cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Emergency Department Waiting Time for Stroke Patients in the United States

Emergency department waiting time (EDWT), the time from arrival at the ED to evaluation by an emergency physician, is a critical component of acute stroke care. We assessed racial/ethnic differences in EDWT in a national sample of patients with ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke. We identified 543 ED visits for ischemic stroke (International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification [ICD-9-CM] codes 433.x1, 434.xx, and 436.xx) and hemorrhagic stroke (ICD-9-CM codes 430.xx, 431.xx, and 432.xx) in persons age ≥ 18 years representing 2.1 million stroke-related ED visits in the United States using the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey for years 1997-2000 and 2003-2005. Using linear regression (outcome, log-transformed EDWT) and logistic regression (outcome, EDWT > 10 minutes, based on National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke guidelines), we adjusted associations between EDWT and race/ethnicity (non-Hispanic whites [designated whites herein], non-Hispanic blacks [blacks], and Hispanics) for age, sex, region, mode of transportation, insurance, hospital characteristics, triage status, hospital admission, stroke type, and survey year. Compared with whites, blacks had a longer EDWT in univariate analysis (67% longer, P = .03) and multivariate analysis (62% longer, P = .03), but Hispanics had a similar EDWT in both univariate analysis (31% longer, P = .65) and multivariate analysis (5% longer, P = .91). Longer EDWT was also seen with nonambulance mode of arrival, urban hospitals, or nonemergency triage. Race was significantly associated with EDWT > 10 minutes (whites, 55% [referent]; blacks, 70% [P = .03]; Hispanics, 62% [P = .53]). These differences persisted after adjustment (blacks: odds ratio [OR] = 2.08, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.05-4.09; Hispanics: OR = 1.07, 95% CI = 0.52-2.22). Blacks, but not Hispanics, had significantly longer EDWT than whites. The longer EDWT in black stroke patients may lead to treatment delays and sub-optimal stroke care.
The effects of ambient temperature and population density on aggression in two inbred strains of mice, Mus musculus.

I. 240 Male mice from the aggressive C57BL/I05 strain and non-aggressive A/J strain were subjected to temperatures of I8.3°C, 2I.I°C, 26.7°C, 32.2°C or 35°C for 24 hours. 2. The mice were then crowded in groups of 8 into enclosures with floor areas of 0.09, 0.2I, or 0.38 m2. 3. The frequency of aggression acts (biting frequency) was recorded for each animal 30, 60, and 90 min. after being put in the enclosures. 4. Aggression was lowest at I8.3°C and 35°C and tended to increase as the temperature increased from I8.3°C to 32.2°C. 5. There appeared to be more aggression in the more crowded conditions than in the less crowded conditions. 6. The results were attributed to metabolic changes induced by increasing temperature and to perceptual and proximity effects resulting from increasing population density.
Does having multiple partners weaken the benefits of facultative mutualism? A test with cacti and cactus‐tending ants

Interspecific facultative mutualisms typically involve guilds of interacting species, and species within a guild can vary in the quality of services they provide. For plants that secrete extrafloral nectar (EFN), visitation by multiple ant species that vary in anti-herbivore abilities may result in reduced benefits, relative to an exclusive association with a high-quality mutualist. This raises the intriguing problem of how facultative ant-plant mutualisms persist, given that EFN is costly to produce, yet may confer diminishing returns as partner diversity increases. I tested the prediction that association with two ant partners (Crematogaster opuntiae and Liometopum apiculatum) weakens benefits to the EFN-producing tree cholla cactus (Opuntia imbricata). I found that only one ant (L. apiculatum) provided protection against herbivores and seed predators. However, this species associated with cacti more frequently than Crematogaster across multiple temporal scales. Within years, Liometopum showed greater constancy on plants they occupied, more frequently colonized vacant plants, and replaced but were never replaced by Crematogaster. Across years of plant development, Liometopum was more abundant on reproductive plants and showed greater overlap with cactus enemies. Simulations of cactus lifetime reproductive output indicated that associating with high- and low-quality mutualists did not significantly reduce plant benefits relative to an exclusive L. apiculatum - O. imbricata association. The results suggest that non-random interaction frequencies, possibly driven by competition, may contribute to the maintenance of facultative mutualisms involving multiple, qualitatively different partners.
Effect of chronic and acute cigarette smoking on the pharyngo-upper oesophageal sphincter contractile reflex and reflexive pharyngeal swallow.

