence optical attenuation by almost 10 dB. Under bias, light is tightly confined to the conducting oxide layer through nonresonant epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) effects, which enable modulation over a broad range of wavelengths in the telecommunications band. Our approach features simple integration with passive silicon waveguides, the use of stable inorganic materials, and the ability to modulate both transverse electric and magnetic polarizations with the same device design. Using a 4-μm-long modulator and a drive voltage of 2 Vpp, we demonstrate digital modulation at rates of 2.5 Gb/s. We report broadband operation with a 6.5 dB extinction ratio across the 1530–1590 nm band and a 10 dB insertion loss. This work verifies that high-speed ENZ devices can be created using conducting oxide materials and paves the way for additional technology development that could have a broad impact on future optical communications systems.
Ultraviolet integrated photonics (Conference Presentation)

Quantum information processing relies on the fundamental property of quantum interference, where the quality of the interference directly correlates to the indistinguishability of the interacting particles. The creation of these indistinguishable particles, photons in this case, has conventionally been accomplished with nonlinear crystals and optical filters to remove spectral distinguishability, albeit sacrificing the number of photons. This research describes the use of an integrated aluminum nitride microring resonator circuit to selectively generate photon pairs at the narrow cavity transmissions, thereby producing spectrally indistinguishable photons in the ultraviolet regime to interact with trapped ion quantum memories. The spectral characteristics of these photons must be carefully controlled for two reasons: (i) interference quality depends on the spectral indistinguishability, and (ii) the wavelength must be strictly controlled to interact with atomic transitions. The specific ion of interest for these trapped ion quantum memories is Ytterbium which has a transition at 369.5 nm with 12.5 GHz offset levels. Ytterbium ions serve as very long lived and stable quantum memories with storage times on the order of 10’s of minutes, compared with photonic quantum memories which are limited to 10-6 to 10-3 seconds. The combination of the long lived atomic memory, integrated photonic circuitry, and the photonic quantum bits are necessary to produce the first quantum information processors. In this article, I will present results on wavelength operation, dispersion analysis, and second harmonic generation in aluminum nitride waveguides.
Insulin Dependence Is Associated With Increased Risk of Complications After Upper Extremity Surgery in Diabetic Patients.

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is associated with the development of carpal tunnel syndrome, Dupuytren disease, trigger digits, and limited joint mobility. Despite descriptions of poorer response to nonsurgical treatment, previous studies have not shown increased complication rates in diabetic patients after hand surgery. Few studies, however, differentiate between insulin-dependent (IDDM) and non–insulin-dependent (NIDDM) diabetes mellitus. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of insulin dependence on the postoperative risk profile of diabetic patients after hand surgery using a national database. Materials and methods The data were obtained through the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) database. Patients undergoing surgery from the distal humerus to the hand, between 2005 and 2015, were identified using 297 distinct Current Procedural Terminology codes. Thirty-day postoperative complications were collected and categorized into medical complications, surgical site complications, and readmission. Surgical complications, medical complications, and readmissions were compared between patients with NIDDM or IDDM to those without DM using multivariable logistic regression, adjusting for baseline patient and operative characteristics. Results The study cohort included 52,727 patients. Patients with IDDM had a 5.7% overall complication rate compared with 2.3% and 1.5% in NIDDM and nondiabetic patients, respectively. After controlling for differences in patient and surgical characteristics, patients with IDDM had a statistically significant increased rate of any complication, surgical site complications, superficial surgical site infections, and readmission. There was no significant difference in complication rates between patients with NIDDM and nondiabetic patients. Conclusions Our data demonstrate a greater risk of complications following hand and upper extremity surgery for patients with IDDM, specifically surgical site infections. The NIDDM patients did not have an increased rate of complications relative to nondiabetic patients. These findings are important for patient risk stratification and may guide further investigation to decrease complication rates in IDDM patients after upper extremity surgery. Type of study/level of evidence Prognostic II.
Geochemistry and Biochemistry: Insights into the Fate and Transport of Pt-Based Chemotherapy Drugs

