cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Significance of the Principal-Agent Paradigm

Citizens voluntarily form nonprofit or nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) for the expressed purposes of advancing public and community welfare. These organizations are rapidly growing and becoming a significant part of modern societies everywhere. They are blossoming throughout the world and dependence on them is increasing by citizens, governments, and by international organizations such as the World Bank and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)—both of which have commissioned expert manuscripts on the roles that NGOs as well as social capital may play in increasing the effectiveness of their programs.
An Exploratory Study of the Effect of Employee Turnover on Customer Satisfaction

There is ample anecdotal evidence that higher levels of employee turnover lead to lower levels of customer satisfaction in retail stores. A search of the literature revealed no study that directly examined the consequences of turnover on customer satisfaction. This paper examines the relationship between employee turnover and customer ratings of overall satisfaction across 275 fast- food convenience stores operated by two different retail chains. Correlation analysis was used to examine the relationships between employee turnover and customer satisfaction. An examination of the correlation matrix reveals a number of interesting findings. First, there are different relationships between customer satisfaction and turnover among full-time and part-time employees. Higher levels of turnover of full-time employees were associated with lower ratings of overall customer satisfaction, friendliness and speed of service. Part-time turnover was significantly related only to speed of service. This relationship between part-time employee turnover and speed of service was negative, that is; when turnover of part-time employees was higher, customers perceived speed of service to be slower. This finding suggests that future work examining the effects of turnover on customer satisfaction should treat full-time and part-time employees separately. Combining these two groups, who have a fundamentally different relationship with the store and perhaps with customers, will confound results. These results also suggest that higher levels of turnover of part-time employees, if combined with a stable group of full-time employees, may not affect customer satisfaction very much.
A missed opportunity for U.S. biotechnology regulation

A rare policy window ( 1 )—an opportunity for change that happens when problem, political, and policy streams come together—recently opened for biotechnology regulation in the United States: an explosion of genetic engineering (GE) techniques and products challenging federal oversight; intensifying public, media, and political attention; and a growing number of policy ideas for change. When the White House in summer 2015 called for a process to revisit the 1986 Coordinated Framework for the Regulation of Biotechnology (CFRB) ( 2 – 4 ), it was seen as an opportune moment to match biotechnology innovation with innovation in the design of a U.S. regulatory system. However, the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) interagency process for reviewing the framework fell short in multiple ways. The process has prevented clarification and restructuring of the regulatory system, as well as opportunities to increase the legitimacy of that system in the eyes of the public and stakeholders.
Land into Water — Water into Land: A History of Water Management in Florida. By Nelson Manfred Blake. (Tallahassee: University Presses of Florida, 1980. 334 pp. Illustrations, notes, and index. $19.95)

Land into Water Water into Land won the Florida Historical Society's 1982 Rembert W. Patrick Prize, awarded for the best book published about Florida. The Society's choice was wise; Blake has produced what appears to be the definitive work about one of Florida's most pervasive, controversial, and protracted problems water management. Florida virtually floats on water, it is surrounded by water, it is crisscrossed by water, it averages 70 inches of rainfall per year. Since the eighteenth century Floridians have attempted to control this element.
Low-energy cardioversion of ventricular tachycardia: When less is more

Herein we report the case of a patient who was admitted in ventricular tachycardia after having received multiple ineffective (and sometimes pro-arrhythmic) high-energy internal shocks from his ICD and who was finally successfully treated by a commanded low-energy internal cardioversion of 0.6 J. This article revisits the use of low-energy shocks and discusses their electrophysiogical mechanisms and clinical implications.
Major Desired Organizational Characteristics for the Efficiently Adaptable Organization

The previous chapter described the twelve holonomic processes needed to create the organizational hologram. Each was described in terms of a verbal phrase to denote that it is an ongoing process. Each of the twelve holonomic processes was built on the principles described in Chapters Five and Seven through Ten. These holonomic processes are the means for achieving the six major and desired organizational characteristics of the organizational hologram. The task in this chapter is to show how the holonomic processes work together as the means for achieving the ends of the six major and desired organizational characteristics. It will be shown that all of the holonomic processes must be working throughout the organization in order to maximally achieve these six major and desired organizational characteristics. It is insufficient that they only work at the top of the organization.
Transit-oriented economic development: The impact of light rail on new business starts in the Phoenix, AZ Region, USA:

This article examines the impact of Phoenix’s light rail system, which opened in 2008, on new firm formation in specific industries. Individual business data from 1990–2014 are used in a quasi-expe...
Abstract 16938: Novel Oral Anticoagulants (NOAC) vs Warfarin Peri-Ablation for Atrial Fibrillation (AF): A Meta-Analysis of Embolic and Bleeding Complications

