cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Burn-associated bloodstream infections in pediatric burn patients: Time distribution of etiologic agents.

Abstract Background Infections are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with burns in burn units. Bloodstream infections (BSIs) in patients with burns may result from burn wound infection, use of invasive devices such as central venous catheters, and translocation of the gastrointestinal flora. Objective In this study, we investigated the distribution and antimicrobial drug resistance of causative pathogens in children with burns and the durational changes of microorganisms in the distribution of BSIs in children. Methods This study was conducted at the Pediatric Burn Unit (PBU) of Dr. Behcet Uz Children Research and Training Hospital during the period of November 2008–April 2015. The study subjects were all the patients admitted to the PBU, in whom microorganisms were isolated at least from one of the cultures, including blood and catheter cultures. Results Gram-positive bacteria were the most common causative agents of BSI in patients with burns (66.4%), followed by gram-negative bacteria (22.1%) and fungi (11.5%). The median duration of development of BSIs caused by gram-positive bacteria from the time of burn was 5 days (ranging from 2 to 54 days of burn), which was significantly shorter than that of BSIs caused by gram-negative bacteria (12 days) and fungal pathogens (13 days). Conclusion The etiologic agents of BSIs in children may differ from those in adults. Gram-negative drug-resistant bacteria such as multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter baumannii were important agents of BSI in patients with burns, especially in the long term; however, gram-positive bacteria should also be considered while deciding the antimicrobial therapy, especially in the early periods of burn.
Comparison and optimization of high frequency inductors for critical model GaN converter operating at 1MHz

The Gallium Nitride (GaN) devices have been attractive due to its low loss and high switching speed. With the soft switching, for example critical mode operation, the GaN converter can be further pushed over MHz range. How to design the critical mode inductor at such switching frequency is a challenge, because the loss on the inductor is a big concern for the converter efficiency. This paper experimentally and numerically evaluates different core materials and structures, winding types and structures. The best candidate can reduce the inductor loss below 3W for a 1kW critical mode converter operating at 1MHz.
Two Little Known Tax Treaties Will Lead to Substantially More Identity Theft, Crime, Industrial Espionage, and Suppression of Political Dissidents

The Protocol amending the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters will lead to substantially more transnational identity theft, crime, industrial espionage, financial fraud, and the suppression of political opponents and religious or ethnic minorities by authoritarian and corrupt governments. It puts Americans’ private financial information at risk. The risk is highest for American businesses involved in international commerce. The Protocol is part of a contemplated new and extraordinarily complex international tax information sharing regime involving two international agreements and two Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) intergovernmental initiatives. It will result in the automatic sharing of bulk taxpayer information among governments worldwide, including many that are hostile to the United States, corrupt, or have inadequate data safeguards. It will add another layer to the already voluminous compliance requirements imposed on financial institutions and have a disproportionately adverse impact on small banks and broker-dealers.
Chemokines encoded by herpesviruses

Viruses use diverse strategies to elude the immune system, including copying and repurposing host cytokine and cytokine receptor genes. For herpesviruses, the chemokine system of chemotactic cytokines and receptors is a common source of copied genes. Here, we review the current state of knowledge about herpesvirus-encoded chemokines and discuss their possible roles in viral pathogenesis, as well as their clinical potential as novel anti-inflammatory agents or targets for new antiviral strategies.
Repairing Meaning, Resolving Rumination, and Moving toward Self-Forgiveness

Meaning in life is the term used to describe how people make sense of their lives, how they commit to pursuing purpose in life, and how they come to see their lives as significant and worthwhile. Committing wrongs against other people or our own moral code, might—perhaps even ought to—challenges these components of a meaningful life. In fact, such wrongs may be considered to constitute a rupture in meaning, with a potential to spark intractable cycles of rumination. In this chapter, we propose that self-forgiveness and meaning work together to enable people to resolve their rumination, learn more about themselves, make reparations, and move toward healing their own hurt and that which they caused in others.
Guided by care: teacher decision-making in a rural intercultural bilingual classroom in Peru

AbstractThis paper explores how one teacher working in an intercultural bilingual school in rural Peru implemented an ethic of care through three key actions: the incorporation of funds of knowledg...
Ultra-Widefield Fundus Autofluorescence Imaging of Patients with Retinitis Pigmentosa: A Standardized Grading System in Different Genotypes.

