cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Multidisciplinary Design Optimization of an Extreme Aspect Ratio HALE UAV

Development of High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) aircraft systems is part of a vision for a low cost communications/surveillance capability. Applications of a multi payload aircraft operating for extended periods at stratospheric altitudes span military and civil genres and support battlefield operations, communications, atmospheric or agricultural monitoring, surveillance, and other disciplines that may currently require satellite-based infrastructure. The central goal of this research was the development of a multidisciplinary tool for analysis, design, and optimization of HALE UAVs, facilitating the study of a novel configuration concept. Applying design ideas stemming from a unique WWII-era project, a “pinned wing” HALE aircraft would employ self-supporting wing segments assembled into one overall flying wing. When wrapped in an optimization routine, the integrated design environment shows potential for a 17.3% reduction in weight when wing thickness to chord ratio, aspect ratio, wing loading, and power to weight ratio are included as optimizer-controlled design variables. Investigation of applying the sustained day/night mission requirement and improved technology factors to the design shows that there are potential benefits associated with a segmented or pinned wing. As expected, wing structural weight is reduced, but benefits diminish as higher numbers of wing segments are considered. For an aircraft consisting of six wing segments, a maximum of 14.2% reduction in gross weight over an advanced technology optimal baseline is predicted.
Preliminary Investigation of the Roles of Military Background and Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms in Frequency and Recidivism of Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration Among Court-Referred Men:

Significant rates of intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration have been identified among men with military backgrounds. Research indicates posttraumatic stress symptoms place military men at increased risk for IPV perpetration, but may be negatively associated with IPV among nonmilitary samples. However, no previous studies have directly compared court-referred IPV offenders with and without military experience, which may have clinical implications if posttraumatic stress symptoms are differentially associated with IPV perpetration across these two samples. Twenty court-referred IPV offenders with military background were demographically matched with 40 court-referred IPV offenders without military background. As anticipated, self- and partner-report of physically assaultive acts and injurious acts during baseline assessment showed significantly greater physical assault and injury perpetrated by offenders with military background. However, 1-year follow-up data on convictions indicated a significantly lower rate of recidivism among offenders with military background than among nonmilitary offenders. As hypothesized, symptoms of posttraumatic stress at intake showed a significant positive correlation with IPV perpetration among offenders with military background; however, this relationship showed a negative correlation among offenders without military background. Clinical implications are discussed including treatment avenues, such as Veterans Courts and other incarceration diversion programs, which may be particularly appropriate for offenders with military backgrounds.
Directly Pumped Crystalline Silicon Laser - An Impossible Possibility?

Lasing at 1.28 mum was observed in a crystalline silicon structure under direct optical pumping, but is beyond the reach of optical lithography in feature size and beyond that of the e-beam lithography in field size. It is accomplished in this work through the use of a non-lithographic self-organized nanopore array membrane as an etch mask. The anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) nanopore etch mask was placed atop a thin SOI layer which was insulated from the thick silicon substrate by 3 mum of silicon-oxide. The nano patterning was achieved via reactive ion etching (RIE) which introduced nanopores to the silicon. The resultant silicon nanostructure consists of a periodic array of nanoscale high-density emissive structural deformation (ESD) zones
Characterizing complexity in the design of human-integrated systems

System complexity increases as technologies evolve. An understanding of the evolution of complexity can offer insights and help develop guidelines for designing the levels and details of automation, and for allocating functions among intelligent agents. The goal is to be able to manage complexity by design. The author discusses efforts to understand and characterize complexity in terms of taxonomies adapted from evolutionary biology and solar equivalent of energy proposed by H.T. Odum (1988).
Family Income and Education Were Related with 30-Year Time Trends in Dietary and Meal Behaviors of American Children and Adolescents

Recent survey data reveal the persistence of long-acknowledged socioeconomic status (SES) differentials in the prevalence of obesity in U.S. children and adolescents. We examined 30-y changes in the association of dietary and meal behaviors with family income and education to understand the possible contribution of these trends to SES trends in obesity rates in 2- to 19-y-old Americans. We used dietary and SES data for 2- to 19-y olds from the NHANES 1971-1974 to 2003-2008 (n = 39,822). The secular changes in the independent association of family income and education with 24-h dietary behaviors [energy intake (kcal), amount of foods and beverages (g), percent energy from all beverages and from nutritive beverages, and energy density of foods] and 24-h meal behaviors [number of eating occasions, energy from snack episodes (%), and mention of breakfast] were examined using multivariable regression methods. The secular increase in energy intake and food and beverage amount was significant in the lowest family SES categories. The positive association of family income and education with intakes of energy, food amounts, and beverage energy, noted in 1971-1974 or 1976-1980, was not observed in later surveys. There was an age gradient in changes in most diet and SES associations over time, with largest adverse changes in 12- to 19-y olds. Higher education was associated with lower energy from snack episodes, breakfast skipping, and energy density of foods and these associations did not change over time. Overall, these results suggest both income and education differentials in secular increases in food amounts and energy intakes.
Non-randomness in consanguineous marriage.

