cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Detection and quantification of subtle changes in red blood cell density using a cell phone

Magnetic levitation has emerged as a technique that offers the ability to differentiate between cells with different densities. We have developed a magnetic levitation system for this purpose that distinguishes not only different cell types but also density differences in cells of the same type. This small-scale system suspends cells in a paramagnetic medium in a capillary placed between two rare earth magnets, and cells levitate to an equilibrium position determined solely by their density. Uniform reference beads of known density are used in conjunction with the cells as a means to quantify their levitation positions. In one implementation images of the levitating cells are acquired with a microscope, but here we also introduce a cell phone-based device that integrates the magnets, capillary, and a lens into a compact and portable unit that acquires images with the phone's camera. To demonstrate the effectiveness of magnetic levitation in cell density analysis we carried out levitation experiments using red blood cells with artificially altered densities, and also levitated those from donors. We observed that we can distinguish red blood cells of an anemic donor from those that are healthy. Since a plethora of disease states are characterized by changes in cell density magnetic cell levitation promises to be an effective tool in identifying and analyzing pathologic states. Furthermore, the low cost, portability, and ease of use of the cell phone-based system may potentially lead to its deployment in low-resource environments.
The Informal Arena of Inter-Ethnic Relations

Much of the sociological and anthropological literature on inter-ethnic relations tends to focus on the formal aspects of the interaction because of the prevalent assumption in the western world that society is run formally.1 Informality is understood mostly in terms of personal preference and individual motivation, but not as a consequence of structural imbalance resulting from the asymmetry of structural relations and hegemonic practices.
Mortality predictions of fire-injured large Douglas-fir and ponderosa pine in Oregon and Washington, USA

Abstract Wild and prescribed fire-induced injury to forest trees can produce immediate or delayed tree mortality but fire-injured trees can also survive. Land managers use logistic regression models that incorporate tree-injury variables to discriminate between fatally injured trees and those that will survive. We used data from 4024 ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Dougl. ex Laws.) and 3804 Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco) trees from 23 fires across Oregon and Washington to assess the discriminatory ability of 21 existing logistic regression models and a polychotomous key (Scott guidelines). We used insights from the validation exercise to build new models for each tree species and to identify fire-injury variables which consistently produce accurate mortality predictions. Only 8% of Ponderosa pine and 14% of Douglas-fir died within 3 years after fire. The amount of crown volume consumed, the number of bole quadrants with dead cambium and the presence of beetles were variables that classified most accurately, but surviving trees in our sample displayed a wide range of fire injury making the accurate classification of dead trees difficult. For ponderosa pine, our new model correctly classified 99% of live trees and 12% of dead trees while the Malheur model ( Thies et al., 2006 ) correctly classified 95% of live trees and 24% of dead trees. The Scott guidelines accurately predicted at least 98% of live ponderosa pine trees but less than 2% of dead ponderosa pine. For Douglas-fir the Scott guidelines accurately predicted at least 80% of live trees and generally less than 10% of dead trees. Misclassification rates can be controlled by the choice of decision criteria used in the models and managers are encouraged to consider costs of the two types of misclassifications when choosing decision criteria for specific land management decisions.
Ultra-Wideband Joint Spatial Coding for Secure Communication and High-Resolution Imaging

This paper introduces new techniques for ultra-wideband (UWB) joint spatial coding in order to establish a secure line-of-sight wireless communication link, performing precision localization of point objects, and generating high-resolution images from complex scenes. For the proposed technique, symbol generation and coding are jointly performed by multiple widely spaced transmitters. This method enables the transmission of directionally modulated signals that can only be decoded at a desired angle, resulting in a secure communication link. It is also shown that joint spatial coding by multiple transmitters that are synchronized with each other enables the precise localization of multiple point objects and allows high-resolution 3-D imaging of distributed objects. The technique is demonstrated experimentally in the frequency range 3–10 GHz by generating and detecting UWB pulses.
Radiation Therapy in the Management of Cushing’s Disease

Radiation therapy is most commonly offered to patients with Cushing’s disease who are incompletely treated after transsphenoidal surgery because of residual or recurrent disease. Retrospective data suggest that both fractionated External Beam Radiation Therapy (EBRT) and single-fraction Stereotactic Radiosurgery (SRS) offer biochemical remission rates of 50–80%. SRS appears to normalize hormonal levels more rapidly than fractionated EBRT and should be offered when technically feasible. Hypopituitarism is common and expected after pituitary irradiation. Other late side effects are uncommon.
Composition of algae assemblages in middle Tennessee streams and correlations of composition to trophic state

