cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Using conservation plans and bird monitoring to evaluate ecological effects of management: An example with fuels reduction activities in southwest Oregon

Increasingly, regional conservation plans are using information about how animals respond to changes in habitat characteristics to provide guidelines for management. However, the ability of these plans to effectively guide management remains largely untested. To test a regional bird conservation plan developed by Partners in Flight, we compared bird abundance in untreated stands to that of stands where shrub cover had been reduced to lower the risk of fire. We used these data to evaluate whether birds identified as focal species in the conservation plan increased or decreased in abundance as a result of the treatments. Over a two-year period, two of 12 Partners in Flight oak woodland and chaparral focal species were more abundant at treated units in both years; no species were consistently less abundant at treated units in both years. These results suggest small-scale (7‐42 ha) treatments are consistent with the objectives identified in the Partners in Flight regional conservation plan because they benefited species associated with edges, but did not have negative effects on shrub-associated species. We suggest that this is a result of the small size of treatments and the retention of shrub patches in treated areas. An alternativeexplanation is that the bird/habitat relationships used to develop the conservation plans do not apply in this study area. We tested this hypothesis by comparing the correlations between habitat characteristics and bird abundance with the information in the conservation plans. In all but one case, the direction of the correlation agreed with information in the conservation plan. This project illustrates that even though the ability of conservation plans to predict the ecological effects of management activities may be limited, they can play an important role in interpreting the results of ecological monitoring. # 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Generating robust assembly plans in constrained environments

In the future, teams of robots will construct outposts on Mars and orbital structures in space. Such tasks will require assembly of a large number of components into structures. Automatic generation of assembly sequences is a difficult and well-studied problem in structured factory environments that are specifically engineered for the assembly task at hand, but it is much less understood in less constrained settings. Instead of representing the problem in the space of the many degrees of freedom of the robots and components involved in the assembly, we approach the problem in the space of valid configurations of the structure to be assembled. We use a graph-based framework to describe valid assembly configurations and feasible assembly steps. In addition to reasoning about kinematic feasibility of assembly steps, we consider the quality of potential configurations with respect to actions for the mobile robots. This method automatically repositions the structure in the workspace so that components to be assembled are most approachable. That is, the sequence of assembly and the position of the structure as it is assembled is chosen so as to maximize the area in which mobile robots can operate to perform their tasks. We present simulation results from a simple five-component assembly with and without the constraints of a narrow confined environment. Results show that our method allows over twice as much space available for robots during assembly. In addition, the plans preserve most of their free-space flexibility in tight workspaces where other planning approaches are left with only a few candidate solutions.
Mediation windfalls: Value beyond settlement? The perspectives of Georgia magistrate court judges

This study of magistrate judges investigates the perception that if mediation reaches impasse, parties who are not represented by counsel go into court less afraid, better able to articulate their case, more cognizant of their own and the other side's positions, and with an enhanced appreciation for the perspective of the other party because of the mediation experience.
Evaluation of the petrifilm dry rehydratable film for the enumeration of yeasts and moulds in naturally contaminated foods.

ABSTRACT Two hundred thirty-seven samples from six food groups (tree nuts, grains and grain products, dried fruits, fresh produce, fruit juice and dairy products) were tested for levels of fungal contamination using the Petrifilm dry rehydratable film for yeast and mould (PYM ) enumeration (3M Microbiology, St. Paul, MN) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) official method. Results indicated that PYM performed very well for all tested commodities giving YM counts similar to those of the FDA method. Statistical analysis of the data (t-test) revealed no significant differences between the two methods for all foods tested. Linear regression analysis showed that the correlation coefficients between the two methods were over 0.90 for 91% of the commodities tested. Some difficulties were encountered during counting of the colonies on PYM as yeast colonies on this medium tend to be very small with rather faded colorations. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS Assessment of the efficacy of Petrifilm and determining its equivalence to traditional, validated methods will give the testing laboratories and the industry an alternate option for the enumeration of fungi in foods. The use of Petrifilm would be especially useful when analyst time is limited as it requires no media preparation and minimal time for sample inoculation.
Culturally Competent Family Therapy with Latino/Anglo-American Adolescents: Facilitating Identity Formation

This paper focuses on culturally competent family therapy interventions focused on the topic of identity formation in Latino/Anglo American (L/AA) youth, a growing segment of the United States population. Given the overall scarcity of literature specific to this unique group, models of identity formation for a broader category (i.e., multi-racial youth) are presented and critiqued in terms of their application to L/AA adolescent. Special identity-related factors for L/AA youth populations are presented including the race of the youth's Latino parent, the L/AA youth's appearance, acceptance from family members and peers, and cultural conflict within the home. Guided by Sue and Sue (2003), specific suggestions for culturally competent family therapy are provided, and detailed using a case vignette.
Scattering parameter characterization of differential four-port networks using a two-port vector network analyzer