Background—Cigarette smoking is known to affect adversely the defence mechanisms against gastro-oesophageal reflux. The effect of smoking on the supraoesophageal reflexes that prevent aspiration of gastric contents has not been previously studied. Aims—To elucidate the effect of cigarette smoking on two of the supraoesophageal reflexes: the pharyngo-upper oesophageal sphincter (UOS) contractile reflex; and the reflexive pharyngeal swallow. Methods—Ten chronic smokers and 10 non-smokers were studied, before and 10 minutes after real or simulated smoking, respectively. UOS pressure and threshold volume for the reflexes were determined using a UOS sleeve assembly. Two modes of fluid delivery into the pharynx were tested: rapid injection and slow injection. Results—For both rapid and slow injections, the threshold volume for triggering the pharyngo-UOS contractile reflex was significantly higher in smokers than in non-smokers (rapid: smokers 0.42 (SE 0.07) ml, non-smokers 0.16 (0.04) ml; slow: smokers 0.86 (0.06) ml, non-smokers 0.38 (0.1) ml; p<0.05). During rapid injection, the threshold volume for reflexive pharyngeal swallow was higher in smokers (smokers 0.94 (0.09) ml, non-smokers 0.46 (0.05) ml; p<0.05). Acute smoking further increased the threshold volume for the pharyngo-UOS contractile reflex and reflexive pharyngeal swallow during rapid injection. Conclusions—Smoking adversely affects stimulation of the pharyngo-UOS contractile reflex and pharyngeal reflexive swallow. These findings may have implications in the development of reflux related respiratory complications among smokers. Keywords: smoking; supraoesophageal reflexes; pharyngo-upper oesophageal sphincter contractile reflex; reflexive pharyngeal swallow; airway protection; gastro-oesophageal reflux
The one‐particle Green function—Revisited

Based on the newly developed multichannel propagator theory for nonelectronic projectiles by Cederbaum and Winkler, the theory of the elastic, one-particle propagator for electron projectiles has been revisited and formulated in the new framework. In the inelastic propagator theory, the contributions of all possible scattering channels are formally included and, as a result, closed sets of equations can be developed for both the advanced and retarded parts of the inelastic propagator. Furthermore, although the association of exact optical potentials with inelastic propagators has been established for nonelectronic projectiles, the same has not yet been achieved for electronic projectiles. In an early landmark study, Bell and Squires have shown the existence of an exact optical potential associated with the elastic electron propagator. The present article studies the same problem as it presents itself as the restriction of the inelastic propagator theory to the elastic case. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2001
Adaptive randomized trial designs that cannot be dominated by any standard design at the same total sample size

SUMMARY Prior work has shown that certain types of adaptive designs can always be dominated by a suitably chosen, standard, group sequential design. This applies to adaptive designs with rules 10 for modifying the total sample size. A natural question is whether analogous results hold for other types of adaptive designs. We focus on adaptive enrichment designs, which involve preplanned rules for modifying enrollment criteria based on accrued data in a randomized trial. Such designs often involve multiple hypotheses, e.g., one for the total population and one for a predefined subpopulation, such as those with high disease se verity at baseline. We fix the total 15 sample size, and consider overall power, defined as the proba bility of rejecting at least one false null hypothesis. We present adaptive enrichment designs whose overall power at two alternatives cannot simultaneously be matched by any standard design. In some scenarios there is a substantial gap between the overall power achieved by these adaptive designs and that of any standard design. We also prove that such gains in overall power come at a cost. To attain overall power 20 above what is achievable by certain standard designs, it is necessary to increase power to reject some hypotheses and reduce power to reject others. We conclude by showing the class of adaptive enrichment designs allows certain power tradeoffs that are not available when restricting to standard designs. We illustrate our results in the context o f planning a hypothetical, randomized trial of a new antidepressant, using data distributions fro m (Kirsch et al., 2008). 25
A beam breakup instability in a recirculating linac caused by a quadrupole mode

Following the successful demonstration of energy recovery in a recirculating linac with superconducting cavities at the Jefferson Lab FEL[1], several ambitious electron accelerator projects have recently been proposed or are in study for either a light source or a collider based on this novel technology. These projects all intend to utilize a high quality linac electron beam generated with an average beam current typically in the range of 100’s of mA. As is well known, a recirculating linac suffers from a beam breakup instability of a regenerative type caused by a Higher Order Mode (HOM) in an accelerating cavity, which can have a very high Q (quality factor) when superconducting. The instability can degrade the beam quality significantly. We investigate one such beam breakup instability in a recirculating linac that could arise as a result of high Q quadrupole modes excited in the cavity. In a simple model we derive a relation which allows one to deduce the upper limit on tolerable Q values for such modes. The results should provide a useful guide in setting the HOM damping requirement among others.
Wednesday evening, August 11, 2010—West Lafayette, IN

The warmth and humidity of the August evening had drawn families to campus to cool off in the fountain spray. As children splashed each other and parents lounged on cement seats watching, Delta rushed past the summer scene barely noticing the peals of laughter and squeals of delight that faded behind her.
An Unspeakable Sadness: The Dispossession of the Nebraska Indians