Introduction: NOAC like dabigatran and rivaroxaban (R) are being used pre and post AF ablation. There are concerns that peri-AF ablation use of NOAC may be associated with worse outcome than warfarin (W). However, individual studies may be too small to accurately compare anticoagulation strategies given low procedural complication rates. Methods: We conducted a meta-analysis of all published abstracts (n=10) and papers (n=10) to date that compared complication rates for peri-AF ablation use of NOAC vs W (with or without heparin bridging). Bleeding complications included pericardial effusion, groin hematoma, GI bleeding and embolic complications included any systemic embolism. We used the Mantel-Haenszel fixed effect model for pooling the study results, with a random effects model for heterogeneous samples/results. Results: The 2614 pts on a NOAC (9.6% R) were similar to the 4262 pts on W. NOAC were stopped 2.5-96 hrs pre-procedure and restarted 1-48 hrs post-procedure; in 3190 (75%) W pts, W was uninterrupted. Composite bleeding rates were significantly lower in NOAC pts (4.47% vs 6.96% in W, OR 0.60, 95% CI 0.48-0.75; I2 = 47%). Composite embolic rates were similar in both groups (0.61% in NOAC vs 0.39% in W, OR 1.42, 95% CI 0.76-2.66; I2 = 0%; Figure) Conclusions: This meta-analysis demonstrates that NOAC are an alternative for per-AF ablation anticoagulation. They are associated with a decrease in bleeding and no significant increase in embolic events compared to W. However, given the trend for a higher embolic complication rate with NOAC,a randomized study to evaluate the two anticoagulation strategies is needed, and to determine optimal time to discontinue and resume therapy.
T cell receptors for the HIV KK10 epitope from patients with differential immunologic control are functionally indistinguishable

HIV controllers (HCs) are individuals who can naturally control HIV infection, partially due to potent HIV-specific CD8+ T cell responses. Here, we examined the hypothesis that superior function of CD8+ T cells from HCs is encoded by their T cell receptors (TCRs). We compared the functional properties of immunodominant HIV-specific TCRs obtained from HLA-B*2705 HCs and chronic progressors (CPs) following expression in primary T cells. T cells transduced with TCRs from HCs and CPs showed equivalent induction of epitope-specific cytotoxicity, cytokine secretion, and antigen-binding properties. Transduced T cells comparably, albeit modestly, also suppressed HIV infection in vitro and in humanized mice. We also performed extensive molecular dynamics simulations that provided a structural basis for similarities in cytotoxicity and epitope cross-reactivity. These results demonstrate that the differential abilities of HIV-specific CD8+ T cells from HCs and CPs are not genetically encoded in the TCRs alone and must depend on additional factors.
Neoadjuvant Chemoradiotherapy and Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy

Rectal cancer is a challenging disease to treat, and its optimal management requires a multidisciplinary approach with involvement of surgical, medical, and radiation oncologists.
Psychometric evaluation of a measure of intimate partner communication during deployment

Intimate partner communication has become a part of the daily routine of military couples during deployment. However, there is a scarcity of research examining the individual and relationship implications of communication during deployment, likely due in part to the lack of existing measures of deployment communication. The current study examined the psychometric characteristics of a newly developed, multidimensional tool for assessing the process and outcomes of deployment communication in a sample of 391 recently deployed male Army National Guard soldiers and their female intimate partners. The Deployment Communication Inventory (DCI) contains 6 Soldier and 6 partner scales that assess (a) frequency of communication, (b) nature of communication (Assurance/Support, Problem-Solving/Disclosure, and Conflict), and (c) perceived consequences of communication (Benefits and Costs). Scales demonstrated good internal consistency reliability and convergent validity with measures of relationship and family functioning and individual mental health. The DCI may serve as a useful assessment tool for examining the impact of deployment communication on military families. (PsycINFO Database Record
Moral Heuristics and Risk

Much of everyday morality consists of simple, highly intuitive rules that generally make sense but that fail in certain cases. In this essay I will identify a set of heuristics that now influence factual and moral judgments in the domain of risk, and to try to make plausible the claim that some widely held practices and beliefs are a product of those heuristics. Often moral heuristics represent generalizations from a range of problems for which they are indeed well-suited, and hence most of the time, such heuristics work well. The problem comes when the generalizations are wrenched out of context and treated as freestanding or universal principles, applicable to situations in which their justifications no longer operate. There is nothing obtuse, or monstrous, about refusing to apply a generalization in contexts in which its rationale is absent. In the moral and political domains, it is hard to come up with unambiguous cases where the error is both highly intuitive and on reflection uncontroversial – where people can ultimately be embarrassed about their own intuitions. Nonetheless, I hope to show that whatever one’s moral commitments, moral heuristics exist and indeed are omnipresent, adversely affecting our reactions to social risks.
Structuring of Organic Solvents at Solid Interfaces and Ramifications for Antimalarial Adsorption on β-Hematin Crystals.