Summary For Japanese, English, Brazilian and Austrian populations, estimates of genetic isolate size based on different types of consanguineous marriage range over more than one order of magnitude, being much greater for uncle-niece and aunt-nephew marriage than for first-cousin marriage, with second cousins giving estimates about 10 times greater than first cousins. These discrepancies agree with the probable non-randomness of consanguineous marriage, and are so great that little reliance can be placed on estimates of isolate size from consanguineous marriage. It is known that for rare partially sex-linked recessive traits the ratio of affected females to affected males depends on the proportions of four types of first cousin matings. Data from Austrian and Japanese populations reveal three significant kinds of non-randomness which, however, would have very little effect on the expected frequency of females among partially sex-linked recessives, if such genes exist in man. For the populations sampled, non-randomness is shown to persist in the different mating types of first cousins once removed, second cousins once removed, and second cousins.
Determinism and Free Will

We have seen that reductionism and determinism are conceptual cousins each implying the other. Benjamin Libet is another neuroscientist who rejected both the reductionism of Sir Francis Crick and the determinism that would reduce the self to its past causes; it is especially ironic, therefore, that he discovered a brain process which firmly challenges the notion of free will or better put the idea of agency.
Hydrolytically Stable Thiol–ene Networks for Flexible Bioelectronics

Hydrolytically stable, tunable modulus polymer networks are demonstrated to survive harsh alkaline environments and offer promise for use in long-term implantable bioelectronic medicines known as electroceuticals. Today’s polymer networks (such as polyimides or polysiloxanes) succeed in providing either stiff or soft substrates for bioelectronics devices; however, the capability to significantly tune the modulus of such materials is lacking. Within the space of materials with easily modified elastic moduli, thiol–ene copolymers are a subset of materials that offer a promising solution to build next generation flexible bioelectronics but have typically been susceptible to hydrolytic degradation chronically. In this inquiry, we demonstrate a materials space capable of tuning the substrate modulus and explore the mechanical behavior of such networks. Furthermore, we fabricate an array of microelectrodes that can withstand accelerated aging environments shown to destroy conventional flexible bioelectronics.
The Collision of Rights in Violence-Conducive Speech

This paper explores regulation of violence-conducive speech. In so doing, it critiques a purely consequentialist approach to free expression questions and offers a culpability-based analysis drawing on punishment theory. No satisfactory answer to any conflict that implicates freedom of expression can ignore the consequences of the expression concerned altogether. Yet consequentialism in free expression theory poses many dangers. If expression may be suppressed on the basis of its anticipated harm, freedom of expression will tend to expand and contract with the relative heat of public sentiment. Free expression will thus be restricted the most when the issues concerned are the most controversial, that is, just when free expression is needed the most. Consider the suppression of anarchist and pacifist views during and following the First World War under the Sedition Act of 1918 and the suppression of Communist views during the 1950's. In retrospect, we can say that neither set of views posed a real threat, but in each case, the perceived threat, at the time, was quite real. Even as American law has become more protective of speech, consequentialism has remained the dominant approach. This paper pursues the path away from pure consequentialism, focusing on the legal treatment of incitement. Incitement is often thought of solely in terms of traditional free expression jurisprudence. Our understanding of the landscape broadens when we include insights of criminal law doctrine. Even under the most expansive system of freedom of expression, a speaker's use of words does not enjoy absolute immunity from prosecution. Verbal assault statutes make words alone the basis for a criminal charge when those words are used purposely or knowingly to create fear in another. Punishment for verbal assaults, like criminal punishment generally, turns on the actor's culpability. Criminal culpability theory, in which the actor's mens rea is closely analyzed, significantly advances the inquiry into the collision of public safety and freedom of speech. This approach does not ignore consequences, but it does shift the focus from the consequences of the expression to the nature of the expression and the intent of the speaker. Criminal culpability analysis, when brought to bear on violence-conducive speech, allows us to probe for the boundaries of freedom of speech.
Getting the message: The adaptive potential of interpersonal judgments

According to the Social Message Model, interpersonal judgments are transactions in which judges convey important social messages to the individuals they evaluate (the targets); targets can then res...
Document Clustering Algorithm using Modified K-Means

Document clustering is the task of grouping a set of documents into clusters so that the documents in the same cluster are similar to each other than to those in other clusters. One of the applications of document clustering is in web search engine retrieval system to help the users find relevant information quicker, and allow them to focus their search in the appropriate direction. K-means is a commonly used algorithm for document clustering, but it has some disadvantages. The main limitations of K-means are: 1) The number of clusters K has to be given as input and 2) Based on the initializations it converges to different local minima. 3) It is slow and cannot be used for large number of data points.4) It cannot handle empty clusters. In this paper, we have developed a novel algorithm to eliminate all these basic drawbacks of K-means.
Culture-Independent Metagenomic Surveillance of Commercially Available Probiotics with High-Throughput Next-Generation Sequencing.