A common problem faced in the areas of packaging, signal integrity and interconnect technology is the inability to adequately characterize networks incorporating differential signaling schemes. The main challenge faced by such a need is the lack of any instrument capable of simultaneously stimulating dual input ports with signals synchronized with each other and then accurately determining the power waves entering and exiting the network, i.e., a four-port vector network analyzer (VNA) with dual synthesized frequency sweepers. This study proposes a low cost method of characterizing differential networks with existing two-port VNAs by using a technique of measuring the scattering parameters (s-parameters) of two ports at a time while the other two are appropriately terminated, in this work with standard 50/spl Omega/ terminations. The device under test (DUT) chosen is a pair of symmetrical coupled microstrip lines, designed for operation at 1 GHz. The single-ended s-parameters obtained are converted to the required differential s-parameters, using appropriate linear combinations, and these results are compared with two sets of simulation data from electromagnetic field solver softwares. The port impedances of the microstrip lines, for the differential and common-mode cases, from the measurements as well as the simulations are at most 8.35% from the theoretical values. The frequency range addressed in this paper is up to 3 GHz.
Writing in a Political Context: The Value of Letters to Legislators

This essay is an extension of recent research on nonacademic writing and represents an initial effort to explore the contexts for the letters citizens send their legislators. It focuses on only one aspect of this writing—its value. Most of the information in the essay comes from interviews with the author's state and national legislators and/or their staff. This essay suggests why the letters about political issues and personal concerns that citizens send their legislators are of great value to both the writer and the reader, and why the relationship between citizens and their public officials as writers and readers may deserve more intensive exploration.
Dissecting the pre-handoff chart biopsy: information seeking in the electronic health record

Pre-handoff "chart biopsy" involves the brief reviewing by a clinician of a patient's record prior to accepting responsibility for the care of that patient. It is an information seeking activity enabled by electronic health records. This paper reports on a qualitative study of chart biopsies conducted by General Medicine physicians in a large quaternary teaching hospital prior to discussing possible admissions of patients from the Emergency Department (ED). The paper makes three contributions. First, this research provides an account of an information practice not previously documented and characterizes that practice as a social constructionist activity. Second, the study demonstrates that new information technologies can enable new information practices which in turn can alter the balance of participation in organizational coordination efforts. Third, the study shows that the understandings constructed from information seeking can have consequences for organizational orders.
Perceptual image quality: Effects of tone characteristics

Tone mapping refers to the conversion of luminance values recorded by a digital camera or other acquisition device, to the luminance levels available from an output device, such as a monitor or a printer. Tone mapping can improve the appearance of rendered images. Although there are a variety of algorithms available, there is little information about the image tone characteristics that produce pleasing images. We devised an experiment where preferences for images with different tone characteristics were measured. The results indicate that there is a systematic relation between image tone characteristics and perceptual image quality for images containing faces. For these images, a mean face luminance level of 46-49 CIELAB L* units and a luminance standard deviation (taken over the whole image) of 18 CIELAB L* units produced the best renderings. This information is relevant for the design of tone-mapping algorithms, particularly as many images taken by digital camera users include faces.
Bravais phases of Fe under pressure from first principles

The structure and stability of four Bravais phases of Fe under pressure are determined by a procedure which first looks for minima of the internal energy E at constant volume V and then tests the states at the minima for stability (or instability) by showing that the Gibbs free energy G at constant pressure p is a minimum (or not a minimum) with respect to all possible strains. The phases considered here are either body-centered tetragonal (bct), which includes body-centered cubic (bcc) and face-centered cubic (fcc), or rhombohedral (rh). The results include showing that bcc Fe becomes unstable at 1500 kbar, that fcc Fe is stable at p = 0, that a phase transition from bcc to fcc is thermodynamically favored at 290 kbar, that a bct phase at c/a = 0.89 is unstable up to 2700 kbar and that a rh phase with angle α = 60.5° is stable at p = 0 with E slightly higher than that for fcc Fe.
Townes Syndrome A Distinct Multiple Malformation Syndrome Resembling VACTERL Association

An 8-year-old male is presented with clinical findings of Townes syndrome in an otherwise unaffected family. Additional abnormalities possibly representing low frequency associations of this autosomal dominant multiple malformation syndrome included a cardiac defect and hypospadias. Similarities exist between Townes syndrome and VACTERL association, which is generally regarded to be sporadic in nature. Recognition of Townes syndrome as a distinct entity is critical for implementing appropriate management in early childhood, including amplification of hearing impairments. Variable expressivity may occur in this disorder. Careful evaluation must be made, therefore, of the parents of an affected infant with an apparent sporadic case, in order to provide the couple with an accurate recurrence risk at genetic counseling.
Structural analysis of the emerging event-web