A critical aspect of material synthesis is solvent structuring at solid–liquid interfaces, which can impact the adsorption of solute and growth modifiers on an underlying substrate. In general, the...
Maternal Depression and Child Dysfunction

Depression is a disorder that affects a great many individuals, but its highest prevalence is found among women (Weissman & Klerman, 1977). Several investigators have reported high rates of depression for mothers of young children, particularly those with three or more preadolescent children in the home (Brown, Bhrolchain, & Harris, 1975; Richman, 1976). As a result, more information is needed about the consequences to children of such emotional disturbances in their parents. This is necessary in order to identify risk factors for the offspring of these parents (Moss & Plewis, 1977; Richman, 1978).
HBCU Technology Transfer Supply Chain Networks Sustainability Budget Resource Planning Tool Development

This study describes the development of a university technology transfer supply chain network sustainability tool that Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) can use to become more self-reliant financially. HBCUs lag behind their peer non-HBCUs because historically they have been under-served and were originally established largely as teaching and blue collar trade schools. Increased involvement in research oriented activities such as technology transfer will likely enable HBCUs to grow into new or stronger research institutions. The literature review revealed several problem areas with non-HBCUs university technology transfer include a resource planning issues. These problem areas for non-HBCUs would be challenging for HBCUs as well. Problems with university technology transfer have led to unethical behavior among faculty inventors and university technology transfer specialists at non-HBCUs. Despite these problems, the non-HBCUs are generating licensing revenues. Systems dynamics is the process of combining the theory, method and philosophy necessary to analyze the behavior of a system in order to provide a common foundation that can be applied whenever it is desired to understand and influence how things change over time. Applying the systems dynamics approach, a budget resource planning tool was developed using a linear programming optimization technique. This study illustrates that classic industrial uses of linear programming optimization techniques can uniquely be used to optimize budget resource planning for sustainable HBCU supply chain networks and other emerging research institutions.
The Modular Adaptive Electrotherapy Delivery System (MAEDS): An Electroceutical Approach for Effective Treatment of Wound Infection and Promotion of Healing.

BACKGROUND Infected wounds are painful and cannot heal, with antibiotics showing reduced efficacy. Appropriate wound electrotherapy may limit incident planktonic and polymicrobial colonization, inhibit biofilm formation and accelerate healing. METHODS The Modular Adaptive Electrotherapy Delivery System (MAEDS) is a lightweight, flexible, battery-powered disposable bandage which delivers controlled reliable electrotherapy to the wound for up to 7 days. Large full-thickness excisional wounds (6 cm diameter) were created in a porcine model and freshly cultured 0.5 McFarland green fluorescent protein-labeled Pseudomonas aeruginosa evenly applied to the wound bed. Control wounds received standard wound care, Tegaderm HP Transparent Dressing (3 M Health Care, St. Paul, MN, USA) applied in a sterile fashion. Treatment wounds received MAEDS electrotherapy for up to 28 days or until healed. Onboard Bluetooth facilitated remote real-time monitoring of MAEDS function. Dressing changes occurred on postoperative day (POD) 1, 3, 5, 7, 10, 14, 21, and 28. Punch biopsies were taken at the wound margin and center. Bacterial samples were processed to determine infection status. RESULTS Acute infected wounds treated with MAEDS electrotherapy were 92% smaller than baseline by POD21. Healing rate was significantly faster (p < 0.01) and infection significantly decreased (p < 0.0001) at POD10, relative to control wounds. CONCLUSION The MAEDS electrotherapy can significantly inhibit infection and enhance healing rate in acute infected wounds.
Dimension engineering of single-layer PtN 2 with the Cairo tessellation

Single-layer PtN 2 exhibits an intriguing structure consisting of a tessellation pattern called the Cairo tessellation of type 2 pentagons, which belongs to one of the existing 15 types of convex pentagons discovered so far that can monohedrally tile a plane. Single-layer PtN 2 has also been predicted to show semiconducting behavior with direct bandgaps. Full exploration of the structure–property relationship awaits the successful exfoliation or synthesis of this novel single-layer material, which depends on the structure of its bulk counterpart with the same stoichiometry to some extent. Bulk PtN 2 with the pyrite structure is commonly regarded as the most stable structure in the literature. But comparing the energies of single-layer PtN 2 and bulk PtN 2 leads to a dilemma that a single-layer material is more stable than its bulk counterpart. To solve this dilemma, we propose stacking single-layer PtN 2 sheets infinitely to form a new bulk structure of PtN 2. The resulting tetragonal layered structure is energetically more stable than the pyrite structure and single-layer PtN 2. We also find that the predicted bulk structure is metallic, in contrast to the semiconducting pyrite structure. In addition to predicting the 3D structure, we explore the possibility of rolling single-layer PtN 2 sheets into nanotubes. The required energies are comparable to those needed to form carbon or boron nitride nanotubes from their single-layer sheets, implying the feasibility of obtaining PtN 2 nanotubes. We finally study the electronic structures of PtN 2 nanotubes and find that the bandgaps of PtN 2 nanotubes are tunable by changing the number of unit cells of single-layer PtN 2 used to construct the nanotubes. Our work shows that dimension engineering of PtN 2 not only leads to a more stable 3D structure but also to 1D materials with novel properties.
Amplitude and Frequency Prediction in the Translational Vestibulo-ocular Reflex