Purpose To report a genotype–phenotype correlation study of patients with retinitis pigmentosa (RP) based on ultra-widefield (UWF) fundus autofluorescence (FAF) imaging. Design Case series. Participants Thirty-four patients with RP. Methods This retrospective study included RP patients with confirmed causative genetic variants and UWF FAF imaging data. Qualitative grading criteria including the pattern of macular abnormal autofluorescence, decreased autofluorescence (DAF), and its extent and distribution were applied to evaluate the genotype–phenotype correlation. Main Outcome Measures The main parameters measured were increased or decreased patterns and extent of autofluorescence. Results Thirty-four unrelated patients 38±19 years of age (range, 9–82 years) were enrolled. Mutations in 17 different genes were detected in patients, including 7 patients having mutations in USH2A , 4 in DHDDS , 4 in RPGR , 3 in PRPF31 , and 3 in RP1 . Patients with nummular DAF and widespread DAF were significantly older (59±14 years and 56±19 years, respectively). All 3 patients with PRPF31 mutations showed an abnormal macular ring hyperautofluorescence and a circular pattern of coarse DAF distributed in Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study fields 1, 2, and 3 with sparing of the far periphery. In other genotypes, no specific DAF or macular abnormal autofluorescence pattern could be discerned. Conclusions Specific UWF FAF characteristics in RP patients were correlated strongly with patient age and stage of the disease. Particular UWF FAF characteristics were found to be more prominent in a unique genotype.
Acetylcholine inhibits platelet activation and regulates hemostasis

Platelets are key mediators of thrombosis. Many agonists of platelet activation are known, but there are fewer identified endogenous inhibitors of platelets, such as prostacyclin and nitric oxide (NO). Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors such as donepezil can cause bleeding in patients, but the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. We hypothesized that acetylcholine is an endogenous inhibitor of platelets. We measured the effect of acetylcholine or analogues of acetylcholine upon human platelet activation ex vivo. We characterized expression of components of the acetylcholine signaling pathway in human platelets. We tested the effect of a subunit of the acetylcholine receptor, CHRNA7, on acetylcholine signaling in platelets. Acetylcholine and analogues of acetylcholine inhibited platelet activation, as measured by P-selectin translocation and GPIIbIIIA conformational changes. Conversely, we found that antagonists of the acetylcholine receptor such as pancuronium enhance platelet activation. Furthermore, drugs inhibiting acetylcholinesterase such as donepezil also inhibit platelet activation, suggesting that platelets release acetylcholine. We found that NO mediates acetylcholine inhibition of platelets. Human platelets express members of the acetylcholine signaling pathway including CHRNA2, CHRNA7, CHRNB1, and ACHE. Platelets from mice lacking Chrna7 are hyperactive when stimulated by thrombin and resistant to inhibition by acetylcholine. Furthermore, acetylcholinesterase inhibitors prolonged bleeding in wild-type mice. Knockout mice lacking Chrna7 subunits of the acetylcholine receptor display prolonged bleeding as well. Our data suggest that acetylcholine is an endogenous inhibitor of platelet activation. The cholinergic system may be a novel target for anti-thrombotic therapies.
Repetitive-Task Ankle Joint Injury Assessment Using Artificial Neural Network

This research effort is to develop human simulation methods to predict and assess injuries due to the fatigue of a repetitive loading. Over the past few years, we sought to integrate high-fidelity computational methods for stress/strain analysis, namely finite element analysis (FEA), in combination with biomechanics predictions through digital human modeling and simulation (DHMS). Our previous work for the past 12 years has culminated with the development of a simulation environment called Santos™ that enables the prediction of human motion including many aspects of its biomechanics and physiological systems. The Santos environment provides a joint- and physics-based predictive simulation environment. Cumulative load theory states that repetitive activities precipitate musculoskeletal injury and suggests that cyclic load application may result in cumulative fatigue, reducing their stress-bearing capacity. Such changes may reduce the threshold stress at which the tissues of the joint components fail. Repetitiveness of the work activity has shown to be a strong risk factor for cumulative trauma disorders (repetitive strain injury). Hence, repetitive load cycling is a leading factor in the propensity for injury. Santos, and the developed method, are able to characterize the motion using an optimization algorithm that calculates the motion profiles (i.e., the kinematics of the motion across time for each degree of freedom for the body) and external forces during the task. An OpenSim model uses motion profiles and external forces to calculate forces of the muscles that articulate the joint. A multi-scale FEA system uses external forces and muscle forces for each task over a repetitive cycle as input. The FEA model of the selected joint (ankle) computes the stresses of all joint components at limited and random frames of the motion cycle. The Artificial Neural Network program (ANN) estimates the stress over the full motion cycle and compares current stresses of the components with the newly calculated yield strength that been affected by cyclic loading. As a result, the program indicates the injury status of the joint components. This paper presents promising results for this approach to predict and quantify injury in the ankle joint that is undergoing a cyclic repetitive motion. This integrated system is capable of showing the effects of various motions and task-parameters on the selected joint and by this we can modify tasks, save analysis time, and reduce the likelihood of injury.
Benign fibrous histiocytoma of the pterygopalatine fossa with intracranial extension.