Events are the fundamental abstractions to study the dynamic world. We believe that the next generation of web (i.e. event-web), will focus on interconnections between events as they occur across space and time [3]. In fact we argue that the real value of large volumes of microblog data being created daily lies in its inherent spatio-temporality, and its correlation with the real-world events. In this context, we studied the structural properties of a corpus of 5,835,237 Twitter microblogs, and found it to exhibit Power laws across space and time, much like those exhibited by events in multiple domains. The properties studied over microblogs on different topics can be applied to study relationships between related events, as well as data organization for event-based, real-time, and location-aware applications.
Observation of molecular chain scission during crazing of polystyrene

A series of gel permeation chromatographic (GPC) separations has been performed on polystyrene specimens in an attempt to discern whether or not mechanical crazing is accompanied by significant covalent bond scission. It was found that the extent of scission is not large but is indeed present in concentrations that are detectable by GPC. This suggests that molecular-slippage-only models of the crazing process are perhaps overly idealized and that crazing cannot take place in highly entangled polymer solids without some bond rupture.
Nanoscale Engineering Approach for Enhancing the Performance of Photovoltaic Cell Technologies for Non-Fossil Energy Sources

Energy consumption in the world is increasing rapidly and the supply of fossil fuels will not be able to keep up with the demand for too long. Fortunately, two emerging technologies, photovoltaic (PV) cells and concentrated solar power (CSP), can deliver a large portion of United States’ energy needs in the next 40 years if they are properly developed. In this chapter, first, fundamental mechanisms of how electricity is generated by these two technologies are described. Next, recent developments in the application of nanotechnology for enhancing PV cell performance are presented. Among inexpensive solar cell technologies, copper indium diselenide (CuInSe2 or CIS) based thin film solar cells have achieved solar to electrical conversion efficiency of 19.5 %. However, further improvement of efficiency is needed for them to become competitive with traditional energy sources. Two major efficiency limiting factors are, less than optimal energy band gap and short carrier diffusion length. In our group, we have used nanoscale engineering to develop device designs that would counter these two limiting factors. Specifically, vertically aligned nanowire arrays of CuInSe2 of controllable diameter and length were produced by simultaneously electrodepositing Cu, In, and Se from an acid bath into the pores of anodized aluminum oxide (AAO) formed on top of an aluminum sheet. Ohmic contact to CIS was formed by depositing a 100 nm thick gold layer on top and thus a Schottky diode device of the Au/CIS nanowires/Al configuration was obtained. Analysis of the current–voltage characteristics of these devices yielded higher resistivity than those reported for CIS thin films, as expected from the size-dependent effects. Capacitance–voltage measurements were performed on the diodes to get the estimates of space charge density and the junction potential. Based on these experimental results, a nanowire-based solar cell configuration is proposed and illustrated.
Petrine apologetics: Hope, imagination, and forms of life

In practice, apologetics is all about arguments. The danger in this lies in the fact that hope, a key feature of the classic apologetics proof-text (1 Pet 3:15), gets overlooked. This article suggests that the task of apologetics must be grounded in an eschatological hope—one that manifests itself in the embodied forms of life that believers inhabit. Moreover, since imagination is the faculty that gives concrete form to hope, the most urgent task of apologetics in the twenty-first century is not the perpetuation of ratiocination, but the recovery of lively imaginations. Specifically, we are to imagine and lead lives of quiet moral confidence in cultures whose flirtation with despair leaves them bereft of meaning.
Electric field induced morphological transitions in polyelectrolyte multilayers.

In this work, the morphological transitions in weak polyelectrolyte (PE) multilayers (PEMs) assembled from linear poly(ethylene imine) (LPEI) and poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) upon application of an electric field were studied. Exposure to an electric field results in the creation of a porous structure, which can be ascribed to local changes in pH from the hydrolysis of water and subsequent structural rearrangements of the weak PE constituents. Depending on the duration of application of the field, the porous transition gradually develops into a range of structures and pore sizes. It was discovered that the morphological transition of the LbL films starts at the multilayer-electrode interface and propagates through the film. First an asymmetrical structure forms, consisting of microscaled pores near the electrode and nanoscaled pores near the surface in contact with the electrolyte solution. At longer application of the field the porous structures become microscaled throughout. The results revealed in this stu...
Positive Limit Sets of Unbounded Trajectories

(1971). Positive Limit Sets of Unbounded Trajectories. The American Mathematical Monthly: Vol. 78, No. 2, pp. 155-164.
On the heating effect and the influential factors of the far-infrared radiation gaseous heating by heat carrying fluid