Millions of people consume dietary supplements either following a doctor’s recommendation or at their own discretion to improve their overall health and well-being. This is a rapidly growing trend, with an associated and expanding manufacturing industry to meet the demand for new health-related products. In this study, we examined the contents and microbial viability of several popular probiotic products on the United States market. Culture-independent methods are proving ideal for fast and efficient analysis of foodborne pathogens and their associated microbial communities but may also be relevant for analyzing probiotics containing mixed microbial constituents. These products were subjected to next-generation whole-genome sequencing and analyzed by a custom in-house-developed k-mer counting method to validate manufacturer label information. In addition, the batch variability of respective products was examined to determine if any changes in their formulations and/or the manufacturing process occurred. Overall, the products we tested adhered to the ingredient claims and lot-to-lot differences were minimal. However, there were a few discrepancies in the naming of closely related Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium species, whereas one product contained an apparent Enterococcus contaminant in two of its three lots. With the microbial contents of the products identified, we used traditional PCR and colony counting methods to comparatively assess our results and verify the viability of the microbes in these products with regard to the labeling claims. Of all the supplements examined, only one was found to be inaccurate in viability. Our use of next-generation sequencing as an analytical tool clearly demonstrated its utility for quickly analyzing commercially available products containing multiple microbes to ensure consumer safety. IMPORTANCE The rapidly growing supplement industry operates without a formal premarket approval process. Consumers rely on product labels to be accurate and true. Those products containing live microbials report both identity and viability on most product labels. This study used next-generation sequencing technology as an analytical tool in conjunction with classic culture methods to examine the validity of the labels on supplement products containing live microbials found in the United States marketplace. Our results show the importance of testing these products for identity, viability, and potential contaminants, as well as introduce a new culture-independent diagnostic approach for testing these products. Podcast : A [podcast][1] concerning this article is available. [1]: http://www.microbe.tv/twim/twim-125/
INTRODUCTION: Restoring Agency to Class: Puzzles from the Subcontinent

Class explains much in the differentiation of life chances and political dynamics in South Asia. Yet in the subcontinent class has lost its centrality as a way of understanding the world and how it changes. Indian intellectuals have been a major force in the eclipsing of class through discursive strategies of constructivist idealism. Formalism in social sciences finds class relations elusive and difficult to measure. Market triumphalism eclipsed concern with rehabilitation of “weaker sectors” and redressing of exploitation as measures of national success. Class analytics, however, continues to serve two critical functions: disaggregating development and explaining challenges to rules of the game. Restoring agency to class requires attention first to relations that structure choice in restricted or expansive ways. Global forces have altered people's relations to production and to one another, as have changes in the political opportunity structure, with significant effects on tactics and outcomes. ...
Hoplopleura Diaphora Johnson and Hoplopleura Kitti Kim: Sibling Species of Sucking Lice (Anoplura)&

Hoplopleura diaphora Johnson and H. kitti Kim are closely related Southeast Asian species of sucking lice. Both species occur normally on Rattus bowersii, and H. kitti also parasitizes R. berdmorei and R. edwardsi. Comparisons and illustrations of the nymphs of both species and illustrations of adults of H. kitti are included.
Application of Innovative Thinking in Production Efficiency Improvement

This paper, with the improvement of production efficiency in engine assembly line as an example, introduces the method of using convergent thinking analysis the cause of the problem, and the successful way to find the ultimate solution by reverse thinking while problem solving is blocked. Through the analysis of specific arrangements, illustrating that the innovative thinking way is a very important application of solving the problems in efficiency improvement.
The steps of activating a prospective CO2 hydrogenation catalyst with combined CO2 capture and reduction

Combining CO2 capture and reduction is an efficient strategy to alleviate the high energy requirements for processing CO2 prior to reduction. Catalytic hydrogenation of CO2 captured as alkylcarbonate has previously been reported, but it's ambiguous whether the alkylcarbonate is reduced, as it is in dynamic equilibrium with neutral CO2 in solution. New studies are presented to elucidate the reduction mechanisms of CO2, and CO2 that is captured in solution using a homogeneous ruthenium hydride complex.
Keynes and the Labor Market

