cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Transition of a traditional pharmacology course for dental students to an online delivery format: a pilot project

The purpose of this report is to describe the rationale and subsequent transition of a pharmacology course for dental students from a traditional face-to-face lecture format to online delivery using a course management system (CMS). A dental school faculty member with dental and pharmacology degrees and a Ph.D. was asked to serve as course director and to develop and implement a nontraditional course using the Blackboard CMS technology, which houses asynchronous course content materials, study guides, and online resource materials. Respondus software was used to create, manage, and administer weekly online quizzes. A comprehensive midterm and final examination were conducted in a traditional face-to-face setting. A survey was used to capture student satisfaction with this self-directed introductory pharmacology course. Participants were second-year dental students (Classes of 2011 and 2012). There was a survey response rate of 91 percent (179/197). The Likert-style survey questions produced ordinal data from which the median and interquartile range were calculated. On a scale in which 1=Poor, 5=Excellent, the median evaluation for the instructor was 4 (IQR=1.5). On a global question that asked how students rate the course overall, the median score was 4 (IQR=1.0). Results show that a majority of students were positive about the online delivery of the introductory pharmacology course and for many students this was their first online course experience. Resistance to self-directed learning was a theme with those students who rated the course poorly. In a comparison of overall course grades from the previous year, student performance in this course was much stronger. As a result of student feedback seeking more interaction with the course director, it was determined that the next time the course is offered there will be additional opportunities for greater face-to-face time with the instructor. Ongoing evaluation will be important as new teaching technologies emerge and are adopted for teaching and learning.
A Data Disaster Recovery Model and Prototype Implementation

The paper presents an abstract model of backup and disaster recovery,which contributes to the implementation of a prototype of remote logical volume replication system on Windows.The infrastructure,disaster recovery process and key technology details are focused on.Results of experiment show that the system has been built up with data consistency and availability.
Think Like a System: Be an Applied Systems Thinker

This chapter shows how the Jungian personality typology leads to a very different form of systems analysis that is applicable to all organizations. For instance, while traditional Venture Capitalists are primarily interested in (1) how soon a startup can pay back initial investment capital (narrow, short-term economic and technical concerns) and (2) whether an initial idea is truly revolutionary and visionary (broader, long-term economic and technical concerns), every organization also needs to pay attention to (3) the broader needs of its surrounding community (wider human concerns) and (4) the engagement and health of its workers and their families (personal concerns). Over the long haul, all four must work together seamlessly if any organization is to be successful.
The JAZF1-SUZ12 Fusion Protein Disrupts PRC2 Complexes and Impairs Chromatin Repression During Human Endometrial Stromal Tumorogenesis

// Xianyong Ma 1 , Jinglan Wang 1 , Jianhui Wang 1 , Charles X. Ma 2 , Xiaobin Gao 1 , Vytas Patriub 1 , Jeffrey L. Sklar 1 1 Department of Pathology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA 2 University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Farmington, CT, USA Correspondence to: Xianyong Ma, email: xian-yong.ma@yale.edu Keywords: SUZ12 and PRC2 complex, endometrial stromal Sarcoma (ESS), t(7,17) translocation, histone methyl transferase (HMT), H3K27Me3 Received: September 17, 2015 Accepted: October 29, 2016 Published: November 10, 2016 ABSTRACT The Polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2), which contains three core proteins EZH2, EED and SUZ12, controls chromatin compaction and transcription repression through trimethylation of lysine 27 on histone 3. The (7;17)(p15;q21) chromosomal translocation present in most cases of endometrial stromal sarcomas (ESSs) results in the in-frame fusion of the JAZF1 and SUZ12 genes. We have investigated whether and how the fusion protein JAZF1-SUZ12 functionally alters PRC2. We found that the fusion protein exists at high levels in ESS containing the t(7;17). Co-transient transfection assay indicated JAZF1-SUZ12 destabilized PRC2 components EZH2 and EED, resulting in decreased histone methyl transferase (HMT) activity, which was confirmed by in vitro studies using reconstituted PRC2 and nucleosome array substrates. We also demonstrated the PRC2 containing the fusion protein decreased the binding affinity to target chromatin loci. In addition, we found that trimethylation of H3K27 was decreased in ESS samples with the t(7;17), but there was no detectable change in H3K9 in these tissues. Moreover, re-expression of SUZ12 in Suz12 (−/−) ES cells rescued the neuronal differentiation while the fusion protein failed to restore this function and enhanced cell proliferation. In summary, our studies reveal that JAZF1-SUZ12 fusion protein disrupts the PRC2 complex, abolishes HMT activity and subsequently activates chromatin/genes normally repressed by PRC2. Such dyesfunction of PRC2 inhibits normal neural differentiation of ES cell and increases cell proliferation. Related changes induced by the JAZF-SUZ12 protein in endometrial stromal cells may explain the oncogenic effect of the t(7;17) in ESS.
First Report of Taro bacilliform CH virus (TaBCHV) on Taro (Colocasia esculenta) in Hawaii, U.S.A