This paper is focused on reporting some experimental results of reheating the flue gas as a result of wet desulphurization with far-infrared radiation by heat carrying fluid,so as to help to solve problems like the environmental pollution and corrosion of the flue and chimney likely to be caused by the direct discharge of the wet flue gas. The experiments we have managed to conduct are aimed at exploring the heating effect and influential factors of the far-infrared radiation heating by heat carrying fluid. In the experiment,we have done a simulated research with the flue gas that is exhausted from the wet desulphurization device,when entering into the heating tank and then being heated by the radiation tube,which tends to take the conduction oil used for the simulation of the waste heat in the actual application as heat carrying fluid. In the experiments,what we have mainly done is to find the influential factors that may affect the heating effects of the farinfrared radiation heating by heat carrying fluid,such as the infrared radiation coatings,the radiation distance,the temperature of the conduction oil,the temperature and flow of the entrance gas. In doing so,we have chosen the terminal heating temperature and the heating rate as the evaluation indexes of the thermos effect. The results of our experiments show that,under the same conditions,when compared with the traditional heating methods,the terminal heating temperature with far-infrared radiation heating method has a maximum increase of 5 ℃. Therefore,more remarkable advantages can be found by using the new heating methods. Thus,it can be concluded that it is possible for the terminal heating temperature to increase with the rise of the temperatures of the conduction oil and the entering gas,whereas it may help to decrease the temperature with the increase of the radiation distance and gas flow. The heating rate increases with the rise of the temperature of conduction oil,but it decreases with the rise of radiation distance,the temperature of entrance gas and gas flow.In addition,the performance of the radiation coating serves also as one of the most important factors that may affect the heating effect of radiation.
Phytoremediation of Heavy Metals Contamination in Sediments of Baihua Lake by Two Plants

A pot experiment was conducted to study the phytoremediation of Lolium multiflorumand Medicagosativato heavy metals(Cu,Zn,Cd)contamination in the sediments of Baihua Lake.Results: 1)the overground parts of the two plants accumulated less heavy metals than the underground parts,enrichment coefficient and transfer coefficient of the overground part were of the same order,ZnCdCu(L.multiflorum)and CuCdZn(M.sativa),of which L.multiflorum was better than M.sativa.2)The remediation effects of L.multiflorum and M.sativa were CdZnCu and CuCdZn respectively.
[A juvenile case of locked-in syndrome living long after pontine infarction].

Abstract A juvenile case of locked-in syndrome (LiS) caused by pontine infarction was reported. A 26-year-old woman suddenly complained of speech disturbance, weakness of the left upper and lower limbs, and occipital headache. She was admitted to an emergency hospital. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed a high intensity area on T2-weighted image at the ventral portion of the pons. She was transferred to our hospital for further treatment. On admission, she was mute and quadriplegic, but responded to our questions with vertical eye movements and blinks. Vertebral and carotid angiography demonstrated complete occlusion of the basilar artery between the bilateral superior cerebellar artery and the bilateral anterior inferior cerebellar artery. As she was able to move her head, she began training to use a personal computer equipped with a special device as a communication tool. Three years from the onset, she stays at her home, takes her favorite foods, and enjoys her life.
Impact of Inpatient Palliative Care on Treatment Intensity for Patients with Serious Illness

Abstract Background: Palliative care is associated with decreased treatment intensity and improved quality for individual patients at the end of life, but little is known about how hospital-wide outcomes are affected by the diffusion of palliative care principles. Objective: We examined the relationship between presence of palliative care programs and hospitals' average treatment intensity, as indicated by mean intensive care unit (ICU) length of stay (LOS) and days under Medicare hospice coverage, in the last six months of life among Medicare beneficiaries aged 67 and over with serious chronic illness. Methods: We linked hospital-level data from the American Hospital Association Annual Survey, National Palliative Care Registry, and Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care to examine hospital-level treatment intensity for chronically ill Medicare beneficiaries who died in 2010. We used propensity score-adjusted linear regression to estimate the relationship between palliative care programs and hospitals' mean ICU L...
Memory and the Afro-Cuban Missing Link inH.G. Carrillo’s Loosing My Espanish

This chapter addresses the lack of contemporary literature by Afro-Cuban American writers and considers how the exiled Cuban American community preserves, retrieves, and reconstructs memory in order to maintain and affirm its Cuban identity. In Carrillo’s novel, the concept of memory and its irretrievability is so momentous in the formation of the Cuban American collective consciousness that memory becomes the narrative structure of the story. While oscillating between the past and the present, Cuba and the USA, Carrillo renders three forms of engagement with memory, which the community members’ utilize in an effort to maintain their Cuban identity: the incorporation of the silenced past into the official narrative of history, the creation of myth, and the return to the past.
ReStream: Accelerating Backtesting and Stream Replay with Serial-Equivalent Parallel Processing

Real-time predictive applications can demand continuous and agile development, with new models constantly being trained, tested, and then deployed. Training and testing are done by replaying stored event logs, running new models in the context of historical data in a form of backtesting or "what if?" analysis. To replay weeks or months of logs while developers wait, we need systems that can stream event logs through prediction logic many times faster than the real-time rate. A challenge with high-speed replay is preserving sequential semantics while harnessing parallel processing power. The crux of the problem lies with causal dependencies inherent in the sequential semantics of log replay. We introduce an execution engine that produces serial-equivalent output while accelerating throughput with pipelining and distributed parallelism. This is made possible by optimizing for high throughput rather than the traditional stream processing goal of low latency, and by aggressive sharing of versioned state, a technique we term Multi-Versioned Parallel Streaming (MVPS). In experiments we see that this engine, which we call ReStream, performs as well as batch processing and more than an order of magnitude better than a single-threaded implementation.
Antidepressant Medication Prescribing Practices for Treatment of Major Depressive Disorder.