ABSTRACTEvaluations of the composition and biomass of photoautotrophic periphyton, nutrient concentrations of water, and concentrations of total phosphorous of benthic organic matter at eight stream sites in Middle Tennessee were used to: (1) document the composition of soft-algae and diatom assemblages, (2) assess the trophic state of the stream sites, (3) correlate trophic state to percent composition of soft-algae taxa, and (4) construct biotic indices using soft-algae taxa to help monitor trophic state. The concentration of total phosphorous of benthic organic matter was a more accurate indicator of the trophic state of the stream sites we studied relative to nutrient concentrations of water as demonstrated by correlation coefficients for nutrient concentrations to benthic concentrations of chlorophyll a, ash-free dry mass of benthic organic matter, and biotic indices which denote trophic state using diatom and soft-algae taxa. The algae trophic index developed using soft-algae taxa abundance-weighted...
Timing for the Introduction of Cycled Light for Extremely Preterm Infants: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Day-night cycled light improves health outcomes in preterm infants, yet the best time to institute cycled light is unclear. The hypothesis of this study was that extremely preterm infants receiving early cycled light would have better health and developmental outcomes than infants receiving late cycled light. Infants born at ≤28 weeks gestation were randomly assigned to early cycled light (ECL) starting at 28 weeks postmenstrual age [PMA] or late cycled light (LCL), starting at 36 weeks PMA. Daylight was 200-600 lux and night was 5-30 lux. Primary outcomes were weight over time and length of hospitalization. Secondary outcomes were hospital costs, sleep development, and neurodevelopment at 9, 18, and 24 months corrected age. Of 121 infants randomized, 118 were included in analysis. Weight gain in the two groups did not differ significantly but increased across time in both groups. In PMA weeks 36-44, the mean weight gain was 193.8 grams in the ECL group compared to 176.3 grams in the LCL group. Effect sizes for weight were Cohen d = 0.26 and 0.36 for 36 and 44 weeks PMA. Infants in the ECL group went home an average of 5.5 days earlier than the LCL group, but this difference was not statistically significant. There were no group differences on neurodevelopmental outcomes. Although statistically non-significant, clinically important differences of improved weight gain and decreased hospital stay were observed with ECL. The small observed effect sizes on weight during hospitalization should be considered in future cycled light research with extremely preterm infants. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Polarization Mode Dispersion-Based Physical Layer Key Generation for Optical Fiber Link Security

A novel physical layer secret key generation technique for point-to-point optical fiber link security is proposed. It can efficiently generate high entropy symmetric cryptographic keys based on Polarization Mode Dispersion in optical fiber links.
Off the Books: The Underground Economy of the Urban Poor by Sudhir Alladi Venkatesh

Sudhir Alladi Venkatesh, professor of sociology at Columbia University in New York City, spent parts of 8 years getting to know Maquis Park, a pseudonym for an undisclosed south-Chicago neighborhoo...
The Global Governance of Trafficking in Persons: Toward a Transnational Regime Complex

ABSTRACTTwenty years ago, international cooperation against trafficking in persons was close to nonexistent. This changed suddenly and irreversibly in 2000, with the signing of the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons (TIP), especially Women and Children. Since then, regional and bilateral cooperation initiatives on TIP have proliferated. In addition to these interstate agreements, recent years have witnessed the emergence and spread of novel forms of soft or voluntary rule making, developed by intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) and private actors. As a result, the governance of TIP has evolved from a state-centric regime to a transnational regime complex, in which public and private actors share responsibilities over various global governance tasks, including information sharing, standard setting, and monitoring and evaluation. In seeking to map out and shed light on the different components of this transnational regime complex, the article proposes a typology of transn...
Socio-musical connections and teacher identity development in a university methods course and community youth symphony partnership

In this article we describe the experiences of nine preservice music teachers enrolled in the first semester of a newly designed instrumental methods course in which a traditional lecture format wa...
14nm FinFET technology SRAM cell margin evaluation and analysis by local layout effect

14nm node SRAM using FinFETs with advanced Replacement Metal Gate (RMG) module shows sensitive Access Distuib Margin (ADM) response to Local Layout Effect (LLE) as seen in planar CMOS technology using RMG [1]. Additionally, 14nm FinFET technology has more LLEs than ever due to the layout variety or tighter minimum design rule applied [2]. Fluorine with very high reaction energy diffuses from WL CONT to Pass Gate (PG) is found to lower PG Vtsat degrading s-ratio and ADM. And, the STI stress from strap cell reduces the SRAM NFET Vtsat of the cell at the array edge degrading ADM. The natural variation of Gate-cut to PG degrades the Vth mismatch resulting in ADM degradation also. These three kinds of LLE and their impacts on ADM are discussed and analyzed in detail in this paper along with mechanisms that can cause the LLEs.
Elucidating the Reactivity and Mechanism of CO2 Electroreduction at Highly Dispersed Cobalt Phthalocyanine

