cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Resonance Raman spectra of wurtzite and zincblende CdSe nanocrystals

Abstract Resonance Raman spectra and absolute differential Raman cross-sections have been measured for CdSe nanocrystals in both the wurtzite and zincblende crystal forms at four excitation wavelengths from 457.9 to 514.5 nm. The frequency and bandshape of the longitudinal optical (LO) phonon fundamental is essentially identical for both crystal forms at each excitation wavelength. The LO phonon overtone to fundamental intensity ratio appears to be slightly higher for the wurtzite form, which may suggest slightly stronger exciton–phonon coupling from the Frohlich mechanism in the wurtzite form. The LO fundamental Raman cross-sections are very similar for both crystal forms at each excitation wavelength.
Using geogrids to minimize reflective longitudinal cracking on pavements over shrinking subgrades

Texas has the most extensive network of surface-treated pavements in the United States. This network has suffered from the detrimental effects of changing environmental conditions and expansive soils in the subgrade since its deployment. Longitudinal cracking is one the most prevalent pavement distresses caused by volumetric change of the expansive subgrade. Preliminary practice showed that geogrids can be used as reinforcement to reduce the reflection of longitudinal cracking on the pavement over shrinking subgrades effectively. However, little is known about the mechanism leading to propagation of the longitudinal cracks to the surface of the pavement, and accordingly, the benefit of using geogrid treatment has not been properly quantified. The stress field and constitutive models of the subgrade soil subjected to matric suction change were evaluated. Fracture mechanics theory was used to analyze the crack propagation in the pavement and the mechanism of the geogrid reinforcement. A finite element model was developed to simulate the crack in the pavement and to estimate the stress intensity factor at the crack tips. The benefit of using geogrids was quantified by comparing the stress intensity factors of the crack in the pavement with and without a geogrid. Results showed that geogrids can significantly reduce the stress intensity factor at the crack tip in the pavement; this indicates that the desiccation cracks in the subgrade are less likely to propagate through the base layer toward the pavement surface. The geogrid with higher stiffness provided marginal additional reinforcement to the pavement structure.
Evolution of helium and argon isotopes in a convecting mantle

Outgassing of helium and argon and the isotope ratio distribution of helium isotopes in basalts are some of the most important geochemical constraints on mantle structure and evolution, but their interpretation in terms of mantle processes is ambiguous and controversial. Here, the evolution of these isotopes and their radiogenic parent isotopes of U, Th and K are studied using a numerical model of mantle convection that combines a treatment of major and trace element melting-induced differentiation and evolution with a self-consistent mantle convection-plate tectonics treatment. Both olivine and pyroxene-garnet system phase transformations are included, with density profiles of the different components following established data up to 720 km depth, but varied in the deeper mantle to reflect present uncertainties. Cases are presented that focus on the influence of two uncertain physical parameters: the density of subducted eclogite in the deep mantle, and the partition coefficient for helium. Results indicate that the system self-consistently evolves regions with the observed range of 3 He/ 4 He, but the exact distribution depends strongly on physical parameters. Furthermore, the distribution depends on sampling method, with the distribution in erupted material often being different from mantle-averaged distributions. Some parameter combinations simultaneously lead to MORB-like distributions of 3 He/ 4 He ratios in erupted material, and ∼50% outgassing of radiogenic 40 Ar consistent with geochemical constraints. MORB-like 3 He/ 4 He histograms are produced in erupted material either when the shallow mantle has a high proportion of residue that evolves MORB-like 3 He/ 4 He due to the high incompatibility of He, or when sufficient recycled crust mixes back into the shallow mantle to suitably reduce its 3 He/ 4 He. Outgassing is also studied for Venus and
Effect of Granulating Method on Content Uniformity and Other Physical Properties of Granules and their Corresponding Tablets. II

AbstractVarious properties of dexamethasone and sulfadiazine granules and tablets prepared by microgranulation, slugging, wet granulation and direct compression were compared.The dexamethasone tablets showed comparable disintegration rates by all methods. The sulfadiazine tablets prepared by slugging did not meet the USP XIX limit, whereas those by microgranulating were satisfactory.It was found that granule-homogeneity was not only dependent on the particle size and distribution, but also dependent on the granulating method. For either drug, the microgranulating procedure gave the best weight and content uniformity.
A point mutation at phenylalanine 663 abolishes protein kinase C alpha's ability to translocate to the perinuclear region and activate phospholipase D1

Abstract Previous research showed that protein kinase Cα (PKCα) translocated to the perinuclear region and activated phospholipase D1, but the mechanism involved was not clear. Here, we provide evidence that Phe 663 (the 10th amino acid from C-terminus) of PKCα is essential for its translocation. A point mutation (F663D) completely blocked PKCα’s binding to and activation of phospholipase D1. Further studies showed that deletion of the C-terminal nine amino acids of PKCα did not alter its translocation to the perinuclear region but deletion of the C-terminal 10 amino acids and the F663D mutation abolished this translocation. The F663D mutant was found to be resistant to dephosphorylation, which might account for its inability to translocate to the perinuclear region and activate PLD1, since dephosphorylation of PKCα is required for its relocation from plasma membrane to the perinuclear region.
Comparison of effectiveness and safety of drug-eluting stents versus vascular brachytherapy for saphenous vein graft in-stent restenosis.

