cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Substance Abuse Among Inner‐City Hispanic Women: Exploring Resiliency

OBJECTIVE To identify factors that prevent drug abuse among young Hispanic women living in inner cities and to acquire ideas for preventive strategies. DESIGN Qualitative interviews of focus group participants to explore perceptions about drug use. SETTING An urban location adjacent to a neighborhood health clinic. PARTICIPANTS Twenty-four young Hispanic women recruited from an inner-city prenatal clinic. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Identification of themes that trigger or deter drug use. Acquisition of preliminary knowledge required for further development of data collection instruments and design of interventions for use with inner-city Hispanic women. RESULTS Identified six themes through qualitative data analysis of interview narratives. CONCLUSIONS Compared themes with existing theoretical models and described implications for nursing practice.
Consumer protection programs in food cooperatives.

Food cooperatives have played a vanguard role in consumer protection through (a) information and education, (b) selective merchandising and boycotts, and (c) political lobbying. While education and selective merchandising benefit primarily their own membership, the political efforts have benefited all consumers.
Temperature and humidity aging of poly(p-phenylene-2,6-benzobisoxazole) fibers: Chemical and physical characterization

In recent years, poly(p-phenylene-2,6-benzobisoxazole) (PBO) fibers have become prominent in high strength applications such as body armor, ropes and cables, and recreational equipment. The objectives of this study were to expose woven PBO body armor panels to elevated temperature and moisture, and to analyze the chemical, morphological and mechanical changes in PBO yarns extracted from the panels. A 30% decrease in yarn tensile strength, which was correlated to changes in the infrared peak absorbance of key functional groups in the PBO structure, was observed during the 26 week elevated temperature/elevated moisture aging period. Substantial changes in chemical structure were observed via infrared spectroscopy, as well as changes in polymer morphology using microscopy and neutron scattering. When the panels were removed to an ultra-dry environment for storage for 47 weeks, no further decreases in tensile strength degradation were observed. In a follow-on study, fibers were sealed in argon-filled glass tubes and exposed to elevated temperature; less than a 4% decrease in tensile strength was observed after 30 weeks, demonstrating that moisture is a key factor in the degradation of these fibers.
Comparison of models for the impedance of a probe in a parallel plate waveguide and a microstrip patch

Four different models for the input impedance of a cylindrical coaxial-fed probe of radius a in an infinite parallel plate waveguide of height h are compared. These models include a uniform current model, a cosine current model, a gap voltage source model, and a coaxial frill model. Numerical HFFS simulation data is also compared with the results of these models in order to draw reliable conclusions about the accuracy of these models as a function of the substrate thickness. As an extension of these results, a simple CAD formula for the probe inductance of a coaxial feed probe for a rectangular microstrip patch antenna is also introduced.
Painful pleasures: Sacrifice, consent, and the resignification of BDSM symbolism in "The Story of O" and "The Story of Obi"

This paper examines slash fan fiction's contributions to BDSM discourses and symbolism. BDSM is culturally delegitimated as a sexual pathology, and protest against it highlights broad concerns about sexual consent within patriarchy while also misdirecting unease about sexual coercion onto the ritualized and eroticized exchange of power rather than social systems of domination. Contrasting the BDSM classic The Story of O with The Story of Obi , a Star Wars–based slash rewrite, facilitates a conceptual separation between erotic domination and the historical and cultural contexts that give shape to individual enunciations of sexualized power exchange, particularly by shifting from a psychoanalytic paradigm to consideration of chivalric "suffering for love." By calling upon the extensive shared knowledge of fan readers and the symbolism attached to the sexual conjunction of two same-sexed bodies, authors of slash fan fiction produce a constantly proliferating array of BDSM representations that challenge the speciation of erotic domination as an inherently destructive, unidirectional deadlock. They thus create unique narrative and semiotic tools for rethinking erotic uses of power.
Consideration of risk and reward in balancing technology portfolios

When managing technology portfolios like the Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Program, NASA makes a considerable effort to gauge the risk and cost as guidance factors for balancing a program. Metrics like the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) are used to determine the maturity of a given technology and thereby provide an assessment of the required steps and funding needed to infuse the technology. Analysis of funded SBIR projects indicates that a newly developed metric described in this paper that can be a proxy for “benefit to NASA” shows strong correlation to receiving Phase II awards. We examine this correlation to determine which additional metrics might better assess the potential programmatic reward for investing in a given technology. By examining a pool of proposals with high technical merit that are initially recommended for funding, we have developed a metric known as the “Technology Impact” that seems to have a good correlation with proposals selected for award. This reward potential or impact of investing in a new technology is divided into two factors. The first is the value of the missions or programs impacted. For NASA the value of all funds associated with the creation of or the contribution to the program is the “market”. Depending on the specific technology the size of the market could be a component, an instrument, a service or even an entire flight mission. The second factor is the leverage a new technology will have on the value of the impacted missions. As TRL acts as a proxy for risk, we propose an analogous proxy for reward called the Technology Leverage Factor (TLF) as a measure of the potential leverage a technology can have for creating the market. TLF is a measure that relates to the market contribution of the new technology. This can range from a 1% contribution for a component, a 10% contribution for an instrument, to a 100% contribution for a mission enabling technology. We use the market size estimate and TLF to demonstrate how these can be used to create risk reward metrics to be used in conjunction with TRL for technology portfolio management.
Development and Psychometric Properties of the Yoga Self-Efficacy Scale (YSES)