A very rare case of fibrous histiocytoma arising in the pterygopalatine fossa with intracranial extension is described. Despite the histologic absence of nuclear pleomorphism, the tumor rapidly recurred after complete surgical resection. The patient, a 45 year old male, died shortly thereafter. The aggressive nature of our patient’s tumor confirms previous observations that an aggressive radiographic appearance has prognostic value when dealing with skeletal and soft tissue tumors. The benefit of multimodal therapy has not been established in these rare head and neck lesions. In the subset of fibrous histiocytomas that invade bone, however adjunctive treatment with radiation and or chemotherapy may be appropriate.
Multimode System for Integrated Quantitative Assessment of Heart Rate Variability

Monitoring and quantitative evaluation of heart rate variability (HRV) is an essential part of cardiovascular system focused diagnostics. Although the fluctuations of beat to beat duration are an intrinsic part of cardiac rhythm, how-ever a quantitative assessment of this variance under different circumstances allows differentiation between normal and abnormal conditions and can be a predictor of mortality rate in cases of low variability especially in cardiac patients. A developed multimode system provides computational capabilities of variability assessment in selectable windows of 2%, 5%, 10% or any other desired degree of variance and polar as well as planar documentation for clinical documentation reflecting quantitative evaluation of cardiac rhythm changes. User selected fixed RR intervals or averaged over a desired number of heart cycles can be used as reference intervals for SDNN, RMSSD, and/or LF/HF ratios attributes determination reflecting on the degrees of heart rate fluctuations.
Building gates with transistors: a hands-on lab for computer organization

Most computer organization and architecture courses include labs that introduce students to computer hardware or, at the least, to simulations of computer hardware. But few, if any, labs address the lowest level of the physical abstraction, the construction of logic gates and flip-flops from transistors. Without this physical grounding, a layer of mystery surrounds the foundation of computer circuitry. We have found that working with the transistor aids the understanding of how circuits are implemented. In this paper, we present an approach to demonstrating the all-important role of the transistor through a reliable lab experience that can be replicated in all colleges.
Internal vs. External Parameters in Fitness Functions.

A fitness function is needed for a Genetic Algorithm (GA) to work, and it appears natural that the combination of objectives and constraints into a single scalar function using arithmetic operations is appropriate. One problem with this approach, however, is that accurate scalar information must be provided on the range of objectives and constraints, to avoid one of them from dominating the other. One possible solution, then, is to try to join the objectives with the constraints with internal parameters, i.e., information that belongs to the problem itself, thereby avoiding external tuning. The building of the fitness function is so complex that, using internal or external parameters, any optimal point obtained will be a function of the coefficients used to combine objectives and constraints. However, it is possible that using internal parameters will increase performance compare to external ones.
Managing Severe Asthma: A Role for the Long-Acting Muscarinic Antagonist Tiotropium

Severe asthma is associated with substantial morbidity and mortality. Therapies must be maximized to gain control of a patient’s severe asthma; however, avoiding overtreatment is also important. The mainstays of asthma maintenance treatment are inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) and long-acting β2-agonsits (LABAs), with the option of supplementary add-on treatments. New add-on treatments for severe asthma have emerged over the past two decades, including personalized biological therapies that are guided by a patient’s asthma phenotype. In addition, the long-acting muscarinic antagonist tiotropium has been recommended as an add-on treatment for severe asthma. Phase III clinical trials have shown tiotropium in combination with ICS/LABA to be efficacious in patients with severe asthma. Further analyses of clinical trial data have indicated that there is no benefit in stratifying patients by phenotype to predict tiotropium efficacy. Furthermore, health economic studies suggest tiotropium to be a cost-effective treatment in patients with severe asthma. This review will present the evidence surrounding the role of tiotropium in severe asthma and will discuss the use of tiotropium add-on therapy before personalized medicine strategies in the stepwise process of gaining asthma control.
The impact of organizational culture and leadership performance on PR professionals’ job satisfaction: Testing the joint mediating effects of engagement and trust

Abstract The study examines the impact of critical organizational factors (organizational culture and excellent leader performance) on public relations professionals’ overall job satisfaction by focusing on testing the joint mediating effects work engagement and trust could generate. A national online survey of 838 public relations professionals working in a variety of organizations was used as the empirical data to test the relationships in a proposed conceptual model. Results confirmed the strong impact organizational culture and leader performance could have on public relations professionals’ work engagement, trust, and job satisfaction. More importantly, results revealed the significant joint mediating effects of engagement and trust on professionals’ job satisfaction, when supportive organizational culture and excellent leader performance were achieved. The study concludes with research and practical implications.
Analysis of Global Fixed-Priority Scheduling for Generalized Sporadic DAG Tasks.

We consider global fixed-priority (G-FP) scheduling of parallel tasks, in which each task is represented as a directed acyclic graph (DAG). We summarize and highlight limitations of the state-of-the-art analyses for G-FP and propose a novel technique for bounding interfering workload, which can be applied directly to generalized DAG tasks. Our technique works by constructing optimization problems for which the optimal solution values serve as safe and tight upper bounds for interfering workloads. Using the proposed workload bounding technique, we derive a response-time analysis and show that it improves upon state-of-the-art analysis techniques for G-FP scheduling.
Comparison of Pediatric and Adult Solid Pseudopapillary Neoplasms of the Pancreas.