"An even-handed, elegantly presented and thoroughly researched example of the sort of work historical geographers need to be doing."--Journal of Historical Geography. "A valuable and meticulous study."--London Times Literary Supplement. "No serious student of Indian history or Indian-white history can overlook this singular book, a readable, thoroughly documented history of the Indians of Nebraska--Pawnee, Otoe, Missouria, Ponca, and Omaha...David Wishart has given readers what I regard as one of the best histories of the American Indians ever written...I find Wishart's work exceptionally meritorious in the field."--Wilbur R. Jacobs, Journal of American History. "A well-written and authoritative work." --Francis Paul Prucha, Great Plains Quarterly. Of all the interactions between American Indians and Euro-Americans, none was as fundamental as the acquisition of the indigenous peoples' lands. To Euro-Americans this takeover of lands was seen as a natural right, an evolution to a higher use; to American Indians the loss of homelands was a tragedy involving also a loss of subsistence, a loss of history, and a loss of identity. Historical geographer David J. Wishart tells the story of the dispossession process as it affected the Nebraska Indians--Otoe-Missouria, Ponca, Omaha, and Pawnee--over the course of the nineteenth century. Working from primary documents, and including American Indian voices, Wishart analyzes the spatial and ecological repercussions of dispossession. Maps give the spatial context of dispossession, showing how Indian societies were restricted to ever smaller territories where American policies of social control were applied with increasing intensity. Graphs of population loss serve as reference lines for the narrative, charting the declining standards of living over the century of dispossession. Care is taken to support conclusions with empirical evidence, including, for example, specific details of how much the Indians were paid for their lands. The story is told in a language that is free from jargon and is accessible to a general audience. David J. Wishart is a professor of geography at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He is the author of The Fur Trade of the American West, 1807-1840: A Geographical Synthesis (Nebraska 1979).
PLANET: massively parallel learning of tree ensembles with MapReduce

Classification and regression tree learning on massive datasets is a common data mining task at Google, yet many state of the art tree learning algorithms require training data to reside in memory on a single machine. While more scalable implementations of tree learning have been proposed, they typically require specialized parallel computing architectures. In contrast, the majority of Google's computing infrastructure is based on commodity hardware.In this paper, we describe PLANET: a scalable distributed framework for learning tree models over large datasets. PLANET defines tree learning as a series of distributed computations, and implements each one using the MapReduce model of distributed computation. We show how this framework supports scalable construction of classification and regression trees, as well as ensembles of such models. We discuss the benefits and challenges of using a MapReduce compute cluster for tree learning, and demonstrate the scalability of this approach by applying it to a real world learning task from the domain of computational advertising.
Where to look and who to be: designing attention and identity for search-and-rescue robots

Participants taking cover from a simulated earthquake interacted with a search-and-rescue robot that paid attention either to them or to the environment, and that they thought was either controlled by a person or autonomous. In general, the robot elicited the strongest positive responses when it focused on participants who thought they were interacting with a person.
Initialization, noise, singularities, and scale in height ridge traversal for tubular object centerline extraction

The extraction of the centerlines of tubular objects in two and three-dimensional images is a part of many clinical image analysis tasks. One common approach to tubular object centerline extraction is based on intensity ridge traversal. In this paper, we evaluate the effects of initialization, noise, and singularities on intensity ridge traversal and present multiscale heuristics and optimal-scale measures that minimize these effects. Monte Carlo experiments using simulated and clinical data are used to quantify how these "dynamic-scale" enhancements address clinical needs regarding speed, accuracy, and automation. In particular, we show that dynamic-scale ridge traversal is insensitive to its initial parameter settings, operates with little additional computational overhead, tracks centerlines with subvoxel accuracy, passes branch points, and handles significant image noise. We also illustrate the capabilities of the method for medical applications involving a variety of tubular structures in clinical data from different organs, patients, and imaging modalities.
Polyhydroxy Amino Acid Derivatives via β-Lactams Using Enantiospecific Approaches and Microwave Techniques

Abstract Enantiospecific synthesis has been developed for α-hydroxy β-lactams of predictable absolute configuration starting with readily available carbohydrates. Stereospecific approaches and microwave assisted chemical reactions have been utilized for the preparation of these 3-hydroxy-2-azetidinones and their conversion to natural or non-natural enantiomeric forms of intermediates for gentosamine, 6-epi-lincosamine, γ-hydroxythreonine, and polyoxamic acid.
Effects of anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive drugs on the heterolamellar corneal transplantation in rabbits.

We have studied the graft rejection of bovine lamellar cornea transplanted onto the rabbit cornea. In addition, the effect of inhibitors of arachidonic acid metabolism and immunosuppressive agents on this heterolamellar corneal transplant was investigated. The corneal lamellar transplant treated with saline were rejected at 9 +/- 1.4 day with 100% rejection rate. The postsurgical conjunctival hyperemia and edema occurred within 2-3 days. Corneal neovascularization took 5 to 9 days to reach the region of the graft. Intramuscular cyclosporin A (25mg/kg/day) and dexamethasone (0.1%) applied topically for 20 days (t.i.d.) inhibited the corneal opacity, edema, neovascularization and graft rejection. Topical Dexamethasone in the ipsilateral eye prolonged survival of grafts in the contralateral (untreated) eye. Cyclosporin A and dexamethasone probably inhibited the graft rejection process by their immunosuppressive action. Indomethacin and BW755C, respective cyclooxygenase and lipoxygenase inhibitors, applied topically did not inhibit graft rejection process while inhibiting postsurgical inflammatory response.
"Man to Loan $1500 and Serve as Clerk": Trading Jobs for Loans in Mid-Nineteenth-Century San Francisco