Given that Keynes was one of those “orthodox members of the Cambridge School” to which he referred in his introduction to the Handbook series, it should come as no surprise that he held views on labor markets and unemployment during his career that reflect the Marshallian tradition laid out above. Keynes’s lecture notes prior to World War I, we will see, make it clear that early on he indeed did hold what is best described as a sophisticated and realistic Marshallian view on value and distribution theory. But Keynes’s attitude toward the orthodox treatment of unemployment changed significantly as the twenties progressed. It will be our task here to show that Keynes’s pre-General Theory writings provide evidence that the types of explanations of involuntary unemployment now being proffered as New Keynesian economics would not have been novel to Keynes even before World War I, much less in the thirties. Moreover, his departure from the traditional view of the labor market as self-adjusting in some sense begins in the twenties. Further it will be argued that, though of interest in themselves, these departures remained no more than elaborate qualifications of the classical theory he would eventually reject in the General Theory. Thus the source for his own departure from classicism must be sought elsewhere.
FROM THE PEPPER GARDEN TO THE BOTANICAL GARDEN: KANT ON THE APPRECIATION OF NATURAL BEAUTY

In the Critique of the Power of Judgment , Kant diagnoses an antinomy of taste: determinate concepts exhaust judgments of taste or they do not. Judgments of taste are either objective and public or subjective and private. On the objectivity thesis, aesthetic value is predicable of objects. But who can say which concepts these would be? On the subjectivity thesis, aesthetic value is not predicable of objects. But have we no authority in asserting the aesthetic value of any object? Following John McDowell, I argue aesthetic value is neither objective nor subjective, but intersubjective. But, contra McDowell, I draw on the conceptual resource of an indeterminate absolute conception of reality to show that the validity that intersubjective aesthetic value bestows on judgments of taste must assume an indeterminate notion of common sense, according to which a judgment of taste may be valid for all subjects.
Voltage-gated calcium channels of Paramecium cilia.

ABSTRACT Paramecium cells swim by beating their cilia, and make turns by transiently reversing their power stroke. Reversal is caused by Ca2+ entering the cilium through voltage-gated Ca2+ (CaV) channels that are found exclusively in the cilia. As ciliary Ca2+ levels return to normal, the cell pivots and swims forward in a new direction. Thus, the activation of the CaV channels causes cells to make a turn in their swimming paths. For 45 years, the physiological characteristics of the Paramecium ciliary CaV channels have been known, but the proteins were not identified until recently, when the P. tetraurelia ciliary membrane proteome was determined. Three CaVα1 subunits that were identified among the proteins were cloned and confirmed to be expressed in the cilia. We demonstrate using RNA interference that these channels function as the ciliary CaV channels that are responsible for the reversal of ciliary beating. Furthermore, we show that Pawn (pw) mutants of Paramecium that cannot swim backward for lack of CaV channel activity do not express any of the three CaV1 channels in their ciliary membrane, until they are rescued from the mutant phenotype by expression of the wild-type PW gene. These results reinforce the correlation of the three CaV channels with backward swimming through ciliary reversal. The PwB protein, found in endoplasmic reticulum fractions, co-immunoprecipitates with the CaV1c channel and perhaps functions in trafficking. The PwA protein does not appear to have an interaction with the channel proteins but affects their appearance in the cilia.
The Degrees of Freedom of the $K$ -User MIMO Cyclic $Z$ -Interference Channel Under Perfect and Delayed CSIT Assumptions

The degrees of freedom (DoF) region for three users and the sum and symmetric DoF for $K$ users are obtained for the multiple-input multiple-output cyclic $Z$ -interference channel with $M$ transmit antennas and $N$ receive antennas at each user pair under the separate assumptions of perfect and delayed channel state information at the transmitters (CSIT). New communication schemes based on interference alignment are developed and are shown to be DoF-optimal for all choices of the number of antennas. The maximum sum-DoF scales linearly with the number of users for both perfect and delayed CSIT.
Ventricular Containment, Shape Change, Infarct Restraint

This chapter describes the concepts, historical perspective, and evidence behind the shaping of the ventricle to prevent heart failure progression. The techniques described range from ventricular containment, infarct restraint, and stabilization in so that to modify the ventricle to reduce wall stress, including updated studies since the prior edition.
Machine Learning Meliorates Computing and Robustness in Discrete Combinatorial Optimization Problems