Transforming carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide with electrochemical methods allows for small-scale, modular conversion of point sources of carbon dioxide. In this work, through the preparation of a well-dispersed cobalt phthalocyanine model catalyst immobilized on carbon paper, we revealed high turnover frequencies for reducing carbon dioxide at low catalyst loadings, which are obscured at higher loadings due to aggregation. The low catalyst loadings have also enabled mechanistic studies that provide a detailed understanding of the molecular-level picture of how cobalt phthalocyanine facilitates proton and electron transfers in the rate-limiting step. We are able to tune the rate-limiting step from electron transfer to concerted proton–electron transfer, enabling higher rates of carbon dioxide reduction. Our results highlight the significance of dispersion for understanding the intrinsic catalytic performance of metal phthalocyanines for electroreduction of CO2.
Watershed- to continental-scale influences on winter stormflow in the Southern Blue Ridge Mountains

Abstract Spatial and temporal influences on the winter (December-March) stormflow characteristics of fifteen United States Geological Survey (USGS)-gaged watersheds in the Southern Blue Ridge Mountains are identified: (1) watershed-scale differences in geomorphology; (2) continental-scale teleconnections during periods of wetness/dryness (based on the relative amount of winter precipitation over a consistent 20 year dataset); and (3) land cover in the context of soil parent material (e.g., development on alluvium/colluvium). Multiple regression was used to determine how much variance could be explained in five hydrologic variables describing the flashiness of peak flow (three original metrics), total seasonal flashiness (Richards Baker flashiness index), and the ratio of total winter stormflow to total discharge (the stormflow index). Models were constrained to three uncorrelated (|0.65|) variables to prevent overfitting to the dataset. Average-, dry-, and wet-years were subset using the z-scores for winter precipitation derived from the 4 km monthly PRISM (Parameter-elevation Relationships on Independent Slopes Model) dataset, for the period of 1986–2006. Relief, slope, and landscape connectivity explain the majority of explained variance in all five of the hydrologic variables during all time periods. During dry-, average-, and wet-years, atmospheric circulation patterns (i.e., North Atlantic Oscillation and Pacific/North American Pattern) explain more variance than total seasonal precipitation (PRISM), which is not true in the majority of the all-years models. Land cover explains only a small portion of the variance in regional stormflow and only when sub-divided based on soil parent material. Results provide a framework for connecting watershed-scale characteristics to regional- and continental-scale processes.
Role of CD4 cells in the complete anti-tumor response to PD1 blockade in a syngeneic murine melanoma model with activated WNT signaling.

12013Background: Recent data suggested a correlation of active WNT signaling and tumor T cell exclusion. We developed a syngeneic BRAFV600E/PTEN-/-melanoma model YUMM2.1 (Y2.1) that has partial res...
Assessing the Effect of Social Science Education on Punitive Attitudes.

Purpose: One of the most consistent predictors of punitiveness is education, with more educated individuals expressing less punitive sentiments. While much of the earlier research focused on the level of education, some researchers have recently begun to look more closely at the nature of that education such as examining the effect of specific majors on punitiveness. This paper goes even further by also analyzing more broadly the effect of a social science education on punitive attitudes.Methods: This article presents results from an online survey of 4,000 undergraduate students attending a United States’ university. Ordinary least squares analysis is used to examine the effect of majoring in the social sciences on support for punitive criminal justice policies, while controlling for a number of theoretically relevant variables.Findings: We find that more educated students and those majoring in social science disciplines are generally less punitive than their counterparts. If we are to unburden ourselves of the intricately intermingled economic and social costs of mass incarceration, it will require a re-visioning of how we do justice in America. Social scientists can play a crucial role in this regard through focused research and in educating young people to be critical thinkers and thoughtful citizens.
SVM and Risk Taking in the U.S. Banking Industry: Re-calibrating Corporate Governance Mechanisms

This study explores the impact that the adoption of shareholder value maximization (SVM) as the overarching corporate goal had on the U.S. commercial banking industry, and the role that the calibra...
Abstract ES6-2: PI3K in breast cancer, glutamine changes and methionine addiction