Taro (Colocasia esculenta L. Schott), a member of the Araceae family, is a traditional root crop of the tropics grown for its edible corms and leaves. The crop also has significant cultural and export importance, particularly in Pacific Island communities (Revill et al. 2005). Taro bacilliform CH virus (TaBCHV) is a putative member of the genus Badnaviruses, family Caulimoviridae that was recently described on taro in China (Kazmi et al. 2015). In May 2016, the leaves of a taro plant showing feather-like chlorosis and mosaic symptoms were collected from the University of Hawaii’s Waimanalo Research Station (21°20′13.9″N, 157°42′50.6″W) on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. Total RNA was isolated using the RNeasy® Plant mini Kit (Qiagen, Redwood City, CA, USA), according to manufacturer’s instructions. Randomly-primed cDNA was synthesized and served as template in PCR using three primer sets targeting TaBCHV: TB1009-F (5’-ggctctgagagaagagctagc-3’) and TB1619-R (5’-atgtgtatgaactgcactctg-3’) which amplify a 611-bp ...
Pathology in Astroglia, Glutamate, and GABA in Major Depressive Disorder: Evidence from Studies of Human Postmortem Tissue

Evidence will be reviewed for pathology in astroglial cells, and for glutamate and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) neurons, their receptors and transporters in human postmortem brain tissue from subjects diagnosed with major depressive disorder (MDD). These observations will be compared with similar endpoints in preclinical animal models of chronic stress. Repeated stressful experiences or stressful life events can be risk factors for the onset or relapse of depressive episodes. Thus, animal studies on the behavioral and biological responses to exposure to chronic stress may shed light on underlying pathological mechanisms relevant to findings in postmortem brain tissue from subjects that experienced depression. Moreover, dysfunction of astrocytes, glutamate, and GABA—vital components of the tripartite synapse—will be proposed as a major source of fundamental pathology in depression and related animal behavioral models. Finally, the role of glutamate-based drugs in treating depressive symptoms will be discussed. In summary, evidence from postmortem brain tissue in MDD and animal models related to depression supports the hypothesis that pathology in astrocytes, glutamate, and GABA systems may be fundamental to the pathophysiology of depression.
A fully coupled finite element framework for thermal fracturing simulation in subsurface cold CO2 injection

Abstract Thermal fracturing could occur during cold CO2 injection into subsurface warm rock formations. It can be seen in a variety of fields such as carbon geo-sequestration, unconventional gas development, enhanced oil recovery, geothermal energy extraction, and energy geological storage systems. In CO2 geosequestion, limited degree of thermal fracturing due to the cooling effects of cold CO2 injection will enhance well injectivity, especially for those storage formations of low permeability. Thermal fracturing can therefore potentially enhance the injection efficiency and make positive impact on commercialization of CO2 geological storage. However, excessively developed fractures could break down the caprock and cause potential CO2 leakage into overlying rock formations. Risk analysis has to be done based on thermal fracturing simulation in order to maintain caprock integrity. Simulation of thermal fracturing during cold CO2 injection involves the coupled processes of heat transfer, mass transport, rock deforming as well as fracture propagation. To model such a complex coupled system, a fully coupled finite element framework for thermal fracturing simulation is presented. This framework is based on the theory of non-isothermal multiphase flow in fracturing porous media. It takes advantage of recent advances in stabilized finite element and extended finite element methods. The stabilized finite element method overcomes the numerical instability encountered when the traditional finite element method is used to solve the convection dominated heat transfer equation, while the extended finite element method overcomes the limitation with traditional finite element method that a model has to be remeshed when a fracture is initiated or propagating and fracturing paths have to be aligned with element boundaries.
Social Change and Micronesian Suicide Mortality: A Test of Competing Hypotheses:

How do modernizing social changes affect suicide risks for youths in small economically developing societies? Since Durkheim, social researchers have hypothesized that processes of social disintegr...
Exemplarity and Encyclopedism at the Tomb of Eurysaces

Roman writing of the late Republic and early Empire, especially historiography, is filled with exempla , stories of the past meant to serve as models for contemporary and future behavior. This period also witnessed the rise of an encyclopedic mode of composition among Latin authors, which purported to collect and organize the totality of knowledge in a given field. The following essay proposes that exemplarity and encyclopedism were not just literary devices, but deep organizational principles throughout Roman culture. It seeks to show how they were operative in the visual arts in the first century BCE, focusing especially on a frieze depicting the baking process on the tomb of Marcus Vergilius Eurysaces in Rome. By approaching a monument like the frieze of Eurysaces through such principles we may better articulate both visual and thematic relationships across a variety of genres within the broader Roman image world.
TagTone: Scalable RFID communication through multi-frequency analysis