Objective:The purpose of this study was to describe the prescribing practices of clinicians for patients with major depressive disorder (MDD).Methods:This population-based, descriptive study of insured patients (N=54,107) identified people who were 18 years or older, had a claim for MDD, had at least one prescription for an antidepressant medication in 2013, and had continuous insurance coverage during the study period. Prescription claims were evaluated to determine the most commonly prescribed antidepressant medication and most common dose.Results:The three most commonly prescribed antidepressant medications were citalopram (N=11,995, 22.2%), sertraline (N=10,791, 19.9%), and trazodone (N=9,501, 17.6%). The most common daily doses were 20 mg citalopram (N=6,304, 52.6%), 50 mg sertraline (N=4,173, 38.7%), and 100 mg trazodone (N=3,220, 33.9%).Conclusions:This is the first report of its kind that provides drug- and dosage-level details to demonstrate that antidepressant prescribing in clinical practice is...
Work-Efficient Load Balancing

Load balancing is the key to many parallel and distributed applications. We consider the following load balancing problem: given any undirected connected graph and an initial weight distribution on the nodes, determine a schedule to move weights across edges so as to have (almost) equal weights on the nodes. Weights are moved across edges in rounds, and, in a round, weights are moved between the adjacent nodes exactly once. We study this problem in both static and dynamic networks. Previously studied diffusion and dimension exchange algorithms are slow in practice in the sense that they require many rounds of weight exchanges. In this paper, we present a class of algorithms that are work-efficient, i.e., they reduce the number of rounds (i.e., iterations) of weight exchanges needed to balance the load. In our algorithms, a node exchanges load with its neighbors sequentially (one neighbor at a time) and the load at that node is updated before subsequent exchanges with other neighbors. Simulation results on six network topologies show that our algorithms balance the load quite work-efficiently compared to previous algorithms.
Coagulation parameters of ABO group-specific cryosupernatant

Patients with thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura that is refractory to conventional fresh frozen plasma (FFP) exchange therapy are sometimes switched to cryosupernatant as the replacement fluid, although its hemostatic properties are not well defined. We performed several key coagulation assays on three pools of four units from each of three ABO groups of cryosupernatant and FFP. Fibrinogen, factor VIII activity, and von Willebrand factor antigen (vWF:Ag) levels were all significantly lower in cryosupernatant compared with FFP, although at levels usually not considered clinically significant. We confirmed that group O FFP contained significantly less factor VIII activity and vWF:Ag compared with groups AB and B. In contrast to FFP, group AB cryosupernatant contained lower levels of fibrinogen, factor V activity, factor VIII activity, and vWF:Ag than groups O or B. Group AB cryosupernatant, with the lowest levels of vWF:Ag and universal ABO compatibility, may be the product of choice for refractory thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura.
CURRENCY RISK PREMIUM AND U.S. MACROECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENT

In this article, we test whether the currency risk premium in the U.S. equity market is particularly higher on prescheduled U.S. macroeconomic announcement days. Our empirical analyses find supporting evidence. Our results help strengthen recent conditional tests on currency risk and suggest that the currency risk premium in the U.S. equity market is driven by U.S. macroeconomic conditions (e.g., U.S. monetary policy).
Disparities in access to care and outcomes in patients with adrenocortical carcinoma

Abstract Background Surgical resection remains the mainstay of treatment for patients with adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC). The aim of the present study is to examine disparities in access to surgical resection and identify factors associated with overall survival following surgical resection. Methods The National Cancer Database was queried for patients with ACC (2004-2013). Patient characteristics and disease details were abstracted. Logistic regression analysis was performed to examine the factors associated with surgical resection, and a multivariate Cox proportional hazards model was used to identify predictors of survival in the surgical cohort. Results Surgical resection was performed in 2007/2946 (68%) ACC patients. On multivariate logistic regression analysis controlling for clinicodemographic factors, surgery was less likely to be performed in patients ≥56 y, males, African-Americans, patients with government insurance, or those treated at community cancer centers ( P Conclusions These findings suggest that there are demographic and socioeconomic disparities in access to surgical resection for ACC. However, after adjusting for patient and clinical characteristics, only patient age and presence of comorbidities were predictors of worse survival in patients undergoing surgery for ACC. More data are needed to determine the factors driving these disparities.
Electronic Structure, Optoelectronic Properties, and Photoelectrochemical Characteristics of γ-Cu3V2O8 Thin Films