Yoga is a behavioral practice that uses physical movement, breathing, and meditation to improve health and promote personal transformation. Ancient yoga philosophy proposed that an individual’s confidence about yoga, a concept similar to self-efficacy, will affect the likelihood of improved health from yoga practice. The purpose of this study was to develop and examine the psychometric properties of a self-efficacy measure for yoga practice (the Yoga Self-Efficacy Scale; YSES). Yoga practitioners were recruited to evaluate the psychometric properties of YSES via a secure online survey. We collected data on additional measures to further examine construct validity. After two weeks, participants were invited to complete YSES items again to assess test-retest reliability. A majority of participants (N = 309) were White (85 %), female (82 %), and yoga instructors (56 %). The 12-item YSES is unidimensional with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.93. Test-retest reliability is r = 0.79 (n = 170). YSES scores are positively correlated with health competence, health-related quality of life, and years practicing yoga, supporting construct validity. Also, yoga teachers scored significantly higher on the YSES than non-teachers (p < 0.001). Non-significant relationships with education, income and sex supported discriminant validity. YSES maintained internal consistency and construct validity for all yoga styles surveyed. YSES is a reliable and valid measure of self-efficacy for yoga practice that may provide insight into barriers to adopting and maintaining yoga as a health behavior.
Microbiology: Social Suicide for a Good Cause

Extracellular DNA is an important component of the biofilm matrix. Now, Pseudomonas aeruginosa is shown to control autolysis through the production of HQNO, a quorum-sensing-regulated respiratory poison. Thus, HQNO-driven autolysis links programmed cell death with quorum sensing and biofilm formation.
A Sucrose-Enriched Diet Promotes Tumorigenesis in Mammary Gland in Part through the 12-Lipoxygenase Pathway

Epidemiologic studies have shown that dietary sugar intake has a significant impact on the development of breast cancer. One proposed mechanism for how sugar impacts cancer development involves inflammation. In the current study, we investigated the impact of dietary sugar on mammary gland tumor development in multiple mouse models, along with mechanisms that may be involved. We found that sucrose intake in mice comparable with levels of Western diets led to increased tumor growth and metastasis, when compared with a nonsugar starch diet. This effect was ascribed in part to increased expression of 12-lipoxygenase (12-LOX) and its arachidonate metabolite 12-hydroxy-5Z,8Z,10E,14Z-eicosatetraenoic acid (12-HETE). We determined that fructose derived from the sucrose was responsible for facilitating lung metastasis and 12-HETE production in breast tumors. Overall, our data suggested that dietary sugar induces 12-LOX signaling to increase risks of breast cancer development and metastasis.
History of medical specialty interest assessment

AbstractMedical specialties require decidedly different abilities, skills, and talents; which results in divergent experiences, lifestyles, skill sets, and income levels. To help medical students select their preferred medical specialty and alleviate shortages in medical specialty staffing, US medical schools and associations invest time and money in decision-making resources, such as career-specific interest inventories. Strong and Tucker failed in their attempt to create a medical specialty interest assessment. Gough created the Medical Specialty Preference Scales; however, the instrument failed to achieve adequate reliability and validity. Zimney created the Medical Specialty Preference Inventory (MSPI), which achieved reliability and validity warranting use and continued development. Significant improvements and changes have been made to improve the predictive hit rates achieved by the MSPI. The Medical Specialty Preference Inventory-revised (MSPI-R) currently achieves predictive hit rates between 33 ...
Nanoindentation of the Triclinic Molecular Crystal 1,3,5-Triamino-2,4,6-trinitrobenzene: A Molecular Dynamics Study

Nanoindentation of the insensitive energetic molecular crystal 1,3,5-triamino-2,4,6-trinitrobenzene (TATB) was studied using constant-temperature and constant-energy molecular dynamics simulations. Displacement-controlled indentations at constant velocity were performed using a rigid, spherical indenter on the three principal crystallographic planes, (100), (010), and (001). The force–displacement curve for the (001) (basal) plane exhibits a distinct elastic region in agreement with the analytical solution for indentation of an anisotropic half-space by a parabola of revolution. Stiffening precedes inelastic deformation, and the elastic–inelastic transition occurs with kinking and delamination of the layered basal planes and significant pile-up. The predicted nanoindentation hardness on the basal plane is 1.02 ± 0.09 GPa. Nanoindentation on the (100) and (010) (nonbasal) planes yields a non-Hertzian response; this is attributed to an effective “softening” due to elastic bending of the molecular layers. Si...
Confirmatory evidence for a multidimensional model of racial-ethnic socialization for transracially adoptive families.