Discrete combinatorial optimization problems in real world are typically defined via an ensemble of potentially high dimensional measurements pertaining to all subjects of a system under study. We point out that such a data ensemble in fact embeds with system's information content that is not directly used in defining the combinatorial optimization problems. Can machine learning algorithms extract such information content and make combinatorial optimizing tasks more efficient? Would such algorithmic computations bring new perspectives into this classic topic of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science? We show that answers to both questions are positive. One key reason is due to permutation invariance. That is, the data ensemble of subjects' measurement vectors is permutation invariant when it is represented through a subject-vs-measurement matrix. An unsupervised machine learning algorithm, called Data Mechanics (DM), is applied to find optimal permutations on row and column axes such that the permuted matrix reveals coupled deterministic and stochastic structures as the system's information content. The deterministic structures are shown to facilitate geometry-based divide-and-conquer scheme that helps optimizing task, while stochastic structures are used to generate an ensemble of mimicries retaining the deterministic structures, and then reveal the robustness pertaining to the original version of optimal solution. Two simulated systems, Assignment problem and Traveling Salesman problem, are considered. Beyond demonstrating computational advantages and intrinsic robustness in the two systems, we propose brand new robust optimal solutions. We believe such robust versions of optimal solutions are potentially more realistic and practical in real world settings.
del(17p13.1) in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Confers Poor Prognosis Even at Low Percentage Involvement and Increases Proportionately with Increase in Clonal Involvement.

Background: The del(17p13.1) abnormality has been shown to have great prognostic significance in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), predicting a shorter time to progression and decreased overall survival when compared with other chromosomal abnormalities and a normal karyotype. We sought to assess the significance of low percentage del 17p in untreated patients with CLL. Patients and Methods: Patients with B-cell CLL who had received no prior therapy were eligible for evaluation. At the time of initial visit, baseline variables were collected including patient demographics, Rai stage, peripheral blood immunophenotyping, routine cytogenetic evaluation and FISH analysis (described below), and beta-2-microglobulin. Patients were followed for time to progressing (defined as need for first therapy) and overall survival. Cytogenetic and FISH analyses were performed according to standard laboratory methods. Probes for FISH were D12Z1 (12 centromere), TP53 del(17p13.1), del(11q22.3) and D13S319 del(13q14), (all from Abbott Molecular) and were used according to manufacturer directions. For each sample, 200 nuclei were analyzed per probe, 100 nuclei by each of two analysts. The association between percentage del(17p13.1) and time to progression, defined as time from FISH to initiation of treatment, was explored using Cox proportional hazards regression. For purposes of analysis, percentage del(17p13.1) was alternately considered as both a continuous and dichotomous variable (various cut points at 5% increments). Results: From August 2001 to February 2006, 54 untreated patients with CLL were found on initial evaluation to have del(17p13.1) ≥ 5% of nuclei analyzed. The median age was 61 (range 45–90), with 36 males and 18 females. At the time of initial FISH analysis, 14 patients had Rai stage 0 disease, 22 had Rai stage 1 disease, 10 had Rai stage 2 disease, and 8 had Rai stages 3 or 4 disease. 50 patients were evalualuable for time to progression and overall survival. Considered as a continuous variable, del(17p13.1) percent positive was associated with a significantly increased hazard for shorter time to progression. For each 10% increase in del(17p13.1) percentage, there was a 20% increase in the hazard for shorter time to disease progression [HR 1.20, 95%CI(1.05, 1.37), p=0.007]. Using alternative cutpoints for a positive test, del(17p13.1) percentage was associated with an increased hazard for TTP at all percentages greater than 10, an association that became statistically significant at 25%. Conclusion: del(17p13.1) in CLL predicts for shorter time to first treatment even at lower percentages, with the hazard ratio increasing with increasing percentage. Further study in a larger patient sample is warranted to determine whether del17p should be considered significant even at lower percentages not currently defined as “positive.”
The Effect of Computer Models as Formative Assessment on Student Understanding of the Nature of Models.

This study reports the effect of computer models as formative assessment on high school students' understanding of the nature of models. Nine high school teachers integrated computer models and associated formative assessments into their yearlong high school chemistry course. A pre-test and post-test of students' understanding of the nature of models using a published measurement instrument on the nature of models were conducted. A four-step hierarchical multiple regression and a two-level (level 1 – student and level 2 – teacher) hierarchical linear modeling were used to test the effect of the intervention on students' understanding of the nature of models. Our analysis revealed a significant effect of frequencies of using computer models for four of the five sub-scales related to the nature of models. The implications of these findings are that, as students have more experience using computer models in their classroom, they develop a better understanding of the nature of models. However, their understanding of models as multiple representations didn't show a significant improvement, possibly due to the lack of support from teachers, who in turn need both content and pedagogical supports within their teaching.
Fractional Flow Reserve