We investigated the safety and efficacy of drug-eluting stents (DESs) for the treatment of patients who presented with in-stent restenosis (ISR) of saphenous vein grafts (SVGs) and compared the in-hospital and 6-month clinical outcomes of DESs with those of intravascular brachytherapy and balloon angioplasty alone. Records of 187 patients who presented with ISR of SVGs were analyzed. Of these, 34 consecutive patients were treated with DES implantation, 93 were treated with intravascular brachytherapy (n = 60 with γ-radiation, n = 33 with β-radiation), and 60 patients underwent conventional treatment with balloon angioplasty alone. Clinical and angiographic characteristics at baseline were comparable between groups. The DES group had less non–Q-wave myocardial infarction than did the intravascular brachytherapy and balloon angioplasty groups (0%, 20%, and 26%, p = 0.003 and
Real-time automatic kinematic model building for optical motion capture using a Markov random field

We present a completely autonomous algorithm for the real-time creation of a moving subject's kinematic model from optical motion capture data and with no a priori information. Our approach solves marker tracking, the building of the kinematic model, and the tracking of the body simultaneously. The novelty lies in doing so through a unifying Markov random field framework, which allows the kinematic model to be built incrementally and in real-time. We validate the potential of this method through experiments in which the system is able to accurately track the movement of the human body without an a priori model, as well as through experiments on synthetic data.
Growth and fitness components of wild x cultivated Sorghum bicolor (Poaceae) hybrids in Nebraska

UNLABELLED PREMISE OF THE STUDY Gene flow from crops to wild relatives has received considerable attention since the advent of genetically modified crops. Numerous researchers have found wild-crop hybrids to be nearly as fit as their wild parents, which suggests that crop genes may persist in wild populations. Components of the ecological fitness of cultivated sorghum, its wild relative, shattercane, and their hybrids have not been studied. • METHODS To assess the potential for gene introgression into shattercane, we crossed cultivated sorghum to a single inbred shattercane line to produce F(1) hybrids and measured growth and several components of ecological fitness in relation to both parents in Nebraska, USA. • KEY RESULTS Germination of F(1) seeds was similar to that of its shattercane parent except at high temperatures, where it was as sensitive as the sorghum parent. The F(1) grew taller and produced more biomass than either parent, but the F(1) leaf area index was intermediate. Fecundity of the F(1) plant was similar to that of shattercane and much greater than that of cultivated sorghum. • CONCLUSIONS Considering all data, the ecological fitness of shattercane × cultivated sorghum F(1) hybrids may be equivalent to the wild shattercane parent, which suggests that crop genes that are either neutral or beneficial to shattercane would persist in populations within agroecosystems.
Missing the (Student Achievement) Forest for All the (Political) Trees Empiricism and the Mexican American Studies Controversy in Tucson

The Arizona legislature passed HB 2281, which eliminated Tucson Unified School District’s (TUSD’s) Mexican American Studies (MAS) program, arguing the curriculum was too political. This program has been at the center of contentious debates, but a central question has not been thoroughly examined: Do the classes raise student achievement? The current analyses use administrative data from TUSD (2008–2011), running logistic regression models to assess the relationship between taking MAS classes and passing AIMS (Arizona state standardized tests) and high school graduation. Results indicate that MAS participation was significantly related to an increased likelihood of both outcomes occurring. The authors discuss these results in terms of educational policy and critical pedagogy as well as the role academics can play in policy formation.
Psychosocial functioning among bipolar youth

Abstract Background Evidence indicates that children and adolescents with bipolar disorder (BP) experience significant functional impairment. However, little is known about the association between psychosocial functioning and episodes of illness, demographic, and clinical variables in this population. Methods Subjects included 446 patients aged 7 to 17 diagnosed with DSM-IV bipolar disorder via the K-SADS for the Course and Outcome of Bipolar Youth (COBY) study. The Psychosocial Functioning Schedule of the Adolescent Longitudinal Interval Follow-Up Assessment (A-LIFE) was administered at study intake. Results Mild to moderate levels of psychosocial impairment were evident in work (includes academics), interpersonal, and overall domains of functioning among BP youth. Multivariate analyses indicated that the strongest predictors of psychosocial impairment were adolescence (regardless of age of onset), current mood episode, current affective symptom severity, current psychotic symptoms, and current comorbid conduct disorder. Bipolar youth in-episode were significantly more impaired than those in partial remission/recovery in every functional domain examined and were less satisfied with their functioning. Yet, BP youth in partial remission/recovery reported significant psychosocial impairment. Limitations Limitations include the reliance on patient and parent retrospective report of psychosocial functioning. Additionally, we did not account for the impact of psychosocial and pharmacological interventions on functioning. Conclusions Findings suggest pediatric BP is associated with significant impairment in psychosocial functioning during and between episodes, with greater impairment during mood episodes than during partial remission/recovery. Additionally, functional impairment in BP appears to increase during adolescence regardless of age of onset. Clinicians should carefully assess and address psychosocial impairment during and between mood episodes, with particular attention to the functioning of BP adolescents.
A Meta-Analysis of the Effect of Cognitive Bias Modification on Anxiety and Depression