The goal of this study was to assess the effect of amplitude and frequency predictability on the performance of the translational vestibulo-ocular reflex (tVOR). Eye movements were recorded in 5 subjects during continuous vertical translation that consisted of a series of segments with: 1) 3 amplitudes at constant frequency (2 Hz) or 2) 3 different frequencies (1.6, 2, 2.5 Hz). Stimulus changes were presented in a pseudo-random order. We found that there was little change in the tVOR immediately after an unexpected stimulus change, as if eye velocity were being driven more by an expectation based on previous steady-state motion than by current head translation. For amplitude transitions, only about 30% of the eventual response change was seen in the first half cycle. Similarly, a sudden change in translation frequency did not appear in eye velocity for 70 ms, compared to a 8 ms lag during similar yaw rotation. Finally, after a sudden large decrease in frequency, the eyes continued to track at the original higher frequency, resulting initially in an anti-compensatory tVOR acceleration. Our results elucidate further the complexity of the tVOR and show that motion prediction based on prior experience plays an important role in its response.
Toward a Muslim Ethics of Care: Leadership in American Islamic schools

In this empirical study, I describe how Muslim women leading American Islamic schools enact a critical ethics of care framework in their leadership work. As previous critical studies indicate, this research moves beyond caring as an expression of emotion to the work of caring that transforms a community into one that can challenge inequities by building a climate of cultural affirmation. Through an analysis of qualitative interviews of such women, I advance a concept of Muslim ethics of care that communicates the caring work of school leaders rooted in establishing equity. The following four themes form the foundation of this conceptual framework: (a) caring to lead with equitable school practices; (b) caring as resistance to oppression, (c) caring through nurturing often described as “other mothering,” (d) and caring as an Islamic obligation. This study places these leaders’ voices within the broader context of a critical ethics of care framework, thereby demonstrating the role of faith-marginalized community leaders as social justice advocates.
Predictive risk models combined with employee- and management-implemented SSOPs identified and reduced Listeria monocytogenes prevalence in retail delis

Abstract Ready-to-eat (RTE) deli meats sliced at retail are predicted to cause 83% of deli meat-associated listeriosis cases annually. While Listeria monocytogenes is commonly found in delis, environmental prevalence varies by store (0–40%). A deep clean sanitation standard operating procedure (SSOP) executed by a third-party cleaning service immediately reduced L. monocytogenes prevalence in delis, but reductions were not sustained over time. The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy of a L. monocytogenes predictive risk model and a subsequent deep-clean SSOP (deep clean) conducted by store employees and management complemented with training and facilities improvements all aimed to reduce L. monocytogenes prevalence in stores with known high L. monocytogenes prevalence and evidence of persistence. Fifty delis among six states were screened using a predictive logistic regression model that estimates the probability of high L. monocytogenes prevalence in a deli. The model identified 13 stores with potentially high L. monocytogenes prevalence; seven stores were confirmed and enrolled for further study. Retail employees executed deep clean; additional interventions (e.g., facilities improvements, training) were incorporated in stores. Environmental samples (n = 20) were collected immediately before and after, and for six months post-deep clean. Deep cleans immediately reduced L. monocytogenes prevalence in six of seven stores tested. A total of 21/138 (15.2%) samples before and 8/139 (5.8%) samples after deep-cleaning were positive for L. monocytogenes, with a marginal 16.0% decrease on non-food-contact surfaces (NFCS) immediately after deep clean (p = 0.0309, αadj = 0.0125) and a marginal 10.8% on NFCS during follow-up (p = 0.0337, αadj = 0.0125). Employee executed deep cleans with training, education, and maintenance programs can reduce environmental L. monocytogenes prevalence in retail delis, a pivotal part of preventing subsequent cross-contamination to RTE deli meats.
Research on Operation Optimization Method of Regional Integrated Energy System

To solve the energy optimization scheduling problem of regional integrated energy system, the distributed generation output characteristics and the system optimization operation strategy are analyzed. Constraints of the distributed energy operation, electric-heat-cold load demand and the energy daily storage balance are fully considered. Then the optimal scheduling model of integrated energy microgrid is established and solved by linear programming method. Finally, a typical scenario is constructed referring a university campus, the CCHP optimal operation mode is carried out and compared with the operation mode of "CCHP full power". The results show that the optimal scheduling model can meet the scenario requirements, and can provide a unified optimization scheme for regional integrated energy system.
An ISI-Resilient Data Encoding for Equalizer-Free Wireline Communication—Dicode Encoding and Error Correction for 24.2-dB Loss With 2.56 pJ/bit