Abstract Background Solid pseudopapillary neoplasms (SPPNs) comprise the majority of pediatric pancreatic neoplasms. We queried the National Cancer Database to compare pediatric and adult patients with SSPNs to examine differences in demographics, tumor characteristics, treatment, and overall survival. We aimed to determine if survival differences existed between adult and pediatric patients with SPPN. Methods The National Cancer Database (2004-2014) was reviewed, and patients were stratified by age at diagnosis: pediatric (≤21 y) and adult (≥22 y). Demographics, comorbidities, tumor characteristics, diagnostic periods, treatments, and survival rates were compared using pooled variance t-tests and chi-square, followed by multivariate Cox proportional hazard model (α = 0.05). Log-rank test was used to compare survival. Results A total of 468 patients were analyzed and categorized according to age group. Four hundred and fourteen patients were included in the survival analysis. The pediatric patients were primarily female, Caucasian, had no comorbidities, and presented with stage I disease. Race/ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, comorbidities, and disease stage at presentation were similar between the groups. There was no difference in time to initiation of therapy or to surgical intervention. No significant difference was found in type of surgical resection, chemotherapy, or radiotherapy utilization. Despite the similarities between groups, comparison of overall survival demonstrated improved survival of pediatric SPPN compared with adult SPPN in every pathologic stage. Conclusions These results suggest that pediatric and adult SPPNs are similar with regards to demographics, tumor characteristics, and treatment modalities. However, survival was better in children with SPPNs, which may be due to differences in tumor biology and may serve for risk stratification of prognosis.
Deep Gated Convolutional Neural Network for QSM Background Field Removal.

Magnetic-resonance based quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) requires the removal of background magnetic perturbation fields for precise quantification of tissue magnetism within a volume of interest (VOI). Conventional state-of-the-art QSM background removal methods suffer from several limitations in accuracy and performance. To overcome these limitations, a 3D gated convolutional neural network was trained to infer whole brain local tissue magnetic perturbation fields, using total field perturbation measurements and brain region masks as the inputs. The training data for this network are generated from physics simulations seeded from 200 QSM datasets and a set of random background susceptibility distributions. The performance of this neural network was evaluated relative to established background removal methods using 100 in-silico gold standard datasets and clinical susceptibility-weighted imaging datasets. Quantitative and qualitative assessment of the network performance demonstrated the benefits of the trained neural network.
Mentor Academy for School Counselors: A Model Plan

School counselors face many challenges, and often experience role ambiguity and burnout. While school counselors in large school districts can work with a counseling team and are able to experience...
Dismal Results from a Print Periodical Usage Study

Print periodicals have been a cornerstone of libraries for over 100 years. Over the past 20 years print periodicals have been eclipsed by online journal databases and individual e-journals, but mos...
THz spectroscopy of VO 2 epitaxial films: controlling the anisotropic properties through strain engineering

We use THz time-domain spectroscopy to investigate the far-infrared properties of vanadium dioxide thin films, strain-engineered through epitaxial growth on (100)R TiO2 substrates. The films exhibit a large uniaxial tensile strain along the rutile c-axis. X-ray diffraction measurements reveal a structural transition temperature of 340 K, whereas independent THz conductivity measurements yield a metal–insulator transition temperature of 365 K along cR. Analysis of these results suggests a Mott–Hubbard behavior along the cR-axis. Along cR the conductivity is approximately 5500 (Ω cm)−1, comparable to bulk single crystals. The tensile strain leads to remarkably uniform cracking oriented along the rutile c-axis, resulting in a large conductivity anisotropy in our single-crystal epitaxial thin films. We discuss our results in the context of previous measurements and calculations of the properties of VO2, under different strain conditions. This work demonstrates the potential of strain engineering to tune the properties of complex materials while also serving as a powerful discriminatory tool for probing microscopic responses.
Flavor changing top decays to charm and Higgs with $\tau \tau$ at the LHC

We investigate the prospects of discovering the top quark decay into a charm quark and a Higgs boson ($t \to c h^0$) in top quark pair production at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC). A general two Higgs doublet model is adopted to study flavor changing neutral Higgs (FCNH) interactions. We perform a parton level analysis as well as Monte Carlo simulations using \textsc{Pythia}~8 and \textsc{Delphes} to study the flavor changing top quark decay $t \to c h^0$, followed by the Higgs decaying into $\tau^+ \tau^-$, with the other top quark decaying to a bottom quark ($b$) and two light jets ($t\to bW\to bjj$). To reduce the physics background to the Higgs signal, only the leptonic decays of tau leptons are used, $\tau^+\tau^- \to e^\pm\mu^\mp +\slashed{E}_T$, where $\slashed{E}_T$ represents the missing transverse energy from the neutrinos. In order to reconstruct the Higgs boson and top quark masses as well as to effectively remove the physics background, the collinear approximation for the highly boosted tau decays is employed. Our analysis suggests that a high energy LHC at $\sqrt{s} = 27$ TeV will be able to discover this FCNH signal with an integrated luminosity $\mathcal{L} = 3$ ab$^{-1}$ for a branching fraction ${\cal B}(t \to ch^0) \agt 1.4 \times 10^{-4}$ that corresponds to a FCNH coupling $|\lambda_{tch}| \agt 0.023$. This FCNH coupling is significantly below the current ATLAS combined upper limit of $|\lambda_{tch}| = 0.064$.
Resistance Training Reduces Age- and Geography-Related Physical Function Discrepancies in Older Adults:

Comorbidities affecting physical function increase with advanced-age and rural living. This study investigated the degree of benefit from resistance training (RT) in older adults based on age (50–8...
Impact of prenatal screening on congenital heart defects in neonates with Down syndrome in the US

Non-invasive prenatal screening (NIPS) has fundamentally changed the screening process for Down syndrome (DS). Rates of complex congenital heart defects (CHD) have decreased in international studies but whether these shifts exist in the US is unknown. Encounters for neonates with DS from 2007 to 2018 were obtained from the Pediatric Health Information System database. CHD were categorized as complex CHD, atrioventricular septal defects (AVSD), ventricular septal defects (VSD), and tetralogy of Fallot (TOF). Comparisons were made between pre-NIPS era (2007–2010) vs. post-NIPS era (2014–2018) and between states with low vs. high access to pregnancy termination as described by the Guttmacher Institute. Among 9122 patients, 6% had complex CHD, 22% had an AVSD, 22% had a VSD, and 4% had TOF. No difference in proportions of CHD was seen between eras. A small difference was observed in the proportion of AVSD between states with low vs. high access to pregnancy termination (23 vs. 17%, p < 0.001). The proportion of CHD in patients with DS appears to be stable despite widespread adoption of NIPS in the US. Variations were observed between states with low vs. high access to pregnancy termination. Population based studies are needed to fully evaluate the current epidemiology of CHD in DS.
Acquiring and Modeling of Si Solar-Cell Transient Response to Pulsed X-Ray

We report on the acquisition and modeling of the transient response of a commercial silicon (Si) solar cell using a benchtop pulsed X-ray source. The solar-cell transient output to the X-ray pulses was acquired under the dark and steady-state light illumination to mimic the practical operation of a solar cell under different light illumination levels. A solar-cell circuit model was created to develop a fundamental understanding of the transient current/voltage response of solar cell at read-out circuit level. The model was validated by a good agreement between the simulation and experimental results. It was found that the solar-cell resistance ( $R$ ) and capacitance ( $C$ ) depend on the light illumination, and the resulting variation in $RC$ time constant significantly affects the solar-cell transient response. Thus, the solar cell produced different transient signals under different illumination intensities in response to the same X-ray pulse. The experimental data acquired in this work proves the feasibility of using solar panels for prompt detection of nuclear detonations, which also builds a practical mode of X-ray detection using a low-cost self-powered detector.
Systemic Sclerosis-Associated Pulmonary Hypertension: Spectrum and Impact

Systemic sclerosis-associated pulmonary arterial hypertension (SSc-PAH) is a catastrophic complication of one of the most common and devastating autoimmune diseases. Once diagnosed, it becomes the leading cause of mortality among this patient population. Screening modalities and risk assessments have been designed and validated by various organizations and societies in order to identify patients early in their disease course and promptly refer them to expert centers for a hemodynamic assessment and formal diagnosis. Moreover, several large multicenter clinical trials have now included patients with SSc-PAH to assess their response to therapy. Despite an improved understanding of the condition and significant advances in supportive and targeted therapy, outcomes have remained far from optimal. Therefore, rigorous phenotyping and search for novel therapies are desperately needed for this devastating condition.
Meta-analysis: Congruence of genomic and phenotypic differentiation across diverse natural study systems.

Linking genotype to phenotype is a primary goal for understanding the genomic underpinnings of evolution. However, little work has explored whether patterns of linked genomic and phenotypic differentiation are congruent across natural study systems and traits. Here, we investigate such patterns with a meta-analysis of studies examining population-level differentiation at subsets of loci and traits putatively responding to divergent selection. We show that across the 31 studies (88 natural population-level comparisons) we examined, there was a moderate (R 2 = 0.39) relationship between genomic differentiation (F ST ) and phenotypic differentiation (P ST ) for loci and traits putatively under selection. This quantitative relationship between P ST and F ST for loci under selection in diverse taxa provides broad context and cross-system predictions for genomic and phenotypic adaptation by natural selection in natural populations. This context may eventually allow for more precise ideas of what constitutes "strong" differentiation, predictions about the effect size of loci, comparisons of taxa evolving in nonparallel ways, and more. On the other hand, links between P ST and F ST within studies were very weak, suggesting that much work remains in linking genomic differentiation to phenotypic differentiation at specific phenotypes. We suggest that linking genotypes to specific phenotypes can be improved by correlating genomic and phenotypic differentiation across a spectrum of diverging populations within a taxon and including wide coverage of both genomes and phenomes.
Keep Marching On