Cognitive biases have been theorized to play a critical role in the onset and maintenance of anxiety and depression. Cognitive bias modification (CBM), an experimental paradigm that uses training to induce maladaptive or adaptive cognitive biases, was developed to test these causal models. Although CBM has generated considerable interest in the past decade, both as an experimental paradigm and as a form of treatment, there have been no quantitative reviews of the effect of CBM on anxiety and depression. This meta-analysis of 45 studies (2,591 participants) assessed the effect of CBM on cognitive biases and on anxiety and depression. CBM had a medium effect on biases (g = 0.49) that was stronger for interpretation (g = 0.81) than for attention (g = 0.29) biases. CBM further had a small effect on anxiety and depression (g = 0.13), although this effect was reliable only when symptoms were assessed after participants experienced a stressor (g = 0.23). When anxiety and depression were examined separately, CBM significantly modified anxiety but not depression. There was a nonsignificant trend toward a larger effect for studies including multiple training sessions. These findings are broadly consistent with cognitive theories of anxiety and depression that propose an interactive effect of cognitive biases and stressors on these symptoms. However, the small effect sizes observed here suggest that this effect may be more modest than previously believed.
Alimentary-associated carcinomas in five Vietnamese potbellied pigs.

Case Description—5 Vietnamese potbellied pigs were evaluated for abdominal distress that had not responded to medical treatment (4 pigs) or a draining tract of the cranial abdomen of unknown duration (1 pig). Clinical Findings—Clinical signs in the pigs included anorexia, vomiting, and constipation. Physical examination revealed a palpable abdominal mass in all pigs. Radiography revealed distended loops of small intestine in 2 pigs. Treatment and Outcome—3 pigs were treated successfully with wide-margin excision of the abdominal masses, and 2 were euthanized. Primary tumors were diagnosed at necropsy or through histologic evaluation of biopsy specimens obtained during surgery. Types of tumor included cholangiocellular carcinoma, transmural gastric carcinoma, small intestinal adenocarcinoma, metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma, and carcinoma. The tumors involved the stomach, small intestine, spiral colon, liver, and gall bladder. All 3 surgically treated pigs survived at least 9 months after surgery. Clini...
Volume-Surface Integral Equations with hybrid curl-conforming and divergence-conforming basis functions

The Volume-Surface Integral Equation (VSIE) has been successfully used in computational electromagnetics for complicated structures, especially for coated objects. Since the VSIE only requires a mesh on the object, it can be used to solve scattering problems of electrically large complicated objects with high accuracy when combined with the Fast Multipole Method (FMM). The VSIE method is characterized by the use of different integral equations on perfect electric conductor (PEC) surfaces and in penetrable objects. The equations are discretized with the extended Galerkin projection method. Usually, scattering problems involving PEC surfaces are solved using Surface Integral Equations (SIE), where the RWG basis functions are commonly used to represent the unknown surface current density. Scattering problems involving dielectric objects can be solved using either the SIE (piecewise homogeneous object only) or the Volume Integral Equation (VIE). When it comes to the selection of a basis for the VIE, both the divergence-conforming and curl-conforming basis functions can be used with no particular advantage provided by one over the other [1]. Divergence-conforming basis functions are usually used with electric flux density as unknowns, because the normal continuity of electric flux density can be enforced. Curl-conforming basis functions are used with electric field as unknowns since the tangential continuity of electric field across the mesh element is automatically enforced. Research on coated objects using VSIE with RWG basis on surface and divergence-conforming basis functions in dielectric volume can be found in [6].
The Value of Partnerships: Building New Partnerships for Success

ABSTRACT In today's economy, higher education institutions are struggling to maintain quality while functioning with fewer resources. For libraries, the economic situation is compounded by the impact of an information marketplace that is characterized by prices for resources that increase at 7 to 10% per year, and by near and actual monopolies controlling content. Added to the complexities of the marketplace are the demands of a faculty and student body that prefer individual actions to group efforts. These economic and social issues can become real barriers to innovation, quality improvement, and successful services for today's libraries. One way to combat the economic and social environment is by creating new and improved partnerships to leverage resources and share expertise in order to provide better services and access to wider collections. But forming partnerships is not easy. This paper will review the characteristics of successful partnership as developed by the Gallup Corporation and will show ho...
X‐ray crystallographic and kinetic correlation of a clinically observed human fumarase mutation