Mutations in the PI 3-kinase and AKT signaling pathway are highly prevalent in breast cancer. In luminal, estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer patients, oncogenic mutations in PIK3CA, the gene that encodes the catalytic subunit of class 1a PI3K occur with a frequency of approximately 40%. By contrast, inactivating mutations and loss of heterozygosity in the tumor suppressors PTEN and INPP4B that normally terminate PI3K signaling, are found more frequently in basal-like, triple negative breast tumors. Regardless, in all cases the net result is hyperactivation of PI3K/AKT signaling leading to induction of phenotypes associated with malignancy. In spite of the frequency of genetic lesions in the PI3K pathway and the development of potent and specific small molecule inhibitors targeting the PI3K pathway, results from clinical trials with these inhibitors have been disappointing most often due to dose-limiting on-target toxicities. Consequently, numerous combination trials with PI3K inhibitors and other targeted therapies are underway. Separate pre-clinical and clinical efforts have also been initiated targeting PI3K oncogene addition with therapies that impact cellular states and programs, including metabolic pathways and enzymes. The concept that metabolic reprogramming is a feature of all cancer cells, and not merely a byproduct of accelerated growth, goes back to the days of Otto Warburg who in the 1920s proposed that increased levels of aerobic glycolysis followed by lactate fermentation occurs in tumor cells undergoing rapid growth. This so-called 9Warburg effect9 spurred the recent development of numerous drugs that target glycolysis in human tumors, many of which are in clinical trials. Equally promising are strategies that target non-essential amino acid metabolism. The concept of metabolic starvation, whereby one or more metabolite is limiting or removed has gained traction in the field, with the finding that certain non-essential amino acids, particularly glutamine, can be synthesized by normal cells, whereas tumor cells rely on an extracellular supply to the extent that glutamine deprivation sensitizes tumor cells to death. Glutamine is the most widely studied nutrient, other than glucose, in the field of tumor metabolism. The presentation will focus on the intersection of PI3K, AKT and glutamine metabolism in breast cancer, as well as how these pathways modulate methionine dependency in breast cancers that display PI3K pathway hyperactivation. A greater understanding of the mechanisms by which glutamine and methionine sustain cancer cells may lead to the development or repurposing of other successful targeted metabolic therapies and use of the pathway enzymes and metabolites as biomarkers. Citation Format: Toker A. PI3K in breast cancer, glutamine changes and methionine addiction [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2018 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2018 Dec 4-8; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(4 Suppl):Abstract nr ES6-2.
The effect of Social Support on Community College Students Experiencing Food Insecurity: An Overlooked Population

Food and housing security among college students is emerging as a state and national issue. In 2016, 656 students at a California community college completed an online survey. While 42% were food secure, 26% ranked low, and 32% as very low. A regression analysis was performed to assess formal and informal social supports associated with food security. The struggle for nutrition before college was the strongest predictor (B = 1.816 *** ), of food insecurity. Mental health problems (B = .978 *** ) also contribute while sharing meals (B = -1.122 ** ), was a protective factor. Results illustrates the need for a greater understanding of the challenges students face. College students are an overlooked population in need of intervention by social workers. Suggestions for intervention are discussed.
Relativistic Jets from Active Galactic Nuclei

The nuclei of most normal galaxies contain supermassive black holes, which can accrete gas through a disk and become active. These active galactic nuclei (AGNs) can form jets that are observed on s...
Measuring rapport in neuropsychological assessment: the Barnett Rapport Questionnaire.

Rapport is an important component of neuropsychological test administration; however, there is a lack of psychometrically sound measures of rapport in the context of neuropsychological assessment. The purpose of this study was to explore adapting measures of the psychotherapeutic alliance specifically to neuropsychological test administration and investigate their feasibility and construct validity. College students (N = 126) were administered a brief battery of neuropsychological tests in either a high-rapport or low-rapport condition. Participants in the high-rapport condition rated rapport as being higher, suggesting that the items captured the nature of the interpersonal interaction between examiner and examinee. The results suggest the feasibility of adapting items from measures of the psychotherapeutic alliance for measuring rapport in neuropsychological testing. This article introduces the Barnett Rapport Questionnaire, a measure of rapport in the context of neuropsychological assessment.
Homodimerization of Drosophila Class A neuropeptide GPCRs: Evidence for conservation of GPCR dimerization throughout metazoan evolution.

Abstract While many instances of GPCR dimerization have been reported for vertebrate receptors, invertebrate GPCR dimerization remains poorly investigated, with few invertebrate GPCRs having been shown to assemble as dimers. To date, no Drosophila GPCRs have been shown to assemble as dimers. To explore the evolutionary conservation of GPCR dimerization, we employed an acceptor-photobleaching FRET methodology to evaluate whether multiple subclasses of Drosophila GPCRs assembled as homodimers when heterologously expressed in HEK-293 T cells. We C-terminally tagged multiple Drosophila neuropeptide GPCRs that exhibited structural homology with a vertebrate GPCR family member previously shown to assemble as a dimer with CFP and YFP fluorophores and visualized these receptors through confocal microscopy. FRET responses were determined based on the increase in CFP emission intensity following YFP photobleaching for each receptor pair tested. A significant FRET response was observed for each receptor expressed as a homodimer pair, while non-significant FRET responses were displayed by both cytosolic CFP and YFP expressed alone, and a heterodimeric pair of receptors from unrelated families. These findings suggest that receptors exhibiting positive FRET responses assemble as homodimers at the plasma membrane and are the first to suggest that Drosophila GPCRs assemble as homodimeric complexes. We propose that GPCR dimerization arose early in metazoan evolution and likely plays an important and underappreciated role in the cellular signaling of all animals.
Nano-based adsorbent and photocatalyst use for pharmaceutical contaminant removal during indirect potable water reuse