RFID tags are inexpensive wireless sensors that harvest energy from the excitation signal sent by a reader. These tags are widely used in industrial settings for several applications. These applications require large-scale dense deployment where packet collisions are unavoidable. The major hurdle limiting these applications from scaling is the lack of suitable protocols that can decode collided packets from a large number of tags. We present TagTone, a new protocol that utilizes the wide bandwidth for RFID communication and the independence of the channels to decode colliding packets from a large number of tags. TagTone is a scalable protocol that can decode more tags as the bandwidth or the number of antennas increases making it an ideal solution for dense deployment. In this paper, we present a thorough analysis to show that RFID channels are independent across frequencies and antennas. Packets from the tags are collected using an excitation signal comprising of multiple complex sinusoids (tones) at different frequencies. TagTone includes a novel Moving Window Packet Separation (MWPS) algorithm which modifies traditional Independent Component Analysis (ICA) for superior decoding. TagTone implemented with USRP N210s can decode 7× more colliding tags and provides 7× better throughput than the existing protocols.
Can Public Housing Help

Public housing is the oldest subsidized housing program in the United States, having been established by the Housing Act of 1937. In the program, federal funds are administered by a local housing authority, which acquires a site, prepares plans, and supervises the construction of new housing units. The units are intended to provide low-rent housing for low-income families. In most cities, public housing has been a controversial program (Bauer, 1957; Bellush and Hausknecht,1967). Proponents argue that the housing is needed by low-income families and compares favorably to the alternative housing units usually available to those families. Opponents point out that public housing projects often become centers of dangerous and unhealthy living conditions, and that these conditions also adversely affect the surrounding neighborhood.
Roles of Production Control in Materials Management

Production control is a service-oriented activity that balances the needs of manufacturing, materials management marketing, finance, engineering, and other departments. Many principles and techniques are used by the various departmental managers to control operations, but production control focuses on procedures that contribute to total materials management — it is responsible for the planning and control of manufacturing resources, including facilities, personnel, and materials.
The Constitutionalism of American States

Review of: "The Constitutionalism of American States," edited by George E. Connor and Christopher W. Hammons.
Heat and the Transformation and Transport of Substances

In the previous chapters, we considered only phenomena which did not include any changes of the substances. Such changes can occur for two reasons. For one thing, the substances making up a body can undergo chemical reactions, leading to a new composition. Chemical reactions include changes of phase as well as the more obvious processes in which the molecular composition changes. Second, a body may change because substances are added or withdrawn. This is the case in transport processes, which are of two general types-the obvious bulk transport of matter, and the less visible phenomenon of diffusion.
Interprofessional education and practice guide: interprofessional team writing to promote dissemination of interprofessional education scholarship and products

Collaborations to develop, implement, evaluate, replicate, and write about interprofessional education (IPE) activities within and across institutions are wonderful opportunities to experience teamwork, team communication, ethics and values, and the roles and responsibilities of interprofessional team writing. Just as effective communication in interprofessional team-based care is essential for providing safe, high-quality health care, similar communication strategies are necessary to produce high-quality scholarship of IPE curricula and activities. Relationship and communication issues that affect health care teams' abilities to work together effectively (e.g., hierarchy, exclusion, assumptions, non-responsiveness, biases, stereotypes and poor hand-offs of information) can also occur in interprofessional team writing. Between 1970 and 2010, interprofessional practice research publications increased by 2293%. Although there has been tremendous growth in the IPE literature, especially of articles that require collaborative writing, there have not been any papers addressing the challenges of interprofessional team writing. As more teams collaborate to develop IPE, there is a need to establish principles and strategies for effective interprofessional team writing. In this education and practice guide, a cross-institutional team of faculty, staff, and graduate students who have collaborated on externally funded IPE grants, conferences, products, and workshops will share lessons learned for successfully collaborating in interprofessional team writing.
National Cancer Database Analysis of the effect of brachytherapy on overall survival in patients with base of tongue cancer.

Background We performed an analysis of the National Cancer Database (NCDB) to evaluate overall survival (OS) in patients with base of tongue (BOT) cancer treated with external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) combined with brachytherapy (BT). Methods The tongue NCDB Participant User File was used to obtain demographic and clinical patient data. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to determine OS. Significance was determined using univariable and multivariable Cox proportional hazards models. Results At 3 years, OS was 69.6%, 77.1%, and 63.7% for patients treated with EBRT (n = 27 954), EBRT + BT (n = 209), or BT alone (n = 154), respectively (P = .01). On multivariable analysis, the instantaneous hazard of death for patients receiving EBRT + BT was 25% (Hazard ratio [HR] = 0.75, 95% CI: 0.58-0.98) lower than patients receiving only EBRT (P = .03). Conclusions The addition of BT to EBRT in BOT cancer has an OS benefit.
Case Studies of Socio-Political Change in Some of the Developing Nations