Thin films of n-type γ-Cu3V2O8 are prepared with high phase purity via reactive co-sputtering deposition. Complementary X-ray spectroscopic methods are used to reveal that the valence band maximum consists of O 2p states, while the conduction band minimum is primarily composed of Cu 3d states. Therefore, γ-Cu3V2O8 is classified as a charge transfer insulator, in which the 1.80 eV indirect band gap corresponds to the O 2p → Cu 3d transition. Through photoelectrochemical measurements, the surface of γ-Cu3V2O8 photoanodes is found to display intrinsic activity for catalyzing water oxidation that is stable with time. The combination of a small optical band gap, suitable valence band energy, and excellent photoelectrochemical stability suggests that γ-Cu3V2O8 could be a promising photoanode material. However, it is found that the charge extraction efficiency from these semiconductor photoanodes is strongly limited by a short (20–40 nm) hole diffusion length. Characterization of the electronic structure and tra...
Health Disparities by Sexual Orientation: Results and Implications from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System

Until recently, population-based data for monitoring sexual minority health have been limited, making it difficult to document and address disparities by sexual orientation. The primary objective of this study was to examine differences by sexual orientation in an array of health outcomes and health risk factors using one of the nation’s largest health surveys. Data for this study came from 8290 adults who identified as lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) and 300,256 adults who identified as heterosexual in the 2014–2015 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). Logistic regression models were used to compare physical and mental health outcomes, health condition diagnoses, and health risk factors by sexual orientation, controlling for demographic and socioeconomic status. Controlling for sociodemographic characteristics, gay and bisexual men reported higher odds of frequent mental distress [odds ratio (OR) 1.71, P = 0.001; OR 2.33, P < 0.001] and depression (OR 2.91, P < 0.001; OR 2.41, P < 0.001), compared with heterosexual men. Lesbian and bisexual women had higher odds of frequent mental distress (OR 1.53, P < 0.001; OR 2.08, P < 0.001) and depression (OR 1.93, P < 0.01; OR 3.15, P < 0.001), compared to heterosexual women. Sexual minorities also faced higher odds of poor physical health, activity limitations, chronic conditions, obesity, smoking, and binge drinking, although these risks differed by sexual orientation and gender. This study adds to the mounting evidence of health disparities by sexual orientation. Community health practitioners and policymakers should continue to collect data on sexual orientation in order to identify and address root causes of sexual orientation-based disparities, particularly at the community-level.
Family tourism : multidisciplinary perspectives

Foreword Part 1 The Context of Family Tourism 1 Introduction: Families in Tourism Research - Heike Schanzel 2 Society and Ideology: Changes in Family Time Perceptions with Implications for Tourism - Heike Schanzel 3 Family Tourism, Demography and Social Trends: An Analysis of the UK Market - Ian Yeoman, Una McMahon-Beattie, Damian Lord and Luke Parker-Hodds 4 UK Family Tourism: Past, Present and Future Challenges - Carol Southall Part 2 The Experiences of Family Tourism 5 The Inclusion of Fathers, Children and the Family Group into Tourism Research on Families - Heike Schanzel 6 VFR Travel: Why Marketing to Aunty Betty Matters - Elisa Backer 7 The Value of Social Tourism for Disadvantaged Families - Lynn Minnaert 8 The Stress of the Family Holiday - Elisa Backer and Heike Schanzel 9 Gay and Lesbian Families and Tourism - Howard Hughes and Carol Southall Part 3 The Futures of Family Tourism 10 Consumer Kids and Tourists: Creative Marketing a City to Young Tourists - Sally Webster 11 Investigating the 'Family Lifecycle' Model in Tourism - Elisa Backer 12 The Future of Families' Tourism: A Cognitive Mapping Approach - Ian Yeoman and Heike Schanzel
Herd Behavior or Animal Spirits: A Possible Explanation of Credit Crunches and Bubbles

Casual Observation of bank behavior would suggest that banks often act in tandem, expanding and contracting lending in concert. Sometimes banks’ actions are consistent with aggregate economic activity and attract little notice. At other times, bank lending practices receive greater scrutiny because either economic conditions do not appear to warrant expansion or contraction or their behavior appears, at least ex post, to contradict sound banking practices. Two recent examples of rapidly increasing aggregate lending were the expansion of loans to less developed countries (LDCs) in the 1970s and loans to finance real estate expansion in the United States during the mid-1980s. Examples of credit crunches are the real estate credit crunch of 1989–1992 as well as those in 1966 and 1969.
Place-based screening of mixtures of dominant emerging contaminants measured in Lake Michigan using zebrafish embryo gene expression assay