Increasing human activity, including commercial and noncommercial use of pharmaceuticals, personal care products, and agricultural products, has introduced new contaminants that can be challenging to remove with currently available technologies. Pharmaceuticals, in particular, can be especially challenging to remove from the water supply and can pose great harm to people and local ecosystems. Their highly stable nature makes their degradation with conventional water treatment techniques difficult, and studies have shown that even advanced treatment of water is unable to remove some compounds. As such, decontamination of water from pharmaceuticals requires the development of advanced technologies capable of being used in indirect and direct potable water reuse. In this review, we discuss pharmaceutical removal in indirect potable water treatment and how recent advancements in adsorption and photocatalysis technologies can be used for the decontamination of pharmaceutical-based emerging contaminants. For instance, new materials that incorporate graphene-based nanomaterials have been developed and shown to have increased adsorptive capabilities toward pharmaceuticals when compared with unmodified graphene. In addition, adsorbents have been incorporated in membrane technologies, and photocatalysts have been combined with magnetic material and coated on optical fibers improving their usability in water treatment. Advancements in photocatalytic material research have enabled the development of highly effective materials capable of degradation of a variety of pharmaceutical compounds and the development of visible-light photocatalysts. To understand how adsorbents and photocatalysts can be utilized in water treatment, we address the benefits and limitations associated with these technologies and their potential applicability in indirect potable water reuse plants.
Incorporating Human Rights: Lessons Learned, and Next Steps

The UN Guiding Principles mark the first time the international community has adopted a set of standards stipulating the obligations of states and the responsibilities of corporations in relation to business and human rights. They succeeded where previous such efforts failed. Critics believe it is because the Guiding Principles do not, in themselves, impose new legal obligations on states or businesses. This is a partial and therefore misleading answer. More to the point is that they broke through certain conventional conceptual and doctrinal shackles. These had contributed to past failures, and they would do so again if turned loose on future developments. Hence this chapter is divided into two parts: summarizing the premises underlying the Guiding Principles, and how to build on them in the current UN business and human rights treaty process.
Glucose Regulates Microtubule Disassembly and the Dose of Insulin Secretion via Tau Phosphorylation

The microtubule cytoskeleton of pancreatic islet β-cells regulates glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS). We have reported that the microtubule-mediated movement of insulin vesicles away from the plasma membrane limits insulin secretion. High glucose-induced remodeling of microtubule network facilitates robust GSIS. This remodeling involves disassembly of old microtubules and nucleation of new microtubules. Here, we examine the mechanisms whereby glucose stimulation decreases microtubule lifetimes in β-cells. Using real-time imaging of photoconverted microtubules, we demonstrate that high levels of glucose induce rapid microtubule disassembly preferentially in the periphery of individual β-cells, and this process is mediated by the phosphorylation of microtubule-associated protein tau. Specifically, high glucose induces tau hyper-phosphorylation via glucose-responsive kinases GSK3, PKA, PKC, and CDK5. This causes dissociation of tau from and subsequent destabilization of microtubules. Consequently, tau-knockdown in mouse islet β-cells facilitates microtubule turnover, causing increased basal insulin secretion, depleting insulin vesicles from the cytoplasm, and impairing GSIS. More importantly, tau-knockdown uncouples microtubule destabilization from glucose stimulation. These findings suggest that tau suppresses peripheral microtubules turning-over to restrict insulin over-secretion at basal conditions and preserve the insulin pool that can be released in following stimulation; high glucose promotes tau phosphorylation to enhance microtubule disassembly to acutely enhance GSIS.
Expanding Financial Education and Planning Opportunities Through Service-Learning

Many individuals assert that in order for the field of financial planning to continue to expand its reach, influence, and recognition as a profession, pro bono efforts should be reinforced, expanded, and promoted. Current students in financial planning programs will be called upon to continue the pro bono efforts now underway and lead the profession through a paradigm shift toward a greater appreciation for pro bono work. For those students who have participated in Service Learning (S-L) projects relating to financial planning while in school, pro bono work will not be a new concept. This paper examines the impact a S-L activity has on students’ planned participation in, and organizing of, pro bono activities as financial planning professionals. Data was collected from a sample of 66 student participants who were studying financial planning and enrolled in courses that had significant S-L requirements (approximately 20 hours of service with 20 hours of preparation). Using a pre- and post-treatment design, results indicated statistically significant change in students’ intentions to participate and organize pro bono activities as professionals.
Platinum metallization on silicon and silicates

Thin films of platinum deposited by physical vapor deposition (PVD) processes such as evaporation and sputtering are used in many academic and industrial settings, for example to provide metallization when tolerance to corrosive thermal cycling is desired, or in electrocatalysis research. In this review, various practical considerations for platinum (Pt) metallization on both Si and SiO2 are placed in context with a comprehensive data review of diffusion measurements. The relevance of diffusion phenomena to the development of microstructure during deposition as well as the effect of microstructure on the properties of deposited films are discussed with respect to the Pt–Si system. Since Pt and Si readily form silicides, diffusion barriers are essential components of Pt metallization on Si, and various failure modes for diffusion barriers between Pt and Si are clarified with images obtained by electron microscopy. Adhesion layers for Pt films deposited on SiO2 are also considered.
Effects of a Resident-Led Subject Exam Review on Mean Scores of Internal Medicine Subject Exam: a Case-control Study.