OBJECTIVES The purpose of the current study is to test a recently established model of racial-ethnic socialization (Langrehr, 2014) among 2 samples of White transracially adoptive parents and to assess whether the proposed model functions similarly after accounting for adopted child race. METHOD Based on a modified version of the Racial Bias Preparation Scale (Fisher, Wallace, & Fenton, 2000), confirmatory factor analysis was used to test the 3-factor model (i.e., Prejudice Awareness, Racial-Ethnic Pride, and Egalitarianism) among 172 White transracially adoptive parents with Asian children (Mage = 45.72) and 140 White transracially adoptive parents with Black children (Mage = 42.62). In addition, multigroup invariance testing was used to assess whether the proposed model functioned similarly across the 2 groups of parents. RESULTS Results indicate that the proposed 3-factor model demonstrated partial measurement invariance such that the subconstruct of Egalitarianism functioned similarly across groups, whereas Racial-Ethnic Pride and Prejudice Awareness were deemed noninvariant. CONCLUSIONS Findings are intended to help expand the concept of racial-ethnic socialization for transracially adoptive families and address the degree to which current research on racial-ethnic socialization can be applied to different transracially adoptive families. Results are intended to highlight ways that various social-cultural dimensions of family can culminate into different socialization experiences. (PsycINFO Database Record
Culiseta Melanura (Diptera: Culicidae): Population Structure and Nectar Feeding in a Freshwater Swamp and Surrounding Areas in Southeastern Massachusetts, USA

The population structure and nectar feeding patterns of the mosquito Culiseta melanura were studied in and around a freshwater swamp in the EEE virus enzootic areas of southeastern Massachusetts, USA. During the summer of 1978, resting boxes were used to collect 12,994 female Cs. melanura , 1747 of which were dissected for parity and tested for the presence of plant nectar by the anthrone test for fructose. Large numbers of parous and nulliparous females were present at the perimeter of the swamp habitats and in the upland areas up to 4.8 km from the swamps. Population density fluctuations and seasonal parity rates suggested 4 generations or emergences over the course of the season. Population age structures varied in the 2 habitat types. Blood-engorged and gravid females were more prevalent at the swamp perimeter and nulliparous females were more prevalent outside the swamp. Parous females were equally prevalent in both habitats. Parity rate averaged 23.7% for the season, peaked in mid-summer at 40–45%, and was used to calculate a daily survival probability ranging from 0.749 to 0.814 during the study. Nectar feeding at the swamp perimeter differed between population components; parous females were positive for nectar more frequently than nulliparous females, and both were positive more frequently than gravid females. Nectar feeding outside the swamp did not vary between population components. Overall, the percentage of mosquitoes positive for nectar was higher at the perimeter than outside the swamp. Gravid females contained nectar throughout the egg maturation process. Results are discussed with reference to population dispersal, behavior of mosquitoes in various physiological states, and the EEE virus cycle.
Engineered Injection and Extraction for In Situ Remediation of Sorbing Contaminants in Aquifers

Engineered injection and extraction (EIE) is a new strategy for in situ remediation of contaminated groundwater. With engineered injection and extraction, a treatment solution that reacts with the contaminant is injected into the contaminated aquifer, and a series of injections and extractions of clean water are performed in nearby wells to promote the spreading of the treatment solution throughout the contaminated area. Numerical simulations have shown that EIE leads to enhanced degradation of nonsorbing aqueous contaminants as compared to standard approaches of in situ remediation. Sorbing contaminants pose additional challenges to remediation of contaminated aquifers. In this work, we investigate effective EIE sequences for enhancing degradation of sorbing contaminants. In the EIE system, the non-sorbing treatment solution and the sorbing contaminant are advected at different rates, so the effective EIE sequence for sorbing contaminants is different than the effective sequence for non-sorbing aqueous contaminants. The appropriate EIE sequence depends on the sorption properties and the degradation reaction rate. Using numerical simulations, we show that EIE sequences can be designed to enhance degradation of sorbing contaminants as compared to standard in situ remediation approaches.
Sphincterotomy failure in neurogenic bladder disease.

AbstractAmong 60 spinal cord injury patients who underwent external urethral 45 experienced success and 15 failed. Failure was established when symptomatic urinary tract infections and high vesical residuals persisted. Urodynamic findings demonstrated detrusor areflexia in 10 patients (66 per cent), detrusor-sphincter dyssynergia in 2 (13.2 per cent), detrusor hyperreflexia with unsustained bladder contractions in 1 (6.6 per cent), and detrusor hyperreflexia and bladder neck obstruction in 2 (13.2 per cent). Among these failures poor detrusor contractility predominated. Detrusor-sphincter dyssynergia may indicate an inadequate surgical relief of obstruction. Bladder neck obstruction may indicate that a bladder neck incision should be considered when an external sphincterotomy is performed.
The Invisible Hand of Peace: Liberal International Relations Theory on War