Fumarase catalyzes the reversible conversion of fumarate to S- malate during the operation of the ubiquitous Kreb's cycle. Previous studies have shown that the active site includes side chains from three of the four subunits within the tetrameric enzyme. We used a clinically observed human mutation to narrow our search for potential catalytic groups within the fumarase active site. Offspring homozygous for the missense mutation, a G-955–C transversion in the fumarase gene, results in the substitution of a glutamine at amino acid 319 for the normal glutamic acid. To more fully understand the implications of this mutation, a single-step site-directed mutagenesis method was used to generate the homologous substitution at position 315 within fumarase C from Escherichia coli. Subsequent kinetic and X-ray crystal structure analyses show changes in the turnover number and the cocrystal structure with bound citrate.
Circuit optimization using statistical static timing analysis

In this paper, we propose a new sensitivity based, statistical gate sizing method. Since circuit optimization effects the entire shape of the circuit delay distribution, it is difficult to capture the quality of a distribution with a single metric. Hence, we first introduce a new objective function that provides an effective measure for the quality of a delay distribution for both ASIC and high performance designs. We then propose an efficient and exact sensitivity based pruning algorithm based on a newly proposed theory of perturbation bounds. A heuristic approach for sensitivity computation which relies on efficient computation of statistical slack is then introduced. Finally, we show how the pruning and statistical slack based approaches can be combined to obtain nearly identical results compared with the brute-force approach but with an average run-time improvement of up to 89/spl times/. We also compare the optimization results against that of a deterministic optimizer and show an improvement up to 16% in the 99-percentile circuit delay and up to 31% in the standard deviation for the same circuit area.
Expecting the Unexpected: A Mixed Methods Study of Violence to EMS Responders in an Urban Fire Department

BACKGROUND: Struck by injuries experienced by females were observed to be higher compared to males in an urban fire department. The disparity was investigated while gaining a grounded understanding of EMS responder experiences from patient-initiated violence. METHODS: A convergent parallel mixed methods design was employed. Using a linked injury dataset, patient-initiated violence estimates were calculated comparing genders. Semi-structured interviews and a focus group were conducted with injured EMS responders. RESULTS: Paramedics had significantly higher odds for patient-initiated violence injuries than firefighters (OR 14.4, 95%CI: 9.2-22.2, P CONCLUSIONS: Mixed methods greatly enhanced the assessment of EMS responder patient-initiated violence prevention. Am. J. Ind. Med. © 2015 The Authors. American Journal of Industrial Medicine Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Language: en
Association of insulin-like growth factor mRNA expressions with muscle regeneration in young, adult, and old rats

The purpose of this study was to determine whether impaired regeneration of skeletal muscle in old rats can be attributed to diminished expression of insulin-like growth factor (IGF) mRNAs. Fischer 344 male rats aged 2 (young), 12 (adult), and 24 mo (old) were given an injection of the myotoxic anesthetic, bupivacaine, into the left tibialis anterior muscle. Muscle mass and protein concentration recovered to contralateral control values by 28 days in young, but not adult or old rats. The temporal and maximal expressions of IGF-I mRNA were similar during recovery from bupivacaine on days 5 and 10 in young, adult, and old rat muscles. IGF-I mRNA levels were reduced toward control levels in young rats by 15 days, but remained elevated in adult and old rats. IGF-I receptor mRNA in bupivacaine-injected muscle of old rats was elevated significantly higher than injected muscle of young and adult rats at recovery day 5. Five days after bupivacaine injection, IGF-II mRNA was increased 46-fold in young rats but was only increased fourfold in adult rats. Thereafter, IGF-II mRNA expression was similar for young, adult, and old rats at 10 and 15 days of recovery. In summary, we demonstrate that impaired regeneration of the tibialis anterior muscle in adult or old rats after bupivacaine-induced damage is associated with a prolonged elevation of IGF-I mRNA expression and/or diminished initial IGF-II mRNA expression.
Mathematics Training of Secondary Mathematics Teachers

(1969). Mathematics Training of Secondary Mathematics Teachers. The American Mathematical Monthly: Vol. 76, No. 8, pp. 933-937.
Toeplitz and Hankel operators on the Paley-Wiener space

The basic theory of Toeplitz and Hankel operators acting on the Paley-Weiner space is developed. This includes criteria for boundedness, compactness, being of finite rank, and membership in the Schatten-von Neumann ideals. Similar questions are considered for the related operators formed by commuting the discrete Hilbert transform with a multiplication operator.
Effects of Seedling Age,Seeding Amount,Sowing Density and Nitroge Mangement on Yield of Xinliangyou 6

The orthogonal experiment design of four factors and three levels was adopted to study the effects of seedling age,sowing density,seeding amount and nitroge management on the yield of Xinliangyou 6.The results indicated that the seedling age,sowing density,seeding amount and nitroge management had effects on the yield of hybrid rice.Sowing density had the greatest influence,followed in order by seedling age,nitroge management and seeding amount.The optimum combination was A2B1C3D2,with the yield of 1508.50kg/hm2.
On Formation of School Spirit