The National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) offers Subject Examinations (SE) for students completing the Internal Medicine (IM) clerkship. There is a paucity of literature in regard to the efficacy of review methods prior to rendering said examination. Our medical center’s residents conducted a structured review session in preparation for SE administration. The mean SE scores prior to and after the initiation of the resident-led review session were compared. There was no statistically significant association found between the mean NBME scores in the experimental or control groups. We propose that alternative methods be further assessed for efficacy.
Collaborative Qualitative Research at Scale:Reflections on 20 years of Acquiring Global Data and Making Data Global

Author(s): Borgman, Christine L.; Wofford, Morgan F.; Golshan, Milena S.; Darch, Peter T. | Abstract: A 5-year project to study scientific data uses in geography, starting in 1999, evolved into 20 years of research on data practices in sensor networks, environmental sciences, biology, seismology, undersea science, biomedicine, astronomy, and other fields. By emulating the ‘team science’ approaches of the scientists studied, the UCLA Center for Knowledge Infrastructures accumulated a comprehensive collection of qualitative data about how scientists generate, manage, use, and reuse data across domains. Building upon Paul N. Edwards’s model of ‘making global data’ – collecting signals via consistent methods, technologies, and policies – to ‘make data global’ – comparing and integrating those data, the research team has managed and exploited these data as a collaborative resource. This article reflects on the social, technical, organizational, economic, and policy challenges the team has encountered in creating new knowledge from data old and new. We reflect on continuity over generations of students and staff, transitions between grants, transfer of legacy data between software tools, research methods, and the role of professional data managers in the social sciences.
Financial Management System of Colegio De Castillejos: An Evaluation

One of the most significant and valuable elements to consider in an organization is to make sure which the financial assets of the business enterprise are well managed, specifically in terms of the industry capital. Accordingly, management of working capital is critically essential to the success of every company. In service industry, the working capital is vitally dependent to the sales of the product. It is said that which sales is different during the year because of growth, seasonality or uncertainty, then managing the working capital would be difficult. Furthermore, a firm’s current liability such as inventory, receivables and short-term payables as well as the business enterprise’s current assets varies in accordance to the fluctuations of sales. In this regard, the cash flow within the industry may be insufficient to sustain organization operations, even if the profitability of the industry is satisfactory over the entire year. Hence, there is a need for an effective Financial Management System. The development Financial Management Systems is to support the Ethiopian reform as an example of a successful low risk strategy of automation in a difficult environment, (Peterson, 2006). The writer will use the descriptive method of research utilizing the questionnaire as the main instrument in gathering data. This research was conducted in order to determine the Evaluation of the Financial Management System of COLEGIO de CASTILLEJOS. In order to answer these research goals, the researcher opted to obtain the Evaluation of the Financial Management System of COLEGIO de CASTILLEJOS. Specifically, a total of 50 respondents from COLEGIO de CASTILLEJOS and Municipality of Castillejos, Zambales were randomly selected to make up the sample. This method is used to describe the nature of a situation, as it exists at the time of the study and to explore the causes of particular a phenomenon. Providing Automated Daily Time Record for (log-in/log-out) with biometrics technology is one of the solutions for attendance monitoring. Aside from this the said system should also capable of automated calculation of their payroll. A will documented payroll system will lead the organization to maximize its analysis needs to improve the overall process of cash flow monitoring. Automation of accounting processes using deploying accounting system software is also recommended but manual audit should be made for accuracy purposes.
Potentiation of bovine respiratory syncytial virus infection in calves by bovine viral diarrhea virus

The potential synergistic effects of BVDV and BRSV infections were investigated. Single virus infections often produce mild, if any, clinical disease in controlled animal challenge studies. The multi-etiologic nature of bovine respiratory disease is well-documented, and the potential effects of dual infection more closely reproduces natural disease and the significance of pathogenic viruses. This is important in designing vaccination programs for disease control. Fourteen Hereford beef calves weighing approximately 205 kilograms were obtained from a ranch in western Nebraska. The calves were seronegative to IBR, BVD, PI3, and BRSV, and were confirmed to be free of persistent BVD infection through repeated negative virus isolation. Random assignment to form treatment groups allotted four calves to a BVD challenge alone, four calves to a BRSV challenge alone, four calves to dual BVD, BRSV challenge, and two calves to a negative control group. Evaluation methods included pre- mortem clinical scoring, hematology, and virus isolation. Euthanatized calves were evaluated by virus isolation, gross pathologic, and histopathologic evaluation. Severity of clinical signs (depression, serous to mucopurulent nasal discharge, and dyspnea) and extent of lung injury was greater in calves inoculated with dual BRSV/ BVDV than in calves inoculated with either virus alone. Potentiation of BVDV infection of the digestive tract by BRSV was indicated by augmentation of clinical diarrhea in calves dually-infected with BRSV and BVDV compared to calves infected only with BVDV. Gross and histopathologic lesions correlated to pre-mortem clinical observations. BVDV and BRSV potentiate each other in dual virus infection, causing more severe clinical signs and lesions than in infection with either virus alone. This more closely mimics natural infections, and better establishes the clinical significance of these pathogens than single virus controlled challenges studies.
Heterogeneity of biogenic gas ebullition in subtropical peat soils is revealed using time-lapse cameras