The cases of: India, China, Venezuela, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Spain are discussed and analyzed, in terms of: the emergence of advanced capitalism, the new middle class, democratic or despotic cultural traditions, and specific historical peculiarities. The case of Spain is presented as a model for hope, where a few short years ago Spain seemed hopelessly anti-democratic.
The Hydrogenosome Is Born: In Memoriam Donald G. Lindmark

The first version of this multi-author work devoted to hydrogenosomes and mitosomes, younger cousins of the well-known mitochondria, was published 10 years ago (Tachezy 2008). Although Eduard, the hero of Goethe’s novel, lamented already in 1807 that one “had to relearn everything every five years,” the publication of a new edition, although not 5 but only 10 years later, still indicates a significant increase of our knowledge and understanding of these organelles.
Stable cycling of lithium-sulfur batteries by optimizing the cycle condition

Abstract Lithium-sulfur (Li–S) batteries suffer from poor utilization of active material and short cycle life due to the complicated multi-step reaction mechanisms. Herein, three conditional cycling methods, i.e. asymmetrical cycling, constant voltage (CV) discharge cycling, and partial cycling are designed in order to increase the cyclability of Li–S batteries. It is found that the solid deposition process that takes place during the lower plateau of discharge is the major limiting step for achieving high discharge capacity and cycle retention, and the cathode surface coverage can be deferred by applying an optimal discharge/charge rate and CV discharge cycling. The asymmetrical cycling renders a specific capacity of ca. 700 mAh g−1 after 200 cycles, 30% higher than that under symmetrical cycling, while applying a CV discharge cycling enables a full retention of target specific capacity of ca. 800 mAh g−1 over 50 cycles. The partial cycling with a low number of phase transformation steps and reduced surface coverage at the end of discharge/charge also enhances cyclability. This work paves the way for understanding and improving the cycling performance of Li–S batteries without increasing the cost of electrode design or changing the configuration of the cell.
A Review of the Literature on Safety Response Training

Thousands of children die each year as a result of unintentional injuries. Some of these deaths may be preventable. Given that there are different types of safety responses, a comprehensive review of the literature would provide information on important deficits and avenues for future research. The purpose of the present review was to evaluate the extant literature on procedures for teaching safety responses and provide suggestions and considerations for future research. Our review of the literature revealed that although many safety categories are well represented in the current literature, others still warrant investigation. Furthermore, there is a call for future researchers to provide a more systematic description of experimental procedures and participants in their papers to allow for future replications. Future research would also benefit from further evaluations into specific procedural modifications that will lead to better generalization of safety responses to naturalistic settings and long-term maintenance outcomes.
CANSEE: Customized Accelerator for Neural Signal Enhancement and Extraction from the Calcium Image in Real Time

Miniaturized fluorescent calcium imaging miniscope has become a prominent technique in monitoring the activity of a large population of neurons in vivo. However, existing calcium image processing algorithms are developed for off-line analysis, and their implementations on general-purpose processors are difficult to meet the real-time processing requirement under constrained energy budget for closed-loop applications. In this paper, we propose the CANSEE, a customized accelerator for neural signal enhancement and extraction from calcium image in real time. The accelerator can perform the motion correction, the calcium image enhancement, and the fluorescence tracing from up to 512 cells with less than 1-ms processing latency. We also designed the hardware that can detect new cells based on the long short-term memory (LSTM) inference. We implemented the accelerator on a Xilinx Ultra96 FPGA. The implementation achieves 15.8x speedup and over 2 orders of magnitude improvement in energy efficiency compared to the evaluation on the multi-core CPU.
Ureteral injuries in colorectal surgery and the impact of laparoscopic and robotic-assisted approaches

Ureteral injury is a feared complication in colorectal surgery that has been increasing over the past decade. Some have attributed this to an increased adoption of minimally invasive surgery (MIS), but the literature is hardly conclusive. In this study we aim to further assess the overall trend of ureteral injuries in colorectal surgery, and investigate propensity adjusted contributions from open and MIS to include robotic-assisted surgery. This is a retrospective analysis of colorectal surgeries from 2006 to 2016 using the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) database. Multivariable logistic regression was performed to identify predisposing and protective factors. Demographics, hospital factors, and case-mix differences for open and MIS were accounted for via propensity analysis. The NIS coding structure changed in 2015, which could introduce a potential source of incongruity in complication rates over time. As a result, all statistical analyses included only the first nine years of data, or were conducted before and after the change for comparison. Of 514,162 colorectal surgeries identified there were 1598 ureteral injuries (0.31%). Ureteral injuries were found to be increasing through 2015 (2.3/1000 vs 3.3/1000; p < 0.001) and through the coding transition to 2016 (4.8/1000; p < 0.001). This trend was entirely accounted for by injuries made during open surgery, with decreasing injury rates for MIS over time. Adjusted odds ratio (OR) for ureteral injury with all MIS vs. open cases was 0.81 (95% CI 0.70–0.93, p = 0.003) and for robotic-assisted surgery alone versus open cases was 0.50 (95% CI 0.33–0.77, p = 0.001). The incidence rate of ureteral injuries during open colorectal surgery is increasing over time, but have been stable or decreasing for MIS cases. These findings hold even after using propensity score analysis. More research is needed to further delineate the impact of MIS and robotic-assisted surgery on ureteral injuries.
A genotype-phenotype-fitness map reveals local modularity and global pleiotropy of adaptation