This paper explores the phenomenon of â€œjob-loan tradingâ€ â€”in which employers offered jobs in exchange for substantial loans from their new employeesâ€”as practiced in mid-nineteenth-century California. A sample of newspaper advertisements from 1857â€“76 reveals that despite the obvious inefficiencies of linking labor and capital markets, job-loan trading was both common and profitable. I assess labor market bonding against moral hazard or adverse selection as a possible explanation, but conclude that the job-loan trades primarily provide evidence of substantial Pacific Coast capital market imperfections. This conclusion has implications for the broader question of how financial markets develop.
Efficient and equilibrium allocations with stochastic differential utility

Abstract This paper presents results on the existence and characterization of Pareto efficient and of equilibrium allocations in a continuous-time setting under uncertainty in which agents have stochastic differential utility, a version of recursive utility. In order to characterize equilibrium and efficient allocations in terms of pointwise first-order conditions, uniform properness conditions on preferences are avoided.
Underground tunnels for transport systems

In densely populated regions, tunnels hundreds of feet below the earth's surface may be attractive guideways for high-speed transportation systems. Advantages include stability, isolation from weather variations, ease of positive control of the system, absence of interference from other structures and transportation modes, and potential alternative uses of the tunnels for such functions as storage, fluid transport, and defense purposes. If the system terminals are located near the surface, propulsion and braking requirements of the vehicles can also be greatly simplified. The principal deterrent is construction costs. These are being reduced by mechanized tunnelling mechines now undergoing much development but hard, strong rock still requires slow, expensive drill and blast techniques. Research to rapidly weaken hard rock so mechanical moles can tunnel it economically is being done. Both thermal treatments and the use of water-borne surface active agents are effective weakeners. A 1000-watt continnous-duty CO 2 laser can reduce the strength of marble or granite by a factor of ten in 3 to 5 seconds exposure time.
Rigorous computation of proper motions and their effects on star positions

Es werden neue strenge Formeln fur die Berechnung der Auswirkung von Eigenbewegungen und Radialgeschwindigkeiten auf Sternorter und fur die Ubertragung von Eigenbewegungskomponenten und Radialgeschwindigkeiten auf eine andere Epoche abgeleitet. Diese Ausdrucke hangen explizit nur von den zur Anfangsepoche gultigen Werten der Sternkoordinaten, der Entfernung, der Eigenbewegungskomponenten und der Radialgeschwindigkeit ab. New rigorous formulas are given for the computation of the effects of proper motions and radial velocities on star positions, and for the transformation of proper motion components and radial velocities from one epoch to another. These expressions depend explicitly only on the values of the star's coordinates and distance, proper motion components and radial velocity, at the initial epoch.
Higher IL-6 and IL6:IGF Ratio in Patients with Barth Syndrome

Background Barth Syndrome (BTHS) is a serious X-linked genetic disorder associated with mutations in the tafazzin gene (TAZ, also called G4.5). The multi-system disorder is primarily characterized by the following pathologies: cardiac and skeletal myopathies, neutropenia, growth delay, and exercise intolerance. Although growth anomalies have been widely reported in BTHS, there is a paucity of research on the role of inflammation and the potential link to alterations in growth factors levels in BTHS patients.
A FRET-Facilitated Photoswitching Using an Orange Fluorescent Protein with the Fast Photoconversion Kinetics

Fluorescent proteins photoswitchable with noncytotoxic light irradiation and spectrally distinct from multiple available photoconvertible green-to-red probes are in high demand. We have developed a monomeric fluorescent protein, called PSmOrange2, which is photoswitchable with blue light from an orange (ex./em. at 546 nm/561 nm) to a far-red (ex./em. at 619 nm/651 nm) form. Compared to another orange-to-far-red photoconvertable variant, PSmOrange2 has blue-shifted photoswitching action spectrum, 9-fold higher photoconversion contrast, and up to 10-fold faster photoswitching kinetics. This results in the 4-fold more PSmOrange2 molecules being photoconverted in mammalian cells. Compared to common orange fluorescent proteins, such as mOrange, the orange form of PSmOrange has substantially higher photostability allowing its use in multicolor imaging applications to track dynamics of multiple populations of intracellular objects. The PSmOrange2 photochemical properties allow its efficient photoswitching with common two-photon lasers and, moreover, via Forster resonance energy transfer (FRET) from green fluorescent donors. We have termed the latter effect a FRET-facilitated photoswitching and demonstrated it using several sets of interacting proteins. The enhanced photoswitching properties of PSmOrange2 make it a superior photoconvertable protein tag for flow cytometry, conventional microscopy, and two-photon imaging of live cells.
Central neural correlates of learned heart rate control during exercise: central command demystified

To identify the brain areas involved in central command, four monkeys were trained to attenuate the tachycardia of exercise while different brain sites affecting heart rate (HR) were simultaneously stimulated electrically. Among 24 brain sites located mostly in the limbic structures, we have identified four types of control systems that mediate cardiovascular and motor behavior during exercise. One system increases HR equivalently during both exercise and operantly controlled HR, whereas another increases HR during both tasks and abolishes operant HR control. In the third system, the effect of brain stimulation on HR is attenuated during exercise and during exercise with operantly controlled HR. The fourth system increases HR in both tasks, but its effect is significantly attenuated during operant HR control. We believe that this last system, which includes the mediodorsal nucleus, nucleus ventralis anterior, and cingulate cortex, plays a significant role in central command.
Leading midwifery? – But I’m just a student!