[1] We tested a set of biogenic gas traps combined with time-lapse cameras to investigate the heterogeneous nature of biogenic gas ebullition events in subtropical peat soils at both the laboratory and field scale. The main findings are: (1) ebullition events in peat soils are highly heterogeneous; (2) estimates of flux rate are directly influenced by temporal scale of measurement with rapid (i.e., hourly) releasing events exceeding daily averages by one order of magnitude; and (3) increases in atmospheric pressure result in gas release from shallow peat soils into the atmosphere (i.e., ebullition), as indicated by a positive linear relation between changes in biogenic gas content and changes in atmospheric pressure. These results suggest that biogenic gas releases from shallow subtropical peat soils are not constant with larger than average daily fluxes being potentially released within hours during periods of increased atmospheric pressure. Furthermore, this study also shows the potential of time-lapse cameras for autonomously assessing the temporal variation in biogenic gas flux to the atmosphere from peatlands, and questions what temporal scale of measurement should be appropriate to infer dynamics of biogenic gas release in peat soils.
The Leadership Case: Student Perspective on the Value of Leadership Skills

Contrary to the simple heading, defining leadership is a complex task. It is easy for us to recognize leaders, but prescribing the skill set needed to be a leader can be more challenging. The difficulty in defining leadership is inherent in the nature of the role itself. We perceive leadership to be an elite skill, yet anyone with enough motivation can become a leader. Leadership is a learning process that is ever developing. It is not a singular event, nor is there a sole list of skills that one must possess to acquire the title of ‘leader.’ There are numerous leaders in our world, each working toward different goals with different people. The challenge in both defining and realizing leadership comes in recognizing the many leadership opportunities that already exist in our day-to-day lives, and being willing to constantly grow, acquire new skills, and adapt our behaviors to appropriately match each new leadership situation we encounter.
NOx Control Development with Urea SCR on a Diesel Passenger Car

Diesel vehicles have significant advantages over their gasoline counterparts including a more efficient engine, higher fuel economy, and lower emissions of HC, CO, and CO 2 . However, NO x control is more difficult on a diesel because of the high O 2 concentration in the exhaust, making conventional three-way catalysts ineffective. Two current available technologies for continuous NO x reduction onboard diesel vehicles are Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) using aqueous urea and lean NO x trap (LNT) catalysts. This paper discusses an application with SCR. SCR with ammonia has been used for many years at stationary sources. Aqueous urea is a convenient way to deliver ammonia onboard a vehicle and high NO x efficiencies have been shown in past work by Ford and others using urea. Tailpipe NO x emissions from a modified European production level 1.8L diesel Ford Focus TDCi were reduced to the range of ULEVII levels (0.05 g/mi NO x ) with a green catalyst system. The green system also had results within the Tier 2 SFTP US06 standard (0.14 g/mi NMHC+NO x ). An oxidation catalyst was used to convert engine-out HC and CO upstream of the urea SCR system. Aqueous urea was added to the exhaust using a Ford-developed air-assisted injection system. A base metal/zeolite SCR catalyst utilized the added reductant to convert NOx to N 2 under lean conditions.
Optical Disk Data Storage, Distribution and Retrieval

Optical data storage provides a remarkably inexpensive yet high-quality platform for the distribution of large amounts of digital data. This article describes the end-to-end process of this distribution. Detailed information on each major generation of optical storage including compact disk (CD), digital video disk (DVD), and BluRay disk (BD) is presented and the variations within each family are described. Finally, a summary of current research on fourth-generation optical storage is given. Keywords: optical data storage; optical disk; compact disk (CD); digital video disk (DVD); bluray disk (BD); CD-ROM; 3-D optical data storage
Agents and Structures: Two Views of Preferences, Two Views of Institutions