The expansion of individual liberty promotes peace between states by limiting governmental abuses of political authority, particularly manipulations of external threat for domestic political gain. This classical insight has served as the foundation for liberal international relations theory, including the contemporary democratic peace research program. According to this line of reasoning, governments often wage war for particularistic or selfish reasons that undermine the broader welfare of society while simultaneously fortifying the domestic political status of the governing elite. To prevent war, society needs mechanisms such as elections to constrain and punish political leaders who would pursue these selfish goals. For example, the limited fear of domestic punishment allows autocratic regimes to enter into more wars because they can do so while holding onto power at home. The presence of democratic elections limits war by empowering citizens, who bear its real costs, to replace political leaders that pursue aggressive foreign policies. This chapter builds on this central insight in two ways. First, it examines why an expanded range of domestic institutions capable of promoting liberty should be integrated in the liberal peace research program. Political scientists have traditionally focused on “political” institutions as critical sources of individual liberty. Although competitive elections expand political participation and force governments to be more responsive to the demands of its citizens, state and society interact in multiple institutional settings outside of elections. The domestic institutions shaping the allocation of resources within an economy also shape the capacity of governments to control individual choice.
Permeability and Viability of Baylisascaris procyonis Eggs in Southern Texas Soils

Abstract Baylisascaris procyonis is a nematode whose definitive host is the raccoon (Procyon lotor). Adult parasites are not particularly pathogenic to raccoons; however, larvae in intermediate hosts can cause visceral, ocular, and neural larva migrans. Humans serve as dead-end hosts, and pathological responses are similar to those found in infected intermediate hosts. Infected raccoons expose intermediate hosts through their feces, which can contain millions of B. procyonis eggs. Our objective was to determine how the quantity and viability of B. procyonis eggs in soil changed over time within different soil texture, moisture, and sun exposure. To examine egg survival and movement through soil we placed 100 B. procyonis eggs on 100 squares in 48 boxes representing a full factorial treatment of soil texture, moisture, and sun level. We monitored egg percolation and survival for 2 yr, removing (at 0, 1, 3, 6, 12, 18, and 24 mo) 5 squares from each box and counting the number of viable eggs at each depth in...
Evaluation of library preparation methods for Illumina next generation sequencing of small amounts of DNA from foodborne parasites

Illumina library preparation methods for ultra-low input amounts were compared using genomic DNA from two foodborne parasites (Angiostrongylus cantonensis and Cyclospora cayetanensis) as examples. The Ovation Ultralow method resulted in libraries with the highest concentration and produced quality sequencing data, even when the input DNA was in the picogram range.
Importance of Customer Satisfaction in a Community Bank

It is sometimes argued that bigger is better. However, that is not always the case. Smaller, community banks are the lifeline of the towns that span the country. Community banks, where a customer is considered a 'human being', understand their local target market better than their larger counterparts, where the customer is just a 'number'. Moreover, the image of the larger banks has been considerably tarnished because of the recent economic downturn. This research can also help community banks compete with larger banks in niche service areas. In order to investigate whether the bank's customers 1 were satisfied with the bank's products and with the image of the bank 2 felt welcome and 3 had any concerns about the bank's financial position during difficult economic times, the author found that customer responses are mixed on these issues. Interesting implications and ideas for further research also emanate from the current study.
Nationalists Who Feared the Nation: Adriatic Multi-Nationalism in Habsburg Dalmatia, Trieste, and Venice

We can often learn as much from political movements that failed as from those that achieved their goals. Nationalists Who Feared the Nation looks at one such frustrated movement: a group of community leaders and writers in Venice, Trieste, and Dalmatia during the 1830s, 40s, and 50s who proposed the creation of a multinational zone surrounding the Adriatic Sea. At the time, the lands of the Adriatic formed a maritime community whose people spoke different languages and practiced different faiths but identified themselves as belonging to a single region of the Hapsburg Empire. While these activists hoped that nationhood could be used to strengthen cultural bonds, they also feared nationalism's homogenizing effects and its potential for violence. This book demonstrates that not all nationalisms attempted to create homogeneous, single-language, -religion, or -ethnicity nations. Moreover, in treating the Adriatic lands as one unit, this book serves as a correction to "national" histories that impose our modern view of nationhood on what was a multinational region.
Static Stability Analysis of a Floating Rectangular Prism

This paper examines the static stability of a floating rectangular prism. A nonlinear model is developed to determine the stability of the upright and tilted equilibria positions as a function of the vertical location of the prism’s center of mass. These equilibria positions are defined by an angle of rotation and a vertical position where rotational motion is restricted to a two dimensional plane. Numerical investigations are conducted using path following continuation methods to determine equilibria solutions and evaluate stability. Bifurcation diagrams are generated that illustrate the stability of the equilibrium positions as a function of the vertical location of the center of mass. The bifurcation diagrams show complex stability behavior with many coexisting solutions.Copyright © 2016 by ASME
Epigenomics of human CD8 T cell differentiation and aging.