Angiographic results alone can guide the decision to perform a percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Angiography is used to visually assess the coronary anatomy and determine the degree of stenosis, plaque or blockage in the coronary artery. The blockage creates visual irregularities of the inner diameter of coronary vessels on angiography and those irregularities are quantified using a percentage. This percentage correlates with the degree of blockage of the artery. The degree of blockage is usually quantified with a percentage and categorized into mild, moderate/intermediate or severe.The assessment of intermediate blockages in coronary artery disease has long been a challenge for interventional cardiologists to determine the appropriate use of angioplasty and stenting. Fractional Flow Reserve (FFR) offers yet another tool to assist in identification of those intermediate blockages. The goal of angioplasty and stenting in the coronary arteries is to increase blood flow to the heart and in turn, relieve chest pain. However, studies have shown that if a functional measurement, such as FFR, shows that the flow is not significantly blocked, the blockage or lesion does not need to be revascularized (angioplasty/stenting), and a physician can treat the patient with medical therapy safely.FFR is a guide wire-based procedure that can accurately measure blood pressure and flow through an isolated segment of a coronary artery. A physician can do FFR through a standard diagnostic catheter at the time of a coronary angiogram or cardiac catheterization. FFR has been demonstrated to be useful in the assessment of “intermediate” blockages (coronary artery disease) to determine the need for angioplasty or stenting.
Engaging Students in Surgical Outcomes Research

The introduction to the student research group brochure within our Department reads: I cannot imagine there is a better job than being an academic surgeon. Each day brings new challenges, opportunities to make an impact on patients and disease, and engagement with inspired colleagues. Admittedly, becoming an academic surgeon is not for everyone, but if you think it is for you, then we want to foster your enthusiasm and facilitate your success.
Collaborative Consumers: Meaning of Sharing, Renting, and Swapping Online

Collaborative consumption is a system of sharing, lending, trading, renting, or swapping of goods, information, and resources that is a profitable alternative to traditional ownership-based consumption (Botsman & Rogers, 2010). With development of the Internet and mobile technology, collaborative consumption today can occur with strangers located anywhere in the world, thus enabling collaborative consumers to enjoy nearly unlimited access to a variety of goods.
The voice of the constituent: participatory development and opportunity identification in social entrepreneurship

In seeking to create civic, social and economic value, a social entrepreneur encounters challenges in opportunity identification and evaluation not faced by the profit-seeking entrepreneur. Assimilating the concepts of civic engagement and participatory development (well established in the fields of social work, public health, public policy and public administration) may be a useful tool for prospective social entrepreneurs as they seek to develop effective organisations that can achieve multiple goals. Integrating this process into the growing body of literature on the development of viable social enterprises may also help to advance the legitimacy and distinctiveness of social entrepreneurship.
Summary of Session II Neuroendocrine Regulation of Growth Hormone Secretion

The presentations on neuroendocrine regulation of growth hormone (GH) secretion raised several new issues of great interest to basic scientists and clinicians. These were: (1) reciprocal rhythms of growth hormone releasing factor (GHRH) and somatostatin (SRIH) secretion; (2) strategies for chronic, therapeutic modulation of GH release; (3) the potential role of galanin; and, (4) new capabilities for the measurement of extremely low concentrations of GH in serum and urine.
Service orientation: the I/S department's lifeline.

Sure, technical expertise is important. But without a positive, customer-oriented outlook, an otherwise competent information systems department will suffer, and may even fail. The director of Clinical Information Systems for Yale School of Medicine offers guidelines for an I/S department "attitude check."
Early and Late Preconditioning Prevent Ischemia / Reperfusion Injury: Signalling Pathways Mediating the Adaptive Metamorphosis to a Protective Phenotype in Preconditioned Tissues

Preconditioning refers to a phenomenon whereby tissues are rendered resistant to the deleterious effects of prolonged ischemia and reperfusion (I/R) by prior exposure to oxidants, brief periods of vascular occlusion, endotoxin derivatives, heat shock, a variety of pharmacologic agents (chemical or pharmacologic preconditioning) or chronic ethanol consumption (6, 11, 16, 26, 29, 35, 40, 42, 48, 55, 71). Of these perturbations, our best understanding of the mechanisms involved in conferring protection is related to ischemic preconditioning (IPC). The beneficial effects of IPC are not related to improved collateral flow but instead represent an enhanced intrinsic ability of tissues to tolerate ischemia. However, recent work indicates that in addition to its anti-ischemic effects, IPC also completely prevents the reperfusion component of tissue injury by abrogating the inflammatory changes that are initiated in the microcirculation upon restitution of blood flow (1, 7, 14, 29, 36, 40, 41, 75). Additional support for this concept is provided by the demonstration that endothelium-dependent vasoregulatory mechanisms remain intact in preconditioned tissues (42, 71). Taken together, these observations indicate that adaptive changes in the microvasculature play a key role in the development of the preconditioned state. Thus, understanding the mechanisms whereby both arterial and venular endothelium enter a protective or defensive phenotype as a result of preconditioning may lead to the development of novel therapeutic strategies to manage I/R injury.
Clothing as communication? Vestments and views of the papacy c.1300