This article presents an alternative strategy for communicating on bandwidth-limited wireline channels without using conventional equalizers or filters [feed-forward equalizer (FFE), decision feedback equalization (DFE), and continuous-time linear equalizer (CTLE)]: inter-symbol interference (ISI) resilient Dicode encoding and error correction for low-bandwidth wireline channels. The key observation is that Dicode-encoded data have no consecutive 1s or −1s. With this known information, the error correction logic at the receiver can correct multi-bit errors due to ISI. Implemented in 65-nm CMOS, the proposed digital encoding and decoding approach can achieve bit-error rate (BER) less than 10−12 while communicating on a channel with an insertion loss of 24.2 and 21.4 dB with 2.56- and 2.66-pJ/bit efficiency while operating at 13.6 and 16 Gb/s, respectively.
Two’s company, three’s a crowd: Exploring how host‐parasite‐microbiota interactions may influence disease susceptibility and conservation of wildlife

A large body of research has demonstrated that host-associated microbiota-the archaeal, bacterial, fungal and viral communities residing on and inside organisms-are critical to host health (Cho & Blaser, 2012). Although the vast majority of these studies focus on humans or model organisms in laboratory settings (Pascoe, Hauffe, Marchesi, & Perkins, 2017), they nevertheless provide important conceptual evidence that the disruption of host-associated microbial communities (termed "dysbiosis") among wild animals may reduce host fitness and survival under natural environmental conditions. Among the myriad of environmental factors capable of inducing dysbiosis among wild animals (Trevelline, Fontaine, Hartup, & Kohl, 2019), parasitic infections represent a potentially potent, yet poorly understood, factor influencing microbial community dynamics and animal health. The study by DeCandia et al. in this issue of Molecular Ecology is a rare example of a host-parasite-microbiota interaction that impacts the health, survival and conservation of a threatened wild animal in its natural habitat. Using culture-independent techniques, DeCandia et al. found that the presence of an ectoparasitic mite (Otodectes cynotis) in the ear canal of the Santa Catalina Island fox (Urocyon littoralis catalinae) was associated with significantly reduced ear canal microbial diversity, with the opportunistic pathogen Staphylococcus pseudintermedius dominating the community. These findings suggest that parasite-induced inflammation may contribute to the formation of ceruminous gland tumours in this subspecies of Channel Island fox. As a rare example of a host-parasite-microbiota interaction that may mediate a lethal disease in a population of threatened animals, their study provides an excellent example of how aspects of disease ecology can be integrated into studies of host-associated microbiota to advance conservation science and practice.
Detection of silent reflux events by nuclear scintigraphy in healthy dogs.

Background Reflux and aspiration in people are associated with respiratory disease, whereas approximately 50% of healthy adults microaspirate without apparent consequence. In dogs, analogous information is lacking. Hypothesis Healthy dogs commonly have gastroesophageal reflux and a proportion of these dogs will have laryngopharyngeal reflux with silent aspiration. Animals Twelve healthy, client-owned dogs. Methods Prospective study: Dogs were free-fed a meal containing (111 MBq) colloidal 99 m-technetium phytate. Dynamic-scans were performed 5 and 30 minutes postingestion. Time-activity curves, reflux margination, volume, frequency, and duration were evaluated over 7 regions of interest in dorsal ± left-lateral recumbency. Static scans (dorsal recumbency) were performed 2 and 18 hours postfeeding to detect aspiration. Reflux and aspiration were defined as counts ≥200% background activity ± decreased gastric counts. Between-group comparisons were performed by Wilcoxon rank-sum test or one-way ANOVA on ranks with significance of P Results In this study, reflux of variable magnitude was detected in 12/12 dogs. No significant differences in outcome parameters were detected with recumbency (P > .05). Margination to the pharynx and proximal, middle, and distal esophagus was identified in 5/12, 2/12, 3/12, and 2/12 dogs, respectively. Median (IQR) reflux frequency and duration were 2 events/5 minutes (1-3.3 events/5 minutes) and 6 seconds (4-9 seconds) respectively. No dog had detectable aspiration. Conclusions and clinical importance Nuclear scintigraphy can document reflux in dogs. Reflux, but not aspiration, is common in healthy dogs and must be considered when interpreting results in clinically affected dogs.
Chemistry in the Kitchen Laboratories at Home

As the need for online or virtual science courses grows, it is important to incorporate laboratory work into these courses. However, it is difficult to find cost-effective ways to integrate the laboratory work, especially as campuses across the world have had to quickly transition to the online learning environment in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, hands-on laboratory experiments that can be performed safely at home without the need to purchase expensive commercial laboratory kits would be valuable. This paper presents a set of laboratory exercises that are utilized in an online nonmajor science course. Student and instructor experiences are also presented.
The Development of Impulsivity and Sensation Seeking: Associations with Substance Use among At-Risk Adolescents.