Abstract Determining impacts of emerging contaminants is difficult due to the different concentrations of mixtures of these chemicals over a landscape. Assessment approaches need to account for absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion of the chemicals in an organism, and potential crosstalk between molecular pathways. The goal of this study was to assess the utility of employing a modified zebrafish embryo toxicity (ZFET) assay that assesses morphological alterations and measurements of estrogen-associated mRNA transcripts, to exposure of a mixtures of chemicals at concentrations measured in several locations in Lake Michigan. The 5 pharmaceuticals in this study were carbamazepine, diltiazem, fluoxetine, gemfibrozil and metformin. Exposures consisted of 4 concentrations of each individual chemical, mixture concentrations measured at seven locations in Lake Michigan, or 17β-estradiol. The relative expression of Estrogen Receptor-alpha, brain aromatase (CYP19A2), and gonadotropin releasing hormone 3 mRNA were measured at the end the 6-d exposure to determine estrogenicity of the individual chemical or mixture. In this study, there was significant induction of CYP19A2 in individual exposures of diltiazem, fluoxetine, gemfibrozil and metformin at concentrations measured in Lake Michigan. Exposure to 5 of the 7 chemical mixtures altered the expression of one of the three biomarkers. Transcripts varied across mixtures, indicating that biological screening of whole water samples for potential estrogenicity may need to include alternative molecular pathways other than just steroid receptor binding. This research demonstrates that pairing chemical measurements with a modified ZFET assay, twhich incorporates molecular biomarkers and morphological endpoints, could provide location and mixture specific toxic profiling.
959 Improving timely transition of parenteral to enteral antibiotics in paediatric patients with pneumonia and cellulitis using quality improvement methods

Background Early transition of parenteral (IV) to enteral antibiotics is recommended to decrease hospital length of stay and healthcare costs. Without clear criteria to guide transition, patients at our hospital often remained on IV antibiotics until discharge despite clinical improvement. Objectives Increase the percentage of timely-transitioned anti-biotic doses (total enteral antibiotic doses divided by all anti-biotic doses in patients receiving other enteral medications) for Hospital Medicine (HM) patients admitted for uncomplicated pneumonia or skin and soft tissue infections (SSTI) from 44% to 75% by August 31, 2017. Methods Improvement efforts targeted five HM teams at a large paediatric academic hospital. Our multidisciplinary team included HM attendings, fellows, residents, and pharmacists. Several key drivers (Figure 1) informed our interventions. Interventions included education on IV and enteral antibiotic cost differential, incorporation of antibiotic transition plan in electronic health record (EHR) note templates, structured discussions of transition criteria for patients on IV antibiotics, and real-time identification of failures and feedback. An automated system that interfaced with our EHR provided data on medication administration route and missed opportunities for timely-transitioned antibiotic doses. An annotated statistical process control chart assessed the impact of interventions over time (figure 2). Results The percentage of timely-transitioned antibiotic doses increased from 44% to 80% within 8 months. The most effective interventions were early identification of transition criteria through structured huddles and real-time identification and mitigation of failures. Conclusions Identification of clear criteria for transition from IV to enteral antibiotics can increase timely transitions for patients with uncomplicated pneumonia and SSTI.
Chronic Disease Self-Management

Successful management of chronic disease requires the patient to carry out treatments recommended by healthcare professionals. Patients must be well-informed collaborators in their own care. Using a shared decision-making process, health professionals help the patient make informed decisions that achieve agreed-upon goals by providing education, appropriate care recommendations, expert advice, and support. Self-management prepares patients to care for their health, keeping wellness as a focus. It involves techniques that enhance empowerment and self-efficacy in the setting of the office or home. Support comes from the provider, the community, and peers.
Proteolytic and peroxidatic reactions of commercial horseradish peroxidase with myelin basic protein.

Abstract Degradation of myelin basic protein during incubations with high concentrations of horseradish peroxidase has been demonstrated [Johnson & Cammer (1977) J. Histochem. Cytochem. 25, 329–336]. Possible mechanisms for the interaction of the basic protein with peroxidase were investigated in the present study. Because the peroxidase samples previously observed to degrade basic protein were mixtures of isoenzymes, commercial preparations of the separated isoenzymes were tested, and all three degraded basic protein, but to various extents. Three other basic proteins, P2 protein from peripheral nerve myelin, lysozyme and cytochrome c, were not degraded by horseradish peroxidase under the same conditions. Inhibitor studies suggested a minor peroxidatic component in the reaction. Therefore the peroxidatic reaction with basic protein was studied by using low concentrations of peroxidase along with H2O2. Horseradish peroxidase plus H2O2 caused the destruction of basic protein, a reaction inhibited by cyanide, azide, ferrocyanide, tyrosine, di-iodotyrosine and catalase. Lactoperoxidase plus H2O2 and myoglobin plus H2O2 were also effective in destroying the myelin basic protein. Low concentrations of horseradish peroxidase plus H2O2 were not active against other basic proteins, but did destroy casein and fibrinogen. Although high concentrations of peroxidase alone degraded basic protein to low-molecular-weight products, suggesting the operation of a proteolytic enzyme contaminant in the absence of H2O2, incubations with catalytic concentrations of peroxidase in the presence of H2O2 converted basic protein into products with high molecular weights. Our data suggest a mechanism for the latter, peroxidatic, reaction where polymers would form by linking the tyrosine side chains in basic-protein molecules. These data show that the myelin basic protein is unusually susceptible to peroxidatic reactions.
NEW METHOD OF MICRO-LIQUID SCINTILLATION COUNTING IN PLASTIC MINIBAGS FOR H3, C14, S35 AND P32SAMPLES: PART I