The efficacy of the adaptive immune response declines dramatically with age, but the cell-intrinsic mechanisms driving immune aging in humans remain poorly understood. Immune aging is characterized by a loss of self-renewing naive cells and the accumulation of differentiated but dysfunctional cells within the CD8 T cell compartment. Using ATAC-seq, we inferred the transcription factor binding activities correlated with naive and central and effector memory CD8 T cell states in young adults. Integrating our results with RNA-seq, we identified transcription networks associated with CD8 T cell differentiation, with prominent roles implicated for BATF, ETS1, Eomes, and Sp1. Extending our analysis to aged humans, we found that the differences between the memory and naive subsets were largely preserved across age, but that naive and central memory cells from older individuals exhibited a shift toward more differentiated patterns of chromatin openness. Additionally, aged naive cells displayed a loss in chromatin accessibility at gene promoters, largely associated with a decrease in NRF1 binding. This shift was implicated in a marked drop-off in the ability of the aged naive cells to transcribe respiratory chain genes, which may explain the reduced capacity of oxidative phosphorylation in older naive cells. Our findings identify BATF- and NRF1-driven gene regulation as potential targets for delaying CD8 T cell aging and restoring function.
Bis(pyrazolyl)acetate and bis(3,5-dimethylpyrazolyl)acetate tris-acetonitrile ruthenium(II) complexes: Synthesis, properties, and structure

Abstract [(η6-p-cymene)RuI2]2 (1) was reacted with the heteroscorpionate ligands, bis(pyrazolyl)acetic acid (BPAH) or bis(3,5-dimethylpyrazoly)acetic acid (BMPAH), in the presence of potassium carbonate under various conditions to yield cationic Ru(II) complexes: [(BPA)Ru(cymene)]I (2), [(BMPA)Ru(cymene)]I (3), [(BPA)Ru(NCMe)3]I (4), and [(BMPA)Ru(NCMe)3)]I (5). The piano-stool, η6-cymene ruthenium complexes (2 and 3) are isolated when the reaction was conducted at room temperature, whereas the tris-acetonitrile ruthenium(II) complexes were isolated at elevated reaction temperatures. The iodide anion of 4 or 5 was easily replaced with tetrakis(3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)borate (BArF′) by reaction with silver tetrakis(3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)borate (Ag[BArF′]) to yield [(BPA)Ru(NCMe)3][BArF′] (6) and [(BMPA)Ru(NCMe)3)][BArF′] (7), which demonstrate improved solubility in organic solvents as compared to 4 and 5. The acetonitrile ligands cis to the carboxylate group in 4 and 5 were significantly more labile than the trans acetonitrile ligand. The rate of acetonitrile dissociation for 4 and 5 was found to be statistically equivalent. These complexes were characterized by 1H, 13C, 19F nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, infrared spectroscopy, and elemental analyses. Compounds 2, 4, 5, and 7 were also characterized by single crystal X-ray crystallography.
Construct validity of the UCSD performance-based skills assessment-brief version (UPSA-B) in HIV disease.

ABSTRACTAmong individuals living with HIV disease, approximately 60% experience problems with everyday functioning. The present study investigated the utility of the UCSD Performance-based Skills Assessment-Brief Version (UPSA-B) as a measure of functional capacity in HIV. We utilized a cross-sectional three-group design comparing individuals with HIV– associated neurocognitive disorder (HAND) (HIV + HAND+; n = 27), HIV+ neurocognitively normal individuals (HIV + HAND−; n = 51), and an HIV– comparison group (HIV−; n = 28) with broadly comparable demographics and non-HIV comorbidities. Participants were administered the UPSA-B, the Medication Management Test-Revised (MMT-R), and were assessed for manifest everyday functioning and quality of life, as part of a standardized clinical neurocognitive research battery. Results indicated that the HIV + HAND+ group had significantly lower UPSA-B scores than the HIV + HAND–group, but did not differ from the HIV– group. Among HIV+ individuals, UPSA-B scores were sig...
Lewis and Clark and the Indian Country: The Native American Perspective

Review of: "Lewis and Clark and the Indian Country: The Native American Perspective," edited by Frederick E. Hoxie and Jay T. Nelson.
Disruption of Routine Behaviors Following the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

This paper frames the unfolding impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill as a process of lifeway disruption, analyzing the degree to which residents of spill affected communities were prevented f...
Growth of high-quality Bi2Se3 topological insulators using (Bi1-xInx)2Se3 buffer layers

In this article, the authors first report on the optimum growth parameters for (Bi1-xInx)2Se3 alloys of arbitrary composition using molecular beam epitaxy. It is found that smooth, single-phase films can only be obtained by using a sequential growth and annealing method to seed the film, after which normal codeposition growth can be used. The topological insulator Bi2Se3 is then grown on top of various (Bi1-xInx)2Se3 buffers and the electrical properties measured. For Bi2Se3 films grown on high-quality buffer layers, the mobility is greatly enhanced and the carrier density reduced compared to growth directly on sapphire substrates, indicating a significant improvement in film quality. The use of an almost lattice-matched trivially insulating buffer layer is therefore crucial to the growth of high-quality topological insulators on arbitrary substrates.
Polarized light microscopy for 3-dimensional mapping of collagen fiber architecture in ocular tissues