Author(s): Miller, MC | Abstract: This essay argues that Pope Boniface VIII (1294-1303) used clothing in a highly intentional and performative manner to communicate his status and authority. His audience, however, was quite limited - essentially, the small community of those who aspired to hold or influence the power of the Holy See - and the messages conveyed were not particularly complex. Attempting a reception history of papal attire c.1300, the essay surveys remarks regarding clothing in late thirteenth- and early fourteenth-century chronicles and analyses in depth the evidence of two sources: ambassadorial reports to King James II of Aragon (1291-1327) and the De electione et coronatione sanctissimi patris domini Bonifatii pape octavi of Cardinal Jacopo Caetani Stefaneschi (c.1270-1343). A suggestive finding is that performativity, or the highly theatrical use of garments, appears to have been used by Boniface VIII to foster dissemination of simple communications across great distances.
Measuring faculty teaching effectiveness using conditional fixed effects

AbstractUsing a dataset of 48 faculty members and 88 courses over 26 semesters, the authors estimate Student Evaluation of Teaching (SET) ratings that are conditional on a multitude of course, faculty, and student attributes. They find that ratings are lower for required courses and those where students report a lower prior level of interest. Controlling for these variables substantially alters the SET ratings for many instructors. The average absolute value of the difference between the faculty ratings controlling just for time effects and fully conditional ratings is nearly one-half of a standard deviation in the students’ rating of how much they learned. This difference produces a change in quartile rank for over half the sample across two summary course evaluation measures.
Diffusion-driven swelling-induced instabilities of hydrogels

Abstract Under a variety of external stimuli, hydrogels can undergo coupled solid deformation and fluid diffusion and exhibit large volume changes. The numerical analysis of this process can be complicated by numerical instabilities when using mixed formulations due to the violation of the inf-sup condition. In addition, the large deformations produce complex instability patterns causing singularities in the underlying set of equations. For these reasons, the experimentally observed complex patterns remain elusive and poorly understood. Furthermore, a stability criterion suitable to detect critical conditions and predict post-instability patterns is lacking for hydrogel simulations. Here we investigate the stability criterion for coupled problems with a saddle point nature and propose a generic framework to study diffusion-driven swelling-induced instabilities of hydrogels. Adopting a numerically stable subdivision-based mixed isogeometric analysis, we show that the proposed framework for stability analysis accurately captures instability points during the transient swelling of hydrogels. The influence of geometrical and material parameters on the critical conditions are also presented in stability diagrams for two useful problems involving the buckling of hydrogel rods and the wrinkling on the surface of hydrogel bilayers. The results show that the short-time response of hydrogels immersed in water are highly unstable. We believe that this generic scheme provides a theoretical and computational foundation to study the morphogenesis in nature, and it also paves the way to create functional materials and design novel hydrogel devices through stability diagrams.
Reflective Metasurfaces with an Arbitrary Prescribed Surface Field Distribution

For planar, periodic, impenetrable metasurfaces subject to plane-wave illumination, it is shown that the surface impedance can be designed to synthesize an arbitrary field distribution on the reflector surface. By introducing and adjusting a set of evanescent Floquet modes, the local surface fields can be controlled without affecting the plane-wave reflection property in the far zone. An example design of a fully-reflecting metasurface with an enhanced localized surface electric field is presented and numerically validated.
A 3-Year Model for Building a Sustainable Science Outreach and Teacher Collaborative

BioEYES is a K-12 science outreach program that develops self-sustaining teachers as a replication strategy to address high demand for the program while promoting long-term school partnerships. This paper explores the practices of “model teachers” from multiple grades, who are empowered over a three-year period to deliver BioEYES’ hands-on science content autonomously, as compared to the program’s standard co-teaching model (BioEYES educator + classroom teacher). The authors found that BioEYES’ professional development (PD) workshop, classroom co-teaching experience, and refresher trainings assist teachers in gaining autonomy to teach the program’s curricula. In addition, the authors found: 1) a similar effectiveness on student learning across three grade bands, and 2) positive attitude changes about science as a result of the program, regardless if the BioEYES unit was taught by a model teacher or program staff. Further we found that high school model teachers exceeded the performance of BioEYES educators. This observation supports our contention that giving high quality STEM programing that includes multi-level PD to teachers generates the strongest possible outcome. Overall, we characterize the impact and financial investment of BioEYES and describe a PD framework that can be used by outreach providers to deliver content, expand their reach, and sustain school partnerships.
Timing and Outcomes of an Indication-Only Use of Intravenous Cannulation During Spontaneous Labor.