We investigated if the dual systems model could explain the increased rates of substance use among at-risk youth. This study sampled 365 adolescents, 289 of which had a family history of substance use disorder, assessed biannually between the ages 13-16 years old. Growth curve analyses revealed that higher levels of impulsivity were related to higher levels of sensation seeking and a slower rate of decline in impulsivity was related to a faster rate of increase in sensation seeking. Only family history status and sensation seeking were directly associated with substance use (marijuana, alcohol) at age 16, though family history status was also indirectly related to substance use through higher levels of impulsivity to higher levels of sensation seeking.
Abstract 13280: Obesity is Associated With 1-year Atrial Fibrillation Recurrence After Catheter Ablation in Caucasians but Not in African Americans

Introduction: Observational studies have noted an association between body mass index (BMI) and recurrence of atrial fibrillation (AF) after catheter ablation. However, there is limited data on thi...
Photo-oxidation and Thermal Oxidations of Triptycene Thiols by Aryl Chalcogen Oxides.

Oxidation of thiols yield sulfenic acids, which are very unstable intermediates. As sulfenic acids are reactive, they form disulfides in the presence of thiols. However, sulfenic acids also oxidize...
Understanding Educators’ Implementation of an Equity-Focused PBIS Intervention: A Qualitative Study of Critical Incidents:

With the emergence of interventions shown to reduce school discipline disparities, it is important to explore what variables influence educators to implement these approaches. In-depth interviews w...
A measure of local uniqueness to identify linchpins in a social network with node attributes

Network centrality measures assign importance to influential or key nodes in a network based on the topological structure of the underlying adjacency matrix. In this work, we define the importance of a node in a network as being dependent on whether it is the only one of its kind among its neighbors’ ties. We introduce linchpin score, a measure of local uniqueness used to identify important nodes by assessing both network structure and a node attribute. We explore linchpin score by attribute type and examine relationships between linchpin score and other established network centrality measures (degree, betweenness, closeness, and eigenvector centrality). To assess the utility of this measure in a real-world application, we measured the linchpin score of physicians in patient-sharing networks to identify and characterize important physicians based on being locally unique for their specialty. We hypothesized that linchpin score would identify indispensable physicians who would not be easily replaced by another physician of their specialty type if they were to be removed from the network. We explored differences in rural and urban physicians by linchpin score compared with other network centrality measures in patient-sharing networks representing the 306 hospital referral regions in the United States. We show that linchpin score is uniquely able to make the distinction that rural specialists, but not rural general practitioners, are indispensable for rural patient care. Linchpin score reveals a novel aspect of network importance that can provide important insight into the vulnerability of health care provider networks. More broadly, applications of linchpin score may be relevant for the analysis of social networks where interdisciplinary collaboration is important.
Utilizing Assessment Tools in Decreasing Fall Risk Among Community-Dwelling Adults: A Quality Improvement Project:

Although there are standardized fall risk assessment tools in home care clinical practice, there are no standardized tools to reduce fall risk. This quality improvement project aims to test the ada...
Winnie Mandelas Football Club

This paper will explore and the ways in which Madikizela-Mandela has been configured via violence, especially the Mandela United Football Club. The club, which members acted as her bodyguards, gained notoriety, for their alleged involvement in a number of political murders in the late 1980s in Soweto. The paper will explore the Club history, their actual relationship to football (if at all) and their place in the legacy of political violence in South Africa. As a contrast, the paper will also explore the connections between sports symbolism and political violence in Apartheid South Africa, including in white politics.
Deep Learning-Based Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer Thickness Measurement of Murine Eyes.

Purpose To design a robust and automated estimation method for measuring the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness using spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT). Methods We developed a deep learning-based image segmentation network for automated segmentation of the RNFL in SD-OCT B-scans of mouse eyes. In total, 5500 SD-OCT B-scans (5200 B-scans were used as training data with the remaining 300 B-scans used as testing data) were used to develop this segmentation network. Postprocessing operations were then applied on the segmentation results to fill any discontinuities or remove any speckles in the RNFL. Subsequently, a three-dimensional retina thickness map was generated by z-stacking 100 segmentation processed thickness B-scan images together. Finally, the average absolute difference between algorithm predicted RNFL thickness compared to the ground truth manual human segmentation was calculated. Results The proposed method achieves an average dice similarity coefficient of 0.929 in the SD-OCT segmentation task and an average absolute difference of 0.0009 mm in thickness estimation task on the basis of the testing dataset. We also evaluated our segmentation algorithm on another biological dataset with SD-OCT volumes for RNFL thickness after the optic nerve crush injury. Results were shown to be comparable between the predicted and manually measured retina thickness values. Conclusions Experimental results demonstrate that our automated segmentation algorithm reliably predicts the RNFL thickness in SD-OCT volumes of mouse eyes compared to laborious and more subjective manual SD-OCT RNFL segmentation. Translational Relevance Automated segmentation using a deep learning-based algorithm for murine eye OCT effectively and rapidly produced nerve fiber layer thicknesses comparable to manual segmentation.
Hedge Fund Alpha: What about Drawdowns?