Introduction: Leadership in midwifery may seem like the least important thing for students focused on learning midwifery clinical skills. However, most midwives are ‘leaders’ by the very nature of their profession. Learning how to be an effective leader will serve the individual midwife professionally, but is also critical in moving the profession forward in the future. Methods: This interactive session will explore what it means to be a leader and will have students identify areas they believe are crucial for midwifery leaders to address in the future. I will draw from my leadership experiences as a Colonel in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps, past President of the American College of NurseMidwives, and as Executive Deputy Dean of the Yale School of Nursing. I will use narratives that capture how leadership began early in my career – whether I wanted it or not. Results: Leadership requires accountability for recognising health care gaps and gathering resources to address them. It is not someone else’s job – it is ours! Gaining skills in leadership is not that difficult, but requires persistence and tenacity, and a good dose of humility. Conclusion: As students consider their futuremidwifery careers, they will add to the equation how they will use their own leadership abilities to make a difference for women and their families.
Effect of zinc supplementation on serum zinc concentration and T cell proliferation in nursing home elderly: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

BACKGROUND Zinc is essential for the regulation of immune response. T cell function declines with age. Zinc supplementation has the potential to improve the serum zinc concentrations and immunity of nursing home elderly with a low serum zinc concentration. OBJECTIVE We aimed to determine the effect of supplementation with 30 mg Zn/d for 3 mo on serum zinc concentrations of zinc-deficient nursing home elderly. DESIGN This was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Of 53 nursing home elderly (aged ≥65 y) who met eligibility criteria, 58% had a low serum zinc concentration (serum zinc <70 μg/dL); these 31 were randomly assigned to zinc (30 mg Zn/d) (n = 16) or placebo (5 mg Zn/d) (n = 15) groups. The primary outcome measure was change in serum zinc concentrations between baseline and month 3. We also explored the effects of supplementation on immune response. RESULTS Baseline characteristics were similar in the 2 groups. The difference in the mean change in serum zinc was significantly higher, by 16%, in the zinc group than in the placebo group (P = 0.007) when baseline zinc concentrations were controlled for. In addition, controlling for baseline C-reactive protein, copper, or albumin did not change the results. However, supplementation of participants with ≤60 μg serum Zn/dL failed to increase their serum zinc to ≥70 μg/dL. Zinc supplementation also significantly increased anti-CD3/CD28 and phytohemagglutinin-stimulated T cell proliferation, and the number of peripheral T cells (P < 0.05). When proliferation was expressed per number of T cells, the significant differences between groups were lost, suggesting that the zinc-induced enhancement of T cell proliferation was mainly due to an increase in the number of T cells. CONCLUSIONS Zinc supplementation at 30 mg/d for 3 mo is effective in increasing serum zinc concentrations in nursing home elderly; however, not all zinc-deficient elderly reached adequate concentrations. The increase in serum zinc concentration was associated with the enhancement of T cell function mainly because of an increase in the number of T cells.
Home Depot, Inc

This aggressive retailer is adding store space at the annual rate of 25%. This case presents an external-financing requirement amounting to $1.4 billion over the next five years. Students must decide how to meet this requirement wisely, acknowledging the relationship between business strategy and financial policy. Analysis of the firm's share price reveals a substantial overvaluation in the market. A student worksheet file is available for use with this case.
Ventrosuspension of the uterus with living sutures

Abstract 1. A new technic of performing Olshausen's round ligament ventrosuspension of the uterus through the use of living sutures is presented. 2. A constant large percentage of failures in maintaining position of the uterus together with the frequency of sepsis through the use of foreign suture materials, justifies trial of the method. 3. Later a more complete and critical report of results in a larger series of cases will follow this publication.
Fatigue Tests on Fiber Coated Titanium Implant–Bone Cement Interfaces

The goal is developing an efficient bond interface between the implant and the cement by applying micron to nano size fibers to the surface of the implant through an electrospinning process, utilizing biocompatible fibers. Experimental models have been developed to evaluate the forces experienced on a cemented cylinder shape titanium implant through a static and cyclic tests. Finite element analysis (FEA) model for an uncoated cylindrical cemented titanium model was developed and tested under static and fatigue conditions. Our experimental study on cylindrical model found increase of pull out static strength for fiber coated implant (Mean strength = 1.308 MPa) compare to uncoated implant (Mean strength = 1.098 MPa) for 2 samples. Our experimental study also found no noticeable increase of pull out fatigue life for fiber coated implant (Mean fatigue life = 2019 cycles) compare to uncoated implant (Mean fatigue life = 2015 cycles) for 2 samples. Our FEA study on cylindrical model found the design life to be 1690 cycles with element size of 3.0E-3 m under the minimum stress of 112 kPa and maximum stress of 9.71 MPa according to Modified Goodman theorem.
The manifestation of empathy within design: findings from a service-learning course