In Chaps. 4 and 5, we learned the key reasons for the success of AI, which is its phenomenal expressive power, SGD not getting trapped in local minima, and ingeniously designed AI solutions trained with adequate data.
Stories of Impact: The Transformative Power of Undergraduate Research

We, along with being guest editors of this issue, are also active researchers in our respective disciplines and the scholarship of teaching and learning. We integrate undergraduate research (UGR) as High Impact Practice (HIP) in most of our research projects, and have personal experiences in which we see all the benefits come to life that have been outlined in the series of papers in this issue. As we read abstracts and considered the organization and content for this issue, we began to notice a pattern in some of the abstracts that aligned with our own work and discussions with colleagues, but is generally not present in a traditional scholarly article. That element is the personal narrative account of impact. We know from the extensive literature cited throughout this issue, as well as the work in this section, that providing high-quality undergraduate research projects has substantial impacts at many levels – for individual students, for cohorts, for departments, colleges, universities, and even systems. We, as scholars, see these impacts every day in our own work and the work of others. However, it is not often captured in peer-reviewed research outside of quotes to support evidence of assessment results (which of course, have their own important place in this work).
The Use of Sonography in Pediatrics: The Bioethical Concerns in Clinical and Research Practice:

Sonography has been widely used in both a clinical and non-clinical setting. This imaging modality is a common tool of choice for both physicians and researchers. Although sonography is a non-ioniz...
Occurrence of Hemileuca hera (Harris) (Saturniidae) in Nebraska, South Dakota, and North Dakota and Notes on its Natural History in the Great Plains

This manuscript discusses new distribution records for Hemileuca hera (Harris) in the Great Plains states of Nebraska, South Dakota, and North Dakota. In addition to older museum records not previously mentioned in the literature, we report recently discovered populations in Nebraska and South Dakota. Also discussed are observations of life history patterns seen in the Great Plains populations of H. hera.
The association between non-infectious uveitis and COVID-19 outcomes: an analysis of United States claims-based data.

Purpose To identify if non-infectious uveitis (NIU) is associated with a greater risk of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection, hospitalization, and death. Design A retrospective cohort study from January 20, 2020 to December 31, 2020 using a national claims-based database. Participants Enrollees who had continuous enrollment with both medical and pharmacy coverage for three years prior to January 20, 2020. Patients with an NIU diagnosis within three years of the start of the study were included in the NIU cohort. Those with infectious uveitis codes or new NIU diagnoses during the risk period were excluded. Methods Cox proportional hazards models were used to identify unadjusted hazard ratios as well as adjusted hazard ratios for all covariates for each outcome measure. Adjusted models accounted for patient demographics, health status, and immunosuppressive medication use during the risk period. Main outcome measures Rates of COVID-19 infection, COVID-19-related hospitalization, and COVID-19-related in-hospital death identified with International Classification of Disease 10th revision codes. Results This study included 5,806,227 patients of which 29,869 (0.5%) had a diagnosis of NIU. On unadjusted analysis, patients with NIU had a higher rate of COVID-19 infection (5.7% vs. 4.2%, p Conclusions Patients with NIU were significantly more likely to be infected with COVID-19 and experience severe disease outcomes. However, this association was due to the demographics, comorbidities, and medications of patients with NIU, rather than to NIU alone. Patients utilizing systemic corticosteroids were significantly more likely to be infected with COVID-19 and were at greater risk of hospitalization and in-hospital death. Additional investigation is necessary to identify the impact of corticosteroid exposure on COVID-19-related outcomes.
Chapter 12 Cortical mechanisms mediating acute and chronic pain in humans.

Publisher Summary This chapter reviews that different cortical areas participate in different aspects of pain sensation, perception, and pain-related behavior. Based on the weight of currently available evidence, it suggests that the activity in each of the cortical areas described contributes to different components of the pain experience: sensory discrimination, affective coding, and cognitive evaluation. Cortical participation is organized as temporally distributed bio-behavioral functions: (1) early identification, (2) recognition and immediate reaction, and (3) evaluation and sustained behavior. The chapter also reviews that all cortical areas discussed are active early in the course of the elaboration of pain, it is speculated that the clinical and behavioral impact of each cortical area varies at different times during the pain experience. Converging lines of evidence suggest that the cingulate cortex, which integrates and mediates sensory and motor response functions, contributes to affective coding throughout the pain experience.
An approach to the design of non-mutagenic azo dyes: 1. The identification of non-mutagenic precursors and potential metabolites