School spirit is the key element of school culture,which is not an arranged course but indispensable to cultivate the students'distinctive individuality,perfect character and the clear spirit of the times.It is a vital and long-term task to explore the main approach to the formation of school spirit and to achieve its construction.
Continuous-time bandits

For processes that are evolving and can be observed continuously, we would like to formulate a bandit problem in a manner analogous to our formulation for discrete time. First, we would like a strategy to indicate a process to select and observe at time t, for all t, depending on the history of observations prior to time t. Then we would define the worth of a strategy to be a weighted sum of the incremei,.s of the processes during the time they are being observed. Unfortunately, there are serious technical difficulties with various aspects of this plan. These difficulties are frequently ignored in the literature. While this may not be unreasonable when there are good discrete-time approximations, the technical problems must be understood and overcome before progress can be made on the general problem.
A Tale Of "Doing Good While Not Doing Well": An Agency Theory Paradox Of CSR And Bankruptcy

We examine the effects of corporate social responsibility (CSR) investments on financial distress outcomes such as bankruptcy filing and post-bankruptcy recovery. Under financial distress, managers...
Contributions of the Nurses’ Health Studies to Reproductive Health Research

Objectives. To review the Nurses’ Health Study’s (NHS’s) contribution to identifying risk factors and long-term health consequences of reproductive events.Methods. We performed a narrative review of the NHS I, NHS II, NHS3, and Growing Up Today Study (GUTS) publications between 1976 and 2016.Results. Collection of detailed reproductive history to identify breast cancer risk factors allowed the NHS to document an association between menstrual irregularities, a proxy for polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), and increased risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The NHS II found that infertility associated with ovulation problems and gestational diabetes are largely preventable through diet and lifestyle modification. It also identified developmental and nutritional risk factors for pregnancy loss, endometriosis, and uterine leiomyomata. As women in NHS II age, it has become possible to address questions regarding long-term health consequences of pregnancy complications and benign gynecologic conditions on ...
Multi-objective optimization of transonic airfoils using variable-fidelity models, co-kriging surrogates, and design space reduction

Computationally efficient constrained multi-objective design optimization of transonic airfoils is considered. The proposed methodology focuses on fixed-lift design aimed at finding the best possible trade-offs between the conflicting objectives. The algorithm exploits the surrogate-based optimization principle, variable-fidelity computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models, as well as auxiliary approximation surrogates (here, using kriging). The kriging models constructed within a reduced design space. The optimization process has three major stages: (i) design space reduction which involves the identification of the extreme points of the Pareto front through single-objective optimization, (ii) construction of the kriging model and an initial Pareto front generation using multi-objective evolutionary algorithm, and (iii) Pareto front refinement using co-kriging models. For the sake of computational efficiency, stages (i) and (ii) are realized at the level of low-fidelity CFD models. The proposed algorithm is applied to the multi-objective optimization of a transonic airfoil at a Mach number of 0.734 and a fixed lift coefficient of 0.824. The shape is parameterized with eight B-spline control points. The fluid flow is taken to be inviscid. The high-fidelity model solves the compressible Euler equations. The low-fidelity model is the same as the high-fidelity one, but with a coarser description and is much faster to execute. With the proposed approach, the entire Pareto front of the drag coefficient and the pitching moment coefficient is obtained using 100 low-fidelity samples and 3 high-fidelity model samples. This cost is not only considerably lower (up to two orders of magnitude) than the cost of direct high-fidelity model optimization using metaheuristics without design space reduction, but, more importantly, renders multi-objective optimization of transonic airfoil shapes computationally tractable, even at the level of accurate CFD models.
Formulating a Pharmacy Collection without a Prescription

ABSTRACTLibrarians without a background in the health sciences were tasked with building a collection to support a new pharmacy school at a traditionally liberal arts institution. Despite little subject expertise, the team assessed current holdings, conducted a review of recommended resources, and collaborated with faculty to prioritize acquisitions to support the developing program as funds became available. The hire of a health sciences librarian provided new opportunities for assessment and for continued collecting. Altogether, this process allowed for the creation of recommended best practices that can be adopted by any librarian procuring resources to support new health science programs.
Progress and challenges in microwave imaging and microwave induced thermoacoustic tomography

Breast cancer imaging by microwaves has been investigated intensively over the past two decades due to the potentially high contrasts in permittivity and conductivity between malignant tumors and normal breast tissue. In comparison with the conventional ultrasound imaging where the acoustic impedance contrast between malignant tumors and normal breast tissue is low (typically a few percent), the dielectric contrast is indeed one to two orders of magnitude higher. Nevertheless, progress toward a clinically mature system for microwave breast imaging is painfully slow, primarily due to the low resolution of microwaves that can provide adequate penetration only at a relatively low frequency. We will describe challenges in achieving such a system, and ways to improve the resolution of microwave imaging. In the meantime, recent progress in microwave induced thermoacoustic tomography (MITAT) provides a new impetus for combining microwave and ultrasound modalities. In MITAT, we use millisecond-pulsed microwaves to produce ultrasound through thermal expansion, thus the induced ultrasound source represents the high contrast in electrical conductivity, while the collected ultrasound signals provide the high resolution corresponding to a short wavelength of ultrasound. We will describe our recent progress in both microwave imaging and MITAT, in both computational methods and system development.
Social Studies Education on the United States and Mexico Border: Border Pedagogy, International Policies, and High Stakes Testing