Abstract A new method of Micro-liquid scintillation counting in mylar-type plastic minibags with 50–100 μ1 of the scintillator per sample is described. The method is easy, extremely inexpensive, and simplifies the present mode of the scintillation countings with increasing use of β-radioisotopes in all the developing and developed countries.
The Magnitude and Distribution of Fossil-Fuel-Related Carbon Releases

Like Keeling’s plot of atmospheric CO2 concentrations at Mauna Loa Observatory, the basic plot of CO2 emissions from fossil fuel burning (Figure 1) is familiar to most people involved with the global carbon cycle. Like the time series of atmospheric concentrations, the time series of anthropogenic emissions is one of the cornerstones of our understanding of the global carbon cycle. As we grapple with the global balance of carbon fluxes, it is thus appropriate to review the data on anthropogenic emissions and to inquire how well the basic emissions numbers are in fact known. Emissions data are often reported to 4 “significant” figures (see Table 1) and convey a sense that they are well established, but it behooves us to have a realistic sense of their accuracy. Marland and Rotty (1984) have suggested that the global values are accurate to ± 10% but the nature of the underlying data precludes a rigorous error analysis. The intent of this paper is to summarize the derivation of estimates for CO2 emissions from fossil fuel burning and to provide some perspective into the underlying data and assumptions.
Cystic fibrosis in Tunisian children: a review of 32 children.

Background: Cystic fibrosis is rare in Tunisia.Its diagnosis requires experienced specialists. Its prognosis is poor in developing countries. Objectives: To study the epidemiologic, clinical, genetic features and the therapeutic challenges of cystic fibrosis in Tunisian children. Methods: Covering a period of 21 years, this retrospective study included all patients with a definite diagnosis of cystic fibrosis from the Pediatrics Department B of The Children’s Hospital of Tunis. Results: Data from 32 children (14 boys and 18 girls) were collected. The diagnosis was made during the first year of life in 28 cases. Meconium ileus was found in 5 cases, respiratory manifestations in 22 cases, chronic diarrhea in 19 cases, faltering growth in 17 cases and a pseudo Barter syndrome in 2 cases. The sweat chloride test was positive in all cases. The most frequent mutation was F508del (56% of cases). Respiratory complications marked the outcome. Among our 32 patients, 15 patients (50%) died at an average age of 5 years and 3 months, mainly due to respiratory failure. The mean age of the surviving patients was 5 years. Conclusion: Cystic fibrosis prognosis is poor in our series compared to developed countries due to the longer diagnostic delay and the limited therapeutic options. Keywords: Cystic fibrosis, children, Tunisia.
Improved Synthesis of [CpRRhCl2]2 Complexes

This communication presents a new preparation for complexes of the general structure [CpRRhCl2]2 (CpR = a substituted cyclopentadienyl ligand). Using isopropyl alcohol as the solvent in place of ethanol prevents the formation of Rh-carbonyl side products during synthesis. This procedure also affords higher yields of many [CpRRhCl2]2 derivatives with significantly shorter reaction times in comparison to previous methods. This procedure is applied to a variety of complexes bearing sterically diverse cyclopentadienyl ligands.
The Use of Environmental Metrics to Evaluate Green Chemistry Improvements to the Synthesis of (S,S)‐Reboxetine Succinate.

The initial route to reboxetine (V), isolated as succinate, is based on a classical resolution approach generating high levels of waste.
Perceptions of web accessibility guidelines by student website and app developers

This research aims to evaluate the level of accessibility knowledge by student website and app (WEB&APP) developers as well as the role of education in their perceptions and usage of accessibility ...
Magnetic Resonance Diffusion-Weighted Imaging: Sensitivity and Apparent Diffusion Constant in Stroke

Magnetic resonance diffusion-weighted imaging (MR-DWI) is sensitive to the diffusibility of water and may offer characterization and anatomical localization of stroke leading to early tailored therapeutic intervention. We compared DWI, the apparent diffusion constant (ADC), and autoradiographic cerebral blood flow (CBF) in a model of focal cerebral ischemia in the rat.