Collagen fibers play a central role in normal eye mechanics and pathology. In ocular tissues, collagen fibers exhibit a complex 3-dimensional (3D) fiber orientation, with both in-plane (IP) and out-of-plane (OP) orientations. Imaging techniques traditionally applied to the study of ocular tissues only quantify IP fiber orientation, providing little information on OP fiber orientation. Accurate description of the complex 3D fiber microstructures of the eye requires quantifying full 3D fiber orientation. Herein, we present 3dPLM, a technique based on polarized light microscopy developed to quantify both IP and OP collagen fiber orientations of ocular tissues. The performance of 3dPLM was examined by simulation and experimental verification and validation. The experiments demonstrated an excellent agreement between extracted and true 3D fiber orientation. Both IP and OP fiber orientations can be extracted from the sclera and the cornea, providing previously unavailable quantitative 3D measures and insight into the tissue microarchitecture. Together, the results demonstrate that 3dPLM is a powerful imaging technique for the analysis of ocular tissues.
Determination of the Position of the Knee at the Time of an Anterior Cruciate Ligament Rupture for Male Versus Female Patients by an Analysis of Bone Bruises

Background:The incidence of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) ruptures is 2 to 4 times higher in female athletes as compared with their male counterparts. As a result, a number of recent studies hav...
Patients infected with high-hazard viruses: scientific basis for infection control.

Most of the viral hemorrhagic fevers (VHFs) are caused by viruses that are handled in high containment laboratories in Europe and the United States because of their high pathogenicity and their aerosol infectivity. Special precautions should be taken when caring for patients infected with these viruses, but most hospitals can safely provide high-quality care. The major danger is parenteral inoculation of a staff member. Fomites and droplets must be considered as well. The role of small particle aerosols in inter-human transmission continues to be controversial. We believe that the aerosol infectivity observed for these viruses in the laboratory and the rare clinical situations that suggest aerosol spread dictate caution, but the many instances in which no transmission occurs provide a framework in which a measured approach is possible. The major challenge is in early recognition by an educated medical staff and rapid specific etiologic diagnosis.
Synthesis: Fundamental Insights and Practical Applications from the Saccharinae Clade

The Saccharinae clade offers both opportunities to improve the efficiency and sustainability at which we convert solar energy and other resources into food, feed, fiber, and fuel and to gain new insights into the ecology, evolution, and function of plant species, their genomes, and their constituent genes. Singular features of biogeography, productivity, and stress tolerance of key Saccharinae taxa fit particularly well with existing or anticipated needs of agriculture. Sorghum holds particular promise as a botanical model for the clade, albeit with more complex genomes in the clade also offering intriguing opportunities to clarify roles of polyploidy in agricultural productivity and post-polyploidy evolution.
Reinforced Concrete Beams Subjected to Repeated Loads

The deflection of statically-determinate, singly-reinforced concrete beams subjected to repeated cycles of sustained load is presented. A viscoelastic stress-strain law for the concrete in the beam was selected based upon observations made in experiments performed on plain concrete specimens. The equilibrium equation for the reinforced concrete beam indicated that the neutral axis location varies during creep; the result of this variation was to couple the equilibrium equations and make them nonlinear. An iterative procedure was developed for numerically solving the system of equations. The process is sufficiently general so that any form of the concrete stress-strain law could be included. Experiments were performed with six beams loaded with concentrated loads at the third points. The loading was applied to the beam in cycles ranging from 10 days to 30 days duration and then reviewed for the same period of time. Comparisons of the predicted central deflections were made with the observed values, and agreement was noted.
Real-World Rigour: An Integrative Learning Approach for Industry and Higher Education.

In the interests of better preparing students for the world of work and developing the industry competencies that graduates need, this article sets out an integrative learning approach for higher e...
Systems modeling and simulation

With the increasing emphasis on reduced time to market, increased product quality, and improved customer satisfaction, has come the need for more efficient and effective procedures to develop new and redesigned products. With this emphasis companies have realized that the design of products and manufacturing processes are significantly interconnected. Likewise, a deeper consideration of the problem reveals that, in fact, the efficient design of a product is dependent on all of the processes of the enterprise. Therefore, if an organization is to be effective in markets in the future they must develop integrated strategies for designing new products, their production processes, as well as the supporting processes, including manufacturing, sales, distribution, and product support. Given the complexity of this endeavor there is a need for systems modeling and simulation tools which can support all aspects of the design of products, processes, and enterprises.
Role of immunity and inflammation in corneal and ocular surface disease associated with dry eye.