The key objective of this investigation was to uncover the teachings of United States international policies from educators at a United States high school in close proximity to the United States and Mexico border. Eight social studies instructors and two administrators were interviewed with regard to how historical and current United States policies are addressed in the curriculum, classroom discussions, and assessment. Based on the data analysis, border pedagogy is considered as a viable approach in lieu of the current emphasis on single measure, high stakes testing.
Percent cPRA (Calculated Panel Reactive Antibody) Value Predicts Percent of Positive Platelet Crossmatches.

BACKGROUND Platelet refractoriness or lack of platelet increase after platelet transfusion is seen in patients receiving chronic platelet transfusion support. Antibodies may develop against human platelet antigens (HPA) and/or against HLA class I antigens. Crossmatch (XM) compatible platelets or HLA-identical or HLA-compatible platelets are typically used to manage transfusion refractoriness. We aimed to determine if percent calculated Panel Reactive Antibody (% cPRA) against class I HLA antigens could predict percent positive platelet XM when looking for compatible transfusion products. METHODS A retrospective review of all platelet XM performed at our institution between 2008-2012 was performed, and patient characteristics recorded. For each patient, the percentage of all positive platelet XM performed was calculated and compared with the corresponding % cPRA levels against class I HLA antigens. RESULTS Mean and median % positive platelet XM for all 50 patients tested in the period 2008-2012 were 61% and 60% (range 0-100%), respectively. Mean and median % cPRA levels were 66% and 68% (range 0-100%), respectively. No correlation was seen between age, sex, race, or diagnosis and positive platelet XM results. CONCLUSION The results of our study indicate that the % cPRA correlates well with the % positive platelet XM. Thus, a higher % cPRA alerts the blood bank that additional platelets will be required for XM and/or that it would be beneficial to request HLA-identical or compatible units.
A Comparison of Awareness, Attitudes, and Usage of Water Quality Conservation Practices Between Amish and Non-Amish Farmers

ABSTRACTThis study provides a unique examination of Amish farmers’ awareness of water quality issues and their attitudes toward and use of agricultural conservation practices compared with small non-Amish farmers in Northeastern Indiana. There is minimal research about the conservation beliefs and behaviors of this growing and highly diverse ethnoreligious minority, who have faith-based technological restrictions and are often hesitant to work with community outsiders, especially the government. We find that, compared with non-Amish farmers, Amish farmers have limited awareness of the linkages between common agricultural practices and broader water quality problems and lower levels of adoption of conservation practices, with the exception of cover crops. This information is essential for conservation practitioners who need to work with a diverse range of agricultural producers to increase the uptake of conservation practices that address critical water quality concerns.
Lymphosarcoma with Lymphoid Leukemia in an Aruba Island Rattlesnake, Crotalus unicolor

ABSTRACT A six year old male, Aruba Island rattlesnake, Crotalus unicolor, with diffuse cranial swelling and anorexia was diagnosed with multicentric lymphosarcoma with lymphoid leukemia. Significant hematologic findings included a marked leucocytosis (137,000), monocytosis and basophilia with marked heteropenia and mature lymphopenia. The predominant (95.5%) white cells were large blast-like cells. Cytological examination of a tissue aspirate from the head revealed a highly cellular monomorphic population of round mononuclear cells. Histologic examination revealed that most parenchymal organs and tissues contained monotonous sheets of neoplastic lymphoid cells.
Climate engineering and human rights

In this Forum, three scholars discuss how climate engineering will pose novel human rights challenges, and may well force reconsideration of how human rights are applied as a guide to action. Follo...
Operation tropic refuge: the East Wood rescue.

The U.S. Coast Guard rescued 525 Chinese nationals and ten Indonesian crewmen from the disabled motor vessel East Wood. They were participating in a human smuggling operation. Subjected to a trying ordeal at sea, these individuals were at great risk to life and health but survived remarkably well because of their good health, age, and mutual cooperation. The U.S. military organized the joint task force, Operation Provide Refuge, to provide humanitarian aid. The task force rapidly mobilized resources to support camp development on Kwajalein Island and provide nutrition and health care to the stranded travelers. Preventive Medicine personnel, called in at the beginning of the operation, helped develop a healthy campsite, which contributed to a relatively uneventful refugee experience. Close liaison with the local medical resources on Kwajalein was essential to the success of the operation.
Physicians' attitudes regarding patient access to electronic medical records.