Abstract This paper describes a strategy for the development of non-mutagenic dyes by identifying and elaborating some non-genotoxic precursors. The approach presented makes use of the numerous published articles which describe the results of the mutagenicity and carcinogenicity testing of azo dyes and their intermediates. A number of chemical intermediates have been evaluated in this study as potential replacements for known carcinogenic dye intermediates which have been used in the past to produce dyes possessing good physical and chemical properties. Several of the intermediates examined were found to be non-mutagenic, and were converted to azo dyes which were themselves non-mutagenic. The results of this study suggest that the development of non-carcinogenic azo dyes could be accomplished by employing an approach which would utilize non-mutagenic intermediates and also take into consideration the potential genotoxicity of the metabolites resulting from reductive cleavage of the azo linkages.
Storage Monitoring and Forecasting at the ERDC MSRC

In December 2004, the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center Major Shared Resource Center (ERDC MSRC) observed a sharp rise in data storage rates on the mass storage archival (MSA) system. Projections suggested that file storage space would be exhausted by March 2005. In January 2005, the ERDC MSRC began to monitor the top storage users and request that they reduce their file storage. By late February, consenting users had freed about 50 terabytes of space, a 15-percent reduction in overall storage. That, combined with the projected delivery of new tapes and additional capacity realized once the new Disaster Recovery site is fully populated, brings the Center out of the immediate crisis. However, the question of how to properly manage storage resources remains. With only historical data, the ERDC MSRC cannot make accurate long-term forecasts regarding data growth. To provide the optimal user environment, a mechanism must exist for incorporating project storage requirements into the growth model. At the beginning of Fiscal Year 2006, the ERDC MSRC will initiate a program for monitoring storage utilization by tracking storage usage for each project allocated computing hours by the Department of Defense High Performance Computing Modernization Program. This paper discusses the kinds of data and reporting required for storage management, considerations in adopting an implementation model, and some new user tools and best practices for file maintenance on the MSA system.
Guest Editorial: Special Section on Acousto-Optics

This PDF file contains the editorial “Guest Editorial: Special Section on Acousto-Optics” for OE Vol. 31 Issue 10
The Uptake and Inactivation of Native Insulin by Isolated Fat Cells

Abstract With dilute suspensions of rat epididymal adipose tissue cells, glucose utilization was estimated by the conversion of glucose-14C to 14CO2 and 14C-labeled lipids. The maximal effect of insulin was observed with a glucose concentration of 1.25 mm or less. The same rate of glucose utilization was observed with and without insulin when the glucose concentration was 80 mm. Glucose utilization was stimulated with 1 microunit of insulin per ml, and insulin concentrations above 25 microunits per ml produced no further stimulation. The rate of glucose utilization was linear for 2 hours when the insulin concentration was 3 microunits per ml. With 5 microunits of insulin per ml, the glucose utilized in 2 hours did not increase when the volume of the incubation medium was doubled. The stimulatory effect of insulin was reversed by washing the cell suspension or by the addition of anti-insulin serum. These findings indicated that (a) a dilute suspension of fat cells did not inactivate insulin rapidly enough to lower the insulin concentration of the incubation medium significantly, and (b) the continued presence of insulin was required for a continuation of its biological effect. With a 30 times more concentrated suspension of fat cells, the change in immunoreactive insulin concentration of the incubation medium was measured. A rapid phase of insulin uptake occurred within the first minute, was linearly related to insulin concentration up to 10,000 microunits per ml, was not temperature-sensitive, and was abolished by a 30-sec exposure to 10-3 m maleimide. A subsequent phase of insulin uptake was slower, temperature-sensitive, and not abolished by maleimide. Cells previously incubated with insulin showed undiminished insulin uptake when reincubated in fresh medium. When insulin-treated cells were washed, no immunologically or biologically active insulin was released. It was concluded that (a) the rapid phase of insulin uptake may be the hormone-cell interaction which is necessary for the action of insulin to be manifest, and (b) a study of the factors which influence this process may lead to a better understanding of the mechanism of hormone action.
Fast protein structure alignment

We address the problem of aligning the 3D structures of two proteins. Our pairwise comparisons are based on a new optimization model that is succinctly expressed in terms of linear transformations and highlights the problem's intrinsic geometry. The optimization problem is approximately solved with a new polynomial time algorithm. The worst-case analysis of the algorithm shows that the solution is bounded by a constant depending on the data of the problem.
Israel's Air Strike Against the Osiraq Reactor: A Retrospective

Solarz argued that Israel's air strike "must be considered an understandable and legitimate act of self-defense." The point is that if a war exists between Iraq and Israel, Israel's bombing of the Osiraq nuclear reactor is just a normal and legitimate part of the general conduct of war. Whether or not Israel or Iraq, or both, regarded themselves as being in a state of war, any hostilities between them would amount to separate breaches of the peace in the eyes of the international community and would subject either country to forcible intercession by the U.N. Security Council. I quoted the U.N. Security Council resolution which "strongly condemned" Israel's air strike.
Descriptive Representation, Political Efficacy, and African Americans in the 2008 Presidential Election