Dry eye syndromes (DES) represent a common but highly heterogeneous group of ocular surface disorders (OSD) that affect millions of individuals, in particular women, in the United States alone. While efforts to better classify disease categories and determine relevant diagnostic tests for each disea sesubtype continue, common features of DES are shared by the tear-deficient and non-tear-deficient (evaporative) forms of DES serving as common denominators of disease. These common denominators include ocular surface epitheliopathy, tear hyperosmolarity, an unstable preocular tear film and symptoms of dry eye associated with varying degrees of inflammation.’ As such, an increasing number of investigators contend ocular irritation or discomfort, virtually invariable components of severe tear-deficient dry eye, are clinical correlates of ocular surface inflammation which at the cellular and molecular levels are requisite factors for the pathogenesis of DES. In this brief overview, we will first examine the factors involved in the generation of immune responsiveness to antigens in the ocular surface and anterior segment. We will then critically evaluate whether the data generated to date provide a causal link between the generation of adaptive immunity and OSD in DES, or if the well-described inflammatory response in the ocular surface could be primarily a consequence of the myriad pathological
Connecting Adolescent Suicide to the Severity of Bullying and Cyberbullying

While previous studies have identified that school bullying and cyberbullying victimization among adolescents is associated with suicidal thoughts and attempts, no work has measured the severity of...
Combining Chemical Genetics with Proximity-Dependent Labeling Reveals Cellular Targets of Poly(ADP-ribose) Polymerase 14 (PARP14)

Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase 14 (PARP14) is a member of the PARP family of enzymes that transfer ADP-ribose from NAD+ to nucleophilic amino acids on target proteins, a process known as mono-ADP-ribosylation (MARylation). PARP14 is involved in normal immune function through the IL-4 signaling pathway and is a prosurvival factor in multiple myeloma and hepatocellular carcinoma. A mechanistic understanding of the physiological and pathophysiological roles of PARP14 has been limited by the dearth of PARP14-specific MARylation targets. Herein we engineered a PARP14 variant that uses an NAD+ analog that is orthogonal to wild-type PARPs for identifying PARP14-specific MARylation targets. Combining this chemical genetics approach with a BioID approach for proximity-dependent labeling of PARP14 interactors, we identified 114 PARP14-specific protein substrates, several of which are RNA regulatory proteins. One of these targets is PARP13, a protein known to play a role in regulating RNA stability. PARP14 MARylates PA...
A (Not So) Perfectly Designed System: The Paradox of Medical Stewardship and Quality Measurement.

“Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets.”1 Health care quality measurement has become important for evaluating hospitals, practices, and individual clinicians. Unfortunately, our current quality measurement system is designed to reward those who do more even when doing more may not benefit, and may even harm, patients. Today, medical care is scrutinized through the lens of quality improvement and measurement, with patient experience being a key component of health care assessment. With medical overuse being described as a serious and extensive quality problem in US health care,2 the current system will need to be redesigned for clinicians to effectively minimize unnecessary testing and treatments and, in short, champion medical stewardship. Despite efforts of campaigns and the dissemination of evidence-based guidelines to reduce the wasteful and unsustainable use of medical resources, pediatric patients continue to receive low-value care.3 Here, we propose that 2 of the main vehicles for quality measurement do not currently align well with the intent of medical stewardship: quality measures and patient satisfaction scores. Present-day measures tend to favor assessments of underuse rather than overuse. As an example, >75% of the currently used quality process measures in pediatrics are used to target the underuse of health care services, such as documenting hydration status in gastroenteritis, obtaining a blood culture in patients with community-acquired pneumonia, and performing hearing testing for patients …
Short-term associations between objective crime, park-use, and park-based physical activity in low-income neighborhoods

Abstract Crime and safety perceptions are commonly cited barriers to park use and physical activity (PA). Given the importance of parks as settings for outdoor recreation and physical activity, the presence of crime may have a detrimental effect on public health. This study uses objective police crime reports and observational park use data to assess type of crime and the time when the crime was committed effects on park user behaviors in 20 parks located in low-income neighborhoods in New York City. The System for Observing Play and Recreation in Communities (SOPARC) was used to assess the number of park users and their physical activity during 78 park visits in Spring 2017. The association between crime rates and park use was assessed using two types of crimes (violent and property crimes). The timing of the crime was assessed using the crimes committed within periods of one week, one month, and three months prior to the visit to the park. By including objective measures of crime together with the exact time on which they were committed, we were able to analyze the short and long term effects of crime on park behavior. Overall, there was a consistent negative association between crime and park use. This relationship was stronger at the 1 month and 3 months' period and weaker at the 1-week period. Violent crimes were strongly associated with lower park use, and crimes proved to be associated with child park use to a greater degree. Girls were more affected by crime than boys.
Towards a non-parametric acoustic model: an acoustic decision tree for observation probability calculation.