Building a genotype-phenotype-fitness map of adaptation is a central goal in evolutionary biology. It is notoriously difficult even when the adaptive mutations are known because it is hard to enumerate which phenotypes make these mutations adaptive. We address this problem by first quantifying how the fitness of hundreds of adaptive yeast mutants responds to subtle environmental shifts and then modeling the number of phenotypes they must collectively influence by decomposing these patterns of fitness variation. We find that a small number of phenotypes predicts fitness of the adaptive mutations near their original glucose-limited evolution condition. Importantly, phenotypes that matter little to fitness at or near the evolution condition can matter strongly in distant environments. This suggests that adaptive mutations are locally modular - affecting a small number of phenotypes that matter to fitness in the environment where they evolved - yet globally pleiotropic - affecting additional phenotypes that may reduce or improve fitness in new environments.
Debt Relief Under the HIPC Initiative: Context and Outlook for Debt Sustainability and Resource Flow

This paper discusses the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative in the perspective of sizable historical debt relief and large positive net resource flows to HIPCs. It argues that, by substantially reducing HIPCs' debt stocks and debt service payments, the Initiative provides a solid basis for debt sustainability and room for increased social spending. For poverty reduction, HIPC relief is important but broader international support is needed. The paper maintains that, as experience has shown, external support can be effective only if it reinforces sound policies implemented by HIPCs themselves. Thus, debt relief and official development assistance are critical as help for self-help.
Sex Differences in Body Composition and Fitness Scores in Military Reserve Officers' Training Corps Cadets.

Introduction The cadets in the U.S. Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) consist of students from varied backgrounds. As part of collegiate ROTC programs, cadets must pass fitness tests and adhere to body composition standards in addition to completing their education. The previous fitness test of record was the Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT), but it was recently changed to the Army Combat Fitness Test (ACFT) to better test soldiers for combat capabilities. As part of the standardized scoring, the ACFT is no longer separated by sex or age as in the APFT, but rather by job duty. The purpose of this study was to characterize the modern ROTC cadet based on body composition measures and APFT and ACFT scores and then determine how those factors are related. Materials and methods We calculated body mass index (BMI), fat mass, fat-free mass (FFM), fat-free mass index (FFMI), and fat mass index (FMI) (n = 68, 42 males, 26 females). We used Pearson correlations to compare the scores to body composition assessments and Student's t-tests to determine if there were differences between sexes. We hypothesized that those with higher FFM and FFMI will have a higher passing rate on the ACFT and that males would perform better on the ACFT because of having more FFM. Results We found that cadets, regardless of sex, were borderline overweight using BMI standards and that BMI did not correlate with any fitness tests. When comparing sexes, both males and females had high passing rates on the APFT, but females struggled to pass the ACFT mostly because of the leg tuck. We also found that ACFT scores were strongly correlated with FFM and FFMI, yet no body composition measures were correlated with APFT scores. Conclusions It is clear from our data that structured training programs and nutrition guidance are needed with an emphasis on changing body composition to increase lean mass and strength to increase the performance of ROTC cadets on the ACFT.
Coherent, Inc.: Advanced components for laser solutions in manufacturing, medical, and defense

Coherent delivers superior component products ranging from laser diodes to custom optics to specialty optical fibers and advanced optical fiber assemblies that meet your application requirements. In this video, Timothy McComb, Business Development Manager Components at Coherent Inc. presents our new products in the areas of multi kW and ultrafast fibers as well as fiber-coupled single-emitter diode laser pump modules.
Preadmission predictors of severe COVID-19 in patients with diabetes mellitus.

Abstract Objective To explore predictors of severe COVID-19 disease in patients with diabetes hospitalized for COVID-19. Methods This is a retrospective observational study of adults with diabetes admitted for COVID-19. Bivariate tests and multivariable Cox regression were used to identify risk factors for severe COVID-19, defined as a composite endpoint of intensive care unit admission/intubation or in-hospital death. Results In 1134 patients with diabetes admitted for COVID-19, more severe disease was associated with older age (HR 1.02, p Conclusions Age, male sex, Asian race, and obesity were associated with increased risk of severe COVID-19 disease in adults with type 2 diabetes hospitalized for COVID-19. Summary In patients with type 2 diabetes hospitalized for COVID-19 disease, we observed that age, male sex, Asian race, and obesity predicted severe COVID-19 outcomes of intensive care unit admission, intubation, or in-hospital death. The risk conferred by obesity increased with worsening obesity. Outpatient diabetes medications were not observed to be significant predictors of study outcomes.
Predicting thermal injury patient outcomes in a Tertiary-Care Burn Centre, Pakistan