Though some heavy metals, such as Pt, are considered toxic to humans, their toxic effects can be positively leveraged to treat diseases such as cancer. The use of Pt-based chemotherapies is, unfortunately, linked to severe side effects some occurring many years after treatment (late effects). Through the lens of geochemistry, it is possible to assess these late effects and associated biochemical interactions with other metals. This approach also presents a potential intervention/detection strategy for early detection and possible prevention of late effects.
Knockout of the gene encoding the extracellular matrix protein Sned1 results in craniofacial malformations and early neonatal lethality

The extracellular matrix (ECM) is a fundamental component of multicellular organisms that orchestrates developmental processes and controls cell and tissue organization. Mutations in ECM genes or changes in ECM composition, architecture or abundance have been shown to cause or accompany a plethora of diseases including fibrosis, renal, skeletal and vascular diseases and cancers. We previously identified the ECM protein SNED1 in a proteomic screen comparing the ECM of highly and poorly metastatic human mammary tumor xenografts. We further showed that SNED1 promoted breast cancer metastasis and that its level of expression correlated with survival of breast cancer patients. Here we sought to identify the roles of Sned1 during murine development and physiology. Employing a gene-trap strategy or the introduction of a frameshift mutation, we generated two novel Sned1 knockout mouse strains. Using these models, we showed that Sned1 is essential since homozygous ablation of the gene led to early neonatal lethality. Sned1 is widely expressed in embryos, notably in somitic sclerotomes and neural-crest derivatives. Phenotypic analysis of the few surviving knockout mice obtained revealed a role for Sned1 in the development of the skeleton and neural-crest-derived craniofacial structures since Sned1 knockout resulted in growth defects, nasal cavity occlusion, and craniofacial malformations. Altogether our results demonstrate the requisite role for Sned1 during development and neonatal survival.
Form and Function in Greek Grammar : Linguistic Contributions to the Study of Greek Literature

Albert Rijksbaron is internationally known as one of the leading scholars of the Ancient Greek language, whose work has exerted a strong and lasting influence on the scholarly debate concerning many aspects of Greek linguistics. This volume brings together twenty of his papers, two of which have been translated into English and some which are not easily accessible elsewhere. The selection represents the full range of Rijksbaron’s research, including papers on central topics in Greek linguistics such as tense-aspect, mood, voice, particles, negation, the article, questions, discourse analysis, as well as on the views of ancient grammarians and modern commentators. As a whole, the volume shows how much linguistic analysis can contribute to our understanding of Greek literary texts.
ZVS Turn-on Triangular Current Mode (TCM) Control for Three Phase 2-Level Inverters with Reactive Power Control

Critical conduction mode (CRM)/ Triangular current mode (TCM) control with ZVS turn-on for single phase inverters has led to significant improvement in efficiency at high switching frequencies (>300 kHz). The need to push power converters to high switching frequencies comes from the drive to achieve higher power density as high frequency operation leads to a significant decrease in filter volume which consumes most of the space in power converter systems. With recent advancements in wide bandgap devices' technology, it is possible to operate at high switching frequencies with very low turn-off losses ( 40 W for the above specified operating conditions). Thus, making it necessary to operate the inverter with zero voltage switching (ZVS) turn-on. ZVS turn-on with TCM control for three phase boost PFC has been recently presented, it is shown in this paper how this method can be extended to inverters. However, this new control scheme cannot be just limited to unity power factor operation and reactive power control becomes all the more necessary for inverters as the grid can have reactive loads or reactive power requirements. TCM control with ZVS turn-on in inverter mode for full range of power factor is presented in this paper. It is also shown that even with higher ripple, TCM maintains similar efficiency at 1 MHz as CCM in 50 KHz while achieving 3× power density.
The controls of eating: brain meanings of food stimuli.