Introduction In the United States, most women presenting in spontaneous labor undergo intravenous (IV) cannulation on admission to hospital labor and birth units. There is limited evidence for this routine practice in pregnant women at low risk for adverse outcomes during labor or birth. Methods A retrospective, exploratory, descriptive study of an indication-only practice of IV cannulation on admission for women presenting in spontaneous labor and cared for by a nurse-midwife service was performed. Descriptive data included the timing of IV cannula placement (admission, during labor or postpartum period, or not at all) and indications for placement. Maternal outcomes of interest were estimated blood loss, postpartum hemorrhage rates, and management; neonatal outcome was 5-minute Apgar scores. Results Records for 1069 women cared for by nurse-midwives who presented in spontaneous labor were reviewed. In this cohort, 445 (41.6%) had IV access established on admission, 325 (30.4%) had an IV cannula placed during labor or postpartum, and 299 (28%) never had IV access during their hospital stay. For the 325 women with IV cannulas placed after admission, 25 (7.7%) were placed urgently for excessive postpartum bleeding. Further analysis of the subset of women who had a postpartum hemorrhage after vaginal birth (defined as >500 mL estimated blood loss) indicated that urgent IV cannulation was not associated with a lower mean postpartum hemoglobin or hematocrit or an increase in blood transfusion rate when compared with women who had an IV cannula placed earlier in their labor course. Discussion Indication-only IV cannulation for women experiencing an uncomplicated labor and birth is a reasonable practice in settings where IV access can be established urgently if needed.
Improving Space-Bandwidth Product with Quantitative Oblique Back-Illumination Microscopy

Quantitative oblique back-illumination microscopy (qOBM) is a phase-contrast technique that uses back-scattered light as a trans-illumination source. By changing illumination parameters, we probe different regions in the spatial frequency domain, allowing us to improve effective resolution with multiple captures.
Implications of Treatment Modality on Chronic Opioid Use Following Treatment for Head and Neck Cancer

ObjectiveTo investigate the relationship between treatment modality and chronic opioid use in a large cohort of patients with head and neck cancer.Study DesignRetrospective cohort study.SettingSing...
Into the Storm: a Mixed Methods Evaluation of Reasons for Non-attendance of Appointments in the Free Clinic Setting.

Non-attendance of healthcare appointments impact individual health outcomes and the capacity and financial stability of clinics. While non-attendance of appointments has been associated with a variety of factors, interventions to increase attendance have had mixed success. The most widely used intervention, reminder systems like phone calls or text messages, generally improves attendance rates but is insufficient for many clinics as a sole intervention. This study of underresourced patients who did not attend appointments at two clinics for uninsured individuals describes the multifactorial, individualized, and interacting reasons for non-attendance among these methods: Forty-three patients were interviewed by phone within 3 weeks of missing a clinic appointment using a scripted interview based on the literature. Responses were coded and analyzed. For 57% of respondents, a competing priority such as work or caregiving was a reason for missing an appointment. Forgetting about the appointment was a barrier for 38% of participants despite reminder systems being in place. Contributions to non-attendance were identified through thematic analysis: emotional and physical exhaustion, prioritization of work over healthcare, unreliable transportation, financial stress, and being unaware of an appointment. These findings demonstrate the need to test multiple patient-centered interventions, particularly in the context of underresourced communities.
Adaptive Optics Observations of Exoplanets, Brown Dwarfs, and Binary Stars

The current direct observations of brown dwarfs and exoplanets have been obtained using instruments not specifically designed for overcoming the large contrast ratio between the host star and any wide-separation faint companions. However, we are about to witness the birth of several new dedicated observing platforms specifically geared towards high contrast imaging of these objects. The Gemini Planet Imager, VLT-SPHERE, Subaru HiCIAO, and Project 1640 at the Palomar 5m telescope will return images of numerous exoplanets and brown dwarfs over hundreds of observing nights in the next five years. Along with diffraction-limited coronagraphs and high-order adaptive optics, these instruments also will return spectral and polarimetric information on any discovered targets, giving clues to their atmospheric compositions and characteristics. Such spectral characterization will be key to forming a detailed theory of comparative exoplanetary science which will be widely applicable to both exoplanets and brown dwarfs. Further, the prevalence of aperture masking interferometry in the field of high contrast imaging is also allowing observers to sense massive, young planets at solar system scales (~3–30 AU)— separations out of reach to conventional direct imaging techniques. Such observations can provide snapshots at the earliest phases of planet formation—information essential for constraining formation mechanisms as well as evolutionary models of planetary mass companions. As a demonstration of the power of this technique, I briefly review recent aperture masking observations of the HR 8799 system. Moreover, all of the aforementioned techniques are already extremely adept at detecting low-mass stellar companions to their target stars, and I present some recent highlights.