Political efficacy is an important psychological orientation that has been used extensively by scholars to help explain voting and other forms of participation. However, very few scholars have sought to treat political efficacy as a dependent variable. In this research note, we look at the linkage between descriptive representation and political efficacy. Drawing from existing literature, we argue that an increase in descriptive representation positively affects levels of political efficacy. We examine support for this argument by looking at whether levels of efficacy increased among African Americans after the election of Barack Obama using data from the 2008–2009 American National Election Studies (ANES) panel study. We find that the effects of descriptive representation on efficacy varied depending on one's partisanship. Black Republicans, Independents, and weak Democrats experienced an increase in efficacy. However, Black Democrats and White Democrats who strongly identify with the party experienced a similar boost in efficacy, which suggests that partisanship can override the effects of having a descriptive representative.
Parameter isolating transforms and admissible distortions

An often encountered pattern recognition problem is that of identifying a given image as related to one of a set of prototypes even though they may differ by virtue of the action of a non-linear mapping of image points. Certain parameterized distortions are such that a transform may be found that has the property of isolating the distortion effect as a factor in the transform space allowing subsequent identification and removal of the distortion. Herein the most general form of distortion is found that allows a related transform with such properties to be constructed. Furthermore a test for the admissibility of a distortion is given as well as the general form of the required parameter isolating transform.
Engineering bacteria to solve the Burnt Pancake Problem

We investigated the possibility of executing DNA-based computation in living cells by engineering Escherichia coli to address a classic mathematical puzzle called the Burnt Pancake Problem (BPP). The BPP is solved by sorting a stack of distinct objects (pancakes) into proper order and orientation using the minimum number of manipulations. Each manipulation reverses the order and orientation of one or more adjacent objects in the stack. We have designed a system that uses site-specific DNA recombination to mediate inversions of genetic elements that represent pancakes within plasmid DNA. Inversions (or "flips") of the DNA fragment pancakes are driven by the Salmonella typhimurium Hin/hix DNA recombinase system that we reconstituted as a collection of modular genetic elements for use in E. coli. Our system sorts DNA segments by inversions to produce different permutations of a promoter and a tetracycline resistance coding region; E. coli cells become antibiotic resistant when the segments are properly sorted. Hin recombinase can mediate all possible inversion operations on adjacent flippable DNA fragments. Mathematical modeling predicts that the system reaches equilibrium after very few flips, where equal numbers of permutations are randomly sorted and unsorted. Semiquantitative PCR analysis of in vivo flipping suggests that inversion products accumulate on a time scale of hours or days rather than minutes. The Hin/hix system is a proof-of-concept demonstration of in vivo computation with the potential to be scaled up to accommodate larger and more challenging problems. Hin/hix may provide a flexible new tool for manipulating transgenic DNA in vivo.
Selection Gradients, the Opportunity for Selection, and the Coefficient of Determination

AbstractWe derive the relationship between R2 (the coefficient of determination), selection gradients, and the opportunity for selection for univariate and multivariate cases. Our main result is to show that the portion of the opportunity for selection that is caused by variation for any trait is equal to the product of its selection gradient and its selection differential. This relationship is a corollary of the first and second fundamental theorems of natural selection, and it permits one to investigate the portions of the total opportunity for selection that are involved in directional selection, stabilizing (and diversifying) selection, and correlational selection, which is important to morphological integration. It also allows one to determine the fraction of fitness variation not explained by variation in measured phenotypes and therefore attributable to random (or, at least, unknown) influences. We apply our methods to a human data set to show how sex-specific mating success as a component of fitne...
Prediction of Wear in Reciprocating Dry Sliding via Dissipated Energy and Temperature Rise

An alternative technique aimed at facilitating the calculation of frictional power dissipation in reciprocating dry sliding is presented. The proposed technique can be employed for the prediction of wear in circumstances where the direct measurement of power dissipation is encumbered by practical limitations. Experimental tests are carried out to investigate the relationship between the system’s wear rate, power dissipation, and thermal response. A convenient technique is also proposed to estimate the average contact temperature in a reciprocating sliding contact. The predicted temperatures agree with the experimental measurements. It is also shown how the predicted temperatures can be used for the estimation of wear under reciprocating dry sliding configuration.
ENTEROTOXIGENIC ESCHERICHIA COLI AND IDIOPATHIC DIARRHŒA IN BANGLADESH

Faecal Escherichia coli from Bangalee patients with idiopathic diarrhoea were tested in the Chinese hamster ovary cell (C.H.O.) assay to detect production of thermolabile enterotoxin (L.T.). C.H.O-positive E. coli produce both L.T. and a thermostable toxin (S.T.). C.H.O.-positive strains were found in 19.2% of all cases and in 70% of the most severely ill patients with non-vibrio cholera. E. coli which produce S.T. alone were identified in a third of the C.H.O.-negative cases. Enterotoxigenic E. coli were found in 55% of inpatients with idiopathic diarrhoea and, if an aetiological role is confirmed, may be one of the commonest causes of tropical diarrhoea.