Eating is a simple behavior with complex functions. Eating not only serves metabolism, nutrition, and energy balance, but it is also used for individual psychological needs and to satisfy social imperatives of culture, ethnicity, and religion. This chapter uses the results from experiments in the rat to trace the recent progress in understanding eating. This progress includes new information about the central pattern generator for the rhythmic movements of eating, the recognition that the meal is the functional unit of analysis, and a new classification of the controls of eating based on pre-absorptive receptors in the gastrointestinal mucosa from the tip of the tongue to the end of the small intestine, visceral afferent feedbacks, and reciprocal connections between the forebrain and hindbrain. The chapter ends with a discussion of three prominent conscious experiences of eating-pleasure, fullness, and tranquilization. The complete ignorance about how these experiences relate to the activity of the central neural networks that control eating reminds of the deep problem of the relationships among brain, mind, and behavior that lurks under the surface of eating behavior.
An Artificial Neural Network as a Tool for the Inversion of Ultrasonic Dispersion Data for Material Characterization

In this paper, efforts on the inversion of the ultrasonic oblique incidence data to obtain the stiffness constants of orthotropic symmetry material systems such as fiber reinforced composites will be discussed. Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and Hybrid Neural Net/Fuzzy Logic Architectures [1] were used in this effort and the performance will be compared to more traditional methods. This paper seeks to solve these inverse problems in a more general fashion using Artificial Neural Networks (ANN). The acoustical data domains used was the plate wave dispersion curves for unidirectional graphite epoxy composite laminate.
Epidemiology of diabetes mellitus

Abstract Diabetes mellitus is a complex metabolic disorder with distinct subtypes related to differing underlying causes for the hyperglycemia which is the hallmark of the disease. Type 1 diabetes is caused by an autoimmune-mediated destruction of pancreatic beta cells resulting in the absence of insulin, a key hormone regulating blood glucose. Other types of diabetes may feature resistance to the action of insulin and/or insulin deficiency. Approximately 5% of all diabetes is type 1, 90% type 2, and 5% other subtypes. The incidence and prevalence of diabetes has been increasing across the world over the past 30 years. While genetic predisposition to T1DM and T2DM is important risk factors for an individual, on the societal level the increasing prevalence of diabetes is likely linked to the global obesity epidemic and demographic shifts toward older populations. Disordered glucose metabolism causes direct metabolic complications including diabetic ketoacidosis, hyperosmolar syndrome, and treatment with oral drugs or insulin can cause hypoglycemia. Diabetes also causes complications in many tissues and organs including the nerves, eyes, kidneys, and the cardiovascular system. People with diabetes have an increased risk of death, primarily from cardiovascular diseases, compared to similarly aged nondiabetic persons.
Navigation for Legged Mobility: Dynamic Climbing

Autonomous navigation through unstructured terrains has been most effectively demonstrated by animals, who utilize a large set of locomotive styles to move through their native habitats. While legged robots have recently demonstrated several of these locomotion modalities (such as walking, running, jumping, and climbing vertical walls), motion planners have yet to be able to leverage these unique mobility characteristics. In this article, we outline some of the specific motion planning challenges faced when attempting to plan for legged systems with dynamic gaits, with specific instances of these demonstrated by the dynamic climbing platform TAILS. Using a unique implementation of sampling-based model predictive optimization, we demonstrate the ability to motion plan around obstacles on vertical walls and experimentally demonstrate this on TAILS by navigating through traditionally difficult narrow gap problems.
Dark Matter: Uncovering the DarkComet RAT Ecosystem

Remote Access Trojans (RATs) are a persistent class of malware that give an attacker direct, interactive access to a victim’s personal computer, allowing the attacker to steal private data, spy on the victim in real-time using the camera and microphone, and verbally harass the victim through the speaker. To date, the users and victims of this pernicious form of malware have been challenging to observe in the wild due to the unobtrusive nature of infections. In this work, we report the results of a longitudinal study of the DarkComet RAT ecosystem. Using a known method for collecting victim log databases from DarkComet controllers, we present novel techniques for tracking RAT controllers across hostname changes and improve on established techniques for filtering spurious victim records caused by scanners and sandboxed malware executions. We downloaded 6,620 DarkComet databases from 1,029 unique controllers spanning over 5 years of operation. Our analysis shows that there have been at least 57,805 victims of DarkComet over this period, with 69 new victims infected every day; many of whose keystrokes have been captured, actions recorded, and webcams monitored during this time. Our methodologies for more precisely identifying campaigns and victims could potentially be useful for improving the efficiency and efficacy of victim cleanup efforts and prioritization of law enforcement investigations.
Children dependent on respiratory support: A 10-year review from one pediatric postacute care hospital.