The author reviews the relative risks of hedge fund investing using various commonly used measures, including market betas, correlations, and portfolio drawdowns. Historically, the data show that hedge funds have hedged a fair degree of systematic market risk, especially in the early years, offering meaningful diversification benefits to traditional stock/bond portfolios. However, the diversification benefits for investors in hedge funds have since declined, though they have not altogether been eliminated. Most recently, during the 2020 pandemic, modest drawdown benefits bore out for hedge fund investors, although again much less so than in the earlier years. TOPICS:Real assets/alternative investments/private equity, portfolio construction, risk management, performance measurement, mutual fund performance, factor-based models, financial crises and financial market history Key Findings ▪ This article extends “Hedge Fund Alpha: Cycle or Sunset” (Sullivan 2021) with a focus on the relative risk of hedge funds versus a stock-only as well as more diversified portfolios that seek to blend hedge funds, stocks, and bonds. ▪ The hedging away of systematic risk by hedge funds appears to be diminishing in recent years, in part due to rising correlations between stocks and hedge funds, now approaching 90%. ▪ Drawdowns for various hedge fund composite portfolios during the turbulent periods of 2008 and 2020 have been more in line with those seen by a traditional 50/50 stock/bond portfolio. ▪ However, within the universe of hedge funds, some strategies have delivered more meaningful diversification benefits.
2D-Imaging of Methyl in a HE/CH 4 Nanosecond Pulsed Plasma Jet by Photo-Fragmentation Laser Induced Fluorescence *

The coupling of methane to higher hydrocarbons is receiving increased interest for conversion of natural gas into value-added products. Conventional approaches such as oxidative coupling of methane (OCM) suffer from a tradeoff between selectivity and conversion because C 2 products are thermodynamically unfavorable at the high temperatures needed for significant conversion. A key step in the process is the extraction of a hydrogen atom from methane to form the methyl radical (CH 3 ). By coupling a plasma to OCM catalysts, the dehydrogenation step could be enhanced by the plasma, potentially enabling significant conversion at much lower temperatures while maintaining selectivity. To increase understanding of the kinetics of methyl production in the plasma and subsequent interaction with a catalyst, a spatially resolved and quantitative methyl diagnostic is needed.
Secondhand smoke and traffic exhaust confer opposing risks for asthma in normal and overweight children.

Objective Exposure to ultrafine particles (UFP) in secondhand smoke (SHS) and traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) may elicit chronic inflammation. It was hypothesized that the association between these exposures would be potentiated in overweight versus normal-weight children. Methods Average lifetime exposure to TRAP and SHS and objective, physician-diagnosed asthma were determined for 575 children at age 7. Overweight was defined as having a body mass index (BMI) >85th percentile for age and gender. The association between TRAP and SHS exposure and asthma was examined by logistic regression stratified by BMI. Results A total of 131 children were overweight; the prevalence of asthma was 24.4% and 14.2% among overweight and normal-weight children, respectively. Exposure to SHS was significantly associated with asthma among overweight (adjusted odds ratio [adjOR] = 3.0; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.2, 7.4) but not normal-weight children (adjOR = 1.1; 95% CI = 0.4, 2.7). In contrast, TRAP was significantly associated with asthma among normal-weight (adjOR = 1.8; 95% CI = 1.0, 3.4) but not overweight children (adjOR = 0.7; 95% CI = 0.4, 2.7). Conclusions The association between SHS and TRAP exposure and asthma is modified by children's weight. Children's time-activity patterns, including time spent indoors or outdoors, may vary by weight and play an important role in these UFP exposures.
How Do Short Sellers Interact with Other Professional Investors? Evidence from the Daily Trades of Active Fund Managers

Daily mutual fund (MF) flows are highly persistent and price-destabilizing, and short-sellers (SSs) trade strongly in the opposite direction to these flows. This negative relation is associated with the expected component of MF flows (based on prior days’ trading), as well as the unexpected component (based on same-day flows). The ability of SS trades to predict stock returns is up to 3 times greater when MF flows are in the opposite direction. The resulting wealth transfer from MFs to SSs is most pronounced for high-MF-held, low-liquidity firms, and is much larger during periods of high retail sentiment.
Court, Congress, and Civil Rights

This essay addresses two questions regarding the relationship between judicial and legislative action on civil rights. First, what explains one branch sometimes being in front of the others on civil rights issues? This part of the essay canvasses the period from Reconstruction to the civil rights movement and offers some explanations for why, at different points in time, Congress was ahead of or behind the Court on civil rights. Second, what was the causal connection between Brown v. Board of Education and the landmark civil-rights legislation of the mid-1960s? This part of the essay canvasses several possible ways in which Brown advanced or retarded the civil rights movement, especially focusing on the decision's backlash effect on southern politics.
Strategic Environmental Policy and International Trade in Asymmetric Oligopoly Markets