Prior to the implementation of Electronic Medical Record (EMR) web access for patients at a large integrated delivery systems, we surveyed physicians’ attitudes. Our web based questionnaire revealed largely positive attitudes about access. The exceptions included abnormal reports, progress notes, and e-care. A factor analysis identified the group of physicians who didn’t view patients as partners felt most negative about the process.
Three essays on risk and uncertainty in agriculture

The general theme of this dissertation is risk and uncertainty in agriculture, with each chapter addressing a specific topic related to agricultural risk and uncertainty. Chapter 2 examines the effects of production uncertainty on the types of contract structures used in specialty grain markets. A theoretical model of a contractual relationship between a monopsonistic processor and risk-neutral producers is presented. Two common contract structures, and their resulting effects on the sharing of production risk between buyer and seller, are compared. The spatial structure of yields and farm-level yield volatility are shown to have significant impacts on the processor's preferred choice of contract structure and expected profits of both the processor and farmers in the resulting equilibrium. Chapter 3 provides a critical look at a classic definition regarding the relationship between input use and risk, and attempts to reconcile an apparent paradox in the production literature. Experimental corn yield response data is used to estimate a stochastic production relationship between applied fertilizer, soil nutrient availability, and corn output. Optimal fertilizer application rates for risk-averse and risk-neutral producers are found using numerical methods. In addition to the empirical analysis, primary data collected through a farmer survey instrument, designed to elicit information from farmers regarding their risk attitudes and subjective beliefs regarding the relationship between risk and fertilizer use, is presented and compared with the results of the empirical analysis. Chapter 4 turns to the opportunities for managing weather risk using weather derivative markets. Developing regions are areas in which weather based risk management tools show significant potential. However, the success and long-term viability of insurance programs depends heavily on the availability of accurate and reliable historical data. The lack of this type of historical data for developing regions is one of the largest obstacles to insurance program development in these regions. A framework which utilizes statistical methods to estimate unbiased rainfall histories from sparse data is developed. To validate the methodology's usefulness, a drought insurance example is presented using a rich data set of historical rainfall at weather stations across the state of Iowa.
3-D motion recovery from time-varying optical flows

Previous research on analyzing time-varying image sequences has concentrated on finding the necessary (and sufficient) conditions for a unique 3-D solution. While such an approach provides useful theoretical insight, the resulting algorithms turn out to be too sensitive to be of pratical use. We claim that any robust algorithm must improve the 3-D solution adaptively over time. As the first step toward such a paradigm, in this paper we present an algorithm for 3-D motion computation, given time-varying optical flow fields. The surface of the object in the scene is assumed to be locally planar. It is also assumed that 3-D velocity vectors are piecewise constant over three consecutive frames (or 2 snapshots of flow field). Our formulation relates 3-D motion and object geometry with the optical flow vector as well as its spatial and temporal derivatives. The deformation parameters of the first kind, or equivalently, the first-order flow approximation (in space and time) is sufficient to recover rigid body motion and local surface structure from the local instantaneous flow field. We also demonstrate, through a sensitivity analysis carried out for synthetic and natural motions in space, that 3-D inference can be made reliably.
35-OR: HIGH TITER HLA ANTIBODY IS C1q BINDING AND ASSOCIATED WITH INCREASED RISK OF ANTIBODY MEDIATED REJECTION IN HEART ALLOGRAFT RECIPIENTS

Aim Sensitized heart transplant candidates are evaluated for donor specific HLA antibody (DSA) by Luminex single antigen bead (SAB) testing to assess donor suitability and predict a positive complement dependent cytotoxicity (CDC) crossmatch (XM) by virtual XM (VXM). However, SAB testing imperfectly correlates with VXM, and antibody thresholds for XM prediction are center-specific. A novel Luminex SAB-based assay detecting C1q-binding HLA antibodies adds functional data to SAB testing, but the relationship between SAB strength and C1q positivity is unclear. In this retrospective study, we examine the relationship between HLA antibody titer and complement-binding ability in cardiac allograft recipients and correlate C1q DSA to antibody-mediated rejection (AMR). Methods We identified 15 sensitized pediatric and adult heart recipients with a calculated panel reactive antibody >50%. Sera were tested by conventional SAB antibody testing using undiluted or 1:16 diluted sera and were compared to C1q results. Pre- and post-transplant DSA by both methods were correlated with XM and early AMR. Results In 9 samples, individual Class I antibodies measured by SAB testing in undiluted sera correlated poorly with C1q reactivity (R 2 = 0.07). In contrast, using sera diluted 1:16, conventional SAB results correlated better with C1q testing ( R 2 = 0.73). Receiver operator characteristic curve analysis also showed superior area under the curve (AUC) for predicting C1q positive results in sera diluted 1:16 than in undiluted sera (AUC = 0.99 vs 0.82). Low MFI by conventional SAB testing in alleles with high C1q MFI increased upon dilution or heat-treating sera and correlated with C1q results. Clinically, in 13 recipients C1q DSA predicted CDC-XM positivity and early AMR (positive predictive value (PV) 87.5%; negative PV 100%). Conclusions In conclusion, SAB titer correlated with and predicted C1q reactivity. The risk for positive crossmatch and early AMR in sensitized heart recipients strongly correlated with C1q binding DSA.
100 Years of Progress in Applied Meteorology. Part I: Basic Applications

AbstractThe field of atmospheric science has been enhanced by its long-standing collaboration with entities with specific needs. This chapter and the two subsequent ones describe how applications h...
Exploring the role of RB and AR in a phase II randomized multicenter trial of abiraterone acetate with or without cabazitaxel in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC).