OBJECTIVE Pediatric postacute care hospitals (PACH) provide long-term care for children with medical complexity including children dependent on respiratory support. Descriptions of PACH respiratory care populations and outcomes, however, remain under-reported. Our aim was to describe demographics, respiratory outcome, and longitudinal trend of children with respiratory support admitted to a single PACH in the United States. METHODS Using electronic records from 2009 to 2018, data were examined for all children dependent on respiratory support. Children were identified for inclusion using respiratory level of care classifications (type of support) as outlined in hospital policy. Outcome was defined as change in level from first admission to final discharge. Number of admissions by level and year during the study timeframe were analyzed. RESULTS There were 1423 admissions for 767 children requiring respiratory support during the study timeframe. Children with higher respiratory classification level (eg, mechanical ventilation) at initial admission had more admissions to PACH (P < .001) and longer length of stays (P < .001). From first admission to final discharge, there was a significant change (reduction) in respiratory level (z = -4.588, P < .001). An increase in the overall number of admissions for children with respiratory support during the study timeframe was noted, with the largest increase for children requiring the highest level of support. CONCLUSION There has been a consistent increase in the number of children requiring respiratory support at admission to PACH. Reduction in respiratory support with postacute care occurs but children admitted with a higher level of support stay longer and experience multiple admissions.
Trends and Challenges of Telehealth in an Academic Institution: The Unforeseen Benefits of the COVID-19 Global Pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated a reorganization of healthcare delivery, shedding light on many unrealized advantages telehealth has to offer. Besides facilitating social distancing, minimizing the risk of pathogen exposure, and preserving healthcare resources, there are many benefits of utilizing this platform that can extend beyond the current pandemic, which will change to the way health care is delivered for generations to come. With the rapid expansion of telehealth, we present data from our high-volume academic institution's telehealth efforts, with a more focused analysis of Plastic Surgery. Although state legislation regarding telehealth varies greatly, we discuss challenges such as legal issues, logistical constraints, privacy concerns and billing. We also discuss various advantages and the future direction of telehealth not only for Plastic Surgery, but also its general use for the future of medicine in the United States.
Creation of a Mixed-Mode Fracture Network at Mesoscale Through Hydraulic Fracturing and Shear Stimulation

Author(s): Schoenball, M; Ajo-Franklin, JB; Blankenship, D; Chai, C; Chakravarty, A; Dobson, P; Hopp, C; Kneafsey, T; Knox, HA; Maceira, M; Robertson, MC; Sprinkle, P; Strickland, C; Templeton, D; Schwering, PC; Ulrich, C; Wood, T; Ajo-Franklin, J; Baumgartner, T; Beckers, K; Blankenship, D; Bonneville, A; Boyd, L; Brown, S; Burghardt, JA; Chai, C; Chakravarty, A; Chen, T; Chen, Y; Chi, B; Condon, K; Cook, PJ; Crandall, D; Dobson, PF; Doe, T; Doughty, CA; Elsworth, D; Feldman, J; Feng, Z; Foris, A; Frash, LP; Frone, Z; Fu, P; Gao, K; Ghassemi, A; Guglielmi, Y; Haimson, B; Hawkins, A; Heise, J; Hopp, C; Horn, M; Horne, RN; Horner, J; Hu, M; Huang, H; Huang, L; Im, KJ; Ingraham, M; Jafarov, E; Jayne, RS; Johnson, TC; Johnson, SE; Johnston, B; Karra, S; Kim, K; King, DK; Kneafsey, T; Knox, H; Knox, J; Kumar, D; Kutun, K; Lee, M; Li, K; Li, Z; Mackey, P; Makedonska, N; Marone, CJ; Mattson, E; McClure, MW; McLennan, J; McLing, T; Medler, C; Mellors, RJ; Metcalfe, E; Miskimins, J | Abstract: Enhanced Geothermal Systems could provide a substantial contribution to the global energy demand if their implementation could overcome inherent challenges. Examples are insufficient created permeability, early thermal breakthrough, and unacceptable induced seismicity. Here we report on the seismic response of a mesoscale hydraulic fracturing experiment performed at 1.5-km depth at the Sanford Underground Research Facility. We have measured the seismic activity by utilizing a 100-kHz, continuous seismic monitoring system deployed in six 60-m length monitoring boreholes surrounding the experimental domain in 3-D. The achieved location uncertainty was on the order of 1nm and limited by the signal-to-noise ratio of detected events. These uncertainties were corroborated by detections of fracture intersections at the monitoring boreholes. Three intervals of the dedicated injection borehole were hydraulically stimulated by water injection at pressures up to 33nMPa and flow rates up to 5nL/min. We located 1,933 seismic events during several injection periods. The recorded seismicity delineates a complex fracture network comprised of multistrand hydraulic fractures and shear-reactivated, preexisting planes of weakness that grew unilaterally from the point of initiation. We find that heterogeneity of stress dictates the seismic outcome of hydraulic stimulations, even when relying on theoretically well-behaved hydraulic fractures. Once hydraulic fractures intersected boreholes, the boreholes acted as a pressure relief and fracture propagation ceased. In order to create an efficient subsurface heat exchanger, production boreholes should not be drilled before the end of hydraulic stimulations.
WY Markets Matter Pilot Study Results: Farmers Market Coupons Improve Food Security and Vegetable Consumption