Modern automatic speech recognition systems use Gaussian mixture models (GMM) on acoustic observations to model the probability of producing a given observation under any one of many hidden discrete phonetic states. This paper investigates the feasibility of using an acoustic decision tree to directly model these probabilities. Unlike the more common phonetic decision tree, which asks questions about phonetic context, an acoustic decision tree asks questions about the vectorvalued observations. Three different types of acoustic questions are proposed and evaluated, including LDA, PCA, and MMI questions. Frame classification experiments are run on a subset of the Switchboard corpus. On these experiments, the acoustic decision tree produces slightly better results than maximum likelihood trained GMMs, with significantly less computation. Some theoretical advantages of the acoustic decision tree are discussed, including more economical use of the training data and reduced mismatch between the acoustic model and the true probability distribution of the phonetic labels.
Prevalence Of Unplanned Readmissions Among Patients Of Military Treatment Facilities.

Understanding readmissions within the Military Health System (MHS) provides important insights to better understand and improve health outcomes for military personnel and their families. We assesse...
Sensitivity of an (α,n) neutron source to (α,n) cross sections and stopping powers

Abstract The first-order sensitivities of the (α,n) neutron source rate density in a homogeneous material to isotopic (α,n) cross sections, elemental electronic stopping power data, and general coefficients for the nuclear stopping power are derived for the total neutron source and the energy-dependent neutron source. The physics bases for some of the equations in the SOURCES4C calculation of the stopping power are briefly discussed. The derivatives have been implemented in SOURCES4C. In simple PuO2 and PuB2 test problems, the computed derivatives compare extremely well with central differences. The first-order sensitivities are applied to show that improving the value of one of SOURCES4C’s stopping-power coefficients changes the (α,n) neutron source rate by 1.738 × 10−6% in the PuO2 problem.
Parent Nativity and Child Asthma Control in Families of Mexican Heritage: The Effects of Parent Depression and Social Support.

Abstract Objective Research has repeatedly demonstrated that parent foreign nativity has a protective effect on child asthma outcomes among Mexican Americans, but the mechanisms underlying this relationship are not well understood. The current study explored parent depression as a mediator and social support as a moderator of the parent nativity-child asthma control pathway. Methods Data come from the baseline sample of a trial (NCT02481986) testing community interventions for 223 children aged 5-16 with uncontrolled asthma. We focused on parent/child dyads of Mexican heritage (N=165; mean age=9.08, SD=2.94; 57.3% with Mexico-born parent). Asthma control was defined using the child and adult versions of the Asthma Control Test (ACT). Psychosocial factors included parent depression symptoms and social (instrumental, informational, and emotional) support. Results Mexican-born parents had fewer depressive symptoms ( β ^ =-2.03, S E ^ =0.24) and children with better asthma control ( β ^ =1.78, S E ^ =0.24) than U.S.-born parents, p β ^ =-0.10, S E ^ =0.05, p=.07), with protective effects only observed at higher support levels. Last, among Mexico-born parents, the protective nativity effects on ACT declined with increasing residential years in the U.S. through 12 years. Conclusions This study is novel in identifying parent depression as one mechanism underlying the effects of parent nativity on child asthma control, but results suggest that the health advantages may depend on availability of support. Providing resources for parent depression and instrumental support (transportation, childcare) can optimize asthma interventions in this population.
Nation vs. Continent: Sovereignty, Territorial Integrity and Rebellion

This chapter addresses two polar opposite issues: closer regional collaboration through RECs and continental unity through the OAU, but tempered by the perennial human condition of armed conflict. Early on, intra-state conflicts appear in the shadow of Africa’s of Regional Trade Associations (RTAs) and Regional Economic Communities (RECs). These groups were built on and based upon relationships with former colonizers (e.g. Anglophone, Francophone or Lusophone) countries. They included linguistic communities such as the abortive, if ever active French Community, regional, financial and commercial relations-based organizations such as the Communaute Financiere d’Afrique (CFA) or Air Afrique; there was also the larger set of linguistic-post-colonial global associations e.g. The Commonwealth. That members were now fighting was surprising but not unexpected. Most of the warring countries shared colonial experiences, borders, and often, people. As Morocco and Algeria fought in the ‘Sands War’ in 1963 and 1964, OAU and the Arab League responses (to which both were members) demonstrated the challenges of conflict resolution. In the Horn of Africa, Ethiopia and Somalia were at it, later Somalia and Kenya and most unexpectedly, Tanzania and Uganda in the late 1970s, shortly after the collapse of EAC I, to which both were members. Yet through these conflicts, the OAU and RECs did cut their teeth in addressing conflict, often successfully.
Efficient Simulation of a Random Knockout Tournament

We consider the problem of using simulation to efficiently estimate the win probabilities for participants in a general random knockout tournament. Both of our proposed estimators, one based on the notion of “observed survivals” and the other based on conditional expectation and post-stratification, are highly effective in terms of variance reduction when compared to the raw simulation estimator. For the special case of a classical 2^n -player random knockout tournament, where each survivor of the previous round plays in the current round, a second conditional expectation based estimator is introduced. At the end, we compare our proposed simulation estimators based on a numerical example and in terms of both variance reduction and the time to complete the simulation experiment. Based on our empirical study, the method of “observed survivals” is the most efficient method.