Objectives: To explore candidate parameters for their ability to predict survival and length of hospital stay (LOS) in thermal burns patients, to prepare multivariate predictive models for these two outcomes, and to compare performance of native models to other models. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was undertaken based on record review. Data was extracted from files of patients admitted to a tertiary-care burn centre in Lahore, Pakistan from January 1, 2020 to October 31, 2020. Univariate preselection was used to prepare multivariate logistic regression models for each outcome of interest (survival and LOS). Multivariate models were tested and compared to other models. Results: Increasing TBSA of burn was positively associated with reduced survival and prolonged length of stay. Advancing age and full-thickness burns independently predicted decreased survival. Burn etiology showed prognostic value: petrol-flame burns predicted decreased survival and prolonged LOS; scald was associated with improved survival-odds and shorter LOS. The Survival-model consisted of (1) Baux score, (2) TBSA>40% and (3) serum albumin <3.5g/dl (AUC=0.968, Nagelkerke R^2=0.797). The LOS-model consisted of (1) TBSA^2 and (2) serum albumin concentration (AUC= 0.832, Nagelkerke R^2 =0.408). In tests of discrimination and calibration, native models prepared for survival and LOS outcomes outperformed other models applicable to our dataset. Conclusion: Data from a South Asian burn center has been used to explore factors influencing prognosis for their utility in predictive models for survival and the duration of hospital stay. The significant prognostic roles of TBSA, age, inhalational injury, burn-depth, etiology of burn, anatomic site of burn, hypoalbuminemia and other biochemical parameters were observed. These tools hold significance in guiding healthcare policy and in communications with patients and their families.
Cyber Forensics and Incident Response

Listening to the news on a daily basis suggests that it is a matter of when rather than if any given computing device will be compromised. What really matters is how fast one responds to the compromise to mitigate loss and to prevent future incidents. To be able to react with speed, proper plans and procedures need to be implemented beforehand, and tested on a regular basis for preparedness. Part of the response process is to investigate and understand the nature of the compromise. Cyber forensics is an integral part of incident response that fills this role. It is a form of forensic science whose aim is to identify, preserve, recover, analyze and present facts and opinions regarding evidence stored on or transferred between digital devices. This chapter discusses the steps and methods to respond to incidents and conduct cyber forensics investigations. We will mainly focus on Windows systems as target systems and utilize open- source or freeware tools for discovery and analysis.
DOC doldrums: A response to the documents librarians' manifesto

Abstract The author's response to the “Librarians' Manifesto ” views the manifesto as representative of an anachronistic mindset that has hampered the progress in the field of government information librarianship. The depository library program is seen to be largely a collection entitlement program for academic libraries, while its effectiveness in actually providing the average citizen with government information is plagued by inefficiencies and framed with rhetorical delusion. The librarians are seen as tenaciously holding to a paper paradigm in an increasingly electronic environment. Lip service is paid to the electronic environment while action and thought is in the paper environment.
Observations of Near-Bottom Currents with Low-Cost SeaHorse Tilt Current Meters

Abstract : The SeaHorse TCM is a low-cost, easy to use, robust current meter based on the drag principle. Use of a large number of low-cost instruments would result in a new high spatial resolution view of the processes and to improve the ocean state prediction. The ultimate goal is to improve this technology by including expendable option with automatic data relay after deployment and to develop a global scale program of near-bottom current observations. The objectives are to improve the design of the instrument, evaluate its performance in comparison with other standard current meters, accumulate experience in its deployment/recovery/operation and to promote the use of such an instrument in various applications. We proposed to evaluate this instrument (which utilizes the hydrodynamic drag principle; Hoerner, 1965) in a number of settings in comparison with standard oceanographic equipment, to demonstrate the instrument's capabilities and to analyze its performance. Specifically, several organizations and researches were identified that are willing to try these instruments or assist in their evaluations. PI is responsible for assembling and modifying the instruments and required moorings, will participate in deployment/recovery and will analyze the observational data.
Sure Fire Programming: a general framework for independent projects in Computer Science

Managing independent projects in Computer Science is challenging, particularly large scale projects typical of Capstone courses. At Pacific University, we've developed the general Sure Fire Programming framework which focuses on: 1) S tructured deadlines, 2) U nique topics, 3) R unning code E arly, 4) F requent system I ntegration and testing, and 5) regular RE ports and documentation. The framework is implemented with 5 components: 1) Topic Selection, 2) Project Planning, 3) Implementation, 4) Final Testing and 5) Technical Communication. This framework has been used successfully at Pacific University for managing the Senior Capstone projects for 2 years.
Proteins Specified by Herpes Simplex Virus IX. Contiguity of Host and Viral Proteins in the Plasma Membrane of Infected Cells