This pilot study assessed farmers market coupon impacts on produce consumption and food security using a randomized controlled design. Thirty adults in low-income households enrolled in the study a...
Stem Cells to the Rescue: Development and Application of Cell-Based Therapy for Microvascular Repair

The microcirculation includes an invisible network of micro-vessels that are up to a few hundred microns in diameter [...].
Denaturation of globular proteins: III. A comparative study of the interaction of urea with several proteins

1. 1. The extent of urea interaction with bovine serum albumin, ovalbumin, and β-lactoglobulin has been measured in aqueous 8 M urea solution by our ultrafiltration technique1. The ratio of urea to protein interaction calculated from the observed data is almost identical for all three proteins (about one urea molecule per three amino acid residues in each completely unfolded protein molecule) and is very similar to that previously reported for lysozyme2. This observation strongly suggests that urea interacts with sites common to the four different proteins, such as components of the polypeptide backbone. 2. 2. The maximum extent of urea interaction with ovalbumin occurred within minutes after addition of this protein to 8 M urea, remaining unchanged during the subsequent slow unfolding of the protein as followed by changes in optical rotation. The data suggest that a urea-protein complex is formed shortly after exposure of ovalbumin to concentrated urea, the protein then undergoing complete unfolding without quantitative change in hydration. 3. 3. Additional studies showed that the interaction of acetamide with β-lactoglobulin was accompanied by an increase in disordered structure of this protein in contrast to albumin which retained its native conformation. The relative extent of acetamide interaction with albumin was found to be considerably smaller than that seen with β-lactoglobulin. The hydrophobicity of acetamide might explain its increased effectiveness for β-lactoglobulin.
Control of time course of glutamatergic synaptic currents.

Publisher Summary The duration of the synaptic current is a key element in determining the overall function of glutamatergic synapses. The duration of the postsynaptic response is of importance in determining the consequence of repetitive synaptic activity. Temporal summation—a fundamental component in the integration of synaptic signals—is prominent when excitatory postsynaptic potentials are long enough to overlap. Conversely, precise neural coincidence detection requires the minimization of temporal summation so that only near-simultaneous, narrow synaptic events are able to drive a cell to action potential threshold. In addition to mediating electrical computation, glutamatergic synaptic events drive long-term changes in the biochemical state of postsynaptic cells. Studies in the past years have identified many of the major parameters that influence the duration of the synaptic current. These include synaptic geometry, receptor-binding affinity and channel gating kinetics, glutamate transporters, and quantal release kinetics. Synaptic transmission mediated by glutamate and glutamate receptors draws upon a wide variety of factors to determine the duration of the synaptic current. Because these factors can be varied independently, glutamate synapses can, with appropriate parallel variation in postsynaptic cable properties, be specialized for integration, coincidence detection, or the passive relay of signals.
EXPERIMENTAL VALIDATION OF DIRECTIONAL WAVE MAKER THEORY WITH SIDE WALL REFLECTIONS