Two analytically distinct approaches to the study of domestic politics have been referred to as the “new institutionalism.” The fundamental difference between the two brands of institutionalism can be seen in the way they handle the relationship between “agents” and “structures.”“Structure-based” approaches to institutions give ontological primacy to structures and view agents as being constituted by them. “Agency-centered” approaches view human agents as ontologically primitive and view institutions as structures that are created by goal-maximizing individuals. The two approaches are compared, with special attention given to the way they treat the preferences that actors hold. I argue that contrary to arguments made by many structure-based theorists, the agency-centered approach is capable of contributing to discussions regarding the sources of actor preferences. A limited information model of the strategic interaction between workers and capitalists is used to demonstrate ways in which the agency-centered approach can begin to make preferences endogenous.
Evaluation of Railroad Valley playa for use in vicarious calibration

The results of a study of Railroad Valley Playa, located 100 miles east of Tonopah, Nevada are presented. The primary objective of this study has been to determine its suitability as a satellite calibration target. We present the search algorithm that was used initially to identify the site from satellite imagery. The search program mainly focuses on locating areas in imagery that have large spatial extent, spatial uniformity, and high surface reflectance. We present the results of several field campaigns to the site to further examine the playa's surface characteristics. These studies include spectral surface reflectance over the 0.4 to 2.0 micron range, sample bi-directional reflectance characteristics, and the spatial uniformity of the overall playa. The target is intended to be used for post-launch radiometric calibration using the reflectance-based approach for small footprint senors. It also will be used for a cross-calibration approach where one sensor's calibration is transferred to another sensor. We present preliminary error estimates in these two methods from using the Railroad Valley site.
Role of conformational disorder in the electronic structure of conjugated polymers: Substituted polydiacetylenes.

We consider a novel type of disorder relevant to the electronic structure of certain conjugated polymers: disorder induced by conformational changes in the chain geometry. A prototypical system in which strong disorder of this variety can be present is a substituted polydiacetylene. Both in the solid phase and in solution, these polymers undergo conformational transitions accompanied by color changes as one raises the temperature. We first present a simplified model for this transition which defines a probability distribution for conformational disorder. Real-space renormalization-group methods are then used to calculate the density of states and localization length for the model. Our results indicate that conformational disorder can cause qualitative changes in electronic structure in a fashion consistent with experiments. We also conclude that since such disorder is correlated, more than one length scale is needed to characterize an electronic state. In particular, ``conjugation length'' does not suffice.
IMPROVED TECHNIQUE OF LAPAROSCOPIC NEPHRECTOMY FOR MULTICYSTIC DYSPLASTIC KIDNEY

Abstract We report removal of a multicystic dysplastic kidney with a laparoscopictechnique that uses only three trocar sites. Additionally, we have found placement of a ureteral catheter and full mechanical and antibacterial bowel cleansing unnecessary. The role of this surgery in the management of multicystic dysplastic kidney is discussed.
Characterization of glutamine deamidation in a long, repetitive protein polymer via bioconjugate capillary electrophoresis.

We describe a novel method for the determination of glutamine deamidation in a long protein polymer via bioconjugate capillary electrophoresis. Since the current best technique for detection of glu...
A man with skin lesions and ataxia: a case of disseminated varicella zoster.

A 52-year-old male with an HIV infection (CD4 20 cells/mm and viral load copies/ml >1 million) who was not on antiretroviral therapy, presented with a 3-week history of skin lesions on the lower extremities, back, and chest (Figure 1). His skin lesions consisted of blisters as well as ulcers. One week after the skin lesions appeared he started to experience ataxia. Magnetic resonance imaging showed left periventricular white matter peripheral hemorrhagic lesions with precontrast T1 hyperintensity. PCR from one of his skin lesions and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) were positive for varicella zoster virus (VZV). He was started on treatment with ganciclovir and there was a significant improvement in his symptoms. The incidence of herpes zoster in HIV patients has been reported to be 3.2–5.67 per 100 person-years. Highly active antiretroviral therapy has been associated with a decrease in herpes zoster, and low CD4 counts have been found to be the main risk factor. Invasion of the arteries by VZV can result in ischemia or hemorrhage in any vessel. Only 60% of patients have a rash prior to neurological symptoms. Positive VZV by PCR in CSF can be
Cranial base superimposition for 3-dimensional evaluation of soft-tissue changes

Introduction The recent emphases on soft tissues as the limiting factor in treatment and on soft-tissue relationships in establishing the goals of treatment has made 3-dimensional (3D) analysis of soft tissues more important in diagnosis and treatment planning. It is equally important to be able to detect changes in the facial soft tissues produced by growth or treatment. This requires structures of reference for superimposition and a way to display the changes with quantitative information. Methods In this study, we outlined a technique for quantifying facial soft-tissue changes viewed in cone-beam computed tomography data, using fully automated voxel-wise registrations of the cranial base surface. The assessment of soft-tissue changes is done by calculation of the Euclidean surface distances between the 3D models. Color maps are used for visual assessment of the location and the quantification of changes. Results This methodology allows a detailed examination of soft-tissue changes with growth or treatment. Conclusions Because of the lack of stable references with 3D photogrammetry, 3D photography, and laser scanning, soft-tissue changes cannot be accurately quantified by these methods.