Artificial mixtures of plasma membrane vesicles produced by microcavitation from infected and uninfected cells band at the same density on isopycnic centrifugation in sucrose density gradient. However, after reaction with antiviral antibody, the density of the infected cell plasma membrane vesicles increases, and the infected and uninfected cell membranes are quantitatively separable on isopycnic centrifugation. Plasma membrane vesicles prepared from cells doubly labeled before and after infection with radioactive amino acids and reacted with antibody banded at a high density. Polyacrylamide gel electropherograms show that the vesicles reacted with antibody consist of both host- and virus-specific membrane proteins. Microcavitation does not disrupt viral envelopes since infectivity is not affected by this procedure. We conclude that viral and cellular proteins in the plasma membrane preparations are contiguous. Images
The Media’s Presentation of The Second Chance Act: Funding for Reentry Following Prison

The US prison system has multiplied by four since 1980; each year about 730,000 people enter state and federal prisons and 700,000 people exit. As a result of this expansion, there is a massive increase of formerly incarcerated people reentering local communities every year. Budget cuts in prison programs and in local government’s social services are causing these individuals to be less educated and less prepared for reintegration; communities are also ill prepared to absorb them. The Second Chance Act was signed into law by President Bush on April 9, 2008. It authorized a pool of about $393m (renewed in 2009 and 2013) to government agencies and nonprofit community organizations to provide services to the formerly incarcerated following their release from prison or jail. How the media presents reentry and the Second Chance Act and how that depiction affects public perception of the issue requires further examination. Newspaper articles in the LexisNexis Academic database are the basis for this content analysis of print news media coverage of the Second Chance Act. Media framing is important to examine as public attitudes are influenced by newspaper articles, and those attitudes influence government policy.
Analysis of a Bacillus subtilis Proteinase Mutant

A Bacillus subtilis mutant having a phenotype manifesting reduced extracellular proteolytic activity was investigated. An extracellular protein was isolated and shown by fingerprint analysis to be a fragment of the wild-type enzyme. By using previously established molecular weights for the wild-type enzyme (2.9 × 10 4 ) and the two polypeptide chains derived from it (1.4 × 10 4 each), with the amino acid analysis and fingerprints of both wild-type and mutant proteins, a molecular weight of 1.57 × 10 4 was assigned to the mutant protein. 32 P-diisopropylphosphate labeling of the mutant protein showed only 1 in 53 molecules to be functional. Thin-layer chromatography on Sephadex G-75 demonstrated that the active molecules were separable from the bulk of the isolated protein and had the same mobility as the wild-type enzyme. Fingerprints of tryptic digests of 32 P-diisopropylphosphate-labeled wild-type and mutant proteins showed that the labeled peptides had identical characteristics. Images
Rules in computationalism and connectionism

Connectionist and computationalist theories are contrasted in many ways in the literature. Extremely common among these contrasts are distinctions that in various ways involve rules. For example, connectionist models are not supposed to use explicit rules where computationalist models do. Connectionist models are said to use soft rules, or soft constraints, where computationalist models do not. The authors believe that, while the distinctions that have been offered in the literature make sense, they do not serve to contrast computationalist models as a class from connectionist models as a class. In other words, for each of the distinctions that has been offered, they believe there to exist both computationalist and connectionist models that fall on either side of the distinctions. Thus, both connectionist and computationalist models may be said to use explicit rules, to use soft rules, and so forth. >
Reversible model of RNA toxicity and cardiac conduction defects in myotonic dystrophy

Myotonic dystrophy (DM1), the most common muscular dystrophy in adults, is caused by an expanded (CTG)n tract in the 3' UTR of the gene encoding myotonic dystrophy protein kinase (DMPK), which results in nuclear entrapment of the 'toxic' mutant RNA and interacting RNA-binding proteins (such as MBNL1) in ribonuclear inclusions. It is unclear if therapy aimed at eliminating the toxin would be beneficial. To address this, we generated transgenic mice expressing the DMPK 3' UTR as part of an inducible RNA transcript encoding green fluorescent protein (GFP). We were surprised to find that mice overexpressing a normal DMPK 3' UTR mRNA reproduced cardinal features of myotonic dystrophy, including myotonia, cardiac conduction abnormalities, histopathology and RNA splicing defects in the absence of detectable nuclear inclusions. However, we observed increased levels of CUG-binding protein (CUG-BP1) in skeletal muscle, as seen in individuals with DM1. Notably, these effects were reversible in both mature skeletal and cardiac muscles by silencing transgene expression. These results represent the first in vivo proof of principle for a therapeutic strategy for treatment of myotonic dystrophy by ablating or silencing expression of the toxic RNA molecules.
A Vector Model for Describing and Comparing Profiles

This paper develops and tests an algorithm for computing indices for scoring and comparing multidimensional psychometric profiles. A Euclidean distance, d, derived from the Pythagorean theorem, is generally preferred over other indices of profile similarity. However, d assumes orthogonal profile dimensions. A model, which relaxes the orthogonality assumption, is offered. The model calculates a distance vector that comprises elevation, scatter and shape to describe a profile. It also operationalizes a new concept, the angular orientation of a profile. In addition, it calculates two indices of profile similarity: a distance vector and a measure of angular alignment. A brief example follows the model.
Effects of estrogen on gene expression in rooster liver.