Dalrymple recently developed a directional wave maker theory which is capable of simulating a desired oblique flow planar wave train at any predetermined cross-section in a wave basin. This theory, which uses intentional refections from side walls, can be used to significantly enlarge the testing area in the basin over which the sea state is expected to be homogeneous. A numerical validation of this theory was recently undertaken, and the findings were published in Mansard et al. (1992). This paper reports of the results of an extensive series of experimental investigations undertaken to further validate this theory for the case of a basin with a sloping bottom.
Using Cost and Financing Instruments for Economic Evaluation of Substance Abuse Treatment Services

Standardized economic evaluation instruments are an important tool in the analysis of change and performance of addiction treatment. Nevertheless, compared to other health care sectors, economic evaluation of addiction treatment is still rare. The present paper proposes two comprehensive economic evaluation instruments that are methodologically sound and that meet the objectives of comprehensiveness, standardization, and comparability. The Drug Abuse Treatment Cost Analysis Program (DATCAP) can be used to estimate the economic cost of treatment services; the Drug Abuse Treatment Financing Analysis Program (DATFin) is a companion instrument and analyzes the complexity and change of treatment financing. This paper outlines the contents of each instrument and, for illustrative purposes, presents results from several case studies. Suggestions for updates and enhancements for each instrument are also discussed.
Grounded Action: Achieving Optimal and Sustainable Change

Grounded Action ist eine Anwendung und Erweiterung der Grounded Theory mit dem Ziel, Interventionen, Programme, Handlungsmodelle etc. zu entwerfen und zu implementieren. Der Grounded Action-Ansatz wurde konzipiert, um der Komplexitat und Multidimensionalitat von organisatorischen und sozialen Problemstellungen angemessen begegnen zu konnen. Die Grounded Theory als Strategie der datengegrundeten Theorieentwicklung wird insoweit ausgeweitet, als es im Rahmen von Grounded Action um das Entwickeln von – ebenfalls datengegundeten und systematisch aus der Grounded Theory abgeleiteten – Handlungsstrategien geht. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0303271
Collision-energy resolved ion mobility characterization of isomeric mixtures

Existing instrumental resolving power limitations in ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) often restrict adequate characterization of unresolved or co-eluting chemical isomers. Recently, we introduced a novel chemometric deconvolution approach that utilized post-IM collision-induced dissociation (CID) mass spectrometry (MS) data to extract “pure” IM profiles and construct CID mass spectra of individual components from a mixture containing two IM-overlapped components [J. Am. Soc. Mass Spectrom., 2012, 23, 1873–1884]. In this manuscript we extend the capabilities of the IM-MS deconvolution methodology and demonstrate the utility of energy resolved IM deconvolution for successful characterization of ternary and quaternary isomer mixtures with overlapping IM profiles. Furthermore, we show that the success of IM-MS deconvolution is a collision-energy dependent process where different isomers can be identified at various ion fragmentation collision-energies. Details on how to identify a single collision-energy or suitable collision-energy ranges for successful characterization of isomer mixtures are discussed. To confirm the validity of the proposed approach, deconvoluted IM and MS spectra from IM overlapped analyte mixtures are compared to IM and MS data from individually run mixture components. Criteria for “successful” deconvolution of overlapping IM profiles and extraction of their corresponding pure mass spectra are discussed.
Fluorescent paint for roadway lane-markers