This paper examines optimal cooperative and non-cooperative environmental taxes for the case in which a polluting input is used to produce an internationally-traded finished product. The model allows for terms-of-trade effects under oligopoly and employs a general specification of the environmental damage function that encompasses special cases of local, global, and transboundary externalities. The model has several implications for public finance. For example, inefficiently high environmental taxes may be optimal for a net exporting country in non-cooperative circumstances, as the motive to shift rent by selecting an inefficiently low tax rate is countervailed by the incentive to shift the burden of the tax to foreign consumers. The findings identify the important role of asymmetric trade flows (denominated in both goods and pollution exchange) in determining optimal cooperative and non-cooperative tax policy under oligopoly.
Cambial Variants (Anomalous Secondary Growth)

“Anomalous secondary growth” is the term under which have been grouped cambial conformations, cambial products, and cambial numbers which differ from the most common “normal” condition, namely, a single cylindrical cambium that produces phloem externally and xylem internally. The term “variants” is employed here as a way of referring to the less common types; “anomalous” may give the misleading impression of a disorderly action.
The Virtue of War: Reclaiming the Classic Christian Traditions East and West

DARRELL COLE & ALEXANDER F. C. WEBSTER Salisbury, MA: Regina Orthodox Press, 2004, 245 pages, US$19.95, ISBN 192865317 In JME, we normally run book reviews of books published within the last two to...
The Iron-Zinc Interrelationship in the Chick as Influenced by Eimeria acervulina Infection

Two 14-day growth trials were performed to assess the effects of Eimeria acervulina infection (duodenal coccidiosis) on the Fe-Zn interrelationship in growing chicks. In the first assay, two levels of Fe (0 and 2000 mg/kg) were added to diets that contained either 0 or 52 mg supplemental Zn (from ZnCO3) per kilogram to establish whether excess Fe would affect Zn status of healthy and coccidial-infected chicks. In the second trial, either 0 or 2000 mg Zn/kg was added to diets containing 0 or 500 mg Fe/kg to determine whether Zn could modify Fe utilization. Based on chick performance as well as plasma Zn concentration, excess dietary Fe did not antagonize Zn in either healthy or E. acervulina-infected chicks. Coccidial infection, however, increased liver Fe and decreased intestinal Fe and hemoglobin concentration. Excess dietary Zn reduced performance and Fe content of tissues in both healthy and infected chicks. Coccidial infection ameliorated the adverse effects of excess Zn on performance and tissue Zn concentration and consequently enhanced Fe status of birds fed 2000 mg Zn/kg. These data suggest that the Fe-Zn interaction is a one-directional phenomenon in the chick, i.e., excess Zn reduces Fe utilization but excess Fe does not antagonize Zn.
Mesoscale‐Convective Processes in the Atmosphere

For many years, there was a great need for comprehensive, up-to-date textbooks in the rapidly advancing field of mesoscale meteorology, a subject that includes scientifically interesting and societally relevant phenomena such as severe thunderstorms, extreme winds, and heavy rainfall. Fortunately, this need has been met with multiple noteworthy publications in the past few years.
Impact of Enhanced Anchored Instruction in Inclusive Math Classrooms

The Common Core State Standards for Mathematics will place more pressure on special education and math teachers to raise the skill levels of all students, especially those with disabilities in math (MD). The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of enhanced anchored instruction (EAI) on students with and without MD in co-taught general education classrooms. Results showed that students in the EAI condition improved their performance on math skills contained in several of the standards. Effect sizes were especially large for students with MD when the special education teacher more actively participated in the instructional activities with the math teacher. Classroom observations provided examples of how teachers can work together to benefit students in inclusive math settings.
On the possible role of neocortex and its limbic connections in the process of attention and schizophrenia: clinical cases of inattention in man and experimental anatomy in monkey.

IN HIS authoritative and pioneering monograph, BLEULER~ pointed out that derangements of attention constitute a cardinal component of schizophrenia. Since then, numerous clinical and experimental investigations have concluded that a deficit in selective attention is, indeed, a salient characteristic of schizophrenic syndromes. However, such deficits are certainly not confined to schizophrenia. In fact, the clinical neurologist is often faced with cases where the most outstanding manifestation of the disease process is an inability of the patient to direct and maintain attention appropriately.? Consequently, in this article which may initially seem to depart from the common theme of this symposium, we will describe deficits of attention which the neurologist encounters in a non-schizophrenic population. With the help of these clinical observations and additional experimental neuroanatomical data, we will suggest that the cerebral regions subserving attention may be situated within the most advanced portions of “association” neocortex. Furthermore, we will demonstrate that these same neocortical regions have direct neuronal connections with those parts of the “limbic” brain which are implicated in the modulation of emotional and motivational behavior. Although such direct connections are at first glance surprising, on further study, their significance to the process of selective attention becomes clear. Since attentional and affective abnormalities also characterize schizophrenia, we will advance hypotheses to suggest how this clinical and experimental information may become relevant to current anatomical and pharmacological concepts pertaining to schizophrenia.
Examination of the badly damaged bullet.

This paper presents the procedure used in the Wyoming State Laboratory for the preparation and examination of the badly damaged bullet, and the evaluation of marginal evidence from it. It is suggested that photographic records be more widely used for this purpose.