AbstractThe emergence of human-centred design strategies has directed attention to the role of empathy within design. While research on co-design acknowledges the potentially improved outcomes of using an empathic design approach, a comprehensive analysis on how empathy functions throughout the design process has been minimally explored in this literature. In this study, we analysed a series of design review videos depicting students’ design procedures within a service-learning course. These student designers were tasked to design a universally accessible zip-line and access ramp along with associated features. Our objective was to explore how empathy functioned throughout the development of the students’ final design solutions, which included a zip-line access point, ramp and cheering platform. To guide our depiction of these empathic design pathways, we relied on a set of pre-established empathic design techniques utilised by student designers. We provide a visual summary of student designers’ empathic ...
Forces, moment, and wave pattern for surface combatant in regular head waves Part I. Measurement systems and uncertainty assessment

A model-scale naval surface combatant, DTMB 5512, is studied experimentally in steady forward speed and regular head waves with the Iowa Institute of Hydraulic Research towing-tank facilities. Unsteady resistance, heave force, pitch moment and free-surface elevations are investigated with different measurement systems for a fairly wide range of test conditions. Test data is procured for validation of RANS computational fluid dynamics codes and for understanding the physics of unsteady ship hydrodynamics. In the first part of the two-part paper, details of data reductions, measurement systems and uncertainty assessment procedures are provided.
On the Influence of Pore Size and Pore Loading on Structural and Dynamical Heterogeneities of an Ionic Liquid Confined in a Slit Nanopore

Molecular dynamics simulations were performed to investigate the structural and dynamical properties of varying amounts of the ionic liquid (IL) [EMIM+][TFMSI–] confined inside slit-like graphitic pores of different widths, H. The ions distributed in layers inside the slit pores, with the number of layers depending on pore size. A reduction in pore loading leads to the formation of regions of high and low density of ions in the center of the pore. Variations in pore size and pore loading seem to induce only slight changes in the local liquid structure of [EMIM+][TFMSI–] in the different layers, as compared with the liquid structure of the bulk IL. This finding, when combined with our previous work for a different IL (Singh, R.; Monk, J.; Hung, F. R. J. Phys. Chem. C2011, 115, 16544–16554), suggests that confinement inside slit-like nanopores may or may not induce changes in the local liquid structure depending on the specific IL. However, pore size and pore loading have a marked effect on the dynamics of ...
Distribution feeder impacts of electric vehicles charging in an integrated traffic and power network

Electric vehicles are considered to be flexible loads due to their elasticity in both charging time and location. Because a larger number of electric vehicles are expected to be connected to the grid for charging, the total load of the distribution network will increase and may negatively impact the grid. This paper designs a method to determine electric vehicle charging demand at various nodes in a distribution system. The fluctuation in the charging load with time is due to random movement of electric vehicles in an integrated traffic and power network. Uncoordinated and semi-coordinated charging scenarios are simulated. Monte Carlo simulation is performed to analyze the effect of uncertainty in driving behavior in a medium voltage distribution network. Results show that uncoordinated charging techniques generate new peaks in the load profile of each node in the distribution system and cause power network congestion problems. Semi-coordinated charging techniques introduce a delay in the charging time to shift EV charging loads to off-peak times. Hence, with this technique, it is unnecessary to immediately upgrade distribution network infrastructures to avoid network overloading.
A fast and robust protocol for metataxonomic analysis using RNAseq data.

Metagenomics is a rapidly emerging field aimed to analyze microbial diversity and dynamics by studying the genomic content of the microbiota. Metataxonomics tools analyze high-throughput sequencing data, primarily from 16S rRNA gene sequencing and DNAseq, to identify microorganisms and viruses within a complex mixture. With the growing demand for analysis of the functional microbiome, metatranscriptome studies attract more interest. To make metatranscriptomic data sufficient for metataxonomics, new analytical workflows are needed to deal with sparse and taxonomically less informative sequencing data. We present a new protocol, IMSA+A, for accurate taxonomy classification based on metatranscriptome data of any read length that can efficiently and robustly identify bacteria, fungi, and viruses in the same sample. The new protocol improves accuracy by using a conservative reference database, employing a new counting scheme, and by assembling shotgun reads. Assembly also reduces analysis runtime. Simulated data were utilized to evaluate the protocol by permuting common experimental variables. When applied to the real metatranscriptome data for mouse intestines colonized by ASF, the protocol showed superior performance in detection of the microorganisms compared to the existing metataxonomics tools. IMSA+A is available at https://github.com/JeremyCoxBMI/IMSA-A . The developed protocol addresses the need for taxonomy classification from RNAseq data. Previously not utilized, i.e., unmapped to a reference genome, RNAseq reads can now be used to gather taxonomic information about the microbiota present in a biological sample without conducting additional sequencing. Any metatranscriptome pipeline that includes assembly of reads can add this analysis with minimal additional cost of compute time. The new protocol also creates an opportunity to revisit old metatranscriptome data, where taxonomic content may be important but was not analyzed.
Managing for Results in a Health Care Environment—Setting Goals and Achieving Results