As a compromise between unaided and fully automated driving, we have been investigating the concept of "sensor friendly highways and roadways". In this paper we report our work in this context with fluorescent paint for roadway lane-marking lines. The approach we envision is to add one or more fluorescent pigments to the lane-marking paint, or possibly to the retro-reflective glass beads that are typically sprinkled on the wet paint immediately after its application. Vehicles would be equipped with light transmitters and receivers at the appropriate fluorescence excitation and emission wavelengths. In the simplest embodiment, e.g., as a sensor that detects just lane departure, an annunciator would inform the driver whenever a lane boundary line is crossed. In more complex embodiments, a small code space could be created by using mixtures of several pigments and measuring the relative signal intensities at the corresponding excitation and emission wavelengths. A few bits of local information could thus be encoded in the lane-marking lines, for example, the line identity (e.g., it is the roadway edge line, or the centerline, or the border-line between the second and third lanes, etc.), or some important feature of the roadway (an exit ramp is a short distance ahead, etc.). If the technology provides only minimal signal-to-noise margin it may be feasible to probe only the lane-marking line immediately alongside the vehicle, or only a short distance ahead, but if there is "signal to burn" it will be possible to look correspondingly further ahead of the vehicle. With adequate signal-to-noise it would be possible also to use fluorescent paint technology to mark roadside obstacles, e.g., sign and luminaire posts, so as to cooperatively eliminate them as clutter in a collision warning radar signal stream. Our experiments and analysis indicate that the method is technically feasible given a few plausible improvements in fluorescent materials technology, and economically viable given reasonable assumptions about the cost of vehicle instrumentation and roadway treatment.
Somatotropin Regulates Adipose Tissue Metabolism in Neonatal Swine

Somatotropin (ST) reduces lipid deposition in growing and adult animals, but its effect in neonatal pigs is not clear. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that ST inhibits lipid deposition in neonatal pig adipose tissue. Four neonatal (2.9 +/- 0.1 kg, 7 d of age) and four growing (17.0 +/- 1.4 kg, 60 +/- 3 d of age) crossbred pigs were used. Subscapular adipose tissue fragments were cultured with or without ST (4.5 nmol/L) for 24 h in the absence or presence of insulin (7 nmol/L). After culture for 24 h with insulin alone, adipocytes from neonatal and growing pig adipose tissue maintained the capacity to incorporate glucose into total lipid at rates comparable to those in fresh tissue. Culture for 24 h with ST in the presence or absence of insulin decreased adipocyte glucose incorporation into fatty acids. Addition of ST, in the absence or presence of insulin, also increased the accumulation of glycerol in the medium during culture of neonatal and growing pig adipose tissue. Furthermore, culture for 24 h with ST resulted in higher basal lipolysis measured during incubation of isolated adipocytes in the presence of adenosine deaminase. In addition, culture with ST decreased adipose tissue lipoprotein lipase (LPL) activity and completely blocked the stimulatory effect of insulin on activity of this enzyme. The present study is the first to demonstrate in neonatal pigs that, as in growing pigs, ST regulates adipose tissue metabolism through decreasing lipid synthesis and LPL activity and increasing lipolysis. Thus, ST may play an important role in nutrient partitioning during the neonatal period.
Accelerator Vacuum Problems. In-Line Oil Trapping between the Stanford Linear Accelerator and the Beam Switchyard

The thirty accelerator sectors (each 330 feet long) of the two-mile machine will be evacuated with sputter-ion pumps to pressures low enough to limit rf breakdown and multipactor problems. After the beam leaves the accelerator it will be "switched" by pulsed magnets to one or more of the experimental areas through the 1000-foot beam switchyard. Due to the nature of the equipment in the beam switchyard and the requirements for inexpensive, non-elastomeric, remotely operable couplings, there will be a high probability for virtual and real leaks and a consequent need for continuous high throughput pumping. Oil diffusion pumps are therefore used to evacuate the four branching beam tubes of the beam switchyard. Some kind of in-line oil trap is needed to separate the clean, low pressure (10-7 torr), ion-pumped accelerator from the oil-pumped (10-4 torr) beam switchyard end of the machine. This trap should limit the amount of oil and organic fractions passing back through to the accelerator and should provide some of the impedance necessary to obtain the three-order-of-magnitude pressure difference between accelerator and switchyard. The pressure difference will be maintained by differentially pumping on each of two in-line vacuum impedances. One of these impedances will be a standard 10-foot section of disk-loaded waveguide and will act as an oil trap. When refrigerated, such a trap had measured transmission probabilities of 10-9 to 10-6 for heavy hydrocarbons.