TPS5093Background: Retinoblastoma (RB) loss of function has been identified as a process by which castration-resistant tumors develop. Up to 60% of CRPC tumors show loss of RB function. This can dr...
Is Polygenic Risk Scores Prediction Good

Polygenic risk scores (PRS) is one of the most popular prediction methods for complex traits and diseases with high-dimensional genome-wide association (GWAS) data where sample size n is typically much smaller than the number of SNPs p. PRS is a weighted sum of candidate SNPs in a testing data where each SNP is weighted by its estimated marginal effect from a training data. The motivations behind PRS are that 1) only summary statistics are needed for constructing PRS rather than raw data which may not be readily available due to privacy concerns; 2) most complex traits are affected by many genes with small effects, or follow a polygenic (or newly emerging omnigenic) model. PRS aggregates information from all potential causal SNPs and thus as its name suggested, is expected to be powerful for ploygenic and omnigenic traits. However, disappointing to many researchers, the prediction accuracy of PRS in practice is low, even for traits with known high heritability. To solve this perplex, in this paper we investigate PRS both empirically and theoretically. We show in addition to heritability, how the performance of PRS is influenced by the triplet (n, p,m), where m is the number of true causal SNPs. Our major findings are that 1) when PRS is constructed with all p SNPs (referred as GWAS-PRS), its prediction accuracy is solely determined by the p/n ratio; 2) when PRS is built with a list of top-ranked SNPs that pass a pre-specified P-value threshold (referred as threshold-PRS), its accuracy can vary dramatically depending on how sparse true genetic signals are. Only when m is magnitude smaller than n, or genetic signals are sparse, can threshold-PRS perform well. In contrast, if m is much larger than n, or genetic signals are not sparse, which is often the case for complex polygenic traits, threshold-PRS is expected to fail. Our results demystify the poor performance of PRS and demonstrate that the original purpose of PRS to aggregate effects from a large number of causal SNPs for polygenic traits is wishful and can lead us to a practical paradox for polygenic/omnigenic traits. Our results, as turned out, are closely related to the spurious correlation problem of Fan et al. [2012], which has been gaining more and more attention in the statistics community.
The influence of relational mutuality on dyadic coping among couples facing breast cancer.

Objective The study examined how a couple's capacity for mutuality as conceptualized by the Relational-Cultural Theory plays a role in their managing the stresses accompanying breast cancer. Methods Eighty-six women treated for a primary, non-metastatic breast cancer and their partners completed measures of quality of life, relational mutuality, and dyadic coping. Demographic and clinical factors were self-reported. The relationship between mutuality and dyadic coping was evaluated using the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (APIM). Results Relational mutuality was positively associated with both the patients' and the caregivers' scores on common and positive dyadic coping. Similarly, relational mutuality was associated with both patients' and caregivers' reduced scores on avoidance of dyadic coping. Conclusions Relational mutuality emerges as a significant factor in our understanding about dyadic coping in the context of cancer and this study highlights the role it plays in dyadic coping behaviors. Implications The promotion of relational mutuality in couples coping with cancer-related stress should be a major focus in couple-based interventions.
The Rhizobium leguminosarum nodulation gene nodF encodes a polypeptide similar to acyl-carrier protein and is regulated by nodD plus a factor in pea root exudate

Abstract The DNA sequence of ~3.5 kb of the nodulation (nod) region of the Rhizobium leguminosarum symbiotic plasmid pRL1JI was determined. Three open reading frames were identified; genes corresponding to these have been called nodD, nodE and nodF.nodD is adjacent to nodA and is transcribed in the opposite direction. The nodF and nodE genes are downstream of, and transcribed in the same direction as, nodD with 667 nucleotides between nodD and nodF and three nucleotides separating nodF and nodE. The induction of the nodFE operon requires the nodD gene product and a component present in plant root exudate. Regions of DNA sequence preceding nodF are similar to those preceding nodA; these sequences may be involved in the regulation of the expression of nodA and nodF. Analysis of nodD revealed an amino acid sequence similar to the predicted DNA-binding domain of known DNA-binding proteins. A protein comparison of the nodF protein showed it to be similar to the acyl-carrier protein from Escherichia coli and barley, especially around the pantothenate-binding region and on this basis it is thought that this protein may be involved in an acyl transfer reaction.