This article is the second in the “Managing for Results” series. It is intended to help nuclear medicine personnel improve their managerial effectiveness. A practical approach to getting results in an often imperfect world is presented herein. The authors discuss: (1) four basic notions about managing for results, (2) defining a realistic improvement plan or vision based on the values of the organization and its people, (3) setting short-term goals, (4) five steps for achieving results, and (5) capitalizing on short-term project successes for the long term. Once again a worksheet is included to direct your thinking about the key ideas addressed in the article. To get the most benefit from this series of continuing education articles, it is important to complete the worksheet. In addition, your responses will provide the authors with feedback about your reactions to the material presented and they will discuss materials gathered from your worksheets in their remaining articles. Those wishing to earn CEU (VOICE) credit for these management articles must return a completed worksheet for each article in the series.
From Bad to Worse: How Changing Inequality in Nearby Areas Impacts Local Crime

Recognition is growing that criminogenic neighborhood effects may not end at the borders of local communities, that neighborhoods are located relative to one another in ways that shape local crime rates. Inspired by this insight, this research explores the changing spatial distribution of race and income around a location and determines how such changes are associated with crime patterns and trends in neighborhoods in Los Angeles. We examine how changes from 2000 to 2010 in the income composition, racial composition, and intersection of these two constructs are linked with changes in levels of crime across local areas. We find that neighborhoods experiencing greater increases in spatial inequality in a broader area (two and a half miles around the neighborhood) experience greater increases in crime levels in the focal area over the decade, and that this pattern is strongest for neighborhoods simultaneously experiencing increasing average household income or increasing inequality. We also find that neighborhoods simultaneously experiencing increases in inequality and racial-ethnic heterogeneity experience increases in crime.
Glucans and the Poultry Immune System

With the reduced availability of antibiotics, poultry producers are looking for feed additives to stimulate the immune system of their birds. Some beta-glucans have been shown to improve gut health in poultry subjected to a bacterial challenge, to increase the flow of new immunocytes into the various lymphoid organs, to increase macrophage function, to increase antibody titers after a vaccination and to function as an anti-inflammatory immunomodulator. As a result, beta-glucans may provide a tool for producers trying to reduce or eliminate the use of antibiotics in poultry diets.
Pseudomonas aeruginosa Alters Staphylococcus aureus Sensitivity to Vancomycin in a Biofilm Model of Cystic Fibrosis Infection.

ABSTRACT The airways of cystic fibrosis (CF) patients have thick mucus, which fosters chronic, polymicrobial infections. Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus are two of the most prevalent respiratory pathogens in CF patients. In this study, we tested whether P. aeruginosa influences the susceptibility of S. aureus to frontline antibiotics used to treat CF lung infections. Using our in vitro coculture model, we observed that addition of P. aeruginosa supernatants to S. aureus biofilms grown either on epithelial cells or on plastic significantly decreased the susceptibility of S. aureus to vancomycin. Mutant analyses showed that 2-n-heptyl-4-hydroxyquinoline N-oxide (HQNO), a component of the P. aeruginosa Pseudomonas quinolone signal (PQS) system, protects S. aureus from the antimicrobial activity of vancomycin. Similarly, the siderophores pyoverdine and pyochelin also contribute to the ability of P. aeruginosa to protect S. aureus from vancomycin, as did growth under anoxia. Under our experimental conditions, HQNO, P. aeruginosa supernatant, and growth under anoxia decreased S. aureus growth, likely explaining why this cell wall-targeting antibiotic is less effective. P. aeruginosa supernatant did not confer additional protection to slow-growing S. aureus small colony variants. Importantly, P. aeruginosa supernatant protects S. aureus from other inhibitors of cell wall synthesis as well as protein synthesis-targeting antibiotics in an HQNO- and siderophore-dependent manner. We propose a model whereby P. aeruginosa causes S. aureus to shift to fermentative growth when these organisms are grown in coculture, leading to reduction in S. aureus growth and decreased susceptibility to antibiotics targeting cell wall and protein synthesis. IMPORTANCE Cystic fibrosis (CF) lung infections are chronic and difficult to eradicate. Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus are two of the most prevalent respiratory pathogens in CF patients and are associated with poor patient outcomes. Both organisms adopt a biofilm mode of growth, which contributes to high tolerance to antibiotic treatment and the recalcitrant nature of these infections. Here, we show that P. aeruginosa exoproducts decrease the sensitivity of S. aureus biofilm and planktonic populations to vancomycin, a frontline antibiotic used to treat methicillin-resistant S. aureus in CF patients. P. aeruginosa also protects S. aureus from other cell wall-active antibiotics as well as various classes of protein synthesis inhibitors. Thus, interspecies interactions can have dramatic and unexpected consequences on antibiotic sensitivity. This study underscores the potential impact of interspecies interactions on antibiotic efficacy in the context of complex, polymicrobial infections.
High temperature tensile and creep behavior of lead free solders