Abstract The effects of estrogen on RNA sequence complexity and sequence frequency were studied in rooster liver. Both control and estrogen-treated liver contained total RNA sequence diversity of approximately 4.2 × 10 7 nucleotides. Two components were found in the reaction of chicken liver or brain RNA with unique DNA: RNA species present at high concentration and RNA species about 100-fold less abundant. Approximately 7 × 10 6 nucleotides of RNA sequence complexity were present at high concentration in estrogen-treated liver but not at high concentration in control liver.
On the preparation and binding characteristics of Cibacron blue-glycerolpropyl-glass.

Abstract The dye Cibacron blue, which has a binding affinity for the ‘dinucleotide fold’ in enzymes using dinucleotide coenzymes, was covalenty immobilized on glycerolpropyl-glass. Derivatives of controlled-pore glass beads (1489 A pore diam.; 80/120 mesh) were formed to give a glycerol surface phase by treatment with γ-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane. The method of Taylor and Swaisgood (Biotechnol. Bioeng. 23 (1981) 1349–1363) was used to determine simultaneously the partition coefficient and the dissociation constant for the affinity ligand using heart lactate dehydrogenase. Nonspecific partitioning of the enzyme in the glycerolpropyl-matrix did not occur, thus K = 1. The dissociation constant for binding of the enzyme to the immobilized ligand was 2.53 μM, which is in excellent agreement with that determined for interaction with the soluble ligand.
Identification of a Novel Spliceoform of Inositol Polyphosphate 4-Phosphatase Type Iα Expressed in Human Platelets: Structure of Human Inositol Polyphosphate 4-Phosphatase Type I Gene

Inositol polyphosphate 4-phosphatases (IP4Ps) are enzymes involved in the regulation of phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) signaling. IP4Ps catalyze the hydrolysis of the D-4 position phosphoester of the PI3K generated lipid second messenger, phosphatidylinositol 3,4-bisphosphate. Western blot analysis detected the expression of a novel 110 kDa form of IP4P type Ialpha in mouse spleen, heart, lung, and uterus. In addition, the 110 kDa form of IP4P type Ialpha was found to be the major form of this enzyme expressed in human platelets, MEG-01 megakaryocytes and Jurkat T-cells. RT-PCR analysis of MEG-01 megakaryocytes and Jurkat T-cells indicates that the 110-kDa form of IP4P Ialpha is derived from an alternatively spliced mRNA that encodes an additional internal domain of 40 amino acids not present in the two previously described brain IP4P Ialpha spliceoforms. The predicted molecular mass of this spliceoform is 109,968 Da, consistent with its apparent molecular mass estimated by Western blot analysis. The novel domain is proline rich and contains a PEST sequence characteristic of proteins that are rapidly degraded by the calpain family of proteases. Analysis of genomic DNA sequence indicates that the IP4P type I gene consists of 25 exons and that this novel spliceoform is obtained as a result of an unusual type of differential splicing involving the use of an alternative 5'-GU donor splice site during the excision of intron 15. In addition, we show that all three known spliceoforms of IP4P Ialpha result from alternative splicing involving exon 15 and 16 indicating that structural variability in this region of the enzyme may be important for its function.
Effects of working, heat treatment, and aging on microstructural evolution and crystallographic texture of α, α′, α″ and β phases in Ti–6Al–4V wire

Abstract Crystallographic texture was measured on Ti–6Al–4V wire at several stages of a process similar to that used in producing titanium products. As-received wire had a moderately strong fiber texture with prism plane normals aligned with the longitudinal wire axis. Wire specimens were cold worked by extrusion, solution heat-treated in the α + β phase field, water quenched, and then aged. Extrusion strengthened the as-received texture. After solutionization and quenching, a secondary fiber with basal plane normals aligned with the wire axis emerged at the expense of the initial texture, indicating that a strongly preferred variant selection occurred during quenching. After artificial aging, α″ and β phases were present, but subsequent natural aging for a year led to elimination of α″ and a reduction in the amount of the β phase. The effect of processing history on the orientations of α, α′, α″, and β (focusing particularly on the effect of extrusion and solutionization time) is discussed in the context of the known physical metallurgy of titanium alloys. The selection of preferred variants in the α → β → α transformation cycles is discussed in relation to shears imposed in the β phase due to differential thermal expansion between misoriented α regions, causing 90° rotations by variant selection.