The mechanical behavior of lead free solders is highly dependent on the testing temperature. Previous investigations on mechanical characterization of conventional and doped lead free SAC solders have mainly emphasized stress-strain and creep testing at temperatures from 25 to 125 °C. However, solders are exposed to very high temperatures from 125–200 °C in several harsh environment applications including well boring, geothermal energy, and aerospace engines. In the current work, we have extended our previous studies to explore mechanical properties for SAC305, SAC_Q, SAC_R, and Innolot solders at temperatures from 125–200 °C at a strain rate of 0.001 (sec−1). The Anand constitutive model with parameters measured previously using test data from 25–125 has been shown to fit the high temperature stress-strain curves reasonably well. In addition, high temperature creep behavior of SAC305 was explored. Finally, the high temperature tensile properties of the above-mentioned solders have been compared. Our results show a significant degradation of mechanical properties of lead-free solders at higher temperatures. Also, a noteworthy increase in the secondary creep strain rate has been observed. Comparison of the results for different solders has shown that the addition of dopants (e.g. Bi, Ni, and Sb) in the traditional SAC alloys improve their properties significantly.
Compositional Matrix-Space Models for Sentiment Analysis

We present a general learning-based approach for phrase-level sentiment analysis that adopts an ordinal sentiment scale and is explicitly compositional in nature. Thus, we can model the compositional effects required for accurate assignment of phrase-level sentiment. For example, combining an adverb (e.g., "very") with a positive polar adjective (e.g., "good") produces a phrase ("very good") with increased polarity over the adjective alone. Inspired by recent work on distributional approaches to compositionality, we model each word as a matrix and combine words using iterated matrix multiplication, which allows for the modeling of both additive and multiplicative semantic effects. Although the multiplication-based matrix-space framework has been shown to be a theoretically elegant way to model composition (Rudolph and Giesbrecht, 2010), training such models has to be done carefully: the optimization is non-convex and requires a good initial starting point. This paper presents the first such algorithm for learning a matrix-space model for semantic composition. In the context of the phrase-level sentiment analysis task, our experimental results show statistically significant improvements in performance over a bag-of-words model.
Predictive multiscale computational model of shoe-floor coefficient of friction.

Understanding the frictional interactions between the shoe and floor during walking is critical to prevention of slips and falls, particularly when contaminants are present. A multiscale finite element model of shoe-floor-contaminant friction was developed that takes into account the surface and material characteristics of the shoe and flooring in microscopic and macroscopic scales. The model calculates shoe-floor coefficient of friction (COF) in boundary lubrication regime where effects of adhesion friction and hydrodynamic pressures are negligible. The validity of model outputs was assessed by comparing model predictions to the experimental results from mechanical COF testing. The multiscale model estimates were linearly related to the experimental results (p < 0.0001). The model predicted 73% of variability in experimentally-measured shoe-floor-contaminant COF. The results demonstrate the potential of multiscale finite element modeling in aiding slip-resistant shoe and flooring design and reducing slip and fall injuries.
Analysis of Cracks in Heterogeneous Solids

It is well known that the strength of inherently brittle solids (such as, ceramics and some high performance composites) is governed by the propagation of a crack from a critical defect. Prediction of strength for such materials depends upon understanding the interaction between cracks and the heterogeneous structure of the material. For example, Cherepanov1 using dimensional analysis showed that the strength of a particulate composite with weak interfaces is governed by $$ \sigma \surd d/{K_1} = G\left( {{\mu _2}/{\mu _1},D/{K_1},{\upsilon _1},{\upsilon _2},q} \right) $$ (1) Where µ, υ, D, K1 q, d and σ are the shear modulus, Poisson’s ratio, adhesion modulus of the interface between the reinforcement and the matrix, adhesion modulus of the matrix, volume fraction of reinforcement, reinforcement dimension, and strength, respectively. Furthermore, the subscripts 1 and 2 refer to the matrix and reinforcement respectively. Equation (1) shows that the strength increases as the characteristic dimension d of the reinforcement decreases, other things being equal. Experimental data on rubber containing 42% NaCl crystals by weight indicates that Eq. (1) is correct.1
Solutions to Selected Problems

Prove that: \(\begin{array}{ll}a)(A\setminus B)^c=A^c\cup B.\\b)[(A^c\cup B)^c\cup (A\cup B^c)]^c=B\setminus A.\\c)(A\cap B)\cup(A\cap B^c)\cup (A^c\cap B)=A\cup B\end{array}\)
Risk of venous thromboembolism, survival, and expression of procoagulant genes in neuroendocrine versus castration-resistant prostate cancer.

e17039Background: Neuroendocrine prostate cancer (NEPC) is an aggressive form of PC thought to carry a higher risk of VTE than standard castration resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), though it is unc...
End-Permian Trace Fossil Dolopichnus and the Stresses of Ash Fall

AbstractThe fossil burrow Dolopichnus, capped by an ash layer, was collected ∼0.6 m below the Permian–Triassic Boundary at the Lung Cam section in North Vietnam. The burrow occurs at the top of Bed...